#like yes I’ll join this round table of friends with you on my right and my moot in law to my left

[groundbreakingdot872]

think being mooted is a lot like being knighted :)

[as-is-above-so-below]

The Captain - Simon Riley x Sniper!Reader, Wife!Reader

summary: Ghost’s sniper wife (reader) joins Task Force 141 on an op, against his wishes call sign: Freyja warning: mentions of violence and death (ofc), blood Next >>

John Price stood at a round table, leading the mission brief for the team’s upcoming operation. Ghost, Soap, and Gaz sat around the table in various positions. Soap with his boots kicked up onto the table, chair tilted back; Gaz leaned forward onto the table, his forearms on the surface; Ghost leaned back against his chair, arms crossed over his chest. Soap and Gaz wore their regulation tan t-shirts and camo pants, while Ghost was clad in a black long-sleeve and his standard skull balaclava.

“So if we’re stormin’ the building, we’re all accounted for,” Soap pointed out, clicking the pen between his fingers. “We need a sniper.”

“Called in a favor with a good friend, who should have been here–”

“Ten minutes ago,” a strong but mellow voice cut in as a figure turned through the doorway. “I know, sorry John. Got a bit caught up with my room assignment. Tried to put me on the other side of base.”

A woman came into view, offering her hand out to John. They firmly grasped each other’s forearms in a quick shake. Soap and Gaz both had only slightly surprised expressions. Not at the fact that their sniper was female; they’d worked with plenty of fierce women during their time in Task Force 141.

The fact that she did not look the part.

She wore a massively oversized black sweatshirt that brushed her thighs and dark blue skinny jeans, her hair loose down her back. Must’ve just got off a plane, Soap thought to himself, looking her up and down. Her stance showed her confidence, feet shoulder-width apart as she faced the team with a bright smile (one not often found in their field of work) and glowing skin. She wasn’t necessarily small, more average height, but her attire dwarfed her frame. 

“Thank you for joining us, Captain,” Price nodded at her. “This is Freyja. American Special Forces, sniper, undercover ops. She’s been briefed and will be joining us temporarily for the op. She comes highly recommended and outranks all of you, so I’d suggest you be on your best behavior.”

The woman jabbed Price with her elbow, rolling her eyes, much to Soap’s surprise. He barely suppressed the laugh that bubbled in his chest, unable to help the small choking laugh that escaped. Ghost glared at him and he quickly piped down.

“Thanks, John, but I think I’ll be fine. Glad to be of use.”

“Happy to have you. Let me know if you need anything while you’re here. I’ll leave you to it, get acquainted. We leave at 0400 hours. We’ll be infiltrating in daylight; prepare accordingly.”

“Aye, Captain,” Soap nodded once and saluted him, setting his chair back down as he rose. He watched John pat her shoulder on his way out, sharing what seemed like a knowing look, before finally departing to his quarters. Interesting.

Soap was the first to cross the room, taking her hand in a firm grip. “Pleasure to meet you, Captain. Sergeant John Mactavish,” he introduced, shaking her hand. He noted her equally firm grip and the cool metal of a wedding band pressing into his palm. Her skin was calloused yet soft, not as rough as his own. 

“Soap, right? Heard a lot about you.”

“Aye. Good things I hope?"

“Mostly.”

A boisterous laugh left him, so loud you’d think the room shook. Soap heard Gaz gag on his water before breaking into a choked wheeze. The other man approached, shaking her hand as well. “Kyle Garrick, call me Gaz.”

Her hands found their way into the pockets of her sweatshirt.

“So, Freyja… like the–?”

A gentle, airy giggle floated into his ears. What a lovely sound. “Yes, like the goddess. I know, my husband’s idea.”

Soap groaned, his head lolling back in faux agony as he pressed a hand to his chest. “You’re breakin’ my heart, lass. Was hopin’ ya didn’t have one’a those. He in the service?”

“He is, but you wouldn’t know him. Keeps a pretty low profile,” she shrugged, keeping her eyes on the two men in front of her.

”D’ya think I could take him?”

”Probably not.”

Neither Soap nor Gaz noticed the way Ghost’s mask twitched slightly, evidence of the smirk that pulled at his lips. But she knew his microexpressions like the back of her hand, even out of the corner of her eye. The Scot remembered Ghost’s presence suddenly and waved his hand in his direction. He hadn’t made any move to greet the newcomer and hadn’t spoken during the entire brief.

“Steamin’ Jesus, Ghost, you heard the man. Be nice to the lady!”

Ghost grunted, keeping his arms folded on his chest. “Captain.”

“Lieutenant.”

The two stared at each other, her brow quirked. As the seconds passed, the interaction became increasingly awkward for everyone else in the room. Even the thickest person on the planet could have sensed the tension. Unable to take the silence any longer, Gaz stepped in to attempt to relieve some tension. “You two worked together before?”

“You could say that,” Ghost stated as he rose from his chair. “A word, Freyja?”

Her tongue poked at the inside of her cheek and she squinted at him. It was almost comical, the height difference between the two. Typically, Soap would have made a snarky quip, if not for the vicious look in her eyes. He wouldn’t say it out loud to him, but the scowl rivaled his lieutenant‘s. Finally, she spoke, “Excuse us, gentlemen. I’ll see you in the morning. You know where to find me in the meantime.”

“G’night, Cap,” Soap nodded and moved to the side, allowing her to pass to the door. Ghost didn’t spare them another glance as he followed behind her. The two men stood silently until they heard a door slam shut up the hall. Soap snapped his gaze to Gaz and found him already looking with wide eyes.

“What was that about?”

Soap shrugged noncommittally. “Not a clue. Bad history? Ghost’s no’ exactly skilled in manners.” He went to head to his room when he noticed a military-issue duffel where Freyja had been standing, an American flag patch on the side. He bent down and slung it over his shoulder. “Left her stuff. I’m gonna drop it by ‘for hittin’ the hay. See ya in the mornin’.”

They went their separate ways, Gaz disappearing to the armory to stock up for the mission. Soap approached the only spare room in their wing and rapped his knuckles against the door. He waited for a few beats to no response and repeated the motion.

Nothing.

Soap’s brows furrowed when he heard what sounded like a muffled argument from the next door up, labeled “Lt. Riley”. Soap should have just left her duffel in front of her door and continued on his way to his bedroom, and gone to bed.

But no, he just had to snoop.

He crept toward the door, still holding the bag as he pressed his ear to the hollow wood. They clearly knew each other, but Ghost hadn’t seemed happy to see her. He felt a bit guilty spying on his lieutenant, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. He heard Ghost’s deep voice first.

“We had a deal. You’re supposed to be on leave, and Price knows that. I have half a mind to wring his fucking neck–”

“John didn’t ask me to be here, I volunteered–”

“Cut the shit, Y/N. I’m not daft. He has no place calling you in without asking me first.”

“I don’t take orders from you, Simon!”

Simon? Just how familiar were they with each other?

“Oh, I’m well aware. I just figured that when your husband asks you to stay home, you'd listen! How silly of me!”

So he knows her husband. Interesting. 

“That’s not fair, and you know it.”

“You want to talk about fair? You went around my back to my Captain. I’d say anything’s fair play at this point.” Heavy boots crossed the floor. “This isn’t just about you anymore. You’re not my superior, you’re–”

Soap shuffled his feet, he realized too late how loud the noise was in the empty hallway, and the voices suddenly stopped. He knocked in an attempt to recover, quickly stepping back from the door before it opened. The woman appeared, now in a too-big band tee, her dog tags resting on her chest. “Hi, Johnny,” she greeted, her tone significantly warmer than it had been a moment ago. 

He didn’t remember mentioning his preference for the name, but he couldn’t find a reason to comment on it then. “You, uh, left ya bag. Wanted to drop it off, figured you’d be here.”

“Oh, my bad. Thanks, I appreciate it.” He transferred her possessions to her. The bag that appeared standard when he carried it looked huge compared to her frame. The added weight did not phase her. “We have an early morning. I’m heading to bed.”

Ghost moved from his spot near the bed on the other side of the room. “Frey–”

She held a hand up, sending another chilling glare in his direction. Soap was impressed when Ghost didn’t even blink at the look. “Enough, Lieutenant. That’s an order.” He didn’t miss the eyes behind the skeleton glowering or how the fabric near his mouth shifted. 

“Yes, ma’am,” he growled through clenched teeth. 

She brushed by Soap, readjusting the bag on her shoulder as she stormed to her room, somehow gracefully maintaining her posture. Before he could turn back to question Ghost, the door swung shut in his face.

Real polite.

~*~

“Alpha-One, in position.”

“Copy that, one. Alpha-Two, in position.”

“Bravo?” Soap’s partner looked over his shoulder at the white light flashing at them in the distance. There was a muffled choking sound and a swallow, followed by a sniffle. “Freyja?”

“Sorry. Multiple armed guards. Two snipers at the east and west sides of the targets.” Her voice, while calm, sounded tired and a bit drained. As if she could sense the unspoken question, she came through their headsets again. “Little sick this morning. I’m fine.”

Ghost's jaw set and he rolled his shoulders, blinking a few times to focus. Soap noticed the motion and covered the mic on his headset. “You a’right, Lt.?” he asked, his voice concerned with his brows furrowed. 

Ghost ignored him. “Can you get a visual inside?”

“Negative. Windows are blocked in both buildings. You’re going blind.”

“What’s the call, ma’am?” Gaz’s voice.

“This is Price’s op. I’m just here for support.”

“Ghost?” Price this time. 

Ghost audibly sighed, his irritation at the situation clear. Soap wondered how bad their last encounter could have been for the usually collected man in front of him to be so disheveled. Soap looked over at the lieutenant, who had turned his attention back to the opening in the wall between them. “Bravo, hold your position. Understood?”

“Affirmative.”

“Alpha-One, move in on your target on my command.” Ghost clicked off his mic and slid the chamber back on his pistol, doing one final check.

Soap took the opportunity to follow up on his unanswered concern. “Ghost, you good? Seem tense. Something going on with the lass?”

“Shut up, Sergeant.” He reached up to click his headset back on. “Freyja cleared hot to engage.”

“Standby.” A beat passed, then another, until the suppressed shot of a sniper rifle rang through their headsets, followed by the bolt being pulled back and pushed forward. Another shot. “Clean hit. Snipers down.”

“Copy. Alpha-One, move in. Keep it quiet,” Ghost commanded, signaling Soap forward with a tilt of his head.

She watched Ghost and Soap move swiftly around structures and cars forward to their target. Her gaze periodically adjusted between them and Alpha-One, Gaz and Price. Soap’s accent was low in her ear. “Approaching target. Engaging two hostiles.”

The pair dispatched the guards with ease, the same as the other team up the road.

“Be advised, I have no eyes inside,” she reminded the group, surveying the surrounding area as both teams entered the building.

“Roger. Breaching.”

On their frequency, angry shouts and gunfire had her writing uncomfortably in her spot. She didn’t like not having a solid visual of her team; it made her feel helpless. The audio of the scene inside wasn’t helping her nerves (or nausea) much, either. The sniper was almost lost in her thoughts when she caught movement at the edge of her scope up the street.

Reinforcements.

“Ghost, engaging incoming hostiles. You might want to bug out,” she suggested, taking several shots at the armed men back-to-back. “Alpha-One, sound off.”

“Heard. Intel acquired,” Price acknowledged. “Clearing out.”

“Alpha-Two, how copy?”

The radio crackled once before Soap came through. “Copy, I’ve lost visual on Ghost. Got separated in the firefight,” he grunted, still firing shots inside the building. “‘M gonna have to squirt.”

Something wasn’t right. “Ghost, how copy?”

Silence.

“Lieutenant, what’s your status?”

Her skin crawled at the repeated silence. “Fuck.” She took a deep breath and pulled her knees underneath her body, her stomach suddenly stilling, nausea disappearing. “Abandoning post.” Her voice pierced through their radios with urgency. She abandoned her rifle and made her way down from her perch.

“Absolutely not. We’re converging at the meeting point now.” Price cursed under his breath as she brandished her sidearm and sprinted towards Ghost’s last location. “Stand down, Bravo, that’s an order!” The captain commanded, rough and authoritative.

“All due respect, Price, get bent.”

Price and Gaz watched helplessly as she disappeared into the structure, Soap approaching them from their flank. “The absolute balls on that one, aye?” he snickered, eyeballing Price. He didn’t even flinch, expression hard as steel as he rubbed his face. He hadn’t seen his captain that stressed in quite a while. Maybe not the time for jokes…

The blood-curdling screams Soap heard would scare any man straight. It sounded like a horror movie slaughterhouse over their comms, whether it was caused by Ghost or Freyja he didn’t know. He did know it was her voice that said Ghost’s name and assumed the distant, heated mumbling was Ghost. He must have lost his headset if they couldn’t hear him clearly, and what they were hearing was whatever her comms picked up. “Shut the fuck up and move. If you were fine, I wouldn’t be here, Lieutenant. You can thank me later,” she snapped, sounding eerily similar to a stereotypical angry wife. There’s no way she cleared out that entire convoy on her own…

Right?

Moments later, without any other gunfire, the pair emerged. Ghost was indeed missing his headset, while Freyja trudged in front of him, taking long steps to cross the street. Her helmet was gone, and her hair had come loose. Gun in one hand, a familiar black combat knife in the other, dripping blood. Strands of hair clung to her face, coated in dark red, along with her hands, bare arms, and vest. Soap’s eyes blew wide. “Steamin’ bloody Jesus, did she–?”

Price hummed and nodded beside him. In the same breath, she stumbled over to a car and gripped the door handle, dumping her stomach on the dusty road. Soap and Gaz moved to help, but Price stopped them with a single grunt. Ghost was immediately on her, expertly sweeping her hair into one hand as he pulled her earpiece out, cutting off their audio. One of her hands grabbed his vest for support while his other hand rested on her back.

“Well, that’s unusual,” Soap chimed, his head cocked to the side as he watched the display.

“Quit starin’ and load up. I doubt that’s the last of those reinforcements.” Price waved at them, catching Ghost’s attention and pointing to an approaching Heli, waving his hand in a “roll out” motion.

~*~

The ride back to base in the heli was one of the most awkward experiences of Soap’s life; not a word was spoken during the short trip. Ghost pulled a rag out of his vest and silently handed it to Freyja to wipe some blood from her face; she passed him the blade she had carried, and he finally placed its familiarity when Ghost tucked it into the empty holster at his hip. She looked utterly drained now that they were in close quarters. In another shocking moment, she rested her head on Ghost’s shoulder, and he didn’t move to shove her off.

What the fuck?

At the base, Ghost dropped her off at the medical bay before storming into the meeting room where the team had gathered to debrief. “You’re a dead man, Price,” he barked, finger jabbed at him as his skull plate skittered across the table when he threw it. “You fuckin’ knew–”

“Simon, I’m sorry–”

“Don’t “Simon” me. Sorry’s not gonna cut it, Captain! If she’s hurt–”

“I didn’t think she would compromise herself that easily.”

Ghost barked a dry, humorless laugh as he pointed in the general direction of the infirmary. “Of course, she’s bloody compromised! She’s my fuckin’ wife, you git!” he snarled, teeth viciously bared as he ripped off his mask.

“Hell’s fuckin’ bells…”

“Bloody hell…”

He was too angry (and, frankly, scared for his wife’s health) to acknowledge their audience. “This is exactly why I told you not to call her. I can’t focus if I’m worried about her safety right now. She’s supposed to be safe at home, resting, not running into a bloody warzone, for God’s sake!” 

“She was told not to leave her post–”

“When has she ever obeyed a direct order?”

Silence fell over the group, Price effectively losing the argument. Neither Sergeant wanted to find themselves on the other end of Ghost’s rage. They had no envy for Price and dared not get between them. No envy at all. On the other hand, Soap had so many questions. Since where was Ghost married? When did he have the time for a wife? And an American at that? How long had he been keeping her a secret?

“Simon.”

Four heads whipped to the soft voice across the room, finding the woman of the hour standing in the doorway. A superficial cut on her forehead had been taped up, her face clear of blood. Soap and Gaz stared at her in disbelief, jaws dropped as they looked from her to Ghost and back again. She chuckled at their expressions but didn’t move to approach them. “Captain Riley. Lovely to meet you both, officially,” she reintroduced herself, a slight smirk on her lips. She finally met her husband’s gaze, her expression softened at his bare face, save for the black paint.

He curled two fingers at her, one arm crossed over his chest. “C’mere. Now,” he ordered her, though his tone had little bite to it.

Even only knowing the sniper for such little time, Soap was outright shocked at the display. Flabbergasted by her obedience when she immediately strode to the spot next to him, barely leaving any space between their chests. It didn’t seem like her. He was obviously wrong, considering what he’d just witnessed. 

Ghost took a deep breath as he peered down at her, examining her visible skin for injuries. “I’m right pissed at you, love,” he muttered, allowing her to loop a finger in his belt loop.

She smiled up at him, her admiration clear now that the sergeants had been let in on the secret. “I know.”

“Don’t give me that look.” The man sighed exasperatedly and rolled his eyes. He knew he couldn’t hold his ground with that smile of hers. He dropped a gloved hand to rest on her lower belly, rubbing the spot with his thumb. “You alright?”

She placed her hand on top of his and bobbed her head. Her familiar glow from the night before had returned.

“I’d like an apology.”

“And I’d like a parade in my honor. Oh, and a good ol’ fashioned fu–”

“Oi, better watch that fuckin’ mouth of yours.”

“You love my mouth.”

“Tha’ I do. Just not right now, sweetheart.”

Soap couldn’t take it anymore. “Steamin’ blood Jesus L.t., are you…flirting?”

“Shamelessly,” she giggled, never once tearing her eyes away from the man towering over her.

Ghost rolled his eyes again, his other hand slipping into its home on the side of her neck. “You’re done. I mean it. And if you call her again, I walk,” he threatened, turning his head to address Price directly. “Don’t think I won’t.”

“Ghost, she held her own just fine,” Soap interjected from his chair. “Hen took out an entire squad practically single-handedly, plus the convoy before she went in after ya. I don’t see the problem.”

Realization dawned on Gaz suddenly, forcing him to his feet again. “You’re pregnant,” he exclaimed, both in shock and awe. “That’s why you were feeling sick. And the big clothes. You’re on maternity leave."

The lack of response from John and Freyja and how Ghost studied Gaz said everything they needed to know.

“No wonder you’ve been downright crabbit with her! Can’t say I blame ye, ‘s too dangerous out there to be mucking about with a little one in there.” Soap rose to his feet too, smiling like a cheeseball, ready to ruthlessly tease him. “How’d you manage that, Ghost? A bangin’ wife and a baby?”

