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littlemisslipbalm · 4 years

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Little Border Town Pt. II

Summary: Harry starts to find himself more and more drawn to the bookshop owner. She’s maybe not as annoying as he first thought. And maybe Harry isn’t the worst like she thought either. A little notebook, drinks, shoes, and a boat begin to show each other that.

AKA: Harry and Y/N are neighbors that fight all the time, the whole town wants to know when they’ll just fuck.

ello loves, part 2 is finally here pls let me know what you think!! barely proofread sorry... also i think theres gonna be quite a few parts to this because i keep not getting all i want to say said in each part. and im trying to keep the chunks relatively short. — also I made one direction lowkey exist bahaha

Word Count: 9.2k | Warnings: flirty fighting/banter, slowburn

Part 1

The next day Harry found himself walking into the bookshop next door without really thinking about it. He hadn’t seen Y/N again for his early morning run and he had his list for her of the Paul Simon albums he already had. They hadn’t had their windows or shades open last night either so it was the first night he didn’t give her a salute and she didn’t flip him off. The jostle in routine seemed a little weird to him so as he walked through the shop's door and the bell sounded, he thought the smile on his face was because he was well rested and unbothered by anything.

Y/N had slept in this morning. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but the beginning of Fall always put her in a cozy sleepy mood. She wanted to go to a pumpkin patch and watch a fire burn out in a fireplace. She wanted to listen to her halloween playlist and plan out an intricate costume with her friends. All of this was a wistful dream though. She had quickly learned that the little border town didn’t celebrate Halloween how they did in the States or any major cities. It was okay, at the end of the day, even if she was a little bummed about it. This was her new life and she would have to adapt to the new customs.

After she walked downstairs and unlocked the door, she went back over to her front counter. Yesterday, right when Harry had come in, she had found a booklet of Marie’s. It was leafed over to the point that all the pages were crinkled and dirtied from hand debris. Each page was filled with her loopy handwriting, all of it in French. She must have only liked blue pens because even if the type changed over different pages, the color was always blue. Each page was headed with a name, a customer’s name Y/N was starting to realize as she leafed through the pages. She sat back on the wooden stool she had gotten for behind the counter and propped the book in her hand. After the name of the customer there were extensive details on them. Not their purchases specifically, but their preferences, their personality, and just tidbits about any quirks they had or interesting things Marie had decided were of note.

She found many names that were now familiar to her after her few months of living in the little border town. There really weren't that many people to get to know and the tourists were starting to die down now that the school year was getting back in. After a few minutes of pouring over Monsieur Friedfrickson’s page, who lives across the street from her and runs the flower and gardening supplies shop, she flips to an even more familiar name’s page.

“Harry Styles.” The page had the name written out in strong tall letters. Marie had used a blue inky pen for his page, not a ballpoint. “Likes Music. Poetry. Love stories. Romance with a happy ending, but also likes the practical love too.” The interests are laid out plain and she purses her lips at the idea that Harry is interested in romance novels. She wondered what type of poetry he liked since Marie didn’t seem to think that had to be elaborated on. “He’s a special one,” it reads and Y/N scoffs to herself, really Marie? She reads on, “His heart is in the right place, but he’s got a mouth on him. Quick-witted and charming, but kind-hearted and sincere.” She pauses, and flicks the page back and forth, checking that it still reads Harry’s name when she gets back to it. Was she really the only one who found Harry vapid and annoying? Sure she had softened a little towards him since she had arrived, but they were by no means friends. “While seemingly perfect in every way, Harry is actually-” it reads and she mutters to herself, “Ok, now we’re getting somewhere.” “While seemingly perfect in every way, Harry is actually scared of his own shadow.” “This can’t be real!” She once again scoffs at the book and looks up to the ceiling like Marie is going to talk back to her from beyond. “His exterior persona is very strong, both physically and in his personality, but it seems like he’s just waiting for that right person that he can really be vulnerable with and let them into what he’s really thinking. He’s looking for his Angie.” Now she’s just confused. Who the fuck is Angie? She almost doesn’t finish reading the page because honestly it’s just making her mad, but there’s only a few more lines. “Lots of tattoos, why so many tattoos? Thinks he’s funnier than he is. Flamboyant Harry is best.” And beside that last sentence is a star. She tries to hold in her laughter. At least it wasn’t a complete page of praise for Harry.

Thinking back to her knowledge of Harry, she realizes that Marie must have known him for about three years. Maybe more if he had come to visit before moving there officially. She agreed with Marie that Harry had a lot of tattoos and that he thinks he’s funnier than he truly is, but she was yet to see flamboyant Harry. She knew he painted his nails and wore rings, as well as interesting clothes, but she wouldn’t say he was particularly flamboyant for any of that. That comment definitely piqued her interest. When would Marie have seen Harry where he was being flamboyant?

Her eyes scan over the page once more and realize that this book is only for the most current year. Marie re-did the customers' outlines every year. So this was this past year before Marie died. She wondered where the other books might be and if Harry’s outline had changed over time and also if her name was in the one from when she had visited. That would be interesting to read. It’s strange to read a dead person’s private musings. To her knowledge, no one else alive knew the contents of these pages and these pages seemed especially personal since they spoke of people’s lives and who they were at their core. Maybe that’s why she didn’t hear the chime of the door this morning when the first customer arrived.

Her eyes don’t shoot up from the page until two ringed hands enter her eye line on the counter. The tanned skin, with the gold and silver dazzling rings on each finger and the cross tattoo all register in her mind as her eyes go wide. She snaps the book shut when her eyes meet Harry’s almost ivy green eyes - they’re darker in the foggy fall light streaming through the window today. She hadn’t even turned on the lights yet in the store, the natural light being enough for her this morning. The book is clutched in her hands as Harry’s smile widens to a grin of amusement.

“What have you got there?”

There’s no cover on the book so he can’t make anything out about it. He assumes it’s some novel she’s embarrassed of and has chosen to slip the cover off of to keep anonymity of it. This assumption is why his tone is so teasing and why she grimaces at him in response. Her cheeks have also tinted themselves, she’s flustered that the man she had just been conversing about with the book was now in the store.

“None of your business.”

“I guess not.” He replies easily when she responds curtly and places the book out of sight somewhere under the countertop.

“Why are you here again?” She’s avoiding his eye contact now, feeling like she’s been caught doing something she shouldn’t have been even though it was perfectly within her right to read something that now belonged to her.

Harry’s smile falters with her followed curt reply. Annoyance settling in, Harry straightens up and removes his hands from the counter. The familiar feeling doesn’t exactly feel nice, but familiarity is better than discomfort. “You wanted a list of my Paul Simon records? So you could order me one I didn’t already have?”

She looks at him curiously as the conversation comes back to her from yesterday morning and she nods. That conversation was real. “Oh yeah, I said that.” She replies, still not looking at him. “Okay,” she says when he doesn’t move or do anything. Her eyes widen, silently asking him to get on with it.

His hands shove into his pockets, searching around for a list he apparently had made. They come out empty. He pats over his jacket pockets and feels nothing but his phone and wallet, no list. “Fuck,” he mutters beneath his breath. She scratches at her eyebrow and sits back on her stool, seeming like she might be waiting awhile. After a few more minutes and no produced list, she sighs. “Do you just want to go next door and grab it since you obviously forgot it?”

“I didn’t forget it…” His voice is low and he shoots a glare at her, the annoyance that had come back had now doubled.

“You did, but it’s okay if you can’t admit that-”

“It must have fallen out of my pocket!” He insists.

She rolls her eyes and stands up. Walking to the front door, she looks on the ground and then a little ways outside. “I don’t see it, just go back and get it. You probably left it in your boudoir, it’s fine.” Her tone is a little less condescending now and more understanding. She forgets stuff all the time and she really wasn’t trying to be rude when he first came in. He had just startled her is all.

He turns around to face her. Her body is now completely out in the open area of the front of the store. His head tilts and one of his loose curls flops over his forehead while he takes in her appearance. “Why do you do that?”

She wets her lips and steps closer to him, more on her way back to the counter than anything. “Do what?” She’s oblivious to what he’s taken note of.

“When you have a conversation in English you’ll swap in some words that are French. They’re easy words to figure out and you don’t do it a lot, but you’ve done it enough times for me to notice.”

“Oh...I don’t know. I prefer French to English. It’s so much sexier.” She walks closer to him and utters her next sentence as she brushes past his shoulder. His gaze follows her every movement. “Would you prefer a girl to whisper in your ear, “let’s go back to my bedroom” or “let’s go back to my boudoir.”?” Her French accent hangs in the air with the word and compared to the hard American accent she had employed for ‘bedroom’, ‘boudoir’ sounds far more dirty this time than before.

A shiver rolls down Harry’s spine, but he doesn’t let it show. She shrugs her shoulders, “I think the answer is clear.” He clears his throat in response and a smile grows on her face. “Don’t you agree, monsieur?” She leans her head into her hand now that she’s behind the counter and looks up at him sweetly. He knows she’s teasing him now, her smile more of a sultry smirk.

“Piccola diavola,” his Italian rolls off his tongue and she squints at his words. She knows “devil” but the first word troubles her - it just means little. Her Italian really wasn’t strong and it hadn’t improved that much since she’d been in the little border town. But she also wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of asking what he had said. Harry chuckles at her confusion and relaxes now that he feels the playing field has leveled once again.

“So your list… Do you want to go grab it? Or if you can just list it off the top of your head? As enthralling as your conversation skills are, I actually don’t have all day.” She trails off again, her questions lilting from her mouth after regaining some composure.

“I wasn’t the one teasing about taking someone up to their bedroom,” he huffs. Her face colors with crimson. While she had been teasing him, she didn’t want to be called out for it.

“Wasn’t teasing…”

“So it was a serious offer?” He inquires with a lop-sided grin, changing the meaning behind her words in one fellow swoop.

“That’s not what I was saying! Shut up and give me your list.” Now her blush was all over her face and neck, and she was totally and completely flustered by Harry. She glanced down at her hands that were fiddling with a pen and paper, ready to write his words down.

“I can either shut up or tell you my list. But it’s sadly one or the other, love.”

She groans and takes her free hand to run it over her face. “Just tell me what you already have, Harry. Please.”

“Okay, okay,” he chuckles and spreads out his hands in front of them both. He crosses back to the counter and leans on it once more. They are in close proximity once again, only the counter between them now and she can feel his hot breath fan over her softly. Smells of wintergreen gum, her favorite.

She glances up at him and their eyes hook together for a moment before she tears hers away to look back at the paper. He rattles off a good amount of Paul Simon’s albums and she nods approvingly as she scribbles the names down. She would have to look through his discography to find the ones Harry didn’t have and she probably could’ve made Harry do that and then give her that list, but she didn’t. It was too late now to do that as well, so she’d just have to live with her decision.

When he finishes, she glances at him once again. His eyes are very large. A detail that isn’t really important about him is seared in her mind. They’re big and they’re staring right at her. His pupils are almost as big as his irises, it was interesting. Her eyes shift under his gaze after a beat and she straightens up again. While they went over his list, she had indulged in the close proximity, the mingling of warm breath and brushed hands as she scribbled and he pondered. She nods a farewell, “I’ll let you know when I order next, but I won’t say what album you’ll get. It will be a surprise.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything else from you,” his smile snaps back to his face and he scratches absentmindedly at his side. He hesitates before exiting the store. “I have a question.”

“Don’t need my permission.”

He emits a half-laugh, half-scoff from his parted lips. “Wasn’t asking for it...How come you never go out?”

She stares at him curiously, her head tilting to the right. “How would you know I don’t get out?” She challenges him.

“There’s only one pub in this little town and I’m your next door neighbor. I know.” He’s insistent on being right.

She scoffs, but only in an attempt to cover up her embarrassment. Her skin had finally cooled from all the excitement that had happened earlier and she wasn’t in the mood to grow red once again. Today was the first day she had ever felt flustered by Harry. It was annoying, it made her feel out of control. She liked to go out well enough, maybe more than the average person. But she’d only been in the little border town for a few months and going out hadn’t been on the top of her list of things to do. Sure, it would be nice to go get a drink out in the town, but she didn’t really have anyone to go with. Meeting people wasn’t hard in the town, but there weren't many people who were her age and she hadn’t particularly clicked with anyone where she would want to go out on the town with them. It was embarrassing to face the fact that she wasn’t flourishing as much as she had hoped. She was happy, but being confronted with the truth that she hadn’t gone out yet dampened her belief in her success in the little border town.

“I - It’s not at the top of my list of priorities,” she stutters, her chin raising a little in indignance.

One of his shoulders shrugs and Harry makes a little face as if he was indifferent to her answer, even though she knew much better than that. Harry always wanted to get a reaction out of her, maybe that was all he gained from their interactions - entertainment. She didn’t know, but she didn’t feel like giving him the satisfaction and left it at that. His eyes meet hers again, his stare far more intense now. “Ciao, diavola.” He simpers, repeating the little nickname. It was far more sultry of a nickname than ‘Shrimp’ but she wasn’t going to complain. She rolls her eyes in response, the only correct one at that.

That night, she found herself feeling pulled to journey down to the pub. It was on the Italian side and like she had acknowledged to Harry, she hadn’t been. She wouldn’t admit to anyone, especially not Harry, that his question had been what had pushed her towards the establishment when night fell. Yet, here she was. Her pants were dark red silk that matched the black tank top with red embellishments that she wore over her chest - the only part of her it really covered. Her boots were a matching black with gold metal bits, they were knock-off horsebit Gucci shoes, the closest she could get to the real thing with her modest budget. She was having to be more frugal lately, after buying her car here in September, she had really seen how little money she truly had.

The heels of her boots clicked against the cobblestones as she stalked up to the front of the bar. There was happy chatter seeping out the open door, the warm but dimmed light also flooding out along with the sounds of people within. Taking a deep breath and fiddling with the waistband of her pants for a second, she made her way into the bar. Stepping off the deep end and making the plunge. She knew there was nothing to be afraid of, but after months of not going there, she felt a little sense of apprehension now.

The warmth was the most surprising bit of the bar that she felt when she stepped past the threshold. Some Italian song was buzzing below the words of the patrons and she smiled at the automatic welcome she felt upon entering.

At the tables, there was a mix of younger and older patrons. At the bar, there wasn’t much of anyone. The young bartender leans across the bar to talk to another man, who had dark brown wavy hair and a dark linen shirt on. He’s seated at the bar and his back is to her so she can’t make out anymore than that. She doesn’t notice the myriad of tattoos gracing the patron’s arm that rests casually on the bar as he laughs at something the bartender had said, just for him.

She smiles, thinking it’s a cute little flirtation between the two and hates that she has to go over to break it up. Her movement gets the bartender’s attention easily and has the patron glancing her way as well. The smile she had once had falters off of her face and her eyes go wide at the realization of who she has settled herself beside. She had left a seat open between her and the man, but now she wished she had chosen a spot across the bar and simply flagged down the bartender. Better yet, she wished she had stayed home. As her smile falls away, Harry’s only grows wider. He’s grinning down at her as he moves his whole body to face her.

“Ciao!” The bartender starters, not noticing her discomfort at seeing Harry. He begins to ask what she would like in Italian, but her eyes widen even further. He’s speaking far too fast for her and she blushed in embarrassment. In her fluster, she forgets to even try French and she just stares dumbfoundedly at the handsome man behind the bar, who’s now looking at her with great curiosity. Harry has watched the entire thing and chuckles behind his glass. She has no attention span left to allow her to even try and guess what he’s drinking.

He interjects for her, actually saving her any more embarrassment, surprisingly. “She doesn’t speak Italian. She’s from the French side and new in town, so she hasn’t been able to refine her Italian.” The bartender gives a smile and nod of understanding in her way and she wishes she knew what Harry had just said. Whatever it is makes the bartender switch to French for her and her jaw goes from being dropped back into a normal position.

“What can I get for you, mademoiselle?” He transitions smoothly and she smiles, his French accent sounding practically perfect. She’s recomposed herself, but Harry is still watching her intently, like a reality television show that he can’t wait for the trainwreck finale to occur on.

