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an-absolute-travesty · 4 years ago

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Secret Santa fic!

Heya @all-eternity it was me all along! I hope you enjoy this :) very much looking foward to actually being able to follow you after this without looking sketchy lmao

Also shoutout to my lovely beta reader @keepersandqueens as if I don’t talk about Salas enough here lol

Warnings: underage drinking, drinking in general, hangover, drugs/medication mention (not abused, basic over the counter stuff dw), mentions of vomit (not described)

Pairings: Kam, background marelinh, ex titz

About: Kam coffee shop college au

Word count: 5,205

Tag list (tell me if you want to be added or removed): @cadence-talle @ruewen-and-rising @lemontarto @a-lonely-tatertot @clearlyvacksen @percabetn @sewersewersewercouch @everyonehasthoughts @imaramennoodle @enbies-and-felonies @blxckh0les42 @rainbowtay-11 @callas-starkflower-stew @impostertamsong @appalyneinstitute1 @stars-and-splendor @anna-without-an-e @mistythegenderqueermess @we-have-no-bananas-today @we-wont-dissapear @jadenightthewriter

Tam stumbled into his first 8 am class, anxiety making his heart feel like it was pounding out of his chest and stomach doing backflips.

If he could survive bouncing between foster homes, a short stint at juvie, and worst of all high school, he could survive college.

Well he thought he could until he saw a familiar person right next to the only available chair in the room.

God fucking damn it.

"Hey Bangs Boy!" Keefe waved him down, causing a scene. Tam had no option but to sit beside him, both because of the lack of chairs and the fact that everyone was now staring at him.

Not a great start.

"What a coincidence! I notice you still haven't taken my suggestions on your hair, I'm telling ya' you'd get all the girls and or guys and nonbinary pals with a man bun." Keefe looked smug at the fact he'd be able to taunt Tam for another semester, minimum. Tam was already making a mental note to check when he could swap out of classes.

"Keefe, if I knew you were going here I would've just gotten myself back in jail, oh wait, you were the one who got me in there in the first place." Tam shot him a look, praying that he'd suddenly develop superpowers and shoot lasers from his eyes.

"Hey, just because I came up with the idea...and helped with some of the execution, doesn't mean I'm responsible for you trashing your parents house. Besides, you were only in there for like 3 days max before you got out," Keefe said, shrugging as if 3 days in jail was no biggie.

"Most peaceful 3 days of my life," Tam sneered, turning back to the front of the room as the professor walked in.

"Good morning class!" the prof turned to the white board, writing his name. "I am Dr. Harding," he tapped it for emphasis.

The class was silent.

"And you say good mor..."

"Good morning Dr. Harding," The class said in unison, they all sounded tired and bored.

This wasn't going to be fun.

~*~

"Grande ice vanilla latte for...Hen-are-y?"

The man shot Keefe a look as he grabbed his coffee.

"Henry." He dropped a tip in the jar, fifty cents. How generous.

He had come in before, and never left good tips. Keefe made it a game to pronounce the names of anyone who wasn't a college student and left bad tips wrong, no matter how much they came in. It was a wonder he hadn't been fired yet.

As he turned preparing another drink, the bell at the top of the door rang. He ignored it at first until he heard a quiet, "Fuck," come from behind.

"Bangs boy!"

"Why are you here?"

"I work here obviously," Keefe walked up to the counter. "Now, what'll it be?"

Tam sighed. "Iced caramel macchiato with two extra shots of espresso."

"Size?"

"Venti."

Keefe whistled thinking about how much caffeine that was as he wrote down "Bangs Boy" on the cup.

"Alright, that'll be 5.75, may I ask why the insane amount of coffee? I believe I remember you saying caffeine makes you anxious in high school."

"Yes, but it also helps me focus, and I have a quiz tomorrow I haven't studied for."

"Fair enough," Keefe said, going to prepare the drink. "It'll be ready in five."

Tam nodded, walking off to the side and scrolling on his phone. Keefe made the drink, occasionally sneaking looks over at Tam. He didn't seem to notice, thank God.

Soon after, they finished the transaction.

"See you at class," Keefe said, he was trying to be genuine, but it came across more taunting.

Tam grimaced, muttered "Thanks for the coffee," and walked out the door.

~*~

The class fell silent as a disheveled Dr. Harding walked in, a pack of gatorade in one hand and bottle of tylenol in the other. He popped one as he sat down.

"Hello class it seems today I have the worst headache imaginable, just give me about 5 minutes of silence and we will go over your assignments."

Keefe leaned over to Tam's desk.

"Well, we know what he got into last night," he whispered. "Heard the bar on the corner of 5th was giving out two for ones for professors."

"Isn't that place run by the alumni?"

"Exactly. Gotta thank Alvar tomorrow, Fitz said it was his idea."

"Wait Fitz goes here too? Why did I not-"

"Boys!" Dr. Harding practically yelled. "I am tired of the racket." He put his face in his hands where his elbows rested on the desk, bald spot showing to the world.

"We were whispering!" Keefe made a 'what the hell' sort of gesture. Tam glared at him, hoping he could communicate 'I will kill you myself if you say another word' with just his eyes.

"Sencen, do I look like I care?"

Keefe winced a bit at the use of his last name. That was something Tam could understand.

"Look, boys," Dr. Harding stood up and turned to the chalkboard, writing something down. "If you all like talking so much, you'll love this next project."

He walked to the side, revealing the board, that read '10 page essay, due the 25th'

"With the person next to you, you'll be writing a 10 page essay on um...the importance of keeping your oil changed in your car. You'll then present it to the class. It's worth 25 points."

