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theofficialdramallama · 2 months

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In the bath he lay back, letting the heat soothe his bruised ribs and soak the cowshed aroma from his skin. He closed his eyes, instantly seeing Jennie, her smiling face, her hurt face, her accusing face...

She was the reason he had been assigned to Ballykissangel. No-one, least of all Peter himself, would ever have believed such a step would be necessary. But it had been, and it was undertaken swiftly, in order, as Peter's Bishop in England had put it, 'to preserve the decencies and to rescue a good career threatened with disaster before it was properly begun'.

It had seemed ironic to Peter that he had managed to underestimate the effect that one young woman could have on him. Usually it was other people who underestimated Peter because he looked so young and ingenuous.

In fact, Peter had always been brighter than average for his age. He was the second of five children, their father a first-generation Irish general practitioner who had set up his practice in a northern mill town and stayed there. Peter had gone to a local grammar school where he preferred science to the arts, and football to cricket. He moved comfortably to Cambridge where he studied astronomy. Then, to the delight of his mother, he discovered he had a vocation for the priesthood.

He had gone from Cambridge to the seminary at Allen Hall in London, and from there to Manchester. Soon he distinguished himself as a young priest with decent instincts, a capacity for hard work and an endless, effortless gift for compassion. He was sceptical on certain points of theology, and he had his misgivings about the more inflexible aspects of Catholic doctrine. In particular, he was inclined to believe that individual conscience should have precedence over dogma.

Peter had begun to enjoy his standing in the community. If there was a problem, it was that he was becoming too sure of himself. After nearly three years of uncritical acceptance in Manchester he was ripe for emotional damage. And along it came, in the heart-wrenching shape of Jennie Clarke.

They met at a social function in the church and, because Jennie was attracted to Peter straight away, she made it her business to see that he got adequate chance to start feeling the same way about her. She turned up in his life at every opportunity and, inevitably, he began to fall in love with her.

But the priest in him was strong. So was his idealism. Nothing had yet happened between himself and Jennie, so while that remained the case he forced himself to set his feelings on one side and tell his parish priest the whole story. The matter passed into the hands of the Bishop, who decided to put as much distance between Peter and the inner city as possible. He telephoned a colleague in Ireland, another Bishop with whom he had attended the seminary. This Bishop knew of a curate's position where they'd had little luck holding on to incumbents in recent years.

So the plans were laid. Peter hadn't the time to tell Jennie what was happening before he was transferred to Ballykissangel. He arrived lacking much of his old confidence and self-esteem, but he had felt those qualities were reviving quickly in the new surroundings.

Now, lying back in the cooling bathwater, he felt his assurance begin to fade again. He sat up, telling himself this time there was no room for wavering. He had to be firm. He had to make her see there was no point in pursuing a future that included him.

— Ballykissangel: The New Arrival by Hugh Miller

#ballykissangel #ballyk #ballykissangel novelisations #peter clifford #hugh miller #ballykissangel the new arrival

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tkwrites · 3 months

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He's Got It Bad - Quinn Hughes x ofc

gif by 40ep

Title: He’s got it bad

Author: Tory / @tkwrites

Relationship: Quinn Hughes x Sarah Roberts (OFC)

Warnings: Swearing, lots of teasing & chirping, mild spoilers if you've never seen the original Jurassic Park.

Summary: When Sarah meets the team at Conor's birthday party, not only does she get to know Quinns teammates and their partners, she enters a world she never expected. At practice the next day, the guys congratulate and tease Quinn mercilessly.

Word Count: 2,600

Comments: I’m sorry this one took me so long, Daisy! I started it two or three months ago, but couldn’t find the right way to finish it. And then earlier this week, as I was falling asleep, it just snapped into place. I hope you enjoy it!

As before, the research described here is dubious at best, so please take it with a big grain of salt.

If you did enjoy this, please let me know by commenting, reblogging, or sending in an ask. Your encouragement and comments truly inspire me to keep writing.

dasiysthings asked: If you’re taking requests/suggestions for Quinn and Sarah au doing a Sarah meeting the team for the first time has been on my mind lately. What would they think of her? Sure Quinn’s mentioned her and they saw sarah in the stands her first game but maybe she attends a team function like birthday party or team family meal. Something low key and not public maybe? Also how much do they tease Quinn after?🫣🤭

He’s got it bad

A Quinn & Sarah Snapshot

“Are you free on Thursday?”

It was a rare night off, and he’d requested they order food and watch a movie. Currently, they were lounging in a giant bean bag in the gaming room. Quinn was partially on top of Sarah, his head resting on her chest as the first Jurassic Park played on the large screen.