“I know it’s been a while for you, Sarge–”

“Aw, away n’ bile yer heid!” the Scot barked, dismissing his lieutenant with a wave.

“English, MacTavish.”

“Sorry, sir, let me translate…Go fuck yourself.”

“Much better.”

He moved on from Ghost, addressing Freyja now. “I’ve so many questions! How long ‘ave you been together?” Soap leaned against the round table in front of them, his hands dragging across the shaved portion of his head.

“How old am I?” Ghost asked in a low, teasing timber.

Her upper lip tugged upwards as her hand wavered, indicating an estimate. “Five years, give or take.”

“Five years?! Son of the god-damn-devil, Lt! You’ve had a secret wife for five years–” He cut himself off with a gasp, his volume dropping to a brash whisper. “Does he take the mask off when you—”

“Tha’ll do, Johnny.”

Her bubbly laugh filled the room, and she swatted his tactical vest with her palm. “Si, don’t be an ass,” she warned, raising a brow at him. “Oh, John! I have pictures for you!” The woman let go of her husband and dug out folded ultrasound photos from her zipped pocket. She, Price, and Gaz moved to another corner of the room, gushing over the snapshots of her latest appointment before flying out, leaving Soap and Ghost alone by the meeting table.

A mischievous grin overtook Soap’s face. “An American, eh, Lt.? And she outranks you?”

“Not another word, Sergeant.”

A long pause stretched between them, although not long enough for Ghost’s liking.

“So… Goddess of love, beauty, and war,” he inquired, raising an eyebrow at the Brit, who threw him a questioning side-eye. Soap hummed. “Fitting.”

Soap almost gawked at the smirk (borderline smile) that Ghost bore as he watched his wife animatedly pour over her photos. “I’m well aware.” Another moment passed between them before Ghost fully turned to the other man. “Johnny?”

“Yeah, Ghost?"

“Flirt with my wife again, I’ll knock your teeth in."

"Noted, sir."

Copyright © 2023 as-is-above-so-below. All rights reserved.

[dioll]

— yes to heaven ・ lhs 𐙚

. synopsis ・ after years, you still can’t get over your ex

⊹ ݁ ⋆ — 희승 x reader ・ genre. angst ・ warnings. depression loneliness breakups ・wc. 575 ݁𖥔. enhypen house || yes to me ( part 2 - winter x reader )

it’s been 2 years, 6 months, and 27 days.

‘i’m sorry y/n.. i just don’t feel the spark anymore. i can’t control my feelings.’

‘our memories will always remain in my heart. however, i can’t say the same about my love for you.’

‘goodbye y/n.’

since that day, his heart-wrenching words pierced your soul and was permanently engraved in your brain.

he was all you ever desired, you cursed yourself everyday for losing him.

ever since his departure, you’ve never been the same. your mental state being demolished. you feel empty. you don’t even know when was the last time you smiled.

as if he vacuumed the happiness out of you and left, but he was your sole happiness.

wounds being healed, only for it to be deepened in the end.

you’re invited to a friend’s wedding.

the memories of heeseung flashes through your mind.

it could’ve been you getting married.

‘i’ve got my mind on you.’ you whisper to yourself as soft tears absorb into the wedding-invite.

it’s your friend’s wedding today.

you actually put in effort to look presentable for the special event.

you’re wearing a sleeveless satin dress which is purple, heeseungs favourite colour.

he in fact, bought you the dress. constantly reminding you how purple enhanced your divine features.

your heart felt sore and your eyes dampened due to that memory.

you still loved him.

you loved him more than you loved yourself.

you loved him more than everything, and you know that you always will.

‘if you go, i’ll stay.’ you looked at yourself in the mirror and thought to yourself.

‘you come back, i’ll be right here.’ you watch as a single tear flows down your blush stained cheeks.

the wedding hall is flooded with elegant decor, making you feel like a princess in a palace.

you grab a pink lemonade from the rounded table. black bows being wrapped around the glasses. you admired the detail of the atmosphere.

the music grows louder as more people join the crowd to dance with their partners.

‘hi lovely, do you want to dance with me?’ a cutesy blonde girl by the name of minjeong politely asks you.

you were enchanted by her beauty and gracefulness. her puppy-like features and her welcoming smile made you feel warm.

you wholeheartedly accept her offer, and you have a wonderful time together.

minjeong excuses herself to take an important phone call.

you’re currently dancing alone when you notice a familiar face, none other than lee heeseung.

you’re staring at him as the music volume increases.

‘if you dance, i’ll dance.. and if you don’t, i’ll dance anyway.’

you watch as he dances with his new love, constantly kissing her face and giggling.

he’s happy.

he’s happy whilst you’re trapped in this never ending misery.

you knew that he was going to eventually find someone else to love, but no matter how hard you try, you can’t stop loving him.

‘i’ve got my eye on you.’

minjeong comes back to you, noticing the tears that’s streaming down your face.

she softly wipes your tears, pulling you into a comforting hug. a hug that you needed.

you can’t express your emotions. you don’t even know what you’re feeling.

‘it’s gonna be okay, dove. i’m here for you.’ minjeong tells you, as she caresses you.

‘give peace a chance.’

you may have lost the love of your life, but atleast you found a supporter along this dreadful journey,

kim minjeong.

enhouse residents: @copyhanni @wonifullove @flwrstqr @cupidhoons @cholexc

[thyme-in-a-bubble]

the twinkle lights

lilac, chapter fifteen

a/n: yes that is lorelai gilmore in that moodboard and yes that scene those are screenshots from is partly the inspo for this chapter.

summary: “Yeah, sorry, it’s just a bit chaotic right now. The last of the guests just arrived and I haven’t even had time to go up and change yet. I’m still in fucking jeans.” 

warnings: lumberjack!frank castle x reader, lumberjack AU, past domestic violence, crazy ex trope, wedding, alcohol consumption (not by reader though), fluffy phone call

word count: 2049

∼ gentle reminder that feedback, but especially reblogs are the way you support writers on here ∽

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As yet another heavy sigh flowed from your lips, you tried to force your tense shoulders to relax as you felt the steam, from the coffee cup centimetres away from your mouth, kiss your weary features. 

Hidden away in the corner of the inn’s kitchen, you sat slumped on a small stool, the one usually tended for reaching the stuff in the upper cabinets. But just as you took your next sip, keeping it small so as to draw out the eventual emptiness and the fate that came with it, the doors swung open and in burst the rotund visage of Donna, all done up from the bottom of her clacking heals to the peals hanging low from around her neck.  

“What’s up, sluts!” her booming voice caused your father to jump and the piping bag in his grasp to nearly slip, though the entrance didn’t affect the sheriff who leaned against the far counter. His gaze stayed directed out the window where rows of foldout chairs were half set up. The remaining bubbles in Donna’s slender, lipstick-stained glass sloshed around as her eyes beheld the towering cake standing on the central worktable. And like a child, the inebriated woman couldn’t keep her fingers to herself as she reached out and swiped her finger through one of the swirly flowers piped around the tiers, “uh! Yum!”

But before she could bring the treat up to her lips, Harvey’s hand tapped over hers as he snapped, “no! Don’t you even dare!” raising up a finger and waving it in her face as he warned, “I have been working on this all week and I will not let you ruin it the last second!”

“Urgh, Harv, you’re so uptight, darling,” she rolled her eyes then held out her champagne flute, “here, why don’t you have a little glass of bubbly to calm your nerves?”

“Donna, just–,” you could almost make out the steam that spewed out of his ears, “get out of my kitchen! The rest of the night you’re not allowed in here or else–… or else…” he rapidly lost all of his gumption as he struggled and improvised a threat, “I’ll–… I’ll have Otto arrest you!”

Clearly not paying attention at all, Otto finally turned to face the rest as he overheard his name, “huh?” he raised his cosmopolitan up to his lips and took a small sip, “did you just say something about me?”

“Hah,” Donna laughed condescendingly, “sure he is, honey,” muttering as she sashayed around the kitchen table, “that’s funny… Otto, arrest me, his best friend of nearly 40 years, that’s–, oh!” her murmuring came to a screeching halt as she rounded the cake and your obscured figure came into her field of vision, “Y/n! There you are, you naughty, naughty girl! I heard a scrumptious little rumour that you were swapping saliva with a certain lumberjack in the Lilac Inn’s very own lobby just a few days ago… so, tell me, is he as great as I’d imagine?”

Exhaling lowly, you didn’t have the energy to humour her, “I thought you said you’d help with the decorations.” 

“Oh, I persuaded a few of the groomsmen to finish up the final touches for me.”

“You–, okay, alright, sure…” you begrudgingly took the last drink of your coffee and set it down on the table, “I give up.”

Turning to the small-town sheriff and causing her party dress to swoosh in the process, Donna smirked, “hey, did you see the groom’s uncle? The bald one? I heard he’s recently divorced… you wanna go hunt him down?”

With the hand not clutching his pink drink, Otto linked arms with Donna and said, “sure, why not,” before the eccentric duo disappeared out the side door that led into the garden.

With now only yourself and your father remaining in the kitchen, you puffed out a long exhale before pulling yourself up to your feet, the soles aching slightly from how much you’d been running around. 

“You alright, pumpkin?” Harvey lifted his gaze from his crouched position next to the tall dessert, bending over so close that his moustache nearly touched it as he kept a close eye on the whimsical patterns he slowly decorated on the white wedding cake. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you sighed, patting his shoulder gently as you passed, “just wish I had time for a longer break… wish me luck.”

“Good luck!” he called after you before you pushed the doors to the dining room open. 

The wall of noise hit you at once as you exited the kitchen, like running straight into a brick building. It was like a storm of music and loud conversations all throughout the packed inn. Willing your fists to unclench, you tried to prolong the purposely deep breaths you’d focused on just minutes before. 

Casting your glance out the tall windows, you spotted a few men, half in their suits, the jackets thrown off and the cuffs rolled up, stringing up twinkle lights from one tree to another. Swiftly, your gaze travelled further down and zeroed in on the set tables before you, across the neatly folded napkins and the various names on the place cards, one of the centrepieces especially caught your tense eye. Because of the immense stress you were already enduring, the slight askew nature of the vase, of both white and pastel purple lilacs you’d cut just this morning, made you feel as if drawing in a proper breath was the most difficult thing in the world.

Rushing to adjust it, even if it was just an inch, it still managed to bring a minuscule bubble of peace to your mind, sadly one that swiftly burst when two kids stormed through the room, one of them waving a sear piece of white cloth of his head. Promptly discerning what precisely it was they were playing with, you caught them right before they managed to rush back out of there. 

“Wow!” you held them by the shoulders and kneeled down to be at their level, “hey, you two,” you tried your hardest to lighten your tone, “you mind giving that veil to me?” 

“No, it’s mine!” the small boy clutched it to his chest. 

“Okay, uhm,” you sighed, trying not to lose your patience in front of these children, come off as some scary fairy-tale witch and make them cry, “how about you give me this so that I can return it to Emma and then I tell you where the secret, magic swing is?” 

“A magic swing?” the slightly taller girl’s eyes grew wide, “where?”

“It’s gonna cost you if you wanna know,” you held out your hand.

“Hmm,” the young boy squinted his eyes a moment before he cracked, “fine,” and gave you the veil, “where is it?”

“Behind the gazebo and in the direction of the pond,” you straightened back up and folded the accessories gently, “right there’s a huge tree with a swing on it.”

As they scurried off as fast as their little feet could take them, you turned and marched out into the lobby with your eye set on the grand staircase, but before your hand even reached the bannister, a frazzled man stopped you. 

“Hey, miss?” however just as he called for you, the sound of your ringtone buzzed in your pocket, “miss?” 

Fishing out your phone and not looking at the ID, you picked it up and briefly spoke into it, “hold on,” before twisting it away from your lips and turning to the mousy-looking man, “yes?”

Holding up a crisp white shirt, he pointed to one of the cuffs, “one of my buttons fell off and I–“

“Okay, hang on one second, I’ll find you a sewing kit. I just need to return this to the bride first,” you held up the veil.

“Alright, thanks,” he nodded and backed off into the sitting room to the side.

Beginning your ascend of the stairs, you turned your haphazard attention back to the phone, “hello?”

“Y/n?” Frank’s deep timbre flowed from the phone and seeped into your very core, “is this a bad time?”

Passing a few rowdy bridesmaids on the steps, they nearly bumped into you and caused you not to comprehend a single one of the words Frank had just said, “what?”

“I asked if this is a bad time,” he repeated as you reached the top of the steps, but as you did, the shrill wail of a baby, cradled in its mother’s arms, pierced your very soul. 

“I–, uhm, what?” you whipped your head around and spotted the hall closet off to the side, “I’m sorry, just one second,” and rushed to duck into it. The thin wall didn’t manage to drown out all of the noise, but it did get quiet enough for you to finally hear yourself think again. Switching on the dull lightbulb, “fuck…” you let yourself slide down the length of the door till you sat on the floor, “there,” you exhaled slowly, “hi, now I can hear you. What’s up?”

“Are you alright over there?”

“Yeah, sorry, it’s just a bit chaotic right now,” resting the veil in your lap, you stretched out your legs, “the last of the guests just arrived and I haven’t even had time to go up and change yet. I’m still in fucking jeans.” 

“Sweetheart, it’s you,” his smile shined clear through in his low voice, “you could easily pull off wearing jeans to a wedding if you’d like.”

Feeling the corners of your lips gently tug upwards at his words, you breathed out, “so, did you just call to talk about the fact that I’m still in jeans and not the jaw-dropping green dress I got, or was there something else you wanted?”

“I just called to check in, see how you were holding up, but also to make sure you’re still up for tonight.”

Letting your spine rest back against the door, you shared, “honestly, the thought of going over to yours as soon as this is all over and they don’t need me anymore is the only thing getting me through the day without having a fucking meltdown…”

Letting a low sigh flow from his lips, you heard him ask, “you sure you don’t need me to get over there?”

“You’re sweet, but no, it’s alright,” you smiled, your fingers gently fiddling with the veil, “actually, it’s probably good that you’re not here. With the way Donna’s already enjoying herself with the champagne, you might end up as her next husband before the couple says I do.”

“Oh,” he swiftly mirrored the laugh that bubbled out of you, “well in that case.”

After the chuckling had died back down, you tried your best to sink into the quiet completely and enjoy the fleeting pause his phone call had granted you. 

After the moment of comfortable silence had come to a close, Frank’s voice flowed from the phone once more, “So, tell me,” the playful nature in his tone was still blatantly clear for you to pick up on, “just how jaw-dropping is that dress of yours?”

“Well,” you bit down on our grin, “I won’t be able to wear a bra with the kind of neckline that it has… and with the way that it falls on me, I might not be able to wear underwear as well,” that wasn’t true in the slightest, but he didn’t have to know if you’d slipped them off before you even put the dress on or mere moments before stepping out of the car to see him. The thought of him imagining you without them the entire night was far too enthralling not to entertain, “would be such a shame if the dress got ruined by distracting lines, wouldn’t it?”

As you heard him puff out a gravelly breath, “fuck me…sweetheart, you’re killing me here…” you simply giggled in return, “uhm, when was it again that you’ll be done?”

“Not completely sure, some time after dinner properly. I’ll send you a text when I head out.”

 “Alright.”

“You want me to try and steal some cake with me? We might need a snack a little later…”

“Oh, yeah?” he chuckled, “you planning on working up an appetite, are you?”

© 2024 thyme-in-a-bubble 

[clarisse0o]

Camp Wiegman-Part 64

Lucy Bronze x Ona Batlle

Alternative Universe : Military School

Words: 5k

Masterlist

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Monday, March 1; 6:15 AM - Alexia and Ona's Room

Returning to my roots stings throughout my entire system. I'm exhausted. My first night away from Lucy's arms was a disaster. Needless to say, I didn't get a wink of sleep. Now she's doing her usual rounds around our beds while I yawn so wide it feels like my jaw might unhinge.

"Rough night, Batlle?" she teases kindly.

I groan pitifully, causing my friends to chuckle. She stops in front of me, scanning me from head to toe, checking my outfit before pulling me into her arms. A sigh of relief escapes me instantly. I bury my nose in her neck, inhaling her scent deeply to ensure I remember it. When I finally lift my head, she lingers on my face. One might think she's scrutinizing my barely-there makeup, but it's probably my dark circles she's focused on. Then she kisses me properly, making Alexia clear her throat after a moment.

"We should get going."

"Yep," Lucy exhales. "Go on, off you go," she says.

I head for the door, following my roommate.

"And Ona," she calls as I reach the threshold.

"Yes?"

"Don't forget your evening classes. Time to get back into the groove."

I smile and nod. We spent yesterday reviewing my classes and finishing the last bits of homework I had left. I'd already done most of them during the evening classes before the break so I wouldn't be bothered during the two-week vacation. It was a good way to get back on track.

"I don’t plan on missing them. Have a good day, Commander."

A smug smile stretches across her lips as I leave the room. I catch up to Alexia, who had gone ahead. She smiles when I reach her.

"Looks like things are going well, huh?"

"Better, yes, but it could still be better without this decision hanging over me."

"Has she changed her mind?"

"Yes and no. She explained the reasons behind her choice," I reply, shrugging. "We'll see. First, I plan to negotiate at my next meeting. Then, I’ll send a few requests to other galleries, and we'll see."

"That's already something. I hope everything goes well."

"Absolutely!"

We step outside, where most of our friends are waiting. My eyes fall on Alessia, reminding me of yesterday’s anxiety. She and her sister know about Lucy. I don’t expect them to tell anyone, but it's still a situation that could make things awkward. We greet everyone before heading to the cafeteria. Good habits really are coming back.

"Your sister’s not here?" I ask Ale.

"Well, turns out she’s got a girlfriend now."

"Really?" I ask, surprised.

"Yeah, apparently she's here, at school, so I assume she's with her."

"Wasn't she a bit difficult because you were away for two weeks?"

"Nope. Seems like having a girlfriend has its perks. I plan to find out who she is just to thank her."

I laugh. I'm curious too. With everything that happened before the break, I hadn’t noticed her getting close to anyone in particular.

"We’ll do our investigation if you want," I tease.

"Oh, for sure! If she thinks she’s going to keep her in the shadows, she's dreaming."

"And you’re the one saying that?" I tease again.

"My case is different."

"Of course," I mock. "Still, it’s time for her to introduce her at least once."

"Yeah, yeah. Soon, since the year is almost over, and I plan to move in with Jenni after school."

