#but we do know she looked up her sister (first name december last name holiday. december holiday. she was a calendar in her room in the | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

icanbeyourjedi-writes · 2 years ago

Text

The Wedding Date

Summary: It’s been years since Jay Castillo had been home for the holidays. When his sisters decide to have her wedding on New Year’s Eve Jay finds himself in a strange position. He had told his family he was dating someone, the only problem was that someone didn’t know they were ‘in a relationship’ yet. Jay convinces you to go along with it and be his fake girlfriend and his wedding date. Words: A little over 11,000 A/N: My first time writing for Jay, I took his entire backstory and made it my own as from watching his very short cameo role really didn’t give us much to go on. As always thanks to @heythere-mel for always listening to my randomness and reading half-written paragraphs. I love you!!!

**Just like ao3, “creator chooses not to use warnings.” If you click Keep Reading, that means you agree that you’re the age to handle mature themes. Also by clicking Keep Reading, you understand warnings may not be complete in order to avoid spoilers for the story. **

It was his favorite place to go after work. He’d grab a beer after a long day, talking to you made things better. Owning a business was hard and you weren’t a therapist but you were one of the few people who listened to him when he just needed someone to talk to. But then again, you were a bartender and it was basically part of your job description. Unlicensed Therapist you always joked. A lot had changed in his life over the last few years, a failed marriage being one of them. He had moved to a new city, somewhere to run away from his past. He wanted to start over. Sure, he had casually dated a few women over those few years, but nothing serious he was afraid of getting his heart broken again. You, however, became a friend. Someone he could trust.

The weather was getting colder, the bar had slowed some. Everyone, returning home for the holidays, and Jay’s business was slowing down too. The little bell on the door chimes as he pushes the door open. You were at the sink cleaning a few remaining glasses, you didn’t even need to look up to know exactly who was walking in, he showed up everyday at the same time like clock work.

“Hey Jay!” you shout “the usual?”

“Make it a double” he says, falling into the bar chair head falling to his hands

“You ok?” you set the a double shot of whiskey in front of him

He doesn’t respond. Jay was usually in a good mood for the time you had known him. He would always smile when he saw you, a smile that literally melted your heart. It was the kind of smile that your world could be falling apart all around you. But he would look at you, with those puppy dog brown eyes and smile and everything would be alright. He was handsome, there was no denying it, his short brown hair slightly longer now. He hasn’t had a haircut since you met him, you start to think of how soft it might be, or the sounds he’ll make if you gently pull on them.

He pulls an envelope from his coat pocket, his name written in elegant handwriting. He takes a deep sigh and downs the glass of whiskey, sliding the envelope towards you. You take it from him, you can hear him mumble the words, open it and you do.

“You and your guest are cordially invited to the wedding of Jennifer Castillo and David Garcia on December 31 in Sacramento, California. Please join us as we ring in the new year with a wedding no one will forget” you say “…a bit strange to get married on New Years Eve, but I mean ok. Why are you showing this to me?”

“My sister’s wedding” he sighs his finger tracing the outline of the rim of the glass

“Ok…” you sound a bit confused

“I was told to bring my girlfriend” he looks up at you

“I don’t see a problem here, I mean if you ask her nicely she’d probably go” you take the glass from him

“That’s the problem…I don’t have one. They just think I do. I made her up so they’d leave me alone”

“You could tell them she has other plans or something with her family” you set a glass of water in front of him.

There’s a long pause, and he stares at the water glass in front of him. You start to wash a few dishes from earlier guests. Letting him sit in his thoughts, you’ve learned over time that when he gets in his own head he tends to snap and the best way to let Jay figure it out, let him sit and let him talk to you.

“Ooooooor you could come with me”

You nearly drop the glass you pulled out of the sink. You set it down quickly and turn to face him “I’m sorry, what?” you voice a few octaves higher with shock

“I kinda described you…I don’t know. I was here and Jen called. She kept going on and on that I needed to date more. I told her I was and”

“Jay” you swallow hard seeing him scratch his head

“I know…I know” he stares at the glass in front of him before looking at you “I’ll pay for everything. Just be my fake girlfriend for a few days?”

You dry your hands and move back to his spot at the bar, it was late and as usual he was the only one at your bar. Leaning against the counter top “look, you're one of the few good things about this place. And I don’t want to ruin it doing something stupid”

“I understand, I can figure out something…I’ll see you tomorrow?” He asks standing and turning towards the door grabbing his leather jacket

“Jay,” you sigh, he stops “there should be some rules”

“You’ll do it?” His eyes widened “really? I’ll get us two rooms. I’ll get your plane ticket…you don’t have to pay for a thing. Thank you!”

“You don’t have to do that”

“No, no it’s the least I can do. You have no idea how much you are saving me. Stop by the shop tomorrow?” He asks sticking his hands in his pockets, suddenly feeling self-conscious and worried that your going to go home and change your mind

You nod, “Night Jay”

You push open the glass door, the bell chimes as you walk in, you can see Jay standing behind the desk. His laptop is on the counter, and he’s staring at the screen intently. He sticks his tongue out in concentration and he holds his drivers license typing out the numbers with one finger. You smile, it’s cute watching him work so hard. You move closer to him and he looks up from his screen smiling as you approach, greeting you with a warm welcome.

“Hey” you smile back and he waves you to come around the desk. You move next to him looking at the screen of flight times on the screen at different dates. He was looking at the day before, “don’t you want to spend a little more time with your family?”

You know he hasn’t been home for Christmas in three years, it’s actually how you meet him. It was your first year in a new town. You didn’t know anyone and you felt alone. Wondering downtown, snow lightly falling, you were hoping one of the little restaurants was open. Sure you felt horrible for being that person, but you were also praying that there were others that were just alone as you. You pass a tattoo parlor with the ‘OPEN’ sign flashing. Jay's, the name was simple, you pushed the door open and there he was. It was also the night you got your first tattoo. A small bullseye tattoo on your right hand.

“It’s been a while…” he says looking at you. Your hand on the back of his chair and hand on the table looking over the dates and prices

“You wanna make them believe I’m your girlfriend. Then make them believe. Take me home for Christmas”

He didn’t argue, he called his Mom and asked if she would like to see him for Christmas. You swear you could hear her shriek from where you stood. Truth be told you actually wanted to go for Christmas. To spend the holidays with someone, with a family instead of being alone at the bar waiting for a customer or eventually Jay to walk in. He sets the phone on the table, “she’s excited to meet you” as he clicks on the December 22nd date to look at prices and times. You both agreed that even though the cheapest flight was at 5:45 am it was worth it. Opting for the 8:30 am flight instead and spending the extra fifty bucks was worth it. He also booked the two of you a hotel. The only things that were left during the holiday was a single room with two beds. You told him that was fine, it wasn’t the room sharing you were worried about.

You had always found him attractive. The tall, dark and handsome type but with the boy next door charm. When you first met him his head was shaved and at that weird stage of growing back. He was clean shaven, a new look he was trying. His voice was like honey, so smooth and deep. The kind of voice you could listen to all day. He pulled you in with his chocolate brown eyes. The most beautiful brown eyes you’ve ever seen. His smile was warm and made you feel like you’ve known him for years. He was the first person in your new town that made you feel welcome, he was a friend. A shoulder to cry on when the world was falling apart and someone to help you fix things when you couldn’t figure it out.

“So the rules?” He asks sliding the credit card back into his wallet

“I just think there should be some ground rules to this” you say “like keeping things PG”

“But can I kiss you?” He lifts an eyebrow “I’ve said we been together for a while and I’m sure they will think it’s weird if we don’t kiss”

“No tongue…” you look at him in the eyes

“Oooook”

“Things like hand holding is fine, your arm around me, but nothing below the waist. No stupid pet names”

“Amor?” He asks “is Amor ok?”

“Yes…you?” You turn to lean on the counter

“I don’t know, I really haven’t had one. Babe? Is babe ok? He sounds unsure

“Babe…ok” you bite your lip “so yeah I mean I guess that’s really it, just keep things simple. Try not to go into too much detail about things”

He nods, the tickets were purchased, the hotel room booked. He told you there wasn’t a need to rent a car, you would take a taxi to his parents and then borrow one of theirs. You finalize a few things, and you stand up to leave. Turning around to him before you push the door open. He’s back to staring at the computer screen in front of him “oh and babe,” he looks up “one more rule…” you take a long pause “…don’t fall in love with me”

He chuckles “don’t worry. I don’t plan on it. Thank you for helping me”

That rule, that one rule was more for you then him. You didn’t want to ruin the relationship. He was the one true friend you had in this crappy town. You’d be lying if you hadn’t thought about being more than friends, a few times actually. But once sex gets involved things get complicated and you didn’t want to lose him.

The flight was smooth, trying to catch a cab was another story. After what seemed like forever you finally found one that wasn’t already in use, or waiting for another customer. Jay puts the luggage in the truck and you slide in, Jay sitting next to you and giving the address to the cab driver. A 45 minute drive later and you pull up to a modern family home. Two story red brick house. A large wrap-around driveway lined with flowers that were still in bloom.

You open the door as Jay tips the driver. You pop open the trunk and start to reach inside to pull out the two large bags when his hand brushes overs yours. You stop for a brief moment feeling the spark of just a simple touch, you move again but his hand is already on the suitcase handle “a lady should never have to take out her own luggage” he smiles

He closes the trunk of the cab and a sweet voice yelling ‘Mijo…you’re home!!’ has you turning around. An older woman no taller than 5 feet in the most adorable ugly sweater you’ve seen, short gray hair and big round glasses clapping her hands. He drops the bag as she walks towards him

“Wela…hola como estas?” He wraps around her tiny frame and throws her arms around his neck. Cupping his checks when she pulls away

“Oh so good, it’s so good to see you. You look a little thin…are you eating well? Are you eating greens” she squishes his cheeks making him do a fish face

“Yes, Wela I am” he tries to get out hoping she doesn’t catch him in his lie.

She shakes her head and looks directly at you still holding his face “is he eating his greens Mija?”

You freeze for a minute unsure if she is talking to you, you see Jay’s eyes drift to you almost pleading for you to say yes. Or to say anything at this point…”yes?” You say sounding slightly more like a question

“Hmm good woman. Lying for your man. She’s a keeper JJ” she pets his checks

He stands back when she finally releases his checks, putting a hand on your lower back, introducing you to his Grandmother “…she’s also the only person in the world who gets to call me JJ”

“It’s so nice to meet you Mrs. Castillo” you put out a hand for her to shake. She grabs your hand and pulls you into a hug

“Please Senorita Castillo makes me sound so old. Call me Wela” she pulls away grabbing your hand and pulling you towards the house “come…come we have so much to talk about”

You turn to look at Jay as the small lady has more strength then you had anticipated. He smells and nods his head for you to go, picking up the suitcases and following the two of you to the house.

“Jason, they are here!!” She calls into the large family room. A man who looks like an older version of Jay walks around the corner, a woman with short dark brown hair with specks of gray and a sweet, caring smile next to him

Before you know it, you hear Jay’s voice from behind you. It calms you and the sudden panic you feel, wondering if you are even going to be able to pull this off. “Mom, Dad” he calls out. Closing the door behind him. His hand on your back leading you towards his parents. He introduces you, and you can see the look of joy and happiness on his mothers face “…this is my girlfriend” he says it like he’s said it hundreds of times.

“Oh sweetheart, it is nice to finally meet you. Jay has told us so much about you” she takes both your hands in hers and her smile makes you smile

“It’s nice to meet you as well. You have a lovely home Mr and Mrs Castillo”

“Please call us Ma and Pops. Mr and Mrs are so formal, you’re family now” his Dad says hugging you. You know he meant well, but what he had said terrifies you. Are you going to be able to pull this off, and even worse what is going to happen at the end of all of this

“Are you two hungry? You must be hungry…flying always makes me hungry. Come, come Mary and I made tamales last night” his mom takes Jay’s hand and drags the two of you into the kitchen.

There is an entire buffet set up on the kitchen island, far more food for a small lunch then you’ve seen before. His Dad grabs a plate and starts to move down the line when his Mom playfully slaps his hand holding the plate “Mi Amor, our guests need to eat first”

“Guests…he’s our son,” he chuckles “plus he moves to slow and I’m hungry”

He fills his plate with food, and you follow behind him. Taking a little bit of everything. It all smelled and looked amazing. You take a seat at the small kitchen table, Jay taking the seat to your left. Small talk is made over the late lunch. Where you were from, school, a bit about your family. How Jay’s parents met and the plans for the week. “We put some drinks and food in the basement for you. Extra blankets and towels too” his mom tells you both

“You didn’t have to do that Ma, I told you I got a hotel. I was just wondering if I could borrow a car” Jay says pushing the leftover food around on his plate

“Sweetheart, you are my son and you are not staying in a hotel. The basement is completely finished. It’s like a little hotel anyways” she retorts

“Really, Mom…” he looks over at you

“Babe, if you wanna stay with your family. I think we should. You haven’t seen them in a while. It might be nice” you put a hand on his “I’ll be fine, phones got a map. I can’t get that lost can I?”

“Oh no dear, you’d be staying too. You two are adults we know you already sleep together” his Dad says casually “come on Mijo I’ll help carry the bags downstairs”

“You sure?” He asks turning towards you

You nod your head, he leans over and places a kiss on your cheek, “ok. I’ll call the hotel and cancel. I’ll see you in a few Amor” you cheek gets warm where his lips touched you. You bit your lip and nod again

He heads back towards the living following his Father to the living room to take the luggage downstairs, you eyes follow him out of the room while his mother asks you a question, “Hmmm I’m sorry”

“You and Jay? You have any plans while you are here…” his mother asks

“Oh no, not that I know of. I mean Christmas and then the wedding” you smile nervously hoping that you don’t get 21 questions while he is away

You were thankful when the questions weren’t about your relationship and more of the ‘what is your traditions?’ and ‘favorite foods’ type questions. After a few moments Jay and his Dad re-emerge from the basement.

“Hey babe…” you smile when he sits back down next to you, he puts his arm on the back of your chair and you lean to him

The rest of the evening went by quickly, sitting in the family room Jay telling his parents about what he’s been up to since he had moved. You yawn and your head falls to Jay’s shoulder. He chuckles and pats your leg “baby you can go take a shower and get ready for bed. It’s been a long day” he squeezes it gently.

“There’s towels under the sink in the bathroom sweetie, have a good night and we are so excited to have you” he mom smiles at you as you stand up

“Thank you Mr and Mrssssss I mean Mom and Dad?” You look at Jay who gives a soft smile “take your time, good night” you turn and make your way to the basement

After washing off the day's grime you wrap your hair in a towel and let it sit on top of your head. You find a robe hanging on the back of the door and wrap yourself in it. Opening up the door and moving into the bedroom, you come to a halt at the sight of Jay in nothing but a tight pair of black boxer briefs. Your eyes take in the expensive planes of his back. The muscle definition along his shoulders taping down to his skin waist and adorable little butt. Thick thighs and strong legs, you bit your lip. The soft light coming from the bedside lamp made him look like Angel with his golden skin. He turns around and catches you eyeing him and down

“Sorry…” you both say in unison “…I was” you laugh and Jay looks away

“I wasn’t expecting you…” “grabbing some clothes” you say over each other and laugh again Jay’s brown eyes look over your body, the low v-neck of the robe showing off more skin then he has even seen from you before. Little beads of water drip down your chest. “I didn’t know you’d be down here. I thought you’d still be talking to your parents. I’m sorry” you wrap your arms around yourself

“No, I told them I was tired. Which I mean I am…I was just grabbing some clothes to sleep on the couch” he grabs a pair of gray sweats.

“The couch?” you ask

“Rule number 13,” he says “sleep in different beds”

He was right, one of the rules that you both agreed on was sleeping in separate beds. But that was also when the only hotel rooms that were left were single rooms with two single beds.

“That was before…” you start

“It’s alright, really”

That was that, you slept in the bed alone while Jay slept on the small couch. The basement had been set up like a small apartment. His parents had been renting out once in a while for a little extra income. You felt terrible for having him sleep on the couch, but every time you brought it up and tried to get him to sleep in the bed and you’d take the couch he would refuse it and tell you that you as a guest didn’t deserve the couch and it really wasn’t that bad.

Much of the week was spent prepping the meal for Christmas Eve. You helped where you could, or you just watched with awe of how quickly his mother and grandmother worked. You offered to make some of your ‘world famous chocolate chip cookies’ well at least you like to say they are. Anytime you made them, everyone would always rave about how fantastic they were.

Before you knew it, it was Christmas Eve and family was beginning to show up. You quickly ran downstairs to change wanting to make a good impression and make it believable. A pair of black leggings, white Henley you paired with a green and black flannel. Little brown ankle boots completed the look, you could hear the doorbell ring as you climbed back up the stairs.

“Tío Jaaaaaaaaaay” a little voice tells and you can tear the excitement in her voice

“Oooh there’s my favorite niece” you walk in seeing him picking her up “how are you? Boys chasing you around school yet?”

She had to be about 5 or 6 and adorable can be. Short wavy brown hair pulled into two pigtails sitting a top her had. She was wearing a little elf out “ewww boys are gross tío…” she giggles as he tickles her sides

“But I’m a boy”

“No you’re not. Your tío Jay” she wraps her little arms around him and you lean against the door frame watching their interaction

“He’s great with her, kids in general really” a voice next you shakes you from your thoughts “Max…Jay’s brother. You must be the girl Ma keeps talking about”

You turn to look at him, “hopefully good things” you smile and introduce yourself. Putting a hand out, which he takes and pulls you into a hug.

“Of course, said Jay finally seems happy again” a woman about Jay’s age rounds the corner. Long brown hair, soft brown eyes like Max and Jay. She smiles as she walks closer to you

“He wasn’t lying! You do exist” she claps her hands together “so nice you could join us and thank you for convincing that dork to come home for the holidays and my wedding”

“I do exist…” you smile “congratulations on the wedding”

You make small talk with Jay’s siblings as he sits at the small ‘kids table’ playing a game of cards until dinner is ready. Stephanie can see you watching him “You two talk about that yet?”

“About what?” You ask, you attention pulled from Jay and back to the woman standing next to you

“Kids, you know that big relationship changing topic…” her hands float in the air

And there it was, one of the questions you were hoping to avoid during this time. So far you had done a good job of convincing his parents that you were in a relationship. The little hand holds, kisses on the cheek but of course his sister was going to the one to figure this was all just a joke.

“No, we haven’t. It hasn’t really come up” you say casually hoping she would buy what you were selling

“Mmmhmm”

His Mom announces that dinner is ready, the kids all leave Jay to clean up the cards as they run to grab a plate and wait in line to gather food. Jay’s sister doesn’t say anything as she watches you move towards him. Reaching for some of the cards splayed on the table and handing them to him. You turn your back to her so she can’t read your lips.

“I don’t think she believes us,” you say softly handing him the cards you picked up

He slowly stands up, wrapping an arm around your waist, and leaning to whisper into your ear, “she never does” he tells you and hopes that his sister takes it as sweet little nothings instead. He places a kiss on your cheek and sets the cards on a bookshelf. Grabbing your hand the two of you make your way to the rest of the family grabbing a plate and waiting to grab your food.

The family gathered around the table, and the kids at their table. Plates empty and stomachs full, the small talk towards you and Jay started up again. “So where did you two meet?” Jennifer asks, you look at Jay

“What was it four years ago now?” You ask him and he nods

“Yeah, that sounds about right. It was around this time too if I remember correctly. It was snowing, and cold and I swear I was an idiot for being open that night. I had my nose in my sketchbook, and the little bells on the door chime. When I look up, I see this beautiful woman walk into my shop. Snowflakes stuck to her hair, and I knew then that I was a goner. She was the most beautiful woman I’ve seen, even if she was bundled in a huge puffy coat” he laughs “we started to talk about nothing and everything. She told me she didn’t have any tattoos and was terrified of needles. But she really wanted to get one, so I gave her her first tattoo. The same first tattoo I ever got. Six years later, here we are”

You couldn’t believe that he remembered all that. You couldn’t believe he remembered the smallest details; the snow, the beanie, the tattoo. You look at your right hand on your leg before you turn to look at him. His eyes roaming over your face, and he leans in to give you a quick kiss to the lips.

“Awww booooo. Give her a real kiss” his brother teases “kiss her…kiss her”

“Hmmm I would, but there’s no mistletoe around. And we promised to keep things G” he looks at you with a knowing smile

“Think again baby bro” his sister is standing behind the two of you with mistletoe above your heads “kiss her…kiss her” chant begins again

“I guess we should kiss” you look at him, trying to read his expression “I mean it is the rules of Christmas”

He reaches to cup your cheek, thumb brushing along the top of it, eyes looking from your lips to your eyes, slowly moving forward giving you enough time to stop him if you want. When his lips touch yours, you can feel the spark. A spark you haven’t felt in a long time, you gasp in shock opening your mouth just enough for Jay to slip his tongue in for a brief moment before pulling back. “Awwww” his mom and grandma sigh together. While ‘ewww’ and ‘yuck’ come from the kids table behind you. Jay’s face still inches from your and you smile quickly kissing him again before turning back to his family at the table. His lips were soft, the kiss gentle and as fake as this was, the kiss was something you were hoping to try again.

The party eventually moved to the family room, the room filled with presents as the kids all ran to find theirs. You find a spot on the couch next to Jay, the kids excited for the gifts they had found. While the kids played and argued over who had the better superhero action figure the adults opened the few gifts that were left.

Jay’s mom handed him a bag with a small puppy in a Santa hat. He takes out the tissue paper and pulls out a bag of 20 pairs of socks. “Oh babe, this is great. You can finally get rid of some of the socks with holes in them” you try to play the girlfriend card. Jay turns to look at you the how do you know written on his face

“Yeah, I can…thanks Ma” he says setting the bag down, he reaches over you and opens a drawer on the end table pulling out a box and handing it to you “Merry Christmas Amor”

“Jay, I…but we…” you stammer “I didn’t think we were doing gifts”

“It’s no big deal,” he shrugs “open it”

You take off the little green tissue paper, pulling out a small box. You flip it open, sitting inside is a good chain with a two hearts intertwined pendant. Your finger touches the little hearts, biting your lip and looking over at him “this is…thank you” you lean over to kiss his cheek. He wraps his arm around you and pulls you into him “Really Jay, thank you”

The kids were starting to fall asleep in random areas of the house, his siblings claiming their spots on various chairs. You reach for his hand and nod your head towards the basement door. He shakes his head yes and pushes himself up from the couch, taking your hand to help you up. You quietly step over sleeping bodies and walk down the stairs, softly closing the door behind you. He stops at the couch that he had been calling his bed the last few nights, slowly letting your hand go. You quickly tighten your hand around the few fingers that hadn’t let go of you yet. His head jerks up to look at you, “what?”

“Since, I didn’t get you anything…how about my gift to you is the bed” you say “I mean it only seems fair”

“I’ve had that necklace for a while, I was going to give it to you one year for your birthday. But it felt weird since…we, you know we weren’t dating” he chuckles

“Hmm right, dating” you were still holding the box in your hand, “Please Jay just take the bed. I feel horrible making you sleep on this” you gesture to the small couch that he had been sleeping on.

“But the…”

“Jay, forget the rule. Sleep in the bed, we can roll up an extra blanket and stick it between us since you refuse to let me sleep on the couch”

It took some convincing but you finally got Jay into bed. It helped his future brother-in-law came down the stairs half asleep, and fell on the couch, snoring before he even hit the cushions.

You created a small mountain in the center of the bed. Jay kept his flannel PJ bottoms on a gray shirt, there was no way you could sleep with that many clothes on. You had a silk tank-top and a pair of matching shorts. You slide under the covers and stare at the ceiling. Hours go by and you stare at the ceiling, unable to sleep. You wanted to move closer to him, you wanted to curl into his side. Kissing him earlier was nice and you wanted to feel those lips on yours again. You were breaking the one rule you created for yourself. You had fallen for him.

“Can’t sleep?” He turns his head towards you he put a small night light in the room so you wouldn’t trip over anything in the dark if you had to use the bathroom

You shake your head, before saying no. “It was something your sister said” there was a long pause “do you want kids? I mean not with me…buuuuuuu”

“I don’t know, I mean I have thought about it. Getting older and stuff, like if I want much longer his friends are gonna think I’m his Grandpa at his graduation.” He chuckles “Why?”

“Your sister saw me watching you with your nieces, and I just, I don’t know. You’d make a great Dad. I was just wondering if you and your ex ever had that talk. She asked me if we had”

“And what did you say?”

