#i cooked this up so quick after the trailer my god

[verc0pa]

barrissoka truthers (me) rising from the grave rn

[mizgnomer]

Behind the Scenes of The Giggle - Part Six Excerpt from Benjamin Cook's DWM #597 Interview with Catherine Tate (with guest appearance by David Tennant)

"Do you know, we went to an escape room with Neil? He loves them. It was his birthday while we were here…” [ Neil Patrick Harris ] celebrated his 49th while filming Doctor Who in Bristol last month. By day, he donned the Toymaker’s tux and shimmied gleefully on the streets. By night, he took David and Catherine out to dinner, then on to Worlds Collide, Bristol’s best – and only – Doctor Who-themed escape room. Players are given 60 minutes to work out how to close a tear in the fabric of spacetime, before the Cybermen break through (the Toymaker has fought the Cybermen!!). “He’d booked it out,” says Catherine. “He’d shut down the whole place [for the night] and they let us in.” “Proper Hollywood,” says David. “Innit, though! That’s old money, that is,” she laughs. “And Jodie [Whittaker’s Doctor] turns up,” says David. “She was on a PA. As if –” “– as if she’s calling you. And there was a scarf. And a sonic screwdriver.” “And a Cyberman.” “A Cyberman head, yeah.” Aren’t Catherine and David… you know, overqualified for a Doctor Who escape room? “I was quite hopeful,” he says. “I thought, these are puzzles I’m going to be able to solve. But then–” “There were chess pieces,” says Catherine, in much the same tone of voice in which Donna once informed the Doctor that Santa’s a robot. “I mean, oh my God! Sorry, but how the hell –?” Neil was brilliant at it, though. “He was annoyingly good.” The Toymaker and his games are quite notorious. “Yes, because then he went, ‘Let’s do another one! We’re gonna do the World War Two room.’ That’s when I came to life.” “It’s true,” says David. “I loved that one. It was great. We were spies and we’d infiltrated a Nazi bunker.” “It involved a bit more role play, didn’t it? Very Toymaker. And zome outrageous ack-sents!” “But after the Doctor Who one,” says Catherine, “it was clear that Neil and David were better at it. There was a clear division between the coulds and the could-nots. So Neil and David went into one room, and me, [executive producer] Phil Collinson, and Charlie [De Melo], who plays… is it Charles Banerjee? [glimpsed in last year’s Christmas Day trailer, rushing through the rain towards Mr Emporium’s toyshop] – went in another room. I’d said to Phil and Charlie, ‘Let’s cut the deadwood and go into a room on our own.’ You do it against each other, and see who gets out first. “So me, Charlie and Phil had a right old laugh,” recalls Catherine, cracking up, “while David and Neil went off and… got out much quicker. Midway through ours, they’d already finished and were watching us scrabble around trying to get out of our German bunker.” She chuckles at the memory. “Then suddenly through the PA comes: ‘DONNAAA!!!’” David says nothing, but he looks very pleased with himself.

Also, from Charlie De Melo's Instagram:

I'm struggling to think of a stranger evening than one, last June, doing a @bbcdoctorwho themed escape room, with The Doctor, Donna and the Toymaker. David and Neil, it turns out, are *very* good at escape rooms. The rest of us, less so. They rushed around the room, picking up clues and turning switches and all manner of other things, whilst the rest of us looked on, utterly bemused (& a little tooty in my case). So on they powered. Leaving us scratching our heads in a room full of disembodied Cybermen ones. Before confusion could give way to frustration, the tannoy crackled. It was David. They'd somehow managed to finish the entire thing whilst we all had stood still where we'd been left. Although he'd lost his lilting, melodic, Scottish brogue. He was now The Doctor. And in the Doctor's voice he began barking orders at us, talking us through the puzzles and guiding us out of whatever wibbly wobbly mess we were in and back to the safety of Bristol. "Donna! Quick! You have to get them out of there, the Cybermen are coming!"

For other posts in this set, please see the #whoBtsGiggle tag. The full episode list is [ here ]

[ill-written-god]

T | 1692 | it's Steddie again :) more of the wingfolk!Eddie AU | continuation of 'wings'

As soon as he passed the "Welcome to Hawkins" sign, he got nervous. There was a phone call looming over him. One of professional variety but with a very kind and handsome man.

The slightly crumpled business card is waiting in his wallet, hidden out of view, so it wouldn't distract him on tour. Too much, at least. Steve probably hasn't thought about him at all. It's been over a month, he might have forgotten about his offer completely.

He still had to unload their equipment in Gareth's garage, so it took several hours before he could hide behind his trailer's doors and pick up the phone.

"Robin's grooming service, how can we help you?" a woman's voice answered. Probably Robin herself, he thought.

"Hi, it's Eddie Munson, I've talked with Steve-"

"Wait, hold on," she interrupted him. "Steeeve!" she yelled away from the receiver but still loud enough for him to flinch. "Your man is calling!"

Your man? Oh. Oh.

There's a clatter on the other side before he can finally hear Steve's voice.

"Eddie?" He sounds excited and Eddie's stomach swoops. His wings flutter behind him, the traitorous bastards.

"Or your man, if you prefer?"

Steve lets out an awkward laugh.

"I might have been talking about you a bit too much."

Eddie shuffled in place, elation preventing him from standing still. 

"That excited to see me?" he drawls, unable to help himself.

"Gods, yes," the man groaned. "I really hope you'll let Robin do your makeup, I've found this eyeshadow that'll match your wings perfectly. I've been drafting the photoshoot pretty much since you left."

Right. The photo shoot. The favour he was asked for. 

"I'm okay with makeup," he says, composing himself quickly. There's a tiny "yes!" On the other hand, he can't help the smile pulling on his lips. "When would you want to do it?"

"Are you free now?"

For a second, Eddie is too stunned to answer, so Steve follows up:

"No, I know it's late, we'd do the photos tomorrow at the earliest, but I'm too hyped now and would love to talk out the details with you. In person."

The silence on the other side is expectant and nervous. Eddie considers his losses. Possible chances.

"I guess I could meet up," he says, totally casual like he wasn't day-dreaming about seeing the man again with every groupie at his side.

"Great! We're actually closing soon, so would you be okay with going to my place?" There's a squeak on the other side, followed by some clattering. He could have imagined it though, it was so quiet. "It's okay if you'd rather stay in the salon."

"No, it's okay. We can talk it out at yours," he pushes out, wondering how in the hell was he gonna stay sane while in the man's home, having a semi-business conversation. Artistic project conversation? Not a fucking date, that's for sure.

"Whenever you can, then. I'll wait for you at the salon, it's just a short walk."

"I just got back, gotta shower and eat something, and I'm off."

"I'll feed you, don't worry about that."

"Uh, okay then. Shower and I'm leaving."

"Perfect." He could hear the pleased smile through the line. "It's nice to know calling me was a priority over eating, you know," the man teased, ending the call before Eddie could defend himself.

He sighed, realizing he accidentally gave his eagerness away.

He deliberately took his shower slower than usual.

*

As soon as he stood in front of the salon, Steve was waving at him through the glass. Eddie waved back, unwilling to acknowledge they were both acting like dorks.

After grabbing some stuff, the man met him outside.

"Hi! It's nice to see you again!" He said with a wide smile, eyes on him while he locked up. Then he turned fully towards him and raised his hands, with an expectant quirk of his eyebrow.

Albeit surprised, Eddie leaned into the short hug.

"Likewise," he admitted. They started walking arm to arm as Steve led the way.

"I have some leftover sauce, and I could cook pasta real quick. Is that okay?"

"After a month of bar food and cheap take-out? More than okay."

Steve laughed.

"Okay, I get it. Does it mean you don't want any beer to wash it down either?"

Eddie was shaking his head before the question even rang out fully.

"I need alcohol, I was the driver for the whole tour."

"None of your bandmates has a license?"

"Uh, they do, but Gareth is the only one I would trust with my van, and he's not comfortable in the altered seat."

Steve nodded with understanding. Wingfolk drivers had their seats cut a certain way so the wings wouldn't get in the way. 

"So Gareth is the human drummer?"

Eddie nearly ran into a light pole.

"You remembered?"

"A human drummer in an all-wings metal band Corroded Coffin? Yeah, I remembered."

He was ready to swoon on the spot.

*

He watched Steve cook the pasta while shuffling through sketches and magazine cut-outs of winged models, make-ups and hairdos. There was a lot, and he was surprised to see how much thought Steve had put into it. Into him.

To his surprise, when they sat down to eat, Steve asked him about his tour. And he paid attention to his words, asking the right questions at the right times. Like he was genuinely invested.

It was only after Eddie thanked him for the meal and started his second beer, that the actual purpose of his visit was brought up.

"I think you'd look the best if we made you more animalistic, but I don't want to play into any hurtful stereotypes, you know?"

Eddie only shrugged.

"I don't mind. People will think what they want anyway. Besides, you're not putting me in a suit."

"Pity, but I bet you'd look good in anything," he said, eyes assessing Eddie's body, stopping at the halter top he chose to wear. It displayed even more skin than his cut-up shirt from their first meeting. It was easier to take off, too.

It seemed to be doing its job.

"Anything in mind?"

Steve hummed.

"I don't know, I kinda like the halterneck." Then, with hesitation, he added, "I was thinking… nothing, actually? I want to focus on your wings."

"Steve,” Eddie coos with a smirk. “If you wanted my nudes you should have just said so.”

"Black fabric!" Steve spat out, face red. Eddie barely held in a laugh. "We'll wrap some fabric around your hips, maybe make a simple toga. Not completely nude!"

"Boo, ruining the fun," he pouted.

To rein in his humiliation, Steve went into business mode.

"I want to do your hair, just simple stuff to give it some shine and volume. Robin would do eye makeup, something to match your metal vibe," he smiled, and Eddie grinned back. "My friend Jon will be photographing, we have some poses in mind, but I've found out it's best to work on the spot."

Eddie whistled.

"A whole team working on little old me."

"I want the photos to look professional, and your eyes unstabbed with an eye pencil, so yes. A team," Steve nods seriously.

"I kinda liked the one-on-one treatment though. It was very relaxing," he mused, half hoping to get an idea of what Steve's thinking.

"We'll work alone before they join us. I'll also owe you another session for doing this for me," he reminded him with a shrug. Eddie hummed softly.

"Right… Can I cash in now?"

Steve blinked.

"I was actually hoping we could do the photoshoot tomorrow, or the day after so…"

"Great, we'll get a head start, then."

Steve gulps, looking around as if for an escape route and Eddie winces. Maybe he got a bit ahead of himself.

"Sorry, I overstepped. We're not in your salon anyway. We can do it tomorrow." He grabbed his beer, planning to empty it and leave as soon as possible, but Steve straightened in alarm. 

"No! It's- We can do the brushing today," he nodded, mostly to himself, before scrambling to grab the wing brush. He rolled it in his palms, standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"Where would you want to sit? Robin usually lies on the floor or on the bed. Sometimes just sits in front of the couch, but it's not the most comfortable."

Eddie considers his chances.

"Is bed okay?"

"Yeah, I don't mind. Just let me… do some damage control."

Eddie chuckled. 

"Sure. Hide your dirty underwear and stuff."

"It's not that bad," he grumbles, disappearing into his bedroom. Whatever he does there doesn’t take long, because soon he's motioning Eddie to follow.

The room is small and simple, focused solely on sleeping and picking out daily outfits.

Steve pats the bed invitingly. It's big enough for two people.

"Does your bed see guests often?" he asks, unable to help himself.

Steve is quiet momentarily, settling on a fluffy ottoman next to him.

"Only Robin. But if you're asking about my dating life, I've been in a bit of a dry spell recently," he shares, starting the relaxing drag of his brush.

"Aw, why? Such a handsome bachelor?"

The man snorted.

"Had been striking out after a bad break up, then focused on opening the salon. I'm trying to get back into it now, but I might be out of practice."

"Well, I might not be the target audience, but for what it's worth, it would work on me."

“What if you are my target audience?”

Eddie gives himself a moment to collect his thoughts and still be able to stay cool.

"Then it’s our second meeting, and I'm already in your bed. I think you're doing great." 

Steve chuckles.

"Guess so." 

"Speaking of which,” Eddie shifts on the Steve-scented bed. “You know that if you keep at it, I'll fall asleep?”

"That would be terrible. On my queen-sized bed? Unthinkable. Whatever would I do?”

“Okay, just don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He rolls his eyes before closing them and let the gentle caress on his feathers send him to sleep.

[horizon-verizon]

I get now why Alicent is standing by a lake or frolicing in the grass:

https://t.co/v9ooj39C9t

Based on the trailer, it looks like she’s still trying to be the voice of moderation on the Green Council, the name given to the faction which supports Aegon’s claim to the throne. “Who can she trust? There’s no one around her,” said actor Olivia Cooke. “Everyone, it seems, has been spying on her. It’s this sense of peak paranoia within her own home. That had to really permeate throughout my performance. All of a sudden she’s of no use to anyone. She’s done what she was supposed to do — put her son on the throne — and now she’s discarded. Who is she if she can’t be the person to implement wisdom?”

However, in a way, her new role is freeing: “Oh, I could do whatever the f--- I want and no one cares. All of a sudden I’m not important. I’m not a player,” Cooke said. In a very giddy way, that’s really novel and exciting.”

REMEMBER WHEN HER DELUSIONAL STANS SAID THAT ALICENT WILL CONTROL AEGON, THAT HE’S JUST A PUPPET AND FIGUREHEAD, AND ALICENT WILL BE THE REAL RULER AND THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE 😂😭

I’ver NEVER EVER hated a character as much as I hate her, oh my god, she crowned a man while knowing he’s incompetent, sadistic and unfit to rule, she started a massive and devastating civil war that will result in hundreds of thousands of deaths, her daughter fell into madness after her child was beheaded in front of her, but she happily choose the “Après moi, le déluge” approach, she choose to let everyone down and force them to clearing up the mess SHE created.

"Après moi, le déluge" -- "After me, the deluge". An expression meant to convey a nihilistic view or dismissal of what will happen after and/or in consequence of your actions after your death. Or removal from a situation.

I agree, she's still trying to moderate everyone as if she hasn't been the one to participate in their coming to power out of her own jealousy, and I hate that the show has tried to make us feel sorry for her or think her relationship with Rhaenyra is in anyway real, since it also seeks to validate Alicent's bigoted jealousy against Rhaenyra for not being compliant with "the rules" enough.

Some might say "that's the point"; I'm saying that the way it's written--thus the thing itself as there is no other version of this relationship--we are encouraged to commiserate with Alicent or feel more amenable to her feelings and her role as "peacekeeper" while being as unobservant as her about the state of affairs surrounding and determining Rhaenyra's conditions. I have never seen more people so sexist towards the girl and woman who tries to find her own happiness in this violently patriarchal world than in this fandom, and yes there is illiteracy and bigotry regardless but it is also because:

The show has both made Alicent much younger when she married Viserys AND much less intelligent/scheming--this more vulnerable & genuinely trying to make peace and "girlfail" for sympathy points. We don't witness a pattern (basically not enough scenes of how she regards and treats people around her during the time between the wedding feats and Joffrey's birth) of the jealousy the show claims she has for Rhaenyra.

We've had to had this show explained to us by the actors afterhand AND/OR/BECAUSE some of us have had to really sit and go over the plot holes, inconsistencies, quick character switch arounds, etc. -> to trace how exactly Alicent got to a point where she thinks Rhaenyra "tramples" duty and sacrifice "under her pretty foot" and her resentment for Rhaenyra not being as unhappy as her/not acquiescing to her queenly authority that she hangs onto to justify her own suffering

As for Olivia's words:

However, in a way, her new role is freeing: “Oh, I could do whatever the f--- I want and no one cares. All of a sudden I’m not important. I’m not a player,” Cooke said. In a very giddy way, that’s really novel and exciting.”

....Yes, I know we've only gotten trailers...but nothing we've so far seen from those trailers AND how they have already characterized Alicent as wanting her Queenship to mean something because of her suffering and thus her resentment towards Rhaenyra for not also complying in season 1...this is, let's say, very odd and contradictory.

Yeah, this is good to show TG stans that Alicent is not the power they think she is. It also portents--in my eyes--of more logical inconsistencies in the writing for season 2.

[sapphiresgarden]

omg i just wanna comfort furina so much after the 4.2 trailer and her teaser 😭😭

my baby deserves more love..i just wanna kiss her tears away, give her alot of attention and cuddles and feed furina her favourite dessert until shes smiling again <3

ohh i have a lot to say about this trailer and her teaser and everything AHHHH

first of all, yes. all the cuddles and desserts for her!! any dessert she wants from all across the tevyat she will get <3 i will even bake for her. getting my little apron and going to bake the tastiest desserts ever <3 and so many kisses and hugs and everything she wants AND i will tell her all the bad jokes that actually should get me in jail until she laughs. everything for her fr.

but regarding the trailer and her teaser... look i did joke about furina being marie antoinette. joke. joked. JOKED!!! IT WAS A JOKEEE leave her alone!!

her hat falling down on the floor killed me. her crying killed me. i am dead and frankly scared for the archon quest because i dont think i will survive furina being sad 💔💔💔💔 like she did nothing wrong!! maybe she was a little silly and wrongly accused lyney over the showtime accident but, come on, this surely is no reason to be so cruel toward her. girl is trying to save fontaine pls let her CHILL!!!

but on a... better side?? you see i always believed that she was actually pretty smart and more than the girl failure of the year and i think this trailer shows that she IS more than this. and im happy!! also scared what the fuck she is cooking but happy nonetheless AHAHZJSJJ i was always annoyed at people shitting on furina because ohhh she was just dramatic and childish and annoying and yet everyone just. didnt even try looking deeper into her character. already after first part of archon quest i knew that there is more to furina. and i was willing to argue with people about it!!! will defend her till i die.

yet all this makes me worry that hoyoverse is going to fuck her up because... it's still possible. hoyoverse isn't the nicest to the genshin girls sometimes and their writing lacks (look at nilou. this girl has genuinely so much about her yet her writing lacks so much and people are so quick to call her boring. same for kokomi and how they failed to show her tactician skills) and i just worry about it. still i have hopes for some good twist and story!!

and gods her teaser got me so confused in a good way. i actually had hard time telling if shes talking to us, directly to players or no... probably my favorite character teaser like ever!! but it was also really sad, especially when she hugged the mecha dog... i want to give her a hug now. many hugs pls. shes making me so sad 😭😭😭 i hope everything will end well for furina and her people, and if it doesnt i will go and yell at hoyoverse, preparing my bags tickets and plane as i speak!!

[theclo4ked1]

(The post I wanted to put is most likely far too long for Tumblr, a mircoblogging website-- what? who said, what a dick! Anyways, here's a condensed version, as best as i can, of that post. there are spoilers below, so play the complete game before reading.)

the final horizion update was finally released last night at about 20.10pm (it was late, it left players confused on wtf was taking so long), and i almost fell asleep playing, again, but thats not the point. i use the nintendo switch to play Sonic Frontiers, and i have 110+ hrs of game time, and my save file had 75+ hrs on it. we've been hungry, "hangry" even, but i assure you, we shall all feast such a divine one. except for me, i wont be fully enjoying it yet. my plates in the fridge marked "plz dont eat :3" back in february when i finally got the game, for $50 lol, i remember spending the whole month on this game, hours spent every night i played, being one of the lucky ones, veterans now, who've waited through the year, hungering, yearning for the next updates to come for. lemme tell you, the Sonic Team "grill masters" (- someone on twitter, 2023) cooked, and that moment when the update finished installing, and i saw that glorious "Another Story has opened up on Ouranos" booting up the game was an exhilarating feeling. it was weird that Another Story was a proper noun. i didnt know what to expect, but I was excited anyway to see where I would go from there. unfortunately, the mystery and wonder was kinda removed due to the prior knowledge of Tails, Knux, and Amy (my girl returneth!) being playable again, the final boss changing, and now something huge is happening with Ouranos, which is the access point to the Another Story portion of the game via a giant ring (they bought the warp ring back!) however, before entering the ring, the game prompts you with a long warning message that game progress will be halted, and recommends completing the game first before returning here as it uses your current save slot. the way i see it, the AS acts like a parallel universe; the game's timeline splits after Rhea. the normal timeline is Sonic going about collecting the emeralds again, and eventually fighting Supreme and The End (ive never heard Vandalize in-game before cuz ive only played on hard mode, a small price to pay for being a chad gamer). this new timeline, the AS, is where after teleporting to Ouranos, Sage pulls a godtier move and is like "ayo lemme pull this godtier move real quick" and frees Sonic's friends, though still in their mid-dimensional forms, so they can collect the Chaos Emeralds (which are in different places than the vaults of the prime timeline). there are also more towers that just appeared on Ouranos, so my first thought was "oh my god they recombined Kronos, Rhea, and Ouranos, so thats why the towers are here", but no, it's apparently reserved for something relating to the four Titans; "memorials" as Sage put it in the release trailer. my reaction is still mixed on this, but i understand why they made a split like this; to keep the old and merge the new without changing much. i thought they would completely change the last fifth of the game to just be the AS portion, but no, it's just... Another Story. another book to read after this one that details specific and canon events that arent told in the first material. i played until i got to Knuckles' first time around the island. here the game mentions that you'll be able to swap characters later which im hoping this function is relegated to the dpad. its right there, four buttons, four characters, they couldn't have missed an opportunity as such. playing as Tails will be lit, but somethings that bothered me were

Amy jumps like shes in Cyberspace so turning is fucked, and

the controls for input feel slightly delayed; Amy's Card Attack combo is the weirdest thing because to execute the third attack, the spin, youre required to press your attack button consecutively AND in a consistent three beat tempo.

i was stuck trying to figure this out. a button pressed counts as the button comes upwards, after being pushed down, to make a click sound (for my gamecube pro-controller which was what i used during my time through the game). it requires a "full A press", not a half. Sonic, in the last update and the short time I played as him before Another Story, didnt have these problems. update 10/1/23: spoiler alert, i made the executive decision to can my save data ("dad-uh") just so i could start again. its an extreme compared to, yknow, just starting a new save SLOT, but i wanted just ONE save slot, and only one. im ocd like that, but im not diagnosed. its a joke. im sure, until a doctor says something that it. btw i started fresh. im about two hours in and Sonic still controls just fine imo the Cyberspace jumping makes some sort of sense because Amy is still between dimensions. still sucks to control though. the input delay i will not understand and im not sure they'll go back and fix this any time soon. so that just leaves me: only able have to eat the scraps and leftovers and cant eat with everyone else who finished this portion the day of. an exaggeration probably, but people have told me "oh yeah i finished that game in a day", the base game, casually. look.

kronos island time of completion (b4 moving on to ares), 7:58:54 ares island time of completion (b4 moving on to chaos), 20:00:28 chaos island time of completion (b4 moving on), 36:15:54 rhea island time of completion, 37:00:26 ouranos island/end time of completion, 48:50:33

my intrinsic explorative gameplay style caused what was about ~20hrs for most other people to be almost 50hrs for me my first time, again spread through a month. the game was said to be 20-60hrs so i guess they were right, but if this new game section takes ~3hrs, it would take me 10-20. more accurately im a completionist type of guy. when i wasnt in Cyberspace i was going around the islands solving puzzles, fighting Guardians, experiencing Starfalls (Starfall+ goes WAY too hard, btw whats with all the + signs, there are new guardians, i saw a Spider+ which is white coloured and shot lots of missiles at me) so i could go fishing with my man Big, which also bumped up my game time, and finding Koco around the map which were probably the biggest contributor why I capped my adventure at 48 hours.

