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nugnthopkns · 4 years

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if everything could ever feel this real forever

word count: 4.3k

warnings: explicit!fem reader, cursing, alcohol consumption, allusion to sexual content (nothing explicit but minors please be aware!)

recommended listening: everlong | foo fighters

a/n: broke down and wrote for ratty matty. alternalty titled four times matthew thinks you’re the one and one time he knows (4+1′s are fun to write, pls don’t fight me). also pls ignore the fact i don’t know how airports work, i’ve only ever flown domestically lmao

Matthew feels different when you’re around.

You don’t turn him into a completely different person. He’s still himself – an absolute pest at times – but more genuine. With you he can feel everything deeply, say whatever’s on his mind without the fear of being judged. It’s the best kind of different, and he wouldn’t change it for the world. His teammates constantly ask him when he’s going to lock you down; put a ring on your finger and change your last name, but he needs to be sure before he makes such a big commitment.

one

It’s the beginning of July, and you’re sweating buckets in the back of an Uber. The driver has the air cranked, but nothing seems to alleviate the heat. You know it will be worse in St. Louis so you do your best not to complain, but it’s hard. Taking two weeks off to visit your boyfriend in his hometown sounded like a great idea, but reading the weather forecast has you re-evaluating the trip.

Your phone lights up in your lap, and you eagerly unlock it. It’s a text from Matthew. Have a safe flight. Text me when you land. Tayrn will be there to pick you up – Brady and I’s on-ice got extended. I’ll see you when I get home. Love you.

Though you wish he could be the first person you see when you touch down, you understand that his job comes first. Besides, your re-unification will be more private this way. I get to see the best Tkachuk first, fuck yeah you reply, before following it up with Love you too Matty. See you soon.

Soon after sending the text you arrive at the entrance of Calgary International Airport. With a polite thank you to your driver, you grab your suitcase and head inside. The working air conditioning answers your silent prayers and you feel your body slowly return to a normal temperature. Check in is fast, and before you know it you’re breezing through security. A slightly nervous traveller, you’re at the gate earlier than you need to be. The plane doesn’t take off for another two hours. You don’t mind the wait, listening to a couple of podcast episodes and grabbing a snack at the lounge before boarding.

The five hour flight passes in the blink of an eye. St. Louis is busier than Calgary, and it takes you longer than you thought it would to get through customs. Once passed immigration and at the baggage carousel you let Matthew know you’re safely inside the city limits. You grab your obnoxious suitcase – a bright red thing with a giant Flames logo that Matthew thought would be funny to give you – and set out to find Tayrn. She’s easy to spot, waving a giant poster with your name on it. Abandoning nearly all airport etiquette, you rush through the crowd to see her. Over the years she’s become a little sister and close friend, and you really wish you could see her more frequently.

“Y/N!” Taryn squeals as you wrap your arms around her. The pair of you embrace for another moment or two before making your way to her car. Neither of you can stop talking, so excited to be in each other’s presence.

“It’s so nice to be back,” you sigh. “I really do like St. Louis.”

Tayrn giggles. “You’re just excited to see Matthew.”

Though she isn’t wrong, you swat her bicep in faux annoyance. “What? Can a girl not enjoy a nice Midwestern city?” You push your sunglasses up onto the bridge of your nose before continuing. “Besides, I only came here to see you. I see enough of Matt at home.”

She rolls her eyes but extends her arm so you can fist bump her. With a quick look to make sure the way is clear, Taryn exits the parking spot and heads in the direction of your temporary home. The open sunroof allows the wind to whip through your hair and you struggle to tame it enough to put it in a ponytail. One Direction blasts from the stereo, and you join Taryn in screaming the lyrics until your lungs hurt. Being on vacation, even if it’s only to St. Louis, is so freeing. You don’t have to deal with work deadlines or friendship drama. All that matters is spending time with Matthew.

When you pull into the Tkachuk’s driveway it’s empty. It’s Thursday afternoon; Chantal’s at work, Keith is golfing with friends, and the boys are at the rink. You take a few minutes to unpack, filling Matthew’s drawers with your clothes, before joining Taryn by the pool. St. Louis is just as hot as the city you left, and the travel has left you feeling below average. A quick swim is sure to be the perfect remedy.

The water is the right kind of cool, and alleviates any stress you were possibly feeling. You’re properly in vacation mode now, lounging on pool floaties and gossiping with Taryn. An hour later when Matthew returns home you’re in basically the same position. Stepping out into the yard he sees you urging Taryn to turn around so you can place sunscreen onto the one spot she missed, laughing all the while at some ridiculous celebrity rumor she’s telling you. Seeing you get along so easy with his sister, and the rest of his family, makes his heart swell.

In the couple of months you’ve been separated, Matthew’s thought a lot about his future. Specifically about his future with you. When he closes his eyes he can see it clearly: the two of you married with children and a dog, living in a house in the mountains and loving life. It’s idyllic, and even though he knows you’d say yes if he asked you, Matthew still can’t bring himself to do it. There’s something in the back of his brain telling him to wait until he knows with absolute certainty that you’re it for him.

Not wanting to be separated from you for a minute more, he snaps out of his daze and scurries over. Wrapping his arms tightly around your waist and pressing a kiss to the base of neck, he relishes in how you mould to him immediately, not even questioning who it was.

“Welcome back baby,” Matthew mumbles into your skin.

With a chuckle you wriggle slightly in his grasp, allowing yourself to face him. You press a kiss to his lips and it feels like heaven. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, you suppose, because you could stand here kissing Matthew your the rest of your life and be happy.

“Hi Matty,” you giggle against his lips, parting from him only to rest your forehead on his and twist a curl around your finger.

From somewhere inside the house you hear Brady yell, “Jesus Christ, you two, get a room.”

Without taking his eyes off you, Matthew replies, “Fuck off Brady!”

two

The energy inside the Saddledome is electric. It’s the Flames’ first home game in nearly a week, doing an east coast road trip and sweeping every team they faced. Six games later the team is on a nine game winning streaking and are hoping to keep it going. You know how much it matters in this moment – the playoffs are fast approaching and all points they can tally up are needed.

You had decided months ago to buy rinkside tickets for this game, planning to surprise Matthew. He loves when you sit in the regular crowd, cheering and spilling your beer like any old fan. It’s humbling for the both of you, and honestly you enjoy it. Though you love those in the Better Halves box, you were a hockey fan before dating Matthew and sometimes like to enjoy games by yourself. Plus, your friend was supposed to be in town and join you at the game, and you figured she’d like to experience how insane the area is firsthand.

So you do your best to quickly shimmy around those blocking your seat, beverage in hand. It was all you could do to get to the rink on time, sitting in the dense downtown traffic for nearly three quarters of an hour after rushing out of work. You wanted to make it before warmups started to make sure Matt knows you’re there supporting him. No one really bats an eye at you, which you’re thankful for. In no way are you notorious, but it wouldn’t take a die-hard fan long to recognize you. Sitting down and letting a soft sigh escape your lips, you carefully place your jacket over the seat beside you. At the last minute your friend had to cancel her trip to Calgary, leaving you solo. With a quick look at the clock you see that warm up will start in just under a minute. The players begin to step onto the ice as you sip your beer. Matthew is yet to notice you but you don’t take offence. He’s in the zone and most likely won’t realize you’re sitting right in front of him until halfway through the third period.

“Look daddy, it’s Matthew Tkachuk!” you hear a young boy shriek in excitement. “He’s so fast, I want to play just like him.”

You turn to look and see two rows above you there’s a father and son, who looks around eight. He’s wearing a jersey identical to yours, and from the sounds of his excited chattering it’s his first game. Seeing the young boy so happy to be here, to see your boyfriend, has your heart swelling. You want to make this a game he’ll never forget.

“Hi,” you smile at the father. “I don’t mean to intrude, but I know Matthew quite well. Would you like me to get his attention so your son could meet him?”

A shocked expression makes its way onto the dad’s face, but he doesn’t react negatively. “You’d do that?” he asks. “Riley loves Matthew. Wants to be just like him.” When you nod, he lets you approach the boy.

“Hey there Riley, I’m Y/N,” you say, smiling and extending a hand to him. “I’m a special friend of Matthew’s. Would you like to meet him?”

The boy looks at his father tentatively, and only once he nods encouragingly does Riley respond to your question. “Yes please.”

“Why don’t you come down here with me and we’ll get his attention?”

With a little help from you, Riley climbs over the seats and plops unceremoniously beside you. You help him straighten out his jersey before beginning a conversation. He tells you he plays in a local youth league and wants to make it to the NHL one day. When prompted, you explain to him that you work a boring office job that you love even though it makes you angry sometimes. It’s all very formal, but after cracking a few jokes you get him to loosen up.

Matthew, still not having noticed you, begins to skate along the boards in your direction. “Watch this,” you whisper-yell to your newfound friend, “I bet he’ll jump super high.”

As soon as Matthew passes your spot you bang on the glass and scream his name. Sure enough, his skates lift a good three inches of the ice and he shrieks. Teammates around him laugh and the look on his face is priceless when he discovers you’re the culprit.

“Babe!”

You smile. “Matty, this is my new friend Riley. He wears number nineteen just like you!” A glance at the boy lets you know he’s starstruck, and your eyes lock with Matthew’s.

He leans down and rests his hands on his knees, at eye level with the child. “Hi Riley,” he begins. “I’m Matt. I like your jersey.”

After that, Riley’s a tap that won’t turn off. He details every bit of his day to Matt, and even though their voices are muffled a bit from the glass they get on like two peas in a pod. Matthew is great with children and doesn’t shy away from having legitimate conversations with them. He talks to them like they’re people, which is something you admire about him. The warmup time runs out, but before he heads back to the dressing room Matthew hoists his stick over the glass, giving it to Riley. The younger boy beams and waves goodbye. You blow Matthew a kiss, which he gladly returns, and turn your attention away from him as his figure retreats.

“Is he your boyfriend?”The question makes you laugh.

“Is it that obvious?” you ask, to which Riley just shrugs.

“He called you ‘babe’, and my mommy calls my dad that. That means you’re in love,” he says as though it’s the most obvious thing in the entire world.

Matthew cannot pay attention in the locker room for the life of him. He’s trying really hard to listen to everyone’s hype speeches, but his mind keeps wandering back to the interaction you shared during warm up. You looked so happy watching him interact with the boy you found god knows where within the arena. It’s then he realizes he wants to watch you act like that for the rest of his life. He wants to see you bring excited children to meet him because you have the power to make their nights. His suspicion is confirmed when he steps onto the ice and looks in your direction, finding you and Riley pressed up against the glass cheering loudly.

three

The Giordano’s are hosting an end-of-season barbeque before everyone scatters into the wind, and you’re going to be late. No matter how much you reminded Matthew of what time you had to leave he still started getting ready as you were finishing up. This typically wouldn’t be a big deal, but he has recently started taking care of his curls, and the routine eats up a lot more time than he anticipates.

“Matty, are you almost ready? There’s going to be no parking!”

His footsteps echo off the hardwood floor as he comes towards you. “That’s what you’re worrying about, baby? Parking?” Matthew laughs, pulling you into his side and kissing the crown of your head.

“Yeah Matt, I am. You know I have parking anxiety.”

“I’ll drive then,” he says sweetly. “Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve driven us. Have some fun tonight.”

The short drive across town is full of laughter. Neither of you are great singers, but it doesn’t stop you from belting out lyrics at the top of your lungs. At some point Matthew breaks out a rather terrible impression of Axl Rose and you just have to post it to your instagram story. Captioning with a simple microphone emoji, you slip your phone back into your sweater pocket. Though most certainly warm enough to spend the entire evening outside, Calgary currently has a bit of a proclivity for wind, and you’d rather be prepared. Outside of Mark and Lauren’s house Matthew finds a spot and parallel parks with ease.

“Shut up,” you mumble, poking your tongue out at him.

Matthew ruffles your hair in retaliation before jumping out of the vehicle, booking it around to the other side so he can open your door. He isn’t slick about hiding his intentions, grabbing a handful off your ass before leaning down to kiss you. Though you’d much rather stand in the cul-de-sac and make out with your boyfriend, you both have appearances to keep up. You get him to stop being a pest kong enough that you can enter the party and pass him off to his teammates.

You congregate with some of the other girls in the corner of the yard, and enjoy a drink while the sun sets. It’s fun to gossip with them, to catch up one final time before most of them leave. You’ll be staying in Calgary, job tying you down for the foreseeable future. The only thing that’s better than spending time with your friends is glancing at Matthew from across the space.

He’s enjoying himself, glass of water in hand. When he offered to be the designated driver he was serious, and he took the shit the boys were giving him in stride. Though you’ve only had one gin and tonic and can’t feel the effects of the alcohol, you’re glad he’s staying true to his word. The heightened water intake makes his skin glow, and you’re having a hard time staying focussed on the story Lauren is telling. He catches you staring and shoots you a dazzling smile. Tired of keeping your distance, you excuse yourself from the conversation and saunter over to your boyfriend.

“Hey Y/N,” Noah says breezily, raising his glass to you in mock salute. You wrap your arms tightly around Matthew’s waist.

“Hanifin,” you smile. “I’m really sorry to do this, but I need to pull Matt away for a quick second.”

No one in the group is the least bit surprised. The two of you have a reputation for being young and in love, sneaking off often and doing everything that entails. Once the two of you are alone you rest a hand on his chest, dangerously close to the button of his shirt. You then move kissing along the underside of his jaw, pressing your body closer to his to ensure he gets the point.

“Needy baby?” Matthew tries to smirk, but his voice wavers when you reach the junction of his jawbone and earlobe.

Declining to speak, you continue your actions until he’s just as desperate to get home as you. Though you try to be sneaky as you exit through the back gate, you won’t be surprised if you wake up to a few crude text messages. You’re too far gone to care, solely focussed on showing your boyfriend how much you love him.

The entire ride home Matthew can barely focus on the road. Not because you’re doing anything particularly risqué, a few too many close calls have put you both off of initiating things in the car, but because he doesn’t ever want to stop sneaking away from events with you. It’s exhilarating in more ways than one, and he hopes the feeling never goes away. Being with you, his best friend, is something he wouldn’t trade for the entire world. So what if he gets chirped by the boys for having precariously placed marks on his back.

four

September brings a chill to Calgary, but you couldn’t feel warmer. Matthew is due home this afternoon after nearly four months of being away. Of course you visited him in St. Louis, and he even flew back to the city once, but the two of you were mostly separated. Your shared apartment felt cold and lonely without him to annoy you, so you had spent as much time away from it as possible. No longer do you have to fall asleep with Matt’s side of the bed stone cold.

Though you know he likely won’t care, you’re nervous about the new decor. In an effort to make yourself feel better in Matthew’s absence, you completed some home renovations. Most are superficial, like a new sectional and an ungraded home speaker system, but you had redone the entire kitchen after scrolling through pinterest. The cabinets are a bright yellow, and the walls are a warm cream. Subway tile has also replaced the previous backsplash. You’re quite proud of the way it looks – doing pretty much all of it yourself and only calling your dad when you really needed help.

You spend much of the morning not doing anything productive, pacing the hallway back and forth. It’s nerve wracking and exciting to have Matthew home. Things will go much smoother with his presence even if he can sometimes be the most annoying person on the planet. You force yourself to eat a small meal before continuing to wear holes into your floor. He’ll arrive in a matter of minutes, and you’re practically vibrating with how much your legs are shaking.

A key twists in the lock, as though it’s a Pavlovian response, you bound towards the front door. Not even letting him step over the threshold you wrap yourself around him as tightly as possible. Matthew giggles sweetly, and you swear it’s the best sound you’ve ever heard. Tears flow freely down your cheeks and soak through his shirt. In a very ungraceful waddle Matthew carries the both of you inside your home and shuts the door lightly.

“What’s the matter, Y/N?” Matt asks, obviously concerned because this is more emotional than any homecoming you’ve ever had.

Through hiccupping sobs, you stutter out, “I painted the kitchen cabinets yellow and you’re going to hate them. And then you’ll want to break up with me but I won’t be able to take them with me.”

“Woah woah woah, slow down baby,” he soothes, rubbing circles on your back. “Why am I going to hate it?”

When you can’t come up with a justifiable answer, he knows your anxiety just got the better of you. Repositioning you slightly so you’re tucked into his side, Matthew walks through the apartment to see the kitchen for himself. He’s blown away by its beauty, and he can see just how much work you put into it. The room is so much brighter and inviting – he can’t imagine having any other kitchen now.

Once you ramble off an apology for being so dramatic that he won’t accept, the two of you settle into the couch and start a reality television marathon. It’s a tradition that both of you take very seriously, and though he’d never admit it to anyone but you, Matthew looks forward to watching the outlandish dramas. The night is quiet, with you getting through quite a few seasons of Desperate Housewives, and at some point you fall asleep on Matthew’s chest. He knows he should gently move you off of him, start to unpack his bags, but he can’t tear himself away.

He can’t help but stare as you snore softly. There’s nothing Matthew would like more than to spend the rest of his life relaxing after coming home to you. If he’s being completely honest, St. Louis doesn’t feel like home as much anymore, and he finds himself counting down the days until he can return to Calgary. Matt supposes you’re the defining factor, and even Antarctica would feel like home to him if you were there. He never wants to lose that feeling.

+ one

There’s ten seconds left on the clock. Ten seconds until the Calgary Flames will become Stanley Cup champions. You’re holding your breath – you know a lot could happen in such a short amount of time. The lead isn’t as wide as you’d like it to be, only one, and you squeeze Taryn’s hand tightly. Everyone in the friends and family box is just as amped up as you. If the choice had been yours, you’d be sitting in the stands of the Saddledome, but in event the Flames win you need to be with everyone else if you want to join the team on the ice.

Matthew carries the puck up the ice, and you audibly gasp. At the last second, a Bruins defenseman is blocking his view of the net. Not letting the scoring opportunity go for his team, he snaps a pass backwards to Elias Lindholm. A nano-second later the puck is in the back of the net. You possibly scream the loudest of anyone in the box, jumping into Brady’s arms excitedly.

“Holy shit, they’re going to do it,” you whisper, and Brady nods enthusiastically. The clock now only has two seconds, and there is virtually no way the Bruins can make a comeback.

You untangle yourself from your boyfriend’s brother and approach his parents. “How exciting is this!” Chantal gushes.

“So fucking exciting,” you say honestly. “Listen, I want to talk to you about something.”

The Bruins’ head coach is halfway through his timeout, so you have to talk fast. You explain that you want to hang back while the family celebrates with their son and brother. Keith and Chantal try to argue, but you insist. You want them to be the first people to greet him as a Stanley Cup champion.

A horn signals the return to play, and you return your attention to the ice pad below you. Everything seems to move in slow motion; all you remember is the final whistle being blown and getting crushed in a group hug by everyone else in the room. Your voice goes hoarse from screaming, and tears stream freely down your face.

The party continues for a short time in the box, but then you’re being led through the arena and out onto the ice. Nodding in the direction of Matthew, you urge the Tkachuks to greet him. You congratulate other members of the team, snapping candid pictures of everyone to share in the group chat later. So many families will treasure the photos that you can’t bring yourself to stop, trying your hardest to grab everyone.

Once enough time has passed for Matthew to properly be congratulated by his family, you make your way towards him. Wasting no time, he skates over and lifts you off your feet. Your lips meet his in a passionate kiss, and if you weren’t so proud you’d have reservations about sticking your tongue down Matthew’s throat in a packed arena.

“I’m so proud of you,” you whisper against his lips. “My champion.”

Matthew blushes profusely at your words, and you can tell he likes them. “Couldn’t have done it without you supporting me,” he responds, leaning into your touch as you rake your fingers through his hair.

While you celebrate with the rest of the team, holding babies and snapping pictures, Matthew realizes he can’t live without you. No one else will fit into his life as perfectly as you. There’s no one he wants besides you. Matthew makes a mental note to go through your jewelry box in the morning to get your ring size. His mom always said he’d know when someone was ‘the one’, and now he understands what she meant.

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

taglist: @jamiedrysdales @kiedhara @tortito @brokeninsidebutnobodyknows if you want to be added shoot me an ask :)

#the sections got shorter and short lmao #oh well #matthew tkachuk imagine #matthew tkachuk x reader #matthew tkachuk fic #calgary flames imagine #hockey imagine #hockey fic #nhl imagine #nhl fic #cwrites

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emerald-chaos · 3 years

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Already Gone

**gif not mine, credit to the owner below!!**

Oh hohohohoho besties. You are in for it on this one. The other night I had an idea that popped into my head and to say I got carried away with it would be a gross understatement. This is the first time I've written smut in forever so bear with me as I get back in to it. I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. As always, please feel free to send feedback!

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 5.3k (oops)

Warnings: Smut, 18+ (MINORS DNI), language, ANGST (holy shit is there angst), fingering, unprotected sex (please be smarter than these two), infidelity, and I think that's about it? Please let me know if I left something off.

A/N: Thanks to my sweet, sweet friend who read through this for me and helped me fix a few things. Also I take the, MINORS DNI, warning very seriously, so please only interact if you are of age. Please have your age in your bio so I can confirm. By clicking "read more" you agree to this. I really don't want to have to block people.

The cacophonous trill of shattering glass erupted through the space. Raised voices, thick with rage, echoed off the walls. It was difficult to tell which words were coming from which mouth, the both of you overlapping as you spewed out hatred toward one another.

“What in God’s name is going on here?!” Steve shouted as he entered the room, coming back from a late night run at the most inopportune time.

“Stay the fuck out of it!” Your two voices shrilled together as you both pointed toward Steve.

You could feel your chest heaving and it almost felt as though you were foaming at the mouth. Rage was completely consuming every crevice of your body and spilling out into your actions and your words. You turned back to the object of your aggression and watched as he ran a hand through his hair and turned to walk away from you.

“You’re nothing but a coward, James Barnes. A goddamn selfish, son-of-a-bitch, coward!” You screamed with every ounce of energy you had left in your body.

The two of you had some knock-down drag-outs in your past, but it was nothing compared to this. Months of pent up feelings, insecurities, jealousies, and secrets were all coming to a head at this very moment. The last few months the two of you had been incredibly short with one another - a stark contrast from your usual loving tone. Passionate kisses became brief pecks to the cheek, midnight roaming hands became backs set to one another, and ‘i love you’s’ felt more like a habit than a genuine feeling. In your heart you feared it would come to this one day. No matter how hard you tried, how much you wanted to, you were never going to be able to fix what had been done to the man you loved. There was no amount of love in the world that could reverse the tragedy of the Winter Soldier - at least that’s what you were convinced of now.

The man in front of you turned and strode across the room, minimizing the space between the two of you. His metal hand in a fist as he brought it up to jab a finger into the middle of your chest. Pupils were blown wide, what was once a lustful look was now filled with only pure anger. As he opened his mouth to speak, spit flew into your face.

“And you are a self-righteous, ignorant, self-important bitch!”

As your eyes raked over the contorted facial features of the man standing in front of you, you realized you couldn’t recognize them. The man standing in front of you was not Bucky. It was not the man who twirled a strand of your hair when he sat with his arm behind your chair, not the man who pulled over the car to help a turtle cross the road, and definitely not the man who held you in his arms as he cried after a nightmare. The man standing in front of you was a frightening enigma of hatred and rage. This was not your Bucky. In fact, you were almost certain you lost your Bucky months ago.

* * *

You hadn’t noticed the bouncing of your knee until the man who sat beside you gently cupped it with his hand, stilling your nervous movements. It was enough to break you from your thoughts as you turned your head to meet his kind eyes.

“We don’t have to do this, you know. I’ll have them turn the car around and we’ll go back to the airport. We catch the next flight back home.” He whispered in reassurance. Even though your mind was anxiously racing, you couldn’t help but smile at the compassionate gesture.

“Of course we do,” you started, cupping his cheek with your hand as the sunlight glinted off your pristine wedding ring, “Tony was one of the most important people in my life. Plus, I’m pretty sure he would haunt me if I didn’t go to his funeral.”

8 years ago you promised yourself in the taxi ride to the airport that you would never step foot in this place again. That all changed when you got the news of Tony’s death. Your time working with the Avengers was a life-changing experience and it was all thanks to Tony. The memory of him seeking you out to work alongside Dr. Banner in the research lab was one that you could never forget. Tony was an arrogant, pompous asshole but he was undeniably a good man. You would curse yourself for the rest of your days if you let your own baggage get in the way of that.

“Alright,” your husband responded with a sigh as he squeezed your knee, “But please, promise you’ll tell me if there’s anything I can do for you.”

“Promise.” An agreement that you sealed with a kiss.

Mike was a good man, he was someone who cared for you deeply and who made you feel safe. After your transfer to the DC Shield Office, you had sworn off any more office romances. Those never ended well. That was until your path crossed with Mike. From the beginning of the relationship, you were upfront about your past issues with relationships and how you weren’t ready to dive into anything and he simply stated that he was okay with that, that he would wait.

The marriage was a happy one, Mike always playing the role of doting, caring husband. No matter how much you pushed back against him, he was always willing to give you space and to let you feel what you were experiencing. Mike was a good man. But he wasn’t him.

Your gaze left his as your eyes returned to the skyline, the familiar pressure clawing its way back to your chest. It’d been 8 years since you saw him. 8 years since you packed your bags and left the only home you’d ever truly known. Sure, you had this new life - a new husband, new friends, new job with similar duties, but there was still a piece of you that was missing. A piece you knew could never possibly be filled again. You had come to terms with that, slowly, but it had happened eventually. Now that you were back, you knew you were going to have to see him again - see all of them again. While a lot of good memories resided within this area, there was a hell of a lot of pain that went along with it. All you could do in that moment was remind yourself that you were here for Tony - to honor his memory and pay your respects. You didn’t owe anything else to anyone else. Something in your chest, however, told you that wouldn’t be the way things played out.

* * *

The service was beautifully executed. It was obvious that Pepper had poured her heart and soul into ensuring that Tony Stark was remembered as he should have been. The walls of your heart tightened as you saw Pepper clutching their young daughter to her side. Although Tony had made a lot of mistakes in his life, he spent his last years making sure to do good and to make things right. While it felt like a hot knife had been stabbed into your chest as you said goodbye to a once dear friend, you took solace in knowing that Tony was so loved by so many. That his legacy would live on in so many different ways. And that Pepper was there to say goodbye.

It had been your plan to attend the service and then leave immediately after it had ended. Of course, life has a funny way of never doing quite what we want it to.

It was Sam who stopped you first, pulling you into a tight hug against his form as your fingers gripped his jacket. Sam, being the angel he was, never once mentioned anything from the past and instead expressed his happiness with seeing you again and learning that you were doing well. The one thing Sam was not good at however, was keeping his mouth shut. Word quickly traveled through the crowd of your attendance and one by one old friends began to find you. Wanda didn’t have much to say but kept you in a grateful embrace while you expressed your condolences for Vision. In a shocking turn of events, It was actually Peter who was the most difficult to see. The once bright, happy-go-lucky, smiling boy was visibly devastated - heavy dark bags lingered under his eyes and his glow had been severely dimmed by the loss of his mentor. You couldn’t help but cry as you held him in your arms, expressing to him how proud of him Tony was and how he’d told you just that on several occasions.

