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saucy-sassy-sparkly · 2 years ago

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Flight 1311: Five

Chris Evans x OFC (Harriet Kelly)

Note: Still working through this transfer from AO3. That said, I'm editing and making revisions as I move it over and this chapter is at least 1/3 rewritten. Hopefully for the better!

The flirting with these two... ;)

Story Masterlist

Harriet: I’m headed home for a bit, I’ll come by and get Dolly first

Chris: We’ll come to you.

Harriet: Just text me your address, please

Chris sighed and shot back a message with his address, absentmindedly scratching Dolly behind the ears, much to Dodger’s chagrin. Dodger climbed further up Chris’s lap and nudged his hand away from Dolly, making Chris laugh. He tossed his phone away and raised his other hand to Dodger’s head, rubbing them both. His head dropped back on the back of the sofa and he sighed, closing his eyes. His mind wandered back to last night in Emily’s hospital room.

He’d dropped Thai food off and Dan had invited him to stay and eat. He hadn’t stayed long, but chatted with Dan while Harriet ate quietly and avoided eye contact. Chris noticed immediately that Harriet, although actively ignoring Chris’s presence, was wrapped in his hoodie and under his blanket. She left the room before she’d slurped down her last noodle and gone to talk to the nurses. Dan had offered Chris a shrug when she left, “my sister is an idiot.”

“No,” Chris started, “this is a lot. She’s under a lot of stress.”

Dan snorted, “yeah man, so am I. It’s my kid in the bed. Harriet is just stubborn. Child of divorce and all that. Plus, I think my divorce did more to Harriet than to me.”

Chris raised an eyebrow at him, “what does that mean?”

“My wife had been Harriet’s best friend since middle school. We’d all known each other forever. When they started college, I was a junior at Boston College when Carrie came to the same school; Harriet stayed and went to school close to home in Baltimore. One thing led to another and Carrie and I were madly in love, got engaged when I graduated, Carrie was pregnant before she finished school. She never wanted to have a baby or be a mother. We’d scheduled an appointment at Planned Parenthood, but when we got there, Carrie just couldn’t go through with it. We made two more appointments and each time she just couldn’t do it. So Emily was born, Carrie quit school and hated every minute of it. But Harriet… when she found out about the pregnancy, she was on the train up once a month to help Carrie, to go shopping, to set up the nursery. She fell in love with Emily the second she held her. They’ve been inseparable ever since. Emily is how Harriet ended up in Boston; she wanted to be here to see Emily grow up; she was always around to help… she even moved in with us right after the baby was born so we had extra hands. She’s the one who convinced me to get Emily an appointment with a specialist when she started to be sick more often. She’s the one who went with me to the diagnostic appointment. Carrie said she couldn’t do it,” Dan sighed and pushed his food around.

“One day after Emily was admitted to the hospital, I came home and the house was empty. Carrie’s car was gone. Her side of the closet was empty. She’d just left. No note, no goodbye to Emily, just gone. It was a whole 18 more months before I got in touch with her again. Harriet has always felt betrayed, like her trust was broken more than mine. They’d been such close friends even before Emily or I were part of the picture. When Carrie left, she left Harry too. Harriet was already skeptical about people after my parents got divorced when we were teenagers, and then watching her favorite human’s mother walk out after a stage four cancer diagnosis… it just gutted her.”

Chris stared at Dan, entirely unsure how to respond. “Wow, I’m really sorry, man,” Chris muttered, “that's a lot.”

Dan sighed, “It was a shit show, but I’ve had a fuckton of therapy, and I’m getting better every day. I have Emily, and I’m happy just focusing my life on her well-being.” His voice wavered as he looked at the little girl in the bed; the girl who hadn’t been awake in days now. “Harriet is just… she just feels it all so deeply and she’s so damn stubborn. Just keep coming back. She needs to know you’re not going anywhere. In her world, people always leave so there’s no reason to trust them. And she thinks everyone who stays must have an agenda.” He gave a mirthless laugh, “I promise she’s in therapy too. And I promise she’s worth getting to know.”

The doorbell rang and pulled Chris out of his memory. Dodger and Dolly charged the door, creating a symphony of barking and pitter-pattering. Chris yanked the door open to see a haggard-looking Harriet on the other side. Haggard, but lovely. She wore leggings and a grey sweater, grey sneakers on her feet, and her hair waving down her back. She was so casual and adorable.

“Hey,” she offered a half smile, bending to greet the dogs.

“Come in,” he stepped aside, making room for her to walk past him and into the foyer. She played with the ring on her right hand, twisting it absentmindedly and looking around the room.

“If you have her leash, I’ll get out of your hair,” Harriet still hadn’t made full eye contact with Chris, but he was determined.

“Do you want a drink?”

“It’s noon on a Tuesday,” she quirked her eyebrow.

“Do you think alcohol evaporates during sunlight hours?” He grinned, walking towards the kitchen.

“No,” she hesitated in the foyer before following Chris, Dodger, and Dolly; the dogs trotted along behind him with expectant, hopeful eyes.

“Great, so let’s have a drink. You’re having a tough week.”

Harriet stared at him across the kitchen island. His back was to her while he rummaged in the fridge and freezer, pulling out a variety of options. She watched the muscles move and twitch under his blue t-shirt and she thought of what it had felt like to drag her nails over them. It was a brief intensity that night, but one that hadn’t ended the way she’d wanted. Standing in his kitchen, watching him mix her a cocktail, she felt something akin to adoration for him. He turned around a moment later with a tumbler full of amber liquid, a twist of lemon, and a spherical ice cube; he pushed it across the island towards her and raised his own glass.

“To Emily,” he said, holding his glass towards her.

“To Emmy,” she whispered, touching glasses before letting the drink slide down her throat. It was bitter and warmed her immediately with a delicious burn.

Chris watched Harriet. She’d taken a long pull from the drink on her first sip and was now gently sipping it. “Thanks,” she finally said, looking up at him as she dropped her purse on the counter.

He raised his eyebrow, “for?”

She sighed, “for the food, for watching Dolly, for coming around and giving Dan a break. Thank you.”

He smiled at her, “I’m happy to help.”

“He’s really grateful for it,” she played with her ring again, twisting it in circles before dropping her fingers to trace the condensation down the glass.

“Are you grateful for it?” Chris blurted out, dropping his head to try to catch her eye as she stared at her glass. Instead of looking up, she threw back the rest of the glass and stood up from the stool she’d collapsed on.

“I should go.”

“Harriet--”

“Where is Dolly’s leash?”

“Harriet,” Chris rounded the kitchen island and stood in front of her, blocking her exit from the kitchen. “Talk to me.”

She scoffed and the quiet, pensive demeanor was gone. Now she was glowering at him, “talk to you? I don’t know you, Chris. I don’t know you, why would I talk to you?”

“We spent hours talking just a few nights ago. We might not know each other well, but I’m not a complete stranger. You can lean on me.”

“Don’t you think this is a bit much?” Harriet’s tone was snarky; “you’re Captain America. If you want to get a girl into bed, you definitely don’t have to work this hard.”

Chris threw his hands in the air, “Why do you keep saying that? I’m not trying to get you into bed. I’m trying to be supportive.”

“Why?” She countered, hands on her hips, “what reason do you have to be supportive of someone you hardly know?”

“The only reason I could possibly have is to get you into bed? It can’t be that I’m a good human who keeps thinking about that little girl in a hospital bed? It can’t be that I think you’re beautiful and funny and smart and I’d like to know you better? You’re right Harriet. If I wanted to fuck a woman, I’d go to a bar and have no problem. Do you really think I’m that much of a jackass that I’d use a sick kid to try to get my dick wet?”

Harriet faltered and broke eye contact. She side-stepped Chris, surprising him when she went to the counter where he’d left the ingredients he’d used to make them a cocktail. She refilled her glass, mixing it slowly before taking another large sip. When she turned around, she was still silent for several long minutes and the air was thick and crackling with tension.

“I’m sorry,” she offered quietly before continuing, “this is all just…” Harriet trailed off, her voice thick.

“It’s fine,” his response was just as quiet, taking a step back towards her. She reached for his glass and took it from his hands, turning back around to mix another drink. She handed it back to him as a silent peace offering.

“It’s not fine, I shouldn’t have assumed you were after a quick fuck.” He snorted a laugh before clinking his glass against hers and closed the space between them. They stood in companionable silence for a few more minutes while they sipped their drinks. “I’m going to be really sloppy before dinner time if I keep drinking whiskey,” Harriet finally said, glancing over at him.

“Oh, are we drinking? I thought you were concerned with propriety.”

Harriet rolled her eyes and genuinely smiled at him, “I was trying to look like a lady… and act like I wasn’t having a total breakdown. For the record I think I’m still having a breakdown. So with that in mind: are you drinking with me? Or should I go home and do it alone?”

Chris grinned and made his way to the fridge, “Sam Adams or Stella?”

She wrinkled her nose, “ew, what else you got?”

“Whoa, what’s wrong with those?”

“I’m not a really beer girl,” she shrugged, meeting him at the fridge and leaning on him slightly to peer inside. She didn’t notice the look of horror on his face right away; when she did, she couldn't help but grin. “What?”

“You have to go,” he put his hands on her waist and started to push her towards the front door; she laughed and threw her arms out in the doorframe to stop him. He made a face at her when her movements momentarily stopped his trajectory. Then he lifted one eyebrow, shrugged, and leaned down to throw her over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. She shrieked and kicked her feet, demanding to be put down. “I’m not really a beer girl,” he said in a mocking, high voice, dropping her back on her feet when he reached the front door. He was suppressing a grin at her indignant look. He reached around her to open the front door, “have a nice life,” he said, pulling the door open all the way and starting to push her out.

“Chris! What the hell!”

He paused, pretending to think while his hands stayed on her waist before he grinned at her, “I’m just kiddin’. But what are you talking about? You split a six pack with me not even a week ago.” He grabbed her sweatshirt just above her belly button and used it to tug her back in the house and close the door behind her. His proximity to her made her heart race; he didn’t drop her shirt immediately but was instead still playing with the fabric and standing over her, very close, looking down at her inquisitively.

Harriet shrugged, “I’ll drink it, but it isn’t my preference. Someone left that behind from a dinner I had. If I get to pick my drink, I want wine. Or liquor.” She was very aware of the way his hand was rubbing her shirt between his fingers. Very aware.

“But,” he kept the shirt in his hands, walking backwards towards the kitchen, “you just told me you’d be ‘really sloppy’,” he exaggerated his voice on those last words, “if you kept drinking whiskey.”

He was still holding her shirt. They’d returned back to the kitchen and he was leaning one hip on the island, holding her in place. She didn’t know what to do with her hands; she reached for the ring on her right hand to twist it, but stopped herself, hesitated, and put her hands on his chest. She watched his face and was pleased to see his eyes drop to her hands and his breath falter for just a moment at her touch.

She huffed an intentionally dramatic sigh, “I’ll drink your stupid beer,” she shoved him lightly and he dropped her shirt with a smirk.

“Don’t do me any favors,” he laughed, opening the fridge again and grabbing two Stellas. They made their way to the living room after Chris stopped in the pantry for a bag of pretzels. The dogs were already on the sofa, snuggled in the middle, and Chris and Harriet took spots at their end. Harriet tucked herself into a ball, leaning her left side on the back of the sofa and facing her body towards Chris and the dogs.

The silence that followed was peaceful, companionable; both Chris and Harriet reached out to rub the dogs. Harriet was lost in thought and Chris was trying not to watch Harriet. They sipped their beers, pet the dogs, and sat together for several minutes before Chris ventured to start a conversation. “How are you holding up?”

Harriet snorted, “I’m not.” Chris didn’t answer and Harriet’s eyes flicked up from where they were staring at Dodger to find Chris’s blue eyes staring back at her. She continued, “My body is just going through the motions, but my brain won’t turn off.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She didn’t answer right away. She took a moment to sip her beer and draw circles in Dodger’s fur. She watched Dolly nudge Chris with her head to get him to scratch her ears. Chris wasn’t watching Dolly, he was still watching Harriet. His eyes were full of concern. “Can we talk about something else right now? Anything else?”

Chris nodded, “you got it.” He paused for a moment to think before launching into a story about one of his movies. She was watching his hands move when he talked, his facial expressions when he was excited, the way he reached out to touch her arm or her knee when he wanted to be sure she was paying attention. They sat that way for at least an hour with Chris telling stories, Harriet drinking them up and willing herself to stop thinking about Emily.

By their third hour together, they were back in the kitchen, leaning against the countertop with most of the contents of Chris’s fridge and pantry in front of them while they watched the dogs in the backyard through a large bay window. Their conversations had shifted from lighthearted stories– somewhere along the way, Harriet had started to share many of her own, but avoided ones that involved Emily– to real conversation.

“You know,” Chris started, taking a sip of his beer to wash down the jellybeans he’d just eaten, “I’m starting to think marriage isn’t in the cards for me.”

Harriet changed positions from leaning her arms on the counter and playing with a napkin to standing, facing Chris, with her hip leaning on the counter. “Why’s that?”

“My job is…” he paused to search for the words, “it’s really stressful on my partner. It’s happened more than once already, even with women who are actors themselves. It’s too much spotlight, too much criticism. I’m not sure I can do that to someone I love. I can’t be the reason they’re under constant scrutiny by trolls on the internet or photographers when they’re getting groceries. I can’t do that to kids.” Once he found the words, they were tumbling out of his mouth without the ability to stop. He didn’t talk about this a lot. His mom knew his thoughts, his brother, one or two of his close friends, but this fear was not something he’d ever shared with anyone outside of his tight circle. And never this sober. Sure, they’d had some drinks today, but after those first two whiskeys, they were really just nursing beers. He was in full control of his faculties but he’d just let all of his darkest fears fly out to this veritable stranger. Internally, he started to panic, realizing how deep he’d just taken this conversation.

“Do you want my opinion, or do you want to be heard?”

Chris faltered, his brain train coming to a screeching halt at those words. “No one has ever asked me that.”

Harriet smiled at him, “should I choose?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, so it sounds like you haven’t found the right person. Someone who loves you isn’t going to care; they’ll take that as a part of you and know they can’t have you and your love without some baggage. Plenty of celebrities are married with kids. I can’t imagine how difficult it is, but it isn’t impossible. We all have our shit, Chris. You’re not that special,” she said the last bit with a grin while she poked his shoulder. “Your value is not just in your IMDB filmography or how hot you look ripping apart a tree stump.”

Chris barked out a laugh, and stood up to face her, “you think I’m hot?”

Harriet rolled her eyes, “shut up, not my point. Look, I’m full of baggage because I’m terrified of being abandoned. I’ve refused to let myself open up to people because if I do, they could know me well and then be able to hurt me like my parents did, like Carrie did…” she trailed off. “I guess what I’m saying is that everyone has stuff that makes them scared or hard to get to know. You seem like you’re worth getting to know, and the right person isn’t going to be afraid of taking on your lifestyle if they love you.”

After several seconds of soaking in her words, Chris stepped towards her and pulled Harriet into a hug, “thanks for saying that.” She leaned into him and slid her arms up his back while she turned her cheek to lay against his shoulder. He held her for a few heartbeats before releasing her. “So, about that tree stump reference…”

Harriet ended up staying well into the evening. They finished off a pack of beer back on the sofa while they watched The Office and continued to chat. They were leaning on each other, not snuggling, but not keeping their distance. Both dogs were relishing in their languid evening and had cozied up with Chris and Harriet. Eventually Chris realized that Harriet was asleep beside him, her head on his shoulder and Dodger half on her lap.

He didn’t let himself think. He whispered for Dodger to jump down and then he scooped up Harriet and carried her to his room. The dogs trotted along behind him as he called “bedtime” to Dodger. Chris cradled Harriet to his chest until he got to his room where he tucked her in under the covers and the dogs tucked in around her. After going to the bathroom to brush his teeth and change, he crawled in behind her.

Chris leaned across Dolly, who’d made herself at home on his pillow, and planted a kiss on Harriet’s forehead. She sighed in her sleep, her eyelids fluttering, and he took it as an invitation to push the hair off her face and gently kissed both of her cheeks.

“Goodnight, beautiful,” he whispered, with one more kiss on her forehead.

#chris evans fanfic #chris evans x ofc #chris evans #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fic #chris evans x original female character #chris evans series #chris evans fan fiction

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tails89 · 3 years ago

Note

Are you still taking prompts? I was thinking about a 5+1 Buddie or a domestic. Thank you so much 🏵️

