#it's like restaurant bread. you put it in front of me and i'll eat it but its not really what i'm here for

[makeitmingi]

The Cat and Dog Game [Chapter 8]

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Comedy

Pairing: Yunho x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Chef!Reader, RestaurantOwner!Yunho, MaitreD!Hongjoong, Waiter!Yeosang, Waiter!San, Waiter!Mingi, SousChef!Seonghwa, SousChef!Wooyoung, PrepChef!Jongho

Summary: Yunho's dream was to open and run his own restaurant. But he doesn't know anything when it comes to cooking. Until you came along and accepted the job, bringing with you a small crew. How will the black cat tame the energetic golden retriever?

Word count: 3.3K

Yunho had a pep in his step as he came back to the restaurant on Friday morning. He was excited to come back to work so he arrived earlier. Yesterday felt weird to not go into the restaurant to work.

"(y/n)?" He poked his head in. You were alone and had your AirPods on, listening to music as you worked on whatever was in front of you. You hadn't heard him come in. Yunho blinked and stepped forward, tapping your shoulder lightly.

"Who-" You jumped back in fear, as if you were afraid of getting attacked. Yunho flinched also, surprised by your fearful reaction.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" Yunho fully bowed in apology.

"It's fine. I didn't hear you come in with my music playing." You frowned slightly, removing your AirPods and tucking them away. Yunho cleared his throat.

"Where are the others?" Yunho asked as he went to put his bag and coat in the locker room.

"I told them to sleep in a little. Sometimes, working in peace and quiet is what I need." You replied, mixing the pie batter in the bowl.

"I understand." Yunho nodded. You couldn't help but involuntarily snort at that, did he really understand what you meant? He seemed like someone who likes to surround himself with noise and other people, someone who doesn't like to be alone or for the environment to be too quiet.

"Hang on, let me make a coffee." Yunho said and went out to make himself a macchiato. At the same time, he made you an iced americano, bringing the cups into the kitchen.

"Thank you. Are you hungry?" You asked as you wiped your hands on your apron towel and took a sip before you went into the walk in.

"I guess?" Yunho blinked in confusion.

"I'll make you a sandwich." You came back out with a prep tray of items. You unwrapped the paper and there was a chunk of what looked like beef in the middle.

"What's that?" He came next to you, leaning to see as you used your knife to shave off slices of the meat.

"It's salt beef. Or corned beef. I made it yesterday for Seonghwa and got it ready this morning to give out." You explained.

"Here." You handed him a slice to try.

"Mmm! It's good." Yunho's eyes widened as he ate it. When he thought corned beef, his brain could only think of that chunk of meat that comes in a can. He didn't think that it was the processed version of this piece of meat in front of him.

"This is rye bread, Russian dressing, swiss cheese and sauerkraut. It's like a fermented, pickled cabbage." You showed him each component as you stacked the sandwich.

"Then we grill it to make a sandwich, a reuben sandwich." You pressed the sandwich onto a hot pan until the cheese melted and the bread toasted.

"It looks so good!" Yunho clapped his hands excitedly. When you took it off the pan, you sliced it down the middle.

"There you go, a reuben sandwich." You slid it to him. Yunho took his phone out to take a picture first.

He picked up the sandwich and took a big bite. The crunch of the bread with all the components, the sauerkraut cutting the creamy dressing and cheese, it was amazing.

"This is amazing." Yunho melted, leaning his elbows on the table as he savoured the taste.

As he enjoyed the sandwich, you went back to preparing the pastries and cakes for the day. You would occasionally glance over at Yunho eating his sandwich. Honestly, you had no idea why you felt so much anticipation making the sandwich for him. Maybe because you've been quite amused by his reactions to food so far.

"I'm glad you like it." You said, turning around to mix the muffin batter. Yunho smiled softly as he looked at the back of your head. It warmed his heart that this was you starting to open up to him.

"This thing... sauerkraut? How do you make it?" Yunho asked.

"It's actually really easy. You shred the cabbage and massage it with salt until the water comes out then you let it pickle with it's own natural bacteria and enzymes." You informed.

"So I'm guessing you made this?" He held up a strand of the pickled cabbage. You nodded your head.

"Well, I'm sad that this is my last bite." He pouted, staring at the small piece of sandwich that was left in his hands.

"You can always learn to make it yourself then make more." You replied.

"Speaking of, is there anything I can help you with? Since you're doing this on your own." Yunho straightened up, going to the sink to wash his hands and the plate the he used.

"The boys are coming in 30 minutes. But you can still help." You shrugged. He nodded, going to the locker room to retrieve a spare apron. After tying the string around his waist, he pulled his sleeves up and washed his hands again.

"Okay, chef! What do I do?" Yunho saluted with a big smile as he jogged over to where you were.

"We're going to make the coffee crumb cake. Measure all this into here while I make the crumb that goes in the middle and on top." You pointed on the recipe sheet and all the ingredients he needed.

"I can do that." He grinned and started measuring each component. You had taken out the ingredients earlier so he didn't need to retrieve them.

"Where is the coffee in the coffee cake?"

"There is actually no coffee in coffee cake. It's just meant to go well with a cup of coffee." You replied, mixing the crumb ingredients together with your fingers.

"That's... confusing..." He laughed. You hummed in agreement. You looked over to see how he was managing.

There was a small frown on his face as he checked the weighing scale for each ingredient, he chewed on his bottom lip, focussed on trying to get the exact weight of everything. You could tell he was frustrated when he was even 0.1g over what was needed. He would carefully add and remove each minute amount.

"Done!" He showed you the bowl. You told him which ingredients to put together, standing with him at the mixer to let him add the ingredients in.

"Once the sour cream, butter and sugar are whipped together and it looks fluffy and airy. Slowly add the eggs." You instructed. Yunho tried his best to follow your instructions. He didn't want to mess up.

"No shell." He said proudly, cracking the eggs into the small bowl and adding them in.

"Should I do the flour little by little?"

"Yes, maybe in batches of 3. Lower the speed of the mixer or it will go everywhere." You advised him. He did exactly as told, watching in amazement as he made the cake batter.

"I've never done this before. Or rather, my mum always said I made a mess so I wasn't alloewd to do much." He sighed.

"You've been keeping your area neat so far." You shrugged, continuing to mix with crumb with your hands to ensure you got the right consistency. You tasted it to make sure that the taste and texture wa right before going to wash your hands.

"That's good." You said. You took the bowl from the mixer and scraped down the sides. Then you grabbed the cake tin and layered the two components.

"Let me help." Yunho held the bowl of batter for you to guide it into the pan. After smoothing it, you put a layer of crumb.

"Ooh, like a filling?" He asked, watching you crumble the crumb evenly over the batter.

"Yes, so we cover this with the remaining batter and more crumb." You said, putting more batter on top of the middle layer of crumb. Then you put a final layer of crumb over the top.

You repeated the step for the other cake tin and put the cakes into the oven to bake.

"Morning, (y/n)." Seonghwa, Wooyoung and Jongho came in.

"Hey." You greeted, putting the used dishes together. The 3 were surprised to see Yunho already there with an apron, standing beside you, ready to take on whatever task you assigned. From the flour stains on his apron, they guessed that you had let him help with with whatever you were doing.

"Look at you being so hardworking." Wooyoung wrapped his arms around you to squish you into a hug. You scrunched your nose lightly, body stiff but you didn't push him away.

"Did you sleep?" Seonghwa asked softly, a hand on your head. He didn't ask if you slept well, he asked if you slept at all.

"I did, Hwa. Don't worry. Your salt beef is in the fridge." You informed. Seonghwa's eyes widened in excitement.

"You didn't..."

"I did." You nodded. Seonghwa left you and immediately headed for the walk in. He came back out with the piece of salt beef that you had used earlier.

"See? You should get a meat slicer so we don't have to manually slice it anymore." Jongho chuckled.

"If you can find anymore space in my kitchen to put an industrial meat slicer, go ahead, Jong." You rolled your eyes. Wooyoung was still glued to your side, his arms around your waist as he leaned his head on your shoulder tiredly.

Yunho watched this exchange quietly. You were really so different when you were around familiar people. Not only were you more relaxed, there was a little bit more playfulness in the way you spoke.

"Okay, get to work." You said, patting Wooyoung on the hip. He went to get his apron.

"What has been done?" He asked.

"Muffins and coffee crumb cake are in the oven. Chicken & leek pie filling is done, pastry has not been rolled out and blind baked. I was getting Yunho started on the financier batter."

"Are you getting more comfortable around the kitchen?" Seonghwa asked Yunho, chewing on a slice of salt beef.

"Thanks for (y/n)!" He replied enthusiastically. You raised your eyebrows at his reply.

"Hwa, stop eating and get to work. You can make your sandwich later." You scolded. Seonghwa laughed and covered the meat back up with the paper wrapping, putting it back into the walk in. He washed his hands and was by your side immediately, assisting you with what you were doing.

"Maybe I should move out of the way." Yunho said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No, it's fine. Just finishing weighing all this according to this. Woo, take over the mixing later?" You turned to the male. Wooyoung gave you a thumbs up.

"I'm making the brown butter now." He informed, swirling the pan on the stove. The brown butter gives financiers a nutty flavour.

"It smells nice in here!" San came through the door.

"Boss man is working in the kitchen?" Yeosang tilted his head, seeing Yunho working with Jongho by the mixer. Wooyoung nodded his head with a playful giggle.

"Told you guys I can bake." Yunho scoffed.

"Are you sure you didn't just eat the scraps?" Mingi scoffed, coming back into the kitchen with an iced coffee in hand.

"No, that's not true! I'm not like all of you who just samples and eats everything. I actually helped make the coffee crumb cake. Didn't I, (y/n)?" Yunho frowned with a small pout. You nodded in confirmation, stirring the icing for said cake in your bowl.

"Ice and slice." You slid the bowl of icing to Jongho. Jongho picked it up immediately, drizzling the icing over the cooled cake in a zig-zag pattern. Yunho looked on, proud that he helped make that.

"Financiers going in the oven." Wooyoung announced.

"I'll do the bacon and egg danishes." Seonghwa said. You went over to help him with that.

"We should go get the store front ready for opening. Stock the coffee bar with what we need." Yunho said to his 4 friends. The 5 of them went out, leaving the kitchen.

"Hongjoong, I moved the box of milk cartons into the walk in. They were delivered this morning." You informed.

"Okay, thanks (y/n)." Hongjoong smiled and went to the walk in with Yeosang to help him move the boxes of milk cartons out to the front.

"Can I make all of you a drink?" Mingi offered. You still had the coffee Yunho made you so only Seonghwa, Wooyoung and Jongho gave their drink orders.

The 4 of you worked well, like usual, all falling into your own tasks and jobs without having to give too much detailed instructions. Jongho did the prep and final touches, Wooyoung was working on one pastry while Seonghwa did another. You floated between them, helping them or pulling stuff out of the oven.

"You made sure a pretty crimp, Jongho." You chuckled as you pulled out the chicken and leek pies. Yunho liked the idea of a mix of savoury and sweet baked goods to sell.

"I'm going to slice the banana cake." You said, cutting the loaves of banana cake into slices for serving.

"Ready for the counter." Seonghwa told the boys outside. They came in to help carry the completed sweets out to the front.

"Can I try a slice of the coffee cake?" Yunho asked. Jongho cut him a slice and served it on a plate for him. Yunho took a bite and you swore his eyes sparkled.

"I helped make this?!" He asked in disbelief. You nodded slowly, eyebrows raised in slight amusement.

"Oh my gosh! Guys, eat this! I helped make it!" Yunho ran out to let his friends try it. And to possibly rub in their faces that he was able to make something so delicious in the kitchen without blowing something up, unlike them.

"Did Yunho really make help make that? Cause it's actually edible." Mingi pointed to the plate. Yunho slapped the back of his head with an offended frown.

"He did. He measured out everything and did the cake mixing." You replied, wiping down the counter.

You heard Yunho open up the shop and the chatter of customers come in. The boys outside went to work at once, serving customers.

"Lunch will be reuben sandwiches." You said.

"Another of those amazing sandwiches?" Yunho beamed as he overheard your words while he walked in to retrieve more cocoa powder from the pantry.

"Mhmm." You nodded. Yunho grinned and nodded before leaving the kitchen.

"Another? You mean, you made him a reuben already?" Wooyoung asked. You nodded again.

"This morning when he came in early. I let him try the salt beef and made him a reuben. Although, I think he might like the sauerkraut a little more than the actual meat. He's never had a reuben before and was quite amazed by it." You explained with a small smile on your face, remembering his reaction to the sandwich.

"Wow. Look at you having cute moments with our boss." Jongho teased with his arms crossed. You shot him a flat look, rolling your eyes and continuing what you were doing.

"There was no moment. I made him a sandwich. I have been making all of you sandwiches for so long." You said.

"The first sandwich she made me was kimchi and peanut butter." Seonghwa remembered.

"I was 5!" You hissed.

"And so cute. You looked at me and asked me if it was delicious, I had to tell you it was the best thing I've ever eaten." He laughed, patting your head and pinching your cheek.

"You know what, make your own salt beef next time. I'm not going to be nice to you anymore." You frowned.

"Sure, you know you can't help but be nice to me." Seonghwa wrapped his arms around you, hugging you. You and Seonghwa have been taking care of each other for a long time. While you never verbally expressed yourself, you did it through acts of service.

After all the cakes and pastries were done, you all did the clean up. Wooyoung and Seonghwa did the dishes while you and Jongho made sandwiches for everyone.

"I'll start toasting the sandwiches." You stood at the stove. Jongho helped you put the sandwiches on the pan.

"Whew, it's busy out there!" San huffed as he entered, leaning against the wall tiredly.

"Want a sandwich?" Wooyoung offered. San brightened up, coming over to see what the 4 of you were eating. You gave him one of the sandwiches and he ate it.

"What? This is so good!" San chewed and looked at the sandwich that he had just taken a bit out of.

"It's called a reuben sandwich. There's beef, cheese, pickled cabbage and a dressing. And then it is toasted." Jongho said, munching on the dill pickle that he usually had alongside his reuben. It was homemade, made by Jongho himself. Wooyoung and Seonghwa preferred just crisps.

"The beef is nice. The spices is good and it's really smokey." San nodded as he took another bite.

"It tastes better when you use an actual smoker." You chuckled. There was no space in a Korean apartment for a full size smoker so you relied on a makeshift one, using wood chips in your oven.

"Hey! What are you eating without me?" Mingi came in, tired from the Friday crowd. He came over to see what San was eating.

"Woah, that looks bomb." Mingi commented, looking at the sandwich. Seonghwa slid one over to him.

"That's for you." He informed. Mingi beamed excitedly and went to wash his hands before digging into the sandwich hungrily. San looked at Mingi with a smirk.

"Isn't it one of the best things you've ever had?" San laughed.

"It's amazing! What? How can a sandwich be so good?" Mingi said in disbelief, taking another bite to convince himself. You, Seonghwa, Wooyoung and Jongho shot each other looks. This was such a genuinely amazed reaction, it was amusing.

"Yunho reacted the same way as all of you." You stated.

"Wait, Yunho's already had one? When?" Mingi and San turned to you in confusion.

"This morning when he came in. I made him one for breakfast." You blinked, taking a bite of your own sandwich.

"And he didn't think to leave any for us? Or tell us about it? See, I told you he was selfish over food." Mingi scoffed at his best friend. San laughed but nodded in agreement.

"Someone is talking about me in here?" Yunho poked his head in. His eyes narrowed in on the sandwich Mingi was eating.

"Is he eating my sandwich?!" Yunho screeched.

"Relax. Yours, Yeosang's and Hongjoong's are here." You pointed to the plates on the back counter. Yunho let out a sigh of relief, no way was he going to share his sandwich, even with his best friend.

"San, if you're done. We need help." Hongjoong popped in briefly. San went to wash his hands and went back out to help manage the crowd and orders. Yunho came in, closing the kitchen door behind him. Mingi looked at him with a raised eyebrow, making Yunho frown in confusion as to why he was being stared at.

"What?"

"You had one sandwich all to yourself this morning for breakfast. Didn't think to leave any of it for us to try?" Mingi asked.

"You're having one now, aren't you? Leave me and my sandwich alone." Yunho scoffed with a pout. They all were like children, fighting over food.

"I share everything with you! You're being selfish." Mingi exclaimed.

"Sorry, Mingi ah. We're best friends but when it comes to delicious food like this, it's every man for himself." Yunho shrugged.

~

Series masterlist

[selfpositiveundertale]

Another update, hopefully less bleak than the last one.

So on Wednesday I broke down in front of my chiropractor telling him what's going on with me. I apologized for breaking down and he said it's okay, he knows that blood sugar dropping can make a person very emotional. He was surprised to hear that I'd had a green smoothie consisting of whey protein powder, a cup of mixed greens, a ripe banana, and a cup of oat milk immediately before coming to the appointment and not even an hour later I already felt famished like I hadn't had anything all day, but he suggested that getting more fats in my diet might help me hold onto my food longer and keep my blood sugar at a reasonable level longer, so I should be consuming more butter, nut butters, avocado, coconut oil, etc. Putting peanut butter or avocado in my green smoothies, having avocado on whole grain toast like the millennial I am, and I think I'll go back to the special way I was making coffee a while back that involved heavy cream and MCT oil powder. I'll post how I do that in a separate post. I also mentioned to him that I was seriously considering purchasing liver and bones from the butcher shop to get more protein and iron in my system, and he approved of that idea as well.