After the hellos, the hugs, and the reminiscing you had told yourself that was it, that you were going to leave. It was then that Pepper stopped you with a soft hand on your shoulder, a kind smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, and a warm embrace. After a pause of silence, she pulled away and invited you and Mike to stay for the gathering that had been planned following the service. Your mind screamed at you, begging you to politely decline - tell her you had to get back to DC, that you had a flight already booked that you couldn’t miss, that you had important business to get back to.

“Of course, Pepper. We’d love to.”

* * *

The gathering was exactly what Tony would have wanted. It was family and friends gathered around eating and drinking, but most of all - it was a bunch of people talking about Tony Stark.

You told Mike before the two of you arrived that you would stay for 20 minutes tops. That it simply would be out of respect for Pepper and once you felt your presence had been noted that the two of you would slip out unnoticed in the sea of people.

That was 2 hours ago.

Laughs came easy, tears flowed frequently, and stories were shared amongst friends. Surprising to you, it felt good to be around these people again. A familiar pang of home would hit you every now and again as you reconnected with those who you hadn’t seen in years. You introduced Mike to your old friends, who welcomed him warmly and with open arms. What you had thought would be a stressful, gut-wrenching day had actually turned out to be a joyful celebration of life. The day had been progressing smoothly and you wanted to chastise yourself for being so pessimistic.

That was, until you saw him.

Hands stuffed into the pockets of a black bomber jacket, long chestnut hair falling onto his shoulders, and a familiar collection of facial hair decorating the lower half of his face. He looked as terrible as you felt at the beginning of the day. Dark circles had only grown more prominent beneath his beautiful blue eyes and the corners of his lips were drawn down in a permanent frown. You couldn’t help but notice that he’d lost a considerable amount of weight. The once broad, thick man was now far more lean and toned than you ever remember him being.

A breath caught in your throat as the cerulean eyes met yours. Unable to stop yourself, you shoved your drink into Mike’s chest and hurried off to the nearest bathroom. Barely making it in time, you emptied your day’s stomach contents into the toilet. Breathing heavily, you fought back sobs as they threatened to leave your throat. To anyone else, it may seem you were simply grieving the loss of your friend, perhaps taking it harder than most. Oh how you wish that were the case.

You knew it would be difficult to see him again, but you didn’t expect it to feel as though someone had set your entire body ablaze. The heavy feeling of grief, anxiety, and stress from the beginning of the day was crushing your lungs, your stomach still trying to lurch although it had nothing left to give up, and tears burned the rims of your eyes. As you cleaned yourself up and flushed the toilet, you exited the stall to wash your hands and rinse your mouth. You tried to convince yourself it was the entire day's worth of emotions that had led you to this moment. That man no longer had this kind of hold on you - you had moved on. Or, so you thought.

Slowly, your gaze met your reflection in the mirror. The woman there looked worn and tired, like she had been fighting a raging war that she had been losing miserably. Mascara had begun to run down the apples of her cheeks and lipstick was smeared across her mouth. A heavy sigh left your lips as you did your best to make yourself more presentable. A shaky hand entered your clutch as you retrieved your lipstick and applied another layer. You gave yourself a final once-over and decided that your current appearance was as good as it was going to get. Just as you were going to turn around and return to the party there was movement in the mirror that caught your eye. The door was being pushed open from the outside. You turned to protest, to let the intruder know that the bathroom was occupied.

“Excuse me, sorry, there’s someone--”

It felt as though all the air had been taken from your lungs and your heart threatened to beat out of your chest as you came face to face with the man you had tried so hard, for so long, to forget. It was as though you were frozen in time, as if he were Medusa - turning you instantly to stone. Logically, the thing to do would be to tell him to get out or for you to leave the bathroom so that he could occupy the space alone. However, all you could do was stand and watch as he closed the bathroom door behind him, as his fingers closed around the lock and clicked it into place.

Then it was just the two of you. Bodies unmoving, aside from the rapid rise and fall of your chests in tandem. The air felt 100 degrees warmer than it had when you were alone. The silence, paired with the thump of your heartbeat, was deafening to your ears. You were hyper-aware of his gaze as he studied you the way you had him not minutes before. His eyes finally met yours once more and there was a poignant silence before he finally spoke.

“Can’t believe you still have that dress.”

Your eyes blinked a few times, brain trying to process his words and the situation you had currently found yourself to be in. You looked down to the front of your dress and smoothed your hands down it. How could you have gone the whole day without realizing that the dress you were wearing had been a gift from Bucky on your first anniversary? You were positive you had rid yourself of anything even remotely related to him. In fact, you distinctly recall dumping a box of momentos into a barrel and tossing a lit match inside. You don’t remember making the conscious decision to keep the dress, or why you would have made the decision. Now here you were - mere feet away from the man who had put it on and so delicately took it off of you many times.

“S’perfectly good dress. Shouldn’t go to waste.” Was all you could muster as a response in that moment.

The man before you took a step forward and you took a step back, hips coming into contact with the cold marble counter of the sink.

“Thought I’d never see you again. Y’look...different.” His gaze roaming its way down your body once more.

As his eyes landed on the diamond ring nestled onto the 4th finger of your left hand, you felt a lump begin to form in your throat.

“Congratulations.” His words were cold. Inauthentic. “He’s a lucky guy.”

“What the fuck are you doing in here, James?” The words were supposed to be sharp, but instead came out shaky and insecure.

“Saw you out there, starin’ at me. Guess I just wanted a closer look at you.”

By the end of the sentence he had closed the gap between the two of you even more, chests threatening to bump one another. His metal hand slowly reached forward and brushed a piece of hair off your shoulder. The cool appendage felt like fire against your skin and you know he heard the way you sharply inhaled, but you just couldn’t help it. You swallowed hard, head reeling and knees trying to buckle beneath you when you felt his cool palm cup your fiery cheek. It took everything in your body to avert your eyes from him, especially when you felt him even closer than before - warm breath fanning the expanse of your face. Why was he doing this? What was he going to accomplish? The fight or flight response in your body was screaming at you to push him away and run, but you didn’t.

“I’ve thought about you every day since you left, sweets. There’s not a moment that passes by where you’re not on my mind.”

Your eyes closed tightly, tears now welling up and spilling over.

“Everything you said about me that night was true. I am a coward. A coward who lost the best fuckin’ thing that ever happened to his sorry, broken ass.”

A small sob escaped your chest as your hand flew to your mouth, failing to keep it from tumbling out. Bucky found a loose thread and was slowly unraveling everything you’d worked toward in the last 8 years, every step toward progress and peace that you had worked so hard to find.

“I’m so fuckin’ sorry, doll” Bucky was now fully cupping your face with his large, calloused hands, “I’m so sorry that you fell in love with someone like me - a broken son of a bitch who never got put back together. I’m sorry that I hurt you so badly. I’m sorry I didn’t protect you the way I promised I would. I’m sorry that -”

In a moment of weakness, before he could finish his sentence, you were crashing your lips to his. There was nothing else that existed in your world - there was only you and there was only Bucky. Seemingly moving on their own accord, your hands found their way into his hair, grasping wildly for something to hold on to. As your fingers tugged on his roots, Bucky let out a deep moan into the kiss, sending a shiver down your spine.

The kiss was sloppy and desperate, all tongue and teeth. It was a balance of dominance between the two of you - although you were the one who initiated the kiss, Bucky was the first one to gain access to the inside of your mouth, and you were the first to tug his lower lip between your teeth. A pathetic mewl left your lips as Bucky’s mouth began trailing wet kisses across your jaw and down the column of your throat. The heartbeat in your ears from earlier was much worse now, making your head throb in pain. Every nerve ending in your body felt as though it was on fire and a small voice in the back of your head kept pleading with you to stop. For a moment you entertained the idea of shoving him off and telling him to fuck off, but that was before he started sucking that spot on your neck that he knew drove you mad. It was your turn to moan this time as you involuntarily arched your back, pressing yourself up against his firm torso.

You knew the way that you were tugging on the strands of his hair had to be incredibly painful but it only seemed to urge Bucky to continue. A soft gasp tumbled past your lips as you felt Bucky’s thigh push against your aching core. The sensation had you digging your fingernails into the back of his jacket as you finally released your grip on his hair. Before you could stop yourself, you could feel your hips grinding yourself down against his clothed thigh. Your dress had been pushed up around your waist, now only a small piece of cloth covering you as you desperately chased a high.

“I shoulda never let you go. Shoulda been at the airport to stop you before you got on that plane.”

His teeth sunk into your pulse point once more, earning himself another moan from your lips. The sting was soon replaced with the cool sensation of his tongue tracing the marks he had left.

“I love you, doll. I haven’t ever stopped lovin’ you.”

“Show me,” you whimpered pathetically against his shoulder, “show me you love me, Bucky. Please.”

An audible breath caught in his throat as he pulled himself back to look at you. Your chest was heaving, make-up smeared once more, and your pupils were blown wide with lust. You obviously weren’t able to see the look you gave him, but judging by the way he looked back at you it was fair to say you looked broken, pathetic, and desperate for him. The eyes looking back at you had the softness to them that you remember, the strokes of his hands against your body contained the passion that you’d so been longing for, and the tone in his voice told you that he was desperate for you too.

Within seconds your feet were lifted from the ground and your ass made contact with the cold, wet countertop. There wasn’t a lot of room, objects were scattered onto the floor and others were left to push into your hips with aggressive force, but you just didn’t care. It was impossible to care when Bucky moved your knees apart and dragged a finger along your clothed pussy. The sensation made your head fall back against the mirror with a hard thud but you couldn’t feel any of the pain from it at all. The only thing you felt was the way electricity rippled through your body when he used his thumb to apply pressure to your aching clit. Bucky groaned and rested his forehead against yours, lips slightly parted as he felt your need for him growing.

“So wet for me, just like I remember. Lemme make you feel good, sweets, hmm?” He had leaned forward to whisper softly in your ear as his teeth grazed your lobe.

It was you who reached down and shoved your panties down your thighs, meeting a surprised look from Bucky as he helped you drag them down to hang around your ankle. Bucky’s tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip as he hooked his hands underneath your knees to spread your legs open for him. Another groan came from him, this time more guttural than the last. You felt small underneath his gaze and the cool air in the bathroom brushing across your soaking core made you shiver.

Your hand flew to your mouth to suppress the noises you made as his finger slipped through your folds, running up and down to collect your wetness.

“More. God. Please, Buck. Need more.” You whined, attempting to roll your hips against his hand to find any form of friction that you could.

“Anything for you, baby.” He whispered as he gently inserted a finger inside of you. The two of you moaned in tandem.

There was a brief moment of embarrassment with the way your walls immediately clenched around his finger and the way his finger immediately found that soft spot. It was shortly replaced with a feeling of ecstasy. Bucky captured your lips with his to swallow your moans as he added another finger. The way his fingers were curling and pumping inside of you already had you close to the edge. Bucky pulled back and held your gaze as he added pressure to your clit with his thumb, circling the area as his fingers continued to repeatedly hit that spot inside of you.

“Please, please don’t stop.” You begged as you felt the pressure building within the lower part of your body.

“S’okay. I’m right here.” Bucky’s other hand was cradling the back of your head as he whispered to you. “I know you’re close. Can feel you squeezin’ me. You can let go for me, I got you.”

As your eyes met his, foreheads pressed together, you finally came apart. The white hot sensation tears through you as your legs quake. You squeeze your eyes shut and allow Bucky to help you ride through your orgasm as he peppers light kisses along your neck.

“I almost forgot how pretty you look when you cum.”

You whine at the emptiness and loss of contact when Bucky removes his fingers from your center. As your eyes flutter open you see him push the fingers into his mouth and suck them clean. The look on his face was euphoric.

“God. Almost forgot how fuckin’ sweet you taste too.”

Mustering up all the strength you had, you sat up and pulled him closer by his belt. The two of you worked together to rid him of his pants and boxers. Your hand wrapped around him, thumb swiping the red tip and using the pre-cum to help lubricate as you pumped your hand down his length. Bucky’s jaw clenched as he moaned at the sensation. Just as you were going to leave the counter, you felt his hands grabbing your shoulders and halting your movements.

“Maybe a different time, sweets. But right now I gotta be inside you.”

You caught your bottom lip as you nodded and released your hold on him. Bucky’s hands wrapped around your thighs as he pulled your hips to the edge of the sink. The metal hand left your thigh as he grabbed himself at the base and pushed his length through your folds. The two of you once more shared a moan at the sensation. As he lined himself up with your entrance, your hands wrapped around his neck to pull him in for another kiss. The next thing you felt was the familiar sting of his cock stretching your walls as he slid into you. Your lips left his and your forehead found itself pressed against his once more. Both of you panting heavily as neither of you dared to speak a word.

Following a moment of silence, allowing your body time to stretch to accommodate him, you nodded slowly as to signal to him that it would be okay for him to move. His thrusts were slow and calculated at first, as if he was attempting to regain his memory of your body - one that he once knew so well. You couldn’t help but dig your fingernails into his shoulder as you held on to him for dear life, subconsciously afraid that if you were to let go of him he’d be gone again forever.

“Faster, Bucky. Please.” You whimpered into his ear as you took his earlobe between your teeth and nibbled softly.

A low growl left his chest as he grabbed your hips and lifted you off the counter, moving slightly so that he could cage your body against the wall. You wrapped your legs firmly around his waist, locking them at the ankle. His thrusts became faster, deeper, and it was apparent he had gained his confidence back.

“You feel so fuckin’ good, baby. Just the way I remember.” He grunted as he dug his fingers harder into your hips.

His lips were on yours again, this time tears were starting to decorate the corners of your eyes. The pleasure, the regret, the passion, the guilt - every feeling was building up along with your orgasm. Bucky pulled away from the kiss to tap on your bottom lip with two of his fingers, which you greedily accepted into your mouth. Your tongue swirled around his digits until he pulled them out and used them to circle your clit. The added pleasure was almost too much to handle.

“C’mon, baby. Wanna cum with you. Can you do that for me, huh?” Bucky whimpered, his thrusts beginning to falter from the calculated snaps he was giving you before.

All you could do was nod your head quickly as the pressure steadily increased, bringing you to the brink of your second orgasm.

“I love you. I love you. I love you so fuckin’ much, oh my god.” Bucky grunted as the two of you reached your peak together.

You leaned forward to bite down on his shoulder and suppress the scream that left your mouth as pleasure erupted through your body. The two of you assisted each other through the high of your release and you felt your ass make contact with the cool countertop once more.

The only noise present in the space was your heavy breathing and a small dripping noise that came from the sink. Bucky’s final words before he came replayed in your head over and over again as you attempted to slow your breathing and bring yourself back down to earth. Your body shuttered slightly as Bucky slipped himself out of you. As you sat up, you noticed he was looking around the bathroom.

“Shit, sweets. I don’t think there’s anything I can use to help clean you up.” He sighed and turned to meet your gaze that was locked upon him.

“It’s fine, Buck. Not a big deal.”

Bucky bent over and helped you pull your panties back on before he redressed himself. Neither of you spoke for what felt like eternity.

“I-...” You muttered finally, “I love you too, Buck. I thought I was over you, I thought I moved on but...I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop loving you no matter how hard I try.”

Bucky reached out to stroke your cheek with the back of his hand as he listened to you lament to him. His eyes were soft and caring and you could almost swear he was looking into the depths of your soul.

“I think —“

Your conversation was cut short by the sound of knocking at the bathroom door.

“Hey, are you okay in there? Do you need anything?” Mike’s voice had your entire body flooded with the shame of your infidelity. In one swift movement, you were on the floor and turning the sink on to make it appear you were just washing your hands.

“Y-yeah I’m fine! Just finishing up! I’ll find you out there in a minute!” You squeaked.

Mike seemed to pause for a moment before you heard his footsteps retreat from the bathroom door. A wave of relief washed over you, but it was only temporary. As soon as you were relaxed the gravity of the situation you were in was clouding you once more.

“I have to go. I can’t give him any reason to think he needs to come in here.” Bucky nodded, eyes not leaving yours as you spoke while collecting yourself, “but we need to..we should..we have to address this. Later.”

“I agree.”

“Our flight leaves tomorrow night. I’ll...see what I can come up with as far as an excuse. Then we can put this to bed for good.”

“Absolutely, sweets.”

The nickname made your knees buckle once more as you sighed.

“Goodbye, James.”

You finally tore your eyes from his as you unlocked the door and slipped out of the bathroom. In reality, however, you knew this really wasn’t goodbye. Not even close.

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peterxwade24 · 3 years

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Friends can be Family

For Maribat March 2021, day 19 Prompt Guardian.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has barely been the Guardian of the Miraculous for a year when she senses a disturbance at Master Fu's old parlor. She didn't realize that going to check on the parlor would lead to her becoming a mother, that going to the parlor would lead to her finding her closest friends.

Let me know if you want to see more of this fic/AU. I had fun writing this and I kind of want to expand on the idea (like so many other things I've written for Maribat March).

Anyways, enjoy~

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had always known that she was destined for greatness. That she was destined for more than just being a baker like her parents, and her destiny started one day shortly before she graduated from Lycée.

---

Marinette was minding her own business just trying to finish her homework when she felt a jolt go through her. She glanced behind her, her eyes looking for the source of the jolt, and when she found nothing she just went back to her homework. She had several things to finish before she could leave the school but she felt compelled to simply finish the sheet she was working on and pack up to leave. So, that’s what she did. She hurried through what was left on her math worksheet before packing up to leave. She slung her bag over her shoulder after she was sure she had everything secured, picked up her purse where Tikki was still sleeping, and walked out of the library.

Marinette was on her way home when she felt drawn towards Master Fu’s massage parlor so she corrected her course to take her to her former master’s parlor. She would usually avoid going to the parlor since the building itself was filled with nothing but painful memories of happier times, but she knew that something in the parlor was calling to her so she picked up her pace and was practically running.

The moment Marinette stepped into the parlor, there was the tip of a sai at her throat. Her eyes went wide as she took in the situation.

The woman holding the sai was beautiful but looked world-weary as though she had always been looking over her shoulder. She had long black hair and beautiful green eyes but her face was twisted in pain as she let out a groan. The hand not holding the sai to her throat was cradling her abdomen.

“Are you okay?” Marinette asked, her eyes scanning the woman for what could be causing her pain.

“Who are you? How did you find this place?” The woman demanded through gritted teeth.

“I’m Marinette, this was my Master’s parlor. I can help you, with the delivery I mean.” Marinette placed a hand on the woman’s arm and hurried to wrap her arm under the woman’s arms to catch her when a wave of pain knocked her legs out from under her.

---

The woman, who gave only the name “Jade” in response when Marinette asked what to call her, lay atop a futon with several blankets around her. Her brow was covered in sweat but laying against her chest was a healthy baby girl.

“What’ll you name her?” Marinette asked as she collected her tools. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

“Lian Harper. Lian Marie Harper.” Jade looked at her baby before looking up at Marinette.

Marinette nodded and began to write down the information she’d need to register the birth certificate. “I’m going to need your name, and her father’s, so I can register her as a legal person.”

Jade’s eyes darkened momentarily before pressing a kiss to the top of Lian’s head. “Jade Chaumont. Her father’s name is Roy, Roy Harper.”

Marinette nodded. “I’ll fill out all of the paperwork with the government and then we’ll figure out logistics.”

---

Marinette stared at Jade in shock. “So, you’re telling me that you have innate magic that resonates at a similar frequency to the Miraculous. And when you discovered you were pregnant you spent months searching for the Guardian of the Miraculous. But when you were unable to find them you decided your best case of action was to find the place with the most concentrated energy from the Box of Miracles and you found the massage parlor. Did I miss anything?”

“Just that I was searching for the Guardian so that my child and I would be safe from our enemies.” Jade turned back to Lian and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’ll take care of her for me, won’t you?”

“Of course. I would rather throw myself on top of a blade than let Lian be hurt. You will always be welcomed back into her life.” Marinette smiled sadly at Jade, Jade had become one of her closest friends in the time Jade had been in Paris. However, the two friends knew that Jade would have to go back to the League of Shadows at some point, or they would track her down and kill whomever she was with.

“Thank you for this.” Jade quickly wrapped Marinette and Lian up in a hug before pulling back and collecting her bag. “This isn’t the last you’ll see of me.”

---

Marinette moved Lian into her apartment after Jade left Paris, but she always made sure that Lian knew about Jade. They would scarcely see Jade, for their own safety of course, but it was starting to weigh on the pair of friends. However, it would be just after Lian turned three that Jade would pop back into their lives for more than just a handful of stolen moments.

Jade would crash in the massage parlor the first night and when Marinette went to check the next day she would take Jade back to her apartment. Marinette would protect her friend from the League of Shadows, and help her deliver a healthy, beautiful, baby boy.

“Do they have the same father?” Marinette would ask while writing down the information she needed to register the boy.

“No. His father is Thomas Blake, and he’ll be Thomas Blake Jr.” Jade kissed her baby’s forehead. “You’ll take care of him for me when I have to leave, right?”

“Of course.” Marinette pressed a kiss to Jade’s forehead and knew she would help her friend however she needed to.

---

Jade’s visits became more sporadic after the birth of Tommy, but Jade left the phone number of Lian’s father with Marinette for just in case of emergencies.

Marinette woke up one day and just felt off. She whispered with Fluff about precautions she should take. So, just before the force of the aura of the Lazarus Pits crashed over her, she asked Fluff to open the Burrow and stashed her children within its safety because she knew Fluff would be able to keep them safe.

“Tikki, spots on.” Marinette uttered barely above a whisper. She blinked and suddenly she was Ladybug, heroine of Paris.

Her suit had changed since her debut, and it had changed drastically. The base of it was a dark red kimono with a long red haori over it covered in black polka dots with visible black armor covering her chest, waist and shoulders. The lower half of her face was covered by a face veil while her eyes were simply obscured by black face paint.

Ladybug scoured the area, looking for the threat, before letting out a puff of air. She had barely gotten the first syllable of “Tikki” out when she was suddenly blinded.

Lady Shiva stood over her as she laid on the ground in pain. Lady Shiva scoffed before kicking Ladybug in the gut. “Pathetic.”

Lady Shiva turned and left the apartment, but Ladybug didn’t drop her transformation until she stopped feeling her aura.

“Tikki, spots off,” Marinette cried and felt her friend sink down into her outstretched hands. “Tikki, I’m so sorry.”

---

Marinette packed up their stuff, knowing that her apartment was no longer safe for her and her kids. She was waiting for Roy to pick up as she balanced her phone between her ear and her shoulder.

“Who is this and how did you get this number?” A man who Marinette assumed was Roy growled as soon as the call connected.

“I’m sorry, I’m looking for Roy Harper?”

“Why’re you looking for my boyfriend?” The same man continued to growl before Marinette heard a second man’s voice come from the background.

“Jason? Who’re you talking to?” The other man’s voice was thick with sleep and Marinette could only hope the other man was Roy.

“I’m sorry, I just really need to talk to Roy Harper. I was given this number by Jade Chaumont to only use in case of emergencies. I was just attacked by Lady Shiva and I need to disappear. I was hoping he would be able to help me and my children.” Marinette hoped the men were who she thought they were.

“How do you know Cheshire?” The second man asked, his voice turning hard with anger.

“I helped her deliver her children. Lian Marie Harper and Tommy Andre Blake. Please, I need to know I have a place to go after I leave my apartment.” Marinette moved to Lian’s room to begin packing her clothes into a bag.

“Lian, Harper?” The second man, the man Marinette was hoping was Roy, whispered to himself. “Is she, is she mine?”

“Legally, according to the country of Paris her birth parents are Jade Chaumont and Roy Harper but I adopted Lian soon after Jade left her in my custody. I did the same for her little half-brother.” Marinette took the bag with her to Tommy’s room and packed him some clothes. “I just, is this or is this not Roy Harper?”

“Yes. Yes I’m Roy, Roy Harper.” Roy’s voice rose an octave, his joy clear in his tone. “Cheshire told me that we had a daughter but I never believed her.”

---

Roy, Jason, and Kor’i met Marinette, Lian, and Tommy at the airport. Roy and Jason were holding their bags while Marinette passed Tommy to Kor’i so she could more easily guide Lian through the crowd and securely hold her carry-on which held the Box of Miracles.

“Where are we staying while here?” Marinette clutched Lian’s hand as she spoke to the men who were escorting them out of the airport.

“Technically, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Lian Dupain-Cheng, and Thomas Dupain-Cheng are staying with an estranged relative of the elder Ms. Dupain-Cheng.” Jason muttered while keeping his eyes peeled for danger. “We’ll stash you somewhere safe where the League won’t dare try to retrieve you from.”

Jason ushered Marinette and her kids into the car they’d brought with them to pick them up. Jason waited for Kor’i to get into the backseat before he closed the door and got into the driver’s seat. Roy got into the passenger’s seat and made eye contact with Lian in the rearview mirror.

“So, Lian, how old are you?” Roy asked his daughter.

Lian held up six fingers with a grin, displaying a missing tooth. “I’m this many! And Tommy’s this many!” Lian put down three of her fingers and giggled.

---

Jason, Roy, and Kor’i helped Marinette get the kids out of the car and helped them into the manor.

“My grandfather will help you set up new identities.” Jason said after he closed the doors behind him. “We’ll set you up in one of the ground floor rooms so you don’t have to remember the floor plan of more than one floor while you’re getting settled.”

“Thank you. So much for all you’ve done.”

---

Marinette, Lian, and Tommy Dupain-Cheng became Martha, Auriane, and Remi Hensley after a day of filling out paperwork. Martha traded her earrings for a thin, open ended, rose gold ouroboros bracelet, and agreed to let her kids eventually wield a Miraculous.

Martha debuted as Vipère shortly after learning that the Waynes, the family she had somehow found herself adopted into, were the Bat Family. Vipère was mostly seen accompanying Red Hood and Arsenal but was also seen following Nightwing and Starfire on occasion.

If Vipère occasionally had shadows of her own, then no one aside from the family needed to know that they were her kids.

#maribat #ml crossover #mlb crossover #ml x dc #mlb x dc #kwami swap #marinette dupain-cheng #guardian marinette dupain cheng

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headinthestaticsky · 3 years

Text

Extras for The Dusk Calls for me.

Authors Note: While I plan out the next few chapters of my story, enjoy these memories I did for the re-write I did on Wattpad.

TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions and a attempt of SA

Time: This Takes place a year before the beginning of The Dusk Calls for me.

"Makes me feel like flying

Top-down backstreet driving Dusty road all alone

Tip my hat Puff of smoke, smoke

Makes me feel like flying

I just run ."

American Gurl by: Kilo Kish

I was finally out, those words of bile my mother and sister spew toward me finally pushed me over the edge. Yet those words finally got me back with my father in Forks, where I always belonged.

Flashback: One Week Ago.

"FLEUR! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" My erratic mother Renee yelled from downstairs.

My heart started beating out of my chest, what did I do this time? I walked into the dining room, Renee and Isabella were sitting at the table across from where I was sitting. Bella had a smirk on her face relishing in the tension between Renee and I.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You always have to cause trouble don't you?' She replied back, malice laced her voice.

"What? What are you even talking about?"

"Bella told me you've been saving money to go see your father in Forks." She spat at me.

My rapidly beating heart sunk down into my stomach, I had been trying to see my dad in Forks for a year now. My mother refused to get me a plane ticket herself, she always told me I reminded her too much of my father and that I didn't need to be around him anymore than I already was which wasn't often.

"Mother, it's my money I can do with it as I please," I said calmly though I could feel the rage beginning to boil in my blood.