After she orders, the bartender gives her a wink and then walks off to get what he needs to begin preparing her drink. Harry slides over, eliminating the courteous one seat between them. Her eyes watch the movement and she refrains from the letting out the sigh festering in her chest. She really had hoped he would not be here tonight, at least that’s what she believed. She truly felt embarrassed that the night after Harry had accused her of never going out, he had seen her out. But it also was nice not to be sitting in the bar alone. It seemed that Harry had been sitting alone at the bar before she had come in, but she also wasn’t Harry and didn’t know how much enjoyment she would have gotten out of being alone.

“I see my words had some effect on you.” He says out of the corner of his mouth after running his tongue over the bottom of his lip. Her scoff once again dies in her throat because she knows he’s right and he knows it too. There is no being proud right now. He essentially caught her red handed.

“Thought I’d come out and see what all the fuss was about. I see you’re alone tonight, but I assume that’s how most nights go.”

“You should know by now that is simply not true.”

“Just because you leave with someone doesn’t mean you come with someone.”

“I guess…” He trails off.

She picks up when he doesn’t seem to have any more of a response. “How do you even meet people here? Isn’t it all locals?”

“Not always. Not all of the people here are locals tonight,” He scans the crowd. “She’s visiting...So is she...that whole group actually. Look French. So we’ve got a group from Nice tonight…” He looks a bit more. “Eh, that looks like it tonight, but still. It’s plenty.” He finishes with a smirk and she grimaces, understanding the meaning behind his words.

The bartender returns with her White Russian, which Harry had cocked his head at, but had kept his opinion to himself for once. Expecting Roman to return to their conversation, Harry turns his attention back to him, but he is only greeted with the side of his head because Roman is still staring at Y/N. He coos something to her in French, that Harry can’t pick up and his nostrils flare when she emits a giggle following their exchange. The two people he was last talking to were now ignoring him to talk to each other. How rude.

After another moment without their attention, he huffs loudly. Roman seems too entranced in Y/N to notice, but her eyes slide over to him. “Yes?” She inquires, albeit disdainfully.

Harry isn’t sure what to say to her now that he’s gained her attention. He was on his second drink and her stare has made his mind go blank. All he had wanted was for her to stop flirting with Roman so that she’d pay attention to him. But he hadn’t thought of his next step yet. He takes a sip of his beer to grant him a little more time and she rolls her eyes at his action. His mind rattles through possible things to say, but every single one is coming up as not good enough.

“I used to be in a band.”

Her head tilts and she swivels more to Harry. His comment is unexpected and rather intriguing. She had expected something annoying or rude. Truly she had just expected him to say “Nothing” once he had swallowed his drink so he could distract her from enjoying her night.

“You were in a band?” She asks incredulously, her voice pitching slightly higher than normal. While Harry was many things, including handsome, she just didn’t think he had the right persona to be in a band. He dressed like a grandfather most days and he tended to a little shoe shop, he didn’t come off as a guy who would enjoy traveling around performing. The constant praise would be on brand though, she conceded.

Harry nods and bites back his smile, knowing he had struck the perfect chord. “I was...it only took off in the UK but we were pretty popular.” He boasts.

“So what do you play?”

Harry’s eyes widen, expecting more of a question about the name of the band or something. “Well, it was, like, a boy band…” He says.

She was taking a sip of her drink and she contained her little laugh behind her glass. Another hum as she swallows the liquid that burns her throat a bit. “Oh. Interesting. So no instruments.”

“Well I can play a bit of guitar and piano!” He adds quickly, seeing her eyes shift away from him, like she thinks the conversation is over. “I was thinking of trying a solo thing, but then plans changed...”

“And now you’re here?”

He echoes her, affirming the question. “Now I’m here and I’m not leaving.”

“You don’t miss it then?”

“Didn’t say that. I miss it at times, but this is where my life took me and I’m happy to be here. Maybe happier than I ever was in the band.” His eyes stare at the liquid in his glass and he swirls it lightly, determined to study the way it moves as he ponders something quite personal to him. He never really talked about his past with anyone here. Saying he was in a band and retrospecting that time are two very different things to share with someone. She’s just watching him now, not trying to make a quip or bug him. His demeanor shows that’s not something he’s very interested in hearing right now.

She experimentally puts a finger on his knee when it seems that he’ll never raise his gaze from his glass. His eyes move down to the tiny pressure he feels and sees her painted nail poking in to him. His tongue darts across his lower lip as he raises his head to meet her eyes. He notices the sparkle in them, she finds amusement in the childish gesture and so does he.

“I do miss the stage though,” he admits, smiling more now. “Performing. It was like nothing else.” Instead of a sad state of mind, his look is far more wistful now and she actually feels the smile growing on her face.

“You’ll have to sing for me sometime, then.” She says resolutely after taking the last bit of her drink and then pushing the glass across the bar. Roman had wandered off, much to Harry’s pleasure, but now they both needed another round so she was looking for him.

Harry slides over a chair so that they’re sat side by side. He had originally done it to reach across her for a napkin, but then hadn’t retreated to his original seat after he was successful. They talk as they drink, but most of it seems to be flirtatious teasing even if neither of them recognize that fully. Harry just wanted her attention earlier and now he found that he wanted to keep talking to her all night. It was a Friday and usually he would be looking for someone to take home. The group of women at a table that he had observed were visitors would be a perfect place to start his quest, but that wasn’t on his mind. He liked watching the different shades of blush Y/N’s face kept turning as she drank more and how silly she was getting with each passing drink.

She was enjoying her time out, she had only gotten wine drunk in the confines of her little home since she’d been in the little border town. And that endeavour was all by herself. It was much more fun when you had someone to talk to, so joking around with Harry was a nice surprise. She no longer felt embarrassed about showing up after he had teased her for never going out earlier today. Now she felt empowered, like she could come to the bar whenever she pleased. He was nicer than she had realized. His hand was quick to encircle her back respectfully when she laughed a little too hard at a joke and began to tip off her stool. His smile was genuine and his eyes didn’t flit over her body more than once. His jokes were funnier than she had first thought or maybe that was just the alcohol clouding her mind, that one she wasn’t sure about. But, truthfully, Harry was exceeding expectations tonight and being a stand up human being for once, in her eyes.

A couple at the end of the bar, locals, watched on as the shoemaker and the bookkeeper threw back their heads in boisterous laughter and placed their hands on each other chastely. The older women smiled to themselves as Y/N smacked Harry’s bicep after an especially cheeky joke he told her. They were going to have a field day with this interaction once they told their friends tomorrow morning.

After drink three, she definitely felt drunk. Not completely out of it and can’t walk drunk, but I haven’t drank anything stronger than wine in months so three cocktails are kind of hitting me drunk. And because of that buzz that’s enclosed her mind and body, it makes perfect sense to her that Harry’s hand is resting casually on her knee as they talk. It also makes perfect sense to her to cross her legs, causing two things to happen. Harry’s hand shifts up further on her thigh and her boot is now dangling right next to Harry’s shin. The fabric of his cream linen trousers look especially soft and so the next logical move in her mind is to rub her foot against the fabric. She hooks around her foot easily and the patent leather of her shoe slips softly against the pant leg that flows over Harry’s calf.

He hums lowly at the feeling, but makes no other notion to acknowledge what she is doing. After the hum he gets back to the story he’s telling her about his boat. She had been extremely interested in the boat initially, but not she was transfixed on the feeling of the fabric slipping past her boot. When he shifts his leg, absentmindedly or not, she almost squeaks because this movement has Harry’s foot brushing around her ankle. The footsy was occurring without any acknowledgement of it besides small sounds the two had made in their chests. No knowing looks, just the presence of each other’s bodies against one another.

He had switched to a Manhattan after his second beer for some reason that she didn’t ask, but he was enjoying it nonetheless. When she slipped her foot against his calf, it had sent a spark of electricity from the point of contact up to his alcohol muddled head. It felt nice so he went with it.

Around midnight the two of them were practically in each other’s laps, nursing their fourth round. Brains a million miles away while their glassy eyes stared at each other. Harry’s arm nestled around her waist while hers played with the stir stick in his glass. Their heads inches away, closer than they’d ever been before.

Somehow they decided they should walk home about then. Maybe Harry had checked his phone and decided he was done. Maybe she had glanced at the clock above the bar and realized she needed to go to bed. Either way, they slammed down the last bits of their drinks and stumbled into the street. With only each other to hold them up, they had some trouble gaining their balance. They could walk just fine if they wanted to be serious, but Harry kept trying to step literally on her toes and she kept throwing all her weight into his side. Both of their actions would cause them to stumble one way or another along the empty streets. Their blurred minds thankfully didn’t get them lost, but the travel time back to their places was far greater than the travel time to the bar initially.

Finally arriving at the border of Italy and France, their shops and homes, she stared up at Harry under the glow of the streetlamp across the street. His hair looked more dark brown than his usual caramel chestnut in the light. His linen outfit billowed across his pectorals that were exposed. A tan golden color that he seemed to maintain from his frequent runs and trips on his boat. His jaw had a bit more stubble on it now, his morning shave no longer sleek on his skin. His mustache was still the most prominent bit of facial hair he had and she wondered what he might look like without it. She also thought if she’d ever kissed a man with a mustache, her mind was pretty sure she hadn’t.

As she stared, she moved from his side and took a step closer to her door. His hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her and bringing her attention to his eyes. He dropped her hand and stepped closer to her. They had been laughing about some weird encounter she had in Nice the other week. But now their laughter had faded out, the conversation all but forgotten.

“Hi.” She says meekly.

“Hi,” Harry laughs.

“I had fun tonight,” she muses and takes a step forward. She began swinging her arms back and forth, rocking on her feet. She felt antsy now that it was so quiet. The silence made her realize it was really just her and Harry together right now. Which wasn’t unusual, they had been alone together plenty of times. Maybe it was the time of night, but it felt far more intimate to her this time which made her squirm a little. Why was she nervous with Harry right now?

Harry nods and laughs again at her actions. “Yeah, you’re not so bad.”

Neither of them realized the proximity of their bodies until her hand swung a little higher and hit Harry’s hip bone. “Oh! Sorry!” She moves to take a step back, but Harry grabs her hand once again and tugs her even closer. Bringing them chest to chest under the lamp light. Her eyes flicker between where their bodies touch and Harry’s face. He’s looking down at her sweetly, gently. She feels safe with the way he’s looking at her. The warmth radiating from him was a nice contrast to the dark cold of night. The open expanse of skin that lived between the two sides of his mostly unbuttoned shirt seemed to have the most heat coming off of it. He had a jade cross that hung between the two muscles and she almost reached out to play with it. If it hadn’t been so dark and she hadn’t been so inebriated she would have realized the color matched his eyes almost exactly.

He’s not quite sure what he’s doing, but for some reason it feels like he might kiss her. The mood that was set by their surroundings made it sound right. Romantic even. Her lips look precious too, plump and puckered, flushed from alcohol and the brisk night air. They look a little glossy too from the last time she had wet them. He wanted to feel them for himself. His head ducks to move his lips to touch hers.

Upon registering his movement, she moves her hand from his grasp and places it on his chest, causing him to take a small step back.

“I think...I think this should be goodnight, Harry.” She breathes out. She’s trying to clear her mind enough to have conviction in her decision.

After a little intake of air, less than a gasp, Harry agrees, running a hand through his hair, “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Her hand slips from his warm chest, immediately curling in on itself to maintain the warmth his body had just provided. She watches her tendons in her hand ripple before looking back at Harry with heavy eyes. He doesn’t seem to want to make eye contact with her, but she’s determined to leave on a good note.

“Thank you, Harry.” He looks up from beneath his lashes at his name, like a shy toddler. “You gave me the push to face a fear of mine.” With her final words she crosses the little distance between them once again and places a chaste kiss to his cheek. Immediately, his cheek flushes and she can feel the heat beneath her lips, as well as the light prickle of his stubble. Harry swallows, causing his Adam's apple to bob quickly, at the contact. His senses get overloaded with the sweet kiss and the smell of her perfume. It all swims through his consciousness.

She smiles as she pulls away and then turns to let herself into her place without another word. Once unlocked, she gives one last glance to Harry who’s also busying himself with opening his door. She doesn’t see that his free hand is caressing over his cheek where her lips had just been.

The next day, she woke up and groaned feeling the stiffness in her body. Especially her head. Oh god, her head. It was like she was back in college, but worse because she wasn’t as young. At least she didn’t have to roll out of bed for an 8 am lecture. For that, she was thankful. Still, the pounding needed to stop or subside at least. Grumbling, she threw her legs off the side of her bed, the fuzzy socks she had slipped on in her drunken stupor settled on the hardwood. She dragged her body to her window and raised the shade. Her window was fogged from the difference in temperature outside and in her room. Kneeling down, she began to pull open the window, in need of the cool fresh air on her clammy skin. Three drinks, or was it four? She couldn’t remember, either way, it was too many.

Her eyes glanced around the view of the window. It wasn’t much since it was so close to the building right next door. Peaking up, she could see the already clouded sky. To the left she could see the street and to the right was more buildings. The scene most easily accessible was the window right across from her. The shade was mostly closed, a little bit of the floor could be seen where Harry hadn’t lowered it completely. It was just the same hardwood as what she sat on staring back at her. She sat there, breathing in the crisp morning air. After a night of drinking, she usually woke up rather early, today was no different.

It dawned on her, far too slowly, that a pair of feet had entered the plain hardwood scene she had been staring at outside her window. A tiny stage now filled with two matching characters. The pair of feet were tanned and large. Little tattoos seemed to be sprinkled both on the toes and the ankles of the feet. She couldn’t read them even if she tried. But upon realizing what these feet might be doing, she had been discouraged from staring any longer. Still, her brain was foggy and her body was not nearly quick enough to hide her from view as the owner of the feet did something to open his shade as well. Then, once again, like deja vu, she was staring at her naked neighbor. Thankfully, this time, he had briefs adorning his hips to keep covering the part of him that would keep her up for weeks trying to forget again. The briefs were, just that. Brief. Low on the hips and barely touching his thighs, it seemed they really only existed to keep that one appendage covered. Still, she had to tear her eyes away from the lower half of his body and let the embarrassment wash over her when she met his eyes.

The knowing smirk of his has him nibbling at the inside of his cheek. She had been checking him out. It was a nice confidence boost after last night. The awkwardness of her stopping him from kissing her had him spiraling in his mind when he went to bed. He didn’t know why he had even tried to kiss her in the first place, probably just because he was drunk. Yeah, he was drunk and feeling needy on a friday night. That’s what it was and she had been there.

He’d have to thank her today for putting a stop to that colossal mistake. They were barely just friends, he hated to think what would happen if he’d done something so reckless as to kiss her out of the blue. Still, he couldn’t shake the thought in the back of his mind that he had gotten the vibe from somewhere. Why else would his drunken mind tell him to kiss her under the glow of the lamp light. He thought back to the bar and what they had talked about. He wouldn’t categorize it as overly flirty. He thought back to their physical interactions at the bar, okay, maybe his hand on her thigh and her playing with his drink was a little flirtatious. But that could be boiled down to him being close to hear her in the bar and her idle fingers wanting something to do while she was drunk. The footsy, though. He wasn’t sure if he could explain that one away. Instead, he would choose to ignore it. If he didn’t think about it, did it actually happen? Was it something he had to worry about? Not in his mind.

Returning his focus to the girl in the window across from him, his smirk was now fully fleshed out on his face. She was still sitting on her knees as Harry looked down at her and if they were in the same room this might have seemed like a rather compromising position. Her cheeks were still red, noticing the difference in height, she clambered to her feet.

“G’morning,” Harry’s voice is groggy and deep. Scratchy almost from the alcohol he had drank last night. It rings through her ears lowly and seems to have her blushing even more. It’s a different feeling than how his voice used to make her feel.

“Hey,” She clears her throat before responding, not wanting her morning voice to crack in front of Harry. Usually she would talk to herself a bit or sing along to her music before going downstairs, not wanting her first customers to hear her as if she just woke up. For some reason, she makes a little wave along with her greeting, feeling especially awkward at this moment. Harry chuckles and repeats her motion. His large hands mimicking the same daunting motion makes her laugh and releases some of the nervous energy she had been holding in her body.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he openly flirts, placing one hand on his naked torso and the other against the frame of the window, leaning towards her. His movement flexes just about every muscle in his body and she keeps her eyes trained on his face, determined not to be caught gawking once more.

A roll of her eyes and she’s back to staring straight into his green ones that he’s still blinking awake. “It’s almost like we’re neighbors.”