Thanks for the ask! I went with domestic for this one 😄

Send me a bingo prompt

You can also read this on AO3

~~~

“Hey kiddo.” Eddie holds the door open while Chris climbs up into the car. “How was school?”

“It was good.” Chris settles in his seat and waits for his dad to climb in behind the steering wheel. “We all got seeds in science. We planted them to see how they grow. I can’t wait to see what my plants are.”

He goes quiet, and when Eddie glances up at the rear-view mirror he can see Chris's reflection, staring out the window, deep in thought.

“Hey, dad?”

“Yeah buddy?”

“Do you think we could have a garden at home?”

Eddie pulls a face remembering the plant Pepa had given him as a house warming gift when they first moved to LA. She’d called it low-maintenance, insisting that even Eddie couldn’t kill it but by the time he’d finished unpacking the plant had been black and crumbling.

“Dad?”

“I don’t have much of a green thumb,” he admits.

“Oh, yeah.” Chris frowns. “You kill everything.”

“Hey, not everything!”

Chris gives a little sigh and goes back to staring out his window.

“Oh.” He brightens, straightening in his seat. “Maybe Buck can help us.”

“You’ll have to ask him,” Eddie says. Knowing Buck, the answer will be a resounding yes. It seems he’ll take any excuse to come over and hang out with Chris, which works for Eddie because he’ll use any excuse to invite Buck over.

It’s almost embarrassing, to be crushing on someone this hard. Eddie’s an adult, not some lovesick teenager. He shouldn’t be getting butterflies at the thought of seeing Buck.

“Can we ring him when we get home?” Chris asks.

“Buck’s working kiddo, but I’ll send him a text and see if he’s free on the weekend.”

Buck is so completely in, because of course he is and Eddie falls just a little bit more in love with him.

Eddie is woken early on Saturday morning by the sounds of movement in the house and the loud beep of the coffee maker. He pads out to the kitchen to find Buck, pulling things from cupboards to make breakfast.

“I gave you a key for emergencies, Buck.”

“Your cooking is an emergency,” Buck calls back to him moving to the fridge and peering inside. “You have eggs, right?” His head disappears behind the door. “Found ‘em.”

Eddie leans against the doorframe and watches Buck move around the kitchen with ease. He doesn’t need to ask where everything is kept having spent enough time in there already.

He stands with his back to the doorway, cracking eggs into a bowl. Eddie wants to go to him, to wrap his arms around his waist and hook his chin over Buck’s shoulder.

He shakes off the mental image and steps into the room.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” Buck turns to look at him, rolling his eyes and fixing Eddie with a fond smile. “I’m making breakfast.”

Eddie has nothing to say to that. He’s certainly not going to try and argue when the alternative to Buck making breakfast is whatever cereal he can find in the cupboard.

He makes a vague ‘go ahead’ motion with his hand and sets about making coffee for them both, sliding one mug along the counter towards Buck before taking a seat at the table.

“Buck!” Chris appears in the doorway, one hand on the wall for balance. “What are you doing here?” He rushes up to Buck, wrapping his arms around the firefighter.

Eddie hides a snort behind his coffee mug at Buck’s over the top pout. “Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten.”

“Oh, the garden!” Chris’s face lights up in joy. “You’re still going to help right?”

“Of course I am,” Buck reassures him. “Our garden is going to be amazing. You just need to promise not to let your dad touch it.”

“Because it will die?”

Buck nods sagely. “Because it will die.”

“Hey.” Eddie reaches with his foot to poke Buck in the leg. “What is this? Roast Eddie day?”

“Are you going to deny it?” Buck asks, whipping back around to face Eddie. There’s an easy grin on his face and he’s laughing as he shoos Chris away from the stove top. It makes Eddie feel giddy with affection and he has to look away before he’s caught staring at Buck’s lips.

After breakfast Buck takes Chris outside. They stand side-by-side on the barren back lawn to check out what they’re working with.

Eddie watches shamelessly from the kitchen while he washes up. There’s something about the easy way Buck interacts with Chris that makes his heart pound in his chest. With the window open he can hear them both talking as they make their plans.

“What are you thinking, boss?” Buck has his phone out, tapping away as Chris makes suggestions.

“We should have a vegetable garden next to the house,” Chris says, pointing.

“Vegetable garden?” Buck teases. “Since when do you eat your vegetables?”

“I like some vegetables,” Chris argues.

“Yeah, like what?”

“Carrots—”

“That’s one.”

“And tomatoes.”

“Okay.” Buck taps his phone against his leg, brow knit in thought. “Oh, what about strawberries?”

Chris nods. “I like those.”

“It’s a start,” Buck tells him, writing it down. He glances up, meeting Eddie’s gaze through the window. “You want to come to the hardware store with us?”

“What for?” Eddie asks, opening the window fully.

“Well, do you own a shovel?” Buck asks. “And we’ll need a hose or watering can, soil--"

“There’s plenty of dirt out there,” Eddie says, waving his arm vaguely.

Buck laughs. “And that right there is why Chris is in charge of the garden,” he says. He ducks down to whisper something to Chris. Eddie doesn’t hear it but, judging from the smothered giggles, that’s probably for the best.

“Sure, I’ll come,” Eddie tells them, thinking at least if he goes with them, they can’t tease him behind his back.

They tease him to his face, loudly and with no remorse.

Eddie doesn’t mind. Their excitement is infectious and he can’t help getting swept up in it.

They leave the store with more tools than Eddie knows what to do with. He wouldn’t even know the names of half the things that end up in their cart, let alone what they’re used for. Still, Chris and Buck seem happy with their purchases and that’s enough for Eddie.

He leaves them to it once they get back to the house. It’s been made very clear that his help is not needed and Eddie has enough to do inside.

The life of a single parent means there are always chores to do around the house, but then Eddie will hear a laugh—Chris or Buck—and his attention will be pulled back out to the yard.

Eddie holds out for another hour before giving up the pretence of being busy inside. The day is warming up, so he stops by the kitchen to grab Chris's water bottle and fills another for Buck before heading out.

“How’s everything going out here?” He hands Chris his water and tosses the other bottle to Buck. “No ones chopped off any important body parts?”

“We’re making good progress, right Chris?” Buck takes a long drink. He caps the water bottle, dropping it in the grass. “Hopefully we’re done before it gets too hot.”

In one quick movement, Buck pulls his shirt up over his head, using it to wipe the sweat from his face before letting it drop to the ground.

Eddie should look away, should look anywhere other than at Buck. But with that one simple action Eddie has lost all capacity for rational thought.

“Uh...” He manages to tear his gaze away, but doesn’t miss the knowing smirk that tugs on Buck’s lips. He files that observation away to overthink about later. “You’re not overworking Buck are you?” He asks Chris, latching onto his son for a distraction.

“No.” Chris digs holes in the fresh dark soil. “Buck dug up the grass but I helped spread out the dirt and he said I could decide where the plants go.”

“Oh, so Buck is overworking you then?”

Chris grins and continues digging.

“I guess I’ll leave you both to it then,” Eddie tells them, but he doesn’t head back inside. It’s a nice day, and even if they don’t want his help Eddie is content to sit on the sideline and watch while Chris carefully decides where to put each plant they bought.

They spend most of the day outside, pausing only to eat lunch.

When they’re done, Eddie sends Chris to have a bath and then offers Buck the use of the shower. While the water is running, Eddie looks through his closet for a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that will fit Buck, leaving them outside the bathroom.

Once everyone is clean, Eddie orders pizza. It’s not quite dinner time, but he can see Chris probably isn’t going to last much longer.

He’s guesses correctly. Chris crashes out on the couch halfway through the movie he picked to watch while eating. There’s still a slice of pizza on his plate.

“I think you broke him,” Eddie teases. He pokes Chris gently on the arm but his kid doesn’t even stir. “You completely wore him out.”

“More like he wore me out.” Buck blinks sleepily across at Eddie. “This gardening business is hard work.”

“You can crash here if you want,” Eddie offers. “You can drive home in the morning when you’re not so tired.”

“Mm, thanks,” Buck mumbles around a yawn.

Standing, Eddie scoops Chris up into his arms. The boy is all limbs and he realises with a start that soon his kid is going to be too big for this.

“Give me a minute to put Chris to bed, and I’ll grab you a blanket from my room.”

Buck doesn’t say anything. His eyes are closed, his head tipped forward, chin propped on his hand.

Eddie quickly tucks Chris into bed then goes to his room, rifling around for the blanket Buck usually borrows when he stays the night.

Buck hasn’t moved from his spot when Eddie returns to the living room. He lingers in the doorway, his eyes drawn to Buck’s sleep rumpled hair then down to the sliver of skin revealed where his shirt is riding up.

“I can feel you staring.”

Eddie flinches in surprise.

“Sorry,” he mutters, moving over to the couch to hand Buck the blanket.

“’s okay.” A sleepy smile pulls at Buck’s lips. “You do it a lot.”

That stops Eddie in his tracks.

“You, uh, noticed that, did you?”

The smile pulls wider. “I always notice you Eddie.”

Eddie’s mouth goes dry. “You do?”

Buck opens his eyes, his gaze fixing on Eddie’s with an intensity that steals Eddies breath.

“Always.”

Eddie licks his lips, trying to draw some moisture back into his mouth. His heart pounds at the idea of what he’s about to say.

“You know, my bed is much more comfortable than the couch.” He offers Buck his hand to pull him to his feet. “Just sleep,” he adds quickly. “But maybe in the morning we could talk about... more...”

Buck nods slowly, more awake now. “I’d like that,” he says. “More. If that’s what you want?” He accepts Eddie’s hand, rising from the couch.

“I want everything with you.”

#911 #buddie #evan buckley x eddie diaz #eddie diaz #evan buckley #christopher diaz #911 bingo #911 fanfic #my911fanfic

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glowingspence · 3 years ago

Text

The perfect christmas gift (contract)

Summary: Hotch decides to give the empty rooms in his apartment up for rent. He meets the young Spencer Reid, who rambles his way right into them.

A/N: This was written for the Quan Tea Co discord monthly challenge. Thank you for hosting this <3

Ao3

Christmas season feels like what a filled, busy restaurant on a saturday night feels like. And right now, he is sitting in a busy restaurant on a saturday night two weeks away from christmas. If this wouldn’t be so important, Spencer would be curled up in his bed under a warm blanket and not do anything but right now, he doesn’t really have a bed, let alone a blanket to sleep under. The one from the motel at least sure doesn’t do the job.

To Hotch, christmas season feels like every other season but with a lot more longing for love and understanding for what he is doing all day. Perhaps gratitude. That he is the one bringing the kids home safe again, that the mother, packed with so many gifts for nosy relatives let running alone around the mall. Maybe it was also a part in why he decided to finally give up the announcement that he has room free for rent in his apartment.

Blake had suggested he could rent the free space out to someone studying in the city or someone who works here for a few months, it’s not a city many live in for long. He is never home anyways and if he thinks back, he himself, as not the most social person would have loved to live somewhere for a few bugs than in a dorm with so many others and it didn’t even take a few hours after publishing it when a young man called. Very politely introducing himself as Dr. Spencer Reid and Hotch had blurted out the question how old he is before he could even finish introducing himself because that voice did not sound like someone old enough to have a doctor. “I am 18, Sir”

“18?” Hotch had questioned in disbelief, “Are you sure?”

“Yes, Sir. I am very sure, it’s my age.” He had deadpanned and Hotch fell into a laughter about how ridiculous this had started out. “I hope that is an age that is in the range of what you had in mind?”

“Of course, sorry, your title had thrown me off.”

“It tends to.”

He had agreed to a dinner, to discuss what Hotch and him had in mind, to make sure he isn’t inviting a person totally out of his comfort zone into his home but the background check already looked promising and when Hotch pushed open the doors to the restaurant, he already saw him sitting in the very last corner of the room, looking nervously from one point to the other, his leg moving up and down as he held himself but the moment Hotch stepped into his eyesight he stilled, sat up properly and forced himself to a smile.

“I am looking for a Spencer Reid” Hotch starts shyly, rubbing his hands together to get rid of the cold.

“You found him.” Spencer gets up when Hotch sticks out his hands to him and tenses up when they hands actually meet causing Hotch to let go immediately, “Sorry”

“You have nothing to be sorry for” Hotch states with a frown and gets out of his coat and waits for Spencer to say something else but he just stares at his plate and then at Hotch exceptionally, “Have you ever eaten here before?”

“No” He answers.Very short. Hopefully pronounced right, Spencer thinks to himself. He did a good job on that. He needs him to not know about his rambles or the man will think he is annoying.

“Have you been in the city long?”

“One month, one week, three days, ten hours, five minutes and twenty two seconds.” Spencer answers.

“That's- specific.” Hotch states surprised.

“I have a thing for numbers.” Spencer explains before he reaches over the table and shoves the little candle all the way to the wall, “You almost burned yourself. The last known data suggests that there are 990 injuries related to candles each year.”

“I didn’t know that, thank you” He sends him a soft smile, it was a nice gesture even though he isn’t sure if it is really a nice gesture or if his opposite is just scared of fire. He watches Spencer as he looks around the room again, if he isn’t scared of the candles, he is scared of something else, “Have you decided what you want to drink?”

“Water”

“I can order you something with alcohol if you want to.” Hotch suggests he isn’t much of a fan but maybe Spencer will loosen up a little bit. His whole posture screams like the kid will have the worst back pain after this.

“I am 18.” Spencer states with a frown.

“I know, I am just suggesting-” Spencer’s frown just hardens so he decides to change his approaches, “You are totally right, can’t really go around offering drinks to underage men when I am with the FBI can I?”

“You work for the FBI?” Spencer asks, louder than anything he has said this evening and with excitement in his voice. Hotch can’t tell what he does with his hands under the table but they are definitely moving.

“I do, I work with BAU that is the-”

“Behaviour analysis unit.” Spencer interrupts him, “Sorry”

“I see you know about it?”

“I do” Spencer contains himself for a moment before he breaks out into a ramble on the origin of the unit and Hotch can’t even comprehend what he is telling him but it all fits together logicly and when Spencer ends his ramble he lets his shoulders slump and adds a guilty, “Sorry”

“Don’t worry, you know quite a lot”

“I read a lot”

“Remind me to bring you a copy of Agent Rossi’s books.”

“Have you met him?” Spencer aks interested.

“We work together.”

“That’s so cool” Spencer states before addings a, “Sir”

Hotch chuckles at that, “Aaron is fine.”

“Really?”

“I don’t call you Dr do I?”

“I am younger.”

“Doesn’t matter, if you feel more comfortable with the Sir go ahead but my ego really doesn’t need it.”

“If you are sure.” Nervously Spencer looks down at the menu and back around the room, the topic seemed to have worked to distract him from whatever was scaring him for at least few moments.

“I am very sure.” A waiter comes over and takes their orders for their drinks and Hotch is surprised by how quietly and stuttering he talks to him but doesn't comment on it, maybe he just has a crush. “Do you know what you want to eat? I can only recommend the lasagna.”

“I will take pasta”

“With what?”

“Nothing” Spencer tells him and closes the menu.

“You can’t eat pasta without sauce.”

“Oh” He reaches for the menu again and reads it again before Hotch stops him.

“You of course can, it was meant in a “you are missing out” way.”

“Of course” Uncomfortable Spencer chuckles and ones their food is arrived and they have gotten over most of the forced smalltalk, Hotch starts talking about the apartment,

“I emailed you the pictures, considering the fact that you are here I am assuming that fits your criteria?”

“It fits perfectly, Sir.”

“Alright, obviously you have your bedroom and bathroom to yourself, you can use the kitchen, dining room etc if you want, my office, bedroom and bathroom are off limits but I think that is self explaining.”

“Of course”

“I am not there most of the time, so if you would to move in with me, you have the apartment to yourself for the time, and I am not talking about office days, I mean I will be gone for multiple days to weeks, you can do in there whatever you want the only thing I would be expecting from you is that I don’t come home to a mess.” He states and Spencer looks surprised for a moment, and even if he doesn’t look like he would argue, Hotch quickly adds, ”Mess from you. You don’t have to clean my stuff, I mean I expect the apartment to look okay, I don’t care about a few things laying around it just has to be kept in line outside your rooms.”

“It would be”

“You can invite people I don’t mind and you can repaint your room, I don’t mind either, if you would move in, you can also move out whenever you want, I am not depending on your rent but I still want it to be paid on time and I would appreciate if I could see some sort of certification that that will be the case beforehand.”

“I work at a library and make money by tutoring and publishing papers. That’s all I could come up with so far, Sir” He quickly states, “Because I just moved and- and because- I didn’t- I don’t have much on my bank account to show you right now- but I can calculate my in and outcomes and- and it will prove that I can pay my part.”

“It’s fine, I don’t care what you spend your money on, I just need to know you have a job and that you can pay.”

“I definitely can. I can bring you my work contract.”

“See” Hotch gives him an aussuring smile, “I need you, because of my job, to stay out of any illegal activities. I know you have no record and if that changes you could not live with me.”

“It won’t”

“And I would not be much of a fan of a pet.”

“I don’t have one”

“Then I think I have said everything, you would get the details on paper.” He assures him and Spencer nods, “Do you have any questions?”

“When could I move in?”

“The moment you signed and I saw your work contract. You pay rent from the day you move in and from that monthly. If you want to paint your room first, feel free to do that beforehand.”

“I could move in tomorrow?”

“You probably want to see the apartment first, if I am out of town that will be a problem-”

“I don’t need to see it.” Spencer assures him, “Sorry that was too forceful. I didn’t mean to sound like that.”

“It’s okay.” Hotch studies him for a moment, “Where do you live right now?”

“In a motel.” The thin man confesses and Hotch had been wondering from the moment he saw him if it was the lights or if he really has such dark circles under his eyes and if his cheekbones really stick out of it “It’s not really- I don’t like being there. The people scare me and it’s all dirty. I just want to be out there.”

“We can pick up your stuff after this, just get you in the apartment. We can figure the rest out in the next few days and when you sign that will be the day you pay and it’s all okay.” He starts rambling and Spencer’s eyes light up, “I can’t imagine a motel being safe for an 18 year old”

“You would do that?” Anxious Spencer looks at him before grabbing his bag that is placed next to him and Hotch realizes that he might have been too eager and sent the wrong impression.

“Yeah, here.” Hotch pulls out his badge, “Call the police department and see if it checks out, call a friend, I don’t mind- I- why don’t I call a friend- a women to get you out of the motel and you can ask her all kind of questions- oh god-” Nervously he fumbles with his phone, “I am not- okay.”

“Are you okay, Sir?”

“Yes, no, yes.” He places his phone down, “I am sorry if I scared you by offering this too quickly”

“You didn’t scare me, I have been going to college since I was 14. They stuck me into a room with three ninteen year old girls that scared me.” He tells him and then sits up straight, “I would like to take your offer.”

“That’s- That’s good to hear-”

“But-” Spencer interrupts him, “I need to ask something first.”

“Of course, yes, anything.”

“I have a disability- it’s not bad- you won’t notice but I am autistic and- and that is not a problem- I promise!” He tries to explain.

“I can’t help you, okay? I will be at work all the time-”

“No, I know. I don’t need any help. I just thought I need to let you know.” Spencer clarifies.

“Well, I don’t know anything about autism but I am sure I will learn my way.”

“You don’t mind?”

“No”

“That’s good.” They are quiet for a moment before Spencer closes his jacket, “Can we get going now? I don’t like this restaurant.”

“Please.” Hotch calls over the waiter and asks for the check, “Why don’t you wait outside and I will take this?”

Spencer grabs his badge from the table and hurries outside where Hotch finds him sitting on a bench not far from the restaurant, “Did you get your confirmation?” He asks while Spencer lets his finger run over the golden badge.

“I did”

“Who did you call?”

“A source” With that he hands the badge back.

“Is your source reliable?”

“He laughed and told me I couldn’t have found a more fitting roommate.” Shyly he smiles up at him, “Turns out he knows you pretty well.”

“Well then I won’t make you reveal your source. I am guessing you are not here with a car?”

“I don’t have a car”

“Guess I will drive us then.” Spencer nods and gets up, rubbing his hands against each other, “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I am just grateful to not spend another day in that motel.” Hotch feels even more bad when he sees the kid’s room. Four boxes standing in the corner, a few papers and books on the table, clothes on the bed next to an old stuffed dinosaur. “I promise I am not that messy.”

“I don’t mind” Hotch forces out and grabs one of the boxes, “I will get these into my car, you pack your other stuff”

He watches him from the car as he hands back the key before he walks to the car through the snow and seems relieved when he sits down in the car. “You must be knowing that this isn’t safe, didn’t they offer you a dorm room?”

“I was on a waiting list for one.” Spencer mumbles, “Thank you for doing this, Sir”

“No problem, it’s okay, believe me.” They drive in silence. Almost in silence. The radio is playing the same christmas songs that have been playing for years until Spencer reaches over and turns it off, much to Hotch’s surprise who had only turned it on to distract from an uncomfortable silence but was fine with it either way.