After my husband picked me up from my appointment, we got food from our favorite local Chinese restaurant, and the orange chicken, fried rice, egg roll, and crab rangoon actually lasted longer in my system and kept me stable longer than anything else I'd had in the last week or two. Lots of fat in all that Chinese food. It was great. The chef seemed to have gotten a little enthusiastic with the spiciness of the orange chicken but I definitely wasn't complaining.

The next day I made a green smoothie and added a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter and that did help it to stay in my system a little longer, but it didn't have enough sugar since I only had half a banana to put in it.

So I'm thinking when we go grocery shopping this weekend, I'll get extra bananas, maybe apples, avocados, some whole grain bread, two jars of peanut butter, and heavy cream along with our usual items. And when we go to the butcher shop I'll see how much liver costs, I already know bones are sold at a reasonable price, and I'll ask the butcher if he can recommend how best to cook the liver, and if I can put it in the slow cooker.

I did more googling and found that low blood sugar isn't uncommon in people who have fibromyalgia, so I'll send my rheumatologist a message and ask about that.

Things are looking less hopeless, and it looks like I have some solutions almost within reach. Just have to make the grocery trip tomorrow.

Right now I feel my blood sugar dropping, so I think I'll go try to make something to eat. I had a bowl of greens loaded with butter, garlic, and salt pork earlier and it was very good and lasted a while but now I need more food. Might cook some more greens and see if I can make some mashed potatoes as well because I might need carbs. Might even cook the rest of the bacon we got from the butcher shop last week since I'm sure it needs to be cooked asap. Hopefully I can stand up long enough to cook. I'm in a lot of pain rn that's going to make being on my feet difficult.

Wish me luck, and stay determined.

Also @ the person who replied to my last update: thank you so much for your kind words. I needed that. ❤️❤️❤️

[observingthoughts]

Beginning of the End

Smoke was blowing from the leftovers on the charcoal grill and all I was concerned about was getting rid of the barbecue smell in my hair. We just had my fill of beef and we were in the midst of ordering dessert. We always get the same thing off the menu. The hotteok arrived for us to share and I took extra care to wait before biting into it knowing that the hot brown sugar paste has burned my tongue before.

"She went on a date with this guy. Another friend told me she was crying at the restaurant they went to so I rushed to get over there." He was telling me about his best friend from work while I was busy blowing wind on to my hot sugary bread. "Oh I'm glad she's finally seeing someone". It was such a casual response that I didn't notice a fire had come out of my mouth. He had this weird look in his eyes, and I was confused to why he was confused. It was silent for a while. He was expecting me to explain further, so I put down the warm dessert without taking a single bite.

"I always felt like there was something going on between you two. You always do things for her you wouldn't do for me. I can't help but thinking that you might have feelings for her."

That was only the beginning of what was coming out of me. Tears were stinging my eyes and I could no longer contain the word vomit. Everything I held inside was coming out in waves. My mouth moved faster than my brain could process and by the end of the conversation I was in tears, my bread long forgotten. I walked into his car and refused to look at him. He was there on the driver's seat with that confused look again.

Maybe he had forgotten what happened the month prior. When I was standing on a quiet street in the capital city at midnight waiting for him to pick up my calls. The dial tone kept ringing while I was looking around my shoulder checking if anyone was following me. I could hear young men laughing, sitting on their motorbikes while eating some warm snack they bought off of a street vendor. Back and forth I walked, in front of the closed sign of the restaurant, anxiety growing. He said to meet him here, and here he is not.

I got into a taxi with a heavy heart. It was half way back to the hotel I was staying at in this foreign city when he decided to text me. "Oh, the restaurant was closing so we moved. I'll see you tomorrow okay?" was all I received. I wasn't even worth a call back.

[jodilin65]

I was reading about how easy it is to meet people online these days compared to when I was young. I've often wished it had been this easy to meet other women back then, but at the same time, I'm glad it wasn't. Otherwise, I might never have met Tom. I know some people believe you're either gay or straight, but I don't think it's that black and white. Many have questioned how I could like a guy when I've been attracted to many women in my life. It's kind of like this: say your favorite color is red, and you're looking for a red dress. You find five that are appealing, but then you see a couple of green dresses, and one of those has everything you want, from style to price to comfort. Tom was that unique green dress. That's the best way I can explain it to anyone who doesn't have common sense. ;) I’ve been attracted to dozens of women in my life, but none of them have compared to Tom, especially in personality.

Speaking of hubs, I was a little annoyed last night because I lost a few hours of alone time when I had plans to do certain things I do better by myself. One of us with a wacky schedule is bad enough. However, the day he gives plasma tends to drain him, and he fell asleep early and woke up early. It turned out okay, though, because we had fun golfing, and then he went down for a nap for a few hours.

Some of the tiny houses I've seen pictures of that are right on the ocean are so cute. I joined a tiny house group on Facebook and even made a Pinterest board for them. I would never want to live in one unless I was single and didn't have much stuff, but they are adorable. The view is to die for no matter what you're living in. Anyway, maybe I will use Pinterest a little more often than I have been. I have nearly 23K pins!

I woke up super tired today because I woke up a few hours after crashing, needing to use the bathroom, and I couldn't get back to sleep for two hours. When I finally fell back asleep, I kept waking up. Then, I stupidly napped for a couple more hours. While this helped give me a little more energy, I've got to really try not to let my schedule jump ahead too much because I still have five days before my appointment, which is early in the morning.

For some reason, I thought I was having about 1600 calories a day. But for the last several days, I actually started counting them without limiting or changing how I eat, and I'm actually closer to 1100 to 1300. As a postmenopausal woman who no longer has the hunger of PMS or perimenopause, if I ate like this back when I had a normal thyroid/metabolism, I would definitely be skinny. In my 20s, I used to swear that all fat people stuffed themselves and anyone could lose weight. How I've learned my lesson!

I've been having tummy issues the last few days, and I'm wondering if I'm sensitive to Ezekiel bread. The research I just did suggests it certainly could be the cause.

At least I can still eat Chinese! I don't think I'll pick it up today, but I'm going to try a restaurant I picked out soon. I'm gonna start with their house platter and some beef fried rice.

I got my patchouli incense yesterday, along with the incense matches and my VR lenses. Not sure things are much clearer, though, because I swear the last eye doctor we saw gave me a bad prescription. I haven't used them enough yet to really make a judgment.

Leave it to Facebook to remove a post of mine from 2010. Really, guys, why now??? This was on my main account of course.

Finally, I came up with a good idea for the bedroom windows. They have these sticky foam tiles used for sound dampening. It's black foam and not a decorative textured vinyl tile with foam inside like what we're going to get for the walls. They're ugly, but the curtains would cover them. I decided we should put them on both the upper and lower panes of the back window and then stick them on the bottom pane of the front window. Then we'll take something with a little bit of flexibility so we can fit it in snugly yet remove it to open that window when we air the place out after bombing, and stick the tiles to that. Maybe a piece of cardboard just a little bigger than the pane or something like that.

[nightcall99]

Dreams from 1.5.24

Dream 1 I was at my old house and LD (placement student) was with me. We were getting ready to go somewhere, like a party event that was happening at a bar. In fact, we were already dressed. I had on a smart casual outfit, in all black. But then we were waiting around for ages and didn't actually leave. When it was finally time to go, I went back upstairs to my room to change outfits at the last minute. I was a bit panicked since I knew that the car was waiting but I just wasn't happy with my outfit. I needed to change. I was trying on different clothing items and various combinations but each time was just a slightly different version of the same outfit. I was ultimately still going for the same vibe, which was black and sleek.

I remember that initially I had on a black skirt. I saw LD walk past, and she must had decided to change her outfit too, and I said, Oh you're wearing pants? I'll change into pants too. So I was putting on black pants now. Then she was ready, but I was still making up my mind on my outfit. The changes I was making were pointless, it continued to be essentially the same look but I kept doing it. I know I was holding things up and that it was time to go. Finally, I was done. I went downstairs and I saw LD choosing snacks in the convenience store that my parents owned (the lowest floor of our old house). I saw her do it, so I took her lead. I asked, Oh did (my) mum say to do this? She said, Yeah. We grabbed a few bags of potato crisps and other things for the trip.

We got into the car. It turns out we were driving ourselves to the event. LD was driving. I saw she randomly had a burger and it consisted only of two bread buns and a meat patty, which was basically just a huge chunk of meat. I kept asking questions about it because it didn't look like a burger you would get at McDonald's or something, it looked incomplete. I asked, Where's the sauce? What sauce is it? She was vague with her answers, and acted as if I was judging her for choosing to eat meat but I didn't care about that. I just thought the the burger looked really odd with it's lack of key components and odd proportions. Then I felt her lose focus with driving, like she just wasn't concentrating anymore and was day dreaming. There was a stop light ahead and when it came down to braking behind the car that was in front, her reaction time was much delayed. We were going to crash if I didn't do something, so I used my right foot to press down on the brake pedal to save us from an accident. But how was I able to do that? I looked down and there was a second brake pedal on my side of the car, which had made this possible. LD showed no reaction or any emotion. I didn't get angry, because it felt natural, like obviously I was supposed to help with getting where we needed to go.

Dream 2 I was with one of my best friends from high school, GM, and we were hanging out in a cafe/bar/restaurant place. We had just arrived and we saw pina colada cocktails on display and decided to try them. The energy emitted from the drinks was similar to the energy of the snack from my train dream a few days ago, and is the case for all food items in this dream. The glasses were huge, and the liquid inside seemed to magnetize you in which its fluorescent colours (even though pina coladas are generally yellow).

We sat down on the bar stools and ate various things, mostly sweets and cakes. It was an odd selection of foods to be eating, but I can't really pinpoint what was exactly strange besides it not really being a proper 3D meal. We would see things in the cabinet, point, and we would get them. We didn't talk much however it wasn't awkward. I didn't feel the need to fill in the silence. It's worth nothing that back when we were friends, we were close but at the same time, it was always weird when we spoke. It was as if it was a performance that neither us wanted to really participate in and speaking was a hindrance (I'm pretty sure she's on the spectrum). Anyway, it felt like we were communicating just via vibes and were content to do so. I only spoke out loud a few times, when I tried to tell her I was depressed and not very happy in my life.

It reached the point where we were going to have one more snack before we go. We were looking at the menu and cabinet, trying to decide on our final item of food. At this point the owner of the restaurant came over and tried to help us. He didn't say anything, just stood near us, but it very much felt as though he was silently trying to help us decide, too. He was looking at what he could offer us, comparing it against some intuitive idea of what he thought we would like, that we hadn't tried yet, and that would be unique enough for our tastes. We both spied a kind of French toast that was decorated with brightly-coloured and glittery icing shapes, like those used for cake decorating. It looked like something a child might make, but there was something special and novel about them. It looked so pretty. But GM didn't really want to have it and neither did I, however I was up for it, in a Why not? kind of way. She wanted to go now though. As soon as we decided we didn't want anything else, the owner walked away. It felt like we were only here because we had decided to meet up before needing to go someplace else.

[witchrecs]

New Waitress: The fuck you think it means? No, I can't come into work today. Ask Angie. - YESSS go girl

"No, hey. Come on, sweets, let's go for a break." Thea wouldn't take no for an answer as she started to lead you to the only chair available for staff in the entire downstairs part of the restaurant. - she's so nice🥹

"Hey, Flounder - having a rough go at it today?" Bradley gently placed a bowl of ice cream in front of your trembling form, before putting down one glass of water, and one glass of Fanta - that he'd managed to carry in one hand.

"I don't like it when you call me Flounder." you confessed tearily, sad eyes meeting brown. Bradley nodded. Should I stop calling you Bambi too?" his voice was still gruff, but there was a hint of softness to it all that soothed you. You shook your head slowly, and Bradley nodded again.

Trembling hands reached for the spoon that laid neatly in the bowl, and you slowly took a spoonful of it - letting out a shaky breath as you did so "Atta girl... forgot to eat today, did you?" Bradley almost sounded reprimanding, and you nodded, averting your gaze as a fresh set of tears burned in your eyes.

this whole little part had me MELTING. him being the slightest bit nice and i'm frothing at the mouth HAHAHAH

"So... you're blowing my dad, huh?" Bradley tried to joke, that small lopsided smile quirking the corners of his lips. - he jokes?!?! he SMILES!?!?

"Wanna tell me what happened, Bambs?" looking into his eyes, you suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to do so, - bambs🥹🥹🥹

“Hold on, Bambi - he said that to you?” Bradley held up a hand and you stopped talking, nodding “and Angie kept over-seating you?” Bradley knew that Angie was sometimes a little mean to the new servers. Said she wanted to toughen them up. That logic just fucked over everyone though, and he’d told her so multiple times. Rooster was angry. More angry than he thought he’d be. 

"Nobody treats my staff that way. It's unacceptable. Personal attacks are never okay in my restaurant."

soooo true

Jake nodded in agreement. "Want me come with you? I'll flex." Jake looked eager "1 could bring a pan too!" - HAHA

Back in the office, your heart rate had just settled when Mickey's sweet face popped in. "Hey, how you feelin'?" his voice was soft and sweet, and it made a teary smile appear on your face as you whispered you were okay.

"You looked a lil' hungry," he stated simply with a smile, before handing you a plate filled with garlic bread, aioli, a small piece of steak done medium and a terrine.

i love how they're all sweet to her🥹

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎↠ 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 - ⅲ ↞

⁘ bradley bradshaw, the notoriously ill mannered head chef at the small franchise pub down the street, is quite content with his fast paced job. no commitments or obligations outside of his kingdom of sharp knives, pots, pans, prep work and a shot of jäger after a double. that is until a new waitress is hired, and suddenly his strict and rigid rules of no obligations or commitments starts to waver. . .

› pairing; bradley bradshaw x f!reader

word count; ~ 3.9K

× chapter warnings; swearing, mentions of alcohol, crying, food mention, rude guests.

disclaimer; I am basing most of the chefs/waitresses on people I have worked with/encountered. Most of their traits will be as realistic as possible.

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“I just don’t understand why he hates me so much! I’ve only ever been nice since I started working with y’all!” 

Dinner had been over for some time now, and the music was doing a subtle crescendo as more people trailed in through the doors. Wine glasses were empty and forgotten, drinks now half drunk in front of the three girls. 

“Listen, don’t think on it too much, Rooster hates everyone!” Mir had to raise her voice to be heard over the music, raising a brow as she sipped on her gin and tonic.

“But he doesn’t hate you guys!” the whine to your voice was bordering pathetic, but you’d had a couple of more drinks than you were used to, and the girls had introduced you to whiskey sours - something you hadn’t tried before. Thea looked alarmed at your outburst, not due to the loudness, but to what she was picking up between the lines. 

“Babe, don’t get involved with Rooster. It won’t end well, alright? Trust me.” she’d scooted closer to you, her lips against your ear as she spoke. Looking at her kind face, you thought you saw traces of hurt in there. 

“I don’t… I wasn’t– I just want him to be nice to me, okay? That’s all,” deflecting seemed like a good way to go, nonchalantly shrugging your shoulders as you stirred the ice around in the hobstar glass in front of you. Thea and Mir looked at each other before they burst out laughing, and heat was starting to spread throughout your body.

“In that case, sweetheart - you’d probably be better off treating him like shit!” 

“What? Like how?” 

“Honey, treat him like he treats you. Cuss him out a little! Tell him he fucking sucks. Better yet, prance in and don’t spare him a glance - tell him to fuck off once in a while. Or wait, maybe don’t do that, he gets off on that,” Thea frowned and Mir howled with laughter at the disgusted facial expression Thea pulled. 

“I can’t do that!” looking at the two girls, both of whom were wearing matching expressions of what could only be described as pity. “God, she’s so sweet isn’t she?” Mir grasped a shot glass and downed it in one go “I remember when I was like that.” to the uninitiated, there might be traces of bitterness in there. 

“Cookie, we’re not telling you to be purposefully mean - we’re telling you to… match his energy, yeah? You don’t deserve the shit he’s been pulling. So, throw it back at him, let him know you won’t stand for it.” Thea smiled at you, putting her hand over yours. It felt good to know that they had noticed how Bradley was treating you, and to hear her say you didn’t deserve it felt like a weight had been lifted off of your shoulders.

“Yeah! You’re doing way better than I did when I first started–” Mir fell into a long winded tale of how she’d during one singular shift, managed to drop an entire tray of glasses, shattering them in the middle of the dining hall - and managed to fall into the laps of three guests with dessert plates still in her hands.

Thea and you were leaning against one another, giggling and laughing so hard you had to wipe tears from your faces as Mir grinned at you. “They had to help me up too!” 

“Oh, god I remember that day - it was hilarious,” Thea hooted loudly, straightening up only to down another shot. 

