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study-coffee-chicago · 3 years ago

Text

Seasons of PD: Season 5: PTSD (A Halstead brothers + Halstead! sister imagine)

As always, I don't own any quotes from 5x01 of Chicago PD!

Your age: 16

Jay's age: 30

Will's age: 32

"I just talked to Ballistics. The bullet that hit the little girl was a nine-millimeter."

"I thought the bangers were firing 45s."

"They were."

"You're saying I shot that little girl?"

That. That was the conversation that was replaying in Jay's head as he sat on the couch of his apartment that afternoon. How could he call himself a cop, a good cop, if it was him who shot that girl? He should've known that there an illegal daycare center there, even though no one could've known, he still should've figured it out somehow. But, he was taking heavy fire and he did what he needed to do. But, that didn't make him feel any better. A little girl was in critical condition and fighting for her life at Chicago Med because of him. It was all his fault.

***

Your mind wandered back to the day earlier in the year when it was your sixteenth birthday...and you had gotten the iPhone that was currently blowing up with Twitter notifications all about Jay.

You had gone for breakfast with your dad because he had completed the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and was doing a lot better. He also had visitation rights after he completed the 12 Steps, so he had the right to see you. Since you were 16, you could refuse, but you didn't want your dad to feel bad. And, from what you had heard from Will who had been going to see how he was doing to see if it was safe for you to see him, he was doing really well.

During breakfast, he had given you a gift. You opened it and immediately recognized the bracelet.

"Is this Mom's?" you asked. "I thought you said you couldn't find it when I asked for it when I was like ten."

"I've kept it all these years, I was just waiting for the right time to make sure you'd be able to take care of it and not lose it."

You remembered playing with the charm bracelet when you were little when it dangled off your mom's wrist. There were a bunch of different charms from places she had gone, such as Mount Rushmore, Washington DC, a record charm that she had bought in Hollywood, and for other special occasions, such as a steering wheel charm she got from her parents when she got her driver's license, a graduation cap she got for graduation which she also got from her parents, a wedding dress charm which symbolized the day she married your dad, among other charms.

"Thank you," you replied as you held back tears.

He'd changed, he'd recovered, but there's still no way you'd go back to live with him.

***

"How was breakfast with Dad?" Jay asked as you walked into the apartment after you had breakfast.

"Good. He's doing really good, Jay." You walked up to him and opened the small gift box you were holding. "He gave me this." You held the box out to him and he smiled.

"Mom's charm bracelet?" You nodded. "Want me to put it on you?"

"Please."

Jay's breath hitched as he took the bracelet out of the box. It was like he was holding a little piece of his mom, and this piece of your mom would forever be with you the moment he fastened the clasp.

"It's perfect," you said as you fiddled with a few charms.

You both sat in silence for a few moments, just thinking about the fact that this was your mom's and it was now yours.

"Ready to go get your license?" Jay asked, breaking the silence.

"Is that even a question? Yes!"

You had taken your driver's test a week ago after completing the long process of going through two segments of driver's training classes, taking a written test, securing your learner's permit, and accumulating 50 or more hours of driving practice with either Jay or Will.

Jay chuckled at your excitement. "You good with how you look? You'll have the same license photo until you're 21, you know?"

"Let me go put on some lipstick!"

"Not that super dark reddish-purple one!"

"Yes, that super dark reddish-purple one! It's my favorite and it looks good on me!" you yelled as you ran to your room.

Once you had applied your lipstick, you and Jay made your way to the Secretary of State with all the necessary documents for you to get your license.

***

"Why's my license vertical and not horizontal like yours?" you asked after you exited the building with your brand new license.

"You get a horizontal one when you're 21. Just makes it easier for us cops to identify if you're underage if we ask for your license. And for bartenders to know you're underage if you try to buy alcohol."

"Oh, okay."

"You wanna drive?" Jay asked you.

"Sure. It's no different than me having my permit, though because you'll be in the car," you pointed out.

"So, you don't want to drive."

"No, I do!"

"That's what I thought."

He handed you the keys and you unlocked his truck. You both got in and you started adjusting the seat and the rearview mirror.

"Don't forget to--"

"Adjust the side mirrors. I know, Jay, I know. We've been through this a ton. Trust me."

"You're essentially driving a missile down the road, excuse me if I get nervous."

You rolled your eyes and started to drive, but when you were supposed to turn right, he told you to go left.

"Where are we going?" you asked.

"The district," he answered.

"Why?"

"You'll see. Just drive. I'll give you directions because we both know you're bad with those."

"Shut up!"

"What? We both know it's true!"

"No comment."

When you got there, Jay told you to park in front of what he called the "roll-up". To say you were confused would be an understatement; you didn't even know what this was!

"It's where we load our weapons and drive out sometimes. It's the basement," Jay explained.

"Where the cage is?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Adam told me about it. And then when you and Erin were on a lunch run for everyone, he showed it to me."

"I'm gonna have to talk to him about that."

Once you finished parking, you turned off the car and handed the keys back to Jay. Then, Jay did this weird, complicated knock on the garage door of the roll-up.

"Surprise!"

You were met with Will standing there. Behind him, was a car, with a bow on top.

"Is this mine?" you asked.

"Yup," Will confirmed. "Dude," he said to Jay, "You're lucky Goodwin let me out early."

"2010 Buick," Jay said as you walked over to examine the car more. "Seized it from a mob boss two weeks ago. It was going to be impounded, but Kev's got a really good car guy, so I didn't have to pay a lot for it."

"Wait," you started, "So this is just from you, Jay?"

"My gift is in your driver's seat," Will said and then he tossed you the keys. Somehow you caught them...you weren't the best when it came to hand-eye coordination.

You unlocked it using the fob and opened the driver's side door. There, on the driver's seat, was a box. And, not just any box: an Apple box.

"Is this...?"

"Open it." Will smiled.

So you did and you squealed so loud that Jay covered his ears. "Damn, high-pitched screams...sometimes worse than the sound of gunshots."

"Sorry! I'm just so excited! I can't believe I got a car and iPhone! You guys are the best! I love you guys so much!"

"We figured it'd save me a ton of time in the morning not to have to drive you to school and, if I get called into a case early or stay at work late, then I wouldn't have to find someone to drop you off or pick you up. And, figured I could always track your phone if necessary," Jay answered.

"I knew there was a catch," you answered.

"Always is," Will joked.

"Are there traps still in the car?" you asked, causing Jay's eyes to go wide.

"How do you know about those?"

"I watch crime shows."

"No," he answered. "Made sure that was one of the very first things Kev's car guy did: remove the traps."

"Aw, man! I was gonna have fun with those!"

"And put what in them?" Will asked. "Candy? Those fancy pens you like?"

"One, there's two different kinds I like: Papermate pens and calligraphy pens. And two, a little bit of this, a little bit of that."

"Care to specific on what those might be?" Jay asked.

"Not really."

"May I remind you that I am a cop and can toss your bedroom like--" He snapped his fingers. "--that."

"Don't you need a warrant for that?"

"It's my house, so I can do what I want. And, I hope I don't need to bring charges against you for whatever you're hiding."

You burst out laughing. "You guys, I'm kidding. I just wanted to see Jay's reaction when I mentioned traps! I wouldn't do anything...especially with Jay as my brother. I'm not that stupid."

"Oh thank God," Jay sighed.

"Can we go? A little birdie let it slip that there's a surprise party for me at the apartment."

Will glared at Jay. "What?" Jay asked as he put his hands up in a sign of surrender. "I promise you I did not say a single word about it."

"Mhm." Will rolled his eyes.

"Y/N, would this little birdie be Ruzek?" Jay asked.

"No comment."

"I am never telling him anything remotely secretive again."

But now, you kinda wished you didn't have that phone. Because, all over Twitter, there were people who didn't even know your brother who was saying that he was a racist cop and a child killer.

***

You walked inside to see a very distraught Jay. he was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. And, even though you could only see one side of his face from where you were standing, you could see the dried tear tracks on his cheeks.

"So, it's true?" you asked. Jay jumped and looked at you. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

"H-How do you know what happened?"

You sat down next to him. "Twitter. My mentions were blowing up."

"Y/N, you gotta believe me. I wouldn't intentionally shoot a little girl--"

"Jay, I believe you."

"At least she's at Med. Will said she's got a good chance of making it."

"Oh, you didn't hear." He furrowed his eyebrows. "She passed away. I got a notification about it like an hour ago. I'm so sorry, Jay."

"Fuck," was all he said as he buried his head in his hands and began sobbing.

You wanted to comfort him, you really did, but you had no idea what to say. You knew Jay was a good cop and, whatever happened, you knew that he wouldn't purposely kill an innocent little girl. So, you just put a hand on his shoulder as he continued to sob, reminding him that you were still there.

"I'm gonna go talk to Will," he said as he stood up a few minutes later.

He walked over to the kitchen sink and splashed his face with water and dried it with some paper towels while you walked over to him.

"I'll drive you," you told him. "You're not in any shape to be driving right now. I know you'd tell me the same thing."

"No, Y/N, I can drive myself."

"This isn't up for discussion, Jay."

"Yes, it is. My picture's all over the internet. If someone decides to come after me, I don't want you near me out in public. I need you to be safe. Just stay here. Please." His voice cracked on the last word.

"Fine."

"Thank you."

"But please try your best to get home in one piece."

Jay nodded and grabbed his jacket. "I'll be back soon."

But, what he was thinking was totally different. After what I did, I don't deserve to come home in one piece.

***

Jay stormed into the ED just as Will was leaving a treatment room and Will caught sight of Jay and walked towards him.

"You said she was gonna make it!" Jay practically yelled.

"Hey," Will said, quieter, trying to use his trying-to-calm-down-a-patient-voice to hopefully make Jay calm down.

"You said she was gonna..." Jay took a deep breath, trying to keep the tears at bay.

"Hey, I said she had a chance, okay? She was in bad shape. Lost too much blood."

"I know."

"There's only so much we can do."

"I know. I'm sorry. I just...the bullet came from my gun. Even though I was aiming at an offender, it went through his abdomen and through a fucking door and into her, Will. Even though it was an accident, I still shot her. I killed an eight-year-old little girl. I killed her."

***

"50-21 George!" Jay yelled into his radio. "I'm taking heavy fire! I got two civilians down in the north alley behind the building."

"This is Sergeant Hank Voight. Advise responding units to shut down a two-block radius."

"Help! Help!"

Jay turned his attention to the building and when he saw it was clear, he pushed open the wooden door and entered.

He nearly choked when he saw what happened.

It was you. You were eight years old, clutching Beary in one hand while Hailey held you and tried to stop the bleeding.

"Y/N!" He had no idea why you were even here, maybe your parents couldn't afford a good, legal daycare center because of your mom's medical bills, but whatever it was, you were here, and you had somehow been shot. He kneeled down next to you and all but threw his sniper on the ground.

"Alright, I'm gonna call an ambulance," Hailey said.

"We don't have time." Somehow, he was aware of where his keys were in his tactical gear. "Go get my car. Fast."

He handed over the keys. "Ready?" Hailey asked as Jay positioned his hands above hers to try and stop the bleeding the minute she removed her hands.

Jay nodded and quickly replaced Hailey's hands with his as she sprinted off to get his truck.

But, then the scene changed.

It became hotter. Jay could feel the dry heat in his mouth and in his throat. He felt the sweat trickle down his face and back. He felt beads of sand on his hands and arms. He looked down to see you resting your head against his leg. And, he wasn't in his normal clothes that he'd wear to work. No, he was in his Rangers uniform.

He had his hands over the same spot on your chest as he had in the daycare center. And, you still had Beary in your hand, albeit a very loose grip on him.

You coughed, causing some blood to come out of your mouth.

"No, Y/N, not like this. Not like this." He removed one hand from the wound and applied all the pressure he could with one hand while he reached for his radio. "This is Halstead to Base." Crackles. "This is Halstead to Base." More crackles. "Please. This is Halstead to Base. I need a med truck now! My sister's been shot." No response. "Please. She's only-- She's only eight years old." His voice cracked. "Please."

You coughed once more and Jay knew trying to reach Base was useless at this point. Jay took his canteen and dabbed a little bit of water on your face and smeared it around, trying to clean the blood off your face. But, as fast as he could clean it, more would come up and out of your mouth.

You let out a strangled breath. Jay knew that sound. That was the sound of someone's last gasp of air that they'd ever take.

"Y/N, please. Please, Short Stack. Stay with me. Help will come. Please, just hang on a little longer."

Then, he saw the all too familiar look of empty eyes in front of him. He let out a strangled sob as he placed his fingers on your eyelids and gently pulled them closed.

Jay shot up in bed with a start. He reached for his chest, feeling for his radio to try and call for help again. It was only when his fingers brushed his bare chest that he realized that he wasn't in the desert of Afghanistan, but in the safety of his own bed, in his own apartment, here stateside, here in Chicago.

He went into the bathroom after his breathing calmed down and jumped into a freezing cold shower, hoping to get the image of an eight-year-old you being shot and killed by his gun out of his head.

But it wouldn't leave.

Jay dried off and then quietly made his way out of his room and over to yours.

He crouched down by your bed and watched as your chest rose and fell, signaling that you were in a deep sleep. You were sleeping on your side and had one leg thrown over the other and a few toes sticking out from under the covers. Beary was next to you. You weren't clutching him like in his nightmare, hell you weren't even holding him, but he was still in your bed. Jay was pretty sure that if that bear wasn't in your bed at night, you wouldn't be able to sleep, despite you being sixteen.

Jay longed to put two fingers to your neck just to check your pulse and make sure he wasn't hallucinating the rising and falling of your chest. But, he knew that was paranoid. He could trust his instincts now. After all, he was awake. There was no stifling heat, no hot sweat (at least, after his shower there wasn't), and no sand. All that was below him was the fluffy rug on your bedroom floor.

He slowly left your room and went back to his. But, instead of getting into bed, he tugged his comforter off his bed and grabbed his pillow. Then, he dragged those two things back into your room and settled down on your rug.

He knew it was probably paranoia, but after that dream, he wanted to make sure you were safe. He wanted to be close to you. Because, God, that dream felt so real.

She's alive, he kept reminding himself as he tried to fall asleep. And, that was the last thing on his mind when he finally fell asleep once more: that you were still alive.

***

Your alarm blared through your quiet room and you rolled over with a groan and turned it off.

"Christ, that was loud. How deep of a sleeper are you?" Jay asked as he rolled over.

You looked at him with sleep still in your eyes. "What are you doing in here?"

"Was a rough night." He yawned. "Just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Okay...?"

"I say ten more minutes."

"Jay, I'll be late."

"I'll drive you, lights and sirens and all."

"Night."

***

"You okay?" you asked around 11:00 pm two weeks later when Jay finally got home from working a case.

"Yeah, just tired," he answered as he went to put his badge and gun away in his room.

"Are you sure it's just that?" you asked when he came out from his room in pajamas.

"I'm sure. Why are you asking?"

"You had that street fair bombing case and two weeks ago, a bullet from your gun--"

"Y/N, I'm fine. I promise. don't you have to get to bed?"

"Tomorrow's Saturday. I don't have school tomorrow."

"So it is. I'm gonna turn in. See you in the morning."

"Aren't you gonna eat something?" you asked.

"I'm not really that hungry. Goodnight."

You knew something was off, but you weren't going to push it, so you just grabbed the remote and started looking for a movie to watch.

***

You coughed, causing some blood to come out of your mouth.

You let out a strangled breath. Jay knew that sound. That was the sound of someone's last gasp of air that they'd ever take.

"Y/N, please. Please, Short Stack. Stay with me. Help will come. Please, just hang on a little longer."

Then, he saw the all too familiar look of empty eyes in front of him. He let out a strangled sob as he placed his fingers on your eyelids and gently pulled them closed.

He saw a figure moving towards him and in his hand, a grenade.

"Would you like to join her?"

Jay jolted awake, breathing raggedly. He tried to catch his breath and swallow, but it was no use, the familiar feeling of bile was rising in his throat and he dry heaved all the way to the bathroom before he finally emptied what little was in his stomach into the toilet.

Meanwhile, you furrowed your eyebrows as you slowly opened your eyes. You thought you had heard gagging, but it was gone now, so you tried to close your eyes and go back to sleep. But, then you heard gagging and the sound of something hitting what sounded like water.

Wait, was Jay sick? He never got sick.

You got out of bed and walked over to his room and quietly opened his door. From the dim light of the bathroom, and the disheveled covers on his bed, you knew he was in the bathroom.

"Jay?" you asked as you crept towards his bathroom.

"Y/N, l-leave. Please, just leave me alone ri-right now." You could tell from the sound of his voice that he was panting as if he had just run a marathon.

"Are you okay?"

No. "I'm fine. Just a stomach bug or food poisoning. Go back to bed."

You poked your head into the bathroom. Jay was leaning against the bathtub without a shirt on, with sweat dripping down his face. His mouth was wide open as if he was trying to capture as much oxygen as was humanly possible.

"Maybe I should call Will. I don't think he's on shift."

"Y/N, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. You don't look fine at all."

"Y/N, go back to bed. Now."

"But--"

"I said go to bed! So how about you listen for once and just fucking do that? Jesus!"

Your breath caught in your throat. You'd never heard him yell like that...not directed at you at least.

"O-Okay."

You trudged back to your room and laid down. But, sleep didn't come for a while as tears rolled down your cheeks.

Jay put his head in his hands. He had yelled at you. Not only that, but he had sworn at you and you were just trying to help. God, he felt like a terrible brother, a terrible guardian, an overall terrible human being.

He tugged at the roots of his hair, hoping the bit of tugging from that physical pain would calm the mental and emotional pain that had been stirring inside of him for weeks. For weeks he's been like this. Ever since he had been put on his medication, he hadn't even had a nightmare and now he's had them every single day, and he's scared to sleep. What kind of police detective and ex-army ranger is afraid to sleep when they're safe in their own house? He was one of them and, God, he hated himself for it.

Not getting more than three restless hours of sleep per night was starting to have an impact on him at work. They all knew that a sleepy cop was a dead cop, but Jay was still alive. But, there were downfalls, such as getting jittery from all the caffeine he was ingesting early in the morning and then crashing and almost falling asleep doing reports when he had to work late. Well, he didn't have to work late per se, he decided to work late to put off sleeping. He knew none of this was helpful and none of this would solve the problem, but he thought it would be fine. Everything would be fine and the nightmares would eventually go away. They always do. And then everything would be normal again in his brain.

God, he longed for that: the normalcy.

So, for the umpteenth night in a row, he grabbed a pillow and a blanket and made his way to your bedroom to sleep on the floor to make sure you were alive. He put his watch on vibrate and set the alarm for 6 am because he knew you wouldn't be awake that early...especially not on the weekend.

Only when the irrational part of his brain was sure that you weren't going to die, did he finally find solace in sleep.

***

Went to get coffee with Will and to work on homework. Be home eventually, you scribbled on a sticky note and stuck it on the back of the apartment door before you left. Jay had gotten called in to work a case earlier this morning, and you needed a change of scenery to work on some AP World History homework.

You grabbed your backpack, keys, and wallet, and made your way to the parking garage. Then, you left.

About ten minutes later, you arrived at the coffee shop. Not seeing Will, you set your stuff down and went to grab a coffee and a muffin. Don't get it wrong, Jay still didn't like the fact that you drank coffee, but you only drank it when you went out to get it. It wasn't like you drank it every morning or drank two or three cups a day like he did.

You started to read your textbook and take some notes on the vocab. You were so focused that you jumped when Will slid into the chair across from you and said your name.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Lots to do?"

"Not a ton," you replied. "Just gotta read a chapter and take some notes. Then I'm done with homework for the weekend."

"So, you said you think something's up with Jay?" Will asked.

You had texted him that morning to see if you could meet up because you were worried. You had seen how tired he looked and how he poured his coffee into a larger tumbler than normal, one that was almost double the size of his normal one. Bags under his eyes and more coffee than normal had given you the impression that Jay was no longer sleeping, and rightfully so.

"I don't think he's sleeping," you told him.

"And you know this how?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because he looks like shit- sorry, he looks like crap, and he drinks a ton more coffee in the morning than he normally does."

"Maybe he just doesn't like the coffee at the district and is bringing more from home," he suggested.

"I don't think so."

"Is he still working out? Still going to the gym?"

"I think so. I'm usually still asleep when he goes, so I wouldn't know either way."

"Anything else?"

"Uh, actually, yeah." You closed your textbook. "I'm pretty sure he was sick last night."

"Sick? Like how sick?"

"He was puking. I wanted to call you but he told me no."

"How'd you find him?"

"Leaning against the bathtub, no shirt, dripping sweat, and mouth wide open."

"I see," Will said. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. Last night when I mentioned calling you, he said he was fine. But, when I pushed, he told me to leave and when I told him no, he yelled and cursed at me."

"He swore at you?" Will grit his teeth.

"Yeah," you whispered. "I don't know what's going on, Will. He hasn't been himself lately."

"Hey, I'll figure it out, okay? I'll make sure he's okay. I can even come over later tonight and check him out if you want me to."

"He'll fight you on that."

"I'm used to unruly patients. Is that what you--" His phone rang and he held up a finger to you to wait for a second while he answered. "Hey, Maggie. What's up?" He paused and then sighed. "I'll be right there." He hung up the phone and started gathering his stuff.

"What? Did something happen and you have to go to work?" you asked.

"Oh, something happened all right. I just got a call saying Jay was brought into Med."

You started to pack up your backpack and grabbed your keys. "I'll follow you there."

***

Jay didn't know what happened. One second he was driving, blinking heavily, the next Hailey was yelling at him and had reached over to grab the wheel, but it was too late. He was too close. When he opened his eyes, he tried to slam on the brake, but it didn't help. The next millisecond, he and Hailey crashed into an electrical pole in Pilsen.

He was awake after that.

"What the hell happened?" Voight asked after he had thrown his car in park and he and Al rushed over to Jay and Hailey.

"I think he fell asleep at the wheel," Hailey answered as she and Jay both stepped out of the truck.

"I did not," Jay protested.

"Oh yeah? Then how do you explain you just running into an electrical pole when there weren't even cars running us off the road?" Hailey yelled.

"I didn't fall asleep! I'm fully awake! Just drop it, Upton."

"Drop it? You do know if we would've hit that at full speed and it fell on us that we could've been electrocuted to death, right?"

"But that didn't happen--"

"Halstead, Upton, I'm bringing both of you to Med to get checked out. After that, you're going home to get some rest, Halstead. You look like hell," Voight told them.

"Sarge--"

"This isn't up for discussion. Get in the damn car." The two detectives walked to Voight's car, while Voight turned to Alvin. "Call Platt to get us some patrolmen to help. You good waiting here for them to pick you up while I bring them to Med?"

"Yeah, go. I'll handle this."

When Jay finally got to Med, to say he was not happy would be an understatement. He didn't need to be in the hospital and he sure as hell didn't need to be kicked off the case and told to go home to get some rest.

"Mags, what room is he in?"

Shit, they had called Will.

"Treatment Four."

Will walked into the room followed by you.

"You didn't have to come, neither of you did."

"Well, too bad," Will said. "Should've put her as your emergency contact instead of me. Oh wait, you can't, she's still too young. Guess you're stuck with me."

"All set," Hailey said as she walked in. "You ready to go?"

"Who's this?" you asked.

"My new partner," Jay told you. "Hailey, this is Y/N and Will, my siblings I told you about. Y/N and Will, my new partner, Hailey Upton."

"Nice to meet you. I've heard good things."

Will scoffed. "Would one of those good things be that Jay absolutely hates hospitals and I always have to make sure he doesn't leave against medical advice?"

"He didn't mention that, no."

"Well, either way, nice to meet Jay's new partner. Do you mind if I talk to him? Privately?"

"No problem."

Will turned to you. "You too, Y/N. Go grab some food or hang out with Hailey or something."

Will focused his attention on Jay when you and Hailey had left the treatment room. "Y/N told me she doesn't think you're sleeping and from what I heard from Maggie about why you were brought in here, don't even bother lying to me."

"I'm fine, Will, really. Nothing to worry about."

"Fine then. I'm gonna go order a blood test."

"Blood test? You're not even on shift! And, you can't even be my doctor if you were!" Jay protested.

"I read that April's your nurse, so I'm going to go find her and tell her to order a blood test then."

"Why?"

"To see if your plasma cortisol levels are elevated and if your cortisol testosterone levels have decreased," Will answer matter-of-factly.

"And you need those because...?"

"If the plasma cortisol level is elevated and the cortisol testosterone level is lowered, then those are both indicators that you haven't been sleeping. Be back, little brother."

Jay groaned and threw his head back. He didn't think he'd need to be stuck with a needle today. If only had put someone else down as his emergency contact, then this wouldn't be happening. Or, if his brother just wasn't a doctor or didn't work at this specific hospital then this wouldn't be happening, either.

***

Jay was walking you to school when you were eight years old. On your back, you had your backpack and you were holding Jay's hand and skipping to keep up with his long strides. Jay chuckled at how cute and innocent you were. He didn't want you to ever grow up.

"Jay Jay," you started, causing him to look down at you, "Did you get all the bad guys when you left?"