Seems I’m not the only one thinking about the "after school" period. I hope she tells her soon because I have a feeling this situation might backfire given how Alba is. We reach the cafeteria. Once we’re served, we sit at our usual table. From where I am, I can see Lucy join her side with Ingrid. I don’t linger, though, afraid I won’t be able to look away from her. The others start recounting their fantastic vacations. I turn to Alessia, who’s sitting next to me. Best to address the elephant in the room right away.

"How were your holidays?" I ask her.

"Pretty good," she admits. "And yours?"

She’s calm. A bit too calm, and probably a little embarrassed too. Lucy did make a point of kissing me in front of her to stake her claim the day they caught us together. I still don’t know if Alessia saw that. All I know is that Lucy marked me with a huge hickey on my neck again last night, just to be sure. My friends haven’t seen it yet since I’ve kept my scarf on, and I plan to keep it that way for a while.

"Good as well," I reply with a small smile.

"Is your girlfriend planning to keep an eye on me from now on?" she retorts, without much emotion.

I glance over at Lucy and see that, indeed, she’s sneaking looks at us between sentences with Ingrid. I bite my lip to suppress a smile. She’s impossible. Yesterday's lecture about jealousy clearly wasn’t enough for her. Maybe it’s time I tell her how much I love her to get her to relax.

"I'll talk to her. Don’t worry."

"Have you seen the hickey she gave her?" Alexia teases mockingly.

"Stop," I groan, unconsciously covering my neck with my hand. "It was the only way to leave without a ten-hour lecture."

Alessia and Alexia laugh at my expense, making me blush even more. To be honest, I like Lucy’s jealousy, but I’d never admit that to them. After our cold moment, she simply reminded me that she loves me no matter what. She knows how to reassure me.

"Did someone say hickey?" 

We turn toward the voice we all recognize. Alba stands behind me with her tray in hand. I smile softly at her. I’ve missed her, actually. I didn’t expect to get so attached to her personality, but I have. She’s genuinely a good person deep down.

"Mind if we join you?"

It’s only then that I notice someone standing behind her. It’s Misa, and judging by the look she gives me, there’s no doubt she’s the girlfriend Ale mentioned. She never hung out with us much, but it happened occasionally. All I remember about her is that she wasn’t very friendly. Her choice surprises me, but after all, I don’t know her well enough to judge their relationship. The question was mostly for show, as they sit down at the end of our table. I exchange a look with Ale, who doesn’t seem thrilled with what she’s seeing. She’s understood the situation just like I have, but I know from previous conversations that she doesn’t like Misa much either. Neither of us knows how to place her.

"So, what’s this about a hickey? Who’s the victim?" Alba asks again.

"Ona," Alessia replies. "Apparently, from her girlfriend."

"Really?" she asks, surprised. "You’re with someone?"

I run my hand through my hair, feeling awkward. I didn’t want this to spread around the table. I feel like Alessia is challenging me, which is irritating. But if Lucy gave me a hickey, it’s because she wants people to know I’m taken, right? After that little internal debate, I nod.

"Uh, yeah. I’ve been dating someone for a little while," I admit.

"Wow, didn’t see that coming," she smiles. "That’s cool! Is she from here? Do we know her?"

"Alba, that's none of your business," Alexia cuts in. "And you? When were you going to tell me you were dating Misa?"

I'm relieved by her intervention. It gives me time to breathe, and she knows why. I can’t afford to reveal Lucy’s identity.

"If I’d waited as long as you to admit I was seeing someone, I wouldn’t have told you until next year," she retorts proudly.

- "What nonsense," she muttered, rolling her eyes before glancing at me.

I stifled a small laugh. I gave her a sympathetic smile, but in reality, her sister wasn't wrong.

- "So, are we not allowed any juicy details?" Alba returned to the original topic.

Of course, she was back to me. Unfortunately, I hadn't had time to think. I just shrugged. I would like to share with them, but I know I can't reveal everything.

- "She's a girl. A few years older than me, and well, that's it. We've only been together for a few weeks."

Only a few weeks. Now that I say it, it feels like we've been together for months. I'm already eager to reach our first month. Unfortunately, that's in a few days, and we'll still be here. I'm trying to stay positive, reminding myself that we'll be in Barcelona this weekend. At least I’ll have the advantage of being on my home turf. I can plan something for her at a place she doesn’t know, with Mapi as my accomplice.

- "So, you're into girls too?" Misa asked.

I leaned to see her as she was sitting just next to Alessia. She kept eating while glancing at me. Surprisingly, she smiled. Now that she knew she had nothing to worry about with Alba, maybe she’d behave differently.

- "Indeed" I replied, without going into detail.

- "And this girl," Alba asked again, "does she treat you well at least?"

Alexia rolled her eyes again, making me suppress a laugh. Honestly, they should have stayed away from each other if they were going to act like this in each other's presence.

- "Absolutely. She's amazing, even if sometimes she struggles to grasp that she's the only one who matters to me."

I punctuated my words by showing off the huge purple, almost black, hickey on my neck. She had pinned me down against the mattress, leaving me no means to defend myself. My friends gasped in disbelief, making me chuckle slightly.

- "Damn, seeing it again now, I realize she didn’t hold back at all," Ale teased as I quickly covered the evidence. "Think I can tease her about it?"

- "You? Tease her?" I raised an eyebrow. "I’d love to see that," I mocked.

- "Oh, shut up," she mumbled.

- "Wait, you know her?" Alba asked, surprised.

- "Yeah. Who do you think I spent my vacation with?"

- "Any particular reason she marked you like that?" Alessia asked, trying to prevent a sibling argument.

- "I don't know," I admitted, shrugging. "Jealousy, I guess. She knows a bit about my friends... I mean, I tell her about them a lot, so she probably feels threatened," I quickly corrected myself.

- "I wonder why. You practically devour her with your eyes. You'd have to be blind not to notice," Ale commented.

I hid my blush behind my mug of hot chocolate. I knew how true her words were. I just hoped it wouldn't be too obvious here at school. Even though there were only two months left and Lucy had said she didn’t care if she got expelled, I wasn’t on the same page. I wanted her with me until the end, so I hoped we could stay discreet. It had been a while, so I glanced over at her table. I was disappointed to find it empty. I looked quickly toward the line where people were clearing their trays, but I had to admit the truth: she was already gone. Clearly, I was already missing her, judging by the pang I felt at this realization. This day was going to feel longer than I’d like to admit.

Monday, March 1st; 5:15 PM - Lucy and Ingrid's Office.

I tried not to seem too eager when I headed to Lucy's office. First, I had to be patient while Alessia talked to me after class, and then I had to weave through the students in the hallway. If it were up to me, I would have sprinted from class the moment the bell rang. But sadly, that only happens in movies. So here I was, standing in front of her office door, which was wide open. I tapped on the wood to announce my presence before stepping inside. I didn’t wait for permission anymore—I felt at home here after having come so often. I was greeted by an empty desk on the left and Lucy behind the one on the right. We were alone. Perfect.

- "Hello," I said cheerfully.

- "Close the door," she ordered without taking her eyes off the screen.

I was already almost at her desk when she gave the command. Oh, she didn't seem to be in a good mood. I turned back to obey without complaint. A few months ago, I would have already retorted for her to do it herself. But now, I sensed this wasn’t the moment. I hoped everything would be fine. I had missed her so much today, and I didn’t want to spend the little time we had together in a bad mood.

- "You're late," she noted, as if it needed pointing out.

- "Did you miss me?"

I tried to joke to lighten her mood. To my surprise, she stood up abruptly to face me.

- "Hell, yes."

Before I could react, she spun me around and pressed me against her desk. Her slightly cold hands slid under my already open jacket. I smiled against her lips as she took them without asking. She grabbed my thighs firmly, lifting me onto the desk. I welcomed her between my legs, running my hand through her hair. For someone who wanted to keep our two relationships separate, we were far from her long speeches.

- "Take off that scarf," she growled, tugging at it.

I laughed harder as I unwrapped it before she could strangle me with it.

- "You like seeing your marks on me? I got so many comments because of you."

- "Really? I didn’t see you take it off today."

I raised an amused eyebrow. So she was watching me. Good to know. To be fair, I wasn’t any better, but now I understood why I kept running into her in the hallways.

- "You did it on purpose, didn’t you?"

- "I have no idea what you’re talking about."

I laughed, wrapping my arms around her neck. She smiled mischievously in return.

- "Well, just so you know, my friends know I’m taken. I talked to Alba this morning, and the others figured it out. They teased me all through lunch trying to figure out who you are. I said you weren’t from the school, but they think I’m lying."

- "Why would they think I’m from here?"

- "No idea. They think I don’t have a life outside of school."

"Well, aside from Mapi, you don’t see many people from your old life," she reminded me. "They’re not wrong, really. »

- "Well, it's easy to meet people nowadays. There are social media or even dating apps."

- "As if that’s your thing... It isn’t, right? Maybe I should take your phone away…"

- "Hey! No way, you idiot. As if I’d do something like that."

I roll my eyes before she kisses me again. I’ve missed her lips. It’s hard to go from two weeks straight together to a sudden cut. I’ll be happy when we no longer have to deal with the constraints of school.

- "Did Alessia say anything?"

- "No. She thinks you’re very... How do I put it? Vampiric. Or something like that. I don’t think she expected you to devour my neck."

She laughs and kisses the mark. I checked it in the mirror again during lunch and realized it’ll probably stick around for a few more days. She then steps back from between my legs, signaling that our little break is over. I hop off the desk, landing on my feet.

- "As long as she doesn’t hover around you anymore, I don’t care what she calls me."

- "Oh please, like she’d even try to go up against you. It’s a good thing she knows now."

- "Hmm... Alright, get your stuff out so we can tackle your homework. How were your classes?"

- "Boring, as always," I sigh. "I’ll be glad when I finally graduate."

- "I get that, me too," she admits with a small smile. "But we’re not there yet. By the way, I talked to Wiegman about your interview."

- "Already?" I ask, surprised.

- "Yup. The sooner it’s settled, the better. That way, we can avoid unnecessary arguments."

- "What did she say?"

- "She’s giving you permission to go, since it’s after your time here. But she’ll have to inform your mom."

I shrug, indifferent. It’s not like my mom doesn’t already know I had an interview. She’ll figure it out soon enough.

- "Will you come with me?"

- "Of course, I’ll drive you," she smiles. "There are perks to still being your guardian. Now, you just need to call Mr. Fields to find out the date."

- "Yeah... Can we also check out other galleries?"

- "I’ve already done some research," she tells me. "I made a list and sent it to Beth. Since she’s more knowledgeable and knows their reputations, she promised to review them and let me know which ones are worth sending your resume to."

- "Thank you. You’re amazing," I reply sincerely.

- "It’s only natural," she says, linking our hands. "I’ve thought about it a lot, and I want to apologize again for making you think I wanted to push you away. That was never my intention."

- "I know, don’t worry," I smile softly. "Let’s wait to see what Fields says before getting ahead of ourselves. He might offer something else."

- "Don’t get your hopes up too much. He can have as many apprentices as he wants. If you say no, that might be it for him."

- "We’ll see," I say confidently. "He seemed really interested in my profile. Maybe he won’t want to let me go so easily."

- "Babe, seriously. I don’t want you to get your hopes up and be let down. I’ll be happy if he offers you something else, but it’s better not to expect too much."

I nod. She’s right. Ever since I got the positive response, I’ve been feeling confident, but I’m likely setting myself up for a fall. I sigh, sinking into my seat.

- "Shall we get to work?"

- "You’ll get to work," she replies with a small smile. "Try to do it on your own, and I’ll correct it. I’ve still got a lot of work to do since the break is over."

I groan as I pull out the management assignment from this morning. Our teacher didn’t go easy on us, and we’ve already been hit with five exercises under the pretext that we need to be ready for the big day.

- "It’s not as fun without you."

- "Oh, come on. I won’t be sitting next to you during the exams. This is the final stretch. You need to learn to handle it on your own now."

I sigh and pout but still get to work. In a few months, I’ll be sitting through the same kind of exercises, except it’ll be on an exam paper for four hours straight. For now, I have nothing to complain about. The stress is slowly creeping in. I know I won’t be fully prepared, especially in my main subjects. Let’s not forget I’m two years behind. And to top it off, I found out today that we actually have compressed courses. Murphy explained that due to the school’s structure, we’re missing a semester out of the usual three years. After quickly doing the math in my head, we only have three semesters instead of four in a given track. At least I understand now why we’re moving faster than normal. Fortunately, my teachers often revisit points that were covered in previous years during the course. Thanks to Lucy, I’ve started asking for help more often. While I think most of my exams are out of reach, Lucy believes in me. She says I might have some terrible grades, but I can still pass. That’s all the support I need. I’m determined to prove her right. I don’t care about having outstanding grades, just passing is enough. I’ll focus on excelling in the subjects I’m stronger in, like literature and languages. They won’t be the most heavily weighted, given the track I chose, but it’s better than nothing. Time passes, and I finally finish the exercises for my upcoming classes.

- "Can you check my work?" I ask my girlfriend.

- "Of course."

She pushes aside her pile of papers and grabs my assignments. She picks up a pencil and starts reading through them. I take advantage of the calm moment to admire her. She moves her long brown hair to the side, making her even more beautiful. I smile as she unintentionally reveals the mark I gave her. It’s much smaller now and a few days old. Our bubble bursts with a knock at the door, followed by its immediate opening to reveal my management teacher. His sudden presence reminds me that we’re never truly safe from being interrupted, even with the door closed.

- "Oh yes, I forgot about your evening classes," he murmurs. "Good evening, I hope I’m not disturbing you."

- "Not particularly," Lucy replies. "How can I help you?"

- "I was just following up on the field trip, but I can come back later if necessary."

Lucy leans back in her chair, crossing her legs, but she keeps my packet of assignments in her hand and removes her glasses—the ones that make her look so irresistible—with the other. She places them on the desk and massages the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again.

- "I’ve already told you, Ona isn’t a problem. What do you need?"

I can’t help but smile at her cold tone. He’s definitely getting on her nerves. I turn back to my teacher, who looks slightly flustered.

- "Well, I wanted to confirm that Miss Engen and you will be part of the teaching staff accompanying us."

- "Alright. Is that all?"

- "For now. I’ll let you know the date of the trip and which group you’ll be in charge of."

- "Hmm. If you’re organizing the groups, make sure Ona is in mine. Since I’m designated as her guardian until the end of the year, it’ll allow me to keep an eye on her."

I can’t help but laugh at that request. Thank goodness Wiegman put her in charge. We’re definitely taking advantage of it now. I thought I was being discreet, but Lucy must have heard me because she raises an eyebrow as she glances at me. I bite my lip to stop myself from laughing again. I love it when she plays the serious role like that.

- "Any objections?" she asks me.

- "None," my teacher responds.

It’s too much; I have to laugh again. He doesn’t even know who she’s addressing anymore. Lucy doesn’t miss the opportunity to remind him.

"I was talking to Ona. »

- "No problem, Bronze," I replied with as much seriousness as I could muster in that moment.

- "Good. Well, that's settled then. I'll be waiting for your update."

- "Great. Thanks again for agreeing."

Before he turned to leave, I smiled when I noticed him lingering on Lucy's neck. She couldn’t have chosen a better time to show off the mark I left on her. Then his eyes shifted to me, narrowing slightly.

- "See you tomorrow, sir," I said innocently.

- "Hmm... see you tomorrow."

- "Have a good evening," Lucy added just before he left.

I turned back to Lucy, who had resumed correcting my work as if none of that had just happened. Her glasses were back on her nose. With the door closed again, I seized the opportunity.

- "Is he always that annoying?"

- "He never was."

- "Really? I think he is. He tries to get to you at every chance he gets."

- "Well, now you can be sure he won’t come by after class, not with you here."

Her mischievous tone didn’t sit well with me. I slumped back in my chair, crossing my arms. It was obvious that if he wanted to be alone with her, he wouldn’t come by at this time anymore. That idea bothered me a lot.

- "You're not going to sulk, are you?" she teased. "I was as cold as possible. I think I made it pretty clear, didn't I?"

- "Hmm..."

- "Plus, I made sure you’d be in my group for that outing," she added. "I couldn’t really do much more than that."

- "Yes, you could. You could tell him outright that you’re not interested in men."

- "Fine. I’ll do that if that’s what you want."

A silence settled in. My mood lifted a little. I hadn’t expected her to go that far, but I felt relieved. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore. I watched her as she reached the last page. She had used her pencil several times, so I could already tell there were corrections to make. When she finished, she handed everything back to me.

- "Here you go. You made a few mistakes, but you’ve understood the essentials."

- "Thanks," I replied shyly.

I took my papers and started working on my errors. Most of the time, they were just careless mistakes. Management requires a lot of formulas, and even though I’d memorized them with Lucy’s help before the holidays, I still mixed them up sometimes.

- "How was your night?"

- "Rough," I admitted. "I had trouble getting used to my small bed again, and I didn’t sleep much."

- "Your nightmares came back?"

- "No... I’m a bit afraid they will, but we’ll see. Worst case, I’ll ask to sleep over with Alexia."

I felt close enough to her now that I could ask her for that. I was sure she wouldn’t mind if I did.

- "Hmm... If it’s just her, I think I can accept that," Lucy said with a small smile. "You should take a page out of my book, you know. I know how to control myself."

- "Is that so?" I giggled. "Shall we talk about how you stared down Alessia after I talked to her? I saw you," I accused her shamelessly.

- "I think we should calm down," she laughed. "It’s not like we just spent two weeks living together."

I smiled. She didn’t even try to defend herself.

- "We should, that's true, but I doubt I could resist. I love your jealousy. It makes me feel important in your eyes."

- "You can. You're the most important person to me anyway, baby."

I blushed softly at her unexpected compliment.

- "You are too. Never doubt that. No one even comes close, no matter who I talk to."

- "Noted," she smiled. "Just make sure to remind your friend that you're taken."

- "You do that quite well on your own," I teased, tilting my head to expose my neck. "She knows, don’t worry."

- "Then we have no problem," she smiled wider.

Indeed. Aside from the issue of next year, there didn’t seem to be any more problems between us. I sincerely hoped everything would turn out fine, and even if it didn’t, I was confident we’d find a way through it.

[tarttheart]

DESIGNATED DRIVER - JAMIE TARTT x YOU

summary: you spend a night out before Jamie picks you up and takes you home.

word count: 800+

warnings: language, alcohol consumption

It was Friday night. One of your good friends from work was leaving which could only mean it was going to be a long fucking night out on the town.