“And that is us.” Hotch announces before turning the key in the door to their apartment on the second floor. “It’s very open but our rooms are closed off.” He announces and hints at the fact that with entering the apartment they are already standing not far from the kitchen, from which you can perfectly see into the living room area as well as into the hallway and at the door to Hotch’s office. “Behind that door you find my room and bathroom and when you walk down here, it’s yours.”

Hotch opens the door at the end of the small hallway revealing a desk and bed that had already been in there when he moved in, “Your bathroom is behind that door.”

“It’s large” Spencer just brings out and drops his bags on the bed, “Thank you”

“Well you will be paying so no need to thank me” Hotch places the first box in the room, “I will get your other stuff from downstairs why don’t you take a look around, think of any questions and what I can help you with for the night”

“I will, Sir”

“And please cut the Sir” To their misery they don’t get further than bringing up the boxes before Hotch gets called on a case, “Okay, ehm, just- just remember I have your name, your everything so don’t rob me or I will have to come looking for you. Eat whatever you want tonight- don’t go into my rooms and just- I don’t know- do what you want to do, you have my number.”

“You will just leave me here?”

“Well I am not going to kick you out?” Spencer just stares at him for a moment before he reaches over to the contract on the table, reads over it and signs it, “Kid, please, show this to your parents first-”

“I won’t need to. I will transfer the money for the rent in the morning, I don’t need charity.”

“Okay, fine, whatever, I need to leave.” With that Hotch is out of the door and when he walks back in a week later he is surprised to find everything as he left it.

He hadn’t dared to call, didn’t want to seem like he invades the kid’s privacy so he just hoped that everything is still in place. The kitchen is clean, the living room is like he left it as well as the dining table. “Anybody home?”

There is no response so he walks down the hallway and pushes open the door to Spencer’s room and feels a strange relief when he sees his things still being there.

He had unpacked his clothes and stacked them next to the wall as well as books that are stacked inside the boxes he had stacked so the open part can be used as a shelf but apart from that it doesn’t seem lived in. Not even a blanket on the bed or proper towels in the bathroom.

“You are home.” Spencer states surprised when he walks in in the afternoon while Hotch stands in the kitchen, “How was the- whatever work thing you had.”

“We had a case.”

“Are you allowed to talk about it?”

“Limited.” Hotch disappoints him and motions for him to sit down at the kitchen counter, “How have you been living in?”

“The apartment is great, I love it!”

“You do?” A Skeptical Hotch looks at the young man who is playing with his keychain, “I am asking because I came home and this apartment looked like nobody lived in here.”

“I was living in here.” Spencer states with a frown.

“I am not- that was a saying, what I am trying to ask is- if you feel comfortable here?”

“I do”

“But?”

“It just needs time.” He confesses, “I am not good with change.”

“Would proper things to get comfortable help?” He had used the flight home to read over the most important information related to autism because the only thing that came to his mind was the stereotype that autistic people don’t make eye contact and Spencer had already disproved that on their first meeting. Blake had caught him reading an article and promised to get him some proper information and resources and encouraged him to for the time being to just be nonjudgmental and to maybe don’t rely too much on the first impression.

“What things?” Spencer questions, “I have- I have things to help me with transitions.”

“I mean things that make a home a home. Maybe furniture, decoration, anything”

“I don’t have the money for that.” He confesses, “But it’s okay, I have everything I need.” Spencer tells him and means it, while Hotch thinks it’s a lie, to cover up the fact that he is more than broke.

“I am not buying that”

“Mom says all you need is a good book.”

“And my dad said all you need is a good cigar but when I light one, I get the worst headache after a few minutes so I guess we can not inherit everything from our parents.” With a smile he grabs his keys, “Put your jacket back on, we will get some things for your room.”

“Sir, I don’t have the money.”

“I do” The kid is more than shy, not even picking out the necessities but at least some things find their way into their cart and when they come back home, Spencer sneaks away into his room.

Installing his much more cozy lamps and fairy lights, that don’t feel as exhausting as the big light. Stocking his bed with pillows and blankets and his bathroom with the towels Hotch got him and after hanging out the posters and pictures from his boxes with the tape Hotch offered, his room feels more safe than cold as it did in the last days.

“How is the decoration going-” Hotch gets caught off guard by Spencer wrapping his arms around his neck with force, making Hotch stumble a bit before steadying himself with the kid in his arms,

“Thank you so much, Sir. I would pay you back if I could-”

“See it as a christmas present.” Hotch speaks in a low voice but with a kind chuckle.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything better, thank you.”

#platonic hotchreid #aaron hotchner #spencer reid #autistic spencer reid #my writing #protective walls series

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thenextchapter22 · 4 years ago

Text

PART SIX!!

Description: You were an Angel who went to the human world to escape punishment for loving Lucifer only to be brought back into his life, this time in the Devildom where you pretend to be human.

In this chapter: You are back at the HOL...

Tags: Unrequited Love, Fluff, Angst, WIP

Pairing(s): Lucifer/Reader

Word Count: 2.5k

Link to my AO3: Click Here

Authors Note: It’s been a month and my hiatus is over now, so please enjoy this next part!! Love you guys so much ~~

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

_+_

Being back in the House of Lamentation was a little strange. After a few extra days at Diavolo’s in that admittedly larger bedroom than yours, Lucifer had taken you back home. He bid you a quick farewell, a single hug and hair ruffling with his smirk, before he said he had duties to attend to. And things seemed back to normal with that. It was a little anticlimactic but…

Home. This was your home. Lord Diavolo gave you, an Angel (and were you still technically one, without your halo? Only wings and some leftover magic?), permission to live in the Devildom. A place for Demons, not… you. He called you ‘family’. Even Barbatos, when leaving the Castle, had smiled at you and given you a happy goodbye and an invite to tea whenever you’d like.

“Your company is always welcome,” the demon butler had said.

You stood just outside your doorway, as if turning the handle would transport you somewhere else. Maybe this was a dream. It was all too surreal to have actually happened.

Once you were inside, barely two steps in the bedroom, an invisible weight lifted off you. This was where you spent your nights, either totally alone and at peace, or with your housemates to keep you company. Studying with Satan or reading a novel and talking about the characters while sitting in your bed, or watching DevilTube with Mammon and laughing at the rom-coms because he was a sucker for those. If Asmo came back late from a party or if he was lonely and needing cuddles, you both would stay up late gossiping about everyone, and you would hear funny stories about Solomon or the brothers. When Levi would come out of his cave, and bring his handheld games, and you would battle each other for hours (you usually won only a few times but it was still fun). Eating midnight snacks you and Beel snuck out from the kitchen, waking up with crumbs in your bed and a different demon boy in your bed, Belphie, who was cuddling you and mumbling in his sleep, warm and soft, like the twins had traded you off.

The only demon brother who never came in your room was Lucifer… That man was always in his own bedroom, up late doing paperwork or wandering around doing things for Diavolo. He overworked himself constantly.

You smiled, recalling the first time you had ventured in his bedroom at night to give him some coffee and poison apples to snack on. He was grateful for it, and he smiled with crinkles in his eyes and warmth radiating from him, and he thanked you. It was one of your best moments here, with him. A small one, but still perfect.

“You’re back!!”

You jumped in surprise as your legs were attacked and you very nearly fell over. Your train of thought vanished immediately. Looking down, then seeing the mop of blonde, you realized it was just Luke.

He was a sweet Angel, still learning and growing, and he had a heart of gold. Sometimes he was a bit sensitive to the demon brothers teasing (mostly Mammon’s). It was funny to watch him get all flustered and red-faced when that happened and insult back to the best he of his abilities.

“Hi Luke,” you greeted, returning his hug. “I’m happy to see you.”

He grinned up at you, head just reaching mid-level, his chin resting on your abdomen. “I missed you. Are you feeling better? Simeon told me everything and I’m so excited to hear you’re an Angel just like us! You have to tell me all about when you lived in the Celestial Realm, please?”

Simeon chuckled from behind Luke, tugging him away gently. “Let’s leave her alone while she gets settled back in, okay? We can visit another time. We came to see Lucifer.”

Luke pouted, but sighed and nodded. He took your hand and squeezed it once. “I want to hear all about it, okay?” he asked with determination.

That was Luke, always adamant and cute. You smiled and ruffled his hair, the youngest Angel huffing. “I promise I will, Luke.”

Simeon waved goodbye, shutting the door behind him, and that left you alone in your little room. You fell onto your bed face first and inhaled deeply, rolling on your side and clutching a pillow to your chest.

Now what would happen? Things seemed to be returning to normal, but would everything?

A knock. “Are you in there Angel girl?” Belphegor’s voice came through the door.

You were a little nervous to see him, but he was the last demon brother you’d thought you’d see first. Seeing as he was usually asleep somewhere.

But when you opened the door, it wasn’t only Belphie. It was all of the brothers, minus Lucifer, and they had wide silly smiles on their faces. And then they tackled you in hugs, squeezing you and overwhelming you with their tight holds and back rubs. You just laughed and let them, knowing they probably had been worried about you after all.

“Guys—please, guys stop! I can’t breathe,” you laughed, shoving at the arms and torsos around you. Once you were free, you stepped back and smiled. Seeing all of their happy faces had your insides twisting in joy. “I missed you guys so much, it’s good to see every one of you.”

Mammon spoke first. “Damn right! We’ve been totally freaked out about you. We-well, I-I mean, I haven’t been losing sleep or anything, but they all kept asking Lucifer where you were and when you’re gonna come back. Ch, losers.” His face was flushed when he finished. Why was this white-haired demon so damn cute when he was trying to not care, you would never know the reason.

“I lost no sleep,” Belphie stated.

You chuckled. Typical Belphegor. “Well, I am sorry for worrying everyone…” You frowned, and looked at the floor. There was that inner voice telling you that even if they were all here and hugging you, it was still possible for them to dislike you for lying, hiding this entire time. “But… You don’t… hate me?”

Asmo gasped. “No, dear, we don’t hate you at all! We love you!”

That made you tear up a little bit, and Asmo cooed and hugged you. Mammon grumbled and Asmo gave you one last squeeze then let you go. Your face was a little bit red but only from the embarrassment of nearly crying when being told you were loved.

“How could we hate you? You’re still you,” Beel said.

Satan agreed. “Yes, exactly. Only now you have wings and magic we didn’t know about. You’ll have to show us sometime, I’ve never seen an Angel’s wings in person, only in textbooks. It makes sense why your grades in Celestial History are on par with my own.”

You smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, well… only up until a certain point…”

Satan chuckled. “Yes, I suppose that is true. I do want to see your wings, but we were told you’re still healing so there’s no rush.”

“Yes, we want to see them too, darling~”

“The Great Mammon should get first look.”

Waving your hands to calm them down, you nodded and agreed. “Okay, I promise I’ll show you eventually. But like Satan said I do have to take it easy for a while.”

You were planning on going for a midnight fly session tonight, though… But that was a secret that you felt comfortable keeping, like a small white lie. Hopefully no one would find out.

There was one demon who hadn’t said a word, in fact he barely hugged you like the others did. Leviathan. He was quietly standing in the doorway, fidgeting on the balls of his feet, probably waiting for his turn to say something but too shy to speak up.

“Levi? Do you have anything you want to tell me?”

He jumped in surprise, but nodded after a moment. His face flushed and he fumbled with his hands, he usually did that when he didn’t have a phone or device in them. “I-I just want to say… Please don’t ever ever EVER leave us again. I don’t know what I’d do without my midnight gaming buddy. And, well, I just—I love you, okay? You’re my Henry and you aren’t allowed to leave like that!” He was flustered when he finished and avoided eye contact with everyone.

The other boys ‘aw’ed and you smiled in happiness. It was incredible to know that no one hated you for hiding this from them.

“I won’t ever leave you, Levi.”

That was a promise you hoped to keep. These 6 demon boys here were family, your own siblings, and you loved them and all of their weird quirks.

“Hm, I want to ask you something,” Beel’s voice rang out.

Oh no, this was it. The dreaded questioning. They would want to know everything, why you left, where you were, why you lied. And you didn’t know if you had to courage to speak up.

“How did we not remember you?”

Oh thank the Heaven’s. Good kind Beel, nothing bad ever seemed to come from him. Shoving the urge to sigh appreciatively out loud because that would cause actual questions that would be difficult to answer, you instead pondered the question. Would it be against Lucifer’s wishes? He never mentioned keeping it a secret from his brothers.

And so, you told them. About Michael and their memories being tampered with. And they were livid. So livid in fact, they all transformed into their demon forms. And your room was filled with infernal magic and wings and tails flickering. It was intense, but you knew it all came from a place of love. Even Satan, who had yet to be born at the time this happened, was upset, his green tail twisting around. In the tiny space, it was a lot.

Holding up your hand, hoping this calmed them down, you spoke softly, “Please relax everyone. I’m okay now. Simeon and Lucifer helped me. No one can hurt me here.”

“And… you’re staying?” Satan asked.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

They all relaxed, and changed back to their ‘human’ forms. You felt that you could breathe again.

The silence was tense, and you swallowed thickly, trying to think of something to say. Luckily, someone else did.

Asmo clapped his hands and exclaimed, “Let’s have a movie night! Popcorn, blankets, cuddling. It’ll be so fun! It’s the perfect thing to reconnect.”

Good ole’ Asmo, you would kiss him if you didn’t think it would cause a disaster. “Yeah, let’s do it,” you agreed. “But I pick the movie. We’re watching a scary movie.” You wiggled your fingers, chuckling.

Mammon’s face dropped. “Uh, we—we should watch something else, like an Action movie. A superhero movie, those are awesome!”

“Why, are you gonna cry if we watch a horror film?” Satan teased.

“Yeah, poor Mammon’s gonna wet himself,” Belphie joked.

“He probably already has,” Levi chuckled.

Mammon growled, and reached for them with his hands, probably to strangle them, but you stuck out your hand. “Please, no fighting. We can watch a funny movie then.”

Mammon relaxed. “I didn’t care either way!” he declared.

So your bedroom was transformed into a fort of soft pillows, blankets and sheets. Satan used a spell to make the bed larger for everyone and he TV was enlarged, too. Very handy spellcasting. Beel and Levi went to get snacks and drinks, and everyone else got the room set up with pillows for everybody.

After the movie started, and everyone was situated on the huge bed, it was quiet. Everyone was scattered around with their own pillows and you felt surrounded by warmth. This was exactly what you needed, just some time with them, feeling at peace.

But the comfortable quiet did not last long.

From where Mammon was snuggled beside you, he nudged your arm and said, “So… are you gonna tell us about it?”

You blinked. “About what?”

“Your life with the humans. We want to know everything. What it was like, who you met. Oh, did you meet anyone famous?”

Satan sat up straight. “Yes, did you meet any historical figures?”

Everyone seemed to be listening in instead of watching the film now.

You thought it over, and nodded. “Yeah, a few I guess… they were ordinary people to me at the time, though… Just your fellow human helping out other humans. I tended to keep out of any major conflicts so not to affect too much. I guess just part of what I’d been taught growing up in the Celestial Realm: don’t do anything to change the path humanity will take.”

Mammon nodded. “What was one of your favorite memories?”

Wow, that was a hard question to answer. You even said so. “I lived on Earth for a long time... I have a lot of stuff packed in my head,” you chuckled.

“Aw, c’mon, there’s gotta be somethin’ that sticks out,” Mammon said. “You can’t think of one thing?”

“Oooh, what was your favorite style of outfit? Maybe those pretty dresses from the 18th century?” Asmo asked.

“Anything before the invention of the internet has to be the worst,” Levi commented.

Beel, while chewing on some popcorn, said, “The food is always gonna be good, but when the cheeseburger was created was probably my favorite time in history.”

You chuckled at each of their comments. But you did go through your favorite memories, friends’ long past and different towns flashing through your mind’s eye. Overall they were happy memories but in the end, it was always the same endgame. They died, and you moved on.

You must have made some noise or done something because Asmo made a cooing noise at you. “Oh, sweetie.” He immediately pulled you into his arms, tucking you into his neck to pet your hair. A few tear drops fell but you did sob or cry at all.

There were hands rubbing your back and arms, and you looked up to see the brother’s saddened smiling faces.

“We are here for you,” Satan reassured you, stroking his hand up and down your upper arm. His hand was warm and comforting.

Levi sniffled, and squeezed your hand. “Don’t cry anymore, you don’t need to when we can protect you now.”

Beel reached behind himself, and held out a candy bar towards you. “Hey, do you want some of my chocolate? It’s got small crunchy bits in it. And chocolate makes you feel better.” He smiled, and handed you the candy bar. It had a bite out of it, but the thought was nice.

“Thank you, Beel.”

“And here, take my blanket, you look cold.” Belphie put his small throw blanket over your lower half, making his brothers curse when it buried their own arms or hands.

You smiled up at him. “Thanks, Belphie.”

Asmo made a huffing sound. “Well, I want to play with your hair. Can I braid it, please?”

You giggled. “Go ahead, Asmo.”

You let them pamper you up, while the movie played in the background. Eventually the movie ended and Levi set up a racing game, and you all selected your characters and played together. It was a perfect first day back home.

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night-fallz · 3 years ago

Text

Jason Todd x Avengers Crossover

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Ao3 // Wattpad

previous II next

Unexpected (part 3)

If he knew that he would be blamed for murdering someone the moment he got back to Gotham, then Jason would’ve waited another week or two before returning.

No matter what a lot of people said, Jason wasn’t stupid. He knows not to expect things that were unlikely to happen.

Jason couldn’t risk raising his hopes when it came to the bats.

He knew that he wasn’t gonna receive a warm welcome filled with hugs and cupcakes. Honestly, the most he expected was a nod of acknowledgment. And if he was lucky, then maybe- maybe he would’ve gotten a smile with the quiet whisper of a welcome back.

It made his heart twist in all the wrong ways to know that his family didn’t trust him as much as he thought. Jason genuinely believed that he and the bats were on good enough terms to earn him the benefit of the doubt.

He forced himself not to flinch as he met Batman’s harsh, distrustful gaze.

“I wasn’t even here when he was killed,” Jason tried to say as calmly as he could, knowing that if he loses his temper, everyone would use it against him. “I was following a case up in New York.”

He couldn’t go back to Arkham! Not again. Not with the Joker only a few cells away from him, taunting him with his laughter— his voice filled with cruel exhilaration as he continuously promised Jason that they would play together once again. How he would soon be reunited with his favorite playmate.

His favorite Robin.

He heard someone suck in a breath behind him.

Jason didn’t expect anyone to defend him. Not against Batman. But still-

He didn’t expect them to just stand and watch as Batman tore him into shreds once again. Batman threw accusation over accusation, yet he never once provided a single piece of evidence that proved it was Jason that did it.

He took a step towards Jason and he had to force himself not to flinch. Batman wouldn’t… not with his kids in the same room.

He ignored the rising panic in his stomach. Jason was safe.

He was safe.

Bruce wouldn’t beat him in the cave. Not in front of everyone. Not in front of Damian.

Jason would be able to walk out of the cave with his ability to walk. He was gonna be okay.

“Look, B. You can even ask them,” he pointed at the spot where Dick and the others were standing. “I told them that I was leaving Gotham for a while.”

Batman turned to where Jason was pointing. “Well?” he asked expectantly.

The cave was engulfed in eerie silence before Tim opened his mouth, faltering a little when he met Jason’s pleading gaze. “He’s not lying Bruce. He told me that he had a mission out of Gotham while we were hanging out a few weeks ago.”

Jason could feel his chest loosen up for a few seconds, thankful that Tim confirmed his statement.

He remembered the day that Tim was talking about. The bats were getting even clingier than usual. They weren’t even trying to hide the fact that they were following Jason anymore.

Tim asked Jason if he wanted to watch a movie and Jason agreed.

The bats were gonna be watching him anyways— they didn’t even try to hide the fact that they bugged him and all the known safehouses he has.

At this point, Jason didn’t know whether he should feel offended with how much they underestimated or relieved.

They already viewed him as dangerous and unpredictable. If they ever find out that Jason’s been holding back, even if it was just a little-

He won’t let them throw him back to Arkham. Jason would rather go back to the League of Assassins.

If Jason wasn’t watching Batman so closely, he would’ve missed the sliver of a nod the man-made.

Jason tried not to think of the fact that Bruce immediately accepted Tim’s answer without hesitation.

