#just imagining how he felt opening the door to see Jamie with both his teenage crushes

[etoilegarden]

Okay but Jamie tartt’s step dad is literally hilarious for taking Roy and Keeley to Jamie’s old room when he KNOWS there’s posters of both of them up there

[rocknrollbabe14]

Save The Last Dance for Me (Joseph x Reader) 

Save the Last Dance For Me

Warnings: Fluff in the beginning, jealous Joe, shower sex, SMUT SMUT SMUT. 

Rating: 18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT. 

***IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ JOSEPH SMUT, STOP HERE.***

@thomas-ellis

It was a beautiful fall morning and the day had arrived for Jamie and his fiancée, Jess to finally tie the knot. They were having their wedding at their local cathedral with a reception to follow at a hotel. Jamie had insisted Joseph be a groomsman in his wedding while Jess insisted you be a bridesmaid. You all had met up with Jamie and Jess quite often to double date and they had became very close friends of your alls especially since he and Joseph both worked on Stranger Things together. 

Joseph teased Jamie about marital bliss and that he if he had the chance, he would marry you a thousand times over. You and Jess had rolled your eyes at them playfully. You and Joseph had been married just three months but it felt like so much longer. Marriage with Joseph was pure bliss and felt like more pleasure than work. It just came easy with him. The bachelor and bachelorette parties were last night. The boys had went to a bar to drink, eat dinner and just catch up while the girls went shopping and out to a fancier restaurant to have some drinks and dinner.  Joseph texted you throughout the evening, FaceTiming you before bed. Jess said hello to him and teased you all, mentioning you all were acting like teenagers causing you both to laugh. 

Joseph informed her Jamie was fine (a little drunk but fine) and they would see you all at the cathedral the next morning. You had fun with the girls, but you missed your husband. You were ready to be home and in his arms. You all spent the rest of the evening having your nails and toes done back at the room, the room adorned with laughter and champagne, however, when you laid down that night, you stared at the ceiling, having difficulty sleeping. You weren’t used to sleeping alone other than when Joe was out of town. You tossed and turned all night, barely sleeping any at all. Tonight with Joseph, you’d die. 

A yawn escaped your lips as the hair stylist finished with your hair, admiring her work.  She had decided on a low bun with a small pieces of your hair hanging down.

“I’m so nervous.”, Jess laughed eyeing you as the make up artist worked on her.

Jess had decided to leave her hair down, having it curled with part of it pulled back.  She was beautiful. Your mind began remembering back to your wedding day with Joseph. You remembered the pre-wedding jitters. It was nerve-wracking to know everyone’s eyes would be on you. You and Joseph would be the center of attention. But once the double doors opened and you saw Joseph standing, waiting for you at the altar, tears in his brown eyes, and him wiping them away quickly before smiling at you as you made your way down the aisle, everyone and everything else melted away. You remember Jamie patting Joseph’s shoulder reassuringly. 

“You’re gonna be fine.”, you reassured her.

“You didn’t seem nervous at all when you and Joseph got married.”, she sighed easily.

You laughed. “I just hid it well, I guess. Believe me my stomach was turning somersaults. I threw up and everything when we pulled up to the venue.” 

She smiled before looking back up at you. “I love Jamie, I’m just nervous.”

You nodded your head before grabbing her hand reassuringly. “It’s normal to feel this way.”

She nodded, taking your words to heart. You could almost see instant relief in her. The bridal party finished getting ready, you all in your red bridesmaid dresses, holding your small bouquets. Your phone dinged easily, you imagined it was Joe. You eyed it and it was him.

-Jamie is so nervous. How is Jess? Bet you look so sexy and beautiful love. Can’t wait to see you and walk down the aisle with you. XOXO

You smiled at his text, instantly feeling your cheeks become hot. He still knew how to make you blush. 

-Jess was definitely feeling the pre-wedding jitters. She’s good now. I bet you do too, babe. Can’t wait to see you. XOXO.

The photographer had taken pictures of you all getting ready, helping Jess with last minute touches and finishes. You stood back and admired her, assuring her she looked beautiful and Jamie would definitely cry. She laughed before tears came into her eyes. Before you all could turn around, it was time to drive to the cathedral. Jamie had arranged for limos for both wedding parties. Black for him and his groomsmen, white for Jess and her bridesmaids. You all would come back for your clothes and stuff later after the reception. You held Jess’s dress up, allowing her to get in the limo with ease. You and her other bridesmaids filed into the limo. 

The ride was full of laughter and reminiscing. Jess was definitely feeling better now. All she wanted to talk about was Jamie and how she was excited to begin her life with him. You understood. Joseph was mostly all you thought about. You held your small bouquet of flowers, listening to the conversation but thinking about your husband once more. You admired your engagement ring and wedding band on your finger. It still felt like a dream that you were married. You were Mrs. Quinn. The thought made your stomach twist, but in the best way. 

The white limo pulled up to the gothic cathedral. The black limo was already parked out front, indicating that the boys were already here. The wedding was beginning officially in fifteen minutes, some last minute guests filing in. You all would pair up as soon as the guest finished coming in. The other groomsmen were standing off to the side. Your eyes immediately caught your husband standing outside, off to the side taking a smoke break. You smirked easily. His black suit looked so good on him, his red tie and boutonniere bringing out his brown eyes.

Joseph noticed the limo a few moments later as he took the last draw from his cigarette before placing it in its proper receptacle. Your heart skipped a beat, knowing he was looking for his wife. Wife. That word never got old. The windows were tinted so Jamie would not be able to see Jess before she walked down the aisle. Jamie and Jess had made sure everything was coordinated very well, ensuring their special day went off without a hitch. This included the hired staff helping coordinate everyone’s entrances.

You watched your husband shove his hands in the pockets of his suit pants before walking back to where the other men were. Jess had turned the opposite way, being sure not to view Jamie as he entered the cathedral in the wedding processional. 

“Do you see him?”, Jess asked easily.

“Yes, looks like they’re getting ready to begin the ceremony.”, you answered her.

You eyed the clock. It was ten on the dot. The church bell chimed, signifying the hour. You watched as the doors opened to the cathedral and Jamie and his parents were waiting at the top of the stairs. His mom was tearful which you thought was adorable. Joseph’s mom was emotional the entire day, but she assured you she knew her son had made the best decision. The guests turned around as Jamie and his parents began their walk down the aisle, Jamie kissing his mom’s cheek, reassuring her.

Jess’s mom stood next, Jamie’s brother and best man, walking her down the aisle to her seat. She wiped her eyes as she was escorted down the aisle. Next, would be Jamie’s brother and Jess’s maid of honor. A woman who was hired to assist in their wedding came to open the limo door, asking for you all to begin exiting the vehicle. 

“You’ll be fine. Just when those doors open again, focus on your future husband, Jamie as you walk down the aisle.”, you smiled at Jess, the last to pile out of the limo. 

She nodded before giving you a hug. You all exited the limo, ensuring to close the door behind you. Chatter was amongst you all before the staff asked for the maid of honor. Jamie’s brother locked arms with her and they began their walk down the aisle. Next, the staff asked for you. You felt butterflies in your stomach even though Joseph was already your husband. You easily walked in your heels up the small set of steps, holding your dress up easily before seeing Joseph come into view near the door of the cathedral. He heard your footsteps, turning around to view you.

A smile easily crossed his lips seeing his wife, mirroring your all’s wedding day. You felt your cheeks heat up instantly as you were beside of him. 

“I knew you’d look so beautiful and sexy, didn’t I?”, he hummed with a smirk as you all were instructed to turn to face towards the doors. 

You nodded. “You do too.”

He sighed with desire. “Love, I missed you so bad.”

You all locked arms and prepared to walk down the aisle. 

You smiled, looking over at him. “I missed you too, babe.”

“Just wait until tonight.”

Just as those words fell from his lips, you all were given the signal to begin walking down the aisle. “You Are the Reason” by Calum Scott was the instrumental they had chosen to be played for the wedding party to walk down the aisle to. You all smiled, entering the cathedral.

“Does this remind you of our wedding day?”, Joseph whispered easily.

You nodded in response, hearing clicks from the photographer’s camera among the instrumental, continuing your walk down the aisle. Jamie smiled seeing you both. He was excited to begin his life with Jess. You and Joe continuously stole each other’s glances walking down the aisle. You all reached the altar, splitting into your opposite sides. That didn’t stop you all from stealing glances as the rest of the wedding party entered including the rest of the groomsmen and bridesmaids.

Everyone awed in unison as the ring bearer held the pillow with the rings and flower girl walked down the aisle, sprinkling petals as she walked. It was just the relief you all needed to break up the bundle of nerves. The music changed to Canon in D. Everyone turned their attention to the double doors of the cathedral. Joe instantly noticed Jamie’s body language changing. Anticipation was hanging in the air. He remembered the same thing happening to him. You both smiled at each other as the doors opened, Jess and her dad coming into view. 

She slowly walked down the aisle. Joseph looked at Jamie, Jamie already getting tears in his eyes, wiping them away quickly. Jess was smiling ear to ear, tears welling up in her eyes as well. It was emotional and beautiful. Jess arrived at the altar.

“We are gathered here today to join Jamie and Jessica in holy matrimony. Who gives Jessica to be married to Jamie today?”, the officiant asked. 

“I do.”, her father responded. 

He hugged her and kissed her, shaking hands with Jamie and exchanging a hug before he took his seat beside her mother. This part was extremely emotional for you as your dad had passed and was not able to walk you down the aisle, your mom taking his place. Joseph gave you a sympathetic smile, realizing exactly what was on your mind. Jamie and Jess took each other’s hands, looking deep into each other’s eyes. It was very romantic. Periodically, Jamie would wipe Jess’s tears away. 

After they spoke their personal vows, the final question was asked.

“Jamie, do you take Jessica to be your lawfully wedded wife, to live together in holy matrimony, to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, to have and to hold from this day forward, as long as you both shall live?”, the officiant asked.

“I do.”, Jamie smiled. 

Jess smiled as they had already exchanged rings. 

“Jessica, do you take Jamie to be your lawfully wedded husband, to live together in holy matrimony, to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, to have and to hold from this day forward, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do.”, Jess smiled brightly. 

You and Joseph exchanged glances smiling, remembering these same vows you also had taken just three months ago. 

“By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”, the officiant closed his book.

Jamie smiled as he and Jess leaned in, his hands caressing her cheek as their lips met, sharing their first kiss as husband and wife, sealing their marriage. Everyone clapped and cheered for the happy couple. The recessional Wedding March began and Jamie and Jess exited first followed by his brother and maid of honor. It was your and Joseph’s turn to exit. You wrapped your arm around his and you both exited. The rest of the wedding party followed behind before the guests.

Before the reception, Jamie and Jess wanted pictures of their wedding party. You all stood in front of the cathedral, taking several pictures. You felt slightly exhausted after the photographer was done taking pictures. Joseph congratulated Jamie, them embracing in a brotherly hug. 

“You’re not tired already, are you love?”, Joe teased before kissing your cheek.

“Didn’t sleep well.”, you mumbled, refraining from rubbing your eyes, afraid to mess up your make-up. 

“Miss me that much?”, he smiled.

You elbowed him playfully, laughing. “Maybe.”

A classic car waited for Jamie and Jess to take them to the reception venue. They waved to their guests, inviting them to join them at their reception back at the hotel. The groomsmen and bridesmaids filed back into the limos that had brought them to the venue. The ride felt long without Joseph. You couldn’t wait to arrive to the hotel. 

____________________________________________

The wedding party arrived at the reception hall of the hotel. Jamie’s mom and dad, Jess’s mom and dad, and their wedding party was going to make their own entrance before Jamie and Jess would be introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Jamie and Jessica Campbell Bower. Jamie’s parents were introduced to the song “Let’s Stay Together” as well as Jess’s parents. Each couple of the bridal party chose their own entrance song. 

  “Help me welcome Joseph Quinn accompanied by his wife Y/N Quinn.”, the DJ announced before the double doors opened, revealing you both.

The beginning of “Marry You” by Bruno Mars came on. You all held hands, rushing to the middle of the dance floor. Joseph gave you a twirl before dipping you, sharing a passionate kiss with you. You both playfully showed off your wedding rings before moving off to the side, waiting for the bride and groom. It was a high energy atmosphere and you both were there for it. You all playfully clapped with each entrance, keeping the energy up. 

The reception went off without a hitch. Dinner was served, Jess and Jamie cut their wedding cake, played some games, threw the bouquet and her garter (which you and Joe skipped out on since you both were married), and shared their first dance as husband and wife. They began playing songs to get up and dance to. You and Joseph joined in, having a good time. You and Joe reminisced on your all’s wedding throughout the night. It was beautiful and romantic.

Joe decided to take a break, getting some alcohol. You agreed you needed some champagne. You both were standing near the bar when a man approached you. “Save the Last Dance for Me” ironically came on by Michael Bublé. 

“May I have this dance?”, he asked politely. 

You immediately looked back at your husband to steer the situation. Joe’s brown eyes appeared to burn slightly with jealousy, beginning to darken. You had hoped in a way he would dismiss this man, stating you were his wife and happily married to him. Your eyes widened at him, begging for some sign of how to go about this. 

“Just save the last dance for me, love.”

His voice had a hint of jealousy laced in it. 

The stranger whisked you away. The dance with this man was quite awkward for you since you were married, but you were doing it to be polite and since Joseph didn’t verbally protest it. You hardly focused on the dance at all, keeping your eyes on your husband. He was in the corner, his brown eyes throwing daggers at this man while he sipped his drink. His arms continued to be crossed otherwise. His body language said it all—he was jealous. 

Even though Joseph and you had never argued or had cross words, this worried you. You hoped this wouldn’t cause any animosity. You loved the song but couldn’t wait for it to be over, practically counting down with each line that came along.

Oh baby won’t you save the last dance for me?

Oo you make me promise that you’ll save the last the dance for me

Joseph’s eyes met yours, burning with jealousy. 

Save the last dance 

The very last dance

For me

The song ended, the man finally releasing you to return to your husband. He complimented you as you walked away, telling you how beautiful you were, fueling Joseph’s jealousy. Joe’s eyes never left yours as made your way back over to him. He sipped the last bit of his drink, sitting his glass down. 

“Joe, I’m—”

He stopped you as another slow song came on, the DJ announcing the reception would be winding down after this. 

“Just give me the last dance like you promised.”, he responded, giving you a tantalizing smile.

“The Way You Look Tonight” by Frank Sinatra played as you followed your husband to the dance floor. You all began slow dancing, his hands around your waist, yours around his neck. He pulled you flush against him, your head resting on chest. He bent down kissing your head. Everything seemed to be fine, but you really needed to talk to Joseph about dancing with a stranger. But right now didn’t feel like it was the right time. 

“You do look so beautiful and sexy in that dress.”, Joseph said, all of a sudden.

You raised your head off his chest to look up at him, wide-eyed. “Thanks babe.”

“Just thanks?”

His voice was full of sarcasm, taunting you. What was he getting at?

“I mean, I just feel bad about that whole thing.”, you looked down.

“You think I’m mad about him, love?”

Joseph chuckled. 

You eyed him, confused. “I mean if looks could kill, he would have been dead.”

Joseph chuckled again, his expression growing serious. “He could never please you like I do.”

His words caused your stomach to twist and turn, a hot feeling pooling in the pit of your stomach. He eyed you for a reaction before continuing. 

“I mean I’m your husband.”, Joseph rationalized.

You nodded, watching him closely. 

“You seemed a little jealous.”

Joseph smirked. “And if I was?”

“But why?”

“You’re my wife. It’s insane he thought he would even stand a chance.”

Joseph was becoming very cocky, but it was turning you on if you were being honest. You had never seen this side of him. It was definitely a change of pace. 

“Right.”, you agreed easily. “He’s definitely insane.”

You laughed nervously as the song, came to an end, Joseph holding you for a moment as everyone left the dance floor. Desire was beginning to burn deep inside of you. Little did you know, it was in full-blown effect for Joseph right now.  

“Why don’t we just get a room?”, Joseph whispered quietly. 

“Don’t you want to go home?”, you asked.

Joseph shook his head. “Just for tonight. It’s late.”

You agreed, going along with his idea. It was late. Close to eleven. You all were going to send Jamie and Jess off on their honeymoon along with the guests and other members of the wedding party. They exited the reception, you all holding sparklers as they left. You knew there was unfinished business between you and Joseph. The doors closed on the vehicle, them driving away from the hotel.

Joseph held your hand as you all walked back into the hotel. You all went to the front desk, Joseph asking them about available rooms. They informed him they had a king size suite and he instantly pulled out his debit card, no further questions asked. Was he really that tired and in a hurry to go to sleep? He was acting differently ever since you danced with the random stranger. 

The clerk handed him the room keys and told him a little bit of information about the hotel and its policies. He wasn’t hardly paying attention. The only thing on his mind was showing you that you belonged to him. He wanted to fuck you so bad he couldn’t stand it. You just weren’t aware of these thoughts just yet. He led you to the elevator, pushing the button that would take you all to the desired floor. 

“Joe, what about our clothes?”

“I’ve got that covered, love.”, he smirked. 

The elevator dinged as it reached each floor. Joseph edged closer to you, his brown eyes intense and filled with desire. The elevator came to a halt on the floor where your room was located, interrupting him. He allowed you to get off first before you all walked down the hallway to room 723. He pulled out the room key, quickly inserting it, and opening the door. He was a gentleman and ushered you to go in first before he closed the door behind him. 

You yawned as you flipped on the light, only to feel a pair of strong hands grip your waist, taking you by surprise.

“Joe!”, you squealed easily. 

He smirked. “Don’t worry baby, I’m gonna make you forget all about that little dance with him.”

Instincts kicked in as he began to kiss you feverishly, you instantly melting into the kiss with him. Your hands instantly reached for his head of curls, running your hands through them, giving them a gentle tug every now and then. As this was happening, you kicked your heels off, careful to miss Joe. You felt him smirk under your kiss. Your feet felt instant relief, the heels starting to really kill your feet. You should have probably rethought your shoe decision. He broke the kiss unexpectedly, leaving you wanting more. 

He began to reach for his tie, loosening it quickly before tossing it to the chair. Your eyes remained on him. He unbuttoned his undershirt quickly, revealing his chest. The jacket found its way to the chair. You reached to begin unzipping your dress, before Joseph came over behind you, helping you. You stepped out of your red bridesmaid dress, tossing it to the chair.

Joseph resumed kissing you, his hands beginning to roam your almost bare body. You broke the kiss, eyeing him. 

He looked at you, confused. “What’s wrong, love?”

There was his caring side, the side you were used to seeing from Joe. 

“Could we maybe—shower?”, you asked nervously.

You had no idea why you were nervous around your husband right now. He was caring, understanding. He loved you with every fiber of his being. You think the alcohol was making you feel this way. 

His lips curved in a devilish, seductive smile. “Of course, love.”

You went to grab a towel and washcloth after letting your hair down, innocently believing he was just going to let you shower before fucking you to sleep in the bed. The hotel had provided complimentary robes so you weren’t too worried about your clothes. You had slid off your black lace thong, unbeknownst that Joe was watching you the entire time like a predator stalking its prey. Without warning, you felt the stinging contact with your ass, causing you to yelp easily. 

You turned around to see your husband’s hand still raised from smacking your ass. Surprise was spread across your face, not used to seeing this side of Joseph. He quickly pushed you up against the wall, causing you to feel his hard dick pressed against your thigh, your breathing beginning to instantly hitch. You felt the goosebumps pop up across your body, chills running up and down your spine. He began to kiss you, his hands beginning to fondle your breasts, instantly finding your nipples and toying with them, pinching them causing you to moan into his mouth. 

“Shower.”, he growled between kisses, easily helping back you into the bathroom. 

The only moment his lips left yours was when he bent down to turn on the shower before his brown eyes eyed you up and down.

“God, I’m such a fucking lucky man.”, he breathed as his fingers brushed your silky smooth legs, looking up at you like he was about to go down on you, intimacy rampant in his eyes.

All you could do was blush in response. He extended his hand to help you into the shower, careful not to let you all fall. You took his hand, both stepping into the shower, the warm water running over your naked bodies. You felt yourself instantly relax under the warm water before Joseph came up behind you, beginning to touch your naked shoulders, placing kisses on them. The water was dripping off his curls onto you. You threw your head back under his touch before leaning back against him, feeling his hard dick prodding at your delicate skin. He was barely doing anything to you. He didn’t know what hold he had on you. 

You sighed into him, giving in to his touch already. One of Joseph’s hands snaked down from your shoulder crossing your side and your stomach before his fingers moved down, finding your wet folds, hips lips instantly curving into a smile. You could feel the coldness of his wedding band against the warmth of your folds. You instantly moaned, eyes closing under his touch. 

“Do you think that man could do this for you?”, he questioned, fingers working in and out of your slick folds. 

You shook your head like a scolded child. “N-no—ab-absoutely not.”, you moaned, already feeling your knees begin to buckle.

This caused you to roll your hips against him, your ass meeting his rock hard dick. He groaned against you, his fingers continuing to prod at your slick folds, his fingers working in a rhythmic motion. His thumb was beginning to hit your clit, sending shockwaves through your body. 

“What a good wife, so wet for her husband.”, he groaned with praise in your ear, his breath tickling your neck. 

You mewled at his words, practically begging him to fuck you here and now. He was really dragging this out, making you desire him. 

“Words, love. Tell your husband what you need.”, he placed a few half hazard kisses on your neck, his fingers moving more tantalizingly slow, brushing that one spot that made you forget even your name. 

“Fu—”, you couldn’t finish one word as he worked on you.

Joseph knew exactly what he was doing, his intentions clear in his mind. 

“What was that?”, he asked again, taunting you.

You gulped, trying again. “Fu—fucked.”

He smiled, realizing what an accomplishment it was for you to get that one word out under the conditions he was putting you through. 

“What a good girl, a good wife.”, Joseph praised again, sliding his fingers out almost as quickly as they had went in, causing you to moan at his missing fingers. 

He easily turned you to face him, you finally being able to see the desire burning in his brown eyes. “God, just look at you.”, he eyed you up and down before popping each finger in his mouth, sucking your taste off of him. 

“So fucking sweet.”, he eyed you.

Your eyes were wide. 

He bit his lip, stroking his dick while just admiring you and how beautiful you were. Your eyes were locked with him, your chest beginning to heave up and down. He admired your innocent expression after he just teased the hell out of you, his fingers buried deep within your soaking wet, slick folds. Just remembering the sensation made his dick twitch. Those tits of yours were so full and plump, your nipples hard from the stimulation of his fingers buried deep inside you. It made him crazy, craving you even more. 

Your eyes wandered down to him, watching him stroke himself while keeping his eyes on you. Your eyes couldn’t help but watch his dick, the pre-cum already at the tip of his dick. You watched him pump himself again, the pre-cum sliding down his dick before mixing with the stream from the shower. You gulped, your stomach twisting with desire, that warm feeling pooling in your lower stomach causing your pussy to throb. 

“I think you’re ready for me.”, Joseph groaned at you.

“Al-already?”, you asked, slightly surprised, but partially relieved.

Most of the time, you all would add some more foreplay into sex, usually you sucking him, edging him close. He’d eat you out, making you cum before he stuck his dick in you. You enjoyed it, but you wanted him so damn bad. 

He nodded. “You’re fucking soaked for me. Are you ready to let your husband fuck you properly?”

You couldn’t help but nod sheepishly. He came closer to you, beginning to kiss you again, biting your lip. He was showing you just how desperate he was for you. His hands found their way to your ass, lifting you up with a short squeal from you. You instinctively wrapped your legs around his waist, slinging your arms over his shoulders interlocking them behind his neck, never breaking the kiss.

You could have almost killed him when he broke the kiss. “Ready for me?”

You nodded hazily, before using one hand to slide just in between you all, water following, grabbing his dick, giving it a long, slow stroke causing his breathing to hitch. You smirked, finally getting somewhat of an upper hand on him. You watched his reaction, marveling in it before you helped guide his dick to your soaking entrance. His kiss was slow and passionate as he pushed his tip inside. 

You moaned at the sensation of his tip entering you. Your eyes fluttered shut, hips bucking ever so slightly, begging him to put the full length of his cock in your throbbing, wet, swollen pussy. You heard a devilish chuckle escape from lips, him obviously enjoying the spell he had on you. 