“I think so. Why?”

“Garly’s having a party that night for his birthday. I hoped you might want to come with me.”

“Who?”

“Garly,” he repeated before correcting himself, “Conor. Garland. From the team.”

Quinn had mentioned Conor before, and she knew he was one of the trio of guys he was really close to.

“Sure,” she said, hoping her voice sounded more confident than she felt. “Who will be there?”

“Most of the guys and their partners if they have them.”

“Is it going to be wild?” she asked, winding one of his curls around her finger. She needed to prepare herself if it was going to be a night full of drinking.

“Nah, Conor’s pretty chill, and we have a game the next day.”

“Okay,” she agreed again, splaying her fingers through his dark waves, letting them slip and slide over her skin. For someone who washed it so often, he had remarkably soft hair.

Nuzzling into her chest a little more, he sighed. He loved when she played with his hair.

Sarah jumped when the Dilophosaurus appeared on screen, tilting its head at Nedry.

Quinn laughed. She hadn’t even flinched when the T-Rex had tried to attack the kids through one of the park cars. “You okay?”

“I hate this one,” she said, turning her head to the side.

He glanced at the TV in time to see the dinosaur hiss and pop its frill. “You hate this more than the T-Rex?”

“At least the T-Rex is just a big predator. This one stalks and tortures first, and I hate it,” she said, face still turned away.

“But Nedry deserved it.”

“Maybe so, but I still don’t like to think about it.”

He chuckled.

Only after the yells faded away did she turn back to the movie and continue tracing her fingers through his hair.

By the time Thursday came around, Quinn realized just how nervous Sarah was. She texted him about the dress code three hours before he was supposed to pick her up.

It’s a party, he’d written back, unsure of what she meant.

Yeah, but is it like a heels and cocktails party? Or a backyard barbecue party?

Well, it’s been raining all week, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be indoors.

Don’t be a smartass.

Just casual. Food and drinks.

She’d called him then, and he’d answered, confused. “Hey?”

“I just…” she began, “this is the first time I’m meeting most of your teammates and their girlfriends and I don’t want to be the only one in jeans when everyone else is in dresses. I want to make a good impression.”

“You’ll make a good impression no matter what you’re wearing.”

A breath blew out of her nose, whistling by the phone speaker, “you don’t get it.”

“Don’t I?”

“Quinn, you wear the same thing all the time.”

“First of all, I do not.”

He continued before she could get out her retort that Brady could back her up on this fact. “And secondly, everything I’ve seen you wear would be fine for this. You always look nice.”

And he meant it. Even in her aquarium uniform, which consisted of a blue t-shirt or polo with the aquarium logo and whatever pants she happened to be wearing that day, she always looked put together.

She made some noise in her throat like she thought he was telling tales.

“Look, you might get some looks if you showed up in a trash bag or something.”

Laughter barked out of her mouth. “Why would I ever wear a trash bag?”

“I don’t know. I’m just saying that barring an unhinged trash bag outfit, you’ll be fine. People are just excited to meet you.”

“You told them I’m coming?” she asked, feeling sudden nerves attack her stomach.

“Yeah. Conor suggested I invite you. The guys want to meet you.” Plus, ever since she'd met Brady, he'd wanted her to meet everyone in his life.

“Oh,” she said quietly.

“Just wear what you feel comfortable in, and I’ll pick you up at six, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Sarah said, feeling even more anxious than before she’d called him.

She couldn’t even wear her go-to outfit for when she was nervous. St. Patricks day was the next weekend, and she’d asked Quinn to come to her uncles and needed the green dress for that. Plus, it was freezing and sleety outside. A dress was not the way to go.

Jane walked by, and Sarah called her in.

“What happened here?” Jane asked, taking in the clothing spread all over Sarah’s usually tidy room, and Sarah herself standing in her underwear.

The only thing she could decide on was the blue bra, which always made her feel confident and sexy. She’d paired it with a matching pair of underwear.

“I’m going to a party with some of Quinn’s teammates tonight,” she said.

Janes eyes widened with what Sarah thought was the appropriate amount of concern.

“So I’m trying to figure out what to wear. The dress is out,” she said, gesturing to where it was hanging in the closet.

Jane bit her lip, surveying the chaos. “My vote is for those boyfriend jeans that make your thighs look killer,” she said.

Sarah breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have someone express a definitive opinion. She’d put those same jeans on earlier but stripped them right back off, worried all the other women would be in fancier dress. “You don’t think they’ll be too casual?”

“What kind of a party is it?”

