#little pause after this to allow me to catch up with solo dates since i was sick | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kazoo5480 · 3 years ago

Link

Summary: Emma Nolan and Killian Jones had been best friends since they were kids. What happens when they begin to grow up, their friendship falling apart, but Killian is still in love with Emma?

Her mom startled her out of her thoughts. “You alright? How was school? She said and saw Killian walking down the walkway and crossing the street. “Was that Killian?” she asked, and Emma nodded. “Emma you have to say something, answer any question I just asked,” she said to her daughter.

“We have some classes, we talked, he asked to walk me home, I let him. He apologized, he didn’t explain it all, but he apologized. I yelled at him, told him he hurt me, and that was it. He asked me for my cell outside, and I said not yet. I am not ready for that” she said.

“Did that cover it all? Oh and I had a good day, no homework, I like my classes, and two upperclassmen hit on me and Liam walked me to class so that they would leave me alone” she said and her mom smiled.

“Ok. Dinner will be in an hour” she said and Emma headed up to her room. Mary Margaret texted Alice, “Killian walked Emma home. Fingers crossed,” she said.

“What! Oh my god, is it happening?” Alice texted back. “Wait BRB, he is coming inside”

“Hey honey, how was your day?” his mom asked.

“Good. Fine” he replied. Alice stepped in front of him, “anything happen?” she asked.

He shook his head, “nope. But I apologized to Emma” and his mom squealed. He smirked at his mom, “let’s not get ahead of ourselves, she let me apologize, and I walked her home. I’ve just got to follow her lead is what Liam said” he told her.

Alice nodded, “Dinner in an hour,” she said, and Killian headed to his room and laid on his bed.

Alice shot a text to Mary Margaret, "let's be patient. Homecoming is coming, I will ask Nemo to nudge him" she said, and her friend responded with a smiley.

Killian laid on his bed thinking, how was he supposed to be her friend, and how would he be able to fight against those feelings he had, and be in her life as only a friend. Could he ask her to homecoming, should he? The dance wasn't far off, but he thought it might be the perfect opportunity for him.

He heard his mom call him down for dinner not realizing that much time had passed, and Liam thankfully took over the conversation, and Killian didn't even hear his brother ask him if he was signing up for football.

"Killian, you in there?" Liam teased as he searched his brother's face.

Killian nodded, "yeah, um I will sign up tomorrow. Oh Dad I need new cleats." Nemo nodded at Alice and smiled at her.

"Heard you walked Em home from school," his dad said, and Killian blushed slightly and nodded. Nemo eyed Alice, and she got up heading toward the basement.

"And, how'd it go?" His dad pushed. Liam watched on quietly.

Killian shrugged, "Is it always this complicated?" He asked, and Nemo guffawed, nodding.

"Fraid so my boy. But you apologized, that's good. Keep at it, she will crack eventually.”

"Maybe you should ask her to homecoming," Liam said.

Killian raised his eyes to his brother, "Are you asking Elsa?" He asked, smirking.

"Probably, she is a Junior, but yeah I think I will," he said.

Nemo rapped his knuckles on the table. "Well, that's settled Liam takes Elsa, you'll take Emma," he said and stood taking his plate to the sink. Killian gulped, his anxiety clawing at his stomach.

"Don't overthink it, Killy, just ask her," Liam said quietly.

Killian nodded, "Maybe next weekend. Ariel's having a pizza party at her place" he trailed off and Liam nodded.

"Parents will be there I assume?" His dad said, and Killian nodded, not actually knowing for sure they wouldn't be. Nemo nodded at his kids. "Dish duty, I'm going to help mom with laundry" and headed toward the basement.

Killian finished loading the dishwasher and turned to Liam. "I have a problem," he said.

"Oh? And what is that?" Liam asked, leaning against the counter as he dried a glass.

"I think I love her," he said, and Liam chuckled.

"Killy you have loved Emma since you were in diapers. It's not a secret, only to her because you never told her. You're an idiot" he said, smirking at him.

"I don't want to tell her, not now like this. I want to just be in her life. I've never really dated" he said.

Liam nodded, "what about Milah? That girl last summer. I caught you two sucking each other's faces off a few times" he teased.

Killian felt his cheeks burst into flames. "It wasn't serious, and it never went that far man," he said.

Liam nodded. "Well, go slow. Get her off the market for homecoming and work from there" he said.

Killian nodded, "Thanks," he said and Liam clapped his shoulder heading up to his room.

He laid on his bed and opened up Instagram, he looked at her page, private. Shit. He went to Ruby's, which he followed and there were tons of photos of Emma on it. He scrolled through looking at her, saving favorites to his folder.

He bit his lip and sent her a DM. "Since I don't have your cell, at least let me be your friend on Instagram" he typed out and sent it. He ran his hands through his hair as he waited for her response.

A little bubble popped up, "Ok" and he got the friend request.

Killian sat up quickly, hitting accept, and his eyes nearly exploded. He had over a whole year of Emma's life in pictures to go through, things he missed. Holidays, birthdays, summer, he almost choked when he saw a photo of Emma being kissed on the cheek by their friend Jeff, a few others of them holding hands. He didn't like that, but he had to find a way to ask. Was Emma seeing someone, or had she been? Fuck. He was not prepared for that.

"Don't stalk my photos Jones 😏" came the message.

He shot back an eye-rolling one, " 🙄 a year is a long time. I'm allowed to look, you friended me" he sent it.

"If I wake up to a years’ worth of likes, I am going to think you’re an actual stalker" she was teasing him he realized.

He kept scrolling, buried in the photos was a single photo of himself, and her. Her 10th birthday. "How times have changed" was the caption, and his stomach dropped.

She posted that last year on her birthday, and a series of photos followed it in the post.

The first one was of them, her tenth birthday followed up by a ton of birthdays after that one, and the last photo was a picture of Emma sitting with a cupcake in front of her, she was making a wish when the photo was taken. Was that a coincidence he thought, he started the series of photos, and the last one a solo shot of her making a wish? It had to be.

Fuck, he said and liked the photos. He screenshotted it and sent it to her. "Just workin my way back to you babe" he sent it, their inside joke from long ago when Emma's mom and Dad taught them how to dance.

She didn't respond.

He sighed, plugged his phone in, and fell asleep looking at every photo she had ever posted. Moments he missed out on, and fuck he was an idiot.

The next morning he beat Liam to the shower and ate quickly, going out to wait for Will on the sidewalk, and Liam offered him a ride when Graham showed up.

"Nah, we can walk," he said and Liam smiled, and nodded.

Emma came out of her house, in a dress so short his heart might have stopped. It was buttercup yellow, her favorite color. He watched her as she tossed a cardigan over her shoulder as she walked, her curls blowing in the breeze, and stopped at the end of her walkway, likely waiting for Ruby. She smiled at whatever she was looking at on her phone, and he walked across to her.

"Morning," he said, scratching behind his ear.

"Hey," she said quietly, and just watched him curiously. Her phone buzzed, and she laughed again.

"What's so funny?" He asked her, desperately wanting to see what made her laugh like that.

Emma bit her lip and looked at him, his blue eyes were stupidly blue, and she caved. She showed him her phone, a photo of Ruby laying in a heap of clothes "I have nothing to wear!"

Killian chuckled and she shook her head. "I have to get going, or I'll be late," she said and he nodded.

"Are you waiting on Will?" She asked and he looked around, no sight of him.

"Let's start walking, I will text him and he can catch up," he said and she nodded, pulling both straps of her backpack tighter.

Killian knew this was awkward enough but he wanted to ask her. "Swan, I know we are just starting again, not over, but fresh, and I wanted to ask you about homecoming. To go with me to homecoming, that is" he said nervously, his tongue running over his lower lip as he watched her reaction.

Emma's heart did something stupid in her chest, and she bit her lip nervously, her eyes widening in surprise. That was not what she was expecting him to say at all. "Wow, um, can I say maybe?" She asked him, giving him a small smile.

Killian looked at her curiously, a half-smirk teasing the edge of his lips. "Why maybe, it's a yes or no question, Swan."

Emma shrugged, "I am saying maybe because we are just getting in some kind of even footing here, but I say maybe with no intention of saying yes if anyone else asks. Is that ok? While we figure this out, and if it doesn't stick, can we just go with the group?" She paused, gauging his response.

She was rewarded with a wide grin on his face as he chuckled. "That's a yes," he said, smiling at her. "I am confident that it's a yes," he said and she laughed easily, rolling her eyes.

"Counting your chickens Jones," she said, smiling at him and tossed her hair over her shoulder. She watched him tracking her movements, she may have chosen this dress solely because she knew he would like it, and her heart was still doing stupid things in her chest over his dumb blue eyes. But for some reason, this whole thing felt like a house of cards, one misstep and it would tumble down.

"I can hope, yeah," he said watching her, the way her nose scrunched up, and he wished so badly that they could speed ahead and just be on that even ground already. Baby steps he repeated like a mantra, but her pink lips looked soft, and he just wanted to suck on the bottom one she had been biting for the last few minutes. Say, something idiot , he chastised himself shaking himself out of the thought of her lips, and her soft hair and that short fucking dress that fell halfway down her thighs.

"I'm signing up for football, are you going to join anything?" He asked her as they walked along, and led her across the crosswalk on Main street.

"I think cross country, again. Maybe tennis" she said, tucking her hair behind her ear, and he nodded.

“Is Ruby doing Cross Cuuntry too?” he asked, trying to avoid a lull in their conversation.

“Maybe, she isn't sure. I think she wants to do Soccer” she said, and he laughed picturing Ruby playing a physical sport. Emma laughed at him, knowing exactly what he was laughing at in his head. “Mulan plays, I think Ruby could actually be good at it. Get some of her aggression out, and she is really fast” Emma said defensively.

“Ruby is probably checking out the girls on the team,” he said with a smirk and Emma punched his shoulder lightly.

“Bite your tongue, she and Mulan are really happy, I am happy for them,” she said and he nodded.

“As am I, of course, I want Ruby to be happy Swan,” he said. “So what would make you happy?” he asked, almost afraid to hear her response.

Emma smiled, “I am happy. Why? Do you think I am unhappy Kill? Because while we are getting a fresh start and all that, I don't have anything to lie to you about. I am happy, I want my license, I want a job, but my mom probably won't let me since it would interfere too much with school or sports, but I am not unhappy.”

He nodded. “Well, at least you know you have a line of guys wishing you were theirs,” he said, nudging her shoulder with his, and internally he cringed at himself. Emma huffed out a laugh, and just said it simply “I am not looking” she said. Killian felt his stomach clench but kept the conversation moving.

"Those are in the same seasons you know. I'd be at football while you're doing cross country. Baseball while you're at tennis…" he said and she looked over at him confused, her green eyes sparkling at him.

"Is there a point to that observation Jones?" She asked, side-eyeing him, making her feet continue moving forward.

She should not be lingering on his comment about guys wishing she was theirs, she had an inkling that he was speaking for himself, but as usual not bold enough to say it yet. She was ok with him not voicing it if she was right because she knew there would be no going back if he wanted to date her. She already knew it, and it scared her.

He nodded, "we would be busy at the same time, free at the same times," he said like it should have been obvious.

"Ok, I'm missing the point. Why does it matter if we have practice at the same time, or are free at the same times?" she asked him, glancing over and caught him scratching behind his ear.

Killian shrugged, "I could come to watch you, or you could come to watch me," he said and Emma gave him a surprised look.

Emma laughed, "alright. So you're asking me if I'll come to watch your games?" She said dryly.

Killian nodded, "Yeah, yes. That is what I am saying, or asking," he said, feeling his blush creep up his neck. "If you want to, ya know. You don't have to" he added quickly, too quickly.