“The truth” you say and you see the his silhouette sit up

“You what?!” He shouts before remembering there was someone sleeping just outside the door

“That it hasn’t come up, which it hasn’t” you feel his eyes on you “I don’t know if I want kids…I mean I can barely keep plants alive. I don’t think I could really keep another small human alive” you sit up

“You are the only person I know that was able to kill a cactus” he smiles

“Hey…” you playfully shoulder him “…I’m pretty sure that thing was half dead when I got it. And who knew being next to a window it would get cold” you lay back down crossing your arms

“Most people…” he laughs. Leaning down to kiss you softly on the lips. He lingers for just a moment waiting for you to say something before he kisses you again. A little longer this time “buenas noches mi amor”

“Night Jay”

The morning came before you were ready, and you felt something warm pressed against your back. It was much hotter than the blanket barrier you had created earlier in the night. There was small puffs of warm air on your shoulder every few seconds, you could feel the hand tighten on the hip it was holding. You slowly blink away and realize at some point the barrier had been thrown to the end of the bed and was replaced with Jay’s body. You’d be lying to yourself if you weren’t happy about it, but you also know that it doesn’t mean anything. He probably doesn’t even know that he is holding you the way he is. When you move as slow as you can reach for his hand, to lift it up so you can get out of bed and let him sleep in, his hand moves to wrap around your body. Tightening his grip on you, he pulls you even more into him. You wait a moment for him to stop stirring, and attempt to move again. This time, he doesn’t put up a fight, you lay his arm down on the spot you once laid when you stand up. Sliding on a pair of jeans and a hoodie, you open the door and walk out to where his brother in law was snoring away.

Tip-toeing up the stairs, you walk into the living room where his Grandma was sitting with a cup of coffee, watching the kids attempt to make pancakes with Jennifer and his mom. “Morning Mija” she says, “come, come sit” she pats the table next to her. His mother handing you a cup of coffee and you make your way to sit next to her. “How did you sleep?”

“Good. Thank you and you?” you ask politely

“Wonderful, it’s always nice to have the house full of family” she smiles “We were thinking of going into town to see the Christmas Lights, something about seeing the lights on Christmas Night makes everything more magical. Would you and JJ like to come?”

“I don’t see why not…you’ll have to ask Jay when he gets up” you take a sip of your coffee. The hot liquid warms your soul as it makes its way down. You continue to talk to his Wela and wait for your turn for pancakes. Jay’s mother asking you how many you would like before setting the plate in front of you, when Jay walks up the stairs, the almost brother-in-law right behind him. When you lock eyes with him it is almost as if relief had washed over him, he had a slight panic attack when he realized you were no longer in the bed with him. He knows he broke rule number 6 and he was praying that you didn’t leave.

“Amor…” he sighs “walking over to the table standing next to you he leans down and kissed the top of your head “I’m sorry, about this morning” he whispers into your ear so no one else could hear. He sits next to you

You shake your head, placing a hand on his thigh, still in his pajamas. You had him your fork with a piece of pancake still attached. He takes it and eats it, “it’s ok…you look like you needed the sleep” you smile and kiss his shoulder, then his cheek

“JJ..Mijo. Christmas Lights in town tonight?” his grandmother asks him although it sounded more of a statement

“Ok…sure? Amor?” he looks at you, as you take another bite of the pancake breakfast.

“I said, yes but it was up to you”

The kids in their beanies and matching light up sweaters, you in a pair of skinny jeans, comfortable shoes and a red sweater. Jay, wearing his favorite pair of dark jeans, green Henley and a brown jacket. The two of you behind the group taking in all the Christmas lights and the magic of the holiday. The park is busier than you had expected it to be. There’s a hot chocolate stand and you look over at Jay and he nods; Jay, David and his brother, making their way over to the little set up. You take a seat on the bench next to his sister waiting for him to come back

There was a line, and as he was waiting a woman with long strawberry blonde walked up behind him. He turned to face her, he was taller than her. You could see his eyes searching for you. He stands there nervously with his hands in his jacket pocket.

“Who’s that?” You ask

“That’s his ex-wife” she groans “he didn’t tell you?”

He told you that he had an ex-wife, the marriage didn’t last long and that is why he left town. He couldn’t face her, you didn’t know the entire story but you knew enough that his heart had been broken. “He told me some…” the longer you watch the more uncomfortable he started to look. You had to do something, but you didn’t know what.

Before you know what you were doing, your feet were carrying you over to him. Your hand reaching for his face and turning it towards you, completely ignoring the fact that she was standing there. You lean into him, your lips finding his, his eyes closing and mouth parting to fit yours. Your dip your tongue in tentatively wondering if you’re taking it too far. When you feel his hand grab your waist, his tongue brushing yours, you know it’s an invitation to continue. Your hand moves, fingers sliding through his hair, deepening the kiss, until you hear the woman clear her throat.

You pull away, opening your eyes to see Jay with a goofy smile on his face. “Sorry got a little lipstick on you” you brush your thumb over his lip before you turn to her “oh…hi sorry about that” you smile and introduce yourself

“Mmm Kat,” she sounds unamused by your little showing “his ex-wife”

“Well thanks for letting this one go, can’t believe someone like him was still on the market” you smile your hand resting on his stomach

“Still working as a struggling tattoo artist?” She asks

“Your boy toy still doing the detective thing?” he retorts

She pauses, the look in eyes shifts and her mood changes. You look up to Jay trying to read his expression, but he keeps the same still face “we aren’t together anymore” she sounds ashamed “he uhm…he cheated”

“Oh” you say and Jay tries to keep a laugh to himself

“You two pretty serious?” She asks

Jay looks at you, a smile spreading across his face. In his heart he is dead serious on taking this fake relationship to real. He has fallen for you over these few days, his arm wraps around you, “I don’t know what the future holds, but I hope she’s in it” . It was sweet, and sincere. It help more meaning than you expected. You nod against his chest while he leans to kiss your head.

“Isn’t that cute, good luck with life Jay” she tries to smile before walking away.

Jay’s arm stays around you when she leaves. Your hand lingers on him, hand running up and down “you ok?”

He nods his head, but his mind is a mess. He wants to keep holding your hand, he wants to keep his arm wrapped around you. He wants to lean down and kiss you. He agreed to the rules, he agreed to not fall in love with you. But the way you make him feel has him wanting to break all the rules.

“I am…thank you”

You finish the night staying next to Jay’s side. Lingering behind the family, watching the life that you wish you could have. Knowing when you get back home, back to your regular life everything is going to change. You are going to go back to normal, no more kissing him, no more pretending you were a couple.

“I’m gonna put some water on, make some tea. Who wants to stay up?” He Grandma asks grabbing the metal tea kettle

“I am exhausted, I think I might turn in. But thank you…” you look at Jay

“I’ll take a cup Weila…” he smiles “I’ll be down soon Amor” he kisses your cheek

You head down the stairs after bidding everyone a good night. It had been a whirl-wind of a week and it was all catching up with you. You were planning on taking a warm shower but you took this as a chance to sleep on the couch and let Jay sleep in the bed. He needed it; and it was the least you could do. You throw on your PJ’s and grab the pillow you had been using and curl up on the small couch. Your eyes closing before you even hit the pillow.

Jay sits and stares at the cup of hot tea sitting in front of him, his fingers tapping on the glass. His parents had gone to bed, and it was just him and his Grandmother. The one person who always knew not only the right words, but knew when there was something wrong.

“Mijo, que pasa?” She asks, running her hand up and down his back.

He takes a deep sigh, tears forming in his eyes as he turns to look at her. Shaking his head, “we’ve been lying to everyone” he tells her “I asked her to pretend to my girlfriend”

“JJ” she wraps her arm around him

He tells her everything, tells her how he asked you to go with him, to pretend to be his girlfriend so his family could get off his back about finding love again. That you actually are a bartender at the bar down the street and the only one that listens to him. How you two created some rules to get through the week one of them being to not fall in love with you, “…I love her” he confesses “I really do. Something happened…”

“Then you need to be honest, and tell her how you feel”

“I can’t…” he sighs his hand covering his face “…she’ll never wanna talk to me again and I’ll lose her as a friend. And I can’t do that. I need her”

“You won’t…” she turns his face towards her “…she loves you too”

He laughs at that comment, “yeah, cuz I’m so freaking great”

“Trust me”

He tiptoes down the stairs, making sure he is as quiet as can be. He knows it’s been a crazy week and he wanted you to sleep. You had been so tired you left the lights on. He comes to a stop when sees you curled up on the sofa and he shakes his head. He leans down, wrapping an arm under your legs and draping an arm of yours over his shoulder. He wraps the other around you and picks you up and walks you to the bed. You head nuzzling into the crook of his neck. His breathing catches for a moment and panic sets in that he shouldn’t be doing this

“Mmmm yoooourrrr waaaaaam” you say asleep “aalllllways warm and soft” you arm pulls you closer into him

He lays you gently on the bed. Removing his arm from under your legs. He know free hand goes to move your arms from around his neck, but your grip even in sleep is strong, you let out a small whimper when he finally breaks your grip. Could his grandmother be right? Could the feelings he has for you be reciprocated? Could you possibly love him?

He kisses your forehead “good night Mi amor” he whispers and pulls the covers over your body. He wants to lay down, fall asleep next to you. Hold you in his arms, but he doesn’t want to risk it. He doesn’t want to make things even more awkward. He shuffles over to where his sleep pants are grabbing them and pausing at the door, “I love you” he says quietly to himself. Gently closing the door behind him and falling on the couch.

You wake up a few hours later, blinking a few times and rubbing your eyes. Trying to figure out where you were. The mattress softer than the couch you had fallen asleep on, the room is quiet and the person you thought would be laying next to you was nowhere to be found. You twist and turn in the sheets, panic washing over you. You sit up and run to open the door. Then you see him, his legs hang over the edge; his arms crossed across his chest. His face is soft and he looks at peace sleeping. Your stomach flips at the sight of him and you walk towards him. Sitting on the coffee table in front of him. Watching him for just a few more minutes before reaching for his face. “Jay, why didn’t you sleep in the bed” you sigh

“You deserve the bed…it’s more comfortable” he says and you jump slightly thinking he’s asleep

Once your heart stops racing, you brush his cheek, “Jay, will you please sleep in the bed? I feel bad, and you deserve to sleep in a comfortable bed too”

His hand moves to cover yours that rests on his face, “I broke the rules the last time we shared the bed. I don’t want to do that again”

“It’s ok…just come to the bed” he shakes his head “fine…new rule. Rule 18. Jay sleeps in the bed”

He finally agreed to sleeping in the bed. The blanket barrier piled higher with a few pillows added. He was making sure he wasn’t going to find himself wrapped around you again, making sure he didn’t slip and lose you. The next few days, things were quiet between the two of you. He spent a lot of the time staying busy, helping his Dad fix things around the house. Doing some yard work that his Dad had been putting off. You helped his Mom and Grandma with some finishing touches for the wedding, his Mom sharing some old photos of the Castillo siblings as children. His Mom eventually leaves, his Grandma moving closer to you when she does.

“Are you and JJ ok?” She asks

You shrug, “I don’t know, he’s been weird since running into his ex. I am worried about him” she nods and you don’t know what happens but the next words out of your mouth shock when you “we’ve been lying to you. To the family”

“About what cariño?”

You tell her everything, not as much detail as Jay had. But you asked her to keep it a secret, you told her that it was hard to say no to him. You always liked him, but over the last few days you had started to truly fall in love with him. That you had always thought what it might be like, being with him. But he was a customer, he was a friend and you didn’t want to lose him as either “I have fallen in love with him”

“Then you need to tell him” she pats your leg “he needs to know”

“Tell him what?” Jay walks in

“What…oh nothing, just that you look adorable in little cowboy costume” you hold up the photo album to him

He rolls his eyes “…I was seven I wanted to be a real cowboy when I got older. It wasn’t weird ok” he gives an awkward laugh and moves towards you to take the book. “How about we put away Jay as a baby”

“But baby Jay was so cute” you smile at him “still is” you add hoping it will release whatever tension is happening between the two of you.

It did, for a brief moment. He looked at you the way he did when he gave you the Christmas gift. A look of love, admiration, and that you held his heart in your hands. The wedding was tomorrow, the entire reason you were here and it would be the last time you could kiss him…unless you got the courage to do something about it. Dinner was quiet between the two of you, his grandma watching you both. She looked like she would have told him you loved him if you didn’t do it soon. You didn’t know her long, but you know she would. It was the wedding tomorrow, and possibly the last chance to be able to tell him.

The wedding was late afternoon, you had spent most of the morning helping pack all the pasties. His parents and Grandma had already left, leaving you and Jay to get ready alone. His mother told you they had spent so much time with the two of you and wanted to give the two of you some alone time. It was a sweet gesture, if the two of you were in a real relationship, right now it was just awkward and quiet.

You were down stairs, sitting on the edge of the bed. The dress hanging behind the door. You tangle your fingers together and then untwist them. There’s a gentle knock on the door before it opens, “hey…just grabbing some clean underwear. I was gonna get ready upstairs” he says walking past you to his dresser and you shake your head ok. He walks back to the door after grabbing a pair of black boxer briefs, you were wondering if he owned another color when you heard him speak again, “I’ll see you upstairs when your ready”

The dress you picked was cut just above the knees. A dark green dress with velvet material. Sparkles of gold throughout the turtle neck dress with long sleeves had a cut-out in the front. Exposing just enough of your chest to show off the necklace Jay had given you. There was a matching cut-out in the back. Dipping just a bit lower in the back of your dress then the front. Showing off enough skin to be slightly sexy for New Year’s Eve. But also tasteful for a wedding with a man whose family you still wanted to impress. You had a pair of black ankle boots with a slight heel. It didn’t match the dress at all, but it was the only black heels you had that weren’t thigh high ‘stripper’ boots, or strappy heels that didn’t work well in the winter weather.

You give your hair one last look before you open the door and head up the stairs to Jay. You get to the family room and see Jay standing in front of the mirror by the door. He groans trying to put the cufflinks on. “Fuck…” he groans again in frustration.

“Do you want some help?” You ask stopping behind the couch

He looks over you and freezes. The cufflinks falls from his hand. You watch his eyes trail and and down your body. Stopping at your chest for a brief moment before returning his gaze to your eyes. You swallow hard, worried. His expression is hard to read. His tongue darts out licking his bottom lip, “wow, you look…you…you look beautiful. I mean you always do, but…”

“Thanks,” you tuck some hair behind your ear. “Do you want some help?” Your voice is soft and timid

“I can’t figure out these stupid things. I haven’t had to wear them for a…” he picks up the cufflink, “do you think?”

You had walked over to him, taking the small piece of jewelry from his large fingers. You pull down his sleeve, folding it to be able to attach the little cufflinks. Aligning the holes of the shirt you push the jewelry in and fixing the back so it stays in place. Gently adjusting the shirt, before moving to the other. You are so close to him, and Jay’s heart begins to race. The smell of your shampoo fills his senses and he wants nothing more than to tilt your chin up and kiss you.

He doesn’t realize you finished until you take a step back and the smell of strawberries is gone. He opens his eyes to see you admiring your work. “There we go, all set” you smile. Your hands linger on his sleeve. You go to pull away but his right hand comes up to stop you.

His hand holding you to him, “thank you” his thumb brushing the back of your hand. “You ready to go?”

You didn’t plan it, you swear you didn’t. But your dress ends up matching Jay’s tie. He told you long ago that his favorite color was green. Hunter green to be exact. You stand off to the side watching as the bride and groom take their photos. Siblings and family after a few minutes. You hear Jennifer call your name “get in the picture” she calls to you.

“No, no. That’s ok. You don’t wanna look back and wonder who this random woman is” you reply

“Pssssh ransom woman. You’re Jay’s Amor now get your pretty little butt over here” her hand motions for you to come over.

You put your head down and walk over to them. Max standing next to his sister as his wife wraps her arms around him. Jay standing next to his new brother-in-law. You stop next to him. Jennifer looks at the two of you “come on Jay, at least look like you love her” she jokes with him.

He lifts up his arm and you move closer. Wrapping an arm around his waist he drops his arm resting on your shoulder. The hand that isn’t wrapped around him moves up to intertwine your fingers with the one draped over you. You look over at him to see if what you did is ok, he gives you a small smile. The photos are snapped and you release his hand, but he keeps his arm around you. “We need to talk later ok?” He says softly and you nod your head

The party was fully underway, Jay had been dancing with his Grandma while you sat with his nieces coloring on the white paper cloth that had been placed at their table. The little girl drawing a bunch of flowers, “are you gonna marry my Tio Jay?” one of the little girls ask and you look up to see him smiling and laughing with his Grandma

“I don’t know, he’d have to ask me first. But I like him, he’s a good uncle isn’t he?” you turn your attention back to her and she nods her head

———————————-

“Have you told her yet?” she asks

“No,” he says quickly “I…I haven’t told a woman I loved her since Kat. I haven’t been with a woman since her either. What if, what if I disappoint”

“Mijo…go to her” the upbeat song slowly fades into something slower “she hasn’t stopped watching you since you got on the dance floor. Go get your Amor and tell her how you feel”

You were no artist; nothing like the talent Jay had but your little doodles lead to drawing a large heart a hand, or your poor attempt and a hand holding it. You feel his warm fingers touch your shoulder, “may I have this dance?” he asks as you turn your head to him “please…”

“Of course,” you turn to stand “you girls gonna be ok?” They smile and nod and go back to their drawings as Jay holds your hand and leads you to the dance floor.

Turning you, he places a hand to your waist and lifting the hand he is holding. He starts to move to the slow melody of the music. Your hand resting on his shoulder and you bring the one he was holding to his other shoulder “those kids love you, you know that?”

“Yeah…they are pretty great”

“They asked me if I was going to marry you” you smile at him

“Oh God, I’m so sorry” he closes his eyes tightly “their perception of love…”

“Jay, it’s ok…” you laugh

The music continues and he moves his feet, leading you a small circle. You had created your own little space in the far corner away from most of the other dancers. It’s like you’ve done this before, your fingers move to the back of his neck, fingertips lightly tracing up and down here his hair meets his neck, his thumb gently rubbing over your hips.

“I guess we should probably kiss now…Incase people are watching” he sighs staring into your eyes

“We should, keep up the image” you bite your lip

He leans to you, his nose rubbing over yours before. He slowly moves his lips to yours and the wait is unbearable. You part your lips inviting him to deepen the kiss. His tongue tentatively brushes yours. Your fingers wrap around his short hair, trying to keep him close to you. You follow his movements, kissing him was effortless. It felt like you had been with him for years, he made your heart race in a good way. He takes your breath away with a simple kiss and you want nothing more than to continue to kiss him and his soft lips. But he pulls away far too quickly “do you wanna get out of here?” he asks his forehead resting against yours. You nod…this is the time you were waiting for, it is now or never to tell him how you feel. “Spend our last night as a couple together?”

The car ride was silent and you battle with your inner self about how to tell him. What is reaction, will he feel the same…is how he kissed you just for show.

You're downstairs, Jay and turned on one of the New Years Eve music programs, you are in the room trying to take the dress off but you can reach the zipper. The sound of struggles reaches Jay. He sets the remote down and walks into the room. He sees you back to him looking at yourself in the mirror trying to reach the zipper.

“Everything ok in here? It sounds like a fight…” he has taken off his suit jacket and tie already the top button of his shirt undone.

“I’m stuck…” you groan and he gives a breathy laugh and it sounds like heaven “can you help me…please?”

He walks over to you, hestatently reaching for the zipper of your dress. His eyes taking in your bare skin in front of him. You can hear his breathing catch in his throat. Carefully he takes the small zipper in his fingers. An up and coming music star takes the stage and the music fills the empty space between you

“I swear the older I get, I don’t know who any of these people on these shows are…” you laugh moving your hair for Jay his hand still hasn’t moved

“I told her…” the words so fast you don’t understand him. His fingers still don’t move afraid to take this next step “…I told Wela everything”

“Everything?” You turn your head just enough to look at him

“I never should have asked you to do this, and I’m sorry” his fingers slowly unzip your dress “…I agreed to the rules I know that, but I…I’ve fallen for you”

His thumb trails down your back where the zipper lays, the skin contact dispite his warmth sends a shiver down your spine, leaving goosebumps behind. “Jay…” you say quietly but he doesn’t hear you

“…and I know it’s stupid and I…I want to call you Amor for real. But I can’t and I know that. I’ve realized I’d rather have you in my life wishing I could have you then not having you at all” his hand hasn’t left your back and you turn to face him, his hand doesn’t move

“Jay…you’re right. You shouldn’t have asked me. And your right…we both agreed to the rules” he closes his eyes and starts to let go of you but you grab his wrist to stop him “but the thing is, I would have always said yes. Jay I fell for you a long time ago. I made those rules because I was afraid. I was afraid this would change everything”

Your hand reaches to cup his cheek, the countdown to midnight coming from the TV in the other room, your heart pounding in your chest “Jay, I love you”

“7…6…5…4” the crowd continues the countdown

“Really?” He opens his eyes and you nod, you try to blink back the tears “I love you too”

The countdown hits one and he crashes his lips to yours. It’s more intense than any of the kisses before. His arms wrap around you pulling your body close to his. Your arm wraps around his neck, his tongue fighting for dominance as he explores your mouth. You have to pull away to catch your breath, Jay’s teeth grabbing your lip as you do. You hand holding his shoulder as you try to keep your balance the world was spinning and you wanted more…needed more. “Jjjjjjay…” you mumble against his lips, “Jay” you smile

“I love you” he says again, catching his breath running his nose along yours. Your finger moved towards the buttons on his shirt, he had taken the tie off on the drive home. Your eyes focused on his, fingers trembling the further down you work. Pulling out the tucked portion of his shirt and sliding the shirt off his broad shoulders, exposing his golden skin to you. You haven’t seen him with his shirt off and he is beautiful. His broad shoulders look so strong, the muscles toned and flex with the movement of his arms as he picks you up. You wrap your legs around his waist, arms wrapped around his neck.

His lips find yours again walking the two of you towards the bed. His knees hit the edge of the bed, shifting your weight in his arms as he crawls on the bed. Sitting on his knees and you sitting on his thighs. The kiss deeping with each passing moment his hands slide up your thighs sending a shiver down your spine. Your hands moving to hold his face, you take his bottom lip between your teeth, tugging as you pull away. Your thumb brushing over his cheekbone “Jay,” he nods “I love you”

The hand on your waist tights, as he thrusts into you again. His fingers lock with the hand he’s holding above your head, the once methodical precision Jay had has begun to flatter. Your free hand holding around his neck, his eyes on yours. You moan out his name one last time as your walls tighten around him. Jay pushes deeper chasing his own high, a few more deep thrusts and he is releasing himself into you. All that he has to give, leaning down and kissing you. The kiss slow and tender, his hand loosening around your waist. He moves his arm to prop himself up, holding his body weight above you. Jay pulling his lips away from yours “Amor,” he pecks your lips “I love you”

“I love you” you smile against his lips

As you watch him shuffle to the bathroom you think to yourself how much had changed over the last few days. You had always had a small crush on the cute tattoo artist, who became a friend. You can only hope the things that happened this past week wasn’t because of the season, or the wedding. But this was something that could last. He comes back, sitting on the edge of the bed next to you. Carefully he takes the damp cloth to clean you up and tosses it over in the direction of the rest of the clothes. You scoot over to make room for him and he snuggles next to you. Wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you to him. His chin resting on your shoulder, his nose rubbing along your jaw bone.

“Amor,” he whispers, “new rule…”

“Ok…” you respond hand running up and down his arm that his holding you

“Don’t break my heart”

“Don’t worry…” you turn your head to face him “I don’t plan on it”

To find more great works of mine and other writers visit @littlemisspascal and her library

#Pedro Pascal #Pedro Pascal Characters #Pedro Pascal Character Fanfic #Jay Castillo #Christina Writes #Holiday Fic Time

29 notes · View notes

sweeethinny · 3 years ago

Text

Second son

Summary: ‘You ran away from home?’

‘When I was about sixteen,’ said Sirius. ‘I’d had enough.’

‘Where did you go?’ said Harry, staring at him.

‘Your dad’s place,’ said Sirius. ‘Your grandparents were really good about it; they sort of adopted me as a second son.’

Sirius runs away from home, and we see it through Euphemia Potter's eyes.

kind of inspired by @questions-forthe-marauders perfect art! HERE

AO3

-------

December 23, 1976 - 5:25PM

Euphemia did her best not to cry when Minerva's letter arrived at her house.

‘’Mia,

I know what I'm going to ask of you is totally irrational and you have every right to ignore my request and yell at me, but I don't see any other way out.

I've been noticing for a few weeks that Sirius has been acting weird and seems to be distant from everyone. A few days ago I noticed a bruise on the corner of his mouth, but I can't tell if it was a fight with his brother or someone else, you know how boys are at that age.

Anyway, I've noticed that it's been a few months since his detention has been signed by his parents anymore, and I've tried contacting them but Dumbledore keeps saying there's nothing to worry about - you know him, he's terrible at times.

I think there's something wrong with him, and I know Sirius comes to your house during the holidays because I always hear James talking about it, so I came through this letter asking that if you notice anything strange, please tell me. Or talk to Sirius to see if you can find anything.

I'm very worried.