He scrunches his nose at her deadpan. “You’re no fun,” he mutters.

She sighs, “I’m fucking hungover after last night…” and runs a hand through her tousled hair.

Her foot rests itself over her other, causing her hip to just out slightly. The movement of her body that accentuated her curves and her words have Harry blushing now. The red flowers at the center of his chest and begins to spread up his neck and cheeks. He’s once again presented with the almost kiss last night.

“Big night out for you,” he laughs, “I’ll admit I don’t usually drink that much, bit of a lightweight myself.”

She only hums in response, her fingers beginning to twiddle with the hem of her t-shirt. It reminds her of what she is precisely dressed in. The big t-shirt and tiny pajama shorts that Harry can’t even see are the only things on her body besides the socks on her feet. She glances down at her legs and takes in the expanse of fleshy skin that is showing just below the shirt. Harry’s eyes follow hers and admires the skin there, wondering what it would feel like underneath his big hands.

“I should probably start getting ready for the day,” She says finally, shaking herself from the random thoughts flitting around her mind about bare thighs and the man across from her. “Are you open today?”

Harry emits a noise from the back of his throat at her question. He draws his arm back from the window and stands up straight. His head tilts as he thinks about her question, his mind still muddled this morning.

“Er..no, actually. I was planning on going out on the boat today, switching my closed day to today instead of tomorrow. Why?”

“I’m in need of shoe repair,” she smiles, her eyes catching the glimmer of the sun starting to peak out. Harry swears it’s her eyes genuinely sparkling on their own accord. “But if you’re out today, it can wait.” She begins to walk away from the window to go to another room in her apartment.

“No!” Harry steps forward, but is restricted by the screen, which keeps him from falling out of his window. She swivels around, looking at him curiously. “I can - you can just come over. I’ll fix it up for you before I head out.”

“Really?” She’s truly surprised that Harry would do such a nice thing for her. She knew they were getting along better, but for him to open shop just for her repair seemed overly nice.

“I mean,” and Harry’s once again blushing under her gaze and he’s hoping she can’t see it. “What are neighbors for?”

“I guess,” she’s still unsure. He seems like he’s nervous, his body tenses and one of his hands twisted in his curls. Harry’s so weird. “Thanks.”

She jogs the short distance from her front door to Harry’s once she’s ready. The pair of deep teal almost navy loafers she needed new soles in - she was pretty sure - in hand. A red pinstripe blouse half buttoned falling over her figure perfectly, hugging the right spots and flowing over the others. She’s in white jeans today that are flared slightly but also cropped. As it gets closer to Halloween she keeps having to remind herself not to dress festive and it’s a struggle everyday.

When she reaches the door, it doesn’t open. The cream door doesn’t budge as she tempts the handle with her free hand. She looks between the handle and the inside of the shop. Her eyes search for Harry’s figure. She had been inside his shop only a handful of times, never for a repair before. Maybe less than a handful, once to check it out and once again when she thought she needed a new pair of shoes and then decided against it. Oh, and that one time she went over to yell at him about something. Maybe the planters, maybe the shade, she couldn’t remember anymore.

Now that she thought about it, she had been in the bookshop once more. Two and a half years ago when she had visited the little border town for the first time. It was a little fuzzy for a memory, but she was sure she had at least peaked into the shoe shop after her lengthy visit with Marie the second day there. It looked just as it did now, maybe it used to be a little more vibrant, but she couldn’t be sure. She remembered an older man in the shop greeting her in Italian and her offering her sad ‘Ciao’. Back then she was even worse at Italian. He had looked at her with kind eyes and a sweet smile. It was a similar lopsided grin that she had now grown accustomed to on another man’s face. After beckoning her over to him the old man had turned away from her and shouted into the back of the store in quick Italian. It blew over her head completely. There must have been someone in the back of the shop who he had talked to. She was sure of it, because after she had perused the cute boots and shoes he kept, she saw a swish of hair coming around the counter. It was just as she was turning around to exit the shop, after she had bid farewell to the man she now connected as Joe. Whoever it was had long hair and was tall, slinking out into the main shop floor. The mysterious stranger was whoever Joe had shouted to in the back.

Y/N wasn’t the quickest when it came to timelines and how people could change over time. She didn’t connect the year she had visited with the year of someone else's arrival or the same chestnut waves cascading around someone’s face, just now much shorter. It made perfect sense who would be in the back of the store, but for some reason the idea of time and hair length were standing in this girl’s way. Oh well, maybe Harry would spell it out to her someday.

Harry finally rounds the counter that separated the back room to the front. The shoe shop was set up a little different from the bookstore. Her counter was right when you came in while Harry’s was about halfway through the shop. He shakes his head and laughs at her expression. The sound brings her out of her memory as well as a grimace on her face.

“Sorry, I was a million years away.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s ‘a million miles away’, love.” Harry continues chuckling while correcting the girl in front of him.

She holds up her pair of shoes, ignoring his teasing. “Fix my shoes, shoe man.”

His smile drops and he walks back from the door. His feet taking back steps as he beckons her into the interior of the shop. When they reach the corner, he takes the shoes from her hands and places them between their bodies. The teal loafers stare up at them. Harry inspects them, a serious expression falling over his features. His brows scrunch together slightly, the wrinkles in his forehead growing more prominent as he examines the shoes. Large hands reach out and begin to finger over the patent leather on the top and the leather soles. After a few minutes of silent deliberation, he places down one of the shoes and then holds the other up as if to showcase it.

“These,” he juts out the shoe in his hand, “need new soles. What did you do to ‘em?”

“I wear them a lot.” She insists while Harry looks on quizzically.

“I’ve never seen you wear these.”

Her brow quirks at his comment. “I wore them a lot before I got here,” she corrects. “They’ve been feeling wonky every time I try to wear them, must be because they need new soles.”

Harry nods, now satisfied with her answer. He hums, regarding the teal shoe in his hand once again. “Alright.”

She looks at him confused once again. “Alright what? Can you fix them?” What does he mean by ‘Alright’? “I’ve honestly missed wearing them these past few months.”

Harry bites his tongue, a quip ready to be voiced. He’d gotten so used to fighting with her, he was confused how it had slipped away all so easily. His fear of them not talking if they stopped fighting didn’t seem to come to fruition so he could rest easy on that front. But now he was going to have to retrain his brain not to be rude after every comment Y/N made.

“Yeah, of course.” He sighs, placing the shoe next to its mate and then turning his face to her. She had been chewing on her bottom lip, actually worried for her shoes. They really were her favorites. She’d had them forever and it would be heartbreaking if they had to be thrown out. If she couldn’t wear them though she was almost sure she’d just let them collect dust in her closet rather than dispose of them if it really came down to it.

“But it’s like a good amount of my day to replace soles…”

Her face falls, but she tries to hide it. She knew Harry was doing a favor by taking a look right now. If he could fix them it didn’t matter when he did it. What he says next though truly throws her off. No normal enemy-ship turned somewhat friendship overnight would engage in what Harry was about to propose. If any such relationship other than her and Harry actually existed.

“Do you want to come out on my boat today?” His brow arches, his lips in a soft smile, he’s being genuine.

“Why would I do that?” Her brows raise along with her voice, taken off guard by his suggestion.

“More fun waiting for me to fix your shoes on a boat than in your shop.” He says simply before taking the shoes and placing them in a little cubby hole behind the counter for safe keeping. “Trust me, you’ll love it.” Her expression doesn’t change. “Just say yes,” He pleads now.

She sighs, “Fine.” All of the reasons not to go out on Harry’s boat are at the forefront of her mind, but she still finds herself saying yes easily. His pleading really wasn’t necessary to get her to agree. The bookstore could live with being closed today, it wasn’t going to hurt anyone.

#harry styles fanfic #harry styles fan fic #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x you #harry styles x reader #harry styles fluff #harry styles fan fiction #harry styles angst #harry styles smut #eventually both of those will bop up #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles oneshot #harry styles one shot #harry styles imagine #feedback pls ❤️#me putting this uo at 12:30 am oops

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cotccotc · 4 years

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┈┈ 𝐬𝐤𝐳 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬/𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 *:･ﾟ

✩ ot8 reaction headcannon, 2.5k words (eek sorry)

✩ genre/s: **fluff**, humor, established relationship, ot8 x gender neutral!reader

✩ warning/s: MOBILE TUMBLR HATES ME (some gifs & author’s note might not appear),,,, my terrible sense of humor/commentary, a couple of them are suggestive if you s q u i n t

✩ a/n: idk if the concept makes any sense but it does in my mind \_( ‘-’ )_/ also seungmin’s part is the exact same kinda similar to a brief scenario in my txt soobin “brightest blue” fic... but it’s fineee. also i’m sorry that some are longer than others! enjoy :))

chan:

chan is definitely extremely interested in the music you listen to.

in fact, sometimes he’d probably insist that you show him your current playlist from start to finish lol.

i can imagine y’all hanging out at the dorms, maybe even mid-cuddle, listening to some of your recent favorites.

but there’s this ONE SONG--

your absolute JAM

you get up from your seat or the bed and start completely jamming out.

he stays where he is so he can watch you have the time of your life.

i guess nobody told him you’re a professional lip syncer… awk...

you grab a hairbrush and hold it up like it’s a microphone.

honestly you’re thriving,,

he’s kinda stunned. not in a bad way, but he’s just so mezmorized by how cute (and maybe a lil sexy) you are when you dance like no one’s watching.

there’s a particularly awesome beat drop toward the end of the song, which leads you to do some equally awesome head banging.

he’s cackling at this point, which drives you to act even sillier.

*ending pose*

once the song ends and you’re trying to catch your breath, he slowly starts clapping for you.

“the song was great, but the performance was even better,” he’d say, coming off a bit sarcastic. but he means well!

you start to get a bit self-conscious and shy as you put yourself together again.

he’ll try to comfort you, standing up to wrap you in a hug.

“don’t be embarrassed!” (cue soft chan),

“baby that was awesome”,

“you should join a rock band!”, etc.

overall, he’d love it when you share your music taste, and this event will probably set off a chain reaction of similar jam sessions in the future.

minho:

ok so we all know minho’s a cat person, blah blah blah...

but what if you got super excited about a really cute dog?

let’s say you’re on a walk at a park, holding hands, and talking.

all of a sudden you see someone walking their dog…

and when i tell you this is the cutest, tiniest dog on the face of the earth,,,

you immediately stop walking and squeeze minho’s hand. you point to the dog and start freaking out because it’s so cute.

he’d say something silly like, “what are you talking about? it looks like a rat.”

you disregard it because you’re just so excited about this puppy!

“can we pet it?” you ask.

“... fine” he replies, smiling at you, despite his attempts to act uninterested.

y’all go over to the woman walking her dog and ask if you can pet the puppy. when she says you can pet him, you immediately sit on the ground, ready to have the best puppy playdate of your life.

minho’s still standing, watching you with loving eyes.

of course, you start talking to the puppy as if he’s a baby. minho laughs, trying to stifle all the uwus emanating from his heart

the puppy climbs onto your lap and licks your face just a little bit.

you look up at minho with wide eyes, saying “awww, isn’t he so cute!”

he’d playfully roll his eyes because why would he cheat on cats like that…

then you tug on his hand, motioning for him to sit with you. he does, reluctantly.

you place the puppy on his lap to see what happens.

the dog loves him! (of course, because what living thing wouldn’t love lee minho?)

the puppy is licking minho all over as he makes faces of disgust and struggles to pull him away.

you laugh out loud, happier than ever at the two very good boys in front of you.

he smiles again, completely endeared with your excitement despite being covered in puppy spit...

so, it doesn’t matter what kinds of animals you two prefer, since you’re the cutest thing he’s ever seen. (aww)

changbin:

i feel like changbin is the type to not be ashamed of/shy about showing you the songs he’s writing.

...except for right now.

he just got home from the studio, dropping his bag onto a table… but some papers fall out.

you attempt to grab the papers, but changbin stops you and grabs them himself instead with a subtle hint of nervousness.

pretty suspicious if you ask me.

“what’s up?” you ask, a bit confused about what just happened.

he’d try to play it off like nothing suspicious was going on, but you know his poker face.

it’s too cute not to notice.

he likes to play all tough but you (and everyone else tbh) know him better than that.

you go to grab the papers, but he steps away. you try again… and again, and again, and again.

you become increasingly more frustrated and impatient with each attempt, until changbin holds them up high in the air where you can’t reach them. he has a look on his face that says ‘haha! gotcha!’

you’ve never done this much jumping in your life.

but you’re not a quitter.

“okay… i give up,” you say, returning to a stationary position and placing your arms around his neck.

however, just as he lowers his hands to your waist, you snatch the papers!

“AHA!” you exclaim.

all he can say is “damn it!” as you scramble to the couch with the papers in your hand. you sit facing away from him, attempting to speed-read the lyrics sprawled across the pages.

he follows you to the couch, trying to take the papers back from behind.

“binnie, these are so good!!”

“thanks… but were they worth betraying your innocent boyfriend?”

“yes. every word.” you finally hand him back the papers with a smirk.

he’d curse under his breath, ditching the papers in favor of tickling you instead.

what a terrible punishment!

hyunjin:

we all know hyunjin is a drama queen,,

you can be a bit of a dramatic person yourself (who isn’t?).

so when you lose your favorite sweater, you’re immediately going on a wild goose chase around the dorms, because that’s where you had it last.

you’re practically talking to yourself. double checking everywhere you’d been. retracing your steps like a mad person.

you need this sweater!!

you let out a little “urgh!” as you begin getting frustrated.

hyunjin would ask what’s wrong, and when you tell him, he’d GASP.

he’d be like:

“have you checked under the bed?”

“the couch?”

“what about over here?”

“over there?”

this boy will not REST until the sweater is back in your possession, wasting no time in matching your level of concern/dramatics...

… if not exceeding it.

y’all have practically torn the whole room apart at this point.

until finally, you find it in a random drawer (of course smh)

“I FOUND IT!” you’d exclaim, flopping onto the bed and putting the sweater on,

to which you’d receive a “YAY!” in return

tired and leaning against a wall, he’d say something like, “thank GOD! now, why do you need it so bad?”

and you’d simply and softly respond, “... i got chilly~”

he wouldn’t give a verbal response, but his face would go from relaxed to ‘bruh’.

you knew he’d be shocked at your statement, but you choose to tease him instead with a smile.

he would then opt to tackle you in the bed, fumbling with the covers and vowing to make you as warm as humanly possible.

jisung:

jisung definitely loves showing you the music he’s been working on, just like changbin.

except… this time, the lyrics aren’t necessarily what you’re used to hearing.

you can tell jisung’s a bit nervous as he presses play, choosing to keep his eyes on the floor as he nods his head to the rap.

you’re listening intently, as curious and excited as you are every other time…

but then you realize that it’s about you……

the lyrics talk about letting someone into his life and his longing to be even closer to that person than he is now.

therefore,,,, u w u

you giggle, which prompts him to look up at you almost immediately with anticipation about your reaction.

you decide to wait until the end of the song to react, but you can already feel the excitement bubbling up inside of you.

the song ends, and you’re sitting in silence alongside jisung. “so… what did you think?”

“well… i think…” you trail off, looking into jisung’s eyes.

with a bit of a squeal you leap up from your seat and essentially attack him.

you straddle his legs (don’t get any *ideas* this is FLUFF for goodness sake) and wrap your arms around his neck, locking him into a big hug.

“i love it, baby. so, so, so, much,” you respond quickly and genuinely.

he laughs, his arms wrapping around you.

he’d probably remark, “you scared me for a second!”

you laugh in response, apologizing for your delayed reaction.

deep down, he’d feel so relieved that you liked the song and its sentiment.

he’d also be so happy to have you, his overexcited sweetheart, in his arms.

however, at the surface, he’d prefer to tease you. “next time, don’t make me wait so long!”

felix:

ok so y’all send memes and tik toks back and forth all day every day. it’s just protocal.

also,,, you could literally be in the same room, and he’d still just start sending you tik toks he’d saved just to send to you and see your reaction.

but there’s this o n e

you can’t quite explain why but when you watch the tik tok that your boyfriend sent you from across the couch, you laugh harder than you’ve ever laughed before.

whatever humor you may have, this tik tok completely encompasses it in a beautiful, stupid way.

before you know it, you begin cackling.

felix knows that you’ve always been a bit embarrassed of your laugh (who isn’t, right?), so when you start letting loose he’s a bit caught off guard.

still, he joins in (at a smaller scale, of couse).

he always wants to see you happy, but this is a whole new level of cuteness in his eyes.

your laughter subsides a bit...

until you decide to watch the tik tok again.

believe it or not, it’s even funnier the second time!

you double over, laughing so hard that no sound is even coming out of your mouth.

