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skylarmoon71 · 4 years ago

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Leo x Reader - Oneshot (TMNT 2014/2016)

"Don't forget to close your window (Y/N). One of these days you're gonna catch a serious cold." Your sister made a habit of scolding you about minor things like that. Since it was just the two of you, it made sense that she was a little over protective. So as she got ready to head to her graveyard shift, you just nod.

It's not that you intentionally forgot to close the windows, you just got so lost in the lights that glimmered at night. Sometimes you'd just sit at your desk and stare out at the night sky. It was soothing, and beautiful.

Such a magnificent city, so under appreciated and tarnished by the crime all around it. It was sad for you, reading the headlines. What did bring you comfort was the so-called vigilantes. No one knew who they were, or where they came from. But slowly, they were taking the city back. One thug at a time.

"So cool." Being a teenager didn't allow for much excitement. At least not in your life. The biggest issue in your life right now was probably getting through your finals. But you wondered what it would be like being out there, saving the world. Doing something worthwhile, something that mattered.

"I wish I was that amazing." You head rest on the windowsill, just gazing at the stars.

"I'm sure you're an amazing person." The voice made you shoot up. And from your position on the window, you could only make out a shadow above your head.

"I'm sorry, that was a bit creepy. I don't mean to intrude. You seemed a bit down. " You blinked at the male voice.

"O-Oh! I'm sorry. I really didn't think anyone would be out here so late."

There was an apartment above you, so maybe he was doing the same thing you were. "I should apologize. I'll just leave you to your thoughts."

"W-Wait!" It was a little weird, but you didn't mind. He didn't sound like a bad guy, and he did compliment you. "Y-You don't have to go. I was just rambling to myself. I usually just come out here to think. It's a bit therapeutic. "

"I guess...I do the same thing. It helps, doesn't it? Makes you forget just how much is going on." You smile. He sounded sort of mature.

"Yeah, it does. It's a bit cheesy but I love the stars. They are what I look forward to honestly. I feel like we take it for granted. Everyday we wake up and just expect the sun to be there because that's how it's always been. We rush through the day and when night comes, we repeat the cycle. So much beauty and we can't even work up a simple thanks. " When you'd finish your little rant you flushed. "Oh gosh I'm rambling again you probably don't even want to hear all this." You were probably boring this stranger.

"No it's alright. I agree with you. So many things aren't promised, we need to appreciate that. Just recently an incident opened my eyes to just how fleeting life is. I almost lost my family...my brothers. "

You shot up at that."A-Are they okay! W-What happened!" he just let out a small chuckle at your concern.

"They're fine. We survived because well we had each other. That's what life is really about. Family, and of course pizza." you laugh at his joke, resting your head back on your arm. "Well I'm glad it all worked out for you. I can't imagine what I would do if something happened to my sister. "

"She's lucky to have such a wonderful sibling." you blush.

T-Thank you."

"Well, I don't want to keep you awake any longer, and I myself need to get to bed."

"Oh yeah of course. It was nice meeting you uh...umm?"

"Leonardo. But everyone calls me Leo."

"Leonardo, woah."

"I'm (Y/N), It's really nice meeting you Leo."

"Likewise (Y/N)." even the way he said your name made you blush. "I guess we'll talk again?" you said hopefully.

"You can count on it."

~~~~~~

Nights like that continued, you'd be just sitting, enjoying the cool air, and Leo would just appear, striking up a conversation. As the days passed he told you more about himself, and his brothers. Just from the way he spoke it wasn't hard to tell that he loved them. It was clear as day. What you didn't understand is why you never saw him.

You were positive he lived in the apartments above, but no one ever introduced themselves to you. And it felt weird just going up and knocking on random doors to find your mystery man. Maybe he was just shy.

You could understand that. Somehow you felt like no matter what you'd still like him, even if he wasn't the most gorgeous guy in the world. Just from the way he spoke, it pulled you in. He sounded caring, and strong. Passionate too. He never really told you about where he went to school, or if he even did. You really wanted to ask more personal questions, but you didn't want to seem nosy and chase him away with your eagerness.

You'd only been talking for a month now. It's not like you were dating, so he wasn't obligated to tell you anything. You kind of hoped he'd do that on his own.

So you were once again at your ledge. "Leo?"

"Right here. You know I finally saw that movie you were talking about. The croods. Even my brothers were skeptical but it was hilarious. We couldn't stop laughing."

"I know it's a masterpiece I swear." you started giggling, and Leo laughed.

"Really (Y/N), Thank you for recommending it. Raph and I..lately we've been having a hard time. That movie I guess it showed us what it means to have a family. We won't always see things from the same point of view, but at the end of the day, he has my back, and I have his. That's what matters. "

"Well I'm glad I could help. " You sat there for a while in silence, just enjoying the view, and the company of each other.

"Hey (Y/N), can I ask you something?"

"Of course! Ask away."

"If I were...different, what would you think?"

Different?

"Well I guess that depends on your definition of different Leo. Honestly I'd like to think I'm not so shallow to care about something as superficial as looks. " You knew why he was asking. He was probably afraid you would judge him based on how he looked.

"It's not as simple as that." you brows knitted. "Come on, if you're scared don't be. I think as long as you aren't some alien being from another planet we'll be fine. " you laugh in hopes that he'd feel a bit more comforted, but you got nothing but silence in return.

"Leo?" You shifted in your seat, and you're tempted to peek your head over a little so you can catch just a glimpse of him. You don't have to. There's a loud thud, and standing above you on the fire escape is a sight that leaves you breathless. Your eyes are wide, and you can't do much but gape at the six foot green hulk of a man standing in front of you.

"He...has a shell.." So maybe not a man.

"Do you still think that?" That voice, there's no mistaking it, this is definitely Leo. In the flesh, or scales you suppose. His eyes, they're the bluest you've ever seen, and he's wearing a bandana that just makes it more striking. The look he sends you is one that illuminates indifference, A shield. He's probably experienced this reaction often. It's hard not to react this way. What you're seeing right now, it shouldn't be possible. After a long pause of nothing but your staggered breathing, his head lowers.

"I guess you aren't as open minded as you thought." His words are said with so much pain, and you can't even work out a proper word before he's flipping up and away. You just sit there, stiff. You felt frozen in that moment. What lingers is that look in his eyes. He seemed heart broken, and you want to slap yourself for not even calling out to him and apologizing.

"Leo..."

This is probably the last time you'll ever see him.

~~~

"Quit moping around it's annoying. " Leo opens his eyes in response to Raph's statement.

"I'm not moping." He was meditating. It usually helped when he needed to clear his head.

"Ya been acting weird since last night. Did that chick finally see ya or something." His hands tightened in his lap, and Raph doesn't miss the action. "Just...leave me alone Raph." Leo sounded defeated, something Raph thought he'd never see. "There's no shame in admitting ya hurt. You're the leader, not a bulletproof vest." Raph takes a seat next to him, biting down on the toothpick. "Ya know, last time you gave me that crappy speech about true acceptance coming from within. Where did that muck go?" Raph sends him a cocky smile, and Leo can't help but return a small smile. "I guess I'm no good at taking my own advice."

"Not one bit." Leo just sighs, unfolding his legs. It's useless to try and meditate. He can't concentrate when your encounter is running through his head. "If she's half as great as you make her seem, she won't give a crap if you're a mutant or not. Shit like that, it shouldn't matter. If she can't see that then you're just wasting your time. I'm sure there's a whole lot of other girls into your hold uptight know it all attitude."

"You suck at giving compliments Raph."

"Thanks." Both brothers smile, and Raph gives Leo a heavy pat on the shoulder. "Save ya tears for when I kick your ass in training." Raph stands, and Leo shoots after, drawing his swords.

