#how the fuck do you get shot in workin boys and not even be apart of the play 😭

[yourlocalabomination]

It’s so funny how everyone will be rooting for their fav character to win the death match on tonight’s livestream yet my fav character is Mr. Can’t-Stop-Dying

[aestheticaltcow]

Our Future

The Bear Masterlist

Next Part

A/N: I've been workin' on this one for a couple weeks now and I finally finished omg

“I just don’t know if I want her to meet Eva.” Tiffany sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as she stood in the doorway, “Tiff, do you wanna meet her first or somethin’?” Richie asked, scratching the back of his head. “Richie, I’m sure she’s a lovely girl, but she’s like, what 23?” Richie sighed awkwardly. “Yea…” Tiffany shot him a look, “Look, Tiff, she’s really great-. I want Eva to meet her.” he looked down at her hopefully, Tiffany sighed. He’d been okay with Eva meeting her current boyfriend, so it would be hypocritical for her not to let Eva meet Richie’s girlfriend- you. Tiffany nodded. “Just promise you aren’t breakin’ up with her anytime soon. I don’t want Eva to also get her heart broken.”  

~

Over the summer, you worked as a waitress at The Bear. You thought Richie was handsome from the start. He was tall and rugged, and you couldn’t help but watch his hands as he did paperwork or signed for the liquor order. His hands were so big… you couldn’t help but imagine what they’d feel on your body. Manhandling your breasts, wrapped around your neck, pulling you over his knee to spank you… you dragged yourself out of a daydream when Carmy asked the wait staff a question. “I’m sorry my mind was elsewhere… what was the question?”

It went on like that for weeks, Richie being the focal point of your daydreams. Your friends slowly started noticing how you’d turn down guys when you’d go out. Your parents noticed you were taking your time to do your hair and makeup before work. They’d assumed you had a crush on another waitstaff member or, heaven forbid, a line cook; oh boy, did they not expect the man you’d been dolling yourself up for someone 20 years your senior. 

One night, you agreed to go out with some friends from high school. You weren’t looking for a hookup or anything, but when you saw Richie across the street from the club at some pizza place, you were glad you’d borrowed a short cheetah print dress from your friend Mandy. You snuck away from the rest of the group and ‘causually’ bumped into Richie. He’d always thought you were pretty and quick as a whip, but he was significantly older than you, and the idea of even hitting on you made him uneasy. But, when he bumped into you on that night out, he couldn’t get the idea of you out of his mind. “Yo, cousin. You good?” “Ugh yea… was just sayin' hey to y/n.” Carmy chuckled when he saw you walking away from Richie, “She’s into you.” Richie adamantly disagreed, “She’s a good kid, but I’m way too fuckin’ old for her Carm.” 

As the summer came to an end, you’d turned in your two-week notice. Leaving  Richie with a sense of urgency to at least follow you on Instagram. By your last day, he did manage to get your phone number, which, in turn, led to some late-night Instagram stalking from both of you. Richie didn’t expect anything to happen. You were three hours away from Chicago, back at school, surrounded by boys your age. There's no way a girl like you would ever want some 40-year-old divorced single Dad. At least, that was until you’d come home for your Mom’s birthday in mid-September. 

You needed a break from your family. You saw Richie was out with some of the guys from The Bear and decided to make a move. ‘Casually running into’ the group was more challenging than you thought, but when Sweeps noticed you enter the bar, he knew why you were there. “Richie, your girls here.” he laughed; Richie was confused but was happy to see you. You two spent the night talking, “So you got a little boyfriend at school or somethin’?” Richie had hoped the answer would be ‘no,’ and then he could swoop in and show you how a man should treat a woman of your caliber. “Depends on who’s askin’.” you teased, making Richie chuckle. He offered you a ride home.

As Richie pulled up to your parent’s apartment building, you said fuck it and swiftly moved to place a kiss against his lips, the tickle of his facial hair adding to the stimulation. Richie was taken aback; he’d wanted to kiss her for months but didn’t think it would be like this. He kissed you back as soon as he’d realized what was happening. What should have been the perfect first kiss was ruined when your Dad saw you get out of ‘some random old guy's car’ and told you to get your ass inside. 

Your parents scolded you, “Wasn’t he your boss!” “Y/N! We forbid this!”. You were mad at the pair and returned to school sooner than expected. You turned your phone off and stared at the ceiling for a few days; maybe they had a point. Was Richie too old for you? He disagreed; if two people like each other, what’s the big deal? It’s not like she was fresh out of high school- she was 22, and he’d just turned 42. 

A year later, you graduated college and moved back to Chicago to be with Richie and work at a tech start-up. It took a while, but your parents had warmed up to Richie. Granted, your Mom still hated him, but you took a win as a win when your Dad referred to him as an ‘okay guy.’ 

~

Tiffany was hesitant when Richie brought you around Eva at first. She liked you, but she knew Richie better than anyone and didn’t want you to get your heart broken. She didn’t bring anything up until Eva’s birthday party. You were watching the kids play in the backyard when Tiffany saw an opportunity to talk to you. “Hey, Y/N, thanks for comin’.” you smiled up at Tiffany as she sat beside you. “Of course, I couldn’t miss Eva’s Taylor Swift party.” Tiffany nodded before asking, “Can I talk to you about somethin’?” you nodded, “What’s up?” “Might be a little awkward, but um, you and Richie? How’s it goin’?”

You squinted in Tiffany’s direction, “Why do you wanna know?” “I don’t want him back, but you’re just in such a different-” you scoffed. “Tiffany, I don’t think your daughter’s birthday party is an appropriate place to bring this-” “Y/N. I know Richie better than anyone. You have so much life to live. Don’t you wanna travel or get married or have kids someday? I just want you to know what you’re getting yourself into before you’re too invested in this.” “Thanks, Tiffany.” 

Richie was talking to one of Eva’s friend’s Dads when he saw you walking toward the gate, “Sorry, I gotta check on somethin’...” he ducked out of the conversation to follow you out of the backyard. You wiped your eyes as you walked up the street. It was only a couple miles to the closest train stop, and you figured the walk would be a good way to clear your head. “Hey baby- you okay?” Richie called as he ran up behind you. You nodded, “Yeah, everything is fine… I just have to do some stuff…” “What about Eva’s party? Haven’t even had cake yet…” he noticed you’d been crying, “Did Tiff say somethin’ to you? I can-” “Richie- do you wanna get married again?” the question left him dumbfounded. “Maybe?” he shrugged, “Why are you askin about that?” 

You sighed, “Richie, I wanna get married and have kids someday.” you flexed your hand as you stared at the ground, “Okay, we can… we can talk about it later… come back to the party?” Richie said, trying to change the subject and cut the tension between you. “ Yes or no, Richie? Would you want to marry me and have a kid or two within the next three years?” “Baby,” Richie said softly as he touched your bicep, “Let’s talk about all of this later.” you shook your head. “Go back to the party. I have some thinking to do.” you calmly said as you looked up at him. “OK,” Richie nodded and kissed your forehead, “I’ll see you at home?” 

You haphazardly packed some clothes into a suitcase before grabbing your chargers and laptop from the bedside table. This wasn’t how you thought your day would end, but Richie’s answer- or lack thereof- was all you needed to know. Before leaving the apartment, you messily wrote Richie a note saying it was over and your Dad would come by to pick up the rest of your stuff later in the week. You felt your heart break as you locked the door behind you. It was over.

[kazoo5480]

Summary: Emma Nolan and Killian Jones had been best friends since they were kids. What happens when they begin to grow up, their friendship falling apart, but Killian is still in love with Emma?

Her mom startled her out of her thoughts. “You alright? How was school? She said and saw Killian walking down the walkway and crossing the street. “Was that Killian?” she asked, and Emma nodded. “Emma you have to say something, answer any question I just asked,” she said to her daughter.

“We have some classes, we talked, he asked to walk me home, I let him. He apologized, he didn’t explain it all, but he apologized. I yelled at him, told him he hurt me, and that was it. He asked me for my cell outside, and I said not yet. I am not ready for that” she said.

“Did that cover it all? Oh and I had a good day, no homework, I like my classes, and two upperclassmen hit on me and Liam walked me to class so that they would leave me alone” she said and her mom smiled.

“Ok. Dinner will be in an hour” she said and Emma headed up to her room.  Mary Margaret texted Alice, “Killian walked Emma home. Fingers crossed,” she said.

“What! Oh my god, is it happening?” Alice texted back. “Wait BRB, he is coming inside”

“Hey honey, how was your day?” his mom asked.

“Good. Fine” he replied. Alice stepped in front of him, “anything happen?” she asked.

He shook his head, “nope. But I apologized to Emma” and his mom squealed.  He smirked at his mom, “let’s not get ahead of ourselves, she let me apologize, and I walked her home. I’ve just got to follow her lead is what Liam said” he told her.

Alice nodded, “Dinner in an hour,” she said, and Killian headed to his room and laid on his bed.

Alice shot a text to Mary Margaret, "let's be patient. Homecoming is coming, I will ask Nemo to nudge him" she said, and her friend responded with a smiley.

Killian laid on his bed thinking, how was he supposed to be her friend, and how would he be able to fight against those feelings he had, and be in her life as only a friend. Could he ask her to homecoming, should he? The dance wasn't far off, but he thought it might be the perfect opportunity for him.

He heard his mom call him down for dinner not realizing that much time had passed, and Liam thankfully took over the conversation, and Killian didn't even hear his brother ask him if he was signing up for football.

"Killian, you in there?" Liam teased as he searched his brother's face.

Killian nodded, "yeah, um I will sign up tomorrow. Oh Dad I need new cleats." Nemo nodded at Alice and smiled at her.

"Heard you walked Em home from school," his dad said, and Killian blushed slightly and nodded. Nemo eyed Alice, and she got up heading toward the basement.

"And, how'd it go?" His dad pushed. Liam watched on quietly.

Killian shrugged, "Is it always this complicated?" He asked, and Nemo guffawed, nodding.

"Fraid so my boy. But you apologized, that's good. Keep at it, she will crack eventually.”

"Maybe you should ask her to homecoming," Liam said.

Killian raised his eyes to his brother, "Are you asking Elsa?" He asked, smirking.

"Probably, she is a Junior, but yeah I think I will," he said.

Nemo rapped his knuckles on the table. "Well, that's settled Liam takes Elsa, you'll take Emma," he said and stood taking his plate to the sink.  Killian gulped, his anxiety clawing at his stomach.

"Don't overthink it, Killy, just ask her," Liam said quietly.

Killian nodded, "Maybe next weekend. Ariel's having a pizza party at her place" he trailed off and Liam nodded.

"Parents will be there I assume?" His dad said, and Killian nodded, not actually knowing for sure they wouldn't be.  Nemo nodded at his kids. "Dish duty, I'm going to help mom with laundry" and headed toward the basement.

Killian finished loading the dishwasher and turned to Liam. "I have a problem," he said.

"Oh? And what is that?" Liam asked, leaning against the counter as he dried a glass.

"I think I love her," he said, and Liam chuckled.

"Killy you have loved Emma since you were in diapers. It's not a secret, only to her because you never told her. You're an idiot" he said, smirking at him.

"I don't want to tell her, not now like this. I want to just be in her life. I've never really dated" he said.

Liam nodded, "what about Milah? That girl last summer. I caught you two sucking each other's faces off a few times" he teased.

Killian felt his cheeks burst into flames. "It wasn't serious, and it never went that far man," he said.

Liam nodded. "Well, go slow. Get her off the market for homecoming and work from there" he said.

Killian nodded, "Thanks," he said and Liam clapped his shoulder heading up to his room.

He laid on his bed and opened up Instagram, he looked at her page, private. Shit. He went to Ruby's, which he followed and there were tons of photos of Emma on it. He scrolled through looking at her, saving favorites to his folder.

He bit his lip and sent her a DM. "Since I don't have your cell, at least let me be your friend on Instagram" he typed out and sent it. He ran his hands through his hair as he waited for her response.

A little bubble popped up, "Ok" and he got the friend request.

Killian sat up quickly, hitting accept, and his eyes nearly exploded. He had over a whole year of Emma's life in pictures to go through, things he missed. Holidays, birthdays, summer, he almost choked when he saw a photo of Emma being kissed on the cheek by their friend Jeff, a few others of them holding hands. He didn't like that, but he had to find a way to ask. Was Emma seeing someone, or had she been? Fuck. He was not prepared for that.

"Don't stalk my photos Jones ��" came the message.

He shot back an eye-rolling one, " 🙄 a year is a long time. I'm allowed to look, you friended me" he sent it.

"If I wake up to a years’ worth of likes, I am going to think you’re an actual stalker" she was teasing him he realized.

He kept scrolling, buried in the photos was a single photo of himself, and her. Her 10th birthday. "How times have changed" was the caption, and his stomach dropped.

She posted that last year on her birthday, and a series of photos followed it in the post.

The first one was of them, her tenth birthday followed up by a ton of birthdays after that one, and the last photo was a picture of Emma sitting with a cupcake in front of her, she was making a wish when the photo was taken. Was that a coincidence he thought, he started the series of photos, and the last one a solo shot of her making a wish? It had to be.  

Fuck, he said and liked the photos. He screenshotted it and sent it to her. "Just workin my way back to you babe" he sent it, their inside joke from long ago when Emma's mom and Dad taught them how to dance.  

She didn't respond.

He sighed, plugged his phone in, and fell asleep looking at every photo she had ever posted. Moments he missed out on, and fuck he was an idiot.

The next morning he beat Liam to the shower and ate quickly, going out to wait for Will on the sidewalk, and Liam offered him a ride when Graham showed up.

"Nah, we can walk," he said and Liam smiled, and nodded.

Emma came out of her house, in a dress so short his heart might have stopped. It was buttercup yellow, her favorite color. He watched her as she tossed a cardigan over her shoulder as she walked, her curls blowing in the breeze, and stopped at the end of her walkway, likely waiting for Ruby. She smiled at whatever she was looking at on her phone, and he walked across to her.

"Morning," he said, scratching behind his ear.

"Hey," she said quietly, and just watched him curiously. Her phone buzzed, and she laughed again.

"What's so funny?" He asked her, desperately wanting to see what made her laugh like that.

Emma bit her lip and looked at him, his blue eyes were stupidly blue, and she caved. She showed him her phone, a photo of Ruby laying in a heap of clothes "I have nothing to wear!"

Killian chuckled and she shook her head. "I have to get going, or I'll be late," she said and he nodded.

"Are you waiting on Will?" She asked and he looked around, no sight of him.

"Let's start walking, I will text him and he can catch up," he said and she nodded, pulling both straps of her backpack tighter.

Killian knew this was awkward enough but he wanted to ask her. "Swan, I know we are just starting again, not over, but fresh, and I wanted to ask you about homecoming. To go with me to homecoming, that is" he said nervously, his tongue running over his lower lip as he watched her reaction.

Emma's heart did something stupid in her chest, and she bit her lip nervously, her eyes widening in surprise. That was not what she was expecting him to say at all. "Wow, um, can I say maybe?" She asked him, giving him a small smile.  

Killian looked at her curiously, a half-smirk teasing the edge of his lips. "Why maybe, it's a yes or no question, Swan."

Emma shrugged, "I am saying maybe because we are just getting in some kind of even footing here, but I say maybe with no intention of saying yes if anyone else asks. Is that ok? While we figure this out, and if it doesn't stick, can we just go with the group?" She paused, gauging his response.

She was rewarded with a wide grin on his face as he chuckled. "That's a yes," he said, smiling at her. "I am confident that it's a yes," he said and she laughed easily, rolling her eyes.

"Counting your chickens Jones," she said, smiling at him and tossed her hair over her shoulder. She watched him tracking her movements, she may have chosen this dress solely because she knew he would like it, and her heart was still doing stupid things in her chest over his dumb blue eyes. But for some reason, this whole thing felt like a house of cards, one misstep and it would tumble down.

"I can hope, yeah," he said watching her, the way her nose scrunched up, and he wished so badly that they could speed ahead and just be on that even ground already. Baby steps he repeated like a mantra, but her pink lips looked soft, and he just wanted to suck on the bottom one she had been biting for the last few minutes. Say, something idiot , he chastised himself shaking himself out of the thought of her lips, and her soft hair and that short fucking dress that fell halfway down her thighs.

"I'm signing up for football, are you going to join anything?" He asked her as they walked along, and led her across the crosswalk on Main street.

"I think cross country, again. Maybe tennis" she said, tucking her hair behind her ear, and he nodded.

“Is Ruby doing Cross Cuuntry too?” he asked, trying to avoid a lull in their conversation.

“Maybe, she isn't sure. I think she wants to do Soccer” she said, and he laughed picturing Ruby playing a physical sport. Emma laughed at him, knowing exactly what he was laughing at in his head.  “Mulan plays, I think Ruby could actually be good at it. Get some of her aggression out, and she is really fast” Emma said defensively.

“Ruby is probably checking out the girls on the team,” he said with a smirk and Emma punched his shoulder lightly.

“Bite your tongue, she and Mulan are really happy, I am happy for them,” she said and he nodded.

“As am I, of course, I want Ruby to be happy Swan,” he said. “So what would make you happy?” he asked, almost afraid to hear her response.

Emma smiled, “I am happy. Why? Do you think I am unhappy Kill? Because while we are getting a fresh start and all that, I don't have anything to lie to you about. I am happy, I want my license, I want a job, but my mom probably won't let me since it would interfere too much with school or sports, but I am not unhappy.”

He nodded. “Well, at least you know you have a line of guys wishing you were theirs,” he said, nudging her shoulder with his, and internally he cringed at himself. Emma huffed out a laugh, and just said it simply “I am not looking” she said. Killian felt his stomach clench but kept the conversation moving.

"Those are in the same seasons you know. I'd be at football while you're doing cross country. Baseball while you're at tennis…" he said and she looked over at him confused, her green eyes sparkling at him.  

"Is there a point to that observation Jones?" She asked, side-eyeing him, making her feet continue moving forward.

She should not be lingering on his comment about guys wishing she was theirs, she had an inkling that he was speaking for himself, but as usual not bold enough to say it yet. She was ok with him not voicing it if she was right because she knew there would be no going back if he wanted to date her. She already knew it, and it scared her.

He nodded, "we would be busy at the same time, free at the same times," he said like it should have been obvious.

"Ok, I'm missing the point. Why does it matter if we have practice at the same time, or are free at the same times?" she asked him, glancing over and caught him scratching behind his ear.

Killian shrugged, "I could come to watch you, or you could come to watch me," he said and Emma gave him a surprised look.  

Emma laughed, "alright. So you're asking me if I'll come to watch your games?" She said dryly.

Killian nodded, "Yeah, yes. That is what I am saying, or asking," he said, feeling his blush creep up his neck. "If you want to, ya know. You don't have to" he added quickly, too quickly.

Emma stopped and turned to him. "Say it," she said, crossing her arms, and waiting for him.

Killian gulped. Be honest ringing in his ears. "I looked at your Instagram. I don't want to miss any more moments Swan. So yes, I want to watch your races, or matches and have you come to mine. Friends do that for each other" he said, just leaving out that he desperately wanted her to be his girlfriend and kiss him before games and every moment in between.

Emma smiled, "Okay. Yeah. Ok," she said and started walking.

"Does that mean I get your number?" He asked, looking hopeful.

Emma scoffed, “Maybe. I'm not actively hiding it from you, but giving you access to my private life has to happen organically on some level, I can't just give you an all-access pass to me. Baby steps" she said softly and looked at him. “Besides, when did you get so impatient?” she teased.

He shrugged. "I just thought we could text. I'll take it, whatever you want Em, however slow, I am in, all in. I know last year that I put that distance there, not having classes together didn't help, but I did it. I am sorry. But let me make up for it, or try to" he said quickly and squeezed her hand.

Emma nodded and pulled her hand away, they couldn't just pick up where they left off, could they? No. She had to make him work for it a little bit.

"Why homecoming?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I wouldn't want to take anyone else, even if we just go as friends," he said honestly.

Emma felt her heart and stomach doing ridiculously stupid things at his honesty and she just smiled. "Maybe," she said, and he grinned at that.

"Still taking it as a yes. I'll wear you down, just you wait Swan" he said and smirked, his blue eyes sparkling at her.

"Hey! Jesus you two walk fast" Will huffed running towards them. "I've been like a block behind the whole time," he said and eyed them. "Where's Lucas?" He asked.

"Clothing disaster. Granny was driving her" Emma said, and Will shook his head.

"You girls, god. Just put a dress on and you're dressed. Milah was the worst at that, Belle too. They took forever" he said looking at Killian who paled a little.

"Who is Milah? and Belle French you mean?" She asked Will.

Will nodded and Killian desperately wanted him to keep his fucking mouth shut.

“Yeah, Belle and I dated a bit last year, still talk a lot, but she is busy, so we are still friends. Milah was Killian’s girlfriend" Will said looking at his phone, and Killian saw Emma's jaw clench tightly out of the corner of his eye.

"She wasn’t my girlfriend. We just hung out for a little while" he said to Will, ignoring the hurt look on Emma's face. He saw the photos with Jeff, now was the opportunity to ask.

"How about you Em, are you seeing anyone? He asked.

Emma shrugged, not sure of what to say. She had no right or claim to Killian, she wished he had told her himself in time and privately, but it was what it was.

"Sure there were guys, a few this summer, but nothing serious," she said and was thrilled at the tick in Killian’s jaw. She shouldn't be thrilled by his possessive nature, but she was. Oh, she was going to make him work for it alright, if he was going to actually pursue her he was going to earn it. She thought this over to herself as they continued walking on the tree-lined street nearing the school.

As they entered the building Emma waved bye to them, heading toward her locker.

"What was that?" Will asked him.

Killian shrugged, "progress," he said simply.

"Show her your notebook," Will said, slapping his back and running the opposite way.

Killian groaned, he knew Will had looked at it, asshole. Killian dropped by his locker and took that notebook out, sticking it on the top shelf at the back of his locker.

He never wanted anyone else to see it. His collection of sketches and drawings, comics he drew, but mainly the ones featuring a female superhero who was very much Emma Nolan. Sketches of her sitting in her window reading, her smile, sketches of her in general. He would die of embarrassment if she ever saw it, it was bad enough Will had looked.

Emma dropped into her seat and Ruby eyed her. "That's what you chose after that whole thing" Emma laughed and Ruby tipped her black hat and nodded. Emma rolled her eyes and pulled out her English book, and the syllabus. They spent the hour discussing the upcoming creative writing project.

The day went by too quickly, and Emma dragged on her PE uniform heading toward the sign-up sheet and put her name down for the cross country team. Heading out with Anna, they picked the same spot and began stretching.

Killian came out still sliding his tee over his head as he talked with Kris, and Emma caught a glimpse of his chest, his sculpted abs, and she practically dragged her eyes to the floor trying to push the thought of a shirtless Killian Jones out of her brain, no she was not thinking about the trail of dark hair that ran below his waistband. She swallowed thickly trying to refocus on what Anna was saying as they got closer to them.

Killian’s eyes landed on Emma as she leaned forward stretching her legs, and her shorts rode up as she twisted and bent to stretch, he groaned internally watching her chest move, and her boobs jiggled as she laughed with Anna. She was fucking perfect, he needed to keep his dick in check because it certainly wasn’t getting the memo that random boners were not ok in high school. He adjusted the waistband of his gym shorts where he had tucked himself up to avoid this exact situation.

He sat beside her and began his own stretches and she smiled at him as she continued talking to Anna. Mr. French blew his whistle and Emma hopped up heading outside, the three of them behind her.

"Did you sign up?" Killian asked her, and she nodded. "Me too," he said and she smiled.

"That's cool. Liam will be thrilled" and Killian nodded. "I'll only make JV but it's ok," he said.

"I think it's great," she said honestly and he looked at her like she had something on her face. "What?"

Killian shook his head. "It will be nice to have you there, and knowing that you are there is all," he added with a smile.

Emma smiled. "Oh I’m sure the Killian Jones fan club will start making signs for you," she said with a hint of snark.

"As long as you have a sign, I don't care," he said, glancing at her, noticing the pale blush on her cheeks. She punched his shoulder, and he feigned hurt. "You wound me, Swan."

"Poor baby. Take off your shirt, I'm sure girls will literally chase you to aid you in your turmoil" she teased and he grinned.

"Nah, I'm good right here actually," he said. Emma gulped, not daring to look at him, so she did what she did best, and took off running ahead of him.  Killian was shocked for a moment but knew her reactions well. She didn't want him to know something, so he ran after her, catching up easily.

"I think it's fair to say that you'll make the team Swan," he said and Emma didn't look at him. "Ems come on, it was a joke.

She slowed down and glanced at him. Rather than confronting him about Milah, or whatever he was dropping hints at, she chose to ignore it all. They weren't dating, she wasn't his friend during Milah, she had no right to let it bug her. She had hooked up with Jefferson, and Graham, so she had no room to say a word. The Graham thing would piss Killian off, so she didn't even want to go there.

She wondered just how jealous Killian would be over Graham or Jeff. On the other hand, she didn't really want to play mind games with someone she hated to admit was still extremely important to her. Making him grovel for being a dick was one thing, but she wasn't throwing conquests in his face to get a reaction from him. She didn't need to, he offered them freely.

He was a teenage boy, a fifteen-year-old guy, it didn't take rocket science for her to put together that the familiar pull between them would only increase, and that she had caught him checking her out more often than not, but she wasn’t sure that she was ready. They were not there yet as friends to even talk about it.  She thought about him asking her to homecoming, wondering why on earth, on the second day of school he would ask her when it was a month away. Her heart had a sliver of hope that maybe he had deeper feelings for her, but he hadn’t said wanting anything more than her friendship.

She had to trust him again, trust that he was telling her the truth. If Killian wanted her friendship she would give it to him, but she wouldn’t even let her mind wander to the possibility if he wanted more than friendship.

“I can hear your brain working out a puzzle Swan,” Killian said as he jogged beside her.

“No, no just thinking about something. I am fine” she said, tossing him a smile and was grateful when the whistle blew.

They walked in toward the locker rooms and went their separate ways.  Emma touched up her makeup after her shower and headed out, not surprised at all to see Killian standing there, but was waylaid by an upperclassman.

“Hey, you’re Emma right?” The guy asked, his brown eyes practically undressing her, making her stomach turn sour.

“That’s me, do I know you?” she asked, keeping her face stoic, and he shook his head.

“Neil Gold. I noticed you yesterday, wanted to introduce myself. What do you say to a date on Saturday night?” he asked her.

“Sorry, I have plans. Thanks though, it was nice to meet you,” she said, and breezed past him toward her locker, forgetting Killian for the moment as she hurried to drop her stuff off.

Killian stayed against the locker, watching Neil stalk off, and he watched Emma handle him easily enough before she took off toward her locker, not even waiting for him.

He caught up with her, “what was that?” he asked her.

“Someone trying to get into my pants,” she said back in a serious tone.

Killian whistled, “nothing gets past you, does it,” he asked.

Emma glared, "I was a lifeguard the last two summers. He isn't the first guy trying to get into my pants, I am sure he has seen me in a bathing suit. But I can handle myself,” she said and slammed the locked shut, and looked at him. “Lunch?” she asked and he nodded walking beside her toward the cafeteria, Killian trying to hide the smirk on his face at her brute dismissal of someone most girls would easily chase after because of the money his family had.

School passed by quickly, and Killian realized that since he had first walked Emma home at the beginning of the week, apologizing and being a supportive, flirtatious friend, that every day he broke down one more of those pesky bricks in the wall Emma had built up around herself. Their camaraderie returning, even if his attraction to her increased tenfold.

He hated he was the root of that wall, but he was fucking trying, really trying. After Neil Gold asked her out, he made sure to be a constant presence around Emma, just as Liam had advised. Emma didn't even snap at him anymore about it, she just expected him there and continued with whatever conversation they had left when he left her last.  Their new version of normal was ok, and he got to walk her to school, and home and his mom had even invited them to dinner, and that was nice too. Henry was super into robots and Killian and he had bonded over that shared passion of engineering.

What did bother him was that Emma still had not answered his question about homecoming yet, and when he asked Liam if he should ask again, his brother gave him a big fat “ NO ” as a response. Told him to let her decide, and if she wanted to go in the group as friends, that he would do it, and bide his time.

This weekend was Ariel’s party, and she was excited to use the pool one last time before they drained it Sunday. That was the condition, they could hang there all weekend until Sunday morning when all the guys had to come to help drain it.  They all agreed because, duh. Free pool, girls in bikinis, and no parents? It was a no-brainer. Killian had been talking to Emma about it, she was staying the whole weekend over there as was Ruby and Mulan, but he hoped that it would maybe take an interesting turn.

By the time Friday at 3 rolled around, Killian’s knee was bouncing up and down in anticipation and he grabbed his bag, rushing out the door as soon as the bell rang. He was heading out the front doors to wait for Emma, and he ran right into his brother.

“Whoa little brother, where is the fire?” Liam teased.

“Nowhere, just going to wait for Emma and Ruby outside,” he said. “Are you coming home?” he asked and Liam nodded at him.

“Yeah, I am staying at Graham’s tomorrow though, so stay out of trouble this weekend,” he said and Killian nodded, heading past him.

Emma and Ruby came out with Ariel and Mulan a few minutes later, and Liam waved at all of them, ruffling Killian’s hair in front of them, as he and Graham headed toward Graham’s car.

If Killian wasn’t mistaken Graham had winked in Emma’s direction and she waved at him. What the fuck was that? He wanted to know what happened there, he needed to ask her if it was true. He couldn't say a word if it was, but he found it hard to believe Graham put a move on her, someone he had known forever, pot meet kettle , he grimaced.

“Going to war there?” Emma teased and poked his head. Killian shook his head, “you guys ready to go, or are you not going home?” he asked.

“No, I am heading home to get my stuff,” she said to him and turned to Ariel.

“I’ll be there around 7,” Emma said to Ariel, who nodded and waved as the other three walked away from them.

“Are you coming by her house this weekend?” Emma asked him.

“Absolutely. I wouldn’t dream of missing an opportunity to see you in a bathing suit” he said and she rolled her eyes.

“Em, come on, it was a joke, partially,” he said smirking. “ Yeah, of course, I am coming, you’re going so I am going,” he said and she looked at him curiously but didn’t say anything. “Say it,” he said, tugging her hand to stand still.

“What?” she asked looking distracted.

“Swan, come on. What’s up? Do you not want me to go?” he asked.

“No, no. Nothing like that. I just didn’t know who was going was all” she said.

“Is there someone else that you want to come to Ari’s?” he asked her and she shook her head.

“Nope,” she said quickly, and  Killian nodded, tugging her along again.

“Are you ever going to answer me about homecoming? Or should I still assume that you said yes, and pick out a white corsage to go with whatever you wear” he smirked at her, noticing the blush creep up her neck.

“I haven’t decided yet,” she said and smiled at him.

“I still take that as a yes. So other than pizza, what else should I bring over there tomorrow?” he asked.

Emma shrugged, clothes, a swimsuit? I don’t know. Ask Eric, he will know” she said.

“Will mentioned some beers, but I wasn’t sure how cool Ariel would be, or you if I am being honest about it,” he said.

“It’s not like I haven’t been drunk before Jones, we are almost 16” and she laughed.

“Ah, so, you have been drunk. When?” he asked.

Emma got nervous, maybe she should tell him about Graham. No, don't do that now , she told herself. “I don't know, parties, I saw you at a few but I never said Hi,'' she said, staring straight ahead.

“You went to parties, saw me, and didn't even say Hi? Why?” he asked her. His mind was trying to wrap around the idea of Emma drunk at parties he was at, and never even said a word, he never even noticed her.

Emma shrugged, “We weren't friends,” she said. “I saw Liam and Graham at a few, so I am surprised he never told you” she added, and that cuts deep inside of him. His own brother never told him.

“We were always friends Emma, I was just too dumb to realize it,” he said squeezing the hand he was still holding. Emma shook herself out of the daze, tugging her hand back which he released.

“I didn't know that, and If you ever saw Ruby at one, the likelihood that I was there was always 100%,” she said, smirking at him, and he looked like she had hit him upside the head. He had seen Ruby at tons of parties, he could have fixed this ages ago he thought.

“I never knew. Were you avoiding me?” he asked.

She shrugged and glanced over at him. “I mean not intentionally most of the time, but if I saw you, then yeah I would pretty much stay at the other end of the party. I didn't want to run into you” she said and before she knew what was happening Killian was spinning her toward him so that his chest collided with hers.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, sliding them beneath the straps of her backpack, and whispered “I’m sorry Em. God, I am so sorry.”

“It's fine. We are past it, stop apologizing Kill, it's getting annoying” she said and released him and he let her waist go reluctantly.

“Maybe I should sneak over to Ariel’s tonight,” he said with a smirk.

Emma smiled, “why? Want to see a bunch of girls skinny dipping?” she teased.

Killian’s jaw dropped, “Is that what you guys do when we aren’t around?” he asked her, his heart beating frantically.

“Sometimes, it isn't like we haven't all skinny dipped at some point,” she said. “Do you think I was under a rock, having no fun because you weren't in my life?” she asked him laughing.

He had to stop images of a naked Emma running in his brain. “No, no. I just am trying to wrap my head around the idea that all of you guys swim naked together” and she slapped his chest. “I mean I would happily sneak over to sneak over if you wanted me to” he nudged her shoulder.

“We’ll see,” she said, smirking.

“Let me get your cell at least for tomorrow. I know you will have yours on you, and they won’t” he said.

Emma paused at the end of her driveway, she caved. “Give me your phone,” she said, and he handed it over. “You have to unlock it, Jones,” she said, handing it back.

“It’s your birthday,” he said, the blush creeping up his cheeks into his ears.

