#i remember waking up an hour early on wednesdays so i could play a few brawl games before school
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whatsthatmagiccard · 3 months ago
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Historically, it's probably Pir & Toothy, but Rebbec is a close competitor.
Currently, I've been "playtesting" a lot for Ghen, and he's honestly growing on me. I might get the deck in paper once I'm satisfied with it.
I vastly prefer WAR-era Brawl, though, 'cause Krenko Tin Street Kingpin was an absolute blast. Nothing in Commander has quite scratched that itch.
So there are more tumblr mtg players than I anticipated, it turns out. What's everyone's favourite commander?
I'll go first, Juri of the Revue.
(Honourable mention to my meme deck where you have to get a date for Jenson Carthalion, Druid Exile by swiping left or right with his scry ability.)
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steddieas-shegoes · 9 months ago
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this place is such great motivation for anyone trying to move the fuck away from hibernation
chapter 9: after also on ao3 Rated E
🧰🧰🧰🧰🧰🧰🧰🧰🧰🧰🧰🧰🧰🧰🧰🧰
“It’s not broken at least,” Wayne said as he turned Steve’s finger under the bathroom light. “Eddie’s gonna be pissed.”
“It was an accident! You saw how careful I was,” Steve argued as he held the ice pack on his already-swelling index finger. “The hammer slipped.”
“And you know damn well he’s already stressed tryin’ to throw together Mia’s birthday party. This’ll be the thing to set him off.”
Wayne left the room to finish fixing the railing on the porch stairs, a project that Steve had been adamant he could help with for weeks. He’d been plenty of help with finding the right supplies and handing things to Wayne, but the moment he tried prepping a nail in one of the 2x4s, he misjudged his grip on the hammer. He missed the nail entirely.
Luckily, he didn’t have much force behind the hit, so he’d just have to deal with it swelling up and possibly bruising a bit.
But the timing wasn’t great.
Eddie had been working his ass off all week preparing for Mia’s first birthday. He invited everyone to their house, despite the fact they were still in the middle of some pretty major renovations. If Wayne hadn’t agreed to come a few days early to help finish up the porch and fence, Steve was pretty sure they would’ve had to cancel the party.
And Eddie would have lost it.
Steve had never seen him so strung out.
He snapped at the smallest things, including one instance where Mia had pulled her dinner plate off the table while trying to stand. He didn’t yell at Mia. He yelled at Steve. Mia had started crying all the same. Eddie started crying because he felt terrible. Steve started crying because he didn’t know how to help Eddie feel better about everything.
It was a hell of a week so far.
This injury would just be icing on the cake.
Shit, I hope he remembered to get the cupcakes with chocolate icing for Dustin, Steve thought to himself as he made his way back towards the kitchen to get a glass of water.
Mia was with Robin at the park while Eddie finished all of his shopping for food and decorations. Even though he’d insisted she could go with him, Robin insisted on her not seeing anything until the party.
“She won’t even remember it!” Eddie had exclaimed.
“But it’ll be more fun if she doesn’t see it!” Robin yelled.
Steve let them argue about it while he played with Mia on the carpet a few weeks ago. Robin won. Eddie pouted.
Eddie’s been nonstop ever since, making sure everything was absolutely perfect for their princess. He even ordered her a special dress with a matching plastic tiara. He had a checklist on the fridge that seemed neverending; One thing would be scratched off only for something else to be added. He insisted on doing it himself, making things even worse for all of them.
Wayne made a joke on Wednesday about this being worse than a pregnant woman nesting and the look Eddie shot him nearly killed him.
He’d barely slept; Steve would sometimes wake up in the early hours of the morning and see Eddie sitting at the table, head in his hands, dark circles under his eyes, staring at a notepad full of notes and numbers. He was very cautious of the budget, spent hours searching secondhand stores for decorations so he wouldn’t have to buy them new at the store for five times the price. Steve had offered a million times to use his tip money for it, but Eddie insisted on doing it himself.
They were still working on the whole teamwork thing when it came to finances.
“The princess is here!” Robin called from the front door, and Steve’s head turned to the clock on the wall.
“The princess is early!” He called back, quickly hiding the pack of balloons and streamers on the counter.
“The princess needs a nap!” Robin said from the doorway.
One look at her told Steve everything he needed to know about why they came back early.
Robin loved Mia, way more than any of them expected her to, and Mia loved her right back. Any time Robin got home from work, Mia waddled over to her or smacked at whoever was holding her until she could be in Robin’s arms instead.
But the current state of her hair, clothes, and face made Steve rush over to grab a very clearly grumpy Mia from her arms.
“Hi princess. What did you do to Auntie Robbie?” Steve watched as Robin went over to the fridge, grabbed a can of Coke, and chugged it. “You broke her.”
“Rara no,” Mia said as she nuzzled against Steve’s shoulder. “No no mama.”
Steve wasn’t quite sure what she was trying to say, but he could always play along. “Mama was busy helping Papa with something, honey. But you had fun with Rara, right?”
Mia didn’t answer, but Robin gave a thumbs up from where she was leaning against the counter.
“What happened?”
“She decided to be very adventurous and try to climb the jungle gym with the bigger kids. I tried to help and she was not having it. Tried to distract her and she looked at me like she was trying to kill me.” Robin stared off into space. “One kid laughed at me when she told me no.”
Steve resisted the urge to laugh.
Mia was in a “no” phase, one that was very normal for her age, but caused Eddie incredible amounts of stress. Steve liked to remind him that it could always be worse: she could be a biter.
Steve rubbed her back and felt her sigh. She’d probably fall asleep in his arms within the next 20 seconds.
“So you came home after that?” Steve asked quietly.
“No,” Robin shook her head. “I respected her need for independence. And then she realized how high she was and panicked and cried and yelled for me and I looked like a terrible parent and I had to explain to the other moms there that I am just her aunt and also that their judgment isn’t needed considering she’s a baby and their kids were all being assholes about letting her try to climb something.”
“So we can’t go back to that park?” Steve smirked.
“Give it a week.”
Steve snorted as he looked down at Mia, fast asleep on his shoulder, hand gripping his shirt loosely. He smiled fondly down at her before looking back up at the clock.
“I’m gonna go put her in her crib. Eds will be home soon if you wanna hide.”
“Gonna shower and take a nap. She wore me out.”
“I can see that. Thanks for taking her, Robs.”
“Anytime. You know I love riling up stuck up parents.” Robin winked at him before heading to her room to grab her clothes for a shower.
Steve was careful taking Mia to her bedroom, didn’t want to wake her up and ruin any chance of her having a nice nap.
Once she was settled in her crib, Steve went back out to check on Wayne.
Eddie was standing there, hands full of bags from various stores, evaluating the hard work they’d done. When he caught sight of Steve, his eyes immediately went down to his hand.
“Should we make sure it’s not broken at the hospital?” His voice shook with concern and Steve was quick to go to him, embrace him, not caring if any neighbors happened to be there to see.
“No, it’s fine, baby. How’d shopping go?”
“I went over budget.”
Steve nodded. “That’s okay. I kinda knew it would happen.”
“But I tried so hard!” Eddie groaned in frustration. “The lady at the bakery even gave me a discount when I explained everything. She said she remembered when she went crazy planning all five of her kids’ first birthdays. I haven’t even gotten the sandwich stuff!”
“Baby.” Steve kissed his cheek. “Charlie and Maryann agreed to bring sandwiches.”
“What? When? I didn’t ask them to.”
“When I asked them to because I knew you’d go over budget. It’s their gift for Mia. Well, we know they’ll probably also bring her a real gift, but that’s what they told me when I talked to them yesterday,” Steve shrugged. “Need help with anything?”
“The cupcakes are in the front seat.”
Wayne remained silent, but Steve shot him a look as Eddie made his way inside the house.
“Thought we weren’t telling him,” Steve huffed.
Wayne failed at trying to hide a laugh. “He saw me workin’ alone and asked if you hurt yourself. I said I wouldn’t tell him, I didn’t say I would lie if he asked.”
“Loopholes in the contract,” Steve sighed.
He opened the passenger side door of Eddie’s van to grab the cupcakes. The box was discreet, but he could see through the small window on the top that they were purple with sprinkles, just as he’d planned. The cake would be in the shape of a tiara that matched the one he bought for her to wear. It was extremely coordinated.
As he picked up the box, an envelope fell off the seat and to the ground.
Knowing Eddie’s organization system— mostly just keeping things in spots that don’t make sense until he needs them —Steve was quick to pick it up and put it back.
The front of the envelope said Steve.
His brows crinkled in confusion.
Why would there be an envelope with his name on it in Eddie’s van?
His birthday wasn’t for a month, so it couldn’t be that. Plus, they’d agreed on not doing gifts for either of their birthdays so they could make sure Mia’s first birthday was perfect.
He set the envelope back in the seat, even though it killed him. He could ask about it when Eddie’s stress level was no longer well above what was safe for his health.
Except he kept thinking about it constantly as he worked through his to-do list, as he made dinner, as he gave Mia a bath so Eddie could decorate the living room and kitchen for her party tomorrow, as he talked to Robin about her keeping Mia busy until everyone arrived for the party.
When Wayne went to bed on the cot in Mia’s room, and Robin went to bed so she could mentally prepare for the day tomorrow, Steve made his way to the kitchen to help Eddie.
Eddie was standing on a chair, hanging streamers from the cabinets, cursing when one fell as he managed to tape another one next to it.
“Need some help?” Steve asked as he leaned his hip against the counter.
“What I need is to never do this again. Next year, we’re going to a park and ordering pizza,” Eddie grunted as he tried to tape the fallen streamer back into place.
“We probably could’ve done that this year, baby,” Steve walked over, resting his hand on the back of Eddie’s thigh. “She isn’t gonna remember it.”
“I just don’t want her to look back and wonder why she doesn’t have pictures from birthday parties,” Eddie said without stopping what he was doing. “It sucks not knowing if your parents even bothered to care.”
It suddenly all made sense to Steve.
If anyone could understand parents who didn’t care, it was him. But it was also Eddie.
Sometimes, he forgot that Eddie didn’t always have Wayne around to make sure he was loved. He forgot that the first nine years of Eddie’s life were spent with parents who pretty much made sure they didn’t draw the attention of the law, making sure he got to school and looked fed and mostly clean. It would make sense that he didn’t really get birthday parties.
It broke Steve’s heart. Even his own shitty parents had spoiled him for the first decade of his life, before he became more of a hindrance than a gift.
“Eds, honey, take a break,” Steve tugged on his pants, ignoring Eddie’s groan. “C’mon. Haven’t hugged you all day.”
That seemed to win him over.
Eddie got off the chair and let out a sigh. “I’ve been overdoing it, haven’t I?”
Steve wrapped his arms around Eddie’s waist, tugging him closer so their faces were only a couple inches apart. “No, you’ve been doing everything just right. But you could ask for more help so you don’t feel so stressed about it.”
“I just don’t want anyone else stressed. She’s my daughter, so it should be my stress.”
Steve tightened his grip. “She’s our daughter, and she’s Wayne’s granddaughter, and she’s Robin’s niece, and everyone loves her and you. This doesn’t have to fall on you.”
Eddie leaned his head forward, kissed Steve’s lips once. “Sorry for being a little crazy lately.”
“Eh, I kinda like you a little crazy.” Steve nudged Eddie’s nose with his own. “We should go to bed. We have time in the morning to finish this.”
“You just want me to fuck you.”
“No! I want you to get some rest. And maybe I thought about getting my mouth on you while you relax, but that’s just a passing thought.”
“I’ve barely even touched you all week and you wanna take care of me?” Eddie shook his head. “How’d I get so lucky?”
“It’s not so much luck as I know I can’t be quiet enough for Wayne not to hear so you get the special treatment until he’s gone.”
“Fair enough,” Eddie laughed. “Oh! When you got the cupcakes out of my van, you didn’t happen to see the envelope with your name on it, did you?”
Steve was busted. He turned bright red as Eddie’s grin widened.
“Uh, I mean I noticed an envelope. Did it have my name on it?”
Eddie reached in his pocket and pulled out the envelope, folded in half. “You think just because I’m stressed and busy I didn’t notice you completely spaced out all afternoon? Give me a little more credit than that, sweetheart.”
“I didn’t mean to see it! It fell on the floor when I grabbed the cupcakes and I saw my name when I put it back. I swear I wasn’t gonna look.”
“I know, Stevie,” Eddie kissed his forehead and unfolded the envelope. “But since you know it exists, I think you should go ahead and get to see what’s inside. It was supposed to be for your birthday, but now I’m feeling a little impatient.”
“You weren’t supposed to get me anything for my birthday,” Steve whined. “Everything was gonna be spent on Mia’s party and our family trip to Hawkins.”
“I know. But the reason I was so strict on budget for this was because I’ve been working on something for a while. And it wasn’t just me!” Eddie pulled out a sheet of paper. “Everyone contributed. This wouldn’t have happened without all the kids and their parents chipping in. Oh, and Robin and Wayne.”
Steve’s brows furrowed as he unfolded the sheet of paper Eddie handed him.
Stevie,
You put your own dreams on the backburner so that everyone else can reach theirs. That doesn’t sit right with all of us, but especially me.
You wanted to buy an RV, road trip all over the country with your family, see things you’ve never seen before with the people you love. I wanted you to have that.
So this is the paperwork for the RV that will belong to us in two months. It’s not brand new, so we’re getting new carpet put into it and having a few mechanical things worked on. It sleeps 8, and there’s probably room to add in a cot if we need to.
I love you. I wanna travel the country with our little nugget and any future ones we get to have. I wanna love you on a beach, the mountains, the desert, the city. Doesn’t matter where as long as we’re doing it together.
Love, Eddie and Mia (and everyone else)
Steve sniffed, looking up at Eddie with tears falling down his cheeks.
“You got me an RV? How was that in the budget at all?”
Eddie wiped away the first tears, kissing the top of his head. “It involved all of us, and we got lucky that the previous owners were really not looking to make any money, they just wanted to pay it off. Wayne knew a guy who could do the mechanical stuff for free as long as he could do it in his spare time, which is why we won’t have it for two months.”
“But still, that’s a lot of money. You didn’t have to-“
“It’s worth it. You’re worth it.”
“I can’t believe you bought me an RV.”
Eddie took the paper from his hand and set everything on the counter next to them. “I can’t wait to fuck you in it.”
Steve groaned. “You’re killing me.”
“I’m just giving you something to look forward to.”
“I love you so much,” Steve leaned his head on Eddie’s shoulder, kissed his neck. “I’m so fuckin’ glad my car needed an oil change in Hawkins.”
“To be fair, your car needed an oil change well before it was in Hawkins. Your lucky it made it to Hawkins,” Eddie teased.
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t ruin the moment.”
“Bedroom?”
They both laughed as Eddie dragged Steve by his hand to the bedroom, trying to stay quiet so they wouldn’t wake anyone up. Wayne had already offered taking care of Mia if she woke up since he was in her room, but they didn’t want her to be up before she was ready.
Eddie barely had the door closed before Steve was pushing him against it, dropping to his knees and mouthing at his clothed cock.
“Jesus, sweetheart. Not even gonna take my pants off first?” Eddie gasped out, watching as Steve’s eyes rolled back and he let out a muffled moan.
“Want you,” Steve begged softly.
“You can have me.” Eddie reached down to unbutton his own pants, tugging them down enough to release his leaking cock. “Won’t last long, sweet boy.”
Steve didn’t answer, just licked at the tip of Eddie’s cock and wrapped his lips around him.
True to his word, Eddie only lasted another minute, too worked up from lack of touch for the last week and the hunger in Steve’s eyes as he maintained eye contact while he bobbed his head up and down his length.
Steve moaned as Eddie came down his throat, eyes closing as he swallowed it all.
Eddie’s legs felt weak, exhaustion mixed with overwhelming pleasure finally catching up to him.
He pulled Steve to his feet and guided him to the bed, pushing him down and shoving Steve’s pants down his legs to return the favor.
Steve lasted even less time than him, always so quick to fly over the edge when he’d been on his knees with Eddie in his mouth.
They barely managed to wipe themselves off and remove their pants before they were asleep, curled up against each other for the first time all week.
******
Mia was spoiled.
Everyone brought more gifts that they really had the room for, but they wouldn’t complain.
Jonathan brought his camera to take pictures, promising to develop them and mail them as soon as he got home.
The kids had all chipped in and bought her a playset for the backyard, but conveniently had to head back to Hawkins before it could be assembled. Steve didn’t really mind, though.
Mia’s obsession with Hopper continued throughout the party as she insisted on being held by him anytime Eddie set her down, tugging on his mustache and calling him Pa. Hopper couldn’t quite hide the smile he gave her when she did.
Robin and Wayne handled most of the cleanup so that Eddie and Steve could take Mia for a walk around the neighborhood to help her settle for bed. She’d been given more sugar than she’d ever had in her life, and it was certainly showing.
While on their walk, while the sun was setting and the streetlights were turning on, Steve watched Eddie talking to Mia in her stroller.
Mia babbled back, mostly nonsense with the occasional recognizable word, her responses getting quieter and less excited every minute that passed.
Eventually, she was asleep.
Eddie smiled over at him. “Should we head back, love?”
Steve stopped walking. Eddie stopped, too, confusion on his face.
“Will you marry me?” Steve asked.
Eddie’s hands dropped from the stroller, his mouth opening in shock.
“We- you- I.” Eddie laughed. “You’re serious.”
“I am. I know we can’t technically, but, if I got you a ring, would you wear it? Could I say we’re engaged to our family?” Steve grabbed his hands, lacing their fingers together. “I mean this is everything I want: you, Mia, this life. Maybe in the future we could actually get married. But I wanna be able to say you’re mine, even if legally we’re just roommates.”
Steve gave him a hopeful look, one that Eddie had seen a handful of times before when they made big decisions together.
“I’ll marry the shit out of you, sweetheart,” Eddie grinned at him, squeezing his hands. “I’ll wear a ring from the grocery store if I have to. I’ll tattoo a ring on me. Whatever it takes to be yours.”
Steve knew it was risky to even stand like this on the sidewalk of their neighborhood. While no one was out, a car could pass at anytime, anyone could look out their window. They didn’t want to bring too much attention to themselves. They were pretty sure the next door neighbors thought Robin and Eddie were Mia’s parents and Steve was the third wheel they were being nice to.
But they were engaged. He loved this man so much. This man loved him so much. They would get married, even without legal paperwork.
They could share a kiss, just one quick one.
When they pulled apart, Steve took a step away.
Eddie turned back to the stroller and turned it around to walk back towards the house.
“Done with our walk?” Steve asked as he followed.
“You expect to propose to me and not get fucked into the mattress tonight? You know me better than that.”
It was a damn good thing Eddie shoved Steve’s face into the pillow. The last thing they needed was having to explain to Wayne or Robin why he was nearly screaming as Eddie worked him over three times before they both passed out.
Wayne still gave them a knowing look the next morning and Robin rolled her eyes on her way out the door.
It could’ve been the slight limp to Steve’s walk.
Or maybe it was the ring Eddie had moved to his ring finger this morning.
“Mama! Dada!” Mia squealed from her high chair as they both prepped breakfast for all of them.
“Yes, princess?” Eddie asked her.
“Luh!”
“Love you, too, honey,” Steve walked over to kiss the top of her head.
“Luh! Luh mama.”
“And what about me, huh?” Eddie asked as he brought her dry cereal and cut up bananas and strawberries to her.
“Luh dada!”
Eddie kissed the top of her head. “I love you most, princess.”
A house full of love was all Eddie had ever wanted for Mia, and for himself, and now he had it with Steve.
He didn’t need more than that.
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cocrante · 4 months ago
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Walking the Wire
[SOLANGELO FANFIC]
warning: it contains significant spoilers, please do not read it unless you have read the third book of "The Trials of Apollo". If you decide to proceed, I will not be held responsible.
summary: The dreams at Camp Half-Blood have vanished. Gentle nights embrace the campers in their hours of sleep, but just as the dreams have disappeared, so have the prophecies. For a mortal, this might not mean anything—nightmares suddenly gone, sweet nights wrapped them in the warmth of the sheets—but for a demigod, dreams are the bridge that connects them between the mortal and immortal worlds, an annoying bell that keeps them constantly on alert, and without those to disturb their nights, it was like losing their compass. But not everyone is without dreams, if "dream" this can be called, one is still allowed to travel in the dream world, perhaps out of pity and compassion of the Fates.
note: the chapters will be updated every Wednesday. If you want to read upcoming chapters of the fanfiction in advance, I invite you to follow me on Patreon. Subscribing is not necessary, these chapters will be added for free on the platform on Saturday. Following me there is just a kind and free gesture to support my work c:
Reblogs are highly appreciated c:
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[CHAPTER 6]
It was a dreamless night.
NICO WOKE UP AT DAWN, LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW TO SEE THE SUNRISE. Everything had become silent in that cabin. The air was crisp as before a storm, and Nico had the horrible feeling that it would come much sooner than expected. That was the worst night of all: as long as he dreamed them —as long as he saw them— then it meant that that demigod, that hero, was still alive and wherever he was, he was still fine. But now he no longer had this certainty.
With a sigh, he got up, going out a few minutes later to go to the mess hall.
Even that morning, he found Will awake early, waiting for him at his table. He had prepared a tray with all the good things Nico liked. Nico thanked him with a smile, sitting down to eat, and finally managed to eat more after many mornings. Will was happy to see him like that, he looked much more rested, seemed more energetic than the other days, his appetite had even returned. Only his eyes were always the same: sunken, dull, thoughtful, they were the eyes of someone not looking at this world. Will was sure he was still searching for that person or somehow waiting for them. He couldn't imagine how horrible it must be not to know who the Fates were referring to.
"Have you had any more?" he asked, placing a hand on his, waking him from his reverie. Nico closed his eyes, letting those souls disappear from his gaze.