“are you okay?!” he’d ask, laughing harder now at your actions.

he’d put his arms around you so he could hold you up.

you’d mouth out a “no” in response.

there are practically tears forming at the corners of your eyes.

he’d continue looking down at you with a beaming smile, holding you up until your laughter comes to a full stop.

“was it really that funny? i can’t even make you laugh like this.”

you’re almost dazed, your stomach hurting (in the best way possible). you try to steady your breathing.

after a few seconds of recovery, he’d whisper in your ear with a deep, silly voice...

“...wanna watch it again?”

it’s safe to say you won’t fully recover for a while.

seungmin:

on days off, you watch dramas with seungmin to take both of your minds off of work/school/whatever’s been keeping you busy.

however… of course you can’t go a whole episode without laughing hysterically, and it’s all because of seungmin.

it could be the most dramatic, intense, or heartbreaking scene in the show but he would make it into a full blown impersonation comedy routine.

ESPECIALLY if the drama is in a foreign language.

this boy will reinact all of the subs in the stupidest way possible.

but, today he’s a bit exhausted, snuggling up against you and not saying much.

our boys work too hard :(( (but wbk)

...so you decide to take his place.

you start off kind of hesitantly, waiting to see if he’d even react. when the main characters start to have an argument, you begin reading the subtitles in a silly voice.

you hear a soft giggle from your boyfriend has be tightens his arm’s grip around your waist.

you begin to use different voices for each of the two characters, alternating between a nasly, high pitched one and a lower one with voice cracks. this makes seungmin laugh harder, going from a giggle to his usual open-mouthed chuckle.

he’s so cute >_< ,,anyways…

as the scene intensifies, so does the volume of your impersonations.

“yOu’Ve bEtRaYeD mE!”

“BuT yOu LiEd tO mE!”

at this point seungmin is cackling despite his heavy eyes and unwillingness to move. he’d be so caught up in your routine that he’d forget he was even tired.

you look up at him to see that big smile and those sparkly eyes you love so much, which motivates you to be even goofier!

you sit up, leaving seungmin’s grasp. you begin making hand gestures to match your overdramatic tone.

the scene comes to a climax, in which you recite the final line with more ferver and fake passion than ever before. you finish it off with a fist in the air for ~emphasis~.

as you hold this pose, you hear your loyal audience member begin to cheer for you. he claps, whisper-shouting “ahh” to create fake crowd noises.

“what a show!” he would commend you with an expression of sarcastic awe on his face.

you’re really glad you decided to cheer him up…

but not nearly as glad as he is to have you with him on a day like this.

jeongin:

jeongin’s smile could literally melt anyone’s heart. everybody knows this.

i don’t care who you are, if you see jeongin smile, you either smile or cry and there are no other options.

i don’t make the rules.

so, when he shows you the ‘lovestay’ version of his latest dance practice, you’re bound to go insane with adoration.

as soon as his solo comes up and the camera zooms in on his sweet, smiling face, you give his cheek a little poke

you say, “that’s you!”

“shut up,” he’d respond, giggling.

“wait, i missed something,” you say with a sense of urgency. you take the phone from his hands, rewinding a few seconds.

he’d roll his eyes at you, getting a bit shy.

you resume the video until the boy in the video holds up a finger heart, at which point you press pause.

“look how cute!” you exclaim, looking up at jeongin and pointing back and forth between him and the screen.

“stop it!” he’s blushing (and you’re screaming internally at how cute he is) as he tries to refrain from making a big smile.

you poke his side, resulting in a small fit of laughter that forces his bright grin to peek out.

he swats your hand away, putting his arm around you

(partly to show his affection and partly to make you hold still)

you place your head onto his shoulder, resuming the video for the final time. “you’re too cute. i can’t help it.”

“but you’re the cutest...” he murmurs, almost inaudibly to someone who isn’t as close to him as you are now.

heat rises in your face.

you: “...stop…”

him: “hah!”

touché...

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refinedbuffoonery · 4 years

Text

Quarantine Moments (5.5)

By popular request, here’s QM #5 from Mac’s POV. This idiot is pining so hard and he doesn’t even realize it.

*****

Mac watches the sun set behind them in his truck’s side mirror as Riley drives, the sky shifting from blue, to pink, then orange, then a dark burning gold, before fading to inky black. In front of them, the rising moon is barely more than a glowing sliver in the sky, and once they leave SoCal’s sprawling metropolis behind, the vast desert darkness swallows the beams of the truck’s headlights.

Riley rolls her window down, letting the warm night air tug wisps of hair from her messy bun, and Mac can’t help but watch the way she smiles softly and breathes deeply, completely at peace. He rolls down his own window, and the wind ruffles his hair like a lover’s playful fingers.

Mac is surprised when Riley parks in the empty campground. He assumed other people would have the same idea, but but as far as he can see, the area is devoid of human life.

Mac turns his gaze to the glittering sea above. His eyes land on Vega and Arcturus—two of the brightest stars in the sky—before trailing the Milky Way to find Sagittarius along the southern horizon.

Riley’s soft gasp draws his attention back to earth. Her lips part as she smiles, awestruck, and the stars are reflected in her big, dark eyes, almost as if she’s robbing them of their light. Thankfully Riley doesn’t notice his staring, because Mac can’t bring himself to look away.

He should. He knows he should. But, for some reason, he can’t.

Mac is still looking, minutes later, when Bozer yells at him to help make their bed.

It’s not until he’s lying beside Bozer on the mass of pillows and blankets that Mac realizes how small his truck bed really is. In his mind, they all fit perfectly, but in reality, it’s only wide enough for two grown adults, not three. Mac and Bozer scoot to the sides to give Riley as much space as possible, but their shoulders will be overlapping no matter what.

Riley’s arm brushes Mac’s as she squeezes her slim frame into the space in the middle, her warmth soaking into his skin. Mac likes her this close, likes her steady, reassuring presence at his side. They used to gravitate toward each other more, before he got back together with Desi, and Mac will never admit it aloud, but he misses the closeness he once had with Riley.

Quarantining with her, there were moments that felt like their old selves—the people they were back when Jack was still around and their biggest problem was Mac and Riley’s respective daddy issues—but then there would be a long, awkward pause in conversation or Desi would come up, and then that weird gap between them would be right back, wide as ever.

Mac isn’t sure how it even got there in the first place.

He tries to forget about it, distracting himself by searching for constellations while he waits for the first meteor to appear. Finally, one does, zipping across the horizon in the blink of an eye.

“Did you see that?” Bozer squeals.

Riley laughs softly. “Yeah, but I have no idea where it came from, or where I should be looking.”

Mac opens his mouth to explain, but Bozer beats him to it. “For starters, don’t look straight up. Look near the horizon. As Perseus gets higher in the sky during the night, the meteors will appear to come from higher up too.”

“Thanks.”

They watch the sky in peaceful silence.

Eventually, Bozer gets up to pee, and while he’s gone, Riley nudges Mac with her knee. “You’ve been quiet,” she says.

How is he supposed to say that even though their shoulders are literally touching right now, that even though they’ve been locked in his house together for months, he’s never felt farther away from her? That there’s this ever-widening chasm between them that he doesn’t know how to bridge?

Mac doesn’t look at her as he speaks, his eyes finding Vega overhead. “Ancient Chinese astronomers believed Vega and Altair were lovers, forever kept apart by the Milky Way.” He points with two fingers, one toward each star. “Vega is one of the brightest stars in the sky. It’s in the constellation Lyra, which just looks like a parallelogram. And over there is Altair, which is part of Aquila, the eagle.”

Riley doesn’t say anything. Mac glances at her in his peripheral vision. She’s squinting slightly, the way she always does when she’s focusing on something. She must not be able to find the stars, he reasons. Mac doesn’t think before sliding an arm beneath Riley’s shoulders and pulling her closer so that her head rests on his shoulder. His arm brushes her cheek as he points again.

It’s odd being this close to Riley without catching lingering traces of her perfume—a warm, dark scent he can’t pinpoint but likes anyway. She hasn’t worn it since quarantine started, and Mac is starting to miss it.

“I see it,” she breathes. Mac lets his arm drape across Riley’s body.

She tenses, but she doesn’t try to extricate herself from his side. Part of Mac knows he probably shouldn’t be holding her like this. A bigger part doesn’t care. Riley is his best friend goddammit, and he can cuddle her if he wants to. It doesn’t have to mean anything.

“Show me something else,” Riley says softly.

Mac takes a slightly unsteady breath before pointing in a different direction. “Over there are Sagittarius, which looks like a teapot, and Scorpius, which looks like a hook or the letter ‘J.’ Between them is the supermassive black hole that exists in the middle of the galaxy. All of the matter in the Milky Way orbits around it.”

Black holes are easy. Black holes make sense. But Riley...Riley doesn’t.

Especially when the moment passes, and she turns her head away to holler at Bozer. “You good, man?”

Bozer yells back from the other side of the truck. “Yeah! Got a little performance anxiety from this creepy bug staring at me.”

Mac imagines Bozer having a staring contest with some random desert bug sitting on the hood of the truck and bursts out laughing. His arm inadvertently tightens around Riley, and the wicked gleam in her eye when she looks up at him makes the moment even funnier.

He feels it again, that gravitational pull toward her. He’s tempted to let it drag him closer, but he’s afraid of what it might mean if he does.

Riley squirms when Bozer climbs back into the truck, and Mac hesitates before letting her go.

The three of them lay together for hours, just looking up at the stars, until Bozer initiates a chain reaction of yawns. “Mac,” Bozer says. “Did you set the alarm?”

Patting the pillow above Riley’s head, he answers, “Yeah. My phone is right here.”

Riley twists to look at him in horror. “Alarm?”

Mac explains, “The meteor shower’s peak is between three and four am. So unless you’d rather stay up all night...” Riley groans, pulling up a blanket and rolling onto her side. Chuckling at her dramatics, Mac grabs a blanket for himself and watches the stars until he falls asleep.

The volume of his alarm is set far too loud for the phone only being inches from his ear, and Mac winces as he’s forced into consciousness. Beside him, Riley growls, “Turn it off.”

He’s lying on his side with an arm around Riley’s waist, holding her in the curve of his body, but it doesn’t feel weird or awkward. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t like the way Riley fit against him. Mac accidentally bumps her face as he silences the alarm, and he mumbles, “Sorry.” There’s no room to move away from her, so Mac just brushes Riley’s hair out of his face and puts his arm back around her. “I hit snooze. You have five minutes.”

She sighs, absentmindedly brushing her thumb over his hand, and warmth spreads through Mac’s body that has nothing to do with the fact that it’s still nearly eighty degrees outside, even in the middle of the night. He lets himself snuggle closer. If he could live in the calm safety of this moment forever, Mac would.

But he doesn’t hold Riley for long before feeling like he’s about to explode. Mac rubs her shoulder. “Riles, move. I have to pee.”

Riley groans again, but then her hips press into his as she pushes Bozer away, and Mac scrambles to get up before anything awkward happens.

“I’m awake,” Bozer slurs.

“Sure you are.”

He’s back by the time the alarm goes off again, and Mac can hear the soft popping of Riley’s joints as she sits up and stretches. The meteors are more frequent now, nearly two a minute. Most are quick, bright flashes, but a few are slower, gracefully crossing the sky before burning up.

“Riley stop blocking the view,” Bozer says, kicking her in the back. Riley flops back down.

A massive, glowing meteor arcs across the sky in slow motion, lingering for a few seconds before winking out of existence. “Wow,” Riley whispers, smiling.

Wow is an understatement. Mac would’ve driven all the way out here for that meteor alone.

Mac keeps his eyes trained on the heavens until the sky lightens and the first rays of sunlight stretch across the desert. The air seems to hum, the way it always does in announcement of the scorching summer sun.

When they pile into the truck, Mac blasts the air conditioner. He’s already sweating, even though it’s barely six am. As he drives out of the campground and toward the highway, Bozer rattles off suggestions for where to stop for breakfast burritos on the way home.

Apparently content to let Bozer decide, Riley demands, “Wake me up when you have my burrito. Goodnight.” Mac glances at her in the rearview mirror and smiles; she’s sprawled across the pillows and blankets, already fast asleep.

#beth writes #quarantine moments #macgyver #angus macgyver #riley davis #wilt bozer #macgyver fanfiction

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silver-lily-louise · 4 years

Text

This is Nice

In which Alec and Izzy get drunk, and Magnus has the patience of a saint.

Read it on AO3, or below!

~oOo~

Alec is pretty certain that he’s drunk.

‘I think I’m drunk,’ he says, just in case. On the floor next to his couch – not HIS couch, it’s probably Simon’s or Izzy’s because it’s in THEIR apartment – Izzy laughs. ‘I like being drunk,’ she says.

Alec hums in agreement, closing his eyes. Being drunk is nice. It’s all floaty and warm and happy, and those are nice things. He has everything he wants right now.

And then he opens his eyes and glares at the ceiling because that’s not true. ‘I want Magnus,’ he says. ‘Can I have Magnus?’ ‘I think so,’ Izzy says reasonably, and Alec nods because that sounds right to him too. ‘You should… you should call him.’

Alec beams, because that’s the best idea he’s heard ever. ‘I should!’ he exclaims – and he pulls his phone out from his inside pocket and hits speed dial 1 because Magnus is number one. ‘Alexander?’ ‘Maaagnusss!’ he crows. ‘Izzy, I got Magnus!’

Izzy gives a cheer, and over the phone, Magnus laughs, and Alec smiles because if Magnus is happy it’s definitely a good day, those are just the rules. And then he smiles some more, because Magnus has a really really nice voice. He likes listening to it. ‘ALEC.’ Uh-oh. Alec swallows. Either he’s missed something, or Magnus is angry at him. ‘Yeah?’ he says, high-pitched, because he’s hoping that if he sounds casual enough it’ll just go away. There’s a sigh through the phone, but it doesn’t sound angry, and Alec smiles because it worked, hooray! ‘I said, do you need me to come and pick you up?’ Magnus asks, and he’s louder now and that’s nice because it’s MORE of his voice, which is nice.

And then Alec realizes that Magnus wants to pick him up and nods enthusiastically. ‘Yeah!’ he says, grinning. ‘You should – you should come pick me up. I think I’m a bit drunk,’ he confides. ‘I never would have guessed,’ Magnus says, but Alec thinks he’s just being modest because Magnus is really really smart and probably could have guessed if he wanted to, even if Alec’s only a bit drunk. ‘Where are you?’

‘Couch,’ Alec says confidently. ‘I’m lying down, I’m… uh…’ Shit, what is this place called? ‘Izzy,’ he says, turning to face her, ‘what’s this place called?’ Izzy frowns. ‘I don’t think it has a name,’ she says.

Alec’s stomach drops, because if it doesn’t have a name then how is Magnus gonna find –

A flash of light appears behind Izzy, and Magnus steps out of a portal. Alec drops his phone, grinning. He should have known. Magnus is so smart. ‘Magnus!’ he cries, reaching out towards him.

Magnus smiles back at him, waving at Izzy with a spark of magic that also puts a glass of water on her coffee table, and coming over to Alec and crouching down so they’re face to face, which is EXCELLENT because Magnus is very very handsome. ‘Hi,’ Alec says quietly. Magnus shushes him. Maybe he wants to see how quiet they can be. ‘Hi yourself,’ he says, running a hand through Alec’s hair which feels amazing. ‘How are you feeling?’ ‘Good,’ Alec says – but that’s not good enough, so he tries again. ‘Better now that you’re here.’

There, that’s much better. Magnus looks all soft and smiley now. Alec feels a surge of pride.

Izzy groans. ‘It’s not fair,’ she complains. ‘I want my boyfriend, but he’s not here.’ ‘You should get a husband instead,’ Alec suggests, because he has a husband and it’s AWESOME and now he has his husband right here. Izzy gasps. ‘I should!’ she exclaims, reaching for her phone. ‘I’ll tell him!’

