#i was admittedly hoping to do more for halloween but i need to uh. go to bed now

[loonlynxshenanigans]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)

HEY GUESS WHO’S FINALLY POSTING THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE CROSSOVER FIC I’VE BEEN WRITING!!! HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEEEEN

[hotforharrysheart]

Hopelessly Devoted

Lily’s POV:

You look at the moonlit ocean, standing on the deck outside the master bedroom of the Malibu beach house Harry leased for the time residency in LA. The week of your anniversary has come and gone much faster than either of you wanted, but it was full of quiet togetherness; however, now, it’s back to business as usual. The memories made won’t soon be forgotten. The ocean breeze runs through your hair and the long, green Pleasing hoodie you grabbed this afternoon. Enjoying the privacy of the house and the beach outside, you didn’t bother with pants other than panties. You touch the charm on your necklace that holds your special video. Admittedly, you’ve watched it more than a few times…it was the ultimate gift. Now with Halloween just around the corner and Harry’s epiphany about the Grease theme, you’ve had a little epiphany yourself. Now to just get it in play…looking behind you to make sure Harry isn’t anywhere close, you pull your phone from the hoodie pocket and dial Lambert’s number.

“Well, ‘ello, Lily Rose… ya doin’ alright?” he answers happily.

“Hey, I’m doin’ well, thank you. How are you?” you say still keeping an eye on the bedroom.

“’M great! Whatcha got on ya mind, love?”

“Well, I had an idea about Halloween and I was wondering if you could help me pull it off. I know we have arrangements for my costume…err…,” you see Harry step by the bedroom door, with his phone to his head, then gently pull the door closed once he sees where you are. What in world is he up to?, “sorry, the umm…’sweet Sandy’ look with the poodle skirt, sweater, pearls, ponytail…yanno? Well, I’d like to see how hard it would be for me to also get a ‘bad Sandy’ outfit?”

“Well, Sarah already has that look set up…,” he says hesitantly.

“No! I know that, this would be for after the show…kinda a, uh-hm, surprise look for Harry for….after,” you say softly hoping not to sound ridiculous. “Like I was thinking, I could change from ‘sweet Sandy’ look during the show to surprise him with the ‘bad Sandy’ look in the car on the way home…you know what I mean?”

“Oh, my, god…Lily! This is a GREAT idea! We could do tigh’ leather skinnies, a black off the shoulder tigh’ top…the big hair…”

“That’s exactly what I was looking for,” you interrupt his vision recitation. You’re watching that bedroom door like a hawk, hoping Harry doesn’t come in anytime soon.

“We can absolutely do this! Can you meet me tomorrow for a fitting?”

“Yes! That would be great!,” you whisper shout excitedly.

“I’ll text ya tha time an’ place first thin’, an’ we’ll see wha’ we can do!”

“Great! Hey, thanks, Harry, I appreciate you always helping me with my hair brained ideas.”

“Girl, it’s no trouble at all. You’re a part of the family, I’m happy to see you make him so happy.”

Harry’s POV:

“Hold on Mitch, lemme see where she is…,” I say looking for my sweet Lily girl. Spied! She’s on her phone out on the deck…hmm…wonder what she’s up to? Shrugging, I pull the bedroom door closed and turn to finish talking to Mitch.

“Harry, what the fuck, it’s late and the baby is in bed already…asleep…and we…are…alone, Harry. Do you get my drift? Why are you interrupting our…aloneness!? Why am I talking to you, rather than kissing my woman…hmm…?” Mitch says grumpily.

I laugh my breathy little laugh. “‘M sorry, man, I really am, bu’ ‘m plannin’ a surprise fo’ HARRYWEEN an’ I need ya help ta pull it off.”

Mitch sighs loudly, giving in.

“I wan’ the special song ta be ‘Hopelessly Devoted.’ Can ya get with Pauli an’ set up a rehearsal fo’ tomorrow so we can start practicing it?”

“Yeah, I actually love that idea. I’ll text everyone in the morning and let you know the details. I’m going now.”

“Alrigh’, thanks. Tell Sarah I said hi,” I say, glancing out to the deck to make sure she’s still out there.

“Bye H,” Mitch says and the line goes dead.

I chuckle to myself and put my phone down and sit down on the bed waiting for her to come back in. I shoot off a quick text to Molly and let her know the song I’ve chosen so she can start putting together some pics of Olivia Newton-John to add to the monitors because this is as much a tribute to her as well. I can’t wait to sing this song to celebrate my love for Lily. I watch as the bubbles come up and then Molly’s thumbs up emoji.

Just then my beautiful Jezebel slips in the glass door and closes it behind her, smiling softly. I can tell she’s up up something. I watch as she tucks her hair behind her ears and moves to the other side of the bed, crossing her arms and pulling off her sweatshirt, tossing it to the floor. I lick my lips as her breasts pop out and I catch a glimpse of the bee tattoo under her breast. I hold out my hand and smile as she takes it and I pull her to me. We smirk at each other as we lay on our sides facing each other.

Lily’s POV:

I clear my throat. “I need to run to do some research with Bella tomorrow for Sophia’s case,”I say fingering the duvet without meeting his eyes. I never can lie to him convincingly.  

“Yeah, well, we’re workin’ wi’ some new equipment tomorrow so practice will be kinda longer than usual,” he replies adjusting the pillow even less convincingly, but at least not a complete lie.

He smirks at me. “Know ya go’ somethin’ planned Jezebel tha’ ain’ go’ nothin’ ta do wi’ ya case,” he says, chuckling. “Don’ gotta lie ta me…jus’ tell me ya go’ an errand ta run an’ I won’ bug ya abou’ it, yeah?”

“I don’t know what you mean, H, but ok, I have an errand to run…you have fun testing out that “new equipment”, I say using air quotes.

He laughs that breathy little laugh I love so much. “Alrigh’ ya go’ me. I won’ lie ta ya either.” He leans his face close to mine. “Now C’mere an’ give me a proper kiss.”

I smile and move closer to him, sighing as his hand lands in my bum pulling me flush to his body.

He presses his lips to mine and i just enjoy the feeling of his soft lips against mine.

He pulls back, forehead pressed to  mine, and I can’t help it…my brows furrow thinking about our time coming to an end.

Harry’s POV:

I know what she’s feeling because I feel it too. I pull back to kiss her forehead as her arm wraps around me. I feel a tear hit my chin and pull her closer to me. “Shh, Jezebel, I know, baby, I know,” I say trying to soothe her. I feel her nod her head against my cheek.

“It’s been amazing, and I’m just sad it’s coming to an end,” she says sniffling.

“I know bu’ it’s no’ ov-ah jus’ yet…any idea how we can pass the time?” I ask her, pulling back to look in her eyes.

She smiles and bites her lip. “Wellll…I can think of a few things.”

Lily’s POV:

The next few days went by in a blur with the first LA shows being Harry’s usual overwhelming success. His bond with the audience is still amazing to witness. I’ve met with Lambert to get fitted for a pair of leather leggings and a black off the shoulder top, add in a pair of stilettos and a big curly, blond wig and my badass Sandy outfit will be ready to surprise Harry with. I pulled Cal aside to let him in on the idea and after he finished grinning smugly, he promised to provide the cigarette to complete the fantasy. My body feels tingly every time I think of my plan. I’m gonna rock his world… Harry has been adding extra practice time to make sure he’s ready for the show, and I have warned that all this extra time in addition to the current schedule is gonna run him down and he’s gonna end up sick if he doesn’t watch it, but he believes he’s invincible…especially with IV therapy to keep him hydrated and fully nourished with vitamins and minerals. To be honest, he does amaze me at his incredible energy and stamina. Such a talented, gifted man and all mine…still causes me to pinch myself after all this time.  I have a lunch date with Bella and Harry is off to one of the extra practices.

“Babe, I’m off to meet Bella for lunch at Mel’s…Cal’s drivin’.” I turn around to walk out to find him and smash right into him. “Wha…? What are you doin’?” Putting my hand on my hip, “Have you been there the whole time?”

He grins and laughs that breathy little laugh I adore so much, “Uhhh, yup…ya were ben’ over when I walked by an’ I couldn’ resis’ this arse,” he says smoothing his hands over my bottom.

Harry’s POV:

I smirk watching her eyes flutter closed as my hands grab her gorgeous arse, pulling her flush to me.

“Mmmm…H. Can’t do this now…I’ve gotta get going.”

I sigh. I know she needs to see her friends and I want her to but I hate it when I can’t be with her. “‘No tha’, Jezebel. Ya miss me?”

She smiles and nods.

“Kiss me goodbye then woman.”

She presses her lips to mine and I smile into the kiss, enjoying the feel of her lips on mine. Will I ever get tired of kissing her?

She pulls back and pecks my lips quickly again. “Bye. Text you later,” she says and then she’s gone.

Luis picks me up and we head to rehearsal. Hopelessly Devoted is really coming together…it sounds better every time we play it and I can’t wait to play it in front of an audience and especially my Jezebel.

We’d just wrapped up the song and I can’t help but smile at my band. Pauli gives me two thumbs up and I know we’ve nailed it.

“See ya guys tomorrow nigh’,” I say and then watch as everyone leaves except Mitch. I watch him put his guitar down and then slowly walk towards me.

“Sounds fuckin’ amazin’ man,” Mitch says, slapping me on the back.

“Yeah, it does,” I say, smiling. I can tell he’s got something on his mind.

“I know we’re doing the Grease theme and everything��so Hopelessly makes sense but like…it’s gonna give Lily a lot of attention, which isn’t like you. Is there something you’re not telling us?”

I suck my lips into my mouth and run my hand back through my hair. I’m not exactly sure how to answer this question if I’m honest. “Uhhhh…wellll…I mean…shit.” I meet his eyes and smile. “We’re gettin’ married, I asked her ta marry me.”

Mitch’s eyes get really big. “Jesus H! Man, congratulations! I’m so happy for you!” He says, hugging me.

I hug him back hard. “We’re no’ tellin’ anyone jus’ yet so can ya keep it quiet fo’ a while?”

“Of course, of course. Wow…that’s great. You guys are just great together.”

“Thanks man. Thanks.”

Lily’s POV:

Cal pulls into Mel’s parking lot and I see Bella’s car already there. “Alway’s early…that’s why she’s your assistant, Lily,” I say to myself as Cal pulls up to the front door. It isn’t too busy, thankfully, so we should have a nice quiet time together. I put away the lip gloss I had pulled out to touch up where Harry had kissed my first coat off. I smile to myself remembering his kisses…he’s up to something…I can tell, but, hey, what can I say…so am I.

“I’ll be back around two if that’s alright, Miss Lily?” Cal says looking in the rear view window. “There’s a nice coffee shop I really enjoy down the strip a bit…thought I might treat myself to a nice cuppa and some quiet time.”

“Aww… the baby still cutting teeth?” I ask knowing that his littlest one, Jasper’s, bottom teeth are coming in so he’s been quite colicky, slobbery and feverish, especially at night.

He smiles and nods his head animatedly. “Don’t remember Amelia being this cranky when her teeth came in, but that boy of mine is downright mean about his. Biting everything he can chew on, cheeks all broken out and red…feel sorry for the ‘lil fella…”

“I feel sorry for his mum…she must be out of her mind…err, along with you. Well, Cal, I hate to say it, but Jasper IS a boy and they just don’t cope with pain as well…,” I tease and rub his shoulder. “Thanks for the ride, Dad…go get you a cuppa and grab Cecily some donuts to bring home…you’ll make her day,” I suggest, “might even get lucky…pastries do that to us ladies.”

He chuckles and his shoulders shake. “Harry has his hands full with you Miss Lily, you’re perfect for him.”

“Thank you, it means a lot to hear that…Love you Cal,” I say and blow him a kiss. This man has been there for so much, he’s not just a driver or security…he’s our family. I step out of the car and just as I’m about to close the door, I remember to ask Cal, “Hey, could you go by and get a package of cigarettes for me? Ya know for Harryween….” That’s the most awkward question I’ve ever asked someone to get for me in my entire life. You’d think I asked him to pick up condoms or something with the way I’m blushing. I look down at the asphalt drive grinning to myself at my ridiculous embarrassment.

Cal leans back to look sideways out the back door, “No problem…you want Marlboro…Salem…, you interested in the light kind…?” he teases with a very smug smile.

“Stop…you know I have no idea…!”

“I’ve got ya covered, don’t worry,” he replies with a chuckle.

“See ya, Cal.”

“Back at two, Miss Lily…with your cigs.”

I purse my lips at his teasing and shut the door. Turning, I see Bella sitting in a booth in the windows waving happily and sucking on the straw in a very strawberry milk shake. Yay, it’s gonna be a dessert first kinda lunch, my favorite kind.

As I get to the booth where Bella is, I hear her hit bottom on her shake and the straw sucks up bubbles of milk and air rather loudly. Trying to hold in my giggle, I lean down to kiss her cheek. “Yum! Strawberry! How long have you been here?” I ask looking down at my phone.

“Only about ten or fifteen minutes,” she says dangling the cherry in front of me as an offering. She hates the cherries, but she always gets them because she knows I love them.

I take the red lusciousness and pull the fruit off the stem before chewing. “God, I love those…,” I groan grabbing the menu.

“You always get the same thing, why are you looking at the menu?” she asks licking the whip cream from her thumb.

She’s right…I have no idea why I’m looking at the menu, I always get the avocado burger, sweet potato fries and a large Arnold Palmer. “You wanna share?” I ask thinking about those tight leather pants I have to fit in tomorrow night.

“Sure, I’m full of ice cream, but I def have room for a burger and fries,” she says sliding her shake glass over to the side.

We order a split burger and fries, with a side of ranch for Bella who apparently is a bottomless pit, and I sit back and take a deep breath.

“So what’re you up to Lil…you have that look…like you’re either dug in a case or up to no good…or you have cramps…,” she asks crossing her legs in the seat.

My face frowns and I squint my eyes, “What the fuck, Bella…I do not look like I have cramps!”

“Well, now you do,” she says pointing to my face.

“Shut up!” I say sticking my tongue out at her. “No, I am kinda up to something, but it’s definitely gonna be oh-so-good.”

She sits forward rubbing her hands together then rests her elbows on the table, “Oooo, do tell!” she says conspiratorially

I smile at her adorable attitude, she’s always ready up for something fun. I adore her so much. “Well, first, do you have your costume for Harryween set?”

“Yes, I’m going to be Cha Cha DiGregorio! You know the dress she wears to the dance? The black halter with the teal blue floof on it?  I have a friend in San Fran who’s making it for me. And Gavin is going to be Leo Balmudo, her first boyfriend, ya know the one she cheats with Kenikie on…the “Leader of the Scorpios,” she says using air quotes. She seems very, very excited about this theme.

“Wow! Bella, that’s gonna be so hot…quite cheeky, seeing how Cha Cha was the one with the worst rep and who enjoyed showing her unmentionables quite often if I remember right. And Gavin, is so so far from being the bad boy… I love it! Now, she really came on to Zuko in the movie, if I remember right, so you better keep your little, grimy, strawberry milkshake, sticky fingers to yourself!”

She offers a snarky expression, “Welp, you just might need to make sure your man is properly satisfied if you want me to keep my hands to myself…,” she says looking closely at her cuticles, “especially after the weekend I had at The Headlands….”

My eyes go wide, “Oh my god! You haven’t spilled about The Headlands! Go on! I want the tea, neow,” I say using my sassiest voice, “as your boss, I’m demanding it.”

She scoots forward in the booth and grins like the Cheshire Cat. “Well… first of all, thank Harry so much for the suite it was sooo amazing, although it was interesting when he made the reservation he told them any of the suites but not room 603…Gavin and I thought it must be haunted or something…,” she shakes her head like she’s clearing her mind, I smile to myself knowing exactly why he said any room other than 603. That was our room on our stay and, knowing Harry, if he could buy the room and make sure no one ever uses it again, he would. “Noooo! It has something to do with you two and sex, right? Ugh…you two are so wild…,” she says sucking in her lips, “Buuuutttt…. I WILL say there’s just something about that place….,” she continues biting her forefinger.

“Isabella Marie, you better start talking now!”

About that time the waitress drops off our plates smacking her gum, “Can I get y’all anything else?” she says with a smudge of red lipstick on her front tooth.

“No, thank you.”

“You girls hot, both of you have red cheeks. Do ya want me to have Charlie turn down the thermostat?” she says looking from first Bella then me.

Bella bursts out with a giggle shooting part of the fry she was munching on out of her mouth.

“Bella!” I scold giving her my best “how dare you” look.

“No, ma’am, we’re good. Thank you though,” I say politely trying to reduce the ridiculousness of the situation.  

She smiles sweetly and pops her gum. “Ok, if you need anything, just holler, I’ll be behind the bar, we’re not too busy, obviously, so just holler and I’ll hear ya. I’m Margaret.”

“Thank you Margaret,” I say again trying to introduce some form of respectability into our encounter. As she walks away, I look at Bella with wide eyes. “Seriously…you spit on me…!” I exclaim laughing and wiping my shirt.

She grins holding a fry out to me. “I’m sorry…?” she mock whimpers.  

I grab the fry from her hand in one swift motion and pop it into my mouth. It’s salty and crisp, just the way I like them. “Well, you should be…now spill your guts…,” I say leaning forward over my plate of food and inhaling the glorious smell of fried hamburger meat and melted cheese.

“Lil, there must be something in the water there…Gavin was…just…wowzers. I’ve never…I mean…that many times…and he was just so…I mean,” she moans and looks out the window, obviously caught in a memory.  

“Bella, you aren’t tell me much here…,” I say taking a bite of my burger.

“Has H, ever gotten all…” she looks side to side and whispers, “dominate…with you?”

It’s my turn to spit my fry. “Uh-hum, weellll…depends on what you mean?”

“Well, Gavin was just so…”

“….intense…” I finish for her.

“YES! Intense, his eyes and…,” she cups the side of her mouth, “dirty talk…,” she ends with the gesture of a chef’s kiss.

I feel the blush as it furiously takes over my face.

“Oooo, I can only imagine how Harry sounds in bed with that fucking accent of his,” she says dreamily.

“Yeah, he’s quite good with his words, but, anyway, so you had a good time?”

“Jesus did we ever, we needed the break so, so bad…it was like he let loose…and I hardly recognized myself in the mirror the entire time…I had bite marks and swollen lips…I was sore in all the…,” she cups her mouth again, “best places…Lil, it was a breakthrough…a real breakthrough.”

I giggle at her use of the word “breakthrough.” “Yeah, that place is quite a lovely place to just break away and let loose…I dunno, maybe there is something in the water, because I remember our stay was quite memorable as well.” I say thinking back to our time in suite 603. “Bella, I’m so happy you and Gavin are happy together.”

“Lil, he’s so…I mean…he’s just…I mean…I think he might be the one…I absolutely cannot imagine my future without him. He makes me hope and dream and want…and feel like it’s safe to…need. I haven’t really ever needed anyone before…but I need him. And that makes me happy. Because I know he needs me just as much. I can bet the world that he loves me, I know, that I know, that I know, that he does. And, I know most people say it’s not that important, but…they lie… we have amazing sex and, yes, it’s important. I’m free…I can let him have control and know he sees the gift in that…that he’ll cherish me, my body, wear me out, take care of me afterwards and then do it all over again two hours later…” she says dropping the fry she was holding to the plate and flopping back against the seat with a woozy sigh. She’s so content. She’s absolutely glowing.

“Oh, Bells, I’m so so happy for you! You should feel all those things in a relationship and I completely understand what you’re saying. I feel the same way about Harry. I think I’ve always felt this way about him…through all the years we’ve known each other, but it just wasn’t the right time…now, it’s been a year of being with him and I cannot imagine my world, my day, any moment without him in it. And we fit so well together, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically…we match and compliment each other in ways we don’t even understand…but don’t have to question either. And for the record, I adore, his dominate side…whew…,” I say blowing out a big breath. “He takes me, and to places I never dreamed I go…I never dreamed I could go and he does it over and over and over again. It’s like we just get better together as time goes by…the more we, err, ‘practice’ the better we are as satisfying each other.” Now I KNOW I’m blushing furiously. And wouldn’t you know it, Margaret picks that moment to come check on us.

“Errr…Do you need some more Arnold Palmer, darlin’? Wait, are you sure you don’t want Charlie to turn the thermostat down?” she asks propping her fist on her hip.

“Huuuhhhh,” I stammer in an awkward laugh, “No, I’m good, Margaret, on the Arnold Palmer and the AC.” She just shakes her head and walks off.

“That being said, I have a little idea for the Harryween show, and I was hoping you could help me out? You know how I’m going as Sandy in the pink poodle skirt, the Pink Lady’s jacket…the pony tail, the Keds and…”

“Tube socks…” Bella says with a smirk referring to the song Teenage Dirtbag…specifically Harry’s part about “Keds and tube socks.”

“Cute, Bells, but what I was gonna say was bobby socks and scarf…ya know, ‘good Sandy’?”

She shakes her head remembering my costume.

“Well, I was thinking during Kiwi, I could slip out and change into the ‘badass Sandy’ with leather pants, the off the shoulder jacket and stilettos…cigarette…big blond curls…and meet H in the back of the car after the show.  But need some help getting dressed and fixed up. Would you mind slipping out with me at the end and helping me?”

“Oh my god… that is the sexiest idea! I would absolutely love to help with this! Dammit, I need to do something like this for Gavin,” she says biting her bottom lip thoughtfully.

“Thank you so much! I’m kinda excited about it…because I don’t think he’ll have any idea about it, other than to wonder why I’ve left before the end of the show,” I say raising my eyebrows. “Maybe with the fact that the show is so popular and he’s planning to leave as soon as possible because he wants to avoid the traffic surge, he won’t question my absence too long before he gets rushed to the car and I can be waiting for him.”

“Lily you know Imma-gonna-hafta have details on this night…because,” she swallows hard, “it sounds super sexy…and I know it takes you two a good forty minutes to get to Malibu, right?”

I just grin looking at her from under my lashes and nod my head.

“Oooo…Lily, you are sooo naughty…,” she says dunking another fry in ranch sauce then ketchup. “Kranch” she calls it.

I smile and wipe my finger and then my mouth. “Wellll, Bella, yeah, I can’t lie, I do have a bit of a naughty streak. But, trust me, he’s worth it.” About that time, I see Cal pull in and park to the side.

Bella notices too, “There’s Cal.”

“Yeah, I need to get going. I talked to Sophia in Sao Paulo again last night, she’s forwarding some additional documents to us on the podcast email, so be on the look out for them. She’s the sweetest girl, I’m just amazed at how mature and hard-working she is. I mean, I know she and her sister…”

“Felicity…” Bella interjects.

“Yeah, Felicity, live with her Aunt and Uncle, but they don’t sound like they take that much time with them or go out of their way to make them feel like they belong. I mean, Jesus, they’ve lost their parents, viciously, I might add, and have now spend years living with a couple who are…indifferent…, yeah, I think that’s what I would call it, indifferent. Sophia has done so much to make sure her sister is going to school and has the things she needs. The Policia haven’t been very helpful either.  I really feel sorry for them, but I…don’t feel pity. I mean, she’s done so…well…in spite of her circumstances. She isn’t to be pitied. I mean, I feel…proud of her. Is that strange?”

“No, not really…I mean, look at you. You did very well for yourself after your parents were killed. It’s not unheard of. Sometimes you do what you have to do because it’s necessary. Maybe Sophia is just as strong minded…strong willed as you,” Bella says taking a last sip.

“Yeah, I guess so���it’s just sad that her Aunt and Uncle aren’t more loving toward them. I really really wanna work this case…I want us to get involved, maybe there’s something we can do. I met that woman in Venice, Paula, retired instructor at Quantico, remember her? She’s doing contract work for Interpol. I think while we’re here, I will meet with her about it and see what she thinks.”

“That’s a brilliant idea! Let me know what you decide and I’ll put it on the calendar and get the portfolio of her case information put together for you. AND, don’t worry, I won’t forget to scan it AND get you a hard copy…I swear, I forgot that one time and you remind me every time now,” she says rolling her eyes.

“Awww, Bells, you know I love you…I’m fully aware that I’m a pain in the ass,” I say pouting my bottom lip out to her.

She purses her lips tightly and then breaks out into a smile, “Oh come on, Lily, you know I love this job…I love what we do and the people we help. I’m honestly not looking forward to you going back on the road in November, though.  I’m really gonna miss you. But, I will hold down the fort and keep things organized with the show, at least Gavin is staying here with me rather than going on this leg of the tour. He asked me to move in with him, yanno.”

“Oh wow, Bella, that’s a big step!”

“Yeah, I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

“Well, take your time and think it through. It’s a big step, but when it’s right, it’s so…comforting. Keep me up to date, kay?” I say grabbing the bill to take to cash register. “Working lunch,” I say holding it up.

“Yes, we did talk about work….and sex, but yanno…,” she says with a giggle.

We stand from the booth and I wrap my arms around her tight. “I love you, Bella Boo. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without you. But even if you didn’t work for the podcast, I couldn’t ask for a better bestie in my life.”

“I love you too Lil. And thank you so much for giving me a job I love AND being my best friend. I mean, who would I share my recipe for Kranch with if I didn’t have you?”

I giggle and take her hand as I walk to the cash register and pay. I tell her I will call her later and we can further plan the Harryween surprise. She starts up her car and the radio is blasting Radiohead at full volume. She rolls down the window, “Sorry, you know I love H, but a girl’s gotta have some variety too.”

I just laugh and blow her a kiss as she backs up. She waves frantically from behind her dark black sunnies and is off.

I make it over to Cal who has the car running and find in the back seat the bag of cigarettes.

“Nice lunch, Miss Lily?”

“Yes, it was so good! Thanks for picking these up for me,” I say holding up the bag. “Would you mind keeping them until tomorrow night, I’m afraid I’ll lose them in the ruckus.”

“Sure,” he says taking the bag and placing it beside a pink pastry box. I grin at him and he catches my eye. “Donuts…for Cecily…someone told me it would help ease the teething headache my beautiful wife currently has.”

I smile and nod. Sitting back, I can’t help but think of the time me and Harry might have a family…whatever that looks like. I think of Bennett and Thomasina and can’t help but long for a pet. That would never work with your schedule, I think to yourself. It sure would be nice to try though. One thing at a time, Lily. Let’s get this badass Sandy put together. Harry’s gonna love the panties you have had made for this occasion. You look down at your phone and send a quick text to him.

Lily: I love you. You sexy beast.

You know he’s practicing so, he won’t respond, at least not immediately. You tuck your phone away and watch the city go by outside on your way back to Malibu.

Cal pulls into The Forum parking lot and your eyebrows go up in surprise. Your mouth opens to ask a question but Cal speaks first. “Harry texted and asked me to pick him up after your lunch.” 

You giggle. It’s so typical of him to do something like that.

Cal pulls into the garage and sends a text letting Harry know he’s there and then the door opens and Harry slides in next to you.

“Hey Jezebel,” he says, pressing his lips to mine.

I smile and kiss him back, enjoying the smell of everything that is just him.

“Surprise,” he says kissing me again.

I start to pull away in surprise, but the feel of his tongue against me makes me quickly abandon that idea. He threads his hand in my hair with his palm on my cheek and twists his body almost over the top of me pressing me into the back of the seat. I open my mouth craving for his taste…craving to be tasted. He tastes of peppermint from the throat spray he used when he sings. God he’s such an amazing kisser. I grab onto the back of his shirt and pull and push at the same time…I just want more of him.

“Mmm…H….mmm…Har…,” I keep trying to speak against his lips. He silences me with his passionate lips and who am I to continue to argue. He’s a man on a mission and I love every mission he’s ever taken me on.

Finally he pulls away panting against my lips, “Missed ya taday,” he says brushing his nose against mine. “How was ya day, darlin’?”

“Weelll…it just got much, much better,” I say running my fingers along his jaw. “What’re you up to Styles?  Is this what you’re so secretive about at the moment?”

“Maybe.”

I smile against his lips and kiss them again, “Well, I definitely like what’s going on so far, but I think Cal might be getting sick of always having to chaperone us in backseats.”

He chuckles and turns his head toward the front seat, “Cal, are we buggin’ ya?” But there’s nothing…no response.

Harry looks back at me and then back up toward the front seat.  

“Cal?” I say.

Then we hear it. The snore… Harry blows out a breathy laugh and turns back to me. “Jasper still teethin’?”

I suck in my lips to hold in the giggle, “Umm…yeah, he’s not getting much sleep apparently…and apparently we’re to boring to pay attention to. Jesus, H, we need to get a sitter for he and Cecily and let them go get a room somewhere so they can get some rest.”

“I fuckin’ doubt sleepin’ would take place, bu’, yeah, need ta ge’ him some time off fo’ fuck’s sake.”

“Well, mister, now that you have me here, what in the world are you gonna do with me?” I say with equal amounts sass and innuendo.

“I thought we’d take a ‘lil walk through…the venue’s set up fo’ Harryween, inside an’ out, see…,” he says pointing to the small carnival area that that’s decked out with a few booths and a Ferris wheel, “’s jus’ like the one at the end of the film…ya like?”

“I love! Can we go see it?” I say with wide eyes and a big smile.

“Sure, tha’s wha’ I was hopin’ ta do. Never getta check the place out on Halloween myself, so, though’ it would be nice ta take a minute ta check it out wi’ ya befo’ we go home. Up fo’ some cotton candy an’ a ride on the Ferris wheel?”

“I’d LOVE that, H!!!”

“Hold ya if ya ge’ scared,” he says wiggling his eyebrows, “eva’ been kissed on a Ferris wheel?”

I touch the bottom of my chin in contemplation. I think…and think some more, purposefully dragging my thinking out…

His shoulder’s slump, “Just tell me, Lily, s’ I ‘no which arse, I need ta kick…”

“So feisty, H! No, just Tom, you remember him?”

“Grrrr…” He groans and rolls his eyes, “yes, am well aware of Tom.”

“Now, H, he’s a nice guy. Really. I mean, if I hadn’t been so hung up on you, I could’ve had a really nice life with him.”

“Bbb-orrringggg,” he runs his fingers down my cheek. “Tom could’ve never handled ya passion. Lily, ya would’ve wilt’ed away wi’ him. Ya know ‘m righ’… ya belong wi’ me an’ I belong wi’ you,” he moves his lips to my ear, “We fit tagether perfec’ly…don’ we?”

I swallow hard and nod slowly. I know he’s absolutely right. We are a perfect match, we challenge each other and complete each other in all ways. It’s a once in a lifetime kind of love…one I wish all people of the world could have.

He kisses his way back to my lips, “Ya ready?”

My pussy weeps. He uses that voice and that very line in bed so often, I can’t keep it clean when we’re out of the bedroom, or the kitchen, or the dining room, or the shower…Earth to Lily, I chastise myself for going there.

“Le’s go check it out,” he whispers against my lips with a smirk. He reads my mind like a book. He knows where my mind went and still manages to pull me out of the car.

“What about Cal?”

“He knows wha’s up, let ‘em sleep till we ge’ back,” he says closing the car door softly.

Harry’s POV:

I grab her hand and lead her to my dressing room, punching in the code and pulling her inside.

Laying on the sofa are Grease costumes I had delivered today.

“What’s all this?” She asks me.

“Though’ it migh’ be fun ta get inta character a lit-ull bit. Jus’ a lit-ull taste,” I tell her, smirking.

“You…you amazing man! I can’t believe you did all of this!”

I lean over to kiss her. I’d do anything to make her happy. Anything. “C’mon les’ ge’ changed. The band’s waitin’ fo’ us.”

“Wait…they’re all here too?!”

I nod and smile.

She shakes her head and giggles, crossing her arms and tugging her shirt over her head and unbuttoning her jeans.

I lick my lips as her tits jiggle. She’s so beautiful and she doesn’t even know it. We get into our costumes and walk to the side where everything is set up, the smell of popcorn and cotton candy hitting us as soon as we walk out the door.

As soon as my band sees us they raise their glasses and yell. Ny runs over and pushes a drink into our hands and I clink my glass to Lily’s.

She blushes and takes a sip and I can’t help but lean over and kiss her quickly.

We walk around looking at everything and point out the cool things that were set up. I get a cone of candy floss and enjoy feeding her and kissing the sticky sugar from her lips. We eat popcorn and take pics and just enjoy this moment. It’s hard to believe that this is all for me sometimes. It blows my mind that I get to do this for a living. The sun is setting and the lights on the Ferris wheel come on.

“Wanna go fo’ a ride?”

She wraps her arms around me and pulls me close. “Only if you’ll kiss me at the top if I get scared.”

I laugh. “I’ll kiss ya anywhere ya wan’, ‘no tha’.”

She giggles and grabs my hand and pulls me to the Ferris wheel and sits down. “C’mon everyone! It’s time for a spin!”

Everyone gets loaded in and I put my arm around her, pulling her close to me.

She gasps as the car rocks backward as the ride starts and I chuckle. She’s so cute I can hardly stand it. “I love ya, Jezebel,” I tell her as she snuggles into me.

“I love you more,” she says, sighing.

Lily’s POV:

I lay my head on his bicep and take a deep breath in. He smells like cologne, buttered popcorn, and the outside air. I can feel him press his lips to the top of my head and I smile to myself in pure contentment. We go around a few times and giggle at Pauli in his own car rocking it back and forth dramatically. I just happen to notice Cal standing outside the car leaning against the hood and began to wave frantically when the car suddenly comes to a crushing halt.

“Oof!” I say as we rock forward with wide eyes.

His arm comes out straight against my chest to hold me in place. “Care-ful, baby,” he cautions.

“That’s not…ok, yeah… that was sorta scary,” I whimper with a flat smile looking over the front rail holding us in the car. “Ooohhh…yeeeeaahh, ‘s a long way down there…,” I say with raised eyebrows and wide eyes.

He laughs his breathy little laugh, that I normally love, but at the moment find completely irrational. He pries my fingers off the rail and holds them in his. “Awww, Jezebel…’s fine….ya good?” he reassures and asks at the same time.

“Yeah, I mean…I’m aware that this isn’t the London Eye or anything, but it’s still kinda high…or am I just a wimp?”

“Nah, ’s high ta no’ be enclosed, bu’ ’ve go’ ya, baby,” he says draping one arm along the back of the seat and wrapping it around my shoulder to pull me in close. “Come closer,” he whispers with a soft smile and tug.

I move into the cradle of his arms and softly touch his stubbled chin. “Thank you, H…for bringing me here. I love this surprise…a real-life ‘Notebook’ moment with the Ferris wheel and all. A real moment at a carnival where we don’t need security and there aren’t screaming fans. I don’t mind them, truly, I don’t…it’s nice; however to have a basic moment together, yanno?”

“Yeah, baby, I ge’ it. God, ya s’ beautiful in the ligh’ of the sunset.”

I lick my lips subconsciously asking for…needing for him to kiss me.

He runs his forefinger down the bridge of my nose and tips in to place a tiny soft kitten kiss on my upper lip. Then the tip of his tongue pops out and he nips the tip of my nose. “Could fuckin’ eat ya up, Jezebel. Ma baby girl ‘ere in ma arms on top of the world…,” he rubs his nose along mine, “d’ya ‘ave any idea how much I adore ya? Whole world ligh’s up when I see ya.”

“Harry…,” I say smoothing my hand up his chest and twisting my fingers in the neck of his t-shirt.

“Mean, it, Lily…all of this is great…’m really fuckin’ proud an’ gra’eful fo’ this success, bu’ ‘s jus’ s’much swee’tah wi’ ya in ma life.” He leans forward and places another soft kiss to my lips and I open instinctually longing for his taste, and he needs no further invitation. He deepens the kiss and takes everything I’m offering. His hand tilts my head so he can have access to my mouth and his tongue dives deep and I softly suck on it and brush it with my own. He groans and pushes forward until I slide farther to the side almost to the low seat. His hand makes its way down my cheek across my collarbone and to my chest.

“Mmmm…,” I moan as the car rocks gently. I’m losing my breath and slowly falling under his spell. His hand works its way up my shirt to run his thumb back and forth over my erect nipple.

“Fuck, baby…rockin’ like when ya in the swing in the pink room,” he says as he runs his lips along my jaw to my ear. “Love ya…wan’ ya so bad,” he whispers in my ear emphasizing the “so”.

I close my eyes and stretch my neck to give him more…because that’s exactly what I want, more. I slide my hand up the inside of his thigh to palm his cock. He slides his hips forward until he is open further for my touch. He’s soft and I make it my mission to make him hard. It doesn’t take much. Biting his bottom lip and sucking it into my mouth gets a surge of blood I can feel through the zipper seam of his jeans.

“God damn, babe. Careful.”

“Does it feel good?” I ask as he pinches my nipple.

“Ya know it does,” he mutters.

“Yo H!? Have you made it to third base yet?  Can we please get off this thing, man?” Pauli yells from below.

Harry chuckles and drops his forehead to my chest. “Fuck, I forgot, I gotta signal to start back up again.”

“Did you…like, you had the operator stop us on purpose?” I ask with a giggle.

“Mm-hmm,” he answers against my breast. “Told ‘em I’d wave ya scarf when we were ready.”

“Oh my god, you’re crazy…we have gotta get these people off this ride, Harry!” I exclaim in embarrassment as I untie the scarf from my neck.

“Jesus, Jezebel, ‘m s’ hard.”

“I know, but you’re just gonna hafta wait until tomorrow night,” I say trying to sit up further and straighten my sweater twinset, “I want you very ready for me after the show, so it’s sleep tonight, play time tomorrow.”

“Wai’ a minu’ah...! I didn’ agree ta tha’…no’ one bit.” he says waving the pink scarf in the air. Suddenly the ride begins to move and everyone is clapping and cat calling. Has anyone’s face ever exploded from extreme blushing, I think to myself rolling my eyes.

“’M sorry, mister, but you work me up all the time and leave me hanging. Tonight it’s your turn,” I say smugly.

“Oh, really?! Tha’s jus’ cruel…,” he murmurs as he adjusts his cock in his jeans. “Fuckin’ tight jeans,” he says under his breath.

I suck in my lips to keep from giggling as the ride rotates and stops occasionally to let other riders off. I rub my hands together to warm them up and feel proud at my unexpected evil edging plan where he has to wait until tomorrow…He puts me through this every show, I watch and I wait…wet…for him. It won’t hurt him to suffer a little bit, because when I get a hold of him tomorrow night, I’m gonna rock his world.

Harry’s POV:

I purse my lips. I know she’s right…the anticipation will make it even better, but I need to be with her. I palm my cock as we exit the car. We hug everyone and then walk to the car where Cal is waiting.

She gets in and I follow her in and smirk. Waiting isn’t something she’s good at. Everytime I edge her, she begs me to fuck her so all I have to do is get her proper worked up and hope she folds.

“Ya hungry Jezebel?” I ask her in my most seductive voice, noticing the way she presses her thighs together.

“Yes, let’s have Cal stop somewhere.”

I draw my fingers up her arm and watch as goosebumps break out on her skin and I smirk. “Wha’ ya thinkin’ abou’?” I whisper, my lips just grazing her ear.

She licks her lips. “Ummm…I don’t…mmm…” she moans out as I kiss down her neck.

“Ya don’ know?”

“I don’t care. You pick it.”

“Ya’ve already said I can’ have wha’ I wan’…unless ya’ve changed ya mind an’ ya gon’ let me fuck ya?”

“Harry…”

“Wha’? I wan’ ta be buried deep inside ya an’ taste ma honey. If I can’ do tha’ then it’s ya choice.”

Her eyes flutter closed and she sighs. “That little restaurant by the house. That was really good. Let’s just go there.”

I shake my head. “Cal, we need to make a stop…”

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

Later that evening

I’ve tried everything I can to get her to give in, but she’s still holding out on me. We’re laying in bed, making out and I want her so bad but truth be told after my swim in the pool after dinner, I’m getting tired. I pull back and trail my fingers down her face. “I love ya Jezebel. I give. I’ll wait fo’ ya.”

She smiles and kisses me. “It’ll be worth it tomorrow, I promise.”

