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artificialqueens · 4 years

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If We Walk Down This Road, 1/2 (Scyvie) - Ashley

It’s the final year of sixth form and stress levels are high for Yvie as she balances school work, Uni applications and her “part-time” job in a kids activity centre. However, things only get worse when her boss decides to hire his privately educated, definition of privilege daughter, Scarlet, as their marketing assistant and she rubs Yvie up the completely wrong way. Until, of course, she doesn’t.

Here goes a very late submission to the black girl magic fic! Hope you guys like it! This is a prequel of some sorts to my fics Got My Number and Girl on Fire but it works fine as a standalone so you don’t have to have read those to understand anything. Big thanks to @pink-grapefruit-cafe and @artificialortega for all the help, love and support with this fic.

Yvie loved her life. She wouldn’t have changed a piece of it for the world. Only, every now and then, she longed to be someone else.

This feeling usually arrived when making her way through the industrial estate, hearing the loud Kidz Bop music they were forced to play at her work ring in her ears before the building was even in sight. In fact, that feeling arrived every single time she walked towards her work, it was just something she had become accustomed to. It wasn’t the worst job in the world, she got to hang out with Jaida, Heidi and Priyanka on the weekends and the pay wasn’t awful. She just sometimes wished that after a long, frustrating day of writing essays she could stay on the bus until she arrived home, take a nice shower and do her homework with the telly on instead of hopping off after just six stops to put on a fake smile for a few hours and pray that no one was sick in the soft play area.

And on what seemed like the dullest Friday since she had started her job there, God (who she didn’t really believe in but had no one else to make the prayer to) decided that it most certainly wasn’t her night because a grand total of three kids were sick in the soft play instead of just the usual one.

So worth the twenty pounds she’d end off earning. So, so worth it.

Ready to throw her gloves in the bin, wash her hands at least four times and spend the rest of the night lurking at the back of the cafe until it was time to close, Yvie was stopped in her tracks when she returned back to her spot. Her spot that was currently occupied by a thin, unfamiliar red-head.

Pale legs poking out of a plaid skirt that reeked of prefects and lacrosse games, she stood out like a sore thumb against the bright yellow hoodies that made up their uniform (Yvie’s slightly stained with bleach and too short for her gangly arms). Yvie watched in silence for a second as the girl burrowed through the fridge, hearing a big, dramatic sigh of relief escape her red lips as she laid eyes on a Coke Zero.

“Can I help you?” Yvie asked.

Only it wasn’t really a question, Yvie using her level ten voice that was usually only saved for people who tried to push in the queue for the toilet on nights out or for idiots who answered easy questions wrong on Pointless when she watched it at Nina’s house. Annoying customers were normally only confronted with a mid-range level of anger on Yvie’s behalf, passive-aggressive rather than completely pissed off. As much as forever feeling the need to call out people in the wrong irked her, Yvie knew that she shouldn’t do that at work, leaving it for at home where the threat of being fired didn’t loom over her shoulder like the grim reaper’s scythe.

Something about this girl just threw that out into the window and sent it flying down the motorway at rapid speed, Yvie’s patience nowhere to be seen.

“Sorry.” The girl giggled. Actually giggled. “Took me forever to find the sugar free!”

“Normally you’d wait to be served it.” Yvie shot imaginary laser beams with her eyes. “At the other side of the counter.”

Yvie watched the girl pause, a coy grin on her face as her eyes danced between Yvie’s face and her own reflection in the clean glass.

“It’s a shame there was no one there to serve me!” She unscrewed the lid from the bottle, taking a swig and aaahing in delight as though it were the nectars of Greek gods.

Her voice was posh.

Not tea and crumpets, let’s-go-shoot-some-clay-pigeons posh but still posh nonetheless. She pronounced the Ts in her words in a way that neither Yvie nor any of her friends did and Yvie knew that if she wasn’t so furious she would have found it sexy.

She was always a sucker for a posh voice.

“Well, if you’d have waited two minutes then I would have been here,” Yvie replied, letting her nails squish into the palms of her own hands - a self-control mechanism that didn’t tend to work when your nails were bitten down to stumps like Yvie’s currently were (something she liked to attribute to the stress of her A-Levels despite it being a habit she’d formed as a kid).

It was safe to say she didn’t feel relieved.

Especially when the familiar lull of the owner’s voice boomed behind her. How perfectly convenient.

“Yvie!”

Normally Yvie would be relieved to realise he’d actually gotten her name right but her mind was full of other thoughts - supermodel shaped thoughts with blue eyes that were probably going to get her murdered.

At least she’d taken the rubber gloves off before she met her untimely end, she thought to herself, pulling the biggest ‘I’m sorry, I should be more attentive’ smile she could muster as she turned to face her boss.

“I see you’ve met my daughter!” He motioned to the girl.

His daughter, of course.

“Yes,” Yvie stammered, her cheeks red at the mistake she’d made.

The girl, her boss’ daughter, instead seemed nothing but amused.

“Scarlet’s here to help with our marketing; gotta make sure that personal statement is in tip-top shape ready for applications!”

Yvie felt his words crawl under her skin, the itch of casual nepotism. Casual nepotism that would probably land people like Yvie without a Uni offer. She never liked to think of herself as bitter when these situations arose, but this time she couldn’t deny that she was at least a little tart. After all, Yvie was pretty adamant that any Russell Group would favour the privately educated white girl who had marketing experience with a local business over the one who cleaned the toddler’s sick from the ball pit.

It really was as simple as that.

Yvie didn’t know if Scarlet failed to sense her discomfort or simply ignored it anyway as she moved over and held out her hand.

Yvie couldn’t remember the last time she had actually shaken someone’s hand but obliged nonetheless. Scarlet’s eyes narrowed slightly when Yvie met them, her face concentrated like she was about to be quizzed on Yvie’s appearance. Realising she hadn’t blinked since their hands met, Yvie pulled away quickly, the brightness of the centre snapping back into focus around her.

“I guess I’ll be seeing you around, then.” Scarlet took an extra big swig of the bottle before tossing it in the bin and leaving the cafe with her Dad.

And she wasn’t wrong. Indeed, Yvie found herself “seeing Scarlet around” on every single shift she was on the rota for. For an entire three weeks. Without fail.

She was starting to think the phrase, ‘bane of my life’ was an understatement for how she felt about the girl.

It’d started small, Yvie finding herself rolling her eyes whenever Scarlet came into the cafe for a drink. But soon Yvie started to believe that Scarlet didn’t just live in a different part of town but in a whole other fantasy that the rest of the staff were foreign to, parading past the trampolines once every hour as if the carpet were the runway at Paris Fashion Week.

“Do you think someone needs to tell her she’s not actually a real princess?” Yvie spoke into the walkie talkie, exchanging glances between Scarlet and her friend.

“Leave her be! She’s just playing with the kids, you witch,” Jaida responded from the opposite end of the park. “Stop being so cynical.”

Yvie was grateful for her work friends. Although she loved Nina and Brooke with every piece of her often cold, dead heart, it was nice to have found girls more like her at work. Girls who understood how it felt when her school told her she wasn’t allowed any “extreme” hairstyles and she had to take out her braids. Girls who also got told they were too confident, sometimes arrogant when all they were doing was being proud of themselves. Girls a little bit older and wiser (not that she’d ever admitted that she found them wise) who helped her love her skin just that little bit more than she already did.

“Yeah but she’s probably getting paid double what we are to swan about like that!”

Yvie raised her hands in the air to Jaida but didn’t get a chance to hear her response, turning the volume down to zero when she saw Scarlet making her way towards her.

“Hey, doll.” Scarlet plonked a notebook down on the counter in front of Yvie, a big grin of optimism filling the lower half of her face.

Her hair was down that day, soft ginger curls falling in front of her chest. Yvie had a sudden urge to push a strand back and tuck it behind her ear.

Why did the most annoying girl on the planet have such flawless bone structure? It simply wasn’t fair.

“Hello,” Yvie responded rather formally, reaching to grab Scarlet’s usual order. The faster she did so, the faster she walked away - so Yvie may or may not have been keeping a couple of Coke Zeros in the special fridge under the counter that was saved only for open milk bottles, just so she could serve Scarlet with the utmost efficiency.

A part of her just wished she would serve herself again.

“Oh no.” She shook her head, reaching out to touch Yvie’s arm and stop her. Yvie could hardly feel her hand through the thick hoodie, yet her heart still decided it wanted to start sprinting in the middle of the leisurely stroll it was taking before Scarlet had come over. Maybe she had to add the human anatomy to the list of things she’d decided she hated that week, right underneath her new English teacher and egg mayonnaise sandwiches. Her stupid, fat heart.

“I’m here for your interview!”

“Interview?” Yvie raised a brow and chuckled to herself. She wondered if Scarlet had ever actually had to be interviewed for anything in her life nevermind conduct one.

“For Instagram! I’m posting little profiles of all the staff, a little get to know me! It’ll help the youngsters really see what a family we are here!”

Yet another thing Yvie hated was how Scarlet always managed to talk like an edgy teenager and a middle-aged woman at the same time, figuring that was the first and last time she’d hear an eighteen-year-old refer to kids as “youngsters”. Or at least she said she hated it in one of the many Scarlet-included rants she’d had to Heidi the weekend before; she may have actually loved it. The two feelings were often blurred in Yvie’s brain, hard to tell one from the other in her web of brutal honesty and blunt opinions. She was ninety-nine per cent sure she hated it.

“I’ll get someone to cover your station and we can go natter in the staff room.” Scarlet took her lack of words as acceptance and turned on the spot.

Maybe Yvie was only eighty per cent sure.

Yvie had never seen Scarlet in the staff room before, watching most days as the girl took her snacks outside where she ate alone in her car. So it was strange to be cramped on the small sofa with her, both of them staring at the mirror in front rather than at each other. The smell of a ready-made curry that had been left in the microwave for too long that day was lingering warm in the air. Yvie took a deep breath and held it, scared that if she released it her body would touch Scarlet’s just that inch too much and then the entire world around them would explode around them, kind of like the curry.

“So, what’s your favourite snack from the cafe?” Scarlet held a fountain pen in her hand, ready to write. Yvie didn’t need to look at the notepad to know her handwriting was beautiful, a piece of art next to her own illegible scrawls.

“I don’t buy food here,” Yvie responded nonchalantly.

Scarlet popped the end of the pen in her mouth for a moment then let it rest back at the paper.

“You’ve never eaten anything here?” Scarlet questioned, clearly dissatisfied with Yvie’s answer.

“Nope. It’s far too expensive. I just buy my lunch at the off-license before I get the bus.”

“You know what I want you to say!” Scarlet whined. Yvie thought she would do great as a soap actress if the whole marketing thing never worked out for her. She had that dramatic flare mastered down to a tee. And the charming voice to match.

“I’m being honest.” Yvie half-chuckled. “I’m not a liar.”

“Well, I’m just gonna write cheesy nachos then!” Scarlet was trying her hardest to act serious but Yvie just about caught the quiver of her lip.

She wondered if Scarlet somehow knew about her love for cheesy nachos or if it was simply a wild coincidence, either way, she carried on to battle through the questions with Scarlet, praying that there weren’t many to go.

“Which party room is your favourite?” Scarlet still hadn’t lost her enthusiasm, despite having to write down three sarcastic answers as if they were genuine and completely make up new answers for another two so far.

“The volcano room. Normally older kids hire that out and they don’t make as much of a mess as the toddlers in the mermaid or the pirate one.”

Scarlet didn’t even bother to respond to that one, simply shaking her head at Yvie’s response.

“If you don’t like my honesty…” Yvie started, desperate to get back to the comfort of the park where she could swap spots with Jaida for an hour and bask in the comfort of the ball pit.

“I actually find it quite refreshing.” Scarlet gave an all-knowing smile.

Sometimes Yvie got scared that the girl was part-wizard and could see inside of her soul. After all, she knew which school Scarlet attended and she wouldn’t be shocked one bit if it was revealed to be some modern-day incarnation of Hogwarts (then again Yvie did kind of think that about any school with a tuition fee or Latin slogan, so she didn’t know how strongly her argument would stand).

“That’s weird,” she blurted back, unable to think of something quick and witty to say. Where was Brooke with her encyclopedia of shady comebacks when she needed her? Tempted to text her some form of a rant about the interview/ambush she decided against it, knowing Brooke had planned to spend the day with her new “almost-girlfriend” that she had picked up from the literal curb earlier that month.

“You’re weird.” Scarlet stood up, giving Yvie that smile yet again. Yvie knew it so well now that she should have been able to draw it by memory only she knew it would never be captured just right. Not even with all the pencils and canvases and colours that the rainbow had to offer.

She didn’t even try to come up with a comeback to that one.

“Now for the photoshoot!” Scarlet grinned, opening the door for the pair of them.

“Photoshoot?” Yvie’s head whipped around and fired red laser-beams at the girl from her eyes. There had been absolutely no mention of a photoshoot.

“Follow me, my muse.”

***

“Are you doing homework?” Scarlet craned her neck, making out Yvie’s hunched over figure behind the big coffee machine.

“Sorry.” Yvie stood up straight and made her way to the front of the counter, her brown eyes a little droopy compared to normal. Scarlet knew Yvie always played the ‘I hate my life and don’t want to be here’ game at work regularly, but this time was different.

If she were anyone else in the world Scarlet would have pulled her into a great big cuddle. But she wasn’t. She was Yvie. And Yvie hated her.

Most of the time Scarlet didn’t mind that Yvie hated her, she found it quite amusing winding her up and seeing her face scrunch up in frustration. She knew that her confidence didn’t always rub well with people but she’d always told herself that anyone who didn’t want to live in that world with her was simply missing out. Only sometimes she wished things were a bit different at the centre.

She guessed it was one of those days.

“No need to say sorry to me, I’m not paying you!” Scarlet made her way around the back of the cafe and entered. This was something she’d withheld from doing whenever Yvie was stationed there, after their first Coke Zero incident (which she, for the record, actually found quite funny), but the urge simply pulled her and when the urge took control, Scarlet’s will power was nowhere to be seen.

“Is this History?” Scarlet held the papers close to her face. She’d never suited her glasses and had made the executive decision not to wear them around the centre. This was probably some sort of safety hazard considering the fact there were kids jumping around left, right and centre that she was supposed to be constantly observing, but she simply pretended this thought had never even crossed her little air-head brain. Scarlet knew that it never hurt to look good. After all, you never know who could be sneaking glances at you through the gaps in the slush machines.

Scarlet knew exactly who was sneaking glances at her through the gaps in the slush machines. The constant squinting was worth it.

“I really am sorry. I’ve just been really busy and I’m trying to get all my references for Uni but-” Yvie started but stopped to serve a customer. Scarlet heard her voice waver slightly when she asked if she wanted a medium or large. It broke her heart into a thousand little pieces.

“Is it due soon?” Scarlet flicked through the questions. “I did this last term. My file is in my boot if you want me to get some notes out?”

“I don’t need your help.” Yvie took the papers from out of her hands and placed them back on the counter.

Scarlet knew that behind her constantly on-guard exterior there was a girl who just wanted to relax for a second and have fun. She caught her sometimes. Like the time Heidi queued the entirety of the Hercules soundtrack on their iPod and Yvie complained over the walkie talkie yet Scarlet saw her dancing to the songs in the back of the cafe when she thought no one could see (she may or may not have added I Won’t Say I’m In Love to her playlist that night). Or when Jaida fell into the big airbag and shouted at everyone to look away and Yvie released one of her big hearty laughs that managed to surprise Scarlet every time she heard it. She’d always try to catch Yvie’s face when the girls played their own version of Russian roulette with the bottles of cleaning spray that they thought no one else knew about, closing their eyes and spinning the nozzles then stopping to spray - Yvie dying with laughter every time the liquid spat on her jumper.

“If you’re stressed, I can help. You’re applying to somewhere really good aren’t you?”

“You don’t know everything, Scarlet. I told you already that I don’t need your help, I don’t need your special private school notes or whatever it is you pay to get taught.”

It stung. Those weren’t Scarlet’s intentions at all. But she knew how they must have come across.

“That’s okay.” She grabbed some cans of pop from the back and started to stack the fridge. “Just letting you know that the staff room is really dirty and someone needs to clean it.”

“What?” Yvie turned to face her. “Pri cleaned it yesterday.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to clean it again.” Scarlet made a point of looking at the camera in the corner that she knew her dad would glance at from his office every half an hour. “I’ll watch the cafe while you do it. And take those papers with you.”

“Do you even know how to make a coffee?” Yvie caught on, grabbing her notes and a roll of cloth for show.

“Oh my god. Yes, I go to private school but I’m not Paris Hilton! I can watch the cafe for half an hour.”

“Sorry.” Yvie smiled as she left. “And thank you. Really, thank you.”

And Scarlet felt that thank you deep in her bones, one she’d keep saved somewhere to replay on a day when she felt lonely. Only she began to think that Yvie should’ve taken the thank you back when she realised that she should have absolutely not been trusted to watch the cafe for half an hour.