“Soon, baby.”, was all he offered as he backed you against the shower wall, your back hitting it, a gasp escaping your lips. 

“Joe, please,”, you began, ready to plead your case. “I need you—I need you inside of me.”, you moaned, freshly manicured nails digging into his back. 

“All I needed to hear.”, he growled lowly just before he buried himself deep into your pussy. 

A loud moan of pleasure mixed with a gasp escaped your lips, your body writhing under his. Your walls tightened around his hard dick, instantly making him realize he wouldn’t be able to last long—hence why he didn’t let you suck him off. He wouldn’t admit that to you right now. Being without you for one night mixing with how sexy you looked in that damn red dress, and that dance with that stranger had drove him mad—he needed you. He craved you and now, he was taking what was rightfully his. He was gunning to make you cum first.

He gave you a small chance to adjust to him, his full length now inside of you. There was no going back. Neither of you wanted to. Your eyes easily rolled back into your head, a sign you were ready for him to continue. You were needy and he loved when your neediness came out during sex. He began working in you, hitting just the right spots, causing you to moan, mouth becoming dry. Your hips rolled into him, matching his rhythm as he worked on you. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought you were made just for him. 

Joseph used a hand to steady you all against the shower wall, groaning as the walls of your tight pussy pulled his cock further into you (if that was possible). He could feel your toes curl against his hips, your kisses between your moans becoming deeper, pleading for him to push you to your climax. He broke the kiss once more, his brown eyes looking into yours. He smiled, realizing yours were dilated, blown out from the mind-blowing sex he was providing to you, his wife. You instantly missed the taste of his lips, you closing your eyes, mewling for him again.

“God, what a good girl—a good wife taking me so fucking well.”, he breathed, groaning in pleasure. 

“Joe.”, you moaned his name, causing his cock to pulse inside of you.

He smiled again, realizing you were close—so very close. 

You could feel Joe’s muscles begin to falter, so you decided to be a good wife and help him out. You left one leg wrapped around his waist bracing the side of the shower before easily bringing one to the floor of the shower. You could tell he was relieved and appreciative of this. Relief washed over his face before he quickly replaced it, back to his seductive, dominating self. 

He grunted, forcing himself deep into you. Your brain was mush when he fucked you like this. Sometimes he could be sweet and romantic during sex, others he was like this. It was truly the best of both worlds. You eyes closed, just focusing on him working on you. He was busy multitasking, admiring how spent you looked, how close you were to releasing your sweet, sticky juices all over his rock hard cock. You were so fucking beautiful and couldn’t believe he had gotten so lucky. 

“Joe--”, you gulped through a moan, feeling your impending climax approaching quickly.

There it was. He saw it in you. He didn’t need you to tell him what was happening, but it damn sure sounded good in his ears. 

“Yes love?”, he hummed, groaning as he kept up his momentum.

You felt your back beginning to arch, the last inkling before your orgasm. 

“I’m gonna—” was all you managed to get out before you felt yourself  hit your climax, the muscles in your pussy tightening and throbbing around his rock hard cock, washing your juices all over him.

You felt the lightheadedness come next, the rush of your orgasm washing over you. Your sense was instantly heightened, the feeling of him continuing to fuck himself into you that much more intense. With blurry eyes, you watched for his reaction as you came down off of your high, trying to recover before his release.

“Oh fuck baby, missed me that much? What a good girl.”

You nodded groggily, your eyes closed. You felt his cock twitch and pulse inside of you, a response from your orgasm. He groaned with pleasure, closing his eyes and you could tell his orgasm was imminent.

“Ready for me to fill you full, baby?”, he groaned, admiring once more how spent you looked, that glossy film from your afterglow evident in your eyes.

You nodded groggily once more, your wet hair brushing your bare chest. That was all the energy you were able to provide him with. He appeared to be satisfied with your answer, smiling as he fucked himself into you one last time before gripping your thigh, burying himself in you as deep as he possibly could. His thrusts ceased as his hips stuttered, feeling his cock pumping his cum deep into your cervix, him pulsing inside of you. You both stared at each other groggily, breathing heavily, and smiling at each other. His chest give another heave, him staying inside of you, allowing himself to finish pulsing and filling you full. He just loved how you looked after sex. 

When he felt satisfied that he was finished cumming inside of you, he pulled himself out so painfully slow, a whimper escaped from your lips. He held you in his arms, afraid if he let you go your legs would give out right then and there. He gave you a passionate, slow kiss making you want to melt with the water. He finally could admire you without fog of his sex drive clouding his vision. Your hair was wet and dark, mascara slightly running down your cheeks. But he still thought you were the most beautiful girl in the entire world. 

His eyes panned down, seeing his cum running down your inner thighs, mixing with the running water. He could fuck you again right now at the sight of that—of you. You eyed him, eyes still glossy, chest heaving up and down, nipples still hard from all the stimulation he had put you through. The sight of this just drove him crazy, one of his favorite aspects of sex with you. He savored this vision in front of him. 

You smiled up at him before he kissed you again, feeling your hands shaking while holding him. 

“I love you, Joe.”

Your voice was a little hoarse. 

He smiled, resting his forehead against yours. “I love you, Y/N.”

You both shared another kiss before he reached to turn the water off, and grabbed a towel to wrap you up in. 

The cotton felt warm once the cold air had hit your skin. He kissed your cheek before you leaned back against him.

You both kissed again, addicted to each other. 

“Do you think your husband knows how to please you?”, Joe asked between kisses.

“Mm-hmm.”, you hummed, smirking against his lips.

“Will you give me another chance to show you, love?”, he asked as slid his hand under your towel, finding your nipple, pinching it and gaining a mewl from you. 

You nodded, him giving a gentle tug at your wet hair. “Yes.”

“Yes what, love?”, he asked, clearly wanting another answer. 

“Yes, my husband.”, you emphasized as you turned to him, running your hands over his chest.

He kissed you again and you knew exactly where this was leading. He wasn’t going to let you live this down for a while. And honestly you didn’t mind. You loved being his wife just as much as he loved being your husband. Joseph was right in his advice to Jamie, this was marital bliss and you loved every minute of it. 

[toomanyrobins]

a little bird told me pt. 5

Summary: Y/N “Birdie” Parker left New York and her family three years ago in the middle of the night. Now, a call for help to her best friend brings her back into the fold of the Three Families and their “business”

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Parker!Reader

Content warning: physical abuse, miscarriage, allusions to fertility issues, cursing, mentions of forced marriage

Word Count: 2k

Notes: Surprise! It’s a boy!

Series masterlist // next part

The first day Y/N felt like herself and the injuries had mostly healed, Pepper insisted on them going into the city and shopping. With the holidays coming up, they had a lot of events they would be required to attend and Y/n didn’t think that her old style suited her very well. Before going to meet her mom, she stopped by the Ivory to drop off a coffee to Tony and Peter. The former had tried to convince her to bring some guards with her, but she rolled her eyes at his overprotectiveness. She was outside the office texting Pepper, when she heard squeaking. When she looked up there was nothing there. She heard the noises again and followed it into the hallway. Y/N knelt down and stared into the blue eyes of a diapered baby. “Well, hello. Who do you belong to?” she lifted him out and settled him on her hip. As she shook the toy, he babbled at her.

“Jamie? Jamie!” Frantic male voices were heard calling through halls.

“If Jamie is a baby, you’ll find him in here with me!” Steve came flying around the corner, a wild look in his eyes. He lifted Jamie from her arms and hugged him to his chest, kissing his forehead. 

Y/n was surprised to see so much open affection from the blond. She tilted her head and stared, “So… who’s is he?”

“Mine,” his eyes never left the baby.

“You have a kid?” Y/N felt a twinge in her heart. Another thing she had missed because of her selfishness.

“You’d know about all of this if you had stuck around.” she winced at the harsh comment and before Steve could apologize, Bucky and Sam came running around the corner, “JAMIE!” They both ran over and quickly checked on the baby as well. The diapered infant just babbled at the three men and shook his toy, basking in the attention.

“If you don’t mind my asking, how did he end up in the hallway in just a diaper?”

Steve glared at his two friends, “I made the mistake of leaving him in the care of these idiots. I have meetings for George all day.”

“He just got away from us while we were having a discussion about what outfit to put him in,” Bucky at least had the decency to look ashamed about losing his nephew.

Sam turned to him and pointed a finger, “You know the whales are much more stylish, Barnes.”

Y/N looked at the men and shook her head, “I can help watch him. We could call it part of my amends.”

“Birdie, you don’t---” She gave him a don’t mess with me look and Steve sighed, “Would you, really? That would be a huge help. He just started crawling and it’s been an adjustment. Obviously.”

“I was going to go shopping with Pepper. I’ll just bring him along.”

“You’re bringing some men with you, right?”

Y/N rolled her eyes, “No, I hadn’t planned on it. Tony tried the same thing.” A mischievous grin spread across her face, “But, since they already had their day cleared to watch Jamie, I’m sure Bucky and Sam will be up to the task.”

“I thought if you would take the kid, I could get some other stuff done.”

“You thought wrong, Buckaroo. Boys, pack your bags. We leave in an hour.” Steve and Y/N walked away, talking about Jamie’s routine. The other two men were left glaring at each other, still bitter about their argument earlier. The duo walked into Steve’s office and were greeted with a baby explosion. 

The blond cursed under his breath, “I swear this room was organized when I left an hour ago.”

“I believe you, big guy.” She patted his arm, before turning to Jamie and picking him up, “Okay, little man, let’s get you dressed.” Y/N made quick work and blew a raspberry on his stomach when she was done. A huge smile grew across her face when she heard the baby giggles. She looked up and saw a strange look on Steve’s face, “What? Is there something on my face?”

“It’s just so strange to see you again.”

“Stevie…”

“I’m not saying this to make you feel bad. I’m glad you’re back. I’d forgotten what life was like with you around.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean let’s face it, Birdie, you have the nickname for a reason. You never stayed in one place long enough and it was exhausting the amount of energy you had.”

“Am I still that same person in your eyes?”

“Some of it is the same. It was always hard to imagine you settling down. But, the minute you are around kids, it’s an entirely different story. If you ever decide to settle down, you will be an amazing parent.”

Y/N’s heart clenched at the thought of her secret. She felt herself starting to get emotional and busied herself by going through the diaper bag. Once she had herself back under control, she smiled up at him, “Well, you made a damn cute kid, Stevie.”

“Don’t I know it,” he smiled down at his son. Y/N couldn’t help but laugh to herself at the imagery of the large man holding such a small child. “Okay, Jamie, be good for Birdie. I’ll see you later. Oh, and here’s a key to my truck and the apartment in case you’re done before I am.” 

“I’ll text you plenty of photos.”

“Thank you for this,” Steve leaned down to kiss her cheek and whispered in her ear, “I missed you more than you know.” He had left her breathless with that last comment and she moved robotically as she put Jamie into the car and headed to meet Pepper. Her mother had raised her eyebrow at her showing up with the baby, Sam, and Bucky, but laughed when she heard the whole story. 

While her mother enjoyed shopping, the activity was the bane of Y/N’s existence. They moved quickly through the stores, grabbing what she needed and trying things on. Jamie was on his best behavior, even clapping a few times when Y/N had come out of the dressing room. Despite the fact that they all knew it didn’t mean anything, anything the baby reacted to was purchased. By the time they had finished, everyone was dead on their feet and the baby was knocked out in his stroller. 

Y/N decided to let Pepper take all of the clothes back to the house and she went back to Steve’s apartment to put Jamie down for a proper nap. Walking through the door was like entering a time capsule. The only difference was the addition of baby things. She walked through the hallway and looked at the pictures and framed sketches on the wall. Y/N stopped in front of a picture of them from Tony’s infamous Christmas party four years ago. Steve had been her guard for over a year at that point and the two of them had spent practically every day together. It was hard to believe how much the two people in that photo had changed. As she moved further down, the sketches she had stolen and framed for him still had pride of place. Her musings were interrupted by her phone chirping:

Steve: I’m sorry, but meetings are running longer than planned. Are you okay with Jamie? You can bring him to Becca if you have plans.

Y/N: No plans. I’m happy to stay. You focus on work. Little man and I got this.

She walked into the kitchen and found a drawer of takeaway menus and the cabinets only filled with food for Jamie. When he woke up from his nap, she pulled her shoes on, “This won’t do, little man. We are going to the grocery store." Y/N strapped Jamie to her chest and walked to the nearest store. They made quick work at the shop, filling the cart with essentials. Once she got back to the apartment, she put the baby in his high chair with a snack. Music filled the kitchen as she danced around. 

Steve came home and followed the delicious smells and music playing. He found Y/N in the kitchen, dancing with Jamie in her arms. He leaned on the door frame, watching her hips sway as she switched her focus between what was on the pan in front of her and his son. Birdie Stark was definitely not a teenager anymore. He walked into the kitchen and put his hand on her waist, making her jump. “Jesus!”

He chuckled and took Jamie from her, “Nope, just me, sweetheart.”

“You scared the crap out of me.”

He apologized, but didn’t sound that sorry. He stared down at her, thinking how the flush on her cheeks from the heat suited her. “Are you making dinner?”

Y/N suddenly looked nervous. “I’m not overstepping, am I? You said you’d be working late and I thought I’d help out,” she looked up at him and smirked, "Plus, I saw the takeaway drawer.”

“It’ll be a cold day in hell when I’m mad at a home cooked meal. But from what I remember, you once set fire to a pot of water.”

She threw her head back and laughed, “That was almost five years ago, I will have you know. My skills have vastly improved. Y/N realized how close she and Steve were standing. She pulled away and felt his hand slip away from where it had been resting comfortably on her waist. He cleared his throat and turned his attention to Jamie who was babbling at him. 

Y/N dished up two plates and got Jamie’s bottle ready. “Birdie, you don’t have to do that. I can feed him and eat after.”

“You’ve been at work all day, Steve, and I know for a fact you forget to eat. I don’t mind, really.” She settled herself on the couch with Jamie in her arms and her plate on the arm. . He held his own bottle and she ate a few bites while staring at the baby in her arms. She was entirely unaware of Steve watching her, 

He rubbed his eyes and took a pull from his beer, “I can’t believe it’s only 7. I feel like today will never end.”

“Did you say 7? Shit!” Y/N looked worried, “I need to go.” She had forgotten that she had made an appointment with a doctor to make sure that she wasn’t pregnant. Her paranoia had taken over and she had to be sure. 

“Why? Where are you going?”

“Birdie, you’ve been going all day. Just reschedule.”

“I can’t, Steve.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t tell you.” They sat in awkward silence, the only noise coming from Jamie and he hungrily sucked at the bottle. She kept her eyes on the baby and whispered, “Are you mad at me?”

Steve sighed and came to kneel down in front of her, “Why would I be mad at you, sweetheart?”

She ran a finger over Jamie’s cheek, biding her time, “Because I’m keeping secrets. That tends to make others angry.”

“God, Birdie, no. I’m not angry. I’m disappointed that you think you aren’t safe to share, but i never want you to be scared of me.” Y/N nodded sadly. Steve wanted herto tell him everything, “Want to help me put Jamie to bed? 

She shook her head and passed the baby to him, “I should go. It’s late.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll just call for a driver. You haven’t seen Jamie all day, you should spend some time together.” Y/N grabbed her bag and jacket, and leaned over to kiss the wiggling child.

“I have tomorrow afternoon off, want to go for lunch?” Steve tilted her head up to meet her eyes, “We can go to Galletti’s.”

“Yeah, I’d like that.” Y/N got on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek, “Night, Stevie.”

He grinned, “What have I told you about calling me that?”

“Follow through on your threat and I might actually take you seriously.” 

[liusaidh-writing]

Call it True - Chapter 3

[Prefer AO3?]

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2]

Here is Chapter 3! I am sorry it’s so late. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy. Chapter Four is on its way soon, too!

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

Claire and Jamie exchanged texts and phone calls in the following days and nights. Unable to connect in person, they did what they could to remain close. Claire's night shifts ended after a week, and she was relieved to be back in the world of daylight once again. She also hoped this meant she and Jamie could get together again. And soon. 

I'm free! Well, until my time rolls around again, anyway. Next two days off, and not a single thing planned!

She hit send with a grin and imagined what she and Jamie might do on her time off. Go to dinner? Watch a movie, preferably curled up on a couch. What movies did he like? She started compiling a list of possible options while she rode along in Lesley's car after her final night shift had ended in the early morning hours. They’d picked up a grumbly Harry at the sitters before heading to Claire’s flat.

Lesley, in the driver's seat, reached back to grab Harry's snack cup before it was flung to the floor by a frustrated toddler.  The car swerved slightly as she turned back in her seat, causing Claire to gasp before Lesley set it right again. 

Lesley thrust the snack cup at Claire, snapping, "Did you not hear me? I was asking you to grab it from him! Where's your mind been these last few days, anyway?" 

Claire grasped the cup in her hands, dropping the phone in her lap. "Sorry! I just...didn't hear you! I’d rather the snack cup take the hit next time instead of us!" 

"You're sitting right next to me, and unless you've gone deaf in the last ten minutes, you're just not paying attention," Lesley said in a sing-songy voice, ignoring Claire’s comment regarding her driving, but making an obvious effort to keep her tone light. She sighed, flipping the wipers on to clear the windshield of mist. It was annoyingly rainy, only a mere drizzle, but oddly cold for a spring morning. "Feels like winter outside, does it not," she remarked, attempting to change the subject.  

"Yep...pretty cold." 

Claire's mind wandered back to Jamie in the sweater he'd worn on their date. It had looked so cozy, and Claire wondered how it would feel on her. She blinked rapidly, forcing herself back to the present.

"So, you had been telling me earlier about...custody?" 

Lesley sighed, grudgingly answering Claire's question. 

"Yes...I told you everything, but you were off in lala land half the time. Not surprised you don't remember. If you're here with me now, I'll tell you again."

"Yes, please, I'm really listening." Claire shoved her phone between her leg and the seat, hoping that having it out of sight would help her stay focused on what her friend was saying. 

"Well, Frank has decided he wants full custody of Harry. Make me some kind of weekend Mum." Lesley gritted her teeth thinking about the very idea of it. "Like he's capable of taking him on full time," she said, gesturing at Harry in the back, who'd fallen asleep. “He wouldn’t last an hour before he was calling me, begging for help.”

"He doesn't have grounds, surely! He can't just...make stuff up!" Claire was indignant, knowing how great of a mother Lesley was, and how perfectly lousy Frank was at everything from keeping Harry fed when he had him to keeping promises to Lesley about drop off times. 

Lesley shook her head and rested her left elbow on the car door as they sat at a stoplight. "It's absolutely insane. He thinks because he makes more money that he should have Harry. That my schedule at the hospital isn't 'suitable for a toddler.’  He's just making sure I waste my money on legal fees fighting him instead of spending it on taking care of Harry so I'll look bad," she finished, glancing at Claire with an incredulous expression. 

"Well, you know I'll do anything to help, Lesley!" 

They had reached Claire's building, and as Claire got out she reached back and lightly ruffled Harry's hair, giving Lesley a smile and thanked her for the ride. She grabbed her things and headed to her door, feeling her phone signal that she had a text message as she walked. She quickly unlocked her door, slung them to the floor and hungrily unlocked her phone to see a message from Jamie waiting to be read.

Good to hear, Sassenach. I suppose you’ll need to go home and sleep. How about I come by later this evening? 

Claire quickly sent a reply and beamed at...well, no-one. She locked her door and dreamily waltzed to the shower, eager to strip off her scrubs and wash the night away.

“Jamie and I are hanging out tonight!” she squealed, raising her arms in victory over her head. She gave a little twirl as she moved past her bedroom. Taking off her top, she flung it on her bed. Claire felt like a teenager - she was sure her cheeks were pink and her mind raced with all the possibilities of the evening. She nearly replied to Jamie that she didn’t need to sleep, but...that wasn’t true. She was dead on her feet and her shift last night had been especially brutal with several stressful patients. She sighed,  realizing she deeply regretted not having made the effort to really meet Jamie earlier. Why had she wasted so much time? Now that they were friendly, she couldn’t seem to get him out of her mind.  Lesley hadn’t been wrong when she’d said Claire had been in la-la land. She reminded herself to thank Lesley for saving her ass more than once at work in the past week. If it wasn’t Jamie’s calls or texts, it was her own imagination getting her in trouble. Over the phone, Jamie had told her all about his family, his nieces and nephews and sister. He had a best friend named Ian, who happened to be his brother-in-law. And a father he clearly cared a lot about. Claire had never known that sort of reality, growing up as she had. She revelled in Jamie’s stories of his boyhood, clinging to bits of him that he unknowingly exposed.

For instance, Claire was sure that Jamie was secretly in love with his father’s farm, though he had claimed he didn’t care to run things when the time came, that he’d gotten his flat in the city to escape that reality. He talked of it with such pride, and Claire wondered why he didn’t live there full time, as much as he was there. It held fond memories of his mother, and it was his connection to his extended family, and she knew family meant a lot to him. 

She couldn’t exactly relate - though she had loved her uncle a great deal - but it was almost surreal hearing about hectic holidays or birthday celebrations Jamie got to experience growing up. Claire was rather envious at times.  Her holidays usually involved Uncle Lamb flat-out forgetting them, and though he always remembered her birthday, he wasn’t the greatest at remembering to mark the date in any meaningful way other than a sweet ‘Happy Birthday, darling,’ and a pat on the cheek.  She quickly made a mental note to ask Jamie about his birthday sometime. 

Pulling back the shower curtain, she sighed as the steamy hot water washed away the night at the hospital; it succeeded in making her drowsy enough to fall quickly asleep. 

---

Claire woke to a rather loud knock at her door. She rolled out of bed, hair all akimbo, eyes squinting as she opened her room darkening curtains. Padding towards the door, she quickly wrapped herself in the throw from the couch before turning the knob. There stood Jamie, a slight smile on his face that immediately fell when he caught sight of her. 

"Oh God--" 

"I'm sorry--" 

They both spoke at the same time, Claire wrapping the blanket more securely around her shoulders.  She had shorts and a small tee-shirt on, but no bra.  She began to speak again, wondering if she looked as horrible as she feared. Jamie grimaced and took a breath. 

"I am so sorry, I didn't wake you did I?" 

"Oh, no. It's fine, really! I must look frightening..." Claire carefully took one arm out of her wrap and tried to smooth her hair in an attempt to calm her curls. 

 "NO! You look...stunning!"  His eyes were wide, as though he’d seen a ghost.

 "Oh, God no.  Would you like to...?" 

She gestured him inside, and quickly caught that he was holding a few things in his hands.  A wad of blankets and a small thermal lunch bag were clutched in his arms as he shuffled inside. 

"Let me just...go change. Have a seat, will you?" She moved towards her bedroom as she watched Jamie sit on her sofa, placing his things on the cushion beside him. 

She closed her bedroom door, tossed the throw on her bed and leaned heavily against the door, her head making a distinct thumping sound as it hit. "Ow..." she muttered.  "Hope he didn't hear that..." 

She was jittery and her mouth was dry. He had that effect on her - one she couldn't put into words.  Her stomach was consumed by a swarm of butterflies as she got dressed, brushing her teeth and washing her face. She raised her arms over her head checking her armpits for odor, and swiped on some deodorant, finishing with a quick spray of her favorite perfume with a flourish. She didn’t dare go back out there smelling like a hospital. She wasn’t entirely trusting of the shower she’d taken.

Taking a few deep, but not-so-calming breaths, she went back out to her living room, where Jamie waited patiently, thumbing through a magazine on her coffee table. 

“I’m all for color in a room, but this shade of green makes me think of vomit.” Jamie was pointing at a photo of a painted room in some home decor article, curling his lip up in disgust at said shade of green.

He smiled at Claire, dropping the magazine and taking her in slowly, his eyes large and bright. 

Claire looked down at her outfit - Jeans and a warm, deep red top. She’d been told it ‘brought out her eyes’, whatever the hell that meant, so she figured it was a good choice. She smoothed her shirt down and gestured at the magazine.

“Well, we don’t have to worry about that - I asked if I could paint when I moved in and was told no. Can’t wait to be able to live somewhere without blank white walls.” She waved haphazardly around the room, devoid of artwork, save for several of her own photos from various trips, and a few of Uncle Lamb, of course.