"No" he replied, playing with Will's fingers, unable to shake off that feeling that had been accompanying him for a while. He still thought about the dream he had had the night before, the pain in his arms, the tightness in his chest, the exhaustion in his body. He couldn't even remotely imagine what that demigod would have to feel when the time came. He didn't even want to think about it.
"Do you mind if I come with you to the infirmary?" he asked, lifting those tired eyes to Will's radiant ones.
"I'd be happy to" he smiled at him, and for a moment Nico felt warmth.
That morning there wasn't much activity in the infirmary, so Will could focus entirely on his boyfriend and listen to those worries that were slowly devouring him from within.
Often Will forgot how fragile that boy could be. Over time, he had become really good at masking his emotions until he self-destructed. Will had known Nico since he arrived at camp that year—they hadn't stopped to talk much, they couldn't even be called friends, but he remembered those rare times when they had spoken, and he had found Nico to be a truly interesting demigod.
During that time, Nico spent most of his days with the children of Hermes, assigned to the Hermes Cabin, and when he disappeared that night, and no one knew anything about him anymore, it saddened Will. He had just started to get to know him, and —as strange as it might seem— he was starting to like him. Then, during the war against the Titans, he saw him again. In those years, Nico had changed, he was no longer the child with a smile painted on his face that Will remembered: life with him must have been truly cruel. If one had enough courage to look at him, one could read it in his eyes.
Then that day, hidden among the trees, it was like finding a totally different person in front of him. Will more than ever wanted to know everything that had happened to him. He wanted to understand what had happened to that cheerful boy, who once ran with a smile on his face through the camp, who looked with wonder at everything around him. Will would do anything to see that smile again, even just once.
In the infirmary, away from the campers' prying eyes, Will let Nico tell him what he hadn't had the courage to tell him, and he found out that a strange and chilling sensation was running through his body, he couldn't explain it very well in words, much less describe what he really felt. "It's like with Bianca" he explained.
Nico didn't talk to anyone about his sister; even after all those years, he couldn't forget that pain. His features hardened, Will knew he was about to say something he had been holding inside for too long. "I feel the same sensation as back then. I felt it the night before she disappeared, at the time I didn't pay attention to it" he frowned, as if blaming himself for not understanding it sooner. "It's like my body is telling me that something is happening out there and soon someone I care about will die" he said, not beating around the bush. Will put a hand on his lips, shivering. Unintentionally, he cast a cold shadow over the room, Nico reproached himself for that too. "I'm sorry" Nico apologized, alarming him was certainly the last thing he wanted to do.
But Will shook his head. "No, it's okay" he replied. "I just want you to tell me everything that happens to you. I want to be able to help you, but to do that, I need you to tell me what's happening to you" he took both of Nico's hands, intertwining his fingers with his own. Nico blushed, happy that there was such a special person in his life. "Isn't that what any good boyfriend would do?" he asked ironically. Nico smiled again, for a moment it almost seemed like he could see that sweet smile of the past.
"I don't know, I've never had one before" he replied to the joke, wanting to play along.
"Then I'll be the best one" he declared as if it were a promise.
"Believe me, you already are" he looked at him for a moment before kissing him on the lips.
At lunch, they sat together with the other children of Apollo, listening to Kayla complain about the new demigods who had arrived at camp and their poor archery skills.
"I don't know how many times I've put my hands in my hair today" she sighed, skewering the roast with her fork.
Will laughed, telling her she just had to wait and improvements would come.
"And then remember that no one can be worse than our Jackson with a bow" Austin reminded her, managing to get a laugh out of Kayla as well. Throughout lunch, the kids talked about their lives outside of camp, remembering what awaited them once all this was finally over. They also asked Nico if he missed New Rome, knowing that his decision hadn't been an easy one.
"Sometimes I miss it" he replied. "I hoped to see Hazel again soon and the others too" the thought made him even sadder, wondering if he would be able to see his friends all together again.
Will squeezed his hand, reminding him that he would always be there in his life. At that gesture, the other campers also saw a slight smile appear on Nico's face.
At the end of lunch, the group of demigods scattered throughout the camp. Will asked Nico if they could also go to the arena that day, wanting him to show him again how he had managed to parry his attack the day before. Nico agreed, going together to the arena where he showed him slowly how he had done it. Will tried to copy him, stumbling over his own steps, but tried again several times until he got it right enough. Nico was quite satisfied with his slight improvement. Then they started sparring for real.
Nico parried all of Will's attacks, responding with slow strikes so that he could find time to block them. He wasn't as fluid as the day before, maybe Will was still thinking too much, so he reminded him to let his instincts guide him, to let himself be guided by his senses, and as soon as he reminded him, his movements improved. Will started attacking him again, but still getting blocked by the opponent's blade. The boy didn't want to give up, he would make him drop his guard that day.
The Hade's son was ready to parry Will's sword again when suddenly everything around him stopped. Nico had a strong jolt,he often had it when his gaze ended up in the realm of the dead. For years he had managed to control it, not allowing his eyes to linger on every deceased person who crossed Charon's door, ignoring those specters, ignoring their faces, but that time it was impossible for him. His pupils dilated, his eyelids stopped beating, his eyes were looking at another world. It was like being there, halfway between the realm of the living and that of the dead. He slowly lowered the sword, which suddenly felt heavier, until it slipped from his hands. Will stopped, looking at that frozen body in front of him. A cold shiver ran through him.
He ran to him, taking his hand, placing the other on his cheek. He shouted to the campers who were there training to go call Chiron. The shadows of the trees and the dummies swayed, as if crazed, as if they wanted to detach and escape from that place at all costs. The Hade's son was trembling with anger, and with it, the camp began to shake too. Tears fell from those expressionless eyes, only one word came from his lips:—"No" he screamed.
That was just one of his bad dreams, it had to be. Will looked at him with tears in his eyes, unable to do anything but look at him with fear, trying in any way to make him look back at him. The earth around them shook harder and harder, Will knew it would split soon. "Nico!" the boy shouted, holding his face with both hands. But Nico didn't hear him; his eyes couldn't look at anything but the shadow of that soul waiting for permission to board the boat and cross the river of souls.
"Please, look at me" Will pleaded, embracing him as if to protect him from whatever his eyes were seeing, and as if released from a spell, Nico blinked again. Darkness gave way to light.
He was back at camp, he was in Will's arms. Nico held onto his boyfriend, happy that he was there hugging him. Will flinched feeling Nico's hands on his back, the tremors slowly ceased.
"Nico" he whispered, stroking his hair. The boy didn't speak, he just cried with his face buried in Will's shirt. The sobs spread throughout the arena, Nico couldn't believe what he had seen, who he had seen. Chiron galloped to the arena, along with the demigods who had called him, ordering the group to step aside and leave them alone. Will looked at that group watching them from afar, puzzled, worried, but above all curious. He looked at Chiron, thanking him with his eyes, silently asking him to leave them alone for a moment. The centaur took away the campers, the two would join them when Nico felt better. As soon as the crowd dispersed, Nico's legs gave way, collapsing to the ground on his knees, and Will followed him. He held him tightly in his arms, unable to let him go.
After endless minutes of silence, broken only by tears and sobs, Nico said his name: "Jason" his voice broke.
He pulled away from the boy's body to look at him in those perfect blue eyes. "It's Jason" he repeated with a trembling voice, more tears streaked his face, collapsing again into his boyfriend's arms, who now looked expressionless ahead of him.
He immediately understood what he meant, all those nightmares, the Fates, the thread, it was all meant for him.
"I couldn't even say goodbye to him" he sobbed, holding onto his orange shirt soaked with tears. "I couldn't even do it with him" the words choked in his throat.
Will couldn't speak, he didn't know what was right to say or do. He continued to hold him in that embrace, giving him all the warmth he needed at that moment. Jason was surely the best friend Nico had ever had and after Bianca, he had been one of the few to obtain permission to enter his little strange world. They had known each other for a short time, Will knew, and yet for that short time, Nico saw in Jason's eyes the figure of a brother.
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bihanspookies · 7 months ago
Text
Kate and The No Good Very Terrible Week
Summary: Kate’s having the worst week possible and Alora decides to try and cheer her up.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘ ∘₊✧──────✧₊∘ ∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
By the end of the week, Alora would’ve believed that the universe had some sort of issue with Kate Murphy, which wouldn’t be too far off considering what it’s already put her through. It started on Monday, when she walked sluggishly into the kitchen area and promptly dropped her head face down onto the table. Alora, who was standing by the counter eating a bowl of cereal, stared at her, chewing silently and waiting for Kate to spew about whatever was bothering her. Moments had passed and the half Edenian was about to put her empty bowl into the sink when the half celestial sighed dramatically and turned her head to look at Alora.
“I’ve had the most awful morning.” She mumbled, bottom lip quivering with her sparkling blue eyes lined with crystal teardrops.
Alora found out through incoherent sobbing that it was because she lost her favorite pencil and couldn’t journal her night's dreams.
Tuesday, Alex had brought a box of donuts and coffee for the gang and when Kate was about to stick her strawberry frosted treat in her mouth, it slipped out her hand and fell icing first to the floor. A beat went by before Kate reached down to grab it, sugar pink glaze smearing on the dirty tile and Alora had shot her hand out to stop Kate from eating the filthy pastry.
“But five second rule—“ Kate had started and Alora shook her head before offering her own cinnamon donut to Kate. It didn’t stop there of course, because Kate’s coffee order was also a disaster; vanilla creamer with only one sugar. Kate nearly spiraled and let out a long exaggerated groan as Alex tried comforting her and apologizing for not double checking.
Wednesday, Kate had asked Alora if she could play with Michi. All was well until Michi bit her hard on the finger when she picked him up without properly warning him. Kate wasn’t angry at the little rat, but did beat herself up for scaring him.
Thursday, her art block finally went away and she was ready to throw herself into the colors of her mind and her paint. Until she remembered that she still hadn’t found her favorite pencil and couldn’t sketch down her plan first, attempting to draw with the next one she could find but it didn’t feel the same. Alora was walking by Kate’s room when she heard the very elongated wail of ‘no’.
Friday and Saturday were surprisingly normal, but with everything else that had gone wrong, Kate was still sulking here and there, a heavy cloud of gray hanging above her head.
Sunday is when Alora decides to try and take matters into her own hands.
She wakes up early, earlier than Kate at least because she knows that ray of sunshine is always greeting everyone before the actual sun does. Alora does her morning routine and says goodbye to Michi before grabbing her things and heading out. Her sneakers quietly scrape against the floor, auburn hair tied back into a high ponytail that sways with every step she takes towards Echo’s quarters. She can only hope the petite blonde is awake at this ungodly hour.
The sun is just peeking over the horizon and shining its streams into the Black Dragon base by the time Alora reaches Echo’s door. She gives a firm three knocks and waits a few seconds before trying again, louder this time. When more seconds pass and she’s about to give it one more try, the hacker opens the door with a subtle flicker of frustration in her green-gray eyes.
“It’s barely 7:15, what could you possibly need at an hour like this?” Her voice, while polite, does have a hint of irritation. She keeps the door open just a crack, enough for Alora to make out half her face still evident with sleep.
“Need to take out a car.”
“So take it.” She answers quickly.
“I have to sign it out with you.” Alora responds just as fast.
“I will deal with it later, now please—“
Right as she goes to close the door, Alora spots movement from behind her on the bed, someone shifting over to face them. She can practically see the hairs on top of Echo’s head stand up straight when Erron Black shuffles over, muttering in his sleep and clutching a pillow to his naked chest. Alora looks down at Echo, eyebrow raised and the faintest curve of her lips.
“Sorry, have a good morning Echo. Thanks for the car.” Alora murmurs, letting her smirk grow the tiniest bit before stepping back to allow her to shut the door. Out to the garage she goes, grabbing a granola bar on the way to snack on.
Nearly two hours later Alora finally returns, a bag in each hand with a coffee gripped in between her fingers as she hurries through the base. She switches the bag in her left to her right, just now holding the coffee and very carefully knocking on Echo’s door once again. The blonde opens it, still in her sleepwear and locking eyes with Alora.
“Yes?” A smidge more pleasant this time but there’s still that wall of disinterest behind her tone.
Alora says nothing, simply handing Echo her usual coffee order and taking a risky peek behind her to see the cowboy still nestled in her sheets.
“For earlier. Don’t know his.” She murmurs softly, offering a small smile and then walking away to head to her room. Echo leans out just enough to watch her disappear around the corner, allowing her lips to move upward the smallest amount before backing up and quietly shutting her door again.
With nimble fingers, Alora fastens together the gifs for Kate in a basket she uses in her greenhouse; a small bundle of different orange pencils (she doesn’t know what brand she likes), a pack of mini strawberry donuts, a handful of hazelnut creamer that she took from a cafe, and last but not least a tiny bouquet of sunflowers. They’re Kate’s favorite from what Alora remembers, recalling seeing her gush about them and how they capture her personality.
She steps back and admires her work, eyes narrowed and lips pursed with her hands perched on her hips. Michi squeaks and scurries around her room, pausing to sniff at Alora’s boot to determine where she had gone. Once he deems it acceptable he runs off, disappearing under her bed.
“Silly rat,” She mutters under her breath, doing one more look over before grabbing the basket and clutching it under her arm.
“See you in a bit, Michi.” She calls out, his peeps sounding faint from under the bed. Alora heads out her room and starts on her journey towards Kate’s, wanting to be in and out as quickly as possible.
She passes by Kabal who, of course, is speaking with the one person she is trying to avoid. They’re sitting at a table, Kate’s back to her as her hands wave around animatedly. She talks about the wacky dream she had last night, Kabal’s eyebrow raised as he listens with his arms crossed over his chest as she rambles on.
For a split second he and Alora lock eyes, the speedster ready to announce her presence but she shakes her head to warn him not to. He looks from her to the basket cradled under her arm, the sunflowers being a giveaway as to who it was for. He nods subtly, returning his attention fully to Kate who’s now talking about the laser shooting dinosaurs that took over the world. Alora walks faster, snorting quietly as she hears a very loud ‘AND THEN!’ from the petite girl.
Quiet as a mouse she slips into her room, dropping the gift on the center of her bed and hurrying back out.
Despite her outward appearance and off putting demeanor, Alora does have her moments where she allows her comrades to get glimpses of who she is on the inside. Who she truly is past the sarcastic comments and brute honesty she offers from time to time. Those fleeting seconds of her steely gaze turning kind, aura shifting from the colors of fierce flame to those of a cooling sunset.
She can be gentle at times, those chances of being able to do so feel so rare and just out of reach. Not because she doesn’t want to— but because she fears letting people go too far in and settle deep in her heart, hammering away at the stone fortress she’s built around herself.
But for today she allows herself to take another fissure, a chip in the corner where a hole has already started to form and let in the radiant sunbeam that is Katelynn Murphy.
Alora passes by Kabal and Kate once again, the former now slumped in a chair and propping his head up with his hand. He spots Alora, empty handed, and happily points her out to Kate.
“Hey!” He shouts with a grin.
Kate abruptly stops talking and swivels around to look at her, big doe eyes filling with glee and waving at Alora.
“Lori!”
Alora stops and lets out a delicate sigh, the corner of her lips ticking up as she walks up to the two of them and slings an arm over the back of Kate’s chair.
“Heard you talking about another dream. Did the gnomes come back?”
It’s barely a full 24 hours when Kate discovers the gift and decides to go thank Alora, finding the fighter fully engrossed in tending to her tomatoes in the greenhouse. She clears her throat when standing at the entrance to announce herself, Alora’s head tilting up with a minor look of surprise on her face. She’s holding something behind her back, clearly trying to hide it from Alora’s view.
“Hey.” Alora calls, returning her attention back to the fruit, ripping out the weeds that have festered around them.
“Hi!” Kate responds, a pep in her step as she gathers closer to watch Alora.
There’s a few moments of silence of Kate simply watching, Alora not minding the audience since it’s something she had grown accustomed to since letting her inside her sanctum. Alora parts her lips to ask a question, but is cut off when Kate places the basket delicately next to Alora. She then wraps her arms around her and squeezes with a delightful hum.
“Thank you.” She says softly, peering at Alora with her glimmering sapphire eyes.
Alora feels the small chamber around the fortress of her heart get just a bit bigger, her own icy gaze locking onto Kate’s as her hand comes to rest on top of her head. Kate knows she’s not one for words when it comes to expressing herself emotionally, but that gleam in Alora’s eyes says everything that she doesn’t.
You’re welcome.
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Alex: @chadillacboseman
Echo: @roofgeese
Kate: @thesingularityseries
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quillsareswords · 3 years ago
Text
1:20
Damian Wayne x reader
SUMMARY: You're lucky you've memorized Robin's schedule: it might me the only saving grace you've got left.
WARNINGS: blood, near-death
Master List in bio
It's 1:20 on a Tuesday morning in early June.
Gotham never really gets hot, but the humidity suffocates anything that might think that's a relief. You didn't check the weather this evening. You probably should have.
It's 1:20 on a Tuesday morning. He's gonna be here. You've had mixed feelings about knowing his schedule this well in the past, but now it's the deciding factor of your fate.
It's 1:20. That means you've been bleeding like a stuck pig for ten straight minutes, even if it feels like it's been hours. Or seconds. You don't really know anymore. You're getting dizzy.
So you've leaned against the wall. Some little roof access point that stands tall above the gravel covering the rooftop. The brick digs into your shoulder, even through your jacket.
You're starting to think you've gotten it wrong. Or maybe he just didn't show today. Maybe you're out of luck this time.
It was dumb. Stupid to think that you could stop this. Stupid to think you would end any way other than alone.
It was on purpose, after all. Isolation, that is. You pushed and shoved everyone away with a friendly smile and kept them at arm's length, lest they wiggle their claws beneath your mask and expose you for every ugly thing you are.
You're a mole. An informant. Someone who plays every side all at once and somehow manages to stay neutral the whole time. You've been passing tips to the Bats for months now, means be damned. Trust was meager between you, but what little there is is mutual.
You'd hoped it'd be your saving grace. Hoped the side playing would leave you with at least one friend, even though it was the entire reason you're in this position in the first place. You had hoped your downfall would save you.
He appears before you two minutes late. 1:22 in the morning and he's late. He doesn't seem to have noticed you, a few feet away, surveying the street below him like it's his job (and it is), with his back to you.
"You're late, Birdy." Your voice comes quieter and rougher than it should, and the force it takes nearly sends you to the ground.
He spins around at the sound, hand already curled around the hilt of his sword by the time he faces you. He says your name lowly, like a warning, like always. His posture relaxes nonetheless. "You come with useful advice, I expect. The skirmish by the docks sounded quick, but Batman thinks–"
"I didn't know where else to go," you say suddenly, because you already know you aren't going to be conscious long enough for this conversation.
The effort gets you this time. Your knees, shaky as they've been, finally give out. You understand, and you forgive them; they carried you all the way here, after all. Your body turns on the way down, back of your jacket scraping terribly against the brick as your heels slide through the gravel. The noise you make is somewhere between a groan and a cry.
It rips the breath out of his lungs. Your name is in his mouth again as he drops to his knees beside you, gloved hands already pawing at the hand you have clamped around the knife still sheathed into your side.
"What happened?" he demands, and he's reaching for his pager with the other hand. "Who did this?"
You're too focused on the way your first name sounds in his voice. There's something nice about the way he spaces the syllables.
He says it again, all panic and worry, like he hasn't the time to mask it anymore.
You wonder for a moment if it has anything to do with his lingering stares and gruff get home safe's.
But then he's shaking your shoulder and you're wincing because it's bruised beneath the jacket.
"Stay awake, hey, stay with me. Batman is on his way. We'll fix this." There's a pause where he's sucking in a deep breath and you're trying to focus on his voice. "You're going to be fine."
You think it's a little funny. You managed to get all the way here, up a goddamn fire escape, but the moment you think he's got you, you lose all ability to keep yourself upright. You just want to sleep. You want to lay down and take a nice, long nap.
You hate to admit that it just might be because you trust him more than anyone else you know. You've only known him for a few months, but you're sure that you're safest with him. You're safe with him.
It shouldn't be much of a comfort, with Death staring you down like a lion on it's last meal. You won't need protecting if your decline doesn't level out soon. It's surprising what such little comfort feels like when you're staring Death down like a gazelle with an attitude problem.
You don't remember being moved. Or how you ended up in a medical bed with stiff, scratchy sheets and a nearly flat pillow. You do remember hearing Damian's voice, fading in and our with your consciousness. The words are all garbled and quiet, but you know the recall the sound.
Alfred is the first person you see. He's unfamiliar, but he introduces himself and offers you a warm smile and a glass of water. He brings you a bowl of soup and hands you a bottle of painkillers and another of antibiotics.
You fall asleep again, listening to some little body of water just outside the white room you're settled in.
When you wake up, it's to the sound of an argument. Batman and Robin. It's hushed, angry and patient whispers back and forth, but it's an argument all the same. You've heard them bicker enough over the last few months to recognize it.
You can't quite make it out. You hear your name a few times, something about time, something about healing, something about help. Batman finishes it.
Robin swings the squeaky door open a few moments later.
He stops halfway into the room when he sees you're awake.
You wiggle your way up the mattress to lean against the pillows behind you. "Birdy."
He sighs. "You nearly bleed out in my arms and that's how you greet me?"
He doesn't sound quite right. A little deflated, maybe. Relieved? As if he'd been holding his breath before he entered the room, and just remembered how to breathe when he caught your eye.
Course, you can't be sure he caught it at all, with those white lenses.
You cock a shoulder. "I'm sure you've seen worse. I'm sure I'll have worse."
His posture shifts as he crosses the room. He shakes his head. "That's not funny."