Scarlet knew she wasn’t the best “employee” they had, spending most of her days taking photos, making social media posts and chatting with the little ones when they were done playing. But she didn’t know how quite bad she was until she had burned two toasties, overcharged at least five customers and accidentally poured one woman’s change into her cup of tea instead of her hand.

Maybe she should stick to Instagram.

She tried her hardest to help, cleaning the toastie machine as best as she could before Yvie returned but she knew that she had messed things up, creating more jobs on top of the ones Yvie already had to do when closing the cafe.

“Are you nearly done?” Scarlet heard her Dad ask Yvie later on as he prepared to lock up for the night.

“Sorry, I’m just trying to cash up the till. There are a few discrepancies I need to try and fix.” Yvie didn’t even look up from the tablet, punching numbers into the digital counter with frustration.

“I’ve got my car.” Scarlet blurted before she knew what she was saying. “I’ll help Yvie and lock up here when she’s done. Get yourself away, Dad.”

Scarlet looked at her phone, full of notifications from the girls’ chat: Naomi telling everyone what booze she was going to bring, Plastique asking what they were all wearing, Pearl waking up from the longest of naps to tell everyone she’d be an hour late. She didn’t read them all properly, sending a quick message before popping her phone back in her pocket:

‘I’ll be late tonight. Don’t wait on me xx’

It was the least she could have done.

They were silent for a while, the two of them all alone in the big airy building, the main lights switched off with only the small ones at the top of the cafe kiosk to help them see.

Scarlet did her best to help, double-checking Yvie had counted the piles of coins properly whilst she fiddled around the tablet. She figured that maybe silence was better for them, she couldn’t annoy Yvie with her dramatic exclamations and Yvie wouldn’t bombard her with unsought “honest opinions”.

Until that silence was broken with a bang, echoing through the darkness and causing Scarlet’s entire body to leap out of her skin.

Yvie didn’t even quiver.

“What the fuck was that?” She asked Scarlet, her thick eyebrows raised as she peered towards the soft play.

“That doesn’t normally happen?” Images of axe-wielding lunatics stowed away inside the slides flashed through Scarlet’s mind.

“Funnily enough, it doesn’t,” Yvie responded, still as sarcastic as ever in times of panic. “Put your phone light on.”

Scarlet didn’t really want to go and inspect the noise but she also didn’t want to wait in the cafe alone. She knew she was the perfect damsel in distress, axe murders would love her! Trying her best not to be a baby, she followed by Yvie’s side with her phone light guiding their path.

“What if there’s a bomb?” Scarlet placed a hand on her chest and felt Yvie stop next to her. “One of those ones with a remote control that detonates it!”

“You think someone planted a bomb in our play area? And waited to detonate it when no one was around other than me and you?” Scarlet knew Yvie was rolling her eyes as she spoke despite not being able to see her. “I honestly don’t understand how your brain works sometimes.”

“You love me really,” Scarlet responded without thought as they turned another corner. It was an automatic response she often used to her friends when they made fun of her, it felt weird saying it to Yvie. With anyone else, she would have brushed it off, but with Yvie it was different.

And then Yvie gasped.

Before Scarlet knew it her hand was in the other girl’s. It was automatic. She got a shock and Yvie was there. A patch of her hand turned cool where Yvie’s ring pressed against it.

“What was it?” She asked a second later, her brain too caught up with why her hand was gripping tightly onto Yvie’s hand and why Yvie hadn’t pushed her off to actually know what Yvie had reacted to.

“Nothing.” The hearty laugh came back. It was almost comforting in the darkness. “Just wanted to see how you reacted.”

‘Well there you go,’ Scarlet thought to herself as she looked down to their hands, not quite brave enough to say it out loud.

And then Yvie started to laugh, a noise Scarlet would never ever get used to.

“There’s your bomb.” Her hand slipped out of Scarlet’s and pointed in front of them, the remnants of a big silver helium balloon on the floor. “Good job I was here to protect you from that.”

Before she knew it they were back at the till, fixing each of Scarlet’s mistakes and counting out their float for the next day. They worked relatively well together, only managing to butt heads once more when Scarlet suggested they write out a whole new balance sheet instead of scribbling out a mistake and writing the new number next to it as Yvie wanted. She let it go in the end, her phone vibrating in her pocket with texts from the girls a constant reminder that she had a little red dress with her name on it waiting at home.

“Guess I’ll see you later,” Yvie murmured as they left the building, pacing down the road as Scarlet fumbled with the keys. She was a racehorse in the rain, taking her steps twice as fast as the average human as if the building was on fire.

“Where are you going?” Scarlet had to shout after her, half expecting Yvie to ignore her and keep walking anyway.

“Home?” She stopped up the road for a second and turned around. “Now if you don’t mind I have a bus I’m about to miss.”

About to insist she got in the car, Yvie was already far in the distance, slipping out of Scarlet’s vision in the rain by the time the doors were fully locked. Maybe wearing her glasses would have been useful after all.

Cringing as the puddles splashed up her legs, Scarlet ran to her car as fast as she could, throwing her phone onto the passenger seat and taking off down the road. Thankfully it didn’t take her long to catch Yvie, her dark hair poking out through her hoodie and already scraggly with rain.

“Hey!” She pulled up into the bus stop. “Get in, I’ll take you home.”

“What are you a stalker?” Yvie raised her arms in the air. “I’m fine, thank you.”

“You’re going to freeze.”

“The bus will be here any minute.”

Scarlet knew she should have just given in and turned around but she felt the guilt for their late departure weighing on her shoulders.

“Look Yvie-” Scarlet started but was cut off by a loud beeping behind her, just making out an angry bus driver in her rearview mirror.

“Move or it’ll drive past!” Yvie cried at her, the usual monotone of her voice rising in pitch.

“Sorry, what was that?” Scarlet attempted some humour, grinning from ear to ear as the bus pulled away. “Oops! Guess you’ll just have to have a nice warm lift instead of getting the bus with a load of drunkards.”

Yvie didn’t speak at first, simply pulling the car door open and plonking herself down, arms folded like a huffy toddler. But as Scarlet began to follow the directions she gave it was almost as if the other girl couldn’t help herself from falling back into their usual rapport of snide remarks and winding each other up.

“So do you always kidnap people in your Fiat 500 or is this something new for you?”

If this were any other member of staff, Scarlet knew she’d call them ungrateful but it was almost like her brain had learned a new language with Yvie, acknowledging and adapting to the different way she showed her emotions.

“You’re welcome.” Scarlet turned the heating up a notch, hearing the chatter of Yvie’s teeth between words. “And this isn’t even a Fiat 500.”

“Apologies,” Yvie responded. She was the difference between rudeness and bluntness that Scarlet figured many people couldn’t see, always honest and unbashful but never actually impolite.

Scarlet’s phone rang three times on their way to Yvie’s house and she didn’t even try to answer.

“Thanks for the lift,” Yvie whispered as Scarlet pulled up to the curb, the lights all turned off in the semi-detached next to them. “Even if you did leave me no other choice.”

Scarlet released a sigh and smiled at the return of the girl’s cynical side.

“There’s the Yvie, I know. Thought I’d lost you, being nice to me for a second!”

“Yeah well, you caught me on an off day.” She gathered her things and opened the door. “Don’t go telling anyone I went soft on you, I have a reputation to uphold.”

And she was up the path before Scarlet could think of a response, leaving her a baffling mess of feelings who couldn’t help but hear a certain laugh bouncing around inside the car even when she turned the music up loud and tried to distract herself from Yvie.

A distraction technique she had to use after every shift for a month.

Scarlet had never planned for the lifts to become part of her routine, it just sort of happened. She told herself that she wouldn’t have let one of the girls from school or her younger sister ever wait in the rain for the bus so it was common sense not to let Yvie do that either. After a little while of Scarlet ranting about how it was safer and faster for Yvie to go home with her instead of catching the bus every time they left work together, Yvie stopped trying to argue and simply started hopping in the passenger seat. Of course, she did this in the most classic of Yvie fashions and told Scarlet she was only agreeing so she didn’t have to listen to her whiney speeches about the dangers of the dark every night but it made Scarlet feel better still. Even if she did receive an average of three sarcastic responses to her comments each time.

Slowly but surely, the eggshell around Yvie began to peel away. Scarlet discovered through blunt replies Yvie loved learning about international relations and global conflict, that she wanted to go to Uni to study them despite the high offer and the money that went with the dream. Despite the fact that only one per cent of the campus she wanted to be a part of was black. Ignoring that her teacher had told her to play things safer.

Yvie was real and passionate and thriving and everything Scarlet admired.

Yes, she was still the same sarcastic self she always was behind the cafe counter but she was even more than that underneath the fluorescent lights in Scarlet’s car. A small chunk of the divide between them had been left at the bus stop in the rain while they basked in the warm air shooting out of the vents.

Scarlet was hesitant to call Yvie a friend, they didn’t really chat and gossip - as she did with Plastique, Naomi and Pearl - and when they did at least half of their conversation was made up of insults but Scarlet liked it. Yvie was a refreshing change from the girls she was surrounded with every day at school and Scarlet wanted to drink that in as much as she could. Even if Yvie did still hate her.

In fact, Yvie had started to use those exact words as a regular comeback to Scarlet’s dramatics, rolling her eyes to match.

“Would you hate me if we stop for food before I drop you off?” Scarlet asked one night. “I’m honestly starved.”

“I already hate you, don’t think food would change that.” Yvie laughed.

That fucking laugh.

Scarlet hoped she only-half meant it. But she never really knew for sure.

Making their way into the food chain, Scarlet’s mind was too consumed with the thought of what she was going to order to even realise that her friends were there until she heard her name.

“Hey, sweets.” Naomi smiled from the table. “I thought you were at your Dad’s work?”

“We were just on the way home and I got hungry.” Scarlet motioned to Yvie, stood almost a step behind her.

“Who’s this?” Plastique asked, raising a perfectly shaped brow.

Opening her mouth to speak, Scarlet’s brain went blank for a second. She obviously wanted to tell the girls about Yvie but never knew what to say, she didn’t even know what they were herself nevermind having to explain it to them.

How do you say, ‘this girl works for my Dad and I drive her home every night whilst we listen to Lady Gaga in almost complete silence except for when she insults me because she maybe hates me or I try to get on her nerves because I maybe fancy her,’ in a clear and concise way?

“Erm, this is…” She tried to start but was stopped by Yvie herself.

“I’ll go order our food.”

“Oh,” Scarlet turned, pulling her purse from her pocket. “Here let me pay.”

“It’s fine.” Yvie turned her back. “I guess I owe you a lot of petrol money anyway.”

Her words struck Scarlet a little different. They lacked any emotion, spoken from dead eyes and a stern face. She relived those words a lot in the next few weeks, popping into her head again at the most random of times. For they were the last words she heard Yvie speak for a while, ignoring any effort Scarlet made to chat, even when she gave her perfect opportunities to poke fun at her like bringing up her house team at school or her sister’s upcoming dance recital (Scarlet knew how much humour Yvie found in the fact that their names were just stupid ways of saying red and yellow and normally laughed whenever Scarlet even mentioned Lemon).

“I won’t be able to give you a lift home next week.” She’d told her as they pulled up to Yvie’s house, ready to explain that Pearl had bought them tickets to a theatre show and it started too early. But Yvie hopped out of the car before she could even finish, leaving Scarlet with even more confusion about how the girl felt.

Because Yvie was still Yvie after all. And Scarlet realised after that particular journey that it would take a lot more than a few rides home to get them anywhere close to being classed as friends.

An observation in Scarlet’s mind that only grew stronger over the weeks following, especially when she decided it would be okay to join everyone on one of their regular staff nights out. A decision tinged with regret as soon as she entered the pub.

“Dress was a big mistake!!!! Huge !!! xx” Scarlet texted her teenage sister aggressively from under the table as if it would somehow fix her situation.

Excited to hit the town with everyone from the centre, she’d spent all day getting prepped and ready, letting Lemon paint her nails as they pondered over what she should wear. Eventually, they’d settled on a shimmery gold Oh Polly number she’d worn to Naomi’s birthday the year prior, her jewellery matching just right.

Only that didn’t matter once she arrived, riving her necklace from her throat as soon as she saw the rest of the staff. With all the other girls in bodysuits and trainers, she was the definition of overdressed and out of place.

It started small at first, hearing someone whisper something including the word “Daddy” as she made her way to the tables, one of the girls from the front desk asking her if she was gonna be getting the rounds in all night.

“Scarlet, come sit here!” Heidi had waved at her over, allowing for a second to catch her breath.

Only her nerves didn’t go away once she joined their booth. In fact, they only grew larger when she caught Yvie’s gaze, her eyes wide at Scarlet in a face she’d never quite seen the girl make before. She’d fought hard to ignore it, but her eyes couldn’t stop from glancing back every few seconds, wondering what it was exactly that Yvie’s face was speaking into the universe around them.

Knowing Yvie it was probably something along the lines of ‘What the fuck is the primadonna doing here in that dress’ but she didn’t know for sure, trying her best to join in their conversation and catch the familiar side of the other girl she’d caught glimpses of over the past few months.

“So, whose ID are you using?” Scarlet asked her in an effort to make conversation, having learnt from the walkie talkies that Heidi was usually Yvie’s go-to girl when she went out with her other friends, despite them looking nothing alike.

“Here.” Yvie slid it across the table for Scarlet to examine, the other girls in the booth taking a look too.

“I know her!” Jaida exclaimed. “Chile, I did her prom makeup a couple years ago.”

“Perks of Brooke’s new girlfriend. I now have black friends that aren’t you guys I can borrow ID from. Not the best though, it’s a good job they never actually look properly.”

“Wait.” Priyanka raised two hands in the air. “You’re telling me that your gal Brooke has an official girlfriend? I thought they were just fucking about, damn!”

“Oh, not this again!” Heidi joined in. “We get it, Pri. You got together once and she didn’t remember your name. Move on!”

Scarlet checked her phone to see if her sister had replied but saw nothing, resorting to scrolling through her own photo album and reshuffling her apps so she didn’t look left out. Listening to the girls continue to gossip about people she didn’t know, Scarlet began to question the friendships she’d made at the centre, little voices in her head telling her that none of them would ever like her enough to open up and gossip with her as they did with one another.

For as long as she remembered she had always been confident, never caring what others thought of her. But as she started to gulp her drink down faster than normal, Scarlet felt that confidence slip away more and more. She was so far out of her comfort zone she couldn’t have made it back on a giant jet plane at full speed. And Yvie’s big brown eyes taking stolen glances at her didn’t make any of it better.

“It’s okay, Pri.” Jaida’s voice pulled Scarlet back into their conversation. “At least Yvie remembered your name when you two got with each other!”

“Oh, fuck off!” Yvie slammed her glass onto the table at the same time Scarlet spat some of her drink back into her own.

What an elegant lady she was.

She’d always just assumed that Yvie was into girls too. There was just something about hearing it for real that made Scarlet’s central nervous system stop working for a second, starting again with a scare.

“That was one time,” Priyanka cried from the opposite side of the booth, thankfully oblivious of Scarlet’s reaction.

Only someone wasn’t as oblivious. Someone was looking right at her and sending every thought, every feeling, every fear inside of Scarlet into overdrive.

***

Yvie wasn’t a stranger to awful dancing. After all, she had been friends with Nina for the majority of life, the girl whose feet were built of hard oak and desperation.

But this was something different altogether.

Watching Scarlet across the dance floor, the phrase ‘Bambi on ice’ brought a whole new meaning to Yvie. If she wasn’t so mad at her she’d go over herself, give the girl a twirl and watch as she missed every beat like she had no cares in the world. Only that wasn’t the case, because mad Yvie certainly was.

Yvie didn’t know why she felt so hurt, it wasn’t like they were friends? It wasn’t like she even liked Scarlet? But something about having to stand there while she scrambled for an explanation of who she was to her privately educated, life’s not fair, acrylic nailed girl gang made Yvie’s blood boil. And she’d never admitted it but she may have even shed a tear or two once her blinds were shut and she couldn’t see the not-Fiat 500 and the annoying girl who drove it.

To think she’d started to believe that she was only fifty-five per cent sure of her hatred.

“Staring much?” She could hear the raise of Heidi’s brow in her words as she spoke to her ear, the loud bass around them not heavy enough to drown out the accusation in her friend’s voice.

Yvie couldn’t even deny it, for she’d been staring at Scarlet from the moment she’d walked into the pub earlier. Of course, she’d stalked the girl’s Instagram enough to know what Scarlet looked like dressed up, rolling her eyes at the dumb self-indulgent captions that were always attached to her selfies. Only it was different in person, a mix of gold and warmth and beauty and envy that made Yvie want to snap a pencil in half (she settled for a paper straw instead which certainly did not give the same level of relief). She’d watched as Scarlet ripped a necklace from her neck earlier and longed to put it back on for her, taking her time to hook it on the right loop so that it would hang perfectly above her collarbone.

She tried to fixate on the memory of Scarlet squealing every time they went over the speed bumps outside of their work to give herself the ick. Only that image had become entwined with one of Scarlet getting out the car one night to help a cat out of the road and Yvie only felt more confused.