Emma’s mouth dropped open, and she shook her head typing the six-digit code in. The background was a photo from her Instagram, she said nothing. Ignoring the hammering heart in her chest, she quickly added her cell to her contact card, which was a drawing of her. She clicked it, and it opened up and she giggled.

“Is that me? Like a superhero!” she exclaimed and Killian rolled his eyes, nodding.

“Shut up Swan,” he said and took his phone back from her. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, “I will talk to you later” he grumbled and she held his hand until his distance required their fingers to separate.

“See you later,” he said and she turned up the driveway heading into the house.

Mary Margaret was watching from her bedroom window. “He kissed her cheek, she gave him her cell number. OMG is this really happening? Should we be worried?” she texted Alice.

“BRB!!!!!!!!!!!!!” was her response so Mary Margaret headed downstairs, and greeted Emma.

“Hey honey, are you still sleeping at Ariel’s?” she asked and nodded. “Are we picking up Ruby too?” she asked and Emma shook her head.

“Nope. Ruby and Mulan went home with Ariel, I needed to pack a bag with my swim stuff. I forgot this morning, so I came to do that. Figured I would get my math homework out of the way, and go around 7, is that ok?” she asked and her mom nodded.

“How is Killian?'' she asked, following Emma up the steps towards her room.

“You're fishing,” Emma said, narrowing her eyes at her mom.

“Maybe…” She replied and her daughter smirked.

“Have you answered him about homecoming yet?” she asked and Emma shook her head.

“Not yet. I don't know. I am not punishing him or anything, I am just not sure yet if it's a group thing or a couples thing. I think by Sunday and hearing the girl's plans will let me know whether or not I say yes, or no” she explained as she laid out her books and collapsed on the bed.

Her mom nodded and shut the door behind her. Mary Margaret knew that Emma was going to say yes, it may have been why she had already begun sewing a dress for her to wear. Her phone buzzed.

“He said he is swimming at Ariel's tomorrow with Will and Eric, you think that's ok?” Alice asked.

“I trust them” she texted back and got a thumbs up from Alice.

Emma grabbed a few bikinis and her clothes, and her mom dropped her off, Ruby coming out to say Hi to her mom, and led Emma inside. Emma was surprised when she saw Eric, Killian, and Will seated around the dining room table.

“Swan, there you are” Killian hollered at her, and she waved, dropping her bag upstairs in the guest room.

“What are you guys playing? She asked as she sank into a chair. Will cracked a beer and set it in front of her, “thanks” she said smiling up at him, and he nodded sitting back down and Eric answered her question.

“Kings, Em,” he said, eyeing his cards. “You can be in the next round” and she nodded, sipping her beer, looking at Ruby’s hand beside her, and made sure to keep her face impassive. Ruby was going to win, there was no way anyone could beat that hand.

“You look nice” Killian blurted out across the table at her, and she rolled her eyes shooting him a smile.

“Aw. Do you know what we should play next? Seven minutes in heaven” Ariel said excitedly.

“I am gay, and so is Mulan, not fair. If I want to make out with my girlfriend I will just go upstairs, I don't want to make out with any of you, and I have already kissed Emma, so she doesn’t count, Ruby said laughing.

Killian’s eyes widened at that comment, and he wanted to hear that story but not here in front of everyone. Emma tossed her hair over her shoulder and laughed.

She looked great, her shorts short enough to show almost her entire leg, and her tank top left little to the imagination. She had no makeup on from what he could tell, and he swallowed thickly, shifting uncomfortably in his seat at the boner he was now sporting and ignoring into submission, his jeans definitely tightening in the crotch.

“I agree with Ruby,” Eric said and kissed Ariel. Emma wiggled in her seat, realizing that Will, Killian, and her were the only non-attached people.

The doorbell rang, and Emma volunteered to get it, checking through the peephole, and smiled opening it.

“Hey Belle, I didn't know you were coming,” Emma said smiling and Belle came in quickly and hugged her briefly.

“Yeah Will invited me last minute, and I figured why not, I already got my math homework done so here I am,” she said shyly.

“Me too, I finished it before I got here, and I didn’t know anyone else was coming, hence my attire. I thought it was a sleepover for just girls" she said, suddenly feeling eyes on her and she looked over to see Killian leaning against the doorway with two beers, handing each girl one.

They played a few more rounds of cards before Ariel demanded they move to the basement to watch a movie. Emma was on her third beer at that point, but she had felt Killian's eyes on her all night. She couldn't ignore it, it was like his eyes were burning into her skin when she wasn't looking at him, or talking to him.

"I think you look fantastic," he said in her ear as they trailed behind Will and Belle, walking towards the basement where everyone was descending.

Emma stopped and leaned against the kitchen counter, the beer buzzing her slightly and she stepped out the back door onto the patio, twilight overhead. Killian slipped out after her, leaving the door open, and she spun to look at him, grateful she hadn't taken her converse off.

Her pulse quickened, he was staring at her intensely as he stepped closer to her, waiting for her to tell him to move, he would never make a move without her consent. His shoes were touching hers, standing centimeters apart, and Emma’s blood was roaring in her ears as she took in the look on his face.

Her green eyes looked up at him expectantly, her blonde curls hanging over her shoulder, and he brushed them back gently. He heard Emma sigh, and her spearmint breath was close enough to ghost over his lips.

"Swan" he murmured, and nuzzled his nose against hers, waiting for her to push against his chest, and instead, she pulled the neck of his polo shirt closer. She rose onto her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck, and kissed him before she could have another thought.

Her soft lips were pillowed against his, and Killian cupped her jaw with his hands, his thumbs stroking her neck, driving her insane. He slid one hand further down to cup her ass, pulling her closer to him, and she gasped into his mouth, feeling the stiffness of him against her stomach.

Emma had a dozen emotions coursing through her, his lips moving urgently against hers, the taste of him flooding her senses, she could hardly breathe,  and she absolutely didn’t care.

God could she fucking kiss. His mind was blown, the fantasy not even coming close to the reality of Emma Nolan kissing him. Her lips were sliding over his, they were practically glued together at this point and he wanted nothing more than to stay here grounded at this moment forever.

She shivered in his arms, and he was nearly about to push her against the side of the house when they were interrupted.

"Guys, grab chips!" Ruby's voice rang out from the stairs, and Emma knew she was giving her a reprieve in case she needed one.

They broke apart, and Killian placed his forehead against hers, sliding his hands back to her hips, staring down into her eyes.

"Wow," he said softly, and Emma blushed, nodding silently.

"Chips Jones," she said, shaking herself out of the daze she was wrapped in, moving past him back into the house, grabbing two bags and he grabbed her elbow, swinging her around to face him.

"Em," he said softly, and she gave him a soft smile and shook her head, descending into the basement.

Killian ran his hands through his hair. Fuck. He just kissed Emma. What the fuck was happening.  He followed her, sitting beside her, and Ariel hit play once chips and beers were handed out, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre began to play.

Emma jumped a few times, Ruby screamed, and Killian held Emma's hand in the dark, where no one would see like they were ten years old all over again watching Ghostbusters.  

Emma spent the whole movie painfully aware of Killian’s proximity to her. She wanted to take a beat, process the kiss, and what this meant. It meant something, it had to of, he was holding her hand in the dark, not cuddling her or being showy. He was doing what he always did, giving her space, but letting her know he was right there.

Ariel led everyone upstairs, and since they were all walking they took the bag of cans to dump on their way somewhere in someone's garbage can.

They all said goodbyes and Killian hugged her, "I'll text you'' he whispered, and brushed her cheek lightly with his lips going unnoticed by everyone.

The girls helped Ariel tidy up and they all decided to throw on mud masks, Emma sent her mom a photo, and they sat on Ariel's floor talking about homecoming.

"So, Eric said Jones asked you, Emma," Ariel said and Emma laughed.

"He did," Emma said, shrugging.

"And?" Ruby asked, munching on a chip.

"Maybe. I said maybe, I wasn't sure if it was a group thing or a couples thing, I don't know" Emma said thankful for the green mask covering her cheeks.

"Your chest is blushing" Ruby cackled and Emma threw a pillow at her.

"Say yes!" They chorused at her and she shrugged.

Ruby winked at her and stood up. "I'm washing this off and going to bed," she said on her way to the bathroom.

Emma crashed in Ariel's sister's room, while Ruby and Mulan took the guest room. Emma laid there for a while before her phone buzzed and she rolled over grabbing it.

K: Hi

E: Hey

K: Are we going to talk about it?

Emma bit her lip.

E:  Not tonight

K: Does that mean I can kiss you again Swan?

E: Maybe

K: I am taking that as a yes, and also taking that as a yes to homecoming too 😛

E: I didn't say yes

K: I like kissing you

E: It's still not a yes Jones

K: I'm wearing you down, I can feel it. When I win your heart Em, and I will win it, I am going to expect a medal of honor, and more kissing 💋, he typed laughing to himself as he typed it.

E: 🙄

K: Is it still okay to come tomorrow, Swan?

E: Yeah. See you tomorrow

K: 😘

Emma made a snap decision, she pressed call on his contact.

His phone buzzed. Emma's name flashed across the screen and quickly swiped to accept.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked quietly.

"You are dumb" she retorted.

"Over you," he said with a grin on his face. "I'm tempted to sneak back into that house tonight," he said softly.

"You can't..." she protested weakly.

"That sounds like a challenge if I've ever heard one Em"

"It's not. Seriously Jones."

"Sorts sounds like it" he teased.

"I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" she said.

He took a breath and thought of Liam. "It meant something to me. Ok?" He said feeling vulnerable.

"I know," she said softly.

"Just don't shut me out. We will figure it out together. Ok?" He pleaded quietly. "We will be there around 11, so see you in eight hours"

"Counting down the minutes" she replied dryly, and he smiled.

"Night Em," he said softly.

"Night Kill," she said softly, and the call ended.

His phone buzzed, Ruby posted to Instagram. The girls had mud masks on and were making stupid faces. He liked the photo immediately.

"You all show your true faces at night" he commented.

"@KJones0125 You are no gentleman sir"

"@RubyRed7645 I speak nothing but the truth"

"@KJones0125 🖕"

"@RubyRed7645 Rude"

He smiled and rubbed his eyes. He needed to sleep. He wondered if she told them, he would guess not or Ruby would have been texting him. He finally shut his eyes and tried not to think of Emma rejecting him tomorrow.

@holdingoutforapiratehero  @hookedmom @xsajx @kymbersmith-90 @kmomof4 @katie-dub @ohmightydevviepuu @lassluna @pirateherokillian @teamhook​ @stahlop @elizabeethan @whimsicallyenchantedrose @resident-of-storybrooke @therooksshiningknight @jennjenn615 @lfh1226-linda @ilovemesomekillianjones @killianswannn @stories-enchanted @eleveneitherway @girl-in-a-tiny-box @withheartfulloflove @kday426 @lyssapup27 @swanlovato @kaoslikesstuff @djlbg @kristi555 @laschatzi @xarandomdreamx @lkles08 @wyntereyez @bubblegum1425 @xhookswenchx @yasbio2015 @tiganasummertree @winterbaby89 @wefoundloveunderthelight @hollyethecurious @let-it-raines @jonesfandomfanatic @searchingwardrobes @dreamingdreamsalways @oncechicagolove @andiirivera @vvbooklady1256 @gingerchangeling @everything-person @klynn-stormz @qualitycoffeethings @vampcoffeegyrl23 @enchanted-swans  @ohmakemeahercules @donteattheappleshook @bluewildcatfanatic @the-darkdragonfly @demisexualemmaswan @lavenderbudd @grimmswan @spartanguard @flslp87 @ultraluckycatnd @sarahpaq08 @thisonesatellite @captainswan21 @zaharadessert @mariakov81 @snowbellewells @xouatxcs @kiwistreetswan @batana54 @nadine200179 @probalicious17 @courtorderedcake @julesep3026 @jackieorioncat @whatthehell102082 @xemmaloveskillianx @jarienn972 @sthonour @linda8084 @carpedzem @pirateprincesslena @daxx04 @winterbythesea @artistic-writer @scientificapricot @cocohook38 @wisfan3000 @chrisilybrooke @pcrcabcth @captainswan4life85 @molly958 @kingofmyheart14 @badwolfreturns @itsfridaysomewhere  @fallingforthecaptain @lovethelifeyoulive1106 @onceratheart18 @strangestarlighttree @omgmarvelous @justanother-unluckysoul @anothersworld @purplehawkcaptain @jennjenn615​ @sailtoafarawayland​ @superchocovian​ @hookedonkillianforlife87

[bby-d1p]

Chapter 1!

Date: August 2,2017

Time: 8:04 am

P.O.V: LaMelo

Location: 📍BBB Estate📍

"ughhhhh!" I groaned and rolled over at the sound of my ugly older Zo brother pounding on my door for me to get ready for school. "tell him to get up he won't listen to anyone else but you and big baller. And as you can see big baller ain't here." "What if he doesn't remember me- it has been two years Zo."I got closer to my door listening to the odd conversation outside of it. Whoever Zo was talking to had a HEAVY New York accent."Ay melo get u- ow!?!"i yelled as i felt the hard wood hit me face "oh my bad" A lightskin girl said. She had to be about 5'4, her hair was out in its natural dark brown curly fro. She had piercings and tattoos all over. She's pure pressure not gonna lie "I know i'm cute but you done staring down at me, we do have school?" she said. "uh why would I be taking you to school I don't even know your name let alone how you got in my house?" I asked genuinely confused. "Zo I told you he wouldn't remember me!" She yelled down the hall."oh well" Zo yelled back, I gave her a confused look. "Wait are you deadass right now?" she asked her voiced cracked in the smallest way. "Uh yea ion think we've met before." I said still confused. "oh I'm Azlia but you can call me Azi."She stared at me for a little longer than usual."No I wanna call you mamas " I said smirking and pulling her close "Ion think ya girl would be okay with that." Azi said laughing and pushing me off her. I already love her laugh and I just met her. "Ion got a girl what is you talking about?" I asked. "Melo stop playing and come downstairs." She said grabbing her bookbag "I made pancakes , sausage and eggs your plate is in the microwave ." Azi said running down the stairs "Thanks" I smiled"No problem." She returned it."Damn Azi you got him using his manners he ain't said that since 08 " Zo said. "How is Denise  doing." I said while flicking him off " Pretty swell actually" He said smiling."um no she actually  mad at you right now."I said laughing "fuck you" I scrunched my face up."no thanks save that for- wait you can't even save those two inches for Denise"Zo chased me around the kitchen counter."Shut up  bitch" Azi was dying the whole time "I'll see you at school Melo ok." Azi said grabbing her keys and wiping her tears from laughing. "why don't we just take the lambo?" I asked . "Um I don't think you little girlfriend would be okay with that. " Azi said laughing bring this 'girlfriend' up once again. "Um what little girlfriend." I said "you serious?" Azi and Zo said at the same time. "Yea I don't have a girlfriend" I said laughing. "Pops melo said he don't got a girlfriend.I heard she clipped you." Zo said laughing. Some bald man walked in and said " melo what are you talking about you and Ashley broke up? He asked with a confused look on his face "I don't know who you or this Ashley is."I raised an eyebrow."Boy if you don't stop playing and take yo ass to school." He said in a serious tone. "Momma who tf is this in the kitchen." I asked "hold on moms I'm coming." Zo said as he went towards the living room. "you better watch ya mouth wild boy" he said "Aye bald bitch- " Before I could even finish ,Azi have covered my mouth which I wasn't expecting because I'm 6'5 and she's 5'4. "Momma who is this and why do you have to walk with a cane?"My voice cracked "Melo? You....ok?" She asked her words were spaced apart and she was stuttering . "Yes no I don't know I wake with zo banging on my door, then Azi a girl that I barely know no offense, "none taken", hits me in the face with my own door, some random man is in the house, you have a cane and your words are spaced apart and you're stuttering ." I said rambling with tears threatening the brim of my eyes. No one said anything they all just stared at me. There were three knocks on the door and Zo had beat Gelo to it zo flicked him of and started dancing "hey babe" some girl i'm assuming was Ashley walked through the door. Zo sucked his teeth and rolled his eyes. Gelo snickered. "Why are you here?" Ashley asked Azi with slight annoyance in her voice. She was cute I guess but she wasn't anything compared to Azi "I'm here because i'm wanted to be here can't say the same about you though." Azi said shrugging he shoulders Zo, mom, and Gelo snickered "ughh whatever" Ashley said rolling her eyes. Azi didn't looked fazed at all."If yall are tryna prank me it ain't workin. idk who you are so don't call me babe, the only person i want to call me that is Azi." I said Azi I both blushed but tried to hide it by looking at her toes those perfect little toes.I an into toe-suckin ight but if I was damn "Huh" everybody I palmed myself in the face "Thinking out loud " I said shrugging my shoulders."Melo, baby you alright?" this Ashley girl but this timed she tried to kiss me. "aye bruh Ion know who you are but you need to chill with allat." I said annoyed "I'm out man Azi you coming?" I asked "uh no I can take my car I'll be fine" She with a genuine look on her face. I got in hopped in my lambo and Ashley soon came running and knocking on my window. "What? I asked. "I thought we were going to school together." "um no were not I don't know who you are." I said pulling off and driving to school.Soon Going Bad by Meek Mill Featuring Drake filled the speakers of my car. I saw Azi pull up next to me at a red light blasting the same song. I motioned for her to roll her window down. "What ?" She asked "first if you wanna be like me just say that, second-naw don't do that if anything you wanna be like me" she said cutting me off. "uh excuse me ma'am; second , if I win this race I get to take out on a date." I said smiling showing my pink and green braces. "No ya lil girlfriend would not like that." she said I rolled my eyes "She is not my girlfriend!" I said hitting the steering wheel"Ok whatever you say just know yo ass finna get blasted in this race." She said cockily before I could even say anything back she rolled her window up. It was a strait shot to Chino so there aren't any turns or anything. Azi started revving her engine so I started revving my too. As soon as the light hit green we zoomed off. she cut me off and I as taken back a little by the way she was switching lanes. Azi can drive her ass off. I wasn't gone let her punk me like that so I had to drive past her just to be funny. I saw her flipping me off through my rearview mirror and I laughed to myself about how goofy she is. As soon as I pulled into the Chino parking lot I saw Azi's green car parked in my usual spot. "looks like you can't take me out on a date". Azi said cocky manner and popping her invisible collar. I hopped out my car. "Um I do what I want I'm gonna take you on a date" i said wrapping my arms around my waist and burying my face in neck kissing it a little. I don't know why but I felt like I had a strong connection to this girl somehow. We were at my locker by now."Dip chill"she moaned a little "You can't be grabbing on me like you used to you got a girl ok."She huffed "I don't have a girl me and Ashley never dated and if we did or still do were over i'm gonna tell her after school!" I said annoyed I heard sniffles behind me "If that's how you feel melo then so be it." Ashley said. "No that's not what I meant.I don't remember anything at all." I said annoyed once again. "I don't want to sound harsh or break your heart but when I feel a certain way I'm gonna explain how I feel.I'm sorry but Ashley but when I'm with you I don't feel anything." "Melo chill out I'm not worth fighting for, You and Ashley are well were together until you said what you said I can't get tangled up in your mess again." Azi said with her voice cracking once again. "why do you think that? when i'm with you I feel something that I think that I've felt before. I just I can't remember anything I'm tired of having to choose between people over and over again." I said with tears threatening my eyes. why am I being so emotional? "I need to get to class." Azi and I said at the same time. I swear I'm falling in love with this girl already.We laughed and went our separate ways. Ashley just stood there looking dumb.

Science

"Mr.Ball you're late." My science teacher said I sucked my teeth and kept it pushing my day was already being fucked up. I heard heels clicking behind me "Yo you good?" My teacher asked me "Yea? how old are you?You don't sound like a teacher" I asked. she started dying "melo you a fool bruh for real is everything ok?" "I just said I'm fine can you just go back to teaching." I said with an attitude.There were ooo's going all around the classroom. "Melo ion know what you got going on today but you need to fix. Ian never have I won't have a problem with sending you to the office." she said she sound like she was from New Orleans. I rolled my eyes and went to my seat. "Aye melo you good bruh" some bronwskin boy asked me.He had a nose peircing and half his dreads were red and the other side black. "uh yea" I said keeping it cool and giving signals ian wanna talk. "ight whatever you say dip." he said shrugging his shoulders. "how do you know my- uh nevermind my day is already shitty enough." i said i plugged my headphones and started watching Trollhunters on Netflix not caring about what was going on.

Azila pov

Math

"why are you late Ms.Williams?" my math teacher questioned me. "oh my bad I had to deal with something before class." I said shrugging my shoulders.I'm already over this day. I can't get myself wrapped up in his mess not again, I have to figure out what's wrong with melo he's seemed so off this morning.

SKIP SCHOOL

Melo Pov

"You trippin ian finna go over there ion know them people." I said pissed my day has just been bad all around. "your going...ok." Mommy said .

After two hours of being around people I didn't know, i finally got home. "To prove there is nothing wrong with me why don't we go to the doctor?" I proposed "come on mommy let's go to the doctor " i said with puppy eyes "no" she mushed me "mommmmmmyyyyy pleaaasseeee" I asked annoying her on purpose again."ugh fine" mommy said. Out of nowhere Ashley facetimed me "How do you have my number?"I raised an eyebrow "listen dip I don't know what's going on with you but you need to cut the act. You've been so distant lately and I wanna know why." "I haven't been acting distant I just met you this morning." I hung up and walked towards the car.

15 mins later

"The Ball family,your number room is 082200"

"ooou my birthday" i said dancing "me-lo" my mom just laughed I love when she's happy.

We all got up and walked towards the door

"Hi I'm doctor Amanda Johnson and what will we be discussing today?" She asked, she was really perky, a little too perky "Well melo here started acting unusual this morning".The bald dude said touching my shoulder I started to yank away but mommy gave me that look. "How"? "Well he was saying-Let Lamelo" talk she cut off gelo. he stared in disbelief "I don't think I was acting weird.I woke up to get ready for school and zo and this girl Azi were talkin outside my door and the she hit me in the face with it. I asked her who she was yadayadayada apparently that bald dude is my dad and I got in to it with my science teacher who im guessing i was cool with?." I said recapping everything that happened this morning. "Ok um I'll need to do just a little check up height, weight, the usual." she said I stood up out the chair "holy sh- um how old are you?" she gulped you could hear how intimidated she was when I stood up. "I'm 16." I said nonchalantly."sixte- nevermind lonzo can you help me with the stadiometer" she was like 4'11 "sure" zo said in a weird tone. I sat on the little bed thing. She checked my heartbeat and allat good stuff. "Everything seems to be fine." she said hopping off the stool and started typing away on he desktop."Hmmmmm" The doctor said with a blank stare looking at the computer that's why I hate doctors you never know what they're saying smh. "?Well?" I said "Well there might be a scan that we can do next week to see what's going on with you because that "bald dude" is your dad in fact".She put quotations around bald dude and gave me a weird look. "lady no disrespect but i'm pretty sure i'd remember who my dad is." I said returning her confused look zo slapped the back of my head."ow" I whispered rubbing the back of my head. "Alright I'll see you guys next week." "th-thank you! mommy said.

Later...

Azlia Pov

"Uhh yea oh wait let's get the purple confetti instead." I said to Lee. Today is my mom's birthday so I'm tryna go all out. "Target has better balloons and candles." I said walking out of Walmart "Azi we've been to 8 stores already, are you sure?"Lee said laughing "Yes I'm serious, Mom is turning 42 we gotta go bi-" Before i could finish my sentence my phone started ringing.Incoming cal from Him💕 "Yes?" I smiled"nothing I just wanted to see you're face" he said laughing I rolled my eyes . Before lee could say some shit I muted the phone."Is tha- Yes it is lee now mind the business that pays you" I laughed and unmuted. "why'd you mute ma?" he questioned "Lee was saying outta pocket shit about how I'm always at target." I said rolling my eyes. "You literally got to target Every day!" Melo exclaimed "You in my business don't do that." I laughed"I'll call you later ok? Alright byebye." I hung up"It's his contact name still being him with the heart for me." Lee shut up and help me look for balloons" I said laughing."Tell me why simi just texted me and said: Ik you at target or Walmart get me sum gummywors" I laughed

Aziiiiiii😒

Fuckkk no

                                          Simi😊👎

Azi rs stop playing

Aziiiiii😒

Fine troli or Haribo?

                                                  Simi 😊👎

              Troli🙏

Aziiiii

Sike you thought hoe😊

                                     Simi😊👎

fuck you monae

Azi😒

Ahhhhhh not the middle name💀😔

read 5:14 pm

Fine i'll get you some

*not delivered*

Simi?

*not delivered*

Aye ho- I mean simii?😃

*not delivered*

Azi

tell simi unblock me or he aint gettin shit

                                                                    Teneal😘

just like that bett!💀

Teneal😘 sent a voice message

"Azi said unblock her or you aint getting shit. Im tellin momma" She laughed and Simi yelled

[atlafan]

Take it Slow - Part Seventy-Four

a/n: okay this is my first shot at a harry:y/n fic, and it will be multiple parts. y/n had a bad experience with an ex over a year ago, and finally accepts her coworker and good friend Niall’s invitation to go on a blind date with his friend Harry.

Warnings: Fluff and smut.

You woke up to the sound of yelling and laughing the next morning. You went into the bathroom to wash-up, threw on some shorts and t-shirt and headed into the kitchen. Anne, Harry, and Gemma were all making breakfast.

“Mornin’, love.” Anne says. “Sorry if we woke yeh.”

“Oh!” You laugh. “No it’s fine, needed to get up anyways.”

You all sit down to breakfast. It was nice having them here. Harry was the most relaxed he’d been in weeks.

“Think I’m gonna take Buster out for a good walk, it’s so nice out.” You say slipping your sneakers on.

“Mind if I join you?” Anne asks.

“Not at all! I’d love it.” You smile. She puts her sneakers on and the two of you head out.

“What’s all tha’ about?” Harry asks Gemma as they go out to sit on the balcony.

“Don’t know.” She shrugs. “Mum gave you a bit of a talk last night, she probably wants to do the same with her. See where her head’s at.”

“You know, I appreciate everyone being so concerned, but at the end of the day it’s our life together, not anyone else’s.”

“Yeah…but you’re her only son, and she’d like for you to only get married once, so she just wants to make sure she’s the right choice. You’ve had a lot of girlfriends Harry.”

“No, I’ve just had a lot of girls.” She punches him in the arm. “Oi!”

“Don’t be a pig.”

“M’not. Just sayin’, really haven’t had a lot of real relationships.”

“Exactly. Probably another concern of mum’s. I mean, you haven’t brought a girl to meet us since you were in high school, Harry.”

“Yeah, yeah. So I suppose you wanna have a private chat with her too?”

“How often are we here to do so?”

“Well, you can do that tomorrow. She told me she’s workin’ from home a couple days to spend time with you and mum.”

“Mum’s plannin’ to go to the studio with you tomorrow so she can watch you in action. She quite likes the park across the street, she’ll probably read there while you’re workin’. So I’ll spend the day with Y/N and Buster. It’ll be nice to have some girl time.”

//

“Good boy Buster!” You say as you pick up his droppings and throw them in the trash. “So much easier when he goes right away, now he can just enjoy the walk.” Anne laughs.

“He’s a very good dog.”

“Yeah, we got lucky.”

“Whose idea was it to get him?”

“Harry’s.” You sigh. “His friend Adam called him and told him he had a fresh litter and we could have one if we wanted. As soon as he showed me the picture I couldn’t say no.” Buster yips. “That’s right, mummy knew right away you were her baby.” You giggle. Anne raises an eyebrow at you. “Sorry, that must sound weird.”

“No, it’s sweet actually. You think of him as your own.”

“It’s hard not to.”

“If you don’t mind me askin’, do you think you’ll want children, eventually?”

“Yeah, eventually. Not anytime soon though. I’m only a couple of classes into my master’s program, and I’d like to have that all settled before I even think about it. I know a dog is way different than having a kid, but it’s already so much extra work making sure he’s taken care of on top of everything else.”

“Mm, and I know my son can be a handful. Quite the baby himself sometimes.” You both laugh.

“Only sometimes, he means well.”

“Can I ask, is this your first serious relationship?”

“Yes and no. This is the longest relationship I’ve had. I’ve certainly never lived with a guy before. I can’t really explain it, Anne, everything just felt right with Harry.”

“You didn’t feel like you were rushin’ when you moved in together or anythin’?”

“To be honest with you, we were practically living together as it was before he asked me if I wanted to.”

“It’s amazing to me. You know there was a girl he was seeing a couple years ago, they were together for like seven months, and he refused to even give her a key to his apartment. Granted, he was a little younger, but still. You’ve definitely had an effect on him.”

“I also chalk it up to a guy’s maturity level. He probably saw his life flash before his eyes you know? Now I think he’s a little more grown up, that’s what Niall tells me at least.” You laugh.

“Very good point. You know we talk weekly, and he always raves about you. Even from the beginning. I could tell he met someone. He didn’t come right out and say it, but he was in such high spirits.”

“Can I ask, when was the first time he mentioned me?”

“Oh god, I think he said he had been seein’ someone, and he was havin’ trouble finding a way to ask you to be his girlfriend. Like, make things official with you. He was scared you were gonna think it was too soon.” You nod and smile. “So I asked him why he wanted to make things official so soon, and he said he didn’t want to risk anyone else scoopin’ yeh up.”

“That sound like something he’d say.” You giggle.

“How did he ask you to be his girlfriend? He never told me, he just said he asked and you said yes.”

Your mind flashes to making out with Harry, drunk, in your old apartment. You let him go down on you for the first time that night.

“Um…we were just hanging out at my place and he asked me if he was my boyfriend…something like that.”

“Not that I didn’t like you before, you know when we met and all that, but when he told me about the party you threw for him for his birthday, and the pearls, that was when I knew I could really trust you with him. He was devastated when he had to sell that necklace. I felt awful for him. He loves his jewelry. He didn’t have the heart to replace it once he could.”

“That means a lot to me to hear you say that.” You both turn around and head back the other way.

“You’re quite the party planner, clearly.”

“I know how to organize a function, that’s for sure. I try to play to my strengths.” You laugh. “I feel like he’s always really happy when he has all of his friends around.”

“Definitely. So…I know it hasn’t quite been a year yet, but I’m a firm believer in when you know you know…” You nod. “If my son asks you to marry him some day…do you think you’d say yes?” You stop short and look at her.

“You mean when your son asks to marry me?” She chuckles and nods. “I would definitely say yes, zero hesitation.” You both start walking again. “Although, I got a bit nervous last night when he called me over to him. When he does it, I don’t want it to be in front of a bunch of people like that. I just want it to be the two of us, you know?”

“Oh definitely. Don’t worry, that certainly wasn’t his plan last night. I think he just wanted you to know you deserved to be celebrated just as much as him.”

“So…from all of this, you’re okay with me becoming part of your family some day?”

“More than okay with it, love.”

You get to the front of your building, and she gives you a hug.

“I’m hopin’ to find out how your mum feels about him. I’m havin’ lunch with her Tuesday.”

“Oh, that’ll be great.” You both enter the lobby and go into the elevator.

“Your dad wasn’t at the party last night.”

“No he was not. He was invited, but he generally doesn’t go to things if my mom is going to be there.”

“Ah, that can be difficult.”

“Do you and your ex husband get along?”

“Well enough, we always put the kids first, that’s all that mattered.” You go inside and Buster goes running towards Harry.

“Hey buddy.” He says petting him. “Good walk?”

“Yup.” You smile.

//

The next day you wish Harry a good first day at the studio and off he goes with Anne. You tell him you and Gemma will be by around lunchtime with Buster.

“So, I’ll be up in the loft working if you need anything.” You say to her.

“Perfect, I’ve got my laptop, I need to work as well, so I may spend some time in the guest room. Let me know when you take him for a walk though, I’ll go with you.”

“Sounds good.”

Buster stays by your side while you work. You zoom into a couple of early morning meetings. Around ten you get the leash on him and knock on the guest room door.

“Ready for a break?” You ask her.

“Yes! Definitely.”

You get to down to the street.

“God, the weather is so much warmer here already than it is back home. Might have to start comin’ here for the summer.” She laughs. “So, what did my mum wanna talk to you about yesterday?”

“What do you mean?”

“C’mon, Y/N, she obviously wanted to talk.”

“You’re very perceptive.” You laugh. “We just talked about your brother. I think she wanted a pulse-check on where I’m at with him.”

“And where are you?” You look at her. “Sorry, I’m sure you’re sick of getting grilled by everyone…he’s just my baby brother, you know?”

“No, no, it’s fine. Basically she asked me what I would say when he eventually proposes and I told her I would say yes.”

“And you don’t feel like it’s too soon or anything? You both are still so young.”

“I know, but neither of us want to be with anyone else. Plus, by the time he does propose, and we pick a date and all that it could be another couple of years before we actually get married.”

“I’ve never seen him so in love, it’s really nice. He’s always been so sweet and considerate, an ally to women’s rights and all that. But when it came to datin’, he was like every other fuck boy out there, I’ll never understand it.” She scoffs.

“I think a lot of guys go through that phase. I had some guy friends in college that were amazing friends, but would treat other girls like shit. It’s not right, but I guess it’s good to get all that out of your system, right?”

“I’m just glad he figured his shit out. Personally, I think you have a great deal of patience to be able to even live with him. He can be a bit of baby, you know?” You start laughing hysterically.

“Your mum said the exact same thing.”

You both turn back and head to the apartment.

“All in all I’m he’s found you. I hope your family feels the same way about him.”

“I think they do…” You get inside and take the leash off Buster. “It’s a bit more complicated with me and them. They’re…a little more apprehensive to trust someone in my life.”

“Why’s that? If you don’t mind me asking…”

It dawns on you that Harry probably never told Gemma about what happened to you.

“Um…I’ve just been burned in the past, and I’m the baby, I know Harry’s the youngest too, but my siblings actually helped change my diapers. I’m more than just a little sister, you know?”

