#cause dad just wants his son to be happy n hes valid
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t-am-i-the-asshole · 1 month ago
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WIBTA if I skipped my Brothers wedding?
I 37 f have a younger brother 34 M. He and his fiancee are due to be married next spring. I am so happy for him. My husband passed away 2 months ago. My brother refused to come to his funeral because my mom would be attending. My brother is NC with my mom. His reason for not coming to the funeral was to avoid issues or stressful situations. I informed him as long as everybody acted like adults. We would be fine. He still refused to come. It was my husband's funeral!! I have a five year old son with him.And I could have used my little brother's support. We have always been pretty close and always been there for each other. We do live four hours away from each other, but keep in contact as much as possible.Seeing as we both work full time, and I have children. My brother let me know the wedding date and told me to save the date. I told him I was so happy for him. I am completely NC with my father and my sister 40 f for many, many reasons, stories for another time. After my brother told me the wedding date, he then said."By the way, whether you like it or not, you have to be around family you don't want to be around." I responded, "wait a minute, you could not come to my husband's FUNERAL because you did not want to be around one person for a couple of hours, but you expect me to come to your wedding for 2 days with two people I do not speak with or have anything to do with?" The relationship between me, my father and my sister is very toxic. I can't get into it too much on here. But my sister has always been very jealous of me and has tried to put me down my entire life. Not to mention the terrible things she said to my daughter 19 about my husband after he passed. BIZZO all the way. My father, let's just say.... he is a disgusting POS. I don't even know how to explain the mental and financial damage he has caused me. Am I being oversensitive or are my feelings completely valid? Am I being too petty? How can you refuse to go to your brother-in-law's funeral? Suck it up, put on your big boy pants and be there. I'm so hurt and angry. And I don't know how to get over it. Would I be wrong for skipping his wedding?
Quick edit. My mother is a mom. She's always trying to look out for everybody else. Sometimes it seems invasive and honestly, sometimes she manipulates situations.To try and get the best result for everybody as she sees fit. They were n c for 15 years after my parents got divorced, and my mom pretty much dropped us off at my dad's house and left. He had major abandonment issues because of it. My brother let her back in, and after 2 years felt my mom was being controlling and manipulative. She probably was, honestly. Now he is NC again. He didn't want problems to start at the funeral. If my mom even spoke to him, i'm sorry that is ridiculous! Be civil for a few hours. Put on your big boy pants. It's a funeral. Not a cookout.
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cantfoolajoker · 5 years ago
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also little lion man by mumford & sons really is just a shinjiro song huh
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totiredtowrite · 3 years ago
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Can you write aizawa meeting denkis dad and like father like son is also a himbo?
Thoughtless Man - Headcanons
Warnings - Cursing
Note: Long headcanons? Long headcanons! Now I know what you're gonna say, "But Unavailable, the only two Aizawa works you have are headcanons!" and you are absolutely correct. My brain is going down the drain, I don't think I could pull another full fic out of my backside 😩. I did have fun with this though, the loose format of headcanons is a nice break from plot development in fics hehe
sorry it took like a week lmao
Male Reader
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Tired hobo man oh noo
Aizawa is just a himbo magnet
This poor poor man istg
Anyways it's himbo headcanon time hehe
Different formatting 0o0
Meeting
You met at a typical parent teacher conference
Honestly Aizawa was hoping that you would be nothing like your son, but the universe has dashed his hopes once more
You seemed very respectful though, so at least you don't sUCK-
But anyways
You yourself aren't a hero, but you fully support Denki's ambition
Aizawa actually thought it was kind of endearing how much you wanted him to succeed
He'd casually slip something in like "Where'd he get his energy from" or something like that
And you'd just kind of chuckle and go "His mom. We split up though, so I try my best to deal with him :)"
CAUGHT HIS ATTENTION
You're single?
ohoho
Well that changes everything doesn't it?
No, actually, it doesn't.
He doesn't care.
Not now at least
Aizawa's Totally Heterosexual Panic
After the conference Aizawa was doing his normal stuff
Yknow, being tired and hating his job
Everything is as usual
Until you popped into his classroom??
You could see the question marks in the air
Naturally he's like "Oh Kaminari's hot dad why r u here?"
And you'd answer with something about needing to leave something for Denki
Because I can't think of a valid reason
PLOT PROGRESSION
You, being charismatic somehow coerced him into a conversation?
And you were actually really sweet and fun to talk to???
Panic frfr
As it turns out you're just oblivious and naturally good with people
If you aren't just pretend
So now the little fact that you're single is just CIRCLING HIS HEAD
Oh no, what will this 100% straight man do?
How This Disaster Relationship Happened
This man didn't ask you out he's too much of a pussy
He can handle literally anything but this
Villains? Yeah sure he'll beat their ass
Angsty teenagers with strong quirks? Yeah he's got it
Present Mic? Kind of-
But he absolutely will not ask you out first
How rude, you had to do it
You actually ran into each other at the supermarket
You, having a kid ykyk go to the store every now and then so you don't starve
And you saw Aizawaaaaa
And you basically just run up to him n go "Aizawa-san!"
Man was terrified
Basically you struck up another conversation
One topic led to another topic, and before you knew it, you said "Hey wanna get dinner sometime?"
He got sO REd
Ofc he said yes he isn't a loser smh
And BOOM relationship
How You Are As A Couple
Cuuute
Zawa is soft for you but he will admit it the day he dies
He doesn't have to admit it though
He's obvious frfr
Present Mic and Midnight tease him about it all the time
You're picking him up from work?
Bet ur ass they'll poke fun at him
They are actually happy for him though, the man needs some love
Aizawa is surprisingly affectoinate
He won't initiate anything though
He'll just kind of hover around you until you invite him to cuddle
man is hopeless
But now for the elephant in the room
Your son 0-0
Denki actually didn't know you and Aizawa were together until like 2 or 3 months after
Aizawa had left his keys at your place
And you figured "hey why not give them to him, it's along the way to my work anyways"
So you pull up to UA
Check in through the front (cause security ykyk), and head to his classroom
You open the door, say "hey babe you left your keys," dropped the keys on his desk, gave him a kiss on the cheek, waved to denki, and left
The chaos you just walked away from
"AIZAWA-SENSEI'S DATING MY DAD???"
Kirishima and Mina will not let him live it down
Denki totally calls Aizawa dad just to gauge his reaction
So much chaos I love it
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stealforreal · 3 years ago
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Future kids - Bakugou Katsuki I
Bakugou meets his son from the future. Just some fluff, with a jealous Bakugou.
Bakugou Katsuki x F! reader
Warnings: none
Bakugou was stomping his way back to the dorms, cursing that stupid nerd Deku in his mind. Kicking some rocks lying in his way, he was radiating murder. Naturally his classmates left him alone to cool off for a minute, even the Baku squad left him alone. They had chosen not to interfere, because they would like to live to see another, thank you very much. 
The stupid nerd had been too close to y/n at lunch today, and Bakugou had spent the entire time glaring at the curly green haired boy. What really made him snap was when she hugged him, and the stupid brocoli went as red as a tomato. She was giggling loudly and seemed really happy at whatever Midoriya had said, and the fiery ash blond couldn't control his jealousy so he stormed off. After class was over Bakugou was the first out the door, not even stopping to insult Denki when he made a bad joke. 
The rest of his classmates were confused, sure they all knew Bakugou to be a hothead. But still he seemed angrier than usual, only the Baku squad had small nervous but knowing smiles on their face. They knew of the explosive boy's crush on y/n, it wasn't totally obvious and they really wouldn't have known had Kirishima not pointed out the subtle things. Like how he never once called her an extra, he still called her idiot, dumbass and such. That was probably Bakugou's version of a compliment, which was probably the reason they took so long to figure out his crush.
So here he was stomping his way back to the dorms, cursing Deku for being close with y/n, Himself for getting jealous, y/n for being too friendly and everything he could curse in general. He stopped dead in his tracks when he felt a little tug on his uniform pant leg, glaring down at the thing that stopped him. Only to be confused when that thing turned out to be a little boy, around the age of 4-5 by the looks of it. Bakugou's brows furrowed in confusion, how did a little boy end up here. UA is one of the most secure places in Japan, courtesy of the League of Villains and other past incidents. 
What caught Bakugou's attention though, was the fact that this little boy was bawling his eyes out and trembling with his sobs. Bakugou didn't know what was happening, he felt incredibly protective of the young boy but didn't know why. He seemed kind of familiar, like Bakugou had seen parts of him somewhere else before. The little boy had big e/c doe eyes, filled to the brim with tears as he stared at the ground. His hair was unruly and a familiar shade of ash blond, he reminded Bakugou of himself a bit when he was young except the crybaby attitude of course. It was weird for Bakugou to feel this protective of anything, and he didn't like it one bit
" Oi brat, where are you parents?" The teenager asked the little boy, crouching down to his level, making the little lad finally pay attention to the stranger he had grabbed. The little boy gasped and flung himself at Bakugou, clutching on tightly to the stunned teenager's shirt. A new wave of tears hit the little blonde, being relieved at the familiar sight of his fathers face though much younger. " D-daddy, I-I was so scared" the little boy whimpered, burying his tear stained face in his fathers shoulder. Bakugou was speechless, he sure as hell was not this kid's father even if it explained the feeling of familiarity. No Bakugou shook his head at the ridiculous thought, this kid was obviously terrified and contrary to popular belief Bakugou would not abandon a lost child " Oi brat, I'm taking you with me back to the dorms. Afterwards we'll find your parents' ' he huffed, Bakugou was going to kill this kid's parents once they were found.
The younger boy began calming down in the older boy's arms, the tears had stopped and he was only softly hiccupping now. "B-but daddy I did find you, I wanna go see mommy" the young boy huffed out, defiantly crossing his arms over his little chest. " Oh yeah, prove it brat" Bakugou smirked thinking he had cornered the little boy in his lie, but much to his astonishment the little boy let out a small explosion in the palm of his hand. Though much brighter than his own, there was no mistaking his explosion quirk.  Bakugou hated to admit that so far the brat seemed to be telling the truth, and he hated even more how his feeling of protectiveness grew at the revelation that this kid in fact was most likely his son from the future. It wasn't rocket science, right now Bakugou was 16 and 100% not a father. Yet here is a little boy that is the spitting image of him as a kid except the eyes, and in this world where quirks exist perhaps time travelling was possible.  
Bakugou's little chat with his son had taken longer than he thought, because as soon as he entered the dorm common room every one in the room snapped their head towards the two ash blondes. The first to break the pin drop silence was Kirishima  " Eh who is the kid, Bakubro" he asked. While Mina asked if he had kidnapped the kid, earning a glare from the explosive blonde. " Daddy, why does Aunt Mina and Uncle Kiri not recognize me? " a little voice asked, making a lot of jaws drop and eyes widened. 1....2......3...... " WHA!!!" The lot of them shouted, questions coming left and right, wanting an explanation as to why this little boy who looked suspiciously like Bakugou called him dad. 
What they all failed to notice was the little boy was recoiling from the loud noise, pressing himself closer and closer to his father. Bakugou noticed this, and thanks to his newfound protectiveness he hugged him closer and glared at them effectively shutting them up. Mostly they were just silenced because the sight of Bakugou hugging and being protective of his supposed son baffled them. I mean we are talking about Mr.Hothead angry Pomeranian, the most blatant rude student in class 1-A if not in the entirety of UA. " Shut it ya damn morons, can't you see you're frightening him" Bakugou sneered at his classmates, not loudly but it was still malicious enough to make a shiver run up their spines. 
Midoriya, who had known Kacchan the longest, was intrigued by this side of Kacchan and unconsciously moved closer to the two ash blondes. Seeing the familiar shade of green hair approach them Bakugou sneered, while his son became ecstatic. " Uncle Izu '' The child yelled excitedly, stretching his arm towards the blushing brocoli boy indicating he wanted to be held. " Ah hell no! He is not your uncle, I won't allow shitty Deku to hold my son" Bakugou yelled, making a few snicker quietly, but what really set them off was the fact his son chopped his head with a little fist. "Oi, why the hell did ya do that for ya brat? Bakugou barks at his son, only receiving a deadpan expression in return. " Mommy said, every time your daddy is mean to uncle Izu chop his head for me, okay baby?" After that announcement they all burst out laughing, while Midoriya tried not to tremble under Bakugou's glare. 
"Speaking of which, who is your mom?, uhm I never got your name, little guy" Kirishima asked the little boy, stating a valid point. Bakugou realized that even though he had known his son for about 5 hours now, he never once asked what the boy's name was. " What do you mean, Uncle Kiri, it's me Katsuma?" Katsuma tilted his head a bit, not really being aware or understanding that he most likely travelled through time. " Well you aren't born in our time yet, mini Bakugou" Kaminari informed the little boy, in his usual teasing voice. " Really Uncle Kami" Little Katsuma asked " Does this mean mommy and daddy aren't together yet?" He asked, surprising the teenagers. Katsuma was surprisingly smart for a kid his age, and after the initial shock from being called daddy Katsuki totally forgot to ask about his son's mother. 
"That is correct, Katsuma'' Todoroki piped up in his usual monotone voice, surprising Katsuma with his appearance. " Uncle Todo'' Katsuma replied coolly, surprising everyone present. The happy bubbly 5 year old had vanished in an instant, and been replaced with a little boy full of hatred. Breaking the little staring contest that had broken out between his son and the damn half n half bastard, was none other than Midoriya's phone. Being the klutz that he is, he ended up answering and putting it on speaker. " Izuku, Ochaco said there was a cute kid at your dorm, so I'm coming over " y/n voice could be heard, instantly Katsuma brightened up again being all sparkles and rainbows again. He tugged at his dad's collar, demanding Katsuki's attention " daddy, daddy did you hear, mommy's coming over" the little ash blonde exclaimed, bouncing in his fathers arms from being giddy. This new information caused everybody's jaw to land on the floor once again.
" WHY, why does Bakugou get the hot chick? '' Mineta yelled in agony, being the little pervert he is, he had to comment on her looks. " Oi, don't talk about my future wife and baby mama y/n like that, I'll fucking blast you to hell" His statement followed by the crackeling in his palm, and the sound of a phone being dropped? Turning around Bakugou was met with your stunned face, eyes blown wide with confusion and astonishment clearly written on your face. " Mommy" Katsuma yelled, squirming trying to get out of his fathers embrace, and slowly Katsuki sat him down. When his small feet hit the floor, Katsuma was sprinting towards y/n with all his might and flinging himself into her arms. Resulting in the poor girl, falling down on the floor in her confusion.
Katsuma buried his face in her neck, sighing happily to himself. The remaining nerves  he had totally disappeared once he saw you. As much as Katsuma was a daddy’s boy, he was even more of a mama’s boy. Katsuma could feel the lack of response coming from his mother, curious and slightly scared he looked at her face. you were absolutely stunned, no response came from you frightening the young boy. Tears began swimming in Katsuma’s beautiful e/c eyes, snapping you back to reality. The sight of a child with tears in his eyes, struck your motherly instincts. Answers could wait, right now there was an adorable toddler with tears in his eyes, and you had to comfort him.
Slowly Katsuma was pulled into your embrace, head buried in the crock of your neck. Arms wrapped tightly around the preciuóus boy, letting him cling to you for deer life. “ M-mommy, I m-missed you, I was s-so scared-d” Katsuma said through sobs and hiccups. Not bothering to correct him, you bounced him lightly up and down in your arms. Bakugou came and helped you onto your feet, putting an arm around your waist. His other hand began stroking Katsuma’s unruly blond hair. 
Around them the rest of the class was still stunned into silence, seeing the small family in an embrace. Most of them had never seen Bakugou look so protective and calm, let alone with a small blush. You would also sport a matching blush if it weren’t for the fact, all your attention was on the young boy in your arms. He looked like a carbon copy of Katsuki, yet his e/c eyes looked exactly like yours. Slowly the sniffles stopped. Instead they were replaced by steady breathing, it seems like the child had a long day because he was fast asleep in your arms.
Slowly you made your way to the 1-A dorm living room couch, with the sleeping child in your arms and Bakugou not far behind you. He made it a point to keep his hand on the small of your back, glaring at the other guys present if they looked at your or his son the wrong way. “ Can somebody please explain to me what is going on?” You whispered so you wouldn’t wake up the young boy, whose name you still hadn’t caught. Your eyes caught Izuku’s eyes, but for some reason his eyes widened and he averted his gaze from you. Izuku is one of your best friends, you met because you and your classmate Hatsume Mei worked on his hero costume and you hit it off. 
With your attention not fully on the child anymore, you now realised that somebody had their arm around your shoulders. Looking to your right where the owner would be stítting, your eyes widened slightly at the person on your right. One of the hottest guys in UA had his arm around you, Bakugou Katsuki of class 1-a was well known in the school. His temper, looks and quirk had made him extremely popular with the female population of UA, though none of them dared approach him. The bad boy image both attracted them and made them keep their distance from him. He wasn’t exactly known for being a teddy bear, so Katsuki hugging y/n closer to him and keeping touching her was not expected.
 “ Oi Flashlight, brat is ours from the future. I don't know how he got here but it’s true. He even has my quirk, you know what this means right ” Bakugou spoke, explaining the situation. The others had left the two of you alone, giving Bakugou privacy to explain the surreal situation to you.  What this means? What did he mean by that? You couldn’t help but ponder the meaning. Turning your head to face him and question him on what he meant, you were met with a very close Bakugou. Bakugou couldn’t contain himself seeing you look so adorably clueless, so he closed the small gap between you. 
His lips were surprisingly soft. He was gentle in kissing you, not knowing how you would react. I mean you had to like him back right? You were sitting there next to hum with YOUR SON in your arms. He smelled nice, it was a sweet scent like caramel courtesy of his quirk. The kiss was slow, loving and gentle, the feeling of his lips on yours were intoxicating. Pulling back from the kiss, Bakugou growled silently, huskily in your ear “Your mine, flashlight” Heat crept up your neck, and you were left softly blushing. “ What are we going to do with him Bakugou?” Still facing Bakugou, you looked at your son from the future. There really was no mistake, he looked like a perfect Katsuki copy with your eyes, and your motherly instincts told that this was in fact your son. 
“It’s Katsuki to you Flashlight ” He corrected you “For now let's go to bed, it’s late. We can ask the squirt questions tomorrow” Katsuki led you to his room, still with a sleeping Katsuma in your arms. His bed was big enough to fit the three of you. You laid down with Katsuma in the middle, both you and Katsuki put an arm around Katsuma. Katsuki intertwined your fingers, and slowly you fell into a blissful sleep. You could ask more questions tomorrow.
But when you woke up, Katsuma was nowhere to be found. Only you and Katsuki were cuddling in his bed. You and Katsuki both came to the conclusion that whatever quirk sent Katsuma here probably sent him back to his own time. “Katsuki, is it wrong of me to miss him already?” You looked at your new boyfriend, looking into his sleepy vermillion orbs. “ If you miss the little firecracker already, why don’t we bring him back” His morning voice was rough, and tickled your ears just right, sending a shiver down your spine. Bakugou's eyes glinted with mischief, as he began kissing your neck. The innuendo not lost on you, the feeling of his lips on a particular spot had you giggling. It was ticklish and stopped him in his tracks for just long enough for you to get a word in. “ Let’s wait a few years okay” He nodded and laid down next to you again, pulling you close.
You would see Katsuma again. Someday.
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“here, hold them.”“you’re gonna break the world when you’re older, you don’t know it yet but you will.” OR “fine, fine, fine. rock, paper, scissors to see who has to go calm down the baby.”“glad that we’re dealing with this like adults.” PRETTY PLS UwU
I’m so sorry this took me so long T^T. Bear with me even if this isn’t Aykiz or even a baby girl. I hope you enjoy ❤️
Pairing: Levi/ Reader
Tags: f l u f f, all the uwus, dad Levi
Word Count: 1.168k
Disclaimer: i don’t own the gif, i found it on Pinterest
The first time I held you
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"It's a boy! Captain, it's a boy!"
The words still lingered in his head as he nervously processed his surroundings. On his left you laid asleep, still looking pale and exhausted as your eyes were halfway closed in frail slumber. In turn, on your own left, attached to the side of the bed was a humble wooden crib adorned with short cylindrical pillows. His eyes flickered right past them, fixating onto the outline of the small human accommodated in the soft silky sheets.
The baby's arms moved maniacally as he tried to shift onto the small matress, his movements seeming almost mechanical, too false to be believable in his father's eyes. And even if it looked out of this world it was Levi's baby. His eyes burned as the thought echoed in his brain, composed by a mixture of pride and insecurity a few tiny droplets worried the corners of his eyes with each passing second. His baby. He was half responsible of giving life to human being. 
The darkness in the room made it impossible for Levi to make out the baby's face but yet he still remembered every single detail he had picked up from a few hours ago as he profoundly stared at you while you held your son in your arms. He had never seen a baby so small, so fragile looking as his son, but the midwife had assured him all newborns looked like that. The chubby cheeks, the body rolls, the sweet toothless smiles, he'd have to wait a few months before those came in the picture.
His heart tugged inside his chest the moment a loud piercing cry threw all of the air out of the room. Sharply, he glanced over your side when you threw an arm away of your face, moaning mellowy at being ripped away from sleep's soft embrace. With tired eyes you blinked at him, pushing your lips together in a knowing manner as if to apologise for the baby's cries.
"I'm so not ready for this Levi."
But he didn't answer, not quite immediately. His mind attemptedly traveled through what he imagined would come out of this unknown territory. He was no stranger to insomnia, of course, it's be ridiculous to even say he was making an effort to sleep for more than two hours. He couldn't. So he should be stepping up in his duty for your son.
"I'm sorry, (y/n) I was just-" he snapped his eyes erratically to relieve some of the burning sensation trapped on his orbs "just thinking about-"
"It's fine love."
"I'll- I'll get him." Damn him, why was he so reluctant, why did he have to chew words back like this.
"It's fine Levi," you repeated, yet the shook of his head in denial to your words caused faint laughter to form in the depths of your chest. "Okay, fine, fine, rock paper scissors to see who gets to calm him down?" The sleepy smug on your face turned into a wide happy grin as Levi huffed in joyous disbelief; you always seemed to know what to do to cheer him up, you knew that far.
"I'm glad we're dealing like this as adults." He remarked though at doing so he caused more laughter to emit from you.
While propping yourself with your arms to sit on your back you shot him a soft sheepish smile, your eyes blinking slowly in exhaustion at his direction. That was the reality of the situation, whatever you did to joke around, you were in pain and you were tired. Levi would be damned if he let you handle this on your own. So, while reaching with your hands over the crib, he watched as you picked the small baby from the matress, carefully and as you placed your palm under his little head for support. He picked up on these details, memorizing them instantly.
The cries immediately stopped as you brought the baby to your chest, causing Levi to widen his eyes in momentarily disbelief. This seemed too easy, too simple, was this all that babies needed?
"I know this is hard for you, isn't it? I’m sorry.” you spoke apologetically, nervously averting your eyes off of his.
“It’s just new to me. Shit-” he hissed. His own eyes despairate to meet yours drove him to reach out his hand to the side of your face, to brush some of the hair that was stuck on your cheek; the aftermath of your sleeping positions never ceased to amaze him. The thought brought a low chuckle out of him, but he brushed past it, only to speak his next sentances “I dont know how to be a father and Kenny doesn’t precicely count as a valid paternal represantation. But with that beind said, I’ll be on my best behavior. I promise you can count on me. I just don’t know where to start”
“You can start by holding him.” you worried a lovestruck look in your orbs as you blinked while speaking, your eyes glimmering into his with assurance. “Only if you want to, no pressure.”
Levi found himself nodding erratically to your words before he could even comprehend what he was doing. Eagerly, he extended his arms to you, almost linking them to your own. As if he was afraid that by refraining to do so, that by letting any space his son would slip from both your grips. You carefully removed one hand from on the baby, taking notice to bring it under his head for extra support as you prompted him in Levi’s embrace. 
"Here, hold him. Just like this." You instructed as you placed him on the inside of his elbow, resting your son's small body on levis cubit. Levi smiled, briefly as he broght his other hand tenderly on his son’s belly, running it across the warmly clothed skin.
“I dont know how to be a mother either.” you spoke quietly “So you dont have to worry about what kind of father you’re going to be. You’re not Kenny. You’re Levi. and we’re going to do this together.” 
When Levi licked his lips, only to wet them before he managed to utter a response to you, he felt the faintest tug on his finger. Looking down, his heart sped up at what his eyes wiitnessed. He gulped, then sighed as his heart thrashed inside his chest. That sight, that tender moment imprinted its way into his brain; his son’s tiny hand clutched the tip of his finger, or just as much of it as he was able to. He had expected anything other than this, in his nervous state. You watched the interaction religiously, receiving an instant answer to your own statement as leaned in to your son. 
“You’re gonna break the world when you’re older,” his nose nuzzled up on the baby’s chest as his eyebrows loosened from their typical frown. He didn’t mind it. He didn’t even mind the tears that run down his cheeks from the corners of his eyes. “you don’t know it yet but you will.” 
Taglist: @sasageyowrites @ackermans-freedom-inc @ladyofpandemonium @alrightberries @levisbrat25 @nobody-knows-anymore @callmepromise @hawkssnugget @berrijam
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fanficbitch · 4 years ago
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Aaron Hotchner // Field Trip
A/N: You try to drop Jack off for a field trip, but it does not go as planned.
I pull into a parking spot in front of the school then turn around. “Are you excited for your field trip?” I ask Jack who is practically jumping out of his seat. 
“Yes, yes, can I go now, mom?” he asks and I nod. He leans forward between the seats and I place a kiss on his forehead.
“Okay, please be safe!” I call after he runs out of the car. I watch him walk up to his teacher like I always do to make sure he gets in safe. Although, this interaction is different. His teacher stops him on the way in. Their conversation forces Jack to turn around and point at me. His teacher nods, then takes him by the shoulder and walks him back towards me.
They come to my window and I want to talk to her by name, but it escapes my mind. “Hi, Mrs. Y/L/N?” his teacher asks me.
“Yes, what’s going on?” I ask.
“So, I have Jack’s permission slip right here,” she says and hands it to me. I look it over briefly. I signed it about two weeks ago, a slip to the zoo, I remember.
“Yeah, is there a problem with it?”
“Well, there actually is,” she says. “In the place where a legal guardian needs to sign, you put your name.”
I almost laugh at that. “Yeah, I’m his mom,” I tell her. 
“Well, not legally,” she says and my heart sinks. “Since you are not his legal guardian, this form is not valid.”
I’m left a bit stunned. Jack came home one day and just asked me to sign his form. I didn’t realize that it would cause so many problems. I guess I stay quiet a little too long because his teacher speaks up again. “I’m afraid Jack can’t come on the field trip today.”