“I’m just judging her dancing abilities,” Yvie lied.

She knew it was a lie. Heidi, who once confidently believed that Jaida had found a ghost in the dodgeball cupboard, knew it was a lie. The whole club knew it was a lie just from Yvie’s expression. Did lying count as breaking your streak of tough love and honesty if you wanted to believe you were telling the truth so badly? Is lying even lying if it’s yourself you’re lying to? Yvie didn’t know. All she knew was that red and gold looked so good together it should have been illegal. Only it was herself breaking the law when her eyes met Scarlet’s again, holding for a second before she turned to walk away.

The songs all blurred into one once Scarlet was gone, Yvie’s brain out of focus. That was until she was snapped back by a familiar squark pulling her away from her work friends.

“Hey, Yvie! Or should I say Akeria tonight?” Vanessa grinned, a loved-up Brooke with her arm around the other girl’s waist.

“Thanks again.” Yvie tapped her nose, grateful for Brooke’s new relationship and the new friends that had come with it. “I owe you a drink.”

“So where is she then?” Brooke piped up, straight to the point and not wasting time with any cordial greetings on her best friend.

“Priyanka?” Yvie squinted in confusion for a second, wondering why Brooke wanted to see a girl she had previously hooked up with and usually refused to speak about when all she’d talked about for the past few months was how excited she was every Wednesday night to eat special chicken stew and watch soap operas that she pretended to hate at Vanessa’s house.

“No!” Brooke raised a hand to her mouth, her eyes leaping to Vanessa for a split second. “Ja’mie Private School Girl. I wanna see her in person.”

“Oh.” Yvie’s brain slotted the pieces together. Had she really complained about Scarlet that much?

“Is this the girl you always ragin’ about?” Vanessa joined in.

Okay, maybe she did complain about Scarlet too much.

“I’m not sure where she’s at.” She brushed them off, the memory of Scarlet telling her she couldn’t take her home anymore after seeing her friends tinging Yvie sharply, her face starting to flush. “I’m gonna go to the loo but I’ll get you that drink later?”

“Noted.” Brooke pointed a finger, the sound of their voices carrying as Yvie ran desperately to splash her face with some cold water.

Only she never quite made it to the sink, the sight of an upset red-head stopping her as soon as she entered the toilets.

Yvie went to speak but wasn’t given a chance.

“Go away.” Scarlet’s voice wavered as she knelt down, pulling jackets out from under the couch like they were infested.

“I can’t believe you didn’t pay for the cloakroom.” Yvie joined her on the carpet. “Out of character for you.”

“I said go away.” She turned her head to Yvie, her bloodshot eyes living up to her name.

Yvie felt the sudden urge to scoop Scarlet in her arms and cradle her there till the music stopped and the lights turned off and there was no one left in the building. She felt a need she never knew existed.

“Hey. It’s alright, I can help you…”

But Scarlet had already found her jacket and started racing out of the club as though her life depended on it.

“For fuck sake, Scarlet.” Yvie reached for her arm once they were outside, the cold air penetrating through her bodysuit and making her long for the comfort of her bed at home. “Just talk to me.”

She turned, her face illuminated under the street lamps, full of anger and sadness and perhaps a tinge of pain too.

“Why do you want to talk to me? You hate me.”

“I don’t.” Yvie squeezed her arm slightly and looked her in the eyes to try and show that she meant it. Because sometimes her words failed her and she struggled to sound sincere when in her mind she was, so she had to rely on her actions. All she had at that moment was a gentle squeeze to try and show Scarlet that she meant it. She didn’t hate her. She didn’t know when that had changed or if she’d really hated her in the first place but at that moment she was one-hundred per cent certain, the feeling was nothing like hatred.

Scarlet scoffed and pulled away, tapping her phone furiously with her nails. “You tell me you hate me nearly every day I spend with you.”

Yvie tried to argue back but Scarlet was on a mission, waving her hands in the air when she spoke.

“And if you’re not doing that then you’re bitching about me through the walkie talkies. Or giving me dirty looks. I try my best to pass it off and rise above it Yvie but tonight I just can’t anymore, I just want to live and breathe without you looking at me like I’ve shot Bambi’s mother. Like what did I even do to you?”

‘Everything,’ Yvie thought only it came out as a blunt “nothing” instead. “You’re the one that was embarrassed to be seen with me in public.”

“I wasn’t embarrassed, Yvie. Sorry it took me a minute to try and think of something other than ‘a girl I drive around even though she hates me.’” Scarlet kept taking glances between the road and her phone, not meeting Yvie’s eyes. “Or doesn’t hate me, apparently. And I just had plans after our next shift.”

Without knowing what she was doing, Yvie reached out to grab her hand, slipping her fingers through Scarlet’s and clasping like they had done the day Scarlet was scared by the balloon. Scarlet was right. Maybe she was too fast to jump to conclusions. She was up in the sky leaping on the trampolines at work whilst Scarlet was grounded by the cafe, taking herself to a whole new narrative that didn’t really exist. In other words, she’d fucked it.

“I don’t hate you.” Yvie expected Scarlet to let go. She didn’t.

“Well, you don’t act like it.”

But her hand didn’t leave, Yvie had hope. Not a lot, just a slither like the piece of Scarlet’s hair that stayed in front of her face when she pushed the rest back. But it was still hope, it was still something.

“Please just let me explain.” Yvie tried to make Scarlet understand.

She’d spent years trying to dial and change how she spoke. If the black girl in the class raised her voice then she was angry but if she didn’t put up a fight with her words then nobody would take her seriously. All she wanted was to be honest, but the words were flying around her head and wouldn’t stop to land. And then Scarlet’s Uber started to pull up and they were going even faster. Scarlet turned to look at her and Yvie watched as she opened her mouth for a second but no words came out, her eyes frustrated and begging Yvie to fix things.

She waited for the rejection, for Scarlet to push her away as she moved closer, for her to call Yvie crazy and jump in the car, ready to make her time at work even more of a living hell than she already did. But as her lips met Scarlet’s, it never came.

“Your Uber.” Yvie pulled away slightly, their faces only an inch apart and Scarlet gasping for breath. She could feel Scarlet’s sticky gloss on her own lips but didn’t dare wipe at it, wanting the moment to go on like that for as long as it could.

“I guess I’ve gotten used to riding in the car with someone.” Scarlet took her hand again once the car pulled up, their eyes communicating in their own language that Yvie didn’t have the words to explain.

Yvie pulled her phone out to text the girls and tell them she’d headed home, dropping another one to home with an excuse for staying out, feeling Scarlet on her neck as they clambered into the backseat. They didn’t speak for a short while, Yvie simply placed her arm around Scarlet’s shoulder as if it were the most natural thing in the world. As if she hadn’t spent months terrified of making contact with her.

“I thought you couldn’t stand me,” Scarlet whispered in her ear, her hand burning hot on Yvie’s thigh.

Suddenly Scarlet’s flair for the dramatics was wiped clean from her mental list of things that irked her, replaced accordingly with the concept of clothing, more specifically jeans. Her jeans, that she regretted spending a lot of money on - wishing she’d settled for the paper-thin pair Nina had told her to get from Primark instead. In fact, she’d have paid more for the thin pair right then. Paid anything for Scarlet’s hand to live there just a little bit longer. Yvie let the back of her head hit the seat, lost in the moment until they pulled up to Scarlet’s house.

“We’ll have to be careful,” Scarlet spoke after unlocking the door. “My sister’s home.”

“Does noise even travel here?” Yvie looked around the foyer only half-joking, stopping to chuckle at a big photo of Scarlet and her sister as kids. “Adorable.”

“If you’re loud enough.” Scarlet raised a brow and motioned for Yvie to follow her upstairs, sending tingles through her body at her words.

“I don’t think I’m gonna be the one who needs to worry about keeping quiet.” Yvie let Scarlet lead her to her room, throwing themselves down on the four-poster almost immediately.

It felt weird finally being in Scarlet’s room after spending so long of interacting at work. She couldn’t say she hadn’t pictured it, often imagining Scarlet painting her toes on top of magazines or picking out her outfit each morning. Too distracted to get a proper look at all the photo frames and trinkets around, Yvie made a mental note to make a joke the next day about how she’d always assumed Scarlet had one of those grey crushed velvet headboards like the girls on Twitter.

It was crazy how something could feel so wrong and so right at the same time. Scarlet’s body pressing into her own, it was so insane yet made complete sense. She felt familiar.

Before she knew it Scarlet’s thumb was rubbing over the fabric of her bodysuit, teasing at her nipple through the lace.

Yvie had never been more grateful for her decision not to wear a bra.

“Are you sure you want this?” Scarlet asked her, pausing in her movement to look Yvie in the eyes and confirm. “We can’t go back.”

Yvie knew what she meant, thinking of all the shifts she’d have to spend with her, pinning Scarlet’s new promotional posters around the park, being watched to make sure she placed them in the exact right spots. She’d be unavoidable. But Yvie didn’t care.

“I’ve wanted this ever since you stole a Coke Zero from the cafe.”

Apparently, that was all Scarlet needed, taking the opportunity to smash her lips against Yvie’s, letting their bodies melt into each other. Again and again and again until Yvie was weak with fatigue and let her head hit the pillow one final time. Her vision blurred, she could just make out Scarlet’s figure among all of the stars as the girl switched off the bedside lamp and crawled into bed beside her. They hadn’t just shaken the earth but the whole solar system too, galaxies swirling around the room and lulling Yvie to sleep.

A sleep she’d have happily basked in forever if she hadn’t woken with a jolt the next morning, the sun beaming through the blinds to cast light on the empty side of the bed next to her.

“Morning,” Scarlet’s spoke from across the room, wearing a pair of glasses that Yvie had never seen before as she looked up from the papers at her desk. Yvie suddenly understood Scarlet’s constant examining gaze - she wasn’t scanning Yvie’s insides for error codes, just a tad bit blind.

Grabbing her phone from the bedside, a groan escaped Yvie’s mouth as she saw the time, of course, Scarlet was awake at nine in the morning after a night out. After what Yvie would estimate to be at least two hours of sex. Kind of intense sex. If it hadn’t been for Scarlet’s pretty face and messy hair then Yvie would have snatched the nearest pillow and thrown it over her head, instead, keeping an eye open to watch her whilst fighting exhaustion.

She wondered how long it would take them to address it. In the past, Yvie had never felt awkward discussing a hookup, giving a compliment or laughing it off as a drunken mishap like she had with Priyanka that time. The thought crossed her mind for a second, thinking she could make a joke about how smashed they were before ringing Brooke to take her home as fast as she could but Yvie decided against it. If Yvie was anything then Yvie was honest. And she knew what happened was not a drunken mistake. At least not on her end, she didn’t know if the same could be said for Scarlet, sat twiddling her pen around in her hand as though Yvie wasn’t lying in her bed and her gold dress wasn’t in a heap on the floor, thrown there in a moment of passion. Looking at it made her laugh, thinking of how fast she’d gone from describing Scarlet’s whining as the human equivalent of a dog whistle wit Jaida, to finding herself turned on by it. Scarlet must have noticed her looking, placing the pen down.

“I think you owe me a new zipper for that.” She pointed to the dress, raising a brow at Yvie.

“Sorry, I’ll take it to get fixed.” Yvie went to step out of bed before realising her own clothes were just as haphazardly spread as Scarlet’s.

“I’m kidding,” Scarlet smiled. “I’ll get you some joggers to borrow.”

“You own tracksuit bottoms?” Yvie fake gasped as Scarlet pulled open a drawer, surprising herself at how quickly they returned to their usual exchanges. There she was making fun of Scarlet for being all posh and dramatic, it was like nothing had changed. Except she was in Scarlet’s bed. Naked. And they’d had sex. Maybe a lot had changed.

“Oh my god, I just got it.” Scarlet pointed a finger to Yvie and let out one of her classic giggles. “That is hilarious.”

“What is?” Yvie pulled the clothes Scarlet had given her on quickly, automatically ready with her defence.

“That face you always pull at me! I honestly thought it was just your expression of pure hatred at my being but it’s not, you were eyeing me up!”

Yvie stifled a laugh at Scarlet’s hysteria, her cheeks turning the slightest bit red. “I don’t pull a face at you.”

“You so do. Like this.” Scarlet did her best to impersonate her.

“I don’t do that. And I don’t eye you up either, you’re so annoying.”

“Want me to prove you do?” Scarlet flipped the conversation and caught Yvie off guard.

She hadn’t expected round two to come at all nevermind that fast, but she most certainly wasn’t mad at it.

The same could have also been said for round three, which happened around a week later when Yvie just so happened to take her lunch break at the same time as Scarlet, following her out to her car and letting Scarlet drive a couple of minutes to somewhere more secluded. The sun beamed down through the windscreen and glistened on Scarlet’s pale skin as they moved together rapidly, the pair already becoming familiar with the little easter eggs that made each other tick.

“Ten minutes to spare, wow.” Yvie checked the time on her phone, allowing herself to lie back in as much comfort as she could given that she was in the back of a rather tiny car with a rather tall girl by her side.

“What are we doing?” Scarlet sat up, hitting her head slightly on the roof but not acknowledging it, a trait Yvie had picked up on before having watched Scarlet’s clumsy legs take many tumbles around the centre only for her to keep walking like it hadn’t happened (Yvie always found this funnier than the fall itself, especially that one time it was a running child that sent Scarlet tumbling, utterly priceless).

“Erm, lying in the back of your car trying to remember how to breathe?” Yvie knew it wasn’t the answer she was looking for but gave it nonetheless.

“No. This, us. What is this?”

Yvie wished she knew the answer. At first, she didn’t know how to approach her, bringing the borrowed clothes to work in a carrier bag ready to return, only to be left silent once Scarlet came to the counter to fulfil her caffeine addiction that day. But Scarlet managed to break the ice, making a subtle joke about her lack of regret as she took the bottle from Yvie’s hand. It was bittersweet - Yvie knew there was a clear distinction between having no regrets and wanting to do something again, and she was at least seventy per cent sure she wanted to do it again. Ninety-nine once the opportunity had finally risen again, Scarlet dangling her car keys in front of Yvie like the forbidden fruit of Eden. An apple she couldn’t help but take a bite from, no matter how much it would bite her back later.

So Yvie thought about her answer, she didn’t want to get this one wrong. The natural answer was that they were friends, only Yvie knew they weren’t. They were less than friends, they didn’t chat and gossip like friends and frankly she couldn’t stand Scarlet most of the time, the chatting and gossiping with her actual friends at work usually revolving around that fact. Yet they were also so much more, Yvie’s eyes followed the girl wherever she went like she was being guided home and her heart had just about snapped in two when she saw Scarlet upset.

Maybe it wasn’t Scarlet she hated but instead the way she felt about her. Or the way she didn’t even understand what that feeling was. Perhaps that is what she’d hated all along.

“I don’t know.” Yvie stepped outside to straighten her uniform and move to the passenger seat.

“You don’t know?” Scarlet joined her in the front, slamming her door a tad too hard once her foot was inside. “You always have an answer for everything.”

“Well, do you?” Yvie retaliated.

“I’m the one who asked in the first place!”

As much as she wanted to, Yvie couldn’t deny she had a point there.

“Well whatever it is, I’m glad to see we disagree on it already,” Yvie replied as Scarlet started to drive back to work.

“You can take me on a date sometime if you’d like.” Scarlet let the words jump out of her mouth quickly just before the traffic lights turned green, acting completely casual and nonchalant just like she had after hitting her head as if nothing had happened at all.

“A date?” Yvie’s voice raised an octave higher than it should have.

“You know where two people who kind of fancy each other go and get food? It’s a pretty basic term, I thought you’d know seen as you’re crazy clever and going to the best University in the country.”

Yvie choked on her water and sent it flying down the wrong way, a mess of coughs and splutters next to Scarlet’s pristine self. It wouldn’t have been the worst way to die, at least she’d never feel the embarrassment afterwards and have the dignity of knowing she’d given the girl a good time just before.

“I haven’t gotten in yet.” Yvie’s mind was thrown away from the conversation and back to the impending doom of her University application. Thank god she always had Scarlet to remind her of the massive feat she was trying to achieve.

“You can say no if you want, I don’t care.” Scarlet pulled into the car park, not really caring that her wheels were at a forty-five-degree angle and only just within the lines.

Yvie thought of all the times she had come up with convoluted methods to avoid Scarlet’s presence after their first meeting, of that first day she’d been given a lift home and how much had changed since then. Scarlet was confident and sometimes lived on a different planet to Yvie altogether but that didn’t hide her warmth, her wit or the big smile that came on her face whenever she tried to dance. And as much as she was shocked by her own thoughts, Yvie couldn’t deny that an evening with that warmth, wit and smile was all she really needed to relieve her stress.

“Well, where would you like to go for food then?” Yvie asked her as they entered the building, ready to part ways until the end of the day.

“Sorry, you’ll have to come up with that one on your own.” Scarlet grinned. “And please don’t fuck it up, Yvie.”