"Why do you ask?" He swallowed. He knew if you asked the right questions, he might not know how to answer them. And, his last tour was horrific, losing all the members of his unit except Mouse...the burning Humvee...the combatants still coming towards them...

"I don't know. I just wanted to know if there were any left?" you asked.

"There probably are."

"Do you have to go back there? Do you have to leave again to go fight the bad guys?"

Jay's breath hitched. He was honorably discharged after what had happened, so he wouldn't have to back. But, as he was thinking about how to answer you, the scene changed.

Screaming. All he could hear was screaming and the crackling of flames.

He looked around saw the scene from his last tour, his Humvee flipped over with all the members of his unit currently burning to crisp. He and Mouse had been walking behind, keeping watch of their six which is why they weren't in there.

"Help! Jay Jay, help!" He heard you scream and racked his brain from where that could be coming from because you were an ocean away, no way were you actually there.

"Dude, your sister's in there!" And Mouse took off running.

Jay quickly caught up to him. "What? She's not here! She's at home in Chicago!"

"No, she's not! You couldn't bear to leave her, so you brought her with you!"

Okay, now Jay knew he was caught in the midst of a nightmare because he would never do that. He would never bring a little girl into the midst of a war where she could get hurt or killed. Damn that melatonin he took that night because he was currently in so deep a sleep that he couldn't wake up.

"Jay Jay!"

He took off running again and came up to the edge of the Humvee. Your leg was crushed under it and it was one of the only parts of the vehicle that hadn't caught fire...yet. He needed to get you out and he needed to get you out fast or else you would be burned to death. But, to do that, he knew he'd be sacrificing your leg.

"Mouse! Get me a tourniquet and the biggest knife you have! Make sure you sterilize it!" Jay shouted. You let out a whine.

"You're doing a field amputation?" Mouse asked as he grabbed the supplies.

"I don't have any other choice." You let out a whimper. "Hey, hey, look at me. Focus on me. I'm gonna get you out of there."

"P-Promise?" you asked as tears ran down your cheeks.

"I promise. Now I need you to hold really still and be a brave girl, okay? Can you be brave for me?" You nodded as Mouse handed Jay the equipment for the tourniquet. "This is going to hurt," Jay warned you as he slid the piece of fabric underneath your leg and then started tying it.

You screamed out in agony.

"I know, I know. But, It's gotta be tight. It's gotta be tight, kiddo."

"Jay! Nine o'clock!"

Jay turned to his left and pointed his gun straight at the combatant.

"Jay...Jay..." he heard your voice wavering as you tried to get his attention. But, it didn't sound like your voice. It sounded lower, more mature even. "Jay, please." the voice that sounded like you was pleading now. "Jay Jay, please. You're- You're safe."

Jay snapped his eyes open.

There you were, at sixteen years old, holding your hands up in surrender. He was home, in Chicago.

"Jay, please," you whispered once more.

It was only when he looked down that he realized he must've thought you were the combatant in his dream because he had his service weapon pointed straight at you.

He dropped his gun onto his bed. "Y/N, I- you gotta believe me. That wasn't--"

But you were already running out of his room to grab your keys and get as far away from Jay as possible.

***

Will was awoken to a loud knocking on his door at 2:37 in the morning. "Who the fuck is here right now?" he muttered as he rubbed his eyes and stood up and threw on a shirt.

But, all his anger at being woken up at this ungodly hour washed away as he looked through the peep-hole and saw you, tears still streaming down your face.

He yanked the door open. "Y/N, what are you doing here?"

"He pointed a gun at me!" you wailed as you entered.

Will shut the door and made his way over to you. "Who? Did you tell Jay? Where were you?"

"Jay was the one who did it, Will! He pointed the- the gun right at me!"

Will's breath caught in his throat. He had his hunches that Jay was having nightmares again based on what you had told him and based on him falling asleep while driving and based on his blood work, but he didn't think they'd have gotten this bad. "Are you okay? he asked you quietly.

You shook your head and Will led you over to the couch.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

You sighed. "I heard him scream, so I woke up to see what was wrong. When I walked- When I walked into his room he was squeezing his pillow with his hand like he was holding something. He was dripping sweat."

You paused and took a deep breath.

"It's okay," Will told you. Take your time."

"Then, he just, he just whipped around and grabbed his gun from- from on top of his nightstand. I don't why it wasn't in the safe where it usually is. And that's when he..."

"That's when he pointed it at you?"

You nodded as tears rolled down your cheeks. "I said his name over and over and he finally snapped out of it."

"And that's when you came here?"

You nodded again.

"Well, how about we put on a movie, and then you can try to get some sleep. I'll stop over at Jay's tomorrow when you're at school. I'm pretty sure you have some clothes here just in case."

"Thanks, Will."

"No problem, Short Stack."

***

Jay heard a knock on his door the next day. Will had texted him and told him that you were safe and at his place because Jay had been blowing up Will's phone looking for you. So, at least he wasn't worried about that anymore.

Jay sipped his beer and waited for the knocking to stop, but it just became increasingly louder.

"Jay, open the damn door!"

Reluctantly, with beer still in hand, Jay stood up and opened his apartment door. "What the hell are you doing here?" Jay asked.

"Gimme that," Will said as he ripped the beer bottle from Jay's hand after he'd entered his apartment. "And, for your information, I'm making sure you're not drinking yourself to death." He looked around at the two other empty beer bottles on the counter. It wasn't even one o'clock in the afternoon yet. "Which, I guess I came just in time."

"Just let me drink it." Jay tried to take the bottle back, but Will held it out of his reach. Then, he made his way over to the kitchen sink and poured it out.

"Shit, man. I paid for that."

"I don't really give a damn right now, Jay. You pointed a fucking gun at our little sister. She came to my place bawling last night. You're lucky she didn't get into a car accident because of how distraught she was when she was driving."

"I know, I know. I fucked up, okay?"

"Oh, yeah, you fucked up all right. This is probably the single-handed worse thing you've done in your entire life."

"Did you just come here to lecture me?" Jay yelled. "If so, the door's that way and you can get the hell out!"

Will sighed. "I didn't come here just to do that, but I needed to get that out first. You need to talk to someone about this, Jay."

"I'm talking to you. Isn't that enough?"

"A trained professional."

"You are a trained professional."

"I'm a trained medical professional, not a trained psychological professional."

Jay sat on the couch and put his head in his hands. That scene from last night had been replaying in his head for almost twelve hours now.

Him hearing your voice...seeing you with your hands raised while they were shaking...how much of whisper your voice was...the feeling of guilt that swallowed him whole when he noticed he was holding his service weapon...you sprinting out of the house in the middle of the night...

"Jay," Will said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "You still with me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm still here. Sorry." He paused. "Last night, I guess I was so out of it that I forgot to lock up my gun and left it on my bedside table. If I had just locked it up, this wouldn't have happened. If I just wouldn't have taken the melatonin, this wouldn't have happened. If I was just able to fucking sleep this wouldn't have happened."

"How long haven't you been sleeping?" Will asked gently.

"The nightmares started when I shot that little girl, Will."

"Jay, it's been weeks since that happened."

"I know. And they just keep getting worse. At first, it was Y/N who was the little girl I shot when I was chasing the offenders when the bullet went through the illegal daycare center. And then, they started turning into me being overseas and Y/N somehow being with me and her being shot over there. Last night- last night was the worst."

"You don't have to tell me what happened if you don't want to."

"Thank you," Jay replied. Because in all honestly, that was one of the worst nightmares he's ever had since getting on his medication.

"Is that why you're sleeping on Y/N's bedroom floor?"

"How'd you know? I didn't even think she knew."

"She knows. She said she'll wake up in the middle of the night and you'll be there, on her floor, with a pillow and a blanket, and you'll sneak out before she wakes up."

"I just, I needed to make sure she was safe. I needed to make sure she was still alive, Will."

"I really think you need to talk to someone. Maybe ask about getting your meds increased."

"I've been on the same dose for over two years now. You really think they'd need to be upped?"

"It's a possibility. But, we need to talk about Y/N now."

Jay sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, we do. I have no idea what to do, Will. I'm supposed to be her legal guardian and I couldn't even keep her safe. I was the one who made her feel not safe."

"I know it's gonna be hard for you to hear this," Will started, "but, she doesn't want to come back here for a little while."

"Yeah, I figured that when she didn't answer my texts."

"Listen, she and I talked this morning, and if you go see someone today or tomorrow and see someone about getting your meds upped, she'd stay with me for two weeks so the meds have time to get into your system, and then we'll go from there."

"So, all I have to do is get my meds upped?"

"Well, that might be the best option. But, I still think you should talk to someone, Jay. Either a therapist or a psychiatrist or even a veteran's support group might be helpful."

"Okay. But, can you just tell her that I'm so sorry? And that, I wasn't in my right mind? I didn't know it was her, I swear."

"I know you didn't. Now, no more drinking, you have appointments to schedule." Will paused. "Have you talked to Voight? Maybe you shouldn't be working while you're trying to figure this out."

"I do not need to take time off."

"Yes, you do. Do you want our little sister to hate you or not?"

"Fine. I'll take two weeks furlough."

"That's all I ask. Please do not get shitfaced because I will babysit you if I have to."

"Then who's gonna stay with Y/N?"

"I'll figure something out."

***

"You're sure I'm good to go back?" you asked Will as you walked into yours and Jay's apartment building.

"Y/N, he hasn't had a nightmare in a week and a half. Everything's gonna be fine," Will answered.

"I know. I know I shouldn't be scared of my own brother, but, uh, what happened that night, it was..."

"Terrifying?" Will finished for you.

"Yeah, that."

"Well, I'll be there the entire weekend in case anything happens."

"Thanks, Will."

***

Later that night, you laid in bed, trying to fall asleep. But, you couldn't. You just couldn't shake the feeling of walking into Jay's room to try and wake him from a nightmare and having a gun pointed right at you. You couldn't shake the feeling that maybe tonight was the night that Jay would have a nightmare and end up sleepwalking into your bedroom with his gun drawn.

So, you were sitting up in bed, at 3:30 am, having just finished your last movie an hour and a half ago with your lamp on and the current book you were reading open.

You heard the sound of your door opening and looked up.

You held your breath.

Jay was in your room.

"Y/N, what are you still doing awake?" he asked, slowly moving closer to you so he didn't scare you.

You sighed in relief. He was conscious. He was awake.

"I can't sleep," you answered honestly.

"Is it because of me? That you can't sleep?" You looked down and that was all the confirmation Jay needed. "Look, I'm sorry. I know I've said it a lot these past few weeks, but I'm truly sorry. You have to understand that it wasn't me."

"I know. I just, you scared you me, Jay. I was scared I was going to die that night."

"Y/N, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened."

"And you haven't had any nightmares?"

"None in over ten days," he answered.

"Then why are you in my room? I know you come in here sometimes after you have nightmares."

"I came to make sure you were sleeping. Will mentioned you were nervous and I know you don't like to sleep when you're nervous."

"Oh." You paused. "Can you tell me what you were dreaming about? When you pointed the gun at me?"

"Y/N, I'd really prefer not to. I don't want to go back there."

"I get it," you said. "It's traumatic. Like how even though Dad isn't drinking anymore, I don't want to go back and live with him."

"Exactly."

You moved over. "You can come sit if you want." Jay sat down on the bed next to you and handed you Beary so that he didn't squash him. You closed your book. "Can you tell me a story?"

"Like a fairytale like when you were little and Mom would make me read those princess books to you?" Jay chuckled.

"No, maybe a you and Will story or a me and you story from I was little and don't remember much?"

Jay thought for a second until he found the perfect one filed away in his brain under Y/N stories. "Do you remember that time when you brought your first aid kit on your bike because you had just made it in girl scouts?"

"A little, but not really."

"Okay, I'll tell you that one then."

"Jay Jay!" little seven-year-old you exclaimed as you run up to Jay. "Ride bikes with me?"

"I think my bike has a flat tire, but I can get my skateboard. Is that okay with you?" Jay asked.

"Yeah! But Mommy said you gotta wear a helmet because she said we gotta protect our heads," you told him while putting your hands on your hips.

"That's right! How could I forget that? I'll be right back and then we can go, okay?"

"Okay!"

While Jay ran off to find his bike, you ran off to get your first aid kit that you had just made in girl scouts and Beary to put in the little basket on the front of your purple princess bike.

You waited for him and when he reappeared with his skateboard and helmet, he asked what you had.

"Beary and this I made in girl scouts yesterday," you told him. "It has bandaids and this white tape and white soft stuff and wipies."

You handed it to him to take a look. Inside, there were different sizes of bandaids, medical tape, gauze, and antiseptic wipes. "This is such a good first aid kit, kiddo!"

"Thank you!"

You got your bike out of the garage and clipped on your helmet. Jay pressed down on the horn attached to your handlebars before stepping onto his skateboard.

You two rode down the street and then Jay got to a ramp that some kids had made. There was one ramp, a gap, and then another ramp.

"Jay Jay!" you exclaimed. "Can you go on that?"

Jay had gone on homemade skateboard ramps like those hundreds of times. Hell, he'd even made one home and he and Will would do kickflips in the air when going on it when your guys' mom was home. She'd have a heart attack if she saw her sons doing that.

"I can even do a trick while I'm in the air," Jay told you.

"Really?" you asked, your eyes going wide.

"Really. Wanna see?"

"Yes please!"

Jay started a few yards back from the first ramp and started propelling himself forward, gaining speed. Then, your jaw dropped as he skated onto the first ramp and into the air.

"Whoa," you whispered to yourself as he did his kickflip in midair between the two ramps.

But, Jay had overestimated the distance between the two ramps, so when he landed, he landed on the road and not the ramp with way too much force, causing him to fall off his skateboard and land on the ground, scraping his hands across the road.

"Jay Jay!" you yelled as you quickly kicked down your kickstand and grabbed your first aid kit. "Are you okay?" you asked.

Jay stood up and grabbed his skateboard. "I'm fine. Just a little blood, nothing to worry about."

"You're bleeding? Where? I can fix it."

He held up his right hand where his palm was a little bloody. You started to open your first aid kit and Jay knew there was no point in arguing with you, so he just crouched down to your height.

You grabbed a bandaid and started to open it. "You gotta clean it out first, nurse," Jay told you.

"Oh. With the wipey-thingies?"

"Yes, with those."

You opened one of the antiseptic wipes--with Jay's help because those were really hard to open!--and wiped down his palm. Then, you put the bandaid on.

"All better!" you exclaimed as you put the trash back into your first aid kit. "Can we keep going?" you asked.

"We sure can!"

You ran back to your bike and put the first aid kit into the basket next to Beary and then you got on your bike and caught up to Jay. And then, you were off around the block again.

"We really thought you were going to be a doctor or a nurse after that," Jay said. "But, then you realized you hated both math and science." He looked down at you. "Oh, you're asleep."

He set your book on your nightstand and turned off the lamp. Then, he slowly crept out of your room and closed the door, and went back to his room to fall into a nightmare-less sleep.

Despite Will sleeping on the couch, things were back to normal in yours and Jay's apartment and neither of you could've been happier.

A/N: Hey guys, I wanted to get this posted before I'm away for the weekend and probably without internet. As always, thank you for reading, and please reblog/like and comment! I love hearing what you guys think, as it gives me tons of motivation to keep writing! If you want to be added to my taglist, just tell me and I’ll add you!

taglist: @theambracer88 @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @onechicago18 @iamasimpingh0e @i-like-sparkly-things

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spine-buster · 4 years ago

Text

peaceful easy feeling ft. b.boeser | five

A/N: This is the last part of this mini series! I know this adventure was short but thank you all for coming along on the ride :) A quick reminder that I will be announcing my new fic, who it will feature, a small blurb, & a clue as to what to expect from it this Thursday at 7:30pm EST. Happy reading!

CONTENT WARNING: parents with disease/sickness (Parkinson’s); parent death; swearing; sex; alcohol use; lots of emotions.

* * * * *

“You look beautiful, baby,” Brock cooed as he adjusted his cufflinks – well, not really. He was looking at Grace, not really caring about his cufflinks. Seeing her stand there in her beautiful dress, her hair curled and pinned, and her delicate jewelry hanging off her ears, neck, and wrists…she was a vision. He was so lucky.

They were about to leave to attend the Parkinson’s Foundation of British Columbia Gala. Grace had planned virtually the whole thing, though she worked with the head of the foundation on most major decisions. She arranged the venue, catering, got major sponsors (okay…the biggest were her uncles, but there were a lot more), organized the silent auction, and arranged the entertainment for the evening. Everyone who attended their weekly meetings would be there. Brock knew the Aquilinis would be there. It was a party, yes, and a function to raise money, yes – but at the end of the day, it was a culmination of Grace’s strength after Hamish passed away.

“Thanks, babe,” she smiled over at him, taking one last look at herself in the mirror. “Are Petey and Svea ready to go?”

Brock nodded. “Petey’s been texting for fifteen minutes asking if we’re on our way yet,” he joked.

“You can blame it on me,” she winked. “Unless Petey takes a good look at your hair. Then he’ll know it was you.”

Brock laughed out loud, taking the few steps needed to stand right in front of her and wrap his arms around her. “Hey…before we go,” his voice was low and he looked down at Grace. “Your dad would be so proud of you for planning this.”

Grace nodded her head. She knew. It was a lot of work, and she completely went in head first with planning all of it and maybe, sort of taking over the entire operation, but it was worth it. She had planned something that would raise money that, hopefully, would fund research so that nobody would have to go through what she went through. She didn’t just want to be known as an heiress daughter of a billionaire; she wanted to be known as so much more. An heiress who used her money to fund research projects and arts centres; an heiress who donated her time and money to worthy causes. She once told Brock that she knew she wasn’t the smartest girl in the world, but that she thought she had a big heart. She hoped this was the start of others in her community, and in Vancouver, realizing that she had a big heart.

***

“Grace, this is amazing,” Svea couldn’t help but say astonishingly as she took yet another look around the giant room, decorated to the nines with flashing lights and impeccably dressed people chatting and drinking and dancing. Svea knew Grace would be busy throughout the night, so she wasn’t trying to hog her after their limousine ride together. But now that Svea got her alone, she had to verbalize it again, just like she did when she walked in. “Like, I don’t think you understand. It’s incredible.”

“Want to let me plan your wedding to Elias?” Grace winked, taking a sip of her drink.

“Oh shut up.”

“There she is!” the women both heart Elias yell. They turned around and saw him and Brock walking towards them, both with drinks in their hands. “Grace, this is so cool.”

“Thanks Petey. And thanks for donating your jersey.”

“Anything for you.”

Grace focused her attention on Brock. “Esther wants us to take a group photo with everyone before everyone leaves,” she said, and Brock nodded his head in agreement. She looked at Elias. “If I get everyone together right now, do you mind taking it?”

“Like I just said Grace, anything for you.”

***

Fatigued, physically and mentally exhausted, but still somehow feeling the adrenaline coursing through her veins, Grace climbed into the limousine with Brock, Elias, and Svea at the end of the gala so they could go home. They dropped off Elias and Svea first, naturally, and Elias had to wake Svea up as she slept on his shoulder throughout the ride. It left Brock and Grace alone in the limousine together, hands clasped together as the driver drove through the streets of Vancouver.

“You did amazing tonight,” Brock mumbled, his voice low and full of sleepiness but still so direct and meaningful. “I love you so much, Grace.”

“I love you too, Brock.”

“When we have kids, I’m gonna let them know this was the night I knew you’d become my wife.”

Grace stiffened at Brock’s words, but he was too tired to notice – the small smirk on his face not disappearing despite anxiety – not adrenaline – now coursing through Grace’s veins. She thought about the implications of his words, how he just outright admitted that she was the one for him. She thought about her feelings for him, and if she felt the same. She did. But was it possible to still be apprehensive? She loved Brock with her whole heart. She’d never met anybody like him, and likely would never meet anyone like him again. She loved him too, with everything she had.

But then she thought about her parents.

Her parents were young and in love once too. Her parents were once obsessed with each other and madly in love. Her parents had decided to get married and have a child. Her parents had decided what Brock was laying out on the proverbial table – what Brock was so willing to give her – and look what happened. Things didn’t work out. Love didn’t work out. Love was complicated. They separated. Grace went to live with Eliza but didn’t like it because she missed dad. She told Hamish who told his lawyers. His lawyers brought it to the judge. Divorce proceedings started. Grace went to live with Hamish. Eliza demanded alimony for her lifestyle, to maintain it, if not to exceed it. Eliza demanded child support. Eliza demanded nannies, a multi-million dollar house, and expensive cars. Hamish would tell Grace her mother was selfish. Eliza would tell Grace how stingy her father was. Eliza would tell Grace how her father only wanted custody so he didn’t have to pay child support. Hamish told Grace Eliza only wanted child support and alimony so she could hire babysitters and nannies while she went to spas. A pawn while she was at her mom’s in Shaughnessy; a pawn while she was at her dad’s in West Point Grey. A pawn when dropped off at school at Crofton House. A pawn at the dance studio, her happiest place.

What if she and Brock turned out the same way?

***

“You okay?” Brock asked Grace.

Grace wasn’t there. She was somewhere else, in her mind, thinking about events long passed. “Your father’s the cheapest man I’ve ever met,” she could hear her mom say in the kitchen as she waited for her cereal before school at seven years old. “Cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap! He’s always been so much work to be with, your father. He refuses to get you a Range Rover – did you know that? Your dad wants you driven around in some…in some…I don’t know, some Toyota.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Grace said absent-mindedly, giving her pasta a few more twirls to make it seem like she’d eat it. “Will I still be able to go to dance?”

“Who knows?! Your father may even take that away from you too! It scares me, the things he’s taking away from you.”

“But I love dance.”

“Well then maybe you should stay with me. Daddy will pay me to take you to dance.”

***

“Your mother is a piece of work, let me tell you,” Hamish mumbled as he slapped his cellphone down on the counter. “She was always so much work to be with. Always so much work. Now she wants $60,000 a month in alimony. Alimony!”

“What’s alimony?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Hamish said. “Have your teachers taught you yet what it means to be selfish?” he asked. Grace nodded her head. “Well your mother is selfish. One of the most selfish people in the world.”

“Grace? You coming to bed?” Brock’s voice was groggy as he stood in the doorway of the ensuite, his usually well-kept hair everywhere, his eyes sleepy.

“Yeah…yeah, sorry,” Grace apologized, getting up from her seated position on the toilet lid. “Sorry baby.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah I’m fine,” she said, grabbing Brock’s hand and leading him back to bed.

“You’d tell me if it wasn’t right?” he asked softly as she cuddled up against him in bed.

“Of course,” she said, a nervous lump in her throat. “Of course.”

***

“Gracie…please tell me what’s wrong,” Brock said in a low voice as he tried to wrap his arms around her, only for her to flinch slightly and back away. That hurt him more than anything.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she said unconvincingly.

“Yes it is—”

“Can we just drop it,” she said, taking a sip of her coffee. “We’re supposed to be on a date.”

***

“What’s the matter with you?” Elias asked, sick of seeing Brock so gloomy and moody the past several weeks. He’d noticed a change in him, and though Brock was usually very open about what he was feeling with him, he wasn’t this time, and Elias was…skeptical. Well, not skeptical – worried. This time, Brock had a girlfriend and was moody, and Elias didn’t know what to expect. “What’s going on?”

“Something’s wrong with Grace,” Brock revealed to Elias.

“What’s wrong?”

Brock shook his head. “She won’t tell me. But she…she zones out a lot, like she’s thinking about something…and it’s so intense that she doesn’t even hear me calling her.”

“What’s she thinking about?”

Brock shrugged. “She doesn’t tell me. She’ll never tell me.”

“Well when did it start?”

Brock thought about it. He really thought about it. He liked to think he was in tune with changes in Grace. “The gala.”

“The Parkinson’s Gala?” Elias clarified. Brock nodded his head. “Well, could it be about her dad?”

“It’s something more,” Brock was adamant. He knew she would be sad and would never be the same after her dad died. That was a given. No-one was ever the same after the death of a parent, so he didn’t blame her for that. “It’s…it’s something more.”

***

“Is everything okay with you?” Svea asked delicately as she and Grace were shopping at Holt Renfrew. Well – Grace was shopping at Holt Renfrew. Svea was basically just following her around, because it wasn’t like she could afford anything.

“I’m fine,” Grace said unconvincingly.

“Are you sure? Because you know you can talk to me if things aren’t okay.”

Grace took a deep breath in, trying to compose herself. Knowing what she knew about Svea’s parents and their love story, she doubted that Svea would be able to provide any…critical insight, so to speak. But Grace tried anyway. “How d’you know a guy is your soulmate, Svea?” she asked.

Svea was taken aback. It was quite the loaded question to lead with. “I’d say it’s when you can picture the rest of your life with them. At least that’s one aspect to it.”

“Can you picture the rest of your life with Elias?”

“Yes,” Svea answered automatically, because she could. It was as friends, sure, but she still pictured the rest of her life with him. “Can you picture the rest of your life with Brock?”

Grace paused. Her response wasn’t as quick or forthcoming. “Yes.”

“But?”

“But what?”

“There was a pause there,” Svea said. “But what?”