I shouldn’t be as mad as I am, but anger boils inside of me. I’m his mom. Jack calls me mom. Why can’t I sign his forms for him? “Okay, Jack get in the car,” I say and he does so. I look in the rearview mirror and see him fighting back the tears as he buckles his seatbelt. Now I have to entertain Jack for the whole day and there is only one place I can take him: The BAU.
                                                      ********
“Are you excited about your breakfast?” I ask as we ride up in the elevator. We stopped at McDonalds and got a special breakfast today since he can’t go on his field trip. All Jack does is shrug and looks forward. My heart sinks. He has been talking about this field trip for weeks and it’s all my fault that he can’t go. 
The elevator doors open and reveal the glass doors to the BAU. Jack has been here probably a handful of times. This isn’t exactly the easiest place to bring your child. The only reason I’m bringing him here because I don’t see any other options. Aaron is here, Jessica is at work and all my babysitters have the same job as me. 
Thankfully, Jack’s face lights up when he sees Morgan. “Uncle Derek!” he shouts. Morgan swivels around in his chair and gives Jack a hug and a huge smile.
“Jackie!” he says then sets him on his lap. “I haven’t see you in forever. How are you?”
“Sad,” Jack frowns.
“What happened?”
“I can’t go to the zoo with my class,” he says.
“Why is that?” Morgan asks.
“Because mom messed up his permission slip,” I say, cutting in.
Morgan gives me a yikes look then turns back to Jack. “Well, you know what? I’ll take you to the zoo and it’ll be even more fun than today.”
“Really?” Jack asks.
“Really,” Morgan confirms. 
“Okay, c’mon Jack, let’s go let dad know you’re here,” I say and he hops off Derek’s lap. Jack runs up the few stairs in front of me and pushes his way into Aaron’s office.
“Hey dad!” he shouts. Aaron quickly looks up and looks baffled at the sight.
“Buddy, what are you doing here?” he asks as he stands up. “I thought you were going to the zoo?”
“I was, then Miss. Warren said I couldn’t go,” Jack tells him. Aaron’s eyebrows furrow in confusion, exchanging looks from me and Jack.
“Hey Jack, do you want to go share your breakfast with Uncle Derek?” I ask.
“Sure!” he says excitedly then runs out of the room.
“What happened?” Aaron asks once Jack leaves the room. I respond by handing my husband the permission slip. He looks it over quickly then shakes his head. “I don’t see the issue.”
“Hmm, neither did I. But apparently, since I am not Jack’s legal guardian, the form is not valid,” I say.
Aaron scoffs. “That’s ridiculous. You’re his mom.”
“That’s what I said. But I guess it doesn’t matter unless it’s legal,” I say. Aaron turns around and marches back to his desk then picks up his phone. 
“I’m calling that teacher to give her a piece of my mind,” he says as dials the number. But I hit the receiver before the call can go through. 
“Listen, I’m not happy about this either, but we both know that I can’t sign his forms. You’ll just always have to do it.”
“But I can’t always do it. You’re home with him more than I am,” he says.
“I know, but we’ll figure it out,” I say and we’re both quiet for a few moments. 
“Unless,” Aaron says.
“Unless what?” I ask, not liking his tone.
“Unless you legally adopt him,” he says and my stomach drops. 
“What?” I screech.
“I mean that is the only thing that is missing. We’re married, he calls you his mom and you are his mom, it’s just not legal,” he says and I think on it for a moment.
“Are you sure that’s okay? I don’t want him to think I’m trying to replace Haley,” I say softly.
“You’re not replacing her. You’re just a bonus mom,” Aaron tells you. You’d be lying if you said you never thought about it. You’ve been wanting to adopt Jack since the first time you met him. He isn’t a step-son at all. He’s your son.
“If Jack’s okay with it, then I am too,” I smile.
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kaimelia · 4 years ago
Note
Would you write a story about Addison, Henry and Jake visiting Amelia for a few days and Ellis or Bailey or Zola being really jealous of Henry and that he calls her Aunty Amelia because she's their aunt and not his.
Homage
a/n: hi! thank you for the prompt and I hope you enjoy this!
---------------
"Who the hell is knocking on our door at 9 AM?" Amelia groaned, shifting her son onto her other hip. "Are your parents coming to visit again?" Link shrugged and pushed past her gently, rubbing his tired eyes as he opened the door and pulled on a mask.
"Hello-oh," Link's eyebrows rose, and Amelia paused from in the kitchen.
"Who is it?" She waited for a minute, pouring cereal into a bowl and placing it in front of Ellis at the table. "Elle, go grab the milk," she muttered, rushing towards the door.
"Amelia!" Her eyes widened at the familiar face in the doorway, and before she could think, she was rushing towards Addison for a hug.
"Addie, what the hell are you doing here? Oh, crap," Amelia pulled away and grabbed a mask from the table by the door.
"We all got tested this morning, don't worry. I came to visit you! You can't just have a baby and not expect me to visit; god, he's so adorable!" The red-headed woman held her arms out and grabbed Scout, immediately pressing her nose to his head. "I miss having a baby; their heads smell so amazing." Link laughed softly and pulled his mask off.
"Oh, Addie, you haven't met Link yet," Amelia leaned into his body, wide grins across both of their faces as he wrapped his arm around her.
"We've met over the phone, Amy."
"Amelia."
"Right, sorry. I knew if I called, you would've said no, and we all needed a vacation." Addison bounced her nephew up and down, smiling as he grabbed at her necklace.
"Is someone else here? You said we all," Amelia muttered under her breath, stepping out onto the porch. "Jake!" She ran down the steps and into the driveway, grinning as she wrapped her arms around her friend's neck.
"It's good to see you, Amelia," he opened the door to reveal Amelia's godson, much bigger than the last time she'd seen him.
"Henry! You're so big, now!" She picked him up, placing a kiss on his cheek before setting him down.
"I'll be honest; I never thought I would see the day when Amelia Shepherd was chasing four kids around all day," Jake mused, taking his son's hand. Amelia grinned.
"Neither did I, if I'm honest." They walked back up to the porch, where Link and Jake shook each other's hands firmly, their partners both rolling their eyes at the sight of their seriousness. "Okay, are you done?" Amelia grabbed her boyfriend's arm. "There are three very impatient kids in that house, and we should probably get back in there." They led Addison, Jake, and Henry into the house, introducing each of them to the children. Eventually, Link and Jake led all of the children outside, leaving Addison and Amelia alone with the baby.
"I like him," Addison brought her mug of tea up to her lips, taking a sip slowly before continuing. "Link, he seems like the perfect guy. Awfully tall, though."
"He is. Both tall and perfect," Amelia grinned. "I'm waiting for Jake to come back in here and tell me what he thinks. He was always a little overprotective of who I was dating, so if he can get past Jake, everything's fine." The neurosurgeon lifted her son from his play mat, holding him close to her as she approached her sister again.
"He looks exactly like Derek when he was a baby."
"You think?" Addison nodded.
"Mhm. I spent far too much time in your mother's house panning through dusty photo albums and staring at photos of him as a baby to not see it." She set her mug down, holding her arms out. "Have you told your Mom?"
"I did. She said she'd come and visit after the pandemic is over, but I'm pretty sure that'll never happen," Amelia handed Scout to her sister, picking up her own cup of tea. "I'm fine with it. Link's parents are both great, and his Mom honestly treats me like the daughter she's never had, so I don't need my Mom to come out here and validate all of my life decisions."
"You want her here. I said the same thing for a while, telling myself I didn't need Bizzy to approve of anything, but it feels good to have the support." Amelia sighed, easing her empty mug into the kitchen sink.
"So, you just showed up here to therapist me? I would've told you to at least bring Violet for that."
"Amelia, I'm just saying. You've built this whole life for yourself, the perfect boyfriend, your own family, your dream job, and I know you haven't always been close with your biological family."
"Haven't ever been close," Amelia muttered.
"Still. That doesn't mean that you can't build relationships with them. Think about how spoiled Scout would get on every birthday and holiday; gifts from his grandparents, aunts, cousins, friends, parents, everyone." The neurosurgeon shrugged her shoulders and remained silent. "But, whatever happens, you know I'll be here for you, right?"
"You don't have to try and parent me anymore; you know that?" Addison began to pace around the kitchen space, bouncing Scout up and down to calm his light fussing.
"I still feel protective over you, Amelia. I haven't seen you in person in years, and we both know that talking over the phone is so much different than being able to see you. I'm going to be coming up here a lot more often now; I have Scout as an excuse to come and visit." Scout cooed at the sound of his name, placing his tiny hand on Addison's face. "He's way too adorable for me to see all of his life through a screen. I'll be coming up at least three times a year."
"You've gotta bring Henry every time, too," Amelia looked outside, where her boyfriend was chasing her godson around the yard. "And Jake. I missed all of you; maybe Link and I will start coming down to L.A. a few times a year. He'd love to go surfing."
"Mm, maybe you two should just move down there." Amelia rolled her eyes.
"Well, if Meredith doesn't get better, Link and I get custody of the kids, and I doubt we'd be moving if that happens."
"For whatever it's worth, you're doing an incredible job with all of them. Having a newborn is no joke, and you're parenting three other kids during a pandemic on top of that? Charlotte keeps saying it's your payback for teasing her about the triplets." The door opened, and Link walked through with Ellis on his back, her giggles causing everyone to smile.
"Someone took a nasty fall, but we thought it would be better with a juice box," he walked towards the fridge and opened it, leaning down so Ellis could grab a juice box from the refrigerator.
"Auntie Amelia?" She looked over to see Henry standing in the doorway. "Can Scout come outside to play with us?" Amelia grinned and took Scout from her sister, walking over to where Henry was standing.
"You have to be super gentle with him," she whispered, leading Henry back outside. "Why don't I give Scout to your Dad, and he can make sure that everyone's being safe, okay?" Henry nodded enthusiastically and ran over to his father, tugging at the leg of his pants as Jake took Scout. "If he fusses, just walk around. The movement calms him down."
"Are you all gonna come back outside or just pawn off all the children on me?" Amelia laughed and crossed her arms over her chest, watching as her son snuggled into Jake's body.
"I'll go get Addison and Link," she muttered, heading back over to the door and calling for them.
"Auntie Amelia? I have a question," Ellis whispered, holding her arms up to her aunt. Amelia lifted her and sat down at the picnic table.
"What is it, Elle?"
"Why does Henry call you Auntie Amelia? You're my Auntie Amelia, not his." She shook her head in amusement, brushing back some of Ellis' blonde hair.
"Well, Addison is my sister too, just like your Mom is, so I'm Henry's Auntie, too." Ellis pouted her lip out.
"But you love me more, right?"
"I love you all, Elle; I don't love one of you more than the other." Amelia began to braid her niece's hair as she spoke, Ellis' eyes falling to where Link was playing with Henry and Bailey. "You're my niece, and Henry is my nephew. Just like I'm your aunt, and Maggie is also your aunt. That doesn't mean that you love one of us more,"
"You're my favorite Auntie." Amelia laughed softly, biting her lip to hide the satisfaction she felt.
"Well, I don't have a favorite. I love all of you, but I'm excited to see Henry right now because I never get to see him. I get to see you every day, Elle." The brunette tied a hairband around her niece's hair and hugged the girl lightly before standing up. "Let's go play with them, okay?" Ellis took her hand, and they walked over to the playscape, where Ellis quickly scampered up the ladder to the top of the structure. "How long are you staying?" She asked Jake as he paced around the lawn, bouncing Scout up and down.
"We're up here for a week. Figured we'd spend some time with you, go up to Mount Rainier, just do anything to give Henry a change of scenery." He moved to stand next to Amelia. "I like Link. He seems good, more relaxed than I expected for someone you'd be dating." Her mouth fell open before quickly turning up into a smirk.
"Hey, I haven't managed to corrupt him yet. I'm sure next time you come to visit, he’ll be a pessimist."
"Are you happy? Because last time I saw you, this was the life you didn't want to live. Every time someone brought out a baby, you'd practically gag and complain about women and babies."
"You know, I never thought I wanted this, but honestly? I wouldn't trade it for anything." She looked over at her son, his bright blue eyes staring back at her. "I'm happy, Jake. I really am."
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daveeddiggsit · 4 years ago
Text
The Plan
WIDEOUT MASTERLIST
Series: WIDEOUT (chpt viii)
Note: Thank you @braidedchallah for proofreading. Reminder — before you kill me — there is one chapter left (and an epilogue). Keep that in mind. Enjoy. Feel free to yell at me afterwards. If you’re reading this, I’m sorry for what you’re about to experience.
Word Count: 12.2k
Pairing: Football Player!Thomas Jefferson x Tutor!Reader
Warnings: angst. possible breakup. perhaps some crying. implied sex (more than once). thom being a perfect boyfriend. thom looking fine af in denim (i’m trash).
Summary: Goodbyes are hard.
Tags: @coololdsoulpoetlove @wreakhavoconmacroissantdiggs @lilangeldevil006 @pana-ce-a @merrahonthawall @katierpblogg @thespianbooks @a-hopeless-fan @uniquelystarchildthedragon @wcreech @sabbrriiinnaa @imperial-martian @harpersmariano @icanneverbesatisfied @underthewillowtreerycb @i-know-i-can @astralaffairs @braidedchallah​ (if i forgot anyone i apologize, just lemme know for next time)
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As one of the smartest kids in your graduating class, you have a certain reputation to uphold. Maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA isn’t easy, which means that you have to choose all the right answers and make all the right decisions. 
As it turns out, you seem to be pretty good at that. Being right about a lot of things, academic or not, seems to come naturally to you. Especially when it comes to a certain curly-haired athlete who also happens to be your boyfriend of over a year.
You had been right when you told him that he would recover from his ankle injury on the night it happened. Well, you can’t be entirely sure of that yet since he’s still not clear to engage in full-action sports, but it’s incredibly clear that he’s well on his way to recovering fully.
Almost exactly seven weeks after the incident, he’d gotten his cast removed and replaced with a boot so that he could put weight on his ankle again. Since then, he’s been in physical therapy almost daily in order to make sure that he’s healing the right way. According to him, he’s progressing well every week and is slowly regaining his mobility, strength, and speed. Just two weeks ago he ditched the boot so that he could finally put on a pair of shoes; you remember the grin on his face when he gave you a little dance to show off the new kicks he’d gotten as celebration.
He’s not 100% healthy yet, and he certainly won’t be back on the field (or track) for another couple months until he’s clear to practice, but you’re proud that he’s been able to recover as much as he has in relatively so little time.
On the night of his injury, you’d also been right about another thing: the fact that Thomas would receive college offers.
And that’s what you’re celebrating today.
After weeks and weeks of advocating for himself and sending his player reel and personal letters to the head coaches of schools he wanted to attend, he finally got an offer from one of his top college choices: the University of Virginia.
While their football team isn’t the most notable in the nation, their program is one of the best in the state of Virginia at a Division I level, and that’s pretty much all Thomas wants. After he recovers fully, Thomas will make an excellent asset to the team since one of their starting wide receivers is entering the NFL Draft after this year. 
At UVA, Thomas would get the play time he needs to shine and show his true colors and talent as a wide receiver all while having a coaching staff there to support him and his every need. Their academic program for liberal arts is also something Thomas has been looking at in a school since he plans on majoring in English.
With all of that said, the Jefferson household decides to host a special dinner for their son in celebration of the wonderful news. 
And while under normal circumstances, you would feel happy and excited for your boyfriend and his amazing accomplishment, instead you have a voice that lingers in the back of your mind reminding you of the similar news you had received just a week prior.
Thomas isn’t the only one with a huge scholarship offer.
After applying to many different schools with somewhat notable engineering programs in-state (because let’s be real, out-of-state tuition is absurdly expensive), you’ve received only a few grants from NYU and Syracuse University, but it isn’t enough to cover all of tuition.
But when you’d received an email last week from the one out-of-state school you had applied to last minute, your heart had just about dropped from your chest.
UCLA is offering you a full-ride.
You should be happy that you have an incredible offer. You should be elated for Thomas with his scholarship offer, too. However, you can’t help but feel a looming sense of stress every time you think about telling him.
That’s why you haven’t told him yet; it’s been nine days.
“Y/N?”
Thomas’ voice snaps you out of your thoughts and suddenly you are brought back to reality. You’re dressed up and sitting at the dinner table with Thomas across from his parents. The menu of the night consists of a couple different French dishes that his mother had learned to make a few years back when they visited Paris for an entire summer. His mother’s rendition of the food is nothing short of amazing.
Your eyes meet the warm brown ones that belong to your boyfriend as you turn your head to glance at him next to you. “Hmm?”
”You didn’t hear anythin’ I said, did you?” Thomas chuckles, biting his lip as he watches you put on a guilty simper.
“No, sorry.” You breathe out a small laugh in order to cover up your underlying nervousness. “I zoned out for a minute there. What were you saying?” 
“Well, I’m arguin’ a case here. Technically, a hot dog — a piece of meat held together by two pieces of bread - is a sandwich, right? In simple terms and by definition this should be true, so don’t overthink it. My dad keeps saying it’s not, but please, Y/N, you gotta side with me this time.”
You take a breath in and click your tongue. “I don’t know, Peter, I think I gotta go with Thom on this one.”
“Yes!” Thomas celebrates, throwing his arms up dramatically. “I told you!”
Mr. Jefferson’s mouth drops at your response. “How dare you take his side. Did all those other times teaming up at dinner and making fun of him mean nothing to you?”
If it hadn’t been evident prior to this moment where Thomas gets his overdramatics from, then it’s certainly clear now.
“Case closed.” Thomas smirks, crossing his arms, proud of himself.
“What are you talking about? The case is far from closed.” His father retorts, splaying his arms out, causing Thomas’ mom to speak out. 
“Hey, calm down, you two. You’re gonna make a mess if you keep on bangin’ the table like that.” She chastises them. They both mutter their apologies before Thomas’ father continues on defending himself.
“Y/N, why’d you choose his side? You know I’m right. Don’t let that boy guilt trip you; he’s still gonna love you if you disagree with him.”
“Sorry, Peter.” You shrug, sneaking a glance at Thomas who���s watching you with a glint in his eyes. “As much as I don’t want to agree with your son on this one, I unfortunately do.”
Thomas pauses to narrow his eyes as you in puzzled manor. “‘Unfortunately?’ Your words wound me, sweetheart, really.” He says in a teasing tone before his smile turns smug as he directs his attention towards his father. “But you see, Dad? It’s 2 against 1. ‘M sorry to say, but your opinion is overruled.”
Mr. Jefferson waves his son off dismissively. “That’s horseshit; your mother hasn’t sided with anyone yet. We still have one more vote to count.”
“Language, Peter.” The woman in question warns, giving him a look that’s only half serious.
“Well, honey? You agree with me, don’t you?” Peter asks his wife with pleading eyes, causing her to roll hers.
“Sure, sweetie.”
You shake your head and smile, leaning back in your chair to watch the antics unfold.
“What? Ma, why you takin’ his side?” Thomas jumps in. “I’m supposed to be your favorite, you know.”
“Of course you’re my favorite; you’re my only child, Thomas.” His mother deadpans, causing Thomas to frown.
It’s Peter’s turn now to smirk at Thomas and you. “See? Now we’re tied. Opinion very much not overruled, thank you.”
“Wait, what was your side of the argument again?” Mrs. Jefferson asks her husband. “You said a hot dog is a sandwich, right?”
“No, that’s what I said.” Thomas interjects.
“Oh, well then I agree with Thomas.”
“Ha!” Your boyfriend exclaims, pointing at his dad. “I told you! Your opinion is not valid. Hot dogs are sandwiches. End of story.”
“They are not sandwiches! They are a different entity. How can you compare a ham and cheese to a weiner between two buns? Well I’ll tell you. You can’t!”
“For the last time, Dad. It’s a piece of meat in between two pieces of bread. That is classified as what? A sandwich!”
“With that logic, you’d say that a burger is a sandwich, too?”
“Yup.”
“There is somethin’ wrong with y’all.” Peter shakes his head, picking at the leftover food on his plate. “I thought I raised you better, T. Y/N, I expected you to take my side on this one.”
“Sorry, Mr. J.” You shrug. “Tommy’s right. A piece of meat in between two pieces of bread does indeed technically classify it as a sandwich.”
“Y’all got me thinkin’ that I’m the crazy one now.” Peter sighs defeatedly.
“Alright, alright, that’s enough of that nonsense.” Thomas’ mother chuckles, waving her hand in the air dismissively. “Thomas, honey, your father and I are very proud of you and are excited for your opportunity at UVA.”
“Thanks, Ma.” Thomas grins. “I’m excited, too.”
Under the table, Thomas’ hand finds yours and laces your fingers together. Its warmth is comforting and the small moment makes you forget about everything for just a moment. A small silence stretches on for a bit before Peter speaks up.
“So, Y/N, how are your college applications going? Have you gotten any scholarships yet? I feel like you’re too smart to not get anything.”
Your stomach drops at the question. You really hadn’t expected to be put on the spot like this, and while it is a simple question that you should be able to answer quickly… you don’t. You hesitate and Thomas notices. 
You want to tell the truth, you really do, but you can’t. This is Thomas’ night to celebrate and the last thing you want to do is mess it up with news that you’d be going to school across the country. Tonight is supposed to be about him, not you.
So you lie.
“Oh, um, no, not yet.” You chuckle nervously. The hand holding Thomas’ fidgets slightly and he squeezes lightly to try and help calm your nerves. “I mean, I’ve gotten into NYU and Syracuse so far. Still waiting to hear from Columbia. I haven’t heard much as far as scholarships, though, unfortunately. I’ve received a few grants here and there, but nothing too big.”
“Columbia, wow. What’s their acceptance rate? 10%?” Mrs. Jefferson asks, seemingly interested.
“6%.” Thomas jumps in to answer before glancing at you with a small smile. “I don’t think Y/N will have any trouble getting in, though.”
You send him the biggest smile you can muster, though you feel like it sort of comes out as a grimace. “Thanks, T.” You say softly.
Beat.
“What time is it? I think it’s past my bedtime.” Peter yawns, checking his watch. “10 o’clock? Where did the time go? Y/N, are you going to be okay driving home this late?”
“It’s not that late, Mr. Jefferson. I should be fine.” You’ve definitely driven home from Thomas’ place past 10pm before (multiple times), but you’re not telling him that. “I do think I should probably leave soon, though.”
“You wanna go get your things upstairs, then I can walk you out?” Thomas asks you with a mischievous look in his eye. Knowing him, he probably just wants to get you alone for a bit before you leave. Even through your nervousness to tell him the truth, you can’t deny his charm.
“Yeah, that sounds good, Tommy.”
Then, both you and Thomas excuse yourselves from the table. You make sure to thank Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson for dinner and the invite. You’re always honored to be included in their family events even if it’s something as small as dinner on a Friday night.
When you make it up to Thomas’ room, he doesn’t waste another moment before he kisses you softly, his hand reaching up to cup your cheek after he gently shuts the door.
“Been waitin’ to do that all night.” He grins afterwards, softly brushing over the skin of your cheek with his thumb.
You smile as you bring your hands up to his shoulders, wordlessly leaning forward to sweetly press your lips to his again.
“Missed you.” He mumbles as he pulls away to lean his forehead against yours. “Feel like we haven’t been seeing a lot of each other lately.”
He’s right. With both of you not having any classes together this year, you both worried about college applications, Thomas not in football season anymore and in and out of PT almost constantly, you two haven’t been seeing each other as much as you’d like. Another reason why you haven’t been able to tell Thomas about UCLA (aside from the fact that you simply don’t have the guts to do it).
“I know.” You sigh, looking off to the side for a second. “I’m sorry.”
“‘S not your fault. We’ve both been busy.”
“Yeah, but still.” You say softly. “Feels bad. I miss you.”
He chuckles. “Well, I’m right here, baby. Don’t need to go far.”
You smile haphazardly and roll your eyes as you bring your hand up to the back of his neck and pull him into another kiss. Who knows how many more of these you’ll get before you both graduate and have to go your separate ways.
Before it can go too far, you pull away again.
“T?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m so proud of you.” You say genuinely because you really want him to know. You feel like you don’t tell him enough (even though that’s not the case).  “Really, I am. You deserve that scholarship and so much more.”
“Thanks, love.” He murmurs while a soft smile adorns his face. “Hey, if none of these in-state schools give you anything, I think you’d have a good chance at getting something at UVA. They have an honors college that gives up a ton of grants and shit, you should look into it. I’m not sure if the applications are still open, but worth a try.”
You purse your lips before you give him your response. “Maybe, we’ll see.”
“I’m sure you’ll get something anyway, but just wanted to bring that up and let you know.”
“Appreciate the thought, Thom.”
Thomas grins, giving you one last peck on the lips before finally turning away to remove his overcoat. He double takes when he sees your face drop slightly. His eyebrows furrow as he notices your mood shift. “Hey, what’s wrong? Somethin’ botherin’ you? Not gonna lie, you’ve been a little off all night, sweetheart...”
You hesitate, not able to look him in the eye, the guilt eating you alive. The pressure of holding everything in is building up and while Thomas is normally your rock, the one you can go to for anything, you can’t this time, and you can feel it wearing you down.
You take in a shaky deep breath before you go to sit down on his bed, eyes cast towards the ground. “I’m okay, T, I’m just… stressed. With school.” You say, finally willing yourself to look up into his caring gaze. It hurts to lie to him, but you keep telling yourself that it’s his night.
“You sure?” He asks, taking a seat next to you to gently grab your hand in his. “Seriously, baby, I know when somethin’s up. What’s on that brilliant mind of yours, huh?” He lightly bumps his shoulder against yours in a teasing gesture, causing you to let out a half-hearted chuckle. He always knows how to get a laugh out of you, doesn’t he? “I know you’re worried about more than that stats test you have next week. Tell me what’s really botherin’ you.” He says softly, catching your gaze again.
Sighing once more, you tear your eyes away from his pleading ones. “I um…” You trail off after trying and failing to come up with another lie or excuse. 
Thomas always draws your worries and frustrations out of you; he knows you so well to the point where he knows exactly what to say to convince you to tell him something. Honesty has never been a problem in your relationship, and the last thing you want is to push it to a point of no return. You already feel terrible for withholding the truth; you want to be free from this secret you’ve been holding.
And suddenly seven words echo in your head:
“Tell him. He’ll understand. He loves you.”
Your eyes flit back up to meet his concerned gaze. Here it goes.
“I did get a scholarship. All tuition and expenses paid. I got the email a week and a half ago and I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry.”
His eyes widen at the confession, taken aback by how big the news is.
“Holy shit, Y/N, that’s… that’s amazing, baby. I’m so proud of you. Not surprised, but proud nonetheless.” He says genuinely, a smile evident on his face before it drops slightly. “Why didn’t you wanna tell me?” There’s a moment of silence before he speaks again. “Wait, why’d you lie at dinner when my dad asked?”
You give him a sad smile before you look away again, fidgeting with your fingers on the hand that Thomas isn’t holding. “I didn’t want to take over your night, T. And I didn’t tell you when I found out because… the school’s in Cali.” You say, releasing a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding.