Emma stopped and turned to him. "Say it," she said, crossing her arms, and waiting for him.

Killian gulped. Be honest ringing in his ears. "I looked at your Instagram. I don't want to miss any more moments Swan. So yes, I want to watch your races, or matches and have you come to mine. Friends do that for each other" he said, just leaving out that he desperately wanted her to be his girlfriend and kiss him before games and every moment in between.

Emma smiled, "Okay. Yeah. Ok," she said and started walking.

"Does that mean I get your number?" He asked, looking hopeful.

Emma scoffed, “Maybe. I'm not actively hiding it from you, but giving you access to my private life has to happen organically on some level, I can't just give you an all-access pass to me. Baby steps" she said softly and looked at him. “Besides, when did you get so impatient?” she teased.

He shrugged. "I just thought we could text. I'll take it, whatever you want Em, however slow, I am in, all in. I know last year that I put that distance there, not having classes together didn't help, but I did it. I am sorry. But let me make up for it, or try to" he said quickly and squeezed her hand.

Emma nodded and pulled her hand away, they couldn't just pick up where they left off, could they? No. She had to make him work for it a little bit.

"Why homecoming?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I wouldn't want to take anyone else, even if we just go as friends," he said honestly.

Emma felt her heart and stomach doing ridiculously stupid things at his honesty and she just smiled. "Maybe," she said, and he grinned at that.

"Still taking it as a yes. I'll wear you down, just you wait Swan" he said and smirked, his blue eyes sparkling at her.

"Hey! Jesus you two walk fast" Will huffed running towards them. "I've been like a block behind the whole time," he said and eyed them. "Where's Lucas?" He asked.

"Clothing disaster. Granny was driving her" Emma said, and Will shook his head.

"You girls, god. Just put a dress on and you're dressed. Milah was the worst at that, Belle too. They took forever" he said looking at Killian who paled a little.

"Who is Milah? and Belle French you mean?" She asked Will.

Will nodded and Killian desperately wanted him to keep his fucking mouth shut.

“Yeah, Belle and I dated a bit last year, still talk a lot, but she is busy, so we are still friends. Milah was Killian’s girlfriend" Will said looking at his phone, and Killian saw Emma's jaw clench tightly out of the corner of his eye.

"She wasn’t my girlfriend. We just hung out for a little while" he said to Will, ignoring the hurt look on Emma's face. He saw the photos with Jeff, now was the opportunity to ask.

"How about you Em, are you seeing anyone? He asked.

Emma shrugged, not sure of what to say. She had no right or claim to Killian, she wished he had told her himself in time and privately, but it was what it was.

"Sure there were guys, a few this summer, but nothing serious," she said and was thrilled at the tick in Killian’s jaw. She shouldn't be thrilled by his possessive nature, but she was. Oh, she was going to make him work for it alright, if he was going to actually pursue her he was going to earn it. She thought this over to herself as they continued walking on the tree-lined street nearing the school.

As they entered the building Emma waved bye to them, heading toward her locker.

"What was that?" Will asked him.

Killian shrugged, "progress," he said simply.

"Show her your notebook," Will said, slapping his back and running the opposite way.

Killian groaned, he knew Will had looked at it, asshole. Killian dropped by his locker and took that notebook out, sticking it on the top shelf at the back of his locker.

He never wanted anyone else to see it. His collection of sketches and drawings, comics he drew, but mainly the ones featuring a female superhero who was very much Emma Nolan. Sketches of her sitting in her window reading, her smile, sketches of her in general. He would die of embarrassment if she ever saw it, it was bad enough Will had looked.

Emma dropped into her seat and Ruby eyed her. "That's what you chose after that whole thing" Emma laughed and Ruby tipped her black hat and nodded. Emma rolled her eyes and pulled out her English book, and the syllabus. They spent the hour discussing the upcoming creative writing project.

The day went by too quickly, and Emma dragged on her PE uniform heading toward the sign-up sheet and put her name down for the cross country team. Heading out with Anna, they picked the same spot and began stretching.

Killian came out still sliding his tee over his head as he talked with Kris, and Emma caught a glimpse of his chest, his sculpted abs, and she practically dragged her eyes to the floor trying to push the thought of a shirtless Killian Jones out of her brain, no she was not thinking about the trail of dark hair that ran below his waistband. She swallowed thickly trying to refocus on what Anna was saying as they got closer to them.

Killian’s eyes landed on Emma as she leaned forward stretching her legs, and her shorts rode up as she twisted and bent to stretch, he groaned internally watching her chest move, and her boobs jiggled as she laughed with Anna. She was fucking perfect, he needed to keep his dick in check because it certainly wasn’t getting the memo that random boners were not ok in high school. He adjusted the waistband of his gym shorts where he had tucked himself up to avoid this exact situation.

He sat beside her and began his own stretches and she smiled at him as she continued talking to Anna. Mr. French blew his whistle and Emma hopped up heading outside, the three of them behind her.

"Did you sign up?" Killian asked her, and she nodded. "Me too," he said and she smiled.

"That's cool. Liam will be thrilled" and Killian nodded. "I'll only make JV but it's ok," he said.

"I think it's great," she said honestly and he looked at her like she had something on her face. "What?"

Killian shook his head. "It will be nice to have you there, and knowing that you are there is all," he added with a smile.

Emma smiled. "Oh I’m sure the Killian Jones fan club will start making signs for you," she said with a hint of snark.

"As long as you have a sign, I don't care," he said, glancing at her, noticing the pale blush on her cheeks. She punched his shoulder, and he feigned hurt. "You wound me, Swan."

"Poor baby. Take off your shirt, I'm sure girls will literally chase you to aid you in your turmoil" she teased and he grinned.

"Nah, I'm good right here actually," he said. Emma gulped, not daring to look at him, so she did what she did best, and took off running ahead of him. Killian was shocked for a moment but knew her reactions well. She didn't want him to know something, so he ran after her, catching up easily.

"I think it's fair to say that you'll make the team Swan," he said and Emma didn't look at him. "Ems come on, it was a joke.

She slowed down and glanced at him. Rather than confronting him about Milah, or whatever he was dropping hints at, she chose to ignore it all. They weren't dating, she wasn't his friend during Milah, she had no right to let it bug her. She had hooked up with Jefferson, and Graham, so she had no room to say a word. The Graham thing would piss Killian off, so she didn't even want to go there.

She wondered just how jealous Killian would be over Graham or Jeff. On the other hand, she didn't really want to play mind games with someone she hated to admit was still extremely important to her. Making him grovel for being a dick was one thing, but she wasn't throwing conquests in his face to get a reaction from him. She didn't need to, he offered them freely.

He was a teenage boy, a fifteen-year-old guy, it didn't take rocket science for her to put together that the familiar pull between them would only increase, and that she had caught him checking her out more often than not, but she wasn’t sure that she was ready. They were not there yet as friends to even talk about it. She thought about him asking her to homecoming, wondering why on earth, on the second day of school he would ask her when it was a month away. Her heart had a sliver of hope that maybe he had deeper feelings for her, but he hadn’t said wanting anything more than her friendship.

She had to trust him again, trust that he was telling her the truth. If Killian wanted her friendship she would give it to him, but she wouldn’t even let her mind wander to the possibility if he wanted more than friendship.

“I can hear your brain working out a puzzle Swan,” Killian said as he jogged beside her.

“No, no just thinking about something. I am fine” she said, tossing him a smile and was grateful when the whistle blew.

They walked in toward the locker rooms and went their separate ways. Emma touched up her makeup after her shower and headed out, not surprised at all to see Killian standing there, but was waylaid by an upperclassman.

“Hey, you’re Emma right?” The guy asked, his brown eyes practically undressing her, making her stomach turn sour.

“That’s me, do I know you?” she asked, keeping her face stoic, and he shook his head.

“Neil Gold. I noticed you yesterday, wanted to introduce myself. What do you say to a date on Saturday night?” he asked her.

“Sorry, I have plans. Thanks though, it was nice to meet you,” she said, and breezed past him toward her locker, forgetting Killian for the moment as she hurried to drop her stuff off.

Killian stayed against the locker, watching Neil stalk off, and he watched Emma handle him easily enough before she took off toward her locker, not even waiting for him.

He caught up with her, “what was that?” he asked her.

“Someone trying to get into my pants,” she said back in a serious tone.

Killian whistled, “nothing gets past you, does it,” he asked.

Emma glared, "I was a lifeguard the last two summers. He isn't the first guy trying to get into my pants, I am sure he has seen me in a bathing suit. But I can handle myself,” she said and slammed the locked shut, and looked at him. “Lunch?” she asked and he nodded walking beside her toward the cafeteria, Killian trying to hide the smirk on his face at her brute dismissal of someone most girls would easily chase after because of the money his family had.

School passed by quickly, and Killian realized that since he had first walked Emma home at the beginning of the week, apologizing and being a supportive, flirtatious friend, that every day he broke down one more of those pesky bricks in the wall Emma had built up around herself. Their camaraderie returning, even if his attraction to her increased tenfold.

He hated he was the root of that wall, but he was fucking trying, really trying. After Neil Gold asked her out, he made sure to be a constant presence around Emma, just as Liam had advised. Emma didn't even snap at him anymore about it, she just expected him there and continued with whatever conversation they had left when he left her last. Their new version of normal was ok, and he got to walk her to school, and home and his mom had even invited them to dinner, and that was nice too. Henry was super into robots and Killian and he had bonded over that shared passion of engineering.

What did bother him was that Emma still had not answered his question about homecoming yet, and when he asked Liam if he should ask again, his brother gave him a big fat “ NO ” as a response. Told him to let her decide, and if she wanted to go in the group as friends, that he would do it, and bide his time.

This weekend was Ariel’s party, and she was excited to use the pool one last time before they drained it Sunday. That was the condition, they could hang there all weekend until Sunday morning when all the guys had to come to help drain it. They all agreed because, duh. Free pool, girls in bikinis, and no parents? It was a no-brainer. Killian had been talking to Emma about it, she was staying the whole weekend over there as was Ruby and Mulan, but he hoped that it would maybe take an interesting turn.

By the time Friday at 3 rolled around, Killian’s knee was bouncing up and down in anticipation and he grabbed his bag, rushing out the door as soon as the bell rang. He was heading out the front doors to wait for Emma, and he ran right into his brother.

“Whoa little brother, where is the fire?” Liam teased.

“Nowhere, just going to wait for Emma and Ruby outside,” he said. “Are you coming home?” he asked and Liam nodded at him.

“Yeah, I am staying at Graham’s tomorrow though, so stay out of trouble this weekend,” he said and Killian nodded, heading past him.

Emma and Ruby came out with Ariel and Mulan a few minutes later, and Liam waved at all of them, ruffling Killian’s hair in front of them, as he and Graham headed toward Graham’s car.

If Killian wasn’t mistaken Graham had winked in Emma’s direction and she waved at him. What the fuck was that? He wanted to know what happened there, he needed to ask her if it was true. He couldn't say a word if it was, but he found it hard to believe Graham put a move on her, someone he had known forever, pot meet kettle , he grimaced.

“Going to war there?” Emma teased and poked his head. Killian shook his head, “you guys ready to go, or are you not going home?” he asked.

“No, I am heading home to get my stuff,” she said to him and turned to Ariel.

“I’ll be there around 7,” Emma said to Ariel, who nodded and waved as the other three walked away from them.

“Are you coming by her house this weekend?” Emma asked him.

“Absolutely. I wouldn’t dream of missing an opportunity to see you in a bathing suit” he said and she rolled her eyes.

“Em, come on, it was a joke, partially,” he said smirking. “ Yeah, of course, I am coming, you’re going so I am going,” he said and she looked at him curiously but didn’t say anything. “Say it,” he said, tugging her hand to stand still.