Love, and I'm sorry to bother you with this,

Minerva.''

It hurt her heart more than she thought it would, noticing that the signs Minnie had said were all right there under her nose. James hadn't said anything about Sirius coming for Christmas, and he'd been there for two years now, even though she felt a little bad that he wasn't with his parents on that date. And James looked weird too; he was angrier than usual, and reluctant to talk to them and getting locked in his room.

When they were at the station, Mia noticed that Sirius had got off the train alone and looked guilty, not even looking in their direction as he walked over to where his parents were - who didn't look at all happy with his presence there.

He had already told Monty a few times that his parents didn't like him going to Gryffindor, and James had once told her that Sirius didn't get along with Regulus. But Euphemia always thought it was silly things that teenagers took too seriously, but now, she felt she should have given more importance to the signs.

“Sirius isn't coming?” she asked when she saw James coming down the stairs, an unusually sulky look.

"I don't know," was all he said, walking into the kitchen and leaving her alone in the living room. Her heart clenched, a bad feeling burning in her chest.

"Didn't he tell you anything?" James always liked to talk about everything with Euphemia, Monty said he was a big mama's boy, but she didn't mind at all. As long as he was going to look for her to get her opinion, Euphemia would be only too happy to help him.

"He just said he didn't know if he was coming." James walked out of the kitchen, a glass of milk and a cookie jar under his arm, but when he threatened to go back up to the bedroom, she stopped him.

"Come here." James didn't like being confronted, he'd inherited it from her, and he used to frown when someone demanded answers from him. But Euphemia had no choice but to do that, so he was going to need to spit it out. ‘’Is something going on? Did you guys fight?” she asked, folding the letter and placing it on the coffee table with Minnie's name down, not wanting James to know she already knew. This made it difficult for him to speak.

"No." He sat up, sullen as he always was when she did that. James didn't meet her eyes however, and that was a red light for her. He was one of those people who didn't mind looking anyone in the eye unless he was lying.

‘’You know you can talk to me, don't you? I care about you two.”

"We don't…" He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning back against the sofa cushions, the glass of milk and cookies forgotten on the coffee table. ''He was being an idiot the last few days, I don't know what got into him, but I was ignoring it because I don't know, he gets like that sometimes when he and Regulus fight, but then the christmas thing came up and I said if he continued in that mood he wouldn't be welcome here,'' James denied, pulling his hair angrily. ''I thought he'd know I was joking, of course he's welcome here, but then he got mad and told me he wasn't coming to bother me this year, and I yelled that it would be great so… I got mad, I wasn't thinking… so he got out of our wagon and went to Merlin knows where. I only saw him when we got off the train, and he was already going with his parents.'’

‘’Oh, son…’’

''I know I shouldn't have said that, but he was being an idiot, and now... I hope he doesn't hate me.'' Euphemia wanted to go to that hideous Black house to drag Sirius under her wing, force him and James to talk and make up, and bring him in with them. But Monty had already told her that this was illegal.

"He doesn't hate you, son." She opened her arms for James to hug her, stroking his hair and thinking about what she could do with the situation. "Did you say he and Regulus had a fight?"

"They...um," Of course James was too faithful to tell her about that. Too noble to betray his best friend. ‘’Kind of a fight.’’

“Does Sirius often fight with him a lot?” She remembered when they had once met Walburga and Orion at an event, and only Regulus was with them.

"Where's Sirius?" she had asked, because it didn't make sense to take just one child. And Sirius was what, twelve or thirteen at the time?

"He preferred to stay with my sister," Walburga said, smiling bitterly at Euphemia as if silently telling her not to meddle where she wasn't called.

She swallowed, thinking maybe she was seeing trouble where it didn't exist. Maybe he really wanted to stay with his aunt, she couldn't prove otherwise.

‘’Send him a letter later inviting him to our Christmas, okay? If you want,” she said, looking once more at Minnie's letter on the table.

"Fine."

December 24, 1976 - 10:54PM

It was snowing like never before outside, probably the coldest night this year so far, and the house was silent when she woke up to noises outside.

Monty jumped out of bed, wand in hand, just as she had, heart pounding in her chest and a motherly fear of protecting James at all costs from whatever was out there.

Ever since they declared support for muggleborns and as she and Fleamont began to increasingly advocate for minorities and help organizations of students who couldn't afford to buy supplies and clothing for the Hogwarts school years, they were marked as a target for the other traditional families, carrying a huge red flag where ''traitors'' was written in bold letters.

Euphemia couldn't care less about that, she was more than happy to be considered a traitor if it meant she was doing good.

“What was that?” James muttered, haunted brown eyes staring like he was going to war.

Her son didn't go to war, though, not when he couldn't even drink yet.

‘’Stay in the room, and get the portkey. Anything, use it!” She instructed him, but James seemed too stubborn to accept that. "James, enter your room now, and stay there."

“Three is better than two.” He continued to follow them, Monty further along and having already made a protective barrier between him and her and James.

‘’Not when one of them is fifteen. Now come in and stay there, me and your dad let's see what's going on.'

''Mom-''

"Don't make me need to use magic to get you to do what I want." She said authoritatively, and that caused James to fall back a few steps, looking at her startled. Euphemia mentally thanked him for that and walked downstairs, thinking that later she would apologize for talking to him like that, but that's because she wasn't risking her boy in that situation.

Monty raised his wand and opened the door, ready to attack whoever was there on the other side, but before he could, Sirius raised his arms and closed his eyes as if he too was waiting to be attacked. ‘’Sirius?!’’

‘’I'm sorry, I-’’

''What did we do on our last trip?'' Fleamont asked, and as much as Euphemia thought it was unnecessary - please just bring the boy inside he'll freeze! - she knew they were in the middle of a war.

''You tried to learn to surf with me and James, but you nearly broke your ankle when you fell.'' Sirius kept his arms raised, and she noticed that his lips were purple from the cold, and that jacket didn't seem to warm him. She didn't even wait for Monty to lower his wand and went over to him, pulling Sirius into their house and hugging him tightly, wanting more than anything to take away whatever inner pain seemed to haunt him.

He looked too terrified for a sixteen-year-old boy.

"What happened, Pads?" James ran up to them, looking worried about him too. ‘’You didn't even answer my letter and-’’

''I...I ran away from home.'' He shrugged and avoided looking her or Monty in the eye, Euphemia realized he had a backpack on his back. Her heart ached so much that she couldn't stop the tears. She pulled Sirius even tighter against her. "Mia, if I can't stay here, it's okay, it's just that I came walking-"

‘’Did you walk all the way here?! It's almost an hour and a half of walking, boy!” Monty yelled. "Someone could have tried something against you."

''It was okay, I,'' Sirius looked at James, and she knew he wasn't telling her all the details and he'd probably done something against the law to not die in the snow, but she didn't care about that now. "It was the first place I thought of coming."

‘’Of course, dear, of course. James, make him a hot bath, and Monty heat up dinner… are you hungry, Sirius?” He nodded, cheeks burning with embarrassment. ''Here, come sit in front of the fireplace… And of course you can stay here, please, I don't even want to think that you thought I wouldn't accept you.'' She sighed, walking with him to the sofa and taking off the wet jacket he wore, waving her wand so that the nearly extinguished fire began to crackle again, warming the room. "You can live with us Sirius, don't worry, you don't have to go back to those horrible people anymore." His gray eyes blinked with tears, and it was probably the first time she'd seen Sirius cry. ‘’Don't worry honey, you're fine now…’’

----

‘’Minnie,

I'm so glad you warned me about this, and I understand your concern.

Sirius ran away from home last night, he didn't want to tell us what happened and I think at some point I'll know, but the boy looks terrified now.

He's not okay, but he's going to be. And I've already sent a letter to Dumbledore telling him that now anything that happens to him is to call us.

I don't think Walburga or Orion will complain, they let their son run away in the middle of a blizzard and so far they haven't looked for him. But it's better this way, Monty would probably kill them if they showed up at our door.

You know that we always wanted to have one more child anyway.

With love,

Euphemia.’’

#james potter #marauders headcanon #marauders era #moony wormtail padfoot and prongs #sirius black #my fic #the marauders era

62 notes · View notes

ncssian · 4 years ago

Text

A Favor: Part Twelve

Nessian Modern AU

Masterlist

a/n: this took so long bc ive been reading chain of iron and in general agonizing over things i cant control instead of being productive 🥴 that being said, absolutely none of the events in this chapter were planned in my outline, but here we are with something new!

***

December brings more snow and bone chilling weather, to the point where Cassian has to drag Nesta out of bed, either physically or by phone call, to get her to therapy appointments on time.

She’s in the waiting room one freezing morning when, in her utter boredom, she musters up the nerve to turn to the girl sitting next to her. “What are you in here for?”

The girl blinks her large blue eyes, taking notice of Nesta for the first time. Nesta uses the opportunity to take in her freckle-painted face, a little wan but beautiful. Reddish brown hair hangs around her face and shoulders, creating a thick curtain from the rest of the world, and Nesta’s curiosity piques like she’s just found a shiny new toy.

It probably isn’t right to compare people to toys, but then the girl says, “This isn’t prison, you know.” Her voice is deep, almost sultry— completely at odds from her huddled-in posture and sickened expression. “I didn’t commit a crime to have to be here.”

Is she insulted by Nesta’s question, or is she poking a joke? Nesta decides to play it safe by murmuring, “Sorry, never mind.”

She starts to turn away when the girl says, “We’re trying a new type of trauma therapy today. I had to get here half an hour early because I couldn’t swallow my nerves.”

Nesta might lack many social skills, but she isn’t stupid enough to ask what kind of trauma the girl is being treated for. Instead, she nods casually as if she understands the struggle. “I’ve been coming here for weeks now and I’ve barely discussed shit. That’s mostly on me, but you know…” She actually doesn’t know where she’s going with her train of thought. “It sounds brave to do whatever you're doing,” she states finally. “I don’t think I’ll be able to open up that much about myself, ever.”

The girl gives Nesta a weird look that she immediately recognizes. Nesta uses it every time she doesn’t know how to respond to someone who takes her by surprise.

The door to Lana’s office clicks open, and the woman herself pokes her head out with a plain smile. “Ready, Nesta?”

Nesta bites down on her frown. She has a feeling today won’t be as easy as her past sessions.

She’s about to leave without another glance at the girl beside her when that low voice speaks up. “I’m Gwyn.”

Nesta looks back at her as she gets up from her chair, and says the first reply that comes to mind: “Good to know.”

***

Nesta is contemplative hours after she gets back from her therapy session, bundled up in her bed with a coloring book. The repetitive motion of filling in the mandala drawing lets her mind wander, picking up and dropping different thoughts like she’s inspecting stones.

She keeps her wrist light as she colors in with red. She finally said Tomas’s name in therapy today, though the action left a slimy feeling in Nesta’s stomach that lingers even now. She also spoke about her sisters, which somehow ended up leading to a discussion of her uterus.

“How have you been dealing with the endometriosis news?”

Nesta shrugged. “I’m getting treated, and my last period was more bearable than usual—”

“I mean mentally, how are you doing? With how your condition could affect your future?”

Nesta narrowed her eyes. “Affect me how?”

“Have you never considered the impact it could have on your ability to bear children?”

“Not everything in life is about bearing children, you know.”

“We’re humans. It’s definitely something to consider.”

“Not for me. I’ve never wanted kids.” A mistruth at best. “I don’t care what endo does or doesn’t do to me on those grounds.”

In a way, Nesta told herself, the health risks were actually for the best. If she ever did, by some stupid loss of sanity, try to have children, then her body would act as a safety net from her decisions.

Lana only said, “You’ll never know how much you care or don’t care until you talk out your feelings.”

“Then I guess we’ll never know.”

Nesta lets the memory of that conversation drop like a stone on a shore. That’s not something she has to face for a good long while. No, right now she has to face her past.

Her sisters, and her ex, and even her father—

I wonder if I came off too strong with Gwyn today.

Her hand stops drawing, and she switches out her red marker for an orange one. This thought she doesn’t mind inspecting for a little longer: she and Gwyn ended up leaving their sessions at the same time, which meant they were forced into stilted conversation on the way down to the parking lot.

Not forced, Nesta self-corrects. She willingly initiated a conversation, and it didn’t go terribly. She wonders if making friends in therapy waiting rooms is a real thing.

Her phone vibrates beside her, breaking her hours-long mental bubble. Blinking dazedly, she answers the phone call.

“How are you?” is the first thing Cassian says to her. He makes sure to ask her that at least twice a day, like a gauging of her temperature. It makes Nesta wonder what she’s ever done in her life to call for such… attention to her well-being.

“I’m good,” she answers honestly. “My head’s a little loud right now, but I don’t mind it.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“No, I’d rather hear you talk.” She slumps back against her pillows, coloring book forgotten. “What’s up?”

“Ah...” Cassian sounds hesitant for the first time since their relationship started. “It’s just that I haven’t gotten my Christmas decorations up yet, and I was going to ask if you wanted to help.”

Nesta takes a moment to absorb his words. “It’s December fifth,” she says.

“Yeah?”

“You just seem like somebody who does their decorations the day after Thanksgiving.”

“Well, this year is a little different, with you moving out and being busy with school…” He pauses. “I was waiting to do it with you.”

When she doesn’t reply, Cassian adds, “I don’t even know if you care about Christmas. I know you and your family sort of ignored holidays. It’s fine if you don’t want to—”

“I’ll be over right now,” Nesta blurts.

Half an hour later, Cassian swings open his door with a smug grin on his face; a vast difference from the stammering hesitance he displayed over the phone earlier. Nesta’s own lips want to pull up into a smile just at the sight of him, but she holds back and narrows her eyes instead. “What’s got you so worked up?” she questions as she steps into the warmth of the cabin and out of the freezing cold.

“The way you ran over here as soon as I asked.” He looks her up and down, still amused. “You didn’t even bother to change, did you?”

It’s true: she’s in the same sweatpants and long sleeved tee she wore around home, and her socked feet are shoved into slippers.

“Get that smirk off your face.” Nesta flicks his nose before tossing her coat off. “If this is a competition about who’s got a bigger puppy-crush for whom, you already won when you delayed putting up your Christmas decorations for me.”

“Fair enough,” he grins. The words send an unexpected pang through Nesta, because it’s partly true, isn’t it? He cares more openly for her than she does for him.

She looks away in guilt, not knowing how to fix the imbalance. Her eyes land on the living room coffee table, where their half-finished jigsaw puzzle sits. It’s been stored under the couch for the past few weeks, forgotten by Nesta and Cassian alike as they moved on with their lives, but now it’s sitting out again.

“Have you been working on the puzzle without me?” She raises an inquisitive brow, about to feel— hurt.

“Never,” Cassian promises, saving her from that irrational hurt. “I just brought it out because I figured we should get to finishing it one day.”

She pads over to the table, picking up a puzzle piece and turning it over in her hand. “I don’t know if you remember, but we had a terrible time working on this,” she scoffs lightly.

“Oh, I remember,” he says, coming up behind her and stealing the piece from her grasp. “I think it’s safe to say those evenings were the worst fights we’ll ever have together.”

Nesta leans back against Cassian’s chest and hums. “It made us a stronger couple, don’t you think?” She turns her head up and back to meet Cassian’s eyes, finding that he’s already looking down at her.

Hypnotized, she leans into his warmth. She only manages to land the smallest kiss against his lips when his hand squeezes her ass cheek. “You’re here for a job, remember?” He taps her butt before pulling away, gesturing to the Christmas tree in the corner of the living area with his chin. It stands bare. “You do tinsel, I’ll do lights.”

Tinsel is harder to work with than Nesta remembers. She only manages to get half the tree done before plopping onto the Persian rug, exhausted and covered in silvery material. She doesn’t mind laying there while Cassian continues working; it’s her revenge for when he napped on her bed while she moved in.

“You know the stair railings still need to be wreathed, Archeron.”

Nesta declines to respond, tilting her head on the carpet for a better view of her boyfriend’s ass instead. “All this decorating,” she starts. “Is it just for you?”

Cassian turns to her, surprised. “Well…”

She pushes up onto her elbows, catching her mistake. “Are we doing Christmas together? Or are your friends coming over?” She hasn’t bothered to celebrate Christmas in years now, and she doesn’t care much what Cassian’s plans are either way.

“I was hoping for both?” He sounds hesitant. “Christmas Eve is all the way over in Velaris, but I was thinking we could go together, open some presents, and come back and spend Christmas here.”

Nesta purses her lips. She doesn’t actually hate that plan. Both Feyre and Elain have been pestering her with the annual texts asking her to visit for Christmas, and for once, she feels like responding to them. The invitation is more of a formality than an actual request at this point; she doubts her sisters want her there after years of rejections, but… what’s the harm?

“Is that a yes?” Cassian asks at her unreadable face.

“Yes,” she states unflinchingly. She refuses to overthink the possible consequences of this choice and chooses to focus on the broad grin overtaking Cassian’s face. “Really?” he says.

“But there has to be rules.” Nesta sits up fully now. “No one can know we’re together, no matter how much you trust or love them.”

“We already agreed to that, baby.”

Yes, but Nesta knows the secret weighs on him heavier than he shows— even if he agrees with her that it's for the best. “It’ll be different when we’re together in the same room as everyone else,” she says. Cassian wears his beating heart on his sleeve, and she doesn’t think he’s ever had to hide it before.

“You’ll also be different,” she adds. “It’s a huge change of pace.”

Cassian drops the remaining strand of lights and smiles confusedly down at her. “What do you mean, I’ll be different?” He sits across from her, before the blazing fire.

“You know how you get around your friends.” Nesta shrugs without a thought. “Like your personality readjusts to mirror the people around you. I used to find it a mix of sad and adorable, like a neglected puppy desperate for love, but now I— okay, I still feel the same way.” She waves a hand in a dismissive gesture.

By the look on Cassian’s face, he does not find her words so easily dismissed.

Coldness curdles in the pit of Nesta’s stomach, the realization that she’s said something wrong. She can’t fix it until she knows where she fucked up, though.

“Is that what you think of me?” Cassian finally says lowly. His usually expressive mouth is drawn tight and narrow.

“Um… What would you rather I think of you?”

His eyes widen in disbelief. “Seriously, Nesta?”

Nesta’s back stiffens, refusing to cower. “I only described what I’ve observed in the past.”

“And what you observed was a desperate puppy?” His voice is cold in a way she’s never heard before.

Okay, she’s starting to see how that might be offensive. She forges onward, “Tell me what you think about yourself in the presence of your family, then.” It’s a private victory that she says family instead of clown circus. But she’s not trying to turn this into a fight.

Cassian is silent, but his stare continues to rage at her.

“Tell me,” Nesta repeats.

His hands curl into fists on the rug. “I think I’m empathetic, easy to talk to, and easier to be around. Is it a problem if I’m likable?” Unlike you are the unsaid words.

Nesta inspects the space between them like it’s a chessboard. “And what part of yourself are you giving up to be so likable, Cassian?” she says quietly.

“Nothing.”

Nesta disagrees, if only because she’s been watching him out of the corner of her eye for years. “I think you base your personality off of those you love, and you lose a little bit of your true self every time you put others’ needs before your own.”

She shuts her mouth, not having expected such honesty to come out of it. Cassian is taken aback, too, she can tell.

“And I guess it’s natural that you’d see all of that as a bad thing, considering your history of being closed off and self-serving to a fault,” he fires back with the flatness Nesta utilizes so often.

One for one. Fair enough. “We’re both right then,” Nesta says. “You work for your best friend because you have no ambition beyond serving your family, and I have no such family because I can’t bring myself to care about those things. Are we even now?”

Cassian furrows his brows, those defensive walls melting away as he realizes she’s completely serious. “What? No, Nes—” He shakes his head. “Okay, so maybe you’re right about me. Maybe I agree with you a little bit, but… If we see flaws in each other, then we should be working to overcome them instead of weaponizing them.”

Now Nesta’s the one shaking her head, quickly lifting a hand to stop him. “Relax there, sweetheart. I have no expectations from you or myself to go on some self-improvement journey now that we’re together. Talking about my feelings with a professional every week is hard enough.” Yes, agreeing to go to Feyre’s Christmas party is improvement. Slow, barely there improvement, but enough to wear her out for the rest of the month. For Nesta to fully let people into her life, to treat them as lovingly as she treats Cassian— that’s a long way away. She can’t envision it, doesn’t even know if she wants it.

Cassian must understand some of what she’s thinking, because he nods and backs off. He gets back up and returns to stringing lights, tossing a handful of tinsel at Nesta as if to say Get back to work.

She stands and obeys, thinking their not-argument is officially over when Cassian says, “You’re wrong about one thing.”

She looks up from where she threads tinsel through fir leaves. He doesn’t take his eyes off his work as he says, “You do have a family. And deep, deep down, you care about them as much as I care about mine.”

***

Nesta catches Emerie’s eye as the dark-haired beauty walks into the pub. Raising a hand and waving, she gestures Emerie over to the booth she’s sitting in.

“Look what I found,” Nesta says with a hint of pride, pointing to the redhead sitting beside her. “A third girl for girl’s night!”

“I was kidnapped,” Gwyn speaks up. “Jumped on the way to my car.” She’s out of her usual hoodie and in a tight-fitting blouse, looking stunning even while seeming out of place in the dim bar.

“She came here consensually,” Nesta retorts. “Emerie, this is Gwyn. We met at therapy.”

Gwyn offers Emerie an awkward smile.

Emerie slides into the booth across from them with raised brows. She looks between Nesta and the new girl and back again. “You invited her here? All by yourself?” she asks.

Nesta nods firmly.

Emerie breaks into a wide grin and reaches over the table to grab Nesta’s hand. “I’m so proud of you!” If Emerie were anyone else, she’d be squealing in excitement, but Emerie does not squeal.

Nesta waves off her friend’s praise, though a part of her wants to beam at it, too.

Gwyn glances between the two of them with slight amusement. “I mean, it’s not that impressive,” she says. “She came on a bit too strong, probably a five out of ten on the asking-someone-out scale.”

“‘A bit too strong’ is all you’re gonna get with Nesta,” Emerie says, lifting her hand to order drinks. “She’s all-or-nothing, and most people would pray she doesn’t give them her nothing.”

Nesta doesn’t know if that’s a compliment, but she supposes there are worse things that could be said about her.

“So, Gwyn, what do you do?” Emerie leans forward. “All our friends are law students and it’s starting to get boring.”

Gwyn goes off about her librarian job as Nesta orders their drinks, and Emerie rests her chin in her hand and listens eagerly. Christmas music plays softly in the background and snow flurries gently outside. Nesta thinks she can’t be doing that bad in life, if she’s managed to carve out this little slice of happiness for herself.

***

a/n: i promise shit actually happens next chapter! we're getting christmas with nessian and the ic in the same room for the first time

taglist: @ladywitchling @sjm-things @thewayshedreamed @drielecarla @valkyriewarriors @superspiritfestival @aliveahaahahafuck @cupcakey00 @sayosdreams @rainbowcheetah512 @claralady @thebluemartini @nessiantho @missing-merlin @duskandstarlight @lucy617 @sleeping-and-books @everything-that-i-love @cassianscool @swankii-art-teacher @awesomelena555 @julemmaes @wickedqueenoffantasy @poisonous-bloom @observationanxioustheorist @gisellefigue08 @courtofjurdan @theoverlyenthusiasticwriter @wolfiixxx @cass-nes @seashade @royaltykxx @illyrianundercover @queenestarcheron @monstrousloves-explodinggalaxies @humanexile @that-golden-lyre @agentsofsheilds @mercy-is-alive @cassiansbigwingspan @laylaameer01 @verypaleninja @maastrash @bow-dawn @perseusannabeth @dead-on-the-inside666 @jlinez @hungryreadingaddict @anidealiveson

#nessian #nesta archeron #cassian #ncssianwrites #a favor #nessian fic

191 notes · View notes

kpopfanfictrash · 4 years ago

Text

A Holly, Jolly Crisis (Teaser)

Posting Date: December 18th, 6:00 PM CT (UTC/GMT-05:00)

Creative Contributor: @underthejoon for this wonderful banner!

Genre: Rom-Com / Ex-Childhood Best Friends to Lovers

Pairing: Hoseok / Reader

Synopsis: At this time last year, you thought you had it all. A kick-ass screenwriting job for the hottest TV show in LA, an actor boyfriend whose career was taking off and an affordable apartment with not one, but two bathrooms. Fast-forward to now and you’re single, soon-to-be jobless and searching for a way to scrape together January rent. Everything seems to be falling apart, which was why you told your family you weren’t coming home for the holidays. Enter your little sister, Sara, who recently became engaged to her boyfriend, Yoongi and needs you home to celebrate. The biggest problem? Returning home means you’ll be forced to face everything and everyone you left behind, including Yoongi’s best man – and your ex-best friend, Hoseok.