A student raised their hand.

"Luka?"

"Sir, I thought this was a psychology course?"

"It is. You are all excused."

With that, he left the room with his tylenol and gatorade in his arms. The students glared at Keefe and Tam as they all got up, muttering amongst themselves about the pure bullshittery of it all.

"So..." Keefe said, slowly standing. "Does the library tomorrow at 3 work? I have work until then, so it can't be any earlier."

"Yeah, sure." Tam promptly walked out of the classroom as fast as possible, he didn't know why but his anxiety was spiking. He tried to tell himself it was just because he was a useless gay that didn't know jackshit about cars, yeah, surely that was it.

Just a useless gay.

~*~

Tam waited at a table in the library, it was 3:05, Keefe was late.

He didn't know what else he expected from him, he always seemed to do stuff like this. At the same time, Tam didn't have the energy to be particularly mad at him. This was going to be the stupidest essay ever written in the history of man, might as well put it off.

The library door slammed open, and in came Keefe. He balanced a large stack of papers and books along with four drinks. He stumbled over to Tam and practically threw them down on the table.

"Sorry I'm late, I thought it would be nice to, like, get you a coffee, but I didn't know how much caffeine you wanted, so I got one decaf caramel macchiato, one normal, and one with an extra shot, and also hot chocolate for me."

He sat down in the chair by Tam, as if getting three different coffees for someone you were forced to do a project with was totally normal.

"Um...thanks, I-I can pay you back-"

"Don't worry about it." Keefe turned to him and smiled, bright and friendly. Tam was frozen. "Okay, now it's car time." Keefe turned back to the desk.

"Yeah."

They were silent for a while as they researched, Keefe going through his piles of papers and books and Tam on his laptop like any sane person would.

Tam finally worked up the nerve to talk.

"So um...this is out of nowhere, but I think you mentioned Fitz went here?"

"Oh, yeah." Keefe put down the absurdly large textbook that was set up in front of him. "He's my roommate, he uh thought it would be best not to tell you after everything, I guess."

"That's fine," Tam shrugged like he didn't care. "I'm over it."

He was, really. They only dated like 2 weeks, sure it ended with a...pretty big fight after Fitz claimed he wouldn't be able to date someone who had gone to jail and Tam reminded him it was his best friend that got him in there in the first place, but he was still over it. There was still something bothering him, nothing to do with Fitz himself but...something. He just couldn't put his finger on what.

"Alright, I'll take your word." Keefe shrugged, setting his giant book back up in front of him.

Tam felt the need to start talking again, but didn't. They were mostly silent for the next 40 minutes or so, just researching and the occasional word exchanged between them.

Keefe checked his phone.

"Shit," He got up. "Work emergency, I gotta go. Same time tomorrow?"

"Yeah that works."

"Chill, see ya' later."

"Bye."

Keefe waved (with a wide grin Tam would've called idiotic in high school) as he went out the door.

Tam found himself with a smile on his own face, he quickly stopped, hoping no one saw.

~*~

Keefe hurried into work, pulling his apron on as he saw the absurdly long line and a panicked Marella frantically making coffees behind the counter. She sighed with relief when she saw him.

"Thank God," She said as he stepped behind the counter with her. "There was a scheduling error, Forkle's useless at that stuff."

Mr. Forkle, their well-meaning but often mistaken manager, was out of town at the moment. The fate of the Starbucks rested on two college kids, what could go wrong.

And so they went, Keefe taking orders and Marella fulfilling them until there were no more to serve.

Marella, quite literally, threw in a towel she had wiped her face with. Promptly going to the back, presumably for her break. Keefe followed her.

"Alright, I think you can probably go back to whatever you were doing before this now if you'd like," said Marella, inspecting the small braids in her hair in the nearest shiny surface.

"Nah I was just doing a project with Tam for Harding's stupid class, he's probably left by now, I might as well rack up some overtime."

Marella turned back at him, clearly caught off guard at the name.

"Tam? As in my-girlfriend's-brother Tam? As in you-had-a-massive-crush-on-in-highschool Tam? As in dated-Fitz Tam? As in you-got-him-in-jail-"

"Yes! Yes! Why does everyone remind me of that, it was one time."

"When you get someone in jail, people tend to remember," Marella went silent for a second, thinking, before looking Keefe in the eye. "Wow, that must be awkward as hell, I mean seriously, if I were you I'd straight up file a restraining order just to avoid him. Maybe move to another country. I hear Estonia is lovely this time of year."

"Eh, it's not as bad as it seems. I mean it was awful at first, mostly because I tried to resume right where we left it on the taunting front, but I think it's ok now."

"Hm. Well good luck with that," Marella turned back to go to the front, but Keefe grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Uh, actually I need your advice on something. It has to do with Tam."

"Shoot."

"Well I was thinking of maybe, I don't know, asking him out or something? Look, yeah, it's an awful idea but is it 'he never wants to talk to me again' awful or 'he attempts to strangle me' awful?"

Marella looked him up and down, eyes uncomfortably cold, as usual.

"I mean, no hetero, but despite your annoying qualities you're a decent looking guy. Plus Tam's, like, super anxious according to Linh, so maybe he'll be too awkward to say no. You can probably squeeze at least one date in there."

"Wow, thanks Mare," Keefe mumbled, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes, I try. Also don't call me Mare."

"Alright Ella!" Keefe called as the front door's bell rang, signalling a new customer. Marella went off to take care of it, unable to respond she growled back at him.

~*~

Tap tap tap tap tap.

Tam glared from across the table.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap.

"Why do you keep doing that?"