“What?” she asked looking distracted.

“Swan, come on. What’s up? Do you not want me to go?” he asked.

“No, no. Nothing like that. I just didn’t know who was going was all” she said.

“Is there someone else that you want to come to Ari’s?” he asked her and she shook her head.

“Nope,” she said quickly, and Killian nodded, tugging her along again.

“Are you ever going to answer me about homecoming? Or should I still assume that you said yes, and pick out a white corsage to go with whatever you wear” he smirked at her, noticing the blush creep up her neck.

“I haven’t decided yet,” she said and smiled at him.

“I still take that as a yes. So other than pizza, what else should I bring over there tomorrow?” he asked.

Emma shrugged, clothes, a swimsuit? I don’t know. Ask Eric, he will know” she said.

“Will mentioned some beers, but I wasn’t sure how cool Ariel would be, or you if I am being honest about it,” he said.

“It’s not like I haven’t been drunk before Jones, we are almost 16” and she laughed.

“Ah, so, you have been drunk. When?” he asked.

Emma got nervous, maybe she should tell him about Graham. No, don't do that now , she told herself. “I don't know, parties, I saw you at a few but I never said Hi,'' she said, staring straight ahead.

“You went to parties, saw me, and didn't even say Hi? Why?” he asked her. His mind was trying to wrap around the idea of Emma drunk at parties he was at, and never even said a word, he never even noticed her.

Emma shrugged, “We weren't friends,” she said. “I saw Liam and Graham at a few, so I am surprised he never told you” she added, and that cuts deep inside of him. His own brother never told him.

“We were always friends Emma, I was just too dumb to realize it,” he said squeezing the hand he was still holding. Emma shook herself out of the daze, tugging her hand back which he released.

“I didn't know that, and If you ever saw Ruby at one, the likelihood that I was there was always 100%,” she said, smirking at him, and he looked like she had hit him upside the head. He had seen Ruby at tons of parties, he could have fixed this ages ago he thought.

“I never knew. Were you avoiding me?” he asked.

She shrugged and glanced over at him. “I mean not intentionally most of the time, but if I saw you, then yeah I would pretty much stay at the other end of the party. I didn't want to run into you” she said and before she knew what was happening Killian was spinning her toward him so that his chest collided with hers.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, sliding them beneath the straps of her backpack, and whispered “I’m sorry Em. God, I am so sorry.”

“It's fine. We are past it, stop apologizing Kill, it's getting annoying” she said and released him and he let her waist go reluctantly.

“Maybe I should sneak over to Ariel’s tonight,” he said with a smirk.

Emma smiled, “why? Want to see a bunch of girls skinny dipping?” she teased.

Killian’s jaw dropped, “Is that what you guys do when we aren’t around?” he asked her, his heart beating frantically.

“Sometimes, it isn't like we haven't all skinny dipped at some point,” she said. “Do you think I was under a rock, having no fun because you weren't in my life?” she asked him laughing.

He had to stop images of a naked Emma running in his brain. “No, no. I just am trying to wrap my head around the idea that all of you guys swim naked together” and she slapped his chest. “I mean I would happily sneak over to sneak over if you wanted me to” he nudged her shoulder.

“We’ll see,” she said, smirking.

“Let me get your cell at least for tomorrow. I know you will have yours on you, and they won’t” he said.

Emma paused at the end of her driveway, she caved. “Give me your phone,” she said, and he handed it over. “You have to unlock it, Jones,” she said, handing it back.

“It’s your birthday,” he said, the blush creeping up his cheeks into his ears.

Emma’s mouth dropped open, and she shook her head typing the six-digit code in. The background was a photo from her Instagram, she said nothing. Ignoring the hammering heart in her chest, she quickly added her cell to her contact card, which was a drawing of her. She clicked it, and it opened up and she giggled.

“Is that me? Like a superhero!” she exclaimed and Killian rolled his eyes, nodding.

“Shut up Swan,” he said and took his phone back from her. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, “I will talk to you later” he grumbled and she held his hand until his distance required their fingers to separate.

“See you later,” he said and she turned up the driveway heading into the house.

Mary Margaret was watching from her bedroom window. “He kissed her cheek, she gave him her cell number. OMG is this really happening? Should we be worried?” she texted Alice.

“BRB!!!!!!!!!!!!!” was her response so Mary Margaret headed downstairs, and greeted Emma.

“Hey honey, are you still sleeping at Ariel’s?” she asked and nodded. “Are we picking up Ruby too?” she asked and Emma shook her head.

“Nope. Ruby and Mulan went home with Ariel, I needed to pack a bag with my swim stuff. I forgot this morning, so I came to do that. Figured I would get my math homework out of the way, and go around 7, is that ok?” she asked and her mom nodded.

“How is Killian?'' she asked, following Emma up the steps towards her room.

“You're fishing,” Emma said, narrowing her eyes at her mom.

“Maybe…” She replied and her daughter smirked.

“Have you answered him about homecoming yet?” she asked and Emma shook her head.

“Not yet. I don't know. I am not punishing him or anything, I am just not sure yet if it's a group thing or a couples thing. I think by Sunday and hearing the girl's plans will let me know whether or not I say yes, or no” she explained as she laid out her books and collapsed on the bed.

Her mom nodded and shut the door behind her. Mary Margaret knew that Emma was going to say yes, it may have been why she had already begun sewing a dress for her to wear. Her phone buzzed.

“He said he is swimming at Ariel's tomorrow with Will and Eric, you think that's ok?” Alice asked.

“I trust them” she texted back and got a thumbs up from Alice.

Emma grabbed a few bikinis and her clothes, and her mom dropped her off, Ruby coming out to say Hi to her mom, and led Emma inside. Emma was surprised when she saw Eric, Killian, and Will seated around the dining room table.

“Swan, there you are” Killian hollered at her, and she waved, dropping her bag upstairs in the guest room.

“What are you guys playing? She asked as she sank into a chair. Will cracked a beer and set it in front of her, “thanks” she said smiling up at him, and he nodded sitting back down and Eric answered her question.

“Kings, Em,” he said, eyeing his cards. “You can be in the next round” and she nodded, sipping her beer, looking at Ruby’s hand beside her, and made sure to keep her face impassive. Ruby was going to win, there was no way anyone could beat that hand.

“You look nice” Killian blurted out across the table at her, and she rolled her eyes shooting him a smile.

“Aw. Do you know what we should play next? Seven minutes in heaven” Ariel said excitedly.

“I am gay, and so is Mulan, not fair. If I want to make out with my girlfriend I will just go upstairs, I don't want to make out with any of you, and I have already kissed Emma, so she doesn’t count, Ruby said laughing.

Killian’s eyes widened at that comment, and he wanted to hear that story but not here in front of everyone. Emma tossed her hair over her shoulder and laughed.

She looked great, her shorts short enough to show almost her entire leg, and her tank top left little to the imagination. She had no makeup on from what he could tell, and he swallowed thickly, shifting uncomfortably in his seat at the boner he was now sporting and ignoring into submission, his jeans definitely tightening in the crotch.

“I agree with Ruby,” Eric said and kissed Ariel. Emma wiggled in her seat, realizing that Will, Killian, and her were the only non-attached people.

The doorbell rang, and Emma volunteered to get it, checking through the peephole, and smiled opening it.

“Hey Belle, I didn't know you were coming,” Emma said smiling and Belle came in quickly and hugged her briefly.

“Yeah Will invited me last minute, and I figured why not, I already got my math homework done so here I am,” she said shyly.

“Me too, I finished it before I got here, and I didn’t know anyone else was coming, hence my attire. I thought it was a sleepover for just girls" she said, suddenly feeling eyes on her and she looked over to see Killian leaning against the doorway with two beers, handing each girl one.

They played a few more rounds of cards before Ariel demanded they move to the basement to watch a movie. Emma was on her third beer at that point, but she had felt Killian's eyes on her all night. She couldn't ignore it, it was like his eyes were burning into her skin when she wasn't looking at him, or talking to him.

"I think you look fantastic," he said in her ear as they trailed behind Will and Belle, walking towards the basement where everyone was descending.

Emma stopped and leaned against the kitchen counter, the beer buzzing her slightly and she stepped out the back door onto the patio, twilight overhead. Killian slipped out after her, leaving the door open, and she spun to look at him, grateful she hadn't taken her converse off.

Her pulse quickened, he was staring at her intensely as he stepped closer to her, waiting for her to tell him to move, he would never make a move without her consent. His shoes were touching hers, standing centimeters apart, and Emma’s blood was roaring in her ears as she took in the look on his face.

Her green eyes looked up at him expectantly, her blonde curls hanging over her shoulder, and he brushed them back gently. He heard Emma sigh, and her spearmint breath was close enough to ghost over his lips.

"Swan" he murmured, and nuzzled his nose against hers, waiting for her to push against his chest, and instead, she pulled the neck of his polo shirt closer. She rose onto her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck, and kissed him before she could have another thought.

Her soft lips were pillowed against his, and Killian cupped her jaw with his hands, his thumbs stroking her neck, driving her insane. He slid one hand further down to cup her ass, pulling her closer to him, and she gasped into his mouth, feeling the stiffness of him against her stomach.

Emma had a dozen emotions coursing through her, his lips moving urgently against hers, the taste of him flooding her senses, she could hardly breathe, and she absolutely didn’t care.

God could she fucking kiss. His mind was blown, the fantasy not even coming close to the reality of Emma Nolan kissing him. Her lips were sliding over his, they were practically glued together at this point and he wanted nothing more than to stay here grounded at this moment forever.

She shivered in his arms, and he was nearly about to push her against the side of the house when they were interrupted.

"Guys, grab chips!" Ruby's voice rang out from the stairs, and Emma knew she was giving her a reprieve in case she needed one.

They broke apart, and Killian placed his forehead against hers, sliding his hands back to her hips, staring down into her eyes.

"Wow," he said softly, and Emma blushed, nodding silently.

"Chips Jones," she said, shaking herself out of the daze she was wrapped in, moving past him back into the house, grabbing two bags and he grabbed her elbow, swinging her around to face him.

"Em," he said softly, and she gave him a soft smile and shook her head, descending into the basement.

Killian ran his hands through his hair. Fuck. He just kissed Emma. What the fuck was happening. He followed her, sitting beside her, and Ariel hit play once chips and beers were handed out, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre began to play.

Emma jumped a few times, Ruby screamed, and Killian held Emma's hand in the dark, where no one would see like they were ten years old all over again watching Ghostbusters.

Emma spent the whole movie painfully aware of Killian’s proximity to her. She wanted to take a beat, process the kiss, and what this meant. It meant something, it had to of, he was holding her hand in the dark, not cuddling her or being showy. He was doing what he always did, giving her space, but letting her know he was right there.

Ariel led everyone upstairs, and since they were all walking they took the bag of cans to dump on their way somewhere in someone's garbage can.

They all said goodbyes and Killian hugged her, "I'll text you'' he whispered, and brushed her cheek lightly with his lips going unnoticed by everyone.

The girls helped Ariel tidy up and they all decided to throw on mud masks, Emma sent her mom a photo, and they sat on Ariel's floor talking about homecoming.

"So, Eric said Jones asked you, Emma," Ariel said and Emma laughed.

"He did," Emma said, shrugging.

"And?" Ruby asked, munching on a chip.

"Maybe. I said maybe, I wasn't sure if it was a group thing or a couples thing, I don't know" Emma said thankful for the green mask covering her cheeks.

"Your chest is blushing" Ruby cackled and Emma threw a pillow at her.

"Say yes!" They chorused at her and she shrugged.

Ruby winked at her and stood up. "I'm washing this off and going to bed," she said on her way to the bathroom.