#rpdr fanfiction #if we walk down this road #got my number #scarlet envy #yvie oddly #scyvie #lesbian au #sixth form au #high school au #british au #enemies to lovers #black girl magic fic #diversity fic #ashley #tw references to racism and racial sterotypes #concrit welcome

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theamberwriter · 5 years

Text

Still Don’t Like You [Billy Hargrove x Fem!Reader]

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3105

Warnings: Swearing, smoking

“You fucking lost her!” cried Billy as the pair of you hiked through the dark woods.

You rolled your eyes, pulling your sweater tighter. “I didn’t fucking lose her, Billy. They were in the corn maze. I saw them come out, and then they just - disappeared.”

“People don’t just disappear, [L/Name]! My dad will murder me if I don’t bring Max home. And if I go down, you’re going with me.” You could feel his glare on your face as you walked beside him. It wasn’t like you enjoyed this any more than he did. Even though your heart was pounding in exhilaration just from being this close to him.

“We’ll find them, drama queen, my sister is with them. Remember, asshole?” You rolled your eyes. If you smoked, you’d totally be having a cigarette right now. But Billy was doing enough smoking for the two of you. “Geezus. - Could you slow the hell down? You’re fumigating me over here!”

He grunted, lighting up another one. You wondered if he just had an endless pack with him. This had to be his seventh one in the last hour and a half. That doesn’t count all the ones you’d seen him light up and share at fair with the little flock of chicks he’d accumulated. He blew the smoke in your face, smirking as it irritated you. God, you turn the guy down once and he becomes an asshole.

Max had been your sister’s first friend when you moved to town. You moved, well, a lot. So she had difficulty making friends, especially now that she started high school. But you were 23 and about 200 dollars shy of a downpayment on a place for you two. You wanted her to be able to enjoy high school.

You’d met Billy one night while picking up Max for a girls’ weekend. You gave him an earful about nearly running down your sister with his car on multiple occasions. You also ignored his advances, and he’d been a jerk to you every time he could since. You had tried to avoid him at first. But he tended to take it out on Max instead. So you started taking him head-on.

“I’m too old for you,” you’d told him, rolling your eyes. You were waiting for your sister and Max to come downstairs. “You’re like, what, sixteen?”

“Nineteen,” Billy corrected. He pressed closer. His voice low and hungry. “I’ve had older, sweetcheeks, don’t worry.”

“I’m also too old for this high school crap.” You pushed him away, but he’d caught your hand. Trying to seduce you under with tender touches, and soft, wanting eyes. Between what you’d seen and what your sister had told you, you didn’t fall for a bit of it. “Now get off of me. I’m not one of those suburban moms with boring husbands.”

“C’mon, we can still have fun,” he teased.

“I’m not fucking around, get the hell off me.” You jerked out of his grasp, and in point two seconds he went from seductive to pissed. He’d opened his mouth to say something when Max and your sister came down the stairs. You were quick to get them out to the car.

Billy hadn’t even wanted to come to the autumn fair. His dad had forced him to bring Max down. You’d offered to drive her, but her stepfather was having none of it. And you could see the devastation in Billy’s eyes as you watched what a monster his father truly was.

You ended up bringing your sister and a few of the kids. Steve and Robin brought the others. Billy had been instructed to stick with you all but, of course, he didn’t listen. Though you never actually saw him go too far. He only lingered a little ways away from the group. Still - that’s how you ended up out here.

“This is the worst. Night. Ever,” you groaned, trying anything to retain some heat. “And it’s so fucking cold, what the hell? - I hate you.”

Billy rolled his eyes, taking a drag. “Not my fault you lost both of our sisters!”

You sent a sharp look his way. “Maybe you should try keeping it in your pants and watch Max for a change!”

Billy didn’t say anything to that, just taking another drag. You groaned loudly. You really wished you’d gone to fair security to ask for a flashlight. You turn your back for two seconds and they run off! Even Steve couldn’t find the kids, so he sent you two out search the surrounding woods.

It was quiet a little way as you walked. Only the crunching of dead leaves under your shoes. Along with the occasional chatter of your teeth. Since when was it so cold in October. Or maybe it was just because you were still relatively new to the area. You weren’t expecting the weight on your shoulders, or the warmth that came from whatever was wrapped around you.

You glanced over to find Billy avoiding your eyes, his jacket gone. Just a thick looking long sleeve hugged his upper body now. Your cheeks heated up realizing Billy’s locally famous leather jacket was around your shoulders. You shrugged it off, he was going to get cold.

“You’re going to need this more than I do,” you noted, holding it out to him.

Billy shook his head. “You’re bound to scare them off with all the shivering. They’ll think a monster is after them.”

You shook your head at the edge of humor in his voice. But decided to keep the jacket on none the less. It did help, even when the two shirts and cardigan you were wearing didn’t. Or maybe it was just because you were now hyper-focused on the fact that it still had his warmth and scent on it.

You called your sister’s name, along with Max’s. But only got your voice echoing into the night. You did this quite a few more times. Becoming a little more frantic with each. Since your parents travelled a lot you had pretty much raised your sister, she was like your child. Your face became very cold suddenly, and you put a hand to your cheek. It was wet. You’d been in tears before you realized it.

“Jesus, would you shut up? We’ll find them,” groaned Billy.

“Right, sure, cause we’re totally not lost,” you whined, trying to keep your voice neutral. But you were furiously wiping at your cheeks. Billy would never let you live it down.

“Are you…Are you fucking crying?” Billy asked incredulously. But his eyes were soft as he moved towards you.

“No. - Let’s just…find them.” You stomped on ahead. Or tried to. Your foot got caught about a yard away, sending you to the ground. And that was it.

Your breaking point.

You were cold and tired, and now covered in dead leaves and forest bottom. You came out to have fun with Steve, Robin, and the kids. And you ended up with Billy, in the woods, extremely sure you were lost. Even though you could still hear music, and barely see lights peeking through the trees. Your sister and his gone, not to mention what Hopper would do if you lost El. You couldn’t contain it anymore. You shrieked into the leaves and dirt.

Then came more tears. But these ones were hot, and fast, and blinding. And they didn’t even help anything! All they did was make you more annoyed at yourself, which only caused them to flow more. You sat back on your heels, sobbing grossly into the sleeves of Billy’s jacket.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…” you muttered over and over again. “Stupid fair, stupid Billy, Stupid Hawkins, stupid me!

“Hey, you okay?” Billy asked cautiously. You could hear his footsteps stop behind you.

You shot up off the ground, going over to shove him. “Do I fucking look okay?! You may not care about Max, but I do! I care about my sister! I care about those kids. - This is all your fault!”

“Hey, whoa!” Billy stumbled back as you shoved him again. “The hell?”

“If you could act like you’re not the only one in world. For. Two. Fucking. SECONDS! We wouldn’t be in this mess!” You hit his chest with the side of your fists, but he didn’t react, only catching one wrist. They were sad, weak, frustrated punches. Your strength was going into your sobbing now. Your chest was tight, restricting any hope of air in your lungs. Your head swam. “This is all your fault! I’d have my sister right now. I’d been winning her shit in the booths. Trying to make up for being stuck in this miserable town!”

You stopped trying to hit Billy’s chest. Instead just standing incredibly close with one arm pinned by the wrist in his hand, and the other on the spot you’d been hitting. Your breath came in short gasps. It made the world around you spin. Your legs gave out, causing you to collapse right against him. But, to your surprise, he caught you. It was silent between you, aside from your sobs.

“If you weren’t so fucking pretty, we wouldn’t be having this problem,” you wept into his shirt.

“Thought you were too old for me?” There was a bit of humor in Billy’s voice again.

“I never said you were unattractive. Stupid boy.” You were annoyed more than mad now. And that annoyance reached yourself. You did find him attractive, you had since the first day, just like every other woman in town did. Which you hated, but what could you say? You were a sucker for a pretty face, although the personality had left some to be desired. You were determined not to succumb to his charms like the others.

To your further surprise, he chuckled under your ear. “And so she admits defeat.”

You shoved away from him, stumbling backwards. “I admit to nothing, asshole! I still don’t like you. You’re an ass to Max, you’re an ass to Steve, you’re an ass to me! I doubt you even find me half as attractive as like, Mrs Wheeler or Heather. Or whoever the fuck else you’ve managed to seduce.”

Billy’s face twitched into a smirk, and he came near to you. “You’re the only interesting one in this town.”

“Oh yeah, that makes me feel a lot better.” You rolled your eyes, and turned away.

“Oh geez, for the love of -” grumbled a voice, it startled you.

Billy pulled your arm and tugged you towards him, backing you against his chest where he put his arm protectively around your waist. He muttered in your ear, “The hell is going on?”

You shook your head. “I have no idea.”

You glanced around, trying to find anyone. But you couldn’t find the owner of the voice. The only other person was Billy, who felt very rigid against your back. You could tell he was preparing to run or fight, depending on what happened.

Then the voice yelled, “Would you two kiss or some shit already?”

You knew that voice. “Robin?!” you called.

Billy’s grip on your tightened, even as familiar faces emerged from behind the trees. Steve and Robin along with all the kids. Including your sister. You gasped, a grin spreading over your face. All your annoyance drained, relief washing it all away. You tugged away from Billy’s iron grip and ran to her to give her a once over, making sure she was fine.

“Oh my God,” you cried, hugging her tightly. “You’re okay! Where the hell have you been? What is all this? You had me worried!”

Your sister gave you a guilty look, avoiding your eyes. "Please don’t be too mad?”

“Why would I be m-?” You felt the irritation return as Steve stumbled down to you. “You! Harrington! What the hell, man? You knew where she was?!”

“She was never lost,” he said, acting as if everything about this was normal.

“Then why -?” you growled, hugging your sister to your side.

“We were tired of all the sexual tension between you and Billy, we thought we’d try and get it over with,” Robin explained, coming to stand near you.

You felt your face scrunch in disgust, but the feeling never hit you. “Excuse me? There is no sexual ten -”

Robin put a hand on your shoulder, looking at you evenly. “Dude, you can cut it with a knife. - Is this his jacket?”

You glared Robin down, before glancing at an angry-looking Billy, and then turned to your sister. Entirely unimpressed by this whole thing. “But I thought you didn’t like Billy. You even told me you didn’t want me to meet him, for this very reason!”

Your sister shrugged. “Well - you didn’t seem to mind him. So I started not to mind him. He hasn’t been as much of a jerk to Max since you stepped in. So I thought -”

Max came up to stand in front of you with El in tow. She said in a low voice, “I know he can be a jerk. But can you please just kiss him already? If not, I owe Dustin and Will ten bucks each.”

You wanted to yell at them, to do something to voice your frustration. You couldn’t believe they’d do something like this! You groaned - you couldn’t say no to the faces your sister, El, and Max were making. “Fine, but I’m still mad at you all.”

You walked to Billy and stood in front of him.

“So,” he muttered, smirking. “We got tension, hm?

“Apparently,” you snorted quietly.

You took a step closer to him, he didn’t back away from your advances. This was super awkward, but you kind of wanted to do it. Everyone else had gotten to, at least, kiss him. Why couldn’t you? Before you could convince yourself out of it, you grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked his face to yours. It was confusing for a second, just your face on his. But when you got coordinated, your lips moved in sync.

This first kiss with him was different than you’d thought it’d be. Of course, he tasted like cigs and that was gross. But it was a gentle kiss. Not a hungry one like you expected if this ever happened. Not that you’d ever admit to wanting it, or thinking about kissing him on nearly every occasion when you went to get Max. You felt warmth in your chest just from the feeling of your lips against his soft ones, his hand in your hair to make sure you didn’t escape. And you found yourself clasping tightly onto his waist, not wanting him to leave.

“Aw man,” you heard Dustin grumble, and Max laugh out a pay up in triumph.

“I still don’t like you,” Billy whispered between kisses, you could feel a smirk on his lips.

You chuckled, kissing him again. “I don’t like you either.”

You kissed a few more times before Robin pulled the two of you apart. She rolled her eyes, grumbling, “We get it.”

You stared each other down. Still processing the fact that your feud was over. Still being able to taste the other, and wanting to dive back in. It was like a floodgate, nothing but static buzzing around you. Erratic energy and excitement about something unspoken between the two of you.

“Well,” you started, frazzled and out of breath. You couldn’t seem to get a dopey smile off your face. You felt like a little kid under his blue eyes, butterflies tickling your stomach. His eyes were soft as they gazed at you, truly happily for once. You could tell. Normally it was a pained gaze, but never a one of pure hatred. “We got our kids back. Do you want to go back to the fair? It’s not that late yet.”

“Our…” Billy breathed with a smile. Then he shrugged, “S’pose. - Just don’t lose them again.”

“Me?” you chuckled softly, your faces inching closer. “I do believe that this was your fault, curls.”

“If you hadn’t been looking so irresistible, I might’ve been able to keep an eye on the kids. But they weren’t coming off you. It was hell being around you tonight. - And Harrington.”

“Were you - jealous of Steve?” you scoffed, “Is that why you didn’t hang around with us? There is nothing between us. He’ s like - the young parent friend that gets it.”

Billy didn’t answer. Simply taking your face in his hands and kissed you again. A bit more urgent, like you’d expected his kiss to be. You couldn’t help but chortle.

“So does this mean you aren’t mad?” you sister asked quietly from behind you. You pulled away from Billy, though he did try to drag you back. You gave him a chaste kiss.

“Oh no, you’re still grounded for giving me that scare, miss,” you declared, turning to her. Then your gaze went to everyone else, “You’re all grounded. I’m getting too old for you to scare me like that.”

Everyone laughed, eyes rolling. Loud chatter echoed through the woods as you all made your way back to the fairgrounds. Bets were passed around, and STeve and Robin looked quite triumphant. You and Billy kept brushing shoulders. Eventually his shy hand eclipsed yours, fingers interlacing. The rest of the night wasn’t bad, in fact - it was the best one you had since moving to Hawkins.

You won your sister the largest prize at the water gun booth. Which everyone thought was the coolest thing. Billy won you something in return, he said you deserved it after all your effort. He also made sure to keep a buffer between you and Steve. There was an unspoken unease between the two.

You’d caught glares from some of the local girls. You heard whispers of, can you believe she’s wearing his jacket? As if that was the most impossible part of it all. You wanted to hide, even if they were younger than you, it was still intimidating. Billy glared them down, restating your two’s involvement with an arm around the waist and a kiss.

Billy, Max, and your sister made sure to keep you distracted from the obvious stares your group was suddenly getting. You watched as the kids went on rides, waving as your sister went on the swinging boat without you for the first time. You and Billy snuck a makeout session or two in between some food trucks and behind tents. The night ended with fireworks, both in the sky and between you and the guy you’d hated to love.

#billy hargove x reader #billy stranger things #billy x reader #stranger things #fandom #fan fiction #fan fic #fan fic writing #fan fic stuff #writing #writing inspiration #just writer things #writeblr #writers #billy hargrove #steve harrington #steve the hair harrington #fem reader #x reader

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maren-reads-books · 4 years

Text

Divergent by Veronica Roth

A world a hundred years in the future, after a war destroyed most of civilization, in the city of Chicago, people are split into factions, five groups based on core traits. Abnegation values selflessness, Candor for honesty, Erudite for knowledge, Amity for kindness, and Dauntless for bravery. Beatrice has never felt like she quite fit in in Abnegation. As her 16th birthday and choosing ceremony approach she has a choice to make. Will she stay with her family or will she leave them? Her aptitude test should tell her, but her results are inconclusive, now left to decide for herself, she has her life in her hands. Little does she know her choice will change the world as she knows it.