Keefe looked up, muttered a simple "Fidgety" and went right back to it, tapping his pen against the table. Tam said nothing more.

Keefe had been quiet for this entire meeting, something highly unusual for him.

"Ok, seriously dude, what's up? I haven't seen you this quiet literally ever."

He only seemed to get more fidgety at this question, his bouncing leg shaking the library table.

"I...um..." he looked down, running a hand through his hair "I have a test I need to cram for and no one to study with and keep me accountable. Y'know, ADHD issues."

Tam didn't overthink for once in his life but the moment the sentence was out of his mouth he regretted it.

"I have a test too, maybe we could study together?"

Keefe smiled his annoyingly charming smile.

"Sounds good."

"Good."

Tam quickly looked back down at his computer, trying to look like he was still doing car research when in actuality he was processing he just actively offered to spend more time with Keefe Sencen.

If Linh found out about this he'd never live it down.

He didn't think he cared.

~*~

Dr. Harding walked through the classroom door, clearly much less hungover than his last appearance.

The students waited, would they get an apology? Any sort of remorse?

"Alright, who wants to read first?"

Apparently not.

Keefe raised his hand with too much confidence for what their essay looked like. Tam gave him a confused look. He had his scheming face on, never good.

"Mr. Sencen!" Keefe winced at the use of his last name by the doctor. "What an amazing start, it's only appropriate. One of you boys come up and present."

Tam gave Keefe a look of 'do you want me to do it?' Keefe just smiled and got up from his chair. This would either be really good or really, really bad. Tam was all too familiar with the scheme face.

"Doc, I did depart from the source material a bit here, hope you don't mind. And I use 'I' because Tam had no involvement in this, he deserves full points for his essay."

Keefe cleared his throat, the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

"Doctor Harding deserves to get fired: an essay. (And it's only been a week!) Paragraph one, his drinking problem-"

"Sencen! Back to your seat now. I will see you after class, or I will not see you in my next class, understand?"

Keefe gave a thumbs up as he sat back on his chair with a thud.

A few minutes later, in the middle of another student's essay, he passed Tam a note with his loopy handwriting.

"The amount of comebacks I had for 'see me after class' is absurd but if I get kicked out there's no way Elwin is helping me pay tuition a second time."

Tam tried not to smile, certainly failing, as he wrote his response.

"Yeah I think the time you talked back to Miss Cadence she wanted to expel you. Lucky Principal Alina had a thing for pseudo-dad Alden."

"Oh God I haven't talked to him in a whiiiiiile."

"?"

"You haven't heard? Yeah, he sorta found out like ALL his kids were ell gee bee tees and freaked out. Della found herself a new gf though!"

"Sounds like a lovely extra punch in the gut for a queerphobe."

"Yep. Honestly I recommend looking through his Facebook sometime. Just a million rants about how the gays destroy everything, great entertainment."

"Duly noted."

At that point it seemed like the doctor started to take notice of their note passing, and they stopped quickly. Tam wouldn't be surprised if he did the whole high school read in front of the class thing with the way he had been acting so far.

Tam was 100% sure tenure was the only thing keeping this guy's job intact. Apparently being a drunk asshole wasn't near enough to get a person out of their position. He tried to ignore the professor's annoyingly smug face for the rest of the class.

~*~

Keefe sat in his usual spot at the library, Tam sitting across from him, his brown eyes dancing across the textbook page and lips mumbling along the words. He didn't have much to do, often finding himself just staring at Tam, quickly looking away if he seemed to notice.

Eventually he sighed, sitting back.

"Ugh, this test is in a week and I have so much other crap to do, I'll never get this all memorized by Friday."

Keefe silently thanked his brain for managing to get around the having to study thing. Yay, photographic memory!

"Oh, uh, well I'm free to study more tomorrow if that would help? We could do, like, flashcards or something."

Tam seemed to repress a smile. He did that a lot. Keefe always noticed.

"That's okay, I'm sure you have better things to do. The Starbucks is always pretty packed."

"Eh, sometimes you have to get away from Marella. She's mean to me."

"Not just you, once she told me if I ever made fun of Linh's cat's name again she'd make me cut off my own bangs."

Keefe nodded sagely. "The shorter you are the closer to hell. That's why you're worse than her."

"Hey!"

Tam flicked a stray rubber band at Keefe.

"I'm at least 2 inches taller than Marella...we measured."

Keefe thought up about 12 inappropriate jokes he couldn't make before flicking the rubber band back.

"Two inches only counts in roller coasters, none of which you can ride."

Tam stuck his tongue out before returning to his studies. Unlike Tam, Keefe didn't hide his smile.

~*~

Tam strolled into the Starbucks that Friday morning, no longer surprised to see Keefe working the counter. He could barely hold still in line as he thought about the amount of cramming he'd have to do in the next few hours.

When he reached the counter, Keefe said nothing, just busily worked making a drink.

He stuck it right out at Tam.

"One venti iced caramel macchiato with 2 extra shots of espresso because you have a test today in political science and still haven't studied everything and also a muffin because you probably haven't eaten today. On the house. Good luck with the studying."

Tam froze.

"I- um- th-thaks. Y-you too...sport."

Oh, you fucking idiot.

He quickly scurried out of the Starbucks with drink and muffin in hand. Wow, he had screwed that up.

But...

Keefe...

He...

He remembered his order and that he had a test and that he forgot to eat when he was stressed holy shit holy shit holy shit holy shit-

Okay, deep breaths Tam, you got this. You can totally handle a frustratingly cute guy showing care for you this is fine...

Not fine, not fine, gotta tell Linh.