He cocks his head to the side slightly, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. “I thought you only applied to schools in-state.”
You shake your head, pursing your lips before you respond. “That’s what I had planned originally, but my advisor pushed me to apply for this scholarship program at UCLA and… well, I got in.”
Thomas goes silent for a few moments as he looks off to the side, breathing deeply. It’s hard to tell what he’s feeling. Then, he lets out a low whistle. “Full-ride to UCLA, huh?” He says softly before he turns to look at you. 
“Thomas…” You start, your voice soft and full of worry, but he continues to talk.
“Are you going to accept it?” He asks and you nod slowly. 
Ideally, you have no other real choice; by going to UCLA you’d graduate with zero debt. And with UCLA’s engineering program and opportunities that other schools can’t fulfill, it fills all the boxes you want in a university.
“I’m so proud of you, sweetheart. Really. I’m glad they recognize how amazing you are.” The tone in Thomas’ voice is fond and he’s absolutely sure of the words he’s saying. “It’s far away, I know, but we can make it work.” 
The emotions in his eyes are conflicting, but they still hold unrelenting love and support in them. When you hesitate to respond, his eyes search yours, trying to find some sort of answer in them, but before he can decipher anything, you tear your gaze from his.
“Right?” He asks as his grip on your palm loosens until your hand falls back into your lap, the warmth from Thomas’ fingers completely vanished. “Baby, talk to me. Please.”
“Thom, I… I want to think that but I’m not sure.” You admit quietly, and having said that, you can see something in Thomas’ composure crumble.
He shakes his head. “Nah, don’t you say that. We can make this work, Y/N.” His voice wavers slightly as he stands up and runs a hand over his curls, smoothing them back and away from his face. “I haven’t accepted the offer at UVA. I can decline and apply to UCLA—”
“T, I’m not going to ask you to do that—” You start, but he cuts you off.
“You don’t have to ask me, love. I’m willing to do this all on my own. Like I said, we can make this work. I’ll improvise. My parents can afford it, then I can just join the football team as a walk-on. I’m confident I’ll make it. Since they didn’t give me an offer I’ll prove them wrong and be the best damn walk-on they ever had.”
“Thomas, don’t—”
“I can also have my dad send the head coach a letter. I didn’t wanna pull that for any other schools because I wanted to earn all my offers — and because of the whole nepotism thing — but I’ll make an exception for—”
“Thomas, please!” You raise your voice and when he finally stops, you immediately regret it. You’ve never raised your voice like that with him before and doing so right now feels terrible. 
“Please, T, just stop. I don’t want you to do any of that for me. How long have you been waiting for UVA to give you a chance? How many letters have you personally written to Coach Michaels, begging him to consider you for one of their open receiver positions?”
Thomas is silent as you speak, knowing full well that you have a point. You continue.
“You’ve been set on UVA as your top school for a couple months now. Don’t forget how hyped you were when you finally got the offer this morning. And now you want to just throw that away? No. I’m sorry, Thom, but I am not going to be the one to take it away from you.”
“You’re not.” He says earnestly. “Taking it away from me, I mean. I want to do this for you. For us. UCLA has a good football program, too, all I have to do is pull some strings if you’ll let me.”
You shake your head at him. “Okay, well I’m not letting you do that. Thomas, it’s not as easy as you’re making it seem. Think about this, okay? Think about yourself and your football career and all the opportunities that you’ll have for yourself down in Virginia. Don’t let me get in the way of that! I don’t want each of us to be an obstacle in each other’s successes.”
Thomas gives you an incredulous look and stills himself. “Are you serious? Is that what you consider our relationship? An obstacle?”
You look away, sighing. “No, T, I… I didn’t mean it like that, you know that.”
“No, Y/N. I don’t know that.” He looks at you with a distressed gaze, all traces of comfort and playfulness gone and replaced with hurt… caused by you — something you never would have thought you’d see in his eyes. 
“Look, I don’t wanna talk about this right now. Today’s supposed to be your day.”
“Let me get one thing straight, Y/N. Our relationship is not an obstacle… it never has been and it never will be.” Thomas says coldly and you cringe when he calls you by your full name in a tone that’s less than friendly.
“I just don’t want our love for each other to get in the way of…” You trail off, but decide against speaking mid-sentence. “You know what, nevermind.”
“Get in the way of what?”
“Thomas,” you start, making eye contact with him once again. “I don’t want to get in the way of your football career. It’s unfair; I can’t do that to you, T. You deserve to make the most of your career in college so that you can make it to the NFL. That’s your dream, right? To play in the NFL for the New York Giants like your father did. Am I right?”
His jaw clenches slightly as he nods, and you continue.
“The coach at UVA believes in you — even through your injury. Why are you going to throw that away? In order to be with your high school girlfriend? Do you see how childish that sounds?” A beat of silence passes before you continue in a softer tone. 
“I just… I don’t want you to do that, Thomas, it’s too big of a risk. You have a solid spot at UVA to prove yourself on the field. If you drop that for a walk-on position at UCLA, it’ll be a mistake. Instead of proving yourself to NFL recruiters, you’ll be set on proving yourself to college coaches just to get a chance on the field. I want you to have the best chances at making it to the NFL.” Now it’s your turn to stand up. You pace away from him as you continue to speak. 
“Let’s say you do follow me to UCLA and join the football program. What if… what if something happens while we’re in college and we’re not together anymore? What will happen? You’d have potentially messed up your career for me and I don’t want that to happen, T. I’m sorry but I won’t let that happen.”
Thomas holds a hand up to stop you from your ramblings. He speaks his next words slowly.  “Wait, wait, hold on now. You think we’re going to break up in college?”
You roll your eyes in frustration, crossing your arms defensively. “That’s not what I said—”
“No, no that’s exactly what you said.” He responds coldly, narrowing his eyes at you. “I’m starting to question our intentions in this relationship, Y/N. Did you ever plan on us being long term?”
“See, this is why I didn’t wanna tell you. I didn’t want this to happen.” You say, annoyed that it’s gotten to this point of you two having an argument.
“You just gonna ignore my question?”
“Before applying to schools, T, I wasn’t even thinking about the future. I was taking things day by day. We were both pent up in our little perfect world, but right now we need to face reality.”
“Okay, so then why’d you keep this a secret from me? Were you plannin’ on keepin’ this to yourself until graduation? I don’t know if you knew this, sweetheart, but a relationship is a two-way street and involves a little somethin’ called communication.” His snarky tone fills the room and has you rolling your eyes again. “Girlfriends aren’t supposed to lie to their boyfriends and then get mad at him for reacting a certain way when she finally decides to tell him huge news.”
“Look, I’m sorry, okay?” You say, breathing out another sigh and softening up at his last sentence. He’s right; you shouldn’t have kept it a secret. “I wanted to tell you, I just, I don’t know what’s gonna happen after we graduate, okay? And I’m scared.”
“You don’t think we can work through that together? As a team?” Thomas’ eyes are begging you to reason with him. “I’m scared, too, but we’ll figure something out. Right?”
The look in your eyes is distant as you cast them down to the ground. “Yeah.”
“Maybe we could do a long distance thing. I’ve seen other couples do it.”
You fiddle with a loose thread on your sweater. “I don’t know, T. We’ll see if we can come up with something.”
He rolls his eyes and huffs out a hot-tempered laugh. “Okay.” He says shortly.
“What?”
“So you don’t want me to drop everything and go to UCLA with you, which is fine. I understand that. But now you’re telling me that you don’t wanna do long distance?”
“I didn’t say that, I just— we need to be realistic, Thom.”
“What does that even mean?!” He yells, and it’s the first time he’s ever raised his voice at you. You hate it.
“We have to keep the future in mind!”
“I want you in my future! Don’t you want me in your future?”
“We both have different ideas of what we want. Different dreams, okay? You can’t have your dream of making it to the NFL and also have me when I plan on going to an engineering program across the country!” 
You’re deflecting and he knows it.
“Answer the damn question, Y/N.” He says lowly, his voice taking on a dangerous edge.
“Of course I want you in my future, Thomas!” You say exasperatedly, looking at the ceiling. “What kind of question is that?”
“Forgive me if I’m strugglin’ to believe that when you’re actin’ like this.” He says, his voice taking a more neutral tone, but he sounds exhausted. “You’re going to school across the country and you were hesitant to tell me - fine. I fucking get it. But you can’t just say that we’ll probably break up in college and think that that is fucking okay. It’s not! And you can’t say ‘I don’t know’ about dating long distance when that’s literally the only other option we have.”
“That’s the thing, Thomas. I don’t know if that’s the only other option we have.”
His face looks puzzled as he looks at you for a few seconds before realization finally settles in. Thomas narrows his eyes at you once again, his gaze cold, making your heart drop in your chest. “You wanna break up, don’t you?”
“No.” You state, choosing your words carefully. “I don’t want to. But we have to think about—”
“Our future, yeah. I get it.” Thomas snaps, cutting you off. “You know what? You want to talk about the future? Fine. Maybe we should.” He says simply, crossing his arms. “If you think we’re just going to break up in college anyway, maybe we should just speed up the process and get it over with.”
You shake your head at him. “Thomas, don’t do this. That’s not what I want.”
“Isn’t it?”
“It’s not.”
“I find that extremely hard to believe.”
“I’m done arguing with you, Jefferson.” You breathe out tiredly, running a hand through your hair.
He sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. He looks completely drained as he speaks again, his voice now calm. “What are we doing here, Y/N?”
A small silence fills the air before you answer quietly. “I don’t know, T.”
What are you both doing? Arguing about whether or not your relationship should continue after high school? Maybe you are being a little irrational about it, implying that you should break up before college and all. Thomas’ reaction to it all is understandable because he doesn’t want to lose you. However, he needs to be truthful to himself. Is this relationship going to work when the two of you are seeking entirely different career paths on opposite coasts?
What a fucking mess.
You hate that it’s gotten to this point. Your fear about telling Thomas and it going downhill has come true, and knowing that makes you even more emotional.
“Tommy… I…” You say sotto voce, on the edge of tears as you slowly reach for him, but he puts a hand up stopping you from moving any further. He turns his face so you can’t see his expression.
“Don’t, Y/N.” Thomas’ voice is firm, but it breaks slightly when he says your name. “Just don’t.” He whispers.
You watch him and he struggles to keep himself together. You hate that you’ve done this to him, that you’re making him feel this way… you hate that you’ve caused this.
“I’m gonna go…” You voice (barely above a whisper) after a long silent pause, not trusting your normal voice due to the shaky deep breaths that begin to rack your body. You’re on the verge of breaking down.
Thomas nods. “I think you should.”
And that breaks your heart.
You feel weird leaving like this, gross even. You don’t want to leave things off like they are. You don’t want to leave things unresolved and you don’t want to leave with Thomas still angry at you. Still, though, you grab all your things and head to the doorway of his room.
Pausing to look back at him, you open your mouth to say something, but hesitate. Deciding against it, you turn to open the door and leave without another word.
⋆﹥━━━━━━━   ♛   ━━━━━━━﹤⋆
You call Maria as soon as you get to your car. She helps you keep your composure as you drive to her house, keeping you company via phone. You make sure to send your family a quick text of your whereabouts and that you plan to spend the night at Maria’s place.
As soon as you arrive in her bedroom and drop your bag to the ground, you break down and begin to sob, crashing into the welcoming arms of your best friend. You cry until you can’t anymore, and Maria is there for you the entire time hugging you and easing you through it.
She stays there, quiet and still, allowing you to let out all of your emotions. You don’t tell her the details about what happened until after you have no tears left to cry.
“Don’t be mad at T, please, none of this is his fault.” You sniffle, wiping at your nose with a tissue Maria gave you. “It’s all mine.”
“Y/N, don’t blame yourself for all this. You just want what’s best for the both of you in the long run. If he doesn’t understand that, then he’s just not seeing the whole picture.”
“I just hate arguing with him, Maria.” You say weakly, wiping at your face to dry your tears. “This is our first fight and I hate how I feel right now. I don’t want things to end on bad terms. How am I supposed to get over this feeling once we… if we break up before college?”
“You don’t have to end things on bad terms, Y/N.” Maria says softly. “You both need to be on the same page about this. If you both make a plan and sort things out, then maybe you can leave things on a positive note. Not as a goodbye, but as a see you later, you know? And if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. You’ll meet again one day and you can pick up where you left off. But if it’s not, then at least you guys can cherish what you had when you were just two kids in high school who didn’t know any better and made the most of their teenage years.”
You nod slowly. She does have a point, and this is all what you were thinking when you had even brought up the thought of breaking up after graduation.
“How do you always know the right thing to say?”
“It’s my best friend superpower. I can’t help it.” She shrugs, making you laugh, even if it was only a half-hearted one. “Seriously, though. You two need to have an honest conversation with one another.”
You sigh, wiping the rest of your drying tears away with the tissue. “I think we both could use some space right now, though. I’m going to wait until Monday.”
Maria nods. “Monday. But you have to talk to him. You can’t chicken out. I know you, Y/N.”
“Sometimes a little too well…”
“All for the best.” She grins.
⋆﹥━━━━━━━   ♛   ━━━━━━━﹤⋆
After a long and lonely weekend, Monday finally comes and you make sure to wake up earlier than usual in order to make it to school in time for when Thomas comes out of his physical therapy session with his track trainer.
You haven’t called, texted, or seen each other since Friday night and the guilt and heaviness from what happened still weighs on your chest despite the reassuring words from Maria. 
Patiently and nervously, you wait outside the boys’ locker room like you have countless times before, only this time, things feel much different. The anticipation lingers in the air surrounding you and you feel the stress push at your shoulders until the door finally opens and Thomas walks out.
After over a year of dating, you still get butterflies at the sight of him even though he’s just wearing simple black jeans and a t-shirt.
As he shrugs on his jean jacket and backpack, he glances up through a few stray curls that fall down in front of his eyes. His eyes flicker to you as he walks in your direction before he rips them away quickly. 
“T, hey how was…?” You try to speak to him, but he just continues to walk past you.
You watch him as he goes on like nothing, completely disregarding your presence.
“You’re still mad…” You trail off, falling into step with him and his pace doesn’t falter.
He doesn’t say a word.
“Listen, I know you probably don’t wanna see me right now, but please hear me out.”
Still nothing.
You know he’s still upset; he only gets quiet when he has a lot on his mind or he’s going through something. Taking in a deep breath, you speed up so that you can get in front of him.
“Thomas, hey, stop.” You say, putting a hand on his chest. You know that if he really wants to charge past you he can, but instead he stays there, halted by your touch. He looks down at you, his face nearing yours, and your eyes plead with his. “Please.” You whisper, your fingers curling into his black shirt to hold him there (or maybe it’s more of a way to ground yourself).
Thomas’ detached gaze lingers on your face and as your eyes search his, you note just how devoid of energy he looks. 
“I just want to talk. I…” You watch him as he breaks your gaze to look at the ground. “I know I fucked up; I said some things I shouldn’t have. Just please let me make it up to you. I need you, T. I want to fix this while we still can.”
You sneak a glance around you to see that you’ve attracted some attention from your fellow classmates who are unapologetically staring. Do they know about you and Thomas’ fight? How could they possibly know? You two are hardly making a scene, but then again… people are vultures who will perk up at even the slightest bit of drama.
“Can we go somewhere private? Please? Just the two of us.”
Thomas licks his lips as he looks around, then back at you lazily. “Can this wait? We have class in six minutes, you know.”
“Let’s skip.” You say, causing him to raise his eyebrows in surprise. “This is more important than class today, okay? How about we go to that diner down the street?”
“It’s a little too early for a milkshake and fries, isn’t it?”
“They have eggs and waffles, too.” You say, your eyes pleading him to accept your offer. “Please? I know you love breakfast.”
He’s quiet for a few more minutes and you wait in anticipation for his answer. Just when you get your hopes down and think he’s going to reject you, he speaks up.
“Okay.” He responds finally. “But only because I really don’t want to watch boring presentations about the social cognitive theory in my Psych class…”
You breathe out a sigh of relief. “That’s good enough for me, T.”
“Bribin’ me with breakfast. You know that shit’s my weakness…” He mutters under his breath as he shakes his head. You’re not sure if he’d meant for you to hear that, but either way it makes a hint of a grin form on your lips.
“Come on, I’ll drive.”
⋆﹥━━━━━━━   ♛   ━━━━━━━﹤⋆
When you get to the diner, it’s fairly empty except for an elderly couple at a booth and a man at the counter drinking a cup of coffee. The smell of eggs and bacon wafts through the air and enters your nostrils as you breathe in.
A waitress greets you when you two slide into a booth, sitting across from each other. She hands you both menus and gets your drink orders before she’s off.
Silence fills the air between you as you both look over your menus. Thomas doesn’t say anything and it feels weird, suddenly reminding you of why you’re here in the first place. While from an outside perspective it may look like a normal outing between you two, you can feel the lingering tension in the air that’s leftover from Friday night. Unspoken feelings and unresolved problems still remain. 
You sneak a glance at him over your menu only to find him already staring back at you. As soon as your eyes meet, he looks away.
“I feel really bad about Friday.” You finally break the silence, your voice small. Wanting nothing more than to let him know how you feel, you try to catch his gaze. When his brown eyes finally meet yours, you continue. “I hate the way we left things…”
“Me too.” He finally says softly. You two stare at each other for a few more seconds and Thomas opens his mouth to continue. “I…”
Then, the waitress comes back with a couple water cups and two black coffees, interrupting whatever it was that Thomas was about to say. You and Thomas direct your attention to her with fake smiles as she asks for your orders. 
After she takes your menus and leaves, you let out a sigh as you look down at your fidgeting hands.
“Listen, T…” You begin, regret and guilt evident in your voice. You make sure to look up and meet his gaze one more time before you continue. “I'm sorry for lying to you and your family — I should have told you the day I found out, but I was too afraid of losing what we have. And I'm sorry for fucking up your day when we were supposed to be celebrating instead.” 
You stop to take in a shaky deep breath, looking down at your hands once again. “I’m so sorry if I made it seem like I was doubting our relationship or… or if I made you feel like I didn’t… like you weren’t…” Struggling to find the right way to express how sorry you are, your tone gets more and more emotional as you stumble over your words.
Thomas saves you from your struggle, however, as his hand reaches across the table to cover yours, causing you to look up at him with surprise. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”
“What?” You voice breathlessly. “I… I thought you were still mad. It shouldn’t be that easy. Why are you…?”
He shrugs slowly. “Because you’re not entirely at fault… and as much as I want to stay angry, I can’t stand seein’ you in distress like this.”
You purse your lips and squeeze his hand in yours. “I’m still really sorry, T. I want you to know that. I said some things I regret and…”
“I know you are. Especially after seeing you try to fix things today by not takin’ no for an answer earlier. We both said some things we regret and it’s okay, Y/N. Really.” His voice is soft as he responds. “I’m sorry for yellin’ and not fully listenin’ to what you were sayin’. And for bein’ kind of a dick to you earlier when I ignored you. I was in denial. I just felt like you were givin’ up on us too quickly and I… I don’t wanna mess up what we have. I really don’t.”
Your eyes soften at his words. “I know. Me neither.”
You both are quiet for a few seconds as you both struggle to find a way to address the elephant in the room. 
Luckily, you both get interrupted by the waitress again who comes back with your orders. You let go of each other’s hand when your plates are placed in front of you. Your mouth waters at the sight of your food, and you thank your waitress before she leaves again, telling you to let her know if you need anything else.
A comfortable silence falls in the space between you and Thomas, and though you feel that the tension from Friday night has now dissipated, the stress of the upcoming conversation still sits on your shoulders.
Surprisingly, Thomas is the one who initiates it.
“So…” He starts after chasing a mouthful of pancakes with a sip of water. “I’m guessin’ you won’t be comin’ back to town on holiday breaks?”
You cringe at the bluntness of the question. “What made you assume that?”
He shrugs, chewing his food before swallowing. “Just the way you were so helpless with your options. Thinking back to it, I figure that you probably wouldn’t have jumped to the possibility of breaking up unless you’d already thought things through somewhat.”
Very observant of him.
You nod before letting out a small sigh. “Yeah. My family’s planning on moving to Miami once I move out. Apparently they’re tired of the cold weather and wanted to wait to move until I graduated high school. They let me know when I told them the news.”
“Erik, too?”
“He’s staying in Philly until he graduates next Spring.”
“Well, that sucks.” He says, picking at the leftovers on his plate.
“Yeah.” You reply softly. “I just… I don’t know what to do anymore, Thomas. I thought the answer was clear, but now I’m not so sure.”
He sighs, putting his fork down before looking up at you. “I think I do.”
Your eyebrows furrow as you tilt your head in confusion.
Thom sighs, leaning back in his seat. “Well, for starters, you’re always right, let me just put that out there.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is. Well, for this instance, at least.” He says simply before he continues. “As much as I hate to say it, I don’t think we’ve got options here.”
“Yes we do, you said it yourself, T.”
“We don’t, Y/N, you were right. I didn’t wanna believe it before but now, I don’t think I have a choice.” He says, holding your gaze firmly. “The two of us going to the same school is out of the picture. Especially with application deadlines already being passed - I checked and I don’t know what I was thinking on Friday. And with us not going to be able to see each other even on holiday breaks… I don’t think that leaves anythin’ else on the table.”
“Thomas, really, you don’t have to do this. Don’t let me pressure you into something you don’t wanna do. Like you said, a relationship’s a two way street. We can work something out. I don’t know what, but we’ll try something else.”
“You’re not pressuring me, Y/N. What would that ‘something else’ be? Long distance? The chances of us visiting each other are slim, especially since I’ll be stuck at UVA for the majority of summer break for training camp. Especially since you’ll be in California and especially since you have no incentive to come back to town after you graduate.”
“You’re my incentive, T.”
He licks his lips and lets out a small laugh. “Baby, don’t fight me on this; you wanted this. Why the shift?”
“I don’t wanna lose you.” You say, voice quiet and close to tears.
Thomas reaches out across the table for your hand again. You lace your fingers with his and hold tightly. “I know. I don’t want to lose you either, but you were right, sweetheart. Seeing each other once a year isn’t good enough, let’s be real. I think we’d be hurting more than we'd be happy.”
You let out a long, deep sigh, squeezing his hand. He’s absolutely right and you knew this when you started this conversation on Friday — doesn’t mean that you don’t want to avoid it, though.
“We… we should…” He hesitates to continue the sentence. “We— God, why is this so hard?”
“You don’t have to say it if you don’t want to, T.”
He takes a deep breath before the words finally come out. “We should break up. This summer.”
It sounds foreign coming out of his mouth and his change in viewpoint surprises you still, even after talking it through with him.
“I don’t wanna be your shackle, Y/N.” He says, squeezing your hand comfortingly. “I want you to do great things without worryin’ about me. Just like you were sayin’ on Friday. And I don’t wanna risk getting to a point where we grow too distant we lose all hope.”
Your eyes tear up a little bit and you reach up to wipe at your eyes with your free hand.
“But that doesn’t mean I’m lettin’ you off easy, missy.” Thomas looks at you pointedly, his voice wavering slightly. He lets out a small bittersweet laugh before he continues. “I’m gonna consider this more of a ‘see you later’ than a ‘goodbye forever’ kinda thing. At some point, I don’t know or care when, we’ll continue where we left off. Mark my words.”
You laugh, wiping away a stray tear. You’ve definitely heard those words before. “Have you been talking to Maria lately?”
He gives you a confused look. “No, not since we went on that double date with her and Ellie like two weeks ago, why?”
“She said a similar thing to me when I vented to her this weekend.”
“Really? Oh. I thought I was clever for that one.”
“You were.” You smile, rubbing small circles on the top of his hand.
A comfortable silence settles. The waitress comes back with the check and you give her your card against Thomas’ protests. It’s not long before she comes back and wishes that you both have a good rest of your day.
“This is gonna fucking suck.” Thomas suddenly says bluntly.
“Yeah, it is.” You sigh. “But you know what? We’re gonna make the most of the next three months. We’ll laugh together, we’ll cry together, we’ll enjoy the good times, and when the time comes… we won’t look back. Then, maybe one day, when I’m an engineer and you’re in the NFL… we’ll meet again.”
He sends you a watery smile, giving your hand a small squeeze. “I’m countin’ on it, sweetheart.”
You reciprocate his smile as a small silence stretches in between you two.
Thomas’ eyes fall onto his untouched (and probably now cold) coffee and with his free hand he reaches for the cream. You take that as a sign to let his hand go to let him tend to his glorified bean water, but as you try to withdraw your fingers from his, he just holds on tighter.
“Um, excuse me? What do you think you’re doin’?” He asks, glancing at you like you just committed a sin. 
“Don’t you need to pour creamer?” You raise an eyebrow, wondering what the big deal is. “I don’t want you to spill it.”
“Girl, I can pour creamer with one hand, thank you very much.” And there’s the Thomas you know and love, not that he was ever absent in the first place, but it’s good to see him messing around again. “Let me hold your hand in peace because God knows how many more times I’ll get to do it. I gotta savor it.”
“Stoppp.” You whine, drawing the word out. “This is how you’re gonna act until graduation, isn’t it?”
“You complainin’, sweetheart?” He fake pouts as he carefully pours the cream in his coffee and stirs with a spoon. “I thought you loved me.”
You roll your eyes. “You know I love your dramatic ass.”
“Mhm. In more ways than one.” Thomas hums before he takes a sip of his coffee. He cringes when he realizes it’s cold and you laugh at his reaction.
“Ready to go yet?” You ask, amused.
He nods. “We’re not going back to class, though, are we? Because if that’s the case, then no.”
“What? Hell no. Who do you think I am?” You say as you both mutually let go of each other’s hand to get up from the booth.
“A goody-two-shoes, that’s what you are. Really, baby, I didn’t expect you to mention skipping class. That’s like… blasphemy for you.”
You shrug as he holds the front door open for you. “Guess you’re rubbing off on me.”
Thomas gives you a suggestive look and that causes you to smack his arm. “God, Thomas, not like that. Jesus.”
He lets out a full-bodied laugh as you approach your car and he grabs you by the waist as he leans back against the driver’s door. He presses a kiss to your forehead, hugging you close to him. “Just messin’.”
You roll your eyes before you pull back to look him up and down.
“When’d you get this jacket? Haven’t seen you in it before.” You muse, bringing your hands up to grab the denim on each side of his collar.
“A week ago? Maybe two? This is my first time wearing it, though.” He answers before he smirks. “Why? You like it?”
“Yeah, you look good in denim.”
“Do I, now?” He cocks his head slightly, amused as your face drifts closer.
“Mhm. The jacket really suits you.” You hum, releasing the material with one of your hands to slide it up to his jaw. You give him a soft kiss on his lips before you pull back. “Might look better on the floor, though. I don’t know. We’ll have to try and find out.”
Thomas’ eyebrows shoot up in surprise; he hadn’t expected you to turn the suggestive talk around on him. A smirk forms on his lips as he presses them to yours one more time.