Emma crashed in Ariel's sister's room, while Ruby and Mulan took the guest room. Emma laid there for a while before her phone buzzed and she rolled over grabbing it.

K: Hi

E: Hey

K: Are we going to talk about it?

Emma bit her lip.

E: Not tonight

K: Does that mean I can kiss you again Swan?

E: Maybe

K: I am taking that as a yes, and also taking that as a yes to homecoming too 😛

E: I didn't say yes

K: I like kissing you

E: It's still not a yes Jones

K: I'm wearing you down, I can feel it. When I win your heart Em, and I will win it, I am going to expect a medal of honor, and more kissing 💋, he typed laughing to himself as he typed it.

E: 🙄

K: Is it still okay to come tomorrow, Swan?

E: Yeah. See you tomorrow

K: 😘

Emma made a snap decision, she pressed call on his contact.

His phone buzzed. Emma's name flashed across the screen and quickly swiped to accept.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked quietly.

"You are dumb" she retorted.

"Over you," he said with a grin on his face. "I'm tempted to sneak back into that house tonight," he said softly.

"You can't..." she protested weakly.

"That sounds like a challenge if I've ever heard one Em"

"It's not. Seriously Jones."

"Sorts sounds like it" he teased.

"I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" she said.

He took a breath and thought of Liam. "It meant something to me. Ok?" He said feeling vulnerable.

"I know," she said softly.

"Just don't shut me out. We will figure it out together. Ok?" He pleaded quietly. "We will be there around 11, so see you in eight hours"

"Counting down the minutes" she replied dryly, and he smiled.

"Night Em," he said softly.

"Night Kill," she said softly, and the call ended.

His phone buzzed, Ruby posted to Instagram. The girls had mud masks on and were making stupid faces. He liked the photo immediately.

"You all show your true faces at night" he commented.

"@KJones0125 You are no gentleman sir"

"@RubyRed7645 I speak nothing but the truth"

"@KJones0125 🖕"

"@RubyRed7645 Rude"

He smiled and rubbed his eyes. He needed to sleep. He wondered if she told them, he would guess not or Ruby would have been texting him. He finally shut his eyes and tried not to think of Emma rejecting him tomorrow.

@holdingoutforapiratehero @hookedmom @xsajx @kymbersmith-90 @kmomof4 @katie-dub @ohmightydevviepuu @lassluna @pirateherokillian @teamhook @stahlop @elizabeethan @whimsicallyenchantedrose @resident-of-storybrooke @therooksshiningknight @jennjenn615 @lfh1226-linda @ilovemesomekillianjones @killianswannn @stories-enchanted @eleveneitherway @girl-in-a-tiny-box @withheartfulloflove @kday426 @lyssapup27 @swanlovato @kaoslikesstuff @djlbg @kristi555 @laschatzi @xarandomdreamx @lkles08 @wyntereyez @bubblegum1425 @xhookswenchx @yasbio2015 @tiganasummertree @winterbaby89 @wefoundloveunderthelight @hollyethecurious @let-it-raines @jonesfandomfanatic @searchingwardrobes @dreamingdreamsalways @oncechicagolove @andiirivera @vvbooklady1256 @gingerchangeling @everything-person @klynn-stormz @qualitycoffeethings @vampcoffeegyrl23 @enchanted-swans @ohmakemeahercules @donteattheappleshook @bluewildcatfanatic @the-darkdragonfly @demisexualemmaswan @lavenderbudd @grimmswan @spartanguard @flslp87 @ultraluckycatnd @sarahpaq08 @thisonesatellite @captainswan21 @zaharadessert @mariakov81 @snowbellewells @xouatxcs @kiwistreetswan @batana54 @nadine200179 @probalicious17 @courtorderedcake @julesep3026 @jackieorioncat @whatthehell102082 @xemmaloveskillianx @jarienn972 @sthonour @linda8084 @carpedzem @pirateprincesslena @daxx04 @winterbythesea @artistic-writer @scientificapricot @cocohook38 @wisfan3000 @chrisilybrooke @pcrcabcth @captainswan4life85 @molly958 @kingofmyheart14 @badwolfreturns @itsfridaysomewhere @fallingforthecaptain @lovethelifeyoulive1106 @onceratheart18 @strangestarlighttree @omgmarvelous @justanother-unluckysoul @anothersworld @purplehawkcaptain @jennjenn615 @sailtoafarawayland @superchocovian @hookedonkillianforlife87

#emma nolan #killian jones #ouat #OUAT au #once upon a time #high school au

22 notes · View notes

jobrookekarev · 3 years ago

Text

When Chip Babies Turn Into Real Babies

Chapter One of One

Words: 3463

Summary: Since Jo and Meredith managed the whole Hospital while the rest of them are high, as a special treat, Arizona and Alex plan a night for them to have a weed cookie get high. However, Arizona insists that Jo takes a pregnancy test beforehand just to be sure.

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy.

Relationship: Alex Karev/Jo Wilson.

Characters: Alex Karev, Jo Wilson, Meredith Grey, and Arizona Robbins.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Additional Tags: Weed, Unplanned Pregnancy, Surprise Babies, and of course chips.

Read at AO3

Read at FFN

……………………………………………………………………

“It was totally not fair,” Jo said a few days after the weed incident as they got ready for work. “Meredith and I kicked ass yesterday and we had an amazing presentation planned, but then you all got high as kites and we dropped everything to basically manage the whole Hospital. I did a solo surgery, a partial gastrectomy, and I saved a man's stomach all by myself while you ate chips and hung out with a baby, which are your two favorite things.”

“Yeah,” Alex could only nod and agree because babies and chips were his two favorite things, and he remembered the day with the chips and little Leo very fondly. “Hey, do you think Owen would let me babysit sometime?”

Jo just gave him a deadpan look before she continued to put the files in her bag. “And we didn't even get to do our presentations and now the whole thing is canceled! I’ve been stressed for weeks. I puked and got stress hives for nothing.”

Alex put down his plate of eggs and walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist. Jo remained stiff in his arms for a second before she sighed and relaxed, leaning against him as he kissed her cheek. “How about I make it up to you tonight, yeah? We'll get some pizza and beer and dirty the bed sheets.”

Jo giggled and smiled as he rubbed his thumb over the bit of bare skin under her shirt. “That sounds great and maybe you could put your tongue to good use?”

“You know I love to please you,” Alex said with a smiled as he kissed her cheek and trailed his hand lower to the button of her jeans.

He punctuated his words with kisses down her neck as his other hands slipped under the hem of her jeans. Jo giggled and turned her head to give him a proper kiss as their lips melted together before he pulled her over to the bed. There were some perks to dating an attending, in that, no one batted an eye when Alex made them late for work.

……………………………………………………………………

Alex looked around the halls of the surgery ward for Arizona. She was usually here after rounds and Alex spotted her coming out of a patient’s room and waved her over.

“Hey,” Alex said, leaning in closer to her as Arizona gave him a weird look. “Do you by any chance have any of those weed cookies left over?”

Arizona immediately smiled and raised her eyebrows, giving him a nod. “Yeah, I’ve still got half the tin. You want another one after work?”

“Not for me, for Jo. She’s pissed I got to get high and eat chips a day, so I thought I’d make it up to her and let her try one,” Alex said with a smile.

He couldn't wait to see Jo when she was high. He could only imagine how cute a high Jo would be, as she was absolutely adorable when she was drunk.

“Look at you being all considerate and doing something sweet for your fiancée,” Arizona said with a sickly sweet smile as she lightly slapped his arm with the back of her hand. “Yeah, of course. Do you want me to drop them off at the Loft?”

“Well, actually, I was thinking you could come over too,” Alex said, spotting Meredith as she walked by. “Hey Mer?”

“Yeah,” Meredith said, putting down her tablet and coming over to them.

“I'm going to surprise Jo with one of the weeds cookies. Do you want to come over tonight and have one too?” Alex asked, if there was one thing he loved as much as a drunk Jo, it was a drunk Meredith. The two of them together would be absolute chaos but so fun, and he couldn’t wait to watch the two of them get high together.

“Oh, that’d be great,” Arizona said, as she tapped the counter in excitement. “Plus, it would help with the pain relief for your hand.”

“I don't know, I don't have anyone to watch the kids tonight,” Meredith said, looking a little hesitant.

“Well, I heard Pierce and Zola we're going to have a Scrabble night, so enjoy that,” Alex said, raising an eyebrow at her.

He knew that Maggie and Zola's scrabble games were avoided by everyone else as much as possible, lest they get roped into being the judge between the two competitive girls.

“All right, I'm in,” Meredith said, immediately agreeing.

“Great! Why don't you both come over a little after eight and Jo and I should be home by 8:30 pm? I was gonna take her to get her favorite pizza as well. She’s been craving it for days,” Alex said with a smile, he figured if he was going to do this, he would go all out and treat his girl. “And I'll make sure that you and Jo can get the rest of the day off tomorrow.”

“Oh, that's smart,” Arizona said as she nodded with a little giggle. “I always feel a little extra lingering effects the next day and after the cookies, I was so out of it.”

“Sounds good,” Meredith agreed with a smile.

The two of them left and Alex looked around. He spotted Bailey walking down the hall and went to ask her about getting the next day off for Jo and Meredith. After getting everything set up, he wandered over to the balcony above the 4th floor nurses station. Alex couldn't wait for tonight as he paused and leaned against the railing.

He easily spotted Jo at the nurse’s station ordering the interns around. Her brown hair was tucked back in the twin braids he had done for her that morning, although a few strands still stuck out around her face like a halo, and her skin glowed in the morning sun that streamed in through the windows. She worked so hard and had risen so far this year. She had forgiven him when he didn't deserve it, she had divorced Paul and fought for Jenny, and she had relentlessly worked on the mini-livers with Meredith. Most of all, she had grown in the confidence and assurance in herself that allowed her to succeed in her career.

Jo must have felt his eyes on her as she finished sending off the interns and looked up to catch his eyes, giving him a smile. He easily smiled back and lay down to put his hand on his arm just to stare at her. He could hear Jo’s giggle from all the way up there as she wrinkled her nose when she smiled up at him again, before she held her head high and walked away. She had grown into an excellent surgeon and he was so proud of her. She deserved a night off to relax and have fun and let loose.

……………………………………………………………………

After Alex took her out for pizza at her favorite spot, Jo was a little suspicious as he didn’t order them beer. Still, she let him lead her up the stairs to the Loft, as he pulled open the rusted red door.

“Hey,” Arizona's perky voice greeted them and Meredith waved as they came in.

Jo looked over at her wide eyed before she glanced back at him, wondering why their friends were in their Loft. Arizona bounded over to them and quickly pulled Jo in for a hug. If Jo didn't know better, she would have thought Arizona was drunk or high, but it was just her bubbly personality. Alex took Jo’s bag and coat as Arizona led Jo over to the couch.

“Hey, guys, what are you doing here?” Jo asked them before looking back at Alex, but he just smiled.

“Well, Alex mentioned you wanted to try the weed cookies, so I brought the cookies and some cheeses and chips, and a couple of other snack foods, and we decided to make a little party of it. Oh, and Meredith is here to try the cookies as well,” Arizona said, gesturing to where she had set up several snacks as well as water and a few sodas on the coffee table.

“I started in on the crackers and cheese since you guys were taking so long,” Meredith said with a shrug as she took another bite of her little cheese sandwich.

“Okay, so Alex and I are going to remain sober, so the two of you are free to get as high as you want and will take care of you and make sure you don’t get hurt or anything,” Arizona explained, giving Jo’s shoulders a squeeze.