"YOU AREN'T GOING!" She yelled demandingly.

I couldn't control myself, it was as if someone else had entered my body.

"WHAT IN THE HELL IS SO WRONG FOR WANTING TO SEE MY FATHER!?"

"I'M NOT GOING TO WASTE THAT KIND OF MONEY ON YOU!"

"Well you aren't now aren't you? It's my own money and I will use it however the hell I want to!"

"Oh don't you..." Renee started.

"Are you going to tell me you would be doing the same thing if Bella was the one wanting to go see dad?"

"She isn't a trouble maker." She snapped back.

"How am I a trouble maker? For wanting my mother to be kind and considerate? For wanting my mother to treat me with respect? To get an ounce of love from the frozen, undead heart inside your chest?" I asked, my face heated up it felt like it was burning.

"If you can't stand to be around us so much why don't you just move down there to Forks?"

"I will, just give me the rest of the money for the plane ticket and I swear to god the second I walk out that door I will NEVER come back!"

"Fine..." I turned away from her before she could say anything else. Before I reached the stairs I turned around again, looking directly at Bella.

"Get away from her while you can Isabella, or you're going to end up being just as toxic as she is." I then left before they could say anything else.

Flashback over: 2 years before the Original story begins.

I looked to the side, staring out the window. The desert plains had disappeared while I slept and now the lush green forests overtook the view. The fog wasn't heavy but the skies were covered with dark grey clouds and a downpour of rain. The cold weather was a lot more favorable in my opinion, the sun couldn't burn my skin much here. The plane had begun to shake signaling that the plane was beginning to land. I couldn't wait to see my father again, I hadn't seen him since my 12th birthday. When I got off the plane I stretched, being cramped in a small plane for an almost 3-hour flight wasn't exactly the most comfortable.

I walked through the crowded airport, scanning the area for my father. I bumped into some disgruntled couples and quickly left before I was caught in the crossfires of their mood.

"Petal?" I heard from behind me. I turned around quickly recognizing that voice, it could calm me down before I got into trouble.

"Dad..." I said fondly before running up to hug him.

My heartfelt I little more full, and the pain my mother inflicted on me was healed for the time being. We walked out together, each of us was carrying a bag. The wind was strong today and my hair was flying all of the places. Its cooling touch raised goosebumps on my skin, mom didn't buy any warmer clothes for me so I was stuck in the typical Arizona tank tops and shorts. Luckily for me, the car was already warmed up so I dethawed quickly. We drove for a few minutes in silence, the roar of the engine and other passing cars were the only sounds filling the space.

"So, how have you been? I feel like I haven't seen you in a while." Dad said.

"I've been better, you know how mom is," I mumbled.

"I don't know what happened to her, she wasn't like that in high school. If she was I wouldn't have even wasted a second on her."

"I know you would've dad...she's cruel for sure. She's just good at hiding it from people she wants to impress."

"Yeah, she is."

The drive was a giant wave of nostalgia, being 16 now and seeing all of the familiar sites and views brought back fond memories. The old ice cream shop dad use to take me to, the reservation that Sam and Leah lived on, it all brought me back. It also fueled anger, however, as my mother constantly kept me under the brutal radiation of the sun. Dad must've seen the look on my face and put his hand on my shoulder.

"It's going to be okay Petal, you're away from her now." He comforted.

"It's not just her dad... Bella's acting like her too."

"That's a shame... it really is."

"Yeah... it is." I sighed.

"I just can't wait to get back home, the attic is calling for me."

Dad chuckled before speaking again.

"You know... I heard you just got your license... So I got you an older car."

"You did not have to do that dad."

"It doesn't get in until next week, so I'll have to drive you to school until then," Dad said as if that would balance out the fact he got me a car.

"That's fine dad. What is it?"

"It's an old Mustang, a Fastback."

"Thank you, dad..."

"No problem Petal.

When we pulled into the driveway of our small but beautiful home the nostalgia fully set in. The colors were exactly the same, and the grass was just as muddy and dead as before.

"Well I cleared off some shelves for you in the bathroom, your room was a bit dusty so I just cleaned it for you," Dad explained as he helped me take my luggage upstairs.

"Sounds good, thank you again, dad, I love you."

"Love you too Petal." He kissed my head before closing the door behind me. The room was bare, I would have to fix it later on. I collapsed on my bed, facing the ceiling.

"I'm home."

September 17th, 2004.

"Dad I have to go, I don't want to be late on my first day!" I exclaimed throwing on a leather jacket.

"Petal I am almost ready, I never knew you were so much of a bookworm." He joked, ruffling my hair.

"Dad I am an entire school year ahead of where I should be... I take my education very seriously." I said, trying to hide the growing smirk on my face.

"Alright alright let's go," Dad said, taking my arm and pulling me out the door.

We were only driving for a little bit when I decided to roll the window down, I placed my arms on where the window used to be and rested my head on them. My hair blew out of my face and the cool mist of Forks hit me. When we arrived at the school dad was scanning the parking lot looking for a place to park when he passed right by a group of people. They were all gorgeous, their faces seemingly perfectly sculpted, and they all had the same colored eyes, golden. My eyes locked with one however, they were filled with pain for a second before melting into shock. something strange filled my chest and my heart began to race. As we drove past them I gave him a smile, hoping to ease his shock.

Timeskip: September 30th, 2004

Something was up, the boy I saw outside that window, Jasper Hale was more than what he seemed. He was freezing cold all the time, and I swore I saw his eyes turn black for a split second when he saw a boy from another make a gesture toward me. It was strange really, we had been friends for a few weeks but he seemingly had a protective...energy over me. But at the same time, I still felt something... I couldn't explain it. It was as if we were connected to each other in some way. My dad had to take my car to the shop and he couldn't pick me up today so I decided to take a trip to the library, hoping to find some new material to read.

I didn't realize how long I had been in the library until I looked out of the small windows of the building. The sky was darkened and daylight was running out, I checked out a few books and left not wanting to be stuck walking in the night. I was a few blocks home when I heard 3 men talking behind me.

"Oh looks at this one..."

"She seems perfect for us."

"Come here girly... we just want to talk."

My heart raced and my pace quickened, speed walking home. I tried taking weird turns and cuts but they wouldn't fall for the bait. I decided to run for it hoping my legs would be quick enough to evade them all. I was then pushed against the wall 2 minutes into my escape again, the smell of alcohol made me want to retch.

"You aren't very good at listening to orders." One murmured, his face was inches away from me, he breathed in my scent and began to chuckle.

"Don't be too hard on her... I like ones that fight." Another said

"Make this easy on yourself girl..."

One reached down to take off my clothes when he was suddenly thrown back a few feet into the air. I just stood against the wall shocked, I saw Jasper standing over the man before making his way over to the other two men. They both took off leaving their "friend" behind but Jasper zoomed toward them. His speed was inhuman and his strength was unprecedented yet I couldn't stop myself from moving from my spot. The other two men were flown into the air and scream on impact. Jasper grabbed them both by the throats.

"If you EVER try to touch her or any woman for that matter like that again... I. will. kill. you!" He growled before releasing them down on the ground. They gasped and ran again, babbling in terror toward one another.

Jasper walked toward me with a guilty look on his face, his hand reached out for mine and I took it without even thinking.

"Come with me Darlin' I have a lot to explain to you." He said softly, his mood had completely changed with me.

We walked for a few moments in silence, I side-eyed him for any shift in behavior, when it didn't I decided to interrogate him.

"How did you do that?" My voice trembled.

He sighed before replying.

"I'm a vampire." He said blatantly.

I looked at him and laughed thinking it was a joke... when he didn't join I stopped and looked at him with shock.

"You're serious?" I said, my eyes widening again.

"Yes I am, I've been 17 for...141 years. I got changed during the Civil War."

"Damn... you're old... wait were you in the Civil War?"

"Yes, I was drafted to the Confederate Army when I was 17..."

"Yikes..."

"You're telling me, I ran away the first chance I got... I wasn't going to fight in some war that was fueled by warped and disgusting ideas just because I was forced to. I never thought the way they did... I never understood why someone could think so low of a human being just because of his skin."

"That's very brave of you."

"I had just made it to Galveston when I decided to take a break... I ended up on a beach... that's when I ran into an immortal named Maria. She was creating an army and decided that I would be a good fit for it."

"She changed you against your will?"

"I didn't even know what she was doing until I felt searing pains from my arms all the way up to my neck." He explained rolling up his sleeves and showing me his scars."

I traced the teeth marks on his forearm before looking up at him again.

"I'm sorry that happened to you..."

He looked up at me in shock.

"You... you feel sympathy for something like me? I'm a monster..." He said sincerely.

"It wasn't even your choice as to what you became... and I don't think a monster would've saved me back there. Face it, Jasper, you're a big softie who's had bad experiences in his long... long life."

He chuckled before glancing at me, we made it back to the house, dad still wasn't home yet. We walked into the backyard, sitting in patio chairs and looking up at the stars.

"There's something else I have to tell you." Jasper admitted in the darkness.

I looked at him in confusion, what else did he have to tell me? He's a werewolf too?

"You're..." He hesitated. "You're my mate." He said quickly.

"What? How... vampires have mates?" I asked in shock.

"Yes we do, and we instantly know when we've met them. Didn't you feel it, when you looked out that window at me? It was enamour... love, something I have never experienced before."

"I haven't either... but I have to admit I felt something too. I just didn't know what it was, I felt connected to you somehow though. But... I'm 16... falling deeply in love isn't exactly something I planned."

"I understand completely. I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do. I understand I am a vampire... this is a lot to take in." Jasper said lowering his head in shame, his curls covered his eyes.

I sat up and turned to him.

"Hey, hey it's not just because you're a vampire honest! I just need to think things through... we can still talk in and out of school I won't push you out." I said a bit faced-paced. I didn't want to hurt his feelings he did just save me after all.

He looked and me and grabbed my hand.

"Take all the time you need Fleur, I will accept your answer no matter what is it." He said sincerely.

"Thank you... Jasper."

"It's not any trouble." His face lit up all of the sudden, car headlights entered my line of view. I felt my hand by dropped by his cold one and a whoosh of wind flew my hair forward. I turned back around and he was gone.

Timeskip: October 16th, 2004.

It was hard, weighing the pros and cons of being with Jasper.

Pros: We were soulmates... destined to be with each other, He knew my limits and respected my boundaries, he gave me a choice, not forcing me into something I might not want to do, and he was a kind and gentle soul. We understood each other, our hearts and souls were connected and I would never find someone else I would be so close to.

Cons: He was a creature who thirsted for blood... a thirst he didn't always have the best control over, Being in a serious relationship at such a young age was a huge commitment I didn't even fully know who I was... would I ever be able to find out who I am being so committed to someone If I did become involved in a relationship two things would happen... I would die and leave him lonely for eternity, or I would be turned into a vampire... leaving my family behind.

My mulling over of the pros and cons was interrupted, a girl had cleared her throat. I looked up realizing I was still in the school library, standing in the back of the constant isles of books. I turned to the voice and my eyes were shocked to see Rosalie Hale looking at me.

"Rosalie? Is there something you need?" I asked.

"Let's go for a walk, I need to talk to you in private." She said she seemed tense about something.

I checked out the books I got before following her to the outside, we walked near the edge of the woods. The dead leaves and grass crunched underneath our feet.

"I know Jasper told you about us... and he told me that you wanted to think somethings over with him." She started.

"Hey... I just wanted to let you know I would never tell anyone about you guys... And I'm not trying to hurt Jasper with me thinking our relationship over. It's just a lot of process." By the time I finished that statement she laughed and patted my shoulder.

"Don't worry Fleur I completely understand why you want to think over some things... I would too if I were in your shoes. Besides, I trust you... I get a good vibe off of you." Rosalie replied smiling at me.

"I want to get into a relationship with Jasper I do but... I don't want to leave my father... he's all I got right now and I'm all he's got."

"Hey, I promise no one would force you into becoming a vampire in our family... I especially wouldn't force you to."

"Really?"

"Yes of course... It's nice to meet someone with a respect for mortality."

"It's just... I always to do certain things... like going to that art school in Cayon City Oregon... the Art Museums down there are amazing... and I always wanted to kid when I was older... a little boy." I explained smiling fondly at the thought.

"I did too... I always wanted a son."

"But at the same time... I wouldn't want to spend all my time with Jasper... only to leave him alone for eternity you know?" I asked her hoping she would get my point of view.

"Of course... I can tell you've been conflicted these past few weeks about it. But I wanted to vouch for Jasper... he's willing to do anything for you, and his thirst for blood has never been more controlled than when he's been with you. He won't take you away from your family either... he would never want to hurt you in any way possible." She explains turning toward me to look me in the eyes so the message could really sink in.

"Thanks, Rosalie..."

"Of course...give Jasper a chance, I promise it'll be worth it." She said.

"I will... I'll talk to him tonight, thanks for the guidance."

"No problem."

Timeskip: October 16th, 2004: 10:12 PM

Dad was gone, he had to work late down at the station tonight. My palms and legs shook nervous to tell Jasper my decision. I was sitting in the same spot I was in when Jasper told me I was his soulmate... the cool air calmed my nerves slightly before I closed my eyes and sighed.

"Fleur? You said you wanted to talk to me... are you okay?" Jasper's voice asked worryingly behind my closed lids.

"Yeah, I'm fine... I just wanted to give you an answer about... everything."

He sat down adjacent to me and nodded, wanting me to continue.

"I will get into a relationship with you... thank you for giving me the time to think about things."

He smiled before asking me if he could kiss my cheek. I said yes of course and it seemed my body melted in bliss and content. All the past weeks' tensions and worrying left me and it was replaced with love... and a sense of stability. We looked up at the stars and I pointed toward the largest one in the sky.

"You see that one?" I said.

"Yes, I do Darlin'."

"That is the star of the path I started with you..."

#twilight saga #twilight #jasper whitlock x oc #jasper hale x reader #jasper hale x oc #jasper whitlock #jasper cullen #jasper hale #jacob black #esme cullen #edward cullen #carlisle cullen #alice cullen #rosalie hale #Emmett Cullen #bella swan

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pink-imagines · 5 years

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spice it up

request: Ok this is something that’s been on my mind for a couple of days now, and it’s SUPER CHEESY but plz bear with me haha. I’ve been watching a lot of ANTM and it inspired me to think about an au where Bakugo is a pro-hero and Y/N is a upcoming top model visiting Japan to walk and display a new line of lingerie based off of Pro-Hero’s costumes (kinda like for a Victoria’s Secret fashion show) She’s chosen to wear the Ground Zero lingerie and she gets permission to shadow Bakugo for a day or two to get a read on his personality so she can base her walk off of him. Thing is, off the catwalk, Y/N’s personality is free-spirited, laidback and even a little shy, so when Bakugo meets her he’s like “why the fuck would they choose an extra like her to be me?” but little does he know on the catwalk her personality does a complete 180 and is outrageously fierce and confident. Pro-hero’s got a free invitation to the fashion show so with some convincing from his friends (and maybe because he was curious to see how the hell she was going to pull this off) he goes to the show and his reaction to when she steps on the catwalk… Lol I want to leave it up to you. Wow that was wayyy longer then I expected it to be. I’m sorry to spam you like that 😂 I feel like ppl are either going to love or hate this idea so if you don’t want to write it I honestly don’t blame you haha. Either way I love your posts! You’re writing style is very fun to read!

a/n: hellooo! hope you’re doing well! sorry for the late update, but i hope that this is an alright imagine!

warnings: description of lingerie(??)

masterlist

You were exhausted. The airport had always been a stressful place, but now you were jetlagged aswell. Flying to Japan wasn’t an easy task, but it was worth it. You carefully pushed the sunglasses you were wearing up the bridge of your nose. It was a weak disguise, but you really couldn’t care less.

“The car’s waiting outside. Let’s hurry up.”, your manager spoke fast. You grabbed your bag and followed after her. The paparazzi were flooding the exit, luckily they had put up fences. This was one of the reasons you had to look atleast a little bit dressed up on airports. Which was the most uncomfortable thing ever, but you just had to live with it. By “dressed up” they usually just meant “don’t wear sweatpants”. So you could still wear your comfy pair of jeans and a nice sweater or something of the sort.

“How do you feel after travelling so much? From New York, to London, to Paris and now here in Tokyo. How do you cope?” The same questions were popping up everywhere, but you didn’t stop for any of them. The only time you did stop was when you saw a few fans getting strangled against the fence. You hurried towards them, got their things signed and made sure they got back to safety.

“Let’s go, Y/N.”, your manager warned.

“Coming!”, you sighed and kept walking.

The next day you were driven to the place where you’d be messured for the lingerie.

“Y/N? Over here, honey!”, the designer said. He got you into a chair as soon as you arrived.

“What do you have for me today, Ray?”, you smiled kindly.

“So, heroes are a big thing. So we’ve made a line of hero-inspired lingerie, we think it’ll be a hit.”, he said with a big grin and showed you the sketches, “We’ll get them ready as soon as possible, but we need to match the right hero to the right model.”

“Alright, I trust your judgement.”, you looked through the sketches, “Give it to me, Ray.”

“Okay, okay. Since you’re the most charesmatic of the girls, we want you take care of the hothead.”, he pointed at one of the sketches, “Ground Zero.” You looked at the sketch. The top was some sort of dulled down orange color, in a lacy material. That wasn’t that bad, it was the usual, but there was a leather harness on top of it... a leather harness that connected to a leather choker. The bottoms were high-waisted and in the same lace material but black. But that wasn’t it. There was a pair of leather, knee-high, boots along with it.

“It’s... extreme.”, you sighed, “But, sure... I’ll do it.”

“Oh, thank you, Y/N. You’re a life saver, no model in Japan wanted to take the roll.”, he chuckled, “Here I’ll show you what we thought we should do for the face.” He showed you a face with cat-eye eyeliner, a simple nude lip and some sort of explosion looking thing behind the ears. You guessed that was a part of Ground Zero’s hero costume.

“Looks great, Ray.”, you smiled.

“Go get yourself meassured, your manager is booking you a meeting with Ground Zero so that you can study his personality.”, he said calmly and started to walk away.

How had you gotten yourself in this mess? To be honest, you didn’t know anymore. Everything happened so fast and now suddenly you were in the lobby of a hero agency, waiting for Ground Zero to go on his lunch break.

“Y/N Y/L/N?”, a rough voice asked behind you. You turned around to see a pair of crimson eyes staring into your soul. His hair was messy and he was just wearing jeans, a hoodie and a leather jacket. You didn’t know why you thought he’d show up in his hero costume.

“I’m guessing you’re Ground Zero?”, you stretched out your hand.

“You can say Bakugo.”, he scoffed and ignored your stretched out hand. He instead put his hands in his pockets.

“Are you ready to go?”, you asked.

“Why else would I be here?”, he sighed and walked to the exit. This was gonna be an exhausting week.

Bakugo walked as if he had just proven a point, or like he had just won an argument. To say the least, there was only pure confidence flooding in his veins. You hated it, but you simply had to see this as a job. You weren’t in your body, you were only watching from the audience.

“Are you just gonna sit there looking at me? You’re not gonna talk?”, he quirked an eyebrow at you.

“Fine then... um... what kind of music do you listen to?”, you asked innocently.

“Music?”, he bursted out into laughter, “That’s it? You really are just another extra!”

“Listen, man, you’re the one who wanted to talk. So talk.”, you kept your calm, you didn’t want to make a scene out in public.

“Eh- this place sucks, let’s go to my apartment. We can talk there.”, he shrugged and walked faster.

“Your apartment?”, you squeaked.

You were just supposed to follow him around for a while every day, but now you were in his apartment. This was only the first day! His apartment was nice though... it kind of had an oldschool aesthetic to it. Like he came straight out of a private school in England during the 1980′s.

“You asked what kind of music I’m into or something?”, he sighed and walked over to a record player after taking off his shoes and hanging up his jacket. You stopped for a second. Didn’t he just make fun of you for asking that? You watched as he flipped through a few records.

“Yeah, I did.”, you answered cautiosly and hung up your coat next to his jacket.

He effortlessly handled one of the vinyls and quickly put it on the record player... it started playing and-... was that The Beatles? Bakugo sat down on his couch as if it wasn’t extremely shocking for him to listen to this.

“You listen to The Beatles?”, you asked as Paul McCartney started signing the first verse of Yesterday.

“Who doesn’t?”, he sighed, “C’mon, sit down.” You sat down in one of the armchair’s and finished listening to the song.

“You don’t seem like you listen to this kind of music.”, you commented as the next song started playing.

“I don’t only listen to this, idiot.”, he snarked, “This was the first thing I found.”

“Whatever you say.”

A few days went by and you’d go through the same schedule. Wait for Bakugo to go out for his lunchbreak, walk around for a bit, go to his apartment and go home when he had to start his next shift. He started making you lunch, and he was a surprisingly good cook.

For the last day he stopped you before you parted ways.

“Wait-... can I meet you at your hotel later tonight?”, he actually looked a little bit nervous for once.

“I mean, yeah... but why?”, you gave him an unsure smile.

“I’ll take you out for food, something spicy... unless you can’t handle that.”, he grinned, his confidence was suddenly back.

“You wanna bet?”, your laughed.

“Alright then, it’s a bet.”, he chuckled, “I’ll meet you around 7 in the lobby.”

“For sure. I’ll see you!”, you waved goodbye and so did he.

Just when you were about to sneak out to the lobby your manager walked past.

“Where are you going?”, she asked.

“I was just uh...”

“And why’s Ground Zero in the lobby? He’s starting a commotion! We don’t need that, we need you to rest for the show tomorrow!”, she sighed.

“Please, I just wanted to-”

“No, Y/N. You can’t go out tonight, you have a damn show tomorrow.”

“Well, please just tell Bak- I mean... Ground Zero that I can’t come... and that I’m sorry.”, you pleaded, “Please.”

“Fine...”, she agreed.

The next day you woke up early to go to the fitting, so that you could later that day go to the show. Since they had your measurments, it fit perfectly.

“Hey, Laura!”, you stopped your manager as she passed by your make up station.

“Yeah, what’s up? Need anything?”, she asked.

“No-... I was just wondering if you know if Ground Zero would be here tonight.”, you asked.

“I don’t know, honey.”, she sighed, “He hasn’t said anything about it.”

“Alright, thank you.”

You got a moment alone in your changing room before you were going backstage. There was a harch knock on the door, which prompted you to go over to it and open the door.

“Is it time to come out n-”, you stopped dead in your tracks when you saw Bakugo in front of you.

“Hey.”, he said quietly.

“Hi.”, you responded, “How did you get back here?”

“It’s not that hard for a hero of my status.”, he grinned and puffed up his chest a bit.

“Okay, okay...”, you chuckled and wrapped the silk robe you had on tighter around you, “Well, I’m happy you made it.”

“Y/N! Showtime!”, you heard your manager shout.

“Coming!”, you answered.

“Good luck... on the show...”, he muttered.

“Thank you! I expect to see you in the crowd.”, you grinned and ran up to the backstage area.

Maybe he should’ve tried to see what she was wearing. He really hadn’t thought about it at all...

The show was in alphabetic order, so he’d have to sit there for a bit before she’d come out. He really didn’t care much for the other models and he might’ve fell asleep for a few minutes here and there... but that was the chair’s fault! It was too comfortable, it even had armrests! How could he not fall asleep? Just for a bit...

“Ground Zero!”, they shouted, making him almost jump out of his seat. Eijiro, who sat beside him, let out a quiet chuckle.

“Shut up, man...”, he whispered before glueing his eyes to the runway. He didn’t even recognize her at first. Y/N was... different... and it wasn’t just the clothing... or more like the lack there of.

Her whole aura was different when she walked she was like a whole new person. She was fierce, confident, simply the embodiment of a goddess of war and destruction. Katsuki’s eyes were glued to her, every curve and edge, and his mouth was slightly agape in shock. He didn’t even realize that people were taking pictures of him.

After the show Katsuki made his way backstage, where he met up with Y/N who was now wrapped up in her silk robe again.

“What did you think? Did you like it?”, she grinned.

“I-...”, he looked around at the people around him who were all watching, “It was alright.”

“Alright?”, you laughed, “Okay then, you diva, I’m gonna go get changed!” His gaze followed her form as she walked away from him to her changing room... until he noticed that people were staring at him.

“Oi! What are you looking at!?”

The next day you were already at the airport early in the morning, which was way to early since the plane didn’t leave for another hour. So you decided to look at the articles about last night.

You scrolled quickly through most of them until you saw a picture of a familiar face. It was Bakugo! Looking absolutely star struck as your figure strutted down the runway. A smile spread across your lips and you took a screenshot of the photo.

“Hey, do we have Ground Zero’s buisness email or something like that?”, you asked your manager.

“I can get it for you. Why do you need it?”, she quirked an eyebrow at you.

“Oh, I just wanted to thank him.”, you smiled sweetly, “Also, do you know the next time I’ll be working in Japan?”

“In a few months or so.”

“Perfect.” You couldn’t wait.

tagged for this fic: @bnha-violetnote | @succulent-momma

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simplybakugou · 4 years

Text

Warmth

↝ Following a traumatic event from a few years ago, you find yourself in a moment of panic before your boyfriend is there to comfort you.

BINGO SPACE: Sharing Clothes

⋆ PAIRING: prohero!kirishima x fem!reader ⋆ WARNINGS/TAGS: reader undergoing a panic attack; fluff ⋆ WORD COUNT: 1826

A/N: when i got this prompt i was initially going to write another purely fluff scenario but for some reason i wasn’t feeling the best earlier this week and decided to make this so here’s another @bnhabookclub bingo fic for kiri. thank you to the anon who requested kirishima for this prompt! the transparent kirishima cap is from the bnhabookclub drive!

FULL BINGO MASTERLIST

✐posted 08.25.2020✐

The apartment felt colder than it did on most days, a shiver travelling down your spine as you huddled under your blanket to provide some heat for you. Your eyes glanced back and forth from your phone which was sitting on the coffee table and the TV screen right in front of you. You flipped through the various channels, rolling your eyes as the occasional gossip site would cover some bullshit story about pro heros and other celebrities. There were even some reporters covering a story about your relationship with Kirishima, who happened to be one of the top heroes in the world.

Finally you settled onto a regular news station as the woman on the screen informed the audience that the professional hero conference was a success and those who attended, Kirishima included, were on their way back home. You smiled at the sight of photographers and paparazzi capturing several videos of Kirishima waving to them as he was at the airport and was on his way back to you, which you were absolutely ecstatic to see him once again.

You grabbed your phone, deciding to send him a quick text to make sure he was safe and to ask if the flight back home was okay. Although the news indicated that he was in Japan once again, you wanted to hear the confirmation directly from him.

Kirishima replied right away, letting you know that he was at the airport and to give him ten minutes till he got into the car. It may have been overbearing, but you missed him terribly during the week that he was away for the conference.

Your relationship with Kirishima was one that felt like it lasted a lifetime. You both went to the same middle school, Mustafa Private Middle School. You were close with Ashido Mina and together the two of you stood out as the two happy-go-lucky girls. Mina was always upbeat and caring with the way she spoke with others and while you were kind in your own way as you didn’t hesitate to stick up for anyone who needed it. It was one thing Kirishima still admired about you and it was what made you stand out from the other girls in his grade. You even almost got suspended once for nearly getting into a fight with a boy for bullying one of the girls in your class. Needless to say, you impressed Kirishima quite a bit. Although you were known for your confrontational behavior, you had no interest in being a hero like Kirishima. Either way you were a hero in his eyes.