“Your parents home?” He mumbles against you.
You pull away slightly to think about it for a second. “No, actually.”
“Well, then I guess we’re about to find out.”
⋆﹥━━━━━━━   ♛   ━━━━━━━﹤⋆
Over the next few months, you and Thomas keep the promise you gave to each other at the diner. You’ve stayed positive and lived in the moment and, to be honest, those three months have probably been the best three months of your life.
You and Thom are both making the most of your time, making sure to spend almost every weekend together. 
You study together even though you don’t share any classes. Most of the time is spent doing homework in silence, but you still enjoy each other’s presence.
For spring break, you go on a trip to the beach with Thomas, Maria, Ellie, James, Aaron, and a few more mutual friends. The week is full of banter and lots of fun-filled memories that you’ll remember for many years to come. It’s definitely one of the many highlights of senior year.
Thomas, being his over-the-top self, asks you to prom by spelling ‘Prom?’ out with bouquets of roses on your front lawn. And as if that isn’t enough, you wake to the sound of a live orchestral quartet playing your favorite song. You groggily walk over to your window to see where the sound is coming from and you’re met with the sight of your boyfriend grinning up at you with his arms gesturing around him proudly.
Of course you say yes. 
You would have said yes even if he had asked you casually — but what can you say… you’re a sucker for flowers and he knows it.
Prom night is an absolute blast. You feel like a stunner in your dress and Thomas looks unbelievably handsome in his fitted tux. You stay together the entire night, dancing, singing, laughing, and joking around with both your and his friends.
You almost lose track of the amount of date nights you have with Thomas. You have movie nights, some nights you go rollerskating, concerts, restaurants, hell, you even go paintballing together, which is something that neither of you had ever thought you’d get into.
But as June grows closer and closer, you can’t help but feel that heaviness settle back into your chest. You’d be lying if you said that you haven’t thought about backing out of this agreement the two of you have. In fact, you’ve spent countless nights lying wide awake (sometimes right next to Thomas), trying to figure out how things would go if you decide to stay together.
With your parents deciding to move down to Miami a week after you graduate, it pushes the day you move out to LA earlier than you had originally intended, which makes the idea of staying together seem next to impossible. Your mother says that it’ll be a good opportunity for you to get to know the LA area before classes start in August. 
This causes you and Thomas to have a more in-depth conversation about the plan and it ends with you two deciding to break it off a week before your big move. Both of you are in agreement that it would be best for the both of you, so that you have some time to recover. You figure it will be easier that way.
So, when the time comes to start packing your things for your move to California (and your parents’ move to Florida), you get stressed out. You notice that Thomas’ and your enthusiasm/positivity starts to fade as the date of graduation creeps closer and closer.
Which brings you to the present.
On the day of graduation, reality finally hits you. Because not only are you recognizing the fact that you’re leaving the love of your life in eight days to go to school in Cali, you’re also leaving Maria who has been a constant in your life since elementary school.
Maria plans to stay in town and go to community college to knock out all her general education classes before she transfers to a four-year university. Luckily, her girlfriend Ellie has the same idea, so they’ll be taking the same path after high school.
At least they will be together.
Unlike you and Thom, who are currently posing for a photo together for his and your parents who stand behind their phones grinning and teary eyed. You both give your best smiles to the cameras, trying to preserve the memory as best as possible without breaking.
Surprisingly, you and Thomas have stayed strong despite the impending suspension of your relationship that lingers in the atmosphere between you. Although teary eyed because you are saying goodbye to a lot of friends and faculty you’ve gotten to know over the years, you and Thomas don’t cry on graduation day. You don’t cry during the ceremony, you don’t cry during the many pictures you take that day, and you don’t cry at the large family dinner the Jefferson household holds for both you and Thomas.
You’ve both toughed it out both privately and in public. But graduation day eventually comes to its inevitable end, and the day after begins, marking your last day with Thomas Jefferson as your boyfriend.
The two of you make your last day special and have a day-long picnic in a nearby park. You wake up early and spend the entire day together, laughing, kissing, talking, and having as much fun as you can with the inevitable future looming over your heads. You both make the best of your time together, and that’s really all you can ask for.
As the day goes by, your time together begins to run out. And both of your composures begin to fade as each second passes.
While your curfew to be back home is 10pm, you and Thomas decide to hold onto each other a bit longer, so he drives you home and you sneak him into your room when your parents are too busy packing in the basement. They know that this is your last day with Thomas, so when you’re distracting them while Thomas makes his way up the stairs, you tell them that you’re going to sleep early. They comfort you for a few minutes but leave you to your own grief, knowing to respect your wish of ‘sleeping the night off.’
Little do they know, you and Thomas decide to have one more special night together. 
When you finally make your way up to your bedroom, Thomas is sitting on your bed, glancing at the half-empty boxes in the corner of your room that need to be filled. Half of your room is packed up, but you’ve put off packing lately to spend time with Thom before you physically can’t anymore.
You let out a sniffle and you don’t realize that you are on the verge of crying until you see Thomas begin to break, too.
“Come here.” He murmurs, standing up from your bed to pull you into a tight hug. 
You both cry into each other’s shoulders, fully letting yourselves go emotionally as you let out your pent up sadness. You’re getting each other’s clothing wet with tears, but neither of you care as you cling onto each other, not wanting to let go.
You don’t know how long you stay there or how long it takes until both of you calm down enough so that your tears fall silently.
“I told you this was gonna fucking suck.” Thomas mumbles against you, causing you to let out a laugh and sob at the same time.
You don’t respond, but after a few seconds, you pull away from his shoulder to look at him. Silence stretches between you before you whisper, “I love you.”
“I love you.” He echoes without hesitation before he leans his forehead against yours. You both bask in each other’s presence for a few more beats until Thomas speaks again, his words shaking. “Football won’t be the same without you, Y/N. I won’t be the same without you.”
“You played football for years before I became a part of your life. You’ll be fine, T.” You say quietly, though you are absolutely sure of your words. You bring a hand up to cup his cheek and wipe some of his tears away. “You’re gonna move on and be great and show people what you’re capable of.”
Silence stretches between the two of you before you take a step away from him as you remember something. Thomas frowns at your sudden withdrawal, but you explain yourself as you both wipe at your faces to dry them as best as each of you can.
“That reminds me…” You say, digging into one of the open boxes in the corner of your room until you feel a familiar piece of fabric. You pull out Thomas’ purple hoodie — the one he gave to you the night you officially became a couple. Damn, it feels so long ago now, but it hasn’t even been two years. “Here. You should probably take this back.”
He lets out a small laugh and takes the purple fabric from you to examine it. He seems lost in thought, but after a few moments, he shakes his head and hands it back to you. “Nah. Keep it.”
When you don’t take it, his hand reaches out to one of yours and he wraps your fingers around the fabric. You try to protest, but he continues.
“Don’t want you forgettin’ about me, now, do we?” He chuckles dryly.
“I won’t forget you, Thomas.” Your voice sounds so sure of your words that Thomas has no choice but to believe you.
He swallows and looks down for a second before he glances back into your eyes. “I know.”
“You’re gonna forget about me, though.”
Thomas shakes his head and his eyebrows scrunch together and he looks like he’s about to break again before he reaches out to pull you close.
“Never.” He mumbles into your hair before he pulls back. “Hey, I mean it from the bottom of my heart. I will never forget you, Y/N Y/L/N. I couldn’t even if I tried.”
He brings his hands up to cup both sides of your face. His thumbs brush some fresh tears away before he continues to talk. “These eyes? Unforgettable. This beautiful face? Ingrained in my brain forever, sweetheart, I promise you that.” One of his thumbs lightly brushes over your lips. “Don’t even get me started on these lips. I’ll miss them for sure.”
Thomas pauses for a second before his beautiful brown eyes gaze into yours, letting you know that he truly means his next words. “I’m never going to forget any part of you, Y/N.”
You stay there, gazing at one another with nothing but pure love and admiration. Without breaking eye contact, you gingerly put Thomas’ hoodie (which is apparently yours now) back in the box you removed it from. You reach up to pull Thomas’ lips down to yours passionately. 
Thomas responds, instantly reciprocating the kiss with the same amount of emotion that you pour into it. He moves his hands from your cheeks to pull your body closer to him. Your hand digs into the material of his shirt and suddenly, you can’t get enough of each other. You both need more — to be closer — but neither of you rush anything. You take it slow and try to take in every little detail about each other.
As layer after layer of clothing comes off, you two savor the feeling of each other’s lips, bodies, and touch. Every soft moan, every sigh, every gasp, every kiss… each and every moment that you spend with each other is savored in one final heat-filled act of love.
Afterwards, you both lie in your bed under the blankets, Thomas’ arm around your naked body and your head on his bare chest. You cherish each other’s presence for one final time, basking in silence until Thomas finally breaks it, his voice barely above a whisper.
“You still sure about this, sweetheart?”
You are quiet for a few seconds before you answer, sotto voce. “Yeah, T.” You listen to his steady heartbeat as you bring your hand up to rest on his torso. “You?”
He nods slowly. “Yeah.”
A few seconds pass and you subconsciously trace little circles on his abdomen with your thumb. Thomas’ arm tightens around your waist as he pulls your closer.
“I’m sorry things have to end this way.” He mumbles against you, his deep voice reverberating throughout his chest.
“Don’t be.” You murmur, exhausted from the emotional toll this day has taken on you. But you wouldn’t trade it for the world — unless there’s a way where it doesn’t end with you and Thomas going your separate ways.
You shake your head at yourself for thinking so negatively. You promised each other something back at that diner.
“It’s not the end, T.” You speak out loud, shifting so that your head rests on the pillow and you’re face to face with Thomas. “You said it yourself before and now it’s my turn to say it: this is a ‘see you later,’ alright? So I better fucking see you later, or else.”
He laughs (oh, you’re gonna miss that laugh) and his hand slides up the curve of your hip to pull himself closer to you. “Back at ya, princess.”
You both sniffle, but you know that your time together, for the time being, at least, has come to an end — especially as both of you begin to drift off no matter how hard you try to stay awake.
“I don’t want to say goodbye.” You whisper in Thomas’ warm embrace.
Thomas responds after he brushes a strand of your hair behind your ear. “You don’t have to.” 
So neither of you do. 
And you both fall asleep, bodies entangled with one another, content to be in each other’s embrace one last time before you move away.
The next morning, Thomas wakes up before you do and he slowly untangles himself from you as he wills himself to stay strong. He dresses himself as quietly as he can before he presses one last kiss to your temple.
Then, he takes one last look at your sleeping form before he leaves, keeping his word to you and not giving either of you a chance to say your goodbyes.
⋆﹥━━━━━━━   ♛   ━━━━━━━﹤⋆
A week later, your heart beats frantically as you drop a box of things you plan on leaving behind against the wall outside of your room.
It’s minutes before you’re supposed to leave for the airport — you want to leave early in case something goes wrong and you get delayed. Sighing, you walk back into your empty room to check for any last things you may have missed packing into the many boxes that are already stashed into your parents’ car.
“Y/N?” You hear your brother call out from downstairs. “I think there’s someone waiting for you outside.”
Who could it be? You’ve already said your goodbyes to Maria earlier that day when she’d helped you finish packing.
Erik gives you a sad smile as you pass by and you give him a confused look.
“What? Who is it?” You ask, eyebrows raised. “You know we have to leave in a few, right?”
“You’ll see.” Erik says, causing you to sigh.
After determining that your final sweep (even though you’ve done it three times now) is done, you make your way past Erik and open the front door. When you make it onto your driveway, you’re shocked to see Thomas Jefferson standing there with a sheepish grin and his hands in his pockets, looking as handsome as ever.
“Thomas…” You trail off, surprised to see him after your last day together the week prior. “What are you doing here?”
Your boyfriend (well… ex now, technically) walks closer and takes his hands out of his pockets. You can see him fidgeting with his fingers as he speaks. “I uh…” He breathes out a nervous laugh before one of his hands reaches up to rub the back of his neck. 
You watch him from a few feet away as he struggles to get his words out.
“Well, I… as your… not-boyfriend wanted to say goodbye.” He says softly, shifting his eyes to the ground briefly before looking back up to gaze into yours. “I changed my mind. Leaving without saying goodbye just gutted me and made me feel like we had unfinished business. I had to see you one more time, Y/N. I-I’m sorry.” Thomas’ voice is unstable as he apologizes and you feel tears well up in your eyes as he continues. “I know this breaks our agreement and everything, but I couldn’t just let you leave before—”
You cut him off by stalking forward to wrap him into a crushing hug — a hug the two of you desperately need at the moment. Thomas doesn’t waste a second before his arms encircle your waist to hold you just as tightly to him.
Even though you had spent the entire day with each other just a week prior, the need to see each other — to feel each other — one last time has consumed you both. You agree that waking up to an empty bed without saying a proper goodbye (even though it’s what you had initially wanted) had crushed you, and it had caused you to be an emotional wreck to the following two days.
“I’m sorry.” He mumbles, sniffling before letting out a bittersweet laugh. “I just made this so much more fucking difficult for us.”
“It’s okay.” You reciprocate his laugh as tears stream down your face. “It’s so worth it, T.”
A few minutes pass by as you hold each other close.
“I know I’ve said this before, but I’m really gonna miss you.”
“I’m gonna miss you too, T.” You say quietly. “So much.”
You’ve lost track of time and your mother is the one to finally bring you and Thomas back to reality.
“Y/N, we gotta go, honey…” Your mom speaks as softly as possible from her position at the front door, and you can see the guilt on her face as she watches her daughter’s heart break. “You’re gonna be late for your flight.”
You turn back to Thomas and give him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry…”
“Don’t apologize, Y/N. You gave me the best year and eight months I could ever ask for… so thank you.”
You look up at him for a second before you sob and crash into his chest. “I love you.”
“I know. I love you, too.” He replies softly before he steels himself. “But you have a flight to catch. Which means you need to go.”
You give him one last kiss, it’s watery from both of your tears but neither of you care.
“Go be great.” He says when you pull back. “You deserve the world, Y/N.”
He holds your hand until the grip slips when you take a step towards the car.
“See you later, Thomas.”
He smiles through his tears before he replies. “I’ll see you later, sweetheart.”
You get in the car and a few seconds later, your mother pulls out of the driveway (apparently Erik and your father are going to drive separately). As the car drives away, Thomas waves from your driveway until you can’t see him anymore. You know that’s the last you’ll see of him for a while.
And maybe, just maybe, you regret leaving him behind.
But a voice lingers in the back of your mind that gives you some sort of relief:
If it’s meant to be, then it’s meant to be.
217 notes · View notes
cherrybracelets · 4 years ago
Text
We Fell In Love in October
dad!spencer x reader
a continuation of these blurbs. you do not need to read them to read this fic, but they all take place in the same universe
word count: 2.7k | warnings: pregnancy, hospitals, other than that all fluff
We fell in love in October, That’s why I love fall, Looking at the stars, Admiring from a far
There was nothing that broke your heart more than the fact that you were missing your daughters first time trick or treating. But, as Spencer reminded you every day, you were way too pregnant to be out walking around all night while she got candy. You were devastated, but you knew he was right. You were nearing your due date and felt like you were carrying a whale around at all times. There was absolutely no way you’d last longer than 20 minutes without whining about how your feet hurt.
So you and Spencer decided you’d stay home and hand out candy while he took Imogen to the fanciest neighborhood in your suburb so she could get the best candy. You remember trick or treating in the same neighborhood as a kid, and the houses always had full size candy bars and toys. There was one house that made a mini haunted house in their front yard every year, and it was your favorite thing as a kid. You felt sick thinking that Immy was going to experience it for the first time without you. 
“You promise me you will take a ton of pictures and videos? If there’s not at least 500, we are literally getting a divorce,” you pouted, helping Spencer get his costume on. 
“Babe, I promise you won’t miss a second of it. I know it sucks you can’t go, but you have to keep my little baby safe,” he smiled, kissing your swollen belly and then bringing his lips to yours, giving you a small peck. 
“I’m gonna go check on her, make sure she’s got her costume all set. Why don’t you go downstairs and relax, you seem a little high strung today,” he teased, walking out of your bedroom together and into your daughters room. 
“Of course I’m high strung, Spence. I’m a thousand months pregnant and you’re taking my daughter away from me to walk around alone in the dark.” You felt yourself tearing up, one again out of control of your emotions. Being pregnant fucking sucked. 
“Do you not trust me to keep Immy safe? Do you know what I do for a living?” Spencer laughed, and you rolled your eyes in annoyance as you walked down the stairs to go flop on your couch. 
You felt the baby kick, and you placed a hand on your belly. You both decided not to find out the gender, the same thing you did with your last pregnancy. Spencer loved not knowing, claiming you got ‘more gifts’ if you didn’t know. But it drove you crazy. Even though you didn't know for sure, Spencer was convinced it was a boy. He wanted a son so bad, so you played along with his fantasy, but you were pretty certain it was a girl. You felt the same as you did when you were pregnant with Imogen, even craving the same foods as before. You had a mother's instinct- you knew who she was. 
You leaned your head back on the couch, closing your eyes to rest for a moment. You seemed to be constantly exhausted, despite spending most of the day sleeping. You slowly rubbed your belly, always afraid that if you went too long without touching her she would forget you. 
“You ready, Mommy?” You heard Spencer’s voice say, from the top of the stairs. You smiled happily, keeping your eyes closed as the two of them came down to the living room in their costumes. 
“Let me see my loves!” You responded, giggling in anticipation as you awaited your daughters first Halloween costume. 
“Look at me, Mommy! I’m so pretty!” Imogen said, Spencer holding the girl in his arms. You opened your eyes to see her dressed as a fairy- exactly what she wanted. You felt yourself tearing up, which were a mix of happy and sad tears. 
“You both look so amazing!” You stuttered, trying to get your words out through muffled cries. 
“Don’t cry, Mommy!” Immy pouted, wriggling out of Spencer’s arms and onto the couch to give you a hug. 
“Oh, I’m not sad, Im. You’re just so pretty!” You kissed her on the top of the head, trying not to mess up her costume. 
“We should probably get going soon. I don’t want to be out too late,” Spencer frowned, checking his watch and looking outside to see if it was getting dark yet. 
“Right, of course. Please keep me updated, okay?” 
“Of course, my love.” 
“Have fun, you guys. Be safe!” 
Spencer and Imogen waved goodbye to you, blowing you a kiss as they walked out the door. You tried your best not to cry as they drove away, trying to focus on getting ready to hand candy out to other kids. You knew it was probably just your anxiety, and the fact that you and Spence had been watching scary movies every night for the past month- but you had a bad feeling about tonight. And it was only a short time later when you realized your feeling was right. 
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Spencer was one of the smartest men alive- that was indisputable. But where he excelled in book smarts, sometimes his common sense was lacking. Like how he was consistently forgetting to charge his phone. So when it died after only an hour of trick or treating- probably because he hadn’t stopped taking pictures since they left- he felt like a huge idiot. Especially considering how much you reminded him to plug it in every night before bed. 
But he tried not to panic, convincing himself he had recorded enough of the night to satisfy you. Plus, now he could really be in the moment with his daughter, which was what it was all about, right? 
“C'mon Daddy,” Imogen groaned, pulling Spencer by the arm up to another house. And as Spencer followed his daughter, he realized where they were. This was the house. The ‘haunted house’ house that you talked about every Halloween, that the both of you were so excited for Immy to experience herself. And Spencer had promised you a thousand times over that he would record the entire experience. 
‘Fuck,’ he thought to himself, shaking his head in disappointment, preparing for the inevitable fight when he had to tell you he didn’t record it. Unless, they just don’t go? That could work, right? He would just tell you that they didn’t do it this year, and next Halloween they could all go together. The plan was perfect. Except for one thing. 
“Please, Daddy. I really wanna go to this house,” his daughter frowned, crossing her arms in frustration. 
“Immy, please just listen to Dad, okay. Not this house.” His daughter was persistent and adorable, which made this incredibly difficult. 
“No. I want to go to this one.” 
“Imogen Josephine, when your Dad tells you no, you have to listen.” 
“No! I want to go!” She turned around quickly, running up the driveway to the house. Spencer rolled his eyes in annoyance, chasing after her. She was running quickly, not paying attention to her surroundings. It was a disaster waiting to happen, and Spencer knew it. But he couldn’t catch up to her before disaster struck. She tripped over one of the decorations, falling on the pavement and falling on her arm. 
“Ow!” She yelled, her eyes filling with tears as she sat on the ground. Spencer caught up with her, immediately getting on the ground and checking on her. 
“Imogen! This is why you listen to me when I tell you no!” He yelled in frustration, trying to see just how bad her scrapes and cuts were. 
“Don’t yell at me!” She responded, now fully crying and screaming. 
“I’m sorry, peanut. I didn’t mean to get mad,” Spencer responded, wiping the tears from her cheeks and picking her up. 
“My arm really hurts,” she wept, holding her now swollen wrist away from them. 
“Okay, peanut, I think we need to go to the hospital and get that checked out,” Spencer instructed, carrying his daughter down the street and back towards their car. He knew you were going to kill him when he got a call from the hospital. He felt sick to his stomach as he got Immy in the car and started driving. What an absolute nightmare. Maybe he couldn’t do it without you. Maybe his skills as a parent were only valid if you were around to watch him. 
♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥♥
Seeing all of the cute kids in their costumes was definitely making you feel better. You knew you had to trust Spencer. He was an amazing Dad and husband, and he would always take care of your girl. You knew he would. 
But, everything seemed to fall apart in about five minutes. It all started when you went to check Spencer’s location, a bad habit that you knew wouldn’t solve anything. When it popped up that he couldn’t be located, you felt your stomach flip and your heart skip a beat. 
“Damnit Spence. Charge your fucking phone…” you whispered, shaking your head and digging your nails into your palms. It was okay, though. He was fine, they were fine. Right? 
And then the worst possible thing could’ve happened. You felt a weird pain in your abdomen, one that caused you to nearly double over and fall on the floor. Only a few seconds later, it made sense. Your water broke. 
You weren’t due for another two weeks. This could not be happening. There’s no way. But another contraction a few minutes later made it clear- you were having your baby, and Spencer had no phone. Holy shit. 
You reached for your phone and instinctively called JJ, telling yourself it was because she lived the closest but also knowing she was the only person who could handle being in the delivery room with you if you couldn’t find your husband. 
“I’m going to kill him,” you screamed into the phone, not even bothering to greet your friend or explain the situation. 
“Woah, okay kiddo. What’s going on?” 
“His phone is dead, and I am having this damn baby. I am going to kill him.” 
“Oh, Jesus (Y/N). Okay… um… we can figure this out. Do you know what neighborhood they're in?” 
“Yes.” 
“Okay, I’ll send Will to go drive around and look for them. In the meantime, I am coming to pick you up and take you to the hospital. Just relax, take a few deep breaths. Everything will be fine.” 
You hung up the call and grabbed your hospital bag, patiently waiting by the door. JJ was only about ten minutes away, but it felt like you were waiting for hours. You tried calling Spencer’s phone a few times, but it went right to voicemail. This could not be happening. Holy shit, this could not be happening. 
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Spencer pulled into the emergency room parking lot, whipping his car through the lines as his daughter cried in the backseat. He finally found a spot, parking terribly and quickly grabbing Imogen. 
“We’re here now, peanut, everything’s gonna be okay,” he reassured her, not truly believing the words himself. His heart was racing, his breath shaky and his mind going a million miles a minute. He needed to talk to you as soon as possible- he needed you to tell him, and your daughter, everything would be okay. 
“Hi, um, my daughter fell and hurt her arm. I just need to get her checked in,” he spoke, his voice quick and panicky as he stood at the desk. 
“Of course. What’s her name and date of birth?” The woman asked, smiling kindly at the two of them. 
“Imogen Josephine Reid. She was born April 8th, 2017.”
“Oh, wonderful, I’ve got her file right here. Let’s get her admitted.” 
Spencer stood impatiently, holding his daughters hand as she stood next to him, watching the secretary take her sweet time to admit Imogen. Spencer was tapping his foot in frustration, which Imogen quickly noticed, placing her free hand on his knee and telling him to stop. Spencer just laughed at his daughter, who was always so unapologetic, always just telling people whatever thoughts came to her head. 
“Oh no, this is not good,” a familiar voice behind him said. He turned around quickly and saw JJ, a nauseated look on her face. 
“What are you doing here…” Spencer asked, furrowing his brows in confusion. She appeared just fine, and she wasn’t with anyone else. 
“Spencer, don’t freak out, but-” 
“SPENCER REID!” You yelled, your face red and voice fuming. 
“Wait, what is going on?” Spencer looked at you, confused, as you were being wheeled into the emergency room by a nurse.  
“Why are you at the emergency room, Spencer? What happened to Imogen?” 
“Hi Mommy! I fell and hurt my arm!” Imogen responded, her face stained with tears and her costume ripped from the fall. 
“What?” You were seething, staring at Spencer with wide eyes. You were about to yell again, but your whole body seized and pain shot through your body. Another contraction. They were getting closer, and you knew it was only a matter of time before this baby came out. You whined loudly, gripping onto the arm of the chair and closing your eyes in pain. 
“We need to get you in a room now, Mrs. Reid,” the nurse instructed, looking at JJ and Spencer. 
“Wait… are you… are we having a baby?” Spencer’s eyes got wide, excitement filling his face as he realized what was going on. 
“Yes, Spencer. Maybe you could try to not let this one break their arm,” you yelled, immediately noticing Spencer’s shit in tone as you yelled at him. 
“Okay, okay, everyone. I’m sure what happened with Immy was an accident, right Spence?” 
“Yes, yes I promise. She was running and tripped…” 
“See, (Y/N)! Just an accident. So why don’t I take her to go see the Doctor and you guys can go… have your baby,” JJ smiled, doing her best to handle the situation. She was used to dealing with yours and Spencer's chaos. She was also Imogen’s godmother, and she did not take that role lightly. 
“Okay… okay… let’s go have our baby.” 
“Let’s go have our baby!” 
♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥♥
On November 1st, 2020, at 1:17 AM, your second daughter was born. You weren’t shocked at all when the doctors told you it was a girl, but Spencer was at a loss for words. They wrapped your small newborn in a blanket and handed her back to you. You were even more in love with her than you thought possible, and so was your husband. 
JJ and Imogen were in the waiting room, along with Will and the rest of the team. Immy’s arm was fine- nothing more than a bad bruise. They had given her a halloween ice pack and a bag full of candy, to which JJ allowed her to have a little too much, and she crashed from the sugar rush pretty hard. She was passed out in Uncle Rossi’s arms, drooling chocolate all over his pajamas. 
“Guys… she’s here.” Spencer smiled, walking out of the delivery room to share the news with his family. 
“She? Another girl? I knew it. You owe me twenty bucks, Derek,” Garcia giggled, Derek rolling his eyes in response. 
“Can we meet her?” JJ asked, happy to have another little girl to spoil. 
“Of course. Come on!” 