And then Alec gets a bit distracted because Magnus laughs again, louder. ‘Well, that ought to be an interesting conversation, but perhaps not one we should be here to witness,’ he says, and Alec nods because Magnus is always right and because he’s playing with Alec’s hair again which is very VERY nice. ‘Ready to go?’ ‘Yep,’ Alec says, and loops his arms around Magnus’ neck, smooshing his face into his husband’s neck and smiling because that’s very nice, too. ‘Alexander.’ ‘Hm?’ ‘If we’re leaving, you have to let go for a minute, my love.’

Alec lets go, but he’s really confused as to why. ‘I thought you were gonna pick me up?’ he says – and then he gasps, because something AWFUL has occurred to him. ‘Am I too big?’ he asks, panicking. ‘Because I can – I can be smaller –‘ and he tries his best, honest, tucking in his knees but that doesn’t help, so he kicks his legs out as hard as he can because he’d be smaller without his shoes, right-? ‘No, no, shh, it’s fine, you’re not too big,’ Magnus assures him, and Alec flops back down, hugely relieved. ‘I just needed to get into the proper stance,’ he explains, shuffling his feet. Alec nods. That makes complete sense. ‘You’re so smart,’ he says, nodding again so Magnus knows he means it, before putting his arms around his husband again and assuming the proper carrying position.

And then he’s lifted, and he laughs, and it’s higher-pitched than Magnus’ but that makes sense because that’s normal for their not-laughing-talking, too. Magnus proves it by chuckling all low and breathy and pretty. ‘All right, darling, here we go.’ ‘Bye Izzy,’ he calls, and he can’t see her but he waves one of his hands because that seems like a nice thing to do.

And then the portal goes whooooosh and closes, and Alec laughs again because they’re so cool. ‘You’re so cool,’ he tells Magnus, because Magnus INVENTED the portal because he’s a GENIUS and Alec loves him so, so much. Before he can say so, though, he’s being laid down on a bed – their bed, he realizes happily, and he snuggles down contentedly, barely having a moment to wonder where Magnus went before there’s a dip in gravity to his right and he looks over to see Magnus in bed with him, which is exactly where he should be, Alec’s not sure why he didn’t check there first but it probably doesn’t matter now.

‘C’m’ere,’ he tells Magnus, and Magnus shuffles towards him but he does it wrong – not wrong, Magnus isn’t wrong, he thinks sternly, but he’s just – ‘No,’ Alec explains, pushing his shoulder, helping him roll. ‘No, like – like – ‘ ‘Ah – here,’ Magnus says, and then he rolls over the rest of the way and scoots backwards into Alec’s arms which is EXACTLY what was supposed to happen and so Alec grins, wrapping his arms and legs around his husband so that they’re spooning.

He laughs. Spoon. That’s a really funny word. ‘Spoon,’ he says out loud, and it’s even funnier out loud. ‘Spoooooon.’

And THEN he realizes something else and gasps in delight. ‘You’re the little spoon,’ he explains to Magnus, grinning. ‘Even though you’re so big.’ Magnus snorts like he’s trying to hold in his laughing, which Alec thinks is a bad idea but maybe when he explains the joke Magnus will laugh properly. ‘Because you’re waaay taller than Izzy,’ he says, trying to think of other, better examples. ‘Or Luke, or Jace – ‘

And then he laughs, laughs so much because Jace means – ‘or Clary,’ he says, and he’s laughing really really hard now because – ‘she’s so sho-o-o-o-oorrt.’

And then Magnus laughs, too, and Alec beams because he knew Magnus would see the funny side eventually, he’s so smart and funny and handsome and… Alec frowns. ‘What were you saying?’ ‘Nothing, Alexander,’ Magnus says, and Alec frowns some more because that doesn’t sound right – ‘You were talking about spooning.’

‘Yeah!’ he exclaims, nodding and feeling all proud inside. He knew Magnus would figure it out, he’s so smart. ‘Yeah – because you’re the little spoon, and I’m the big spoon, because I’m taller than you.’ ‘That’s right,’ Magnus agrees. Alec hums thoughtfully. ‘Is that why you married me?’ he asks. ‘Because I can be a big spoon?’ He can feel Magnus pet his arm, and then there’s a wave of magic and Alec suddenly feels nice and soft and comfy and his throat isn’t as scratchy and his mouth tastes like really really nice mintyness, and what was he saying?

‘I married you for a lot of reasons, Alexander,’ Magnus says all softly and happily and Alec smiles because that’s a nice thing. ‘But yes, you’re a wonderful big spoon.’ Alec nods seriously – and then remembers his plan from the couch and holds Magnus tighter. ‘I won’t get smaller then,’ he declares, because Magnus needs to know that Alec is going to do this. ‘I’ll stay big so I can be a good big spoon.’

Magnus hums. ‘Excellent. That sounds like a very good idea, Alexander.’ And Alec nods because if Magnus thinks so, it must be true.

Magnus sighs, and it makes Alec feel all tired, and he yawns. ‘I’m tired now,’ he says, because he likes telling Magnus things, likes sharing all his secrets with his Magnus. He’s pretty sure he promised to do that at their wedding, and Alec should always keep his promises. ‘You should go to sleep then, darling,’ Magnus says, and wow, he’s right again and that’s really nice of him.

That seems like a lot of effort to say, though, so Alec just kisses the back of his head and hums. Just this once, he can wait and tell Magnus in the morning. ‘Love you,’ he says, though, because that isn’t one that can be wait.

‘I love you too, Alexander.’ And that’s a really nice thing to hear last, and so Alec decides to go to sleep –

…….😌

~oOo~

#shtv #malec #malec fanfic #alec lightwood-bane #magnus lightwood bane #shs #mine #alcohol tw #this is ridiculous and i loved every second of writing it #i did the vast majority stream of consciousness style and left it unedited aha

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adultswim2021 · 3 years

Text

Robot Chicken #13: “Badunkadunk” | April 24, 2005 – 11:30PM | S01E10

I just remembered, I did watch this one on TV for some reason. Like, I’m guessing that because the final Sealab was airing this night and that Tom Goes To The Mayor was new I just decided to make an old-fashioned night of watching Adult Swim. Because I *sorta* remember this episode.

First sketch is an E! True Hollywood Story type sketch about The Incredible Hulk, as though he’s a real guy who became an actor playing himself, I guess. There’s a part in here I remember which is Ang Lee giving a press conference talking about the 2003 Hulk motion picture and he says something like “It surely will not be a huge flop that will ruin my career!” and I remember hating that joke so much and then going online and seeing Robot Chicken fans quoting it as though it were the best joke of the episode. If I didn’t already know that this show isn’t for me, that should’ve pushed me over into the nay column.

There’s a running sketch in this one called “Sabrina the Teenage Bitch” where Sabrina from Sabrina the Teenage Witch is a bitch to people. That’s it! Listen, “Sabrina the Teenage Bitch” is sorta funny, because the word “bitch” is inherently funny to me (It used to repulse me so much, especially in the colloquial bro-speak way it was used around this time, but now I’m back around on it, sorry!! I’m sorry), but this is such first-thought shit. I guarantee any middle-schooler who grew up during Sabrina’s reign on TGIF (it really was a reign; remember when they cancelled all the shows but Sabrina and Boy Meets World and replaced them with other shittier magic-themed sitcoms?) thought to say “Sabrina the Teenage Bitch” to the delight of fellow easily-amused children. This could’ve used an ironic twist. Hell, I still I wouldn’t have liked it, probably, but Robot Chicken’s propensity for gory spectacle could’ve even spiced this sketch up.

Then there’s a short sketch where Bill Clinton is hiding Monica Lewinsky in his marital home like she’s E.T.. I have to admit, this one’s kinda funny, and I only didn’t like it because this show puts me in a bad mood. If Robot Chicken were funnier and I were doing a big smile when the sketch was starting I might’ve rolled with it better. There’s a fairly absurd punchline that is very much a me-style joke. I guess this is the sketch of the episode I’ll single out as “the best”! But I bet at the time I was like “Monical Lewinsky jokes in 2005? REALLY!??

Then there’s a sketch about the royal family in He-Man (A show I watched religiously as a child but remember almost nothing about), the princess (see, I can’t even remember her name!) is like Paris Hilton, and she has a leaked sex-tape. This sketch is sorta okay, I kinda liked how it was put together. But nothing in here made me HE-HEE!!!

Speaking of He-HEE!! Freaking Michael Jackson shows up in a sketch that I am going to pretend is a spiritual sequel to the VH1 Movie that Rocks The Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story - which is essentially a spiritual sequel to the old 90s The Jacksons - an American Dream. In it we find out Micheal Jackson is actually a freaking alien and the real Micheal Jackson comes back to take his rightful place on Earth. It’s not very funny, but what’re you gonna do? HMMM??

I laughed way more watching Man in the Mirror, shockingly directed by Allan Moyle who directed Pump Up The Volume and Times Square, two of my favorite teen-angst movies. I stumbled on this movie on TV and watched it for like 20 minutes and literally thought it was a parody, and that it was a really hilarious and smart one. Like, the look of it seemed like a better-than-average sketch show and the guy playing Micahel Jackson seemed like he was plucked from the small pool of an eight-person comedy troupe and not the product of a more conventional casting search. I recommend watching the mini-series, the movie, the E! courtroom re-enactments, and then his autopsy video when you celebrate the anniversary of his going to hell for all of eternity. Damn, that’s a good idea

Space Ghost Coast to Coast: “The Mask” | November 4, 1994 January 19th, 1995 | Special

Hey! The first special episode! This was actually a segment on The Mask VHS tape, and this, along with clips they showed on Talk Soup were among the only outlets I had as a Space Ghost fan without Cartoon Network. This isn’t that good of an episode, but I do remember every time I watched The Mask on VHS I would definitely make a point to also watch this.

This one seems to be attempting to exist somewhere in the middle of adult-oriented humor and child-friendly humor. It’s appearance on a PG-13 rated cassette tape might’ve even let them get away with mild drug humor even. I remember being blown away that this exchange took place:

Jim Carrey: Uhhh, that's just really a side effect from the drugs. Space Ghost: Drugs are bad! Jim Carrey: Cool. Alright. Space Ghost: I've never taken drugs. Jim Carrey: Quit braggin'!

This might seem mild, but every seemingly kid-friendly piece of media (even PG-13 movies weren’t totally immune to this, especially if they included kid-friendly stars like Jim Carrey) would come out on the side of being explicitly anti-drug, even if it was a softpedal version of this. Here we have Space Ghost saying “drugs are bad” but he’s not super-convincing, and he’s portrayed as somewhat of a square boob. Portraying Jim Carrey as being dismissive of this message seemed really subversive to me at the time.

There’s also a bit in here where Space Ghost rebukes’ Jim’s impression of him as “childish” and I just realized that I literally quote this all the time. Like when people make fun of me in real life I will get all straight-faced and deliver a Space-Ghost-esque “childish.” I never realized where it came from until now.

It is important to note that this episode was never made available officially other than it’s original VHS incarnation, which also included a brief little teaser at the start of the film where Space Ghost only has ten seconds to tell the viewers to stay tuned after the movie to watch his interview. The version I found on YouTube actually does include this bit, which is rare; most uploads I find of this episode overlook this segment. To me, the episode isn’t truly complete unless you include the entire VHS version of The Mask (there’s also a Pop Secret ad on the tape, which is equally essential). Making this the longest Space Ghost episode ever.

The Jim Carrey interview (director Russel Johnson was also featured in his special) was repurposed for episode 11A “Le Livre d'Histoire”, which uses the Jim Carrey episode and portions of the upcoming infamous “Story Book House” episode.

MAIL BAG

Fun fact! If you wanna be super technical, ToonHeads was the VERY first new show Cartoon Network aired (as early as day 1), and one of their longest running! It's a shame they don't even give it the 5am treatment on Boomerang like the Cartoon Cartoons.

I did not realize this! I looked it up - this person is correct. CONFIRMED. I agree that this show deserves more respect, and to be remastered... by a fan! “A fan remastered this”

#adult swim #adultswim2021 #space ghost coast to coast #robot chicken

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biwenqing · 4 years

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Hello! If you're still writing prompts, then 15 with the yunmeng sibs and a-yuan. I can't have enough of wwx getting to raise a yuan.

Thank you so so much for this prompt because, same anon, I can’t get enough of WWX being able to raise his baby. Or him getting to be with his siblings! I hope you enjoy this! What AU this is, I’m not sure, but they’re all together <3 Prompt: “when I’m with you, I’m home”

Little Jin Ling was two now, which Yuan had decided was the perfect age to attempt to pick up his cousin. This wasn't a very successful activity, because even though Yuan was almost three years older, he was still a little small for his age and Jin Ling had always been a big baby. They both got uncontrollable giggles whenever Yuan hugged Jin Ling under his arms and lifted, Jin Ling kicking his feet in the air. He would shriek with laughter whenever Yuan then tried to walk.

What was even funnier than watching the kids, was watching the way Jiang Cheng got jumpy every time this happened. Wei Wuxian tried to hide his laughter as Jiang Cheng twitched again as if he might be needed to catch the kids should they topple over.

"How are you not worried? What if they fall off the pier?" Jiang Cheng didn't look away from monitoring his nephews.

"Firstly, we are so far away from the pier, they would have to run," Wei Wuxian gestured to the awkward waddle Yuan had managed with Jin Ling's kicking, unable to hide his smile at his brother or the kids' antics. "Second, I have been teaching a-Yuan to swim and he is very good at it."

Jiang Yanli added from her place on Jiang Cheng's other side. "Plus a-Cheng, we know you'd catch them before they got that far."

"How are your children stressing me out more than you?" Jiang Cheng asked with a huff.

"You have to get used to it so you don't try and keep them hidden from the world." Wei Wuxian leaned forward to refill all their teacups.

"Is that why you let a-Yuan eat dirt?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"That was one time! And I didn't see him!" Wei Wuxian played into being deeply affronted, leaning into Jiang Cheng's space until his brother shoved him as if they too were still just kids. "Why did you let my son eat dirt? That is the real question."

"A-die!" Yuan's voice cut through any retort Jiang Cheng might have come up with. Yuan had put Jin Ling down but was holding his hand as they stood in front of the table.

"A-Yuan!" Wei Wuxian responded and beamed at him, reaching out to gently boop his nose. "What is it?"

"You promised we'd catch frogs," Yuan reminded.

"Frogs!" Jin Ling agreed.

"Alright, alright," Wei Wuxian stood and turned to his siblings. "You heard the kids. To the frogs!"

[...]

The summer sun was hot on the back of Wei Wuxian's head as he came to rest on the river's shore. Jiang Yanli followed, her robes rolled up like his, damp where they had been wading in the shallows of the river. She rested her head on his shoulder as they both sat and watched.

Jiang Cheng was still in the water, trying to show Jin Ling how to gently hold a frog before letting it go again. Yuan was helpfully bringing frogs over for the demonstration. Both kids were completely wet, given a few face plants into the water and some splash battles.

It all felt so much like when the three of them had been kids. They could play for hours in the river and the lotuses. Jiang Yanli taught them the way to sneak up on a sunning frog in the shallows. Splashing each other until they were soaked enough to look like they had been dunked underwater. Their laughter wrapping around the rays of sunlight until it felt like it filled the whole world. It was some of the happiest Wei Wuxian had ever been.

"I'm glad we came to visit," Jiang Yanli said.

"Do you ever wish you still lived here?" Wei Wuxian asked, looking down at her.

She shifted her head on his shoulder to get more comfortable but kept her eyes towards the kids. "Sometimes," Jiang Yanli sighed. "Mostly I miss you both."

Wei Wuxian took a deep breath. "Me too."

Jiang Cheng came up their way, but not before instructing the kids to stay on the shore. They seemed to be inventing a game together, from the snippets of excited conversation that came their way. Jiang Cheng flopped to the ground, head resting on Wei Wuxian's thigh.

"Ow, you're poking me," Wei Wuxian complained, before reaching to gently take off Jiang Cheng's hairpiece. He set it carefully on the ground beside them. He then tried to poke Jiang Cheng with his finger for revenge, but Jiang Yanli swatted his hand away.