---SPOILERS---

For those of you who were big readers in middle school in the era of SuperWhoLock, when Tumblr, Wattpad, and AO3 reigned king among fans, you probably read the Divergent series. I know I was obsessed, as a person who feels superior when I’m carrying around more than one big book I felt very proud of myself when I carried this trilogy into my sixth-grade science class and proceeded to not pay attention despite reprimands. I later wrote many fanfictions and watched the movies obsessively but that eventually faded from view as I got older and the series became just books on my shelf. But since we’re in quarantine an I’ve got nothing better to do, I’ve decided to re-read a bunch of my books, starting with this series. This first book made me completely nostalgic. I’m a sucker for sci-fi/dystopian worlds, and though this one isn’t the best it’s also not the worst, especially for young readers. Sure it’s a little cliche but it’s such a fun read. When I first read this book I was in awe, I wanted to be Tris so bad, she had the courage to leave her family and fight and become strong. I loved the idea of people being separated into a like minded group of people and I wanted so badly to be Dauntless. When she first got there and made friends I was so happy for her but I immediately hated Peter, I mean how could you not? And he just gets worse, and when he beats her up in the ring? Asshole. But it’s so cool to see her grow and get stronger and evolve, not only in physical and mental strength but as a person. Her friendships are evolving along with everything else, I know what its like to finally find that core group of people, and it was cool to watch her discover her people. (Also the Uriah and Marlene and the muffin scene, I was so in love with that moment, it was so pure). Then her mom shows up on visiting day and we find out so much, most prevalent I think it the fact that she is Dauntless? What?! I did not see that coming. But then everything goes downhill, Tris gets good and she gets attacked and she realizes Al was one of them, and then he dies. Like damn, way to move very quickly into a bad place. It hit me in the gut, real hard. On a totally unrelated not, I was so enamored with her and Four’s relationship, from the beginning you can totally see their connection. I will admit it moves a little too fast for me, I’m more into slow burn kind of stuff, and it’s so cliche but still undeniably adorable. And when they go into his fear landscape together and she learns his real name and why they call him Four? Adorable! (I would love to see my fear simulation, although I’m pretty sure there would be some clowns in there, and that’s, not something I want to see ever). I was so nervous for Tris when the simulations started thought, every time she was close to being caught my heart was in my throat, I was so worried about my girl. But then she gets first place and she is a Dauntless member and she could have a really great life but then everything goes to shit. When I realized that Tobias is also awake I melted, I was so happy, and then Eric has to go and mess it all up. But Tris gets to shoot him and it was awesome, but it doesn’t stay awesome. And then Tobias doesn’t know who Tris is because of the serum, and oh my god, I hate Jeanine Mathews so much (side note, Kate Winslet portrays her so well in the movies). And then they try and drown her even though she’s already been shot? Wtf, that’s so messed up. But then mom to the rescue! I knew from the moment she freed Tris that he was going to make it and it hit me hard when she died, I was so hoping to learn more about her history in Dauntless, not to mention that Tris hasn’t really seen her parents since she left. She must have had so many questions, and then Marcus is there. Like, fuck him, if I could reach into a book and punch someone I would hit him before I hit Jeanine. I was worried for them all as soon as they went back to Dauntless, but it was so cool to see how she’s grown and how she’s able to handle herself now. And then there’s Peter and I’m just gonna say it, I was not surprised that he was awake, he’s such an ass. But then she got to shoot him too, and that made me feel a little better. Tris suffers so much loss during this book, her mom, and then her dad, and she had to kill Will? It’s so not fair. The first time I read this book when she found Tobias and he was fighting her I was so worried that she was going to him to hurt or even kill him. But then his divergence and his love for her made it possible for him to break free. Ah, true love, how positively cliche, but very on point for a YA novel. I was so worried when he saw his father. But then Tris stood up for him, and honestly, you go, girl, he deserves so much worse (kind of wish the Dauntless had gotten to him). I can’t imagine being one of the Dauntless who was under the simulation, waking up and realizing what you’ve done? It’s so messed up, but it ends on a massive cliffhanger which I didn’t appreciate because I mean really? You start a war and then boom the book is over. Sorry for the crazy and kind of disorganized review but I do really love this book, it’s an easy and fun read with a cool world to immerse yourself in, I would recommend it.

-maren

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blackmissfrizzle · 5 years

Text

A Tale of Two Soldiers Part 6

Title: A Tale of Two Soldiers Part 6

Characters: Erik x reader, Bucky x reader

Summary: Erik and Bucky come to save you.

Word Count: 5703

Warnings: Sexual assault and sex trafficking (Plesse don’t read if they’re triggers for you even though it does not go into depth.) Violence and a little torture

A/N: no keep reading link since I’m on mobile.

You awoke with a pounding headache, it was worst than the time you were matching drink for drink with Steve. Whatever room you were in the air was freezing and it didn’t help that Marcus or whoever he was working with left you in your lingerie set.

As you were coming to, you heard a murmur of voices. You got up to investigate where the voices were coming from. With each closer step you heard a bunch of:

‘She’s up’

‘She’s coming’

‘Is that Y/N’

‘Isn’t she an avenger’

When you found the voices, they belong to a group of women, scratch that not all of them were women. The youngest seemed to be about 11. All of them were in skimpy shorts and crop tops. Judging from their outfits, your new environment, and your abduction you just got caught in a fucking sex trafficking ring. Great, Bucky and Erik weren’t going to let you out your sight after this.

A young girl with big doe eyes tentatively walked to you.”Are you here to save us? You’re Y/N, the avenger, right?” Her eyes were filled with hope and you didn’t want to tell her the truth and break her heart but you also didn’t want to lie to her and give her false hope.

You didn’t know if it was luck or not but a girl who looked like life hardened her answered for you. “Does she look like she’s here to save us? She’s for sell just like us!”

To make yourself smaller you kneeled down to the other girl’s level. “She’s right. I’m here against my will. But, I got some powerful friends and they’ll find us sooner than later.”

Suddenly, you heard a loud slam of a door and the clicking of heels against the tile floor. A man in a full Armani suit was surrounded by his bodyguards appeared. He seem like the type of man to brag about his accomplishments and flaunt his wealth, especially with women. And if they didn’t do as he asked, he’ll call them anything but a child of God.

“I see that you met your new roommates,” the man stated smugly.

Already tired of the bullshit you punched ole dude in his smug face. In return you received a kick in the gut that caused you to fall to the ground.

Armani suit bent down and jerked your chin so you could look into his emotionless eyes. “They were already ordered not to hit you in the face. We don’t want to damage our money maker.”

“You’re really selling me and these girls? Oh, you don’t know what trouble you just got yourself into asshole.”

“Trouble? I don't think so. You’re gonna be worth more than all of them combined. Someone as beautiful and strong as you. You’re gonna make me a rich man.”

“Let’s say if you get the chance to sell me, you’re not gonna live long enough to spend it. My dad’s a senator, my uncles are War Machine and Ironman, my best friends are Captain America and Black Widow, and my boyfriends are the two most ruthless killers ever. I’m starting to feel bad for you bro.” You shrugged at the man and smirked.

“I knew you were a little slut.” He gripped your face harder to the point you thought he would break some of your teeth and then he gave you a bruising kiss. In return you head butted him, which he seemed to enjoy from his evil chuckle. “I wish I could keep you for myself. Do you know what’s the most satisfying thing about my job?”

“I don’t know. You get your tiny dick sucked? You must be overcompensating for something,” you sneered.

The big bad grabbed your hand and put it on his rather unimpressive hard on.”I assure you I’m not overcompensating for anything.” Great, not only were you kidnapped by an asshole but he was delusional as well.

“Anyway, my favorite thing about my job is dousing out fires. Now, your average sex trafficker wants to get easy girls. Girls who won’t put up fight. But me personally, I like it when my girls got fight in em, because I enjoy putting them out. I love when a break down a girl and make her submit. The more fight she had the better. And you, Ms. Y/L/N are one of the strongest women I ever had and to bend you to my will until I submit,” he took a deep inhale and palmed himself. “I would pay good money for that, but you’re the product and I can’t make money if I use my own product. But no worries, there are buyers out there with similar viewpoints as mines and they’ll pay a pretty penny for you. So, I’m not scared because I’ll have enough money in the world not to worry about your friends and family.”

As Armani suit gave his bad guy monologue, you found a random pipe on the floor behind you. Despite your better judgement you grabbed the pipe and whacked the smug smirk off your captors face. “I’m glad you like your girls with fight because I gotta whole lotta fight in me.”

When he faced you, you finally saw the anger in him instead of that giddiness he had earlier. “Make sure you don’t hit her in the face. Remember that’s our money maker, but everything else is fair game.” While he ordered his men to do their worst his eyes never left yours until he exited the room.

Soon as their boss left, the goons started pounding at you. Some used their fists, some used their feet, some used the butt of a gun, and some used a pipe. No matter what they were using, pain reverberated throughout your body. Although, you were in immense pain you refused to give these monsters the satisfaction of your screams in pain, so you suffered in silence. The only thing that could be heard were their grunts and vile words towards you. It wasn’t until you blacked out with thoughts of Bucky and Erik saving you were you able to escape the pain.

——

Charles automatically noticed something was wrong when you didn’t show for the family photo shoot. Even though you hated doing things like these you were always 30 minutes early, just in case someone needed help with something. So when his baby girl wasn’t there when he got there, he ordered his crazy daughter, Casey to track you down.

That was two days ago and there was still no word from you. HPD inform your parents that they couldn’t find Marcus, who you were last seen with and now he was officially a person of interest.

The whole family was gathered in the living room with the Wakandans, James Warren, Tony, Rhodey, and Detective Johnson from HPD.

“We have an update on your daughter’s case,” the detective informed the Y/L/N family as he handed a folder to your father.

His knees buckled once he saw what was inside. It was photos of you in your lingerie, posed for sell. The pictures got worse as he saw all the bruises on your body.

Your mother got a look as well and she instantly wailed. “Who would do this to my baby?”

Tired of being in the dark, Erik took the photos from your dad. When he saw them he was fuming and he knew just who to blame.

Throwing the photos at Bucky, Erik stormed towards Bucky and sucker punched him.”Its your fault! I was stupid enough to listen to you and let her go to that damn auction! Now look, Barnes she’s caught in a sex trafficking ring!”

Everyone except the Wakandans perked up at the mention of Barnes. “Bucky Barnes?” Tony and your mom questioned.

Bucky was outed now, so he took the nano mask off. “I’m just as pissed as you, Stevens and I blame myself more than you ever could.” Then Bucky turned his gaze towards Tony and your mom, “But all of you have a choice. You either can turn me in over duty or some personal vendetta or you let me be Winter Soldier and bring our girl home and kill those sons of bitches.”

Regrettably, Tony conceded to Bucky. He was far too worried about you to get back at Bucky and he knew how much those bastards needed to pay and the Winter Soldier was what they needed.

“Who took those photos,” Rhodey asked gravelly.

“We believe it’s Richard Dominguez. He just took over the Dominguez crime family and expanded into sex trafficking, which his recently deceased father was against.” Detective Johnson informed the room.

“What about this Marcus nigga?” Erik asked. He was ready to kill someone and if he couldn’t get to Dominguez then Marcus would have to do.

The detective felt uncomfortable under Erik’s murderous gaze. “Umm...we can’t find him.”

“Then what the fuck you niggas good for? Oh wait never mind y’all good for killing innocent black people.”

“Cousin!” T’Challa admonished his younger cousin.

Erik just shrugged his shoulders because he believed he told no lie. He looked at Shuri and nodded his head at her. “Lil cuz, can you find this Marcus dude if we give you his picture?”

Shuri looked at Erik as if he grew a second head. Did he know who he was talking to?”

“My bad, cuz,” Erik quickly apologized once he saw the look on Shuri’s face. “Can you find him quickly is what I meant to ask.”

“Give me the picture and I’ll tell you his last location within 30 minutes, cousin,” the Wakandan princess stated.

Detective Johnson handed a photo of Marcus to Shuri and she promptly went to work.

---

Everything hurt. You were sure that you had a couple of broken ribs. The girls took turns looking after you and in that time they told you who held the group captive. It was some dude named Richard Dominguez and he was fairly new to the game.

The door squealed open and the girls hid in their respective corners. You thought it was Dominguez coming to gloat about the offers he got for you, but it was a woman instead. She reminded you of a Kim Kardashian wannabe. Nothing on the woman was real. Her ass was disproportionate to her thighs, her lips looked as if they were stung by bees, and her tan was so dark that she was nearly the same color as you.

“So, you’re the one my husband can’t shut up about. He keeps on talking about your beauty, but from where I’m standing, darling, you ain’t that beautiful.” The woman sneered at you as she inspected you.

If her physical appearance didn’t put you off, her attitude did the job for you. Annoyed with the woman you sighed, “Don’t tell me your ok with this? And please don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

“Ok? Sweetie, I’m ecstatic with anything that allows me to afford my lifestyle. I would sell my own grandmother if it meant I could live like this. Honey, why would I ever be jealous of you?”

What a delusional one this chick was. You laughed at her and proceeded to read her. “Listen, sweetie, ummm, everything on your body is predominantly features of a black woman and under all that tanning lotion, you’re clearly not a black woman. You literally just came in here and called me ugly for having the same features you have that your plastic surgeon did a botch job on.”

You stood up face to face with Dominguez’s wife and even in your diminished shape she was frightened by you. “I bet your bitchass husband is fantsizing about me while he’s fucking you,” a look of embrassement from the woman confirmed your hunch and you contined. “I’m gonna go as far and say he called out my name on accident. Man, it must suck to be you.”

The wannabe was in tears by now and she ran out the room. Usually, you wouldn’t revel in the fact that a husband was mentally cheating on his wife, but since she was compliant, you didn’t feel an ounce of guilt.

Once again the door creaked open and this time it was Dominguez and he was pissed. He stormed towards you and punched you in the gut. “You made my wife upset, you little cunt! Be glad that you are of value to me or you be dead.”

You knew Dominguez didn’t care about his wife, but she must’ve gave him an earful and that set him off. Holding yourself back, you smirked at the man. “I don’t know what’s worse for you. Me getting to you and killing you or the Winter Soldier and Killmonger killing you. Either way you end up dead and you better pray that nothing happens to me, because those two I mentioned are nothing nice to play with.”

All the blood drained from Dominguez’s face when you mentioned the Winter Soldier. He didn’t know about Killmonger, but he didn’t sound fun and now suddenly he was fearing for his life.

His silence stuck with you and you knew you had him. You decided to taunt Dominiguez some more. “Remember when I said boyfriends? I was talking about them. So, even if I end up getting sold, you won’t be spending any of the money.”

Richard continued to keep his mouth shut as he tried to calmly exit the room. When he was outside the door, he ordered his head of security to hire more guards in case the Winter Soldier came looking for him. Now he had to get rid of you much quicker than he would like to, because he refused to be a victim of the infamous Winter Soldier.

---

Shuri came through and she was able to locate Marcus in 15 minutes instead of 30, and the team had him in their custody no less than 45 minutes.

Bucky was sharpening his knife trying to calm himself before interrogating Marcus when Tony approached him. “I know you hate me, Stark, but I love Y/N, so don’t be mad at her when we get her back. She was just doing what she believed what was right by protecting me.”

Tony held back his disdain for Bucky. He had to admit that he admired how fiercely Bucky wanted to fight for you. “Barnes, I’m not here to fight you. Y/N would whoop my ass if I did right now. I just wanted to say I appreciate how you’re fighting to get her back and that none of this is your fault.” Bucky drew his brows in confusion at Tony’s statement. Did Stark really compliment him?

“I know. I know. It doesn’t sound like me. But you can’t fight at your best if you keep thinking its your fault that Y/N is captured. You were ok with Y/N going to the auction, because you knew she was going to do it anyway. Don’t beat yourself up over that,” Tony advised the soldier.

“Thanks.”

“I still hate you by the way. I’ll just hate you less once we get her back.” Tony effectively killed the chance of any reconciliation between the two and left the room

As Tony and Bucky were having a moment, Rhodey was talking to Erik trying to calm him down. “You can’t just go in there and start beating on the dude.”

Erik looked at Rhodey in disbelief, “Oh, I can’t? Watch me.” Erik was walking to the door that Marcus was behind and Rhodey pulled him back before he turned the handle.

“You need to calm down and do it quickly! I’m not letting you blow the only lead we have on finding my niece. Do you understand me?” This was the first time Erik seen the older man lose his cool. He heard from you how your Uncle James was always the chill one despite how crazy our mom or Uncle Tony could be. So, he knew he needed to calm down for the sake of your uncle.

“A’ight. I’m sorry, man. I just need to find her asap.”

Rhodey understood the young man’s urgency. He clapped his shoulder and warned Erik. “We need Marcus alive. The cops need someone to arrest.”

Erik caught Rhodey’s drift. He wouldn’t he able to kill Marcus but whoever was the real culprit was fair game.

When Erik finally gathered himself together he went to the door where Bucky was at and entered the room. The two killers had to school their faces as they entered the room. It smelled of bodily fluids and the heat in the room made it no better.

Marcus was sitting in the middle of the room in his own mess. He was a nervous mess because he didn’t know who kidnapped him and then the crazies had a jaguar and wolf snapping in his face.

“They miss their mom and they know you have something to do with her being missing.” Marcus instantly recognized the man talking. He was the Winter Soldier and he was casually flipping a knife around.

Soon as he recognized Bucky Barnes, Marcus soiled himself once again. Erik scrunched up his face in disgust and pinched his nose. “Really, nigga? You already pissed now you gotta shit! I bet you didn’t have that same energy when you let Y/N go.”

“Look man, I didn’t have a choice,” Marcus yelled in desperation.

Pissed off, Bucky echoed Marcus. “No choice!” Bucky kicked Marcus’s chair, causing him to fall and have Apollo and Artemis growl in his face.

“Are you really gonna let em eat him?” Erik pointed to the predators.

“They haven’t ate all day and he’s obviously no help. Is that a problem?”

“Nah, it’s chow time.” Erik broke out into a smile while Apollo and Artemis widen their jaws for their new meal.

“She��s in Huntsville! Dominguez has a bunch of land out there, but he has a small army. He’ll know you’re coming.”

“We don’t care!” Bucky yelled already texting T’Challa with the information.

Erik bent down to Marcus. “Before I rock yo shit, why did you betray her?”

Marcus was a sobbing mess by now, he feared for his life. “I had a gambling debt at one of Dominguez’s underground casinos. He said it’ll clear my debt and I could get a little extra if I help him get her. Y/N’s an Avenger, I thought she would be out by now.”