He called Linh with no forewarning. Despite the fact that she was currently across the country at a different university, and it was about 3 am for her, she picked up. He barely let her get out a groggy "Hello?" before explaining everything. She only seemed to think a moment before responding.

"Hm. Well it's good to know that college is going good for you. Do you need advice or comfort?"

"Yes."

"Well, first of all, everything's gonna be okay. And I know that doesn't help much but just try to remember we're eighteen, and it's not the end of the world. Second of all, try to ask him out or something. It doesn't have to be framed as a date, like Marella and I got together on a walk in the park, seriously it can be anything."

"Thanks Linh."

"No problem, also can you hug Marella for me?"

"If she doesn't try to kill me first, yes."

"Nice. Okay go do what you gotta do, also don't wake me up at 3 am again or else I'll sic Purryfins on you, I had just gone to bed."

With that she hung up and Tam continued on his way, still trying to not completely freak out.

~*~

Keefe stared blankly as Tam walked right out of the door. Marella appeared by his arm.

"So, how'd it go?"

"Well, he called me 'sport'."

Marella inhaled through her teeth.

"Yikes. Comfort, advice, or distraction?"

"Distraction, please." Keefe replied, absent-mindedly preparing a cup for the next customer.

"Uh, well I meant to ask you what ended up happening with that ass of a teacher, but I got a bit distracted at your attempt to woo Tam-"

"Hey I said distraction not reminder. But basically I just got a slap on the wrist because, and I quote, 'Your father is Cassius Sencen! He wrote half the books we use in this class, I'm sure he can straighten you out!'"

"There's absolutely nothing papa Sencen could do to make you straight, I'm pretty sure he tried that, and it obviously didn't work."

"He actually tried a few times and it most definitely did not. Lucky he doesn't have my number anymore or else I assure you he'd keep trying."

Marella laughed.

"Well, moving on from grade A assholes, I'm supposed to tell you there's a party tonight. I'll have to send you the address later, I have it on my phone though, I am told there's gonna be booze, so I'm going."

"Eh, I'll probably go. Just to get my mind off everything."

"Thata boy." She lifted her phone. "And my shifts over in three, two, one, and I am out of here! See ya' tonight Hunkyhair."

"That's Lord Hunkyhair to you."

She just rolled her eyes and clocked out, leaving Keefe to deal with both the customers and his own thoughts.

~*~

Tam sat in his dorm room alone, constantly refreshing his grades for the possibility that his 70-year-old professor would post the test results at 1:30 am.

His roommate was gone for the weekend, actually he was gone most of the time. Tam didn't think they'd even had a full conversation before.

He jumped as his phone began to ring, a call from Keefe of all people. He hesitantly picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Tam! Tam Tam Tam Tam Tam" Keefe's slurred speech was too loud for a phone call, Tam held his phone a bit away from his ear. "...fuck wait why did I call you..."

There was a long pause, neither said anything.

"Oh yeah! I needed to tell you something...but uh I uhm I forgot what it was."

"Keefe, where are you?"

"At a paaaaaarty, well, actually just outside a party because it was hot in there, but now it's cold out here so uh yeah."

Tam sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Okay, send me the address, I'm coming to pick you up. Wait right there and don't move."

"Okie dokie."

Tam heard a thud sort of sound and the rustling of grass from the other line before Keefe hung up and soon after got a message of his location.

After 20 minutes of walking in the cold, Tam came up to what seemed to be a frat house with Keefe sitting on the lawn in criss-cross, patiently waiting in short sleeves and basketball shorts, way too little clothing for the weather. His ruddy face smiled as he saw Tam approach.

"Tam! I remembered what I was going to tell you." He stood up, face falling right after. "Oh no wait I forgot again. Ooh! You need a drink."

Keefe grabbed Tam's hand, pulling him towards the house. Tam stayed in place.

"Hey, let's get you home dude."

Keefe pouted.

"I don't wannaaaa."

He slouched down, pulling on Tam's arm like a child having a tantrum.

Tam pulled him back up to his feet.

"C'mon, if you go to your dorm without fuss I'll buy you ice cream tomorrow."

Keefe seemed much more ok with going along with Tam with the ice cream deal. He pulled off his own coat and placed it around the very drunk boy, he didn't complain.

Keefe began humming some annoying song from the early 2000s that was playing from the house earlier as they walked back in the direction of the dorms.

Suddenly, Tam remembered something.

Fitz was Keefe's roommate.

Shit.

"Hey uh do you think Fitz is at your dorm?"

Keefe nodded confidently.

"Yep! Said he was gon' study. Wouldn't come to the party because of his 'reputation' or whatever."

Around reputation he did exaggerated finger quotes, nearly knocking Tam's jacket off his shoulders.

"Hm...in that case let's go to my dorm, ok?"

Keefe shrugged, apparently willing to go along with most things in his current state. Thank goodness Linh had made Tam bring extra pillows and blankets to college, he could sleep on the floor and just hope Keefe didn't get sick on him in the night.

It was ridiculously hard to lead Keefe back to his dorm. He tried to pull down his pants halfway there and Tam almost had to carry him up the stairs but soon enough they got there. He sighed with relief as he led his inebriated friend into the room.

"Okay, you can stay here for the night. I'll sleep on the floor."

Keefe plopped himself down on Tam's bed laying flat for only a moment before sitting up with a snap and a look of realization in his eyes.

"OOH! I remember what I was gonna tell you again!"

"Oh?" Tam said playing along, expecting him to forget again.

He patted the spot next to him on the bed, Tam continued to play along, sitting next to him.

"So Marella said that I should just tell you this, and it worked for her, so I'm gonna. And uh and you have to promise to listen 'cause I'm not sayin' it again."