“Oh sure. Plus I can imagine it’s tough for your parents to see their last kid growin’ up so much.”

“Exactly. I think they’re happy that I’m happy. I’ll be curious to see how our moms do at lunch together.”

“To be a fly on the wall, right?”

//

At noon you and Gemma head to the studio with Buster. Him and Mariah were working in separate areas, snapping away. You walk up to Isaac.

“Got a dog biscuit for him, can I give him one?”

“Only if he does a trick for you.”

“Alright, sit Buster.” He does so. “Good boy!” He gives him the biscuit. “Got a little bed for him right here behind my desk.”

“Go ahead baby, sit with Uncle Isaac.”

Buster looks at you and then goes to plop down in his bed.

“It’s been busy all morning. Lot of senior photos. It’s great having the park right there, they’ve both been able to take pictures of the kids by the trees and stuff.”

“That’s great!”

“Thought one girl was going to wet her pants when she first met Harry, poor thing.”

“Oh no, why?” Gemma asks.

“Oh, honey, I know he’s your brother, but he’s hotter than sin. If I were a little seventeen year old girl, my god, I don’t know what I’d do if I had that man standing right in front of me with a camera telling me to smile.” You burst out laughing, which catches Harry’s attention. He looks over at you and his sister and shakes his head. “He should be done any minute. He wanted to get some inside shots with that one.”

“No problem, it’s why there’s a waiting area right?” You and Gemma sit down on the comfy chairs.

Harry walks the young girl up to Isaac.

“When’s your mum gettin’ back?”

“I’ll text her now to let her know I’m done.” She smiles. “Thanks for showing me some of them. I’m gonna tell all my friends to come to you this summer.” Isaac hands her one of Harry’s business cards. Buster comes sniffing around. “Oh!” She squeals.

“That’s my boy, Buster. You can pet him if you want.” The girl beams at him and crouches down to pet him. Her mother comes rushing inside the studio.

“Sorry, honey, long line at Dunkin. All set?”

“Yeah! They look great already.”

“When can we expect them?”

“Couple of weeks, I’ll need to sit and edit them. Then you’ll get an email with a link to our site, and you can pick which ones you want to purchase. I’ll send you the files electronically cause I know the schools prefer that for the yearbook, and I’ll email you all the actual prints.”

“That sounds great. I have to say too, you have the fairest prices for everything. I’ve told a few of the other parents about you and Mariah.”

“Thanks! We really appreciate that.” He smiles. “Isaac, m’goin’ to lunch, can you wrap this up?”

“You got it.” He smiles.

“Wanna eat outside? It’s beautiful out…mum’s already out there.”

“Sure! What she pick up?”

“Salad and sandwiches I think.” He wraps an arm around you. “Buster!” He whistles to him and grabs his leash.

You all walk across the street to the park and sit with Anne at one of the picnic benches. It’s a great lunch. You like spending time with them.

//

The next day Anne borrows Harry’s car to go meet your mom for lunch at a halfway point. Harry had Mariah come pick him up so you’d have your car to go to therapy later.

“Hi, Lynn!” Anne says to your mom.

“Oh, hi!” she laughs. “Hope this wasn’t too hard for you to find.”

“Not at all.” She smiles. They’re both seated fairly fast. “I’m so glad we could do this.”

“Me too. Y/N speaks the world of you and Gemma, I was wondering when we’d get a chance to meet you. It was such a nice surprise for Harry.”

“I felt horrible keepin’ such a secret from him. But last month when Y/N called me told me she wanted to surprise him, I had to jump in on it.”

“She’s the queen of surprises.” Your mom laughs.

“They’re a lovely couple, don’t you think?” Your mom nods in agreement. “You met my son by accident, right? At the mall?”

“God, I completely forgot about that. That’s right, we bumped into him and Niall. He was very funny, and he wouldn’t let me pay for lunch, quite the gentleman.” She smiles.

“What did you think about when they moved in together so quickly?”

“Well…to be honest I wasn’t thrilled, but it’s not my life.” She shrugs. “It wasn’t that I didn’t like Harry either, I would have been concerned with anyone she was dating.” Anne nods. “Y/N’s always been very independent, moves to the beat of her own drum. She’s got a different way of seeing things.”

“She’s very bright.”

“You have no idea! I feel like each one of my kids just kept getting smarter and smarter.” She laughs and then sighs. “I can’t get too much into it because I know she’d be upset with me if I tell you this, but my daughter has been through…something tragic…something I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Something I never thought would happen to any of my kids. She’s made it through and she’s very strong, but when her and Harry started getting serious, I did get worried. I’m not worried anymore though. I can see how much he cares for her, and she’s happy. Her siblings are very protective of her too, as I’m sure Gemma is of Harry.”

“Oh my, of course. I’m sorry to hear she’s been through something…” She looks down at her food then back to your mom. “She’s the baby of your family too, I can see you all wanting to watch her like a hawk.”

“Her father especially so.” She takes a sip of water. “I’m sorry he wasn’t there last night for you to meet him.”

“That’s alright, I’m sure in time we will. Harry told me he was a great help in gettin’ the studio together.”

“He’s nothing if not handy.” She smiles.

“Lynn…my son wants to marry your daughter.” Your mom nearly spits out her drink. “Jesus, I’m sorry.” She hands her a napkin.

“When exactly does he plan to do that?”

“I’m not sure…he’s not plannin’ to propose for another few months, but it’s comin’. I gave him my blessing. I think the world of your daughter.” There’s an awkward pause. “I hope you’ll accept my son the way I’ve accepted her.”

“It’s not that I don’t accept him…it just feels so fast!” She sighs. “But who am I to say anything? At the end of the day she’s going to be asked a question, and it’s her choice to say yes or no. I’ll back her up no matter what.” She chews on her lip. “Her father, however, he’ll be happy for her at first, but he’ll find a way to ruin it. I try not to speak poorly of my ex, but he’s an asshole.”

Anne bursts out laughing.

“That’s quite alright.”

“He just always finds a way to be negative, and he’ll ask them a million questions. Everything always comes down to money. I know she’ll want a nice, big wedding too. And he’ll say ‘well, wouldn’t you rather save that money and put it towards something important’. As if he and I didn’t have a wedding like everyone else.”

“Did you get married in a temple?”

“We did.” She smiles. “It was really informal. I wore a purple pantsuit.” She laughs. “I was already pregnant with our first daughter, Bridget, so I didn’t exactly want to be a in a white dress. It was a nice ceremony though, good reception.”

“Harry told me if they have kids they’d raise them as Jewish…”

“Are you okay with that? Having Jewish grand-babies?”

“Sure.” She shrugs. “He said they’d still do Christmas and Easter, of course.”

“My son’s wife isn’t Jewish, they make it work just fine. Erica’s boyfriend isn’t Jewish either, we’re not a super conservative family in that sense. Do you think he’d want the wedding overseas?”

“No, not with so much of your family here. We have a small family. And a lot of his friends are here now anyways, only a few he sees back home.” She takes a sip of her drink. “I know this conversation may seem a little premature, but I wanted to have it with you in person while I was here.”

“I understand completely. I’m glad we were able to do this.”

//

You and Gemma cook dinner together so Harry would have something to eat when he got home. You’d mostly likely be home after him.

“Well, I’ll see you both in a bit.” You smile. You had your gym clothes on, you didn’t really feel like explaining you were going to therapy.

“Alright dear, see you soon.” Anne says.

She told you all about her lunch with your mom and how well it went. You texted your mom a big thank you right after.

“How are you Y/N?”

“Really good actually.”

“Did you just come from the gym?”

“No, I just put this on because Harry’s mum and sister are staying with us, and I didn’t want to explain I was going to therapy…”

“Ah, I see.”

“I didn’t know if they’d ask why I was going to therapy, and I just didn’t want to get into it.”

“I understand.” She smiles. “How did the studio opening go?”

“Oh my god, it was incredible!”

//

Harry gets in around 6:30, and smiles when he sees his sister and mum. He grabs the dinner you had texted him about and sits down on the sofa with them.

“How was day two?” Gemma asks.

“Great! It was nice to have Buster with me the whole day, right buddy?” He hips and sits at their feet. “Sure he misses his mum though.”

“She’s been at the gym a while.” Anne says. “Does she always go for so long?”

“Gym?”

“Yeah, she had her gym clothes on, I just assumed that’s where she went.”

“Hm.”

You get in around 7PM and see them all watching TV. Harry gets up after you say hello and follows you to the bedroom.

“Hi.” He says.

“Hi, how was your day?”

“Good, busy.” You hum your response and find some sweats to put on.

“A.C.’s up a bit high.” You chuckle as you pulls some sweatpants on.

“Did you go to the gym?”

“So, I went to see Dr. Mara, why?”

“My mum said you went to the gym, that’s all.”

“No, I just put gym clothes on to make them think that’s where I was going. They don’t know I go to therapy Harry, and then don’t need to.”

“It’s a perfectly normal thing to say you’re doin’.”

“Yeah, but what if they asked why?” You look at him. “See? Not a good answer for that, is there. I don’t exactly feel comfortable telling your mum and sister that I was assaulted.” You whisper.

“Okay, yeah, that’s fair.” He wraps his arms around you. “I feel like I miss you.” He buries his face in your neck.

“Aw, why?” You rub his back up and down.

“I don’t know…haven’t been able to cuddle much.”

“Can’t cuddle with your mum and sister sitting on the sofa with us.” You kiss his cheek and hold him tight. “They probably think something’s going on here as it is, let’s go sit with them, hm?”

“No.”

“Harry.”

“No, I’m tired, and I’m sick of TV for the night. I feel like readin’.”

“So, we can watch TV and you can read. We’ll go to bed early so we can cuddle for a bit, okay?”

“Fine.” He grabs his book and his glasses and follows you out.

Harry sits down and yanks you into his lap.

“Harry, I-“

“S’fine, love, you can sit with him.” Anne says. “It’s your home, after all.”

The three of you watch TV for a bit while Harry reads. Around nine you and Harry tell them you’re heading to bed. You say goodnight to Buster and go into your room. You both do your usual routine and get into bed.

“Wouldja just lay on top of me?”

“I know what that’s going to lead to, and I don’t feel-“

“Y/N! I’m not fuckin’ around, come here!” He pulls you on top of him and you swat at his chest.

“Shhhh, do you want them to hear you?”

“I don’t give a fuck.” He holds you tight to his chest and strokes the back of your head. You relax into him. “See, isn’t this nice?” You both chuckle.

“Shut up.” He kisses your hairline as you nuzzle into him. “They’ll only be here two more days, Harry. You should make the most of it.”

“I am makin’ the most of it. Mum and Gem are both comin’ to the studio tomorrow since you’re back to work. I just think we should be able to do whatever we want even if they’re here.”

“Well, I feel weird about it. It’s icky.”

“Icky?” He laughs.

“Yeah, do you really want them to know what it sounds like when we’re fucking?”

“Babe, I’m sure they’ve heard me before. I used to sneak my girlfriends over all the time.”

“How nice for you.” You say sarcastically.

“I just wanna love on yeh, is that so bad?”

You smile at him and kiss him. His hands slide down to your ass, and he lightly squeezes you. You moan softly against his lips. You feel him getting hard against you and you can’t help but grind against him. He pushes his hips up towards you as you grind down again. You put your hand over his mouth just as he’s about to moan.

“We have to be so quiet.”

Harry nods yes. You tug his boxers down slightly, and move your panties over. He slides right in.

“Oh my g-“ You put put your hand back over his mouth.

“Yes, I’m really wet, we been knew, now shh.” You whisper in his ear.

You keep your hand on his mouth, and your face is buried in his neck. His hands move to your hips to rock you back and forth on him. You both were under the covers, causing you to sweat more than usual, but it helped muffle the noise.

Harry wanted it to last as long as possible, you just felt so good. He wanted to tell you how good you felt, but your hand was still over his mouth. Your other hand moves to grip at his hair when he takes a hand to rub at your clit. You bite down on his shoulder. Your hand moves from his mouth to grip the pillow bellow him. You grind against him faster and he does all he can to not let out a noise.

“I needja to kiss me.” He breathes. “Please.”

You crash your lips to his and you both moan into each other. He rubs his fingers faster on your clit. Your back arches and you gasp as you release around him. As you tighten around him he comes up inside you, causing you to moan. You clap your hand over your mouth and press your forehead to his as he thrusts up one last time.

“Shit.” You say against his lips.

“So fucking good.” He breathes.

You get off him slowly and roll onto your back. You wiggles your panties off and sigh. You get up and go use the toilet. When you’re done you come back over to him and lay your head on his chest. He rubs your back slowly.

“Do you ever think…neither of us zero self control?” You ask giggling. “I mean, we can’t go two nights without fucking? What other couples do you know have sex as often as we do?” Harry starts laughing too, and kisses your forehead.

“I hope to God we always stay one of those couples that can’t keep their hands off each other.”

//

The next morning you’re up and out early. You decide to bring Buster to work with you since you missed him so much yesterday. Anne is out on the balcony sipping her coffee while Harry and Gemma have breakfast.

“Sleep well?” He asks her.

“Yeah, it’s a comfy bed. You?”

“Mhm.”

“I’ll bet.” She smirks. Harry raises an eyebrow at her while he sips his coffee.

“What do yeh mean by tha’?” She puts her hand on his shoulder.

“I think you know.” She winks and walks out of the kitchen.

//

“Thank god you’re back.” Niall says, coming into your office. “Hate when you take two days off in a row.” He pouts.

“Technically I wasn’t off.” Buster runs towards Niall.

“I was talkin’ to the dog.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up.” You both laugh.

“So how have the last couple days been with Anne and Gem here?”

“Really good actually. I’ve had some good talks with them. I think Harry’s been enjoying spending time with them. I think it really helped relax him, you know?”

“Yeah I’ve texted him a bit, he’s really busy with work already, it’s great.”

“I’m so proud of him. I think he prefers getting to take pictures of people.”

“Oh, for sure.”

//

Before you know it, you and Harry are driving Anne and Gemma to the airport Thursday evening. Everyone hugs and kisses goodbye.

“So, we’ll see you in July?” Anne asks.

“Yup.” Harry smiles. “Have a safe flight, let me know when you land.”

You both get back in the car. Harry kisses your hand as he drives off.

“Thanks again for gettin’ them here. It was great.”

“Of course! I know it meant a lot to you to have them there for the opening.” You take your phone out and connect it to the Bluetooth. “Now, we need to listen to the Weeknd because the concert is only a month away and I want to make sure you know all of the songs, okay?”

“I know quite a few.”

“Not off his new album! We’re going to be so close to the stage, what if he looks out to us and doesn’t see you mouthing the words because you don’t know it? You’ll look like such a local.”

“A local?” He laughs. “What the fuck is a local?” You sigh heavily. “Okay, okay, why don’t we play it when we get home? I’ll fuck you to it how you like.” Your mouth falls open. “Would yeh like that?”

“Yes.” You nod excitedly.

Harry takes Buster out quick when you get home and you run off to the bedroom. You decide to put some lingerie on. The black lace bodysuit. You get the music started and lay on your stomach. Harry gets Buster tucked into his dog bed and sprints to the bedroom.

“Oh, wow.” He says. You make a come here motion with your finger and sit up on your knees.

He cups your face in his hands and kisses you, like really kisses you. His tongue molds to yours and you moan into his mouth. You tug at the hem of his shirt and he lifts it off. You run your hands over his tattoos. You felt like you hadn’t been able to really touch him for a while.

“Tonight.” He says against your lips. “We’re takin’ our time.”

[aceresources]

Shades Evil Dead MC Book 3- Memes Part Six

FEEL FREE TO CHANGE THE GENDER TO WHATEVER SUITS YOUR MUSE. WARNING LANGUAGE.

“I don’t want to say shit I’ll regret.” “So, I’m asking is ___ yours?” “So you claimin’ her?” “Welcome to the family, darlin’.” “Thank you, ___. That’s sweet of you.” “Hell, I ain’t sweet.” “She better learn how to bitch and moan like the rest of ‘em or she ain’t gonna make it in this group.” “Nobody, and mind your own damn business, fuckface.” “Here darlin’ I’ll pour you one.” “Shouldn’t you be sweet talking ___? She’s the one you fucked last night.” “Who’d you hear that from?” “Her. Are you denying it?” “No. Just saying it was a mistake, ___.” “You tryin’ to get back on her good side?” “He’d have to suck up at the speed of light.” “Say the word and I’ll kill him for you.” “I can handle him.” “Well, I don’t trust anything with two heads and only one brain.” “Boy you’re screwed. She’s gonna poison you next draft.” “I mouth off to everybody. People love that about me.” “This shit cracks me up.” “So what exactly is your plan to get ___? ‘Cause if that was it, I don’t think it’s workin’.” “I thought I’d stand next to you.” “’Cause next to you I look like a catch.” “Seriously, shithead, what’s your plan?” “You had me until the last part.” “Why do you think she’s so fucking hard to get?” “Go on, ___. Take a shot. What have you got to lose?” “You’re right. Enough of this game playing.” “I should take up motivational speaking.” “Something I got to do right quick, babe. Be right back.” “___, I can’t take that.”   “Please honey. Let me do this for you.” “God is that what you sound like on a date, ___?” “We take care of our own darlin’.” “You’re family, darlin’. Always will be.”   “So enough talkin’. Let’s get to celebrating.” “I know right now you think you’re with, ___.” “___ and I are really close.” “He may even give her fifthteen minutes. But then he comes back. To me.” “Because he and I have a connection.” “Now whatever you think you have going on with him won’t last, and then it’ll be time for you to leave.” “If you don’t you will be sorry.” “Right. We need to talk. Come on.” “Been meanin’ to have this conversation with you.” “Just say what you have to say.” “___, there’ve been women since you left.” “Not gonna deny that.” “We have some fun and they go on their way.” “They know the deal, and they don’t expect more. Because I don’t let ‘em expect more.” “But those times are in the past.” “What does that even mean?” “Means those women are a thing of the fuckin’ past.” “Means I won’t be with anyone buy you from now on.” “That’s not what ___ just told me.” “And what exactly did ___ tell you?” “She said you and her have a connection.” “She said you may stray, but you and her have a connection.” “She said you may stray but you always come back to her.” “She said I wouldn’t last fifteen minutes.” “First, ___’s half crazy. Seriously, babe, she’s delusional.” “You can believe about one tenth of what comes out of her mouth.” “Second, I was with her once. Once.” “You hear me? And I’m, not goin’ back for seconds. Ever.” “Baby we both have pasts. We’ve been apart ten years.” “I haven’t been a monk.” “Women come around the club, and yeah, I partook in that and all that entails.” “But it’s done. I’m tellin’ you it’s done, and my word needs to be enough for you.” “And although I’m tryin’ to hard not to think about it, I’m sure you been with other men too.” “We both need to set that aside if we’re gonna be together from now on.” “Do you understand me?” “You promise me there won’t be anyone else?” “I promise you.” “You have questions you come to me.” “If there are explanations I gotta make, I’ll make ‘em.” “But I will never be explainin’ that I just fucked someone else. ‘Cause that ain’t ever gonna happen.” “You clear on that?” “What the fuck for?” “You better get down here.” “I gotta go deal with some stuff. Stay here.” “Don’t leave this room till I get back.” “We got more shit to talk about. Hear me?” “You want to tell me why the fucking ___ are at the gate looking for you?” “Me? Why would they be looking for me?” “If I were you, I’d get serious real fast, ___.” “You want to tell me where you’ve been the last ten years?” “How would you even cross paths?” “___, why do they want you?” “They think I stole from them.” “What exactly do they think you stole?” “Goddamn, ___. Does everything have to be like pulling teeth with you?” “Just fucking tell me.” “So this ___ thinks you stole drugs and money from him?” “He’s dead.” “And I’m sure his brothers think I’m the one who killed him.” “Why would they think that?” “Because they found the dagger, they knew he gave me for my birthday sticking out of his chest.” “I didn’t do it I swear.” “So that kind of makes you two like Romeo and Juliet.” “More like Hatfields and McCoys.”

[amerrierworld]

Curtain. (i)

Carol (2015) fanfiction 

Summary: An on-and-off job as photographer can only pay so much, so Therese Belivet has taken a job at an elementary school's art program to help pay the bills. One of her last jobs before the school year begins is photographing a preview night of a successful play where she meets the well-known artistic director of the show, Carol Ross. She forgets about their meeting until September rolls around and she starts teaching an inquisitive young six-year old by the name of Rindy.

Characters: Carol x Therese

Word Count: 1,491

Warnings: none yet!

June.

Therese was staring intensely at her laptop, watching as all the little photo icons from her camera began transferring over to her drive. Rain tapped gently against her windows and a can of Coke sat on her desk, half-empty. She had shut all the windows to avoid any light or outdoor distractions as she tended to daydream while looking out in the distance, but this time Therese was determined to get this job finished.

As she waited for the files to continue transferring, the brunette arched her back, yawning as her body creaked and popped from sitting for so long.

It had been three days since her lucky photography gig at the Hudson Theatre. Thinking about it still made her limbs jittery. It was a smaller theatre, but being the oldest theatre in the city and having hosted many successful shows, it was still a landmark. Therese had been overjoyed at the prospect of working inside the theatre for once and seeing all the ins and outs of the show she had been asked to document.

Her phone pinged from where she had haphazardly tossed it on her bed. She stood up and shuffled over, stretching again and giving her legs a shake as she opened a message from Dannie.

preview done. again.

how was it?

tbh a little messier than when u were there, richard kept missing his mark

of course he did.

yeah ross wasn't too pleased with him...

At the mention of the director's name, Therese's stomach lurched a bit, though she couldn't tell why. They had only exchanged a few words during the preview when she'd been there.

...anyways, manager wants to know how ur doing with those photos

workin on em right now actually

tsk that's too bad

why? did she need them now? i thought i had until next week

nah i was just gonna ask if u wanted to get some food and then get plastered w me and phil

Therese snorted and looked back at her laptop, which lit up, indicating all the files had been successfully imported. Temporarily forgetting about her conversation she hurried to glance through them, immediately noticing the faulty pics that she knew she wouldn't be able to use.

Her phone rang and she picked up.

"Is that a no?" Dannie asked from the other end. Therese rolled her eyes.

"Dannie, not responding in 30 seconds does not automatically mean no. But yeah, I don't know if getting drunk right now is such a good idea, I have a lot to go through. Plus, don't you have to work tomorrow?"

"Preview isn't until the afternoon, Belivet. I have all morning to sober up."

Sighing, Therese flicked through a few photos, stilling as she found one of the director whose back was to the camera as she directed Gen, the lead actress, who stood off to the far side of the stage.

"Therese?"

"Hm? Yeah, for sure. I'll come for food, but I'm going home afterwards, I really don't want to be hungover. I've had three cans of Coke already, alcohol and caffeine don't mix well for me."

"Alright, sounds good."

"When do you wanna head out?"

"...now?"

At that, the intercom buzzed at Therese's front door, indicating someone was in front of the apartment building.

"Jesus, Dannie, really?"

"I know you're always hungry, Therese. Plus, getting off the subway from work at your place is so much closer than mine. Forgive me?"

"Ugh fine, give me 20 minutes to get ready though. I don't care if you're stuck in the rain outside. That's what happens when you constantly drag me out for last minute plans."

"Yeah, yeah, Belivet, just hurry your ass up. We're not going anywhere fancy cause God knows I don't get paid enough to afford anything like that."

"Is Richard coming?" Therese asked, brow furrowing in a split second of worry.

"Him? Nah. I actually think he somehow managed to lure Gen into a date tonight. I saw them talking after the show."

"Oof, poor girl."

"Yeah, maybe I should warn her, y'know. Get her out while she still can."

"Terrible idea, McElroy. You know how actresses are with stage hands."

Dannie barked out a laugh. "Shut the fuck up, Belivet. You're one to talk, considering you were ogling the director the entire night."

"I was not."

"Yeah you were. Now get going, or I'm gonna melt in this downpour."

Therese smiled and ended the call, closing her laptop and hurrying to put on some decent clothes before meeting Dannie outside.

-

"C'mon Terry, not even one shot? As a celebratory drink for this job and the next."

"No, Phil," Therese laughed. "I already told Dannie, I have work to do later."

"Alright, suit yourself, but that means I'm gonna drink extra just to make up for you!"

After having grabbed a bite at a cheap Thai restaurant, the McElroy brothers had dragged Therese to their usual bar even though she was still determined to stay sober.

"Do you even know how to deal with kids, Therese? Elementary school can be vicious, y'know," Dannie said, sipping his beer as he ignored Phil stumbling from his seat to order another drink.

"It's only part-time, Dan," Therese shrugged. "Plus, what kid doesn't like art? If one of them throws a temper, I'll just let him go ham on a canvas with some paint, no big deal. It's therapeutic that way."

"How'd you manage to get a job there anyway?"

"Well, their usual art teacher had to take a break for a year 'cause of an injury, so I'm just filling in for the younger grades. They were desperate for more staff for their programs."

"Jeez, is that allowed? You've barely worked with kids until now."

"I dunno. I did a full police check and stuff, besides I'm not hired for the school, just the programs afterwards so I'm not technically a teacher. But it's a small school with a shit ton of younger kids that often need an after-school program. Chances are they won't even need me in the New Year if the other teacher comes back."

"So they just really need extra hands on deck?" Dannie concluded and Therese nodded. Phil came staggering back with a glass of water, grouchy and mumbling something about the bartender not letting him have another.

"Yeah. What about you though? What's happening after Woolf?"

Danni sighed and slumped back in his seat. "Who knows at this point? Ross is taking a break too, from being artistic director-,"

"Wait, really? She's not retiring is she?"

Dannie smirked at Therese but ignored her sudden eagerness in the conversation.

"Nah, just something about needing to be home with her family. She's worked her butt off for the theatre more than anyone, so it makes sense she wants a break for a little while after this show's done. But she'll probably be back in no time, cause she's like that. In the mean time, Gerhard is taking over. I don't know what she has up her sleeve yet, but I'm thinking a typical Christmas show is coming up."

"Any idea what it might be?"

"Nope. Everyone's talking and wanting to do A Christmas Carol but it's been so overdone, and Abby's always doing unexpected things."

"Damn, I wonder what it could be," Therese chewed her lip in thought.

"You sure you're not just upset at the idea of Ross not working there anymore?" Dannie teased. Therese smacked his arm.

"Dannie," she scolded.

"What! Even a blind person could see she's literal eye candy, though she can be a tough boss. I'm not blaming you for liking her, but I am telling you that she's not as sweet as she looks."

"Hmph, whatever. She's probably got someone anyways, if she's taking a break with family."

"I dunno, Belivet, I've never noticed a wedding ring." He winked at her.

"God, you're the worst y'know?" Therese sighed, though her eyes were twinkling. "I never should have come out to you when all you do is tease me about every girl who I just happen to find kinda cute."

Dannie grinned. "That's what you get for being besties with the McElroys, Belivet. Besides, since Phil doesn't like girls, who am I supposed to go to when I get lady problems?"

Therese shook her head and chuckled before checking her watch.

"Damn, it's getting late. Alright boys, I'm going home. I really need to work on those photos. Don't drink yourselves to death, please?"

"Wouldn't dream of it, Belivet!"

She grabbed her purse before going to hail a cab as Phil and Dannie waved goodbye, her mind whirling with thoughts of the intriguing blonde director. Therese wondered who she was, besides the 'literal eye candy' that she'd managed to capture on camera. Sighing, Therese shook her from her mind during the brief cab ride home, deciding it was best to leave her daydreaming behind for the rest of the night.

A/N: heh... hi. here's my take on carol/therese because i can’t get enough of them honestly. Let me know what you think; this’ll be a pretty packed series so enjoy :3 

I’ve also been posting my stuff on AO3 if any of you use that as well so you can find this and my other stories there too! <3 

[popculturebuffet]

Nightmare Time Episode 1 Review: The Hatchetfield Ape-Man/Watcher World

I take a look at the first episode of Starkid’s new show Nightmare Time! Starkid, returns for a zoomcast, bringing back the casts of both Hatchefield plays for an anthology series of science fiction double feature picture shows! This week’s tales of terror:

The Hatchefield Ape-Man: A british heiress gets romanced by a shaved bigfoot with the help of everyone’s favorite kooky college professor. Forgotten fiances, murder and described nudity naturally insue. 

Watcher World: Bill and Alice return as Bill drags his daughter to a kitschy theme park for a day of family fun, which Alice enjoys and is as respectful about as much as you’d expect. As you’d also expect given Bill’s general luck, things take a turn for the Shining real quick. Spoilers and full review under the cut. 

Well this was a nice suprise. With the ongoing pandemic I genuinely did not think Starkid would be back anytime soon. Having just gotten back into them this years after several years of forgetting they existed via the Hatchetfield plays, I was pretty bummed, if understanding. So last week’s announcment of not only this series but a full scripted series from their sister production company the tin bros was a HUGE shot of happy I needed in this troubling times. Still need to watch spies are forver love the soundtrack nto important. 

Point is the Lang Brothers and their merry band of actors found a way to continue on via  format I didn’t realize existed outside of table reads but is a nice way to do things: The Zoomcast, basically a podcast done live on zoom, with the actors in plainclothes for the most part, with one person, in this case Nick Lang, reading out descriptions of what’s going on. Being a starkid production this also has musical director Matt Bohm playing accompaniment and pretaped if still via the actor’s own camera musical numbers. Overall while i’ts an understandably cheap production, only what costumes the actors have on hand and most props mimed, it WORKS, allowing for way more elaborate set pieces than the stage would allow and is anchored by Lang’s impeccable descriptions and the cast’s amazing as always acting really making the stories pop.  So things worked on a technical level despite having the barest of bones to work with. But did it work on a story level? Well yes, but if I ended my reviews with just that i’d have less than the 3 or 4 fans I do have, so without further ado, it’s nightmare time! The Intro: 

Now normally in my reviews I don’t talk about the intro because I come in mid way or because I just didn’t think to. This is an exception since 

A) I should be doing that anyway or at least when I cover a show’s first episode since intro’s are sometimes one of the most memorable parts of a show 

B) It’s a full musical number that’s been stuck in my head since the trailer for this series and has now set up an apartment there.  C) This series is a musical, if not to the same degree as the two plays before it, so it’d be weird NOT to talk about it’s signature song. 

So with that out of the way the intro.. is fucking impressive. Seriously taking disparate videos with probably as much as the directions “Sing this part of the song and be kind of creepy or alluring or whatever” and making it really flow? Good work, both to the starkids for bringing their a game to it as always and to Nick and Matt really did a good job   editing this together, musically and visually to be an abolute jawdrop. And somehow finding utterly stunning stock image animations that none of us realized were stock footage but still fit the tone perfectly. Just great stuff.  Some stray notes: Mariah is absolutely stunning in both voice and apperance in this, John Matheson’s bit as paul was great, and Jeff Blim of course got a great bit with his always astounding hair blowing in the breeze with him at full high pitch. Just an utterly great intro, and for Starkid’s first series in over a decade, and really ever but semantics, they really brought it. Good stuff. Onto the actual episode content. 

The Hatchetfield Ape-Man: Lucy, a british heiress played by Angela Giarratana, was saved by the legendary “Hatchefield Ape-Man”.. who apparently has a hyphen like spider-men because while sasquatches can do that. Point is she’s come back every year in the hopes of reuniting with her savior but has so far failed.  But as Lucy prepares to leave from this year’s failed expedition, an old friend finally gives her what she needs... old friend to us to her she’s just some grey haired lunatic who showed up out of the mist. Which while accurate, dosen’t quite quantify everyone’s favorite playwright/college professor/murderous psychopath/composer.

Yes at long last Professor Hidgens has returned! I honestly didn’t expect the anthology to bring in such a huge fan faviorite so soon. I mean I expected returning characters, mostly because the project allows old faviorites to come back for their own stories or for the stars of the musicals to get a chance at a much happier ending... there’s a lot of potetial there. That and let’s face it “Jane’s a Car” is a pretty dead giveaway it’s going to be about Tom’s dead wife and Tim’s dead mother coming back in horrible mash up of christine and my mother the car. Maybe. I could be wrong. I also doubt many of you know what my mother the car is and to that I say it’s an old sitcom i’m honestly suprised I know exists and know nothing about other than the title and it being about a son’s mom’s ghost possesing his car apparently. Well that and it was the basis for this. 

Point is, while I expected some returns, I wasn’t expecting one this large and this bombastic so soon, but BOY was it welcome.  So getting back on track after all that, HIdgens seemingly takes Lucy to meet her ape man, who goes by the name Klonk, played by everyone’s faviorite sexy caveman Joey Richter. Also it’s adorable he and Lauren share a streaming screen. I know practicality and all that but their engagment is genuinely a sweet thing to hear about at a time when the world’s going down the toilet fast. Fun Fact: I pegged the Ape-Man was either going to be Jeff or Joey, leaning towards Jeff, though given my love of Joey I wasn’t disapointed with him, especially with the twist... but I was EXASTIC to learn the answer was basically “Both.. kinda?”. But yeah Lucy soon bonds with the ape man, with HIdgens encouraging her since it’s more than he’s gotten out of Klonk in 11 months of looking after the guy, and this way they can get him to learn enough to decide what he wants for himself. 