"In your dreams. "

~~~

For the next couple days, you'd wait by your window. It was so weird coming here and not hearing from him. You got so used to the conversation, the company. You wanted to cry, because no matter how many times you called to him, he never answered, all because of you. No wonder he was so scared to show himself. He probably got judged by so many people. How were you better? Even after saying you didn't care. You felt like a hypocrite.

"Leo..I'm sorry." He probably wasn't even there, but you didn't care, you just want to see him again. "I guess I'm no better than some of the kids at my school. They're so focused on what's acceptable that they miss greatness. The way I talk to you is so different. I feel like you get me and you aren't even human, yet the way you think is far more human than the scumbags in this world. You're so considerate and humble and I just want you to know that I'm really sorry. I-I don't care what you are, I just want to talk to you again." you sobbed, hoping that he'd at least come back at some point to see that you were looking for him. With the way you acted, it didn't seem like a possibility.

"Do you mean that, you really don't care.." your eyes lit up. You could hear him climbing down the wall, and when his feet landed on the fire escape this time, you didn't freeze.

"Leo..." He looked down at you a bit guilty when he saw your tears.

"(Y/N).." you could tell he was about to apologize, but you quickly wiped your eyes with the back of your sleeves, smiling up at him as you pushed up the window higher. You took a step back, and Leo got the message. He hesitated for a second, unsure if he should really step in. He didn't want you to faint like April did the first time she saw him. Yet, this was your second meeting, and you looked more curious than afraid this time. So he ducked his head, cautiously inching through the window. When he finally raised his body, you were still watching him.

Now that you had a better look you could make out how muscular he was. He also had two swords strapped to his back. He caught where your eyes drifted and lifted his hand immediately.

"D-Don't worry I only use these against criminals."

"Criminals?"

Wait he couldn't be..could he?

"Are you..the vigilante?" he scratched his head. By the way he was looking around you could tell he hadn't meant to disclose that information. "I'm one of them." So this whole time, no wonder he was always at the top of your apartment. The buildings were a perfect way to get around, especially at night.

"That night when I heard you talking I just..I don't know why but you sounded so defeated. I thought a few words would help lighten your night. After that talk we had though, I couldn't stop thinking about you so I kept coming back." you heart skipped. So it was the same for him.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before you would ask to meet and I was terrified (Y/N). I didn't want our talks to end, but I felt like I was betraying your trust by not telling you the truth about me. I'm sorry that I made you cry, I never wanted to hurt you."

He had nothing to apologize for, you were the one that stared like he was some freak.

"You don't have to apologize. I'm the one in the wrong. I was just so shocked. I thought aliens were a myth. " He smiled at you.

"I'm not an alien." you stammered.

"O-Oh! S-sorrry I guess I just assumed and I-"

"It's okay. If I were in your shoes I'd think the same. Aliens are real though. "

"Really?"

"Absolutely."

"Woah." you took a step back, dropping on your bed with a wistful look. Guess there was more out there than you initially thought. Leo stepped a bit closer, you could tell he wanted to sit next to you, but he seemed to be debating with himself if it was the right move. You patted the space next to you with the widest smile. He just let out a soft laugh, sitting at the edge of the bed with you. It dipped a little at his added weight, and it made you slide down into his arm. You caught yourself, looking up to tell him sorry.

His hand was right where you'd grip to steady yourself, and your gazes locked. Up close, his eyes were bluer than before. Or maybe that was just your brain playing tricks on you. Your heart was hammering now, and you were absolutely horrified that he could hear it. You didn't want to move, or look away. Leo appeared to be caught in a similar trance.

"Would you mind if I..kissed you Leo.." He blinked in surprise. Surely this was a dream. It had to be. Or some sick joke. That's what he thought. But when he saw the little light shining behind your orbs, he couldn't seem to convince himself it wasn't real. You were so much closer than before, and you were still holding unto his arm. He could feel the heat from your palm. Was that your pulse racing, or his. He couldn't differentiate. He realized then that he hadn't answered your question. You were just watching him expectantly. "I...I..what.." now he forgot how to form proper words.

You leaned in closer, and he gulped. "I want to kiss you...so bad.." you breathed. You were getting closer, and he couldn't trust himself to speak again, so he just moved with you, closing the distance. When your lips touched you were stunned at how soft his were. You inhaled, leaning into his body as you kept a hold on his arm.

Leo was completely lost and taken by the sensation. It was no secret that he'd never kissed before. His palm moved to your cheek, and he responded, pulling you closer. He hoped, wished that this very moment would never end. He craved the sensations that rushed over his body as you parted to get a breath, only to dive back in for another taste. It was mind blowing. When he felt your tongue prodding his lips slightly, he opened them slightly, and your wet appendage dove in. the minute your tongues touched he pulled back. His eyes were wide and you retracted with red cheeks.

"S-Sorry! I-I don't know where that came from I just I-I.."

"I-It's fine. I'm..I've never kissed like that it just surprised me a little." you placed both of your hands in your lap, flustered. That was the first time you'd ever try to french a guy. Turtle. Leo was watching the way you fidgeted. He didn't intend for you to feel bad. It actually felt really good. So good he didn't know what to do so he panicked.

"Can we try again?" He whispered. Your eyes lifted, and you nodded a bit shyly.

This time Leo was the one who initiated the kiss. He liked the way it felt so he didn't waste time with chaste pecks. He opened his mouth and you moaned when his tongue invaded your mouth. This time you positioned yourself closer, and Leo reached down, lifting your hips and placing you right into his lap. Your hands came up, going around his neck as you continued to exchange wet desperate kisses. You supposed another thing you were wrong about was your self control. You used to look at the kids in your class and contemplate how shamelessly hormonal they were. Kissing at the lockers, making out under the bleachers. Now, you sort of understood. Leo was the exception. He was indeed different, but that's what made him great.

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bebepac · 4 years ago

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The Double Date Mistake?

I am participating in @wackydrabbles prompt # 92 “I don’t think that was meant to go there.” will appear in bold.

This is also chapter 2 of The Meet: To catch up on what you’ve been missing of the Meet so far Please click: The Meet Masterlist

Original Post Date: 05/01/2021 at 3:15PM

The Book: TRR

The Pairing: Liam x F!OC (Liam x Jilian)

Word Count: 1948

Summary: Jilian goes on a double date with Bebe and meets Leo for the very first time. Jilian and Bebe share how they first met each other to the guys.

Warnings: Sexual innuendos. Profanity.

Leo and Liam belong to pixelberry, Jilian belongs to @queenjilian borrowed for the duration of this series. All others are my own to help us tell the story.

“And done. He has your number now Jili. Now fly my little birdies fly.”

She thought he would text right away but he didn’t. The whole way to Bebe’s apartment the twenty minute drive Jili’s phone was silent.

Bebe looked at Jili as she glanced at her phone. What the actual hell?

She texted Jilian.

“Bebe why the hell are you texting me? I’m sitting right next to you?”

“I was just making sure your phone was on.”

“I mean he’s still working Bebe. He can’t just drop everything and just start texting away.”

“The hell he can’t. What in the actual fuck is wrong with you bruh?” Bebe grumbled as she angrily typed on her phone.

“Wing Woman are you trying to crash this plane?”

“The mother hasn’t even taken off yet with you two trying to pilot it. I’m gonna need you to get your life together Jili.”

The driver pulled to a stop. “Damn I really wanted to see how this turned out.”

Bebe got out of the car in a huff.

“I’ll let you know.” Jili called out the window to her.

Jilian wasn’t going to let it stress her out. He was still at work. She knew her job got busy at times, and she couldn’t just sit on her phone and do nothing. As she was walking up the stairs to scan her door key fob, the phone rang.

It was a local number she didn’t recognize.

“Hello?”

“Jilian. It’s Liam.”

“Hi Liam.”

“I apologize for not texting or calling sooner. Things got busy at work.”

“Oh I figured that was what happened.”

"Bebe is something else. I feel a little attacked. I can tell it's from a place of love though."

"She's my best friend Liam. My true sister from another mister."

"So it's safe to assume you are single?" Liam inquired.

"I am, and for you the same?"

"Yes Jilian I am. Is it forward of me to say maybe we can change that for each other. I would really like to see you again. I'm off next Friday would you be free then?"

Jilian sighed.

"Friday is my date night."

"Oh. I just assumed you being single you weren’t seeing anybody even casually."

"With Bebe. We restaurant hop. We're self proclaimed foodies.

Do you have any friends maybe we could double?”

“My brother, both him and Bebe have big personalities, I think they’d really get along. Think she would be okay with that?”

“Yeah I think I could convince her.”

They continued to talk, and about everything under the sun. Liam was funny and witty and kept her attention.

She began to realize how much she had in common with the charming Liam Rys.

She had cuddled into her bed under her covers laughing and chatting with him. She finally rolled over realizing it was almost dawn.

“Oh my God! Is that the sun?!?!?!” she shrieked, surprised into the phone.

“I’m so sorry Jilian I completely lost track of time.”

“I have to go, I have to be at work in forty five minutes!!!”

Jilian said her goodbyes to Liam and hurried to work.

Right when Jilian was sitting in her office reading over her chart for her first patient’s checkup, there was a delivery.

A large coffee drink had been delivered to her with a sweet gooey cinnamon bun.

“Gift for you Jilian Winchester.”

Liam was really sweet.

She texted him thank you.

He had let her know he had an extra espresso shot added to her coffee.

Liam was a lifesaver.

*^*^*^*^* The Double Date *^**^*^*^*

When Jili and Bebe got to the restaurant Liam and Leo were already seated at the table both stood to greet them.

Liam softly kissed Jili’s cheek.

Bebe glanced at Leo. He was cute, but he was probably about five inches shorter than Bebe, not to mention Bebe was wearing heels making her tower over Leo.

Liam changed the subject breaking the ice between everyone, and the conversation between the couples started flowing.

Jilian slipped in the subject of Liam and Leo honestly not looking much like each other.

“We’re half brothers, we have different mothers. But don’t get it twisted Bebe. I can scale you like Mount Everest. Taller women don’t intimidate me one bit.”

“Um….thank you for that blatant honesty…. Jili will you accompany me to the restroom please?”

“Excuse us for a moment.” Jili smiled politely.

“Absolutely not Jili!!!!!” Bebe was adamant when the door to the bathroom closed.

“Bebe I didn’t know! I swear when he said older brother, I was thinking he looked like him. You would think older brothers are taller, bigger, and wiser. He is funny though. You two do have similar personalities. Maybe try to focus on that Bee. Let’s just try to have a fun time. You don’t have to see Leo again. But I know I want to see Liam again. I like him.”

“You owe me big for this!!!”

Both women come back to the table. Their drink orders had arrived. Bebe takes a long sip on her drink.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Leo smiled. “A girl after my own heart.”

“How did you and Bebe meet Jilian?”

“We actually met in NOLA. We were both presenting at a medical conference. Bebe for the Pharma side, because she’s a pharmacist, and me for medical for being a nurse practitioner focused in the at risk population.”

Leo eyes flit to Bebe.

“So you’re a drug dealer?”

Bebe smiled. “ Legal Drug Dealer. Yep, that’s what I call myself. I’m slinging pills to pay the bills.”

“I can dig it.”

“We met the night before our conference began, in a bar.”

When Jilian walked into the bar she noticed her right away. There was a woman at the bar, drinking her drink telling what appeared to be a funny story that had multiple people’s attention. All were laughing with her. She had to be a local. Jili thought.

She had strings of beads around her neck.

“What can I get ya?” the bartender asked.

She looked at Bebe. “I want whatever she’s having.” Bebe was the life of the party.

“Well I did a little pre-gaming at the drive through daiquiri shop though.

But mostly Hurricanes. Get her a Hurricane Sal.”

The bartender winked at Bebe.

“Don’t skimp on the good stuff either!” She yelled out.

Jilian’s eyes widened when the bartender brought her the drink.

Bebe held up her glass to clink with Jilian’s glass.

“Laissez le bon temps rouler!!!!!” The crowd screamed in agreement at Bebe’s declaration.

“What?”

“LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!!!!!”

Jilian took a long drink of the cocktail. No wonder.

“Yep! You like it. I’m Bebe, what’s your name?”

“Jilian.”

“I’m gonna call you Jili. What brings you to NOLA?”

“Work, a conference.”

“Bleh you said the “W.” word. That’s not existing in my life right now. We’re here, we’re alive, no regrets Jili. Let your hair down and enjoy yourself. I mean literally. That bun is a buzz kill.”

Jili pulled the pins out of her hair shaking out her locks.

“So much better!!!! You’re a babe!!! See they’re already looking at you differently. We’re not interested though. Unless they’re buying more drinks.”

Jili glanced at the guys that were now looking in her direction.

“You’ve got a lot of bead necklaces going on.” Jili commented.

“There are two ways to get beads in NOLA. Buy them or earn them.”

Jili looked at Bebe and raised her eyebrow with a smile.

“Let me guess, your ass hasn’t spent a dime tonight.”

Bebe took a long sip of her hurricane.

“Nope. Not a single dime. Including alcohol. I'll tell you what Jili. Life’s too short. I’m not going to regret any of my choices. I spent a year in Costa Rica, living my life Pura Vida.”

“Pure Life.” Jilian smiled. Bebe was a carefree spirit, and people gravitated to her.

“We’re only here for a blink Jili. How do you want your story to be told?”

She decided to throw caution to the wind and party the night away with Bebe.

Jilian’s alarm went off the next morning. She was incredibly hung over as she tried to pull herself together.

She had a random memory of her and Bebe walking down Bourbon Street singing “Lean on Me” while they were linked arm and arm. The drunk leading the more drunk back to the hotel.

She smiled, straightening her black business suit. She was about to pull her hair up into her signature bun but decided to let her tresses fall free instead.

As she was getting checked into the convention she slipped her ID badge and program of speakers, herself among the list.

She heard her laugh. Jili whipped her head around and saw Bebe at the back of the line with two others. Bebe was wearing a bright pink business suit, and her shoes and clutch had the print of medications on it.

“The legal drug dealers have arrived!!!! Big Pharma in da house!!!!!!”

Jili laughed, shaking her head.

“That’s how we met Liam.”

“We found out later we lived near each other, and made plans to meet up. Been friends ever since. That was like six years ago.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t ask us how we met.” Leo asked.

“I assume you are brothers…. You met… at birth?”

Bebe shook her head at Leo.

Everyone was calm after not to mention the alcohol free flowing. They headed to a lounge after dinner, called Blue Notes. The music there was full of soul and blues.

The drinks continued. The music there stirred the soul.

“May I have this dance?” Jili nodded, taking Liam’s hand. He held her close.

Leo eyed Bebe. “You know, I have always been one to have a huge case of FOMO. So you and me let’s hit the dance floor too.”

Bebe downed her drink in one swallow. “Why the hell not.”

They walked out to the dance floor. With Bebe’s high heels Leo was chest level to her. He pulled her close resting his head on her bosom.

“Um….so we’re doing this… okay…” Bebe looked surprised but she was smiling.

Liam laughed softly when he glanced in their direction.

“I don’t think that was meant to go there.”

“The height difference honestly never crossed my mind Jilian. Things seemed really awkward for them for a bit, for more so Bebe. Not so awkward now.”

Bebe and Leo were looking at each other laughing.

“You know this is never going to happen Leo Rys.”

“A man can dream. Well….It could happen for the night. I can tell you’re curious. Let me tickle your fancy tonight.”

Bebe laughed harder at him. “You don’t give up do you Leo?”

“Nope because I get what I want.”

“If nothing else Jilian, I think they will at least be friends from this, if nothing romantic happens.”

The next morning Liam was cooking breakfast when Bebe walked out of Leo’s room. Leo’s sweatpants looked like capris on Bebe.

“Good Morning Bebe. Would you like some breakfast?”

“Sure.”

Leo walked out of the room a few minutes later.

Liam smiled looking at the two of them.

“Breakfast Leo?”

“I already ate.” Leo winked at Bebe.

Bebe choked on her orange juice.

“Oh you were talking about bacon and eggs, sure.”

Nope not at all awkward at all. Liam thought as he fixed plates for himself Leo and Bebe.

Bebe was climbing in her ride share when her phone rang.

“Bebe… Liam just told me you had breakfast with him and Leo… at his apartment. You spent the night with Leo?”

“Leo was right, Jili. Not all of him is fun sized.”

Tags in the comments !!!!

#bebepac writes #the meet #before the greek meat #trr au #trr liam #trr jilian #trr bebe #trr leo #wacky drabbles #choices fic writers creations

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another-tmnt-writer · 5 years ago

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The Quarantine Chronicles

Turtles x Reader

Author: Admin Mo

Prompt: There were a few of you that asked for being quarantined with the turtles, so here you go <3

Note: There’s one part for each turtle <3 Thanks so much for 3.5k!! I love you guys!!!

Warnings: Mentions of quarantine/the virus, but other than that, none??

Word Count: 1.5k

Intro

“Well, it’s confirmed.” Donnie pulled his goggles up onto the top of his head, his brothers looking at him, anticipation in their eyes. “We can’t contract or carry the virus.”

“We’re immune?” Leo checked.

Donnie nodded, typing rapidly into his computer. “Not only that, but we don’t have the ability to infect anybody either. Which means…”

“Yep, I’ll call her.” Raph dialed your number to deliver the good news.

“Hell yeah!!!” Mikey cheered skipping out of the lair.

***

It took about an hour for you to gather all of the things you’d need during quarantine and head down to the lair. The boys were waiting anxiously for your arrival, all of them sad about the circumstances but glad that it meant you got to spend some quality time with them. If there was anything they knew how to do, it was pass the time. After all, they’d basically been quarantined for the better part of fifteen years before they were finally allowed on the surface.

The boys set up a nice little bed for you. It was an air mattress, but Raph had knitted you a big red blanket during some of his time in the hashi, and it was warm and cozy, and Donnie had gathered a bunch of pillows, so pushed up against the wall, it was a perfect little cozy corner for you.

Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but you knew that in the lair, you’d be safe.

Leo x Reader ~ Stress Baking

“Ooh, that smells good. What are you making?” Leo had followed his nose to the kitchen, only to find you sitting on the counter wearing an apron.

“Oreo cheesecake cupcakes.” You replied, looking up at him and smiling, your legs kicking from your spot on the counter. “One of my favorite recipes.”

“You’ve been doing a lot of baking since you got down here. Are you…alright?”

“Oh, I’m fine.” You replied, nodding. “I call this: controlling what you can when things feel out of control.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “Stress baking.”

“Yes. Stress baking. Instead of writing my essay for Human Origins.” You shrugged. “I’ll do it when these are done.”

“I keep forgetting you’re still doing school stuff with all this going on.” Leo walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter opposite you, crossing his arms. “That’s rough.”

“It really is. I’m making it work, though. I’m fine. I’m…I’m making it work.”

The oven dinged, so you hopped down from the counter and slipped on your oven mitts, pulling the tray of cupcakes out of the oven. They looked perfect. Now, they just needed to chill in the fridge for a few hours.

“Hang in there, okay?” Leo tilted his head, a concerned look in his blue eyes. “You’ve got us if you need any help with anything. I’m no expert on evolution or anything, but I’m sure Donnie is.”

“I’ll make sure to let you know if I need any help.” You nodded. After you turned the oven off, you turned to Leo and gave him a hug, which he gladly reciprocated, holding you tight in his arms. “Thank you.”

Leo rested his head against yours, pressing a soft kiss to your hairline. “Any time.”

Raph x Reader ~ New Hobbies

“Okay, so stick the needle in. Yep just like that. And then loop the yarn around. Yep, good job. And then…uh…here, let me see what you did…” Raph held up your knitting project, spinning it around to look at it. “I don’t know why it looks like that…”

You’d never seen him so patient before, but when you’d asked him to teach you how to knit, he’d been more than willing. Excited, even.

“Sorry I’m so bad at this…”

“No, yer not bad, believe me, it took me a long time to learn. It just takes practice is all.” Raph reassured you. “Why don’t…Hmm…”

“What?” You chuckled at the focused look on his face as he fixed the mistake you’d made.

Raph handed you the knitting needles and then sat crisscrossed on the floor. He patted his legs, motioning you over. “Come here, shorty, I think I know how to teach you.”

You crawled into his lap and he picked you up and repositioned you so that your back was against his plastron. He positioned your hands correctly, taking your little human hands in his giant green three-fingered ones. He walked you through the motions slowly, sticking the needle into the loop, wrapping the yarn around the needle, making the new loop, and then dropping the old one.

“Ohhhhhhhh that makes sense.” You nodded, everything finally clicking into place. “Could you do that one more time for me?”

“Yep. Like this. In, around, through, and off. In, around, through, off.” He did it a few more times so you could get used to the motion. “Alright, now you try.” He took his hands away, leaving you to do it on your own.

“In…around? Through…” you moved the needles, manipulating the yarn carefully. “Off. Like that?”

“You did it! Good job!”

“Thank you for teaching me!”

Raph hugged you, his arms wrapping around your waist. He leaned forward and kissed your cheek. “Anything for my favorite student.”

Donnie x Reader ~ Bleach and Dye

“Okay, so the box says you shouldn’t leave it on for any longer.” Donnie read the label on the box of bleach for the thirteenth time. “Ready?”

“Yep.” You leaned back in the chair you had pushed against the sink, and Donnie helped rinse the bleach out. Next, he helped you blow-dry it. You looked at your reflection, tilting your head. “I think it’s cute.”

“It’s a good look for you.” Donnie agreed, still uncertain how you’d roped him into this crazy scheme of yours. “Are you sure you want to go further?”

“Yep. I want to be purple.” You slid the little container of dye to him and his eyes widened.

“Well, alright…” Donnie exhaled, shaking his head. He read the instructions on the dye container and then started brushing it onto your hair from the tips to the roots. “Have you ever done this before?”

“Nope. But everyone on TikTok is doing it, so it was about time.” You shrugged, grinning as Donnie very carefully brushed the dye onto your bleached hair.

“I mean, if it makes you feel better with all this going on, then I guess it’s worth a try.”

“That’s my logic exactly.” You grinned and took a sip of your chai latte. You held it up to him so he could take a sip, and he did.

At first, Donnie had been a little squeamish of sharing straws, but since you had been around so much offering him sips of every frozen coffee or iced tea recipe you came up with, it didn’t bother him anymore.

“That’s good. Soymilk?”

“Vanilla soymilk.”

“Mmm, interesting.” He grinned.

The two of you sat around talking for a while before his timer went off and it was time to wash the dye out. He helped you rinse it out once again, drying it off with a blow dryer until finally, you straightened up to look at in the mirror. You squealed, beaming.

“It looks so good!!! Thank you Donnie!!!” You jumped up and latched onto him, your legs wrapped around his hips.

He grinned and grabbed onto your thighs, securing you in place better. “Of course, princess. Glad I could help.”

Mikey x Reader ~ When All Else Fails…Art

“So you take the Ziploc bag and you color on it with the markers you want like this.” You showed him, scribbling a random shape onto the clear plastic with an orange marker. “And then you pick another color, so pink.” You colored some more surrounding the orange blob, but not touching it. “And then I’m adding some yellow.”

“Okay…” Mikey watched intensely, very interested in the art technique you’d found on the internet. He was using some blue and green on his bag, and once you were done with the yellow, he used some of that too. “Now what?”

“And then you dip your fingers into the water and flick it where the marker is.”

“Alright.” Mikey nodded, dipping one giant finger into the water and copying you, flicking water onto the places where the color was.

“And then you mix it around like this.” You smudged the color with your fingertip, smearing it and blending the spots between different colors.

“Okay…” Mikey still wasn’t sure what this was supposed to accomplish, but he did it anyway.

“And then…and this is the cool part. You flip it onto the paper and press down.”

“WOAHHHHHH THAT’S SO COOL!” He exclaimed, spreading the color out on his paper. “Where did you learn how to do this, dudette?”

“On the internet.” You smiled, peeling the bag off of your paper and admiring your pseudo-water color masterpiece. It looked like a sunset. You handed it to Mikey. “For you, sir.”

He held a hand over his heart, gasping. “For ME?”

“Mmhmm.”

“I’m gonna frame this and put it on my bunk.” Mikey tackled you in a bear hug, pressing a dozen kisses to your cheek. “Thank you, angelcakes. I love it.”

#tmnt 2014 #tmnt 2016 #tmnt imagine #leonardo x reader #raphael x reader #donatello x reader #michelangelo x reader #leo x reader #raph x reader #donnie x reader #mikey x reader

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dumpsiteforfics · 3 years ago

Text

Las Vegas, Baby!

Rating: PG-13 for this chapter.

Genre: Fluff, romance

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Spencer Reid

Warnings: slight mention of rape and murder! Only once, no graphical description!

Summary: This is from my Model au! This is two part story. Wait for part 2. ☺️ It's just something fluffy and cute. Just a reason to write these two together!

If you have a background idea about this au, you might be aware that I have used Spencer as model instead of Lila archer and Aaron is the agent who is gone on Spencer! Team comprised of Gideon, rossi, Hotch, Morgan and Garcia at that time!

You can check all my model au musings for more information -> 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 . Please ignore the typos and grammatical mistakes, English is difficult lmao!! Hope you enjoy! ❤️

"Okay everyone, we have a few hours till we reach Vegas, so get some shut eye if you need because we will start working until we find this unsub once we touch down!" Aaron ordered the team. Everyone agreed quickly as Aaron stood up to take his corner seat where he could spread out the files again. As he started looking into the files, making notes of some of the points they had already discussed, the team including Garcia who was still on the video call were talking quietly about lighter things before parting.

"So chocolate thunder, I hope you won't have too much fun without me over there. I'm so jealous that you are in Vegas after so long and I'm not even there!"

Morgan chuckled at Garcia's frustration, "I know baby girl! It's not everyday that we get a case in a city like Vegas! When was the last time we came for a case? Do you remember?" He mused out loud.

Rossi who was just listening to their talk quietly answered, "I think it was when we were helping with that stalker case of that gorgeous kid! What was his name again, Aaron?"

Morgan bit his lips to stop a chuckle passing through as they all watched minute change in their boss's posture. His back stiffened lightly and he frowned deeply before shooting a glare to Rossi as he replied, "Spencer Reid I believe."

Before Rossi could ask something more, Garcia gushed, "Oh God yes!! How did I forget!!! He was so gorgeous and sexy and he was such a cute little rabbit!! I wish I could have had a chance to meet him, you guys were so lucky to have met him!"

Emily and JJ were the only ones at this point who seemed to be out of loop and after watching Garcia's reaction they couldn't ignore asking anymore.

"Okay, holdup Penelope, what's going on? " It was Emily who finally asked her.

"Ohhh he is this gorgeous baby model! He is pretty much famous now but at that time he was being stalked by his obsessed best friend. And BAU was involved. This was back when Gideon was still on team and our fearless leader here was Spencer's security detail! " And then Garcia's voice turned into a hushed (still a bit loud) whisper as she continued, "Bossman's photo with the model was on the front page of all fashion magazines. They created quite a buzz around as well!"

"Okay that's enough!! Everybody go to sleep or I can give you work to do right now, choose wisely!" Hotch ordered, looking pointedly at every single one of them and within a second Garcia bid goodbye, disconnecting the call quickly!

Everyone else just shared a knowing glance with each other before dispersing to their preferred seats all over the plane!

It was going to be a long case, Aaron thought!!

***†***

The team soon forgot all about this supposed model who seemed to be a somewhat touchy subject for their boss. As they reached the LVPD, they were quickly immersed in the work, giving all of their focus to the case as it should be!

It was a bad case, of course all the cases are bad, but there are always some cases who suck everything good out of them, and this was one of those! Closeted teenagers being raped and murdered and the only good thing about it all was that the LEOs were helpful instead of hindering the investigation, without their full support the case would've taken a lot longer.

They were supposed to be flying out that night but the Jet was not in a good condition and their pilot told them that they will most likely be able to fly the next night! Though they would've loved going home as soon as they can, spending a night in Vegas didn't seem like such a bad option.

The team was talking about where they should have dinner and how they should spend the night, considering they didn't have any work and it was as good as vacation! Aaron was in a separate corner talking to someone on the phone and they all just thought he was talking to Strauss, giving her idea about the case and the delay!

As he came back, the team had already decided on a few options, so Rossi put a hand on Aaron's shoulder before saying, "Aaron, we are thinking of hitting this really nice restaurant for dinner, my treat, we deserve it after this long case!"

Surprisingly Aaron shook his head, he waited for a second to choose his words carefully before explaining the reason. "I'm sorry I won't be joining you all tonight! I have dinner plans already with someone else, we will meet tomorrow at the airport when the plane is ready to takeoff! "

Everyone was quite! This was probably the first time they have heard Aaron Hotchner having plans other than work and spending time with the team! He looked cute trying to look stern so no one would ask him questions, but well Rossi was never the one to shut his mouth when Hotch needed it.

"Does it involve certain model with curly hair, bambi eyes and smile to die for?" He asked, like a little shit he was!