"This is home," Jiang Cheng murmured, head turned to continue to keep an eye on his nephews.

"Of course it is," Jiang Yanli said, a slight question in her voice.

“No you don't understand," Jiang Cheng continued. He wouldn't look either of them in the eye. "Only when I’m with you, I’m home. It's not the same otherwise.”

Wei Wuxian swallowed, trying to stop his throat from closing with emotion. He looked at Jiang Yanli, who had reached out to start petting Jiang Cheng's hair. He rested a hand on his brother's shoulder, trying to ground them both.

"That doesn't mean I want or expect you to move back," Jiang Cheng added, just as softly. "I know you are both happy, that you have others who rely on you. And I'm fine."

"I've been planning on visiting more often, now that a-Ling is getting older," Jiang Yanli said. "I want him to train here when he is old enough."

"How'd your husband take that?" Jiang Cheng asked and Wei Wuxian gave an amused snort.

"He was very in favor," Jiang Yanli scolded, before adding with an innocent smile, "Once I explained to him that it was the only option."

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng both looked at each other, before bursting out with laughter. "We should never doubt our shijie's power," Wei Wuxian managed once he calmed down enough.

"What about a-Yuan?" Jiang Cheng asked, and Wei Wuxian could hear the hope in his voice, even if he tried to hide it.

"Ay, it's complicated," Wei Wuxian said truthfully.

"Don't tell me your son is going to be taught the Wen methods of cultivation." Jiang Cheng sat up and added in a teasing tone. "Or worse, the Lan?"

"So rude," Wei Wuxian shook his head at his brother and got an eye-roll in response. "He'll of course train here, but he has other obligations. I just want to make sure he gets to be a kid."

"I'd take care of him," Jiang Cheng assured, and Wei Wuxian smiled because he knew that was the truth.

"I know," he said. "But you should be warned if you think I'm not going to be here the whole time he is training..."

"Oh no." Jiang Cheng flopped back down dramatically.

"Careful what you wish for. Ouch! Shijie, he pinched me!"

#jiang cheng #jiang yanli #wei wuxian #jin ling #lan sizhui #the untamed #lan yuan #uncle jiang cheng #jiang sibs #my fic #i was so so excited to see this prompt #i love them all so much!#probably the same au as the one i posted last #aka the yuan saves the day au #a talks #a answers #anon

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waatermelon-sugaar · 3 years

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Which of your fics?

Tagged by @brandyllyn thanks so much I love these things!!

Which fic got a better reaction than you expected?

Cold (Santi x f!reader). It was my first fic so I wasn’t expecting much and then a couple of months after I published it it was recommnded by someone and I suddenly realised it was over 100 notes! That day was good, I never expected my first fic to be so popular.

Which fic is your funniest?

Idk I’m funnier in real life I promise. Maybe Choose Me (Richard x gn!reader) or Rules of Sabaac (Poe x gn!reader). But yeah my writing isn’t that funny yet? idk

Which fic is your darkest/angstiest?

Oof. I don’t really write angst, but Drunk Calling (Santi x gn!reader), although I don’t really like that fic, but my next Poe fic is turning out Very Angst-y

Which fic was the easiest to write?

Bliss (FO!Poe x f!reader) and Want to Kiss (Poe x f!reader) were both so easy. I knew exactly what I wanted to happen, and they both got written in nearly one go.

Which fic is your absolute favourite?

Honestly I don’t know.

Want to Kiss was just so easy to write and includes pretty much all of my favourite tropes (fake dating for a mission, mutual pining, compromising positions for a mission etc)

Nathan and Nightmares (Nathan x f!reader) is also one of my favourites because it was big comfort imagine for me for a long time before I wrote it.

Also Half Priced Chocolate (Nick Wasicsko x f!reader) was cute

Which fic is your least favourite?

Drunk Calling. I don’t think it’s very good, and I imagined a lot of pressure when I was writing this, and I also really struggled to get Santi and the reader to both talk and move. I think it comes off a little stilted because of this, and I also think it’s under-developed - it was my first time writing angst and I think I should have gone harder with it

Which fic have you reread the most?

Honestly I don’t know. I don’t tend to reread my own fics just because I can’t turn off my inner critic and I cringe a lot. Like 90% of the time I’m happy with a fic when I post it and if I reread it I tend to become unhappy with it so I don’t do that. Answering these questions is honestly the first time I've looked at most some of my fics since I posted them.

Which fic was the hardest?

Chapter 5 of Under My Skin (Poe x f!reader). As my chapters went on I got less notes and so I was naturally demotivated. I also think I was pushing myself too hard to get a chapter out every week and so by the time came for the 5th chapter I couldn’t do it. I also struggled with the plot as the whole story started out as a 500 word imagine and I couldn’t find a way for Poe and reader to reconcile and have a happy ending without it seeming really cheesy and naive. And then I got super in my head about it and decided the only possible solution was to lock the fic up in a box and never let it see the light of day lmao. I’ve done it now tho

Also Drunk Calling. It was a request from an author I really admire and love and respect and I wanted to do her proud, but I really struggled with ideas, subsequently put too much pressure on myself and made myself feel like I needed to post something, anything.

Which fic has your favourite line/paragraph?

I hate this question purely because it made me go read some of my own fics but this is what I’ve got:

Take Care of Me:

One of his hands is on your calf, gently trailing up and down, slowly setting you on fire, and you don’t even think he realises he’s doing it. There’s something in his eyes that you don’t recognise, darker, although it seems familiar. That’s been happening more and more lately, especially when it’s just the two of you.

Under my skin: chapter 3

“It’s much nicer than Dameron.” And maybe it’s because he looks especially vulnerable like this, talking about his dead mother with his curls flopping forwards and his face lit by the fire, but you can feel your heart start to beat a little faster.

Also I generally found that I preferred the vibe of some paragraphs and the ideas, rather than the actual sentences... I dont know what that means either

The fic you’re most proud of?

Cold because it was my first one and I was so nervous.

Also Under My Skin. I really did enjoy writing the first couple of chapters, and I am proud that I stuck with it and finished something of that length. I made a playlist for that fic and everything.

No pressure tags: @starryeyedstories @woakiees @propertyofpoeandbucky and anyone else who wants to do it - tag me! Would love to hear your thoughts about your own work, it's so interesting!

#Annette chats #tag game #my fics

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btackt · 3 years

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omgg haha that's wild that somebody's uncle spotted them!! the whole thing gives me vibes of ofd castaway when they had to work some in the cabbage field lol. I watched a little bit this morning but am going to finish it tonight, from what I've seen on here its just going to get funnier and funnier 😂😂 I agree, they'll deff be in each others lives long past being idols I'm sure! they've all talked about how close they are and have become over the years (1/4)

I think even when they inevitably do enlist we'll get plenty from members! I kind of doubt with thirteen members they'll all go at once BUT who knows! I try not to think too much about that, can be a little bit of a sad thought but it's also still years away. I think they're deff popular enough to also continue as idols post enlistment if they choose to do so! it seems that's the route a lot of the big big groups go with (2/4) hmmm yeah they might be the first to do that! I cant say at least in my spheres of the kpop world that I've heard of non fans being really interested in idol groups variety shows. not even (and this isn't a swing at them, just saying) heard of like bts being the biggest group rn that people outside fandom go out of their way to watch whats it called? bts run? I haven't been into them for years now so I forget what its called. I like that a lot of the times with gose it (3/4) doesnt have a ton to do with their music its more just them as people having fun. I think that deff makes it super accessible to non kpop fans. not everyone likes kpop and that's fine, but lbh we all like a good show to watch. excited to hear your thoughts on the rice paddy ep!! I can't wait to see how it ends later!! (4/4, these keep getting longer and longer lol) -💎

Yes! honestly I can't imagine what but I know jun/the8/joshua are going to be up to some fantastic stuff while everyone else is away. I feel like if they do it in either two batches or even just one it would be best. I'm on the newer side to kpop so I don't really know all the bands that have enlisted and stuff but I got to know Shinee just this year post-enlistment and I realized how historic of a group they are, how there was no way they wouldn't still be popular post enlistment (and they have one more serving right now). And gather new fans like me even AFTER a big break. I hope Seventeen becomes that kind of historic (???: Let's go down in history) so that there's no question they survive enlistment. I know some other groups have gone and done it in rotation and so on, but idk if anyone has survived the lull with flying colors like Shinee did. I hope Seventeen is the next one to do it as well as Shinee.

My sister has been into kpop much longer than me and she used to really like BTS, and she said she used to love looking forward to BTS Run, but it all went downhill eventually. I think Seventeen really was lucky to meet people like 현석이 형 and 은송 누나 (like anybody who looks at 96's zodiac sign and decides they're going to make a whole challenge out of turning them into mice, those are people I can trust) and likewise the production team is lucky to meet a group like Seventeen who are down to do anything and are committed to the comedy. I guess that's one of the big reasons I am a pledis-supporter carat, just looking back at how much budget Pledis poured into hiring the production team for a literal variety show that doesn't have anything to do with the music (barely), like you said, and then it paying off within half a year, that's a company I can get behind.

Oh boy GoSe was so fun today. The opening was killer with them all just flopping into the field. And the highlights for me were definitely The8 and Jun being sleeper comedians like always and Woozi being especially cute and sensitive that day haha. There are some times when he's just chillin and happy (like Don't Lie 2) and sometimes he's like 에이! and starts fighting in his high-toned voice lol. It's so funny like all of vocal team sings in high voices but most of them have normal speaking voices except for Woozi, he actually has a high tone in his voice. 관장님! 감사합니다! also while it seems like GoSe production team cannot be beaten in terms of old variety show references, they constantly fail to identify old (not even that old) music references that SVT makes. They thought (and my baby kpop fan self thought) that the song Jun sang was something he made up but carats pointed out on twitter that it's a tvxq song...

#caratanon2021 #I apologize to all of you just passing by on the timeline for my long posts

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gosh-im-short · 4 years

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Prejudice Painted in Our Minds Chapter 1

Summary: Lillian and Calum have always been at odds. The two have never been able to get along and that never doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon. But when they both learn that Calum’s sister and Lillian’s best friend, Melanie, is dating a guy they both don’t approve of, it seems they have something in common after all.

Warnings: uh nothing so far. a mutual dislike for Kyle and some jabs at the dude

word count: 3.6k

a/n: okay first of all i really want to thank Hailey @talkfastromance4 for helping me with this fic. she’s been letting me just blabber about it for a bit now and im really happy it’s finally coming through yay. i don’t have a face claim set for Lillian (unless me but lets be realistic) or Melanie so hopefully my descriptions don’t suck too bad. and hopefully the pov shifts back sense as well. anyway umm I hope you guys like it and if this flops ah uh we’ll just never speak of it

taglist: @galcalirwin @tea4sykes (if you guys wanna read this that is)

The steady beating of her finger beat down onto the high table as Lillian waited. Melanie was suppose to meet her for lunch, but so far the woman hadn’t arrived yet. She started to chew her lip as she brought out her phone. No notifications yet. So maybe she was on her way? Hopefully she hadn’t forgotten. A slight smile crept up onto Lillian’s face. Melanie had a habit of forgetting that is for sure.

But as she took another glance at the cafe’s door, she saw her best friend rushing down the sidewalk outside of the cafe. Lillian’s smile widened as Melanie opened the door making a chiming sound appear and walked in. The eighteen year old, dark skinned and black haired woman looked disheveled with her pale yellow sweater dipping down from her shoulder. She looked over and caught Lillian’s gaze before she walked over to her. Lillian looked slightly up as Melanie came and sat down at the table.

“Sorry, I’m so late. Traffic was a pain.” Melanie exhaled as she set her skinny forearms down onto the table and rested her chin down on them.

“It’s fine.” Lillian said with a wave of her hand as she glanced down at her friend. Melanie was on the side of... Well... dramatic. She tended to be over dramatic at times and made life seem like it was suppose to be filmed. Was it a little ridiculous sometimes? Yes. Did Lillian want to throw a table sometimes? Absolutely. But she didn’t. Why? Melanie was her best friend and if that was her best fault, well she couldn’t let that come between them.

“Did you order yet?” Melanie asked as she rose her honey brown eyes up at her.

“Oh no not yet.” Lillian said as she glanced at the register. “I wanted to wait for you.” A small smile came onto Melanie’s lips.

“Well isn’t that sweet?”

“And also make you pay for your own stuff.” Lillian decided to throw a tease at the woman.

“Hey.” Melanie said with a grin before she reached out and ruffled Lillian’s brown hair.

“Hey yourself.” Lillian laugher as she fixed her frizzy hair. And she just got it somewhat perfect too. Sigh.

“It’s not my fault my parents are stingy about my allowance.” Melanie said with her signature pout. “They usually let Calum get it first.” But at the mention of her adoptive older brother, Lillian’s face fell. If you measured the amount of love that Lillian had for her best friend, then you would be able to equal that to the hate she had for Calum. Oh yes. Calum. Just the thought of his name made Lillian’s nose wrinkle.

While Melanie was easily the light of Lillian's life... her step brother was an entirely different subject. He was the bane of her existence to put it simply. The one that always was in the back of her mind like a fly that was buzzing around her head. And there were times she really, really wanted to slap him. Metaphorically or physically? Both.

“Ah. I see.” Was all that Lillian said with a slow nod. For some reason Calum always had a bone to pick with her. From the first day she met him, he was always rubbing her the wrong way. And she never did anything to him. He was just... Calum. In every annoying way he was.

“Lilly, are you listening?” Melanie’s voice rang out into her thoughts. Lillian sat up more.

“I- no. Sorry I wasn’t.” She apologized with a shy smile as Melanie sighed.

“Its all right.” Melanie said with a a wave of her hand. “I was just talking nonsense anyway.”

“Oh well umm... should we order?” Lillian offered with a tilt of her head. Her brown locks dipped down and touched her bicep.

“Sure.” Melanie said before the two of them stood up and walked towards the cashier.