“It’s good to see you again, Claire.” Jamie stood up, moving towards her with his hand out. She wasn’t sure what he was going for, so she moved with him, meeting him in the middle. He clasped her hand in his, and they both paused for a moment, Claire watching his eyes dance as he gazed at her. He gave a small smile with one corner of his mouth, and quickly kissed her cheek. 

“It’s good to see you again, too,” Claire sighed, her breath coming out in spurts. She felt him relinquish her hand, and she glanced at it, half expecting it to be bright red the way it radiated his lingering warmth. He stepped back just a bit, and gestured to the items he’d brought with him.

“It’s a little wet outside, but there’s a free concert at the park. Would you like to come? If you don’t want to sit on the ground, I have chairs.” He raked a hand through his hair and tapped the fingers of his right hand against his thigh. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her.

Jamie’s voice was shaky with nerves, and Claire quickly tried to put him at ease.

“I don’t mind the ground!” She figured Jamie could offer her spikes to sit on and she’d accept them if that meant he’d be there, too. “Let’s go, it’ll be fun!” 

Jamie nodded, picking up the blanket and lunch bag. “Brought some goodies for us to snack on, too.” 

“Oh, good. I’m starving! Haven’t eaten all day!” 

Claire grabbed her purse as they walked to the door together, slinging it over her shoulder and grabbing her keys from the counter. She didn’t know what kind of music would be playing at this concert, but she didn’t care in the slightest. She was also rather eager to find out what was in that lunch bag. Her stomach gurgled, and she made a face as Jamie hid a smile.

He took her hand again, pulling her toward the door and out into the damp night. It was about 7 in the evening, and though the days were getting longer, the rain clouds obscured any remaining sunlight. 

-----

Having picked the driest bit of ground he could, Jamie spread out one warm wool blanket, gesturing for Claire to take a seat while he unfolded the other one. It was as large as the one they sat on, and doubly thick. Claire shivered slightly as she watched him swirl the blanket around her shoulders. He sat down next to her - quite closely, so she could feel the heat coming off him, and he wrapped the other half of the blanket around his own shoulders, meeting the two ends in the middle between them. It was cozy, and the band had just started. She looked around, wishing they weren’t surrounded by other people at the moment. Claire looked at Jamie - who had been casually checking out the band. He glanced at her, then reached for the lunch bag.

“What do you have for us?” Claire’s stomach growled again, and Jamie chuckled as he unzipped the bag while Claire held the blanket in place. 

“Erm...not much. Some crackers, cheese, grapes. A small bag of chips, if you’re in the mood for junk food?” He held the chips out to her and she hungrily ripped it open, popping one in her mouth with a satisfied grin. 

“Mmmm...so good. I’ve not had anything to eat since about 6 this morning. I forgot to eat when I got home from work.” Because you texted me, she added in her head, and I wanted nothing more than to go to sleep quickly so I could see you. 

Jamie went for a few grapes, munching them as he watched her devour the chips. She offered him one, holding it up to his mouth. 

“Have one!” she exclaimed, wiggling it in front of him.

He went for it, and she quickly pulled it away. She laughed as he pursed his lips in mock irritation. “Give me that,” he said, pulling her hand towards his mouth again, taking the chip between his teeth. His lips slightly brushed Claire’s finger tips, and a shiver traveled through her body as they laughed together. 

Their bodies were touching entirely now, from shoulder to toes, and Claire didn’t want to be anywhere else. She leaned against him, and he let her put her weight against his chest as he held the blanket with his left hand. His right arm wrapped around her waist. Claire felt flush, slightly feverish, silently basking in his glow. The rain was cold, the ground was colder, but she wouldn’t have known it with Jamie securely keeping them both comfortably warm.  

The band played on, the bass pulsing through her. She didn’t know the songs, but nodded her head with the beat periodically. For all the sound, though, her mind was somewhere else entirely. She wanted nothing more than to turn around, place her lips on his, and fall into him. She glanced at the people around her again, most of them chit-chatting, drinking, or eating. She felt him squirm slightly, and glanced back at him as best she could in her position. She felt his arm leave her side, make its way up her arm to her shoulder, and then into her hair. He played with her curls as he stretched one long leg out in front of them, where his boot got wet with rain. Claire’s hands were in her lap - she was entirely unsure what she should do with them, so she clutched her middle as the swarm of butterflies (more like angry hornets, if she was honest with herself) engulfed her middle. Her eyes fluttered closed as Jamie continued twirling her curls around his finger.

“Hey, Sassenach, are you thirsty? I could go get us some drinks at the food cart?” Jamie gestured with his head, back behind them where beer and soda was sold at an exorbitant price. 

Claire turned slightly and looked at him, his brows raised in question.

She took a breath, swallowing all her fear and uncertainty. The hornets in her stomach faded to a dull ache as she turned some more, raising her hands to his face.  She’d caught him off guard, and as her lips enveloped his own, he was still for a split second before deepening the kiss with his hand still in her hair, clutching her curls now, tugging slightly. Claire breathed in deeply, the noises of the band and people around them fading into oblivion, a fuzzy mirage at the corner of her vision as she closed her eyes, unwilling to break their connection. His tongue danced with hers briefly before he pulled away. Claire, with her eyes still closed, felt him rubbing her cheek with his thumb. 

“Oi, if we wanted to see that, we’d have gone to see a movie!” 

Claire’s eyes snapped open, her head whirling around to her right searching for the person that matched the voice. A young teenage boy smirked in their direction, sniggering a bit as she eyed him. He held a full pint of beer in one hand, and cocked his head, daring her to say something in return.

“He’ll break up with ya tomorrow,” the boy said, laughing with his mates, one of them slapping him on the shoulder in congratulations for his stupendous observation. Claire’s brow knit in confusion.

“Why don’t you-” she was cut off by Jamie, who stood up quickly, pulling the blanket that was around them up into a ball. He put it down, and stretched his arms over his head, making himself appear even larger. The kid with the beer blanched, spilling a bit in his lap as he involuntarily jerked away at Jamie’s stone cold glare. 

“Come on, Sassenach. Let’s go…” He gathered up the lunch bag, and offered her his hand. She took it, letting him pull her up. She was shivering now, his warmth having left her. She moved so he could pick up the other blanket, and they slowly picked their way through the crowd. 

Claire was surprised to feel her chin trembling a bit. Was she going to...cry? God, not now, she thought. How silly. It had just been a kid trying to stir up trouble for a laugh. It wasn’t funny, though, Claire thought angrily. It made her feel ashamed, but for what? She’d simply kissed Jamie. She held her breath for a moment, as she wondered if Jamie had minded that she’d done that - in the middle of the park, surrounded by people. She let her breath out again as she felt him grab her elbow and tug her closer. Perhaps he hadn’t minded afterall. He wasn’t making excuses to leave, anyway, she thought with some relief. 

She felt Jamie put her hand through the crook of his elbow as he guided her back towards their building. She still shivered, and Jamie pulled her in, their shoes meeting the pavement in unison. 

“Don’t worry about him, Sassenach.” 

Claire looked up when he spoke, gave a small smile, and leaned her head against his shoulder. 

“It’s ok…” she mumbled, wondering what the rest of the night would hold. She’d be up all night now, and didn’t particularly want her time with Jamie to come to an end. 

“How about we get that full meal in you? You must still be hungry,” Jamie offered. “Let me drop these things by my flat and we’ll go, yeah?” 

Claire nodded. “Sounds good, Jamie.” 

[thesassenachswiftie]

Lover - Chapter 8: “Me!”

Read on AO3

Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 // Chapter 6 // Chapter 7

Summary: Jamie and Claire are finally reunited!! We left our lovers under the bleachers, where Claire whispered "take me home." I'm sure you can imagine where this is going. 🔥

Notes:Thanks so much for reading and bearing with me through all the angst!! If you have issues with smut, maybe skip this chapter (the very beginning and very end are safe, but not much in between). 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Follow me on Twitter (sassenachswifty) because I need more friends on there.

Chapter 8: Me!

In spite of the chill in the air, Jamie felt warm for the first time in months.  He had been living in winter and Claire was his summer--returned to him after their time apart. Somewhere in the distance, a teenager reluctantly shouted “strike the band up...1,2,3”; from the sound of it, the game had ended and the marching band was playing the crowd out. They had already made their way to the parking lot and arrived there before the throng, Jamie’s arm firmly planted around Claire the whole time. Jamie didn’t ever want to let her go again. He opened his car door for her in the parking lot and winced to let her go for the few moments it took to walk around the car to the driver’s seat. Once inside the car, he planted his right hand firmly on her left.  He never let go for the entire ride back to his apartment, caressing her hand gently with his thumb and stealing glances at her at every stop light. He could still hardly believe she had come back to him. He never wanted to see her walk away again. The last time they had been in a car together she wouldn’t let him touch her--would they have even been apart if she had? Having that physical connection made open and honest conversation easier between them. “Claire, are you really here? Are you really mine?”

“Jamie, when you ran after me and called my name, that was it for me. I couldn’t run away again; I couldn’t leave well enough alone even if I wanted to. I don’t know what it is between us. It’s not usual. It’s different.”

“Aye, I ken what you mean, Sassenach.” he briefly pulled the hand he’d been holding to his lips, kissing just under the knuckles.

Claire laughed gently, “one of these things is not like the others” she chanted, smirking.

“Well, there’s a lot of lame guys out there” he chucked back to her. “Babydoll, when it comes to a lover I promise that you’ll never find another like me.” Jamie was beaming, his world felt like a rainbow with all of the colors now that his Claire, his sorcha, his light was back in his life.

“Mmm… I don’t doubt it.” She closed her eyes, picturing just the kind of lover he was, grinning and blushing as she imagined where they would end up this evening. “I don’t doubt it one bit.”

           When they arrived in the driveway below his apartment Jamie was again remiss to let go of Claire’s hand to exit the car. Immediately, their arms were around each other again as they made their way up the narrow staircase to Jamie’s above-garage apartment. As soon as they closed the door behind them, Jamie grabbed Claire’s curly mane and brought her lips to his own, kicking off his shoes as he did so and guiding her into the studio apartment towards his bed. Their lips only separated to pull clothing over heads in a whirlwind of passion--a coat on the floor in the entryway, a shirt draped over the kitchen chair, a pair of jeans strewn across the coffee table, Claire’s bra discarded on an end table. Panting, they arrived at the bed where Claire sat and peeled off her skinny jeans and underwear before assisting Jamie in stripping off his boxer briefs. He stood before her beside the bed and she lay back. For a moment, they stared at each other, taking in the sight of each other's naked bodies, comparing them with their memories of a month ago. Jamie was the first to break the silence. “Sassenach, I’m bewitched by you--completely under your spell.”

           Claire reached up for his forearm, pulling him down on top of her, “Mmm… Spelling is fun” she cooed, pulling him in for another impassioned kiss. She wrapped her legs around his waist and they began rubbing against each other’s most sensitive areas. Claire had been so deprived of pleasure in the past month, she felt that just this simple action could be enough to take her over the edge. She wouldn’t have been surprised if Jamie felt the same, feeling just how much he wanted her against her.

           “Christ Sassenach”, he whispered in her ear, moving to kiss her earlobe, and down her neck. He adjusted his position to keep himself from finishing too soon, allowing her to rub on his strong thigh instead as his lips made their way to her breasts. He kissed and sucked each nipple generously, settling to work on the right one while his left hand caressed the other.  He devoured her skin ravenously; this was a meal he hadn’t had in a month and it was more delectable than he remembered. After satisfying both her breasts, her nipples engorged and erect, he continued kissing down to her stomach, her hips, her thighs, her inner thighs. He knew he was teasing her, but every inch of her skin was missed and delicious to him, he wanted to savor every bit of her. Feeling Jamie explore these untouched places caused Claire to involuntarily giggle, the scruff of his chin and delicate caress of his tongue tickling those sensitive spots. “I will never tire of your wee noises, Sassenach”

           “I do not make wee-e-e, oo- oo- oo--” Claire’s protestations were interrupted by Jamie’s mouth finally making its way to that bundle of nerves she had been anticipating for what simultaneously felt like moments and eons. Claire panted and hummed as he sucked and licked, knowing just when to change pressure to keep her pleasured yet wanting more. Finally, he brought her to that place where she saw stars behind her eyelids, and cried out his name in pure ecstasy.

           “Ya do make wee noises, Sassenach, and baby, that’s the fun of you.” he stated smugly, clearly proud of himself for eliciting such a reaction from her.  

           “I know I tend to make it about me, but allow me to return the favor, my darling” she elicited, sitting up and moving to her knees on the floor, beside the bed.

           “Who would I be to deny the lady’s request?” he mused, taking her position on the bed.  

           “God Jamie! It’s bigger than I remember!” she exclaimed, taking his cock in her and gently stroking it.

           “I know, I’m a handful, baby uh--” he groaned as she took him between her lips, “and a mouthful, apparently.” He attempted to wink at her for the second time that evening, his owl-like expression and smug smile meeting her whiskey eyes staring up at him. Using her hand to grasp and stroke his base in time with her mouth on his shaft, she ran her tongue and lips along him until he was the one letting out unrecognizable noises and sharp inhalations. He tangled his fingers in her curls as if he were holding on for dear life. “Oh God Claire!” he cried out, spilling into her mouth.  She swallowed, wiping her lips after releasing him. They were both breathless. He drew her up onto the bed with him and then down to collapse on the bed in his arms.  

“Come here, mo nighean donn, let me keep you company.” He brought his lips to hers for the umpteenth time that evening, worming his tongue between her lips.  They shared another passionate kiss, this time slow and lingering, savoring the taste of themselves on each other’s lips--something that was new for Claire.

“No one’s ever done that before,” she rasped when they released.

“Done what?” he questioned, his blue eyes peering deep into her whiskey-colored ones.

“Kissed me after… well, after what I just did to you.” Claire, blushed, averting her eyes to his piercing gaze.

“There’s a lot of lame guys out there, Sassenach. I’d kiss ya even if you just ate a tuna sandwich with onions dipped in garlic and topped with stinky cheese, this is nothing.”

Claire exploded with laughter at his comment. “Mmmm… how appetizing,” she sputtered sarcastically between her chuckles. She’d missed how fun he was to be around.  He certainly would never bore her. She’d forgotten how wonderful it was to laugh in his arms, in his bed. When was the last time she laughed? Had it really been since that night in Montauk? The night she didn’t think before she jumped in and told him she loved him? The same night she also thought too much and decided to ruin everything? How had he allowed her back into his arms so easily after what she’d done to him. She was lying beside him now--her curls and one of her delicate hands spilling over his firm chest, and he was gently stroking her hair. “Why’d you let me come back to you Jamie? You could have anyone else, you’re the kind of guy the ladies want. Why me? After all I put you through.”

He pulled her chin up so their eyes could meet. “In truth, I don’t always ken myself.  I’ll admit I was angry after I found out what ya did to me, but I meant what I said earlier. I forgive you. I can understand why you did it, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want it too--even if the circumstances weren’t exactly my idea of honorable. I’m glad you told me though--I felt I hated you for it at first, but it’s better to be honest with each other.”

“I’m so sorry Jamie, I should have never toyed with your honor like that. All I could think of that first night was how much I wanted you, but it shouldn’t have been like that. I should have left Frank right then and there. I’m afraid I was a coward.” she admitted. “I’m afraid you never get just what you see with me, but I want to change that. I don’t want to lie to you anymore. I feel like my heart and my head have been battling since we met and I’ve only been able to show you one or the other. Like I’ve been two completely different people. I want to be able to show you all of me, the only one of me.”

“I’d like that very much, Sassenach” there was a truth in her eyes that he saw and understood. For the first time in their torrid relationship, she was completely vulnerable and exposed to him. Free from the weight of any hidden baggage, the air around them felt light, like they could float together, right off the bed and into the stratosphere. Everything was out in the open and they were free to just be. Claire felt it too, the weight that had been bearing down on her their whole relationship was gone from this meeting. She had aired her dark secrets and he still accepted her in spite of her shortcomings.

Jamie pulled her into a kiss--slow, lingering, passionate. Their tongues danced lazily, in no rush to do anything but enjoy each other’s company. Carefully, Jamie rolled Claire onto her back, positioning himself on top of her. He began to kiss, suckle and roll his tongue across her earlobe, causing her to moan and squeak with pleasure and anticipation. He brought his hand to the space in between her legs, gently stroking the place he knew she wanted him too, caressing the moist folds of her skin, teasing around her entrance with his fingertips. “Jamie” she whispered in his ear, “I want you inside me--please.”

He guided himself inside her in one smooth stroke. Their bodies quickly found a gentle rhythm, synchronizing completely as if they were created to fit together, two halves of the same whole joining. They had started their evening at homecoming, but now they were coming home. Their desire for each other swelled and grew together and the pace of their movements followed. “Don’t stop, Jamie!” Claire cried out, on the edge of her passion.

“I won’t stop, baby.” he panted back to her, nearing his own precipice. Moments later, Claire let out a piercing cry of his name, fingers clawing into his shoulders, her whole body squirming with pleasure. That was more than Jamie needed to bring him toppling over the edge with her, his own pleasure bursting behind his eyes.

He dismounted from her, handing her a box of tissues from the nightstand so they could clean themselves up, and laying on his side next to her, his curly red mop propped up on his large hand, taking in the naked beauty lying beside him. “I’m so glad you’ve come back to me, mo nighean donn.” He gently stroked the skin of her breast.

“I didn’t think you’d miss me after a time, you’re a very attractive man, and there’s a lot of cool chick’s out there. Surely, you could have found someone else.”

“There is only one of you, Sassenach.” he smirked, kissing her curly mane “no one else could compare.”

They continued to lie together in silence. Jamie continued softly caressing Claire’s milky skin, taking in everything inch of her, memorizing her every curve. Eventually Claire broke the silence.

“Jamie?” there was a hint of anxiety in her tone.

“What is it, mo chirde?”

“When are you leaving?” she whimpered.

“Not for another few weeks yet, I’ll help Jenny and Ian with the pumpkin harvest but I have to be back before the end of the month to get my wee tree farm up and running before my own busy season. It seems to be starting earlier each year.” he mused. Jamie ran a Christmas Tree farm on the outskirts of London, something Claire had learned the night they met.

“What happens then? With us?” There was a pleading in her golden eyes as she looked into his.

“Och! A wee ocean isn’t going to stop the way I feel about you.” he insisted, kissing her forehead. “It’ll be different, yes, but I’ll call you every night, and we can visit each other when you have breaks from school, right?”

“That sounds like it could work. I’ll miss this though.” She ran her hand up and down his body, making it clear exactly what she met.

“And I’ll miss this.” He reached around her body, taking a generous handful of her arse. “I swear we’ll make this work, Claire; I never want to be parted from you again.” In truth, he was imagining her joining him in England. Making space for her in his home. Perhaps she would grow a small herb garden behind the kitchen, and they’d laugh together as he washed dishes and she dried in the evenings. Eventually, they’d have a bairn or two running around the place, keeping them on their toes. It was all so beautiful and real in his head, but he knew it was too soon to ask. He knew it would be a huge decision for her and she’d been through so much in the past few months, he didn’t need to throw her a curveball like that. She had only just returned to him, only just been able to open up to him. For now, all he could do was silently vow that someday, he would make that fantasy a reality.

----------

           Jamie and Claire continued kissing, caressing, and humming sweet words into each other’s ears well into the small hours of the night. They enjoyed each other’s company more than they ever had before now that the walls between them had crumbled. Eventually, the week caught up with Claire and she fell asleep before Jamie did, using his shoulder as a pillow.  Jamie stayed awake, taking her in, stroking her soft curls, and imagining their future together.  When he was sure she was asleep, he kissed her cheek softly and whispered in her ear, “I promise that nobody’s gonna love you like me.”

[henrik-von-schneeplestein]

Crazy To Suppose

Ship: marvelsepticeye, background/established schneeplebro

Summary: Chase and Henrik invite Jackie, Marvin, and Jamie over to celebrate New Year's Eve. The night doesn't go the way Jackie imagined, and the end of his year is far from happy. The beginning of his new year, however, starts looking up.

Warnings: alcohol; not so much a warning but just a note that this story obviously does not take place during covid - don’t go to parties during pandemics!!!

Word Count: 1812

Click here if you’d prefer to read it on AO3 :)

--

Jackie snuggled into his blanket, flicking through channels with the remote Chase had left him with. Jamie was still sitting next to him, but Chase and Henrik had gone upstairs to put the kids to bed and Marvin had wandered off and disappeared. 

It had been a nice evening so far. Dinner was delicious - Jackie had spent more New Year’s Eves than he’d care to admit ordering delivery from overtaxed restaurants and waiting forever for it to arrive. And even aside from the homecooked meal, it felt good just to get out of his apartment on the holiday and end the year chatting, laughing, and watching Chase’s kids try to stay awake until midnight (they didn’t even make it until nine).

He heard footsteps coming back into the room behind him; Chase had said something about watching a movie until it was time to watch the ball drop, and left Jackie in charge of picking. Marvin still wasn’t back, so Jackie pitched the others some options as Chase and Henrik brought out some snacks and made themselves comfortable on their couch. He almost jumped when a voice came from right behind him.

“I’m gonna head out, but thanks again for dinner guys.”

Jackie turned. Marvin, apparently, had been in the bathroom changing into a sparkly gold dress that came to his mid-thigh. He looked glamorous and perfect as always; like a model in a fashion magazine article about New Year’s Eve. It made Jackie understand the saying “dressed to kill;” it was like Marvin was stealing the air right out of his lungs.

Chase was less impressed. “You’re gonna freeze in that.”

Marvin rolled his eyes. He walked back through the kitchen and opened the hall closet without asking, helping himself to one of Henrik’s coats, a long black one that extended down to Marvin’s knees. It was loose on him, so he ignored the buttons and just pulled it around himself. “Does this meet your standard, mother?”

Chase crossed his arms but didn’t say anything.

“I’ll bring it back tomorrow. I’m leaving this here anyway,” Marvin said, dropping a bag that looked to contain the clothes he’d worn earlier in the evening. He fished out a smaller bag, one that matched his outfit, and started putting his shoes on.

“Do you at least have your phone?” Chase asked. “How are you getting home? You don’t have your car.”

“My date’s driving.”

Jackie didn’t know why it hurt so much more than usual. Marvin went out on plenty of dates, and it was never easy, but Jackie had gotten used to telling himself that it was ok, that it wasn’t his business. Being in love with him didn’t give Jackie the right to judge Marvin’s decisions, and just because Marvin never showed any interest in Jackie didn’t mean it was a personal attack when he went out with someone else. But Jackie had thought that they would be together tonight, even if just as friends, and now he had to watch him ride off with someone else. And maybe, when he’d seen Marvin dressed for a party, he’d had the tiniest hope that he was going to ask Jackie to come along.

Headlights appeared outside the window, Marvin waved goodbye and wished them all a happy new year, then left and closed the door behind him while Chase was still in the middle of telling him to be careful. In his absence, there was a five minute intermission for Chase to rant about how inconsiderate he was and how he was going to end up dead in a ditch one of these days, and then they redirected into the movie. Jackie chose a superhero movie, since Marvin wasn’t there to complain about it, but found he only missed the way that Marvin would’ve made fun of it when they ended up watching in almost complete silence.

They caught the last fifteen minutes or so of the live footage in Times Square, and before they knew it they were counting down. When midnight struck, he found himself staring as Chase and Henrik kissed each other, swaying a little as they held each other. They were so happy. Jackie wondered if he’d ever know what that felt like.

He felt a kiss on his cheek and turned to see Jamie smiling at him. He tried to smile back as Chase and Henrik finally separated and turned to hug the two of them. He knew he should enjoy the laughter and friendship, but he was stupid enough to check his phone. Marvin hadn’t texted him.

Chase and Henrik didn’t really have a guest room, what with having five kids, but since Henrik’s kids were with their mother that night, they offered Jamie and Jackie to crash in their empty beds. Jamie accepted and went upstairs with them, but Jackie figured he’d honestly be more comfortable on the couch than in a twin, and besides, he was grateful to have the TV, especially once he was alone. He couldn’t sleep, and it gave him something to distract himself with.

He was zoning out in front of some 90s sitcom he’d never seen when his phone buzzed at around 1 am. It was from Marvin - “hey can you let me in”

What did that mean - it made it sound like Marvin was right outside. Jackie walked towards the front of the house and squinted through the window. He could see something moving. “Jesus,” he muttered. He opened the door and Marvin slipped through. “You’re creepy as shit, you know.”