Rossi woke Imogen up, who was thrilled to meet her baby sister. Everyone walked quietly into the room, where you were holding your sleeping daughter in your arms. You were overjoyed to see all of them, knowing they would always be your family, and the first to meet your baby, because they were her family, too. 
“Mommy!” Immy yelled, running towards you. 
“Shh, be quiet, peanut. She’s sleeping!” 
“Got it. Quiet.” Immy whispered, giggly as she looked down on her little sister. 
“She looks like you, Spence,” Emily laughed, lightly grabbing Spencer’s shoulder. 
“Do you remember how much Imogen looked like (Y/N) when she was born?” JJ asked, smiling down at the two girls. 
“We now have a clone of each of us. It’s only a matter of time before we take over the world,” Spencer laughed, his arm wrapped around you and the baby. 
“What’s her name?” Hotch asked.
“Lola. Lola Danielle Reid.” 
“Welcome to the BAU, Lola.” 
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missdawnandherdusk · 4 years ago
Text
Country Girl
Muggle!Reader X Draco 
London Boy
Summary: Draco has your heart and you have his, a muggle and a wizard, but what happens when you take him home... to America, to your very muggle parents, and your very muggle small town? 
A/n: As promised here is some ridiculous fluff and shenanigans between these two dorks. Also, this gets very southern very quickly, so as a disclaimer: none of this is meant to offend anyone at all, it’s just simple writing fun. I know a lot of you come to Tumblr to destress from the news, so this is free from current events and can even be seen written around circa 2010 if you want. I love you all and let me know what you think because I love being validated your comments and reblogs
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“Um, do you maybe want to come with me back home?” The question was timid as it left my lips.
“To America?” He raised an eyebrow looking up from his workstation where he was currently brewing Amorentia—not that he used it, but it brought comfort to me and worked surpassingly well in a diffuser.
“To put it broadly, yes.” I smiled, knowing he had no idea how expansive America really was. “I’m off for the summer and my parents have been nagging me nonstop to meet you, and well it’s home,” Shrugging I hopped up on his desk and he eyed me warily, moving some things out of my way.
“How long?”
“Well I suppose you could apparate back any time you like, but...”
“How long?” He pressed again.
“A week?” I was almost afraid of his reaction.
Not that I was afraid of him, but I knew him well. He liked order. He like routine. Everything had a place and he preferred it if it stayed in that place. Which included him, in London.
“I understand if you don’t want to. I know it’s a lot. Muggle parents, Muggle girlfriend, America...” I trailed off looking down. “Just thought I’d offer.”
“Love,” he tilted my chin up. “If you want me to go with you to meet your parents, I suppose I can manage a week,” he smiled.
Happiness fluttered in my chest as I threw my arms around him.
“Careful dear,” he scolded, easily pulling me into his arms, carrying me. “This stuff takes forever to wear off and I’d rather not have you drugged for the next few hours.”
“Could be fun,” I giggled, nuzzling into his neck.
“You say that now,” he chided, a smile evident on his face. 
_____________________________
“Now, they don’t know that you’re a wiz,” You reminded him. “And I’d rather not have to obliviate my parents, so if you could— “
“You act like I’m a teenager Y/n, I’m not stupid,” Draco rolled his eyes. 
You raised an eyebrow at him. A challenge.
“And, a very fair warning: I am very...posh compared to my parents,”
Draco laughed; the word so unfamiliar to your lips and your American accent. Nor could he imagine in any way that someone would regard you as posh. He loved you, of course, but a lady was something you were not—not that he didn’t treat you like one, but that was beside the point.
But nothing you said could ever prepare him for what waited at your doorstep. Not the hours on a flight. Not the ride back in another muggle car. Not the songs on the radio. Not the conversations he had with Hermione and Harry unbeknownst to you.
“Pumpkin!” An older man in a buttoned-up flannel pulled you into his arms. His drawl was thick, making yours sound almost normal. “You are too pale darlin’ ain’t enough sun over there in England,” he chided, a huge smile on his face.
“Oh nonsense,” your mother replied, her drawl having more of a twang. “She’s just fine. Our little Georgia peach,” You face went a little pink as you blushed.
“Momma, Daddy, this is Draco,” he heard more of a drawl slip into your words and Merlin was he in trouble.
“The Brit,” your father scrutinized him for a moment before the smile returned. “Pleasure to meet you son,” he held out his hand.
“The pleasure is mine, I assure you,” Draco almost purred, shaking your father’s hand. 
“Oh Lord, hear that accent,” your mother fawned. “No wonder you fell for him, Y/n,”
“Mom,” you whined, turning a shade of red.
“Well come in you two, you must be exhausted from the flight.”
Draco should have taken your warnings more seriously. Maybe you should have eased him into more. Because a very Muggle farmhouse in the middle of the country with your very American parents was something he was not prepared for.
The floorboards creaked under his socks—shoes left by the front door—as pictures hung on the wall, a lot of them of you in various childhood phases: fishing, in trees, driving your beloved Jeep, posing next to a dead stag—that one made Draco snort, if only Harry knew. There were also tiny little ‘t’s all over the wall that Draco just didn’t understand the meaning of. Were they to ward something off? Was it a collection? Did they stand for some name he wasn’t aware of?
“Y/n, you go on with your mom and fix up dinner,” Your father nodded you two off to the kitchen.
“Dad,” You warned, a familiar look in your eyes.
“You worry too much.” Your dad shook his head. “Now, go on,”
You paused a moment, your stubborn streak flaring before you disappeared into the house, leaving Draco alone with your father, feeling quite anxious.
“Come on in, boy, sit on down and tell me about yourself,” Your father beckoned him to sit on a well-worn leather sofa, a knitted afghan thrown over the back.
Draco knew how to keep light conversation—a perk of being a Malfoy—but this? This he had no idea how to do. Your father seemed to pick up on that as he chuckled.
“So, you like my daughter, do you now?” He asked, his eyes holding the same shade as yours. 
“Yes sir,” Draco nodded. “Very much,”
“Yeah, we think she's something else,” Your father shook his head, chuckling. “Her daddy's girl... mama's world.” His face became hardened, serious, “She deserves respect and that's what she'll get ain't it, son?”
“Y-yes, of course,” Draco stammered. “Always.”
The smile came back to your father’s face and Draco felt like he just passed some sort of test.
“Well, y'all, run along and have some fun while you’re here. Just keep her safe. She’s got a knack for trouble,”
“Oh, I’m aware,” Draco chuckled.
“Dinner!” Two voices called from somewhere else in the house.
“Comin’ darlin’,” Your father called back, standing. “Shall we?” He gestured for Draco to go first.
........................................
“Was that so bad?” You asked later that night as you got ready for bed. It was different, seeing you flit around the room with memorized paths and actions.
“One of the most bizarre things I have ever experienced,” he confessed. “But I have to admit, your mother is a brilliant cook,”
You laughed.
“Oh, tell her that tomorrow, she will love you to pieces,”
Your drawl was coming in thicker the longer you lingered home and Draco began to understand the fascination with his accent, because your drawl did something else to him. The small room you were in was yours. A true work of art that was merely shadowed by your room in London. The soft blue tone room was calming as fairy lights were strung and antique furniture filled the room. Dried flowers and various paintings and posters filled the room matching the quilt spread underneath him.
You came over to his sitting position on the bed, nestling between his legs. His hands slipped up the backs of your thighs and you swatted him.
“Behave,” you hissed. “You have no idea how long it took me to convince Daddy to let us stay in a room together. I’d like to not lose that battle on the first night.”
“You has to ask your dad for permission to sleep with your boyfriend, in your room, as an adult?” He raised an eyebrow. “And I thought my parents were strict.”
“Oh, you don’t know the meaning of the word, pretty boy,” you smiled and draped your arms around his neck.
“I think I quite like this side of you,” Draco grinned.
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,”
“For the love of my sanity please use proper English,” Draco dismayed to your amusement.
“Fine.” You rolled your eyes. “You haven’t seen anything yet,” You dropped your drawl easily.
“You know what? Never mind,” Draco grinned, causing you to laugh harmoniously.
Never once had Draco ever seen you be a morning person, except now. The sun filtered in through the flowing curtains and your eyes fluttered open, landing on his.
“Mornin’,” You greeted.
“Good morning,”
“You ready?” There was a mischievous look in your eyes.
“For?”
“Well, I don’t think you’re quite ready to meet my friends, so I thought today we could go fishing.”
“Fishing?”
“Well, it’s not deer season so... we can’t exactly hunt. But it is fishing season.” 
“There are seasons for you to kill wildlife?” He asked, watching you get ready.
“Yeah?” You paused, looking over at him. “Helps keep the animals from being over hunted while still keeping up the sport and population down. Daddy and I do it more for the population, not the sport,” Your smile was soft. “And venison is to die for when momma cooks,”
After a breakfast that Draco would be craving for the rest of his life, you loaded up the Chevy pick-up truck (you had informed him) with bait and poles and against his better judgement, he got in.
_____________________________
“I’m gonna seriously have to thank Hermione for takin’ you shoppin’ beforehand,” You grinned, eyeing Draco in a short-sleeved Henley and khaki shorts. “Knowin’ you, you only own suits and dress pants.”
“I own t-shirts,” Draco refuted, clinging to the door handle for dear life as I meandered the backroads towards the lake.
I rolled my eyes and turned onto the trail that would take us to the docks. 
“This isn’t even a road!” Draco dismayed. “It’s barely dirt!”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s what four-wheel drive is for,” I grinned. “And honey, I fear the day someone takes you muddin’.”
“Mudding?” He asked skeptically.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” I smiled, chuckling darkly, imagining the pristine Draco Malfoy anywhere near a four wheeler or ATV.
Hopping into the boat, Draco eyed me, hesitant on the dock. 
“You can drive this too?” He narrowed his eyes at me.
“It’s barely anything to drive,” I rolled my eyes, throwing my hair up. “Now come on, city boy. A little country ain’t gonna kill you,”
“No,” Draco agreed, settling in the boat beside me. “But a country girl just might,” The purr of his voice had me blushing and fumbling to kill the engine and grab a fishing pole.
Draco absolutely refused to touch the live crawfish. His face scrunched up in disgust as he watched me cast my line in.
“Oh, like it’s any different than you and your potion’s ingredients,” I pointed out. 
“That’s different,” He pouted.
Smiling at his theatrics, the day consisted of Draco dismaying at just about everything. Including but not limited to: sunscreen, mosquitoes, not being able to hold my reeling hand, the heat, the sun, Oakley sunglasses—of which he looked absolutely stunning in and it wasn’t fair—baseball caps, live bass, me handling said bass, me handling a knife, the live crawfish again, the heat... again.
“Oh my God, Draco,” I huffed, not nearly as annoyed as I sounded.
“I’m sorry,” He drawled. “But this is absolutely absurd,”
I might have shoved him into the lake.
When he resurfaced, utter shock was on his face, as well as anger as he scolded my name. 
“Yes?” I answered innocently. “Not so hot anymore is it?” I bated my eyelashes.
“You little—”
“Oh, and watch out for gators,” I grinned mischievously as his eyes went wide with fear. “Kidding!” I laughed, slipping off my crocs. “Probably,”
He was hanging onto the side of the small boat when I leapt off the side and into the icy water. 
“What in the world are you doing?” Draco swam over to me.
“Swimming? Since someone thinks that fishing is absurd,” I mocked his accent. 
“I don’t sound like that,” He grumbled.
“Yes, you do,” I smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Stop being so uptight, Dray. Whatever you’re holding onto... reputation or whatever voice that’s in your head...” His face fell.
I knew that he had been raised to hate everything around him. The innocence and simplicity of it. Sure, it had taken some time and I had made a home in his heart, those prejudices fading, but he still fought hard sometimes. And maybe I wish he didn’t. And maybe I was selfish to think that.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered softly. “I just... Your world is so incredible, Draco. Filled with things that are beyond my wildest dreams, and maybe I wanted to show you into mine,”
His arms snaked around my waist as he held me close, resting his forehead to mine.
“I’m sorry too,” He murmured softly. “Of course, I want to be a part of your world as well, but— ”
“Maybe fishing was a bit over ambitious?” I mused.
“Maybe slightly,” He chuckled, pressing his lips to mine sweetly. 
“At least we have dinner tonight,”
“I can’t tell if you’re kidding or not,”
I wasn’t.
__________________________________
The next day wasn’t as ambitious as fishing with you, but it was still quite new to him. Dressed in a sundress, you took his hand and lead him down the main street of your small town, the small shops reminding him of a fairytale. He was surprised at how many people recognized you and said hello. A kindness that he wasn’t accustomed to in the Wizarding world. Especially when the café owner had a long conversation with you and then said that your lunch was ‘on the house.’
“Not too bad?” You asked softly, after finishing lunch. 
“Not bad at all,” He smiled.
After bringing in the groceries from a quaint muggle shop, into your warm little yellow kitchen, you took Draco’s hand and led him into the backyard. The sun was setting just beyond the horizon, painting the sky in crimson colors.
“Mr. Fancypants alright with climbing a few trees?” There was a smirk on your face. 
“What are we? Five?” Draco chuckled, following you into the tree line.
“Well, I guess that is when daddy and I built this,” You gestured to a certain tree, where an emasculate treehouse resided.
Despite the wooden construction’s age, it still held well. Draco was half expecting it to be bigger on the inside, a commonality in the Wizarding World, but no, what he saw on the outside was what was reflected on the inside. This treehouse held no secrets. Draco smiled as he watched you climb the tree with no shoes on—a commonality he had noticed. You went barefoot whenever you could.
You helped him up and his eyes darted around, taking in the little house with it’s rope banisters, many windows and various trinkets and knickknacks that Draco had no hope in naming or identifying. When his eyes found you again, there was a blanket folded into your arms.
“When I was little, I used to come out here and stargaze... I don’t know how many times Daddy would have to come up here and carry me home ‘cause I fell asleep,” A smile touched your lips.
Draco looked up to the wooden roof and raised an eyebrow skeptically. You caught his question and nodded to a rope to his left. His fingers grasped the course fibers and tugged it experimentally. A mechanism went off and the roof parted at the gable, letting him see the first stars that had come out to play.
There was something different about looking up at these stars with you. He had spent years studying them in class and couldn’t remember half of what he had learned, but with you, they held a different meaning. You knew all of the stories it seemed. The ones that he learned as a child and some he didn’t. It was jarring, hearing the familiar stories fall from your lips. After all this time, maybe your muggle world wasn’t so far off from his magical one.
True to your word, you did end up sleeping softly in his arms as he looked up at the stars, then down at your peaceful face. Knowing that you wouldn’t want to spend the night outside—and neither would he for that matter—he carefully scooped you into his arms, and instead of risking dropping you, he simply apparated to the soft grass below and headed up towards the house.
Your father was waiting on the porch, the light still on despite the late hour, nursing a can, a soft smile on his face.
“Good to see that some things don’t change with her,” Your father opened the door for him. “Sometimes I think I lose her to her fancy schools, halfway around the world,” There was an air of melancholy to his words.
“I can assure you that you’ll never lose her,” Draco smiled down at you. “She adores and loves you more than you’ll ever know. The way she lights up when she talks about home...”
“You’ve made an old man very happy tonight Draco,” Your dad smiled. “Now go on up, I’m gonna close the house up for the night,”
.................................
“I’d like to apologize in advance for just about everythin’ that’s about to happen,” You took his hand smiling.
“How bad can they be?” Draco mused. “You’ve met my friends, and that went well,”
“Uhuh,” You laughed. “Sure. I’ll take that vote of confidence.” You easily backed your truck up into the circle of other vehicles surrounding a rather large bonfire that gave Draco a bit of anxiety.
“Look at what the tide washed in!” Someone called from the back of a pickup truck. 
“No way!” Another gasped.
“Since when did you get home!?”
A girl rushed up and pulled you into a hug, dislodging your hand from his as he watched you spin with the girl, both of you laughing. A few others came up and hugs were passed out, hellos exchanged.
“Son of a bitch, you never said he was hot, Y/n,” The first friend who greeted—Rebecca— raised an eyebrow at you.
“Yes, because that’s all I look for in a guy,” You rolled your eyes, offering him a beer and taking a seat on the tailgate of your pickup.
“I’m just glad to see that you haven’t gone full brit on us,” Another—Megan smiled from the arms of a guy that Draco would have stereo typed to be on your arm instead. “Still think you can outshoot me?” She grinned.
“With my eyes closed,” You drawled, taking a sip of your own hard iced tea. “Seriously, y’all think I was just gonna forget everythin’?”
“We didn’t think you’d come back after find Mr. London over here,” Rebecca grinned.
“Yeah, you’ve been awful quiet over there Union Jack,” Megan narrowed her eyes at him, and he felt the same sort of anxiety he had around your parents. “What are your intentions with our Y/n?”
“Y’all really? What are we? High schoolers? And he has a name ya know.” You rolled your eyes, leaning against him, intertwining your finger with his. That eased his anxiety a bit as his eyes stayed trained on the dancing fire.
“Well, any guy worthy of catching your eye must be something special,” Tyler—the guy sitting next to Rebecca—shrugged.
“Oh, come on Tyler, we were freshman,” You scoffed, taking another swig from your can.
Draco’s interest was piqued at this new information. Was there something between you and Tyler that he wasn’t aware of? Was it something he had to worry about? His grip tightened around you and he caught the sly smile on your face at the action.
He learned a lot about you that night. You never were one to brag but stars did your friends like to embarrass you. You weren’t the top of your class, but you were pretty damn close. You always got yourself out of any kind of trouble and had about every boy at your heels in school and didn’t give them an air of interest—Tyler lamented quite obnoxiously. You could be out late Saturday night at a party, but every morning you were up early, in the choir at church—which shocked Draco, you had always been hesitant to sing around him, and he wasn’t exactly sure what ‘church’ was but... it was a question for another time.
The conversation lulled as food was brought out. You offered him a bit of mangled stretched out wire and a hot dog and shot him a dazzling smile before showing him how to roast it over the fire. It was messy and uncivilized, and Merlin, Draco loved it. Sitting cross-legged beside you, a paper plate in his lap filled with such rich food and sweet fruit, he truly caught a glimpse into your world again.
The buzz of insects and glow of others, the heat and warmth of the fire, the smell of grass and dirt, the sound of some country song blasting from a nearby truck, the sway of your body as you hummed along, the smile that rested on your face, the buzz of alcohol in his system, and the taste of it on your lips, Draco never felt more... free. The Dark Mark could be nothing more than a tattoo. His scars could mimic Alex’s dirt biking scars. His school career could be scoffed at like yours was. His parents could just be strict and rich. He could be free.
_____________________________
My thumb absentmindedly stroked the back of Draco’s hand as the night wound down. I had switched to sweet tea a while ago, knowing I’d had to drive home. There was something oddly comforting in seeing Draco in the midst of my small-town world. His careful blue eyes, stark blond hair, and pale creamy skin seemed to rebel at the mere thought, but the smile on his lips overrode it all, claiming he belonged.
In bed that night, my fingers traced over the scars that littered his chest. It was hard to imagine that the Harry I knew caused them. It seemed like worlds away. Even in Draco’s arms, London and magic and wizards sounded like a fairytale, some far-fetched dream.
“Your friends are... nice,” Draco murmured, drawing a chuckle from me.
“That’s one way to put it,” I propped up on my elbow. “Nothing too absurd I hope?” There was a slight teasing tone to my words.
He smiled lazily at me.
“It’s... different here,” Draco decided.
“Good different? Or bad different?”
“Free different.” He mused. “Like... it—my past... doesn’t exist at all. No one here knows, or judges me...”
“Well,” I whispered softly, running my hand through his hair. “It is a different world. Somethin’ you have to love about a small town,” A smile grew on my face. “And it’s not about your past, not anymore. It’s your future that’s important,”
“As long as you’re there,” Draco pressed a kiss to my forehead. 
“For as long as you’ll have me,”
“Forever,”
I spent the next day teaching Draco how to bake. He was a decent cook after spending some time with my grandmother and I in London, but backing was a bit different, as Draco found out. With classic rock on the radio and mom and dad out for the day, Draco and I had a blast. A few times I saw him cheat and use wandless magic. It earned him some flour in his face—which he also magicked away. When I protested, he pressed a kiss to my lips and maybe I forgot why I was upset in the first place.
With the pie in the oven, Draco and I lounged across the couch. His hands were fiddling with my hair absentmindedly, as we watched The Breakfast Club. Hermione and Harry had done an alright job introducing Draco to muggle movies and shows. But as much as I loved Doctor Who—we were all convinced that the Doctor was a wizard secretly—or Sherlock, some American normalcy was appreciated.
That night I couldn’t help but laugh as Draco was very confused about football. It was like translating something through three languages—Wizard, to British, to American. After a while I think he gave up on the notion and just nursed his beer. The game held my interest for the second half while my father was very adamant about coaching from his armchair.
“You should have seen him at her little league games,” My mother muttered, causing Draco and I to chuckle and my dad to simmer some.
“Softball,” I filled Draco in. “Like baseball... but for girls I guess.” He nodded.
Before I knew it, the week ended, and Draco and I were packing to return back home, well to London anyway. I traded in my sundresses for jeans and sighed as I unzipped my suitcase, starting to unpack.
“It’s not like we’ll never go back,” Draco wrapped me up in his arms.
“We?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Did you not want me to go back?” A playful smile graced his lips.
“No, I do! I just... well, I know you Dray,” I draped my arms around his neck. “You like things a certain way in a certain order, and well, that,” I gestured vaguely. “was anything but,”
“Maybe it’s time I leave this behind me,” He murmured softly. “Stuffy offices and grey skies...”
My eyes widened in surprise and joy.
“Not completely,” He amended. “I do still have to work, they need me as Head Healer, and you have uni, and then there’s Teddy to think about, but... maybe a summer home there wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world,”
I drew him into a tight hug, tears stinging my eyes. It wasn’t even that he wanted to go back, it was that he wanted me with him when he did. He talked about a home like I’d be there beside him.
And when he was down on one knee, surrounded by my London family, with a simple ring, I knew that he did want me there beside him, and always would.
I gave him an escape from his past and he promised me a future.
.
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skeetlehand · 4 years ago
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HI!!!!! I have been tagged™™™™ by @gheysnakelady and so here are my Hot Opinions!! :D
who is your favourite member on the smp?
I mean, i have SEVERAL faves: awesamdude, eret, wilbur (rip), techno and phil - I’ll watch sometimes, tubbo and tommy, but if you’re going by who I watch th
when did you first start watching the smp and what made you get into it?
Oh, it was thanks to the sudden influx of dream smp animatics all over my youtube home page - and tbh, they were all pretty good! and so, i was like: ???!!! and started watching and now i religiously check the dsmp tag for plot updates so i guess that’s where we’re at rn… haha…
what is your favourite part about watching the smp?
Just watching these creators make these amazing stories+narrative - it’s free tv! i am entertained! even just watching them interact, this large community of a variety of streamers/youtubers, in the most diverse topics (not all of them are really minecraft-centered, but they are all great!). The idea of showcasing underrated creators in a platform where they all have the opporunity to shine, is just a wholesome idea tbh
what piece of cursed lore is your favourite?
…………. the toe…………. 
who is your favourite duo on the smp?
Miss the ol’ tubbo n tommy dynamic! But i do enjoy techno and ranboo - they’re hilarious, too.
… Niki and Jack give me Stress… i try to think about them like: team rocket! it works! almost! i try not to think about them murdering children on purpose and more like a little evil duo who cause problems and miss. please-
who are your comfort streamers?
I like to watch awesamdude (he’s great!!! <3) bbh and tubbo, when I want some nice times where I might play minecraft myself... or just relax
who is your favourite character?
mexican dream, no sweat. tubbo and tommy tie for second second place, and back when elections were a thing, so was Big Q (he still is! he says the most brutal things these days but also ,,,, stream me dude pleas-).
who do you think is the best actor (s) on the smp?
A LOT OF PEOPLE OKAY LET ME ELABORATE ON A FEW:
- schlatt. evil president. wilbur. chekov’s gun but tragic. do i need to say more.
- bad is actually really good! and terrifying! surprisingly! because he’s.,,. he’s supposed to be one of my comfort streamers.... you should check out his eggpire!!! egg for the egg god
- tommy is good at subtleties, for someone who isn’t very... subtle... yknow? I was surprised by the AMOUNT of detail that went into the exile arc - and he played it adequately
who on the smp would you like to be best friends with?
ajgLJHGdljhagjJHGJHLGDS you can’t ask me that!!! they all seem like cool people and id like to meet them but also i am a mess so hhhhh
what are your favourite quotes said on the smp?
i have a lot here too but here are just some that I can think of rn haha:
connor’s whole: “you’re not a bad person, and I hope you find what you’re looking for” had me BAWLING aaa
tommy’s dialogue with dream during their battle was good, but when 
a) tommy asks tubbo: “but what am I with out you?” and tubbo responds: “yourself.” I CRIED AAAA
b) tommy said: “Hey Dream, Dream, kill me.” because he knew dream wouldn’t, because he knew why dream wouldn’t - CHILLS
which part of the smp made you feel the saddest?
- ... pogtopia...
- Wilbur/ghostbur (out of character? in character? i don’t know which’d be worse, actually) admitting that he only wanted to make tommy president so he could blow it up seconds later
- .... tommy’s exile....
- A lot of tommy’s interactions with Techno have me kinda... :( ... you know? Like, the pit, the manberg vs. pogtopia war, doomsday - it feels like they keep shouting the same lines at each other, but neither of them really hear nor understand what the other is saying. Expecially doomsday - techno siding with dream, predictable but also hurtful, kind of. I can see why - but also techno was the closest to learning what had happened over the exile, and yet, the farthest from understanding it.
- doomsday was equally frustrating, hopeless, and depressing tbh
which part of the smp made you feel the happiest?
A LOT OF THINGS: but here are just the ones on the top of my head
- Quackity killing Schlatt and leaving manberg like: ✌️😠✌️
- When Tommy finally realized that dream was just. manipulating him. YOU GO funky exile child, LEAVE!!! 
- PUNZ coming in to save the day with: “you should’ve paid me more”???? YES YES YES
- Sam giving tommy little tasks to build the hotel?? wholesome. Acknowledging tommy’s been through a lot, abnd being one of the few people to know most of the exile story that tommy still won’t tell anyone about outright? 😭 (and i am looking AWAY from the possibility that this is just for profit, nonononono, not in MY line of sight-)
be honest, who do you simp for? (ayo if anyone says tommy or tubbo i will 🔪)
....schlatt (who ironically, was somewhat my introduction into the smp), but only cause he was a TERRIFYINGLY good actor, and he sounds EXACTLY like what id imagine an evil president would sound like 😳 what can i say, i like my voices...? jkashdlhfgal closest ill get to simping anyway so all of you can just take this and go, go elsewhere-
what’s your favorite stream?
Hmm... one of the chaos ones? kjahdlkg i can’t decide...
what’s your least favorite stream?