But tonight seemed to be a night of surprises because instead of receiving a well placed glare, all they received was a rare dimpled smile which made almost everyone pause their breathing for a second, because yeah it was that gorgeous!

"Well that's for me to know and you to never find out!" Aaron replied, still smiling, before he left them.

They just looked at each other, not really sure if that really happened, but then Morgan whistled, "He is so fucking meeting that boy!!! I knew it! Penelope is going to love this gossip!"

There was still so much about their boss that they weren't aware of!!

***†***

As soon as Aaron rang the bell, Spencer was there opening the door with huge smile! Before Aaron could even place his bags down, he was enveloped in a bear hug by none other than The Spencer Reid, model, actor and his boyfriend!

"I didn't think you'd really come! God!! You are here, you are really here!! Shit, let me see you!" Spencer pulled away, his hands immediately cupping Aaron's face, those eyes almost a bit teary and Aaron felt his heart breaking a little bit! Both of their jobs required a lot of their time and they had to travel constantly. And with the amount of work they both had, they weren't able to spend a lot of time together at all! They both travelled back and forth whenever they got the free time in their schedule, but currently Spencer was working in a movie and he had been so busy with the work that they were not able to meet for more than six months.

Spencer pulled away before taking him inside the house, inside his bedroom. And Aaron kept his bags in their designated place before going to take shower. He would have really liked to have Spencer with him in there but from the looks of it, he had already showered.

So he focused on taking a quick shower, feeling better already in the close existence of his love as the hot water started to relax his tired and aching muscles. He dried his body quickly, snapping one towel around his waist as he came out of the bathroom, drying his head with other towel.

But then it was snatched away by clever fingers and he was pushed on the bed, sitting at the end of it before that lithe body he loved so much was sitting across his lap! Spencer straddled him, before starting to dry his head with the towel he snatched earlier. Aaron hummed as he felt Spencer throwing away the towel after a few minutes before raking his long fingers through his locks. He knew how soothing it was for Aaron, and it helped in melting away those last few evidences of the tension he still had.

He wanted to kiss his boyfriend, preferably 10 minutes ago, but they had a silent agreement. If he kisses now, they won't have a dinner, and he very much wanted to have that dinner with his boyfriend, he wanted to listen to his rants, he wanted to feed him few bites, play a little game of footsie just to make his boyfriend giggle childishly and then when they are full, then he will kiss him! Small, butterfly kisses at first and then they will get heavier and then they will start touching each other and that time they won't have to stop in the middle of it for anything. Because then they'll have only one purpose, to feed the hunger their bodies felt these past few months, and relearn each other's bodies, love those spots and crooks and valleys all over again, and intertwine as one to not part again for little while.

They'll do all of that, soon, but first dinner!!

#heid #hotch×reid #hotchreid #model heid au #Ray's fics #model Spencer #agent aaron

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fleetingpieces · 4 years ago

Text

My One in a Million Chapter 2

Thank you @inloveoknutzy for proofreading and support <3 and @lumosinlove for your amazing OCs!!

You can read Chapter 1 here

Chapter 2 - Bad habits

“So how’s that new apartment of yours?” Alice asked over the phone. “I can’t believe you didn’t call me sooner, are you already too much of a star for your commoner friends?”

Remus laughed goodheartedly as he sat down on his bed. He’d missed Alice’s voice.

“C’mon, I’m by no means a star. And I would never forget about my best friend, you know that.”

“Ohh good, I finally dethroned Leo?”

“Ok, let me rephrase that. I would never forget about my midget best friend,” Remus corrected and laughed again when Alice cursed at him. “I’m sorry Al, it’s just been a very busy couple of weeks.”

Remus glanced around his room. It looked much more homier now that everything had been unpacked and he’d gotten himself a few paintings and decorations. Everything looked exactly as he’d imagined, and Remus felt a sense of contentment at the image.

He closed his eyes, letting the sun warm up his skin and enjoying the light breeze drifting in through the open balcony door. But when he breathed in, a strong smell of nicotine wafted to his nose.

“Fuck, not again,” Remus groaned, raking a hand over his face with an exasperated sigh.

“What? What’s wrong?” Alice asked.

“My asshole of a neighbour. I swear to god Alice, it’s like he does it on purpose.”

Throwing himself down on the bed, Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. He tried to remind himself that the guy wasn’t technically doing anything wrong at the moment, but this little thing together with everything else was cutting Remus’ patience short.

“Uh oh, are you having trouble already?”

Remus snorted.

“You could say that.” He focused on breathing in and out before launching on a rant. “I have this beautiful balcony with a view, but I can never leave the door open cause he’s always smoking outside and somehow the smell always gets into my room which is fucking annoying.”

“Well...I guess it could be worse?” Alice said uncertainly after a moment.

“That’s not all. He sometimes leaves the garbage right outside his door for hours. I don’t know what the hell he does at midnight, but I can hear his music at the weirdest hours, and then out of nowhere there are loud screams coming through the walls.”

Alice snorted and Remus rolled his eyes.

“Not that type of screams. Like angry screams?”

As the smell became too much, Remus got up and started walking towards the door.

“And the weirdest thing is, there’s so many people coming in and out from that apartment all the time. Every day. I swear, it’s ridiculous. Is he a drug dealer or something?”

Remus thought about the past week and how confusing it had been, as he’d bumped into a lot of weird, different people.

On Monday, when he was coming back from finally doing grocery shopping, he got into the elevator with a guy with messy hair and glasses. The guy was smiling so much it was a bit weird, but he was nice enough to hold the door for Remus when they were getting off. Remus smiled as well and nodded before going to his apartment and watching as the guy disappeared next door.

On Tuesday, a bloke with red hair was going out just as Remus was coming back home; they exchanged a ‘good afternoon’ and they each went their way.

On Wednesday a tall, dark, handsome stranger smiled and winked at Remus.

Thursday, a woman with red hair and green eyes struck up an animated conversation with him when he was coming back from his morning run. Remus had actually liked her, she seemed very nice and easygoing. He wondered if she was related to the guy he’d seen on Tuesday.

When Friday came around, he’d been slightly wary as he’d stepped out to take Cocoa to the park nearby. Almost as if on cue, he heard a door open and close when he was going to the lift, and soon he was joined by a shorter man with tan skin, a snapback on his head with dark curls slipping out.

He’d had to wonder if it was some sort of silly prank. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Cause every day, for a week, he’d bumped into a different person every time he went out or came back to his apartment.

All of them coming and going from apartment number 12.

Just how many people lived there? He'd casually asked the concierge about it and was surprised when the man said it was just one guy. Someone called Black, whose description matched the one of the first guy he’d met in the building.

Alice’s huffed laugh brought him back to the present as he reached the door and peered outside. And then he felt his breath catch in his throat.

Black was standing on the edge of the balcony closer to Remus’ own, and had his back turned on him. A very tanned, muscular, bare back. Remus cursed under his breath. The guy was only wearing a pair of sweatpants, and was leaning on the rail as he exhaled a plume of smoke. The way the sun reflected beautifully over his skin and dark hair had to be illegal.

“And he’s hot! Really, his back is so sexy it’s unfair!” he said as he closed the door a bit harder than he’d meant to.

Alice cackled on the other end of the line.

“Well Rem, at least you have something to look at,” she teased. “Why don’t you go say something to him?

“I would rather avoid confrontation so early on,” Remus said as he leaned back on the glass panel, ignoring Alice’s first statement. He didn’t want to have his first neighbor fight not even two weeks after moving in. But the guy was just getting on Remus' nerves, and even if he didn’t want to be that neighbour, he knew he would soon need to set some boundaries.

“I’m sorry about that sweetie,” Alice said in a sympathetic tone. Remus hummed in reply. “I hope it didn’t ruin the excitement of moving in.”

“Nah, it’s alright. It would be nice if we could get along, but worse comes to worse I’ll just have a talk and that’s it. We don’t have to be friends or anything,” Remus decided not to mention the issue with his Mum’s painting, otherwise Alice might just show up here to kick the guy’s ass herself. Smiling slightly at the idea of tiny Alice standing up to that guy, Remus glanced at the clock and cursed. “I’m sorry Al, I gotta run or I’ll be late for my first class.”

“Ok, I’ll talk to you later, yeah? Don’t be a stranger!”

“Yeah, yeah, bye Alice!”

As soon as Remus hung up, he scrambled through his room to grab everything he needed. He stopped only for a minute to fill Cocoa’s bowl and pet him on the head before heading out, thanking the heavens that for once, there wasn’t anyone waiting for him in the hallway.

Remus had been working non stop ever since he’d started gaining popularity online, and took a few days off to adjust to his new living space before he started working at the new studio. Not that he’d completely stopped, what with making and editing videos for the page.

Some students were already waiting when Remus arrived, but he was just in time. For the first time ever he had a fully booked class, and even some people in a waiting list in case any space would free up. Remus was so thrilled, he couldn’t keep a smile from his face.

He looked around when he entered the room where he would be imparting the yoga lesson, and the first thing that caught his eye was a head of flaming hair.

The girl was wearing black leggings and a loose shirt, and Remus recognized her at once from last Thursday. She glanced up, and surprise crossed her face before she broke out in a smile.

"Hello! You're from Sirius' building aren't you? Are you here to take this class as well?"

Remus wasn't sure who Sirius was, but given the fact that she had been to the apartment next door, Remus figured it must be his dear neighbor.

Sirius Black.

Even his name was pretentious.

"Ah, no, I'm actually the new instructor," Remus said, smiling shyly.

"Oh that's great!" the woman beamed. "My friend Natalie recommended your class, said I would not regret it. So, you're Remus?"

Remus nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, pleased to properly meet you um.."

"Lily," she smiled, and Remus couldn't help but return it. It was so easy to talk to her.

Remus moved to start setting up his things while they waited for the last few students to arrive. Lily followed.

"Natalie should be here any minute, she was super excited about this. Apparently, you're pretty famous! I don't pay much attention to social media, so I haven't heard from you before." Lily smiled apologetically, but Remus waved her off.

"Oh that's not true, I'm just a normal guy that happened to have a bit of luck. I do hope you enjoy the class though." He bit his lip, wondering if he should ask the next question or if he would come off as a prying old lady, but then curiosity got the better of him. "What's the deal with all the people in that apartment? Do you all secretly live there?"

A dark look crossed Lily's face, but it was gone in a second and replaced by a small worried frown.

"No, that's just Sirius' home. I'm sorry about all the trouble, I swear it's not always like that,” she said, tugging at a strand of her hair. “Things should calm down soon...I hope."

Remus wasn't sure what that meant, but he knew asking more about it would be too nosy. It was none of his business after all, he just wanted some peace and quiet.

"Oh, I know!” Lily suddenly perked up. “We're throwing a Halloween party at Sirius' in two weeks, why don't you come over? That way you can meet everyone!"

Remus schooled his features carefully to avoid cringing. He didn't particularly like parties, the smell of smoke and alcohol, the inebriated people doing stupid shit, the many mistakes made in the thrill of the moment...yeah, Remus could live without all that crap.

"I don't know, Lily...I don't think I'm invited." And that guy and I don't really get along well, he thought.

But Lily just rolled her eyes.

"I just invited you. That flat is almost like my own home, so Sirius won't mind me inviting someone over, if that's what you are worried about."

Remus busied himself searching his bag for nothing in particular, wondering if Lily and Sirius were dating. They certainly seemed really close to each other, he could tell by the way she said his name; but how could someone as nice as Lily date that ass?

"C'mon, it'll be fun! You can make new friends, and that way it won't be so weird if you bump into any of them in the hallways again."

"I'll think about, ok?" Remus said to appease her, but he knew there was no way he'd be going to that party.

However, the look Lily gave him and the glint in her green eyes told him she wouldn't let him off so easily.

***

Later that night, Remus was sitting by the window of his living room, meditating. He’d gotten into the habit of doing it when he needed to wind down, or when there was too much on his head; and today, after a long day back at teaching, it was a good way for him to relax.

And for once, everything was quiet. No loud music coming through the walls, no people shuffling about all over the building, even the city outside seemed quieter than usual, and Remus basked in the silence that filled his ears as he breathed in deeply.

Or at least he did until he heard a loud whoop that almost made him jump out of his skin. What the hell was that?

A string of muffled words and a loud laugh followed as Remus sat there with a hand over his racing heart, trying to calm down. And even then, with his breathing completely messed up, Remus surprised himself thinking it was the first time he’d heard laughter from next door instead of just shouts, and how oddly familiar it sounded.

“For fucks sake,” he muttered, getting up.

He’d finally had enough. He’d tried to let it be and avoid confrontation, but was it really that hard to be considerate? Did he think he was the only person living here?

Breathing out, Remus made his way through the hall and knocked on the door. There was no response at first, but the noise inside quieted down. Remus waited for a bit before knocking again, a little louder than before. This time there were approaching footsteps on the other side, and he was pretty sure he could hear someone cursing.

Remus was going over his speech in his head, trying to figure out the best way to talk to this person, but as soon as the door opened, all words disappeared from his mind. Actually, every thought in his brain flew out the window as he was met by stormy grey eyes boring into his.

It was the first time he was seeing Black’s face, and why the fuck did he have to be so fucking gorgeous?

He had high cheekbones, and a jaw that was screaming to be kissed; his inky black hair held in a messy bun at the top of his head, with a few strands framing his face. Remus already knew he was fit as hell, but fucking God, those eyes.

Remus’ breath caught in his throat as he took in the slightly surprised look on Black’s face, who was looking him up and down. It was then that Remus realized he was so pissed that he hadn’t even thought about changing out of his yoga tights. His cheeks warmed up, and the thought of blushing in front of this guy annoyed him even more.

He glared at Black, who arched a perfect eyebrow.

“I’m sorry to disturb you,” he started, still trying to be polite, “I live next door, and I didn’t want to do this, but could you please keep it down? I’ve been listening to your music all week, and even if you have good taste it’s getting really annoying.”

You have good taste? What the hell was that? Remus chided himself.

Sirius glanced behind him at his apartment with mock surprise.

“There’s no music right now, is there?”

Remus rolled his eyes; he didn’t care how good looking this guy was, or how curious he was about the slight accent in his voice, he was absolutely obnoxious.

“Oh yeah, ‘cause the screaming is so much better,” Remus deadpanned. He thought he saw the corner of Black’s mouth quirk up, but he was still staring Remus down.

“Oh, I was just punishing the gang for not making the drugs faster,” Sirius said, and his mouth moved to the side, like he was biting the inside of his cheek to fight a smile.

Remus' eyes widened.

"Yeah, I'd invite you to come in and have a look, but it might be too hot in here," he continued in a teasing tone.

"Oh my God, you heard that?" Remus fought the urge to cover his face, which he was sure was beetroot red.

"Just bits and pieces. You were talking pretty loudly," Black said, the amused smile finally appearing on his face. He leaned with a shoulder against the doorframe, looking Remus up and down again. “But hey, I could show you more of my sexy back if you really want to.”

Remus did his best to fight his embarrassment as he squared his shoulders, his expression going hard. How did this guy manage to make him so angry every time?

“I would never want anything to do with a disrespectful, self-centered prick like you." Politeness be damned, he was not going to stand here and let this man make fun of him.

Black's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and he regarded Remus with new interest.

"I -"

Some voices came from inside the flat, and Black looked over his shoulder. When he turned back around, he looked Remus straight in the eye with a penetrating gaze.

"I will try to keep it down," and without another word, he closed the door in Remus' nose.

Remus just stood there for a few minutes with his mouth hanging open, absolutely bewildered, before a scowl took over his face. He turned around and marched straight into his apartment, closing the door behind him and taking a few slow breaths to calm himself.

When that proved fruitless for the first time in a very long while, he went straight to his computer and onto Padfoot’s channel. A pleased sigh escaped his lips when he saw that he was going live and clicked the video immediately. Padfoot hadn’t made a new video in a few days, which had been slightly worrying, so Remus was glad to see he was back.

When the video loaded though, Remus frowned. A game was being shown full screen, but the character was just standing there, not doing anything, and the only voices heard were from other players. Padfoot wasn’t there. The live chat was going crazy asking what happened, saying everything seemed fine and then Padfoot had just disappeared.

But a few seconds later Remus, heard a small laugh and a familiar voice talking to the viewers.

“Hey guys, I’m back! I’m so sorry about that, I was just very rudely interrupted. Although I must admit, it was a very interesting interruption. Anyway, let’s crack this thing, I left my partner alone for a long time and we all know he is as useful as a chocolate teapot.”

“I protected your sorry ass while you were away, and that’s the ‘thanks’ I get?” another voice came from the video with mock offense.

“Yeah, yeah, I appreciate your efforts Prongs, but we both know who's the one that gets things done here."

“Oh, yeah? It’s always like this with you, whenever you do something awesome it’s ‘Oh, look at me, I’m amazing’, and whenever you fuck up it’s ‘Oh, we are a team’.”

“That’s how teamwork works!” Padfoot said in his most convincing tone.

Remus laughed at Padfoot’s antics, feeling a lot better than a few minutes before, and started thinking about everything with a cooled head. He would have liked to get along with his neighbors, to have a quiet, happy life, but he could try to ignore him. He didn’t have to see the guy more than was strictly necessary. He wasn’t going to.

#My One in a Million #wolfstar #wolfstar fic #fanfic #sirius black #remus lupin #sirius x remus #writing #hp marauders #marauders

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technicallydeepbookworm · 4 years ago

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I wasn't really sure about posting my Riordanverse opinions buut Mercury @riordanversereyna asked for it so yeah.

Some of these are bombshells, so prepare yourself :

1)I didn't love Percy and had a crush on him like most of the fandom (here's a thing that me and Piper have in common). like yeah, he's a great person and character, it just... didn't click with me.

2)I don't like Annabeth that much. in TLT I loved her, them i started to like her a little less but when I read BOTL I was really disappointed because of her behavior towards Rachel, especially because (from what we know) she never apologized and *puff*they became bff. And also the way she sometimes treated Percy (*coff*judo flip*coffs*) and other people in general..

3) On the opposite, I love Rachel, I've loved her since we met her, she deserved better : she deserves all the love in this world and instead she literally gets bashed from the clowns because she liked a guy and made a move.. as if y'all don't have a crush on Percy.

4) I don't like what Luke did : I understand the idea of hating the gods and wanting to overthrow the government, but he literally manipulated a teenager and he was standing here while Annabeth (his best friend) was holding the sky... he sacrificed himself, but that doesn't mean that manipulating kids is right.

5) HoO could have been so much more, it has a lot of potential, but this.. it makes me think that Rick only wrote it to please his fans.

6)Piper is not weak or flat or annoying. y'all just love to say you want emotional female characters but then say they're annoying they actually act like normal teens (being insecure, worried, having crushes)

7) Jason isn't boring and he's actually funny and has a sense of humor too, he just isn't blatantly sassy like Percy, they grew up in completely different ways and places, it's understable. He doesn't think he's better than Percy, he's just used to being a leader and having to take care of others ; also, stop bringing Percy into everything.

8) Hazel isn't a sweetie, she canonically swears multiple times and she stood up for Nico when Jason doubted about him. She's a kind person, but she doesn't take shit from anyone.

9)Leo is funny, yeah, but not stupid, at all. And he would do great in math, it's canon that he did college's math when he was a child.

10) Hylla deserves more recognition. She's a badass queen and she supported and took care of Reyna in her most difficult moments, she's a great sister.

11) ToA is great and deserves better. We finally see an arrogant, selfish god turning slowly into a good guy, who wants to fix the big mistakes he did ; and Apollo has honestly the biggest and greatest character development of the entire Riordanverse.

12) People need to stop focusing on Pjo and HoO and give the other series a chance : I'm reading TKC and I'm loving it, it's a great book and one of the few with non white protagonist. Same goes for the others too.

#piper mclean #jason grace #trials of apollo #leo valdez #hylla ramirez arellano #apollo #hazel levesque #rachel dare #unpopular thoughts

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winryofresembool · 4 years ago

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Caleo fic: It’s all about the name

Chapter 5

Summary: Calypso is a barista at a coffee shop and one day she gets a customer who refuses to give her his real name. At first he seems really annoying but eventually Calypso finds out not all is what it looks like on the surface. (Coffee shop AU!)

a/n: OK, I lied about this being the final chapter (no one is surprised). I decided it'd be better to split the final part into two because it was getting pretty long and I didn't want to rush it, so here we go. At least we'll get some answers in this chapter :'D The 'epilogue' will be posted soon, hopefully tomorrow already or on Tuesday the latest so stay tuned for that!

Hope you guys enjoy, and please let me know what you think!!

Words: 2,7k+

Genre: fluff, humor

Warnings: none

previous chapters / AO3

...

For a couple of months the Bad Boy Supreme showed up at the coffee shop pretty much every day. Sometimes he stayed a bit longer - those days weren’t that busy at the garage so Jo was fine with him staying – and sometimes he just dropped by to say a quick hi to Calypso, but he still always came. That’s why, when he suddenly didn’t appear anymore, Calypso got really worried. Had something happened to him? Had she done something wrong? Those questions and more went through her head.

On the first day that he was away, Calypso kept glancing at the clock every couple of minutes, and back to the door, but she didn’t see the familiar curly hair anywhere. When a full hour had gone since the guy’s regular break time, Calypso was visibly restless and pacing back and forth behind the counter. It got to a point where Reyna had to pull her to the backroom to talk to her.

“Are you really that wound up over that guy? Wow, Calypso, I knew you liked him but… this is getting kind of out of hands. I’m sure there’s some perfectly understandable reason why he isn’t coming today; he is probably just too busy or has caught a cold or something else completely normal.”

“But… what if it’s something I did?” Calypso asked with frustration, pulling the end of her braid.

“You haven’t done anything wrong; I saw him smile as wide as you can possibly imagine when he left yesterday. So, please calm down,” Reyna tried to reassure her.

Calypso moped at her. “Easier said than done. But about that earlier: who has said anything about me liking him? I’m just worrying about him… like you’d worry about a friend?”

“Goodness, Cal, you should see your face every time he appears. I can see you trying to keep a poker face but your eyes say ‘bésame ahora’,” Reyna teased.

Calypso did have a pretty good idea of what that sentence meant even though she didn’t know a lot of Spanish (although she was more motivated to learn now that she knew the Bad Boy Supreme was a Spanish speaker as well). She felt her face heat at Reyna’s implications but still wasn’t ready to admit that her coworker may have been right.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying now,” she claimed but Reyna didn’t buy it.

“You definitely do,” she stated. “You’re not that amazing an actress, you know. Your voice got squeaky and I could compare the color of your face to tomatoes.”

“Whatever.” Calypso rolled her eyes. “Can we please go back to work now? I don’t want to keep the people waiting.”

“You know just as well as me that it’s quiet at this time of the day,” Reyna reminded her. “But sure, we can go back as long as you’ll stop pacing around like crazy.”

“I will,” Calypso promised. “I don’t owe anything to that guy anymore and he doesn’t owe anything to me either so he doesn’t have to come here if he doesn’t want to.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Reyna.

“He still hasn’t told you his name?” Reyna asked with surprise, having noticed Calypso calling him ‘that guy’. “That’s so weird. I thought he’s just into you as you’re into him.”

“Well, we’re just playing this game…” Calypso started hesitantly. “Ugh, forget about it. I could easily ask his coworkers or something but I don’t want to pry. He’ll slip it eventually.”

“Okay, I’ll just call him Bad Boy Supreme then,” Reyna shrugged before going back to her work.

…

Days passed. The first few days Calypso tried to calm herself down by telling herself that her mystery guy really was just busy and he’d surely come back soon enough. But once a couple of weeks had gone since his last appearance, she became restless again. This time Reyna and the others decided that it was better to just let her be that way until it passed because there really wasn’t much they could say to comfort her. As a result, Calypso seemed more effective in her work but mistakes also happened more often and she had to apologize to her customers at least twice as often as she had previously. The manager luckily brushed it off as a ‘learning process’.

Eventually that phase ended, though. After a few months had gone by, Calypso started to get convinced that the Bad Boy Supreme was not coming back. She was now calm again but at the break time she still kept glancing at the door sadly, hoping to see the familiar figure. She hadn’t realized how much she really had been looking forward to his visits until they abruptly ended and she wished she had gotten a chance to tell him that before he disappeared. But maybe it was better this way; maybe she had been the more interested one, just like in all of her previous relationships.

On one busy afternoon, Calypso wasn’t thinking about the mystery guy a lot anymore. Sure, she had briefly noted that it was the usual break time again, but she was no longer expecting to see him and was focused on serving the customers that were currently present. That’s why, when the bells above the door rang again and in came a new customer, she didn’t pay a lot of attention to him at first. She just nodded and said a quick hi before finally raising her gaze from her work to see who had arrived. Her mouth involuntarily opened into the shape of ‘O’ when she finally registered who it was. There was no mistaking that curly hair and the mischievous, yet warm, almost chocolate colored eyes.

“Oh my gods, it’s you!” She finally managed to squeak after gulping a couple of times so she could get some voice out of her mouth. Her face melted into the widest smile she was capable of and she had to contain herself so she wouldn’t jump over the desk to hug him. “I didn’t… I wasn’t expecting…” She cleared her throat and said with a lower, fake angry voice: “I mean, you’re really late, mister.”

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, but still seemingly happy to see her. “Sorry ‘bout that, Sunshine, a lot of weird things happened recently and I just couldn’t come here even though I wanted to.”

“Well, you’re going to have to explain to me what exactly happened,” Calypso demanded. She couldn’t keep her face angry for long, though. “But before that, what do you want to drink? A double espresso?”

“You know well it was a one time occasion and I didn’t even get that drink!” The guy reminded her. “I’d like your freshly made orange soda today, though. It reminds me of Sunshine.”

“Okay, coming up,” Calypso nodded, wondering if the air conditioning didn’t work that day because she was suddenly feeling rather warm.

“Not gonna ask my name today, are you?” the guy asked with amusement while watching her do her work.

“No. I don’t need to,” Calypso said mysteriously without raising her eyes from the cup.

“Oh?” he asked curiously but she didn’t elaborate so he moved to the other counter to wait.

Calypso took her time with the soda and the guy seemed to wonder if she did that on purpose, until finally she stepped forward and gave him the plastic cup with his ‘name’ on it.

“Alright, Bad Boy Supreme, here you go!”

The guy’s thoughtful frown melted into a huge smile immediately. “Did… I just hear right??” he asked and checked the cup. “Did you just say the magic word?”

“I did, but don’t you dare to make a big number out of it!” she warned, but the twinkle in her eye was enough to tell that she wasn’t being serious.

“No worries, no worries, I won’t,” the Bad Boy Supreme reassured her, raising his free hand up. “But what made you change your mind? I thought you refused to say it?”

“I don’t want to tell,” Calypso said reluctantly.

“C’mon, just do it.”

Calypso didn’t answer for a while, pretending to be more interested in swiping the table. When the guy didn’t show any signs of giving up, though, she finally spoke. “The truth is that I promised to myself that if you’d show up again, I would finally give in. Well, I did it. You won. Go ahead and laugh.”

“No, I won’t. That’s kinda sweet of you.” There was a short pause. “Well, I promised to tell you my real name, so here it comes: I’m Leo. Leo Valdez,” the Bad Boy Supreme said sheepishly and looked a bit embarrassed for some reason.

“Leo,” Calypso tasted the name on her tongue. “I think I like it. It does suit you better than Bad Boy Supreme.”

Leo took a swig from his cup to get something to do with his hands. “Eh heh. Listen. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you earlier. It was pretty stupid of me… I didn’t intend to keep that game going that long because I actually wanted you to learn to know me better. And I wanted to learn to know you better.”