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, no problem. What are you doing here?”

“I accidentally left my keys in that bag with the clothes I changed out of.”

“Oh. Is your, uh, date waiting for you?”

“God, no. He was an asshole. I took an Uber; I’ll just crash here tonight.” He took off his coat, revealing a full bottle of wine he’d been hiding under it. “We can have our own party.” He opened the bottle expertly and took a drink directly from it. Then he held it out to Jackie. 

“I don’t know if we should -”

“Oh come on,” Marvin said, giving him That Grin. “You already helped me sneak in, you’re complicit here. Besides, Mommy and Daddy are fast asleep upstairs, they’re not gonna catch us.” He dropped onto the couch, making himself comfortable in the space Jackie had abandoned.

Somehow, Marvin had a way of making it feel like they really were rebellious teenagers breaking all the rules, and the sadness that had hung around Jackie all night suddenly seemed distant, like the two of them had been a part of this secret scheme all along. He accepted the bottle and took a sip.

“Sorry if that guy ruined your night. You want me to beat him up?”

“Nah, not even worth the energy. He tried to do the whole ‘kiss someone else at midnight’ thing to make me jealous. Please. I practically invented that move.” He leaned over for the bag of chips on the coffee table and took a handful. “I mean, the crazy thing is,” he said between bites, “I used to do that with Chase, back when he was fun.” He rolled his eyes.

“What’s up between the two of you, anyway? Why are you at each other’s throats all of a sudden?”

Marvin hesitated. He wouldn’t quite meet Jackie’s eye, staring down at the wine he was swirling restlessly. “He’s mad at me for going out tonight. He thought we should all hang out, make sure you had a fun New Year’s.”

“Me?!”

“Yeah. Just cause, y’know, it’s the first holiday season since Lizzy, and he’s been worried.” That was the last thing Jackie had expected. Lizzy was his ex-girlfriend, but they’d broken up months ago, back in spring, and he’d been the one who ended it. But then again, they’d been together for two years, everyone had been asking when the ring was coming, and she really was great. Maybe he should still be upset, but he hadn’t even really thought about it. That was why he’d broken it off in the first place - he knew it made him a jerk to stay if he had feelings for someone else, and even now, his only real feeling was hope that maybe the reason Marvin hadn’t invited him along tonight was because he couldn’t take him away from a party that was meant to be for him. 

“And I would’ve stayed, it’s just that I already had those plans.”

“It’s all good. Chase is sweet, but I’m really fine.”

“I was stupid to go anyway. Honestly, I knew this guy was a loser I just… I know it’s dumb and it doesn’t really compare to your thing, but ever since Nico I’ve been weird about dating.” Nico was Marvin’s ex. Jackie didn’t like him, obviously, but the other guys didn’t either. He was weird, dark and broody, and they were pretty sure his name was really just Nick. Marvin had stayed with him longer than he’d ever been with anyone else, though. “I know we weren’t together as long and that you guys didn’t like him, but he was always sweet, y’know. And I still wonder if I made a mistake ending it.” He took another long drink. “And it’s like, any time I meet someone too nice it just freaks me out, I don’t know. Like I don’t wanna do that again.”

“That makes sense. I don’t think it means you should go out with assholes, though.”

“No. I think Anti’s snake is getting hungry; I keep stealing its dead rats to put in guys’ mailboxes.”

Jackie laughed. “You’re something else, Marvin.” He grabbed the bottle and took another drink. He didn’t even like wine, it was just nice to share. “You’re gonna figure it out.” He raised the bottle in a toast. “To a year of dating nice people, for both of us.”

“Mm, yeah.” He rested his head on Jackie’s shoulder. Jackie could feel the tickle of his long hair, smell the booze on his breath, and it made his heart beat faster. “That’s the spirit,” he yawned.

“There are beds if you think you’d be more comfy.”

“Nah.” He pulled his legs up under him. “I’m good here if you are.”

“I’m good.” He tried to fix the blanket so it was over both of them, and Marvin’s weight grew heavier against him. 

He was pretty sure Marvin had fallen asleep, so he was surprised when he heard him mumble, “I can’t believe I didn’t get a kiss on New Year’s Eve.”

Jackie leaned over and kissed his forehead. “How ‘bout that?”

Marvin hummed, now so out of it that his voice came out in a muffled breath. “Nice.”

Jackie laughed. “Happy New Year.”

 This time, he didn’t receive a response at all other than deep, steady breathing.

[joshslater]

Grimsby pt. 6

Similar stories and bonus material on my Patreon.

I think I surprised myself more than anyone else that I was early for work. Peter put me to work right away with ice and boxes. Not much different than yesterday, and quickly became a mindless routine. If I had started off the day as a zombie, I soon wished I was one. Or on drugs, still. It would be helpful to block all the muscle ache if nothing else. There was quite a lot of fish coming in compared with yesterday. Since it was a Friday restaurants stocked up for the weekend, and the ordinary shoppers came by for their Friday evening projects. But as I was in so early I kept up with work, and by lunch Jamie sent me home early with full pay.

“Real good work today. Rest up for Monday. You look like shit.”

I grabbed a mis-shapen fried cod on my way out and ate by the bus stop. I decided to do as suggested and get back home as fast as possible and take a nap. Then perhaps I could deal with cleaning out the kitchen, or even laundry if I woke up in time. I had just finished the fish when the bus arrived, and this time I actually paid the proper £1.80. Again I opted for a seat in the back, by the window, though there wasn’t many people on the bus.

Two stops later a teenager, probably younger than he tried to look, swaggered on and went straight to sit next to me. All blue and grey adidas joggers and sweatshirt, Nike shoes and a buzzed head. He sat down with one foot on the seat, legs wide. He effectively blocked me in my seat, but he didn’t do it in a threatening way. It was like someone getting comfortable next to someone they knew.

“Oi. Got fag?” 

My instinct was to not give any of my cigarettes to him, but then were they really mine? I was still working my way through the 200 pack Declan bought me. I suppose once it was gone I would have to buy a new one, but it didn’t feel like it was my money. As long as I’m pretending for Butcher Jones I don’t have to be too careful with money.

“Hey. Sure.”

I got one of the last ones out of the box and handed it to him. He lit it and started to smoke, in the bus.

“Thanks mate”

Almost instantly I was jealous of him. I so craved a smoke. Sure, it was on the bus, but I wasn’t the one who had lit it. I held out my hand towards him. He looked up and handed me the lit cigarette. I made a few deep drags and handed it back to him. Some stops later he got off the bus with a “cheers”. It felt like I had passed a test of some sort. That I was convincingly playing my part. It felt both reassuring and unsettling at the same time. I couldn’t see my reflection in the window, but I could kind of imagine what I looked like now. I touched my head, and it still felt alien to me, with the smooth skin on the sides and the island of stubble up top. I almost missed my stop, lost in thought. I was so tired, and walked on autopilot from the bus stop to my bed. I did greet someone from yesterday’s party, but instantly forgot who. I kicked off my shoes and lied down on the bed.

“I said yous ready to go?”

My wheels were spinning wildly with poor traction in my sleep drunk state. I didn’t understand what was happening. I wasn’t drunk or high, was I? No, I hadn’t had any all day? Big Jace was only inches from my face, one hand on each of my shoulders. Damn, how sore my entire body was.

“G...*cough* go where?” “The club. Imma beat you in boxing like FIFA.”

He reached out and grabbed me in that way where the thumbs interlock and your fingers grab the outside of the hand. Instinctively I grabbed his hand as well, and he pulled me out of bed. “There’s plenty of napping once we get the gloves on.” I was still too disoriented from having been waken up mid REM sleep to realize what he meant. As I stumbled down the stairs after Jace, I managed to grab a new pack, get a cigarette in and light it before we were out the door. Why did I agree to do this again? Right. I was high. Where was Declan?

Jace turned the other way down the street, not saying a word as usual, with me following him. He had a black Nike duffle bag over his shoulder. Despite his height it was hanging below his hip, swinging more than I would have had patience for. It was mesmerizing to look at, as I worked on my Richmond Blue King and tried to not wake up properly. By the time we reached the end of the street I felt like I was hypnotized, and was jolted back to sentience as he walked straight through a bush and across the lawn of however lived there. I followed him. Right, I remembered. Declan had left. I took a few faster steps to walk up beside Jace, and not behind him.

He led me over some public and private properties in the confident manner of someone who had long ago worked out the best shortcut to something they attended often. He wasn’t rushing, though, and despite my overall soreness and fatigue it felt refreshing. About 15 minutes later we entered the Grimbsy Adrenaline Club building, a large free standing brick building designed by someone without any aesthetic sense at all. I wouldn’t be able to tell anyone how we got there if I wanted. As soon as Jace opened the front door and I saw the locker room signs I realized I had nothing with me to change into. A home full of athletic clothes, in a sense, and nothing with me. Though I guess the adidas outfit I had on was as good as anything, and it was about time to throw that in the theoretical laundry basket.

Jace tossed the bag on a bench as soon as we entered the locker room. It landed with a loud thud that startled the only other guy in the room. Jace smiled a wry smile, like scaring the guy was the best thing that could have happened. Like the exterior, the room was well worn with furniture crafted in place. It smelled of sweat and mildew. Jace sauntered to the bag, unzipped it and pulled out a pair of old boxing gloves. They looked just as I imagined boxing gloves should look like, rounded, as inflated balloons, orange-red leather with yellow-white trim and long, white laces. They were really worn, and a bit frayed in the lining. The laces looked brand new, and just about long enough to lace them up. Someone had probably replaced the original string with laces from a pair of sneakers. He held one up, opening towards me.

“Hand.”

I put my hand in the glove, and he pushed it in place. He quickly tightened the lace, told me to push, and tied some sort of knot. He then grabbed a roll of duct tape from the bag and put a wide strip over the knot, and around the glove, almost two turns.

“Shit gloves innit. Should hold.”

We did the same with the other glove. He then picked a black piece of rubbery plastic, a bulky mouth guard, out of the bag and inserted it in his mouth. Finally he picked up a pair of much more modern gloves from the bag, red and black in some synthetic leather, put them on and velcroed them tight. He did two rapid fistbumps, making a bright thuds.

“Come. I’ll show you the basics.”

I could barely make out the words for the mouthguard. I followed Jace through the building. It was almost deserted, with a few people in the machine room doing their work out. I realized I had no idea what the time was, but early afternoon on a Friday was obviously not peak hour. We ended up in a large room with different punching bags along one wall. He stopped in a cleared area.

“Now hit me.”

I punched him softly in the chest.

“OK, that one’s free. Hit my head.”

I made an attempt and he easily danced away. He spurred me on to continue and to make better and faster attacks. He clearly enjoyed his superiority, dodging everything with ease. He was starting to mock punch me, missing on purpose. “Faster, or I’ll hit you for real” I was tired and sore, and I had no idea what I was doing. We were going faster and a faster, my heart was racing and I was sweating, but my arms moved sloppier and sloppier. Somehow I was getting angry that I didn’t hit him, and got more and more determined to actually hit something other than his blocking gloves.

Suddenly he stepped back, giving me a big, black rubber smile. How long had we been at it? Five minutes? Fifteen? He opened a glove, took it off, removed the mouth guard and held it out in front of him, offering it to me. “Bite this. I’ll show you the punches.” Without thinking I stepped forward, leaned down to where he held the mouth guard and bit into it. Exactly when I closed my mouth it hit my how off the cliff I was. I was exhausted on every level, sure, but I was just blindly doing whatever this younger, rude, drug dealing chav told me to do. How had he conditioned me so quickly? At the beginning of the week I wouldn’t even touch something dripping in someone else’s saliva. Now I put it in my mouth before I even realized anything wrong with that. I was desensitized.

“This is a jab.” Jace said with no emotion and punched me straight in the face. I was totally unprepared and fell back on the padded floor. I managed to break the fall a little with my gloved hands, and ended up on my ass. My nose hurt. I tried to feel it, and check if it was bleeding, and manged to punch myself in the face, if ever so softly. “Wa a uh!” was my rendering of “what the fuck”, but the mouth guard was clearly not fitted for me. If anything Jace was enjoying this more than sidestepping my blows, and spent seconds just observing me on the floor before he stepped in and lifted me with one glove in each armpit.

I felt light headed and steadied myself on Jace before regaining balance. “Hits can come from front, sides and below” he explained. “Jab is from the front.” I didn’t feel it mattered much what it was called when you beat someone up. “This is a hook” he said and hit my head from the side. This time I was more prepared and managed to lean away. It still connected, but wasn’t as bad. I avoided his other hook even better. The uppercut however connected with my chin properly and I lost consciousness for a few seconds and woke up looking up at Jace.

“You need to block”

He then appeared to hold back, and went through all the punches, telling me how I could attempt to block them. I got punched plenty more, but nothing that knocked me out. He then placed me in front of one of the punching bags and told me to repeat a motion, while he went on to do his exercises. Occasionally he would change my exercise or adjust me technique. All I could do was to grunt “ae!” with the mouth guard in.

“Fifteen more”

I was really emptying whatever energy reserves I had left, and I knew I was doing really shitty work, but I did as Jace told me and hit the punching bag with fifteen more left hooks. He had taken off his gloves, and was just watching me. As I did the last punch, he tapped my shoulder with one of his gloves.

“Solid work, mate. I’m chuffed.”

He walked towards the locker room. I trailed him, exhausted. My body must have glistened in sweat, had it not been for the adidas set, which clung to the body. I was breathing heavily through the nose. Well ahead of me I saw him toss his gloves into the bag, then turned and waited for me.

“Footwork next time. Tuesday.”

He wasn’t asking. He then ripped the tape off my gloves, and undid the knots. As soon as I got a hand free I removed the mouth guard. Jace looked at it as if surprised I still had it. “Toss in the bag”. I sat down on the bench to catch my breath.

Jace stood still and just looked at me for a moment, then he reach down inside his polo shirt neck, undid a brass looking chain necklace. He stepped forward and clutched it around my neck. I looked at him in surprise.

“There. You’re family.”

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Banner One Shot: A Snack

Summary: Katie’s hungry…and there’s only one snack she’s pining for.

Warnings: Language!! Smut (NSFW)

Pairings: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Rogers (nee Stark)

Square filled: Mutual Pining for @avengersbingo​

A/N:  This is set in the Stark Spangled Banner Universe, taking place in late 2024. You don’t have to read that full series to enjoy this but feel free to if it grabs your attention. To all my regular SSB readers, as a treat I’ve included the messages referred to at the bottom for a bit of fun too!

Steve grabbed his thermos full of coffee before he headed out to the hallway, meeting Katie at the bottom of the stairs with a fully dressed and clean Jamie in front of her, freshly changed Aurora on her hip.

“You ready son?” he looked at Jamie.

“Just need my jacket.” he nodded.

“It’s on the peg by the door.” Katie said, giving Steve a peck on the lips.

“Love you.” he smiled at her, before he kissed Rori’s head and she grinned at him.

“You too, have a good day.” Katie smiled, as she waved them both out of the door.

The Rogers’ household routine in the mornings always seemed to go the same. Family breakfast, change the kids, wave Steve and Jamie off…but no matter what time they got up in the morning it always seemed to be a rush. And she knew it was going to get even worse when she went back to work in a couple of months. But, as she walked into the kitchen and placed Rori in her bouncer seat with a teething ring, she looked around and realised she wouldn’t have it any other way.

As she tidied and set another pot of coffee going she spotted Steve’s wallet on the side she rolled her eyes and fired him a quick message telling him he had forgotten it.  His response was almost instantaneous and she smiled, arranging to drop it in to him at lunchtime.

Once she was done she settled at the table and logged into her emails, smiling as she had one from Emmy asking her to read over one of her essays before submission. She had an agreement with the teenager, that she would proof read and highlight areas where there were errors or parts which could be improved but would point blank refuse to provide either corrections or detailed suggestions as she was keen that the work was Emmy’s own.  Not that she needed much help, their eldest was a brainbox and currently flying high in her first Semester at Harvard.

And, according to her email, was coming home this weekend for the first time in 4 weeks.

Which in Katie’s opinion called for a family dinner. So she set about organising it, except the group chat kind of went a bit haywire when Emmy flipped out, sending a copy of a photo she’d seen of Steve that had been taken that morning which was trending on twitter.

Katie snorted at Emmy’s disgust but then her attention diverted fully to the photo of Steve. It must have been taken by one of his students earlier that day, and was apparently posted on twitter accompanied with the tag line of “My tutor is a snack”

Katie had to laugh because as much as she wasn't sure that it was appropriate for students to be taking photos if their tutors on such a way, she couldn't deny that her husband was a snack. In fact, he was more like a 4 course fucking meal in the photo in question. He was sat in a chair, reading a paper. It was ridiculously innocuous, but there was something about it that set every nerve in Katie’s body on edge. His jaw line, his hands, his wrists…holy hell he was channelling some big Daddy Vibes.

She was squirming all morning after seeing that photo. By the time she met Steve for lunch she was ready to jump his bones but there wasn’t really much opportunity to do that in the public arena of the coffee shop.

“Hey baby doll.” Steve smiled as he spotted Katie pushing Rori’s buggy through the door, standing up to greet her, hand on the glass pane to keep the door open slightly.

“Hi handsome.” she smiled, accepting the kiss he dropped to her cheek before he turned his attention to Rori, picking her up out of the pram. She giggled and waved her arms and legs, grabbing at his beard. He sat back down on the leather sofa, Katie dropping his wallet onto the low table in front of them.

“Thanks.” he said “Luckily I had a twenty in my pocket or I’d have been severely caffeine deprived this morning.”

He looked up as the waiter came over and they placed their orders for a couple of paninis and coffees before Katie sat back, nestling into the space under his arm which was resting across the back of the sofa.

Katie smirked “Had a good morning Daddy?” “Stop it.” he said in a low voice, shooting her a look as he bounced Rori on his knee. She flashed him an innocent one of her own back and he rolled his eyes before she laughed.

“I’m sorry but…it really is a damned good photo…” she fished out her phone “And Emmy was right. Steve Rogers Snack is trending.” Steve groaned. “I know, I’ve been getting screenshots off Sam all morning, well I was until I blocked him as well.”

“As well?” she frowned “You mean you actually did block Bucky?”

“He sent me a clown picture.” Steve shuddered “So yeah. I did. I’ll unblock em later. Maybe” he said, waving his hand.

Katie shook her head, watching him for a moment as he concentrated on Rori who was now chewing at her hand. Reaching into the changing bag, Katie handed over a teething ring which he took and passed over with a smile, Rori making some form of babble back as she shoved it in her mouth eagerly.

“She’s looking more like you each day.” he said, smiling and looking back at Katie.

“You think?” Katie asked, looking at her daughter.

Steve nodded. And he meant it. Whereas Jamie was a carbon copy of him, he felt that Aurora was in turn going to be the double of her mother. Her eyes were almost completely green now, and her hair was dark too. She had her mother’s nose and face shape although Katie insisted the cheekbones were definitely from the Rogers’ side, not that Steve could see it. “She’s beautiful.”

“Charmer.” Katie smiled

“Only for you.” he shot back, winking.

****

Seeing Steve at Lunchtime had done nothing to stop or help with Katie’s spiking libido. It really was ridiculous how much of effect a fucking photograph taken on the sly was having on her. She’d been pining for him all day long. In fact, the last time she’d felt this desperate for him had been before they’d even started dating. At the time where they’d both been dodging round the feelings they had for one another for months.

“Mutual pining.” Natasha said wisely as Katie let out a groan, sitting down at her desk.

“No one is pining…” she said, looking at her.

“Bullshit.” Natasha shook her head “If that’s the case then why does he keep refusing to ask any of the girls I suggest out on dates…” “Because he doesn’t want to date.” “And why do you both look at each other like there’s no one else in the room?” “You’re imagining things.” Katie sighed. “Maybe.” Natasha said “But I’m a highly trained Spy with astutely honed senses…so I doubt it. The pair of you are clearly mad about one another, just too stupid and stubborn and afraid to do anything about it.”

Katie ignored her and glanced over at where Steve was stood talking to Rumlow, leaning over a table as they glanced at some sort of map. Steve looked ridiculously good in his stealth suit bottoms, the compression shirt highlighting every single ripple of muscle he possessed, his strong jaw line was twitching as he contemplated what the Strike Leader was saying. It set something off in her lower belly, as it always did, a raw desire. Frankly, if she thought she could get away with it, she’d jump his bones in a second…but there was no way he felt the same, Natasha was wrong.

Steve was aware of her eyes on him, so he didn’t look around. He didn’t trust himself to. The suit was tight enough as it was without a certain extra bulge in the trouser department adding to the issue. One look into her eyes at the moment was enough to send him off like a horny teenage kid. It was ridiculous…not to mention frustrating that he was chasing something he could never have. There was no way she felt the same, despite what Natasha told him.

“Momma!” Jamie called as the door opened. Rori let out a shriek at the sound of her brother’s voice and grinned as he ran into the room.

“Hey baby, did you have a good day?” she asked, looking up from where she was sat on the rug playing with their youngest, and he nodded.

“Yeah but tomorrow is gonna be even better as it’s soccer day!” he grinned. Katie smiled, Jamie hadn’t been at school for very long but he already loved soccer and baseball practice. She ruffled his hair and glanced up at Steve who was leaning in the doorway, still in that fucking jacket…

Steve spotted the look on his wife’s face straight away. He knew it well enough. A thirst, a lust, desire…

“Jamie, why don’t you take your bag upstairs and get changed?” Steve tore his eyes off Katie’s to look at his son.

“Can I play on my computer?” he asked hopefully.

“Just until dinner.” Katie said, looking at him.

He gave a triumphant yell and stood up, bounding out of the room.

“Speaking of dinner I better start it.” Katie said, standing up. “You ok to watch her?”

“Course I am.” Steve chuckled “She’s my daughter.”

“Just checking.” she said, brushing past him in the doorway. She stopped and glanced at him, her hands running up the lapels of his jacket and he gave a smirk.

“You really like this jacket huh?”

“Almost as much as I liked the stealth suit.” she agreed before she looked him up and down, making no attempt to disguise the fact she was as she bit her lip and headed off up the hallway.

Steve waited until she had gone and let out a soft groan. Since her dirty text earlier he’d had a semi-hard on all fucking day. And now, after that little display he was turned on even more.  Taking a deep breath he knelt down on the floor and tickled Rori’s tummy where she was grabbing at the baby gym she was underneath. He could hear Katie gently humming and after another minute or two he picked Rori up and carried her through to the kitchen, placing her down in the playpen in the corner of the room.

Without a word he crossed over to where Katie was stood reaching into the cupboard for something. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back towards him, his lips gently skating up her neck.

“This what you want?” he asked softly and she gave a grin, tilting her head to look at him.

“What gave you that idea?” she asked.

“Just a hunch…” he muttered, his lips meeting hers in a soft kiss, before his mouth moved to her jawline, one hand straying to the button on her jeans. He popped it easily and worked his hand into the front of her underwear and she gave a soft gasp as his fingers began to play with her sensitive flesh.

“You know…” he continued to speak as her sighs slipped from her mouth “I’ve wanted this all day doll, you’ve had me pining for you…”

“Yeah, well, the feeling’s been mutual…” she said softly, arching her back and taking a sudden breath as two of his fingers slipped insider her. She pushed back slightly, the curve of her ass pressing into his groin and he gave a hiss.

“Fuck baby…” he said through gritted teeth, and he gave a disgruntled wimper as his hand stopped what it had been doing.

“Steve…”

“Such an impatient brat…”he chastised, his mouth on her neck and as she closed her eyes she could hear the tell-tale sound of his belt buckle being undone and the zip on his flies being pulled down. His hands retuned to the front of her jeans undoing them the rest of the way and sliding them down wither panties to her ankles. As he stood up, his hands gently traced the curves of her calves to the outside of her thighs and he grabbed her hips pulling her back towards him before he bent her gently forward, nudging her legs as wide apart as the clothing round her ankle would permit.

He didn’t say another word as he pushed into her in one glide, burying himself to the hilt. Katie let out a groan, her hands slipping forward on the kitchen counter slightly as he bottomed out, before he gently pulled back and did the same again and again, hands gripping at her hips as he continued.  He leaned over to nip at her neck, causing her to whimper, one hand moving from her hip to clasp her jaw, tipping her head round to meet him. His lips crashed onto hers in a hungry, domineering kiss, swallowing her dirty little moan as he picked up the pace, his hips rutting forward faster.