The butcher army stream. I mean, it was good I loved the dialogue and set up... but like... story-wise, butcher army didn’t accomplish anything in the end, their existence was as volatile as the person they hunted and tbh nothing was gained from it, just lost and made worse. Hot opinion though, so take it with caution.
what’s something about the smp fandom that makes you sad?
Hmm... A somewhat common point: sometimes people can be really critical about characters, but like, not in a good way - just straight up bashing. I get disliking a character but it makes me :( when i don’t see reason for it. Or bashing someone’s opinion of a character. Look, we’re all interpreters here, but like.... cmon.... someone might just have a different view of a character and that’s fine! 
for example: not a big fan of c!phil as a father. Some interpretations say he’s not a father because phil never said he was. Some might say he was an okay dad, and some might say tommy was never his son. all of these opinions are valid. another one of my opinions: tommy’s “punishments” were injust, some might agree with the idea that they were blown out of proportion and he didn’t really learn anything from them, some might disagree and say he got what he deserved. all of these opinions are valid -but on my end, maybe not the ones where people go: “aww man, c!tommy should’ve died cause he’s so annoying, and he totally deserved it.” did we watch the same arcs, buddies on that end???? are you okay????
Just, i get hating a character, but it bums me out when i see someone just straight up say “this character should die. cause they suck” - why though? story-wise, how would that play out? what
ANYWAY THIS IS ALL MY OPINION DON’T TAKE THIS TOO SERIOUSLY PLEASE
what’s something about the smp fandom that makes you happy?
Yall are great!! I love how much we’ve created - art, animatics, writing -all of you <3 <3 <3 and also all the discussion about the story, the characters, the interactions - I’ve found a community in some groups and honestly it’s just *chef kiss* great!!! yall are super cool and awesome and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!!
anyway, for the spread: i tag - @territorialufo, @an-inspired-eternity and @n-ugg... don’t feel pressured to do this but if you guys want 😳 
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bruhimaunicorn · 5 years ago
Text
The one with betrayal, back stabbing, and Daryl Dixon
Paring : DarylxReader
Summary : After getting hurt on a run, you come back to find your best friend with Daryl. But not all as it seems as your best friend might have been playing with the both of your heads...
Warnings : Betrayal, mind games, cursing, mentions of dead parents, fluff, angst, implied smut, wounds, blood, and walkers.
A/N : A little pyscho bestfriend one shot! Hope you guys like it and leave a request !
 “You need to be more careful, Y/N “Hershel sighs at you, smoothing a bandage over your knee. You grin at the older man and hop off the make shift bench beneath you - which happens to be an old milk crate that you drag out at night to smoke- and kick it to the corner “ Blame your son in law, he’s the one who dared me “. Hershel rolls his eyes and turns his head in the direction, Glenn is currently at “Are you going to help me? “. Glenn is mid chew into a apple and goes wide eyed. He knows better than to pick a fight with you and encourage Hershel’s warnings. “You’re both hopeless “Hershel sighs, defeated, but smiles as you give him a small kiss to his cheek. “I’ll try ok? “. He just nods and you know it’s just out of his concern for you, so you leave him to his business and walk outside for the first time since you got hurt, to start work outside.
 The sun is welcoming on your skin- hence the reason your wearing shorts and a tank top- and you smile as you can see Emma and Daryl patching up the fence East of you. It’s hard to imagine Emma actually working being that she’s the timid type, but she really did try and replace your needed hands while you were healing. Or at least that’s what she told you she was doing. “Dixon! I thought we were best friends! “ You yell, parting the two with your voice. Daryl’s lips perk up at the sight of you, not hiding the fact that you are his preferred company, and Emma jumps slightly since you aren’t supposed to be up until tomorrow. You limp slightly over to the two and he looks you up and down “ Yer’ not supposed to be walkin’ around ,girl”. You roll your eyes, but don’t miss the fact that he’s been checking in on you through Hershel. “ Couldn’t sit in that bed anymore. It drove me crazy “ You shiver thinking about it, but turn your attention to your friend. “ Thankfully too right? I know he’s probably drove you crazy” You joke and she smiles with a little shrug.
 “ He wasn’t too bad “. She combs her stray blonde hair behind her ears , a clear red flag you should’ve recognized earlier, but you looked past your friends actions “ Well I guess this means your free! “. You confidently take your place back at Daryl’s side and inspect the piece of fence they’d been working on. “ Oh.. uh . Yeah I guess so “ she mumbles to herself, and returns to being Judith’s nanny. Daryl watches her leave, clearly about to say something private, and you turn to him “ What is it ? “. He has a tight expression, but spits it out “ She’s a lil’ strange “. This wasn’t news to you. Emma’s always been the quiet type, but in a different way from you. You’ve known her since high school and she’s never really been the most social person. Which worked perfectly for you both since you weren’t either. It stemmed from your dad passing away and she was the only one that truly understood that and didn’t push you to be the perfect all American girl. 
 She stayed with you in the quiet and didn’t push you, which in return you gave her the same respect. Which is probably why you two have been friends for so long. You wouldn’t be here without each other. “ She’s got good intentions “ You defend her, but don’t snap at him. Daryl holds back what he truly wants to say -- afraid that he would push you away -- and it wasn’t worth it. You two are closer than ever and he doesn’t want to ruin that by bashing your oldest friend. “We just need some chain to close this gap “ You examine, changing the subject. He nods in agreement. If you were smarter, you would’ve realized that the chains were internally cut. “ Guess we’ll need to go on a run “ You suggest, causing Daryl to scoff at you. “ Yeah right like ima’ let you go and get your knee fucked up even worse “. “ Didn’t know I needed your permission “ You tease, turning your attention back to the man next to you.
 His blue eyes engulf yours and you take a moment to appreciate his features. Daryl had really surprised you. Never did you expect when you met this man, that he would become the one to make you catch your breath. Or the one to leave a flower in your room while you were healing. “ Thanks by the way “. He doesn’t play the game where he doesn’t know what you’re talking about. He just nods. That’s what draws you to him. That he doesn’t play games with you like other men have. Sure, he was older than you and isn’t too straight forward with what he wants, but he makes your feelings valid. Other men loved what they saw when they looked at you, but always sent you running into Emma’s arms each time it fell through. But not Daryl.
 “ How’s it feelin’? “ he asks, his true concern coming through, “ Thought ya’ shattered it the way you fell “. You wiggle it in front of him “ It’s ok. My basketball career might be over though “. You can still picture the look on his face when you fell. Stupidly, you let Glenn egg you on about playing some make shift basketball and let’s just say you’re very competitive. That would be thanks to a very extensive life of soft ball. And it did not end well. All in all, you did it just to get people to smile. The governor loomed over you all and tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed. And as soon as you broke free of Glenn’s blocking, you slipped. Hard. And Daryl was the first one to reach you. His blue eyes were wider than ever, but it truly showed you his feelings.
 He just smirks as he knows you had the best of intentions. Sure, you could kill anyone within your path without flinching, but you were a big softie for those you love. Hence, the night he found you dancing with Judy just to keep her from crying all night long. Really he spied on you, but you looked so happy spinning around the baby that it didn’t matter. You would’ve made a great mom if you had the chance. “ I need to get out of this place , Daryl. I’m crawling out of my own skin “. He looks around before deciding to grab your wrist “ If they send you out on a run, they’re not going to let me go too. I won’t be there to protect you “. You love his touch in any way you can get it, but you know you don’t need him to watch over you. “ I’ll be fine. You know I can take care of myself “. He breathes deeply through his nose, but nods. He trusts your confidence.
 If you weren’t so distracted, you’d see Emma watching you from a far. And it would’ve saved you so much time...
 ———
 After much convincing, Rick decided it would be ok to send you on a run. After all, it wasn’t a secret that the prison was struggling and baby Judith was gobbling formula by the day. So, you mapped out a church that wasn’t too far that had a surrounding neighborhood of newly constructed houses. It would hopefully store everything you need. Sighing, you climb in the truck they deemed ok to leave and toss your bag in the passenger side. You turn the key and bring the old truck to life, just in time for Daryl to slap the side of the door “ You got your list right ? “. You nod at him and point to the dirty paper in the seat next to you. “ Got your gun? “ He asks as this is part of you twos checklist. If you could’ve predicted this would be your going out check list two years ago you’d laugh. “ Yup “ You pop the p. It’s clear he’s not excited about this, but he doesn’t get a say.
 Not yet at least.
 “ Don’t worry ok? I’ll be back tonight “ You try to ease him. He doesn’t seem to take much comfort, which you understand. You’d be in the same position roles reversed. “ And maybe I’ll find you some smokes huh? “. This finally breaks his fine line of grimace “ I’m going to hold you to that “. You smirk back at him “ Goodbye, Dixon “. He parts his lips to speak, but decides not to. Instead, he backs up and let’s you drive away. He watches you speed through the gates with no hesitation and feels his stomach drop. This didn’t sit right with him, but he doesn’t have a right to speak for you. The thought causes him to grimace again. How do you open up to someone like you? How do you cross that line? “ She’s going to be ok you know? “ Emma squeaks, causing him to jump slightly.
 Where did she come from?
 Daryl just clears his throat and tries to leave this conversation Emma was trying to initiate. It’s none of her business to address his concern for you. Best friend or not. She just rubs him the wrong way lately. “ Wait I didn’t - “ She tries to stop him, but he turns around unexpectedly and glares down at her. “ I’m going to make this clear. I’m not stupid. I can see yer’ up to sum’ stupid shit I want ‘nothing apart of “. She’s caught off guard with wide eyes “ What are- “. He cuts her off immediately “ I might look stupid to you, but I’m not. You claim to be Y/Ns good friend, but the other day you proved that wasn’t true “. She looks like a deer caught in head lights, but Daryl isn’t having any of it. “ Look I know you and y/n are.. talking, but you’ve been ‘ talking ’ for months “ She suddenly gains confidence. The statement, while true, is like a blow to Daryl. First off, she’s betraying her friend, but secondly is assuming that means that he’s free to be with anyone. And that’s just not true. While neither of you had said it, he was yours.
 “ And I know her better than anyone. She goes through men like she goes through walkers. You might be the apple of her eye now, but just wait.. she’ll pull away and leave you in the dirt. Just like she did my brother “. Daryl is still recovering from her words and she takes the opportunity to strike. She gets closer to him “ I bet she used this run as a opportunity to get away from you. Sure, she said she’ll be back by tonight, but she’ll take her time. She’ll figure out a plan to let you down easy.. “. Emma knows exactly what she’s doing as she tugs at his insecurities. “ It’s ok that you’re not ready to kiss me back.. I’ll wait “.
 And with that she continues the games she’s playing and leaves him to his doubts.
 ——
 It’s nearly midnight, as you are crammed in a tight space praying that the monsters just five feet from you can’t smell you. This whole run had taken a dark turn. It all started with the truck breaking down miles from the church. You found it was leaking oil after a quick inspection causing you to curse your luck. Of course after you gave Daryl a promise that you’d be back tonight, God had other plans. Sighing, you decide to finish the task by walking there. Everything seemed fine at first, but the walk was putting your pressure on your knee and it began to swell. But you made it to the town anyways. And as soon as you found the church, it was like you rang the dinner bell. Turns out that the church had an old security system that had a hell of a battery back up and as soon as you opened the door, it blared for the whole world to hear.
 You cursed for the hundredth time and fled to the closest house, walkers already flooding to the noise. You barricade the back door to the house and quickly observe your surroundings to find the front door wide open , but it’s too late for you to shut it. Your eyes go wide as you can hear the groans and as you try to run in the other direction, you cut your arm deeply on a broken picture frame. You don’t have time to even wince as two walkers bustle inside and you dart for the stairs as it wouldn’t be smart to try and take them on with your injuries. You rush up them, blood dripping on the stairs and you pray there’s somewhere to hide. You find the unfinished upstairs to be baron besides a closet and without hesitation you dive into it . You’re hoping they won’t notice. You hold your breath as you can feel nervous sweat drip down your neck. You’re screwed. Hours go by of them shuffling through the hallway and it’s clear they haven’t lost interest in you. It’s like they could smell wounded. And right now you reeked of it. Fortunately, there was duct tape left in this closet and you taped it over your deep cut. Daryl was right. Why did he have to be right all the time?
 If you could, you’d scream at the irony, but now wasn’t the time. Now was the time to wait the storm out. And grip your knife to your chest like a security blanket.
 ——
 It’s two days later now and everyone at the prison was growing worried. It wasn’t like you to be gone this long. Had the governor grabbed you? Had the walkers eaten you? Are you stranded somewhere ? Everyone’s nerves are showing, but Daryl’s is the worse. He’s pacing constantly, snapping at everyone when they approach him, but it’s even worse when he’s alone. Was Emma right? Was this your excuse to get away from him? Did he wait too long? And what did she mean about her brother? Daryl knew James. At the beginning of all this it was the three of you. And he saw the way James looked at you, but you never reciprocated it. Did you lead him on? Little did he know this is what Emma wanted. The psych major was twisting the two of you and neither of you realized it.
 Daryl reaches into his pocket to find his cigarettes and sighs when he finds your little note inside the flap.
 ‘ You owe me Dixon ‘
 There’s a smudge of your fingerprint there beside it , reminding him of how you aren’t scared to get dirty. All the other girls here hated it, but you didn’t care at all. He can see you now with a dirty grin and big eyes. It makes his heart skip a beat. But where were you? And is Emma’s story about you true?
 - Another two days later -
 Everyone is now beyond concerned. It’s code red and time to act. “ Someone has to go get her! For fuck sakes she’d come after us! “ Glenn yells, Rick being the blunt end of his rage. Maggie is behind him, the same expression on her face, but she holds his arm back. “ You don’t think I want to go after her?! But we can’t! You know what’s outside these walls! “ Rick yells back, just in time for Daryl to enter the cell block. Glenn sighs in relief “ Daryl! Explain to him that we’re going after, Y/N!”. Daryl looks between the couple and Rick, reading the situation for what it is. You were gone and they love you, but why were you gone? Why were you putting them through this? Daryl notices out of the corner of his eye that Emma is standing in the corner with her arms crossed over her chest as if to say I told you so. “ This isn’t like her, Daryl. You know her .. she wouldn’t just disappear “ Maggie speaks to end the silence.
 But how well does he know you? We’re you the woman who smiles so big at him and makes him feel wanted for the first time in his life? Or are you the impatient girl Emma seems to believe you are. Everyone can hear Emma scoff in the corner and this causes Maggie to turn on the small girl “ What’s your problem, Emma? This is your best friend we’re talking about”. Maggie is ready to defend you as the girl parts her lips “ This is what she does. She runs”. Now Glenn has to grab Maggie’s arm “ You need to watch your mouth! Y/N has always been here for us! She saved Glenn from that horde just a week ago! “. Maggie’s loyalty is clear. “ But where is she now huh? When the governor is breathing down our necks and we’re running out of food? Sounds like the perfect time to cut her losses “ She purposely makes eye contact with Daryl now.
 Maggie is the one to scoff now and she looks to Daryl for back up. She expects him to defend you like he always has, but her stomach falls when he just looks away. “ What the hell, Daryl? “ Maggie swears at the man she thought loved you. “ What’s wrong with you? “ Maggie spits. Daryl snaps his eyes at your true friend “ She’s perfectly fucking capable with taking care of herself! Stop lookin’ to me to take care of her ass! Maybe she cut and run huh? She’s always acting like she’s better than this! “. He throws his arms around him to point out the prison. Glenn now glares at Daryl “ That’s fucked up to say, man”. “ It’s the truth “ Emma brings attention back to herself, eyes locking back onto Daryl’s.
 And in that moment, Daryl’s mind snapped.
 ——-
 Your loud scream is muffled as you bite down on your worn out belt and a metal scrap is shoved down on your wound. Tears stream down your face as you force yourself through the pain and you try to think of better thoughts. Your mind frantically searches for happiness and it lands on an old memory of Daryl that does the trick. It’s a little fuzzy, but you can still picture the moment.
 There’s a fire burning out near his tent , signaling to you that he’s the last one up and you take the opportunity to be near him. You creep up towards his little place to call home and offer a small smile when you find his face “ Hey “. He’s currently fiddling with the whole in his jeans, but looks up to find your grateful face. “ What ya’ doin’ up so late ? “ He asks, trying not to accept the fact that you stayed up just to spend time with him. “ Couldn’t sleep “ You shrug your tank top clad shoulders, hoping he buys it. His blue eyes graze your face, stopping only for a moment on the bruise on your upper lip, and then points to the spot across from him “ You can sit “.
 You take his offer and sit Indian style across from him. He glances from his hole to your lip and you touch it subconsciously “ I’m fine “. Daryl rolls his eyes, a man twice your size punched you dead in your face in the bar fight with Randal. He’s seen men go down for less. “ Yer’ not” he declares. You just roll your eyes back “ Well I’m here and he’s not so “. Daryl gives you that. Right after he punched you, you took a vodka bottle and shoved it straight into his neck. Which is why you have blood stains on your arms. “ Ya’ look a mess “ He tells you instead of agreeing. You just laugh in response “ Oh and you look any better? “. His smirk slowly grows. He loves to push your buttons.
 “ Besides, we both know I’m still a ten even covered in shit “ You wink at him, grabbing a laugh from his chest. You’re the only one he can do this with and you know that for sure now. “ C’mere “ he now waves you over, pulling out a rag from his pocket. He wets it with water and grabs your arm as soon as your in reach. He runs the rag over your smooth skin and you awe at how he treats you. No way would he ever clean the blood off anyone else. He’s quiet as he works his way up and down your arms, but you can tell he’s taking his time for a reason.
 He likes this just as much as you
 This memory would’ve made you smile in any other situation, but all you can do now is suffer through. You finally remove the metal from your skin where he once touched you and you quickly wrap the forming scar in a piece of your shirt you cut. Tying it with your teeth, you wonder how long you’ve been gone. They were all probably freaking out and you hate the thought of what they’re going through, but you’d make it back to them soon and that’s what counts. And not empty handed either. Even after escaping the herd and slaying through walkers with one good arm, you made it to an old Piggly wiggly five miles from where you started. There you found formula, cans of green beans and sweet carrots, and even a half pack of cigarettes you found on a walker. This is just who you are.
 Maybe a week? It seemed accurate, but after all the blood loss it could’ve played with your memory so you just put the thought away. Now you just need to find a way home. You debate walking, but it didn’t turn out good the first time... So hot wiring a vehicle was your only true option. The piggly wiggly is scarce of cars so you would at least have to walk half a mile to the next available store to find a car. You began your walk,but stop as you see in the corner of your eye a bike. It’s pink and has a stupid little basket on the front, but this would do. You jog over to it with obvious objections from your knee, but grin at the first sign of hope. You can already hear Daryl’s jokes about this bike, but it would do.
 You swing your leg over it and let a happy laugh escape, before heading back.
 Only if you knew what was waiting for you when you got there....
 ——
 Arriving at the gate, you let the bike drop and run to it “ It’s me! Let me in! “. There’s no one around to hear you causing you to groan. Of course when you get back it wouldn’t be this easy to come home. You now look to each guard tower and when you find a warm body you wave your hands in its direction “ Hey! Let me in! “. The body raises a rifle and once they realize it’s you, they drop it quickly and rush down the tower. It takes five minutes for them to reach you and you realize it’s Glenn and Maggie. “ Y/N! “ Maggie yells happily, ripping the gate open before throwing herself in your arms. You gladly hug her back with your good arm. “ I’ll go get the others! “ Glenn yells excitedly and darts for the prison. Maggie’s scent reaches your nose and you finally let a relaxing breath out. You were home.
 But all of the sudden she pulls back as she remembers she needs to warn you. You can see the stress now on her face , a complete 180 from before “ What’s wrong? “. She grabs your arms, now noticing your burn, and goes wide eyed at it “ What happened?!”. She begins to pick at your makeshift bandage, but you grab her hand “ It’s fine! What’s wrong?”. She drops eye contact for a moment as if she’s ashamed to tell you this, but it’s too late as you hear everyone running out to greet you. First, you see Rick and Glenn again, then Carol and baby Judith, and then it hits you. And it hits you hard. There in broad daylight is your ‘ best friend’ with her arm hanging around Daryl’s waist. Maggie’s grip tightens on you now and it reminds you that this is all real. That your best friend since high school, the same person who you confided in about Daryl, is now holding him like you should be.
 And you can see everyone looking at you like this is high school. Like it was your dad’s funeral again. “ Y/N “ Maggie whispers as if it’s in condolences. You just lock eyes with Daryl with betrayal in your chest, but he says nothing. He just stands there. Allowing her to hold him proudly. “ How long? “ You whisper, your teeth grinding. Maggie’s eyebrow arches “ Wha- “. “ How long have I been gone! “ You interrupt, patience long gone. “ A week- almost two .. we were so - “ She begins, but’s all you needed to hear. “ TWO FUCKING WEEKS?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME ?! “ You scream, charging out of Maggie’s grip. Emma’s eyes go wide, never expecting you to come for her this way since you’ve never been the person to handle your issues so publicly, and Glenn tries to stop you “ They’re not worth it “. He’s standing in front of you with his hands up, but you just look past him “ Glenn I don’t want to hurt you”. Glenn looks to Rick for an answer and you take the opportunity to move past him, and in a swift movement your right in front of the pair.
 She’s now behind Daryl, holding onto his shoulder as if he can save her. No one can save her now. It’s beyond wrong what’s going on here and it’s obvious where the groups loyalty is considering they’re not in any hurry to stop you now. “ Who the fuck do you think you are ?! “ You yell at the girl who you once considered family. She doesn’t say a word, obviously this wasn’t part of her plan. “ Some friend you are huh?! How many nights did I come to you about him?! How many nights did you listen to me and wait for your time to strike ?! “. She’s still silent as your anger boils over “ Real quiet now for a fucking back stabber! I’m sure you weren’t quite when you fucked him huh?! “. Daryl now steps in as you look ready to kill her “ Back up “. And that’s what kills you out of all of this. You take a step back in denial. You thought he was the one man who actually loved you. But it was all a lie . All of it.
 “ Some big man you are , Dixon. Did it feel good huh? Hurting me like this? Make you feel like a man ? Well I’ll tell you what .. fuck you! Fuck you both! Your dead to me! “ You now dig in your pack and throw the cigarettes at him” You’re going to fucking need this ! “. With that you walk away, and begin to throw Emma’s stuff out of your cell. You make sure to break most of it on its way out and once done, you slams the door shut and pull the curtain. You were done. “ Fuck them both! “ You growl, tears pouring down your face.
 Everyone around the new ‘ couple ‘ just stared at them. You deserved loyalty. Glenn and Maggie are the first to go in after you, but Maggie makes sure to glare at Daryl “ You know every day I saw you with her. I saw you care for her and watch after her. And I saw you love her. It’s sick that you threw that away on someone so disloyal “. Emma tries to defend herself, but Maggie looked just as ready to punch her for you. And with that, they all went inside.
 Once it was just Daryl and Emma, she tried to speak “ I knew she wasn’t going to take it well but- “. It’s obvious he’s not listening to her as he opens up the cigarettes and finds another note .
  ‘ Kinda risked my life for this, but you’re worth it ‘ - Y/N ‘
 And it finally makes since to him.
 ——
 That night, you didn’t speak to anyone. Not even when Hershel forced his way in to inspect your burn. You let him do what he needed to feel better, but after that you sent him away and spent half of the night staring at the picture of you and Emma at graduation. When exactly did she decide to fuck you over? It only pissed you off more and eventually you left your cell to burn the picture. You want all evidence of the so called relationship gone. And you plan to do so as you exit the prison with a lighter. “ Fuck you! “ You grumble at the picture, setting it ablaze in front of your eyes. Now you aren’t the woman to let a guy get in the way of a friendship, but this was not that. This was a betrayal. This was to hurt you. You can still see her arms wrapped around him. You can see her doe eyes sparkle at him when she expected him to defend her.
 In this moment, you wish your dad was here. He was always there to help you. To be the wise in your crazy. What would he tell you now? To leave? To forgive--well that wasn’t happening. You shove your lighter back in your pocket and grasp the necklace on your chest. His wedding band dangles from it and you close your eyes as it’s the closest you can get to his touch. “ Tell me it’s all going to be ok, Dad. Cause I don’t know that it is “ You whisper, tears slipping again. Never had you been through this. You wonder if he had. If when he was dating your mom that someone had tried to steal her away and succeeded for a brief moment in time. You bet he would’ve fought for her and the thought makes you smile.
 You’ve only seen pictures of your mom, but she seemed to truly love you and your dad. You wish you could’ve truly met her. That your parents could be here to hold you, but instead you were truly alone. Emma was your rock and she .. she’s just gone to you now. And sure you have Maggie, Rick , and the others .. but it’s not the same. A sob racks your chest as you realize it’s true. Your alone again. Just like you were at sixteen. You let your body fall to your knees and you don’t even feel your knee whine , only your heart beating. Why did you make it through this last week for this? “ Tell me what I’m supposed to do now! “ You yell, not caring who hears. You sob so heavily that your throat hurts from the lack of air, but you don’t care.
 In a guard tower not to far from you, Maggie and Beth watch your break down with frowns. “ Why did they do this to her? “ Beth asks, her heart yearning to help you. Maggie just shrugs half heartedly “ I don’t know, Beth.. I don’t understand why Emma would betray her like this or why Daryl would fall for her “. Beth agrees “ She doesn’t even help “ . Maggie’s attention darts to her sister as if she shouldn’t have said that. “ What? This last month she hasn’t helped me with Judith at all. She’s always sneaking off somewhere “. Maggie begins to question Emma’s where abouts and motives. “ Something’s not right here “ Maggie looks to you again as you’ve finally grown silent. She watches you just now blankly stare out into the darkness and notices the void you’re feeling.
 “ I’m going to figure it out “ Maggie vows, with no objections from Beth.
 ——
 The next week, Maggie begins to follow Emma’s trail. Whilst you just keep to the following schedule: ting up after two hours of sleep, eat half an apple and save the rest of it for later, ignore everyone’s concerned stares, leave the room as soon as Daryl enters, and make sure to take as much guard duty that you can. It wasn’t much, but it was the best you can do right now. And Maggie didn’t like that, which fueled her to truly find out Emma’s motives. She follows the girl for three days. What she’s noticed so far is that one Daryl is ignoring her, two she journals after every day, and three she weirdly stares at you when you’re not paying attention. Like she’s waiting for you to figure something out.
 Emma’s also anxious lately. Maggie decides she’s going to get that journal from Emma at dinner tonight while she’s distracted and get to the bottom of this. Carol is currently cooking a couple of rabbits Daryl caught so she knows it’s coming close to time. Glenn already has a prepared alibi for his wife and everything is set in place. You, having no knowledge of this, approach Carol to see if she needs any help since Daryl is now decided to take tower duty. You force a smile for the woman “ They’re not the best to skin , I know “. You stretch out your hand for her to pass one of the dead animals and she gratefully does. “ That’s an understatement”. The two of you laugh quietly at the fact. You can feel eyes on you right now, but this time it feels different. You look in its direction to find Daryl staring from his position and you’re surprised when he doesn’t look away once you’ve caught him. It’s the same signal he use to give you when it was clear to come be around him, but you just ignore it.