As the sun rose, the soft rays managed to sneak into your bedroom through half closed drapes. There were clothes strewn all over the floor, and right below the bed sat a bucket, along with a large bottle of water. Apparently drunk you had decided to be kind to hungover you. A groan slipped past parted lips, a wave of nausea hitting as your body stirred awake.  

Scrambling for your phone, you noticed some missed calls and one singular text message.

Bradley 🖕: Can you come in today? Mir is sick.

Groaning, you flopped down on to your pillows again. You really did not feel like coming in today, but you always said yes when Bradley asked. When anyone asked for that matter.

You knew how hard it was to be understaffed, and how the servers had to haul ass to make sure everything worked. Although, just as you were about to reply, you could almost hear Thea’s voice in your ear, like a little guardian devil on your shoulder. Smirking to yourself, you typed in your reply, throwing your phone away as you hit send.

Bradley had asked you to come in today, he’d actually texted only you, because he knew you’d say yes. What’s the point in bothering the other servers if he had a done deal already? He was prepping when Jake walked into the kitchens, nodding at him as he fell in line with the head chef. 

“So when’s Cookie comin’ in?” Jake asked, stowing away some garlic butter into a large fridge. 

Bradley snorted, amused, before he pulled out his phone again to text you a time you should show up. At your text, he stopped in his tracks, eyebrows shot up. He stared intently at your text, and Jake came up behind him to read. 

New Waitress: No.

Jake’s loud laughter echoed through the kitchen, slapping Roosters back as he cried something about ‘bad luck, chef’. What the fuck did she mean ‘no’? Rooster thought to himself. And where the fuck were the usual happy emojis, or sad emojis when you offered him a drawn out explanation as to why you couldn’t come in to work (‘I’m so sorry, chef, it’s my mother’s birthday today so I can’t make it in - but if you really need someone I guess—’)?

Bradley 🖕 : What the fuck do you mean ‘no’?

He really couldn’t help himself, he had to know why you couldn’t come in to work today, even though he knew he wasn’t entitled to knowing.

New Waitress: The fuck you think it means? No, I can’t come into work today. Ask Angie.

“What the fuck…” Rooster reached up to rub at his chin, eyebrows scrunched together as he stared at his screen so hard he thought it would crack. Looking up at Jake’s gleeful expression, he was so damn shocked he let out a loud laugh “Alright then, Bambi… fuckin’ enjoy your day off then,” he grumbled, shaking his head before his fingers swiftly moved across the screen. Shoving his phone into Jake’s hands, he continued working, as his sous chef bugged him about what your text said. 

“You named her contact ‘Bambi’? Thought you only had the servers as ‘annoying waitress #1’ or ‘slow server #3’” Jake tossed the phone back to an amused Bradley, who caught it swiftly. 

“Get back to work, dumbass.”

Jake studied Bradley closely, and it made the taller and slightly burlier man squirm just a little. “You sweet on Cookie or something?” Bradley gave Jake a scathing look. He of all people should know better than to bring this up right now. 

“Seresin. Chop the fucking onions before I put you on pastry today.” 

“Yes, chef. Damn, it’s like I told you I’d committed arson or some shit… and what is the deal with making me work the window huh? Am I just gonna plate forever now?” Jake had started chopping the onions swiftly, the rhythmic thud of his knife just a tad harsher than it usually was. 

“I’ll take the window tonight, don’t need to get pissy about it.” Jake narrowed his eyes at him “Oh, don’t fucking start with me Seresin!” Bradley groaned out loud. 

“So tonight you’ll take the window. What about tomorrow?” Bradley was silent. He knew you were scheduled to work tomorrow night. 

“I’ll tell you about the stations tomorrow. Same as every day. Now fucking get to work!”

Sitting cross-legged in front of your floor length mirror, you contemplated the implications of what you were currently up to. Make-up brush still in hand, you looked at yourself. You’d gone through various outfits, done up your hair a little extra, and made sure to wear something that would accentuate your curves.

Fluttering anticipation rolled in your stomach, and you were itching to show up just a little early to work. You knew some of the other waitresses did, sat at the bar and chatted, or hung by the window in the kitchens to get a run-down on the night ahead.

Today you’d decided to wholeheartedly take Thea and Mir’s advice to heart. You wouldn’t let Bradley shout at you from the grill. You would treat him as he treated you. Giving yourself a little pep-talk as you drove to the restaurant, the mantra ‘respect is an earned gift, not something you demand’ repeated itself in your mind, making your spine straighten before you entered your workplace. 

Sauntering into the kitchens, you said hi to Mickey with a warm smile before Jake’s loud voice rang out as he and Bradley entered from the storage rooms. “Damn, Cookie! Looking to get that sweet tip today?” he smirked, shamelessly letting his eyes roll over your form as he - to your great surprise - started prepping his station at the grill. Rolling your eyes, you let your own smirk flash briefly before deciding to start your resolution out softly, you knew Jake could take it;

“Oh, fuck off, Seresin!” Bradley, who was now stood almost opposite of you at the window, putting a fresh roll of paper into the ticket machine, stopped in his movements as surprise filled his brown eyes.

“Fuck, Flounder - when did you get such a dirty little mouth?” his voice was bordering condescending, and whilst it still had a tinge of surprise, it annoyed you how his sentence seemed to make your body react in ways you hadn’t fully allowed it to.

“Hm, I don’t know, Bradley - it must’ve been somewhere around the time I started blowing your dad!” 

You had never heard silence quite that loud before, Bradley’s jaw swung open in shock, Jake dropped his pincer on the floor, and you could hear Thea behind you choking out a silent ‘oh my god’.

Shrugging, you turned on your heel to exit the kitchens, and as you neared the door you heard howls of laughter from Jake, then Mickey’s soft snickers - and a sound that shook you to your core - Bradley’s surprised laughter mixing with the other two chefs.

Sneaking a glance over your shoulder, you saw Jake wipe at his eyes as he looked to the ceiling and said “Man, Mr. Bradshaw, I’m sorry but your son just got obliterated!” involuntarily, your eyes found soulful brown, and you saw they were filled with mirth - as well as that same fire you’d seen on your first shift. His crooked smile forced you to turn your gaze forward, not wanting him to see the way it affected you as your breath hitched slightly.

 As the door swung shut behind you, you let out a shuddering breath you didn’t know you’d been holding. Thea’s laughter rang through the upper parts of the restaurant, and Mir came running as if it was a call to arms. “What happened?” her voice was sharp, eyes flitting between you and Thea, who was currently crouching down from laughing so hard. 

Re-telling the story, you tried to sound as if it was not the biggest deal in the world - but the way Mir’s eyes widened at the end you could tell it was. “Oh, lord - I hope he’s okay,” the sympathy and worry in her voice did not match the energy she’d had during your night out. 

“You know his dad died when he was like four, right?” 

Mortification filled your every pore, and you suddenly felt dizzy as you exclaimed ‘oh my god!’ so breathlessly you thought Thea would suffer from hypoxia from laughing so hard. “What do I do?” your distressed whine made Mir chuckle softly “Depends. How did he react?” 

“He was laughing!” God, your head was spinning so fast. “Well, then I think he’ll be fine. He’s a big boy - don’t worry about it.”

“You can’t drop a bomb like that on me and not expect me to stress about it for the rest of the night!”

Working with Bradley in the window was vastly different than working with Jake, you noticed. Watching him, you could tell this was his element. He was good on the grill too, of course, but you truly saw him shine this evening - the timing and overall communication flowed differently than when Jake plated. Perhaps it was because Jake sometimes chit-chatted with the servers, sometimes occasionally stilling to do so. Rooster was constantly moving, it was weird, but his movements looked so fluid - brows furrowed in concentration, eyes never truly leaving the plates whilst he talked. 

The first time you had to ask about allergies, you thought he’d yell at you, but the low grumble of “Bambi, onion allergies are extremely rare. If the guest is truly allergic, there is not much they can eat off the menu.” he sighed, turning to fetch a small napkin to wipe off the edges, noticing they were all gone “Fetch me some more will you?” he barely glanced at you, yet you were so shocked you scampered away to fetch more. 

“Ask if they’re allergic or if they don’t want onion. If they say they’re truly allergic tell them they’ll have to do without sauce, and that I’ll have to fix up another side than the terrine.” you could only nod before rushing to your table to relay what Bradley had informed you about. It turned out the guest just wasn’t too keen on onions, and you rushed back to tell Rooster.

“Alright, great. Fuckin’-- don’t say you’re allergic…” Bradley grumbled sourly as he searched for the ticket, pulling it down and placing it in front of you before moving again. “Jot down minus onion, Flounder?” 

After that encounter that had momentarily lifted your spirits, everything turned to shit very quick. You’d yet to have a shift truly go down the shitter, but when Angie placed another sixer on your station you felt close to tears. She’d seated a four, a three, and a two just minutes earlier, and you were struggling to keep up.

Some of the tables wanted drinks to their entrees, and the bartender was backed up with orders. Trying to keep everything in check, you attempted to take three orders consecutively - which resulted in one table's food not getting put in properly - because you had rushed away, forgetting to click on ‘enter’. The waitress who used the computer after you had apparently just clicked it away. 

Rooster wasn’t happy. He didn’t yell this time, but you could tell by his overall demeanor he was annoyed. Could feel it in the way his body language was tense, his jaw clenched, and the way he sharply talked almost passive aggressively over your head to relay your mistake to the other chefs so they could bump the food.

To your great misfortune, through this whole mess that you’d had to run around to fix, Angie had seated two new tables for you. Biting your cheek, you moved to a table you unfortunately hadn’t had the time to get to in quite a bit. Which proved to be your last straw this evening.

The elderly man yelled so forcefully you could feel spit particles hitting you, calling you the most demeaning names, saying you were incompetent and obviously lacked intelligence - seeing as you were only a waitress. Furthermore he wanted to speak to someone else, preferably a male server he’d said, because he could tell you clearly lacked the most basic knowledge needed for this, and to perhaps look for another job while you were at it. 

Tears welled in your eyes as you searched for Thea. She was swamped too, but relayed she had it under control when you asked to see her for a moment in the storage room by the bar. Voice shaking slightly, you told her what happened - and how Angie had kept seating you even though you’d told her to please slow down. When you got to relaying what the man had said, you were surprised to find yourself bursting into tears. Your hands were shaking, and suddenly you felt a little light-headed.

“Cookie, when’s the last time you ate or drank anything sweetheart?” ever since the shift had started, it’d just rolled on. There had been no time to take breaks, no time for a sip of water or Pepsi, definitely no food - barely enough time to breathe it felt like. 

“Probably breakfast…” you hiccuped, angrily wiping at the tears that wouldn’t stop falling endlessly down your cheeks. 

“Oh, honey…” Thea looked at you with sympathy. Unfortunately this was common with new servers, they often forgot themselves. “I’ll have Mir and Angie look over your tables, you need a break.” 

“No! Table 30 just got their entrees and I have to forward it soon, and 33 just got their entrees which means they need their wine and–” you were working yourself up even more, breathing fast, eyes slightly wild as tears continued to leak out of you. 

“No, hey. Come on, sweets, let’s go for a break.” Thea wouldn’t take no for an answer as she started to lead you to the only chair available for staff in the entire downstairs part of the restaurant. She led you through the kitchens towards the back, where a small office for ordering supplies was located, along with an office chair. 

Bradley’s head shot up as he heard your small sniffles and protests, Thea shushing you softly as they passed by. Jake looked worried, and Mickey bit his lip to keep from calling after you. You’d looked overwhelmed as it was. 

“Mickey, plate up some ice cream would you, and then cover the window for me for a few minutes?” Rooster was already moving before the end of his sentence was done, and he heard a faint ‘yes, chef’ from Mickey as he rounded on his station to scoop up some ice cream into a small bowl. Walking briskly, Bradley went out of the kitchen towards the bar, filling two glasses before hurrying back.

“Bradley, not no–” Thea’s eyes widened in surprise as Bradley’s large form entered the small office space. “Go back to your station, I’ve got it.” his voice was hushed, and Thea only nodded, knowing she’d been away too long. As she left, she grabbed onto Rooster’s bicep, leveling him with a stern look. He nodded. He knew what she meant.

“Hey, Flounder - having a rough go at it today?” Bradley gently placed a bowl of ice cream in front of your trembling form, before putting down one glass of water, and one glass of Fanta - that he’d managed to carry in one hand. 

“I don’t like it when you call me Flounder,” you confessed tearily, sad eyes meeting brown. Bradley nodded. “Should I stop calling you Bambi too?” his voice was still gruff, but there was a hint of softness to it all that soothed you. You shook your head slowly, and Bradley  nodded again. 

Trembling hands reached for the spoon that laid neatly in the bowl, and you slowly took a spoonful of it - letting out a shaky breath as you did so “Atta girl… forgot to eat today, did you?” Bradley almost sounded reprimanding, and you nodded, averting your gaze as a fresh set of tears burned in your eyes. 

Bradley knelt before you, large hand resting on the edge of the wooden table you were sat at to keep his balance. He searched your face in silence for a moment. 

"So... you're blowing my dad, huh?" Bradley tried to joke, that small lopsided smile quirking the corners of his lips. You were so surprised, you hiccuped a small laugh between tears before shaking your head "I'm so sorry, Bradley. Mir told me..." Bradley just shook his head "Was pretty funny. Should've heard Jake, hasn't stopped going on about it the whole shift." Rooster rolled his eyes before silence settled for a moment between you two.

“Wanna tell me what happened, Bambs?” looking into his eyes, you suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to do so, and as tears once again rolled down your cheeks, you re-counted the vile shift you’d had, along with the guests cruel words, small sobs mixing into your story. You’d never been yelled at like that before by a stranger, never had your very existence and intelligence completely disrespected in that way. Not even Bradley went that far, and his yelling wasn’t like the other mans. The other man’s yelling was filled with hatred and utter disdain. 

“Hold on, Bambi - he said that to you?” Bradley held up a hand and you stopped talking, nodding “and Angie kept over-seating you?” Bradley knew that Angie was sometimes a little mean to the new servers. Said she wanted to toughen them up. That logic just fucked over everyone though, and he’d told her so multiple times. Rooster was angry. More angry than he thought he’d be. 

“Has the table gotten their food?” you weren’t quite sure where Bradley was going with this, but he didn’t look particularly happy. “No, they’ve just finished their entrees.” 

“Good. They won’t be getting them.” your eyes widened as he stood to his full height. “Nobody treats my staff that way. It’s unacceptable. Personal attacks are never okay in my restaurant.” he paused, looking at the drying tears on your face. “You stay here, when I get back I want half of that Fanta to be gone, okay?” he sounded stern again, but there was a hint of teasing in those brown eyes of his before he walked away.

Rooster could barely contain the absolute rage he felt, it rumbled and churned so deep in his chest it almost frightened him. As he approached the kitchen, he asked if they were holding up alright.

“Yeah, sure, things’ve slowed down anyways. What’s up with Cookie?” Mickey asked, sounding concerned. Bradley sighed deeply “Some fucker yelled at her out there, called her some vile things. We’re not serving them, it’s not okay to treat our waiters like that.” he shook his head, sighing. Jake nodded in agreement “Want me come with you? I’ll flex.” Jake looked eager “I could bring a pan too!” 

“Let’s not catch a case, Seresin…” Bradley chuckled lightly before walking towards the table, shoulders set - and the best menacing look overcoming his usually handsome features. 

Back in the office, your heart rate had just settled when Mickey’s sweet face popped in. “Hey, how you feelin’?” his voice was soft and sweet, and it made a teary smile appear on your face as you whispered you were okay. 

“You looked a lil’ hungry,” he stated simply with a smile, before handing you a plate filled with garlic bread, aioli, a small piece of steak done medium and a terrine. 

“Thanks, Mickey. For the ice cream too,” Mickey just shrugged “That was all Rooster.”

Before you could ask what he meant by that, he was gone back in the kitchen, and you could hear him joke around with Jake again in no time. Furrowing your brows, you looked at the now empty bowl of ice cream to your left. 

Bradley’s actions today puzzled you. Perhaps even more so because Bradley never did come back to check that you’d drunk your Fanta and he didn’t say another word to you that night - but still at the end of the shift, all that was left on the desk was an empty glass.

next chapter

yeeeehaw!! struggled a bit writing this, sorry for the wait! how are we feeling? thoughts? and also, is there anything in particular you readers would like to see later on in the series? I wanna know if there's anything that you guys would love to see, and it'd be cool to be able to fit it in!

also, do we want me to tell you at the end which anecdotes are genuine? in this chapter, all anecdotes have happened to me! yep, fell down into three men's lap. not as cozy as it sounds with desserts in hand! and the bartender and restaurant manager laughed... sigh!

some of you it won't work to tag?

@dhwanishah09 @keyrani @phreya @roosterforme @bradshawbabe @gretagerwigsmuse @up-thereinthesky @becks-things @gracelovesteller @roostersrooster @lt-bradshaw @galaxy-moon @mak-32 @diorrfairy @cottagecori @lt-spork

[bonkin]

WIP Last Lines Tag Game

Share the last 7 (or more) lines from a WIP

-

tagged by @mrmxlemons heheheh i'm not very immersed in writing tumblr so i have no one to tag but feel free to do it if you see this 👍

Premise: It's been a whole year since Venom crash-landed in Eddie's body, and he's been planning them a nice date to celebrate. Veddie (movie verse sorry I'm not with da comics) with nsfw stuff (later not in this scene); they're at a restaurant after Eddie accidentally asked for a table for two, trying to plan how to make the most of it.