At this point Keefe grabbed his face with both hands, staring right in Tam's eyes and squishing his cheeks.

"You're listening right?"

Tam nodded, mostly to shake Keefe's hands off his face.

"Okay."

Keefe took in an over dramatic breath as if he was preparing to preform in the Olympics before getting another grin on his face.

"I really like you."

"You really like me?"

He nodded mumbling "mhm".

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I like you. Like, like like you."

"Like...as a friend?"

"I said I wasn't gonna repeat myself. As a booooyfriend." At this point Keefe fell back on the bed, looking at the ceiling. Tam's cheeks were burning.

"How long have you liked me like that?"

"Mmmm..." Keefe seemed to ponder for a moment, "Prolly high school."

"Oh um...good to know. You should get some rest. I'll be down here if you need me."

"Alrighty."

Tam shut off the lights and Keefe started snoring quick. Tam could only stare up in the darkness, unable to sleep.

~*~

Keefe woke up that morning in a room he didn't recognize to a killer headache and dead phone.

He turned to the side, seeing a pile of blankets and pillows with a large gatorade, bottle of tylenol, and a note next to it. Suddenly last nights memories came flooding back.

Oh, shit.

He scrambled out of bed, headache and nausea hitting him harder as he stood up.

Despite the fact his head was spinning, he picked up the note from the ground and read it.

Hey, meet me at the reservoir around 6, we need to talk -Tam

F. U. C. K.

Had he really said all that stuff last night? Surely it was a dream, right?

Oh God.

He gathered his few belongings, plus the things to help the hangover, and left the dorms as fast as possible. Only having to stop once along the way to throw up in one of the campus trash cans, hopefully no one would notice.

Keefe didn't have anything to do and he really didn't want to face Fitz so he went about his day in last nights clothing. Then again, it was a college campus. Someone walking around with rumpled clothes carrying a gatorade probably wasn't that big of a deal for most people. By 5:30 he sat impatiently in the empty park where the reservoir was located, it was colder closer to the water.

Just as promised, at 6 o'clock he saw Tam approaching on the horizon.

~*~

Tam was damn near a panic attack as he walked around the park attempting to find Keefe. Eventually he found him, sitting on a bench still in his clothes from last night, face once again ruddy from the cold. He sat next to him wordlessly.

"So," Keefe started.

"So," Tam replied, looking down at his lap.

"Tam I-" Keefe turned to face him. "I'm sorry about everything last night, I probably just made everything super awkward. Not to mention it's a giant violation of the friend code to even have a crush on your best friend's ex-"

"Yeah, about that."

"What?"

"You're gonna maybe kill me for this but uh," Tam pulled on his bangs. "I sorta talked to Fitz about it, I figured you wouldn't and apparently I was right. He said he was okay with it as long as we were ok with it."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Tam sighed, "Perhaps."

Keefe once again wore that shit-eating grin of his.

"Can I hear you say it?"

"Why don't you have to say it?"

"Already said it last night! Your turn now. Why did you take care of me while I was drunk?"

Keefe stared at Tam excitedly waiting for the answer. Tam sighed.

"Because I love you, little shit."

"Ooh you said it-"

Tam smashed his lips against Keefe's, both quickly melting into it. After only a moment they pulled away.

"Agh, you taste like gatorade and vomit."

"Well you taste like salt so really what's worse."

"Definitely the vomit."

Despite this, Tam leaned back in. This kiss was a moment longer than the last, and when Tam pulled away Keefe chased it.

"Ok, look I'm sorry but you look like shit Keefe you have to go change." Tam removed his jacket, throwing it around Keefe once again and helping him up from the bench. Keefe laughed.

"Yeah, you're right. Ooh now that we're a thing you need a new nickname!"

"I do?"

"You do, how about 'Bangs Boyf' ooh or maybe you can be my 'provoked partner' or my 'snappy spouse' my 'agitated accomplice' perhaps."

"Do you just have these ready and prepared for any situation?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets."

"You aren't Houdini, you're an 18-year-old boy that currently reeks of frat party."

"Eh that's basically the same thing. I've seen some 18-year-olds at frat parties preform tricks Houdini could never dream of."

Tam sighed dramatically. "It's a good thing you're pretty, you know."

"Hey!" Keefe jokingly shoved him.

For the first time Tam's smile wasn't repressed.

#hope you like this elliot!#kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #kam #keefe sencen #tam song #kotlc fic #scheduled to post at 9 am and ill reblog once i get back to my phone because ill be doing x-mas stuff

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adragonhoardingstories · 5 years ago

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Daminette AU (Part 5)

She had been fighting mostly by herself even when Master Fu was here but the difference between before and after he left was that before he left, whenever he saw her being stretched out thin, he could hand out the Miraculous to her allies and they would come to help her.

After Master Fu left though, there was no way she could just up and leave whenever she wanted to go find help.

Someone needed to keep the akuma busy and protect the citizens, she couldn't do both at the same time.

It was good in the sense that it tested her limits, her capabilities were improving and she was becoming stronger but it was tiring. There was an akuma attack almost everyday and she was overwhelmed, she couldn't keep missing classes or her other commitments.

She was thinking of giving away Sass, Longg and Pollen and making them permanent holders but she doubted herself, doubted whether this was the correct choice, whether or not this was a risk she could take.

Which is why she was almost thankful to a specific akuma. His name had been Shinobi - an actor who had auditioned for the role of a ninja and hadn't been cast for what could have been the role of his life. It had been a hard battle, Shinobi had ninja abilities among which, for some reason was multiplying himself.