“But what if, like, things change?” Grace asked. “What if the love doesn’t last? What if it breaks down?”

“You mean like your parents?”

Grace didn’t want to glare at Svea – she really didn’t, because Svea was one of the sweetest people alive – but she did. She glared at her. “No,” she said forcefully, trying to cover.

“Love always lasts. True love always lasts. Look at Elias and I – I mean, we’ve loved each other our whole lives—”

“You and Elias won’t even hold hands or kiss each other,” Grace said angrily, unable to control her emotions at this point. “You won’t even admit you love him romantically. How the hell is that love?”

Svea just stared at Grace, unable to formulate words. Tears welled in her eyes too, and when Grace saw them get red, she hated herself even more. She hated herself already for making Brock worry, for not telling him the truth, for hiding things from him; now, she hated herself even more for making Svea emotional. “I’ve gotta go,” she said, leaving quickly, unable to look back at Svea as she left her in the middle of Holt Renfrew alone.

***

“If you don’t tell me what’s wrong right now or I’m leaving,” Brock said sternly, his voice raised. Both of their voices had been for the last while now, since they were fighting. He looked at Grace as she stared back at him indignantly from across the kitchen. “We can’t have a relationship if we don’t communicate – if you don’t tell me what’s been bothering you.”

“There’s nothing wrong.”

“Is it something I did? Did I say something?”

“It’s not you.”

“Then what is it?”

“There’s nothing wr—”

“Tell me what’s wrong!”

Grace stayed silent. She could feel herself going red. She could feel the emotions in her bubble up. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold it in much longer. “Leave.”

Brock furrowed his brows. “Excuse me?”

“Leave my apartment now.”

Brock stood stoic in spot. “You don’t mean that—”

“LEAVE!” Grace screamed at the top of her lungs, taking every ounce of strength left in her to not cry.

They were in a standoff. Brock stood stoic. Grace stood stoic. Staring at each other, waiting for the other to move. Neither did for a while, waiting it out to see who would crack first. She didn’t mean it, Brock kept thinking. She doesn’t mean it. She doesn’t mean it. But with every second that passed, with every heave of Grace’s chest, with every moment of silence signaling her refusal to budge…

Brock cracked.

He picked up his keys, gave Grace one last look, and walked out the door.

***

It was a few agonizing, excruciating, unbearably lonely few weeks later when Brock received a phone call in the middle of the night. 2:38am. His phone’s ring blaring throughout his empty apartment.

“Hello?” his voice was groggy, tired, exhausted.

Silence.

“Hello?” he asked once more, louder this time. If it was any one of his teammates he’d knock them dead the next time he saw them – Petey especially.

The voice was small and defeated when it finally did speak, asking Brock the question, “What if we end up like my parents?”

Brock was wide awake now. He got up in bed dramatically, holding his phone against his ear so tightly that he could hear the charger fall out of the electrical socket. “Gracie,” the shock was evident in his voice.

“Will you come over?” she asked.

Brock threw the covers off his body dramatically. “I’m on my way right now,” he said. He’d drive his car in his slippers if he needed to.

“Be careful.”

“I’m coming. I’ll be there soon.”

***

“C’mere,” Brock said the millisecond Grace let him in, wrapping his arms around her and engulfing her into a hug as she clung to him like he’d float away and wrapped every limb she had around him. He’d made it to her apartment in record time, speeding through the streets of Vancouver to get to her. It was probably dangerous, but it wasn’t like there were other cars on the road at 2:45 in the morning. “Talk to me Gracie. Talk to me,” he urged as he felt her tears against his skin.

“I’m so sorry,” she mumbled into the crook of his neck. “I’m so—Brock, I was so bad. So bad.”

“Shhhhh shhhh shhhh, don’t,” Brock cooed. “Just tell me what’s wrong. What’s going on in your head, Grace?”

“Brock…” she began, swallowing her tears before continuing. She pulled away slightly so she could look him in the eye, wiping her own red ones with the palms of her hands. She knew she looked awful, but she also knew Brock didn’t give a shit. “I just miss him so much.”

“Your dad.”

Grace nodded quickly. “Every part of me misses him. But then I started to think about how awful he and my mom were during the divorce,” she explained. And to Brock, that said everything. Grace told him about it ever since they met – the general, the specific, the nitty-gritty details – and it was awful. To have that whirling around in her mind would have definitely affected her. It all made sense to him now. It all made sense, knowing she never wanted to go back to that. “And I got scared…I got so scared. I just kept remembering how bad it was. So on the night of the gala when you said—”

“So it was something that I said—”

“Nonononononono,” she vehemently shook her head, bringing her finger up to his lips to silence him. “No no no no no. I—Brock—I love you with every part of me too. But…but what if we end up like my parents? What if we fall out of love? What if it—what if it ends badly? What if we ended up hating each other? They’d always say things like it was so hard to be with one another and—”

“Is it hard to be with me?” Brock asked, not wanting her to go any further and knowing that at this point, he needed to intervene.

“NO! Never!” she exclaimed. She never wanted Brock to think that ever. She cradled his face in her hands. “Being with you feels natural. It feels like it was always supposed to be this way. It’s so easy. It’s so peaceful.”

“Then that’s how it’ll always be, a peaceful easy feeling,” Brock whispered. “What’s there to be scared about, baby?”

Grace shook her head, tearing up again. “Nothing when I’m with you.”

“We won’t end up like your parents because we’re not your parents,” he said. His words were so simple but they hit Grace like a ton of bricks. “We’re different people. I love you more than anything, and the thought of hating you—Grace—I—it’s never, never crossed my mind. I never could. You give me everything. Do I give you everything?”

She nodded. “Everything.”

“Then I’m gonna keep giving you everything. And I’ll do it till the end of time, Gracie. Because I love you. I can’t picture myself with anyone else. I can’t…I can’t picture going through pain with anyone else besides you.”

Brock’s words were loaded – she knew that. “I can’t picture going through pain with anyone else besides you.” Grace nodded. The sentiment was so serious, but so right. When she really thought about it, would she have wanted to experience this pain with anyone else besides Brock? No. He meant the world to her. And that’s how it was always going to be. “I’m so dumb,” she shook her head at herself.

“You’re not dumb. For what you went through, it’s a legitimate worry,” he reassured her. “But I promise you, I promise you, I’ll love you with everything I have and you’ll love me with everything you have, and we won’t end up like your parents.”

Grace was overcome with emotion. “I love you so much, Brock.”

“I love you too,” he leaned in to kiss her, once, twice, then again and again. When they stopped, he wrapped his arms around her body and lay down on her couch, bringing her body down with him. He wiggled out of his hoodie. Then he pushed her body down slightly, and that’s when Grace knew exactly what he was doing. She lay her head on his bare chest, listening to his heartbeat.

“Can you feel it?” he asked softly.

Grace nodded.

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extremelyblackandwhite · 4 years ago

Text

innocence - 21

PAIRING: bodyguard!bucky barnes x innocent actress!reader

WARNINGS: age gap, abuse, PTSD

A/N: enjoy xxx

NEXT CHAPTER

Bucky was an observer. It was something that was written in his bones, something he used to think was good when he functioned as a sniper in the 107th, something HYDRA loved in the assassin they had forced him to be, something he had grown to hate after he had gained some sort of control over his life. But now? Now, Bucky was observing something he could look at for the rest of his life, Y/N.

She had changed into a black cherry patterned dress covered by an oversized white cardigan which every once in a while would slip, exposing her shoulder. He was standing next to her, listen to her echoing voice as she pointed out several little things for his flat yet not listening at all. He was just so enamoured by her. The way her smile pulled at her cheek, how her nose would scrunch up as she picked vases and frames, showing it to him.

He could almost see gravity acting upon her, the way her hair bounced up and down. Her teeth bitting onto her lip as she studied the details of the bedding fabric. God, Bucky could just look at her and remain like that for ages. He could just follow her into the unknown as long as she held his hand, the touch of her thumb against his flesh hand, the softness her touch held. There was nothing sweeter, purer than her. He kissed her shoulder, nuzzling against the wool fabric of her cardigan.

Y/N smiling, moving her head slightly to kiss his forehead before returning to look at the choice of plates and other cutlery for his kitchen since it turned out he had none and had been living out of paper plates and plastic cutlery.

- Do you like the white ones or the blue ones? - she asked, pointing at the two plates on the shelf.

- Which ones do you like?

- C’mon Bucky, I picked the frames so you have to pick the plates. It’s your house. - she crossed her arms playfully. - Pick one.

- Listen, back in my day, we handed our plates from generation to generation. In my defense, I was not expecting to ever have to pick out a plate.

- You cannot use the “I’m old” excuse for everything. Come on, blue or white?

- Fine. Blue. - he grabbed the cardboard plate holder, putting a dozen plates in before adding the holder to the rest of the stuff on their trolley. - What’s next, princess?

- Couch, bed, bedding, dresser and you’re lucky you have a built in wardrobe because I love the wardrobe portion of IKEA.

- Don’t tell me I’m stealing one of the greatest pleasures of your life, my sweet princess. - he placed his hands on her waist pulling her in towards him, placing a small kiss to her nose. - Have I told you how lovely you look today?

- At least five times. - she giggled like a little girl, leaning onto his shoulder for a little while before driving him towards the section were most beds were displayed. Bucky watched with a bit of bored wonder, yet he couldn’t help but not to want to be somewhere else, not when she was around looking excited about picking out something as mundane as a bed. He wondered, he wondered how she would look picking out furniture for her actually home, a home ... a home where she would live with him. Their own home, surrounded by a picket white fence with pink rose bushes and as much IKEA furniture as she could possibly want.

Their own home where she would paddle around barefoot in the mornings to meet him as he took his coffee, or maybe the house with the wooden floors she would walk in maybe someday pregnant. The perfect life, or at least that of what he had envisioned. At least the perfect life he had envisioned when he was younger, not tainted by his own actions. He wanted that life but the thing is, he no longer deserved it and as his sight got lost in the several beds on display. His mind couldn’t help but rush through wondering what picking furniture for his own house would look like, maybe she would be wearing the same dress, a bit tighter around her swollen stomach, his mum’s ring on her finger. Yet those were only delirious dreams of a man who hadn’t dreamt in more than half a century.

- Are you alright? - she held his hand in hers, thumb caressing the rough skin it found. - You seem a bit dazed.

- Yeah ... just distracted by the large mount of beds.

- Are you sure you don’t want to sit down? We can stop if you’re not feeling well.

Bucky couldn’t help but smile at her worry, leaning down to softly kiss her again, unwrapping her hands from the trolley to hold his. He smirked through the kiss, leaning her down on the closest display bed to them, kissing down from her lips to her collarbones making her giggle.

- No, I don’t think this is the bed. You should be moaning, not giggling.

- That’s not how you pick a bed. - she tried to give him the best authoritarian look which failed as he hauled her to another bed. - You’re gonna get us kicked out.

- I’m a senior citizen, they can’t kick me out. - he held her by her waist, moving her to another bed before leaning his head in the space between her neck and shoulder, biting her skin softly. - Hm, I think I like this one better. What do you think, princess?

- I think we should try another one.

- If you wanted a kiss, you could’ve said so. - he rolled so she was standing on top of him before moving his head up to kiss her. - I think this is the one.

- Okay, we will grab one from the end.

She moved away from him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, hot cheeks as the people who had stopped their shopping to look at them went back to their business leaving the two of them to their own. Bucky laughed at her embarrassment, getting up from the bed before kissing her forehead. The two of them continued to pick furniture until they reached the end aisle with all the packed and ready to go furniture. Bucky was the one to pick it, tossing it onto the trolley as if it weighed nothing. He felt comfortable living in this mundane system, looking at the people waiting in the queue while Y/N commented on furniture she would maybe want in a future house.

If he were crazy enough he would’ve suggested for her to get that house now, to just drop whatever stopped her from doing what she wanted and go for it yet she was probably still sensitive from this morning’s events. They paid for the furniture and loaded it onto the car driving back to his flat. She was excited, pushing some of his boxes to the middle of the floor to start unpacking them before assembling the bed and the other things they’d bought.

Bucky didn’t have much, it was mostly memorabilia, stuff that his mother had left behind and a hand full of clothing. He was a minimalist yet all his things seemed to hold immense value, specially the stack of photographs that had fallen onto her lap. She looked at him, he was too invested into assembling the couch to notice her, so Y/N started going through his photos.

They were mostly from his youth, a few polaroid shots from the 21st century mixed in but those which she was interested in were the ones where he was in uniform. He was a handsome man and that she already knew but there was this sort of mischievous, joueur de vie spark in his eyes as he posed with several women, Steve always somehow in the back.

- What are you looking at? - Bucky sat down on the ground next to her, pulling her to his side before taking one of the photos from the ground. - I haven’t seen this in years.

- You haven’t seen your own photographs?

- The museum sent some over, I didn’t really felt like looking at them. No use crying over the past.

- What about the new ones? - she held up one of Steve with a beer in hand laughing at whatever Sam was telling him. - Do you fancy yourself a photographer?

- I like taking photos of mundane things. - he shrugged, looking through the polaroids scattered around the floor. - Normality amuses me.

- I think your photographs are beautiful. - she gave him a soft smile, before sliding another photo into one of the frames. The actress grabbed another one from the pile; it was Steve laying in what looked like a hospital bed alongside Sam and Natasha with silly faces. - What happened in this one?

Bucky’s throat dried up as she held up a photo up to him, curiosity sketched in her beautiful features but not even her softness could take away from how sunken his heart was at sight of the insignificant photo. It wasn’t his, probably had gotten mixed up but he knew why it was there. Steve had only been in the hospital after serum once and he had been the cause of it. There were scratches and bruises, a lip cut. This was Capitan America rendered hurt by him, the same invincible Capitan America. If Steve Rogers couldn’t be safe from him ... then why would she?

- Bucky? - her voice was once again echoey as it was whenever he got lost in his mind. She put her hand on the hardwood floor, pushing herself up, letting the photographs on her lap flow to the ground. Her hand cradled his face, thumb caressing his scrub. - Can you breathe in for me? Please?

- I’m not a baby, Y/N.

- I know but you need to breathe in for me, okay? - her eyes were shimmery, thumb lining his limps. He gave in for her, melting under her touch and allowing air to slowly enter and exit his lungs. - You’re okay. You’re gonna be okay. I love you.

Other women had told Bucky they loved him. God, he had heard it perhaps too many times but coming from her, coming from her it seemed like love was her own creation and she had slightly opened her heart just for him. In all honesty, he didn’t care if she would ever say it back but now that she had, he just wanted to hear it again. It was everything and nothing at all at the same time yet the mention of those words only made him more scared. He could only picture her in the same situation and it made him out of breathe again, almost as if someone was pushing him into deep dark waters and all he could do was scream helplessly as the water filled his lungs while no one heard a thing.

She was however very still in her position, caring as she was and those thoughts that she would be eaten alive by her own passions came back to haunt him. Now both her passions seemed to lie in waiting to take a bite of her neck and leave her to bleed. He couldn’t shake that image out of his head no matter how hard he tried.

- Hey, why don’t we go through the rest of the furniture and take care of the photos later. - she difused the subject before it could explode. - C’mon.

The rest of day of uneventful, mostly just the two of them making his flat look like a home and not a safety investment. By the time the clock hit 9PM, they had assembled all the furniture and added all the rest of their shopping to their due places. After eating Chinese take-out on his new rug while The Crown played on her laptop, they eventually went back to bed. The air was different, she could feel it, she could sense something off and for the first time since the two had fallen asleep together in the same bed she was the one awake. The white linen was draped over her shirtless chest as she looked at the old chandelier over her, her reflection light by the moonlight as she found sleep couldn’t spell her no matter how much she tried.

Her eyes were fixed on the cracked glass, watching her reflection shatered in different planes. The sleep didn’t seem to come and she remained wide awake until the sun rays broke through the cloudy morning sky, illuminating both her and him. Her hand hadn’t left him, feeling him toss and turn during the night so once the sun rose, he too awoke.

Almost like a mechanical move, he turned to check on her, finding her eyes looking back at his. Lazily, he kissed her forehead, pulling her to her chest, tucked under his chin before mumbling a good morning to her. Yet, no matter how much warmth he seemed to provide her, she still felt something off. Her suspicions were confirmed once her phone alerted her of a message.

She grabbed it from the bedside table, eyes rushing through the text before groaning, pushing the covers away from her legs.

- Where are you going? - Bucky whined, raising his torso from the comfortable bed. He would never admit it, but it was much nicer to sleep in a framed bed than on the ground.

- It’s my boss, he’s asking for me.

- What does he want?

- I would say probably something related to my flat’s incidence. - she bit onto her lip, grabbing her clothing from the door hook. - I’ll take a taxi, you can stay here.

- I’m not gonna let you out my sight when someone broke into your flat, Y/N.

- Yes but you need to finish unboxing your clothing and it’ll be really boring to wait in the car.

- Y/N.

- I’ll be fine. - she grabbed her shoes before going up to kiss him goodbye. Bucky didn’t even have the time to argue with her before she was out the door.

Truth was Y/N did not want him going. She knew whatever she was walking into would not sit well with Bucky and she didn’t want him triggered or disrespected by Mr. Hawthrone. She didn’t want him in his winter soldier thinking space and as such she walked straight into the crossfire the moment she entered the taxi.

She pulled at the skin of her nails as she sat on the office of her agency, watching as new talent came in and out. She bite her own lip at the same time, trying to appear tougher than she was when in reality she felt like shattering into a million pieces and as her name was called by his assistance, things seemed to beat faster.

Following the woman inside his office she found him sitting down in his chair, always the calm, stern man. It was almost as if nothing bothered him, he always had such a poker face no one could tell what he was thinking and Y/N in this moment wanted nothing but to be inside his head. He motioned towards the chair before opening his mouth to start speaking.

- I’m glad to see you’re okay. - he started. - Although I must say I’m quite disappointed you didn’t call our team when it happened.

- I thought notifying my bodyguard was the most appropriate thing at the moment, sir. - she replied, eyes downcast to her lap.

- I was horrified to know what was written in your mirror. - he opened his draw to pull a white envelope, sliding it up to her. - Yet, I do believe there is some blame on you for this. It seems like the public, not to my shock, isn’t very happy with your current relationship.

- I don’t think the public has anything to do with my relationship. - she opened the envelope to find paparazzi pictures of her and Bucky in less than professional settings. - Have you been following me?

- I just bought them from the Sun. Clearly, we need to clean up your image to ensure you’re safe. Luckily for us, it’s mostly rumours, no photographs to confirm your affiliations with Mr. Barnes.

- I don’t think my image is the problem, sir.

- I think we need to clear up this whole Barnes mess. I have spoken with several of my male clients and they are thrilled about the prospect of maybe a PR relationship.

- But I don’t need a PR relationship, I have a relationship.

- You have a relationship with a man who half the world deems an assassin and traitor to his own country. That is not the image that we want for you and it’s clearly backfiring.

- I made it clear when I signed this contract that I wasn’t gonna have a PR relationship. It’s just not who I am and ... and Bucky can defend me from whoever comes my way.

- It is not up to you who decides what PR stuff is done or not. You are an investment, sweetheart and I will not lose money on you just because you refuse to act like a professional actress. I will have Ms. Olson send you a list of potential candidates and you will have your pick on my desk by tomorrow and that is an order.

- I don’t ...

- I think our meeting is done. - he twirled his chair, turning his back to her. She wanted to scream at him, shout that he didn’t own her and that he didn’t get to tell her what she should do in her bed or life. Yet, before she could even fight for an option she was escorted out the office by the same assistant before having a door shut on her face.

She remained in the middle of the waiting room, fists clenching onto the white envelope as she wondered what to do. What could she do? With that thought on her mind, she grabbed her phone from her purse.

- Chuck? I need a favour.

taglist: @disasterbii @lookiamtrying @buckysteveloki-me @americasass81 @jamesbarnesappreciationclub @lostinthebeans @mariahthelioness29 @buckyandsebastian @peaches-roses-sins @theadorasabditory @sipsteacasually @saiyanprincessswanie @booktease21 @noiralei @learisa @everythingisoverratedbutgreat @uglipotata72829 @naturalthrone22 @husherstan @mandiiblanche @vicmc624 @newyorkgoddess @itsallyscorner @chipilerendi @emzd34 @writerwrites @bluevxnus @that-girl-named-alex @captnrogers @nsfwsebbie @sarge-barnes-sir

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perpetuelledaydreaming · 4 years ago

Text

Illicit affairs- Chapter 8

summary: imagine the met gala but ten times better and in stark tower, that’s it. felicia doesn’t have very good manners and sneaks away with y/n but peter and his friends are on the lookout.

Listen to: Do I wanna know -Arctic Monkeys & bad idea- girl in red

word count: 12k

(author’s notes at the end now)

warnings: s m u t.

series masterlist

(today we change and use a photo of Felicia, although it’s not too accurate in my head)

If there was someone who had an incredible hidden talent, it was MJ. You knew she liked to draw since you first met her, but as time passed you realized that a side effect of her hobby, even if she didn’t like it as much, was that she could do a mind-blowing make-up look without even trying. You had realized this one Halloween that you had spent with Peter and his friends, you had asked her where she had gone to do that makeup-look with glitter tears streaming down her cheeks but she simply shrugged, saying that she had used some of her art supplies and done it herself. After that it was more common than not that MJ would come to do your make-up to every important event that you had to attend, she had even done Pepper’s makeup and soon it became like a side job for her too.

She had such ability with the brushes, knew exactly which colors could match your skin and outfit that you almost became dependent on her, feeling a bit more insecure when you had to do your make-up or even hire someone different than MJ but tonight she was there.

“Do you want me to do the wing?” you asked MJ, glancing at her and searching what was wrong but she simply huffed.

“Shut up, I’m an artist” she grumbled under her breath as she shook her hand a bit and dived right into your eye.

“You are so giddy today” you muttered, which earned you a glare from MJ.

“Well, I’ve never been to a Gala myself or done the make-up for the hostess of the Gala,” she said as she finished one eye and then adjusted her dress.

As always, you were in awe of how MJ looked. Her flawless black skin matched perfectly with the custom silk lame gown that she had decided to wear for the night, it was a halter top but with a nice cut on her middle part that showed a little bit of skin and a long skirt that almost touched the floor. With her tall slender body and perfect tone muscles, she looked like a supermodel.

“No, my dad and pepper are the hosts. I’m just here for the small talk with people they don’t want to talk to and to drink champagne” you answer back as she finished the wing on the other one and you finally managed to open your eyes and see yourself in the mirror.

She had done an exceptional job as always, only mascara missing to finish the look but she had done a great job with the nude eyeshadow with a dramatic wing, she had even added a bit of gold glitter surrounding your eyes so it could match the gold earrings that you decided to wear for the night. You walked towards the mirror and fixed the dress that you had decided to wear. It was a cream Jacquemus backless dress with a slit on the side of your leg, while this time you had decided to wear the charm that held your suit in a classic bracelet usually, you wouldn’t bother that much on dresses on how you looked for these types of events given that you disliked them but tonight was different.

“That makes you the hostess, small talk with people that you don’t like” MJ answer back as she put a bit of blush on her skin and then walked over to you, leaning against your mirror.

“I’ll try to avoid it, especially when Felicia arrives” you answered with a shrug and started to apply your mascara, but not before you notice how MJ began to play with her hands uncomfortably.

You knew it was because you brought up Felicia but, in all honesty, you were more than elated that she had agreed to come.

The last weeks or so had been a rollercoaster. Although you somehow had assured your feelings for the other, you weren’t spending that much time together. Part of it was that you were ordered to stay in bed for a few days, knowing that your injuries were bad and needed time to recover, it wasn’t like Felicia wanted to simply burst on Stark Tower or ask you to move; she would sneak some nights sneak in to see how you were doing before you were officially discharged by Bruce. But then, when you were able to go to her apartment, she would cancel a bit too often for you, arguing that a girl needs to pay the bills (which you assumed was a way to say that she was going to do some work that you didn’t like).

So, you let her be.

Though, the days you did spend together, she was as loving as she had ever been with you. She would cook for you all the healthy foods that she hated but she would eat them with you, even your annoying quinoa salad and green smoothies, which you appreciated. You would spend time watching movies and listening to music together, curating playlists depending on a situation, and talk until early morning hours. She would kiss you too, sweetly and carefully, Felicia even freaked out when you complain after a kiss got a little bit too heated a few days after you had been ‘discharged’; after that she had tried, really hard, to keep the kisses to a PG-rating (much to her dismay).

But then this week had come and she had become a kind of a nervous wreck thinking about the Gala, which for you seemed so out of character for her. She would ask for the program of the night again, and again and who would be there, trying to know how to dress and where everything was. You attributed her behavior to the fact that she was -probably- going to meet Tony and Pepper, and you were coming out to the circle of people you would be surrounded by. Part of her was relieved when she heard that the other Avengers weren’t going to make it to the Gala and you thought it was sweet, she was nervous about how serious you had become.

To ease her nerves, you had insisted to her to go shopping together for a dress or told her to go earlier that day so she could know where everything was, if she was too worried about it, even gave suggested if she would like to come to dinner first with Tony and Pepper so she wouldn’t be too freaked out the day of the Gala. But she had refused, especially regarding the dress; saying that since she was older than you (only two years), therefore the sugar mommy feeling was a little bit off.