So a few months, and some romantic bonding between woman and ape-man, pass but a wrench is thrown into Klonk’s wooing and attempt to tell lucy he loves her: Jonathan, Lucy’s just now mentioned fiance and royal dickhead played by Kurt Mega. And credit where it’s do whlie he clearly didn’t have to dress up, he did have a nice 50′s monster movie british person suit he put on.  Lucy is now conlficted and what not even though Jonathan is kind of an asshole who just wants to drag her back home. And i’ts not like Lucy didn’t keep in touch: she sent him texts and probably called, so i’ts not like he didn’t know she was here. He’s also a hunter for extra dick points as if he needed them.  Naturally when meeting his romantic rival he’s a dick.. but raises some valid questions: While Hidgens claim he shaved Konk due to lesions, there’s no mark of lesisons or the shaving. But his natural dickheadedness shines through and Jonathan talks about shooting Klonk before lucy takes his ring off and throws it and Jonathan goes after her.  Annnnd yeah turns out the disposable dickhead fiance for once is RIGHT. In a twist I did not remotley see coming but damn if it wasn’t clever, Klonk.. is Ted from TGWDLM and the plan was to seduce lucy with this con, marry her and then bump her off. It’s a hell of a twist and cleverly hidden since Joey’s such a starkid mainstay, it’s not a huge suprise he was Klonk and thus easily hid the fact he was also Ted. It’s clever stuff and pivots the story nicely. 

Ted is naturally a douchey as ever, going along with Hidgen’s plan to have him marry lucy then kill her and take her dough for themselves.. and unsuprisingly, so Hidgens can get Workin Boys off the ground. Granted there are easier ways to do this with the same scooby doo scheme: Just have HIdgens plan working boys casually, have Klonk really love it and being the sweetheart she is LUcy would fiance the thing just to make them both happy. I mean he can still marry her and ted can still have direct acess to her money if they want, it’s just an easier way that dosen’t shine supscion on the caveman who looks exactly like a local douchebag who everyone he’s met would testify against him. I mean would Paul and Bill REALLY be that suprised that Ted did this? 

Exactly. Then again neither of our “heroes’ Here is very bright, and this scheme only works because Lucy is clearly very sweet, very naive, and very much wants a romantic evening with an ape man after all this time and effort searching, so she wants to believe him. So the fact the best they could come up with is something out of Scooby Doo is unsuprisng but still great.  However things take a turn for the

Pretty quick as Hidgens takes disposable british douche fiance hunting.. then kills the guy after freely admiting he’s a fraud in what’s an INCREDIBLY chilling scene. Seriously it’s amazing how Robert takes a character as loveably redicilous, even his evil and murderous plan during TGWDLM was still hilariously rediclous, and makes him UTTERLY TERRIFYING. Even when dropping my fair lady refrences. Amazing stuff.  So the next day, after Konk “asks” what an engagment is and what not, we then get Lucy wondering just WHERE jonathan is and we get the second biggest laugh of the night as Hidgens gives us the iconic line of “Oh he left... said something about you being crazy and going back to london and basically to go fuck yourself. “. Naturally Lucy has followup questions and goes to find out while Ted, also naturally, isn’t exactly pleased when he finds out his partner in crime did a murder on someone. 

Ted may be a sleazy dickhead.. but even he sees maybe murdering a rich british person who just came here, went basically ONLY to this one location, and whose probably got many people who will misss him, one of whom is their primary target, is kinda dumb. Then again this is a plan that hinges on someone who could easily be identified, as he has or at least probably had an office job and three coworkers who know him, assuming a false identity to marry someone for their money. But again we’re dealing with a guy who thinks working boys is marketable to anyone who isn’t a starkid, and a moron who soon says he does his best thinking while erect. They only got this far because their target REALLY wants to fuck a sasquatch, is sweet but naive and well Ted IS still joey richter, and no longer has the porn stache so there you go.  Ted decides to cut Hidgens out of things.. partly because you know, he killed a person, and partly because instead of killing Lucy, Ted realized he honeslty has a LOT to gain by simply marrying her and staying married. He gains a hot rich wife (his word’s not mine, but angie is genuinely beautiful so fair point), a mansion, and while Hidgens points out the obvious, he has to stay Konk.. that’s actually appealing to Ted as he feels better as Konk, not just because he impresses an attractive woman for doing basic stuff, but because he feels better as Konk. This is.. an intresting turn for Ted i genuinely like. It shows that Ted may, as much as he presents with bluster and ego, actually LIKE the kind of shithead he knows he is. I mean looking at his life he has two workmates who calling them friends is a bit of a stretch, and one who he’s having an affair with but seems detemrined to make her doomed marriage to an even bigger asshole work. He really dosen’t have much as ted so it’s easy to see why being Konk is better: He’s a better person as him who actually has someone who cares about him.  Naturally Hidgens takes this as well as you’d expect and when Ted/Konk tries proposing he goes with the logical option for taking the fourtune for himself:

Yes really. Hidgens strips naked, and swings his arms around like an orangutan to try and convince Lucy he’s the real hatchetfield apeman. Sadly this dosen’t mean we get a shirtless robert manion as he needs to keep the turtleneck on for later, but the mental image.. I had to pause the video for a good minute to laugh over it. Just everything about it from it somehow being a dumber plan than his scheme this episode, to the orangutan swaying to just.. everything. It’s fucking genius.  But Higdens has more than a mighty penis to compete with Ted.. he reveals ted’s phone and Ted ends up revealing himsef by telling Hidgens to go fuck himself. Naturally Lucy is distraught and tries to leave and the professor pulls out his shotgun to threaten her into financing his musical because of course it’s about workin boys. Lucy tries to run, Hidgens tries to shoot.. and ted , doing the first good thing in his entire life, takes the bullet.  Lucy gets ted out of there then locks the door behind them, and we get the SCARIEST bit in this segment as Hidgens leans into the camera, simulating the peep hole of the vault door to the ape man inclosure and begs her to let him out. It’s some real Jack Nicholson in the Shining stuff and it’s utterly terrifying, but it’s also an amazing bit of acting. Nice job Rob.  So ted bleeds out, as much as Lucy wants to save him he knows he’s not going to make it and prefers to die as Konk, finally happy with himself. And I just realized everyone at Paul’s job is horribly miserable. I mean good god, Paul himself has serious depression issues judging by “Let it Out”, Ted clearly hates himself, Charlotte is in a horrible marriage and Bill just got out of one and has a strained realtionship with his daughter we’ll get into more in a bit. I mean honestly, Mr. Davidson is the only one of them who really dosen’t need therapy.. he just needs to tell his wife he wants her to choke him while he jerks off. For as ungodly hilarious as that line is he’s probably the most well adjusted person there. Go figure. 

Naturally being already insane, Hidgens breaks out, still naked mind, and chases after Lucy. Also noticable is apparently some people thought hidgens was manipulated by the blue shit hive mind in TGWDLM. Which.. no. I do love the guy dont’ get me wrong.. but it was very obvious both from the way his musical number was done compared to the rest of the ones in the musical, and his actions that was entirely him, and his playing the music was so he could join, especially since we don’t see the hive mind use any mind manupluation on anyone else. Regular manipulation sure as seen with you tied up my heart and not your seed, manipulating charoltte into freeing her asshole husband so he could infect her and torturing bill for funsies. Just something to get out of the way. Point is he was always crazy we just now have him chasing an innocentish woman with his dong hanging out to prove it.  He eventually catches her as Lucy catches herself in one of his bear traps when she hits the woods, because he had those for some reason.. and he has a resonable way out: Just give her the 30,000 dollars he needs for his musical. Thing is she dosen’t have the money.. or hardly any. She spent all of it trying to find the ape man and was marrying jonathan for his money and him for her title. And while it is a bit skeezy, it’s very clear both were using each other and likely knew it, and Lucy still comes out the most moral of our cast here.. granted it’s not a big stretch as hidgens is criminally insane, ted’s a skeeze and Jonathan.. well he’s just a diiiiiiccckkkk. It’s not hard is what i’m saying.. much like hidgen’s dick flopping around in the rain. But yeah he dosen’t take it well, Lucy goes up a tree, which is apparently something Becky did once. But before Lucy can die at the hands of a naked thespian, the REAL Ape-Man shows up and tears Hidgen’s arms off, taking lucy in his own arms afterwords and revealing he remembers her. The two hit it off instantly, it turns out his name is chumby in an excellent gag as that was what Hidgens wanted his fake ape man to be named but Ted froze, and go off into the night together. Awww.. what if a naked ape man played by my boy jeff blim and a british person can’t work who can? 

We then close out the segment with a cameo appearance by Jamie Lynn Beatty, who while not part of the cast for this double feature, does get a fun showtune about the ape man. Also fun fact that i found out here on tumblr: That costume is from something Jamie did in HIGH SCHOOL. As in well over a decade ago. Like holy shit, good for her. She looks great in it. But yeah it’s a fun song and a nice way to close it out.  Final Thoughts on the Hatchetfield Ape-Man: This was a great way to start things off. This one was more in line with starkids pre-hatchetfield work, a goofy story with some hidden depth inside. And like the guy who didn’t like musicals it was utterly terrifying in spots so yeah good stuff ,utterly hilarous and a great way to bring back some old faviorites while giving us a neat new protaganist. Good stuff. 

Watcher World:

Now from a mostly comedy with a horrifying ending to just.. pure unfiltered horror and depression! It’s Watcher World! Bill and Alice are back! And given I love Mariah Rose Faith and Corey Dorris, I was exastic to find this was what the second segment was about.. mostly because I had no idea Starkid had teasers for the episodes on their instagram, or I would’ve known Hidgens was coming. I wouldn’t of known he’d be stark naked for the last third of his story but still, pleasant surprise.

So Bill and Alice are spending the day at Watcher World, a run down amusement park on the edge of town. It’s Alice’s last weekend before College so Bill’s trying to reconnect with her by cramming a good old fashioned family vacation down her throat. Alice is less than enthused, both because she clearly resents her dad in general, and because Deb is throwing a huge rager on the same night. My honest interpretation of that is that Deb fully inteded for her girlfriend to come but Bill sprung this on Alice at the last minute and being pretty oblivious and hating Deb, either didn’t care about taking alice from one last night with her friends and girlfriend or didn’t generally think that through. I mean don’t get me wrong normally i’d side with a parent not wanting their daughter to attend a huge teen rager on their last weekend together.. but it’s also Alice’s last weekend in town for some time, and it’s likely a saturday.. so he has another day, and presumibly had friday before this and while things with his ex wife are tense, fighting for an extra day with her would be understandable and i’ts not like Alice, even if she hates Bill, would really fight him on getting an extra day in the town she didn’t want to leave. 

But that’s what I really like about this one that it’s layered. While Alice is slightly more in the right, she’s still shutting her dad out, refusing to let him follow her on instagram (though he does agree with her keeping it private as he dosen’t want Ted perving on her, which tracks, or Ted’s brother doing it which.. wait what?), and being on her phone the whole time to very clearly spite him and rub how much she dosen’t want to be there in her dad’s face. She dosen’t WANT to be at watcher world but instead of trying to talk to her Dad just wants to complain and apparenlty has on all their vacations.. it’s easy to see why Bill is annoyed by his daughter at times and thinks he has to FORCE HER to have fun with him, because otherwise she’d gladly ignore him for their entire weekends together for Deb. She’s so determined to punish her dad for the divorce, that she refuses to see on some level he IS trying, and is just sad about her leaving, and possibly leaving him forever and alone with nothing else in his life but his buddy Paul, whose getting married next week so that’s probably not helping.  On the other hand the reason I say Alice is more in the right is that well.. Bill’s a grown ass men. And while, speaking for himself, grown ass men don’t always make the right decisions, and not speaking for myself neither do fathers... Alice’s acting out is understandable coming from an 18 year old whose been through hell over the last year, having her parents divorce being forced to move, loosing her friends. Bill however just kind of uses her age and angst as an excuse to undermine and belittle her feelings. Because he doesn’t like deb for the very stupid reasons of she does pot, instead of assuring her that Deb wouldn’t cheat on Alice with Deb’s former crush Zigg, starkid’s first non binary character in a nice show that Nick Lang wasn’t just covering his ass when he said there’d be more representation in starkid, which in his defense I didn’t doubt him on but it’s still nice he did so at the earliest opportunity and very clearly plans to use Zigg if he can find a nonbinary actor for them. 

But yeah instead of assuring his daughter, Bill is just like “well sometimes relationships don’t work out” which while true is clearly his self serving way of trying to get Alice to break up with someone he dosen’t like. INstead of supporting her in her dreams of writing plays, one of which was good enough to get her a scholarship, he tries to act like she has no plans for her future and get her to be a doctor for more security, even though having a secure job has done.. no one at his office including him favors. I mean again, the most stable and happy person at the office is the guy in charge, and even he can’t tell his wife he wants her to choke him out at night. He wants her to choke him, he wants her to choke him while he jerks off, he wants her to choookeeee himmm while heeeee jerrrkssss offfff. 

While part of this seems to be that Deb plans to be a starving artist who can mooch off her parents in a pinch, Alice GENUINELY seems to have a full plan for her life. I do get his worrying about her future.. but she’s a smart kid. A bit of a brat but she knows what she wants clealry and clearly has talent. He’s just projecting his own fears on her. He also refuses to accept any responsibility in the divorce.. his hating his ex wife IS valid, as she took his daughter away, uprooted her life a year before graduation and spends gobs of money on impressive outings, the latter two seemingly just to spite him when honestly, it’d of made more sense for Alice to stay with Bill for the year before she graduates and been better for her. However, Bill still doesn’t take responsibly that he too is shoving fun down her throat to try and win her over, hates her girlfriend and refuses to treat her with any respect, and really DOSEN’T know Alice all that well. As we learn during their fun day she has anxiety, and he never knew about it. And the divorce isn’t really an excuse when he had years before that.  It’s the real problem of their relationship: Bill feels ENTITLED to a good father daughter relationship, but isn’t working at it and blames his ex wife or Alice for it instead of himself. While Alice isn’t an innocent as i’ve made clear, putting up walls and not telling dad things, given bill ignores her when she DOES try to tell him about her life, it’s easy to see she’s just given up. If he won’t listen why bother. Which yeah i’ve found myself there with my own dad from time to time. Bill’s not a bad person, he genuinely loves Alice, as he says “to the moon and back”, but it’s very clear from this outing he still loves the little girl who loved him unconditionally and not the complicated and mopey adult sh’es become, and dosen’t WANT to adapt to that and fears once she leaves for college she’ll avoid him for good, which isn’t unfounded. It’s a good, complex rich dynamic.  Naturally with.. all this I covered up front instead of sprinkling it throughout, the day doesn’t go great, with Alice utterly miserable most of the time, and ending up in a goofy novelty t-shirt due to a log ride. She also has an unsettling encounter with park mascot Blinky, our newest adorable abomination, who not only shows up the moment she does something bad on camera but also stares at her ass, which.. Paul you mind coming back for a second?

Thank you. They end up at the Watch Party, a cheesy kids show musical because Bill apparently equates this with his daughter loving musicals. I mean granted cheesy kids stage shows can be rad just listen to this. 

But I get Alice’s annoyance here. Thus we get the return of the sniggles, who apparently serve whatever eldrich deity is around this week and our first song of this segment, The Blinky Song. Which is catchy as hell as well as hilariously dark (”I’m so hungry”), and uses the stock footage well, as I could buy a cheap theme park ran by an eldtirch eye goblin using stock footage. But yeah it establishes Blinky as always watching and kinda fucked up.  Also the sniggles are now clearly the smurgs with Angie’s now being named Sniglette, Jeff being papa Sniggle and James being Snigglotts. However Sniglette considers leaving with another song with a long string of words. Then, things get.. dark as the rest of the sniggles don’t want her to leave and try and mob her, and then Papa Sniggle accidently wings her with a mallet and apparenlty injures the actual performer, before everyone’s ushered out and the usher pretends nothing happened. Good mind screw horror stuff. 

Alice and Bill then bicker a bit with my above point being made as Alice TRIES to get Bill to accept some respoinablity but he refuses and blames her mom. It’s now time for the Tear-Jerker, the reason they came. Bill’s buddy Paul says someone died. They also find three other people waiting in line and when one goes to the bathroom the other two start making out which.. yeah, dosen’t help Alice’s worry Deb’s going to cheat on her. So she takes the first single rider pass she can, with Bill worming his way in as to not let her get away.  The two naturally end up fighting on the Tear-Jerker before it stops up high, and ends up stalled, with the gloriously returning Nerdy Kid played by Joey from Black Friday being as helpful as usual. Seriously bless them for bringing him back. Man in a Hurry also showed up again, bless him too. Alice picks this time to reveal her fear of heights and anxiety, and an approaching storm isn’t helping. So Bill.. steps up. He helps ease Alice down taking her phone for her, if loosing it due tot he rain and helping her stay calm. It’s a REALLY nice portrayal of an anxiety attack, with Mariah herself apparently having them and thus portraying it really well. As someone who has them myself it really hits home and Bills calm attempts to help her are really heartwarming, getting her to describe her musical for him and the two bonding. It’s genuinely sweet.  But.. it can’t last, as Alice freaks out about her phone and Bill for once is in the right, as .. he was you know.. trying to save his daughter having a panic attack, and really stepped up given he was obnovious she had anxiety in the first place, and managed it well. He then gives the utterly heart stomping line “I love you to the moon and back, but sometime’s it’s really hard to like you. “

Just damn. So Alice runs off and both find their way to the fairway. Bill tries winning a doll for Alice, getting into a test of strength where he fails repedatly and is constantly mocked by the barker, played by James Tolbert who also played Blinky.. 

That should be Tolbert’s twitter handle. Anyway point is, Bill keeps trying even as he wracks up 400 dollars in credit card debt, for a 49.95 doll, before eventually the barker and hte crowd’s jeers get to be too much and he does smack it hard, thinking of all of his pent up rage towards alice.. just as the bell at the top takes the shape of alice’s head and explodes.  Bill is naturally horrified by this by the barker assures he loves him.. and that he should totally hobble his daughter misery style to make her not leave him and use the mallet for it.  Meanwhile Alice is at the shooting Gallery not wanting the blinky doll she wins, just blowing off steam when she runs into an old crone played by Lauren Lopez. But this Crone has her phone... which suspiciously has a ton of instagram photos of Deb and Zigg making out while sharing a toke. Granted Deb COULD’VE cheated, but given Alice is insecure, and her phone was given back to her by a witch working for an eye goblin.. yeah maybe just maybe Deb was loyal, and if she wasn’t wouldn’t be dumb enough to put it on instagram. But given Alice is already worked up it’s easy enough for her to beliive that her relationships in danger and if she gets there in time she can stop it and oh look her gun is now a real gun and can help her get the keys.  So yeah it’s time for a creepy as hell Shining-esque showdown, but if both sides were possesed instead of one. It’s.. a CHILLING as hell scene, not helped by Alice wielding a gun again as both fight. I was gripped the entire time and don’t have much to say utter than HOLY SHIT THIS WAS AS TERRIFYING AS IT WAS RIVITING. 

But a crowd gathers as the fight continues.. all with purple eyes which ave been seen on and off, watchers with a thousand eyes.. and with Blinky, now revealed NOT to be a costume probably, above them all. We also get one hell of a line.  “This is an amusement park but not for YOUR amusement.”

So yeah I love this sequence.. and Blinky as a villain. While it’s vague if he and Blinky  are the same entity.. I’m going with not. It’s not a stretch that like Cthulu, Wiggly has brothers in the black and white, with their own motives, methods and ability to get into our world. Unlike Wiggly.. Blinky’s already here and has no real ambition other than to find people to mentally tear apart and set loose on one another for his own amusement. He doesn’t have grand plans of burning the world.. he just wants to be entertained. It’s an interesting and chilling motive and I hope we see him again eventually. I also believe those at the park are trapped there bound after their own day there and trapped doing whatever Wiggly needs. Except maybe squeaky voiced teen. He probably just complains about cleaning up so much blood.  But yeah Blinky is very happy as the fight escalates into the hall of mirrors and Alice looses her gun.. with Bill now poised to strike down his daughter as the mirror reflects the various workers at the park, all encouraging him to kill her... it’s utterly terrifying as Bill’s eyes take on a purple tint.. and we get a POWERFUL use of the score and the “why does it hurt to love you’ bit from TGWDLM.. as Bill sees himself and what he’s about to do, sees his daughter understandably having a panic attack.. and calms her, his eyes returning and the two reconciling.  Of course Blinky isn’t happy about this “sappy bullshit” and brings htem into his domain, charging at them. But kinda missing that giving a pissed off teenager a rifle she knows how to use when you have a giant target for a face isn’t a good idea and she shoots him, with him bleeding a flood of purple goo that sends them out. While I doubt Winky’s dead, he is done with them.  Our story concludes on a sweeet note as the two find their car, and they finally make as tep forward, Bill having seen almost too late how selfish and controlling he was being and accepting his daughter on her phone.. and Alice realizing her need to open up and after checking Instagram, likely finding out those photo’s weren’t real, she throws her phone in the back.. but not before accepting her dad’s request, letting him in. Sure the road ahead is rough.. but the two have made a good first step towards repairing things and loving one another again in a healthy manner. and all it took  was bill nearly murdering her and allice shooting an eye goblin int he face and getting covered in his blood. Cue the credits, a beautiful song called “One Thousand Eyes” with Jeff Blim fucking nailing it. A great way to send off this bit.  Final Thoughts: This was the best one of the two. While Ape Man is really good too, this one took the darker tone of black friday, but with a tighter narrative. By focusing on a smaller cast, the darker elements really played better and the conclusion felt more satisfying.. though it helped that BOTH of these tails ended without everyone dying, and while I doubt EVERY story will have a happy ending, it makes things more interesting knowing that the heroes can get a happy ending this time around instead of an apocalypse. 

Overall Thoughts: This double feature was great, I’ll be getting a ticket to the next one if I can afford it, and if not i’ll see it presumably in December or next year when it comes on YouTube. Really excellent stuff.  So this was a first for me but if you’d like to see more starkid stuff from me, let me know in the comments or my askbox, commission me to review one of the musicals via dm, and if you liked how I did this review follow this blog for weekly ducktales and loud house coverage, and amphibia coverage when that returns, among more fun reviews. And until next time.. don’t blink. Play us out Jeff. 

I really hope this is the ending theme for the series. 

[sergeant-donny-donowitz]

To Omar (Omar Ulmer x Fem!Reader)

Requested by @cass-danvers A/N: YALL THIS ONE HAS SOME HEAVY HAMILTON REFERENCES (No spoilers, just lyrics )

@owba-chan @war-obsessed @inglourious-imagines @tealaquinn @struggling-bee @frozenhuntress67 @kwyloz @sodapop182 @marlenemarauders @what-the--curtains @taikawho Let me know if you wanna be added to the IB or OUATIH taglists! :) ____ Omar was a young man, just recruited with a handful of other eager, wide-eyed boys into an elite team. One that would soon come to be known as The Basterds. This was their last night stationed in a base, somewhere in England. Young, and dreaming of glory, they all sat around, living the last night where they were guaranteed life. They each got their last handfuls of mail, before having to go under the radar and off the grid for quite some time... For some of them, perhaps for the rest of what remained of their lives. Omar's new lieutenant held out a single envelope. 'To Omar'

He recognized your handwriting instantly, and he breathed shakily, his heart sinking. He reached for the letter, and politely thanked Aldo. Omar looked at those two words: To Omar...

But he never read the rest. He stuffed the envelope away into a pocket inside his jacket... Omar knew there was greatness in his path, but if he read what you'd written, he'd never stop thinking of the moment he said goodbye to you. ***TWO YEARS LATER The basterds knew he never worked up the courage to read what you'd last wanted him to know. Just as none of the basterds were allowed to mess around with Donny's bat, none of them were allowed to touch the letter. But, their time together was coming to an end... And, seeing the inherent danger that was part of Operation Kino, Aldo sat Omar down. "I was younger than you are now, when I was given my first command..." It wasn't often that any of the basterds saw Aldo being so bleak... Blunt, yes. Of course. All the time, unfortunately. But bleak? It startled Omar a little... He looked at Aldo, at the history in that man's eyes. Aldo looked down, and Omar could see the heaviness in the memories of that first command. He'd witnessed their deaths firsthand in an endless massacre... "You know, son...Took me time to realize that each of 'em boys I lost that first day had someone waitin' on 'em to get back home. A mama, a pop, kid brother that might have to take his place, a sister workin' away in a factory instead of goin' to school. Each of 'em boys had someone they loved, someone waiting. Just like you. Y/n's waitin' on you to come on back home." "Come on, Aldo. Not now..." "Andy's mother didn't get to say goodbye. Simon had a wife and kids. Michael never got to marry." Omar turned away, he didn't want to listen. "We don't get to decide which one of us lives, dies. We don't even get to decide which one of us tells each other's stories." Aldo sighed, shaking his head. He wasn't making the same mistakes again. he knew who each of the basterds was. There was no turning back now. The war either ended with Kino, or not at all. But, seeing as some of them may not be so lucky to tell the stories, he looked at Omar, "You should read that letter now, Omar." Omar tried to play dumb....but he was a terrible liar, "What letter?" "Y/n's letter." Aldo got up, and walked out. Omar sighed, he pulled the letter out. To Omar. He shook his head. He knew he wouldn't be able to bear reading your 'I love you,' now. Not after all this time. Not when he was so close to hearing it again. He knew the basterds could win the war. There was greatness in each and every soldier he fought side by side with, but this was it. Operation Kino would go down in the books, and history had its eyes on each and every single one of them.

The thoughts lingered on, until the next night, as the basterds waited in an empty building, while Wicki, Hugo, and Lt. Hicox met with a contact in a tavern across the street. La Louisiane just so happened to be in a basement. As it would turn out, Aldo was right. Basements were a terrible place for a rendezvous. Omar, who was just about to read your letter (for real, this time) had no choice. He dropped it, when he heard the first gun shot. As the basterds ran out to see what basterds and parts of Kino they could save, Aldo spotted the letter on the ground. He saw a few words as he hastily tried to shove the letter back into the envelope as he ran out. He slowed down for a second, then realized he needed to make sure Omar made it home. His eyes scanned the street, as Omar kicked down the door. Aldo ran toward him, "WAIT." He pushed Omar back, and took his place, being the first to head down to the tavern as they heard more gunfire, and a terrified man scream, "YOU OUTSIDE, WHO ARE YOU?! BRITISH? AMERICAN? WHAT!" Aldo looked back at his boys, with a shot of relief in his eyes for  a moment, thinking there was a chance their boys were still alive, though his hand gripped the envelope tightly, as he shouted down, "WE'RE AMERICAN. WHAT ARE YOU?" *****

Later that night, as the basterds gathered around a veterinarian's clinic, Aldo quietly slipped the letter into Omar's hands. You had married him, just a year before he left... and he'd been gone for two years now. And now, after two years, he regretted not reading the letter when he first got it. When you decided to write that last letter to him, you'd known for some time... You weren't sorry, but you knew he'd keep on fighting. And still, you knew he deserved a chance to meet his baby. Still, you weren’t scared. You knew who you married. You'd written that last  line with a slight smile: "As long as you come home some day, at the end of the war, just to meet your son...that would be enough." Omar shut his eyes. He stopped hearing Wicki, Hugo, and Archie being operated on by a veterinarian with no morphine. He stopped hearing von Hammersmarck's explanations. He could only see you, in your little apartment in Jersey. He could see you standing by the window, on that last cool summer evening you spent together. You were smiling at him, almost laughing, as a breeze came through a cracked window, swaying the curtains gently. "Well. I speak the most I-talian so...I'll be your escort. Donowitz speaks second most, so he'll be your I-talian cameraman. Omar third most so he'll be Donny's assistant." Omar's eyes shot open, hearing the plans now, instead of his distant memories.  "I don't speak Italian!" "Like I said, third best. Just keep your fuckin' mouth shut!" As the night went on, and the plans were rearranged, Omar was sitting alone in a separate room. His mind bounced endlessly between the prospects of ending the war, and the words in your letter. For two years...two years he carried that letter, and never knew he had a baby waiting along with you. Now that you were so close to him, there was a chance he'd never get to you. Aldo knew what was going on. "Ya know...I saw sum' that letter. We can switch you out. Hirschberg or Smitty. Both of 'em boys got enough grit. Hell, they made it this far." "Smitty's got two kids who know him. Hirschberg is a kid."

Aldo nodded slowly as he sat by him.  He glanced up, "Donny!" Donny stopped by the doorway in passing, chewing on some stale bread he found lying around.  "Yeah?" "Come here. We got a slight change of plans." It was crazy, and it was almost dead certain it wouldn't work...but Aldo wanted to give them even a possibility to make it out. "Listen up, boys. This ain't no game..." So, later on, when Bridget von Hammersmarck arranged for the boys to be fitted in suits for the premier, Omar and Donny were alone for a few minutes, just before 'show time'.

"Y'know, kid. Aldo told me why we changed plans." Omar smiled a little, though his heart was heavier now, more than ever, "Of course he did. Aldo can't keep a secret." Donny nodded, knowing that to be true enough. Still, he sighed, "I just wanted to tell you, I respect the hell out of you, and there's nobody else I'd rather be doin' this mission with."

"Thanks, pal." "But..." Donny looked at his best friend, "Nothin's ever gone according to plan with us. Someone always slips up. Sometimes Hirschberg actually slips... That time that Wicki forget the ammunition, or when Hugo-" "I get it, I get it," Omar laughed, and Donny smiled a little, until he said what was on his mind. "It's a goddamn miracle any of us are still here." "Ain't that the truth." "So, if I fall behind, I stay behind. You get the hell out of there." "Donny, I can't do that." "Don't make an orphan of your kid." Donny was dead serious. "What about-" Donny already knew what Omar was going to say. He chuckled a little, "Shit, me 'n Sarah been engaged so long, I'd hope she'd be ready to move on by now," He smiled a little, though Omar knew Donny loved his girl, he still meant every word. "Donny, I can't leave you behind." "That's an order, private." "Don't do that." "Don't disobey a direct order, then." They looked at each other, quietly, not knowing what more to say. Donny reached his hand out. Omar sighed, and shook Donny's hand, "One last time?" "One last time," Donny smirked, looking in a mirror, slicking back his hair, then heading out the door.

*** And of course, things did not go as planned, as per usual. Somewhere in the middle of it all, Aldo disappeared, along with Bridget von Hammersmarck. To make matters worse...a wooden beam fell over Omar.

He shut his eyes, feeling the weight of the world fall over him. He just took down the nazi regime, but he was sure he'd never get to see you again. Smoke filled his lungs, and covered his eyes. He could almost hear you, a whisper among the crackles of the fire. He smiled... But he just couldn't seem to die. He saw you again, on that last cool summer night, just before he left. He kissed you, 'I'll be back before you know I'm gone...' And it wasn't like him to lie to you. So you never questioned that last promise, no matter how much time had passed. He knew that, so when he heard Donny shout over the roaring fire, "FUCK A DUCK," he opened his eyes. Donny was towering over him, "THIS WASN'T PART OF THE DEAL, OMAR." Donny was clearly hurt, but using every last ounce of his strength to push the beam off of Omar. "WE GOT THIRTY SECONDS, MOVE, MOVE MOVE." The two basterds just jumped out of the cinema, moments before the explosions. Donny chuckled, catching his breath, and pressing his arms around his hurt knee, "Just like in the movies, huh?" "Yeah..." Omar smiled, out of breath, realizing he was getting that happy ending,  "Just like in the movies..." A jeep stopped just across the street, and Hirschberg waved out the windo, "LET'S GO. GENERAL MADE A DEAL WITH ALDO AND LANDA." The boys looked at each other, and Hirschberg rolled his eyes, "WE GOTTA GO." Wicki poked his head out of the back of the jeep, along with Hicox and Hugo, "C'mon, boys. I got my mother waitin' for me." Hicox chuckled, "Yes, if it's all fine with you boys, I'd like to be home in time for my daughter's bed time story. She reads to me, you know." Hugo only smiled. He had somebody waiting for him too. They helped Donny and Omar up, and for the first time in years, each of the basterds took a breath. They looked around, knowing how lucky they were to be alive right now. ******** Omar walked down the stage after getting his medal of honor. He was a little slow, having a broken rib or two, but that didn't matter. You knocked the breath out of him. You'd always taken his breath away. He stopped when he saw you. You ran to him. He could barely whisper your name, though you could see the years of love that were missed in his eyes, "Y/n..." You threw your arms around him, effectively taking his taking his breath away again, though he didn't mind. He glanced back at Aldo, who was already being swarmed by a group of reporters, waiting for him to tell the basterds' story, or at least the story of how he got his scar. Aldo smiled with pride, nodding at his boys, watching them all go their separate ways. Yes, they'd lost some basterds along the way... Aldo was right. No one got to choose who lived, who died, who told their stories. (But knowing Donny, he'd tell some stories alright, and never shut up about it.) But now, Omar looked at what was ahead of him. He saw a little boy, about two years old, lingering shyly behind you. You picked him up, and Omar saw his son's face for the first time. "His name's Philip." Omar threw his arms around both of you, never wanting to let go. He'd seen the world, remembered every soldier who fought by his side, held on to that letter for years, and lived far more than he'd ever imagined ....But this? He smiled, holding you and your son, knowing he'd never have to leave you behind again. He looked at you, and Philip... That was enough for a lifetime. He fought in the war, but somehow, this was what he was proudest of. He'd always known he'd see you again, it would only be a matter of time.

[malethirsty]

Hack: Offset

Summary: You’ve all heard about the infamous Offset ‘Hack’, now find out what caused this scandalous moment!

Warnings: M/M smut (21+), Bareback (Wrap Before You Tap)

Working as a lucrative dancer in Atlanta, in the first ever inter gender stripping troop was no easy task. Many think that it would be easy to get up on stage & shake your ass for a living, but no, not only is rhythm a big part but you also had to contend with sleazes wanting to grab you all over, slut shamers decrying the work you were doing to earn your keep & homophobes blasting you for turning other straight men, when they didn’t recognize they were on the DL in the first place, so NO being a sex worker is not easy, it has a lot of pressure.