[ PART OF THE ONCE UPON A HOLIDAY COLLABORATION ]

Estimated WC: 37K

Rating: 18+

Preview: 2,455

Dear Y/N Y/L/N,

Thank you for taking the time to send our team your screenplay for One for the Money. It was a pleasure learning about your characters and ideas.

Unfortunately, we did not select your spec script at this time for further consideration.

Not wanting to read the rest of the rejection email, you clicked back to your inbox and moved the message to trash. Releasing a sigh, you slumped in the hard, plastic airport chair beneath you. This had to be your fifteenth rejection email this month, which didn’t bode well for your screenplay’s future.

The screenplay in question was your self-written TV series – One for the Money. You’d been working on it for years and had just begun sending it out to studios. If a screenplay was written outside a studio and shopped around after, it was often called a spec script. This stood for speculative screenplay and you supposed that right now, this was the best descriptor.

A screenplay without a studio was practically nothing. Speculative, indeed.

Glancing up from your phone, you saw the flight’s status on the board had moved from green to red – delayed. Stifling another sigh, you switched apps on your phone to check the weather. Winter storms were sweeping through the Midwest, resulting in a delay of holiday travel. This was precisely the reason you hadn’t wanted to go home this year.

Well, it wasn’t the only reason you were dreading your return to Josen Falls. You hadn’t seen your family in over a year but had still planned on staying in LA for Christmas and New Years. A wrench had been thrown in these plans when your sister, Sara, became engaged to her boyfriend, Yoongi.

Yoongi had only had one request when it came to wedding planning – that they be married in the same church his parents had been, a beautiful venue up north of the city. Of course, the only available date at said church within three years was June 30th. Seven months was practically nothing to plan a wedding, but Sara was determined to make it happen. Hence the need to have you at home.

Don’t get you wrong – of course, you were excited about Sara and Yoongi. You’d been the one who introduced them, after all, through your former best friend. They were perfect together and you were nothing but ecstatic to see your little sister so happy. The only unfortunate part about her life coming together was it happened to come at the same time as yours falling apart.

One year prior, you would’ve said you were on the right path. Things had been going well in nearly every part of your life. Your TV show was about to release its second season, you’d been dating Darren for nearly nine months and had found a reasonably priced one-bedroom apartment in a coveted neighborhood. Everything had been looking up, considering your previous year in LA, where paychecks had been scarce, and you’d been dangerously close to asking your parents for money.

Now, you found yourself back in the same situation. Uncertain where your next paycheck was coming from, recently single and unsure how you were going to make rent next month.

Your coveted Hollywood job had been as a screenwriter for The Drop, a critically acclaimed show which ended abruptly this year after a dispute with the main actor. The third – and final – season was set to air in the new year on Netflix, but after that you’d be out of a job.

Hence the desperate pitch of your spec script to every mainstream television producer with an open inbox. Suffice to say, things were not going well.

This was evidenced by the uncomfortable chair you’d squeezed yourself into at the airport, having been forced to give up your pass to Admirals Club. The cost just couldn’t be justified right now. Forlornly, you stared at the ticket you held in your hand.

It had been nearly a year since you’d last visited home. At first, this hadn’t been a purposeful decision. You’d been swamped at work, preparing for the Golden Globes and seasons one and two of The Drop. Your ex-boyfriend, Darren, had been nominated for an Oscar last year, resulting in a lot of holiday parties to attend.

Last year had simply been too busy to come, but all that had changed in just a few months. It all started in March, when contract negotiations stalled with your leading actor, Tory River. Tory fancied himself a method actor, so when you refused to pay him the GDP of a small country, he decided to walk. Without him, the studio had to scrap the show. Better to leave things at three solid seasons than add a lukewarm fourth without the star.

You were told in May the third season would be the last and were highly encouraged to apply to other shows. Nothing had panned out from there and then, at the end of the summer, you were dealt another blow.

You should’ve known things were bad when Darren, your ex-boyfriend, called you himself instead of Molly, his assistant.

When you first met Darren Carmichael in LA, he was a struggling actor from Des Moines, Iowa. The Darren of September 2020 was no longer the Darren of early 2019, though – he’d long ditched the Midwest accent in favor of designer shades and loafers. High off an Oscar nomination and with job offers rolling in, you should’ve suspected something was wrong from the genuine contriteness to his tone.

The first thing he said to you was, “Did you pass a newsstand today?”

At first, you’d been baffled since no one walked past newsstands anymore. Logging into Twitter, you immediately saw why your boyfriend had been worried.

DARREN CARMICHAEL AND CO-STAR, JESSICA AVEC, CAUGHT CANOODLING ON SET OF RECENT MOVIE!

Frozen in place, you’d barely listened while he pleaded his case. Instead, you scanned the article and felt your emotions deaden with each word you read. Darren and Jessica had been caught making out when no cameras were rolling. You were only mentioned as a footnote, and not even by name.

Darren was previously dating a screenwriter in LA, although this seems to have ended several weeks prior.

You had wanted to scream at that point, wanted to call up the author and berate them for proper sources, but you didn’t do any of that. Instead, you sat eerily still while Darren yammered on and on about why he’d done what he’d done.

That had been the worst part. He hadn’t apologized – not really. Instead, he’d gone on about how hard it had been for him to be away, surrounded and worshiped by more available people. You had your career, he’d argued. You had other things, you didn’t need him and what he felt for Jessica seemed like the real thing.

Darren thought you should break up so he could begin dating her.

Numbly, you’d hung up the phone and blocked his number. That had been nearly three months ago at this point, but the sting of the breakup remained.

It wasn’t as though Darren had changed overnight. When you’d first met, he had been the super-cute barista at your favorite coffee shop. You two had bonded over being unable to find appropriately caffeinated beverages in LA and the rest, as they say, was history.

Then Darren landed a role as a recurring character on a popular Netflix show. What seemed like overnight, he became America’s heartthrob. Still, Darren had remained mostly the same at first. He went to work every morning, came home in the evenings and you continued to attend the same parties, run in the same circles.

Soon though, Darren was invited to more exclusive gatherings and slowly, his invitations transitioned from “Darren plus date” to “Darren.” You hadn’t protested at the time, not overly interested in canapés and pretentious conversation. The time you did spend together dwindled, going from Facetiming each night on his movie set to a harried phone call every other day.

Maybe you should’ve been more suspicious. Looking back on it now, the warning signs were all there, but you’d been too busy with work and worried about your show’s future. Darren had been distant and withdrawn, but you’d been okay because you’d been distant, too.

After you blocked his number, you’d kicked him out of your apartment. Packing everything he owned in boxes, you’d set these on the lawn and firmly shut the door. It was unfortunate that it rained before he could pick them up, but that couldn’t be helped. You refused to see him again – you even went so far as to have your assistant, Jimin, pick up Darren’s keys.

Jimin had done so gleefully, perhaps too gleefully, but that couldn’t be helped. Darren had tried to contact you a couple more times, but eventually he got the hint and the last you’d looked, he seemed blissfully happy with his vapid co-star.

Gritting your teeth, you exhaled. That wasn’t fair – you had no idea what Darren had told Jessica about you. For all you knew, she could’ve thought you’d been broken up.

Regardless, things had gone steadily downhill for you the past year. Single, nearly unemployed and running low on your savings, you could easily call this a low point in your life. Worst of all was your family didn’t know the true extent of it.

They knew you’d broken up with Darren, of course – that had been front page news for the nation. They also knew your TV series had ended, but they had no idea you were struggling as much as you were. Each time they called, you meant to tell them, but something managed to choke you every time.

Maybe it was that your mom was so excited about Sara’s wedding. Or maybe it was how diligently your dad had watched The Drop. Admitting you didn’t have a next step felt like defeat, so you’d purposefully kept things brief until you had something to tell.

The problem was none of your next steps seemed to be panning out. Again, your mind wandered to the rejection email in your trash.

“Excuse me? Are you Y/N Y/L/N?”

Blinking, you looked up and felt your heart sink.

The guy standing before you looked around college-age, dressed in a MORDOR FUN RUN t-shirt and wire-rimmed glasses. Clutching his laptop, he looked at you hopefully and you felt your heart sink even further. He had to be a film nerd.

“Um, yeah,” you said, trying to smile. “That’s me.”

This had happened to you a few times before. Even if you weren’t an actress, your name appeared at the end of every episode of The Drop. It hadn’t taken long for starry-eyed screenwriting ingénues to find you on Instagram.

Usually, you were patient in your responses, giving them as much advice as you could without being discouraging, but Lord of the Rings here had caught you on a bad night.

“No way!” he gushed, grinning widely. “I’m such a big fan of your writing. I swear, I’ve memorized the entire first season of The Drop.”

“Not the second, though?”

His face fell. “No, well – I, it’s a long series and…”

“I’m kidding,” you said with a smile. “That’s really nice.”

“I want to be a screenwriter myself, someday,” he said, shoving his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I’m in a program at UCLA and am searching for a summer internship. Any advice for someone who’s just starting out?”

Hesitant, you looked him up and down and wondered how honest to be. He seemed nice, looked hopeful and you were one hundred percent sure the industry would crush him.

“You want some advice?” you said as you stood from your seat. The light on the departures board had changed from red to green.

Eagerly, the guy nodded.

“Alright, here it is.” Slinging your bag over your chest, you said, “Don’t be a writer.”

The guy’s expression faltered. “What?”

“Don’t be a writer,” you said. “Screenwriting is one of the most fickle, unforgiving jobs in existence. Job security? None. Creativity? Only as much as shareholders allow. The industry will eat you up, spit you out and no one will give a damn. The glamorous profession you’ve dreamt of doesn’t exist. The best advice I can give you is run the other way.”

The guy stared at you, wide-eyed and for a moment, you felt a modicum of pity. Brushing this aside, you steeled your spine – better for him to find out now, while he could still change his major to something stable, like accounting.

“I, uh…” He paused, and then swallowed. “Thanks, I guess?”

“No problem,” you said, brushing past him as group numbers began to be called. At the last second, you turned around. “Best of luck in whatever you decide, though. Happy holidays, and all that.”

“Happy holidays,” he mumbled, in a daze.

As you entered the line, you bit down on your lip and began to regret your outburst. Some of your bitterness was based on your own experience; maybe his would be different. The guy had seemed excited and you’d just crushed his dreams.

Narrowing your gaze, you straightened. It would’ve happened to him sooner or later; of that you were certain. Better to warn him now than for him to learn it the hard way. You only wished someone had been kind enough to tell you this years ago.

Actually – a sliver of discomfort entered your thoughts, since someone had told you this last year. Someone had warned you about Darren, about your job and LA, but you’d chosen not to listen. Instead, you’d let your friendship crumble and hadn’t spoken to them since.

Just another reason going home for the holidays was going to suck. Going home meant you’d be forced to see Yoongi’s friends, which meant you’d be forced to see Hoseok. Yoongi and Hoseok were close, after all – they’d become friends in college, which was when Yoongi had been introduced to Sara.

It had been nearly a year now since you and Hoseok last spoke, despite having once considered him to be your best friend.

So, there it was. Reason six hundred and sixty-six why the holidays would suck. You were single, jobless and facing the imminent prospect of two weeks with people who either had their shit together or were a constant reminder of why you did not.

As you boarded the plane and settled into your seat, you pulled out your headphones and cranked up the volume. If you weren’t feeling particularly Christmas-y, you could at least try to numb the pain with alcohol and music.

Starting now, you decided, as you closed your eyes. Happy holidays, indeed.

[ TO BE CONTINUED ]

#teaser #hoseok fanfic #bts fanfic #A Holly Jolly Crisis

306 notes · View notes

justmesadgirl · 4 years ago

Text

I Wish I Were Heather - George Weasley

Pairing: George Weasley x reader

Warnings: angst

Words: 2k

Summary: Your best friend George gives you his sweater and you think there might be a chance that he likes you back but then you see him with the picture perfect Ravenclaw Heather.

a/n: My first George imagine hope you like it! English isn’t my first laungage so sorry for all the mistakes!

inspired by Heather by Conan Gray

requests are open!

It was the 3rd of December, the weather was getting colder and colder every day and that morning was the coldest by far. You were walking to breakfast with your two best friends Geroge and Fred.

The cold air made you shiver. “Are you cold, darling?” Geroge asks you and you turn to look at him because his voice was full of concern. You were close with both of the twins but you felt like you and George had something special between you two.

“Yeah a little, clearly didn’t put enough clothes one.” You tell him as you wrap your hands around your freezing body.

“Here take this.” Geroge pulls his sweater over his head. It was dark green with a yellow G on it, one of the beautiful creations by Molly Weasley.

“But you will get cold.” You whisper to him as you stop walking and Geroge does the same. Fred who hadn't been listening to you two continued his walk to the great hall mumbling to himself how hungry he was.

“No I won’t, don’t worry darling, I know how to dress with layers. You should try it.” He jokes as he pulls the sweater over your head. You had to take a deep breath in because it smelled just like him, gunpowder and sweets. George wraps one of his arms around your shoulder as you start walking again. You wonder if George knew what he did to you by giving his sweater to you. You had liked him for a while. Who are you kidding since you two met and this small action somehow made you feel hope inside, maybe there was a change that he could feel the same way as you do. Maybe George Weasley did like you more than a best friend.

“It looks a lot better on you than me anyways.” George’s voice brings you out of your thoughts, making you blush but before you can reply someone calls his name from behind you two. You turn to look who it was and your heart drops when you see a picture perfect blond Ravenclaw run up to you two. Her name was Heather, she was the same year as you and the twins and of course George had a huge crush on her like almost every guy at Hogwarts. You turn to look a George who looks at her just like he was mesmerized by her beauty. His hand falls from your shoulder as he brings the girl into a tight hug. Why didn’t he ever look at you the same way?

“Hey, gorgeous.” It sings your heart, you wanted to be the only one he called by pet names, but he never called you gorgeous, but compared to Heather you looked like a troll.

“Hey Georgie.” and of course she called him by the same nickname as you did. When they pull apart his hand finds her shoulder, just the same way it had been around you a couple of minutes earlier. You can’t look at the sight before so you just turn and quickly make your way to the great hall leaving them to walk after you. Oh, how you wished you were Heater, you wished he would call you gorgeous, hug you as tight as her and look at you the same way he looked at her.

You walk into the great hall and look around the Gryffindor table to see Hermione, Harry and Ron sitting far away from Fred and Lee so you decide to go sit with the golden trio knowing that George would go sit next to his twin like always. You were sure that Heather would join your friends for breakfast too and you really didn’t want to see her cuddling up to George and act like it didn’t hurt you. Fred had his suspicions about your feelings towards his twin brother, he had even asked you about it couple of times but you always told him that you loved George just like you loved him, as a best friend. Which was a lie and you were quite sure Fred could tell.

“Is it okay if I sit with you guys?” You ask them as you reach the golden trio.

“Why aren’t you sitting with George and Fred like usually?” Hermione speaks up but then her eyes look at the door and just nods at you. “Yeah sit down. How are you doing?” As you sit down you turn to look at what Hermione saw and you see George and Heather sit down next to Fred and Lee, George’s hand in hers. Quickly turning back to the girl giving her the best smile that you can give but it doesn’t quite reach your eyes.

“I’m good, how are you?” You try to not look at your friends on the other side of the table as you eat your breakfast. Hemirone asked if you would like to go on a walk after you finish eating. As you two walk out of the great hall you ignore when George calls out for you. You can’t even turn to look at him knowing that you would start crying if you saw his hands around Heather again.

“Just that you know he was looking at you every time you turned to look away.” Hermione tells you as you two make your way to the Great Lake. She had found about your crush on George, she was the smartest witch you knew so it didn’t take long for her to realise your feelings towards the younger Weasley twin and you had admitted it to her, unlike Fred. “And you are the one wearing his sweater.” Her words remind you that you were still wearing his sweater.

“Yeah but he makes his heart eyes at her now me, Mione.” You let her know. It was beautiful outside, it was snowing and the ground was slowly turning white. “I don’t blame him, she is so beautiful, her eyes are brighter than the blue sky and I am not even half as pretty as she is.” You let out a small groan. Mad that she had to be so beautiful, how were you supposed to compete with someone like her.

“But you are his best friend.” Hermione was trying her hardest to make you feel better, but it was just making you feel worse.

“He sees me like I’m his sister. I will never have a chance with him. I-I just need to move on.” You let her know. “Can we just talk about something else? I don’t want to spend my Sunday thinking about Geroge.”

“Yes let’s talk about how Christmas is coming. Are you going home or are you staying here?” Hermione changes the subject to another sad one, but how was she supposed to know that your family life isn’t good. How your parents were muggles and didn’t want you home because other relatives were coming for Christmas and they were scared they would find out that you were a witch. It was a miracle at all that they let you even come to Hogwarts in the first place, they wanted to be as normal as anyone can be and you being a witch was making it really hard. You usually weren’t welcome home unless it was the summer and you didn’t have another place to got to. Even when you were home your parents didn’t talk to you much but you were use to it by now they never really cared about you even before you came here. They never wanted kids and you were a mistake and they made sure you knew it. The only people who knew about your bad relationship with your parents were Geroge and Fred.

“Oh, I’m just staying here...” You let her know, asking about her holiday plans so you wouldn’t have to talk about you anymore. You two spend almost two hours walking around but you were getting cold, not even George's sweater could keep you warm so you decide to go to the Libary to study.

You finish your homework before Hermione does so you go back to the common room alone, but before you turn the corner you hear a familiar sound of George laughing. You stop before you turn the corner and quickly look at what’s going on. You see George pulling away from Heather, their hands connected and it looked like they had just kissed.

“Good night gorgeous I will see you tomorrow.” George kisses her cheek before she turns around and walks away. He just stands there for a second looking after her before he says the password to the fat lady and walk into the common room. You wait for couple of minutes before you go after him. Trying to quickly walk straight to the girls dormitory. But before you make to the steps George calls out your name. “y/n wait!”

“Hey y/n where have you been?” George’s sweet voice makes you turn to face him, you give him a small smile before walking closer to him. He was sitting by the fire with Lee, Fred and Angelina who was almost sitting on Fred’s lap, noting to yourself to ask about it later on from Fred.

“Just spending some quality time with Hermione, studying mostly.” You reply to him as you look down at the sweater that you were still wearing. “Oh, hold on I will give this back to you.” You take off the sweater and give it to George.

“But it looks so much better on you than me, you should keep it.” He tells you as he gets up and walks closer to you.

“I can’t take it, Molly made it for you!” You tell him with a nervous giggle. You loved how Molly would make all of her kids a sweater for Christmas every year, you had been so lucky last Christmas that she had even made you one. It was your favorite, you wore it almost every day.

“It’s almost Christmas she will give me another one, so please keep this.” The smile on his face is so sweet and the look he gives you makes you want to melt into his strong arms.

“If you are sure about this.” You tell him as you take the sweater back from him. He suddenly takes a step closer to you and his hand finds your cheek. Your face turns into the same color as a tomato so confused about what he was doing, it looked like he was leaning in. Just like he was about to kiss you but then he pulls away and rubs your cheek.

“You have some ink on your cheek.” He tells you with a big grin on his lips before his hand falls from your cheek. Suddenly you feel cold and alone, feeling tears burning in your eyes. Why would you be so stupid to think he was about to kiss you. You weren’t even half as beautiful as Heather is and he liked her not you.

“G-good night.” You whisper out a small sob falling from your lips as you turn around and run into your dormitory. Falling on to your bed sobbing. How stupid could someone be, you were just his best friend. He gave you his sweater because he was being nice and knew how much you liked Molly’s sweaters. He liked Heather and he would never love you more than a friend. You pull his sweater up to your nose and you smell into his scent as you cry yourself to sleep knowing that he would never be yours and you would never be his.

A/N: let me know what you think and if you want a part2! I know I can’t write anything happy, sorry!

permanent tag list:

@smexylemony @alylanaeblack @dottirose @obviouslyoleff @sleepybesson @btzlc @judemoos @procrastinatingparker @spiderman-n @tomshufflepuff @marcymakemagic @joycelovedorial @wronglanemendes @lou-la-lou @spideyboix @nervouscafe @vibhati123 @ourkarlanicoleuniverse @whitoutsanity @spidey-holland7 @living-on-rice @emogril @joycelovedorial @biggraysonenergy @mendesilicious @heartbeats-wildly @dreaming-about-fanfictions

#george weasley imagine #harry potter imagine #george weasley #harry potter #imagine #george weasley imagines #hp #imagines #fanfiction

365 notes · View notes

jilyesplz · 4 years ago

Text

Olfactory Variety: a TLAT!Jily drabble

I'm gonna end up writing Jily's entire Christmas in drabbles before I finish Potter and Evans. Lol. I'm not even mad about it, have TLAT!Jily's Christmas Eve.

Lily loved Christmas, she reminded herself sternly. Adored it, obsessed over it, fantasized about it. Christmas Eve was her very favorite night of the year, because the next time she’d open her eyes would be to a day of caroling and showing all the people she loved how much she loved them.

Well, most of the people she loved.

The deal Lily had struck with her family—James and Lily could spend almost as much time as they wanted together in the week before and after Christmas (almost, because of a 10pm curfew), and in return, he would make no appearance during the Evans’s stay at the Dursley family home from December 24-6th—was, objectively, more than fair.

So Lily had told herself (and James) when they agreed to it.

So she had reminded herself when they said goodbye last night.

So she had repeated like a mantra while Petunia talked over the new Queen album for the entire drive to Yorkshire…while Vernon volunteered to carry Lily’s bag upstairs and then promptly dropped it on her foot…while Lily curled up on the couch after dinner, head on her mother’s shoulder, and buried her nose in the jumper she’d nicked from James until she was finally permitted to go to bed.

But now, as she brushed her hair in the bathroom after one James Potter-less day with the prospect of two more before her, Lily wondered if she ought to have added some clauses. Clauses like sweaters that smell like boys must continue to smell like those boys for the duration of the holiday and fireplaces must come equipped with small bowls of green powder on their mantels.

Lily sighed. She really did love Christmas, and the house and company might not be Lily’s cup of tea, but Petunia was truly happy here. Lily’s sister positively glowed, and that was worth a few cold, lonely days for Lily. She climbed into bed and tried not to think about how much larger it was than the twin bed she had been sleeping in at home.

“Snaps. Snaps. Snaps.”

Lily woke with a start to find hazel eyes inches from hers. “What the h—umfgh?” James’s hand muffled the last word of her question.

“Shh, you’ll wake the Dirtbags.”

“Dursleys.”

“That’s what I said.” As Lily blinked the sleep from her eyes, she realized he was nude except for boxers. He tugged on the corner of her comforter, grinning. “Lemme in.”

“What are you…Did you Apparate into my bedroom naked?” Lily half-sat up, and James made a face.

“Priorities, Snaps. Cold room. Blanket first, then chat.”

Lily laughed and scooted to the far side of the bed, letting James crawl under the covers. He wrapped his left arm around her waist and Lily tugged his right arm under her head, prodding him until she could use his bicep as a pillow. She reached up and stroked his jaw with gentle fingers, his hard lines softening just a little under her touch. “Warm now?” she whispered.

“Almost.” James kissed her. She pulled him closer, threading her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck, and he rolled on top of her and skimmed his left hand down her body until he found bare skin at her thigh. Lily’s tongue brushed his bottom lip and his mouth opened, and Lily lost herself in the heady rush of kissing James Potter for a long, lovely while.

“I missed you stupidly,” she murmured at length, and he pulled away slightly to gaze down at her, thumb brushing her cheek.

“We haven’t been apart that long since November.”

“It was awful. Let’s never do it again.”

James smirked. “A day? I’m not sure that one’s avoidable, Snaps.”

“Don’t act tough. I’m not the one who showed up in your bedroom in the middle of the night.”

She had him there. “I missed you stupidly too.” She wrapped her arms around his middle and squeezed tight, pulling him down beside her.

“Love you,” Lily sighed into the crook of his neck, and goosebumps ran down James’s spine. “Love you, love you, love you. Thank you for coming. Want you here always. But…you know you can’t stay,” she muttered nervously, pulling away enough to make eye contact. “There’s no way to pass it off with the Muggles, and…and your Mum and Dad! And Sirius will want to spend Christmas with you, and…”

James cut her off with another kiss. “I’ll go when people start moving,” he murmured. “I charmed your door locked when I got in. Mum and Dad won’t expect me to be up ‘til noon…Padfoot might break into my room if he gets bored, but he’ll cover for us, so who cares?”

“Sure, he’ll cover, right up until he sees a chance to blackmail us…”

“It’s Christmas. I’m waking up next to naked Lily Evans. End of discussion. Speaking of which…” he tugged at the oversized tee covering her torso, “This has done its time. Off.”

Lily laughed. “I see why you’re really here, Potter.”

“How else am I supposed to give you your Christmas present?” He raised his eyebrows, smirking, and she sent him a flat look.

“You live in a castle, James. I know I said keep a sane budget, but if my Christmas present is a sexual favor, I guarantee that is the only direction they’ll be going for a long, long time.”