For the millionth time in this conversation, he wished that he was wearing his helmet. Instead, he forced his expression to remain calm. To remain bored as turned back to Bruce an eyebrow raised.

“Is that good enough proof for you, old man?” he couldn’t help but spit out, bitterness clear in his voice.

Batman remained unaffected, not even bothering to verbally answer Jason’s question. Instead, he just nodded.

Jason’s heart clenched, of course, he wouldn’t get an apology. Batman was too prideful for that.

“Truth.” Cassandra’s voice rang across the cave, breaking the heavy silence. “No… not lie.”

Batman nodded once again and Cassandra’s eyes met his. It took everything in him to stop a retort from coming out of his mouth.

Couldn’t she have said that a few minutes ago? Before Batman ripped him apart like he was nothing but flimsy paper.

Still, he guessed he should be thankful that she defended him. Even though it was too late.

After a few seconds of no one saying anything, Dick broke the awkwardness with an annoying smile on his face. “Now that that’s settled, why don’t we get that movie started?”

It was only because of all his training that Jason didn’t break down right there.

Of course this was just another thing that they’d sweep under the rug. Something that they would never want to speak off again.

Discussions of what movie they were supposed to watch erupted the room. It didn’t take long for an argument to break out between Damian and Tim.

Jason watched the scene for a few seconds before looking away.

They looked like a real family.

He turned away, these things happened frequently enough for Jason to know that he wasn’t welcomed.

He blocked out all the noise as he walked towards his helmet, eager to put it back on.

It was only a matter of luck that the universe hated him so much that he knocked something down, the thumping noise alerting everyone that he was about to leave.

Jason couldn’t help but feel relieved that he put on his helmet as soon as he got his hands on it.

At least he didn’t have to go to all the trouble to force his expression to remain impassive anymore.

Batman could use it against him.

Dick’s eyebrows furrowed, “Where are you going, Jay? I thought you were joining us tonight.”

“Yeah, well maybe I’m not in the mood to watch a stupid movie tonight.” Jason spits out.

Was Dick being serious right now? There were so many things wrong with that question.

One: Why would Jason want to spend more time with the people who thought he murdered someone and didn’t even bother to defend him.

And two-

No one invited Jason.

Before anyone could say anything else, Jason hopped on his motorcycle. He needed to get out of the cave.

He could feel their eyes on his back but no one bothered to stop him.

The last thing he heard was Cassandra’s voice assuring the bats. “Be back,” she said with enough confidence that one would think that she could command Jason to turn around with only her words. “He will be back.”

Jason held in the harsh remark that threatened to leave his lips.

Plus, it wasn’t like Cassandra was lying. He knew it— and hell, the rest of Bats probably knew it too.

Jason would come back. He always did.

It wasn’t like he had anywhere else to go.

But for now, he needed to get away. He thought that one week would be enough to calm the pit.

It wasn’t.

In fact, he feels like the interaction with the bats today just made it worst.

He’ll stay away from them for two weeks. That should be enough time for the pit to stop screaming at him.

But who would he stay with?

Jason had enough experience to know that the best way to calm the pit was to surround yourself with people you trust.

Kori and Roy were still in space.

And Talia was busy with the civil war against Ra’s.

Jason had no one else.

Except-

His phone grew heavier in his pocket and he remembered that an Avenger owed him a favor.

Clint said that Jason could text him whenever.

And the more he thought about it, the more Jason decided that he did trust the archer in some way.

Jason soon found himself staring at the side mirror of the vehicle and poisonous green eyes stared back.

He quickly averted his eyes.

Clint was his last choice. And Jason couldn’t risk being in the peak of a pit episode without anyone to keep him in his place.

He could do this.

It wasn’t like he had another choice.

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notes:

Balancing out school and volleyball was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Only one month has passed and I am swamped with work.

I don’t know how I feel about this chapter. It’s not my best work but I wanted to put something out for you guys!!

I hope that you liked it.

I’m gonna spend this weekend to try and get my life together so hopefully, that means that next week will be easier for me.

Especially since I still need to finish my permit course. (If you couldn’t tell, I’m kinda hating sophomore year of high school right now)

Like always, please leave a comment. i love reading them and they just motivate me so much! And they would help an extra ton these days.

And once again, if you have any fanfic requests, questions, or just suggestions for a specific fanfic i’m writing, just leave it in a comment down below or you can just message me here on tumblr.

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knuffled · 4 years ago

Text

Just Practice - Chapter 15

this is the most important chapter in the story so far since chapter seven, so i hope you enjoy this! if you could drop a comment and/or reblog to support all the hard work, it would mean a lot to me!

here’s the ao3 link

The first thing that greeted Annabeth when she stepped out of her car was the sound of crashing waves and the smell of sea salt carried on a gentle breeze. She leaned against the side of her car and drank in the view of the ocean, relishing in the way the wind tousled her hair. The beach was packed with families and college students on spring break, and for good reason. It was late March, and the weather was absolutely perfect outside. The sand was pleasantly warm between her toes, and seagulls cawed overhead in a clear blue sky.

Coming to the beach for spring break had been Rachel’s idea. Her father owned a villa not far from the shore, and she had offered to let them all stay there overnight. It was exactly what Annabeth needed after the past month and a half. After Percy’s victory at state, Annabeth had been absolutely swamped with school work. Nearly every week there was some new project deadline, essay to turn in, or exam to study for, and by the time finals rolled around, Annabeth found herself running on fumes. She hadn’t realized how bad it was until she came home after her final exam and promptly passed the fuck out in her room only to wake up the following afternoon, seventeen hours later.

Annabeth gave herself some time to just stand barefoot in the sand until Piper texted her, informing her that she and Jason were setting up camp further down the beach where it was more secluded. Taking that as her cue to move, Annabeth leisurely made her way down the beach and found Piper and Jason a few minutes later, trying to set up a beach umbrella. The umbrella was an ancient red and white striped monstrosity that looked like it had seen better days. Annabeth watched her friends struggle for a while, amused by how frustrated they were getting when the base of the umbrella slipped in the sand, until Piper noticed her and scowled.

“Are you just gonna stand there and watch or do you plan on helping out?” Piper huffed.

“But you were doing oh so well without me,” Annabeth said innocently. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way or anything.”

Jason put a hand on Piper’s shoulder before she could snap and offered Annabeth a tired smile. “We could really use your help, Annabeth.”

“Well, since you asked so nicely.”

Piper muttered something foul under her breath, but Annabeth couldn’t help grinning anyways before she went to help Jason. It took longer than she would have liked, but eventually the three of them managed to get the umbrella to stay in place, just as Hazel, Frank, and Leo arrived.

Leo pointed at the umbrella and said, “That thing looks like it came straight out of the fifties.”

“Shut it, Valdez,” Piper snapped. “We just spent nearly twenty minutes trying to get that fucker to stay still.”

Leo held his palms up in surrender. “Ok, apologies. Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I get it. It’s cool.”

“That wasn’t an invitation to keep talking,” Piper warned.

Leo pantomimed zipping his lips, making Annabeth grin. Rolling her eyes, Hazel unzipped her backpack and handed each of them a bottle of homemade lemonade.

“Hopefully, it’s still cold and all the ice didn’t melt,” Hazel said.

Piper took a sip and moaned, “Hazel, you’re a goddamn lifesaver.”

“Don’t make noises like that in public,” Annabeth quipped.

Although she wanted to glare at Annabeth, Piper spotted Rachel and Percy further down the beach and called out to them instead. Annabeth’s heart suddenly began pounding harder in her chest, and she found herself involuntarily searching for him over her shoulder. They had barely talked or even seen each other since State, so she had expected to be more excited to see him, but she found herself strangely nervous instead. The nervousness only grew worse for some reason when Percy noticed her and sent her a warm smile.

“Sorry we’re late,” Percy said. “Rache forgot something so we had to drive back to her place.”

“Let’s not sweat the details,” Rachel said, waving her hand dismissively. “Now, I don’t know about you all, but I am dying to get into the water. Anyone know where the changing rooms are?”

“I saw some on the way here,” Hazel said. “Annabeth, did you want to join us?”

Annabeth cleared her throat and shook her head. “Uh, no, I’m wearing my swimsuit under my clothes already.”

With that, Hazel nodded and left with Rachel for the changing rooms. The boys went down to the water, but Percy stayed behind since he had brought some beach towels with him. He spread them beneath the umbrella so they wouldn’t have to sit on the sand. Piper left a short while later once she was done applying some sunscreen, leaving Annabeth and Percy alone. Annabeth borrowed Piper’s sunscreen as an excuse to leave after Percy did, but he plopped down beside her with a sigh instead.

Annabeth couldn’t help sneaking a quick sidelong glance at him. He looked good, really good. His unzipped black sweatshirt billowed in the breeze and stood in sharp contrast to the white shirt he wore underneath. There was a relaxed, easy smile on his face, and his sun-kissed skin made him look positively radiant.

“Hey, stranger,” Percy said, derailing her thoughts. “Haven’t seen you in a hot minute.”

Annabeth tucked her hair behind her reddening ears and said, “Y-Yeah, not since State, I think.”

“Glad to see you’re still in one piece,” Percy said.

Annabeth breathed a laugh. “Not entirely sure about that.”

Percy cocked his head to the side and studied her. “You do look a little worse for the wear.”

“Rude.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Percy asked, raising an eyebrow. “I distinctly remember warning you not to take three AP courses your senior year, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”

Annabeth scowled and said, “You don’t have to sound so smug about it.”

Percy laughed and leaned back on his elbows. “And what would be the fun in that? It’s not every day that you get to tell Annabeth Chase that you told her so.”

“Someone sure sounds awfully pleased with himself.”

“Oh, believe me, I am,” Percy said, grinning. “But I do suppose I can cut you some slack. You know, considering how we’re at the beach and all.”

“How magnanimous of you,” Annabeth deadpanned.

Percy made a show of clapping mildly. “Oh, well done. That sounded like an SAT word.”

Annabeth barked a laugh despite herself and shoved him, but that only made his grin widen. She was relieved to feel the awkwardness dissipating between them, but her respite was short lived because Percy suddenly removed his shirt and tossed it on the towel beside her.

“W-What are you doing? Why are you taking off your clothes?” Annabeth stammered, unable to hide the panic in her voice.

Percy looked at her like she had sprouted a second head. “It’s kind of hard to go swimming when you still have your clothes on.”

Annabeth looked away to hide the fact that her face was turning pink. “I know that! But can’t you go change in the changing rooms?”

Percy blinked in surprise and said, “Oh, sorry. You’ve seen me do this like a hundred times, so I didn’t think that you’d mind.”

He was right. She had seen him shirtless more times than she could count, so why was she suddenly being so weird about it? She needed to get a fucking grip. And yet, it was everything she could do not to stare shamelessly at him. Christ, at this proximity, the scent of his cologne was inescapable, and it only served to make her feel even more flustered.

“Annabeth, are you okay? You’ve been acting really strange,” Percy said.

“I-I’m fine,” Annabeth squeaked. “Just tired.”

“Alright, try not to push yourself,” Percy said, standing up. “I’m gonna head down to the water now. Let me know if you need anything.”

Annabeth nodded, still refusing to look at him. It was only after he was gone that she stopped holding her breath. She screwed her eyes shut and buried her face in her hands. What the fuck was she doing? Why was she acting so weird? All her feelings seemed to contradict one another. She felt a bizarre mix of exhilaration and anxiety, like thousands of butterflies fluttering about in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes were drawn to Percy even though she couldn’t bear to look at him. There was definitely something wrong with her.

Annabeth took a deep breath and forced herself to stand up and head down to the water. For now, she resolved herself to just make the most of her time at the beach instead of wallowing in her own awkwardness. Nevertheless, she did make a point of avoiding where Percy was to give herself a breather. However, in her momentary lapse of concentration, Piper snuck up on her and tackled her into the sea, sending salt water rushing up her nose.

She surfaced sputtering and discombobulated only to find Piper laughing uproariously behind her. Annabeth chased after her in a murderous rage, but Piper quickly retreated to the sea and put some distance between them. Piper had always been the better swimmer, so it took a few minutes before Annabeth finally caught her, but once she did, Annabeth dunked her underwater for a full minute as payback.

Eventually, Rachel and Hazel returned from the changing rooms and joined them in the water as well. They all splashed around together for a few hours under the midday sun, and Annabeth forgot all about how awkward she felt around Percy.

They broke for lunch after that and settled on a shack that sold burgers further up the beach. Unfortunately, the only vegetarian option on the menu was fries, so Piper had to drive herself to a nearby Taco Bell. Annabeth couldn’t help feeling sorry for her when Piper returned twenty minutes later, absolutely livid, because the rest of them had already finished eating.

“I can’t fucking believe there are still restaurants in this day and age that don’t have vegetarian options,” Piper fumed.

“Remind me to buy some stuff for dinner tonight so you don’t have to do this again,” Rachel said, yawning.

“How far away is your villa again?” Frank asked.

“Just a fifteen minute drive or so,” Rachel said, finishing her salad. “We’ve got a firepit out back, so we can have a bonfire tonight! We can make smores and everything.”

“Dibs on lighting the bonfire,” Leo said quickly.

“Abso-fucking-lutely not,” Piper said vehemently.

“C’mon, I promise I’ll keep it under control this time, Pipes,” Leo pleaded.

“The last time you were in charge of the bonfire, you nearly burned my fucking house down,” Piper snapped.

“That was like three years ago!”

“It was at my birthday last June.”

“I’ll handle the fire, Leo,” Jason interrupted. “You can help me out if you’d like.”

Leo sank in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “You guys are no fun.”

“A bonfire sounds nice,” Frank said, ignoring him.

“Yeah, it’ll be chill,” Rachel said, nodding. “We’ll have a section of the beach all to ourselves. I think my dad probably has some alcohol stashed away somewhere in the house.”

“Percy, watch over us and make sure we don’t do anything stupid,” Piper said, throwing an arm around his shoulder.

Percy gave her a wary look. “I don’t recall volunteering to be a babysitter.”

“But you’re the only one here that doesn’t drink,” Piper protested. “Pretty please?”

Percy raised an eyebrow. “Buttering me up isn’t going to work, you know.”

“Annabeth, help me convince your boyfriend,” Piper whined.

Annabeth paused mid-drink and looked between them. “Don’t look at me. I’m not the one that’ll get black-out drunk and try to like hunt for mermaids or something.”

That got a laugh out of everyone, much to Piper’s chagrin.

After they finished eating, they returned to their spot under the umbrella. Hazel and Frank went back to laze around in the water while Rachel and Leo decided to go build sandcastles on the beach. The rest of them sat under the umbrella and talked amongst themselves for a while, but eventually Jason left for the bathroom. Percy joined him because he said he had spotted a shop selling snow cones on the way here, leaving Annabeth alone with Piper.

Once they were out of earshot, Piper turned to Annabeth with a wolfish grin. “Lovin’ the swimsuit, babe.”

“This is hardly anything special,” Annabeth said, rolling her eyes. She was just wearing a plain black two piece she’d found at Target the summer before.

Piper raised an eyebrow and said, “Percy certainly seemed to think it was. Boy couldn’t take his eyes off you.”

Annabeth blinked in surprise. Piper had to be trolling her. Sure, she had felt his eyes on her a few times, but that didn’t mean anything.

“You’re obviously fucking with me.”

“I’m being serious,” Piper laughed. “You look hot, Annababe.”

Annabeth looked down at her swimsuit and felt her face heat up. She didn’t really think she was much to look at honestly. It wasn’t like she had low self-esteem or anything, but her body had always been more of an instrument to her than a source of beauty. If you asked her, the only things she really had going for her were her height and the slender, toned physique that she had built over years of running long distance. Beyond that, Annabeth thought she was rather plain.

“Thanks,” Annabeth mumbled.

“You’re welcome,” Piper said, stifling a yawn. “I wonder what’s taking him so long.”

Annabeth shielded her eyes from the sun and scanned the beach for Percy, but she didn’t see him anywhere. Instead of sitting around and getting stuck in her thoughts, Annabeth decided to take her mind off things and search for him instead.

She stood up and brushed the sand off her thighs and said, “I’m gonna go look for him.”

“Ok, stay safe,” Piper said. “I think I’m going to take a nap.”

Annabeth nodded and made her way back in the direction of the parking lot. Percy had said that the snow cone shop was on the other end, but he still should have gotten back by now. Maybe he was having trouble carrying all those snow cones by himself or perhaps the line was really long. She made it all the way to the shop without running into Percy, and she couldn’t see him standing in line either.

She scanned the surrounding area for him without much luck and almost gave up on her search when she spotted the familiar outline of his back. He was cradling a carton of snow cones in his arms and talking to two college aged girls. Annabeth took a step forward, trepidation filling her chest. She couldn’t make out the look on his face because his back was turned towards her, but she thought she caught a glimpse of a polite, confused smile on his face, like he wasn’t entirely sure why the girls were talking to him.

Annabeth balled her hands in fists at her sides and clenched her jaw. It was obvious by the way the girls laughed sycophantically and twirled their hair, practically thrusting their tits in his face, that they were hitting on him. What did the idiot think would happen if he was gonna waltz around the beach shirtless like that?

She had half a mind to go over and interrupt them, but for some reason she found herself rooted in place. Annabeth wasn’t sure why she disliked them so much, but the more she thought about it, the less reason she realized she had to interfere. Percy wasn’t actually her boyfriend after all. Besides, he was free to leave at any time, but he hadn’t which probably meant he wanted to be there. In any case, it was none of her business to step in.

And yet, she couldn’t force herself to simply turn on her heels and leave either.

But then one of the girls, a haughty looking redhead, started tugging on his forearm insistently. Percy made a small show of resistance, enough to show he wasn’t interested, but apparently they didn’t seem to pick up on that because the other girl decided to help her friend by tugging Percy’s other arm.

Annabeth moved without realizing what she was doing and pulled Percy against her chest. A possessive thrill rushed through her when the look of discomfort on his face gave way to relief once he saw her.

She positioned herself in front of Percy and glared at the girls. “What’s going on here?”

The redhead’s eyes flashed with irritation, but she forced herself to muster a saccharine smile. “Oh, we were just inviting him to come have some drinks with us.”

“Can’t you see he’s clearly uncomfortable?” Annabeth asked. “I’m guessing he even told you he doesn’t drink too.”

The girls exchanged looks with each other. “I mean, he was obviously joking about that.”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “Or maybe you just don’t know how to take no for an answer.”

The girls recoiled like they had been slapped across the face. Annabeth took the opportunity to whisper to Percy that they were leaving and led him away by the hand before the girls could react. The girls protested behind them, but the only thing Annabeth could focus on was the feeling of Percy’s hand in hers. Blood pounded in Annabeth’s ears, and something simmered in her veins like magma. It took her a while to realize that Percy was calling out for her to stop.

“Annabeth, slow down,” Percy said. “You’re hurting me.”

Annabeth dropped his wrist like she’d been burned and looked away. “Sorry.”

Percy set the snow cones down and rubbed his wrist. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sur-”

“I said I’m fine,” Annabeth snapped.

Her tone was harsh enough to prove she was lying, but she couldn’t help it. Something dark smoldered in the pit of her stomach, making her restless. She didn’t know what it was, but the sensation was intolerable and she wanted it to stop.

Percy put a hand on her shoulder and forced her to face him. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Annabeth balled her hands into fists and stared at her feet. “I-I don’t know. I’m just- I don’t know, I feel really weird.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just hated it, seeing the way they were clinging on to you,” Annabeth said tightly. “Why didn’t you just leave? It was like you wanted them to fawn all over you.”

“I tried but they wouldn’t let me leave.”

Annabeth met his eyes for the first time. “If you really wanted to leave, they wouldn’t have been able to stop you.”

Percy blinked in surprise and furrowed his brow. “Are you- are you jealous?”

Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest, and her face began to prickle. “I-I don’t know. I just didn’t like it.”

Percy’s lips tugged upwards involuntarily in a smile, making Annabeth even angrier. “What’s so funny?”

Percy hid his smile behind his hand. “Oh, um, nothing. Sorry. I just wanted to say that you didn’t have anything to worry about. They were making me super uncomfortable.”

Annabeth pursed her lips and said, “I find that kind of hard to believe.”