You messaged Jamie to let him know you would be home late and not to wait up because lord alone knew what time you would actually be done.

Jamie: text when you’re done yeh? I’ll come get ya

You: don’t worry about it, I’ll take a taxi.

You smiled and pocketed your phone appreciating the thought but not wanting to trouble your boyfriend who was going to be up at 4am to start his daily workout.

It was the third bar of the night and you were about nine drinks deep and making merry with your workmates. Everyone laughed at the odd tales another colleague’s girlfriend brought to the table and reminisced about all the crazy nights they had had prior to this one.

One more stop, one more stop. It was your last drink of the night and you watched on as the group played darts. It had been a long one and you were tired. What you would give to teleport home and snuggle up to Jamie. You smiled at the thought although you knew the last thing you wanted to do was wake him when you got into bed that night. Poor thing definitely needed his beauty sleep.

Jamie: surely you’re done soon?

You: go to sleep babe, I’ll be heading home soon.

Jamie: don’t move a fucking muscle, I’ll be there soon.

You supported one of your managers in his quest to stay upright while the rest of the group finished their game of darts before everyone made their way to the nearby kebab shop. While you were hungry, a kebab just did not seem appealing. There was no way you would feel comfortable taking a messy kebab into Jamie’s expensive car. Even though you knew he would tolerate it for you, you were also well aware that it would hurt his soul if you got anything dirty.

You stood with the group as everyone took their time finishing their kebabs on the side of the road.

“What are you waiting for?” One of them asked as you stood without any food and had made no effort to hail down a taxi yet.

“My boyfriend is coming to pick me.”

“Ooooooh,” one of your friends teased.

You blushed. While it was common knowledge that you had a boyfriend, his identity remained a mystery to most. He never joined the merriment given his strict workout regimen and you never brought it up because the last thing you wanted it to sound like was bragging. Yes, most of your mates were guys and they were not going to ask to be hooked up with a soccer player but it still was not something you were going to openly advertise.

“That’s a sick car,” one of the guys commented as the flashy car you know so well made its way down the street.

“Well, that’s my ride,” you said as casually as you could while waving Jamie down to the surprise of the group.

“Holy fucking shit,” another colleague swore, “is that Jamie Tartt?”

You got in and gave Jamie a little peck before waving your final goodbye to some of the shocked faces. You felt bad that one of your best friends from work was going to have to field the questions but not enough to dwell on it.

“Do you work with any girls?” Jamie asked and you knew it came from a place of curiosity and not jealousy. Okay, maybe a little bit of jealousy.

“I do, they’ve already left.”

“Right, right. Drank them under the table, did yeh? How much have you had to drink, love?”

You slowly counted up the rounds in your head before responding with a sheepish “11”.

Jamie shook his head and laughed. Your alcohol tolerance was one of those things that surprised most people and while you were slightly embarrassed by its implications, you were also proud of being able to hold your own in a male-dominated team. Being able to drink your weight in alcohol meant you had been quickly accepted as one of the team and it made a chunk of your job so much easier when you were able to become friendly with most of your colleagues over a pint or ten. Whether that was fair or not was debatable but you felt lucky to benefit from it.

Jamie grabbed the bottle of water in his console and forced it into your hands.

“Drink up, we don’t want you too hungover tomorrow.”

You nodded and took a big swig of water, enjoying how refreshing the plain beverage was after a night of alcohol.

“Missed you tonight,” you admitted.

Sure, it was fun having a big night out with good friends but it did not always measure up to cuddling with Jamie on the couch after dinner while you watched some TV.

“I missed you too, love,” he said, looking over with a smile as you watched him lovingly.

“Can’t wait to cuddle when we get home.”

“Me too.”

[newtonsheffield]

Could we see some jealous Kate in Mile High?

Maybe Siena ends up in their flight once Kate and Anthony are officially together???

Ohhh For a relationship that started off on the grounds of no jealousy: They’re both pretty jealous people.

And Kate really thought she got over it after she and Anthony actually put their cards on the table and said they didn’t want to see other people.

“Okay!”

Kate turned at the sound of her sister bursting through the cockpit door. “Edwina, we’re a little busy.” She gestured to the controls, “You know, preparing to fly the plane.”

Edwina rolled her eyes, “I just… I don’t want you to overreact to this but Siena Rosso is on this flight.”

Kate’s stomach dropped, something prickling down her spine at the thought of Anthony’s ex girlfriend, the only other person he’d been in a committed relationship with. Even if it hadn’t worked out, they’d loved one another once. Were still friends, really. She couldn’t say she wasn’t at least curious about her, what she looked like, how she was, how she and Anthony had been together.

“Right well…” Kate trailed off, “Get out of the way!” Kate hissed, peering round the cockpit door, “Which one is she?”

“Is anyone going to tell me who Siena Rosso is?” Sophie said curiously, joining her and Edwina at peering round the door.

“She’s Anthony’s ex.” Edwina supplied, “They used to hook up until Kate and Anthony got together.”

“Which one is she?” Kate hummed, her stomach churning, but she didn’t need to ask. Not really.

Anthony was stood a few rows down, at the back of first class, laughing at something a woman had said. She was beautiful, her dark hair tossed up effortlessly as she leaned in and said something conspiratorially to Anthony who turned pointing towards the cockpit.

“Fuck.”

Kate slammed the door shut before anyone could notice them peering out the door, trying to quiet the doubtful voice in her head.

You’re such opposites, he’ll never stay with you.

“Well, I wish she wasn’t so pretty.”

“Oh come on,” Sophie tutted, “Anthony loves you.”

“You don’t have anything to worry about.” Edwina agreed.

Kate shook her head, taking a shuddering breath, “It doesn’t matter. It literally doesn’t, we have to work.”

She sat back down and tried to focus on what she had to do. Even so she cleared her throat when she flicked on the intercom. “Good morning Everyone! Captain Kate Sharma from the flight deck, First Officer Sophie Beckett here with me and Welcome Aboard your British Airways flight to Singapore. We’ve an excellent crew on board with you today, at your beck and call for anything you might need. Some of you, not all of you. Anyway, they’re headed up by my loving boyfriend Anthony. It’s true, we’re in a very committed relationship, I’m actually thinking of suggesting that we move in together. Well, I’ve said that now. I’ll be back later to give you another update. Not on whether or not he said yes, just… on the… flight.”

Kate pinched the bridge of her nose as she turned off the intercom, She groaned as Sophie let out a low whistle. “Don’t.”

“Kate,” Sophie guffawed, “That was a train wreck, babe.”

“I know! Don’t you think I know that?! Now not only do I have to look at Anthony’s hot singer ex girlfriend; He’s going to reject me! Right in front of her probably! And then they’ll skip off into the sunset together!”

“Are we spiralling a little?”

“No!”

“So… that was insane.” Edwina hummed pushing the dinner cart in.

“Oh God!” Kate groaned, “Does he not want to even come in here and face me?!”

“He was held up.” Edwina tutted, “Congrats on… moving in together though? Are you getting a cat as well?”

“Anthony and I would clearly be dog people.”

Her anxiety still hadn’t abated at the end of the flight, jealousy and anxiety taking their turns, warring away in her chest. Right up until she opened the cockpit door. And there was Siena Rosso, nudging Anthony’s shoulder gently. Her eyes widened when she took in Kate,

“There’s your girl.”

Anthony turned, looking a little dazed and Kate didn’t know what came over her. She reached forward, grabbing Anthony by the lapels of his jacket and crashed their lips together in a searing kiss.

Anthony looked dazed when she finally nudged him back, his hand in his hair, “Hey, Kate.” He cleared his throat, “Have you met Siena?”

Siena peered around them, “Hi, Kate, so lovely to meet you. Anthony’s told me so much about you.”

“Nice to meet you as well.”

Anthony tucked his arm around Kate’s waist before he cleared his throat, “Well, good luck with your show tonight. Chat soon hey? We’ll all go to dinner.”

“I’d like that.” Siena smiled, “Kate, hilarious announcement, 10/10.”

She winked over her shoulder at them and Kate suddenly felt ridiculous for it, with Anthony’s arm around her waist and his lips on her temple.

“Did you propose we move in together out of jealousy?” Anthony chuckled, but she could see the anxiety warring away behind his eyes.

“Yes, i did it in panic,” She straightened his tie, “But I actually do want us to move in together. So…? What d’you say? Ready to teach me how to do laundry?”

Anthony swallowed, “Yes, but I’m sorry, we need to move into my flat. Yours just…”

Kate scoffed, “Like I’m moving you into my place with all of your systems. I don’t have room.”

[nerdieforpedro]

Friends look out for friends right?

Chapter Two of Come live with me Angel Series

Benny Miller x Diana (plus size OFC)

This fic is 18+ MDNI

Word Count: 1908

Summary: Benny recalls how he and Diana first met. Living arrangements are discussed in addition to why Benny ended up in jail last night.

Warning: questionable karaoke choices, a few thots, Benny cooking, more pining, reference to a fight and jail

Notes: A slow burn with Friends to lovers. I enjoy writing them. I need to fit in tacos for @musings-of-a-rose just because. She knows why. 🤣

Main Masterlist/ Benny Miller Masterlist/ Come away with me Angel Series

Benny thought back to when he first met Diana while he cooked breakfast the next morning:

Six months ago at the Saucy Cantina. It was karaoke night and none of the guys would sing with him. He even chose ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ one that the four of them would know, but none of them would sing with him. He wasn’t sure if it was just the three beers he had but he wanted to belt out a tune. There were three women near the sing book when he walked over, two of them were looking at a Beyonce song - she doesn’t have a bad one so that’s a safe choice. But the third woman who’s dark hair touched passed her shoulders was studying a page intently. He tapped her shoulder and she looked up, her honey brown eyes stared at him and he watched her baby pink lips move as she spoke, “Yes, did you wanna see the book?” Benny shook his head and asked what song she was thinking of doing. “You’ll laugh, but I was thinking of ‘Rich Girl’ or ‘Diamonds.’” She said, setting her finger on each song.

“Those two are pretty different. I was thinking of a song too but my brothers over there are buzzkills and don’t wanna join me.” He grinned, his eyes a little glassy from the beer. She chuckled and nodded, explaining that she had been outvoted and it looked like her and her friends were going to be singing Beyonce tonight.

“We don’t have to sing what they want to you know. I’ll sing ‘Rich Girl’ with you if you’ll sing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ with me, Angel.” He offered a hand outstretched as he hopped up on stage. Fish tapped Pope and Will, pointing toward the small stage at the back of the bar. The woman who he would later come to know as Diana took his hand and hopped up on stage with him. Benny remembered that he didn’t let go of her hand the entire time on the stage as they sang the Hall and Oats song and danced, swaying their hips and stomping their feet in tune with the music. It earned them a standing ovation and they got a second when they finally sang ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in which there were some squeals because neither of them could hit those notes and they may have had a round of shots in between numbers. Benny invited all three girls over to the table and kept Angel as he called her, next to him as they chatted and drank. Will and Fish noticed how Benny kept holding onto her hand, like she might bolt, but she didn’t seem to mind. When the girls went to the bathroom, they teased him about getting a girlfriend of karaoke. Benny told them to shut it and that she was just really nice, but he knew then he wouldn’t be alright with not knowing her name and noting seeing her again.

Over the course of the night, he learned her name Diana and she told him his, Benjamin, but to please call him Benny, no one calls him his full name. They exchanged phone numbers and he made sure to text her to check if she got home okay and to see if she wanted lunch. One would have thought that he’s asked her out on a date but it wasn’t, just brunch. It was fun and no pressure. It helped a lot that Benny was a goofball and that Diana liked telling bad jokes. It’s been great for the last six months, towing the line between friends and something more and easy, so very easy.

This morning, Diana woke up and had a headache. What should she do? Moving in with her mother would be the more reasonable of the two options, but could she stand living with the woman again? Especially now that she was being effectively kicked out because her roommate found a man and she hadn’t.

Benny was up off the couch and had folded the blanket. He was making some eggs and toast when he saw Diana walk out in a loose black tank top and pink shorts that bunched between her legs from her thighs rubbing together. Her eyes were blurry and she rubbed them to adjust to the bright light. They went wide when she saw Benny in her kitchen, shirtless in his jeans and no socks, his hair was down and coasting along the back of his neck. She sometimes forgets how tall and broad he is. No…she knows. She tried to forget, because if she thinks about it, she do that before bed again.

“What the hell Benny..?”

“Damn Diana, that’s not what I expected. I thought I’d at least get a ‘thanks’ or a ‘good morning’, no hospitality.” He turned with a wide grin, holding a spatula in one hand. Diana cleared her throat and took a few steps forward on the cold floor to make sure she wasn’t having another dream about the younger Miller again. It turned out she was not and he really was making her breakfast in her apartment.

“I-I didn’t expect you to be making breakfast. Thank you. I was just surprised. I didn’t think you could cook.” Diana walked over and leaned on the counter, her breasts were pushed together from her crossed arms as she watched him scrambling eggs in her frying pan. “Did you want me to start some bacon or toast?” She asked, Benny turned to answer her but was greeted by her ample cleavage that was exposed. Toward the scoop of her tank top, it looked like he might just be able to see the cusp of something. He’s not supposed to be thinking about that they’re friends. Benny wonders from time to time and feels guilty because of how close he keeps Diana. He swallowed the spit that had gathered in his mouth and nodded.

“Sure, make both. I’ll eat what you don’t. You like onions and peppers in your eggs right?” Benny asked, drizzling some on half of the eggs, Diana agreed and took out the bread and bacon to get started. The bacon she put between two paper towels and microwaved it while she plugged up the toaster to start on the bread.

“Benny, you take your toast like your hair?” She joked, he roared with laughed as he remembered first telling Diana that’s how he liked all his bread that wasn’t on a sandwich. He was finishing up the eggs while she made six pieces of toast and eight pieces of bacon. It was a lot of food, but after they sat down and split it up, Benny and Diana scarfed all of it down along with two glasses of water each. They sat at the table relaxing because they were both full. Diana decided to ask first.

“Benny, are you going to tell me why you were arrested last night? You told me you hadn’t had any issues with the law for a couple years. There had to be-”

“You really wanna know Angel? Then if I tell you, you need to move in with me.” Diana opened her mouth to protest but Benny held up his hand. “You’re gonna say no, but you know you and your mom are like oil and water. Also you can pay me rent if it makes you feel better. I’d rather you didn’t though. You’re my friend.”

You’re my friend.

Diana realized that the only one stressing about being in close quarters with Benny was her. It would be the better and cheaper choice. She’d just have to keep her wits about her and gawk at him…too much.

“Fine Benny, I’ll move in with you. I haven’t found another place besides my mom’s anyway. Now will you tell me why I had to get you from county last night?”

“You know that bar we go to often, right? I was drinking after a fight. May have lost, not a big deal. Point is, we were laughing and joking it was all good.” Benny leaned forward with both elbows on the table, his muscles taut. Diana wants to tell him to sit back or throw a blanket on so she won’t stare.

“I know the bar, yes.” She tilts her head, confused about where this is going. “If things were good, why were you in jail?”

“That bastard said, anyway. He said something he shouldn’t have. I showed him he should keep his mouth shut.” Benny shook his head and stood up from the table taking both plates and silverware over to the sink. Diana sighed following him and had her hands on her hips.

“Benjamin Miller tell me what he said. Now.” Her lips pressed together, and he knew her bottom lip had likely poked out. “Was it really that serious to where you needed to injure three men? I mean I’ve heard all sorts of things said-“

“I don’t care what you might have heard in the past but no one’s going to talk about you like that! Not while I’m breathing.” Turning toward her, his face was red as he chewed on his cheek. “He asked me how you were in bed because he was sure you were enthusiastic and loud since you sing so well. I told him to shut the fuck up and he followed it up with…it doesn’t matter. I should have made it so his jaw would be wired shut.” Benny tossed the dirty spatula in the sink and started running water in a large bowel, pouring in some soap to start washing. “You try Diana.”

“Anything any drunk idiot says you shouldn’t listen to Benny. He’s an asshole. Don’t go to jail again. He and no other asshole is worth it.” Diana took the spatula and two forks to dry and put them to the side to put away.

“I’m not letting some douchebag think it’s fine to talk about you any kind of way Di, I’m not. I’ll try and stay out of jail. I can’t promise not to fight for you.” Washing the two plates, Benny handed them to Diana and watched as she bumped the drawer closed with her hip and leaned on her tip-toes to put away the plates after drying them. He found himself laughing to which she whipped the dishtowel at him.

“If I move in with you, you can’t be going back to jail Benny. I’m serious.”

“I am too.” Diana knows how serious he is which is a blessing and a curse. There’s always assholes that will say all sorts of things. Thankfully Benny was alright but what happens if he gets a longer sentence. Maybe he somehow thinks he won’t. They’re going to have to agree to disagree. “One other thing though Angel,”

“What now Benny? You gonna fight the cabinet for being too tall for me?”

“No. We need to go get my jeep from the bar. Then we can start moving your stuff today.” Whipping his hands on his jeans, he walks over to the couch and gets his shirt and slips it on. “Grab your keys.”

“I don’t leave the house in my sleep clothes Benny. Give me five minutes.” Rolling his eyes, he watches Diana make her way into the bedroom and close her door to get dressed. She may have fussed at him, but she was still moving in.

Goal accomplished

Chapter One Chapter Three

Notes on Benny’s guitar 🎸: @tinytinymenace @laurfilijames @rhoorl @musings-of-a-rose @megamindsecretlair @gwendibleywrites

[vivalas-vega]

Real Friends / Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x Reader / Part Seven

happy valentines day my loves - this seemed to be the perfect chapter to mark the occasion ;) i hope you all had the most lovely day, here is some pure sap and a much needed break in tension between our two favorite friends. I have always wanted to reference a very specific grey’s anatomy scene in my writing and I thought this was the perfect pairing to break it out for - you can watch that here and that is all I’ll say in order to not spoil what’s to come - it is up to you if you watch it before or after you read it ;)

real friends / jake ‘hangman’ seresin x reader / part seven

one - two - three - four - five - six 

word count: 4.5k

warnings: sap. lots of sap. 

“Cobra,” Penny started but was cut off by a round of rowdy frat boys to which she gave you an annoyed look. “Cobra, you know I would never ask…” she said, and you just nodded before she even had the chance. She’d lost one of her weekend bartenders and she was definitely feeling it right now as the Hard Deck thrummed with energy and you had no problem slipping behind the bar and taking the spare apron from Penny.