She gave a loud, low purr of delight as he slid his mouth to the pulse point on her neck, before he let out a growl of his own and glanced down at the point where their bodies were joined, the sight of him slamming into her worked him up even more.

His rhythm became faster, and Katie felt her hips banging against the side of the marble surface tops. She knew there would likely be some bruises there tomorrow but at that point in time she really didn’t care. Her hands tightened around the edge of the kitchen counter, her hips bucking back into his, desperate to feel him as much as she could, the feel of him brushing against her spot was finally scratching that itch, satisfying that hunger she’d been feeling all day.

“Fuck you feel so good doll…” he praised, lips warm on the shell of her ear as she arched her back slightly, letting out another keen of desire and she felt the animal in her belly beginning to stir. Steve could read the signs well enough by now to know she was close, and he moved one hand to stroke between her legs whilst he continued his relentless rhythm.

“Stevie…” she stuttered his name, before her voice became nothing but a strangled, hoarse cry and she tightened around him, her legs buckling slightly. He tightened his arm around her belly as he felt the familiar white hot ribbons surge through his body as he let himself go, his rhythm faltering as he emptied himself inside her with a groan.

Katie laughed softly as he moved back, his hands gently gliding up her arms as he kissed the back of her neck softly before he stepped back to allow herself to pull up her clothes as he tucked himself away and fastened his buckle.

“Now I gotta stand here, in damp panties and cook…” she turned and looked at him, sliding her arms round his neck.

“Well, that serves you right for snacking before dinner.” he grinned, as she let out a bark of a laugh before he dropped his head slightly, running his nose up against hers “Let’s hope you haven’t ruined your appetite completely for desert….”

@the-omni-princess​  @momobaby227​ @geekofmanythings16​ @angelofhell-666​ @thewackywriter​ @marvelfansworld​​  @cobalt-gear​  @asgardlover75​ @jennmurawski13​​​  @jtargaryen18​​ @saiyanprincessswanie​​  @navispalace​​ @patzammit​​  @joannaliceevans-fanficblog​​  @icanfeelastormbrewing​​ @djeniiscorner​​  @ayamenimthiriel​​  @coldmuffinbanditshoe​​  @disneylovingal​​ @madzmilllz​  @sgtjaamesbaarnes​ @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​

[isitgintimeyet]

The Ties That Bind

Previous

AO3

Thanks for reading this far. Hope you enjoy the next chapter. Just a wee visit to Lallybroch. Thanks to @mo-nighean-rouge for the beta

Bit NSFW below the cut

Chapter 11: A Home Visit

I never realise how much I like being home unless I’ve been somewhere really different for a while. Juno MacGuff, Juno

As they drove out of the Glasgow suburbs and into the countryside, the clouds lifted and the sun shone out of a perfectly blue sky. They had not spoken much since Jamie picked Claire up and dumped her overnight bag in the back of the car next to his rucksack, walking boots and walking poles. Somehow, the silence between them wasn’t awkward. It seemed calm and peaceful, as though they had no need to fill it with meaningless chatter.  As Claire’s hand rested on Jamie’s thigh, she turned to gaze at him, admiring his chiselled profile, high cheekbones and full lips. She thrilled at the thought that he was hers and happy to be so.

Jamie briefly turned his head to Claire as her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“What ye staring fer, Sassenach? Have I got food on ma face?”

“No, sorry. I was just wondering, can we have the roof down?”

Jamie smiled and pressed a button. As the roof retracted, swirls of wind invaded the car, whipping Claire’s hair into a Medusa-like tangle of curls.

“I hadn't really thought this through!” Claire shouted, pulling the hair from her mouth.

“What?” Jamie yelled back as he pushed the car faster.

Eventually, the car began to slow as Jamie pulled into a picnic area at the side of the road. He laughed as Claire frantically ran her fingers through her hair, wincing as she pulled at the tangled mass. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head before climbing out of the car.

“Look at this, Sassenach, just look around ye. Have ye ever seen anywhere more beautiful? On my way hame, I always stop here. Just tae take in the scene. The peaks, the waterfalls, everything. Doesna matter what the weather is… sunny and the colours sae bright, or grey wi’ great dramatic clouds. It doesna matter. Ye must have been here afore, aye?”

Claire moved around to join Jamie.

“Oh yes, quite a few times… Frank’s area of expertise at the university was the various Jacobite risings, so he’d come up here to Glencoe many times...”

She turned to face him, noticing the unconscious look of distaste that passed over his face at the mention of Frank’s name. “But we never really stopped to look around. Frank was not an outdoor kind of guy.”

Jamie headed back to the car. “Come on then. I want tae get ye hame tae Lallybroch.”

With the roof of the car firmly in place (“I am not turning up to meet your father looking like something the cat dragged in, James Fraser!”), the drive to Lallybroch continued. Up through Fort William and Fort Augustus to the lower reaches of Loch Ness, then alongside the Loch to the instantly recognisable sight of Urquhart Castle, where Jamie veered from the main road to a series of smaller roads.

Claire had visited Fort William and Fort Augustus in the past, had even gone as far north as Inverness and Culloden, but those journeys had inevitably been accompanied by details of the quashing of Highland uprisings, English army manoeuvres and a way of life condensed into a series of bloody statistics. All delivered with Frank’s characteristically detached manner. This journey was very different. Jamie recounted a stream of stories about the areas they passed through. Some true historical events, some fanciful myths, their origins lost in time, but all delivered with the passion and pride of the Highlander with an accent becoming more pronounced the further north they travelled.

“Tell me about Lallybroch.” Claire prompted as Jamie finished his tale of kelpies.

“Och, weel, the family ha’ lived there for nigh on three hundred years. Da still lives there, wi’ Murtagh, who’s a cousin and looks after the production side of the distillery. Since Mam died, and Jenny and I moved tae Glasgow, the hoose is tae big fer them, but they willna move. There’s always been Frasers at Lallybroch, he says, and he willna be the last. No’ even the English redcoats could force the Frasers tae leave. Ye can still see the marks of the English swords in the door frames … always there tae remember.”

“Oh dear, will I be welcome do you think? Or should I practice my Scottish accent?”

“Dinna mock,” Jamie chided gently. “‘Twas a long time ago. Besides...”

His lips made a lopsided smile as he reached out and squeezed her knee reassuringly.

“Ye may be a sassenach, but ye’re my sassenach and ye’ll always be welcome in our hame.”

Eventually, they pulled off the road and onto a short drive and Claire caught her first glimpse of Lallybroch. While not huge, it was certainly much larger than the average family home, spread over three floors with, Claire was sure, attics and cellars in addition. An imposing grey stone house, designed for function rather than beauty, built to withstand the fiercest of Scottish weather and hostile visitors. And it was home for Jamie. Claire had never had that attachment to one place. The flats and houses that she had shared with her uncle had all been nice, but they had always moved to the next without a pang of regret or sorrow.

Jamie lifted their bags out of the car and walked round to a door at the side of the house. Claire followed him through a small hallway filled with wellies, walking boots, waterproof jackets and umbrellas into a large square kitchen dominated by a huge wooden kitchen table. Jamie dropped the bags and headed for the tall American-style fridge. “Ah, Mrs Crook has left us a wee snack. It’ll be a fair while till dinner and we havena had lunch. So, how about we go and drop our bags upstairs, then we can have a wee bit of refreshment afore I show ye round.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”  

Before Claire had chance, Jamie picked up her bag and led the way out of the kitchen, down a stone floored passage and through a door into a large wood panelled hallway, with several doors off it and a large wooden staircase ascending to a first floor galleried landing.

“When ‘twas built, the kitchen was no’ fer guests,” Jamie explained as Claire looked round admiringly. “And sae the panelling and the finery ended at that door.”  

He pointed to where they had come from. “Now the kitchen’s the room we use the most.”

Jamie climbed the stairs as Claire trailed behind, looking at all the family pictures on the walls. This was a place that Uncle Lamb could happily have called home. He opened one of the heavy doors on the landing. Claire stepped into a bedroom with oak furniture and a massive stone fireplace, currently unlit.

“Am I in here?” She asked.

Jamie nodded. “Aye, we’re both in here. This is ma room.”

Claire tried to imagine this room as it had been when he was a boy, full of toys and books with Lego strewn across the carpet, or when he was a teenager with posters and video games and that particular adolescent male aroma - three parts testosterone, two parts stinking sports wear and one part sheer horniness.

She wandered around, noticing the framed photographs dotted round the room, the various rosettes and silver cups and the airfix model airplanes placed on the highest shelves of the bookcase - the room of a man too old for such juvenile pastimes, yet loath to get rid of his boyhood achievements. She guessed there was probably a Nintendo N64 tucked away in some cupboard, ready to resume a Super Mario game last played in 2004.

Her attention fixed on the large bed in the centre of one wall. “Is your father OK with us both sleeping in here?”

She kicked off her sandals and primly sat on the edge.

“Sassenach, I’m thirty-two years old. I have my ain hoose. I think he kens what goes on between a man and a woman.”  

Jamie pulled off his shoes and joined her, grabbing her around the waist. “Besides, I’m living oot fifteen year old Jamie’s fantasy, a bonnie woman in his bed, with a round arse jes’ made fer fondling.”

“So, I’m not going to find anything I might regret here in your room, am I? Like porn magazines or...”

“Porn mags, Sassenach?” Jamie appeared horrified. “What d’ye think I am?  There are no porn mags in this room, I promise ye... ye can get everything ye need off the internet nowadays.”

Claire playfully punched him on the shoulder. Jamie responded by drawing her closer to him.

“I dinna need porn,” he whispered, his breath hot on her neck. “I have ye… and my imagination.”

Bringing his lips to meet hers, he teased them open and his tongue ran between them. She moaned against his mouth as she felt his arms tighten around her and she met his tongue with her own, rubbing it seductively around, licking the inside of his mouth, her fingers tangling in his hair. “Claire, what ye do tae me...” he breathed as he pulled away, looking into her eyes.

She smiled and ran her hands down his back to the bottom of his shirt scraping her nails lightly over the bare skin she slowly uncovered. He moaned and closed his eyes briefly before lowering his head again and claiming her mouth. Jamie’s lips moved lightly across her cheek to her neck and he smiled as he felt her quiver in his arms. His fingertips traced her jawline as he sucked her ear lobe, loving the feel of her pressed against him, her head thrown back in pleasure. His hands slid along her body, pulling her on top of him as he sank back on to the bed.

Copying Jamie’s actions, Claire began to kiss his neck. He inhaled sharply as her warm mouth found his earlobe and nibbled at it gently. Rising up, she threw one leg over his body to straddle him. As her hands caressed the hard muscles of his arms and shoulders, she instinctively moistened her lips with her tongue. Jamie grew harder as he watched his Claire astride him, her breathing becoming more ragged as he ground his hips against her.

Jamie’s hands reached up to fondle her breasts through her t-shirt. She moaned at his touch and instinctively rolled her hips. Her hands roamed over his muscled stomach and chest as she unbuttoned his shirt.

Claire moved her head back a little and smiled at him. “What time does your dad get home?” She teased.

"Oh god, is this like a teenage makeout session then?” Jamie groaned as he began to push at her top, trying to get it off. She moved her hands down to help him, and together they removed her top and her bra.

“Kind of, although I think we may be going all the way this time.” Claire giggled as she climbed off him.

Lying next to him, she pulled off her jeans and panties. Jamie watched momentarily before quickly stripping off his own jeans and underpants. Claire ran her eyes over his naked body.  “Jamie...” she reminded. “...socks.”

There was a playful quality to their lovemaking. Laughing together as they sought each other’s mouths, limbs entwining with accidental collisions of elbows and knees, their movements together becoming more heated and urgent with every breath.

Jamie paused momentarily, and leant over the side of the bed, fumbling with his rucksack before returning to Claire, foil packet in hand. Together they eased the condom on before Jamie positioned himself and entered her. Claire’s body wrapped around him, her thighs around his waist, arms around his neck. Locked into another deep, passionate kiss, she clung to him as their moans blended together.

Their bodies grew slick with sweat as they moved in unison. Claire closed her eyes as she began to feel her orgasm wash over her. Jamie felt her tighten around him, pushing him over the edge as she cried out his name.

Still panting, Jamie rolled off Claire and lay on his side to face her.

“I need a shower now…” Claire began.

Jamie interrupted her with a gentle kiss. “Fifteen year old Jamie thanks ye, from the bottom of his heart. Better than any of his imaginings!”

[cristinablackthornkingson]

Shadowhunters Short Story #39. When Ariadne Fairchild (Née Bridgestock) finds herself in a scary situation she goes to the one person she can trust, Anna Lightwood.

It is a beautiful, warm spring morning in 1908 and just as Anna Lightwood is getting ready to go to The Institute to train her little brother Alexander, she hears a knock on the door. Furrowing her brow in confusion, Anna makes her way to the front door, wondering who on earth could be visiting her at this early hour.

When she opens the door Anna almost stumbles back in shock when she sees who is standing in front of her.

“Hello Anna.” Ariadne Bridgestock quietly says, smiling weakly at her old friend.

“A-Ariadne, w-what are you doing here?” Anna stammers in a tone of confusion. She hadn’t really seen Ariadne in years, since they were 17. She had seen her around of course, she was married to Anna’s cousin Charles Fairchild, but she hadn’t spoken to her since they were teenagers, not because she was angry or held a grudge against her but because they were both so different now, Ariadne was married and trying to start a family, Anna was still happily single, living on her own and wooing all the beautiful ladies in London. Perhaps Ariadne had changed her mind about staying in the closet and had told her family about her attraction to women and had left Charles.

“I.... may I come in?” Ariadne quietly asks, begging Anna with her amber eyes. 

“Y-yes... yes of course.” Anna says, stepping back and holding the door open for Ariadne. She would send a fire message to her Aunt Tessa and Uncle Will in The Institute and ask them to let Alexander know she wouldn’t be able to train with him today, she would promise to train with him tomorrow, she hated disappointing her little brother, who she simply could never say no to.

As Ariadne settles onto the sofa in Anna’s living room, Anna quickly scribbles her message to her Aunt and Uncle and sends it to The Institute. 

“I don’t wish to sound rude or un-pleased to see you Ariadne, but what are you doing here?” Anna asks in a curious tone, taking a seat on an armchair across from Ariadne. 

“I... well I just.... I need to talk to someone and I had been thinking about our brief relationship and how it was one of the happiest times of my life and I... just found myself on your doorstep, I will go if you do not want me here, I would understand.” Ariadne quietly explains, looking down at her clasped hands in her lap.

“No I do not want you to leave, if you want to talk me then you certainly can.” Anna softly says. 

“Anna I am so sorry for breaking your heart when we were younger, I realize now it was a bit insensitive of me to ask you to be with me behind Charles’ back, I know you are loyal and kind and would never wish to hurt him like that, I understand that now, I never wanted to hurt you Anna, I loved you but I... you understand why I could not be with you? Why I had to agree to marry Charles?” Ariadne asks in a tight tone, close to tears. This was such a difficult subject for her. Her life with Charles was not unhappy, he was very kind and sweet and loving to her, and ever so gentle and caring when they made love, but still Ariadne could never be fully satisfied with her life, though she very much wanted children she was tired of lying on her back, her eyes screwed shut, wincing in pain as Charles made love to her, as gentle as he was it was still absolutely awful for her, and she had decided that she never wanted to do it again after she became pregnant, she would tell Charles pregnancy was difficult and painful for her and she did not want to go through it more than once, they could adopt if they wanted more children, she just couldn’t bear to make love to him anymore. 

“Of course I do, I am so lucky to have such wonderful and accepting parents who love me for me, I know everyone is not that lucky and I understand why you are afraid you will be one of the unlucky ones, you don’t need to apologize, you were only doing what you thought was best, we were young and stupid and I did stupid things too, if you are happy then I am happy for you.” Anna softly says, reaching over to grasp Ariadne’s hand in hers.

“Charles is wonderful, he is sweet and loving and gentle, he never makes me feel pressured into doing anything I do not want to do, on our wedding night I-I couldn’t bear the idea of being with him in that way, or any man and he was so sweet and understanding, he didn’t make me feel guilty or anything, he helped me change out of my dress and then he read to me until I feel asleep, the next morning he brought me breakfast in bed and was so kind, of course he thought I was scarred because it would be my first time, not because I am not attracted to men.” Ariadne says in a teary tone, tears rolling down her face.

“I am glad he treats you well, you deserve someone who loves you and treats you well.” Anna gently says.

“A few months ago... Charles and I started trying for a baby, you know how much I want to be a mother, more than anything I have ever wanted. Charles was and is so sweet and gentle but I still hate it Anna, I hate it so much, it hurts so much every single time and I never get any pleasure out of it. A few weeks ago I woke up feeling really sick, worse than I have ever felt before, I ended up throwing up all day, I couldn’t keep anything down, lately my sense of smell has been really strong and everything makes me sick, I missed my period last week, so I went to The Silent Brothers today, Brother Zachariah told me I’m almost 2 months pregnant.” Ariadne quietly explains, the tears continuing to roll down her face. 

“I thought you wanted children.” Anna quietly says.

“I-I do but now that it is actually happening I am beyond terrified Anna, you hear all these horror stories about pregnancy. Charlotte was telling me about her pregnancies with Charles, Matthew and their sisters and she told me how she was so sick with Matthew and in so much pain all the time, and then she told me about her miscarriage and how she almost died too, and she told me about how Matilda almost died before she was born, too, the cord got tangled around her neck. I am so scared I’ll have a horrible pregnancy or loose my baby or die when I give birth and even if the whole pregnancy goes well I have no idea how to raise a child, I know nothing about children, Charles has 3 younger siblings and countless younger cousins, he has so much experience with children, whereas I have never even held a baby.” Anna’s heart breaks as she listens to Ariadne confess all her fears, she could not imagine what she is going through, she would be terrified too if she were pregnant.

“Oh Ariadne, I understand why you are so frightened but I promise you that not every pregnancy and birth is complicated, I don’t remember when my mother was pregnant with Chris, I was only 3, but I do remember when she was pregnant with Alex, I really don’t think I have ever seen her so happy. She had a little bit of sickness but not much and she said her labor with Alex was the easiest she ever had, she says she barely felt a thing and before she knew it he was out and perfectly healthy, my Aunt Tessa had a really smooth, easy pregnancy with Jamie, my Aunt Sophie had two smooth, healthy pregnancies too, Thomas was born early but he ended up being fine. You don’t need lots of experience with children to be a good mother, I know you will love your child more than anything and give them the best life anyone could ask for, you will be a fantastic mother Ariadne, Charlotte will help and so will your mama, and you’ll have Charles to help you with the baby.” Anna softly explains. 

“But there is no guarantee I will have a smooth easy pregnancy.” Ariadne sniffles, wiping at her tears.

“No but there is no guarantee that you won’t, either. When mama was pregnant with Alex, she had weekly check ups from The Silent Brothers, because she was a bit older which meant that there was more of a risk of Alex not being healthy, you can have weekly check ups with The Silent Brothers too and they will be able to tell straight away if something is wrong with you or the baby and then the chances of fixing it are a lot higher.” 

“Really? I can? I-I thought that was only for older women or women who have had complicated pregnancies in the past.” Ariadne says. 

“No not at all, Uncle Jem will be happy to check up on you and your baby every week, that’s what Silent Brothers are for, they’re healers.” Anna explains. 

“Your Uncle is a Silent Brother? I thought my family was unique!” Ariadne says in a light tone. Anna grins at her and says

“Oh that’s not the worst, my grandfather was a worm.” 

“Oh? Why? What did he do?” Ariadne asks in a curious tone. 

“No I mean literally, he was literally a giant worm, he contracted demon pox and turned into a giant, blood hungry demonic worm.” Anna says, smiling widely and remembering back to when she and Chris were little and would beg their parents to tell them the story of when papa’s papa had turned into a giant worm. 

“Demon Pox is real?” Ariadne asks in an amused tone. Anna laughs and nods.

“My Uncle Will was obsessed with it when he was younger, for some reason, still is really, so you can imagine his delight when he found out it was real.” Ariadne laughs and gently squeezes Anna’s hand. 

“You are a good friend Anna.” She lightly says. Anna smiles softly at her and says

“I am glad you think so, do you feel better now?” 

“Yes actually, I do, I really needed a good laugh, thank you.” Ariadne says in an appreciative tone. 

“My pleasure, it’s what friends are for, and I would very much like us to be friends.” Anna says. Ariadne smiles widely and says

“I would too. You shall have to come over sometime and have dinner with Charles and I, and you will have to help me with the baby’s nursery and picking out her clothes and such.” Ariadne says in a tone of excitement. 

“That sounds lovely, send me a fire message once you have talked to Charles and let me know when I can come for dinner, and then you two will have to come here for dinner, not that I am much of a cook but I do make a mean roast dinner.” Anna lightly says. 

“I would love that, thank you for listening to me today, I appreciate it.” Ariadne says, rising from the sofa. 

“Anytime, see you soon, yes?” Anna asks, as she and Ariadne embrace.

“Of course, very soon.” Ariadne replies, as they make their way toward the front door. 

When Ariadne arrives home, she is surprised to find Charles in the drawing room with a book in his lap. She had thought he would still be at work, he usually works very long, late hours.

When Charles hears footsteps enter the room, he looks up from his book and grins widely at his wife. 

“Hello beautiful.” Charles softly says, as Ariadne sits down beside him. 

“Hello to you too, what are you doing home?” Ariadne asks in an inquisitive tone.

“Work was not very busy for once, there wasn’t much for me to do today so I decided to come home and spend some time with you, where have you been?” Charles lightly asks. 

“I was seeing The Silent Brothers.” Charles’ eyes widen and he sits up straight. 

“What did they say?” He asks in a hopeful tone. Ariadne grins, takes his left hand in hers and presses it to her stomach. 

“I’m pregnant.” She quietly says, smiling widely at him. Charles’ face lights up in delight and tears start to form in his eyes. 

“Are you sure?” He quietly asks. 

“I’m sure.” Charles laughs in delight and pulls Ariadne into him, hugging her tightly, the tears now rolling down his face. He was going to be a father! He could not be more thrilled! A sweet little baby that looked just like Ariadne, the thought of it was exhilarating. 

“I love you.” Charles quietly says, pressing a kiss to Ariadne’s forehead. “Both of you.” 

“We love you too.”

Ariadne is beyond relieved when by the time she is 3 months pregnant, her sickness seemingly disappears and she has had no complications at all. Throughout her pregnancy Charles becomes extremely protective of Ariadne, he barely lets her lift a finger and is even worse than Will for summoning The Silent Brothers over every little thing.

Anna and Ariadne grow even closer during her pregnancy, Anna often comes around to their home for dinner and they will often go to hers for dinner too. Charles is very happy that Ariadne is so happy and has made such a good friend, he had always worried about her as she always seemed a bit sad and lonely. 

When Ariadne was 6 months pregnant she asked Anna to be with her when she gave birth. At first Anna was reluctant, she didn’t want to see Ariadne in so much pain but in the end she agreed, wanting to do whatever she could to make her friend more comfortable. 

Ariadne and Charles chose not to find out if they were having a boy or a girl, but decided to come up with one boys name and one girls name. They had almost immediately settled on a boy’s name, Benjamin Henry Fairchild, but they simply could not settle on a girl’s name. For a while they considered Charlotte, after Charles’ mother, but it didn’t feel right at all so they were back to square one. Currently Ariadne is nine months pregnant and they still have not come up with a name for a girl. Right now she is sitting on the couch with her legs in Charles’ lap, both of them looking through books of baby names. 

“Charles, what about Pearl?” Ariadne softly asks. she had seen the name a few times and had always thought it was a lovely name, but she was not sure if it was the right fit for her daughter, but she was constantly pulled back to it and couldn’t get it out of her mind. 

“It’s beautiful, I really like it, Pearl Fairchild, it sounds lovely.” Charles softly says. He places a hand on Ariadne’s swollen stomach, where he can feel the baby kicking. “Hello Pearl, do you like that name sweetheart? Do you want to be called Pearl?” Instantly the baby starts kicking like never before. Charles and Ariadne look at each other, wide eyed in shock.

“I think she likes it, if she is a girl.” Ariadne says.