The café was a rather popular place. It was nestled in on a corner in the downtown part of the city. It was Lillian’s favorite place because of classical music and it served frozen coffee. Frozen coffee was far superior to iced coffee in Lillian's opinion. And coffee would always top over those disgusting liquid leaves. Ugh. She chewed on her lip as Melanie ordered a very sugary drink along with a pastry that also had a lot of sugar in it. Melanie was always that type of girl with a loud and unashamed laugh followed with a snort out of her button like nose that just made anything and everything that much funnier. The teachers in their high school had learned very quickly not to let the two of them sit together. Once Lillian finished ordering her coffee and bagel (with cream cheese of course), she headed back to the table. Melanie was already sitting down and gazing out of the window. Her thin eyebrows were pulled together in a furrow as she stared out. Huh. Lillian sat down in front of her. She was definitely thinking of something. Lillian looked down at her miniature hands. She had discovered a while ago that if Melanie wanted to tell her something that was bothering her, oh she would definitely tell it. A couple minutes passed in between them in which the calm and understanding quietness existed. Lillian scrolled through her phone to see what posts she was tagged in. Melanie did the same thing while chuckling to herself about something only to shove her phone into Lillian's view to show exactly what was funny (which happened a lot since Melanie laughed at sometimes the most dumbest stuff.) Lillian stayed in her seat with her ankles crossed and her forearms settled on the table until her name was called and she had to rise, mostly awkwardly because of the tall table that she had chosen. Once seated, she situated her iced coffee and the wrapped bagel down on the table along with her napkins and knife. And just... just when she was about to bite into her cream cheesed bagel- Melanie spoke up "So I have something to tell you." Melanie said in a sort of rushed manner. Lillian slowly set her bagel down on the wrapper. "Uh- yeah. Shoot." She said as she gave a glance down at the unbitten bagel. Then she looked at her friend who was chewing on her bottom lip. Uh oh. This something... was going to be something it seemed. "So uh- it's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while now." Melanie said as she clasped her hands together on the table. "You see.... there's no easy way to say this." She exhaled a laugh as she looked down and away from her. Lillian shifted in her seat uneasily. "I have a boyfriend." Lillian's eyes went wide as she stared at her best friend. Of all the things... she... she can't be serious about this. Melanie took a chance and glanced up at her friend with an awkward smile on her face. "Surprise?" "I... umm... wow." Lillian breathed out as she... well. It was definitely a surprise. "How long have you two been together?" "Two weeks now." Melanie answered with now a shy smile. She propped her elbow onto the table and leaned her cheek into her palm. "And he, so far, has been a dream." "Ah... well uh- wow. This is great." Lillian said as she sat up straighter in her chair. "I'm happy for you." And she was, but... just.... she wished Melanie would have said something about it before now. "But uh..." She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Why I didn't say anything?" Melanie finished for her. Lillian offered a short nod. "Well.... to put it simply... you wouldn't have approved of him." Lillian titled her head confused. "What? Why not?" "Well..." Melanie trailed off and looked to the side. "Do I know him?" Lillian started to fill in the gaps as she leaned closer to her friend. "Uh... yes." Melanie was fiddling with the bracelet adoring her wrist now. "So... who is he?" Lillian asked as she studied her friend. Then... wait. "It's not Dylan right?" Melanie's brown eyes flew open as they snapped back up to her. "Because you promised you would not go back to that cheating son of a-" "Oh- no." Melanie interrupted as she flapped her hands around like a frightened bird. "It's not Dylan. It... it's Kyle." And at that- Lillian's jaw fell. "Kyle? The guy who was always high on powerade?" She said as she stared at her best friend in disbelief. "Yes... but that was in high school! We're in college now." Melanie reminded her with a nod as if that made it completely fine. "Yes- but... he.... he's... Kyle." Lillian stressed out the name of the long haired, Naurto loving... man. It seemed he was more of a child most of the time. And the fact that he just looked like he did crack half of the time as well? Ugh. "I know." Melanie said with a sigh as she looked back at her. "But he... you just don't know him." Lillian rolled her eyes. "I know him well enough to know that I just... don't like him." She defended her opinion of the man. Melanie let out a frustrated sigh. "Yeah, yeah... I know. Which is kinda why I delayed on telling you." Lillian bit on her lip. Then she slowly exhaled. "I... I can't really stop you from dating him, but I... just..." Her words trailed off as she reached up and moved her hair back. "I don't want you to get hurt again." Melanie reached out and placed her hand on top of hers. "I know. I know you don't me to get hurt." She told her friend softly. "But I trust him. He's a good guy." Lillian just bit her lip and nodded a few times. "If you say so." She mused before she was sipping her cold coffee. Melanie was quick to switch the subject to a different one. Lillian mostly listened and nodded as Melanie rattled on with her story. It was usually like this- Melanie speaking and Lillian listening. But Lillian didn't mind, she liked listening to her friend speak. She had a certain way with her soft voice, but loud expressions. Melanie could make even the most boring story full of life like she was Persephone. Then the two were standing up from the table and sharing their goodbyes. Lillian headed out of the café with the sun glowing down onto brown hair before she disappeared down the sidewalk and out of Melanie's view. Melanie smiled to herself before she turned and headed down the sidewalk herself. The rising heat of the sun warmed her dark skin as she headed back to her apartment. She and Calum shared an apartment together. Calum was currently working during the day so she didn't expect to see him anytime soon. So it was a sudden surprise when she walked into the apartment to see her older brother lounging on the couch. Calum was clad in sweatpants- as usual- and was spread out on their couch. His attention was on the screen of the tv sported in front of him until his head swerved over to her as she closed the door. "Hey." He said rather casually as he looked back at the screen. "Hey. I thought you were working today?" Melanie questioned as she came further into their living room and stood next to the couch. "Yeah me too, but," a one shoulder shrug paused his words, "I requested a later shift." Melanie nodded a few times. "Oh okay. Move the leg." She directed her older brother before he did as she said. Calum learned a long time ago that if he didn't move the leg, the leg would be sat on. She sat down next to him as he fixed his position on the couch. Her brown eyes landed on the tv screen as a comedy was playing with it's laugh track appearing. She bit her lip as she stared forward before her eyes drifted back to her brother. Well.... she told one of them. Might as well try to tell the other. "So Calum." She started out while clasping her hands and looking down at them. At the sound of his sister's voice, Calum looked over at her. "Yeah?" He asked with one of his thick eyebrows raising. What was up with her? "There's something I've been meaning to tell you." He sat up a little bit more and looked over at her. His silence only prompted her to continue. "Uh so uh- I told Lillian this morning about this but-" "Oh so that's where you were. With Lilly." He interrupted her as his eyebrows rose further. Melanie gaze met his with an annoyance sparking in her brown eyes. "You know she hates that nickname." She stated flatly as Calum fought the desire to smirk. And that was the reason he referred to her as that. "Anyway as I was saying.... uh..." once again that nervous expression was back on her face. "You see... uh.... I have a boyfriend." What. "You have a what." Calum repeated as he stared at his sister in shock. "A boyfriend." She repeated as she looked down at her hands. He couldn't believe this. "Who?" He questioned as he turned to face his sister completely on the couch. Then... oh. Oh no. "It's not Dylan right?" To his surprise, a huff came out of her lips. "No it is not Dylan. It's Kyle." Calum was sure his eyes were going to bulge out of his head. "Kyle?" He repeated after her. He couldn't believe this. "The Kyle from high school? The one I'm pretty sure took drugs?" "Oh for the love of- Kyle does not do drugs!" She exclaimed while throwing her hands into the air. "He's a very sweet guy actually and we're dating and I just wanted to let you know." His lips pressed together as he studied her. Her eyes were now directed on the screen firmly. Her hands were clasping around the ends of her sweater. Slowly a sigh exhaled out of him. Melanie could be very stubborn about some things. Whether that be her opinion or her life choices. And it seemed this was going to be one of those times. "I... all right. Can I meet the guy?" Again he wanted to add, but decided not to mention the infamous moment of Kyle spilling his drink on his shirt that one time... no. He had not forgotten. Melanie's eyebrows rose and she gave him a quizzical look. "What?" "You... actually want to see him?" "Yeah... sure. See if he's actually changed." Or if his sister is just believing in the best again. She was silent for a few moments. Then a slow smile came onto your lips. "Sure. We can all go out to eat tonight, that is... if you can make it there." "Make it an early dinner around five and sure." Melanie nodded as he turned his attention back to the tv screen as she pulled out her phone. Maybe it was time to kill two birds with one stone. __ Lillian checked her reflection in the mirror as she smoothed the fabric of the navy dress over her hips. It was a dark blue that was snug against her waist and was sleeveless as well. There were splotches of glitter across her torso that fortunately didn't dig into her chest. The dress stopped at the base of her knees in a flowing manner while the upper level of it was snug against her body. Over all she thought she looked rather well in it. She hadn't done much with her makeup except her lashes, brows, and lips and she had pulled her brown hair back into a low bun. For one it drew more attention to the silver jewelry she had on her neck and for the fact that her hair was quite frizzy. She picked up her purse and her black heels before she was making her way to the door of her apartment. She slipped on her heels and a black coat before she was making her way out. Her apartment wasn't entirely large. It consisted of two medium sized bedrooms, a kitchen that flowed into the living room, a bathroom that connected in between the two bedrooms, and a laundry room right next to the kitchen. Well okay maybe it was a little big. But there were apartments that were bigger. The sounds of the rushing past cars greeted her ears as she stepped out of the complex and onto the cleaned sidewalk. The click of her heels corresponded with her steps as she walked down the busy street. The cars flew wind at her exposed legs and she hugged her coat closer around her body. The restaurant Melanie wanted her to meet at was only a few minutes away from her apartment since she lived practically in the middle of the city. Lillian had been surprised at Melanie's offer for them to spontaneously have dinner at a quite expensive place hence all her get up. But she had understood once Melanie mentioned the fact that Kyle was going to be there. And she had said she wanted to meet him. So even though she had planned to stay snug in her bed this night, she decided to put on that dress she's been saving for a nice date and get out of her apartment. __ Calum stepped into the dim lightened restaurant and immediately sought out his sister. She had left a few minutes before him (somehow she had gotten herself ready in record time) and had gone to pick up Kyle it seems. The man didn't have transportation apparently. Some of Calum's building up annoyance disappeared whenever he spotted his sister at a white clothed table in the distance. He walked across the carpeted area until he was standing at the table. Melanie paused her talking whenever her dark eyes met his and a smile blossomed onto her face. Kyle turned in his seat and met his gaze as well. "Calum! Long time no see." The toothy grinned man greeted him before he held out a tattoo covered hand to him. Calum mentally grimaced as he glanced down at Kyle's pale hand. It looked... sweaty. But he forced himself to reach down and shake the man's hand. "Yeah... been a few months." He answered as his dark eyes met the man's bright hazel ones. Kyle's dark hair was pulled back into a messy bun at the back of his head. It made his forehead and nose stand out that much more. Kyle didn't seem to have that much of style still it seemed. He took a seat in front of his sister who had a nervous look on her face. Then... wait. Why was there another setting next to him? He was about to ask before Melanie suddenly stood up. "Lillian! You made it!" Calum froze at his sister's words before he slowly turned. His dark eyes met Lillian's bright blue ones as she stared straight at him. He swallowed as he took in her open, painted red mouth that hung down as her brows were risen. She was... definitely not expecting him, huh? Well he wasn't expecting her either. He gave a glance at his sister as she sat down before he turned his attention back to Lillian. She was walking towards him now with the sound of the skirt brushing against her bare legs greeting his ears. He swallowed as his eyes drifted downwards before they floated back up to her. The dress was absolutely stunning on her. It complimented her eyes making them an even brighter blue and he had to admit the dress fitted her curves quite well. But the hair... it was too slicked bad. Too kept back. It exposed her neck and collarbones, sure, but he never liked it whenever she had her hair pulled back or up. She slipped into the seat beside him and for a brief moment her knee bumped into his. Calum swallowed as he faced away from her and back to his sister. "Kyle, it's nice to see you again." Lillian greeted in that overly too soft and sugarly sweet tone she always used with someone that was younger and less mature then her. Calum almost rolled his eyes. "Yeah wow. Lillian, you look great! It has been a while, hasn't it?" Kyle commented as a grin was set on his face. Calum picked up a menu and started to browse through it. "Yeah it sure has. Umm you look great too." She politely said as Calum gave a glance forward. Kyle was wearing a dusty old shirt and probably jeans. Great was very overexaggerated. "Thanks." Kyle answered back as Calum turned his attention back to the menu. The prices were the first thing that stood out to him as he browsed through. Melanie had certainly taken them all to an expensive place to get to know Kyle. Irony was that Kyle was still... Kyle. Clad in probably a band t-shirt and worn out blue jeans. It looked like he was never going to change. A loud clap suddenly got Calum's attention as his eyes diverted back up. "So? Who's hungry?" Kyle asked as he looked around the table with that same stupid grin plastered on his face. Mentally a groan wanted to come out of Calum's mouth. This was going to be a long dinner.

#5sos #5 seconds of summer #5sos fanfic #5 seconds of summer fanfic #calum hood #calum hood fanfic #calum hood writing #abi writes #calum 5sos #calum 5 seconds of summer #fanfic #fanfiction

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ijustwant2write · 5 years

Text

The Other Woman (Part 2)-Jon Snow x Reader

(GIF credit to @joneryswarrior)

Request by @feelingsandemotionsnotexplored

Part 1

Summary: ‘Hi, I was reading The Other Woman-Jon Snow x Reader One Shot again and was wondering if you could write a continuation in which feelings begin to be born by the two and who know up to a fluffy smut that results in a baby and a possible happy ending maybe? (Sorry for my English and I will understand if you do not want to write it)’

Characters: Jon Snow x Reader

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: derogatory talk against women, sadness, anger, jealousy, light smut, fluff

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Henry, get back here now! My lady, I am deeply sorry!” a woman fretted as her child ran into my legs, holding onto my dress as he fell backwards.

“It’s alright. He’s only having fun.” I giggled as I bent down, scooping my hands under his arms to stand him up.

He was just the cutest, big, innocent eyes, messy hair and rosy cheeks from running around all day. He smiled at me as he stood, his tiny hands clutching onto mine.

“Thank...you.” he managed to say.

I pushed his long hair out of his eyes, gently pushing him back towards his mother. He stumbled towards her, the woman gratefully smiling at me as she bowed her head. I continued my walk, trying to not think too much about the adorable child. It was heartbreaking to face crowds of families when you didn’t have your own, and knowing you probably never would. I understood a little more about Jon after our deep conversation about his past lover. And although I was happy about him opening up, it made me realise how inexperienced I was compared to him.

He had made love to a woman (god knows how many times), whereas I had never even kissed a man. He had said I was beautiful, but would he find me attractive when he realised how little experience I had? I didn’t want to think of Jon like that, it was my mind playing games on me. However, since we had never spoke of it since, I felt that it would be awkward to bring it up out of no where. How was I supposed to explain all of this? How was I supposed to bring up wanting a child again when nothing came of it the first time?

As we sat with the banner men for our monthly meeting, eating and drinking whilst rejoicing in the peace that we had kept, I felt Jon’s hand ghost over mine before he properly held it. He had never done this before. I found myself staring it in shock, especially when his thumb tenderly stroked the back of my hand. Glancing at the other men, they were too busy getting drunk to notice, not that they would anyway. I looked back to Jon, who was happily smiling, taking small sips of his mead. He finally turned his head to me, his expression not changing. I wanted to say something, ask him about the sudden affection; but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, wanting to relish in the sentiment.

I noticed small differences like this over the coming weeks. He would be with me more often, hold my hands in public, I even found him sleeping closer to me in bed. At first I tried to not let it get to my head, not wanting to fool myself that he was actually caring for me. No one had ever shown this sort of affection towards me, all I had ever done was daydream of experiencing love, or something close to that. So to stop any hurt coming my way, I played it off as a public display, something to keep our peers believing in our alliance.

“You don’t seem too pleased about this trip we’re taking.” I stated as I sat on our bed, removing my shoes.

He too started to take off his heavy clothes.“I’m not pleased that you have to come along. Lord Adley is not a respectable man.”

“How so?”

“He does not care for other people’s things, especially wives.”

“Oh, so now I’m a thing?” I teased him.

He chuckled, walking towards me.“Definitely not. But he won’t see it that way.”

“Jon, I have to come. That’s just the way it is.”

“It will be hard to stay in line around him. I hope he doesn’t offend you.”

I flopped onto my back.“Well if he does I’ll just have to hold my tongue, as women always do.”

He was still stood over me, looking down with a smile.“As will I.”

After an hours ride away from Winterfell, we arrived at Lord Adley’s castle, although small it bared a striking image; the walls were dark, though there were new bricks filling in where the wall had crumbled...or been attacked. There were more men than women here, though his guards and soldiers held no poise; they were slouched, leaning up against walls, slumping in chairs. As we entered the hall with some of our own banner men, instead of them rising in respect, they took their time to stand, seeming smug about it. Jon’s jaw clenched, sharing a glance with our own men as we continued to walk forwards. Lord Adley sat proudly in his chair, opening his arms out as he spoke.

“Welcome Lord and Lady Snow!” he bellowed, his voice gruff and deep.“My, what a pleasure it is to see you again. How long has it been? Two years?”

“Thank you for having us here. And yes, it has been quite a while.” Jon politely replies.

“My, my, Lady Snow, you are even more beautiful than when I last saw you. Surprised this one has been able to keep his trousers on around you.”

His men roared into laughter, clutching at their fat bellies and wheezing. My face remained neutral, deciding not to reply, even when they calmed themselves. It seemed that it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, because he carried on talking.

“So, we shall have our meeting, discuss these matters, and that will be all. But I do believe it would be a good idea to have your wife there. Not for her opinion obviously! I couldn’t imagine anything funnier! No, no, she’s just nice to look at.”

It was plain to see that Jon was desperately trying to contain his anger.“With all due respect, I do think that-”

“Come on! Let’s get on with it!”

I held into Jon’s arm, making him look at me. He huffed as Lord Adley’s heavy footsteps bounded towards us, coming between us. I tried to not recoil as he wrapped his arms around us. He was a mad man, not caring what others thought, he was always right. And I saw more of this throughout the meeting. He wanted me to sit right next to him, but Jon got between us before he had the chance. Before Adley could protest, Jon warned him that I was still his wife, and that respect was supposed to be on both ends. He reluctantly agreed, though the fury was in his eyes.