“Noted,” he chuckled in her ear. “Let it be known that if my Christmas present is a sexual favor, there will be no complaints at all.” Lily giggled. “Now, to return to my original point…” his hand slid underneath the hem of the tee, pushing it up over her hips and waist toward her ribs. “Off.”

“You really don’t like it?” Lily asked coyly.

“Your dad’s t-shirt? Er, Snaps…” Lily raised an eyebrow and pulled back the covers slightly, letting the moon light her shirt.

His shirt, actually. His Quidditch jersey, with his name splashed across her chest.

James swore. He grazed his hand up her side to palm her chest through the shirt and clenched hard when he found her braless. “Wear this every day,” he growled. “I’ll wear Padfoot’s old one to matches, I don’t care. Fuck robes, this is your new uniform.”

Lily laughed, trailing her own hands over the warm, firm ridges of his abs, up over his chest, to massage his shoulders. “I like this uniform,” Lily murmured, and shimmied down to press her lips to his chest as a chuckle rumbled through it.

“Good point, Snaps. I do need to stay on track.” Both James’s hands slid down to the hem of her jersey, and he resumed teasing it up her hips and ribs.

“I’ll take it off, but you have to put it on,” Lily whispered abruptly, and James momentarily stopped his struggle to finagle his shirt off her in order to laugh.

“Are we doing a Quidditch fantasy? Because I hate to break it to you, Snitch, but I'm a Chaser, so..."

Lily bit playfully at his nipple, laughing. “No, Git, I just…” she trailed off. James squeezed her ribs.

“Out with it, Prig. Fantasize away, you filthy animal.”

She dug her forehead into his chest, a headbutt that quickly became a nuzzle. Nose pressed into his skin, she took a deep breath, ruffling the hair on James’s chest and making him shiver. “This whole house smells like lavender. You happen to smell different, so” (with dignity) “in the interest of olfactory variety, I’m permitting you to wear the clothes I’ve nicked from you.”

James’s hands clenched on her ribs and he pulled her up to the pillow, rolled over her, buried his face in her neck, and kissed her, swirling his tongue over her skin, breathing deeply through his nose. “I fucking love olfactory variety.”

Lily sighed, and his hands, gliding down her sides, momentarily froze. At length, James rolled them over, putting Lily over him. She sat up, straddling his hips, and the blanket fell back onto his legs, leaving both of them pale blue in the light of the moon.

Lily (finally) pulled his jersey over her head in one fluid motion, and James took a deep breath, hands gripping her thighs tightly. Lily bit her lip and laid her hands flat against his stomach, and something in her eyes just then (not that her eyes were his main point of focus) made James slow down a little.

“Hi,” James murmured, and Lily smiled.

“Hi,” she said in a small voice, and she placed her hands over his, brushing small fingers over the hard backs of his knuckles. James lifted just his thumbs from her legs to hook over hers. “James,” she whispered, “I’m really happy you’re here.”

“I’m happy too, Lily,” James said, his voice a now-familiar kind of strange.

Her smile grew, and she leaned forward over him (the view just kept getting better), running her hands up his arms to his shoulders, then down to his chest…

“What happened to the shirt?" James teased, as he flexed every muscle in his torso just to keep her looking at him like that.

Lily licked her lips and tossed his jersey over the side of the bed. “You don’t smell that good.”

James growled low in his throat, crooked grin splitting wide, and sat up to wrap an arm around her waist. He yanked a giggling, squealing Lily off of him, tossing her on her back on the bed, and slipped down her body until his head was between her legs. “You do,” James said.

Lily looked down at him, four very dark eyes meeting in the moonlight, and wound her hands tightly through his hair. “I love having a lady of the night,” Lily quipped, and James’s laugh vibrated everywhere.

#jily #james potter #lily evans #tlat #ccwrites #drabble

76 notes · View notes

starbuckie · 4 years ago

Text

𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬

challenge: winter warmers writing challenge by @spaceodditybarnes

prompt: “it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas” by michael buble

pairing: bucky barnes x reader

words: 2k without lyrics, 2.1k with lyrics

warnings: i genuinely don’t think i can say anything besides FLUFF, oh wait theres some mentions of the shmexy sex (i promise im a functioning person)

summary: in which they take a little holiday stroll and talk about what they are.

a/n: THIS MADE ME VERY HAPPY THANK YOU FOR HOSTING THIS CHALLENGE JADE!!! i kinda veered off the idea of christmas with this one, but my mind created another idea and i kinda just went with the flow. anyways, i really enjoyed writing this one, and i hope you all had a lovely holiday season <3 LOTS OF LOVE Y’ALL

main masterlist || sebastian stan characters masterlist

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Everywhere you go

Take a look at the five and ten, it’s glistening once again

With candy cane and silver lanes that glow

Snow sprinkled to the buildings and sidewalks of Midtown Manhattan, making the traffic clog up to the oh so lovely sounds of taxis and cars honking. It was far from what people pictured it, really, New York was absolute hell during the holiday season. Sloshing boots and teens smoking pot outside the scantily decorated discount store that held very little, sad-looking Christmas lights.

It didn’t bother Bucky. No, he had never been a big fan of the holiday season. Even back in the forties, with his ma and little sisters, they had never been huge on celebrating Christmas, instead choosing to work those shifts during the holiday so they could make a buck or two more to hold them over. Now in the twenty-first century, the holiday just reminded him how truly lonely he was, everyone and everything he used to know long gone.

But then he found Y/N. Granted, it had not been a formal introduction. The poor girl had nearly damn run him over with her motorcycle for Christ’s sake, but nonetheless she crawled into his heart that cold December morning two years ago, and had not left ever since.

Now she walked by his side at Rockefeller Center, her cold fingers intertwined with his warm ones, admiring the tree while he admired her. He already had every part of her memorized, from late night escapades in the sheets to studying the slope of her nose at team breakfasts. Even when he wasn’t with her, he was always looking at her, unable to pull his eyes away from Y/N’s radiance.

This little… dalliance of theirs had only started a year back, and they had still yet to put a label on it. Sam had called it friends with benefits, Sharon called it being a couple without the name. Bucky had shut both of those ideas down, claiming that they were taking it slow and weren’t looking to call it anything yet they still had not really talked about it. Was it really worth ruining the bond he had with the girl he fell madly in love with? Whatever it was, they had never taken time out of their day to actually discuss what they meant to each other, but, God, he’d be a liar if he said he didn’t want to know.

“Bucky?” Her sweet voice brought him out of his thoughts, the glittering red and white lights of the Christmas tree reflecting in her eyes. “You seem kind of distracted right now, sweetheart, are you bored? We can head back to the compound if you like.”

He smiled at her worried tone, delicately kissing the tip of her nose. “‘M just thinking, doll, wanna stay as long as I can out here with you.”

The grin he received in return was breathtaking, her red-painted lips turned upwards and a little twinkle (literally and metaphorically) in her eyes. “Good.”

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Toys in every store

But the prettiest sight to see, is the holly that will be

On your own front door

“Oh, look at that helicopter, Buck! That’s so cool!” Y/N pointed at a little boy in the store controlling the airborne toy with a small remote. “They didn't have those when I was a kid, I just had my Tamagotchi.”

He scrunched his nose, staring at her with an emotion that could be described as nothing other than distaste. “What the hell is a Tamagotchi?”

“A Tamagotchi was like this little digital pet thing that you could take care of, mainly used for kids who were trying to prove to their parents that they could take care of a real pet. That’s why I had one at least, but I never did get a tabby cat like I wanted.” Y/N continued to ramble about her weird pet thing as they walked through the toy store, though Bucky didn’t really care. But he’d never stop her either. The way her eyes lit up in childlike wonder and her fascination with the toys on the shelves was too precious to destroy. This was the girl who he had seen slit throats and blow aliens’ brains out, and in the moment she was ogling an American Girl Doll like it was the last pancake at the breakfast table.

Y/N finally convinced herself that she was done looking at the toys, claiming that she was too mature for such things (she really wasn’t), but he let her lead him out the door, before she halted right in the doorway. “What is it, honey?”

“Mistletoe.” He glanced up at the little sprig of green and red berries above their heads, hanging by a small strand of twine. A small group of kids with families stood around, watching them with both happy and annoyed faces. How could they not notice Y/N L/N and Bucky Barnes? Bucky’s vibranium arm may have been recognizable, but Y/N’s cheery, a little-louder-than-normal humming had caused a little group to watch them throughout the store. “I think they’re waiting for us to kiss, Buck.”

She leaned into him, placing her lips on his and placing her freezing hands on his cheekbones. Though Bucky had never been big on PDA, the rest of the world seemed to slip away when he was with her. He grinned into her lips, hugging her tightly around the waist so she squealed. When he forced herself away from her intoxicating mouth, she was sporting a bright smile and smudged lipstick that had rubbed off onto his.

Giggling, she took her thumb and swiped off some of the red residue she had left. “You had a little something there, sweetheart.”

A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots

Is the wish of Barney and Ben

Dolls that’ll talk and will go for a walk

Is the hope of Janice and Jen

Bucky watched Y/N point out all the different street cart vendors as they walked to Radio City Music Hall. She’d insisted that they go look at the window displays there as well, and who was he to argue? Strangely enough, they hadn’t talked much, other than the occasional “are you cold” from Bucky, to which Y/N assured him she was not. Her quiet voice sang the lyrics to Last Christmas when a little girl stopped in front of them, two auburn braids and green eyes boring straight into hers.

The small child pulled on Y/N’s skirt, a silent plea to go down to her height. “Hi there, are you lost, sweetie?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” she looked back to an older woman, who gave her a thumbs up and a smile, “because you are my favorite superhero and I hope you have a very good Christmas.”

Y/N nearly melted at the toothless smile the girl, who she assumed was named Sadie by the necklace she wore. “Thank you so much, sweetheart. I hope you have a good Christmas too, and do you know this guy?” She dragged Bucky down next to her, the large, buff man hulking over the small girl. “This is my friend Bucky, do you know him?”

He eyed her warily, as if he were absolutely terrified of the tiny human. “You’re the Winter Soldier!”

Uh oh. The name was one that struck a chord of fear through everyone, still in shock of the events that had taken place in D.C. in 2014. While he and Sam had tried to label a new brand for the Avengers, people didn’t forget all the horrors of HYDRA and their prized assassin. Of course it hadn’t been him, even he knew that, but trying to convince people otherwise still made him feel guilty.

“You’re my second favorite Avenger, after Y/N, of course.” Sadie brought her hand to hover over Bucky’s vibranium one, her eyes wide with excitement. “Mr. Bucky, can I touch your metal arm?”

The man in question could barely utter out a word, muttering some sort of agreement before nodding with a timid smile. Giddily, she touched his arm, feeling all the cool ridges of gold-plated vibranium against the gun-grey metal. Sadie continued to pelt questions at him, about Sam and Redwing to his “adventures” with Y/N on the team.

Bucky, though shy at first, got more and more relaxed as they continued their conversation, his grin growing wider. Y/N loved her fans, she loved them so, so dearly, but seeing them interact with the man she loved was something different. Not a bad different, but a word that could only be described as pure joy.

“Darling, I think we better leave Ms. L/N and Mr. Barnes alone. Say thank you and happy holidays.” The little girl looked sad, turning to look at her mom with a little pout, but she reluctantly obliged and soon the duo were off, into the crowded streets once again.

“Y’know once upon a time I had dreamed about having kids,” Bucky commented. They walked along the sidewalks in a comfortable quiet after the encounter with Sadie, but Bucky’s mind had not stopped reeling from the happiness his conversation brought him. “Was gonna come home from the war, settle down with a gal, and live to be at least seventy years old.”

“Well, I can tell you you’re good on the last bit of that, Buck.” He snorted at her jab at his age, something that has become a norm for their little makeshift family of four. “What do you want now?”

He stopped in his tracks and looked over at her with a fond tilt of his lips. “Oh, just something real special.”

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Toys in every store

But the prettiest sight to see, is the holly that will be

On your own front door

“Y/N, what are we?” She glanced over at him from where they sat on the Met stairs, giving their feet a break from walking for hours.

“What do you mean, Buck?”

He grabbed her hands and held them to his chest, trying to make her understand the amount of confusion and impatience he had with this one burdening question. “We’ve been sleeping together for a year, Y/N. We make each other breakfast, we go out together, I literally have half of my closet dedicated to your stuff, but even after all that we haven’t given us a name yet.”

Y/N sat in stunned silence, staring at the outburst from the man in front of her. To be completely honest she had never really thought about the question, choosing to enjoy each second she got to spend with the wonderful man with her. What she had noticed however, was how whenever they parted ways or were in the most intimate of moments, three little words nearly slipped off of her tongue. Every. Single. Time.

“Well, what do you want to be, Bucky?”

“I want to be the man you love. I want to be the man who loves you with his entire heart, though I like to think I already am. I want you to be my best gal more than anything in the world, and that I want to be the man who gets to hold and love you every night.” Slowly they drifted to each other, a magnetic pull bringing them to each other. “What do you think, doll?”

“I think,” her lips split into a grin, hovering over his own with the exact same expression, “that I want to be your best girl and the one who gets to make you pancakes in the morning and I want to be the one you get a cat with, who we’ll name Alpine because if I know you, names are the most important part of having a pet. I want to be held and loved by you every night, Bucky Barnes, and I am the girl who loves you more than anything in this entire damn world.”

Not another second to spare, Bucky pulled Y/N in close, letting himself get lost in one of her sweet, loving kisses, finally knowing that he was hers and she was his. At long last.

Sure, it’s Christmas once more

151 notes · View notes

ghstandpucks · 4 years ago

Text

Cutting Edge ~ Nathan MacKinnon Ch. 9

Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well! Sorry this chapter took forever! But I hope you enjoy it! I have the rest of the series planned out, and it should be about 6 more chapters. I’m excited about where it is going and I hope you are too! Stay healthy, safe, and enjoy! Let me know what you think! Tags are open!

Prologue Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5 Ch.6 Ch.7 Ch.8

The following Wednesday you were at practice. Bednar had the team gathered in a semi-circle as he informed them of the upcoming schedule before the holidays. “Oh and Coach Y/L/N. In case you didn’t know, we are playing Anaheim this Sunday,” Bednar turned back toward you.

“Oh yay!” you said, clapping your hands together quickly. You couldn’t help but be excited to see some of your friends on the Ducks again. As soon as you said that though, you had many unapproving looks shot at you from the team. “I mean, oh no?”

“Who are you really rooting for Coach?” Tyson called out.

“You guys, obviously,” you stated flippantly. “I know how they skate and I know how their skating coach skates so we got this.” Bednar chuckled.

“I was going to ask if there is anything we should know about your time with the team?” he asked, and you looked at him questioningly.

“No?” you said, confused at where he was going with this.

“Just asking. Hockey players make comments and I would like for us to be prepared if they say anything about you,” he explained.

“Oh,” you said, and thought for a second. “To be honest, I was mostly just around them for a quick showcase, charity events, or galas that they had. I have a few good friends from the team but I don’t think they would really say anything. I was more like everyone’s little sister when I was with them,” you said and everyone nodded. “Oh! If you hear the term ‘little dove’, that’s me.”

“Little dove?” Gabe asked, and you shrugged.

“A few called me little duck at first. But then after a showcase at one of their events I had performed in this greyish-pink dress and Getzlaf started to call me little dove. The rest of the team just followed along,” you explained. You caught eyes with Nate, and he smiled softly. You had just told him about that nickname last week when he saw a comment on your Instagram post from Hampus Lindholm. You had posted a funny picture from practice of Tyson laying flat on the ice and you doubled over laughing at him because he had seemingly tripped over nothing. You accompanied it with a caption of how the team always seems to brighten your day with a laughing emoji. Hampus commented “We feel so betrayed little dove.”

After practice that day, Nate was over at your apartment after having gone to the store to get stuff for dinner. You wanted to cook that night, so he thought it was only fair if he bought the groceries. Since the two of you had started dating, you tended to stay in at his or your place, not wanting to fuel rumors. A picture of the two of you dancing at the gala was posted recently, the media team not thinking much of it, but oh boy did it spread like wildfire. While your fans thought it was cute, Nate’s fans were a mix. You were starting to see how vicious some hockey fans could be.

You were finishing the shrimp for shrimp scampi when Nate came up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist. “I have a question,” he mumbled into the hair at the top of your head. You hummed, encouraging him to go on. “What do you want for Christmas?” he asked. You smiled, forgetting that it was already December.

“Nothing,” you said simply.

“There has to be something,” Nate stole a shrimp from the pan and you batted his hand away. He chuckled and kissed your cheek. You finished the dish, turned off the stove, and turned to face him.

“Well, there is something,” you smiled up at him. Nate smiled back at you, raising his eyebrow in question. “A unicorn.” Nate’s face fell and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“Seriously Y/N?”

“Actually, in all seriousness, I want a unicorn that poops rainbows. But I know those are hard to find,” you laughed as Nate rolled his eyes at you. He maneuvered you away from the stove and lifted you onto the counter, standing in between your legs.

“Why are you being difficult?” Nate asked, humor in his voice.

“Well what do you want for Christmas?” you asked, smiling widely at him. Nate shrugged.

“I don’t need anything,” he said.

“It’s not about what you need. What do you want?”

“Nothing.” Nate smiled mockingly at you.

“You can’t say nothing and expect me to tell you something!” You laughed. The conversation went on like this for another 10 minutes, neither one of you giving in. You kept up with wanting a unicorn, much to Nate’s dismay. He knew he wasn’t the most romantic, and really wanted to get this right with you. Since he wouldn’t tell you anything though, you didn’t budge either. It seemed like you had both met your match when it came to stubbornness.

A while later, Nate had just got out of the shower and you were finishing putting the dishes away from dinner. As you turned your lights off and made sure your front door was locked, you looked out the window and immediately smiled. It was snowing. Running into your bedroom, you started to grab your big coat and a beanie, shoving your feet into a pair of boots. “Going somewhere?” Nate asked as he walked out of the bathroom, highly confused.

“It’s snowing outside! Let’s go!” you squealed, throwing his shirt and sweatshirt at him.

“This isn’t the first time it’s snowed since you’ve been here Y/N,” Nate chuckled, but continued to get dressed to go outside.

“Yes, but it usually happens when I’m sleeping or at the rink! I haven’t been out while it’s snowing yet!” You bounced around your room, continuing to check the window to make sure snow was still falling.

“It’s just snow,” Nate said, finally finishing putting his shoes on. You grabbed his hand and pulled him to your front door.

“Yes, but I’m from Southern California! I always had to drive to the snow. I want to go outside while it’s coming down actually!” You grabbed your keys and left your apartment. Nate allowed you to drag him along, silently amused at your excitement. Luckily for the two of you, your apartment building had a secluded courtyard in the middle so you didn’t have to go out front to the main street. This allowed Nate and you not to worry about being seen together this late at night. That would definitely be the source of more speculation.

Once outside, you giggled with excitement and ran to the middle of the empty courtyard. Looking up toward the sky, you stuck your tongue out to catch the snow as it came down. Nate walked up beside you and grabbed your hand. You took out your phone and had Nate take a picture of the two of you, realizing you really didn’t have any. What better way to commemorate your first snow in Colorado than with Nate? After spinning around all excited for a moment, you walked back over to Nate and wrapped your arms around him, burying your face into his sweatshirt as your nose was starting to freeze. Nate held you close to him, looking down and tilting your chin up so you met his eyes. He chuckled softly at your red cheeks and nose, leaning down and fitting his lips to yours. The two of you stood there for a moment, lost in a blissful bubble you had created. You pulled away slightly and shivered, the cold starting to get to you. Nate smiled softly and kissed your forehead. “Let’s get you inside before you freeze,” he muttered, taking your hand and leading you back up to your apartment. Once back in your apartment and in your pajamas, you crawled into bed and over to Nate who was already laying down looking through his phone. You cuddled into his side and weaved your legs with his.

“Jesus babe! Your feet are freezing!” he jumped slightly, putting his phone down. You laughed but didn’t move.

“Poor circulation from tying my skates too tight over the years. Sorry,” you giggled. Nate shook his head, but didn’t bother moving. If being with you meant dealing with cold feet, he didn’t think that was a bad price to pay.

~ ~ ~

Sunday had arrived and it brought with it the Ducks. You were currently standing by the bench with the other coaches as the team was warming up. You had just finished talking with Bradie Tennell, the skating coach for the Ducks. The two of you were on the Olympic team together and had become good friends. She let you know that the team had been good to her so far, and that made you happy. You were leaning against the board when Ryan Getzlaf skated up to you.

“How are they treating you, little dove?” he asked, and you smiled at the familiarity of the name. The question didn’t surprise you; he had always been protective. You were young and talented when you first started to skate in Anaheim, and some of the rookies took interest in you. Being so focused on making the Olympic team though, you barley noticed. The captain announced one practice that you were off limits, and they complied. After that it seemed the whole team had become extra protective of you.

“Good! They’re a good group. I like it here,” you answered honestly. He nodded and looked back out over the ice.

“Is that why it looks like I’m about to get in a fight with 29 tonight?” Ryan smirked at you. You found Nate on the ice and smiled at him, and the tension in his jaw seemed to release as he went back to what he was doing. Nate knew you were friends with the Ducks and figured some may go talk to you; but he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy that they could talk to you so openly and no one would question it while the two of you had to date secretly.

“He’s just protective like you are,” you tried to laugh it off, but Ryan gave you a look that said you were not fooling him. You smiled sweetly and he shook his head.

“Whatever you say little dove,” Ryan said and skated off.

“Be nice!” you yelled after him and he let out a laugh.

“Will you stop fraternizing with the enemy Coach?” Tyson asked skating into the box.

“Just for you Tyson,” you winked at him.

Later, the third period had just began and the teams were tied. The whole game had been a back and forth with scoring. A few times when one of the Ducks would skate by, they would say hi, wave, or wink at you. The winking seemed to happen only when Nate was on the bench, and you were wondering if Ryan had said anything. You needed to work on being a better liar.

Nate was on the ice when Hampus Lindholm skated by before a face off. “You know, we were all sad when Y/N left us to come here. I would think she’s a good coach,” Hampus judged Nate’s reaction. Nate side-eyed him, but didn’t say anything. “She’s cute too,” Hampus pushed a bit further. The Ducks’ captain had said that chirping about Y/N was off limits, but he had also said he felt it may get under MacKinnon’s skin. When you talked about being friends with some of the Ducks, Hampus was one of them. He didn’t want to be disrespectful toward you, but he thought it would be fun to see if he could push the center’s buttons. Nate took a deep breath and continued to ignore him. “You know she was my date to a charity event once,” Hampus continued. Nate did know this; you had told him you went as friends since you were going to the charity also. He knew it was nothing, he knew Lindholm was trying to dig at him, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t bother him. When the puck was dropped, Nate threw himself into the defenseman, promptly flattening him out on the ice.

Nothing was called and the play kept going, but you stood behind the bench with wide eyes. What had just happened? You were so distracted in your own thoughts that you hadn’t realized the buzzard had gone off, signaling an Avs’ goal. Turning your attention back to the team celebrating at the end of the ice, you saw them all gathering around Nate. Of course you had missed it. That was the only score of the third period, the Avs winning 3-2.

After the game and interviews were done, you had said bye to some of the guys and Bradie. Nate had asked if you wanted to stay at his place that night, so you made your way to his apartment. You texted him that you were there, and he told you the front was unlocked. Upon walking into his apartment, he called you over to the couch where he was laying down and pulled you down on top of him. You gave him a quick kiss, then settled your chin on his chest, looking at him expectantly. “So,” you started. Nate knew where the conversation was going.

“You really did just go to the charity thing with Lindholm as friends, right?” he asked, furrowing his brow a little.

“Yeah, that’s all it was. Why?”

“He said you were his date,” Nate shrugged and started to play with your hair, twisting and untwisting a strand around his finger.

“As friends. I have no feelings for him whatsoever,” you explained, then realized why he was asking you to clarify. “Is that why you hit him so hard during the game?” Nate averted his eyes from you, slightly ashamed he let what Lindholm had said get to him. You giggled, knowing that was the issue. “Nate, babe. There was nothing there, nor will there every be anything there. And that goes for the rest of everyone. Don’t let it get to you okay,” you said, kissing him softly. You pulled away and rested your palm against his cheek. “Plus, he’s not my type.” That perked Nate right up.

“So, what is your type?” he wrapped his arms around you with a smirk.

“Big, burly, 6-foot Canadians with blue eyes who are just as stubborn as I am,” you smirked at him. Nate rolled his eyes, but laughed and pulled you in for another kiss. He flipped the two of you so that your back was to the couch now with him hovering over you. Nate started placing quick kisses all over your face and you giggled as his stubble tickled your neck. The two of you stayed like that for a while longer before ordering take out and getting ready for bed.