Surprising even herself, Calypso said: “Don’t worry about it. If I really would have tried, I’m sure I would have found out somehow, for example going to your boss and asking her. I… had kind of fun trying to guess it. I wasn’t too far off with that Leon, right?”

“That’s true,” Leo grinned. “I was kind of trying to bluff when I started talking about Ed instead so you wouldn’t notice my reaction to that name.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember that!” Calypso exclaimed. “I should have gotten the hint.”

“Well, you know now and that’s what matters, right?” Leo asked.

“Yeah. Um, and about that thing you said earlier…” Calypso blamed the air conditioner for feeling even warmer than a moment before. “I’d like to learn to know you better as well. Although thinking about it, you’ve probably told me more than you even realize already. About Emmie, Jo, Georgina, your friends, family, Festus… But hey, you promised to tell me why you were gone so long, so come on, let’s go sit there so you can fill me in.”

Calypso’s workmates knew better than to say no to her when she suggested having a break so she could talk with Leo, and they went to sit at an empty table opposite to each other.

“So, what happened?” Calypso asked once they were seated.

“Well… remember how we one time talked about our future dreams?” Leo asked, to which Calypso nodded. “After that talk I started doing some maths in my head - yeah, laugh ahead, but I can actually count surprisingly well - and discussed the topic also with Jo and Emmie and they said they’d be more than happy to help me give me a chance to continue studying. Practically, it means they’re willing to give me more flexible work hours and they promised that I can continue staying at their house until I want to or have enough money to move to a place of my own. We have some mechanics come and go and many of them stay there for long periods of time so it’s no problem for them. Anyway, after that I learned that the next entrance exam for the mechanical engineering program would be held in about a month so I needed to start studying right away. That’s a big reason why I didn’t have time to come here, but it was worth it, because guess what…” He pulled a big envelope from his bag. “I just got this today. And it says…” he did some drum rolls on the table with his fingers. “I got in!”

“That’s amazing!” Calypso exclaimed and couldn’t hold herself still anymore, instead getting up from her chair to hug him. “I’m very happy for you!”

“Of course it means I’ll have less time to come here in the future but we’ll make it work, right?” Leo said a bit uncertainly once they separated, blushing hard.

“What do you mean with ‘we’?” Calypso asked, not wanting to give herself false hope.

Leo rubbed the back of his neck. “Um… I… that… of course I still wanna keep seeing you! Why do you think I came to this coffee shop every day for several months even though I don’t even drink coffee?” “You… came because of me? I mean, I thought…”

“For such a smart seeming girl you really are dense,” Leo noted. “Of course I came because I liked you. You made quite the first impression already on the day we met.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything, then?” Calypso wanted to know.

“Because at first I thought you were way out of my league and probably hated me and then you told me you had recently broken up with someone and… yeah. Multiple reasons. And then the college thing happened and my friend Jason got into an accident and… Sorry, I guess I didn’t mention that yet,” Leo finished when he noticed Calypso’s expression.

“Wait, what? Your friend got into an accident? Is he OK?” Calypso asked with concern.

“Yeah, he’s gonna be OK. He had luck on his side because that car accident could have ended a whole lot differently but he’s now recovering in the hospital. The doctors expect him to make a full recovery. But we were definitely quite worried about him for a while.”

“I’m sorry… But I’m happy he’s getting better.” Calypso said, resting her hand on Leo’s for a moment as a gesture of comfort.

“Yeah… It’s a relief…” Leo nodded absentmindedly.

“You sounded like you wanted to tell something else as well.” Calypso remarked after a while.

Leo seemed to snap out of his thoughts. “Well, you’re not wrong… Did I ever tell you that I’ve never met my real dad? Well, I have now. Turns out he’s working at the same college I applied for, I saw him on the day of my entrance exam. A huge technology nerd, it seems. No, I’m not planning to stay in touch with him in my free time – the dude abandoned me and my mother before even legally admitting he’s my father – but… I dunno. It is still kind of interesting to see what kind of person he is.”

“Wow, sounds like you’ve really had a lot going since we last met. But it is good to hear things are starting to work out… and who knows, maybe your father turns out to be a decent guy. Wouldn’t that be great?” Calypso asked.

“I guess…” he shrugged. “But right now I’m more interested in other things.”

“Such as…?” Calypso inquired.

“You really missed me that much that you were even ready to call me Bad Boy Supreme if I showed up again?” Leo teased.

“Oh gods, I was wondering when the jerk would appear again…” Calypso said with partially faked annoyance.

“You still like me, though,” Leo stated.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

A moment of silence.

“Leo Valdez, will you go out with me?” Calypso blurted before she could regret it.

“Yes… I mean… YES?!” He stared at her with wide eyes and she couldn’t help but giggle at his expression.

“Alright, glad to know where we stand.”

Leo was quiet for a while. “Holy shit, I can’t believe you just asked me out…” he looked at the distance with a dreamy expression on his face. “I was hoping but…”

“Well, you don’t have to hope anymore, silly. I really did it.” Calypso smiled at him encouragingly.

“I… I…” Leo was still too flustered to say much else.

“I guess that means ‘I’m looking forward to it’?” Calypso interpreted before glancing at the queue of customers by the counter. “Looks like I should go back to work but I can text you afterwards.”

“Alright…”

The couple exchanged their phone numbers, but before Calypso handed Leo’s phone back, she surprised him once more by giving him a kiss on the cheek. Once she was already long gone, Leo still remained on his seat, his fingers touching the spot where her lips had been.

#caleo #leo valdez #calypso #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians #trials of apollo #my fics

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sylvain-writes · 4 years ago

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Guarded Hearts and Safe Houses (Leonardo x Reader) Chapter 6/9

Rated: T

Gender Neutral Reader, canon typical violence/injury, light angst, strangers to lovers, supportive family.

for @melodiousmelodrama

Maybe Mikey should have called ahead to say you were coming down. Maybe you should have asked permission from Leo, their appointed leader, to enter their new home. But Mikey invited you and you hadn’t heard from Leo in almost two weeks. Maybe Leo shouldn’t be shutting you out when all you’ve ever done is be there to help.

The platform looks great. Donnie’s setup spans the entire western wall. You think he must run himself tired going up and down the line, but the skateboard under his feet helps him make it a quick and easy ride from one end of his work station to the other.

“Raph’s down there, probably.” Mikey waves down the tracks. “Streets have been kinda quiet. It makes him uneasy. 'specially when we know the Krang are out there, but we can’t find ‘em.”

“Dare I ask about-”

“Leo? Heh. He’s probably training. Sensei has him working on finding balance." Mikey walks the rail with ease, one foot in front of the other. "You see, Leo’s been all kinds of bent outta shape since he walked out on you.”

“Leo didn’t walk out on anybody, Mikey,” you say with a frown.

With a leap, he turns to you. “Anyway! Leo’s been having some trouble focusing so… he’s in the ha'shi.”

You let Mikey lead the way up the opposite end of the platform until you hear a stern voice barking commands. “Find your center, Leonardo. Strength, speed, stealth… these are things that can waver, can fail, and still you keep focus on your path.”

“Yes, Master Splinter.”

You watch, with Mikey, from the edge of the small room. It must have been designated for another track, but it’s far more run down than the one Leo chose for his family.

Leonardo’s muscles strain and tremble as he holds himself on the ropes suspended overhead. His twin swords cut through the air like a dance.

“He’s really something else.”

“Huh?” Raphael comes up behind you smelling every bit as bad as Mikey promised he would. “Oh, yeah, he’s a real piece o’ work.”

Raphael raises his voice as he claps for his brother, “Good work, Leo! Nice form, brutha! Dropping that left still, but you’re comin’ around!”

All the cajoling doesn’t break Leonardo’s focus for an instant.

“I wonder if he even notices I’m here,” you say to no one.

“You ain’t said Hi to our guest yet? Come on, man, we raised you betta than that, Leo!”

Leo does a double take at his brothers, at you standing between them, and loses concentration. All it takes is one instant of distraction to have him falling from the ropes onto his shell.

“Ha ha!” Raph and Mikey bump fists.

Seeing they made Leo fall, you figure Splinter is going to have it out for the younger turtles, but the sensei's frustration is focused on Leo alone. “You mustn’t be so easily distracted, Leonardo. Clear your mind.”

Leo sits up and shakes off the shock of impact.

Splinter follows Leo’s line of sight to you. “This is the cause of your distraction? Of your failures? This human?”

You don’t think you should be insulted. You’re the outsider here. And if what Splinter is saying is true, then you’re dangerous. You’re dangerous if your presence means Leo’s unfocused, if it means that Leo has been making mistakes.

You swallow hard and bite your tongue and wait for Leonardo to say something. To stand up for you, to throw you under the bus. To say anything that would give you a clue as to how to respond.

“You. You.” Splinter points his gnarled staff from you to Leonardo and then raps it against the cement at his feet. “Speak. Communication. Trust. Honor.”

You think there will be more. More explanation. More reprimand. But Splinter taps his staff against the floor again, and then he’s gone. You think he walks out. You’re pretty sure he walks out. He can’t just disappear. Can he?

Your eyes are drawn back to Leo at the sound of him shuffling on the straw mat. “He’s right," you say, wishing you didn't have to. "If I’m a distraction, I should stay out of your way.”

Leo rubs his shell as he stands. “Then why did you come?”

“Mikey… he-”

“Mikey? Of course it was. Of course it was Mikey, or Donnie, or Raph.”

There's an accusation in his words. It fans your frustration with him into anger. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Leo huffs, throws up his hands, and gathers up his katanas from the ground.

“You’re never around, Leo. They look out for me and my family. They kept their promise to look after us.”

Leo's eyes are piercing. He sheaths his swords at his back without dropping his gaze. “I kept my promise.”

“Then where have you been?”

“I stayed away. The Krang is looking for me. I’m not going to lead them back to you. Not again." Squaring his shoulders, Leo faces you head on. His words are stiff. But he places a hand over his heart, and you remember the soft warmth of that hand under yours. "I swore I would protect your family, on my honor. And I am doing that. By staying away, by keeping my brothers close. But you…”

“Me? What about me? I’ve offered you everything. And you pushed me away." That day on the mat, when everything was broken but Leo held you close, feels like it was a lifetime ago. "So, what? You’re mad that I made friends with your brothers? They were there, Leo.”

Leo wrings his hands in front of him as he begins walking forward and back. When his paces draw him near, you can see the tightness in his jaw, the flush of his cheeks, the shine of unshed tears in his eyes. “Mikey’s been upset since we came down here. I thought it was just the move, but it was more than that… He opened up to you.”

“And you’re mad?”

“He opened up to you! You’re a stranger!” No, it isn’t anger in his voice.

“I’m a friend,” you say softer. “To them and I thought to you too.”

“I’m their brother. Their leader.: He presses his lips together and you think, maybe, his chin is trembling. You think, maybe, there is sadness in his wavering tone. “They're supposed to come to me. I’m supposed to see when they need me.”

“Sometimes people need a friend though. To talk to someone outside of the family, someone who isn’t their older brother.” After that moment in the old dojo, Leo must understand what it is to hide. “Mikey didn’t go to you because... he can see you’re doing the best you can. That you’re trying so hard to hold it all together. Didn’t want to seem ungrateful.”

"You don't know us like that. You don't get to have us like that. He's my brother. My responsibility."

Raising a hand to hold his, to comfort him like the night when the Lair was destroyed, you come forward. "You take on so much, Leo."

But he considers your outstretched hand with a hard stare. "No. You think you know me. You're too familiar. You saw what you shouldn't have seen."

"It's not a weakness to need someone sometimes."

"I don't need you. We don't need you."

You stare at Leo and let what he says really sink in, for him and for you. Your parents taught you to notice when someone is hurting. They instilled it in you to help when you can. But you won’t stay where you’re unwanted.

With a nod you acknowledge Leo’s rejection. Though his words expressed his wish to be left alone, he pales as you take a step back. He inhales a sharp breath as you withdraw your support. But when you walk away, he doesn’t ask you to stay.

Splinter waits for you at the edge of the mat, staff in hand, scowl in place.

“He doesn’t want to talk,” you say. You’re tired. You’re tired of giving yourself and being cast aside.

Splinter’s voice is deep and broken. “Then make him listen.”

You turn. And without taking any steps toward Leo, you raise your voice to grab his attention. "I'm going to help Mikey with his room. He misses Raph. That's the big secret. He isn't used to having his own room and he isn't sleeping through the day.” Leo doesn’t even look up. Too focused on polishing his swords.

You sigh before continuing, hoping he’ll listen. “He's hurting, not because you did anything wrong or because he's mad at anything you did. He's just having a hard time with the transition. If Raph agrees, we're gonna make windows between them so when Mikey needs to, they can hear each other."

At that, Leo pauses his work. "They'll keep each other up. Pick on each other until I come down on them."

"Is that what they used to have?"

Leo wipes his blades with a cloth and shrugs.

"Then maybe that's what they need, for now."

Leo’s quiet for a long while. You consider leaving, but something in your gut tugs you to go over to him instead.

He still hasn’t lifted his gaze, when he grumbles, "How did you get so smart?"

Your self-deprecating laugh comes out in huff. "I'm not.” You remember that night on the roof, when you should have run, but moved closer to the action instead. “I saw a fight between mutants and an alien and got caught. I'm reckless."

Leo offers the barest shake of his head. "You saw Mikey was hurt. You stuck your neck out for us.” There’s a glance where your eyes meet and you forget to breathe. “You got a big heart."

Your response is a whisper. "Right back at ya.”

There's a pause, a quiet. When Leo's cloth runs down the blade again, it doesn't feel like he’s putting on a show. Doesn’t feel like he’s trying to ignore or dismiss your company. It's routine. He's caring for his blades and you're there with him.

You take a seat on the mat and pick at the laces on your shoe. "Heart's not a bad thing, y'know. Loving your family, it's what drives you. I've always admired that about you."

"My family needs me. I have to think with my head, not my heart.” And just like that, Leo’s starts building his walls of defense, brick by brick. “I've seen what thinking with one's heart can do to a person. Passion clouds the mind.”

Leo rolls his shoulders, focuses on his task as he strengthens his resolve. "I fight because to walk away would be cowardly and shameful. It would bring dishonor to my family.” You wonder if those are his true beliefs or if they’re ones drilled into him by his father. “I fight because I am able. I am strong where others are vulnerable."

It breaks your heart to hear him pit strength and vulnerability against each other, as if they are mutually exclusive. "A reed before the wind lives on, while mighty oaks do fall.”

Leo gives only a hum in reply.

“It's ok to be vulnerable every once in a while. Better to bend than break.” You move closer to him as he oils the pommel. “Leo, you used to let me see you. Really see you. What changed?"

You place your hand on his blade and push it away with easy pressure. "Leo."

He lays the sword and cloth on the floor and looks at you with open palms. "I don't know if I can be both."

"Both?"

There’s a different kind of tension in his shoulders. Not the kind that he wears when he’s closing himself off, but the kind he wears when he’s trying to open himself up. "I don't know if I can be the man who teases you into getting hearing aids and still be the leader my brother's need in a fight."

The corner of your mouth lifts in an easy smile. "Leo,” you say, relief and affection moving through you like a wave, “you'll never be the tease. You'll always be the one pretending not to listen.” His frown twitches, and you take his hand. “But you'll hear me."

"How do you know?"

"Because you heard me all the other times. When I asked you to let my family help yours. When I asked for your trust. When I asked you to trust your brothers with the new Lair. You listened now, when I told you about Mikey."

Leo takes your hand in his and draws you to your feet. He pulls you in until you're standing close enough to hear his breath. "I'm supposed to look after my family."

"And maybe sometimes you can let me look after you."

Leo's expression turns soft. His eyes lose the last remnants of their walls and his head tilts as he assesses the sincerity in your voice.

“You came into our world and turned it upside down,” he says. “I don’t know if I can.”

Despite his words, Leo inches closer. His hands slide up your arms to your elbows. His fingers curl around your arms as he takes a trembling breath.

Your hand rises to his chest. Pauses over his heart before it moves to his cheek, briefly brushing the edge of his frown. “It’s OK… if you don’t need me. But if you do-”

You’re hushed by the feeling of Leo’s thumb caressing your cheek. You’re stilled by the sensation of his hand smoothing down your hair. “If I do,” he says, waiting for you to fill in the rest.

“Then I’m right here.”

The quiet spell is broken when Donatello rushes into the gym, skidding to a stop at the edge of the mat.

Leo pulls away from you quickly and strides to his brother, ready to take a report. “Sitrep, Donnie.”

“The-the-the Krang. Leo, they’ve hit the city. Leo, they… they…” His gaze locks on you before his face twists to a mournful scowl. “They must have known we’ve been getting help from humans. The apartment was attacked.”

#tmnt x reader #leonardo x reader #leo x reader #tmnt leonardo x reader #gender neutral reader #my writing #guarded hearts and safe houses fic

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athingthatwantsvirginia · 4 years ago

Text

This Ernest Hemingway Thing

PART FORTY OF THE DO YOU SEE HER FACE? SERIES

Pairing: Jess Mariano x Original Character (Ella Stevens)

Warnings: major discussions of parent death/death in general, plentiful pop culture references

Word Count: 5.4K

Summary: Ella struggles in the wake of her father's death.

“If you don’t shut up about this bar...” Jess warned, shooting daggers at Chris over the top of his book.

It was a slow day, and the three of them sat in the common area of Truncheon. Jess read his Sylvia Plath novel as he sat atop the welcome table in the front of the store. Chris was on a rant about why they should buy up the vacant space down the road and open a bar, while Matthew rolled his eyes. Snow fell in thick blankets, the coldest of the winter so far. Jess had opted to drive to work, rather than trudge through the crunchy, icy layer caking the sidewalks. The storm had blown in the night before as a bit of a surprise, leaving the city little time to salt the roads. The lack of customers at the book press was no shock. The large, ornate clock ticked slowly over the door. Only a few more minutes, and it would be time to close up for the day. Jess was glad; he’d be home to Ella soon enough. No matter how much she insisted she was fine, he couldn’t help feeling antsy when he’d left her home alone in the morning. His bottom lip was beginning to feel chapped from how much he had been gnawing on it.

Chris sighed heavily, throwing his hands up in exasperation. He was wearing a maroon cardigan over a pullover sweater, and Jess wondered how he wasn’t suffocating underneath all the wool. Chris took another sip of his disgusting chai latte before he continued.

“But it wouldn’t be just any bar! It would be Cedar Bar Redux!” he exclaimed.

Matthew rolled his eyes, not bothering to look up from the inventory sheet he was reviewing. “Just saying the name over and over isn’t gonna convince us.”

“Listen, we’ve already got this Ernest Hemingway thing going here,” Chris said emphatically, gesturing to the room around them. “Now, we can have a Charlie Parker thing down the road. We’ll play only jazz music there, and only serve drinks with whiskey. It’ll be super classy. Super hip.”

“Please don’t ever say ‘hip’ again,” Jess deadpanned, his eyes back on his reading.

Chris grinned confidently. “One day you’ll stop and think, ‘Wow, Chris has been a genius all along. Why did I ever doubt him?’”

Jess scoffed doubtfully.

“Sure, man,” Matthew said with a mocking nod.

“Hey, you’ll see, guys. Just you wait,” Chris said, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting at their dismissal of his idea. “If Ella was here, she’d agree with me.”

Shaking his head a bit, Jess snorted a laugh. “No, she wouldn’t.”

“I think she’s just pretentious enough to get behind it,” Chris argued, shrugging flippantly.

“Actually, I think she’s just pretentious enough to call you out for being a poser,” Matthew countered, his voice dejected as ever as he continued scouring the inventory sheets for any mistakes he might have made on them earlier in the day.

Chris narrowed his eyes at Matthew, getting ready to rebut. However, Jess spoke up first. He rose from his seat, stuffing the Plath book in the back pocket of his jeans and going to grab his coat and scarf.

“Speaking of Eleanor,” he said, “I’m going home. It’s closing time, boys. Have fun with the marketing pitch, Matthew.”

“Thanks, Jess,” Matthew replied sarcastically, still not looking up. On inventory day, he was basically a robot, glued to his paperwork. Not like Jess could blame Matthew, though, considering Jess would have run the business into the ground during the first week had Matthew not been there to deal with the numbers.

“What do you mean ‘speaking of Ella’?” Chris asked, his interest piqued.

She hadn’t been around much recently, and he missed her, despite their occasional bickering. It had been over a month since her father died, and she had hardly let them know how she was doing once she got back. He could count on one hand the number of times they’d seen her. It wasn’t as though he didn’t understand; she could take as much time as he needed. But Jess wasn’t exactly helping to ease his (and Matthew’s) concern, offering little more than an assurance that she was fine and just needed time for herself. It was hard for Chris to imagine Ella coping by isolation, but he had never known her in tragedy.

Jess shrugged on his coat, and began tying his scarf around his neck. “She stayed home sick today. I wanna make sure she at least eats dinner,” he explained shortly. They were all familiar with Ella’s bad habit of skipping, or forgetting, meals when she was stressed or upset.

“She okay?” Chris asked.

Finally, Matthew looked up from his sheet, patiently awaiting an answer. Chis wasn’t the only one who had noticed Ella’s recent absence. She had quite a presence, after all. He and Mabel were beginning to worry. Leo, too.

Jess shrugged, evasive. “Yeah. She’s fine. Just a winter bug or something.”

Chris nodded skeptically. “Okay.”

“Tell her we hope she feels better,” Matthew cut in diplomatically, hoping Chris got the hint that he should let sleeping dogs lie.

“Just call me a carrier pigeon,” Jess quipped, smiling thinly, before he excited the shop into the frigid evening air.

. . .

Eyelids heavy, Ella focused on her breathing. The falling snow twinkled in the soft light of the cloudy evening, and she watched it. Flakes floated down haphazardly, sometimes tossed along the wind. Watching it made her feel mindless, but almost in a good way, as she laid on her side. The pain in her head had numbed, though an ache still throbbed dully in her skull. She was just too tired. The kind of fatigue which comes with a fever, though she knew she didn’t have one. She just needed to sleep. Sleep and sleep, she told herself, until the pain went away. After a good rest, she hoped, she would awake renewed and inspired. Her sketchbook sat closed on her nightstand, not used since the night before her father died, the night of Jess’s publishing party.

In her worst moments, that night came back to her in flashes. Not because it was bad, but because she had been just so happy. Tipsy and in love and hopeful. The naivety almost made her want to laugh out loud. How could she possibly have thought she would have the chance to patch things up with her father? Life didn’t work that way. It never did. She didn’t know when she had lost sight of her realist views, but she was reminded why they were important. Always planning for the worst meant no disappointments and no ugly surprises. She drifted in and out of vague dreams, almost unsure of when and if she was awake. She felt sweaty and stale beneath the blue quilt, but she still snuggled into it deeper. It made her feel safe in some innocent, childish way she wished she could hold onto. She knew when she got up again, she would feel cold. And she would have to continue on as normal with a new, unwelcome tightness in her chest.

At the sound of the doorknob to the bedroom turning, she shut her eyes completely. She pretended to be asleep, breathing deeply and making her expression go slack, as Jess came in. Better to have him believe she was actually resting, rather than staring off into the middle distance feeling sorry for herself. Ella didn’t know quite what time it was, but she thought he was early, judging by the light outside. She knew he was worried about her; she could see it, even if he never said it out loud. But she was just so tired. She simply lacked the energy to reassure him, or to reassure herself. She could hear him quietly take off his shoes, his watch.

Then, he exited the room again. She heard him put on an album by The Cure at a low volume. It made her want to smile, almost. The apartment felt better when he was in it. She felt less claustrophobic. Maybe since he was finally there, she would actually get some sleep. But sleep never came, and she knew why. She’d been lying in bed all day, in a zombie-like state. In the two weeks since returning to work, she’d come home every day exhausted. And, worse yet, angry. Not in a yelling and punching the walls kind of way, though. Instead, she would cry hot, frustrated tears at the smallest mistake in her work. She would feel the urge to go smoke or drink, though she hadn’t given in. She felt like she was crawling out of her skin, but she couldn’t do anything about it. She could only sit back and watch as she struggled tiredly through her lectures and bit her nails ragged.

But the worst part was not the anger. The worst part was the inability to truly feel it. She knew she was angry, and she knew why, but she couldn’t get it to sink it. She couldn’t work through it or make it better, she could only feel it in the moment. When it passed, she would go back to her sleepy, sluggish state. And the storm of emotion would sit dormant in her belly. She tried to think about her father, and tried to cry for him. She couldn’t. She could only wait for the random bursts of emotion at meaningless moments. When she thought of her father’s death, or even her mother’s, it was like she could feel the key turning in the lock on her heart, and the switch flipping off. Not since the night Jess had held her on the Gilmore porch had she been able to shed a tear about any of it.

Staying home had been both a necessity because of the migraine she’d woken up with, and an attempt to wake herself up. Maybe if she could sleep off the constant fatigue she had been feeling, she could sleep off the hazy fog in her brain as well. But, as the day began to come to a close, she could only lie in her bed feeling defeated. In a way which was familiar, but still so new. When her mother had died, it had been such a shock. It had been more cut and dry. She had loved her mother, and her mother died. But her father was a different story. And he had been her only parent left.

After a few minutes, the bedroom door creaked open again, and she heard Jess’s soft footfalls on the carpet. The other side of the bed dipped down as he sat, and placed a gentle hand on her back, beginning to rub circles there.

“Elle?” he asked. “Hey, honey, wake up.”

Ella took a deep breath in, feigning slight surprise as she opened her eyes and rolled over, away from the window to face Jess. He had a small smirk on his face, but it didn’t reach his eyes as he looked down at her. With a light touch, he brushed the stray strands of hair away from her forehead.

“Hey,” she said, her voice slightly hoarse and groggy.

“Hi,” he replied.

She was pale and exhausted. It was as though her face had drained of all color the moment her father had died, and it had yet to come back. He couldn’t make her blush like he used to. Some sort of elemental lightness had left her, one which he hadn’t noticed she had until it was gone. And he was more or less at a loss about what to do. She was going about her day, going through the motions, but she was still somewhere far off in her mind. Unable to deal with anything that didn’t lack all emotion. He was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to snap out of it, or if a part of her was missing that could never be replaced. But, he was trying for her. He was taking care of her in a way he had never gotten a chance to before. Not from sickness, but from sadness. She had always been the one to patch him up emotionally, when things fell through with his father or he had a panic attack or he couldn’t get the dark clouds to lift from above his head. She was not exactly a ray of sunshine, but she wasn’t one to wallow either. She was an expert at getting through, attacking life the way it attacked her, picking herself back up. This time, he thought, maybe she just needed a hand.

“How’s your head?” he asked quietly, his thumb caressing her skin.

In the morning, she’d barely been able to open her eyes, her migraine was so bad. He wasn’t surprised though. She hadn’t taken a day off since going back to work. Everything was bound to catch up with her eventually. She was trying to hold it all back again, but he didn’t know why. Maybe because she’d had a bit of time; she wasn’t in shock anymore. She had more control over her emotions, maybe too much.

She shrugged. “A little better.”

“Good,” he said, leaning down and pressing a long kiss on her forehead.

When he pulled away, Ella took in a deep breath through her nose. She let her muscles release tension she didn’t know they’d been holding. She was glad he was home, even if she was embarrassed at his seeing her lying around.

“I made some green tea. You wanna watch a Stephen King movie with dinner? Or do your eyes still hurt?” he asked.

She felt her stomach do a flip. She didn’t deserve him. And his tenderness made her feel squirmy, like at some point he would realize how lazy she was being, how pathetic. Even one day off of work was making her feel so useless. She cleared her throat, averting her eyes from him.

“I’m actually not that hungry,” she said sheepishly. She hadn’t eaten all day, but she just couldn’t bring herself to want anything.

Jess sighed. “Elle-”

“No, I know,” she cut him off. “I promise I’ll eat later, really. Just not right now.”

Biting at his lip, Jess seemed lost in thought for a moment before he finally nodded. “Okay.”

Still, she couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye. “Did you finish that Sylvia Plath?”

“Not yet,” he said.

“You wanna come lay down and read me what you have left, James Dean?” she asked, tone lighter than it had been.

He let a smile ghost over his lips. “Always, Daria.”