He was good and she was outnumbered but she was Marinette Dupain-Cheng goddammit! She was the soul mate of Damian Al Ghul, Prince of Shadows. She had taken on several assassins from the League at the same time before and won. She was better than him and there was no way in hell she was going to lose.

While she did win, she unfortunately did not get out of the battle unscathed which kind of forced her hand into going to the nearest safe place she knew - the Couffaine's ship.

It had been a coincidence or perhaps fate that both Kagami and Chloe was there. It wasn't surprising since the three of them had connected as soul mates as soon as they met, Luka and Kagami as romantic and Chloe as platonic.

The latter, herself, had been a nice surprise when she started coming around once Sabrina left her for Lila lies and she realised her mother wasn't worth everything she did. She had apologised and they had started a tentative friendship and was now part of her best friends.

She had knocked on Luka's window, two minutes away from fainting. They had all been shocked to see her, afterall it had been a few months since she had called upon any of them but she didn't really have the strength to explain right now.

"I'm sorry." She panted. "I need help. My cure-" She coughed out some blood. "My cure first takes care of the damage to everything else before myself. I'm afraid, I can't heal myself much more than this. A bit of first aid would be appreciated." She rasped out.

They all jumped to tell her that she could count on them. Her earrings beeped, showing that she was about to detransform and they all went silent.

Her vision was slowly darkening. "I trust you -" She forced herself to stay awake for just a little longer. "Vespa, Viperion, Draka." And the world went black.

When she woke up again, it was to a ceiling that wasn't hers. With all the travelling and training she had been doing lately, it wasn't a very uncommon sight.

But then previous events started coming back to her and she groaned.

"Merde! I owe that mangy alley cat lunch now."

She heard a few chuckles and gave herself a few more seconds of peace before she pushed herself to a sitting position.

She ran a hand through her hair which had come undone and noticed that she had a clothes change. She only had a sports bra and some shorts on - and a hella lot of bandages.

She winced. "Thanks for fixing me up. I normally can do it myself but…"

"...but?" Kagami raised an eyebrow.

She winced again. "I only got like an hour of sleep in total this whole week."

There was silence from all three of them before Luka spoke up. "I'm surprised you're awake so soon then. You've not even crashed for three hours."

She relaxed a bit when they didn't call her out or immediately start questioning her.

Chloe gave her a soft smile before she smirked. "I'm more interested in why you owe Chat Noir lunch."

She groaned letting her head fall back. "He bet that my identity would be revealed due to me not taking enough care of myself. He described this almost exactly. By the Gods, I can almost imagine the smug look on Adrien's face when I tell him."

"Adrien?" They chorused and suddenly she was facing one curious and two angry faces.

She let out a string of expletives. "I can explain." Marinette said tiredly, "But first, I need some caffeine to be able to get through this - please."

#daminette #marinette dupain cheng #damian al ghul wayne #bamf marinette #soulmarks

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cheeseeatingtrashmonster · 5 years ago

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Sweet and Sour Secrets

Surprise! I’m not dead!

Ao3

Day 3: Date Night

"Marinette? What are you doing here?"

Marinette's head snapped up. One of her hands had a death grip on the arm of the chair hidden in the corner of the lobby of the Bourgeois's hotel. The other was compulsively smoothing her skirt, creating more wrinkles than it eliminated.

"O-oh! Adri-hi. I mean, hi, Adrien."

He glanced around the mostly empty lobby. "Are you meeting someone?"

"Yes." She froze, her eyes widening. She hadn't meant to say that. "Sort of. No. I mean... yes?"

"You look nervous," he said, glancing at the few people in the room with concern. "Do you want me to wait with you?"

"No!" She knew this was a bad idea. "No, thank you. Um, I'm sure you need to get home, or to a photoshoot or something, right? I'm fine."

It took another minute or two for Marinette to convince him to go, and in that time, Chloe had stepped out of the elevator and spotted them. Chloe had disappeared around a corner and Marinette hadn't seen where she was hiding, so when Adrien left, she sent a text.

"What was he doing here?" Marinette whispered, arms flailing with sharp movements when Chloe crept her way around the perimeter of the room to her.

Chloe grabbed Marinette's wrist to pull her out of the hotel, whispering, "He showed up out of the blue and whined for an hour about Nathalie not letting him see his dad. I love him, but I was ready to shove him out the window!"

"That's the third time he's showed up right before we had something scheduled." Marinette found herself shoved in the back seat of one of the hotel's limos. "Do you think he's onto us?"

The moment the car door was closed, Chloe wrapped Marinette in her arms and kissed her. "He didn't notice when you had a crush on him. You really think he's figured us out?"

"Hmm. Probably just a coincidence?"

"We can hope." She kissed Marinette's cheek. "Now, I'd like to treat my girlfriend like the spoiled, rich girl I am."

The driver dropped them off at a cafe. It was new enough and small enough that they were confident they could have a date there without seeing anyone they knew.

They had forgotten that Alya had recently taken up food blogging.

"Marinette? Chloe? Did you two walk in together?" Alya had paused mid-picture of her latte and cookie and was staring at the two young women.

"Ran into each other on the sidewalk," Marinette said.

At the same moment, Chloe said, "I asked her if she could spot me for a cup of coffee because I forgot my wallet."

"Oookay," Alya said. "Well, Marinette, if you want to sit with me..." She gestured to the open seat at her table.

Marinette felt Chloe move away from her and towards the counter.

"I, ah, can't stay. I have to go... look at hamsters with... with Rose! Yeah, she's thinking of getting one for Luka for his birthday, and- and I love Luka. I mean, I love hamsters!"