(^ my intrinsic explorative gameplay style likely caused by who else?) they werent necessary for 100%, even Update 2 doesnt list them as needed but i went for as many as i could just because i wanted to. as for my time in post-game, it was spent fishing, rerunning Cyberspace stages, particularly 4-2, finding Koco in places i missed when I thought id been everywhere (and i mean EVERYwhere). all other time was just spent running and rolling by the time Update 2 came out. im a bit bummed that i lost my first ever save. i wont be able to look back and show people "this was the file i sank all my time and love into because i only played through the game once and never looked back", but going through again is both refreshing and will be unsurprising since i will know the events. it wont be like majoras mask not playing for eight years. its like kid icarus uprising, where I never knew what was happening next, and i would send my friend who loaned me the game accurate memes relating to the chapter i just finished (big surprise, chapter 6 is my most played chapter). i was all like "wooooah, that happened and oooooh" thankfully, i still have my scrapbook, i.e. the photos and videos i took via the switch's capture button, stringing together my first moments ("you. leave. immediately." - Sage) to the end ("so... that was fun!" - Sonic). i should compile them into video form. maybe this will be good. God knows im far too late and cant recover anything, so heres to a clean slate to new Frontiers.

(also you still cant manually delete saves. i tweeted to the game director Morio Kishimoto about it, hoping something that i said could change something i want to be better)

[mjolnir-steve]

Foolish

Frank Adler x fem!Reader

Word count: 5027 (oop)

Warnings: light drinking, very brief mention of suicide, some cursing, smut (18+ ONLY!!!), unprotected sex (m/f) ... Please let me know if I missed anything!

A/N: Hi, y’all! Here’s my entry for @stargazingfangirl18 and @navybrat817’s Shameless Hoes for Chris Challenge!!!! I haven’t written smut in a LONG time, so please be gentle with me LOL. Here’s what I got:

Frank Adler

“I didn’t like the way he was looking at you.”

Breeding / mutual pining 🥴

I’d like to dedicate this to @rodrikstark for always sharing the Frank Adler feels and @sparkledfirecracker for bullying me (with love) into finishing this. ❤️

If you like this fic, please comment and reblog!!! I hope you enjoy. :)

Fridays never seemed to come soon enough. You looked forward to the beginning of the weekend as much as the next person, but over the last few months, Friday nights took on new meaning for you. You moved to the trailer park a little less than a year ago, wanting to buy a small place of your own and start making a home for yourself. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t expensive, and it was only a ten-minute drive from your office where you’d just secured a promotion. Roberta, the manager, helped you make it feel like home right away, insisting on going with you to pick out paint samples and providing copies of menus for the best take-out in the area.

Before long, Roberta introduced you to the trailer park’s resident certified genius, Mary Adler. Mary and Roberta spent Saturday mornings with you when you were free, which unfortunately, was pretty much all the time. You played games, sang karaoke, and even let Mary’s one-eyed cat Fred come over. He took a liking to your swinging chair in the living room, and if Mary couldn’t find him at home, odds were he somehow squeezed through your window and ended up in that chair. 

Another two months had passed, though, before you met Mary’s uncle and guardian, Frank. You came to learn that Mary stayed with Roberta every Friday night because “Frank needs time to be an adult” and she was not allowed to come back to the house until noon on Saturdays. This information made you feel like Frank must be some kind of sad, perpetual fuckboy. You were right about the sad part, not so much about the latter. One morning while Mary played with your watercolors, Roberta let slip - ironically over a cup of tea - that Frank did have the occasional hookup, but usually, he drank himself sleepy on Friday nights and just needed the time to himself. He worked himself to the bone as a boat mechanic, often late into the night because it was too hot to do some jobs during the day. Frank took Mary in when she was just a baby after his sister, her mother, tragically committed suicide. He spent the majority of his scarce free time with Mary, so when Mary was still a toddler, Roberta offered the Friday night deal. Frank countered that he would do any repairs in the trailer park for free, but she refused to let him do that work without pay, saying he deserved to have a life, too. 

She also informed you that Frank was a former philosophy professor, single, and very attractive, especially if you were into the rugged thing. You rolled your eyes with an amused exhale and took another sip of your tea. You’d be lying if you said your interest wasn’t piqued. Mary then shouted over her shoulder, confirming that she’d been listening to your entire conversation, “Frank is great, but he’s a grump. Good luck cracking that egg.” You snorted, nearly spitting out your tea, and she went back to reading your color theory book to Fred.

With that, you heard a sharp rap at the door. You set your tea down on the kitchen table, curious who your visitor might be. You didn’t know anyone else in the trailer park, or in town, really. You opened the door, taking in the sight of possibly - no, definitely - the most handsome man you’d ever seen. You quickly guessed it was Frank, judging by the grease smeared on his quite large hands. His eyes, though tired, had the same bright look as Mary’s, and he had the most perfectly imperfect fluffy hair and overgrown stubble.

“Good morning,” he said with a sweet, closed-mouthed smile. “Is Mary here?”

You had to remind yourself to breathe. Stammering, you opened the door wider, gesturing inside. “Hi, y-yes. She is!” Why am I like this? “She’s just painting with Fred. Please, come in.” You moved aside so he could fit his broad shoulders through the doorframe and then held out your hand. “You must be Frank. I’m Y/N. Mary is just wonderful.” You smiled at him, feeling the heat rise in your cheeks.

He took your hand in both of his, gentler than you’d expected. “I’m sorry. Yes, I’m Frank. It’s great to meet you, finally.” He smiled wide for the first time and you were certain you’d pass out. Who LOOKS like this? “And thank you, she really is wonderful. I couldn’t do it without Roberta. She’s family.” He smiled and waved at Roberta, who was looking at you over the lip of her mug.

Mary didn’t even bother to turn around and face Frank. “What are you doing here, Frank? It’s only 11. I have a whole ‘nother hour with my friends.” You tried to keep your laugh quiet, covering your mouth with your hand and shaking your head.

“Well, excuse me for thinking you might like to go out on the boat with me this morning. I guess I’ll go by myself.”

Mary jumped up from the floor, scrambling to clean up your paints and books. “Can Y/N and Roberta come?”

Frank crouched down to meet Mary’s eyes. “Of course they can, if they’d like.” He looked back at you over his shoulder, trying to gauge your interest, then turning back to his niece. “But do you remember what I told you?”

You could see that Mary was making a conscious effort not to roll her eyes. “You told me that my adult friends have adult lives that include adult responsibilities, and they might not always be available to spend time with me.”

“And?” he looked at her expectantly.

“And I need to invite them to do things without assuming they will do them.” She couldn’t hold back her eye roll any longer, but she made sure not to let Frank see. “Roberta, Y/N, would you both like to join us on the boat today?”

You were amazed by the exchange taking place in front of you, able to see where some of Mary’s brains and tenacity came from. The conversation between the two flowed so easily, playful yet intelligent. It was clear that Frank treated Mary not as a child, but as a person, and you chided yourself internally for thinking that was kinda hot. 

Shaking yourself out of your mildly inappropriate thoughts, you responded. “I’d love to come, Mary.” You smiled at her, bending over to help her pick up the last of the paints from the floor. “Roberta?”

Roberta gave you a look and you just knew she planned this somehow. “I actually do have some of those adult responsibilities to handle today, but thank you for inviting me.” You sent a glare in her direction, quick but no less scathing. “Maybe next time.” She winked at you before washing out her mug and saying her goodbyes.

You spent the whole rest of the day and night with Frank and Mary, doing everything from building sandcastles to cooking dinner together. Mary eventually fell asleep in your lap as you were watching Oliver & Company, Frank’s favorite Disney film that had become Mary’s, too. “An underrated classic,” they told you in unison.

You helped Frank put Mary to bed, a task made easier after such a tiring day. “I guess I should get going.” You stood awkwardly in the small kitchen, unsure of yourself and painfully aware of how close your hand was to Frank’s resting on the counter.

“Yeah, I have a job early in the morning.” He looked down at his shoes, unable to look you in the eye, and you wondered if he hadn’t found your company as enjoyable as you’d found his.

“Listen, I don’t know if you’ve been to Ferg’s? The little bar down the road? I go every Friday night just to relax and have a few beers. Maybe you’d like to come with me next weekend?”

Is he asking me on a date? You could feel your heartbeat racing. The look on your face must not have matched the excitement you felt at the prospect of spending time alone with the dreamy, kind, sarcastic man in front of you. 

He felt like an idiot when you hesitated to answer. He clearly read everything wrong. He had to fix this. “It’s a good place to meet people, you know? I know you’re fairly new to the area, so if you’re looking for more local friends, it’s a good place to start.” He winced, hoping you couldn’t sense his embarrassment at thinking that you would want to go on a date with him.

You swallowed, trying not to let your disappointment show outwardly. Of course he’s not interested in me. Stupid. “Oh, yeah! That would be great, Frank. What time?”

Frank let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, relieved that you didn’t seem offended by his offer. “How’s 7? I’ll pick you up? We can walk over together.”

And that’s how Fridays came to mean so much to you. Almost every Friday for the last six months, Frank met you at your door and you walked to Ferg’s together. Frank told you it would be a good place to make new friends, but you paid no mind to the other patrons. You only had eyes for each other, yet neither of you could see it, even though Roberta pointed out (repeatedly) that neither of you had taken anyone else home in all that time.

The more time you spent with Frank, the more certain you were that God was real and your life was His favorite trainwreck reality TV series. Even if you could have customized a dream man Build-A-Bear style, Frank still would blow your creation out of the water. He was smart and funny, not to mention an adoring parent to Mary, to whom you grew more attached each day. He was kind and thoughtful, talented and hard-working. Although he was a grouch, as Mary would say, he always was sweet to you. He took a genuine interest in anything you had to say, whether you were venting about work or filling him on the latest episode of whatever show you were binging. He was ridiculously sexy without even trying. All those hours he spent doing manual labor in the sun did wonders for his physique. You’d only seen him completely shirtless on one occasion, and the image of him with sweat dripping down his chest was burned into your memory, fueling your late-night thots and causing you to break out your vibrator on what was now a regular basis.

Six months had come and gone in the blink of an eye, and you’d begun to accept that Frank didn’t want to be anything more than friends with you. You decided tonight was as good a night as any to talk to someone new, to start letting go of your unrequited feelings. 

You swapped out your usual jeans for a sundress, t-shirt bra for a push-up, and lip balm for lipstick. Putting your phone and some cash in a wristlet, you considered wearing your new strappy sandals. The walk to Ferg’s was about five minutes each way down a sandy road, though, and memories of the sticky floor inside aided your preferred pair of Converse in their victory for the night. 

Just as you finished tying your shoes, you heard a knock at the door. You adjusted your cleavage and fluffed your hair a final time with one last look in the mirror. Here goes.

Frank felt like he had the wind knocked out of him in the best possible way. He suddenly felt entirely underdressed in his aloha shirt, even though it was his go-to for nights out of the house. He’d never seen you dressed so nicely when you weren’t going to work. 

You were the kind of beautiful that didn’t require makeup. Your natural hair always framed your face perfectly, even if you didn’t think so. He thought you were adorable when you were concentrating on something, blowing your hair out of your face with a huff. Visions of your soft curves made their way into Frank’s dreams on more than one occasion. He had seen you in your swimsuit several times, sunbathing with Roberta and swimming with Mary at the beach. It wasn’t even all that revealing, but it accentuated your figure in ways that forced Frank into needing a cold shower or two. Above all, though, he admired your heart. You’d allowed Mary into your life without hesitation, spending time with her because you wanted to and allowing her to ask all those questions that Frank just wouldn’t be able to answer. It killed him that you didn’t see him the way he saw you, a perfect partner for him and a worthy maternal figure for Mary.

“Frank? You okay?” Your concerned voice shook him out of his thoughts, prompting him to close his mouth which apparently had opened wide in astonishment when you stood in the doorway.

“Yeah, um... You look…” He looked a little confused, his brow furrowed and lips pursed. “Why are you all dolled up? It’s only Ferg’s.” He wished he could’ve kicked himself in the teeth when your face fell at his question. He rubbed a hand over his face. “Shit. Let me try that again,” he nearly begged, running up to you to stop you from going back inside. “You look really nice, honey.” He ran his calloused hand up your forearm, but quickly returned it to his side when he realized what he’d done. “Is it a special occasion, though? Should I change?”

You gave him a watery smile, given that you were three seconds from slamming the door in his face and crying. “That’s better. Thank you.” You lightly pushed at his shoulder, trying and failing to ignore the electricity you felt at the contact. “No occasion, though. Just thought maybe it was about time I actually introduced myself to someone new.” 

You couldn’t quite read his reaction. Little did you know he was certain he just felt his heart physically crack in his chest. “What do you mean?”

The two of you started walking, the tension between you thickening the very air you breathed. “Well, when you first invited me to Ferg’s, you said maybe I’d get to know some other people in the area, right? But we’re always with each other. I’m sure you’re itching to talk to someone other than me. I don’t want to hold you back.”

“Ah. Gotcha.” Frank abruptly reverted to the quiet, distant state he usually occupied before he met you. He sped up a bit, walking ahead of you and desperately attempting to school his features before you caught up with him.

Frank practically ran to the restroom, not slowing down even to hold the door open for you. You took a deep breath and rolled your shoulders, relaxing before entering the bar. Normally, whoever made it first would order drinks for you both, but Frank made it painfully clear that he had no desire to be in your company tonight. You ordered your usual, an Angry Orchard with a shot of Fireball in a tall glass. The combination tasted like apple cider, but the burn in your throat was caused by liquor rather than heat. It was strong enough to get you buzzed, but not so strong that you’d be stumbling home. You swallowed half the glass in one gulp, wanting to feel the warmth in your veins boosting your confidence as quickly as possible.

“Y/N? How are you?” You turned around, eyes meeting those of Jamie, your coworker. He leaned in for a hug and you accepted somewhat reluctantly, having interacted with him only in passing.

“Hey! I’m all right. What’s up?” You smiled at him, taking another sip of your drink. Jamie was not very subtly staring at your chest. You weren’t crazy about him, but the attention felt nice, so you allowed it.

“Not much. Just happy it’s Friday, ya know?” He looked around for a moment before returning his attention to you. “You’re usually here with that mechanic dude, right?”

You stifled a laugh thinking about how Frank would react if he heard himself referred to as “dude” by this prick. “Yeah, he’s around somewhere. We’re just-“

“-Just friends?” he finished for you with a hopeful look.

You nodded in response, looking him up and down. He was no Frank, but you couldn’t deny he was handsome. It had been so long since you’d even been kissed, and though you hated to admit it, you were touch-starved. One night couldn’t hurt, could it?

Meanwhile, Frank was splashing his face with cool water. He couldn’t believe he’d fucked up so royally. He was sure you didn’t want him how he wanted you, and now he was sure it was too late to tell you how he really felt.

He knew from the moment he saw you that he’d never get you out of his head. Roberta had been talking you up to Frank for weeks, but he wanted no part of it, mumbling something about there being “a reason why no one used matchmakers anymore.” He had no choice but to make your acquaintance when he was looking for Mary, and he’d never been so happy that Roberta could say she told him so.

Later that day at the beach, Mary approached him while you were dozing on a towel in the sand. She sat on his lap and reached for his face, using her pointer fingers to turn the straight line of his mouth up into a smile. “Roberta says you have a ‘charming’ smile, Frank. We think you should use it more.” He chuckled quietly, careful not to disturb you, and pulled Mary in close, planting a wet kiss on her cheek. She grimaced at the feeling, dramatically wiping at her face until he let her go back to reading with Fred.

The sound of the jukebox starting up cut short his reverie. He had to get out there and explain himself. Frank dried his face and hands with a paper towel before smacking his cheeks and stretching his neck back and forth to each shoulder. 

Frank exited the restroom only to find some douchebag staring at your ass as you leaned over toward the bar. He saw red when the piece of shit held out his hand behind his back while his friend slipped a twenty-dollar bill into it, seemingly winning some sort of bet.

Jamie didn’t stand a chance when Frank stormed in between the two of you. “That’s IT,” he yelled, so intense he borderline bellowed. He threw whatever cash he had in his pocket on the bar to pay for your drinks before he pulled you outside, almost getting to your door while you fought against his grip. He only stopped when you spun your body around like something out of Dancing with the Stars and jumped in front of him, forcing him to catch you.

“Jesus Christ, Y/N, what are y-”

“-What are YOU doing, Frank? What the fuck was that?” You put your feet back down on the ground but remained facing him, arms crossed over your chest.

He groaned in frustration, suddenly realizing he actually had no clue how to respond. “Fuck.”

You looked at him, tapping your foot in anticipation.

“I didn’t like the way he was looking at you.” He rubbed at his temples in the way he did when he felt a headache coming on.

“And how was he looking at me, Frank? What does it matter to you?”

“He was looking at you like you were a piece of meat and I… FUCK!”

You both turned when your neighbor opened his window. “Can you kids keep it down out here?”

You waved bashfully at the old man. “Sorry, Mr. Parker,” you said in unison.

“Come inside, Frankie.” The nickname that typically made him roll his eyes at you never had sounded sweeter, now that its use confirmed you didn’t hate him for the scene he made. You both toed off your shoes at the door before you made your way into the living room, motioning for him to sit next to you on the couch when he tried to sit in the armchair across the room.

You leaned forward, pinching his chin between your thumb and forefinger. “Now what’s going on in that sun-damaged brain of yours?”

He let out a laugh so soft you almost missed it, but you were glad you didn’t. Sitting back against the arm of the couch, you pulled a pillow into your lap and hugged it, giving Frank your full attention.

Frank cleared his throat, doing his best to accept that it was now or never. “That guy was leering at you, and it pissed me off. You deserve better, Y/N.” He pried your fingers from where they were locked around the pillow to hold your hands in his.

“If you want to meet new people, that’s great. If you don’t want to be with me, that’s a little less great, but I’d understand. He didn’t even pay for your drinks. And I th-”

You covered his mouth with one of your hands, and he knitted his brows in confusion. “You’re making it sound like it’s an option to be with you.” You were in disbelief, side-eyeing him, waiting for Ashton Kutcher to announce that you were, in fact, being Punk’d. 

The corners of his mouth lifted into the soft smile he reserved for you. It was the same one he gave you whether you were on a tangent about how “Obsessed” by Mariah Carey is “the single greatest diss track of all time” or you were helping Mary put a harness and leash on Fred “just to see how he’d do” on a walk.

“For a distinguished professor, you’re kind of a dummy, Frank.” You took his face in your hands, thrilled to be feeling his stubble against your palms. Before he could talk back to you, you kissed him, unsure how you denied yourselves such a simple yet extraordinary pleasure for so long. It only took a moment for him to relax into it, his hands removing the pillow between you before finding your waist and pulling you almost into his lap.

You deepened the kiss, threading your fingers through his hair. He pulled away first, pressing his forehead to yours. “Seems like we’re both dummies, huh?” 

You were going to ask why pulled away until you looked down to see a considerable tent forming in the front of his jeans. You laughed as he pulled you into a tight hug, one arm wrapped around you while the other hand held your face against his neck.

You kissed the side of his neck softly before leaning back to look at him. “All this time? I thought you didn’t see me this way.” You held his face, stroking his cheeks with your thumbs. “You asked me to go to Ferg’s and then said I could meet other people, so I thought that was it, you know?”

He covered your hands with his and pecked your lips softly. “Honey, I thought it was the other way around. I was trying to ask you out and you looked like you’d seen a ghost.” You giggled, spluttering a bit because tears had started falling at some point. He wiped your tears away before swiping his thumb over your bottom lip, pulling it down a bit. “We’re fools, aren’t we?”

You nodded slowly and Frank saw something wicked flash in your eyes before you took his thumb in your mouth, sucking lightly. “Jesus, honey.” His length hardened underneath you and you could feel the wetness beginning to pool in your panties, prompting you to grind down into his lap.

You released his thumb from your mouth, pressing your chest into his before kissing him again. “I think we’re only fools if we don’t take advantage of the rest of your adult time.” You removed your dress easily, returning your hands to Frank’s shoulders to push off his shirt.

He surged forward to kiss you again, working magic with his tongue against yours. You wrapped your legs around his waist and he picked you up, walking you into the bedroom. Placing you on the bed carefully, he removed your bra and panties before pulling off his boxers and jeans in one go. You thought you wanted him before, but now that you could see everything he’d been hiding under his baggy clothes, you didn’t see how you could ever let him leave your bedroom.

The next few minutes were spent exploring each other’s mouths while Frank stretched you with his fingers. You didn’t think you’d ever been so wet in your life and thought you might pass out if you didn’t feel him inside you immediately. You gave his cock a few strokes before sliding his head through your folds, coating him in your slick.

“Waitwaitwait, honey. Do you have a condom?”

“You don’t need one if you don’t want one. It’s okay.”

He looked like you just gave him tomorrow’s winning lotto numbers, taking a deep breath to steady himself before he looked at you again. “Oh, God. Are you sure?”

“Mhm. I wanna feel you. Make me yours?”

“Anything you want, honey, but if you change your mind, just tell me, okay?” He lined himself up, seconds shy of entering you for the first time.

“I figured if you were gonna be possessive of me tonight, you might as well take it the whole nine, Frankie.” You laughed as he let out an exasperated sigh. “Seriously, though, I’m clean, I’m on the pill, and I’ve wanted you for a long time.” You reached up to scratch lightly through his chest hair.

“The only thing I wanna hear right now is you moaning for me.” He drove into you harshly, but waited a moment for you to adjust once he was seated to the hilt. “So damn wet and tight for me, honey. You’re so perfect, so beautiful.” He kissed you again before he began to move, slowly but surely making you lose your mind.