Swallowing thickly, Ella muttered a thanks to him as he left the room again. She rolled over and stared at the ceiling, so blank and dull white. Like a canvas she wanted to paint. But just thinking of the empty pages in her sketchbook made dread rise up in her throat. She shook the thought away as Jess came back into the room with two mugs of tea and a book under his arm. As they drank their tea, he told her about his day, about Chris and Matthew, how slow it had been. She laughed at the right moments, nodded at the right moments, smiled when she should have. But her heart wasn’t in it. She didn’t add anything, she barely even looked at him. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, and he almost did. But she looked so tired. He decided to wait until at least the morning. She needed rest more than she needed an interrogation, he figured. When they were done, cups on nightstands, he laid down next to her, warm under the covers as the snow kept falling in sheets outside, the light of the streetlamps making the flakes sparkle. The approaching darkness was almost gloomy, though, and he wasn’t particularly sure why. She laid her head on his chest, as she often did when he read to her. She liked to hear the vibrations of his words against her ear.

As he began at the page where he stopped, she felt warmer. His voice and the feeling of his body against her made it easier to breathe, easier to get her mind to shut up for a moment. But it lasted not for long, as a quiet thought whispered in the back of her mind. Then, it was louder and louder, until it became a shout, a scream. Someday, she would end up like her father, like Fiona. Losing the person you loved most in the world destroyed you. Ella didn’t know why, but all of a sudden she felt certain she would lose Jess. He would die, and he would die suddenly. As soon as she let her guard down again, she would lose him. She would lose the person she belonged to, the person who belonged to her.

The love she felt for Jess was unlike what she had felt for anyone else before, and some part of her knew she would never feel that love for anyone else again. And she felt like she understood her father better than she ever had before. He’d lost her mother in the middle of the night; the person he belonged to. Ella had been able to move on, but she thought that maybe her father’s life had been over the moment her mother died. And it would happen to her, unless she did something about it. The thought was so jarring and terrifying, for a moment, she felt like her throat was closing up. But she tried to handle the pit in her stomach as it formed and sat coldly in her core.

Jess was so sweet to her, always had been. Even when he was an angry tenager who was lost and acted like he didn’t need anybody. When she’d thought she couldn’t love anyone. He was smart and thoughtful and he knew her better than anyone else ever had. She could smell his familiar scent of pine and must, which had never worn off even long after he moved out of Luke’s. She listened to his voice lilt over the words of a book she owned, which she’d given him in high school. He was rereading the copy which contained their notes to each other, back when they were still falling in love without knowing it. A glance up at his face, and tears stung her eyes. Jess with his kind brown eyes and the dark shadow on his jaw. Jess with the faded scar on his left palm, which she’d watched get stitched up. Jess with the strong arms that held her in the ocean in California. The person she’d been in love with since she was sixteen. He was beautiful, in every sense of the word. A deep, awful regret filled her. She’d let herself fall so completely in love with him. She never should have. What was she going to do when he was gone?

Before she could stop herself, she began to cry silently. Jess furrowed his brows, feeling her tears wet his t-shirt. It was Plath, after all. A pretty sad novel, but he’d never known her to cry at a book. Or at much of anything, for that matter. He stopped reading immediately, lowering the book and bringing one hand to touch her freckled arm gingerly.

“What’s wrong?”

She sniffed and cleared her throat, wiping beneath her eyes. “Nothing, Jess. Just keep reading.”

“Eleanor-”

“Jess, please just keep reading,” she said, voice shaking and broken.

His breath caught in his throat, the words dying before he spoke them. She sounded helpless. He couldn't ignore her pleas, no matter how much he wanted to. Not when she sounded like that. He kept reading.

. . .

Gnawing on her nails, Ella sat alone in the cold morning light. The world outside was sparkling with snow in the sunlight. But soon, the grime city would corrupt it. The soft mountains of white would grow dull and gray, caked on the side of the road. She could only think about the melty gray slush as she looked outside, at the beauty the storm the day before had left in its wake. Her hands were slightly shaky, her elbows on her knees. She couldn’t remember the last time she had woken up so early, unable to fight wakefulness anymore as she packed a bag in the early darkness. The day had since brightened, from a deep blue to a warm orange and then finally, a bright yellow. But Ella still couldn’t bring herself to wake Jess up.

Instead, she waited. And she didn’t have to wait as long as she thought she would have. Jess emerged from the bedroom in his pajamas, rubbing tiredly at his eyes, at around half past six. His brows were furrowed at her empty spot in bed before he even saw her in the living room, sitting on the couch fully dressed with a packed suitcase on the floor next to her.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” he asked, stopping in his tracks in surprise.

Ella ran an anxious hand through her hair before she looked up to meet his eyes. “I think...I think we should take a break for a little while.”

“What?” he said incredulously.

She sighed through her nose, looking down into her lap. “Jess, I just don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be together right now.”

“Eleanor, what are you talking about?” he continued, as though he simply couldn’t get her words to make sense in his head.

Again, she sighed in frustration. Without thinking about it, she rose and began to pace. Jess watched her with a worried gaze. She wasn’t behaving like herself at all, and just looking at her suitcase packed and ready to go made him feel sick to his stomach.

“Look, Jess, I just...I think we need to take a step back from each other for a while. Get to know ourselves when we’re not with each other, you know?” she said, her excuse flimsy and her voice uncertain. But she told herself this would be the hard part. Rip the bandaid off and leave, to get rid of the constant dread inside her. Without Jess, without anyone, it would simply be safer. More practical. And hadn’t being practical always worked out for her in the end?

Jess shook his head slowly, trying to get a handle on his thoughts. “That’s bullshit. We’ve already been apart from each other, and you and I both know that doesn’t work. What’s this actually about?”

“I just need a break, okay? I’ll call in sick again today. Fiona said last time I called that she needs me to clean out my room before she puts the house on the market. I’ll get back to town on Sunday,” Ella said, speaking quickly, flatly, wanting to get the words out and get them over with.

“And on Sunday?” Jess asked, eyebrows raised askance.

After a moment of tense silence, Ella could only shrug. “I don’t know. On Sunday...we regroup. Think about things.”

Jess ran a hand over his mouth. “You can’t be serious, Eleanor.”

“I am,” she replied simply.

“You honestly wanna break up? After everything?” he asked, sounding as though he still hadn’t quite been able to process what was going on. He’d known something was wrong, of course. Especially after she’d wept her way through his reading of Sylvia Plath, eventually falling asleep with her face still pressed against his t-shirt, her cheeks damp.

“Not break up!” Ella said immediately, raising her voice. “Not...forever.”

Again, Jess shook his head, voice matching her volume when he spoke again. “This isn’t like you, Eleanor. You don’t just run away like this. That’s my move, and it’s a fucking bad one. What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing. I told you, Jess, I just-”

“Need a break?” Jess interrupted finishing for her, with hints of both anger and fear in his tone.

For a moment, she couldn’t speak. He looked so crestfallen, so quickly. She wanted to throw her arms around him, cry into his shoulder, let out the tears she hadn’t been able to release. To tell him what she’d been feeling, the constant pain rivaled only by the strange, unexplainable numbness. But she bit at the inside of her cheek, hard, to snap herself out of it. She had made her choice. And she had to stick to it.

“Yes.”

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, taking a deep breath, choosing his words carefully. “Please. Just tell me what’s going on. Whatever it is, we can figure it out.”

“Nothing’s going on,” she repeated, finding it hard to keep her voice from cracking.

“Is this about your dad?” he asked. They’d been dancing around the conversation for weeks, as he watched her retreat within herself. Finally, he couldn’t ignore it, couldn’t tell himself she needed space, couldn’t just tell himself she was grieving the way she needed to. The truth was, she wasn’t grieving. Not really.

She heaved a sigh. “Jesus, Jess. It’s not about my dad, okay? Can’t I just need a break from us? From all this?” she asked as she gestured around them to the apartment, to the life they had started to build together. She sounded angry. But anger was better than nothing. Jess kept going.

“No, not when you started crying last night and wouldn’t tell me why, not when you keep forgetting to eat, not when you’re tired all day, even after like twelve hours of sleep, not when you don’t even want to draw anymore,” he said, in vehement disagreement. “I can talk to my therapist and see if she knows someone who’s covered by the University insurance. I bet she knows a lot of grief counselors.”

“Jess, stop,” she said, refusing to make eye contact with him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Trust me, Eleanor,” he continued, almost pleading. “You’ll feel so much better if you talk to someone about all this. About your dad, your mom, your brothers, Fiona. I’m sure you could think of a few choice words to say about me too.”

She shook her head at his attempt to joke. She wasn’t having it. More tears stung her eyes, and they only made her angrier. She was so sick of needing to cry and not being able to, of dealing with her family’s bullshit, of everything. Of being afraid of everything.

“Van Gogh must have had hundreds of hours of therapy in his life, and you’ve seen his paintings. I really think it’s all gonna be okay if-”

“Stop it, Jess!” she shouted, reaching for a necklace she hadn’t worn in years. An old tic Jess hadn’t seen since high school. Seeing her fingers go instinctively to grab at a small key pendant made his heart ache in such a deep way, so fundamentally, he almost wanted to cry. “Stop being so fucking nice to me! Stop trying to take care of me! Every time I tell you that, you never fucking listen!”

“Elle, what-” he began, eyes widening at her outburst. But she was on a roll, and hardly noticed when he spoke.

“I mean, it’s like you can’t even hear me sometimes,” she continued, pacing furiously and gesturing around again with her hands. For a moment, she was worried the neighbors would complain about her yelling at such an early hour. But she forgot about them as the emotions bubbled up in her throat, words spilling from her mouth. “You just keep doing whatever the fuck you want! Reminding me to eat, and reading to me, and kissing me, telling me you love me, and I just can’t fucking do it anymore, Jess! Not when you’re just gonna be gone someday!”

“Eleanor, I’m not-”

“Yes, you are!” she interrupted, finally facing him again. A fire burned in her eyes, cold and green and devastated. “Whether you like it or not, you’re gonna have a heart attack or crash your shitty fucking car or get struck by lightning! And I can’t keep doing this when one day it’s all just gonna be gone! It hurts bad enough calling it quits right now!”

Taken aback, Jess sighed. His face softened. He wanted to take a step forward, to go to her, but he fought the urge. Instead, he spoke in a calm, soothing voice. “Honey-”

She let out an infuriated scoff at the affectionate nickname.

“I know you’re scared,” he began, but she cut him off again.

“No, you don’t!” she countered, voice more venomous by the second. “You don’t know! Jess, I know your parents aren’t exactly perfect, but guess what? They’re alive. You didn’t wake up one day and figure out they were fucking dead! You can still talk to them whenever you want. You didn’t have to watch-”

She paused as her voice broke, clearing her throat before she went on. “You didn’t have to watch your dad fucking destroy himself because he missed your mom so much. And you don’t have to watch your stepmom go through the same thing!”

“Eleanor-”

“Don’t ‘Eleanor’ me, Jess! Please don’t. I...I love you. But I just...I just wish I didn’t.”

She was crying now, big, childish tears rolling down her skin as she spoke. Jess felt his heart drop into his stomach. Of course, he’d known she was in pain. Her father had died, after all. But he didn’t know she was scared. He didn’t know she was absolutely terrified. Not when she’d always seemed fearless. Before he could stop himself, he went over and embraced her. His hug was tight and warm, one arm encircling around her waist and one hand in her hair, cradling her head. And for a second, she relaxed into him. She let his touch soothe her and heal her. But then she snapped out of it again. Back to reality. She remembered how badly it hurt when she lost good things. She disentangled herself from his hold.

“No,” she said. “Please...don’t touch me right now.”

Her words sounded so defeated and final that for the first time it occurred to Jess she might actually be serious about leaving, about breaking up. The thought was so heartbreaking, a lump instantly formed in his throat.

“Just wait a second, Elle. Can we...can we talk about this more? Please?” he asked, his voice almost a whisper. His own eyes began to grow shiny.

She shook her head, grabbing her suitcase and making for the coat rack. “I have to go, Jess.”

“But you don’t! You can stay and we can figure this out!” Jess said, following her to the doorway.

Her face was stoic and guarded again as she donned her coat, hat, and scarf. “I need...I just need to be alone. I’ll be back on Sunday.”

He ran a hand over his mouth again. “Do you promise you’ll be back on Sunday?”

“Yes,” she said after a moment, opening the door. She stood there awkwardly for a moment, unsure whether to say goodbye, if it was a goodbye at all.

Jess sighed heavily, relenting to her leaving, as begrudgingly as possible. “Just…please be safe driving up there.”

“I will.”

“I love you,” he said, not being able to help himself.

A tiny, sad smile passed over her lips. “Right back at ya.”

On any other morning, he would have laughed at her response, a joke at the expense of his own shyness. But instead he stood motionless as she went out the door and shut it softly behind her. He was unsure if she would ever truly come back, if she was already gone, if she had been for weeks. Jess was crying before she made it out the front door of the building.

#gilmore girls #gilmore girls fanfiction #gilmore girls au #jess mariano #jess mariano fanfiction #jess mariano au #jess mariano x oc #gilmore girls xoc #original character fanfiction #fanfiction

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astrochiron · 4 years ago

Text

the signs :: ANTi // rihanna

Aries- Woo

“I bet she could never make you cry ‘Cause the scars on your heart are still mine

Tell me that she couldn't get this deep

She can almost be the worst of me”

These lyrics display Rihanna taking pride in the wounds she inflicted during the battle that she considers love. Aries would be proud of their own war wounds but prouder of the ones they gave their opponent. They're very confident and present themselves aggressively, much like the delivery of this line.

“These days you've been feeling lonely

Yeah I've been feeling lonely too

I'ma fuck it up, won't you show me some'

Run it back like you owe me some'”

Aries are independent and often repel people. This line displays the affects of that, shwoing the lonliness the sign often feels but doesn't often express. The end of this exerpt point towards Aries' overt sexuality, sans the emotional connection, like Scorpio and sans the romance, like Leo; just raw sexuality.

Overall

This is first and foremost, this song is a break-up song, which is interesting considering that Rih and Travis Scott (the unfeatured feature) had broken up by the time this song came out. This shows the conflict present in a break up, associated with Mars ruled Aries. The sound of the song is also quite raw and aggressive, almost like alarms with blaring rock tones.

Taurus- Yeah, I Said It

“And I think I kinda like ya

 Up against the wall, we don't need a title

Yeah, I said it 

Yeah, I said it, bae

 Yeah, I said it, man, fuck a title”

Taureans are known for their direct approach and this line addresses that: “Hey, I like you, let’s fuck around; no title needed”. This and lack of interest in formality are very Taurus to me. This excerpt displays sensuality and comfort all in one.

“You can be rough, boy, but you won't

Give me some love, boy, give it to me 'til the morn'”

Stubborn and gruff are traits usually associated with Taurus. Rihanna knows, and likes, that her lover can be rough with her, but she knows he won’t, instead focusing on the pleasure of them being together. She’s craving long-lasting sex which can be associated with Taurus’ slow-moving nature and its focus on physical pleasure.

Overall

The song is overtly sexual and has literal moans at the end of it. Aries, Taurus, Leo and Scorpio are all associated with the various sides of sex and this song’s focus on the pleasurable, sensual, and long-lasting aspects of sex connect it to Taurus. This is opposed to the rougher and more primal sound of “Woo”

Gemini- Consideration

“I came fluttering in from Neverland

Time can never stop me, no, no, no, no

I know you've tried to

I came riding in on a pale white horse”

The first two lies focus on Gemini’s Mercurial nature. Neverland evokes thoughts of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, the fairy-like boy and his very fairy companion. Geminis can be associated with fairies. Mischievous, fluttering, intelligent, and ever-busy. The excerpt goes on to illustrate Gemini’s duality as Rihanna then goes on from fluttering fairies to becoming Death on its pale white horse.

“When I look outside my window

I can't get no piece of mind

When I look outside my window

I can't get no peace of mind”

“Piece” versus “Peace” wordplay is a link to Gemini’s aforementioned versatility as well as using wordplay; which fits, given Gemini’s association with communication. Furthermore, peace of mind is uncommon for Gemini who has a busy brain. On this same note, searching for a “piece” of mind is much more common, trying to recall a memory or repelling an insistent one.

Overall

This song is an homage to Rihanna writing a lot of this album. She wanted the music industry to take her seriously as an artist and decided to prove herself by having a writing credit on all but one of the songs on the album (the cover was obviously written by someone else). Gemini is associated with writing and communication, making this very fitting. SZA and Rihanna’s back and forth also mirrors the twin mascots of Gemini.

Cancer- Close to You

“Nothing but a tear, that's all for breakfast

Watching you pretend you're unaffected

You're pulling our connections, expecting me to let you go

But I won't”

While I also cringe at Cancer’s constant connection to crying, I think it lies in place of maturity. Cancers are cardinal and, as such, are the masters of their domain. Cancers are able to adequately wade through their emotions and know the benefit of a good cry, as opposed to her Water sign sisters. Rihanna needs a good cry and has one. This excerpt also displays empathy as well as an inability to give up old memories. Cancers are tied to memories and the subjectivity of them.

“I know you don't need my protection

But I'm in love, can't blame me for checking

I love in your direction, hoping that the message goes”

Cancer’s protectiveness is exhibited in these lines. The subject of her care has obviously rebuffed her attempts at being protective; or perhaps she truly is being a bit suffocating with her care. Cancer is associated with the mother and these traits are often associated with mothers and Cancer placement alike. But at the end of the day, Cancer focuses on their emotions first and foremost. She’s forced to cut off a toxic situation and love this person from a distance, loving in their direction instead of loving them in person.

Overall

This is the most balladic song on the album, which always give me the emotionally heavy vibes of Cancer. The heavy piano accompaniment also evokes a traditional and old fashioned style; very Cancer. The song’s overall focus is on the refusal to move on from a past love which can be linked to Cancer’s tendency to hold on to the past.

Leo- Love on the Brain

“And you got me like, "Oh, what you want from me?"

(What you want from me?)

And I tried to buy your pretty heart, but the price too high”

Leo is, by far, the most giving sign when it comes to affection and gifts. This line shows that Rihanna attempted to put a price on love and give her lover gifts to secure their love for her. When that price don't to work, Leos will give their whole heart for their love. The line “what you want from me” exhibit's Leo’s willingness to do whatever it takes for their partner.

“Must be love on the brain

That’s got me feeling this way

It beats me black and blue but it fucks me so good

And I can’t get enough”

If you couldn’t guess from the previous excerpt, this one solidifies the fact that Leo rules the heart in medical astrology. More symbolic associations with the heart are also associated with the sign too, like love and romance. Leos tend to focus on the fun side of the relationship, though, ignoring the work (like Libras) and the struggles (like Scorpio). Even through those things, the love and romance is still foremost in her brain.

Overall

The Doo Wop style of the song reminds me of the 50s; very glam and Leo. It also evokes the idea of sweethearts and school dances and all the other things privileged people of the 50s got to enjoy; romanticization of romance, regardless of the pain that may have been inflicted. The song’s overall focus is on the power of love and the ability of it to conquer all negative things for better or worse.

Virgo- Kiss It Better

“What are you willing to do?

Oh, tell me what you’re willing to do

(Kiss it, kiss it better, baby)”

This line discusses giving a sacrifice in order to get something you want, a process not unfamiliar to Virgos. Even sexually (as this song is) Virgo is servile and wants to please their partner. Their aim is to heal and assist. Rihanna’s partner is taking the role of the Virgo here, as Virgos are the physical healers and nurses. This is interesting considering that Rihanna is a Pisces, the sister sign and partner of Virgo.

“Man, fuck yo pride

Just take it on back, boy, take it on back, boy [..]

Hurtin' vibe, man, it hurts inside when I look you in yo’ eye”

Pride is definitely a Virgo trait, again, painting her partner in a Virgoan light. Rihanna wants him to let go of his pride and admit that he’s hurt too and that he needs healing as mush as she does. Virgos have a tendency to get past their own pain in order to help others and to get things accomplished. They need to heal each other and, at that moment, the sex is doing it.

Overall

This song focuses on an already broken relationship that is in need of serious mending. There are several methods that are needed to repair a broken relationship and sex is definitely one of them as physical healing may be required before the emotional healing.

Libra- Same Ol’ Mistakes

“I can just hear them now

"How could you let us down?"

But they don't know what I found

Or see it from this way around”

Libras are always looking at how others view them as they're associated with he seventh house of our charts, which controls how we see the world and the projection we actively use when in relation with others. That’s why Libras are often indecisive, as they’re concerned with not only their wants and needs, but the perception of others too. They see multiple points of view and others don’t tend to bother to try.

“I know that you think it's fake

Maybe fake's what I like

Point is I have the right

Not thinking in black and white

I'm thinking it's worth the fight”

Libras are often considered fake, a they’re great at conforming to the situation they’re in and with the people surrounding them. This line pokes a hole in the negative view of this though; maybe, I want to be fake. Libra’s focus on justice and reserving energy for the right cause is also displayed in the latter lines of the excerpt, displaying Libra’s often overlooked ruthless attention to fairness and dispensing justice.

Overall

The whole song focuses on how a romance or connection completely changed the person in the song, a love is known to completely change Libras for better or worse. They tend to immerse themselves in their relationships. The song is full of backing vocals that can represent the self-doubt Libra often faces. They represent how they’re always checking themselves.

Scorpio- Work

“He see me do mi

Dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt!

So me put in

Work, work, work, work, work, work […]

Meh nuh cyar if ‘im

Hurt, hurt, hurt, hurt, hurting”

“He see me do mi dirt” references some secretive actions that Rihanna has done, likely cheating or something similar. She’s know required to put in work to make things right or to simply ge this mind off of the transgression by “putting in work” or having sex. Both secrets and sex are centered around the sign of Scorpio, especially using both to manipulate and control a situation. Scorpios may go to the extreme in reaction and sometimes just to get a response, pointing toward Rihanna not caring if she’d hurt her partner with her actions, only wishing to make them right, now.

“Nuh body touch me you nuh righteous

Nuh badda, text me in a crisis

I believed all of your dreams, adoration

You took my heart and my keys and my patience

You took my heart on my sleeve for decoration

You mistaken my love I brought for you for foundation”

At their core, Scorpios crave someone to turn to when things get dark. When a crisis happens, Rihanas wants someone to turn to for support. The later part of the excerpt points toward Scorpio’s tendency to put their all into others. This often leaves them feeling unappreciated if the other person isn’t all in or isn't as intense as they are.

Overall

This song is as overtly sexual as Aries’ “Woo” and Taurus’ “Yeah, I Said It”, but it focuses on the connection and power gained from sex. Rihanna uses sex to get her partner over their troubles, including her working too much and ever her possibly stepping out on him. Drake’s inclusion in the song also didn't go unnoticed, as he is a Scorpio Sun and adds even more sex appeal and Plutonian energy to this hit.

Sagittarius- Desperado

“Gotta get up out of here

And yuh ain't leavin' me behind

I know you won't cause we share common interests

You need me, there ain't no leaving me behind

Never, no, no, I just want outta here, yeah

Once I'm gone, ain’t no going back”

Sagittarius’ need for freedom and to roam is keenly exhibited by this excerpt. Rihanna’s parter is, again, the focus of the sign’s energy as he wants to leave. It isn't know whether he wants to leave their situation, their location, or Rihanna, but she wants to throw caution to the wind and go with him regardless. Sag’s need constant and renewed interest and good conversation to maintain their interest for someone. He and Rihanna have a lot in common and she hopes that can keep them bonded.

“If you want, we can be runaways

Running from any sight of love

Yeah, yeah, there ain’t nothin'

There ain't nothin' here for me

There ain't nothin' here for me anymore

But I don't wanna be alone”

Sag’s are very much known as the nomads of the sign, needing to travel and experience things in order to feel like they’re experiencing life. Rihanna is taking on the traits of this nomad, wanting to run away from the stagnancy and boredom that often comes with settling into love. These are two things that Sag is known to have not much interest in and is known to run away from emotional connection when unready to settle down and share their experience with someone.

Overall

A “desperado” is defined as “a desperate or reckless person, especially a criminal” by Oxford. Sagittarius is a fire sign, often down for reckless tact and a desperate need for freedom, making them desperados in life. The criminal activity isn't too much associated with Sag, but who knows once they get a drink or six in them.

Capricorn- Needed Me

“I was good on my own, that's the way it was

That's the way it was

You was good on the low for a faded fuck

On some faded love”

Capricorns are known for independence. Not like Aries wanting to do things on their own or Sagittarius wanting to experience things with through their own unbiased eyes, but Capricorn can be something of a hermit, being okay with reaching their goals by themselves and for themselves. They’re not particularly known for emotional connections, leaving that to their sister sign, Cancer.

“You needed me

Ooh, you needed me

To feel a little more, and give a little less

Know you hate to confess

But baby ooh, you needed me”

When Capricorns do decide to share their lives with others, they may assume people are operating under ulterior motives. Rihanna feels that she was used as a status symbol due to her success by her partner; hell, maybe several partners. Capricorn’s are foremost interested in their status and may often not be sure if people are attracted to what Cap can do for them or in Cap themselves. This proves to be true in this case, as she is said to have given more to the relationship than him and he felt even less for her because of it.

Overall

This song has a definite theme of female empowerment that can be appreciated by the feminine Cardinal sign of Capricorn. Capricorn women do typically embody the role of a woman in charge and demand respect, even from heir partner. The tempo of the song is laid back while conveying very bold lyrics, very much the Capricornian vibe.

Aquairus- James Joint

“I'd rather be smoking weed whenever we breathe

Every time you kiss me

Don't say that you miss me

Just come get me”

Besides Pisces, Aquarius has the strongest connection to drugs in the zodiac. Whereas Pisces is seeking escape (see “Higher” up next), but more of a normal activity that unlocks the mind and allows one to look at multiple points of view. The excerpt goes on to exhibit Aquarius’ hate for words of affection. “Just come get me” shows their tendency to relying on acts of love instead of words, as Aquarius is an air sign and they know that words are simply wind.

“Just making scenes, here come the police

They know about your history

How you live and love like "fuck rules"?

Don't care why, just know I love you”

“[F]uck rules” is possibly all I need to explain this line. Aquarians are very anti-rules unless they've been proven effective and this instance shows her partner, James Joint, is very much interested in making his own rules. Their fight and arrival of the police represent unexpected circumstances, instances ruled by Aquarius’ ruler, Uranus.

Overall

This song is an interlude. They’re used as a break from the flow of the album and to introduce some for the quirkier sides of the artist, a perfect Aquarian venue for expression. The song was also released early on 4/20 as a teaser for the album, further connecting it with drugs and weed culture.

Pisces- Higher

“This whiskey got me feelin' pretty

So pardon if I'm impolite

I just really need your ass with me

I'm sorry 'bout the other night”

Pisces is connected to being under the influence, seeking escape and rest from the tiresome world. Rihanna is in her hotel room and obviously cross-faded, wanting nothing more than to spill her feelings to her lover. This excerpts focus on apologies and the general clinginess are also often associated with Pisces.

“You take me higher, higher than I've ever been, babe

Just come over, let's pour a drink, babe

I hope I ain't calling you too late, too late

You light my fire

Let's stay up late and smoke a J

[…]

But I'm drunk instead, with a full ashtray

With a little bit too much to say”

The whole second part of the song is the content of her emotions spilling over like I mentioned earlier. It’s a bit chaotic and train--of-thought, fitting the mutable nature of the Water sign Pisces. Pisces also gets inspiration from its connection to those around them. For them, the solitude that Rihanna is experiencing can be a win/lose situation, allowing them to feel their on feelings without being filtered by the vibe of everyone around them, but it also leaves them alone in their spiraling thoughts and occasionally self-destructive tendencies.

Overall

Overall, the song is full of raw emotion and honesty. It only took Rihanna less than half an hour to write and that, again, denotes its purity. This hits home even more when you consider that Rihanna herself is a Pisces. The title of the song shows a connection to Pisces’ association to escapism and getting high to not feel so low.