"I'll get that put in for you," he says with a smile, and then pitter patters away back through the dining hall. The both of them watch him go completely through the doorway into the rest of the restaurant before sharing a far-too-amused chuckle, like what they were doing was some sort of crime. Venom thinks it's funny, and that's all the information Eddie cares to take in.

You think he knows? Venom asks.

"Probably," Eddie says, but then shrugs, tearing off a hunk of the new bread. "Maybe not. Who knows."

Is it something that happens often? he questions further. You are meeting someone for a date, but they're very late, so you simply order?

"Mm, often enough," Eddie says, covering his mouth with his wrist while he chews. "Happened to me a fair share. Not... with Anne, really, 'cause we're both anal-retentive in our own ways, but plenty of past dates, sure."

Or you get stood up altogether.

"Yeah, that too, also happened to me, quite a bit." Eddie grimaces a little; after a moment, he glances around to make sure nobody's paying them any mind and then slips a little chunk of bread towards his shirt sleeve, wriggling it around until Venom decides to go for it. "Y'know, maybe that's our out, here."

Our out? Venom's small form creeps out from his wrist, between his skin and the fabric of his shirt, and snaps the bread out of his fingers.

"Yeah, like, our guy comes back and, whoops, can we just get two boxes for this stuff, they're not gonna make it, and then nobody shows up and we're good."

And you just... eat it later? they ask; there's a lilt to their voice that hints at disappointment, and Eddie smirks.

"No. Duh."

Oh, I see. Quirky. Eddie laughs, a little louder than he means to, and hastily clears his throat when he catches the turning of a head in his periphery. It's a sloppy job, making it look like he was on his phone the whole time, but he commits to it nonetheless.

You're enjoying your wine too slowly, Venom says, grabbing his hand and moving it towards the still-quite-full wine glass in front of him.

"Two things-- saving it for my meal, and still holding out hope that my date is showing up." He nods his head, picking up the glass anyway. "But, I will drink it faster, for you."

[neverlessonlyblessed]

small steps i've taken to get better; steps that are so small that other people wonder why i take them

also see: omg that is so basic, how did you not know how to do this before?

instead of buying candy, i bake sweets. yes, i am still eating a ton of sugar as i'm not restricting how much i want to eat or how i scratch that itch. i just bake it. but now i'm up doing something (activity/ hobby). and honestly, its probably healthier and cheaper in the long run. and when i'm finally past this phase, i'll have a number of recipes down.

stop buying pizza. there are so many other things to order if you don't have the energy to cook. I've started ordering from an asian restaurant. the dish includes chicken, red peppers, broccoli and bok choi. (also white rice). ordering pizza costs around $30 and so does this. don't just feed yourself. feed yourself well.

buying pre-spiced chicken at the grocery store. i can say that i've started cooking. but i wouldn't call myself a chef. the grocery store near me sells marinated full chickens. done. buy it, put parchment paper on my baking dish to catch everything, and cook the chicken. throw the parchment paper in the garbage and washing the dish is easy. buy a bag of bell peppers, chop them up, fry them with salt and pepper, and store everything in containers or in the fridge. Add it to rice or bread or pasta during the week. easy. i may be eating the same thing everyday, but at least i'm not buying dinner every day.

i bought an electric mop. there are haters out there that say it isn't necessary, but i can honestly say that its helped me keep my place cleaner. buy extra mop pads. buy a bucket from the dollar store for the dirty pads. throw them into the washer. done.

i joined a gym. but not just any gym, a gym that has classes. i don't have to waste emotional or mental energy figuring out what exercises are best for my body or my progress. i just follow the person at the front. i can't afford personal training right now, but until then this is a great option to have a guided workout session. all i need to do is get myself there at a certain time. then i turn my brain off and do what the person at the front tells me what to do. easy. the gym also has credits. i have the option to not buy a membership, but buy credits instead. 1 credit buys 1 class, expires in 6 months. i go when i'm feeling well, i stay home when i'm not. some exercise is better than no exercise. going there is the goal, not necessarily progress. the progress i'm looking for is going there consistently, because i don't have to worry about my physical progress. all i do is show up at a certain time. how many good weeks do i have? how many times will i go for 3 days a week? i'll find out. but the option to go zero days a week without feeling like i'm wasting money is there.

this is what i mean when i say money can help you live your life better and easier. as someone who has depression, the energy that i do have during the day should be spent towards achieving my goals, not basic keeping my self alive. reaching my next financial goal would mean taking cleaning off my task list.

in the name of small steps

it doesn't matter how big the steps are. what matters is that a you are taking them. what might be 1 step to one person might be 5 to another person might be 20 steps for me. don't get caught up in how other people are progressing. just decide what your goals are, research what steps you will need to take, and move forward one step at a time.

small steps are still steps. they will go unnoticed by others in the long run - there is no glory in small steps. but they are important steps.

[postalenha]

11. special

not really knowing what to wear, you decided to put on a beige sundress that goes below your knee, wishing that jay wouldn't bring you in a wall climbing type of place.

checking your reflection in the mirror, you fix a strand of hair that's sticking out and iron the dress with your hand, "perfect."

you smiled before hearing one to two honks of car. you decided to leave your apartment. outside, you see jay in his car, waving at you. you went straight to him saying, “good afternoon.”

he unbuckled his seatbelt and went out of his car, opening the car door to greet you, “good afternoon, lovely.” you smile before going inside.

his car smells like fresh flowers, which helps you calm down and not worry throughout the ride. once you've had enough courage to speak, you ask him “may i ask where we’re headed to?”

"i'm taking you to my favorite restaurant." he answered, "don't worry, i won't disappoint you."

you softly chuckle, "i'm looking forward to it."

the drive was smooth and quiet. you think if this was even a good idea because you remember telling yourself to never meet him again, let alone involve him in your life.

but you decided to give him a chance. it's not like you would lose anything. you would just hang out, that's all.

he stopped his car in front of a fancy building. he got out of his car and opened the door for you. he then offered his arm where you can cling your hand into. giving his car keys to the valet guy and you went straight inside.

immediately after a staff member had a glance of jay, she knew right away where to lead us. the two of you are now sitting at a table for two before the waitress hands you your menu.

you look over at jay, trying to get a recommendation from him while he's preoccupied, searching at his menu.

the waitress laughs a little before she pokes jay and points at you, jay widens his eyes. "oh no worries, i'll order for us." he smiled, "but you can order what you want too."

shaking your head no you tell him, "it's okay. you can order for us." he took that as a green light, so he ordered everything in the menu that he wanted you to have a taste of.

you weren't really listening to what he's saying, all you feel right now is admiration. you admired how well he can handle himself. he seems to know what he's doing, and looks like he's an expert with these types of situations.

waiting for the food to arrive, "i hope i lived upto your expectations." jay scratches the back of his nape, "i didn't tell you where we're going to keep the thrill."

you laughed at what he just said, "you made me anxious the whole ride just for you to experience some thrill?" you questioned him, he just smiled at you.

"the cold sweats were worth it. this place is magnificent." you commented, looking around and analyzing the place.

"it's elegant, very. yet cozy." you added, the structural design of the place was finely furnished. there are aerial plants hanging but the sight doesn't really make you suffocate, instead, they help make the surrounding more earthy.

"i know, that's why it's my favorite." he happily said, "and i'm glad you're liking it so far."

not long after, your food arrived. you couldn't tell if jay was very hungry or he just genuinely wanted you to try the food. seeing the number of plates on your table right now, it's enough to feed a whole six person family.

overwhelmed, you don't know where to start so you just stared at the food as they stare right back at you. jay sees your reaction and actually thinks it was cute.

while you're busy getting lost in your own thoughts, he started cutting the steak for you. it just went unnoticed until he switched your plate to his.

"why did you steal mine?" you asked him with full confusion painted on your face, he smirks. pointing at the plate in front of you, "they are the same thing. the only difference is; i already cut that for you."

after cutting his steak, he handed you a small cup with some kind of sauce inside. "try that with the flat bread like this." he showed you how to do it, and you just followed him, "then eat."

you both eat in usion before you hum in surprise, jay smiles for the nth time seeing you nod your head in approval. "that was actually good!" you said.

"it is. it makes a good appetizer." he told you, you both moved on and continued eating the main course. “i’m glad you agreed to see me.” he said.

you look at him, “i’m also glad you brought me to such a good place.” you said a while before taking a bite into your steak. tasting the savor of the meat as you chew it.

silence was the sound of the afternoon as you both ate in peace. he sometimes offers to help you with things like pouring your glass of wine, wiping the sauce from your lips but other than that, you both really didn’t interact that much.

jay had been thinking of what he should say, but he couldn't seem to find the right words or construct a good sentence to initiate a conversation. he only smiles at you whenever your eyes meet his.

but when dessert came, you grew tired of the silence that had been hurting your ears. so you decided to ask him, “how are your butterflies?” it’s funny to ask how his butterflies are.

because if he would ask you the same question, you would answer that yours are in your stomach as you speak. “they’re doing good.” he said, “i’m actually planning if i should free them or not.”

“why?” you ask him, jay looked at you. seeing your face, he knew that you actually cared because it is painted right all over your face. “i just think that i’m holding them back from the freedom that they deserve.”

“but what if their freedom is you?” you blurt out. “i mean- what if they feel like they have all the freedom in the world as long as you’re there by their side?” you panic while you blabber out the words without processing them in your head first.

“sorry, i wasn’t making sense.” you’re talking about butterflies for god’s sake. why would his butterflies even feel that way about him- well they can, but not certain.

jay thinks that it was fascinating that you said that. “no, you are making sense.” he reassured. he never once thought of how his butterflies would feel if he let go of them, he was busy thinking about what they feel in his perspective and never theirs.

instantly after you’re finished eating, you go out and wait for the valet driver to get the car. “we can sit there while we wait.” he pointed at the bench, you shake your head. “it’s fine, we can wait here.” you said, “unless you want to sit.”

he shook his head too and was also about to say something, “jongseong!” a woman shouts as she approaches you. you’re confused, there is no jongseong here. unless your name wasn’t y/n after all.

the woman stops in front of jay, “i didn’t expect to see you here!” she greets him with a hug. he’s jongseong?

you just stood there, quiet. even distanced yourself to give them some space. of course, just the right distance to hear what they’re talking about. “i most certainly didn't expect to see you either.” he said, the woman laughed and slaps his shoulder.

“we’re going to a pub, do you want to come?” she invited him. that is when jay- or jongseong- or whoever the hell he says he is; looks your way so you avoid his eyes, but on your peripheral vision you can see him walk to you.

feeling an arm on you shoulder, you look at his hand while you hear him say, “sorry. i’m with someone.” he said. you expected the girl to go with what he said but she just smiles. “come on! there would be a lot of people.”

she inserts herself in the middle of you two and clings her arm into yours, “she can find more friends there too!” you look away because you don’t know how to respond to her invitation, you barely even know her.

but that was hypocritical for you to say, because it wasn’t that much of a problem when you and jay spent the night at the pub. you were about to agree when something drawn on her arm caught your attention.

it’s the butterfly jay had drew on your arm when you two met at the bar, the same one. the only difference is that yours is already faded while hers is new and visible. you slowly remove her hand that was clinging on your arm.

“sorry, i’m really tired. i’ll be heading home, but jay can come if he wants to.” you told them. the girl lost her verbal ability and just looked at jay, “i’m going wherever she goes.. so, i’ll see you around.” he said.

the valet driver came right on time, jay was about to open the door for you but you opened it for yourself and just went inside his car not saying anything. jay doesn't really know what the big deal is, he certainly doesn’t get why you’re suddenly mad when you were so smiley earlier.

the car ride was silent too, it was awkward but you think that it’s better this way. but jay didn’t. he wanted the talkative y/n he met at the pub, you’re the same girl but why are you acting so cold all of a sudden?

once his car was parked in front of your apartment, you got out of his car and said “thank you.” and rushed inside. not letting him say any word. you throw yourself onto your bed, screaming.

you thought you were special. turns out jay’s just good at making individuals feel like they are, when in reality you are just like everyone else. a person who seeks the love they think they deserve and need.

PREV, MASTERLIST, NEXT,

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[damiano-mylove]

Condescending Bitch

Pairing: Thomas Raggi x reader

Wc: 2.5k

Cw(s): swearing, kissing, crying, probably typos (as per usual, tell me if it sucks)

Summary: Reader breaks up with their boyfriend and Thomas consoles them.

Masterlist

If honesty be a virtue, you'd be virtuous to plainly say you'd fallen out of love with your boyfriend and you had done so a while ago. It wasn't deliberate, it was a gradual fizz wherein you found your heart warming for someone else. You felt horrible about it and that guilt had been eating at you. There was no cheating, but you didn't think you'd be able to avoid it for much longer. Not to mention, it wasn't only the non-existent feelings, Luca was just an asshole when you weren't blinded by love.

There comes a time where one must throw in the towel, and now was that time for you.

You couldn't do it at a restaurant; knowing Luca, he'd cause a scene. You couldn't do it at some meeting place; it would ruin that place forever and ever to both of you. And that shit's just not fair.

In the end, you couldn't make the decision. So you put every single item of Luca's clothing in a bag (and a couple things he'd left around your flat), and drove over to his house while you still had the nerve. You'd gathered and lost the nerve a couple times before, but the plan was already in motion now. Hell, there was no plan, but whatever you were raring to do was up and running.

You drove straight to Luca's mother's house in record time. Time flies when you're laser focused.

"Y/n!" Luca's mother exclaimed joyfully as you entered the kind looking house. How someone like Luca came out of Mrs. Batali was a wonder in and of itself. Once Mrs. Batali spotted the bag in your hand, she frowned. "Has something happened, Bambino?"

Somehow, the hardest part of this breakup would be bidding goodbye to Luca's mother, and not Luca himself. You sighed, "I'm sorry, Signora. Luca and I have been having issues for a while now."

"Oh, don't be sorry, Bambino." The older lady's kind smile returned to her face, which struck a heart string you hadn't even known existed. Mrs. Batali swayed toward you, in all of her vanilla scented goodness. She hugged you around your neck loosely, which you returned around her wide hips. "You're always welcome for dinner and a roof. Don't let the stupid boy stop you from seeing me."

God gave two gifts to this world; one of them was Mrs. Batali.

A smile cracked across your face as your chest continued to tighten and hurt. You loved this family like your own, and you loved Luca at some point. So many memories were made in the throws of this relationship, and it was all going to be thrown out the window by you. But it was too late now.

"Ti amo." Mrs. Batali placed a kiss to your forehead which made your smile even more genuine. She patted your shoulder, finally releasing you from her motherly grasp. Sadly, she raised her arm to the stairs to Luca's bedroom. "I'll be down here, if you need me."

You smiled once more to the older lady and bowed your head in silent thanks. If you uttered a word, the word would lead to tears. It seemed the two of you knew this.

It was the last thing you wanted to do right now, but you had to seal the deal.

Without your consent, your feet began moving toward the stairs then up the stairs. Your heart beat in sickening rhythm with your footsteps, but your heart seemed more heavy than your feet. It was ridiculous. You were ready to throw up, pee, or meltdown - you didn't know which one, if it was one at all.

At long last, after walking down the longest hallway of your life, you stood in front of Luca's closed door. You remembered all the times you'd breeze in, going straight into Luca's arms for a kiss. His breath wasn't always good and he was a bad kisser, but he made you feel infatuation. Now it only seemed a fraction of what you felt for the other person. Yes, God, that was why you had to do this.

You knocked. Your heart was deafening.

"Come in!"

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

You pushed open the door, feeling like you were having a heart attack. Luca smiled brightly at you from the light of his computer. Then he laid eyes on the bag. Don't know how, it was dark as fuck in the room. And smelt of cheap body spray and dirty clothes.

"Hey, Babe, I wasn't expecting you," Luca smiled, trying to act off the bag of his clothes and gifts in your hand. You flicked on the light as he stood up to close the door behind you.

This room is fucking disgusting. It was truly noxious.

"Alright, Luca, sit down, we've got to talk," you told him, putting on your bravest and thickest voice. It worked because the air in the room changed. The air grew thick and impossible to breath. It could've been cut with a knife. Luca sat on his bed, hands in his lap. You placed the bag on the ground and sighed, "We're breaking up."

For a second, he was unresponsive. Luca didn't say a word until he looked you in the eye, what felt like a full minute later. His bottom lip quivered. "You're dumping me?"

"You can tell people you dumped me, I don't mind," you quipped, trying to make the situation better. You did not, in fact, make the situation better. You potentially made it about thirteen times worse.

"No, you're not." Luca stood up again. Your breath caught in your throat. "We're not breaking up."

He took a few quick steps to you. You stood your ground, trying to be as brave as possible. Your mask was slipping. The last thing you wanted right now was for Luca to see that you were cracking under his gaze. That would be fucking horrendous.