As Bucky heard Marcus’s explanation, he crushed the door knob in frustration. What kind of man traded his friend for money? He took his knife out and aimed it at Marcus and cut off the top of his ear.

Annoyed that Bucky threw the knife so close to his face, Erik reprimanded him. “You had to throw it next to my face?” Bucky nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders and exited the room. Erik quickly followed Bucky after he punched Marcus to silence his wails.

Thanks to Bucky texting the intel while they were still with Marcus, Shuri had the location of Dominguez. Everyone suited up as soon as a plan was formed, even though Bucky and Erik just wanted to go in guns blazing.

“You know we don’t plan on bringing Dominguez alive.” Bucky warned your parents.

Your mother left her husband’s side and for the first time looked Bucky in the eye. “I don’t give a damn. If he’s begging for mercy, you better let him bleed out. Just bring back my baby girl.” Now Erik and Bucky understood where you got a fierceness from.

Both men gave a head nod and a yes ma’am to her and left to go save their girl.

—-

You were getting anxious. If it was just you held captive, you would’ve already escaped and killed Dominguez, but you weren’t. The other girls were your responsibility and you promised them all that you would get them out safely and alive.

“Miss. Y/N, are your friends going to save us?” Lexie, the 10 year old asked you with hope in her eyes.

“Of course, honey. They’ll be here soon. If we get lucky, we might get to see the Scarlet Witch.”

Santana being the pessimist she was told the child not to get her hopes up. You were on the verge to cuss Santana out, but you heard gunshots and the screams of Dominguez’s guards.

A smile broke out on your face, help had came. You ordered the girls to grab the shivs they made in the past days.

All of you gathered together and were approaching the door when you heard footsteps by the door. You pushed the girls behind you and got in your fighting stance.

You abandoned your stance and fell to the floor in relief when you saw Steve, Nat, Sam, and Wanda at the door.

“It’s okay. I got you,” Steve hugged you being mindful of your injuries. You hugged everyone else and asked Wanda where Vision was. She told you he joined Tony and should be here soon.

“This family reunion is great, but we got people shooting at us and we need to get these girls to safety,” Nat reminded everyone.

“Nat’s right. You guys get the girls out and I’ll handle Dominguez.” You offered to your former teammates.

Steve was heavily against the idea. He claimed that you would be outnumber and your injuries would be a clear disadvantage. But you weren’t hearing none of it. You needed to kill Dominguez and your friends couldn’t get caught since they were still fugitives.

In the middle of your argument with Steve, your sword Shuri made for your birthday was suddenly in your hand. Then you heard the roar of Artemis and the howl of Apollo.

You smiled at your friends. “Game time, bitches.” This time Steve didn’t argue with you when you ordered them to get the girls to safety. He knew Bucky was there to save you and nothing would get in his way.

Thanks to your sword being made out of vibranium you easily dodge bullets and sliced through Dominguez’s henchmen. Your goal was to kill your captor and everyone who helped him, and you weren’t leaving the base til you did.

Taking two stairs at a time, you ran into the master bedroom and found Dominguez’s wife frantically throwing clothes, shoes, and jewelry into a duffel bag.

“Materialistic to the end, huh?” Your chuckle halted her packing. Immediately she was begging for her life and in that moment you truly didn’t know if you would leave her alive. You asked yourself WWCAD (what would Captain America do?) and regrettably you only knocked her out with a vase.

As you were tying up Richard’s wife, he came running into the room seeking refuge. Once he spotted you, he pointed his gun at you. “Damn, I thought you would’ve killed her. She knows too much about the operation.”

Dang, this man really didn’t care about anyone except himself. “You know I would say I feel bad for her, but she’s as guilty as you are.”

“Then maybe you should give me the same punishment as her,” he tried to bargain with you.

“Too late,” you stated and then you charged the man.

Your fight ended up in the hallway and near the railing. Dominguez and you were dodging each other’s hits. You lunged to stab him, but he fell over the railing but he grabbed you to bring you with him. You were expecting to feel the coolness of the marble floor, but instead you felt the familiar warmth of strong arms.

“I got you, princess.” Tears threatened to spill out when you saw Bucky and Erik. You kissed Erik and murmur a bunch of I love you. Then you jumped out of his arms and limped towards Bucky to do the same.

Unfortunately, your reunion got cut short by the groans of Dominguez. Erik and Bucky instantly got in defense mode but you had to pull them back. As much as you understood their anger, this was your kill.

You slammed your foot into Dominguez’s chest to stop him from getting up. “Remember when I told you I didn’t know if it was worse for you if I got to you if they got to you,” you pointed towards the two soldiers. He gave no answer, but looked at you in pure hatred.

“Well, I forgot about a third option and I’m gonna go with them, cuz they’ll kill you slower than I ever could.” Confusion and then fear crossed Dominguez’s face as he saw the jaguar and wolf prowling towards him out of the shadows.

While Apollo and Artemis were snarling in his face, you bent down to his ear and whispered, “You know my favorite thing about you douchebag dudes is the fear on your face once you know you lost and how you’re gonna die soon. It’s the best feeling.” You patted his chest as you smugly mocked his first conversation he had with you.

Once you started walking away you heard the crunching and breaking of his bones and his cries of pain as Apollo and Artemis ripped into him.

The adrenaline must’ve stopped pumping through you, because you fell to the ground before either Bucky or Erik could get to you. Blood was seeping out of your stomach when the boys reached you. Each of them were yelling it wasn’t your time yet as you repeatedly told them you were sorry. Luckily, Erik managed to insert a Kimoyo bead into your wound to stop the bleeding. And once again you blacked out as you have done so many times this week.

—-

“You’re very lucky Mr. and Mrs. Y/L/N based on all your daughter’s injuries she should be dead,” you heard the doctor inform your parents.

“Thank God!” Your mother praised as she sat in the chair next to your bed.

“Ummm, but is it necessary for them being here?” You could only assume that the doctor was referring to Apollo and Artemis, since you could sense their presence.

“They stay,” Erik ordered leaving no room for negotiations.

A few moments later and you felt your eyes flutter open. No one noticed that you were awake until they heard you groan in pain.

Your first words were where was Bucky and Erik.

Erik left his corner in the room and ran up to you. “Hey, princess. I’m right here and Barnes not here right now. We have too many eyes on us right now.”

Usually you would be understanding, but you didn’t feel complete until you had both men by your side. So, you pleaded with Erik to get him and he was about to comply when Secretary Ross entered your hospital room.

Automatically, you were on the defense and tried to sit up despite the pain you were in. Last time you saw Ross, you cussed him out so you doubted he would be happy to see you again.

“Y/L/N, it’s good to see you’re doing well.”

“What do you want,” you croaked out.

Ross widen his stance in an attempt to intimidate you. “We have reports from the other girls you saved and they said that Steve Rogers and the others were there helping them. Do you know where they have could’ve gone? And please don’t lie, the girls did say you did talk to Rogers.”

Your monitor was beeping quickly indicating the spike in your blood pressure. At this point, Ross was more than a thorn in your side and he was getting dangerously close to be on your kill list.

It also must’ve been your mother’s breaking point, because she jumped out of her seat and was in Ross’s face. “Are you fucking kidding me!!!” Your mama had to be furious to be cussing. You only heard her cuss a handful of times in her lifetime. “My daughter is in the damn hospital barely escaping death and you’re worried about capturing damn Captain America??? My baby girl is right, that heart attack must’ve fucked with your head more than you thought. Now I suggest you get out of this room or that wolf and jaguar are gonna have a new chew toy.”

Ross made the smart decision of leaving the room with no protests. You knew your mom could be scary, but for her to successfully threaten the Secretary of State, she earned a new level of respect from you.

“Damn, Mrs. Y/L/N remind me not to piss you off.” Erik laughed in admiration.

While looking at you and giving you a motherly caress, your mama replied to Erik. “I don’t play about my kids, even the ones who give me the most headaches. So, it’s best you and Barnes remember that.”

You almost couldn’t contain your excitement. That warning your mama gave Erik was also a seal of approval for both of them to date you. Who would’ve thought your mama would be open to you dating an assassin.

For a while you talked with your family. Shannon tried to apologize for unknowingly helping you get kidnapped, but you threatened to burn all her wigs if she tried apologizing again. That quickly got her to shut up.

The nurse came by and told everyone that visiting hours were over. Everyone left except Erik and when she tried to get him to leave, he gave her a deadly stare until she scurried off.

Running your fingers through Erik’s dreads calmed you and him. It was very possible that you wouldn’t have survived and never had the chance to see each other again.

Tears were forming in Erik’s eyes and this was the second time you saw him cry. Between sniffles Erik spoke for the first time since you two been left alone. “I almost lost you, Y/N. That scared the shit out of me. I’m about to ask T’Challa to assign a Dora to follow you when me or Barnes are not around.”

Half of you was grateful that you had a man that cared that much about you, but the other half was annoyed that you were about to get a 24 hour detail after this whole debacle. “I’m safe, E. But don’t you think it may be a little extreme to have someone watching me all the time?”

“Hell no.” Welp, there’s goes any negotiation. You didn’t have the energy to fight Erik on the topic, so you let it go for now.

Erik jokes with you for a bit to lift your spirits, but he knew eventually you would ask for Bucky again. He told you what you already suspected which was that Bucky felt guilty about your abduction and was avoiding you. You told Erik to get Bucky and tell him if he refused to come you would never speak to him again.

Within 10 minutes, Bucky was sulking in your room. Erik excused himself, knowing that you two needed this intimate moment and appreciative that he spent time with you already.

“You two seem really close now,” you pointed out to Bucky after Erik clapped his shoulder.

Seemingly nervous, his metal hand scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, when the girl you both love gets kidnapped it brings enemies closer.”

Bucky made no attempt to get near you and it broke your heart. In the time you needed him the most he refused to be there for you, but you understood it, he was still blaming himself.

“Doll, I really shouldn’t be here.”

“Why?”

“It’s not safe. I heard that Ross came by looking for intel. Someone can come by and turn me in.”

Although, it was a valid concern, you knew that wasn’t the real reason Bucky thought he shouldn’t be there. “I have my own hospital floor and Tony made sure everyone signed a NDA, so try again, Barnes.”

This time Bucky moved towards you and you could see the pain in his eyes. Hell, you practically felt the pain rolling off of him onto you.

Bucky was crying by the time he sat next to you. He laid his head on your stomach and you could feel his tears seeping through your hospital gown.

When he finally composed himself, Bucky spoke.”Fuck doll, if I hadn’t encouraged you to go to that damn auction you wouldn’t be in this damn hospital bed.”

You lifted his chin to get his attention. “I’m only gonna say this once. It’s not your fault. I was gonna go with or without your permission.”

Bucky opened his mouth to apologize, but you held up your hand to stop him. “James Buchanan Barnes if you are fixing those gifted lips of yours to apologize, I promise you I will cut off your dick and you know how much I love it, baby. You wouldn’t want to do that to me, would you, babe?”

Laughter filled the air and it was music to your ears. Bucky’s laugh was low like his voice but it held a certain lightness that Bucky must’ve retained before joining the army.

“Ok no more apologies. But you’re gonna have someone with you at all times just to make me feel better.”

“I basically told her the same thing and she didn’t argue with me,” Erik added while he was standing in the doorway eating some jello-o.

You rolled your eyes in annoyance at the two men. They really thought you were gonna comply with them. “I didn’t argue with you because I’m too mentally tired to do so. But watch, once I’m feeling better I’m cussing both of you out for trying to tell me what to do.”

Both muttered a ‘we’ll see’ and laughed at you. Throughout the entire night the boys kept you entertained and not once did they argue. It was a rare occurrence for Bucky and Erik get along and you hoped for more of it in the future.

Sleep eventually claimed you and you were glad that you had your two favorite men by your side as it always should be

Tags: @blackreaders-assemble @destinio1 @lildashofmelanin @nickidub718 @dumbchick @chaneajoyyy @wakanda-inspired @blackpinup22 @pastelastronomy24 @cyrioussoul @valkyriesnymph @bitchacho25 @yoyolovesbucky @toniilaney @euphoric05 @marvelmaree @dessianna1

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taexual · 6 years

Text

EXO / Mafia AU - Their child has an event at school

REQUEST: Omg can I please get an EXO mafia to their child going to like a little school type dance event

WARNING: unhealthy possessiveness

OTHER MAFIA AUS: BTS / EXO / GOT7 / MONSTA X / SEVENTEEN

Xiumin

Minseok was very worried about his daughter’s well-being when she was away at school. He wanted her to do good during her classes, but he had to admit, sometimes he lingered in the hallways and took her home from school early if he was feeling particularly paranoid that day.

He never took her home, though, but after putting your daughter to sleep, you’d always find out from her that Minseok had ended her school day early today and took her to have ice cream instead. Obviously, you scolded Minseok about it and told him that your daughter needed to stay in school for the full day. Especially right now.

“Right now?” Minseok frowned. “Why right now?”

You sighed. You had planned to tell him about this later because you weren’t sure what his reaction was going to be.

“She’s in a play,” you said. “There’s one part where they have to do a dance in a couple.”

“A play?” Minseok’s eyes widened as he slowly tried to catch up with everything you just told him. “Six-year-olds dancing in couples? W-what do you mean? Is my daughter dancing with a boy?”

“She is,” you confirmed and chose not to mention that last week she also admitted to you that she really liked the boy she was dancing with. Minseok didn’t need to know that right now.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” he asked. “I need to talk to her about this. Has she found out yet that boys have cooties?”

You shook your head. “Let her do this. She’s really excited about this. And her partner is… nice. Don’t turn her against him.”

“I would never,” Minseok said, already coming up with ways to ensure his daughter wasn’t going to get too excited about her dancing partner. “Is she doing well with the dancing? Does she need help? Her dad can dance really well, I could actually teach her a thing or two. I’ll go talk to her.”

Suho

Junmyeon was absolutely the first to start crying when he saw his son on stage, during a play. The people around him were really confused when this dangerous looking man who was rumored to be carrying firearms with him at all times, just burst out crying at the sight of this little boy on stage, but they obviously didn’t dare to say anything.

“Myeon,” you said carefully. “He hasn’t done anything yet. Get a grip.”

He almost laughed. “No one in my life has ever told me to get a grip. I’m generally a very collected person.”

“I know,” you replied. “All of that falls apart when it comes to our son, though.”

“It does,” he agreed. “Look how beautiful he looks on that stage. My little angel. I should have brought more cameras.”

You chuckled. “He’ll love you the most if he sees you watching, not taking pictures.”

“I am watching,” Junmyeon said. “But I will need some memories of this day. Do you think my son will grow up to become an actor? I can make sure he will.”

“I don’t think he’s decided on what he wants to be yet.”

“Well, whatever it is,” he said, wiping another tear from his cheek and smiling at the sight of his little boy standing on the edge of the stage, waiting to say his lines. “I hope he knows daddy’s got his back no matter what.”

Lay

Yixing was working out of town when your daughter told you that she had a formal, end-of-the-school-year dance in two weeks. She said she had forgotten to tell you before but she’s known about it for a month. Naturally, you panicked. You weren’t really sure what six-year-old dances worked like, so you didn’t know how to help her prepare. Not to mention, you only had a few weeks to figure it all out.

You ended up reaching out to Yixing – the two of you always made parenting decisions together, however small they were – and told him that your daughter insisted she just needed a dress for this event, but you weren’t sure if there was really nothing else left for you to take care of.

“I’ll bring her one,” Yixing said. “One of the people I’m doing a job with has a son who owns a children’s boutique. What color would she like?”

“She loves red,” you said. “But you know what, let me take the phone to you. Remind her you’ll be home soon, though. Or she will cry if she hears your voice.”

Yixing felt pain explode in his chest after you said this. “I will be home soon. And I’ll bring my baby a dress for her first dance.”

“Dad?” he suddenly heard his daughter’s voice on the other end of the call.

“Hi, baby,” Yixing said, his voice sounding three times softer when he was talking to his little girl. “Mommy just told me you have a dance coming up. You need a dress.”

“Yes,” she said, suddenly thoughtful. “I already have a partner. It is this boy, he’s very shy, but you would like him.”

He smiled at this, not going to tell his daughter that he was naturally drawn to hate all boys who took his only daughter dancing. “Yeah? Do you like him?”

“Kind of,” she said and then sighed very dramatically. “But he’s a boy.”

“Right,” this got Yixing to laugh. “Boys are difficult to deal with, aren’t they?”

“They’re just weird,” his daughter said. “But I’ve decided that we will both be wearing red clothes. To stand out.”

“Okay,” he said. “I will bring you back the prettiest red dress. Although, I promise you, you already stand out from everyone else as it is.”

She smiled, even if Yixing couldn’t see her. “Okay.”

“Okay,” he echoed. “Dad will be home soon, yeah? Wait for me. I’ll come watch you dance.”