By the time you graduated from middle school and were on your way to high school, you and Kirishima parted ways and he was enrolled at U.A. while you were attending a regular high school. You hadn’t heard from him since then, only seeing his face on the news occasionally during the U.A. sports festivals and from when class A would often be targeted by the League of Villains.

With time you flourished into an adult and began working a boring office job, one that you didn’t mind as at least it was paying the bills. One unfortunate day at work, it suddenly began pouring with thunder and lightning striking the bleak skies. While you were at your desk working like you did every other day, a villain sent a lightning strike right into the office building. The scene was quickly put into a state of panic as people began freaking out as their lives were quite evidently put into danger.

You assisted as many people as you could, urging your coworkers to calm down as everyone attempted to evacuate before the heroes and authorities could come. And soon enough Kirishima was one of the heroes who came onto the scene, using his quirk to protect people as the building began to crumble at an alarming rate.

As you had finally helped out as many people as you could, due to your selflessness, you weren’t able to protect yourself as efficiently as you protected others as you ended up being trapped between large chunks of cinder block and cement blocking the exit. The villain was still inside the building, causing as much damage as he could before he was reprimanded and restrained.

It was a terrifying experience, watching those you couldn’t help be crushed under the weight of the building and feeling like you could have done something if you were faster and stronger.

Eventually help arrived in the form of your middle school classmate. Kirishima broke through the makeshift barrier and right when one of the beams holding the building up was about to collapse and crush you along with it, Kirishima dove right in front of you, using his body as a shield as he held the weight of the beam.

You locked eyes with him during this as you were frozen in fear and shock from what had happened. In a matter of seconds he recognized you and you already knew who he was because he was the Red Riot.

Eventually the situation was under control and you had gotten outside, being examined by paramedics who had come onto the scene to bring those who were injured to the hospital. Your eyes scanned through the area as the rain continued to pour down. You shivered from the cold and your head was pounding as the thunder continued to roar through the sky.

You managed to find Kirishima’s blinding crimson hair in the crowd, approaching him before any reporters could swarm him. You wanted to personally thank him and a small part of you wanted him to recognize you. He was glad to see that you were okay and you had grown into a fine woman. Being as bold as you were, you gave him your number, wanting to catch up with an old friend from middle school once you realized he had recognized you.

Somewhere along the way during the time you and Kirishima would text each other nearly everyday, you ended up asking him out on a date. Since then you had been dating for three years.

As you were waiting for Kirishima’s call, the crack of thunder roaring echoed throughout the area and you flinched from the sound. Since the accident at your previous job, even the slightest sound of thunder or flash of lightning terrified you and you couldn’t help but be scared in that moment as well.

Your phone began ringing, taking your mind off your fears as you smiled softly at the sight of Kirishima’s name and picture popping up on your screen.

“Hey, are you okay?” Kirishima asked, his voice filled with concern. He knew how scary these thunderstorms were for you, having seen the way you reacted when you heard the initial thunderstrike.

“I’m okay for now… just waiting for you to come home,” you replied, your eyes darting towards the window as the rain was pelting the glass harshly.

As you were about to say something else, you let out a yelp as the thunder belted in the sky and the power went out right after.

“What’s going on? What happened?” Kirishima asked from the other line and before you could give a proper response, the call was cut as the power shortage cut the internet as well, ultimately interfering with your call. The phone dropped from your hand as you felt nauseated, your head spinning in the process.

With each thundering roar belting through the air, echoing through your mind like a punch to the head, you felt yourself get up, trying to find a space that could quieten the maddening sound. You practically ran into your bedroom, locking yourself in the small area in your shared closet with Kirishima.

You fell to the floor, your knees brought up to your chest as you covered your ears. Your heart was racing a million miles per minute against your chest and your body was trembling in fear. Although the thunder was not as loud as it was outside, you could still hear it faintly and it made you whimper and cower even more in fear. The memories of being trapped and feeling helpless a few years ago flooded your mind as you were reminded of the horrific event.

One of Kirishima’s hoodies that you managed to snag from him fell off the hanger, landing on your head. You sniffled, removing the material from your head as Kirishima’s scent invaded your nostrils. It felt comforting and so you slipped it over your head. You hugged yourself with the oversized hoodie enveloping you, as if Kirishima was right beside you during this terrifying time.

While this was occurring, Kirishima slammed open the door to your apartment, dropping the suitcase to the floor as he used the flashlight on his phone to see where you were. “Y/N?!” He called out, hoping you would answer.

He navigated throughout the apartment, already putting two and two together as he knew where you were. He had grown accustomed to these panic attacks you underwent during thunderstorms and the minute he landed in Japan and saw the meteorologists inform the Japanese public on the news that it would thunderstorm all day, he couldn’t stop worrying about you.

He entered the bedroom, darting straight for the closet. He knocked on the door before opening it to let you know he was there. He opened the doors, moving several articles of your clothing out of the way as he knelt down in front of you.

Kirishima wrapped his arms around you, lifting you up from the floor as he sat down and held you on his lap. “It’s okay. I’m here now.”

You clutched onto him as he rubbed small circles onto your back, easing the nauseating feeling from before. You hadn’t even realized the tears that were streaking your face as you nuzzled your face into Kirishima’s shoulder as he held you in his arms.

Shortly after the accident, you had to deal with this trauma on your own. It was terrifying, feeling like something dangerous was about to happen like you had no control over what would happen. The villain from back then used his thunder and lightning quirk to instill fear into all of the employees in the building that day not to mention he attacked innocent civilians in the process. As a result, you were traumatized everytime you heard thunder or even saw the slightest flash of lightning from the distance. You never felt more alone until you had to deal with these moments of panic on your own.

But in that moment you felt safe as Kirishima was holding onto you tightly, not daring to let go for a second until he could confirm that you were okay.

You never had to worry about being alone anymore as the warmth from his body and his presence was there to comfort you.

If you’d like to be added to my taglist, please join here!

Taglist: @pinkcowgirleggpanda @xtsundere-princess @wesparklebitch @hot-pocket01 @iamthe-leaf @ahrininetales @kirisclementine @happygalaxymilkshake @hookedinto-fictionalworlds @entraptas-kid-sister @mirakeul @thatpeachybandgirl @icy-hot @lmaobroccoli @anastar-legion @lowermoons @mykuronekome @susu-chan @selfship-mishaps @urmomsshousee @shycoffeeparadise @iambashfulperson @ilovepizzaandimhot @sugacookiies

#tw: panic attack #kirishima eijirou x reader #kirishima x reader #eijirou x reader #Kirishima Eijirou #bnha kirishima #bnha x reader #bnha x y/n #boku no hero academia #boku no hero academia imagines #boku no hero imagines #my hero academia #my hero academia imagines

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nerdyfangirl67 · 4 years

Text

Once Upon A Time (part 2) - Criminal Minds Reader Insert

PART 2

Pairing: Aaron x reader (previous), Will x reader (current)

Warnings: angst, rebound relationship

Word count: 2245

A/N: This part was a bit harder for me to write because I felt that I’m doing poor Will wrong in this chapter/story. I have decided that I will have one ending, the “angst” ending, that will be Will’s ending and one ending, the “fluff” ending, be Aaron’s as this is supposed to be a reader x Aaron story.

YOUR POV

Detective Will LaMontagne. He was easy to talk to and certainly attractive. You especially liked his southern accent. He made you laugh, but most importantly he helped to take your mind off of Aaron.

Aaron still avoided you and on the rare occasion he spoke directly to you, it wasn’t more than two or three sentences. You had tried to corner him alone in the conference room to talk but he just spit out some excuse and rushed out of the room. So, whenever you had a few minutes to yourself, you found yourself talking to Will. Maybe it was because he wasn’t ignoring you, as Aaron currently was, or because you could see that your moments with Will were getting to Aaron. Either way, you had gotten comfortable around Will in the time you had known him for the case.

The case dragged on, with the unsub killing two more victims before the team was able to identify and pinpoint his location. The takedown went smoothly and as a celebration Will had invited the whole team out to a traditional New Orleans pub for a drink.

You were sitting next to Reid, who was currently enthusiastically talking to two women about physics in TV shows, nursing your second beer when you felt a person approach you on the left. You shift your attention towards them, a thrill of happiness shooting through you when you see it’s Aaron.

“Aaron.” You whisper, figuring he won’t even hear you over the music and the crowd. You realize you were wrong though, when his head turns to you.

The bar lighting makes his eyes a warm, whiskey brown and all you want to do is spend the night getting lost in them. For the first time in days, his stoic, cold mask slips off, revealing the kind, gentle man you love.

You lift your hand, running it softly down his cheek and he leans slightly into your touch. You don’t move, for fear of breaking this delicate moment but the bartender returns, setting down the drinks Aaron ordered, effectively popping the bubble around the two of you.

Aaron pushes away from your hand and from you. All emotion washes away from his face before he says, “We can’t do this. Especially not here.” He is gone, almost as quickly as he had appeared, ripping the hole in your heart even bigger.

You push away from the bar, leaving your beer, and head outside. You are hoping some fresh air and quiet will help ease the hurt seizing your heart.

You are unsure of how long you sat outside, watching people walk past and listening to the jazz floating down the street, before a voice caught your attention.

“Why is a beautiful lady like yourself out here all alone?” Will’s accent makes his words deep and sultry.

You blush at his words but stay facing forward. He may not be a profiler but he has been able to read you like a book since the case started. He sits beside you at the small outdoor table in front of the pub.

The two of you sit in comfortable silence for a while before Will speaks in a low voice. “Whatever happened between you two doesn’t have to affect the two of us.”

You whip your head around towards him, eyes wide in a mix of shock and confusion. “I saw you two at the bar. And you were watching him a lot whenever we talked back at the precinct so I figured something was going on between the two of you.”

You nod slowly, either in agreement to his first words or an acknowledgement of his second ones, you aren’t entirely sure.

“We can just have fun together Y/N. It doesn’t have to be anything serious. I like spending time with you and I’m guessing you enjoy it as well.” He has turned to look at you at this point so as you turn your attention to him, you give him another nod.

“How about we start with exchanging numbers then first, and we can go from there.” He suggests, earning a hum of agreement from you. He gives you a wide smile, which you return shyly as the two of you trade phones to put in each other’s numbers.

That night, as you fell asleep to the sound of Reid’s snoring from the other bed, you think that this case may be the start of something new with someone new.

-ONE YEAR LATER -

A whole year had passed since that case in New Orleans, the one which had brought Will into your life. After that night at the pub, when the two of you had exchanged numbers, you had become fast friends. It was less than a month into your friendship when you had taken your first vacation days in two years to go visit him in New Orleans. And it was just the next weekend when he came to visit you in Virginia. After that weekend, you went from being friends to being something more.

The two of you never outright discussed this shift in the relationship. Rather, the two of you let the relationship progress on its own. After six months of visiting each other as often as possible, Will told you he loved you. And as much as you liked Will, you really, really did, you couldn’t find yourself to say it to him. You showed him how much you cared for him with little things like breakfast in bed, sweet notes on the fridge, and feel good email blasts when he’s working a tough case because you could never find it in you to say those three words.

It was natural with Will. You felt almost normal around him. Almost.

There was that lingering part of you that was solely devoted to Aaron, even after a year. It was so hard for you to give that part of yourself up. It may have been easier had Aaron treated you the way he did right after he broke things off. But a few months into your growing relationship with Will, you noticed a change in him.

He no longer ignored you or treated you coldly. Rather, he lingered close to you after giving you an order. In slow moments during a case you would find him staring at you, his whiskey brown eyes soft and inviting. On days you were late to the office, you would find a cup of coffee sitting on your desk, in your favorite mug, made just the way you liked it. No one would tell you who did this, but the morning it had first happened, you had inquired about it and JJ had looked back at Hotch’s office. But it wasn’t just the little things he did. The one thing he did that really got you was the phone calls.

There were those particularly rough cases, the ones that involved children or the ones where the team hadn’t been fast enough and more victims suffered, that got to him. Those affected him in a way that only you saw. On the first night back from cases like these, when you had finally got into bed, your phone would ring.

The first time it happened you had thought something horrible had happened. Aaron was not only calling you but he was calling you in the wee hours of the morning. You had answered right away, demanding that he tell you what was wrong.

He was quiet for a moment before he had answered with “Can you just talk? About anything, I don’t care.” As shocked as you were you had done what he asked.

It had happened often enough since then, that all he needed to do was call you and you would talk to him. It went as an unspoken rule that you wouldn’t speak of Will. And that part of you that was still stuck on Aaron was okay with that because that part of you didn’t want to break the magical spell of these moments. Some nights you spent hours talking to him and others you only needed to talk for twenty minutes. He never said much during these calls, as you had learned early on that all he really needed to hear was your voice. And as much as these phone calls took from you emotionally, and caused your heart to ache, you still answered every single one because deep down inside there was that part of you that loved him still.

You clear your thoughts of Aaron as you see Will walking away from his arrival gate and towards you in the busy airport. He had on gray slacks and a baby blue button up that you knew, from where you were, made his eyes stand out even more. You give a small wave as his eyes scan over where you are waiting and a smile breaks out on his face when he locates you in the crowd.

You move quickly toward him, ready for his arms to be around you. When you reach him he pulls you in tight. The masculine spice of his cologne and unique scent fill your nose as you press your face into his chest.

“I missed you.” He murmurs, his voice thick and low. You lift your head to look him in the eyes as you say, “And I missed you.” He presses a kiss on first one cheek, then the other before kissing you gently on the lips.

You walk together out to your car, which you use to take you to your apartment. Arriving at your apartment, Will heads to the shower and you start on dinner. The night continues in a domestic routine that the two of you have gotten used to when visiting each other.

The weekend passes quickly and on Sunday afternoon it is time for Will to leave. You lean into his side as you sit next to him at his departure gate. You are drawing patterns on his thigh when you feel him look at you.

Smiling, you bring your eyes to his. “What?” You question quietly.

His bright eyes search yours for a moment before he simply says, “Marry me.”

You are too shocked to speak so you stand up from your seat. Will rises right after you, grabbing your hands in his and pulling you close.

“Y/N, I love you. I know it’s soon but I wouldn’t want to spend the rest of my life with someone else.” His words make your heart jump in your throat because there is that nagging part of you that’s telling you of someone else you would spend the rest of your life with. Someone who isn’t Will. But knowing that someone doesn’t feel the same has you saying, “Yes. I’ll marry you.” As the words leave your mouth, you vow to devote yourself, your whole self, to Will here and now.

He laughs loudly, causing a few people to turn and look, as he wraps you in his arms. You hold tight to him, giving him as much of yourself as you can without saying the words you saved for Aaron.

Will pulls back and reaches into his pocket, bringing out a ring box. He opens it and delicately removes the ring, a simple ring with star-like diamonds set in the band. As he slips the ring on your finger, he reaches forward and presses his lips to yours.

“Last call for boarding flight 462 to New Orleans, Louisiana.” Calls over the intercom, breaking the two of you apart. He presses a few more chaste kisses to your lips before pulling away. You watch as he hurries through the boarding gate, turning and giving you a wave which you return.

The rest of the day passes quickly with you cleaning your apartment and getting things ready for work tomorrow. You spend an hour talking to Will on the phone before turning in for the night. When your alarm rings the next morning, you quickly jump into your morning routine, stopping only to send a quick text to Will before heading out the door to work.

The first person you see when you enter the bullpen is Reid. He is bent over his desk, focused on his paperwork. “Hey Spence.” You call as you set your bag down at your desk, noticing the steaming cup of coffee on your desktop.

His head snaps up and he straightens in his chair, giving you a smile. “Everyone else is in the debriefing room. We got a case.” You nod, grabbing the coffee and following Reid to the round table. As you enter the room, the team greets the two of you. You smile and give a small wave, flinching when Penelope lets out a squeal.

“Damn mama, what was that for?” Morgan asks, turning towards Penelope.

“Y/N! She has an engagement ring! He finally asked you?” She rambles out, rushing towards you and pulling you in a tight hug. You are passed around by the team members, receiving hugs as you go until you are standing in front of Aaron. His face is twisted with confusion and pain, causing your heart to squeeze tight with distress but he pulls you forward into a hug regardless.

You are so distracted by the fact he is hugging you that you almost miss the words he whispers in your ear. “Don’t do it. Don’t marry him.”

ONCE UPON A TIME tags:

@evans-dejong

@a-dorky-book-keeper

@omglindsay

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tobin-heaths · 4 years

Text

Eyes for you

request: R is in shock after meeting Tobin at the airport/a hotel and Tobin thinks she’s beautiful and decides to ask her on a date

pairing: Tobin Heath x Reader

words: 1374

Your eyes scanned the big entrance door of the hotel the USWNT would be staying at for their time being in this city.

You never really liked standing in front of hotels and waiting for your idols, you'd rather do that at the stadium, but friends of yours had dragged you along, not giving you much of a choice.

Half of the team already passed the small crowd that had formed, all patiently waiting to see their favored player, asking for pictures or autographs. You wanted neither. All you wanted was a quick conversation or a hug, wish them luck for the game or make them smile.

You chewed the inside of your cheek, nervously standing on your toes, looking out for Tobin as soon as the door opened another time while people started calling for their attention.

This would be your first time seeing any of these ladies in person and seeing them play on the field. Your parents were kind enough to let you skip school and go out to see them, even buying you that damned ticket you've desired all year now.

Megan and Ashlyn strolled past you, with Ali behind them, granting you a kind smile and wave of her hand before they stepped into their bus.

You turned your head back towards the entrance, your heart skipping a beat at the sight of your favorite brunette.

Tobin took her time with the fans, as if she was in an extraordinary mood today. Christen wasn't far behind her either.

Walking over towards where you were standing your breathing faltered, you grew unbelievably nervous all of a sudden, not really knowing why. She's just like any other person, except a hundred times more stunning than others.

Your gay panic started to kick in as well. You were sure that drool must've been leaking out of your mouth by now.

Tobin greeted the fans next to you, making small talk or taking pictures. Security always reminding her to hurry up and get onto the bus. She didn't pay them any attention as it seemed and took her sweet time.

Yes, Tobin! Do you.

How could anyone look this gorgeous in an oversized sweater and grey sweatpants? Tobin wouldn't even need to try and could be wearing nothing but a trash bag and you'd still fall to your knees in a second.

"Hey there." Your eyes widened as her voice startled you out of your deep thoughts. "I see you're wearing my number, huh. Taste." You took that one second to look down on yourself.

"Tobin, hi. Uh– it's so nice to meet you. I actually just wanted to wish you luck for later. I'll be there as well to watch you." Her intense stare made you feel uneasy but excited at the same time.

"You're coming to the game? I'd be happy to see you afterwards to sign your jersey." She winked and headed straight towards the bus.

She left you there shaken, with a wide mouth and chaos in your head.

"What the hell was that, Y/N?" One of your friends slapped your shoulder and laughed. "Tobin, hi? Oh my goodness. You're a useless gay, my dude." You blushed but tried to defend yourself.

Unbeknownst to you Tobin has been keeping her eyes on you, even from inside the bus once she sat down next to Christen. She wasn't prepared to meet someone that could catch her attention like that and yet you did. You seemed to be the only thing on her mind, besides soccer, as the bus made its way to the stadium.

She could only hope to find you somewhere along the sidelines once the game was over or she'd regret it for quite literally the rest of her life. Why not just ask for your name when she had the chance? She was just as useless as you.

"What's wrong?" Tobin's eyes found Christen staring at her with worry.

She sighed. "You saw the girl I was last talking to before I went on the bus? The cute one."

Christen nodded. "Yeah, she seemed very fond of you. What about her?" She couldn't help but giggle at the state her friend was in, obviously developing a big crush on a complete stranger and a fan at that.

"I don't really know. Uh– might as well ask her on a date then. I need to see her again."

You and your friends were seated in the second row closest to the field. It was the best view one could have to see them as close as possible. But your eyes seemed glued to one person only.

Tobin.

You knew it was impossible for her to spot you, she was way too focused on the game or warming up but you still daydreamed about it. All these gay scenarios in your head would get you unnecessarily attached to something that would never happen and just break your heart at the end of the day.

Instead you tried to relax and enjoy a marvelous game performed by these ladies.

You jumped out of your seat once the whistle was blown, signalizing the end of the match and hurried towards the barricade, a pen grasped tightly in your hand.

You kept your eyes on Tobin the whole time, hoping she would somehow recognize you and walk over here to keep her promise.

The whole stadium seemed to beg for her attention tonight. No wonder after scoring a goal and getting two assists. She performed whole magic once again.

'Fuck it' You thought and waved desperately. "Tobin!" You yelled, but no chance.

Becky and Sonny had her wrapped in the middle of them, like a big sandwich and walked along the field, obviously laughing about some dumb joke from either of them.

As if stung by a bee she quickly untangled from her friends and excused herself. "Sorry, guys. I need to search for someone." Turning around, with sweat running down her face, she started walking towards the barricades, obviously looking for someone that could resemble you.

She passed countless amounts of fans all yelling for her attention, but she gave them none of that. She was too busy moving and studying every face she walked past.

"Y/N. I think she's coming. Look." A friend of yours tapped your shoulder in excitement, pointing towards Tobin walking closer and closer. Your nerves shot through the roof, your heart rate picking up immediately. It was now or never.

"There you are." Her voice sent chills through your whole body. Your friend was mentally slapping herself as you momentarily froze.

"You kept your promise. I even got a pen." Tobin chuckled as you smiled big time, holding up said pen like some proud four year old.

"Thank you. Uh, where do you want me to sign? By the way, what's your name?"

"I think the back is fine. It's Y/N." She grabbed your pen and showed you her biggest smile before you turned around, feeling the pen moving against the thin fabric.

"So, I seem to have lost my phone number. Can I have yours?" The barricade made a weird sound as Tobin leaned against it, intently watching your face.

"Uh– what?" You choked on your saliva as she secured the pen behind her ear, grinning.

"I mean it. I'd love to have your number. Maybe take you out sometime, if you'd like to. You're a cutie."

"You're for real? I mean, sure. I'd love that, Tobin." You smiled at her.

"Where are you from? Might need to know that as well."

"I'm from around Portland actually, should make this a lot easier maybe. I know, crazy coincidence."

Tobin seemed to light up even more once she heard you mentioning Portland. "What's your number? Write it on my arm." Reaching for the pen she opened it for you and held her arm in front of you.

You hesitated while your brain panicked. With shaky hands you grabbed her forearm and wrote your number down. "Then it's settled. I will text you once I'm back at the hotel."

You blushed and bit your lip, the feeling of her skin still lingering on your fingertips. A date with Tobin Heath? Nothing better than that.

#tobin heath imagines #uswnt imagines #tobin heath #uswnt #repost bc it didnt show in the tags

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snarkwrites · 4 years

Text

14.12, all I want for Christmas is you, tim speedle

Title: all i want for christmas is you

Theme: songs/music.. i swear to god, this relates to it.

Fandom / Character(s):CSI Miami / Tim Speedle x OFC, ‘blondie’ is the nickname.

Warnings: Uhhh... Fluff to the max?

Word Count: uhh.. 1k-ish?, roughly.

NOTE: I think I tried 3 times to make this work. Then it finally did. This wasn’t even remotely close to the original idea I had for it? But like.. It’s cute and I’m happy, although I apologize if it feels rushed. This is meant to be a one shot type thing, but.. Doesn’t mean I didn’t catch the ‘must write more for CSI’ bug whilst writing it, so we shall see. This is my second story for bae @champbucks 12 Days Of Christmas challenge, fyi. I made the graphics thing so do NOT steal it / repost... Do ya’ll know how damn HARD it is to find good ‘beachy christmas’ blue themed christmas photos? because if you didn’t, take me at my word... Anyway. Enough rambling. Enjoy, hopefully?

TAGGING:

@chasingeverybreakingwave is the only person on my CSI Miami tag list at the moment. However.. if you’d like to be tagged in my CSI writings, add yourself to the doc linked below or shoot me a message / dm on my main on here. :)

[ about my writing | masterlist | multifandom tag doc ]

9:00 PM [ Blondie ] Hey, Tim?

9:15 PM [ Blondie ] How would you feel about spending Christmas with me? Well, me spending Christmas with you… because I’m kind of standing in Miami International…

I sent the texts and took a few seconds to stop and pull myself together. To locate some kind of map or information center for the airport while I collected myself because if I were being totally honest with myself, this was a spur of the moment decision brought on by a recent wave of nostalgia and longing. I hadn’t actually… Stopped to consider that Tim might be involved with someone or have plans already. Or any of the thousand other possibilities that chose just that exact moment to actually occur to me.

Taking a few shaky breaths, I tried to shove all these sudden doubts and worries out of my head. If I found out he was happy and with someone else, I’d simply shelve what I came all this way to actually tell him at last. I’d just catch up with my best friend and spend a few days away from the freezing cold of New York.

With an exit strategy in place, I felt better. A little more confident. I spotted a kiosk that had a map of the airport in it’s entirety and I wandered over, locating where I was and where I needed to go and as I did that, my stomach fluttered a little. I was nervous and excited, all in the same time. This was.. Huge for me.

And sadly, this was something I should’ve done before he left New York a few years ago, I just hadn’t been able to bring myself to do it then. I knew Tim too well. If he felt the same, he never would’ve gotten away. He’d have stayed. Kept working hours he didn’t like, in a field he didn’t care for. Or he’d have wound up shelving his own dream entirely and simply done as his father suggested and taken over the family business.

I couldn’t let it happen.

As I wandered down to baggage claim, I walked myself through my half-formed plan. And I glanced at my phone every few seconds. By the time I was standing in the back of a long line at baggage claim, tapping my foot and staring at the baggage carousel impatiently for my bags, I’d sort of started to convince myself that what I was about to do was a dumb idea. And that I shouldn’t have come all this way without making contact first.

And lastly, that Tim Speedle wasn’t going to text me back.

So when my cell phone went off in my hand, I jumped a little and nearly dropped it on the tile flooring. I half expected the text to be from my own mother, the driving force behind my spontaneous decision, but to my surprise, it wasn’t.

XXX

“Hey, Speed?”

Tim Speed looked up from the evidence he’d been looking over for the better part of two hours now. Eric nodded to the desk, where Tim’s phone sat, screen lit up. “You got a text, man.” Eric stepped into the room as he said it, grabbing the phone off the desk, intending to take it over to the part of the lab Tim was standing in.

His eyes caught on the name and he wiggled his brows at his best friend in teasing. “Who’s Blondie, Speed?’

Tim’s head snapped up and he hurried over, practically snatching the phone from Eric’s hand as he answered with a shrug, “A friend from home. I wonder why she’s textin now? We haven’t talked in a long time, it’s been years..” Tim trailed off, unlocking his phone, brown eyes darting over the texts as a soft smirk played at his mouth, tugging the corners upward.

Eric leaned against the wall, arms folded over his chest. “Friends don’t make you smile like a goofball. Start talkin, Speed.”

Tim shrugged and explained the whole thing, adding at the end, “That one time we were talking about missed chances and regrets.. That’s her.”

“The blonde from that picture on your fridge? Damn.” Eric let out a low whistle. “Still say I don’t see why you didn’t just come clean and tell her how you really felt before you left town.”