He dipped his head down to take one nipple in his mouth, then the other, effectively shutting you up and emptying all thoughts from your head. He nipped at the swell of your breast, soothing the bite with his tongue. “Fuck, Frank, please!”

“Please what, honey?” He picked up his pace, fucking into you so vigorously you moved up the bed. “Tell me what you need.”

“Make me cum, Frank. Please, baby, I need it. Need you,” you cried, leaning up to bite into his shoulder, stifling your moans.

“I wanna hear you, Y/N. I wanna hear those pretty moans while I’m making this perfect pussy cum for me.” The combination of his filthy words and the sight of him sucking on his own fingers before rubbing at your clit sent you over the edge, making you scream his name over and over again for what felt like forever and not long enough.

You could tell he was close, his hips stuttering and losing their rhythm. He began to pull out, unsure if you were willing to let him finish inside you, but knowing he was too close to wait for an answer.

You hooked your legs around his waist and pulled him close, pushing him back into you. “Fill me up, Frank. I wanna feel all of you. Please give it to me,” you whimpered. His release triggered another for you, chanting each other’s names surely loud enough for the neighbors to hear. 

He stayed inside you as you both came down from your shared high, gingerly flipping you over so he laid on his back with you on his chest. He kissed the top of your head, fingers fluttering up and down your sides. 

“What’s on your mind now, Frankie?” You looked up at him through your lashes, mildly terrified of the answer.

He looked down at you with the most adoration you’d ever seen, lifting your chin so your eyes met his in the moonlight. “That wasn’t too soon, was it? You mean so much to me and to Mary. I don’t wanna mess this up. I don’t ever wanna hurt you. You’re the best thing in my life besides Mary, you know that?”

You kissed his chest before looking back up at him, smiling. “First of all, I would argue that wasn’t soon enough.” He hissed as you clenched around his still softening cock inside you.

“You’re evil.”

Winking at him, you continued tracing patterns on his chest with your fingers. “Second, that all kinda sounds like you might be in love with me, Frank Adler.”

His hands stopped moving for a second before he responded. “Would you run away if I said I am?”

“Well, I wouldn’t run away. This is my house.” You thought your heart might explode in your chest.

“I didn’t even say it, but I take it back,” he huffed, throwing his arm over his eyes.

“What if I told you I felt the same way?”

He grinned, sitting up to kiss you feverishly on your cheeks, the tip of your nose, and finally your lips. You could feel him starting to harden again inside you, leading to round two of… well, you lost count.

You ate breakfast and showered together in time for Frank to return home before Mary did, agreeing to talk more later and to hold out on Roberta for a while.

Frank stood on your doorstep, leaning in to kiss you once more. All of a sudden, you heard a familiar meow and thanked God you were dressed and not in your robe.

“Frank, what are you doing here? I thought I’d come see Y/N since I’m not supposed to come home until noon.”

You bit your tongue to keep from cackling. Frank ran a hand over his face, his blissful bubble burst. He was getting you a hotel room next weekend.

[mrsgreenworld]

I started writing this after having seen the second trailer of Duy Beni episode 8. I was glad to finally see happy and smiley Ekkan, spending time together. It does feel rushed, especially with everything going on around them and Kanat's involvement in the accident hanging over their heads. I'm 99,9% sure the writers will use it to break them up. But I decided to keep my expectations low and I might as well enjoy some Ekkan fluff while it lasts.

The scene of them cooking inspired this little one-shot that I really want to fit into the canon as a missing scene.

I don't own the show or any of the characters. They belong to the writers, production company and the channel. This is only fanfiction.

____________________________________________

The Way You Look At Her

Ekim knows that she probably looks ridiculous, with a dopey lovesick smile risking to split her face in two. She chastises herself in her head and tries to school her features. Then she sneaks a glance up at Kanat. He's already looking down at her with the same lovesick smile Ekim had a few moments ago. And the look in his dark orbs... god, that's the definition of heart eyes.

"So... What's the plan? What are we going to do while we're being selfish?" Ekim asks tentatively.

"Have you eaten? Because I haven't and, to be honest, I'm getting hungry".

"I might've skipped breakfast today too", Ekim says with a little smile.

"Then we could prepare breakfast together. What do you think?"

"I'd love that".

They walk the rest of the way to Kanat's house in silence, their hands clasped together tightly, fingers entwined. Ekim feels the weight of Kanat's hand in hers and it is so natural, so comforting and warm, so real and so sure.

When they get to the house, Kanat lets go of Ekim's hand only long enough to open the front door. Once inside, he quickly renews his grasp. Hand in hand, Ekim and Kanat move in the direction of what must be the kitchen and then stop abruptly in the doorway when they see Kanat's mother, who's placing something carefully into plastic food containers.

"Mom? What are you doing here? I thought you left to go to the hospital", Kanat says carefully.

Kanat's mother opens her mouth to answer and turns her attention from the task at hand to her son. She snaps her mouth shut and seems to freeze for a moment, when she sees Ekim, who suddenly feels uncomfortable and out of place. She makes an attempt at pulling her hand from Kanat's but he doesn't let her, keeping his big hand wrapped tightly around hers.

"Oh, you have a guest. Nice to see you again, dear. Ekim, right?" Kanat's mother asks, recovering quickly.

"Yes. Good to see you too, Suna Hanım. Sorry for coming unannounced again".

"You're welcome anytime", Suna Hanım says with a smile. She then adds, looking at Kanat:

"I'm just picking something up for your father. But I'm already done and will be out of your way in a moment".

"Do you need some help with that, mom?" Kanat asks, already taking a step forward.

"No, dear, I've got it".

Ekim sees the opportunity and seizes it immediately.

"You know, I could really use the bathroom", she tells Kanat quietly.

"Sure, it's the first door on the right, down that hallway", Kanat says, nodding in the direction.

He finally lets go of Ekim's hand, allowing her to make a quick exit. Once in the bathroom, Ekim splashes her face with some cold water and washes her hands. She glances at herself in the mirror, noticing that she looks a little flushed. Taking a deep steadying breath, Ekim dries her hands and face and makes herself leave the bathroom, understanding well enough that she cannot hide there all day.

As she's moving to the kitchen, Ekim hears hushed voices of Kanat and his mother. She's close enough to hear Kanat's next words that make her stop short.

"You didn't ask me about Melisa".

"I didn't have to. I know you wouldn't be here with Ekim if you were still involved with Melisa romantically. And I know it hadn't been really working out for you way before you met Ekim".

There's a beat of silence which Kanat's mother breaks with:

"I never saw you look at Melisa the way you look at Ekim. You never looked at anyone the way you look at her".

"Mom, I... I love her", Kanat says and Ekim's heart leaps into her throat.

"Yeah, you do", for some reason Suna Hanım sounds almost... sad.

"And I'm so happy for you, that's all I ever wanted for you. But..."

"I know", Kanat interrupts and there's heaviness in his tone that makes Ekim anxious.

"No need to worry about anything today though. Just be with her. While you can", Suna Hanım says.

Then there's movement in the kitchen that signals that it's time for Ekim to make herself known. She walks quickly the remaining few steps and enters the room in time to see Kanat's mother with a bag of containers, ready to go. Suna Hanım gives Ekim a warm smile:

"Ok, it's time for me to go. You, guys, have fun".

Ekim nods with a smile and then hurriedly asks:

"Are you sure you don't need help? Maybe Kanat should go with you to the hospital? We can raincheck".

"No-no. There's nothing I need help with. And Kanat's still recovering. Staying home with you to keep him company is all he needs right now".

Ekim feels her cheeks heat up slightly.

Suna Hanım says something to Kanat that Ekim doesn't catch and then she's gone, leaving Ekim and Kanat alone. Ekim turns to face Kanat, whose eyes are already on her. There's definitely something about the way he's looking at her. And it makes the feeling in Ekim's chest stir. The feeling that with every new day seems more and more like love.

[t-lostinworlds]

Dear Santa (Tom Holland)

a/n: this made me want a baby, preferably with tom but anyway. here’s my gift to you lot for the holidays! i hope you enjoy this one <3

pairing: dad!tom holland x female!reader trope/genre: Dad AU; slight angst; fluff summary: It’s a yearly thing for Tom and your daughter to write letters to Santa together on what they want for Christmas. Only this time around, it was over video call given that Tom was miles away from his two—three, including Tessa—beautiful girls. Santa did get the letters though... warnings: tom being such a dad (which is a warning in its own right), a dash of ‘missing you’ angst, it’s so fluffy that i died a couple times, bad pun/dad joke & a lil steamy in the end. word count: 7.2k+

masterlist in bio & pinned post

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"Dada!"

"Hello, angel," Tom gushed, heart warming up ten times over as he looked right at his four-year-old daughter's beautiful and chubby face. Her little hand waved enthusiastically while she sat on the tall chair in the dining area, her beam turning brighter at the sight of him. "How was your day?" He slid himself in the little nook he had in his trailer, placing his laptop on the table in front of him and getting himself comfy as he listened to her tiny voice babble. Some of her words were mispronounced, sentences cut short and randomly stringed together but Tom listened to every single one of it with much interest.

"What?! She didn't," he gasped exaggeratedly when she talked about Tessa sitting on her while they played in the living room, the pup barking soon after to make her presence known.

"She did! 'N Tessa so heavy dada."

The young lad heard your sweet giggle next and his whole body softened even more at the sound. He leaned back on the seat with the brightest smile he could ever wear. Although Tom could feel the sting in his chest gradually grow when you came into view.

The curve on your lips was tender and sweet, one that he could never get enough of even after years of seeing it, one that he's so dearly missed seeing in person. Tom felt his heart ache the more he stared at his two precious girls, both looking at him with smiles. But still, he can see it, the tiny specks of sadness in your eyes all because he was thousands of miles away, five days before Christmas.

He would absolutely do anything to be in the same room with you two right now. Hell, even to just be in the same country but alas, work and duties. Tom has been away for roughly five months and the last time he's seen you two in the flesh was two months ago when you came over and visited him on set. Now, it was the holidays and he's still not home. And Tom can attest that it's one of, if not the worst feeling in the world.

It wasn't in his plan to be so far away at this time but his schedule is ever changing which led him to still be at work nearing Christmas. He'd done the best he could to try and make it before or on the 25th but it wasn't set on stone. No real and solid plans until the actual day which was very gut wrenching.

It was the first Christmas he's away, after all.

But at this moment, Tom has been lucky enough to have a few hours off this afternoon given that night shoots were the agenda of the day. And even though he should be using this time to get a few hours of sleep in before a very long night, of course, Tom took this opportunity to video call over instead. He just got done eating lunch but it was already dinnertime back in London, and he so badly needs to see your beautiful faces before you went to bed.

"Thalia, sweetie, go wash your hands for a sec, yeah?" you hummed, running your fingers gently through her curly hair, one she got from him. Although her eyes, her smile and overall beauty? It was all you, Tom thinks so at least. Well, except for that cute nose that she got from him as well. The more she grows, the more it shows how she's the perfect mixture of her parents, and it honestly makes his heart soar. Thalia is the reminder of the love you and Tom have, one that's pure and strong that blossomed into this joyful, precious and beautiful little girl.

She looked up at you with a soft pout, pointing towards the screen as she shook her head. "Bu—"

"I'll be right here pumpkin, don't worry. Listen to mummy," Tom chuckled softly. Upon seeing the apologetic smile you flashed him, he knew that you saw the flicker of sadness that crossed his features. You always do see right through him. He shot you a small reassuring nod, a silent way to tell you it was okay.

"No go anywhere," Thalia warned, narrowing her eyes at him.

Tom felt his heart break even more but he flashed her a wide grin, crossing his finger over his heart and said, "I promise."

Thalia reached a hand out for you to take, a sweet smile on your face as you curled your fingers around her tiny ones. "There you go," you said, helping her off the seat.

"Thank you," she hummed, tugging your hand to urge you to lean down. A lovely giggle vibrated in your chest once Thalia placed a wholesome smack on your lips, the sight making Tom's heart skip a couple beats.

"You're welcome, angel," you said. Thalia disappeared from the screen, Tom assuming she had swiftly made her way over her little stairs that he had built for her a couple months back, just so she could reach the sink. "Careful," you called out, the soft grunts of the little girl echoing in the kitchen along with Tessa pitter-patters on the tiles. Tom knew she was in a rush up the stairs, eager to get her hands clean so she can go back to talking to him. He doesn't know if the thought made his heart soar or break a couple more pieces.

You turned back to look at him through the screen, a shy smile erupting on your features the moment you saw him already gawking at you with the proudest grin on his lips. He just can't help but admire the goddess before him. You just look so stunning and gorgeous in a simple knitted sweater, you, his wife.

That alone was honestly enough to make Tom combust with the love that fills him up ten times over. But then, by the heavens above, you're such an amazing mother. He genuinely doesn't know what to do with himself. You make him feel like he's on top of the world. Both you and Thalia make him feel so, so happy.

"Damn, how did I get so lucky," he gushed, gaze locked with yours with adoration coating his orbs. "I mean, look at you, the fact that I get to call you my wife? Whew." He shook his head in pure disbelief, blowing out his cheeks in the process. You let out a bashful laugh with a roll of your eyes, his smile only growing at your reaction. It makes Tom's heart melt whenever you get all timid when he showers you with compliments and affections, all the more reason for him to keep doing it as often as he can.

"All clean!" Thalia exclaimed as she climbed back onto her seat with your guidance, showing her palms to him with a bright smile.

"That's my girl," Tom said proudly, shooting her a wink with a grin to match.

You moved the laptop farther so Tom could see both of you clearly. Disappearing for a moment, Tom heard you speaking to Tessa, handing the doggo her dinner he presumed. You came back into view soon after with two plates on hand, placing one in front of Thalia—to which she adorably clapped with a soft 'thank you'—and setting yours right beside hers. Tom simply watched with a smug smile as you handed the young girl her utensils before you sat yourself down. Your little girl waited for you to get situated without touching her food. Then you and Thalia locked eyes, lifting your spoons and taking a bite at the same time with giggles coming out of you both.

The amount of times Tom could literally die and resurrect at the adorable scene before him was immeasurable. He was unable to wipe the love-struck grin painted on his lips, cheeks hurting but totally worth it.

"Oh, that was a very big bite," he commented when Thalia took another spoonful. Tom adjusted the sleeves of his flannel shirt, pulling it up his forearms for him to easily prop his elbow on the table, resting his chin on his palm as he admired his two precious girls.

"Hmm, so good!" Thalia nodded enthusiastically, eyes all squinted with her cheeks puffed out as she chewed her food as thoroughly and as carefully as she could. Although a little bit of it still managed to stick to her chin, Thalia quick to clean it up with the napkin you placed right beside her plate.

God she's growing up fast.

Tom felt his eyes sting at the thought of his little girl growing to be not-so-little anymore. Not long ago he was the one who'd wipe the little crumbs and mess off her face, but now she can do it all on her own. He could honestly cry.

"You know what, I'm so jealous of you young lady," he huffed, leaning back with his arms crossed and a deep crease on the middle of his brows. "It's unfair how you get to eat mummy's cooking every day."

"I sent Sam some of my recipes, didn't I?" you asked, amusement laced in your tone as you furrowed your brows at him.

"Yeah, but it still isn't the same when it's you cooking because then I can give you hugs and kisses during the process." Tom pouted. "That's one of my favourite parts aside from eating."

"Ew, dada, cheesy."

Tom's mouth fell agape as his gaze snapped towards Thalia and then at you—to which you only shrugged with a giggle—and back to his daughter. "Okay, who taught you that?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"Uncle Haz!" Thalia exclaimed proudly, nodding her head as she continued eating.

Tom shook his head disappointedly as he locked eyes with you. "I've been telling you, love, Harrison is a bad influence on her," he grumbled, jokingly of course.

"Oh hush, it's not like what she said was a lie," you pointed out with a knowing smile.

"Hey!" He pouted.

Thalia giggled at his reaction. "Dada cheesy," she repeated.

Tom sighed, shaking his head but the smile never did leave his lips. It never could whenever his eyes are on you two. He was going to confront Harrison about that though; makes Tom wonder what other things that blonde lad has taught his daughter.

"How was your morning, bub?" you asked with a soft smile.

Tom relaxed in his seat as he proceeded to recount the events that happened earlier all while you both continued to eat your dinner.

"—and then we got to visit the children's hospital and gave out presents, which was nice."

"They met Spider-Man?" Thalia queried.

Tom gave her a nod with a wide smile on his face. "Yes, they did."

It's still surreal to him how he's managed to now have the fifth movie of the franchise. It was the last installment which was somewhat bittersweet on its own right. Nonetheless, Tom was very thankful with the run of his career as the famous web-slinger. Lucky and blessed would be huge understatements to describe his life. Even more so now that he's got a wonderful, beautiful daughter and an amazing, gorgeous wife.

"Dada a real life superhero."

Yup, he definitely couldn't get even luckier than this.

Tom let out a coo, bottom lip jutted out as he looked at you and then at Thalia with a little gloss in his eyes. "I could literally burst into tears right now. You own my heart, darling," he gushed. Eyes glancing back at you, he sighed, "You both do."

The warmth and love you held in your eyes glowed some more, his smile widening at the beautiful sight as he tilted his head at you sweetly. Turning back to his daughter, Thalia flashed him a wide smile, setting her spoon and fork down with a satisfied hum.

"Finish already?" Tom asked.

She nodded enthusiastically. "It's letter time!"

Tom can't help but chuckle. It's been a yearly thing for him and her to write their letters to Santa every 20th, always the same schedule which was after dinner. Thalia has grown accustomed to the tradition real quick despite only doing it for only a few years. Well, she is just four.

"Alright, alright, why don't you help mummy clean up while I'll go get my pen and special paper," he said with a wriggle of his brows. The young girl clapped cheerfully as she grabbed for your hand before hopping off her seat, gently taking her plate from the table and carrying it to the sink.

"She's getting so big, love," Tom breathed out, looking at you with his bottom lip jutted out.

"I know," you sighed, eyes on Thalia before you tilted your head at him with that gorgeous smile of yours, nothing but adoration coating your orbs.

Smile turning into a mischievous smirk, he wriggled his brows at you. "Should we make another one?" he purred, voice low and guttural but quiet.

"Thomas!" you hissed as softly as you could. You looked at your little girl briefly and Tom literally saw the relief that washed over your face before you turned back to him with a death glare. "She hasn't asked about that yet and I swear if you're the reason why she starts now—"

"Tessa, not the spoon!"

Your head whipped towards the direction of that little voice before you turned back to Tom with narrowed eyes. "You behave yourself, Mr. Holland," you warned, raising a brow at him and then walking off screen.

"Love you, Mrs. Holland!" he called out with a chuckle.

***

"Dada don't peek!" Thalia gasped once she saw Tom craning his neck teasingly. She glared at him as she covered her paper with her little hand, which was honestly the cutest thing ever.

"I'm not, I'm not," he chuckled, going back to writing his letter.

He wasn't really asking for presents. Well, realistically, he doesn't need to. Of course he could pretend and not write anything at all but he feels a little bad lying to his daughter. So, he resulted to jotting down the things he already has rather than asking for more. All of his yearly letters had consisted of nothing but gratefulness as he lists down what he's been blessed with and was so thankful for, you and Thalia always at the top of that list.

The party has been moved to Thalia's room now, the little girl fresh out her bath and was wrapped in her PJs. The laptop was right on the little desk she had in the corner where she practices her writing, reading and even drawings.

It was where they always write the letters. The previous years, Tom would sit right beside her in one of the tiny chairs as he helps her write. But now, instead of side by side, they were looking at each other through the screen, which honestly makes Tom's heart ache. To add to that, she was writing on her own too, a bittersweet feeling coursing through his bones. Because as much as how he feels so proud to see his little girl know—slowly but surely—how to write, there's always going to be a part of him that clings to the memory of her little hand encased in his much larger ones as he helps her navigate the pencil around the paper, letter by letter.

God, she needs to slow down on growing up. Tom can't honestly handle it.

"You peeked again!" she squealed when she saw Tom lift his brows with widened eyes as he tried to get a look at her paper. Thalia quickly glanced over her shoulder, pointing at the screen with a pout, so obviously telling on him which made him let out a hearty laugh. You came into view right behind the little girl, toys on hand which Tom knows you got off from the floor. There's always so many of them littered around her room. Well, he admits, he does spoil his little girl, sometimes.

"Dada, no peeking," you scolded playfully, raising a knowing brow at him, Tom's heart melting at the seams at your use of the nickname.

"I didn't see anything, I promise." He threw both his hands up in surrender, scrunching his nose at Thalia who only stuck her tongue out at him in response. You disappeared from shot again, continuing what you were doing, Tom assumed. He turned back to his daughter. "Now, write your name at the bottom so Santa knows who it's from. And then put it in the envelope and give it to mummy," he instructed.

Thalia scribbled a few more lines before taking the paper in hand, folding it up as best as she could—all wonky and uneven which is so darn cute—and then carefully sliding it in the envelope provided for her. She then lifted it up to you once you made your way back over to her desk. "Done!" she exclaimed proudly.

"Great job, angel," Tom commended. "Now, time to brush your teeth."

Thalia nodded before turning behind her to catch your eyes. "Mama, help please." She pointed towards the laptop as a way for her to say that she wants to bring it with her, never wasting any time to talk or just see him. Again, Tom doesn't know if his heart could melt or break at the thought.

You nodded with a hum just as she rushed towards the bathroom across the hall, you right on her tail as you carried the computer in your arms.

"Ugh, my heart literally soars every time I hear her call you mama," Tom groaned as he shook his head. "Never gets old."

"Stop being so adorable when I can't kiss you right now," you muttered.

Tom smirked, shooting you a teasing wink to which you only responded with a playful roll of your eyes before you placed the laptop by the sink. Thalia was back on screen again, already brushing her teeth like a pro. Tom knows he's being a broken record but she genuinely needs to stop growing up too fast.

It's not good for his dad heart.

"Smile, sweetheart," Tom hummed once she saw her finish, the little girl showing her rows of teeth at him proudly. "Very pretty," he cooed.

"Thank you," she said with a cute giggle. The little girl bounded back to her room and climbed on the bed, you following suit with the laptop in hand. You gently placed it at the foot and on an angle so Tom could see you both clearly as you tucked her in. "Tessa!" Thalia squealed, tiny fits of giggles escaping her lips soon after as the pup circled around to find a comfy spot before settling right next to her.