~ ~ ~

The holidays fast approached, and you were thankful the team had four days off for Christmas. You had already booked a flight back home for the morning of Christmas Eve, and would be flying back to Denver on the morning of the 26th. For you, going home was easy as it was only a two in a half hour flight. You had booked it when you first got the schedule back in September. You were starting to feel bad that not everyone on the team would be going home though, Nate included. If you had known that you would have been in any sort of relationship, you may have opted to stay as well. When you brought this up to Nate, he told you not to worry about it, and that he would even take you and pick you up from the airport.

On the 23rd, you and Nate had just got back to your apartment after having dinner with everyone who was still in town. Since there were multiple people going, you figured nothing would come of it to be seen out with Nate in public. The two of you were still keeping your relationship from mostly everyone on the team, so it was easy to act like you had been at practice. To anyone who didn’t know, it just looked like you two were good friends.

You showered and put your pajamas on, setting out your present for Nate on the coffee table and finding a movie to watch while he showered. You had settled on watching a Hallmark Christmas movie, because who doesn’t secretly love the cheesiness of it all? Nate sat down next to you on the couch and pulled you into his side. Placing a blanket over the both of you, you settled into watching the movie, pointedly trying to ignore the Christmas gift bag he had set down on the coffee table next to your gift to him.

After the movie, you turned the tv off and just enjoyed being in each other’s company. The only lights on were the Christmas lights from the fake tree you had set up, and other Christmas lights you had decorated with. Your apartment looked a bit like Christmas exploded in it, but it made you happy and Nate laugh. You made some hot chocolate, and sat back down facing Nate. Handing him his, you took a sip and set your mug down on the coffee table, in turn picking up your gift to him. “Present time!” you sang, handing him the gift. You weren’t sure what he would think of it, realizing it was difficult to buy for someone who seemingly had everything he wanted.

Nate unwrapped the gift, and smiled upon taking it out of the box. It was a wooden watch, one that you had found on Etsy. It was a dark stained wood that you had engraved on the back of the watch face. As Nate turned it over in his hands, he smiled wider and chuckled. You were able to convince the designer to engrave a hockey skate and a figure skate. Above the skates read “Merry Christmas” with the year, and both your initials. “I know you already have a watch, but I thought the wood was neat and I was excited when the person said they could engrave the skates on it, and…” you were cut off from your rambling by Nate pulling you into a sweet kiss.

“It’s perfect Y/N. Thank you,” he whispered, placing a kiss on your forehead and admiring the thoughtful gift. He set it down and handed you the gift bag. You smiled while you took the tissue paper off the top, feeling fabric at the bottom of the bag and took it out. You laughed, seeing the familiar burgundy and blue. Holding it out in front of you, you saw the 29 on the arm, turning it around to see ‘MacKinnon’ on the back. While you unfolded it though, a smaller box fell into your lap. “I know you can’t wear it to games, but I wanted to get you my jersey,” Nate explained as you slipped it on over your pajama top.

“Thank you,” you said, blushing slightly and turning your attention to the box. Opening it up, you saw the most beautiful, small and delicate figure skate charm you had even seen. It was gold with diamonds encrusted into it. Taking it out of the box, you noticed it was attached to a delicate gold chain as a necklace. You turned it over in your hand, feeling something on the back of the charm. You giggled, noticing a ‘29’ engraved onto the back. “Nate, it’s beautiful.”

“I thought you could at least wear my number to games this way. If you don’t like it we can go get you something else,” Nate looked at you unsure, and you shook your head.

“Help me put it on?” you asked, and turned around. Nate deftly clasped the necklace together. “How does it look?”

“Perfect,” he said, and you grinned at him.

“I love it, thank you,” you said, and leaned in to kiss him. What was an innocent gesture quickly turned heated as Nate pulled you onto his lap, you straddling him. Your fingers carded through the hair at the nape of his neck as his hands pushed the hem of the jersey and your pajama shirt up, gripping your hips. You pulled back after some time, needing to take a breath and maneuvered yourself to where you were sitting in Nate’s lap and leaned your head on his shoulder. Nate chuckled, kissing your forehead.

“Maybe it’s a good thing you can’t wear my jersey to games. I don’t think I could concentrate,” he mumbled. You giggled and pecked his neck, the both of you settling back down.

The following morning Nate drove you to the airport. Thankful for his tinted windows, you kissed him quickly before anyone would figure out who the both of you were and grabbed your bags. “Merry Christmas Nate,” you said, slipping out of the car.

“Let me know when you get home, okay?” he said with a soft smile, and you felt your heart tug at the thought of leaving him for a few days. It struck you that this was the first time since September you wouldn’t be around him almost every day.

“I will,” you returned his smile. Nate quickly reached over the center counsel for your hand, bringing it up to his lips.

“Merry Christmas Y/N,” he said lightly, realizing the same thing you were. You grabbed your bags and smiled, waving as you shut the door and headed into the airport. Nate made sure you were inside the building before he took off, not being bothered by the honks he was receiving from annoyed holiday travelers.

Tags: @bqstqnbruin @avsfans95 @comphybiscuit @calesykar @andreiaafaria

#nhl imagine #nhl imagines #nhl fic #nhl x reader #nhl fanfiction #nathan mackinnon imagine #nate mackinnon imagine #nathan mackinnon x reader #Cutting Edge

105 notes · View notes

thefinalcinderella · 4 years ago

Text

Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru Chapter 8 - Winter Comes Again (Part 5)

Hakone finally starts in the next chapter, which is like, 80 pages long

Full list of translations here

Translation Notes

1. Kamaboko is a type of fish cake and Odawara is well known for its high quality Kamaboko

2. Zouni is a type of soup that contains rice cakes and is usually eaten on New Year’s Day

Previous | Next

That night, Kiyose was planning to explain the Hakone Ekiden entries as well as hold a drinking party. After training and jogging, the residents gathered one after another in the twins’ room.

Kiyose had gone off somewhere after training. Nico-chan and Jouta were in charge of cooking; they were probably making something to serve as an accompaniment to the drinks. Thinking he should help, Kakeru was just about to leave the twins’ room and go down to the kitchen when his phone rang. It was his home phone number in Sendai.

His parents hadn’t contacted him once since he had moved to Tokyo. He had sent them a postcard with Chikusei-sou’s address, but that was it; just transferring the money for school fees and minimal living expenses into his bank account was enough for him. His parents had wanted him to go to university on a track recommendation because they had had high hopes for their son as a well-mannered track athlete.

When he pressed the button to answer the call, he heard the nostalgic voice of his mother say, “Kakeru?”

“Mm.”

“You were written up in a magazine, weren’t you? We told you so many times not to do anything that would make you stand out. Your father is very angry with you. Are you listening?”

“Mm, sorry.”

“Please put yourself in our shoes, living here. Okay?”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing for the New Year’s holiday? Are you coming back?”

“No, I’m going to be in Hakone, so I don’t think I have time to come home.”

“Ah, yes,” his mother’s voice took on a distinct note of relief. “Okay, then. Take care.”

Clutching his now-silent phone, Kakeru stood in the middle of the stairs for a while. In a daze, he belatedly noticed Yuki’s presence at the door.

“Oh, sorry,” Yuki said. “I didn’t intend to eavesdrop.”

Yuki was holding a bag from a record store in Shimokitazawa. No matter how busy he got, he never lacked music in his life. “No problem,” Kakeru answered, and walked down the stairs to stand in the hallway with him.

“Was that a call from home?”

“Yes. They got angry at me for standing out.”

“You’re the man of the hour, after all,” Yuki laughed. If it was Yuki, he might be able to tell him—Yuki was so far the only one not happy about being interviewed. He wanted someone to hear out his painful feelings, so Kakeru deliberately confided in him as though it was no big deal.

“I don’t get along well with my parents.”

Yuki was silent for a minute.

“I see. It’s the same for me,” he said. “In my case, I guess you can call it being overprotective. My mom remarried. The guy’s not a bad person, and I have a little sister who’s a lot younger than me, and she’s pretty cute, I guess, but… It bothers me when I’m told 'we’re your new family now' and get fussed over a lot. To be honest, I don’t want to get too close to them.”

“How old is your little sister?”

“Five.”

“Eh, so she’s more than fifteen years younger than you, Yuki-senpai?”

“Yeah. My mom’s doing her best,” Yuki pushed his glasses up as though to say, Good grief. “It’s a given that family members would bother you. You have to not expect too much from them and keep a reasonable distance.”

Yuki walked towards his room—it seemed that he had given his advice. “Okay,” Kakeru answered, and then went to peek in the kitchen, which had been noisy with the sound of running water and pots falling from a short time ago. Then, Yuki returned to the hallway.

“That’s right, Kakeru,” he said. He beckoned him to a corner of the hallway. “When I was coming back, I saw Haiji at Seijo Station.”

Is he doing some shopping? Although it was a station where express trains stopped, Kakeru and the others didn’t go to Seijou that often. If anything, they usually went to Soshigaya-Okura Station, which had a folksy and mixed atmosphere.

“He went into an orthopedics clinic in front of Seijo Station.”

Kakeru jerked in surprise. There was an old scar on Kiyose’s right shin; even after the qualifiers, he had looked like he was having a hard time. Kakeru had completely forgotten about it in the commotion of training and interviews.

“I don’t know much about the injuries of track athletes.” Yuki knitted his brows. “But maybe Kiyose’s isn’t completely healed.”

In any sport, the best athletes all had some sort of injury, and track and field was no exception. Hard training and risk had always gone hand in hand with each other—the more you trained, the sharper and more delicate your body became.

“If he’s seeing a doctor, they’ll stop him if he gets too reckless, so that actually makes me relieved, but…”

“Would Haiji listen to the doctor? Especially at this time.”

That’s true, Kakeru thought. The fact that he had gone to the doctor meant that he must be feeling some kind of discomfort, maybe even distinct pain. Even if he requested a prescription to suppress the pain, Kakeru had a feeling that Kiyose would not listen to the doctor’s advice.

“I understand. I’ll ask Haiji-san later,” Kakeru assured Yuki.

Kiyose returned to Chikusei-sou before they knew it. Kakeru carefully twitched his nose around Kiyose to see if he could smell a poultice, but he couldn’t find any evidence.

“You’re a strange guy.”

That was all Kiyose said to him.

“There’s been a lot going on lately,” Kiyose said, looking around at everyone gathered in the twins’ room. “Well, don’t worry about it. We’ll get our answers through our running.”

“Haiji-san, you’re so cool!”

“’What do you want with our Kurahara?’”

The twins, who had already been drinking, made fun of him. Ever since the incident with the Shinjitsu Weekly reporter, the twins seemed to have recovered their trust in Kiyose.

“The month of November is finally coming to an end. There’s no time left until the Hakone Ekiden,” Kiyose continued, ignoring the twins. “From now on, taking care of your physical condition will be the most important thing; be careful not to get injured at the last minute.”

At the word “injured,” Kakeru couldn’t help but exchange a glance with Yuki.

“Kakeru, explain the entries for Hakone,” Kiyose said, and Kakeru shook off his worries for now. The gazes of the residents, sitting in a circle, were focused on him.

“The first step is to submit the names of up to sixteen people per team to the organizer on December 10,” Kakeru began to explain. “At this stage, who will run which leg will not be revealed. Next, on December 29, it will be the leg entry, where the sixteen runners will be narrowed down to fourteen, and ten of those people will declare which leg they are running. The remaining four will be treated as alternates. Changes in leg entries are allowed on the day of the Hakone Ekiden. The final runners will be announced before the start times of the outward and return trips. However, once a runner is removed from a leg, they cannot be entered into another leg.”

“I don’t get it. What does that mean?” Jouji asked.

Kakeru thought about it a little, then simplified it. “Suppose Rokudou’s Fujioka was entered into the second leg on December 29. This means that Fujioka cannot be assigned the fifth leg in the final entry change on the day of Hakone. If Fujioka isn’t feeling well on the first day, they have no choice but to put one of the four alternates in the second leg, and even if Fujioka recovers on the second day, he wouldn’t be allowed to run.”

“I see.” Musa nodded. “Conversely, if Fujioka-san is one of the four alternates, can we assume that Rokudou will change its entry on the day of Hakone?”

“That’s exactly right,” Kiyose said. “If there’s a strong competitor in the alternate slot, then they are either not feeling well or they plan on changing the entry of an important leg on the morning of the race as a secret weapon. After seeing the entries for each leg on the 29th, each university will consider its strategy and, trying to read their opponent’s mind, unfold a new strategy.”

“We can’t lose focus even right before the start, can we?” King seemed to feel pressured. “But we only have ten people, so that’s got nothing to do with us. We don’t have strategies or anything.”

“It’s true that we will be showing all our cards on the 29th.”

Feeling uneasy, Kakeru looked at Kiyose; Kansei had no alternates, and once they made their entries, it wouldn’t be possible to switch legs. He wanted to know what Kiyose thought about that.

“We’re not the only ones with a small lineup,” Kiyose said calmly. “Changing your entry on the day of the race can be a good or bad thing. After all, sometimes it won’t go well when you’re suddenly asked to run. In fact, there are many schools that have a policy of not changing the leg entries unless there is a serious problem. Knowing that there’s strategy regarding the entries, it’s better to know early on which leg you’re running so that you can prepare.”

“Haiji, have you already decided which legs we’re going to run?” Yuki asked.

“Yeah,” Kiyose said and straightened his posture. “Of course, if you have any objections, we can discuss it, but I think this is the best we can do for now.”

Kiyose took out a memo from his track pants and laid it out in the center of the circle. Everyone leaned in to take a look and let out cries of surprise.

Hakone Outward Journey (Day 1)

First Leg Otemachi to Tsurumi Prince

Second Leg Tsurumi to Totsuka Musa

Third Leg Totsuka to Hiratsuka Jouta

Fourth Leg Hiratsuka to Odawara Jouji

Fifth Leg Odawara to Hakone Shindou

Hakone Return Journey (Day 2)

Sixth Leg Hakone to Odawara Yuki

Seventh Leg Odawara to Hiratsuka Nico-chan

Eighth Leg Hiratsuka to Totsuka King

Ninth Leg Totsuka to Tsurumi Kakeru

Tenth Leg Tsurumi to Otemachi Kiyose

“Me in the second leg? I cannot do it.” Musa was trembling all over. “The second leg is the section for the aces, yes? Why is it not Kakeru then?”

“It’s pretty bold to put Prince-san in the first leg…” Jouji reservedly tilted his head.

Even Prince muttered, “What are you doing throwing the race from the start?”

Kakeru immediately understood what Kiyose was trying to do when he saw the lineup he had planned. Haiji-san is going to try to win the race in the second half. He’s seriously aiming for us to get seeded. No, if the race goes the way Haiji-san thinks it will, it won’t be about seeding—with these placements, we can aim for a much better ranking…!

They were such a weak club that they were in danger of not surviving next year. They were just a bunch of amateurs that had finally managed to crawl up this far, but Kiyose didn’t know the meaning of giving up; he was always looking upward, holding up dreams and goals, and firmly leading the residents of Chikusei-sou. Aiming for the heights of running. Aiming to reach the top of the Hakone Ekiden—the ultimate intermediary between individual and team competitions.

Seeing from the entry form how serious Kiyose was, Kakeru clenched his fists. If he hadn't, he would have gotten so excited that he would have ended up looking like an animal.

“Prince is the only one for the first leg,” Kiyose said gently. “Maybe it’s because you don't have any interest in the 3D world, but you’ve never been scared at the meets or qualifiers; you’re the most suitable person for the first leg, which has the most attention focused on it. You’re also tough enough to have kept up with the training until now even with your very slow times. I’m sure you’ll be able to hold your own in the race.”

He casually said something rude again, Kakeru thought, but Kiyose wasn’t lying about his expectations. Prince must have felt that as well, and a light came into his eyes.

“But in these past few years, the first leg has often been fast paced.” Yuki asked a question based on the data he had collected: “This time too, won’t each school choose a runner for the first leg based on speed?”

“There’s also a chance that it’ll develop at a slow pace in reaction to that. That’s a gamble,” Kiyose readily admitted. “But even if Prince gets separated from the others, he can still make up for it in the first leg. That’s why I chose a solid group of runners for the second to fourth legs, and there’s no one but Shindou who could do the fifth leg’s mountain climb, right? Musa and the twins should be able to steadily make it there.”

“It is too much for me to run in the ace’s leg.” Musa didn’t seem convinced.

“What do you think?” Kiyose turned to Kakeru. “Musa seems to want you to run the second leg.”

“No. I think Musa-san is the perfect fit for it,” Kakeru said with conviction. “Musa-san has been training while pushing aside all sorts of pressures. Even though he never did long-distance before, he can now run ten kilometers in the low 29-minute range. And Musa-san has always encouraged me.”

His effort and personality were second to none. Musa was an ace among aces.

“You are giving me too much credit, Kakeru,” Musa said, embarrassed. But it was unanimously decided that he would run the second leg.

There were no objections to the twins running the third and fourth legs, and they were very enthusiastic about it.

“The third leg is a road that runs along the sea. The scenery’s really nice,” said Jouta.

“Can we buy some kamaboko (1) in Odawara?” said Jouji.

The fifth leg was good with Shindou, but the problem was the sixth leg, which was Yuki’s mountain descent.

“Why am I doing the sixth leg?” Yuki asked Kiyose, looking for an explanation.

“On the trial run the other day, your posture was very stable. Normally, when people run down a steep slope like that, they’d be bent forward,” Kiyose glanced at Yuki’s legs, which were in a cross-legged position. “Also…you have thick legs.”

“What?”

“No, it was a compliment. Anyways, if your legs and loins aren’t solid, the sixth leg is out of the question.”

“It’s like sturdiness is my only good point. You say that, but what would you do if I get hurt?”

“It’s fine, isn’t it? You already passed the bar. You won’t have any opportunities to do serious track and field after graduation.”

“Oi oi, that’s irresponsible and cruel…” Nico-chan said, but Yuki was surprisingly calm and said, “You have a point,” accepting Kiyose’s words. If it made sense, he would swallow any cool-headed opinion. It was a method of persuasion that perfectly grasped Yuki’s character, and Kakeru was once again in awe of Kiyose’s ability to manipulate people.

“About Nico-chan-senpai in the seventh leg and King in the eighth leg,” Kiyose continued, “I think that when you get to this part of the route, the runners will start to break up, and there will be times when you’re running by yourself. You won’t be able to see the runners from the other teams in front or behind you. Even in situations like those, both of you will be able to run at your own pace without panicking or becoming careless. The battle to get seeded will intensify, so this is an unassuming but important section.”

“Are we planning on getting seeded?” Jouji nervously asked.

“Of course,” Kiyose decisively stated. “Now, for the last two legs, I entered Kakeru into the ninth leg, which is also called the ace leg of the return trip. As for the anchor, the tenth leg, I’ll be the one responsible for it, as I was the one who said we’re going to the Hakone Ekiden and got you guys involved.”

Kiyose only gave a brief explanation for himself and Kakeru. However, Kakeru thoroughly sensed Kiyose’s feelings for the Hakone Ekiden, and he also knew what kind of running they would have to show in the ninth and tenth legs.

Kakeru looked at Kiyose. Kiyose was silent, then nodded at him.

“That’s all. Are there any questions or thoughts?”

No one raised their hand. Pulled along by Kiyose’s conviction, everyone was finally thinking about the Hakone Ekiden as something concrete, and their fighting spirit was rising.

“Okay. Until the announcement of the entries for the legs on the 29th, what I told you is of course confidential. I want each of you to do your own image training and study the leg you’ll be running.”

Kiyose picked up his cup full of alcohol and said, Let’s drink. “With this team, it’ll definitely turn out well. Twins.”

Jouta and Jouji looked up when they were called.

“I’ll show you the top. No, we’re going to experience it together. Look forward to it.”

Kiyose smiled like a fearless king.

After the drinking party had reached its climax, Kakeru quietly approached Kiyose.

“Haiji-san, your legs aren’t doing well, are they?”

“Why do you ask?” Kiyose gently countered and poured himself another drink. Kakeru was at a loss for words—there was no way Kiyose was going to complain, however doubts swirled in Kakeru’s chest.

Haiji-san told Yuki-senpai, “You won’t have any opportunities to do serious track and field after graduation.” Isn’t he really talking about himself? Isn’t he going into this Hakone Ekiden with the resolve that he’s not going to be able to run anymore?

He was scared just thinking about it. Not being able to run was the same as dying for Kakeru. He believed it was the same for Kiyose. And yet, he…

“There’s nothing like what you’re worried about.” Kiyose smiled and spoke, “Come on, you drink too.”

Kakeru couldn’t say anything and drank the alcohol Kiyose served him in one go, full of anxiety. Kiyose was wearing that padded kimono jacket with the frayed cuffs. Soon, Kakeru would have spent all four seasons with the residents of Chikusei-sou.

Kakeru recalled the night he met Kiyose for the first time—the night when everything started.

A strange feeling like nostalgia and longing sprouted in his chest.

---

The residents of Chikusei-sou continued to train wholeheartedly even into December and had a quiet New Year’s Eve together in their rundown apartment.

On New Year’s Eve, they went to a nearby shrine to ring the temple bell, and on New Year’s Day, they ate zouni made by Kiyose. (2)

The tension was building minute by minute, but even that felt good. It was because he wasn’t alone; in Chikusei-sou, Kakeru could feel the presence of the people he had been training and living with.

He wasn’t alone—until he started running.

He had comrades who were always, always, waiting for him to start running, to finish running and to come home.

The ekiden was that sort of sport.

---

At last, it was January 2.

The Hakone Ekiden began.

It was the end of the year-long battle the ten of them had been engaged in. At the same time, it was the beginning of the first and last fierce battle of the ten, which would be handed down as long as there was a Hakone Ekiden.

Previous | Next

#Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru #kazetsuyo #kazetsuyo translations #run with the wind

39 notes · View notes

clouditae · 4 years ago

Text

Let’s Escape Reality

Word: 5.6k

Christmas has become a holiday you never look forward to. Divorced parents, multiple parties to attend, but he’s always there to remind you that it never hurts to be a kid again

[Tuesday, December 24th, 10:15pm] Mom: Hey sweetie! Can’t wait to see you tomorrow morning! Your father always wakes up closer to the afternoon so he can wait while we have you all to ourselves!

[Tuesday, December 24th, 11:48pm] Dad: Hi baby, hope you had a great time with us today and we can’t wait to see you tomorrow whenever your mother let’s you go!

It’s currently five in the morning, your eyes barely open and thoughts not wanting to deal with your parents right now. It’s always the same with those two; one parent complains about the other. “Your mother is always so naggy” or “Your father never listens”. Always putting you in the middle whenever you talk to them or whenever you’re with them. They need someone to listen to them as they bash the other, and that happens to be you or your siblings. The daughter they created. All you want is for this day to end already, and it just started.

Forget the Christmas morning and lunch with your parents, forget wrapping the gifts you got for your family, friends and the person you picked to be secret Santa for. Forget the Christmas party you have later on today. Screw all of it.

Rather than going to see the other messages you got from your siblings, you open a different message.

[5:26am] Kook: Gooood morning beautiful! Can’t wait to see you at the party tonight <3

You can’t help but smile, feeling more calm than you did going to bed last night. You take in a deep breath, finally getting out of bed to take a shower and begin your morning on Christmas day. Plugging your phone into its charger on the nightstand next to your bed, you head into your bathroom where you start your shower. You take off your clothes, bringing your hand under the running water to feel the temperature. When it’s to your liking, you step in, letting the warm water run down your body. Thoughts run through your head as you close your eyes, taking in deep breaths to not have a breakdown.

Ever since your parents divorced, life has been difficult. It’s been four years since their divorce, but it always feels like yesterday when they announced it… separately. It was hard on not only your parents, but you and your siblings as well. Whose party do you go to? What is supposed to be happening New Years? Birthdays? Simple lunches that your parents fought over because one somehow figured out the other made plans with you. You felt like a toy they were fighting over; never considering how you’re feeling or how your brother and sister are feeling.

You suppress the urge to cry as you quickly take your shower. Once finished, you get out and put on pajama pants and a shirt, putting your hair up in a towel to dry before making your way towards your room to begin wrapping presents. You begin with the long distance lamp you got for you and your best friend. She always seemed upset at the thought of moving to New York for work and leaving everyone here, so you got her that best friend touch lamp that changes colors for both lamps when you touch it.

”She’ll cry when she gets it,” Jungkook told you last year when you almost bought it but didn’t. Your best friend was supposed to move to New York last year, but things happened and she did not leave.

“I don’t think she’ll cry,” you tell him, staring at the picture of the lamp on your phone.

“How much do you want to bet?” he challenges.

You chuckle at the memory. Guess you’ll see if today you lost that bet. You write your friend's name on the present, placing it to the side before moving to your mom's present. You begin to wrap the gift, thoughts going back to Jungkook. You wonder what he’d say when you’re at the store staring at an alarm clock you were considering getting for your mom at first. He’d probably lecture you. You think further back to when you first met Jungkook three years ago.