"It's kind of funny," you try, throwing the best carefree smile you can manage when everything beneath your skin is so sore. "I'm the one who was bleeding, that means I'm allowed to make all the jokes I want."
"That's an unhealthy coping mechanism."
"So is dressing up in red and yellow and calling yourself a bird."
His shoulders drop again. You think you might see a smile, but he turns his head away too quickly. "You should be more careful. I can't always be there to drag you out of every fire, you know."
You cross your arms, raising both knees to take some pressure off of your abdomen. He takes it as an invitation and makes himself comfortable in the chair beside the bed. He finds a comfortable position with a little too much familiarity. "I don't expect you to. I wouldn't have even been there if I wasn't getting information for you."
"For Batman–"
"Potato, pa-tot-oh."
He goes rigid again. "I never would have asked you to put yourself in danger like that."
It's defensive. Appalled, almost. Offended.
You don't know how to reply. That doesn't seem to matter though, because he's not done.
"And even if I had, I would have gone with you. I would have made sure you had backup, I would have– this never would have happened."
There's a certain distain in his tone that catches you off guard. A resentment, toward you or his partner you aren't totally sure.
He runs gloved fingers through slick black hair. Heaves a breath. Pushes himself to his feet. Falsely composed. "You may stay as long as you need. Alfred will take care of you."
"Where are you going?" It slips out before you can stop it. And perhaps you could play if off as a standard question—you are in an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar people, aside from him—but it's much too quick. It sounds a little too much like don't leave me.
And you know he hears it too, because he turns back around so quickly you wonder if he even considered it. "Patrol. It's Wednesday night." And yet he makes to move to leave.
You nod. "Right. Yeah. You're, uh, what? You're over by the city museum tonight, aren't you?" You want to smack yourself. What are you doing, making small talk? He's got places to be, people to save.
"Yes." The top seal of his mask flexes when he raises an eyebrow.
You nod again. An awkward smile on your lips. "I, uh, I didn't know how to feel about knowing where you'd be most of the week, but I guess I'm glad I do. Saved my skin last night, didn't it?"
He drawls in a deep breath. "Suppose it did."
There's a long pause. You aren't sure if you're breathing, but you're sure he isn't. He looks tense, like he's torn between saying something and leaving, body angled not quite toward you.
"You can always come to me," he says suddenly. He must read something on your face, because he tumbles straight into the next sentence. "Last night, you said you didn't know who to go to. I'm telling you now, you can always come to me. I'll fix it, whatever it is."
His voice is tight. A little unsure, but not in the statement. Like a hiker on a rocky trail; unsure of his footing, but certain in his destination.
There's something else in his words. Something scrawled between the lines in thin, fragile letters. Something deeper than wounds and needing backup.
I'll fix it, whatever it is.
Your heart rate picks up, and the heart monitor reveals your secrets on the screen beside you. What it can't reveal is the way the poor organ soars, throwing itself to the clouds with reckless abandon, completely uncaring of the hard trip back down.
You still don't know how to reply. You'd like to say something witty. A little sarcastic, maybe a smidge mean. He's giving you a glimpse at his heart, beating bloody in his hands, and there's a large part of you that wants to poke it. Nothing too wounding, just enough that he never makes the mistake again.
But you can't help it. There's a much larger part of you that wails, who wants to snatch it from him to shield and cradle, because he obviously can't be trusted with it. Not if he's baring it to you.
The deciding party is the reminder of last night. Dragging yourself up a rusted fire escape, praying to anyone who might listen that he'd be there. That he'd help you. You remember thinking he wouldn't. You remember the thought hanging above you like gravediggers as you settled into a coffin: you pushed everyone away, you don't leave room for those who want to help you.
"Thank you," you attempt, and it comes barely above a whisper. You allow it to be tender. You let it embody the raw little piece of you that utters it; the piece that wants so desperately to let him in. The piece that knew he'd save you. The tender little sliver of soul who still believed you deserved to be trusted and supported. The one who still hopes for meaningful connections, even among your collection of throw-away contacts.
You can see the way he relaxes. The way he melts inside his skin, like he'd been expecting you to poke when you could have. Like it lifts a weight off of him, knowing that you'll trust him enough to come to him in the future.
"I'll be back in a few hours. You should sleep."
You roll your eyes. "Sleep in some weird ass white room I've never been in, surrounded by a bunch if people I barely know. Yeah, I'm sure I'll sleep like a baby."
He recognizes that you aren't entirely serious, but he also recognizes the orange pill bottles on the table beside you. "If Alfred has you on those, I trust you will—no matter where you are."
You chuckle, he offers you the tiniest smile, and then he's gone. Vanished into the rest of whatever strange building he whisked you into.
You should be worried about it. Not knowing where you are, exactly who you're with, who has access to you. But you aren't. And it might be the medication making you compliant, and you'll look back on this in a week and be horrified—or it could be that you've broken all your own rules and thrust all if your trust into the hands of a boy you've never seen without a mask.
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sqoiler · 4 years ago
Text
On the Thursday of the last week of kindergarten, the DVD that Miss Martinez was going to play turns out to be scratched beyond recognition, and so she gets out construction paper, scissors, markers, and glitter glue. 
“Father’s Day isn’t for a few more weeks,” she says. “But why don’t we make some cards, just like we did for Mother’s Day, okay?” 
The kids all get to work, reaching for the pile of brightly-colored paper. Stephanie Brown, who will be turning six in August, is the last one to get up. She shifts through the leftover colors--black, a pukey shade of green, blue, white. She picks up the black one and takes it back to her desk. She does not want to make a stupid card for her stupid dad. The other kids at her table are enthusiastically chattering about their dads’ favorite colors and jobs and drawing crayon drawings onto the paper. The girl next to her is cutting a snowflake out with safety scissors. 
Steph picks up a white crayon and stares at her blank card. Across the room, Dexter raises his hand. 
“What if we don’t have a dad?” he asks. Steph remembers from Mother’s Day that Dexter has two moms. 
“Make a card for someone else,” Miss Martinez suggests. “Your grandfather, maybe. Or a neighbor, or a hero.”
A hero?
Steph looks at the black card before her, and her white crayon. She smiles.
And she makes a Father’s Day card for Batman.
-----
On the Monday of the last week of first grade, Mrs. Arnold, the art teacher, sits down her class and passes out white paper. 
“Father’s Day cards,” she explains. Stephanie Brown, seven in August, considers making her own father a card. She didn’t get him anything last year but he didn’t seem to notice, and she’s not really that mad at him this year. But he didn’t seem to notice, and when Steph thinks about it, she thinks Robin probably doesn’t make Batman a card. Steph could make another card for her own dad at home, and make one for Batman at school. 
Mind made up, she reaches for black markers and gets to work. 
-----
On the Tuesday of the last week of second grade, Stephanie Brown, almost eight years old, sits down in art class and carefully draws a black blob with pointy ears, and a red and green and yellow stick figure, next to it, and she tries to remember what Nightwing looks like, and when she can’t remember she just draws Robin again but bigger.
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY, she writes in red marker, and she closes the card.
------
On the Wednesday of the last week of third grade, Mrs. Arnold passes out watercolors in art class with pieces of thick paper, and tells them to make presents for their dads. Stephanie Brown, nearly nine, hasn’t seen her dad in almost four months, and she uses up almost all the black water colors at her table painting a picture of Batman. 
------
On the last week of fourth grade, nobody sits down their class to have them make Father’s Day cards. 
On the Thursday before Father’s Day, Crystal passes Stephanie Brown, age almost-ten, a card bought from the store and tells her that they’ll mail it to Blackgate the next morning. Happy Father’s Day, the card says. You’re the best dad ever! the card says. 
Steph stares at it for a long time.
Then she tears out a piece of notebook paper and folds it in half, taking the rainbow gel pens she got in December and picking up the pink one. She squints at it and sees that it’s nearly run out, so she picks up the purple one instead. 
When she’s done drawing Batman and Batgirl and Robin and Nightwing, she decides she likes purple, and she folds the notebook paper inside the card her mother gave her, and she doesn’t mail anything to Blackgate the next day.
-----
On the last day of fifth grade, Mr. Robinson turns on The Great Mouse Detective and sets out a stack of colored paper and scissors. He tells the class they can do whatever they want during the movie and even sets up chips and cookies, then he sits in the back of the classroom and maybe falls asleep. Stephanie Brown, ten-going-on-eleven, wants something to do with her hands, so she takes a black piece of paper and cuts out a batsymbol. She learned how to draw them by sticking her head out her window at night and looking at the sky, and she’s proud of her newfound skill. When she’s done cutting it out, she’s not really sure what to do besides maybe tape it to her shirt, but her dad’s been out for a week now and she thinks he’d be mad if he saw that. 
Instead, she folds it in half and writes HAPPY FATHERS DAY across the middle using white-out. Skye, the girl who sits next to her, leans over and asks what she’s doing, and Steph pauses. She’s...she’s not really sure why she keeps making these. To prove a point, maybe. She’s not really sure what point, though.
“Do you think Batman ever gets cards?” she asks in a whisper. 
“Yes,” Skye says. “Probably every day.”
“Oh,” Steph says. “Well, I probably won’t send it then.”
“Okay,” Skye says, and then she downs half of her dixie cup of orange juice and turns back to the movie. Steph puts purple glitter glue on her batsymbol. 
------
On the first week of April, Stephanie Brown, age seventeen, pulls a plastic bin out from under her desk. There’s a cardboard box beside her, and two other cardboard boxes on her empty mattress, full and taped shut. There’s a full duffel bag of clothes next to her, and her posters from her walls have been taken down and rolled up. All she has to do is finish going through her desk, and then she’s done. The rest of her things will be sold or something, she’s not sure. 
She pries off the lid of the bin before her and takes out old school binders and ragged notebooks, paper folders falling apart and ancient art projects. She lifts out a collage she probably made in seventh grade and tries to decipher the meaning behind it. There is a cutout of red heels from Kohls on top of a blue betta fish. 
Steph decides it will go in the trash pile and sets it aside, lifting out a yellow plastic folder. She opens it, curious, and lifts out a black paper batsymbol. She gasps when she opens it.
Her Father’s Day cards! 
Of course, she had never sent them, so she has all--she counts quickly--six of them. She looks them over, laughing at her kindergarten misspellings and looking at the evolution of her drawing ability fondly. This is--she totally forgot about this. Steph closes the folder reverently and puts it on top of her duffel bag. There’s no way she can get rid of this--especially with the purple cape still in the hidden part of her closet. Especially not with where she’s packing up to move to.
----
On the third Sunday in June, Stephanie Brown, age eighteen-in-August, takes up her yellow plastic folder from where she hid it under her new mattress, and she leaves her room, tucking it under her arm. She gets like four steps down the hall before another door opens, and already an accusing voice says, “What’s that?” 
Steph whirls around. 
“None of your business,” she says. Tim makes a face at her and she makes the same one back, because she is very mature. To prove her maturity, she slides down the banister on her way to the kitchen. 
Dick and Cass are in there, doing the dishes. Steph watches them for a second and then says, “Why do you have dishes at this hour?” ‘This hour’, upon checking, turns out to be almost noon, but nobody wakes up early in this house. 
“Breakfast for Alfred,” Cass says. 
“You can do that?” Steph asks, thinking that Alfred would get offended if someone tried to cook for him. 
“You can today,” Dick says, shrugging, and Steph frowns, realizes that they ganged together to make breakfast on Father’s Day for Alfred and didn’t invite her. 
It was probably an accident, she reasons, but then she remembers Tim and turns to face him. 
“Why didn’t you make breakfast for Alfred?”
“I was sleeping,” he says. 
“He’s impossible to wake up so we called it a lost cause,” Dick says. “We have extra pancakes, though, help yourself.”
Steph is still a little affronted, but she knows that she’s the newest person in the house and she’s only staying here until her mom’s done with rehab and whatever, so they probably didn’t think she’d want to be included, even though Alfred is everyone’s grandpa, even Babs’s. She goes to pick up a pair of pancakes and bites into one, deciding syrup can wait, and she leaves before they can rope her into conversation. Besides, she’s a little scared they’ll start referring to whatever plans they have with Bruce, and she doesn’t know how she’s supposed to react. 
She heads to Bruce’s study and pushes open the door, glad to find him in there. She thinks if she had to search for him she’d probably lose her nerve and chicken out. Bruce glances up for like half a second and then looks back at the computer, and she takes a deep breath and steps inside fully. 
Now or never, she thinks, and so she marches right up to him and slams the yellow folder on the desk. 
“What’s this?” Bruce says, and Steph isn’t really sure how to explain, so she says, “It’s, uh, I found it when I was packing my stuff, and it’s...it’s from a while ago, but I thought you might, um…”
She trails off as he picks up the folder and opens it, raising an eyebrow at the contents from inside. She kinda wants to look at his face, but also totally doesn’t want to do that, so instead she looks at the desk, and opens her dumb mouth back up. “They always used to have us do Father’s Day cards at school or whatever and I never wanted to make one for Arthur so I made those instead ‘cause...well I don’t really remember why but whatever I thought you might want to see them.”
“Stephanie,” Bruce says, and she shuts up and bites her lip, looking up at him. “You...made these?”
“Yeah,” she says. He looks back down at the cards in his hands, all spread out--even the one that was intended for Arthur that Steph never sent. He touches the one from kindergarten. “Um. You can keep them.”
Bruce stands up. Steph isn’t really sure at all what he’s thinking, but he steps away from his chair and wraps his arms around her, holds her tight. 
“Thank you,” he whispers. 
“Happy Father’s Day,” she says, and when he squeezes her she closes her eyes, exhales, and squeezes him back. 
(based on this post x) (ao3 here x)
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thesmokingguns · 3 years ago
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Picnic in the Park
Pairing: Axl Rose x Reader
Word Count: 2128
Fluff
Request Summary: “Axl rose meets a girl threw slash who is his childhood friend whos also an amazing painter and just is infatuated with how pretty she is and he just follows her around like a puppy.Tan skin brown hair that goes to lower back brown eyes, wears alot of cute sun dresses and is very kind”
A/N: I am catching up on requests. So if you have requested anything in the past week or so thag oiece should be coming out soon. Thanks everyone for reading
Tag list: @ayablackwood @agroupiewhore @thenobodies-inc @littlemisscare-all
Your mind was a mixture of light and dark, complimentary colors, and images burned into your mind that you wanted to paint later. If there wasn’t a brush in your hand you were taking notes with a pencil, sketching the world around it through eyes that only you saw it from. You captured everyday life like the older woman with the mesh bag she had filled with fruit or the man with his red beard, a few weeks unkept, napping in the alley to get a break from the heat. You took these people, characters of the world and had them live forever on the canvas you painted on.
Art was your passion. You loved walking around Hollywood with a set of watercolors or a notebook to sketch in and take in the lives of others. There was some sort of poetic feeling of taking a stranger from the street and importilizing them as a character in your art. You created a narrative for them that they may not be living. It was cathartic and you’d spend hours of your day people watching until you finally found the right subject.
Sketching out a bump on someone's nose that might have come from a childhood accident or from their Freshman year of college when they drunkenly fell down the front steps of the dorm, you created their unknown life story as you placed each line of their face into place. If you didn’t infuse their story into the piece it was just some colorful person without any meaning. But you wanted to give the viewer of your art a full piece. They should be able to look at your picture and understand the life that the subject lived; your art created that life.
It was crazy to think that a few years before you were in school thinking about becoming an English teacher.It was a chance meeting at a grocery store when you ran into your old friend Saul’s mother. When you had been kids the pair of you had been so close and secretly your mothers had both had fingers crossed for a wedding that never happened. The pair of you split apart the summer after senior year to set out of a life you each wanted. His mother had invited you over for dinner, which she also invited her son to, thrusting the pair of you back into each other's lives.
Oddly enough, it was like time hadn’t passed between you. The easiness of your friendship coming back without even trying and soon the pair of you were hanging out on almost a daily basis. With your schedule up helped manage his house, buying groceries, doing some cleaning, and running a few errands he never remembered. In return you had a few rooms to yourself. Slash had wanted to make sure you had time for your art as well as a space for it.
Dressing in a white floral pattern sundress you grabbed your bag that contained your art supplies. You wanted to get to the park early and set up a blanket you could spend the day sketching and painting on. You planned to soak up the sun in your skin and use the good lighting to get some new work to sell for the craft fair this weekend. As you turned to grab the picnic foods you had made the night before you saw Axl sitting at the counter. His green eyes looked up, smiling when he saw you.
“Hey, Y/N. Slash just left. I’m going to leave in a minute. I was just finishing up some lyrics.” he was always over and you thought that he was lonely in his role as lead singer. Even though Axl put on this tough guy imagine and had a reputation it was like he needed to work for that because he thought that was what rock stars were supposed to do. Whenever he was around you he seemed lost, always making extra conversation or taking the time to go walk to the coffee cafe with you and wait in line, even if he didn't want anything.
“I’m heading out for a day in the park.” you told him, moving the wax paper covered sandwiches into a small wicker basket, along with some fruit and cheese, some water, and a bottle of wine. You could feel his eyes on you, “I’m over packing and have more than enough if you want to come with me?” you let your eyes flutter up from packing the basket to look at him. “I’ll leave you alone to write because I’m just going to spend the time working on some new portraits.” It was important to you that you set up expectations. There was no need for him to feel like he was going there to entertain you or vice versa.
“I’d love to go. You don’t mind?” he asked as you finished packing up the wicker basket. You shook your head no, letting him pick up the food you had just packaged and leading you outside, “What park did you want to go to? I can drive us there.” you told him what you were thinking, getting comfortable in the convertible.
When you had moved in with Slash you had forged fast friendships with his bandmates. Even though you weren’t at every show and didn't always go backstage you had gotten close to them in different ways. On Wednesday nights you hosted a dinner party where you made them all come by so you had an excuse to cook for them. When someone had a ripped piece of clothing at a show you’d quietly take out your sewing kit, stitching patches in jeans and repairing favorite band shirts. You liked being around them all because of how animated everyone was; they were so easy to draw. You had a whole sketchbook of black and white images from the band. Your favorite subjects were Slash and Axl, mainly because they were the two you were around the most and had the most flexibility when it came to moods.
Axl had grown close to you, drawn into the caring nature you had. It was hard for him to understand that someone would do things for him without expecting anything in return. The first time that you had been out drinking with them and insisted Axl came home with you so you knew he was safe he had thought was a come on. When you helped him drink water and gave him aspirin before tucking him into bed he was shocked. Even more shocking was waking up to find his clothes washed and folded on the guest room chair and you carrying in a breakfast tray of freshly made foods. That’s just how you showed you cared about your friends. Being the mother of the group and taking care of them helped you feel like you were contributing as a friend.
Spreading out the blanket under the Weeping Willow tree. You motioned for Axl to sit as you toed off your sandals and moved to sit down. Digging through your bag you set out your sketch pad and pencils. You could see Axl out of the corner of your eye. He didn’t seem to know what to do. You pulled him down to the blanket, settling him so he could rest his back against the tree. You pulled off his shoes and socks and handed him his notebook as you went about unpacking your picnic so he could pick at food if he wanted to.
With him settled in the shade you laid down, belly first in the sun. Picking up your pencil you scanned the park until you found an older man feeding the pigeons. Your eyes followed his movements for a few minutes before you started your sketch. The feeling of the warm sun on the back of your thighs as you twirled the pencil in your hand, capturing all the features of the man.
As you drew you could feel Axl’s eyes on you. At first it was just light glances every few minutes and then it turned to heavy long looks where his eyes were watching you. Ignoring the way his stares made you blush, chalking up the pinkness in your cheeks as just sun exposure.
A hand slid over your calf, over the back of your thighs before going over your dress and laying on the flat of your back. You turned your face upward looking at Axl watching you. His eyes flickering from your art up to your face. There was a pause, curiosity and interest in what he was going to do next. Your heart is beating in your chest even though your body is frozen, wondering what he was up to.
“Do you want to take a break and eat? You’ve been working for a couple hours.” Looking past him you saw the sun had changed position in the sky and time had gotten away from you. Sitting up you handed out sandwiches, positioning yourself comfortably besides him in the shade of the tree.
Axl had been following you for most of the spring and now into summer. He's around all the time and often comes along for days like this. But you liked having him around. You thought that he needed the quiet comfortable silence between the pair of you; so much of his life was filled with noise.
“Y/N, do you like this?” He asked, peeling off the crust to his sandwich. The action seemed to be more of a need to keep his hands busy instead of a dislike for the bed.
“Do I like this? Picnics in the park?” You didn’t know exactly what he meant. Axl sometimes seemed to talk in riddles not wanting to fully play all of his cards.
“Being with me.” He didn’t look up to meet your eyes at this, almost embarrassed to be talking about it. You weren’t like Axl. There was no need to talk in riddles or have him guessing how you felt.
“Of course I like having you around, Axl. It’s nice to be able to spend time with someone I like.” He looked up, almost surprised that someone would like to be around him. “I’ve had a crush on you for a few months and it’s nice to get to know you more and find more reasons to like you.” You didn’t feel nervous telling him this. It actually felt like a relief to get it off your chest.
He put down his sandwich, wiping crumbs off on his shirt and looking at his hands to make sure that they were clean. Before you could figure out what he was going to do he had a hand in your hair, tugging you closer to him in a soft kiss. For months you had been thinking about what it would be like to kiss him on one of your lazy afternoons together and now it was happening.
Instead of letting him pull away and think about what he had just done you slid onto his lap, letting your hands wrap around him. His free hand was on your back holding you close as the pair of you made out like teenagers under the shade of the willow tree.
Finally, the pair of you pulled away, swollen plush lips and wild curious eyes watching each other. This new change between the pair of you sparkling like wonder between the pair of you. Axl was playing with a piece of your hair, wrapping the brown lock around his finger like he had been wanting to do for months.