Alex grabbed a handful of chips for himself and Meredith gave her an excited smile before her eyes went over to Alex, who was just staring at her. He leaned against the blue chair with this little smile across his face, and she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You did all of this?” Jo asked, tilting her head and sharing his happy little smile.

“Yeah, well, you said you are jealous that I got the day off and you didn't, and since you've been working so hard lately, I thought I'd give you the night and tomorrow off as well,” Alex said as he licked his lips, his eyes glanced from her lips to her eyes.

“You're too good to me,” Jo said, leaning in to kiss him as he melted against her.

He leaned forward into her kiss and she had to lean back as he pressed himself against her as he often did. He just wanted to be as close to her as possible and she loved him for it.

When he pulled back, Alex whispered against her cheek, words only for her to hear. “I love you too.”

Jo giggled as she untangled herself from him, although Alex didn't let her get far and put one hand around her waist as they walked back over to Meredith and Arizona.

“Alright, let's get this party started,” Jo said, reaching for the cookie tin on the table and Meredith let out an additional cheer.

“Hold up,” Arizona said, sliding in front of Jo to prevent her from reaching the cookies. “There's one last thing I need you to do Jo, is there any chance you could be pregnant?”

“God no,” Jo said immediately as she shook her head at the ridiculous question. She reached for the cookies again, but Arizona just gave her a look and crossed her arms in front of her.

“Jo,” Arizona said, raising her eyebrows at her and Jo only glared at her.

“No, there's no way. We're always consistent with birth control and condoms. Alex and I have been together for years and we've never even had a pregnancy scare,” Jo said, looking back at Alex as he just nodded in agreement, and even Meredith just shrugged from where she sat on the couch, munching on her cheese.

“Then it shouldn’t be an issue for you to take this,” Arizona said, holding out a box of pregnancy tests.

Jo groaned and rolled her eyes as she grabbed the box out of Arizona's hands and walked over to the bathroom. This was ridiculous. There was no way she was pregnant. Her period wasn't late, she didn't have any symptoms, and she was always on top of her birth control. She reached the bathroom door and pulled it open before turning around to glare at all of them.

“Fine, but when this comes back negative, which it will, I'm going to get absolutely plastered, and you're all going to have to put up with me,” Jo said, giving them a smirk, and she could hear Alex laugh before she slammed the door shut.

……………………………………………………………………

Exactly three minutes later, Jo emerged from the bathroom pregnancy test in hand and that same annoyed look on her face. As much as he knew he shouldn't, Alex loved her adorable little look of annoyance. He loved the way that her eyebrows raised up and her eyes glared at him. Her annoyance was just so funny to him, her anger, however, he would never wish that on his worst enemies. Still, he couldn't help but smile at the annoyed look that she gives him now. She clenched her teeth and crossed her arms, just standing there in the doorway of the bathroom, glaring at him. Alex just smiled from where he was sitting on the edge of the couch with his own bowl of chips.

Arizona and Meredith looked up from where they were munching on the snacks and Arizona gave her a smile, picking up a cookie and waving it at her. “Well, are you ready to have a cookie?”

“Oh yeah,” Jo said, as she tossed the pregnancy test at Alex.

He quickly caught it with a smile and got up to go over and toss it in the trash, but then he glanced at it. There were two pink lines, two of them, two pink lines that together spelled out a positive pregnancy test. Alex could feel his breath freeze in his lungs. His jaw dropped and the chip in his hand fell to the ground. He could feel his eyebrows raising as he just stared down at the test. His whole world changed around him in that instant.

Jo was pregnant. They were going to have a baby.

He looked up at her and her annoyed look had faded into a small smile that graced her cheeks. She bit her lip and her smile only got wider as she saw his expression.

“But I should probably wait nine months or so.”

“You're pregnant?!” Meredith and Arizona both asked at the same time.

Their excited voices rang in his ear as Arizona shrieked with excitement and slapped him on the back as he remembered how to breathe, just as Meredith crashed into him from behind and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Alex Karev is going to be a freaking Daddy!” Meredith screeched in his ear as both she and Arizona continued with their excited screaming.

Alex practically dropped the bowl of chips, fumbling with it, but a few chips fell out before he just set it on the floor and rushed over to Jo.

“You knocked me up,” Jo said, glaring at him, her arm still crossed as he reached out to her, but her annoyed look disappeared the second he put his hands around her waist and pulled her in.

“Did I?” Alex is still not quite believing it as he looks down at the pregnancy test in his hand, if only to confirm it again, the shock finally wearing off. “We're going to have a baby.”

“We are,” Jo said, looking up at him as she reached out to put both of her hands on the side of his cheeks, leaning in to kiss him before she wrapped his arms around her neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

“Is this okay? Are you happy about this?” Alex whispered to her, putting his hand on her back, his fingers gently trailing down her spine.

It wasn't planned, it wasn't discussed, they weren’t even talking about trying for kids. Sure, they had talked about wanting kids, but they had only spoken about having kids in the future, not having one today.

“I'm going to be pregnant on our wedding day,” Jo said as she pulled back, she had tears on her cheeks, but a little smile on her face. He could tell she was a little overwhelmed as she continued to nod her head. “But, yes. I'm so happy,”

“It would be fitting for us to have a shotgun wedding anyway, but none has to know, and you're going to be the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen. I'm so happy about this too,” Alex said, pressing his forehead against hers before he tilted his head to kiss her again. Jo closed her eyes as he reached out to hold her face, as a few tears dropped from her cheeks as she hid in his shoulder again.

They stayed in the moment together, just the two of them, and Alex held her. He moved his hand down to put it on her waist, over where their baby was growing inside of her. Then, once Jo was ready, she unhid herself from his shoulder, and they both turned back to Meredith and Arizona, who were still caught up in their excitement.

As soon as they noticed the two of them, Meredith came over to hug Jo and whispered a few words in her ear as Jo nodded against her shoulder. Arizona brought over a bottle of champagne and apple juice, handing them two glasses before pouring him a drink and pouring Jo some apple juice.

“To the newest addition to the Grey-Sloan family,” Arizona said as they all toasted their drinks. “I'm sorry about this Jo, I honestly didn't think you were pregnant.”

“It's okay, I should have realized it sooner. I've actually been pretty sick the last couple of days, and I just thought it was all because of the upcoming presentation for the mini-livers, but I guess not,” Jo said, looking up at him with a sneaky little happy smile.

“I can't believe you two are going to be parents,” Meredith said, leaning over to give his shoulder a little push.

“I know, right,” Arizona said as she and Meredith exchanged a smile. “Your guys' babies are going to be so stinking cute, though.”

“Their first word is probably going to be a swear word,” Meredith said as they all exchanged a laugh, knowing it was probably true given Jo and Alex's sailor worthy language.

“Yeah, well, we got nine months to clean up our act, and I think we could do it,” Jo said, looking over at Alex as they exchanded a smile. They got lost in each other's eyes for a moment in happiness as he leaned down to kiss her again, all while Meredith and Arizona's whooping and shouting brought them apart.

……………………………………………………………………

Arizona and Meredith stuck around a little while longer after that as they enjoyed the snacks and the rest of the champagne. They decided to save the cookies for when Jo could enjoy them as well. After a few rounds of drinks, Alex put them in a cab and sent them home. Afterwards, he walked back up to the loft and got into bed next to Jo. She was already settled in bed, so he crawled up her body and pulled up the sleep shirt that she was wearing. It was originally his, but he let her have the faded old black Hawkeyes wrestling shirt years ago. He pulled down the hem of her panties just a little bit so he could lay a kiss on her belly right where he knew their baby was.

“Hey you,” Alex said, kissing her belly again as Jo’s hand went to the back of his head, tangling in his little curls, curls he hoped their baby had to. “Your mama and I are so surprised to find out that you're in there, but we're so happy that we unknowingly created you. We love you so much already. I want you to know that. Your mommy and I, we love you, and I don't want you to worry because I'm going to work so hard to give you everything you ever need or want. You are going to be brought up in a house full of love.”

Alex placed one last kiss over their baby before he placed his hand over her belly and looked up at Jo. She had tears in her eyes, but a soft smile across her face, as she placed a hand on the back of his neck and pulled him up to kiss him.

“Thank you for that,” Jo whispered against his cheek when she pulled back.

“I mean it, Jo,” Alex said, reaching out to hold her cheek. “I want our baby to know that they were made with love and I want them to know that they are loved every second of the day.”

“They already know that, because I know that. Every day I know that you love me because all I have to do is look at you, and I know that you love me. You say it to me every morning and every night.” Jo said in her eyes shone and her lips turned up into a smile. “And, I want you to know that I love you too. I love you so much, more than words can ever say.”

“I love you too,” Alex said as he leaned down to kiss her again. “I love you.”

#jo wilson #alex karev #grey's anatomy #jolex #arizona robbins #meredith grey #jolex fanfic #grey's anatomy fanfic #otp: home and heart #my work #my writing #my fanfiction

22 notes · View notes

alecmagnuslwb · 4 years ago

Text

Plus One

Read on AO3

Izzy & Meliorn ~ May 1st, Saratoga Springs, New York

“So?” Alec says tentative and a little nervous. He’s never had to give a wedding speech before and he can guarantee he’ll never give one as important as this. His baby sister will only have one wedding, god willing, and he wants to get it right.

Magnus taps his finger to his lips quietly the setting sun catching in his brown eyes as he leans against the pillar outside of the venue where the reception is being held.

“Pretty good, could be a little shorter though,” he settles on with a serious nod of his head.

“Shorter?” Alec says all nerves gone. “Magnus it’s not even five full minutes, I make it much shorter and it becomes a haiku.”

Magnus perks up with a smirk. “A haiku could be nice!” he says pushing off the pillar and stepping closer to Alec. He reaches out brushing something Alec was unaware of off of his shoulder. “People are here to dance and take advantage of the free bar, not listen to the Gettysburg Address.”

Alec rolls his eyes and brushes Magnus’ hand away. “I’m not making it any shorter, Isabelle will hate it if I keep it too short and if I upset her I’ll get that disappointed head tilt that Meliorn gives when anyone makes her sad, you know how bad that head tilt is.”

“It is very judgmental, makes you feel like you kicked a puppy,” Magnus says before tilting his head towards the entrance. “Come on you better get in there.”

Alec nods shaking out the last of his nerves and following Magnus into the hall beautifully decorated like some sort of magical forest.

The first few hours of the reception are a blur, Alec makes his speech and Magnus raises a glass of champagne at him with a wrap it up gesture that has him barely containing his eye roll while letting out a chuckle that eases any lingering nerves he has about the whole thing. After that he loses track of his friend, being passed around from family member to family member inquiring about his obvious lack of a date and plans for the future.

Eventually he finds himself at the bar finally shaking the grilling of his great aunt about the nice man from church she knows that’ll be perfect for him. Meliorn sidles up next to him flipping their complicated braid over their shoulder.

“Finally shake great aunt Emma’s love connection attempts?” they ask pausing for a moment to order two glasses of wine.

Alec nods taking a sip of his whiskey, “I thought I was going have to physically fight her to leave me alone.”

Meliorn hums in understanding. “Give her till the day after the wedding and she’ll be hounding Isabelle and I about having children, that should lighten the burden on you.”

Alec snorts. “Damn is she going to be more disappointed with that venture than she is with her failed attempts at setting me up with every gay man who so much as smiles at her.”

Meliorn smirks a little as he accepts the two glasses of wine from the bartender and turns out to face the dance floor.

“We’ve been debating whether lying and making her think we might have them or being truthful about our complete lack of ever wanting to procreate is better,” Meliorn says taking a sip from one of the glasses. He looks out at the dance floor watching mesmerized as Isabelle glides across the floor dancing with their little brother Max. Alec smiles, he’ll never stop being so endlessly happy for his little sister finding someone who adores her the way Meliorn does.