“Annabeth, come on, you could tell that they were creeping the fuck out of me from a mile away,” Percy said exasperatedly.

That was enough to coax a smile out of her. “You mean you didn’t like getting eye fucked by total strangers?”

Percy gave her an incredulous look and said, “You know, having tried it, I can’t really say it’s for me.”

“Yeah?” Annabeth asked, grinning.

“Yes,” Percy said flatly. “Besides, I already have a lovely fake-girlfriend willing to save me when I’m a damsel in distress.”

Annabeth’s heart skipped a beat. “Sounds like a real catch.”

“Oh, she most definitely is.”

Annabeth knew that Percy had meant it as a joke, but it made her heart squeeze a little in her chest all the same. She turned away before her face turned red and fought the ridiculous urge to smile. Christ, she needed to get ahold of herself.

“You good?” Percy asked carefully.

Annabeth nodded. “Yeah.”

“We should get going then,” Percy said. “The snow cones are starting to melt.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Annabeth said, raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t be rude to the guy that bought you a strawberry-rhubarb snow cone.”

“A thousand apologies, your majesty.”

Percy hummed happily to himself. “That’s more like it.”

:::

After sunset, they finally left the beach and made for Rachel’s villa. The villa was massive, easily twice the size of Annabeth’s house, and designed in a Spanish style. Annabeth took a moment to admire the terracotta tiled roof, and the large windows that allowed for a generous view of the Pacific. The villa had six separate bedrooms, which she personally found a bit excessive, but it proved to be for the best since there were eight of them. After Rachel took a room for herself, the rest of them drew straws to determine who would have a room to themselves, and Annabeth somehow managed to win.

Annabeth’s first course of action after dropping off her luggage was to shower. She didn’t like having to shower after spending so much time in the ocean since it made her skin all dry and wrinkly, but it was still a relief to finally wash off all the sand that had stuck to her all day. Unfortunately, Annabeth had been forced to pack in a hurry, so she could only change into what she worn earlier that morning. She had only brought a single change of clothes with her and that was for tomorrow.

She took some time to admire her room while she towel-dried her hair. It wasn’t particularly large, but it was tastefully decorated. A large queen bed sat in the center of the room, flanked by a small cherry wood drawer. Sheer linen curtains framed a tall window that looked out over the ocean. Annabeth leaned against the open window sill and drank in the view of the Pacific. The full moon hung directly overhead and cast its pale, diffused reflection onto the dark water below.

Just as she finished drying her hair, there was a knock at her door. Percy peered into her room, fiddling with the zipper on his sweatshirt.

“Hey, ready to go? I think Jason and Leo are getting the fire started.”

Annabeth set her towel aside and nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

The bonfire was nearly fully lit by the time they arrived. Jason sat atop one of the four logs circling the pit and kept a watchful eye on the flames. Off to the side, Frank was helping Leo dump some charcoal into the mouth of an expensive looking barbeque grill. Rachel and Hazel chatted to themselves and cut meat and vegetables at the outdoor kitchen countertop. Piper was the only one that appeared to be missing.

Percy noticed that Frank and Leo were having trouble and went over to help them with the grill, leaving Annabeth alone. She didn’t want to be the only one twiddling her thumbs so she figured she would go and help Rachel and Hazel.

“Need any help?” Annabeth asked them.

Hazel shook her head. “No thanks. We are pretty much done here, but we appreciate the offer.”

“Besides, not sure how much I trust you in the kitchen with a knife,” Rachel teased.

“I’m not completely hopeless. I made Percy chicken soup when he got sick, and he said it was pretty good,” Annabeth protested.

Rachel laughed and said, “You could literally make Percy drink poison, and he’d tell you it was delicious if you were the one that made it.”

Blood rushed to Annabeth’s face, making Rachel laugh even harder. She patted Annabeth’s shoulder benevolently and said, “Trust me. It’s for your own good, Chase.”

Annabeth shrugged her off and sat on one of the logs with a scowl. “Where’s Piper?”

“Rachel forgot to get her ingredients, so she had to go buy herself dinner again, the poor girl,” Hazel said.

Rachel looked repentant enough for Annabeth to feel sorry for her, so Annabeth tried to comfort her by saying, “She’s probably more than happy to have Taco Bell twice in one day.”

Annabeth started when someone swatted the back of her head. She turned and looked up with a frown to see Piper standing behind her, holding a burrito.

“Heard that, asshole.”

“You’re literally eating a burrito right now,” Annabeth muttered.

Piper’s face turned pink. “It’s from Chipotle! You can tell by the size!”

“Wow, someone’s getting adventurous,” Annabeth deadpanned.

Piper sat down at the log across from her, beside Jason, and narrowed her eyes. “Bite me.”

Annabeth was interrupted by Leo before she could respond. He skipped over to them with a manic grin and said, “We finally got the grill working!”

“You’re not gonna accidentally blow us up or anything right?” Piper asked dubiously.

“Pipes, charcoal can’t explode,” Leo said flatly. “I know you’re a vegetarian and all, but that’s literally second grade science class.”

“You can never be too sure when it comes to you,” Piper sniffed.

Leo rolled his eyes and waltzed over to Hazel and Rachel. “Looks like you’re almost done! I’ll start taking things over to the grill to get started.”

“Frank, make sure you keep an eye on him!” Hazel shouted when Leo took a plateful of meat and vegetables with him.

Rachel declared to the group that she would go find where her father had stashed his alcohol and returned a short while later with an assortment of liquor and a tray full of glasses. They all poured themselves drinks, apart from Percy, and sat around the fire.

Annabeth had helped herself to some fancy looking bourbon, mainly because she had never tried it before. Her first sip made her throat burn and forced her to cough. Percy gave her a worried look, but she ignored him and took another sip. Once she got over how strong it was, she had to admit that the bourbon was really good. It didn’t take long for that familiar warmth to spread through her body and soften the harsh edges of the world around her.

It took some time for the food to arrive, but it was well worth the wait. Frank had found an array of spices in the kitchen pantry to season the meat with, so even the smell was incredible. After an exhausting day at the beach, they all practically inhaled their food. Piper finished her food first since she had a head start and set up a smores station for dessert. It wasn’t long before they were fighting for spots to roast their marshmallows on the fire.

Later, Rachel disappeared inside the villa and returned with an acoustic guitar. She strummed a few chords and started singing softly, the sound of waves and the crackling fire providing an ambient backdrop. At first, she sang on her own and they were content to listen, but as they got more drunk and uninhibited, they would join in whenever she played a tune they recognized. Barring Frank and Piper, the rest of them were practically tone-deaf, so it sounded so bad that it would send them all into fits of laughter.

It was at times like this that Annabeth was struck by just how lucky she was to have such good friends. She didn’t have many good things in her life, but this was one of them and it wouldn’t last forever. There was no telling where they would all be in a years time or if they would ever be this close again, but that didn’t make her feel sad. Instead, an overwhelming sense of love and gratitude surged through her veins, compelling her to drink in every moment and seat it into her memory so that she would never forget.

But through it all, Annabeth found her eyes drawn to the boy sitting beside her the most. She unconsciously pulled herself closer to Percy over the course of the night and luxuriated in the way their elbows knocked together, a reminder that he was there. Annabeth would catch herself staring at him and the way the flames lit up his laughing face, making him all look every bit as invincible as she felt. At some point, she caught his hand and tangled his fingers between her own, and when he squeezed her hand, she smiled so hard it hurt.

As the night wore on, more of them left, unable to stay awake any longer, until eventually Percy and Annabeth were the only one remaining. The quietness was welcome change after all the noise they had been making, but it was hard not to fall asleep the sound of the rolling waves. Annabeth struggled to keep her drooping eyes open, but Percy looked perfectly fine, probably because he was the only one who hadn’t drank.

“You should go get some sleep,” Percy murmured. “Look like you’re gonna pass out.”

Annabeth hummed and rested her head on his shoulder. “Don’t want to.”

“If you’re expecting me to carry you, you’re going to be sorely mistaken,” Percy said, raising an eyebrow. “You’re too heavy.”

If she had the energy, Annabeth would have scowled. “Rude.”

Percy grinned and looked out over the ocean with a pensive, almost melancholy look. Annabeth poked his cheek with her finger to get him to look at her.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Percy said. “About everything, I guess.”

“Hmm, deep.”

Percy laughed and said, “Alright, smarty pants, I was thinking about the future and my friends and you.”

“Then why do you look so sad?” Annabeth asked, sitting up straighter.

Percy blinked in surprise and said, “I look sad?”

Annabeth nodded and pressed a finger to his brow. “You’re giving yourself wrinkles, like you always do when you’re upset.”

There was a pause before Percy said, “Remember earlier when you saved me from those college girls?”

“What about it?”

Percy stared up at the sky and smiled bitterly. “I never imagined you would ever get jealous over me.”

Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but Annabeth found herself saying, “Neither did I.”

Percy turned to her with wide eyes, making her frown. “What?”

“I, uh, wasn’t expecting you to answer seriously.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes and nudged him affectionately. “I’m taking this seriously because you are.”

Percy smiled softly and said, “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome, you dork,” Annabeth said fondly. “Honestly, since when did you become the serious, responsible out of the two of us. What ever happened to the kid that caught frogs during recess and put worms in Nancy Bobofit’s locker?”

Percy laughed and said, “Well, one of us had to grow up, so I figured it might as well be me.”

Annabeth half-heartedly jabbed him with her elbow. “Jerk.”

“You’ve grown up a lot too,” Percy said. “You just don’t realize it.”

“Yeah, how so?” Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You’ve learned to temper yourself. When you were younger, it was like fire ran through your veins. You acted like the world and everything were promised to you, not out of some sense of arrogance, but like it was your birthright. I remember how you used to argue with the teachers and stuff in front of the whole class because it never occurred to you that there were people you shouldn’t pick fights with. I was always kind of in of awe of how stupidly brave you were. I still am,” Percy said, softly.

A lump formed in Annabeth’s throat. Percy was right, about everything, but that wasn’t what was getting to her. It was the fact that his words were a testament to the fact that he had been there with her since the beginning. He had seen her as a bossy, bratty little seven year old and had stuck by her side all the way till now.

“We have been through a lot together, haven’t we?” Annabeth asked thickly.

The tender look in Percy’s eyes made her heart squeeze a little in her chest. “Yeah, we have.”

Annabeth screwed her eyes shut, unable to look at him. She didn’t want this to end, but the moment was beginning to get too much for her, so she stood up suddenly.

“Alright, enough with all the sappiness,” Annabeth said. “Race you to the beach?”

Without waiting for him to respond, Annabeth took off for the water’s edge, running as hard as she could. Percy started a moment later, humoring her like always, and quickly made up the distance. If it wasn’t for the sand and the fact that she was super drunk, Annabeth would have won, but it wasn’t long before Percy caught up to her and slung her over his shoulder. Annabeth shrieked and pounded on his back.

“You better not dump me in the water, you asshole!” Annabeth yelled.

Percy ignored her and sped towards the water, making her fear for the worst. She braced herself for impact, but it never came. Instead, he set her down onto dry sand and grinned down at her. Annabeth scowled and stood up, dusting the sand off her shorts, watching as he rolled up his shorts and waded further into the water. The encroaching tide was cold enough to make her jump when it tickled her toes, but Percy seemed perfectly fine going knee deep into it.

The moonlight streamed down on him, illuminating half his face with its pale glow. Wind rustled his hair and billowed through his clothes as he stared out at the horizon. Under the moonlight, he seemed to age backwards and actually look his eighteen years - the hard lines of worry on his brow smoothened, and the tightness and frustration in his jaws released. There was something about his pale figure standing in the inky sea that made him look so beautiful and true that it made it hard for her to breathe. It reminded her of how Piper had said she had fallen for Jason, how he had seemed to glow, and she couldn’t help feeling like she understood exactly what Piper had meant.

Percy noticed her looking and raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Annabeth balled her hands into fists at her side. She wasn’t ready to say it. Not yet. “N-Nothing.”

Percy didn’t look convinced, but he shrugged all the same. Annabeth stared down at her feet so that she wouldn’t be forced to look at him, but her heart pounded in her chest urgently. She started when Percy draped his sweatshirt over her shoulders and stepped past her. It was warm, and it smelled like him.

“I’m gonna head inside,” Percy said softly. “Don’t stay out for too long, okay?”

Annabeth nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Percy lingered there for a moment longer before leaving. Annabeth waited till she heard him enter the villa before she collapsed down on the sand and hugged her knees to her chest. An explanation for her actions and feelings today were finally starting to dawn on her, which sent equal parts terror and exhilaration coursing through her as she stared up at the moon. Her inability to look at him conflicting with her desire never to leave him, the nervousness and exhilaration, the jealousy - all of it pointed to one thing. She was just having a hard time accepting it.

Whenever Annabeth had imagined falling in love, she had expected it to strike her like a bolt of lightning, illuminating her with a sudden, arresting, all-consuming knowledge.

She hadn’t ever imagined that it would be like this: soft and gentle, like an unfolding discovery, the way the petals unfurled when a flower bloomed. And yet, just as sure, just as certain.

Annabeth buried her face in her hands. Try as she might, she couldn’t deny it any longer.

Fuck.

She was in love with him, wasn’t she? She was in love with Percy Jackson.

#just practice #percabeth #percabeth fluff #percabeth fic #percy jackson #annabeth chase #percabeth fake dating au

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neakco · 4 years ago

Text

The Lost Temple

Ao3 ch.2 Masterlist

Marinette and Adrien just wanted to find the temple and go back to pretending they were normal young adults.

Tim just wanted to find out what was going on for Batman and go back home.

Konner and Bart were just along for the adventure.

Neither group expected the other, nor did they expect the complications that followed.

Ch.1: Meetings

Marinette stepped carefully along the jungle floor as Adrien bounced through the trees. Every once and a while she would stop to examine a plant just as he would stop to listen.

Eventually he dropped down beside her without a sound.

“Are you sure this is the right area M'lady?”

“The monks said there were signs of people stopping around.”

“And them being worried about people snooping means this should be where we find the temple.” He nodded sagely before hopping back into the trees. “Did they ever decide to tell you at least what this temple is guarding?”

She shook her head as she stepped over a drowsing snake, “I only know that we need to find it first.”

Adrien hummed quietly before opening his mouth to taste the air.

“Anything?”

“Nothing new. We still have moss, damp, plant, running water and the normal animal smells.”

She sighed to herself, “keep up the good work Kitty, I know we'll find something eventually.”

She glanced around briefly for a flash of red that would indicate Tikki and Plagg returning. She wasn’t worried about being without their power source., not since the final battle. They had been something more than human for years now, but there was still something reassuring about the tiny gods' presence.

She looked up to see Adrien staring down a tiger and shook her head with silent laughter. So maybe he was a lot more cat than human. She thought back on everything as the tiger bowed to let her partner by.

All his physical abilities had been enhanced to the point she was jealous. Her strength had increased a little but for her it was the non-physical that had increased. Everything constantly in balance.

She brushed her hand along a small plant but still received nothing new, the temple either didn’t give off enough residual magic or it was still too far off.

As they continued their search the surrounding animals watched peacefully. They all knew better than to interfere with destruction and creation. It is almost a shame this protection didn’t extend to the trio following them stealthily.

“Rob, they are kids like us. Are you sure they're the ones B sent us after?”

Red Robin sighed, “Batman said he had picked up unusual activity and these two are the only ones we have seen.”

Kon grabbed a snake that was about to drop on Tim and gently tossed it back into the trees.

A small wind picked up as Bart came to a stop and offered them some burgers. “What did I miss?”

Tim pinched the bridge of his nose, “This is supposed to be a reconnaissance mission. Stealth.”

Bart laughed and moved to avoid a brightly coloured plant, “But that is so boring.”

“This was also a solo mission, you two weren’t invited. So please either leave or be quiet.”

Bart held out a mug of coffee that Tim accepted instantly.

“Fine, just cause chaos quietly.” He pulled out his binoculars again before putting them down to rub at his eyes. He would have sworn he saw the teens talking to some large bugs.

“I still don’t think they're dangerous.” Kon whispered almost to himself.

Tim really wondered some days why these were his best friends.

Tikki and Plagg hid quietly as Adrien grinned chaotically, “Plan mouse trap?”

Marinette returned the grin, “You know me so well Chaton.”

Tim was so close, just a little farther and he would be able to hear the teens.

Kon suddenly stuck out an arm to stop him.

“What?”

“I can’t see the guy anymore.”

Bart glanced around, “Isn’t he just in the treetops again?”

Tim reached for a weapon when a collapsible baton lightly smacked his wrist.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

The blonde had somehow gotten behind them.

All three heroes turned but before any of them could react a rope dropped around Bart and pulled him to the ground.

“You heard my partner.”

The girl was fast. Tim couldn’t figure out how she had gotten to them so quickly, until he looked down. There were at least three more loops of rope. They had walked into a trap.

Kon looked to Tim for the signal to attack but Tim wanted more information.

The blonde dropped gracefully from the trees but skillfully kept the baton pointed at Tim. “Why are you following us?”

“Why have you been disturbing the jungle?” He countered.

The girl walked up to stand beside the blonde, “We haven’t disturbed anything.”

The blonde glared, “We’re only here because you have been digging around.”

“But we only just got here.” Bart spoke suddenly out of confusion.

Tim kind of wanted to hit him.

The girl and boy exchanged a look before speaking in a language Tim had never heard before finally the boy collapsed his staff and put it away.

He offered a hand to Kon while the girl untied Bart and gathered up the remaining rope traps.

“I think we have both suffered a misunderstanding.” The girl held out a hand to Tim, “Marinette.”

“Impulse.” Bart had moved to take her hand in a blink, “It is always a pleasure to meet a lovely lady.”

The blonde laughed as Kon finally accepted the handshake, “Adrien.”

“Superboy.”

Tim could see his friend putting more strength then necessary into his grip but the blonde, Adrien, didn’t even flinch. Interesting.

Since Bart hadn’t stopped shaking the girl’s hand yet he decided to cross his arms and smile as politely as he could. “Red Robin. May I ask what misunderstanding you think we've had?”

The girl, Marinette, pried her hand away from Bart before glancing back to spot the starring contest between Adrien and Konner.

“Kitty!” She scolded before turning back to him.

He watched Adrien smile innocently at Kon before sitting down at Marinette’s side.

“We were sent to investigate the activity in this area and put a halt to it if necessary. If you just arrived then you are likely not our target.”

“They're here for the same reason we are Red.” Bart grinned widely as he bounced up and down.

Tim wanted to growl in frustration but knew that was something only Batman could get away with, so he settled on pinching the bridge of his nose. “Impulse, we are only here to gather information. We are not supposed to interfere with anything without orders to do so.”

Marinette and Adrien exchanged another secretive glance before conversing in Mandarin.

“Do you think we could recruit them M'lady?”

“That’s up to them. It would be nice to have help searching though, this is a large jungle.”

“Do you think they can even help find the temple? Superboy is supposed to have x-ray vision but, well, magic.”

Impulse was pouting, “It’s not fair that I can’t understand you. In fact it’s rude. Isn’t it rude Red?”

“I'm sorry. We aren’t used to others around us being.. “ She paused for a moment.

“Friendly?” Adrien supplied.

“That's one word to describe them.” She grimaced.

“Helpful? Polite? Non-hostile? “ Adrien's grin kept getting wider but also slightly more malicious with each suggestion. “Smart? How about, not complete and utter assholes bent on dictating every breathe? I can keep going.”

She started laughing but she could feel the concern coming from the American heroes. “I think that's good Kitty, don’t want to scare them away.”

“Sorry Mari.”

She looked back to Red Robin and Impulse in front of her. “I am sorry, we were discussing working with you three if you wanted to. We would be able to cover more ground and hopefully locate our target in under a week.”

Superboy spoke upfront behind them, “Why mention my name and not the others?”

Adrien contorted to look at the floating boy, “I was wondering if you actually had x-ray vision and if it could be useful in the search.”

Marinette was proud of Adrien, neither of them were the best at lying, so it was nice to see Superboy accept his sincerity and not ask for more in depth details. Red Robin was a different matter entirely, she could see him analyzing them. So she held out her hand.