Baekhyun

Baekhyun’s son didn’t get any roles in the winter play that his class was doing and the tears on his face made Baekhyun want to use his special methods to get the teachers to give his son a part, however small it’d be. You stopped him, however, not considering threats to be a fair solution to this problem.

However, when his son didn’t get a part in the second play, – he tried to play it off, too, but Baekhyun caught him discreetly wiping his tears as he drove him home from school – he didn’t say anything to you and headed to the school on his own.

You wouldn’t have found out about this if your son wouldn’t have come home screeching with joy the next day.

“Whoa, what happened?” you asked, surprised to see your little boy in such ecstasy

“I got the part!” he said, jumping up and down in joy. “In the play! I got it!”

“You did? That is great!” you said, trying not to diminish your son’s excitement by asking him how that was possible since he was rejected just a day ago.

You figured you’d just ask Baekhyun what he did but he remained quiet and insisted that he had simply stopped by the school for a quick chat with the teachers.

“We’ve come to a conclusion that our son is very gifted,” Baekhyun said. “It took very little convincing to make them see it. I barely said anything.”

“Oh God,” you groaned. “Was it money or violence that you used this time?”

“Why do you always assume the worst about me? I just—”

“Baekhyun,” your stern voice cut him off.

He looked down, realizing that lying to you wasn’t going to get him very far. “Money. I’m keeping violence as a Plan B.”

“Baekhyun…” you sighed. “You can’t blackmail our son’s teachers into giving him roles in the school plays. It isn’t fair. You know it isn’t.”

“Babe,” Baekhyun replied, an unapologetic smile on his face. “If there’s anything I can do to make you or my son happy, I will do it. I don’t care if it’s fair or not.”

Chen

You and Jongdae were one of the first parents who arrived to your son’s play. Technically, your son only had a minor part in it, but both of you had already bragged to everyone about your son’s debut on stage as if he was the star of the play. Well, he was definitely the star to you.

“Look, these are the parents whose child plays the main role,” you said, pointing. Your son had told you that the son of these two people was extremely rude to everyone, so, needless to say, you weren’t very excited to meet his parents.

Jongdae scoffed. “They can wipe the smirks off their faces. My son will play the main role in the next play. And I’ll still be here in the front row, cheering from him.”

“He said he doesn’t want the main role,” you reminded him. “He has stage fright. He didn’t even want to go here today, but he said he wants to make you proud.”

“He said that?” Jongdae looked at you, unable to hide how touched he was to hear this. “I’ll talk to him after the play. I can’t have my own son doing something he doesn’t want to do just to make me proud. I’m already proud of him as it is.”

You smiled at this. “You’re a good person – despite what you do – and you’re a great dad. Our son looks up to you.”

“I love you,” he replied, taking your hand into his. “And for, the record, I think we’re better parents than the ones whose child plays the lead role.”

“Oh, absolutely,” you agreed, nodding. “Their child has nothing on ours.”

Chanyeol

Actually, Chanyeol was more excited about the Father’s Day dance at school than his daughter was. He had a suit ready three weeks before this event was even supposed to take place.

“Daddy,” she said to him when she caught him rehearsing his dance moves in your bedroom. “You move weird. Let me show you how to do it.”

Chanyeol was positive that he did not move “weird” – he danced just fine at your wedding, after all, even with all of his Mafia acquaintances watching – but he was a complete sucker for his daughter. He couldn’t say no as she took his hands into her little ones and attempted to instruct him how to move.

She moved clumsily – Chanyeol was too big for her to control properly – but she didn’t lose patience and, after an hour, she finally declared that he was starting to get better.

“If we practice every day, we might be the best dad and daughter duet at the dance,” she said, finally giving him a small smile and this way, making him melt. “But practice on your own, too, okay? Just the way I taught you.”

“I will,” Chanyeol promised her. “I wouldn’t want to embarrass you.”

His daughter nodded. “Okay. I’ll tell mom to keep an eye on you.”

“Are you looking forward to the dance?” he asked her before she could leave the room – somehow, at just seven years old, his daughter was constantly on the go. He felt like he barely saw her anymore.

“I wasn’t before,” she admitted. There was one thing Chanyeol was certain about when it came to his daughter – she never lied. Her brutal honesty sometimes really pierced his heart. “But now that I’m teaching you how to dance, maybe it won’t be that bad.”

D.O.

His daughter’s first dance was one of the most important events that ever happened in your household. Your daughter was excited about it, you were looking forward to it as well, but Kyungsoo, as always, was the rain on this parade.

“No, but school dances mean that there will be romantic songs playing,” he complained to you after you two had put your daughter to bed. You always did it together if Kyungsoo wasn’t out of town. “My daughter is eight. She can’t slow-dance with anyone.”

“There will be supervisors so nothing wrong happens,” you tried to calm him down. “And slow-dancing is not a really dangerous activity anyway.”

“Maybe not, but it requires close proximity,” Kyungsoo insisted. “S-she can’t participate in… that.”

You had a feeling Kyungsoo would react this way and yet you still found his pointless worrying tiring. “She’ll be fine. Listen—”

“You said there’ll be supervisors,” he cut you off. “Who?”

“Well, the other parents—”

“I’ll supervise, too,” Kyungsoo decided, not letting you finish. “I’ll seek out every one of those little brats who look at my daughter. I’ll have a talk with them all. If they want to get close to my baby girl, they’ll have to go through me.”

Kai

Jongin always closely followed everything that went on with his son at school. He even suggested talking to the teachers who gave him bad grades, but you had taught your son to never encourage his dad to talk to anyone no matter what the problem was.

However, when Jongin found out that his son was the only one not going to the school dance because he had no one to go with, nothing could stop him from going to his school. Jongin left his son – who tried not to cry because even at such a young age, he realized that this wasn’t worth crying over – alone in his room and climbed down the stairs until he found you.

“You never told me our son has no friends to go to the dance with,” Jongin said, breathing heavily. “I had no idea all of the friends he made on the first few days of school stopped talking to him. How is it possible that my son has no one at that school who would keep him company at the stupid dance?”

You sighed, feeling guilty that you haven’t informed Jongin about this before, but also still not wanting to talk about this in case he’d get upset. “He said he didn’t want to go anyway.”

“I saw tears in his eyes when I asked him about the dance!” Jongin replied. “He’s the only one in his class who’s not going. Why is that so?”

“It’s…” you looked down. “The other kids started to talk that his dad is in the Mafia. Once this talk reached the parents, they obviously told their children to avoid our son because they claim he’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous!” Jongin repeated, this news upsetting him more than you thought it would. “My son has never hurt a fly in his whole life. I haven’t even given him a gun yet because I’m not sure this life is the right one for him. But you can rest assured, I will go to that dance myself and I will have a talk with every single one of those parents who don’t think my son deserves to have friends.”

You bit your lip nervously. “Jongin… don’t make it worse.”

“I won’t,” he said. “My son will not be excluded just because of something his father does. My son will go to the dance with his friends. I will fix this.”

Sehun

Sehun had already gotten used to the number of children at his house after his daughter returned from school. She always brought friends over and he gladly talked to all of them, even though he didn’t particularly like some of them because of the stories your daughter – who always forgave and forgot – had told him.

But then he was asked to supervise a school dance – initially, you were supposed to do it but you had gotten ill – and he swore he had never seen anything more reckless than nine-year-olds with minimal parental supervision. And Sehun knew what he was talking about, he dealt with reckless underground criminals daily.

“Hey!” he yelled for the tenth time that night after noticing boys asking his daughter out to dance. “What are you doing?”

“T-the dance, sir,” they’d tell him, always stuttering as they felt beyond intimidated by this tall man who turned out to be the father of the girl they had been crushing on.

“Yeah, find someone else,” Sehun would respond. “This girl is off-limits.”

“Dad!” his daughter squealed after she caught him dismissing her latest potential partner. “What are you doing? I haven’t gotten a chance to dance this whole night because you won’t let me. You’re embarrassing!”

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” he said, not really feeling sorry. All of these boys approaching his daughter seemed suspicious to him. “I’ll dance with you in the meanwhile, hmm? Is that okay?”

She sighed at this. “One day you’ll have no choice but to let me dance with other boys.”

“I know,” Sehun told her, a nervous pang materializing in his stomach. He dreaded the day when his daughter would grow up and he could no longer supervise – or, well, control – her relationships. “But right now, just give your dad this dance, okay? While you’re still my little girl.”

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printedpeterparker · 6 years

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Heartbreak Girl

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Type: 5 Seconds of a Summer Series

Word Count: 2.6k

Warning: Fluff but Angst So So Angsty, Talk of Drugs and Drug Use, Swearing.

Summary: The one where heartbreak is a bitch.

Note: All the lyrics are bolded & lyric inspired lines are bolded and italicized. Never heard the song? Give it a listen here! Here’s the main masterlist and the series masterlist and did you miss the last one? Here’s the previous chapter!

I love feedback! B xx

January 13

It had been 18 hours since Peter had to pick you up from the police station. It had been 20 hours since Cooper got you both arrested in the first place. You were pissed, embarrassed, and saddened. Overall, you felt stupid.

You had to sit back and explain to Peter how you snuck out to meet Cooper at a friend’s. You didn’t feel totally safe, but you knew Cooper would keep you safe. You convinced him to finally take you home because although you wanted to do and be somewhere exciting, you didn’t trust the people you were around. Of course, you figured Cooper was too high to drive, so you did.

You were upset, but that quickly faded away from saw the red and blue lights flash in your rearview mirror. You had never had an encounter with the police, so you weren’t nervous; you didn’t do anything wrong. It wasn’t until Cooper started talking; he did shit talking to get you both removed from the car for a search. The other police officer watched you vigilantly, Cooper still high as a kite.

You really wanted to go home, but you quickly knew that wasn’t gonna happen for a while when he pulled a box, pulling out little baggies of different pills and weed. Your eyes quickly went wide and your stomach dropped. Cooper was only laughing as you both got arrested.

You wanted to cry in the back of the police car. Cooper was everything but helpful. He only made the situation worse.

After being questioned and detained for almost two hours, you were embarrassed to call Peter; you felt worse when he picked you up.

“He just makes me so goddamn angry sometimes, Peter!” you admitted to your friend as you spun around in his desk chair. “But of course, Cooper’s dad swoops in and comes with a huge eraser to rid him of his charges while I had to talk my out of being released.” You tried not to angrily cry again for the second time today. “I’m such an idiot.”

“Y/N, you’re not an idiot,” Peter stated. He got up from his bed to drag the chair with you in it over to him, “You just...you just wanted to feel different and I get it.”

God, Peter was angry, but he bit his tongue. This wasn’t the time to try and win you over because you’re not ready and it’s so frustrating. Even though it still pained him, you just needed a friend and someone to listen. He saw the hurt in your eyes; it hadn’t left since he saw you in holding. You appeared broken.

“I almost ruined my entire future just for some dumb fun and I had an awful time,” you admitted, plopping onto the bed next to Peter. “I bet he was so ready to sell me out like I was nothing. I mean I was the one driving. The drugs were under my seat. And h-he—” you asked sitting up, your eyes turning red again from the hot tears forming in your ducts but the gates broke. You couldn’t slow your breathing as tears streamed down your face.

Peter didn’t say anything. He pulled you into his chest before kissing your forehead. If he had to hold you tight straight through the day, he would. You were hyperventilating his shoulder. He ran his fingers through your hair and rubbed your back, trying to calm you down.

You felt like such a mess. You hardly ever cried, especially not in front of others. You knew you had dampened Peter’s t-shirt on his shoulder and now you felt as if you were using Peter. You had avoided Peter all week just because of Cooper. You weren’t even sure why you listened to him in the first place.

“I’m sorry, Peter,” you whispered against his chest. “We haven’t talked hardly all week and I’m here crying on your bed, and I feel like I’m being such a fake friend to you, Peter.” Little did you know, Peter was a sucker for anything that you did. “Cooper said he didn’t trust you with me and I’ve told him that you were my first friend in New York and I couldn't just abandon you like that, but I fed his dumbass ego and talked to you less.” You never felt more foolish. “I really should’ve gone to the movies with you,” you chuckled before sniffling.

Peter locked his hand with yours that was previously rubbing your back before looking at you, “Y/N, I only say this because I care about you, but...you have to break it off with Cooper.”

To be fair, that’s what Peter wanted all along, but now he wanted it more than ever; he was literally damaging you. It didn’t make sense anymore for you to be with him anymore.

“Well, he broke up with me before I left so…”

Peter’s brow furrowed, “Why didn’t you tell me that last night?”

“I know,” you whispered as you loudly sniffled before sitting up, “but I don’t want to bother you with this anymore; you’ve already helped enough.”

“Y/N, you literally could never be a bother to me,” he sincerely told you, his brown eyes looking deep into your puffy ones. “Look, May said you can stay as long as you want even if you want to spend the night and we can just watch some and I can just make some mac-n-cheese— the Y/N way.”

Your style of mac-n-cheese was basically macaroni noodles with butter and any cheese in the fridge melted on top. You smiled a little and nodded. You muttered an okay before following you into the kitchen. You went to over to the living room and sat on the couch. You tried looking for a comedy and not another reason to cry. You settled on The Office. You got a blanket from his closet and laid on the couch, starting to feel a little better as you laughed. You could smell the food when Peter came around the couch with a bowl and a fork.

“We had cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan,” Peter told you as he handed you the warm bowl.

“No, that’s perfect,” you smiled before grabbing the bowl from him and starting to dive in. Peter sat down next to you, taking some of the blanket for himself. You started to feel a little better yourself.

Your mind still drifted to Cooper throughout the night. You wondered if he had already found another girl to wrap under his arm for the night. You wondered if he had already gotten over you and your relationship while you were still hung up on him. Peter could see you become upset again; you weren’t beginning to cry, but you stopped laughing at attics in The Office and eating for a while.

You felt Peter’s leg hit yours, snapping you out of your trance, “Y/N, you gotta stop thinking about him. He’s a complete ass.”“I know,” you whispered, looking down, “I’m just thinking about him already getting over me because he never truly liked me for me, y’know? I think he just liked me because I was new and he thought I was easy or something. I mean what you saw in the library was literally the farthest...” You noticed Peter’s uncomfortable face and you quickly held back, “I’m sorry. That’s probably too much information, but my mom is so busy, my grandma is so old school, and MJ would just tease me...”

“Uh, no I get it...kind of,” he chuckled. “But whoever Cooper is with tonight whether it’s some other girl or his friends, I know you make for better company.”

You smiled before putting the bowl on the table, “You also make great company, Parker.”

Instead of focusing on the TV, you and Peter just talked. You talked about Cooper for a little bit, but then it moved on to odd topics. Peter mentioned how he had lost up to seven backpacks throughout his high school career. This prompted you to mention how your backpack was stolen in Nice on your first day of school. It was refreshing to talk to Peter again.

The worst thing was avoiding him for most of the week. You craved dumb conversations about his and your childhood. Eventually, he broke out Scrabble after you had talked about placing 3rd in a spelling bee; he wanted to test your skills. Your competitiveness took over as did Peter’s. Neither of you even noticed Aunt May come home from work. You didn’t even realize that hours that passed. He really was your cure.

“Oh, come on, Y/N,” Peter whined, pointing at the letters you just placed down. “Prolly isn’t even a word; it’s slang!”

“It’s used as a slang word, but it’s in the Oxford Dictionary with a different meaning like 40s or something,” you told him, “Look it up and give me my 35 points, Parker!”

He rolled his eyes before writing it down, “I guess I’ll take your word...but don’t count on that later,” he jokingly sighed.

“Are you two still playing that game?” May asked as she made her way to the living room.

“Yeah because I won the first one, and Y/N doesn’t know how to lose.” Peter shook his head disappointed. You scoffed before pushing him over onto the floor. But it was very true.

“Whatever!” you laughed as you looked down at your phone. You noticed your grandma texted and asked when you were coming home. She would freak out if she knew you spent the night at Peter’s. “I have to go, but this game isn’t over.”

“Oh, okay, Y/N. It’s freezing out there. Did you drive?” May quickly asked.

“Yeah, I just need my coat and boots,” you smiled as went to the front door to put on your coat.

“I’ll walk you down,” Peter offered as you stood up to put on shoes himself.

You slightly smiled and nodded, “Thank you, Peter, and thank you for letting me stay for so long, May. I hope I see you soon!” you smiled before waving off as you left with Peter.

You both entered the elevator both smiling, “You owe me one more game.”

The elevator began to descend and Peter just laughed, “Just for you to lose again?”

“Wow, you’re so rude.”

“You know I’m kidding,” he muttered as the elevator door opened on the empty lobby floor. You both exited. You faced the snow-covered streets before you turned to Peter.

“Thank you for the day, Peter,” you sighed as you took his right hand into both of yours. “Thanks for being a friend.”

After today, Peter couldn’t just think about you as just a friend. Yes, you always wanted to be there for you, but he had a love for you that you could barely describe. He couldn’t bear to be stuck in the friend zone again and again.

“Y/N, I know you probably don’t wanna hear this now, but I...I feel like...”

Your eyebrows furrowed as you smiled up at him, “Peter, you can literally tell me anything, you know that, right? And after what I put you through today...”