check your moon sign (for the song that makes you comfortable and puts you in your emotions), sun sign (the song that makes you happy and the one you ride around to) and venus sign (the one that speaks to your inner artist).

#music #no-skips #astrology #ANTi #Rihanna #aries #taurus #gemini #cancer #leo #virgo #libra #scorpio #sagittarius #capricorn #aquarius #pisces #mine

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axwalker · 5 years ago

Text

Tears in Heaven 4: Start Over

Synopsis: Alexis O’Brien is about to get married but memories of her old life are coming back to haunt her.

MASTERLIST

Pairings: Liam x MC, Drake x MC (TRR)

Warnings: NO ONE UNDER 18 should read this story. This is an 18+ blog.

This story will deal with very dark subjects such as death, severe depression and suicide attempt (among others) if you’re triggered by any of those issues, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS STORY

A/N: The story will go back and forth between three different periods of time (2010 / 2015 / 2020)

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Pixelberry.

Word count: 5,010

Songs inspiration: Tears in heaven by Eric Clapton

THANKS TO: @burnsoslow Thanks for beta reading and correcting so many mistakes. I love you!

And to @pedudley your comments and feedback are the best. LOVE YOU BOTH! ❤️❤️❤️

March 2015

Bastien was extremely worried about Drake. He thought that some time and distance would help Drake heal, but he seemed to get more and more depressed every day. He spent his days on the couch or in the hammock looking at the sea with a bottle in his hand. His gaze was lost, empty.

The nights were even worse; he didn’t sleep, and the rare nights where he was able to close his eyes for more than a few hours, he woke up sweating with a nightmare - reliving that day, over and over again.

He had barely spoken since he had arrived in Spain. Andrea, Bastien’s wife, had convinced Bastien to try and reach Alexis in Cordonia, but Liam had told him that she was as destroyed as Drake was. Bastien suggested bringing them back together, maybe flying Alexis to Spain. He was convinced that seeing her would help Drake, and vice versa, but Liam had said that Alexis was too weak to travel.

“Son, you can’t keep going like this. You’re going to kill yourself,” Bastien said one night, tired of feeling useless.

“What difference does it make?” Drake took a swig directly from the bottle. “Why should I live after … after what I did?” He felt empty; the guilt was eating him alive, and the only person that could have saved him hated him even more than he hated himself.

“Drake, I’m sure that if you reach out to her- “

“No! I told you already. Do not contact her! I’m not good for her.” He noticed that his bottle was empty, so he stood up and lurched into the kitchen. Bastien followed him. “I destroyed her life … I … destroyed everything ...” He opened the bottle and took a big gulp. “Everything I touch … it dies. My dad died, my mother left, and now T … T… Fuck! I can’t even say his name.”

Bastien placed his hand on his godson’s shoulder. “Son, it wasn’t your fault.”

Drake barked at him, “What the fuck do you know, Bastien? It was my fault, only my fault. I swore to her that I’d protect them. It was my job to keep them safe.” It hurt too much to even breathe. He laid on the hammock again. “Please leave me alone.” He closed his eyes, trying to remember them: his pure laughter and her beautiful face, his little hand gripping his or her soft body against his at night, all the Sunday mornings taking him to the forest and the spicy breakfast waiting for them at the cabin. Maybe if he focused hard enough, he could make time go back.

June 2010

Drake and Alexis had been living together for two days. After another horrible fight with her father, she had finally had enough, and, tired of the way he treated her, she had left to live with Drake at his cabin.

They spent their first 48 hours completely lost in each other. Their second night together, they were both wrapped under a blanket watching the stars on the terrace, when it hit him. All he wanted from life was already there in his arms. So he held her even tighter and, after only eight months since meeting her, he whispered the question in her ear. She couldn’t believe it at first - it was too soon, they were too young, there were a million reasons not to do it - but she was completely crazy about him, too. Her eyes watered before she screamed a loud “yes” into the night. He kissed her deeply and ran to get his grandmother’s emerald engagement ring. It suited her perfectly. It was meant to be.

The wedding preparations had been hectic. They didn’t see the point of a long engagement, so they had set the date for two months from then: the 18th of June, a Saturday.

“Are we completely crazy?” he asked her, grinning after they had gone to the town hall to register their marriage application.

She laughed. “Yeah, completely,” she said, snuggling against him as they walked, “but I love you so much.”

“Me too, baby.” He kissed the top of her head. He was the happiest man in the world.

They didn’t have a lot of money, so they were going to have a small wedding in the forest behind their cabin. All their friends had offered to cooperate, but Drake and Alexis were adamant: They were only going to accept manual labor as wedding gifts. Drake, Liam and Leo brought the tables and chairs for the ceremony and the reception. Bertrand helped them with all the wedding documents, Maxwell was in charge of the music, Savannah decorated the place with Alexis, and Olivia was paying her chef to make the wedding cake. Bastien was working on a special surprise in his woodshop and would be in charge of the BBQ for the big day.

One day before the wedding, Drake was preparing the salads for the BBQ while Alexis and Maxwell chose the songs for the party.

“Guys!” Maxwell said, panicked. “You don’t have a song?”

“Not really,” Alexis paused. “We danced for the first time to ‘She Will Be Loved,’ though.’”

Maxwell grimaced before speaking. “Really? Maroon 5, Blossom?”

“Hey! I love them!” She laughed.

“Don’t get me wrong, Lexie. Adam Levine is the sexiest man alive. But ‘She Will Be Loved’ is not a wedding song.”

Alexis was about to respond when Drake intervened, blushing. “I have one.”

Max and Alexis turned their heads in unison. “You have a wedding song?” Max arched his brows.

Drake shook his head, exasperated to be having this conversation with Maxwell. “It’s not a wedding song, Beaumont. It’s just a song I like.”

Alexis looked at Max meaningfully. “I think Bertrand was looking for you outside to help with the flower arrangements, Max.”

He winked. “Of course, Bertrand is looking for me, riiight.”

When he left, Alexis circled her arms around her future husband’s waist. “What’s the song, babe?”

He sighed, wondering when he had become such a damn softie. “Van Morrison, ‘Crazy Love.’ He looked into her bright eyes and smiled as he cupped her face. “Do you like it?”

“I love it; it’s one of the most romantic songs ever. Why do you like it?”

He smiled sheepishly. “One night after I dropped you off at your father’s house, I put the stereo on, and that song started playing. Listening to it I realized how well it suited you, us.”

That man was going to make her crazy. She crashed her lips against his as he grabbed the nape of her neck and deepened the kiss, letting his tongue meet hers. After a few seconds, he gripped her hips and lifted her to sit her on the counter. She straddled him, while his lips and teeth explored and bit her neck and her hands roamed over his back.

Max cleared his throat. “Fuck! Leo was right. I owe him $20.”

Leo entered the kitchen with a screwdriver in his hand. “Li and I set up the bar …” He stopped to see Alexis combing her hair with her hand. “I told you, Maxwell, you can’t leave these two alone - pay up.”

“Fuck off, Leo.” Drake exchanged a wink with Alexis and went with Leo to check on the improvised bar the brothers had set up in the garden.

The rehearsal was fast; after it, everyone went to sleep early as the preparations had left them exhausted.

The next day, Alexis woke up at Olivia’s apartment feeling giddy with happiness.

“I can’t believe I’m getting married today.”

“If you want to bail, I have the getaway car ready, darling.” Olivia was only half-joking.

Alexis shook her head before she warned her best friend, “You’ll understand one day, Liv. You’ll fall in love like we did, and all of this will make sense to you, I promise.”

“Shoot me if I ever get that sappy. You have my permission.” Olivia opened the door and let a woman in. “This is Clara; she will do your hair and makeup.”

Alexis was about to protest, but Olivia raised her hand. “I know you said you didn’t want this kind of gift, but it’s your wedding day, and you deserve this, Alexis.” She looked at her friend through the mirror of the dresser as she talked. “I can’t cook a BBQ or build improvised bars, but please let me do this.”

Alexis understood what her friend was trying to say. “I love you too, Liv.”

Olivia waved her hand, smiling. “Shit, you’re going to be cheesier than usual today. God help us.” She squeezed Alexis’s shoulder. “Still no news about your father?”

Alexis shook her head. “Not yet. He said that if I married Drake, I was dead to him. He hates him only because he has no money. If he knew him better …” She sighed sadly. “Anyway, it'll all be okay; maybe he’ll show up at the cabin.”

Olivia disguised her sadness for her with a smile. “Maybe, darling. I’ll go change.” She called Drake the minute she left Alexis’ room. Olivia knew George O’Brien, and she was sure he wasn’t coming.

Alexis texted her father the address of the cabin; she was sure he’d regret his decision and would arrive at the last minute, or at least she hoped he would. She hadn’t asked anyone else to walk down the aisle with her.

Drake intercepted Bertrand when he arrived at the cabin.

“Alexis’s father won’t come; I know she was still hoping that he would, but that fucking asshole doesn’t give a damn about her.” Drake’s heart broke just thinking about her waiting for George. “Could you walk her down the aisle? Max is officiating the ceremony, but I know Lexie cares a lot about you, too.” Bertrand assured him that he was proud to accept.

Bastien had built a beautiful arch for the ceremony, and Liam and Leo had placed chairs all over the lawn for their 30 guests.

‘Here Comes the Sun' started to play. Drake waited at the end of the aisle with his heart beating as hard as it could without actually leaving his chest.

After what felt like an eternity, she appeared on Bertrand’s arm. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was; she was gorgeous. Her long white dress made her look like she was floating, her wide smile illuminated her whole face, her dark eyes were glistening with happy tears. Suddenly, he noticed his own eyes watering for the second time in his life, and he didn’t care. Her. All he cared about was her. He couldn’t wait to have her next to him.

Finally, they reached him, and he felt like his heart was going to burst with the smile she reserved only for him. He squeezed her hand, and they stood in front of Maxwell, who had gotten ordained on the internet for the ceremony.

Maxwell took his role very seriously. “As the great poet George Eliot once said:

What greater thing is there for two human souls

than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen

each other in all labor, to minister to each other in all sorrow,

to share with each other in all gladness,

to be one with each other in the

silent unspoken memories?”

Drake and Alexis exchanged a loving glance, as Maxwell proceeded with the ceremony until he reached the part where they had to share their vows.

“I think we’re all impatient to hear Drake’s vows, so let’s start with him.”

Drake turned to face Alexis, who was staring intently at him through her eyelashes. “Fuck, Lexie, stop looking at me like that or I won’t be able to say this.”

She beamed at him.

“I’m not good with words or feelings, so when you suggested that we should write our own vows, I almost choked.”

Their friends laughed.

Drake locked eyes with her. “But then I realized this wasn’t difficult at all. Because the truth is that I love you. I love your beautiful smile, your bright eyes, and the fire in them when you get angry.” Alexis shook her head, smiling through her tears. “I love how much you enjoy every single moment of your life.” He grinned at her. “I couldn’t live without smelling your cherry scent in our pillows or without you dancing all around the house.” He gently stroked her cheek. He was dying to kiss her, but he kept talking. “I love the light you have cast into my life since the second we met, and I swear I’ll always protect you, take care of you, and make sure that your beautiful light keeps on shining.” His voice betrayed his emotion, so he paused for a second. “I’m eager to start our lives together because I’m not sure about a lot of things, but I know without the shadow of a doubt that I’ll love you until the day I die.” He leaned and kissed her forehead.

“I love you too.” Alexis was crying. “Shit! I won’t be able to do this.” She took a deep breath as a grinning Drake gripped her hand reassuringly. “Every day I spend with you is the happiest day of my life. You’re strong, smart, and the most beautiful soul I’ve ever met, even when you try so hard to hide it. I love that smirk that is so you -” she caressed his face tenderly - “those crinkles around your eyes when you smile, your strong hands and your legendary stubbornness. I’ve never felt so safe and so loved before, and I want you to know that I love you with the same intensity, the same fierceness. I promise I’ll always be your partner, your best friend, your lover. I can’t wait to be your wife because I know I’ll love you until the day I die.” She smiled through her tears pronouncing the same words he had told her a few seconds ago.

Maxwell was crying, unable to proceed with the ceremony for a few minutes. “I don’t think I was the best person to do this. You’re so adorable, guys!”

Drake and Alexis laughed with the rest of the guests.

They exchanged their rings, visibly excited, promising to love and cherish each other for the rest of their lives. Finally, Maxwell declared them husband and wife.

“Drake, you may kiss the bride.”

He cupped her face and whispered so only she could hear him. “You have no idea how much I love you, baby.”

Before she could answer, he kissed her softly, slowly deepening the kiss until they heard Maxwell cheer with the rest of their friends.

“I’ve never been this happy, Drake.”

“Me neither, Lexie.”

The party was exactly what they wanted: stress-free and laid back. Bastien was in charge of the BBQ, and they had set up a salad buffet to go with it. Fordessert, they would serve wedding cake and had set up a corner next to a bonfire where guests could prepare their own s’mores. Liv and Liam gave their toasts, and soon it was time for their first dance. Maxwell gave Drake a knowing look before playing their song. Drake stood up and offered his hand to her; she grinned at him and followed him to the improvised dance floor Drake and Liam had set up.

I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles

And the heavens open every time she smiles

And when I come to her that's where I belong

Yet I'm running to her like a river's song

She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love

He placed his hand on the small of her back and pulled her against him, letting his eyes roam over her beautiful face as they danced. “You look so gorgeous, baby. I can’t wait to have you all to myself tonight.”

She bit her bottom lip, blushing. “You’re much better with words than you think, Drake.” She placed her head on his chest as he led her across the dance floor, the sandalwood invading her nostrils. “And me neither, I can’t wait.”

She's got a fine sense of humor when I'm feeling low down

And when I come to her when the sun goes down

Take away my trouble, take away my grief

Take away my heartache, in the night like a thief

He spun her around confidently. “Wow, I didn’t know you were such a smooth dancer, Walker.” She winked at him, making him laugh.

“I might’ve received a tip or two from Maxwell,” he admitted sheepishly.

He looked so adorable when he was flustered. “Fuck, Drake! I love you so much.”

“I love you too, baby.” He leaned down to her face and gave her a nose kiss before spinning her again.

Yes I want to throw my arms around her

Kiss her hug her kiss her hug her tight

And when I'm returning from so far away

She gives me some sweet lovin' brighten up my day

Yes it makes me righteous, yes it makes me feel whole

Yes it makes me mellow down in to my soul

With the last notes of the song, Drake asked h,er smirking, “Are you ready?”

She nodded, puzzled, and he elegantly dipped her at the end of the song, making her laugh with that throaty laugh he loved so much.

“I’m happy to see I can still surprise you, Mrs. Walker.”

She beamed at him. “I’ll never get tired of how good that sounds.”

April 2019

“Alexis.”

“Hello, Drake. We need to talk.”

He opened the door and gestured for her to come in.

When she entered the cabin, a hundred memories came flooding back: the day she had moved in, the nights they had spent stargazing, the day they had married, and so many others that she tried to avoid because they were too painful. She couldn’t avoid a quick glance to the floor upstairs, but turned her head fast, refusing to think about that room.

Drake watched her move around the cabin, without sitting, her eyes darting everywhere. She’s nervous.

Without a word, he went into the kitchen, took a bottle of whiskey from a cabinet, and poured two glasses.

He came back to the living room and saw Alexis still standing next to the door, like an uninvited guest in her own house. In her old house, Drake corrected himself. He gave her the glass and she gulped it.

“Thank you, I needed that.” She pointed upstairs. “Still the same?”

He took a sip of his whiskey and nodded, still silent. He fixed his piercing eyes on her; she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever met, but her beauty was different now, miles away from the lively, sunny girl he had met. Drake watched her bite her bottom lip as she always did when she was nervous. He knew that the next step would be to twist her ring … except it wasn’t his ring anymore. She was wearing a huge diamond engagement ring, and he immediately guessed the reason she was there. Savannah had warned him a few months back.

The faster they’d get to it, the faster she’d be out of his life again. For good this time. He gulped his own glass and asked her, “What are you doing here, Alexis?”

“Um …” Her heart was still racing; she didn’t want to cry, but being there brought back every painful memory she had in that cabin - every laugh, every look, every word. She swallowed hard and forced herself to talk. “I need the divorce papers; we never signed anything.”

“Of course,” he smiled bitterly; “you need to be divorced to get married again.”

She hugged herself, knowing how hard the situation was for both of them.

Drake poured himself another whiskey before adding contemptuously, “That’s a nice ring. I wonder when he bought it.” He downed the content of his glass in one gulp. “I wonder how long he had been waiting to make his move, to take you away from me.”

Alexis couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Do not speak of Liam like that! He was always a good, loyal friend to you and to me. He was the one here picking up the pieces when you left.” She hadn’t realized that she was almost yelling or that her eyes were full of tears. “You left and never once looked back!”

Her words infuriated him; he didn’t yell, but his voice was full of anger. “What the hell, Alexis? Did you just say that I left and didn’t come back? Me?”

She turned her back, angry - not only at him, at herself, too, at their damn fate that had played such a cruel, horrible joke on them.

He cut the distance between them and stood in front of her, making her face him. “I left?” he asked again. “And what about what you did?”

She recognized the pain in the eyes she had avoided looking at for so long, and the anger faded. “What if I say it’s my fault? What difference does it make? It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Drake shook his head, frustrated; as much as it still hurt, as much as he hated to admit it, they didn’t belong together anymore. “You’re right, it doesn’t.” He sighed; he was eager to see her leave and take all the painful memories with her. “Did you bring the papers?”

She took a deep breath before speaking. “It’s more complicated than that. We never made our separation official, so as far as the law is concerned, we’re still together.” He kept staring at her with his arms folded over his chest. His gaze made her extremely nervous, but she forced herself to finish what she needed to say. “I spoke with Rashad, we need to file an application and set a date with a judge for a … meeting.” She put a strand of hair behind her ear.

Drake frowned. “What kind of meeting?”

“It’s called an “attempted conciliation” meeting. It’s mandatory in Cordonia if we want things to go faster. After the meeting, we only have to wait 15 days to sign the papers and everything will be over.”

She seemed cold and distant, talking about the life that they had shared together like it was a simple legal procedure. “Send me the date and I’ll be there, the sooner the better.” He watched her twist his ring again and couldn’t avoid the surge of anger. “This marriage was a fucking mistake anyway.” He regretted his words as soon as he said them, but it was too late.

She looked at him sadly; he had never shown her cruelty before. “Maybe it was a mistake for you.” She took her purse and walked to the door.

“Alexis!” he called before she left. “It might have been a huge mistake; I don’t know. But I don’t regret a single minute of it.” He fixed his chocolate eyes on hers; she seemed so vulnerable again that he had to actively stop himself from taking her into his arms.

She answered through her tears, “Me neither, Drake. I don’t regret anything.” She threw a last glance at the floor upstairs and left.

She drove for a few miles until she was forced to pull over. Her hands were shaking; she couldn’t drive anymore. Forcing herself to steady her voice, she immediately called Liam because she knew how worried he would be about her. She told him that she was all right and that he should go to his meeting with Bertrand and Francesco; she would see him later at her apartment.

When she hung up, she called Max. He arrived an hour later with Olivia, and they took her to Maxwell’s loft in the capital.

“Something to drink?” Maxwell asked.

“Whiskey, double.” She took off her coat, still shaking.

“Here, Blossom.” She gulped it fast.

“Now, tell us everything, Alexis,” Olivia said while she prepared a vodka martini.

“It was so surreal to see him again. He looked …” she sighed, “older, obviously, but still very handsome.” She couldn’t avoid the sorrow in her eyes. “He hates me.”

Olivia arched her brow and simply stated, “Liam.”

She nodded. “Yes, partly,” she shrugged, “but he’s also angry about the last time we saw each other.” Her eyes watered, but she rubbed them hard. “I’m not going to cry. Liam is in the middle of some intense negotiations for the duchy; he doesn’t need to worry about me, too.”

“You can be so fucking frustrating, Alexis.” Olivia looked at her, exasperated.

Maxwell shook his head. “Bravo, Olivia, subtle.”

“I don’t give a damn if I’m subtle or not. Alexis, you need to stop worrying about Liam, or Drake, or anyone else, for that matter. How do you feel? What did you feel when you saw Walker?”

She stared back at her best friend, twisting her ring. “Nothing. I mean, I felt sad for us, and going back to the cabin, to the last place I saw Tho- … him was extremely hard. But I feel absolutely nothing for Drake anymore.”

Olivia squinted at her. “Please, Alexis. You saw Drake again. The man that we know you loved like crazy, who you shared your life with for five years, and you pretend that you didn’t feel anything? You’re shaking, for Christ’s sake. You need to talk, darling.”

Alexis turned to Maxwell for support, but he shrugged. “I don’t approve of her brutal interrogation techniques, but I agree with her; you had to feel something, Lexie. That doesn’t mean you’re being disloyal to Li.”

She dropped the glass on the table and stood up, angrily looking for her coat and purse. “I have no feelings for him anymore. Nothing. He left me without a fucking regret.”

Maxwell shook his head. “You know that’s not exactly true, Blossom. You know why he left.”

Alexis was furious. “I can’t even believe what I’m hearing. If you’ll excuse me, the man that loves me, that I love, is worried sick waiting for me. Have a good night.”

She left, slamming the door.

Liam spent the afternoon working in his office in Cordonia. He was very satisfied with the deal he had made with Francesco and the Italian government. He had already succeeded in making Valtoria the richest duchy in Cordonia, and his new goal was to transform it into the most successful business center on the Mediterranean coast.

While he was searching for the contracts, he came across the invitation Bertrand had given him for his fifth wedding anniversary party. He was in quite a conundrum; on the one hand, it would be inappropriate for them not to show up. Bertrand was his number two, his closest employee. On the other hand, Drake was back in Cordonia, and he was surely going to go too; after all, Savannah was his sister.

His memory drifted back to that day at the clinic. He had been so confident that it was the right thing to do that he hadn’t doubted his actions, but now he wasn’t so sure about it. Drake’s grief still haunted him. He wondered how their “reunion” had gone. He decided to cut his day short and go check on Alexis.

Her job as a freelance translator allowed her to work from wherever she wanted, but she spent most of her time in her city’s loft. Liam hoped she would easily accept her new role as the duchess of Valtoria when the time came, but he was aware that it was going to be a tough adjustment. As much as she tried to hide it, the weekly royal etiquette lessons she took with Regina were torture for her.

She was already in her room when he got home. He undressed and went to join her in bed. When she sensed his presence, she turned around and laid her head on his chest.

He caressed her face with the back of his hand. “How did it go, my love?” he asked softly.

“As bad as expected, but I don’t want to talk about it, Li.” She looked for his lips, and he immediately kissed her back.

He needed to claim her as much as she needed to forget. He took off her silky robe and made love to her passionately and lovingly, trying to make her forget about everything else.

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

Drake sat in front of the fireplace with Savannah's invitation in his hand. He refused to go back to those days where alcohol was the only thing he used to numb the pain. He let himself get lost in the flames while he thought about them, about all the nights they had spent exploring each other in front of that same fireplace. About all the stories she had read to him while she snuggled on his lap. And now that life was gone, and she was with Liam.

With Liam.

When Savannah had called him all those months ago, he had refused to believe it, but then she had sent him their picture in an email, and everything had fallen into place. Especially that last day at her clinic.

Well, if she could move on, he could do it too. He had a new life, a new job, and was dating someone new.

He had come back to Cordonia determined to get a semblance of a life back. He knew himself well enough to realize that he would never love again, or at least never with the same force, with the same intensity, but if he was going to fulfill the promise he had made at his grave, he needed a new life.

The job he had gotten at Ezequiel’s clinic was the first step; dating Kiara was step two. He wondered if he would truly forget her one day if one day he would wake up to realize she didn’t occupy his every thought. He certainly hoped so; she was marrying Liam soon.

A new family or kids weren’t even a possibility. He might forget Alexis one day, but he would never forget about Tom.

Tagging: @ao719 @yukinagato2012 @kingliam2019 @texaskitten30 @cordonia-gothqueen @bebepac @nomadics-stuff @hopefulmoonobject @gardeningourmet

Permatag: @ac27dj @twinkle-320 @kimmiedoo5 @marshmallowsandfire @loveellamae @burnsoslow @mskaneko @pedudley @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @lauzales @pug-bitch

#tears in heaven #tw death #tw depression #tw suicide #axwalker writes

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skylarmoon71 · 4 years ago

Text

Leonardo Fanfiction- Oneshot

"I'm gonna kill you guys!!!" Leo's yell echoed all the way through the halls. When you step inside the lair, you're a bit confused. That is until you see all three turtles running out of Leo's room laughing. Mikey catches you on his way out. "Hey (Y/N)!!" He's not able to say much more, because he's already disappeared with his brothers. You can only imagine what they've gotten up to. When you get to Leo's room, you peek your head in, and the sight of him tied to his bed almost knocks the air right out of you. His arms are held over his head, and the rope that they've used to keep him bound is doing its job. You can see him struggling, and the action just makes his muscles bulge. So, it was no secret you had a thing for the blue bandana turtle. Well, you suppose it was. Only April really knew about it. Which is why she constantly badgered you to make a move.

"L-Leo?" when he sees you his eyes light up. "(Y/N)! Hey can you help me out of this. Raph and the others thought it would be a funny joke. Just wait until I get free." He's already plotting his punishment, and you smile at the fatherly manner that Leo acts. You sort of get why Splinter appointed him the leader.

Despite Raph's assumption that Leo is the favourite, you know it's more about maturity. Each of them have their own traits that make them unique. Leo's is the air of authority that just oozes around him. He's the voice of reason, and he always puts the interest of what's best for his family before himself. That's probably what's so attractive in your eyes. His effortless selflessness.

You walk in slowly. As you do so you're about to climb up the side and reach over, but from the angle of the bed, and his desk close by, it's near impossible. Leo notices your predicament.

"Maybe you should climb over me." It's completely innocent, he's not trying anything you know that, still, you can't help your mind from straying to that. So you obey, hesitantly climbing unto the bed. You inch up, hooking your legs on either side of his waist, apologizing when you almost tumble on top of him. Leo just offers a smile, and you lean over to make quick work at taking out the knots of the rope. You try to keep your eyes focused on the task, if only to distract you.

"She smells really good.." Leo hasn't failed to notice you, although it may seem like it. When you came into their lives it was unexpected, now it's come to the point when he can't imagine not seeing your face on a regular basis. He's been trying to tell himself that there's nothing that could ever happen. You don't even see him as more than a friend, maybe even a brother. Just the thought makes him grimace. He certainly didn't see you in a platonic manner. With his hands restricted, he's silently thinking that being tied up isn't that bad. When he hears the little grunts of frustration, he looks up. "Is everything okay?" you nod, sticking your tongue out. "Yeah I just, these ties are really good. How the hell did they manage to do this?"

He's a bit embarrassed, but it was three against one. He doesn't want to admit he was caught off guard. He's a ninja. Stealth and alertness is part of his life. When he doesn't answer, you look at him, and at that moment he does the same. Your gazes meet, and it's like you don't even remember that you should be working at the ties.

Leo leans up slightly, as much as the ropes will permit. And the action makes you slide down a little, now he's face to face with you, and you're unable to utter a word. "I think maybe I let my guard down before.." he mutters. You don't even process that he's answering your previous question. "That's bad.." you mumble back. Your dazed look brings a small smile to Leo's lips.

"Sometimes it isn't that bad." you're praying that the statement has more meaning. Your question seems answered when he leans in slowly. Your breathing is shallow, and you just stay still, because you're terrified if you move, then this will all go away. As he inches closer, you close your eyes to anticipate it. When your lips connect, your brows knit, completely taken. Leo doesn't deepen, or push too much. It's just a gentle brushing of lips. You still can't believe it.

"Donnie!!" April's voice rings, and you jolt, staring at Leo in surprise.

"Donnie I need you to-" before you can move, April is already standing in front of the door. When she sees the situation she gapes. You're not sure what to say. How could you explain that this wasn't what she might be assuming.

"S-Sorry! I'll give you guys some space." She darts away, and you fumble.

"N-No April it isn't what it looks like!!"

This would be interesting.