“What do you say Red, alliance?”

Tim stared a moment before reluctantly shaking, “Agreed. We can discuss the terms as we find a place to camp for the night.”

The two teens looked confused.

“Were you seriously planning to keep going? The sun is setting.”

“Don’t you have night vision goggle or something?” Adrien asked.

Tim was flabbergasted, did these two think that the dark was the only danger they faced. “I do, but this is a jungle. Most of the predators are nocturnal “ The two still looked confused so he elaborated, “I don’t want to be eaten.”

He watched their eyes slowly widened in understanding. Marinette hit a fist into her hand, “I had totally forgotten “

“Predators are a normal threat.” Adrien finished for her with a grin.

Tim eyed them suspiciously, he had been following them all day, and all day he had been avoid snakes and large sleeping felines. Were these two really that lucky to have not encountered anything or was there more going on?

Kon also eyed them suspiciously as moved to no longer be behind them. “How do you forget about predators? I am immune to their attacks and I still remember that they’re dangerous.”

Tim watched the duo have a silent conversation before Marinette sighed, “We forgot because there is nothing in nature that would attack us.”

He and his friends waited for one of them to say more but the duo just blinked at them.

He mentally pinched his nose, this was going to be a long mission. “You aren’t going to elaborate.”

“Nope.” The duo replied in perfect tandem.

Adrien grinned mischievous, “You need to earn the favour of our gods for that.”

Marinette planted her face into her hands, “Kitty, no.”

“Kitty yes.”

“How do we earn their favour? Do they take prayers, food offerings?” Bart asked excitedly.

Kon looked sharply towards Adrien as the boy laughed, “Depends on the food.”

“Camembert.” Kon supplied.

Tim blinked. What god would want that? Then he noticed that the duo had paled considerably. So Kon had either heard or saw something that led to that answer. Interesting.

Bart, of course, noticed nothing. “Ew, that cheese stinks. Cheese whiz is far superior.”

Tim and his friends all jumped as Marinette slapped Adrien hard enough in the chest to cause the boy a coughing fit. What the hell had he missed? It looked painful yet Adrien was smiling and thanking her. He filed this away to think about later.

“So are we making camp?” Marinette smiled sweetly at him.

It was official, Tim hated this mission.

I have the story finished it is just a matter of typing it all up and convincing myself not to scrap the epilogue. There should be 7 chapters in total.

Let me know your thoughts, I am happy to answer any questions that don't give away the plot.

#maribat #the lost temple #rin writes #adventure

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caffeinated-cryptid · 4 years ago

Text

bishop to castle; check.

3.8k words | AO3 link | tags/warnings: suicidal behaviour, risk of falling from a height, talking someone down from a ledge, hurt/comfort, platonic roceit, positive ending.

“After weeks of moping post-POF, Janus goes into the imagination to find Roman. They end up having a much more intense conversation than he could have ever planned for.”

-------------------

Janus hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Roman since their last argument. It was fine, probably, he justified to himself, despite how Patton had returned from their talk with pursed lips and worriedly furrowed eyebrows. He likely just needed time to process everything that had happened, and Janus wasn’t going to push that.

(His reluctance to address the issue had nothing to do with the fact that he dreaded another confrontation. Totally not.)

After all, forcing his presence on Roman now could potentially only make things worse. So instead he would just have to wait for him to come around first-- to calm down enough to be willing to hear him out without resorting to name-calling.

Janus was plenty busy anyway, what with his new position in Thomas’ life. More than smoothing over one less-than-steller relationship with a side (which Janus was collecting like pokemon cards recently, it seemed), he elected to focus on ensuring Thomas held true to his promises of self-care, which meant working with Patton more often.

That wasn’t so terrible, at least it wasn’t as bad as the him from a year ago would have expected; the side was trying harder to welcome his contributions which he appreciated. Though inadvertantly through this new partnership, he found himself being dragged into more casual hang-outs, where they would do nothing but...chat. Sharing daily anecdotes and worries and secrets about themselves. It was strangely open and the sort of thing Janus had to adjust to, but with this new friendship he had found himself in, he did his best not to ruin it.

“I’m getting worried.” Patton admitted one day, setting down the tv remote after a finished screening of some Air Bud spinoff. How Janus had been wrangled into watching that ceaseless dog series was beyond him. “I think the others might be starting to come around to you, but Roman...”

Patton didn’t need to finish his sentence, because Janus already knew what he meant. With Virgil and Logan, he’d been making an effort to try to prove his worth as a member of the team (whether or not that was working was yet to be seen, despite Patton's generous assertions that it would all work out eventually), but he hadn’t even gotten the chance do to that with the creative side. As much as he had first assumed that time and space would do the trick, it seemed like that wasn’t the case after all.

“I suppose a confrontation is inevitable.” He grimaced, knowing that this had been put off for long enough.

“Would you do that?” Patton asked suddenly, looking to him with relief. It made Janus realize that it sounded like he had signed up to go talk to Roman himself.

“Uh...” Janus tensed, his previous concerns surfacing again. “I don’t think I would be the best suited to have this conversation-”

“Oh- Pleeease? You two need to talk most of all! Besides, when I went, he wouldn’t even...” Patton trailed off, biting his lip with a pout. “...Could you try, at least? Maybe you could get through to him.”

“...Alright. I’ll go before lunch.” Janus agreed begrudgingly, rewarded by Patton’s grateful smile. Stupid puppy face. That would have to stop working eventually.

-------------------

That was how Janus found himself in the lawless lands of The Imagination.

It had filled him with dread, knocking on the red and gold door and recieving no response. Even more so when he risked intruding anyway and seeing the wrecked state of the room, and then noticing the entrance to The Imagination wide open.

Unsurprisingly, that was where he found the side in question. More surprising was when he did, finding him sitting on the edge of the tallest turret of his castle, like he had decided to overlook his kingdom in the most dangerous way possible. Janus wasn’t so naive to assume that was all it was though.

Roman probably saw him approach as he ran the rest of the way to the castle, and that pushed him to go faster, dashing through the lonely walls of the old building until he was climbing up those spiralling stairs all the way to the top. When he finally made it, he stood there doubled over and completely out of breath as he adjusted to the high altitude winds that bit at his cheeks. He used the seconds he took to catch his bearings to figure out what to do-- his eyes never once leaving Roman’s back, who luckily hadn’t moved at all during his frantic dash. Perhaps his insticts had been wrong and there was nothing dangerous going on here. Every part of him screamed to stay and stop whatever this was though-- so he did.

“Roman.” He ended up saying once his breath had evened out, and nothing more. There was too much going on in his head to break whatever balance they currently had; too much to ask, too much to say, to explain, to defend, to try to understand.

Said side turned his head slightly to make eye-contact; not facing him, yet it was acknowledgement at least. “Deceit.” He said after a beat. His voice was cold, but not angry, and for some reason Janus would have prefered it if Roman were upset with him. Anything but this odd indifference that made him feel guilty for not summoning up the courage to check in sooner.

“Janus.” Janus corrected in an invitation to use his name. He intended it as a sign of goodwill, but Roman’s face twitched and he looked away again, this time his focus on the ground directly below.

“I came to talk.” Janus said in an attempt at a distraction. He was disheartened when Roman made no move to acknowledge him again, so he continued despite his uneasiness. "Would you please come down?”

“What? Scared, Deceit? I'm not doing anything. I'm not going to either, so you can go back to whoever sent you and tell them I’m fine.” Roman scoffed and the string of lies felt bitter in the fridgid air, enveloping him like an unwanted hug. If possible, Janus’ heart begun racing even quicker.

He wanted to protest and say that he had come of his own volition, but Janus knew that lying right now wouldn’t do either of them any good. “In that case, would you do it for my peace of mind?” He tried instead, and it earned him a wry smile, sent from over Roman’s shoulder.

“What ever gave you the impression I care about that?” Roman shot back, standing up only to turn on his heel to step down into the crenel next to him, then back up onto the the next merlon. He continued, going up and down and slowly circling around Janus like a predator would it's prey, but somehow he didn't feel like the one being hunted here. Actually, it was more like he was trying to convince a mouse that the cheese on a trap wasn't worth it. And being a snake himself, that simile was especially ironic.

“...That’s fair. We can talk like this, then. I wanted to apologize and hopefully make amends.”

Roman’s footing twisted haphazardly and Janus all but shot forward to steady him until he was given a deadly glare that froze him in his tracks.

“Stay back! You're not fooling me again. As far as I know, you'll just try to convince me to take a swan dive right of the side of this tower. No greater depth to plummet to than that, huh?"

“I- that's the complete opposite of what I want.” Janus stressfully replied, fighting against the urge to pull Roman off of the edge and end this whole thing himself, instead holding up his hands as a sign that he wouldn’t come closer. God, where had he gone so wrong go end up in this situation? He should have convinced Patton to come with him when he had the chance-- at least he probably would have had a better idea on how to get through to Roman when he was like this. Comparitively, Janus had no clue. He didn’t have the trustworthiness or the years of friendship.

“I believe you. You've already made it so clear just how much you care.” Roman replied sarcastically. Janus felt his hackles rising.

“I’m not lying! I didn't want any of this.” Janus gestured around. “There's so much I wish I could take back, but especially whatever I did to cause this.”

“Oh, Janus.” He felt a small dose of hope when Roman finally used his name, which was quickly dashed as he huffed out a laugh. “Always thinking you have a finger in every pie. Isn't it enough for me to come to this conclusion by myself?”

He continued bitterly, practically stomping his way around the edge of the tower now. “It's not like it was hard. Even an idiotic egomaniac prince like myself can tell when he's not wanted anymore. When the dream has died.”

Janus, despite the silver tongue he may possess, struggled for words in the face of Roman’s insecurity. He had wanted the anger because he had assumed it would be easier to prove that he wasn’t as evil as Roman was so keen to accuse him of being. He just hadn’t expected this issue to be so deeply sensitive. (Though perhaps he should have picked up on that hint when he saw the other side looking ready to jump to a temporary death). “Thats not true at all, you’re incredibly important and all of us need you. Perhaps we’re operating under new rules now, but that doesn’t mean you’re not wanted.”

But it seemed that wasn’t the best thing to say. Roman stopped in his tracks, his expression unreadable as he began shaking with fury or perhaps something else. “...If I’m ‘so important’, why does it never feel that way? Why am I the only one who has to change constantly for rules that can never stay the same? Why do I have to make sacrifices and tone down my voice?”

His controlled tone got louder and more stressed. “Why are my best efforts never good enough? Why are my doubts ignored? Why is it considered fair to disparage my work? To ignore the blood, sweat, and tears I put into everything?”

Janus stared in horror as Roman kept going, yelling over anything he could have possibly wanted to say.

“Why does it take this to be be fucking noticed?!”

Both of them paused when his rant reached a screaming crescendo and fat angry tears rolled down Roman's cheeks.

"...Forgive me if I'm having a little difficulty trusting what you say right now.” He sniffed, ducking his head away to wipe his eyes. The words were distant despite the soft way they were uttered.

Once again Janus was lost for what to say as he watched Roman compose himself. There was simply too much there to unpack, too many years of built-up stress and resentment. What in the absolute hell had these sides been doing all this time? “...I do wish to take some responsibility for that, though. Your hesitancy to trust again.” That seemed like a good place to start, if any.

Roman only snorted humourlessly at his efforts though, voice tired and unenthused. “I'm sure you would. It's a lot easier to sweep aside a broken vase rather than acknowledge its cracks when they’re forming, after all. That was the lesson you taught us, right?”

Janus winced at the callback to his first appearence to Thomas. He didn’t necessarily regret that day, but having it thrown back now made it feel like something to be ashamed of; seeing his lessons interpreted in such a way. “...Is that how you see yourself? Broken?” He asked instead, squashing down his indignation.

He only got silence in return. Janus swallowed, definitely regretting his hesitance to resolve this issue now.

“Roman, even though I doubt you’d trust my words, I promise that we're not trying to simply ‘sweep this aside’. If we're going with the vase metaphor, all of us want a chance to try to glue the pieces back together. Make right on all of the ways you’ve been wronged.” When that got no response, he tentatively asked, “Have you ever heard of Kintsugi?"

“...Broken pottery fixed with gold, I'm aware. But trying to apply that right now is sloppy, even for you. People are never so beautiful after being so thoroughly broken, nor is it that easy." Slowly, Roman sat down on the edge, and even though his legs were dangling over the wrong side, Janus' heart finally felt some semblance of rest. He took a step forward.

"I disagree. Kinstugi is rarely an straight-forward process either, and yet it achieves such splendid results with just a little patience and care. Which is to say... while it may not be the easiest thing to do, there’s undeniably beauty and strenght in survival. Trying again even when it feels impossible.”

“Of course you'd think that, Mr. Kill or be killed. You have no choice in whether you get to continue forward. But I do.”

Janus paused at that, only four paces away from Roman now. The creative side startled when he peered backwards and saw him so close, and then he glared at Janus as he stood up again, this time facing him fully. His foot slid backwards until the worn-down structure crumbled under his heel, sending rocks tumbling down below. It was a warning, Janus realized as his blood frooze in his veins.

“Don’t look so shocked. I control everything here, or did you forget?” Roman smiled. It wasn’t a happy smile or even a smug one; it only looked like he was stretching his mouth unnaturally, all pretenses of putting on a convincing performance stripped away. “If I want, I could have a Pegasus fly by and save me at the right moment. Or I could expand the moat to catch me. Or..."

Roman looked frustrated for a second when he couldn't think of anything else, even more so when Janus patiently waited for him to think of another example. In the end, he gave up.

"The point is, I call the shots about what happens to me."

"But would you? Save yourself?" Janus questioned hesitantly. He knew he was treading on thin ice, so he left it there. Roman raised an eyebrow at him and he returned it, making it clear that he wanted an answer. He recieved it with a scoff.

“Of course I would. What kind of question is that?”

Lie.

Janus winced. “Roman... You are aware of my ability to detect lies, yes?”

The creative side blinked in surprise and then looked at him with wide eyes, as if he hadn’t expected to be called out. Like it had been so natural to brush aside the question that he didn’t even realize his own feelings. Fortunately, Janus’ ability was too keen to be fooled by one’s own self-deception. He could see below the surface like that; pull people’s hidden truths from them and keep them for himself, like a keeper of forbidden knowledge (Though in moments like these, sometimes he wished he couldn’t. Ignorance truly is bliss).

“Should I ask again?” He pressed. “Are you really planning on saving yourself?”

This time Roman’s face screwed up in confliction and he directed his gaze to the floor of the tower. It was an awfully clinical way to ask, but it felt necessary to stop dancing around what was important-- this casual show of self-destruction.

Eventually, the other cracked with a tired huff of laughter. Sadly genuine this time.

“...It's certainly nice to think that I could.” Roman admitted as he rubbed his face, apparently not mad at being called out this time. “Finally being a hero again, even if it's only to myself.”

Janus paused in shock. Was he still misinterpreting that moment?

“That wasn't a lie.” Janus blurted out, taking even himself by surprise by the thoughtless exclamation. “Thomas still thinks of you as his hero. There’s no need to do things like this to prove it.”

Romans eyes went watery and he avoided his gaze.

“At this point I don't think it matters, when I haven’t been acting like it at all lately.” He whispered coarsely, uncharacteristically quiet compared to the wind. “Frankly, I'm surprised you're even trying to stop me."

Janus eyes softened and he took another tentative step forward, then another when Roman didn't react badly. “Why wouldn’t I? I’m not just Deceit, you know. Part of my job is to help you.”

“...Because you hate me? At this point you have more reasons to than not.” Roman explained warily, looking at him like Janus were seconds away from snapping and shoving him over the edge. It hurt to have that sort of mistrust placed on him, but at the same time Janus understood it. He had often been in that sort of situation before; doubting the safety of opening up to other people. That was just part of his job, to be doubtful and wary in order to protect the self. Yet to see it so openly on somebody else felt like a punch to the gut, even though he should have been used to that feeling of being distrusted by now.

“Do you think me so sensitive that a schoolyard insult would make you my archenemy? Or being called evil? That is...sort of what I’ve been going for.” He cracked a joke, gesturing to his outfit. When Roman kept staring at him he sighed. “Of course I don’t hate you, Roman.”

Roman shifted doubtfully. “That doesn’t mean you like me, either. Maybe it doesn’t mean much to you, but you should know how- how being called that hurt me.”

"...Yes.” It was Janus’ turn to be uncomfortable. “Perhaps at first I felt attacked and wanted to make you feel the same hurt, but I would never have said that had I known just how deeply it would have impacted you. I’m sorry for that.”

Roman’s expression turned incredulous, like he couldn’t believe Janus had apologized. “...You know, I wanted to make you upset. I wanted you gone.”

“I figured.” Janus nodded.

“And that doesn’t change anything? Even though I acted so...” Roman bit his lip. “So unheroic?”

Janus stifled a sigh. By now, he really hated that word with a passion. It had caused so many high standards, so many instances of self-sacrifice, so many misguided attempts at selflessness and perfection. Perhaps later they could talk about it all and lay out why it had done so much harm, but for now he decided not to push it, not when he felt so close to getting a breakthrough.

“Believe it or not, but I think that you've been plenty heroic already. This whole time you've been fighting for something you thought was valient and noble, and that means something, even if it was for a misguided cause.”

That took Roman off-guard. He moved his foot away from the edge subtley, and had Janus not been focused on his face, he would have considered it a small victory.

“...What’s the point of all of this, really? Is this some... some dastardly plot?” Roman questioned skeptically. He was looking even more cornered now that he was letting Janus’ words sink in.

“All I'm here for is to offer the helping hand you need, if you’ll accept it.” Janus said softly as he extended his hand up to him. “Really, my only plot right now is to get you off that ledge before you give me a heart attack. Please?”

Roman stared at him, desperately trying to find some sort of mistruth in his eyes before his gaze lowered to the outsretched hand. It felt like time slowed in the seconds he was making his decision and Janus held his breath, waiting...wating... until finally the other side nodded and took his hand.

With Janus’ help, Roman stepped down, looking confused and lost now that he was away from the edge. The expression pained Janus’ heart, so he opened his arms half expecting rejection, only to be taken back by how quickly Roman latched onto him. Janus wasted no time clinging back, so relieved that he actually suceeded that he didn't want to risk ever letting go, like this moment could be torn away at any second. It was no surprise when he felt the other’s chest jerk with held-back sobs until there was a wetness on his shoulder, and he didn't say anything about it. He didn't need to either, because Roman spoke up first.

“It didn’t mean anything. Really!” He exclaimed through messy tears. “I was only thinking about it!”

Lie.

“...It's okay if it was more than that.” Janus soothed, patting his back. “It's okay to feel low and in need of help.”

That made him cry harder and Janus was relieved to see the excess of emotions finally pour out. While waiting for Roman to calm down, he had to fight for his own tears to not spill over. Inevitably, the stress of the situation finally caught up when the adrenaline wore off, and he sagged into the hug, sniffling quietly and trying not to fall over on his aching legs. He really just sprinted up multiple flights of stairs, didn’t he? Belatedly, he realized that he must have lost his hat at some point during the journey because he could feel the wind tousle his hair.

It would have been funny if it weren’t for the absolute rush of emotions he had just gone through.

The two of them stood there for what would normally be considered an awkward amount of time, except the act of simply hugging on solid ground was the biggest comfort in the world, too much to ruin the moment. They waited until they got through the worst of their tears before they dared speak again. Once again, Roman went first.

“Sorry for laughing at you back then.” He said, voice reflecting the yelling and crying he'd been doing. It felt genuine. “I actually really like your name...the mythology suits you. Very dramatic.”

Janus laughed wetly, finally a true statement. “Why, thank you. And I apologize for where I’ve wronged you.”

Finally, they straightened up. Roman took one look at him and summoned hankerchiefs for them both. Janus accepted it and wiped away his tears as gracefully as he could.