“And you don’t have to, who knows, could be fun to get back into the swing of things,” you smiled as you took an order and got to work. You’d never liked living on base and avoided it at all costs, which resulted in you picking up some bartending shifts in your early twenties to help cover the costs of living on your own on just the Navy’s salary and in all honesty you’d loved it. The energy was usually always good, tips were fantastic, especially on the nights when you dressed to make the old-timers wallets hurt, and it was a great way to distract yourself from the stress of your day job.  It was like riding a bike for you, easy to slip back into your old routine of managing patrons and keeping up with the conversation as well as making sure their drinks were well taken care of and you smiled brightly at Rooster as he approached.

“Have I stepped into an alternate universe?” he asked as you set a beer in front of him.

“Pen was swamped and I happen to know my way around a bar,” you said, mixing up an old fashioned for the guy waiting beside him… based on his young appearance and choice of drink you’d inspected his ID three times to make sure it wasn’t fake. 

“Full of surprises aren’t you?” he teased and you just winked in response, flitting around to clear empty glasses.

“Get away from my bar, Roo, you’re in the way,” you said as you made your way from table to table, pushing him in the direction of the pool table and watching as he joined your group of friends. You helped Penny through the rush, and even got to ring the bell once which was secretly something you’d always wanted to do, and you wiped your hands in satisfaction as you looked over the bar, now only occupied by regulars who weren’t quite as demanding. 

“Cobra, you’re a literal lifesaver,” Penny said, giving your shoulders a squeeze from behind as she slid a rather fat stack of tips your way and you just shook your head.

“Pen, I didn’t say yes for some extra cash, I was happy to help.”

“Come on, most of these are from all the boys on base that are utterly obsessed with you anyways, just take them as a token of my gratitude otherwise I’m never making your margaritas spicy again,” she warned and you placed a hand on your chest in faux shock.

“You would never.”

“Try me,” she smiled, pushing them closer to you and you gave her a soft smile before tucking them away in the pocket of your shorts as she waved you off to join your friends with a fresh drink in hand. 

“Have to say, Cobra, you are a much better bartender than I would have thought,” Rooster said when you approached the pool table.

“I take offense in that, I’ll have you know I bartended for years.” you retorted, “but nevermind that, I uh… I actually have some news, guys.” you said hesitantly, waiting until you had everyone’s attention, trying not to linger on the fact that you’d had Hangman’s all night.

“What, is this where you tell us you're ditching us to spend your days here instead?” Rooster joked and you just shoved his shoulder. 

“No, it’s a little bigger than that… I got a call from Admiral Simpson today, I’m being promoted to Lieutenant Commander,” you said and the entire group broke out in cheers. 

“Holy shit, Cobra, this is amazing!” Phoenix cooed as she pulled you in for a tight hug, “I am so proud of you,” she whispered in your ear.

“Alright, alright, break it up, let me get in there,” Rooster said, pulling you from her arms and into his own. You were essentially passed around the entire group, being hugged so tight you almost thought your ribs could be bruised until you made it to Hangman who really wasn’t sure what to do or say. You still hadn’t spoken, but he didn’t want to let this moment pass either of you by.

“Congratulations, Lieutenant Commander,” he said, giving you a salute and you laughed, shaking your head at him. You tentatively reached out for him and he immediately wrapped his arms around you and lifted you off the ground before twirling you in a circle as you let out a giggle, “I always knew you’d be the first to break Lieutenant,” he said setting you down but keeping his hands on your waist and you had no intention of removing your arms from his shoulders. “You deserve it, Cobra, this and so much more.” You just beamed up at him, his words of praise washing over you and filling your chest with warmth and you pulled away from him when Coyote cleared his throat behind you.

“So, when’s the big celebration?” he asked as you turned to face him and adjusted your dress awkwardly.

“Rather soon actually… they thought we would want to do it before we return from break, turns out they know a thing or two about what we get up to in our free time,” you laughed, “it’s this Friday.” 

“Well, then you and I have to go shopping for dresses. Of course we’ll wear our stuffy dress uniforms for the actual banquet but… afterwards we’re going out for a proper night on the town to celebrate our girl, what do you say?” Phoenix asked, addressing the rest of the group and everyone nodded.

“Oh, oh no…” Bob said and you all looked at him in confusion, “this is going to be a repeat of the night after the uranium mission isn’t it?” he asked and you let out a loud laugh before reaching over to ruffle his hair. Poor sweet Bob had been the only sober one present to keep everyone alive and well after you’d all returned home, desperate to let loose and blow off steam once the mission was over.

“Oh, Bob… have I told you today how much I love you? These new glasses really suit your face,” you said, fully redirecting the conversation which was confirmation in and of itself that yes… it was going to be a repeat.

—--

You stood at attention as Admiral Simpson read out your new rank and you saluted, smiling softly as Maverick came to affix your new pin to your uniform, as was tradition for a loved one to do the honors. You’d thought about calling your family, but with the short notice you knew they’d be unable to attend and Maverick was the next best thing, he’d been absolutely delighted when you’d asked. The night had passed with a blur, you making introductions with several important people you’d not yet had the chance to meet as Cyclone essentially dragged you from person to person. You kept chuckling as you’d spare glances towards your team, keeping up an air of professionalism but if you looked just a little closer you could tell they were getting up to nothing but trouble as they sipped the champagne that seemed to be flowing freely and laughed amongst themselves. You couldn’t help the laughter that escaped you as they all scrambled to salute you when you finally approached their table, almost yelling Lieutenant Commander completely out of sync.

“God, I love you guys,” you said through your laughs, “things are finally wrapping up, still the plan to meet at the Hard Deck at nine?” you asked and everyone nodded as they got ready to leave. 

“Mind if I drive you?” Hangman asked, and you nodded at him despite everything in you telling you no. You made your way out to the parking lot where he opened the door for you and helped you climb in, chuckling to himself as you grunted.

“No reason to have a truck like this in San Diego,” you muttered, buckling your seatbelt as he got in, “purely aesthetic, Jacob Seresin, people back home would laugh at you.” 

“They would not,” he scoffed, pulling out of the lot and beginning the short drive to your home. 

“They surely would. They’d call you a poser, say you’ve forgotten your roots with this fancy thing in the city.” 

“If anything this truck is me remembering my roots,” he countered and you shook your head.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but all the real cowboys back home don’t drive frilly rigs like this.” 

“You know what, I’ll let you have it, seeing as it's your day and all,” he said, smirking at you before returning his eyes to the road.

“As you should,” you said simply, turning your attention out your window as a silence settled over the cab.

“I really am proud of you, you know,” he finally said, “you’ve been busting your ass. Not just on the mission, but by naturally stepping into a leadership role at Top Gun, going out of your way to help everyone… it’s really impressive and I just thought you should know that.” 

“Thank you, Jake,” you said, cheeks flushing under his praise as you pulled into your driveway. “You coming in or will I see you in a few hours?” 

“I’ve got my change of clothes with me but… I- I don’t want to impose,” he said and you smiled softly at his suddenly sheepish demeanor. 

“I did ask, Hangman,” you said, getting out of the truck and making your way to unlock your front door and he was quick to follow. You made your way through the foyer, checking the clock on your wall and seeing you had plenty of time to spare as you kicked your boots off. “I don’t know about you but I am dying to get out of this uniform, bathrooms right there if you want to change,” you said as you made your way down the hallway and into your bedroom where you changed into a tee shirt and flowy shorts to get ready. When you reemerged you had to fight to keep your jaw off the floor, blinking slowly as you took him in, wearing a neutral patterned short sleeve button up with well-fitting blue slacks and he smirked as he noticed.

“Well, you certainly clean up nice,” you said, fetching the pair of you beers before motioning him to follow you to your bedroom where you took a seat at your vanity.

“I should say the same, San Diego won’t know what hit them when you hit the town in those… What are those, daisy shorts?”

“Oh hush, this obviously isn’t what I’m wearing,” you said as you gestured for him to take a seat on your bed and you made eye contact in the mirror as you plugged your curling iron in, “on a scale of one-post uranium mission how rowdy do you think it’s going to get tonight?”

“Considering Phe was already a little tipsy when we left, I’m gonna say it might be a little worse,” he chuckled, taking a sip of his beer.

“Poor Bob,” you mused, sectioning your hair and beginning to curl as he watched with amusement.

“I think he actually enjoys it,” he shrugged. “Look, I’ve been wanting to talk to you… I understand why you’ve been avoiding me, I was entirely out of line with what happened and I just wanted to apologize.”

“You weren’t out of line, Jake,” you said, dropping a section of hair before starting on the next. “You surely took me by surprise, but you weren’t out of line.”

“If it wasn’t out of line you wouldn’t have dropped off the face of the earth for three days… it’s really okay, you have no obligation to spare my feelings, I just want us to go back to how things were… I’ve really missed you.” 

You sighed, setting the iron down and turning to face him, “I did kiss you back. Twice.”

“It’s a little detail I’m willing to overlook,” he said, looking at you with pleading eyes and you felt your body thrum under his gaze, drawing you in and clouding your judgment. Ever since Rooster had shown up at your door, you’d been thinking and overthinking, carefully considering his words and the chord they’d struck within you. 

“I’m not,” you said, turning back around and starting back in on your hair as silence fell over the room. You’d gotten almost all of the way through when he finally spoke again.

“What does that mean?” he asked, running a hand through his hair as his knee bounced nervously.  You finished the last strand of your hair, unplugging the iron as you took a swig of your beer and clipped the front sections away from your face. 

“It means I don’t want to overlook it.” you said, taking a makeup wipe to your face and removing any trace before you could start fresh. 

“Okay, but like… what does that mean?” he asked again, confusion clear as day across his face as he tried to understand what you were implying. You made eye contact in the mirror as you blended foundation into your skin. 

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since you kissed me. Ever since that day you came over and we agreed to be friends I’ve been fighting this… attraction towards you with every fiber of my being because you scare the shit out of me. I’m okay right now, I have great friends, my career is progressing exactly as I would like it to,” you moved on to swirl blush onto your cheeks, speaking so nonchalantly it was as if you were giving him the weather report. “Giving into this, giving in to you, threatens all of that. I’ve never been good at relationships and your track record speaks for itself but I know enough to know that this? This is just dangerous,” you dusted your cheeks with highlighter before taking another drink as he just stared at you blankly. “Letting you in means potentially compromising the friend group, compromising everything I’ve worked so hard for, hell it compromises my own sanity because honestly I think when this burns in it’s going to devastate me,” you said, moving onto your eyes, still speaking so calmly. “These are all things I know to be true and yet I just don’t have any fight left in me anymore.” He finally moved, setting his beer bottle next to yours and placing his hands on the back of your chair, watching you in the mirror as you continued on with your makeup, your focus sharp as you drew wings onto your liner.

“Sweetheart, are we going to get to the part where you tell me what this means?” You remained silent for a moment, sweeping mascara across your lashes before discarding the tube on the messy table top and taking another drink of your beer as you met his eyes.

“It means that if that kiss was foreboding something that is just physical for you, you need to tell me so I can… so I can process it and move on, because I-” for the first time emotion seeped into your voice as you stumbled over your words, and he gently grabbed your arm to pull you up and into him as he stared down into your eyes.

“Honey, I am just as terrified as you are, but you and me… we don’t run from the scary stuff, we dive in headfirst and I don’t want to do anything but that with you. This has never been just physical for me,” he whispered as he cradled your jaw between his hands.

“You are… god, I just, I can’t stand you sometimes because you’re… it’s like you’re in me, even when we weren’t friends and all we did was fight it was like you were apart of me, like I was infected by Jacob Seresin,” you chuckled dryly as tears welled in your eyes and you lost your grip on all the reasons why not you’d been clinging so tightly to as his hands slipped down to grip your waist, “I- I… I love you and I, fuck I didn’t… that just flew right out but I love you,” a tear slipped down your cheek as you unraveled before his eyes and as much as you wanted to force yourself to shut up, to claim some kind of psychotic break and lock yourself in the bathroom you couldn’t stop now that you’d started. “I-I do, I love you and I have been trying so hard to just mash it down and ignore it and not say it because this is just… this is a bad idea and I know it but I just can’t think about anything or anyone and I can’t sleep, I can’t- I can’t breathe because I am just so in love with you and I-” you were cut off by his lips on your own and you melted into him, tangling your hands in his hair as you pulled him closer only for him to pull back and leave you breathless.

“You’re in love with me,” he said, wiping a falling tear and looking down at you almost as if he didn’t believe it and you chuckled, cheeks flushing at the uncharacteristic emotional outburst.

“Be cool about it,” you sighed and he brushed your hair away from your face before placing another quick kiss to your lips. His hands enveloped your jaw, fingers splaying across your neck as he tipped your head back and drank you in.

“I’m so in love with you,” he whispered, kissing you again and you couldn’t help but smile against his lips. He pulled back, reaching to grab your makeup sponge and dab at your cheeks and you gasped, plucking it from his hands and swatting him away.

“What are you doing, you’re going to make it worse,” you said, “very sweet but I’ll fix it myself.” He chuckled, sitting down in your chair and pulling you into his lap as you fixed the tear streaks and ran your fingers through your curls.

“So beautiful,” he mumbled, placing kisses to your shoulder and you smiled softly, standing and pulling him up with you.

“I’ll be right back,” you said, kissing him again and retreating to your closet where you picked out a set of strapless lingerie you’d bought a few weeks ago and slipped your dress on, walking back out and turning away from him, “zip me up?” you asked and you felt his fingers trail up your arm.

“Is that a bit of red lace I see?” he asked, slowly tugging the zipper up, “you’re killing me, honey,” he whispered into your ear before roughly turning you around and pulling you into him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you said innocently, giggling as he rolled his eyes at you.

“Sure you don’t,” you escaped his grasp, grabbing your shoes and sitting on the edge of the bed to strap them on and he crouched before you, taking them and sliding them on, carefully fastening them into place as you watched in adoration. His hand trailed up your calf before pulling you up and twirling you around, “you are a sight for sore eyes, honey.” 

“You don’t look so bad yourself,” you said, smiling up at him as his fingers brushed just under the hem of your dress.

“Where have you been hiding this thing?”

“You have Phoenix to thank for this,” you laughed and he promised you he would. You briefly thought you should have been freaking out. You should have been overwhelmed by what had come tumbling out of your mouth but you weren’t, you felt lighter than you had in weeks and you felt nothing but excitement at the idea of embarking on a night of celebration with him at your side.

You walked into the Hard Deck hand in hand with Jake, having just got into an argument about kissing you and disrupting your perfectly applied lipstick as everyone’s heads turned to face you. “Look at the lot of you,” Penny said shaking her head, “is the Navy only accepting movie stars these days?” She set a drink before you as you laughed, “this one’s on me, congratulations, Lieutenant Commander.” 

“Thank you, Pen,” you blushed as you approached the rather dapper looking Dagger Squad. “I see everyone understood the assignment tonight,” you teased. 

“Yes, and everyone finish their one drink, we are not wasting this on the place we wind up every night.” Phoenix ordered as Penny approached with her phone out.

“I’m going to try not to take offense to that. At the risk of sounding like a mom on prom night, everyone squish together, I want a photo of you on this most momentous occasion,” she said, gesturing you all to pose and Jake swiftly pulled you into him, his hand settling on your waist as you leaned against him and smiled for the photo before you all broke apart. 

“I’m serious, you might be the woman of the hour but chug. There’s this super cute bar downtown and I want to go before it gets too crowded,” Phoenix said, gesturing to your margarita and you just looked up at Jake.

“And so it begins,” you said, tipping your head back and polishing off the drink, “oh fuck, that was spicy,” you wheezed and everyone laughed as you were whisked away to a rather swanky little bar that seemed a little too posh for what you were sure this night would entail. One shot turned into two, then three and suddenly you were on top of a table with Phoenix as you both drunkenly sang along to Beyonce, flipping off the camera Rooster had pointed in your direction. Your heel precariously slipped off the edge of the table, causing you to lose your balance entirely and before you could even process what was happening you found yourself in Jake’s arms as he just looked down at you amused.

“You doing alright, princess?” he asked and you beamed up at him.

“Wonderful. This is the perfect night,” you grinned and he leaned down to place a kiss on your lips, lipstick be damned, only pulling apart at the chaos it caused.

“Hold on.” Phoenix muttered.

“Oh, I fucking knew it,” Fanboy laughed.

“Are you guys blind? They walked in holding hands,” Rooster pointed out but it only added fuel to the fire. 

“To be fair, I was distracted by her legs,” Phoenix said and you hid your face in Jake’s chest as he placed you back on solid ground. The group devolved into questions and Phoenix just gave you a look, grabbing your hand and pulling you to the bathroom to leave Jake to fend for himself. 

“When did that happen?” she asked and you sighed as you leaned against the sink.

“After the banquet… he drove me home and we got ready together and I don’t know what came over me. I was telling him all the reasons why I didn’t want to and before I knew it I was telling him I was in love with him.”

“A big night for you, indeed,” she said, fixing your hair. “I really am so happy for you. This is good, and I’m not even going to tell you I told you so.”

“I think you just did,” you giggled before the two of you stumbled out of the bathroom with your arms linked. 

“Come on you booze hounds, we’re switching locations,” Rooster said, slinging an arm over Phoenix’s shoulder as Jake navigated you out into the cool night air. The next bar was much more your speed, filled with people just as drunk as you all were and decorated modestly. It was the group's natural instinct to migrate to the pool table, overtaking it and claiming it as your own as you and Jake went head to head. 

“Don’t think I’m going easy on you just because I got mushy earlier,” you said as you racked the balls and he just shook his head and laughed.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, sweetheart.” The game went as it always did, with the two of you hurling insults left and right but with the addition of subtle teasing on your part to throw him off his game. Just as he was lining up the winning shot you rested your hands on the pool table just in front of the eight ball, leaning forward and giving him what he considered to be the best view in the house. His eyes raked over you and even from your spot across the pool table you could see them darken but it only served as motivation instead of a deterrent, “as much as I love you, I’m not throwing the game that easily.” he said as he sank the ball and you groaned.

“I am not going to get used to hearing that,” Coyote said as you perched yourself on the edge of the pool table and pouted as he came to stand between your legs.

“Come on sweetheart, no one likes a sore loser.” he teased and you rolled your eyes, pushing him away. 

“I am not a sore loser,” you protested.

“You are when you’re drunk.” 

“I’m not that either,” you said, narrowing your eyes and he just laughed at you as he brushed your hair behind your ear.

“Oh princess, you are absolutely hammered.” He kissed the tip of your nose and you just smiled dopily at him.