“Either way we’ll figure it out together,” Meliorn says finally pulling their gaze away from the dance floor. “Speaking of together,” he says looking over to the right where the singles table sits. “You should go check on your boy.”

Alec looks over and sees Magnus slumped over his head on the table and his fingers gliding along a few too many empty glasses.

Alec turns ready to correct Meliorn on the ‘your boy’ comment, but they’re already gone sliding over to hand the second glass of wine to Isabelle. It’s not the first time since Magnus moved back to New York that Meliorn or a number of others have made such a comment.

He and Magnus aren’t together, not like that. They’re old friends and that’s all. They’d met in college when Magnus had briefly dated Alec’s roommate, in the short tenure of that relationship they became closer than Magnus had with his roommate and from there they’d just stuck, their friends’ groups crossing over and even hooking up like Izzy and Meliorn eventually had.

Their friendship became distant after graduation though Magnus moving to London for work made them more email on your birthday friends than anything else, until nearly six years later he’d made his return to New York. They’ve been pretty tight since then, but more and more lately as all their college friends have paired off and they near thirty people seem to assume he and Magnus are a thing.

He’s not quite sure when the shift occurred for everyone else and why exactly it happened. He’s shaken from his thoughts about it however when he watches Magnus attempt to stand and he practically falls right back into his chair far less graceful than he usually is.

Alec discards his glass and heads for the table arriving just as Magnus attempts to stand again. Magnus stumbles a bit and Alec catches his arm just in time preventing the fall.

“Woah there, maybe it’s time we cut you off,” Alec says as he stabilizes Magnus.

Magnus looks up at Alec confidently. “I’m fine, Alexander,” he says closing his words out with a hiccup at the end.

Alec snorts. “Sure you are,” he says. “Let’s get you to your room.”

Magnus shakes his head furiously and then looks like he instantly regrets it pressing a hand to his forehead.

“Don’t have one,” Magnus says with an overexaggerated sigh.

“You don’t have-,” Alec starts and sighs. He shakes out his arm and looks at his watch. It’s nearing midnight, the reception is already pretty empty, his mom and Luke are some of the only one’s still here dancing with Max to a song he knows for a fact his little brother requested, and he’s fairly certain Isabelle won’t be offended if he takes his leave.

“Just wait here a second,” he says settling Magnus back down into his chair. Magnus salutes him playfully before resting his chin on his hands.

Alec walks over to where Isabelle is tangled together with her partner. Meliorn whispers something in her ear and she giggles into his shoulder. It’s such a beautiful, private moment that he loathes to intrude, but he also knows he’ll never hear the end of it from her if he just leaves without a word.

She waves him off before he can fully explain the situation getting up from her spot on Meliorn’s lap and hugging Alec tightly. He moves back over to the table where he left Magnus, ruffling his little brother’s hair as he passes by him.

Magnus hasn’t moved an inch and for a second Alec wonders if he fell asleep.

“Magnus,” he says startling him upward. He attempts to stand but sways a bit again and Alec puts an arm around his waist stabilizing him. “Come on let’s get you out of here.”

“So handsy,” Magnus says with a chuckle. Alec just huffs out a laugh and tugs him along. The hotel he’s staying in is luckily only next door and aside from stopping Magnus from chasing down a cat they see in the alleyway they make it there without incident.

They’re quiet as they walk into the lobby. Alec looks to the elevator a line of people waiting and sighs pulling Magnus along in the hopes that he can handle the stairs.

“Where are we going?” Magnus asks finally saying something as they start up the steps.

“My room since you didn’t deem to get one,” Alec says moving so Magnus goes up the stairs first that way he can catch him if necessary.

Magnus wiggles his eyebrows with a giggle and Alec just rolls his eyes once again at his drunk friend.

"And why didn't you get a room?" Alec asks as he helps Magnus up the stairs.

"Because I had intentions of catching the bus back tonight," Magnus says with a confident smile right before he stumbles over a step making his recovery look impossibly elegant despite his state. Alec holds his hands out hovering over him just in case, but Magnus keeps going. “Which I still could you know,” he adds on.

Alec shakes his head even though he knows Magnus can’t see him. “No way. It’s late and I am not letting you get on a bus alone and drunk, I already had to speak at a wedding I’m not speaking at your funeral too.”

Magnus snorts as Alec pulls them to a stop on his floor. “You’re not allowed to speak at my funeral, you’ll talk too long,” he says with a bright smile as Alec tugs him along down the hall to his room.

“Still on that, huh?” Alec says as he checks open the door with his shoulder and guides Magnus inside.

Magnus walks directly over to the bed and falls backwards onto it. He groans as he lays an arm across his eyes. “The singles table sucks, I wouldn’t have drunk so much if I wasn’t so heavily reminded of my terminal singlehood all night,” Magnus says with a sigh.

Alec walks over and sits down on the bed beside Magnus he reaches out a hand to pat Magnus on the shoulder the best he can.

“I get it,” he says sympathetically. He does get it, he’s been to his fair share of weddings solo, tonight he just had the luck of being a part of the wedding party instead of being relegated to a table with a bunch of other rejects he doesn’t really know. The older they get the more he realizes that he seems to be one of the only ones not settling down, each new wedding invitation he receives is a reminder that he hasn’t had a relationship go beyond a few dates in years.

Magnus sits up holding his stomach a bit as he does.

“I’m gonna get you some water,” Alec says heading to the bathroom he returns a moment later with a glass and some Tylenol in hand. He holds both out to Magnus and he takes them gratefully.

“Thank you,” he says before downing the whole glass of water and both pills.

Alec just nods and heads back into the bathroom to change into sweatpants and t-shirt discarding his suit. He grabs an extra t-shirt and some running shorts. He leans out the door and tosses them onto the bed beside Magnus startling him from another micro drunk nap it seems.

“You need to sleep,” he says. “Get changed, I’ll take the floor, you take the bed.” The last thing he sees before giving Magnus his privacy is a pout on his face as he looks down at the clothes beside him. He waits a few minutes before heading back out to find Magnus, clothes changed and sitting cross legged on the bed under the covers on one side.

He lifts his head up and smiles at Alec then immediately puts his head back down with a groan.

“You gonna be okay?” Alec asks as he walks over to the bed. Magnus just waves Alec off with a hand not lifting his head back up.

Magnus takes a moment to compose himself as Alec grabs the second pillow. He moves his bare feet and feels satisfied with the feel of the carpet under him as a sufficient place to sleep.

"Alec. Alexander. Alexander Lightwood," Magnus says after a few more beats his head in his hands.

"Are you just saying my name for fun or," Alec says trying not to laugh at Magnus as he struggles with his words lifting his head successfully this time.

"You can't sleep on the floor. You're 7 billion feet tall, you'll never fit," he says gesturing to the room at large.

Alec laughs at that and Magnus glares.

"One I'm literally only like four inches taller than you and two I think the floor has plenty of space," he says tossing the spare pillow down.

"Nope come on," Magnus says tossing aside the covers on the empty side of the bed.

Alec sighs. He knows he's not winning an argument with a drunk Magnus they may not have been bff’s in college but he's seen that determined blurry look in Magnus eyes before and he's lost the battle every single time be it over which drive through place to hit up or how many games of beer pong is too many games of beer pong.

He sighs picking up the pillow off the floor and throwing it and himself down dramatically next to Magnus.

"If you throw up on me I'll never speak to you again," Alec says as he gets comfortable.

Magnus rolls his eyes and settles down as well. "So dramatic," he says as he snuggles into his pillow. "I'll have you know Mr. Lightwood I haven't thrown up for any reason alcohol or otherwise related since 2003."

He reaches a hand across the bed bopping Alec on the nose. Alec scrunches up his face at the action as Magnus giggles, a cute little titter than Alec can't help but smile in response to.

"Vomit free since '03, my friend," he says proudly before promptly and immediately falling asleep.

***

The next morning Alec wakes up with Magnus impossibly sprawled sideways across the bed his legs strewn across Alec’s chest, his head dangerously close to falling off the side of the bed. Alec just shakes his head and slides out from under him heading downstairs to grab some of the continental breakfast for the both of them.

Magnus is awake by the time he gets back, looking impossibly good for someone who’s hungover and slept in their makeup. They eat quietly in companionable silence before Magnus drags himself into the shower.

Alec gets dressed while he’s in there forgoing a shower of his own in favor of getting on the road early so he can avoid any unnecessary traffic.

Eventually Magnus rolls out of the bathroom in the shirt and now wrinkled pants he’d worn to the wedding the night before and pair of sunglasses so large Alec has to laugh.

Magnus holds up a finger to him in warning and snatches the extra coffee Alec had picked up for him off of the tv stand before heading to the door.

Alec smiles, and only laughs a little bit all the way down to his car.

Magnus is quiet for the first hour or so of the drive sipping his coffee slowly and leaning his head against the window. Eventually he pushes the large sunglasses up on his head settling them in his messy, yet somehow still artfully styled hair.

“Thank you for last night,” Magnus says tilting his head to the side to look at Alec.

Alec shakes his head. “Don’t mention it.” He means it, ensuring the safety of his drunk friend isn’t a burden in any way.

“Well still, I didn’t intend to get so sloppy drunk last night and you saved me a lot of embarrassment and I appreciate it,” Magnus says.

“You may have not planned it, but I understand your reasoning. If it weren’t for the fact that I had to give that speech I would have been drinking right alongside you,” Alec says glancing at Magnus quickly with an understanding smile before looking back at the road. “I’ve got way too many of these things to go to this summer and I’m not looking forward to getting sat at the single’s table every time either.”

“I feel like I have like two dozen weddings to attend this summer alone, sadly you won’t be at every one of them to collect my drunk ass though,” Magnus says with a sigh.

“If you strategically plan out your drunkenness, I will be there for,” he pauses thinking in his head about the ones he knows they’ve both been invited to. “Five of them and I’ll make sure you don’t embarrass yourself too much. Well, at least not in front of anyone except me.”

Magnus laughs. “Ugh, from what I recall I wasn’t too bad, I’ve been worse,” he says in his own defense. “Hell, you’ve seen me worse.”

He has. Alec is to this day not a big drinker, but in college he always found himself dragged to some party with an empty red solo cup in his hand safely collecting his sister and friends at the end of the night.

“Like Omega-Phi senior year?” he says with a smirk referencing a specific evening he’ll never forget. Magnus however he knows doesn’t remember much at all, especially not the pants-less karaoke.

“How dare you?” Magnus says with a smile as he slaps Alec lightly on the chest.

“What was the song again, Spice Girls right? Not even one of their good songs too,” Alec teases, Magnus reaches out again smacking him a little harder this time. Alec playfully winces taking a hand off the wheel to rub at his chest as though it hurt.

“Spice Invaders is an underrated hit,” Magnus defends.

“It is called Spice Invaders it is absolutely not an underrated hit,” Alec says with a chuckle eyes on the road from the corner of his eye he sees Magnus roll his eyes.

They settle in quietly for a while after that Magnus looking brighter than he has since before the reception started the night before. They chat lightly for the rest of the drive on and off before Alec pulls up outside of Magnus’ building.

Alec gets out first, getting Magnus’ door for him. He stands gracefully not even needing the sunglasses anymore to block his eyes from the bright sun.

“So, I guess I’ll see you at Helen and Aline’s wedding in a couple weeks?” Alec says as Magnus stretches out his arms.

“Yeah, see you then,” Magnus says with a smile before turning and heading to his front door. Alec rounds his car once again when Magnus’ voice stops him as he opens the door.

“Alec?” he says turning back around the end of his sunglasses between his teeth clearly in thought. “What if we went together?”

“Went to what together?” Alec questions closing his car door and leaning his arms on the roof.