“Does this mean we can finally start dating?” You asked, watching the way he smirked at this question. “Because I don’t know how many more times you can just casually show up without Slash catching on. And I don’t know how many more picnics I can plan without touching you.” You admitted, his lips were on your chin and up your jaw.
“Mhhh, I’ve been waiting for this for so long and now I can have you all to myself.” His voice whispered huskily to you kissing your earlobe. He pulled away to look at you again. “You have to tell Slash.” He said, making you laugh as you rolled your eyes. If that’s what it would take to have Axl you didn’t mind telling your best friend about the relationship.
“You take care of me and I’ll take care of everything else, babe.” You promised, meaning it. This was everything that you had wanted for months and now you were getting it. The man that you had started falling for was yours. It had only taken months worth of picnics to get him.
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hangovercurse · 4 years ago
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n y l a
Twenty-eight hundred miles separate two lovers.
Pete X Reader
Warnings: Angst, cursing
Based off of  “n y l a” by blackbear
A/N: This one hurt me but once it came to my head, I had to write it.
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Day 1
The streets of Los Angeles felt foreign, despite the times you’d traveled them on trips with Pete. Perhaps it was his absence that made them seem so strange.
You texted him.
LA feels different without you
Pete got the text as he left the studio for his lunch break, frowning when he remembered you wouldn’t be waiting for him when he got home.
Maybe you should come home
You got his text after you opened the door to the studio you’d be spending the next 10 months in, forgetting about the notification when your new boss welcomed you. It wasn’t until you got home that night that you could answer him with a facetime.
“Hi Petey!” You chirped, the excited smile on your face falling when you realized he was in bed and exhausted.
He tried to cover it up with a smile, but you knew him too well. “Hey beautiful, how was your day?”
You cocked your head, “what time is it over there?” You glanced at your clock, not realizing it was already 11 pm.
“I think it’s like 2 or something” he mumbled.
Your eyes shot open in shock, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was so late for you.”
Pete shrugged it off, adjusting so he was sitting against the headboard. “You know I can’t sleep without you anyways.” You stayed silent, not knowing how to respond to that. You knew he had no intention of making you feel guilty, but how could you not? You’d left him alone in New York for an opportunity in LA.
The notification from your phone pulled you out of your trance, your lips parting from Pete’s as you began to move off the couch. “Babe, you can check it later,” he whined, trying to keep you in your place.
You giggled, pecking him on the lips, “it could be important, I gotta check it.”
Pete pouted, but let you up anyways, watching you prance around the apartment to grab the phone you’d left in the kitchen. “If you’re not back here in 20 seconds I’m not gonna wanna kiss you anymore!” He called to you, eliciting a chuckle from your mouth.
“You always wanna kiss me, dork.” You called back, unlocking your phone. Pete’s response was lost on your ears as you read the email you’d gotten, excitement running through your veins.
Pete was concerned by your silence, “babe? Everything okay?” You didn’t respond, you just slowly walked out of the kitchen to stand in front of him, a small smile on your lips. “Y/N?” He asked.
“I got the job.” Your voice was breathless, shock evident on every inch of your body. “The movie in Hollywood, I got it!”
Pete’s eyes went wide, standing up and moving towards you to grab your face in his hands. “That’s amazing, I’m so proud of you.” He pressed his lips to yours passionately, smiling into the kiss. “When do you start?”
You looked down at your phone, reading through the finer details that your mind had forgotten to look at after you read that you’d been accepted. A frown fell on your face when you digested what all the information meant. “I leave on Wednesday,” you couldn’t speak above a whisper, suddenly disappointed at the news that you only had 2 more days with Pete.
His energy went down with yours, but he tried to cover it up with a smile that he could barely muster. “That’s great, you’ve been waiting for this for months. You can finally get started.”
You bit your lip as you continued reading the information, “Pete,” you paused to take in a deep breath, stabilizing your voice to no avail, “they want me out there for 10 months.”
It felt as if all the energy had been sucked out of the room, replaced with feelings of fear and doubt. The thought of 10 months without Pete played through your mind, tears forming behind your eyes. Pete looked hurt, like a puppy when its owner prepares to leave. His hands stayed on your face, thumb stroking your skin softly.
He took a few moments to process your words, “we can do 10 months.” He nodded, voice lifting to keep you cheerful, “10 months is nothing. And I can come and see you during breaks and if you have time off you can come back.”
You smiled softly, trying to convince yourself that he was right. He could see the hesitation in your eyes, so he pressed a soft kiss to your lips. “Y/N, we’ve been together for almost three years. We’ll be okay.”
You knew he was hiding how he truly felt, but you were in no state to push him to tell you.
 Day 41
Being away from New York never got easier for you. If anything, it felt like it was getting even more difficult. Between Pete’s demanding schedule at SNL and your work seeming to never end, you’d stopped calling as much.
Obviously, you tried whenever you could, but more days than not you were falling asleep only hours before Pete was waking up, or he’d fall asleep as you were leaving work. It didn’t change how much you loved him, but there was more strain on your relationship now than there had ever been.
Luckily tonight you got out a few hours early, due to rain preventing the scene from being shot. Your team was given permission to leave, despite the fact that you could probably go to the studio and work on more designs. But you needed tonight.
For the first time in much too long, Pete’s face popped up on your screen. “Hi Petey,” you were much less chirpy than you were the first day, but you were excited nonetheless, “I miss you.”
Pete was in the SNL studio, one AirPod in so he could talk to you privately. “Hey beautiful, I’m in the office, can I call you later?”
You bit your lip to hide the frown, giving him a small nod. “Yeah.” You whispered softly, disappointment filling your lungs. “I love you.”
You had expected him to say it back, but he’d gotten distracted by someone off screen and ended the call without responding. There was no room for you to be mad at him, as you had done the same to him many times, sometimes not even picking up the call and sending a quick text that you’d call him later. Only, you never seemed to make time to call.
You couldn’t help but feel the guilt crawl into your bones and make a home. Truthfully, you hadn’t been the best girlfriend lately, your job seeming to take up any and all time you would get to spend with Pete. And you knew he’d noticed, and you wouldn’t blame him for being upset.
That night you waited up for hours, waiting for a call or a text that you began to feel was never coming.
 Day 87
You had gotten better at calling since that night, but it only lasted a few weeks before you fell into the trap that was work. Most nights you weren’t home until midnight or later, choosing to stay and finish the work that the rest of your team wouldn’t. But not tonight, not this day. Not when you had something to look forward to, finally.
It was the first night you were home before 9pm in over a week, and you called Pete immediately, despite the stress of work wearing you down. You needed your person more than anything, craving the sound of his voice.
“Hi Petey.” Your voice was soft as you took in his disheveled figure. The bags under his eyes were sunken deeper than ever and his hair grown out.
He didn’t smile at you, just responding with a flat, “hey beautiful.”
Even the words that once felt special to you two had begun to feel tired and worn down. “I miss you,” you said, hoping you didn’t sound as tired as you felt. Pete ran a hand through his hair, taking in a deep breath. Your eyebrows furrowed in worry, knowing this as the first sign of something wrong. “What’s going on, Pete?”
He hung his head, no longer able to hold eye contact with the phone. “I can’t do this anymore.”
Recently, you had felt like nothing could hurt you more than the constant ache of overworking yourself and not seeing Pete. But this cut a hole deep in your soul, in a place you never thought would feel this type of pain. You stuttered trying to find a response, only to realize there wasn’t one to give.
“I love you, okay? I will always love you. But I can’t- I can’t do the waiting and the texts and the disappointment. It’s killing me.” He sounded broken, so defeated.
You felt a tear fall down your cheek, not even realizing you had started to cry. “Pete, please-“
He shook his head, cutting you off with an “I can’t anymore.”
“I can get better, Pete. I can start going home earlier, I can ask for a weekend off to come see you, we can figure it out.” You felt desperate, grasping at anything to make him stay.
He let out a bitter laugh, “I shouldn’t have to break up with you for you to start trying, Y/N!” His voice blasted through your headphones, the yelling making you flinch slightly. “If you really wanted to make things work, they would be working.”
You closed your eyes, tears dripping as you took a deep breath. His words from 3 months ago rang in your ears.
“We can do 10 months. 10 months is nothing.”
“I’m trying, Pete. It’s not exactly easy for me.” You kept a steady voice as much as you could, anger slowly replacing the sadness.
The bitter laugh returned, “yeah? Well, just remember you were the one who left.”
The coldness in his voice was unfamiliar to you. You’d fought with Pete before, but this was something new altogether. “What was I supposed to do, Pete?” Your volume had increased, heart thumping wildly.
“You were supposed to stay.”
Angry confusion crossed your features, “I’ve been dreaming of this job since I was 16, Pete. I was sending in designs for months before I even got accepted to work on set. I couldn’t just say no.”
Pete only shook his head in response, anger evident on his features. Anger and something that resembled disgust. You hoped you were misreading it. “I have always been supportive of you, Pete,” you continued, tears of hurt and frustration streaming down your face. “And the one time I get something good you want me to throw it all away?”
“I don’t take jobs that are twenty-eight hundred miles away.” His harsh tone cutting your fragile skin, “and I tried to be supportive, but you were the one who started pulling away from me.”
Your voice turned into a whine, a desperate plea to try and get him to think logically. “You’re the one who told me to go.” You paused, watching his reaction. He didn’t answer, he just held a look of disappointment, “Pete, you were the one who said we would make it work, remember? You said 10 months was nothing.”
“Yeah, Y/N. I fucking lied, okay? Obviously, its not working.”
You could practically feel your heart tearing in half, and suddenly you had no more energy to fight. If he didn’t want this anymore, you couldn’t force him to stay. You wouldn’t force him to stay. So, you simply said,
“Okay.”
He looked confused, “okay?”
“You don’t want to do this anymore. Okay.” You paused, trying to suppress every nerve in your body that was screaming at you to fight. “You don’t have to.”
You had intended for your last words to be strong, to regain some sense of dignity. But all that came out was a whisper.
Part of you hoped Pete would say something, but he just looked at you with broken eyes. You were sure yours looked no different.
“Goodbye, Petey.” You sighed, “Happy anniversary.”
Your finger tapped the screen, ending the call before he could say anything. You whispered to the blank screen,
“I love you.”
 Day 126
You never fully recovered. Sure, you pretended to. The fake smile you wore was almost starting to feel like a permanent fixture on your face.
Every time you glanced at a notification on your phone, you could feel your heart break all over again. You couldn’t find it in yourself to change the wallpaper from the picture of you and Pete.
His mom had taken it when you guys weren’t looking. You’d been up late at night when he was living with her, making food together. Pete had grabbed your hips and started swaying, making you dance with him to no music. It was one of the many times that you fell in love with Pete all over again.
 Day 284
The smell of sewage and diesel filled your nose, but you took them in willingly. You were home, finally. You’d gotten a week off from the movie unexpectedly, and even if you hadn’t spoken to Pete in nearly 5 months, you’d be damned if you didn’t go home for the week.
Everything felt familiar: the shops you passed, the lines of traffic, the merchants, the crowds. You finally felt like you would feel okay again.
You made the familiar trip to what was once your and Pete’s apartment, hoping he had kept it. You assumed he would have told you if he sold it, but you couldn’t be sure of anything anymore.
The walk to the door felt endless, the hallway seemingly getting longer.
Once you reached it, you hesitated. A nauseating feeling had settled in your stomach, making you second guess even coming to New York.
But before you could turn back, you knocked on the door.
Your eyes closed as you heard footsteps approach, inhaling deeply as the knob turned.
When you opened your eyes, you didn’t find the familiar brown ones. Instead, you were met with a small blue-eyed girl who couldn’t be much younger than you.
You stumbled over words, eventually managing to get the phrase, “does Pete still live here?” out.
She smiled kindly at you, “yeah. He’s in the shower right now, but you can wait for him if you want.”
Your heart sunk at the thought of who she could be. “Um, n-no. I’ll just, uh. It’s fine.” You backed up slowly, ready to dart back to the airport, get on a plane to LA, and never return to this city again.
“Do you want me to tell him you stopped by…?” She was clearly asking for your name, but you made up your mind then and there that Pete wouldn’t know you stopped by.
“No, thank you.”
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tomtenadia · 3 years ago
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Remember Us - part 6
Monday surprise!
As some of you might have read from my post from yesterday, I officially finished this fic and it will have 10 parts. this was the original plan and I am glad I kept it. The idea of having many more chapters of Rowan not recognising his family was far too painful.
Chapter 9 and 10 are so sweet that they will probably give you cavities, but I just thought they deserved the best happy ending.
Also, i got very attached to Thomas and he is a great fan of his parents.
Well, I hope you will enjoy this.
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Rowan had been staying at Lorcan’s while Aelin still kept her distance. It had been two weeks and they had been horrendous. She had blocked him off of her life. She was not answering his calls or texts and apparently had told Elide not to tell him anything about her. He was furious. They should be together and face such a tragic moment in their lives, together. But Aelin would not listen. He had tried everything to talk to her.
Someone knocked on the door and, since he was home alone, he went to open it.
On the other side he found Aelin. But the woman in front of him had a lifeless stare and deep shadows under her eyes. She was the ghost of his wife.
“Ro…” she said in a thin voice and then broke down in heavy sob.
Rowan didn’t even think. His arms pulled her at his chest and kissed her head. The sight of an Aelin so heartbroken was a shot to his heart.
“I am sorry.” She added, hiding her face in his chest and inhaling his scent that always gave her comfort.
“Shhh… I am here. I am never letting you go again, no matter how much you shout at me.” Another tender kiss “I am coming home and we’ll get through this.”
Rowan was in bed and staring at the ceiling after the dream woke him up. The Aelin from the dream was a shell compared to the version sleeping at his side. He turned his head and stared at her sleepy face and a deep part of him hoped she was fine. That the baby was fine. Because he knew for sure he didn’t want to see her again in the conditions she had been in the dream. Seeing Aelin in pain or sad hurt him.
He sighed and got off the bed and walked to the kitchen but once he got there he realised he had no idea where anything was. Aelin had said he would make pancakes but could not remember the day she had said. 
A splitting headache hit him and Rowan sat down on the sofa, head in his hands and then for a moment he felt disoriented and could not recognise his surroundings. Panic hit him. He looked up and saw a boy staring at him. He jumped up and almost fell.
“Dad.” The boy’s voice was almost tearful.
And as quickly as the moment of disorientation came, just as rapidly it went away and lucidity returned.
“Tom,” he ran to the boy and hugged him to console him as soon as he started crying. He had scared him “I am sorry I frightened you.” Thomas hugged his father and stopped crying and Rowan relaxed for an instant.
“Do you want pancakes?” He asked his son, still not letting him go.
“It’s not Saturday.” Said the boy, looking at his father in his eyes.
“Shhhh…” said Rowan with a finger against his mouth “You can have pancakes all the time.” He lifted the boy in his arms “but you need to tell me where everything is.”
Thomas grinned and pointed to the kitchen and once in there he started pointing at the doors and Rowan finally found a pan. Then he grabbed his phone and searched for a recipe, grabbed eggs and milk from the fridge and joined Thomas back at the counter who, in the meantime, had grabbed a chair and was kneeling on it so he could follow his dad.
“Will you be my assistant?” the boy nodded eagerly.
After ten minutes he was mixing the batter making sure it was smooth as the instructions recommended.
“Ok, Tom, are you ready for the first one?”
“Pancakes,” he shouted happily and Rowan smiled. He might remember a very few things about his son but he was definitely going to cherish that moment. It didn’t matter if it had been only a day. He was already in love with the two children. He just hoped he could become a good father to them once again.
*
Aelin woke up and found the bed empty and for a moment she thought it had been only a dream, but as she rolled over she noticed Rowan’s side was crumpled and gently caressed his pillow. He had always been an early riser and it seemed that some things had not changed.
She sat up, grabbed her fleece from the chair and left the bed looking for Rowan.
As she exited the bedroom she heard laughter coming from the kitchen and followed the sounds and once inside she could not believe the scene. Thomas was kneeling on a chair beside Rowan trying to cook something.
“Pancakes on a Wednesday?”
Thomas turned to her “shhh mum, it’s a secret.”
Aelin walked to her son and kissed his head “good morning, my love.”
“I am helping dad with pancakes. He doesn’t remember how to make them.”
Rowan flipped one and Thomas clapped “that is mine.” He grabbed a plate and placed the pancake on it “go and sit while I make more.”
Thomas climbed down the chair and walked to the table with his plate.
Aelin moved to Rowan’s side “did you sleep well?”
Her husband nodded and hesitated for a moment wether to tell her about his episode. Then he sighed and told her what had happened and Aelin looked at him with a doctor’s eye.
“A TBI can have such effects. It can cause moments of disorientation in which the person doesn’t know where he is. It can also affect short term memory, making it difficult to learn new things or even remember things you just did.” She placed a few more pancakes in Thomas’ plate “but there are ways to help you. We can do lists, have notepads and clipboards in the house. Have a note book and note down things.” She explained going back at his side “long term memory is stored already in your brain,” and playfully patted his head “you actually haven’t lost them. They are still all there. It’s just your brain has to sort through them again. It’s very complicated and technical, but they will come back. Short term memory is another issue. Do you still feel confused?”
Rowan shook his head and passed Aelin a plate with pancakes and then grabbed the jar of Nutella “go and scoff your breakfast.”
Aelin grinned “see? You remembered I take them with Nutella.”
In that instant they heard a cry and Aelin realised Freyja had woken up. She was about to stand when Rowan stopped her “Eat,” he commanded and again she had a glimpse of past Rowan. The one who would made sure she ate.
A moment later he came back with his daughter in his arms “I think our princess wants to join the breakfast club as well.” Freyja threw her chubby arms around his neck, snuggling close to him “what does she eat?”
Aelin went to the fridge and grabbed one of her pressed meals and Rowan began feeding his daughter.
It was an hour later when Aelin was ready for work “mum should be back very soon and I am taking Thomas to the nursery. Will you be okay with Freyja for half an hour tops? I changed her and she is fed, it should be easy.”
Rowan lifted the little girl in his arms “we should be fine.” And gave her his best reassuring smile.
“You call me if you have any problems.”
Thomas went to hug his dad before following Aelin out of the door.
Once he was alone with his daughter he stood, with her still in his arms and hobbled around the living room and stared at their impressive bookcase. Freyja leaned forward and with her hands tried to grab a book “ ‘tory” she babbled.
“Do you want me to read you a story?” He asked her and the girl green eyes were fixed on him and then she nodded.
He placed her down on the carpet and turned to the library in search of a storybook for her.
“I think I— ” he turned with a book in his hands and froze. Freyja was gone. Shit.
“Freyja.” He called her, panic rising in his voice. She couldn’t have gone far. How fast could a 18 months toddler go? He took his cane and started looking around the house “Freyja?”
In that instant Evalin came back and he breathed in relief.
“Rowan, are you okay?”
He was the worst father ever “I lost Freyja. I was looking for a storybook and when I turned she was gone.” He was preparing himself from some lashing from his mother in law but the woman burst into laughter.
“She does that. Thomas has been teaching her how to play hide and seek,” the woman explained calmly walking around the house and then going to the girl’s bedroom. Rowan followed her.
Evalin lifted the blanket from the side of the bed and pointed at under her bed.
Rowan heard a faint giggle.
“I wonder where my girl is.” Said Evalin keeping up the pretence. She opened the wardrobe “no, she is not here.” Rowan observed her and then joined in “she is not in the toy box either.”
Evalin placed her hands on her hips and grinned at Rowan then crouched down “here you are.”
The little girl screamed in delight as her grandma caught her.
The three of  them went back to the living room and Evalin passed Freyja back to Rowan and went to unpack her shopping bags.
“Do you need a hand?” He offered.
“No, it’s just fruits and veggies and a few more things. I love to go down at the market in the morning and buy fresh ingredients.” She told him, “you love to go too on your day off, wake up early and also go to the fish market and get the first catch.”
Rowan sat on a chair at the big table with his daughter in his arms.
“Aelin can cook, but you are the chef of the family.”
He smiled back and gently bounced Freyja on his knee and she giggled.
“How does it feel being back home?” She asked her son in law while stashing away the groceries.
Rowan sighed “it feels good and strange at the same time.” It was hard to explain how he felt without sounding like a lunatic “Some things are starting to feel familiar. But others feel totally new and others scare me.” He confessed but the woman in front of him looked at him with tenderness “the kids for example, I feel like I love them madly already but it pains me that the memories with them are still fuzzy. I want to give them back their father.”
“And Aelin?”
Rowan sighed “I think I feel something for her. I would not call it love yet. But yesterday we kissed and it felt like the most normal thing ever.”
Evalin smiled.
“But my memories are a jumble in my head right now. I have them, they are there and I found that being at home is triggering more and more of them. I want to do this. I want us to be a family again.” He grabbed his phone and showed her the photo on his home screen. The one on the beach, all of them smiling and happy. “I want this again. I just don’t know how to get there.”
“Rowan,” Evalin walked to him once done with the groceries and sat at his side “you have been awake for a month and at home for two days.” She patted his knee “both Aelin and I think that being home will help trigger more of your memories. Look through photo albums.” She stood and opened a cabinet and took out a box which once opened he discovered it contained a lot of photo albums. “Digital is good, but you and Aelin both love to print out the photos and make scrapbooks.” She rummaged in the box for a moment and then passed him an album “start with this.”
Rowan took it and it noticed it was their wedding album “Her friend Chaol took all the photos and then Aelin made a scrapbook and added notes and comments on it. She said she did not want the usual boring wedding album.”
He opened the first page and in big colourful letter and nice calligraphy it said Buzzard & Fireheart: the beginning of an epic tale.
The second page it had a picture of the two of them in an armour, back to back and swords drawn.
“You two hired some costumes for that photo.”