You sigh, entering the café with your friends. How much longer are they going to argue about team Clarissa or team Dante? In the end they’re both going to cry over the season finale.

“I’m telling you, Mina, Sophie is totally going to end up with Dante! He’s sweet and only wants to make them happy!” your friend Rory argues, walking up to the long line.

Mina only laughs challengingly, “Yeah right. Clarissa is the one for them. She’s been there since the beginning and she confessed her feelings for Sophie compared to Dante who acted cold and was a dick to her!”

“That’s because he has trouble letting himself feel something for someone again! It’s your typical troubled bad boy!” Rory protests, shaking his head before crossing his arms over his chest.

“Will you two keep it down? You need to remember we’re in public and no one wants to hear you gushing over two fictional characters,” Ben sighs, rubbing his temples. He’s clearly done hearing this conversation just as much as you are. They’ve been arguing since all of you got into the car to get coffee.

Mina sighs, “Fine. We’ll stop for now, but the second we get into that car, you’re gonna regret ever being on Dante’s team.” She pokes at Rory’s chest.

“You’re on,” he replies in a quieter tone, taking a step forward as the next customer goes up to the cashier and places their order. “Changing the subject,” Rory begins, now looking at Ben, “I know you’re a coffee fanatic, but why bust a mission so far out of our way to get coffee when there are a million stores closer?”

Ben smiles, eyes lighting up in realization. “Remember how I’ve been telling you for weeks that I want you guys to meet my friend Jungkook?”

“Yeah, but you never bring him anywhere when we actually get together. I still think you’re making him up,” Mina theorizes, looking up to meet Ben’s eyes.

“Ha-ha,” he mocks. “But no, Jungkook is real and he works here. I thought that the best way to meet a busy kid is to find them at work. Plus he makes a pretty damn good cappuccino.” Ben shrugs, gesturing with his head for the three of you to move forward.

“Does he work eight jobs or something?” you can’t help but ask. Ben has been talking about you three meeting this Jungkook non stop for almost two months, but never once has Ben actually brought him over. Ben’s excuse as to why Jungkook has never been brought over is because Jungkook is busy.

“No. He has six older brothers, so he’s always with them. They help him with everything he could need, and how to be a better barista is one of them.” Ben can only shake his head as he chuckles.

“Damn. Their parents got busy,” Rory whistles.

“They’re not blood related; they just grew up together.”

“Next in line,” a voice calls. You look to the front of the line, realizing that you’re next. The four of you quickly walk up to the woman behind the counter. She smiles her customer service smile and asks, “What can I get you today?” You all give your orders to the brunette behind the counter, Rory and Mina buying the most expensive drink they can get. She repeats the order back. “Is that correct?” she asks, earning a nod from Ben who is paying. “Okay. Your order should be ready soon!”

You follow the group to the side closer to the pick-up counter where Ben’s name will be called. “So where is your best friend?” Mina asks, eyes scanning the staff behind the counter.

Ben looks behind the counter where Mina’s gaze remains. “Hmm. He’s probably in the back or on break,” he answers, turning back to look at her. “He’s real.”

Rory and Mina can only chuckle at the determination Ben is giving. “Okay, okay.”

“So are we going to start doing secret Santa? I’m telling you, it’s a great idea,” you voice, pushing your idea on the crew once again.

You’ve been dedicated to having secret Santa since last Christmas. It’s something you have always wanted to do, but didn’t have enough friends to do it with. Even now you don’t have enough friends to do it without it being easy as to who was picked by which person, but if you find enough people willing, it’ll be a great idea to try out. When they say nothing you add, “C’mon! You can even invite your friends to join and hang out with us at the party.”

“Five people is still not enough, Y/N,” Ben says, shaking his head while giving you a sympathetic look.

You groan, “That’s why you invite some of your friends over so that we can all get to know one another and then ask who wants to join the present exchange.” You then cross your arms over your chest. “You guys always say you want to do something with friends only, and here I am presenting to you with a pretty good idea.”

They stand in silence, looking lost in their thoughts at your words. Finally, Ben is the first to sigh and say, “Fine. I’ll ask him and find some other friends.” He points to you. “But you’re planning the party for all of us to meet and the party for the secret Santa.”

It’s Mina’s turn to exhale. “I’ll ask around.”

You turn to Rory who only nods. Breaking out into a huge smile, you say in a singsong tone, “I’ll have everything ready. I promise.”

“Order for Ben,” a disembodied voice calls.

You all turn to the pick-up counter to see four cups in a drink carrier. Following Ben, you watch him drag the carrier closer to him. You don’t see him look up and smile as he says, “Hey.” You tear your eyes away from the cups where yours lay in wait for you to devour and look up to see Ben’s attention on the person behind the counter. He turns to the three of you. “Guys, this is Jungkook. Jungkook this is Rory, Mina and Y/N.”

Jungkook is for sure real, but he doesn’t even look real. He’s tall, almost as tall as Ben, but not quite there. His cherry red hair is brought back into a bun, some of it draping around his sculpted jawline. His round, coffee brown eyes glances at your friends before landing on you, a smile gracing his lips. “Hello,” he says in a silvery, husky tone.

You feel how Mina sounds when she replies, small and taut. Ben is friends with this God like figure? It’s not that Ben isn’t good looking—it's more that you’d have to be either very beautiful or funny as hell to be friends with someone like Jungkook. You’re putting him on a pedestal when his personality could be horrible.

“So, my friends—mainly this one,” he begins, nudging your arm with his shoulder, “wants to do a secret Santa and since we need more people, Y/N is going to throw a party beforehand so we can all get to know each other. You interested?”

Jungkook can only smile for a moment, expression clearly taken aback from the sudden invitation to a party where he’ll only know one person. He looks to you, his smile a bit more genuine and answers, “I don’t mind going. Just tell me when.”

You smile at the memory as you turn off the ignition to your car and get out. You stand in front of your mom’s house, letting out a small sigh before opening the trunk and pulling out the presents you got for your mom and one for your siblings. You stack the presents on top of one another, realizing that you’ll have to make trips. However, to your luck and the sense of a sibling in trouble, your brother appears beside you.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite sister,” he says, giving you a side hug before grabbing the stacked presents from you.

You chuckle, “If Cal heard you say that, she’d throw a fit.” Grabbing the other gifts and items you bought, you close the trunk and follow him up to your mom’s two story house. You make your way up the walkway towards the decorated front door. Your mom goes above and beyond when it comes to decorations. The outdoor has lights lining the roof, two inflatable snowmen were on the snow-covered lawn, and as you get closer to the steel entry door, it’s decorated with a garland running along the window and door; a wreath hanging above the entrance.

The door flings open to reveal your mom. She smiles widely at you, crows feet forming at the eyes. “Hi, honey,” she says in her nasal voice, opening her arms out for you to walk in to. You smile, juggling the items in your arms as you wrap them around her waist, hugging her tightly. “It’s good to see you.”

“Hi, Mom.” You release her, but she doesn’t seem ready to let go of you just yet. It’s understandable since the last time you saw her was around a month ago, but your arms are getting tired from holding all the heavy objects. “Okay—Mom, my arms hurt.”

She chuckles, removing herself and her grip around you. “Sorry.” She grabs the items from your left hand. “Why don’t we put these under the tree and have breakfast?”

You follow her out of the entryway and into the living room where the Christmas tree stands. It stands in the far left corner between the stand and the couch. It’s tall and decorative with old ornaments you made when you were a kid. The television is playing a Christmas movie you forgot the name to. It’s old, but the scenes play in your mind like a record. Your sister sits on the couch facing across the television. She looks up to you as you follow your mom across the room and place the presents under the tree.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite sister,” she calls, getting up from the couch, making her way around the coffee table in the middle of the room and wraps you in a just as tight hug as your mother’s.

“I’m your only sister,” you explain, patting her back before she let’s go.

“But that’s what Nathan said right?” she inquiries, laughing when you don’t deny fast enough. “That’s what he told me when I came.”

“You’re both my favorite sister,” he defends, shrugging his shoulders as he walks to the island that somewhat separates the kitchen and living room. He grabs a piece of bacon from the plate placed in what looks like a field of plates.

“We’re your only sisters and can you not eat until we’re all at the table,” Cal groans, shaking her head as she goes to the island to grab the plates and place them at the table in the dining room to the left of the kitchen.

Nathan says something you can't understand due to his chewing, but he nevertheless grabs the plates and follows Cal’s lead. You do the same, grabbing a plate full of pancakes and another plate full of eggs, placing them at the center of the table. Once everything is set, you take a seat next to Cal, your mom and Nathan sitting across from you. You chat with one another as you fill your plates with a little bit of everything. You listen to their stories as coffee, milk and orange juice is poured into cups.

Your mom took advantage of the three of you being in the same room as her as she tells you about that one day at work where one of her students laughed so hard at their own prank that they farted and that resulted in urinating themselves a bit. “I don’t understand why I chose to be a teacher, but here we are,” she sighs, taking a sip of her coffee.

“You should have been a nurse,” Cal chimes, shoving a piece of toast in her mouth. You glance between your mom and Cal, waiting for the tension to rise. With Cal being exactly like your mom; hard headed and with the same attitude, they always butt heads and sometimes ruin whatever get together you have.

“Elena is pregnant,” Nathan suddenly blurts. You stare at him wide eyed. Usually when your mom and Cal get into arguments, Nathan will come up with some stupid comment to ease the tension, but this one was a lot bigger than his usual lies.

“What?” you mom whispers.

“Yeah, Nathan. At least come up with a believable lie,” Cal chuckles.

“Uh,” he begins, adjusting himself in his seat, “today’s not a lie. Elena is pregnant—the doctor told us a few days ago.” He brings his hands up and shakes them lightly, somewhat looking like he’s doing jazz hands. “It’s a Christmas miracle. Merry Christmas,” he says in a tremulous tone.

You, Cal and Nathan wait in anxious silence for your mom to say something. She’s silent for a moment before smiling, eyes getting glossy and tears streaming down her cheeks as she reaches forward and hugs Nathan in a tight grip. “I’m going to be a grandma,” she cries.

Cal nudges you with her shoulder. “We’re gonna be aunts,” she tells you, eyes wide and clearly in shock.

“I’m going to be an uncle!” Jungkook yells, wrapping his arms around you from behind while you’re trying to fold your laundry. “I can’t believe it.”

You giggle, “I know, I know. You’ve been screaming about it since Seokjin first told us.” Jungkook introduced you to his brothers six months after meeting him. Six months after that you were asked to be his girlfriend and now in nine months time, you’ll be a not legit aunt.

“I always thought Taehyung would be the first to have kids since he’s such a kid person, but since Seokjin is the one with a wife, it makes more sense.” He smiles at you as he removes his grip from around your waist and takes a seat on your bed where your folded clothes lie. “I’m going to spoil that baby and ruin Seokjin’s life with how spoiled that baby is.”

“Well you’re about to ruin my neatly folded clothes with your determination to spoil a baby that hasn’t been born yet,” you laugh, grabbing his arm and pulling up off your bed.

You’re not sure why that memory came to you all of a sudden. Maybe it’s because you’re going to be an aunt in nine months. Maybe it’s because you’re going to spoil that baby like Jungkook always talked about and did when Haru was born. Maybe his dedication rubbed off on you.

“We should probably head out,” Nathan’s voice rings, bringing you out of your thoughts. “Dad’s lunch is starting soon.” You follow in suit, getting up from your spot on the couch in the living room. You grab the remaining wrapping paper that was torn apart off the floor, tossing it in the trash where the rest lay. Grabbing the presents everyone got you, you place them carefully in a bag, feeling the weight of it drag your arm down. "Bye, Mom. Thanks for the presents and breakfast." Nathan gives your mom a tight hug.

You smile at your mom as she releases your brother and opens her arms for you to walk into. “Come by more often, yeah? You only have one mother you know,” she lectures, rubbing your back affectionately.

You chuckle. “Yes, yes. I’ll come by and visit more often.” Saying goodbye to your mom, you get into your car and follow your siblings to your dad’s house on the other side of town. All five of you used to live in the middle of the city; a nice cozy home where you shared so many memories. Your parents divorced and your father moved up north while your mother moved south. Both completely away from one another where they never have to see each other for any reason other than something important happening to you or Cal or Nathan.

Twenty minutes later, you pull up to the driveway of your dad’s house. Just like your mom’s, your father’s house is decorated with lights, and other types of decorations on the outside. You can only imagine what it looks like on the inside with your dad’s new girlfriend always being extra when it comes to Christmas. More than your mom. Grabbing the rest of your siblings presents and your dad’s gift from the trunk, you follow Cal and Nathan to the front door. Cal knocks on the door and a few seconds later the door opens revealing your dad with red frosting all over his lips.

“Hey,” he begins, voice booming with excitement, “I’m glad you guys made it just in time! We’re putting frosting on the cookies.” Your dad moves to open the door more for you three to enter.

“Put frosting on the cookies or eat the frosting?” Nathan asks, placing a finger on his chin where a small dab of frosting stuck and wiped it on his apron.

Your father laughs, “You know me, I can’t help myself when it comes to frosting.”

The day goes on as you spend a few hours at your dad’s place. You talk about what you’ve done since you last saw one another, Nathan being a future father, and how long the lines were for the recent Christmas movie that came out in theaters. You opened the presents and ate the cookies they made—they were actually good. Everything was peaceful, and for the first time, you spent Christmas without one of your parents saying something bad about the other.

That is until your dad made a joke about your mom and you decided it was time to leave. You say your goodbyes once again, and left the house. You’ll wait for your father’s apology text; you’ll tell him to stop acting like a child and grow up about the divorce, and that’ll be the end of that. Your mom may hear about it, and you’ll have to tell her the same thing.

It’s your endless circle of bull.

You show up to Rory and Mina’s place earlier than usual. When you knock on the door, a surprised Mina opens it, but it immediately disappears when you shake your head at her. You enter the small, comforting house as Rory walks up to you and hands you a glass of eggnog. You drank it like you’re dehydrated. You just want today to be over already.

“We were just about to decorate the tree if you want to help,” Mina says, holding up some ornaments.

“You’re barely doing it on the last day?” you question, placing the glass on the coffee table before following her to the tree that was also in the corner of the living room.

“This is our friend tree,” Mina starts, tone defensive, “we already have our actual tree up in the den.”

“An actual tree?” You grab an ornament from her hand and hang it on the “friend” tree.

“We have one for the family, and we have one for our friends. All ornaments for this tree has pictures and stupid things from you guys,” Rory explains, lifting an ornament picture of Ben. Taking a closer look you see that it’s a picture of him in the middle of taking a bite out of his burger. HIs mouth opened and his eyes looked wild and hungry as he ate. You can’t help but laugh. “Remember his face when we first put it up on the tree? He was pissed.” Rory laughs along with you.

You remember that memory. Ben lectured you guys for a while. As you continue to decorate the tree, you can’t help but remember your first time putting up a tree together with just Jungkook. It was your first Christmas as a couple and he wanted to help you decorate your tree at your apartment.

“I say we don’t put lights on your tree,” he grunts, struggling to untangle the Christmas lights.

You grin as you watch him before pulling out another box of decorations. “You almost got it,” you encourage, clearly finding this amusing.

“If you keep smiling like that I’ll just leave you here to do this yourself,” Jungkook warns, glancing at you with a small hint of playfulness.

“Okay. Sorry, sorry.” You go over and sit across from him on the floor. Grabbing the other set of lights, you untangle the knot with him. “Thanks for helping me by the way.” You glance at him, watching a small smile grow at his lips.

“Christmas is my favorite holiday. The decorations, the present wrapping, opening the presents, and a bunch more,” he explains, a look of victory on his face when the lights untangle. “Why aren’t you as excited as I am?”

You give Jungkook an awkward smile. You never told him about your parent’s divorce, but you suppose now would be a good time as ever. “Uh…” you trail off, handing your still tangled lights to him. “My parents divorced, and now they’ve ruined all of this by talking bad about one another and always trying to keep you from doing something with the other parent. They just ruined the whole… family thing Christmas is about.”

Jungkook is suddenly to his feet, the lights untangled once again. He looks down at you with determination. Holding his hand out for you, he announces, “Well today I’m going to make you love the whole process of Christmas all over again.”

“What?” you chuckle nervously, slowly reaching for his hand.

He grabs it, startling you as he pulls you to your feet. You don’t have great balance with the force he causes when pulling you as you fall into him. He wraps his arms around you as you look to meet his eyes. He smiles his toothy smile, placing a small kiss on your nose. “Let’s decorate the hell out of that tree.”

You can feel the heat rise in your cheeks. You should be used to this by now, but every time he does something cute, you’d only act like it was the first time he’s ever done it. “Okay,” you mumble, feeling him release you from his grasp, but you’re only disappointed it ended so soon.

Walking to the tree, you watch Jungkook as he gets on the step stool and starts at the top of the tree to wrap the lights around. You stand on the other side, grabbing the lights to bring it around the tree and back into his hands. Finishing the first lights, Jungkook gets down and grabs the second set of lights, but not before pulling his phone out of his pocket and browsing through it before you hear a familiar song play through the Bluetooth speaker you have sitting next to your television. You smile as he looks at you. Suddenly he starts dancing to the Christmas song playing. Swaying side-to-side, snapping his fingers, he looks like he’s never danced before. You can't hold back your laughter as you watch him dance his way back to the stool to finish wrapping the tree in lights. You bob your head to the song as you help him with the lights, then the garland and finally the ornaments and star.

Everything is ready. Ready for presents to go under and pictures to be taken. You’re going to be one of those people who takes a picture of their tree, but Jungkook thinks of something better and takes your hand in his, bringing you closer to him. He wraps an arm around your waist, the other holding your hand to your chest as he sways side-to-side with you. Placing a hand on his shoulder, you rest your head on his shoulder as well. The two of you danced in silence for a while, even though some songs were upbeat.

“I love you, Y/N,” Jungkook whispers after a few more seconds of silence.

You don’t hesitate, and maybe that’s what shocks you the most as you answer, “I love you, too.”

Everyone is gathered in the living room, talking and laughing about everything. It’s getting hard to have everyone hang out, but you’re grateful to see familiar faces smiling. Some are running late or won’t be showing up at all, and it hurts you just a bit to know that you’re all growing and maturing as time goes on. You won’t be seeing these people as often as you used to or wish to. Eventually they’ll just disappear out of your life and move on with their own. Enjoying everything that comes their way while you struggle to stay afloat with everything happening in your life.

You get up from your seat, telling the few who notice you try and leave that you only need air. That you’ll be back in just a sec. Once outside in the spacious backyard, you take in several deep breaths. There are plenty of times where you wish you had their lives—any of their lives. They get over their parents divorce, or their family is still one. They don’t have to mature so early in life, and they enjoy the little things. They love their job. They’re happy where they’re at, but always willing to strive for more.

Your life only crumbles.

Closing your eyes, you imagine Jungkook walking out the back door to comfort you. He’s always concerned and late at every important event. He lights up your world when you struggle to swim above the roaring waters.

Opening your eyes, Jungkook stands in front of you, your favorite smile plastered on his face. “I see you’ve missed me,” he says, a hint of teasing in his tone. You can only roll your eyes at him. “Do you want to build a snowman?” he suddenly questions. “It seems like you forgot the meaning of Christmas.”

You scoff, “Are you Jack Frost or Santa or something?”

Jungkook shrugs. “I may be.” He walks past you and more to the middle of the lawn, getting on his knees. “So are we doing this or what?”

You sigh, clearly giving in to him like you always do as you walk up to him and get to your knees. You gather as much snow to the middle, creating a bigger pile and forming it into a ball. When the two of you decide it’s just big enough, you start to form a smaller ball for the middle section.

“Tough day?” he asks, eyes focused on forming the ball.

“More like year,” you confess.

“Look,” he begins, slowly picking up the ball and placing it on the bigger one, only for it to somewhat break apart, “fuck—life has been rough for you. For the years I’ve known you, you are always the one to take everything in. No matter how hard and tiring it is, you have to just make time for yourself only. Don’t let your parents get to you; tell them off once in a while. They’re adults, too, and they have to know that putting the kid in the middle of their ridiculous fight is getting them nowhere. Also you need to have fun, too. You’re in your twenties and acting like you’re forty-something is not the answer. I don’t like telling people I’m dating a grandma.”

You stare at him in shock. “Grandmother? That’s—how—” You have no idea what to say to that. So, instead of saying anything, you grab a handful of snow and shove it in his face. “Shall I tell people I’m with a kid then? I don’t think they’ll like that.”

With his eyes closed, he is frozen from the impact. He wipes at his eyes, clearly in shock as he stares at you. “I see this is how we’re starting our night.” You don’t have time to react as a handful of snow was shoved in your face.

It’s an all out war with him as the two of you go to opposite ends of the yard and hide behind trees as you throw snowballs at one another. Clearly you’re both bad seeing as for the following ten minutes, you both hit each other once during the entire fight. Jungkook catches you off guard when he suddenly lies on the floor, stretching his arms and legs out and begins to sweep them in a semicircle. You drop the snowball and walk over and lie next to him, creating your own snow angel.

From the corner of your eye, you see him get up and look down at his masterpiece. He looks pleased before looking over to you. He gives you a sad smile. “I know life is hard, and I know me not being here is harder, but know that even though I’m not here, I’ll always be with you. I love you so much, Y/N, and you’re going to do amazing things in life. But you need to be a kid once in a while. How else am I to appear?” He chuckles. “Bring me an Christmas tree ornament yeah?”

You wipe at your tears. “Yeah.”

That’s how you spend your Christmas with Jungkook at the secret Santa party, and that’s what he’d say if he was still here. But he’s not here.

“Y/N?” You open your eyes to see Rory, Mina and Ben standing around you. “Everyone left and the cemetery should still be open. Ready to see Jungkook?” Ben asks, holding his hand out to you.

You let out a shaky breath and reply, “Yeah.”

#bangtanuniversity #bangtanarmynet #thebtswritersclub #btsgoldnet #bangtanhq #bts #bts x reader #bts x you #bts fanfic #bts fluff #bts angst #bts au #jeon jungkook #jungkook x reader #jungkook x you #jungkook fanfic #jungkook fluff #jungkook angst #jungkook au

108 notes · View notes

olivemac · 4 years ago

Text

heartbeat | chapter three | b.b.

Summary | When Steve Rogers asks Kate Stark to find the Winter Soldier, she gets too involved.

Notes | Captain America: Civil War re-write, essentially. Starts just after the events of CA: Winter Soldier.

Pairing | Bucky Barnes x fem!oc, Bucky Barnes x Stark!oc

Genre | romance

Rating | explicit

Story Warnings | mild angst, fluff, romance tropes, so many romance tropes, coarse language, alcohol use, canon-typical violence, smut (m/f), oral sex (f&m receiving), 18+ ONLY

Chapter Warnings | all the romance tropes, coarse language, mild alcohol use, smut (m/f), oral sex (f receiving), 18+ ONLY

Citations | Du Maurier, D. (2018). Rebecca. Virago Press.

Things are starting to heat up.

master list | AO3 link

_____

prev chapter

_____

The next morning when Bucky sees Kate, she’s sitting on the front steps of the building feeding scraps of a meat-filled pastry to one of the stray cats that’s always congregating on the block.

“If you keep feeding that thing, it’s going to invite all its friends,” Bucky says by way of greeting.

“Good,” Kate replies, squinting up at him. “Maybe they’ll catch all the mice in the building.”

He chuckles and sits down beside her. She offers him the bag of warm pastries, which he accepts, pulling one out. He's drawn to her, he realizes. He doesn’t quite know why he finds it so easy to be around her, but he likes it.

"Did you just get back from a run?" he asks, looking at her trainers.

"Yeah." She looks at the bundle in his hands. "Bookstore?"

He nods, "They have a fairly decent selection in English."

Kate hums in response and takes a bite of her own pastry. "What are you reading?"

"Rebecca. Daphne de Maurier," he says. He doesn't mention he purchased it because the title made him think of his sister and he was afraid the memory of her name would slip away.

"A classic."

A bit of pastry filling lingers at the edge of her mouth and before he can stop himself, Bucky wipes it away with his gloved thumb. Their eyes meet and Bucky is staring at her like she's a puzzle he's trying to solve.

Kate looks away first, blushing. "Dinner again tonight?" she asks. "I mean...obviously, if you have plans, but...I'm terrible at cooking for one so...." She laughs nervously.

"Okay," he replies, a mirror of the first time she asked. He's still staring at her intently, but it's softer now.

"Okay," she says, her nerves disappearing.

_____

When they finish eating dinner, Kate asks Bucky if he'll read to her. His words have been few and far between, letting her carry their conversations – which she doesn't mind – but she's found she's lured to the deep timbre of his voice.

He hesitates for only a moment before agreeing. He ducks next door to grab his book and when he returns, they settle on her couch – Bucky at one end, Kate at the other.

He starts to read, "'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.'"