You had blushed at her statement but decided to let her be, knowing it was the best thing you could do for Felicia.

“y/n?”

Peter’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts and you turned around to watch him, and it felt like you had almost stopped breathing for a second.

You had seen Peter in a suit a couple of times before but never like this. He seemed taller and also leaner, the sharp suit he was wearing fitted him perfectly, his messy curls were settled down with a little bit of hair gel that pulled them back and to the side but you could tell that the curls would be let loose sooner rather than later. He had a small watch on his wrist, a gift from you and Tony, it had an engraved message “with great power, comes great responsibility” which honored his Uncle Ben. Peter didn’t use it often but when he did, it caused your heart to squeeze on your chest.

And Peter was mesmerized too. Your hair had been pulled down behind your ears, it was sleek and it looked perfectly styled. He could see the blush on your cheeks, the reflection of the glitter on your eyes, and he was, as always, so captivated by how your eyes seemed like constellations accompanied with your long lashes that he felt like he had zoned out. Plus, the dress fitted your body perfectly. It was showing more skin than you usually showed with a small side-boob showing thanks to the asymmetric form of it along with your exposed back. He felt his mouth drying as you turned around shyly towards him, but for him, you looked breathtaking.

“Are you ready?” Peter asked, stammering a bit as he looked away from you towards MJ who was giving him a look. “Tony and Pepper are waiting downstairs for you,” he said silently before looking at you for a second and then at the floor.

MJ snickered a bit before she took her purse and made her way to the door. “Don’t you look dapping” MJ said as she patted Peter on his shoulder and walked out of your room, you guessed she was already looking for Harley.

You both stayed silent for a moment, as you gazed at the other, you blinking owlishly while Peter drilled you with his eyes. Although you weren’t saying anything, you knew what he was thinking about: last time you were dressed this nicely, it had been the last night before you had run away. You would’ve like to avoid the memories, but it seemed inevitable to connect this moment to your last; even more knowing that although it seemed like everything had changed, your heart was still beating for Peter and his was beating for you.

“You look beautiful,” Peter whispered as you walked towards him, he couldn’t even stop himself, and the two of you flushed at his comment.

“Tha-thanks, MJ did the makeup because I have no idea,” you spoke coyly as you ordered HAPPY to turn off the lights and you and Peter walked outside the room, the door closing behind you.

You tried to shake it off, the obvious nervousness that you felt around Peter but it didn’t seem to work as he offered you his arm, so you could hold onto it as you always did.

“Well, she did a great job, you look amazing” Peter said honestly as he glanced at you while you walked towards the elevator. “She’s a lucky girl.”

It had taken all his willpower to actually say those words but he was being truthful, no matter how much it could pain him because, as he had realized the last few days, it only mattered to him that you were safe and happy. The bad thing was, that he didn’t believe you would be safe with Felicia.

For you, the comment hit a nerve. Not only because you knew how Peter felt about Felicia, and you dislike that it might have hurt him to see you with her but also because Felicia had been MIA since early in the morning. You had texted her a good morning text, asking her if she needed anything but she had declined the offer and simply stating that she would see you tonight.

Hours had passed and there was no sign that Felicia was actually coming but you deeply hope she would.

“Yeah…” you muttered with a long sigh, but you quickly changed the topic as the elevator’s doors opened. “I’m surprised you decided to bring Flash as your date.”

“What!?”

“See, MJ is with Harley and Betty with Ned,” you explained to him while you fixed your hair and watch Peter’s bug-eyed expression at your comment “Which leaves you with Flash.”

“That’s not funny.” Peter quickly answered with a glare.

“Oh, because he’s a guy?” you chuckled and placed your hands over your chest, raising an eyebrow and waiting for his answer.

“No!” Peter protested, a little bit offended at your question and then the doors to the elevator opened. “It’s because he’s Flash!”

You both laughed as you exited the elevator and walked towards where the Gala was through a small hallway that Pepper had arranged for only you two enter the building.

The Gala had become an emblematic even for the city, Pepper had come up with it after you had moved from LA and Tony had made the respective and adequate changes to Stark Industries. It was an annual fundraising gala for the benefit of technological advances and charities and it always happened at Stark Tower.

The whole first and second floor of the building were remodeled to fit the event. On the first floor, you would find the red carpet and exhibitions of the work done by the different companies, known scientists, and young people who had the opportunity to present their ambitious ideas and work. It was also a social event, celebrities, journalists, CEO’s and more people would be invited as well. Then, the second floor was where the dinner and the after-party would usually take place.

It wasn’t a wild evening, I mean although Tony would make it as wild as he wanted, it always went nicely and calmed. Even some Avengers would make surprise appearances once in a while, mostly Nat, Steve, Bucky, Sam, and Bruce; Thor had been technically banned after he had too much to drink once. This drew huge media attention for the projects which were extremely important for the fundraiser that took place at the event and so, it had become also somehow the Met Gala of the science community.

It was also the only time that paparazzi would take your photos willingly, although you hated it.

Today was no different, you had to pose with Tony and Pepper on the red carpet that was prepared at the main entrance to the event. The commotion of flashing lights and excited reporters was almost something that you couldn’t get used to after so many years, and although you would normally be complaining to Pepper as Tony did sometimes when he would get bored; Peter would usually woosh in and take photos with you, so paparazzi wouldn’t use the photos with him because magazines didn’t think much of Peter back then, so it was a nice way to ruin some shots. But today was different, Peter was now known to be one of the Star Interns of Tony and he was called on by a reporter, and you were ushered off to take more photos and then by Tony who was excited to see Pepper’s speech.

And as a sea of people separated you and Peter, you decided to focus on Pepper’s speech and Felicia’s whereabouts.

But she was nowhere to be found, disappointed you quickly blended into the crowd and began to do your work. You started saying ‘hi’ and ‘welcoming’ the various people that were invited from celebrities to renowned scientists, you talk to a journalist giving them small interviews and also watch almost every one of the projects from the young students who were allowing presenting that year.

You even talked to people you didn’t like.

You were already saying goodbye to an important human rights lawyer, that was a role model to you since you had started to think about studying law and had been asking her some questions when you heard his taut voice.

“Lovely to see you again Miss Stark, heard you got shot?”

You turned to see Norman Osborn, giving you a tight smile while Harry was behind him winking his eyes and quickly nudging to his dad and rolling his eyes. You knew you weren’t dear on Norman Osborn’s heart, especially when it came to your dad, and you ever wondered why Pepper insisted on inviting him and why he even insisted on coming to the event of someone he hated that much.

But you knew it all came back to business.

Although now, that you knew for a fact -thanks to Felicia and the events lately- that Norman had willingly given Kingpin the formula to his poisonous serum and that Harry had no idea about it; you were even more snarky and irritated to see his face than before.

“Yes, I’m fine now.” You stated curtly as you glanced at Harry for one second, you quickly took a swig of your drink. Mentally begging for this interaction to be over.

“Of course, you are dear,” He snapped with a glare. “With your father’s technology, you wouldn’t respect the hand of destiny. Such a waste of time and resources to play hero” he said as he rolled his eyes.

You gripped your drink a bit tighter and you felt like a vein on your neck had just popped off your neck. It was predictable from your past encounters with Norman Osborn that he would say something like that but as he had so seriously stated that he thought saving your life or being an Avenger was a waste? Was he being fucking serious?

Jerk.

“Careful Norman, your jealousy is showing,” you smirked as you glanced at him uninterested. “Now kindly fuck off”

Norman gapped at your answer, completely blown away that you had actually said that since you usually had been quiet about his usual remarks. His face was red with bulging eyes as the cords of his neck became rigid, completely astound and angry at your comment. You were thankful that you weren’t staying silent anymore as, in a blink of an eye, Norman spun on his heels and walked away from you, leaving you with Harry.

“Always a pleasure!” you yelled at him as he walked away, you couldn’t help the tugging on the sides of your lips and then your attention turned to Harry, who was chuckling. “Your father’s lovely”

Harry looked as good as always and sometimes you wondered how on earth someone could look like that. His sharp jaw and sleek black hair with his almond eyes made him look like a model, a smirk worth a thousand dollars and his chiseled cheekbones made girl’s and boy’s knees weak. Even when he looked as put together as he was at the moment, you could still see a mischievous gleam in his eyes, you guessed the bad boy look couldn’t fade away easily and you couldn’t help to think about the possible rumors on the tabloid if they saw you dancing with him at the party.

“Don’t tell me about it,” Harry stated as he leaned over and pressed a kiss to your cheek, slowly and seductively. “It’s nice to see you again, y/n”

He was always extremely smooth and charming, and always managed to get your heart beating someway although you knew that you weren’t really interested, it was just this aura about him.

“It’s good to see you too, H.” you answered back as you took another sip of your drink while he offered to cheer, you did the same.

As he finished taking a sip of his drink, he walked closer to you. “I’ve missed you in these events, it’s …”

“Draining?”

Harry chuckled, mostly for himself as he often did. “I was going to say annoying as fuck but yeah, that works too.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at his comment because it was true if you would like to summarize the feelings for these kinds of events -especially for your role on them and how the media would portray it-, they were annoying as fuck. But honestly, the science part and the charity part were your favorite thing in the world.

You knew that Harry felt the same way as you, the pressure to be the golden child and do everything right, but there was where Harry’s charm laid. Although he could be all of those things because he had everything in his favor, he disliked his father and the pressure so much that he rebelled against it.

And now, it had become part of him to be the bad boy.

So, it didn’t surprise you what he said next.

He leaned over to you, whispering directly on your ear and you couldn’t avoid but to feel a shiver running on your back as he whispered on your ear. “You know, you in that dress is making me think of champagne, strawberries, a bed, and us playing strip poker”

You gave a step back at him, a bit surprised by how confident his statement was, your eyes widened slightly and your cheeks flushed before you shook your head, ready to play it off casually.

But then, you heard Felicia’s characteristic silvery voice behind you.

“Get in line pretty boy,” Felicia stated, her fingernails trailing your back as she defensively wrapped her arm around your waist, glaring a bit at Harry, who rapidly blinked as if he was trying to understand the nature of your relationship with Felicia but it didn’t take him long. “Stark,” Felicia said with a smoky voice.

If you were being truthful, you were always a bit nervous around Felicia, a bit too in awe with her beauty and essence. Sometimes you were worried about how she could suck you in so easily with just a pout but then moments like this reminded you why.

Felicia’s outfit left you breathless, although you recognized it was from Versace and wondered where she had gotten it, you couldn’t avoid feeling tingles through your body. Felicia stunned with the silky lace-trimmed camisole-like minidress she was wearing, she had a dramatic smokey eye with a mate-nude lipstick that suited her perfectly, and to your surprise, she had decided to let her silver hair down and she fixed it in an almost Barbarella-like style but less dramatic that made her look like she belonged to a runway.

You could feel the burning heat on your body.

“Thought you would never come”, you whispered with a smile and before she could even respond, you pressed your lips against hers.

It was a firm but soft kiss, as if you were showing her off finally and claiming Felicia yours, as she had done with you so many times before. But now, you both were as purposeful as you could’ve been, the kiss was so sweet and it seemed like just kissing her that way, you would get a toothache. When you finally pulled apart with a shy smile while Felicia simply smirked, your foreheads pressed together, you felt like you were the only people in the world.

And then Harry spoke.

“That’s so hot” he whispered, you figured it was mostly to himself as he looked at you two wide-eyed and surprised about it.

You could see Felicia rolling her eyes in irritation as you laced your hands together but as soon as she turned around to Harry, she was displaying the cat-like grin that characterized her.

“Would you like to join us?” Felicia purred as she got a little closer to Harry, who seemed like he was about to pass out with Felicia’s words.

“Felicia!”

Peter shook his head and walked away, not wanting to listen to the end of that conversation, knowing that it would just make him break the cup of champagne that he had been holding tightly as he listened to Harry and you even before Felicia arrived. His jaw was still twitching when he walked up to Ned and Betty, whose main spot was the exhibitions that were presented, while Flash would guard the entrance and MJ with Harley would be staying on the drinking station (per Harley’s request) and Peter would be on the dance floor where most of the action would be happening.

But even with a whole plan laid out, Felicia had still managed to fool them.

“Guys she’s here” he whispered through the com as he saw all of his friends snap their gazes as they tried to look for Felicia and you, in the middle of the main floor, talking with Harry.

“How!?” Flash cried through the com. “I’ve been patrolling this entrance all night, what the hell?”

“She’s sneaky, I already told you!” Peter grumbled under his breath, loud enough for a couple of rich old people to stare at him bug-eyed, which he simply answered with an awkward smile and made his way towards where Ned and Betty were.

“What are we going to do now?” Harley asked, Peter could already tell that Harley was tensing up.

For a genius, he wasn’t good at handling his emotions under pressure.

“Just keep an eye on her.” Peter glowered as he finally arrived at where Ned was, trying to find some consolation or ideas that came from Ned who always had some positive thing to say or a good idea to add.

But Ned’s eyes were focused on something behind Peter and the wince he did, as well as Betty, tipped Peter that he should turn around.

“That’s not hard, I think that she just stepped on Harry’s Osborn foot and made him cry” Ned mused as he took a sip from his drink.

Peter watched as you dragged Felicia away from Harry, giving him an apologetic look before you were walking towards the drinking area, where Harley and MJ were.

“Harley, MJ she’s coming your way” Peter whispered, hoping that they wouldn’t be too awkward that you would realize the plan.

Not that there was any serious plan, Peter still wasn’t sure what he was looking for. He wasn’t sure what Felicia would do or if she would even do something, but he knew that she wasn’t good news, he just could feel it in his bones and hoped that at the end of the day, you wouldn’t need to find out if something happened.

He just wanted to keep you safe.

Harley turned around with MJ just in time and he gave a small smile to Felicia and you, who were walking hand-in-hand together. You were bickering a bit because of her reaction to Harry’s comment and how she had stomped on his foot with her sharp heel and she hadn’t even said ‘sorry’ arguing why she would say that to someone that sexualized you. So, you were thankful when your eyes caught MJ and Harley on the drinking station, hoping it could distract Felicia from going back and scratching Harry’s eyes.

“I know you’ve met before but this is Felicia,” you said as Felicia put on a new smile and offered her hand to Harley and MJ. “I wanted you to meet her, officially”

Harley and MJ shook Felicia’s hand cheerily, but you could feel how Harley and MJ tensed up. You could feel their anxiousness dripping from Harley’s eyes and you knew that it wasn’t normal. Harley, for a scrawny boy like him, was a bit too smug, too smooth, too relaxed for him to be acting this way.

“It’s so nice to meet y/n friends,” Felicia said playfully as she wrapped an arm around your waist and smirked up to Harley and MJ, who barely gave her a genuine smile.

“Yeah, sa-same” Harley let out, words stumbling against one another as they left their mouths.

MJ simply nodded and added a small ‘for sure’ with a honeyed voice that you knew didn’t quite fit MJ and something felt off. You frowned at their interaction, surprised mostly by how stiff they were. Did they have a problem with Felicia? You knew that Harley was certain about Felicia’s identity, not that you had discussed it but he wasn’t dumb and it made you wonder if he was feeling the same thing that Peter had told you about.

But you brushed it off, knowing that it wouldn’t be a good thing to keep Felicia there.

“I’m going to take you dancing” you offered to Felicia who gave you a gleaming smile, her cheeks tainted by a cloud of small pink dust, and you quickly dragged her off from your friends.

Your mind started whirling, wondering what was wrong with Harley and MJ? Harley had always been nothing but supportive regarding your relationship with Felicia, hell he was supportive of everything you did. MJ too, she never judged but you’d seen her acting strange since the start of the day.

“What’s wrong?” Felicia said a little bit unsettled as you turn to look at her.

But you simply shook your head, muttering a small ‘nothing’ but you couldn’t help yourself and you looked back at your friends, noticing them whispering something to themselves and you wished that you could put your suit right there and then to listen to their thoughts but knowing it was unreasonable, you decided to turn around, just in time to bump into Tony and Pepper.

You stopped dead in your tracks, your heels barely squeaking in the hallway as the two heads snapped in your directions. The first being Tony’s and the second being Peppers, who seemed to be discussing something together but the conversation immediately ended when they saw you.

“Oh,” you muttered as Tony and Pepper’s gaze down to see you, hand in hand with Felicia.

“Oh?” Tony answered back as he curved his eyebrows while he watched Felicia for a second and then his gaze went to you.

It wasn’t like you brought Felicia by surprise, you had been told weeks ago that she could come. Either way, this was a newfound territory, Peter seemed to be the only possible person you would introduce to your parents in that manner and it didn’t even count because they had known him before. Charlie was a no-go from the start, knowing deep down that you wanted to keep that friendship or relationship for yourself since you both knew it wouldn’t go pass that. But then Felicia seemed to be someone where you could, maybe, go to the next step.

“Well, y/n aren’t you going to introduce us?” Pepper said, her startled look brushing off and giving entrance to the characteristic warm smile she always wore.

Before you could even answer, Felicia’s charm was on.

“It’s so lovely to meet you Mrs. And Mr. Stark”, she smiled brightly at Pepper as she shook her hand and give her two kisses on her cheek, slightly making her voice higher than what it usually was.

“Lovely to meet you too, it’s so nice to finally meet you.” Pepper said, completely charmed by Felicia’s attitude and she quickly nudged Tony with her elbow on his ribs so he could say ‘hi’ as well, for some reason he had to stare at Felicia as if he was trying to figure out something.

You hoped it was just a parental instinct.

“We are so glad you are here; we’ve been trying to meet you but missy here was keeping you under wraps.” Tony offered Felicia his hand and she shook it firmly, with a bright smile but with the same intense gaze that Tony had in his eyes.

You chuckled at Tony’s comment, hoping it would dissipate any kind of suspicion, not that it seemed to be very successful. Pepper followed your lead and so did Tony and Felicia.

“Can’t imagine why” Felicia muttered between laughs and you feel your cheeks flushing at her comment, giving her a warning look, which she just shrugged off by kissing you on the cheek.

It made you smile.

“Okay, we are going to dance so, I’ll let you be” you announced as you realized that Tony and Pepper were still staring, quickly dragging her to the dance floor.

It wasn’t a huge dance floor, tables were surrounding the small space that was farther from the reception where everyone was and there was a small stage set up in front of you, at the moment there was just a talented pianist taking the lead. A few people were dancing, much of them were way older than you and the ones that were old enough to care about what you were doing (especially journalist) as they saw you entering the dance floor, widened their eyes.

You quickly offered Felicia your hand and she reached out, accepting your hand before you were pulling her out onto the dance floor. You caught a few people watching you but you didn’t care, you quickly placed your hands-on Felicia’s shoulder and she placed her cold hands against the skin that showed from your torso and hips. You began to sway together to the soft music playing from the piano.

“You think they notice?” Felicia asked you softly, pulling you a bit closer.

“Not at all” you lied, knowing that there might’ve been something that Tony was suspicious of, but you didn’t want to scare Felicia.

“Your dad seemed a little bit weird out,” she continued. “But I couldn’t tell if it’s because I’m a girl or because he recognized me”

“He didn’t” you assured her looking at her firmly, but you melted as she smirked at you, her eyes gleaming as you played with a strand of her hair. “Okay, but the silver hair doesn’t help”

Felicia gasped jokingly, causing you to chuckle a bit.

“Hey” Felicia complained, as she pulled you a bit closer while biting her lip. “You love the silver hair and more when it’s down”

Which was true.

“My bad” you answered with a fond smile, pressing your forehead against hers.

You kept swaying to the music, bodies pressed together as Felicia held you and guided you to the music. It felt like you were the only two people in the room, you mostly tried to keep your eyes closed, not wanting to disturb your daydream, although it was hard with the whispers of some surprised observers as they arrived on the dance floor and saw you dancing with a girl. Nonetheless, you stayed focused on Felicia’s touch on your skin, on the music that was overflowing your senses, and to the smell of cotton candy.

The only thing that woke you up from the trance you were in was Felicia’s fidgeting, you finally opened her eyes on the third time she had removed her hands from your body for about ten seconds.

“What’s wrong?” you asked her with a frown, to see Felicia’s lips pinched into a fine line.

“Everyone’s watching”

You turned around and it was true, it seemed like the majority of the party were whispering from the tables and looking into the dance floor, even Tony and Pepper seemed a bit stunned by how close you were with Felicia. You could feel Felicia’s shoulders tensing up as she watched everyone, you knew this wasn’t part of the deal when Felicia had agreed to come with you.

“Hey, it’s okay. Let’s go and eat something” you muttered as you carefully place your hand on her jaw and pulled her gaze back to yours.

Felicia shook her head and gave a step back, as she swallowed hard and then look down. It seemed as if the hairs on the nape of her neck had standup and although you could seem a gleam of regret, she was visibly done.

“Do you mind if I go to the bathroom really quick?” she asked, with a small voice and not looking at you.

You couldn’t hide your disappointment but you couldn’t blame Felicia and her discomfort. You sighed, mentally cursing everyone in the room who was making Felicia feel uncomfortable, and you felt your stomach twisting with guilt for putting her in the spotlight, something that she had never asked.

“Sure, I’ll wait for you” you answered with a slight smile, but looking at her with worried.

Felicia didn’t stutter or doubted, she quickly let go of you and walked off, some people were still looking at her as she exited the dance floor and then the room, but the gazes were still on you who remained on the dance floor. It felt a bit awkward as you stood there, all alone, and you felt kind of ridiculous.

You looked down for a second and decided that getting a drink was your best bet for not feeling dumb or guilty but before you could give another step, you bumped into Peter.

“Want to dance?” Peter offered, looking at you expectantly and you faltered.

Your eyes linked with Peter’s, who had his eyes twinkling as he looked at you with a warm smile and you felt like melting right then and thereby all means. You didn’t even felt the need to say anything to Peter, you simply took his hand and he stepped towards you, reaching to the small of your back and you held your breath as his fingertips touched your exposed skin. Then, he firmly took one of your hands in his, which he placed on his chest while you started to sway to the music. You wrapped one of your arms around his neck and felt the heat coming from Peter’s body.

As always, you felt at home in his arms with the smell of honey and cinnamon wrapping you in.

“You look really good today” you finally said to Peter, as you looked up to him.

Peter had been looking behind you and your voice snapped you out of it, he was trying to figure out where Felicia was or if she was coming back, but there were no signs of her. So, he decided to simply enjoy having you in his arms and smiled.

“Just today?”

You smiled. “You know what I mean,” you muttered as you laid your head on his chest, so he couldn’t see the small sprinkling of red to dust across your cheeks.

“Well, you look especially beautiful today,” Peter added before he stepped away and let go of your back, spinning you around under his arm before he pulled you in.

You laughed as you looked at Peter dreamily, as you remember that a part of you had wanted this to happen for a long time when you were younger. It would be almost two years since you had skipped town but there you were, harboring feelings for Peter Parker and his caramel curls with chocolate eyes, trying to push them down but now it was because you had a relationship.

“Are you having a good time?” you asked him, trying to keep your thoughts in line.

Peter nodded as he looked around. “Yeah, food is nice and some people wanted to talk to me when they realized I’m Tony’s intern”

“Well, you are the best intern,” you answered honestly with a shrug, causing Peter to give you a smug smile to which you replied almost immediately with a roll of eyes. “Don’t tell Harley I said that”

“I won’t,” Peter promised as he pulled you closer to him, he could feel he was getting overwhelmed by the characteristic vanilla smell that always surrounded you, he had you in his arms and he couldn’t help himself to ask. “Do you really think that?”

You looked at him while tilting your head as if he had asked something so obvious to you that you were surprised that Peter didn’t already know.

“You know how I feel about you,” you found yourself saying before you could stop yourself.

Peter stared at you for a minute as if you’d lost your mind by saying what you had said. He seemed so confused by the sudden second of honesty, that it made you wondered if you had screwed up again and you felt panic washing your body. But as Peter saw how alarm you’d gotten, he decided to change the topic.

“And you?” he asked before spinning you around again.

You thanked him mentally for that and give him a small smile, which he nodded to it.

“What about me?”

Peter sighed, not wanting to bring Felicia up to this moment after you had said that but he felt like he had no other choice. He groaned and then dipped his head down to your shoulder. You chuckled and placed your hand in the back of his neck, playing with his baby curls before he stood back up straight.

“Are you having a good time, with…” Peter said but his words tapered off, not wanting to say her name.

You could see how his jaw clenched but you simply rolled your eyes, thinking that Peter was somehow just being dramatic.

“You can say her name, you know?” you joked but as you look at Peter and how to set his jaw was, you felt like he was being serious.

And he was.

“I know, I just don’t want to,” Peter said bluntly and you frowned at him. “My Spidey sense just goes off.” He said with a shrug.

“Well, that’s uncalled for,” you shot at him with a haughty expression.

Peter cocked his head as he looked at you, and you felt the anger bubbling up on your chest. He seemed condescending and you hated it, you hated that he was watching you from this pretend high road.

“It’s not,” Peter grumbled.