He looked down at you and into your soft Y/C/E eyes. They didn’t have their red and puffy appearance anymore. They still shined in the bad lighting of the lobby. They were exactly the way he liked them. Your lips were pressed together, but they still formed a smile across your face.

What took over Peter, he wasn’t sure. His hand swiftly caressed your cheek before his lips meet yours. You almost tumbled backward due to the force of the kiss. You didn’t know how to respond, but your instincts took over as your hand traveled around his neck. Peter was surprised to feel you respond. Your lips moved together perfectly in sync.

Peter thought you could feel his heart rate quicken. He swore it was about to fall out of his chest. Your lips were soft and sweet against his; they were heavenly.

But a sense of guilt rushed over you. Were you accepting this because you still kind of felt hurt? Did it feel nice because Cooper didn’t like Peter as you pulled back from Peter, you both a little breathless, “Peter...”

“I’ve been wanting to do that since the week after I meet you,” he muttered as he interrupted.

And that was the thing. Peter had thought being with you since November and you never even considered it. But kissed you in a way you had never been kissed before. It didn’t feel like he was trying to satisfy himself or show off (the way Cooper did). He kissed you like he cared.

“Listen, Y/N.” Your head fully popped up, but you were still wary of looking into his eyes “I love being your friend, but I still cannot help but to want to care for you more and I know this is probably the worst way to tell you, but after being with you tonight...it’s not a petty crush.’

You were speechless. A part of you though Peter liked you when you first met, but you thought he stopped. You never anticipated this.

“I’m so sorry, Peter.” You took a step back as you felt more guilt ran over your shoulders. “If I would’ve known, I never would’ve put you through the last twenty-four hours, but I cannot do this.”

“You can’t be with me?”

“No —I don’t know.” You felt as if every word you were wanting to say were rushing past you, leaving you flustered and stuttering. “I just...I just can’t leave one relationship and get into another but especially with a guy that my ex had a problem with.” You could see Peter’s heart slowly break as you tried to explain yourself. “I don’t know if what I just felt was due to me wanting to make Cooper upset or being sad or liking you and now realizing it —I just don’t know, Peter.”

Peter nodded, his lips in a firm line. His arms were crossed as he attempted to distance himself away from you. He sighed through his nose before looking back at you, “I get it, but I know how I feel about you, Y/N.”

“And I know I like you enough to not use you as rebound, and I want to be sure because you’re my best friend,” you told him. “I never want to hurt you, Peter.”

“Yeah, but we all don’t get what we want,” he hissed.

“Jesus, Peter!” you almost yelled, “It’s not my fault! You’re being childish now.”

“I watched you be with a guy that treated so bad while I was good to you, and I’m sorry if I’m a little upset about it.” You had never seen Peter angry. Upset yes, but never angry. “I swallowed my pride and sucked it up because you were happy. Yeah, I should’ve said something sooner, but I end up telling you what you want to hear because seeing you smile made me happy until I saw you with him.”

“And I'm supposed to be with you because of that? You know that’s not fair, Peter! You’re acting no better than Cooper or any other guy I’ve been with.” This was the first time you fought with Peter, and you hated it. You wished you could go back upstairs and forget about now and just continue your game of Scrabble where the only problem was if your word as valid. You held back the tears the brimmed your eyes, “I cannot be what you want, I guess, so, I’ll just leave you alone.” Peter almost didn’t catch it, but he heard you loud in clear. “I’m sorry.”

Without another word or tear dropped, you quickly walked out into the frigid cold to your car. As soon as you closed the door, you finally felt your body break down. You couldn’t even find it in yourself to start your car; you just sat there.

Peter watched you leave, and immediately hated himself. He hated seeing you cry when you came over earlier, but now, it was his fault. No one else was to blame.

“Such a damn idiot.”

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avengersohyeah · 7 years

Text

Another Stark

Masterlist

A/N : So this is a request from lovely Anon, i don’t know how to reach out to you, i hope you could find this fic. It turned out to be one long ass one shot, since i’m a sucker for reader background drama so yeah.. i hope you enjoy it (Tony x Male! Brother Reader)

When Tony lost his parents he couldn’t even feel anything. Sadness, pain, regrets, all those things came to him all at once. Numb him whole, he refused to feel any of those emotions. So he shut them out, that’s why he’s numb. Trying to forget everything by partying, drinks, women, but those things could only last for a few moments. And when he’s far away from those things, all the demons of his past creeping their way to his mind. Forcing their way to make him feel them. And at these times, he could only wish for someone. Someone to hold him close, to tell him that everything is alright.

Pepper, she’s been there with him through every sleepless night. Easing his demons away with her touch and her love for him. But that’s not enough. As hard as he denied, even with Pepper’s presence near him it still not enough. He craved for something’s different. Love, not the kind that Pepper gave him, not the kind that he gave her either. A love for people, for someone that you care more than yourself. Not the kind of love between a couple, but the kind of love you feel to your family. Pepper is his family, and all his staff he consider them as a family at some point. But that’s not enough.

Before his parents leave their house to deliver those serums, he didn’t had a chance to tell them good bye. To hug them, to tell them I love you even if he knew that they might not comeback once they drive past the gate. It’s all because of his Dad. A few days before they decided to take the serums with them is the day when he found out. His Dad slept with one of his staff. It was a night when his mother were scheduled to came home from her trip to Paris. He was going to call his Dad and ask him if he could go with him to the airport. That’s before he reached the door of Howard’s office, and heard those sounds. Moans, panting, and profanities that spilled with their heavy breath in hushed tone. Then it all hits him, He’s Dad, even if he claim that he love his mom, still couldn’t get his hands off of another woman. And since that night, he despised his father like nobody could.

14 June 1992

Somewhere across the country, a women is fighting to deliver her baby. The one she never thought would she keep. When she found out about it, it was three months after Howard’s death. So she did what she thought was right at that time. She left the mansion, handing Howard’s secretary her resignation paper. She couldn’t bare the thought that anyone that killed Howard could also go after his child if they found out. Even along the way in her nine months away from the Stark family, she managed to keep a track in Tony’s activity. For precaution, because she is that kind of women that always prepare everything to face the worst. She wrote everything that she know, in case someday her child ask and she can’t explain it with words.

16 years, and she was right about you would want to know the real story about your father. She just goes silent and hand you the box filled with envelopes of letters without address, just your name on it. You took the box and headed to your room. You read every single letters your mother wrote for you. Sadness, anger, guilt, you’re not even sure what kind of emotion you felt at that moment. You rushed to the living room and find your mother sat her, with her head on both palms and shoulders shaking. You kneel in front of her, and you bring her to your embrace while you both letting your tears flow. God how your mother has suffered. You’re not stupid, Stark, who’s apparently your brother has become the news since his parent’s death. Being the genius playboy philanthropist at young age he is draw all kind of attention from the world. But does he know he has a brother? Well half brother. Maybe not, because as what your mother wrote to you, she left without saying anything. But now at least this explained where you got this genius head of yours.

You never thought that finishing school earlier than any other kids in your age is a big deal. But apparently it is for Stark Industries. As a massive company that value young intellegent people, they keep a track in every single school in U.S for someone that is possibly could they recruit to their company. Well mostly they took a records of individuals like you, young, genius, and finish school early must be one of the requirement too. And that’s how Tony find out your existence. The day your file was handed to him as a possible recruit for science team has him shook. His mind went back to the day when he heard his Dad and your Mom in that office. He looked through your files and smile etched on his face. He doesn’t even realize he’s smiling until he felt his cheeks sore. Although he never expect it, but the fact that he still have someone out there that has Stark blood in them warmed his heart. That, and here he read through your files he felt proud of you. The kind of proud feeling those big brother felt when their little brother did something that is so awsome for him. Reading through your achievements, he couldn’t hold the big smile that creeping on his face.

“He has Stark in his blood after all…” He said to himself.

“Who has Stark blood in his ?” Pepper asked as she walked to his desk. She kissed him and then stand there beside him to wait for his answer.

“Would it be weird if I tell you that I have a brother ?” He asked her with one brow raised.

“What do you mean you have a brother ?” Tony then showed her your files and tell her everything happened in that night. She went silent for a long time.

“Come on say something!” Tony breaks the silence

“You want to meet him.” It’s not a question, but a statement because Pepper knows him like the back of her hand. “I’ll handle the meetings for this week but you owe me Tony” She walked to the door and before she exits Tony yelled “I Love you MIss Potts”

When you came home that day you could’ve swear your heart is going to jump out of your chest. There, sitting on your dinning table with your mom, chatting comfortably is Tony Stark. The one that you learned as your half brother just three days before. Dumbfounded, you couldn’t find any words and just walk to your chair in that table like a robot. Sitting in front of someone that you admire secretly felt bizarre.

“Close your mouth, you’ll catch a fly” He said then chuckled

You smiled at that, and looked to your mom, then to Tony again. Somehow it doesn’t feel awkward at all, it felt like it’s normal. All this time you ate with your mother in this very table and you always feel incomplete. You always thought that it’s supposed to be your father. But now seeing Tony here, you finally realized that it is not a father figure that is missing in your life. Your mother has always been one when it’s needed. It is a brother that you’ve been longing for this whole time. When you finally came to this realization, you responded “Welcome home brother…” This earns you all the eyes in the room, your Mom that is visibly crying before she’s now sobbing again. And Tony, he smiled so wide and you can see the tears also pooling at the corner of his eyes. You spend the lunch trying to catch up on each other’s life. Mostly it’s Tony that wanted to hear your stories, what you’ve been through to be this amazing person you are.

“You finished school earlier this year, what’s your plan ? Ever considered in joining Stark Industry?” Tony asked after they finished their lunch.

“Actually when I was in high school I thought about applying to your company..” At this revelation, Tony’s eyes light up, only to be replaced by shocked expression at what he said next “But then i have this i don’t know, desire ? to serve the country.”

“No way… You’re not ! You’re coming with me to my company” He sulk like a child.

“Well you’re to late for three days brother, I just got back from special force recruitment and I’m in the program”

“No Way you’re not even 18… how could they let you in?” He whined

“I don’t know and I don’t care, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t catch up for the lost time.”

“Fair enough… how about you show me around tomorrow ? I want to know everything about you, school, friends, anything, before you go to that special force of yours and make us go Dear John.” At this you just laugh and agreeing to his request.

When you were finally finished your military education, you were sent straight to a secret operation in Middle East. A lot of things happened in the span of four years, and the best thing to you, it’s Avengers. The fact that your brother is Iron Man was surprising to anyone, you included. But what surprising more is that Tony kept his promise not to out you as his brother to the world. At first he was planning to do so, that way you wouldn’t need too join the special force program in the first place. But you refused, you told him that serving your country is a calling for you, and you wanted to give everything you have to do it. And he caved in, somehow knowing each other in such a short amount of time made you both bond faster and stronger than you could imagined.

The day when New York attack happened was the same day when you were in your mission, so you had no idea what happened back in the States. And when you finally got a contact, it’s a months later from the secret base in Tel Aviv after you finished your mission. Given the break to come home, you couldn’t wait to surprise your brother and his team of super heroes. Well, it’s mainly just a reason so you can see the legendary Captain America in person.

Avengers Tower

If Tony isn’t a crazy rich genius billionaire, the recovery of his tower wouldn’t be this fast. It took exactly three months for his Tower could finally function like it used to be. The team were also gathered again after their vacation, minus Clint that nobody knows his whereabouts, and Thor that is in Asgard.

“Spangle you could just ask JARVIS to torn the TV on” Tony said from his seat at the corner of the common room.

“Yes… It still freaked me out to talk to someone I couldn’t see..” Steve scratched his head in embarrassment.

“Well, prepare yourself to be more surprised what Stark have in his Lab..” Natasha cut in with a mug of coffee in hand.

The banter between the ex-assasin and the spangled men were actually pretty amusing for Tony. If only his mind is there at the moment with him. But no, his mind went to all those years ago when he first met you and your mom. The day you spent together doesn’t feel like he’s trying to get to know someone. It felt just like two brothers that’ve been away from each other before they reunite. It’s funny because when he finally get to talk to you more, he saw himself in you. It’s obvious that you have Stark’s brain, even as he hate to admit it, you look way better than him. But the one that makes him grow even fonder of you was your sass. You could give him a taste of his own medicine. That’s why he loved you so much.

He’s been staring at his phone that displayed your picture, the one in your uniform right after your graduation ceremony. A week before you were sent to Middle East to lead backup team in Tel-Aviv Israel. He was sad because he didn’t get to say good bye in person to you. Knowing nothing about when will you come back because it’s classified. Well for other people it is, but nothing can stop him from making sure that he knows when will his little brother come back. He already have a party planned in his head to welcome you. He’s caught up in his head and didn’t hear that Nat have been calling him for a few times.

“Tony.. Tony! You okay ? We kinda lost you for a moment..”

“Yeah yeah…I’m fine just counting time till I could throw another party.”

“You just threw a party few months ago when this building was reopened.” Nat rised her eyebrows in amusement

“Well get used to it, in fact I could throw a party right now if I want…” He replied matter of factly.

Their interaction were cutted off by JARVIS “Sir, you have a visitor from U.S Army’s Special Force.” At this information both Nat and Steve turned at Tony with questioning look. Only to be welcomed with his shocked wide eyed expression.

“Where is he ?” His voice came out calm while his mind is going overdrive. There’s only two possibilities if someone from your commando wants to find him. It could be you, but he remembered you wanted to keep your Stark blood as a secret. Then there’s this possibility where it is one of your team mate that delivering him a very bad news that he never wanted to hear. But the fact that he knows your mission were supposed to be a year long, he couldn’t help his mind to go over the later possibility. He stand up a little bit shaky and unfocused, first time seeing Tony in this kind of state Nat and Steve decided just to follow him in silence.

The three of them reached the door of Tony’s office where JARVIS told them the visitor’s waiting. Nat and Steve could see Tony’s hand shaking as he reached for the handle and pushing the door open. As the door opened, they could see a men with his back to them. His posture was obviously a soldier’s one. Broad shoulder, fairly tall, taller than Tony but still a little bit shorter than Steve. And he wear a complete formal uniform from Army, Steve recognize it everywhere since it’s not that different from back in the days. He was about to ask who are you, but Tony breaks the silence.

“(Y/N) ? Is that you ?” Hearing Tony’s voice weavering only invite him to look at the billionaire. He never thought that he would ever witness the most miraculous thing in his live. There, Tony Stark that he know have a heart of steel, like literally, with tears streaming down his face. He was to struck to Tony’s expression to notice that by now Natasha’s face also turned into that comical slack jawed expression.

The men turned and they could’ve swore that for a flash second he looks exactly like Tony with taller frame. It was until you opened your mouth Steve and Nat completely lost their control of their face “Good to see you brother, I heard you saved the world….” Then he flashed the brightest smile they’ve ever seen.

Tony just dashed into the room and take you in bone crushing hug. Sobbing while mumbling incoherently. Again, Nat and Steve just to dumbfounded seeing Tony crying uncontrollably. It’s like seeing one of those chick flicks where the two sister has been separated for a long time then they met for the first time.

Tony pulled back still snifling “God, I thought they want to meet me to deliver your death news or something..”

You chuckled at him “I’m not that easy to get rid off, besides what makes you think that ? couldn’t you just, I don’t know figure out that it was me ?”

“Well, I did, at first. But then I remembered that you were assigned in twelve fucking months mission in Israel. So my mind drift to the worst possibility.” He confessed

“Wait…. How did you know I was assigned to Israel for twelve months?” You asked, and you could visibly saw him shifted awkwardly “God ! Tony, what I told you about hacking into my commando’s system? How if they found out?” You asked him in annoyed tone

“They wouldn’t, trust me.. but how ? Your mission plan were designed for twelve months?” He countered

“Well, because of someone like you that could possibly hack into our system, I changed the whole plan. They run a simulation then goes with mine, it’s way more efficient, and faster than what the commando made us so..” You shrugged

“You use that Stark brain of yours good.. Anyway have you eaten yet ? I have a chef from France that I hired for a week, you want a steak? Oh wait I’ll get you a steak, you love meat…” He rambled like a mother that saw their children after school.

You cleared your throat “You won’t introduce me to them?” You gestured to the pair that still has confused look on their face.

Tony looked back and drag you with him, at first you thought he was going to introduce you to your favorite heroes, but he dragged you past them, rambling that you need foods more than you need to be introduced to them. You screamed as you walked the hall “It’s honor to meet you Captain, and Black Widow you’re gorgeous I’m a fan..” Your shout were cut short when you turned the corner.

They were still trying to process what they just witnessed in silence untill Natasha speaks “So, Tony just cried..”

“He has a brother…” Steve continued

“Obviously younger one..”

“And he’s in an Army..”

“A Special force..”

“In such a young age…”

“And his rank is higher than yours..” At this, Steve whiped his head to look at Nat in shocked expresion. “What ? you didn’t see it ? He’s Colonel..” Natasha give him her Black Widow smirk

“Shit…” Steve cursed

“Language!..”

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