“So it would seem, what about a middle name?” Charles asks. Without even thinking, Ariadne says

“Anna.” Charles raises an eyebrow at her and says

“Anna? After my cousin?” Ariadne lightly shrugs and says

“It can be if you like, I just like the name Anna.” Charles nods thoughtfully and says

“Pearl Anna Fairchild, yes I like it!” 

“Charles.. I think it’s time.” Ariadne suddenly says in a strained tone, clutching her stomach tightly. Charles’ eyes widen in shock and he leaps from the couch and dashes off to summon The Silent Brothers. 

When Brother Zachariah arrives 10 minutes later, he confirms that Ariadne is in labor. Charles helps her up to the infirmary and contacts Anna, his mother and Ariadne’s mother and father, his mother would tell his father, brother and sisters and everyone else so he wouldn’t have to worry about contacting them.

When Ariadne’s parents receive Charles’ message, they write back telling him they are out of town on business but will try and get back as soon as they can.

Anna and Charlotte soon arrive and immediately go into Ariadne, while Matthew and Henry wait outside with Charles, while Matilda and Ruby, who are only 2 and 3 months old, are with Sophie and Gideon. 

Ariadne’s labor is long and painful and nothing seems to relieve the pain. Brother Zachariah had given her countless pain killing runes but they did nothing and Ariadne felt absolutely everything. She was so desperate to have her baby that when the time came to push, she did not care one bit that everyone in the room could see everything, she just wanted this baby out.

She had been pushing for hours now, but this baby seemingly just did not want to budge. 

“I can’t do this anymore.” Ariadne weakly says, as a contraction passes and she leans back into the pillows. 

“Of course you can.” Charlotte softly says, brushing her daughter-in-law’s hair back from her face.

“I can’t, this baby just will not come out.” Ariadne says in a tight tone, close to tears. 

Ariadne I understand you are exhausted and in a great deal of pain but I promise you this baby is coming soon, I understand how difficult it is for you but you cannot give up, your baby needs you, it will not be long now. Brother Zachariah calmly tells her. Just then Ariadne is gripped with another intense contraction. She groans in pain and starts pushing again, grasping Anna’s hand tightly. 

“You’re so strong Ari, you can do this.” Anna softly says, giving her fiend’s hand an encouraging squeeze. 

I can see the baby’s head Ariadne, you are almost there. Brother Zachariah tells her, giving her a tiny bit of hope.

Ten minutes later, Ariadne feels a weight lift from her which is closely followed by the low cry of a baby.

“Oh is my baby okay?” Ariadne asks in a breathless tone, straining to get a glimpse of her child. 

Yes everything is perfectly healthy and well, you have a daughter, congratulations. Brother Zachariah tells her, carefully passing the baby to her.

“Oh a girl, oh my little Pearly, hello baby girl, you are so perfect.” Ariadne coos in a tearful tone, holding her baby close and gazing at her beautiful ,perfect little face. She a perfect mixture of her and Charles. She has dark skin like Ariadne, her bone structure and mouth shape, while she has Charles’ eye shape and nose shape as well as his hair color, though Pearl’s is a few shades darker.

“Oh Ariadne she is absolutely beautiful, you did so well, well done sweetheart.” Charlotte softly says, smiling softly down at her granddaughter, her first grandchild. 

“I am so proud of you.” Anna quietly says, bending to kiss Ariadne’s cheek. 

A few minutes later, as Charlotte and Anna are tidying away the bloody sheets and towels, Charles comes in to meet his daughter. 

“We have a daughter Charles, a girl.” Ariadne says in a tone of delight, smiling up at Charles, who grins back at her. 

“Our beautiful Pearl Anna Fairchild.” He softly says. When Anna hears the baby’s middle name, she freezes. 

“A-anna? Her middle name is Anna?” Anna asks, straining to control her tone. 

“Yes, Ariadne suggested it, I hope you do not mind.” Charles says.

“I... no of course not, excuse me Aunty Lottie, I-I have a bit of a headache, I need to lie down.” Anna quietly says, quickly making her way from the room, hoping nobody saw the tears rolling down her face. 

[paladin4theright]

Of Birthdays and Relationships

Music sounded loudly throughout Stan Marsh’s house. It was mostly death metal with words unintelligible to anyone who hadn’t read the lyrics. The tv was playing loudly with video games on the screen and other teenagers, anywhere from fourteen to nineteen, were drinking, smoking, and having a good time. Stan had a half full bottle of Jameson in his hand which he’d been drinking straight for the last ten minutes or so. It was amazing how much alcohol the eighteen-year-old could intake but then again, he came from a family with odd but amazing skills. He greeted new people at the door with slurred words and turned around again. He was feeling really good about everything tonight. His parents weren’t home, Shelley was off at college, and he had all the freedom in the world. He started to walk around, stumbling over his own feet occasionally. The only thing that would make tonight better was if he could find his super best friend. “K-Ky?” He called, “Ky-el.” He called, finding it difficult to say Kyle’s name.

Kyle sat alone in the kitchen. He’d just finished his last shot of whiskey and his cheeks were rosy. He decided he had had enough for the night. He had left his fuzzy green trapper on the table and tangled his fingers in his kinky curly red hair. It was a school night and he had a test damn tomorrow morning. He knew if he went to school hungover he would flunk and that was just unacceptable for himself. It was a bummer too, because he was having a lot of fun. He released his hair, grabbed his hat and prepared to tell Stan he was ready to turn in for the night. He stood up, and the walls did waves. “Ooh.” He groaned as he closed his eyes. Maybe he had already pushed his limits. He had decided he definitely needed to go to bed when he heard his name, or something close to it, being called. “Huh?” He called out in reply. When he opened his green eyes, the room was back to normal.

Making his way to the kitchen, Stan smiled to himself and stumbled as he passed Butters and someone else making out on the stairs. He vaguely heard Cartman and Heidi getting into a heated argument about something, but then again, when were they not? When Stan saw Kyle, the biggest, stupidest grin he could muster forced its way out of his lips despite not being able to feel his mouth. Immediately he almost felt like throwing up as his heart thumped loudly in his chest. Man, fucking liquor makes me feel weird around Kyle. He walked up to the red headed teen and placed his right hand on Kyle’s left shoulder to steady himself. He took another swig of Jamie and then wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Dude...dude, why...” He began, then thought of his words. “Why are you all alone?” He asked, looking around the kitchen. It had been abandoned for the time being.

“I dunno dude.” He replied honestly as he shrugged his shoulders. He hadn’t realized there wasn’t anyone in the kitchen with him. “But I gotta go home.” He admitted putting a hand to Stan’s stomach to help steady him. “You got yourself fucked up dude. You are going to regret it tomorrow.” He added thoughtfully with a small smile. “Maybe I should help you into bed before I leave?” He worried about his friend trying to make it up the stairs drunk and alone. He could only imagine his friend falling down the stairs and winding up with a broken neck. That shit happened all the time in South Park. Fuck he hated it here. He needed to do well in school so he could get the fuck outta Dodge.

“Nah, nah, I gotta clean before Randy and Sharon come home.” Stan slurred, wobbling a bit. The Irish whiskey in the Jameson bottle sloshed a bit but it was low enough that there was no worry of it spilling unless it was dropped. “All...also, you can’t leave. This party is bumpin.’ Everyone’s making out and arguing. Fuckin’ even Butters is kissin’ on someone.” Stan laughed boisterously. He was probably a lot louder than he meant to be. It was so difficult to control his volume. “You can’t go. Like, if you’re tired, sleep here. I’ll let you sleep in my...my bed and I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Becoming apprehensive, Kyle said, “I’ll get in so much shit if my mom finds out...” But as he thought about it, maybe spending the night at Stan’s would be the best thing. He pulled out his phone and texted his mom so she wouldn’t worry. He slipped it back into his jeans pocket and then wrapped his arms around Stan’s waist. “Alright, cool dude. I’ll just spend the night here...but we have to go to bed. We all have tests tomorrow.” He reminded Stan. “Wait, Butters is making out with someone too?” He asked, definitely surprised. “Why am I not making out with anyone?” He wondered aloud in mock curiosity. “Oh yeah, it’s because I’m the only one being anal about school tomorrow morning. You know, in six hours.” He stressed vocally.

“Don’t...don’t worry.” Stan grinned, closing his eyes. He smiled so big the tops of his cheeks made his eyes turn into little crescent moons. With Kyle’s palm against his stomach it reacted by doing little weird flipflops. “I-I happen to k-know...” Stan hiccupped as he tried to ignore the nausea wash over him. “Know that this test you’re so scared of right now, you’ll fuckin’ do so good.” He told his best friend. “You do so damned fuckin’ good at all the stuff you do.” He noted with sincerity. “Now c’mon.” He grabbed Kyle’s hand, walked them both to the living room and looked around at all his friends. Seriously, who is makin' out with Butters? Was Butters fuckin' moanin'? “Fuck.” Stan stared for a moment and then turned around. . He noticed Craig and Tweek pouring a couple more glasses for themselves. Both of their eyes were bloodshot and they looked to be enjoying themselves. “H-hey hey hey,” Stan hiccupped loudly enough for everyone to look at him. He let go of Kyle’s hand and walked to the stereo to down the volume. “Get out.” He slurred. “I’ve had a shit ton of fun but everyone needs to leave so I can go to sleep.”

With that, people started nodding their heads. Tweek clutched his shirt and looked to Craig. “-Ngh!- Shit man, I have a fucking test tomorrow, Jesus Christ!” He shrieked and looked around him. “How the fuck can I take a test if all I can see are -nng!- the underpants gnomes?!”

Craig wrapped his arms around Tweek comfortingly and shook his head, “Don’t worry babe. Everything will be alright.” He droned out as he pulled Tweek along with him to leave. "You can stay over with me."

There were some additional moans and groans from people who did not want to leave the party but everyone began to pile out.

Stan smiled and nodded his head. “Yeah, tests and shit. Everyone, get out.” He repeated and began to show everyone the door.

Once all of their peers were out, Stan looked to Kyle. “S-see, everyone is...” He hiccupped, “Everyone is gone now.” He smiled that big, doofus like grin again.

Kyle nodded as he relaxed a little more. His hands rested on his hips as he turned around and looked at the state of the house. It was a fucking wreck. “C’mon dude, we gotta clean this shit before we go to bed.” He stooped over and began to pick up trash, empty beer cans and liquor bottles. Kyle walked to the kitchen and dumped what he had in his hands in the trash can. He picked up the can and walked back to the living room so he could more easily clean up.

It wasn’t long before he wiped down some of the beer spilled on the walls as well as the puke on the floor. Despite being grossed out, Kyle still managed to keep his cool and clean it all up. “There dude.” He hummed quietly as he made it over to Stan who seemed to barely hold his composure. “Let’s get you upstairs.”

That stupid smile never left Stan’s rosy red face. The eighteen-year-old felt good. He felt guilty for not helping Kyle clean but he could barely move without falling over so he’d gone and sat on the couch while his best friend picked up. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of the other teen as he cleaned and it made Stan want to hurl in the best possible way. His heart quaked every time his green orbs fell on him. “You gonna hold m-my hand?” Stan murmured, reaching his left hand out in attempts to grab onto Kyle. He squeezed his fingers open and shut, motioning that he wanted Kyle like a child, he hoped his friend would take the hint. Standing up from the couch, Stan closed his eyes for a moment and almost stumbled backwards. He held tightly onto the bottle of Jameson and grabbed onto the arm of the couch to catch himself. Eyes still closed he reached it up to his lips to take another drink. Some of it spilled onto his shirt but he grinned as he drank a little more. Whiskey was good.

Kyle grabbed Stan’s hand as he rolled his eyes. “Dude, I think you’ve had enough. You are so wasted.” He scoffed as he held onto Stan’s hand tightly and carefully led him up the stairs. They took it one step at a time. Kyle made it halfway and felt a little dizzy himself. He closed his eyes for a moment, preventing himself from swaying. Once a few seconds passed by, Kyle opened his eyes again and the house stabilized itself once again. He led Stan up the stairs and to his room, looking back and checking up on him every so often to ensuring his best friend was still standing and not throwing up or something. Kyle pushed open Stan’s bedroom door and pulled Stan along, closing the door behind him.

“H-hey, we’re in my room.” Stan slurred and looked to Kyle, stumbling backward a bit. “And it’s super quiet in here.” He looked around, then to his own bed. A smile crossed his face. “Bed...I fucking missed you, Bed.” He spoke to his bed as if it were a person. He then turned to Kyle. “Kyle...I fucking missed you too dude.” He mumbled, taking a step toward his best friend and placed his hands on Kyle’s shoulders with a wide grin. “So, like...we’re all alone now.” He commented, wrapping his arms around Kyle’s neck. “I been wantin’ to talk to you all night but couldn’t ever see you.”

Kyle put his hands firmly to Stan’s hips and tried to push the taller boy away. “Yeah dude, that’s because I was in the kitchen.” He replied in a matter-of-fact tone. He looked out the window and grimaced at the smell of Stan’s breath. It smelled heavily like a mix between a bit of weed and Jameson. It wasn’t that it smelled all that horrible but he shouldn’t be close enough to smell his best friend’s breath. “Dude.” Kyle finally said, his brow furrowed as he looked right at Stan, meeting his deep blue eyes with his green ones. “What’s wrong with you?” He growled, growing frustrated. His heart fluttered up into his throat as he watched those half-lidded blue eyes watching him through thick black lashes.

“Dude, I fucking love you.” Stan hummed softly, looking right into Kyle’s eyes the best his own inebriated ones would let him. He stumbled a little bit at the attempt to push him but Stan stood his ground, again to the best of his abilities. Stan was tall, broad, decently strong in stature. He was the star quarterback for the South Park Cows so that really did stand for something. It helped him keep his balance when Kyle had tried to push him away. “I really fucking love you but I can’t let you know that.” He admitted with a sheepish, drunk grin. He leaned forward without warning and placed his chapped lips to Kyle’s smooth ones; his grin when he kissed his friend never left. God, it just felt so nice. So fucking right. Finally, he was kissing someone and that someone was Kyle. Stan felt like throwing up as nausea started settling in, making a home in the pit of his stomach and Stan couldn’t tell if it was because of Kyle or because he’d been drinking. Still, he moved his arms even with them being heavy as they seemed, around Kyle’s neck.

What the hell? Kyle’s stomach flipped and his heart suddenly went wild in his chest. This was his best friend. Super best friend. What was he supposed to do? He stood there for a moment, watching Stan, whose eyes had fluttered closed. He looked so peaceful, happy even, and super, super fucking drunk. Kyle’s face flushed with color that matched his hair and his ears were hot to the touch. He was almost mad at first but he couldn’t find it in his swooning heart to stay that way. He took in a deep breathe through his nose and forced his eyes closed. He pushed his lips against Stan’s just to make his taller best friend happy. His heart hammered in his chest so hard it almost hurt and he was sure for a moment that maybe he was having a heart attack. If he didn’t want it then why was his heart taking a giant shit?

When Kyle kissed him back, Stan grew excited. He began to peck gently at Kyle’s lips, trying to get the other teen to open up to him. His arms tightened around Kyle’s neck and he couldn't help but grin. He moved his head a bit to begin covering Kyle’s face in more kisses, starting at the side of his lips and moving up to his cheeks, forehead, nose and down back to Kyle’s lips. His kisses were drunken and sloppy. Kyle was warm which thrilled the wasted quarterback.

Kyle was complete thrown off guard. He thought maybe it was a joke: Cartman was probably hiding in the closet videotaping this and Kenny snickering under Stan’s bed. Stan genuinely seemed excited, though, and was really into it. Kyle had no words for how he felt. He kissed Stan back a few times but he kept his hands to Stan’s hips to maintain their distance apart. Stan was bigger, stronger than he was and it was difficult fighting against the drunken teen. He felt as though his entire body was engulfed in flames, all lit on fire. Every nerve ending was on edge, acutely aware of the static that lit through the air. Goosebumps ran down his legs and arms and, holy fucking shit, it was kind of turning him on. He finally caved and opened his mouth to the kiss Stan kept wanting.

Giggling when Kyle finally opened his mouth, Stan captured Kyle’s bottom lip in his own and sucked for a moment before letting go. The kisses he gave his best friend were sloppy and drunken but he enjoyed the feeling of Kyle’s soft lips against his own more than he ever thought possible. He could feel the tug of the front of his torn-up jeans. Stan licked lightly at Kyle’s mouth, feeling the warmth that was Kyle’s breath ghost across his face, inhaling the scent of sandalwood and the slight tang of whiskey on his lips. He never wanted this moment to end.

A moan escaped Kyle’s throat before he could catch it. He felt dizzy. This wasn’t right. This had to be a fucked up dream, right? He had known Stanley all his life - he had never had these thoughts or feeling before now. Had he? His lower half was warm and strained as he starting to grow hard. He released one hand from Stan’s hips and pulled his orange jacket down to hide his growing bulge. He kissed back, though, despite himself. Stan’s tongue invaded his mouth and he wrestled his tongue with Stan’s. He wanted to prove that he could be dominant as well. All these feelings were driving Kyle crazy.

Stan moaned behind the kiss and reached in front of Kyle to begin unzipping the other teen’s jacket. He heard the zipper move downward and he grinned. He pulled away from the kiss to pull Kyle’s jacket off him. “Dude, I fuckin’ love you.” Stan’s voice was gentle as he tossed the orange jacket to the floor. “I’ve always fuckin’ loved you.” He sighed and reached up under the hem of Kyle’s shirt. He looked to meet Kyle’s dark, dilated green eyes and watched the other teen through his own ocean pools. He was hot, needed his clothes taken off, and he really wanted to throw up. He thought he’d outgrown wanting to throw up because of crushes. Guess not. He smiled and began to shimmy off his Letterman jacket.

Oh, shit. Oh, fucking shit. These words repeated themselves in Kyle’s mind. This was really about to fucking happen. He helped Stan peel off his Letterman jacket and tossed it to the floor close to his own bundled mess of a jacket. He breathed through his mouth, his heart squeezing and collapsing on itself until it was sore. He suddenly felt nervous, excited. He had so many emotions at once and he was fucking hard. “Fuck, Stan.” Was all he could expel out of his throat and his damn voice cracked. Was this all serious? Should he say he loved him back? Obviously, he did but he wasn’t so sure it was in the same way. Or was it? He didn’t know what the fuck was happening but that it felt so right. And wrong. He crashed his lips against Stan’s, breathing heavily through his nose as he began to unbuckle Stan’s belt.

Strong knees buckled to Kyle’s intense kiss. Stan knew he was hard and as soon as he felt his belt come undone, he moved his own hands to undo his pants, dropping them to the carpeted floor; all he was left in was a plain black t-shirt and a pair of red and black plaid boxers. Once he kicked his pants to the side, he moved to begin undoing Kyle’s belt as well, all the while kissing his best friend. He couldn’t believe they were doing this. Stan felt satisfied, relieved, and continuously queasy at the same time. This felt so good, so right, so natural. This is where he decided he’d belonged when suddenly Stan tore away from Kyle. . He groaned and looked to his best friend with half lidded eyes. “Fuck...” He muttered softly. “Fuck...” He placed his hands to his head and lowered his eyes to look at the ground, closing them as he let out a long exhale. The biliousness came in full force. It made Stan’s stomach tie in knots and he just did not feel very well at all. “Shit, Kyle...” He moaned softly, looking up to his best friend. Stan must have moved his head too quickly because he felt the rush of vomit come up into his throat and he ran for the small trash can he kept next to his desk. He hurled. All the alcohol, all the food, all the kisses which he would miss most of all. He chucked everything up.

Kyle blinked a few times, coming out of his reverie and missing the warmth that had surrounded him. His face slowly turning from a bight scarlet to a light pink as he heard the undeniable sounds of Stan vomiting. Hurling was definitely a mood killer for Kyle. “Shit dude.” He breathed as he buttoned and zipped his pants back up quickly then travelled over to his best friend’s side. “T-told ya you had too much.” He quietly scolded. The room seemed to be spinning, even for him. Was it the alcohol? Or was it a head rush from all the making out? He and Stan were almost going to…Jesus Christ. His cheeks immediately flooding to a bright scarlet and his stomach flipped. “You okay dude?” He asked as he lazily rubbed Stan’s strong, wide shoulder blades.

Stan continued to empty the contents of his stomach. He shook his head during a break in regurgitation and looked to Kyle. His eyes were bloodshot and he felt like death. No way was he going to get any sleep tonight. “Dude,” Stan whined, reaching for some Kleenex that was conveniently placed next to his computer. “Am I dyin’?” Stan had so much concern in his voice. He felt like death was right at his door step. He turned back to the trash can and spit a final time before looking back at Kyle. “Kyle...I feel like shit. And I love you.” He leaned against the nice feeling of his back being rubbed. “You wanna lay down?”

Stan repeating that he loved him made Kyle’s stomach do even more acrobats. By the end of the night his damn stomach could join the circus. Surely this was some kind of joke? Hopefully Stan threw up just because he was super drunk. “I’ll lie down with you as long as you don’t throw up on me.” He gave a meek chuckle as he continued to rub Stan’s back, patting it gently ever so often. “Also, no you are not dying. You drank too much, dude. That’s why you keep trying to profess your gay love for me.” He joked dryly.

A laugh escaped Stan’s throat. “Dude, I do. I fucking love you.” He watched Kyle with a smile on his face. He wiped his mouth with the Kleenex again and then looked to his bed. “Okay, let’s go lay down so I can die in peace.” He joshed. He picked up the trash can and started to stumble towards the bed. It was so strange. When he was kissing Kyle, he felt so steady and his movements seemed so sure. When he wasn’t kissing Kyle, he could barely see straight. Kyle was right. He was definitely going to regret his decisions in the morning, especially since he had to get up for football practice. Ah fuck. Stan sat on the bed and smiled at Kyle. He patted the spot next to him, indicating he wanted Kyle to sit next to him. It felt good sitting down. Stan didn’t feel quite as warm when he wasn’t standing.

Kyle moved over to where Stan indicated him to sit and plopped onto the bed. “Dude, you are too drunk to be saying that.” He responded to Stan telling him he loved him. “I mean, I love you too dude, but seriously.” He declared with a chuckle as he shook his head and tapped Stan’s thick shoulder comfortingly. “Lay down, you need to sleep.”

Stan nodded his head and pointed to the pillow on the other end of the bed. “‘Kay, dude.” He whisperd. He put the trash can beside his bed and smiled at Kyle. “You wanna spoon me?” Stan chuckled, cheeks getting redder as he laughed. “I’ll let you be th-the big spoon.” He laid down, resting his head on his pillow and picking his legs up slowly. He turned so he was laying on his back. He spread his legs so one was to the side of Kyle and the other was off the bed again, foot flat against the floor. His semi-hard on was still evident in his boxers. He grinned to the red headed teen.

Acknowledging Stan’s words, Kyle tried his damnedest to not notice the slight bulge in the boxers as he laid down next to Stan, wrapping his arms around his torso. He put his hands to Stan’s chest, lightly tapping it to a beat that he made up. It felt normal but he knew it wasn’t.

Stan had always been okay with gay people, animals, and things since that time in third grade where he went on Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride. The boat was no longer a thing but Stanley had learned a lot from his adventure alone that day. He’d learned to accept his dog Sparky just as he was and homosexual people were alright too. Stan had been called queer and fag all his life for being an emotional, cynical person and he was fine if people thought of him that way because there was nothing wrong with being gay. He looked to Kyle and moved so he could wrap an arm around the red headed, green eyed teen. He grinned, leaning forward to place a kiss to his best friend’s head. “I love you, Ky.” He remarked genuinely. “You’re my best friend in the whole world. Don’t wanna know what it’d be like without you...”

Kyle smiled, almost immediately turning red at the remark. He felt his heart shit itself for the second time that night. God dammit. What the fuck was wrong with me? He leaned into the kiss and closed his eyes. “You are my best friend too, dude. We have to die at the same time so we never find out, right?” This was something they agreed on in when they were young as well. “I love you too Stanley.” He meant it, whether or not it was platonically or homosexually; at this point, he couldn’t tell which one it was anymore.