~~~

Leo has been freed, and Splinter has taken it upon himself to enlist the punishment. A few hours in the hashi. Leo's is grinning the entire time as he watches his brothers walk to some very painful hours of training. "Raph made me!" Mikey calls out in an attempt to escape.

"It was your idea dumnut!!" He whacks him over the head, and you laugh, watching them trail off. Now, it's just you, Leo and April. He notices, clearing his throat, making the excuse that he has to tend to his bonsai tree. As he's going to leave, there's a brief moment when he looks your way. His eyes are so distracting, and piercing. It's not even a full minute, and you have to direct your eyes elsewhere to keep your heart under control. When he's out of sight, you're able to think straight. It's then that you catch the look on April's face.

"You sly dog, so his brother's tie him up and you take advantage of the poor guy. " you shake your head with flushed cheeks. "T-That's not what happened!" you protest. April just folds her hands, waiting for an explanation. "Details, come on!" you sigh, there isn't anyway for you to escape this. You pull her to the couch, Hopefully sitting will help settle your nerves.

"I was just trying to help him out of the ropes. But then he..he leaned in April. He initiated it. I was so shocked, I can't even remember if I responded." you press your hands to your cheeks.

"Is it stupid of me to assume that he likes me, even just a little."

"Trust me (Y/N), I know a lot about guys, and Leo's he's one of the most decent ones you'll meet. And he isn't even human." you giggle. "Honestly, I think he feels the same way you do. But you know Leo, he puts duty and family above all else. I'm shocked he was the one that made the first move. I think you're going to have to initiate the next one. I'm sorry I barged in, maybe things would have gotten spicier~" you flush hitting her arm, which she just laughs in return.