“I tried, Delko. Everybody’s not smooth like you.”

“Literally all you had to do, Speed, was open your damn mouth. It’s bullshit, you just copped out.” Eric shrugged and smirked at Tim as he said it, especially when he saw that his words had actually gotten a rise out of his best friend. He eyed the phone in Tim’s hand and nodded to it. “Well? You answerin?”

“Hell yeah, when you remove your nosy ass from my lab, Delko.”

“Damn grouch. Hey, Tim?. Don’t think. Just act. Do somethin about this, yeah? You should’ve a long time ago. You’re getting a chance here, man.. take it.” Eric advised before finally leaving the lab, chuckling to himself as he went.

Tim shut the door behind his friend and laughed, leaning himself against the closed door as he spent the next five and a half minutes trying to figure out exactly how the hell to respond.

His heart was racing. One, he’d never thought she’d come to Miami and he found himself wondering why she had now. Two, just seeing her name show up on his phone bought it all rushing back. With more urgency.

10:30 PM [ Speed ] You’re in Miami.. Right now?

10:35 PM [ Speed ] I’m on my way. I just came by the lab to look over some stuff. Stay at the airport, okay? I’ll pick you up. We’ll grab some food or something.

He debated heavily on sending a third text, telling her he missed her, among other things, but he put it off. After all, he didn’t even know if she was here alone… Or why she was here to begin with.

,, but she’s here man. That really should be all that matters. Especially when you were just thinking about her, not even two days ago.” he thought to himself as he slipped on the oversized leather jacket he’d discarded upon entering the lab earlier. After shutting off the lights and locking the door behind him, he hurried out to the parking garage to where he’d parked the Ducati hours before. And the entire time, he couldn’t stop the happy smirk that came.

Nothing mattered but getting to her. Seeing her again.

XXX

My cell phone went off again. By this point, I’d had enough time to wrap my head around Tim being on his way to pick me up. Seeing him again after all this time. I was just coming back up the escalator to the waiting area to find a seat. I stopped a few feet away from the escalator and dug around, finding my phone.

11:00 PM [ Speed ] I think I see you.

11:03 PM [ Speed ] Turn around.

I was just finishing the last text as All I Want For Christmas Is You began to play over the speakers throughout the airport terminal and I felt his hand on my shoulder, turning me around to face him.

And seeing him again after all this time, something in me just snapped. As opposed to a friendly hug hello, I was climbing into his arms, my legs wrapping around his waist. Those calloused hands settled on my lower back, squeezing as he chuckled. My fingers carded through his hair and the wrapping around the roses in his hands crinkled. The roses settled on the floor and when my body rubbed against his, a quiet groan escaped in the slim margin of space that remained between our mouths for the moment. “Missed you so damn much.” we both mumbled the words at the same time as his mouth connected with mine, his lips latching onto my lower lip, nipping at it. My tongue slipped past his lips and his fingertips dug into my lower back as he chuckled into the kiss.

The current Christmas song playing, the crowd as it rushed past, everything pretty much fell away as the kiss deepened and one of his hands left it’s resting place against my lower back to tangle in my hair. Neither one of us wanted the kiss to break. Honestly, I think I may have been in a little shock that I’d just… Reacted to seeing him like that, without a seconds thought or hesitation. But the kiss had to break so that we could catch our breaths and when it did, I climbed out of his arms, dragging the back of my hand over kiss swollen lips as Tim bent, retrieving the fallen bouquet of roses off of the tiled floor. “I,uhh..” he held them out and I gave a soft laugh, raising to tiptoe and clutching at the front of his leather jacket as I pressed my lips against his. “They’re beautiful… Any reason?” I questioned, only half in teasing because my breath caught in my throat as I wondered if he’d answer.

“Because I should’ve done.. Something.. About the way I feel a long time ago. Before I left, princess.”

My jaw dropped and he shifted his feet around, staring down at me nervously for a few seconds. “Funny you should mention it, Speed.. That’s kind of what bought me all the way here…” I gave him a soft and slightly teasing smile as I watched his jaw drop.

“Wait.. Just to be clear… you’re saying you feel the same way, yeah?” his voice was husky against my mouth as he leaned down, pulling me against him for another kiss as I mumbled quietly, “Mhm. All I wanted for Christmas was you. So here I am, Tim.”

He scooped me up and started to hurry towards the doors of the airport after grabbing my rolling suitcase and I laughed. “You in a hurry?”

“Yeah, see.. I kind of have this real hot date.” Tim teased as we stepped out into the cool Miami breeze...

#12daysofchristmas #12 days of christmas #tim speedle #tim speedle fanfiction #tim speedle fanfic #tim speedle imagine #tim speedle imagines #tim speedle one shot #my writing; tim speedle #my fics; tim speedle #my one shots; tim speedle #// this is so cornball cheesy but I am here for it and lowkey proud I made it work out the way it did

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jiminieloved · 4 years

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Lol, welp, since your submission page does say you’re accepting people venting their opinion about something, and other anons you’re getting today have made this topical, I’m going to submit a bit of a frustrated opinion piece to you here- though I totally understand if you don’t want to post it if you think others might take it the wrong way and feel like it’s inciting drama or something.

So bit of a hot take here, but I hold the opinion that Jikookers who insist that the post SY Final emails from TKers/hetshippers about stopping Jikook’s ‘gay performances’ worked, and that Jikook has ‘barely breathed’ and stopped interacting in public since then specifically because Big Hit won’t ‘let’ them because of those complaints, because they’re now trying to suppress their relationship and please Taekookers, are almost as frustrating as the crowd that starts weeping about how Jikook broke up every single time we go a week without a new moment at this point- it’s just two different forms of baseless hysteria grounded in insecurity. There’s a reason TKers have been widely mocked for coming up with conspiracy theories about how BH has turned TK into a tragic, forbidden love that is forced to stay apart, and I just hate seeing so many of us turn around and do the exact same thing the second we miss the boys for a minute. Now, allow to me explain WHY I think this idea is so silly, if I may

I guarantee that Big Hit gets complaints and demands about EVERYTHING related to the boys, that’s just the nature of overseeing literally the biggest band in the world- and yet people truly believe that of all the things they hear about, they caved to the emailed demands of what was most likely not even actually a full 100 people among BTS’s 1mil+ person fan base? You’re giving what was most likely a double digit amount of TKers (whenever anyone tries to bust out a tweet of people complaining about all the Jikook interactions that night that has triple digit likes, as if that’s proof that hundreds upon HUNDREDS of people were emailing Big Hit, I have to roll my eyes; one, a lot of that those likes probably come from people who have multiple accounts, and two, there’s way less energy involved with hitting like on a tweet than composing and sending an email-I would bet you anything that the vast majority of people who did the former never actually followed through with the latter. Not to mention that even if it actually had been a few hundred, which it almost definitely wasn’t, that’s STILL a completely insignificant portion of BTS’s fanbase) entirely too much credit if you think BH started suddenly declaring how and when JM and JK are allowed to interact just because of them; frankly, BH likely gets WAY more nutso emails from people about dumb things like wanting Tae publicly flogged for vaping or wanting JK kicked out of the group for having tattoos than they ever have about shipping matters- I’d be shocked if this particular issue was even a blip on the radar, or ever went beyond the administrative assistant in charge of sorting through fan emails laughing to themself as they deleted the nonsense.

But hey, let’s say the emails DID make it to the higher-ups at Big Hit and they WERE aware of them- thinking they started keeping Jikook apart because of them requires assuming BH places more weight into a few pressed emails than they do the entire sold out stadium being filled with the sound of hysterical, supportive, happy screaming every time Jikook were acting boo’d up that night, and, uh… WHY would you assume that, lol? Even IF BigHit is hypersensitive to how Army responds to specific ships, which I honestly doubt, I promise you any company would care more about the real-time reaction of a 60000 person true random sampling of the band’s fan base than a comparatively TINY amount of emails or tweets that, for all they know, are just being spammed by the same five people with an agenda across different accounts, and that real-time reaction to Jikook from 60000 random fans was extremely positive. Not to mention how Jikook is more popular than Taekook with both K-Army and J-Army, and it’s only I-Army that Taekook has the edge with; why does anyone think Big Hit cares more about a shipping subset of their third biggest market than a shipping subset of their first two biggest markets, if they’re going to care about shipping at all?

Then there’s the issue where I also think it’s kind of insulting to Jimin and Jungkook to suggest they would have even stood for being forcibly distanced to please some pissy Taekook fans, TBH. I’m not saying they get to live their lives as openly as they want 100% of the time, obviously as Idols there are things they make big concessions about, but Jungkook is a man who has been acknowledging since 2014 that a lot of their fans would be very upset with him if he ever got a tattoo, and who then still proceeded to get 20+ of them because that’s what HE wanted, Jimin is a man who saw fans complaining his shirt was too revealing and he should stop wearing it and proceeded to wear that shirt as often as possible throughout the next few weeks to make a point- you think they’d put up a fight like that for tattoos and clothes, but not for the person that we as Jikookers are assuming is their beloved partner? That’s not even getting into Jungkook being so vocal and so brave with gestures like GCF Tokyo and Rose Bowl; I would bet you anything that same man would not sit there quietly and nod along if an executive tried to order him to stop being seen with Jimin and start playing up his friendship with Taehyung for the camera more often, all just so they could please some obnoxious American teenagers.

And finally, and what might be the biggest point to me- the ‘Jikook has been dead since then!’ and ‘Something is clearly off between them since then!’ narratives are SO exaggerated by Jikookers anyway, ones who have lost all perspective about how they haven’t been in public much since November, and they both barely use social media anymore, so ALL content from them drops off dramatically when there’s no tour, no promotions, and no appearances happening. Shippers keep complaining that we’ve had barely any new content in 2020, it’s all been stuff that was filmed in 2019 and just released now, waaah, and I’m just like ‘…uh, yeah, and that’s the case for literally every ship involving Jimin or Jungkook, because the three weeks of album promotion we got are basically all either of them have been seen for this year.’ If they were both constantly around and acting affectionate with other members while visibly icing only each other out, then maybe I could get the conspiracy theories, but I genuinely can’t recall any significant interactions either of them have had with other members outside of the clearly planned and scheduled V-Lives- not that this means the interactions in said V-lives weren’t genuine and cute, for the record! But it’s not like Jungkook was just hanging out at Tae’s apartment and they spontaneously decided to go live- Big Hit clearly had these particular lives mapped out and they’ve essentially been part of the boys’ current work schedule. They’ve both made themselves scarce, period, you can’t get ‘fed’ by people who just straight up aren’t making public appearances or using their social media accounts- and when we HAVE seen them, like in the last two OT7 lives, they’ve very much seemed like their normal selves and have been right by each other’s side, per usual. Also, when you look back on years in your mind as a compilation of significant moments, it makes you forget that even in 2018 and 2019, it wasn’t uncommon to go weeks or months between content; your brain just selectively filters out the time in-between that you spent waiting to remember only the good stuff we got those years, and it makes it feel like it was a constant flood of moments happening all at once; you remember ALL of 2018 and 2019 as their respective best dozen moments, forgetting that there was plenty of time in between even then, and that Jikookers frequently threw embarrassing fits about how they had clearly broken up any time their ‘feeding schedule’ was off for a few weeks even then.

And I mean, the face smushing pictures that have already become a Jikook fandom all time favorite moment were post SYF, the chest groping performance of Home was post SYF, them lovingly smiling while singing The Earth Traveler directly to each other and the behind the scenes clip of them looking just as smitten during the recording was post SYF, the extremely flirty and domestic New Year’s VLive that had Jikook fandom dying was post SYF, the video of them flirting about how long they’ve been a unit was post SYF (not to mention how Big Hit deciding to give them a photobook subunit in the first place, or deciding to include that flirty footage in the album release event stream, were both choices made post SYF), the big Jikook feast that was Winter Package was post SYF (and again, BH didn’t HAVE to include all that Jikook footage, and they DEFINITELY didn’t have to write the very shippy captions that one had- they chose to), Jimin holding Jungkook’s arm in the airport was post SYF, them holding hands while walking off stage at the Japan muster was post SYF, Jungkook calling Jimin cute and sexy during the album release and all of their flirting across the table and hugging and touchiness that same night was post SYF, the V-Live where Jimin was being very affectionate with Jungkook and there was that adorable minute long sequence where you could tell how badly they were fighting the instinct to hold hands was post SYF, Jungkook publicly and proudly losing his mind over Jimin the Black Swan reaction video was post SYF, them choosing to let us see them happily riding home together was post SYF, Jungkook stopping dead in his tracks and abandoning the routine to just lovingly stare at Jimin for two minutes straight during Carpool Karaoke was post SYF, the cuddling and spooning during recent Run BTS episodes was filmed prior to then, but BH’s decision to include the footage and post the photo was post SYF, same with all the season’s greeting Jikook footage, same with BH deciding to make the 5th Muster DVD an all out Jikook holy grail, same with BH having the Speak Yourself Japan behind-the-scenes footage be more Jikook than anything else. If that’s Jikook after supposedly being ordered to stay away from each other or to at least ‘tone down the gay’, and if Big Hit’s idea of pulling back on Jikook means still having the behind the scenes footage on the next 4 paid content DVD releases be LOADED with Jikook and basically revolve around their interactions, then call me crazy, but I think things are gonna be okay

#submission #yesssssssss #pls get notes this is everythibng i've ever wanted to say in one post #thank u #jikook #jikook discourse

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mrs-i-have-too-many-biases · 5 years

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Bang Chan// Lights Flew by

𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕪 𝕂𝕚𝕕𝕤 ℂ𝕙𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕞𝕒𝕤 𝕊𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤

Scenario: Being stuck at the airport with a handsome stranger on Christmas eve doesn’t seem so bad after all.

Genre: Fluff Trope: Strangers to Lovers Pairing: Bang Chan X Writer!Reader Word count: 8,4K Warnings: Love at first sight, hehehehe. (Very cheesy I know)

You sat in the cab on your way to the airport. You had to say goodbye to your beloved city for a few months for a writing job. You are a traveling writer who has the privilege to work under a company who lets you do the things you loved the most: traveling and writing.

You were excited for your newest upcoming project, where you had to travel to Sydney. You were very popular under the young adult readers and they had all were excited for your new project. In the mean time you wanted to see how the Australians spend their Christmas, but you were afraid that you weren’t going to see too much of it, since your company send you on Christmas way to Australia.

You weren’t complaining though, you were already honoured by them choosing you for this big project. You had to write about the beauty of Australia’s underrated places. Places that are special to other people and you were absolutely stoked to be the one who got to write about it.

As you sat in the cab, you were checking your phone to inform your family that you were almost there. They were sad that you weren’t home for Christmas, but they were happy for you that you had gotten yet another big project. You already didn’t life in your home country anymore and your family just missed having you around.

Your family often remind you of how you used to make up scenes and would act them out for their entertainment. They were great memories that you gladly thought back to. Photos made it even better, seeing yourself in an oversized dress, playing the crazy aunt who liked a little drink on a family dinner who makes everyone laugh, genuinely made everyone laugh.

“Ma’am, we’re here. I will help you with your carrier.” “Thank you so much, keep the change.” You smiled at the driver. “Why thank you Ma’am.” He says whilst bowing gratefully. “No, thank you and happy holidays.” You said cheerfully to him before walking towards the entrance of the airport.

It was freezing and you couldn’t feel your toes, even though you had been outside for just a minute. You felt the warmth welcome you as soon as you stepped inside the airport and sighed in content. Finding the place where you had to check in and drop off your carrier also seemed a little harder than you thought, since you kept getting distracted by the beautiful decoration that hung around the airport.

The camera that you kept in your luggage was swiftly taken out into view as you started to photograph every little detail that your eye had caught. For example, the cute elderly couple who were having a cup of coffee and shared a piece of pie, was just too adorable to not photograph. You smiled to them and loved the picture as you showed it to them. Of course, you asked for permission at first and was relieved when they were fine with it.

Now you had to hurry to the check in and drop off your bags. Bumping into people on the way to it, earned you weird looks from others. You apologised quickly to them as you kept speeding through the crowd.

When you finally arrived at the check in, which was almost on the other side of the airports, you sighed in relief. You made it in time, but now you had to look for your passport and ticked that were hiding in your bag.

“Dang you bag with too many pockets.” You whispered to yourself as you kept moving, until you harshly bumped into someone and ended on the ground with a squeal. “I’m so sorry!” You quickly said in Korean whilst bowing. “It’s no problem. Is your camera okay?” The handsome male asked. You looked up to him to speak and caught yourself staring at him. He wore a simple black sweater and ripped black jeans, very simple but very hot as well. You definitely couldn’t deny that.

“I-uh, Yeah! Yes, it’s fine! I got it covered in insurances.” You laughed in embarrassment. ‘C’mon Y/n, keep yourself together. It isn’t like it’s the first time you’ve talked to a handsome guy- Who am I kidding?’ You thought to yourself.

You quickly brushed the situation off your shoulder when the lady called ‘next in line’ and almost ran to her. You were glad that after the small incident everything went smoothly, so you though until you noticed that the same guy was on the same plane as you right next to you, the aisle in between of you dividing the both of you.

“I guess we meet again.” He says with a chuckle at your embarrassed state. What makes you think that he knows you’re embarrassed? Well, hiding your face behind your palm whilst sneaking a look every now and then, plus covering half of your face with your sweater, doesn’t make you seem suspicious at all. No, you certainly wouldn’t look, weird. “Where you heading to?” He asked, making you drop everything and just give him a look in disbelief before you burst out in laughter. “I don’t know, I guess wherever you are going since we are on a plane that’s traveling to Sydney, Australia. So, what do you think.” You asked whilst still laughing. Now it was the guy’s turn to be embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, I’m exhausted and- when are we going to air? I-“ He says quickly to get out of yet another awkward situation. “It’s okay, have a good flight and happy holidays.” You say kindly before you focussed on your own screen.

The flight from Seoul to Shanghai was about two hours long and you had to entertain yourself in that time by yourself, since the plane didn’t provide a tv. Which you found logic, since it was a short flight. You decided to get this flight some sleep, since you wanted to work on some writing as well, since you had nothing else to do.

The hours passed and you had arrived in Shanghai. You now had to wait for your transfer flight.

“Passengers of the flight Qantas QF130, the flight has been delayed due technical difficulties and securities faults. The flight has been delayed by five hours. I repeat passenger of the…”

You groaned to yourself and informed the Hotel about the situation and the chauffeur who was supposed to pick you up, you didn’t wanted the poor person to wait five hours extra for you. You checked your phone and noticed that it was also on the verge of dying. You brought your charger but every wall outlet seemed to be taken by other passengers who were waiting for the time to pass like you. So you just sat there on a random bench at the Shanghai Airport with a notebook in your hands, trying to come up with inspiration to write. You wanted to safe the battery of your laptop to be able to write on the plane, but it seems like it would be a long wait to do so.

You took out your camera, you were glad that you had charged that before you entered the plane in Seoul. You could walk around and look for beautiful thing to capture. Speaking of: “So we meet once again pretty stranger.” The same guy you shared these awkward moments with hours ago.

‘Did he just call me pretty?’ You asked yourself in surprise.

“If we’re going to keep meeting, maybe we should get to know each other’s names?” You smiled, playing along with his little smooth act. And it worked since you saw him fall into a flustered state, making you laugh.

“I’m Chan, as well as Chris. It’s my English name.” The handsome young man smiled as he stuck out his hand for you to shake. You returned the smile and took his hand in yours. “I’m Y/n, nice to meet you.” “Nice to meet you too. I guess we’re stuck here for a while.” He chuckled as he turned to you in the mildly-comfortable chair.

“I guess we are. So, why are you going to Sydney?” You asked Chan after you both sat in silence for a while and both obviously wanted the time to pass by quickly. “I’m going to visit my family for the holidays.” “Ah, I already had a feeling.” You giggled. “Did the accent give it away?” He wiggled his eyebrows as he emphasized his strong accent. “No. Not at all.” You sang jokingly, making him laugh as well. “What about you? Are you also visiting family for the holidays?” “No, I’m traveling for work. I have a writing job, so I was send to Australia for it.” “You have to work on Christmas?” Chan asked you shocked. “Well yeah I guess so, but really I don’t mind. I’ve always been interested in Australia and I’ve heard great things about it from my fellow traveling colleagues, so I was quite excited to go. Didn’t expect it would be around Christmas time though.”

Chan noticed the sad undertone in the way you spoke and, for some reason, started to pity you. He was very hardworking as well, but he knew what it was like to not see your family around times like this.

“What did your family think about you traveling no Christmas then?” He asked genuinely. “They didn’t like the idea, but they still supported me. They know how hard I worked for this and that I love doing what I do. So I will just facetime them tomorrow and ‘spend’ Christmas with them through a screen.” You chuckled.

“Did you already update them on the plane situation?” Chan asked. “Yeah I did it immediately, because my phone is one the edge of dying and all the wall outlets are taken by other people.” “You can use my portable charger if you want to.” He offered before he almost turned his bag upside down for you. “Got it! Here, you can use it.” Chan placed the small object in your hand. “Are you sure? Don’t you want to use it for yourself? I bet you have your own stuff to charge-“ “I have two. I can use the one for my laptop. Don’t worry.” He smiled brightly.

You were taken back by his kindness, but took the charger, since you wanted to stay in touch with your family if something would happen.

You had to try and hide your slightly flustered state from him and go on, but after some time without talking you heard a grumbling coming from Chan’s side and your head shot towards him. He stared in shock at his phone, until he hid his face in his hands and laughed loudly in embarrassment. “You’re hungry Chan?” You playfully asked him. He looked at you shyly as he still had his hood over his head. He nodded his head slightly which made you laugh. Sooner enough your own stomach started to grumble.

Chan started to laugh loudly once again, before he started packing up his bag. “Do you want to for a bite then?” He asked and you happily complied. You packed your own stuff and went to look for a restaurant with the handsome stranger you met hours ago.

The restaurant wasn’t too busy. Who’s going to work or travel on Christmas eve- oh wait. You are. And so is Chan apparently. The restaurant was Christmasy decorated and the Christmas music was filling you with a fuzzy feeling. You and Chan had ordered some juice before you got your diner. “Pineapple juice?” “Yeah, I love it. Would you like some?” “No, I’m good with my raspberry one.” You giggled as Chan did a little happy dance as he drank his beverage.

“Well aren’t you two the cutest!” You two turned to your side to see an elderly couple smiling at the two of you. “W-what?” Chan stuttered in surprise. “You two, aren’t you a couple? I still can remember the day when my sweet husband took me on my first date.” She says with a sweetening smile. “Honey, I don’t think that sweet couple wants to hear such a story from old farts like us.” The man in front of her, assumingly her husband, roared in laughter. Chan and you fell into a fit of laughter yourself. “I would love to hear it.” You said, genuinely wondering and feeling a little inspired. You didn’t notice it, but Chan looked at you in awe as you listened to the elderly couple talk happily about their history together. The way you were immerged into the story had him staring at you for a good thirty minutes, until he caught himself and began to eat again.

He didn’t know what it was, but something about you was just absolutely captivating. “…and then we had three grandchildren. Let me tell you triplets sound fun, but they are very tiring. We love them very much. Those little guys always seem to look for a little trouble, but they help their grandma and grandpa very well, actually we’re on our way soon to meet them. We haven’t seen the three in two years!” “I’m very happy for you. Ma’am, may I ask to write about your story. I’m a traveling writer and my agency might be interested and let me publish it along the other stories that I will create.” “Sure sweetheart! Of course you can!” The pair were delighted by your enthusiasm and adored the way you worked as you took notes of their love story.

The pair were excited when you promised them an early copy of the story before they left and even hugged you goodbye. When you looked back to Chan, he just smiled at you like a weirdo. “What?” You asked him as you took a bite of your now-cold food. “I thought you were a traveling writer.” Chan stated the obvious with a chuckle. “Yes, didn’t we talked about this already?” “I was thinking about you know like a travel guide, but you’re writing love stories?” “I guess I do. My agency asked me to write about people’s favourite places in Australia that aren’t like you know overrated or too crowded. I want to make it personal and have people tell me their story why it’s their favourite place and the history of it. I also wanted to make a Christmas special and see how people in Australia celebrate it.”

Chan was surprised and a few scenes popped into his mind. He saw himself walking by the beaches, enjoying the sunset as you talked. He saw himself sitting with you in his backyard, a cup of tea in both you and his hands as you cuddled up next to each other.

He didn’t know why, but he quite enjoyed the visions.

“I-I could show you around. I-If you wouldn’t mind.” He offered shyly whilst stuttering. “E-excuse me?” You asked, almost choking on your drink.

“Yeah, I mean. My mom probably won’t mind setting an extra plate.” He chuckled once again. “Chan, we’ve known each other for like three hours. I don’t think-“ “Then let’s get to know each other!” Chan’s own spontaneous act startled himself. “What do you mean-“ “There’s so much to do here! Let’s go and do something! I heard there’s a place where we could ice skate!” “But I can’t-“ Chan had cut you off once again and dragged you out of the restaurant by the hand.

Your heart was racing and your cheeks were heating up. You didn’t know where to look or how to feel if this was even right, something just felt like it was. As if it was meant to be.

Chan came back with two pairs of ice-skates after you arrived at the ice rank. He stumbled on his feet as he tried to waggle towards you, looking like a kid who just learned how to walk. You laughed at him, making him look at you in a funny way.

“What? Do I look funny? You’re laughing at me?” He asks playfully. “N-no!” You stuttered in between laughs. “Yes you are! How dare you! Just when I thought that we were getting to know each other.” He cries dramatically. “Stop you big baby and let’s go!” This time you dragged him along as you waggled your way to the rink.

You had the rink to yourselves since it was late at night and almost no one, but the fellow passengers of your flight. You struggled to keep standing on the ice, making you hold on for your life on the edge. Chan on the other hand was speeding back and forth on the ice. “Y/n! C’mon!” “I can’t skate!” You laughed, making Chan skate towards you.

He stood two inches away from you, his face a little bit too much in your personal space, but you didn’t seemed to mind since Chan has been already feeling you some kind of way. He suddenly grabbed your hand and placed them on his arms. “Then hold onto me.” He whispered. Once again, your heart fluttered at his words as you experience a movie like moment.

Chan helped you across the ice and giggled when you almost fell and started to hold on tighter to him. He looked down at you and felt his hard thump harder and louder as he heard you squeal. The music changed from an upbeat Christmas song to a more romantic one. Both you and Chan looked at the music guy, who simply just gave the two of you a thumbs-up.

Chan couldn’t look you in the eye as Mariah Carey blasted through the place. He heard you sing along with the song and played along as he started to sing to you. You were surprised by his skilled voice and kept singing with him. When the song ended, the two of you felt cramps in your feet and decided that you had skated enough for that day.

“Well that was fun.” Chan giggled as he wiggled his toes to get the uncomfortable feeling out of it. “It was. I never thought I could do it.” You laughed. “You were really good! And by the way, I didn’t know you could sing?” “There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me Channie.” Another flutter came across his heart as you shot him a playful wink and a smile.

“Chan?” You asked as you were walking through the airport with Chan, still after hours together, on your side. “Yes?” “Did you ask your mother about me joining-“ “Let me call her.” Chan took out his phone and dialled his mother’s number. She answered the phone within seconds.