I couldn’t help but watch Jon intently, noticing more and more things he was going for me. He continued to hold my hand, leaning slightly in front of me to block the view of those gawking. If it weren’t for Jon, I wouldn’t feel safe, these men were unpredictable, you just never knew what their reaction or action would be. Luckily, Adley didn’t want to talk for long, and the gathering was wrapped up sooner than we thought, all problems or worries now resolved. Jon couldn’t drag me out of there fast enough if he tried, stern and silent as we rode through the evening. It put me slightly on edge, hoping that his bad mood was down to Adley and his men, and that I hadn’t unintentionally done anything.

“Jon, you can relax now, you don’t need to be so tense.” I told him as I slipped into bed.

He was slumped in a chair, deep in thought, half dressed.“How can men be like that? They knew you were my wife yet they disrespected that notion.”

“Because they couldn’t give two shits about respect or nobility. That’s the way it’s been with them and it always will be.”

“Did you feel uncomfortable?”

I decided to answer, knowing he would see through me anyway.“Yes, but I felt safe with you there.”

“I wanted to keep you safe.”

“Thank you Jon, I’m lucky to have such a respectful and caring man such as you. Imagine if I had been forced to marry one of them. Or even Adley!”

Jon stood from the chair, and we held eye contact as he climbed onto the bed, laying by my legs as he placed a hand on it.“Do you ever think of what might have happened if you didn’t marry me?”

“I used to. Though everyone does, I’m sure you did. But I was lucky with you as a choice, you’ve never done me wrong. I just had such a picture in my head of love, and all the experiences that came with it; that’s why I was angry with you. But then that wasn’t fair, because I was then pressuring you.”

He sat up, inching closer to me.“(Y/N), I know it has taken time, but I feel like we have grown closer. You’re my wife, and I should treat you as such, not because I have to, but because I want to.”

His face was so close to mine, I could feel his breath on mine. I had never been so close to a man like this before, and suddenly my heart was racing. Jon’s beautiful eyes were soft, not afraid to look right into mine, though mine were wide and scared. It was agony as he kept on leaning in, until he kissed me. Though awkward at first, I easily melted into it, especially when his hand clutched onto the back of my head, fingers tangling in my hair. We flowed together, hands roaming, his gentle and conservative, mine nervous and shaking. My mind was yelling that this was different, it was scary, pull away now before something happens that you can’t control, but my heart easily out shouted it, wanting to experience this new feeling feeling building in my stomach.

“Don’t be scared.” Jon whispered.

“I’m not.” I lied.

“If there’s anything you don’t want to do, tell me. I’ll respect your wishes.”

I nodded, taking a shaky breath as he laid me down. I had never put much thought into how this would actually feel, or how I would feel about the person I was doing it with. However, this somehow felt right, even though I had never done this before. Jon was the right man, he was my husband, not a regret.

For two people who said that they had no love for each other, who were forced into this marriage, the sex was filled with passion, or at least I thought so. Jon had been so gentle, so kind, so loving; I had been overwhelmed by all the new sensations, both physically and mentally. Though there was a completely new experience I was about to face, and I wasn’t sure how Jon would feel.

Just like those few weeks ago (and quite a few times after that), Jon was holding me in his arms as we lay don in bed, and I felt those same nerves I did the first time. Rolling over to face him, I almost leapt onto him after seeing the look in his eyes.

“Jon,” my voice was quiet,“I have to tell you something.”

He waited for me to carry on.

I took his hand, placing it on my belly.“There’s no easier way of saying this than...well I saw the maester today and he has confirmed that...I’m pregnant.”

His eyes widened, lighting up at the same time, a gasp escaping his lips as he smiled.“W-what? We....we’re going to have a child?”

Tears rolled down my cheeks quickly, relieved that he was happy.“Yes. After all that time nagging you.”

We laughed, kissing as we cried.“I’m so happy. I cannot believe I am having a child.”

“You deserve family Jon, you deserve so much more than you think.”

“And I have everything now, right in front of me, in my arms.”

#jon snow #jon snow imagine #jon snow imagines #jon snow one shot #jon snow x reader #game of thrones #game of thrones imagine #game of thrones imagines #game of thrones one shot #game of thrones x reader

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buoyantsaturn · 5 years

Text

Out of Order (1/1)

summary: It was tradition on the first day of fall for all the year-round campers to sneak into the Aphrodite cabin after lights out for a few rounds of truth or dare.

word count: 2491

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It was tradition on the first day of fall for all the year-round campers to sneak into the Aphrodite cabin after lights out for a few rounds of truth or dare. Seeing as Nico had agreed to stay at camp rather than wonder the globe for the foreseeable future and was now officially a year-round camper, he was dragged from his cabin in the middle of the night by a grinning blond who, for once, wasn’t wearing his trademark green scrubs.

Normally, Nico would be ecstatic to find Will whisking him away in the middle of the night, but when they wound up outside the Aphrodite cabin, Nico started feeling anxious.

“C’mon, it’ll be fun, I promise,” Will told him with a tug on his hand. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do,” Nico grumbled indignantly, and trudged into the cabin behind Will.

It was immediately overwhelming. Nico was used to his own very empty cabin and the moderately filled infirmary - but this? The cabin was practically overflowing with campers, laying on bunk beds and sitting on the floor and standing near the walls. Nico didn’t understand how much noise there could be in a single building. How could any of them hold a conversation in a place like this? He squeezed Will’s hand, about to pull him close and whisper-shout that he was just going to go back to bed and forget that he’d seen any of this, when the rest of the cabin seemed to notice Will’s presence.

“Will!” one of the Aphrodite girls - Nico never learned their names because they hardly ever went to the arena - exclaimed, and grabbed Will’s free hand to pull him further into the cabin, thus dragging Nico further inside as well. “We were waiting for you! What took you so long?”

“I had to get Nico,” he said, and pulled Nico closer to bring him to the girl’s attention.

“Oh,” she said, and Nico saw her gaze flicker down to their joined hands. Her eyes widened before she looked back up at Will. “Oh!”

Will didn’t seem to notice. “But we’re here now. What’s first on the agenda?”

“Veteran’s choice.”

Nico didn’t understand what she meant by that, but by the surprised look on Will’s face, Nico figured that it was something of a big deal to him.

“No way. Me?” Will asked. He started looking around the room frantically, spouting off names of campers that Nico recognized from the summer or from years past, though none of the names were of people present. “But… Not even Annabeth is here?”

“Nope, she’s seasonal now, remember?” the girl replied.

“Seasonal?” Nico cut in, cocking his head in confusion.

Will squeezed his hand, all of his attention straying to Nico and making his heart flutter at the feeling of those incredibly blue eyes on him. “She’s in school now. This is the first time since she was...what, seven? That she hasn’t been a year-round camper.” He looked back to the Aphrodite girl. “Have I really been here the longest out of anyone?”

She nodded. “That’s right! So you pick the games tonight!”

Will grinned. He raised one hand into the air and called out, “Everybody, circle up for truth or dare!”

A cheer went up as campers formed a circle on the floor of the cabin. Some had climbed down from bunks to get a spot in the ring, while others had scrambled up from the floor so that they wouldn’t get caught playing. Will pulled Nico into the circle, tugging him down to sit beside him in the ring. He kicked his legs out in front of him and crossed his ankles, and let go of Nico’s hand for the first time since they arrived to lean back on his hands.

“Alright, alright, settle in, y’all. We’re in for a long night,” Will said as the chatter of the room quieted down around them. “You all know the rules of this one. No ask-backs. You can’t pick the same answer three times in a row. Refuse to do the truth, you do the dare, and vice versa. Any questions?”

“Kinda,” Nico muttered without the intention of being heard.

Will shot him a grin and patted his leg. “You’ll catch on quick, Sunshine.”

He turned back to the rest of the group, scanned the faces of those sitting with them in the circle with the same expression that Nico had seen him examining injuries with, like he was deciding what part of the patient was the weakest, the most vulnerable, the part that needed immediate attention.

“Cecil.”

A groan came from across the circle. “Come on, man! Why do you always pick me?”

Will shot him a grin. “Truth or dare, coward.”

Cecil let out a heavy sigh. “Truth.”

“Do you still have a crush on that Demeter girl?”

Cecil flopped onto his back with an even louder groan, covering his face with his hands.

The game still didn’t make much sense to Nico as time wore on, but he tried his best to roll with the punches. Someone asked him about the skull ring he always wore, and someone else asked about the coolest place he’d ever visited. Then, when he wasn’t allowed to say truth for the third time in a row, he was dared to steal something from another cabin - so he’d shadowtraveled away to the Apollo cabin and came back wearing one of Will’s flannel shirts.

He didn’t understand the weird looks everybody kept giving him after that, nor did he understand why Will suddenly made a new rule that he could veto any questions asked that were too personal. Nico just didn’t want to accidentally steal from someone he didn’t know, and it was starting to get kind of cold in the cabin - why shouldn’t he borrow one of Will’s shirts?

It was Lou Ellen’s turn next. “Will, do you have a crush on anyone in this room?”

Nico thought he could hear Will’s breath hitch next to him, even with the chorus of ooos that rose throughout the room. When he looked up at Will’s face, he was just as calm and collected as always.

“You didn’t ask for truth or dare,” he said instead of answering.

“You took dare the last two rounds,” she countered. “There’s no getting out of this one, Sunny Boy, and vetoing will just give us the answer anyway.”

Will rolled his eyes. “You should be a lawyer, Lou. Yes, I have a crush on someone in this room. You already knew that, of course, but thanks for making it public knowledge.”

“What are friends for?” she replied, smiling brightly.

“Whatever. Anyway, now that it’s back to me, I’m calling this the last round of this game. If anybody’s dying to embarrass somebody in this game, this is your last chance. Chiara, truth or dare?”

The last round went surprisingly quickly, though Nico suspected it was because people were getting eager to end things. He was getting pretty tired himself, and wouldn’t have minded heading to bed over an hour ago. However, when Will announced the end of one game, he started another. Around them, people jumped in and out of the circle. Some were grabbing snacks or running to the bathroom between games, others were jumping in for a new game they preferred while others ran away from a new game they despised. Someone insisted that everyone sticking around for the next game swapped seats so that they weren’t next to the same people for another whole game. Nico ended up between Kayla and Julia, and directly across the circle from Will.

Once everyone was settled again, Will said, “New game: paranoia. Whisper a question into the ear of the person next to you. They have to answer out loud with the name of a person in this room. Then, I’ll flip a drachma - heads, you say the question out loud, tails, you don’t. Anybody wanna start us off?”

Valentina’s hand shot into the air. “Ooh, I do!” She turned to the boy sitting next to her and whispered something into his ear.

“Oh, easy,” he said. “It’s Nico.”

Nico’s head snapped toward Will, just in time to watch him flip the coin. “Tails. Let’s move on.”

Nico pulled his knees up to his chest and tried to hide behind his own legs.

A few rounds later, Kayla was whispering into Nico’s ear, “Who is the funniest person in the room?”

Nico took a second to scan the circle, though he hadn’t spent enough time with anyone to know whether or not they were funny. “Um. Will?”

Across the circle, Will seemed to perk up at the mention of his name. He flipped the coin and smiled when he said, “Heads!”

“I asked him who he thought was the funniest person here,” Kayla explained.

“Dude!” Cecil exclaimed, leaning forward so that Nico could see him around Julia. “No way is Will funnier than I am!”

“Whatever, Cecil,” Will told him, still smiling brightly. “Just let him think my bad jokes are funny. Anyway, it’s your turn, Nico.”

“Oh, um.” Nico thought for a second before he turned to whisper in Julia’s ear.

The game continued on. Lou Ellen and Cecil both admitted that Will was their best friend, which led to a short argument over who Will’s best friend had to be. By the time Will’s turn came around and he said Nico’s name in answer to whatever question had been whispered into his ear, Cecil exclaimed, “You better not mean that Nico’s your best friend over me!”

“Guess you’ll just have to wait and see,” Will replied, grinning, and flipped the coin in his hand. “It’s heads.”

Damien said, “I asked him who has the best hair.”

Nico barely noticed the light shade of pink growing on Will’s cheeks as he said, “Okay! Everybody find a new seat for round two.”

Nico stayed seated while the rest of the room moved around him, and suddenly Will was sitting beside him once again.

“Hey,” Will told him, bumping his shoulder against Nico’s. “Having fun yet?”

“It’s...certainly interesting,” Nico replied.

“Yeah, they’re all kind of a lot,” Will laughed. “You’ll get used to everybody by Christmas, trust me.”

“Will, it’s your turn,” Austin reminded him from across the circle.

“Yeah, yeah,” Will said, waving a hand at his brother. Will leaned closer to Nico, his breath fanning against Nico’s cheek as he whispered, “Who would brag about being able to take down a monster, but would run back crying if they actually saw a monster in the woods?”

Nico had to really focus on Will’s words rather than the feeling of Will so close to him. “It’s Cecil, no question.”

Will snorted rather unattractively and dropped his forehead onto Nico’s shoulder.

“What did you say? What was the question?” Cecil demanded.

Will, still laughing and with his head still resting on Nico’s shoulder, flipped the drachma; it was tails. “Don’t worry about it, Cecil. It’s better this way, trust me.” Will lifted his head and bumped his shoulder into Nico’s once more as he said, “You’re up.”

Nico was growing to hate the part of this game where he had to think up questions, so he just copied Will’s instead. Lou Ellen answered without hesitation: “Cecil.”

Will flipped the coin. “Tails.”

“Oh, come on!”

Nico grew more and more tired as the second round of the game went on - nobody mentioned either him or Will for most of the round, and Nico was practically lulled to sleep by Will’s frequent call of heads or tails. He didn’t realize that he was resting against Will’s side until Will pulled away slightly in order for someone to whisper in his ear. Either way, Nico didn’t move, and instead let his eyes slip shut.

“I’m not answering that,” Will said, his laughter tinged with discomfort.

“C’mon, he’s asleep! He’ll never have to know!” somebody else called from across the room.

“Oh my gods, you guys set this up, didn’t you? This was all just a big ploy to get me to admit my feelings for Nico! You’re all the worst friends ever.”

Nico’s eyes snapped open. There was no way he heard that right. There was no way that Will actually liked him back...right?

He lifted his head from Will’s shoulder, and Will turned toward him with a look of dread on his face. “Oh, Styx,” Will whispered, and suddenly jumped to his feet. He announced, “Game over,” and ran out the door, slamming it behind himself.

The cabin was silent for a single minute before campers started shoving at each other and blaming everyone else for ruining the night. Nico found himself stuck to the floor by the look of betrayal on Will’s face as he ran from the cabin. Should he go after Will? Would Will even want to see him after that? There was only one way for him to find out.

Nico stretched the nearest shadows toward him until the space around him was dark enough for him to slip into the shadows and disappear, thinking only of reappearing wherever Will had gone to.

He wound up on the Aphrodite cabin’s porch.

“Will?” Nico said quietly, and in the darkness he saw Will rubbing furiously at his face.

“Hey, Sunshine,” Will croaked.

Nico sat down beside him on the steps, and Will looked away. “Hey,” Nico said, reaching out for Will’s cheek and turning his head back toward him - Will’s eyes dropped to his lap. “Why did you leave?”

Will laughed bitterly. “Because that was embarrassing.”

“This whole night as been embarrassing for me,” Nico told him, and brushed a tear away with his thumb. “You didn’t see me running out of there.”

Will groaned and dropped his forehead onto Nico’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry. This wasn’t how I planned on you finding out.”

Nico pushed him back and held Will’s face with both hands, forcing eye contact between them. “You wanted me to find out?”

“Um...yeah? I mean, eventually,” Will told him. “I like you, but I just wasn’t going to tell you until I figured out whether or not you like me too.”

Nico let go of Will in order to flail his hands around for emphasis. “You were going to tell me? I was prepared to take this to my grave!”

“You like me?” Will asked. “Why wouldn’t you tell me?”

“Because it’s embarrassing!”

“Would you just kiss already?”

Both heads snapped toward the cabin behind them, where the doors and windows had opened to reveal the entire population of year-round campers watching their flustered exchange.

“Oh my gods,” Will cried, burying his face in his hands, though Nico could still see the bright red tips of his ears.

Nico pulled one of Will’s hands away and told him, “Hold on tight,” before he tugged Will with him into a shadow, and the two disappeared.

thanks for reading!!!

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#solangelo #will solace #mine #my writing #wsw #will solace week #nico di angelo

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