“Okay, maybe I am…” you giggled as he wrapped his arms around your shoulders and pulled you into him. You breathed in his cologne as you clung to him and sighed in content as he placed a kiss to the top of your head before you pulled away to look up at him. “Everything is perfect, so very perfect.” you said, turning your gaze to look over your friends, smiling as you saw Rooster and Phoenix over at the dart board, Coyote and Fanboy talking to a pair of girls at the bar, and Bob sitting in a booth keeping a watchful eye over everyone. 

“It really is, isn’t it?” he said, never moving his gaze from you as you lovingly looked at all of your friends.

“You cheeseball,” you said when you turned back to him and he just chuckled.

“Your cheeseball.” he said, cupping your face and pulling you in for a kiss, “I love you, darlin’.”

“I love you, too.”

previous part / next part 

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[magicfootballstuff]

Welcome to Manchester (ona batlle x reader)

Summary: Ona helps you to settle in when you join Manchester United and something starts to blossom.

———

Going on loan to Manchester United seemed like a good move when the deal went through your agent. You’re young, just on the cusp of breaking into the first team for Bayern Munich and the German national team, and you decide that some time spent abroad, experiencing a different league with a different style of play, will be good for your development.

But that doesn’t stop you from feeling nervous on your first day at a new club.

You ease in slowly, not saying much but observing everything, starting to familiarise yourself with the way the other girls play.

At lunch after training, you don’t know where to sit in the cafeteria, unsure yet of the team dynamics or if there are any cliques, so you choose a table by yourself, and are surprised when one of the team’s two Spanish players immediately takes a seat opposite you.

“Hi. I’m Ona,” she greets you, with a welcoming smile.

You smile shyly and introduce yourself.

“Did you enjoy training?” she asks, as she starts to tuck into the plate of food in front of her.

“It was good.”

The truth is that training was overwhelming - lots of new names, a different style of play than you’re used to, and training drills being explained in a language that you’re still learning - all things that you will adapt to in time, but it’s easier to tell Ona that everything is fine.

“When I joined United, it took me a while to fit in,” she tells you, as if reading your mind. “I didn’t speak any English and I missed Spain a lot. But now Manchester is like home to me.”

“It’s different to Bayern,” you acknowledge, “but I’ll get used to it.”

“If I can help you at all…?”

“Thank you,” you tell Ona sincerely.

“No, seriously. We’re friends now, right?”

You smile as you look down at your plate, pushing the food around with your fork, before you agree with Ona.

“Yeah. Friends.”

———

Ona stays true to her word and takes you under her wing. Lucía is new too and Ona introduces you to each other on your second day, then makes sure to speak in English as much as she can to keep you included, even though you can tell that the two Spaniards would be much more comfortable talking to each other in their native tongue.

You find yourself pairing up with Ona for a lot of training drills. For the first few days, Ona makes a thing of it, first asking, then telling you that you’ll train together. By the time you’re starting to feel more settled at United, it’s pretty much an unspoken deal that you’ll pair up when you get the choice, gravitating towards each other without a word.

Manchester starts to feel like home, and you know that the speed you’ve managed to adjust to your new environment is all thanks to Ona’s welcome.

———

“Hey!”

Ona runs to catch up with you as you leave the field at the end of training one day to head for the showers.

“Hi, Ona,” you say, instantly relaxing as your teammate falls into step beside you.

“So I was wondering…”

Ona trails off, biting her lip, almost as if she is nervous.

“Yes?”

“Do you want to come over and watch the match with me later?”

You frown.

“The match?”

“Champions League,” Ona elaborates. “Barcelona against Bayern. You know, my old team against yours…”

“You played for Barca?”

“Kind of, I played for the youth team when I was young,” Ona says with a nod. She nudges her body into yours as you walk into the changing room, grinning at you as she asks, “So what do you say? You wanna watch the game together?”

You hang out with your teammates a bit outside of training - as they’re the only people you know in this new country they are your social life as well as your team. It’s usually in groups and your favourite time is spent when Ona is there too. You go for coffee with her and Lucía once or twice a week, or out for dinner with the girls where you somehow always find yourself sitting next to Ona, and you even went round to her apartment for a movie night with Ella, Alessia and Millie a few weeks ago too.

You like training with Ona, you like the relationship you’re building on the football pitch that’s turning into a formidable partnership on United’s right wing, but you like getting to know the real Ona off the pitch, when she’s dressed in casual clothes and often with a relaxed smile on her face, even more.

“Yes, that sounds nice,” you say.

———

You arrive at Ona’s flat an hour before kickoff and she greets you at the front door wearing an old Barcelona shirt from a few years ago and a huge grin on her face.

“What, no Bayern shirt?” she asks, looking down at your own attire.

You gesture at the backpack hanging from your shoulder and explain, “It’s in my bag.”

“Get changed,” Ona insists, letting you step inside and closing the door behind you. “We’re doing this properly.”

You open your backpack, where your old Bayern shirt is nestled at the bottom underneath the food you brought with you.

“I have snacks too,” you tell Ona, removing the bags of crisps so that you can get to the shirt underneath.

“Great,” says Ona. “And I’m making some traditional Spanish food. I thought maybe you could try it. But if you don’t like it then we can order pizza or something.”

“That sounds nice,” you say. “Thank you.”

You stand their awkwardly, red Bayern shirt hanging from your hand. You’ve changed in front of Ona plenty of times before. But this, taking your top off while it’s just the two of you in Ona’s flat, feels somehow much different to the dressing room, where the entire team is in various states of undress and nobody bats an eye.

“I’m just gonna…”

You pull your shirt over your head, grateful at least that you put on a nice bra.

Ona seems to suddenly realise that she’s staring at you while you’re topless in the middle of her flat too, and her cheeks redden.

“Sorry,” she stammers. “I’ll just let you…”

She disappears into her kitchen, from where you can smell the Spanish flavours of the food she’s cooking, before you can say anything else. You pull the Bayern shirt over your head, feeling a sense of familiarity as you put on the colours of your parent club for the first time since arriving in Manchester, then put your old t-shirt in your bag which your drop by the door.

“How do I look?” you ask Ona, stepping into the kitchen behind her and holding out your arms to show off your change of top.

She turns, looking over her shoulder with her eyebrows raised, before her face cracks into a grin.

“Like a loser,” she teases you. “A nice loser, but still.”

“Hey!” you protest. “You’re the only loser here.”

“We’ll see,” Ona laughs.

“That smells nice,” you say, gesturing at the stove where Ona is in the process of cooking what looks like a Spanish omelette.

“It’s a family recipe,” she tells you.

“I can’t wait to try it.”

“Make yourself comfortable,” Ona says. She opens a cupboard and takes out a big bowl. “I’ll bring the snacks through in a minute.”

“When are the others getting here?” you ask, as you return to the other room and settle down on Ona’s couch.

“Others?” Ona asks, returning from the kitchen with the crisps emptied out into the large bowl.

“Lucía, your Man City friends…”

“Oh.” A slight pink flush rises to Ona’s cheeks, as she explains, “It’s just us. I hope that’s okay.”

It’s your turn to feel embarrassed.

“Of course! Don’t they want to watch the game too?”

“Maybe,” Ona says with a shrug, placing the bowl on the coffee table and sitting down on the couch beside you. “But if I invited them then they would speak Spanish all night and I didn’t want you to feel left out.”

You feel a rush of warm affection swell up inside your chest for the girl in front of you, who hasn’t needed to put in so much effort to make you feel at home in Manchester, but has done it anyway out of the kindness of her heart.

“Thank you,” you tell her. “You’ve been such a good friend since I moved here.”

“It’s nothing,” Ona says, dismissing your thanks with a casual wave of her hand. “I just … I know how it feels to be alone in a new country.”

“I don’t feel alone. Not with you around.”

The confession spills from your lips and you immediately worry that it’s too much, but Ona says, “Me neither. Manchester has been my home for two years but I think it was missing you.”

You wonder if Ona’s words have somehow got lost in translation, if the fact that neither of you are communicating in your first language makes it seem like she’s reciprocating the affection you hold for her, but then you look into her eyes and there’s no translation needed for the adoring way she looks back at you.

“Ona, I…”

You can’t find the words, which is why you reach across and tangle your fingers with hers in her lap.

The action must convey what you want to say, because Ona just smiles at you and says, “Yeah, me too.”

Praying that you’re not misreading the cues, you lean in closer to Ona, pausing for just a second to give her the chance to pull away if you’ve got it wrong, but when her eyes drop to your lips, you lean in the rest of the way and capture hers in a kiss. Her hand tightens in yours, pulling you closer, and she gasps into your mouth. You shuffle as close as you can without actually climbing on top of her, continuing to kiss her the whole time. Her lips are unfathomably soft and you would probably lose yourself in them completely if it wasn’t for Ona’s free hand coming up to tangle in your hair and anchoring you to reality.

When you start to feel a bit delirious you pull back, resting your forehead against Ona’s as you both catch your breath.

“That was, uh … wow,” whispers Ona.

You agree completely.

You’re about to lean in again, when Ona’s nose crinkles and she pulls away slightly.

“Can you smell something?”

You sniff once, then say, “Smells like something’s burning.”

Ona’s eyes widen and she exclaims what you think is a Spanish swear word as she jumps to her feet, then shouts in English, “The food!”

She jumps up and races into the kitchen, where you can hear more expletives and frantic Spanish muttering as she tries to rescue your dinner.

“I burned the omelette,” announces Ona, emerging from the kitchen a few moments later with a spatula in one hand and an apologetic pout on her face.

“Sorry,” you reply, with a grimace.

“It’s not your fault,” Ona assured you. She pauses for a few seconds, then concedes, “Okay, maybe it is a little bit.”

“I distracted the chef,” you admit, grinning at Ona.

She laughs, her face breaking into a soft smile.

“You did,” Ona agrees. “But it was a nice distraction.”

“Should I order pizza?” you suggest. “Then maybe I can distract you a bit more while we wait for it to arrive?”

“How could I say no to that plan?”

[spacewitchqueen]

First Date/Blind Date

A/N: Written for @sleepysnk Valentine's Day Event 💖 I hope you like it, it's short and sweet. I meant to post this yesterday but then life happened.

Pairing: Doctor!Chishiya x Doctor!Reader

Warnings: None, it's all fluff

Summary: Your friend Kuina convinces you to let her set you up on a date. What could go wrong?

You were late. You checked your watch for the third time in as many minutes and sighed loudly as you made your way to the hospital’s cafeteria. It wasn’t your fault, you weren’t doing it on purpose, it had just been a very busy day. Why had you agreed to do this? Your shift had been brutal, you could be on your way home but instead you were begrudgingly joining someone for lunch. 

‘Kuina, I swear I will strangle you,’ you muttered under your breath as you scanned the tables. You were about to give up when you spotted him, sitting by himself, reading a book like Kuina had said.

Kuina had been insisting for the longest time to let her set you up with her dear friend who happened to work at the same hospital. You refused at first, because you didn’t really see yourself dating a doctor, but eventually you accepted just so she would drop the subject. 

When Kuina finally told you who her friend was, it took you by surprise. Chishiya didn’t strike you as the kind of guy who would ask a friend to set him up with someone. You had never really spoken to him before but you had seen him around the hospital. You knew he was aloof, professional but standoffish, though apparently he was great with patients. All in all, you would be lying if you said you weren’t a bit impressed and intimidated by him. You were reconsidering agreeing to do this but you were already at his table. 

‘Hi,’ you said as you sat in front of him.

‘Hello?’ He raised an eyebrow. 

Your heart skipped a beat. Was he disappointed because maybe he expected someone else? ‘Hmm, look. Let’s be quick about this and then we can tell her it didn’t work out,’ you said. Chishiya stared at you with genuine curiosity. Had you been rude to assume he wasn’t interested? ‘We can still talk of course.’

He gave you an assessing stare and then put his book down. ‘What would you like to talk about?’

‘...’

After an initial moment of panic, conversation flowed naturally between you. You were starting to think Kuina might be a good matchmaker after all. A shrill sound interrupted you. An alarm on Chishiya’s phone.

‘It was nice talking to you, but I have to go now. Rounds,’ Chishiya explained.

‘Right, of course. This was actually kind of fun… not that I expected it wouldn’t be.’

‘Just a question. Who are you?’

‘I’m… what? I’m Kuina’s friend, she must have told you. She begged me to have lunch with you because she said you asked her to set you up with someone… she said—’ Comprehension dawned on you like a bucket of ice cold water. ‘You never asked her to set you up with someone, did you? Oh, I am going to kill her!'

‘Please don’t, she’s a good friend.’ The corners of his lips twitched.

‘Fine, Kuina is off the hook. I’ll just go deal with my embarrassment somewhere else.’ You kept your eyes down, blushing crimson.

‘I hope that doesn’t take long, but in any case see you tomorrow?’

‘Tomorrow?’  

‘To continue our conversation.’

‘Yes, of course.’ You nodded. 

‘It’s a date,’ he said and then turned around and left. 

‘It’s a date,’ you repeated to yourself. ‘Our second, by Kuina’s count.’

[angelasscribbles]

In Your Room Chapter 3: Clubbing

Series: In Your Room

Fandom: TRR

Pairings: Leo x Drake

Rating: MA

Warnings for this chapter: Drinking, Cussing, General Debauchery

Song Inspiration for the series: In Your Room by The Bangles

Word Count: 1,575

A/N: Let's have one last ditch effort to convince themselves they aren't into each other.

My other stuff: Master List.

“Okay, Okay, Okay, who’s the designated driver?” Max asked.

Leo turned to him in astonishment, “The limo driver!”

“Oh, right! Hahaha, just kidding! In that case, we’re all getting fucked up tonight!”

Leo, Liam, Drake, Max, Olivia, and Savannah entered the posh, upscale nightclub through a private side entrance and were quickly escorted to the VIP area.

“Bet I can drink more whiskey than you,” Leo pushed past Drake as he scanned the room for a table.

“The fuck you can!” Drake quickened his pace, “Want to place a bet on it?”

“Yes! What are the stakes?”

Drake smirked then leaned in and whispered something in his ear that only Leo could hear.

Leo visibly startled, his eyes jerked up to Drake’s face then his head spun to take in the art on the opposite wall as he flushed.

Olivia pushed past both of them, “Get a room you two!”

“What? No! We’re just-“ Leo tried to protest.

“Whatever,” Olivia waved her hand dismissively at them as she passed, “We’re here to have fun tonight, don’t be weird!”

“We weren’t,” Drake looked and Leo, and they both shook their heads like they had no idea what Olivia was talking about.

“Ah, here’s our table!” Liam indicated a large round table at the edge of the room.

Everyone took their seats and quickly gave their drink orders to a waitress.

Olivia craned her neck to look around the VIP lounge, “Now, where are all the hot girls?”

“Over there,” Leo nodded toward the bar where a cluster of women were standing in various skin-tight dresses.

“I’ll get laid before either of you will.” Drake scoffed.

“Pffft,” I don’t think so,” Leo snorted, “I’m a literal prince!”

Drake glanced across the room just as a brunette with curves in all the right places leaned over the bar, trying to get the bartender’s attention, “Hey! Yo! Helloooooo!” She didn’t manage to get the bartender’s attention, but she sure got his.

Drake’s eyes lit up, “Holy shit will you look at that? She’s fucking gorgeous!”

Leo’s eyes followed Drake’s across the room, “I saw her first!” He jumped up from the table and hightailed it to the bar.

“Like hell you did!” Drake was right behind him.

The woman jumped in surprise as a man landed on either side of her and both started talking at once.

“Oh…ah…hello…”

“Hey there beautiful, having trouble with the bartender? What are you trying to order?” Drake leaned in with a seductive grin, “I’ll get it for you!”

Leo tapped on her shoulder, “I can get you anything you want. You might recognize me from my pictures. Leo Rys, at your service.”

The brunette held a hand up to each man’s chest, “Whoa there! Slow down, boys! What’s your rush? Think I’m going to evaporate before I pick one of you?”

“So, to be clear, you are going to pick one of us?” Drake grinned.

“As opposed to any of those losers,” Leo gestured toward the rest of the club in general.

“Well, how about one of you buys me a drink, bothers to have a conversation with me and then we’ll see how it goes.”

“That’s fair,” Leo said, “Would you care to join us at our table?”

“With our friends?” Drake added, “I promise we’re not just creepy stalkers!”

“Well, he might be, but I’m a fucking prince!”

She laughed as she gave each of them a considering look, “I’ll come over there on a few conditions.”

“Anything!” Drake agreed.

“What are they?” Leo asked.

“I’m here with my best friend, so obviously she has to join us. And you two are definitely buying all of our drinks. And not hitting on my friend, she isn’t into guys so don’t be creepy!”

“Done and done!” Leo agreed.

Drake leaned across the bar, “Hey! We need some drinks over here!”

“What do you need?” the bartender finally made his way over to them.

“Whatever the lady wants and keep ‘em coming!” Leo said, “Put it on my tab!”

Drinks were acquired, Leo pointed out their table and the brunette left to go retrieve her friend.

As they made their way back to the table, drinks in hand, Leo asked, “Are you really going to go home with that girl?”

“If I can!” Drake affirmed then a startling thought struck him, “I mean…unless that bothers you….”

“What?” Leo huffed, “No! I don’t care who you sleep with!”

Drake felt an inexplicable pang of disappointment, “Fine then, yes I am.”

“Wait…” Leo’s brain was trying to catch up, “Would it have made a difference if I said-“

“There you are!” Max swept in, thumping Leo on the back, “You guys want to go throw darts with me and Liam?”

“Naw,” Drake answered, “Can’t. We have guests joining us.”

“All right. Well, Liam and I will be in the back.”

“You’re just going to play darts with my brother all night?” Leo asked, “You’re not interested in any of these girls?”

Leo didn’t miss the way Max’s eyes went straight to Savannah who was still sitting at the table with Olivia before saying, “Nope, I’m good!”

“All right then,” Leo deposited the frozen concoctions on the table and retook his seat.

“Okay, bye!” Max waved over his shoulder as he hurried off to go meet Liam at the dart board.

“I know you didn’t start drinking that fruity shit,” Olivia said disdainfully.

“Not for us,” Drake informed her, “They’re for the girl I’m about to take home.”

Olivia’s eyes went to Leo’s face, “Oh, really?”

“Really!”

“She had a friend,” Leo told her, “Who’s into girls!”

“So?” Olivia wrinkled her nose, “I don’t need you to pick up girls for me! What if she’s hideous-oh my god!” Olivia sat up straight in her seat and quickly fluffed her hair as the two women approached their table.

Drake and Leo both jumped up to pull out chairs for the new arrivals.