*~*~*~*

An annoying and loud noise woke Stan from his slumber and upon waking up, he had the worst kind of headache. Stan reached for his phone to turn off the insistent alarm. Stan’s limbs were curled around Kyle’s but Stanley was determined to make it out of bed. It was five in the morning and the quarterback couldn’t miss practice in an hour. Head throbbing and muscles feeling wobbly, Stan moved as gently as he could to not wake his hard-sleeping best friend. Once out of the human entanglement, he looked at Kyle and smiled. He reached down to cover up the red headed teen and tucked him in. When Stan deemed Kyle sufficiently tucked in, it was time to get ready. Stan, every morning for the last seven years, had put on a football uniform first thing in the morning for practice. He’d pick out his clothes for the day and change after practice at school. Every night he would wash the uniform and then do it all again the next day. As he got dressed, he looked to Kyle again. He was feeling a lot of things for his best friend today, though unsure why. All of the night before had been a blur. He figured he was lucky that he woke up in his own bedroom this time.

Another alarm went off on Stan’s phone, causing the young man to swear and start heading down the stairs. Off to school he went, ready for 5:45 AM football practice.

*~*~*~*

Kyle had an alarm for 6:00AM sharp. As his phone went off from his jeans' pocket, he rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. He reached into his pocket and turned off the alarm and noticed that Stan’s football jersey and Letterman jacket were missing. Good. That meant he should have made it to practice. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to bid the headache good riddance when he remembered the actions that happened between he and Stan. On more than one occasion, Stan had confessed feelings for him. Just the thought created scarlet red cheeks on the ginger haired boy. He got out of Stan’s bed and found his green hat and slipped it on, not worrying about how his hair looked now. He stood up and grabbed his orange jacket that had been discarded on the floor and put it on before going to brush his teeth (Stan always had a spare toothbrush for his best friend) and started to walk to school. The morning air was crisp and dry. His breath could be seen as he let out a sigh and shoved his hands into his pocket. He walked to the bus stop where Kenny, waving at him, already waited patiently.

“Crazy night.” Kenny mumbled happily, muffled in his orange parka. His face was, as always, somewhere lost in the hood. It seemed as though he were in a good mood. As if he had no hang over at all. Asshole.

“Yeah dude, no joke.” He replied softly. Eric walked up, but for once had nothing really to say. Kyle looked at Eric’s puzzled facial expression, but didn’t have the energy to deal with him. The bus pulled up before long and the boys got on to head to school.

*~*~*~*

Football practice was difficult and cold for a hungover Stan Marsh. He’d overdone it on the drinking the night before but hell, it was his birthday. What else was he going to do? His parents had been gone so he had to throw himself a party. Was it his fault his birthday was on a Sunday? Of course not. Though he supposed he could have thrown it on Saturday. But he’d spent all day with Kyle on Saturday and that would have cut into their super best friend time. He smiled, thinking of Kyle. God, he was so fucking cool. Even though he knew he had a test today, he still came and Stan was sure he was taken care of by the ginger teen.

A football came hurdling toward Stan’s face. He caught the ball and started to hurry past Clyde and Token who were both on the “shirts” team during their football drill.

*~*~*~*

The boys made it to school and Kyle was honestly lost in his own world. Kenny and Cartman argued about pointless shit the whole way, which was unusual as it was usually Kyle and Cartman who argued. Kyle decided he had to see Stan. Maybe they should talk about what happened.

“Kyle? Where ya going dude?” Kenny asked, his voice still muffled.

“Going to see Stan. I’ll see you in class.” He replied. Cartman had nothing fucked up to say about it. Was Cartman alright? He usually had something to rip on him about. Kyle shrugged it off and walked for a few minutes. He’d found Stan out in the practice field and he was hoping they would wrap up soon because it was fucking cold outside. Kyle kept his hands in his orange jacket pockets.

Stan pulled his helmet down and adjusted his mouth guard. He rushed past Clyde and Token as he ran their play against the “shirts” team. Stan scored, crossing the touch down line and he looked to Token who’d taken off his helmet and Clyde who was kicking the dirt in anger. Stan grinned at the two guys as Token went to comfort Clyde. Stan looked around for a moment, seeing Kyle, and didn’t stop himself from grinning like an idiot, waving frantically as his heart thumped awkwardly in his chest. Coach blew their whistle to indicate that their mini game was over and that first period athletics period was to begin.

“Get your boyfriend off the field, Marsh. He’s got fuckin’ class to go to!” Coach yelled and Stan nodded, jogging up to Kyle.

“Hey dude,” Stan happily greeted his best friend. A big smile was on his face despite how horrible he felt. He really suddenly felt nauseous again. He placed a hand to Kyle’s shoulder. “Coach doesn’t want visitors today. Pretty sure he didn’t get laid last night because he’s been a complete dick.” Stan laughed. “How ya feelin’?” He asked finally. If he felt like crap then Kyle must have felt like crap too.

Kyle nodded and looked down at the ground, kicking at the grass a bit before looking back up at Stan’s blue eyes. His heart skipped a beat as he thought of those curvy chapped lips on his own. He felt heat rush up to his face and he blinked. “Uh,” He began as he swallowed hard, “I feel alright.” He lied smoothly. “I was just checking up on you really quick. You got really sick last night. Do you...remember?” He asked. Kyle felt face grow bright red at just the thought. They almost fucked last night and Kyle was going to let it happen.

Stan watched Kyle and smiled as he patted Kyle’s shoulder, shaking his head. “Dude, I don’t remember shit from last night. The only thing I kind of remember is seeing Butters sucking on someone’s face.” Stan watched Kyle, still feeling kind of nauseous. He wanted to throw up but he held it back. He wasn’t sure why he felt so sick all of a sudden. “That was hella fuckin’ weird.” He said with a chuckle.

“Marsh, what the fuck did I tell you?!” Yelled Coach. “Get Broflovski off the field and do ten laps around. C’mon!”

Stan smiled back at Kyle. Ten laps around the field was nothing of a punishment so Stan would be fine. “I guess you better get to class, dude. They’ll be missin’ your brains anyway. Thanks for checking in on me! You’re a real friend, dude.”

Kyle blinked a few times, his heart felt like it was physically falling. “Oh, yeah dude. Go run.” He retorted with a fake chuckle. He whipped around, putting his back to Stan, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets and started off towards the school. Fuck. FUCK. Stan didn't remember. His face grew red with frustration. Fucking really? His brows were furrowed as he stared hard at the ground as he walked. What the fuck was he thinking? Did he think it was real? Of course, it wasn’t real. Stan was just fucking around with him last night. He fucking knew it. He held back the biting sting in the corners of his eyes as he headed back to the main building of the high school.

I’ve got quite a few more chapters of this on AO3 if you’d like to read more!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13720008

[just-a-kid-at-heart]

The Family Tree

A huge thank you to @muykonos  for being an awesome beta and for helping make this story way better than it was originally. Hope you enjoy.

It was the family history project that started it. Faith had been assigned to create a family tree for her third grade class. It didn’t have to go back very far, just parents, grandparents, any siblings, maybe some aunts and uncles. The difficulty of the project was not the problem, but rather who would be on the family tree.

Faith knew that putting any names beside a Randall or a Beauchamp would be a sure way to have her teacher calling her parents and asking questions, but Faith also felt she wouldn’t be making her real family tree that way.

She did not have much memory of her real Da, only snippets, images of a man with hair just like her sister’s, the feeling of being warm and safe in his arms. It was an entirely different feeling than when she was with Frank, or “Daddy,” as she was supposed to call him. She knew Daddy wasn’t her real Daddy. Everyone else may think Frank Randall was her father, but she knew that wasn’t true.

------

Frank, Brianna, and Faith were seated around the table eating dinner; Claire tried to be better with her hours at the hospital, but found herself missing dinner most nights, it seemed. Frank tried his best with the girls; Brianna was easier to deal with since he had raised her since birth, but Faith resisted his efforts from time to time.

“So, girls, how was school today? Did you learn anything interesting, or need any help with your homework?”

Faith was quiet, more content to let Bree ramble on about her day in kindergarten. Bree and Frank had a different relationship than she did. Mama never seemed to talk about Da whenever Bree or Frank was around. It was only ever the two of them, and usually it was Faith who started the discussion by asking some kind of question about him. She didn’t understand why it was that Mama never talked about Da. She knew Mama loved him, so why couldn’t they talk about him, why did he have to be such a secret?

“And Faith, what about you?” Frank asked, trying to get Faith to open up about her day at school. He had a wonderful connection with Bree and she loved to tell him about her day, but Faith was always much more reserved. If he could just get her to open up, then maybe they could form a better connection. It would never be the same as with Bree, but if he could connect with Faith, maybe he wouldn’t feel like he was living in someone else’s shadow. He knew he would never be able to have children any other way, and although he was not thrilled that Claire had conceived these two girls with another man, he still tried to do his best by them.

“Yeah, Faith,” Bree began, “Tell Daddy about your project. I heard Molly talking about it today on the way home from school. I bet Daddy would help you so that your project is the best in the class.”

“A project?” Frank questioned. “What kind of project?”

Faith sighed, with Bree opening this topic she knew there would be no avoiding telling Frank. If she was honest, she knew Frank would be helpful, but she didn’t want his help if the project wasn’t going to be about her real family. “I have to make a family tree for my history class. It doesn’t have to be too detailed. I’ll be fine on my own, all I really need are your parents names and Mama’s.”

“But Faith, Daddy could help make your project so much better. He knows all the way back to our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather,” Bree urged her sister.

“I don’t know that I know that far back, Bree, but I have worked hard on researching my family. Are you sure you don’t want my help?”

“No thank you, Daddy,” Faith said, trying to be as polite as possible. “I think it will be better if I do it by myself.”

“Don’t be silly, Faith, Daddy knows all about our family. He is going to help make your tree the best. Your teacher is going to be so impressed, with all the different people on your tree.”

“I SAID NO, BREE!” Faith exclaimed as she stood up from the table and ran upstairs to her room.

Faith’s outburst startled Frank. She was always such quiet and mild child, and this outburst was completely out of character for her. He wasn’t exactly sure what to do about it. He wanted to be speak to her about her outburst, but any of Frank’s attempt at parenting Faith seemed to be met with a struggle. He was not looking forward to the teenage years. As much as he hated shirking any parental duties, this might be something better handled by Claire when she got home.

------

After dinner, Bree followed her sister upstairs. Faith never reacted like this and Bree wondered if something was going on. Maybe there was someone in her class that was being mean to her? She knew whenever another student would make fun of her bright red hair that it would put her in a bad mood, but seeing Faith at the end of the day always managed to cheer her up, so she figured it might be the same for her sister.

Bree knocked on Faith’s door. “Faith, can I come in?”

“Go away, Bree!” Faith yelled. She did not want to talk to her sister right now. As much as she meant well, all she figured she would only get pep talk about Frank. With this Family Tree project making her think about their real Da, she really wasn’t in the mood.

Undeterred by Faith’s attitude, Bree opened the door and entered Faith’s room anyway. She knew if she could just cheer Faith up, Faith would feel better and come out of her room to work on her project with Daddy. She didn’t understand why Faith didn’t seem to love Daddy as much as she did. Not that she wanted anyone to replace her in Daddy’s eyes, but things always seemed to be different between Faith and Daddy.

“Faith, why are you being so mean to Daddy? You know he could help you with your project, if you’d just ask.”

“I don’t want his help Bree. I don’t want anything to do with him right now.”

“But why? Daddy only wants to help. That’s what Daddies are there for.”

“Leave it alone, Bree.”

“No, you are being mean to Daddy and all he is trying to do is be helpful. He knows everything and always helps me with my homework, and all he wants to do is help you with your project. You know it would be the best in the class. You could go so far back and impress your teacher, and Daddy would be so happy if you asked for his help. Let’s go downstairs and ask Daddy now. Daddy is the best Daddy.”

Faith was annoyed with all the praise her sister was giving Frank, this was not what she needed right now and she just wanted her to

“STOP IT BREE, HE’S NOT OUR FATHER!” Faith exclaimed, immediately putting her hands over her mouth hoping, she could somehow be able take back what she said or that maybe it would prevent Bree from hearing what she said. Although she didn’t understand why Mama had told her to keep their real Da a secret, she knew Mama was going to be mad she had told Bree.

Bree looked at Faith with a confused face. “What are you talking about? Of course daddy is our daddy.”

In an attempt to fix the situation, Faith backpedaled. “It’s nothing Bree, forget I said anything. I need to work on my family tree; if I need any help I’ll make sure to ask Daddy. You’re right, he probably could help a lot if I asked,” she finished as she ushered her sister out of the room, hoping the mention of Frank would help her sister forget what was said.

Bree wasn’t sure what had just happened. One second she and Faith were fighting; the next Faith was cheerfully agreed to Daddy’s help with her project something she had refused before. Older sisters are weird, she thought. Maybe she should ask Mama about it when she got home, she seemed to understand Faith better than Daddy did.

------

Claire noticed something was wrong by the look on Frank’s face when she got home from the hospital. “Did something happen with the girls?”

“Yes, there was quite the stramaish over a project of Faith’s for school at dinner. Faith ran up to her room, Bree went up to check on her, and it seemed as though they were getting ready for round two. But by the time I got upstairs both girls were working on their homework in their rooms.”

Claire sighed. She knew sisters would fight, that was to be expected; no siblings get along perfectly all the time. However, Faith and Bree’s fights seemed to be getting more and more frequent, and it did not look like Frank’s refereeing was worked as well as it used to. Bree was usually calmed down by Frank and convinced to apologize, but Faith was putting up more and more resistance when it came to anything Frank wanted of her. For Faith, matters only seemed to get resolved when Claire was home to talk to her eldest daughter, and unfortunately with the demands of medical school and the hospital, Claire was starting to be home less and less.

“I’ll go up and talk to Faith now, see how she is doing. You said this was about a school project? Do you know what it was about? That might help me figure out what’s wrong.”

“From what I can tell, Faith has been asked to create a family tree for school. Bree thought Faith would like my help, but it seems as though Faith wants to do it all on her own. Bree tried to insist that I help and that seemed to set Faith over the edge.” Claire could hear the bit of bitterness in Frank’s voice, she was beginning to guess where the problem may have started. Faith didn’t really seem to like any of Frank’s help and a project that made her think about Jamie, she could only imagine how that made Faith feel. She didn’t know how much her older daughter remembered of Jamie, if anything, but she was starting to ask more and more questions about him. She certainly seemed to know that Frank wasn't her dad.

Claire went upstairs to talk to Faith, but she first made a quick stop to make sure Bree was okay.

Claire saw her youngest daughter sitting on her bed reading a book, and she knocked on the door frame to get her attention. Bree looked up and smiled. She like nights when she got to see her mama before bedtime.

“Hi, sweetie,” Claire began as she sat next to her on the bed, “How are you feeling? Your father told me you and your sister had a fight earlier this evening. Is everything ok?”

Bree hugged her mother. “I’m fine Mama. Faith was acting a little weird; she was being really mean to Daddy, and not asking for help with her project. I know that maybe she wanted to do it on her own, but if she would just ask Daddy for help then I know it would be the best project in the whole class.”

Claire tried to reason with her daughter to help her understand where her sister was coming from, “I know that you always like to ask Daddy for help with your homework, but your sister is a little bit older and if she feels like she can do it on her own then she may want to do that. Or maybe she is worried that her teacher will think she didn’t do the project all by herself. Somethings Daddy does might be a little bit too detailed for someone in Faith’s grade, so it might be best to let Faith do it on her own. Do you understand?”

“I think so, Mama,” Bree answered. “Do you think Faith will be happier after this project is finished? She seems kinda sad right now. I thought she was worried about the project and that is why I said she should ask Daddy for help, then she wouldn’t have to worry about it.”

“I don’t know, sweetie, I will have to talk to your sister to see how she is feeling. Why don’t you start getting ready for bed while I talk to your sister. When we are done, how about we both tuck you in?”

“Okay, but make sure you have Daddy comes up too. I like it when we are all together as a family.”

-----------------------

Claire sighed as she left Bree’s room. She loved when they were all together, but if she was honest, she loved when it was just her and the girls alone, in those moments she could pretend that it would be Jamie who walked through the door to join them, not Frank. But there wasn’t time to dwell on that now, she had another daughter to talk to before everyone could truly settle into bed.

As Claire approached Faith’s door, she could hear the soft sobs coming from inside the room. Something was really bothering her oldest tonight. Claire knocked, “Faith, it’s Mama, can I come in?”

“Come in, Mama,” Faith answered as she struggled to get her tears under control.

Claire entered the room and saw the tears staining Faith’s face. “Oh, lamb, what happened?” she inquired as she sat on the bed giving Faith a hug.

There was nothing better for Faith than being held in her mother’s arms. She felt safe and comfortable there, like nothing could harm her. She wished her mother didn’t have to work so much and she could spend more time with her than Frank. “I miss Da, Mama,” Faith muttered into her mother’s chest.

Claire was a little surprised; she knew that Faith had a few memories of the past, and would sometimes ask about Jamie, but Claire always tried to skirt around the issue. She told her enough to make sure she knew she wasn’t making things up, but still let her know this was not a topic that could openly be discussed in the house. Honestly, Claire had assumed Faith wouldn’t have many memories of the past, and thought it would be fine when she agreed to Frank’s conditions to raise the girls together. But something seemed to be reminding Faith of Jamie, and since she was getting older, she would need to have a serious talk about this issue. She could only imagine Frank’s reaction to Faith bringing up Jamie in front of Bree.

“I know, lamb, I miss him too, but what has brought this on? You haven’t said anything about this in quite a while. I know when you were really little you would ask about your Da, but you haven’t asked in quite some time.”

Faith removed her head from her mother’s chest and looked her in the eyes. “I have to make a family tree for school, and it just seems wrong to make a tree that doesn’t have Da on it.”

Her heart went out to her daughter. She could understand how difficult this was for her. Faith did not have the relationship with Frank that her sister did, and with all of this talk Jamie she doubted it would get any better. “I know this is difficult, lamb.” Claire hugged her daughter, trying to give her some comfort.

“Why can’t we talk about Da, Mama? Bree doesn’t even know he exists, and that just seems wrong.”

Claire sighed. She knew this was difficult for Faith. She should not have made that promise to never mention Jamie to Frank. “To tell you the truth baby, I made two promises, and although I thought were for the best at the time, I think both have made life very difficult for you right now.”

“Two promises?” Faith questioned.

“One was to your Da, before your Uncle Murtagh brought you to us at the stones, and the other was to Frank when we made it back through the stones.”

“What did you promise them?” Faith asked, interested in how this affected her.

“I promised your father when you and I went through the stones that I would go back to Frank. He hoped Frank was a good enough man to take me back and protect the both of us, and Bree.”

“But Bree wasn’t born yet when we went through the stones.” Faith interrupted.

“That’s true, but your father knew I was pregnant with Bree. That is one of the reasons why he sent us through. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to us with the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden. I told him about the things that were most likely coming after the battle, and he wanted to make sure we were with someone safe.”

“But, Mama, if you knew what was coming, couldn’t you have stopped it and made us all safe there, and then we could have all been together?”

“I wish that were true, baby,” Claire started, tearing up as she spoke. “But your father was returning to the battlefield after he saw us off at the stones - he didn’t think he was going to survive the battle, and didn’t want us to be all alone and without him, especially so far from the protection of Lallybroch.”

Faith nodded at her mother’s answer; she didn’t like it but she was understanding of it. After a solemn moment between the two of them, remembering Jamie, Faith spoke up. “What was the other promise you made, Mama?”

Claire sighed. “This one may be a little bit harder to hear. I promised Frank that as long as he was alive, we wouldn’t speak about Jamie, I wouldn’t do any searching for him, that I would never tell Bree that he was her father. We would raise the two of you on our own and he said we couldn’t do that with Jamie’s shadow lingering over us.”

“But, you and I have talked about Da before, Mama,” Faith insisted. If mama had made this promised that why did she still talk about Da with her.

“That’s true. I thought it wrong to not talk to you about someone you remembered, but this is why we have to keep it a secret, and not talk about your Da in front of your sister. Your father would not be very happy if he found out you told your sister he was not her father, and I can’t imagine how your sister would react.”

“You mean Frank wouldn’t be happy. I think Da would be more than happy if we talked about him all the time,” Faith huffed at her mother.

Claire chuckled. She could see the Fraser stubbornness coming out in her eldest daughter. “You’re probably right, but I think it still best we keep these talks just between the two of us.”

Faith smiled; she didn’t like that she couldn’t talk about Da with anyone else, especially Bree, but at the same time she was a little glad she and Mama had a special secret between just the two of them.

“So now that you are feeling a little better, how about we talk about this project of yours.” Claire wanted to get things back on track to the original issue at hand. “I know you don’t like that your Da can’t be on your family tree for school, but I have absolutely no idea how we would explain to your teacher what a Scottish highlander was doing on your tree anyway, sincce she has met both myself and Frank. However, if you would like, you and I can make a special family tree for you and me and I will help you put everyone we knew and loved at Lallybroch on it. Will that help matters at least a little bit?”

“Oh Mama, that would be wonderful,” Faith exclaimed as she hugged her mother.

“Good. I don’t have to work this weekend, so you and I will have our own special project time to work on it. I am sure Frank will be more than happy to find something special to do with Bree then, so we will be all to ourselves.” Claire hugged her daughter back, glad she was successfully able to cheer her daugher up. “Now, come on,” Claire starting to stand, “You need to apologize to your sister for the fight, and then we all will tuck the two of you in bed.”

---------------------

Faith walked into Bree’s bedroom alone. Mama had gone downstairs to get Frank so that they could all say goodnight together.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you before, Bree. I was upset about my project, and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”  As she apologized, Faith climbed up on the bed to hug her sister

“It’s okay, Faith.” Bree hugged her sister back. “I get frustrated at school, too, and when I’m upset, you are always there to cheer me up. I just wanted to do the same for you.”

“I’ll try to be better next time. Thank you for trying.”

“Are you better now? Did Mama help?”

Faith smiled at her little sister. “Yep, Mama and I talked about everything, and I feel a lot better. Maybe you can help me look over our family tree before I turn it into the teacher.”

“That would be nice.”

“Knock, knock,” Claire said as she rapped on the door, Frank behind her.

“Mama! Daddy!” Faith and Bree exclaimed at the same time, as Claire and Frank made their way over to the bed.

“Are you ready for bed, Bree?” Frank asked, sitting next to her.

“Yes, Daddy. I love nights when we all get to be together. Do you think we could read a story tonight?”

“Sure, Bree, what story would you like to read tonight?” Frank asked walking over to the bookshelf.

Faith cuddled between her sister and her mother, waiting for Frank to come back with the story. She still missed her Da, and although this may not have been the family she dreamed of, these moments together were still nice.

[a-dreamer-named-mars]

Imagine Being Caught with Jamie and Getting Your Parents Called (Teen Jamie)

"You sure about this?" Jamie asked a little short out of breath as he ran hand in hand with you through the football field at the high school you both went to. In your relationship you were always the one who was the bad influence on Jamie and he was always the one who was the good one on you.

"Yeah, no one's gonna be here." You said confidently while you still ran as fast as you could, trying to get as far away as possible from the main building where the PTA meeting was happening at. Usually whenever your parents attended those meetings you and your friends stayed at the school all together either studying or just hanging out and waited until the meeting was over to get a ride home. But you and Jamie were just about to become an item, you've been dancing around that thing you had between you two and all your friends saw you liked each other so tonight you got the guts to take him under the bleachers where you had no one around you so you could actually talk to him about your thing. You were best friends, everyone knew that, he knew that, but you also knew that he knew he had deeper feelings for you and knowing him like you do, you knew he'd never take the first step.

"Okay, so what are we doing here? Why did you bring us under the bleachers?" He asked while looking around, confused. You were about to say something, you were about to start with I know what we have between us but it felt like you got tongue tied and all you could do was move your muscles and wrap your arms around his neck, and pulled him close to you and in a swift movement, you smashed your lips into his.

Please don't pull me away you thought. He didn't - he wrapped his arms around your waist and pressed your body onto his, deepening the kiss. At some point in time your legs were shaking and one kiss became a whole make out session with your hands all over his hair and his hands under your shirt. It was going great, until a voice interrupted you.

"What are you kids doing out here?" The school guard was standing a few feet from you with a flashlight in his hand, blinding you.

Oh shit.

"I'm sorry!" Jamie said, arranging his hair while talking.

"You two are coming with me to the principal's office."

You felt embarrassed but mostly upset for putting Jamie in this situation - he was never one to go through things like these. You two walked in silence, not even sharing a look, while you followed the guard inside the main building.