So when the club where you worked was booked out for Migos’s Culture Album release party, people were scrambling on all sides. Entertaining a celebrity party meant everything had to be perfect, including routines so your choreographer was working you to the bone. “What do you think they are gonna think?” Your friend Alkira asked you “Hopefully they enjoy the show, cause we’re all sweating fucking buckets trying to get it together.” “Yeah, you think Offset will bring Cardi?” You shrugged “He might, but for the sake of anyone going near her man, I hope not, we don’t need a mess her bodyguards could make.” Alkira snorted laughing “Maybe she’ll put this place on the map, maybe I’ll get a break at last!” “If she knew what’s good for her dancer team, she should. You’re one of the most dedicated here” Alkira beamed at this & walked off to get lunch. You overlooked the club, whilst it was swank, it was also tucked away in the Atlanta scene, with a fair netting of profit. Something as big as Migos having their party meant clout chasers wanting to be where Migos had traded, which would lead to a sizable profit increase. No one including yourself could afford to fuck it up.

At long last, album release party day arrived. The club full of activity as people mingled together, whereas you & the other dancers continued to rehearse your material. You heard the crowd yell from the other end & you shared a knowing look with the others: Migos had arrived. “Everyone: 5 minute warning for the stage!” Your floor manager stated, your group began to fill out & take their places on stage “Ladies & Gentleman, here to perform a Migos styled routine GENERATION THIRSTY!”

The number went so smoothly to the delight of the crowd as you all began with Motorsport which got the crowd into the set as expected, as you all squatted to twerk & turned your head to the adoring crowd, you caught a glimpse of Migos & their VIPs (Cardi among them), they were having a wade of a time watching you all perform, which only increased the performance adrenaline. As Offset’s verse began, you took front stage showing your arsenal, which really got the crowd excited, with wolf whistles sounding from nearly every part of the bar. As you began Hoop Rolling, you moved sensually to the beat, as per usual, sparing a glance out into the crowd as you went round & round. Eventually you caught sight of something that would shake the entire night up: Offset’s eyes were locked on you & he was palming his cock, the famous rapper whom was hitched to Cardi, was getting hard because of you. Like with most things that could distract a dancer, you had to pull it together and finish your part. As your verse finished & Alkira strutted up to perform her part to Cardi’s verse, you heard the crowd pop for her, which made you smile, despite what you had seen.

As the mashup turned to Quavo’s WORKIN ME & Takeoff’s Last Memory, it gave you time to regroup as you controlled yourself properly for another solo. As the last beats of Takeoff’s part began, you strutted back up to general applause to begin a brief routine to Offset’s verse on Taste. As the verse progressed you began to gyrate as the line ‘Make her get on top of me and ride me like a Harley’ sounded through the bar, you spared a quick glance to Offset, locking eyes with him. He nodded right at you as if to say ‘Yeah you’re gonna ride this dick’. You knew you weren’t supposed to be openly flirting with him in front of his wife, but something about him was so damn sexy that you couldn’t help it, eventually the verse transitioned to Bad & Boujee’ which got everyone up on their feet. As you performed to even more raunchier Offset lyrics, you glanced up again, him locking eyes with you again as he licked his lips, he was outright flirting with you, though why, you didn’t know. You didn’t realize you had been sweating until your verse ended & you thankfully moved to the back of the group.

After what seemed like an eternity, the number concluded to roarcus applause & many tips being thrown at you & the others. It was accustomed that the strippers would wait the tables as well, so when Alkira had been pulled to the side by a very enthusiastic Cardi, Migos lost their server & you finally took your chance. You crossed over expecting to see the full band but only Offset was sat down. “Anything I can get your sir?” He looked up “Food was being brought to the table when the other girl took our orders, but I’d like you to sit your ass up here, so we can talk.” He didn’t seem like the type of asshole you tried to pull a ‘Babe let’s go to the bathroom so I can get my dick sucked’ kind of man, so you rather nervously sat down.

“So how come you’re on your own?” You started, breaking the ice. “Quavo’s off dancing with his girl, Takeoff’s answering questions about the music from patrons & Cardi pulled the other girl away. It’s just us.” You listened to Offset fixed on him “Man, you still here?” He asked, waving his hand in your face “Oh, got carried away, sorry Mr. Offset” he laughed, grinning at you “My names Kiari” “Like the wrestler right?” “No that’s Kairi but close though!” Now you both were laughing.

Over the course of half an hour, the two of you delved into conversation about your lives, with you divulging a lot about your arrival on the Atlanta scene. “So Y/N” Kiari said “When did it become your interest to make married men question their marriages?” You faulted, your first interactions with Offset that evening were the topic of conversation “Um” you started but Kiari raised his finger to your lips “Shhh baby, I don’t need much of an explanation. You moved to my verses like that cause you want my dick, you saw during Motorsport that I was hard, how I gripped myself to show you daddy’s packing, I was vibing wit you babe. And then when I licked my lips at you, I was thinking how you’d taste better than my wife” Kiari leaned in, before you knew it & kissed you. His tongue slipped in and you lost all composure, his tongue swept around, you lost in it as you gave a quick moan. Kiari pulled away grinning “You taste great, I want more, I want you to fall apart on my dick, to be my private slut. Let’s get out of here, go to my private room.” It didn’t occur to you to disobey, you followed him to his limo.

As you arrived at his hotel room & went up to it, the tension between the two of you was white hot. One floor had been booked out, with a sign on one of the doors saying ‘Offset’ he keyed in & pulled you into the room. Slamming against the door, you kissed again, his big lips soft & beautiful on yours “Fuck baby! You’re gonna make me cum from a kiss!” You smirked “Then I should make you cum in my mouth first.” You sank down as he unshackled his pants & groaned as you sucked his cock “Oh yeah, that’s it, God damn! Deep throat my big black dick. Collect all that precum, taste it.” You swiped your tongue up his head, causing him to outwardly moan “Fuck, you’re head game’s incredible. I should pay you weekly to worship me!” You slid off to his confusion which turned to groans as you began to suck his balls “HOLY SHIT! Cardi never do this shit for me. It’s fucking amazing, keep going Y/N, Imma be so hard when I fuck you.”

As you continued you ran your hands over his nipples. “Oh fuck man, you wanna worship my whole body! Fuck.” All thought of his wife were out the window, this beautiful man was offering himself to you, and you were intending to take it all. “Keep sucking my dick baby boy! Oh fuck, I’m cumming! I’m cumming!” He shot his load down your throat, shot after shot you gulped down, the taste salty and sweet like chocolate. As you pulled yourself free, you looked up at him “Kiari, is it offensive to say you taste like chocolate?” He laughed, picking you up & kissing you again “Nah, not when you sucked the soul outta my dick! You’re a fucking star!” You grinned as he lead you to his bedroom.

He threw you onto the bed, soft as any bed you’d ever slept on, him falling on top of you, entrapping you in another kiss “Fuck, you made me hard again. You gon kill me man!” Kiari moaned as you looked down & saw once again, his cock was hard. “Fuck me Kiari, make me yours” you groaned out, Kiari taking the chance to tease you with his cock “Beg for it, you’re a fucking slut, tell me how much you love this supreme nigga dick!” You lent up “I don’t love it Kiari, I. WORSHIP. IT. I worship how good it was in my mouth, I worship how heavy it is, I worship all the precum it gave me & I worship the loads it shoots. So make me worship it again Kiari, give me your big black nigga dick!” This pushed Kiari over the edge, he lined up & thrust his cock into your ass causing you to arch up to him “OH FUCK YES KIARI, FUCK ME!” Kiari did so, you holding onto his braids as he fucked you hard, harder than any ho he’d had before “Oh fuck Y/N, your hole tight! Make my dick feel good.” You threw your head back meeting Kiari as he continued his hard rough pace.

You were in utter heaven being taken apart by Kiari’s dick. “Fuck, do dem stripper moves from earlier babe, when you threw your ass back like you riding my cock.” You grinned & began your routine, this time the backing track was replaced with groans from the both of you as his dick continued to fuck you. “You a bad bitch, bad bitches love daddy’s cock” “Yes they do daddy” Kiari groaned “Call me daddy again.” “Yes daddy, I love your big fat cock sir. How amazing it is, how it’s gonna make me bust soon! Fuck Daddy! Keep fucking me!” Kiari lost all composure slamming you to the bed & wrapping his hand round your neck he pounded harder than ever before.

“Yeah, you daddy’s bitch now. And daddy’s good bitch will take daddy’s cock like their life depends on it” he squeezes making you clench around his cock “Fuck yeah!” You reached your hand up to his neck, sliding your hands over his neck tattoo “Fuck, I’m close to cumming, but your your ass, my pull out games out the window! I’m clean, you?” You removed his hand from your neck as you leant up “Clean, on PREP, all of it Kiari.” He grinned “Good, cause daddy’s gonna bust all up in there!” Kiari continued for a few more moments before “Oh fuck! I’m gonna cum! OH FUCK YEAH!” His eyes & head rolled back as he came deep. You also moaned, shooting all over Kiari. Him falling onto you, hitting the bed.

“Fuck Kiari, you’re fucking amazing!” You got out, he grinned, mopping up your shot load from his chest, tasting it himself “Y/N, you taste so good. Imma have to tweet about this.” You barely paid much worry as he got his phone out & began to tweet “What if she sees?” You asked “Let her, I’ll say I was hacked or something & she’ll buy it, she feeble like that.” You laughed “Well now I need a shower to get rid of all that sweat.” Kiari pulled you up “I’ll show you it, it’s probably different than yours, I’ll show you all my colognes as well, make you fancy. Also I’ll show you how good it is to fuck ass in the shower.” You looked shocked at him “You are insatiable!” Kiari shoved you to the wall & kissed you again “Fuck yeah I am.”

Sure enough, as you awoke the next morning, the news of Offset’s ‘Hacking’ was indeed worldwide, Cardi buying right into it. As Kiari left Cardi’s room, he returned into his apartment with you. “I’m gonna have to sneak you out so she doesn’t see.” You had already spruced yourself up so you looked nice so you began to leave before Kiari called you back “I don’t want to live without your tight pussy. I want you to tour with us, be my personal dancer on stage & then after the show, I dick you down like you deserve Y/N. Here” he took your phone & gave you his number “This my private phone, text me if you interested, but after last night, I think you’re more than that.” You grinned leaning up for a last kiss for now “Show me out like a gentleman Kiari.” “Yes Y/N sir” he grinned as you both made your exit.

[ivyveil]

Don’t Leave, Stay

the one where Y/N fears that Harry only wears Gucci, Harry can actually cook, and Nick is growing more creative in his match-making

A/N: This is a continuation of my series Saint Nick (found here) and it isn’t necessarily to read them all but it helps!

“Hello, love,” he welcomed her in, one arm outstretched for a hug as the other rested on the door. He looked cozy, socked feet resting against his hardwood floor as the edges of his striped pants grazed over them, making only his toes visible.

As Y/N stepped inside his flat, she immediately picked up on the smells of a home-cooked meal, the type that took her back to days of her childhood – that sense of spice, warmth, and the sounds of sizzling foods. She was invited to a ‘dinner party’, to put it formally, between Harry and Nick; although she had not quite met Harry yet, they had all been placed in a group message by Nick and had sort of met by those means. She wasn’t entirely sure why she had been included in the plans but didn’t particularly mind, Nick was a close friend and Harry seemed nice.

Even though she and Harry had texted a fair bit, Y/N still felt like a walking bundle of nerves, plus some. She hadn’t known what to wear to Harry’s, interpreting from the memes Nick flooded the group text with that Harry had an eclectic, and expensive, taste in fashion. An hour before, she had tried phoning Nick to figure out his approach, to try and model her own after his.

Nick hadn’t picked up, though, and it had eventually neared the time that Y/N had scheduled to have a car come by to drive her to Harry’s. So, in a fit of panic and using what outfits she already mentally knew worked, Y/N opted for a pair of black jeans, buckled belt, and a cream sweater, figuring it was enough like the rest of her newfound London squad to be acceptable for a house dinner.

On her way out, dashing quickly to lock her door and stuff her key in her purse, Y/N had one quick taste of the bitter winds before realizing that – nope, a jacket was necessary. Praying her Uber wouldn’t be upset by a few seconds of tardiness, Y/N stumbled inside and grabbed an oversized gray coat, bundling herself up on the walk to the car.

Harry had removed this jacket from her shoulders as she took in his foyer, as small as it was considering he was in a flat and not his own property. She didn’t know the specifics as to why he wasn’t in his publicly-known home, but figured it had to do with privacy, needing time away, or some other celebrity-related reason.

Y/N thanked him, Harry nodding back before hanging it up in his coat closet. Y/N took the opportunity to look at the photos lined on the shelves nearing the living room. There were wooden shelves, barely varnished, with black curls extending from the edges of the bottom to the wall, securely fastened in with black nails. Various frames littered the surface, some photos lay naked without a hard border, while others were stacked in the corner. Handwriting was visible on the bottom of a few pictures.

“My family,” Harry pointed out a white frame showing a row of people with similar laugh lines, enjoying a brunch on someone’s grassy patio. Next to it was a stream of Polaroids, some with dates hastily written along the bottom, others with random words scrawled along the sides. Some of the locations Y/N recognized, such as the Eiffel Tower at night, or the local bar that was down the street from her flat (in that one, Nick had stuffed a large burger in his mouth and giving the camera two thumbs-ups.)

“Random mo’ents, the simple ones,” Harry explained, running his fingers through his hair and gently pulling at the roots. His hands rested on his hips as he sternly looked over the photos with Y/N, as if criticizing their placement. She continued to survey the photos, nodding at Harry to sign that she had heard.

It seemed quaint, in a sense of the word, how none of the pictures were related to his wild successes or rich endeavors. Granted, the traveling was a sign of doing fairly well, but nothing screamed ‘I’m a millionaire.’ A few were random nature shots, predictable for an amateur photographer (at least, she figured that was what Harry was trying to accomplish), while others were of other celebrities – but in natural places, natural poses, without any facade distinguishing them as someone apart from society. There were as he saw them: people.

Harry seemed a bit flustered. He stood far enough from Y/N for it to be considered polite, considering their status as almost-strangers, but not quite alienating her from his deemed bubble space.

“Is Nick not here, yet?” Y/N moved on from the photos, shifting her purse down her arm, grasping the strap and placing it down on the side table next to a vase of sunflowers.

Harry shook his head, turning away from the photo wall as well.

“He said he might be late, had somethin’ come up,” he shrugged, gesturing to the open doorway of the kitchen and stepping to the side to allow her to go through first. She took the hint, moving swiftly from the foyer into his cooking space and looking at the mix of vegetables, sauces, and spoons scattered along the countertops. The smell grew stronger, nicer, fuller, and her stomach growled lowly in response. It must have taken a few hours, at least, to have prepared everything and set it up – Y/N felt the slightest twinge of surprise echo in her gut. He seemed to have gone all out for a dinner together. She hoped Nick would show up soon.

While Harry got back to work shifting and shaking some pots and pans, leaning low to check on the oven, Y/N sat down on a rustic barstool by the raised countertops, clasping her fingers together and resting against the marble. He had some music playing, low, through a fancy stereo system that seemed partially ingrained into the flat itself. A candle or two sat on the countertop near Y/N, although neither were lit. The kitchen smelled heavenly already though, so it wasn’t likely they would be needed.

“Didn’t know if yeh were vegetarian or somethin’, so I made a quinoa…type of thing,” he eyed the oven, as if wary a bloody cow would squeeze out of the door.

“Ah, I try to be when I can, but it’s not a permanent diet,” she hummed, leaning forward a bit on her elbows. Harry nodded, still glancing at the oven as he continued cooking some of the veg. A few containers were already out on the table around the bend from the kitchen, one bowl full of bread and another, smaller in size, holding the spread.

His flat was a bit on the chilly side, cold licks along the holes of Y/N’s sweater and the air vibrating with the kick-in of his heater. It was cozy, blankets were strewn along the couch in his living room, but Y/N felt it wasn’t the time to wrap herself up comfortably in a burrito-esque shape.

Silence extended itself, only a smidge unwelcome, along the two people in the flat. Harry continued cooking, seeming in his element – but yet, aware that the conversation had reached a natural, but strained, standstill. He wasn’t sure where Nick was, and debated texting him for the fourth time, making sure his best friend was actually coming. He wouldn’t put it over Nick to have forgotten, to have gone out with other friends and end up in an art gallery that took away his phone so he could properly ‘drink in’ the experience.

“So,” Harry started, feeling the obligation lay mostly on him for being the Host, “-you’re workin’ at a juice company?”

Y/N nodded, reaching back to pat her hair and make sure no strays had gotten tangled. It was a good job, the concepts she worked with interested her a great deal. If there was something LA kids liked, it was their juice. The blends she assisted on manufacturing were pretty alright, too, if she said so herself. Y/N attempted to live healthy when she could afford to, but more often than not she preferred buying a salad, wrap, or other actual food as opposed to a juice. Smoothies, even, would catch her attention more than strained apples. So, her work was pleasant and intriguing but left her wanting in regard to being fulfilled, it had no impact she felt she could feel in her own, individual path of life.

“Yeah, I’m just helping out with a few advertising campaigns. I try to freelance but tend to get roped into larger projects, spend more time at their offices than I planned on.”

Y/N hesitated for a moment, before standing up and stepping away from the barstools. She rounded the counter, nearing the kitchen, flashing a wary smile when Harry noticed her coming closer. She held out a hand for the spoon he was stirring a sauce with, and he shook his head, a smile toying at the corners of his lips.

“No, ma’am,” he said quietly, holding the spoon further away from Y/N, “-yeh’re the guest here. I’m the chef,” he nodded for emphasis, the cheeky grin taking over his face. His eyes scrunched a bit when he couldn’t help the smile, Y/N noted, and his nose crinkled slightly.

“I want to help, Harry. You made fun of my macaroni skills last week, I’ve gotta prove myself.”

This was true – when Y/N had suffered a particularly bad day, she had texted a photo of her TV dinner in front of her TV as she was binge-watching Breaking Bad, to which her boys replied:

(Nick Harry Y/N)

Not impressed. Harry can cook much better.

I wouldn’t say MUCH better but I know how to use more than a microwave? x.

See? Got miles on Y/N already.

Ah I bet that’s not true. x.

Wow fuck off both of you, I’m sad and this WASN’T THE SHOW TO WATCH OH MY GOD NICK WHY DIDN’T YOU WARN ME ABOUT HTIS EPISODE

Uhhhh it got your mind off work didn’t it??? Sheesh, talk about ungrateful.

Harry snorted, shaking his head at the memory, and handed her a spatula without another word. She shifted over to the other side of the stove, checking out the progress Harry had made with the various pans set up along the surface. It would be plausible to assume she missed Harry’s glance over, how it lingered on her face and hesitated a second too long before turning back to the potatoes.

But if her reddened cheeks were anything to go by, she hadn’t.

“I didn’t know what to wear, thought you might’ve opened the door in some bright blue Gucci suit,” she confessed, as a song came on she recognized. Y/N bopped her head to it casually as she cooked, snatching a stray teaspoon and trying the sauce.

She stopped the groan from her lips before it had time to manifest; Harry was a fucking good cook. Harry seemed to notice her holding back, and bit back another laugh.

“Nah, that’s Harry Styles, love. Just Harry, now.”

She imagined some jazz hands when he said his full, ‘stage’ name, feeling the emphasis on the word, like it was a performance of the pieces of himself willing to be put on display. Harry Styles basked in the audience’s cheers, feeding them back the same energy and granting himself the opportunity to take advantage of feeling on top of the world.

“What’s the difference, if you don’t mind me asking?” She turned off the heat on the pan, as Harry also killed the fire for his. He seemed preoccupied fiddling with the oven’s knobs, letting the ‘quinoa thing’ cool inside. It took a while before he answered. Some questions couldn’t be given a voice to right away, especially when it was as massive as identity, which Y/N definitely understood. She had never been forced to respond to the world with who she was, only her parents and a few concerned friends. The pressure of being so well-known was unfathomable to her.

“’M Harry all the time,” he began, a brief silence interrupting his explanation as he crossed the room to fetch some oven mitts to pull the dish out. The heat radiated outwards from the open oven, warming up his cheeks a bit more than they were naturally.

Not wanting to interrupt him, Y/N just hummed appreciatively when she smelled it; Harry was a really fucking good cook.

Her stomach growled again,

“On stage, or at interviews, or whatever, ’m Harry Styles, which is still me,” and he turned from setting the dish down to search in her eyes, for a foundation of understanding, or perhaps the lurking suspicion that he was crazy. Either one he anticipated, the concept still confused him, himself. He pulled off the oven mitts, setting them down on the counter as he thought his next few words carefully.

“’Ve gotta separate the two, but Harry is like…all-encompassing me, yeah?” His fingers drew out an orb in the air, and then he pointed at one spot on the imaginary ball. Y/N’s eyes were glued to the pretend area, pursing her lips and giving a quick nod. “That point, right there, is when I’m on stage. It’s not everything, yeh know? But it’s still me. It’s all me, but I can’t maintain that one spot all the time.

“It is the most gratifying spot, though. It’s like,” his eyes obtained the quality of glimmering at something a bit beyond the edges of the Known, an intangible sense of validation and appreciation that existed only in the space of his stage, “-’M there, and everyone else is there, and we’re all…there.” His eyes darted out, away from their safe space in the universe, to meet Y/N’s, to perhaps see if they held any laughter or mockery in them.

She only stood there, attentively, listening. No judgment in her eyes, only curiosity.

He continued.

“’T’s crazy, that people care ‘bout what I say. Or write, or sing, yeh know?” his eyes briefly closed, and he shook his head, the serious topic brushing down his spine and dissipating at his feet. The moment was over, albeit quickly but Y/N wasn’t sure what else to say – to either bring it back, or transition into another conversation.

She couldn’t grasp onto what he was saying, because experience was the only way, but she altogether understood the concept. It was a special place, for him, to be on stage – and to let him bring his whole, uninhibited self into that space would be to subject it to the validation of an entire crowd. Sometimes, aspects of people had to remain vulnerable, unapproachable, even if for criticism’s sake. His persona was crucial to his sanity, an understandable concept given the immense support he had universally.

Harry broke the quiet, chuckling a bit to himself.

“Do yeh want some wine? Dinner should be ready soon, ‘n I can see where Nick’s at…”

Y/N nodded, mumbling her thanks and mentally wondering why she hadn’t thought to bring any wine. Wasn’t that a grown up thing to do? She had no idea; she had texted Nick asking if they should bring gifts, and he had replied with:

Babe I think your presence is enough of a gift for young Haz.

From which Y/N got the impression that Harry was a lot lonelier than he let on, needing to bring in Nick’s friends for a dinner party. Or perhaps Nick simply recognized how broke Y/N was and assumed it would be kinder to let her escape the insufferable obligation of being a guest. What was proper and socially acceptable had never been drafted out for Y/N, and self-help books only served as nice paperweights.

Shifting his eyes to anywhere but Y/N, Harry went around the corner to, presumably, where his wine cellar was. Y/N was left in the kitchen to her own devices, and she took the opportunity to scurry out and grab her phone from the purse in the hallway. There was one text message from Nick in the group text.

im sooooo durnk… :0:):)

It had been sent five minutes before, an apparent hint that Nick had either forgotten or gotten so wound up in his time spent with others’, he was simply unable to make it to Harry’s. Nick was not the type to be wasted frequently, he usually stayed sober to keep an eye on those around him. He just knew how to have a nice time, drunk or sober, and appreciated the mornings after much more when he had stayed dry. But none of this was relevant, when he wasn’t there.

Y/N inhaled deeply, fingers itching for that promised glass of wine. The night spent with friends sounded nice, relaxing, full of tipsy giggles and shared anecdotes. Having Nick be an intermediate between Harry and herself had been assuring, because despite her interactions with him over text – she didn’t properly know him, right? Not the way he reacts to words, not the way his eyes seem to dig deeper than what she was normally comfortable with showing.

“Uh-” Harry called out from a few rooms away, entering with a bottle of wine tucked in his right hand and resting against his elbow, and his phone in his left hand. He was scrolling, eyebrows furrowed as he read.

“Nick not coming?” Y/N prompted, tucking her phone snug in her back pocket.

Harry shook his head, mild irritation nestling itself in the depths of his face. It wasn’t that he didn’t look forward to hanging out with Y/N, but he had been counting on Nick to help the flow of conversation, as his best friend was known to do. The idea of sitting across from Y/N with only food and wine between them worried him slightly, it was a bit intimidating. Especially after Nick hyped up his ‘other best friend’ so much.

Somehow, though, throughout the course of dinner, things smoothed out. Harry wasn’t looking down at his plate as much as he had feared, it was more about connecting with her eyes and it all felt like a continuation of a friendship Harry hadn’t known started. 

The sense of a Beginning was in the past, lurking behind the sparkle in his eyes, Y/N thought, it all rang as though she and Harry were merely catching up, rather than properly introducing themselves.

But, it wasn’t ‘somehow’, it was clearly because Y/N’s laugh only encouraged Harry’s relentless jokes, making him come out of his shell more than he may have without. The way she would cover her mouth when she accidentally snorted (at a particularly bad joke, fart jokes couldn’t be funny when they’re in the 20s, could they) spurred on his own laughter. He sat, reaching for more wine, his mouth crooked in a mix between a smirk, at his own brilliance, and a smile, his stomach feeling the all-too-familiar flutters.

“What’s yeh ideal job?” Harry suddenly questioned Y/N, once the giggles had died a bit. He was sitting across from her, one arm leaning against the empty chair next to him as he casually spread his legs. Harry’s face was calm, his eyes lazily sweeping the table to spot another bread roll for his fingers to crumble apart as they spoke.

Y/N had attempted to sit proper, for as long as she could, but eventually caved into her natural slouch, her elbows resting on the table and her right hand dangling to the side with the glass of wine between her fingers. Her hair was a bit messy, but Harry didn’t bother to mention it, he sort of liked how the curled strands brushed lay against her cheek, her neck, the top bits of her forehead. It made her seem more human, her flaws were endearing.

“I don’t know if it’s an exact place,” Y/N began, toying with her wine glass and wishing she had a better answer. She knew the basics of what she wanted, what her soul craved and how her current employment wasn’t meeting those needs. Travel was fairly high up in her priorities, and LA was a great hub for those opportunities. Start-ups gave her choices in terms of diversity of company, and non-profits were fantastic work experiences. Yet, there was a voice with no origin, saying softly that her current situation was more of an obstacle than an end-goal. Y/N couldn’t help but agree with the voice, but how can one justify altering the course their life is set on, due to some intangible source?

A bit reckless.

“That’s alright,” Harry hummed, his gaze shifting from the bread roll to Y/N. She was biting her lip, perhaps without fully realizing it, the candle glow manipulating the shades of her face.

“I’ll figure it out.” It sounded more like a promise to Harry, than an assertion of Y/N feeling sure of herself.

“’M sure yeh will, love, you’re smart,” Harry replied kindly, grinning at her attempt to roll her eyes. They ended up only looking in one direction before darting back to his face, and she stuck her tongue out at his chuckling. He didn’t feel particularly comfortable pushing the topic, not having weaseled out of Nick Y/N’s backstory yet.

Dinner slowly wrapped up, each young adult equally resistant to calling the night over. Harry was telling all of the stories he could think of, deriving from his school days and when he had gone on his first tour. He strayed away from too many celebrity-based stories, adoring the sense of normalcy that had settled around the pair. He was simply Harry, his Gucci impression had worn off in her eyes, replaced by the sense that the man-child in front of her still kept his teddy bear from when he was 5 in his bedroom, propped up on his pillows.

Y/N, on the other hand, was trying to keep her glass as full as possible. But their plates were empty, and there was nothing left to do but sip at it every so often, to feel as though she wasn’t being annoying by constantly laughing at whatever intense story Harry had begun. His hands would fling out and he would lean in, as if someone were attempting to overhear his brilliant recount of sneaking out of his house to meet up with friends to trade comic books. He reached over a few times to fill her wine back up, perhaps sensing what Y/N’s plan was and complying with it, no words necessary.

Eventually, though, time could only hold back so much.

“If yeh don’t have anywhere to be tonight…” Harry began, and his eyes flickered down a bit lower than normal, not quite hitting proper eye contact. Shyness suited him, in an odd light, it was a revelation of him that went against the grains of the confident and easy-going nature Y/N had assumed from texts.

“I can show yeh the library. Well, no’ a library exactly, but it’s where I read and stuff,” he explained, scratching at his head.

“Yeah, sure, I’d love that. Love books.” was all Y/N could rally up to reply with, happy he had suggested another plan but overall very much feeling the effects of the wine.

The dishes were collected together, stacked near the sink for the inevitable time that chores and cleanliness ruled the night, and Harry led Y/N down one of his halls to a secluded room on the left.

His fingers were rough against the grey-ish cover of the book, his thumbs pressing in to keep the pages from closing together. The book was well worn, the pages’ edges mostly bent or dog-earred, the cover pages a bit splotchy and off color. It was evidently a loved book, a well used book, one that held the types of words people can’t seem to forget, yet always go searching for once more. Finding solace in a novel isn’t an easy task, especially because it’s nearly impossible to do it if it’s a goal as opposed to a circumstance.

The room wasn’t well lit, but the glistening spines of books scattered the light everywhere so most corners of the room had, at the very least, a warmth. It was the epitome of a study; deep cherry wood stain running along the bookshelves and the couches and seat cushions were hardened by leather. It all felt very dense and compact inside, although there was a yellow dream-catcher dangling above Harry’s desk. A spry, free moment within the organized dictatorship of organization. Perhaps he felt it would give his life more order; from what Nick had mentioned to Y/N, there had been more chaos than anything else as of late.

80s music stretched the sides of the walls, coming from Harry’s record player balanced on top of some dictionaries in the corner. It was the only noise, save the rain against his window in the middle of the back wall. Two seats were against the window, on opposing sides, and themselves bordered by full bookshelves. Harry was curled up in one, his striped legs tucking themselves over the edge of the seat and dangling above the floor. His back rested against the wall, a black shirt with rolled sleeves and a small sauce stain on the shoulder. She had told him it wasn’t noticeable, especially since the fabric was so dark anyway, but his nose still wrinkled because it was his favorite black shirt.

He was quietly flipping through his old copy, the elegant words never failing to keep him enthralled. His fingers tugged on his lower lip as he read, absentmindedly twirling against his chin and mouth.

Y/N didn’t mind that he was preoccupied within his literary universe; she had a copy of some other thick, heavily angsty novel from his shelves and was pretty content with her position in the seat next to Harry. It was late, late enough for yawns to continuously pull out of her mouth and force Harry to shuffle in his chair every now and again, to keep from falling asleep.

Eventually, she accepted the reality of the situation. It was late, or perhaps even early at this point, and Harry hadn’t implied anything about her staying the night over. Not that she expected him to, especially not in a romantic way, but she much preferred his cozy flat to her disarrayed one. Not to mention the knowledge that someone was next to her, that she wasn’t completely alone - it all felt comforting. A feeling that had evaded her heart for the longest time, considering she usually worked late hours and was always being thrust into different environments.

Looking over her shoulder and seeing Harry, who had expected nothing of her except what she wanted to provide, was nice. Similarly for Harry, Y/N was one of the loveliest people he had met recently, a woman who wasn’t so wrapped in her own ego she couldn’t see beyond that blurry haze, a woman who got shit done but wasn’t afraid to recognize room for improvement. Plus, she hadn’t asked any questions that would be out the norm, no references to his stardom or One Direction days (he had half-feared she would bring up one of the memes Nick had posted two days ago, which was particularly scandalous and reminded him of mistakes long ago). She let him explain who he was, and took him at that.

“Maybe I should get going…” she mumbled, her throat thick with lack of use in the past few hours, as she shifted up out of the seat. The time had escaped her, checking her phone would be checking into a reality she didn’t want to intrude on her lovely night.

Harry glanced up, half-dazed, before putting his book to the side.

“Oh, yeah, ‘ suppose. What time is’t?” he groaned, rolling to his side to check his phone. Apparently, more time had gone by than either of them thought, because he immediately shook his head.

“Don’t feel comfortable lettin’ yeh go home this hour, love. Cabs full of odd people, don’t like it,” he grumbled, bringing his legs over to the proper side of the chair and standing up slowly. He ran his fingers through his hair, attempting to control the little he had at the moment, as Y/N tried to remember where she had put her purse. They had opened another wine bottle before cracking into the books, their glasses still holding a few droplets on their coasters, but it hadn’t helped the fog that overcame her mind.

“I think we’re still a lil gone, Haz,” Y/N spoke softly, and if his heart didn’t skip at that, “-I don’t think getting behind the wheel is too smart…”

Harry shook his head. “Nah, planned on gettin’ the guest room set up.”

And he took the steps forward to meet Y/N, his hands tucking gently into his pockets. His hair was tousled, half to one side and the loosely shaved sides curling the tiniest bit against each other. He sniffed, swaying back and forth a bit, not moving enough to suggest he was in a rush to the guest room. His eyes were intent on Y/N’s, as she felt another laugh stir up in her, leaving her mouth only as a half-breath with the slightest sway to a giggle.

The slurred nature of a night spent late, especially with the addition of good company and good wine, tended to create a private atmosphere, where both parties are convinced that their actions would never impact another aspect of their life. The night was independent, special, and epic. Nothing could’ve prevented this, really, Y/N figured, recognizing the question floating against Harry’s breath. If only he would ask it…

His eyes slowed in their journey around her face, narrowing to only staring her lips, as if they held the last of the nectar and he was desperate to become a god. She had been biting them again, but once she realized where his attention had gone, her lower lip was released.

Y/N stood, her hands still clutching the book she had started, and if anyone asked her at that moment, she couldn’t even remember the title, the author, her own name.

Harry was pleased enough to inform her, through a voice weighed down with the drunken lust of a man holding back, “Y/N…”

She stayed quiet, almost frozen into a statue of her former self.