Chloe watched Marinette stumble her way through an excuse while waiting for their drinks. Marinette joined her, and with some sleight of hand, Marinette "paid" for their drinks with Chloe's money.

"I'll wait around the corner," Chloe muttered. She took her drink and left without saying goodbye to Alya.

"Rude," Alya said under her breath as Marinette stopped at her table.

"Hahaha, yeah, right?" Marinette said. "Well, gotta go look at those hamsters with Luka!"

"You mean, for Luka?"

Marinette's eyes widened. "Yeah! That! Um, bye, Alya!"

Alya snapped a picture as Marinette stumbled out the door, spilling some coffee on her arm. She composed a text and attached the picture.

To: Nino <3 and Adri-dork

Has M been acting weird lately?

She got back a shrug emoji from Nino.

From Adrien, she got a question that he refused to explain.

Was she with anyone?

What did that boy know?

“That was close!" Marinette said through giggles when she met up with Chloe. "Thank you for paying."

"Only the best for my Honey.” She turned her cheek to Marinette for a kiss. Her smile grew when she got it. “So, did you want to walk around the park? Daddy was just saying that the maintenance on this park was less expensive than he expected, so I wanted to make sure it’s still up to par.”

Marinette giggled again, linking her arm through Chloe’s and resting her head on her shoulder as they walked. “You know, you don’t actually have to do the job of the mayor until you’re elected.”

“And let Daddy give our family a bad name before I can come in and make it grand? Ridiculous, Marinette. Utterly-”

Marinette pulled her arm away and dove off the park path and behind a bush.

Chloe started to walk around the bush, looking for Marinette. “Um, what are you-”

“Chloe?”

She barely held back a groan as she turned to Ivan, Mylene, and Alix. “Hey. What are you all doing here?” Try though she did, she knew her tone of voice fell flat from the face Alix made.

“Enjoying the public park that is for the public?” Alix snarked, her arms crossed and chin jutting out.

“Oh.” Chloe reminded herself that these were her future constituents and took a breath. She might have gone a little too far into the political mindset. “What did you think of the new trash cans? Do you think they’re accessible enough? And are the trees looking a little ragged? I keep saying the trees here aren’t well maintained, but no one-”

A sweet, familiar voice cut Chloe’s rambling short. “Hello, citizens!”

“Ladybug!” all four classmates said, looking up to the lamppost where Ladybug was perching, her yo-yo swinging in one hand and a coffee cup in the other.

“If you’ll excuse us,” Ladybug said, “I need to borrow Queen Bee for some Miraculous business.”

Chloe looked at Ladybug like she was crazy. Ladybug winked.

“Oh! Oh right.” She opened her purse and brought Pollen into the dimming evening light. “These spur of the moment meetings. So ridiculous. I’ll see you guys later!” She gave her teammates a little wave, then backed off the trail into the grass before transforming.

Watching Ladybug lead Queen Bee off towards the sunset, Mylene asked Alix and Ivan, “Are they dating?”

Alix snorted. “I hope not. Ladybug has taste. Also, I’d lose a bet with Marc if they are.”

“Wait…” Ivan said, squinting after the blurs of color they could barely still see of the heroes. “Chloe likes girls?”

“Good save, Ladybug.” Queen Bee grabbed Ladybug’s hand and raised it above her head, spinning her around before looping Ladybug’s waist with the hand holding her coffee cup and dipping her back.

“That’s me,” Ladybug said, letting Queen Bee pull them upright again. “Full of good ideas. Kinda my thing.”

Queen Bee laughed. She shifted her arms to a loose hold around Ladybug’s waist. “Did you want to race, now that we’re all caffeinated?”

Ladybug nodded and dropped their empty coffee cups into the extradimensional space in her yo-yo. “We haven’t had a good race in ages. You pick the end point.”

They set their destination, readied their weapons, and on a joint count of three, took off. The city at dusk flew by and they left their shrieks and laughter behind as they went.

A few hours later, they were laying under the night sky on a random roof. Their hands were clasped and their heads bent together, giggling and whispering.

“I can’t believe that the first time we try a date in public, planning all sorts of things like cafes and parks our friends don’t frequent and making sure no one was at the hotel-” Ladybug giggled again, cutting herself off. “-I can’t believe we end up transforming and running off.”

“I can’t believe you dove into that bush when you heard Mylene and them coming.” She sighed. “Think of your poor dress. It’s probably wrinkled and dirty now!”

They dissolved in giggles again. It felt good, Ladybug thought, to just lie here and laugh and breathe with her girlfriend. She leaned over Queen Bee and placed a slow, gentle kiss on her lips.

“I had a really nice time tonight, Chloe.”

Queen Bee slid a hand up her arm, over her shoulder, and cradled the back of her head, bringing her down for another kiss.

And another.

“Me, too, Ladybug.”

#Chlonette Week #chlonette #chloinette #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain-cheng #chloe bourgeois #sweet and sour secrets #my writing #events #so uh #i have nothing to say for myself

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ecofinisher · 5 years ago

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Wedding in Japan - Chap 11

Chapter 11 Day 6

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18972931/chapters/49819601

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13295790/11/Wedding-in-Japan

https://www.wattpad.com/792495224-wedding-in-japan-chapter-11

Outside of the train was night and most of the passengers sat in the cabin resting on their seat, others were awake passing the time with reading and Luka sat in front of Adrien and Kagami, which lied leaned on each other sleeping. Luka wrote on a notebook, where he had an unfinished musical lyric on the side next to the one he was using. Luka glanced up at the two, watching Adrien's head drop slowly on the one of Kagami, which lied on his shoulder and Luka smiled, afterward, he focused on his text he was writing on the notebook. Luka ripped the page off his notebook and folded it together and put it inside the pocket of Adrien's jacket and sat back on his seat picking up his notebook again, then observed the two and started to write on the blank page a message starting it first with putting the name of his friends Adrien and Kagami on the top.