It’s been a long night and morning. We’ve both been extra touchy. I’m actually not sure that there’s a moment all day that we haven’t been touching each other except for when we went for a swim. She’s still not into cold water swimming but she joined me for a swim in a warm pool. She’s sitting next to me in the Rover on the way to The Forum, my hand on her thigh and her hand covering mine. I’m literally counting down the hours until I can get her naked and beneath me.

I know she’s feeling it too. She keeps crossing and uncrossing her legs, biting her lip, and gripping my hand hard.

“Ya gon’ be ready fo’ me after?” I ask her on the way.

She turns her head to meet my eyes. “The question is: Are you gonna be ready for me?”

My eyes flick to her mouth and then back to her eyes. “Been ready fo’ ya since las’ nigh’, Jezebel.”

“Me too.”

We have a light dinner and then soundcheck and then it’s time to get ready. My hairdresser is just about to put on my Danny Zuko wig when I hear the keypad on the door beep and then my beautiful Jezebel comes through the door and my mouth drops open.

She does a twirl showing off her Sandy cheerleader costume - red skirt, crinoline, white Keds and bobby socks, white sweater that says ‘HARRYWEEN’ that matches my leather jacket instead of Rydell and pearls.

“You like?”

I don’t even answer her. “Can ya leave us fo’ a minute?” I ask my team. I watch as they put down their things and exit and Lily blushes.

“What’re you up to?” She says as I stand and move toward her.

Her eyes move down my body, taking in my tight black jeans and black muscle shirt and she licks her lips.

“Ya like?”

She nods her head, biting her bottom lip.

“C’mere,” I whisper, pulling her flush to me.

She wraps her arms around my neck and I don’t waste a minute before I press my lips to hers and push her back toward the sofa. I break away long enough to lower her to the seat of the sofa and then kneel down in front of her, my lips attaching to her neck.

Her hands tangle in my hair and my hands slide up her legs, pushing her skirt and crinoline up. I dip my head down and kiss up her thighs as my hands move the material up over her skin. I look up and see her eyes closed, chest heaving and then push her skirt up over her tummy. My mouth drops open when I see her panties - they match the back of my leather jacket, HARRYWEEN written in red crystals. My fingers gently move over the crystals and she whimpers above me and I pull the ties on the sides revealing her wet cunt to me. I lick my lips. “Wanna taste ma honey, Jezebel. Gon’ tell me no?”

She whimpers and pulls my hair. “No! Please…”

I smile as I grab her hips and pull her close to me, licking a stripe up her slit. I groan against her flesh. She’s wet and she tastes so good. My thumbs pull her lips back and I lick her clit with the tip of my tongue until she grips my hair harder and I know that she’s ready for more.

She cries out my name as I latch onto her clit, sucking it into my mouth, tongue working against her quickly. I’m ravenous, and push in closer, my nose digging into her mound. She’s close, I can tell. Her thighs are shaking and her back arching. I pop off and then lick a hard stripe up her slit, pressing in hard before pulling back.

She cries out at the loss of my mouth. “Mmmmm…fuck….NO!”

I tie her panties and pull her skirt and crinoline down. “I’d kiss ya Jezebel bu’ ‘m goin’ ou’ there wi’ ya honey on ma face tonigh’.”

She rises with a tumble and lurches forward with a fumble before I catch her by her shoulders and turn her toward the door. I pull her back toward me, “Door’s tha’ way, love,” I say with a smirk and give her a slight nudge. The door opens to a team of people waiting to finish me up and Bella who is decked out head to toe, including the big hair and what has to be a rather busty prosthetic set of tits, because she looks like she might fall over… forward. I smirk and think about how happy Gavin will be when he sees his little Bella quite outdone.  

“Bella,” I say and nod. ‘Les’ ge’ finished,” I say to the group and they file in and take their usual places.

I look at Bella and say, “Take care of ma girl tanigh’?”

Bella looks at Lily and furrows her brow, “Always, H…What that hell, is she drunk…? Harry! Did you get her drunk!?”

Lily perks up to that and slurs, “Nah, ’m good, Bellss, le’s juss go fine our sseats.”

“Oookkaaayy…” she says skeptically.

When I close the door, I suck in my lips and taste her one more time. I can smell her on my chin, taste her on my lips…I turn away from the room and adjust myself inhaling deeply.  I might just have fucked myself over with this little game because I gotta do a high profile show tonight, with a very needy hard cock.

Lily’s POV:

Bella and I begin our trek to our designated spot with Bella looking at me like I’ve lost my ever lovin’ mind. Fuck, I may have. He’s such an evil menace, my man. For all his sweet charms, he can deliver a round of sexual edging like no other. He has the greatest grasp of delayed gratification…I challenge anyone to have his stamina and patience for the slow burn… “Get a grip,” I say as we walk down the hall.

“Hmm? What did you say?” Bella asks threading her fingers with mine.

“Oh, nothing, just talking to myself.”

“Are you gonna tell me what the fuck is wrong with you?” she asks squeezing my fingers.

“No…can’t really…just…Bella, I’m so in love with that man…I want him so much.”

“Well, darlin’ so does most of the world, but guess what? He wants YOU like he wants no other.”

I smile and drop my head to her shoulder as we walk, “He does, doesn’t he…”

“Yes ma’am, he sure does.”

I float the rest of the way to the VIP section.

*****An hour later*****

The costumes on the fans are second to none! Harry throws a Halloween party like no other. But then again, he does have fans like no other as well. There are those who have dressed like him from different eras, fairies, frogs, cats, toys…there is an incredible Strawberry Shortcake that everyone can’t get enough of…her costume is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The number of feather boas has increased dramatically and everyone seems to be extremely high on life. “High on Harry” is what Bella called it. She’s not wrong. The buzz is as intense as I’ve ever seen it. And, of course, the big question is what will Harry and the band be dressed as. It’s really going to be fun to see how everyone reacts.

The crowd on the other side begins to scream and I see the heads of his security grouped together moving along so I know his box is being wheeled in. Damn it! I meant to kiss him once he got in tonight, but, fuck, if he didn’t derail that idea with one of his own. The only consolation I take is that he must be feeling as desperate as I do.  

The slow music begins to fade…not much longer now. Suddenly Bella pulls away and Gavin is there with his headphones on. He grins and hands her a white envelope and lays quite the kiss on her before he runs off to his spot. Bella gets turns back to me, “What’s that all about?”

“I don’t know,” she says with a shrug about to rip into the envelope.  

I see the front and stop her, “Wait! It says something on the front!” I twist it over in her hand and see it reads, “Don’t open until LOML!”

“Oooo Bella…Love Of My Life…that boy is totally taken with you….”

She holds the envelope to her chest and closes her eyes with emotion. “I love him so much!”

Suddenly the screams ramp up as the band begins to make their way onto the stage.  

I let out a breath and just let myself feel the energy from the crowd. This was my favorite part of his concert before we were together when I was just a fan pining away for him and it still is. I smile because it really is edging…that almost heart stoppingly beautiful pain you get right before he comes on stage. The words start and then he pops up from his little trap door and ‘Daydreaming’ starts and the crowd goes insane when they see him dressed as Danny Zuko, wig, sideburns, and all. It’s a deafening roar but I can tell by the look on his face that he’s enjoying the surprise he pulled off. I’m almost just as surprised as they are. I’d seen some of it but not the whole thing put together with the wig and sideburns. He looks amazing and I can tell that he’s into this cosplay.

By the time Adore You starts up, he’s moving around the stage and I gasp as the lights hit his chin and I see the shine of my honey on his chin. My mouth is a perfect O of surprise and he notices and blows me a kiss before he prances to the other side of the stage.

“Are you ok?” Bella asks me.

I close my mouth and nod. How can I explain any of this right now?

“Uhh…yeah, I’m good!” I say over the crowd screaming.

“You sure?  You’re acting so weird tonight, Lil?”

“No,” I say shaking my head, “I’m good, really, don’t worry…I’m happy, very happy…doesn’t he look amazing!?” I say clapping my hands and hoping up and down.

“Yes, he looks sooo good! And right now, you look like his personal cheerleader,” she says wiggling her eyebrows.

I look down and giggle, “Well, I hadn’t thought of that…yeah, I suppose I am…I’m definitely his number one fan, but don’t tell any of these lovely people, they’ll beg to differ!”

“Lily! Lily! Lily! Smile for us!” I hear calling from one side and there stands four adorable teenage girls all dressed in pink poodle skirts and matching Pink Lady jackets.

I cover my mouth with my hand and then applaud them in dramatic fashion, “How did you know!!!??,” I call out to them pointing to their outfits.

“We didn’t! We didn’t! This was our mom’s idea!” they turn and point behind them and I see two lovely ladies also dressed in poodles skirts, theirs black with pink poodles and black leather jackets. I wave and offer an applauding gesture to them as well. “Very very nice!” I call out in their direction.

Bella and I pose and they take a quick shot.  I pull out my phone and turn my back to them to take a selfie with them in the background.  I assure them I will send the picture to them and promise to show Harry as soon as I can. I ask one of the security guys standing by to get their information.

Things on stage slow down and Harry moves close by. I know Matilda is next and then Little Freak, our song. Tonight I sure hope he’s gonna be a little freak, because I’m certainly gonna try to be his Jezebel.

I sigh as Little Freak starts up and he moves to my side of the stage. He always sings this song to the side I’m standing on which takes my breath away. I’m nearly in tears by the time he’s done singing. That song means so much to us and I still can’t believe it took so long for me to figure it out.

Bella and I go crazy dancing and singing to Satellite and I’m not prepared for the sexy slowdown of Cinema. When he comes to my side of the stage and sings ‘getting yourself wet for me,” his hand slides down the front of his pants and then he rubs his thumb on his chin and licks it and I can feel myself blush. I glare at him and he laughs his little laugh and then bounds off to another part of the stage.

“He’s a menace,” I grumble to myself hoping Bella doesn’t notice.

Love of My Life starts and Bella hands me the envelope and I pull it open. It’s dark so Bella pulls out her phone and uses the flashlight so I can read the message:

The next song is dedicated to you tonight, Jezebel. I can’t say it out loud but wanted you to know.

I furrow my brow trying to figure out what he could be singing and then I hear the opening chords and my mouth falls open. Tears fall down my face as he starts singing Hopelessly Devoted. How did I ever get so lucky?

Harry’s POV:

I close the song and take just a moment to stare…probably with the dumbest smile on my face.

She’s so fuckin’ gorgeous…the light might be dim, but I can see her eyes and I see the tears. She stands with her hands together in a prayer position against her lips. She has no idea how fucking idea how hopelessly devoted I am to her. I see more of her than anyone else; well beyond her looks…I see that gentleness, the kindness, the courage, that sweetness…I see her desires and passion. She’s mine for forever. It’s time for Sign Of The Times, I better get to my spot. I wanna kiss her so goddamn much right now. I smile and turn from her with a blink of my eyes.

I finish up Sign Of The Times and walk back toward center stage. The crowd tonight is out of this world. It’s beyond inspiring and equal parts exciting and scary as fuck…I sure as shit hope I can keep up with these folks. I glance over to find Lily and she’s not there. Neither is Bella…I start scanning to see if I missed something. Then Mitch nods me over so I step toward him.

“She’s ok, said she’d see ya after,” he says with a shrug.

I nod with a questioning look to which he shrugs again. The intro to As It Was begins and I go back to work.

This fuckin’ wig is hot, Jesus.

Lily’s POV:

Bella and I finish up my make-up with a layer of red lipstick and she does a final fluff on my hair. These leather pants are basically skin tight leggings that fit beautifully. I had to lose my bra in order to wear the tight off the shoulder shirt.

“Holy shit, Lily!” Bella squeals louder than I would’ve liked. “You look so fucking hot…you are so getting it good tonight!”

I smirk at her from under my false eyelashes. “Oh, I plan on it, B. I made him wait last night…which he was not happy about.”

Bella gasps. “You didn’t?!”

I nod. “He’s always edging me! It’s about time I paid him back.”

“Jesus…I…well, he’ll be ready for you then,” Bella says, eyes wide.

“I’m sorry if that was TMI.”

“Ummm, no…it wasn’t. It’s just…well…”

“It’s what?”

“This is just a whole new side of you, Lily. You never seemed very interested in sex. Or you never really talked about it, I guess. It’s just different is all.”

I can’t help but throw my head back and laugh. If she only knew the dirty thoughts I used to have about Harry. “Believe me, I was very interested in sex…but most of my thoughts were about H and it was just too weird to talk about, yanno?”

Bella nods her head. “I get it. Goddd…you actually got what you always wanted. He’s soooo into you…you can just tell. You guys are intense.”

I smile. “I did, didn’t I? I still have to pinch myself sometimes.” I look around for my black leather jacket and slip it on. “Let’s go put my plan in action, yeah?”

Bella smiles and nods. “I hope Gavin can leave early tonight too!”

We giggle as we head back down the hallway and to the tunnel where the Rover is parked. I kiss Bella on the cheek and she makes her way back to the pit to wait for Gavin.

Cal gets out of the car and opens the door for me. I roll the window down so I can hand the cigarette to him as soon as I’m done with it. “Ya look great, Lily.”

“Thank you.” I hear the last chorus of Kiwi start and Cal knows exactly what to do. He lights the cigarette and hands it to me and I pose seductively and then we wait.

A couple of minutes later, the door opens and then he’s climbing in the car next to me, his eyes wide in shock.

“Lily?!”

“Tell me about it, stud,” I say in my sexiest voice and take a drag from the cigarette blowing the smoke out and handing the cigarette to Cal who takes it from me and smirks.

Harry leans over me and rolls the window up.

Harry’s POV:

I look her up and down and run my hands up her thighs. “Jesus, never seen ya in leather, 's fuckin' hot," I say, biting my bottom lip. “Dinna 'no I had a thing fo' leather, bu’ damn it feels good on ya.” I inhale a deep breath. “Smells good on ya ta.”  

She just smiles at me, her eyes boring into mine. “This why ya left early?”

She nods.

My hands slide to the waistband of her skin tight pants and I pull them down just enough to see what she’s wearing underneath. “Tha's my girl, badass wi" a little pink unda'neath," I breathe out as my finger runs down the crease where the fabric has molded to her slit.

She moans as my fingers run up and down the leather.

“When we get home, will you do something for me?" She asks softly against my lips.

"Anythin', baby," I tell her, nonchalantly as I kiss to her ear, one hand on her neck.

“I want you to spank me with your rings on,” she murmurs, giving me more access to her neck.

I grin against the skin of her neck as I slowly kiss back up to her face, "Yeah? Ya wanna feel the sting, hmm?"

"Yes!! I w-wanna f-feel the sting,” she says as my hand moves to cup her throat and my eyes fix steadily on hers judging her reaction, "Spank ya, 'f ya lemme clamp these nipples ta,” as my other hand runs up her shirt to her heavy, sensitive tits bare and oh so needy. “Everytime I spank ya, those clamps are gonna swing. Ya ready fo' it?"

She whimpers out a yes.

"Ya wan' me ta spank ya hard?"

Smiling, she grabs a handful of curls on the back of my neck, "Hard enough for you to kiss it better," she says, teasing.

"Oh, I'll kiss it bet-tah Jezebel, don' ya worry,” I tell her kissing her mouth. “Baby, ya really askin' fo' it tanigh’, hmm…leather's go’ ya all fiesty fo' me,” I mumble against her jaw before I nip it with my teeth.

“I need you now. Why can’t we go faster?” She whines.

"Wan' me ta take ya fast first, then lemme play, hmm...?" I ask her, cupping her breast, squeezing and massaging before pinching the nipple between my fingers. "Bend ya over the chair, spank ya arse for bein' so impatient an' leavin' ma show early," I whisper, licking the shell of her ear. “Then push these leathers ta ya knees an' fuck ya hard. Ya wan' tha'...hmm?

She whimpers in response.

“Goddamn, neck smells s'good..." My hand moves from her breast to her neck and my fingers feel warm as they wrap around her throat. My thumb pushes against her chin moving her head to the side so I can lick a line from her ear. “Doesn' scare ya wi' ma 'and here does it?"

"No, love it...nothing to be scared of. You’d never hurt me,” she says softly.

I pull her face around to see me, my eyes serious. “Tha's righ', never hurt ya.”

She’s panting in anticipation.

"Harry..."

"I know, Jezebel, I know. Gotta wait tho. Don' worry, we'll be there soon enough an' 'Il make it worth the wait."

Her eyes flutter closed and she whines.

"No' usually this antsy, Jezebel. Don' get me wrong, I love it when ya feral fo' me,” he says, smirking against her lIps.

Finally, Cal pulls up to the gate and the time he takes to type in the code is just about too long in my opinion. My girl needs me… she needs to be satisfied in a way only I can satisfy her and fuck knows that makes me hard as a rock. The light from Cal’s open window is just enough to let me see her tits poking through that tight shirt. Her chest rises and falls with shallow breaths…yeah, she’s barely hanging on. I’m the lucky bastard who gets to watch her fall over. Fuck! Cal missed the code! Jesus, doesn’t he know! Frustration and desire that’s borderline painful…killin’ me! I lean over to Lily and nuzzle her ear.

“Soon, Jezebel, soon….Mmm…smell of leather an’ you is fuckin’ killin’ me….”

She whines and turns her face toward mine. “Need you, H…,” she says against my lips.

The car lurches forward and pulls into the garage. Cal turns to us with a grin, “Alright lovebirds, I’ll leave you to it…have a, uh-hm, lovely night.”

“Nigh’ Cal, thanks fo’ ever’thin’. Kiss Cecily an’ the kids fo’ us.” I turn to look at Lily and she’s flushed and only manages a soft, “Yeah, thanks…” My girl is totally blissed out and ready.

I manage to get her out and as soon as Cal is behind the garage door I press the button to close it and turn back to her. She looks like a sex dream. But I need that wig off. I want my baby’s real hair, to touch and smell and pull. “Take the wig off, Jezebel.” She’s stood stiff against the fender of the Rover. She reaches up and pulls the wig off and tosses it to the hood. She fluffs her beautiful hair and it looks like it does right after we’ve had a particularly long session in the pink room…sexy as fuck. I take the few steps to her and reach around her waist and pull her in tight. “Feel me? ‘M s’hard. Ya wet?” She nods her head with a swallow. I grab her bum, “Up.” She jumps up and wraps her legs around my waist…my hands full of her leather covered ass. I pop her up on the edge of the car and attack her mouth. She grabs the hair on the back of my head and pulls just the way I love it. She’s whining and closing her thighs around me tighter and tighter. One day I’m gonna fuck her on the car…but not tonight. I turn and bumble from the car to the wall by the door…she tastes so fucking good even with the slight trace of nicotine on her tongue. We make it through the door, the kitchen and land against the couch on our way to the bedroom. I drop her to he feet and step away to take a long look again. She bites her bottom lip. Her shirt down low on one side her tit just centimeters from spilling out. My eyes flutter and I press my palm against my cock shaking my head attempting to get some semblance of control.

Lily’s POV:

“No idea wha’ ya do ta me, do ya Jezebel?” he says as I turn turn against the back of the sofa and show him my bum. I wanna remind him of what it is I want.

“I’m all yours H,” I say looking over my shoulder and running my hand along my presented bum. He grabs that hand and leans forward to kiss my fingers and then gentle places it back on the edge of the sofa. “Stay still, love. Understood?”

I whimper out a yes as my eyes flutter closed in anticipation.

I know he’s gonna pull his hand back and strike but I don’t know when and I can feel myself drip in my panties.

“Ya asked fo’ this so ya must wan’ it pretty bad, hmmm?” His nose nuzzling my neck, lips by my ear.

“Tell me, Jezebel…did ya fantasize abou’ this befo’ we go’ together?”

I nod, biting down on my lip hard.

“I always wondered…I mean… I…” THWACK a blow lands on the leather and my right bottom cheek stings, deliciously. “Answer me, Jezebel.”

I let out a whine and groan at the same time and bite down harder on my bottom lip. “Ha…Harry…yes! God yes…” I slur. “Tell me…did it make ya wet?”

He lands another smack on my other cheek a little harder. “Ahhhh! Fuck, yes! I…mmm…made me so wet…” I pant out, head falling forward.

He reaches around my waist and pops the button and unzips the zipper on my pants. He peels the them down just to my thighs. Then his hands leave me. Feeling loss from the sensation, I turn my head to find him just staring. It causes me to push out my bum a little farther, before he finally reaches soft fingers out to run along his pink hand prints. “Sting?”

“A little,” I say softly.

“this make it better?” He says leaning down to kiss the pink print.

“Touch yourself Jezebel, wanna see your fingers on my cunt”.

I reach down and run my middle finger down my slit to gather some wetness and back up to my clit where I slowly circle. The sensation is almost painful after the long wait. Just as I catch a rhythm, THWACK! He lands another smack on my bare skin. I bite my lip on a scream.

“Don’ bite ya lip, Jezebel. These’re ma screams an’ I wanna hear’em, yeah?”

I nod, panting.

“Don’ stop. Ya gon’ cum like fo’ me.”

I whimper and start my slow circling, my tummy quivering. I jolt forward as he lands another smack and this time I scream his name out.

He smirks and rubs my pink bum cheeks. “Wan’ ma fingers or ya wan’ another smack?”

I grit my teeth. “One more smack and then make me cum, please!”

I know he’s smirking even though I can’t see it and I whimper as his hands massage my pink cheeks. It hurts and probably will for the next couple of days but it also feels really good to empty my mind and give myself over to him - to our play. I turn my head and meet his stare. “Turn your initial rings around for this one. Need your initials on my skin.” I’m panting and wet…I can feel my wetness on my inner thighs.

His nostrils flair and he puffs out a breath but he holds my stare as he turns his rings around.

I turn my head back forward and take a deep breath and I wait.

His hand hits low on my bum cheek, hard and I jolt forward a scream leaving my throat as I fall over the arm of the couch, my pussy pulsing with need.

Harry’s POV:

She’s breathing so hard and that’s when I hear it…a gentle sob. Oh fuck, I’ve hurt her! “Jesus, Lily…,” I pull her up and against my chest as I wrap one around her chest and the other around her waist, her bare bum nestled against my tented jeans. “I’m s’ sorry, fuck! I won’ do it again, never…,” I plead, almost in tears myself.

“No! No…i-it’s n-not that. ‘s just… I was supposed ta seduce you and now I c-c-can’t w-wait…I-I n-need to cum..stings in my tummy,” she mumbles.

I smile against her ear, “Shh…baby…’s alrigh’. I’ll make ya cum, then we can grab a shower an’ ya can seduce me all ya wan’ darlin’.” I slide my hand down to where her pussy is waiting for attention. Her leathers are still around her thighs, she’s the sexiest fuckin’ thing I’ve ever known…all wet and ready for my fingers. “Turn ya head ta me, love…wanna see ya face when ya cum on ma fingers.” I slip my middle and ring finger between her pussy lips and still, just soaking in her warm, sweet, slippery honey. I can’t resist, I pull away and bring my fingers to our touching lips. She slides her hand around my wrist and holds my hand still as we both lick them clean. Our tongues tangle around my fingers the pink polish looks hot on her tongue. I pull them away and she takes a last swipe at her bottom lip and I rut my hips into her bum. I waste no time returning to circle her clit before I push them in deep. She’s tight, clenched down. I scissor my fingers just to remind her how I’m gonna open her up later. She moans once, and I pump them again making sure to curl them against my spot. I hold deep and pump up and down like I know she likes and it doesn’t take long before I feel the familiar fluttering and hear that sexy high-pitched moan. Her abs are contracting, and I know she’s lost. She’s losing her footing. “’ve got ya, don’ stop…keep goin’ Jezebel, understand.”  She whimpers and whines as the orgasm takes her over. Her head back on my shoulder, her mouth open in a perfect O. She grimaces as she finishes. Goddammit! There isn’t a thing in the world that compares to my Jezebel when she cums.

Lily’s POV:

My eyes close as I try and catch my breath. I can feel my cheeks burn in embarrassment as he kisses my temple. I always get embarrassed after an intense spanking.

“Know ya embarrassed, Jezebel. No reason ta be.”

“Mmmm…can’t help it. It’s intense being this vulnerable with you,” I say softly.

“I know, baby, I know,” he says as he pushes my arms to the arm of the couch. His hands slide down my sides to where my pants are around my thighs and he pushes them down my legs, gently taking off my shoes as he pulls my feet out of my leathers.

I inhale a sharp breath as he presses a kiss to my lower cheek. I know that’s where his initials are welted up on my skin.

“C’mon Jezebel. I need a shower an’ I’ll put some cream on ya bum.”

“Ok,” I say, moving slowly up the stairs.

He’s so close to me I can feel his body heat as we make our way to the bedroom and the en-suite.

I move to the vanity to take off my makeup as he hits the controls on the shower. I watch through the mirror as he takes off the wig and hear his audible sigh of relief. We just watch as we undress, eyes roving each other bodies. I bite my lip as I watch him twist off his heavy rings and place them in the bowl he keeps them in until he puts them away properly.

He smirks at me and holds out his hand, silently asking me to join him.

I watch as he showers, the water running down his taut skin. “Does it help showering after a show?”

He pushes his hair out of his face and runs his hand down his face as he moves to stand in front of me. “It does, yeah. It grounds me,” he says eyes boring into mine.

“I wish I had some sexy lingerie to put on for you.”

He lets out an incredulous breath, “Fuck baby, don’ care abou’ tha’. Jus’ wan’ ya ta take me ta our happy place.”

I search his eyes trying to gauge his honesty, “But it’s like you putting on a costume or a tour outfit…it heightens it.”

He softly strokes the sides of my cheeks with the back of his knuckles, “Tha’s ma job, Jezebel. Tha’s wha’ pays the bills. S’no’ who I am.” He sighs. “It’s part of me, bu’ no’ who I am wi’ ya…’m jus’ ya Harry an’ ‘m lucky everyday tha’ ya love me fo’ me.”

“I DO love you for you…I love what you do and am so proud of you, but I would be proud of you if you decided to be a baker in a bakery,” I say with a sly smile.

He laughs that breathy laugh that gets me every time and leans down to place a soft kiss to my lips…just a touch… “I love ya Lily, so so much,” he says against my lips.

I decide it’s time to take a little more control of my seduction plan. I lick out against his lips, soft little licks. He groans and pushes my head back trying to force a kiss. I pull back and he follows, his mouth and tongue reaching for me. His eyes narrow and he pushes even farther, soon I’ve pulled back far enough my back is against the tile and his need for a kiss his reached a fervor. I stop him with my fingers on his chin, “H, we need to finish in here, because I need you to kiss my lips.”

“’M tryin’, baby…open fo’ me,” he says putting both hands on the tile on either side of my head.

I turn my head, “Those lips have to wait, tonight your next kiss will be on my other lips.” I duck under his arm and get under one of the showerheads and begin my showering routine. I look over to see him smirk and drop his head as if he’s both proud and annoyed at me. I suck in my lips to avoid a laugh and begin to whistle as I work the lather down my body.

Harry’s POV:

Jesus, so it’s gonna be like that tonight? She’s got a plan…a very proud plan and my cock will have to wait. To be fair, her taking the sex reins is sexy as hell so I can wait a little longer to see what she has planned. I turn to my shower head and stand under the hot water as it drowns out the sound of crowds and screams…the only screams I wanna hear now come from that little soaped up thing standing next to me. She so beautiful. Her body is perfect in every way, I love how healthy she looks and soft, full and lush in all the right places, taunt and strong in others.  She’s all woman… all my woman.

We both finish up and step out and help each other dry off. I brush my teeth and kiss the top of her head as she finishes putting stuff on her face. Swears she needs it to stay looking young. I step into the bedroom and flop on my back happy to be off my feet. I should be ready to fall asleep, but I’m keyed up, not just from the show at The Forum…but also from the show at home. She comes in and stops in the door way of the bathroom rubbing lotion into her hands. She stares at me…and mouths “I love you”.  No words just her mouth speaking to me from her heart. I reach my hand out for her to come to me.

Lily’s POV:

God, he’s lying there, naked, just waiting for me. His skin is flushed from the hot shower and his hair is a tousled mess. He reaches up with his other hand and pushes it off his forehead and twists it like he has a habit of doing, especially if he wants to clip it.

“Want a clip?” I ask curiously as I take his hand and start to crawl up on the big king size bed.

He shakes his head no with a smirk.

“Harry, I’m gonna need you to use your words tonight,” I say as I settle, straddled over top of his hips.

He groans as I settle over the underside of his cock and his hands settle on my hips, fingers digging into my flesh.

I know that this is him trying to take back some control but that’s not part of my plan. My hands go to his and pry them from my skin, threading my fingers with his and pulling his arms up over his head.

“Fuck,” he whispers as my pussy moves over his dick.

I press my breasts down to his chest, running my nipples over his. I smirk when I hear another groan from him and watch as his eyes flutter closed.

“Kiss me, Jezebel. Please,” he rasps out as he opens his eyes and looks into mine.

I smile and press my lips to his. He’s needy, I can tell as he lifts his head to try and take the kids deeper. I pull my lips back from his mouth and his head drops back to the pillow. I lick my lips and gently pull my fingers from his and wrap his hands around the slats in the headboard.

His breath picks up. “Jezebel,” he says, licking his lips.

“I know, baby, I know. My bum is to sore for your hands right now anyways…does that make you harder?”

“Fuck! Jesus, Jezebel,” he says as his hips push up against me.

“It’s a good thing this bed had slats, H. Don’t move you hands unless I say you can. Understand?"

“Fuck, babe...yeah."

“Do you remember our safe word?" He swallows hard, "rainbow.”

I crawl up his chest and tease him, "You want my honey, H?" I ask him as my hands go to my nipples and I tug them.

“Fuck, Jezebel. Need ya honey. Lemme ‘ave it. Can feel ya honey on ma chest.”

“I’m so wet. You did this to me,” I tell him, meeting his eyes.

“C-C’mere,” he pants out, licking his lips.

I pull his hands away from the headboard and use them for leverage to get into position before replacing his hands. I shiver as I feel him breathe on my most sensitive part and I just catch his smirk before I lower down onto his beautiful mouth.

I gasp as I feel his tongue lick a hard stripe up my slit and my hands instinctively tangle in his curls.

“Mmmm…ohhh, fuck,” I pant out as he sucks my clit in his mouth.

He pulls one of his hands off and grabs my thigh and I pull up. “Uh um, where are your hands supposed to be, Harry?"

“Fuck,” he breathes out as he moves his hand back in place.

I bite my bottom lip as he opens his mouth and I lower back down, gasping as his tongue darts out and licks a hard stripe. I can’t believe I get to have him like this after literal years of fantasizing about him. He sucks my clit back into his mouth, his tongue working furiously against it and I tug his curls hard as his name leaves my mouth over and over.

“Gonna, fuck, fuck, fuck, gonna CUM!” My voice raising as the damn breaks and I cum, my hips moving over his mouth of its own accord.

Harry’s POV:

She fucks my face so beautifully and then… my beautiful girl… my sweet Jezebel, looks down at me with her hands in my hair and pants, “Be good for me, H…lick me clean….” Her eyes are glazed over and her thighs are quivering against the inside of my upstretched arms. She’s so fucked out, her brain is just relaying her primal thoughts and needs. I love it when she’s like this…bare…raw and open, because I know she’s trusting me with her most vulnerable moments. It makes me proud and I can’t help the smirk against her lips…her soft, wet, swollen pussy lips. She half smiles down at me through glazed expression and I capture her eyes and make a moment out of opening my mouth to her cunt…my cunt. My upper lip rakes along her clit as I use my tongue to open her up and lap at the honey she’s left for me. It shouldn’t be so fuckin’ good to taste her. She tastes earthy and sweet on my tongue, like ocean air and berries. She uses one hand to reach down and push her lips open for me.  She’s feeding me her honey…her head rolls back and her hips shiver. I pull back and place soft kisses all over her wet raspberry skin and her little pearl of a clit poking out proud and satisfied. I want her to cum again, God, I want make her cum forever.

“Jesus, Lily….ya were a Jezebel all those years, hmm?”

She whimpers above me, her chin on her chest. “Mmm I guess…yeah.” Suddenly she lets go of my hair and reaches back to grab my cock. How the fuck am I gonna make it through this? I need to fuck her. I close my eyes and inhale deeply…doesn’t help because all I can smell her sex.

“Sllleeee…Oooo, that smarts,” she says sitting back up rubbing her arse.

My brows furrow. I hate to see her in pain, especially if it’s pain that I caused her. “‘M s’sorry, Jezebel. Did I go ta hard on ya?”

She shakes her head no. “No, no, no. It’s just fresh is all.” She moves back further on my chest and flips around. “Kiss it better, Harry.”

“Fuck, baby. C’mere,” I say grabbing her hips, pulling her bum to my mouth, and I place soft kisses all over her perfect arse, my nose pressed against her skin, while she whimpers. I pull back and run my fingers softy from her shoulders down her back.

She turns her head to look back at me and smiles. “Hands back on the slats, baby,” she says as she slides down my body until she reaches my dick.

I groan but reach up to grip the headboard and I watch as she lifts up, hand grabbing my dick, and takes me inside her.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” I pant out. I’ve never seen it from this angle and fuck if it’s not one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen.

“Mmmm…Harry…” she breathes out as she starts moving back and forth. She feels so good and I’ve been waiting so long, my knuckles turn white on the headboard as I watch my initials on her bum as she starts bouncing on my dick.

“I wish ya could see wha’ ‘m seein’, Jezebel. Jesus, ‘m gonna film ya one day, promise.”

She’s doing so good…she’s propped forward her hands braced on my shins. On the next down thrust she stops and swivels her hips while she takes me deep. I watch her head drop down to where we’re connected and she smooths her hand up my leg to reach down between us and cup my balls. I can feel them tighten and draw up and she stops touching for a second and then hovers her hand like she doesn’t know what to do.

“They just got tight, H!” she whisper-shouts with wonder and a flex of her muscles that almost sends me to the moon.

Panting I reply, “Yeah, love, they do tha’ when ya touch ‘em an’ ‘m fuckin’ ya.  ‘M ready ta blow, uhhh…darlin’, …Jesus, Jezebel, careful….” Her curiosity is palpable tonight. She’s tracing the line down the middle of them to just above my arse and swirling her finger on the skin there. “JESUS…FUCK! Baby, please, please lemme touch ya…wanna be close when I cum tanight…”

She starts to shake her head no…unacceptable.  

“Baby, please, need ma arms ‘round ya…ungh, ungh…waitwaitwait! Don’t make me cum, yet…please!”

“You’ve waited all night!”

I keep popping my head up off the pillow and flopping it back down. Control, Styles! To play “God Save The Queen” on the acoustic, I start with a B-flat… swear to god, I need to recite anything to calm down at the moment. “Get a grip, Styles…” I chastise to myself softly.

“Please lemme touch ya,”

She stops her movements and pulls her hands back and turns to look at me. Biting her bottom lip she shakes her head yes and I immediately remove my hands and reach up to scratch my fingernails down her back slowly and then back up lightly. “C’mon, Jezebel, gimme a shiver,” I whisper on a swallow.

She shivers deeply and I lean forward to wrap my arms around her shoulder’s arms tight to her sides. “I wanna fuck, Lily…please lemme fuck you?” I can feel her tits below my arms…her nipples are hard and they hang heavy and low.

“How do you always do this, H. Somehow you always end up in control…and I’m afraid I love it too much.” I flex my hips and grind up into her.

“Mmmm…Haaaarrryy, God…please don’t stop….”

“Hold on darlin’,” I push her up and off with a grimace at the loss, but I need leverage. I pull my knees under my thighs and help her to where she’s on her knees, legs along side mine and sit her back on my cock proper. She leans back to where her back is against my chest.  I slide my hand down to where I’m buried inside her. Jesus, she’s so juicy and swollen. Her thighs are wide open and my dick is deep causing her to drip to my balls.

I kiss her shoulder and lean in to her ear.  “Ready?”

Lily’s POV:

I lean my head back onto his shoulder and kiss his neck. He feels so good against me. He’s so warm and sturdy and he smells so good I can’t help but smile. “Mmmm…make me cum, Harry,” I say in my most seductive voice, licking his jaw.

“Fucks sake, Jezebel,” he says as he moves his hips against mine.

I gasp as his large hand moves from under my tits and I watch as it moves to my mound and he starts moving rhythmically back and forth over my swollen clit.

“Ya s’wet, baby. Hear tha’?”

My hands grip his arm that’s wrapped around me and I nod. “Hahhhh…ohhhh…fuck!” I cry out as his pace picks up.

“C’mon baby, gotta cum fo’ me. Can’ hold it much longer…gonna cum!” He pants against my shoulder before sinking his teeth in my tender skin and that’s all it takes for me to cum. All I can hear is the rush of blood in my ears but I feel him still behind me and his arm tighten around me as the pleasure takes over from my toes to my scalp.

I don’t know how long it lasts but it feels like it goes on forever and I slump forward panting, as I try and come back to earth.

He’s heavy against my back, his breath hot on my neck and I feel him press kisses to my neck and shoulder. “I love ya, Jezebel. Love ya s’much.”

“I love you Harry…God, that was so good.” I feel a shudder of sexual adrenaline run through my body and he inhales sharply when it happens. I love feeling full of him. When he’s inside me, it’s the closest we can get and I hate having to lose that connection. My pussy flutters thinking about him being inside me… Wait… wha… I… is he? I furrow my brows in consternation…and turn my head so slightly. “H…are you?” I clench my pussy around him…oh my god… “Harry…?”

“Hmm, babe?” he answers his lips against my shoulder.

“Are you still…hard?” I say softly pulling my head back to meet his stare.

“Fuck...,” he flexes his hips, “Yeah, baby...'s never happened, before... Can...ya take more?"

I bring my hand up to stroke the side of his cheek.  I smile and search his eyes. “Yeah…always take more of you…as much as you want, H.”

He shakes his head, “No…no…as much as WE wan’…don’ wan’ it if ya don’ wan’ it ta. Turn 'roun' Jezebel, wrap yaself ‘round me." I pull off him with a whimper and turn to look in his eyes…he’s so fucking soft right now. "C'mere, swee'eart, need ma kisses."

Harry’s POV:

She turns around with my hands on her hips to steady her with the sweetest smile in her face. A fulfilled, satisfied smile…but there’s something there in her eyes…a slight shadow…she’s needy. She needs intimacy. Thank fuck, my cock is apparently in tune…because he’s needy too. Apparently, he hasn’t had enough of her either. Never get enough.

I stay sitting on my legs and she gently settles on my thighs wrapping her arms around my shoulders and pushing her hips in tight to mine. My cock rests between our bodies.  I want her again. She rocks her hips until her cunt is close enough for me to slip in when the time is right. I run my hands down to her bum and pull her closer. She winces. “Ah fuck, darlin’, ‘m sorry, still tender?”

She nods, “Yeah…it feels…,” she threads her fingers in the hair on the back of my head, “feels like I… belong.”

“Goddamn Jezebel,” I breathe out against her lips. “Ya make me crazy,” I tell her as my nose trails down her chin to her neck and collarbone, just breathing her in. She smells like her body wash and the smell of us together. I never get tired of being this close to her and I hope I never do. I move down to the valley between her breasts and I hear her intake of breath. I kiss my way to her left breast and I can’t help the “mmmm” that leaves my mouth as my lips find her nipple and I swirl my tongue around it before I bite down with my teeth.

“Ahhh! Mmmm…”

I suck her nipple in my mouth to soothe it before moving to her other breast. I love her tits. I used to dream about what they’d taste like and now I can have them whenever I want. “Fuck, Jezebel, I love ya fuckin’ tits,” I mumble as I kiss my way back to her mouth.

Her lips curve into a smile as I press my lips to hers, my tongue darting out to taste her sweet mouth.