Rowan laughed and kept on flipping through the photo album. It was organised like a story, with small narrating paragraphs near the photos and he read each one of them.
“You two got married on a beach, then had a gigantic barbecue for all your friends and then when night came you lit a bonfire and had your first dance as husband and wife in front of the fire. Both of you barefoot.”
Rowan smiled “it sounds like fun.”
“It was a great day.” She bounced Freyja on her lap “all the albums tell a story. You did all of them like that so when looking back you could also remember more of those moments.”
Rowan reached the page where they were standing in front of Aedion, who officiated the wedding, and he stared at Aelin. Her light blue dress was gorgeous, but he was stuck on her smile. In the photo he was looking at she has the brightest of smiles and he realised that falling for her would be so easy. She was caring, brilliant, funny and sarcastic. She had passion. She had fire.
She was his Fireheart.
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Text
“It’s going to be okay.”
I just did a couple of my comfort characters for this one. Send in requests if you want to see specific characters, I’d love to write for y’all’s comfort characters too 🤍
Haikyū!! Masterlist
Pairing(s): Suna Rintarō x Gender Neutral! Reader, Miya Atsumu x Gender Neutral! Reader, Tsukishima Kei x Gender Neutral! Reader, Bokuto Kōtarō x Gender Neutral! Reader, Oikawa Tōru x Gender Neutral! Reader
Warnings: Fluff/Comfort, Reader is stressed out because of jobs/midterms/college in general, reader cries
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Suna Rintarō:
It had been a rough week.
It felt like everything was going wrong. Day in and day out.
It felt like the universe was hell bent on making you break, this past week.
You worked as a barista, while you got yourself through college. 
Not an easy job, despite what some people liked to believe.
And with each day came a new promise.
Monday? A trip to the ER with second and third degree burns on your arms, when an angry customer had taken out their anger on you.
Tuesday? Your boss had yelled at you - humiliated you in front of the rest of your coworkers.
Wednesday? You ended up not realizing that yo were decorated in chocolate syrup, when you slumped on your bed, having to wash the sheets and most of you laundry, after.
Thursday? You’d tripped while at work and gotten to go home early, with your face burning in embarrassment at the snickers of other college students.
Friday? A pop quiz that you were 50% sure you failed.
Now it was Saturday, your studying? Done. Your assignments? Completed.
But you still felt the stress of the past week weighing on you.
So when you started tearing up, Suna couldn’t say he was surprised. He wished he could have made this past week easier for you.
Midterms were coming up, as well, just adding to the stress you were already feeling.
So, your boyfriend just does what comes natural to him, when it comes to you.
Rintarō doesn’t waste a moment when he returns from practice, spotting you slumped over on the couch, glaring at the floor while you tried not to let any tears fall from your eyes. With your choice comfort movie playing on the screen, he knew he had to do something.
   Even if you had been pushing him away out of frustration, for the duration of this entire week.
   Rintarō walks over to you and gently scoops you up in his arms, before sitting on the couch with you in his lap. Well-manicured nails begin to softly and affectionately run over your scalp, bringing a comfort to you that you could no longer deny you needed. Desperately.
   He tugs you gently so you’re comfortable in his lap before he brings a calloused hand to your cheek, his thumb rubbing your cheekbone softly. He can’t help his sweet, soft smile as he sees the first tears trickle down your cheeks. He normally hated to see you cry, but he knew that you needed to get this out.
   Sometimes, people just needed to scream and cry to get pent up emotion out. So when you started sobbing, completely collapsing against your boyfriend’s chest, he pulls you as close to him as you can possibly get, rocking you as he cradles your body against his own. 
   “There’s my baby, let it out...” His tone is soft as his hand holds your head against his chest. “Let it all out. It’s going to be okay. I’m here and I’ve got you.” 
   He doesn’t quite know how long it is until your sobs quiet down, the crying wearing you out, but it doesn’t matter to him. He snatches the remote up to restart the movie that you’d failed to get through, earlier, before tossing that same remote across the couch so he could readjust your bodies.
   Leaning his shoulders and head against the pillow and armrest, he reclines himself, allowing you to get comfortable on top of him. As you rest on him, he brings a hand to your cheek once again, wiping away any remnants of the tears that had previously decorated your cheeks.
   “It’s going to be okay, baby. I promise.” 
Miya Atsumu: 
Being stressed around your boyfriend?
Unheard of.
Atsumu is a perceptive little shit who picks up on the smallest changes in your mood.
And he will do everything in his power to reassure you, or cheer you up, whatever you need.
So, it’s not built up stress that gets you.
No, it’s the phone call you get in the middle of the night, while you’re resting in Atsumu’s arms.
You and Atsumu put your phones on do not disturb/bedtime mode every night.
Very few people are set up so that your phone will ring, when they call.
So, you end up waking up pretty quickly at the sound of a familiar ringtone, Atsumu sleepily sitting up beside you as you sit up to take the call.
Your best friend.
Who had just been admitted to the hospital after a car crash.
They were most likely going to make it, but they were still undergoing surgery and you knew that anything could happen.
You were her emergency contact so they called you from the ambulance.
Not too long after, you found out that the other person was undergoing surgery and probably wouldn’t make it.
The realization that that could have been your best friend made you feel like you couldn’t breath.
Atsumu had been watching your frantic pacing for the past ten minutes, watching you work yourself up more and more. You were shaking, though you hadn’t turned to him yet, like you always did, when you needed comfort. And he was too scared to make it worse.
   Until he heard how your breath caught in your throat, once again, nearly sounding like you were about to start hyperventilating. Standing, the tall volleyball player comes to stop in front of you, gently grasping your wrists in his hands to make you look at him. He doesn’t say anything as you let out a shaky breath and crumble against him, just falling into his open arms.
   Cradling you against him with his large palm at the back of your head, he lets you get out the emotions that were pent up, soft sobs being let out against his shoulder. Pressing a kiss to your temple, he whispers soft words of encouragement. “They’re going to be okay, sweetheart. It’s going to be okay, I promise. And have I ever broken my promises to you?”
   With a shake of your head, your sobs quiet and all that’s left escaping you are quiet sniffles. If anyone was able to calm you, it’d be your Tsumu. There wasn’t a bad day you could remember that he hadn’t made things better. Your boyfriend always knew what to say... When it came to you, at least.
   It wasn’t ten minutes later when a doctor came out to let you know that the surgery had been a success and that your friend was okay.
   They’d be asleep for a few hours, allowing you to go home and change from your pajamas, if you would like. You didn’t catch that bit with the immediate relief that flooded through you.
   You both did end up going home to shower and change, wanting to get you both and your friend some food on your way back. As soon as you were in the comfort of your own home, Atsumu took your face in his hands, cradling your cheeks and gently stroking your cheeks with his thumbs.
   “As long as I’m around, I am going to make sure that everything works out in the end. I don’t like seeing you cry and I don’t like seeing you stressed out. You’re my significant other and I’m going to take care of you.” He reassures you earnestly. “It’s all going to be okay, I promise.”
   And as his arms wrap around you, pulling you into his chest, you know that it is, in fact, all going to be okay. You had Atsumu and he had you.
Tsukishima Kei:
Mid-terms aren’t shit.
Not only are the tests long, and hard, and stressful,
But both you and Kei had them.
And both you and Kei had attitudes - especially when it came to either of you getting stressed out.
So, you both decided to stay and study on your own for the most part, until exams were over.
It was only a week, after all, how much harm could a single week do to the two of your mental states?
A lot, apparently.
It was Kei who caved first, surprisingly, needing to see you.
It was actually pretty unsurprising, boy is whipped for you.
Grabbing his keys, he tugs on the hoodie you’d gotten him for his birthday, along with grabbing you matching one that you’d left at his place.
Then he leaves, his usual preference to wear pants rather than sweatpants, when he left his home, being overpowered by his craving to see you.
And he knew you needed to see him too.
But if anyone was more stubborn than he was about things, it was you and he knew you weren’t going to cave anytime soon.
What he didn’t expect when he entered your home was to find you crying into your hands, in a pile of your own notes, with your computer in front of you.
He furrowed his brows - you had overwhelmed yourself...
Because he hadn’t been here to prevent you from it.
Kei sighs as he listens to the clanking of keys together, his attempts to unlock the door to your apartment failing multiple times, before finally ending in success. At least he knew no one would ever break into your apartment. They wouldn’t be able to get in.
Look at him, he’d been over here a dozen times and it still took him about three minutes to manage your locks open. You must know how much he loved you with the fact he still put up with it. He enters the home, near silently, placing the strawberry shortcakes and milkshakes down on the counter, his keys being hung beside yours. Walking past your kitchen, he freezes in the doorway, hearing your quieted sobs before he sees you.
He had never, not even in his years of playing volleyball, moved as quickly as he did in that moment. He moved to kneel in front of where you were seated on the couch, taking your laptop and shutting it.
Kei knew you hadn’t opened your eyes, or moved your hands from shielding your face to see him, but you knew it was him with the way you slid off of the spot on the couch to kneel on the floor, your face finding familiar purchase in his neck.
“I’m not around for a few days and you manage to overwork yourself like this. God damn it, Y/N, don’t do this again.” His words, no matter if they should have sounded angry, just came out worried.
You knew that the only person he was mad at was himself for even suggesting the idea of you both spending time studying individually.
“I’m right here, okay? I’m not going to be going anywhere,” placing a large hand on the back of your head, he gently kisses the crown of your head. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”
“It’s all going to be okay,” his soothing voice calms you quite a bit, making your body slump against his in relaxation. “There’s my shortcake. Just relax, alright. We’ll study more later. In the meantime, we’re going to watch a movie and eat the sweets I brought. I don’t want you to think about those god damn exams.” Your nod in confirmation is all he needs to get you both comfortable on the couch so he can take care of his partner... Like he should have been going this entire time.
Bokuto Kōtarō:
Kōtarō, despite people thinking he’s not the smartest, is a very intelligent person.
Especially when it comes to emotional intelligence.
Which is why he figured out about your family issues, within a month.
Poor boy wished he could do something, though other than the constant sleepovers in high school, there wasn’t much else he could do. It broke his heart.
But that changed, when you both graduated high school together.
He didn’t allow you to stay any longer in that house. You’d dealt with the constant yelling and the lack of care for your feelings, long enough.
Though, that didn’t mean you’d escaped it when you went to reunions or to visit them on holidays.
They always managed to drag you into going.
And they always managed to drag you into their bullshit.
Kōtarō hadn’t been able to go to this year’s reunion - a practice game held him up.
His presence usually encouraged your family member to back the fuck off and not drag you into things.
But, this time...
He was just glad he’d gotten there when he did.
Pulling up in the driveway of the designated home of this particular family reunion, he could hear the yelling, as soon as he stepped out of his car. The volleyball player tensed up as he quickly walked towards the home, throwing the door open without care.
    Kōtarō wished you wouldn’t put yourself through this. You didn’t deserve it. He enters the living room, most of the arguing falling silent at his presence, already knowing that he wouldn’t hesitate to get on them for their bullshit. Walking over to you, where you sat, slumped at the dinner table, your head in your hands, he frowns.
   He wasn’t surprised when he found tears in your eyes as he gently picked your head up to look at him. A frown befalls him, once again and he guides you to stand, pulling you into his embrace, his hand holding your head against him, practically cradling you.
   He holds you for a few long moments to let you calm down, before he turns towards your family, letting you go so he can take your hand. “We’re leaving. They’re tired.”
   No one argues. They’d seen how angry Kōtarō got when it came to you and they didn’t want to face the wrath of the angry volleyball player.
   Without another word from you both, or spoken to you both, Kōtarō escorts you out of the house. As soon as you’re out, you can hear the yelling ensue, once again. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” he whispers as he pulls you into him, once again. “It’s going to be okay.” He whispers to you, pressing his lips to the crown of your head.
   “I promise. We’ll go home and take a long bath... We can make some cookies and relax. We can even watch some Disney movies and make a pillow fort. How’s that sound, my sweet owl?” Kōtarō cooes as he begins to walk you to the car, smiling at you as he noticed how relaxed you seemed to be out, away from them and with your fiancé.
   No matter if he could help your family’s constant fighting, he’d always be here to whisper soft reassurances to you and make sure that everything was okay.
Oikawa Tōru:
Dating Tōru isn’t easy.
Living over 18,000 kilometers from one another was no easy feat.
Somedays are easier than others.
And this wasn’t one of those ‘easier’ days.
No, not at all.
Instead, today is one of those days that you tug on Tōru’s old volleyball jacket and bury your nose in the collar, hopping it’ll smell somewhat like him.
One of those days that you watch his dazzling face appear on the screen of your television and pretend he’s here with you.
It’s one of those days that you shoot him an ‘I miss you’ text and he’s unable to reply.
You both make it work because you love one another and want to watch the other succeed and do what they love.
But sometimes, it would be so much easier if you both lived on the same continent.
What you didn’t realize was that he hadn’t been to reply to you, because he was caught up getting his stuff off of the plane and into a car.
He was exhausted, but excited to see you.
He wasn’t expecting to come home and find you asleep on your couch, wrapped up in his jacket with dried tears on your cheeks.
Tōru dropped his bags at the door - he could worry about them later, right now he needed to get to you. With his signature grin, he walks through the kitchen, “Cutie,” he cooes through the apartment, before halting as he enters your living room, head tilting like a confused puppy’s would as he spotted you.
   His brows furrow and a frown crosses his lips, walking over to you and dropping to his knees in front of your sleeping form on the couch. He brings his hand up to gently stroke your cold cheek. “Y/N...” He cooes as he caresses your face, waiting for you to stir. Once you begin to open your eyes, a smile returns to his face, seeing your excitement overpower the sleepiness in your features.
   “You’re here...” You whisper, pushing yourself forward to hug your fiancé, no matter how unconventional this position was for you both. “I missed you,” you mumble into the soft cloth of his shirt, inhaling deeply. Peppermint. He always smelled like peppermint and it was a scent you had immensely missed.
   “I missed you too, cutie... But it’s okay. I’m here, now.” Tōru reassures, shifting so that he can scoop you up into his arms while you curl up into him.
   Not hesitating to want to fall asleep with you in his arms, once again, he brings you to the bedroom, dropping you onto the bed and pulling out comfier clothes for the both of you. Unpacking could wait later. Explanations of the vacation he was taking could wait. You being comfortable and in his arms was all he wanted.
   He undresses you, putting one of his shirts on you, before he undresses, as well, pulling on a pair of sweatpants, before he pulls back the covers and slides under them with you.
   Long, toned arms come to wrap themselves securely around you, pulling you into a tanned chest. “I missed you so much... But I’m here now, alright?” He whispers to you, kissing your head with a tenderness that only you got to see from the Argentinian volleyball player.
    “Go to sleep, we’ll talk when you wake up.”
    It was safe to say you fell asleep peacefully in his arms, finding peace in the fact that you’d soon be happily waking up in his arms.
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General Taglist:
@thathoneybee3 @bratkugo
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babyjamiebarnes · 4 years ago
Text
Build-A-Bear
Part Four
Featuring: Bucky x Stark!reader, dad!Tony, Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, various characters in other chapters
Warnings: language, making out
Chapter Summary: You go on a short trip to Massachusetts to see Peter, Bucky takes you on a second date, someone gets caught doing something they shouldn’t.
Author’s Note: This was going to be a filler but it has a decent amount of necessary plot and progression. The next part will have a time jump so I don’t have to include a bunch of filler chapters, blehk. Let me know if you see my Avatar: The Last Airbender reference in here! And as always, you’re welcome to send me a coffee!
(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three)
Tags: @kennedywxlsh @ursmolbunny @devilswaldorf
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By the time Monday rolled around, you were thankful Bucky had training in the morning or you would’ve never gone to sleep. Most of the deeper subjects had been touched on when you were together on Saturday, so Sunday was just texting more playful banter and fun facts you hadn’t learned during your lab hangouts, but you two still talked until your phone was propped up on your pillow waiting for another message while you drifted in and out of sleep.
Bucky had sent you a sweet “good morning, doll” text for you to wake up to, but you didn’t talk much before you had to head to work and he had to work out with Steve. That’s the downside to waking up with just enough time to get ready. Not much wiggle room for distractions, no matter how delicious.
You had barely settled in to your workspace, specs for Sam’s wings pulled up in front of you, when you had a request for a FaceTime call from Peter, of all people. You hadn’t seen him in a few weeks since he went back to campus, but he was set to come back soon for a weekend.
“Hey Peter, what’s up?” you answered.
“Hey [Y/N]! I, uh, I kind of have a big favor to ask,” he said with a forced chuckle.
“Oh… okay? What’s going on?”
“Well, you remember that project you wanted my help on?” You nodded. “Well I talked to my professor about it and he said I can use it as my final project for this semester as long as you come to the proposal and document what you did on it so I don’t take credit for any of your work. If you don’t want to, that’s totally fine! I can probably work on another project, I just don’t want to put your project off and make you wait for me to finish my part —“
“Peter!” you shouted, cutting off his rambling with a laugh. “I think that sounds great. It’ll be nice for you to kill two birds with one stone. When would I need to be there?”
“Uhh,” he started with another forced laugh. “My proposal is Wednesday.”
You stared at the screen, motionless at his response. “Wednesday. Like, two days from now, Wednesday?” Peter nodded. You could practically see him sweating through the phone, worrying about whether or not he should’ve asked his professor sooner or just completely avoided the subject entirely. But you knew he probably didn’t have much heads-up and considered using your project a little late in the game. “It’s a good thing I like you, kid. Let me double check with the boss but I’m sure that’ll be fine.”
“Yes! You’re the best!” Peter cheered.
“I’ll text you when my flight leaves because there’s no way I’m driving ten hours.”
You and Peter briefly went over how things would work, from what you should wear to whether you’d be getting a hotel room or bunking on his futon. While you were talking, you emailed your dad about the trip and got a quick approval. Tony liked Peter, and you understood why. He reminded you of your father if your dad had a stutter instead of an ego.
Mid-afternoon, when you took your second 20-minute break of the day just to let your brain relax, there was a soft tap on the door of your lab before Bucky poked his head in. He stepped in and looked around the whole room frantically before he noticed you curled up under a blanket on the giant bean bag chair you shoved into the corner once Peter left. You liked being able to take your breaks in the quiet of the lab so your brain could actually shut down for a few minutes.
“Oh, hey,” Bucky said with a smile.
“Hey Buck,” you replied, mirroring his smile. “How’s your day?”
“Pretty good,” he said with a sigh. “Just bored so I thought I’d see what you were up to.”
“Just taking a break,” you shrugged. “But you’re more than welcome to sit with me while I work. I won’t interact much because I lose focus easily but you can hang out.”
“As appealing as that is,” he started as he walked closer to you in your bean bag chair, “I know I’d start asking questions and I don’t want to distract you.”
You stood from your spot as he got closer and smirked up at him. “You are pretty distracting.” He stopped when he was toe-to-toe with you. “It’s a good thing my breaks are made for distraction.”
He smiled down at you as his warm hand curled around the back of your neck and pulled you into him for a kiss, your own hands looping through his belt and pulling his body closer to yours.
You practically melted into him, feeling as if you couldn’t get closer no matter how hard you tried. Even him slipping his thigh between your legs didn’t feel close enough. Then the weight of his metal hand fell to your waist as his tongue entered your mouth. It was all reminiscent of your first kiss just a couple days before.
Except outside your apartment, you didn’t have to worry about getting caught.
“Hey [Y/N], have you—“ You and Bucky quickly pulled apart at the sound of a new voice coming from the doorway and you immediately started to panic.
“—seen Bucky,” Steve ended with a sigh. The door quietly clicked shut behind him as he stepped in. “So you two…?”
“Have been on a date,” you said, walking toward Steve with your hands held out. “Steve, please don’t tell anyone, especially Tony.”
“You kind of owe me one, punk,” Bucky said as he walked closer, his hands shoved in his pockets. “I never ratted you out for lying on, what, five different enlistment papers?”
Steve huffed at this, clearly stuck between following the rules or letting others break rules that were much more harmless than his past rule breaking.
“You know this is gonna come out eventually, right? You won’t be able to hide this — and whatever this becomes — forever,” Steve warned.
“We know,” you said solemnly, “but it’s nice to just have this for now, you know?” You looked over at Bucky, who was leaning against the lab table looking back at you, his lips quirked in a small smile.
“Just… be careful,” Steve said as he started to leave. “If you don’t lock the door, at least ask Friday to alert you if someone is coming this way.”
“You know, I don’t care what people say about you, Steve. You’re pretty smart.” Steve initially smiled but then let out a short ‘hey!’ as you pushed him the rest of the way out.
“That was close,” you said, turning back to Bucky.
“But at least we have a pretty influential Avenger on our side, if we ever get outed,” Bucky said. Too bad he didn’t know the approval of everyone on earth would mean nothing to your dad — and both of your boss.
“Well, that little debacle kind of wasted the rest of my break,” you pouted, stepping up to Bucky.
“Can I take you out again?”
“I’d like that a lot,” you smiled. “Oh! I’m leaving for Massachusetts tomorrow and coming back on Thursday and have my family thing on Friday so will Saturday work?”
“Massachusetts?” Bucky asked, clearly missing the rest of your statement.
“Yeah, I’m helping Peter with a project so his prof wants me to be there to answer questions while he proposes his project. It’ll just be Wednesday, but Tony let me have tomorrow and Thursday off for travel so I’m taking my time.”
“That sounds…” Bucky started. “Uhh… I gotta be honest, that sounds unbearably boring,” he laughed, making you giggle with him. “But good luck to you and Peter. I’ll see you Saturday?”
The trip to Massachusetts was short but boring, and you were relieved to see Peter’s car when you stepped outside. Your hotel was right down the road from his dorm, so you dropped your stuff off before heading to his room to go over the proposal.