You didn’t say anything right away as you glared at Peter, you knew Felicia was a sensitive topic but you hadn’t witness Peter this pressed or being so blunt about your relationship with Felicia. You wondered if it was because he had seen you dancing with her or just because he still didn’t like her but you didn’t need this at the moment.

“Are we going to do this again Peter?” you asked him while raising your eyebrow as if challenging him.

And Peter, who feel sheer annoyance at Felicia that stemmed from his bad feeling about her was ready to go.

“I think we need to,” Peter answered bluntly. “I just don’t trust her, y/n.”

You chuckled ironically and looked away before your eyes came back to his, the audacity. “Well, I do Peter and if I remember correctly, no one’s asking you.”

Peter shook his head at your response, feeling a bit more annoyed at how stubborn you were being. Not that he wasn’t aware that you were already stubborn.

“I know you make fun of my senses,” Peter started, as he gave you another spin, you followed his lead but you were glaring at him under your lashes. “But I’m telling you there’s something wrong and dangerous with her.”

“Peter you need to stop,” you growled under your breath as Peter rolled his eyes and tried to spin you again but you pushed him back a bit.

Peter winced at the gesture and you could feel your heart aching at Peter’s behavior, part of you felt guilty but another part of you was just hurt that he didn’t try to keep his comments to himself. Peter was the kindest person you knew, but the jealousy or whatever he was feeling about Felicia and how he tried to just throw rocks at your relationship with Felicia, simply felt just mean.

“y/n, you know I can’t let you be in danger” Peter answered honestly, and yes, you could sense the fright in his voice and see the gleam of uneasiness in his eyes, but it wasn’t fair to you.

“I’m not!” you snapped at him; a little bit louder than what you would’ve liked.

“But you are!” Peter answered with the same strength and you hoped that no one had heard you. Both of you were breathing heavily and by that point, the tension could be cut with a knife as you glared at the other but then Peter simply sighed, letting go from your body and watched you sheepishly. “and I can’t stay silent while I watch you get-what?”

You frowned at Peter’s behavior. “Peter?”

Peter swallowed hard and then his eyes traveled to the entrance, where Flash was shaking his head as he looked anxiously at Peter. He closed his eyes, knowing that after this you might even get angrier with him, probably more than what you’d ever been but at that moment he didn’t care.

Felicia had disappeared and it was a risk.

“Where’s the last time you saw her?” Peter asked as he placed his fingers on his ear, trying to listen better at the com and he watched as it dawned on you what he had been doing.

The disappointment in your eyes and then how they were washed with anger made Peter winced.

“Are you kidding me?” you snapped at him, trying to take the com out of his ear so you could talk but Peter grabbed your hands strongly, you cursed to yourself that you couldn’t overpower him at the moment or take out your suit.

People began to stare at the both of you, as you twisted your wrists to get off from Peter’s hold but it was getting harder and harder, Peter trying to listen through the com to whatever Harley was saying.

“What do you mean she isn’t here?” Peter growled under his breath and then looked back at the edge of the dance floor where Flash was, you followed his gaze and quickly groaned, annoyed that all of your friends were in this together.

“Let. Me. Go!” you said as you gritted your teeth while turning to him with eyes blazing with heat, and Peter, who was gazing at you regretfully, took his hold off of you.

You pushed Peter aside and then walked towards Flash, who had this haunted expression on his face as he saw you coming his way, clearly intimidated by you.

“Give me that Flash,” you growled at the boy who was looking at you sheepishly. “I don’t want to ask twice” you threaten while raising your eyebrow and wiggling your fingers so that Flash could give you the com.

He didn’t hesitate, and you quickly put the earpiece on your ear and pulled out the wire from his shirt so you could talk to them.

“All of you need to back off, now.” You growled at them, clearly angry at what your supposed friends were doing. It seemed so extreme for them to have this whole spy thing going on to keep you away from Felicia, and it hurt. It hurt that after everything, after how much you had grown, it seemed like no one really cares about or trusted you and your choices. And you wanted to only be angry -you really did- but the words that Peter told you and how sincere they were, you felt trepidation as you thought about Felicia being loose at Stark Tower; you couldn’t help to ask. “Where was the last time you saw her?”

Peter turned from his place on the dance floor, a frown on his face and he felt somehow relief that he could hear that you were concerned about Felicia’s whereabouts too.

“She was in the bathroom,” you heard Betty’s voice in the com. “But then she just disappeared”

“I followed her there but she wasn’t on the stalls, she just sneaked out,” MJ followed but then Harley interrupted them.

“Just saw her at the edge of the entrance to the elevators,” Harley added and before he could say anything else, you walked away.

You didn’t know what you were going to catch Felicia in as you tried to move through the crowd of people on the gala, as you walked outside and glared at Harley and MJ who were watching you sorrowfully, clearly feeling shitty about what they had done but you passed by them as you walked towards the entrance to the elevators. The thing about Felicia was that most of the time, you did trust her -most of the time- but no matter how much you tried to assure yourself the same thing, you knew there was always Peter’s voice in the back of your head, saying you that she was trouble.

And you knew that it would always somehow hunt your relationship with Felicia. It’s not like she had said anything or anything she did, it was the feeling that came along with it. Her world moved too fast and her love seemed to burn too bright, but for you, how on earth is someone that was basically the opposite of what you were pulled in like she did? Even if sometimes it felt off.

“What are you doing here?” you asked Felicia, louder than you expected as you caught her against the wall while she was fixed her shoe. She was at the edge of the private entrance that Pepper had made for you to go to your apartment, it was supposed to have a guard but the person was nowhere to be found.

Felicia seemed a bit stunned as she heard you and quickly straightened herself, placed her small bag on her shoulder, and fixed her skirt. “Didn’t know it would take you so long to realize I was gone, it’s even upsetting, you know?”

You cut her game off quickly as you placed your hands on your hips and glared at her. You knew she liked to play games; it was rather obvious by now that she wouldn’t give you a straight but either way you still gave it your best shot.

“Why aren’t you at the party?” you asked her again and Felicia, who didn’t answer immediately, though the expression in her eyes grew hard to read. Her hands quickly settled on your waist and tugged you forward.

“Isn’t it obvious?” she breathed out as she gazed at your lips, but you were still glaring at her. Felicia simply rolled her eyes and before you knew it, Felicia threw you back against the wall into a bruising kiss.

You felt a bit stunned for a second but then you just let go. There was something about the kiss that was so intoxicating. Her lips were softer than ever, she tasted like champagne and cotton candy. You could feel how her hands were wondering your body and before you knew it, she was raising your skirt and pulling one of your legs up so you could wrap it around her waist. Her hands trailed then under your dress, the cool of her fingers on your inner tight made goosebumps dance across your skin. It was right then when you felt the spark of heat between your legs, you knew you were getting turned on too.

And for some reason it made you snap.

You pulled away from her and Felicia let out a soft whine of protest. Both were breathing heavily, and you could see Felicia’s lipstick all over her mouth but she was watching you with a cat-like gaze. It was right then and there were you realized that things were about to go a lot farther than what was usually intended,

“Are you drunk?” you asked her with a frown.

But Felicia shook her head. “No,” she answered honestly and her eyes flickered to your lips, her gaze darkened. “I just want you”

Before you knew it, she had her lips against yours again, tongues dancing as you let out small whimpers. You tangled your hands in her hair, nearly moaning at the feeling of her breasts against yours, you were so incredibly pressed together as you’d ever been. Felicia started to play with the rest of your dress, almost wanting to take it off and you smiled into the kiss as you tried to stop her but it was getting too hot. How her hands were loosely trailing your exposed torso, electricity dance under her skin, and then Felicia placed her knee up between your legs, nearly making you moan extremely loud.

You didn’t know if it was the champagne or the fact that the anger that you’d felt minutes ago was somehow fueling the encounter, how somehow you wanted to show that Peter was wrong. Felicia was yours and you were Felicia, there was no reason to think otherwise, and so, why you needed to wait longer?

Therefore, you didn’t hesitate when Felicia said something else. “Can we go up to your room?” she asked, it almost sounded like a whine as she touched your body.

And you simply nodded before you took her hand and pulled her into the elevator, continuing to kiss and moan and giggle as you pressed her against the elevator. It felt like something shifted as you entered the penthouse and walked her to your room.

The moment you were inside, Felicia pressed had you pressed against the wall, hands tangled in your hair as she kissed your back and began to undo your dress as quickly as she could, without ripping it. You moaned loudly as the dress finally pooled down on your feet and Felicia pressed hot open-mouth kisses to your back until she reached the small of your back and played with the thong that you had decided to wear.

“Such a pretty girl,” Felicia muttered, mostly to herself and you moaned at the thought of Felicia liking dirty talk. “And all mine”

You just whimpered at her comment, you wanted it so badly. So, you turned around and pulled Felicia by her neck up and began to undress her, leaving a trail of clothes on the floor while you drove her back to your bed. You both were just on your thongs by the time you fell onto your bed, and you quickly take the lead as you kissed her while you placed yourself on top, you then decided to press your tight between her legs this time, immediately pressing upwards and making her groan against your mouth but she quickly ground on your tight while you watched her in wonder.

Felicia’s body was perfect, you had seen her with little clothes on but this was a whole different thing. Having her on your bed, exposed as she whimpered and moan, because of your actions was a completely new feeling. Her skin was soft and dark, her hair was tousled and falling haphazardly across her face and spread on the bed, her plump breasts were bouncing by the way she was moving against you, the curve of her hips encased in the tiny black panties she was wearing, made you feel like you wanted to cry.

It would be your first time with a girl and somehow you froze, maybe just because you were just awe-struck by Felicia’s beauty or just because of the sheer fear that you could fuck this up. Felicia realized it soon and quickly raised from her place in the bed and stood from the place where she was, taking your hand and holding it tightly.

“y/n, don’t be afraid”

You simply shook your head, swallowing. “I just really want you,” you panted breathlessly and Felicia winced at your comment but before you could ask her what was wrong, her eyes shifted to your exposed breast and began to hungrily kiss them.

You massaged her scalp as she administered all the attention and devotion to your chest and you quickly fell backward, your head hit the pillows behind it as Felicia pressed herself against you. You couldn’t help to squirm and yelped as Felicia’s lips latched onto your right nipple, sucking it harshly before she changed over to the other. You were heaving and letting out small sighs as Felicia dig her fingers into the flesh of your hips and thigh, your core was dripping as you looked down to see Felicia’s eyes trained on your reaction.

She smirked as heard you whining about her stopping, she quickly pressed her lips firmly against you, her tongue playing with yours before she spoke.

“Tell me how bad you want it,” she whispered as her lips ghosted over yours but you only moaned as you felt her hardened nipples against yours.

“Hardy, don’t tease.” You complained as you cupped her face and pulled her down roughly for another kiss but she quickly pulled away with a mischievous smile.

“Come on Stark,” she panted as she looked at you. “I want to watch you beg”

You were pretty sure your mind snapped after that.

Before you knew it, Felicia pressed her digits to your clothed clit and you couldn’t help but to roll your eyes to the back of your head and opened your mouth at the sensation, but you wanted more. But you simply whined, not wanting to actually say anything but Felicia shook her head.

“Say it” she rasped.

“Please, touch me” you finally begged as you squirmed under her touch.

It was such an unbelievable turn on to hear Felicia’s dark laugh before she slipped her hand into your panties, stroking your entrance with her fingers as she nipped your earlobe. Your breath hitched, and you moaned, holding onto the sheets of your bed as she pumped a finger, and then two inside of you as she worked on your wetness. You gasped in bliss and soon you were arching your hips to get closer to her hand as waves of fire passed through your body, she was so good to you.

She was pressing against all your sensitive spots as she placed hot kisses on your mouth and wherever she could, it didn’t take too long for you to scream her name, your walls flittered around her fingers and your breath began to come in ragged pants. You didn’t know exactly how it happened since you were feeling so busy as she administered all the attention to your core, but soon your mouth found Felicia’s shoulder and before you knew it you bite into her skin, she whimpered and moaned at your reaction.

“Fuck…” she moaned as she dipped her head onto your shoulder, having to stop one second.

And you felt able to breathe again and before Felicia could protest, you switched positions and quickly took Felicia’s arms and placed them over her head.

She giggled.

“Didn’t take you for a top, y/N!” she screamed at the end as you placed two fingers on her core without much anticipation and began to administer the same care to her as she had done for you.

You pushed Felicia’s panties off her legs and spread her legs wider, you wanted to watch how she came undone under you. It was almost hypnotic how your fingers would get lost on her core and how you would be touching her in all the right spots, you then pressed on her clit with your thumb and it just made her moan louder, you went deeper and incomprehensible noises left Felicia’s lips. It was just too much and before you knew it, you simply dived down between her legs.

Felicia tasted like candy and you hummed into her core as you buried your mouth inside of it, tongue on her entrance and making her scream your name. You quickly placed your hands under her legs and grabbed her hips tightly as you continued administering attention to her core, with so much love and care that it seemed like you would die if you weren’t pleasuring her. Then you wrapped your lips around her clit and flicked it with your tongue before you continue to kiss her and in that second one of her hands flew to your head, tugging your hair.

You smiled as you watched her edging, you quickly decided to touch and grab her butt, pulling her in even closer. But before you knew it, Felicia was raised from her position ad pulling away from you, she grabbed you by your chin and captured your lips into a vulgar kiss, her tongue tangling sensually with yours.

But you pulled away. “I wanted to make you cum,” you panted as she licked her lips, tasting herself before she shook her head.

“I’ll make you cum first,” she whispered before she threw you against the bed, a little bit too harsh. “It’s an order,” she said and you felt a shiver ran down your spine because of the anticipation.

Felicia smiled, you could see her cheeks flushed pink and her cat-like grin as she placed a peck against your lips and began to kiss your body, from your chest to your middle to your core. The way Felicia was licking you, sucking you, seemed like too much. You might’ve screamed, moaned, gasped, or all three at once, maybe you whined but you couldn’t remember. It almost seemed like you had blacked out by how she was kissing you down there, how she was pressing on your clit and fucking you with her mouth.

It wasn’t like when Peter had already done it but for obvious reasons, this seemed more intense. The way Felicia was so purposefully working on you, had you gasping for air. It was wild, just like Felicia was, it was pure heat and fire, sweat dripping from your naked skin as Felicia held you down so hard that she probably left bruises. She knew what she was doing to you and it became more than obvious that she wanted to keep going as you felt the fire pooling on your stomach and your legs began to shake, it didn’t take long for you to feel yourself clenching and shuddering around Felicia’s tongue or fingers and you started to come apart at the seams.

Felicia smiled as she felt it and look at you screaming her name, everything exploding with fire as wave after wave of your orgasms seized your body. White light danced on your vision and ripples of blinding pleasure erupted through your body. Your breath was labored as Felicia came back up and pressed her lips against yours, while you tried to catch your breath and slowly drifted back to earth after your release.

“You were so good,” Felicia whispered as she placed small kisses over your body and then quickly stood from the bed into the bathroom of your room.

You were still trying to recover as you watched her naked body entering the bathroom and then heard how she used the sink before she came out with a towel and carefully cleaned you. You smiled at Felicia who quickly put her underwear on and began to look for her dress while you watched her from the bed.

It was such a completely new experience for you, that you were still a bit in awe about what had happened, you quickly put on your underwear and wrapped the towel around your torso while Felicia looked at herself in your large mirror while she fixed her make-up and her dress. Part of you was extremely happy that it had finally happened but then, another part of you wished that Felicia could just stay in bed and talk to you about it.

“That was…” you started, hoping that it would pull her in.

But both of your heads snapped at the loud noise coming from your door. There was knocking a loud, knocking on your door and as the seconds passed it became almost violent.

“y/n?” Felicia asked as she took her jacket and her pursed and walked back to one of the corners of your room, the one farther away from your door.

You frowned at the incessant knocking and quickly took the towel off, running to get your dress and putting it on as the pounding continued. You were still trying to zip your dress and jumped when you finally got close to the door and ordered HAPPY, your AI, to open the door.

As the door opened your eyes widened as you looked at Peter barging into the room. Peter glanced at you and he stayed still for a moment, he could tell almost immediately and it felt like someone had just punched all the air out of his lungs. He saw your disheveled hair and how your dress wasn’t fully zipped, he could also see the messy blankets behind you on your bed and he had to close his eyes for a second, otherwise, he was sure he would’ve broken something at the moment.

He hated it, Felicia had been successful at sucking you in and now Peter knew why.

He finally opened his eyes and decided to get back to what he was doing, he shot a glare at Felicia.

“Felicia,” Peter growled as he walked closer to her while Felicia took a defensive stance.

Before he could get somehow closer, you walked in front of Peter and stopped him. Firmly placing a hand on his chest and pushing him back, defending Felicia.

“What do you want, Parker?” you growled at him but Peter didn’t place the attention on you, instead he stared at Felicia disdainfully.

Peter didn’t want to talk to you about it, if his wishes came true, you wouldn’t even be in the room right now. It was taking all his willpower not to drag you out of the room and lock you out before he began to try to capture Felicia, he just didn’t want to hurt you in the process.

“Give it back, Felicia.” He growled once more and you could see his hands forming into fists, he was holding it so tightly that you were sure that Peter would get moon marks on his palms.

But you brushed the thought off as the words of Peter dawned on you. You frowned at Peter’s comment and you turned towards Felicia, who was giving another step back as she defensively looked at you.

“What are you talking about?” you asked Peter coldly, while your eyes were still linked to Felicia’s greyish-purple eyes.

“Your girlfriend stole the repulsor prototype!” Peter snapped at her and you felt your heart sinking on your chest. “I checked the security footage; she stole it and she’s going to give it to-”

“Shut up!” Felicia’s angry scream cut off Peter as you could feel your head shaking automatically at Peter’s accusation.

There was no way Felicia had done it, otherwise, it would mean that nothing that had happened with you was true, that the feelings that you were harboring with Felicia were based on a lie, that she had never cared or loved you, that Peter was right, that she was only using you.

And then your eyes fell onto her hands and how hard and tight she was holding her small bag.

“Felicia…”

The way Felicia’s eyes were almost tearing up, how she glanced away from you wanting to avoid your gaze and her chin began to tremble. It was almost palpable the regret on her, the guilt seemed to be eating her alive and you felt like you wanted to vomit.

“Felicia, tells me it’s not true,” you whispered once more as you looked at her, you felt your tears pooling in your eyes but Felicia didn’t move. “Answer me!” you screamed at her, it ripped through your chest and it was so loud that both, Felicia and Peter, jumped at your reaction.

Peter could feel the weight of your emotions on his shoulders, he knew that he had fucked up by bringing you into this but there was no other way, Felicia was on a mission and Peter couldn’t allow her to finish it.

“Felicia, you don’t have to go to Kingpin,” he offered while he stepped forward to where you were standing but Felicia simply chuckled ironically.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about Spidey” she spat at him while she quickly took a defensive stand and let her heels on the floor, she was ready to fight.

But Peter wanted nothing of the sort.

“We don’t want anyone getting hurt,” he insisted but before he could add something, both Felicia and you spoke.

“Too late for that,” Felicia’s silvery and wobbly voice said at the same time with your wavery and soft voice.

You looked at each other with so much hurt in your eyes that you wanted to explode into tears right there and then but the anger and the rage were too much. The feeling of betrayal ran through your body like fuel and before you knew it, you were tapping your breacelet and the nanobots began to spread on your arm and before you knew it, you were shooting your repulsors at Felicia.

Felicia, as talented as she was, quickly dodge your shots but soon Peter took out his webs and began to fire them as Felicia tried to avoid both of your attacks on her in your room. You tried not to care as you would blow up a part of your room, simply wanting to catch Felicia before she did something stupid but before you knew it, she was placing the sleeves of her suit. Her claws appearing from one moment to another as she secured the bag across her body and began to perform a serious act of gymnastics while she tried to avoid you.

Peter managed to get one of Felicia’s ankle’s as she finished performing a backflip to dodge one of your repulsors shots but when she fell onto the floor, she swiftly glanced down at the web and cut it with her nails before she was avoiding your hits too, in one second you fire your window, destroying part of your room and also allowing the cold wind of November to hit you, but Felicia smirked at your mistake.

“Don’t go Felicia”, you growled at her but she simply glanced at you with red eyes.

Before you knew it, she was taking the repulsor out of her bag, the gauntlet where Harley and Tony had decided to place the repulsor for more standard trials on her hand. She placed it on hers and before you knew it, she was pointing at you.

You weren’t wearing your full suit at the moment, simply your arms but Felicia just closed your eyes and looked away, then she fired at you. Peter realized it and quickly tried to grab you so he could avoid you getting blown up but he was too late, your fingers brushing before the explosion sent you off to different parts of the room. Your body hit the wall, hard, you felt your head bouncing against it and then you fell onto the floor that was filled with debris and broken glass.

Your vision turned blurry and the last thing you remembered was Felicia watching you from the window before she quickly jumped out, then everything turned black.

***

taglist: @spideylovin @fandomtrash100 @soullessbabee @liljennyx3

***

i’m so sorry for the delay and like for the typos you might find in this chapter bUT IT’S FINALLY UP AND WE HAVE ONLY TWO CHAPTERS LEFT. I had to cut this chapter so I could make the next one a bit longer and this one shorter, next one we are getting a reveal and also tears and post break up glow.

Last chapter didn’t got any reblogs or notes but it was okay because it allowed me to take my time to write this one and part of the next one. Although Im really excited to see what are your thoughts about the smut with Felicia and Felicia in general. Only one of you saw it coming I think hehe. But i’m really happy about the fact that we only have to chapters left. I love to hear your theories. and i’m always really happy that you are enjoying this with me and i hope you are happy with this chapter, either if you are team felicia or team peter.

as always, the new sneek peak for the next chapter is going to be on. the masterlist if you want to see what’s coming next!

please please please let me know your thoughts and opinions on this chapter and if you have ANY theories or comments I would love to see them!!! I’m already so happy with the love you have given to the last chapters, I really hope you like it! any feedback is well received and thank you so much!

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gummygowon · 4 years ago

Text

polaroids | park seonghwa

word count: 1.3k

genre: college student reader! x seonghwa, fluff

established relationship!

warnings: it’s so fluffy you’re gonna die

a/n: i am deeply in love with park seonghwa oh my god and writing this made me fall deeper lmao

“y/n, isn’t it almost 10 o’clock?” your coworker asked as she glanced back up at the clock in the break room.

“huh?” you perked your head up from the table, snapping to the clock, she was looking at. “oh fuck, thank you so much, ryujin.”

you were adding the last finishing touches to your boyfriend’s card for his birthday right after your shift ended for work. yes, you knew that procrastinating any birthday card, especially your boyfriend of four years card was extremely disappointing and sad but to be fair you were a college student who worked two part-time jobs, one at a local ramen shop and as an assistant at a hair salon. however, you finished his actual present earlier in the week and was really excited to give it to him.

you quickly gathered your stuff from your locker and said your goodbyes to the rest of your coworkers, making sure to say thank you again to ryujin.

you clocked out and sprinted to your car as you dug into your bag looking for your phone. you called hongjoong immediately, as you got into your car.

“hong?”

you heard him try to catch his breath as quickly as possible, “yes, y/n?”

“you guys are still at the practice room, right?” you asked, as you slipped your key into the ignition.

“yeah, we won’t be done for another hour or so.”

“ok, perfect.” you smiled, grateful at least one thing was going right. “i’m going to stop by to see seonghwa, okay?”

“got it ma’am, do you need me to stall if he tries to leave early?”

“yes, please. that would be great. thank you so much.”

“of course, y/n. hwa’s been so moody since he hasn’t seen you in forever. so i’ll do whatever it takes to get him happy again.”

you were really glad your boyfriend was lucky enough to get along so well with all of his members who adored and took care of him as much as they could when you weren’t around.

“thank you so much, hongjoong. i’ll be there soon.” you ended the call after the two of you said your byes.

you had went over a brief plan of what you wanted to do for seonghwa’s birthday with ateez’s leader about a week ago. since the both of your guys’ schedules was jam packed since the beginning of month, the two of you had rarely enough time to see each other on the weekends. even though you guys lived in the same city, finding time to meet up was hard. but you understood that the day seonghwa decided he wanted to become an idol and he understood that keeping a relationship with someone as busy as him was going to be difficult.

you and seonghwa had talked about the difficulties the two of you could face when he debuted but you guys made a promise to each other that no matter how busy you guys were, you would somehow make time for the other.

the love in your relationship was not defined by how much time you spent together but rather by how much you cared and supported each other. he celebrated every good grade and promotion you achieved with you while you cheered him on at his stages and concerts.

you pulled up to the 7/11 that was below the company building and made a quick trip into the connivence store.

afterwards, you made your way to the practice room. you peeked through the glass door to see if they were almost done and to your surprise, yeosang opened the door and almost walked straight into you.

“oh, hello y/n.” yeosang greeted with a small smile.

“hi, is-”

“y/n?” a familiar voice rang throughout the room.

you poked your head further, only to be caught in a tight hug.

“oh my god, you scared the shit out of me.” you playfully scold your boyfriend as you wrapped your arms tightly around him. it had been almost a month since you saw him in person so you missed each other greatly.

once seonghwa pulled away from you, he placed a quick kiss on your cheek causing wooyoung to gag very loudly.

you rolled your eyes at him, used to his antics as seonghwa glared at wooyoung making him apologize rather quickly.