The lovely doggo has become Thalia's best friend, personal cuddle buddy, and bodyguard. Wherever she goes, Tessa is always in tow. They always, always sleep beside each other every night and it's honestly the most wholesome thing in the world.

The room became dim when you turned off the main light, leaving the lamp on as Thalia wiggled a few more times before finally settling down. "Story, dada?" she yawned.

Tom nodded with a smile, leaning over the table as he switched up his voice a little. "In a kingdom far, far away..." he started, Tessa resting her head on the little girl's tummy as if she wants to have a piece of the story as well. His smile widened when you sat beside your daughter, your fingers caressing through her hair lovingly as you listened.

Tom can't help but pout at you, missing the way those same fingers feel against his scalp as you run them through his hair. You shook your head with a soft laugh, raising your brow to urge him to keep going with the story.

Gasps and giggles escaped out of Thalia as she listened to him all throughout his impromptu fantasy world. She made sure to throw in her two cents, turning the story to how whatever way she sees fit.

"...and then the princess climbed on her dragon with her new found freedom as she flew into the sunset. The end," Tom finished, his little girl letting out another yawn with her eyes now barely open. He can't stop his heart from melting at the sight. "Goodnight, sweetheart. I love you," he cooed.

"G'night dada. Love you too," she hummed, eyes fluttering close as she threw her arm over Tessa.

"I'll see you soon my princesses," Tom whispered, eyes flickering over at his pup and daughter with a bittersweet smile.

Tom caught sight of the stars that circled around the room when you switched off the lamp and turned her night light on. You flashed him a smile as you took the laptop in your hand and ventured out of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar behind you.

***

"How about you, my love, what's in your letter for Santa?" Tom asked as you settled yourself down on your shared bed, back against the headboard with the computer on your lap. The screen really doesn't do you much justice on how gorgeous you look, especially now when you got changed and opted on wearing his hoodie.

"I just want you home," you whispered, hand going over your mouth in realization that you said it out loud. Tom saw the guilt spread across your features once you locked eyes with him.

"I'm trying, darling," Tom sighed, hand running through his hair dejectedly, ache coursing through his chest at the sound of longing in your voice.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," you rushed.

"No, nothing to apologise for, love," he said, flashing you a sad yet reassuring smile. "It kills me too, being so far away from you both. But I'll see what I can do okay?"

You shook your head, brows furrowed in worry. "You've already done all that you could, Tom."

"But I feel like I should be doing more," he admitted, frown settling on his lips as he held your gaze. Oh how he wished he could take the sadness away from your orbs, to feel your warmth as he pulls you into his embrace. He wants nothing more than to cover you with kisses, to whisper sweet nothings onto your skin to replace your frown with those giggles he adores. "I miss you so much," Tom sighed.

"I miss you too—"

"Tom—oh, hey, Y/N."

You smiled softly. "Hi, Harry."

"I hate to be the one to say this but they need you on set now," Harry said in dismay, shooting you and Tom a guilty smile.

Tom looked at the clock, shock befalling him on how fast time had passed. It didn't even feel like he's been sat in this little nook for five hours, didn't feel like he's talked to you enough at all. He thought he had a few hours more, not a couple minutes left.

His eyes landed back on you briefly and you only flashed him a small smile. Tom turned to his brother with a nod. "Yeah, okay, I'll be right behind you," he said.

"Tell Thalia her favourite uncle said hi," Harry said to you with a proud smile.

Tom shook his head at his brother's bold claim given that Thalia hasn't said that at all. She hasn't shown to have favourites, nor does she have anyone who she likes to spend time with, more. But being competitive lads, it was natural for his brothers—which includes Harrison, Tuwaine and Jacob—to compete for the title of her favourite uncle. She's just spoiled to bits really.

You let out a laugh, though it was a faint one, smile not as wide as you nodded at the twin. "Will do, Harry."

Harry flashed you one last smile before he turned to give Tom a curt nod, hand coming up to give his shoulder a comforting squeeze. Tom smiled at him gratefully, patting his hand before the younger lad made his way out of the trailer. Turning back to you, Tom felt his heart drop to his stomach.

"Darling, please don't cry," he whispered, hand instinctively reaching for you, a harsh foot stepping on his heart when his fingertips only got as far as touching the screen.

"I'm not," you muttered, blowing out your cheeks as you leaned to the side, so obviously trying to wipe your tears off screen. Tom still saw it though, and even if he didn't, he knows you like that back of his hand. The smallest change in your voice could tell him all.

Tom did his best to keep himself together, flashing you a small, comforting smile once you met his gaze again. "I'll see you soon alright?" he said. "I love you so much, darling."

You nodded, frown settling in your lips as you sighed, "I love you too, Tom, oh so much."

"Goodnight, my love." Tom tilted his head at you with a knowing grin. "Dream of me," he teased, earning a small giggle from you.

"Always."

***

"Is dada not coming home, mama?"

It was the 24th of December and your heart could do nothing but ache at your daughter's question. You tried your best to not let your frown be so prominent while you tucked her to bed.

"We don't know yet, lovie," you sighed, hand caressing her cheek tenderly. "But maybe dada will be here the moment you wake up tomorrow," you added, shooting her a knowing wink despite the sharp stab in your heart given that it was still uncertain.

Tom hasn't called at all the whole day. He only sent you a text earlier this morning explaining that he was going to be busy, hence why he won't be able to call. Strings of apologies buzzed through your phone even despite telling him over and over that it was okay. You know that guilt is eating him up whole right now, know for a fact that he's beating himself up black and blue by still not being home on Christmas Eve.

Thalia flashed you her sweet smile and a nod in response, not pressing anymore about her father's absence.

She's really smart for her age, so you wouldn't doubt it at all that she understands why Tom is away right now. You did tell her that her dad wasn't going to be joining dinner this time and she simply said, ''S okay. Dada is a superhero and superheroes are very busy.' And it honestly took everything in you to not start bawling at the dinner table.

"Story time, mama," Thalia hummed, taking your hand in hers as she tugged you closer.

"Okay, scoot a little you two," you said, both Tessa and Thalia making room for you to sit on the edge of the bed. "Once upon a time..."

***

With Thalia fast asleep, you treaded towards the door, leaving it slightly open—for Tessa in case she has businesses to attend to in the middle of the night—behind you and made your downstairs, turning on the little lights on the steps in the process. You went inside the living room, walking over to the wooden stool by the Christmas tree to take the plate of cookies and the glass of milk. You emptied the glass as you made your way to the kitchen, placing the cookies back in the jar and then putting the dirty dishes in the sink.

Venturing into the guest bedroom, you took out the bag filled with the few gifts you had wrapped up the day before. It wasn't a lot, just a couple of toys for both Tessa and Thalia. The little girl really hasn't asked much this year aside from a few toys she saw on TV or at the mall. And what she had on her letter...it was a bit difficult to get.

You slipped back inside the living room, placing the gifts under the tree along with the few sweets inside the stockings. Once you've turned off the electric fireplace, you went over to the tree lights next. But before you could even get to the plug, you suddenly heard the creaking sound of the front door opening and then closing, making you shoot straight up and freeze in your spot. Your heart pounded against your chest, hands trembling at the thought of a break in. Your mind ran a hundred miles per hour as you thought about what to do, ready to sprint upstairs to get to your daughter. You felt your breath hitch when you saw a figure emerged in the entryway.

But then you saw that it was him.

"Tom?" you gasped, eyes wide and glossed up, mouth opening in closing in pure shock as you stared right at your husband.

His face was now in full view as he pulled the hood of his hoodie down. A loving smile played on his lips, one you missed seeing in person. Your heart stuttered as you held each other's eyes, so many emotions swimming in those brown orbs but the love and satisfaction outshined everything else.

"Hi, darling," he sighed in pure content, that voice you love so dearly clear and real, not muffled by the poor quality of the laptop speakers. "Do I not get a welcome home hug?" he teased when you stayed in your spot, unmoving and simply gawking at him. Tom opened his arms wide for you to easily jump into.

Once you've got a hold of reality, you just ran to him full sprint, a sob escaping your lips as he caught you right in his embrace. Tom wrapped his arms around you with a shaky breath, squeezing you oh so tightly as he rocked you side to side. You breathed him in, nuzzling your face in the crook of his neck, hands fisting the material of his hoodie from behind as your body raked with soft sobs.

Tom pulled away briefly to cup your face in both hands, thumb wiping away the tears that sat on your skin. He smiled at you all adoringly, eyes turning glossy before he swiftly pressed his lips right on yours. You let out a whine as you melted into the kiss, fingers taking home in the mesh of his curls on the back of his head as you held onto him, to physically feel him, just to make sure that he was actually real.

"I fucking missed you so much," Tom groaned against your lips, arms back around your waist to pull you inhumanely closer. His warmth was quick to coat you both inside and out, the feeling of his lips on yours familiar but never fails makes your head spin. His embrace felt like home and oh how much you've missed it.

You pulled away to give into your lungs' needs, but only just a little, both of you in dire need to keep each other as close as possible. The tips of your noses brushed against each other as your chests heaved, though the smile on your lips never did waver.

You stared into his brown orbs, your brows furrowed lightly in question. "But how—"

"Once they gave me the go I took the first flight home," he said, pressing his forehead against yours as he stared right into your eyes with utmost love and the widest grin on his lips to match. You placed your hand on his cheek, Tom turning his head to press his lips against your palm briefly before he leaned into your touch.

"I can't believe you're actually here," you whispered.

"I couldn't miss spending Christmas with my two—" Tom stopped himself when he heard the pitter-patter of paws down the stairs. You turned to see Tessa bounding towards your direction, jumping right at Tom as he crouched down to greet her with a chuckle, "Right, three favourite girls."

Then a small voice spoke, "Dada?"

Tom's head shot up, his handsome face glowing even more, remaining crouched on the floor as he spread his arms. "There's my sweet pumpkin."

Thalia ran to him as fast as her little legs would let her. Laughs came out of the young girl, the sweet sound echoing around the room as Tom lifted her up and spun her around.

"Yay! Santa got my letter!" she cheered, both hands up in the air.

Tom settled her in his strong arms with a soft furrow of his brows. He looked at you confused.

Later, you mouthed.

Tom nodded as he turned back to his little girl. "I missed you so much, my princess," he said, littering her face with loud kisses to which Thalia squealed and giggled in response.

You wrapped your arms around yourself with a satisfied hum and a wide smile on your face. To see Tom be such an amazing and loving father never fails to make your heart grow twice its size, never fails to make you fall even deeper for your man, your husband.

The lovely sight of him and Thalia made your body tingle in more ways than one, a thought crossing your mind, a feeling in your bones telling you that it was the perfect time. It made you smile wider, heat dusting your cheeks as you tilted your head at your husband and daughter.

Tom caught you staring, a proud smirk erupting on those lips of his as he shot you wink. You can't help but roll your eyes at his smugness.

Of course he knows the effects he has on you, knows how him being such a dad makes your heart flutter. But also, how it makes your body fill up with heat and want that you'd have to resist the urge to pounce on him. It probably was obvious in the way you look at him, easily sees it in your eyes because he knows you, he is your husband after all.

But then again, maybe he knows because he's just the same, if not much more intense. The amount of times he's gushed over and over how he wants to put another baby in you whenever he sees you taking care of Thalia goes to prove that point.

It's an equal reaction really, both of you just as whipped for each other.

"Come here, darling." He beckoned you over with a sweet smile, resting Thalia on his hip as he held a hand out for you to which you gladly took. He pulled you closer, giving you a soft peck on the lips before snaking an arm around your waist. You wrapped your arm around the small of his back, chin on his shoulder as you looked at him with utmost love. He shifted his eyes from you and Thalia as he sighed, "It feels so good to be home."

It was such a picture perfect moment, a pure family in love. There was nothing but wide smiles on all your faces, happy to finally be in each other's embrace after so long. Plus, Tessa sat right in front looking at her humans lovingly with her tail wagging enthusiastically.

Thalia's head fell onto her father's shoulder as she let out a loud yawn, tiny fists rubbing over her eyes before she wrapped her arms around his neck. Your heart melted at the adorably sight, a soft coo escaping your lips as you reached over to brush the stray her that landed on her face.

Tom chuckled, turning slightly to give his daughter a kiss on the forehead. "Let's get you back to bed yeah?"

***

Tom came inside your shared bedroom just as you slipped the envelope inside your drawer. Closing it, you leaned back against the headboard with a smile, eyes landing back on your man who stood still in his place.

Tom had his back pressed against the closed door, staring right at you with his bottom lip caught between his teeth.

"You going to join me in bed or are you just going to ogle?" you teased, raising your brow at him with a tilt of your head.

Tom chuckled, pulling himself off the door and sauntering over to you all while slowly stripping off his clothing, starting with his hoodie to his shirt and leaving them across the floor.

He's lucky you miss him too much to call him out on that, willing to give him a pass since he did just got off from a flight. He'll probably pick them up tomorrow though. If not then, he'll definitely hear from you.

By the time he's reached your side, he was left in nothing but his boxer shorts.

"She asleep?" you asked, looking up at your husband lovingly as he towered over you, standing on your side of the bed.

"Mm-hmm." He bit his lip with a smirk as he leaned down, hands on either side of your thighs that were hidden under the covers. "I've got such a beautiful wife huh," he muttered, brushing the tip of his nose against yours all adoringly before he captured your lips in his with a satisfied hum.

You giggled between the kiss, fingers lost in his hair as you pulled him closer, lips moving in sync like they've never been apart for so long. Tom nibbled at your bottom lip, a low groan erupting in his chest when you let him in, your tongues meeting as his hand landed on your thigh with a hot squeeze. You basked in his taste for a few moments more, letting him explore your mouth just to feel him closer, especially after months of being deprived from each other. Your hands slid down to rest on his broad shoulders, giving them a squeeze before you pulled away.

"Before you get too excited, I suggest you read Thalia's letter first," you said with a soft giggle.

Tom let out a hearty laugh, nodding in agreement and giving you once last peck before he jumped over you as threw himself on his side of the bed. The whole mattress bounced due to his weight, earning a pointed eye roll from you. Always a dork no matter what.

He slipped himself inside the covers, settling back against the headboard just as you rummaged through your drawer. You handed him an already opened envelope before you laid your head on his shoulder, slinging an arm over his naked torso as you snuggled to his side. Tom took out the piece of paper, a smile erupting on his lips once he unfolded it, eyes catching sight of his daughter's messy handwriting.

His strong arm wrapping around your shoulder, Tom pulled you closer, giving you a tender squeeze before he read the letter out loud:

Dear Santa,

Please bring dada home.

Me, mama and Tessa miss him so much and I don't want mama to be sad anymore.

Thank you, Santa.

Thalia

Tom tore his eyes off the paper to look at you with a pout, brown orbs glossing up as he placed the paper back in its envelope and set it aside. Snaking both his arms around your form, he gave you a loving squeeze. "Such a sweetheart with a big heart, just like her mother," he hummed, leaning down to give your forehead a sweet kiss.

"I read that at the mall when I did last minute shopping. I had to rush to the bathroom to get myself together. I got so stressed because I don't know if you were coming home or not. Which would then go down to explaining to her that Santa didn't get her letter and I really didn't want to break her heart like that," you elaborated, Tom's fingers caressing your arm comfortingly. "And then I was walking past this comic book store and saw this life size cardboard cutout of you as Spider-Man with the mask off. I was really contemplating if I should just get that instead," you laughed.

"You should've," Tom chuckled.

"And creep her out? No." You shook your head with a giggle. You pulled away from him slightly, his hands sliding down to rest on the small of your back once you did so. With your palm flat against his toned chest, you gawked at his handsome face with nothing but love. "Yet here you are, always here to save the day," you hummed.

Tom smiled widely at you, hand coming up to cup your face, his thumb stroking your cheek fondly before he pulled you down for a passion-filled kiss.

"Now," he murmured against your lips, hand sneaking down and under the covers, fingers hot against your bare thigh. He gave it a pointed squeeze before he pulled away slightly. "What do you want, my gorgeous wife?" he purred, a certain glow in those brown orbs as his smirk grew.

With a quick peck on his lips, you release yourself from his grasp for a second so you can reach inside your drawer. You gave him another envelope, a sealed one this time, Tom taking it with a confused look on his face. Lying down on your side, you propped your head up with your hand as you waited for him to read it.

Brows furrowed, Tom opened it and pulled out the letter, pupils moving slowly as he scanned the words. You can't help but giggle once you saw the shift of emotions on his face, his eyebrows rising as he stared at your handwriting wide-eyed.

Dear my lovely Tom,

Thalia is due a younger sibling, don't you think?

Love, Y/N ;)

Never have you ever seen Tom move so fast in your life.

Your sweet laugh echoed around the room as he immediately pulled the covers off your body so he could get himself on top of you without any hindrance. He hovered above you with a wide smirk on his lips, strong hands gripping your thighs as he threw them around his waist, body slotted in between your legs with ease.

He didn't waste any more time as he swiftly dipped his head to capture your lips with utmost love but also, need. The kiss was hot, rushed, a little messy and filled with absolute fervour.

Arms taking home around his shoulder, you pulled him closer into you, your heels digging into the small of his back, both of you groaning at the familiar closeness, bodies fitting perfectly together like two puzzle pieces.

Tom slipped his tongue in your mouth with ease when rutted his hip once which earned a gasp from you. He did it again with a low growl, to make you feel just how badly he needs you. And oh you can feel it alright, feel it really hard. There was the obvious desperation coursing in you both; it's been months after all.

Pulling away for a moment, Tom wriggled his brows at you with lust-filled eyes and a love-struck smirk. Your chest was heaving as you stared right into those brown orbs, ones that turned even darker as his hands took hold of the hem of your—his—shirt. He was ready to pull it off of you but not before saying,

"I guess Santa isn't the only one emptying his sack this Christmas."

"Thomas!"

-:-:-:-:-

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[apocalypseornaw]

Real Feelings

For the square *fake dating* on @girl-next-door-writes bingo

You pulled up to the newest construction site and parked next to Bobby’s truck. Him and Dean would be around here somewhere Ellen had tasked you with delivering the crew’s lunch order from the diner. You stepped out the truck then leaned back in to grab the box that held the food. When you heard someone call your name you nearly dropped the box. It was Micheal, your ex boyfriend who you’d been engaged to for a short time until he’d broken it off because in his words “This will never work out and it’ll cause less heartbreak now” you hadn’t seen him in a few years. 

You plastered a smile on your face as he moved to help you grab the box “Hi Michea! How have you been, what are you doing here?” he motioned around the lot “I’m here to meet with Dean and Bobby.They found a way to work around a design flaw I didn’t think about. What are you doing here?” you motioned to the box in your hand “Ellen, Bobby’s wife asked me to bring lunch” 

He smiled and waved a hand towards the trailers that held the temp offices “Then we’re headed in the same way. How’ve you been?” you nodded “Can’t complain, you?” he ran a hand across the back of his neck and you knew that as a tell he was nervous about something so when he started the next sentence with “Well actually I was going to call you” your stomach knotted. Why was he calling you? “Because?” you questioned so he grinned “I’m getting married. It’s a whole thing that’ll be up in the mountains. Charity, you remember Charity don’t you?” you nodded because yes you did in fact remember Charity. She was the greek goddess Micheal had met a few months after your split. She was gorgeous and sweet enough to meet sugar in her mouth. “Well she wanted to know if you’d like to come. Now it’ll not just be the wedding. My father is having a grand opening of the resort we’re using as well so there’ll be plenty of activities to do. You always did love the snow”

You walked up the steps next to him and knew your emotions were plainly written across your face because the next thing he added rather quickly was “And of course, if you’re seeing someone he can come along as well” you wracked your brain thinking of anyone you could use to keep from looking like you hadn’t gone this long without a lasting relationship considering he was getting married for real this time. “I’ll have to talk with him” you replied and could see his eyebrows go up slightly “Anyone I know?” you stepped into the door and as you did blurted out the only name that popped into your head “I’m actually seeing Dean” Micheal stopped in his tracks “Winchester?”  you breathed a sigh of relief to see Dean wasn’t in the office yet then nodded “Yeah about a year now” “Can’t say I’m surprised” he muttered and you were about to ask why when the door opened to Dean walking in.

“Hey baby!” you called moving to hug him then whispered in his ear “For the love of god go along with it. I’ll owe you” he gave you a look but pressed a quick kiss to your cheek “Hey to you too sweetheart” then nodded to Micheal “Hey man” you knew Dean was probably wondering what was really going on considering he was watching you as you laid his and Bobby’s food down then walked out to take the other food to the crew. Bobby had joined him and Micheal by then so Dean excused him by saying “Bobby I’m gonna walk Y/N. Make sure she’s wearing her hardhat this time” Bobby nodded then turned his attention back to the plans he was showing Micheal.

------

Once you and Dean were outside he cut his eyes at you and took one of the boxes out of your hand “So darling, when did we start seeing each other?” you grimaced then explained “I’m so sorry but he caught me by surprise. I didn’t know this was one of his dad’s builds then he’s talking about the fact that him and Charity are getting married and he’s inviting me and my boyfriend and honestly? With the exception of Bobby and Sam I don’t really hang out with that many guys besides you” you quickly explained the weekend Micheal and Charity had planned heading up to their big day.

He was silent for a few moments then shrugged “Is it paid?” “What?” you asked in confusion so he clarified “Is it paid? Like we show up and enjoy this brand spanking new resort in the mountains, get our food cooked for us. Our rooms cleaned for us and all we have to do in return is sit through your douchey ex getting married?” You nodded slowly and he smirked “I say let’s do it. I think it’d be fun and besides when’s the last time either of us had a vacation, let alone one we didn’t have to foot out an armload for?”

You opened your mouth then shut it just as quickly “Well I gotta go after I get this food to the crew but if you’re sure, tell him yes” he winked at you then took the other box from your hands “Go on and get back to Ellen because I fully expect my girl to have some new outfits before we show up to this destination wedding” you rolled your eyes at him then playfully swatted his ass “I’ll see what I can managed sugar”

------

The closer the weekend of the wedding got the more you wanted to back out. You and Micheal still had a lot of mutual friends and those mutual friends also knew Dean, Sam, Bobby and the entire bunch. There was bound to either be awkwardness or the horror of Micheal finding out you lied. Any time you bought the worry up to Dean he’d wave it off with the logic of “We know damn near everything about each other sweetheart. Hell you crashed at my place after you two split until we got you into your loft. We’re comfortable with casual touch. He’ll never know”

------

Before you knew it the wedding weekend had sprung up on you. You were curled up in the passenger seat of Dean’s truck as he drove following the directions Micheal and Charity had included in with every invitation. Normally he’d drive his impala but considering this was a trip into the mountains you both decided it would be better to take the truck.