Even though you had only spent a few weeks working with Peter, he had grown to be like a brother to you. Spending so much time every day with no one else to talk to can really help people bond. Your dad’s adoration for the kid definitely helped, too. You wouldn’t be surprised if your dad eventually brought Peter along to family dinner.
“So I have to do most of the work, but you’ll need to explain why we’re doing this and what you’ll be doing,” Peter said after reviewing his speech.
“Okay, I can manage that.”
Peter was quiet for a second before saying, “Do you… maybe wanna go over what you’ll say…?”
“Oh, sure! Sorry, public speaking is a big thing in my family so I just figured I’d wing it.”
“Please don’t,” Peter said quietly, his eyes going wide right as the words left his mouth. “I don’t mean that in a bad way! I just mean, this proposal is important to me so I want it to go as smoothly and well-planned as possible.”
“Okay, you be your professor.”
Peter cleared his throat and said, “Miss [Y/L/N], what prompted you to start this project with Mr. Parker? And what role will you play in its growth?”
“Well, Dr. Kramer, I recently received a promotion within Stark Industries to work with the Avengers on their weaponry. This work included the vibranium arm on the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes. One thing I noticed early on was the lack of sensory receptors within the arm. That observation, along with a similar request from Mr, Barnes, prompted me to look into ways to change this. Mr. Parker has an internship with Mr. Stark so, considering our different areas of study, I sought out his help. With my knowledge and expertise on the mechanical side of things, Mr. Parker will primarily be working on the more biological side of things. Once he finds a way to connect new receptors to the spinal column through the current nerve channels, I’ll be able to create millions of micro-receptors that will need to essentially be surgically embedded in the vibranium. I already have the blueprints for this process; I’m more than willing to share those documents with you, though it is confidential and I would need you to sign an NDA for safety reasons.”
Peter stood in the middle of his room, speechless.
“I told you it runs in my family,” you laughed. “Now pick your jaw up off the floor. I’m hungry.”
The next day, Peter and you breezed through the proposal. Peter didn’t even stutter during his speech! But his classmates did bombard you with questions that the professor quickly shut down. You and Peter spent the rest of the day catching up. He introduced you to his girlfriend Michelle and his friends Ned and Flash. By the time you got back to your hotel that night, you were exhausted — and thankful for an afternoon flight.
The next morning, you got breakfast with Peter before his class and finished packing to fly back to New York. You were once again grateful for an afternoon flight because by the time you got back, you didn’t have time to get back to work. So you took the evening off and treated yourself to a bath, some wine, and your favorite Netflix series — and texting Bucky, of course.
Family dinner that week was much easier than the previous week. Your dad mainly asked about your project with Peter, only briefly touching on Bucky’s involvement. At least until your phone buzzed on the table. It was a rule that phones stay face-up on the table at dinner and any messages get read aloud. So when you saw “James 🐻” pop up, heat rushed to your face. You managed to snatch your phone before your dad could, but you still had to read it out loud to the table.
“Uh,” you nervously cleared your throat. “So, James said ‘I have an idea for our date tomorrow, but I would need full reign over your kitchen for a while.’” You sent the table a tight-lipped smile as you locked your phone and set it down again, waiting for someone to say something.
“You’re going out with this James again?” your dad asked.
“Yes,” you said plainly. “I like him, dad. A lot.”
“And you’re already inviting him over?”
“Dad, stop. I’m a grown woman; I can make my own decisions.”
“I’m not saying you can’t, I’m just saying… well, don’t you want to get to know him better first? Make sure he doesn’t want to wear your skin?”
“Ew, shut up,” you laughed. “I’ve done plenty of research into him; he’s a good guy.” Your dad still looked skeptical, so you pulled out your puppy dog eyes. “Please trust me on this.”
Tony huffed and shook his head. “Okay, fine. He’s a good guy. Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. And don’t do anything I would do either.” You rolled your eyes at him but managed to divert the conversation by asking Happy and Pepper what Tony’s limit really meant.
The next day at 3:30 on the dot, you got a call to your house phone by the front door. It was unusual, especially since you hadn’t ordered any food. The doorman usually brought food up, but called if they were working alone. And you knew they weren’t working alone, considering how early it was. Still in your sweats and a t-shirt since Bucky wasn’t coming over until 4, you answered the phone with a simple “hey.”
“Hello Miss [Y/L/N],” you recognized the doorman Matt’s voice, “there’s a James at the front door for you?”
“Oh, okay, shit,” you said, whispering the last word to yourself. “Go ahead and send him up.”
“Would you like to grant him regular access to your residence?” Matt was always so formal, probably because you pushed for your dad to hire him and he knew he had to keep this gig. His background check showed he came from a low-income family and really wanted to turn that around. He knew he owed you and because of that, he was always grateful and sweet.
“Yes please. Thanks, Matt!”
With that, you hung up and sprinted to your room, knowing Bucky only had a 20 second elevator ride before he got to the sixth floor. Unfortunately for you, you didn’t have time to scramble for new clothes before there was a knock at your door. You grumbled as you ran back to the front door and greeted Bucky.
“Hi,” you said, half out of breath from your scurrying.
“Hey,” he smiled back. “I’m glad we chose the same style today.”
You gave him an admittedly generous once-over and realized his gray sweats and black tee matched yours, though your shirt did have an NYU logo on it.
“Oh thank god,” you nearly cackled. “I was panicking because I thought I should dress nice but you were early so I didn’t have time but I didn’t want to get ready too early so I wasn’t —“
“Hey [Y/N]?” Bucky interrupted. “Can I come in?”
“Oh, shit, yeah.” You stepped aside and let him kick his shoes off in the entryway. That’s when you noticed all the grocery bags in his hands. “Uhh, whatcha got there?”
“I said I’d need your kitchen, right?” he smiled, sending a wink your way as he started setting up. “I’m gonna cook you some authentic Romanian dishes ma used to make back in the ‘30s.”
“Ohh, sounds yummy. Can I help?”
“If you want to eat any of it, you better help,” Bucky joked.
“Let me grab a couple aprons so our fancy attire doesn’t get dirty.” In the hallway closet, you had about a dozen aprons Happy got for you. You said you needed some aprons once and suddenly you were getting new aprons for every gift-giving holiday. You appreciated it, though. Every time Happy saw an apron he thought you’d like, he bought it. And you, in return, bought him every oven mitt you thought he would like after he accidentally burned his hand making green bean casserole one year for Thanksgiving.
You grabbed the “Queen of the Cat-chen” apron covered in cats for yourself and for Bucky, the “I’ll feed all you fuckers” apron your dad thought was hilarious on your last birthday.
“Sorry I don’t have any matching chef hats,” you joked as you handed Bucky his apron.
For the next three hours, you followed all Bucky’s instructions and watched as he did his part of the work, chatting while things cooked and finally relaxing once everything was plated. You each had a decent amount of food debris on your aprons, making you thankful you both wore them. You led Bucky into the living room where you sat on the floor between your couch and the coffee table.
“You know the couch is made for sitting, right?” Bucky asked as he slowly sat behind you, one leg on either side of your body.
“Yeah, but it’s more fun to sit on the floor, especially when I’m eating.” You turned your head to face him as you continued, “I get too sleepy if I’m on the couch too long.”
He chuckled at your confession but didn’t argue. You both ate in comfortable silence, the only sound coming from the hum of traffic six floors down and the TV quietly playing a crackling fire YouTube video.
“Can you finish this for me?” you asked as Bucky set his empty plate on the coffee table.
“I’m full, doll.”
“Bucky, please? I can’t finish it,” you whines, pouting up at him.
“Then just put it away with the leftovers and eat it later,” he shrugged.
“But I’m so bad at eating leftovers,” you groaned.
“Then I’ll put it away and eat the leftovers,” he conceded. He snatched the plate from you and headed to your kitchen to pack it all away.
By the time he made it back, you were snuggled under a blanket on the couch with “What’s Your Number?” pulled up on the TV.
“I hope you’re okay with watching my favorite movie,” you smiled, making sure to flutter your eyelashes extra hard so he couldn’t say no.
“I haven’t seen this one yet so sure,” he said with a shrug.
He yanked the blanket off your body and unfolded it so he could bring you under his right arm and cover both of you with the thick fabric. Ever since Monday in the lab, he’s been more affectionate. He stopped by on Friday and kissed you at least half a dozen times before he left, then earlier while you were cooking, it was like he had to hold your hips every time he watched over your shoulder, and he chose to end the night holding you into his side and… oh, you were a goner once his fingers started lightly tracing shapes on your bare arm.
And he had to have known you were weak, if the way he angled his body toward you was any indication. You loved the movie you had picked out and really did want to watch it… but when you looked up at Bucky and saw his gaze meet yours, you knew the movie was going to be long forgotten.
His lips pressed to yours firmly, like he wanted to make sure you remembered what he felt like. You quickly let things escalate by gripping his hair and pulling him with you and you laid back on the couch. Your legs fell open as he slid right between them, his left arm propped on the cushion to keep himself from crushing you and his right slipping under your shirt to hold your waist. When his tongue passed your lips, you couldn’t help but whimper at the feeling of him taking control. His hand never moved past your waist, just occasionally squeezing as he pressed his body against yours.
The rest of the night was spent alternating between making out, talking while you were chest to chest on the couch, and making out some more until you fell asleep against his chest.
The next morning, you woke up to the blaring sound of a ringtone... that wasn’t your ringtone. And you were on your couch? The sleepy haze quickly wore off when you felt Bucky’s body shift behind you to reach over and grab his phone.
“What?” he answered grumpily, though your body’s initial reaction was to how deep and gravelly his voice was in the morning. Fuck.
With how close you two were and how quiet it was with the TV off, you managed to barely make out what was being said on the other end of the line.
“Where are you?” It was Steve. “You were supposed to be at the group breakfast this morning but you weren’t in your room so I told Tony you weren’t feeling well.”
“Oh, fuck,” Bucky groaned. Now that sound sent all your senses into overdrive. “I fell asleep at [Y/N]’s last night.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured,” Steve replied, clearly exasperated. “Look, just stop by a convenience store and grab some medicine so when you get back, no one questions it. You snuck out when no one saw, that’s the story.”
“Thanks, man. I’ll head out soon.” Once they hung up, you rolled over on the couch to face Bucky.
“Good morning,” you said with a sleepy grin.
“Good morning,” he replied, pressing a slow, gentle kiss to your lips. “I’m sure you heard but I’ve gotta head out before Tony gets suspicious.”
“Okay. Text me when you get back?”
Bucky stood from the couch, and you followed suit behind him as he put his sneakers and jacket on.
“I’ll text you on my whole trip back,” he smiled. “Looks like you might have to bring those leftovers with you tomorrow. I don’t know that I can sneak them back today.”
You practically skipped to join him at the door, your hands going to rest on his chest before he could leave.
“Should we just designate Saturdays as our date nights?” you asked.
“Who said you get another date?” Bucky joked back.
“Excuse me?” you gasped in mock offense. “Next time I get to choose what we do and I’m not letting you take that away from me.”
Bucky chuckled at your little outburst but pressed another kiss to your lips as a peace offering.
“Next Saturday, your pick,” he smirked.
“It’s a date.”
277 notes · View notes
drmmyrs · 4 years ago
Text
The Way I Loved You (Poppy x MC)
Soo bear with me since I think this might be a long series. This part is mostly just establishing the story so there is little to no fluff yet.
But stiiill, let me know what you guys think and I’d really appreciate feedback/constructive criticism. Hope you enjoy and if not, thanks for reading anyways :)) 
tag list: @whackawriting @samanthadalton @crazzyplays @uselesslesbianfr (ithis is my taglist I thiiink, but if you wanna be added or removed just let me know)  
Pairing: Poppy x MC (Bea)
Word Count: 1650
Warning: Little swearing (at least for this part)
A/N: This is from the part before Poppy and MC were paired for a project
Bea had been at Belvoire for two months now, but she still wasn't used to waking up on a queen-sized canopy bed fitted with luxe sateen sheets in a bedroom which probably cost more than her family's house back at Farmsville. She glanced at the clock–11:30 am. She still had some time to spare before her first class. How people managed to wake up early on this luxurious bed made of clouds, she didn't know.
After a few more minutes of daydreaming, Bea begrudgingly pulled herself out of bed. She was preparing her outfit when the smell of heaven wafted through the bedroom door–bacon and pancakes. Like some kind of puppet on strings, Bea let herself be led by the delicious aroma to the kitchen where Zoey was expertly pouring pancake batter on a pan.
"I didn't know I was roommates with a master chef," Bea jested.
Zoey turned around at Bea's voice, and as she saw her, a smirk crawled up her lips.
"Well, don't you look sexy." Zoey eyed Bea up and down with an amused look on her face.
Bea glanced down at her outfit and saw that she was still in her pajamas. "Whatever Zo, not everyone can rock designer outfits even in bed."
"Hey, I'm not complaining. Besides, Spongebob PJs do have a certain charm."
Bea rolled her eyes while smiling. "So, what are we having for breakfast?"
"I'm pretty sure it's lunch. And aren't you supposed to be in class, like, right about now?"
"Nah, my Tuesday classes aren't until one o'clock."
Zoey stared at Bea. "Babe, it's Wednesday."
Bea's eyes widened at Zoey's words. "No, no, no, Professor Roberta is gonna kill me."
Bea rushed to her room and hastily changed her clothes faster than she thought was possible. She contemplated going to class au naturel, but ultimately decided against it. Bea was not ugly by any means without makeup, but in a sea of extremely contoured cheeks and false eyelashes, having no makeup was basically social suicide, especially since Poppy was in that class. Ugh, great. Of course, I'm late to the only class I have with Poppy.
When Bea thought she was presentable enough, she sprinted out the door but not before grabbing a handful of pancakes and shoving it to her mouth, looking like a chipmunk in the process. The T is gonna have a field day if someone saw me like this. Bea slowed her sprint to a stride as she swallowed the last of the pancakes.
Bea arrived in class forty-five minutes late.
"Look who finally decided to join us," Professor Roberta said in disdain.
"Sorry Professor, won't happen again."
"I'm sure it won't. And since you decided to join us so late, you're gonna have to work with Ms. Min-Sinclair over here for your community service project."
Oh hell no.
Sure enough, Poppy was sitting alone, glaring at her, and Bea could almost swear she could see smoke coming out of her nose.
Bea hesitantly sat down beside Poppy.
"Look Poppy, let's be civil about this and finish this project fast so we–"
"We're not going to do anything, Farmsville. I will ace this project and you will stay out of my damn way."
"Like hell I'm gonna let you take all the credit."
"Is there a problem here?" The professor glowered at Poppy and Bea.
"None professor, we were just calmly discussing the details of the project," Poppy responded with a fake smile.
Bea rolled her eyes. Kiss ass.
Once the professor was out of earshot, Poppy sharply turned to Bea. "Be ready on Friday, we're going to a foster home in Middletown."
"Middletown? But that's like an hour away!"
"I don't see you coming up with better ideas," Poppy hissed.
"I–I–"
"I thought so. Do not be late, Farmsville. I don't want you taking more of my time than you already do," Poppy said with a glare before she grabbed her Chanel purse and strode away.
***
Back at her dorm, Bea was resting her head on her hands on the dining table when Zoey arrived.
Upon seeing Bea, Zoey immediately took a seat beside her and placed her hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "Aww, babe. Was Professor Roberta that mad?"
Bea turned to face Zoey. "No, but it was much, much worse."
Zoey raised her eyebrow.
"I was paired with Satan for our project."
"Poppy?"
Bea nodded. "She even wanted to do the project in Middletown. Middletown. That's like an hour away! I mean surely there has to be another community that needs servicing that doesn't require an hour drive with Poppy."
Zoey pretended to think thoughtfully. "Hmm, maybe she finally found a way to get rid of you permanently?"
"I'm serious, Zo." Bea glared at Zoey.
Zoey laughed. "Okay, okay, sorry. But do bring holy water just in case."
Bea groaned and stood up from the chair before ambling to her bedroom. "I'm going to bed."
Before Bea was able to shut the door, Zoey called out after her. "You'll survive, babe! Give her hell for me."
***
Just a few minutes after Bea got back from her classes, she heard the sound of consecutive horns outside which she immediately knew were from Poppy. No one else is obnoxious enough to disturb an entire dormitory. With a sigh, Bea grabbed her things and trudged outside.
When Bea got outside, Poppy's Range Rover was parked at the curb. Bea walked to the passenger's side and opened the door.
"Be a dear will you and don't touch anything, I don't want your filthy hands staining my car."
Bea rolled her eyes. Hello to you, too.
The first few minutes of the drive were silent except for the light rain that started drizzling on the windshield, that is, until Bea asked Poppy, "why are we going all the way to Middletown anyway? There's probably some–"
"Remember that time when I asked for your opinion?"
Bea just glared at Poppy.
"Me neither. So, shut up, Hughes."
"How about you take a day off from being a bitch, Poppy. Seeing that you've had your whole life being just that," Bea rebuked.
The entire car ride was spent with both girls hurling insults at each other that it was honestly surprising that Poppy didn't kick Bea out of the car in the middle of the road.
After one looong hour, they finally arrived.
"Don't get in my way, Farmsville," Poppy warned as she approached the house and rang the doorbell. After a few moments, a middle-aged woman opened the door.
"Poppy! What a pleasant surprise. Come on in." The woman gestured them inside.
Hang on, how does she know Poppy?
The woman led Bea and Poppy to a couch and asked them if they wanted something to drink, to which both of them politely declined.
"So, Brenda. How is the family?" Poppy was wearing a smile that might actually be... genuine?
Bea stared at Poppy in shock. Not only were they on a first-name basis, but Poppy was actually nice to someone that doesn't involve sucking up.
"They're doing great! Thomas actually just got promoted recently so we're gonna take the kids somewhere nice sometime next week."
"That's amazing, send Thomas my regards."
Okay, what the hell is happening?
After a few more polite conversations, Brenda turned to Bea. "You haven't introduced me to your friend yet." Brenda extended her hand to Bea. "I'm Brenda."
Bea wore her biggest smile as she shook Brenda's hand. "Bea. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Poppy cleared her throat. "Actually, we came here for a community service project, and we were hoping that we could throw the kids a small party and maybe at the same time we can do a photography shoot that can be shared to prospective families. Do you think we can do that?"
"Oh, certainly! I'm sure the kids would love that."
"That's great to hear. Where are they anyway?"
"They're actually out there playing with the toys you sent them. Come on, I'll lead you to them." Brenda stood up and walked towards the back door.
Poppy started to follow her but turned around when she noticed Bea was still sitting down.
"If you're just gonna sit there like a half-wit, do us a favor Farmsville, and do it far away from here."
Still in disbelief, Bea stood up and followed Poppy and Brenda to the yard where Poppy was greeted enthusiastically by five kids. She watched as Poppy played with them with such kindness and compassion that she couldn't help but smile as most of her anger towards the blonde was replaced with warmth and some other indescribable feelings. After a few more games where Bea was basically manhandled by Poppy to join, all of them went back inside exhausted. As it was already getting late, Bea and Poppy said their farewells to Brenda and the kids with a promise of returning on Sunday for the party and went back on the road.
Bea had so many questions she wanted to ask Poppy but the look on Poppy's face implied that she probably won't be answering any of those. A few minutes later, there was suddenly a huge downpour of rain that Poppy had to park the car. Bea then received a text from Zoey, and as she read it, a look of dread flashed across her face.
Poppy frowned upon seeing the look on Bea's face. "What is it now?"
"There's a typhoon. We're stuck here."
***
Bea and Poppy managed to find a decent hotel nearby where they decided to stay until the typhoon passed.
"Two rooms, please. And make them as far away as possible," Poppy said to the receptionist while handing him her credit card, giving Bea a glare at the last sentence.
And here I thought we're finally making progress.
"I'm sorry Ms. Min-Sinclair, we only have one more room available for tonight."
111 notes · View notes
laketaj24 · 4 years ago
Text
Marked
Author’s Note: Hey! This piece was requested, and I decided to make it a few parts. So here is the first, and this part is based on one of my favorite songs, Slow Dancing in a Parking Lot. I really like hometown, slow country ass romances lol. So this is what I am giving you! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Happy Reading! (My taglists and requests are open!)
Warnings: Public Sex, Fluff, Language, Dubcon, OMEGAVERSE
Pairings: Alpha!Henry Cavill x Omega!Reader
M A S T E R L I S T
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“Hi.” You waved at your new neighbor. The small family of four seen you a total of seven times and still had not introduced themselves once. Where was the small-town charm you’d seen in all those movies?
The man looked to you first, tall and muscled he waved. “Good morning!”
“Morning!” You yipped, finally, some interaction. “Your family is beautiful.” Those were the only words that you could think of besides saying something about the weather.
“Thank you, how are you liking Longview?”
“Love it.” You lied. It had been two weeks, you’d left the house a total of three times and each time you got lost. “It’s beautiful here.”
The drizzle of rain started overhead, it always rained in Washington, maybe that’s why you stayed in all those days without hesitation. It was sunnier in Southern California, and there was always something to do, here it was the opposite.
“That’s wonderful,” he yelled before ducking into his blue minivan. Your neighbor waved quickly as he backed out of his driveway and onto the road.
The family next door was the only one for about five miles, besides the one across the street, and he never really made an appearance other than coming home from work. You liked to people watch, it was easy to do when there were only two houses to watch. You made your way back into the house, nursing the warm cup of coffee.
When you moved here, you were no stranger to the place. Summers had been spent here with your uncle, sometimes holidays, and upon his death, you inherited the house that gave you some of your fondest memories. Building a life here was what you were intended to do, and you didn’t really have a choice, it had all fell apart everywhere else you went. This inheritance was your one get of jail free card, and it came right on time.