“Can I…could I…kiss yeh?” His hands made the motion as if they were coming out of their pocket restraints but paused, trying to gauge her reaction before acting any further. If Harry was reading the signs wrong, this would have been utterly disastrous.

Y/N’s lips parted, quite in shock that the words had slipped out of his mouth instead of hers, when she felt the same thought cross her mind so intensely. Shaking her head ‘yes’, her heart and her mind collaborated to attempt and figure out what was going on.

And Harry never looked so pleased with himself, his eyes dashing up and down her face, not quite sure where to land when her eyes were sparkling like that, her cheeks were so flush, her lips were already bitten red and her fingers were setting the book on a side table.

Harry reached out, one hand hesitantly laying on her waist and another reaching out to gently glide over her cheek. She was so soft, inside and out, his fingers drifted to the nape of her neck. Her eyes fluttered shut, and her lips came together in the slightest bit, the shade of a raspberry practically and -

The front door thrashed open, the click of a key apparently having gone over the both of them in the haze of excitement and Monumental Things Occurring. A stumbling man came through, visible from their position near the library doorway, as the foyer was cut out as an area between the kitchen and bedrooms/study.

Nick held up two bottles of champagne in one hand, seemingly haven drunken one quite fine by himself, squealing to himself over some joke he had thought of on the way inside.

“Harry! Y/N! My besties,” he sang, wiggling his hips and handing the bottles off to Harry. Y/N and Harry had separated, instinctively, as soon as the door had opened, and now Harry only looked at her in obvious dismay, unsure with how to proceed.

“C’mon, Nick, you had your water?” Y/N took ahold of the situation, walking forward to gently guide Nick by the elbow. It was a comfortable routine, between her and Nick, and she knew from his incoherent grunts that yes, he had his water, although he didn’t like it very much.

She didn’t bother to look at Harry, unsure what words could fill up distance. Nick began jabbering about his night out, the expensive dishes and luxury galore that he had dabbled in, and how he would’ve been thrilled to take her and Haz along, but he knew Haz had been slaving away on the dinner – and he so meant to make it back in time to grab some of Harry’s dinner rolls. 

That was when Nick began tittering again, glancing madly at the wallpaper as Y/N and Harry both led him to the guest room, that had previously been Y/N’s in a prior conversation, in what felt like a prior decade.

“Did ya touch Harry’s buns, yeah?” he asked Y/N, eyes alight with mischief.

Harry snorted with laughter, pulling away from Nick to pull back the billowing comforter on the bed and prop up the pillows so they would be nice and fluffed for his dear, drunk friend. Y/N worked on sitting Nick down, grasping his phone out of his hand and putting it safely within the side table drawer, knowing Nick had a tendency of texting the wrong people when he was newly hungover.

“I would like it if yeh still stayed, I’ve still got a half of my bed,” Harry whispered, after they had successfully pulled Nick’s socks off and he was fast asleep under the covers, like a small boy who had crashed from his sugar high. They looked like two parents, each looking fondly at their boy, their fingers like ghosts drifted closer to each other’s, before hesitating, and drawing away.

“Just sleeping,” Y/N confirmed, eyebrows raised to signify that she wasn’t planning on lowering her borders again. The night had closed the possibilities for the time, they were who they were at the dining table. A bit awkward, the silence unrelenting. Two new friends, who both needed to come together for Nick.

Harry blinked slow, a smile growing on his face as he nodded, seeming at bliss with that.

He held the door open for her, as he did when she first entered his flat, and similarly she passed him with a furtive glance that sent him in small, tipsy giggles.

“Yeah, love, just sleeping.”

—————————————————

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Let me know your thoughts here, and check out the rest of my works if you’d like!

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Living a Boring Lie (Pieces of the People We Love, Part 3.)

Series description: Not many people had the chance to see a vault or to mean anything in the world of Pandora. Will a hardly built relationship in the loneliness of the desert have the potential to change anything in the world of anarchy and chaos - or will the friends try to murder each other?

Part summary: Against your better judgement, it was now obvious that taking Scooter in wasn’t that bad of an idea - yet one radio transmission was all it took to change your entire life around. 

Series warnings: A lot of guns, violence, reader is a tough badass - not a vault hunter tho. They’re badass and don’t give a fuck. And Scooter is a dumb bitch, as always. All Psychos and Fanatics are various Vine references - oh, what luck that reader can understand them since she is friends with Bandits.

Word count: 4 K

Tagging: @notaliteraltoad​

Series masterlist:  H E R E

Series playlist: H E R E

Boys, just as you asked them to, drove you right to your lonely shack in the desert. It wasn’t anything too fancy, but it wasn’t resolving just yet either. It was a few years back when you found it just standing in the middle of nowhere, knowing immediately that this beauty was your dream home. It was far away from any possible trouble happening on Pandora, you didn’t even know that the Eiridium cracked Pandora’s surface open until you’ve heard the wild news on the radio and even after that, you needed to see it for yourself before you told yourself “Yep, this fuckery had totally happened”. Other than that, it was far away from anything alive - there were no Skags in the proximity of your house, no flying fuckers, no people in sight; it was surely the loner’s paradise if you will.

Swiftly, you opened the main door and invited him to the ‘everyday room’, as you called it. It was the living room, kitchen, dining room, and hall all mashed up together. The only other room inside the house was your bedroom and a small bathroom and a toilet. With a vague movement, you’ve shown Scooter the old couch and took all of the excessive clothing you’ve had on. With too much of a noise, you put your shotgun on the table, and then, you took out a small glass to pour yourself some vodka. With irony, you’ve given Scooter a toast and kicked every drop of the liquid inside your throat.

“Take the couch and if you’d like to have something to drink, the water pipes should be still working. Or pour yourself some vodka for all I care.” - And with that, you took all of your things and carried them to your room. How comes you didn’t notice that it was already this late? It was almost midnight. You’ve realized how tired you were at the exact moment you took a good look at your bed. As if your brain just realized how incredibly all of your muscles hurt, you literally fell to your mattress, taking the clothes along with falling asleep. It was strange, knowing that you weren’t alone in that. That night, you’ve been half-asleep and half-awake; your ears were listening to every sound - for quite some time, you could hear deep breaths and light snoring. Yet as soon as the sounds have stopped, you’ve had a nice, long sleep. The house was strangely when the dawn rolled around.

You were still laying on your bed, the blanket was half fallen off your thigh, your hair was completely messed up. Honestly, you looked like a hot piece of garbage. It could almost be considered a peaceful morning - until a loud bang ripped your ears apart. Something exploded. Something fucking exploded near your house; there was a high-pitched noise going on repeat in your eardrums. A feeling of dizziness was making you feel sick as you tried to pick yourself up for a few seconds. The smell of scalds was in the air and honestly, you wouldn’t be surprised if you’d just find a motherfucking huge hole in the living room’s wall. As you finally stood on your feet and could tell which side is right and left, you searched for the shotgun. Thankfully, you’ve seen only one of these. When your head stopped spinning, you’ve walked out to see what was happening. At first, you’ve been going through hundreds and hundreds of scenarios. Did the COV attack on your cabin? Or could it be Walrus’ men from Ham’s Creek? What reason would they have to attack you? You haven’t tried to fuck anyone over in the last few years as far as you could recall, so no-one had a particular reason to attack your house just simply out of the blue. Out of boredom? Yes, you could see that someone would’ve done that out of boredom.

There was no more time to think about the reasoning behind a simple grenade blow. In fact, there wasn’t time for anything - you hadn’t a moment to put any kind of pants on or to, at least, wear a coat for fuck’s sake. No, you simply burst into the cold desert dawn in a tank top, panties, and with a long shotgun in your hand. The night could’ve ended merely an hour ago. Sun was still barely above the horizon, the huge massifs of rock were still covered in shadows and some kind of a mysterious mist. First, you made sure that your gun was ready to shoot before you turned your gaze to non-other than Scooter himself. That crazy-ass of a man was sitting on one of the power line columns with a screw he stole from your small workshop situated in the corner of the living room. With horror written in your eyes, your mouth had opened as you watched him out there. Was he about to kill himself? - “What the hell are you doing out there? Just don’t… Don’t just jump down, will you? I don’t want to have a bloody fucking porch. Just climb down, come on, man. Do you want to talk it out, maybe? I’m not the best at this kind of stuff, but I can take you to see Pintley. Do you realize that suicide is not the solution here on Pandora? I mean… If you want to really die, I can take the small chip out of the nape of your neck, and then you can have a nice little harakiri.”

The man was looking at you at first, leaning his elbows to the top of the column as he twisted the screw between his fingers. Then he smiled, waving down on you. - “Ya funny in the mornin’, I tell ya, man!” - The tone of his voice was joyful and happy, so… Maybe, suicide wasn’t what he was trying to do. As you realized that he’s not about to jump down, you’ve calmed down and started to think it all through. He was sitting on top of the electric power line… In that case, could the electricity straightaway just burn his damn ass? You had a New-U ten seven miles away from your home so, if the electricity would burn him until only ashes and black goo would remain after him, he would still be respawned not too far from where you were standing. Technically, if you’d like to help him get burned, all it would take would be just one round and one gunshot… Quickly, you stopped yourself from thinking about hurting someone. Not to let the ice-cold mask slip, you just stood there without any emotion inside, just as if you just died from the inside. Then, Scooter started talking again.

"I am not tryin’ to kill myself, man. I am just tryin’ somethin’ out and I want to repair you Catch-A-Ride station since it’s kinda my thingy." - Scooter explained calmly. Oh, Catch-A-Ride, yes, that was "kinda his thingy" since it was his and his sister’s business. To be exact, it was the only car business running on the entire planet. But why on the world was he climbing up on a column that was at least twenty feet high? Then, you finally noticed what had exploded - there was a fucking crater just not even two feet away from your door - it was the exact place where the mysterious thing had blown up. Since there was anyone other than Scooter, it was almost blatantly obvious who had thrown the fucking explosive.

"And why… The fuck… Is there a huge ass hole just two feet away from my door? Were you trying to kill me? In my sleep? Very cavalier-ish, that’s all I’m going to tell you. Wow." - The irony in your voice was almost palpable, just like the spikes coming out of your eyes. Did you really think that he’s trying to kill you? Yes, you fucking did and you weren’t about to give him any of that for free. But… Scooter didn’t seem to care about any of that. In fact, he seemed not to give the slightest fuck about your bad mood. It was probably just his sunshine aura that was making him blind. He completely ignored your furrow and wide-open eyes and leaned even further into the wooden construct under his arse.

Once more, you looked up and shot your gaze right to his eyes. He was raising one finger, pointing at you. - "Man, I dunno what ya been doin’ here, but ya had a Torgue grenade stuck in ya power line, rippin’ one of the cables out, ya see now? Since ya power line is powerin’ the station, that was the reason why the machinery was not workin’. Thank me later, alligator." - As he finished the sentence, the corners of his lips turned into an even bigger smile. With a dumbfounded expression, you looked at the man. Deat. Fucking. God. Wasn’t this dumbass a treat? Wasn’t it amazing to have him at your home? Wasn’t it a delight, to have him around?

No. Not it fucking wasn’t a delight for you. For him? Maybe. And you hated every second of sharing your personal space with a burning passion. It sucked shit if, you had to be honest. Even though he didn’t have the opportunity to try to make you talk, you could simply tell that he’s into conversations. The man surely liked to laugh, to have normal human interactions, and just the simple feeling and acknowledging of the fact was making you nervous. To say the least, it was disrupting your anti-social loneliness in the middle of the desert. And now, when he was just sitting there and poked around with the damn screw. Because of said screwing around, you were expecting to be grateful for having him at your place. You wanted to shoot something so badly you were about to cry. Just because you wanted to act like the adult one in the situation, you straightened and screamed the first thought which came to your mind.

"Um, um, um... Yeah! Fuck you, man! I can’t even use grenades." - Then, you turned on your heels and walked back home, getting ready to go to sleep once you'd reach your bed again. For Scooter, the conversation clearly wasn't over as he started to yell at you once your back was turned to him.   "And what is my motivation behind killin’ ya, huh? I’m not a hunter or a monster or cannibal, man. What the hell would I do with your corpse?" - He yelled back, but the only thing you did was that you showed him your middle finger. After drinking a whole glass of milk to sleep better, you laid back in your bed.

But not even an hour after this little situation had passed by, another loud bang sounded through the neighborhood. This time, you opened your eyes immediately and looked into the ceiling. One of your eyes was ticking as you tried to get it all together. The dude was a stranger, right? If you'd drag him somewhere, no-one here would be searching for him, right? Everyone already thought he was dead, so if you'd kick him out and let him wander around the desert until he'd get him killed... You surely wouldn't be to blame, right? This time, you took your time with dressing up as you furiously mumbled various things you could start yelling at him once you'd run out of the door. Although, you still decided to go with the weakest ones you came up with. "Ok. That’s it, Scooter, that's it. I thought you’ll at least be a quiet roommate. That you'd magically disappear one day. That would leave to me, living my life just like I did before you respawned. But you just can’t help it, can you? You're here for the first literal day! And what are you up to? You talk, talk, talk, and smile, and you're being all friendly and... For the love of God, go pack your things or… I'm… About… To... Shoot... you?” - The last words were uttered as a whisper as you stopped with the yelling.

Sure, your throat was ready to go on with the daily dose of yelling, but something different had taken your breath away. The Catch-A-Ride ramp had a runner parked on top of it, and that meant only one thing. The station was repaired and working. For a second, you were staring at the car, then at Scooter, and then you turned your attention back to the car. Scooter was standing right next to it with a wrench in his hand, giving you and a shit-eating grin. "Ya were sayin’, cupcake? I'm afraid I didn't hear ya." - It didn't escape past your radars that his voice had n impressive amount of irony in it, but that wasn't the thing which had blown you away. The car itself was... A miracle. You weren't able to make it work for such a long time and it took Scooter merely four hours to get it going. A working car. Who would've suspected that such simplicity could make your life so much easier? A car whose motor was running meant that you didn't have to wake up before sunrise every morning, it meant that you didn't have to go such distances on foot.

"Nothin'. Forget I was saying something." - For a moment, you looked at him in a way he'd describe as 'different' - your eyes didn't look like two about-to-be-shooting laser guns, there wasn't a furrow in your face and you seemed to be a nice person for once. Sure, it lasted for a mere second, but it was there. Scooter had seen it. That was all that mattered to him to determine you're not as much of a pain in the ass as you tried to present yourself to be. There was something into you, but obviously, you weren't used to letting that side of yourself out as much. It existed, tho and Scooter was immediately out of his mind racing about ever surreal consequences in which he'd be able to achieve anything like that - instead of that, he decided to rant about the cars. Normally, if he'd realize that a woman might be... Nice, he'd start saying so much bullshit that someone like you would blast him through the roof of your house with your shotgun alone. So, at that place and that time, he decided not to start a random rant.

"Also, ya had an old ass system there, so I looked into that as well. Your system was last updated a longer time ago than the time I've died and that’s sad. Man, cars are like unicorns - you need to take care of 'em. I re-uploaded ya an old cloud file into the system, with the… Ya know, basically everythin’ ya should need in here. Bandit technicals, those flyin’ thingies from Elpis. All is set up and ready to good.” - The man stood up next to you, patting the car with his palms gently. - "Now, when we're friends again, Cowboy... Wanna try those beauties, huh? I’m pretty hungry." When you turned your head at him, his face had a huge, naughty smile on it. At that moment you, gave him a naughty smile back, being on the same wave as he was. Now, you could hunt down at least four skags in half the time - that meant more money and more time. Sure, Scooter still wasn't your favorite human being on the whole planed and he still was invading your personal space... But he had a few good traits in him.

Neither of that hadn't even matter, since not even an hour later, you were both boosting the living shit out of your brand new Light Runner. Scooter was yelling at the top of his lungs meanwhile you sat behind the steering wheel, laughing. Damn, did it feel good to be driving a car again. The adrenaline was running wild in your bloodstream as you cut the sharpest turns with the machine. It felt good to simply step on the pedal and to feel the car rushing forward. Neither of you felt the rush for quite some time and damn, didn't this make both of you feel alive for a moment. Now, you sped directly from a pretty high cliff, jumping down into a canyon. Now, the screaming got even higher-pitched as the car fell on the ground with a loud thud. Scooter started laughing as well once he caught his breath. It was nice to see someone was enjoying Catch-A-Ride, the thing he had created, as much as you did.

As you drifted along the endless desert, your favorite hunting playlist was blasting through the silence broken by the howling of your car's pneumatics and the loud roaring of the engine. As you turned the engine off and got on your foot so you could actually hunt the skags, Scooter surprised you as he stayed in the gunner's seat on his own - saying he's just going to watch you from the distance. And boy oh boy, did he got a good view of... Everything that was going on. Well, it was hard to decide whether he was a bit too turned on or if he was worried for his dear life. When you only shot at the skags, it was cool. But once one of the skags tried to jump at you from the behind and you caught it by the throat with your metal arm, Scooter realized that he might be in danger. You literally threw the animal on the ground, stepping on it to hold it down as you shoot the brains out of its skull. By the time four huge skags were tied up on the body of the car, you decided it's enough. Scooter condescendingly agreed with you, still having everything fresh in his brain. Quite dramatically, you drove your car directly to Hell’s Cauldron and stopped in front of Pintley’s pub with the smile of a winner as you got out. To finish everything, you put your huge hat on your head, dragging the bags with skags in.

"Top of the mornin’ to ya, lads." - You patted one of the local’s back and threw one of the dead bodies directly in front of Pintley. - "Here you go, freshly hunted, not even grilled at this point. Today, I’m taking only forty dollars for one. That’s almost charity work.” - You winked at Pintley, walking out to get the other one as Scooter walked in behind you, playing with his cap in his palms. That day couldn’t be more awesome in your opinion - you got paid almost two hundred dollars in cash and both you and Scooter even got a free drink out of Pintley. In the afternoon, Blindy and Rayray came to have a drink with you and to chat for a bit. Yet, every nice day usually goes to shit at some point, right? Why would this day be different?

The BUT of your day came by in the evening, just as you crawled on the rooftop of your cabin and swung your legs from the edge of it, looking at the stars. Scooter asked you for some cabled - he quite literally tore one engines out of his Bandit Technicals and planned on upgrading it, toying around in your kitchen - letting you be alone, which was nice too. BUT, here it comes, not even half-hour from that, your radio came to life. You turned your head to the machine because it stopped playing your favorite song. Now, you've been listening to one of the psychotics rants of the who-the-fuck twins. Carefully, not to drop your bottle of beer, you supported yourself on your elbows as you sighed tiredly. Fuck those guys. Why did they always choose the worst time to hit you up? Goddamn assholes, these two kids.

"Hello, hi, hey. Your favorite god-queen and god-king are talking to you right now! And we need you, right now! We need you to group up because the Maliwan ships are on their way? What are we doing, you might be asking? Oh, I'll tell you! We're about to attack the vault thieves because they’re trying to take OUR. VAULT. AWAY!” - The annoying voice of Tyreen Calypso could be heard nice and clean, just as if she was speaking right next to your fucking head. That girl was the worst and cringiest cult leader you’ve ever seen or heard. Sure, you could perfectly understand why she was a cult leader, but she wasn't a good one, ah-ah. You'd be a much better leader. At that moment, Scooter walked out of the house and gave you a concerned look.

"Ya hearin’ that bullshit?" - He mouthed in your direction and you nodded, turning the volume up.

"So, if anyone has any info on what they’re doing, give us a call! If you won’t… Well, don’t even think about the things I, the God-Queen you all know and love, am about to do to you! So see you all at Athenas. And don’t forget to like, share, and obey! Tyreen is ouuut!” - The annoying voice finally finished. What you didn't like tho was the gaze Scooterboy was giving. He was just looking as if he expected you to be agitated because of the news. As you still stared at him back, Scooter pointed at the radio, making you curious about what he had to say. Why would this radio message be somehow important? Tyreen and Troy were hunting someone’s throat every other day and each time a message like this reached you, it was about someone different. What were the news then? Should you be… Terrified or something? Ridiculous. That bitch didn’t cross your way once - why would you cross hers?

What Scooter said had left you dumbfounded for the following minutes. You stared at him, he stared back at you and both of you listened to the thing - "Man, I think these vault thieves are my friends.” - Scooter muttered out. At that moment you truly weren't far from shitting yourself. All it did for him was to hear about some vault thieves and he was ready to go. He was all set up to contact his friends, to find them, and to travel across the galaxy just to see them. Scooter was all set up to go on a suicidal mission. And now, there was this bit you didn't like at all. It was almost 90% sure you'd be forced to help him with all of this. Ever since the last evening, Pintley determined you to be Scoot's babysitter. Damn, you knew you were in for a treat (a long-ass argument if you will) as you looked on the car stand just a few yards away.

Sure, you didn't have much of life on Pandora - while other people on other planets were having families, kids, good lives, and jobs... You were just a skag hunter, really. You had very little to lose, maybe even less than that. But this wasn't any of your business. Any of that was your business. The VHs were not your friends. Scooter was the dude you saw once. Your place was here, in the endless loneliness of the desert, on your own and alone. Yet as you looked down on Scooter, you knew you better take him to Pintley's pub to discuss a plan. And if you'd decide to leave yourself out of that, Pintley would cross your name out of the pub's list of habitues - and for your information, your name was the only one on the damn list.

And sometimes Blindy's name was written there as well.

[atlafan]

Take it Slow - Part Twenty-Four

a/n: okay this is my first shot at a harry:y/n fic, and it will be multiple parts. y/n had a bad experience with an ex over a year ago, and finally accepts her coworker and good friend Niall’s invitation to go on a blind date with his friend Harry.

Warnings: Smut

Masterpost (all previous parts can be found in the masterpost)

It felt good to get back to work. Getting back into your routine was good for you. A coffee was waiting for you on your desk, and you smiled. You loved that you and Niall kept up the tradition of bringing each other coffee. As you sat at your desk, you emailed your supervisor the video you worked on, on Friday. You got to work on photo-shopping some photos that were sitting in your inbox. After a couple of hours, you had a question about a deadline, so you went down to Niall’s office. He had his eyebrows furrowed at his screen when you knocked.

“Hey!” He said, perking up.

“Morning. I have a quick question about the McGrath project.”

“Sure thing, what’s up?”

“When exactly do they need things by? Seems like they’re looking for a tight turnaround on a lot of work.”

“Think you’ll need the intern’s help on this one?”

“Yeah, if he could work on the audio files for me, just clean them up, it’ll make it easier for me to edit in with the visuals.”

“Alright, I’ll get him on it. I’ll send him a message on Teams to go see you this afternoon when he’s in.”

“Thanks. Did you have a good long weekend?”

“Yeah, although, I’m happy to be back at work.”

“Same here.” You sit down in front of his desk. “Did you like Sarah’s family?”

“They were great, little awkward at first, but not too bad. Did ya happen to bring my dessert?” You giggle.

“Yes, it’s in the breakroom fridge with your name on it, so no one will touch it.”

“Oh thank god, I’ve been dreamin’ of it, thank you.” He looks down, then looks back at you. “So, how was your Thanksgiving?”

“It went way smoother than I thought. My dad was great with Harry, and so was the rest of the family. He’s even going to be taking some pictures of my nephew on in a couple of weeks.”

“Really?” Niall wasn’t sure if you’d tell him about the fight you had with Harry, so he wasn’t going to pry.

“Yeah, my sister-in-law asked him. She said she looked at his Instagram page and loved his work. Oh! And he asked me to go home with him for Christmas. We booked our flights last night, I put in for my vacation time this morning. I’m so excited.”

“Wow, that’s great. Guess we’ll all be on the plane together.”

“I can’t wait to meet his mom and sister.”

“They’re very nice people.”

“Do you think they’ll like me?”

“They’ll love you. So, is that all that happened?” You raise an eyebrow at him, then your mouth falls open. 

“He told you, didn’t he?” Niall just looks at you and nods. “Jesus Christ, you know, it’s like he’s a kid running off to daddy whenever something goes wrong.”

“I’m his best mate, (y/n), of course he was going to come to me.”

“So what, you just give advice on how to deal with me?” You gasp. “Were the flowers your idea?”

“No, he did that on his own.” He sighs. “He just wanted to show you he was sorry. Don’t worry, though I yelled at him.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, I was pissed when he told me what he said to ya. I nearly hit him.”

“You did not.”

“I did! I threatened him for sure. I thought he was going to throw up, he felt terrible.”

“I forgave him.”

“He told me.”

“My Nannie found out about what happened.” You say looking down.

“You told her?!”

“I had no choice! My fucking mom brought it up basically right in front of her.”

“Why’d she do that?”

“I can’t even get into the stupidity that is my mother right now. But I’m glad I told her, she gave me some advice on some other things too.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“I’m seeing them tonight. Harry’s gonna pick me up here, and then we’re driving home to have dinner. I’m hoping to just go out with my Nannie, he said he’d distract my mom.”

“What about your sister?”

“I’m praying she’ll just stay in the basement.”

“So is everything all good with you and Harry now?”

“Yeah, we made up.” You blush. “Well, I better get back to work.”

“Lunch later?”

“You bet!”

//

Around two in the afternoon, your intern showed up.

“Hey, Matt, how were your classes this morning?” You smiled at him as he set his laptop up at the other side of your desk.

“Good, much rather be here though. How was your morning?”

“Productive. Did Niall tell you what I need from you?”

“Yup.” He takes out his headphones and plugs them into his laptop. “You need me to clean up the audio for that project.”

“Yes, it’s a little too fuzzy. I don’t know what equipment was used to record it, but it sounded terrible. Guess if you want something done right you have to do it yourself.” You scoff.

The two of you work together the rest of the afternoon. He moved to sit next to you so you could compare clips. He was leaned in pretty close to you, but you didn’t think much of it. The time got away from you, you didn’t realize it was ten of five.

Harry decided to come into your office to pick you up. He wanted to say hi to Niall. The two of them were walking down to your office, both of them stopping short when they saw you giggling with Matt. Harry cleared his throat, breaking you from your giggles.

“Harry!” You beamed. You look down at the time. “Shit, I didn’t realize it was so late. Matt, you’re good to go for the day, sorry to have kept you. Great work today.” You smile at him. His face flushes a bit.

“Um, thanks. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon to help with this project some more.”

“Sounds good. I have some meetings in the afternoon, but you can feel free to work in here.”

“Alright, thanks.” He grabs his things and looks at Niall. “Good evening Mr. Horan.”

“Matt.” He nods.

Harry eyes the boy who simply smiles at him nervously.

“Niall, Matt is crazy talented. We were already to combine the clips.”

“That’s great. The sooner this project is done, the better. I hate workin’ with these people.”

“Same, they’re too picky.” You grab your things, and give Harry a kiss on the cheek.

“So, who was that kid?”

“His name is Matt, he’s our media intern.” You say. “He comes in a few times a week.”

“Does he mostly work with you?”

“Yup, and with the people on our social media team.”

“Whatsa matter Harry, ya jealous of a little boy?” Niall teases as you all walk out to the parking lot.

“Shut up, ya twat.” Niall laughs.

“You guys have fun tonight.”

You both get into Harry’s car.

“How was your day, baby?”

“Good, actually. Got caught up on some stuff I needed to get done.”

“That’s good. Hey do you think we could stop at a Walmart or something on the way home tonight? I printed a picture for my desk that I want to get a frame for.”

“Sure, we can do tha’. What picture ya print?”

“Just one of my baby.” You poke his dimple.

“Just one of me, not the two of us?”

“I don’t need to look at a picture of myself all day.”

“Which one was it?”

“The one where you look like a model, from our weekend trip.” He takes your hand and kisses it.

There wasn’t any traffic, surprisingly, so you get home in about forty-five minutes. Harry preoccupies your mom, so you’re able to take your Nannie out for dinner. This was the first time you drove Harry’s car, it felt great. You and Nannie had a wonderful dinner together. You laughed so hard your water came out your nose. She’s not supposed to have dairy, but she did, so when she belched at the table you lost it. It felt like old times with her.

When you got back to your mom’s, Harry was hanging out in the kitchen with your mom and…oh no.

“Glad I could finally meet your boyfriend.” Your oldest sister, Bridget, says to you.

“Oh, yeah, well if you had been at Thanksgiving, you could’ve met him then.” You give her a small side hug.

“I was there, you just got there late.”

“Okay, well, we need to head back before it gets super late.” You give your Nannie another hug and kiss, and say goodbye to your mom.

The car ride was quiet at first. You teared up a bit after saying goodbye again, but you felt better than yesterday.

“So, how was dinner?” he finally asks.

“It was great! I laughed so hard my water came out of my nose.” You giggle.

“Really? Wish I could’ve seen that.”

“Um, how long was Bridget around?”

“Only a few minutes. Your mum made me this big salad, it was delicious.”

“She’s good at whipping up a salad.”

“Bridget is…interesting.”

“That’s one way to describe her. She’s so awkward, isn’t she?”

“A little, yeah. More like socially awkward?”

“Yup, that’s it exactly. Thanks again for doing this tonight. I feel much better.”

You and Harry stop off at Walmart so you can grab your frame, and then go back to your apartment. You both were exhausted by the time you got back that you both went straight to bed. The next morning, you got up and did your thing, leaving him dead asleep. You kiss his forehead before you go.

//

You set up the picture of him on your desk. It distracts you most of the day, how could one man be so beautiful? You go to your meetings, and Matt is at your desk when you come back.

“Hey Matt.” You smile, sitting down.

“Afternoon. How were your meetings?”

“Tiring.” You sigh. “Sometimes things could easily be solved with a quick email. You’ll learn that soon enough.”

“So that guy yesterday with Mr. Horan”, he points to the picture of Harry on your desk, “was that your boyfriend?”

“Hm? Yeah, his name is Harry.” You look at the photo and smile. “Niall actually set us up a few months ago.”

“No offense, but he’s not the guy I’d picture you with. He looked a little scary.” You laugh.

“Oh god, he wouldn’t hurt a fly. He actually cleans up pretty well. He works at a more casual place so he doesn’t have to be dressed up like us.”

“Lotta tattoos.”

“Yup. He’s so great, never thought I’d be with someone so great.” You smile at him. “You don’t have a girlfriend or boyfriend?” He laughs nervously.

“Not at the moment, and it would be a girlfriend.”

“I didn’t want to assume.”

“No, no, I get it. I sort of just date around. Relationships are complicated in college.”

“Oh believe me, I remember. I’m only a couple years older than you.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot.” He smiles. “When did you graduate?”

“2017.” You clear your throat and look back at your computer to keep working.

“Wow, really close in age.” He says looking back at his laptop. “I turn twenty-one soon.”

“Oh!” You say looking at him. “That’s exciting! When?”

“Next month.” He looks at you with a grin. “Any good bars you’d recommend?”

“Well, if you’re hoping to do something fun with your friends, I would just go to Pinz. There’s so much to do there.”

“Oh yeah! I’ve been there before, but they kick you out early if you’re underage.” He laughs. “But I’ll definitely ask my friends if they wanna go. Thanks for the suggestion.”

“You’re welcome.”

The time got away from the two of you again, diligently working on your tedious project, taking small breaks to chat and tell stories from your days in college. Matt was a good kid, it was nice that you were sort of mentoring him. You two were laughing about something when you heard a knock on the opening of your door. It was Harry again, who was holding a small plant. He was also dressed nicely in his khakis and a button up.

“What’s all this?” You ask excitedly, getting up to greet him. Matt watches you walk over to him.

“Thought I’d surprise ya.” He kisses you on the cheek. “You don’t have any plants in your office, thought you could use one. They’re supposed to help brighten your day.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet!” You hug him. Matt makes a coughing noise. “Sorry, Matt, forgot you were here for a second.” You blush, and look down at your watch. It was just about five. “Save up your work for the day and feel free to head out. I’m definitely done for the day. Great work this afternoon.” You smile at him going back to your desk to power down your computer. Matt can’t help but glance at your butt as you lean over your keyboard. You were wearing your navy dress that no man would be immune to.

“Could you sign this? My advisor wanted to make sure I’m actually showing up for my internship.” He hands you a slip of paper. You read it over then sign.

“Here ya go.” You pack up your things as he closes his laptop. Harry watching him carefully from the doorway. Ready to throttle him if he checks you out again.

“Oi, look what the cat dragged in.” Niall says, passing your office. “Back again?”

“Suprisin’ my girl with a nice dinner.”

“How romantic.” He rolls his eyes. “Come to think of it, I’m actually doin’ the same with Sarah tonight.”

“Aw, the two best boyfriends in the world.” You say putting your jacket on. “Well, goodnight Matt.”

“Night, thanks for another great afternoon.” He smiles. He looks at Niall and Harry who both have their arms crossed. “Um, gentlemen.” Both nod at him, and watch him leave.

“Jesus, (y/n), he’s got it bad for you.” Niall says.

“Stop, he does not.”

“I have to agree with Niall, he was checkin’ ya out, babe.”

“What? When?” You all start walking out of the building, toward the parking lot.

“When you stuck your ass in his face.” Harry says cheekily.

“I did not do that!” You scoff. “He’s a nice boy, and he does great work.”

“It’s true, he’s talented.” Niall starts laughing. “But he definitely has a crush on you. He was in the break room the other day with some of the older ladies, and apparently he went on about how great you are.”

“He did not.”

“He did!”

“Shit, should I talk to him? Hopefully he got the hint today, I practically doted on Harry in front of him.”

“You did?” Harry smiles.

“Yeah, he asked if you were my boyfriend, and I said yes and told him how great you were.” You start laughing. “I also think he’s a bit scared of you.”

“Good.” Niall and Harry say in unison. You swat an arm at the both of them.

//

Harry had taken an uber to your office so you could take your car. He didn’t let you drive though.

“So where exactly are you taking me?”

“Just to a simple restaurant.”

“Okay, but tomorrow we’re cooking.”