“So do you know about our room situation?” he asked, breaking the silence in the cab of the truck. You shrugged “Charity got a headcount and they blocked off that many rooms. Considering they think we’re a couple you’re fine sharing with me aren’t you?” “Of course, sweetheart. Even if you do snore” he teased with a wink. You shook your head and reached up to turn the radio up slightly and smiled when he started to sing along with the song “Bad moon rising” 

------

“Wake up Y/N. We’re here” Dean called shaking your leg closest to him. You sat up and nearly told him to turn the truck around. Yes the resort was gorgeous but the reality of going to your ex-fiance’s wedding was starting to set in. Dean reached across the console and grabbed your hand “Hey fake boyfriend or not I’m really here to back you up. I won’t leave your side all weekend unless you tell me to ok?” you managed a smile then questioned “What if you see a hot bridesmaid?” he shrugged “I’ll get their number for later” “DEAN!” you scolded causing him to crack up laughing “See? Changed your mood that quick” You rolled your eyes but grabbed your bag and followed him once he was parked.

The interior of the resort had a nice almost rustic feel to it. A large fireplace was roaring in the center of the lobby and you grabbed Dean’s arm to pull him along with you to check it out. “You’re already smiling. It won’t be that bad” you turned to tell him that five minutes in versus an entire weekend was too different things but stopped when you heard an accented voice call both of your names. You looked up to see Benny and his sister Elizabeth walking towards you. “Benny” you greeted with a smile as the two of you hugged. Once you pulled away from him you greeted Elizabeth in much the same fashion. 

“So Dean, brother I hear you finally managed to wrangle this one” Benny asked with a smirk. Your eyes widened at his wording..what did he mean by finally? You chose not to ask considering you’d told Micheal the two of you had been together for nearly a year. Dean, ever the fast talker, simply slid an arm around your waist and winked at Benny “Things worth having take time don’t they?” you could feel a blush threatening to warm your cheeks and shot Elizabeth a grateful smile when she said “Leave her be boys. Y/N we need to catch up but for now I’ll drag my brother away so the two of you can get checked in and squared away”

After the two of them had walked off you looked at Dean who still had his arm around you holding you close to his side “What did Benny mean?” he shrugged “Who knows with Benny?” then moved to grab your bags then nodded towards the front desk “Let’s get checked in”

------

Your room was on the third floor so you took the nearest elevator up and thankfully it was empty. You leaned your head back against the wall then rolled it over to look at Dean silently cursing yourself for ever putting the two of you in this situation. You weren’t exactly ugly but damn the man looked like a walking wet dream when he was doing the most mundane tasks and you knew for a fact the suit he had brought for the ceremony was a Tom Ford black herringbone three piece. You’d seen him in it twice before and every woman and a good amount of the men in the nearest vicinity looked like they’d throw themselves under a bus to have a chance to see him without it and now here you were having to play it off like you had. “You’re thinking loud enough to give me a migraine” he spoke pushing off the wall when the elevator came to a stop. You shrugged “Just thinking how many more people are we gonna know that’s here, meaning how many are gonna ask about us being together after this weekend” “Let’s enjoy this weekend then we’ll worry about the rest” he replied with a wink motioning for you to step off first when the doors opened.

You checked the room numbers until you got to yours. You slid the key card in then stepped inside opening the door further for Dean since he’d insisted to carry your bags too because in his words “Yes you are more than capable but dammit I am a loving fake boyfriend”  You were in the living room area of the suit and it was nice, had a small couch against one wall with two overstuffed chairs sitting across the room next to a fireplace and a large tv on one wall. Dean let out a low whistle and sat your bags down in front of the couch “So far, so good. Want to check out the bedroom?” you ignored the warmth in your face to follow him to the bedroom door and cursed under your breath when you saw the kingsize bed. “I’ll um take the couch” you offered but he raised an eyebrow “We’re adults Y/N. I think we can share a bed. Besides this thing is big enough we won’t even be near each other unless we want to” he added a smirk at the end and you rolled your eyes feeling some of your nerves start to melt away at the simple fact of Dean being Dean.

 “Fine but you snore and I’ll put a pillow over your face” he nodded “Fair enough” then grabbed your hand “Get a thicker jacket on. We’re gonna go check out the grounds” you didn’t have time to argue before he was pulling your jacket out of one of your bags and slipping it onto your arms. 

------

The two of you spent a few hours simply walking the different paths around the resort. Dean was always big on the outdoors and you loved the snow so it was something that you both found joy in. You ended up taking several photos of wildlife including a squirrel that took a liking to Dean.

When the sun started to shift in the sky you tried and failed to hide a shiver from Dean. He was immediately pulling his gloves off and holding them out to you. “I think that’s our clue to head back” you slid the gloves on then nodded “Yeah”

You walked along next to him and was a bit surprised when he reached out to lace his fingers in with yours. You glanced down at your intertwined hands and he shrugged “That way we keep both of our hands halfway defrosted” you bit your lip to try to hide the smile you had at the action. What the hell were you doing to yourself? You had simply tried to duck out of an awkward conversation with an ex and were now risking one of the closest friendships you had.

Your attention was drawn by Elizabeth’s voice. You looked up about the time the brunette nearly barreled into you “Liz! Calm down honey. What is it?” you questioned. She cut her eyes at Dean then smiled sweetly “Stand right there Dean. I won’t keep her long” Dean had a curious look but nodded nonetheless.

You let her pull you a couple feet from Dean before asking “What is going on?” “Lisa is here” you felt your heart hit your feet at that. Lisa was Dean’s ex and the closest he’d ever gotten to marriage. She’d played him dirty though by using her son Ben as a bargaining chip. Once Ben got old enough to go off to school she’d lost that chip but you knew Dean’s feelings for her had in fact been very real. “Oh” you said softly which caused Elizabeth to shake your arms roughly “Oh? Oh as in you aren’t worried or oh as in I should start a fight with her sister just to give you an excuse to knock her out?” You let out a surprised laugh at her offer then said “Oh as in I’m not worried” you looked over your shoulder at Dean who waved when he saw he had your attention then added softly “Not very worried anyways”

-----

Elizabeth went in search of Benny so you and Dean headed back inside. He was asking if you wanted to hit the dining area or just get room service. You wanted to go ahead and tell him Lisa was here but if everything was going to implode you might as well enjoy a little before it did right? “I’m thinking room service and maybe some horror movies?” you suggested as the two of you walked towards the elevators. He pulled you into his side and left a kiss on your temple “That’s my girl!”

------

You left ordering the food up to Dean while you took a shower and you started to wonder if you should regret that decision when you walked into the living room. He had a fire going and there were plates on nearly every surface. “Are we barricading ourselves in here? Did the apocalypse start while I was in the shower and if so can I claim Daryl?” He looked up from scrolling through the movie options to laugh humorlessly “First off I’m like so much better looking than him and I just decided that we’d try a little bit of everything in case the rest of the weekend gets to be too much and your stomach does that nervous thing where you can’t eat without getting queasy” 

Damn he remembered that? Guess it shouldn’t surprise you but even Micheal had never paid too much mind to that. “Well in that case pick the first movie and let’s get this marathon started”

------

Dean knew you’d never make it through the entire list of movies the two of you had picked. Halfway through the Texas chainsaw massacre you were curled up next to him with your head laid over on his shoulder. He missed times like this. After you and Micheal had first split and you stayed with him this was a weekly occurrence. The two of you would stay up most saturday nights, watching the cheesiest horror movies and eating the weirdest take out you could.  You’d always fall asleep on him and he would always just get comfortable and sleep on the couch as well to have you close to him. His feelings for you had already been apparent by the time him and Lisa finally called it quits but you’d been with Micheal. After the breakup he hadn’t wanted to be seen as trying to take advantage so he was content with the best friend role. He’d date and see you date but would always hold his breath when you’d hit the couple weeks mark with whatever idiot you’d be currently seeing in hopes you’d kick the guy to the curb and you always did. 

When this weekend had come up you’d expected him to laugh at the idea but he’d jumped at. Maybe if he had some alone time with you in a place as gorgeous as this he could finally put words to his feelings and maybe just maybe you felt the same.

------

Waking up on the couch with Dean’s arms around you felt like a dream until you remembered just why the two of you were here and what Elizabeth had told you the night before. You turned to look up at him and smiled seeing his face so relaxed. His mouth was open just slightly and his hair was tousled from moving around in his sleep. You weren’t sure how long you’d been staring at him when a smirk slipped onto his face “Staring is a little creepy honey” you rolled your eyes and slowly started to sit up “I wasn’t staring I was simply making sure you weren’t drooling on me”

He opened one eye and smiled at you “Are you asking me to get bodily fluid on you?” “I swear to christ Dean!” you scolded but he started laughing and pulled you back down next to him “Shh go back to sleep. Breakfast runs for another two hours and there’s no wedding stuff until the snowmobile ride around one then the dinner at seven” You cut your eyes up at him and took a deep breath before saying “I need to tell you why Elizabeth found me last night”

He sat up slowly opening both eyes and yawned “I’m guessing not just to get help burying Benny in snow?” you shook your head “Um well you know a lot of our friend groups and Micheal’s are intertwined” he nodded so you finally bit the bullet “Lisa is here” “Oh” he stood up off the couch rubbing a hand across the back of his neck. There were too many emotions playing through his eyes to pick out just one so you took the opportunity to say “I’m gonna grab a shower. Charity asked for some of the female guests to come pick out corsages so none of us are left without flowers so I’m going to meet up with Liz to do that”

You quickly walked out the room before Dean could see the look in your eyes at his reaction upon hearing Lisa was at the resort. Well at least thursday had been fun. You simply had today and tomorrow to get through then sunday you could head home.

------

By the time you got out the shower Dean was sitting on the foot of the bed with his toiletry bag next to him so he could shower next. He glanced up when you walked out and smiled “So are you and Liz gonna meet up with me and Benny for breakfast or are we left up to our own devices?” you shrugged and grabbed your thinner jacket since you planned to be indoors until the snowmobiling later. “Why don’t you two go without us and we’ll meet up later?” “You don’t think I’m gonna leave you high and dry just because Lisa is here..do you?” you opened your mouth to reply but someone was on your side because Elizabeth chose that moment to text your phone “I’m outside your room babe” you showed him the phone and he nodded “Find me after you pick flowers..please?” you smiled “Of course” then nearly ran out the room.

------

You forced a smile onto your face as you followed Elizabeth into the room where Charity had the florists set up. You really did think it was a cute idea that she didn’t want any woman in attendance to be without flowers even though it was her big day.

You stopped the moment you stepped into the room and spotted Lisa talking to Charity’s sister Alice. “Well look what the cat dragged in” Elizabeth muttered under her breath and you bit your lip to hide the smile “Let’s just check in with Charity, pick our flowers and get the hell out of here” she nodded looping her arm in with yours. The two of you headed for the table lined with daisies,sunflowers and lilies. “What were you thinking?” she asked, picking up one of the flowers off the table. You shrugged “Something simple Liz, my dress is dark blue and Dean’s suit is black” “Is it the three piece Tom Ford number? He always did look amazing in that?” Lisa’s voice came from behind you and you felt your spine stiffen at her voice.

Elizabeth cut her eyes at you as you turned to face Lisa with a smile on your face “Matter of fact it is. Nice to see you again Lisa. How’s Ben?” her smile faltered slightly at your mention of him. “He’s doing fine, can I ask you one thing?” you nodded slowly “Even if I say no you’re gonna talk anyways so I might as well agree to it to keep things civil for Charity and Micheal’s sake”

You saw Elizabeth move out the corner of your eye coming to stand directly next to you and you then realized Lisa’s sister Tabitha had come to stand behind her. You weren’t doing this. You and Micheal had ended on a good note, Charity was a good person and you were going to have to be pushed really far to act stupid during their weekend. “Were you screwing him when I was with him or did you just wait until Micheal woke up about you?” “You know what Lisa..” Elizabeth started but was stopped by Alice stepping between you and Lisa “Braeden, Y/N is a guest here same as you are. If the two of you have issues with each other we have a big resort here take it outside or get over it”

You stared Lisa down as you told Alice “I have no problem. I’m here for Micheal and Charity. They invited me” Lisa plastered one of those smiles that could only be described as how Lucifer smiled at Eve in the garden “No issue from me either” Alice nodded and smiled at you “How have you been Y/N? Did you and Elizabeth find the flowers you wanted?” you shook your head still looking at Lisa over her shoulder. She gently touched your elbow and led you back to one of the tables. “Tell me what colors you and Dean are wearing and I’m sure we’ll find something that looks amazing. You too Elizabeth”

------

After you and Elizabeth were through picking flowers she asked if you wanted to grab breakfast. “Just the two of us?” you offered and she shrugged “Up to you. We can find your honey and my brother if you want or we can just catch up?” you smiled “I like the idea of catching up. Dean and Benny are big boys. They can be left alone for a little while” she smiled in return and grabbed your arm “Well then come on ma’am”

-------

You were sipping on your coffee when Lisa walked by your table. She was still staring you down but you refused to do anything to mess up a friend’s wedding weekend. “You know I’m starting to think she’s more jealous of Dean having you then you having Dean” Elizabeth scoffed and you coughed around your coffee from the laugh that pulled from your lips. “I really need to get down to Louisiana more often. I forgot just how much fun you Lafittes’ are” She winked at you over her own coffee cup “Especially around Mardi Gras”

You were about to leave to go change for the snowmobile ride when a plate was set down on the side of yours and Elizabeth’s table. You cut your eyes up at the person who’d sat it down and it was Tabitha. “Lisa said since you enjoy her leftovers so much she figured you may want more” you took a deep breath then stood to face her eye to eye “Tell Lisa if she has an issue with me she needs to be woman enough to deal with it when it’s not conflicting with other plans. Now she want to hit me up next weekend? I’ll gladly whip her ass” you heard Elizabeth snicker under her breath and Tabitha looked scandalized “Are you even with him? I mean you’re not really his type” 

Elizabeth was to her feet in a flash “You little..” but you stopped her with a hand then smiled at Tabitha “What? Not manipulative enough?” with that she seemed dumbfounded so you turned back to Elizabeth “Let’s go get changed”

------

Elizabeth’s room was on the same floor as yours and Deans so the plan was to change then meet up at the elevator unless one of you ran into one of the guys first. You unlocked the door and stepped into your room breathing a sigh of relief to see Dean was in fact not there but your phone went off with a text from him “Dammit we have looked everywhere for you two. Where did you get off to?” you rolled your eyes and sent back “I’m lost come find me” before laying the phone down to dig out different clothes.

You were pulling your boots on when you heard the door of the room open then shut followed by Dean calling your name. “In here!” you hollered and he poked his head around the door holding his phone up  “That has never been funny. Elizabeth told Benny where you were” “Snitch” you mumbled standing to grab your jacket. You could feel him watching you and cursed under your breath when he asked “What’s wrong?” you shrugged and tried to walk past him but he grabbed your arm “Come on darlin. I know that look something is up” you nodded “Yeah your ex is a fucking bitch and needs to be glad that we’re at a mutual friend’s wedding” “What did she do?” he asked dropping your arm like the mere touch had burnt “Everything from saying how good you’ve always looked in that one suit to asking me if I was screwing you when the two of you were together to sending her sister over to mine and Elizabeth’s table to give me her leftovers from breakfast followed up by reminding me I’m not your type” when you were met with silence you laughed humorlessly “I think I’ll get Benny to come grab my bags and just stay with Elizabeth the rest of the weekend. We can tell everyone we split and if need be I’ll pay their gas to swing through to take me home on their way” “You don’t have to do that” he offered but you’d already turned away so he wouldn’t see the tears in your eyes “Yeah. I do because this was the stupidest idea I’ve ever had” you grabbed your jacket and pushed past him out the room.

You nearly mowed over poor Benny who reached out to steady you “Woah there. Where you headed like that?” you figured might as well bite half the bullet at least “We just broke up will you bring my bags to Liz’s room?” he seemed more than a little confused but nodded “Want me to smack some sense into him?” you shook your head with a watery smile “It was bound to happen. I’m not really his type” then walked away from him to find Elizabeth.

------

You ended up dipping out of the snowmobile ride. You told Charity you were having a bit of motion sickness and bless her she’d gotten one of the staff to bring you some medicine.

You and Elizabeth had decided on one of the nature walks instead. “So what happened?” she asked and you shook your head “I told him what happened with Lisa. He didn’t respond” “I’m sorry honey” she replied pulling you into her side with one arm. You shrugged “Was bound to happen anyways”

When you finally pulled your phone out after the two of you had been wandering the trails for nearly two hours you had fifteen texts from Dean and even a few from Sam and Eileen wanting to know why their brother/brother in law was texting them to get them to text you to text him. Confusing huh?

“Maybe he’s sorry?” Elizabeth offered but you shook your head “I’m not holding him up. Who knows maybe Lisa is right. Maybe he does still want her” the words themselves felt like a hot knife twisting in your gut but you weren’t going to let it show. You could get through this and avoid Dean as much as possible until the sting went away. 

------

At dinner you told Elizabeth you weren’t feeling well but talked her into going to dinner well after you made her promise to not blow up at Dean, Lisa or Tabitha. You left her with Benny in hopes he would see that she kept that promise then headed up to her room.

When you opened the door Benny had laid your suitcase and smaller bag on the couch. You called room service to get some food and to see if you could get an extra pillow and blanket so you didn’t have to steal one off her bed.

By the time Elizabeth got up to the room you had already eaten and showered and was curled up on the couch watching a movie. She smiled at you the moment she walked in the door “He’s clearly upset” you sighed and patted the cushion next to you “You’re welcome to come watch Liz but I don’t wanna talk about Dean” she nodded “Fair enough” and kicked off her shoes to come join you.

------

“I fucked up man” Dean told Benny with a shake of his head. “You think? Man you’ve been telling me for how long how you feel about that girl then you what? Can’t even manage to say fuck her about your ex?” Dean shrugged because he honestly had no idea why he hadn’t said anything about it when you told him of the confrontations with Lisa. “How do I fix it?” he asked and Benny laughed “Beg? Then beg some more?” “You know what Benny? You’re such a help”

Lisa and Tabitha walked into the bar about that time and Benny bumped Dean’s arm forcing him to look up right before Lisa walked over to them. “Dean, I hear you got tired of Y/N already. Want a real woman again?” Benny rolled his eyes at her words then cut his eyes at Dean. As much as he liked him he liked you too and if Dean wouldn’t speak up on your behalf he damn sure was going to. “Real woman Lisa? You mean a liar, manipulator and cheater? Y/N has been one of my closest friends for as long as I can remember. When I needed her she was there, when Sammy, Bobby, Ellen hell anybody needed her she was there. She’s the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. She fights for those she cares about, she takes care of everyone she can. She’s strong but still soft and I love her” 

Benny’s eyes widened at Dean’s confession and Lisa looked like she swallowed a frog “You love that?” Dean stood off the stool at her words and smiled “Sweetheart there was never anyone but her”

------

You and Elizabeth were wandering around before the ceremony. You were dressed complete with flowers. The people loitering around the lobby looked like they belonged in one magazine or another at a newsstands. You spotted Alice and walked towards her with a smile “How’s Charity?” she laughed nervously “Scared?” “She’ll be fine. Your dad walking her?” she nodded so you added “Just tell him to have a good grip on her arm just in case and tell her to keep her head high. She’s beautiful and we’re all here for her” She smiled “Thanks Y/N” “Anytime”

Elizabeth had watched you talk to Alice and when you got back to her side she asked “How are you that good talking about your ex-fiance’s soon to be wife?” you shrugged “hindsight twenty twenty? Me and Micheal didn’t belong together. He just figured it out before I did” She nodded slightly “So who do you belong with?” 

You could feel your cheeks threaten to warm as you thought about Dean. The way he made you feel when you’d wake up next to him or how he always went out of his way to make you laugh. How he always took care of everyone around him but resisted when it came to allowing someone to take care of him because he still wasn’t used to it. You were in love with him and had now possibly lost even his friendship. “Who I want I can’t have” you finally said and she asked “Why not?” “He doesn’t want me” you replied but froze when you heard Dean’s voice behind you “Are you sure about that? Because really if a guy has a shot at you and doesn’t take it he needs his ass kicked”

You looked back at Elizabeth but she was grinning at Benny “Oh dear brother of mine! Let’s go check out those nifty little stands they have set up near the doors!” you watched the two of them disappear then looked back at Dean “I never should’ve asked you to pretend this weekend” he nodded then smiled “And I should’ve admitted the reason I agreed was to get to spend some time with you so maybe I could figure out if you feel the same way about me that I do about you. Me and Lisa we never would’ve worked for the same reason you and Micheal never would’ve worked. I found who I want to be with and it’s you” “Dean please tell me you aren’t screwing with me right now” you whispered grateful the two of you had moved to the edge of the room where no one could overhear. “I’ve never been more serious about anything” you patted at the tears threatening to spill from your eyes “Christ I’m glad Liz had waterproof mascara” he bit back a laugh and motioned to your face “Those good tears?” you nodded “If you’re serious come kiss me Winchester” a smirk slipped onto his face “Don’t have to tell me twice” 

@brilovesdeanwinchester @akshi8278 @bolontiku

@girl-next-door-writes

[aquamoon33]

Game Clearing 2021

So this year was... something. Besides having less time to play (having to babysit more because kindergartens were closed due to coroni), my boyfriend moved in with me this August, since he got a job and we're getting used to living together, but otherwise, not much happened. I got to attend a convention in Italy, and that was pretty much it.

But without much further ado, this years game clearing list is under the cut:

Game 1: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Nintendo Switch)

Ok, I'm sad I didn't get to play this when it came out, because if it did and I’d play it way back in November, it would be my GOTY 2020. I love Warrior series, just for the catharsis I get from mass murdering bad guys. The story is great, and without going into too much spoiler territory, it’s not what you expect at all. Bonus points that I went into this game completely blind, only watching the reveal trailer and nothing else and I never felt this kind of awe and shock, that is nowadays sadly almost non-existent with how much other people on YouTube and other social media (Nintendo as well, sadly) spoil the game just for clicks and likes. The gameplay is fun, fast and unlike the first HW game, it has some new mechanics (rods and Sheikah slate help a lot when trying to deplete the Weak-point gauge).

Now if you excuse me, I have an egg to build.