 He was with Emma now and he could go fuck himself. You look back to your task and begin to skin the animal again, this time with more force. You don’t even notice Maggie leaving the surrounding group of people, her plan going perfectly so far. She creeps back into the cell block where Beth is waiting for her “ Go stand by the door and whistle if someone’s coming “. Beth nods and goes to position as Maggie rushes to Emma’s new cell. It takes a moment to find the journal, but she does and takes the moment to open it. As soon as she opens it, there’s a picture of you with her taped inside.
 ‘ Prom 2000 ‘
 Maggie smiles at the goofy you in the picture with a flask raised to the picture taker. It truly sums you up in one flash. But why does Emma still have this? Obviously, your friendship is over. Maggie begins to flip through the pages until she gets close to recent entry.
 ‘ Y/N told me last night about , Daryl again. Honestly thought this was a passing phase just like the others were. At this point shouldn’t he have broken her heart like the rest? I mean he hasn’t even kissed her I don’t understand the pull towards him... But they seem to be getting closer. I saw them a couple of days ago by his bike and she was grinning up at him like he held the stars in the sky himself. She also had her hand in his jacket pocket like she was in high school again..
 It’s honestly just time for him to screw up. He’s awkward when it comes to all this and I’m sure I won’t have to step in like all the other times . But I’ve got a plan just in case he doesn’t ... she’ll forgive me too. I’m all she’s got ‘
 Maggie immediately flips the page for more proof and once she finds it, she’s running out the door and right to Daryl. This was all so screwed up. Daryl was just part of this controlling girls mind games and he deserves to see this. Maybe it can even salvage what he and you have. She’s running up the stairs before she knows it and once she’s in front of the hunter, she shoves the journal in his hands “ She fucking used you”. Daryl’s eyes narrow at your friend and he takes it to see what she’s talking about.
 And once she sees the anger reach his face, Maggie knows she’s got her.
 ——
 You’re actually enjoying being around Rick and Glenn at dinner again, even if Glenn is telling you some dumb knock knock joke he’s told you a million times. It feels good to just laugh again. “ It should be illegal to tell that joke so many times “ Rick nudges your ankle to join in. Glenn rolls his eyes at the former cop “ Oh ha-ha “. You’re just about to join in, but everyone stops what they’re doing as Daryl throws some kind of book at Emma. It’s clear some type of couples drama is about to erupt so you’re just going to make your quick exit. “ Well this was nice, but I am not ready for whatever that’s about. See y’all in the morning “ You calmly tell the two, and get up from your spot to do so. “ Uh-uh you don’t fucking move “ Daryl now points at you, causing you to groan out loud now.
 Who is he to tell you to do anything? “ I’m actually good -- I don’t need to be part of this bull shit again so do me a favor and fuck off “ You stand your ground, crossing your arms over your chest. His eyes soften as he sees the pain in your eyes. You’ve been through hell and he has a part in that. “ Stay “ He demands, his voice dropping slightly. Maggie now joins your side to help him keep you there. You roll your eyes and let the show begin. “ What is this huh? “ Daryl now looks to Emma. She grabs it from the ground and holds it to her person like that’s going to stop this from all happening. “ Daryl- it’s - it’s not what you think “ She takes a step towards him, but he’s quick to back off from her like she’s a mental patient.
 You’re very confused at this point. Why are you being made to watch this? Is this just to twist the knife left in your back? “ Shut the fuck up! Read it! “. She’s shaking as he yells at her and for a moment you feel for her. She’s never done well with yelling. “ I-I “ She’s scared now, her true colors now on display. “ What is this about? “ Rick now stands to end this all for good. Daryl just holds his hand out to his friend “ You’ll see. Trust me “. Rick now turns to Emma “ Read it”. The girl now has no choice.
 “ Ok.. ok “ She squeaks, opening the book. There’s a pause as she’s trying to buy herself enough time, but Daryl takes a step forward and she jumps into it.
 “ Y/N told me last night about , Daryl again. Honestly though this was a passing phase just like the others were. At this point shouldn’t he have broken her heart like the rest? I mean he hasn’t even kissed her I don’t understand the pull towards him... But they seem to be getting closer. I saw them a couple of days ago by his bike and she was grinning up at him like he held the stars in the sky himself. She also had her hand in his jacket pocket like she was in high school again..
 It’s honestly just time for him to screw up. He’s awkward when it comes to all this and I’m sure I won’t have to step in like all the other times . But I’ve got a plan just in case he doesn’t ... she’ll forgive me too. I’m all she’s got ‘ “ She quoted herself, causing shock to spread through the group. “ Y/N I’m so - “ She begins to plead, but you can’t believe your ears. She did this to keep you close to her? Every guy you’ve been with... she’s sabotaged. You feel like you’re on some episode of the twilight zone. And then it also occurs to you, she used Daryl. She twisted his head with the information you confided in her with. She was watching and waiting to strike. “ You cut the fence didn’t you? “ you ask, pitting the pieces of her plan together. Maggie already read this, so she confirms this for you “ And she tampered the truck you drove. She’s the reason you were stranded”. She put your life in danger...
 “ You tried to kill her! “ Rick yelled, now having all the evidence he needs to kick her out. She’s frantically looking around for help “ No! I knew she’d be fine!! I just.. I just “. “ You just thought it was a window of opportunity right? That walkers won’t take a chunk out of her ? That the governor wouldn’t find her ? “ Rick is now furious, already walking towards her with his pistol drawn. “ Wait! “ She’s begging, but Rick grabs by her arm and yanks her towards the prison. Her screams are cut off by the slam of the prison door and your now left to silence. You now take the moment to rub your face in frustration “ What.. Just “ . It would be so great right now if some camera crew came out and said this was all some big joke. You’re honestly waiting for that to happen. That there’s no crazy best friend, that Daryl was never brought into her crazy, that there’s actually no governor and no walkers. “ Y/N ? “ Maggie asks, as your hiding in your hands. You peak through the cracks “ This is a joke right ? “.
 Her tired eyes tell you no and you mentally scream. How could you be so stupid? How could you let her do this to Daryl? Why did you let yourself need someone so bad that she felt she could do this? You look around to see if someone could answer your mental questions and find that you’re the only three outside still. They must’ve all went in to help with Emma. She’s obviously getting removed from the prison tonight. Maggie now squeezes your shoulder “ I’m going to give you two a minute “. You’re still trying to wrap your mind around what just happened, but you let her walk away. Once she’s inside, you peak over at Daryl “ I don’t know what to say “. He just shrugs “ Ya’ seem to like fuck you lately “. You roll your eyes at him “ You deserved that. I won’t take that back”. He smirks slightly “ Seems fair “. You feel like a child about all of this. He’s still the same person to you that he was before. “ Honestly, I have wanted to punch you so hard this whole week and now .. I don’t know what to do “ You dig your hands into your hair instinctively.
 Daryl knows you only do that when you’re nervous , so he offers you a cigarette. You walk over and accept his offer “ Thanks “. You let him light it for you since your lighter is in your other jeans. He watches you inhale for a long moment before letting it go. “ You can do it Ya’ know “. You raise your eyebrow and take another drag “ What? Punch you?”. He nods, now taking a drag from his own cigarette. Now you’re rolling your eyes again “ I’m not going to hit you, Daryl”. “ I deserve it “ He admits, but you don’t believe that. “ No. you deserve a girlfriend who doesn’t have a psychotic best friend who tries to mess with your head “. You inhale the sweet poison again, this time hoping it’ll help the pain in your knee. “ Are we that now? “ He asks, causing you to realize your words.
 Your eyes grow huge and you look at him as if you can now take it back “ I didn’t - I’m not - “. Daryl can count on one hand how many times he’s actually seen you so nervous and the only other time was when you two were stuck hiding in mud from a herd. Your whole face was covered in awful smelling fresh mud, but you never took your eyes off of his. He throws his cigarette to the side, followed by tossing yours as well , and he grabs the side of your neck gently. You allow him to rest his forehead on yours and having him this close was all you needed to calm down. This meant you two are fine. That nothing has to change. He smells of smoke and some type of wood that you can’t make out, but you love it. His callous thumb rubs your neck lovingly and he whispers “ Yer’ mine “. You smile to to yourself. That’s all you’ve wanted for the past year. When you were stuck in the mud with him all you wanted was for him to say that, when the farm fell and you didn’t know where to go next that’s what you wanted, and when you got drunk that night in the barn and threw yourself at him all you wanted was him to give in.
 You run your hand over his that’s on your neck and he opens his eyes to find yours already look up at his “ You’ve made me wait a long time for that “. You watch a embarrassed blush appear, but you just remove his hand from your neck and run your own into his hair “ You’re worth waiting for, but I can’t wait anymore ok? “. He’s expression changes quickly to confused, but instead of using words you just bite your lip and kiss him. You don’t know how he’s going to take this, but you were going to take the chance. He’s frozen at first, not moving at all,but after a moment his lips move in harmony with yours. He gives you a happy grunt in return before he balls the back of your shirt in a fist.
  You part for just a moment to catch your breaths, but he’s quick to reconnect. You welcome the embrace. He doesn’t waste time to pick you up and your arms wrap around his neck without hesitation “ Where are you taking me, Dixon ? “. Your smiling at him and he gives you a slight shrug “ Guard duty”. You raise your eyebrow “ Why? “. He just rolls his eyes as he throws the tower door open “ You’re always askin’ too many questions“. Smirking , you let him set you down so he doesn’t have to carry you up the stairs “ I just like to bust your balls. I’m great with ‘ guard duty ‘ “. You show him your air quotes and throw him a wink before leading the way up the stairs. You open the next door and he’s quick to shut it behind you both.
 “ Yer’ a pain in my ass “ He tells you, before grabbing you again.
 ——-
 The next morning, you wake up on the hard guard tower floor. Your knee is already thanking you for that smart decision, but you’d take the pain. Because you were waking up in Daryl’s shirt. You grin at the fact, but turn over to find he’s not there. Your eyebrows furrow when you find a note in his place.
 ‘ Went to help Rick fix a walker problem. Be back soon.... Didn’t know you snored ‘
 “ Dick “ You smirk at his note, but sit it to the side so you can get dressed. Last thing you needed right now is for Glenn and Maggie come up here and find you in just a shirt. Not that you haven’t found them in the exact same situation, but you’d like to keep that whole score 0-1 . You shove on your jeans and your shirt from last night before heading out of the tower , Daryl’s shirt in hand. It’s early enough that no one should be up anyways so you shouldn’t have to hear anyone ask where you were last night. When the dead started to walk, people lost their reality tv shows so you just know how it would be if you don’t go and ‘ wake up’ in your cell. Your about to do so, when out of the corner of your eyes you see Rick and Daryl out by the entrance.
 You try and find any walkers around them, but you only see one other body and that’s Emma. It occurs to you that they were getting rid of her now instead of it being a big show. Daryl was just nice enough to call it ‘ Walker problems’. You sigh at the site, but don’t give it anymore thought and step inside where your actual family is sleeping. It’s quiet inside, but you can hear Judith beginning to stir and to save Carl some sleep, you quietly grab her from her crib and sway her around.
 “ I know you’re ready to play “ You coo at her as you walk her around to keep her content. You make funny faces for awhile until her dad returns to the cell block to retrieve her . Daryl is right behind him and you smile at the sight “ Your daddy’s here to steal you from me, Judith! Tell him you want to stay with your aunt! “. She smiles at you even though she can’t understand and Rick laughs while taking her from your arms “ You like daddy better “. You just scoff as he walks off to feed her and Daryl smirks at you “ Are you training her to like you better ?”. “ It won’t take much persuasion. Her and I have a great time together as you can see “ You joke, but you can see he’s ready to tell you about Emma. “ I saw you take care of - that - I’m good not talking about it if you are “. He just nods.
 “ Oh and you think I snore? Try sleeping next to someone who steals the pillow! Much worse! “ You accuse, causing him to roll his eyes and place a kiss on your lips. “ Should’ve been prepared “ He accuses you, just to annoy you. “ I see how you are, Dixon. Sleep with a girl and then blame her for the lack of preparation. Next time I’ll just kick you out of bed ! “.
 “ Mhmm so all I heard was next time “ And that’s when you realize you’ve truly ended up with your best friend.
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nightashes · 5 years ago
Text
We’re Monsters. Isn’t It Fun? - Chapter 1
Masterlist - Next
A/N: This is for @stop-it-anxiety ‘s Fall Fic Contest. Prompt used was “Monster”. Figured October 1st would be the perfect time to post this!
Warnings: Spooky dark stuff in like an Addam’s Family the movies type way. 
Summary: The dark sides love the scary things in life. They thrill in scaring each other. Deceit raised his kid sides, Remus and Virgil, to be proud of this. And then they met the light sides...
***
His prey in sight, he crept along. Crouched close to the ground. His lips pulled back in a snarl as he prepared to pounce. Launching onto the sitting figure, he roared loudly, “Be afraid! Be very Afraid!”
“Oh no! You got me!” Deceit dramatically bemoaned as he fell backwards onto the couch. Virgil landed softly on his chest, doing his best scary face as he hissed at his victim. Dee chuckled, smirking up at his son with fondness in his eyes. “Truly a terrifying monster.”
Virgil smiled triumphantly, “I scared you, Dad!”
A sound of rushing footsteps is heard as another figure sped wildly into the room. “Monster! Where’s a monster?” Remus shouted excitedly. He ran around the living room, looking for the fearsome beast. 
Virgil stood up on top of Dee, causing the parental side to groan in pain. “I’m the monster! I’m the scariest thing in the mind palace!” He threw his hands into the air, causing lightning to flash behind him. “Hahahaha.” He attempted to top it off with his best impersonation of an evil laugh, which in reality was just a slightly deeper version of his normal laugh. 
Dee scooped his son up, standing with a yell. “I’ve caught you!”
Remus ran to grab onto Dee’s legs, “I’m a monster too! Let my brother go, you hideous knight! Together we’ll roast you up and eat your entrails!” Remus attempted to gnaw on Deceit’s legs. 
“Augh!” Deceit feigned pain. “You’ve killed me.” He collapsed to the ground still holding Virgil close to his chest. “What am I to do against two vicious beasts such as yourselves.”
“We won!” Remus shrieked happily. Virgil was clinging to Dee’s caplet after falling to the ground with him. 
Remus grabbed onto Virgil’s arm. “Come on, V! Let’s go into the imagination and kill some knights!”
“I just want to scare them.” He mumbled as he crawled off of Deceit, following Remus out of the living room. 
“Remus. Virgil. I know you two aren’t planning to go into the imagination without your weapons. Are you?” 
“I got ‘em, Dad.” Remus whined. “It’s no fun without them.”
“We’ll be safe, Dad!” Virgil grinned happily. 
Deceit eyed them skeptically. “I totally trust you brats. And I know that you guys are going to stay in the Dark Forest. Because if you don’t the light sides will find you, and make you take a bath.” He pointed at Remus, who shuddered at the thought. “And sing cherry songs.” He sneered at Virgil’s horror stricken face.
“Noooo!!” Remus cried loudly and ran off to his room. 
Virgil jumped and scrambled after him. “Wait for me!”
Deceit laughed maniacally as he watched his kids scramble off towards the imagination.
***
“Mary, Mary, Quite contrary. 
How does your garden grow? 
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.”
Remus swung his morning star in wide overarching circles singing loudly about bloody mary as Virgil crouched above him, watching from his perch in a tree. His grin was creeping ever wider as he eyed his brother, readying a leap of attack when… 
“Are you sure about this, Roman?” 
His ears perked up at the strange voice. “Remus, quiet!” He hissed out.
Remus cut off his singing, cocking an eyebrow up at his brother. “What’s up?”
“There’s people. They’re in our forest!” Virgil held tightly onto the tree as he leaned towards the direction of sound. His sharp hearing picked up another voice. 
“It’s fine, Patt. I got a sword. Anything comes close and wham, bam!” 
“Let’s kill ‘em.” Remus happily bounced below him.
Virgil nodded in thought. “We gotta scare ‘em off before Dad finds out.”
Virgil swung down from the tree landing softly beside his brother. And together the two dark sides ran through the forest, Virgil leading the way as they headed towards the sound of the intruders. Bounding past the shadowy inhabitants of the woods. Running past trees covered in cobwebs, caves with echoes that sounded eerily like wailing, and a stream that ran bright red. 
The brothers slowed down as the strangers’ voices became clearer. They crouched down side by side, hidden behind bushes watching their prey enter their field of vision. 
“They look like us.” Virgil whispered into Remus’ ear. 
‘Light sides.’ Remus mouthed back. His eyes blown wide.
Virgil narrowed his eyes at the trespassers. How dare the light sides come into their domain. Nobody was going to make him sing happy songs. Although, perhaps Remus could use a bath.
Virgil gestured to Remus to go around. The foul side nodded knowingly and slunk away, keeping low to the ground. Virgil eyed the apparent light sides as he waited for Remus to get into position. There were two of them and they seemed to be the same age as Remus and Virgil. One dressed like a prince, how nice, was haphazardly brandishing a katana. The other must have been terrified already. He was jumping at every noise, wringing his hands and biting his lip as he spoke to his companion. 
“Dad says we shouldn’t be here, Roman. Can’t we please go back. I’m scared,” He was visibly shaking.
“That’s silly! I am here so you have nothing to fear! We’re gonna defeat the evil of this forest and return as heroes!” This Roman stood proudly, his sword thrust high into the air. Virgil was confused. Heroes were the ones the monsters defeated. Why did he want to be a hero? It was much more fun to be a monster. 
The leaves rustled in front of the pair. “Careful, Patton, it might be a scary monster.”
The signal. Remus was in position. Virgil launched himself into the open, he tackled the scared one, growling down at his face. “ScArY LiKe tHiS!” Virgil shouted. His voice doubling deeper and darker than it had ever gone before. Remus in the same instance came launching into view, swinging his morningstar straight at Roman’s face. The light side managed to duck away. Remus used his own demonic voice to screech at the top of his lungs. His eyes glowing red and the light bending around him. 
“LeAvE nOw oR DIE. yOu’Re iN ThE pReSeNcE oF tHe DEMENTED.” Remus shrieked as he swung his morning star. Roman attempted to block it with his sword, but the morning star merely knocked it out of his hands. 
Virgil was giddy. Remus had fantastic control over his voice and now Virgil was gaining his own. He smiled down at his prey, ready to boast of his achievement. But Patton was crying. Tears were streaming down his face as he looked at Virgil in utter terror. And suddenly, being scary seemed wrong. Bile rose in his throat. What had he done? He had made the light side cry? Being scary was fun but... this wasn’t fun. This was terrible. Scrambling off of Patton, and putting distance between them. He sat there on the ground, his mouth agape in silent apologies. Remus paused his rampage to watch in confusion.
“Virgil?” Remus spoke softly. His voice having returned to normal.
“I scared him.”
“Yeah. That’s what we do. Scaring is fun.”
“FUN!” Roman interrupted. Panting from his attempts to dodge Remus’ attacks. “You think this is fun? You guys are mean!” Roman’s previous bravito abandoned. His hands trembled, his body curled in on himself. “You guys are monsters!”
Patton sat up and Roman ran to hug him close. Patton said nothing. But his eyes remained locked on Virgil. And then the dam broke and he cried out. “Daddy!!” Roman buried his face into Patton’s shoulder and they hugged each other close. Remus came over to stand beside Virgil. 
“I don’t get it. What did we do wrong?” He asked him. Virgil said nothing. Only silently stood beside his brother. Remus wrapped his arm around him. Trying his best to comfort his brother, despite not knowing the cause of his distress.
“Patton! Roman!” A voice shouted through the woods. Running footsteps thudded against the forest floor as a sprinting figure rushed towards the shaken group.
“Daddy!” Patton cried again. Roman looked hopeful as he watched the man come into view.
Remus grimaced. “Another intruder.”
The figure, another side, hesitated for only a second before crouching down by the crying light sides and wrapping them in his arms. “Shhh.. It’s okay. I’m here.”
Virgil shifted on his feet self-consciously. An adult light side. They were in real trouble now. 
The man looked over at the two hesitant brothers. His gaze was like ice. “What happened here?”
“They scared us.” Patton cries.
“That monster tried to kill me, Dad!” Roman bellowed pointing at Remus.
“I’ll handle it.” The man spoke with care. Standing, he loomed over the child dark sides. His eyes locked onto Remus.
“Your weapon, now.” The man held out his hand.
“NO! Dad says we can’t be in the dark forest without ‘em.” Remus defended, gripping tight onto his beloved morning star.
“And where is Deceit? I would like to talk with him about your behavior today.” His voice rang with authority.
“We didn’t do anything! They’re just being babies.” Remus complained.
The man was not impressed. He peered down at them through his black spectacles. “You terrified them. You made Roman think you were going to kill him. I know you dark sides have a warped sense of fun, but when you torment my children that is crossing a line. A line you do not come back from. If you ever bother my children again… You will have to answer to me.”
“Dark sides?” Roman whispered, pulling back in shock.
“This is unfair! You are the ones that came into our forest!” Remus was growing increasingly agitated. He must really hate this new side. Virgil wasn’t particularly fond of him either. He was making him feel wrong. Was it bad to be a dark side?
“That is not a valid excuse for terror-”
“Daddy! I want to go home!” Patton broke through the shouting. 
The light side straightened his shoulders. “I will be escorting my charges back now. I expect you two to return to your own commons. And I will be calling Deceit about your behavior here today.”
Virgil and Remus watched the light sides leave their forest. Remus shouting at their retreating backs to “Stay out of our forest!”
Virgil only turned away. Trudging back through the Dark Forest and towards Remus’s door. 
Arriving home, Remus ran to the commons, excited to tell Dee all about their adventures. Virgil followed slowly behind only to stop short upon seeing Dee yelling into the phone. “Well. the brats shouldn’t have been in dark side territory… No! If they don’t want to be scared than they shouldn’t have been idiotic enough to go monster hunting in the Dark Forest!”
Monster hunting? Virgil thought. These light sides really thought that way about monsters.
“Oh please! You know we can’t get hurt. Let alone die!... It’s not my fault Roman doesn’t know that!” Dee was continuing. Remus shuffled up to his dad. Staring up at the man with a grin, bouncing on his toes as he waited for Deceit to be done. 
Virgil didn’t want to wait. He just wanted to be alone. He sunk down to his room and landed softly onto his bed. Virgil grabbed his blanket and rolled across his mattress, enveloping his small form in a blanket burrito. Ending face down, he sighed into his pillow. What happened back there?
Deceit had always taught them to be proud of being a dark side. He read them spooky stories and was delighted when they played monster. It was always so much fun being a monster. But now, Virgil just felt sad. He didn’t know if he wanted to be a dark side anymore. He didn’t want to be bad. And the light sides were terrified of him. Did that make him bad?
He shifted to his side and curled his legs up to his chest. He closed his eyes to the world. Virgil had always been scary but he didn’t want to be bad. Was scary bad? 
***
A soft knock awoke Virgil. He blinked tiredly, glancing around his room. When had he fallen asleep?
“Virgil.” Deceit’s voice called through the door. 
“Dad?”
Deceit slipped into the room. Spying Virgil curled up on his bed, the fatherly side made his way over to sit beside him. Settling in place, Deceit sighed as he looked down at the young anxious side. He reached over and gently brushed Virgil’s hair back from his forehead. “How you doing, Spider?” 
Virgil tucked his chin down, looking away from Deceit in answer.
“I’m sorry they yelled at you, bud.”
Virgil studied the stitch in his blanket.
“Remus told me your voice warped. That’s truly horrid news.” Deceit’s smile was evident in his words. But it only made Virgil angry.
“Horrid is bad, Dad! And not fun bad. It’s bad bad.” He huffed.
His father’s eyebrows knit together. “Did the light sides say that? Did they say you were bad?”
“They said we were mean. They said we were scary and Patton cried. We’re monsters. Monsters a- are ba-ad.” Virgil whispered into the dark of his room. His words choking at the end. He bit his lips and willed the tears not to come. He didn’t want to cry. 
“Now that’s a blatant lie and I should know. There are plenty of good monsters. I know you know this. Just look at the Yeti. And what about Arabella?” Deceit spoke, pointing to Virgil’s pet spider nestled happily in her terrarium. 
“What about her?”
“Well, spiders scare a lot of people because they look different. But that doesn’t make them bad does it?”
“No… Arabella is a good spider.”
“And you are a good side. If you ever doubt that I want you to think about Arabella and then I want you to come find me. I’ll always be there for you, my spider.”
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kaitycole · 4 years ago
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Adventure Made Blondes...
Summary: Jackson catches Drake up on everything he told Riley and tells them about the ill-fated diplomatic ball.
Word Count: 2381 
Pairings: Drake x Riley, Constantine x Eleanor, Jackson x Bianca
Warnings: N/A
Part 11 of WP. To catch up read here.
Tag List: @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @kingliam2019 @texaskitten30 @glaimtruelovealways @bobasheebaby @bascmve01  @burnsoslow  @the-everlasting-dream  @ao719  @sirbeepsalot  @janezillow  @i-bloody-love-drake-walker @kimmiedoo5  @choices97 @marshmallowsaremyfavorite  @lodberg @edgiestwinter  @marshmallowsandfire  @hopefulmoonobject​  @iaminlovewithtrr  
**I don’t own the characters, just borrowing them**
FC for Eleanor Rys and her dress and FC for Bianca Walker and her dress.
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He waits until her car is out of sight before heading back into the house. He sits back down in his chair before looking at a picture of him and Eleanor on the table next to him.
“I really wish you here to help, El.” A single tear falls down his cheek before he wipes it away.
*          * “Maybe you should just go by yourself. He probably only said I could come so you wouldn’t think he was an awful person.” Drake rubs the back of his neck, regretting his decision.
“Or he wants a chance to make amends with his son. I really think you should hear what he has to say.” Riley gives her husband a smile; she knows this won’t be easy, but she does think it’s important for them to talk.
“I just don’t know, RI. I mean when I confronted him weeks ago, he told me to leave and then confided in a complete stranger.” He flops down on the couch.
“You grew up with your dad being your hero, Drake. Seeing you made him realize that that façade was shattered.” She wraps her arms around his shoulders from behind as she rests her chin on his shoulder, “How would you feel if our baby learned you weren’t the hero they always saw you as?”
Drake knows his wife is making valid points, but it’s not as easy for him as it is for her to accept Jackson’s word. He taught Drake that a man stood behind what he said and how he acted, yet Jackson seemed to have gone back on everything he taught Drake.
“Guess it couldn’t hurt to hear what he has to say.”