"These kids were outside behind the bleachers..." He didn't say much more, the principal had figured it all out. It was a pretty common thing with the kids your age.

"Jamie Reagan?" The principal asked, shocked to see Jamie in his office. Jamie was the one who had never been to the principal's office apart from when he got called over for his good grades and because of other school who were interested in him.

"I'm sorry." He said in a heartbeat.

The guard looked at you two once more before he left and closed the door behind him, leaving an awkward silence behind.

"I have no choice but to call your parents in. Which will be easy since they're at their PTA meeting right now, and you both know it."

* * *

"What were you thinking?" Frank asked, hands in his pockets while looking at you and Jamie, hoping any of you had an explanation.

"Dad, I'm sorry... It was all my fault."

"No! No, Mr. Reagan. It wasn't his fault, it was mine. I swear... I-I was the one who insisted that Jamie should come with me to the football court. I was the one who took it too far. I am sorry."

"(Y/N), how could you do that? You were raised to do better than that? Kissing behind the bleachers?" Your mom was even more catholic and uptight than the Reagans, so she was one hundred times more pissed than Frank. A lot of times you thought if the reason why you were such a firecracker and a little bit of a rebel was because you came from a such a very condemned and judging family.

"I said I am sorry!"

"I think it's for the better if we all go home, now. Jamie, get in the car." Frank said while gesturing to the big black SUV parked outside the school, highly guarded by the commissioner's multiple members of his security team.

Without saying anything else, Jamie made his way to the car and you made your way to yours. You could hear Frank apologizing your mother and your mother apologizing Frank.

You were in the car, waiting for your mom while you remembered the kiss you shared with Jamie so vividly in your head. You had to talk to him the next day about tonight and asked him what he wanted to do from that moment on. Staying friends would be too awkward, but becoming boyfriend and girlfriend would be just right.

Your heard a knock on the window and turned to the right, to see Jamie himself, standing there. You opened your mouth in disbelief, but quickly had a smile plastered all over your face while you rolled down the window.

"Jamie! What are you doing here?"

"I told my dad I forgot something."

"I'm sorry, this mess was all my fault." You said quickly while you intertwined your fingers when he reached out for your hands.

"I don't care... I don't regret it." And with no words left, he closed the gap between you and kissed you gently, sweetly and softly. The best kiss you ever had.

He smiled before jogging back to his car - God, he looked like he was a part of the secret services - leaving you there in your car seat, smiling. And that was when you noticed Frank was standing still from a far, smiling too.

* * *

Author's Note: Hey readers! How are you? I hope going back to school/work was easy on you but if it wasn't just hang on because Christmas is just less than 100 days away! One more request is up, I hope you liked this one. For some reason I thought writing a teen Jamie imagine would be hard because we don't have as much info about him as a teenager as we do about him as an adult (present) but actually it gives me more opportunities to use my imagination. While you wait for the next imagine, I have a Jamie Reagan Fan fiction (finalized) - Little Did They Know - and the second one for that - Love Battles. Who's a regular reader and has kept up with the fan fiction knows about the cliffhanger and I can only tell you, the plot will thicken!

[written-rebellion]

Perfect Distractions

A/N: You have no idea how happy I am to have this posted on time. I’m at Niagara Falls with my relatives from the Philippines rn but I had the tiiiniest spare moment to schedule this chapter. 

btw, since it’s mentioned this chapter and it’ll be semi-important later on, a Jeepney Bus is a form of public transport in the Philippines. They’re huge jeep-buses that come in all sorts of colours and designs. Here’s a picture of one. They’re pretty cool!

Claire wishes she was home, Jamie wishes he could fly, and as always, all the facts of this fanfic are contrived specifically to make fluffy university/modern-day au scenarios. Please let me know what you think!

Part One: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] | Part Two: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Three: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Four: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Five: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Six: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Seven: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Eight: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Nine: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Ten: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Eleven: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Twelve: [Chapter 1]

Part Twelve: Message Received | Chapter 2

It had taken Claire roughly two decades to find a place she could confidently call home, a place she could pin her heart to and refill her soul regardless of how exams, classes, or life in general drained her.

And that place was Jamie.

Nothing else on earth smoothed the static tremors of her life like the way his large hand squeezed her waist or the feel of his lips on her forehead.

At the moment though, the prospect of a softer bed and Rose’s cooking after weeks of work came pretty close.

She drummed her fingers against the armrest, dispassionately staring at the bumper-to-bumper traffic she’d quickly become accustomed to. The closer they got to Manila, the less it felt like nighttime as the neon glow of billboards and giant shopping malls lit the highways and reflected off the shiny, brightly coloured Jeepney buses.

Joe, in the seat next to her, patted her shoulder before leaning over to one of their mentors in the front seat.

“He’s got that pocket Wi-Fi thing,” he said, turning back to Claire. “We’re finally in range again.”

She nodded in thanks, thoughts floating anchorless as her body slowly came down from the adrenaline she’d ran on the last few days.

Within seconds of connecting, her phone buzzed so incessantly she thought she was getting a call, but the only Jamie she saw was the one frozen in time at Lallybroch on her lock screen.

It made sense, of course. They’d been off-grid for a while, who knew what kind of emails and notifications they’d missed?

She was heading straight for Jamie’s message history when the car pulled off the highway and down towards Rose’s neighbourhood.

Slipping her phone in her pocket for now, she and Joe slid out of the car once it pulled over.

She waited on Joe to grab the bags from the trunk, thumbing back and forth through her apps till she saw it.

31.

31 messages from Jamie in a small red circle on top of the app.

All manner of anxiety flushed through her. She’d expected a few, but to send 31 required just a bit more intent. Could she have missed an emergency?

Joe’s voice stopped her from opening the app, coming over with her bags.

“You okay there, LJ?”

“We’re fine,” she said quickly, locking her phone.

“I asked if you were okay,” he said, regarding her with raised brows.

“A-and, that’s what I said, I’m fine.”

He nodded slowly.

“I just mean, y’know, I know you and that kid were close…”

She bit down hard on her cheek. Inhaling quickly, she gathered up her bags.

“I’m fine,” she said, nodding to convince the both of them.

“Get some rest, Lady Jane,” he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “You’ve earned it.”

She smiled at that.

“You too, Joe. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Rest sounded heavenly. This level of exhaustion, she’d quickly learned, was fast to call dreams to her and made it much easier to imagine the small arms she hugged tightly to her waist were Jamie’s instead.

It was two even smaller arms wrapping around her when she walked into the house, though.

“You’re back!”

She held Angie to her for a moment, one hand coming up to bring her close, and finding her backpack instead of her back.

Claire looked up as Rose walked into the doorway, keys on hand.

“I’m working tonight,” she said after hugging Claire too. “Angie’s going to stay with a friend.”

“But I don’t wanna go to Tita Lina’s if Ate Claire’s here!” Despite her protests, she ended on a yawn and Claire smiled, leaning down to rub her cheek.

“I’ll tell you all about my trip tomorrow, okay?”

Tantrum successfully avoided, Claire waved the two sisters off and locked the door, waiting until she was completely alone to melt into the couch.

It started as a sigh, but in no time turned into hot tears streaming soundlessly down her cheeks.

There was nothing she could do. Nothing at all.

She dragged her feet to the bathroom, not bothering to assess the damage in the mirror as she stripped and got into the shower.

The cool water was an unmitigated blessing, doing well to ease the weight of those last few days in Cavite.

Settling into bed in just a shirt – not Jamie’s, because the scent had long since been washed away – she was ready to let dreamless sleep pull her in.

Her phone pinged and her eyes shot open again.

31 messages she’d momentarily forgotten had now turned to 32.

 >         I expect ye’ll be overwhelmed by the messages when ye get them. Apologies, lass. But, if ye read any at all, I hope it's this one. I love ye, and I’m proud of ye. I miss ye, aye, but I’ll be waiting right here for ye when ye return.

How the bloody hell did he do that? From halfway across the world no less.

She skimmed through the other messages, feeling the tears bubbling anew. But below, her smile was trembling much like her fingers as she wobbly typed a reply.

 >           Busy? Can I call?

She’d barely taken a breath after clicking send when—

 >          5 min, mo graidgh.

---

He sprinted back to the dorms, nearly crashing into John at the door of the room.

“Lost Wi-Fi again?”

“Nay, we—” He stopped, looking his roommate up and down. “Where are ye off to?”

“Chess club,” he replied, “And I’ll probably stay over at a friend’s tonight so don’t wait up.”

Jamie waved him off, watching his roommate’s back walk down the hallway with increasing curiosity, but a squeeze to his phone – like the squeeze of her hand in his – reminded him.

He sat on his bed, watching the call connect and already imagining her smile, her laugh as she shook her head at him.

“32 messages, James Fraser?! Are you quite insane?”

When he actually saw her, his entire body tensed.

“Jamie,” she said, attempting so much less than the smile he’d expected.

“Claire… What’s wrong, mo chridhe?”

“Wrong? N-nothing’s—”

“Ye’ve been crying, lass.”

He could almost see her trying to pull a feeble excuse from the thoughts swirling around her head. Then, she sighed.

“What’s happened, mo graidgh?”

Tears were precariously balanced on her lashes. She took a breath and – to his surprise – smiled at him.

“I bloody love you, you know? I just got your messages.”

His cheeks pinked but he said nothing, his eyes gently urging her towards an explanation.

She swallowed, understanding, before she started again.

“There was a little boy, Elijah.” She smiled faintly. “We all called him Eli…”

She’d worked and lived at a centre in rural Cavite, providing any medical assistance needed in the morning and teaching health lessons to locals in the afternoons with Joe taking the opposite shift.

Eli had been a particularly frequent and particularly young student amid mostly teenagers and adults. Only 6-years-old or so, he’d had the kind of bright-eyed curiosity and eagerness that would undoubtedly draw Claire to him.

“He’d want to carry my medical bag everywhere, even though it was basically half his size,” she chuckled. “Followed me around like a little chick so often, Joe started calling him my tail. And he’d have all kinds of questions. We could barely understand each other at first but he was—was so smart and—”

“What happened to him?” He could see her slowly collapsing into herself and his heart physically ached, yearning to break out of his chest and fly across the world just to comfort hers.

“I was getting ready for my second shift on our last day there and I saw a woman talking to one of our supervisors. She was… she was crying, trying to explain something in Tagalog I couldn’t understand and then—I… Eli didn’t show up for class.”

She took a breath and Jamie simply watched her try to ground herself, wanting nothing more than to reach through his phone, take her face in his hands and kiss her tears away.

“Hush now, love. Dinna cry, my heart, my brown-haired lass, I’m here,” he murmured in Gaelic.

“Dengue fever,” she said after a time. “It was sudden. It was fatal. It was—It’s—” She sniffed, despair shifting into frustration. “—we have medicine that could have eased the pain or— Or we… I could have—”

“Christ Claire…” He crossed himself. “I’m so verra sorry, mo chridhe.”

“I could have done something. I should have. I just didn’t… No one knew and—”

“And that’s no’ yer fault, mo nighean donn. None of it was yer fault.”

“I… I just—”

She knuckled away her tears, doing what Jamie wished he could. Every inch of him was on edge, straining to break across borders, distance, time itself to get to her, to tuck her into his chest and shelter her from the rest of the world.  His palms were sweaty from both his sprint to the dorm and the sheer will to keep himself from jumping on a plane and flying to her side this very moment.

“I miss you, love,” she said, sounding thoroughly shattered – exactly like his heart. “I… I need—”

“Anything. Anything at all.”

“I need you, Jamie.”

His phone nearly slipped out of his hand.

Read Chapter 3

[betweensceneswriter]

Chemistry Test, Part 8: C***-Blocker

Lallybroch Library Prompt Exchange!

Prompt #33 Modern AU: Claire auditions for a role opposite Jamie who has been cast as the male lead in a TV drama.

Previously–Part 7: Laughing Man

Master Post

     “Murtagh, man, I love you.  But why in hell are ye here?”

    The walls were thin and Claire could easily hear the heated conversation from within the bedroom, even though they had closed the door behind them.  She sat gingerly on the couch, looking around the small apartment.

    It was neat and clean except for the suitcases and backpack next to the door; those must be Murtagh’s.  Once Jamie had rushed around opening all the windows, the smell of burnt haggis had dissipated, only to be replaced by the smell of city—exhaust, ancient brick, and sadness.  

     “Your landlady is quite a lonely woman.” It was Murtagh’s gruff voice speaking. “She talked my ear off, but she was more than happy to let a godfather into his godson’s apartment.”

     “Why didn’t you call? Or simply mention you were coming?”

     “I ken how much you love a surprise!”

     “A birthday party, maybe… or a gift,” Jamie said incredulously.  “Not an extra inhabitant for my already too small apartment, especially when…”

    Claire heard Jamie drop his voice, but it wasn’t low enough. She blushed as she heard his words.

     “God, man, do you see her? I’ve been anticipating being with Claire again for weeks!”

     “Oh, aye, she’s nice to look at.  But Jamie, lad, I couldna imagine you being here for months or years and not coming with you!”

From @outlanderamerica

“But why does it matter if I’m here this morning? Were ye planning to bring her inside and immediately tear off each other’s clothes? God’s tooth! It’s not even noon yet!”

    Claire chuckled.  As embarrassing as their first encounter had been, she had managed to develop some affection for Murtagh in the last two weeks as she and Jamie talked daily; hearing his gravelly, acerbic voice making comments in the background of their calls, learning of his dry humor from his godson’s descriptions, feeling grateful for the role he’d played in parenting when both Jamie’s mother and father had died while he was still a teenager.

     “I canna say what would have happened. But Murtagh, I haven’t been able to make love to Claire in two interminable weeks!”

    Claire blushed. They’d felt such a connection immediately, instantly.  Her heart leapt on hearing Jamie call it making love.  Not having sex, not shagging, not fucking, not doing the rumpy-pumpy, not bonking...

    He wanted to make love to her. She couldn’t wait for it either.

    Of course, what Jamie didn’t know was that Claire Beauchamp had been his fan for far longer than he’d known her, an admirer from afar.  It was two or three years ago that she’d found that little gem–the TV-MA show he’d done when he was in his late twenties.

    Frank kept asking her why she repeatedly watched the three seasons of Island Fever.  Claire lost herself in the story of a young woman, ironically named Carlie, who traveled out to the Marshall Islands as a volunteer nurse. Immersed in a foreign culture where Carlie was a fish out of water, she floundered. And then Carlie met, made friends with, and fell in love with a young man named Campbell, played by none other than James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser.

    God, she’d fallen in love with him just as the young actress in the role of Carlie had, this lean, muscular, tanned Scotsman, with that furiously curly red hair.  Jamie Fraser wasn’t an Ed Sheeran red-head… Not pale and orangey.  His hair was closer to burgundy, and he was rugged and manly even when he was playing a 22-year-old adorably devoted virgin.

    Her favorite episode in season 1 was “Restraint,” where the young couple were engaged and still trying to wait.  It was crazy how sexy not having sex could be.  

    Although Frank hated how many times she rewatched Island Fever, his eyes would brighten if he came into the room and saw her viewing that scene where Campbell and Carlie walk out to the beach at dusk shortly after their surprisingly sudden engagement. Those were the nights where Frank was guaranteed to get some, even though Claire was certain that he’d known the truth--that even though he was with her, she was with Campbell MacReid…

@frockflicksfeed

    Even now, Claire felt sheepish yet aroused at the memory of Jamie’s perfect ass in the honeymoon episode as he gently undressed his new bride. She was lovely too—god, what was her name? Claire had often imagined herself standing before him as he knelt, kissing her belly, running his hands over her hips and drawing her lacy panties down to the floor.  She pretended it was she to whom Campbell said, “What would you like?” as he lay next to her on the bed; that it was her body that made his eyes widen in discovery and darken with desire; that she was the one blissfully blinking in surprise, not expecting a virgin to know enough to bring her to climax their first time together.

    And she teared up almost every time that Campbell smiled at Carlie and said, “Virgin blood,” as he drew the blade of his fishing knife across his thigh and reached for the nuknuk.

    But it was Jamie Fraser, not Campbell MacReid, that Claire started to admire as she watched interviews with the actor on YouTube.  He was thoughtful, kind, and protective of his co-star.  A gentleman who ushered her out of cars and was her constant cheerleader.  That was when Claire had started to wish she could meet this man she had long admired. So when there was open casting and she sent in her audition tape and got a call back, she started to think that it was fate.

     As if it was fate, Jamie had responded to her with equal enthusiasm, on one wild, romantic night.  He wanted to make love to her.

    Suddenly Claire had an anxious thought.  A few months from now and that would be her nude body in front of the camera.  With him.

    On camera? Touching him? Kissing him? On camera? For the world to watch?  Her heart dropped and she felt slightly nauseated.

     The men were STILL talking.

     “So if I understand this correctly, you were thinking young Jamie needed an outing?”

     “God, Murtagh.”

     “You were gazing at her round arse and thinking you needed to inspect it further?”

     “You make me seem a lecher!”

     “And then you came to your apartment, fully expecting to be naked in minutes…”

     “Hush, man!”

     “So that explains why you’ve greeted your godfather so rudely?  Embarrassed me in front of the lass? Dragged me into the bedroom as if I’m a wee lad about to get skelped?”

      She knocked hesitantly on the bedroom door.

     “Since I can already hear your whole conversation, don’t you think you might as well come out and sit comfortably?”

    Both men stepped out sheepishly.

     “I didn’t want to reunite with you just to lose you immediately to an argument,” she said, directing her gaze at Jamie. “And it’s probably best that we didn’t just fall into bed right away,” she added, smiling at Murtagh.  “Since the haggis is burned, since it’s just around noon, don’t you think the three of us should go out for lunch?”

    Murtagh nodded and Jamie smiled at her.  But Claire shuddered involuntarily at the look on Jamie’s eyes.

    She used to imagine that expression of desire and admiration directed at her.  But this was real.

Part 9 - Eating Out, Part 1

How’s that for convoluted? In a story about Claire and Jamie as Cait and Sam trying out to be Leo and Kate in a gender-reversed TV show based on Titanic when Claire’s a little bit of a stalker because she used to watch and lust after Jamie (like you and I currently do with Outlander) when he starred on a non-existent series based on my current book.  Honestly, it was all a shameless plug for you to check it out.  :)  It’s sweet & hot & much improved from the fanfic rough draft!

Island Fever on Amazon-Kindle and Paperback

[neverjedii]

All this genuine joy was almost overwhelming. Though Abby could feel the small weight that rested on Kylo from his memories, she didn't feel foreboding because of it; she felt like it was something they could take on, especially as that feeling soon enough slipped away. Just like the clouds of the storm above them it did not stay long, so Abby was quick to take his hand once the kitten was safe in his pocket, ready to lead him out and up to the observation deck.

"I do," she said, gently pulling him towards the door and back into the halls of the Hub. "Rhea is probably up on the observation deck with all the rest, so we can go straight there. If she's not, I can't imagine the little one being very disappointed." With that, Abby glanced pointedly down at the purring little bundle in Kylo's pocket, warm and content to be cuddled against his leg. "I think she likes you," Abby suggested as they walked through the halls, once again feeling almost silly with how giddy and in love she suddenly was. It was as if all the feelings she'd felt as a teenager with a crush and a pining adult had all come rushing out of her all at once, but out of all the undignified situations to be caught in, Abby could say that she wouldn't be mad if someone saw her so madly in love.

An elevator took them up through the Hub to the observation deck, which fittingly took up one of the highest points in the whole building. There, the rest of the Squad waited, as well as Rhea and her kittens -- just as Abby had predicted -- all watching the snow swirl beyond the glass windows, accompanied by dramatic cracks of lightning and thunder.

"There they are!" Jamie exclaimed, turning away from the window to see his sister and friend standing in the doorway. "Come on in you two, and get comfortable. This one looks like it'll last for a while yet!"

Unsurprisingly, there was a seat with just enough room for two left open beside the window, and Abby lead Kylo to it with excitement, making herself comfortable and leaving space for Kylo to do as well beside her. The kitten had indeed managed to claw and crawl her way out of his pocket, but that was not to go back to her mother; instead, it was to hop from his pocket onto the arm of the seat where he was sitting and crawl from there up onto his shoulder.

Once she and Kylo were both comfortably seated, Abby couldn't help but sigh in contentment and lean her head to rest on his other shoulder. Then, for just that one, long moment, things seemed perfect. Her brother, her friends, her lover, all there, all safe and peaceful, watching a snowstorm from their warm, cozy vantage point.

"I missed this," she hummed quietly to Kylo. "Everybody together. It's my family...well..." She smiled and reached for his hand. "Now I guess its our family..."

neverjedii​:

Once Kylo had taken her hands, Abby didn’t hesitate to guide him up into her arms. He was warm, as always, when she embraced him, and as she did, Abby almost wished she was able to just…love his pain away. Of course, she knew she couldn’t. But she’d watched the ashes of his family life smolder after his parents’ marriage fell apart. That moment had paved an even clearer path for Snoke to make a home in Ben’s head, and then of course everything Snoke had done to him just made her want to scream.

“You thought of me?” she repeated, almost in disbelief as Kylo brought her hand to trace the scar on his face. She did so with an almost reverent air, the fingers of her right hand following the scar’s path across her lover’s cheek. Except…he wasn’t just her lover anymore. Abby supposed that engaged would be the right word, now – neither of them had proposed with a ring, but they shared a clear wish to be married. Somehow, despite everything, to get married was what they wanted, and what it looked they were going to achieve.

Though Kylo assured her that her excitement over planning a wedding wasn’t silly, she felt that the blush which began creeping over her cheeks when he kissed her hand certainly deserved that adjective. Once her hand was out of the way, though, she felt no shame at all in wanting to kiss him herself, so kiss him she did. And as always, it was simply delightful – far from their first kiss, though that had been amazing too, now they both were less…new at this. She could say with confidence that she knew what he liked, knew his boundaries, all of which simply made their every kiss better.

It was a long moment before she pulled away, but when she did, she heard a little meow from down at their feet. The tiny kitten had made her home lying with her back against Kylo’s boot, but it her head was turned, and she was looking out through the archway into the hallway beyond the balcony. It was clear that something had caught her attention, and reaching out with the Force, Abby realized that one of her friends – Caroline, it appeared – had just fled round the corner before she or Kylo could catch sight of her. The Force also told Abby that she hadn’t been there long, perhaps only long enough to catch the tail end of the kiss, but still, it made Abby wonder why she was down here at all.

“I wonder if something’s happened,” she said aloud, and was cut off by the answer to her question – a crack of thunder from the very top of the cavern, and Abby gasped in surprise, then delight, for she knew now why her friends had come to find her. “It’s snowing!”

Her question does not surprise him. It’s the fact that he’d forgotten of it until now that really perplexes him. Then again, it wasn’t new for him to repress memories most times. The only time they seemed to flood back to him were in moments of weakness. When he was asleep. When he was on the verge of dying. Yes. He remembers it all now. The stark contrast of the burn from the slash of a saber in comparison to the cold snow which managed to seep so deeply into his gloves that his fingers – no his whole body had gone numb. He recalls seeing her, standing over him, just staring. How her form had loomed over him in judgement. After all, he’d killed his father and then he’d been defeated by a girl who hadn’t even trained in the ways of the force.

“I did.” He said softly, but didn’t want to give more clarification. Even if the apology he’d spoken in what he’d perceived were his last moments was one he’d likely give to her one day. Perhaps whenever the force finally decided to take one of them away, but only time and existing could tell. Her kiss pulls him out of any foreboding memory that might still hold onto him. He is grounded in the reality that all is not lost. There is a foundation to build on and that it could be wonderfully beautiful if only he were to let it.

Kylo was not unaware of the presence of Caroline. In fact, he’d felt it almost immediately despite himself. He looked down to the kitten and then back towards where they came and felt himself smiling despite himself. He leaned down, scooping the kitten up and placing it back into the pockets of his robes, just in time to make the poor thing feel a bit safer at the sound of the thunder reached them.

“Is it?” Kylo was surprised, but then it made sense. Unintentionally searching through the thoughts of Caroline to see she’d been innocent in her spying – only wanting to share the information, knowing just how fond Abby had always been of these storms.

“Well, I assume you want to go see it first hand, huh? I should drop the kitten off with it’s mother beforehand.”