All of a sudden, Luca barked out a laugh. He looked like a madman. "This is about that Thomas bitch, isn't it?" You didn't answer, and your facial expressions gave nothing away. Then Luca snapped, "Isn't it?!"

"If you want to fucking shout, we can shout," you seethed. Luca blinked angrily at you. "We're adults - act like it."

"You're a condescending bitch."

"And you're an ugly prick, but I've never complained about that. You've called me a condescending bitch about 3 times and a flat-out bitch more than a dozen," you recalled quickly, with venom dripping off each syllable. It shut Luca up. However, he began to cry. You felt nothing but hatred now. "You're one pathetic bitch to be crying over the girl who you treat like a fucking doormat." Luca only cried harder. No sympathy. You spun on your heel and opened the door.

Without a glance back, you left.

Mrs. Batali smiled at you on your way out and gave you a freshly baked bun, which you thanked her profusely for.

It didn't take long for reality to set in, however. The adrenaline faded as you drove back to your flat complex. You began crying at the wheel and completely broke down in the car park. Tears streamed down your face like rivers, snot clogged your nose. Your mouth tasted horrible so you started to eat the bun Mrs. Batali had baked. It was so good that you started crying harder.

How the fuck could you do that? At this point, you were too sad to give a fuck about sobbing in a car park at 6 in the evening. You just threw in the towel of a year long relationship, in the blink of an eye. Like it was nothing and meant nothing to you whatsoever, which wasn't true at all. You felt like a horrible person.

Your chest clogged up with emotions and stale air, your throat grew a lump that you couldn't swallow down. Now you were the pathetic one. Crying in a shitbox car over your ex while eating fucking bread.

A tap on the window scared the Jesus out of you.

When you looked at the source, the other person was looking right back at you, looking worried and confused. Leave it to Thomas to look sad just because you were sad. Thomas looked so fucking good even though a blur of teary eyelashes. He made the hand crank motion, so you rolled down your window.

"Are you okay?" Thomas asked. You just started laughing. What a stupid fucking question. Thomas began chuckling, realizing how stupid it was himself. "Fair enough. Fancy a cup of tea and a chat or shall I leave you to your car bread?"

How the fuck could he make you laugh in times like these?

You smiled then shooed him away from your car door so you could open it. He obliged and moved back, for you to get out, still with bread and keys in hand. Thomas furrowed his eyebrows as you two began walking back to the flat complex you both lived in. "Aren't you going to roll up the window?"

"How the fuck is anyone meant to steal it when all the windows are up?" It was your turn to earn a laugh from Thomas. Thomas' laugh hit your ear like honey. The sort of honey that your mother gave you to cure your sore throat before nursery. It was soothing and just the right thing for the situation.

As you walked up the stairs with Thomas, you realized he was taking you to his flat. To be fair, he was the one who offered you tea. What's he going to do? Offer you your own tea?

Thomas unlocked the ugly blue door of his flat that everyone in the building had a copy of. The second you both walked into the flat, warmth enveloped you, along with sandalwood and spices from Thomas' extensive spice cabinet. He must have been cooking earlier because it smelt Heavenly. Everything was in perfect place with just the right amount of mess and disorganization to make it seem like a home.

"I'll put the kettle on, sit anywhere," Thomas instructed after you both took your shoes off. You were wearing ratty trainers while Thomas was wearing perfectly clean Vans.

You nodded and flung yourself on one of his couches with a sigh. The couch was soft, warm and welcoming and you felt tired from crying and yelling and just the day in general. It was a shit day, that started with your toast burning and ended with this shit. A nap would really do good.

However, Thomas had other plans entirely. He placed a purple mug, full of tea with what looked like your golden ratio of milk and sugar. Thomas was your best friend, of course he knew your golden ration. You knew his. With a smile, you sat up which allowed Thomas to sit beside you and drape his arm over the back of the couch.

"Feel like telling me why you were crying in your car?" Thomas asked. You laughed lightly and sipped the piping hot tea.

"Broke up with Luca about-" you checked a clock. "-30 minutes ago."

As horrible as it sounds, Thomas' face lit up. His facial features remained the same but his beautiful green eyes lit up like candles in a dark room. "Is that so?"

"He called me a condescending bitch."

"So he hasn't gotten a new script," Thomas smiled. You chuckled lightly and sniffed. Your nose was still clogged from all the crying. You just didn't feel like blowing your nose like an elephant in front of Thomas right now. "He'll never get the chance to get a new script for you now."

"Thank God above," you sighed out with a laugh to your words. Thomas smiled. "I'll miss his mum though. Wonderful lady."

Thomas sipped his own tea and you discretely moved closer to him. It wasn't as discrete as you'd thought because Thomas picked up and moved a bit closer to you with a stupid smile on his face. "So how'd it go down?"

Like friends do, you told him everything, down to the detail. All but Luca being right, with Thomas being the other man who'd stolen your heart. That wouldn't be a key detail here because the last thing you needed today was to dump your boyfriend then directly after scare your best friend away from you forever.

But he wasn't scared off by you telling him Luca though you were leaving him for Thomas. Thomas actually smirked at that part, like the thought amused him. You didn't think anything of it actually, except for how cute Thomas was when he was smirking.

Eventually, the conversation faded and you were hip to hip with Thomas. With a sigh, he rested your head in the crook of Thomas' neck. His feather soft hair tickled the side of your face but you wanted nothing else for the moment. The scent of Thomas' cologne was prominent when you were this close to him, but you weren't going to complain about that. His arm fell from the back of the couch to around your shoulders.

Feeling Thomas' head turn to you, you looked up at him. Thomas' hand lightly squeezed you arm. Your breath hitched in your throat as you thought you were imagining Thomas observing your face.

Those gorgeous green eyes that you could stare into all day were scanning your face gently. They landed on your lush lips, then back to your eyes. All it took was a small nod for Thomas to lean in.

It was slow. It was slow, but undeniably sweet. The passion was palpable the minute your lips met his, just as you had been dreaming of for months now. His pillow-like lips were perfectly moisturized, but not over-saturated. The lip balm he used was strawberry flavoured and you'd never admired strawberry flavoured lip balm as you were in this moment.

As suddenly as it began, it ended.

Thomas leaned back for a second, looking guilty. "You need time to get over Luca, this is wrong."

"I've been over Luca for months." You placed a kiss to his lips, which Thomas accepted for a second, then backed out of again. You groaned. "Thomas, Luca was right. I'm in love with you."

In a stunned silence, Thomas' cheeks turned bright red. A broad smile grew on his face and you felt confident in your confession. You meant it, surely, but now you were confident that you did the right thing in telling Thomas.

"I've been in love with you since we went to the Capitoline." Thomas' voice cracked as he made his confession. Your heart bustled with warmth. He'd been pining for you all this time just to watch you run with Luca.

You couldn't take your aching heart. Grabbing Thomas' face gently, you pressed your lips to his again. He gladly returned this kiss with fervour and renewed zeal. Nothing else mattered while your lips were joined with Thomas' lips. Nothing would ever be able to induce the utter happiness and peace you'd felt in this moment.

After the kiss lasting for a while, Thomas pulled you to sit on his lap. He cupped your sweet face gently and smiled into your brilliant eyes. He kissed your nose. "May I tell you something else, Y/n?"

"Anything."

"I don't think you're a condescending bitch."

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

This was Diamond Town. It was a small town surrounded by huge diamond mines and filled with diamonds dug out of said mine. It was also divided into two areas. The center was the "Town of Light" where aristocratic mansions were lined up. Surrounding it was the "Town of Wind" where ordinary, but cheerful residents lived. Kirby, Waddle Dee, and President Dedede were residents of the Town of Wind.

Kirby's home was a room in an apartment where no one lived. He was secretly living in a building that would soon be torn down. It was a rundown apartment, but Kirby loved it. The first reason was the the window. The window was partially broken, so it was well ventilated. Second, even if he sang as loud as he could, no one would get angry. The third thing was that a small airplane could be parked on the roof of the building. Kirby was very good at flying airplanes. He enjoyed carrying his luggage, taking an airplane, and going on an adventure to a distant city. 

Dedede, the president of a nearby factory, was his airplane racing rival. The maneuvering skill of President Dedede was not bad, but he was not as good as Kirby. In the race yesterday, Kirby brilliantly achieved a hundred consecutive victories against him. 

Even though the sun was high in the sky, Kirby was sleeping comfortably. A wooden apple crate placed near the window acted as his bed. In his dream, Kirby was boarding an airplane and flying around the sky. 

" ... Let’s ... do it ...  Somersault ...! " he said sleepily. The front door opened and Kirby's friend, Waddle Dee, jumped in.

"Good morning, Kirby! Hey, get up. Big news!" Waddle Dee gently woke Kirby. He rubbed his eyes and got up, still half-asleep. 

"Hmm ...? Ah, good morning, Waddle Dee. Breakfast, I'll have it ... "

"Yes, yes, finish up," Waddle Dee took a sandwich out of his pouch and handed it to Kirby. He always carried food with him for his gluttonous friend. Kirby's drowsiness immediately disappeared.

"Wow, egg and ham sandwich! I love your sandwiches!" Kirby smiled and bit in. 

"Hey, listen. There's big news," Waddle Dee announced in a loud voice. "This is this morning’s newspaper." Waddle Dee spread the newspaper and showed an article with a big photo.

Kirby stared at the newspaper blankly. "’An Ancient Machine Discovered in the Diamond Mine!’ ...? What is this?" 

"A mysterious machine was found in the mine. It's so old that it's buried all the way in the back. It seems that it was dug out by chance." 

"Hmm ... " Kirby wasn’t interested in diamonds or ancient machines. Waddle Dee grew frustrated.   

"It's a nice machine. Look at millionaire Mr. Fugo's photo and comments on it," Waddle Dee said. He showed Kirby a photo in the newspaper. 

The one in the picture was a smiling gentleman with a beautiful mustache. He was no stranger to the inhabitants of this town. Mr. Fugo was a rich man and the owner of a diamond mine. Not only that, Waddle Dee explained that most of the city, from railroad companies to bread factories, belonged to Mr. Fugo. 

"It seems that this ancient machine has great power, but it doesn’t work now."

"Why not?" 

"Because important parts of the machine are gone: the gears. So, Mr. Fugo put a prize on them. A prize of ... one million Point Stars!" 

Kirby wasn't interested at all when he heard the amount of money Waddle Dee shouted. He finished eating his sandwich and opened his hands with a bright smile.

"I’d like tuna and cucumber sandwiches tomorrow! Ah, but bacon and tomatoes are also good. It's delicious with fried shrimp and potato salad ... " 

"Ah, Kirby," said Waddle Dee. He spoke a bit louder so that Kirby could understand the greatness of the prize. "Listen carefully. Don’t you know how much that is? You can buy thousands of nice clothes!" 

"Hmm."

"You can buy thousands of high-end hats!"

"Huh."

"And ... and ...! You could eat a deluxe lunch for 100,000 people at Chef Kawasaki's restaurant!" 

" ... Eh!?"

Kirby, who hadn’t been listening until now, squealed with widened eyes. "100,000 servings ...!? Of the most luxurious deluxe lunch!?" 

"Y-yes, but that was just an example ... " 

"Wowwww!" Kirby grabbed Waddle Dee's hand tightly and started running. "Let's go, Waddle Dee! Fast, fast! If we don’t hurry, lunch time will end~!"

"Oh, calm down, Kirby," Waddle Dee said while being dragged along. "You need the prize to eat the deluxe lunch for 100,000 people, and you have to find the gears to get the prize." 

"Uh ... yeah ...? " 

Waddle Dee spread the newspaper. "The article. Read what it says."

According to millionaire Fugo, the ancient machine had the power to make everyone happy, however, the gears were stolen by an evil wizard and the machine stopped working. The stolen gears should still be sleeping somewhere in town.

"If the gears are found, the machine will work again. I want to make the citizens of this town happy. For that reason, I’m willing to put my entire fortune into it,” he had said, so he promised a huge prize for the gears of the ancient machine.

"But even if there wasn’t a machine like that, everyone would feel happy if they ate Chef Kawasaki's deluxe lunch," Kirby said curiously. Waddle Dee laughed. 

"If it were you, maybe, but everyone's wishes aren't the same as yours." 

"Eh?"

"I think ... " Waddle Dee said with shining eyes, "the wonderful ancient machine will surely fulfill each and every one of our wishes. Kirby's wish is to eat a lot. President Dedede's wish is to win an airplane race. I hope it’s a machine that can fulfill each and every one’s wish."

Kirby smiled. "What kind of wish do you have, Waddle Dee?"

"Huh?" 

"You must have a wish too, right? What kind of wish do you want to make?"

"I ... I, uh ... " Waddle Dee closed his eyes shyly and spoke. "I want to eat a sweet called ‘chocolate.’ Just a bite."

" ... Chocolate ... " 

You couldn’t get sweets in the Town of Wind. Only the aristocrats of the Town of Light could eat such luxury goods. Kirby sometimes flew to distant cities, so he had eaten delicious sweets from all over the world. Waddle Dee, however, had only eaten sweets by listening to Kirby's stories and imagining it. Even if Kirby bought souvenir sweets, they were all picked up by the guards at the entrance of the city. The rules of Diamond Town were strict, and people were not allowed to bring sweets in without permission. Kirby spread his hands wide.

"Don't say just a bite! Let's eat a lot—as much as we can!" 

Waddle Dee nodded. "That's right. Let's eat a mountain of chocolate together! I'm looking forward to it."

"Yeah! To do that, We have to find the gears!" 

"Let's do our best!" the two cheered.

Around the same time, President Dedede was visiting a café in the neighborhood. The store manager smiled at the president.  

"Welcome, President Dedede." 

"Give me the lunch special. I’ll have a large serving of bread with it."  

"Yes, the lunch special and a large serving of bread."

President Dedede was a regular customer of this shop, "Daroach’s Café." It was a small shop, but it was popular because it served good coffee and lunch. The store manager was a hard-working man named Daroach. 

President Dedede sat down by his favorite window, spread out his newspaper, and started reading. He spoke while Daroach brought out the plates.  

"Did you hear, manager? The big news in the newspaper?"

"Hm? Oh, do you mean yesterday's airplane race? I heard from a friend—it’s a shame." 

Dedede gave Daroach with a sour look. "Hmph! That’s boring, I don’t care about stuff like that. I'm talking about the ancient machine."

"What? Ancient machine?" 

"It seems a great machine was found in the diamond mine." President Dedede pointed to the newspaper.

Daroach read the article. He seemed amused. "Heh, I don't know about the truthfulness of it, but it's a fun story. What kind of machine makes everyone happy?" he said.

"Read the rest of the article. It says that someone will pay a prize for those gears."  

"Huh, really? Such a large amount of money. Just finding some gears can make you that much ...? " 

"They’re not just any old gears. They’re special gears that can make ancient machines move. They’re not easy to find. Hm, I don't know ... " 

"Right, but if anyone could find them, I bet it’d be you." President Dedede was quiet as he thought about Daroach’s words. 

"Really? You think so?"

"I do. You’re smart and have a lot of courage. I think you could do it."

"Wise words. Well, I think so, too."

"Heh, please find them. And if you get the prize, please order a special lunch every day at our store."

"Hahaha! I'll buy the entire store, more like it."

"I look forward to it."

President Dedede finished his meal in good spirits and began to leave. After he left, however—the aura around the store manager changed. Daroach muttered in a low voice, with a harsh light covering his face and a fearless smile in his mouth. 

"An ancient machine. Isn't that an interesting story?" At the same time, the door opened and a new customer came in. As soon as they did, Daroach returned to the face of a working store manager and greeted them with a cheerful voice.  

"Welcome! Seat yourself! Today's lunch special is hamburger steak!" 

The manager of the popular café was merely a guise. No one knew his true face in the Town of Wind.

The Town of Light, which was lined with aristocratic mansions, was a quiet area that was completely different from the messy streets of the Town of Wind. The road was wide and there was no trash to be seen. The scent of flowers from the gardens here and there was just right, and beautiful music could be heard from somewhere nearby. Every day and every night, a party was held in a mansion somewhere.

Tonight, a certain mansion in particular was crowded with guests who had arrived. Luxury meals were carried out one after another, and conversation was lively. During this, one of the guests stood up. He was a fine gentleman with a masked face and a red rose in his chest pocket.  

"Oh? Are you leaving already, Meta Knight? If you’d like, you can take the dessert home with you." The lady of the mansion, unfortunately, stopped the guest.

"It's an exquisite chocolate cake handmade by our chef. By all means, I insist you—"

"No, it's fine. I'm done." When Meta Knight left, the aristocrats whispered.  

"Maybe Meta Knight isn't interested in cakes ... "

"He's a cool person. I don't think sweet foods are good for his reputation ... " 

"Oh, such a shame. I’ll have to tell the chef not to make such a sweet dessert ... "

After leaving, Meta Knight got in his car and returned to his own mansion.

"Welcome back, my lord," the butler, Vul, greeted respectfully. "How was your party?" 

"The same as usual. Nothing but conversations and heavy food. I'm sick of it."

Meta Knight was polite in public, but not so much at home. He continued to speak as he walked down the corridor.

"Has anything changed while I was away?"

"No. There were no phone calls, and as for guests ... " Butler Vul opened the living room door. Just then ... 