“Channie! My son! Are you here already?” She asked cheerfully. “You didn’t tell them?” You whispered yelled to Chan who facepalmed himself in disbelief. “I thought I did, I guess I got caught up a little.” He whispered back, scratching his neck whilst chuckling. “Channie? Who is that with you?” You heard his mother’s voice ask and you started to panic as if you were a girlfriend who met her boyfriend’s parent’s for the first time. “Mom, that’s Y/n. We’re both stuck in Hong Kong for hours and then we will be able to get to Sydney.” “Is she your girlfriend?” You were shocked by the loud voice that came from his mother as she excitedly squealed. “N-no! Mom! She’s someone I just met, but I did wanted to asks something that has to do with her.”

“What is it dear?” She asked. “Well, Y/n is a writer that I just met and she’s really nice. She’s visiting Sydney to write about the city and she wanted to write a meaningful Christmas special and I offered to have her staying with us for Christmas. She’s working on Christmas and her family is overseas and I-I thought it would be n-nice. Only if it’s okay with you and dad of course-“ “Of course it is Channie! She sounds lovely! We’ll see you tomorrow then? For how much longer do you have to wait?” “We have to fill three more hours and then we still have a ten-hour flight. So, yeah we will see you tomorrow.” Chan’s heart did a little jump when he thought of you and him being a ‘we’.

After exchanging goodbyes, Chan hung up the phone and did some kind of shiver dance to shake off the nerves. You laughed at him and rubbed his shoulders to calm him down. “You okay there Channie?” “I-I’m fine. I just- never mind. What shall we do next? We still have three more hours to fill.” “I have no idea to be honest.” You chuckled before you two sat in an awkward silence.

An hour had passed, you and Chan had been sitting together in silence, both trying to come up with an idea to do something. Both of your eyes were getting heavier by the second and you were eventually agreeing on taking a nap. You had bought a pair of neck pillows so the pair of you could sleep decently, or well try to at least.

You sat next to each other in the seats near the gate of your flight as you tried to catch on some sleep. Slowly, you moved to the side where Chan was sitting and your head eventually rested on his shoulder. You didn’t know, but he was still awake when it happened. He was closing his eyes as he was guarding the stuff the two of you possessed. He felt his shoulder getting heavier and peeked his eye open to see what happened.

He felt cheesy to say that he thought you looked beautiful as you slept. He also felt a little bit like a creep, but let’s keep this cute, okay?

Chan smiled to himself and went ‘back to sleep’.

About another hour and a half later, both of you woke up from your slumber and this time it was you who felt some extra weight on your body. You wiggled your head slightly as you felt Chan’s cheek being squished to your temple.

You looked to your side and saw that Chan had secured your stuff so that the two of you could sleep peacefully. You noticed his hand resting closely next to you. You had to shake off the urge to hold it, even though it looks so… hold-able?

You looked up and noticed a flight attendant staring at you, making you jump up in surprise and bump Chan in the head. The pair of you groaned in pain as you rubbed both of your temples. “What are you doing-“ Chan was cut off by the flight attended who had been waiting a good five minutes for you to notice her.

“We’re boarding the flight right now, we’re taking off in twenty minutes.” She gently says as she moved on to the next passengers. “I guess we passed time pretty fast.” You yawned as you stretched your body. “Yeah it did.” Chan mutters sleepily. His cheek being puffed up from the nap. Thin lines covering the same side of his face as a leftover from your hair imprints, making you laugh when you noticed them. “What?” Chan asked whilst rubbing his eyes to get rid of his sleep. “Nothing Channie.” You giggled as you gathered your stuff.

He was about to hand you the neck pillow, but you declined quickly. “What it’s yours?” Chan questioned. “I bought it for you though. It’s yours to keep.” You giggled as you put the pillow around his neck, squishing his cheeks all over again.

“Cute.” You murmured under your breath. “What?” “Nothing- I guess, this is a goodbye then?” You muttered, feeling sad.

“Y/n, has that nap erased your memory from the past couple of hours? We’re spending Christmas together, by the way Merry Christmas. I guess we slept our way to Christmas day.” Chan laughed. You turned your neck pillow, that still was resting on your shoulders, around so it could cover your face and cover your embarrassment.

“Let’s go cutie, I bet you don’t want to spend any longer on this airport. We have a flight to catch.” Chan grabbed you by the hand for the umpteenth time that night. “… enjoy your flight.” The flight attended says as you and Chan boarded.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you in ten hours?” You giggled as you were about to wave Chan goodbye for now and walk off, but he seemed to follow you. Well at least that’s what you thought. “We’ve met like six or seven hours ago, can’t live without me already?” You joked. “Don’t flatter yourself too much cutie, I’m trying to get to my seat.” “Where do you sit then?” You asked before you stopped at your row. “My seat is right here.” He pointed out to the two-seater where you were also seated.

“No you’re not.” You laughed. “Yes I am.” Chan chuckled confused as he showed you his ticket.

‘He really is sitting next to me.’ You thought to yourself in disbelief. “Why- don’t tell me.” Chan asked when the realisation hits him. “Well, do you want the window seat or?” You laughed as you put your bag in the cabin after you had taken out your laptop and etcetera. “I- you take the window seat, maybe you can get some pretty shots of the flight for your stories? We’re flying towards the sunrise after all.”

“How kind of you Channie, such a thoughtful young man.” You joked before you took a seat.

About an hour or so, both you and Chan had been working separately on your laptops. Chan was producing new lyrics and music for the upcoming comeback that his group and he were preparing for.

You were typing away, feeling inspired with a new Christmas story. And what story could be better that the one you were living in. Meeting Chan by accident, spending hours together in a quite airport, having a great time together even though being still total stranger to one another. It seemed a little too much like a movie. You wondered as you typed how you and Chan would end up. You could decide when it came to your story what end it’d have, but you didn’t wanted to even think about the fact that Chan and you would have to go separate ways eventually. You weren’t sure if you actually believed at love at first sight, it’s a bit too cheesy for you, even though you’re literally a writer, it just seemed a little too much.

You peeked at Chan every now and then and more ideas, plots or scenes came to your mind to write about. He seemed to have this kind of effect on you.

You wouldn’t believe it, even if Chan himself told you that you had a special kind of effect had on you. When he looked at you when you were fast asleep on his shoulder, he felt his heart race, he felt his hands sweat and his breath quicken. You had a certain charm that had him under some kind of spell and he secretly didn’t mind it at all. He was really drawn to you and wanted to know more about you. You gave him ideas for music. Your laugh was like a new melody in his ears: unique and lovely.

He felt like he could listen to it all day. The thought made Chan internally cringe at his own corny thought. Before he knew it, he had finished a new melody and didn’t know what to do with it. The song sounded very sweet and gentle, something that the boys and him didn’t really go for when it came to their music. It was too drastic of a difference, but he couldn’t help but keep wondering what you would think of it. He knew you were busy and probably in a working flow like he was, but he needed to know now, or he wouldn’t be able to work on anything else for the rest of the plane flight.

“Y/n?” He whispered as he tapped softly on your arm. You responded with a hum as you finished your last sentence and looked up to him.

When you had turned your head to face him, his face was inches apart of yours. You gulped loudly whilst your heart raced. “Y-yes?” “C-can you listen to this for me?” Chan asked whilst handing you his headphones. “You compose music?” You asked him, trying to act surprise and like you haven’t been watching him at all.

“Yeah, I’m uh- I like doing it.” It wasn’t a complete lie, since Chan really loved composing music, but he felt like he couldn’t tell you that he was a big Kpop star. He was a little surprised that you hadn’t recognised him, but he was very humble and thought that it might just not be something you may be interested in.

You placed the headphones in your ears and Chan pressed the button with shaky fingers to let you listen to the track, He watched your reactions closely. He swear he saw a literal twinkle in your eyes as soon as the music started. You were smiling brightly at him when it was done and even applauded cutely for him. His heart was fluttering for the umpteenth time when he shot you a smile back and asked you how you had liked it.

“I loved it! I wouldn’t think you were the romantic type.” You giggled slightly before wanting to resume to your own work. “Our little ice-skating date was pretty romantic, wasn’t it?” Chan said smugly, internally not knowing where the frick he got the sudden boost of confidence from. You were wondering the same thing as you looked at Chan in shock, hands covering your mouth as you held back a squeal. “I-I suppose so.” You stuttered before quickly typing away again.

Sooner enough, the ten-hour flight had passed by and the pair of you were pretty exhausted. The nap didn’t do the both of you much and a good sleep was something the both of you wanted more than anything.

But it’s Christmas, so there wouldn’t be a lot of sleeping today. You had existed the plane and gone through the strict security, Australia was also quite known for, but luckily you didn’t look suspicious even though you looked like a mess.

Chan wasn’t doing much better. He had his hood covering most of his face as he walked around with his eyes half open, causing himself to bump against multiple people. You decided to help him out and lead him through the crowd.

“Thank you.” He said cutely as he started to cling onto you by resting his head on your shoulder. “Your welcome, you really should’ve gotten some rest on the flight.” You chuckled as you ruffled his hair. “You should’ve told me so.” He teased. “You’re going to blame me- I’m not your mother.” You laughed, slapping his shoulder playfully, causing him to laugh as well.

“Where are you staying by the way? I’ll come and pick you up.” Chan yawns after the both of you got your baggage. “Well, I’m staying at a hotel at first and I’ll be looking around for a studio apartment or something small around the city, since I will probably be here for a couple of weeks to months.” “Oh, well. If you send me the address of your hotel after resting and freshening up, I will take you to my house.” Chan said without giving the way he delivered the sentence a second thought, which made you look at him funny. “Chan.” “Y/n.” “You’re taking me to your house.” “Yes?” “D-did you just hear yourself?” You laughed out when you saw him freak out. “Not like that!” Chan cried as he frantically tried to explain the obvious.

The two of you end up laughing together whilst walking towards the exit. You went to catch a cab, whilst Chan was waiting for his dad to pick him up. “Don’t you want to meet them?” He had asked. “Channie, I’m meeting them in than 5 hours. I will be fine. Go get some quality time with your family or some sleep.” You yawned before waving him goodbye and stepping into the cab.

After some time you had arrived at your hotel. And you let yourself fall face-first onto your bed. You had called your parents to tell them you had arrived safely and that you had a new idea for a story. “Y/n, dear. You should not work so much and get a man. It’s time for you to be with someone!” Your mother whined, making you groan. “Mom, I already-“ “You what!” “Nothing mom! I have to go! I have a meeting soon! Merry Christmas!” “Merry Christmas too you too honey!” Your mother cheered before hanging up the phone.

You wanted to take a nap, but you also didn’t wanted to arrive empty handed at Chan’s place. You grabbed your camera and left your laptop to charge as you went outside to find something nice. The Westfield mall, where the receptionist advice you to go to, was huge and you were a little overwhelmed by the amount of people who were still rushing through the mall. ‘Last minute Christmas presents.’ You chuckled to yourself. You snapped a couple of pictures of the people rushing and took a couple of notes so that you wouldn’t forget to write about this later on.

After strolling around for about an hour or so, you arrived at a boutique. A glistering necklace in the display had caught your eye. It was very minimalistic, but very elegant. You thought it would make a great gift for his mother. You went along with a watch for Chan’s dad and two gift cards with a generous amount for Chan’s siblings.

Now, you just had to get Chan himself a gift. He was the one who helped you out for a Christmas story in such a short time and you wanted to thank him. You had no idea what to get him. You saw a simple silver bracelet and quite like the look of it. You remembered Chan wearing some silver bracelets on his wrists from earlier at the airport. Which you didn’t notice when you were creeping on him when he was fast asleep on you, no. Not at all.

You bought it as well and went on with your spare hours you still had left until you had to go and meet the Bang Family. It might also be a great idea to look presentable, so you went to get a proper outfit.

You found a cute red dress and went to buy it. The red was quite Christmassy and the dress was quite flowy since it was hot in Sydney around this time of the year.

More time passed by and before you knew it you got a call from the phone that was in your hotel room. “Ma’am there is this young man named Chris, saying he is looking for you.” “Yes, you can send him to my room! Thank you.” You said, before rushing to the room and fixing your face and your dress.

‘Why am I getting so worked up. This is for work purposes. Maybe I should wear something else-‘ Your thoughts had been interrupted by the sound of a knocking. You peeked through the peeking hole and saw Chan standing, wearing a white blouse. The leather-ish jeans looked good on him, and the little red detail he wore with the tie around his neck made him look ready for Christmas.

“Y/n-“ You snapped out of your thoughts once again and swung the door open, surprising both you and Chan.

You stared at each other after and were both at loss for words.

“Hi.” You managed to say after two minutes of silence, which felt more like an hour. “Hi.” Chan chuckled in responds. “You look great.” He added whilst sneakily checking you out. “Thank you, so do you. Wait here, I got to grab my stuff and I’ll be right there.”

“Y-you got us presents?” Chan gasped in disbelief when he saw the Swarovski logo on the bag. “Of course I did. I can’t arrive empty handed, can I?” You giggled as you started to make your way down the hall, but Chan’s grip on your arm stopped you. “You didn’t have to.” “I know, but I wanted to. Your family is letting a stranger stay and gather personal moments and let me write about it. It’s the least thing I could do.” Your smile was genuine and your words were sincere. Chan’s heart was warmed and it wasn’t the Australian heat that had gotten to him.

Moments later you arrived at Chan’s home and you waited together at the doorstep, before going inside. “Are you ready?” He asked. “I guess so, I got this. This is for work. I’ve done this before.” You said to yourself, but Chan of course heard this. His chest tightened at the words of this being just for work. He had always wondered what it would be like to take a girlfriend home with Christmas. Have his family accept her into theirs and to have a great time. Opening presents, eating great food, sitting together and be cute or whatever.

The front door suddenly flung open to reveal a man, who you assumed was Chan’s dad. “What are you two waiting for! Food’s already in the oven, meat is on the grill and the lights are on and ready to be appreciated. Your mother has worked hard on hanging them up. And you must be Y/n.” His dad had a welcoming smile as he brought you into a hug.

“It’s nice to meet you Mr Bang, Chan’s told some lovely things about you.” “I hope nothing too embarrassing, otherwise this evening would be a little awkward.” “Come in! Come in! It’s much more pleasant inside!” You grabbed Chan’s arm softly and followed him inside.

“You will be fine, my family is cool. I promise.” Chan whispered to reassure you. “Is that what you said to every girl you’ve brought home?” You joked whilst giving him a friendly punch. “Let’s just go-“ “Hi! Nice to meet you! You must be Y/n! I’m Chan’s mom.” The woman smiled brightly as she welcomed you warmly as well. It gave you a fuzzy feeling, but that also could’ve been the tiredness from the long flight.

“Come and sit with us.” His mother added whilst leading the two of you to the dinner room, where a younger girl and boy sat, who you assumed where his little brother and sister. “Y/n, these are my younger siblings Hannah and Lucas.” Chan introduced. They greeted you back politely and the evening started. At first, you held yourself back from the conversations and observed the family whilst taking some notes.

Chan noticed you being a little tense or too concentrated in work, so he poked you every now and then to loosen you up. “Chan, I’m trying to work.” You muttered in a whiny tone. “I know, but it’s Christmas and you wanted to experience it the Australian way, so stop writing for a second and enjoy our time together.” Honestly, you should’ve asked for a dollar every time he had made your heart flutter the hours, he had been you, you would’ve been rich by now. You started to engage into the conversation and enjoyed the stories his parents told you from when Chan was younger. You found out that Chan was a Kpop idol and that he hadn’t been home for Christmas for years. You felt bad for Chan that he hadn’t seen his family in so long.

“You never told me that you were an idol! Is that why you were producing on the plane?” “First of all, we met hours ago and yes.” Chan giggled. “Y/n, was Chan overworking himself again. You should tell him that he should keep it easy.” “Overworking? No, we hung out at the airport and he started producing a little, but I have to say that I was working quite some myself. So, I can’t really say anything about it.” You admitted whilst chuckling, making his dad laugh.

“I guess we have two workaholics honey.” Chan’s dad said to his wife. Some more time passed and you all had dinner. His parents were excellent cooks and his siblings made desert for everyone. Ice cream with warm waffles, simple but delicious.

“Oh, I almost forgot. I have brought gifts for you all.” You smiled whilst taking out the bags. “Dear, you didn’t had to.” His mother gasped. “I know, but you are so hospitable and I wanted to show my gratitude for letting a stranger join your Christmas, especially since it’s a special moment that your oldest son is home after so many years around the holidays.” “That’s true, but-“ “Please, just accept them. I bought them right after checking into my hotel.” You laughed before handing the bag to everyone. You held your breath as they all opened their gift. “I’m sorry Hannah and Lucas, I didn’t know what you wanted so I hope a gift card would be fine.” “I-It is- are those number the amount?” Lucas asks with wide eyes when he read the value that the gift card held. “It is!” You chuckled at their shocked faces. “Wow-” “Y/n, this is absolutely gorgeous!” Chan’s mother gasped, whilst holding the necklace in front of her and admiring it. “Y/n, the watch is ravishing.”

You smiled at them in relief before you turned your focus on Chan. “And you?” Chan was holding the bracelet in his hand, staring at it. “I hope you like it. I noticed that you already had some silver ones and I thought this would match, but if you don’t like it you can just say-“ “I love it.” Chan cut you off, looking you seriously in the eye. You gulped and quickly smiled to hide the fact that he was making you nervous.

“Here let me help you.” You took Chan’s hand and placed it in your lap so you could put on the bracelet on him. “Looks good.” You giggled.

The night passed by sooner than you could imagine. The Bang Family were happy to see you and you promised them to send them an early manuscript of the story to get their approval. They trusted you enough to have this information about them as a family.

“Would it be alright then to write about you, since you’re an idol and all?” You asked Chan as he drove you back to your hotel. “I’m sure it will be fine. Besides, they are all good things you will write about us, won’t you?” Chan chuckled as he looked at you with a smug smile, making you laugh. “Of course I will. Your family was indeed lovely. I never knew you were so talented.” The words made Chan physically malfunction at the compliment. “No-“ “Yes! You’re so talented! I mean I haven’t seen that many awards in my entire life! And you did that all by yourself with swimming! And besides that! Your music! Your dad showed me some of your music and it was amazing! I feel almost bad for not knowing you guys. Stray Kids, wasn’t it?” “Stop it, you’re making me blush.” Chan mumbled as he parked the car in front of the hotel.

“Well, we’re here. Thank you for everything. I appreciated and loved every second of being with you and with your family. I also loved having your company at the airport and on the flights.” “We can meet up again if you want to?” Chan suggested whilst, scratching the back of his neck. “W-what?” “I mean, we’re both here for some time and you wanted to see some special spots for yourself that are meaningful to people. And you know me already. I love Australia dearly, especially since I’m not here as much. I could show you around a little. I would love to have you by my side for another thirty hours.” Chan laughed.

You didn’t know what to say and just noticed Chan leaning in closer and closer. Your heart felt like it was throbbing. You started to panic and whipped out your phone, receiving a confused look from Chan. “I- uh- If we should exchange numbers, we can meet up again.” “Right.” Chan laughed before putting his number in your phone, before you put yours in his.

“I guess, I’ll see you around.” “Yeah, I’ll see you again.”

Days had passed and it was now the thirtieth of December. You had gotten some great stories from people you had met.

Right now you were at the beach enjoying the sun when your phone suddenly rang. “Chan?” “I’m sorry for never calling you. My family has been over daily ever since we arrived.” “That’s totally fine. I get that you want to be with them. I’ve been doing well, there are loads of people who I’ve met and gave me inspiring stories. I would love to talk about them to you, but that would cause me a huge phone bill.” “I guess we will have to meet again, where you at right now?” “At a beach café at Manly beach.” “I’ll be there in ten minutes. I finally have some time to how you around.”

Chan arrived sooner enough and you couldn’t fight off the smile that was stuck on your face. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” Chan joked before giving you a hug.

“Shall I show you around then?” “Yes please.” Chan took your hand in his and started to react a familiar scene that happened on the same day you met: he was dragging you around with him.

You didn’t mind.

The longer you were with him that day, the more you realised that you started to have feelings for him. You didn’t know him for that long, but you felt very attracted to him. You even ran into his mom at the mall the other day and she just was speaking so kindly of you. And the fact that she said that Chan couldn’t stop talking about you to his family, made you think even more of him.

Right now, Chan had taken you to a hidden place in the mountains, making you look at him a little sceptical. “You’re not going to kill me, right?” You joked, but feeling a little weirded out. “No, c’mon we have to keep moving. The sun is almost setting and I want you to show it all- watch your steps, we’re moving back down.”

Chan’s hand found his way to your eyes and covered them. “This might be my favourite place in Sydney, besides my home.” Chan admitted, before he removed his hands to reveal a small beach. There was a big tree that hid the beach, making it look a little mysterious, yet romantic.

“How in the world did you find this?” You asked in awe as you admired the view. “One day, I was done with everything. I felt like I needed a break from the world and long story short, I ran away from home. I somehow ended up here and it has been my favourite spot ever since. It gives me a lot of inspirations for music or stories that I’m trying to translate into my music.”

“That’s wonderful! N-not the run away part, but the inspiration thingy.” You laughed awkwardly as you tried to take some more pictures of the view. Chan laughed at how cute you were and started to smile to himself. You noticed him smiling and quickly snapped a couple of pictures of him. You leaned in closer to him to get a better shot of him.

You got surprised when he looked at you through the camera, making silly face that made the both of you fall into a laughing fit.

Suddenly the camera lowered and Chan’s face was the only thing in front of you. Chan panicked and leaned back, trying to sit coolly back, but instead he pressed his hand on his phone, causing it to play music.

A song by Nancy Wilson to be precise.

Maybe it's much Too early in the game Aah, but I thought I'd ask you just the same What are you doing New Year's New Year’s Eve?

Chan gathered all his courage and leaned back towards you. He had been feeling like this the moment he had met you. He felt warm and happy. He felt a sudden adrenaline rush, one that was alike the one he got when he was on stage. And he couldn’t get enough of it. He wanted to be with you more.

He didn’t know where he got the confidence from when he was with you. He felt like a whole different person, yet he felt like he was so comfortable with you. I mean, he brought you to meet his family after knowing each other for what? Six hours?

Chan’s heart was pounding in his chest, he didn’t know where to put his hands, but your cheek seemed the right place for now.

Maybe I'm crazy to suppose I'd ever be the one you chose Out of a thousand invitations You received

His soft hands were cupped on your cheeks and his thumb stroked your face as you looked each other in the eyes. He seized the moment and pressed his lips against yours. His lips were soft and plump against yours. You wrapped your arms around him and brought him in closer.

Aah, but in case I stand one little chance Here comes The jackpot question in advance…

“…what are you doing on New Year’s Eve?” He murmurs against your lips breathlessly. “Nothing much, why?” You whispered back. “Got anyone to kiss at midnight?” He smirked. “N-no what-“ “Wow. You're gorgeous. My new year's resolution is going to be to make you my girlfriend.-“ “Shut up and just kiss me you cheese ball.” You giggle before pressing your lips against his one again. Both having the feeling that this was all meant to be.

Day 1/9 of the Stray Kids Christmas Series

Gif isn’t mine.

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fanfic-corner · 4 years

Text

Under 10,000 Words

16/12/20 - I can never figure out what my favourite length of fic is, but I think it depends on my mood. Sometimes I want a huge, 200,000 word journey, and sometimes I just want a quick drabble. Anyway, here are some fics which are all between 2,000 and 10,000 words, organised by the word count.

Sleep Deprivation by Honey_Honey on AO3. (2,313 words).

Tags: Cute, First Kiss.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: The one where killing monsters leaves Dean without a week of sleep, and Cas has to deal with the consequences.

Notes: This was so fluffy and cute and I can totally imagine Dean overthinking everything while Sam just finds the whole situation hilarious.

That One Time Sam Winchester Googled Something Weird and It Had Pretty Awesome Results by quitepossiblyjanuary on AO3. (2,587 words).

Tags: Romantic Fluff, First Kiss, Stars, Humor, Courtship, Short & Sweet.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: In which Sam Googles something and his curiosity doesn’t kill the cat. Or him. Or anyone. It’s a pretty awesome feeling.

Notes: This was so adorable! Gabe was so sweet, and his mind reading skills made me laugh.

What Can’t Be Seen by destieldrabblesdaily on AO3. (2,639 words).

Tags: Soulmate AU, author!Cas, Strangers to Lovers, First Kiss.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: Written for this prompt: Soulmate AU where you first see color after eye contact: Cas is a famous best selling author and he’s promoting his book, so he’s talking to a crowd of people and suddenly his world is in color, and a lot of his fans pretend to be his soulmate. A Cinderella type situation ensues.

Notes: This was really cute and such a sweet and funny idea.

The Tea is Decaf by mnwood on AO3. (3,673 words).

Tags: POV Castiel, Fluff, Sign Language, Castiel in the Bunker, Canon Compliant, Sharing Clothes, Asexual Castiel, Gentle Dean, Non-Explicit Sex, Domestic, Established Relationship.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: Based on this text post from thebloggerbloggerfun: “Listen, imagine Eileen sneaking out of Sam’s room at night to go to the bathroom or something and steps out into the hallway in one of Sam’s shirts only to see Cas trying to quietly leave Dean’s room while wearing one of Dean’s shirts and they both just stare at each other awkwardly for a few seconds before trying to muffle quiet laughter and now they have a late night club where they talk about life and gossip about the Winchesters in sign language"And this anon I received: "what if Eileen and Cas discover there are some things Sam and Dean both do in bed because Dean jokingly gave Sam pointers when they were younger and Sam took the advice”.

Notes: This has to be one of my favourite fics of all time, even though the first time I read it I hadn’t even met Eileen yet! I’m still so pissed off that she wasn’t in the finale (unless we’re counting Blurry Wife?).

surely heaven wants for you by cenotaphy on AO3. (3,782 words).

Tags: Episode: s15e20 Carry On, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Heaven, Coda, Post-Finale, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Dean, Outdoor Sex.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: Cas doesn't come to him. Dean can't really argue with that, given the circumstances. In all the history of balls in courts, he thinks there might never have been a ball as thoroughly in a court as this one is in his. He drives for what feels like a long time but might just be a single sunny afternoon, or maybe years (time's funny here, Bobby had said), just enjoying the music, the shifting landscape outside his window, the hum and creak of the engine. Finally the forest opens up and the road narrows down in a way that he's fairly certain wouldn't typically happen on any kind of earthly interstate, and he glides the car to a halt at the edge of a lake.

Notes: This was so beautiful and such a interesting exploration of Dean’s feelings!

a quick salt and burn by xylodemon on AO3. (4,609 words).

Tags: Episode Related, Cemeteries, Case Fic.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: "Fuck," Dean mutters, wincing as pain throbs in his shoulder and neck. After the ghost chucked him into the hedge, he hit the ground like ton of bricks and clipped an exposed tree root so old it was practically petrified. "So much for a quick salt and burn."

Notes: This is adorable and hilarious, so a double win.

Funny Bone by PallasPerilous on AO3. (4,933 words).

Tags: Fluff and Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Skeletons, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Alternate Universe - No Angels, Canon Divergence, Mild Gore.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: It wasn’t even a particularly creepy skeleton; it was in kind of a “just chillin’” pose on the floor. One ankle was still locked up in a heavy iron cuff, at the end of a short chain leading back to the wall. Snoresville, as dead stuff goes; Dean’s seen worse at Disneyland. It was the skeleton’s comment about Dean’s ass that really livened things up.