Longview didn’t hold much, two grocery stores on each side of the town, one bookstore, three churches, and one bar called the Sly Tree. These things you’d remembered because they held an interest and you had planned to visit them all. Tonight it was Sly Tree.
 The yellow crop top looked good against your honey-colored skin and with the slight inch of your mid-drift showing it gave the illusion that you were a good girl who’d come to play, or at least that's what you wanted it to mean. Who knew if they took it that way, you sat at the bar. There were a few more people in the place, but none that piqued your interest. The bartender tapped your glass. “Refill?”
“I can’t.” you shook your head, there was no hope of you getting home safely with another drink in your system. “But thank you.”
“You moved into Harper’s old place?”
“Yes, he was muy uncle.”
“Good guy, he always came in here on Sunday’s spreading lies about wolves.” The bartender was friendly enough, the cute smile and wide eyes caught your attention, but he was young.
“He told me about those damn wolves.” You giggled. They were all around the property. Hence the reason you opted to not have a dog, coming home to a missing dog was not your intention.
“crazy man, good, though.” He handed you a sprite. “Drink this.”
“Thank you... what’s your name?”
“Cody.”
“Nice to meet you, Cody, is there anything fun to do around here?”
“A few towns over, maybe.” He shrugged a matter of fact and exhaled. “Hunting is pretty cool, though? You should come in one day?”
“I’m certain she doesn’t mean killing deer.” The smooth voice came from the right of you, the familiar face of your quiet neighbor actually brought some light to your life. Maybe you wouldn’t have to feel alone after all.
“Hey.”
“Hey, neighbor,” he smirked. “A beer, please.”
You’d never talked to him, only observed from afar, and there was much to observe. He was tall, strapping with broad shoulders, a body that made you think unsavory things and, unlike the family man across the yard, unattached. “So, you do know that I’m there?”
“How could I not?”
“You never speak.”
“Haven’t had the opportunity.”
“Opportunities have been available, Cavill.” You said his last name thinking of the gray mailbox it was engraved in.
“Hmmm.” He placed the bottle cap of the beer on the table and took a swig of the beer. “You like to hide in that house of yours, I didn’t want to bother you.”
“I could say the same about you.”
“I’m Henry, and if I am not mistaken, you’re Y/N.” Henry swiveled in his chair to face you. “Your uncle spoke highly of you.”
“That’s good to know.”
“So, you’re in a bar on a Wednesday at eight, cabin fever must’ve set in?”
“It did.”
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His car smelled of cedar, and you loved it. You sunk back in the passenger seat and kicked your feet up on his dashboard. The small city passed by, and for once in your unsettled roused life, you felt at ease. There was only one red light but about five intersections that lead you in a circle.
“Where are you from?” Henry asked with his arm hanging out of the window, his fingers waving as the window passed through them. “Technically, I’m from Georgia, but I lived in California for almost four years.”
“So. Cal?”
“Yeah, how’d you know?”
“I didn’t.” he laughed. “But I’ve always wanted to use that abbreviation.”
“Good sentence, no one calls it that by the way.”
“Then how was it a good sentence.”
“I just didn’t want to diss you all the way.”
“Ah, the courtesy country girl, I lucked out.”
“Thank you.” You bit your lip. “You go to the gym often?”
“Never.” Henry laughed. “I run and lift trees.”
“All this comes from that?” It was impossible not to touch his arms, they looked terrific through the tight-fitting grey shirt.
“Five years of it, yes.”
“I guess I lucked out.” You whispered with a small grin on your face. “Where are we headed?”
“Right over there.” He pointed to the grocery store parking lot, and the car headed that way. You had never been parking, but you’d heard of it just not in a place this obvious.
“There are no lights in that parking lot.” You chuckled. “Choosing dim-lit places like this on purpose?”
“Definitely.” the half cocky answer was coated with sarcasm. Henry didn’t seem like that type. He parked the car and turned the music down. “Now, you tell me one of your favorite songs.”
“Does it have to be fast?”
“It’s totally up to you.”
“I’m drawing a blank here,” I said after a few seconds.
“I’ll pick one, you keep thinking.” He strolled through his phone, and then the slow music came through the speakers. henry climbed out of the truck, walked over to your side, and opened the door. “Dance?” He asked.
“I suck at it.”
“Good, I don’t have to whip out my Footloose moves.” He winked as he helped you from the truck into his hands. Sweet guys like him never seemed to come your way, not in Georgia, California, or any of the other places you’d been. He was novel.
He moved as if he actually could dance, pulling you against his chest and swaying playfully to the music. The song was lulling, complementing the atmosphere of the night.
“So, where’s your girlfriend?”
“Girlfriend?”
“Someone as perfect as you have to be in a longterm relationship contemplating marriage.”
He laughed, shaking his head, his eyes flickering amber in the light for a moment and then back to their normal state. Henry’s fingers intertwined in yours. “I have no one, and if I did... I am certain you’d of seen her by now.”
“Just checking.”
“What else do you want to know?”
“What can you tell me?”
“I drink every Saturday night. I get in lost in the color brown, it’s the prettiest color... Trees, dirt all beauties often overlooked, but they’re the most important ones. I sleep with the air on me. I wake up super early, walk to the river and piss every morning. I like to sing in the shower, but I suck at it. I like you.” The vomit of words was the most alluring thing you’d heard since you came here. Henry twirled you around and pulled you back to him.
“You tell every girl you take home these same lines?”
“Just one.”
“You’re smooth with your lines Henry...”
“I can still break out my footloose moves if you want?”
“No need to...” You smiled. “This is better.”
“Good. I haven’t stretched just yet.”
You shouldn’t have kissed him, your hands shouldn’t be gripping his curls, and you definitely shouldn’t be hoisting yourself upon him, but here you were doing all of it and importantly enjoying it. Your tongue lightly swiped his lips before it was met with his and a small groan. Five hours ago, you met him. You didn’t know his last name or if even shared your beliefs, but you wanted to fuck him.
“How are the public indecency charges around here?” You whispered.
“I haven’t been charged with that one yet.” He carried you to the passenger’s seat.
“There’s a first for everything.”
“I know the sheriff.” he laughed. “I think I can get us out of it.”
Everything was rushed, but it didn’t stop you from deepening the kiss and tugging on his belt buckle.
“You sure you want this?”
You press your palms into the leather seat, and he pulls your pants down to your ankles. “I haven’t been sure of anything else.” You giggle as you rock your hips against him, grinding your mound against his hardened cock. He pushed your panties aside, rubbing the head of his cock against your lips and hoisted you up.
“You’re already wet for me, sweetheart.” he pushed inside of you, throbbing and suppressing a carnal growl.
You sunk your teeth into his shoulder when he pulled you down on his cock and began to fuck you. Then his eyes met yours, and they glowed in the dim light of the parking lot, it was surreal animalistic. “I’ve been thinking about this ever since you moved in...” He fucked harder, bouncing your tits in your bra. “How I wanted to fuck you and make you mine...” he grunted.
Your head fell back in ecstasy, and he rubbed his nose down your face before his tongue licked down your chest.
“Your fucking scent.” He growled, rutting into you. “You don’t even know what you are... sweetheart.”
“What am I?” You whispered.
“Mine.” Henry’s teeth bit into your skin, and you squealed. “Omega.”
His eyes shifted again in the light, and his teeth were still in your flesh.
“Omega?”
Your uncle used to talk of omegas, again when he was drunk... You pull away from him, but he continues to fuck you. “Henry.” You moaned. “Fuck! Henry!” You feel him swell inside of you.
Henry’s bitemark was fresh on your chest as was this inflamed urge to ride him harder, your body willed as if it could not stop. “Feel it.” He commanded. “Your body knows you’re mine too.”
“Ohh, fuck!” He grew bigger, swelling as he thrust faster and then locking into you. “Don’t cu-.”
Henry’s hand clamped down over your mouth, and he shuttered, your body shuttering, joining his climax. The warmth of his cum was soothing, fucking made you want to cum again. “Get dressed.” he kissed your lips. “Now.”
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spookypotato · 4 years ago
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Leo’s 20th Birthday
Sooo It’s already the baby’s birthday here and I dont want to wait, so let the fluff begin!
Happy birthday, Leo! ☀️💛 Nutter butter baby! He will always be the baby, but technically he’s not even a teen anymore. Anyway. I hope you enjoy.
Birthday-boy and boyfriends by the incredible @lumosinlove
Idea from @noctualilith thank you
Yes, I am excited about a fictional characters birthday. Everyone that knows this ray of sunshine would fall in love. 
CW: there is a bit of food mentioned
When Leo was 13, he celebrated his birthday with all of his best friends. Eloise made him a lemoncake and Wyatt took them out on the boat to go swimming. It was the last birthday, where he felt completely free in his actions.
When Leo was 14, he got his first crush. The first one he realised was a crush at least. He told no one. He was too afraid, not even of the teesing. He was afraid, because it was a boy. His friend to be exact. His birthday party was fun for him, he didnt know about the other guests. He focused on his friend. He wanted to spend the whole party with him. And they were friends, he could. So he did and he had fun.
When Leo was 16, he decided to tell his friend. Since they spent so much time together, his crush never really faded, so after two years he just decided fuck it. If it went horribly wrong, he didn‘t care anymore. He needed this out of his system. So Leo told him. His friend didn‘t feel the same, but he didn‘t seem to mind about Leo. He did tell him however, that it should rather be kept a secret, because if the others found out, he might even be thrown off the team. This was what terrified him. Before, he was scared of maybe loosing his friends, now he was scared of loosing everything. He‘d worked so hard for being where he was. He had a chance of playing in the NHL, if he kept it up, at least that‘s what his coach was telling him. So he decided to hide it.
When Leo was 17, he told his family. Leo gathered all his courage and told them at a family lunch. They had the best reaction he could have wished for, really, but he had lived to long thinking it‘s a bad thing, so he assumed they were just being nice parents. When they made him a bracelet however, he knew they hadn‘t lied. They wouldn‘t have thought about giving him this gift, if they had been disapointed in their son. They showed him, they were proud. He knew now, whatever happend, he would have his family standing behind him, supporting him. He could at least be open about his feelings, where it mattered the most, home. He could let himself go, gush about that cute boy he saw in the coffee shop and feel excepted everytime his father mentioned Leo at his age, settled down with his maybe-husband by then, possibly with children, running around in their backyard.
When Leo was 18, he got drafted into the NHL. His dream came true. All the sacrifices he had made to get there, were finally worth it, because he could turn his passion into his career. All the boys, he had forced himself not to look at for too long, so people wouldn‘t even question him. All the girls he had pretended to be interested in, those moments were worth it. He felt amazing. He achieved what he had worked for, but now he was facing a new problem. Even though Leo was a gay teenager, the naked guys walking around weren‘t actually a problem for him. Well, not all of them. Of course, the world was against him and chose two incredibly attractive people, who he couldn‘t even look at too long, nevermind kiss or date, to go with his NHL-goalie-gryffindor-dream package. He had to prove everyday how much he wanted to play hockey and how much he was willing to sacrifice.
Before Leo turned 19, he was hiding. He lived a dream, that slowly broke his heart. He was playing professinal hockey and loved it everyday, but he was also pretending everday, that he didn‘t want. So he hid it, because hockey was his dream and now was the time for hockey. He could probably still find a nice boyfriend at 40 years old, if they even kept him that long. For now he planned on staying focused on his career.
But before Leo turned 19, he also decided to just throw those plans out the window and kiss Finn. He hadn‘t planned it- not to say he didn‘t want to do it- it just shouldn‘t have happen, but it did. The second their lips touched though, he forgot why he shouldn‘t have done it. How could this not be right, when Finn and Leo both wanted it so much.
For a moment, at the airport he was reminded, why it was wrong. Why he couldn‘t risk it now. But then he thought about it. Thought about how much happier Sirius had been, how even a NHL player could have, what Leo wanted. And so he tried his best to get it.
And he did.
His 20th birthday was a wednesday.
Leo‘s eyes opened in one go and his feet jerked up.
„Logan!“, he groaned sleepily. The brunet had bellyflopped onto him, shaking him awake in an instant.
„Leo, Baby, Peanut, Nutty, Butty!“, Logans face looked like he had surprised himself with the last name, „That‘s a new one, but it works“, repositioning himself better on his boyfriends chest, hands supporting his head, he smiled dopely up at Leo.
Leo let his eyes slip closed for another second, Logans weight grounding him and his warmth surrounding him. It was too early. They had practice and he knew that, but it seemed earlier than usual. He slowly opened his eyes and stared at their alarm clock.
„Logan!“, he groaned again, as he saw, that they were awake an hour too early.
Logan shifted, having layed down his head on Leo‘s chest, he tilted his head up to look at the blond.  „As much as I love that my name is the only thing on your mind right now, a, Finn must be getting jealous and b, we did actually have a reason to wake you earlier.“ Then Logan leaned up and started trailing lingering kisses up his boyfriends neck over his jaw, finally reaching his mouth.
Leo happily complied and kissed him slowly. They broke apart to soon in Leo‘s opinion, but it was all worth it to just see as Finn came in through the door, still only dressed in his underwear. He was carrying a small box, wrapped in newspaper and a bright yellow bow tied around it. He sat down on the end of the bed and Logan moved off of Leo and next to the red head. They looked at him expectantly. He sat up slowly.
„Happy Birthday, Baby!“, both Logan and Finn more or less shouted as soon as Leo looked at them.  He was a bit overwhelmed, but then remembered. Today was his birthday. He hadn‘t really celebrated it for a few years, he didn‘t even know why. This however, warmed his heart. Both the boys he loved so much, beaming at him from the end of the bed.
„You know how hard it is to keep up a normal conversation with you, before saying that? I promised this one though“, he shoved Finn playfully, „that I would wait for him to finish everything. But I had to wake you! It‘s your birthday! Happy birthday, Peanut!“
Leo wasn‘t even sure if Logan had taken a breath in between his rambling but he smiled softly at them. Felling their love warming him, even through the distance between them.
„You already said that.“, Leo commented, but smiled, „Thank you both so much. Come here.“
They both more or less jumped at him, Leo recieving the best cuddles and a few more whispered ‚happy birthday“s from Logan and Finn, until they were all wrapped around each other, Leo in the middle. It felt nice to be in the middle for once. He held Logan securely in his arms, slowly stroking a hand over his side, Finn wrapped up around him, making him feel warm and protected. He liked being the big spoon and having Logan in the middle, but he could see himself sneaking in the middle every once i a while.
„We can still sleep for a bit.“, he heard Finn say from behind him. He had gotten the blankets over them again and was already burrying his nose in between Leo‘s shoulder blades. „Sorry for waking you this early, Nutty. We had to prepare things.“, Finn stopped for a second, like waiting for Leo‘s reaction, but then continued, „and we just couldn‘t wait to cuddle you.“
Leo made a soft noise, his hand combing through Logans hair, who was already back to sleep, really more like you expected from an excited baby, rather than a professinal hockey player. It was only then, Leo thought about what Finn had said. Under normal circumstances Leo might have sat up upruptly and ran to the kitchen, to the inevitable mess that must be there.
„Whatever it is you did-“, Leo started, but then thought again.
He was surrounded by love, on his birthday. The love he had always desired to have, espcially on his that day. All the fun events couples in movies had planned for each other to make their birthdays special, he had always wished for that. He had always thought, he could never have that, but now he did. He had it doubled.
Snuggling back further into Finns chest he repeated, already drifting back to sleep, „Whatever it is you did, thank you.“
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wastelandcth · 3 years ago
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We’re Going Home - cth
part of nation of two
summary: Petra reminisces on Calum’s first date mistake and how the safety of a car changed her world. Calum thinks of a place to runaway to. 
author’s notes: This was a lot of fluff and me looking out the window while it rained. Enjoy!
warnings: Not much, just two lovestruck fools missing one another.
masterlist || request || previous part || next part
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Calum had never been a fan of the rain. It reminded him of early mornings when he'd wake up to the rainstorms outside his window and how the ache in his bones practically begged him to stay in bed and drift off to sleep for a little while longer. The rain was just another disturbance in his life. If it rained, his soccer practice would get canceled and he'd have to walk back home, the rain soaking his clothes and weighing down his backpack. Once the band had taken off, the occasional rainstorm put another sour mood on Calum. Outdoor shows would get canceled or delayed, leaving Calum to stare out of the tour bus window as rain droplets raced to the bottom of the windows. If the rainstorm was severe enough, planes he needed to take would get grounded until the storm passed and he wouldn't catch his connecting flight. The rain also meant that sometimes plans he had that included Calum being outside would end with him soaked and left shivering, his bones aching for warmth and dryness the rain usually scared away. The rain outside of Calum's hotel window filled him with a sadness he couldn't quite explain. Maybe it was the fact that the tour had been taking a toll on his body and that he missed his bed and his mug he always used in the mornings while at home.
Or maybe it was the fact that Petra was showing him the view from whatever restaurant she'd been eating at.
"I'm telling you, the second you've settled back in here at home, I'm taking you here and you're going to eat the best french toast you've ever had," Petra said, her camera showing the Pacific Ocean in all it's vastness.
Calum had never been one for jealousy. But as he watched the blue sky and blue ocean on his screen, his body ached with a want to be there next to the woman he loved. He'd do anything to be sitting next to Petra at a cafe, eating amazing french toast and watching the ocean waves. He would do anything to be next to her, holding her hand and listening to her laugh about the way the birds seem to hover above their table in order to steal a french fry or two. So yes, Calum was jealous.
As Petra looked out at the ocean, from where she'd been sat enjoying a glass of ice tea, she couldn't help but chuckle at herself. She'd been trying to get out more and more these days. With Calum gone, she wouldn't have to worry much about having to stop whenever Calum was spotted by fans and waiting for them to chat for a bit before continuing their errands. She'd gotten used to the dates she'd go on with herself, eventually timing them out so that she'd be able to talk to Calum for at least a few minutes before he'd be whisked off to his next engagement with the band. Their first date had also been close to disastrous, according to Calum who told Petra later on, because of his band's engagements. But Petra had just laughed and assured Calum second chances were worth giving.
Petra had arrived at the coffee shop a few minutes early, wanting to save a secluded table for both her and Calum. She knew who he was, of course, she knew who Calum Hood was, and she assumed he'd want privacy when it came to things like first dates. so arriving a few minutes early to get the table near the back of the coffee shop was just something she'd wanted to do for him. The coffee shop had been one that Petra had only been to once when she'd gotten lost after a wrong turn and had ended up in the neighborhood. The outside of the building was a white brick, reminding Petra a lot of those old western stores in the movies.
The inside of the coffee shop, which had smelled of fresh coffee and pastries, had large lamps overhead, giving the already bright building an even brighter indoors. The dark green tiles and dark wood accents around the inside were calming, feeling like a place where Petra could sit down for hours and read a book. Usually, she'd bring a book with her wherever she went, but she had left her most recent read in the backseat of her car, not expecting to have much time to read while out on a date. She'd be too busy getting to know the man with pretty brown eyes who she knew was talented enough to get anyone he wanted, and yet he still chose to invite her out to coffee.
"So, Petra, what do you think about coffee?" he'd asked over the phone one day.
They'd been doing this for a while now, talking over the phone during the slow moments of the day where each other's company was comfortable. Petra had learned a lot about Calum during the soft voices exchanged over phone calls. She'd learned that his favorite snack at the moment was fruit gummies even if it made him sound childish, which it didn't. She'd learned that he'd been busy writing a new album with his band and that usually meant he'd disappear off the face of the earth for a couple of days when inspiration hit, but he'd always try and send her a picture or funny meme to let her know he was still very much alive. Petra had learned that Calum, although usually quiet and reserved according to himself, could talk for hours about anything that crossed his mind during those moments in their calls.
"I don't think I'm well versed in coffee if I'm honest," Petra had admitted, "I never know what to order whenever I do end up at a coffee shop."
"Well, how about we go out and find your drink? I know a great spot where we can start," Calum said happily, "You up for it?"
"Yeah, that sounds fun, as long as I don't develop a caffeine addiction," she teased and looked over at her calendar, "How about Wednesday?"
"It's a date."
And it was almost a date, except for the fact that Petra had sat at the coffee shop for almost an hour and had yet to see Calum. Sure, LA was known for having horrible traffic and Petra herself had gotten stuck in it while on her way to the shop, but an hour with no text or calls from Calum had just made her cranky and annoyed. She'd ordered a coffee by herself, regretting her choice as soon as the bitter liquid hit her tongue, and had forced herself to finish it before she eventually decided to call the date done and over with. The walk back to her car had been quick, her head throbbing with annoyance and a hint of embarrassment. She'd been halfway home when her phone rang, Calum's name played across the screen.
"Petra, I'm so sorry!" Calum breathed out, "I know I said I'd been there almost two hours ago but things got crazy at the studio and I know that sounds shitty but I hope you can forgive me and maybe I can make it up to you!"
If Petra had known Calum at least a little less than she did, she would've never picked up the call, she would've let him go to voicemail and maybe not even call him back ever. But she knew Calum wouldn't have stood her up on purpose and she knew that if they really were going to make something more of their phone calls and occasional flirting over text, she'd have to understand what his job entailed sometimes. She was an adult, she knew dating meant sometimes people make mistakes and that working around them was what would make it worth it in the end. 
"Calum, it's...I'm not going to say it's fine because I would've appreciated even just a text saying what was happening,' she sighed, "But maybe we can try again soon, yeah? I had a pretty shitty coffee again, which I am blaming on you," she said with a teasing tone, hoping that Calum caught on to it.
"How about tonight?" Calum asked, his voice hesitant as if he was expecting rejection, "I could pick you up and we can just drive around, maybe pick up some of those burgers you were telling me about? I promise to be on time."
Petra had ended up agreeing to his second first date proposal because he sounded genuine and she couldn't help the flutter in her heart at the mention of the burgers. She'd told Calum about them almost a month ago and knowing he'd remember such a small detail made her a little more hopeful about this working out after all.