"Hey, I’m home~!" 

A cheerful voice rang out from inside. Vul was so surprised he nearly fell over. Someone was sitting on the sofa, but Vul didn't remember guiding anyone.

"Huaghhhh!? Da- Da- Daroach ...!? Why you ...! From where did you ...!? " Meta Knight stopped him before he burst a blood vessel.

"It doesn't matter. The usual."

"It's because it's the usual that it's troublesome! Time and time again, in this house without my knowledge, sneaking into these halls—! Today, I have to say it's gutsy ...! "

"I said you’re dismissed."

"But ...! "

"Get me two cups of tea."

Butler Vul looked as if he was about to be sick, but when his lord, Meta Knight, commanded, he had to obey. When Vul left, Meta Knight turned to Daroach.

"Good grief. When you come next time, ring the doorbell and come in through the front door. Don't upset the butler." 

"Sorry, I’ve never gotten along with that guy." Daroach grinned and held up a paper bag. "For you: an eclair. I used a lot of the chocolate you gave me the other day. I was thinking about what kind of sweets to make since chocolate is a luxury item that I rarely get, but I thought a simple eclair was best."

" ... Thank you." 

Meta Knight’s countenance didn’t change, but his voice sounded happy. He didn’t dislike sweets. On the contrary, they were his favorite, however, the sweets that Daroach made were so delicious he couldn’t be satisfied with anything else. Aristocrat Meta Knight and Daroach, the café manager in the Town of Wind. Although they lived in different worlds, for some reason, they became friends after getting to know each other during a certain incident. It was rare, but if there was something wrong Daroach would sneak in from somewhere, like tonight. Butler Vul angrily brought in tea and left again. Daroach started his story. 

"Tonight's errand is about gears. Are you listening?" 

"Are they from a machine that was found in a diamond mine?"

"Oh. If you already know, I’ll make it quick. If someone finds all of the gears, they will get a great amount of money awarded to them."

"I'm not interested," he simply said.

Daroach looked disappointed. "Hmm. You're a very rich aristocrat, however, even if you’re not interested in gold, what about an ancient machine? Don’t you think it’s fascinating?"

" ... Not particularly."

"It's a machine made by a lost civilization. Its power is probably far greater than anything we can imagine."

" …………… "

Meta Knight was silent. He was not interested in money, but he was strongly attracted to mysteries and adventures. Daroach knew it well.

"To tell the truth, I don't want the prize, either." 

" ... What?"

"I want to know what Fugo’s true motive is. Why would he have such a ridiculous prize? I wonder if he's trying to take the gears for himself ... He says, ‘I want to make the citizens happy,’ but that can't be true."

Meta Knight nodded immediately. "I wonder." 

Mr. Fugo was known as a kind-hearted millionaire. He was grateful to everyone for holding parties and made donations for the residents of the Town of Wind, but Daroach and Meta Knight both knew it wasn’t how it seemed. 

Daroach had excellent subordinates. They dug into newspapers and worked in aristocratic mansions and passed on the information they gathered to the boss, Daroach. Mr. Fugo was anything but a kind-hearted millionaire. He tricked people, made sly deals, and made a lot of money. Daroach wanted to reveal the truth right away, but there was little evidence. He couldn’t stand by, though. If one turned a blind eye to evil, they would inevitably be crushed by its weight. He strengthened his voice.

"I'm sure he’s planning to use that ancient machine to make a lot of money. If we can get proof of that, we can expose him."

"Exposing evil ...? It doesn’t seem like you," Meta Knight laughed. "You're not a hero of justice. You're a thief, right? I thought you were only interested in treasure." 

"C’mon, stop it." 

Daroach stood up. Out of nowhere, he took out a red top hat and cloak and donned them gracefully. He grinned as he tipped his brim.

"You don't need to worry when you’re with someone like me. I am the great thief Daroach who travels the world!"

Yes, this was his true identity. In the daytime, a cheerful café manager, but at night, in the darkness, a bandit who steals the treasure of bad aristocrats. His technique was splendid and artistic. He didn’t hurt anyone, nor leave any sort of evidence. 

"Oh, I know. I'm sorry." 

When Meta Knight apologized, Daroach stowed his hat and cloak. He was back to how he was before.

"Please, tell me your reply. Let’s find out what Fugo’s up to, and let’s find out the mystery of the ancient machine, together. You and I."

"Okay." Meta Knight nodded. Daroach smiled.

"If that’s your decision, we’re ready to take action. First, we have to gather information. I'll use my subordinates to search. You investigate around Fugo." 

"All right."

"See ya," Daroach said.

He jumped with light footsteps and left through the open window.

In the blink of an eye, the great thief Daroach was gone.

< Previous | Table of Contents | Next >

[knifefather]

Ok hear me out, Bucci Gang finds an abandoned baby

ANON I LOVE THIS

｡ﾟ★: * 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓾𝓬𝓬𝓲 𝓖𝓪𝓷𝓰 𝓕𝓲𝓷𝓭𝓼 𝓪𝓷 𝓐𝓫𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓑𝓪𝓫𝔂 ｡ﾟ★: * SFW, beware of depictions of child neglect Under the cut for length! 

Imagine the whole gang walking back home from a night eating dinner at Libeccio. They're stuffed full of food and wine and they're all talking and joking like usual. Then, they hear it. Crying. Wailing. 

After sharing concerned looks with each other, they silently decide to investigate. Bruno leads the way, ushering the group near the alley where the sound is coming from. They're ready for a Stand fight, so they're all tense and at the ready. When Bruno whips around the corner, Sticky Fingers ready to battle, his facial expression changes to one of confusion rather than one of suspicion.

"What is it, Bucciarati? Where is the bastardo? I'll fill him with holes! Let me at him!" Narancia chirps, jumping in front of the entrance of the alley. Aerosmith buzzes above, ready to fire.

"Hold it, Narancia. I don't think that's a Stand user," Abbacchio says from behind him, gazing down the alley. "Bucciarati? What's going on?"

"It's... a baby," Bruno says, blinking slowly. He kneels down next to the clump of dirty blankets on the ground. He pulls the once light pink blanket to the side, revealing a small set of fists and a scrunched-up little face. The infant is crying, its lips almost blue from the cold.

"Where are the parents?" Giorno asks, walking up behind him. His lips are tugged in a frown as he gazes down at the abandoned child. It reminds him too much of his own childhood, and his heart can't bear the thought of leaving the baby behind, uncared for. Bruno cranes his head to look up at him.

"I don't know... But we can't leave it here. We have to take it home, at least for tonight," Bruno claims, gathering the baby in his arms. He can tell that it's been quite some time since the child had been fed or bathed. The observation sends the hot feeling of anger down his throat, pooling in his stomach. How could someone do this? In such a dangerous part of town, no less? He rocks the baby in his arms, trying to pacify it.

"What's going on?" Mista asks, rounding the corner. He is munching on some bread sticks that he had taken with him from the restaurant, his mouth full. "Whoa... Is that a baby? What the hell is it doing out here?"

"The parents must have left it behind," Fugo said from behind him, crossing his arms.

After that, the gang takes the baby home. Bruno sends Trish and Fugo to the store for supplies and promptly takes care of the baby's needs. Then, Giorno gets to work on healing the child’s ailments as well as he can. They learn that the baby is a girl. The child stays in Bruno's room over night, the mafioso waking up every so often to check that is she okay. At one point, Abbacchio knocks on his door, offering to watch over the baby. He heard Bruno waking up periodically during the night and took pity on him. He takes the baby for the rest of the night and allows Bruno to get some much-needed rest.

In the morning, the gang gets started on finding the baby's parents. They ask around town, inquiring if the locals knew anything about a baby left by Libeccio. They gathered no useful information, ultimately.

"Should we... put her up for adoption?" Bruno asks, hands clasped together as he struggles to think of a solution.

"I don't feel right doing that, Bucciarati. There's no guarantee that she would go to a good family," Giorno responds, shaking his head. "Do you think we could maybe... keep her?"

"You know that Passione is no place to raise a child," Bruno shoots back. "But, perhaps you have a point." He wanders over to the baby's crib, looking down at her inside. She's sleeping, her small hands curled around the stuffed animal he bought for her, and her mouth working over a pacifier as she slept.

"It would be rough... Nearly impossible, even,” Bruno added, his tone carefully controlled.

"Wouldn't it be worth it? At least here, we know she'll be cared for properly. Plus, I know you've grown attached to her," Giorno speaks, sidling up behind him and also gazing into the crib. “You have a big heart, Bucciarati. You want to care for people. This little girl needs to be taken care of. To be shown love.” Bruno winces at his words because they’re true. 

“Then it’s decided, isn’t it?” Bruno responds, not looking at Giorno. He reaches down into the crib and gently strokes the light, fine hairs that decorate her head. He can feel his heart melting in his chest and the child sleeps, her likeness of a baby angel. Her cheeks are rosy as she rests, a contrast from the sickly pale color she was when the gang found her. She gained weight quickly from being fed properly, and responded well to the care of the members of the gang. She loved to be held and cuddled, and was as well behaved as an infant could be. Bruno couldn’t deny his budding fatherly affection for her any longer.

“What should we name her?” Giorno asks, smiling as he watches Bruno interact with the baby. 

Bruno’s blue eyes shimmer as he gazes down at her. “How about... Angela? It’s perfect for her,” he whispers, losing track of time as he beams down at her, his gaze brimming with love.

[aestheticallyholland]

NEVER NOT | THE DATE . . .

❃ PAIRING tom holland x fem!reader

❃ DISCLAIMER i do not own the artists (and the reader) that are going to portray the characters, but i do own some of the their names. the plot of the story is inspired to the book and movie 'to all the boys i've loved before' but with changes. the gifs and photos used in this series are edited by me but i get credits to the originals. also, this series is first posted in wattpad by me. PLEASE DO NOT REPOST IT SOMEWHERE ELSE !

❃ WORD COUNT 3.2k words

WANNA BE ON THE TAGLIST? feel free to comment on this post if you wanna be added to this series' taglist to get notified for updates !

NEVER NOT MASTERPOST | LEI'S LIBRARY

"Sometimes, the more you get to know a person, the more attractive they become." — anonymous

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

IT HAS BEEN THREE WEEKS since Tom and Y/N made a deal to pretend as a couple. Who would have thought that they would actually last a week?

As usual, Y/N did her morning routine during school days. Waking up, taking a bath, eating and going out of the house.

She ate the last piece of bread and cleaned up the table before going out of the house.

"Dad! I'm going now!" Y/N exclaimed to her dad who was still upstairs.

"Take care, darling!" He replied back that made Y/N smile before closing the door behind her. She adjusted her bag and walked going to school.

She sang some of the lyrics of never not by Lauv as she was walking until someone suddenly interrupted her and made her startle.

"Morning, love!" A familiar voice suddenly said and that made her almost fall.

"Holland! You twat." Y/N scolded him and that just made him laugh at her.

"Didn't know you had an angelic voice." He said and grinned at her. That made her cheeks blush and felt embarrassed when he heard her sing. No one has ever heard her sing except for her family and Erika.

"H-how did you-" Then she gasped. "You really are a stalker." She teased him remembering that she called him that before.

"Hey! I just want to walk with my girlfriend." He said. All of a sudden, Y/N's heart suddenly pounded so hard the moment he said that. It's as if they were really together as a couple.

No. No. No. No, Y/N. Stop it!

"Whatever, Holland." She asked and flipped her hair and continued walking. Tom just chuckled at her act and jogged towards her to catch up.

"Wait up, babe." He said and that made Y/N roll her eyes.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Going lunch with the one and only Tom Holland was far different from when it was only Y/N and Erika. Y/N was with her boyfriend's group of friends and that made her feel out of place.

As they were laughing and talking, Y/N just sat there awkwardly, not saying anything until she felt an arm around her shoulders that startled her. Tom was already noticing that Y/N was out of place so he did what he had to do.

"Are you okay, babe?" He asked with a concerning face and that made her smile at him.

"Yes, Tom. I just feel out of place." She whispered it so that his friends wouldn't hear.

"I'll make it up to you later." He said. "How about a date after school?" He asked her.

"Well, dating wasn't in the contract so-"

"Stop thinking about the contract for a while." He said. "Consider this as a two-week anniversary. My treat."

Y/N felt a slight blush coming from her cheeks but she shrugged it off and roll her eyes on him, playfully. "Alright, Holland." She smiled at him and he made an expression of joy.

"Hey, Y/N!" She heard Harrison called her and she looked at him with a 'what?' expression.

"Would you slap Tom for 100 dollars?" He joked and that made the other laugh at him except for Tom who just glared at his best mate.

"Shut it, Osterfield." Y/N heard Tom said.

"Who said that I wouldn't?" Y/N joked back and that made his friends laugh more. Tom looked at her like how he glared at Harrison and that made her smile at him wide.

"I'm kidding babe." She said and kissed him on his cheek which caused his friends to tease both of them.

"Shut it, you dweeb."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"Hey, Aria. I won't be having dinner with you guys today, if you don't mind. I'm going out with Tom to have dinner together." Y/N said through her phone on her ear.

"My sister is all grown up." She started and Y/N could hear her squeal from the phone. "Of course, I'll let dad know."

"Thank you, Sis."

"And remember, stay protected!" That was what her sister said. When Y/N got what it meant, she was about to scold Aria but instead, the call had already ended.

"Why are people acting so weird today?" She asked herself as she kept her phone to her pocket until she heard her best friend's voice calling her from the hallway.

"Y/N!" She looked at where the voice was coming and saw Erika running towards her with a paper on her hand.

"Erika!" Y/N called back and Erika reached her and she panted at first from running.

"Why the hell were you running?" Y/N asked as Erika was trying to catch her breath.

"Maybe I should go back to track and field again. Damn, my back hurts when I run." Erika said and stretched her back. "But anyway!"

"I got an A+ for the first time of my life, Y/N!" She squealed and showed the paper that she was holding to Y/N's face. "See!"

Y/N got startled when Erika suddenly shove the paper to her face. "Oh my god, how did you do that?" Y/N asked while scanning through the paper.

"It's called, luck!" Erika exclaimed which caused people to look at her but of course, she doesn't care. "Anyways! Do you want to go somewhere after this?" She asked as she kept her test paper on her bag.

"Tom already asked me out for dinner," Y/N said and that made Erika put her hand on her chest.

"Are you ditching me for him?" Erika asked in a dramatic way and Y/N could just chuckle. "I'm kidding! Go have fun and stay protected."

Y/N glared at her. "I'm not going to do it with him!" She said and that made Erika laugh.

Erika saw someone behind Y/N and smirked. "There's your prince charming. I better go. Enjoy your date, lovebirds!"

Y/N turned around only to meet chocolate eyes looking at her. She smiled at him and walked towards him. He smiled back at her as he stopped walking and just looked at her.

How did she get this pretty? He asked himself.

What the hell, Tom? Another voice asked and he shrugged if off.

"Ready to go?" He asked her.

"Where are we going through?" She asked and they walked together going outside.

"To the restaurant you told me that you and your dad would go." He told her and his eyes widen.

"The last time I went there was a month ago." She said.

"And that's about to change." He said and placed an arm around her as they head towards his car.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

It was past six in the evening when they've arrived in the restaurant. Y/N was too excited that when Tom parked his car, she suddenly went out first. She was so ready to eat whatever they're going to order.

This place was full of memories for her.

"Relax, Y/N." She heard Tom say and closed the door to his car to go to her

"I missed this place." She said. "Let's go!" She grabbed his hand and went inside the restaurant.

As they went inside, she could feel the good old vibes that she felt since she first went here with her parents. She looked around and saw a familiar face on the counter.

"Aunt Mary!" She greeted and the lady looked up from the counter. She squinted her eyes to see who it really was.

"Y/N?" She called back and Y/N nodded and walked towards her aunt. She wrapped her arms around her aunt and have a loving hug.

"How are you, my dear?" Aunt Mary asked.

"I'm alright. School is just driving me crazy." Y/N answered and she felt Tom going beside her.

"And who is this young man?" Her aunt asked.

"This is Tom Holland. My—"

"Her boyfriend, Ma'am." He interrupted Y/N with a smile and shook hands with her Aunt.

"My little girl is grown up, oh my." She answered. "Since when, dear?"

"Just two weeks ago, Auntie," Y/N answered.

"Well, I won't disturb you on your date tonight." Aunt Mary teased and turned to Y/N. "The usual, dear?" She asked and took out a pen and pad paper.

"Yes, please," Y/N said.

"How about you, Tom?" She turned to Tom to ask for his order.

"I would like some burger and just soda, please." He said.

"Alright. The usual table is waiting for you Y/N. And the jukebox is there too." Aunt Mary said and Y/N got excited once more.

"Thank you, Auntie," Y/N said and held Tom free hand and head towards the usual table that they use whenever they go in the restaurant.

Y/N sat down and Tom sat down in front of her. He noticed a small jukebox that was on their table.

"Are there jukeboxes in every table here?" He asked and observed the jukebox.

"Not all actually." She said. "When I was a kid, we would go here most of the time and it just happened that Aunt Mary works here."

"Is she like a relative or something?"