“I’m sorry ladies, I didn’t catch your names,” Leo apologized.

“I’m Riley,” the brunette from the bar said, “And this is my friend Hana.”

Introductions were made and polite chit-chat ensued.

“So, let me get this straight, you’re from Monterisso,” Leo said to Riley then pointed to Hana, “And she’s from Shanghai?”

“That’s correct.”

“You’ve been best friends since middle school?”

“Also correct.”

“So how did you meet?”

“Ridiculous overpriced, pretentious boarding school,” Riley answered.

“Of course! I have some experience with that,” Leo laughed.

“Yeah,” Drake interjected, “His dad sent him to school abroad so he wouldn’t be such a bad influence on the rest of us!”

“Oh, hahaha,” Leo said sarcastically, “as if you needed any corrupting from me!”

Olivia snorted, “You do just fine corrupting each other!”

Savannah giggled into her drink while Drake and Leo both pointedly ignored the remark.

“So how long have you guys known each other?” Riley asked.

They all talked at once.

“Forever!”

“Too fucking long!”

“Since we were kids!”

“We all grew up together!”

Drake worked overtime trying to get and keep Riley’s attention, all the while shooting surreptitious glances at Leo to gauge his reaction.

Leo worked equally hard to get her attention. Mostly to keep her attention off Drake.

By the time Liam and Max made it back to the table, everyone was a little tipsy. Riley was making out with Drake while Leo shot mournful glances at them. Olivia and Hana were deep in animated conversation. Savannah had turned around in her chair and was chatting with some random guy.

“Who’s your friend?” Max asked.

“Oh hey, Max. This is Evan. Evan, Max.”

The two men shook hands then Max glanced around the table, “I think it’s about time we left, don’t you guys?”

“Sure, but Riley’s coming with us,” Drake said as he came up for air.

“Hana too!” Olivia agreed.

“I’ll go tell one of the guards to have the car brought around!” Drake said as he pushed away from the table, “Be right back!”

“Oh, I can do it if you don’t want to leave your friend,” Liam offered then he caught sight of the girl making out with Leo, “Um…which one of you is she coming home with?”

Drake glanced over his shoulder then looked at Liam with a shrug, “Both I guess.”

“I’d be happy to give you a ride home,” Evan said to Savannah.

“That won’t be necessary,” Max told him, “She’s good.”

“Why don’t you let her speak for herself?”

Max stepped between Savannah and the other man and crossed his arms over his chest, “Listen. We don’t know you and she’s not leaving with you. Tell him ‘Vannah!”

“Max!” Savannah looked up at him in surprise, “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing, let’s just go, okay?”

“Okay….” She gave Evan an apologetic smile, “It was nice meeting you but he’s right. I already have a ride home.”

“That’s cool. Can I get your number?”

“Sure,” She held her phone out and he tapped it with his, “Savannah Walker. And your last name is?”

Max shifted impatiently until the exchange was over, flexing his fists as he waited. “Can we go now?”

“Sure…” Savannah shook her head in bewilderment.

“Did you see that? I think Max likes your-” Liam turned to Drake, but he was already trying to pry the girl away from Leo. Liam rolled his eyes as he followed Max and Savannah out of the VIP area, the rest of the group trailing behind him.

[maybeimamuppet]

matildamas day 12: christmas eve

hello everyone!! happy christmas eve to all of you who celebrate and welcome to the last chapter of the 12 days of matildamas! it’s been an absolute delight seeing all of your reactions to these each day. thank you so much for all the kind words in your comments and every vote/kudos/like/reblog and all those wonderful things. they’re definitely the best gift i’ll get this christmas :))

tw for

discussion over the reality of santa

mentioned previous abuse

mentioned death

otherwise please enjoy the last day and merry christmas!!

—————

“Mummy?”

“Yes, lamb?” Jenny responds.

“Is Santa Claus real?” Matilda asks softly. Jenny pauses.

“What do you think?” she responds softly before she continues fiddling with the tinsel on the tree. Matilda ponders this.

“I don’t think so. I wasn’t always nice, but I don’t think I ever warranted a spot on the naughty list, and I still never got anything from him. And it doesn’t seem possible for a single person to be able to fly ‘round the whole world in just a night, even if he is magic. And accounting for time zones,” Matilda says. She frowns a bit and adds, “But I did have telekinesis.”

Jenny laughs and sits on the couch, beckoning her over. Matilda sits next to her and leans into her side. Jenny gently rubs up and down Matilda’s arm as she explains.

“You’re right, he’s not real in the way we usually think. There’s no magical man in a red suit who flies around with reindeer. That’s just an old tradition from a few different cultures that we keep going for fun, and to entertain children. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not real.”

“What do you mean?” Matilda asks, looking up at her.

“Well, what does Santa Claus do?” Jenny asks.

“He… delivers gifts to well-behaved children,” Matilda explains. “And eats cookies.”

“Exactly. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think you have to be magical and wear a silly costume to be able to do those things. Santa is all about the spirit of Christmas, and there’s plenty of things you can do that make you the real, live Santa Claus. Giving gifts to friends, enjoying some special holiday treats, being kind to people you meet and spreading joy. Spending time with family. All that is what Santa is about. So whenever you do those things, you’re sort of like Santa Claus, in a way.”

“Oh,” Matilda says with a soft smile. “I like that.”

“I like it too,” Jenny says with a grin. “Now, what do you say we channel our inner Santa and eat some of these cookies we made, hm?”

Matilda nods eagerly and goes rushing off to the kitchen to fetch the container. Jenny chuckles and follows her.

—————

Mrs. Phelps joins them for a lovely Christmas Eve dinner. Mrs. Phelps doesn’t celebrate Christmas herself, and Matilda is delighted to learn all about the Diwali traditions she’s recovering from preparing with her family last month. She invites them to join next year, and Jenny has to admit she’s only slightly less excited than Matilda, who starts dancing in her chair and nearly falls.

“You’re more than welcome to join us for Christmas dinner again next year as well,” Jenny says, selfishly hoping she agrees.

“I’d be delighted,” Mrs. Phelps replies. Jenny smiles sheepishly down at her ham and mashed potatoes, and gives a warning glare in response to Matilda’s smirk across the table.

Once their bellies are all stuffed, Mrs. Phelps very kindly helps with the washing up and gives them their Christmas gifts. Matilda excitedly hands over hers (a very nice new lemonade pitcher) and Jenny’s (some of her favorite books as donations to the library bus) as well.

“Merry Christmas!” Matilda says as they wave Mrs. Phelps goodbye in the cold night. She replies in kind and waves until she’s out of sight.

“Alright, my little elf, bath time for you,” Jenny says, hugging Matilda tight before sending her up the stairs and closing the door to block out the chill.

“Will you help?” Matilda asks quietly from the top. Jenny smiles and follows her upstairs.

“Of course.”

She runs some warm water into the tub and plugs the drain, before adding in some gingerbread scented bubbles and folding Matilda’s towel and pajamas on the counter to wait for her so she won’t get chilly when she gets out. Matilda smiles as she sees the foam rising from the tub and carefully slips off her Christmas dress. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, love. I’ll be downstairs, give a shout if you need anything,” Jenny responds, kissing Matilda’s forehead.

“I will,” Matilda says. Jenny smiles and leaves her to her bath in privacy.

—-

Matilda comes downstairs after about an hour, clean and dry in her jammies and smelling absolutely delightful. “All clean?”

Matilda nods happily and plops herself on the ground at Jenny’s feet. Jenny chuckles and reaches for the hairbrush and comb. She pretends to complain, but this is secretly one of her favorite parts of having a daughter. Getting to do this little thing to help the very mature six-year-old care for herself.

She tenderly brushes all the knots out of Matilda’s damp hair and twists it into a braid down her back. Matilda tips her head up once she hears the small rubber band snap into place. “Thank you.”

Jenny chuckles, leaning down to kiss her nose. Matilda scrunches it with a giggle. “You’re very welcome. I’m off for my shower, and then maybe we should get a nice fire going?”

“Oh, yes please,” Matilda says, moving so Jenny can stand.

“Sounds like a plan,” Jenny says. “Just wait ‘til I get back, please.”

“I will!” Matilda says in exasperation, grabbing a book from the shelf to keep herself occupied in the meantime.

“I mean it.”

“I know,” Matilda says. Jenny almost gives her a talking to for the eye roll she uses to accompany the words, but Matilda’s loving smile as she peeks at her over her book undoes anything Jenny was feeling.

“Cheeky. Back in a tick,” she says. Matilda nods and tucks in to her book. Jenny grabs a soft towel from the linen closet and heads into the bathroom herself.

Her hair doesn’t need washing today, so she tucks it delicately beneath a waterproof cap as she slips off her clothes. She turns the water on and waits for it to warm, smelling the lingering aroma of Matilda’s gingerbread bubbles. She hums to herself as she reads the bottle and sees it doubles as body wash. Sold.

She lets out a relieved sigh as she steps in and the hot water runs over her skin, melting all the stresses of the holiday season away with it. She rolls out her shoulders and her neck to get rid of some tension and just stands there for a minute.

Jenny knows she didn’t have to push herself this hard to make Christmas magical for Matilda. She wanted to. She may have gone a little bit overboard, but it is Matilda’s first Christmas. She thinks. She hasn’t actually asked what Christmas was like for Matilda before, but Matilda’s said some things that lead her to believe it was never a very jolly time.

She bought and made tons of presents, enough to spread well away from the tree and a few boxes tall. She wrapped them as neatly as she could manage in pretty paper and shiny bags, with ribbons and bows and glittery tissue paper adorning them.

They’ve made no fewer than six batches of cookies and eaten them all before the day was out, and made handmade decorations. They spent all day playing in the snow together earlier in the month, and had some delicious hot chocolate to warm up afterwards. They put up and decorated the tree together, and made a cracking Christmas Eve dinner, if Jenny does say so herself.

But most of all, they’ve spent the time together. They did everything together. Usually one of them or the other is busy with school or friends or other commitments, and although they make it a priority, they haven’t had this much time to spend just with one another in a very long time.

And it’s been wonderful.

Getting to spend so much time one-on-one with her has reminded Jenny just how bright Matilda truly is. She’s brilliant, and she’s funny, and rambunctious and mischievous and sweet and loving and everything Jenny could possibly want for her daughter to be.

And Matilda is hers.

Jenny scrubs herself clean with the gingerbread body wash and rinses quickly, before toweling herself dry and changing into her own pajamas as quickly as she can so she can rejoin her daughter downstairs.

Matilda looks up at her as she hears her creaking down the stairs, already a solid third of the way through her thick book. “Hi.”

“Hello,” Jenny responds. “How’s the book?”

“It’s different in English,” Matilda responds, sounding neither pleased nor upset about it. “I’m not sure yet.”

“Hm. Well, you’ll have to let me know if it’s a good or bad different once you finish it,” Jenny says. Matilda puts Tolstoy to the side and sits up, looking curiously at Jenny.

“Are we making a fire now?”

“I did say that, didn’t I?” Jenny chuckles. “Little pyromaniac.”

“You brought it up!” Matilda defends. Jenny laughs and beckons her over for a hug.

“I did. It’ll be nice once we get it going, but we have to brave the outdoors to get the wood,” she says. Matilda slumps a bit against her, and Jenny laughs again.

They both put their slippers on and look at each other. Jenny nods, and Matilda undoes the lock and pulls the door open. They run out onto the porch and around to the side of the house where the wood pile sits, squealing at the cold and the damp of the snow. They grab as many logs as they can carry before running back inside and slamming the door shut behind them, bursting into peals of laughter.

They didn’t get much, but they got enough wood to have a nice fire going for at least a few hours. They deposit their logs by the fireplace in the living room. Matilda watches curiously as Jenny stacks them inside, looking to see how she does it.

“Would you like to light the match?” Jenny asks knowingly. Matilda nods happily and scoots closer. Jenny is nearby to prevent a disaster, but she knows she probably would do worse at it than Matilda.

It takes a few tries, some fanning, and some encouraging words, but eventually they have a roaring fire and close the little grate so they can feel the warmth without getting the carpet covered in ash.

They sit back, on the ground and against the sofa, both looking proudly at their creation. Matilda leans against Jenny’s arm and hugs it gently.

It’s quiet for a long moment, the only sounds being the creaking of the house and the peaceful crackling of the fire.

Eventually, Matilda asks softly, “What was Christmas like when you were a kid? When your father was alive?”

“Oh, they were wonderful,” Jenny begins fondly. “We had huge dinners on both Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Big and hearty. And filling, my goodness. My father said they never came out as good as when my mother cooked them, but I always thought they were absolutely delicious.”

Matilda looks up at her. Jenny looks back, leaning her cheek against the top of Matilda’s head, and continues.

“He always put a photo of her up on the mantel, and he hung her stocking in between ours. We decorated the tree together every year. He’d always say he wasn’t tall enough to reach the tippy top, so he’d pick me up and let me put the angel on. He put up streamers and stickers on the windows and lights way up on the roof and tinsel everywhere. He had this ancient Bing Crosby Christmas record that we’d always listen to, and he’d sing along. I always thought his voice sounded like chocolate. Rich and smooth.

“We used to make food for the reindeer. It was just oats and colored sugar, but I thought it was absolutely magical. We’d leave it on the porch and some cookies for Santa on the bench. I always asked to wait for him so I could say hello, so my father would put on his coat and get me all bundled up, and I’d sit outside on his lap and watch for the sleigh in the sky until I fell asleep.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Matilda says softly. Jenny smiles.

“It was,” she replies in a whisper. “And I always, always got to open just one present on Christmas Eve.”

That gets Matilda’s attention. Jenny laughs.

“Would you like to?”

Matilda nods. Jenny sends her over to the packed tree.

“Pick one. Any one,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back to watch. Matilda grabs a small, flattish box wrapped in red plaid paper with a gold bow and looks at her curiously. Jenny nods, so Matilda scoots back over to her and gently tears the paper off.

She carefully opens the box and pulls aside the tissue paper inside. She tips her head when she sees what’s inside. “A scarf?”

Jenny smiles, pulling out the white scarf and wrapping it gently around Matilda’s neck. “My mother made this for me when I was still a baby. To match hers. I was always looking at it, even as such a little one. My father said she spent weeks knitting it for me and I never went anywhere without it. I found it in the attic a few weeks ago.”

Matilda gently holds the end of the woven thing in her hand and looks up at her. “You’re giving it to me?”

“Of course,” Jenny says, wiping a tear from Matilda’s cheek. “I have the real thing now. And I know my mother would’ve loved to see it passed down to her grandchild. That’s your own special white scarf, now.”

“I love it,” Matilda says softly. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” Jenny responds, gently patting her cheek. Matilda suddenly stands and goes running off. “Where are you going?”

Matilda thunders up the stairs to her room and back down so quickly Jenny is worried she’ll fall. She returns with a small, neatly wrapped gift. The taping job is a little shoddy, but it’s otherwise very well done. “Here.”

“For me?” Jenny chuckles. Matilda nods.

“Oh, but… it’s all I could get for you,” she says sadly. “If you open it now you won’t have anything to open tomorrow morning.”

“Would you rather I wait?” Jenny asks, resting her hands gently on the gift.

“…No. Unless you want to.”

“I’ll have just as much fun watching you open your things. Let me see what you’ve gotten for me,” Jenny says. She gently undoes the paper and gasps softly as she pulls out… a book. The book.

“Mrs. Phelps helped me,” Matilda says shyly. “But I wrote it myself.”

“This is what you were working on so hard?” Jenny asks with tears brimming in her eyes. “All those drawings?”

Matilda nods. “Yes. Do… do you like it?”

“Oh, darling, I love it,” Jenny says, letting out the softest of sobs as she pulls Matilda right to her. Matilda clings to her neck and rests her head on her shoulder. “I can’t believe you wrote a whole book just for me. I’m so proud of you, your first book.”

“Thank you,” Matilda says, sounding the slightest bit choked with how tight Jenny is hugging her.

“Can I read it?” Jenny asks as she lets her go. Matilda nods.

Jenny rests it carefully on the ground and opens the front cover, lying on her stomach in front of her to read it. Matilda lies next to her and watches both the pages turn and Jenny’s reaction to them.

The Butterfly and the Bird, by Matilda Kate Honey

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful hummingbird. She had green plumage and a blue tail. Her grey wings carried her gracefully between all the flowers in the meadow she called home.

She was also a very special hummingbird. It was her job to teach all the baby hummingbirds how to collect nectar from the flowers, too. She had done this for many years, and was very good at it.

One day, a little blue butterfly fluttered over and landed on the top of her beak. “Hello,” cheeped the hummingbird.

“Oh, Miss Hummingbird, you must help me,” the butterfly pleaded. “I see you teaching all the other hummingbirds how to collect nectar from the flowers. My butterfly parents won’t teach me, and I’m so hungry. Will you please help?”

“Oh,” said the hummingbird. “We are different species. I’ve never taught a butterfly before.”

The butterfly looked defeated and began to flutter away.

Before she could get too far, the hummingbird chirped, “But I’ll try as hard as I can.”

They flew off across the meadow together, pausing at all the best-looking flowers so the butterfly could learn. The hummingbird found out that even though the butterfly didn’t know how to collect food, she knew lots of other things. The butterfly knew the names of all the flowers, and all the grasses that grew in the meadow too. The hummingbird thought this was very interesting.

After that first day, the butterfly came bright and early to join the class of the hummingbirds. The hummingbird smiled every time she saw the butterfly, and let her ride between the blossoms on her head so the butterfly wouldn’t get tired trying to keep up.

But their lessons didn’t go unnoticed.

In the meadow, there was a big, terrible, ugly, mean old hawk. So big and so terrible it could’ve swallowed them both up in a single gobble.

Everyone was afraid of the hawk. The hummingbird was very afraid of the hawk. As a fledgling the hawk had nibbled on her wing and made it too hard to fly. She had been stuck in one place for many, many, many years until her wing had gotten better, but she still flew the slightest bit lopsided.

One day after hummingbird school, the hawk approached the hummingbird. “Hello, Miss Hummingbird.”

“Hello,” the hummingbird replied politely.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the hawk said with a snarl.

“There is a young butterfly across the meadow. I’ve been teaching her how to collect nectar with my other students so she doesn’t starve.”

The hawk tilted her head and sneered at her. “A butterfly? In a hummingbird class?”

“Yes. She’s very smart,” the hummingbird says.

“Ridiculous. Butterflies can’t be smart. They don’t even have brains!” insisted the hawk.

“Of course they do! And this one has a big one,” the hummingbird said bravely.

“Are you calling me a liar?” growled the hawk.