Notes: This has to have been one of the funniest fics I have ever read, but oh boy did I feel bad for poor Cas.

Grace by july_19th_club on AO3. (5,164 words).

Tags: Fix-It, Episode Fix-It: s15e20 Carry On, Resurrection, Reciprocated Confession.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: A man dies. What happens next will shock you. [script]

Notes: This was written beautifully, and now I really want to see this filmed! So much better than the ending we got.

(un)conventional by imogenbynight on AO3. (6,100 words).

Tags: Alternate Universe, mechanic!Dean, Writer!Castiel, Conventions, Fluff.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: Spec Lit Con--Speckly Con, to it’s regular attendees--is an annual weekend-long event held in Chicago, dedicated to science fiction, fantasy and otherwise speculative literature. This year Dean's favorite author, C.J. Novak, is appearing as a panelist. Naturally, he shells out the cash for an all access pass.

Notes: This was so adorable that I nearly screamed in the corridor outside my computer science lesson. Plus, the writing was absolutely gorgeous! I miss conventions :(

La Vie A Plus by K_K_TiBal on AO3. (6,260 words)

Tags: Punk Castiel, Asexual Castiel, College/Uni AU, Roommates, oh my god they were roommates, College Student Dean, College Student Castiel, Pining, First Kiss, Misunderstandings, Art Student Castiel, Love Confessions, Gabriel is a Little Shit, Tattooed Castiel.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: Dean Winchester is hopelessly, head-over-heels in love with his best friend and roommate, Castiel. Castiel - with his blue hair, and his tattoos, and his artwork, and his perfect everything. Dean never stood a chance, really. It only sucks because, as far as Dean can tell, Castiel is definitely not interested. But love, much like art, has a way of being unpredictable. Even if you think you know where you’re going with it.

Notes: The angst is strong in this one! Again, I feel like many aces have had this conversation or that fear that people (allos, especially) may not want to be with them.

Event Horizon by Winglesss on AO3. (6,442 words).

Tags: Suicidal Thoughts, Suicidal Dean, Depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Past Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Texting, Sharing a Bed, Happy Ending, Veteran Dean, Doctor Dean, Writer Castiel, Strangers.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: Castiel couldn't have helped his sister. That's why being offered a chance to help somebody else dealing with suicidal thoughts he took it without hesitation. When he gets the first text from someone who needs his help, nothing goes as he expected.

Notes: I don’t know if that kind of suicide prevention scheme exists, but this fic is very sweet.

I Think That’s Mine by palominopup on AO3. (6,804 words).

Tags: Fluff, AU, Reporter!Dean, Writer!Cas.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: A mix up at the Atlanta Airport places Dean Winchester's laptop in someone else's possession. A series of calls and texts bring two men together.

Notes: This was so cute, Cas was so sweet, and Dean was an icon.

Nothing Equals the Splendor by RurouniHime on AO3. (7,865 words).

Tags: Fix-It, Post-Episode: s15e20 Carry On, Angst with a Happy Ending, Grief, Explicit Sexual Content, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Declarations of Love, Canon Compliant, Minor Injuries.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: Maybe it’s the cynic in him. The hunter, always under the surface of any quietude he ever found. Or maybe it’s just that he has always had trouble with blind faith. But after a while (a blink? A decade? A century?), Dean raises his eyebrows, looks around, and says—

“Uh. No.”

It’s so close. Just so slightly imperfect. And maybe, he analyzes, maybe that’s the final knell of this bell called contentment. Dean’s experience with happiness has always been that last rise in the road, right before it turns. Right before fate comes barreling around the corner head on. He turns in his spot on the bridge, and suddenly Sam is like a cellophane film through which he can see the light streaming, and the taste of cheap beer on his tongue is much, much older a memory than it should be.

“Oh, you’re good,” he says, and means it.

Notes: What a great idea, and written so well! I always thought the show could have done so much more with djinns, but never mind.

In the House of the Rising Bun by imissmaeberry on AO3. (9,046 words).

Tags: Bakery and Coffee Shop, Baker Dean, Barista Sam, College Campus, Poet Castiel, Mutual Pining, Daddy Issues, Background Sam/Jess, Past Balthazar/Castiel.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: Dean Winchester only has three rules concerning the cafe he and his brother Sam own, “House of the Rising Bun”.

1. Any and all opportunities to make a pun will be taken. 2. Free regular coffee with your student ID (If you want some of that fancy nonsense you gotta pay, sorry kids). 3. Anyone and everyone is always welcome.

Between Dean running the shop full-time and Sam helping out whenever he isn’t in class, there really isn’t a whole lot of time for romance for either of them. But that all changes when they gain a new regular - some writer from London - who may or may not have the bluest eyes Dean’s ever seen.

Notes: First of all, the puns were amazing and I am willing to fight people on that. Secondly, that was so sweet and funny I am afraid I might have to disappear under mysterious circumstances and open my own cafe…

I hope you enjoy these! I haven’t read any new fics for this list and even then there were way too many to put on one list, so expect a sequel at some point in the future!

#fic recs #destiel #sabriel #saileen #fanfics #supernatural #spn #spnfamily #10000 words #2000-10000

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lostinspidey · 5 years

Text

when my heart heals, it beats for you | peter parker

summary/request: “hi i have an ffh request! could you write about peter calling stark!reader instead of happy to come rescue him, but due to all the mysterio illusions he doesn't trust the reader at first?”

word count: 2.2k

a/n: this was meant to be a shorter blurb but then... this happened. i guess i had a lot of Feelings about this scene and this concept and general, so thanks to whoever requested this for giving me an excuse to write them all out! gif was made by @pterparkcr :-)

warning(s): FFH SPOILERS!!!, if you’ve seen the film you know there’s gonna be some angst

“so let me get this straight,” happy says, watching warily from the doorway of your bedroom as you throw some belongings into your backpack: passport, band-aids, a bottle of painkillers. through the quickened breaths and troubled tone, you remember how strained peter’s voice sounded on the phone a mere twenty minutes ago. you’re almost sure he needs them.

you raise your eyebrows. “happy, please don’t give me a hard time about this.”

“peter calls you, asks you for help picking him up from the netherlands, of all places,” he continues, folding his arms over his chest. “so naturally, you call me?”

“uh, yeah.”

you struggle to zip up your backpack - it’s nearly filled to the brim with whatever first aid supplies were lying around the house.

happy lets out a sharp, exasperated breath. “can i ask why?”

“because,” you sling your backpack over your shoulder. “you’re the only person i know who can fly one of dad’s jets.”

he doesn’t have a response for that.

luckily, the jet - with its stark industries logo recently repainted - is already parked outside, just a couple hundred yards from your house in a clearing that overlooks the lake. as you and happy make the small trek towards the aircraft and climb onboard, you try not to think too hard about how, exactly, peter’s voice sounded during your brief phone call. how you, just as frightened as he was, could do little to calm him down.

“alright, y/n, i just entered the coordinates and it looks like it’ll take us a little less than three hours to get there. you’re not forgetting anything, are you?”

i - i messed up, y/n. i need your help.

“y/n?”

happy looks at you over the back of his chair. you cross and uncross your legs in the seat behind him, avoiding his worried gaze. with how much movement your body and brain have been through the past thirty minutes or so, sitting still seems impossible.

“i should’ve gone on the trip,” you whisper.

happy sighs, twisting his body to get a better look at you.

“don’t go blaming yourself. peter wouldn’t want that.”

you shake your head insistently, staring down at your shaky hands. “he - he asked if i wanted to go on the trip, you know. i told him i wasn’t ready to leave home after everything that’s happened but i know - i just know - that dad would’ve wanted me to keep an eye on him instead of selfishly staying here -“

“y/n,” happy interrupts. “do you really flying halfway across the world to save somebody is selfish?”

your lips quirk up a bit.

“technically, you’re the one who’s flying,” you joke.

happy chuckles, giving you a small, supportive nod before beginning the proper steps towards takeoff. you’re glad he’s here; glad that you’re not stuck in a crowded airport surrounded by people who can’t even begin to understand what’s going on. not that you really do, either.

predictably, the plane ride feels much longer than two hours and forty-eight minutes. the minute happy is turned back around, you slump down in your seat, trying to busy yourself with your phone or the book you remembered to stuff in your backpack. it’s your favorite, its pages ripped and torn after having been flipped through so many times.

it reminds you too much of peter, with his rough edges and the way he never fails to make you happy. you toss it into the seat next to you and hope that staring out the window will be enough of a distraction.

i really need your help, y/n. please.

it’s hard not to think about your father, either. you inherited his protectiveness, among other things, and while being tony stark’s daughter has always been a lot to live up to, none of that has mattered as much as being a kind person. that’s all your dad really cared about, anyway. you can’t shake the feeling that by letting peter venture off to another country alone, you’ve really let him down.

you clench the arms of your seat, and somehow time moves faster now that you’ve managed to dream up enough false hope that maybe, just maybe, peter’s okay. because in a way, he kind of has to be.

and then, finally, you see it: through the fading clouds, a vibrant tulip field that is most definitely too beautiful for the situation you’re in. happy lands the jet in a bright batch of yellows and pinks, and after its wheels hit the ground, you can’t help but notice how quiet it is.

too quiet.

“um, happy?” you join him in the cockpit, scanning the field for any sign of movement. “are you sure this is right?”

“these are the coordinates for the location you gave me.”

you glance around more fervently. panic rises in your chest as the seconds go by, as the tulip field starts to feel more and more empty.

“happy.” you can feel your breath hitch, eyes starting to water. “i don’t see him.”

“relax, y/n. please. i’m sure he’s on his -”

“oh my god,” you whisper.

happy gets quiet, too, his gaze seeming to settle on the same spot right when yours does.

from across the field you can see peter - your peter - except he’s clearly not the way he was when he left, so it almost feels wrong calling him that. he limps towards the jet, eyes squinting in the beaming sun. his arm is wrapped right around his middle, and you know it’s because he’s trying to hold himself together in more ways than one.

the closer he gets, you start to notice how much blood is caked on his face.

“door’s open,” happy tells you urgently. you didn’t notice your ears were ringing until his voice slices through the high-pitched noise. “bring him inside. hurry.”

somehow, your legs carry you through the length of the jet and descend down the stairs. peter’s a lot closer now, but you still sprint towards him, leaping over batches of tulips you don’t want to crush with your feet until you finally, finally, end up in front of him.

at first, you can’t help the way your face twists in concern. he’s completely torn up, dried blood and grime flaking and falling from his skin. your eyes trail over the fresh bruises on his arms, the long scrape against his cheekbone.

“peter,” you choke out, throwing your arms around his neck forcefully. he loses his balance a bit but manages to catch you, face buried into your shoulder.

“it’s okay, it’s alright.” you squeeze him tighter, balling up the back of his shirt with your fists. “i - i’m so, so sorry for whatever’s happened to you, but everything’s fine. i’m here now, okay bug? we’re gonna get you home.”

but when you pull away enough to get another look at his face, it’s clear the boy is in a state of complete shock. confusion. he’s looking at you the same way someone would look at a foreign object.

the unsureness in his eyes is enough for you to drop your arms back down to your sides.

“peter,” you say slowly. “what is it?”

“how do i know it’s really you?” he asks, voice quavering. the terror in his voice is much more prominent than it was on the phone. it makes your heartbeat quicken.

you blink. “i - what? what do you mean?”

“i-i mean,” he gulps, nearly reaching for you before letting his arms fall. “are you real? like, are - are you really standing in front of me right now?”

“what are you talking about? of course i’m real.”

a wince possesses his face, turning soft features into stone. you study them until it gets to be too much for peter, who uncomfortably takes a small step away from you.

“peter, look at me,” you urge, and you wait until he does to continue. “i’m real, see? the jet’s real. look at these pretty flowers. they’re real, too, baby.”

“prove it,” he whispers, eyes filling up with tears.

“prove it how?”

“tell me something about me. a-about us. something only you would know.”

“alright, okay. let me think.” you let out a deep breath, glancing around the tulip field, the leaf-filled trees that remind you of home. “oh! i’ve got it.”

peter raises his eyebrows, still more than a little distrusting of you. you run a hand through your hair as you try to descramble the words in your brain.

“remember that one time we went hiking through the woods by my house?” you ask, staring deep into his eyes, searching for any sign of clarity. “you saw a huge spider and accidentally killed it and you swore me to secrecy in case it violated some kind of spider-slash-spider-man code that would cause all the spiders in the world to suddenly turn against you, and -”

he takes a step forward, nearly sweeping you off your feet as he wraps you in a much more willing embrace than before. he lets out a mixture between a sob and a laugh into your shoulder, hands frantically tangling in your hair.

it’s like he’s urging you to hold onto him - to anchor him to the ground, to the reality you’re both experiencing, no matter how messy and unstable it is right now.

“it’s you,” he breathes. “it’s really you.”

the sheer relief in his voice makes you cry a bit, too. “yes, love, it’s really me.”

you allow yourself to melt into him, into his familiar arms that are too soft for being so strong, and adjust to the fact that peter’s actually here. he’s here. he’s safe. clearly broken and scarred, but as long as he’s within reach, that should be enough for you to put him back together again.

“i missed you so much,” he says, pulling the words right out of your brain.

you nod, hands starting to rub his back comfortingly. “i should’ve come.”

“believe me, babygirl, i’m so glad you decided not to.”

you’re about to ask him what that could mean - what in god’s name is going on in the first place - when a gust of wind blows, a chill running down your spine. he pulls you in tighter, fingers running down your arms until the goosebumps subside.

“you made fun of me for weeks after that hike.” he chuckles, then sniffles, and you don’t mind the way he probably just wiped his nose against your shirt. “r-remember that, too?”

“mhm. remember how you tripped over that huge log on the way back?”

“gosh. what an embarrassing day for me.”

you draw back a bit, pushing a stray curl behind his ear, smiling at the way he leans into your touch. “i guess i could’ve been a bit nicer about it.”

he shakes his head. “don’t worry about it. it was pretty funny.”

he gives you a watery smile, hands settling against your shoulders, and this is the peter you know and love - the one that stares at you this earnestly, touches you this gently. he’s only been gone for a few days, and so much as probably changed, but never peter. he’ll always be the wide-eyed boy you would travel halfway across the world for.

then something shifts in his gaze a bit, and you frown, placing a tender hand on his cheek.

“peter, it really is me. i promise. i - i don’t know who has you convinced i’m not me but i am.”

“i know,” he says, then mutters it again to himself quietly. “i know.”

for a moment it’s quiet again. another breeze blows, chilling your spine all over again, but you don’t let it distract you from peter’s stare. you can tell that something huge is still gnawing at him, that he still has a lot to fear for. and now, so do you.

you use your hands to guide his face closer to yours, his skin warm beneath your careful touch, and you’re not sure who leans in first. all you know is that you end up kissing him, the knots in your stomach unwinding with every movement of his mouth against yours.

“o-okay, yeah, this definitely feels real,” he breathes, causing the two of you to laugh against each other’s lips.

you lean back in and kiss him until all the uncertainty seems to fade, until his arms are no longer stiff as they remain draped around your waist. until he pulls away and looks at you with a renewed sense of hope, a slightly bigger smile on his face.

“now,” you raise your eyebrows, affectionately brushing your fingertips over the bruises and cuts on his right cheek. the last thing you want to do is get down to business; you’d rather sit peter on the plane and take him someplace he feels safe, or at the very least keep standing in this very spot, arms snug and secure around each other.

but you’re almost certain happy is watching you from the cockpit, wondering what on earth is taking so long.

“you’ve got some serious explaining to do,” you tell him.

he nods, looking back down at his feet.

“if only i knew where to begin.”

#peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #peter parker fluff #peter parker angst #peter parker fanfic #peter parker fic #ffh spoilers

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thenovelartist · 5 years

Text

His Heart Song, part 2

I was part of the @lukanette-exchange, and so this is for my exchangee @cobraonthecob who wanted a no powers/slice of life story. And I was mostly inspired to write a second part to my first Lukanette story. :D :D (Note: it’s not required to read the first part of the story to understand this one.)

Part 1

It was only the weekend they got to spend together, but being with her for any length of time was a balm to his battered heart. Being so close to her, hearing her heart song live and in person, it made him ready to pick up a guitar again and face the stage and roaring crowds.

He was as rejuvenated as a guitar with fresh strings.

But all too soon, it was time for her to go back to Paris, leaving him behind to finish his tour as Jagged Stone’s opening act. They were standing in the airport, and he was very close to picking her up and taking her back to the car with him, refusing to let her leave.

“Call me more often,” he said instead, squeezing her tightly.

“I will,” she said, her words sounding much like a promise. “Text me after your shows. Tell me how it went. No matter the time difference. And I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

“I will.”

A moment of silence passed between them, one that was full of tension. Her hands slid up to his shoulders, a blush now staining her cheeks. He couldn’t resist the urge to lean down and meet her, pressing a kiss to her lips.

Their first.

So, what if it was in an airport. It was drowned out by the music roaring in his ears. Music that she caused in him.

He did everything to commit that song to memory.

“Stay safe,” he whispered once the kiss had ended. They hadn’t moved far, though, which was likely to result in another kiss in the immediate future. “Sleep well. Study hard. But not too hard.”

“Same for you. Don’t overwork yourself, Luka,” she gently warned. “And I’ll be excited to hear the new songs you and Jagged are writing.”

“I was just happy to hear an old one,” he said, tapping her nose playfully.

Her smile was brighter than a spotlight, and he would much rather bask in this warm glow than the one on the stage.

After one last parting kiss, he forced himself to let her go and take a couple steps back. With a wave, she grabbed her rolling luggage and turned away to head towards her plane. He stayed, watching her fully disappear from his sight before returning to the awaiting car.

“I like that girl,” Jagged commented as they drove off. “She’s creative. Lively. You picked a good one, mate.”

“She’s amazing,” Luka quietly agreed. “Thank you for sending the tickets, Penny.”

Jagged sputtered while Penny sat smugly in the front. “How’d you know it was Penny?” he asked.

Luka smirked. “Penny organized everything. You just told her to get the tickets,” he said, reaching out to rest a hand on Jagged’s shoulder. “So, thanks.”

Appeased, Jagged reclined back in his seat looking rather proud of himself. If Luka were listening carefully, he probably could have heard the harmonies of two people reveling in a job well done. But for the moment, all he could hear was the lingering melody of his Marinette.

…

The last few months of touring finished up, meaning that it was time to head back to Paris. Luka could not have been happier to have gone home. He was surprisingly homesick after being gone for months on end, but if he was being honest, he didn’t know how much of it was homesickness, and how much of it was being away from his darling Marinette.

They’d gotten closer somehow despite the distance between them. Maybe it was because the barriers were gone and real, raw feelings and emotions were thrown around freely. There wasn’t a “friend” line he had to worry about crossing. Now, the girl who called and texted and facetimed him on a regular basis was the love of his life.

Marinette was there waiting for him in Paris alongside his sister and mom. To get home after touring for so long, only to see his three favorite women in the entire world waiting for him was like hearing his favorite song come on the radio after a long day. They smothered him in hugs and refused to leave him alone the rest of the night.

He didn’t really have a problem with that other than he wanted to spend some alone time with Marinette.

So when she had to go home, he leapt at the opportunity to walk her back.

He clung to her hand, relishing the feel of her clinging back. To be able to touch her, to hold her, to hear her heart song live as she stood beside him, was completely refreshing. She was already stitching up his worn and haggard heart and he hadn’t been with her more than four hours yet.

“I missed you so much.”

Luka looked down at her, his heart overflowing. “I missed you, too. More than you know.”

“I’m glad for you,” she said. “But I’m also selfishly glad you’re back at my side.”

“You can be selfish,” he assured her. “I’m more than happy to indulge you.”

Her smile was bright and beaming. “I’m really happy to have my boyfriend back home.”

“You’re singing my favorite lyrics.”

She giggled before taking a half-step closer to him, snuggling up against his arm. “I love you.”

Alright, he lied. That was his favorite lyric. “I love you, too.”

…

Having just finished the tour meant there was a lot of downtime at home.

Downtime that was full of Marinette.

It didn’t have to be them being all couple-y or going on dates. The quiet time that he spent with her meant the world to him. After so many days of loud, roaring crowds and cranked up music, the quiet sounds of the skritching of a pencil on paper or her incoherent mumblings or the soft swishing of eraser against the paper were a balm to his ears. He relished the quiet. Of it finally being quiet enough for him to hear the music around him, again.

The soft strumming of a guitar, of the stings reverberating to the gentle touch of his fingertips, he had missed this. Of being with a person one on one and being able to hear their heart song.

He was able to play along with it. But he also learned, he was able to guide it.

He was able to put an amused smile on her face. He was able to get her to relax when she was stressed. He was able to get her rocking along with the music and worked up into a doodling frenzy.

Those quiet moments where they could play off each other, those were the moments hope swelled in his chest. Hope that forever could be just like this.

…

After the tour with Jagged Stone, Jagged’s label company approached Luka with an opportunity of a lifetime.

“They wanna sign you?!” Marinette shrieked as he told her the news.

“They wanna sign me!” He couldn’t help but be completely psyched. After all, it was the opportunity of a lifetime.

With a squeal, Marinette ran into his arms, holding him tight as he picked her up off the ground. “You’re gonna say yes, right? You better say yes.”

“You bet, I am.”

“That’s so amazing! I always knew you had what it took.”

His heart warmed at that. She had always believed in him, and honestly, having her support as well as the support of his family was one of the reasons he’d gotten so far. “Thank you, Marinette. It means the world to me.”

…

They’d only been dating six months by the time Luka knew that he was ready for the leap of faith. She was the only one for him. And he was nearly certain she returned that sentiment.

Meaning it was time for him to face her parents.

Luka honestly loved Marinette’s parents. They were fantastic people who clearly loved their daughter and only wanted the best for her. And he held them in the highest respect.

Hence why he was here now.

“I would like your permission to marry your daughter.”

…

Luka was still in shock that her parents gave their permission so easily. However, he felt the pressure to prove to them that they did not make a mistake in allowing him to ask for her hand. After all, they were young. Marinette was in her second year of university, not even twenty yet. But despite that, he felt like they were ready to be in a fully committed relationship.

However, before he could do anything more to move forward to a future, he actually had to ask for her hand.

When Marinette was busy with the chaos of her school, he thought it was the perfect time to find himself in a jewelry store without getting caught by her or her friends. Juleka knew, but Luka knew he couldn’t keep that a secret from her. He did, however, beg her not to tell any of Marinette’s other friends.

“It’s our secret,” she said with a smile. “But she’s a size five and a half and doesn’t want anything big that will snag on fabric.”

Luka chuckled. “Anything else I should be aware of?”

“No. Those are the important things.”

“Should I get your approval of the rock when I get back?”

“Probably better.”

“Then I’ll see you when I return.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks, sis.”

He had done some online shopping prior to going out, but he realized that he couldn’t actually get a real idea of what he was buying, meaning physical shops it was.

Glancing at the first shop, he didn’t see anything he liked or that he thought would remotely fit her. The second shop was nearly as hopeless, though there was one that was kind of nice.

He kept his fingers crossed that the third time was the charm.

“Hello. How can I help you today?”

He smiled at the woman behind the counter. “Looking for a ring.”

“Oh!” The woman lit up, just like the others had when he mentioned a ring. Apparently, jewelry people liked selling rings. Maybe they did that with everything, but there was a certain excited air they carried at the mention of a ring. “This way. Were you looking for something specific?”

“Not traditional,” he began. Because Marinette deserved better than some plain diamond. He wanted to give her something with color. Something that was vibrant and unique, just like her. “I’ll narrow it down from there.”

The woman nodded as she pointed out some of the options. “Maybe I could provide some more assistance, though. If I knew more about what you were looking for or more about the woman you’re planning to give it to.”

In response, he lifted up his long sleeve, showing off his tattoo: Marinette’s handiwork. “She’s an artist. Specifically, a fashion designer, but she drew this on me a few years back. She says everyone has a symbol or color or pattern that suits them and this—” He pointed at the flower in the crook of his arm “—is hers. She’s a unique girl, and I don’t want to get her something that looks like any other diamond on a silver band.”

The woman looked at his tattoo intently. “She certainly did a good job on that. It’s really cool.”

“She really did,” he said, rubbing the tattoo fondly. That had been nearly four years ago, yet, it felt like it had always been part of him.

The woman smiled before turning back to the ring selection. She then ignored it as she looked in a drawer behind the display before pulling out a couple rings.

“We don’t get many people wanting non-traditional rings,” she said, setting a couple rings on the counter. “But I’m thinking you’re looking for something like this.”

Luka’s eyes widened as he studied the two options.

“And then I have a few more that might interest you as well if these don’t,” she added.

Luka had to give her credit: she picked them very well. One of the rings had a ruby set in a rose gold that had a delicate loopy pattern on it. It perfectly matched the flower that was on his arm.

The second one, though, was what caught his attention. It was a ring that didn’t have an impressive stone on it whatsoever. Instead, it had two lines of tiny gems, one deep blue and one light blue, that twisted together in a silver setting.

“May I?” he asked, reaching towards the blue twist.

With a smile, the woman offered it to him to inspect. In that moment, looking it over and running his thumb over the band, he knew it was perfect for her. To bring out the blue of her eyes, to match her rosy skin tone, and there was nothing that would snag on fabric.

“This is it.”

The ring was a little more expensive than he’d wanted, but it wasn’t that much overbudget. He was more than willing to splurge for her. Particularly if it was to be a ring she’d wear the rest of her life. He wanted her to love it, just like he loved the tattoo he put on her.

When he got home, he got the Juleka Stamp of Approval, that was shortly followed by the Mom Stamp of Approval.

And when Marinette showed up, he was so thankful his mom distracted her long enough so he could hide the ring.

“What was that?” Marinette asked with a smile when he came to collect her from his mother.

He decided to play innocent. “What was what?”

“Your mom stalled me.”

“Stalled?”

“She was talking to me about random things.”

“You know Mom loves you.”

Marinette narrowed her eyes at him. He knew he couldn’t pull the wool over her eyes. He was okay with her thinking something was up just as long as she didn’t expect a proposal. “Okay,” she said, her tone skeptical. “If you say so.”

…

“Your launch album is dropping soon, right?”

He nodded. Currently, they were hanging out in her room at her parents’ house as he was assisting her by modeling a suit. Definitely not his style, but she somehow made it look perfectly suited for him anyway. “Yeah. It is.”

Marinette squealed. “That’s so exciting.”

It was. He didn’t want to be conceited or anything, but he was incredibly excited for his album to come out. People were already lining up for the pre-orders. He supposed that was thanks to him touring with Jagged Stone. He’d forever be thankful for the man who’d given him a chance.

Just like he’d forever be grateful to the woman whose heart song so heavily inspired him.

…

She was on the verge of tears, and he was the one to cause it.

If they were any other kind of tears other than the happy kind caused by him going down on one knee and asking her to marry him, he’d be bundling her up in his arms already. Instead, he just waited for an answer, his own heart leaping wildly in his chest as he waited for an answer.

“Yes.”

As he put the ring on her finger, he could hear her heart song, one swelling with overwhelming emotion. But his was, too. And the two together sounded like the most perfect symphony that he doubted he’d ever be able to recreate the sound.