"She's my mom's best friend actually since their high school years." She answered. "So she's like my second mother."

"That explains why you're close." He said and looked at Y/N as she tugged her hair to her ear.

"She was the one who took care if me and Aria when my mom passed away. My dad became depressed for a few years because of that and couldn't concentrate on taking care of us."

Y/N could remember her dad becoming depressed when their mother died. He started to drink every night and she would usually catch him crying in his room with a bottle of wine on the floor.

"Your dad really loves your mom." Tom interrupted Y/N's thoughts.

"He does, really." She said and sighed while looking around the restaurant, how people and families are eating happily together. "There are so many memories in this restaurant."

"Like?" He asked.

"This is where my dad met my mom when she was still working here for a part-time job with Aunt Mary." She started. "My mom was a hard to get girl even though she started developing feelings for my dad." She chuckled at the thought.

"Your dad's a fighter then," Tom said and chuckled.

"Indeed, he was." She said and smiled. "They went on dates here until Aria and I was born."

"I wish I met your mom honestly," Tom said.

Y/N just looked at Tom and smiled. She likes that he was just listening to her and he liked that about guys.

She placed her head on her hands and just looked at him. "You're a good listener, eh?" She asked and Tom just chuckled.

"Indeed I am."

Y/N was about to ask something when she got interrupted by Aunt Mary's voice going towards them.

"Your orders are here!" She said with trays on her hands and she placed then down their table.

"Enjoy your date, darlings." Aunt Mary said before going away from them.

"Thank you, Auntie," Y/N said and Tom just smiled at her aunt.

They started to eat their respective food and Y/N was enjoying herself until she remembered what she wanted to ask Tom a while ago.

"How many girls have you been with before Camille?" She asked as she at her fries and looking at him.

He paused for a while to look back to the past. "Two actually, but the first one was like not an official relationship. We just both liked each other until it faded." He answered. "And the second girl was the first girl that I had an official relationship with until things got out of hand that I'd rather not talk about." He ate one of his fries before he continued talking. "Then there was Camille whom I've been with for almost two years."

"I didn't know both of you lasted that long," Y/N said. She only heard about the both of them when they were upcoming seniors and she couldn't believe that Camille finally got the one she had a crush on when they were still in middle school.

And the fact that she hated me because I got to have my first kiss with Tom was just unbelievable. Y/N thought to herself.

"I thought she was worth it until she broke it off," Tom said and looked down. Y/N looked at him with awe and placed her hand on top of his. Tom looked at her and he saw her smile at him.

"I'm starting to get over it though." He said and Y/N just giggled. "That's a good thing, right?" She asked.

"Yep. I like hanging out with you better." He said while taking a bite of his burger.

And that made her heart skip a beat. She felt her cheeks heated. "R-really?"

"Of course." He said with his strong British accent.

She shrugged off the feeling that she felt and tried to change the subject.

"The best part of this restaurant is the jukebox," Y/N said and looked at the jukebox that was on their table. "Do you have a coin with you?" She asked him.

He looked for a coin on his pocket until he felt a tiny circle and got it out. "Here." He handed her the coin.

Y/N got the coin from him and inserted it on the jukebox. She pressed the button where the music will start to play and it was perfect timing that the song that was playing Bring It On Home To Me by Sam Cooke.

"Oh my god. This is my parents' song!" She said in a happy way and looked at Tom. "They used to dance this together when they come here." She said and had an idea. She stood up from her seat and Tom looked at her with confusion.

"What are you doing?" He asked and chuckled.

"Dance with me." She said and grinned.

"Really, Y/N?" He asked her and she nodded.

"Come on!" She insisted and grabbed both of his hands to pull him up from his seat. When he stood up, he placed his arms around her waist and Y/N placed her arms around his neck.

"This is nice." That was what Tom could only say when they were swaying around while holding each other. Y/N smiled at him and felt his shyness to dance. "The people won't mind, Tom. Don't be shy." She whispered in her ear.

"Who said that I was?" He asked and Y/N laughed.

"I can read your face, Holland." She said and they continued to dance until the song came to an end. She placed her head on his chest and could hear his heartbeats.

It was beating fast. She thought but she didn't mind it.

After the song ended, Tom guided her back to her seat like a gentleman. He sat back in front of her and was ready to go.

"I'll just pay the bills to your Aunt. I'll be right back." He said.

"I'll wait for you outside," Y/N said and got her stuff and went out of the restaurant first.

When she was outside, she looked at Tom was on the counter and was smiling while talking to her aunt like a real boyfriend he was.

It felt like it was a real date rather than a pretend one. From the dancing, to the opening up with each other and everything else. It was natural for them already.

What is this feeling? She asked herself.

She looked back at Tom who was already waving goodbye to her aunt and went out of the restaurant.

"What did my aunt say to you?" Y/N asked him and just chuckled.

"She asked how old I am." He answered and opened the door to his car for Y/N.

"Such a gentleman." She said and went inside the car.

"So where are we going now?" Y/N asked as Tom was driving.

"My house. I want you to meet my family." The moment he said that Y/N felt her hands shaking.

"W-what?" She asked.

"Yup, just for a while then I'll take you home. All of them are free tonight and tomorrow, they'll be busy again." He said.

Y/N just nodded but could still feel nervous. She had never had a boyfriend and now she's going to meet her pretend boyfriend's parents.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"Good evening, mum," Tom said to the lady in front of him and she looked at him with a smile.

"Hello, Thomas." She said and noticed Y/N beside him. "Who is this lovely young lady?" She asked.

"Y/N Y/L/N. His girlfriend, Ma'am." Y/N said with a smile.

"Please, call me Nikki. I feel old when you call me Ma'am, honestly." She said.

"Mom, we were just here to drop by. I have to drop her off to her house." Tom said.

"Alright. Please drop by here soon, dear." Nikki said while she looked at Y/N. "It would be nice to have lunch or dinner with you sometime."

"I will definitely drop by soon, Nikki. Tom told me you're a great cook." Y/N said with a smile.

Nikki smiled back and wrapped her arms around Y/N to hug. "You're a great lady, Y/N."

"Thank you, Nikki," Y/N replied and pulled away from the hug to go beside Tom.

"We'll be going now, Mum," Tom said.

"Don't go home too late, darling," Nikki told her son.

"I won't!" He replied and led Y/N back to his car. She waved and smiled one last time to his family before going into the car.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Tom parked his car right in front of Y/N's house and turned off the engine. Y/N removed her seatbelt and opened the door to go out and Tom did the same. They walked together towards the front door and stopped when they've reached there.

Y/N turned to face him and gave him a smile. "Thank you for the date, Thomas."

"You're really going to start calling me by that from now on?" He asked and that made Y/N giggle.

"I'm your girlfriend, so yes." She said and giggled more which made Tom smiled at her. He found her so beautiful when she laughs.

"But seriously though." She tugged a hair behind her ear. "Thank you for taking me to that restaurant and for letting me meet your family." She said.

"You deserve it, love," Tom said and Y/N felt a blush when he called her that endearment.

"I'll get going now, Tom." She said and unlocked the front door with her keys and opened it. Before closing, she turned around to look at him once again. "Good night." She smiled.

"See you in school, love." He said and smiled back.

Before she went in, she suddenly went near Tom and pressed her lips to his right cheek. She gave a smile before going inside her house and closed the front door.

Tom was left dumbfounded by the kiss and touched his right cheek like an idiot. He smiled to himself and chuckled because of her cute action. He finally walked towards his car while Y/N watched him through the window and saw him drive away.

She closed the curtain and walked up towards her room with a smile on her face.

❃ TAGLIST @allthisfortommy @kait4073 @lovebittenbyevans @l0ve-0f-my-life @spiitfiires

[giulsherondale]

"Welcome Eda!"

Ehm Balca, dear, this is not your home so please don't behave like it is... Ahh my nerves.

And more the earrings tactic... Soo childish. I really can't stand her.

Loved that Eda literally throw the popcorn into Serkan's belly😂

And Sirius at the end, I love my son.

Honestly... I really love Ferit and Ceren together. They are so cute, and I love how Ferit is trying to correct his mistake. He confesses that he is love with her, that he constantly thinks about her. So sweet.

Serkan telling Eda that the first time they met she used the same tactic of Balca because she forget her bag in his car. I love flirty Serkan and the fact that he remembers everything about Eda and their relationship.

The bet, honestly this is only the pretext so that Serkan can take Eda to Paris and have a romantic moment so the two of them.

"What does Efe wants?"

"You heard. I said I'll talk to him in the office."

"How strange. Not answering anyone's calls, and doesn't answer questions. But he calls you."

"I still work for him Serkan. Did you forgot? Okay, let's move on to our bet. Perhaps you agree that I won."

"I've told you. Nothing is clear yet."

"What has to happen for you to understand? How much clearer should it be? She ordered the same dish."

"Maybe."

"She said she was interested in the stars."

"Everyone loves stars."

"This was not enough, she also said 'Love' looking into your eyes Serkan."

"I think when she talked about love she was thinking about another person Eda."

"She answered by looking at you."

"Who else Eda? There were two people in front of her. Either you or me. Should she look at the salt shaker?"

"Either you are really stupid, or you pretend not to understand. Okay. It won't last long. It is seen, in a couple of days she will already confess her love to you."

"And you will win the bet right?"

"Of course. It's not my business."

"I agree."

"At the end of the day, what matters is how you respond to Balca's attention."

"You're right. This is a special topic that only concerns me and Balca. This is between us."

"Between you? There is something? Then I will call her."

"Eda sit down please. You..."

"I'm not jealous of you Serkan Bolat."

"You're not jealous... Really?"

"Think for yourself what could have been. Is this funny?"

"Okay... But I'm jealous of you like crazy. What to do about it?"

"You crossed the boundaries again. We'd better have coffee in the office."

"Let's have coffe here."

"I have something important to discuss with Efe. We will have coffee in the office."

"Efe can wait."

"Then I'll send him a message."

"No emoji."

This was hilarious. Eda kicking Serkan under the table and Balca was obviously flirting all the time. I loved Eda expression, she was so jealous. Serkan is soo smart, I think that he is well aware that Balca is flirting with him and he pretend not to see in order to push Eda to near to him. My smart babe.

Engin and Piril... I really like them. They are opposite of each other but they are so in love. And I think their love is actually more stronger that the difference they have. And they take out the best part of each other.

"As if there is an invisible connection between them."

Balca, dear, believe me there is... There is. So better not to put your nose between Eda and Serkan because nothing will change.

"Your coffee Eda Yildiz. Much better now. When you aren't stressed, you're becoming even more beautiful."

"Don't stress me out then."

"I don't."

This moment was so sweet and romantic. Obviously ruined by Balca. And then when Eda takes his coffee mug I was laughing out loud. Love that my girl is marching HER territory.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING BALCA?! I think she is really stupid because of course by removing the paper in the dossier Serkan will lose faith in Eda but you're damaging everyone and the holding too. She's so silly. And Balca even said that she felt hurt by seeing Eda and Serkan close the night before... Darling you know him for two days what the hell???? I hate her really.

Soo the interview and the photoshoot aren't enough... Balca you aren't spending too much time alone with Serkan and you even ask him to get a photo together and post it... Balca age 33... Balca real age 10.

"Well, until I'm 100% sure, this bet will continue Eda."

"What else should happen to make you 100% sure? What else? I'm just wondering."

"For example... When she look at me I have to feel that everything inside of her melts... When she's trying not to show her excitement... I have to see it by the way she look away... And when she try to stand firm... I have to see that her heart starts to beat faster... In her breath, in her voice, in her scent, even in her veins... I must feel this love."

"Serkan..."

"When she says my name... I must feel everything inside of her tremble."

TOO MUCH HOTNESS IN THIS SCENE🔥

Serkan reads her like a book... Honestly I don't know what to say about this scene... It speaks for itself. And plus new Serkan is enjoying his life, especially when he has the woman who he's in love with in front of him... Ahh Serkan❤️

"I really need Serkan"

Sorry Balca maybe I did not understand well... You NEED Serkan? For what? I really don't get her and I think I never will.

"His partner will arrive tomorrow and he wanted me to bring some flowers to his house and get everything in order."

"You went to his house? While I was doing the interview, you were at this man's house?"

"Yes I was. But there was nobody here. So I left some flowers and left. Anything else?"

"What kind of psycho would want flowers in his house? Is he romantic?"

"What's the problem? At least he doesn't have any allergies."

"And I also have another kind of allergy."

"What kind?"

"I'm allergic to Efe. I don't trust him."

"You should trust me. I know what's right and what's wrong."

Ohhh Eda, honey, you don't have an idea how wrong you are... And I love that Serkan says that he's allergic to Efe. My jealous boy.

I really like boys time, I like when Serkan, Engin and Ferit are together. And every each of them have some suspects on Efe,his behavior and the secret partner.

"You won."

"What?"

"You won."

"What did I win?"

"You won the bet."

"What bet?"

"Serkan, you won the bet."

"Ah... Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Balca is a little in doubt, so it happened. But she may still like you."

"Of course."

"I'm sure about it. You cannot change my opinion. She's just not running after you. As a result you won I lost."

"As a result, then, we are going to have dinner in Paris."

"It seems to me not to worth so many adventures. We can just go to that restaurant with flowers..."

"No no. A bet is a bet. Is it not? Therefore, after the results of the tender are announced tomorrow, we will take my plane and fly to Paris."

"It seems that I have no other choice."

GIVE US EDSER IN PARIS PLEASE✨❤️

During the ice skating scene was like the director told them to do whatever they want, have fun with each other, just be themselves. And I think we saw that, everyone was having fun, was laughing. In fact I really loved the scene it was one of my favorite of the whole episode.

"What?"

"I haven't laughed like that for a long time. It did me good."

"Me too."

"You keep well on ice."

"Ah yes? I am good in the air, on the ground, on the ice, in the elevators when you're around."

"Stop showing off. And when I'm not there?"

"You are always there. And you always will."

"Maybe tomorrow... Instead of going to Paris, can we eat fish and bread on the water front?"

"I will never agree. We will fly to Paris anyway. Have you ever benn to Paris before?"

"No. If you've noticed, I don't even ask you."

"I went. But to be honest, this is the first time I'm so worried."

"You probably planned everything hourly now. What are we going to do?"

"Yes. We will have a wonderful tourist route. First we will climb the Eiffel Tower, and then visit the best cafes and pastry shops. We will dine in restaurants. And then we will meet the order over the Seine. And then the Bridge of Arts and the Bridge of Lovers. But of course, none of this worries me so much..."

"Yes? What worries you?"

"Get lost with you in Montmartre."

"You won't get lost. You will not be lost anywhere. It seems to me that you even have a map of places where you are going in your head."

"You're right. But I've never been there before."

"Why?"

"Because I gave myself my word. I promised myself that I would go there with the girl that I really love. And it's you."

"Suddenly it got hot..."

Plus we got Serkan saying "Mon amour, je t'aime" and when she said that she understood what he said Serkan throw the ultimate romantic bomb "Because love has no linguage".

THIS IS POETIC CINEMA✨

Who the hell is Piril father?!😳

He has to be someone really important. He even has the guards.

And the final... Boommm... Grandma has come. I can't wait to see her and her plans.. In the fragment we saw that she will help Balca with Serkan because se has a "future husband" for Eda... Clearly grandma has no idea who Serkan Bolat is, he will never give up on Eda. Moreover I think that grandma arrivals is the thing that will unite Aydan, Ayfer, Eda and Serkan. They will work as a team against grandma. I can't wait to see it.

[ratchedspeach]

Prompt

Alice (Mrs America) ends up in part of the student section at the ERA event and reader is one of the students. The reader helps her back to her room safely, reader comes to check on her the next day and Alice invites her out for dinner.

I'll let you have fun with it from there.

Love your work!

I’ve never written a /reader fic before. I hope I lived up to the challenge! I changed the dinner bit just slightly. Hope that’s alright! This is an AU based of Episode 8

You first notice her standing in one of the far corners of the room, fingers tracing the diamond shaped patter of the wallpaper with her lips drawn into a soft “o”. Clad in a soft lavender dress, her loose curls spill over her shoulders and mingle with the sheen of sweat slicked against her forehead. She backs away when she sees you approach, cramming into the corner like she thinks she might be able to pass through the other side. Her pupils are the size of saucers, and you smile, knowing the signs of an LSD trip all too well from personal experience. She tells you her name is Alice with tight smile. When you give her yours, she repeats it like she can taste the sylabols as they roll off her tongue.

“You’re a little lost, aren’t ya?” She bobs her head in agreement, giggling like a child whose had too much sugar. Her tongue darts across her upper lip, and she studies you. “C’mon,” you take her by the forearm, “let’s get you to your room.”

“How long have you been with them?” Alice asks you with a slight rasp in her voice. She’s surprisingly lucid for someone whose tripping. “You know ... the lesbians.” She whispers the last words like she’s protecting you from the empty hotel lobby her nose crinkling.

You choke on a laugh, and her brown eyes go wide. “No, no, it’s alright!” You assure her before she can recant. In truth, you’re touched by the innocence of her prodding. “I came out my first year of college. I’m a senior at Oberlin. The ERA gave me a family when my own decided they didn’t want me anymore.” Alice stops mid stride and looks at you in earnest, tears prickling the corners of her vision. High people are so sensitive. “In hindsight, it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” You wipe away a single tear that’s escaped with your thumb before taking her by the hand and pulling her forward.