“Hopefully we can have a more in-depth discussion on this later, but for now Patton and I prepared lunch, if you’d be willing to have us.” Janus asked, hopes raised.

“...That sounds good.” Roman smiled.

Janus smiled back.

Together, the two of them descended down the steps of the tower, and the imagination was the slightest bit sunnier when they reached the outside.

#my writing #sanders sides #platonic roceit #janus sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #roman angst #roman stans come get y'alls juice #(i wrote this in a Mood so if this is janky i'm sorry)

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purrincess-chat · 4 years ago

Text

My Chosen’s Keeper CH3 (FINAL)

Here is the last chapter of the petty kwami AU. I have basically this whole week off because of Hurricane Sally, so I decided to go ahead and post the last chapter since I finished it up. I’m so happy you all enjoy this fic, and I hope you like the conclusion!

Read on AO3

Chapter 3

After a week, Lila stopped scheming against Marinette. In fact, she’d stopped doing much of anything. Every so often she’d look over her shoulder as if expecting someone to be following her, and she flinched every time she opened her locker or her bag.

Tikki was satisfied enough with their efforts, though she worried they’d gone too far when Lila spun around on poor Nathaniel walking behind her to his seat. Her goal was to inconvenience Lila, not scare her out of her skin, and now her stomach was churning too much to enjoy her morning macaron. She popped into Adrien’s bag where Plagg was dozing in an empty Camembert carton and shook him awake.

“Plagg, do you think maybe we went too far with all of this?” She asked, but Plagg simply shrugged his shoulders and burped.

“Relax, sugar cube. That girl got what was coming to her.”

“Yeah, but she’s petrified now, and people are starting to notice,” she said with a nervous glance up at the open zipper. “I think we should stop.”

“Fine,” Plagg yawned, and Tikki prodded his side.

“I’m serious, Plagg. No more pranks.”

“Okay,” he said, and she sat back, antenna pressing low against her head.

“Good,” she said with a nod.

As the bell rang, Tikki slipped back into Marinette’s bag before her owner noticed her absence. She tried to push the whole situation from her mind, but when Alya leaned against Marinette’s neighboring locker, her nerves only worsened.

“Lila’s been acting super paranoid today. I wonder what’s bugging her,” Alya whispered, casting a glance at their classmate across the room.

“Nathaniel told me she thinks she’s being haunted,” Marinette said. Even she seemed concerned, and Tikki shrank deeper into her purse.

“I mean, a lot of crazy stuff has been happening to her, so maybe she is,” Alya said with a wince.

“I wouldn’t doubt if she’d made a spirit angry,” Marinette mumbled, and Alya leaned in closer.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“I feel kinda bad for her. I saw her dozing off in class earlier. She must not be sleeping,” Alya said, biting her lip. “Hey, why don’t we all plan a sleepover? Maybe if a group of us supports her then she’ll feel safe enough to sleep.”

“Uhh, yeah, sure,” Marinette said, sounding anything but willing. “You plan it, and I will definitely not think of an excuse not to go.”

“I’ll ask her this afternoon. It’ll be fun.” Alya nudged her with her elbow before they headed to their next class.

To Tikki’s horror, not only did Lila accept the sleepover invitation, but somehow, she managed to convince them to host it at Marinette’s house. Lila had a way of backing people into corners, and Marinette didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Tikki was equally as unenthused. Just what she needed—another reason to get involved.

“Plagg, what am I gonna do?” Tikki asked that afternoon in art class. “I know she’s up to something!”

“Do you want me to leave stinky cheese in her locker again?”

“No!”

“Good because it’s a terrible waste of perfectly good cheese.”

“Plagg! I’m serious. What if Lila does something to my owner tonight?” Tikki said, tugging his arm. “Help me!”

“I thought you wanted to be done with all of this? No more pranks?” Plagg said, and Tikki averted her gaze, antenna lowering.

“I do, but she’s coming into her personal home. What if she finds her diary and learns that she’s Ladybug? Or what if she just so happens to steal her earrings? Or what if-”

“Don’t worry, sugar cube. I’ll help you tonight. Lila won’t get away with anything, okay?” Plagg said, patting her head.

“You mean it?”

“Have I ever lied to you?” Plagg asked, and Tikki’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, bad question. I promise I won’t let you down—this time.”

“Thanks, Plagg.”

Later that evening, Tikki chewed her lip as Marinette tidied up for her guests. She’d helped remove any lingering Adrien pictures despite her friends all knowing about her crush, but Marinette was just as wary of having Lila over as Tikki. As a result, she was taking a few extra precautions like hiding her diary and anything else Lila could use against her. It eased some of Tikki’s worry, but not all of it.

“Are you really going to have that girl over?” She asked as Marinette locked her important belongings in her chest.

“I couldn’t exactly say no. Lila is too good at manipulating everyone. If I had said no, she would have made it seem like I hate her,” Marinette said, leaning against her fist.

“But you do hate her.”

“Yeah, but I can’t prove why I hate her to everyone, so I don’t have a choice,” Marinette sighed. “We’ll just have to be extra careful tonight. I doubt Lila will try anything with all of the girls over.”

“Yeah. Hopefully.”

Thankfully Alya arrived first to help set up because Lila was the first after her. She seemed surprised and slightly annoyed to find Alya there as well, and Tikki’s blood boiled at the sight of her. She popped up to the roof, tapping her paws together as she peered out over the street. The night was calm and quiet—a direct contrast to the storm brewing inside her. Where was Plagg?

“Ya know, you really worry too much.”

She spun around to see him lounging on the chair with a cheese danish from the bakery. Relief flooded her mind, but it was quickly replaced by annoyance. “Where have you been?”

“Relax, sugar cube. I was doing some important reconnaissance,” he said around a mouthful.

“You mean helping yourself to whatever your greedy stomach wanted?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You are so selfish!”

“Oh, then I suppose you already know that Lila has a lockpick in her bag?”

“She- you- oh…Well, then we should-”

“Already did. And her toothbrush just for fun,” he snickered, and Tikki lowered onto the chair beside him. “I’m a little insulted that you don’t believe in me.”

“Dinosaurs, Atlantis, the Black Plague…”

Plagg bit off a chunk of his pastry and chewed it grumpily. “We never talk about your mistakes.”

“Thank you, Plagg,” Tikki said, and he blinked, swallowing the rest of the danish whole. “For everything.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get all sappy on me.” He turned his back to her and waved it away, but she could see the smile tugging on his lips. “Now come on. We’ve got work to do.”

The girls were gathered in Marinette’s room when Tikki and Plagg snuck in and took position on Marinette’s bed. Marinette had strategically positioned herself on top of her locked chest, and partnered with Plagg’s disposal of Lila’s lock pick, it eased some of Tikki’s nerves. At least her secrets would be safe, but that didn’t mean Lila didn’t have other tricks up her sleeve.

After a while, they moved downstairs to watch a movie, and Mr. Dupain brought up homemade pizza. Plagg groaned beside her as the girls pulled apart stretchy strips of cheese, and Tikki restrained him from flying down and helping himself.

Halfway through the movie, Lila got up to go to the bathroom, and Tikki followed. Just as she feared, the moment the door closed, Lila set to work silently opening cabinets. Tikki had half a mind to spray her with the sink nozzle again, but after a few minutes of searching, Lila found what she was looking for��a metal nail file. She pulled a bobby pin from her hair and tucked them both into her pocket.

Back out in the main room, she announced that she was going to go upstairs and call her mom who was traveling overseas on some important ambassador thing, and she only had a short window in the evening to talk to her because of timezones or something. It didn’t matter the reason because it was a lie. Marinette’s glare followed her up the stairs with Tikki right behind it.

“Plagg?” She hissed, glancing around for that lazy black cat, but she didn’t have to guess where he was. “I told you not to touch the pizza!”

Plagg clung to the piece he was greedily stuffing in his mouth as Tikki tugged on his tail. “Oh come on! Mr. Dupain makes his own mozzarella. I couldn’t resist!”

“Lila is on the move! She took a nail file from the bathroom, and now she’s upstairs! Come on!”

Plagg caressed his slice of pizza one last time before Tikki dragged him up the stairs. Lila was already kneeling beside the chest, nail file and bobby pin at work.

“Come on, stupid chest. I know Marinette is behind all of the weird stuff happening to me lately,” she grumbled. “I just need something to blackmail her with to make it all stop. Just open!”

“Plagg, what are we gonna do?” Tikki whispered, and Plagg was already surveying the rest of the room.

“Follow my lead,” he said, darting for the nearest mannequin.

Lila nearly had the lock open when a stack of shoeboxes toppled over, and she jumped. Seeing that it was only boxes, she took a deep breath and turned back to her work.

“What?” She gasped when her makeshift lock picks were no where to be found.

“Lila…”

She startled, jumping up and spinning around, but no one was in the room. No one she could see anyway.

“Liiiila…”

“Very funny, Marinette. I know it’s you. It’s been you the whole time. I don’t know how, but you won’t beat me,” she said, but the way her eyes flicked frantically around the room betrayed her true fear.

“Leave her alone…”

The mannequin by the chaise, surged forward, and Lila’s scream filled the house. She scrambled for the trapdoor, but it wouldn’t budge no matter how hard she tugged. The girls rushed up the stairs, Marinette at the front. She pushed the trapdoor open easily to find Lila curled into a ball on the floor, tears streaming down her face.

“What are you doing?” Marinette demanded, and Alya crawled up to wrap an arm around Lila’s shoulders.

“The mannequin!” Lila wailed.

“What about it?” Marinette asked.

“It-It talked and moved and-and-” She pointed across the room, but the mannequin had returned to its original place. Even the shoeboxes had righted themselves. “But…”

“Maybe we should all just go to bed,” Alya suggested, and Lila grabbed her shoulders.

“But it did move! I swear I’m not making it up,” she said, gripping her shirt so tightly that Alya swatted her hands away with a hiss.

“I think you’re just tired-”

“Or crazy,” Marinette mumbled, masking it with a cough.

“Sleep deprivation can make you see weird things,” Alya said. “Come on. Let’s get you some sleep.”

As the girls moved downstairs again, Marinette eyed her chest, but her secrets were safe. Tikki still stayed up all night to make sure Lila didn’t try anything again, but their ghost stunt seemed to have scared her off the idea.

When morning light streamed in from the windows, Tikki sat back with a yawn. Curling in next to Plagg snoring loudly on Marinette’s chaise, she slipped off into sleep with the reassurance that Marinette was safe.

***

The Monday after the sleepover, Lila entered the school on a quest for vengeance. Dark bags hung under blood-shot eyes, and her whole demeanor was slightly unhinged as everyone hung out in the courtyard on break. Tikki knew she was going to target Marinette again, so she lingered close by—waiting.

Marinette was sketching on a bench by herself while a maintenance man repainted the railing to her left. When he reached a stopping point, he scooted the ladder next to the bench and took his break, but Marinette never looked up from her drawing.

“Hey, I heard about the sleepover. What happened?” Adrien materialized at Marinette’s side, startling her out of her skin. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Marinette relaxed. “I don’t know. I knew she was up to no good, and while we were all watching a movie, she went up to my room to ‘call her mom’ then she just started screaming and freaking out,” Marinette said, shooting her a glare across the courtyard. “I don’t really know what happened, but she swears my mannequin talked to her.”

“Do you think she’s doing it all for attention?” Adrien asked, but Marinette pursed her lips.

“I don’t think so this time. She seemed really freaked out when we found her. I think she’s actually losing her mind,” Marinette said.

“You don’t think she’s really being haunted, do you?” Adrien’s green eyes clouded with worry.

“I don’t know,” Marinette said with a shrug. “Maybe she is making it all up for attention, or maybe all of her lying is finally catching up to her.”

“Let’s hope this convinces her to start telling the truth whatever it is,” he said. “I’m just glad she didn’t do anything to you. I was worried when I heard she was coming to your house for a sleepover.”

Marinette’s cheeks flushed at that, and she took her eyes off Lila. Adrien was the perfect distraction, but Tikki wasn’t so easily deterred because Lila was watching them too. Their friendly smiles and close proximity drove her over the edge. When she dashed toward them, Tikki braced herself, but Lila wasn’t aiming for the bench.

Tikki glanced up at the paint can resting precariously on the top of the ladder beside them, recognizing the intent in Lila’s eyes.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said, flitting up to the bucket.

Lila rocked the ladder, but against the laws of natural physics, the can twirled around and dumped on top of her. The courtyard fell silent as the can clattered to the ground, and Lila wiped green paint from her face.

“That’s it!” She screeched, pointing a finger at Marinette. “This is all your fault!”

“Lila, Marinette didn’t do anything. I was talking to her the whole time,” Adrien said, holding up cautioning hands.

“No! Everything is her fault!” Lila stomped a foot. “I don’t know how you keep doing it, but I know it’s you!”

“Lila, what are you-” Alya started, but Lila lunging at Marinette cut her off. Nino and Ivan caught her, and Adrien took a defensive stance in front of Marinette.

“How did you do it, Marinette?” She growled. “I put those test answers in your schoolbag, but they weren’t there when Mlle. Bustier checked! I planted my necklace in your locker during lunch, but somehow you put it back! How did you do it?”

Marinette and Adrien cupped hands over their mouths as the weight of those words settled among their classmates. Confusion and anger snaked its way onto every face, and more classmates joined Adrien guarding Marinette.

“Wait, you tried to frame Marinette? But why?” Nathaniel asked, and Lila shot him a glare.

“Because I hate her! She’s always getting in my way and ruining my plans. I’d have you all eating out of the palm of my hand if it wasn’t for her!” She said, shoulders heaving. She ripped away from Nino and Ivan and kicked the paint bucket with a shriek.

“Whoa, so all those times Marinette said you were lying…” Nino said, lowering his gaze.

“She was right,” Adrien spoke up, and all eyes turned to him. “Lila is a liar. Nothing she’s ever said is true. She just wanted to use all of you for attention.”

“So, you’ve never met Jagged Stone?” Rose deflated.

“And let me guess. You’re not really bffs with Ladybug,” Alya said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Of course I’m not friends with that stupid insect! I hope Hawkmoth takes her Miraculous and rids the world of her stupid face!” Lila shouted.

“What’s going on here?” Mr. Damocles demanded as he and Mlle. Bustier approached.

“Karma,” Marinette said with a grunt.

Lila glanced between each face glaring back at her, the rage-induced fog clearing enough for her to see the damage she’d inflicted. Her eyes widened, and her shoulders shrank. For the first time since she’d stepped foot in their school, Lila was exposed. Powerless. Small.

“My office. Now.” Mr. Damocles barked through gritted teeth, and Lila followed behind him quietly. She had nothing left to say. No more lies to tell.

“M, are you okay?” Alya pulled her best friend in for a tight hug. “I’m so sorry I never believed you.”

“Yeah, we should have known better. You never trip out over anyone unless there’s a reason,” Nino said, ruffling her hair.

“We’re sorry, Marinette.”

“Yeah, we shouldn’t have doubted you.”

“It’s fine,” Marinette said, cutting everyone off. “Really. I’m not mad at you. Lila manipulated all of you. It’s not your fault she can’t tell the truth.”

“Marinette…” Alya cooed, and all of their classmates huddled around her.

When the bell rang, they all dispersed, heading to their next class, but Marinette excused herself to the bathroom. Tikki slipped back into her purse, relieved that it was finally over and that she hadn’t been caught. Or rather, she thought she hadn’t been caught until Marinette ripped open her purse and dumped her out into her waiting hand.

“I thought kwamis weren’t supposed to meddle,” she said, quirking a brow, and Tikki shrank guiltily.

“I’m sorry, Marinette! I just knew she was up to no good, and I couldn’t let her frame you,” she said, pressing her paws together.

“Putting the test answers back and moving the necklace are like you, but exploding milk cartons and mannequin ghosts?” Marinette cocked a hip. “Plagg, I know you helped too.”

A sinister chortle echoed above them as Plagg floated down beside Tikki. “I couldn’t let sugar cube have all the fun.”

“We’re really sorry,” Tikki said, lowering her head.

She braced for her punishment, but instead, Marinette lifted the two of them to her lips and planted a soft kiss on each of their heads. “Thanks, you two.”

“You mean you’re not mad?”

“Nah, Lila deserved it,” she said with a shrug.

“I’ll accept my reward in the form of one of those tasty cheese danishes your dad makes,” Plagg said, puffing his chest out, and Marinette scratched under his chin with a giggle.

“You can have all the cheese danishes you want,” she said. “It’s nice to know you two have my back.”

“Of course,” Plagg said, draping an arm over Tikki’s shoulders. “If someone wants to mess with the Bug, they’re gonna have to go through us.”

“We’ll always make sure you’re safe,” Tikki added, and Marinette held out a pink with a smile.

“Bien Joué!”

#miraculous ladybug #tikki #plagg #marinette dupain-cheng #lila salt #petty kwami au #my writing #uninteresting tidbit #chapter 1 was 1k chapter 2 was 2k and now chapter 3 is 3k #this was unintentional but i find it amusing #anyway #enjoy #hiatus cat

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lovelyrita1967 · 4 years ago

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I Want The Best For You💖

Geraskier, M, 8.6k, AO3, my first foray into canon!

Geralt sighed. Jaskier had finished his performance in the tavern a while ago and Geralt was eager to get back to their room. They had had a long day of travelling, and tomorrow looked to be busy as well. There was a notice about a burgeoning collection of drowners in the river, and a few days ago the baker’s strapping son never returned from a hunt. Rumour had it he had been taken by something menacing lurking in the woods nearby. They had only found his horse, with the reins tangled in a thorn bush not far from the town.

Geralt was hoping to sort out both problems tomorrow so they could be on their way. His potions were running low, and one of his most trusted apothecaries was only a day’s journey away, if they left at first light.

But as he turned his attention back to the scene before him, Jaskier was lounging happily against a table, limbs loose, with a wide, carefree smile on his face as he drank in the adoration of several young women crowded around him.

Geralt drained the last of his ale. Resignedly, he signaled for another. It didn’t look like Jaskier would be ready to leave anytime soon. He watched the bard throw his head back, his long neck gleaming in the candlelight, laughing while the women tittered with him.

When Jaskier glanced over at Geralt, he gave the bard a glare that he hoped said, “Would you hurry the fuck up?” But all the women turned to peer at him too, and Geralt attempted to rearrange his features into a less stern expression.

The women looked skeptical as they turned back to Jaskier, who was nodding enthusiastically. One of the women shrugged.

Geralt deliberately didn’t listen to whatever they were plotting. He didn’t want to know.

A while later, after Geralt had finished that ale, too, Jaskier sauntered over to where the witcher sat, and took the seat across from him. He reached for Geralt’s mug, pouting when he saw it was empty. But then he smiled at Geralt and batted his eyelashes.

Well, fuck. That was never a good sign.

“Geralt, there’s going to be a party tomorrow night-” he started.

“No.”

“Geralt! You haven’t even-”

“No.”

“But-”

“No.”

“Geralt, did you see those beautiful women? Lord Blythe’s niece has come from Nilfgaard and he’s throwing a party in her honour.”

“Who is Lord Blythe?”

“Well, how am I supposed to know? Apparently his manor is a little way out of town and he’s normally quite reclusive, but he wants to introduce his niece to society.”

Geralt looked at him. “We’re ‘society’?” He gestured between them, an amused smirk creeping into his expression. “A witcher and a bard?”

Jaskier sniffed. “I am highly sought after in some circles, I’ll have you know…”

“So you never fail to remind me,” Geralt muttered under his breath.

“-and you, well… you’re rather easy on the eyes, aren’t you?”

“I- what?” Geralt’s forehead creased in confusion.

“When you clean yourself up, that is.” Jaskier wrinkled his nose at Geralt. “A bath is definitely in order before the party.”

Geralt opened his mouth to say no again, then stopped himself, doubting there was even a point. Instead he clarified. “And who invited you to this party, exactly?”

“Oh, that was Selene. She’s a servant at Blythe Manor. Lord Blythe sent her into town to invite - how did he phrase it - ‘young men and women, pleasing to the eye, and eager to partake in the celebration of Adeline’s coming of age’ to the party.” He preened a moment, then appraised Geralt. “Hopefully you have a decent, clean outfit to wear, at least? I wonder if there’s time to stop by the tailor…” He looked thoughtful, and Geralt glared back at him. “Alright, no tailor then,” Jaskier sighed dramatically. “Hmm, perhaps I’ll wear my red doublet…”

Geralt sighed again, as Jaskier insisted on another ale for each of them. By the time he managed to drag Jaskier back to their room, Geralt was well past cranky. He stomped around and flopped into his bed with a grunt, doing his best to fall asleep despite Jaskier’s happy humming.

Geralt was up with the sun, as irritable as he had been the evening before. Jaskier’s loud snoring all night had done nothing to improve his mood. He left the man sprawled out in his bed, now blessedly silent, of course.

Geralt dispatched the drowners easily enough, but the mayor refused to pay him until he had investigated the missing baker’s son, Eldrich.

The rest of the day was very frustrating. After talking to Eldrich’s family and friends, he decided that no one had any idea what had happened to the young man. Geralt’s ability to sniff out a lie was fairly reliable, but it seemed the general bafflement at Eldrich’s disappearance was genuine.

He scoured the forest around where the horse had been found, and carefully followed the path between there and Eldrich’s house… but there was nothing to uncover, aside from a few suspiciously broken branches that led nowhere. But as the day grew later, Geralt reminded himself that he had promised to meet Jaskier back at the inn before dinner. He arrived late, even dirtier than he had been before, and extra pissed off.