She’s sweet and spicy…her taste still minty with a trace of herself from where she licked her fingers. I lick at her lips like I did her cunt. My cunt. My hips bump up and I feel my cock slide between her lips and she shifts ever so slight with the sensation sliding her swollen clit along the underside of my shaft. Her shift lands her clit just over the top of my most sensitive spot, the patch of skin just under the head of my cock. She sliders her hands to the sides of my face and holds my stare. I search from one eye to the other. I’m telling her that I know….I know that her clit is right there…she knows it’s sensitive. I rest my forehead to hers our eyes wide open, centimeters from each other. “Feel it?”

She lets out a puff of held breath on my face, “Yeah, d’you?”

“Oh, yeah, darlin’ I feel it…,” I bump my hips just a tiny bit, she swivels hers just a bit and her swollen clit circles my spot, “there, baby…don’t stop.”

She slides one hand from my cheek to my chest just over my heart and flattens her palm…I know she’s feeling for my heart.  It may be racing, but I’ve never felt more calm in my whole life. This connection…how have I lived without it? She’s fucking my heart and my soul…and it feels like nothing I’ve ever known.

“Ya change me, Lily, I…I dunno if ’ve ever felt s’whole an’ complete. Tell me ya feel it to?

Her eyes water with unshed tears of understanding. “Yeah…Harry, I just…never knew it could be like this.”

“Shh, baby…’m always gonna be here fo’ ya…ya don’ ever ‘ave ta even think abou’ tha’…it’s me an’ you always.”

“Want you inside me, H.”

“Raise up jus’ a lil-tul.” She moves her hand back to my neck and uses it for leverage as she flexes upward slightly. I concentrate on using my pelvis muscles, flexing just right to harden my cock further. She presses her lips to mine. Our eyes open we stare deeply. “Do it.”

Reaching between us she guides my cock to her wet opening. If she could only know how my sensitive head feels resting against her warm, wet center.

“Together,” she whispers and I know exactly what she means. I push up just as she pushes down. My head pops in and it sends a surge of blood that causes me to swell on my way deep inside her. Her jaw drops and her mouth opens wide with a silent expression of utter possession. “You own me Harry Styles.”

“Trust me wi’ it all, Jezebel. Le’ go, ‘ll catch ya.”

She seats herself down and I’m deep inside her. I’m as deep as I can go inside her body. I feel her fingernails scratch along my shoulders at the depth and stretch. “So deep, like this, H.”

“Mmm-hmm…’s good, yeah?”

She breaths out warm air against my lips, “Y-Yeah…”

I wrap my arms around her back and my finger tips flex into her soft, warm skin. My open hands cover most of her small back. I push forward and slowly lay her back against the mattress. She pulls her legs up high on my sides. She’s so fucking beautiful. Resting on my elbows, I thumb the sides of her face and close my mouth over her bottom lip and suck. She whimpers softly and thrusts her tongue along my upper lip. I need that tongue in my mouth. Tempering my impatience I tilt my head, open my mouth and cover her lips. Jesus fucking christ, she fluttering on my cock already. Our kissing deepens and I pull away long enough to just watch as I pull out just a little and push back in slowly. I repeat it and her eyes change, darken with lust and desire.  “There’s ma Jezebel…ya wi’ me?”

Lily’s POV:

“I’m with you. Always with you,” I breathe out against his lips.

“Wanna take ya slowly,” he says, thrusting in and out slowly, “tha’ be ok?”

“Mmm hmm…feel so good…I…mmm…” I breathe out. My body is ready to cum for him.

“Fuck, ya gon’ cum fo’ me already, Jezebel?”

I can’t do anything but bite my lip and nod my head yes. It’s everything…the way he feels pressed up against me, the way he feels inside me, the way my bum is still tender from earlier, the way that he’s gonna be mine forever after wanting him for so long and I can’t stop it anymore and I throw my head back into the pillow, my fingernails digging into his curls as everything goes white and I’m cumming around him, hard. I feel him kiss my neck and then he stills, his body pressing me to the mattress. He’s heavy on top of me but it feels so good. It’s safe and I hug him to me tighter. I feel him trying to lift off me. "Don't move, H..."

“Baby, lemme clean ya up.”

“Just stay, please...right like this...please...I can feel your heartbeat,” I say, my hand pushing his hair off of his forehead and his eyes flutter closed. "Feel good?"

"Mmm..." he groans in my ear.

“Stay. You feel so good.” The last thing I remember before sleep takes me is the feel of his breath on my skin and the smell of his shampoo mixed with the scent of our sex lingering.

The sounds of a soft ringing followed by the distorted vibrating sound of metal on glass pulls me from somewhere far away. Somehow in the night, we’ve switched positions and I’m lying draped over his body with my head on his chest feeling the soft rise and fall of his breath. I furrow my brows and flutter my eyes trying to block out the light from the windows and the clanging sound that rings louder and louder as I pull farther away from a sweet sleep. Harry groans and his chest vibrates with exhaled breath. I start to move and he raises his head to place a kiss on the side of mine, “Shh, darlin’, I go’ it,” he says grabbing his phone with one hand while his other hand strokes my back. I drop my head back to his chest and close my eyes tight.

“Jesus, Jeffrey… bet-tah be a fuckin’ emergency, fo’ fuck’s sake,” he barks into the phone with a raspy voice.

I can hear Jeff’s response as I cuddle in tighter to his warm body. “Fuck you, H. For your information I’m not looking to talk to you asshole. I’m tryna find Lily. Oh…and say, “hi” to Ramsey your legal advisor who is also on the phone.  

“Shit. Uh…hi Ramsey, sorry abou’ tha attitude…’s early fo’ us.”

I can’t help the soft giggle that escapes me at H’s little slip-up. But Jeffrey should know better…it IS early for fuck’s sake.

“’S eve’ythin’ ok?” Harry asks raising his head with slight concern.

“Oh, sure, Mr. Styles,” Ramsey says, “Just have some news for Lily regarding the Fitzpatrick estate and assets she has inherited through Mr. Fitzpatrick’s will.”

My head pops up at the information and I sit back against the headboard grabbing a pillow to wrap my arms around as if they could see my nakedness through the phone line.

“Oh, sure…yeah, she’s ‘ere…’old on a mo’.” Harry holds the phone against his chest.

“Ya alrigh’, love?” He asks.

I nod and hold my hand out ready to take the call.

I hit the speaker button so we can both hear and I watch as he smiles. He’s my life partner and what affects me, affects him too. “Hello, this is Lily Rose.”

“Hello, Ms. Rose, Ramsey here, I’ve been working with the lawyer representing the Fitzpatrick will and estate. I have some very surprising news for you. Mr. Fitzpatrick’s estate, including his real estate, pension, investments and valuable assets…all items he left to you in his will have been evaluated to total $7.3 million. He was very specific in his will and…”

Your eyes go big as saucers and you sit straight up, naked be damned. Harry scoots up to lean back against the headboard and rubs his eyes like he too can’t quite believe what he hears.

“Wait!” you say shaking your head, “What did you just say?”

“7.3 million all together. That is including the estimated value of his house, cars, and his vacation house. I am pleased to tell you Ms. Rose that you are now a very wealthy young woman.”

“Oh my god…I don’t know what to say. He left everything to me? Did he say why?”

“He was estranged from his children apparently. He drew up a will a few months ago right after you met him and he named you his sole inheritor. I have some documents for you to sign before you take possession of course.”

“I – I – I…uhh…,” you look over to Harry who’s smiling ear to ear, deep dimples on full display. He begins to smooth the back of my hair over my shoulder down my back to the mattress where his hand rests cupping my bum.

“Lily…?” Jeff inquires then continues, “he did have specification. Apparently he had a cabin in the Poconos, near Camelback Mountain. He left the deed with specifications that it was not to be sold until you had visited with Harry. His attorney said that he and his wife had spent some very special time there and he wanted you to share at least one visit with the one you love. He pays a man who lives close by for the property upkeep, so you’ll have to keep him on the payroll until you decide what to do with it.”

You furrow your brow at Harry, “The Poconos? Isn’t that the resort town of the 50”s and 60’s?”

Ramsey speaks up, “Yes, but, I have to say, I’ve seen photos and aerial photos of the property and it’s quite beautiful. I’ll have the keys as soon as we can get together to get this paperwork signed and notarized.”

“Ramsey, Harry here, we’ll need to make arrangements to have that done in LA, Lily won’t be available to fly to Boston. She has a tight schedule here and, well, I’m sure you und..”

You frown at Harry, “Uh, thanks Harry, but I can speak for myself. Yeah, Mr. Ramsey, sir, I AM booked up tight and need to just get this taken care of here.”

Harry smirks and sucks in his lips. His Lily may have just conceded he was right, but, damn, if she isn’t going to be in charge of her destiny. So fucking proud of her, he thinks as he sits up to kiss your shoulder.

“Jeff, can you make the arrangements with Ramsey?” you ask the phone now lying on Harry’s sheet covered thigh.

“Sure thing, and Lily, we’ll send you the information on where to keep your money and investment options, those types of things. Darling, you’re a millionaire now.”

You shake your head in disbelief. “Jeff, I already know I want to put most of it in a charitable fund for me to use with the podcast, ya know, to help other child victims of violent crime…err…to use at my discretion, of course. Can you take care of outlining that information for me? I can send Bella to Boston if I need to….”

“I don’t think that will be necessary, Ramsey can come to you later this week to get it all nailed out, sound good?”

“Yes, that’s perfect. Thank you both for everything. I really do appreciate it.”

“You’re very welcome, Ms. Rose. I’ll be in touch.”

Ramsey clicks off and Jeff pipes up. “Sorry for the early call guys but you know how accountants are,” he says chuckling.

“It’s ok. You know how grumpy Harry is in the morning,” I say giggling.

“Heyyyyy…” Harry says, pouting.

“I’ll talk to you both soon, I’m sure. Bye now.”

“Bye…” I trail off as you hang up. I can’t quite wrap my mind around having that much money. My parents and Auntie and Uncle left me pretty well off but nothing like this.

“Ya ok?” He says, pulling me closer and putting the phone back on the nightstand.

“I’m stunned. It’s a lot to wrap my mind around but I’m excited too. I can help so many people with this money.”

“Maybe tha’s why he left it ta ya, Jezebel. He knew ya’d help people wi’ it.”

I snuggle into him and kiss his chest. “I think so too. I just want to honor my parents with my work. This money will go a long way in doing that.”

He kisses the top of my head. “They’re proud of ya, Lily. So so proud.”

[monstersandmaw]

Male vampire x male character - Part Two (nsfw) (Halloween ‘surprise’ Patreon story).

Edit which I’m including in all my works after plagiarism and theft has taken place: I do not give my consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted anywhere. They are copyrighted and belong to me.

I'm really pleased that you and my Patrons enjoyed the first part, and that folks were keen for more. I’ve had more interaction with this post on Patreon than many of the others, which is surprising given how mlm stories are usually much less in demand than m/f ones. Thanks for that!

Anyway, here's more of our favourite oblivious dork Alec and his obviously-not-a-vampire crush... Part Three is on the way too (tomorrow), despite this having been planned as a quick porn-without-plot one-shot, as it were. Oh well?!

Hope you enjoy.

Part One

After his initial - admittedly strange - meetings with Sebastien, Alec didn’t see him on campus at all for the rest of the week, and he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that. Yes, the guy had been a bit of a pompous arsehole in the library, but he’d made up for it by coming to the art room and apologising, engaging him in conversation — even if that conversation had been slightly… odd? — and being so god-damn-fucking beautiful too.  

He overheard his students gossiping about ‘Dr. Dulac’ earlier that afternoon while they all carved the pumpkins he’d bought for them at the local supermarket, and it seemed that the general consensus was that Sebastien was single, unfailingly polite (even in the face of Janette Hilton, the English Department’s longest-serving and least sympathetic lecturers), hotter than any celebrity you cared to name, and a specialist in the poets of the First World War like Sassoon and Brooke, among other more esoteric interests.  

After an hour of clock-watching in his tiny little office in the Art Department on Friday, he abandoned all hope of concentrating on his last few bits of admin, and shut down his laptop. After clearing up yet more pumpkin seeds that he’d somehow missed on the last two sweeps he’d done of the studio, he stepped outside, never wanting to see another bloody thing again. Too bad he had a whole bloody cardboard box of them waiting to go into the boot of Kay’s car for her party that night. Still, he was almost sinfully proud of the carvings he’d done on them. One was decorated the whole way around with the foliate style engravings usually reserved for the steel on antique guns, with different depths to create the highlights and shadows, and another particularly spherical one had been cut away in squares to resemble the Death Star.  

The October air outside bit into his lungs as he drew a deep breath - the spicy, fragrantly damp scents of autumn filling his nose - and his eye was drawn to the twinkling lights of the little coffee cart that still lingered in the park, selling tea, coffee, and hot chocolate to chilly students leaving the university campus for the night. With a black coffee for himself in one hand, he made his way to the Engineering Department, warily holding another frothy concoction in his other. It was apparently called a ‘London fog’ and it smelled of earl grey tea and lavender. He thought it sounded (and smelled) disgusting, but Kay perked right up when he deposited it on her desk five minutes later.  

“Bless you, Alec Twayblade,” she grinned, taking the plastic lid off and inhaling it like it was the best thing she’d ever smelled. “Oh my god. How can you not like this?” she said after taking a huge gulp and moaning obscenely.  

Alec didn’t bother to reply, his eye-roll speaking volumes anyway. They’d had this discussion so many times that they were both probably playing it out silently in their heads right that second. When Kay glanced up and saw that he certainly was, she snorted and grinned. “I love you, Alec,” she laughed. “You’re still coming tonight?”

“Against my better judgement,” he growled, leaning his weight on her desk and folding his arms across his battered, blue cable knit sweater. He had a huge daub of yellow paint on one elbow from that morning, and a small burn hole in the bottom from a failed attempt at pyrography a few years ago. It was the most comfortable jumper he owned, and he would probably wear it until it unravelled around him.  

“You’re still not going to wear a costume, are you?” she added as she stood, pouting.  

He shook his head. “I draw the line at that.”

“But you’d be so good making one!” she countered. “You helped me with that bat costume when we were at high school… Don’t you remember how fucking awesome it was?”

“I do,” he chuckled. “But I’m not going to wear one myself.”

She sighed, shoulders slumping. “Too much attention, huh?” she said softly. “Well, you know you’ll stand out more if you’re not wearing one tonight…?”

He shrugged. Honestly, he just couldn’t be bothered to dress up. Halloween had rather lost its shine for him anyway. “Not if I hide in the kitchen all night and make too-strong cocktails for everyone,” he said, flashing her his most roguish grin. “Plus, I spent much of today carving pumpkins with nattering eighteen year olds who are far too old to be carving pumpkins on academic time, but —”

“— you’re an awesome teacher who understands the need to let off some steam on the holidays,” she interjected. “Plus, it’s good practice anyway… working with a new medium…”

He allowed his lips to pinch upwards into a tiny smirk and let her have that one. “It’s nice to see them having fun,” was all he said.  

An hour or so later, just as he arranged the last of the pumpkins down the garden path of Kay's Victorian semi-detached house, a voice murmured from behind him, “I can see the hand of a master at work in these carvings.”

Not having heard anyone approaching, Alec jumped, cursed, and dropped the pumpkin - thankfully with the candle still unlit. It rolled in a semicircle until a black boot gently stopped it, and a familiar face dipped into view as the owner of the boot bent to pick it up. To his surprise, it was Sebastien, and he was in costume. Probably anyway. Hopefully? Fuck. Alec’s brain stalled at the sight of him.  

His eyes raked up Sebastien’s body and his jaw went quite literally slack.  

The slender man was wearing thigh-high boots and leather pants so tight they had to have been spray-painted on, into which was tucked a loose, old-fashioned, white shirt with a good bit of flounce at the collar. “Holy shit,” he whispered, and Sebastien chuckled softly, a low, amused sound in the back of his throat.  

“You recognise the costume?” he asked, seeming innocently amused. The long, dark coat, accented with gold brocade and bright gold buttons, opened briefly in a soft gust of wind that made the lit pumpkins flicker and lifted his loose, silver-white hair back for a breath as well.  

“I…” he swallowed. “Uh, you’re Alucard,” he croaked. “From the Castlevania games…” A wry incline of Sebastien’s head told him he was correct, and then Alec blurted stupidly, “Shouldn’t you be shirtless though?”

Sebastien’s smile grew from pleased to deeply amused, his eyes glittering, and it was only then that Alec noticed the contacts burning a bright gold in his eyes and, as his lips peeled back and Sebastien began to laugh, he saw long, tapering, white canines befitting a vampire costume. “It’s a little cold for that, don’t you think?” Sebastien asked, still laughing quietly as Alec flushed crimson.  

“Sorry,” he blurted. “I know. I just… forget it.”

“Where do you want it?” Sebastien asked, and Alec’s poor brain went blank.  

“What?”

“The pumpkin,” Sebastien deadpanned and Alec’s poor, blank brain melted out of his ears with embarrassment.  

“Uh… there’s fine,” he said, pointing at the little wrought-iron garden gate.  

Sebastien placed the pumpkin down on the flagstone path so that the carved graveyard scene glimmered and flickered with appropriate spookiness, visible to anyone approaching along the quiet, suburban street. Enormous London plane trees stood sentry every few paces, heaving up the tarmac pavement with their roots, like a sleeper shifting a blanket with a restless turn, and sheltering the cars snuggled and parked beneath them. A carpet of leaves clung to the gutter in a long, golden line, melting into nothing in places in the glittering puddles. It would have been beautiful, had Alec not been faced with quite literally the most beautiful thing in the entire universe.  

“Am I early then?” Sebastien asked, dusting off his palms and turning back to face Alec, who had barely managed to make his legs work long enough to stand up straight again.  

He shook his head. “No. Henry’s inside already,” he said, running his fingers through his scruffy black hair. “With Rachel and Alison. I just forgot to put the pumpkins out earlier.”

“No costume?”  

With a roll of his eyes, he shook his head. “Nope.”

“Too bad,” Sebastien said, eyeing the front door. The contacts were really creepy, shifting in the light that spilled down the stairs as the front door suddenly opened and Kay stepped out before he could worry that he’d been the only one to dress up. He could probably brush it off anyway, Alec supposed, and tried not to envy the man’s quiet confidence.

Silhouetted starkly against the hall light, with her high ‘Dracula’ collar on prominent display, Kay shrieked with glee and clapped her hands when she saw Sebastien. Apparently the two of them had been getting along rather well, while Alec had sequestered himself away in the Art Department like an ascetic.  

“Bastien! You look amazing oh my god!” she blurted, rushing forwards a step or two before halting abruptly. “Wait, does that make me your father for the evening?” she cackled. “Wow, your teeth are really good! Mine wouldn't stay in for more than a few minutes…”

Sebastien’s gold eyes flickered sideways to Alec but it happened so briefly that he almost missed it. “Custom made a long time ago,” was all he said. “Shall we go inside? It’s freezing out here.”

“Yes, of course, come on in,” she said, waving them all inside, Sebastien first. As Alec passed her last, she slapped him hard on the backside in rebuke and hissed, “Told you you should have worn a costume! You look like a big dumbo!”

“No different from any other night,” he quipped back, and she growled something indistinct at him. Perhaps a werewolf costume would have suited her better. “You could have told me you’d invited Dulac…”

“Why?” she retorted. “So you could suddenly decide that an evening moping alone with your PS4 playing Rocket League with strangers was more appealing? No fucking chance. Get inside. Sebastien’s right; I’m freezing my tits off.”

The distant murmur of voices in the living room made him veer off instinctively into the kitchen, and while they began to watch some old Hammer horror film, he made drinks. That, at least, he was good at.  

Entering a while later, he found that Sebastien was seated on the sofa beside Henry, who wore an enormously fluffy wolfman costume - mostly a repurposed Chewbacca onesie with a latex wolf mask. He’d pushed the mask up onto his head in order to eat the Halloween themed nibbles on the coffee table, and the effect rendered him entirely ridiculous. Another reason not to wear a costume: it’s impractical, and gets in the way, and washing ketchup out of matted fake fur is a nightmare. Alison and Rachel sat practically in each other’s laps, one a zombie and the other a ghost, both squeezed into one groaning old armchair.  

After half an hour of Christopher Lee’s admittedly creepy Dracula, Alec slid from his seat at the periphery, and ducked out again into the kitchen. Straightening from fishing a beer from the back of the fridge, he heard the soft click of the door and turned to find Sebastien standing there.  

“Get bored with late 1950’s horror too?” Alec asked. “Beer?”

Sebastien inclined his head in a way that said he wasn’t a beer drinker and held up his almost-empty wineglass as an excuse as he moved a little closer. “If you don’t like cheesy horror films, and you don’t seem to like Halloween either, I wonder why you came at all tonight?”

“For Kay,” he said, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. “She loves this shit.”

At that, Sebastien paused, a delicate smile on his face. In the soft glow of the under-cupboard lighting, his tanned skin seemed to shimmer, and Alec wondered fleetingly if he’d put some kind of glittery body powder on. Next, he wondered what on earth Sebastien was doing in here with him, looking at him like that.  

“You are a good friend,” Sebastien said quietly, seeming perhaps a little sad around the edges.  

“She’s done more than her fair share of looking after me,” Alec sighed knowingly. “Not that I’m doing it because I owe her,” he added, twisting the cap off the bottle and leaning back against the counter to drink deeply from it. As the malty froth washed over his tongue, he felt eyes on him and looked over at the other man.  

Sebastien tilted his head slightly to the side, the false golden light in his eyes making him look like a cat in the dark. “You said she was trying to set you up with someone…”

Alec snorted, nearly shooting beer out of his nose. “Yeah. Well, she seems to think a good fuck will sort my mood out.”

“But you think otherwise?”

“You offering?” he asked bitterly, taking another swig and feeling uncharacteristically bold, though absolutely not expecting the answer he got.  

“Perhaps.”

His eyebrows shot up and this time he did cough a little. “You can’t be serious.”

“You think someone who looks like me is entirely straight?” he asked with a wry smile, and Alec had to hand it to him. Not many men he knew could pull of long, luscious, white-blond hair like that, or would have the confidence to wear fucking thigh-high boots and whisper-tight leather pants…

“Still… you don’t really know me… That’s all I meant…”

“Doesn't mean one couldn’t engage in — how did you call it? — ‘a good fuck’. Not that I’m averse to getting to know you better, before or after.”

Alec swallowed another enormous gulp of frothing beer and blinked. “You’re serious?”

With a melodramatic smile that revealed his vampire teeth clearly, ‘Alucard’ purred, “Deadly.”

And Alec burst out laughing. The spell was shattered and the two men shared the remnants of their drinks and their laughter together before Alec sighed. “Your place or mine?”

At that, Sebastien seemed to falter, as if he hadn’t thought through to that point. After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “I assume yours would be alright?”

Alec shrugged. “Sure, if you don’t mind smacking your head on the ceiling and being able to touch two opposite walls at the same time…”

Sebastien’s lips hitched into another wry smile. “I’ve fucked in tighter spaces, I’m sure.”

“You know what?” Alec said as he rinsed out the beer bottle at the sink and half-turned to look at the other man over his shoulder. “You’re absolutely not what I expected.”

“Nor were you,” he shot back, still smirking. “And it’s been a while since I was assaulted by someone in a library.”

“Bring back happy memories, did it?” he snorted.  

“Not exactly,” Sebastien murmured, and Alec realised he hadn’t actually been joking. “But I must confess that — despite my behaviour — I was pleasantly surprised by the sight of you when you rounded that bookshelf…”

Turning, Alec approached him cautiously. If he was genuinely serious about his proposal, Alec would find out now. “Pleased enough to seek me out afterwards…” he said, raising his eyebrows. He couldn’t do that ‘one brow at a time’ thing that Sebastien could, but it seemed to get his tone across all the same.

Unusually for Alec, Sebastien had an inch or two on him in height, and as Alec paused in front of him, close enough to catch the faintest hint of a woody cologne, the man angled his face just perfectly for the light to dance along his high cheekbones. Fuck, he was exquisite. The urge to kiss him rose in Alec; to feel his lips against his own, to have those elegant hands scrunch his hair…  

As if reading his mind, Sebastien slowly, carefully, raised his right hand and brought his index finger to Alec’s chin, tilting it upwards just a fraction with the lightest pressure. The intensity in his eyes was almost too much, and it left Alec breathless. Again. Panting slightly, he parted his lips and then swallowed thickly.  

Sebastien’s eyes darted instantly to the motion of his throat and for a second, Alec could have sworn he saw a vibrant red light reflected in his eyes. Sensing his moment of hesitation, of tension, Sebastian frowned. “What?”

“Nothing,” Alec breathed. “I thought your eyes went red but it must have been a car on the street outside or something.”  

“Indeed,” he murmured, but then blinked rapidly. “Do you still wish to continue this?”

“Yes,” he whispered. Don't stop now. His whole body was thrumming in a way it hadn’t ever before with casual encounters. He felt alive for the first time in months.  

Sebastien stepped back, turning his face away a little more. “Should we make our excuses…?”

Alec shook his head. “Nah, Kay will know what’s going on anyway, and I don’t want to face her smug looks until tomorrow at the least.”

With a softly amused chuckle, Sebastien stepped back and allowed Alec to leave the room first. The hair on the back of his neck prickled as the other man followed behind, but he didn't turn around or look at him until they were outside on the main street.  

“It’s a bit of a walk…” Alec said, only realising then how long the walk would be. “I’m way over on the other side of town by the station…”

The continuing intensity of Sebastien’s scrutiny was beginning to shift from a turn-on to just marginally unnerving, but he told himself that an esteemed professor at one of the country’s finest universities, with more letters after his name than anyone his age had a right to possess, was unlikely to be truly dangerous for a one-night stand… right? There was something about the way he stared at Alec — an unmistakable hunger in his eyes — that made his skin prickle and his heartbeat jump instinctively. Like a deer before the gaze of a tiger, he was entranced.  

Unexpectedly, Sebastien’s easy stride slowed at the brick gateway to a small, gravel park that sat between an old church and a chemist, the latter closed at this time of night. “May I kiss you?” he breathed, still gazing at him unblinkingly, as though Alec were the pretty one in this equation, not him.  

Alec couldn’t help grinning. The way Sebastien’s eyes bored into him then drove all thought of threat and fear from his mind, and he nodded.  

The man’s hands were chilly from the night air, but the moment they cupped his jaw and drew Alec toward him, he forgot about that. He forgot about everything at the meeting of their lips. Sebastien began tentatively, merely brushing their lips together, but when his golden eyes fluttered closed, he deepened the gesture, tongue just begging entrance, teasing him before withdrawing, retreating and returning.  

Searing want shot down Alec’s spine and he arched into Sebastien’s taller body, hips seeking contact through his jeans. He moaned, deep and guttural, and it seemed to awaken something in Sebastien, because the man grabbed hold of the back of Alec’s hair and pulled his head slightly to one side to begin to kiss along his jawline, down to wards his neck. For a heartbeat, Sebastien froze there, nose pressed to his rabbiting pulse point, his teeth just grazing skin, before he exhaled harshly and stepped back. “We shouldn’t get carried away,” was all he whispered, stepping slightly out of Alec’s dazed field of view. “My place is nearer though.”

“Ok,” Alec said, still reeling. “Sure.”

When they reached the apartment building, his steps faltered in amazement. “You live… here?”

A slight flush seemed to warm Sebastien’s cheeks as he stepped up to the main doorway, only to have it opened from the other side by a man in livery. “Good evening, Monsieur Dulac,” said the friendly doorman instantly.  

“Good evening,” he replied. “This is my friend, Alec Twayblade.”

It was impossible for the doorman not to realise that his ‘friend, Alec Twayblade’ was going to be a little more than that for the night, but he never let a flicker of judgement pass across his face. From the concierge desk - Sebastien’s building had a fucking concierge desk too - another man looked up and wished them both a good evening as they headed for the lifts.  

“Does the English department also sell diamonds or drugs or something? How the fuck can you afford a place like this on a lecturer’s salary?” but even as he said it and the doors closed with a soft chime, he realised the truth of it. Sebastien’s aristocratic features and bearing were not merely a persona. They were truth. He stared up at him while Sebastien turned a key in the lift panel.

“Are you secretly royalty or something?” he whispered, only half joking.  

The man shot him an amused look and shook his head, silk-white hair whispering against the rougher wool of his costume coat. “No, of course not, but I do have some inherited wealth.”

Some? “So you don’t actually have to work at the university at all then?”

He made a so-so motion of his head and said, “No, not really, but I genuinely enjoy teaching.”

“Your students certainly seem to enjoy you…”

“You don’t enjoy teaching?” he asked as the numbers on the dial climbed and climbed.  

Please don’t say you live in the fucking penthouse too, Alec thought, already suspecting it might be true from the whole ‘special access key’. He glanced at the number pad and saw that the button labelled ‘PH’ was illuminated. Fuck. “Most days I enjoy it,” he admitted. “But I kind of fell into it a while back and just sort of…” he shrugged, “Stuck with it.”

Sebastien asked no more, and the lift finally stopped on the top floor. The doors drew back to reveal an apartment beyond that Alec could only gawp at. It was like something from the set of an Architectural Digest photo shoot. Nothing was out of place in the hardwood floor paradise, with clean, crisp lines and white marble counter tops in the kitchen off to his left, while a comfortable, and yet still clinically modern, sitting area sat to their right. Deep, fluffy rugs dotted that part of the penthouse, and a wide balcony stretched out over the city beyond, complete with a little table and chairs for warmer evenings.  

“This place is incredible,” Alec breathed, the reason for his even being here completely forgotten.  

Clearly sensing that, Sebastien smiled bashfully and said, “Would you like something to drink?”

Alec cleared his throat and hoped he wasn’t going to be faced with a choice between very expensive wines that he’d never heard of. “Sure… thanks.”

“White, red, beer, or whisky?” he asked, walking towards the kitchen and dumping his ‘Alucard’ coat over the back of a white sofa as he went. Alec’s mouth went dry as he watched the point where his narrow hips met the flowing material of the white shirt. Dear god, an arse like that shouldn’t be… well, it just shouldn’t be. And yet there it was. Clad in leather and looking positively delectable. “Or a soft drink?” he added when Alec remained silent.  

Aware of where his gaze had landed, Sebastien halted and looked back over his shoulder, long, loose, naturally straight hair already losing the curls that had been worked into it for the Alucard costume. Definitely not straight, if he owned hair curlers.  

“Uh…” Alec said, unsure what the question had even been now.  

“I’m going to pour myself a whisky, if that helps…?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Sebastien smiled, looking almost endeared by Alec’s inept stuttering. Surely he couldn’t be unused to such a reaction? “Make yourself at home then.”

With a smoky, peat-tinged whisky in a wide, heavy-bottomed tumbler set on his glass coffee table, Alec watched Sebastien turn the gas fire on, and, to his surprise, he came to a halt directly in front of him. Setting his own whisky down on the table with a deliberate, and yet delicate, clunk, Sebastien turned back to him and raked his eyes down Alec’s body in a way that made him flush hot all over. His cock twitched with interest and he tried not to preen under that gaze.  

Sebastien’s eyes and teeth were back to normal now, with no hint of the golden contacts or the vampire fangs, and Alec fleetingly assumed that he must have removed them at some point between getting the whisky and appearing in front of him looking like he was about to ravish him. Oh dear god, please let him be about to ravish me, he thought with a big, dumb grin spreading across his face.  

Seeing his reaction, Sebastien reached down and knelt facing him on the sofa, running his palm over the already-growing bulge in Alec’s jeans. Alec let out a deep grunt and rocked his hips up into the contact, throwing his head back against the soft, open weave of the white fabric. “Oh fuck,” he hissed.  

Sebastien’s fingers found the button of his jeans and deftly undid it, but he paused. “May I?” he asked, and Alec found himself nodding before he’d even worked out what Sebastien wanted.  

He found out a moment later, when his jeans were around his ankles and Sebastien was kneeling on the floor between his knees and licking a long stripe up the length of his rapidly hardening cock.  

“Oh god,” he panted as the wet heat of Sebastien’s mouth engulfed half of his length and then drew back to leave his wet tip exposed to the slight chill of the apartment air. The contrast stole his breath for a heartbeat, but Sebastien returned his attentions to his cock, gently sucking and working him to full hardness in a matter of minutes.  

Pleasure sparked through Alec’s whole body and he strained not to thrust back into Sebastien’s mouth, even as Sebastien took him right to the back of his throat, the tip of Alec’s cock nudging against the silky resistance of his throat.  

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” he chanted as Sebastien’s fingertips just teased and caressed the underside of his balls too, and Sebastien hollowed his cheeks and sucked a little more insistently. “Oh fuck…” Really fucking eloquent here, Alec, he thought vaguely, but one look down at the vision kneeling between his legs and sucking him off drove even that thought from his brain.  

The suck and slide of Sebastien’s mouth was incredible, and while he had no idea quite how much time passed, it felt like mere seconds as the heat stoked in him until he could feel the orgasm threatening to crash through him. “I’m… I’m really close…” he gasped as Sebastien moaned against his cock, sending little vibrations thrumming through him and tipping him even closer. The sharp prick of his teeth every now and again was a perfect counterpoint to the slick heat of his mouth, and it was never enough to hurt. Normally Alec wasn’t one for including teeth in this, but with Sebastien, it felt perfect.  

Sebastien pulled back just as Alec felt himself beginning to coil up, his lips swollen and glistening from the exertion of bringing him that close, and he smiled. He looked radiant, and Alec’s cock twitched enthusiastically in his hands as he let out a soft whimper. The air was cold and his tip beaded pre-come freely, which Sebastien thumbed away with a surprisingly tender gesture, only to watch as more pearled immediately at his slit. Using just the tip of his tongue, Sebastien lapped at it delicately and Alec’s whole body shuddered.  

His thighs shook at the tiny, intense stimulation, with Sebastien's fingers gripping the base of his cock in a tight circle, and he gasped, chest heaving. It was too much and not enough, and as he found his perineum teased as well, he bellowed and trembled. He was half a heartbeat away from coming harder than he could ever remember coming in his life, and Sebastien wasn’t going to let him have it. He roared and ground his teeth, bucking his hips, which made Sebastien laugh softly.  

“Alright,” he heard him murmur, before he swallowed him down to the back of his throat again, and Alec shattered with a yell.

When he finally blinked his eyes open, he found that Sebastien had risen and was sitting on the small sofa beside him, whisky in hand, staring openly at him. He didn’t look smug exactly, but there was a quiet satisfaction to his brown eyes that made Alec flush, at which Sebastien’s beautiful lips drew back into a smile. He noted again those slightly larger canines, but they were nothing like the vampire teeth he had worn earlier.  

“What do you want?” Alec asked, voice hoarse. God, he sounded wrecked. Had he really shouted so hard he’d made his throat sore?

Sebastien’s dolorous, dark eyes crinkled slightly at the corners. “What do you want?”

“To watch you come,” he said immediately.  

“And how would you like me to come?” Sebastien replied, sipping nonchalantly at the golden liquor as if the were discussing what Alec would like Sebastien to wear. As it was, his leather pants were constricting his obvious hard-on in a way that had to be painful for him, and his shirt was open at the neck to reveal delicate collarbones and a glimpse of his beautiful olive skinned chest.  

He was an absolute vision. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful,” he blurted in a whisper before he could stop himself, and to his surprise, Sebastien laughed. The sound was bright, delighted, and oddly self-conscious, as if he hadn’t been expecting a compliment like that. “Sorry,” he added, looking away. “Look… if you’ve got condoms, I’m… I’m good to… you know…”

“You want me to fuck you?” Sebastien asked, his gaze sharpening again.  

“Yes?”  

“’Yes?’ Or ‘yes’…?” Sebastien asked, seeking clarification.  

“Yes. But I don't understand your question.”

“Look at me,” Sebastien said.  

“Hard not to…” Alec quipped back, still feeling utterly wrung out.  

“Most people assume I’m going to be the one taking it…”

Alec’s eyebrows rose as realisation settled. “Oh. And, what, I look like a top?”

Sebastien’s lips twitched. “Conventionally more so than I do, with your rugged looks and the rough shadow around your jaw…”

“So… do you want me to… you know…? Or…” Fuck, he felt like a teenager again, struggling to articulate himself and not get his sentences in a tangle while this breathtaking creature just sat there and watched him make an idiot out of himself.

“I very much want to fuck you,” Sebastien said at last. “If you’d like that as well.”

“Yes,” he said instantly.  

Sebastien set down his glass and rose in a single, elegant motion, and then held his hand out to Alec.

His skin was still cool, especially next to Alec’s searing body, and his hold was steady as Alec heaved himself to his feet and allowed himself to be alternately tugged and kissed into the bedroom. 

___

Part Three

Behold, plot has appeared to go with the Halloween porn I had planned. Alec’s family will come up in the next chapter.

___

I really hope you folks enjoyed this one! Don’t forget to let me  know if you did enjoy it by leaving a like and/or reblogging it!

__

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[loveforpreserumsteve]

Those Who Fall: "APTF" Story (Modern Domestic Stucky AU)

Thirty-Eight:

Being reassured by his husband, Steve left for home a little more at ease. With the kids in better moods, Steve was able to enjoy the drive home. Especially when Bucky sent a cheeky message about wanting Steve to wear his costume in the bedroom tonight.

Steve rolled his eyes, but the smirk stayed on his face as he ushered the kids into the house. Following them up to the main floor of the house. Only pausing when he saw Vis dancing with Holly. Bouncing her and swaying to the beat of Cliff Richard's Devil Woman. For a moment, Steve just stood there observing the younger man.

Until Vis caught him looking and paused. Instantly, his cheeks turned crimson. Before he could say anything, Steve said, "For someone who isn't sure he'll be a good father, you seem pretty comfortable."

Averting his gaze, Vis looked down at Holly and admitted, "It's easier when I don't have to convince anyone else."

"You don't have to convince anyone," Steve assured, "But I can tell that you're going to be a good dad."

"Takes one to know one," Wanda smiled, entering the living room with a bottle for Holly.

Smiling, Steve nodded, but averted his gaze to the floor. With Brock being so close to his family, he didn't feel like a good dad. A good dad would know how to protect his family. A good dad wouldn't feel so weak. A good --

"Papasaurus!" Jonas's loud voice boomed from the front door.

Turning to see his oldest son walking into the foyer. Theatrically, he had a cape brought up to only have his eyes revealed. Wiggling his eyebrows, he came up to Steve and asked, "Is that sugar cookies I smell?"

"It might be," Steve quirked a brow.

Dropping the cape, the rest of Jonas's costume was revealed. Wearing a white basketball uniform covered in fake blood. Which, admittedly stumped Steve. Not in the right head space, Steve tried to piece it together. A vampire costume, with plastic teeth and blood dribbled on the corner of his plush bottom lip, mixed with a basketball player.

"What are you supposed to be?" Steve finally caved, crossing his arms.

Jonas fixed his flat top hairstyle and explained, "Count Jock-ula! Get it?"

"You're clever," Steve chuckled. Meeting the older teen halfway, Steve pulled him in for a tight hug. Lingering in the hug for a moment longer than usual. Thankfully, Jonas just held him. Even without knowing why Steve needed the longer hug, Jonas kept the embrace. Giving the best bear hug to boot.

After another moment, Steve peeked around Jonas's larger frame and spotted Katie. Looking over her bloody white dress and plastic axe, Steve's brows furrowed, "What are you supposed to be?"

Katie bit back her grin, "An axe wife. Inspired by The Great Cady Heron, but more punny."

"Of course," Steve playfully shook his head as he left Jonas's embrace for Katie's. Lingering just as long with her as he did with her brother as he complimented her, "Always so creative."

When they pulled apart, Steve caught Katie childishly sticking her tongue out at Jonas. Playfully, Steve rolled his eyes and tenderly slapped her stomach with the back of his hand. Feigning pain, Katie doubled over so she could gather Ethan and pick him up. All the while, Ethan giggled and squealed when Katie started tickling him. Then, Sophia jumped in to help her brother, which meant Katie tickling both of them.