Game 2: Persona 5 Royal (Playstation 4)

Okay, I delayed playing a Persona game because I’m bad at managing in-game events. I played Persona 4 in the past and I remember there was a lot of multitasking involved with confidants and skills that I lost interest in it and decided to watch the anime instead. But when my boyfriend gave me a PS4 and Persona 5 Royal for my birthday I decided to give it an honest try. And I LOVE IT! I didn’t manage to max everyone out (and probably no one does on their first playthrough) but I did manage to max out my skills. I watched the anime a while ago so I knew of the original plot, but the Royal content was where I ended up playing blind, so the whole Yoshizawa plot was a surprise to me (and I had tears streaming down my face during the final boss, which never happens!!!). The game is great, but I’d have a hard time recommending it if you’re bad with micromanaging and if you do end up tackling it, I recommend writing stuff down on paper/tablet/phone/other devices.

Now, I’m gonna mass murder Shadows in Persona 5 Strikers.

Game 3: Persona 5 Strikers (Nintendo Switch)

Now this is how you make a spin-off sequel to a good game. It felt like a real hack and slash Persona game instead of the classic Warriors gameplay. But the biggest inclusion is the fact that you can actually move around as other Thieves in dungeons! The gameplay is fun, however it can catch you off guard if you’re not paying attention to weaknesses (…trust me, got Joker killed A LOT because of my recklessness). Didn’t manage to unlock every Persona in the compendium, because that actually requires levelling up Personas you get in the first dungeon (ex. Needed a lvl. 40 Pixie and Pisaca to get a lvl 53 Bugs fused). Storywise, the game sends you all across Japan to hunt bad guys and the two new party members were a fun addition.

Also, Ryuji at one point seemed to do crack for some reason, but it turned out to be just flour for cooking :/

Game 4: YS – Memories of Celceta (Playstation 4)

I grew to love YS series after a friend of mine recommended YS VIII to me and while this is a remake of the fourth games (Mask of the Sun and The Dawn of Ys), I liked the gameplay here better because of quick pacing and lots of exploring (…and while I loved the map system in VIII, I don’t like how you have to hug walls to get stuff registered on the map in this game). The story is also your classic JRPG style: main hero has amnesia, stop a corrupt group of people trying to bring the end of the world, kill a god maybe and all’s well that ends well.

I’m an Adventurer now!

Game 5: Torna – The Golden Country (Nintendo Switch)

Is it wrong to think that this game is actually better than the actual XC2? Because I like this DLC better than the original game, with no time consuming merc missions, no random gacha pulls and no crappy tutorials. Story explained a lot of things regarding the ancient Aegis war, how Jin became how he is, the birth of Pyra and the destruction of the Tornan titan. The gameplay is more simplified, considering you only ever get 3 drivers, and each has 2 blades, but the regular driver and blade combos are still present. The side quests actually feel worthy doing them since as you complete them, your community grows, and the final quest has your community helping out a sickly little girl get better.

Also, now I know how Malos became so messed up in the head, Jesus.

Game 6: Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (Nintendo GameCube)

I have a confession to make. Despite holding this game as one of my favourite 3D Sonic games, I have never beaten it. Well, I beat Hero and Dark story, but never the Last story. Blame my stupid teenage mind, which didn’t want to see Shadow die, because he is my favourite Sonic character. The gameplay hasn’t aged that well and they, pardon my language, FUCKED UP the treasure hunting stages. Don’t get me wrong, the game is still fun, but the controls and camera can and will fuck you up if you’re careless.

Chao garden will eat up 90% of your time tho.

Game 7: Miitopia (Nintendo Switch)

I may have beaten the 3DS version before, but this one feels more complete. The addition of the horse is great, albeit overpowered a bit, but you can always leave the horse in the inn if you want. I am sad that they didn’t include more jobs in the post-game. The gameplay is still as it was in the 3DS version, make your characters and go on an adventure (Yaaaay!), except this time, I included myself, my boyfriend and 8 of my OCs (my 3DS playthrough had anime characters, and I didn’t want another anime adventure). The outings are also a good new feature, as it allows levelling up relationships easier.

Tho the real way to play this game, is to make memes and kill all the Twerkeys.

Game 8: Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight (Playstation 4)

Ok, I’m not good at rhythm games, because I start panicking and mess up the buttons. But this was a fun game. While I was enjoying the dancing and music (and dressing up the cast in ridiculous outfits), the social events were fun to watch as well. Gameplay wise it’s your standard rhythm game, with a lot of customizing options for dancers and songs.

My child’s name is now canon as Ren Amamiya and you can’t and won’t change my mind.

Game 9: Owlboy (Nintendo Switch)

If you ever want to play a cute, short platformer, then this is a game I recommend. The artstyle is beautiful, and the characters are memorable, which is saying a lot, considering that the game is 6 hours long (10 – 13, if you’re going for 100%). I went into this game thinking “Aww, a smol child is a prodigy among his kind and everyone loves him.” Only to be proven wrong in the next 30 seconds of starting the game. It is also worth noting that the main character, Otus, is disabled, as he was born mute and thus cannot argue against others who belittle him and insult him, and has earned a reputation of being a useless owl, who cannot do anything right. Gameplay wise you either control Otus, or you can have him pick up his party members and use them in combat (first party member, human soldier Geddy, is your main gunner, and one you learn to rely on for combat, despite him using a pea shooter).

Also, I see why the Buccanary abuses her employees, because after those penguins made me go through, I wanna punch them too.

Game 10: The World Ends With You – Final Remix (Nintendo Switch)

So, my boyfriend wanted me to play co-op with him, realized that the mass dialogue made him sleepy and dumped the whole playthrough on me. And I beat it in less than 15 hours (without the extra content). The gameplay was more on the gimmicky side, with being touch only in handheld and one joy-con motion controls in docked mode (thankfully you had some button controls available in docked mode) but fun once you figured out the pin mechanics. Story wise, you’d say it was your typical “protag discovers the power of friendship” but it runs much deeper than that. Each character gets some character development, the stakes get higher with each passing day, for both the protagonists and the antagonists. I still need to watch the anime that came out this year.

And once I get my own copy of the game, I’m tackling A New Day.

Game 11: NEO The World Ends With You (Nintendo Switch)

I jumped into this game almost immediately after I finished the original TWEWY, just so that the story would still be fresh to me. Turns out, that the original story barely matters in the first two thirds of the game and the final third is like “Never played the original? Here’s all the spoilers for it! :D”. Speaking of the story in NEO, it’s your usual people-die-now-they-play-the-Reapers-game routine, but this time it’s not as it seems. The main characters all have their own special abilities, with Rindo being able to travel through time, Fret being able to make people remember things, etc. Gameplay is pretty fun and fluid, having more than two playable characters in combat and each pin is assigned to different output, but you cannot equip pins of the same output, until you get an ability to do so, that’s when you’re able to go to town on the Noise and other players. Other players? Yep! This reapers game is a team effort and you get to fight other teams. I recommend this game to everyone who played the original game + new game since that is essentially this game’s prologue.

Also, Pi-face/Tabooty is your party member, so that’s a big plus in my book! (Zero – Seven – Seven – Three – Four)

Game 12: Metroid Dread (Nintendo Switch)

To be completely honest, I’ve never played any Metroids before. I watched Let’s plays (First one being the Omega Boss Battles rom hack), played many Metroidvanias before, but never THE Metroid. I had fun playing this game, some moments were frustrating, and some bosses made me feel like I’m playing an old NES game, where you had to learn all the patterns to beat the boss. Story takes place after Fusion, with Samus already having Metroid DNA inside her, and she is tasked to go to planet ZDR, to investigate the disappearance of the giant kille-errr I mean, EMMI, the robots designed to investigate the planet. And they went rogue and they kill in one shot. Gameplay is fluid and some items need complex tricks to obtain them, which is why I didn’t 100% the game.

I did manage to blow up the planet though.

Game 13: Evoland 1 (Nintendo Switch)

Had this game on my wishlist for a while now and I managed to snag it for only 5€ during the Black Market discounts. It was short and kinda on the meh side. The idea of slowly upgrading your game from 8bit to 16bit to 64bit is great but it felt lackluster halfway through the game after you unlock every upgrade. Story is your generic RPG kind, you have a lot of references to other Adventure and RPG games (some memes as well), combat is either action adventure or RPG, depending on the area and there are a few collectibles around to find. It's a game that can be beaten in one afternoon, so don't go expecting some high quality gameplay from it.

Also the final boss was too easy once you learn the patterns.

Game 14: Bowser's Fury (Nintendo Switch)

Counting this as a separate game from 3D World since the mechanics are more similar to Odyssey as opposed to 3D World. Speaking of which, it felt as if I was playing a mash up of Odyssey and SM3DW, with the former's open world exploration and the latter's power up mechanics. Story wise, it is the usual defeat Bowser thing all over again, but this time it feels more dire as the one to ask for your help is Bowser Jr. of all people. You're exploring the Lake Lapcat, an archipelago full of cats and cat themed residents and structures (as a cat fanatic, I was squealing in delight). You have two modes, regular exploration, during which you collect Cat Shines (this game equivalent of Power Stars/Shines/Power Moons) and once enough time passes, Bowser's Fury activates, waking up Bowser as he starts wreaking havoc on the isles. While this is happening you either have to dodge his attacks and wait out the invisible timer, collect a shine to chase him away or, once you unlock Giga Bells, fight him. There are 100 Shines in total, some are easy, some somewhat hard and some will make you throw your controller down.

I cackled during the ending though.

Game 15: Evoland 2 (Nintendo Switch)

This game had some improvements over the first game, but also a lot of meh things. The story is very reminiscent of Chrono Trigger, having you traveling between 3 different eras (signified by graphics, 16bit being the past, 32bit being present and 3D being future) and at first you're only trying to get back to your time, but it soon becomes apparent that this isn't just about that. Personally, I liked the idea of traveling between 16bit, 32bit and 3D era, since the first game lacked that IMO. Having party members (that actually stay with you throughout the whole game, mind you) is also welcome in my book. Though as good as the gameplay and story are, there are some plots that are never explained, main quest sometimes requires a guide as to where to go and what to do, and some mechanics are either really good or poorly implemented (Had a wee bit of trouble with the Stepmania segment). Otherwise, it's a good game, darker than the original, but it was a fun ride.

Bit of a warning, don't let Kuro drive.

Game 16: Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time (Nintendo Switch)

A year and a half later and I finally managed to sit down and play this game. I could've gotten the digital version of this game on launch, but I wanted to get the physical copy of it, so I had to wait almost a year (Ordered from Limited Run Games in August 2020, got it in June 2021). I never watched the series in full, I watched bits and pieces as a kid, but I watched the final season in full. I loved the references the devs snuck in the game, from character cameos to locations. Story takes place in the FINAL episode of the series, just as Ashi opens the portal to the past, but during the trip back, Aku manages to grab Jack and trap him in a pocket dimension and he has to fight his way back. Gameplay is fun, having both exploration and fighting scenes, and Jack also uses other weapons besides his sword (they are breakable like in Breath of the Wild, but you are able to repair them before they break). There are also these Kamons that you need to collect if you want to get the Golden Ending (there are 50 of them and there is no way to track where you missed them). I managed to get the Golden Ending and I'm torn between this ending and the series' ending. The opening cutscene where you hear Mako speak again, brings tears to one's eyes.

And there you have it. Less games but some of them did take 50+ hours so it is kinda understandable. My game collection is slowly growing, now that I've managed to snag myself a PS3 and Xbox 360, and my boyfriend gifting me a PSP.

Also a bit of a announcment to make: I'll be less active here and I'll post more on my Twitter (mostly my stupidity).

Happy Holidays and stay safe!

[tails89]

Fandom: Teen Wolf Word count: 1289 Read on AO3

“You will not believe what just happened to me,” Stiles whines, bursting in through the front door and dropping down onto the couch beside Derek. Kicking off his shoes, he throws his feet up to hang over the armrest and slumps backwards into the cushions.

Derek doesn’t move—just glances around the pages of his book muttering under his breath, “Hey Derek. Nice to see you Derek. Can I come in? Sure Stiles, make yourself at home.”

“Pfft, this isn’t about you,” Stiles grins, flapping his hand at Derek. “Actually-” he sits up suddenly, pulling in his legs to cross them underneath himself. “It is. Do you know what Mrs Davidson said to me today?”

“Let me guess.” Derek throws one arm across the back of the couch. “She said, ‘here comes trouble’?”

“Uh, no.” Stiles rolls his eyes. “She asked me-” He lets his voice go high and reedy in a poor imitation of his elderly neighbour. “’What’s a nice boy like Derek Hale is doing with a boy like you?’ Which, first of all—rude! Second of all, me corrupt you?”

“Yeah, where on earth would she get that idea?” Derek asks, finally giving up on his book and slipping an old receipt into the pages to mark his spot.

“Hey, I am an upstanding young citizen,” Stiles argues, flopping back, his head pillowed against Derek’s thigh. “I am a pillar of this community. I mould the young minds of Beacon Hills.”

Derek barks out a laugh. “Who thought that was a good idea?”

Rolling over onto his stomach, Stiles steadies himself on one elbow and uses the other hand to poke Derek in the leg. “You sir, have everyone one tricked into thinking you’re Mr Deputy Goody-two-shoes, but I know the real you.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, and I know who of the two of us dug up Mrs Davidson’s daffodils, and it wasn’t me.”

“That was an accident and you promised not to bring that up again.”

“Well I’m a lying liar who lies.”

With a quick shove, Derek sends Stiles tumbling onto the floor and stands, moving for the kitchen. “And that’s why your neighbour thinks you’re corrupting me. You staying for dinner?”

“Yup, you making spaghetti?” Stiles asks, following Derek into the kitchen and hopping up onto the counter to watch him start pulling things from the fridge. He swings his legs, knocking his heels against the cabinet doors. “I distinctly remember you promising to make your Dad’s famous spaghetti if I made it through parent-teacher week without murdering anyone.”

*

“What does she even mean by that, anyway?” Stiles asks around a mouthful of pasta, his next forkful hovering halfway to his mouth.

Derek waits, tearing off another slice of garlic bread, for Stiles to explain his logic jump.

“Who?” He prompts, when the explanation never comes.

“Mrs Davidson,” Stiles tells him, like it was an obvious connection to make. “Why does she think we’re together?”

Shrugging, Derek uses his garlic bread to mop up the last of the bolognaise sauce. “We hang out a lot,” he says. “You’re either over here or I’m over at your place. It’s not an unreasonable assumption to make.” He pops the bread into his mouth and reaches for Stiles’ now empty bowl.

“I got it.” Stiles waves him off. “You cooked; I can clean up.” He stands, stacking the empty bowls on top of each other. “I’ll get the icecream if you queue up the next episode of Narcos.”

*

“I’ll be right back,” Stiles says suddenly. “Don’t let the next episode start.”

He disappears from the living room and Derek takes the opportunity to stretch out on the couch. It’s getting late, but the last episode had ended on a cliffhanger so there’s no way they can leave it there.

Reaching for the remote, Derek checks how many episodes are left—three. Tomorrow’s Saturday, so Stiles is off and Derek’s on a late shift so they can probably finish the season before calling it a night.

“You’re in my spot,” Stiles says, shuffling back into the room.

“It’s my couch,” Derek says, making a show of getting comfortable. “I think you’ll find it’s all my spot.”

Stiles slaps jokingly at his legs until Derek lifts them, dropping them down into Stiles’ lap once the human is sitting again.

“You’re such a couch hog,” Stiles complains, but he doesn’t push Derek’s sock-clad feet away. Instead, he stretches out with his own legs up on the coffee table.  “You know, I only come over here when Dad’s on the late shift.���

Derek’s finger hovers over the button on the remote but he doesn’t press play. “I know.” And it’s true, because when the Sheriff is home, Derek’s usually over at the Stilinski house with them.

“I just- do other people think we’re dating?” Stiles asks. “Like is this a widespread thing or is it just my neighbour? Do you think my dad thinks we’re dating?”

“I think you’re overthinking this,” Derek says, nudging Stiles’ leg with his foot. “Can I hit play now?” He doesn’t wait for Stiles to respond and the title card of the next episode flashes up on the TV.

*

“Hey, what time is it?” Stiles mumbles, rubbing his fists into his eyes.

Onscreen, Netflix is playing a trailer for another show, but Derek hits the power button on the remote to shut the TV off. Picking up his cellphone, the bright light almost blinds them both as Derek checks the time.

“Late.”

“Ugh.” Stiles mashes his face into the space between the back of the couch and Derek’s leg. “I’m getting too old for this,” he complains. “I’m feel like an old man— gotta be in bed by nine or face the consequences.”

“And all at the ripe old age of twenty-five,” Derek jokes, shifting to give Stiles more room to faceplant into the cushions.

“You don’t understand.” Stiles looks up. “You and your youthful werewolf body will never know my pain. My knees creak now Der, they creak.” He buries his face again, and Derek only just catches his mumbled. “They tell me when it’s gonna rain.”

“It’s a useful skill,” Derek tells him, laughing when Stiles flips him off.  “Come on, it’s late. You can crash here.” He lets Stiles use the bathroom first, stacking their icecream bowls into the dishwasher while Stiles brushes his teeth.

“Did I leave any clothes here last time?” Stiles asks, sticking his head out of the bedroom door. Jeans don’t make for particularly comfortable pyjamas and it’s too cold to sleep in his boxers.

“Bottom drawer,” Derek calls back over his shoulder.

“Found them.”

Turning off the kitchen light, Derek heads to his bedroom. He’d spent the afternoon lounging around in his sweats so after brushing his teeth he goes straight to bed, climbing into the sheets and rolling over onto his side.

He’s comfortable and warm, drifting right on the precipice of sleep.

“Oh my god!” Stiles lurches upright on the bed, almost elbowing Derek in the gut with his flailing. “We are totally dating.” Even in the dark Derek can see his dumbfounded expression. “How could you not tell me we were dating?”

“Knew you’d figure it out eventually,” Derek mumbles, tangling his fingers in Stiles’ and pulling him back down.

Stiles goes willingly, shifting back so that he’s pressed against Derek’s chest.

“It’s just— all this time we could have been doing… I dunno, boyfriend stuff.”

“We were.”

“Other boyfriend stuff.” Stiles rolls in Derek’s arms so that he’s facing the werewolf. “Like, kissing boyfriend stuff.”

Derek’s laugh is a warm puff that ruffles Stiles’ hair. “We have so much time for ‘boyfriend stuff’” He presses his lips against Stiles’ temple. “In the morning.”

[girl-with-cat-eyes]

Telling The Parents

Summary: Set directly after Wednesdays. Thomas tells his parents about the baby. Virgil blames himself.

Ships: Thvi

A/N: Part 2 of the Reba au you didn't know you need in your life. This time featuring twice as many asshole parents. Special thanks to @amazon-me-bitches and my lovely qpp @forever-forgotten-angel. This is a sequel to my fic to Wednesdays so if you haven't read that go read that first. It explains a lot. As lovely leave a comment if you like it!

Janus hummed as he fixed breakfast, the sweet and savory smells wafting through the house. He’d always loved cooking and was quite good at it. Pat may have been the one with the restaurant, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t able to make a delicious breakfast. Not to mention it served as a good distraction from life and upcoming discussions. Discussions with his pregnant son and his boyfriend about their baby. Janus sighed as he began warming up making hashbrowns. This was going to be an interesting conversation. 

Two sets of steps came down the stairs. Janus smiled as he saw Emile and Remy, both clad in their school clothes. He handed them each a foil packet with a waffle breakfast sandwich, “Be good at school ok. Your dad will drop you both off and I’ll pick you up from school.”

Remy nodded, “Why doesn’t Virgil have to go to school today?”

“He’s not feeling good today. I’m going to stay home and take care of him.”, It was a half-truth. But it was easier than saying that he wanted to discuss the pregnancy with Virgil and Thomas. And in truth, Virgil probably wasn’t feeling the best after last night’s draining conversation.

Emile pouted, “I wish I was pregnant so I could skip school like Virgil”, Janus blanched. He knew logically that Emile just wanted to miss school, but the thought of this happening again made his heart skip a beat. 

“Well you won't be having kids until you’re 30.”, Emile nodded and grabbed his backpack and lunch before going out to the car with Remy. Janus heard the car pull out of the driveway and got back to work cooking. 

Soon enough he heard Virgil come running downstairs, cursing up a storm as he put on his shoes. “Fuck I’m late. I’m gonna be so late. Shit, where’s my other shoe… Hi dad.”, Janus merely stared.

“I’ll let you get away with those swears just this once. Also, we agreed you’d stay home sick today. Then Thomas, you, and I were going to come up with a plan to tell his parents about the baby.”, Virgil visibly relaxed as he remembered what they discussed.

“Right. I’ll see when he’ll be here.”, Virgil sent a quick message, getting a reply that Thomas would be there in a few minutes. “He’ll be here soon. Is there any reason you’re making that much food?”. In front of Virgil laid several trays with waffles, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, pastries, a rack of toast, butter, jam, a pitcher of orange juice, and a pot of coffee brewing on the counter. 

Janus shrugged, “You, me, Patton, and Thomas. That’s 4 people. And you’re eating for two. Which makes it 5.”, he answered, not wanting to admit that cooking took his mind off of this upcoming conversation. He poured Virgil a glass of juice, “Drink. The baby will need the nutrients. And you need to eat, I don’t want either of you malnourished.”

Virgil chuckled and sipped his juice, “Overprotective dad mode is now that and overprotective grandpa mode. Good to know.”

Janus huffed, “It is not a crime to want my son and grandchild to be safe and healthy.”, It wasn’t a crime when it was Adelaide who was pregnant either. He shook off the memories, pouring warm maple syrup into a small pitcher. This time would be different, he’d make sure of it. He would take care of Virgil the way that he should have taken care of Adelaide. He’d keep his son safe. 

The front door opened and Patton Thomas both walked in. “I’m back.”, Patton called. He walked into the kitchen, “Thomas is here too. That’s a lot of food Jan.” Thomas nodded in agreement. 

Janus rolled his eyes, “You. me, Thomas, Virgil, Virgil’s baby. 5 people.”, Virgil grabbed plates from a cabinet, “Come on. Make your plates.”. They sat around the table, full plates in front of them. Janus took a bite before speaking again, “So you want to keep the baby as well then Thomas? You want to be in their life. Because I’m going to tell you this now; if you don’t, it will be better for them if you left now than if you bounced in and out of their life.”

Thomas nodded, “I want to be involved. I love Virgil and I love our baby. I want to be the father and partner they both deserve, and I intend to be exactly that. I’d like to marry Virgil. With your permission of course.”