Maybe it’s the way she watches the world through new eyes, like she’s seeing it for the first time, or maybe it’s how cool the skin of her fingertips fees against yours; the sheer knowledge that she’s nearby sends your stomach twisting into knots. Guilt knocks against your throat as you pull her through the hotel. She’s not like me. She���s just lost ... in more ways than one.

Alice stops around the corner from where she says her room is, taking you by the shoulders and planting a kiss swiftly on your cheek. “Thank you.” She breaths it like it’s a secret, eyes glinting. You stammer around your words as she strokes the cotton of your sweater with her thumb. She begins to study the material, a gasp hitching in her throat. “It’s moving!” She marvels, licking her lips before she turns her gaze to you. “Your sweater is magic. How’d you make it do that?”

You snort in spite of yourself, placing a hand over hers. “Christ, you’re high. Do you even know that you’re high?”

Alice bites the inside of her cheek as she ponders it. “I think so.” She decides. “I hung up on my mother earlier.” A soft giggle lilts in her voice.

“Have dinner with me?” The words spill over your lips before you can stop yourself. Shit. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean - I don’t want to assume that you ... I just-“

Alice puts a finger to your lips, brow furrowing. “Ok.” She says it so plainly, like it’s obvious.

“I ... oh, ok. Alright, yes. Um, tomorrow? 8 o’clock? I can meet you right here, if you’d like.”

The older woman nods, squeezing your shoulder gently, before she saunters off in the direction of her room.

*

“You’re a reject!

Alice’s head throbs - it has all day. Her memory of the night before is muddled at best. She remembers speaking to people, but can’t make out faces. She remembers being hungry, so very hungry, and there’s the faintest recall of kissing someone. She chalks it all up to alcohol.

She’s lying to herself, and she knows it.

Alice spends most of the day in bed nursing a bad hangover and ignoring the sinking sense of guilt that she owes Pamela an apology. She pops two Advil and swallows them dry as pressure builds behind her retinas.

She’s supposed to see Phyllis today - she’s supposed to stand in solidarity with her STOP ERA “sisters”. She’s supposed to do something else, too, but she can’t quite recall what it is. Alice goes to the window of her hotel room, squinting as she opens the blinds in preparation for the sun. When light doesn’t hit her face, she checks her watch.

7:30 pm.

The number looms like death sentence, and Alice’s eyes go wide. “That ... that girl!” She says it like she’s expecting her to appear in front of her. Shuffling towards her suitcase, Alice tears through dresses and skirts. I must look awful. She cringes at the thought of looking in a mirror as she shimmies in a flannel dress - deep blue, and soft to the touch.

Her suspicions are confirmed when she finally chances a look at herself in the mirror. Mascara still creases the bags under her eyes, and her hair is matted with sleep. “I don’t have time.” Alice runs her fingers through her waves, tucking a few lose strands behind her ears, washes her face with soap at water without waiting for the sink stream to warm up.

“A reject. You’re a reject!”

Alice shakes her head, glancing at herself once more in the mirror before accepting that this is as good as it will get.

*

You get there early, waiting in the bend of the hotel hallway as you fidget with the buckle on your cross-body satchel. You know there’s a chance that this will all be some cruel cosmic joke, that Alice won’t know what it is she was agreeing to, that she might not even remember -

“Hello.” Her voice pulls your gaze upwards. She’s smiling at you with only the faintest recollection twisting in her eyes. Your stomach churns. She doesn’t remember.

“Alice, hi. I-I’m -“

“Oh good.” She breaths, cutting you off befor you can stumble over your own tongue any longer. “It is you. I thought I thought maybe I was wrong. I was ... pretty drunk last night.”

You quirk an eyebrow. “Oh, is that all?” Blood rushes to her cheeks.

“Yes, well, I suppose you’d know better, wouldn’t you?” She picks at her nailbed, smiling sheepishly. Please don’t hate me for it. “I’m sorry if I was any trouble.”

“Oh, no! No you were ... you were just fine.” You clear your throat and will your knees to stop shaking. “Are you hungry?” Alice nods. “I know a place around the corner from here. It’s nothing fancy, but I figured if you were interested, we could -“

“I’d like that.” I would? I would. Alice catches herself off guard with her self assurance.

She’s soft spoken, but there’s a fortitude to her words that makes your throat close. You swallow the lump in your throat and offer her your hand. She studied it for a moment like she’s not sure it’s really there, before taking it in her own, and following you down the hall.

Alice looks like a fish out of water. You release her hand when you see the way she pales in the hotel lobby. Be patient with her. You remind yourself as you open the lobby door and usher her through it. True to your word, the restaurant is around the corner - a quaint little Italian spot that you’d spent the last few nights at with college friends.

“I told you it’s not much.” You apologize before you’ve even walked inside.

Alice’s eyes are fixed on the red awning. “I think it’s nice.” She tucks a few pieces of hair behind her ears and smiles up at the gold letters reading Preggo in practically illegible calligraphy. “I always wanted to study Italian.” Alice admits when you’ve been seated at a table in the far corner of the trattoria.

“Oh? Why didn’t you?”

Alice’s brow furrows. “Well, I ... I never went to college.” She picks at a piece of bread, holing it out in the center without ever actually eating any of it. “I got married at 19, and from there ... well ... Buck I wanted to have a family. There wasn’t much time with babies in the house.”

Your stomach drops through the soles of your shoes. “You’re married?”

Brown eyes flick towards you, wide with something akin to fear. “I suppose I should have told you.”

You shake your head. “I’ve dated married women before, Alice. There’s more of you than you think.”

“More of ... me?”

You lean back in your chair, taking a sip of ice water to steady yourself. “You know ... women who ... who are curious about what it’s like to be with other ... you know.” Alice’s lips pull into a thin line. You’re scaring her. Alice stills, Christ, she barely even blinks, and you think that this is it; this is the end of this doomed date. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have presumed that you were-“

“You’re right.” There it is again, that blunt naievity that you’ve only ever seen in children before. “I ... I suppose I hadn’t given it much thought before now, but why else would I have said yes?”

You smile, giving her the benefit of the doubt. “I mean, you were positively rolling.” You wink, and Alice blushes, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. She’s so beautiful.

“Fair point.” She concedes as the waiter comes to take your order.

PART 2 HERE

[the-winter-smoulder]

What The Hell...

Pairing: Bucky x reader

Series Word Count:  1,880

Warnings: Language! Mentions of Death, CLIMB ABOARD THE ANGST TRAIN... followed by the Fluff caboose!!

Seriously... What the HELL?!

Since the defeat of Thanos, nothing has really been the same, especially not for Sam and Bucky.

Read Chapter 9 Here

Chapter 10: What The Hell Am I Supposed To Do Now?

God, she’s amazing. Why did I tell her that? What’s the matter with me?

Bucky was silently chastising himself as he quickly showered and dressed. He thought about how effortlessly she moved, how her instincts matched, no, surpassed his own when it came to fighting. He thought about how cute she looked with that triumphant smirk on her face when she pinned him down.

Sexy smirk... NO! Bucky! Stop it! You can’t think of her that way!

He scowled at himself in the bathroom mirror. He trudged toward his bed, flopping himself down as he sighed. “Shit,” he whispered, staring up at the ceiling. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

Don’t fall in love with her – that's weird. Unless she’s into it? AH! Bucky, stop! You’re disgusting.

He sat up, pulling his boots on, still thinking and over thinking.

Ask her to go out for something to eat. It’s harmless. Get out of the compound for a little while.

Bucky stood, grabbed his wallet, keys, and took one final look at himself in the mirror by the door. He ran his fingers through his short, damp hair. Sleeves of his black button-down shirt rolled up to his mid forearms, dark blue jeans, tight around his bulging thighs.

Dude, you look like you’re going on a date. Change your shirt. Something more casual.

He cocked his head to the side, looking himself over again.

“You look fine. It’s not a date... it’s a meal with a friend,” he convinced himself out loud before grabbing his leather jacket.

Yeah, just a friend... nothing more.

     -----💥🌀💥🌀💥🌀💥🌀💥🌀💥🌀-----

“Shit!” Y/n cursed as she tore through her closet, trying to find something – anything – to wear.

She looked at her reflection in the window, and she cocked her head to the side.

Damn butterflies! Calm down! It’s not like it’s a date. It’s a meal... with a friend... in the kitchen.

“Shit, Y/n, calm the fuck down!” she quietly yelled to herself.

What if he wants to go out though? Should I wear jeans? Leggings? A dress?

“But he’s not. He’s a different Bucky,” she reminds herself out loud.

What was that twinkle in his eye? Was it even a twinkle? He’s your dead fiancé's Grandfather for fuck’s sake!

She huffed as she pushed her hair from her eyes, stilling herself for a moment as she took a deep breath.

It’s gross. Or is it? Ugh! Shut up, Y/n!

“Jeans. T-shirt. Boots. Go.”

She checked herself in the mirror. Dark blue jeans that hugged her curves, crimson t-shirt, black boots that zipped up to her knees. Neutral eye makeup, little bit of mascara and slightly tinted Chapstick.

Good choices. Harmless. Casual. Not a date.

“Casual, right?” she asked her reflection as she checked out her ass.

Only if you want to give the old man a heart attack, Y/n.

She sighed again, grabbed her wallet and leather coat.

“Just in case,” she replied to her reflection as she grabbed for the door handle.

     -----💥🌀💥🌀💥🌀💥🌀💥🌀💥🌀-----

Bucky and Y/n bumped into each other in the hallway – literally.

“Oof! Sorry!” Y/n said.

“My fault! I was just going to knock,” Bucky replied.

“So,” Y/n said, eyeing his jacket, “We’re going out?”

“Um... if you want. I thought maybe we could get some pizza and talk somewhere not around everyone here. Maybe show you around town a little. If that’s okay, of course!”

“Yeah! For sure... Let’s go! I’m starving!” Y/n smiled, clamping her hand down on his shoulder.

As they walked down the hall together, Wanda was walking toward them. She didn’t say anything, just smiled and gave a little nod. Bucky’s cheeks flushed slightly, and while he hoped Wanda hadn’t noticed, he knew full well that she did.

“Um, so, we can take my bike if you want. Or we can grab one of the cars if you not comfortable with motorcycles.”

“Bike’s fine. I love riding bitch on a bike!”

Bucky laughed as he opened the door to the garage for Y/n. They walked toward the big Harley Davidson Road King, and Bucky grabbed a helmet for Y/n from the locker on the wall. He grabbed his own from his saddle bag, and they hopped on.

“I like the flames on the gas tank,” Y/n said, wrapping her arms around Bucky’s waist.

Bucky’s breath hitched slightly at her touch. Y/n’s heart began to beat quickly as they rode down the driveway. She wasn’t sure if it was from the bike, or from Bucky.

As they were winding down the road into the city, Y/n relaxed, leaning her head on Bucky’s muscular back. The smell of leather, and what she assumed was his cologne, black pepper and sandalwood, was intoxicating.

The bike slowed as Bucky found a place to park in front of the little Italian restaurant.

“Mmm! I can smell it from here!” Y/n said as Bucky helped her off the bike.

“Best pizza in town, I promise!”

“It better be, I’m fucking starving!”

Bucky opened the door for her and she looked around the place – red and white checkered table cloths, chianti bottles with taper candles dripping wax – the quintessential mom & pop owned Italian eatery. It was perfect.

“James!” the old man behind the counter smiled, his Italian accent as thick as his mustache. “I haven’t seen you in a while! Who’s this lovely young lady?”  

“Giovanni, this is Y/n. She’s new in town, and I wanted to bring her to the best place in town for some pizza.”

“Oh! You are too kind, James! What will you be having tonight, kids?”

“Y/n? What are you in the mood for?”

“I’m a simple girl with simple tastes... how about cheese, sausage, mushroom and onion?”

“Large Giovanni Special coming right up! I'll bring you some cheesy garlic bread too. Wine or beer?”

“Beer for me – Peroni. Y/n?”

“I’ll have the same.”

“Thank you, Giovanni!” Bucky smiled.

“Yes, yes! I’ll leave you kids to chat. So good to see you, James!”

“James?” Y/n whispered.

“Yeah - he’s always called me that. He knows who I am. I think he does it so other people leave me alone, actually.”

“That’s sweet,” Y/n smiled.

They walked over to a table in the corner, Bucky pulled out a chair for Y/n, then sat across from her. Awkward silence while they both smiled at each other.

“Hi, James,” a small voice called out, little footsteps coming closer.

“Hi Beth! Wow! You’ve gotten so big!”

Bucky leaned over to a little curly-haired girl a hug. Her dark hair and big brown eyes suggested she was related to Giovanni.

“Who is this lady?” she asked, pointing curiously to Y/n.

“This is Y/n. Y/n, this is little Miss Elizabeth.”

“So nice to meet you, sweetheart,” Y/n smiled.

“Is she your girlfriend, James?” the little angel sing-songed, staring right into his eyes.

“Uh, well, she...”

“Elizabeth Angeline! You get over here this instant!”

“Oops!” she looked at them and giggled, “Gotta go!”

A younger woman with a stern look on her face came over with their drinks, shooting the little girl a “mom look,” Beth skipping and disappearing into the back room.

“I am so sorry about that!” she exclaimed.

“It’s okay, Nikki,” Bucky chuckled.

“I swear, that girl is getting bolder every day,” she said, putting down the glasses and beer.

“How old is she?” Y/n asked.

“Just turned five. I’m Domenica, but you can call me Nikki.”

“Y/n. She’s adorable!”

“Thanks! Nice to meet you! James doesn’t usually bring company,” she winked. “Your cheese bread should be out in a few minutes.” Nikki smiled as she walked away.

“So?” Y/n laughed, “Am I?”

“Are you what?” Bucky asked, a sly smile forming across his lips.

“Ha!” Y/n laughed. “Well, I'm the first person you’ve brought here, so I'm sure they’re whispering about that in the back. Actually, I know they are. I can hear them.”

“So can I,” Bucky said, taking a sip of beer.

“Okay! Let’s change the subject!” Y/n said, grabbing her beer.

“What do you want to talk about?”

Y/n’s face dropped slightly. “We should probably talk about last night.”

“Only if you want to.”

“I do, I want you to know... I just... it’s hard.”

“I know. You were yelling his name,” Bucky placed his hand gently on hers, encouraging her to continue.

“Yeah. It was Vormir. I watched him... all over again. I'm really sorry I woke you, Bucky. It must have freaked you out.”

“I’m used to my own nightmares. It didn't freak me out – not really. It’s okay.”

“Bucky?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you stay? I mean, I know I asked you to, but why did you stay all night?”

“Y/n, I couldn’t just leave. You were so shaken, and, if I'm being honest, I feel... protective of you. I can’t explain why. I just... I needed to make sure you were okay. And, once you relaxed, I was relaxed, and I fell asleep. I’m sorry if I scared you being there this morning. I... I won’t do that again if you don’t want me to.”

“Cheesy bread!” Beth yelled, running over to the table with the basket.

“Well, thank you so much, angel!” Y/n smiled, patting Beth on the head.

“Welcome!” Beth yelled, running away.

“Cute,” Y/n smiled, watching the little girl disappear into the back room again.

“Yeah,” Bucky said, smiling and looking at Y/n, grabbing for his beer before she turned back toward him.

“God! This smells so good!” Y/n said as she grabbed a piece, taking a bite. “And it’s okay. I wasn’t scared. Just a little confused for a second. I... well... I didn’t mind at all, to be honest. I... I kinda liked it. Waking up with you holding me,” Y/n’s cheeks blushed as she took another bite.

“Oh! Really?” Bucky asked, putting his beer down, grabbing some bread.

“Um, yeah. I guess that’s probably something we should talk about too, huh?” she said, mouth full of cheese and bread.

Bucky laughed, swallowing, “I suppose so. I, uh, I do have some things I should tell you about that.”

“Do you, now?” Y/n questioned, arching an eyebrow.

“I do, but probably not here. That little spy is going to tell the family everything she sees and hears,” he pointed to the little head peeking out from behind the door jamb.

“Beth? Would you like some of your Grampa’s delicious cheesy bread?” Y/n asked.

Her little eyes wend wide, and she said, “Can I, Momma? Please?!”

“She can join us, Nikki. She’s clearly curious about Y/n here.” Bucky got up and pulled a chair over for the little one.

“Really, James? Are you sure?” Nikki asked.

“Well, she is usually my date. Don’t want to make her jealous,” he winked.

“Okay, baby. I’ll bring you some milk. You can sit with James and Y/n.”

“YAY!” she screeched as she ran over to the table, climbing on the chair.

“Do you need a booster?” Y/n asked.

“No! I’m a big girl. I can sit on my knees.”

“Oh! My mistake... here you go, sweetie,” Y/n said as she placed a piece of bread onto a plate. “So, Beth. Tell me, what do you think of my friend James here?”

“He’s nice,” she smiled, taking a huge bite.

“Yes, he is, isn’t he?”

Chapter 11

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