Steve smiled when he watched the interaction before the thought of Brock came to ruin it all. And, of course, one of the kids were bound to notice the way Steve held himself and the way he averted his gaze to the floor. It just extra sucked when the kid who noticed was Jonas.

"Wait," Jonas put a pause on the jovial laughter. Crossing his arms, his brows furrowed as he asked, "Was today a half day?"

"Not necessarily," Steve sheepishly answered. When Jonas's brows furrowed, Steve decided that he needed to tell them. Especially since Steve didn't know what Brock was capable of. So, he asked the little kids, "How about you go play in your rooms for a bit, yeah?"

"Awe, papa," Ethan whined while Sophia pouted, "Do we have to?"

"Just for a little bit," Steve promised.

Reluctantly, the younger kids headed upstairs. Steve made sure to listen for their footsteps. When they were significantly further away, Steve took a seat on the floral loveseat. Resting his elbows on his thighs as he held his face in his hands. Trying to find a way to explain the day to his children.

Fuck, Steve chastised himself because they weren't ever supposed to worry about this stuff. Hell, Steve wasn't supposed to still be worrying about this. It was supposed to stay in the past. Brock was supposed to stay in the past.

"I, uh…" Steve scrubbed his hand over his face. Sighing, "There's this… man… who used to stalk me in college. And he's back."

"Does dad know?" Jonas instantly asked.

"Dad knows," Steve confirmed, looking at each of the teens. "But that's why I pulled the kids out of school. Well, that and the fact that Ethan got into a fight with this man's stepson."

"That's how you know he's back? Because his brat is a bully?" Katie questioned, her brow set in a deep furrow.

"Did he do something?" Wanda asked, anger flaring through her petite frame as she stroked over her abdomen.

Beside her, Vis offered, "I know a guy that could… take care of him. If you know what I mean."

Chuckling at the outlandish sentiment and oddly touched, Steve declined, "That's okay. I'm just going to have to get another protective order against him and hope that he doesn't pick his stepson up at school anymore."

"Steve, no offense," Wanda looked down at her hands, "But a piece of paper isn't going to do anything."

"She's right," Katie nodded, "My aunt had plenty of them against her ex-husband, and that didn't stop him from murdering her."

That struck Steve to his core. Brock wouldn't go to that extreme, right? After all, Brock was remarried and had been in New York for god only knew how long, and he hadn't stumbled upon Steve. Hadn't even known that Steve and Bucky had gotten married. Or at least, that was what it seemed.

Trying to calm himself and the teens, Steve ran his hand through his hair and assured them, "He's not going to do that. He… he wouldn't do that. He's not… dangerous."

"But he was dangerous enough to get a protective order against him?" Vis asked, his brows furrowing.

Leaning forward as he rested his arms on his thighs, Jonas questioned, "Do you want us to help keep the kids home? Instead of us all going trick-or-treating?"

Worrying his lower lip, Steve wondered if they should stay home. Wondered if he and Bucky should stay home. Sure, they went to Natasha's Halloween party every year. But Brock was back in town and he didn't want to spend the whole night worrying. Of course, he also knew that he shouldn't spend the rest of his life afraid. Especially not when they had kids to love and care for.

"No, trick-or-treating should be fine," Steve answered, trying not to focus on any of the negative scenarios that raced through his mind. After all, Bucky was going to be there. Bucky would make sure that he was safe. That they were all safe.

Looking over the teens, Steve noticed how concerned they each looked and felt like kicking himself. "But we'll be okay. I promise. Nothing will happen to you guys. Dad and I have everything under control."

Rolling his eyes, Jonas scoffed, "You don't gotta lie to us. We're not kids."

"You're my kids," Steve corrected, reaching over to give Jonas's broad shoulder a comforting squeeze. To lighten the mood, Steve added, "And you know how terrible of a liar I am."

"Yeah, you're right," Jonas chuckled, looking over at Steve and giving him a small smile. As Steve returned the smile, Jonas added, "But if I need to gather the lacrosse team, I will."

Chuckling under his breath, Steve said, "Thank you," and he meant it.

[starrattlerofprydain]

The Other Girl (Ch. 3)

Summary: What if Roxas met Kairi during his days in the Organization?

AO3 / FF.net

Chapter 3: Good Luck Charm (First | Previous/Next)

It turns out there was no one up on the clock tower once Roxas finally made it to Twilight Town. He wondered if he might have been too late, or perhaps too early. Despite this, he sat down in his usual spot as he gazed out at the familiar sight beyond him. From there, he found himself thinking back to the events from moments ago.

Roxas never would have thought he would end up running into that girl again, even though a part of him wanted to, but not like this. The Nobody knew that he was supposed to avoid contact with people from other worlds. It wasn’t his intention to be seen. With that said, he could easily decide not to return to that world just so he can avoid getting in trouble with the Organization. But after learning how much this girl resembled Xion, it only left him more curious. Maybe just this once, it wouldn’t hurt to break a rule.

After sitting around lost in thought for a while, Roxas decided to call it a day and return to the castle, realizing his red-headed friend probably wasn’t going to show up to the clock tower. From there, he followed his usual routine of making his way to Xion’s room. Or at least, he would have gone to her room if it weren’t for him running into Demyx in the hallway, who looked like he needed a favor. And it just so happened that no one else was around at that moment, which meant Roxas had no choice but to go along with whatever the good-for-nothing Nobody needed. Once he managed to get himself out of that mess, Roxas just made his way back to his own room, deciding he will visit his friend in the morning. 

Before he knew it, a new day had begun. Roxas got up from his bed and went through his brief morning routine before he made his way out and headed to Xion’s room, all while keeping an eye out for anyone who decided to get in his way. Thankfully that wasn’t the case this time around. Roxas didn’t have much time to stick around anyway since he had his daily mission to complete. But he at least wanted to see her face for reassurance.

“Morning, Xion,” he grinned, walking to her bedside. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the thalassa shell, placing it with all the other seashells next to her. 

“There’s some things I gotta tell you, but I have to get today’s mission out of the way first. And uh…” The blond paused, thinking back to what Kairi had told him the day before. “I think I might have a surprise for you once I get back.”

But I’m still not even sure what it is, Roxas rubbed his neck sheepishly, remembering the redhead had convinced him to return to the island to show him something. She did mention it was something Xion would appreciate. More seashells perhaps? Maybe she had a treasure chest full of them.

“Well… time for me to get going. See you later, Xion,” he waved goodbye to the sleeping girl and headed off to the Grey Area to receive his mission for the day.

———–

Kairi wasn’t sure how long it’s been since she felt this ecstatic to go to the island. It still seemed a little bittersweet going back, but she managed to get by. And it was all because of a stranger she met the day before. No, Kairi couldn’t call him a stranger. Deep down, she knew there was something familiar about this boy. Not only because of his physical appearance, but she had an unusual feeling in her heart looking into those ocean eyes of his. Whatever this feeling was, she wanted to find out more about it.

As Kairi began to make her way to the island, she began to wonder if the boy would even show up again. She did tell him to meet her there the following day, after all. Though, now that she thought about it…

Maybe I was a little too forward telling him to come back...

Suddenly, the idea of him disappearing and never returning seemed to take over Kairi’s mind at that moment. Even though she didn’t know him that well, she couldn’t bear the thought of having someone leave her. Not again. Before her mind dove deeper into those negative thoughts, she immediately spotted Selphie walking nearby. The brunette noticed Kairi’s presence and eagerly ran up to her.

“Hey Kairi! Are you going to the island today?”

Kairi managed to give her a small smile as they continued to walk together from there. “Yeah, I was heading there now.”

Selphie hummed and fell silent for a moment.

Kairi waited for her to say something else, only to get silence in return. She turned to look at her friend, who seemed to be occupied with her thoughts. “What? What is it?”

She finally looked over at the redhead and tapped her chin in thought. “You know, you haven’t gone back there for weeks and now ever since we stopped by the other day, it’s like you’ve moved past all that… Oh!” Her face suddenly brightened as realization struck her. “Did Riku come back? Is that why you’re going there?”

Kairi shook her head and smiled sadly at the thought of her other friend not being present. “No, I still haven’t seen Riku around. But…” She paused, looking out to the horizon where the island came into view. “There’s this other boy that I met there… I’m not sure who he is or where he came from but I feel like I know him somehow…”

“Oh…”

Kairi noticed the brunette went silent once more. She really hoped her friend wasn’t thinking this was odd. No, it was pretty odd. There was no denying that. She bit her lip and shrugged slightly. “That’s not weird, is it?”

Selphie looked at the redhead as a smile gradually formed on her face. “No, not really. Maybe he’s an old friend of yours. Did he recognize you?”

The image of his face suddenly flashed in her mind again. “If by “recognize”, you mean that I reminded him of someone he knows, then... yes?”

“Oh well, that might explain it,” Selphie nodded, looking out ahead of her, “He has to be someone you knew at one point.”

Kairi glanced at her friend thoughtfully, realizing she may be right in some sense. But even then, the redhead still wasn’t entirely convinced.

“I’m not sure. He kind of reminds me of someone else I know. Someone close to me…”

“Who? Riku?”

Kairi stopped walking when a familiar face flashed in her mind. It was more vivid this time; a brown-haired boy smiled back at her, but the image was soon replaced with the boy in the black coat.

“Hey, are you okay?” Selphie asked, looking at her friend with concern.

“Never mind,” mumbled the redhead, shaking her head as she tried to push her thoughts aside. “Anyway, I’m gonna be seeing that boy again today.”

The brunette’s eyes brightened as she kept her gaze on Kairi. “Oh, you are?” 

Kairi nodded. “He said his friend hasn’t been feeling well in the past days. I wanna try to help somehow… I think a little gift should be fine.”

“That’s a sweet thing to do,” Selphie said with her hands behind her back. She eventually stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Kairi with an impish smile. “Well… I guess I won’t get in your way then.”

“What do you…” The redhead trailed off, immediately acknowledging the face her friend was making. When Kairi realized what she meant, she laughed and playfully nudged her friend. “Okay, come on. It’s not like that, Selphie. I just met the guy yesterday.”

Selphie laughed in return, shrugging at her remark. “But I thought you said you kind of know him.”

Kairi shook her head as she looked back towards the island. “It’s just a feeling I have, that’s all.”

“If you say so,” the brunette smiled, curiously looking at her friend. “By the way, does this mystery boy have a name?”

Kairi kept her gaze ahead of her, thankful she was able to at least remember this boy’s name.

“It’s Roxas.”

———–

Roxas swung his keyblade left and right, eliminating the last of the remaining Heartless lurking around. He was sent on a solo mission to Halloween Town that day, which meant he had to work double duty. Once he finished up there, he thought about the brief chat he had with Axel earlier in the day.

Just before Roxas left that morning, he managed to run into his red-headed friend, who admittedly got caught up with some stuff the day before, which explained why he didn’t show up to the clock tower.

“How about I make it up to you,” said Axel, “I’ll buy the ice cream today.”

“I guess so,” Roxas mumbled, rubbing his neck. “I’ll try to be there.”

The tall Nobody raised a brow as he reached out and ruffled the boy’s hair. “What? Got somewhere to be later?”

“Umm…” The blond tried to think of an excuse as he attempted to fix his messy hair, deciding he would eventually tell Axel more about the familiar stranger he encountered when he got the chance. “I wanted to bring more seashells for Xion.”

“More seashells, huh?” Axel chuckled, crossing his arms. “Pretty soon, her whole bed is gonna be covered in those.”

Roxas only gave him a sheepish look. Before he was able to say something else, their conversation was suddenly interrupted when Saïx approached the two Nobodies.

“Don’t you have someplace to be?” He asked in his usual cold tone, mainly directing his attention to Axel.

“Yeah, yeah…” Axel sighed and waved his hand before disappearing into the Corridor of Darkness. The blue-haired man then turned his attention to Roxas to assign his mission.

And there he was now, making his way back to the dark corridor after completing his task. From there, he began to make his way to his next destination, only this time when Roxas finally arrived, he noticed the familiar orange hues surrounding him. The Nobody glanced around, realizing he must have made it just before the sun began to set on the small island.

He found himself appreciating the warm sights, taking another look around before he spotted a figure sitting on a tree just across the small bridge overhead.

It was the red-headed girl. 

———–

Kairi arrived at the island sometime in the late afternoon, more or less around the time she spotted Roxas the day before. It was no surprise to see he wasn’t around yet, which gave her time to collect what she needed for the wayfinder she wanted to make. A lucky charm for Roxas’s friend.

Kairi thought it was the perfect gift. She remembered making one for herself to give it to someone special. Someone she longed to see again. With that, she began her search for some thalassa shells. After some time of exploring around and getting a head start on creating the charm, Kairi noticed Roxas was still nowhere to be seen. The girl tried not to worry much, assuming he must have been busy. Yet she couldn't help but think back to the thoughts that invaded her mind earlier that day, about being left alone there again. She tried to fight those thoughts away as she headed over to the paopu tree.

Once there, the redhead settled herself on the tree trunk, gazing ahead at the sparkling sea as the gentle breeze hit her face. After she felt more at ease, Kairi reached inside her small bag and pulled out one of the few seashells she collected as she continued to put the charm together. She found herself very focused on this for a while until she heard footsteps approaching. Her heart flipped out of instinct as she turned around and saw the familiar face from the day before.

Kairi flashed a warm smile as the blond boy approached her. “Oh there you are! I thought you weren’t gonna show up.”

Roxas found himself giving Kairi a smile of his own before he noticed her fiddling with something in her hands. “Yeah, sorry about that. I got caught up with some stuff.”

“That’s alright,” she said as she patted the empty spot next to her, inviting him to join her on the tree. “Come on up.”

The boy climbed up and settled down beside Kairi, curiously looking over to see what the girl had been doing. Before Roxas was able to question it, he saw her staring back at him with an amused look on her face. 

Roxas tilted his head in confusion as he heard her laugh softly. “What?”

“Do you always wear that coat?”

The blond momentarily glanced down at his outfit before looking up at the girl again. “Yeah, why?”

“Don’t you get a little warm wearing it? Especially in a place like this?”

She did have a point, but it’s not like he had a massive wardrobe back at the castle. He rubbed his neck self-consciously and shrugged. “It’s kind of all I have.”

Kairi kept her gaze on the timid boy, wondering if he might have been joking. But she just went along with it and continued to work on the charm. Roxas’s eyes trailed back down to the small object in her hands. Right away, he could tell they were seashells but he noticed the girl had somehow tied up a few together to make a star shape out of it.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Well… remember when I said I wanted to show you something?” She tied up the last of the seashells together before proudly holding it up for him to see. “You mentioned your friend likes these, so I thought you can give this to her. It’s a good luck charm.”

“A good luck charm?” Roxas repeated as she handed the star-shaped charm to him.

Kairi swung her legs back and forth off the tree trunk and nodded. “Mmhmm. If you and your friend ever get separated, this will help you find your way back to each other.”

“Huh…” He examined it for a while longer before the girl continued.

“It’s still missing something though,” she reached over and pointed at the empty space in the center of the charm. “A token of some sort. I wasn’t sure if maybe you might have something to put there…?”

Roxas pursed his lips momentarily before placing the charm in his lap to reach into his pockets, pulling out whatever he found. There was some munny, an ice cream stick with the word WINNER written across it, and a few pieces of a broken seashell he must have forgotten about that likely fractured during his mission. He stared at the items dumbfoundedly before looking up at her.

“Is any of this good enough?”

“Hmm…” Kairi examined his hand filled with miscellaneous objects. She laughed softly as her eyes fell on the fractured shell. “Wow, what happened there?”

“Guess it broke on my way here,” he shrugged.

“Hmm, must have been that coat of yours,” she teased, poking his shoulder.

The Nobody couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, sure. Let’s go with that.”

Kairi’s gaze suddenly fell back to his hand. Just as he was about to shake off the broken pieces, she spotted a peculiar shape. “Wait, hang on…” She reached out and picked up one of the small fragments, smiling as she examined it. “This piece kind of looks like a heart. See?”

The girl held it in her palm for Roxas to see for himself. Despite some minor chips on the broken piece, it was indeed shaped like a heart, similar to the ones that the Heartless released.

“I guess it kind of does… Can I use that?”

“Yeah, that should work,” Kairi nodded with a smile, taking the charm back from him to attach the small piece in the center.

Meanwhile, Roxas’s gaze fell on the sight in front of them. ‘Peaceful’ was the first word that popped into his head as he watched the orange hues reflect off the body of water. He always found it comforting watching the sunset, even outside of Twilight Town. 

Suddenly, the view in front of him was blocked when Kairi proudly held up the finished charm in front of his face. “Here you go, Roxas.”

The boy took the charm from her and glanced at the little chipped heart in the middle.

“Thanks,” he smiled, carefully tucking the small object away in his pocket. “I’m sure she’ll really like this.”

“She just might,” Kairi said with a smile of her own, curiously looking at him. “How is she doing today?”

“Uh…” Roxas scratched his head unsurely and shrugged, “Still the same. She’s been in a deep sleep for a few days now. There’s no way of telling when she’ll wake up.”

“Oh…” The girl’s smile faded away as she gave him a sympathetic look. “What happened to her?”

“I’m not sure…” The Nobody shook his head, looking down at his lap. “It’s weird, the same thing happened to me too just weeks before... but it’s kind of hazy to remember anything. All I remember is waking up next to all these seashells beside me.”

Kairi’s face softened, recalling when Roxas briefly brought up that little detail just the day before. “So she left those seashells for you, and now you’re doing the same for her. That’s sweet.”

“Yeah. I guess so,” the boy shrugged.

Kairi gave him a reassuring smile, turning to face the sea. “She’ll be fine. I know it.”

Roxas managed to smile in return as he followed her gaze. They sat in comfortable silence shortly after as they both watched the sight in front of them. 

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Kairi asked, breaking the silence.

Roxas slightly tilted his head and glanced at her. “What is?”

“The sunset.”

The Nobody kept his eyes on her as she continued to stare off into the distance. He eventually did the same, smiling warmly as he watched the glistening sea again. “Yeah, it kinda reminds me of the one back in Twilight Town.”

“Twilight Town?” Kairi wondered, now turning to look at the boy. “Is that where you’re from?”

“Uh… you could say that,” Roxas hesitated for a moment, unsure how much he should say about himself. He supposed it wouldn’t hurt to speak a little bit about the place. Twilight Town almost felt like a home to him, after all.

The girl’s eyes brightened as she shuffled closer to Roxas. “So you’re from a different world, huh? I figured as much. How’s it like there?”

Roxas remained in place, trying to ignore the fact that she was now closer to him. “It’s nice, I guess. I usually meet up with my friends on the clock tower and we have sea salt ice cream and talk about stuff while watching the sunset.”

The redhead suddenly gave him a peculiar look. “Sea salt ice cream?”

“Yeah, have you tried some? It’s really good.” Roxas couldn’t help but grin as he thought about his favorite snack.

“I can’t remember if I have…” Kairi muttered, tapping her chin in thought. “Maybe you should bring some next time.”

Next time? She wants me to visit her again?

Roxas snapped out of his brief thoughts as he realized something. “W-Wait, but it’ll melt by the time I get here.”

“Not if you’re fast enough,” Kairi smirked.

The boy raised a brow and shuffled away slightly, letting out a faint chuckle. “I’ll try… but I can’t promise you it’ll still be any good.”

Kairi stayed silent for a moment before she ended up shuffling close to him again. “Fine, I’ll just go visit you instead then.”

Roxas mentally panicked. Not only because he was close to falling off the tree if he continued to scoot away from her, but he just wasn’t sure how much of a good idea it was for her to drop by.

Great... 

“Maybe I’ll go sometime when my summer vacation starts,” she added, swinging her legs back and forth enthusiastically as she looked out ahead.

Summer vacation. Roxas remembered Axel explained how it’s a time where kids get a whole month off to do whatever they want. Suddenly, Roxas couldn’t help but smile at her determination to visit him during her free time. It made him wonder... “Have you visited other worlds before?”

Her kicking slowed down as Kairi tried to recall the hazy memories lingering in her mind. “I actually came from another world when I was younger but… I can’t remember much of it.”

Roxas noticed she began to fiddle around with her bracelet as she went on.

“Just some months ago, my friends and I decided to build a raft, hoping we could go out and see other worlds but some things happened, so we never got around to it... My memory is still a little hazy from it all but we ended up getting separated along the way.”

“It feels like it’s been forever since I last saw them…” she mumbled, placing her hand over her chest. “But I’m sure they’re alright, no matter where they are right now.”

Roxas could only sit there in silence as he thought about Axel and Xion. He couldn’t bear the thought of getting separated from his own friends. It scared him just thinking about it.

Kairi began to wonder what was going through the boy’s head, seeing how he went silent for a while. She turned to face him almost at the same time he turned to look at her, briefly catching her by surprise. 

“I hope you’ll find your way back to each other,” he said, attempting to reassure her.

“I know we will,” the girl gave him a small smile as she kept her gaze on him. Kairi wasn’t sure why but there was something comforting about looking into his eyes.

Comfort. Maybe that was the unusual feeling she felt in her heart as she looked at him.

Of course, it didn’t take her long to catch herself staring at him for some time.

“Anyway... it’s getting late,” she said, hopping off the tree. “I should start heading back home.”

“Right...”

Roxas did the same and turned to leave but Kairi stopped him, gently tugging on his sleeve. “Hey, Roxas? Thanks for showing up today.”

He faced her and smiled warmly as their eyes met again. “Yeah, of course. I was planning on stopping by anyway. And you kinda told me to come back.”

The girl laughed softly at his remark. “Fair enough. Don’t forget to give that to your friend,” she said, referring to the charm.

“I won’t.”

“And be careful with it,” she added, gently nudging him as she began to walk off. “You don’t wanna fracture it like that other shell, do you?”

Roxas laughed sheepishly as he watched Kairi walk ahead of him. Without thinking, he called out to her. “Are you gonna be here again tomorrow?”

Kairi halted and turned to face Roxas. For a moment, she was certain she saw a brown-haired boy standing in his place, but she knew her mind was just playing tricks on her. She had to remind herself this wasn’t that boy. This was Roxas.

She smiled softly and gave him a nod. “Yeah, I’ll be here.”

Roxas wasn’t sure what came over him at that moment but he was relieved to hear that she wanted to see him again. 

“Right… then I’ll see you around.”

“See you around, Roxas.”

With that, she finally walked off while Roxas stayed behind. The blond stood there in thought as he took one last look at the sunset and grinned to himself.

———–

Once he left the island, Roxas briefly stopped by Twilight Town out of habit. He made his way over to the station plaza and looked up at the clock tower, only to see it as empty as it was the day before. He figured that would be the case, realizing how late it must have already been. The Nobody decided to skip the usual clock tower routine and began to make his way back to the castle from there.

Soon enough after reporting back, he found himself standing in front of Xion’s door. Roxas stepped inside her room and walked towards the sleeping girl. 

It was almost as if he never left.

“Told you I’d be back,” Roxas smiled, carefully rummaging through his pocket. “And I brought you something, like I said I would. It’s a gift from a girl I ran into on that island.” He pulled out the charm and held it up, briefly surveying it to make sure it was still intact.

“It’s funny… she kind of looks like you. I thought I might have imagined it when I first saw her but… looking at her, I kind of see you…” Roxas’s voice lowered as he gave Xion a peculiar look. “Err… anyway, the girl’s name is Kairi. She said this is supposed to be a good luck charm. So if we ever get separated, we’ll find our way back to each other… or something like that.”

He stared at the charm again before he smiled softly and placed it beside her. “I hope you like it.”

Suddenly, Xion stirred in her sleep, catching Roxas by surprise as he stared at her wide-eyed. He eagerly waited for her to open her eyes but they remained shut within those few moments. Sighing, his shoulders dropped, realizing he probably got his hopes up for nothing.

“Wishful thinking,” Roxas mumbled, keeping his gaze on the girl before he kneeled down by the bedside. The boy’s gaze fell on her gloved hand in front of him and out of instinct, he reached out and gently placed his warm hand on hers.

She’s so cold, he thought.

“You know, I got to see the sunset over the sea today,” he spoke softly, resting his head on his propped arm. “It kind of reminded me of Twilight Town.”

Roxas smiled at the memory, thinking how much he longed to watch the sunset with Xion again. He was really starting to miss it. Suddenly, a wave of drowsiness hit Roxas at that moment. It seemed like the Nobody didn’t realize how tired he was until now as he continued to speak.

“I wish you were there to see it…”

Roxas didn’t remember saying anything else after that as his mind shut down. Before he knew it, he was sound asleep by Xion’s bedside with his hand still resting on hers.

Little did he know that just outside the door listening in on the one-sided conversation was his red-headed friend.

[bwayfan25]

The Weaver-Levin-Lewis Family Values

When I had my my annual October thought, “Homeboy and I should dress up as Morticia and Gomez for Halloween,” it occured to me that he Weaver-Levin-Lewises had the perfect amount of children for an Addams Family family costume.

* * *

Susan straightened the long black wig on her head as Kerry stepped out of the master bathroom behind her. She made eye contact with (a very perturbed-looking) Kerry in the mirror of the vanity before her face broke out into a wide grin. 

“I hope you’re happy,” Kerry said in response to the excitement on Susan’s face.

“Oh, I’m very happy,” Susan replied, standing up. “You look great.”

“I look ridiculous,” Kerry said flatly. 

“We all look ridiculous, Kerry. It’s Halloween.”

“Susan, I have a moustache drawn on my face in eyebrow pencil. And, for the record, you don’t look ridiculous. You look... really, um... really good.” Kerry’s face grew red as she grew distracted by the deeply cut black dress Susan wore. “That dress really... That dress really fits you well.”

“Uh, Kerry, my eyes are up here,” Susan said, motioning from her (admittedly very nice) cleavage up to her eyes. 

Her grin turned into a smirk as Kerry’s face grew an even deeper shade of red.

“Though, I’ll be honest,” Susan said, wrapping an arm around Kerry’s waist, “that was very in character for Gomez, so I’ll allow it.”

“Remind me again why I have to be the man?” Kerry asked as Susan kissed her on the cheek. 

“Because I’m taller than you,” Susan replied simply. “And it’s better when Morticia is the same height as Gomez or taller.”

“And who decided that?” 

“It’s just common knowledge,” Susan said with a shrug. “I mean, come on. Who doesn’t love tall women?”

Kerry rolled her eyes (just as Susan was hoping for) as the Pugsley and Wednesday of their Addams Family half-ran, half-tumbled their way into the master bedroom.

“But I need something else,” Suzie whined. “It’s not enough.”

“Suzie, you’re wearing your entire costume,” Annie shot back. “You’ve got everything you need.”

“Nu-uh,” Suzie replied. “I need makeup.”

“You’re dressed as a boy, and boys don’t wear- Wait,” Annie said, cutting her self off. “Nevermind. I forgot. Abba wears makeup sometimes.”

Suzie let out a triumphant “Ha!” and then rushed over to Susan, who agreed to give her some spooky makeup to go with her Pugsley costume. Annie turned to Kerry, ready to ask if her Wednesday braids looked alright, when she saw Kerry’s makeup and smiled.

“You have a moustache,” Annie said with a grin.

“I do,” Kerry confirmed, nodding. “I'm too old to have mine on a binky like Charlie does.”

Both redheads automatically glanced at the eight-month-old on the bed, who was contentedly sucking away on her pacifier, completely unaware of the moustache taped to it.

“Are you going to use your crutch or are you going to use Grandma’s cane?” Annie asked. But then she frowned. “Well, I guess it’s actually your cane.”

“Yeah, but I’m okay if we call it Grandma’s,” Kerry said, stroking Annie’s hair. “She used it more than I did.”

Annie considered this for a moment and then nodded before turning towards Susan. As she was just releasing Suzie following the application of her spooky makeup, Annie took her opportunity to ask how her Wednesday impression looked. (”Very evil, dear.” “Thank you.”)

Kerry picked the black-and-silver cane up from where it leaned against the vanity. She’d had to dig it out of the closet as she’d stowed it away not from disuse, but because of who had used it last. Tonight seemed a good night to get it out, though, as, if the Addams Family was known for anything, it was remembering those that they had lost.

“We’re definitely gonna win the Best Costume competition tonight, right, Momma?” Suzie asked as she bounced up and down from her seat on the bed. 

“I think we have a very good shot,” Kerry said with a chuckle.

“I think so, too,” Suzie agreed, nodding. 

“Alright, Addams-Weaver-Levin-Lewis family,” Susan said as she picked Charlie up and set her on her hip. “Let’s get our shoes on so we can go.”

Suzie slid off the bed and joined Annie in a race to the shoe rack near the front door. Susan took their absence to step closer to Kerry and drop her voice. 

“I mean to say this earlier, but if we’re going to have any chance of winning, we’ve really gotta commit to the characters,” she said sincerely. “Because Mark told me that he and Elizabeth are coming as Westley and Buttercup from The Princess Bride. And I’m just going to call it now - If he gazes into her eyes lovingly and says, ‘As you wish,’ we’re toast.”

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #349

“we’ll meet again, when both our cars collide”

When was the last time you had a PopTart? It's been many, many months. Do you like hot chocolate? Well duh. Who made you laugh the hardest today? I haven't really laughed today. Who was the last person to promise you something, and what was it? Hmph. Would you ever jump into a fire to save your bestfriend? I know I would. Do you have a callus from writing too much? No, I only have calluses on my feet from when I used to walk for hours on end. They just never permanently went away, even with grooming. Who is someone you’ve made a bad first impression on? I dread to guess what the girl Jason dated after me was told about me. I shouldn't care at all, but I do. I have every reason to accurately be defined as "the crazy ex," and I fucking hate it. Who is your best guy friend? Girt, a friend from high school. Do you read cereal boxes while you’re eating? I did as a kid, but now I don't. I just kinda stand and eat. What’s the last thing you accidentally (or purposely) burnt? I kinda burnt the roof of my mouth on pizza the other night. Do you know anyone with a lip piercing? Me, haha. I know others, too. What did the last tattoo you saw, look like? I don't remember. Have you ever given birth? NO FUCKING THANK YOU. Do you enjoy making out? I mean if I'm in the mood to and I love you, yeah. Why exactly do you take surveys? "I genuinely like doing them and they’re great for venting and sorting out thoughts and whatnot. I can just ramble and get things off my chest." <<<< This right here covers it. As well, it's just a boredom killer. And I happen to be bored very, very often. Rockband or Gutair Hero? Both are great, why choose just one? What are you listening to right now? Halocene's cover of "Helena" by My Chemical Romance. It's beautiful. What kind of energy drinks do you drink, if any? None, because I just can't do energy drinks. They taste like pure poison to me. Have you ever been swimming in a river? No. Swimming in a river sounds pretty dangerous... Does your alarm clock wake you with music, or with an annoying buzz sound? Music. When you broke stuff in the house as a child, did you blame it on siblings? I'm hoping you don't mean breaking deliberately, 'cuz I wasn't that kind of kid. But anyway, I don't believe I did. Did you make it all the way through the Oregon Trail game? Yes. I was obSESSED with those games as a kid. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Which one are you more scared of? Tigers, probably. They're so stealthy and, while I may be entirely wrong, seem like the top candidate of the three to attack a human, be it for food or defense. And have you SEEN the muscles on a tiger? Christ. Describe the best use that you’ve found for duct tape: Uh, taping things lmao. Do you wrap gifts or use gift bags? I use gift bags, because I can't wrap for shit. What fast food place do you avoid at all costs? Arby's is really gross to me. Are you afraid of deep sea creatures? Just giant squid... *shudders* Have you ever agreed to purchase something on Ebay and got scammed somehow? No. I did, however, purchase something on deviantART and never got the product. It was going to be a present for Jason. In dA's defense though, I've bought like... two or three other things from there, and there were zero issues. It's really about the people you trust. If you get a call that says “Unknown”, do you answer it? Nnnnope. Do you have any bobble head figures? No. Have your parents ever left you somewhere without realizing it? I don't think so. Have you ever been in a tanning bed? No. Did your last kiss mean anything to you? Well yeah, I wouldn't have kissed her otherwise. Would you say that you have a nice smile? No; I've been self-conscious of it since I was a kid, mostly because one of my eyes looks more squinty than the other, but they both are to me. I've always said I look high when I smile lmao. Is there an ex you want to make up with? My mind immediately screams "Jason," but I know that's a horrendous idea. Our last talk ended peacefully and even with care and good wishes, and I need my fucking impenetrable head to accept that's where it needs to end. He does NOT need to re-enter my life. It would be so bad for me. Do you remember how you felt on 9/11? I have no memory of it, if I'm being honest. What outfit makes you feel the most attractive? None. Other than yourself, who knows you the best? Really? Whoever reads these lmao. What’s one complaint that you have about school? Common Core and how every student's school experience was not tailored towards their unique goals. Like they try to cram a shitload of identical and usually useless information into a kid's brain to make them a jack of all trades, you could say, but not enough information they need to properly pursue their career future. It causes such an unnecessary amount of frustration and stress. I have many, many complaints about the education system, but this one tops the list. What do you do while you’re on campus but not in class? Back in college, I would just do stuff on my laptop. Do you know anyone who has Autism/Asperger’s syndrome? Yes. Are you open to a same-sex relationship and why or why not? Well, considering I'm bisexual... Do you remember life without the internet? No. Have you ever found yourself to be ugly? I've gone my entire life thinking I'm ugly, if I'm being real. What is your state’s minimum wage? $7.25 a fucking hour. :'''''') Is there something you want to say to someone but can’t/won’t? There's a few people. What is your first memory of being in a hospital? Considering my mom worked at the local hospital when I was a kid, I remember being there quite, quite young, playing with my older sister in Mom's and her coworkers' room. I think Nicole was too young to really "play." Do you have any relatives with red hair? No. What is something good that has happened to you in the past week? I got my first Covid vaccine. My arm hurts like a motherfucker now, but to protect my mom, it's worth it. Please get vaccinated. How much was the rent/mortgage at the cheapest place you’ve ever lived? That's never been my business. Have you ever been to a gay pride parade? No, but I would go to a local one if I could actually walk five feet without being in serious pain and sweating like a pig. Do you still keep in touch with your very first best friend? We're friends on Facebook, but that's it. What was the topic of the last conversation you had with your dad? I can't remember, but it was recent, because we all met at Ashley's house for Nicole's birthday celebration. How often did you visit your grandparents when you were growing up? Pretty much never, given they all lived no less than like, 10 hours (via car) from where we lived. My immediate family are the only people in NC. When two family members are fighting, what do you usually do? Stay out of it, but admittedly try to listen just to know what's going on. Do you like the smell of men’s cologne? Yeah. What’s your all time FAVORITE freezer food? Do you eat that a lot? I survive off of microwaveable freezer food, so this is very hard... uhhhhh... perhaps this Banquet bowl meal that's mac 'n cheese with spicy chicken. It's absolutely delicious, like you'd never guess that sucker was just popped in the microwave. I'd say I eat it a moderate amount; it's a reliable option if Mom's not cooking and I'm really hungry, because it's super filling. Do you like documentaries? Have you ever watched one and find it boring? I enjoy them, particularly when they're about animals. Were you ever a fan of macaroni & cheese? Do you like Kraft dinner? Ha, speak of mac 'n cheese. I love it, and Kraft makes it fine. Do you burn incense? Not as much as I used to. I love the smell and just general vibe, though. What would you consider an unacceptable first date? Going to a bar or something. Have you ever been so sick you had to be taken to the hospital? In the head, anyway. Is there anything currently bothering you? Multiple things. Would you say that you’ve got something ‘special’ about you? No. Do you like things vampire-related? I don't really have an opinion on vampire stuff. Are you the kind of person who does not like talking about their past? I don't care. Have you ever been to a casino? No. What’s the last thing you wore a costume for besides Halloween related events? Back when I still took dance classes and we had the yearly recital. What does your father do for a living? He's a mailman. What’s the last app you downloaded on your phone? Haha, I re-downloaded this ollllldddd game I had before, Nyan Cat: Lost in Space (or something like that?) for my niece to play. She's hooked on it now. Are you in any discomfort right now? Yeah; as I mentioned, my arm really hurts. What do you know the most about? Of all things I know, almost certainly meerkats. Are you seeing anyone? No. Have you ever hooked back up with an ex, just for sex? Was it a mistake or no? No. Have you ever gotten in trouble for using a phone in class? No, because I didn't use my phone in class. Have you seen all the Shrek movies? No, which is a fucking crime. I need to see the last one. Have you ever finished a whole video game? Plenty plenty plenty. Do you know anyone with a pet snake? Yeah, myself included. If you had to live in an extreme environment — think Sahara, Antarctica, under the sea, on the Moon— where would you want to live? Why? Probably Antarctica. I'm sure it would be unpleasant, being that cold, but I feel there's more you can do about being cold than being in the scalding heat of, say, the Sahara. Living on the moon or in the deep ocean sounds super sucky. How was your day overall? It's been okay. Not as bored as usual, at least. How many people of the opposite sex do you fully trust? Like... zero. I want to say my dad, and I almost do, just... nightmares make that very, very difficult. Plus his past. What does your mom call you? Normally just "Britt." Write a sentence in another language: Oh god, my German is so rusty... uhhhh... Hallo, ich heiße Brittany, und ich bin 25 Jahre alt und wohne in North Carolina. I think I got the grammar right? Have you ever sent an X-Rated picture to someone? No. Even if I was comfortable with my body, I would be way too paranoid to at any point have a naked picture on my phone, even if I deleted it. Like, hello blackmail, but also, nothing you delete is ever really gone permanently. What big city do you live near? Raleigh is like an hour away. Do you like breaded chicken sandwiches? omg YES Is there a Sonic in your area? Yes, it's my favorite fast food joint. You have GOT to try the pretzel twists with cheese dip. Have you ever gone to a thrift store? Yeah, I love 'em. Do you think Johnny Depp is attractive? I do. Are you happy with the state you live in? No, not at all. I hate this place. Bunch of homophobic, racist rednecks. How many times have you seen the opposite sex naked? It's not like I counted every time I saw my ex naked over three and half years lmao. How many times have you seen the same sex naked? A few times. When days go by, do you cross them off on the calendar? I don't use a calendar. Are you currently counting down to something? If so, what? MY TATTOO APPOINTMENT!!!!! :''') I know I can't stop talking about it, but ugh I'm so excited. May 19th, c'mon already. Do you pay rent to your parents? No. Do you dye eggs for Easter? I used to as a kid. Not so much anymore. Are you in debt right now? For what? Oh god, I don't want to think of this. Would you ever work night crew? I really, really wouldn't want to. Humans are diurnal for a reason. Being awake in constant darkness would depress the fuck outta me, and it'd feel so lonely, with everyone I know asleep. Who was the last person that lied to you, or that you can recall lying to you? What did they lie about? How did you find out they were lying? I don't remember. Has anyone ever called you ugly, straight up, before? How did you react to this? No, not to my face. Who is the most stubborn person you know {excluding yourself}? MY MOTHER.

[hphm-etched-engraved-everlasting]

29. Clara

It took a while to get a hold of Chester, and from a working standpoint it was understandable; I figured that it was a busy time for all employees at the Ministry. All hands on deck, so the saying went. But on Halloween, he was able to meet with me at Flourish and Blotts. Admittedly, Chester did not leave a very big impression on me--after all, he was Ravenclaw's Prefect in my younger years, and the only time we actually interacted was after he graduated when Tulip introduced me to him so we could talk about the Frog Choir. Somehow, though, he still remembered me. I suppose it came with being a prefect at all--you kind of have to commit everyone's faces and trouble-making streak to memory.

Initially, he was hesitant to help with my cause, and I probably should have been a bit more considerate with my response given that it was a huge risk to have a student sneak into the Ministry, but he eventually hinted at a lead that could potentially help--an Invisibility Cloak, perhaps not the fabled one, but a working one nonetheless.

Even if it was a knock-off, I knew it was better than nothing, and I knew Jae would help with getting one for me.

As I reached out to my good old detention buddy again later that day, I was a little downhearted to hear that the person who dealt with these items was not in the best mood with him. Just to make up for a small business flop, he proposed to gift him a few items. A Remembrall he already secured, but the other item he said he needed help from a "fashionable wizard".