“get out.” your boyfriend told his younger member as he pointed towards the door.

“yes, sir.” he replied before walking out with his head down.

“where were we?” he smiled at you before kissing you happily.

when the two of you broke apart, stupid grins on both of your faces, you asked him to go up to the roof. seonghwa brought you up there once a couple years back when he was still a trainee. it was not of the most romantic dates you guys had but you were ecstatic to see him again.

once you guys had reached the roof and reached the edge of it, you let seonghwa gaze at the soft glow of the city lights as you pulled out your gifts.

“surprise, hwa.” you whispered softly at him as you handed him a small strawberry cake and a small gift bag.

he gasped at the sight of the mini cake, “thank you so much, love.”

seonghwa pressed another kiss to your cheek as you felt your heart race.

“open the bag!” you exclaimed, curious to see his reaction.

“alright, alright. let me eat the cake first jeez.” your boyfriend laughed at your eagerness.

“fine.” you fake pouted at him.

after he took a bite of the cake he scooped up another piece and offered it to you which you gladly took.

while you chewed, you watched seonghwa open up the bag and pull out the gift wrapping before reaching a small box.

“what is it?” he looked up and asked, as if you would give him an answer.

“just open it, seonghwa!” you groaned at him.

“fine.” he pouted before smiling after you lightly slapped his shoulder.

the tiny box had contained a polaroid sized book that held pictures of you guys together from your very first date to your last. it also included photos from all the countless times you spent together. holidays, birthdays, and graduation photos were all in this small book. there were even captions to the side of it, retelling what had happened in that photo along with inside jokes.

your gift brought tears to seonghwa’s eyes as he flipped through the pages. your whole entire relationship was stored in this tiny box and in a way it reminded you of your love for him. sure, it seemed small and plain to others but to you guys it was everything you wanted and more.

“do you like it?” you asked nervously, playing with your fingers.

seonghwa didn’t give you an answer before he grabbed both sides of your face and smashed his lips onto yours. you smiled in between kisses, feeling just so lucky to be dating someone who made you so happy.

“i love you.” he answered, looking at you if you were the only person left in the world.

“you didn’t answer my question.” you whined even though the goofy smile on your face told another story.

he just shook his head at your comment, still smiling at you as he pulled your back into his chest so you guys could gaze at the city in front of you.

you guys sat in a comfortable silence watching the cars go by until you broke it.

“i’m sorry, this isn’t the ideal place to celebrate your birthday. i-”

“don’t be sorry, love. i’m just glad i got to see you again.” he answered honestly, hugging you tighter.

“i love you.” you mumbled as you sank deeper into his embrace. you had missed his touch more than you realized.

seonghwa gave you a quick kiss on the lips before you guys went back to looking at the city, enjoying the warmth he provided and his hugs.

even though you guys were celebrating the last few hours of his birthday, seonghwa couldn’t get any happier than this, his arms around you just like they should be.

#ateez #ateez imagine #ateez fluff #ateez oneshots #ateez oneshot #ateez fluff oneshots #ateez fluff oneshot #ateez fluff imagines #park seonghwa #seonghwa #seonghwa ateez #seonghwa oneshot #park seonghwa oneshots #park seonghwa imagine #seonghwa fluff #park seonghwa fluff #park seonghwa fluff oneshots #seonghwa fluff oneshots

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writer-k-pop · 4 years ago

Text

Behind The Scenes

오늘 투위터 봤어요? Have you looked at Twitter today?

Description: Being the youngest and newest member of BTS’s filming crew, you grow close to other crew members as well as the BTS members. Specifically, BTS’s maknae, Jeon Jungkook, because somehow you always get paired to film him. After a perfectly timed photo during a filming hits the internet, rumors and words fly around excessively. And Jungkook shows his worry for you. Warnings: Swearing, none Genre: FLUFF Word Count: 3.7k

BTS Masterlist | Masterlists

"The filming will begin once the members finish up with their makeup." Our director announces as we stand around him in an empty parking lot. "Audio team is here?" He asks and scattered hands raise in the air, "8, 9. Good. Cameras?" He moves onto the next department: mine

I raise my hand as the others on my team do the same.

"And you know who you're following?" Our director asks.

We go down the line and say the member we're filming for the day.

"V."

"Rm."

"Suga."

"Jin."

"Jimin."

"Hope."

"And our youngest," Rena pinches my cheek, "Is with Jungkook."

I bat away her hand with an eye roll. Since joining as the newest, and the youngest, the older team members have been teasing me about how cute we'd be together. Though I highly doubt it. I think they're just teasing me because I'm the newest and the youngest. Like it's my initiation ordeal. But every time we do some filming that needs each member to have a dedicated camera person with them (nearly every time), they always pair me with Jungkook.

At first it was a little awkward: he wouldn't talk to me cause I was new and I wouldn't talk to him cause I was new. It took a few filming schedules until we were able to have comfortable conversations.

"Alright, here they come." Our director announces, "Remember their safety as well as yours!"

We all give a cheer of excitement then break out to get our equipment and into our smaller groups. Each will have a camera staff, an audio staff, and another staff to direct the content.

"Wonder where Jungkook will pick." Hyunwoo wonders as he adjusts his audio equipment belt.

"I pray it's not in the old park." Yeonseok, our assigned staff, says and places his hands in a prayer pose.

"Knowing our luck, it'll be there." I joke while zipping the last extra battery in its pocket before picking up the camera.

"If it is, it's your fault." Yeonseok pokes my shoulder.

"Don't blame me!" I spit back, "Blame the one who actually chooses it."

"I could never blame Jungkook." Yeonseok shakes his head and places his hand over his heart.

"Yupp, you're definitely NOT whipped." Hyunwoo says sarcastically as we join the other staff members crowded behind the few standing cameras.

In front of the cameras, the seven members of BTS stand and wait for the cue to start their silliness for 'Run BTS.'

"Everyone quiet please!" The main director waves his hands and everyone ceases their conversations. "Camera, roll!"

"Wah, it's a really nice day." Hoseok comments, squinting up at the sun.

Jungkook and Jimin laugh at his random comment.

"Hyung, why are you so awkward today?" Taehyung giggles.

"It's not awkward." Jin comes to Hoseok's defense and throws an arm around his shoulders, "It is a nice day." He emphasizes nice and also looks up at the sun before slapping a hand over his burning eyes. "Ah, ah, ah, that hurts." This only makes the maknae line laugh harder.

"Alright, alright." Namjoon attempts to calm them down but Jungkook and Taehyung continue to giggle, "We all know why we're here, right?"

"Ah, yes." Yoongi nods slowly, "We were dropped off in this empty parking lot so we could get kidnapped." He deadpans.

From the staff, muffled chuckles can be heard and I have to press my fist to my mouth to keep the laughter in. Hoseok and Jin join the maknae line in loud laughter and Namjoon looks towards the director, his eyes pleading for help.

"Sorry, Joon-ah." Hoseok coughs out, trying to push the laughter aside. "We'll say it right. Ask the question again."

Namjoon claps his hands together and resets. "We all know why we're here, right?" He repeats his previous question.

"RUN BTS!" The other six members loudly scream towards the sky.

"Hyung, are you the MC today?" Jimin asks, gesturing towards the group's leader.

Namjoon shakes his head, "If I was, this show would be a disaster."

"No, I think you would do really well." Hoseok claps Namjoon's back in support.

"Thanks Hobi." Namjoon says and holds his hand out for a handshake. Only to be ignored. Again. "Anyway, today we're doing something different."

"We are?" Jin and Taehyung ask together with over emphasized curiousity.

"We are." Namjoon confirms. "Today, we'll each be on our own, completing missions to get a picture. Then we'll all meet up again and I think we have to line up the pictures in order. If we get the answer right, we get a prize. I think?" Namjoon finishes with an unsure ending.

"That's right." The main director nods then explains the game to the members in a shpeel that will be edited out later and replaced with written instructions on the screen. "Each member will randomly choose a location. At that location there will be four missions you have to complete. When you finish all four, you will be given a photo. After you receive the photo, you will all gather again and together will place the photos in the order that they were taken. If you succeed, each BTS member will be given a wish that they can use anytime within the next year."

"WOAH!" The members drop their mouths in awe.

"And we can ask for anything?" Jin asks.

The director nods, "As long as it pertains to this show, you can ask for anything."

"Can I ask to go home then?" Yoongi steps forward with a raised hand.

The director laughs, "You can but then you'd miss out on other prizes."

"Okay, so how do we know which location to go to?" Taehyung asks, his excitement shining through his eyes.

The director holds out a can with seven folded pieces of paper. Taehyung walks forward, grabs the can, and retreats back to his members.

"Who picks first?" He asks the group.

"Let's do rock, paper, scissors." Jin suggests, sticking a hand out.

"Not this game. I suck at this." Hoseok whines but sticks his hand out along with the rest.

"Winner gets to pick first." Jin announces.

They pick a piece of paper in this order: Hoseok, Jungkook, Namjoon, Jimin, Yoongi, Taehyung, then Jin.

"Should we reveal them one by one?" Jungkook suggests and the others nod. "Hoseok hyung first."

"Where am I going?" Hoseok teases then pops open his piece of paper. "The movie theatre?" He reads off his location with confusion.

"Ahhhhh, that would've been fun!" Taehyung whines.

"Jungkook, next." Jin gestures for the youngest to hurry up.

Jungkook opens his sheet and reads it out, "Cafe."

My fists clench in happiness that he didn't pick the outdoor location.

"Yah, that's a good one." Namjoon shakes his finger in Jungkook's direction but I can't make out if he's happy or disappointed. "I am going to the gym."

"I'm going to the park!" Jimin reads off his excitedly.

"Is it the old one we saw on our way here?" Jungkook asks the staff with bunny eyes. The director gives him a nod and Jungkook pouts. "Hyung, can we switch? Ah, I really wanted to go there!"

I narrow my eyes at the youngest and pray that the director won't let them switch places.

"No switching, Jungkook." Taehyung says and pulls the youngest away.

"Yoongi, Yoongi." Hoseok says the next member.

Yoongi slowly opens his paper but doesn't show the camera as he reads it. Then he suddenly starts screaming and jumping in happiness.

"What?" Taehyung asks.

"Where are you going, hyung?" Jimin asks, trying to take the paper away from him.

"THE DORM!" Yoongi screams happily and finally shows the cameras the piece of paper.

The other six members give sounds of disbelief and Jimin even walks towards us staff, asking if it's true.

While Yoongi happily bounces from foot to foot, Taehyung reveals his location.

"I'm going to the company." Taehyung announces before Jin swiftly opens his, the writing pointed towards the cameras and away from him.

"School?" Taehyung reads it out for him and Jin quickly flips the paper around to read it for himself.

"SCHOOL?" Jin repeats incredulously.

Yoongi bursts into laughter with Jungkook.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've been in school?!" Jin shrieks. "I have to go back?"

"Hyung, maybe they'll let you wear a school uniform." Hoseok laughs, leaning onto his shoulder.

Jin shakes Hoseok off and scoffs, "What are you talking about?"

"How long do we have?" Jimin asks the director while Hoseok and Jin giggle together about Jin's location.

"We'll give you 3 hours to finish your individual missions." The director said.

"Alright, let's go." Yoongi rushes the group, wanting to get to the dorm as quickly as possible. "Run!"

"BTS!" They all finish together.

I readjust the camera in my hands and wait for our small group to be joined with Jungkook.

"You lucky duck." Yeonseok nudges my arm.

"I prayed real hard." I smile as our team is called.

"Team Jungkook!" My director calls out.

I shuffle through the crowd behind my older male staff partners for the day.

"Yeonseok hyung!" Jungkook says happily as we make our way over, "Hyunwoo hyung!"

I peak out from behind the two and give an expecting smile for my greeting.

"(y/n)!" Jungkook snaps finger guns at me, "Woah, I got the dream team." As the car pulls up, Jungkook carries on conversation with the other two leaving me to fiddle with the camera and prepare to film. "How is Junsu hyung and the baby?"

"They're good." Yeonseok answers, "The kid is finally sleeping through the night."

"Makes him much easier to handle during the day." Hyunwoo jokes and juts a thumb at Yeonseok.

Jungkook chuckles, "I believe it."

"Yah, I'm older than you." Yeonseok scolds him and we all slid into the car: Yeonseok driving, Hyunwoo next to him and Jungkook and I in the middle seats.

"What do I have to do to there?" Jungkook asks while putting on his seatbelt and I do the same.

I shrug.

"How do you not know?" Jungkook asks me.

"Oh, I know. I'm just not allowed to tell you." I smirk.

"Oh come on, please." He drags out the 'please' but I shake my head as Hyunwoo wags a finger at him.

"No can do kiddo." Hyunwoo says, "We wanna keep our jobs."

Jungkook pouts and crosses his arms over his chest, "No fair."

I snort at his behavior, "Your a member of the world's biggest boy band and you're pouting over not being able to cheat."

Jungkook tsks, "If it were Jin hyung, you guys would've told him."

I raise my eyebrows at him, "I wouldn't. But Yeonseok might."

"Oi!" Yeonseok looks at me through the rearview mirror, "I would not."

"Sure." Jungkook and I say at the same time with the same unbelieving tone.

A few minutes later, Yeonseok parks the car in front of the cafe that we had rented out for the day.

"Hold on." I tell Jungkook as he reaches for the door.

"Why?" Jungkook looked at me like I'm crazy for not letting him out.

I roll my eyes, "Just wait until I get to the other side. I don't exactly want to film your butt." Without waiting for his response, I exit the car on my side and quickly jog around to Jungkook's side.

When I'm in my spot, Jungkook then opens his door and ducks out of the car.

"I go inside?" He throws an innocent look to Yeonseok who nods. So we walk inside with me walking backwards with the camera focused on Jungkook.

As we step inside, the cafe music fills my ears and the atmosphere turns cozy in a second.

"What's my first mission?" He asks, the desire to finish first before all of his members burns in his eyes.

Yeonseok hands Jungkook a piece of paper which he opens, reads, then shows the camera. I make sure to get a clear shot of the writing as he reads it aloud.

"Choose four drinks from the menu and make them." Jungkook says. "I have to, like am I actually supposed to get behind the counter and make them?" He points to the space behind the counter. Yeonseok, Hyunwoo, and I all nod our heads. After a few schedules with rolling cameras, I learned that I need to suppress the laughter I get from Jungkook's surprise. My amusement growing at his adorable bewilderment.

"Well, okay. Do I get to choose the drinks?" Jungkook questions and turns towards the menu. Yeonseok nods when Jungkook glances back.

"I have to make four?" Jungkook sighs, "Mmm, well, if we're going to drink them, then I should choose drinks that we'll like." He reasons. "So, for the PD hyungs I think I'll make Iced Americanos." Jungkook looks to them for approval which they give. "For camera PD, I will make a strawberry lemonade?" He raises his eyebrows looking for my response. I smile and nod, my heart skipping a few beats. "And for myself, I'm gonna make, ooh, a hot chocolate. Yeah, that sounds great."

Jungkook nods in determination. "Alright, let's do this." He walks around the counter and finds an apron and a book on how to make all the drinks on the menu.

"Of course you would give me a book." Jungkook smirks at Yeonseok while tying the apron around his waist, "Otherwise your drinks would've been terrible."

He laughs at himself and begins working on the two americanos. I move around the counter and capture Jungkook fumbling around with the espresso machine.

"Is this how it works?" He mumbles and glances up to me for help. I shrug my shoulders cause I honestly have no idea how to work that kind of machine.

Jungkook sighs staring at the espresso tamper in his hands, "I know we did an episode with this. Why can't I remember?" He looks underneath and fiddles some more before slowly but successfully attaches the tamper to the machine. "Success!" He smiles happily then the smile drops, "Now which button do I press?"

I suppress a laugh but Jungkook hears my snicker as he fills two plastic cups with ice.

"Don't you laugh at me!" He turns and pouts at me. "You're laughing."

I shake my head with a smile of innocence as I can't make a sound while recording.

Jungkook turns back to the machine and reads all the buttons until he finds what he thinks is the right one which frankly, I would've picked the same one. In about a minute, the two little cups below the tampers fill with the warm dark goodness of espresso. When the final little droplets fall into the cups, Jungkook takes each and pours them into the plastic cups. Then he pours water in till the cup is full.

As he pops the lids on and sticks straws into them, I can't help but admire him through the camera feed.

"Next up, strawberry lemonade." Jungkook sing songs turning around to find the right ingredients.

20 minutes later, Jungkook sits across from me at a table and I sip on the lovely strawberry lemonade that Jungkook made me.

"What's my next mission?" Jungkook asks, setting down his nearly half finished mug.

Yeonseok slides over a piece of paper from the next table. Jungkook picks up the paper, reads it and begins his second mission.

*The next day*

"You haven't looked at Twitter, have you?" Yeonseok ambushes me as soon as I step into the building.

I glance around, slightly nervous, "No, I woke up late and rushed here."

Yeonseok sighs deeply, "Thank goodness."

"Why?" I ask as he drags me further into the building.

"Because." Yeonseok says vaguely.

"Because?" I repeat, hanging onto the word.

"Because..." Yeonseok glances around and I do the same, finding some stares being directed at us. "There's a rumor."

"Stop being vague!" I exclaim and pull my arm away.

"Someone took a picture of us filming at the cafe yesterday." Yeonseok explains.

"Okay? What's so big about that? They do that all the time." I explain.

"Yeah, but this time, the picture was perfectly angled so Hyunwoo and I were hidden and your camera is hidden by one of the pillars inside so.." Yeonseok trails off as I pick up on where the sentence is leading.

"It looks like we were on a date." I sigh, closing my eyes. "Is it bad?"

Yeonseok tilts his head to the side, "I mean not the worst things that have been thrown around..."

"But still pretty bad." I finish for him.

"Yeah." Yeonseok confirms.

I shrug, ignoring the dull pain of wishful thinking in my chest, "It's not like we've never had to go through something like this in the past."

"Yeah but you should really stay off the internet for a day or so." Yeonseok advices as we reach our large office space.

I nod slowly, "Okay, I won't." Setting down my bags, I sit at my computer and start opening on emails for the day.

"You promise?" Hyunwoo pops his over the cubicle walls.

I smile at his concern, "I promise. Why do you care though? I can handle myself."

"We know you can." Hyunwoo responds, "But you're still the youngest and like our little sister so we gotta protect you."

"Or at least try to." Yeonseok adds on.

I chuckle, "Well, thank you. I'm assuming upstairs is denying it?" I point upwards.

"Writing the denial letter as we speak." Hyunwoo snaps his fingers.

"This way?" Jungkook's voice echos down the hall.

I scrunch my eyebrows and Hyunwoo, Yeonseok, and I all lean back in our chairs wondering why he's up here.

Within seconds, Jungkook appears in the office space, his eyes searching a bit frantically.

"(y/n)." Jungkook says my name which shocks not only me, but Yeonseok and Hyunwoo as well.

I give him a small wave and a confused smile. Jungkook smiles and quickly walks over.

"Are you okay?" He asks me.

Yeonseok and Hyunwoo snicker but lean closer to their computers. I internally roll my eyes at them.

"I'm okay. Are you okay?" I answer and return the question.

"I'm okay now." Jungkook says, now a little shy.

"Now?" I ask.

"Well, I sort of saw Twitter this morning and I was a little worried." He answers.

I'm sure the evidence of surprise is clear on my face because he spits out more explanations.

"I, I mean I know you're new and haven't really been around this industry much and I didn't know how you would take it." Jungkook stutters, "And, and I worried because you were the one in the photo with me and I know people can be really nasty. Especially when we’re involved." He finishes quietly with a scratch to the back of his neck.

I squint cause I think I see a little blush tint his cheeks.

"Thank you for the concern." I tell him with honesty and I’m a little touched. "Is that why you came up here?" I ask.

Jungkook chuckles, "Yeah."

I smile, "Well, thank you. I appreciate it."

"Great." Jungkook claps his hands and then starts to get antsy, "Well, I'm gonna head back downstairs."

"(y/n)!" Hyunwoo quickly stands up, startling both Jungkook and I, "Walk him out. He could get lost up here."

"Yeah, we don't want Jungkook getting lost up here." Yeonseok agrees.

"Hyung." Jungkook drags out the word while I give them a pleading look. "I can find my way out."

"You didn't even know how to get here." Hyunwoo argues with the older brother smart-ass tone.

Jungkook opens his mouth to respond but his voice is nonexistent. I try to choke back a laugh but it comes out anyway.

"Hey, don't you even start." Yeonseok points a finger at me, "You're so much worse."

"Am not!" I defend myself, standing and crossing my arms.

"Are too." Hyunwoo agrees.

"Am not." I say in disbelief.

"Actually, you kind of are." Jungkook comments.

I raise my arm to slap his arm but hesitate, unable to finish the move. Jungkook, on the other hand, simply sticks his tongue out at me.

"Mature." I roll my eyes and lower my arm.

"Mature enough to ask you out?" Jungkook suddenly asks with a smirk.

My entire body freezes and the air dissipates from my lungs. The air around us also stales in an instance. Even Yeonseok and Hyunwoo are stunned into silence. In my ears, my heart starts to pound and my cheeks heat up. I can't believe the words I had just heard.

"I..." Jungkook clear his throat, "I said that out loud..."

I blink to break out of my thoughts and reset myself. "I'll, uh, I'll walk you out." I smile, trying to ignore what just happened but I don't think I did it well.

Jungkook wordlessly nods and follows me out of the office space. Neither of us say a word to each other until we're way past the office space.

"I apologize for earlier." Jungkook basically whispers.

I shake my head, "No, no need to apologize. It's okay."

"I really didn't mean to say it." Jungkook continues to explain. "I was actually worried this morning and I guess it was still running through my head and then it just happened. I guess."

I suppress a smile and look down to the ground, "It was a little shocking." I admit, "But I can't say it isn't one-sided."

That stops Jungkook in his tracks. I notice a few steps ahead and stop to turn and face him. His eyes are wide in disbelief and his arms hang loosely by his sides.

He stutters out jargon then clears his throat. Jungkook looks up with hope in his eyes, "Then, (y/n), can I take you out for dinner."

A smile grows on my face and my cheeks heat up ever so slightly, "Yes, you can."

Jungkook smiles widely and begins walking next to me again. My heart flutters happily and excitement grows in the pit of my stomach. As we walk, his shoulder brushes against mine and goosebumps erupt down my arms.

Sometimes rumors stay rumors. Other times they become reality.

#kpop #bts #bts imagine #bts jungkook imagine #bts jungkook #bts jeon jungkook #jeon jungkook #jeon jungkook imagine #jungkook imagine #jungkook

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blu-joons · 4 years ago

Text

BTS Reaction: You’re A Plus Size Model

Jin:

You spun around, posing as the flashes of the camera continued to go off, the director had a wide smile on his face as he looked through the shots that were being taken. “Y/N, take a break, you’ve smashed it.”

“Thank you,” you smiled, walking off the set where Jin was sat patiently on one of the stools, wrapping his arms around you.

He passed you a bottle of water, dabbing at your makeup, “the photos look incredible, and so do you. I can’t believe how amazing this is all looking, I’m so glad that I came.”

You took a sip from the water bottle, being handed your next outfit to be shot in. “I’m glad that you could come too. All the times I told you to come to one of my shoots and you didn’t want to, do you regret it?”

“I do,” he chuckled, kissing the tip of your nose, “I can’t wait to show off to all of the fans how incredible you look, I’m going to be so proud to show off how beautiful you look.”

“You’re too kind sometimes,” you giggled, holding the costume up against your figure. “So, what do you think, how is this next one going to look?”

“Absolutely stunning, just like them all.”

Yoongi:

You couldn’t believe your eyes when Yoongi walked into the studio, a shy smile was on his face as he watched you walk towards him, waving slightly. “I thought you were too busy to be able come down today?”

“I made time,” he chuckled, pressing a quick kiss to your shoulder in order not to ruin your make up, “I wanted to come and support you.”

He had a wide smile on his face as he looked around the set you were shooting on. “They think that they might choose the photo for the cover, to promote plus size models more.”

His eyes widened, squeezing tightly around your waist, “that would be amazing! I’m proud of you just for featuring in the magazine, but to be on the cover, that would just be incredible, don’t you think?”

“I’m not getting my hopes up,” you laughed, cupping the side of his face, “can you imagine what some people would have to say about it though, it wouldn’t go down well everywhere.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he smiled, “if people are still going to be rude in these days, they’re the problem. People have different figures, it’s all natural.”

“You’re the best supporter, thank you.”

Hoseok:

He laid out on the bed, cheering for his day off tomorrow from the studio, he had no plans, and couldn’t wait to spend the day with you. “I’m actually doing a shoot, and I’ve got space for a plus one, if you want to?”

“I’d love to,” he smiled, wrapping his arms around your frame, “I’ve always wanted to see what you get up to on set.”

Your head rested against his chest, “it’s not as glamorous as you might think, but it would be nice to show you around and let you have an insight into what I actually get up to.”

He nodded, pressing a kiss to the top of your head, “I can be on hand to take care of you, get you drinks, touch up your hair and makeup, I’ll be the assistant that no one asked for, but definitely needs.”