"Dear Adrien and Kagami. My final stop was at 7:03 at the central station. You were asleep and I didn't want to wake up any of you to tell goodbye but I'll do it by this short text. I hope you two make it safe to Tokyo and that you two appreciate the last opportunity you got to resolve any last issues you couldn't solve before. Greetings, Luka"

Luka placed the note on the lap of Adrien, then leaned back on his seat watching out in the darkness passing by a landscape full of grass and far behind a bunch of trees next to each other, which must have looked like the beginning of a forest.

Nino sat at a coffee shop on the bar watching a servant bring a cup of coffee and placed it on the table in front of him. "Thank you" Nino said grabbing his cup and blew at the hot drink, then slowly took a sip burning himself on it. "Whoa this one is burning hot" Nino let out and placed his coffee back, then picked out his smartphone to enter the social media to see messages one from Kim and two from Nathaniel. "Kim forced me to bet with him, that Kagami and Adrien will get together after the train ride and keeps tag along me because I had that stupid idea of you two going to Tokyo" "Hey how did Adrien and Kagami end up together alone in a train? Is that part of the plan?" "Hey my girlfriend wants to invite you and Adrien to her theatre act. Are you two interested? It's on the 1st of October" Nino opened Kim's message and typed down a response and behind the man passed a young Asian man and sat down beside Nino, then the same waitress from before appeared to get the man's order. "I'd like a caffeine-free coffee" The man ordered earning a nod from the woman. "Sure and congratulations to the engagement, I've heard you're going to get married. You're excited?" "Well I have to be, we've got no choice" The man responded to the question. "Don't worry it will be fine" The woman assured the man, then made her way up to the coffee machine to prepare the drink. "Congratulations" Nino said glancing at the guy, which smiled at Nino. "Are you per coincidence called Hiroki Miyamoto?" "Yes do I know you?" "No, but I know Kagami" Nino explained. "We were friends" "Ah, I think she told a lot about you. You're Adrien, right?" "No, I think they're still in Russia. I'm Nino. I met Kagami one day when I wanted to show Adrien something I had bought" "Ah okay and have you heard anything about them, if they're already arriving Vladivostok or anything else?" "I haven't talked to Adrien since last night. I think now they're just a couple of hours on that train and they arrive in Vladivostok. He told me he would call me if he was at the airport and knew any more information about their trip" "Okay, they must be closer to the destination then" "Yes, unless they have bad luck again, but I don't think it will be. Tonight or tomorrow they will be here safe and sound" "Yeah, I know that" Hiroki responded, then received his coffee and took it closer to his lips to blow on the drink. "Well the next step will be easy for them, they will only need to board the next plane to Japan and their long and exhausting trip is done for once. No more misfortunes," Nino said earning a nod from the raven-haired man and looked back at his smartphone than had an image of himself along with Adrien standing in front of a French supercar posing for the image. Nino sighed thinking about the blonde on the display, grabbing his coffee to take a sip. "I don't know how you're going around this" Nino mumbled quietly to himself believing that there might come another dilemma, that his friend would have to confront.

Adrien was crossing the passenger cabin looking for his seat to encounter Kagami sleeping with her head leaned on the back of the seat, leaving next to her the spot free for him. Adrien smiled soft and took his seat back and looked out of the window to see the landscape and far down the sunrise slowly and Adrien looked down at his feet and saw a sheet, which had the name of Adrien and Kagami on it and he took it to see it again. "Dear Adrien and Kagami. My final stop was at 7:03 at the central station. You were asleep and I didn't want to wake up any of you to tell goodbye but I'll do it by this short text. I hope you two make it safe to Tokyo and that you two appreciate the last opportunity you got to resolve any last issues you couldn't solve before. Greetings, Luka" Adrien took his smartphone out to see the time and furrowed his eyes as it was only 3:14. "I think my time is still set on the previous timezone, " Adrien though then looked up at the screen of the last two destinations and the very last being Vladivostok. "There are only 74 minutes left," Adrien said, then heard next to him Kagami yawn making him look back at her and smile amorous at how sweet it sounded to him. Her head slowly felt on his shoulder, then Adrien had an idea and slowly held Kagami on her arms to lie her down away from the shoulder, afterward he wide his eyes in shock as he saw the woman open her eyes slowly and see him looking down at her. "Sorry, I didn't want to wake you up" Adrien mentioned furthermore the blue-haired woman looked around to see their friend Luka had left. "Did Luka leave?" "He left us a note apologizing and told with it goodbye to not wake us up on purpose" "Alright," Kagami said yawning again. "Did I bother you as I slept like that?" "No, I don't mind. You can if you want lie on my lap if it's comfier for you," Adrien said, then took his jacket off. "You can even use my jacket as a pillow if you want" "No it's alright" Kagami said then wide her eyes astonished at the man covering her with the white jacket. "Here, it's a little cold for you, " Adrien told the girl, which smiled at the gentle movement of the friend. "Thank you," Kagami said earning a simpler smile of the man, which looked out of the window to see the sunrise at the end of the background.

#adrien agreste #Kagami Tsurugi #Nino lahiffe #adrimi #adrami #adrigami #kagadrien #update #fanfiction #fanfic #wattpad #ao3 #archieve of our own #ecofinisherfanfics #miraculousladybug #miraculous

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