"I'll text you my address," Petra chuckled out, "Drive safe, okay?"
Calum's car, which would become a haven for them both at different times in the future, was quiet as they both looked out at the city lights. Their stomachs were full, the burgers and french fries they'd shared making their silence a comfortable one. Calum had profusely apologized the second that Petra's door had opened, the bouquet of flowers in his arms a peace treaty as both of them rode off into the evening.
"The flowers, they're from the same flower shop?" Petra asked as she glanced over at Calum. who'd been focusing on the road.
"Oh, um, yeah," Calum chuckled, "Apparently the cashier and manager were taking bets to see if we'd gather the nerves to go on a date or not," he mumbled, his cheeks flushing as he turned his head to look at her, "Had to tell them about tonight."
"Bets?" Petra laughed and shook her head, "Cherly and Carly, right? The one with the curly hair? She practically bullied me into telling her what had happened when we met," she teased.
The date, which had gone off without another problem or disastrous time issue, had been the most fun Petra had ever had since she'd joined the dating scene in LA. She hadn't expected such a relaxing way to spend her evening to be with an international rock star like Calum. She'd laughed so hard her ribs hurt and had sung out loud in the car with him until her throat was sore. By the end of the night, when the safety of Calum's car had come to an end and the driveway to Petra's house was in view, they both sat in comfortable silence. The engine of the car, which hummed quietly between them, the only noise around as they both glanced at each other.
"I had a lot of fun tonight, I'm glad we did this," Petra said softly, breaking the silence and smiling as she saw the relieved look that washed over Calum's face.
"I'm glad we did too. Again, sorry about earlier today," Calum mumbled and sighed, shaking his head.
"Oh, it's fine, really. Just make sure I get to hear whatever masterpiece you came up with first, yeah?" she teased, leaning over the center console to press a kiss onto his cheek, "Text me when you get home, okay? Drive safe!"
Calum listened to the familiar ring playing from the speaker of his phone, waiting for Petra to pick up. His eyes were busy, focused on the mirror in front of him as he tried to deal with the unruly curls he’d let grow out after Petra insisted on seeing how long they could get. He was halfway across the world, in a hotel he couldn’t pronounce the name of, but it was his last morning there and Petra had no idea that by this time tomorrow he’d be back in her arms. After weeks and weeks of being away, promoting an album that would change the band’s sound and image, Calum was going home to be with his girlfriend. He’d be leaving gloomy Europe, with rainstorms that never seemed to end and accents that he had trouble understanding at times, for the endless sunshine and love that LA had recently shown him. 
“Hi gorgeous,” Petra chuckled as she picked up the phone, “You’re calling quite early for someone who went to bed four hours ago,” she teased. 
“Hi Pebble,” Calum teased, the nickname earning him a groan from across an ocean, “I missed my girlfriend, couldn’t sleep without your snores.” 
“I’ll hang up if you’re just going to tease me,” she threatened with a light laugh, “I miss you too, bub, only a few more days though!” 
“Yeah, you better be ready for me to be stuck to your side for weeks,” he mumbled and chuckled, zipping up his toiletries bag and picking his phone up off the counter, “I’m expecting an amazing brunch spot reservation.” 
“Oh you know me, I’ve got all the connections,” she laughed quietly, “Do you have a busy day today?”
“Mhm, a lot of interviews,” Calum mumbled, his shoulder holding his phone up against his ear as he finished packing the rest of his thumb up, “I’m not sure when I’ll be able to call you again until tomorrow.” 
“That’s fine,” Petra said, the smile evident in the way her voice rose, “You know I’ll still send you an endless amount of pictures and memes.” 
“And I love you for it,” Calum chuckled, “I’ve got to go now, but I’ll talk to you soon?” 
“Of course, have a nice day! Blow them away, bub!” she said happily, her voice warming Calum’s body at the thought that he’d be with her so soon. 
“Will do, Pebbles,” he smirked, laughing quietly as Petra kept her word and hung up the call. 
The ride from the airport back home had been a blur to Calum. All he recalled was stuffing his bags into the back and buckling up, the bright skies and warm weather making him regret the hoodie and thick beanie he’d worn to try and hide from the prying eyes. If he wanted his surprise to truly work, he would need to remain unseen in public. But by the time the car had turned onto the familiar street of his neighborhood, Calum began to squirm in his seat, the excitement of being so close to Petra overcoming him. The car had barely stopped before Calum was unbuckled and out, his bags dragging behind him as he threw out a thank you to his driver as he ran to the front door. The light, which was usually off by the time morning came, was still on; acting as a guiding light for Calum to know that he was truly home.
His key unlocked the front door, leading him into the house he’d begun to call home soon after Petra had come into it, and he was met by the familiar bark of his old dog. Setting his bags down by the entrance, Calum toed off his shoes and pulled off the hoodie that had kept his warmth contained within him. His back ached from the long flight and he was starving, his tummy rumbling at the thought of food, but that wouldn’t stop him from crouching down and petting his dog as he waddled over to him. Duke’s tail wagged from side to side so quickly it was a blur of black and white, his paws landing on Calum’s thighs as he sniffed Calum making sure it was really him. Calum had been so busy greeting his best friend and kissing his stinky head that he hadn’t heard the footsteps coming from the hallways. 
“Duke, I’m sure it was just the mail person again, or the neighbor walking their pup,” Petra mumbled, her eyes widening as she was met with the sight of her boyfriend standing in front of her, “C-Calum?” 
“Hi baby,” Calum grinned, straightening his back out and looking at her with wide eyes, “Surprise!” 
Calum hadn’t had the chance to say much else, the force of Petra running into his arms and hugging him had knocked the breath out of him. His arms wrapped themselves around her waist and pulled her even closer, if that was possible, and Calum’s nose nuzzled against the top of her head. They stayed like that for a few minutes, breathing one another in, making sure that they were both truly in the same room again and this wasn’t some cruel dream they’d both wake up from alone in a bed oceans apart. Petra had been the first one to pull away, her eyes meeting Calum’s before she’d cupped his face in her hands and pulled him in for a kiss. 
“I missed you so much,” she mumbled, leaving kisses in between her words, “What’re you doing here? I thought you still had a few days?” 
“I missed you too,” Calum chuckled and smiled, “A few interviews were canceled and they sent us home early. I just got in about an hour ago.” 
“Oh my gosh, I’m so glad to have you back,” she whispered and nodded, pulling him into another kiss that left Calum giggling against her. 
“I am too.” 
Something Calum loved about the ocean was the vastness of it. Sure, he was absolutely terrified of the secrets it held and the fact that much of it was unexplored, but sitting on the hood of his car with Petra by his side as they both stared out at the waves made of all worth it. After a shower and a much needed snack, Petra and Calum had made their way over to the brunch spot that overlooked the ocean. After a lot of french fries and kisses shared between the two of them, the drive to the ocean was peaceful, both of them taking each other in. By the time they had made it onto the beach, the sunny skies were covered in a fog of clouds. It would be Calum’s luck, after all, to have the rain follow him wherever he went.
“Do you think it’ll rain?” Petra asked, her eyes meeting Calum’s even through the dark sunglasses they both wore. 
“I hope not, I thought I had escaped the rain,” Calum teased and pulled her close, “Come on, let’s walk in the sand a bit.” 
With hands held tightly, their arms swaying as they strolled down the dandy beach, Calum found himself at peace. The past couple of weeks away had left him wanting more from his relationship and wanting to do more for Petra. In the past, the mere thought of a future with someone would’ve had Calum running for the hills. But with Petra it all made sense, he wanted to be by her side every day, to see her go through her day and be there to make her smile. As the first few droplets of rain fell from the sky, he realized that this future, the one with Petra, was all he’d been missing. Their stroll was cut short, much to Calum’s displeasure when the curtains of rain got closer and closer. The waves roared next to them, the ocean alive and ever more powerful as the rainstorm above them finally let go. 
Calum looked over at Petra, who had tugged on his hand and before Calum knew it, they were both racing back to the car. The sand hadn’t made it easier for them to run, both of them stumbling as they raced through the beach in fits of laughter. By the time they’d both shut their doors and panted out breaths, they were completely drenched and looked as if they had jumped onto the ocean itself. They sat in silence watching the view outside of the safety of the car. Watching the waves crash onto the ocean and battle with the clouds above them that were spewing out rain. It was all so violent and sudden, but Calum’s eyes shifted to watch Petra. 
He watched as her eyes widened, watching the storm in awe as his chest rose and fell with each breath she took. He watched as her hand ran through the curls, that not even the rain could mess with, trying to shake the water out of them. She was beautiful without even having to try and Calum was out of breath. But Calum didn’t mind, not at all, because Petra could make even the thing he hated the most a beautiful sight. 
“We should run away to Sydney for a bit,” he mumbled quietly, his bottom lip trapped between his teeth as Petra’s eyes met his, “I want you to meet my family.” 
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streetlight11 · 4 years ago
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Stay With Me
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Summary: She suffered from a trauma after she witnessed the death of her parents at a young age. Luckily, she had a best friend who was there for her ever since that tragic incident. Both of them had feelings for each other deep down but never told anyone. One unfortunate night, when a fresh accident happened right in front of their eyes, her trauma came seeping back in but he was there to comfort her. She could never imagine her life without him.
Theme: College au, childhood friends to lovers
Warning: mentions of accidents, blood, death
Genre: Fluff, sad 
WC: 2.6k
Pairing: Ji Changmin x Reader
a/n: just a heads up, the words in italics are flashbacks :)
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~12 years ago~
“Mom, dad! Please wake up! Please!” Y/N said, crawling towards her parents who were sprawled on the road with bloody cuts and scabs everywhere on their body.
A bystander called the ambulance while some of them helped carry her parents off to the sidewalk. Not long after, the ambulance came but they didn’t manage to rescue her dad in time. He passed away from the hard impact. Her mom managed to be transferred into the vehicle.
But she didn’t make it halfway through.
She was left all alone as the paramedics comforted her, telling her to breathe. She was only 11. Hence, the reason why she was traumatized by that incident.
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It was a bright Wednesday morning, she had just finished getting ready to leave her apartment to head to campus. She wore a simple white shirt tucked into her high waist plaid skirt with a pair of Nike sneakers. She made it to campus with her backpack hanging off one side of her shoulder while she carried a few books in her hand to avoid putting heavy weight in her backpack.
She was just making her way down the hall, her Bluetooth earplugs were in her ears. She was listening to her music when somebody tapped her shoulder. She turned around to see a guy from her Psychology class. If she remembered correctly, his name was Jisung.
“Hey, I think you dropped this.” He said, handing her the keychain from her bag.
She took the charm from him not forgetting to thank him before flashing him a smile. Jisung did the same. Taking slow steps backwards until she finally turned back around to continue walking. He rushed back to his friends, only for them to nudge his side teasingly.
“Dude! She smiled at you! That’s a good start.” Hyunjin said.
“Yeah, try talking to her next time. She’ll definitely talk to you more.” Minho said, making Jisung stare at her descending back.
“Maybe I will…” Jisung thought to himself and soon went off to class.
A few hours later, Y/N was just leaving school when a familiar jock from the soccer team stops dead in her tracks, making her halt in her tracks.
“Hey, I have free tickets to see the new movie this weekend. Wanna go together?” Juyeon asked.
“I already made plans. Sorry.” She rejected him nicely before proceeding to walk around him to leave. She was just making her way to her car when someone blocked her door by holding it down. She looked up, ready to curse whoever it was but her words got stuck when she met the eyes of her best friend.
“I was this close to cursing your ass, Changmin.” Y/N said scrunching her nose. She made a pinching gesture with her fingers to show him she was running out of patience. 
Changmin laughed when he leaned against her driver seat door, only to look down at her with a wide smile. “Are you free this weekend?” He asked.
“Mm, probably.”
“But you just told Juyeon you had plans.” Changmin began to smirk.
“You know I give white lies to those guys who try to take me on dates.”
“But you don’t turn me down when I ask you out?”
“That’s because you’re my best friend.”
“Ouch, am I being friend zoned already?” Changmin faked a sad frown.
“Wha- What are you talking about? Of course not.”
“Ugh! Y/N…”
“Changmin…” His frown was soon turned into a bright smile, leaning forward to playfully boop her nose with his own. She couldn’t help but giggle when he did that.
“Should we go out this weekend?” He asked.
“Where to?”
“We can check out that new haunted house for this year’s Halloween.”
“You just want to see me suffer don’t you?”
“Maybe just a little.”
“You ass.” Changmin giggled before pushing himself off her car, only for her to slap his torso playfully.
“I’ll text you once I’m home. Be careful.” She said while Changmin began to walk towards his sports bike across the parking lot. While all of this was happening, someone witnessed this from one of the bikes parked in the lot.
It was Jisung.
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That weekend, Changmin came over to her apartment to fetch her but he was an hour early. Hence, the reason why he was now just casually sitting in her bed while he picked out her outfit. After what felt like forever, he finally chose for her a simple denim skinny ripped jeans, a black sleeveless fitting top and a khaki green bomber jacket.
As for the shoes, she chose to wear a simple pair of converse high tops. Changmin was just sitting in her living room while she got dressed, only for him to receive a call from Juyeon, who happened to also be his friend.
“Hey Min! Wanna hang out today?”
“Sorry Ju, I have plans today.”
“Aww man. Who are you meeting?”
Changmin was so close to saying her name when he stopped himself abruptly. “Uhh, s-someone…”
“Ooh! Are you going on a date?”
“H-Huh? No, absolutely not. She’s just a friend.”
“Don’t take too long brother, or else someone might just steal her away.” Juyeon said. Changmin could literally hear his friend smile on the other line. Just then, Changmin heard her bedroom door unlock so he quickly said goodbye to his friend.
“Alright man, I gotta go. Bye.”
“Bye bro, good luck.” Juyeon teased before proceeding to hang up, making Changmin shake his head slightly. 
The both of them soon left only for them to take Changmin’s bike instead of her car since it’s slightly easier to find a parking spot later. They went to get a light dinner first before heading to the theme park that was decked out with scary decorations and they even had new haunted houses for this year’s Halloween season.
The two of them were just walking around with the crowd. People were diligently running away from killer clowns and also scary looking masked actors.
She flinched quite a few times as she often grabbed his arm for comfort.
Just when she was talking to Changmin, a killer clown came charging right at her. She flinched, immediately grabbing Changmin’s shirt to bury herself in his chest. He couldn’t help but laugh, wrapping his arms around her body while the clown tried to scare her by putting the chainsaw right beside her ear.
Changmin could feel his heart race in his chest as she rested her arms firmly on his torso.
“Is he gone?” She whispered, terrifyingly.
“Yeah.”
Y/N carefully opened one eye, peaking past her shoulder, only to come face to face with the scary clown, making her let out a soft squeak. She pushed the clown away by his shoulders.
“Leave me alone!” She whined while Changmin was still hugging her. The clown laughed menacingly at her. Starting up his chainsaw again, making her flinch.
“Ugh! You little-” She almost cursed out of annoyance but the clown ran away to scare other people.
“I think you scared him more than he scared you.” Changmin teased while laughing at her.
“Oh shut up.” 
She said with a sad pout on her face in which he couldn’t help but feel his heart flutter. They were now entering a queue to go to one of the new haunted houses when a familiar voice called out her name from behind her. She turned around, only to see Jisung with his friends, approaching the queue they were in. 
She soon found herself smiling and waving at him who mimicked her expression the minute he came to a stop behind her in line.
“Is this your first house?” Jisung asked, shaking her head saying it was already her forth. Just then, Jisung’s eyes travelled towards Changmin who was standing beside her. Who then turned to see who Y/N was talking to. Changmin gave him a soft smile, making Jisung return the gesture.
“Ahh, I’m sorry to disrupt anything. I’ll leave you with your boyfriend.” Jisung said only to awkwardly smile at her, about to turn back around. That’s when Changmin spoke up to clear things up.
“Uhh, it’s fine, she’s-” But she seemed to cut him off.
“It’s okay, my boyfriend’s fine with it.”
With that, Changmin froze as Jisung’s eyes kept going back and forth between Y/N and Changmin. Y/N continued talking to Jisung but she sneakily played with Changmin’s fingers, making his heart race in his chest.
At this point, Jisung wasn’t jealous, nor was he upset that he didn’t get a chance to bring her out on a date because he feels that she is much better off with Changmin. After they were finished with that house, they gathered at the exit, only for Y/N to smile at Jisung and his friends.
“That was scary, I almost slapped someone in there.” Hyunjin confessed, making them all laugh.
“I wouldn’t wanna be that someone.” Jisung said.
Y/N laughed, turning to Jisung and rested her hand on his arm for a few seconds while she spoke.
“Alright, I’ll leave you guys to enjoy the rest of the night. See you in school.” She said, making the guys bid their goodbyes and soon walked the other way. After they left, she knew exactly what Changmin was gonna talk about so she quickly changed the topic by pointing to a snack cart and dragged Changmin to it.
They spent the next few hours with her screaming and whining while he laughs at her for being scared every time.
It was getting late and she was already tired so he decided to send her home. On their way back, they were at a cross junction when he removed his hands from the handlebar only to lean back into a sitting posture. They were both quiet as she rested her hands on his back, carefully sliding them around his waist.
Changmin found himself smiling at nobody. He glanced over his shoulder a little to look at her through his full face helmet. However, that cute moment was soon interrupted when a loud tyre screeching sound was heard from the other side of the junction.
Both of them whipped their head over to the left, that’s when they saw a lorry crashing into a car that soon overturned from the impact.
She gasped when she saw the driver of the car weakly crawled out of the overturned vehicle, his head and hands were bleeding. The lights turned green but Changmin quickly swerved towards the right to stop by the side to get down and help.
A few other passer-by's stopped their vehicles only for them to rush over to the scene.
The lorry driver got off, he even tried to run away drunkenly but some bystanders managed to chase him down. Changmin gently led the car driver to the side while a lady called the ambulance.
Just then, the man pointed shakily to the car as he said.
“M-My… My w-wife… P-Ple-Please h-help he-her.”
With that, Y/N and two more bystanders rushed to the car and they saw the woman hanging upside down from her seat. Her seatbelt was still intact but her head was bleeding. Red crimson blood dripping down her arms and head.
This alone made Y/N’s breath start to get choppy. She made slow steps backwards. Changmin turned around just in time to see her collapse to the ground in a state of shock, sitting there motionless. He rushed to her, cupping her face worriedly.
“Y/N? Y/N, are you okay?” Changmin asked but he knew her mind wasn’t there currently.
With that being said, Changmin carefully lifted her up to bring her towards the sidewalk. He sat beside her with one arm around her waist while the other gently caressing her head comfortingly.
After the ambulance came, Y/N was still shaking in his arms when they watched the paramedics bring both the victims into the vehicle.
Changmin turned to Y/N and softly whispered.
“Are you okay? Let’s get you home. Come on.” He said gently to her. She stood up but her knees were weak from the trauma.
Changmin sends her home safely and he even offered to accompany her for a while before heading home. However, instead of her wanting to shower straight away, she pulled him down on the couch as they sat there side by side quietly for a bit.
“It triggered your past didn’t it?” He asked cautiously, making her nod.
Changmin sighed because he already knew what it was. With that being said, he pulled her into a hug with her willingly accepting it without a single doubt. She buried her face into his neck as he gently caressed her back soothingly.
The room fell silent and all they could hear was their calm breathing. Just then, Changmin pulled away slightly, only to press a firm kiss against her temple. Her heart stopped beating for a millisecond, feeling her whole body freeze. Changmin smiled softly while he drew lazy patterns into her back, that’s when she spoke up.
“Can you stay with me? Please? I’m scared… I already lost the people I love so much. I don’t want to lose anyone else. Especially you.” She whispered softly against his shoulder. He heard every single word clearly.
With that being said, he carefully pulled her away from him. He stared into her glossy eyes that were filled with tears, threatening to roll down her cheeks. He gently cups her face as he wipes her fallen tears with his thumbs. Changmin couldn’t bear to see her heartbroken, it pained him to see her like this. So the only way to make her happy again is to fulfil her wishes, and that’s exactly what he’s going to do.
“I’ll stay with you. I promise I’ll never leave you.” He said, reassuring her as he stared deep into her eyes.
She could almost feel her heart escaping her chest as she gently held onto his wrists. Changmin smiles at her softly, wiping her tears with his sweater sleeves. She leans into his hand and he couldn’t help but smile at her.
Just then, he felt like it was something he needed to do. He wanted to seal his promise. With that being said, Changmin leaned in, only to kiss her on the lips softly. Her heart stops beating momentarily as she felt like she was on cloud9.
Her anxiety and trauma from the accident earlier was already gone. Instead, it got replaced by adrenaline and love. She slides her hands up his chest, running her fingers through his hair. Changmin smiled against her lips only to deepen the kiss further. Changmin tugged on her waist, pulling her onto his lap.
She cups his neck while his hands are resting on her thighs making her shy. She pulled away, only for her to say softly.
“The actual reason why I always turn those guys down is because I was hoping you’d ask me out on a proper date. But I guess we could call today our first date.” She said, making him chuckle as he licked her bottom lip and kissed her but soon pulled away.
“No it doesn’t. Let’s go on a real date. I’ll properly ask you out this time.” Changmin confessed, making her giggle. He captured her in a kiss, making her melt against his touch.
Changmin spent the night with her. He showered her with so much love, filling in the amount that she has been missing out all throughout her childhood. 
She couldn’t ask for a much better friend and partner. She woke up the next morning to him playing with her hair in bed as she was snuggled against his warm, cosy chest. He gave her good morning kisses and did that for the rest of the day, making her laugh. She definitely wouldn’t want to lose anybody else that’s in her life. Especially not Changmin.
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