“N-no, of course not,” stuttered the hummingbird.

The hawk took big, slow steps, closer and closer until their beaks were nearly touching. “Then listen when I say. You are forbidden from teaching the butterfly any more. You’d better listen. You know what I can do.”

The hummingbird couldn’t do anything except nod frantically. The hawk got up and flew away to her tree overlooking the whole big meadow.

The next day, the butterfly came flying over for class like always. The hummingbird looked at her sadly as she landed on her beak. “Oh, dear butterfly,” she said. “I’m not sure I can help you anymore.”

“Why not?” the butterfly asked after a moment’s consideration.

“My boss says I can’t teach you anymore,” the hummingbird explains. She apologized and said they would have to figure something else out. “We will have to figure something else out. I won’t give up on you.”

The butterfly smiled and tickled the hummingbird with her antennae in appreciation. Before the hummingbird could respond, the butterfly lifted up and started flying away.

“Where are you going?!” the hummingbird called after her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find you tomorrow!” the butterfly replied.

The butterfly came back the very next day. Nothing seemed any different to the hummingbird. “Hello again, little butterfly.”

“Hello,” the butterfly replied.

“What was so important yesterday?” the hummingbird asked.

“Oh, I just had to check something,” the butterfly replied. The hummingbird was suspicious, but she didn’t mention anything. “Has the hawk done anything?”

“Not recently,” the hummingbird replied, flying after the butterfly into the meadow.

“I watch from my bush sometimes. I don’t think the other hummingbirds you teach like her very much either.”

“No, I don’t think they do,” the hummingbird admitted.

Suddenly, they heard a snap of a beak and a snarl from behind them. “Miss Hummingbird.”

They both froze and slowly turned around. “Y-yes?”

“I told you not to see this butterfly ever again,” the hawk said threateningly.

"You did.”

“Then why did you? Do you not fear what I’m capable of?” the hawk growled, stepping closer and closer to them on its terrible legs.

The hummingbird stood fast, trembling from beak to bottom. “I do. But I won’t let this creature suffer because of your rules.”

The hawk leapt at them, snapping its terrible beak and flying after them as fast as it could.

“Run!” yelled the butterfly, and they both took off. They ran and ran, over the meadows and through the woods, as fast as they could, with the hawk chasing them all the way.

Eventually, they made it to a very particular tree. They both landed on a tiny, thin branch way, way up high, too thin to support the hawk’s weight.

To the hummingbird’s surprise, all of her hummingbird students were there too, sitting next to a massive pile of the itchiest pollen the butterfly had gathered during her lessons. Everyone took a clump in their wing, and hurled it at the hawk.

They bonked and bounced and hit the hawk from every angle, but still she persisted. Then, the butterfly took one clump, the last one, in her little wing and threw it as hard as she could. It hit the hawk square up the nose, and she sneezed so hard she flew backwards for miles and miles, and was never seen again.

The hummingbird took over as queen of the meadow, and the butterfly moved into the closest bush. Every day they met for tea, and every night they took turns sleeping in the others nest.

And all the air, and all the land, and even all the water, belonged to them, together.

And they lived happily ever after.

Matilda has been gazing intently at her face the entire time she read, looking for every small little hint of emotion. Jenny carefully flips the last page over and stares down at the back cover. “Did… did you like it? I-it was a lot harder to write the story down instead of just saying it out loud like I usually do, so it… it…”

Jenny slowly sits up and hauls Matilda into her lap, squeezing her tight and burying her face in her hair. She tries not to let Matilda see her cry, but she feels a few tears slip out of her closed eyes. “Oh, Matilda. I loved it. This is my favorite book I’ve ever read. And the best present I’ve ever received.”

Matilda wiggles until her face is exposed to air once more and quietly asks, “Really?”

Jenny nods and leaves a lingering kiss on her daughter’s soft little cheek. “Well, the best gift I’ve really ever gotten was you. But it’s definitely the best book in the whole world. I absolutely love it.”

Matilda smiles and cuddles back into her. Jenny holds her close and smiles at the book still resting on the floor.

They’re content to stay like that for quite a while. Jenny gently rocks Matilda from side to side every now and again, but other than that, they’re still and silent for a long time.

“Have I got to go to bed now?” Matilda asks quietly after a while. Jenny chuckles.

“Not tonight, unless you’re tired.”

Matilda shakes her head. Jenny is confused when she pries herself from her grasp and pads over to their bookshelf. Matilda stands on her tiptoes to grab whatever she’s after and comes back. Jenny recognizes it immediately. A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. She smiles and pats the ground next to her. Matilda pulls their cushiest blanket off the back of the couch and spreads it on the ground, and their softest one goes on top of them as they lay side by side to read.

“Do you want to read it or shall I?” Jenny asks when they’re all comfortable.

“Oh, wait!” Matilda says, and she’s off again. Jenny sighs affectionately as she hears her making a great cacophony of noise in the kitchen. She runs a hand over the smooth plastic dust jacket protecting the hard cover of the book as she waits.

Matilda comes back after another little while with two mugs of steaming hot tea carefully resting on a tray, and a large pile of the Christmas cookies they made sitting between them.

“Ooh,” Jenny says when she rests the tray on the ground nearby, but far enough away that it won’t get accidentally bumped. “Thank you, love. This is just perfect, now.”

Matilda just nods with a wide smile on her face. She settles back in and pulls the book open. “Let’s switch for each chapter. But you go first.”

“Alright,” Jenny says, sliding the book the slightest bit closer to herself and beginning to read aloud. “Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner.”

Matilda folds her arms and gently rests her head upon them, gazing fondly at Jenny, not that she quite noticed, and the out-of-focus glow of the Christmas tree behind her. The fire crackles in the hearth nearby, and they both sip slowly at their sweet tea and nibble on cookies as they read.

They don’t get too far into the book before they both get quite tired. In fact, the book lies open partway through even as they drift off to sleep just after the clock strikes midnight.

But just before they do, they both listen to the old grandfather clock upstairs chime twelve long times, and they smile the faintest bit at one another.

“Happy Christmas, Matilda,” Jenny whispers, tucking a strand of Matilda’s hair behind her ear and leaving a hand on her cheek.

“Happy Christmas, Mummy.”

And they both drifted off to a sound sleep thinking the same thing.

It’s already the happiest I’ve ever had.

—————

thank you all once again for all the love and all the reads. it means more to me than you know <3

and of course another big thank you to everyone who helped this little series happen. all of you, and especially to @churchoftheconfusedchicken (here and ao3) and @serene-sapphic (here, serenesapphic on ao3). much love to them <3

if you celebrate i hope you had a wonderful holiday season, and if you don’t i hope you had a wonderful few weeks and enjoyed these chapters.

i’ll see you all in the new year!! thank you all for making this very tough year a little bit brighter :)

lots of love,

ezzy

[rosemaidenvixen]

Beam us Up (I)

Ao3

Hunter set down his scroll with a heavy sigh “Sorry, Willow already has a costume planned,”

Gus groaned and flopped back on the couch “Oh man she was our last hope,”

“Don’t worry, Captain Avery and Chief Engineer O��Bailey can still have fun without Security Officer Quando,”

“I know, you’re right, it’s just…” Gus let out a sigh “The Arcadia gang is taking us to our first real human Halloween party, and they’re already being so cool for letting us stay with them while Camila fixes things back in Gravesfield,"

Learning that magic existed in the human realm was a game changer. The only person more excited about it than Gus was Luz, and he liked to consider himself a close second. The Arcadia gang promised to tell them everything about trolls and wizards and sorceresses and magic of the human realm and he couldn’t be more thrilled!

But he wished that the way that they’d initially found out about each other had been less…stressful.

Hunter hissed “Yeah we’re lucky the fire didn’t spread to any other buildings, although it might be a while until they round up all those goblins,”

“It just would have been so cool to be able to go as the full trio from Cosmic Frontier,”

“Yeah,” Hunter took a seat next to him “I’m disappointed to, but we don’t know anyone else who’s going that hasn’t picked a costume,”

Gus sat up bolt upright, turning over Hunter’s words in his brain “Wait, I think I have an idea, it’s a bit of a longshot, but what if we ask–”

A knock startled them, turning to see Jim rapping his stony knuckles against the doorframe.

“Oh, hey Jim,”

“Hey guys,” Jim stepped into the room fully “Is…now a good time to talk?”

“Sure,” Gus hopped to his feet “What do you need?”

Jim’s tusks chewed into his lip, shifting from foot to foot in front of him “I…was wondering if you could do me a favor, it’s kind of a big one so no big deal if you can’t do it,”

Gus’s heart gave a hopeful little ba-dump “Well…I actually had a favor I wanted to ask you to, so how about you ask yours first, then I’ll ask mine,”

“Oh, ok,” Jim pressed his palms together and sucked in a breath “So…usually I just go full troll face out for costume parties and stuff. But I’ve been doing that so much lately…and for the Halloween party I really want to try going as something looking like I used to as a human, so I was wondering if you could use illusions to make me look…” he waved a hand in front of his face “Fleshbaggy again for the party? Totally cool if you can’t, or you don’t want to, I know magic can be exhausting, I just…figured I’d ask,”

Gus didn’t say anything, snapping his head around and locking eyes with Hunter. Based on the look on his face Gus knew both of them were thinking the exact same thing. 

It was practically perfect, the one thing they'd been hoping for falling right into their hands. All Jim had to do was say yes…

“Well actually…” he picked up the Cosmic Frontier book from the coffee table, holding it out towards Jim who accepted it with a curious look on his face “Me and Hunter were going to go dressed as Chief Engineer O’Bailey and Captain Avery from Cosmic Frontier, and we were looking for someone to join us as Security Officer Quando, so I was wondering if you’d be interested in doing it, I could use illusions to make you look human so…”

He trailed off, watching Jim thumb through the book with baited breath. 

Oh man what was he thinking, any second now Jim was going to say how lame this was and he’d never–

“Ok that sounds awesome,”

Gus perked up “Really!?”

“Yeah,” Jim flashed him a toothy grin “Group costumes are a blast, do you need any more people?”

“Oh man thank you so much you have no idea how– wait, more people!?”

“Yeah, Claire wants to do matching costumes since Amity and Luz are going as Hecate and Azura, and Toby’s joining them as High Mage Maverik. Anyways I know my friend Eli is super into sci fi stuff, and he could probably convince Steve to join in, so if you wanted to get more people–”

“Yes yes yes!” Gus threw both hands into the air “That would be amazing!”

“Alright,” Jim pulled out his phone “I’ll make some calls,”

“I’ll fire up the sewing machine!” Hunter piped up.

“I’ll start programming the concealment stones,” Gus couldn’t help the giddy smile that stretched over his face “Oh man this is going to be the greatest human Halloween ever!” 

Jim let out a deep laugh  "Emphasis on the 'human',"

[cabinofimagines]

Holi-day six; Crafty Klaus

A/N: I love them your honor -Danny

Pairing: PLATONIC Jason, Hazel, Reyna, Will x GN!reader

Words: 790

<- prev - mlist - next ->

Percy had developed a sixth sense since last year, the very same morning you decided to wrap your presents he was nowhere to be found. You decided to cut him some slack, the young man seemed on edge lately so perhaps he needed the day off.

A little sad to have lost your wrapping partner, you made your way to the arts and crafts cabin with your bag of presents hanging from your shoulder. Out of nowhere you felt someone poking your shoulder and you turned sideways: Klaus jolly face came into view.

“Hey,” you smiled. “What’s up?”

“Nothing much, I was hanging out with the pegasi when I saw you walking past with a heavy load,” he eyed your bag of presents.

“I’m on my way to wrap all of my presents, wanna join?”

“I already wrapped all of mine, but I would love to help you! I’m an expert at wrapping presents. But wrapping them on your own sounds a little dull for the occasion, meet me at the arts and crafts, I’ll rally round some friends.”

You’d just finished wrapping your third gift when a small group of people entered the cabin. A little frantic, you pulled a sheet and covered then unwrapped presents.

Klaus was bringing along Jason, Hazel, Reyna, and Will. All of them were carrying along bags of different sizes.

“Now this is a party!” He said happily. 

“You guys came!” You beamed. “To be honest I didn’t even think about asking you, I thought most of you had everything set already.”

“Are you kidding? With all these frozen toes and tongues I’ve barely had time to buy stuff,” Will huffed. “I couldn’t refuse this opportunity.”

“And to be honest wrapping isn’t as fun as ripping the paper apart,” Reyna grinned. “I always leave this last.”

“You started already!” Jason took the table next to yours, placing his presents on the table. “If I finish first you’re making the s’mores, Y/N.”

Klaus had everyone’s mouth open in amazement. He’d taken the table at the front to show you fun and creative ways to wrap your gifts, but the way his hands worked expertly through each step had all of you in shock. 

“Now for the finishing touch...” he grabbed a pair of scissors and with one of the legs curled the ribbon on top of it. “Look at that! Doesn’t it look pretty?”

“Klaus, that is the sixth gift you do in less than two minutes, what the fuck?” You said.

“Hey, no ugly words, Y/N, you know I don’t like them,” he frowned. “What, you don’t like how it looks?”

“Oh no, we love it,” Hazel was quick to reply. “Would love to be able to see each step too— your fingers move too fast.”

“Oh!” Klaus chuckled, his shiny blue eyes crinkled adorably. “I get it. I’m very sorry. Let’s try again, yes?”

He moved slower this time, all of you made an effort to do everything like he was telling you to, and for the most part you managed to get it all right. By the end all of you had a nice pile of fancy-looking presents that you couldn’t wait to give away.

“I might suck at pumpkin carving, but I make a decent elf, right?” Jason asked proudly, staring at the last fluffy bow he’d done.

“I would be proud to see you working at the north pole, Jason,” Klaus patted his shoulder and chuckled, the sound was sweet.

You glanced at him briefly before putting your gifts back in your bag, the way he would phrased things from time to time sounded strange to you, though you couldn’t quite pinpoint what annoyed you about it.

“Well guys, I’m so happy you agreed to join us,” you said out loud. “The work was far less boring and we got to spend more time together!”

“Not to mention I finally managed to keep my present hidden from Nico!” Will said proudly. “He’ll be dying to guess what I got him.”

“Same,” Reyna hummed with a satisfied smile.

“And we finished so soon thanks to Klaus tips!” Hazel added, looking at her wristwatch. “I say we leave these under the tree, and let’s go find the others, see if they want to go have s’mores with us?”

“Sure!” Will grabbed his stuff as well. “We should do this again! Or some kind of arts and crafts stuff holiday-themed like this one—”

“Oh! I know how to knit!” Klaus was quick to offer. “Is that something you guys would be interested to learn?”

You and Hazel shared a look. It was.

“Okay,” you grinned, already thinking of who you wanted to bring along into this journey. “Sounds like a plan.”

[parcequecestnotreprojeeeet]

Hello! It's Winter! Some fluff for everyone!

Is This Seat Taken?

He silenced his phone in hopes that he would no longer be distracted by mindless text messages, none of whom are from his wife, the one person he wants to hear from. He misses Brigitte terribly and doesn’t know how he’ll last another 18 hours without her. She and her daughters were enjoying a weekend girl's trip and were not scheduled to return until Sunday morning. 

The home he shared with Brigitte had begun to feel empty and quiet without her. He was already dreading the fact that he’d be sleeping alone tonight. 

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” A beautiful brunette woman approached his table, shyly asking the question. Emmanuel had come to a local bookstore to get out of the house, away from the eerie quietness, and immerse himself in new scenery. 

“Yes, you can sit down. I was just leaving.” He responded to the brunette woman as he gathered his half-empty cup and cell phone. 

“Please, don’t go. I’ve been watching you for the last 10 minutes and was wondering if you’d like some company?” She boldly asked while taking a seat across from him. “I’m Cassandra.” 

He shook her hand with hesitation, “I’m Emmanuel.” 

“Can I buy you another cup of coffee?” Cassandra asked, “You seem like you could use one…. and a friend.” 

“No, I’m fine.” He replied, making sure she could see his wedding band as he sipped his warm beverage. If wearing two rings wasn’t enough to prove he was happily married to the greatest woman in the world, he didn’t know what was. “I only drink with my wife and kids.”

“I can take the hint when I’m not wanted,” Cassandra scoffed, rushing off with a huff. 

“DADDY!!!!” He lifted his head to see 2 of his grandchildren running toward him at full speed. He opened his arms wide enough to scoop them up in one embrace, the girl on the left and the boy on the right. 

“We knew we’d find you in a bookstore!” The little girl laughed, resting her head on her grandfather’s chest, excited to have finally found him. 

“Don’t wander off again!” Even before seeing him, Emmanuel recognized Sebastien’s assertive tone. 

“It’s okay, they’re safe with me,” Emmanuel explained, noticing how stressed his son looked. “Please join me. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee and treats for the kids. The fudge brownies are delicious.” 

Without hesitation, Sebastien took a seat at the round table. He loved the way his two kids interacted with their daddy, kissing and hugging him like he was pure magic.

“I saw you with that woman.” Sebastien spoke up, “I’m proud of the way you handled the situation. As Maman’s son, it’s refreshing to witness a man committed to his wife - especially when that wife happens to be out of town for the weekend.” 

“I’m surprised you thought I would act any differently. Your mother is the only woman I think about.” Emmanuel confessed. “I was serious when I told you and your sisters I’d never hurt her. Brigitte is the most important person in my life.” 

Sebastien nodded, pleased with the man his mother had chosen as her husband. 

“Would you like to spend the night at my place? You could sleep in the guest bedroom,” Sebastien asked. “Unless you want to be alone. I don’t want to keep you from something.” 

Emmanuel shook his head, beyond grateful for the invitation. “I’d love nothing more. Thank you.” 

The grandchildren cheered and hugged Emmanuel even tighter. “Sleepover with daddy!!!” 

Sebastien grinned at his stepfather, “The kids love you so much.” 

“I hope their father feels the same way,” Emmanuel whispered, not always sure where he stood with his eldest. Out of Brigitte's three children, Sebastien had been the hardest one to win over.

“You know I do, Manu. It wasn’t an accident that we found you here - a bookstore of all places.”

Emmanuel laughed, “I’m very predictable.” 

Hellooo Winter! ❤️

Yaaaay!! Love me some fluffiness 😍

That brunette tho hahaha nice try but the man is taken 😎 (was she blind not to see his two rings tho hahaha) and Emmanuel being perfectly clear on that!

“Sleepover with daddy!!!” Oh my heart, I melted with the cuteness of this 🤧😍

Thank you so much, Winter! ❤️❤️❤️