_____

The next few weeks go by much the same. Kate cooks for Bucky and they eat together; they alternate between reading aloud to each other. Kate reads mostly newer releases – contemporary fiction, fantasy, the occasional thriller – while Bucky sticks to the classics, anything released before World War II.

He doesn't always listen when she reads. Sometimes he focuses on the steady rhythm of her heartbeat.

"You're staring," she says one night, not looking up from her book.

"Sorry," he replies.

He runs his tongue over his bottom lip, leans forward, and wraps one of the curls falling over her shoulder around a gloved finger before pulling away. Then he reaches down and pulls his gloves off slowly, first the right, then the left. He pushes his sleeves up over his forearms. His titanium arm catches the light, and Kate lets out the smallest gasp at the sight. At first, he thinks she's scared, but she sets her book down and takes his metal hand between both of hers, holding it tightly. He leans forward again and lets his bare right hand sink into the curls at the back of her neck. He's still staring at her, his eyes the color of stormy, midnight skies.

Kate thinks he might kiss her, and Bucky is certainly considering it – certainly wants to – but instead he bows his head forward onto her shoulder and breathes in the scent of her skin, his plush lips soft against her neck. They stay like that for some time, just holding each other, until finally, he presses a kiss so delicate behind her ear Kate isn’t sure it was real; he pulls away and stands.

"I should go," he says.

Kate nods, and before she can say anything, he's gone.

_____

Kate lays in bed that night thinking of his arm and what it means that he showed it to her. She's read his file, she knows about the enhancements HYDRA gave him, the torture they put him through. Tears sting the corner of her eyes, and before she can stop herself, she’s crying into her pillow.

Kate falls into a restless sleep, and when she dreams of her parents’ wreck, she sees Bucky standing outside the car.

_____

A few days into December, Tony texts Kate to ask how things are going, which is code for: You haven't been kidnapped, have you? Because that would be very inconvenient for me, but I'll put on the suit and come find you if I need to.

She’s blocked Tony from tracking her, but she knows he could if he really wanted to. He doesn’t.

She sends him two selfies. In the first, she's giving a thumbs up – the background discreet enough to be anywhere in Europe. In the second, she's wearing sunglasses and sipping coffee.

Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Tony texts back, and Kate rolls her eyes before tucking her phone into her coat pocket.

She’s thinking about heading back to her flat, curling up with a book or writing some new code to impress Tony with when she finally goes back to New York. But the park is quiet, and she likes the sting of the cold wind on her cheeks.

Bucky finds her there a short time later.

"What are you doing?" he asks, sitting on the bench beside her.

“Enjoying the cold,” she says.

Bucky grunts. He’s always hated winter, hated the cold. The cold meant Steve would be sick – his asthma or some other ailment bothering him – and Bucky would be without his best friend for months. Then Bucky was on ice for so long, stuck in the cold of cryo. No, the cold isn’t for him, he thinks.

But he likes the way Kate looks, bundled up in her coat and scarf and hat. Her nose is a pretty shade of red that reminds him of the color it turns when she drinks too much wine. And he loves wine-drunk Kate almost as much as he hates the cold. That Kate laughs loudly and uses any excuse touch him – a hand on his shoulder or a brief touch of his bicep. Bucky didn’t realize how much he missed being touched until the night she slipped his titanium hand into her own.

Bucky's been preparing himself for Kate to leave Bucharest at the end of December for the holidays and never return. He always had the feeling she never intended to stay in the country long, thinking maybe she was here to escape an ex-boyfriend or irritate her older brother. He knows she has enough money to do something like that, though they never speak about it.

“I saw a flyer outside our building for a Christmas market at the end of the month,” she says after a while. “We should go. I’m in the mood for mulled wine.”

“You aren’t spending Christmas with your brother?” he asks, turning his head to look at her.

"No," she says, "Christmas isn't really...our thing." She pauses before continuing, "Our parents died in mid-December so Tony either completely ignores the holiday or goes way overboard to compensate. I prefer the former."

Kate takes Bucky’s gloved left hand in hers and presses her bare fingers against the metal of his wrist where his glove meets the sleeve of his coat. She never asks about his arm, and Bucky is grateful for that. He isn't sure how he would explain it.

“Aren’t your hands cold?” he asks, frowning. “Where are your gloves?”

“I must have forgotten them,” she shrugs.

“It’s cold, let’s go home,” he says, and a spark of heat catches in Kate’s belly at the idea that he thinks of their little apartments, where they’ve spent so much time together over the past few weeks, as home.

“Okay,” she says.

“Okay,” he smiles in return.

_____

The Christmas market isn't as busy as he thought it would be, which Bucky is grateful for. He pulls his baseball cap low over his eyes and watches Kate look over a table of wood-carved ornaments. She returns to him empty-handed, and he passes her the thermos of mulled wine they've been sharing.

There's Christmas music pumping through speakers somewhere and a band setting up in a tent. They wander the market slowly, passing the thermos back and forth until it's empty. Kate's nose is red again – from the cold and the wine – and Bucky can't stop staring at her.

They've stopped to look at a Christmas tree in the center of the market when a group of kids – shouting and laughing – come careening down the walkway. Bucky pulls Kate against his chest to keep her from getting run over. He holds her close for a few moments longer than is necessary before dropping his arm from around her back.

“Mistletoe,” Kate whispers, her head titled upward, and Bucky looks up.

He remembers this somehow, remembers his mother hanging mistletoe in the doorway to their living room each Christmas so she could catch his father in a kiss. Remembers getting caught beneath it himself with his younger sister, bending down to smack a wet kiss to her cheek as she squealed.

When he looks back at Kate, she’s holding his elbow and gazing at him like he hung the damn moon, which makes a fire curl low in his belly. Before he can second guess himself, he’s leaning toward her, capturing her lips with his own, and suddenly, it’s like fireworks are exploding behind his eyes. His gloved hands reach up to cup her face and hers tangle into the knot of his scarf, pulling him impossibly closer. When they break apart, something unspoken passes between them.

He guides her back through the market toward their building, inside and up the endless series of stairs. Outside her door, he kisses her again, sweeping his tongue into her mouth. She tastes like the mulled wine they shared, and Bucky thinks he could get drunk on this alone. She pushes him away, laughing, to unlock the door, then pulls him inside with her.

When the door is closed, he turns her and presses her back against it. She reaches up to push his hat off, then pulls off her own and tosses it aside. Next, she's pulling off her gloves and then reaching for his.

"I want to feel you," she breathes, tugging at the leather around his hands, “all of you.”

When his gloves are off, his hands find her face, cupping her cheeks gently. “I haven’t done this in so long,” he rasps.

“We can slow down.”

“No,” he growls, pushing his hips against hers. He’s hard against her lower stomach, and she moans.

Kissing her, holding her like this – Bucky hasn't felt this much like himself since the war. And he can't get enough of it. He tugs at her scarf, unwrapping her like a present, while she unknots his, and they both shrug out of their coats. His bare hands slide beneath her sweater, up over her stomach to her breasts. Kate sighs at the contrast between flesh and metal on her skin. He leans back and tugs her sweater over her head, and she unhooks her bra, letting it slip down and off.

Bucky lifts her into his arms, and Kate wraps her legs around his waist. His mouth is hot against hers as he walks her to her bed. When he lays her down, he lets his lips trail down her neck, across her collarbone, and to her chest.

He pulls back slightly, beaming down at her, “God, you’re beautiful, doll.”

She reaches for the hem of his red Henley, but he stops her, covering her hand with his.

“My arm,” he says, nodding toward his left shoulder, “it’s not pretty.”

Kate doesn’t say anything, just pushes gently on Bucky’s shoulders until he’s lying flat on his back with her straddling his hips. She kisses him hard, stroking her tongue inside his mouth. With one kiss, she tries to convey how much she doesn’t care about what his arm looks like so long as he keeps touching her, keeps smiling at her, keeps letting her be part of his life.

Bucky reaches for the hem of his shirt.

“You don’t have to,” Kate says breathlessly, pulling back to look him in the eyes.

“I want to,” he says, licking his lips. “You said you wanted to feel all of me."

She smiles and lets him sit up. Bucky tugs the shirt over his head and tosses it off the bed. Kate's eyes linger briefly on the angry scars where flesh meets metal, then she bends and presses her lips there. Bucky growls and grabs her by the hips, flipping her so that's he hovering over her again.

His mouth finds her breasts, working a nipple with his tongue until she’s panting. He kisses his way down her stomach to the waistband of her jeans; he pops the button and pulls the zipper down.

"Can I taste you?" Bucky asks.

“Please,” she mewls and helps him push her jeans and underwear off.

His mouth is hot against her. He takes his time, running his tongue across her folds before pressing against the spot that makes her keen and slipping his fingers inside of her. His metal arm holds her hips in place when she comes, keeping her from moving away from him. Bucky could stay in this moment forever, he thinks, here, with his head between Kate's legs, listening to the soft sounds of her bliss, her heartbeat slowing as she comes back down.

But Kate has other ideas. She tugs at Bucky's long hair, pulling him back up to her mouth, tasting herself on his lips. Her hands work his jeans open, and she pushes them off his hips, letting her fingers glide across his buttocks slowly. Bucky groans.

"Are you sure?" he asks, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Yes," she says, and she leans up to kiss him deeply as she reaches down to stroke him.

"Do you..." he pauses, panting, "fuck, do you have a condom?"

"I have an implant. And I'm clean," she says, her eyes meeting his.

Bucky nods and tries to tell himself to remember to ask her what exactly an implant is later, but for now, he's too enraptured with the feeling of her hand around him to argue.

When he pushes inside of her, Kate gasps and moans and Bucky thinks he might actually die. It's been so long since he's felt pleasure like this, and he's lost in the wet, tight heat that is Kate. His head falls to her shoulder and he stills, allowing himself a moment to just enjoy this intimacy.

Kate runs her hands up and down his back. "Please move," she finally whispers in his ear, and Bucky lets out a strangled laugh.

He's a goner, he thinks, as he moves against her. Despite his past, despite his uncertain future, he loves her, and there is no turning back. He props himself up on his left arm and looks down at her.

"You're perfect," he says, and it's Kate's turn to laugh. Her laugh fades into a gasp as Bucky reaches between them and presses his fingers against her in a rhythm he's already memorized.

When she comes around him, clutching him tighter than he thought possible, he sees stars. He follows quickly behind, collapsing on top of her, and as he lays there, panting, and careful to hold his weight off her, Bucky has the sudden urge to laugh at how blissful he feels. When he eventually lifts his head from her shoulder and meets her eyes, Kate is smiling.

"Hi," she whispers, softly.

"Hi," Bucky returns, smiling along with her.

He rolls onto his back, tucks Kate against his side – his flesh arm solid against her back and waist – and falls into a dreamless sleep.

_____

next chapter

#bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #james bucky barnes #sergeant barnes #bucky barnes x oc #bucky x oc #bucky barnes x ofc #bucky x ofc #bucky fic #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes romance

23 notes · View notes

secret-rendezvous1d · 4 years ago

Note

Blogmas having the miss announcing she is pregnant on christmas to P and H?

Hello, hi!

Welcome to Blogmas 2020.

Many more blurbs, many more chats and a lot more festivities to come; my inbox will be open all through December this year for blurb prompts for Blogmas so don’t feel afraid to pop in a prompt to get written for tis year; all I can say is that if you’re asking for a lengthy prompt, I’m not the right person right now, haha.

I’m welcoming absolutely anything for this year; any AU, any characters, any ideas.

Reblog, like, comment and share your thoughts with me. Please let me know what you think because feedback is always appreciated on here; much more appreciated now given that I’ve not written a lot in a long while. Please let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

DECEMBER, 2022.

YN was no stranger to a positive pregnancy test.

If you told her six years ago that she’d be a mother to a little girl the following year, who was the spitting image of her father, then she’d have told you that you were taking the piss and that they were dreaming all kinds of madness. So, if you told her three days ago that she’d be a mother to a second baby, she’d have laughed in your face and told you to jog on because “one’s enough for me right now.”

Of course, she’d grown up wanting more than one child to teach life skills and nurture and mould into such a beautiful young thing who cared and loved like there was no such thing as tomorrow. She’d been an only child herself and found life to be rather… different. Especially to her friends in school who were children of many in their families. Of course, YN had cousins and she saw them whenever she wanted (moreso on festive holidays and family birthdays rather than her parents appearing on their doorstep for a cup of tea and an offer for the kids to play in the garden until dark) but it never amounted to the same feeling as seeing a sibling on a daily basis, after school or in the morning, someone to wind up and irritate out of love but someone to trust when something came up that she didn’t want her parents knowing.

So when Persephone was born, freshly cleaned and m minutes old and laying her father’s arms in the most pinkest blanket found in her hospital bag, YN deemed it necessary to silently promise to never let her experience a childhood alone. Not that she thought it was a bad thing to be an only child; heck, she was thankful she never had the bickering brother to deal with that only fought for those he loved or the snotty older sister who told her what to do and not to do with her life but loved her all the same. She felt envious of Harry when she was introduced to his older sister but soon felt that Gemma was an older sister of her own flesh and blood with how welcoming she’d been and seeing the brother-sister bond that Harry had, she found it was only necessary to let her own child have that exciting life growing up.

“You’re not eating much this morning,” Harry said softly, inhaling the smell of honey porridge before wrapping his lips around the spoon in his hand and swallowing the thick textured substance. Eyes focused on his wife as sat in her own world, stirring her tea in her china mug, an ashen look on her face - because morning sickness had been a bigger bitch to her the second time than the first time and she wasn’t expecting it to be as bad- as she hid behind a smile. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I think I’m a little stressed out. I have too much to do this coming week and too little time to do it and I feel so rushed,” she murmured, setting her teaspoon upon the plate that did hold her dry toast before Harry came and joined her for breakfast, fingers curling around the handle of her mug. “I might have to cancel lunch with your mum this afternoon. I need to start wrapping, decorating, planning Christmas day, getting the food in.”

“You’re looking a little sick, I’m sure she won’t mind if you want to cancel.”

“She was so excited though.”

“She’d feel even better if you took some time out for yourself and felt better. Besides, she’s coming next week with Gem and Michal for Christmas dinner so she’s got that to look forward to,” Harry said, plunging his spoon into his porridge before taking another bite and swallowing it, honey sticking to his pink lips, “what can I do to make you feel less stressed? Give me something to do.”

“You could go and pick Seff’s main present up from that toy shop on Oxford Street for me. I got an email saying it arrived yesterday morning so we just need to go and get it. I can wrap the last of her presents up whilst you’re gone and hide yours somewhere where you don’t go snooping,” she stated, cocking an eyebrow up on her browline and staring at him over the rim of her white mug, “like you did last year.”

“In my defence, you did ask me to go and get a pair of knickers from your drawer after your bath.”

Harry had always been one to go snooping when it came to gifts. Anne had told her that the first Christmas she spent with Harry during a conversation that spiked up when YN pulled Anne aside to ask her for tips on what to get him, whether he'd asked for anything specific and whether he was allergic to anything specific that would give her gift idea away if she asked him. And it stuck in the back of her mind every year.

Although, in his defense, he didn’t necessarily go snooping through her underwear drawer to find what she had brought for him, given the fact that she had a brainfart and had forgotten where she hid his most expensive gift for that year; a six-hundred pound watch that she’d seen him eyeing up in the shop window of Gucci every time they wandered passed. She knew he’d reach into the drawer, grab his favourite pair (that she always placed at the front of her pants) and chuck them into the bathroom with a joke that hinted to a little bedroom action when Persephone was in bed.

“You didn’t have to get a pair from the back end of my drawer. Since when do you reach for my period pants when I put all my nice, lacy ones at the front?” She huffed, rolling her eyes as she took a sip of the warm tea and felt it slide down her sore throat, goosebumps rising on her skin because there was a sense of warmth yet a sense of burning; acid reflux had become a bitch, too, and she was looking forward to sending him to the supermarket pharmacy, late at night, to grab a bottle of Gaviscon and heartburn tablets. “Plus, it was in a box with my name on it, sellotaped up on both ends, and put left in the box it came in. You had to open the box to find out what was inside the other box.”

“It fell out?” He shrugged sheepishly and sent her a cheeky smile. Tight-lipped, regardless of how sticky his lips were, and showing off his dimples in the middle of his cheeks. But YN was having none of it and she made sure her face told him that, her fingers tapping her mug. “Okay, fine. Curiosity got the better of me when I found it and I peeked. I promise I won’t this time though. The silent treatment you gave me on Christmas day was horrible.”

“You deserved it. I was excited to surprise you with it and you ruined it.”

“I know.”

The kitchen fell into a comfortable silence and all they could hear, coming from upstairs, was the bathroom tap running as Persephone brushed her teeth and got herself ready before school. Her uniform folded up and placed on her desk, like every morning, right next to the hairbrush that YN used to tie her hair into whatever kind of hairstyle she fancied for the day; today, it was plaits… thankfully, because YN really didn’t want to go through the hassle of doing space buns again. Her school bag and her lunch box were hanging off the back of the chair at the head of the table, homework left in her red folder on the table so she could double check her name was written on it before slotting it into her bag, shiny black shoes with a buckle left in the living room where she’d kicked them off yesterday. Coat hanging on the hook in the entryway, where she could reach for it on her way out before clambering into Harry’s Range Rover so he could drive her to school; her favourite mode of transport, she made sure to tell him every night.

“Can you get it by lunchtime today? So I can wrap it before she comes home from school. Otherwise she’ll see it and want it as soon as possible and this is probably the best one of the lot. And we know she follows in her father’s footsteps,” YN smirked, nudging her toe into his shin, “aren’t I right?”

“Like father, like daughter.”

The problem with wrapping presents was the backache.

Chronic backache experienced after an hour of being hunched over on the living room floor, sat cross-legged and leaning against the sofa, surrounded by rolled up balls of sellotape that got stuck to itself and useless pieces of wrapping paper that had no purpose on a present because it was too small or too wonkily cut. Bags upon bags full of Christmas presents, all named for family and friends, that she needed Harry to deliver before Christmas eve.

By the time she’d reached the bottom step, after her fourth trip up the stairs to take the newly wrapped presents into her office (locked to save the wandering eyes and the curious toes of her little girl finding them in the corner of her home-office), her husband had arrived home with an excitable Persephone and a guilty look upon his face as he shrugged his coat off and unwrapped his scarf from around his neck. His nose pink, Persephone’s cheeks red, but both their jumpers decorated with crumbs from what she could only imagine came from a cake in their favourite local bakery down the road.

“Mummy! Mummy, daddy took me for a cake afterschool today. I had a chocolate one with sprinkles and a flake and it tasted like an orange and-”

Harry’s eyes widened and he looked to his wife, who had a knowing grin on her face, and he knew he’d been busted from the moment he walked through the door.

“Seff, you promised me you weren’t going to blab to mummy. That was our secret, little lady,” he chuckled softly, cupping the back of her head with his palm, fingertips cold against her scalp, “mummy wasn’t supposed to know.”

“But it was really good and I wanted to tell mummy about it because she can get one when she goes out shopping with auntie Gem and they can taste it and tell me it was yummy,” Persephone grinned, the gap between her two front teeth starting to fill in with a brand-new adult tooth, all pearly white and jagged, “mummy can buy me another one and herself one and auntie Gem one and we can share them together.”

“Did you bring me anything back?”

Her gloved hands dug around her school bag, school shoes long forgotten by the front door and kicked off haphazardly, her scarf hanging round her shoulders and her hand tucked into Harry’s fist because, YN could only guess, she didn’t want to mess up the plaits still perfectly done up. A rustle of wrapping coming from the flat of her pocket, bringing out a carefully wrapped gingerbread man with a purple ribbon tying it together at the top, a bobble stuck to the top as some kind of festive decoration.

“I brought you a gingerbread man, mummy! With the money Nana gave me in my Christmas card,” she thrust her hand towards her mother and passed it to her; YN was sure the money her own mother had given to her was for something she could use herself but she was thankful, of course, entirely grateful that she’d chosen to share her money to get her something.

“Thank you, baby. We’ll share it for pudding after dinner later, yeah? With some strawberries.”

“Yeah and some chocolate sauce!”

And with that, she ran off into the living room and found a comfy space on the sofa to watch whatever YN had left on the television, leaving her mother and father to tidy the mess left behind in the entryway.

“Maybe a little sauce,” YN said as she reached for the coat on the floor, hanging it on the hook beneath her’s and Harry’s, hanging her scarf over the top and leaving her gloves on the radiator to warm up, “you’ve had some chocolate already today.”

Harry grinned and pressed a kiss to his wife’s forehead, squeezing her arm before sneaking passed her and into the living room, bending over the sofa to look at his daughter from an upside-down position, “come on you, let’s go do your homework at the table.”

“Actually,” YN blurted suddenly, standing in the archway before them, smiling softly at them as they looked at her, “before you do that, can I tell you something? Well, not tell you something. Show you something. I want to give you both an early Christmas present, I guess.”

Persephone perked up and pushed herself to her knees, an excitable grin on her already excitable face as she looked between her mum and dad, a confused look spread across Harry’s features.

“What is it?”

YN disappeared for a second, footsteps heard going up the stairs and a creak heard from a bedroom being opened - and if Harry was right then it was the spare room, because he’d promised to fix the squeaking door but had yet to get round to it, where nowhere really went into because it was empty and desolate and had no decor in it yet. There was a sound of some rustling, faint but still audible if you listened closely, the creak heard again before footsteps were heard descending the stairs, a deep breath escaping her mouth before she turned the corner. A white box tucked under her arm.

“Mummy, what’s in the box?”

“I’ll let daddy open it but sit together to open it because it’s for the both of you and I can’t wait till next week to give it to you,” she stepped across the carpet and passed it over, letting him get a good feel of how heavy it was before he sauntered around the sofa and sat on the sofa beside his daughter. Her hand coming across to touch and stroke the white box, looking at it with furrowed eyebrows, waiting for her father to open the flaps and pull whatever was inside out for them to look at.

Harry’s fingers timidly opened the box, sellotape coming undone as he pulled the contents out and set them upon the top; a white babygrow, a white hat and matching mittens and a sonogram of the ultrasound she had during her doctor’s visit. Biting her bottom lip, she couldn’t help but feel the pit of her stomach drop; unexpected or not, they were expecting a baby and she couldn’t have been more excited - she just hoped his silence meant he felt the same.

“So, what do you think?”

A gasp left his mouth.

“What- does this explain why you’ve been so ill?” He stood to his feet and left the contents behind, stepping around the sofa to grab her into a hug and squeeze her against his chest. The sting of happy tears burning the corners of his eyes as he twirled the both of them around. “God, I had a hunch in the back of my head that you were pregnant but I didn’t want to say anything in case it wasn’t. Christ, you think I haven’t heard you vomiting in the bathroom in the mornings before I wake up? Not eating your usual breakfast? All the same mannerisms from the first one?”

He set YN back on the floor and cupped his forehead with his hand.

“I found out this week, Monday evening actually. I wanted to wait till Christmas day to surprise you but I was too excited and it was killing me keeping it from you. I wanted to come back and shout it at you on Monday but- well, surprise.”

“Daddy, what is it?”

They both looked at Persephone and saw her holding the black and white photograph; a scene they hadn’t ever imagined but never wanted to take for granted. Bracing his weight on his elbows, he leant on the back of the sofa and took the picture from her hands, using his pointer finger to show her just what they were so excited about. His eyes scanned the photo before he found what he was looking for, turning it back to Persephone so he could show her the right place.

“You see that little white blob there? Right here,” he spoke softly, pointing to the middle of the sonogram, waiting for her to nod before carrying on “that’s going to be your new baby brother or sister, little lady.”

Her eyes widened and she looked at him.

“Where are you getting them from? Will they be here for Christmas? Can I come with you to pick one?”

Harry chuckled and looked over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of a tear dribbling down YN’s cheek, his own eyes threatening to flood.

“They’re in mummy’s belly right now. A little tiny dot, no bigger than your fingernail. That’ll grow, just like you did, in mummy’s belly until they’re nice and ready to come out and join us next year.”

“Why next year?”

At this point, YN had taken the space next to her husband, standing straight. She reached for her daughter’s hand, bringing it beneath her jumper and placing it on her bare tummy.

“Because they need to grow nice and strong in mummy’s belly before they can come and meet us,” YN smiled, squeezing her hand as they kept their joined hands underneath her bellybutton, “just like you did. That’s where you started, where you came from, until you came and joined us here. Growing and blossoming until they’re ready to come and see us.”

“Like a flower?”

“Yeah,” YN grinned at Harry, his arm resting over her shoulder as he pulled her into his side, squeezing her tightly to his body, “like the most delicate flower in the world. They need the space and time to grow big and strong in my belly, nice and healthy so they can come out and be a part of our family when they’re ready, and be your little brother or sister.”

“That’s great news, huh, little lady? You’re going to be a big sister.”

“The best big sister ever.”

#harry styles imagines #harry styles blurbs #harry styles prompts

70 notes · View notes