Well, that was good at least. Janus didn’t want Virgil to end up heartbroken. He blinked as he heard the word marriage. His initial reaction was to discourage the marriage until they were older. However, Janus knew that it wouldn’t do any good anyway. His son was stubborn, and if he wanted this nothing would stop him. “Ok. But it’s Virgil’s choice ultimately.’, he looked over at Virgil, who held his hand tightly, “All I can say is that if I were you I would wait until after the baby is born to get married. It’ll be a lot less stress for the both of you. In the meantime just focus on graduating and preparing for the baby.”

Virgil nodded, “You’re supportive of the idea of us having the baby though?”

“Like I told you last night, your father and I will support you.”

Patton nodded from beside him, “We love you both and we want this baby to have a good life.”, he reached out to squeeze Virgil’s arm, “And we’ll help you out so that can happen. We want to help you.” 

“We do.”, Janus refilled his coffee before speaking again, “Have you told your parents yet Thomas?”

“No. There’s one issue.” 

“What is it?”

“My parents don’t exactly know that Virgil and I are in a relationship.”, Janus blinked. That was news to him. As far as he had known, Thomas had told his parents knew that he was in a relationship with Virgil. There had to be something else at play. 

“Why not?”, Thomas looked down and Janus was sure that he could see budding tears. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Great, “Thomas if something is wrong you can tell me, ok? Is there a reason you haven’t told your parents that you’re in a relationship?” “Because,”, Thomas took a deep breath before speaking, “because my Dad said he would kill me if he found out I was gay.”, the silence that followed was deafening. Thomas’ words hung heavily in the air like smog. Janus’s heart leaped into his throat. God, he should have known. He looked at Thomas. His head was hung low, shame apparent on his face.

Patton looked close to tears, “Oh Thomas.”, he got up and hugged the boy. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. You shouldn’t have to go through that.”

Janus nodded, “And you’re not going to go through it anymore, ok.” He swallowed, mind already made up, “You can live with us.”. Thomas and Virgil both looked at him in shock. 

“Really?”, Thomas asked in a whisper. 

He nodded, “Of course. It’ll probably be better with the baby anyway.”, he gave Thomas a hug. “And we’d love to have you here, ok? You’re a good kid. You don’t deserve this.”  He pulled back and sat back down, “Here’s the plan. We’re going to finish breakfast because both of you deserve a good meal. Then Thomas and I will take the SUV and get his stuff from his parents’ house. Meanwhile, Virgil and Patton make room for your stuff. Then when we get back, I’ll go pick up Emile and Remy and pick up a pizza and we can unpack.” 

They both nodded and went back to eating. Janus sighed and poured himself some more coffee. He was going to need it today. Thomas spoke quietly from across from him, “Thank you for letting me stay here sir. I just want to do right by Virgil and our baby.” 

“You don’t have to call me sir, ok? Janus is fine. And I would let you move in regardless after that news. You shouldn’t feel unsafe in your home like this.”, Thomas smiled and looked down. Janus’ heart ached for the kid. These two kids were going to have a baby. If he didn’t know better, Janus would think to just take him to an abortion clinic regardless of what he wanted. But he knew Virgil. And Virgil was incredibly stubborn. If he didn’t think his family would support the idea he and Thomas would have just ran away. Janus would rather this baby be born here in a safe, loving, and financially secure environment than in a motel or some kind of trailer park with the two of them barely able to make ends meet. At least here they wouldn’t have to worry about paying the bills, and they both could finish school.

~

Janus left after breakfast to pick up some forms from work, telling Thomas that he would be back to pick him up and in the meantime start making room for his things. Which is exactly what they doing. Patton had run out to go check on the restaurant, wanting to make sure everything was running smoothly so it was just Virgil and him. Currently, they sat in front of Virgil’s dresser, although he supposed it was their dresser now. They’d decided on splitting it evenly in half and were now working on moving Virgil’s things to his half. He looked over at Thomas and gave him a quick kiss before speaking, “I’m sorry about breakfast. I’d have warned you ahead of time if I knew that he would start talking about your parents.”

“It’s ok.”, Thomas shrugged and kissed Virgil back. He continued folding clothing as he spoke, “At least I’ll be out of that house soon. And I’ll be with you. All I want right now is to be here for you and our baby. That’s all that matters to me right now.” Virgil sighed, “I know but you shouldn’t have to deal with that. It’s horrible that they’re like that T. I’m sorry I made you feel like you couldn’t come to me.”, it was the truth. Virgil had been overcome with guilt since Thomas had admitted the truth about his parents. The words just kept racing around his head, “You were going through all that and I just kept asking you why you didn’t want to tell your parents about us. I’m an asshole.”

Thomas shook his head rapidly, “No you’re not. God Virgil, you’re not an asshole. I lied to you about my parents. I let you think that my parents were supportive and then just hid you from them. Of course you’d think I was ashamed of you.”. He pressed a kiss to Virgil’s head, “I love you though. I love you so much. I know it probably sounds like something a dumb teen would say but it’s the truth. I love you and our baby with all my heart.”

Virgil smiled softly, “I know. I love you too. And I already love our baby so much.”, he turned back to the dresser and blinked at what he saw. A small pastel purple quilt sat folded neatly in the bottom drawer, “I didn’t even know we still had this.”, Virgil whispered as he picked it up.

Thomas stared at the blanket in confusion, “What is it? I know it’s a blanket and all, but what’s the story?”, Virgil unfolded the quilt out in front of him.  Most of the quilt was a pastel purple and blue patchwork pattern then, about ¾ of the way up, the pattern changed to show teddy bear heads, making it looked like they were tucked in. On the back was Virgil’s birth name lovingly stitched. 

He smiled at the sight, “My mom made this for me before she passed. I thought it was lost when we moved here.”, Virgil could still remember searching furiously for the blanket after the move, Janus comforting him when he couldn’t find it. He shook his head, “Guess that shows how little use the bottom drawer huh?”

Thomas smiled and gently stroked the soft fabric; his touch soft, like he was afraid of damaging it, “Perfect timing I guess. We’re about to have a baby and all.”, he looked up at Virgil, “We could use it for the baby. Only if you want to of course. But it could be like a gift from your mother.”

Virgil smiled at the idea, “I like that.”, he turned over the blanket and frowned. His birth named stared outback at him, “One issue though.”, he gestured to the name stitch on, “I know it’s just a name, and I know she picked that name. But it’s personalized, and the thought of naming the baby my deadname feels off.”

Thomas nodded in understanding, “We could see about getting the stitching removed. And then have the baby’s name stitched on instead.”. Virgil smiled at the idea.

“I love that.”, and it was the honest to god’s truth. The thought of being able to use the blanket his mother made for him for his baby filled Virgil with happiness. The blanket had been a huge comfort throughout his life and he hoped it would be a comfort for the baby as well, “Hopefully... Nevermind.”

“What?” “It’s stupid.”, Virgil mumbled. He couldn’t believe what almost came out of his mouth. God, how insensitive would that have been?

“Virge, please just tell me what you were thinking? It’s not stupid. I promise it’s not.”, Virgil sighed, eyes trained on the quilt.

“I was going to say that hopefully we could get something of yours for the baby. It sounds stupid considering what’s about to happen.”, Virgil folded up the quilt, staring down at his lap. He’d been incredibly lucky that he’d caught himself before that came out of his mouth. What had he been thinking? He hadn’t been thinking. That was the problem. God, Thomas was about to get kicked out or worse. He would be lucky if he could get any of his things, let alone baby things. They had bigger problems than that right now. Virgil couldn’t believe how selfish he was being,

Thomas shook his head, “Virgil that’s not stupid or selfish or anything else you might be thinking It’s normal for expectant parents to want to pass things from their childhoods down to their children. I’m not mad at you for wanting that, even if I might not be able to pass something down, ok?”

Virgil shook his head, “I know but it’s my fault you have to do this. If you get kicked out or hurt then it’s my fault.”, He wanted to continue but Thomas stopped him before he could with a fierce kiss. 

“Don’t you dare say that this is your fault.”, Virgil pulled away from the kiss and could see Thomas blinking back tears, “This is in no way, shape, or form your fault ok. My parents are homophobic fucks, that’s not your fault. Moving out will be freeing. I’ll finally get to just be myself. And I’ll get to be there for you and the baby, and that’s what matters most to me right now. Not my parents, not my youtube, just you and our baby. That’s all I care about right now.” “You sound like a love interest in a Jane Austen novel when you talk like that, you know that right?”, Virgil mumbled as he pulled away.

Thomas chuckled, “I aspire to be Austen love interest levels of wonderful. Especially now. There’s going to be a lot of bullshit coming your way and it’s my fault. The least I can do is be a good boyfriend and father. I can’t believe I’m going to be a father.”

“We both are. And I thought you said this accident was both of our faults. It takes two to tango.”, He kissed Thomas, nuzzling against him as he heard a car pull up. “That’s probably my dad.”

~

Janus glanced over at Thomas for what felt like the hundredth time since they began driving over to Thomas’s house. He could see how tightly he held the custody forms in his hands. Hopefully, this would go down peacefully and Janus wouldn’t have to take them to court, god knows Thomas would be 18 before it was fully settled. 

Thomas sat beside him, his leg rapidly bouncing up and down. There was a sigh before Thomas spoke, “You’re not like mad at me about getting Virgil pregnant, are you?”. Fear showed clearly in his eyes. Janus shook his head, still looking at the road before them.

“Well, I can’t say I’m ecstatic that you two are having a baby while still in high school. But I’m not mad. Virgil was on the pill, and accidents happen. And It’s Virgil’s choice to keep the baby. Now all I can do is support you.”, he took a deep breath, “I do have one question though.”

“Go on?” 

“I know you’re making money off of your social media. And that’s good, it’ll offer some financial security. But do you have a backup plan?”

Thomas nodded, “I’m going to get a job so I have a steady income. And then I want to go to UofC, that way I’ll still be close to here. And then I want to be a doctor. That way I can support Virgil and the baby.”

Janus nodded, “I think that’s a great career plan. I could always use an assistant at the office if you need work. So long as you can file papers, of course.” Thomas looked over at him, his jaw-dropping from shock.

“Are you offering me a job?” “Sure. I need an assistant and Virgil want to work with Pat. And you’re going to need money aren’t you? I don’t think your parents will let you keep the car, will they?” “It’s in my name, thank god. I’ve been trying to make sure I’m financially separate from them for a while now. That way I wouldn’t be on my ass if they kicked me out.”, Jaus was stunned at how prepared Thomas was for things to go south. Things were seriously wrong in his home.

“Thomas? You know that you’re a part of our family now, right? And not just because you and Virgil are having a baby. We all care about you. You know that right?”, Thomas nodded, but the tears in his eyes told Janus otherwise.

~

Virgil paced as he waited for his dad and Thomas to get back. Surely couldn’t take this long. Then again, they were most likely packing up everything. Not to mention Janus had to pick up Remy and Emile from school. That would certainly add time to their trip. God, the waiting was the worst part. He’d tried to busy himself by catching up on his homework, but every noise had him running to the window to see if it was them.

After the 5th trip to the window, Patton invited him downstairs to help him bake some treats for Emile’s school bake sale. Virgil was glad to help. So here they were, mixing up a batch of brownies for Emile to take to school. It was relaxing, almost. Took his mind off of everything. Maybe he should bake more often.

“What’s on your mind?”, Virgil jumped and looked up at Patton. His dad smiled at him as he chopped up chocolate, the look in his eyes both comforting and inquiring, “Something’s on your mind. You can tell me. Only if you want to though.”

Virgil shrugged, “I was just thinking that I should bake more. It’s relaxing, take your mind off of things.”, like the fact that he was pregnant at 17 and his boyfriend was about to get kicked out of his home by his homophobic parents. 

Patton nodded, “There’s a reason I bake so much. Beyond wanting to have baked goods in the house at all times. What are you trying to take your mind off of?”, Virgil watched as he dumped half of the chopped chocolate into a double boiler.

“Everything. I know that keeping the baby is my choice and that you and dad would support me if I wanted to get an abortion or give the baby up. And I do want to keep the baby. It’s just a lot. Especially with Thomas. It’s my fault he’s going to get kicked out or worse. This wouldn’t be happening if I hadn’t gotten pregnant.” “Oh baby bat.”, Pat sighed and pulled Virgil into a hug, “What’s happening isn’t your fault. It’s solely Thomas’ parent’s fault. They’re bigots.”

Virgil leaned into the hug, “How do I stop feeling guilty?” “I’m not sure. I know something you can do though. Make him feel welcome here. It’s something we can all do, ok?”

Virgil nodded, but before he could say more, the front door opened and Emile and Remy came running into the kitchen. “Why’s your boyfriend moving in with us?”, Remy asked as he sat his backpack on the counter. “Because they suck?”

“Virgil!”, Patton admonished, “Don’t say that. Even if they do suck?” “Too late.”, Virgil called back as went into the living room. Thomas was just walking in, a large suitcase rolling in behind him. Virgil could see tears brimming in his eyes. He ran forward to hug him, “How’d it go?”

“They signed over custody. Your dad went to get the rest of my stuff. It’s mostly filming stuff left.”, Thomas murmured, “We came in and I told them that I’m gay and we’re having a baby. Then your dad asked for custody until I turn 18. And they just signed it over without any questions. I know it’s a good thing I’m here now but part of me wished they would have fought. Or been accepting. They just said that he could keep me. And they looked at me like I was a disease.” “You’re not a disease.”, Virgil promised, “And there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re amazing and wonderful and I’m so lucky to have you in my life. Your parents just suck.”

“I’m the lucky one here. God, Virge, they called the baby an abomination. Our baby. I hate them”

“I know”, Virgil mumbled before kissing Thomas gently, “Come on, let’s go unpack your things. And then we can cuddle.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too. There’s no one else I’d rather have this baby with.”

~

A/N: Today's fic was brought to you by asshole parents, homophobe, and copious amounts of guilt. The perfect trio for having angst in any fic. I'm taking prompts for this series so leave a message if you have a prompt.

[nitannichionne]

If He Was YOUR Fan Chapter 23: On the Books (A Henry Cavill Fan Fic)

                        You wake up. It’s Friday.

All week Henry has been basically driving you nuts. Every day when he picks you up to go to the gym, you are greeted at your door with a triangle kiss-a kiss on each eye, your nose and then a full lip lock. It is sweet and wonderful.

But every night, he says good night with a perfume kiss. It is almost animalistic, the way he leans down, gets eye to eye with you, and sniffs you, breathing and purring on your neck and ear, his lips brushing your skin, tongue flicking out for a quick taste before catching skin between teeth and sucking gently on you. Your body tingles with awareness every night as he declines coming in, even for a minute. He is waiting, he is getting you ready…and today--or rather, tonight—you’ll find out what he has in store for you.

You get ready to go and realize you have some clothes over at his house, and your travel toiletries are always in your backpack. You don’t need anything. Ready for the day, you open your door.

“Good morning,” he greets, about to ring your doorbell.

“Good morning,” you echo. You are breathless.

His hands on the doorway he does a vertical push up to lean in and kiss you. “Happy-“ he  says between kisses. “Friday—” he rubs noses with you. “Sweetheart.” He pulls back and offers his hand.

You take it and wonder what else the day holds for you.

He is no better at the gym. The looks are giving you goosebumps.

All day, you feel distracted. You know the day is coming closer and closer to a close, and your weekend will begin. He seems to be managing to look at you when you are trying to steal glances.

You decide to snack at lunch, you are that nervous. You and Henry have been together before, right?

When the day ends, you go to check out.

“So, what’s going on next week?” you ask Colin.

“Truthfully, more of the same, but it depends on the weather now.”

“What?”

“The forecast is for rain till Tuesday, so we’ll know more later—” Colin’s attention diverted. “We’ll let you know if there is work Monday, but there probably won’t be any filming.”

You follow Colin’s gaze to find Henry walking directly to you. You usually meet at his trailer! He stops short, patiently waiting till you are done.

“Colin?”

Colin smiles. “Just keep checking messages, okay?” He raises his voice, patting your arm. “Have a nice weekend.”

“Hey, Colin!” Henry greets.

“Hey, Henry!” Colin nods. “See you next week.”

You walk to Henry and he offers his arm with a smile. “Hey, you.” You take his arm and he walks you to the truck. Kal is already in it.

“How was your day?” he asks. “I feel like I hardly saw you.”

You give a nervous giggle. “Just following my list.” You do not want to tell him that there are butterflies in your stomach.

“Well, we’ve got to get going,” he says. “Ordered the food sometime ago, delivery should be there soon.”

“Delivery?” you repeat.

“Take out, love,” he nods.

“We’re not cooking?” That was a change.

“Nope,” he shakes his head, opening the car door for you. “Tonight, no work, all play.”

“Oh, okay.” You slide in and he closes the door for you.

He walks around and slides in himself. He is smiling ear to ear as he starts the car, and you drive off.

**************

You get there minutes before takeout does.

“Wow, this is a lot,” you say, putting everything on the kitchen table. “Is this for the weekend?”

“Uh, yeah,” he says, not looking at you. “I’ll go to the bakery for bread in the morning, though, I know you love it right out of the oven.”

This is usually when you sometime cook and he takes Kal out. Now what do you do?

“Come on,” he smiles. “Time for Ka to go out.”

You and Henry go outside behind the house and play fetch with Kal. He seems to enjoy you both being out there with him. You love it when he throws the stick and puts an arm around you or at the small of your back. You love his touch, it is so…warm and soothing, even when it’s just his fingertips. You go inside as it starts to rain.

You eat a little, not feeling very hungry. Rain. What is it about rain and him? It’s like…nothing you’ve ever experienced, felt. After he builds a fire, he dims the lights in the house and spreads a banket on the floor in front of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7yNoCLe3Dg

He sits next to you, watching it. “We should have gotten marshmallows and such, made s’mores,” he says out of nowhere.

“Another time,” you sigh, putting your head on his shoulder.

He turns kisses your hair, making you smile, and then he sniffs the shampoo on it. “Mmmh, that’s—”

“Almond, milk and honey,” you smile.

“I love it when you smell like food,” he murmurs, his nose and then lips brushing your outer ear and making you giggle. He breathes softly, the gentle caress doing things to your insides. A small tremor goes through you and you turn to him. He comes up on his hands and knees, continuing inhaling your scent. His lips lower to your neck, still sniffing gently, exhaling in small ahhs. You exhale heavily arching your neck and your body as he slowly lays you back on the blanket, gently nipping your ear as he settles between your legs. Your rake his hair as his lips find your neck. He feels so good…

So good you barely noticed he was undressing you.

He pushes up your top and starts kissing your abdomen, following a line up the center and between your breasts. You feel your nipples harden, feeling his lips, tongue, teeth and breath so close, but he pushes the top up to your neck and over your head, his kisses following in reward. You give a high pitched sigh as you feel his tongue trail behind the fabric as he pulls the top over and off your arms. He kisses your inner wrist and it lights a fire that streaks back the way those kisses came and lower. He goes to your opposite wrist and kisses his way down to our shoulder, then looks at you.

You regard him with half hooded eyes, your body already warmer than normal, slightly squirming under his gaze. You don’t remember all this being in the book. This is…this is him…

He rubs noses with you, circling his around your and off to the side, delivering kiss sounds in your ear that make you crave contact. You remember now…the Eskimo kiss. You’d never had anyone do this, but now the noises make sense, especially after he inhales your scent. He repeats it and you arch to him, wanting to be really kissed, as much as he seems to be enjoying your cheek and the air that holds your scent.

Finally, his lips brush yours and you give a small cry of need. You want to taste him, you feel deprived of it. You crave feeling his chest against yours, his hips cradled by yours, all of it. He tries to pull away, but you whimper, enticing him with your tongue and licking his lips, gently nipping his lower one while your hands go under his shirt, raking his sides and back. You push it up, trying to get it off and he obliges, taking it off and setting it aside.

You hear his belt come undone and your pulse leaps. You arch to him wantonly as he unfastens your cargos and unzips them. He pushes the pants down and you raise your hips to help him, kicking them off. You pull his pants down over his hips, squeezing his glutes and pulling him closer. You release a high pitched sigh as you feel him between your legs, the cotton fabric between you not leaving much to imagination or memory. Your body is opening up to him, and it almost…it aches.

He teases you with biting kisses, licking and nipping your ear. You rake his back and he kisses you again, licking your lips and nipping your lower one. You lick his lips invitingly and he finally slides his tongue into your mouth. He is slow and deliberate, gently darting and tasting, teasing you. You respond in kind, but you want more, even though you appreciate how gentle he is. You squirm underneath him, grasping him tightly and raking his back. You sex is wet, and your mouth is dry with anticipation. His tongue mates with yours again, and you are grateful for the moisture, the taste and feel of him.

He picks you up and takes you to bed. You see the change he has made.

He kisses your neck while carrying you into his room. He lays you on the bed and you notice it’s not the same. You look up at him and he gives a small smile of confirmation, and lies beside you. He kisses you again, and you feel his hand lightly moving over your body, stopping between your legs. You hold your breath and you feel his fingers stroke your sex, two of his fingers entering you, his thumb circling your clit and the others squeezing your lips.

You arch and cry out, feeling your secretions flow over his fingers. Your body undulates and moves with him, your body feeling feverishly warm, your sex aching for more of him. “Henry…” you whisper. He answers by dipping his tongue between your legs and making you gasp. Your body twists and rolls, moving in time with him, your hands reaching, wanting to touch him everywhere, but settles for raking his scalp. He whispers your name and you sigh with relief as his body covers yours.

“Uhhh!” you cry out as he claims you with one stroke. He goes still, panting over you, then begins to move. He pulls out and teases you again, only thrusting the head inside several times, making you both pant on each one, then thrusts into you all the way, making you both moan. “Uhhhnnn…”

He starts again, repeating the same shallow strokes that make you pant and scratch his back, but this time, two hard deep thrusts.

Wait a minute…oh, God…sets of nine! He wasn’t going to pound you, go deep. He was going to tease you and then little by little, please you! You felt him again doing shallow strokes…one, two, three, four, five, six, seven…then three hard deep thrusts that made you call out softly, “Henry, please…”

His eyes spark, knowing that you’ve figured it out. He scoops one of your legs over his forearm and keeps going, kissing you and keeping his mouth against the hollow of your throat, distracting you with bites and licks, only stopping when he thrusts deeply into you four times. You can’t count. You can’t try to control it, because he is engaging your senses in different places at the same time and he knows it. You are caught off guard by five hard strokes, crying out his name and squirming. You are trying to touch him anywhere you can, anything to get him to give it to you the way you want it. You feel a victory as his thrusts deepen, about halfway instead, making you whimper. When you bite him, he moans loudly and thrusts hard into you six times, causing your juices to flow around him, your sex pulsing in response.