“Just stay out of trouble,” you warned him, running your hand through his hair, “I know what you’re like when you get too excited, and the director is not exactly a happy person to begin with.”

“I’ll be on my best behaviour,” he promised you, squeezing your frame, “but I am super excited to be with you and see all the things you do.”

“I’m excited to have you there too.”

Namjoon:

He had a wide smile on his face watching as you posed in front of the camera, months ago you would have never had the confidence to pose in your underwear, but somehow he’d managed to convince you to go for it.

“Beautiful!” The photographer called out as you spun around, smiling and striking a pose at all the right moments. “What do you reckon?”

He paused and walked over to you so that you could look through the photographs that he had taken of you. “They all look really good, thank you so much for all of these.”

He looked across to Namjoon, beckoning for him to come over and take a look at the photos for himself. His arm wrapped around you, “they look incredible, I always told you that you’d look amazing in front of a camera.”

“You’re the one who encouraged her then,” the photographer chuckled, as Namjoon nodded, pressing a kiss to your cheek. “You’ve gifted modelling a wonderful talent with her.”

“She just needed a boost, I knew she would be great,” he proudly grinned, unable to look away from the photos, “and all of these shots go to prove it.”

“The publishers are going to adore these.”

Jimin:

Prior to the shoot you were terrified, a group of models representing all body shapes had been asked to participate, you naturally represented the plus size group, but seeing all the skinny models around you caused your insecurities to flair.

“You look beautiful,” Jimin whispered into your ear when you walked to change outfits into the next theme they were going for.

You turned to face him, shrugging your shoulders, “I look huge around all of those models, they’re all like sticks, and then I turn up taking up most of the shot.”

His head shook, wrapping his arms around you, “from where I’m standing, you look beautiful, if anything, I think you look better than all the other models. And I’m not just saying that, but you look really happy.”

“I am happy, usually,” you chuckled, stripping yourself down to change, “I’m normally so happy in front of the camera, there’s just something in me that doesn’t feel right.”

“When you see all the photos, you’ll realise how stunning you look,” he assured you, pecking your cheek. “Don’t let this get to you.”

“I won’t, I’ll keep smiling when it matters.”

Taehyung:

He flicked through the magazine you handed him, looking at all of the models that were featured, his jaw hit the floor when he stopped at a certain page, recognising the model. “When did you do this? You never told me.”

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” you giggled, sitting down beside him. “It’s been so hard not telling you and being able to show you.”

He smiled widely, studying the picture of you closely, “you do realise I’m going to cut this out and frame it everywhere, you look incredible, I am a very lucky guy indeed.”

You rested your head on his shoulder, you were incredibly proud of the set you’d shot and seeing Taehyung’s reaction made it all worthwhile. “They really made me feel appreciated on that set, I loved it.”

“I’m glad,” he encouraged holding your hand, “you’ve done wonders for plus size modelling looking as beautiful as you do on this cover, people are going to love seeing you.”

“I’m so happy to have someone as supportive as you,” you whispered, feeling his hand squeeze onto yours, placing the magazine down.

“I can’t wait to show this to everyone.”

Jungkook:

A blush appeared on his cheeks when the photographer suggested that he joined in with your shoot, you thought it was a great idea, pulling him to join you in front of the camera. “Don’t get all shy now Jeon Jungkook.”

“I’m not,” he chuckled, but you could tell easily how embarrassed he was. “This shoot is all about you though, it has nothing to do with me.”

Your head shook, wrapping his arms around you, “these aren’t going to get posted, I’ve finished early and we’ve got a few tapes spare, so we can make some memories instead.”

He nodded, placing you in front of the camera, he hung back so that he could show you off for the photographer to photograph. “I want the photos to show you and your beautiful figure off, I look a mess today.”

“You always look handsome,” you assured him, pressing a kiss to his cheek just as the flash of the camera went off. “I don’t know why you’re so anxious, is it because the boys aren’t here?”

“How can I compete when you look so good? With the boys, I’m always the best looking, but not when I’m with you,” he complimented, running his hand along your waist.

“Stop being so adorable and smile for the camera.”

---

Masterlist

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krisdreaming · 4 years ago

Text

PART 2 | A PLAN

｢ Masterlist ｣ | Next >

Pairing: Kuroo Tetsurou x gn!reader

Summary: Somehow, you ended up agreeing to bring your non-existent boyfriend to the family Christmas gathering at your grandparents’. Your chem lab partner and fast friend, Kuroo Tetsurou, agrees to play the part. Your developing feelings for him won’t cause any problems, right?

WC: 1.7k

A/N: As you’ll (maybe) notice there are a few small tidbits I lifted from the original fic, but this is very different from it in a lot of ways! I hope it isn’t seeming too repetitive for those of you who have read the first one. Also, I know it’s a bit of a slow start, but I promise it’ll really get going in the next part.

You plan to meet Kuroo at the coffee shop again a week later. This time, you beat him there, which gives you the perfect opportunity to gather your thoughts. As you wait in line to order, you remind yourself for the hundredth time that this is really happening. Kuroo Tetsurou with his messy hair and his teasing jabs and that stupid smile has agreed to spend three whole days pretending to be your boyfriend. What could possibly go wrong?

Luckily, before your mind can concoct an answer, your turn to order comes up. Remembering last week, you order a cup of black coffee in addition to your usual macchiato. It’s a french roast, described as “dark and bold” on the menu. For the guy who reminds you daily that adding anything to coffee is only for the weak, it seems fitting. The comment is always paired with a teasing wink that shoots right to your middle, but that’s definitely not what you need to focus on as you carefully carry the two mugs to a table by the window.

You get situated and you’ve just taken your first sip when Kuroo plops down across from you. “Hey.”

“Hey! Here,” You push the mug in his direction.

“Oh,” He peers into the mug and gives a small, approving nod, “Thanks, you didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s for last week,” You say with a wave of your hand, watching as he lifts it to his lips and takes the first sip. When he sets it back down, he holds the mug in front of himself with both hands.

“You were right,” He says suddenly, “This coffee shop is better than the one on campus.”

“Oh really?” You grin smugly.

“Don’t look too proud of yourself,” He laughs, lifting his mug and taking another sip, “You’re the one who has to hire a fake boyfriend.”

“I didn’t hire you,” You snap back quickly, “And it was your idea, if you’ll recall.” You sigh, propping your chin on your hand. Judging by the expression on his face, he’s already enjoying this far too much.

“Details, details,” He waves his hand. “Doesn’t matter. I am curious, though. Why exactly did you tell your family you have a boyfriend when you don’t?” The question comes from a place of genuine curiosity, but you still feel your cheeks begin to burn. You glance down into your own mug so you don’t have to look him in the eye.

“It just gets old, you know?” You mumble to your coffee. “Having everyone ask about it at every family gathering. It seemed so easy to just make up a tiny story. It wasn’t supposed to get this big,” You laugh weakly. “I know it was stupid to lie. I guess I just didn’t want them to be disappointed in me.”

“I get that,” He says softly. “But hey, what do you need me to do?”

You shrug. You haven’t thought about that end of things as much as you probably should have. “Just... be my boyfriend. Charm their socks off. I know you’ve got it in you.” You chuckle. “It’ll be nice to have someone there,” You add after a beat.

“Yeah?” He says, leaning in a little closer. You’re a bit surprised by how much he genuinely seems to care. Half of you had expected him to treat this whole thing like it’s a big, elaborate joke.

“A lot of my cousins have significant others already. Maybe that’s why I felt like I had to make one up. Sometimes I just feel like the odd one out. Don’t get me wrong, I love them,” You add quickly, “But it’s just…”

“I get it,” He saves you from your floundering. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be there. And as an honorary grandson, tell your grandma she can feed me as much as she likes.”

You stifle your laughter behind your fingers. “You think it’s a joke, but she might just take that as a personal challenge,” You shake your head, already feeling a little bit lighter. “Anyway, we need details, don’t we? About our ‘relationship’?” You lift your hands to make exaggerated air quotes.

“Probably a good idea,” He nods, “How awkward would it be if our stories didn’t match?”

“I’d rather not think about it.” You squeeze your fingers tighter around your mug. “So we started dating a few weeks into the school year, I guess?”

“Sure, makes sense,” He props his chin on his fist, his lips curling into a half smile as a teasing tone cuts into his voice, “And was it love at first sight?”

You think back to that first day of class. You’d been running late because you were having trouble finding the room. You’d slid into one of the few open seats left, next to that ridiculous head of hair, and you’d glanced at him in a silent apology as he flashed you a quick smile. Love? Probably not, but you can’t forget the slight leap you’d felt in your middle and chalked up to nerves.

“Why not?” You say lightly instead, adopting his teasing tone. “And for our first date… we saw a movie, then came here for coffee after. That’s normal, right?”

“Sounds like it to me,” He shrugs. “And you can call me Tetsurou. I don’t mind. Or even Tetsu.”

You think about it for a moment, mentally testing the words on your tongue. His full name seems strange enough, never mind shortening it to a nickname. “Tetsurou,” You clear your throat, “Tetsurou is fine. Thanks. And you can call me Y/N.”

“Perfect. Y/N.” He says it experimentally, a strange small smile on his face. Something in the air between you feels just a little heavier, but you push forward before you can think about it too much.

“And I should warn you,” You run your fingertip absently around the edge of your mug, “My grandma is going to show you every single photo she’s ever taken of me. Last year, it took her almost an hour to get through them with my cousin’s girlfriend.”

“Oh, perfect, I was running out of things to make fun of you about,” He just barely dodges your hand as you reach across the table to swat him.

“And my family loves all kinds of games, so we’ll probably end up playing a lot of different ones,” You continue, choosing to ignore the playful jab. “So I hope that’s not too boring for you.”

“Are you kidding? Boring is sitting at home with my dad and eating the dinner he ordered from the store. Honestly? I’m looking forward to this. Christmas with your family sounds kind of like paradise.” He looks into his mug for a few moments before lifting it to his lips and draining the last swallows. “If you want the truth, I think you’re pretty lucky.” He finishes softly.

Your breath catches in your throat for a few moments. You forget, sometimes, that not everyone has a close, crazy, embarrassing family like yours. You open your mouth, but before you can come up with a response, his expressions shifts back to his easy smile as though he hadn’t said a word.

“We’re going to have a great time. I won’t let you down,” He lifts his hand, pinkie extended, and you don’t catch on right away. “Promise,” He prompts, sticking his hand out a little further. After a moment of hesitation, you reach out and link your pinkie with his. He grins.

“Thanks. Hopefully I don’t let me down,” You say with a chuckle, pulling away and lifting your mug to swallow the lukewarm dregs in the bottom. “I should be getting back,” You say as you set the mug back down, “I have a history exam before break starts, and I really need to study for it.”

“I should get back too, I have an assignment due tomorrow that I haven’t started yet,” He admits sheepishly.

“Tsk, tsk,” You tease as you push back your chair and stand, knowing full well that you’re the last person who can scold him for procrastinating. Judging by his incredulous expression, he’s fully aware of that fact. Side by side, the two of you step out into the early winter darkness.

“Really though, thanks for helping me out,” You say as you start making your way down the sidewalk, your words puffing steam into the air, “I appreciate it.”

“Anytime,” He knocks his arm against yours. “To be honest, after all your talk about your grandma’s cooking, I might have tagged along even if I didn’t have to pretend to be your boyfriend,” He laughs.

“You certainly won’t go hungry,” You agree, “She’ll make sure of that. Just don’t blame me if it affects your volleyball physique.”

“Don’t worry, I’m naturally slender,” He pats his middle, “I’ve got the quickest metabolism you’ve ever seen.”

You shake your head with a chuckle. “If you say so.”

The remainder of the walk back to campus is relatively silent, the two of you walking with your hands shoved down in your pockets against the cold. Occasionally, his arm brushes against yours. It’s nice in a way, just being next to him like this. You don’t feel any pressure to fill the silence with mindless chattering, and he obviously doesn’t either. You’re content to just walk together through the chilly night.

Winter break starts in less than a week, and you and Kuroo will be leaving for your grandparents’. In an odd way, you’re looking forward to this. Of course you always enjoy spending the holiday with your family, but knowing that Kuroo will be there too has you anticipating it just a little more than usual.

You’re so lost in your thoughts that it takes a few moments to realize you’ve come to a stop in front of your dorm building. “Alright, guess I’ll see you in class Tuesday,” Kuroo says, lifting his hand in a wave.

“See you then,” You wave back, watching his retreating back for a few moments before turning to go inside. You close your hand into a light fist at your side, remembering the feel of his pinkie linked with yours. It isn’t until you’re back in your dorm that you realize that, despite the long walk in the chilly evening, you don’t feel cold at all.

#haikyuu #Haikyuu imagines #Haikyuu fluff #Kuroo Tetsurou #Kuroo Tetsurou x Reader #kuroo x reader #Haikyuu x reader #queued #hqd fluffmas

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giuliafc · 3 years ago

Text

Betrayal -- Chapter 19 and 19bis: Inside the Mind of a Criminal (snippet dal 30) + Pigella (LadyNoir July day 30)

<< 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16 – 17 – 18 -- 19: Ao3 || FFN – 19 bis: Ao3 || FFN -- 20 >>

Betrayal Chapter 19: Inside the Mind of a Criminal

Written by: JuliaFC

Beta: Agrestebug and MyImaginationFlows

Summary: We learn the background story of Lila's father, Richard Sphinx, the new Papillon, and how he's going to be much, much worse than the first one...

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc, TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

TW: mention of extreme manipulative and obsessive behaviour and cruelty against family

Written for the "Snippet July" challenge of the Miraculous Fanworks Discord server @miraculousfanworks

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Well done, Lila. Now head back to the monk and get his staff. If there are more jewels like these, we need to get our hands on them!" Richard sat at the desk of his office, staring at the nothing in front of him. His elbows pinned on the wood of the desk, his face resting on the length of his hands. His body was wrapped in a purple and grey suit and a grey mask covered his face, making his green eyes shine.

Briefly, he broke contact with Lila's akuma and stood up; he slowly paced the room to the fireplace. His gloved hand picking up a photograph on the mantle, portraying a woman with short brown hair wrapped in an elegant blue tailleur.

He still remembered the day he'd met Melania, Lila's mother. She was a petite Italian lady who exuded elegance and genuineness at a celebrity party. She looked so out of place, and her cheerful smile was like a breath of fresh air in the hypocrite atmosphere of the ball room. He still remembered his burning passion, how much he'd wanted her—her and all she represented. She was the daughter of a rich Italian family of ambassadors, with excellent connections all over the diplomatic world he wanted to be part of. When his charming politeness managed to raise her interest, he thought he'd hit the jackpot.

Their story had been short but intense, their relationship the final tassel in the puzzle that brought him to the limelight. Before their engagement of 5 years ended, FERG, his company, was quoted in the stock exchange. Quickly rising to be one of the top companies in the market.

Everything was perfect. Then, Melania fell pregnant and had her baby. For reasons that Richard couldn't understand, she somehow started distancing her husband — him. He suspected that the accusations of him having committed several cases of fraud, and having caused several suicides, may have been part of it. But Richard had done it for her. Nobody else was important in his mind. He had to protect his family. He had to protect the people who mattered for him. How could Melania not see that?

"You're a heartless monster!" she accused him instead, when she tried to leave him and go stay with a friend; but he found her almost immediately and locked her up in her room.

The more he clenched his grip on Melania, the more the woman became distant, almost terrified. Eventually, she dared to ask for divorce and deny him the rights to see his daughter.

"His obsessive behaviour is harming me and my daughter! I'm afraid for our safety, Your Honour," she told the judge. "Only the money is important to Richard! He puts his company before the safety of his family."

Needless to say, she won the case. Since then, she kept as far away as possible and had tried to keep Lila away from him too. She had changed her surname to the plain Rossi, and changed her job many times. Until Lila was old enough to make her own decisions, she succeeded at keeping him away.

But Lila was a clever girl. Her thirst for power and her quest for attention were second to him. She knew what was important in life, that power and money were the only things that mattered. As soon as she had gained the use of a mobile phone, she contacted him (lying to her mother). They had been plotting against Melania ever since.

Now it was their time to obtain their aim. When Papillon trusted Lila to be his second in charge, Richard advised his daughter to gain as much information as she could about those powerful jewels that gave him power. Now all that hard work was paying off.

He squeezed Melania's photo in his hands, breaking the frame with his strong hold. How dare she run away from him? How dare she disregard his burning passion?

"You don't love me, you think you own me," shouted Melania when she left him, taking away his only daughter with her. "I don't want you to be a bad influence on our daughter. You terrify me."

How dare she. She was his wife, his other half, his property.

"You're mine. MINE. No judge can take you away from me."

He stared in a daze at the blood flowing from his gloved hands, where the shattered glass of the photo frame had pierced the skin underneath the suit. His eyes gleamed of madness. "I will be victorious. I will get the Miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir. And when I have the most powerful jewels in the world, you will come back. You will love me again. If you won't, I’ll force you to."

oOoOoOoOoOo

Gabriel closed his eyes as he placed a single red rose between Emilie's palms and squeezed her hands gently before closing the glass cover of her coffin one last time. He rested his hand on the glassy surface for an endless moment; the hand of Lieutenant Raincomprix falling on his arm way too soon for his tastes. He sighed and gave one last glance at the peaceful face of his sleeping wife.

"It's time to go, M. Agreste. Mlle. Sancoeur," said the officer.

They had spent a long time talking to SentiAdrien in Adrien's room. The boy had confirmed most of the wrongdoings that his teachers and friends had accused Gabriel and Nathalie of, and had pleaded completely non guilty regarding any involvement in his father's terrorist activities.. M. Raincomprix had decided to be safe, and was arresting both Gabriel and Nathalie.

"Mlle. Sancoeur will most likely be released when the heroes witness her double agenting, but better safe than sorry," said Raincomprix.

Gabriel glared at him as the officer moved his and Nathalie's hands behind their back and handcuffed them. He shot one last, languid glance at the blonde figure in the coffin, before having to follow Raincomprix and walk away.

To be continued… Day 30.2 — Bonus chapter

30.2 - Betrayal Chapter 19 bis: Pigella

Written by: JuliaFC

Beta: Agrestebug and MyImaginationFlows

Summary: Ladybug struggles to understand how to win against the vacuum akuma, but Volpina has to eventually face (temporary) defeat. (1687 words)

Written for the LadyNoir July @ladynoirjuly Day 30 — Rose.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Hey, Vacuum Lady, Aren't you tired of collecting dirt?" shouted Chat Noir as he used his baton to propel himself up. He smirked and added, "Probably not, since you've got Volpina with you. She's the biggest piece of dirt in existence!"

"How dare you," hissed Volpina and the Vacuum akuma at the same time before they both followed Chat Noir out of the way.

Ladybug gazed at the two akumas following her partner gratefully; then she put her hands to her temples and closed her eyes shut to concentrate. She picked up her communicator and dialled Alya's number.

"What's the plan, Ladybug? I saw Chat Noir jumping away with the akumas, I thought he may be trying to distract them."

"You were correct. Listen, Alya, I need you to use the water dragon. Water passes through surfaces so you will reach me in no time," whispered Ladybug to her Bugphone.

Alya smirked. "Right-o, I'm on it!"

Just seconds after their conversation, Ladybug saw water seeping through the barrier of books that towered in front of her. And, in a whirl of magic, Dragonbee Alya appeared in front of her. She wore a red outfit with the symbol of the dragon at the centre of her chest and curvy golden lines separated the red from sections of gold and black stripes. Her hair was combed in a twirly ponytail that looked like the sting of a bee. Ladybug didn't waste time and picked up her phone again, dialling Chat Noir's number this time.

"Chat, bring your whiskers back here immediately, before your transformation wears out!" she said before he could even say meow. With a gracious jump, her partner was again by her side seconds later.

"M'lady called?" he asked with a little smirk that Ladybug would have loved to take off his face with a kiss, but she knew perfectly well it wasn't the right moment.

"Alya, Chat and I’s timers are running out, we must be quick. Use the wind dragon and swoop us out of this alley and back on a rooftop."

Alya's eyes gleamed. "As you wish, Ladybug. Wind dragon!" Ladybug and Chat Noir were wrapped in a current of wind and next thing they knew, they were on a rooftop next to Nino (or rather, Thueban Jameel (1), as he has called himself), far away from the Library Maze but still keeping it in sight. The two heroes hid behind a chimney to release their transformation and feed their kwami without being spied on, and in no time they were up and running again.

"Okay now…before the akumas find us and we get stuck into that maze again. Lucky Charm!" called Ladybug. A red and black polka dotted single rose fell into her hands. "What?" she muttered, scratching her head.

"Are we going to declare our love to a vacuum cleaner?" was Chat Noir's snarky comment. But before Ladybug could say anything, the rooftop they were standing on disappeared and they all fell on the ground, facing yet another massive wall of books.

"Shoot! Here we are again…" cursed Ladybug.

The vacuum akuma reached them as well. "There you are, you fools. Did you really think you could escape? What a bunch of idiots! Tricksters, like that thief. I'll sweep you all away from existence. I wish I didn't always try to help people. I wish my heart hadn't been so kind. I'll take all the tricksters away, so maybe my boss will forgive me. I need my job!"

The four superheroes had to forcefully separate again trying to escape from the strength of the vacuum's sucking power. Before jumping off, Ladybug took a good look at the akuma and noticed that the akumatised object must be a book, which the victim was holding in her hand to create the vortex of sucking power.

Something in what the akuma had said was nagging at Ladybug. As she ran to hide from the vacuum, she went back to what the akuma had previously said: someone had stolen a book from her library and she was upset about it.

"What do you mean by trickster?" she asked when the akuma reached her once more.

A smirk popped on the victim's face. "That liar tricked me. He told me a sappy story about his family and convinced me to lend him the book without opening an account, but in the name of someone else. He promised me he was going to bring the book back in a couple of days. I'm too nice, too gullible. I wish all the tricksters would disappear!"

Ladybug's gaze fell on her lucky charm and her eyes widened. OF COURSE! How could she be that stupid to not realise before? She unified Kaalki and Tikki, becoming Pegabug. Then, with a smirk on her lips, she called for a 'Voyage' and jumped out of the maze, stepping inside the Couffaine's boat.

"Ladybug? Is there something wrong?" said Rose. That was a strike of luck: Rose was in Juleka's room, but her girlfriend was nowhere to be seen. "Jules is in the bathroom, if you're looking for her," added Rose when she noticed that Ladybug's gaze had darted around the room.

"No, I was looking for you, actually." She opened her yoyo and took out a pearl anklet. "Rose Lavillant, this is the Miraculous of the Pig. I need Pigella's help to win against this akuma."

Rose grabbed the anklet and put it on, allowing Daizzi to come out in a buzz of magic. "I still can't believe how cute you are," said Rose when she looked at the little kwami. Then, she muttered the transformation phrase and changed into Pigella.

It didn't take long for Pegabug and Pigella to find the vacuum akuma again, just in time to see Chat Noir being sucked in the vacuum when he got distracted by their arrival. The sound of Ladybug's scream echoed in the empty alley of books.

"You've got another one with you, Ladybug? I'll suck her in too!" drawled the akuma victim. But Pigella's gaze had a determined gleam.

"Why is your heart so full of sorrow? You should rejoice and be happy!" said Pigella with the sweetest of smiles on her face.

"Don't get close to me! I'm going to suck you in!" warned the akuma, but Pigella didn't just get close to her. She hugged her. The akuma was so baffled that she got petrified on the spot.

"Gift," murmured the pink superheroine and in a flash of light, a beautiful scene appeared in between the two girls, picturing a room full of books and everyone loving each other and being nice and friendly with each other. The akuma victim had tears in her eyes.

"Why are people so nasty? Why do people do wrong things, like lying or stealing? I want everyone to be happy!" The akuma leaned in Pigella's embrace and hugged her back, dropping the book that created the vacuum in the process. As soon as the akuma's grip on the book weakened, Ladybug caught it. She broke the book to release the butterfly, which she hastily captured, cleansed and released.

"Bye bye, little butterfly," said Ladybug as the white insect flew away in the sky. Then she picked up the lucky charm and threw it in the air, releasing the kaleidoscope of ladybugs. The instant Chat Noir reappeared, she was in his arms.

"I'm purr-fectly okay, M'lady," said the feline but this didn't stop the polka-dotted heroine from crying.

"Why do you always die for me? I don't want you to do that anymore!"

Chat Noir smiled softly as he hugged her tight, then he broke the hug to wipe her eyes and stroke her cheek. "I'm sorry, ma Buginette. I'll try to pay more attention, okay?"

"This new Papillon seems very dangerous, especially because he has a cunning fox like Volpina at his side. We need to pay even more attention than before!" said Ladybug as she hugged him again. He patted his hand on her back, gently drawing circles on the material of her suit.

"I'll be okay, as long as I'm with you," murmured Chat Noir into her ear.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"I'm very disappointed, Volpina." Richard's voice was tense as he spoke through the ethereal connection of the butterfly. "We were so close to achieving our goal, and now we have to start all over again! I've no time for losers!"