There was only one friend I knew who fit that bill.

The Great Hall was packed with students preparing for the Halloween feast by the time we had arrived, some of them trying to finish their homework with their friends at the last minute before the feast began while others were just conversing with friends and passing sweets around. I glanced over at Jae tucking the Remembrall in his pocket with a pained expression over his face, and felt a wave of unease ripple through my nerves. Even if Jae and I did bond in detention last year, I wasn't always sure about his dabbling in mostly illegal trades. Perhaps it wasn't deemed to be as dangerous as dealing with the Cursed Vaults, but it was still dangerous nonetheless.

The frayed nerves eventually steeled as my eyes honed in on Andre, sitting at the Ravenclaw table now looking through a fashion catalogue. I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at the sight.

"Andre Egwu, style wizard," I called out dramatically as I approached. "Just the man I wanted to see.”

“Cheers, Curse-Breaker!” Andre greeted me with a huge grin, though that faltered instantly when he saw Jae. “Huh, looks like you came to see me in time. Looks like your fashion crisis is much worse than I thought.”

“What? You mean me?” Jae’s face morphed into one of pure horrification, eyes widened at Andre. “What’s wrong with my look?”

“Noting, if you just got out of bed,” Andre quipped shortly.

“Hold up, Andre--I didn’t come to see you because Jae needs a makeover,” I tried to reason. “I came to see you because...well…”

My eyes shifted sideways towards Jae, who quickly caught on with my glance. “We need your help getting fashionable socks,” he explained to Andre. “Preferably clean, no holes would be nice…”

Now Andre’s interest seemed to pique with his raised eyebrows. “Fashionable socks, you say. Well, those are given, but do you want ankle or crew cut? Argyle or striped? Cashmere or lambswool?”

“Uh…” Jae glanced over at me with a puzzled expression. “Yes…?”

“What kind of shoes will they be worn with?” Andre pressed on. 

“Uh...regular ones, I suppose?” Jae responded.

Andre shook his head, his piqued expression melted away. “You don’t shop much, do you,” he finally noted.

“Hey, if I could wear this hoodie forever, I would,” Jae remarked with a laugh. 

“Seems like we’re more helpless than we thought,” I added with a chuckle of my own. “Will you help us, Andre?”

“Of course. You know me, I never turn down an opportunity to make the wizarding world a stylish place,” Andre replied with a nod. “If it’s not Jae, who is it that requests my expertise?”

“A back alley seller who is currently not my biggest fan,” Jae responded, his eyebrows narrowed in suspicion.

“We’re hoping that gifts would convince him to forgive Jae and secure me an invisibility cloak,” I explained further. “I need one to sneak into the Ministry of Magic. Rakepick’s Dark Artefacts are stored there--artefacts that she needs to get into the final Cursed Vault. If I can get my hands on them, I can draw her out and stop her.”

Andre glanced between me and Jae, potentially waiting for one of us to say that we were pulling his leg--but he didn’t question either of us when the catch didn’t come.

“So your ability to stop Rakepick from getting into the final Cursed Vault depends on my fashion sense?” Andre finally deduced. “Well, brilliant! I love a challenge. Now, tell me--why does this seller need fashionable socks?”

Jae did most of the explaining while I looked around at the decorated Great Hall, set with decorated pumpkins all aglow. I knew that any normal student would be looking forward to the fabled Halloween Feasts, especially given the incredible entertainment that Dumbledore arranges every year and the scrumptious food that the House-Elves prepare every year. I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel the same--especially now as I gazed at the giant pumpkin that had the castle carved on its face. Only one person I knew well could have brought this design to life--the one person I swore to protect.

Not that I doubted Badeea’s ability to replicate the castle’s design, but I’ve known little Em’s ability to make something wonderful out of something ordinary. The crafting talents she had never really went unnoticed between me and my brother, and now here it was, on display for all the other students to see. They should at least see that she was no Emily Tyler. She is nothing like the pink-clad gossiping sass that sashayed through the halls with her haughtiness.

“So let me get this straight,” Andre finally said, twiddling his index fingers at Jae. “The seller wants fashionable socks because he’s been losing all of his to baby dragon fire?”

“He had been smuggling in baby dragons recently,” Jae clarified with a nod. “I figured it would be risky business to bring in something dangerous and untamed.”

“Then why don’t you give him a pair of fireproof socks?” Andre suggested. “They’re used in dragon care, so they’re practical, but also very stylish as well.”

“Sounds perfect!” Jae agreed with a nod. “He’ll love them.”

“I’m all in for that, but where can we get a pair of fireproof socks?” I asked.

“I got a pair for Charlie’s last birthday,” Andre responded. “I think I may have a spare that I can lend...if you bring me along to see this merchant.”

Now Jae looked skeptical at Andre’s bargain, and he tilted his head in intrigue. “Are you sure you want to come with us? This merchant isn’t exactly the best company.”

“Of course I do! I want to see the look on his face when he sees we’ve got him the perfect gift,” Andre said with a nod. “Besides, I feel guilty going with Cedric instead of helping Clara find Sickleworth.”

“Don’t be, Andre. Everything worked out alright,” I said lightly, shaking my head. “I did manage to track down Sickleworth--he lead me to my brother again.”

“That’s fantastic!” Andre beamed. “But I’d still like to come, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“Well, who am I to turn down extra help?” I grinned and nodded. “The only thing we have to ensure is that we are back in time for the Halloween Feast, so everyone get a move on. We’ll reconvene in Knockturn Alley.”

---

Dust swirled around the ankle of my boots as I stepped into Knockturn Alley once more with Andre and Jae behind me, the both of them carrying the gifts we needed for the merchant. Hopefully they would be able to appease him. Whatever kind of dodgy deal gone wrong couldn’t be worth just a few more items to aid him personally.

“There he is,” Jae whispered, gesturing to a tall man with a hood that looked all too familiar. No, it wasn’t the anonymous messenger who kept threatening me back in fourth and fifth year about death coming to Hogwarts. This trader I met only once or twice, but it was enough to associate his name with his look and demeanour.

“Huh. I think I see why you asked for fashionable socks--for a dark wizard, he’s actually rather stylish,” Andre remarked with a thoughtful nod.

“Do you think these gifts will be enough?” I asked Jae then.

“Yeah, for sure. But stick close, just in case.”

Jae lead the way now, walking right up to the trader without a falter in his step. Andre and I glanced at each other before following him.

“Kim. You’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face in front of me,” the trader growled, eyes narrowed and mouth twisted in a snarl. “Don’t think I forgot about the fake love potion you sent me.”

“Alistair, I had no idea that potion was actually Butterbeer,” Jae insisted. “If I knew, would I have sold it to you?”

Alistair? So I was right. The name rang a bell in my mind, and I jumped into the conversation before I could back out.

“Hold up--Alistair Fidgen?” I confirmed, mouth dropping in shock. “You’re that dodgy wizard who sold me and Charlie a fake dragon egg just last year! You thought you could pass an Acromantula egg off as a dragon egg and get away with it!”

“Oh, you again,” Alistair said with a roll of his eyes. “Look, Lin, I said I could get you one, not that I would. It was your fault for not being smart enough to figure that out.”

Andre folded his arms and shook his head at me. “Talk about hypocritical,” he mouthed to me, and I nodded.

“Look, Alistair--we both did things that we probably shouldn’t have. At least I can come clean with that,” Jae started. “So why not put our pasts aside for Clara’s sake? See, Clara’s in the market for an Invisibility Cloak, and I know you’re in the market for mending our broken business relationship. And we brought gifts for you too!” He gestured to the Remembrall and fireproof socks. “What do you say, Alistair? My sincere apologies and our gifts for an Invisibility Cloak?”

“Oh, I’ll do better,” Alistair sneered. “I’ll take the gifts, keep the Invisibility Cloak, and get my revenge all at once!”

He raised his wand, and an unknown spell flew towards Jae, leaving him completely winded though still on his feet.

“Jae!” Andre rushed to his aid, and Jae leaned heavily on his shoulder.

“Guess...he was more...upset than I thought,” Jae muttered, shaking his head.

“Get back, Jae.” I stepped forward and shielded the two boys from view with an arm. “Avis!”

The flock of birds that shot out of my wand with a BANG whizzed past Alistair’s ear and out of sight, though that was enough to shift his focus towards me instead now that Jae was out of commission.

“That,” he growled, pointing his wand towards me, “was a mistake, Lin.”

I readied my wand as well, pointing it towards him with a hardened glare. “We’ll see.”

Alistair Fidgen did not hold anything back--in fact, he was much tougher to beat than I initially thought, for one who dealt with something so dirty. In the end, I fell down once from a powerful Flipendo, only to have Andre pull me back up for another round. It was not until I managed to push him back with a powerful Depulso that had him completely out of breath, signalling the end of that duel.

“You make...quite the convincing argument,” Alistair finally acknowledged, mopping the sweat off his brow. Some of his grey hair clung to his forehead, and I cringed as they gleamed in what remained of the light. “Tell you what, then. I’ll forgive Kim and get you your Invisibility Cloak for one last thing.”

I stowed my wand in my dress and put my hand on my hip, though the attempt to look intimidating must have been rather futile. “You just lost, Fidgen. Should you really be in a place to bargain?”

“That’s funny. I was under the impression that you wanted an Invisibility Cloak,” Alistair shot back.

For someone who handled dirty dealings, he definitely had a way with his words. I clenched my fists and took a deep breath, trying to steel my nerves yet again. “Okay, fine--what do you want then, Fidgen?”

“Bring me a real Love Potion--the one Kim was supposed to bring me before--and I can secure you an Invisibility Cloak,” Alistair finally proposed. “Bring it here, or don’t bother coming back.”

With that, he turned on his heel and left, snatching the items away and stowing them into his pocket. I turned to Andre and Jae, who looked positively defeated at how that interaction went.

“That just...went completely downhill,” Jae remarked in a low mutter.

“And you don’t have any Love Potions on hand, I assume?” I asked.

“Nope. I’ve run out--I’m not expecting my next batch for a while,” Jae responded.

“Maybe Penny might be willing to lend her potion brewing talents again for this cause?” Andre suggested. “After all, she did brew the Beautification Potion, the Wit Sharpening Potion…”

“A Sleeping Draught, a Draught of Peace, a Forgetfulness Potion, and a Polyjuice Potion,” I recalled with a nod. “Well, I just hope she’s up to it. My ability to stop Rakepick from finding the last Vault might depend on it.”

“We better head back to Hogwarts in the meanwhile,” Jae said. “The Halloween Feast should be starting soon.”

“Yes, let’s. We’ll talk this through with Penny when we can.”

So many things were riding on my ability to beat Rakepick to the last Cursed Vault. I just hoped against hope that my friends would not abandon me for this crucial mission once more.

[iwritethat]

Nightwing: Alter Egos

A/N: I would like to apologise for my absence and lack of content, but new year so I’ll try harder. But there’s still CHRISTMAS and Halloween stories I want to post... Better late than never? If you want them that is.

(In this Nightwing and (Y/n) don’t know about one another’s vigilante life. Yet.)

>>>>—————————>

Usually, none of the team got a large amount of personal time with villains constantly threatening to end the world on a daily basis, but during rare periods of relaxation you spent the majority of your time with Dick Grayson - who happened to be one of your closest friends.

Obviously you couldn't tell him about being (s/h/n) because of the unspoken 'secret identity' rule despite how much you wanted to, however this arrangement did have it's advantages such as being able to keep your personal and hero lives separate.

"Hey (y/n)?" Rang through your mind and you noticed a hand waving in front of your face bringing you back to reality.

You were out shopping with Dick for your friends' Christmas presents, specifically for Wally who remained a mutual friend.

"You just completely zoned out on me." Dick laughed, seeing your confused expression.

"Did I? Sorry, I was thinking." You apologised, pushing his hand away with a smile.

"I guessed - are you gonna tell me what about, a big time crush maybe or some deep dark secret?" Grayson continued, tone filled with fake wonderment.

"Maybe, you tell me yours and I'll tell you mine." Was your upbeat response, implying that you were playing around.

"Deal - I'm Nightwing." Dick happily grinned, though his careless nature lead you to doubt him.

"Oh really?"

"No of course not (y/n), there's no way I'd have the time and I like my beauty sleep." Your friend assured you, maybe part of you was hoping he wasn't joking.

"That's a shame." You responded, tone still carrying some happiness as you continued looking through the stores' merchandise.

"How so?" Curiousity had got the better of Dick and he wanted to know what you had to say about him - uh Nightwing.

"Okay, well Nightwing is pretty cool, he has that cocky attitude that's quite attractive sometimes, being a vigilante is always a bonus and he must be good looking - from what I can tell. And his body! It's so amazing, he is just - umm I think I'm going too far?" You dragged yourself out of your lecture on Nightwing's alluring attributes once glancing over to Dick who seemed bemused with a raised brow.

"Oh no, please continue." Dick commented, undeniably enthralled and flattered but he couldn't understand the sinking feeling in stomach, you were saying these things about him yet to you, Nightwing was a completely different person.

"He's my favourite hero - that's all, possibly a tiny crush but it's unrealistic and I haven't even met the guy so I'm not going to fall head over heels in love with him. So don't look at me like that." You justified, true you weren't in love with the hero and you assumed your need to prove that to Dick Grayson was probably because you secretly liked him. Ah so many secrets.

"I get it (y/n), I personally think (s/h/n) is quite hot and a beautiful fighter." Dick responded wistfully, you couldn't help but blush even it was your alter ego he was talking about. It was times such as these you wished to tell him.

"Like you say, I haven't met her so she could be crazy for all I know. How about this for Wally?"  Dick questioned, holding up a Flash Sweatshirt.

"No, he already has one." You reminisced, though you didn't forget his previous comment whilst he gazed at you skeptically leading you to defend your answer.

"Trust me he does, I bet we can find something else - if not you can just buy him food. And you're right, Nightwing could be a fuckboy." You stated nonchalantly, Dick however had to do a double take before following you out of the store desperately reminding you of your previous compliments of the hero much to your amusement.

~Time Skip~

The small Christmas gathering held at the Cave was quite exciting, though it was last minute so most were still dressed in their uniforms. Wally and Artemis even made an appearance which was unexpected but you were thankful, it had been a while since they'd left the team and admittedly it was quiet without them - even with the new recruits.

Wally knew about both yours and Nightwing's secret identities - being friends with both of you outside of heroing, but only found out who you were by accident. Honestly, he couldn't understand why Dick and yourself hadn't told each other but he'd promised to keep your secrets anyway because it wasn't his place to reveal such things - there were alternate ways to do so.

"You can see why someone would call you a fuckboy though right? The charm, the flirting, dating quite a few girls..." You half heartedly continued, responding to Nightwing's rambling of how his 'friend' outright insulted him.

"Yeah but (s/h/n) I really like this one. A lot, to the point where I don't even understand it. They're just everything I could ever want, I love everything that they do. I don't particularly want them to see me like that." Realisation hit the young hero, you on the other hand were watching on in disbelief but also with a look of sympathy.

You and Nightwing were close, so you got to know him well and you'd often talk to each other but this was new. Nightwing seemed lost in this person unlike any others you'd seen him with, even more so than with Zatana.

You smirked, ignoring the sudden breeze beside you and enlightened Nightwing with your wonderful advice.

"Wow aren't you love struck? It's horrible, I never thought I'd see the day, you should tell 'em what you just told me -"

"Sorry to interrupt guys but..." Wally intervened, pointing upwards towards the mistletoe dangling above your heads. Darn it.

"No no no. See, I've been avoiding that all evening, there wasn't any there earlier so how -" You argued before your eyes fell onto a smug Wally, too bad Kid Flash didn't forget how to use his super speed.

"One kiss?" Ex-boy wonder urged, since he knew neither of you would escape Wally's 'plan'.

Evidently, it was going to happen and kissing your superhero crush was a dream come true you supposed, so you went along with it. You placed one hand on his cheek/jaw and guided him to your lips and his held your waist loosely. Neither of you increased the intimacy, it only lasted 3 seconds maximum once you pulled away.

Wally held an expression of disappointment as that was not his desired outcome, the kiss you had just shared with his best friend was supposed to mean something. It was meant to be intimate and loving, you were supposed to tell/realise your feelings for each other - but nooo you're both just continuing your conversation like it never happened once you'd removed yourselves from the mistletoe. Wally threw his head back and sighed in frustration, he returned to Artemis who smirked at her boyfriend's antics.

"Nice try babe."

.

"Why did you pull away so fast?" Nightwing asked once you'd escaped the evil foliage.

"Same reason as you - I like someone else." You answered honestly, if Nightwing is willing to come to you with his relationship problems then you can get advice from him.

"Elaborate."

"I made the stupid - and clićhe - mistake of falling in love with my best friend." You proclaimed simply, rolling your eyes at your own idiocy.

"Hm, lucky guy." Nightwing's voice rang with cheerfulness once again.

"You would think, but I'm pretty sure my alter ego is friend zoned." Your tone upbeat and sarcastic causing you both to laugh.

~Time Skip~

You knocked on the door to the Manor, Bruce was invited to a gala for the New Year's celebration but the others decided to stay at the Manor which is where you were heading after Dick had asked if you were free.

It was late and New Years was approaching, wonderful at least at a party you may have the opportunity to kiss someone for good luck but you didn't mind missing out for your friends. Luck be damned.

"Miss (Y/n) I believe you left your scarf here from your previous visit, it is in Master Dick's room if you wish to collect it." Alfred greeted as you walked into the warmth the Manor provided.

"Sure, thanks Alfred." You nodded, going through to find Dick to ask for permission to enter his bedroom.

"Hey, can I grab my scarf from your room?" You called, politeness evident though you had given up your search since the Manor was huge.

"Sure (y/n)!" Dick responded from wherever he was, he understood and wouldn’t have minded if you didn’t ask but still.

Upon hearing his approval you made your way up the stairs and followed the route you knew by heart, calmly you opened his door and went to find your scarf. That's when you saw it, a Nightwing uniform strew across the bedroom floor, a string of curse words left your mouth after you got over your initial shock. Either Dick was Nightwing or an avid cosplayer, and if it was the latter why hadn’t he invited you?!

Cautiously, you began to piece together various situations in your head - as far as you knew no one else had insulted Nightwing via calling him a 'fuckboy' and did you really tell your best friend that you thought he had an amazing body that one time? Yes. Yes you did.

Taking a deep breath, you raced down stairs of the Manor focused on finding your friend despite the recent discoveries that were nagging at the back of your mind. Now most things made sense, if Dick was Nightwing then you were hoping that the 'friend' he was talking about was you - since you were the one who dared rip into his alter ego, though only in a friendly way.

Still you continued your search and luckily ran into him - literally. Arms were around your waist in an instant whilst you were mentally cursing yourself, you'd hoped it'd be smoother than this but you were willing to work with what you had considering the mini countdown ticking down to zero in your head - it was midnight!

"(Y/n) what are y-"

Instantaneously, you cut 'Nightwing' - Dick Grayson off by crashing your lips into his, unlike last time Dick was much more willing to reciprocate for you. Being lip locked with you meant so much to him and personally he wanted to make it last even if it was just for his own pleasure but was determined to make sure it was for yours as well.

Dick had eliminated all distance between you, his body was pressed against yours with his hands roaming your body and his lips moving against yours causing you to release a bearly audible moan. Though Dick heard it, of course he did, that's what he has been trying to earn from you the entire time - it meant he was making you feel good which was all he really wanted.

So when you felt him smile into the kiss after your small lapse of control you weren't surprised, painfully slowly you pulled away to leave a slight space between your lips'.

"Am I doing something wrong?" Dick inquired, his tone almost a soft whisper but carried a hint of disappointment that he'd tried to disguise.

"No, it’s amazing. You're amazing." You assured before he closed the gap again being more slow and gentle this time, deriving further pleasure for the both of you.

"That was nice... And Happy New Year fuckboy."

"Mmm, (y/n) - say what?!" Dick started, almost dreamily until your words had registered.

"I found this little thing - a uniform to be precise - on your floor." You replied, smirking slightly.

"(Y/n) I can explain just- just come with me." Dick pleaded, frustrated with himself for not putting it away in his rush to get ready. Quickly he guided you to the lounge, silently asking you to take a seat before he paced for a short time seemingly distressed. You faced your best friend expectantly, he had an explanation but where to start was a mystery.

"I wanted to tell you - I would have but with  Batman and the team and I couldn't. It kept you safer too, (y/n) please I know you must be angry -" Dick began, rubbing the back of neck sheepishly.

"No I'm not angry, I completely understand." You cheerfully replied, your expression showing contentment.

"I'm so sorry (y/n) - what?" Dick looked at you completely puzzled, speechless, dumbfounded - he wasn't expecting this at all.

"That... was uh... easier than I thought?" The male concluded, still spectacle of your behaviour so much so he began to question reality.

"Yup, but just so we're even... Promise you won't freak out?" You requested politely, hoping he would react the way you did.

"I think I can do that." He nodded.

"I'm (s/h/n)." You blurted out, but you didn't get the desired response, instead you received a questioning look that implied he did not believe you.

"Trust me, you kissed me under the mistletoe at Mount Justice, the mission with the Ice villains, oh - when Bart crashed into our timeline. I also remember you talking about how love struck you were because of your friend." The final aspect of your explanation elicited a response from the one opposite you, he was blushing.

"You remembered that." Dick asked though it was more of a statement.

"I did."

"Well uh that friend - it was you (y/n), I don't understand or really know how to explain my feelings. You are everything I could ever want and I love everything you do. Shit (y/n) - I just really want to be good enough for you." Dick repeated the words he'd said to (s/h/n), or you as he'd just recently discovered, with sincerity.

"That's a relief because you're that best friend I told you about - I fell for you too." You replied sheepishly, getting to your feet.

You had no idea how happy that made him, he was in front of you in an instant placing yet another kiss on your lips.

"You give good advice (s/h/n) - and I recall you saying something about Nightwing having an amazing body." Grayson was smirking, cockiness practically radiating off of him knowing he had you cornered.

"You remembered that."

"I did." Grayson sang rather smugly, this beginning a new year with a new adventure.

...

"Oh I need to get my scarf, do you want to come with me?" You suggested, successfully changing the subject.

"Where is it (y/n)?" Dick inquired, more than willing to help you find it despite losing his moment.

"In your bedroom..."

[fanficsaremylifeline]

Now that’s what you call irony

On AO3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21891523

*****

“Dude, going to the Museum of Science and Technology used to be a bit more interesting when we were kids”, Peter whispered quietly to Ned.

“No, it wasn't, but working with Ironman and being a scientific impossibility yourself, you're just too spoiled. And now shut it, I want to listen.” With that, Ned turned back to the front where a museum attendee told them something or other about the mechanics of... something. Or maybe something else, Peter wasn't really paying attention. Yes, he loved going to museums and the experimenting areas were kind of fun, but until they got to that point, they still had some listening to do.

Lost in his thoughts, Peter strayed a bit form the group and inspected an old Ironman suit. Mark VIII, Peter was pretty sure of that, since he was there, when that bit of circuitry that was displayed was created, scratch that, Peter was the one who had build that thing; when Mr Stark told him that Mark VIII would be displayed, Peter had extra snuck  into the lab the night before the exhibition and carved his initials into the wire board. Mr Stark probably knew, but hadn't said anything.

“Show-off”, MJ murmured, as she pushed past him, all that as usual without looking up from her book. And, if Peter didn't know her the way he did, he would have probably missed the little proud grin she tried to hide there.

Yes, Peter had endlessly boasted to Ned, MJ, Aunt May and all the Avengers and it was one of the greatest joys that his work was actually in a museum. Not that anybody'd know it was his work, but still. Peter knew, and that was enough to make his chest warm with pride. Having basked in the glory for long enough, Peter turned to join his class again and bumped right into somebody else.

“Sorry, shit, I'm so sorry!”, Peter apologized as he took a quick step back.

“I'm just as much to blame”, the other guy smiled and kneeled down to pick up Peter's notepad that he had dropped. “Here you go”, he offered it, in a quite nice Southern drawl.

“Thanks”, Peter grinned back and cursed himself for the blush that crept up his cheeks right now. One nice looking guy shooting him a beautiful smile like that, and all of Peter's eloquence was out the window. Fine, admittedly, Peter wasn't all that eloquent when he wasn't flustered, but still.

“I'm Harley by the way”, the guy smiled, still holding Peter's notebook.

“Peter.”

“It's nice to meet you, Peter.” That really was a beautiful smile...

“You part of a tour or...?”

“No, I'm here by myself. New in town, you know? Just finding my way around the city, checking out the sights and stuff.”

“Cool”, Peter grinned back, “did you come here for school, then?” Harley didn't look all that much older than Peter.

“I just finished high school”, he explained. “For now I'm with a friend, who got me a job here so I could get some work experience, before I go off to College.”

“Great friend.”

“PETER!” His teacher's calling interrupted their talk.

“Sorry, gotta go. But hey”, he added, “if you on the lookout for some non-work friends to get to know the city...”

“I might just take you up on that offer”, Harley grinned. He flipped the notepad open and wrote down his phone number, before handing it over to Peter. “If you know of anything fun going on, give me a message.”

“I will”, Peter nodded and once again, blushed as intensely as his spider suit. “Right. See you 'round then, Harley.”

Peter jogged over to where his class was heading into the next showroom, but just before he too disappeared through the doors, he turned one more time, to find Harley waving at him.

.-.-.-.-.-.

“Harley”, he was greeted when walking back into the Avenger's common room. “How was your day in the city?”

“Pretty good”, he grinned at Tony. Met someone cute... But that wasn't something he could just tell the mechanic right away, he would tease Harley for the next twenty years if he did.

“Good for you then. You hungry?”

“Nah, I already ate.”

“What do you say then, a round of lab before Pepper forces us to go to bed?”

“Yeah, sounds perf...” His ringing phone interrupted him.

.

Unknown number: Hey Harley, it's Peter. Was just wondering: what's your stance on Lego?

Harley: I love Lego!

Peter: Great, because my friend Ned just got the Millenium Falcon set and maybe you wanna work with us on that?

Harley: Sounds good! Text me when and where and I'll be there

Peter: *thumbs up*

.

“Keener? You coming?”

“Yeah, sorry.” He put his phone away and tried his damnedest not to grin too much like an idiot that only a few hours after meeting him, Peter already checked in.

He didn't need to look up at Tony to know that the mechanic had his eyebrow raised. But he stayed quiet, only looked at Harley and – unsuccessfully – tried to bite down his smirk.

“Right, let's get back to work!”

.-.-.-.-.-.

“So, how long have you been in New York?”, Ned asked, as he reappeared from the carton of Legos.

“Today actually makes two weeks”, Harley answered after counting the days and weeks. It was only slightly adorable that he used his fingers for that. “And this is how you spend your Saturdays?”

“Uh, mostly, yeah...” Ned and Peter exchanged a quick look. It wasn't like Peter could tell the new guy about his arachnid-powered extra curriculars.

“But you're not into Lego.” He turned to MJ, who was sprawled out on the couch, having her nose in her book.

“Because I'm not a loser”, she made clear, not bothering to look over, though.

“Cool.” He turned back to Peter with a wide grin. “I like her.”

“You'll get over that”, MJ deadpanned. Peter was pretty sure that behind the book she was biting down her grin.

“Sure thing”, Harley chuckled, and back to work they went, getting to know each other, joking and the afternoon flew by. Until Harley's phone rang.

“Hey mechanic”, he answered it, after shrugging apologetically. “I told you I'm out. With friends. Yes, I do. No, I didn't make them up! Dude, I'm gonna hang up on you, if you don't stop this shit. Oh yes, I'll do it. Fine.” And like that, he hang up on the call and put his phone away again.

“Sorry, just my boss”, he explained.

“You talk like this to your boss?” The boys looked at him with wide eyes, even MJ glanced over her book.

“He's cool enough for that.”

Harley was just about to explain a bit further, when Peter's phone rang. Mr Stark. Well, he maybe shouldn't shock the new kid with the father-like relationship he had with Ironman, but if he didn't answer, Tony would probably fly to Ned's place, given that he had Peter chipped, in probably no time at all.

“Sorry, that's my... mentor”, he apologized and answered the call.

“Hey.”

“Pete, hey, how are you doing? You out patrolling?”

“No, I'm at Ned's, we're building the Millenium Falcon.”

“Right, your nerd stuff.” Hm, Tony sounded somewhat off.

“You alright?”, he asked, only slightly worried about him.

“Yeah, just had some kind of.. thing with another intern. And I wanted to make sure that you at least still love me.”

Peter could only roll his eyes, but smiled as he answered: “S'pose I do...”

“Wow. What a ringing endorsement... You coming by tomorrow then?”

“May's off work, we're having a day in.”

“No patrolling all weekend? I'm getting worried, you're actually turning into a responsible young adult.”

“Haha”, Peter deadpanned and only shook his head. Harley opposite him shot him some curious grins and Peter could only shrug back. “If I do, I'll call.”

“Appreciated. Right then, let me let you get back to your nerd-club.”

“Right. Oh and, by the way, I do love you.”

“Damnit, Pete”, Mr Stark got out after a few moments of silence. “I have a reputation! But yeah, I love you, too.”

“Call ended”, FRIDAY announced and Peter put his phone away, with a wide smile.

“Sorry. My mentor... He tends to have attention issues, meaning, he needs more than he can sometimes get.”

“Understatement”, MJ snorted.

“My boss is the same way.” Harley patted Peter's arm and smiled understandingly. “I get how you feel.”

.

It had been a few weeks since Peter and Harley met. The new kid regularly joined in on their Lego dates, and during the week, they spend more and more time together, time, that usually would have ended up as patrolling or lab time with Mr Stark. So, during a rather quiet day of stopping currently non-existent crime, Peter was more than happy when his mentor called.

“Hey Mr Stark”, Peter called out, as he sat on a roof top, letting his feet dangle.

“You patrolling?”

“That sounds more like a statement than a question”, Peter shot back, knowing full well, that Mr Stark probably looked at his location right now.

“How was Lego?”

Peter was very aware that Tony did not deny the accusations, but shrugged it of. “Was fun. We finished the Millenium Falcon!” Peter really wanted to tell Mr Stark about Harley, wanted to tell him for weeks. But the man knew him too well, two sentences in and Peter's little crush would be as plain as a bright orange elephant, dancing the cancan in a purple – green skirt.

“Wow, your story telling makes me feel like I was right there with you”, he scoffed.

“Sorry... I just know you don't really like Lego.”

“But you do, ergo it's important to me, too.”

“Aww, Mr Stark!”, Peter cooed, “your boring business stuff is important to me, too.”

“Thanks, kid”, he chuckled drily. “Means the world. But I'm serious, it seems like I haven't seen you in forever and just want to catch up.”

“You joined me on patrol only two days ago.”

“Right, but we haven't worked together in the lab in almost two months”, Tony moped.

“I know, I hate it, too”, Peter nodded. “I'm sorry that I'm so busy.”

“Not your fault”, Tony assured him, “last year of high school and being this city's favourite superhero is a lot. You're gonna come to the SI Halloween party though, right?”

“Like I'd miss that!” He already had been last year, where Thor came dressed as a unicorn. It was the most fun, ever.

“Good, I should hope so!”

“Well, then, let me let you get back to saving the city.” As Harley walked into the lab, Tony was on the phone, waving at Harley as he saw him. “Yes. Of course...” He rolled his eyes, but with the fondest smile. “Right then. You too.”

“Harley.” After hanging up, Tony turned to him.

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah, Spider-Man's just a bit of a pain in my ass... But so are you”, he added with a smirk.

“The universe will have its reasons for putting us in your path.”

“The universe is an asshole”, Tony made clear and nodded at Harley. “Come on, there's work to be done here.”

Harley tried to focus on the potato gun, he really did. But there were some brown curls, and hazel eyes that just didn't want to leave his mind. It was ridiculous, he'd known Peter for like seven weeks (and three days, but who was counting?) and he already had a crush on that guy. pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

“I'm being incredibly intelligent over here and you don't seem to give two shits. What's wrong?”

“Nothing's wrong, just caught in my thoughts.”

“Mhm... Thinking about something specific?” Tony's suggestive tone, paired with that smirk could only mean that Tony knew that Harley was crushing, hard.

“No, not really”, he lied, hopefully good enough for the mechanic to let it be.

“Right then.” Clearly, he did not buy one bit of it, but changed the subject nonetheless. “I told you about the Halloween party, right?”

“You did. I'm so looking forward already!”, he beamed up.

“Well, question. Do you have a date?”

“A date? Why do I need a date for the Halloween party?”

“Me and Pepper, Steve and Barnes, Clint and Laura...”

“Yeah, I got it”, Harley interrupted it. “But it's not like it's only couples, right?” Harley did not want to do that to himself, especially not since he had his own crush to nurse.

“Right then, if you don't have a date, there's this intern, in the robotics department. She's smart, sweet and...”

“And a she...”, Harley threw in. They never had the talk about his sexuality, but well, maybe now was the right time.

“Oh. Alright then, there's this other intern, he's a first semester business student, really cute too, smart and...”

“And thanks, but no.”

“Ok, then how about the guy in HR who took care of your paperwork?”

“Had a picture of a girl with hearts around it on his desk.”

“Fine.” Tony did not relent, apparently he was hell bent on finding Harley a date. “Oh, Marcus, he's an aspiring engineer, definitely gay, has a rainbow pin on his bag. And I'm pretty sure he's single and...”

“I'm already seeing someone”, Harley blurted out. Fuck. Yes, it was the only way to shut the mechanic up, but still. It was a lie.

“Wait, you are?” Tony's grimace turned from confusion, to somehow more confusion. “Who? When? What... Why did you never tell me?”

“Because you can get a little intense and I wanted to make sure that we're good, before telling you.”

“Huh.” Tony fell back on the bench, silent, pensive for a little while, before a grin broke out. “I really am an idiot, I should have known. For weeks you've been, well, not weird per se, but... Doesn't matter”, the mechanic interrupted himself. “Tell me about him! What's he like, how did you meet, how long...”

“Woah, woah, take it down a notch, will ya?” Harley raised his hands at Tony. “We met at the Science Museum, I gave him my number, he texted and we went out.”

“I want to meet him! Can I?”

Uhm, that would be a little difficult, since he did not know they were dating. His and Peter's story was just the only one in Harley's head. And now he had to convince Peter to be his fake boyfriend to meet the one and only Ironman, Tony Stark, who Peter actually had a poster of in his room!

“I'll talk to him, alright?”

“Sure. Sorry, I don't want to be pushy”, Tony apologized and put his arm around Harley's shoulder. “I just... You know, you can come to me with those things. If there are any issues, any questions or something, I'm happy to talk with you about... feelings and shit.”

“I really appreciate that, but I feel that speech would have felt more human if it came from Dum-E.” He raised an eyebrow at him and Tony's face just dropped.

“I'm trying here.” He took a deep breath. “My dad never really showed me any support and I'm just trying to break the cycle of shame. I mean what I just said.”

“Thanks”, Harley smiled and leaned against the mechanic. “Means the world.”

“Good. Now, I'm done talking feelings, unless there is something you want to say or ask.”

“Nah, I'm good. Could do with a bit of engineering, though.”

.

Harley: Hey man, can we meet up?

Peter: Like, right now?

Harley: Yeah... That cool?

Peter: Sure. Usual coffee shop?

Harley: See you there *thumbs up*

.

“Came as fast as I could!”, Peter grinned as he jogged into the café, where Harley already sat in their regular booth, with Peter's regular cherry-chocolate milkshake. “Aw, thanks man”, he smiled and slid in opposite his friend, pushing down the excited flutter that Harley knew his order.

“You look pretty winded. Did you run all the way here?”

No, I swung. “No”, he shook his head. “Getting a big head, are you?”

“Well, maybe, because you might not want to spend all that much time with me after I told you what's up.”

“Huh.” Peter searched Harley's face for clues, but found nothing but a contrite blush. “What's up then?”

“Yeah, well, so... My boss tried to set me up with everybody at the firm, and the only way I knew to shut him up was to tell him that I'm already seeing someone.”

Oh, Peter just had the hunch of an idea where this was heading.

“I didn't mention any names, but you're the only one who I know well enough to have a chance of pulling this of with.”

“So, you want to fake-date me?”, Peter summarized.

“I do.”

And Peter's heart skipped all the beats and dropped at the same time. He could be together with Harley, but none of it would be real. Peter had read too many fanfics and seen too many romcoms to think this could be a good idea. And yet...

“Sure.”

“Really?” Harley's eyes went wide and a smile spread from ear to ear. “You would be my pretend boyfriend so I can get my boss off my back?”

“Sounds like fun”, Peter shrugged, hoping his grin didn't look as forced as it felt.

“And I promise, it's gonna be one evening every now and then, not too much.”

“So he really wants to meet me?”

“We're quite close”, Harley offered as explanation. “But I'll make sure that it won't happen too often.”

Two days later, Peter and Harley were back at the coffee shop, here to be a couple and meet Harley's boss.

“Ok, I don't want you to be uncomfortable, so we don't need to do anything you don't want to do”, Harley assured him.

“Same with you”, Peter shrugged. “I can get, well, affectionate when I like someone. And luckily I like you enough to snuggle it up”, he added with a grin. Well, he not only liked Harley enough to touch him, but so much that he couldn't wait for Harley's arm around his shoulder, holding his hand, side against side... Oh, this was such a horrible idea.

“Alright, he's here”, Harley announced as a car stopped in front of the coffee shop, a weirdly familiar car. “Just one more thing. I know I didn't tell you until now who my boss is, because I know you're quite the fan.”

Shit. This was Mr Stark's car. FUCK!

“Omigod.” Peter turned beet-red and turned away. But there was no place to hide in this freaking coffee shop! Fuck, what did they get themselves into?

“Don't be nervous”, Harley whispered over,  completely misreading the situation, “he's a lot less intense than you'd think.”

Peter hid his face in his hands as the door chimes rang when Tony walked into the coffee shop.

“Harley. And I assume that must be your paramour?” Oh fuck, FUCK!

“Yeah”, Harley grinned and grabbed Peter's hand, pulling him to face Mr Stark. “Tony, this is...”

“Pete?”

“Hi Mr Stark”, Peter mumbled, just hoping a hole would open in the ground and swallow him whole. Alternatively he wouldn't mind turning invisible. Or maybe the sun could explode, Peter was flexible.

“So I guess you two know each other”, Harley commented looking from one to the other.

“Yeah, so you remember that mentor I kept telling you about?”

“Oh.” Harley blushed similarly intense as Peter did, as the realization hit that this was not going to be over after one or two dinners.

Tony just stared from one to the other with wide eyes.

“Yeah, uhm, so Mr Stark”, Peter mumbled, realizing that he never actually came out to his mentor, “I'm bisexual.”

“Oh, fuck, this is a disaster”, Harley muttered under his breath; without his spider hearing Peter would probably not have heard it.

Tony was still speechless, uncomfortably so. And Peter just had to do something to break the silence. He didn't have to, though, as Tony burst out laughing, loud and heartily.

“Right.” Neither of the teens knew how to react or to interpret his laughter.

“I'm sorry, boys. I really am. This is just priceless.” Tony put a hand on each of their shoulders. “I knew you two were hiding something from me, I just didn't expect it to be each other.”

This was so fucking surreal. And this was gonna be horrible.

Eventually they managed to sit themselves down, Harley and Peter on one side of the booth, Tony on the other, not leaving them out of sight. And it was so awkward. Neither Harley nor Peter dared to touch the other and the blush on Peter's face didn't seem to die down. Not even the cold milkshake helped against the heat.

“So, I guess that'd make you the Peter I've heard so much about”, Harley eventually remarked.

“And you're the potato-gun-kid then, huh?”, Peter shot back.

“You two've been dating for what, a month? And you never figured out that you're both my pain-in-the-ass teens?”

“We did not.”

“How? I mean, I'm basically the best thing in either of your lives, so that should have come up.”