Jaskier took one look at Geralt’s face, and filed away the lecture he had prepared. Instead, he helped Geralt remove his armour and shooed him into the tub, tut-tutting about the twigs stuck in the witcher’s hair. Geralt allowed himself to enjoy the bath, and Jaskier’s clever fingers massaging his scalp. But he still wasn’t happy about this party, and he glowered at Jaskier as the bard obliviously chattered away while they dressed for the event.

The manor was a little way out of town. Jaskier had obtained directions from Selene, but the way was easy enough to find. The turn off the main road was well lit by lanterns, and there were enough other people making their way to the party in assorted modes of transportation that they simply had to follow the trail of people.

When they arrived at the manor, they handed Roach over to a stable hand. Geralt made use of an extra coin plus his best scary face to ensure she was well looked after for the evening. The manor had perhaps been a rather grand building in another time, but had clearly been suffering from neglect in recent years. They made their way up the front steps through the wide double doors that were flung open to the night air.

The foyer was large and round, with dramatic red walls that shimmered in the candlelight, and the room was ringed with tables, each with a well-dressed attendant to greet the party-goers.

Geralt and Jaskier found themselves in a line up with the rest of the crowd, until they reached a table and an attendant greeted them. He was in his mid-twenties maybe, tall and lanky with curly auburn hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. His eyes were lightly lined in black and his full lips smiled warmly at them.

“Good evening, gentlemen, and welcome to Blythe Manor. My name is Pavel, and I will be happy to assist you in any way I can this evening. Could you please write your names down here?” He slid a piece of parchment over to each of them.

Geralt frowned at Pavel while Jaskier began writing ‘Julian Alfred Pankratz de Lettenhove’ with elaborate loops and swirls.

“What for?” Geralt asked.

“For the pairings, of course.”

Geralt groaned inwardly. What’s Jaskier done this time? “Dare I ask… pairings for what?”

“Your... partner for the evening, sir,” Pavel explained patiently.

Geralt straightened up and rolled his eyes heavenward. “Jaskier… did you bring me to a sex party?”

* * * *

Here’s the rest on AO3!

This is a gift for @oxbridge-quality-fanfiction-co‘s upcoming birthday. Happy birthday, Blaire! I love you!

@valdomarx @geraskierficrecs @ro-the-bard-writer @marvagon @carmillacarmine @ikeptupwiththejoneses @rawrkinjd@fangirleaconmigo @jaskierswolf @lottelorelei @gilbert-von-kneecap @sharingfandomsilove @tossacointoyourcostumedesigner @chaotic-bard @gosh-diddley-darnit @benisalilbitch @distractedbyfandoms @bardic-charm @bastardofmothman @watchthewolvesfall @panerato @fontegagrilledcheese @ewanspotter @spacewitchqueen @lobacitabruer @peanitbear @dapandapod @geraskier-trashh @stinastar @valley-of-plenty @round--robin @tee-aitch-official @killedbylawstudies @llamasdumpsterfire @tempy-the-tempest

(Let me know if you want to be (un)tagged!)

#geraskier fanfiction #geraskier #geralt of rivia #Jaskier #geralt x jaskier #the witcher #the witcher fanfiction #monsters #geralt fights monsters #protective geralt #first kiss #first time #my oc ships geraskier #canon universe #holy shit I finally can't use my modern au tag #LovelyRita Geraskier Canon

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mymelodyheart · 4 years ago

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Miles Between Us Chapter 1 ~Stories She Wrote~

PICTURE SOURCE

PART 2 OF WONDERWALL SERIES

Hey guys, I'm back and thrilled to give you part 2 of WONDERWALL series, Miles Between Us. It is a continuation from my holiday ficlet, All I Want For Christmas Is You. If you haven't read the first part, I suggest you do if you wish to get an insight into Jamie and Claire’s history (Here is the link) Otherwise, this ficlet can also be read as a stand-alone.

I know All I Want For Christmas Is You ending was bittersweet, but it had to be done. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been a Part 2 in this series. I had to leave the story open to possibilities if it is to have a chance of growing. And besides, making this into a series allows me to take breaks from writing and refresh my brain in-between ficlets. So I hope this next part of the story will make up for leaving you hanging all these weeks.

Anyway, before you continue, I'd like to thank you for reading, commenting and giving feedback to my stories. They're all very appreciated even if I sometimes don't comment back. As a hobby writer, I always look forward to your response, and they spur me to continue writing. Without the readers, I wouldn't be here. So thank you for being part of my writing journey.

If you wish to read this on AO3, here is the link.

So now everything is said, without further ado, I wish you all happy reading. ❤️

Previously ...

Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp and James Fraser met and fell in love during the Holiday Seasons. Unfortunately for their budding relationship, after two weeks of a whirlwind romance, Claire has to return to London to finish some work commitment that could take a year to fulfil. It doesn't help matters that Jamie's PTSD condition prevents him from visiting her as loud city noises can trigger panic attacks. They are both in love with each other and are willing to find out where their relationship will head to. But can they find a compromise to bridge the gap of hundreds of miles to give their love a chance?

After sitting on her bed most of Saturday working on her laptop, Claire Beauchamp rolled her neck and stretched her back, her arms extending above her head. She flinched when her joints cracked.

Over the past few days, her boss, John Grey, forwarded manuscripts and drafts from the author she was working with. She hadn't eaten anything all day, and her stomach was beginning to grumble, and her eyes blurry from reading.

She'd read so much in the past hours, she was practically cross-eyed, and the bridge of her nose hurt where her specs rested. Words upon words had sifted through her brain, but now the lines were beginning to blur together.

She glanced back down on her laptop and opened a file in her document folder, her eyes scanning through lines she knew by heart. She'd been going through her own work lately wondering if she had what it takes to be a writer. Someone who would give her an honest opinion ought to read it before contemplating getting herself a literary agent if she was to start a new chapter of her life and take that leap of faith in her dream career.

A sudden urgency took over, and she needed Annalise to read her work, like right now. Which reminded Claire, her friend was away with Willie, shopping and sight-seeing. He was staying over their place for the weekend for the first time since she and Annalise left Lallybroch. After declining their invitation to join them earlier, the loved-up couple left her to her work with the promise of dinner when they returned.

She was about to reach out for her cold coffee from the bedside table when Raiders of the Lost Ark's theme song blared from her phone. At the same time, a picture of her uncle Lamb appeared on the screen. He was wearing a high-crowned, wide-brimmed, weather-beaten fedora hat and had a lopsided grin plastered to his thickly stubbled face. Rugged, she thought, just like her favourite pair of distressed leather boots, and very Indiana Jones.

Smiling, she tapped the answer button and put the phone on speaker. "Uncle Lamb! Long time no speak!"

"Sweetheart," he started in a deep familiar voice, "how are you?"

She frowned and pushed her laptop aside. Something was off. "Oh you know, same old ...just finishing work and ..."

"On a Saturday?" he asked, cutting her off.

"Look who's talking."

He chuckled. "You're young. You should be out. There are so many things to do in London ...especially on a Saturday. "

Claire rolled her eyes but opted to change the subject instead. She wasn't ready to give her reason for working overtime nor share her future plans nor talk about the handsome Scot she met during her holidays. Not just yet, anyway. "So ...to what do I owe the pleasure of hearing your voice, dear uncle?"

"What?" he said gruffly, pretending to sound offended. "Can't I call my favourite girl in the world and check up on her?"

She mentally sighed. Something must be up since her uncle never called. It was always she who usually phoned, and when he did call on a rare occasion, it was either because something had happened or he was in London. She dismissed the latter since she knew he was in Papua New Guinea. The next conclusion she landed on was his health but thought it absurd. Her uncle was strong as an ox, ate healthily, only smoked the occasional cigar and regularly went for doctor's check-up, a requirement in his job as an archaeologist travelling to remote places.

Unless. "You sound suspiciously chipper. Let me guess ...you met someone. There's a woman in your life."

He coughed like he was choking on a drink. "No! Why would you say that?"

Alright, he sounded repulsed by the idea enough. Or was that denial? "I don't know. You seem so ...how shall I say it ...unlike yourself. You normally skip the niceties and get to the point."

He lets out an impatient breath. "Claire, darling, am I really that awful?"

"No," she replied, ignoring the ache in her throat. She missed their time together but tried not to make it apparent in her tone. He was a busy man, and the last thing she wanted was her uncle worrying. "You don't seem like you're rushing off to anywhere. It's rare you sound this relax."

"It's way past my bedtime already," he sighed. "And besides, work is on stand-by at the moment until we get the license to start digging on site. People here are so damn laid back, and nobody seems to be in a hurry to process the paperwork. I'm not about to hand out cash to speed things along even if bribery is rampant here."

"I see. So you're in Port Moresby then?"

"Yes. As soon as we have the license sorted out, we'll be flying to Lae first thing tomorrow. Hopefully, anyway." He cleared his throat. "Speaking of paperwork, I received an email from my lawyer. Your trust fund has matured, dear. I'll send you the details where to go to and who to contact, and maybe you can start planning your life. Perhaps take a sabbatical and travel with me if you wish."

Ah yes, the trust fund.

After her parents died, everything they had owned was put into her trust fund by her uncle to secure her future. She'd already received a small lump sum when she turned eighteen, and the money had afforded her, though small and cramped, a decent rental two-bedroom apartment in London with high windows, which was premium in this expensive city. And Annalise, her best friend and roommate made enough money to help pay the ridiculous expensive utility bills. Her own wage just about covered the other expenses with almost nought left for savings, but she hadn't worried knowing there was money in place in her name. She was counting on it to support herself when she pursued her dreams of writing.

"About that, I think I'll let that sit in the bank for a while. It's not like I need the money right now, nor do I have the time to spend it."

"As you wish," her uncle replied. "And another thing I need to discuss with you ...South Lodge ..."

"What about South Lodge?" South Lodge should have been her family home if her parents hadn't died, and she knew it was a highly coveted property because of its historical significance. It was never put into the market for sale since her uncle thought it wasn't his place to decide. It was put on a twenty-year lease to a high profile politician, its payments going towards her trust fund.

"The lease is up, and the occupants will be moving out soon. Unfortunately for you, that information made it to the local news and you were mentioned as the legatee. So don't be surprised if you're bombarded with offers now that your name is out. I'm willing to bet, property investors and developers will be itching to get their hands on it."

Claire took off her specs and pinched the bridge of her nose. God, she hated adulting, paperwork and dealings with lawyers. Maybe she should just sell South Lodge and be done with it, so she could concentrate on her future plans. What do I need a five-bedroom house with one acre of garden in Oxford for? "I'll think about it, uncle. I just have a lot of things going on at the moment. I'm quite sure those things can wait."

"Of course dear."

"Thank you for letting me know." She thought of Jamie, and the Highlands and how much life was a lot simpler there. She really needed to double her effort to tie up loose ends in London and have a heart to heart talk with Annalise. Is her relationship with Willie serious? If not, her friend would have to eventually find a new roommate. After quickly glancing at her bedside clock, she realised they would be here soon and hopefully with a takeaway. Annalise did mention something about sorting dinner out tonight.

"And Claire?"

"Yes?"

"Your upbringing hasn't been the most ideal. Enjoy the money and treat yourself. Don't spend your life doing things that don't bring you joy."

She smiled. Her uncle must have had a rude awakening of some sort to sound so philosophical. Or probably, he did meet someone special. Either way, she wasn't going to push for any answers for now. She really needed to get out of bed, do a few stretches and have a shower before Annalise, and Willie arrived. "I'll try," she finally said.

"Good. I'll let you get back to whatever you're doing."

"Sadly, yes." She shut her laptop and got out of bed. "Take care of yourself, alright? And I'll phone you sometime next week after I've figured out our time differences."

"Absolutely, sweetheart. Talk soon."

"Love you, uncle Lamb."

"Love you, too."

She terminated the call with a swipe on her screen and rubbed her eyes. She'd been working for seven hours straight, and her eyeballs felt like they're made of sandpaper. Glancing at the corner table, she smiled when she saw Jamie's gifts. Willie had brought them with him when he arrived last night from Inverness. She knew Jamie was making up for his absence, but it couldn't be helped when there's the danger of his PTSD condition worsening in the city. To her delight and surprise, he'd sent her a leather-bound journal, a framed selfie photo of them together, driftwood bookends he made and a box of her favourite Lindt chocolate.

With a contented sigh, she made a mental note to call Jamie after dinner. And to ask her boss first thing Monday morning if she could take her work to Scotland the following weekend to surprise her boyfriend. After all, she was just taking her uncle's advice, and after the work, she'd put in the last couple of weeks, and the extra hours she planned to do the next few days, she deserved a little joy in her life.

..........

Claire leaned forward, and nervously examined her best friend's face. Annalise was hunched down, scrolling her laptop, tongue darting out as she read the paragraphs on the screen.

What's that look for? Doesn't she like it? She couldn't tell. It was the first time she's showing her work to anyone, one of the stories she had written during her spare time before embarking a career as an editorial assistant for Dreamcatcher Publishing Company. She needed to hear her friend's opinion to know if she even had a small chance of becoming a writer.

Annalise took her sweet time, and Claire wasn't sure if her inscrutable expression was a deliberate act to prolong the suspense, or if she genuinely had no reaction to what she's reading. If it was the latter, Claire would definitely kiss her dream of being a writer goodbye. If it's the former, she's going to strangle her friend for making her suffer.

She heard the door to the apartment open and close, followed by the sound of keys jangling and heavy footfalls, announcing the arrival of Willie. He'd stopped by to order some food at a local Indian takeaway while Annalise headed straight home to prepare the table for dinner. Instead of calling out to him, she held her breath for Annalise's response.

Just when Claire was starting to accept her hope of being a writer would never amount to anything other than a pipe dream, she saw the reaction she impatiently waited for. Annalise's mouth formed a comical O, followed by her eyes' widening and random shallow sighs.

Yessssssss!

This was massive. Despite Annalise having seen works from established authors Claire had edited for, she'd never witnessed her friend looked this excited. Annalise simply couldn't hide her gobsmacked expression, even if she tried.

"Oh, dear Lord," she whispered, her gaze flicking to Claire and then back to the screen. "Why didn't you tell me you had this? I knew you wanted to be a writer, but this ..."

"So?"

Annalise took a massive deep breath, her fingers almost shaking. "Oh my God, Claire."

"Oh my God, wot? Oh my God good or oh my God, bad?" Claire asked, even though she already knew deep in her bones, what the answer was. But she desperately needed to hear the words.

"This is bloody good," she said, as she went back to a previous page, and reread it all over again. After a couple of minutes more, a slow smile started to spread across her face, as she stole a few cheeky glances over at Claire.

Claire knew she could rely on her friend to tell her the truth. If her work had been bad, friend or not, Annalise would have been forthright and told her the hard facts. Nevertheless, she tamped down her own growing excitement. "The question is though ...is it good enough for the mass?"

Without hesitation, Annalise nodded vigorously, her blue eyes big as saucers. "Oh, Claire, are you kidding me? You really have no idea, have you? Of course, it is! I need to read the rest. Please tell me it's finished."

Claire relaxed for the first time and slumped back against the headboard of her bed, relief soothing her wild heartbeat. "It's finished."

Annalise let out a whoop as she gripped the laptop tightly. "Oh my God! Give me everything ...I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't read at least one more chapter of this story."

"I've got ten more finished materials."

"Oh my God, oh my God! You're killing me. I want it all."

Willie poked his head by the frame of the doorway to her bedroom and eyed them suspiciously. She wasn't sure what he expected to find, but his eyes narrowed when he saw Annalise's flushed face.

"What are ye both up to?" he asked, frowning. "Ye sound like ye're looking at porn on the internet."

Annalise grinned and motioned him over. "Sort of."

Willie hesitantly entered the room. "Sorry?"

"In actual fact, much better than porn ..." Annalise announced, smirking at Claire.

"Annalise!" Claire wheezed when it dawned on her, her friend must have been reading the sex scene part.

Annalise reached out and reassuringly squeezed Claire's hand whilst looking at Willie. "Take a look at this. Claire wrote it."

Annalise handed the laptop to Willie, and both of them earnestly watched his face to gauge his reaction. As he sat down on the edge of the bed and read, Claire knew he would be the real test. Willie being a bloke, she didn't expect him to have the same reaction as Annalise, but she hoped he would appreciate the storyline and plot. Claire already understood, if her story was going to be good enough to be published, its success would be based on women's purchasing power. If he liked her style of writing even a smidgen, then she would be laughing.

Claire held her breath in anxious anticipation, and approximately a minute and a half later, she got her response.

His eyes bulged out, and then the tips of his ears glowed with red. In all sort of ways, he was so similar to Jamie but yet so different. But there's no mistaking how vibrantly their ears always lit up when they're embarrassed. Or moved.

"Kind of explicit," he commented hoarsely, before tucking a tongue into his cheek as if trying to find the right words to say. "But it is an intriguing story with great flow and interesting characters. It's no' the genre I would typically read, but the first few paragraphs of what I've seen so far are riveting. It makes me want to read more."

Annalise, enthusiastically nodded in agreement and waved a hand in the air. "There it is."

"Ye have a gift, Claire," Willie added, eyes still fixed on the screen and working overtime as his focus became more intense. "The dose of mystery ye've woven into the lines is remarkable and intelligent."

She felt herself beaming in vindication. "Thank you."

He briefly glanced up at her. "Now that I remember, Jamie did vaguely mention ye wanted to be a writer."

"That's the plan," she beamed.

"Good. Because if ye can produce something like this, then yer talent is wasted on editing other people's work."

"She's got ten more finished stories," Annalise piped in.

Willie arched an eyebrow at Claire and continued reading, and when he finished, he shook his head and let out a low whistle. "Is Jamie the inspiration for this story?"

Her face heated. "I ...ah ...wrote that years ago. And ...um, I've revised and edited it a million times in the past. I wanted Annalise to read it first and find out if it's good enough to be published."

Annalise grinned at Willie, still looking a little flush like she was having a physical reaction to the few lines she'd read earlier. "So what do you think?"

Willie didn't miss Annalise's excited reaction to the story. "It's verra good but I didnae realised graphic scenes affected ye so much. Ye're beet red!"

"Only when it's very well written," Annalise smirked, taking the laptop from his hands and moving towards him to sit on his lap.

Willie pulled Annalise closer and kissed her, and Claire sighed. It's both beautiful and terrible being in the presence of people, so in love. While she's ecstatic to see her best friend smitten and happy, it made her sad that Jamie couldn't be here with her. She missed him terribly, and it's only been a fortnight since she had last seen him.

After a few seconds of watching them unashamedly snogged in front of her, Claire clapped her hands, and they both immediately pulled away. "Right, that's enough you two. So, where's the dinner I was promised?"

Suddenly looking self-conscious, Willie promptly lifted Annalise from his lap, plonked her down onto the bed and jumped up, and Claire couldn't help but grin at him.

"Right on it," he muttered, before disappearing from her bedroom.

Annalise laughed and playfully shoved her shoulder. "Passion killer."

Claire ignored the jest. "So you really think I should publish my story?"

Her friend nodded excitedly. "Absolutely! You should have let me read it sooner. From what I've seen so far, you have good, solid material, and I'm convinced, when I read the rest, it will not disappoint." She stood up and smiled. "Come on, in as much as I'm all fired up after reading your story, I'm famished." She got up and left the room.

Instead of moving from her position, Claire stared at her work for a few seconds and just breathed. Although Willie and Annalise were sincere with their praises, she couldn't help but still feel nervous. This next step in her life could either turn out to be huge, or it could get her mocked out of a dream career she loved.

Pushing aside her doubts and thinking of Jamie, she quickly compressed a copy of her story's file and sent it to him via email to read, hoping he would like her written work too. Who knew, maybe, after reading it, he would be as fired up as Willie and Annalise.

After hearing the whoosh of the email sent, Claire launched herself off the bed to join her friends, looking forward to Jamie's reaction later and daydreaming of a future in Scotland with her love.

#melodyheart #wonderwall #milesbetweenus #Claire Beauchamp/Jamie Fraser #claire beauchamp #jamie fraser #outlanderfanfic

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