“Already got groceries for that. Went shoppin’ at lunch today.” You lean across to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“My sweetie.” You coo.

Harry took you to a nice little vegetarian restaurant. You both had a quick veggie burger. You let him pay since it was all part of a surprise evening.

You kicked your shoes off when you got inside, and hung up your coat. You plop down on the couch, and turn the TV on. Harry sits next to you and mindlessly takes your hand in his.

“You good with The Office?”

“You bet.” He smiles at you. You both put your feet up on the coffee table.

“So, what made you wanna surprise me tonight?”

“Don’t know.” He shrugs. “Thought about ya all day. I really need to get my ass outta bed in the morin’ to give ya a proper goodbye.”

“Oh, but you’re so cute when you’re sleepy. I love giving you a little kiss goodbye.” You lean next to him. He puts his arm around your shoulders, and you lean in further. You put a hand on his thigh.

You loved moments like this, these simply domestic times where you just enjoyed each other’s company. It was nice having someone to binge watch TV with. You got to the dinner party episode of The Office. When Michael says, “You know I have sensitive teeth, how could say that?” You completely lose it. You have to pause the episode because you’re laughing so hard. You start crying from laughter. Harry starts laughing at your infectious laugh.

“Was it really that funny?”

“Yes! I forgot, hahahaha, I forgot he said that!” You can barely breathe. “God, this episode is incredible.” You wipe your eyes. Harry giggles at you.

“I think someone might be tired.”

“I think you’re right.” You sigh. “Shall we?” You stand up and take his hand.

You both brush your teeth and wash your faces, a habit you had gotten Harry into. He used to only washed his face in the shower, you showed him the error of his ways.

“Baby, could you unzip me please?” You ask as he’s just taking off his shirt.

“Sure thing, love.”

Harry comes up behind you and unzips your dress. You reach behind yourself and unhook your bra immediately. Sighing at the relief from the tight material. You push the top of your dress down, Harry peels your bra off the rest of the way, looking at your back.

“Jesus.” He says, tracing over the red marks on your back. “No wonder you hate wearin’ these things.”

“I just need to buy some new ones.” You walk over to your dresser, half dressed. “Maybe you could come to the mall with me this weekend?”

“Sure.” He stifles a laugh. You put your hands on your hips.

“What?”

“Nothing, you just look cute like that.” You look down at yourself and start laughing.

You slide your dress the rest of the way down and put it in your hamper. You slip a t-shirt on over yourself, and slide your panties off, sighing again.

“Why didn’t you change when we got home? You could’ve been way more comfy.” Harry says taking his pants off.

“I’m just so lazy, it’s too much work to change sometimes.” He rolls his eyes playfully at you.

You both get into bed, it was only a little after nine, so you both stay up a while longer. Harry takes out his book from the night table he used on “his” side of the bed. You scroll on your phone. He took out his reading glasses as well. You secretly loved when he’d wear them. It wasn’t often.

“Is that a good book babe?”

“Hm?” He says taking his glasses off to look at you. “Oh, yeah it is.”

“What’s it about?”

“Nothin’ special, just a romance novel.” You try not to laugh. You didn’t want to make fun of the things he liked. “I know, it’s silly, but I like them. I don’t have to think too much while I read ‘em, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that. I like to read on my phone, really tires my eyes out.”

“I try not to screen before bed if I can help it.”

“You’re better than I am. I literally need my phone to fall asleep.”

“Well, s’not the only thing that makes you sleepy.” He smirks at you. “I can think of another thing that really tuckers you out.” You put your phone on your night table.

“What’s that?” You ask, knowing full well what the answer is.

Harry leans in close to you, giving you a deep kiss. You moan as his tongue enters your mouth, tasting the mint from your toothpaste. Your hands move to pull him on top of you, wanting to feel his full weight on you. One of his hands goes into your hair, and the other to your hip. Your hands are on his lower back while your legs wrap around him. He bit down on your bottom lip, and sucked on it, causing you to moan again. The hand on your hip goes up under your shirt, and grips your full breast. His fingers twist your nipple piercing. You groan into his mouth, your lips moving to nip at his jaw and neck.

“Go ahead, bite me baby.” He says into your ear.

You sink your teeth into his tender skin, and he rolls his hips into you. You suck on him slowly, sliding your tongue over his skin to soothe him the second you taste a little of his blood.

“God, that feels so fuckin’ good.” He growls.

Harry lifts your shirt up over your head, and dives his head into your breasts. He leaves wet kisses on both, before taking your left nipple between his teeth. You arch up into him, loving the way the sensation feels.

“Harry.” You moan.

“Bet you could come, just for me doin’ this.”

“Fuck.” He sucks on you harder.

“But I don’t feel like gettin’ ya off that easy.” He reaches down between your legs and smirks. “Always so wet for me, love.” He looks at you. “I’d like to have a taste, that alright?” You nod your head yes. “Like to try it a little differently, could we do that?”

“How, um, shit, how do you want to um…” You can barely get a word out while he plays with your clit.

“Well, I’d like you to flip over, so I can do it from behind.” You sit up against the headboard and give him a look. “What just happened?”

“I don’t know if I want my ass in your face like that.”

“It’ll be just like when we-“

“No, it’s different. I mean, what if you accidentally lick my asshole or something?” He just blinks at you as his cheeks grow red. “That wouldn’t gross you out?!”

“Not really, you’re a pretty clean girl. You shower every chance you get.” He chuckles. “Sometimes things happen in the heat of the moment. I’d lick ya anywhere you wanted.” Now your cheeks are growing red. “But if it makes you uncomfortable…”

“Why do you want to do it that way?”

“Well, to get ya feelin’ real good, and then I’d like to slip my fingers in from behind.” Your eyes grow wide.

“Oh, I see.”

“If you don’t want-“

“Go turn the light off.” He smirks, and does as you say.

Harry comes back from the bed, and waits for your to flip onto your stomach. His hands find your hips, and brings your butt up closer so you’re on your knees and elbows. He gets right behind you and kisses you on each shoulder, biting down hard and sucking the way he likes to do to you. He places light kisses down your back. His hands grip your ass, and you gasp when he bites down on one of your cheeks.

“Alright?”

“Yes.” Your breathing is getting heavy. “Just wasn’t expecting that.”

“Can I do it again? You have such a nice ass.”

“Mhm.”

He bites down on your other cheek and you gasp again. Why did it feel so good? One of his hands reaches around to rub your clit. He takes it away and rubs you from underneath, a finger running up and down your wet slit.

“Harry.” You moan.

“I’m takin’ my time, be patient.”

His hands spread your cheeks apart, then uses his thumbs to spread your lips apart. You feel his tongue dive into you without warning.

“Shit.” You groan.

He licks and sucks on you, drinking in your wetness. He drags his tongue up and down in the most sensual motions.

“Oh, Harry.” You moan, sinking your nails into your pillow.

His groans send vibrations through your body. You push back on his face, making him lick and suck harder. His tongue drags up from your center to just under your button.

“If you do that I swear to god I will not kiss you for a week!” He lifts his head.

Without saying anything, he takes his hand and rubs your wet center and drags a thumb up to bring your wetness to just under where his tongue was previously.

“How ‘bout this?”

“You can rub it, but don’t stick it in.”

He rubs his thumb around your hole and you can’t help but moan. It felt good, in an odd way. You felt his middle finger slide into your dripping pussy. Your back arches.

“Good?”

“Yes, more please.”

He slowly slips a second finger in, feeling you tighten around him. Your walls soft and spongey, making him moan as he starts to pump in and out of you. His other hand reaches around to rub your clit.

“Fuck, Harry.”

“Do you like feelin’ me, so deep?”

“So deep, so good.”

Your legs start to shake, you can barely keep yourself up. You’re panting and moaning his name over and over.

“Go ahead, come for me.”

Your hands rake into your pillow as you release all over his fingers. He wasn’t done with you yet though. Harry sucks off your juices from his fingers, and flips you back over. Without giving you a chance to catch your breath, his mouth is on your clit.

“Fucking Christ!”

His tongue darts back into you as his thumb works your clit. Your hands are in his hair, grabbing on tightly. Harry groans into you repeatedly.

“Harry! I’m gonna ahhhhh..” You release onto his tongue. You were drenched in sweat, but he still wasn’t done with you.

Harry puts his mouth back on your clit, and slips two fingers back into you, curling them up in a come here motion. What was he trying to do to you? It didn’t matter. You couldn’t think straight.

“Ah!” He hit your g-spot. He smirks while continuing to nibble on your clit.

He continues to pump in and out of you while hitting the spot. You feel your stomach start to tighten again, and your legs are quaking. You tighten yourself around his fingers.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit!” You scream, slamming your head into your pillow, arching up fully off the mattress. Harry let out a loud groan of your name.

He shifts himself, before he can lick up your juices, you pull his head up by his hair.

“Please.” You say with your eyes closed. “Please, let me tap out. It’s too much.” Your legs were still shaking a bit, and your chest was heaving. You open your eyes to look at him. He had a big smile on his face.

“Didn’t I tell you once I could do this for hours if you let me?”

“But Harry.” You whine. “It’s a school night.” He giggles at you and gets off the bed. “Where are you going, I want to reciprocate.” He takes his boxers off, and grabs a different pair.

“You did already.” You prop yourself up on your elbows.

“What?”

“I came in my shorts. You were so wet, and just tasted so good, I couldn’t hold on.” He gets back into the bed with you. He kisses you on the top of your head. Your mouth agape. “What?” You can’t find words, your head was still spinning. “Speechless?” He smirks. You nod your head yes. “C’mere, let’s have a cuddle.”

You lay your head on his chest, not caring that you’re too hot to cuddle. He really did know what it took to tucker you out. You were just about to fall asleep when you realized you needed to pee.

“Shit, I have to go clean myself up!”

“How come girls always need to pee after sex?”

“You gotta clean up after someone goes down on you, or you could get a UTI, girls get them easier than guys, and they are painful.”

“You’ve had one before?”

“Only once.” You shudder. “Not something I would wish on my worst enemy. It’s the most uncomfortable thing in the world.” You get out of bed and fall to the floor. “Oof!” Harry crawls to the edge of the bed and raises an eyebrow at you.

“Are you alright?”

“Yup, just didn’t quite have my balance.” You stand up slowly. Your legs were really shaky.

You rush into the bathroom, and pee to clean yourself up. You come back and slowly get into bed. Oh yeah, you were going to be sore in the morning.

“Ya good?”

“Mhm.”

“Turn over so I can spoon ya.” You giggle and give him a quick kiss before turning over. “I love you baby, goodnight.”

“Love you too, sweet dreams.”

//

You woke up extremely groggy the next morning, and actually hit snooze when your alarm went off; something you never did. You actually hit snooze twice. By the time you got up, you could only shuffle around you. You were sore all over. Between the way his fingers went in and out of you, and how roughly he rubbed your clit, you wanted to slap him upside the head for making you walk like you had a stick up your ass. You opted for a pair of black slacks, a blue blouse, and a light grey blazer. You left your hair down and curly, not having the energy to straighten or put it up. Really, even if you had just run your blow dry through it, it wouldn’t have looked like such a mess. By the time you washed our face and got dressed, you realized you just did not have time for a full face of makeup. So you put some concealer on and the couple of blemishes you had, and finished up in the bathroom.

You glared at him sleeping happily, face shoved into the pillow. You weren’t really mad at him. You were more so mad at the fact that you had to leave him. He was so cozy and warm. Harry’s work days were so different from yours, most of the time he didn’t have to up until eight, when you already needed to be at work. You wobble over to him, and kiss the top of his head, and leave the bedroom.

You stop off for yours and Niall’s coffees, and go straight to his office. He looked tired this morning too. You remembered that he and Sarah had a date last night as well. You walk right up to his desk, and plop his coffee down, without saying much, you both grunt at each other.

Just as you’re sitting down at your desk, you see him appear in the doorway with a smirk on his face.

“What?”

“You look terrible, you know that?”

“You came all the way down here to tell me that?” He chuckles.

“Are you alright? You look paler than a ghost.”

“You’re such a dick!” You giggle. “I’m just not wearing any makeup today.” You see your reflection in the computer screen. “Jesus, and my hair looks worse than earlier.” You scramble in your desk drawer and take out an elastic. You stand up, bend over, and put your hair up in a messy bun. “Is this any better?”

“Sort of…did you not sleep well?”

“No, I slept fine. Probably went to bed a little too late, and I made the mistake of hitting snooze this morning. I swear it’s always worse if you don’t just get up.”

“What did you and Harry do last night?” Flashes of your three separate, incredibly intense orgasms come to your mind and you shiver as you feel a pulse run through you.

“Um, we just went to dinner, you know, watched a little TV.” Niall steps in more to your office, and closes the door a bit. He crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“Get a little frisky did ya? S’okay, I did too.” He sighs happily. “Hadn’t seen Sarah since Friday.”

“I’m so glad you too are doing so well.”

“Me too. So, go on, gimme the details.”

“You’re like a little school girl!” You swat at him, and lean against your desk. “We just tried some different positions.”

“Ah, so that’s why you’re walkin’ with your ass clenched.” He laughs.

“Why were you looking at my ass?” You laugh harder.

“I wasn’t, but I noticed you were walkin’ funny.” He gasps. “Did you two do it?”

“No.” You say bluntly.

“Then what could he have done to ya?”

“He...” You blush and close your office door all the way. “Fingered me from behind.” You whisper looking down at the ground. “But that wasn’t it. He flipped me over immediately and did it again, and then…he just kept, you know, going.” You make eye contact with your friend who has a smirk on his face. “It was like, primal or something. I don’t know, I had to tap out eventually.”

“He has sex like a lesbian, I swear to god.” You both start laughing.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, like, girls just keep going until they can’t go anymore.”

“How would you know that?”

“We had some friends in college that were lesbians, told us a whole bunch of tricks. Your friend Rachel hasn’t ever mentioned anything to you?”

“Not really, though, come to think of it, when she would bring a girl over…well, they’d be in there for hours.”

“Exactly. I think as long as you’re not lettin’ him stick it in, this is how it’s going to be.”

“I’m not complaining or anything.”

“No, I know, but he’s just going to come up with more creative things like this until you can’t stand it anymore.”

“Oh, so this is just some covert operation for him to get his dick wet?” You scoff. “He doesn’t even need me to touch him to get off, Niall. He just likes doing that.”

“What in the fuck do you mean?”

“He has come, and will come, from just being down there.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I’m serious! It happened a lot when we first started getting intimate, then it sort of stopped the more I reciprocated. It really turns him on.”

“Jesus, no wonder he had a fuckin’ line of women out his door. It was like a fuckin’ deli counter at our apartment sometimes.” He shakes his head, and notices your fallen face. “Sorry, I shouldn’t mention his past to you.”

“S’okay.” You shrug. “It was before we knew each other. I wasn’t exactly a prude myself.” You sigh. “Did he really sleep with that many women?”

“Do you really wanna know the answer to that?”

Before you can answer, there’s a knock on your door. You reach around Niall to open it, and see your supervisor. She gives you both a funny look, wondering why your door would be closed with just you and Niall.

“Good morning you two. A little meeting before the meeting?”

“Just catchin’ up on the gossip to wake up a bit.” Niall says. He was better at smoothing things over than you were. “Shall we? Just need a second to grab my laptop.” You grab yours and head for the conference room.

“Are you feeling alright?” She says to you as you both walk down the hall.

“Um, yeah, just a slow start this morning. Didn’t have time for makeup.”

“Ah. Happens to the best of us.” You both smile as you sit down in the swivel chairs in the conference room. Niall comes bouncing in.

You have a discussion about the project you and Matt have been working on. Your supervisor is pleased with how much has gotten done already, and tells you to keep up the good work. You can’t help but feel like her eyes keep traveling to your neck, you realize that since your hair is up, the splotch Harry left on your neck is visible. And since you didn’t have time for makeup, you didn’t even think to cover it up. You nonchalantly put your hand over the spot as she speaks with Niall about what’s needed next.

After the meeting you go into the bathroom with the flat iron you keep in your desk, and tame your hair, now able to leave it down.

“You feel okay?” Matt asks, coming into your office.

“Christ, if I had a dollar for every time I heard that today. Didn’t realize I wasn’t allowed to not wear makeup.” He sits at the chair on the other side of your desk.

“Sorry! I shouldn’t have said anything.” You sigh.

“It’s fine, I’m just really tired.”

“Long day?”

“Yeah.” You say, not wanting to elaborate further with your twenty-year-old intern. After what Niall mentioned yesterday, you thought it would be good to be a bit colder to him. “It’s like five hundred degrees in here today, excuse me.” You get up to take your blazer off, and hang it on the back of your door. You open your office door up all the way to get the most airflow. Matt can’t help but look at the small bit of cleavage peeking through the top of your blouse.

About an hour into working together your phone starts to buzz, you smile when you see Harry’s name. Matt had his headphones so you figured he wouldn’t mind if you took the personal call.

“Hey you.” You say.

“Hey babe.” He says warmly.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing, had a quick break, thought I’d see how your day was going.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. It’s good, I’m a little tired.”

“I heard your alarm go off a couple times.”

“I hit snooze.”

“You never do that.”

“Well, like I said, I was tired.”

“We didn’t go to bed that late.” He was being coy with you. He wanted you to say out loud, just exactly why you were tired. Normally you would, but you didn’t want Matt to risk hearing you.

“Um…Matt’s here in my office, so I can’t really…be cute with you right now.” You say, cheeks flushing. Matt looks up at you, and notices your nervousness.

“Ohhhh, I see, so you don’t want him to hear that you’re tired because your boyfriend went to town on your pussy last night?” You stand up immediately and walk to the other side of your office.

“Harry.” You whisper harshly. “Stop it.”

“What?” He chuckles. “Alright, alright, don’t wanna getcha all hot and bothered without me there to take of ya, I see.”

“Seriously.” You feel yourself starting to sweat, and an ache brewing within you. “You know,” You whisper carefully, looking over your shoulder to make sure Matt is still working. “I could barely walk this morning? Looked like I had a stick up my ass.”

“And you’re blaming me?” He asks sarcastically.

“Who else is there to blame? I mean, I could take it a step further and say your fat fuckin’ fingers.”

“Hey, your intern is there, remember? And my fingers were only fat because my rings were still on. They get a bit swollen at the end of the day.”

“So I’ve noticed.” You glance at Matt again. “He can’t hear me, I moved, and he has his headphones in.” You sigh.

“Only a few more hours. I think you’re really gonna like dinner tonight, I’m excited to make it for you.”

“You’re so sweet.” You yawn. “Alright, I better go, I love you.”

“Love you too.”

You shake your head and sit back down, giving Matt a half smile. Little did you know he had paused the music he was listening to, and heard every bit of your conversation. Well, at least your half of it. His cheeks were a bit red.

“I just need to go, um, refill my water bottle.” He says.

“Sure, you don’t need my permission, not like you’re in class.” You smile.

Matt was a pretty good looking guy. He was tall, not as tall as Harry, but still a good height. He had a little muscle on him, but he was lean, definitely not a football player. You recalled that he was on the club rugby team at his school. He had light brown hair and hazel eyes. He was incredibly nice and trustworthy when it came to getting his work done. You were thankful for having an intern this semester.

He returns in a few minutes, taking a big gulp of his water, and gets back to work. Your afternoon is more quiet than usual, but he needed to know this was a place of work, and not a place for him to lust after you. You picked up on more of when he would take small glances of you, and when his eyes would dip to your chest. You didn’t feel uncomfortable, but it was something you were keeping your eyes on.

“So, I, uh talked to my friends about Pinz.” He says, you take your earbuds out.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, they said it was a great idea. We’re planning this huge party. A couple of my buddies turn twenty-one next month too.”

“That’ll be fun, Matt.” He loved when you said his name.

“Thanks again for the suggestion.”

“Any time.”

“What did you do for your twenty-first birthday?”

“Well, my birthday is over the summer, so my girlfriends and I rented out this beach house on the seacoast. We had a big party, but it was also fun to just be on the beach for a long weekend with my closest friends.”

“You’re lucky to have a summer birthday. Way more party options. I feel like as a kid we always had to do like movie theater parties and stuff like that.” You didn’t want to get into childhood birthday parties, or think of the fights your parents had the two times you were allowed to have a party. You simply nodded along.

Your phones goes off, and you see a text from Niall. You open it to see he sent you an image, a meme from an inside joke. You burst out laughing, and can hear him laughing from his office. You get up to go down the hall to laugh with him. Matt is thoroughly confused when you come back in, wiping tears from your eyes.

“You two are close, huh? You and Mr. Horan?” He asks as you sit back down.

“Oh, yeah. We’ve been friends since I started here. We sorta latched onto each other since we’re two of the younger people in the office. Not that I don’t like other people we work with, but it’s nice to have someone to relate to. He’s only a couple years older than I am.”

“And you both just clicked right away?”

“Yeah.” You smile, thinking back to the day you first met Niall. He was still dying his hair blond back then. “We have a lot in common, same sense of humor. We started eating lunch together almost every day, then we started casually buying each other coffee. I remember the first time I hung out with him outside of work, it was actually a work holiday party. We stuck to each other like glue.”

“Did you two ever date? If you don’t mind me asking…”

“Me and Niall!” You scoff. “No…now that I think about it, I think we have a no dating policy here.” You pause to ponder. “Or if you do date your colleague, you have to disclose it with HR. No, we’re sort of like work spouses, you know? He’s been there for me through some tough times. I’m lucky to know him and have him in my life the way I do.”

“You two make working here look like fun.”

“Working in an office isn’t always glamorous, but when you make good friends it definitely helps. Knowing I’ll get to chat with him Monday morning always gets me excited for the week.”

“So you two don’t hang out outside of work much?”

“No we do, just not as often as we were. He’s dating one of my best girlfriends, and I’m obviously with Harry, so some priorities have changed. But, we still make time for each other. Double dates have been fun.” You smile. “We look out for each other, we always have each other’s back.”

“That’s good. I hope I make friends so easily when I actually start working.”

“Do you think you wouldn’t?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “It’s just weird about coming into the real world. I mean, I only have one more year of school left.”

“It flies by, that’s for sure. But, you’re making good connections here. We like to keep our interns too, so you never know what could happen.”

“You’re a very nice person, has anyone ever told you that?” Your eyes widen a little.

“Um, once or twice, but thank you.” You look at the time, and see it’s 4:30. “Hey, if you wanna duck out early, feel free. My brain is fried, so I think I’m just gonna catch up on email for the next half hour.”

“Oh, alright thanks.” He gets up and packs his laptop away. “I didn’t, uh, make you uncomfortable with my comment did? I was just trying to say that I appreciate how nice you’ve been to me. You all could treat me as a coffee boy, but you don’t. I like getting to work on real projects.”

“You didn’t, don’t worry. And thanks. Wouldn’t be much of an internship if we had you running around doing nonsense. You’re definitely valued here.” After he leaves you go down to Niall’s office and plop down into one of his chairs.

“I feel like I either see you all day, or not at all. There’s no in between.” He smiles.

“I think you were right about Matt.”

“What do you mean?” His smile completely gone.

“I think he has a crush on me or something.”

“What happened?”

“I was very quiet with him today, up until the end of the day, I sent him out early. But I noticed he kept like, stealing glances…especially here.” You point to your cleavage. “I could wear the highest neckline, but there’s nothing I can do, I have big boobs.”

“Was he like blatantly staring?”

“No, but he was definitely looking, trying to be discrete about it, but a woman just knows when she’s being ogled. And then he started asking me all these questions about you and I, and how we became such great friends, and if we ever dated.”

“Maybe he was just curious…if he gets creepy or weird let me know and we can tell HR. Gotta cut the shit on the kind of behavior right away.”

“Definitely. God I hope he didn’t hear me on the phone with Harry earlier.”

“You took a call with him in there?”

“I thought he was just calling to say hi, but I moved to other side of the room, and he had his headphones in.”

“Could’ve paused his music to listen in.”

“I was whispering.” Niall sighs.

“How old is he?”

“Almost twenty-one.”

“I don’t want to make this sound like a boys will be boys thing, but try to see it from a different perspective. He’s a young guy who gets to sit an office, alone, with a pretty, older woman for four hours a day. I bet he goes back to his buddies at school and tells them all about what you wear and how you laugh. But like I said, if it gets weird or creepy, we will squash it.”

“It didn’t make me uncomfortable, and I’ve made it clear I have a boyfriend…people are allowed to have crushes. May not even be a crush, he might just be attracted to me.” Niall sighs. “What?”

“I don’t want to make you upset, but sometimes you’re a little too nice. It’s okay to be upfront with him, set some guidelines to how this all works. He doesn’t actually work here, he needs to know what appropriate behavior is and what’s not.” He sighs again. “Look, why don’t I talk to him next time he’s in. Okay?”

“Okay, yeah, I think it’ll be better if you chat with him first.” You groan. “It’s not easy being irresistible you know?” You both giggle.

//

You can’t wait to get home to Harry. He had seen you without makeup plenty of times, so at least you knew he wouldn’t make any comments about your appearance. When you keyed into your apartment, you smelled something absolutely delectable.

“Hey you!” He says, looking at you over his shoulder. You walk over and give him a kiss on the cheek.

“What are you making?”

“Pancakes…made from bananas. Thought we could have breakfast for dinner.” He smiles.

“I could cry this look amazing, thank you.” You give him another kiss on the cheek. “Just gonna go change into something cozy.”

“I have some extra sweats here, feel free to wear m’pants.”

“Thanks babe.”

Nothing was better than supreme domestic bliss. Nothing was better than coming home, and having your apartment smell so amazing. Nothing was better than Harry, plain and simple.

[yourbestestbuddywud]

The Last Survivors (Chapter 1)

Next

Summary: In which Paul and Bill make it back to the fortress with Alice alive, and Hidgens doesn’t go all Workin Boys on Ted and Emma. Bill is trying to make things right with his daughter, Paul and Emma try and make things work while surviving for their lives, Hidgens tries to figure out a cure while wallowing in his past and Ted is drowning in his guilt

A/N: okay you guys seem to want to hear about it so here’s the fic I wrote! I’ve already done a few chapters so I’ll get those posted fairly quickly but then expect slow updates.

Also, this will have Tedgens (Ted x Hidgens) eventually so if you don’t particularly like the ship, either skip all of their romance or there are plenty of other fics out there you can find.

Also also, the title is just a working title, so if anyone has a better title idea please let me know.

Having said that, please enjoy!

  Singing could be heard down the school hall. A once cheerful and innocent sound had never been more terrifying to Paul and Bill. What terrified Bill even more was that the singing may be Alice’s, and that they were too late. He shook his head of his thoughts. He couldn’t afford to think like that, not now. Slowly, they followed the song, in the hopes that it would lead them to Alice, preferably alive.   The singing was coming from two high-school girls, one Bill recognised as Deb. Neither of them seemed to notice the two men as they sang at the door in front of them, clawing and kicking at it.   “Alice must be in there, what do we do?” Bill whispered, worried that the slightest sound would blow their cover. Paul looked hesitantly down at the gun in Bills hand, and Bill shook his head, eyes widened.   “No, I can’t do that! Alice would never forgive me if she knew I let Deb die!” Paul let out a silent, frustrated sigh as he wracked his brain for an idea. He knew the possibility of Alice being alive was slim, but Bill was determined to get her back. So Paul had to at least try.   “Okay... I’ll distract them, and once they’re gone, you get Alice and get the hell out of here” he explained.   “But what about you? If they get to you-“   “That doesn’t matter,” Paul interrupted.” If I’m not out there when you are, get back to the professors”   Bill still looked very hesitant to go forward with the plan, so Paul put a comforting hand on his shoulder.   “Bill, it’s going to be fine, I promise” Paul stared at Bill calmly, trying to show any sign of reassurance. Slowly, very slowly, Bill nodded. Paul gave him one last smile, before he ran towards the teenagers.   “Hey ladies! The Justin Bieber concerts this way!” he yelled as he raced passed the girls. Almost, instantly, they followed him, singing as they went.   Once they were out of earshot, Bill practically sprinted to the door. He lightly knocked on it, only to be met with a terrified whimper; Alice.   “Alice! Alice, it’s me are you alright?” Bill exclaimed, relief washing over him instantly. He could hear Alice walking towards the door.   “Dad? Oh thank god!” she opened the door and leapt into Bills arms, tears streaming down her face. Bill held onto her tight, wishing to hold her for eternity. She was safe, and that’s all that mattered to him.   “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” he asked, releasing his daughter and looking over her for any injuries.   “No, I... I’m fine, but what is happening?” Alice stammered, her body shaking with every sob.   “Listen to me Alice, something is going on and we need to get out of here, I know somewhere where we’ll be safe” Bill said sternly, starting to drag Alice towards the schools entrance.   “But what about Deb?” Bill froze for a moment. Of course, she wouldn’t know what is going on. For all she knew, Deb was taking a stupid prank too far, or was high.   “Deb.... Deb is gone, Alice” Bill murmured, his voice barely over a whisper. It absolutely broke his heart to see the horror and grief in Alice’s eyes. “I’m sorry... I can’t explain this now, we need to get someplace safe, alright?”   Alice did not respond, she only continued to cry as she let her dad drag her in the right direction.   They made it to the entrance without any disruption. Then they heard running coming from behind them. It was Paul. Bill couldn’t help but smile knowing that his friend was alright.   “I locked them in a classroom, but I don’t know how long it’ll hold them” Paul panted, out of breath from running through half the school. Bill nodded, holding Alice close. Paul gave Alice a small smile, and ruffled her hair slightly. That usually made her smile. However, nothing seemed to make her smile now. Paul sighed, and lead the three of them quickly out of the school and back towards the fortress.   ***   As they neared the house, Paul could tell something was wrong.      Why were the gates open?    . Fear beginning to spread through his body, he picked up his pace, holding the gun in his hand closer to his chest.   He could hear singing coming from inside, and his fear only grew. Was he too late? He raced through the gates, completely forgetting about Bill and Alice behind him. At the front of the door, two men stood there staring into the house. They turned to face Paul, huge, over-exaggerated grins on their faces. They were infected.   Without even having any second thoughts, Paul shot them both as they began moving towards him. They fell to the ground, life draining from their eyes.   The world started to spin. Paul just shot two people he didn’t even know. Sure they were infected aliens, but he couldn’t help but feel like they were innocent people who he’d shot down like it was nothing.   The sound of singing brought him back to his senses, and he leapt over the dead bodies, following the noises coming from the basement.   ***   Henry was in his own world, as he flew through the air, singing his heart out. Emma was growing gradually more terrified as she struggled against the ropes tying her down, her imminent demise drawing nearer the more the professor sang.   Then she heard the sound of a gun shot, and then another. Her spirits lifted at the though of rescue, and she only hoped that she wasn’t about to be shot by an alien.   Her prayers seemed to be answered though as Paul, Bill and who she assumed was Alice ran in, the gun in Paul’s hand aimed at Henry. Straight away, Henry stopped his routine, and put his hands up.   “Alexa, close the gates, lock the doors!” Paul yelled at the device laying on the ground. Once he heard jingle indicating that his orders were met, and was certain that Henry was not infected, he lowered the gun and he and Bill went to untie Emma and Ted, who seemed to have been pulled from whatever weird trance he had been in moments ago.   “Paul, you’re alive!” Emma cried, pulling Paul into a tight embrace. Paul could feel all of the fear and terror wash away as he melted into the hug. The only thing that he could see and feel was her now, and it felt so good to know she was safe.   While the two of them seemed to be more than happy, Ted looked downright pissed. The moment Bill untied him, he leapt at Henry, punching him square in the face.   “What the actual fuck was that!” he yelled, glaring down at Henry, who had fallen to the ground. He simply stared at Ted blankly. “You May be all hunky dory about living in a musical, but NEWS FLASH, we aren’t!”   Ted grabbed the collar of Henry’s turtle neck and pulled him up so their faces were inches apart. Teds eyes were burning with loathing, while Henry’s were unreadable.   “Pull a fucking stunt like that again, and I won’t be afraid to to shove that piano right up your-“   “Ted that’s enough!” Paul yelled over him, standing between the two men. “We’re alive, and that’s what’s important right now. We can not afford to be arguing right now”   Ted glared at the professor for a few more seconds before storming out the door. Although everyone seemed to relax a bit, there was still a level of tension looming in the air. Bill took a still crying Alice into another room to try and comfort her while Paul and Emma watched Henry cautiously, who was simply staring at the spot Ted had been standing.   “Professor Hidgens?” Emma spoke quietly, slowly moving in front of him. He did not look at her, or show any sign of hearing her. Emma continued. “We need to know that you aren’t going to do something like that again, okay?”   When Henry still did not react, Emma grabbed his head and pulled it down to face her.   “Okay?” she repeated, more seriously this time. Henry nodded, backing away slightly.    “I’m sorry I... don’t know what came over me” he mumbled, facing away from the two of them. Emma just nodded, grabbing Paul’s hand and leading him out of the room, leaving Henry alone.

[igottoomuchwriting]

Secret Agent Jack “Oblivious” Kelly

“What’s with that smile, Crutchie?” Jack asked as he walked into their shared apartment. Crutchie was sitting on the couch with his leg rested on the coffee table. He had been smiling brightly at his phone when Jack walking in, but didn’t even bother to look up from his phone.

“Oh, just my boyfriend,” he responded. Jack snapped his head up from his shoe laces and turned his head to look at his best friend.

“Yer what now?” Crutchie looked up from his phone with a confused look.

“My boyfriend?”

“Since when have ya had a boyfriend?” Crutchie just stared blankly at him before turning back to his phone.

“A while.”

“Okay,” Jack sighed. “Who is yer boyfriend?”

“Someone of the male species.” He obviously wasn’t going to give this information up, and Jack was actually shocked. His best friend had a boyfriend, didn’t tell him when he got one, and now won’t tell him who it is?

“Do I know them?”