There was only one way to get out of this mostly unscathed, and that was to get back with as much sass as Peter could muster up. “Well, I guess it's safe to say that the best thing in my life is Harley.”

Next to him, Harley jumped and blushed a little. It was so adorable, Peter could just cup those cheeks and... No, not in front of Mr Stark. And not at all, because none of this was really real, was it?

“Well. I already prepared my 'you better do right by my Harley'-speech. But since it's pretty much the same as my 'you better do right by my Peter'-speech, I feel like it's a little superfluous.” As the humour of the situation ebbed away, Tony looked somewhat concerned. “Maybe I need my coffee Irish...”

“You're sober”, both boys answered in unison.

“I'm your boss, not the other way around.”

“We'll tell Pepper.”

“You little shits...” Tony pointed at the two with his eyebrows raised. “Damnit, you two really deserve each other.”

Harley grinned over at Peter, similarly skew as Peter felt. “Yeah, I think we might.”

.

“You tell him?”, Tony mumbled, as Harley got up and got the 'lovebirds' another set of milkshakes.

“Not yet”, Peter whispered back, blushing again. He was in a fake relationship with a guy he really crushed on and kept half his identity a secret from him. This was just destined for absolute disaster.

“You think it's wise to keep secrets in a relationship?”

You mean like lying to your father figure about dating his other pseudo-son?

Peter just shrugged. “Up until an hour ago, I thought I could keep him away from all the Avengers madness. But since that ain't gonna happen...”

“I'll keep my mouth shut, if that's what you want.”

“Thanks”, he nodded and shot his mentor a smile, probably the realest and most heartfelt smile all afternoon.

“Right”, Tony nodded as Harley scooted back into the booth. “I think I'll leave you two to your date and...” He pointed from Harley to Peter. “Damnit. Which of you do I need to tell to behave and have my guy home by ten pm?”

“Since I'm the legally grown-up, I'll look after Peter”, Harley grinned and Peter just pulled a grimace.

“Right...” Tony did not look convinced, but shrugged nonetheless. “Well, both of you behave yourselves and act right with my guy.”

“We love you, too”, Peter smiled and with a last grin, Tony turned around and left the 'boyfriends' by themselves. As soon as the car drove off, Peter just dropped his head on the table. How could his life get even more mixed up?

“So, that just happened”, Harley eventually stated.

“And thusly ending the 'only once or twice' idea, making us proper boyfriends.”

“I feel like we didn't properly think this through...”

“No shit...” Peter looked back up at Harley who shot him a skew grin. “Well, suppose we're officially dating.”

“Yeah...” Oh, how much Peter wished that could be true... “Guess next time you're round my place, we'll tell my aunt.”

“And we could come out to the Avengers at the Halloweenparty.”

“That the party 'your boss' tried to hook you up with a date?”

“Yup.”

Huh. Why didn't Tony push for Peter to bring a date to the party? That was something he could ask his mentor another time. “I mean, Couple's Costumes are kinda fun”, Peter grinned.

“I guess they are”, Harley giggled. “How about C3PO and R2D2?”

“Oh, I love that! Or PB and J.”

“Cookies and Milk.”

“Ken and Ken.”

“The couple from the American Gothic painting!”

“Thing 1 and Thing 2.”

“I got it.” Harley's face lit up in the most excited grimace. “I saw this tumblr post, right? About shipping Tony with the Ironmansuit, shipname Irony.”

“Omigod.” Peter burst out laughing. “Yes, yes, definitely!” Given how ironic their relationship was, it was the perfect costume.

“Only issue: the party is in two weeks. Do you really think we can build an entire Ironmansuit by then?”

“Well, if we want to piss of Tony, we should get the cheapest, most ugly costume on Amazon we can find”, Peter grinned, feeling the deviousness surging through him... It was a good feeling, maybe he should someday try the whole super villain thing...

“Peter, you are like the most amazing person”, Harley beamed. “I could kiss you right now! I mean, if we were like really dating, or... you know...” He blushed intensely, prompting Peter to blush along.

Just kiss me, already!

“Yeah, I get it.”

I'm getting infatuated with you, but this is just pretend, I get that. I would really like to be your boyfriend, but I'm just your alibi to get Mr Stark off your case, I get that. And instead of doing the smart thing, saying no and being honest with you, I'm apparently enough of a masochist to do all that to myself, I really definitely get it.

Peter's phone buzzing interrupted the weird silence, and Peter was endlessly grateful.

.

Ned: [picture of Doc Ock]

Ned: just saw it in the news, he's trying to take down brooklyn bridge

.

Shit, Peter had to get there, but without Harley knowing what's up...

“Listen, sorry, that's my Aunt. I need to go, that alright?”

“Sure thing. I'll text you later, ok?”

“Yeah”, Peter grinned, and hurried outside, into the nearest alley way to change. He definitely needed a nanotech suit like the newest Ironman suit, this hiding behind dumpsters and changing really sucked. “KAREN, put an automated suit on my ideas list.”

“Entry saved”, she announced and Peter jumped up and all but flew over the streets of New York.

He arrived at the scene around the same time as Mr Stark.

“Had to cut your date short, huh?”, he grinned, well, probably grinned, Peter couldn't tell with the mask on, but he knew his mentor well enough.

“Can we please focus on the fight?”

“Kid, you alright?” At Peter's harsh tone, Tony's voice went soft, concerned. “I'm sorry, I didn't want to pry.”

“Well, I just had to lie to my boyfriend.” Woah, that felt weird to say out loud... “And that freaking sucked.”

“I get that”, Mr Stark nodded as he shot off one of Octopus' arms.

“I mean, do I tell him?”, Peter asked as he webbed together two more arms and ducked just in time before being decked by arm 4.

“I mean, I know that Harley's quite the Spidey-fan. About as much of a fanboy as you are towards me...” Peter definitely heard the smug grin and was this close to shut down the communication between them.

“Honestly, doesn't look too good for you right now”, Peter scoffed and flipped out of the way of a metal arm, unfortunately right into the next one. “FUCK!” The arm hit him right across the chest, robbing him momentarily of breath and he dropped to the ground like a bag of potatoes.

“Shit, kid, you alright?” Mr Stark swooped in, took Peter a bit away to safety.

“What do you think?” Oh, that was gonna be very blue and purple by tonight. Didn't feel like his ribs got too much of a hit and, once he caught his breath again, he jumped back to his feet. “I'm alright”, he made clear as Ironman moved to inspect him, probably already thinking about swaddling him in blankets and shit. But Doc Ock still had four functioning arms, that motioned to toss a car off the bridge. At least his focus was off Peter and Tony and with webs and repulsors blasting, they managed to get him down in one swift swoop, just before that car, driven by an elderly couple, was pushed off the bridge.

“Are you alright?” While Mr Stark took care of the doc, Peter looked after the couple behind the wheel.

“Uhm, I think so...” The woman looked at Peter with wide eyes. “Thank you, young man. You saved our lives.”

“That's what I'm here for”, he smiled.

“Right then, kid. I'll take care of the mess, you get yourself checked out.” Tony gestured at his chest. “I can call up the medbay. “

“Or I'll go home, where Aunt May can look after me. She's a nurse, remember?”

“Right... And there won't be a certain boyfriend there, who might otherwise find out about your hobbies.”

Of course Mr Stark was completely right. Peter hated going to May with injuries, she was always so worried and he hated worrying his Aunt. But maybe running into Harley, who would find out that Peter had lied to him, and then even their fake relationship would end... No, he'd rather take his chances with his aunt.

“There also won't be a certain mentor”, Peter shot back, putting as much sarcasm and annoyance in his voice as he could, “who keeps on pestering me about my love life.”

That shut Mr Stark up, who eventually just waved him off. “Fine, go home. But you at least message me once Aunt hottie gave you the once over.”

“I will.” He gave his mentor the thumbs up and took off. Which hurt. So freaking much. When he finally climbed in through his window, he could let out all the pent up groans of pain, immediately bringing his aunt into his room.

“I do not like that sound one bit. Off with that thing.” She gestured at his suit and Peter complied.

“Doc Ock”, he explained, “swung into one of those arms.”

Peter didn't look down his chest, Aunt May's wide eyes were enough to know that it looked about as bad as it felt.

“Peter, how the hell am I supposed to feel alright to let you out on the street if you keep coming back looking like this...” She gently pushed him down to sit on his bed and cautiously patted his chest. “Doesn't feel like anything's broken, probably contused though. Wait, I got some stuff.”

She left to get the lotion and Peter dropped on his back.

That were some fucked-up few hours. Seriously, what the fuck did Peter get himself into? And he didn't even bother that much about the octopus-arm-shaped bruise, it was more thee knot inside his chest that sucked.

He and Harley really had to be a couple now. A real couple, even though everything was fake.

“Here, that should help with the...”

“May, I'm in a relationship”, he blurted out, great, lying to the next person he loved.

“Oh?” The worry on her face made way for a curious smile. She sat next to him on the bed, stayed silent, but looked all expectantly.

“Harley and me, we're... we're a thing.”

“Finally”, May smiled and carefully put her arm around his shoulder, making sure not to hurt him. “You've been crushing on that boy since you met him.”

Fuck, May really could read him like an open book. Of course she knew he was into him, probably from the moment he first mentioned Harley, his feelings were completely obvious to her.

“Yeah, I guess I did”, Peter admitted. “But well... He's really close with his boss and he wanted us to meet. So we met this afternoon.”

“I assume there's a big thing coming...”

“Yeah, so it's Tony. Stark. Who apparently is to Harley what he's to me.”

“Oh wow.” May started laughing and shot him the widest smile, once she had calmed a little more. “This... Peter, I'm sorry for laughing, but this is something that could only happen to you.”

And the damn truth was so much worse...

“I'm definitely happy for you and Harley. He seems like a wonderful guy that will treat my wonderful kid just right”, she smiled, pulling Peter a little closer against her side.

“He does.” Peter couldn't help his eyes lighting up. And sure, even if it wasn't real, Peter could just indulge in all that lovey-doveyness and at least pretend that it was true. “He's so funny and smart and genuine and I mean, he's so good looking as well and he's nice, and...” He beamed up at his aunt. “I'm really smitten.”

“That you are. So, if he works with Tony, does he know?”

And here it was again, that shitty feeling in his stomach, so much worse than the bruise on his chest. He just silently shook his head and put his head on her shoulder.

“What does Tony think?”

“That there shouldn't be any secrets in a relationship but that it's ultimately up to me.”

“And what do you think?”

“That I don't want to do to him what I do to you, to Mr Stark, to Ned and MJ.” He glanced up to find her eyes locked unto him. “He's only gonna worry. And I hate that I worry you so much and... I don't know, I'm scared I guess.”

“Scared that he'll be hurt you didn't tell him?”

“That”, Peter nodded, “and also... I don't know, I just don't want to burden him.”

May stayed silent, just nodded, and put a kiss on his head. “If you want to talk about it, you can always come to me, you know that, right?”

“Thanks.”

“Good. Now, let's see what we can do about that horrific bruise.”

.-.-.-.-.

Fuck, Harley was nervous. Peter was on his way to the compound; they'd tinker in the lab with Tony around, meaning they had to be a couple. And a convincing one at that. The mechanic knew both of them well enough to read every little hesitation and he would be watching the boys like a hawk.

Playing the part... Harley was pretty sure he would have no issues whatsoever, his gigantic crush fuelled enough blushing, staring, and hopefully plenty of touching, too. The bigger issue was not trying to lose himself in this lie, because once it ended, Harley would crash, hard.

“Hi darling.” Peter's voice brought Harley back to reality and seeing his 'boyfriend' skip over, all the butterflies in his stomach went into overdrive. And that grin... Awkwardly, Harley smiled back.

“Hey, Peter.”

“So, we're really going to be under scrutiny right now.” Peter walked up to him, closer and closer until they were mere centimetres apart and the breath hitched in Harley's throat.

“Uhm, yeah.” And cue the blush.

Peter's eyes searched his, blushing just like Harley. “Like... should we hug or... kiss?”

It took a few moments for the white noise in Harley's head to ebb down, allowing him to properly compute what Peter just suggested.

“Ehem.” The mechanic's harrumph broke the tension and the boys jumped apart, staring wide-eyed at their mentor, who walked in, towards the workstation. “I would like to remind the two of you that I do have an AI with eyes everywhere.”

“Mr Stark, that doesn't bother me ever since you chipped me”, Peter scoffed, trying to hide the blush as he made his way to an engineering project he had to do for school.

“You chipped him?” Harley's fell face again, staring at his mentor. “Wait, did you chip me, too?”

“I didn't”, Tony made clear. “And I didn't chip... Well, it doesn't matter. You gonna do some work or make eyes at Peter all the time?”

Peter dove halfway under the table to hide, and Harley felt the same way. But he was nothing if not a pain in Tony's ass, so he wouldn't let himself be taunted and, after a deep breath, he went back to his current robotic project.

But his mind was still caught in his and Peter's earlier almost-kiss... Or maybe it wouldn't have ended up like that. Harley's mind still fluttered at the thought of Peter all up in his personal space, of how he could feel Peter's breath against his skin, how Peter's eyes had locked onto Harley's and how hard he had to fight for his gaze not to drop down on Peter's lips.

And all of a sudden, Peter stood next to him, arms brushing. “You need a hand?”

“Sure.” Damnit, Peter was so smart, he knew what kind of help Harley needed, before Harley could even voice it.

The awkwardness didn't last longer than a few minutes though, they soon worked side by side, joking, laughing, even a bit of flirting and the time flew by. It was probably close to an hour later, when Harley realized that Tony was no where to be seen.

“Yo, mechanic?”

Now Peter noticed them being by themselves as well. “FRI, where's Mr Stark?”

“He left the workshop about fifteen minutes ago. He is currently having a cup of coffee in the upstairs kitchen.”

“Huh.” The 'boyfriends' looked at each other. “Did he say why?”

“I can ask him.”

“Nah, no need. We'll ask him ourselves later.”

“We'll do it right now.” Harley grabbed Peter's hand and pulled him along, making their way to the kitchen, where Tony sat by the table with a cup of coffee in front of him. Pretty sure, Harley did not want to know how many the mechanic's already had.

“So let's get this out right away”, he made clear before Tony could say anything. “I like Peter. Like a lot. And we're a thing, fullstop.”

He looked over at Peter who looked at him with wide eyes.

“I get that, and I can respect that. Just let me say that watching my two pseudo-kids flirting with each other takes a bit getting used to.”

“We're not gonna keep our distance though”, Peter explained, finally out of his trance, and stepped a bit closer to Harley's side, which probably combusted on contact.

“You're not supposed to, just give me some time to stomach you guys being sickeningly adorable.”

“Says the guy who starts drooling when his fiancée walks into the room”, Peter deadpanned, and Harley could only snort a laugh in agreement.

“Fine. I assume that you guys are hungry?”

“You know me”, Peter grinned.

“I do...” Tony rolled his eyes and shot Harley a pointed look. “If you ever wanna take that one out to dinner, you better save up; I know Pete doesn't look it, but he eats more than you and me put together.”

“I know”, Harley grinned at Peter, who he once watched inhaled an entire pizza in the same time Harley took to eat only two pieces himself. “You might need to pay me more...”

“That'd be the day”, Tony scoffed. “FRI?”

“Pizza is already on its way, boss.”

“Thanks. You two crazy kids, go wash up and FRI, keep an eye on them, will ya?”

They just rolled their eyes at him and Peter laced their fingers together very slowly and showy, which was nice. Like really nice. And if Harley was lucky, he might hold on a little longer.

.-.-.-.-.

Peter sat on a roof top, letting his feet dangle, when Mr Stark landed next to him.

“Hey Pete.” He sat himself down next to Peter and looked over as his mask folded back. “What's up?”

“Do you have an issue with me and Harley?”, Peter blurted out, a lot blunter than intended, but well.

“Of course I don't. Like I said, it just took me a moment to get used to the idea. And I get it, I really do. You two are adorable together and a blind guy could see how head over heels you are for him. And he for you”, he added with a smile.

Yeah, Peter already got that Harley was an incredibly good actor. All that cutesy couples stuff was unfortunately not that played on Peter's side.

“Ok, then why did you push for him to bring a date to the Halloween Party, but not me?” It had been nagging on Peter forever.

The way Mr Stark turned, Peter probably hit bull's eye with his suspicion.

“Listen, kid...” Oh, that was a great start. “I feel responsible to make sure you're alright. And after your last... let me call it romantic encounter with your classmate and her supervillain dad, I just... I don't know.”

“Right.” Peter didn't get what Mr Stark's issue was. “But since you're his sort of Dad, I don't really need to worry about that, do I? Like, don't get me wrong, I'm sure that if you wanted to go evil, you'd have this country on its knees before lunchtime, but I don't think that'll happen.”

“Thanks for your confidence in me”, Tony chuckled and put his arm around Peter's side. “I don't plan on doing anything evil like that, but I gotta say, now I'm curious to see how quickly I could rule this shit.”

“You'd need to get Pepper on your side first, though”, he grinned up. “She could and definitely would stop you.”

“Huh.” That Mr Stark had clearly not taken into account. “I guess I won't take over the world then.”

“Smart move”, Peter giggled. “I wouldn't want to go over to the dark side.”

“You'd follow me there?” Tony looked actually touched and a bit surprised.

“I mean”, Peter shrugged, not knowing what really to say. “You know all my moves, my tricks, my powers like nobody else, you know all my secrets” - well, almost all of them - “so once you'd join the Sinister Six, my superhero career'd be over.”

“And here I was thinking, you loved me.”

“I do”, Peter made clear and leaned closer into the hug. “So, please just stay good and a hero and we don't have to worry about all that.”

“Fine, promise.” Tony pressed a kiss against Peter's temple and gave his shoulder a soft squeeze. “Love you too, buddy. And, as awkward as you might think it is, because your boyfriend is my other ward, come to me, if you want to talk or anything, alright?”

“Thanks, Mr Stark.”

.

“Perfect.” With a wide grin, Harley inspected their Ironman costume, he and Peter had crafted in Peter's little bedroom. And crafted was an apt comparison; they used all the cardboard boxes they could find in Peter's apartment building and had bought all the gold and red glittering foil the shops in Queens had to offer, held  together by enough hotglue and tape to withstand any Alien attack. In short, the costume was hilariously ugly.

“Mr Stark is so gonna disinherit us”, Peter giggled.

“Worth it”, Harley grinned back and, for the finishing touch, glued the blue arc-reactor, Peter had cut out, on it's chest plate. “Only question: Who gets to wear it, and who gets to draw on a beard and sport the nicest suit five bucks can buy us?”

“I'd say Peter looks a little more like Tony”, May commented and the boys shrieked back in surprise. Neither of them had realized she had been standing in the door, watching them craft their outfit. “Sorry, didn't want to startle you.”

“It's alright.” After catching their breath again, Peter fell back against Harley's side, a place he had barely left in the last few hours. “But yeah, do you think I should be Mr Stark?”

“I mean...” May walked into the room, critically inspecting both their faces. “You've got the darker hair and eyes. And, please don't take this the wrong way honey, but that suit you two made looks like it might be a little too big for you.”

“Hmpf.” Peter looked up a little miffed, but yeah. Not that that cardboard and tinfoil monstrosity would look good on anybody, but Harley could fit it better.

“Don't be miffed”, he grinned, “you get to look good in a nice suit and I mean, that's just perfect for me.”

“Huh?” Peter pulled his face in a confused grimace. “Why is that perfect for you?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Harley saw May stifling a chuckle and in all fondness, Harley couldn't help the eyeroll. “Because you will look hot as hell and I can spend the entire party oggling my good looking boyfriend.”

“Oh.” That blush that spread over Peter's face was just about the most adorable thing. He scrunched his nose a little up, something Harley had noticed every time Peter was complimented. “Thanks”, he mumbled and dropped his head to hide his flushed face.

“You still have your suit from Homecoming”, May threw in, “plus a nice tie and sun glasses and ta da! Tony Stark's double.”

“That doesn't fit me any more”, Peter shrugged, “growth spurt.”

“Right... How can I keep on forgetting that my little nephew is about to outgrow me”, May smiled and playfully tousled Peter's hair, who lost the fight against the blush.

“I could borrow one of Tony's suits”, Harley suggested. “You're almost his size anyway and since we're already going for the worst Ironmansuit, we maybe should at least get the real thing then.”

“Are you sure you can just take one of his suits?”

“I don't think he'll notice”, Peter shrugged, “as long as it's not coffee, his tools, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy or us, he doesn't notice when something's disappeared.”

“Then that's what we'll do”, Harley decided, already endlessly curious for the looks and reactions they'd get from the mechanic and the Avengers.

“Great. But for now we'll have dinner. You're staying Harley, right?”

“Yes, he does”, Peter answered in his place with a cheeky grin and squeezed his hand.

.

“What do you think?” Harley turned to Peter who had just changed into the suit, Harley had gotten from Tony's closet. He was pretty sure the mechanic didn't know, he hadn't said anything at least and Harley had agreed with FRI not to rat him out.

And fuck. That suit looked good on Peter.

It was a deep blue three-piece suit and yes, it was a little bit too big, but not too much; for his seventeen-year-old gangly being Peter was surprisingly muscular. He had his hair gelled back, apparently that was the only way to tame the curls. And he had drawn on Tony's beard.

“Harley?”

Only now, Harley realized that he'd been staring and forced himself to look natural as he looked back up. “You look good. Really. And definitely better than Tony.”

“Aww, thanks”, he grinned. “Can you help me with this, though?” He held a golden tie out with a meek grin. “May tried to teach me, but I didn't really get it.”

“Sure thing.” Harley cleared his throat as he got close enough for him to tie the tie, close enough for them to almost be brushed up against each other and Harley had to pull all his focus on the job at hand to keep from staring into Peter's eyes.

“Here.” Once finished, he straightened the lapels and smoothed the fabric of the tie and the shirt and, as his hands brushed over Peter's chest, Harley could swear he felt him jump.

But there was no time to linger, they were already a little late and should head on over to the party. Since transporting the cardboard-Ironmansuit was a logistical nightmare and pretty much impossible to do that secretly, they had decided on a Ironmanonesie. It was so much more comfortable and Harley could actually move in it, so that was definitely the better call.

He grabbed the sunglasses that he too had snuck out of Tony's wardrobe and gently put them on Peter's face. “Ready?”

“Ready.” Peter grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers and gently squeezed it and together they headed to the giant hall, where all the Avengers, SI employees, well, probably half the city was present.

“Omigod, I'm so honoured.” Tony was the first to greet them; Harley was pretty sure he had waited for the two to finally arrive.

“Can you guess what our costume means?”, Peter answered. “Hint: it's a couples costume.”

“But I'm not dating my suit?”, Tony asked and the touched smile made way for confusion.

“If you did, what would that be called?”

“Reason for therapy?”

“Well...” Harley looked over at Peter. “Guess he isn't a genius after all.”

“I got it.” Pepper came up beside Tony's side, laughing loudly and Harley did not doubt for a second that yes, she knew the answer. She leaned over and whispered her answer into Peter's ear, whose face just lit up in the most beautiful way and he nodded excitedly. “That's exactly right!”

“You're not gonna tell me?” Clutching his chest, Tony shot his fiancée the most heartbroken expression, but she just nodded. “You have to figure it out yourself until they decide to put you out of your misery. But at least now I know where that suit went.” Pepper grinned at Peter who blushed immediately. “You wear it well.”

“Thanks”, he smiled awkwardly.

“Wait, that's my suit!” Yeah, Peter was exactly right with his assumption that Tony wouldn't notice. After a moment of offence, Tony almost looked nostalgic. “Pep's right, you look good kid. But you... I'm almost offended.” He turned to Harley and critically looked him up and down. “You work almost daily on the real stuff and that's what you decided to show up in?”

“Me and Peter did build our own Ironsuit, but unfortunately we couldn't transport it here, so plan B...”

He and Peter both tried to look earnest, as Peter got his phone out to show him their work, both of them fully aware that Tony might not speak with them for the next year or so.

“Alright, so we put so much effort into this, almost destroyed my room, but we just wanted to make sure that it's as close to the original as it could be.” How Peter managed to say that without breaking, Harley had no idea. He squeezed Peter's hand and he turned the phone over at Tony. Whose face dropped almost immediately into pure offence and unbelieving speechlessness. “You... No, I...” With a gaping mouth he looked at Peter, then Harley, before he turned around and walked away without saying another word.

Pepper just started laughing. “You boys are incredible. Fantastic job, I got to say.”

“Thanks”, they grinned in unison, beaming up at Pepper in her beautiful zombie-bride costume. “You look really amazing, too.”

“Thank you. Already testing out such a thing”, she smiled and stroked the wide skirt of the muddied and bloodied wedding dress. “I might not wear that one at the wedding, though; my mother would faint.”

“I would make for a perfectly gorey ringbearer, though”, Harley grinned, until Peter boxed his side.

“If anyone gets to be ringbearer, it's me!”

“Right”, Harley scoffed.

“Exactly right”, Peter shot back, raising his eyebrow in the same challenging way as Tony often did. “Mr Stark likes me more than you.”

“Sure thing. And the earth is flat.”

“He does.”

“No, he doesn't.”

“Yes he does.”

“Boys”, Pepper interrupted. “He loves you both so much. Unfortunately, we already promised Dum-E that he could be ringbearer.”

“But...” Peter's mouth gaped open, before he caught himself again. “Then I want to be a flower boy.”

“Me too!”, Harley beamed. “I'd love to throw rose petals around! Or, if you go with the zombie-wedding, bones or something.”

“That sounds really wonderful, actually”, she smiled. “Yes, it would be fantastic if you two would be our flower boys.”

“Thank you!”, Peter squealed, let got of Harley and all but tackle-hugged Pepper, Harley followed suit right away.

.

“Did you get it yet?”, Harley grinned as the boys came up on each side of Tony, who was talking to Rhodey in a George Washington costume.

“Rhodey, would you please tell these gremlins at my side that I won't talk to them until I walk them down the aisle at their wedding?”

“Well, first of all”, Peter shrugged, “that's gonna be my aunt.” He waved at May in her fancy princess dress, dancing with Happy, who, well, he did his best, wearing a red coat and a crown, to make him look somewhat royal.

“And second of all, if I marry Peter, are you just gonna run down the aisle, once you walked one of us, to fetch the other?” Peter's stomach turned somewhat at that suggestion, maybe at how easy and relaxed the idea of them getting married sounded from Harley.

“Rhodey, would you please tell these infuriating gremlins, that dare to speak directly to me that I won't talk to them until I give my toast at their wedding?”

Rhodey didn't even bother to hide the grin as he looked at the teens. “What did you guys do?”

“Honestly, I have no idea”, Harley stated innocently. “I cannot possibly fathom why he'd be mad at us, we did dress up like him after all!”

“That's not it and you freaking know it”, Tony grumbled, turning to Harley with his finger pointed.

“I mean, technically we're not Tony Stark”, Peter explained to Rhodey. “All I'm gonna say is that this is a couple's costume and that he doesn't get it.”

“Et tu, Parker?”

“Wait...” Rhodey ignored his best friend and eyed them curiously, before the grin broke through. “Right, I got it. Boys, you are geniuses!”

“Thank you Mr Rhodey, War Machine, Iron Patriot, sir”, Peter giggled, aware of his extreme levels of nerdy fanboyness.

“Don't praise them”, Tony made clear, “they have committed horrendous crimes against the sanctity of engineering!”

Harley grinned over at Peter and he held his phone out to Rhodey to show him their crafted version of an Ironmansuit. “As you can see, we oriented our work at Mark XIII.”

While Mr Stark looked like he wouldn't mind being a dead zombie for reals, Rhodey just laughed at the picture. “He was right”, he chuckled. “You two are gremlins. And I also get why Tony hasn't introduced you to each other sooner...”

“I mean, he didn't have to introduce us at all”, Peter shrugged, locking eyes with Harley who smiled back over.

“Guess we were just meant to run into each other.”

Just before Peter could lose himself in Harley's eyes, Thor came up, pulling his brother behind him, each dressed as the other. The dark hair and green suit definitely looked weird on Thor, but Loki could actually pull being blond off.

“Peter! It is truly wonderful to see you again, it has been so long!” The god swept him up and gave him a tight hug, and Peter couldn't care less about the fancy shirt crinkling; there was nobody that gave better hugs than Thor.

“Hi Thor! I missed you, too. How is Asgard?”

“My people are well, thank you for asking”, he smiled as he put Peter back down, who went and wrapped himself right around Loki.

“Missed you too”, he grinned as Loki put his arm around Peter.

“And I you, Peter. Is Stark any closer to allow you to come visit Asgard with my brother and me?”

“He is not”, Tony grumbled. “I'm not letting my Pete go off world with the god of mischief.”

“I'm starting to take this personally!” A clearly fake-pained expression on his face, Loki let go of Peter and clutched his heart. “Are you saying you don't like me?”

“Brother”, Thor tried to get him to shut up. “There is no need for you to antagonize our host, who has set up such fantastic celebrations.”

In the joy of seeing his Asgardian friends again, Peter lost sight of Harley for a moment; now he saw him standing just beside Tony, staring at Thor and Loki with wide eyes. Apparently, he hadn't met them yet.

“Thor, Loki, I would like you to meet somebody”, he smiled, grabbed Harley's hand and pulled him towards the demi-gods. “This is my boyfriend, Harley. Harley, that's Thor and Loki.”

“Harley, how wonderful to meet you!” Similarly as he did just now with Peter, Thor grabbed Harley by the shoulders and pulled him close into a hug. “Any friend of Peter's is a friend of mine and my people.”

Harley was completely speechless, something quite unusual for him.

“I might not be as affectionate as my brother, but I too am pleased to meet you. Though I postpone further judgement until I have deemed whether you are good enough for our Peter.”

“Alright.” Harley swallowed hard and looked at Loki with wide eyes, very aware of who just threatened him.

“Loki, he is. Don't worry about that”, Peter assured him and grabbed Harley's hand again. “He's the best.” And absolutely nothing about Peter's lovestruck grin and the warm feeling in his chest was fake.

.

“Come on, let's dance.” Harley grabbed Peter's hand and pulled him along.

“Uhm, but I can't dance”, Peter tried to get out of this, but Harley's grip on him was firm.

“That's ok, me neither. But we can still have fun.”

Well, as long as it was this fun, upbeat music, where Peter didn't have to be so damn close to Harley or touch him, and they could just weirdly flail and jump about, Peter'd be fine. It didn't take him too long to get into it, and enjoy it, too. It was just him and Harley, having fun, joking, making weird moves and giggling about some of the other dancers that took themselves very seriously. Sure, they were the youngest people there by far, there was Wanda who was only a few years older than them, but other than that they were just two teens that had inexplicably gotten an invitation to a very fancy party, and that was exactly how they acted and would continue to act.

Until the music changed into something slow, romantic, and Peter could no longer hide behind jokes and fun. A quick glance around the room affirmed his hunch: everybody pulled their partner closer; hand around waists, resting their heads on their partner's shoulder. Like May and Happy, who were swaying from one foot to the other, cheek against cheek. Or Tony, who held Pepper close, who even had her eyes closed.

Peter turned back to Harley who shrugged and offered a small smile; holding his hands out, silently asking for Peter's permission. Well, here goes nothing... With a smile, Peter took the outstretched hand and Harley pulled him close, their chests actually brushing. An arm wrapped itself around Peter's waist and Peter followed suit, embracing Harley and rested his chin on Harley's shoulder, even if he had to stretch a little bit to reach it. It felt so right, which was so wrong in so many ways! Realizing that May, Happy and Tony had their eyes on the two boys, Peter closed his eyes; pretending they weren't there was a lot easier when he couldn't see them. It also helped a lot to lose himself in this romantic little bubble, where all that mattered were him and Harley; only the soft music, the hand on his lower back, the thumb brushing over Peter's spine, sending shivers all through his body, mattered. It was only Harley, his warm breath against Peter's neck, his hand gently guiding him as they danced.

Only when Harley stirred, Peter opened his eyes. Harley looked over, locking eyes with Peter. “So”, he mumbled almost breathlessly, “since we're a couple... Do you think it'd be alright if I... I mean, if we... kissed?”

Peter's heart stopped for a moment as he could only stare and tried to process what Harley just suggested. But yes, Harley just asked if they could kiss. Which would be ruinous for the real life. But this wasn't real life, was it? This was just the two of them, lost in their own little world, where nothing else mattered but the other.

Peter just nodded, at which Harley's eyes lit up brighter than the fake battery-powered arc-reactor on his chest. The hand from Peter's back disappeared, but only moments later reappeared on Peter's cheek and with a smile, Harley tilted up Peter's chin, leaned closer and before Peter really knew it, their lips met. And Peter melted into the touch. As soft and gentle as their kiss was, it fired up everything, probably even his kidneys and liver. He brushed his hands up to Harley's neck, softly pulling him down a bit more, deepening the kiss and... Time stood still.

Let the world end, Peter didn't care. Kissing Harley felt like nothing Peter had ever felt before. Even Liz agreeing to be his homecoming date couldn't compete, it didn't even come close.

Only when they broke away, Peter realized that he hadn't been breathing for the last how ever long they were kissing. Wide-eyed, he and Harley looked at each other, until he started chuckling.

How the hell was Peter supposed to take this? “What is so hilarious?”, he demanded to know.

“I'm sorry, but I'm kissing a guy that looks like my father figure... That's kinda weird, isn't it?”

With that skew grin Harley shot him, Peter couldn't help but laugh along. “Yeah, it is. Should I have wiped off the beard before?”

“I mean, it's not like there's too much of it left.” Harley's thumb brushed Peter's chin, his lips, before he stilled immediately. He looked like he just woke up from a dream, which in all honesty was what Peter felt like, too. “How about some punch?”

“Yeah”, Peter nodded, broke the embrace and grabbed Harley's hand. It felt almost empty, without Harley touching him, but with their fingers entangled, it wasn't that bad anymore.

.-.-.-.-.

Oh damn. That went so much further than Harley had ever planned it'd go. But once he and Peter were close like that, embracing and dancing... He still felt Peter's hair brushing against his chin, felt the way his hand rubbed up and down his back, still felt the fire lighting up when Peter nodded his agreement to be kissed, still felt the emotional blackout when their lips met, how they seemed to burn against his skin, even now, some fifteen hours later, Harley felt Peter against him. It was only when Harley cupped Peter's face and was just about to kiss him again that he remembered that all that was fake. It wasn't real, it was all pretend.

Was it, though?

It felt so real, all of it. Even now, as they worked side by side in the lab, it was so easy, so normal to slip into flirty banter, only cutting it out when Tony shot them a look, just to start flirting again a few minutes later.

“Hey Tones, you called me?” Rhodey walked into the lab.

“I did.”

“You did?”, both teens asked simultaneously, similarly confused. “When?”

“Ten or so minutes ago. Come here, honeybear.” Tony waved at the other man, who didn't look too sure what to make out of this right now as well.

“What do you need?”

Beaming up, Tony wrapped his arms around Rhodey's waist. “Someone to make googly eyes at, because if I have to watch those two lovebirds any longer, I'm gonna be sick.”

“Tony, I got a job to do.” Even though he rolled his eyes, Rhodey didn't make any move to leave and instead put one arm around Tony's shoulder. “Couldn't you call somebody else to flirt with you?”

“Well, Happy can't flirt, and neither can Rogers or Banner. Thor is a bit too... well, Thor. Of Natasha I'm scared and even if I called her, Pepper wouldn't drop her work for me. Maybe I should marry you instead of her, you always come when I call”, he grinned up.

“Well, you did just save me from a discussion with Ross, so I should probably thank you.”

“What did he want this time?

“The usual”, Rhodey shrugged and Tony's face turned rockhard immediately.

“You alright, Tony?”, Harley asked, even though he was a little worried to interrupt.

“I swear to whoever will listen, one day I'll send that fucker to the moon.” The rage did drop a little from his face, when Rhodey gently squeezed his shoulder.

“What's his issue, then?”

“Spider-Man is”, Rhodey explained. Peter turned suddenly to Rhodey, almost worried. Harley got that, he knew that Peter really liked Spidey, he was always ready to defend the hero, probably knew who was under the mask, judging from the way he always blushed when someone brought it up.

“What is his issue with Spider-Man?”, Peter asked, looking from Tony to Rhodey. No, it wasn't worry on Peter's face, it was fear.

“He wants to know his identity”, Mr Stark explained, “desperately so, since he, Daredevil, The Iron Fist and Moon Knight are pretty much the only heroes in NYC with a secret identity. I can't remember how often I've told him to shove his curiosity where the sun don't shine...”

“And I've told him just as often.” Rhodey sighed deeply. “All we unfortunately can do about this is to assure Spider-Man that we'll do everything in our power to keep his identity save.”

“I'm sure he really appreciates that”, Peter smiled, but the fear, Harley noticed, was still there. Not knowing what else to do, Harley grabbed Peter's hand and squeezed it; and almost immediately, some of the fear dropped and the smile Peter shot him looked almost real.

“You see, that's why I need you, honey bear”, Tony groaned gesturing at the intertwined fingers.

“Don't listen to the old man over here, guys”, Rhodey winked.

“You're older than me.”

“So what... Don't fret to show the entire world how much in love you are, and you both know this one well enough to know that, deep at heart, he's a hopeless romantic.”

“Et tu, Rhodey?”

As the grown-ups continued their bickering, not unlike that of an old-married couple, Harley completely lost all sense of space and time. 'How much in love you are.' Rhodey's words replayed over and over in Harley's mind. How the fuck could they be in love, if they weren't even properly dating? Was he in love with Peter? He only knew the guy for two months and a bit, that was way to fast wasn't it?

Yes, he had a crush, that much he could admit. After all he watched Peter, when he thought nobody watched him, especially when he was working. He watched, when Peter crinkled his forehead in frustration, when something didn't work out the way it was supposed to. He watched, when Peter scrunched his nose up, when he was met with any kind of affection, be it a hair tousle or a compliment. He watched, how Peter's eyes went big in curiosity, when Tony explained something or other to them. He watched, how Peter's lips twitched, every time he tried not to laugh after somebody made a snarky or sassy joke. And he watched, when Peter's entire face lit up, when something worked out the way he had imagined it, even when Harley was successful, Peter enjoyed it if he had just climbed Mount Everest.

So yes, Harley definitely had a major crush and he was falling, probably harder than he'd like to. And that's why, once this whole pretend-fake-thing would eventually end, Harley would just crash and burn. And all that in the knowledge that it had been his own fucking stupid idea and fault.

.-.-.-.-.

When Harley walked into the lab, Tony was already (or still? It was hard to tell with the mechanic) hard at work, surrounded by tools, while Dum-E and Butterfingers whirred through the lab.

“Harley!”, he called out in greeting when he finally saw him. “How was Lego time with Peter and the nerd-herd?”

“Was awesome”, he grinned and tossed his bag in the corner. “Peter said to say hi, but May is unexpectedly home earlier today, so he went home instead.”

“Right.” (Tony was quite aware of the fact that Aunt Hottie was on a date with Happy, because his head of security had been gushing about her and what to wear all day long, so Peter was probably busy with his extracurriculars he still hadn't told his boyfriend about.) “Well, get in here, then.”

Tony waved him over and before long, Harley was buried just as deeply in wires and stuff as the mechanic was. It was late afternoon when Harley had gotten back to the compound; when he eventually looked up from his work, prompted by FRIDAY, it was already dark out. “Boss, Spider-Man is calling.”

“Put him through”, Tony waved and immediately the heavy breathing from the other line filled the lab.

“Missark?” The weirdly familiar voice was weak, only a quiet mumble.

“Shit, what happened?” Immediately, the mechanic jumped up. “FRI, KAREN's log.”

“So, Ninjas, right?”, Spider-Man slurred. “Really long swords. An' sharp.”

Damnit, that voice was gutwrenchingly familiar! It was masked somehow, but not enough, Harley was one hundred percent sure that he knew who they were talking to. Harley was worried, yes, but Tony looked like he was gonna lose himself in his fear for Spider-Man and already his Ironmansuit pieced itself together.