“Birthday.”

Jane looked her over, “you’ll be fine. Killer jeans, nice top. Quinn won’t know what hit him.”

She pulled the jeans on, hopping as she tugged them over her hips, “thanks. I’m just so nervous.”

Jane sat on her bed and began putting shirts back on their discarded hangers, “I don’t think you need to be.”

“No?”

She shook her head, “from the way he was looking at you when he stayed for dinner that night you guys made up, I’m not sure anything could put him off you.”

Sarah felt her cheeks flush.

“Anyway,” Jane said, pulling a purple blouse out from underneath her, “I think you should wear this. It looks good with your eyes.”

“Thanks, Jane,” she said, gathering the other woman into a hug, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Sarah was already in the lobby when Quinn pulled up to her building. She wore medium wash jeans a dark raincoat. He appreciated that she was wearing flat boots instead of some fussy heel. She threw the hood up to block the rain before running out to his car.

When they got to the house, he opened the door without knocking before leading her inside. There was a coat rack already brimming with wet jackets, and Sarah stripped hers off to hang up with the others.

Quinn stopped in his tracks halfway through unzipping his own jacket.

He thought he’d seen all of Sarah’s clothes. Which was a stupid notion now that he thought about it — they hadn’t been dating for that long — but she tended to wear a kind of uniform.

Today, though, her jeans fit her like a glove — clinging to the curves of her thighs and hips. He was certain she’d never worn them before. He would have remembered. Seeing her in them now, he wished she’d given him some kind of warning.

When he didn’t follow her, Sarah turned, which was worse. The purple blouse she wore skimmed over her breasts and had a pattern embroidered around the collar. The color somehow made her eyes brighter and lips more pink. He had no idea that could happen.

He felt like he needed to catch his breath as a surge of attraction reared in his stomach.

Not only were the guys going to tease him mercilessly for being with someone new, he was going to have to watch her in those jeans all night. The mental exertion it was going to take to not pop a boner was already making him tired.

Before his mind could truly go to war about the pros and cons of just turning to go back to his place, Conor called out, “Huggy? Is that you?”

Too late to turn back now. “Yeah,” he said, not taking his eyes off Sarah.

“Huggy?” she repeated.

“It’s a long story.”

The thrill of touching her reared to life again as he took her hand to guide her into the house. He made his mind focus on math equations for the walk into the kitchen and hoped it would be enough.

“Hey!” Conor greeted, immediately grasping Quinn in a hug when they walked into the kitchen. “You must be the elusive Sarah Huggy won’t stop telling us about,” he said as they broke apart.

“Good things, I hope,” Sarah joked as they shook hands.

“Well, he certainly didn’t lie about how pretty your eyes are,” a woman said, coming up to stand next to Conor, running her hand along his forearm before entwining their fingers.

The color that pinked her cheeks made Quinn’s knees want to buckle. God, he was in deep.

The strange thing was that he wasn’t scared about it. That had to mean something good.

“I’m Meghan, and this is Conor,” she said with a bright, friendly smile.

More introductions were made, and Sarah tried to keep track of everyone, but there were at least 40 people there, and she felt instantly overwhelmed. She should have known. She knew how many people were on a hockey team, but it was still a little shocking to meet everyone all at once.

They were absorbed into one of the small groups of people, and Sarah sipped from her seltzer only to find it was lemon flavored, not pineapple like she'd expected. She frowned at the can.

“Do you want something different?” Quinn asked, noticing the disappointed look on her face.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Conor and JT glance at each other.

“No, it’s okay. I was just expecting pineapple, so the lemon was a bit of a shock.”

“There’s pineapple in there,” Meghan said, gesturing with her own can.

“I’ll get you one,” he said, turning to the fridge.

She caught his arm and he turned back, “it’s fine, Quinn. This one’s already open. It’s not a big deal. Most seltzer tastes the same anyway.”

“I’m glad someone can finally admit that,” Brock said, lifting his beer to his lips.

His pretty blonde girlfriend smacked him on the arm, “just because you can’t tell the difference doesn’t mean no one else can.”

Sarah smiled at them. They were cute together - like a model midwestern couple.

“So, Sarah,” JT said, pulling her focus, “Quinn tells us you work at the aquarium.”

She went through her usual explanation of her schooling and research.

“Tell them about Tuesday,” Quinn prompted.

Everyone in the group looked between them expectantly. JT and Conor shared another glance.

“What happened Tuesday?” Natalie asked, taking the bait right away.

“Well, I’ve been doing a lot of experiments with Walter to see if he can taste my mood.”

“What?”