“If it gets too much, we can leave. And I’ll be beside you the whole time!” She peppers his cheek and neck with kisses before letting him go, “Let’s go!”
Drake stands up and watches his wife buzz around the room, gathering her purse and sweater before bolting out the door. He didn’t understand why she was so excited about going. He grabs his keys off the holder by the door before locking up and walking to his truck where she’s waiting to get in.
It’s a few moments into the drive before Riley squeals, causing Drake to panic. He looks at her and she giggles.
“According to this baby app, our baby is the size of an apple.”
Drake takes a deep breath, “Maybe save the squeals for when I’m at a red light or parked next time?”
She turns red, “I’m sorry.”
He grabs her hand, squeezes it before laughing, “An apple, eh? Like a Cordonian Ruby?”
“I’ll never understand y’alls love for apples.”
“Speaking of Cordonia, Liam is planning a trip down here.”
“What!” She squeals again, “Liam’s coming!”
Even though Riley initially flew to Cordonia for Liam’s social season, it was clear from the beginning that Drake and Riley were destined to be together. Liam wasn’t blind to how her and Drake looked at each other, so he didn’t make it awkward or continue to try to pursue her. He had given them his blessing, not that they needed it, but Riley wanted it. She refused to tear Drake and Liam apart, refused to be the woman who destroyed a childhood long friendship.
However, that didn’t stop her from befriending Liam and making him her best friend just as Maxwell had made her him. She stuck by his side through the whole social season and helped him gain the courage to stand up to tradition by not settling for a loveless marriage.
*          *
Drake sees Jackson sitting on the porch, waiting for them as they pull up into the driveway.
“It’s going to be okay, I promise.” Riley grabs Drake’s hand. She gives him her best smile, the one he fell in love with all those years ago.
He takes a deep breath, “Okay, let’s go.”
They slowly make their way up the walkway as Jackson comes down and greets them midway.
“Good morning. I have a pot of coffee ready, if you’d like some.” Jackson says, kicking some dirt on the ground.
“Drake loves coffee, I’m sure he’d like one, right Drake?” Riley gently nudges his arm.
“Oh, uh, yeah sure.”
The three of them all walk inside the house; Drake and Riley take a seat at the kitchen table as Jackson pours him and Drake a cup.
“There’s sugar on the table and I have creamer in the fridge.”
“I drink it black.” Riley cuts her eyes at him and he adds, “But thank you.”
“Of course. I prefer a bit of creamer, myself.” Jackson sits down across from Drake and Riley. They all sat in a semi-awkward silence, not sure exactly how to start things. It’s not until Riley’s sudden dash out of the kitchen that either say anything.
“Is everything okay?” He looks at Drake with confusion.
“Is that Hazelnut creamer?”
“How’d you know?”
Drake chuckles, “It’s one of Ri’s food aversions.”
“Aver…That means she’s…” Jackson pauses, waiting for his son to speak up.
“Pregnant, yes. Just a little bit into her second trimester.” Drake smiles.
“You’re gonna be a grandpa!” Riley exclaims, walking back into the kitchen, having heard the end of their conversation.
“Wow. Congratulations.” Jackson says, smiling at the couple in front of him.
Drake wants to be happy to share this moment with Jackson, for his child to have a grandfather. “Before we start handing out grandparent titles, I think we need to talk first.”
“Drake!” Riley opposes, cutting him a look; telling him to play nice.
“No no, I understand where he’s coming from.” Jackson says.
For the next hour, Jackson catches Drake up on everything he had told Riley not too long ago. When he told Riley it was effortless almost, he knew regardless of what she ended up thinking, it wouldn’t really affect him. He had no risk in that exchange but he felt a lump in his throat each time he swallowed while repeated it all to his son.
Drake takes in everything his father tells him. How the picture of love at first sight, a happy marriage between his parents, the type of love he strived for; was all a bunch of lies. He listened to how his father started an innocent friendship that ended up in two broken families, to how his once hero became nothing but a stranger in front of him.
“And know you know everything I’ve told Riley.”
Drake just stares at Jackson, he’s not sure what more he could be told. What Jackson could tell him to make him understand why they did what they did, why they left him, Liam and Savannah. Drake hadn’t even called Savannah to tell her yet; he knew he had to, but he just didn’t know how to.
“Are you okay, hun?” Riley squeeze Drake’s hand.
“Yeah. So, what happened at this ball?” Drake looks at Jackson; part of him not caring, the other part of him just wanting to learn the truth.
*          *
The next day at the palace, everything is a whirlwind. Floral arrangements, name cards and fairy lights are being carried through the palace halls. Jackson and Timothy are watching as mayhem fills the palace.
“Your wife excited about tonight?” Timothy asks, nudging Jackson.
He knew he was talking about the fact the couple had been invited to the ball by Queen Eleanor herself and that they had been given a reserved suite. Bianca has been talking about the ordeal for days. Even calling her sister and comparing it to Disney World.
“It’s all she can talk about.”
“What about you?”
“It might be weird not being off to the side and being on high alert.”
“That’s not what I meant.” He glances around before lowering his voice, “About having both Eleanor and Bianca together. Since you have feelings for…”
Jackson interrupts him, “Don’t even finish that false statement.”
As he strides through the halls, he gets lost in thought: I can’t believe he thinks something so absurd. Only a fool would fall for a Queen, especially someone so much lower in station. What could someone like me even give a woman like her.
The rest of the day is uneventful, especially with Timothy keeping his distance. It’s not until he’s about to leave that he runs into Queen Eleanor.
“Jackson!” She practically squeals before realizing people could hear, “Office Walker.”
“Your Majesty,” he bows.
“Are you looking forward to the festivities?”
“Bianca hasn’t stopped talking about it since the invitation arrived.”
“I’m glad, but I asked if you were.”
“Oh! It will be different for sure, but it will be interesting to see how the other side lives.”
She playfully bumps his shoulder before smiling, “Does Bianca have a dress? I could have some brought to your suite.”
“That’s not needed. I’m sure she will have something.”
“Well, do let me know. I know what it’s like to feel like an outsider.” She gives him a faint smile.
“Ellie, there you are.” The masculine voice fills the air around them.
“Your Majesty.” Jackson goes to bow.
“No need for that Jackson. This meeting is rather casual.”
“Constantine,” Eleanor nods.
“One of the decorators is looking for you, dear.” He tells his wife.
“Constantine. Jackson. If you’ll excuse me.” Eleanor smiles before taking her leave.
“I take it all the security needs are handled since you’ll be off duty.”
“Yes, sir, but I’ll duck out if needed.”
“I expect no less, but I do hope you try to enjoy yourself. I believe all the children will be staying over. Drake and Savannah are welcome to join.”
“I appreciate that, sir.” Jackson says.
*          * 
By the time the ball begins, the palace has been completely transformed. Lights, flowers, decorations have truly changed the once cold and stoic palace into a lively and comfortable setting.
Bianca’s eyes were as large as a kid’s on Christmas; trying to take in as much as she could. She’d been in parts of the palace before but never seen it like this.
“Mrs. Walker?”
She turns around to see a maid smile at her.
“Yes?”
“Please follow me ma’am.”
Bianca looks at Jackson who smiles, “Go on, no one here bites.”
She’s then escorted to one of the spare rooms typically reserved for nobles staying from abroad. Her eyes light up once again when she sees several beautiful ballgowns and accessories throughout the room.
“Jackson said you’d have a gown, but I still thought I’d offer.”
Bianca turns around and immediately drops into a curtesy, “Queen Eleanor!”
Eleanor bites back a smile, “No need for all that. It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Walker.”
“Bianca is fine, ma’am.”
“Bianca it is then.” She walks closer to Bianca, “I had some gowns and such brought in here for you to look at. I won’t be offended if you don’t choose any, so please don’t fret.”
“Why’d you do all of this for me?” Bianca looks at the gowns, she’s never seen such dresses before and refuses to even think of what they must’ve cost.
“Let’s just say that I know firsthand what it’s like to attend the ball in a gown people didn’t find good enough.” Bianca sees the sad smile on Eleanor’s face before looking at her own gown.
Up until this moment, Bianca hadn’t realized that she never saw Queen Eleanor as a person. She was always this high-powered entity to her, but now she saw that she wasn’t that much different than her. She couldn’t even imagine how lonely Eleanor must feel being her and not really having friends. Friendships within nobility were rare, Jackson had told her before, they lasted long enough for each party to get something they wanted from the other.
“Which would you pick out for me, Queen Eleanor?”
Eleanor smiles, “I think you’d look lovely in this one.”
*          *
Bianca walks down the hall, trying to remember which way she came from. Timothy quickly sees her and walks towards her.
“Need any assistance?”
“Timothy, oh thank heavens. I’m trying to find Jackson.”
“The ballroom is this way, I’ll escort you.” Timothy motions for her to continue walking, “That’s a lovely gown.”
“Thank you. Queen Eleanor lent it to me for the night. She’s very sweet.”
Timothy’s eyes widen, “Yes, she is.”
They didn’t say much of anything else as they walked through the empty halls towards the ballroom. Bianca immediately saw Jackson and parted ways with Timothy.
“Jack!” She called out as he appeared to be looking for her.
“Bianca. Wow.” Jackson’s jaw dropped. His wife stood in front of him wearing a completely different gown than she had arrived in. She had originally chosen to wear an ill-fitting dress that she had for years that she’d worn to Tonya and Cash’s wedding a few years ago. Yet here she was in a pale-yellow strapless dress that had white appliqué flowers covering the bodice and flowing down onto part of the skirt. It hugged her sides which showed off her figure more than most clothes she wore and the rhinestone studded belt insinuated her waist.
Bianca’s face turns red as her husband stares at her.
“Where did you get that gown?” He pulls her to his side and kisses her temple.
“Queen Eleanor lent it to me. Actually, she picked it out as well.”
“The Queen does have excellent taste.”
The couple walk into the ballroom just before the King and Queen are announced. Bianca feels herself attempting to cover her shoulders; feeling slightly exposed as they made their way through the room.
“Cold?” Jackson asks.
“Just feeling a bit uncomfortable.”
“Don’t be. You look beautiful.”
As they reached their table, they stood as Constantine and Eleanor were announced and entered the room. Constantine wore his typical regale attire while his wife wore the lavender colored gown Jackson had seen just a week prior. Her hair was down and curled which was usual because typically noble women wore their hair up to events that lasted long hours.
Bianca looks up to whisper something to her husband but stops when she sees him practically drooling. Immediately the confidence his earlier words had given her, crumbled; feeling herself pale in comparison to the Queen.
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yikes-xander · 4 years ago
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owen going to pride , not just in support of his son but also carlos and paul
carlos n paul are like,, owens honorary sons
that paul/owen scene when they talked about skincare?? that's a fave for many reasons but I love the fact that owen didnt question paul bc yknow 'some of the stuff I have to take can cause acne' that's T baby but instead owen just like "I got u heres the best skin care pls take care of urself" idk if this makes any sense but that scene made me v happy I appreciated it a lot n I love the owen/paul friendship
as for carlos? obviously Owen's gonna love him, not just bc hes TKs boyfriend, but bc carlos is The Best they both love TK n care about him so much they just want the best for him n owen knows in his heart that carlos wont hurt TK like alex did (I hope not anyway I stg if season 2 goes downhill I'm gonna scream)
but yeah this is why owen gets the Best Dad Award he cares so! much! about everyone!! he just wants to make everyone comfortable n feel valid bc they all are! he wants to offer all the support he can
@writers pls can we have a pride episode IM BEGGING U
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nocturnal-jeon · 5 years ago
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𝚍𝚊𝚍!𝚋𝚝𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗➛ 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚊𝚕
i hope you guys are okay with the genders i picked and i hope you like this reaction. 
and to those who have sent in father related requests, those will come in time as i’m doing this in chronological order. 
and i’ll try my best to do one dad!bts post per week. 
Kim Namjoon
The two of you sat on the floor of the beautifully comfortable rooftop terrace of your apartment building. No one was outside and it was just you and Namjoon, his face illuminated by the small bonfire burning a few feet away. 
Namjoon sat opposite of you with his right knee pulled into his chest as he looked at you. 
You sat opposite of Namjoon, your legs outstretched as you leaned against the couch, a blanket wrapped around your shoulders as your hands rested comfortably on your bump.
“Namjoon, you open it,” you said. “Y/n, you open it,” he replied. You tried to glare at him, but you broke into cute little laughs. “Namjoon, you open it,” you said with a sense of urgency in your voice. He shook his head, a playful smirk on his lips. 
“Joon, I took the pregnancy test and brought it to you. You can open the envelope and bring it to me,” you said smartly, cocking your head to the side. “Oh, I see how we’re doing this,” he said with a deep chuckle, reaching over to hold the envelope. “So, does this mean that since I made dinner last night, you get to make it tonight?” he asked, being a complete smart ass. 
“Shut up and open the envelope, you idiot,” you teased, but quickly watched with wide eyes as his long fingers opened it. 
“Guess you’re going to be outnumbered,” he said with a sweet smile as he crawled over to you. You raised an eyebrow. “It’s a boy, y/n. Geez, and I thought you were the smart one,” he joked. Tears prickled your eyes as Namjoon sat beside you and wrapped his arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his chest. 
“I know he’ll be as smart as you, Joon. And I really hope he gets your height,” you said as you breathed in his scent, silent yet colorful fireworks going off inside. His long fingers rubbed your arm up and down. 
“I’ve always wanted a son, you know,” he said, leaning his head to the side so his cheek was resting against the crown of your head. You smiled. “You’re going to be the best dad, baby,” you said, snuggling further into his warm body. Namjoon smiled from ear to ear at the sound of that. 
“You’ll be the best mom, baby,” he said, placing a loving kiss to your forehead. 
“Wait, so do I actually have to cook dinner tonight?” you asked, causing Namjoon to let out that laugh you love so much. “No, baby. You do enough. You carrying our son is enough. I’ll cook tonight, so don’t worry about that,” he said.
Not like he didn’t already, but Namjoon would treat you like a princess throughout this pregnancy. Because not only were you the love of his life, but you were carrying the best thing you could have ever given to him. And for that, Namjoon was eternally grateful. 
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Kim Seokjin
Jin was far too invested in these old wives tales for predicting a baby’s gender. You honestly thought it was a little stupid, but Jin had a whole chart on the wall in the kitchen that he made sure to tally and keep track of daily. 
You let him have his own little thing because you could see how excited and happy it made him. All of the boys played into it, too, placing bets on what the gender would be. 
Honestly, it was just incredibly amusing to watch. 
However, your doctor was the most amused when she saw the look you and Jin gave each other when she asked if you wanted to find out the gender. You laughed when Jin called all of the members and had the phone on speaker so they could all hear. 
“Well, congradulations, you’re having a boy,” the doctor said happily. You couldn’t help but burst into laughter and point at Jin’s shocked face as the boys erupted into either cries of defeat or cheers of success. “I told you!” you exclaimed. Jin gave you a glare, before breaking into laughter himself. 
“Yah! These wives tales are lies. I really thought the were right because they told me it would be a girl,” he complained. “Aw, Jinnie, you’ll be okay,” you said as you pulled his face closer to yours so you could kiss his cheek. He told the boys he would call them later before hanging up and placing a kiss on your stomach. 
“Regardless of those lies,” he began, causing you to playfully roll your eyes, “I’m glad we’re having a boy because he can inherit my handsomness,” he said, causing you to slap your hand over your forehead in embarrassment. 
“I’m so sorry,” you apologized, looking over at the doctor. She chuckled. “It’s fine. That was the best reaction I’ve ever seen to learning the gender,” she said, causing both you and Jin to laugh. 
“Here, I’ll go get the printed pictures from the printer and give you two some time to yourselves,” she said before getting up and leaving the room. 
“Bets aside, and the fact that I was right about the gender, we’re really having a boy, Jin,” you said. He smiled and rested his forehead against yours as his hand searched for and found your distended stomach, his thumb rubbing over the skin. 
“A little boy. God, he’s gonna be so handsome,” Jin said, causing you to giggle. “Very handsome,” you replied. “He’s going to be picking up all the ladies,” Jin predicted. “Sweetie, he hasn’t even been born yet. Let’s take it a day at a time,” you suggested, causing him to playfully pout. “Fine.” 
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Min Yoongi
You and Yoongi had just arrived home from your ultrasound and the car ride was completely silent. The sounds of other cars and your surroundings seeped through the metal of the car, but your mouth remained shut and so did Yoongi’s. 
It didn’t even feel appropriate to play music since all you and Yoongi could think about was what the envelope resting in the cupholder said. Listening to your mom’s experience with children and childbirth wrapped you and Yoongi in a blanket of fear. 
But as long as you had each other, you two knew things would be okay. 
The silence continued inside the apartment and as you and Yoongi stood next to each other, the envelope on the table in front of you, you couldn’t help but break into little fits of giggles. Yoongi turned to you, amused but equally confused. “We’re being so stupid. It’s just going to tell us the gender, is all,” you said with a smirk. 
“Yeah,” Yoongi began, “but it also tells us the number and if it is more than one baby, y/n, I swear,” he said in a serious voice, but all it did was cause you to break into laughter. He crossed his arms and pouted cutely. “Validate my feelings,” he whined. “I’m sorry, Yoongs. I understand why you’re so nervous. But there might not even be anything to be worried about. We’ll just have to see what it says,” you explained, slowly reaching for and holding the white envelope. 
“I want you to open it, Yoongs. You need to face this,” you said with a chuckle as you put it in his hands. Slowly, with his ringed fingers, Yoongi opened the envelope and pulled the small slip of paper out of it. You watched his face for any change in emotion, and when you saw tears prickling the brim of his chestnut eyes, your hand instictively reached out to hold his forearm. 
He took in a shaky breath. 
“We’re having a little girl, Y/n,” he said, looking over at you, his eyes painted with immsense happiness and his lips drawn up in a cute little grin. Your heart grew larger than your stomach as you nearly cried yourself. Yoongi placed the envelope back down on the table and pulled you in for a soft yet intimate hug. His hands rubbed the small of your back, while his lips placed butterfly kisses against yours.
“I know she’ll be just as beautiful as you, y/n,” he said, his hands moving to place themselves on either side of your protruding bump. “My girls. Damn. I can get used to saything that,” he mumbled, causing you to smile. You’ve always loved the idea of having a little girl to play dress up with and watch all the Disney movies with.
And that night, once you had fallen asleep, Yoongi shimmied his body down so his face was level with your stomach. Delicately, he lifted your shirt further up. “Hey, little baby. Well, I guess you’re a baby girl, now. My baby girl,” he said, his pointer finger gently tracing a line over the soft skin.
“I’ll always protect you, baby girl. Always. And don’t tell mommy this, but I can tell you’re going to be a daddy’s girl,” he said in a whisper, not wanting to wake you up. And for at least an hour, Yoongi talked to his daughter, feeling an even stronger connection with the little baby in your stomach.
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Jung Hoseok
You had discovered what the gender was when you went to an ultrasound alone. Hoseok was so upset that he wasn’t able to be there, but he was stuck in a different country with a delayed flight, but you promised to send him the ultrasound pictures to cheer him up, and while it did temporarily, Hoseok was visibly upset for hours after the fact. 
You kept it secret for a week until you told Hoseok that you were planning a gender reveal party. And for the following week that it took for you to properly plan it, Hoseok tried to get you to tell him what it was, but you wouldn’t budge, no matter how cute he was. 
You invited both your family and Hoseok’s and all of the boys and your closest friends. There, in your backyard, was all your favorite people in the world.
For the actual revealing, you had gotten a piñata for Hoseok to hit, which you thought would be perfect for the energetic person he was. 
You stood next to the boys as you watched him hit it with all of his power. 
One hit. 
Two hits. 
Three hits. 
It was after that third hit that it burst open, blue confetti pouring out as everyone cheered excitedly. Hoseok ran towards you and picked you up excitedly. “A boy!” he exclaimed, kissing every inch of your face. You nodded. “A boy, Hobi,” you replied. He put you down and pulled you into a tight hug, a few stray tears wetting your neck. But those were all happy tears. 
“I wanted a boy,” he whispered against your lips, causing you to chuckle. 
But his screeches of happiness didn’t stop there. When he bit into a cupcake and discovered blue frosting inside, you nearly spit out your water to laugh when you heard the familiar screech from across the backyard. 
Even after cleaning up later that night and getting into bed, Hoseok would not stop rambling about how excited he was to have a mini version of him walking around. 
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Park Jimin 
You were outside taking pictures of the aftermath of a thunderstorm. The sky was a medium toned gray and there were a few white clouds appearing in the sea of dark charcoal clouds. 
The grass was wet, but if you got your camera to focus, you could see each individual waterdrop on the tips of the dark green grass. 
It smelt like it had just rained and for some odd reason, it calmed you down. if you believe rain has a smell we can be friends. 
Jimin watched from the window, a small smile on his face. It always brought positive energy when he would watch you do what you love. And you were in the zone, too. Your eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as you squinted to  examine the photo you just took. 
But then the phone rang and Jimin got a call that made his day one of the best. 
You were standing in the garden, examining a picture of a ladybug you took, when Jimin joined you outside and snaked his arms around your waist from behind, his hands holding your bump through the large shirt you wore. 
You smiled. 
“Can I help you, Mr. Park?” you asked, a grin on your face. His warm breath on your neck sent shivers down your spine. 
“I just got a call from the doctor about the gender,” he said right into your ear, causing you to quickly turn around to face him. “What? You know what the gender is?” you asked, eyes wide. He nodded, the cutest smile on his lips. “Tell me,” you whined, causing him to cutely giggle. 
“We’re having a little girl, y/n,” he said in a soft, gentle voice. You could not contain your excitement. You were always secretly hoping for a girl. You hugged Jimin and he tightly wrapped his arms around your figure. 
“A little baby girl,” you mumbled happily to yourself. You felt him nod. 
“A little baby girl. A little version of me and you, but obviously with all of your gorgeous features,” he said, causing your smile to grow and your cheeks to blush, if that was even possible at this point. 
“What picture were you just taking?” he asked out of pure curiosity after several minutes of silence while the two of you just hugged. “A ladybug,” you replied. 
“Hm. She’s our little lady bug, y/n. Small and cute,” Jimin said, causing your heart to flutter. And it was at that moment that your little lady bug gave you the smallest little kick. She liked that nickname, too. 
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Kim Taehyung 
“Tae,” you said, peeking your head into his office. He was sitting at his desk, his head down as he wrote into his journal. His back was to you, but at the sound of your voice, he turned around and his once-serious expression turned soft when he made eye contact with your stomach. 
“How’s my little baby doing?” he asked in a soft voice as he rolled over in his office chair, his large hands holding each side of your large bump as he placed a big kiss on it. You smiled. “Are you busy right now?” you asked, looking down at him. He looked up at you, his hands dormant. 
“I’m never busy when it comes to my babies. What’s up?” he said, causing you to smile. He was already keeping his promise of making more time for you and the baby wasn’t even here yet. 
“There’s something I want to show you,” you said, causing him to raise an eyebrow. “What is it?” he inquired. You shrugged your shoulders. “Just come to the bedroom with me,” you said, extending your hand. Taehyung stood and held your hand and followed you as you brought him down the hall and into the bedroom. 
There, laid out on the bed, was one baby onesie, in blue, with the Gucci logo on the front, with a matching hat and bib. And beside it, was the same thing but in pink. 
“Did you go shopping for the baby or something?” he asked, turning to look at you. You couldn’t help but chuckle at how oblivious Taehyung was. 
“It’s not one baby, Tae, it’s two,” you said, holding up two fingers for extra emphasis. His eyes widened and darted back to the clothes on the bed. “Wait, the colors...” he began, slowly turning to look back at you. You nodded, a small smile on your face. “A girl and a boy,” you said, confirming his suspicions. 
His whole face lit up. “Two babies? A boy and a girl? Twins?” he asked, obviously unable to maintain his excitement. You nodded. Before you knew it, he was placing fast yet sweet and savory kisses on your face before he was on his knees, talking to his babies. 
“Hey little prince and little princess. Mommy already knows that you two will be the best dressed babies out there,” he said, causing you to chuckle. He placed a slow and gentle kiss on your stomach. “A little y/n and a little Taehyung. Isn’t that magical, darling?” he said, looking up at you. You nodded. “It is,” you said. 
“This changes everything now. We have to redesign the nursery to feature two babies, rather than one,” he said, standing up and taking out the small binder he had purchased, just to help the two of you gather inspirtation and paint swatches for the nursery. You chuckled at his excitement and rubbed your stomach as you watched your husband neatly fold the onesies before taking out his laptop and going on pinterest. 
“Baby, come sit. I need your advice on this shade of yellow,” he said, looking up from his spot on the bed. You chuckled and sat beside him. 
And that’s how you spent your evening. Redesigning a dream into an even better one. 
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Jeon Jungkook
“Stop being an asshole,” you whined as you tried your best to chase your child-like fiancée around the living room. Your stomach wasn’t large to capacity yet, but boy, was it getting there. And your typical physical mobility was beginning to lessen day by day. So, yes, Jungkook was being a little bitch for making you chase him around. 
He held your phone tighty in his right hand, an email from your obstetrician waiting to be opened on the screen. You and Jungkook, like the children you were, couldn’t decide whether you wanted to know the gender when the doctor offered to tell you when you were getting your ultrasound earlier that day. 
So, she settled with sending you an email with the gender in it for you two to open when you felt the time was right.
And after some more bickering, you decided you didn’t want to know, but Jungkook did want to know. As a way to buy himself some time, he grabbed your phone and ran around with it. 
And it’s been just over five minutes and he’s still running around, his bunny-like smile permanantley drawn on his face. 
“Fine, Jungkook. I kinda want to know, too,” you said, giving in as you collapsed onto the couch, too tired to continue further. He stood on top of the opposite couch, the phone held up high. “So, I can look at the email then?” he asked, looking over the screen to you, his eyebrows up high. You nodded, watching him, amused. 
His eyes searched the screen and after one tap, his eyes widened and his body froze. 
Suddenly, your phone slid out of the grip of his hand and fell onto the floor, breaking. 
You sat up immidiately. 
“Jeon Jungkook!” you shouted, a look of disbelief on your face. 
“It’s a boy!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, doing more laps around the living room, his arms up in the air as that bunny smile made a reappearance. “Wait, really?” you asked, suddenly excited as you momentarily forgot about your broken phone on the floor. 
“A little Jungkook. Imagine that,” Jungkook said as he made his way towards you. Placing his hands on your hips, he leaned down and placed a loving kiss to your lips. Your arms wrapped around his neck, deepening the kiss as his tongue traced the outline of your lip. 
But before you allowed things to get carried away, you stepped back from Jungkook and pointed at your phone on the floor, completely shattered. He giggled cutely. “I’m sorry, baby. I’ll buy you a new one,” he said, filling the space between the two of you and pulling you in for a hug. 
“You better,” you mumbled into his chest. 
But the stress from your phone went away and the joy of finding out you were having a boy replaced that emotion, filling your body with warmth. 
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