Though he did try, he wasn’t sure he succeeded. It had been too perfect of a moment to fully recreate.

…

They were going to wait until the summer to get married. Meaning that he had to wait for the end of her second semester that had only just started. However, that did allow them plenty of time to plan the wedding as well as things that their future entailed.

Like where they’d live, for one.

“I want to hold off on having kids for a while,” Marinette had said. “So we can aim small for our first apartment.”

“Who said anything about kids?”

Marinette’s expression fell, and he swore that he could hear a screeching violin in the background somewhere.

He laughed and leaned close to her. “I’m teasing.”

Her smile was slightly strained, but most of the tension in her shoulders disappeared. “I guess we never talked about kids, huh?”

“We didn’t, but I knew you wanted them. Juleka told me years ago.”

Marinette grumbled something that Luka couldn’t hear, but he suspected it was something no-so-nice about his sister.

“I want a couple kids with you,” he assured. “It sounds fantastic, honestly. You’ll make a great mom.”

The rest of her discomfort vanished at that. “You’ll make a good dad.”

“I’ll do my best,” he said. “But I have a feeling that with you as a mom, they’ll be some of the best kids ever.”

“And with you as a dad, yes, they will,” she corrected.

He could only smile.

“But, getting back to the apartment,” Marinette said. “Because I don’t want to have kids until I finish school and get a job and all that, I say we can start off small.”

“Actually, I kinda wanted to bring up the possibility of… not an apartment.”

Her brow knit together. “Like a house?”

“Like a boat.”

Her eyebrows shot up.

“What do you think?” he asked. “About living on the water?”

She paused, lips pursed in thought. “I guess I haven’t thought about it,” she said. “It never even crossed my mind despite… well.” She motioned to his room, the one in the boat he grew up in.

He chuckled. “You can think about it. It’s just a suggestion.”

“I… I don’t know,” she said. “It would be cool, I guess. But at the same point, I worry about my sewing space not being on completely solid ground. I just don’t know if it would affect it that much. And what about storms and all that? If that would really throw me off if the river got choppy.”

He hadn’t even thought about that. “I suppose that’s true.”

Marinette bit her lip. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to kill your dream.”

“Don’t be,” he quickly assured. “This is what marriage is, right? Compromise? Learning to merge two different opinions in order to build a life together?”

“Yeah,” Marinette agreed.

“So this is one that sounds like I might have to give up on. It does get a little bumpy in the weather, and if that’s going to be a big no for you, then we’ll just have to get a house on land.”

“Are you certain?”

Luka nodded.

Marinette bit her lip. “I just hate you’re the one giving this up. It sounds like you wanted this.”

“I do… did,” he admitted. “But that’s because I grew up on the water. I’m used to it. I like traveling up and down the Seine on occasion.”

“Then it sounds like we should be close to the Seine, if we can. So you can still be close to the water. And we’ll just have to take boat rides whenever we can.”

Luka smiled. “That sounds like a compromise.”

…

His mom insisted they get married on the boat deck, and no one had any objections to it.

It was a simple affair. Nothing fancy. Neither wanted it that way. The ship was decorated with flowers and such, and he was wearing a vest instead of an overcoat—Marinette was very merciful to him in that way considering it was early summer and the heat had come. Jagged Stone himself insisted on playing at Luka’s wedding, which was extremely kind. How Luka had become so close to Jagged was still a shock, but he wasn’t complaining.

When Jagged Stone’s version of the wedding march played, Luka nearly stopped breathing at the sight of his bride.

His bride.

For a moment, time stood still and the music faded away. It was just him and her and the symphony in Luka’s head going wild with excitement.

He couldn’t help but be exorbitantly happy.

When she approached him, he held out his hand to grab hold of hers, and from that moment on, everything became a blur. All he could hear was the music in his head. Her heart song and his meshing together and becoming one melody.

The officiant went on, only breaking into Luka’s thoughts when he said vows were to be exchanged. Those lyrics they each sung were burned into his head, matching the melody their hearts played.

And then, the end of the song rolled around, the final lyric “you may kiss the bride” being sung.

A symphony played in the background, the roar of cheers a drumming beat. Yet another perfect song that Luka would do everything to cling to, to recreate later to play for his wife so she could hear this melody, too. The one of him and her uniting in perfect harmony.

#miraculous ladybug #fanfiction #lukanette #lukanette exchange #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #fluff #That's it #just fluff

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leanarg · 4 years

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Practice Challenge II

((Hi again! So, these are 3 fics in one post! Including my first two rps with @ladyreggiewright (our very first one after ages not doing this so asdfghk) and with @wylan-caldwell I had so much fun doing both, so thank you, guys! <3 Thanks for reading too, hope you enjoy them as much as I stuggled writing them ;P Google Docs link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ARTjqveFJ1njDc2LL0PU4C0ShN2jlO9JC1Imt9MDTh8/edit?usp=sharing ))

A CHANGE OF LUCK

“Alright, y’all ready?” Rita said with a loud voice vibrating with nervousness. “The speeches are over. In the next block, Prince Arin will be picking the names.” That was her fifth lap around the entertainment office floor and she just couldn’t stop repeating what Vandy Post had already announced before each round of commercials. I knew she was trying to act authoritative, but seeing her in this state was always amusing.

It wasn’t unusual that the building was bursting with energy this late at night. The pre-press team always stayed working on putting together the bulldog broadsheets content and adding the last details, then sent the whole thing before the deadline to the press team operating on the last floor, where they were all in charge of the printing process. I would dare to say there was activity in this place 24/7. But this particular night, we were focused on The Report. The streets looked almost empty from up here, everyone was at home in front of their TV waiting for the names of the lucky girls randomly picked by a drawing of names out of different crystal boxes. 35 provinces, 35 boxes, 35 names.

My attention had been focused on Arin’s stern expression. His life was about to be decided by fate, or as many people want to call it, destiny. I wonder what was he thinking, standing there expressionless, willing to uphold his duty.

Is he excited? Is he nervous? Is he wishing he could run away from that room and leave all this tradition behind?

My name was inside of one of the boxes, so I should had been even more anxious and edgy than Rita herself, but, after the PET Gala fiasco, where: I hadn’t gotten the clues I was so close to getting, I hadn’t finished the job I was supposed to be doing and my one month salary had been reduced to half; I was certain that whoever was in charge of my luck was not very fond of me.

“They are back!” Rita shouted as soon as Arin’s face reappeared. Everyone in the room fell silent. I scoffed a laugh when I noticed them unconsciously leaning slightly towards the big tv, but I ended up doing the same after adjusting my glasses. One by one the basic information of the selected were being transcribed from the screen to our devices as Arin picked out their papers.

<< “From Allens, Idalia Moretti, from Angeles, Emily Rose White,... from Honduragua, Callia Adair…” >>

My fingers were moving fast across my cellphone’s keyboard. These were the girls we would be hearing a lot about from now on and I needed to know everything about them.

<< “From Labrador, Lea…” >>

I froze. My head felt dizzy trying to take in what I had just heard. For the shortest of seconds, everyone’s eyes were on me. I could hear Rita’s voice instructing them to get back to work and maybe someone else was now in charge of The Globe’s blog but at that moment I couldn’t care less about that.

It’s really happening... I made it to the selection!

Finally, I could stand up. I was feeling so much energy inside me that I wanted to run. Suddenly, the lift made a sound and my dad came quickly out of it and … wait, my mom is here? She was carrying my sleepy little brother, Dean.

I could read the shock on my parents’ faces.“I’m in!!” I said a little too loud but since Mr. Grant was there no one dared to complain. My dad let out a short laugh before extending his arms for an embrace. “Congratulations, Rosie, I knew it would happen, didn’t I tell you V?” He said to my mom. “Grants always get what they want.”

Ugh, I wish. But I wasn’t going to argue with him right now, so I just offered him a wink.

As soon as my father let go, my mom surrounded me with her free arm. “So how does it feel to be a lady, huh? We have to celebrate this!”

“Well, do ladies feel hungry this late? Cause I wasn’t feeling it a moment ago.” “Yes, let’s leave these guys to work in peace.” my dad said suddenly remembering where we were. After clearing his throat as if that simple gesture was a switch between the dad and the boss, he talked with Rita to make sure someone had replaced me updating the blog, then he congratulated everyone for their dedication and finally wished them good night. “I just hope you are paying me the full day,” I said to my dad as we all headed outside.

“I mean, are you working right now?” He raised an eyebrow, mockingly.

I sighed “I guess Grants can’t always get what they want after all.” And I meant it in more than one way.

The next week ran fast. My father and I agreed that I had to keep going to the office as usual, but it wasn’t easy to balance my work and my phone ringing every 5 minutes. More than once I had to ride home in the middle of the day because someone was waiting for me at home.

First, a man with a very peculiar face came to do some kind of interrogation, which was understandable until we got to the most uncomfortable, personal ones. I almost spit my coffee laughing until I realized he had no intention to leave until he got every answer to each one of the questions on his list.

Like him, I received a tailor and a doctor; but it wasn’t until the press started to ask for interviews when I realized my life had made a turn of 360 degrees.

The thing I lamented the most about this odd schedule was that I couldn’t travel to the provinces to interview some of the selected as we had planned, but I did take advantage of every opportunity I had to do deep research about them.

Some of the names or last names could be found on old newspaper editions, there were tragedies, accomplishments, unfortunate events… I smiled to myself, while I made annotations on my journal, fascinated by all the different interesting lives that were about to gather under the same roof. And I guess somehow that included mine.

The farewell party organized by Labrador’s Mayor seemed more like a political campaign than a real party. I might have fallen asleep during his speech if I hadn’t been texting Harris for the 40th time that week.

The last time I knew something about him was the night of the announcement when he sent me a simple “Congratulations, Lady Lea.” Then as the photographer, he had to go with Rea to the half-tour over the country to cover the selected interviews.

“How dare you not be here when you are needed,... you lucky mooncalf.”

I looked up to see the crowd from my place on the big platform set in the middle of the Amberly park. It hadn’t been a very good idea, because there were grey clouds gathering over us and the sun was partially covered by them already.

Someone forgot to check the weather section today.

But the trees surrounding us were decorated with purple and green metallic balloons -the colors of our province- and there were several signs with good wishes so I appreciated the effort.

Everyone was here; The Globe employees that didn’t like me at all, my family on the first row, my college best friend, Liv had made space on her busy schedule to come to the event, even my grandmother had sent his chauffeur with presents. That was her way to show support and I honestly didn’t have any complaints. After the Mayor’s speech, the great boss Maxwell Loyd took the microphone to speak, I rolled my eyes, not caring about the people in front of me. He didn’t waste this opportunity to promote himself and flatter me. I mean, if he really had thought all that about me I would have had a promotion and a raise already, instead I just got ridiculous instructions and a handshake.

When they both finally finished, the rain had started to pour, plus it was almost time for me to leave for the airport. I buttoned my coat before taking my place behind the microphone to start talking, but the eyes of the lady in charge of my schedule forced me to skip until the end of the speech I had prepared the night before. Every time I was going to make it sound deep and sentimental she made a sign for me to hurry.

“I appreciate your support… I will do my best… thank you for coming.”

Were the only complete sentences I managed to say under such pressure. There was clapping and cheering afterwards, but there was after the previous boring speeches as well, so I didn’t get too excited about that.

“Have a good time, my Lea.” My mother said after kissing my brow. I could smell her sweet perfume that I was going to miss. “I will, mom. Take care, I’m only leaving cause I know you are going to be in charge.” I side eyed the two men of the house. Then I kissed my little brother and messed his blond hair. “Bye bye little toad.” He just babbled something and waved his little hand.

“So, Lady Grant. What do you expect from Prince Arin? Do you secretly plan to drink all the coffee from the Angele’s Palace? Rumor has it your father won’t let you marry until you turn 48 years old do you think Your Highness would wait for you that long?” “Wow, Mr. Grant you ask pretty basic questions, I have been asked the same ones all week.” He gave me a big tight hug and I ignored the wool of his coat feeling itchy on my cheek. “I’m very proud of you Leana, and of course I’m not talking about this selection situation… I’m sorry about-” I stopped him not wanting to have our little disagreements as today’s last memory. And I also hoped I could change his mind by the time I returned home. “We can talk about that when I come back, dad.” He nodded. “I’m starting to feel bad for our dear Prince Arin.” I scoffed a laugh.

“Lady Grant, we are past the established hours already.” I heard a lady behind me.

I turned to my friend Liv with an apologetic expression but she just smiled and waved. “I will text you… Bye! The rain started to fall harder but I had read the weather section on the paper this morning so I was properly dressed with boots and a coat over my white shirt and black pants.

I walked towards a guard who was holding an opened umbrella to cover us with it. He opened the door of the car. Then he offered to take my bag for me, but I had packed some of my old journals in there among my personal things. “Thank you… What’s your name?” “Finn Ray, my lady.” He answered confused. “I will keep this here with me, Finn.” I said in what I hoped was a reassuring tone before entering the car. I guessed he was new at guarding selected, because I noticed him turning to look at the woman in charge of the schedule. She nodded once at him and joined me inside the limousine.

By the time we got to the airport I had learned that our chauffeur was called Alan Cobb, he had been working for the palace for 3 years on special occasions. He had three kids and his wife was expecting a baby girl.

The strict lady was Miss Ramirez, she was happily single, obviously tardiness was her biggest pet peeve and she had worked there for 6 years already, but she enjoyed her job and had never thought of doing anything else, although I didn’t quite understand exactly which was her role in the royal offices of Labrador.

She left me at the boarding door after wishing me luck.

The flight to Angeles was long. I shared a plane with 3 others selected, that seemed pretty decent at first sight.

We had a polite introduction conversation before we took off, but then everyone focused on her own thing; Jen Li, -the Yale law student from Waverly- took advantage of the 8 hours flight to sleep. Alana Hansen looked out from the window almost the whole time lost in her thoughts, and based on the green tone on Regina Wright’s face I guessed she was a risky company for the moment.

I remembered I had read about her parents' unfortunate plane accident in an old newspaper, they used to be famous politicians and she was an apple that had fallen close to the tree. Hopefully not too close.

So, considering my options I prefer to write in my journals during the whole trip.

As soon as we arrived we were hurried to a room for makeovers. For me it felt more like a day in the salon, nothing drastic was made, just a few lights on my hair, perfect makeup and a stunning blue dress with matching elegant pump heels shoes.

They did insisted on giving me contact lenses, since I had forgotten to pack mine, so after a long argument with the stylist, Mariel, I decided to wear the contacts and let him enjoy “his creation”.

In the end, despite the little changes, when he showed me my reflection in the mirror, I had to recognize I was content with the upgraded version of me.

ESSENTIAL RESEARCH

The tour around the palace was quite short considering its size. I was almost sure that it was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside, but the curiosity to see my new room, made me settle with the basic information,

I took a glance down at the little map on my hand. Eloise Hall room 28, second floor. As I headed to the stairs, the decorations and fancy details surrounding me were impossible to ignore. With every step you could find paintings by famous old artists -my mother admired- hanging on the walls, expensive vases and beautiful furniture.

Looking around I spotted one of the selected quickly scribbling some notes in a notebook. As I got closer I noticed she was my plane mate, Regina Wright. Her green tone had disappeared or maybe covered with makeup and she looked much more secure now that we were down here on earth soil.

I laughed a little bit inside walking by her side “Hope whatever you are writing is worth a bump on your head.”

“I hope so too” She said absentmindedly, not looking up from her notebook. After some seconds she took a short look at me, flipped through her notebook and quickly closed it before I could react and lean discreetly to read what she was working on.

Okay, now I’m curious.

“Excuse me, hi. Leana is it?” She gave me a polite smile.

“Yes, feeling better... Regina..? I asked faking ignorance.

She looked at me as she didn’t know why I was asking her that but then just answered, “Splendid. But please, call me Reggie.”

We continue walking up the stairs towards the second floor, while we shook hands,

“I'm Leana Grant but you can call me Lea or Lee” I said touching the arc of my glasses I had put back on as soon as I left the makeover room.

She nodded. “Alright, Lea. Journalist, correct?” She made her pen click as if she was going to start writing again. I frowned, puzzled. “You too?”

She chuckled at the question as if I should already know who she was. And the truth was, I did.

“No,” she finally said, opening her notebook again, adding something, then she continued. “So, what brings you here?”

I was sure Reggie had many qualities but subtlety wasn’t one of them.

I pressed my lips together, thinking about my motives, which one of them should I tell her? I’m here as an inside informant for The Globe; or, I’m here to live and learn about this whole selection phenomenon… I didn’t even know which one was the right answer. “... just figured I couldn't miss this whole thing, you know.”

Half- truths are always safe.

“Are you here for politics?” I added before she could even think about my answer.

She looked pleasantly surprised by my question, clearing her throat. “Yes, that is one of the reasons.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “You did your research.”

I guess it was my turn to feel recognized, but unlike her I didn’t want to be so obvious, so I shrugged. “Your name rang a bell.”

She looked at me suspiciously, lifting her chin, a slight movement I didn’t quite understand. “Is that so? That's good, I suppose. Best to be prepared.”

“Maybe you are right, I guess you actually did your research. What do you have about me?” I asked directly now, pointing at her notebook casually.

She remained serious. “Oh, just the usual. Occupation, caste, age. Name, obviously. There's 35 of us after all. Would be a shame to get anyone mixed up.”

“Well, now most of us are threes and the twos are pretty well known.”

“Yes well, obviously. Was to be expected. It's still an appropriate mix.”

Her statement made me remember her parents somehow, obviously she had their school but I wonder how much she agreed with them. “That’s... a word to describe it, yes.” I answered incredulous, “So where are you staying?” I asked, as I noticed I have already found my room.

We discovered we were room neighbors which I decided was very convenient for me. I liked people who have answers to my questions.

She was concerned about my acoustic guitar hobby and I assured her I hadn’t brought mine with me. “The music room will do.” And she assured me her studying was going to be silent.

The conversation continued but my curiosity was already unbearable, so I opened the door of my room to check it out. I didn’t want to be rude so I invited Reggie inside as we talked.

“What are you working on?” I stepped inside

She followed. “Political Science Major.”

I gave her a glance to let her know that was not the answer I was looking for.

She blinked with realization. “Oh, I see I misunderstood. Well, actually I was just writing a paper on the pros and cons of capitalism and if our country should focus more on it like we did when we were still called the 'United States'” She air quoted the name.

I looked around my room considering her answer. Suddenly my eyes met with three maids standing in line in the middle of the room. When they saw us they made a courtesy and I nodded at them as a greeting, hoping we can have proper introductions later.

“Hmm the lesser of evils... but the United States not exactly an example to be followed.” I said to Reggie.

“Exactly.” She said. I noticed her writing a mark in her notebook.

“A-are you like grading me?” I dared to ask what I had suspected since the beginning, but I didn’t want to believe. It was shocking at first but after the third mark it became amusing.

“Who else do you have in there?” I asked curiously before running next to her to peek at her notebook. She closed it again. When I looked at her she smiled at me awkwardly “No, of course not. Just remembered something.” Her notebook was behind her back, now out of my reach. She straightened her shoulders before adding, “Well, thank you kindly for your invitation, glad to have met you…”

I stayed there confused, Had I gotten it wrong? Or was I right and she didn’t want me to know? Anyway, I should have said nothing. “Alright ... glad to meet you too, see you around.” I said worried that she might be uncomfortable now.

She nodded as she headed to the door. One of the maids hurried to hold the door for her.

I frowned concerned, I couldn’t just lose a source like her. “Wait for me tomorrow, I think we can walk to the dining room together.”

She turned to give me a frown, seemingly confused by my suggestion. “But I already know where it-” then she smiled. “I will.”

As soon as Reggie left I took out the journal from the pocket of my dress and tossed on the pretty desk by a large window where I peered at the view of the Angeles city.

FOR THE RECORD.

After introductions my maids brought me dinner up to my room. So while I was eating the best creamy mustard chicken I ever had, we had a little chat.

Among other things we talked about I expressed my surprise when I didn’t see any Royals when we arrived. Liberty, Camila and confirmed the Schreaves didn’t plan to meet any selected tonight, we would have to wait until morning. Queen Anjeli and Princess Ayesha had to leave the palace to attend important matters and Wylan Caldwell in spite of not being a selected was currently living in the Palace. Back in Labrador, I managed between college, work and extra work to fill my schedule, my mother never liked me being out of the house so late at night or sometimes not being able to have a complete breakfast in the morning, I enjoyed being busy and drive my Vespa from one place to another, but it was hard for me to admit that one of the reasons I liked my life that way was that besides when I was concentrated writing notes on my iTypewriter; I was not good at being alone with my thoughts. That’s why when I was a child my mother bought me a ukulele to play when I was feeling anxious, which gave excellent results. Later when I entered college I took a short guitar course with the same purpose.

Therefore, later that afternoon, when my maids went back to their chores, leaving me alone I decided to leave my room to check out the music room, as I promised Reggie I would do.

It took me some minutes to find the right door downstairs but my memory had never failed me and it wasn’t going to start now.

I opened the third door in the west hall and peeked inside. I felt relieved when I saw the big piano in the last corner and dared to walk inside. Besides the piano, there were several instruments resting on their stands spread around the room, most of them to play classical music, but luckily, an acoustic guitar was among them. I was going to pick it up to test it when I spotted shelves full of old vinyl records.

I walked towards the vinyl record player, it had a beautiful vintage look, it’s big horn imitated the ancient gramophones used during the Victorian years, but I suspected to be a more recent model.

I noticed someone had left a classic record on, I wonder which one of the Royals had been listening to it as I moved the tonearm onto the outer edge of the disk, the little diamond tip to touch the groove.

I guess I still remember how to use one of this.

I stretched my arm and pulled one of the discs from the upper shelf, the others came down with it and << "KNEEE-KNEEE!!" >>

The blaring sound of violins vibrated around the room making me wince for the annoying sound filling my ears.

“Damn!” I covered my ears while trying to find a way to turn the bloody record player off before my head exploded. Overwhelmed by the sound I went on my knees and stretched my hand behind the furniture looking desperately for the plug, but before I could find any the music stopped.

I stood up still touching my ears

Have I gone deaf?

“I take you didn’t mean to do that.” I heard someone say behind me.

Okay, I haven’t

I turned around to find a guy eyeing me warily, from the corner of my eye I noticed a laptop and a couple of heavy leather books that weren't on the table before.

“I was considering turning it on but it made the decision for me,” I said without explaining.

At that moment, a couple of guards came into the room alarmed. They scanned the room quickly before looking at us puzzled.

Wylan followed my gaze and turned to them, slightly. “Just a mishap. We’re fine.” He acknowledged with a wave of his hand. I let out a sigh of relief as they left the room to return to their posts.

“First time using a record player?” He asked to continue teasing

I gave him a deadpan look. “Ha-ha I take that the last person who played it had some hearing problems.” Before I crouched to pick up the rest of the vinyl records still scattered on the carpeted floor, I noticed a smile tugging at his lips that didn’t last.

In a minute he was bending in front of me to help. “You picked some good ones.”

Suddenly we looked at each other for a second, I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at his for a second trying to figure any sign of sarcasm in them, and he just had the word “awkward” written all over his face. Obviously I was making him feel uncomfortable.

I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so busy trying to read him.

“I like classics- acoustic to be precise.” I finally said with a shrug. “Do you own any of these?”

“This John Mayer one is mine. I have some other ones too. They’re over there.” He gestured to the rack behind me, then stood up with the vinyls he helped pick up.

I raised my eyebrow and nodded approvingly. “You have some taste, I will give you that.” I looked up at him, waiting for him to offer his hand for me to help me stand, but apparently living in a castle was no guarantee of anything, so I just stood up slowly, brushing my dress.

“Some were gifts I grew to love.” He acknowledged, holding the vinyls out for me. “I’d recommend keeping the volume down before you turn it on next time.”

I took the discs to put them back in its place on the shelves “Well, you should put a sign somewhere,” I joked, a bit annoyed by his recommendation.

I adjusted my glasses and stayed standing there, admiring the vinyl records once more. My curious mind wondered about the Prince. “Which ones are Arin’s?”

“I’m not sure. He might not own any.” I caught him glancing at his things he had left on the table before back to me. “Might be a good question to ask him yourself.”

Or you’re just evading the question. But fortunately, one of the things my job had teached me was to have thick skin so I wasn’t going to let him get away so easily.

“You really don’t know or you don’t want to tell me?” I asked with an amusing tone.

He let out a small sigh, relenting a bit. “He likes The Killers. There’s probably a vinyl or two of those in here if you really need a good conversation starter.”

I faked a grimace “ugh! that piece of information should’ve hurt…” I said mockingly before adding. “I guess some advice for tomorrow’s interview is completely out of the table.”

“Depends on what advice you’re looking for,” he let out, surprising me.

I started to walk around the room still looking at him, considering my answer. “I don’t know, you are his friend... knowing a little bit about his personality would help,” I said casually, as if I didn’t already have thousands of questions listed in my head.

But somehow he knew I did. “I’ll answer one question you have. Just one.”

“So generous …” I said more to myself than to him. My hand went unconsciously inside the pocket on my dress and my fingers touched my journal inside of it, purely out of habit. Of course, I wasn’t going to take it out so I crossed my hands in front of me as I resumed my walking around the room.

“Okay…” In my mind I was looking for a single question that could indirectly tell me things about Arins personality … and why not about Mr. Uncomfortable himself too.

“How do you start getting along back in college, like how did you become friends?”

Suddenly he let out a laugh, startling me. I frowned at first, but then I decided it wasn’t so bad, it picked my curiousness further.

I looked at him genuinely amused and he begined, “We were both going for runs and without knowing, I drifted a little too close. I was listening to music and not paying attention. His bodyguard sort of…” He paused to bring his fist to his neck simulating a punch. “And took me down.” I could see he was amused, for real.

I laughed picturing the scene on my mind, considering all his previous teasing and had to admit it was a little bit entertaining to do so. “Ouch! His bodyguard does look ... fierce.” I commented remembering the man’s complexion I had seen several times on TV.

I wait for him to continue before asking, “what happened next? What did Arin say?”

His smile was more like a ghost on his face now, not physically there but somehow still present. “He apologized. After that we found out we shared a couple classes together and I offered to help him study for exams.”

“That’s an epic story… I bet it left you marked for some days.” I made a grimace, touching my neck, imagining the pain.

“Swallowing hurt, to say the least,” he said, remembering. After a minute, he combed a hand through his hair. “ Did that satisfy your question?”

“Hmm yeah, it was good, for now” I answered scoffing a laugh. The truth was I didn’t expect to enjoy his story that much, but I just couldn’t settle with only one question, but it wasn’t convenient to push more questions on him now.

Fortunately he didn’t refuse, he just rolled his eyes at me, amused. “Alright, well I have to get back to work. At least try to not deafen the entire palace again.”

“I can’t promise anything.” I let out, finally taking the acoustic guitar from its stand, while he turned to gather his things.

“Reassuring.” He gave me a side glance and started walking out the room, he offered a two fingered salute before disappearing behind the opened door.

After a second, while looking down at the guitar already in place on my lap, I compelled, “Wylan... thanks!”

“You're welcome.”

I heard him say from the hallway just before I started strumming the guitar strings, hoping its sound was enough to help me survive the first night.

#OC 6 #PC part 2 #Reggie Wright #Wylan Caldwell #((thanks again to Cassey for reading and giving me some perspective ))

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