Far away on a rooftop, Volpina lowered her head and closed her eyes, clenching her fists. "I'm sorry, Father! I still have my Miraculous though, and the akuma."

She groaned thinking back at how Pegabug had immediately found the tracker she'd put on Su-Han's bag. She had completely underestimated how strong and skilled the monk was, and she hadn't been able to steal his staff. Besides, Su-Han seemed to have the annoying ability to see through her Illusions, which she really didn't expect.

"I will come up with a new plan to submit to you, Father, don't worry!" she said, seething in a low growl.

Richard's stern expression didn't soften. "You better. Did you get Melania to sign the document I gave you?"

Volpina took a paper from her pocket and looked at it carefully. It was a request to cease school and start homeschooling, signed by her mother. It had taken her much more than just a trick to obtain her mother to scribble her signature without noticing what it was all about. "I have it here. I told her that the school will be closed because of all the attacks and that I would stay with a friend of mine for some time." Pain flashed through her eyes as she added, "I doubt she would have noticed anyway, as busy as she is with work."

Richard smirked, hearing the hurt in Volpina's voice. "Worry not, my daughter. When we make the Wish, she will have all the time in the world to dedicate herself exclusively to us." His smirk widened when he felt the strength of her emotions. "Together we will succeed."

He cackled, and from her rooftop, Volpina sneered.

To be Continued… Day 31

Notes:

Thueban Jameel: "Beautiful Snake", from the Arabic for beautiful, "Jameel" (جميل) and the Arabic for snake, "Thueban" (ثعبان). (Thank you so much to my Beta, MyImaginationFlows, for her assistance with Arabic!) The peacock is the symbol of beauty, so I thought it would fit.

Author's Note

Hey! Here it is, this is a bonus chapter I had to write because the snippets didn't give me enough space to wrap up the battle and all loose ends. It's a second part for chapter 19, based on the LadyNoir prompt for day 30, "Rose". Let me know what you think of it.

I hope you will like it anyway and will leave me a comment. You know that comments are my bread and butter!

You're lucky today because you're getting even the epilogue and the end of the story. So… until I finish updating that, a temporary 'bug out'!

#miraculous ladynoir #miraculous love square #miraculous lb #miraculous les aventures de ladybug et chat noir #miraculous adrien #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #miraculous nathalie #nathalie sancoeur #ladynoirjuly2021 #miraculous fanworks

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louuieferrignojr · 4 years ago

Text

title: long story short

summary: alex wants to go on an adventure and takes michael with him (inspired heavily by that vlamburn piggyback photo - thanks guys! lol)

AO3 LINK

“Alex, do you think this is a good idea with your prosthetic?” Michael asked as he carried a big duffel over his shoulder, watching as Alex got out of the truck and closed the passenger side door.

Alex lifted his head to glare at his boyfriend, ignoring Michael’s worried eyes before his eyes softened and he ambled over to him. Taking in Michael’s curls and eyes full of love, Alex leaned forward and kissed him on the lips before pulling away and taking Michael’s face in his hands.

“I’m fine, and I will be careful.”

“You’re lucky you’re so cute,” Michael said, rolling his eyes, and Alex smirked, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

“I know,” he stated matter of factly, and the laughter that came out of Michael made his cheeks turn a lovely shade of pink.

“Now, I have my crutch and the basket of food, and you have the duffel with the blankets and first aid kit in case I get a splinter,” Michael sent him a look at the comment, and he looked away to look at the surrounding area before he continued. “I think that’s everything we need. I heard from Greg that this area near the reservation has an incredible view. We just have to go up that hill,” he pointed to the landscape in front of them.

“Alex, are you serious?”

Ignoring the look Michael was giving him, he started walking, mindful of his leg, slow enough for Michael to catch up with him.

“Why couldn’t we just have a nice dinner at a restaurant for our anniversary?” Michael suggested, moving small rocks out of the way of Alex’s path with his mind.

“Because I want this to be an adventure. It’s a beautiful day, and I want to enjoy nature and this amazing view,” Michael snorted as he saw Alex looking at his ass.

Amazing view all right.

“I hope you’re right about this, Manes,” he muttered before grasping Alex’s hand, feeling the other man squeeze it as they walked up the path.

“I really don’t want this day to end, so let’s take our time. It’s only 11 in the morning anyway; we have all day,” Alex suggested, letting his face break into a rare smile.

Michael looked over at his boyfriend, seeing the happy glow around him, and he brought him close to his side to kiss him on the head. “I love you.”

The declaration didn’t go unheard, as Alex looked over at him and went to say the words back.

“I love - OW!” Alex’s pained cry made Michael freeze, wondering what happened. Looking down, he noticed that Alex’s prosthetic was fine but noticed that Alex’s left foot was not.

Michael mentally cursed himself as he realized him focusing on Alex took him away from focusing on Alex’s path and noticed that Alex’s left foot was at an odd angle. He saw a surprisingly big rock in their path that Alex walked into.

“Alex, please sit down and let me look at that,” Michael suggested looking at Alex who was biting his lip to keep from whimpering in pain. The other man could only nod in response, and Michael helped him over to a giant boulder that was just outside the path.

Michael carefully and slowly took Alex’s foot out of his hiking boot and grasped it gently. Alex let out a wounded noise, and Michael looked like he was trying to see how they could continue this hike that Alex was looking forward to while keeping Alex’s foot elevated.

“I have an idea.”

“You’re not going to levitate me, Michael,” Alex stated.

The curly-haired man just snorted before shaking his head.

“Piggyback ride?”

Alex looked up from his ankle swelling up, after watching as Michael carefully put wrapping around it from the first aid kit that he quickly brought over with his powers, and let out a smile.

“Are you sure?”

“I carried you when you were 17. I can do it again.”

Alex looked on fondly, remembering when they were teenagers, and Alex tore a muscle in his leg in gym class. Michael was the only one in the class that would go near him after hearing him curse up a storm in the middle of the gym, and he suggested how he could help him to the nurse. Alex had laughed, not realizing how serious Michael was. When Michael just looked at him, Alex shrugged and let Michael bend down so he could get on his back.

Twelve years later, he looked at the same boy who turned into the man he loved and would do anything for him.

“Okay, but I still have to carry the basket somehow.” Alex knew that they had too many things and now fewer ways to carry them. This trip was turning into a disaster.

“I have an idea,” Michael replied, getting the gears turning in his head to get some type of plan to work.

About 10 minutes later, Alex was on his back trying to hold on while Michael held his duffel and the crutch in one hand and the basket in the other.

“You good?” Michael asked, feeling Alex’s soft breaths on his neck.

Alex nodded before realizing Michael couldn’t see him. “Yeah, let’s go.”

“Isn’t this view incredible?” Alex asked as they reached the top of the hiking trail, where a flat area was set up perfectly for a picnic for anyone. Shocking to no one, Michael was barely breaking a sweat before he dropped everything but Alex on the ground.

He unzipped the bag and let the blanket fly out of it, laying it on the ground using his powers. He gently let Alex down on it, mindful of his injury, and watched as Alex leaned forward to kiss him on the nose.

“Thank you,” Alex said, expressing his gratitude, before opening up the picnic basket.

Michael watched as Alex grabbed the plates, plastic utensils, and the sandwiches before pulling out the milkshakes from the diner and the chocolate covered strawberries that Rosa had given him with a wink the day before. Michael moved the basket towards his duffel, which was a few feet away from the blanket to get it out of the way.

“I didn’t get to say what I wanted to earlier,” Alex cleared his throat, “before I injured myself like an idiot.”

Michael let a grin slowly appear on his face, “Oh yeah, what was that?”

“I love you. I wanted this trip to be something special. It could maybe be something that we do like every year for a day, just to get away from all the noise and people? Just us and nature. It’s all I need, really.”

Michael looked at him with eyes shining bright before he grabbed Alex’s face with one hand.

“Yeah, I think that’s a great idea. Just need to make sure you don’t get injured again.” Michael kissed him on the lips, and it became a much deeper kiss before Alex sneakingly grabbed a chocolate-covered strawberry and promptly smashed it into his cheek. The airman broke into hysterical laughter at his actions, noting that Michael froze in his spot.

Michael didn’t know whether to look more affronted at the kiss ending or the chocolate now on his face before noticing Alex’s giggling, which caused him to break out into his own laugh.

“You think you’re funny, do you?” Michael asked, letting his smile turn into a smirk as he grabbed his own strawberry and smashed it into Alex’s face. The chocolate dripped down Alex’s face, and he licked it as it fell to his lips.

“Tasty,” Alex replied, “I think you blinded me with that chocolate though, can you get me a napkin from the basket, oh lovely boyfriend?”

Michael snickered before turning to get the basket.

As he looked through the basket, he pulled out a pile of napkins and went to hand them to Alex. When he turned around, he came face to face with a ring box.

Alex was standing up on his one good prosthetic leg, trying to balance on it and not show any sign of pain, and looking down at him with a ring box that was now being opened.

Holy shit.

“Michael Guerin,” Alex started, looking at Michael with tears in his eyes before he continued. “I knew that when we met in high school and you stole my guitar and helped carry me to the nurse’s office that you’d be the person I’d want to spend the rest of my life with. You’ve stolen my heart and I don’t want it back. My heart is yours. You have helped carry me through all the pain with my dad...war...and all the baggage that came with being with me and helped me soar. I hope I have helped you along the way, but I don’t know if there’s anyone else who could ever make me feel this way, and I don’t ever want to. I want to spend the rest of my life with you…” Michael looked on speechless before Alex asked the big question.

“Will you marry me?”

“Alex…” Alex looked on, biting his lip before Michael realized he really needed to answer. “Yes, yes, I’ll marry you. A hundred times, I’ll marry you.”

He let Alex put the ring on his finger before he slowly pulled Alex down to the blanket again so he wouldn’t have to stand in pain.

“I love you so much,” Michael grabbed Alex’s face and kissed him with an intense passion that almost had Alex falling backward.

As they broke apart, they looked at each other with a hunger that was more appropriate for the bedroom than this outside setting. Alex looked at Michael, smiling, “I have a little something to commemorate this occasion. It’s in the side pocket of the duffle. I snuck them in there before we left.”

Michael looked on confused before he quickly grabbed the duffel, unzipped the pocket, and pulled out two baseball hats. Before he could get a good look at them, he gave Alex an even more puzzled look.

Alex just smiled before pulling the hats out in full view.

“Just engaged,” Michael read in bedazzled art on the front and back of the hats.

“Isobel and Rosa helped put it together.”

“Did everyone know you were going to propose?” Michael asked, bewildered.

“To be honest, they thought I was going to propose a year ago after you got taken by Jones, but I never thought it was the right time. I came up with this idea and let them know. Max, Isobel, and Sanders gave me their approval.”

Michael snorted, “Did Sanders scare you? I only care about his approval.”

“He told me even with one eye, he’d always be watching me to make sure I took care of you. Kind of creeped me out, in a sweet way.”

Michael let out a cackle. “The old man is harmless, don’t worry.”

“Now, we need to take a photo, and we need to get a good angle and I can’t stand. I promised Kyle a photo.”

“Kyle?” Michael raised an eyebrow, and Alex rolled his eyes.

“He wants to see proof that I am truly happy with you.”

“Fine, fine. We have to look real cute, though. Let me get you on my back again, and I’ll put the timer on the phone camera and put it on the tree over there. Its branches are at a good spot so that the phone won’t fall.”

Michael ran over to the tree and set it to take the photo in 20 seconds. After getting that all done, he ran back over to Alex, who was wearing his hat backwards, and quickly helped him onto his back. Alex placed Michael’s hat on his head, and Michael looked straight ahead smiling as Alex looked on laughing.

SNAP.

Alex got off Michael’s back and went back to sit on the blanket as Michael went to get the phone. He was looking at the photo and smiling before handing it over to Alex.

“Oh yeah, we are definitely the cutest.”

“No, you’re the cutest,” Michael said, before pulling Alex into another kiss.

#malex #malex fic #alex manes #michael guerin #roswell new mexico #my fic

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spine-buster · 4 years ago

Text

peaceful easy feeling ft. b.boeser | four

A/N: This one is an emotional one. Please be prepared. Content warnings are below.

CONTENT WARNING: parents with disease/sickness (Parkinson’s); parent death; swearing; sex; alcohol use; lots of emotions.

* * * * *

Brock was wiping Grace’s tears as he stood in between her legs as she sat on the counter. She had come over to his house crying after an appointment at the hospital with her dad’s neurologist. There was no good update. There was no bad update. There was just an update. “Things are progressing at the rate they’ve always been progressing,” the doctor had told her. “We’ll see how long the pureed foods last. He’s been doing well with that, but as you know it will have to switch as some point to tube feedings.”

“I just want so much more time with him,” Grace cried into Brock’s shoulder, clinging to his body with every limb she had. Brock pulled her away slightly so he could look her in the eye and wipe the tears that were streaming down her face himself. “There was still so much he wanted to do. So much I wanted to do with him. He—he’s accepted his fate, but it also breaks his heart.”

Brock’s heart was heavy. He wrapped his arms around her again and held her close against his body, placing small reassuring kisses on her neck and whispering to her over and over again that everything would be okay. In reality, the both of them knew it wouldn’t be. Hamish was dying. He was dying a slow death. But both of them also knew it was exactly what Grace needed right now – to be held, to have her tears wiped away, to be told everything was going to be alright. It was one of the things she loved most about Brock, that he always knew what to do and what to say to her.

“I love you,” he whispered into her ear tenderly.

“I love you too, Brock,” Grace whispered back. “I love you so much.”

As Brock stood in the kitchen with Grace’s limbs wrapped around him, he thought about his dad. He thought about Duke holding his hand as they watched football together. He thought about Duke sipping on water from a straw, angry that he couldn’t have a beer like his buddies around him (his buddies would eventually stop drinking beer in front of him). He thought about helping his dad get dressed, making his bed, helping him in and out of chairs or sofas. He thought about his dad with Coolie and Milo and how much he loved them.

Brock started crying too.

***

“You alright dad?” Grace asked as she gripped her father’s hand, watching him as he sat down on his bed in his brand new pajamas she bought him. He nodded his head before sitting. “Okay, let me help you with your legs.”

She bent down in front of him, seeing that he had already lifted them off the ground before she grabbed them gently and brought them on top of the bed. He shifted his own body further into the mattress, and she made sure to fluff up his pillows before he really set his head on them. “There you go,” she said, grabbing at the blanket bunched up at his feet. She brought it up and draped it over his body, making sure he was snug in his bed. She looked down at him once more. “Sleep tight, dad.”

He said nothing. Instead, he grabbed her hand. Grace looked down at him. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Why’re you so scared, sweetheart?”

Grace almost burst into tears right then and there. But she knew she had to stay strong for her dad, because he hated seeing her cry. He probably wouldn’t sleep for the night if she did. “I’m just scared for the day I’m going to wake up and you won’t be here anymore,” Grace admitted to him. Even though the doctor’s appointment didn’t necessarily bring her any good or bad news, these thoughts had been rampant in her mind ever since. She only ever expressed them to Brock. Sometimes to Svea. “I know the day has been coming since I was fourteen and I’m still not prepared for it.”

“You’re…a smart girl, Gracie,” he said. “Even with me gone…you will…still be able to do…everything that you want to. Dance. Have a family. Be a mom.”

Grace nodded her head. “I know I will. I just don’t know if it will be as special if you’re not here to see me do all that. Especially become a mom. Because you know how much I want to be a mom but it’s—you’d be the best grandpa.”

“I’ll be there. I’ll be watching.”

That’s what got her. Right then and there, Grace let out a sob, heavy and desperate and loud, like a hurricane had just swept through her body and had taken everything with it. She tried to stop but it was no use. And while she sat there on the edge of his bed sobbing, he pulled her down so her head was to his chest. “You need to…stop worrying, Gracie,” Hamish said. She could feel and hear his heart beating. “I’m still here…and still breathing. Don’t you worry.”

***

“D’you miss your parents?” Grace asked Svea one night when they were hanging out together at Elias’s apartment. They were alone in the den while Brock and Elias played video games, and Grace was looking at all the photos Svea had of her with her older sister and parents. There were a few of her and Elias too – that was a given – in Vancouver or when they were awkward looking teenagers. She got a kick out of those.

“Of course. Every day,” Svea nodded her head. “Do you miss your parents being together?”

Grace shrugged her shoulders. “They separated when I was so young – I barely remember them together. I remember the fighting more.”

Svea hated to hear that sort of thing. She knew Grace’s story, and Grace had talked to her about it before, but every time they did speak about it, Grace revealed just a little bit more about it. “That must have been hard for you – to see your parents fighting.”

“Not just see – I was involved in it half the time,” Grace revealed. “They would use me to get back at the other. They were young and stupid and had too much money, and it made things unnecessarily complicated. I think that’s why I want to become a mom so bad, you know? Because even though I know my parents loved me, I just want to give them a better childhood experience than what I had between my parents.”

“You want them to know mom and dad love each other,” Svea nodded.

“Exactly,” Grace stressed. “And I want, like, a big family. I want my kids to be able to have each other, you know? That whole time I was so alone. I had my friends at school but I never had a sibling. Nobody really understood.”

Svea could only imagine. It was at that moment she realized how lucky she was that she knew her parents loved each other. Love was complicated, yes, but they loved each other. Her mother moved from Vancouver to a tiny town in Sweden to be with her father – that was love. “I think you’ve found what you need in Brock, you know,” Svea said matter-of-factly.

“I know I have,” Grace nodded her head, smiling slightly. “I’m a very lucky girl.”

“He’s a very lucky guy,” Svea quipped.

Grace couldn’t help but giggle. “So is Elias,” she retorted, causing Svea to blush. “When the hell are you going to marry him, Svea? That boy is head over heels in love with you.”

Svea shook her head. “He’s my best friend, Grace.”

***

“I love you so much,” Grace whispered as Brock bent down to kiss her, his travel-day suit already on, and a beanie on his head covering the hair Grace loved so much. She loved running her fingers through it, especially while in bed, and the best part was that Brock loved her doing it too, so she did it all the time.

“I love you too,” Brock replied after the kiss. “What are you gonna get up to for these two weeks I’m not here?”

“A lot of masturbating while I think about you.”

Brock groaned, burying his head into the crook of her neck as she giggled. He bit down at the skin of her neck and she yelped. “You better fucking call me when you do,” he growled in her ear.

“I will.”

Brock gave her one last kiss before standing up straight again. “Say hello to your dad,” he said, even though he just saw him yesterday for their weekly Sunday Night Football watching. “Tell him I’m sorry about Sunday, but I’ll make it up to him when I win our Superbowl bet.”

Grace smiled. “He’ll be crushed if he loses that bet.”

“He better start preparing.”

***

“When are you gonna just kiss her?!” Brock was exasperated.

“Shut up,” Elias mumbled, still concentrating on his phone as he typed a message to Svea.

“Petey, no other girls exist in, like, your world besides Svea. Can you just get it fucking done already?”

“Brock, shut up.”

“Uuuuuuuuaaaaarrrrggghhhhh!” Brock groaned loudly as he and Elias walked through the front doors of their hotel. “I’m gonna kill you.”

“Go right ahead.”

Brock rolled his eyes. Before he could say anything else, his phone began ringing from his pocket. It was after the game, and judging by their routine now, he knew it was Grace. He actually wondered if she was with Svea watching. “There you are. I was wondering when I’d get a call from you,” he said cheerily, not bothering with formalities.

He was met with silence on the other end. Then, a sniffle. She didn’t respond. He could hear her breathing and sniffling on the other end, but she wasn’t saying anything. “Grace?”

“Brock…he’s gone.”

Brock’s heart fell into the pit of his stomach. He stopped walking and stood in the middle of the foyer, the world standing still around him. He barely registered Elias stopping when he realized Brock wasn’t walking beside him anymore, and barely registered Elias looking over his shoulder with furrowed brows. “Grace—”

“We were at the hospital. He—he caught pneumonia somehow and it just—it just—”

“I’m on my way home right now,” Brock said quickly.

“Brock—”

“I’m gonna get on the first flight out to Vancouver, I promise you. I’m just at the hotel and I’m gonna pack and leave,” he explained.

“Please hurry,” her voice was desperate, full of sadness and grief.

“I’m on my way. I love you,” he said.

“I love you too, Brock. Please hurry.”

When Brock hung up the phone, he finally noticed Elias staring at him. There were so, so many thoughts running through Brock’s mind – how he was going to tell Travis he wasn’t going to take the team charter flight home, how he was going to get to the airport, how he was going to get to Grace’s dad’s house or the hospital or wherever she was – but he was only able to verbalize one. “I need you to call Svea and tell her to get in touch with Grace.”

“What happened?” Elias asked.

“Her dad just died.”

Elias’s eyes bulged out of their sockets. But he immediately brought his phone up and swiped until he got Svea’s number. “Go,” he urged, bringing his phone up to his ear. “I’ll pack your things. I’ll bring your bag. Just grab your passport and go.”

***

Hamish’s viewing was busy. He was a well-known figure in Vancouver, and so Grace had to host two days’ worth of viewings, with timeslots in the afternoon and evening. Grace stood first, her two uncles (Hamish’s brothers and partners in the investment firm) Robbie and Owen Gillespie and their families after her. Eliza, James, Jasper, and Theo sat alone in the third row – obviously not part of the “line”, but there to support Grace. Hamish was Eliza’s ex-husband, after all, regardless of how nasty and bitter it got. And he was her daughter’s father. Brock sat alone in the second row, directly behind Grace. Elias and Svea, when they were there – which was most of the time – were beside him, attending to Grace’s every need.

The people wouldn’t stop coming. There was constantly a line to pay respects and then greet Grace, Robbie, and Owen. Brock could tell it was making Grace tired, greeting people she barely knew and shaking their hand and thanking them for their condolences. It didn’t help that it was in the newspaper and on the night-time news, too – however brief the mention of it was, it still made more people aware, and Brock was sure they showed up even though they probably hadn’t seen Grace or Hamish in years.

The funeral was even worse. Grace couldn’t stop crying. She said her eulogy, and it was beautiful, and Owen said one too, but after that it was just constant tears. After the church service, she clung to Brock, pulling him into the procession. At the entombment, her cries were loud and continual. Elias and Svea were crying at the final prayer before his casket was sealed.

Brock tried to be strong – for Grace, of course – but he cried, too.

***

It was a few days – almost a week, really – until Brock saw Grace again. There had to be meetings with lawyers and her uncles that Brock had no reason attending. The money was already hers – everything was basically just a formality, as he understood it, like an official transfer over – but Brock knew she didn’t care about the money. Grace wanted her dad.

Brock had barely sat down on the couch before she climbed onto his lap. Her lips immediately found his and her tongue immediately slipped into his throat. It was urgent. It was hasty. It was visceral, at least for Grace.

It was also wrong.

“Grace…” Brock mumbled, pulling away.

“Brock, c’mon,” she urged, continuing to kiss his strong jawline even though he turned away. “I need you. Touch me.”

“Grace—”

“Touch me,” she begged, grabbing his hands and leading them up her shirt.

“Grace, no,” he said sternly, pulling his hands away now too.

She furrowed her brows at him, an obvious look of anger on her face at his denial. Despite him knowing it was the right thing to do, Grace didn’t think so. “You don’t want me?” she asked in a harsh tone.

“You know I want you. I want you all the God damn time. But I’m not gonna do it when you’re…emotionally compromised,” he tried to reason with her, even though he knew it would be a futile attempt. “You don’t want this.”

“Yes I do.”

“No you don’t. You just want to feel something right now.”

She looked at him indignantly. “Fuck you, Brock Boeser,” she growled as she lifted herself off of his lap, grabbing her purse and slamming his front door without saying another word.

***

There was a light knock at his door. Brock knew it could only be one person.

When he opened it, he knew Grace would be standing on the other side. What he wasn’t expecting was how she looked. Hair that looked that it hadn’t been washed since the last time she was over. Wearing clothes she’d obviously been wearing for days. Dark circles under her eyes, which were puffy and red like they hadn’t stopped crying. She looked defeat, frail, and crushed into a million different pieces Brock just wanted to pick up and piece together again.

“I’m sorry,” were the first words out of her mouth – practically squeaked out. He wondered if she had a voice left. Within seconds, he could see tears well in her eyes and spill down her cheeks like a flood. “I just…I miss his more than my heart knows how to handle.”

Brock engulfed her in a hug, and she cried and cried and cried.

***

“I was in the hospital with him…and he was weak, but he could still speak a bit, and move too. And I was holding his hand the entire time. And I just wanted to be in bed with him like when I was a kid and had a nightmare. And when I got in, I—well, when I was a kid, he’d hold me against his chest and I always remember how I could feel his heart beating, so I did that. And he held my hand and before he fell asleep, he said ‘I love you Gracie. I’ll be there. I’ll be watching.’ And then that was it.”

Brock felt a tear escape his eye. He let it fall as he began to shift his and Grace’s body’s so that he was lying on top of him, her head on his chest. He felt her hand clutch at his bare skin briefly, and a wetness on his chest he knew were tears. “Can you feel it?” he asked, referring to his heartbeat.

Grace nodded her head. “Stay like this, please.”

Brock didn’t move an inch the entire night.

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