“Kid, where are you? FRI, tracker!”

“New York...”

“Alright, kid.” Tony's voice rose in panic, but he tried to sound steady enough not to freak Spider-Man out any more. “I'm on my way, you just need to hold on, you got that, Pete?”

“PETER?” Shit, that's why he knew the voice, it was his damn boyfriend!

“'s Harley? Missark, please don' tell, he'll worry. Don' worry him.” The voice went softer, as did the already shallow breathing.

“You stay here”, Tony made clear with a pointed look that did not hide his fear. “FRI make sure that Harley stays here. Peter, I'm coming, just stay awake.” And with that, Tony ran for the window and flew off.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, FUCK!

“FRIDAY, tell me everything about Peter and Spider-Man.”

After FRIDAY recapped Peter's story, losing his parents, being bitten by a radio-active spider, watching his Uncle die, meeting Tony, meeting and fighting the Avengers, the Vulture-business... Harley just started bawling his eyes out and dropped to the ground, where he balled himself up.

Peter was Spider-Man. Spider-Man was Peter. He had lied to Harley for months! They'd been dating, well, sort of at least. But clearly Peter didn't feel like it was real, if he kept the most important things in his life away from Harley.

And now he was what, impaled by a sword, lying in a ditch somewhere and there was nothing Harley could do, absolutely nothing.

“FRI, where's the medbay?” He needed to be there once Peter got here, Harley just needed to be by his side. All the pain, anger or whatever at being kept in the dark didn't matter at all, he just needed to be there.

“I am under orders not to let you leave.”

“FRI, I'm not gonna run away and into the city, I'm not even gonna leave this building and you're gonna keep eyes on me all the time. Please”, he begged, “please, FRI, I need to be there. He's my boyfriend after all.”

“Fine.” As begrudgingly as she sounded, FRI instructed him where to go and he got there just as Tony put Peter on a bed that was immediately wheeled away.

“WAIT!”, he cried out and started to run towards where Tony stood in front of a door, that closed behind Peter.

“Harley, I told you to stay in the lab.” As stern as Tony tried to sound, his voice was wavering and now that Harley got closer, he could see that the red all over him was not his Ironmansuit but instead... Oh fuck. As realization hit, Harley felt all the colour draining from his face.

“No, no, no, please tell me this isn't...” He didn't await an answer, something between desperation and determination took hold of him and he stormed on, intend on pushing past his mentor and into that operating theatre, because clearly they had to talk about a different Peter here. It couldn't be his Peter, because his Peter wouldn't secretly fight fucking ninjas with swords!

“Harley, stop. Please, kid”, Tony tried to reason with him, but all reason went out the window the moment his boyfriend was impaled by a fucking sword. The fact that Peter technically wasn't his boyfriend didn't matter; for all Harley cared they were in a relationship and no Ironman could stand in his way.

“Kid, please!” Tony grabbed Harley's shoulder, holding him back, but Harley fought with everything he had. He was gonna see Peter! Nobody could keep him from his Peter!

The mechanic's hold tightened, he wrapped an arm around him, trying to push him further away from the operating room.

“No, NO!”, Harley cried, fighting tooth and nail, “I NEED TO SEE HIM! LET ME GO!”

“I know you want to see him, but you can't right now. We just need to wait for Dr Strange to finish the surgery.”

“NO!”, he kept on yelling over and over again, “PLEASE! LET ME GO!”

By now, Harley was pressed tightly against Tony's chest, but he couldn't dare to let the rage drop just yet, he couldn't give in, couldn't give up. “Please!” As hard as he tried, his cries gave way for what was more whimpering as he boxed against Tony's chest, he just needed to be stronger, he just needed to keep pushing and he could be there and, if nothing else, at least to see he was still alive...

What if he wasn't? Oh fuck, what if this... What if all this was the last time that...

From one moment to the next, all strength drained from his body and he fell against Tony. If he weren't holding him as tightly, Harley would have probably dropped to the floor. He clawed into the shirt, hard, holding on for dear life, for Peter's life. His face pressed against Tony's chest, he just let it all out. One last scream gave way to his sobs and the tears, streaming down his face.

“I got you.” Tony held him close, gently stroking up and down Harley's back. “Everything'll be alright.”

“I love him...” He did, he really did. As much as he had denied it these last few weeks since the Halloween party... Well, Harley shouldn't have. He shouldn't have denied himself the chance to actually say it out loud.

“I know you do. And Peter loves you, too.”

“No, he doesn't”, Harley muttered, cursing himself the moment he said it.

“Of course he does. He's just as crazy about you as you are about him.”

“No, he isn't”, Harley repeated, louder this time, intent on letting all the secrets, the hurt, the pining and everything else that had been bottled up for the last three or so months out, intent on finally coming clean, and he looked up at the mechanic's tear-stained face. “Because it's all not true.”

“What isn't?”

“Me and Peter... We're not really dating”, he admitted quietly, between sobs. “I wanted to get you off my back, you know, setting me up with all of SI. Didn't think you'd know each other and two or three dates and that would be it.”

“Yeah, I know”, Tony shrugged and brushed the hair out of Harley's face.

“You do?” What the fuck?

“I know you. And I know Peter. And in the beginning it just didn't all add up completely. But over time I figured you two got your heads out of your own asses and realized that you were actually falling for the other. Halloween I figured, that yes, now you've got it. Well, soon as Peter wakes up from his op, you can get it sorted out.”

Tony sounded so sure of himself, but what... What if Peter didn't wake up anymore?

“You know, one of the great thing about his being Spider-Man is that he has superhuman healing”, Tony explained, when the next round of sobs took over and Harley pressed his face against Tony's chest again. “A few months ago he broke his leg. Healed completely in a couple of days. He can accidentally cut his finger during breakfast and by dinner it'll be healed without a scar.”

All that sounded too good to be true. But then again, Spider-Man could lift tons of weight, could climb up walls... considering all that, super-healing didn't seem all that improbable...

Eventually, Tony pushed him towards a bank and there they waited. Harley never left the mechanic's embrace, even when Pepper checked in, and when Happy and May arrived. Peter's aunt looked similarly worried and grabbed Harley's hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

And together they managed to make it through what was probably half the night, until the door opened and Dr Strange walked out.

“Wow”, he smiled, “Peter will be really glad to see that so many people care about him once he wakes up.”

“Does that mean that...”

“Everything went perfectly”, the doctor nodded, “and with his spider-healing, I don't think he'll need to be in the medbay all that long.”

That sounded ok so far. But Harley was not gonna let the relief wash over him until he saw Peter with his own eyes and had actual, tangible proof that Peter was alright.

“Come on”, Strange waved at Harley, who really could not sit still anymore and after a gentle push from Tony, he got up. “The rest of you can come, too.”

Harley didn't give two fucks who joined, and he didn't really realize any of them once Dr Strange opened the door to a patient room, where Peter lay in a big bed, tubes and shit running from and to his arm. Even though Peter wouldn't feel it, Harley took his hand and gently brushed his thumb over it, careful not to interfere with any of the needles and cables that were stuck in there.

Peter was quite pale, but his breathing was steady and so was his pulse. There was an ugly purpleish bruise on his forehead, one of those fucking ninjas must have hit him there. But other than that, he was just sleeping. He looked almost peaceful, as his chest rose and fell, which in turn helped Harley calm down again too.

No matter what, Harley wasn't gonna leave until he knew that Peter was really ok, before Peter'd wake up, he would not leave. Not when Tony left after a little while to take a shower and change out of the bloody clothes, not when a few Avengers came in and left, no one would be able to pry his hands from Peter's.

.-.-.-.-.

Peter woke up to a very mushy feeling. It was weird, it took him longer than usually to open his eyes, and even then, things around him weren't all that clear. He wasn't in his own bed, that much he could tell. He also wasn't by himself in this strangely big bed. Turning his head hurt like nobody's business, but slowly he managed to make out the figure by his side. It was Harley that held tightly onto his hand, lying half on the bed, half on a chair. His head rested against Peter's shoulder, hair hanging down his forehead and he snored softly. Alright.

As he turned his head further, he saw Happy and May, also sleeping soundly, cuddled up on a chair in one corner. On his other side was Mr Stark, who had his feet up on Peter's bed, not just softly snoring. Pepper was on his lap, her head resting on his chest.

Peter looked down himself, maybe this way he could figure out where he was or what happened. There were plenty of tubes running in and out of his arm and his left hand was bandaged up.

This was a hospital. Not just any hospital, it was probably the infirmary at the Avenger's. The way the sun was shining in through the window, it was probably late morning, maybe early afternoon already.

What had happened? The last thing he remembered was the Lego date at Ned's, with Harley and MJ. As usual, MJ was sprawled out on the couch, nose in her book, making her usual snarky comments. Peter was sandwiched between Ned and Harley, but mostly pressed against Harley's side. The same side against which Harley was now cuddled.

But then... Harley had asked Peter to come along to the compound, work some more on the robot they had been tinkering with for a while, but Peter decided to go Spidermanning instead. So he lied to Harley. To his fake boyfriend, he just wanted so much to be his real boyfriend. Said something about dinner with May, some lame excuse, like he had so many times over the last months.

And then there were the ninjas... There were too many of them, Peter was outnumbered, not even his Spidey-sense was enough to get him through this. They only dispersed when the police sirens came close. It wasn't until Peter was up on a roof after all the ninjas had disappeared, that he realized the pain in his side. And the hole in his suit and all the blood, so much blood that trickled down his side, his leg.

The last thing Peter managed to remember was to ask KAREN to call Mr Stark.

And now he woke up in the hospital, with Harley by his side. He found out. Did Mr Stark tell him? Or did he see Peter coming in, hurt like that? It must have been pretty bad, given that his side was hurting like hell and really everybody was squeezed into the room.

Peter tried to move carefully, not to wake Harley, but his 'boyfriend' held on tight enough, that even the smallest movement woke him.

“Peter?” He glinted at him, but as soon as he saw that he was awake, his eyes flew wide open. “Peter, omigod, you're alive and you're awake and...”

“Shhh”, Peter gestured at the grown-ups, “don't wake them.”

“Sorry”, Harley whispered and helped Peter to sit up. “You need anything?”

“Water.”

“Here.” Harley held a glass of water out to him and with a weak smile Peter took it. And half a glass later, his throat didn't feel like sandpaper any more.

“How are you feeling?”

“Not sure yet”, he answered honestly.

“But you remember what happened?”

Peter just nodded.

“Great. Dr Strange said that this is a good sign; I'll get him right away.”

“Stop.” Peter held him back by his arm. “Before chaos breaks out...” He looked up at him, hopefully as sincere and heartfelt as he intended. “I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry for never telling and...”

“Peter, we can talk about this once you're rested and alright.” Harley moved out of Peter's hold and left the room.

“I know you're up”, Peter eventually mumbled, without turning towards Mr Stark.

“I'd like to brush your hair back or something, but I'm scared to wake Pepper”, he explained his inactivity. “But boy, am I glad you're awake.”

“Yeah, me too.” Peter slowly turned and was relieved to see his mentor's warm smile. It was reassuring and safe.

“Are you in pain?”

“A bit”, Peter nodded. “Side is pretty bad. And my head.”

“That I believe. But lucky you got that spider-healing, huh?”, Mr Stark grinned before stifling a yawn.

“Yeah... You alright?”

“Now that you're up, I am. Scared the shit out of us, kiddo. And got me another five hundred grey hairs.”

“Pepper prefers the silver fox look”, Peter shrugged with a bit of a grin.

“I'm not thanking you”, Tony made clear, but grinning as well. “Right, as soon as Harley and Stephen get back, all hell's gonna break loose. You ready?”

“As I'll ever be. But...” He took a deep breath. “How's Harley doing?”

“For the last twenty or so hours all that mattered to him was that you're alive and would not leave your side for a moment. Everything else you two have to figure out.”

“Right.”

It was the look that Harley tried to hide as he walked out of the room, that bothered Peter. At first it had been relieve that Peter was alright, but then as soon as the worry dropped, there was room for hurt and anger. And Peter felt it as clearly as the pain in his side: he had fucked up and now he was gonna lose Harley. And only thinking about that was already so much worse than being impaled by a fucking sword.

When moments later Dr Strange walked into the room, he was not quiet about it, which in turn woke up everybody else.

“Pete! Oh, you're up!” May jumped off Happy's lap and to Peter's side, before Peter really had the chance to realize she was awake. Pepper and Happy thankfully kept their distance, though they also smiled at him, clearly relieved that he was more or less ok.

“Hey, Aunt May”, he smiled and softly squeezed her hand. “I'm alright.”

“I'll be the judge of that”, Strange grinned. “Could I please have the room to do just that?”

“Sure thing.” May leaned over and kissed Peter's forehead. “We'll be right outside and back as soon as the doc's done.”

Everyone followed suit, patting his leg, his arm before motioning to walk outside, but just before he could follow, Peter grabbed Harley's arm. “Can you stay, please?”

A little unsure, Harley looked from him to Tony to Dr Strange, who nodded.

“Uh, ok...” A little awkwardly, Harley shuffled back to the chair, he had spend the night on and let Peter hold his hand.

“Thanks”, he mumbled, just before the door closed and Dr Strange came to his left, his impaled side.

The check-up went up and down Peter's side, his face where apparently he had quite the bruise and his contused leg. What exactly the doc did, Peter didn't really notice, didn't care about. He kept his eyes locked onto Harley's and tried to read him, tried to figure out what he should say to make him feel better about being lied to.

“Right then”, Strange cleared his throat, “looking good, kid. I am endlessly envious of that spider-healing, no signs of inflammation or anything like that, I'm sure that by tonight the wound will start to close up already.”

“Thanks, Doctor.” Begrudgingly, Peter broke his gaze with Harley and looked at Strange. “Thanks for all this and saving my life.”

“That's what I'm here for”, he smiled at Peter. “Let me update your family out there then.” With a nod at the teens, Strange left the room and Peter and Harley by themselves.

“How're you feeling?”

Smalltalk, great. Just want Peter wanted right now.

“You heard the doc. How are you?”

Harley looked down at their entangled fingers, gently brushing over the back of Peter's hand with his thumb. “I don't know”, he eventually mumbled. “I am so fucking happy that you're alive and that you'll be alright. For the rest... I'm really not sure.”

“I'm so sorry, I... I just want to make all this alright for you.”

“And how the fuck do you thing that you could make the last 20 or so hours alright again, huh?” Harley looked back up, tears in his eyes. “In the span of fifteen minutes I found out that you were Spider-Man, everything that happened in the last few years, and that you were currently impaled by fucking ninja swords. Tony wouldn't even let me see you. All night I had to sit there with your Aunt and Tony and everybody else who loves you and wait. There was nothing I could do about the boyfriend I thought I knew everything about. Well, looks like I knew nothing after all, did I?”

The last few words felt like poison and Peter couldn't help but flinch at the harsh sound of them.

“That's not true. I'm still me, Lego-loving, engineering Peter. That's just one part of me...”

“But such a big one! And one that made you keep on lying to me! How the hell am I supposed to believe anything else you told me? I thought you were supposed to be my boyfriend...”

“Right”, Peter couldn't help but scoff, “because all that is so true and not an enormous lie in itself.”

Peter regretted it the moment he said it. Harley went rigid, completely still. “Right. Ok then, I'm really happy you're not dead.” All the emotions had vanished from his voice, he sounded almost robotic. As he got up, Harley pulled his hand away, out of Peter's hold. And without another word he turned and left Peter by himself in the big room, that felt so much emptier the further Harley walked away.

As the door closed behind him, Peter could just have screamed his lungs out. Instead, he let the tears roll silently down his cheek. It was over. It was all over and it was all Peter's fault. So what if it wasn't all that real, it had felt real; it had been real to Peter. And now it was over.

“Hey darling.” The door opened and May slipped into the room. “Hey, it's alright!” As soon as she saw his teary face, she hurried to his side and gently cupped his face. “You're gonna be just fine.”

“But I don't wanna be”, he muttered under his breath, wiping his eyes.

“Honey...” May sat up on his bed, Peter made enough room, so she could sit by his side, put her arms around him and he gratefully leaned in. “You and Harley are going to be alright. I know it. You're both so damn smitten...”

“No, we're not”, he quietly admitted and pressed himself as close to his aunt as he could. “Harley wanted to get Mr Stark of his back, so he said we're dating. But... It was all pretend.”

He waited for being scolded for that lie, so many lies he told the people he was closest to. But instead, May pressed her lips against his temple. “Maybe you weren't dating at first. Those feelings, they were real though, or at least they became real. Neither you nor Harley would  be  so upset or heartbroken right now, if it were all fake.”

Peter didn't know what to say or think, so he just cuddled himself closer against May and tightly wrapped up in her arms, he soon enough drifted back into sleep.

.-.-.-.-.

When Harley left Peter's hospital room, Tony's outstretched arms already awaited him. Not giving two fucks about the other grown ups around them, Harley trotted right into Tony's embrace and, once he was safely enveloped in the mechanic's arms, he let the tears roll.

“It's ok”, Tony kept on assuring him, “it's all gonna be ok.”

“No, it's not”, Harley mumbled. “It's over, although it never even began.”

“You're such a drama queen”, Tony chuckled before cupping Harley's face. “You two will be alright. Because even if you don't want to believe it, that boy in there is so in love with you, it's almost ridiculous.”

“Then why did he lie to me, huh? Why did he lie to me for months on end?”

“You mean like you two lied to me and everybody else?”

“That's not the same”, Harley grumbled, wiping a few tears off his cheek and chin. It was something else though, right? Sure, he and Peter had told a major lie about a life changing event to all the people closest to them. Whoops. “Fine, maybe it's the same. But it shouldn't be! If it had been real to him too, he would have told me.”

“You know, Peter never ever told anybody about his secret. Not me, not May, not Ned or MJ... All of us found out more or less by accident. That kid is hell bent on keeping everybody away from Spider-Man, as far as he can. You know, Peter's big reason not to tell you was, because he didn't want you to worry about him. That's why he kept it to himself.”

“Right, because it's so ridiculous to worry about someone who goes ahead and gets himself impaled.”

“Well, Keener, you just fell head over heels for someone who's heart is bigger than his appetite. You have no idea how much of a battle it was to get him to call me when he got hurt, because he'd rather stitch up his hand with dental floss in his bedroom than inconvenience me.”

“That example was just too damn specific for you to have thought of it.” Harley looked up with big eyes and just couldn't believe what he heard. That idiot in there didn't even bother to get help?

“Trust me, knowing Peter is responsible for about half of my grey hairs. The other half is on you, kiddo”, Tony added with a grin and Harley actually managed a real grin back at him.

“I'm not that idiotic and self-sacrificial, though.”

“No”, Tony agreed, “but you're a snarky little shit that terrorizes my company.”

“Which, I'm pretty sure, is why you love me.”

“Unfortunately, yes”, Tony smiled back and gently kissed Harley's cheek.

“Well, unfortunately, I love you, too.”

.-.-.-.-.

Peter was in the infirmary for three days. Three days, in which he was swamped with visits from Avengers, including plenty of goodies, to help him recuperate. Thor's cookies, of which he got a fresh plate every day, definitely helped a lot. But so did Tasha's spider-pillow, the waffles from Clint, and Bucky telling him stories of Captain America in his youth was just pure comedy-gold.

The one who kept his distance was Harley. It wasn't that he never came or ignored him. Sometimes, when Peter woke up, he found Harley by his bedside, napping with his head just short of brushing against Peter's arm. They were never alone though, at least Mr Stark and May always were with him, and Peter seldom woke up to less than three Avengers checking in on him.

It was day four post incident, that he and Harley had the chance to talk, just the two of them. Peter's side was healed up well enough that Dr Strange didn't deem it necessary for Peter to be in the medbay anymore, but thought it best if he stayed a few more days at the compound, so everybody could keep an eye on him.

Peter was by himself in his room, after begging Aunt May and Mr Stark to let him be for an hour at least, saying he had school things to read up on (which of course he didn't do, but with this excuse, they backed off), when someone knocked on his door.

“It's me”, Harley announced and Peter shot a web to pull open the door. “Hi.”

“Hey”, Peter smiled back and motioned for Harley to come inside and sit down.

“How are you feeling?”

If Peter had gotten a dollar every time someone had asked him that in the last four days, he wouldn't have to worry about college tuition any more.

“I'm ok. And you?”

“Yeah, me too.” Harley climbed up on the bed, sitting opposite Peter. “Figured we should talk it out before it gets really bad.”

“Yes please”, he smiled relieved. “I really think that it would be good to get everything out in the...”

“I like you”, Harley blurted out. “Like a lot. Like I'm really into you.”

Oh. Peter stared at him, while his brain tried to understand what he just heard. Up until now, he had thought that everything Aunt May and Mr Stark tried to tell him about his reciprocated feelings was too good to be true.

“Can you please say something?”, Harley remarked after a while, blushing red like Peter's spider-suit.

“Yeah. I, uhm, I like you, too. So very much. Like... The last few months, were pretty real  to me.”

“So, we were actually dating these last months, without realizing it. We really are geniuses, huh?”

“Definitely”, Peter grinned. “But, before you say anything else, I've been thinking a lot these last few days, and... Don't get me wrong, I would love to be your boyfriend, your real one I mean. But I think that if we want this to work out, we should maybe take it down a notch, at least for a while.”

Peter took a deep breath and, since Harley looked at him with wide eyes, clearly not following what Peter was trying to say, he continued. “I know that I kept a lot from you. And that I lied to you. And that's not cool and not ok and not the proper basis for a relationship. So, until you and I both know that you're cool with Spidey and with everything, I think we should maybe stick with just friends.”

As hard as it was to say, Peter was glad he said it. And, after his reasoning dawned on Harley, he nodded. “Ok. Because as long as there's wariness, dating wouldn't be fair to either one of us.”

“Right. So, for now I'd say we go back to normal. We meet at Ned's for Lego, we screw around in the lab, I'll go patrolling, but will definitely tell you about it, and every time there's something Spidey you need to know or vent or shit, you can let it all out. Ok?”

“Ok”, Harley smiled. “That is so super considerate of you that I don't even know what to say. I've been thinking the same thing for the last few days, but was worried that you'd think I'm not interested in you any more. Romantically, you know?”

The way Peter's heart skipped a beat and send the butterflies in his stomach to work, Peter did definitely know. And hopefully, by his heart eyes, Harley could tell as well, because right now, Peter had no idea how to communicate his feelings any other way.

“'kay, then”, Harley cleared his throat after a while. “I should probably let you rest up. Thor's already in the kitchen again, and I think this time he and Loki are making a cake for you and yeah, you need to be rested for that party.”

“You can stay though. If you want”, he quickly added, worried he already crossed a line in their weird not-really-dating-but-not-just-friends-either-relationship. “I mean, I was just gonna read the comics, Ned sent and you can chill too, if you'd like.”

“Yeah.” Harley blushed a bit, before the smile took over. “I'd like to.”

.

When later that afternoon, Tony glanced into Peter's room to invite him to the god of thunder's chocolate cake, he could only smile at the scene in front of him. Peter and Harley, side by side, their noses in the same comic book as they silently read the story.

There wasn't particularly much cuddling going on, but they were finding their way to get back in sync and Tony was sure that before they'd know it, they'd officially be a couple.

.-.-.-.-.

“Parker, you in there?”

“I'm almost ready!”, Peter called back to Harley, who knocked on his door. “You can come in, though.”

He walked out of his bedroom's ensuite, just having given his outfit the once over, before he'd head out to the Avenger Christmas party. Unlike Halloween it would only be the inner circle, Avengers and his family, all people that he held close and loved so much and Peter had been looking forward to it all month.

Harley stood a little awkwardly in the doorway, a big bag in his hands.

“You alright?”

“Yeah”, he  nodded, blushing ever so adorably, “I just wanted to give you your Christmas present.”

“But it's only Christmas Eve! We're doing presents tomorrow morning with everybody!”, Peter protested. “Your gift is under the tree already, we can't exchange them just yet!”

“Just shut it, Parker. This is sort of for the both of us and I really want us to have it now.” He held the paper bag out to Peter, who was too damn curious to argue it any longer.

The bag felt soft, squishy, had to be some fabric. “Please tell me, those are matching Christmas sweaters”, he giggled as he opened the bag and yes, they were.

“Omigod, Harley, I love Christmas sweaters!” He got the red and blue sweaters out, hppy to see his Spider-Man colours. There was a smaller one, that had to be his. Framed by stars and baubles and shit it said: 'SUPERHERO'. The bigger one, probably Harley's then, said: 'HIS DAMSEL IN DISTRESS'.

“Please, like you'd need me to save your ass, Keener”, he grinned over after reading them.

Harley just looked completely exasperated and somewhat aghast.

“What? Did I miss something?” Why did Harley look like Peter was an idiot?

“Yeah, you did”, Harley rolled his eyes and walked up to Peter, closer, until they were almost touching. “You're a superhero fan, you figure it out.”

The way Harley stared into Peter's eyes, he could barely think a proper thought, well, any other than fuck, I'd like to kiss him now. But he could figure this, apparently very obvious thing, out. Superheroes and their damsels... There was Superman and Lois Lane, The Flash and Iris West and oh.

Harley was saying he was Peter's damsel, his love interest.

“Really?” Peter beamed at Harley, who smiled back even wider.

“Yeah. I officially want to be your damsel. And...”

Peter didn't really bother waiting to hear the rest of the speech, not now at least. With all the white noise in his head, he wouldn't be able to grasp any of it anyway, so instead he got on his toes and pressed his lips against Harley's. After a shocked moment, Harley's lips twitched into a smile as he kissed Peter back, lighting up all the fire works.

.

It took them another fifteen minutes, but finally they made it to the common room, in their matching sweaters, fingers intertwined. The knowing grin, Tony, May and all the Avengers shot them was clear enough an indication that they didn't need to bother with an explanation; their get-up was enough of a statement. And so was, when Peter pulled Harley under the mistle toe.

The new year was gonna be just right.

[phobiadeficient]

*slides you $20* Can we get some more demoscout?

aw fuck yea dude twenty bucks i can get like three sandwiches at jimmy john’s

(no warnings)

-

“This joke was a lot funnier in my head,” Scout said from Demo’s bathroom, door very decidedly closed.

“You’re stalling,” Demo called in reply.

“Like, way funnier. Can I—can I like, change my idea? And do somethin’ else? Because this is... it’s not that funny, it’s, it’s just embarrassing and dumb,” Scout insisted.

“I don’t think so,” Demo chuckled. “C’mon, doll, how long do you plan to keep me waiting?”

“I’m just mad because this is dumb because I can’t even get you back on this. Like, you already wear a skirt every day.”

“It’s a kilt, skirts are more lightweight and fewer layers, just get out here already,” Demo corrected easily, and there was a long pause before Scout opened the door.

His face was red, but more red was his outfit.

Straight out of a sorority’s Halloween party was the cheerleader’s uniform, the stockings twenty times longer than the tiny little nothing of a skirt, pleated and hemmed up (as if that was needed), with the top turning down at the collar in a V so deep that he was fairly sure Medic could operate on Scout’s chest through it. And speaking of collars, Scout had on one of those too, bright red like the uniform and with a cute little bell at the front.

Demo whistled appreciatively, and Scout stalked out of the bathroom to stand in front of him, every muscle stiff and making a great show of rolling his eyes and trying to make it not terribly obvious when he glanced at the front of Demo’s boxers, taking note of his physical appreciation making itself known. 

“This doesn’t even fit,” he grumbled, and admittedly it did fit strangely at some parts of the top, and surely was meant to cover slightly more of his thighs, but Demo wasn’t exactly going to go write the costume company over it. “Can I take this off now?”

“Or I can take it off of you, save you the trouble,” Demo suggested with a waggle of eyebrows and a flick to the bell on the collar, and that broke through Scout’s little reluctance act just a bit, made him really have to fight down the grin that tried to pull at his face.

“Wow babe, you’d do that for me?” he asked in a similarly joking tone. “Fuckin’ hero.”

“It is an awful lot of work,” Demo mused, and tugged on the loose front of the shirt to get Scout to move in closer, within reach of his hands to allow him to start exploring further, eye drawing along the details with appreciation. “Think there’s anything you could do to repay me, doll?”

“Just fuckin’ kiss me already,” Scout laughed, and he did, starting with the exposed skin of Scout’s stomach, making Scout continue laughing.

His laughter faded off into a gasp as Demo’s hands slid up his thighs beneath the skirt, tracing his thumbs meaningfully against his skin.

And he saw the twinkle of amusement in Demo’s eye for the second and a half before Demo promptly  tucked the front of the skirt up enough to duck his head beneath, and Scout felt his face go bright red even before he felt the pleasant rasp of beard against the inside of his thigh, the precursor to a sweet little kiss.

“Just wore the jock, aye doll?” Demo asked, sounding amused.

Scout was halfway through his “Uh, yeah I actually—“ before it was cut off with a very embarrassing half-whimper, Demo mouthing at his bulge at an amount of pressure that made his legs jitter for a second.

And then he did it again, and then a third time so much slower than the previous two, and Scout could feel the moist heat of his mouth just on the other side of the fabric and oh fuck—

He bent and gripped at Demo’s shoulders as he felt his legs jitter again and flushed further at the little jingle of the bell on the collar, and Demo secured his hands on the outside of Scout’s thighs to better situate the both of them, pulling Scout in and trapping his legs together between Demo’s knees to keep them more secure. He then guided one of Scout’s hands to instead take hold of the edge of the skirt and promptly tugged Scout’s jock a short way down his legs to free him, wasting no time before starting to kiss and lick at his very-quickly-hardening dick.

Scout worked hard for as long as he could manage to not make noise, but when Demo finally sealed his lips around his cockhead he couldn’t help but release a little groan, surely wrinkling the fabric of the skirt from how hard he was clutching it, trying to hold it out and away enough for Demo to work uninterrupted.

And he half wanted to try and roll his hips forward to match the bobbing he set into, but he realized with the way his legs were trapped he couldn’t really do that, or move much at all, and with the skirt in the way he couldn’t get any kind of hold on Demo’s head. He just had to take the attention Demo gave to him and hope for more.

...Okay. So that combined with the skirt and collar thing actually being kind of nice meant maybe Scout was learning some things about himself. He’d... revisit that.

He was distracted from his thoughts by Demo giving a gentle squeeze to his balls as he sank forward that much further, and fuck, okay, he needed to move this along or he wouldn’t be lasting much longer.

“Demo—oh!” he gasped, breath hitching at the flick of Demo’s tongue just under the head on the next pass. “Don’t you w—fuck—wait, don’t you—hah—wanna fuck me?”

Demo pulled back and gave a parting kiss to the head before resurfacing, giving Scout a cheeky grin. “Love to, doll,” he said, one hand migrating up his thigh to pinch at one cheek teasingly, making Scout squeak and flush all the more. “Care to have a ride?”

“Y-yeah,” he agreed quickly, and the moment Demo freed him he motioned for Demo to move back just a bit, which he did without protest, quickly and efficiently shedding his boxers and tank. Scout in turn moved to tug the jock the rest of the way off and straddle him, shifting into the position they tended to take when the night went in this particular direction, and Demo stopped him with hands on his hips.

“Leaving the skirt on?” he asked.

Scout gave him a look. “Figured you’d complain if I didn’t. You sayin’ you want it off?”

“Said no such thing,” Demo replied, grinning a little again.

“Then quit complainin’,” Scout mumbled, and tried to sink down again, but again Demo held him off.

“Doll, don’t you think you’re forgetting something?” he said, raising an eyebrow.

“I... prepped in the bathroom,” Scout mumbled, flushing at the admission.

“Well, can never be too careful,” Demo said with a peck to Scout’s cheek, and leaned to snag the spare bottle of lube from the dresser, slicking himself up and wiping his hand off on his discarded tank. “Alright, ready when you are.”

He was sweet enough to do the work of angling himself and adjusting the skirt so Scout could sink down more easily, and as always had the courtesy to keep still until Scout was seated and adjusted, and he even made these lovely little groans a few times along the way, kicking Scout’s own pleasure up a level. And he had to take a few moments to just breathe, and glanced down and started to flush again when he saw the tent at the front of the skirt that he was making, but he couldn’t dwell on it long before Demo was tilting his head back up and pulling him into a kiss.

And it was overwhelming and distracting in the good way, in such a good way that he barely noticed when he started shifting his hips down to fuck himself, and it was only brought to his attention by one thing.

A little ringing sound.

He pulled back from the kiss to give a baffled look to Demo, who seemed to be trying very hard not to laugh as the ringing sound happened again and Scout pieced together that it was coming from the little bell on the collar.

“Oh, fuck no,” Scout said immediately.

“Aww, doll,” Demo started, but Scout cut him off.

“No, fuck off, I already put on the sock and the fuckin’—the stupid cheerleader outfit, I’m—fuck you.”

“Harsh,” Demo chided.

“Well, I’m not gonna wear the stupid collar if it’s gonna make that stupid noise the whole time!” Scout protested.

And he had to work hard not to immediately relax when Demo cupped his cheek in one warm hand. “Doll, please? Won’t ask this of you ever again if you’d like, but just once?” he asked, and damn it. Demo could ask him just about anything and it would sound tempting.

“Might change my mind later,” Scout warned.

“Aye, fair,” Demo said, and Scout didn’t give any warning before he rolled into motion just to see the way Demo’s mouth fell open around a silent gasp.

And he rode like a champion, he knew that. But he was thrown slightly off his rhythm by the light jingle of the bell on the collar and the way Demo was looking at him, eye wide and expression very much pleased as he drew his gaze over everything Scout had to offer. And for a second he felt uncharacteristically embarrassed, and realized belatedly that he couldn’t even hide like this, couldn’t look away, and maybe some amount of his sudden insecurity showed on his face and in his faltering motions, because Demo started in with the compliments in an instant.

“Lovely,” he said, voice low and rough, “so lovely, doll, really you are. Can’t believe you’d dress up like this, too damn gorgeous.”

Scout bit his lip to keep quiet, knowing that if he opened his mouth he wouldn’t be able to control what he said next, or any of his noises, which were already rising up into his throat despite his best efforts.

“Dinnae think you’d ever go along with it, but lord, I’m glad you did, doll. Ought to lay you out and give you a proper thanks, but maybe later,” he continued, that glitter in his eye again even alongside the growing heat, and Scout’s breath caught on the exhale and was trailed by a short whine, and Demo laughed breathlessly. “There he is. Go on, doll, I wanna hear ye.”

And he did, Scout bending forward just a bit and relaxing at the shoulders just a touch as little moans started to escape his mouth, and the tiny little ache of shame in his chest that the bell and the skirt and the stockings brought him for some reason drove him all the faster towards release. And he shoved the skirt up out of the way to tug at himself, impatient, and Demo’s thumb tickled just at the soft part of the inside of his thigh, drawing his nail down the place where his inseam usually laid, and that was it, he was spilling into his hand with a few hard swears, and he could feel Demo’s stomach tighten beneath his hand as a warning before it was over for him too, done in by a combination of things.

And he was panting, resting, trying to get ahold of himself, and with his clean hand he did reach up to tug the collar off, feeling suddenly restricted, and Demo didn’t complain.

“What if you wore this to work?” Demo asked weakly.

Scout smacked him on the stomach, and he laughed, and Scout fought hard not to laugh too. It was a losing battle.

[ladylynse]

I have mixed feelings about the new Miraculous Ladybug special that's spreading around. On the one hand, cool new supers that expand the ML world, but on the other hand, I think I prefer only the Miraculous-based heroes being real and heroes like Knightowl and Majestia remain fictional.

Got a chance to watch the special! I honestly didn’t know they were going to go with non-Miraculous heroes. I blame never seeing a trailer, but it’s not something I would’ve guessed. To be fair, though, given the timing of this airing, I thought it might be the Halloween special there was art floating around for a year or two ago. I had no idea where this special was going beyond ‘set in NYC’. 

Despite Markov being a thing, the android-masquerading-as-a-human threw me at first, too, but considering I got so many comic-y vibes (admittedly more DC), it’s probably a nod to one of them. It was nice to have the kwami magic hiding their identities confirmed, though. I know that’s been a theory in the fandom from the start, but I don’t remember it being confirmed before? (I might’ve missed it. That happens to me a lot.) They did open up a plot hole with tech on that front, since apparently facial recognition software should work just fine, but, well, kid’s show. They didn’t contradict themselves on the ‘kwami can’t be detected by tech’ front, though!

I can understand your mixed feelings. They’ve already established that the Miraculous have been found all over the world throughout history, so they didn’t really need to bring in heroes that don’t rely on them for their powers. So, I’m hoping the fact that they still did means they have something up their sleeve and not just ‘hey, it’s NYC, lots of superhero stuff is set there, let’s bring that in for fun’. After all, bringing in non-Miraculous heroes establishes that there are other systems of magic and powers in the world, which in theory gives Gabriel more ways to try to get the jump on Ladybug and Chat Noir than finding a lost Miraculous. I will be a little disappointed if they pretend to restrict that to America and never touch it again in the series, though I wouldn’t be entirely surprised. I suspect it MAY be a theme in the movies since there was also art of a China-set one floating around, which would be kinda cool, but for all I know, that movie has as much a chance of happening as the Halloween one. 

More fun speculation on how involved Kagami’s family has to be, though, considering the license plate of the car Gabriel was using in NY. That should at least be a tie-in in the future. There was a lot of deliberate info-dumping in this movie to set up the plot, so there is no way the TSURUG-1 license plate was a mistake, and it’s got to be building on what was beginning to be setup at the end of the last series. The fact that that family is referenced and Audrey Bourgeois is not, considering she canonically lived in NYC before deciding to stay in Paris again, has to be deliberate. (Though considering I also thought she was involved in whatever-this-is given the series finale, I might be wrong. Or maybe they’ll just tell us more about the Tsurugi family first.)

I can’t really criticize it a whole lot on pulling in non-Miraculous heroes when it’s similar to what I’m doing with my Whirlwind crossover, though. I mean. Set in NYC. Hawk Moth looking for something to help him ultimately get Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous. Someone gets akumatized. Local heroes get involved. There are misunderstandings, things get worse, and then they pull together and things get better. (I’m, uh, working on that last bit still, fic-wise.) 

[lieutenantcharleslorem]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak, Julian Bashir & Molly O'Brien Characters: Julian Bashir, Elim Garak, Kira Nerys, Jadzia Dax, Jake Sisko, Nog (Star Trek), Rom (Star Trek), Leeta (Star Trek), Molly O'Brien (Star Trek) Summary: Molly doesn't want to spend Halloween on the station with no human kids, so Julian offers to take her to Earth for the last week of October. Taking others with him to experience the holiday, he could probably relax and lean on them as fellow chaperones. But he has a full itinerary for Molly, with no idea she would have any plans of her own for him.

Note: Apologies for any mistakes, I wanted to get this up by the end of the month. Also, I took some liberties with Molly's personality, and by that I mean I gave her one. But hey, my mom thinks it's accurate to 8, so... 😃Oh, and I'm planning on this story remaining rather wholesome, but since there is a ship I've rated it teen just to be safe until it's all up and I have a better idea.

Quark shuffled over as Chief O’Brien and Dr. Bashir sat down at the bar a few seats away from Morn.

“Hello, boys!” he said, “Care to try our new drink for the hu-mon season? It’s called a Jack-o-lantern!”

Miles groaned and put his head on the bar. He was ignored for a moment while Bashir asked what was in a Jack-o-lantern.

“It’s a spiced rum drink, with pumpkin and carrot juice. Sure to remind you two of home! Plus it comes in these cute little face glasses,” Quark said pulling out a short glass with the black triangular eyes and a toothy grin of a carved pumpkin.

“Wow, you really went all in on the theme if you bought glasses, Quark,” said Bashir.

“Actually they’re sonic-dishwasher safe stickers. Leeta says she can get them off with her long fingernails when your creepy season is over… What’s wrong with him?” Quark pointed a thumb toward O’Brien who had lifted his head to listen to the drink ingredients, but still looked out of sorts.