He changes his plan, his jaw tightening. He works into you slowly, inch by inch with each thrust, then thrusts deeply into you believe could be seven or eight times. He doesn’t seem like he’s counting, but then neither are you. You extend the leg he is holding and plant your foot on the bed. You do the raise your knee and do the same with the other, raising your hips off the bed, and he moves to his hands and knees to stay inside you. He thrusts hard, making you collapse back on the bed as you climax yet again, your body going lax as he crushes you into the sheets, moving within you. “Oh, God!”

He moans your name as he takes advantage of the position you were in. Your hips are cradled by his thighs and your legs are over his. He grabs your ankle with one hand, your shoulder with the other and moves you both to his satisfaction. “Like that?”

“Yes,” you whimper, but truthfully you’ve liked everything, loved it. All that teasing intensified when he really drove it home. You arch hard and he falls forward.

“Wrap around me, love, hold me.” He pants, and you obey as he moves hard and heavy. You are breathless, your head falling back, and you feel drugged, disoriented, even as you still throb around him, even as you feel him grind and gush inside you, his cries sounding far away. “Ahhh…ohh, oh…”

You are dimly aware of him planting kisses on your forehead, eyes, nose, cheeks and finally, mouth. He pulls out, making you whimper though you didn’t mean to, and he turns you on your side, settling behind you and pushing inside you again.

“Good, darling?”

“Mmmh-hmm.”

“Get some rest, sweetheart,” he kisses your shoulder. “This could be a long night.”

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[babi-correia]

Officer Down

From Anon #1:

Would you be able to write a really angsty story with adam ruzek x reader and they are both members of intelligence and they have a fight in the locker rooms and it affects their work, and then reader gets injured or something and at med it’s just fluff? thanks, i love your writing!

And Anon #2:

Could you do number 13 and 20 with adam ruzek x reader? preferably reader is the one who gets hurt, i live for angst lol! thank you 13- “Don’t die on me, please.”  20- “You’re the only thing that makes me smile.”

I thought these really fit in together!

Words: 2109 (...ops?) Warnings: Canon-typical violence, gunshots, injured reader, cursing, blood... angst, I guess, be prepared for anything Pairing: Adam Ruzek x Reader A/N: I’m still working on my angst-writting skills, but I hope you guys like it!

“Adam, this is ridiculous.” You snap once you walk into the locker, not caring if someone else hears you. He, on the other hand, quickly shushes you as he scopes the room for prodding ears and closes the door. “See what I mean!”

“You know how Voight is about dating within the unit.” He says, going back to his locker. You throw your hands in the air.

“For God’s sake, Adam!” You can hear the desperation in your tone, and it makes you cringe. “We’ve met each other’s family; everyone knows we’re dating except the unit.”

“And it will stay that way.” He says sternly, making his way out of the locker room and leaving you there alone.

Your blood feels like it’s burning with anger inside your veins and you slam the locker door shut, barely controlling yourself before you step outside and into the bullpen.

The white board stares at you mockingly, the case displayed having been there for over two days. Child abduction, where four kids had gone missing and two had come up dead by the river. The whole police force was on overdrive trying to catch the perpetrator, but no one was making any progress whatsoever.

“Third kid came up by the river.” Voight says curtly, updating the board. “And I don’t see any progress on the case!”

He places a pin on the map, in the place where the kid was found, and you approach it, tapping your finger on it as you recognize the area.

“I have a CI that lives and hangs out in that area.” You mutter. “He’s from my time in Narcotics. I’ll pay him a visit and see if he saw anything.”

“Alone?” Adam asks, prompting a glare from you. Typically, you would take someone with you, but today it would just be adding fuel to the fire.

“Yep.” You say, patting your pocket, checking for your keys before you trot down the stairs and into your car.

You make the drive there while thinking back to your relationship troubles, nearly running a red light shortly before you reach your destination.

You park under a tree, turning off your car and calling your CI. He picks up at the second ring and you instruct him to meet you at your car, which he promptly does. He closes the door after he enters, eyeing you warily.

“It’s been a while.” He remarks, fiddling with his hands.

“This area of town has been quiet. Until that kid came up, that is.” You say calmly before turning to him. “You don’t happen to know anything, do you?”

“I, erm… I heard something about a black car not from around here.”

“What do you mean ‘not from around’?” You ask, picking up your notebook and your pen.

“Out of state. It was orange and black, I think.” He says, scratching his head.

“New York?” You ask, pulling up a picture of a New York plate on your phone and showing him. He nods. “You remember the plate?”

“I think it had a GO something in the letters, and two fives in a row.” He says, tapping his fingers on his legs. “It was a lady driver, I’m sure of that. And I’m almost certain there was a rental sticker on the back window.”

“So, you’re saying that it was a woman, and that she rented a car in New York, and then came all the way to Chicago?” You say, scribbling down on your note pad.

“That’s what I saw.” He says. You nod and slip him a couple of bills, prompting him to leave the car.

You begin to make your way back to the precinct when you notice a shiny black car with a huge container trailer parked on an abandoned lot and slow your car until you stop at the end of the street. You grab the portable radio and hook it up to your jacket, checking your gun and holstering it before you grab the car’s radio.

“Main, this is 50-21 Ocean requesting immediate back-up at the abandoned lot by the river in South Lock Street, sighting of a suspect’s vehicle, a black sedan with New York plates, RTO-9554. Plain-clothed officer on scene making initial approach and assessment of the perimeter.” You say into the radio, unbuckling your seatbelt and getting out of the car.

You turn your radio’s volume to the minimum, but Adam’s voice is still perfectly audible through it.

“(Y/N), what the hell are you doing?! Wait for back-up!” He hisses through the radio, making you roll your eyes.

“Focus on getting here, Ruzek.” You say coldly, your hand resting on your holster as you inch towards the abandoned lot. The area is open, no trees or buildings for you to hide behind, so you just hope for the best as you get closer. You hear the sirens in the distance and curse out before picking your radio up again. “50-21 Ida, George, David, Adam, and all assisting officers, kill the sirens and the lights. The area is exposed and all we have for us is the element of surprise.”

But it’s too late. The cars are already on the side street when they kill the sirens, and it was enough to get the woman’s attention, as she exits the container with something in hand. You quickly draw your gun, but it’s not quick enough. You hear the bang and feel something hitting hard against your chest as you fall backwards.

Everything grows numb for a moment, the sounds drown out and you feel yourself falling to the floor, but can’t really find it in you to care about it. The numbness subsides partially and you regain your hearing, being able to hear a lot of shouting not too far from you. You feel your shirt sticking to your chest and start feeling a white-hot pain that knocks the wind out of you. Next thing you know, you’re struggling to breathe.

“(Y/N)! (Y/N), can you hear me?” You barely hear Adam’s voice over the noise of your own blood rushing through your ears. Adam’s at your side, on his knees and looking at you with a frazzled expression. “Don’t die on me, please!”

You look down at his hands and see that they’re covered in blood; in your blood. Panic sets in and you look at him with wide and scared eyes.

“I don’t want to die.” You rasp out desperately, holding Adam’s forearm as he tries to stop the bleeding. You can see the tears in his eyes and feel your own streaming down your face as you cough. One of his bloody hands shoots to his radio before he speaks.

“Main, this is 50-21 Ida again, officer down! Where’s my fucking ambulance!?” He shouts, his hand trembling when he lets go of the radio. He gets a vague reply from Main and focuses on trying to stop your bleeding as you feel yourself growing colder and weaker.

“Adam…” You say, meekly putting your hand on his arm. He looks at you, fear, sadness and despair evident in his face. “I love you, never forget that.”

He stifles a sob as one of his hands leaves your chest to cup your face, wiping out a tear.

“I love you too, but don’t die on me, c’mon (Y/N). I know you can do this.” He mutters, pressing a kiss to your forehead before he turns his attention back to stopping your bleeding. You hear footsteps rushing towards you and see the rest of the unit looking between you and the three different streets next to where you are.

You can hear the sirens in the distance, but you’re fighting a loosing battle against your eyelids. You rest your hands atop Adam’s, making him look towards you.

“You know… I always wanted to die for something.” You rasp, watching him shake his head and shushing you. “You being here makes it better. I always feared dying alone.”

“(Y/N), you’re not dying.” This time the sob comes out loud and clear, and it breaks your heart. “You’re not, you’re not leaving me, not yet, c’mon.”

“Adam…”

“Don’t you dare. I know you love me, and I love you, but you’re not dying, you’re not leaving me here stranded and alone. You’re going to be fine. We’re going home and watching a crappy movie cramped up in that small couch of yours, but we’re not going to actually watch the movie because you’re going to be making silly remarks and comebacks about the movie, and then you’ll tickle me because the movie is so bad that you can’t even watch it anymore. And then we’ll shut the TV off, and kiss and cuddle in the couch before we venture into the kitchen to cook dinner, and I’ll probably burn something no one thought it was possible to burn, and we’ll have to order something in and we’ll laugh about how much of a disaster I am before we go to bed and cuddle some more.”

Adam’s openly bawling when he finishes speaking, his tears mixing with your blood on top of his hands. You sob slightly before looking around at the members of Intelligence.

“There goes your plan of keeping everything secret.” You whisper, chuckling slightly before groaning in pain.

“That’s not important right now.” He says, his head snapping in the direction of the sirens. “The ambulance is almost here baby, hold on.”

“I love you, Adam.” You whisper, no longer able to keep your eyes open. Darkness consumes you as you vaguely hear Adam calling your name.

-

Adam finds himself in the apartment you’ve shared for the last two months. No one knew about it other than the two of you, and now Intelligence. Jay goes with Adam, urging him to take a shower and change into fresh clothes.

Adam just feels numb. He feels like his heart was ripped out and trampled in that street, left behind along with your blood. His emotions come back and hit him at once, making him collapse in the middle of the living room. His mind keeps taking him back and replaying the scared and sad look on your face as he saw life slowly draining from you. Jay kneels beside Adam and hugs him as Adam sobs.

“I can’t do this without her.” He manages to say, clinging to Jay as is his life depended on it. “I need her here with me.”

-

Adam nearly collapses when he sees you in the hospital room, your skin sickly ashy, more tubes than he wants to count connected to you, your eyes closed and your body unmoving.

What he would give for you to wake up right then and joke with him about how he was forced to out your relationship, or just hug him and say that you’re fine and that the two of you are going to be ok.

He gingerly sits in the chair by your bed, trying to rub away the stinging of his eyes from crying and grabbing your hand, gently tracing patterns.

Over the days, he talks to you a lot and refuses to leave your side. He’s pretty much memorized the timing of the beeping of the machines, so his ears perk up when one of them beeps out of time. He jolts forward and grabs your hand with his two.

“(Y/N), sweetheart, can you hear me?” He asks hopefully, sitting in the edge of his chair. He slumps when he gets no response. “Baby, you have no idea what I’d do just to have you come back to me. You’re my love, you’re my joy, my life, you’re the only thing that makes me smile. Please, please come back to me.”

“A girl has to almost die to get declarations like this?” He shoots up when he hears your voice, his eyes wide as they fixate on you. “You’re a huge teddy bear, you know?”

He launches forward and hugs you gingerly, hiding his face in your neck as he starts to openly cry.

“I love you so much, I’m sorry I’m an ass to you sometimes.” He whispers into your neck, sobbing. “I was so scared.”

You slowly wrap your arms around him and rub his back.

“I’m right here, babe. I’m not leaving you this early.” You say, making him pull away slightly before you speak again. You wipe his tears away with your thumbs, cupping his face. “I’m the only thing that makes you smile, right? So please do.”

He chuckles, tears brimming on his eyes before he brings his lips to yours and kisses you softly.

[emmy-writes-sometimes]

Get A Clue

Scott invites the reader to a game night, not realizing it’s a setup with Scott’s older brother, Chris. 

-

           “Promise me you’ll come?” Scott asked as the two of you filed off of set toward your trailers. He was talking about the get-together that he was having at his house that night, mostly just for the cast. You hadn’t had much bonding time with anyone but Scott, who had quickly become one of your best friends. And you’d had strep throat the weekend the directors brought everyone on a retreat, so it was safe to say that you were, unfortunately, the outsider.

           “I’ll be there,” you sighed. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to. You loved everyone and you were excited to spend time with them. But you and Scott been shooting all day in the sun and you were exhausted. You could just drink a coffee on the way home and be fine, but for the moment it was like you didn’t even remember what it was like to have energy.

           “Good girl. Oh, and since you have time, I want you to bring a batch of those sugar cookies. Everyone’s going to love them,” he said.

           “You’re a liar and you just want that marshmallow frosting all to yourself,” you replied. He nodded with a dumb, boyish grin on his face, and split off to go to his trailer. A minute later you received a text from him with his address, the house that was really his brother’s but that they both lived in while Scott was out filming. You quickly changed out of your wardrobe and left the trailer unlocked, then headed over to your car and drove home.

           You hated living alone. Not that you even lived in the apartment – it was a long term Airbnb until you could go back to Boston, where Scott had also grown up. You had grown up half the time in New York with your dad and half the time in Boston with your mom, but you called Boston home for the most part. You were thankful that Scott was also from there and he understood when you craved Tasty Burger. You had decided to get yourself a dog when you got back to Boston, just because you were so lonely.

           Even so, you started baking. Baking was therapeutic, and along with a White Claw it was probably your favorite way to unwind from working. You weren’t much of a cook, so your eating habits consisted of frozen pizza, takeout, and whatever you were baking. You cut the cookies with a mason jar and put them in the oven before taking a shower. The icing was Scott’s favorite part, and just to spite him you put a little food coloring in the last of the icing and wrote on top of one Just for Scott!!!, hoping it would give him a laugh. Then you started getting ready, going through almost all of your clothes before finding something that would look cute but not too cute. You decided on jeans and a nicer shirt, and after putting the cookies in a tub and grabbing a six pack you hadn’t opened yet, you shrugged on a quarter-zip shirt with the Yankees logo on it. Hopefully Scott wouldn’t kick you out for being a Yankees fan.

           You must have nervously sat in front of the house for two or three minutes before pulling in the driveway, spotting three cars that didn’t belong to Scott. One of them was probably his brother’s, and the other two belonged to your co-stars. He hadn’t lied. He wasn’t throwing some rager, thankfully. You walked up to the door and rang the bell, and immediately you heard a dog barking.

           “Back, buddy!” You heard Scott say. He answered the door and a grin came over his face.

           “There’s a special one just for you,” you said as you handed him the cookies and six pack. “Who is this?” You knelt down right away to pet the dog, and his brown fur was as soft as it looked. He whined at you until you pet his ear, and then he leaned his head to the side. You hadn’t even noticed that Scott had gone to the kitchen with the beer and cookies you had handed him.

           “His name’s Dodger,” another voice said. It was definitely a Boston accent, and when you looked up you saw a face somewhat similar to Scott’s. It was definitely his brother, Chris. He was attractive, you thought.

           “What is he? He’s so pretty,” you marveled, shaking the dog’s paw as he offered it to you. You stood up after a second, smiling, and you thought you caught Chris smiling too.

           “I’m not completely sure, I think he’s boxer and Pomeranian, but there’s gotta be a retriever or something in there too,” Chris answered. “I’m Chris, by the way. I’m Scott’s cooler older brother.” You laughed.

           “It doesn’t get much cooler than Scott. I’m Y/n,” you replied as you shook his hand. You noticed that it didn’t have a ring on it, but then you also remembered that at one point Scott had tried to get you to go out with him. Hopefully Chris didn’t know about it, but he wasn’t acting like he did.

           “Normally I wouldn’t let a Yankees fan in, but you brought cookies, so I’ll let it slide.” You laughed.

           “Yeah, I grew up half in New York and half in Boston. My dad was New York, so it could only be the Yankees.” Chris nodded, giving you another bright smile.

           “Guys, come on! Get a drink, we’re gonna play a game!” Chris sighed at Scott’s voice. The dog brushed past both you and Chris to follow Scott’s voice.

           “Oh, God. By the way, his tell is always scratching his nose.” Chris winked at you before walking into the living room where Scott had moved the coffee table out of the way. Your co-stars all greeted you. One of them stood up to give you a hug. She was sweet, but you never got to see her because you only had one scene together.

           “What are we playing?” You asked. Everyone started to gather on the floor, but you headed to the kitchen. You weren’t planning on getting ridiculously drunk, but you spied some craft beer that was calling your name.

           “You want one?” Chris asked as he grabbed himself one. You nodded, and after a second of messing with a bottle opener, Chris was handing you a drink. “Ladies first.” He offered to let you go first and you did, walking back into the living room. Scott was handing out cards to Clue, and of course the only two spots left were for you and Chris, side by side. You were starting to suspect that Scott had something to do with it.

           Chris was right – you made it through two rounds of Clue before realizing that Scott’s tell was scratching his nose. So you put your cards down and took your turn.

           “I think,” you started, giving Scott a grin that said you had him hook, line, and sinker. “I think it was Colonel Mustard, in the study, with the lead pipe.”

           “Oh, my God, you can’t be serious!” Scott exclaimed. Your co-star checked the cards in the envelope, and sure enough, you were correct.

           “Ha!”

           “Hey, now, I get half the credit,” Chris said, “I told her your tell. So we split the win or nothing.” You laughed, shrugging.

           “Get me another beer and I’ll let you be the full winner.” He smiled and went to get you another. One of your co-stars went to the bathroom, and two of them were having their own conversation as you watched Scott get the Cards Against Humanity box from a storage bench in the corner of the room. You started packing up the game, putting it back in the box, and by the time you did, Chris was back with your drinks.

           “Thank you,” you said as he sat back down.

           “I’m about to smoke all of you bitches!” Scott announced as everyone gathered again for the game.

           “Yeah, buddy, we’ll see about that,” Chris said under his breath.

           You ended up winning one round, your co-star won another, and then Scott won the final round. Before you knew it, it was ridiculously late. You and Chris alone had gone through one and a half six packs, unfortunately for you, because it meant that you couldn’t drive. But the whole night he was basically at your side, making jokes and telling you stories about Scott. But then he did something weird – he actually asked you questions, like he cared to see what you had to say. Each time you needed something, he would grab it. And you ended up spilling about your childhood, telling stories you hadn’t told anyone. He was just so easy to talk to, and he was so welcoming. And when he laughed he would scrunch up his nose and toss his head back and his hand would fly to his chest like he was trying to make his heart stop beating so quickly.

           It was safe to say that you’d developed a crush on him in the past few hours, and you couldn’t help but blame Scott. That was probably why he’d wanted you to come. He’d always said you and his brother would get along, but you didn’t know how much you believed it until you met him.

           “You sure it’s okay if I leave my car here?” You asked Scott as you pulled up the Uber app. Everyone else had left, but you’d stayed to help he and Chris clean up a little bit.

           “Yeah, we have plenty of room. Just text me when you’re coming to grab it tomorrow. Actually, you should come for brunch. Chris and I were going to the Beachwood tomorrow anyway, you should come. As a thank you for the cookies?” Scott said as he started moving the coffee table back where it belonged. Chris was taking Dodger out for a quick walk.

           “You just want me to spend more time with Chris,” you responded with a small smile. You couldn’t hide it. The thought of Chris just made you happy. He made you happy.

           “Yeah, I do. I told you so.” You rolled your eyes, but smiled anyway. Your Uber said it was one minute away, so you quickly agreed to buy into Scott’s scheme of getting you and Chris together. You walked outside the house to see Chris at the mailbox, grabbing that day’s mail.

           “Oh, hey, you should come to lunch tomorrow, if you want,” he said.

           “Scott already asked,” you said with a smile. He nodded.

           “Of course he did. I’ll see you then. And don’t wear that Yankees logo and nobody gets hurt.” You scoffed, leaning down to pet Dodger again, and then your Uber pulled into the driveway. You left the massive house for your own Airbnb, making pleasant conversation with the driver.

-

           “What looks better?” Chris asked the next morning, holding up two shirts for Scott to look at. Scott, hungover as hell, just blinked.

           “I don’t know. Y/n likes plaid, so do plaid. Oh, by the way, I’m not coming.” Chris looked at his brother, about ready to slap him across the room. His stress level shot from seventy to a hundred.

           “What? Dude!”

           “I set you both up and it went very well, if I say so myself. I think you’ll be fine on your own. Call it a date.”

           “Dude, you promised-”

           “Get a clue, Christopher! Your little brother just did you a huge favor! And she said she’ll be here in fifteen minutes, so get your ass in gear. I gave her your number. I’m going back to bed.” Chris rolled his eyes and huffed before rushing to finish getting ready.

           Your Uber was fifteen minutes away from their house when you got a text from Scott. Too hungover, it said, here’s Chris’s number. Call it a date. YOU’RE WELCOME, by the way!! You laughed to yourself. You’d really let Scott play you like that. And you really believed that brunch was no pressure, but suddenly you were questioning the small amount of makeup you were wearing and the plaid shirt you were wearing, wondering if you should’ve gone for a dress or at least a nicer shirt. You’d decided against wearing a Yankees hat at the last minute, expecting Chris to make some comment about it. You added Chris’s contact to your phone and sent a message.

           It’s Y/n! About fifteen minutes away from the house. It was a minute or so before you got a reply.

           Scott tell you he’s dropping out???? How rude! You smiled.

           I think he’s trying to set us up or something…

Chris sent the exclamation point emoji, and you turned your phone over to watch the morning scenery. You would never get used to Los Angeles. Even if things didn’t turn out with Chris, you were still grateful that you were out there and you had a friend like Scott to keep you on your toes. The driver finally pulled up to the house, and at the same time, Chris walked out.

           “Hey!” He said loudly, smiling at you as you got out. Thankfully, he was wearing a blue flannel shirt so you were definitely not underdressed.

           “Hey!” You responded. He gave you a quick hug, but you would both be lying if you said you didn’t want it to last longer.

           “I guess Scott really wanted to get us together, because he looked fine half an hour ago,” Chris said. You scoffed.

           “Yeah, I guess so. He was trying to tell me a couple months ago that we would get along, but I didn’t think he actually meant it.”

           “He said the same thing to me, too. But I guess a date’s the only way to find out, right?” He unlocked his car with a key fob and you both started walking toward it. Like a gentleman, he opened and shut your door for you. “If that’s okay.”

           “It’s beyond okay,” you responded with a grin. “So you’re okay with the Yankees thing?” He cracked a smile and looked you up and down, and you couldn’t help but feel the heat rise to your cheeks.

           “No. But I guess I can get past it.” Chris put his car in drive and started to drive the two of you down to your favorite café, and you silently thanked Scott for setting you up on what turned out to be the best first date you’d ever had. 

A/N: I hope you love it! I enjoyed writing this one!