“Helen and Aline’s wedding, and well, all the other one’s too,” Magnus says stepping closer to the car. Alec raises an eyebrow and Magnus quickly adds on. “I mean as friends obviously, but we can mark the little date box on everything and not get stuck at singles tables.”

Alec takes a breath and thinks it’s not the worst idea. They’re close enough to keep each other company and play offense against any nagging relatives or friends that want to enquire on their singleness. Magnus is pretty much the only person outside of Isabelle he’d want to spend that much time with at events he only kind of wants to be at anyways.

“Plus,” Magnus continues on not realizing he’s basically already sold Alec on this idea. He reaches the car again and leans on the passenger side mirroring Alec. “We could split the cost on everything, rooms, travel all of it. Having a friend to get through it all and saving some money wouldn’t be so bad, right?”

Alec smiles with a shake of his head. “That’s a pretty great idea.”

“Really?” Magnus says a smile of his own forming on his face.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun taking on the hells of married people together,” Alec says. “Especially the straight ones.” He adds on with a laugh.

Magnus responds in kind before he rounds the front of the car, Alec does the same until they’re standing right in front of one another.

“So, be my wedding date for the summer?” he says holding out a hand to Alec with a smile.

“Only if you’ll be mine,” Alec replies taking Magnus’ hand with a soft agreeing grasp. And for the first time since each wedding invitation arrived in his mailbox he feels a little bit excited about attending each and every one.

***

Helen & Aline ~ May 15th, Napa Valley, California

Alec tosses his phone back and forth between his hands sitting on the edge of their hotel room bed. He hadn’t been expecting the news his mother just gave him. She’s getting married. It’s not that she and Luke haven’t been obviously in love for years now, but part of Alec thought she’d never take the full plunge again, not after how terrible her marriage to his father had been.

But she’s doing it and she’s not wasting any time already planning for the ceremony in October. More surprisingly she wants Alec to be her man of honor and to make a speech. It’s a big thing, a big thing that makes him even more nervous than speaking at Isabelle’s wedding did in some ways. For Izzy he had to get it right for what will hopefully be the only time, for his mom though this has to better than anything that was said at her first wedding considering how that turned out.

Magnus steps out of the bathroom looking damn good in white pants and a light blue shirt. Alec’s wearing a similar outfit just with a light pink shirt instead, as per requested by the dress code, and he feels like he looks ridiculous. Magnus looking as good as he does makes him feel this to be even more true.

“Everything okay?” Magnus asks nodding to the phone in Alec’s hand.

Alec nods. “Yeah, my, uh, my mom’s getting married,” he says and Magnus smiles. “She wants me to be her man of honor and give a speech and everything.”

“Woah, even after that long drudge at Isabelle’s wedding huh?” Magnus says jokingly.

“Ha, ha,” Alec says dryly with a roll of his eyes and Magnus just keeps that teasing smile as he rolls up the cuffs of his shirt.

“Let’s go we have to hike up like ten miles to get to the ceremony,” Alec says standing and pocketing his phone as he heads to the door.

Magnus follows and tugs the door closed behind him. “You’ll do great,” Magnus says more seriously, completely genuine as he reaches out flicking some invisible fuzz off of Alec’s shoulder.

Alec smiles thankful and holds out his arm for Magnus to take. Magnus doesn’t hesitate.

***

Alec and Magnus come to a stop when they reach the bottom of the hill that leads to the ceremony. Magnus slides his sunglasses down at the same time Alec does and admires the sprawling vineyard. Helen and Aline have gone all out or more likely it’s more Aline’s mother has gone all out. If she’s half as controlling now as she was in college, Alec assumes she did everything down to picking what underwear the brides are wearing.

“Who makes their guests walk a hill?” Magnus questions as a few other guests slip past them making their way up.

Alec shrugs and starts walking, Magnus falling in step right alongside. “You remember how Aline’s mom was in college, I’m sure she thinks this will build character for the guests or something.”

Eventually they make their way to the top of hill and find their seats. With all its sprawling beauty and extravagance the wedding is nothing but classy. Helen and Aline seem more and more in love every time Alec see them and in a way he envies that.

They have to make their way back down the hill for the reception and Alec only half-jokingly suggests that they just roll down. Magnus looks like he almost wants to do it.

For the most part the reception passes by quickly, they drink and catch up with old friends. Magnus even drags Alec out onto the dance floor a few times. It’s the most fun he’s had at a wedding in a while, all because he’s not doing it alone.

Every time the subject of his romantic life comes up Magnus is there to divert the conversation and Alec does the same for him, instead of being constantly reminded they’re single they have each other’s back the whole night.

“What about him?” Magnus says tilting his champagne glass towards the right. Alec’s eyes follow the motion to see a somewhat handsome dark-haired man at the end of the bar.

“I don’t know what about him?” Alec asks taking a sip of his drink.

“As a potential suitor,” Magnus says turning his attention back to Alec. “I figured being a decent wingman through this whole thing would be good compensation for the fact that I’m a bed hog.”

Alec snorts. There’s nothing in this world that would make up for that, that morning Alec had woken up with Magnus half on him and his own body half on the floor. Bed hog is an understatement to what Magnus somehow manages to do in his sleep.

Alec takes another look at the guy and grimaces a bit. “Pass, I try not to date men that look exactly like me,” he says. “Also, potential suitor, you’re such a nerd.”

Magnus flicks him on the shoulder for the nerd comment before taking another quick glance at the man at the other end of the bar.

“You’re right he’s like a less handsome you,” he says before scanning the room. “I’ll keep my eye out though.”

Alec has no interest in finding a potential suitor tonight, so he surprises himself and holds out a hand asking Magnus to dance just to distract.

***

“You know I’d say this was a complete success,” Magnus says later sitting cross legged on the bed while Alec packs for their departure the next morning. Magnus only teased him slightly for insisting to do this now and not wait till morning.

Alec looks up from his bag and smiles. “Yeah I had a lot of fun,” he says. Fun might even be underselling it.

“So,” Magnus says with a bright smile. “When’s our next wedding?”

***

Lydia & Raj ~ June 5th, Gatlinburg, Tennessee

“The gentlemen at the end of the buffet asked me to give you this,” Magnus says when he returns to their table holding out a pink napkin that smells of peonies to him. Alec takes it looking at a name and a few digits written hastily in black ink.

Lydia and Raj’s wedding has been a blast so far, everything here looks like a tricked out floral cabin and it’s perplexed them both to no end. The wedding itself has been the most heterosexual thing in human history, from the color schemes to the seventeen-tiered cake to the crazy scented napkins.

Alec never could have done this without someone else, specifically someone who’s not straight. Lydia has been a family friend since he was a kid, he’d even call her one of his closest friends if he really thought about it, but sometimes she’s so straight it baffles him.

Alec looks up at the buffet and sees the man in question, he’s tall, dark skinned and doesn’t look like Alec which is an improvement over Magnus’ attempt to get him laid at the last wedding. Alec vaguely remembers making some small talk with the man earlier in the night when Magnus had been engrossed in some conversation about art with Raj’s grandmother.

He gives Alec a bright toothy smile and Alec gives him a light one back pocketing the napkin. The guy seemed nice enough and is definitely good looking enough, but Alec doesn’t think he’ll actually utilize it. He isn’t however cruel enough to blatantly reject the man from across the room.

“I’m killing this wingman thing now,” Magnus says with a smile sitting down with a heavy plate of snacks for them to share. Under the plate is another napkin with the start of a number on it as well. Alec slips it out from under the plate and sees the name Abby written in bright red marker.

“Seems like you’re doing alright for yourself too,” he says handing the napkin over to Magnus. Magnus takes it from him with a shrug.

“The buffet was busy what can I say,” he says stuffing the napkin into his pocket carelessly. “Now try one of these little sandwich things, they’re to die for.” Magnus holds out one of the said tiny sandwiches for Alec and he leans over, Magnus popping the bite sized thing right onto his tongue with a smile.

They spend the rest of the night like that chairs close together, laughing and making up outlandish backstories for the stuffy rich people that surround them while snacking on every bit of free food that’s available to them.

“I’ve never seen a man look more like he’s the owner of a diamond encrusted toilet in my life,” Magnus says subtly pointing at a man on the dance floor who’s wearing an insane looking purple suit with a matching rhinestone hat. Alec’s not sure, but he thinks it might be Lydia’s uncle that runs a chain of furniture stores.

“Probably has a second one in gold too,” Alec says. Magnus laughs and looks down at their plate that’s been refilled too many times to count. The party is winding down, most of the guests starting to say their goodbyes and make their way back to whatever flowery cabin themed hotels they’re staying in.

It’s weird, but Alec kind of doesn’t want it to end, it’s something he’s never experienced with a night like this. It speaks volumes to the impact Magnus’ company is having on him.

***

The next morning they don’t even ask if the other had fun, it’s clear on their faces, it’s clear in the way Alec doesn’t even complain when he wakes up with Magnus hogging all the covers and his knee in his side.

This deal of theirs works, and it’s going to keep working for the rest of the summer without a doubt.

Magnus tosses a couple bottles of hotel shampoo into an open bag before he heads for the door his backpack slung over one shoulder. Alec looks around the room checking to make sure they haven’t left anything behind when he catches sight of the napkin from the night before on the nightstand and picks it up looking at the digits for a moment.

Magnus is already at the door back turned, his foot holding it open for Alec to follow. Alec looks at Magnus and then back down at the number. He bites his lip in thought for a moment before he crumples the napkin up and tosses it in the small garbage can by the table near the door.

He leans down to pick up their last bag that’s sitting beside it and catches sight of a second napkin next to his crumpled one. This one is barely folded with digits he doesn’t recognize on it and the last letters of the name Abby visible. He pauses with his fingers wrapped around the handle of the bag and looks up at Magnus who’s still standing in the doorway holding it open for Alec.

He thought that Abby was a sure thing, the woman coming around again later in the evening and asking Magnus to dance. Alec had seen them out there and for a moment thought he might be going back to their hotel room alone. He must have read it all wrong, he’s not quite sure why but he’s oddly pleased about that.

“You coming?” Magnus says turning back to look at Alec with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, yeah,” he says covering up his surprise at his find with a light cough and grabs the bag following after Magnus.

He allows himself a small smile all the way down the hall wondering if maybe he wasn’t the only one who had more fun with his wingman than anyone else last night. And that, that’s an interesting development.

***

Maia & Raphael ~ June 12th, The Ridge – Marshall, North Carolina

They spend the week between weddings constantly texting. Magnus is more than a little excited about this one it’s clear. Alec doesn’t know Raphael or Maia, but he’s heard a lot about them.

The flight to Asheville, where they’ll be staying and taking a wedding bus into Marshall for the actual ceremony and reception, is filled with Magnus telling Alec a thousand tales about the shenanigans he and Raphael have gotten up to over the years. Each new story, even if Alec doubts the full truth of some of them, makes Alec a little more excited for to meet him. Raphael is part little brother, part mentee to Magnus and it’s not lost on Alec that he’s delighted to see Raphael has found his match, found someone who doesn’t ask him to change anything about himself.

And his match she is, Alec sees it clearly when he meets the pair instantly getting along with the both of them. He and Raphael have similar grumpy demeanors that bonds them fast and Maia is a fiery soul that reminds Alec of his own sister. He gets Magnus’ love for them immediately and isn’t disappointed in the slightest when the four of them end up spending most of their time together.

They attend the rehearsal dinner for this one, while Maia and Raphael have opted for no wedding party Magnus is unofficially the best man. He gives a speech that night that sounds more eloquent than anything Alec could ever come up with. However, he doesn’t have it in him to not tease Magnus just a bit when he sits back down.