"Just tell him how you feel, everything else will just fall in." With a deep breath, you nod. Although it would be a bit difficult, maybe she was right. He did kiss you, so that counted for something.

~~~

April stuck around waiting to ask for some assistance from Donnie. You've been alone with your thoughts for a while, trying to mentally prep yourself for the upcoming conversation with Leo. You've buzzed by his room at least six times, but whenever you get close you'd chicken out. Finally tired of your cowardice, you stomp over there, knocking. You stand there waiting patiently for him to open up, and as the seconds fly by, you're a little less sure.

"What the hell am I doing! I can't do this!" you're about to take off, hopefully before he answers. Luck isn't on your side, because the door swings open, and you swear Leo's nervous, almost like he's been expecting this.

"Leo I...we..I think that...you know?" It's not even an actual sentence, but he gets the message, ushering you inside. He closes the door, and you're now facing him again. You don't know whether to sit or stand. The bed is a bit too daunting right now.

Leo's not really looking at you. It doesn't really help.

"I just thought we should, you know, talk about earlier." he knows that's why you're here. What scares him is the prospect of losing you. All because he was unable to control himself.

"I'm sorry (Y/N). I really shouldn't have done that." You blink. "What?"

He shakes his head. "It was a mistake. I hope we can still be friends. "

"Friends." Just the word shatters you. So it was all imagined. He'd never intended to kiss you. Maybe it was just him getting lost in the moment. Whatever it was, he obviously doesn't think it was right. Your head lowers, and you want to cry, but you know that'll just make Leo feel bad. You weren't sure you could take his pity right now. "Well, y-yeah sure. I-I'm glad we talked this over."

It's important that you get out as quickly as possibly. Maybe find April so you can cry your eyes out. As your hand grabs the knob, Leo takes your wrist. "Wait (Y/N)." you turn slowly, not too sure you want to hear anymore. If he says friends again you'll break down right there.

"I lied, I don't want us to just be friends." you pause, confused and a little angry. Was he messing with you?

"I know I just said that's what I want but it's not true. Friends don't wake up every morning thinking about the way you smile. Or how you make even the baggiest sweatshirts look absolutely stunning. Friends don't make the other person's heart beat like crazy every time you walk into the room, or look at me.."

You're the one who's heart beat has gone crazy at Leo's confession.

"I do value our friendship, more than anything else, but I also want something more. I kept telling myself it was wrong to kiss you like that. I should have asked permission. I felt like I took advantage of you." It's funny, because he was the one who was tied up at that moment.

"If you feel even a fraction of what I feel for you, then I'd like to try and be maybe something more. I-If that's what you want too of course." You know a confession like that is risky, especially in his case. He's already kissed you, so he must assume he's threading in dangerous water. It's quite the opposite.

"That's all I've ever really wanted Leo." His face illuminates so much light, and you wouldn't be surprised if you have a similar expression. His hand slips from your wrist, and he takes your hand in his. The feeling is indescribable. You smile up at him, glowing, and pulling him to the bed to take a seat. He's following your lead, probably the first situation he's a follower, and not a leader. You scoot closer to him and he isn't very sure how to proceed.

He knows you won't mind if he kisses you, but he's sort of anticipating your kiss. He wants you to take control. When you lean in, he does the same, and you join in the middle. A sweet little kiss. It's so innocent, the way your lips move against his. He supposes that's something else he loves about you. You're innocent. His mindset is somewhat of an adult, he had to be to protect his family. But when he's with you, he feels like a kid again. A teenager. This is what normal teenagers do. They have relationships, fall in love.

He's far from normal, but that doesn't stop him from enjoying the normalcy he can get whenever it presents itself. You're pulling away, and he does too, just a little. He wants to see your face. You're flushed cheeks, puckered lips. It's a sight that drives him wild. He's shocked when you jump into his lap, pushing him backwards and pinning his wrists to the bed. You're not wearing a cocky smirk, no, far from it. You look almost hypnotized. Like you're in a haze. Leo gulps, not prepared for this progression.

"When you were tied up earlier, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about all the things I wanted to do to you. " One of your hands trail from his wrist, going down his body, over his chest, down his torso. Leo has to force himself to stay quiet. Against his will, he releases a soft groan. He knows he can easily get out of your hold. You aren't a challenge for him. But at the moment, he doesn't want to. He's never been in such a position.

Even though you haven't overpowered him physically, you have done so in every other aspect. Your words have informed him that maybe he misread you. You're not as entirely innocent as he's believed. That excites him. "You can do whatever you want (Y/N)." You look back at him, and the need in his eyes, it almost rivals yours. Those words, that's all you need. You reclaim his lips, and Leo is happy to return it, lost in how heavenly your body feels, pressed to his. He's been captured, with no escape. And he doesn't really want to. He'd gladly be your hostage anyday.

#tmnt 2014 #tmnt 2016 #leonardo #raphael #donatello #michelangelo #scaredoflove #cute #april o'neil #splinter #pranks #leo x reader #confessions #friendship #guarded #newyork

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arsnovacadenza · 4 years ago

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Yep, I'm back at your service. What do you think of ikevamp MC? 💜

Ah, this is something I’ve been mulling over for a while. I did remember wanting to rank Ikevam MC based on different routes because.....honestly her characterization isn’t very consistent.

So far, I’ve finished three routes: Napo, Mozart, and Isaac’s. I’m only in chapter 24 in Leo’s route but I feel like I can get the gist of her characterization in that one. So, here we go. My impression of MC based on the route from most favorite to least favorite.

(Spoilers, obviously. And these are just my personal opinions. Feel free to disagree).

Mozart

To be very VERY honest, this route didn’t make me go super doki doki, but it’s definitely the most comfortable route so far. It takes two to tango, and I love how the route shows them overcoming their communication problems.

In fact, out of the four routes I’ve done, Mozart so far seems to be the only one where both Mozart and MC are treated as equal: yeah, they both had their moments, but they’re willing to learn and grow from their mistakes.

It’s like seeing two young people falling in love and changing not because of the other person, but because they realize their shortcomings get in the way of them living happily with each other. There’s a difference between the two.

It’s not the most dramatic, but definitely one of the most memorable due to the two leads’ sheer character development alone.

In conclusion, this MC is pretty good. She and Mozart balance each other pretty well.

Isaac

I remember a moot saying she’s falling for MC and I can understand why. She’s so understanding and patience with Isaac to the point where I just want to push Ai-Kun aside and tell him “LET ME TAKE CARE OF HER INSTEAD.”

Saying that Isaac doesn’t deserve MC is too harsh, but.... I really dislike Isaac as a romantic lead in this route. Look, I love watching his grow from an] insecure, defensive person to someone who’s willing to put himself out there and face the world. I totally relate to that. And I get that romantic attraction to someone who can be a support system helps.

Butttt it’s emphasized that MC willingly threw her old life away for Isaac’s sake. In other words, she sacrificed more just to make sure he’s functioning. The “I can’t live with you” mentality hits too hard and it doesn’t sit well with me

If you read the 1st Anniversary Event where they show their life after being together in one year, you’ll see that both Isaac and MC still struggle with communication problems. Even Napoleon has given up acting as their marriage counselor.

But PROS! Let me talk about PROS! The route, at the very least, does emphasize her skills and her confidence in said skills. The part where she prides herself as a linguist? GOOD. BIG GOOD. I wish we see more of this in other routes.

In conclusion, this MC has the best personality but it also feels like MC is overcompensating for Isaac. Maybe that was the intention? Build a stronger MC so Isaac can lean on her? I hope not. I love her as a character in this one.

Leonardo

Look, I love how feisty MC is in this one. I enjoyed her chemistry with Leonardo from start to the earlier middle part of the route. After that, it’s a cocktail of Leonardo’s self-imposed suffering and patronizing. I often think that the MC isn’t given a lot of agency in deciding how her relationship with Leonardo will go.

It’s a touching route and my heart goes out to Leonardo, but their romance revolves around MC wanting to become Leonardo’s emotional crutch and it’s distressing.

I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but I agree with Comte’s suggestion to Leo that he shouldn’t give in to his impulses and leave MC’s alone because him agonizing over her death wouldn’t be worth it. Yeah, he’s right. And the route shows her suffering for Leonardo’s sake.

The writers probably intended it to be romantic, but it just comes off as tragic. Shakespeare didn’t really need to do anything in this one. Leonardo’s troubles are already tragic on his own.

Y’know, the route could’ve gone in a better direction. Focusing on Leo’s disconnection with his family who abandoned him and the society of Greater Vampires as a whole would be a start. The route keeps teasing us in that direction but nothing comes out of it.

In conclusion, the route keeps heaping Leo’s problems onto MC and seems to push her as this manic pixie dream girl who can magically change his life towards the better. That hurt.

Napoleon

I’ve rambled about Napoleon’s MC several times, one of which you can read here. It’s a route problem that’s mostly similar to Leo’s, except that Napoleon is a much stronger character in this route and that just undermines MC’s character further.

But let’s talk about PROS. First, lemme get this out of the way: she and Napoleon were good from the beginning until up to the middle (the biting scene). Second: The route did drag after the scene in the shed and I couldn’t remember a single thing before Napoleon goes up to challenge Wells aside from them banging. Still, I nearly cried when Napoleon fell off the cliff. It had its touching moments, despite the route’s weak points.

As for why I disliked MC in this route....hmmm....I’m just gonna say it couldn’t balance the conflict between Welly and MC’s romance with Napoleon very well. MC’s character and involvement too, took a back seat once Napo’s man pain surfaces past comes back to haunt him.

What’s more vexing is that she doesn’t attempt to find out more about Wellington other than from Napoleon and Sebastian, who of course are going to be biased. I mean, MC, sis, you could dig up more information about the Iron Duke through references in the library. Then you can devise a plan with Sebastian, Comte, or hell, Jean to help protect him from someone who’s dead set on killing him instead of angsting helplessly and crying when Napo actually marches out to his death.

Napo’s mentality, too, is flawed. Which is actually pretty in-character since he’s the type who’d rather get his own hands dirty when dealing with personal matters instead of asking for help. But, you could’ve changed his mind on that, MC. Make him think of you as an equal that’s worth fighting for because he, too, feels like you’re fighting for him.

Leo and Napo’s route feel similar because they both involve making her into their living emotional or moral crutch, except that there’s not much emotional tension to go around.

Napo is made way too perfect and self-reliant in terms of their relationship that it made me even wonder why Napoleon thinks of her as worthy companion instead of his unintentional harem of pretty bois. In an ironic twist, his route is a total opposite of Isaac’s in that he’s the one overcompensating.

In conclusion, the perfect lover/knight in shining armor trope they’re going for in Napoleon’s route only hurts MC’s character and undermines her agency.

So, my take on all of this?

Everything depends on what route she’s in. Her greatest flaw as a character, I think, is her inconsistency. I wish she were as assertive as she is in Isaac or Mozart’s route in every other route. I believe she was made that way because Cybird wants her to be more of an audience surrogate than Ikesen’s Mai/MC (who I feel has a more defined personality), but it just ends up making her cater more to the Suitors instead of the other way around.

As a side note, I’ve played other Otome before (Hatoful Boyfriend, Princess Arthur, and Locked Heart), and I did get into routes where I genuinely wanted the MC and her chosen Suitor to be happy together as two people loving and growing with each other. But sometimes, I happen to get unlucky and end up with routes like Napoleon’s and Leonardo’s instead.

Thanks for asking and I’m sorry it got so long! This was really fun to answer!

ヽ(>∀<☆)ノ

#ikevam spoilers #ikevam mozart #ikevam isaac #ikevam leonardo #ikevam napoleon

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msjr0119 · 5 years ago

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One Temptation

Part 6

*This new series is based on The Royal Romance characters who belong to Pixelberry - AU Plot switch*

Riley Brooks moves back to New York after leaving five years prior- struggling to get by in life she wanted to go home. After getting mugged, a woman and man come to her rescue and offer her a job at their strip club. A rich business man Liam Rhys is forced to visit the club as part of his bachelor party. What will happen that night?

Warnings: Swearing, Abortion, Driley smut, horrible Liam 👎🏻

Tags-if you want to be removed let me know 😊: @annekebbphotography @burnsoslow @drakesensworld @ladyangel70 @kingliam2019 @bbrandy2002 @butindeed @bascmve01 @drakewalker04 @pedudley @captain-kingliamsqueen @duchessemersynwalker @insideamirage @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld @kozabaji @texaskitten30 @ibldw-main @kimmiedoo5 @nikkis1983 @dangerouseggseagleartisan @gnatbrain @walker7519 @lodberg @cmestrella @hopefulmoonobject @addictedtodrakefanfic @angi15h @liamxs-world @rafasgirl23415 @notoriouscs @whenyourheartskipsabeat @jovialyouthmusic @nz1091 @yukinagato2012 @indiacater @seriouslybadchoices @rainbowsinthestorm @cordonianroyalty @dcbbw @qammh-blog @beardedoafdonutwagon @jared2612 @princess-geek @desiree-0816 @kaitycole

*******

“Ah so he is the infamous Drake? Your baby daddy. Did you tell him?” Riley felt guilty lying to him when he had asked her. If he had of been persistent in asking her she would have probably broke down and told him. That brief interaction between the two of them, proved that he was sincere and cared for her.

“No, and I’m never telling him about something that isn’t going be there anymore.”

“You don’t have to go through with a termination.”

“I don’t know him. That isn’t the main issue, the main issue is my ex. He beat drake up because we slept together. Imagine what he could do if he found out I was pregnant. I don’t trust Liam. I will go through this hurt on my own to protect everyone.”

“Just talk to Drake. He may step up to his responsibilities. You two may be able to give it a proper shot?”

“No Merc. My mind is made up. I’m damaged goods because of Liam, I’m not allowing him to ruin anyone else.” Mercedes shook her head, she had grown fond of Riley ever since meeting her. Deep down she knew that Riley was a strong person even with all the past hurt, but she needed to let it go and put herself first- make herself happy.

“Okay, I’m not going to argue with you- but I’m always going to be here for you. Support you with whatever decision you make. Come on, Rita will be going nuts.”

*****

“So, you were a while. What happened?”

“Nothing. We just spoke like people do in general.” Leo knew Drake was lying- he could read him like an open book. There was more to the “general talking” that he was letting on. Assuming he was playing it down because of Liam.

“Just because Liam’s sat near us doesn’t mean you can lie to me Walker!”

“Fine! I asked if she was pregnant, she said no. Nothing more to say.”

“Are you happy that she’s not pregnant? Or are you slightly disappointed.”

“Why would I be disappointed? I don’t know her. It was stupid of us both to not use protection. Irresponsible.”

“What would you have done if she was?” Drake looked at Leo, wondering why he was asking all these personal questions. Looking over towards Riley, he could see that she wasn’t herself- if he had the guts he would drag her out of here and persuade her to open up.

“I’d have persuaded her to move with me to Texas, to live on my family ranch- away from that psycho you call your brother. But it doesn’t matter, she isn’t pregnant. So can we change the subject?”

“Okay, so why haven’t you beat Liam up yet? I mean he kept you locked away in an apartment. They beat you.”

“Because I’m not stooping to his level. He’s a joke of man, he had a diamond and threw her away. I’m not going to upset her anymore by fighting over her.” Not realising that Liam had purposely overheard the whole conversation, Drake was annoyed he had interrupted their ‘private’ discussion.

“Don’t you think that I feel guilty enough Drake?”

“So you should! You think because you are rich that you can get what you want at the click of your fingers. Just move on Liam. I swear if you touch me again, I will report you to the police this time.”

“Why didn’t you do that the first time? Scared that I was going to do it again? Don’t worry I’m not. Riley will eventually come back to me, if I want her back I need to remain calm and civil with everyone. Did you find out if she was pregnant?”

“Yes, and it’s none of your business if she was. Why can’t you just leave everyone alone Liam?”

“Leave him alone Liam before I wipe that smirk off your face!” Leo decided to defend his friend over his brother- his own flesh and blood.

Riley witnessed the commotion occurring in the booth- rolling her eyes back she was going to be homeless soon with all the shit her friends cause. Storming up towards Liam she pulled her fist back aiming it straight into Liam’s jaw.

“Riley what the fuck?” Holding his jaw, he couldn’t believe that she out of everyone decided to hurt him in such a manner. He never knew she had it in her.

“You don’t know how many times that I have wanted to do that. You think you can cause shit, torture Drake, cause shit in my workplace - TWICE. I thought you was going to be civil Liam? You will never change and I truly don’t know who are you anymore. I’d like you all to leave.”

“Ri, I’m sorry.”

“Apologise not to me but to Leo and more importantly Drake. If they don’t accept it I don’t blame them one bit. We can be friends Liam but that is it. Now goodbye. Max I’ll ring you at some point tomorrow.” Providing sorrow in her eyes towards the others, she knew that throwing them all out was for the best.

*****

A few days later, Riley had arranged to meet Maxwell at his apartment- he promised that Drake wouldn’t be in and that they could talk like the friends they used to be.

In the last few days, she had kept debating about whether to tell Drake the truth- she had imagined what type of father he would be. Would he be distraught if she continued with the procedure? What if he wanted to support her and the baby. Maybe if they learnt from this mistake, they could move on- if there was a future between the two of them they could try again when the time was right for them both. All these questions didn’t help her- she wanted advise from her closest friend who knew both her and Drake the best.

“Hey. Erm. I didn’t expect you to be in. Is Maxwell in?”

“No, he’s gone on a date.” That son of a bitch! Why would he arrange to meet me.... ohhh...

“Oh right. Well let him know that I’ll rearrange another day with him.”

“Riley, you don’t have to avoid me you know. You’re welcome to wait for him. He’s only taken her to Coney Island.”

“Typical Maxwell. No it’s fine, I don’t want to be a gooseberry.”

“What and I aren’t going to be? He won’t bring her back- he doesn’t do that on first dates.”

“Oh I know, but he could do. I suppose I could wait for him for a bit.” Drake moved out of the way- allowing her in. He noticed that she looked a bit pale compared to usual.

“Make yourself at home, I mean it was your home once upon a time.”

“Yeah, back when everything in life was simple. I’m sorry for throwing you all out the other night.”

“You did me a favour. I don’t know how much more of Liam I could have taken.” “Do you want a drink?” Riley nodded and insisted on a glass of water. Handing her the drink, their fingers brushed against each other- sending a shock of electricity through their veins.

“Thanks.”

“No probs. If you need anything, I’ll be in my room.”

“Before you go, can we talk? Please.” Whilst it was just the two of them, Riley believed it was now or never. Tell him the truth.

“Sure. What about?”

“Us.”

“There is no us...”

“Maybe not, but I need to tell you something whilst I have the courage to tell you.” Drake stared at her, wondering what on Earth she was eager to talk about. Pointing over to the couch, he sat down- Riley sat next to him her body facing him, but her gaze was down towards the floor.

“So, I lied to you about many things.” Finally focusing her eyes on his, she continued. “I lied when I said you was a rebound and a shit one night stand....”

“It’s fine, I said hurtful words too. It’s in the past. Don’t worry about it.” Hearing his phone ring constantly, he didn’t want to seem rude by answering it- it was only Savannah. Riley noticed his eyes flicker from her to the phone and vice versa.

“Answer it, it’s clearly important.” Nodding he put it on loudspeaker, not really wanting to pay much attention.

“Hey Sav, what’s up?”

“Well I’m not going back to Texas. When Maxwell contacted me about what that prick did to you- I thought I’d only come short term. But then I started to fall for Bertrand...”

“I really don’t want to hear about your love life Savannah, you’re my sister.”

“No I just wanted to let you know that you’re going to be an uncle. I’m pregnant. Myself and Bertrand are going to be parents.”

“That’s great Sav. We will celebrate soon. I have to go though. I love you and that little bean. Talk to you later.” Hanging up, he looked immediately towards Riley who looked more pale than she did before she arrived. Placing his hand on her forehead, she had a temperature- he wasn’t a bastard, he would look after her until Maxwell arrived.

“You’re so warm, and you look pale. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, just the shock that Bertrand is going to be a father. He was my babysitter when I was a kid you know? A poor one at that. He was so strict, I feel sorry for your nephew or niece.”

“Cut the crap Riley. What is up with you? Do you need me to take you to hospital?”

“Okay I lied to you again. I can’t tell you. I want to tell you. I just don’t know how to.” Beginning to cry uncontrollably, he shuffled closer towards her. Asking if he could place his arm around her, she nodded. Holding her tightly, she felt safe in his arms.

“What’s up beautiful?”

“Why did you call me beautiful?”

“Because you are.”

“You wouldn’t think that if you knew what I’m about to tell you.” Pausing, Drake still fixated his gaze on hers keeping eye contact.

“Drake... I... I lied to you because I didn’t know what to do, I still don’t. I’m pregnant. And it’s yours.”

“Why would you lie to me? I don’t understand? If you wanted to keep it, I would support the two of you. As you said it takes two to tango, I should have more responsible. I’m so sorry.”

“I lied because I have options- options that I still don’t know which path to follow. I lied because I was considering a termination- not that I want to, but I need you to be safe. If Liam can do that to you because we sleep together, what else would he do?”

“Why the fuck are you thinking about him again? This is about our baby. Our baby that you are going to kill because your ex is a psychopath! I will protect you both. I’d move you to Texas to live on my parents ranch- I already had it all planned then you said you wasn’t pregnant.”

“I’m thinking about you. I’m thinking about the baby. I don’t have my own place, neither do you- you share with Maxwell. We don’t know each other...”

“I wanted to get to know you, I like you a lot Riley. This is my mistake too. Please just think about it and reconsider. I can provide for us all, I’ll get us a home....”

“I have been thinking about it non stop for two weeks... my mind is about to explode due to it.” Drake wanted her to keep their baby, somehow they would work through it.

“Whatever you decide, I’ll support you. It’s your choice.” Riley nestled into Drake, still not knowing what to do for the best.

“Thank you for being there for me. I think I better go, I don’t think Max is coming back anytime soon.”

“Stay with me for the night? If it’s the last time we are going to be a family, I want to spend it with the two of you.”

*****

Riley agreed to stay, mainly due to guilt. Believing her mind was already made up. Falling asleep immediately as her head hit the pillow, Drake stripped down to his boxers- pulling her towards him, he placed one arm under her neck the other one over her stomach. Holding them both protectively, tears formed in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry little one. I think your mom has made her mind up. I will always love you, and your mommy.”

*****

A few days later, Drake met up with Riley outside the clinic. There was silence between the two of them, he still disagreed with her decision- but couldn’t force her or persuade her to keep it. He had spoken to Maxwell when he had returned from his date.

“Hey, how did the date go?”

“Better than expected. I can smell a certain lady. Where is she?”

“She’s erm. In my bed.”

“So you’ve rekindled then?”

“Not really. It’s a goodbye ‘sleepover’” Drake could see confusion written across Maxwell’s face- so continued talking.

“She is pregnant, but she doesn’t want to keep our baby.”

“Shit man, why?”

“She doesn’t know me that well, we don’t share a house or have our own house, she doesn’t want Liam to hurt me anymore... I’d protect the two of them. I’d love them both- my little family.”

“I see her point, but I’m sure the two of you could work things out for the baby- even if you aren’t technically dating?”

“Max, if I pretend that it never existed I’m sure I’ll get over it.”

“Buddy...”

“I’m going to spend the night holding my baby and the mother of my child before I have to say goodbye. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Softly smiling at her, she returned the gesture- guilt constantly going through her mind.

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be, I’m here with you for every step.” Walking to the reception area, they both sat quietly- hoping to get this over and done with quickly.

“Miss Brooks please.” Riley slowly stood up. Turning around Drake was still sat down in a trance.

“Drake? Are you coming? If not it’s fine.”

“No I’m coming. Sorry. I said I’d be there every step supporting you.” Sitting down, the nurse completed a pre operative assessment- before introducing the Obstetrician who would be completing the procedure.

“Good morning, before we begin the procedure- id just like to do an examination and an ultrasound to ensure exactly how far into the pregnancy you are. Is that okay?” Riley nodded, laying on her back- the cold gel was placed on her stomach. Biting her lip, she stared upto the ceiling- attempting to ignore the bleeping sound coming from the machine. Drake held her hand, regretting coming- it was shattering his heart. Whilst his sister was celebrating her pregnancy and child, he was about to lose his without even getting to know it.

“We’re all done. You are around nine weeks pregnant. We can do the one day abortion, which means that you can return to work immediately tomorrow. The procedure itself- if completed under local anaesthetic will take no longer than ten minutes. If you are confident that you would like to continue- sign this consent form. I’ll give you both a bit of time together.” Signing the consent form, she felt slightly relieved but still upset. Drake pulled her towards him- forcing a kiss on her lips, he needed to somehow let her know that he still cared for her deep down.

After the procedure, Riley was in recovery- the cramps due to the procedure were excruciating to begin with but eventually calmed down. A bit of spotting began shortly after the procedure but after an examination- the staff were happy to discharge her. Grabbing the nurse before she left, she needed to ask her for something. Walking into the reception area, she saw Drake holding his head in his hands- once he noticed her, he shot out of his chair.

“Hey, are you okay? Are you in any pain? I’ll take you home.”

“Drake, I’m fine. I’ll meet you outside. I need to pay.”

“I’ll pay. Don’t worry about it.”

“Please let me pay, this was my decision to do this. I don’t want to make it any harder on you.”

Riley paid her bill, and called a cab for the two of them. Arriving at the strip club, he stepped out of the cab- ran around to her side to open the door.

“Let me know if you need anything, I’ll be there straight away.” His kindness was breaking her heart, she had potentially broken his with her decision.

“I’ll be fine. Thank you though. Don’t go awol on me again.”

“Ditto. See ya around Brooks.” Pulling him in for a quick kiss, she knew it would take time for them both to come to terms with what had just happened.

“See ya around Walker.”

*****

Arriving back at his apartment, Maxwell looked concerned- he had hoped that Riley would change her mind once at the clinic. Sitting at the island, Drake poured himself a tumbler of whiskey- before pulling something out of his jeans pocket- the scan.

“Hi, my girlfriend- not girlfriend, has just gone in for her procedure. I was just wondering if I could have a copy of the scan she had done.”

“Of course you can. We always print off two copies, one for mom and one for dad for instances such as these. Riley Brooks wasn’t it?”

Pulling the scan up to his face, he kept whispering I’m so sorry, Daddy will always love you. Unable to control his tears- Maxwell felt like the shittest friend alive.

*****

Riley stormed through to her room, immediately locking the door behind her so no one would disturb her. Pulling out the envelope from her bag- she immediately fell to the floor, regretting the decision. Tracing her shaking finger across the picture, she whispered I’m so sorry, I’ll always love you. Mommy loves you, please forgive me?

*****

Six months after the termination, Drake and Riley spoke every so often over text and phone call, for the first few months. Neither knowing what to say or do. The last month or so, they hardly spoke- they had drifted apart.

Today was Savannah’s baby shower, they had found out that they were due to have a little boy in five weeks time - give or take. They had decided to call him Bartie after Bertrand’s father.

Maxwell had persuaded Riley to come after many attempts- he knew it would be hard for her giving her personal circumstances. But Bertrand was like family to her. Maxwell stood with the other proud Uncle Drake- nervously waiting for Riley to show up.

“What’s up with you? Do you need to pee or something?”

“No just nervous.”

“What for?”

“Nothing Drake.” Fuck me I hope these two talk, if she arrives.

“What the fuck is he doing here?”

“I don’t know?”

“Gentlemen. How nice to see you.”

“Go away Liam you’re not welcome. Family only!” Maxwell spat towards his so called friend. Ignoring Max, Liam turned to face Drake.

“Drake how are you doing?”

“I’m going, I’m not dealing with you.”

“Jesus what’s up with you both?” Drake grabbed Liam by the collar- his hot breath lingered on the billionaire.

“You want to know what’s up? You was one of the main factors for why I’m not celebrating the fact that I was due to have a baby in five weeks also!” Not knowing how loud he was, they soon had an audience around them.

“I don’t possibly see how that was my fault.”

“Oh really? You beat me up, leave me for dead. Threaten that I leave New York- all so you could try and win Riley back. All that time you was trying, she was pregnant with my child. Our baby... that she chose...to end its life because she was scared about what you would do to me.”

“Or maybe she did it because she knew how much of a mistake it was?” Drake pushed him towards the floor, punching his head uncontrollably. He was releasing anger that he had built up over the months.

“Drake! Leave him alone!” Hearing her voice, he looked at the damage- regretting immediately what he had done. He was now as bad as Liam. Slowly standing up- he needed to remove himself from the scenario before he ruined his sister’s special day anymore.

“Drake! Wait up! I can’t run in heels.”

“What’s up Ri?”

“Are you okay? Let me look at your hand.” Holding his swollen hand, she gently kissed it.

“It’s fine. I’m sorry. I hate him.”

“I don’t blame you for doing what you did. It was revenge right? But you could have taken it somewhere private. Bertrand and Savannah didn’t look thrilled that you and Liam were gaining more attention than they were.”

“I’m sorry Riley, I’ve never got over the fact of what we did. I should have been more open with you.”

“I’m so sorry Drake. Before they discharged me, I asked for the scan- here... you can have it if you want.”

“I don’t need it. I did the same. It’s never left my side.” Pulling the scan out of his pocket- she wiped his tears away before wrapping her arms around him.

“I should be happy for them, but I’m jealous. That should have been us too. I keep imagining what it would look like, what their personality would be like.”

“Well if they were like me they’d be stubborn, and continue to make poor life decisions. If they were like you, they’d come out of my vag expecting a whiskey on the rocks.” Seeing a smile on his face, she was happy to make him see the funny side to a sad situation.

“That is possibly quite true, don’t criticise me for appreciating a good drink. They would have been a good looking kid with both our looks.”

“Oh definitely... best looking kid ever. They’d have your infamous smirk.”

“Your beautiful blue eyes.”

“Your charm.”

“Your strong attitude, they wouldn’t allow any one to mess with them.”

“We better stop before our egos burst. We better get back.”

“Wait!” Riley turned around, wondering what else he needed to say.

Cupping her cheeks, he had missed her immensely- forcing a kiss onto her lips, he didn’t give her the chance to breathe. Pulling her up into his arms, she wrapped her legs around him- not breaking the kiss. The kiss became more passionate, deepening at every movement. Feeling his hot breath on her neck, then the brush of his lips. His calloused hand ran through through her natural curls that were flowing effortlessly, as the kisses became more and more urgent. Placing her back on the ground his hand slid around her waist, pulling her closer to his all familiar whiskey scented body. Eventually breaking the kiss, he wasn’t sure what had overcome him.

“I’m sorry. I’ve missed you so much. I know we hardly know each other- but you are on my mind every second of the day.”

“That’s exactly how I feel. I wish things would have turned out better.”

“We could start over. I’ll take you out for dates, get to know each other properly. Fuck Liam. Fuck whoever. You’ve never put yourself first, or trusted anyone because of him. But I’m a good guy Ri. I’d treat you like you deserve to be treated. Just give me a chance? In the future, we could become stable- be a family when it’s more suitable. What do you say? Go on a date with me?” Before Riley could respond, they were interrupted by clapping and a sinister cackle.

“How very touching Drake. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

#theroyalromance #choices trr #drakewalker #riley brooks #maxwell beaumont #liam rhys #bertrand beaumont #leo rhys #savannah walker #riley x drake #drake x mc #trr fan fic #trr au one temptation

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kimarchive · 5 years ago

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“keep it moving” | lil’ kim by mtv news, 2003.

"I'm locked in a five-year contract with [Kim]," said Cease, who's signed as a solo artist to Queen Bee Records. Other than albums that Kim herself has recorded, Cease's poor-selling but critically acclaimed 1999 solo debut, The Wonderful World of Cease A Leo, is the only release to come from the Queen Bee Records imprint since it was founded in 1998.

-- by Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Sway Calloway, Jeff Cornell and Quddus Phillipe Kimberly Jones is dying to go Hollywood, but some people are hissing that she already has. She definitely isn't the same 'round-the-way girl the Notorious B.I.G. introduced us to in 1995. Little Ms. Jones has estranged herself from old ideals and friends from her 'hood that she once considered family. She's got a fresh attitude to go with her new set of Hollywood and high-society buddies and associates, people such as Hugh Hefner, Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra, Don King, Donatella Versace and Victoria Gotti.

Kimberly doesn't even look the same — she switches hairstyles almost as often as she changes rhyme flows. Plus she's got a new surgically altered nose to go with her voluptuous, augmented breasts. "When I decided to finally do that is when I realized I was a sex symbol," she has said about her implants. "It's something that I felt would make me have more fun with my photo shoots and enhance my look a little bit." But going Hollywood for Kim really means just that: She wants to make movies. Her dreams have nothing to do with forgetting where she came from, or — as they might say in her native Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood — "acting brand new." Kim maintains she's the same Brooklyn girl at heart: feisty, focused and determined not to fail. Like Will Smith and, more recently, Queen Latifah, rap's Queen Bee wants to make it big in Tinsletown. Yeah, she's appeared in such flicks as "Juwanna Mann" (2002) and "Zoolander" (2001), but Kim knows she's capable of bigger roles and more explosive performances. "Being involved in different entities of the game is so much fun 'cause you don't just get stuck in one genre," she explained. "I like to be here and there. My personality and my character are versatile." But unlike the aforementioned rap legends, she still wants to keep the music industry buzzing about her material. "That's one thing I don't like," Kim said, referring to how some of her fellow MCs' music careers suffered as their movie careers took off. "Will [Smith] was doing it at one point. Regular rappers were trying to [sell] five million [albums] and he was doing seven million, with flicks out that were doing $50 million a week. That's the type of success I want to follow. I think what happens is that the rappers [who] have success in Hollywood kinda start ignoring their music. I don't think it matters to them anymore. I ain't gonna front, [if] you're getting $20 to 25 million a film ... even $10 million a film is enough to make you say, 'I don't have to do an album this year.' [But] I wouldn't do that." And that's no Hollywood talk, either. Kim not only has a movie called "Guns and Roses" due out this summer, she has a new LP, La Bella Mafia, in stores now. Named La Bella Mafia after a 1997 made-for-TV movie, "Bella Mafia," in which widows of mob figures take over the family business, this LP has been heralded as Kim's best work since her trailblazing 1996 solo debut, Hard Core. On Mafia, she runs away from the syrupy melodies and hooks that hampered 2000's Notorious K.I.M.'s "How Many Licks" and "I'm Human," which seemed to pander to radio and dancefloors. Kim's latest opus is a return to the streets, where she enlists such sound-shapers as the always-unpredictable Swizz Beatz, Scott Storch, who has co-produced some of Dr. Dre's classic jeep thumpers, and Mobb Deep's master of morose tracks, Havoc.

"She's a star, [and] people respect stars," said Havoc, who first worked with Kim on Mobb Deep's remix to "Quiet Storm." "She's smart, and most of the decisions she makes are good musically. She's among the top people in the game, and she's better than a lot of [guys]. You don't have a choice but to give her that respect." "I think she's on top of the game," concurred Queen Latifah, who recorded with Kim on the soundtrack for the Academy Award-winning film "Chicago." "I just bought her album the other day and I love it. I think it's [about] her growing up. She still ballsy, and she's still gonna pop junk to any other female rapper out there, but I like where she is right now. I like to see her in control of where she wants to go. I'm proud of her." And while Kim loves the praise she's received from her peers and fans, she feels things could still be a lot better. Although Mafia put her on pace to equal or surpass the numbers she posted with her biggest selling LP, the double platinum Hard Core (despite its lukewarm reception, Notorious K.I.M. still sold over a million copies as well), Kim wasn't pleased with La Bella Mafia's first-week sales of close to 167,000 copies. "A lot of people say 'Kim is up there,' " the Queen Bee lamented, "but I don't feel that I'm up there 'cause I haven't accomplished my goal yet, which is to sell 10 million records of one album. Imagine what people will say when I reach that point." One thing people do talk about is how long it takes Kim to churn out albums. There was a four-year gap between the first two records, and even with the widely heralded Trackmasters and the spirit of Mafia co-executive producer B.I.G. fueling this album's beats and rhymes, it took years to make as well.

"It's kind of hard because I like to take my time to make things perfect," Kim said, explaining why she always has such a long gap between projects. "I went into this album thinking, 'I'm just going to have fun with it.' I said, 'I'm going to do what I want to do. Let me do this the way I feel B.I.G would have wanted me to do this.' He's the one that taught me everything I know, and he tells me things still. That's why B.I.G is listed as the co-executive producer on my album. It's just me and him." What also slows down production is the fact that you just can't keep the black Erica Kane locked in the studio for too long. She's got her manicured hands dipped in far too many projects to be getting stuck in a sound booth all night. For one thing, she's got a new clothing line, Hollyhood, still in development, with a launch tentatively planned for the fall. A true fashion aficionado, Kim's wild outfits, trend-setting hairdos and modeling stints for Mac and Candies and have given her a strong presence in the fashion world. Hobnobbing with clothing kingpins with last names like Prada, Versace and Armani have only strengthened her cause. "When she did 'Guns and Roses,' she was on the mark," LisaRaye said of Kim's spin as Chastity, the vixen of the bunch. In addition to the movie, the two worked together on a song for the film's soundtrack. "We filmed that movie in 18 days, so you know how quick and steady the flow was," she continued. "She was actually excellent." "It was fun," Kim said with a grin. "It's like a female 'Young Guns.' Us five females, we're like sisters. When we all got together it was nothing but love. For the most part, we were all sisters on that set — we all had each other's back. I like to surround myself with good people — positive people committed to their work."

And make no mistake — if you're not committed to Kim, you can't be down. At her album release party a few weeks ago, celebrities such as Dave Chappelle, Mobb Deep, Jagged Edge and Wayne Wonder came out to one of Manhattan's newest hot spots, the Lobby, all ready to hail the Queen. Conspicuously absent were Kim's longtime running mates, Lil' Cease and the rest of the Junior M.A.F.I.A. Kim and the J.M., all friends and protégés of Biggie's, had been virtually inseparable since they were introduced back in 1995. The originally nine-member crew appeared on classic songs together, put out a gold album and performed at countless shows nationwide. When B.I.G. died, they leaned on each other during their collective time of mourning, and his memory was the glue that held them all together. And the bond was deep. When Kim went solo, she looked out for her boys as their careers stagnated. If they needed money, she hit them off. If one of her guys got in trouble with the law, as Larceny and Cease were known to do on a few occasions, Kim, the perennial mother figure, always bailed them out. At one point, the clique was so close that they all lived together in Kim's New Jersey mansion. But since then, the group's relationship has soured, and the Queen Bee has had to literally clean house. "Well, you have to move on and you have to grow," Kim said, visibly holding back venom and opting to give a more politically correct answer as to why she no longer associates with Cease and Co. "You can't be taken advantage of for too long, and it's a case where unfortunately, [the relationship] just went bad. In the same sense, I hope they do well and [that] they can find God in their hearts." On La Bella Mafia's "Heavenly Father," however, Kim's a little less restrained. She raps, "And was it enough that I split 20 percent of what I make?/ Was it enough that I cut n----s half of what I bake?"

Lil' Cease is just as angry with Kim these days as she is with him. His biggest beef with her is not that she cut him off — it's that she won't let him go. He's so miffed at his onetime homegirl that he's started a "Free Cease A Leo" T-shirt campaign.

"She's putting all this stuff out like she's not messing with me right now," Biggie's puffy-cheeked former best friend fumed. "I feel like if you [are] not messing with me, give me walking papers so I can do me. We had our differences [and] I thought we could patch them up, but honey is doing her thing. I'm not knocking her, but she still got me under paperwork. [I've] been trying to get in touch with her, [but] she's ducking me. I call the office, [but] she don't want to talk to me. I go to the office [and] I can't see her."

"There's a lot of truth to what Cease was saying," Kim retorted with a snarl before clamming up. "I don't really want to get into that. The only thing I'm concerned with is La Bella Mafia being in stores. The whole truth will come out later and I can't wait." Although Kim is being clandestine and won't say exactly when her and the Mafia started to fall out, she is more than willing to reveal when her relationship with her former manager, mentor, friend and Notorious K.I.M.'s executive producer P. Diddy went south. "I can honestly say that during the whole process of [making Notorious K.I.M.], Puff and I were like a brother and a sister arguing," said the 26-year-old. "One minute we'd be the best of friends, and then the next minute things weren't working out at all," Kim said. "Sometimes Puffy likes people to do whatever he says. I'm a creative person, an entertainer. I'm a boss lady. A lot of times when you [are] working with a boss man, you have to respect each other's opinion. I just wanted my respect and because I was young and female, I don't think he gave it to me fully." "I'm a hard coach from beginning to end," Diddy said unapologetically about his meticulous work ethic. "I'mma push an artist to [be] the best. Some artists feel [like], 'I've grown up, and I don't want you to push me this hard no more.' I can't really do that. I'm not crazy or anything, I just want to be the best. We gotta be the best every time." Kim said she was also hurt because when times got tough for her after Notorious K.I.M. received mixed reactions, Diddy abandoned her. "I loved Puffy with all my heart, [and] if you look back, I was the only one supporting him. [At the time we were making my album] I wasn't even signed to Bad Boy," she vented. "During those times I held his hands, like, 'I know these people hate you right now, but I'm with you, dawg.' Puffy can be very selfish. I had to let him go do him and I had to go do me. I needed people at that time that was going to support me 150 percent. I was only getting 50 percent. Unfortunately, I don't speak to him at all."

P. Diddy, who seems indifferent about the split, offers a simpler explanation: "I think it's [about] people outgrowing each other and people wanting different things." While Kim hasn't cut off all her old friends, she has been gravitating toward a new crowd on the road to becoming a better-rounded person. One of her biggest cheerleaders now is Victoria Gotti, a multimedia personality and the daughter of late mob boss John Gotti. The two met over a year ago at an event in New Jersey and have built a nurturing relationship. They've done their share of partying and have at least one big adventure in common: The line-slinging siren recently held her buddy to a long-standing promise to appear in one of her videos. In February, the pair braved the bitter cold to shoot the unreleased clip for Kim's song "I Came Back For You" in front of the Brooklyn Bridge. Gotti says she'd do anything for her homie. "It's weird because she's everything she is onstage and nothing like her [persona]," Gotti said, describing why such a diverse group of people show Kim love. "She is a chameleon. She can just rise to [any] occasion and fit whatever mood everybody's in. That's the one thing I adore about Kim, [and] that's the first thing that shines through. Forget her looks, forget her outrageous outfits — she's got personality that's second to none." And what Kim's hoping for is that soon, her success in all fields will be second to none. Even as her fan base broadens, she maintains that she'll never forget the gig that first put her on to all the other opportunities. In fact, she is as hungry as ever to stand out and rock the mic. "I don't ever worry about competition," she says confidently in regards to her fellow female rappers. "I do a totally different thing from all these females. Everybody feels that 'I have to be at the top.' We can all be at the top selling records. There is no 'I'm better.' I know I'm a Queen and I do what I do.' "

And what she is doing is everything.

#lil' kim #interview #mtv news #2003

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