“Octopus have tastebuds and nerve endings in every suction cup that far surpass our own, so I’ve been wondering if he can taste the hormones on my skin. Anyway, I sprayed some Cortisol, which is the hormone that releases when you’re stressed, on my hands to see how he’d react, and he went from seemingly happy to see me to very subdued almost immediately.”

“Whoa,” Brock said.

“Yeah,” she agreed, eyes brightening. “It was really amazing. With some more experiments, I think I could probably use this as the basis research for my thesis.”

“Exactly how did this guy convince you to date him?” JT asked, pointing at Quinn.

Natalie smacked his arm.

“No, I’m serious. You’re really smart. You know Huggy didn’t even finish college, right?”

What the hell was this nickname?

“I did finish college,” Quinn interrupted, “I graduated last year.”

“Whatever,” JT said with a dismissive hand as if that detail didn’t matter. “Does he have you under some sort of mind control?”

Sarah laughed out loud, and Quinn’s eyes darted to her, catching her wide open smile.

“Cause she couldn’t just like me,” he defended, sarcastically

“A girl like this? This pretty and this smart?” JT asked, “it’s hard to believe, Huggy.”

Even though she could see the glint of humor in his eyes and knew he was only teasing, Sarah still stepped in, “Nope. No mind control.” She emphasized the statement by reaching for his hand, “You know as well, probably better than I do that Quinn has really great qualities. He's a really good guy.”

JT leaned back on the counter, a jokingly suspicious look still on his face as he glanced between them.

Quinn could feel himself blushing. He didn’t mean for Sarah to come to his defense like that. He didn’t mean to put her in that position. All the same, he was a little glad for it. JT had a way of teasing a persons insecurities right out of them, and to know Sarah didn’t feel the same way eased something in him.

“Our daughter loves the aquarium,” Natalie cut in fluidly as if she was used to smoothing over her husbands’ aggressive teasing.

“Let me know the next time you come by,” Sarah said without missing a beat, “I’ll give you a personal tour.”

“Oh, she’d love that. We’ll have to get a group of us together.”

JT gave her a genuine smile, and Sarah let a little breath go in her chest.

At the next mornings practice, Quinn ran through drills and exercises, ears pricked for the inevitable teasing he knew would be coming his way.

To his surprise, it didn’t come until the end, after he’d showered and was dressing in his stall.

“Dude, you've got it bad,” Joshua teased as he walked by, “I’ve never seen you look at someone like that,” he said, adopting a sappy, lovestruck expression.

“I don’t know if you can top the way he was about to chuck that can of seltzer away from her because she didn’t like it,” JT said.

“Right?” Conor agreed, laughing, “‘Do you want something different? Let me get you a new can.’” He mimed rushing around searching.

“Don’t forget the first time he told us about her,” Brock cut in, “he was like fucking Aladdin, ‘she’s got these eyes.’”

Joining in the laughter, Quinn tossed his towel in their direction.

Conor caught it easily. “Our little Huggy’s in love,” he teased, elongating the last word into several syllables.

“Guys,” he said, leveling them with a look he hoped would shut the conversation down. “We’ve only known each other 9 weeks.”

“So you’ve been keeping track,” Brock surmised, glancing around with a knowing expression.

Guess he may as well get comfortable in this hole he dug for himself.

He’d dished out this same chirping when Brock had brought Bella around for the first time and knew it was best to just let it lie, and eventually, it would become old news.

When he didn’t deny it, the boys around him all whooped and hollered enough that everyone else in the room looked over.

“Seriously though,” JT went on, “I have no idea how you landed her, but she’s a great girl."

"And,” he continued with a smirk, “if you ever get bored of her, I'm sure Kuzy’ll take her off your hands. He wouldn’t stop looking at her all night.”

Quinn glared, more offended at the insinuation he would get bored of Sarah.

JT laughed, raucous and loud, “Oh, he’s got it bad, alright.”

He couldn’t stop the flush that rushed into his cheeks.

“Don't worry, Huggy. No one's gonna steal your girl.”

Shaking his head, Quinn shoved his sneakers on.

Want more Quinn & Sarah? Check out the Snapshots Masterlist

To read all my fics, check out the Fanfiction Masterlist

#quinn & sarah snapshots #asks #answered #quinn hughes #qh43 #quinn hughes fanfiction #quinn hughes fic #quinn hughes x oc #quinn hughes imagine #quinn hughes x ofc #quinn hughes oneshot #quinn hughes fanfic #hockey romance #hockey fanfiction #nhl fanfiction #vancover canucks #brock boeser #jt miller #conor garland

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