“Oh, most definitely,” Crutchie laughed. “For a while, actually.”

“Then who is it, Crutch?” Crutchie said nothing. He stood up from the couhc and grabbed his crutch before turning and shooting Jack a smile.

“You’ll see.”

---

“‘You’ll see’?!” Jack almost screeched. David flinched at the noise, resisting the urge to kick Jack out of his apartment. “Who the hell just says ‘you’ll see’ and walks away?”

“Apparently Crutchie does,” David stated. Jack groaned and flopped down on the couch, throwing his head in David’s lap and covering his eyes with his forearm.

“How could he do this to his best friend?” David hummed.

Unknown to Jack, David knew who Crutchie was dating. In fact, everyone in their group did. Though, when Crutchie told the group chat, Jack had just turned off his phone to get on a flight, and by the time he turned it back on, the conversation had passed.

Jack was the type of person who would ignore past messages in a group chat if it’s not urgent, and no one had told him it was urgent. This resulted in everyone in the group knowing who Crutchie’s boyfriend was, and Crutchie had texting them in a secret group chat (that they deleted immediately after due to guilt) to not tell Jack.

With how much Crutchie was considered a ray of sunshine, he was a real asshole when he wanted to be

“I’ve got it!” Jack exclaimed. David jumped as his boyfriend flew from his lap, cursing in his head. If he continued with this, David was tempted to just break up with him.

“What?” David sighed.

“I’ll spy on ‘im! He can’t hide it too much, right?” David stared at his over-excited boyfriend with a look of disbelief.

“You cannot spy on Crutchie, Jack.”

“An’ why not?”

“That’s a breach of his privacy!” he clipped. “Not to mention, he may lose trust in you.” Jack glared at David, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I already lost my trust for him, so I believe this is only fair.” David stared at him in shock. His boyfriend, whose spirit animal is an over excited cat, thought that spying on his best friend was they way to find out who Crutchie was dating.

“In what world is disrespecting someone’s privacy fair?”

“My world, Davey,” Jack smiled. He leaned over and gave David a peck on the lips before leaping off the couch.

“I gotta go. Love ya!” With that, he was gone.

David took a deep breath and placed his head in his hands, letting out a deep sign.

This was going to be a while.

---

One thing Jack hated about Crutchie--probably the only thing-- was that he got up early in the morning. Very early. It’s part of the reason his nickname was “ray of sunshine”. Sometimes he made breakfast for the two of them, which Jack loved, but the only downside was that he didn’t know how to be quiet.

Jack groaned as he heard a pan drop into the sink with a loud crash. He may have gone to sleep at two in the morning, but that didn’t bother Crutchie at all.

Jack grudgingly sat up in his bed, though he kept his blanket cocoon wrapped around himself as he grabbed his phone and moved out of his bedroom.

He found Crutchie humming in the kitchen, cutting up broccoli as eggs fried in the frying pan behind him. There were two coffee cups set on the counter right next to some plates that Crutchie had already laid out.

Jack walked into the kitchen and grabbed the mug closest to him, making his way to the coffee maker. Crutchie turned around and gave him a smile.

“Good morning, grumpy pants,” he hummed. Jack glared at him as the coffee brewed, not answering the blonde boy. Crutchie laughed and shook his head. He stepped over to the stove, barely using the counter as support, sprinkling broccoli into the omlette as well shredded cheese. “Breakfast should be ready soon, so go and brood in the dining room until it’s done.” Jack nodded his head and quickly grabbed his freshly poured cup of coffee and the sweetner he needed before sitting down, tiredly staring at his phone.

It was nice to just sit in quiet with Crutchie, where neither of them felt the need to talk. It had taken years for them to get to that point of their friendship, but it was worth waiting for that to happen.

“Oh!” Crutchie yelled over the noise of the frying pan cooling down in the sink. “I forgot to tell you that I’m going out to coffee in a bit.” Jack shot him a confused look.

“With who?”

“Why does it matter?” he mocked. Jack got up from where he was sitting and walked over to Crutchie.

“Cause I gotta make sure that my best friend isn’ goin’ ta go out and get himself kidnapped.” Crutchie rolled his eyes at Jack’s antics. He has always been protective of Crutchie since they have met in high school, always checking in on him when he went on dates or when he was somewhere new that may not be 100% accessible to him. Jack walked out of the kitchen, omelettes in hand, and Crutchie followed in suite.

“I’ll be fine Jack. I know they aren’t going to kidnap me, they would have nothing to gain from it.”

“Kidnapping a cute blonde? I beg to differ.” Crutchie shot him a knowing look and Jack shut up.

“I’ll be fine Jack.”

Soon after Crutchie left, Jack franticly texted Race.

To raceSLUT: hey do u work today

From raceSLUT: yeah y?

To raceSLUT: crutch is goin to a coffee date and i wanna see who he is with

Race didn’t respond right away. He assumed he had either been at work already, getting ready for work, or distracted by Spot. He is rarely away from his phone.

From raceSLUT: jack r u askin me to spy on ur roommate???

To raceSLUT: yes

From raceSLUT: how much

To raceSLUT: are u askin for $$??

From raceSLUT: staring at ur roommate will take time outta my work day

To raceSLUT: u wont be workin anyway

From raceSLUT: “if your good at something never do it for free”

To raceSLUT: i will give u $10 if you never quote joker again

From raceSLUT: deal

Jack sighed and rubbed his face. Race was a douchebag sometimes, but he honestly was a good guy. Even if he drove Jack up the wall sometimes.

His phone buzzed unexpedicately.

From raceSLUT: i will revoke that 10$ if u txt spot rn that he is a short bitch

To raceSLUT: what? What r u 2 doing??????

From raceSLUT: dont question just do it

Not wanting to be out ten dollars, Jack opened up the text messages between his brother and him.

To lil’ bitch: just a daily reminder that ur a lil fucking bitch - ur loving brother

From lil’ bitch: Did race put you up to this

To lil’ bitch: whether he did or not doesnt mask the truth spottie

---

It turns out Crutchie had gone to get coffee with David. When Race told him that, Jack became a little bit pouty. He knew his boyfriend and his best friend were good friends and hung out with just the two of them from time to time, but everytime they did, Jack always got a little jealous. Not in a toxic way, no. He even talked to a counselor about it to make sure that he didn’t become so jealous that he was being controlling and toxic.

Everyone knew he loved both of them, and even though he got jealous, it was not just because David was hanging out with other people, but that the ‘other people’ were his best friend.

And he wanted to hang out with his best friend. But he also wanted to hang out with his boyfriend.

“Jack, this is why Crutchie and I never tell you we are going to hang out,” David sighed. Jack had went over the David’s house after Racetrack told him that he was the one Crutchie went out with coffee with. When he showed up, David had been laying down on the couch, reading, and Jack just walked over and laid down on top of him, burying his face in David’s neck.

“Let me brood in piece, Davey,” Jack mumbled.

“Jack, you’re laying on my book. I would let you brood in piece if you hadn’t interrupted my peace.” Jack lifted his head and smiled widely at David.

“I’m way more peaceful.” Before David could reply, Jack leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips. David sighed into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Jack’s lower back.

A few moments later, they pulled apart.

“Seriously, you should move a bit so I can get my book. I don’t want to bend the pages.” Jack groaned and lifted his upper body off of David. He quickly grabbed the book and Jack laid back down as David checked the pages, marking his spot in the book.

“So,” David began, “how did you know that Crutchie and I met up together?” Jack hummed and placed a kiss on his neck.

“I had Race tell me who he went to the coffee shop with.” David groaned and smacked the back of Jack’s head. Jack lifted his head up and glared at David. “Hey! Why’d ya do that?”

“You dragged Race into your creepy spying?”

“It’s not creepy!”

“That’s exactly what this is, Jack.”

“Well, he still won’t tell me who he is dating, so I took matters into my own hands.” David threw his head back in annoyance.

“Won’t he be mad when he figures out?”

“Nah,” Jack hummed. “He threatened ta do the same thing when you and I got together.”

“You didn’t tell him we got together?” Jack awkwardly laughed and pushed himself up on his arms.

“Yeah, I uh, was nervous because you was the first boy that I have been with?” David just stared at him. He opened his mouth to respond, but closed his eyes, changing his mind.

“We can talk about that another time. But I still stand by that you should not be stalking your best friend.”

“It’s gon’ happen, Dave.” This conversation was getting nowhere. David loves his boyfriend very much, but he knew when he had to end a conversation before it became a fight.

David put his hand on the back of Jack’s head and pulled him back into the hug, humming.

“Alright. But can you please stop getting jealous when Crutchie and I hang out?”

“...that I can work on.”

---

It was rare that Jack’s whole friend group had a chance to get together. Everyone was pursuing different majors and had different levels of homework and tests that they had to do. They finally had a Saturday where everyone was free. What do the do with that free day?

Drink to forget in Jack and Crutchie’s apartment, obviously.

“Jack,” David groaned. Jack laughed and took another shot, Racetrack cheering him on. “Jack, you have work tomorrow. You are going to be hung over.”

“Oh, quit grippin’,” he mumbled. “I ain’t even tha’ drunk yet.”

“Yet-”

“He’s fine, Mouth,” Spot laughed. “Let the man be stupid, he’s a dumb shit.”

“I side with Davey,” Crutchie spoke up. He was sitting with Finch on the couch, legs thrown over the boy so that there was more room on the floor for people to sit. For some reason, most of their friends perfer sitting on the ground.

“You should take some shots, Dave!” Racetrack hollored. Jack cheered along Blink and Mush, trying to peer pressure his boyfriend. David rolled his eyes.

“I’m these guys’ ride, I can’t drink anything.”

“Leave ‘im alone, guys,” Finch laughed. Jack turned towards him and watched Crutchie shake his head at them and hide his head in Finch’s shoulder. Jack smiled at that. When he first met Crutchie, he was very against touch. It was mainly his leg, but he wasn’t very keen on people touching him in general, so to avoid this, he wouldn’t touch anyone else either. Now, he was loved leaning into all his friends, giving hugs, everything that he could at every chance that he got.

“Jack?” Crutchie broke him out of his drunken thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“Can you go get me my phone? I forgot it in my room.”

“Why can’t ya get it?” He gave Jack a look as if he was the stupidest man in the world.

“I just got comphy.” Jack groaned but got up anyway.

It wasn’t hard for him to find Crutchie’s phone. He always kept it on his charger when he left his room.

Just as he took Crutchie’s phone off the charger it clicked in his mind that he could find who his boyfriend is. Crutchie didn’t keep a lock on his phone because he never felt a need to hide anything from anyone.

Quickly, Jack opened up his messages, just so he could find out who this mystery boy is, once and for all.

For being best friends with Crutchie for years, Jack realized that he had never actually looked at Crutchie’s phone. Maybe to play a game when he needed something to do with his hands while he watched TV, but that was about it. He never realized that Crutchie didn’t have names under his phone.

They were all fucking emojis.

There was a car emoji, some buildings and a sky line, pink hearts, red hearts, green hearts. He had so many messages too, so Jack couldn’t even narrow down who would be the boyfriend.

“Jack!” he heard Finch yell. “What’s takin’ so long? I’m gettin’ antsy!”

“It ain’t even yer phone, Finch!” Jack hollored back. He scrolled through all the texts with hearts in the name. One had pink hearts, one had red hearts, one had green hearts and a bird…

I wonder what mine is? His drunken mind decided to chime in. Giving up on his mission, Jack quickly whipped his phone out and texted Crutchie a meme that he has been waiting to show the boy, and waited for the text to appear on his screen.

When it did, Jack quickly clicked on the message and looked at the top of the screen. The only emoji there was an angry emoji with a cowboy hat on top of his head. He was mad but also… a little touched?

“Jack, did you pass out?” David called. Jack cursed and closed out of the message app, quickly rushing out of the room.

“Sorry, got distracted,” he hummed, tossing the phone to Crutchie. Finch caught it for him, as his hand was in Finch’s hair, lazily playing with his brown locks.

“It’s been five minutes but yer already behind, cowboy!” Race tossed him an unopened beer bottle, and the rest of the night was history.

---

Jack was losing his mind. It has been weeks of him spying on Crutchie, trying to find out who his boyfriend was, and he wasn’t anywhere closer to finding out. David had guessed that Crutchie knew what Jack was doing and was trying to hide anything that pointed to his boyfriend, but Jack shut that down. He knew that he had been sneaky enough where even if Crutchie had his suspicions, he wouldn’t be able to plant anything on Jack.

He was reaching the end of his line. He was so close to just beggin on his knees for Crutchie to tell him who his boyfriend is. He just wants to know who it is so that he can make sure that they don’t hurt Crutchie, and if he does, he knows who to hurt.

“You good, Jack?” Crutchie asked. Jack was lying face down on the couch and only gave a groan in response. Crutchie raised an eyebrow at his best friend.

With a sigh, he walked over to Jack and sat down on his legs, as Jack had left no room on the couch for him to sit.

“What’s bothering ya?” Jack turned his head so that he could see Crutchie out of the corner of his eye.

“Who’s yer boyfriend?”

“That’s what your upset about?” Jack scowled.

“Well don’ say it like that!”

“Jack, you’ve met him.”

“Well,” Jack sighed. “I still don’t know who it is!” Crutchie laughed and patted his back. Before he could say anything, his voice chimed. Jack recognized it has a bird chirp. It wasn’t long ago that Crutchie had changed his ringtone to that. Jack never really understood why, but he thought that Crutchie was just going through a phase that involved nature.

Crutchie started laughing hysterically and Jack looked back at him in concern.

“Good news, Kelly.” He hopped off Jack’s legs and grabbed his crutch, shooting Jack a smile. “He’s here.”

Jack shot up and stared at him with wide, scared eyes.

“He’s what?!” There was a knock on the door. Jack shot up and watched as Crutchie walked over to the door and open it up.

“Hey babe,” Crutchie warmly greeted.

“Hey.” He recognized that voice. Quickly, Jack marched over and looked over Crutchie’s shoulder to see who the mystery man is, once and for all.

“Finch?!” Finch eyes snapped to Jack’s, wide in surprise and confusion. “You’re Crutchie’s boyfriend?”

“...Yeah?” he asked, looking back at Crutchie, who still had a bright, mocking smile one his face. “I thought everyone knew?”

“Jack here missed the message of us announcing it,” Crutchie explained. He leaned into Finch, who immediatly wrapped his arm around his waist, while turning his body towards Jack. “We’ve been very obvious about it.”

Jack stared at the couple, processing everything he knew. What were the signs? Crutchie had said it was someone he knew. Were there signs that he should have noticed?

“The birds!” he exclaimed. This time, both Crutchie and Finch gave him a confused look.

“What birds?” Crutchie questioned.

“Yer name for him in your phone has a bird emoji, and yer text message ringtone is a finch noise!” Jack threw his arms in the air. “How did I not know?!”

“Jack,” Crutchie hissed, as if he had revealed something secret.

“Aw,” Finch cooed, pulling Crutchie closer against his body. “You has a speical ringtone set for me?” Crutchie mumbled something, but looked off to the side, avoiding eye contact with both boys.

“When did you guys get together?”

“A few months ago,” Crutchie answered, still looking down at the ground.

“Yeah, we texted the group chat about it. I thought you had seen it.” Jack gave him a confused look.

“I don’ remember seeing a text like that?”

“That’s because you didn’t.” Crutchie finally looked back up to his best friend. “You were on a plane back from Santa Fe, so you didn’t get the messages. When you had landed, the conversation was over, and you don’t like looking back through messages. Therefore, you missed the announcment.”

“Wait, so everyone knew?!” Finch and Crutchie both nodded their heads. Jack glared at the couple before grumbling and pulling out his phone. “I’m calling my fuckin’ boyfriend. Bastard held this information from me willingly.”

Finch and Crutchie watched him stalk away while holding the phone up to his ear. They distantly heard him scold David before he disappeared into the bedroom.

The couple looked back at each other for a split second before bursting out laughing.

“I’m glad he finally figured it out,” Finch mumbled, pressing a kiss to Crutchie’s forehead. The smaller boy smiled and nodded his head.

“Yeah. He ain’t the most observant, but I knew he would get it one day.”

“And if he didn’t?” Finch raised his eyebrow. Crutchie smiled and pulled him into the apartment, shutting the door behind him.

“He’d be very confused when I tell him I’m engaged.” Both men smiled wide, happy for a relationship and belief that this is the one.

[goatsandgangsters]

What to Do When Your Car Conks Out (50s AU; Chapter 4)

(ao3)

The sun had long since set, the sky overhead dark as an oil spill. The early October air nipped at their skin, but it wasn’t cold yet. It might have been a peaceful, quiet evening, if they hadn’t been determined to shatter silence where they found it. Engines rumbled around them, thrumming and humming and left to idle. Headlight bulbs illuminated the grassy field, throwing their shadows into long, distorted shapes. Underneath the laughs and jeers and shouts, Wynonie Harris crooned from a car radio.

Vito brought the beer. Al brought the energy. And everyone who was anyone showed up to soak it all in and chug it all down.

Across the hood of a car, two boys arm-wrestled, a crowd around them cheering with jibes and bets and winner-gets-another-bottle. The loser’s hand thunked down against the metal, the on-lookers jeered, and the loser surrendered his place to another contestant. A group of girls crowded around a different car, talking and laughing amongst themselves with a haughty unapproachability as they traded cigarettes and secrets. And then there were the cars no one looked at, parked at a distance, the headlights off and pairs of occupants busy.

“Is this what you do every weekend?” Meyer asked. His legs dangled off the hood of Charlie’s car, soles of his shoes hitting the bumper. He watched the spectacle with a look of skepticism, the frown at the corner of his lips magnified by the headlights and shadows playing off his face. 

Charlie smiled as best he could, with his lips around the neck of a bottle. He cocked his head back for a swig, the taste of beer warm and heavy on his tongue. “Not every weekend.”

He’d been palling around with those guys and Billie since high school started. Sometimes they met at the beach, or he spent Friday night crammed into a lacquered booth with his friends until the diner closed. They spent nights with necks craned up at movie screens, or throwing rocks at bottles by the pond, or racing down back streets until their tires squealed. They even snuck into the city from time to time, if they thought they could get away with it (even though Charlie always came home to trouble).

But Meyer was apart from those memories, just as they were apart from the center of the action. Those sharp eyes of his were alert, tracing each movement through the crowd. “So you just… what, exactly?”

Charlie scratched behind his ear, frowning. “We gotta be doin’ somethin’, exactly?” Far as Charlie was concerned, they spent too much time doing what other people said they had to do. It was a nice change, sitting around, drinking, smoking, girls giggling and engines revving and their raucous laughter echoing up into the night sky. They could set it all to music, make symphonies from the chaos.

Beyond the walls built of light and tire and laughter, the field stretched on into darkness, until it turned into roads and streets and homes, into parents with their quiet evenings and quiet living rooms. The lights from the nearest houses were pinpricks in the distance. Charlie preferred the noise.

“I’m just trying to figure it all out,” Meyer said.

Charlie threw him a fond grin. “You’re always figurin’ somethin’, Little Man.”

Back in the ring of arm-wrestlers, Vito took his turn, hamming it up as he squatted opposite the current victor. He kept shooting hopeful glances over at a girl with dark hair in a severe bun, who huffed her cigarette without an ounce of interest, not that Vito seemed to realize.

“I bet you every nickel in my pocket Genovese goes down in ten seconds!” Charlie shouted across the crowd. Despite the noise, his voice carried and people listened. Vito took the challenge, the way Vito took every challenge—with great gusto, great stupidity, and prolific swearing.

“He hates it when anybody’s doubtin’ him,” Charlie explained as Vito propped his denim-clad elbow and grabbed the other guy’s hand.

“Can’t imagine that,” Meyer replied in that wry tone that always made Charlie smile a little wider.

But, to his surprise, it wasn’t Vito’s hand that slammed down on the hood. Almost immediately after grabbing his opponent in his wide, meaty grasp, Vito forced the other down against the car with a thud that must have hurt.

Still, Charlie didn’t care as Vito—hollering with victory—bounded over, sticking out a thick, sweaty palm to claim his winnings.

Charlie cocked a grin over his shoulder at Meyer. He shifted to fish through his pockets, dropping everything he had onto the hood of his car—his keys, a half-empty and battered carton of cigarettes, a square lighter, and a pack of Sen-Sen.

Vito stared at it, vacant. “The fuck’s this, Luciano?”

Charlie snorted. “What, you think I got any change on me?” He ducked as Vito jabbed at his shoulder, Charlie shoving him back, laughing. “Hey, that’s on you, you oughta check these things before makin’ a bet!”

“You fuckin’ wise-ass, you owe me? You got that? You fuckin’ owe me that shit,” Vito said, grabbing fistfuls of Charlie’s shirt.

Charlie opened his mouth to tell Vito to cool it, but Meyer cut in with a firm, “Why?” They both turned in surprise. Meyer’s cool eyes lock on Vito, before he said as matter-of-fact as if answering a question in class, “He lived up to your agreement. You’ve got every nickel he had on his person.”

“Fuckin’ wise-ass punk,” Vito scoffed. 

“Hey! Ain’t my fault you got rocks for brains, Genovese!” Charlie called, but Vito stomped off without turning back. Charlie spat into the grass, leaned back against the hood, and forced himself to chuckle, to lighten the mood a little. “Boy, he was mad, huh?”

Meyer, however, didn’t seem impressed. “And this is what you do for fun.”

“You see the look on his fuckin’ face, though?” Charlie grinned. Even with his neat sweater and pressed slacks, Meyer wasn’t as square as he acted; Charlie’d seen it. He knew Meyer better, just not all the particulars yet. Silently, he held out the half-empty beer bottle in offering.

Meyer raised an eyebrow. “No, thank you. I’ll pass.”

Charlie downed another sip. “Don’t want you havin’ a bum time, is all. Seein’ as I dragged you here.”

“Seems only fair,” Meyer said. When Charlie cocked his head, Meyer continued, with some reluctance. “Considering you’re not having much fun either. Sitting here with me. Instead of with your friends.”

“Who says bein’ with you ain’t fun?”

In the glow of headlights, Meyer seemed to smile. Seizing the opportunity, Charlie slid across the hood, nudging Meyer with his shoulder. “So, now you gotta tell me—what’s it you do for fun? Besides workin’ and buyin’ groceries and bein’ smarter than everyone in the entire world.”

Meyer smirked. “That about sums it up. The last one is particularly time-consuming.”

“Figured,” Charlie chuckled, dragging his fingers through his hair. Their shoulders bumped again. “But I mean it, you gotta have fun in there, right?”

Meyer shrugged. His hands twisted in his lap. “I work a lot. And when I’m not, I help my mom take care of my sisters and my brother. I guess that’s not ‘fun’—not that I mind, only that it’s not… you know, driving with your feet around an empty field or whatever it is you do.”

“Eh, you done it once, you done it a thousand times.”

“I think I’ll pass on trying at all.” Their eyes met and shared a silent laugh.

Slow, chewing over his words as he chose them, he said, “Well, I guess we gotta—I mean, I’d wanna—” Christ, the words were all stuck in his throat. Meyer looked up at him, questions in the angles of his little face as Charlie stammered. He cleared his throat, ripping at the label on his beer until it pried away from the green glass and curled in on itself. “You oughta have some fun, is all. Ain’t right, doin’ nothin’ but workin’ all the time. So I figure, me’n you, sometime we could—”

“HEY! You gettin’ in on the action?”

His head shot up. Through the crowd, Al’s broad shoulders cut a path towards them, his brother a step behind with his hands in his pockets and an easy, sauntering gait. Vito trailed along with a deep scowl. Around them, the crowd started to take notice, drawn by the boom of Al’s voice.

“Maybe I ain’t in the mood tonight,” Charlie called back with a grin pulled taut.

“Not in the mood? What, you sound like the broad I was with last weekend!” Al snickered with a flourish of his hand, part conversing, part ringmaster.

Charlie took another swig from the bottle. “Yeah, well, lookin’ at you, I can’t say I blame her. Don’t know how you get anybody in the mood, face like that.”

There were a few laughs from the onlookers; Al laughed too, but there was an implicit threat to it. They teased and they taunted one another all the time, but it was different that night. Al kept shooting glances at Meyer, expecting an explanation, expecting Charlie to close ranks where he belonged, not keep sitting away from the goings-on with some stranger whose hair had never even held pomade.

“Speakin’ of,” Frank said, voice smooth as the gentle flip of his hair, “What happened to that girl you couldn’t stop talkin’ about? She’s all by her lonesome tonight.” His eyes flicked over to Meyer. “Unless you’re otherwise occupied.”

Charlie scoffed. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, before pulling a smirk and saying, “Maybe I already got what I came for. No need stickin’ around after, huh?” It wasn’t true, nothing happened with her, but he hid it behind an easy grin and a reputation. Meyer’s presence beside him seared hot in his senses, but Charlie stared forward, determined not to look over.

“So? There’s plenty other girls. C’mon, Luciano, no sittin’ out all night,” Al said, waving Charlie to them with a wide arc of his shoulder. But he didn’t budge. “What, you a wet blanket all of a sudden?”

“Nah, I just need a break from smellin’ Vito’s aftershave.” He grinned nice and easy; his hand clenched tighter around the neck of the bottle.

There was a round of laughter from everyone but Vito, who scoffed and cracked his knuckles.

“Oh, is that what I’m smelling? I thought you hit a raccoon on your way here.” Charlie’s eyes—and everyone else’s—snapped onto Meyer. He shrugged, reached over and took the bottle from Charlie’s grip, and raised it to his lips in a definitive gulp.

The smirk spread sharp across his face. “Well, he gotta wear somethin’ strong to cover the stench of his personality.”

Meyer snorted. “It’s not working.”

He was a natural. Something like pride filled the space between Charlie’s lungs.

Vito glowered, his face growing more and more like an overripe tomato by the moment. “Who the fuck is this kid? Your math tutor?”

Al laughed louder than the joked warranted. “You finally learnin’ what 2+2 is?”

“Yeah, I think it adds up to ‘fuck you,’” Charlie shot back.

“Actually, it’s four.” And before anyone could note Meyer’s comeback was even worse than Charlie’s, he added, “Coincidentally, the same number as Al’s IQ. On a good day.”

More and more people drifted away from their own conversations to watch, a ripple of excitement and laughter passing among the onlookers. They loved a good show. And someone challenging Al or Vito without any repercussions was novel entertainment. Anyone else would have been grabbed by the shirtfront and chased off by now, tail between legs and lip bleeding, while Al and Vito laughed over their regained pride. But Meyer just cut into them, remark after remark, unruffled.

“You got some kinda problem?” Vito snarled, advancing towards Charlie’s car.

Billie stepped into his path, one hand up. With an easy, teasing grin, she said, “Look, the kid just doesn’t know what a dick you are, that’s all. He’ll get used to it; all the rest of us did.”

“The fuck’s with all of you tonight, huh?” Vito snapped. Billie had a gift for good-natured mockery that usually silenced even Vito when he was getting out of line, but he was riled up that night. “You havin’ fun ridin’ my ass like this?”

Meyer and Charlie exchanged a glance. He didn’t say anything, didn’t even open his mouth, but Charlie knew—he knew—exactly what Meyer was asking by the curve of his mouth and look in his eyes: should we drop it?

But this felt too good to give up, joking with Meyer like that, the way their words bounced off each other, back and forth, pinballs and paddles. Charlie answered the question on his face with a large smirk, never breaking eye contact with Meyer. “Vito, nobody wants nothin’ to do with your ass.”

“Or do you mean his face? I’m having difficulty telling the two apart.” Meyer’s eyes stayed locked on Charlie’s. Though the crowd laughed and hollered, they might as well have been all alone, sharing a private joke between the two of them. He almost couldn’t hear anyone else, couldn’t see anything besides the way Meyer smiled, the dip of his eyes over Charlie’s face, the fingers that fidgeted on the neck of Charlie’s beer bottle.

He didn’t see Vito shove past Billie and didn’t see his knuckles until they pounded into the soft spot below his collar.

“You gonna shut him up?” Vito said, glaring down at Charlie. “Or do I gotta do it, Mussolini-style?”

“Excuse me?” The bright laughter vanished from Meyer’s face. His face turned to stone as he sat up straighter.

“I’m not gonna let some smart-ass fuckin’ nobody crack wise—”

“Hey!” Charlie’s body moved on instinct. Before he knew it, he’d sprung from the car and closed the gap between them. Vito stood inches away as Charlie glared down at him. Distantly, he heard the crowd “oooh” in anticipation, but it barely registered. The blood rushed in his ears.

“I don’t like you talkin’ that way to my friend,” he growled.

“He started it!” Vito’s ugly face contorted into a scowl. He spat. “Fuckin’ kike, you heard him.”

His fist slammed into Vito’s jaw. The crowd gasped. Vito staggered back. Charlie’s chest heaved with each breath, hand coiled tight, every muscle tense and alive.

Vito cupped his face and glared. “The fuck?”

“Apologize to my friend,” Charlie said, low, teeth grit.

“I’m not apologizin’ for shit—”

He raised his voice. “Apologize to my friend.”

“No.” It was Meyer this time. The whirring in Charlie’s head quieted, the crowd seeming to freeze. He turned to Meyer, who jumped from the hood and stood firm beside him, eyes shuttered and hard. “I don’t want his apology,” he said, each word sharper, more precise, than any of Charlie’s knuckles.

He glared at Vito, ice in his gaze, for one long moment. Then, abrupt, he turned and walked away to the passenger door. “It would be best if you took me home now.”

Charlie hurried after him, fumbling as he dug the keys out of his pocket.

They didn’t speak as they climbed into Charlie’s car. Meyer stared straight ahead as Charlie backed out, turned the car around, and drove across the empty field towards the road. He kept shooting glances, licking his lips, heart thudding with words he thought he should say. Meyer’s face remained blank, unreadable.

They didn’t speak at the red light, or the next one, or at any of the stop signs. Charlie’s pulse quickened with the passing silence, until he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Fuck them, right?” he said, with more confidence than he felt. His knuckles strained tight around the steering wheel.

Meyer stared straight ahead. He maybe blinked, but Charlie couldn’t even be sure of that.

“That was outta line, what Vito said. I mean, he’s a real jerk-off. Jerk-off-and-a-half. You know what, he’s like twelve jerk-offs, all in one. Twelve whole jerk-offs, in one fuckin’ body, you know what I’m sayin’?”

If Meyer knew what he was saying, he sure didn’t give any indication of it. Or that he was hearing Charlie at all.

He swallowed. “You sore at me?” he asked, and hated the way it sounded—scared.

Meyer sighed, hard and heavy. A reaction, at least. “I would appreciate if you didn’t fight my battles for me,” he said at last through tight lips. “It may surprise you to know, but I can take care of myself.”

Charlie’s brow furrowed. “Hey, nobody’s sayin’ you can’t. Sure as fuck not me. I mean—I seen you at work, remember?” He laughed a little in spite of himself, nervous. “You’re like a tiny Tony DeMarco.”

Meyer’s face did not move much, but he thought he saw a small crack at the corner of his lips, the faintest hint of what might have been a smile. Charlie took the opening while he had it.

“Look, I only did that ‘cause… Well, if you and Vito went at it, Al would’a stepped in, and then his brother’d get in there. Figure I could put a stop to it, before it all got outta hand,” he explained. “They’re assholes, okay? And they don’t hold back. Or fight fair.”

“It’s fine if they don’t, I can take it,” Meyer said, a little too fast.

Charlie smirked. This kid sure was something else. Smarter than anybody he knew, but with more guts than all of them combined. And he never tried to be anything he wasn’t—just himself. “Alright. Next time, you can clock him in the face.”

Meyer glanced at him, shadows of street lamps spilling light across his face. “Next time?”

His throat tightened, a self-consciousness simmering in his stomach as Meyer looked at him like that. “Unless you’re so mad you don’t wanna see me ever again?” Charlie tried to sound like he was only kidding. The car came to a stop at a light.

At last, Meyer smiled. Charlie let out a sigh, relief in his lungs, heart beating once more. “There we go,” he smirked. “Forget those assholes. How’s about I make it up to you?”

Meyer hummed in thought, leaning his head back against Charlie’s seat. “I’m a little concerned about how you plan to do that.”

Charlie waved a hand at him. “Nothin’ to worry about, all on the level. We could go for a ride someplace, if you wanna drive? Or hell, I’ll even taken you to the drive-in. You wanna see that new Cagney picture?”

“Just the two of us?” Meyer asked and Charlie nodded. “Alright, a drive. Next weekend?”

“You got yourself a plan,” Charlie beamed.

“You do have other friends, you know. You don’t have to pal around with me.”

Charlie snorted. “Yeah, we’ll see about that Monday morning.” He was already dreading it. Sure, it was only Vito, but he still sided against them in front of everybody. “Besides,” he tacked on to ignore that thought. “You’re better’n them all anyway.” He threw Meyer a grin as the light changed.

“Why’s that?”

He sure was full of questions, that little Meyer. “Because—See, thinkin’ about it—Well, I think you’re pretty cool, alright?” Charlie blurted.

Meyer laughed out loud, quick, sharp, and surprised. He whipped around to stare at Charlie, the disbelief evident on his face, before he regained his composure and his smirk, the corners of his lips twitching up into a teasing smile. “I thought you said I was square,” he reminded.

It was good to see him grinning. Like everything was back to normal, the two of them laughing like they’d been all night, trading jokes and jibes. Maybe it didn’t look normal to everybody else, but it felt natural to Charlie—an instinct he knew. He returned the smile.

“Yeah, well, you are a square. But you’re cool, too. Does it gotta be one or the other?” Charlie rambled, drumming his fingers against the wheel. “Don’t look at me like that. You can be both, alright?”

Meyer shrugged with a chuckle and settled back against his seat. “Alright. You’re the expert.”

“Thank you.” Charlie paused. “Wait a second. You callin’ me square?”