“What’sa matter, Chief?” asked Bashir.

“Oh, I’m just stressing out about something that probably won’t end up mattering that much.”

“So the usual?” Quark said walking away and returning with two beers. They weren’t sure if Quark was saying Miles always worried about things that didn’t matter or just talking about their drink order, but he disappeared to help another customer immediately after, so they would never know.

“What’s the trouble?” asked Bashir.

“Keiko is really busy on Bajor and can’t take time off for Halloween.”

“Sort of an unusual Holiday to take time off for anyhow.”

“Sure, but now I have Molly because Keiko is so busy, and there definitely wouldn’t be any Halloween business on Bajor anyway.”

“That important, is it?”

“It’s Molly’s favorite Holiday. Last year Keiko took her to my parents’ house on Earth for the week. But I just can’t get away, not with the lifts acting up, and the power cells that went missing—”

“And no one else can do those things? Rom?”

“Oh… It’s not that Rom isn’t capable of being in charge, but he does get, you know, nervous when he thinks people have high expectations and… to be honest he’s been getting on my nerves lately. It’s not him. It’s all the things around here going wrong making me irritated with everything.”

“Do you have any plans?”

“Ugh, I think Keiko thinks I’ll try to make it special here. But Molly knows that’s a bust and isn’t being shy about it. There’s no other human kids here, Daddy. I’m gonna feel silly dressing up. She never used to feel silly being the only one doing something.”

“Well, she’s getting older.”

“Yeah but still so little. If she was older and making a fuss, I’d just send her on a shuttle by herself and have her Gran pick her up on the other side. Used to do that sort of thing when I was a kid, but not ‘til I was a little older than her.”

“Hmm… Well… Miles… I could take her.”

“What?”

“I have some leave. And unlike you I think my staff can handle things while I’m gone. I mean if some horrible disease breaks out, I’ll come rushing back. But it’s just a little trick or treating, right? I could handle it.”

“I… I guess you could. It’s just, there’s a lot of kids and a lot going on—”

“I did in fact trick or treat as a child, Miles; you’re not explaining it to a Vulcan.”

“Well I—”

“Oh! But I could take Garak with me!”

“Garak?!”

“Oh, he loves Molly, and he rarely gets to leave the station. I could show him a piece of human culture.”

“I wouldn’t say he loves Molly. He makes her clothes—”

“He adores her, and would sooner kill someone than let something happen to her. Hmm, I wonder if any other non-humans would like to come learn about Halloween? Kira would probably think it was a waste of time… Dax is probably quite familiar with it, but I’m sure she’d have fun. Oh! I bet Jake hasn’t had an authentic Halloween in years.”

“If you’re going to bring a huge party with you, it’s not really about Molly anymore, is it?”

“Nonsense, the more people I bring the more chaperones for Molly. Besides, I don’t know if any of these people will say yes. Maybe it would just be me and Dax or something. That would be very relaxed. I could do this, Chief, but if you’d rather Molly stuck around here and complained…”

O’Brien gave a hmf that could rival Odo’s. But he nodded, taking a sip of his beer.

“Alright. Not too much sugar, nothing too scary, bed by 9, 10 on Halloween if she twists your arm. Don’t let her wander off on her own, and keep track of her please and thank yous. I don’t want her getting used to being rude because she thinks she can get away with it with you. Call me if there are any problems, and, Doctor… Bring her back in one piece.”

“Can do, Chief. I’ll start asking who wants to come along, and you can lecture all of them too.”

“I will.”

 The next evening, Chief O’Brien ran into Worf on the promenade and stopped him.

“Worf, I was glad to hear you’re going on this trip with Julian to take Molly. I really appreciate—”

“Alas, I am not. Only Jadzia is going.”

“You don’t want to go with her?”

“I have duties here. And I’m afraid I will not get the same things out of the trip that the others will. I did celebrate Halloween as a child, if only because my brother did, and because… when in Rome as the humans say.”

“Right… Well… It’s just… I had hoped, because you’re good with kids…”

“Chief… I’m flattered to hear you say that. While I will not argue, I’m not sure that Molly is particularly enthused with me.”

“Perhaps, but you’re— responsible.”

“Ah, I see. Though I am not often one to praise the doctor, I do think he is up to the task.”

“I’m sure he is. I just thought you’d want to spend some time with Jadzia, and then you’d be extra help.”

“Admittedly, there may be another reason I have decided not to go.”

“Oh?”

“Major Kira has agreed to go.”

“You… you get along with her fine, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course, but with her, and Jadzia, and the chief medical officer gone, I believe someone should remain here. But additionally, when I met Jadzia, she was wearing some sort of fairy tale costume, as was Kira, I believe to play in a holosuit program. I got the impression that they had a friendship in which they embraced their femineity together, as well as other aspects of their personalities which they share. But they have done this very little since Jadzia and I married.”

“Oh! You just want to give her some space to spend time with her friend? That’s so sweet, Worf.” Worf stifled a groan. “And if Kira’s going, that’s a load off. But how in the quadrant did they get Kira to agree to come?”

“Your daughter. She was with the doctor when he mentioned it to us this morning. Kira did not seem interested when the doctor and Jadzia explained it, but Molly said please, and called her aunty and the major agreed immediately.”

O’Brien burst out laughing and said, “I swear she’s learning how to play people.”

  “Are you sure just you and Yoshi will be okay without me or Mommy around for a whole week?” Molly asked as Miles walked her to the docking ring.

“Molly, it’s been just me and Yoshi before. I think I can handle it,” he said with a smirk. “Are you going to be okay without Mommy or Daddy around for a whole week?”

“I’ve been by myself with Grandma and Grandpa before, I think I can handle it.”

“Good. You’ve got everything? You’re sure you don’t want to take an old costume with you?”

“I told you, Mr. Garak has my costume for this yeeaaaar.”

“Alright, alright.”

Waiting for them at the shuttle were Garak and Julian both holding duffle bags.

“Kira, Dax, and Jake are already aboard saving seats,” said Julian. “Ready to go, Molly?”

Molly nodded, but she didn’t let go of her father’s hand.

“Oh, good! We’re not too late!” they heard Rom’s voice from the hall as he, Leeta, and Nog approached.

“I told you the shuttle left at 1300 hours, Father. We’re right on time,” said Nog.

“Well, I still don’t want to be rude,” Rom said shyly.

“You’re going too, eh?” asked Miles.

“I hope you don’t mind,” said Leeta. Julian and Jake said they would show us a little bit of human culture. But we’re happy to be extra eyes too.” She glanced down at Molly.

“Yeah! Hey there-er-uh, Molly,” Rom said as if he’d never spoken to a child before. “I know you probably know the others better but if you need anything, Leeta and I are here for you too.”

If Rom was weird, Molly didn’t notice. “Thanks, Mr. Rom.”

“I want to see what else there is to Halloween beside academy parties,” said Nog.

“Are they still, a hundred people crammed into someone’s aunt’s house drinking cheep replicator beer?” asked Miles.

“Sounds about right,” said Nog.

“You… drank… at parties… at the academy?” asked Rom.

“Sometimes,” Nog admitted. “But, no offense to your people, Chief, but I don’t like beer.”

“Nog, if anyone tells you they genuinely like the flavor of barley beer, and drink it for no other reasons, they’re either lying to you, or to themselves.”

Nog threw his head back and laughed. “Well we better get going. I’ll get this,” Nog said with an air of sarcasm which didn’t make sense until they all realized what this was. He scooped up Molly and put her on his hip.

“Nog, she’s not a baby, you’re gonna hurt your back,” said Julian from the entrance to the shuttle.

“Nonsense. She’s not so big.”

“I’ve never been up, but still so low before,” said Molly, looking up at her father.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Nog chided with a smile.

“Alright, give Daddy a kiss and then you all better get to your seats.”

He leaned over and Molly kissed him on the cheek. “Bye, Daddy!” she said.

“Have fun, sweetheart.”

Rom grabbed Molly’s bag, and they all turned and shuffled onto the shuttle. The last thing the chief heard before the doors slid closed, was Molly saying, “I want to sit with Mr. Garak!”

“Why…” he whispered to himself.

[demiromance]

“Thankful” (happy ending AU Reddiefic, Secret Santa gift!)

Hi there @pawprinterfanfic! I’m your secret santa for the @itfandompromptssecret santa gift exchange! I’m sorry its almost midnight, I was at a holiday event with my family, but I had such a wonderful time writing this for you and I hope you have an absolutely blessed holiday season! With all of my love and warm wishes, enjoy! Summary: The Thanksgiving after Pennywise finally goes to wherever evil killer clowns go, The Losers have a lot to be thankful for, Richie and Eddie most of all. (Happy ending AU where Stan went back to Derry, and because of that, they all lived.) Rating: T, because Richie has a mouth on him.

It snows on Thanksgiving in Derry. Richie Tozier forgot how much he hated that shit. He’s sulking around Mike’s (admittedly incredible and way more spacious than he’d realized at first,) apartment over the library, and he can feel two pairs of eyes on him - Eddie, from his now customary, since coming home, finally, from the hospital, place on the window seat by the round window that looked out over the town square, and Sprinkles, the cat that Richie was unsure if Beverly had actually adopted from the shelter in town for Mike, or had merely found on the street and claimed as theirs. Ben would be the first to tell you, she definitely had a way of taking in strays. 

“What exactly are you two doing to that poor thing?” Eddie calls, book long forgotten, and Sprinkles, who has made herself comfortable in his lap, makes a quiet little mrrrr noise of curiosity of her own. 

Still squinting at the cookbook open in front of him, one hand menacingly clutching an entire stick of butter that’s melting rapidly in the heat of his hands over the turkey, resting on a bed of potatoes and carrots in what he’s been told is called a ‘roasting pan.’ Richie is not, nor has he ever been a great cook, but he and Bill will be damned if they can’t figure out what Martha Stewart called the “idiot proof” turkey earlier that day on television while the others are rushing about doing the rest of the things required for the day to be perfect.  And the day would be perfect, damn it, if it was the last thing Richie did: they had so much to be thankful for. He felt the familiar flood of emotion in his chest when it hit him again, just how grateful he was. Pennywise was gone, for good, and Eddie’d lived. He thought he’d known fear before they went into that cistern, or when he saw those massive spider legs, or what he saw in the deadlights, but he had never known fear like the blur of minutes of carrying Eddie from that awful place, turned to the hours of sitting on the floor in a hospital hallway, Eddie’s blood darkening on the front of his shirt, turned to the days of waiting for him to wake up. He also thought he’d, at least at some point in his life, known happiness, and relief, but he hadn’t, until finally he was roused from sleep by the hand he’d held for so long, wishing and hoping and even praying, curling around his. 

That’d been July, it was the end of November now and everything between that was a blur. That first night, everyone slept on chairs in the hospital, but eventually bags were collected from the Townhouse and migrated to Mike’s. “No friends of mine are going to keep living in that shithole for god knows how long,” the librarian had harrumphed at them, making up his sole guest room (never used,) pulling out his couch, and sending Ben to buy air mattresses. If Richie was smuggled there, ‘home,’ to sleep in those early weeks, he doesn’t remember. He remembers being absolutely unwilling to let Eddie out of his sight, lest he disappear, lest this not actually all be real, lest this be some fever dream in the deadlights, but then eventually he remembers waking up with the golden light of a late summer sunset falling over him, bundled under a pile of blankets in that guest room, Beverly sitting next to him, watching tv.

“I need to get back to the hospital,” he’d rasped at her, reaching for his glasses.

“You need to go back to sleep,” she’d murmured, brushing his hair out of his eyes with sisterly affection.  He had.

The weather grew cold, and the leaves turned the brilliant colors of fall in Maine, something else Richie had forgotten, and forgotten that he’d loved. One day, between the hospital and home, when Stan’s wife, Patty, who he’d begun to think of as the group’s tiny little blonde guardian angel, ushered him into a Halloween store to find Eddie “something seasonal to brighten that room up!” Richie realized that…none of them had gone home.

“Wait!” he surprised Patty by how quickly he sort of…grabbed her. She responded by turning and giving him a tight hug, to which he replied, feeling like a dunce, with “Don’t you all have lives?”

She blinked up at him, “Hm?”

“You flew all the way up here the second Stan called you. Audra came out. None of you have gone home. What about your jobs? Your houses? Your lives?”

“You’re family. Eddie’s family. You all need us.”

“Yes, Patty, and we love you very much, but the logistics-”

“We all figured, we’re…established, enough,” she shrugged, “We’ve all done well, Trashmouth. We’re in a position to be here, so we are. And besides,” she giggled brightly, “Ben is loaded.”

He laughed. She laughed. They left with a stuffed monkey dressed up as a mummy. Eddie would hate it.

The week before Thanksgiving, they sprung him. Until you really got to know Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie explained, he was a charming son of a bitch and had somehow convinced the nurses that that was his true nature.

Eddie, seated on the edge of his hospital bed as Richie stooped to tie his shoes for him, groaned, “Yes, Richie. I love you, too.”

Eddie got the guest room after that, which meant that Richie, who’d insisted on an air mattress and that someone else take that bed, was back in that cozy room, and for the first time since that awful day on Neibolt Street, since the nights before, hiding, sneaking from one room to another, Richie slept with Eddie in his arms, the cold sweating of nightmares gone, beaten back by the warmth, the solidity of the other man. Eddie was there, Eddie was real, and Eddie was alive.

So yes, even as he stood there, holding a half melting stick of butter that he was pretty sure that he was about to unceremoniously shove up a turkey’s ass, Richie Tozier was grateful.

“Rich? Hellllloooooooooo. Earth to Richie,” Bill waved a hand in his face, “Psst. You in there?”

Richie shook his thoughts clear, “Yeah, uh..yeah. I’m here. Sorry. Shit. What do I do with this?” 

Bill looked back at the cookbook, then at the butter, then back to the cookbook, and sighed with relief, “Thank fuck. We rub it under the skin-”

“It puts the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again!” Richie couldn’t help himself, voice and all. 

“Jesus Christ, Richie.”

“It’s so the turkey doesn’t get dry!” Eddie called from the window seat, “Please don’t make me get up and come over there.” 

“The turkey is not going to be dry, Eduardo!” Richie called back, and passed the now slippery stick of what surely was not butter but felt like pure grease, and was probably, in all actuality, the margarine that Eddie tried to convince them caused cancer if eaten literally ever at all, unceremoniously to a very confused Bill. “Here, you handle this, Big Bill,” he said, and wandered off to entertain Eddie and the cat before the former could offer any more unsolicited advice. Bill blinked at him, and sighed - some people never change, not even almost three decades and a murdered clown later. He was definitely going to need a drink.

+++

It was margarine and the turkey was dry (due, however, more to Bill getting a little tipsy and not setting his timer for the right amount of time after he stuffed the turkey into the apartment’s small-ish oven, than to any lack of comprehension from two grown men of at least above average intelligence but very little usable kitchen skill about what to do with butter on Thanksgiving when cooking,) but they were all too wrapped up in the warm glow of the occasion to notice once they all finally sat down to eat, Mike doing the honors of carving the bird expertly for someone who, the night before, had confessed that he not only hadn’t done a real Thanksgiving in twenty seven years but was also a vegetarian. Patty led the table in a round of applause as he took a small bow before sitting down, his grin wide and bright. 

Everyone looked expectantly to Bill, at the head of the table, always their leader, who looked, lost to his wife. Audra chuckled and gave his hand a squeeze under the table, “Should we say grace?”

“I will! I will!” Richie offered, to only mild protest, “Everybody hold hands, c’mon, pretend like we like each other, c’mon, c’mon.” The Losers, and their now honorary members, Audra and Patty, obliged, and Richie cleared his throat, bowing his head, “Dear Lord, we uh…thank you for…this day and these people and stuff and for that time that Jesus kid was…in Turkey and he…did some stuff-”

“Richie we’re Jewish why are you talking about Jesus,” Stan muttered. 

Richie, unfazed continued, “Or maybe today we just have turkey, maybe he wasn’t in turkey, wait…is that why we have turkey, is it-”

“Heeeeeeeey, I have an idea,” Ben interjected, “Instead of…whatever that was, why don’t we all just say something we’re thankful for? It’s been one hell of a year, and I have a lot I’m thankful for now.”

“Great idea!” Bev lit up, smiling up at him, “I’ll go first. This year, I’m thankful for all of you, and I’m thankful for Ben, and,” she peeked under the table at Ben’s large German Shepherd, his bowl already emptied between his paws, waiting for table scraps, “Scout down there, and Sprinkles, wherever she got to.”

“Same,” Ben seconded, “All of you and Bev and…our freedom.”

Patty raised her water glass, “I think that’s worth toasting. No more clowns!”

To the clink of glasses, they echoed, “No more clowns.” 

“I’m thankful for Mike!” Bill went next, “I mean, yes, I’m thankful for all of you. Audra, Stan, all of you, I mean that. But Mikey…dude, you st-stayed here f-f-for us. You remembered.”

“And then you took us all in!” Beverly added. Mike ducked his head, “Thank you. I’d do it again. I’m thankful you all came back.” 

“I’m thankful that Bill called me, after Mike did,” Stan said softly, “I was in a bad place and…about to do something drastic,” his voice was barely audible at the other end of the table, “And I would have never gotten to see us all this happy.”

Patty wrapped her arm around his and kissed his shoulder, “I’m thankful for that, too. And that you’ve all let me be a part of this family.”

“Same here,” Audra offered. A chorus of ‘we love you’s and ‘of course you’re part of this family’ went up to the both of them. 

“I’m thankful to be alive,” said Eddie, “I’m thankful that I get to…actually live my life now. I feel like I went from my mother to Myra and-”

“I’m thankful for divorce attornies,” Richie muttered.

“Beep beep, Richie,” Beverly muttered.

Eddie continued as though he hadn’t been interrupted, “Like, yeah, I almost died which is extremely fucking weird to say or even…think about…but…I get to live now. I’m not under mom’s thumb. I’m not under Myra’s thumb-”

“You just have me wrapped around your little finger,” Richie’s smile, for once, wasn’t wry or sardonic, but warm, and gentle and his eyes were so soft as he looked at the other man. 

Under the table, Eddie slipped his hand into Richie’s and squeezed it three times: I love you. “You love it.”

“I do.”

“And what about you, Rich?” Stan asked, beaming, “What are you thankful for? Besides Eddie’s divorce attorney, I mean.”

“A lot,” Richie was surprisingly quiet, and reverent, “Everything? All of you? That…I finally get to spend the rest of my life next to this weird little gremlin-”

“Hey-”

“Who I love more than anything in the world. Who I never stopped loving, not for a second. Who my heart always remembered.” 

Their eyes met, Eddie’s filling with tears. 

Ding, ding, ding! Patty tapped her spoon on her glass, and soon the others joined her, “Kiss! Kiss!” 

That cold, snowy Thanksgiving night, in a warm apartment in Derry, Maine, filled with love and friendship, Richie Tozier kissed Eddie Kaspbrak, and everything was absolutely golden.

[royalbloodedbastards]

chatzy // crackship power couple

DATE: Friday, October 24, 2020 CHARACTERS: Jack and Parker ABOUT: Jack tries on his Halloween costume for Parker. 

Dressing up like a monster had lost all its appeal for someone who lived in constant fear of being one year-round. Jack looked at himself in the mirror, clad in a blue jumpsuit and a grey industrial harness. He was dressed like an anime character but still felt monstrous seeing his scarred, red eye glaring back at him from the glass. "Ugh. I don't know," he called out through the bathroom door. "I'm scared to show you."

Parker, admittedly, thought that Halloween was kind of dumb. However, he thought the same thing about animals, and was a fan of a small dog because of Jack. So if this was something his boyfriend enjoyed, he was going to be as enthusiastic as needed. “Shouldn’t I be the one who’s scared?” He joked. “Of, like, your costume?”

Jack snorted. "I'm not dressed scary." He glanced at the mirror again. "Or... I guess it could be. Ugh." He sighed. Jack had never let Parker see him without his eye patch before. The scar across his eye was a disgusting reminder of the pain he had inflicted on someone else and he could barely stand to look at it himself. But after months of dating Parker, Jack had slowly warmed to the idea of coming out of the closet, so to speak, about his face. 

The deciding factor was seeing the character Todoroki for the first time. Contrary to Jack's deep insecurity about his facial scar, this character was somehow considered a heartthrob despite the red splotch across his eye and his cold, reclusive personality. A perfect costume, Jack thought. 

Jack took a deep breath and turned the knob of the bathroom door. "Ta-da," he muttered weakly as he stepped out into the living room, his red scar exposed bare on his face. "It's..." Jack shrugged, gesturing to his eye. "It's part of the costume."

Parker sat on the edge of the couch expectantly, and raised his eyebrows as Jack walked out. It took him a moment to place the character, but once he realized that it was something that Jack had shown him. "Oh! Yeah, yeah." He clapped and pointed at him. "You're that guy! From the anime show. Yeah." After a moment, he added an enthusiastic, "It looks good!" He stood, crossing the room towards him. "I think you look very cute."

Jack was anticipating some sort of comment or wince in reaction to his eye. When one didn't come, Jack was almost disappointed. "Yeah? Is it, like..." He shrugged. "I don't know. Like... You know?"

Parker blinked. "Cool?" He raised his eyebrows. "I think so." He pointed at Jack's chest. "I recognized him, so I think you did a good job."

"Uh." Jack exhaled a laugh. The combination of nerves and being flattered did something really strange to his heartbeat. "Uh, I mean more like... I don't know, do you think it's too much to just, like... Have my face out?" Jack looked away at a far wall. "I don't know, I thought it was, like, accurate to the character but like, I don't know if people will get it. It might just be, like... Gross. I don't know."

Parker furrowed his brow as he listened to Jack speak, then reached out to take his shoulders. "Hey, what? It's not gross at all. I like your face being out. You know what's gross? Having makeup on for like, however many hours and having it slide off your face later that night."

"Yeah, I guess," Jack agreed half-heartedly. He shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, starting to feel self-conscious about his costume. "I mean, like... Do you think people will get it?"

Parker dropped his hands and tilted his head at Jack as he considered the question, then nodded. "I think so, yeah. If they watch the show, which, I'm pretty sure a lot of people do, right? At least someone will get it." He paused. "I wasn't talking about me, but that is at least one person." He nodded sagely.

Jack snickered as he wrapped his arms around Parker's waist. He dropped his head forward to rest on his boyfriend's and groaned. "Ugh. I hate personal growth."

Parker laughed and swayed back and forth. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, just like..." Jack shrugged. "It's so awkward. Like, one of two things is gonna happen if I don't wear the eyepatch. One, someone is gonna see my face and be like, 'ew', or two, someone like Brent is gonna see my face and be like, 'wow look at you, little buddy'. It's like... Terrible either way."

Parker couldn't help but laugh at Jack's comment about Brent. "Oh my God, that totally sounds like him. I'll tell Mace to kick his ass if he says anything." He shrugged, leaning back slightly to look at Jack once more. "I don't think anyone is gonna say ew or anything though. Like, literally everyone here is covered in scars, it's like... I dunno, there's your trainer dude who is legit covered in them and has one leg and nobody says anything beside that he's like, mega ripped and hot." He shrugged. "Like, you're probably the person that thinks about it the most, since you're the one who looks at it the most."

"I guess," Jack mumbled in response. He hadn't ever really thought about it that way. Jack knew that everyone else had battle scars but his just felt... Different. "Yeah, I guess," he repeated. "So... You think my trainer is mega ripped and hot?"

Parker smiled slightly, bobbing his head as Jack agreed with him, no matter how begrudgingly. He laughed at the question. "I mean, that's probably like his credentials for the job, right?" He moved a hand to rest on Jack's waist. "Not really my type though."

"Ugh." Jack squeezed Parker's waist. A smile grew on his face between his reddening cheeks. "I really like you."

"Shit, I hope so!" Parker laughed, leaning forward to rest his head against Jack's again. "I like you too," he said genuinely, not laughing anymore, but smiling. "Like, all of you." He looked up at him. "Was I supposed to dress up too?"

"Um, yeah," Jack responded, as if it should have been obvious. "And you have to go as something sexy so we can, like... Power couple it," he insisted. "Brent and Macey are way too confident, we need to give them a run for their money."

Parker laughed and shook his head. "Shit. I told Macey I wouldn't dress up as Shaggy for her. She's gonna kill me." He shrugged. "Okay, what's a sexy costume? Am I supposed to be like, one of those nurses?"

Jack snorted. "Um... You could do, like... Sexy Colonel Sanders?"

"Ew!" Parker laughed and shoved Jack's chest. "I'll go as a super hot chef, and you can change your costume to a rat."

"Oh my fucking gods!" Jack clutched his stomach and started wheezing with laughter. "Stop! No! Not that again!"

Parker laughed harder and turned his head away from Jack, shaking his head, annoyed at himself for making the joke. "Okay, yeah, we'll ignore the fact that I said that and I'll think of a hot costume."

"Sexy Linguine," Jack considered, still shaking with laughter. "Ugh. I hate that you'd probably pull it off."

Parker shook his head again. "Don't worry, I won't even try it." He ran a hand through his hair. "I’ll do, um... I don't know. Is it weird to go as a soccer player?"

Jack snorted. "That's so jock. But I guess it's not weird."

Parker rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, still smiling. “Anime guy and jock. Is that not the vibe we’re going for?”

"We sound like a crackship," Jack pointed out with a chuckle. "I mean, I guess we kind of are."

Parker nodded as if he knew what that meant. “Huh. Yeah.”

[deadbiwrites]

PROMPTS!! I want a pumpkin picking date with Kara pouting a lot bec Lena said they can’t just casually take the 800lbs pumpkin home. Bonus points if Lena caves and ends up paying some guy enough money to buy it and supergirl flies it back to their apartment to carve it. Maybe it can’t fit through the door?? I’m not sure.

(Oh my WORD, it took forever and a day to get this to post but I did it, dammit! @valkyrieskwad , this one's for you! Cross-posting it on Ao3!!)

"You want to what?"

Kara grins and bounces in place, totally unperturbed by Lena's decided lack of enthusiasm. "Pumpkin picking! There's a patch, like, an hour away. It's so cute, I follow them on Instagram, and everyone looks like they're having so much fun in the pictures! It's almost Halloween, too, so we need to go soon or all the good ones will be gone."

"The good ones…?"

"Pumpkins,  Lena! Pumpkins! C'mon, please?"

"Isn't this exactly the sort of thing Alex makes fun of people for? Being basic?"

"Alex doesn't know what fun is if there aren't guns involved, so who cares? Please, babe? Be basic with me!"

Lena arches a brow at her, already caving under the weight of her girlfriend's boundless enthusiasm and the rare (and doubtlessly strategic) use of 'babe'. "Is it a muddy field?" she asks suspiciously. 

"Uh… wear boots?" Kara tries, still smiling. "We can take the baby. He'd love it, and we need to work on socializing him, right?"

Lena turns her attention to the little white puppy snoozing on her lap, running a hand over his back absently. "I mean, yes, we do, but a farm?"

Kara's affronted, or at least playing at it. "Uh, I halfway grew up on a farm, thank you."

"And look what's happened because of it."

Kara laughs, shaking her head, somehow charmed even though Lena knows that she's being a brat about this whole thing. "Why do you hate pumpkin picking?"

"I don't like doing things unless I'm already good at them."

Kara scoffs at this. "You can't be bad at picking pumpkins, Lena. It's just like when you were a kid."

The long stretch of silence at this is telling. 

"Lena," Kara says slowly, "have- have you ever been to a pumpkin patch?"

"I buy pumpkin at the store in a can, like a regular person. Half the work, half the price."

"But you can't carve a can of pumpkin puree!"

More silence. Krypto wakes up, shakes his whole roly-poly little body, and lays back down for another nap, snuffling as Lena rubs between his ears.

"Lena. Please tell me you've carved a pumpkin."

"I- I've seen people do it, so-"

"Oh my GOD."

"Kara-"

"What- what did you do at Halloween? No pumpkins! That's like half the fun, aside from all the candy and costumes, and…" Horror spreads across her face almost as fast as a creeping red flush spreads over Lena's. "Honey. Sweetie. Baby. Please, please tell me that your childhood included just one iteration of a normal American Halloween…?"

"Define normal..."

Kara jumps up from the couch, fuming. "I'm gonna punch your mom in the boob. Is it Tuesday?  They do visits at the prison on Tuesdays, right? Because, like, I know she's in prison, repaying her debt to society,  or whatever, but I'm still gonna go punch her in the boob."

Lena grabs Kara's hand, tugging her to a halt. "Alright, first of all, I appreciate and share the sentiment. Second, please never put your hands anywhere near my mother's boobs. Third, we're gonna stop talking about my mother's boobs, forever. Starting now."

"That's just… why does she suck so bad. Like, so, so badly, she sucks as a person. So bad. Badly sucks."

"Okay, yeah, you're doing that thing where you're so mad you make word puzzles, so I need you to sit down and hold this puppy." Lena lifts Krypto (who growls his fiercest growl and bites her fingers for disrupting his 18th nap of the day) and pushes him into Kara's arms, gratified when she instantly melts, just a little. "Better?"

"Yeah." She heaves a sigh and drops onto the couch beside Lena once more. "Look, if you really don't want to, we don't have to. But it is fun, and it is a disgustingly cute couple-y thing to do, which I know you love even if you pretend you don't."

Lena scoffs. "Prove it."

"You drag me into every photobooth you see and have a collection of all the photos in your desk at work."

Lena flushes a little more, knowing that she's been caught. "It's fun?" she asks quietly, spinning her chunky silver ring around and around on her finger.

"So fun. And it's a good excuse to get out of the city for the day." Kara scoots close, tipping her head so it knocks lightly against Lena's. "Instead of beating up your mom, what if we just make sure you get to do all the stuff you missed, like pumpkin patches and carving Jack-o-lanterns, and all that jazz?"

Lena considers this. "So, we're doing this at least partly to spite my mother?"

Kara beams at her. "Yep! You're gonna get all muddy doing something frivolous just because it's fun. She'd hate it."

"When are we going?"

It's a few days later that they're piled into a borrowed pick-up truck and coasting out of the city in the early morning. Lena has relented the wheel, for once, conceding that she hates driving outside the city and she has no idea where they're going. At least Kara was right about one thing- Krypto is already having a blast, trying his best to stick his entire upper body out the window, and yipping in annoyance when Lena continuously pulls him back into the cab.

One benefit, though, is Kara in what she calls her 'farm clothes', a heretofore undiscovered genre that involves a sturdy and well-loved pair of leather boots, what is clearly a men's flannel shirt tucked into a pair of faded jeans secured with a heavy leather belt, and a goddamn trucker hat.

Lena's really annoyed at how much this look is working for Kara.

Totally annoyed. No other emotion. Or like, squirmy feelings about it in general.

None at all.

"... and of course we'll get some breakfast- hot cider and doughnuts sound good to you?"

Lena blinks, realizes that Kara's been chattering this whole time. "What was that?"

"I asked how you feel about getting some breakfast. You okay? You're kinda spacey today."

"Says the girl from space," Lena snarks.

Kara rolls her eyes, amused. "That joke was only funny the first hundred times."

"Still makes me laugh."

"Fine, fine. But you're good? 'Cause I can hear you thinking, over there."

"I'm good, I just… is it stupid that I'm nervous?"

Kara takes her hand and gives it a squeeze. "Not at all. But you don't need to be nervous or anxious, because it's fun. Okay?"

Lena nods. "Okay." She shifts a bit on the old-school bench seat in the truck. "Why did we borrow this thing, again? My cars are a lot more comfortable."

"Well, Frank would yell at me if I got mud all over one of your cars." 

Lena snorts. "He would not, he loves you."

"And, this way, we can get a big one." There's an almost manic gleam in Kara's eyes that's distinctly disturbing. 

Lena chooses not to ask questions. 

It is not a muddy field. 

The dirt road they pull onto doesn't look all that promising at first, but the pumpkin patch itself is pretty, in a rustic, outdoorsy sort of way. Even early in the day there's a decent crowd here, and Kara grins at the sight of the picturesque red barn a ways away cheerfully advertising cider and doughnuts inside. "Nice! I hoped they'd still be doing the cider and stuff!" She hops out of the truck and rounds the front to help Lena down- whoever this behemoth belongs to had installed a lift-kit to it, and it's a fair few feet to the ground.

"I thought this was a pumpkin patch?"

"Well, yeah, but there's an orchard next door or something, so they have apples and pumpkins. And pears, apparently. Ha! A-PEAR-ently! I'm funny," Kara cackles, settling her hands on Lena's hips.

"You're lucky you're so cute," Lena snorts and scoops Krypto up, bracing a hand on Kara's shoulder as she's lifted easily out of the truck and onto the ground. "But you being able to just pick me up like that? Always a turn-on."

Kara laughs, loud and surprised as a flush creeps up her neck. "Good to know."

Lena smirks and sets Krypto onto the ground, and their day begins.

"So," Lena drawls, chewing an admittedly delicious cinnamon cider doughnut, "what constitutes a good pumpkin?"

"Well, obviously,  you don't want a squishy one."

"Obviously."

"Tiny ones are cute, but it's really hard to carve them."

"Noted."

"Other than that, it's all personal preference. I say go big or go home, Alex likes the really round ones, Eliza likes hers to be smooth, and Jeremiah loved ugly pumpkins."

"Ugly pumpkins...?"

"Oh, yeah, like, the weirder and bumpier the better. He was really good at carving them, so he could do, like, super cool faces and stuff. He made a witch one time that was really creepy."

Lena pushes up onto her toes to plant a kiss on Kara's cheek. "He sounds like a fun dad."

Kara smiles a little sadly. "He was." 

Sensing a rapid downshift in mood, Lena resolves to perk the fuck up. "So! We did doughnuts for breakfast- which I strongly suspect was your real motivation for this little venture…"

Kara's mouth drops open in shock,  but her eyes are sparkling with humor. "I would never!"

"Sure. So, as long as the pumpkin isn't soft, it's fair game?"

"Yup! Go nuts! I couldn't get a pumpkin last year, because of that guy from Yavin IV, I'm gonna get a big one this year to make up for it."

Lena fixes her with a look. "Not too big, though, right?"

Kara smiles innocently, letting Krypto tug her a pace or two ahead. "Of course not."

Lena sighs. 

Kara really is a terrible liar.

"Lena."

Upon seeing what's caught her attention,  Lena nearly drops her own perfectly round pumpkin. "No. Under no circumstances are we getting that one."

Kara's starry-eyed as she stares up at the truly gargantuan squash before her. "It's beautiful."

Lena strongly disagrees- this pumpkin is decidedly ugly, misshapen and lumpy and a shade that's not quite orange or green, but a rather sickly combination of both.

But what it lacks in general aesthetic appeal, it more than makes up for in sheer size. It's wider than Lena is tall, likely taller than she is, too, and is, in general, what Winn would call 'a threateningly large vegetable'. It's on a little platform, a plaque proudly boasting that it'd won some award or other at the state fair a week or so ago. And also its weight:

One thousand two hundred eighteen pounds. 

Lena tries for reason. "Kara. Darling. Love of my life. This… thing won a prize. They bred it especially to be giant. There is absolutely no way they're going to sell it to two city-slickers."

And then it happens. After almost a year of dating, and several years of friendship, Lena is well aware of Kara's pout, and especially aware of her own susceptibility to it. She can almost sense when it's about to happen, these days, and she senses it coming now, tries to steal herself against it.

But it's no use. Kara, she could maybe handle. Maybe. But when she bends and scoops up their three-month old puppy to help her pout, Lena is powerless against the assault.

"Alright, that was unnecessary," she complains. "No using our son like that. He doesn't even know why he's pouting."

"But is it working?" Kara asks, hiding her face behind Krypto's and talking in the goofy voice she reserves for narrating his thoughts.

Lena groans, because yes, of course it's fucking working. "No. Kara, they worked hard to make that... gourd. Can't you get another one?"

"I mean, I can," she agrees, peeking over Krypto's head so just her eyes show. "But think about how awesome that's gonna look when I carve it."

Lena sighs. "Kara,  they're using it as a draw to get people to come here."

"They're making it like a display in a zoo. People just come and point at it! We can give it a loving home!"

Lena arches a brow. "You literally just said that you want to cut it open, scoop out its insides, and carve it.."

"Well, yeah, but like, lovingly."

Lena snorts, knowing she's lost. "Fine! Fine, we can go ask."

Kara cheers, hopping a bit in excitement and darting forward to press her lips to Lena's in a silly, smiley kiss.

As predicted, the farmer is initially reluctant to sell his prize pumpkin. "It's not the money," he clarifies hastily when Lena doubles her offer for the damn stupid pumpkin. "I need the seeds, to plant next year. I won big at the fair this year, and with those I'd have a hell of an advantage next season. You understand?"

"What if we save the seeds and bring them to you?" Kara offers earnestly. "I can drive them out whenever."

The farmer looks skeptical at this, but Kara's offer doesn't waver under his glare, and he sighs, reaching out to shake Lena's hand and seal the deal. "Fine. Only because your girl is cute."

Lena huffs out a laugh, and Kara positively beams at him. "Thanks so much!"

"But Jake has the tractor out in the maze right now, won't be back for an hour or so to move it for ya."

Kara's grin only widens. "Don't worry, I called a friend for help moving it."

The farmer shrugs, and Lena groans, knowing that one spectacle at the pumpkin patch is about to be replaced by another. 

Lena hands the farmer his due for his prize pumpkin, and he turns away before she calls out, catching his attention.

"Sorry, I almost forgot, how much for this one?"

He eyes the normal-sized, perfect pumpkin in Lena's arms and his mouth quirks up in a grin. "For you? On the house."

Supergirl makes a very showy entrance, to the delight of most in attendance (the exceptions being a 74-year old man who thinks anyone who flies should have to get a license,  and her girlfriend who is rolling her eyes fondly and wrestling to keep their puppy from revealing her secret identity), landing with a flourish. She smiles brightly at the crowd waving and laughing, high-fiving anyone who offers before shouldering the massive gourd. "Sorry, guys, I'm on a very important mission. Support local farms!" 

Lena snorts, loudly, and Supergirl takes off into the air as her ears turn a little pink. 

The farmer sidles up to Lena at the back of the crowd, looking a little star-struck. "Wow."

Lena grins, dropping a kiss to Krypto's nose and blowing in his face when he nips at her chin. "Yeah," she agrees. "Wow about sums it up."

The truck rides notably lower on the trip back, the massive pumpkin weighing down the truck bed probably more than is entirely safe.

"So, how was your first trip to the pumpkin patch?" Kara asks with a grin.

"I hated it," Lena deadpans, cradling Krypto in one arm and her pumpkin in the other. On the seat between them are three dozen doughnuts,  four gallons of cider, and three bottles of hard cider the farmer's wife had slipped into their bags with a wink.

Overall, it's been a very pleasant experience. 

"Oh yeah?"

"Absolutely awful. Hated everything."

"What was the worst part?"

Lena reaches over, grabbing Kara's hand and threading their fingers together. "Spending it with you."

Kara clicks her tongue, shakes her head. "Yeah, that sounds awful. I'm a pain in the butt."

"Yeah. You're kinda cute, though, so I guess it's fine."

Kara chuckles, brings their clasped hands to her mouth and kisses Lena's knuckles. "Good news for me."

Lena smiles, turning her attention back to the window and watching as fields fairly fly by, the low sound of Kara singing in the background making this almost unbearably perfect. 

Almost.

"Um… so, funny story…"

Lena arches a brow expectantly, and Kara scuffs her red boots on the floor. "Oh?"

"Yeah. So, the thing is, I tried everything, with the pumpkin, and… it won't fit through the door. None of the doors. Or any of the windows…"

Lena bonds at the waist and laughs until she cries.

That year starts a long-running and much beloved tradition, wherein a truly massive and skillfully-carved pumpkin appears in L-Corp's opulent lobby the first weekend of every October. It later years, it's joined by other, smaller ones, dozens, carved by the children of employees, including those of the CEO herself. 

It's a family tradition, after all.