“Could’ve been shorter,” he says into his glass of water looking at Magnus playfully from the corner of his eye.

Magnus nudges him in the ribs lightly, “Shut it.”

The wedding the next night is beautiful. Maia and Raphael say I do just as the sun sets in a ceremony that is a perfect combination of Maia’s heathenism as she called it the night before and Raphael’s devout Catholicism.

Nothing is overly flashy or overdone despite the sprawling beauty of their location. The warm summer night drifts by easy and slow, Alec choosing to keep close to Magnus the whole night in favor of any sort of mingling.

“You two are great together,” Maia says smiling at Magnus and Alec as they chat with her under a sparkle of twinkling white lights.

“Oh we’re not together, together,” Magnus corrects her smiling at Alec quickly almost a little nervously before looking back at Maia. “It’s just like a friend thing, you know single people unite situation.”

“Right,” she says like she knows something they don’t know as her eyes pass between them. She doesn’t get to further on whatever it is she does seem to know though because Raphael finds them with a plate of food in his hands that he holds out to her like a precious diamond.

“Mi corazón,” he says looking at her with eyes so filled to the brim with fondness it seems almost impossible.

If he though Helen and Aline were in love-love these two are on another level entirely.

“Food! Real food,” she exclaims making grabby hands for the plate and digging in immediately. “You’re a saint, Raphael Santiago.” She adds on between bites.

Raphael rolls his eyes fondly wrapping an arm around her waist as she continues to eat. “I bring her one plate of rice and tamales and she’s putting me up for sainthood.”

They chat some more in the short time it takes for Maia to finish her plate of food before they re-enter the fray making their rounds to other friends and family. Magnus gets Alec out on the dance floor a lot as the night moves on.

First it’s a few fast songs that he just follows Magnus’ lead for and then a slow number that he can actually keep up with.

“I really like Raphael and Maia,” Alec says as they sway together, bodies close his hands linked together at the small of Magnus’ back.

Magnus smiles looking all too pleased. “Good, I’m glad,” he says slipping his hands down from behind Alec’s neck and to his shoulders. “They’re two of my favorite people in the world.”

Alec smiles, he can see why and says just as much. They fall back into a companionable silence after that just swaying to the sweet romantic song playing around them. He spots Maia and Raphael to their right not really dancing just holding each other and whispering things that makes the other laugh in each other’s ears.

“God they’re cute,” Magnus says looking at them too and then back at Alec. “I mean we’re cuter obviously,” he adds on quickly. “In a platonic adorable way of course.”

“Of course,” Alec says in agreement his eyes on Magnus. They hold each other’s gazes for a while till their swaying becomes more stagnant, more like they’re just holding onto one another.

“Alec,” Magnus starts and the music switches to something far faster paced, the dance floor getting a little more crowded. They pull back from one another and Alec lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck, a nervous gesture he rarely does these days.

“I’m gonna go, uh, get another drink,” he says and Magnus opens his mouth to saying something but stops and just nods as Alec walks away.

Alec leans against the bar waiting for the bartender to spot him and runs a hand through his hair. He’s not totally sure what just happened, but he’s pretty sure that had that song gone on a minute longer Alec might have kissed Magnus. A tension has been building between them since Alec saw that crumpled up napkin next to his in the trash in Tennessee.

First the texts got more teasing, then there was the trip here that was filled with such joy and openness. And now, now there’s this lingering between them. They’ve been doing this thing as friends, but this trip has felt different this trip has felt almost like they were a real couple.

It’s a dangerous line to be playing at if Alec’s the only one feeling this way.

“Wanna get out of here for a while?” Magnus says pulling Alec’s head back upright. He raises an eyebrow in question.

“Evidently there’s a pool connected to the little hotel down near where the bus will pick everyone up and some people were gonna head over,” he explains and Alec nods his head. If Magnus wants to get out of here, Alec does too.

The pool is probably the least fabulous thing about this whole space, but that doesn’t deter anyone from jumping in fully clothed. Magnus introduces Alec around to few people that he knows making small talk before he himself hops in. Alec makes camp in a plastic chair at the far end of the pool watching as people slowly pair off one by one drifting down to the bus stop.

His eyes for most of the time stay on Magnus, Magnus who does a few laps and then lifts himself up with strong arms to sit at the edge of the pool chatting with a curly haired woman that Alec can’t remember the name of. She reaches out and brushes her hand across Magnus’ exposed forearm when he says something that makes her laugh and it sparks a twinge of jealousy in Alec’s gut that he’s never experienced before.

Magnus meets his eyes when he slips back down into the water and Alec looks away quickly.

“Alexander,” Magnus says slowly in a way that Alec doesn’t have the ability to ignore. His eyes return to Magnus’ the makeup around them a little smudged from the water and his once spiky hair is completely flat and pushed back away from his face. He looks impossibly good in the artificial lighting around them.

Alec’s always been aware that Magnus was attractive, he has two perfectly functioning eyes after all. But now here in this moment he’s never been more aware of the fact.

“Come on, get in,” he says and Alec shakes his head. A few others are lingering at the other end of the pool, but for the most part it’s just them. Alec’s not even sure what time it is, his phone discarded with Magnus’ dead one behind him.

He stands crouching over beside the edge of the pool with a shake of his head.

“I’m good staying dry,” he says and Magnus lifts up onto his elbows on the edge of the pool pretty brown eyes shining up at Alec.

“Come on, five minutes,” he says with a tilt of his head. “For me,” he adds on sweetly and Alec can’t resist.

“Fine,” he says trying to sound put out, but coming off fonder than intended as he settles down on his butt and takes off his socks and shoes. He slides into the pool next to Magnus and turns to him.

“There, happy?”

Magnus pushes off the wall and swims over till he’s hovering in front of Alec. “Almost,” he says just before he reaches out putting both hands on Alec’s shoulders and pushing him down with all his strength.

He submerges Alec and then swims away with a laugh. Alec pops up from the water shaking his head out like a wet dog and chases after Magnus catching him at the center of the pool by the ankle and pulling him back.

Magnus doesn’t fight it, just lets himself be pulled until they’re face to face again splashing a little more water playfully at Alec’s face.

“Really, Magnus?” he says with a smile splashing back at Magnus a bit.

“Really,” he says with a chuckle swimming around Alec once until he settles back in front of him. Magnus lifts his right hand from the water and pushes back the trusses of wet hair that have fallen in front of Alec’s eyes. His fingers drag through Alec’s dark hair and slowly move down across the shell of his ear and down till it’s settled on Alec’s neck. Magnus’ thumb falls a bit rubbing slowly at his exposed collarbone where Alec’s unbuttoned his shirt, his tie long abandoned.

Alec’s not sure which one of them leans in first or if it’s a simultaneous reaction, but between one heartbeat and the next their lips are a centimeter apart just about to touch when a loud honk breaks them apart.

“The bus,” Alec says as Magnus curses under his breath. They both swim to edge quick grabbing their discarded phones and shoes and making a run for it.

The bus is pulling away just as they reach the sidewalk, just far enough away that no one inside can see them.

Alec holds out his phone and sees the time, it’s just past midnight, he doesn’t know where the time went or how he lost such track of it. Magnus puts a hand on his arm and he is reminded of just why he lost track of it in an instant.

“That was the last one wasn’t it?” he says and Alec nods. Magnus sits down on the curb and slips his shoes back on. “Guess we’re walking.”

Alec sits next to him and does the same before pulling his phone back out and pulling up his GPS. As soon as he gets it connected to their coordinates his phone screen goes black.

He curses and pockets the dead device looking around.

“Follow the lights that’ll take us back into the city,” Magnus says pointing in the direction Alec agrees might be their best bet. “Once we get back to street signs we can figure it out.”

“Yeah, okay,” Alec nods and starts walking. They’re quite all the way till they reach the city limits just walking and enjoying each other’s presence. Or at least he hopes that’s what they’re doing, he hopes this isn’t actually an awkward silence after what had almost happened in the pool and on the dance floor.

The area starts to get a little more familiar as they walk, but Magnus starts to slow down his feet clearly getting tired. Alec can understand why with the heel on his boots being what they are.

“Hey, let’s cut through this graveyard, I’m pretty sure it’ll get us to the hotel faster,” he says coming to a stop in front of the large stone wall of the graveyard. The gate is cracked open and while technically they’re not supposed to enter after hours he’s willing to take the shortcut for Magnus’ feet sake.

“Through a graveyard?” Magnus says a little hesitantly peeking into the gates.

Alec smiles stepping up to Magnus’ side. “What, you scared?” he teases.

Magnus turns his head giving him an offended look. “I’m not scared,” he says assuredly. “Just a little superstitious.”

He leans down using one hand to stabilize himself on Alec’s arm and slips off his first shoe then switches and does the same on the other side.

“Magnus what are you doing?” he asks as Magnus holds his shoes in his hand.

“If we’re cutting through a graveyard, we’re running and holding our breath,” he says holding out his free hand for Alec to take.

“Seriously?”

“Most seriously,” Magnus says wiggling his fingers for Alec to take. Alec huffs out a little laugh and twines their fingers together. They step up to the gate hand in hand pushing it open enough so they can both fit through side by side. Magnus takes a deep breath in, holds it and then they’re off.

The warm summer wind whips around them as they rush through the graveyard, bobbing and weaving around gravestones as they go. Alec has to take a breath when they narrowly dodged a large epitaph and laughs.

Magnus joins in with him just as Alec trips himself up over a small epitaph just barely sticking up from the ground and lands face first into the grass.

“Alexander!” Magnus startles as their hands separate. He falls to his knees at Alec’s side as Alec turns over looking up at the stars and then at something much brighter.

“Ow,” he says when he meets Magnus’ eyes. Magnus giggles falling down into the grass beside him.

“Well so much for getting through quickly huh?” he says between giggles and Alec can’t help but join in. Magnus rolls to his side, pushing up close against Alec. He lifts himself up on an elbow and looks down at Alec still giggling just a bit. He moves one leg to tangle with Alec’s.

It’s not the first time they’ve been this close, they’ve woken up in the same bed numerous times now and they were even closer than this not but an hour ago in the pool. But something about this, about this carefree laughter and silly superstitions feels even more intimate.

Alec lifts himself up just enough for their lips to meet. There’s no hesitation on Magnus’ end, their lips slide together slow and easy until Magnus’ tongue trails along the seam of Alec’s lips. He opens his mouth to Magnus easy and falls back bringing Magnus along with him.

Magnus moves with him like it’s as natural as breathing resituating himself until he’s straddling one of Alec’s thighs. He can feel Magnus growing hard against his leg as they kiss making Alec rut his own hardness up against him.

Alec lets his hands drift to Magnus’ waist untucking his shirt and letting his hands drift up to naked skin. Magnus moves his hands down as well unfastening Alec’s belt. Alec gets with the program working at the buttons on Magnus’ pants as well.

They pull back before either of them go any further a question in both their eyes.

“Can I?” they say at the same time and start laughing. Magnus presses his forehead to Alec’s as they laugh hands still lingering at the edge of his briefs.

“Yes,” Alec says enthusiastically when his laughter settles down. He leans in kissing Magnus fast and hard once before he pulls back again. “Yes.”

***

Alec wakes to the whirring sound of a lawnmower. He peels opens his eyes to see the blinding rising sun. Magnus is cuddled up against his side, his head on Alec’s chest. Alec lifts a hand smiling as he runs a hand through Magnus’ hair. For a moment he forgets where they are until the lawnmower gets far too close to his head.

Alec watches as a graveyard groundskeeper cuts around them like they’re just a part of the grounds and Magnus grumbles.

“Magnus,” Alec says shaking his shoulder gently. “We gotta go Magnus.”

He moves slowly lifting his head up from Alec’s chest and squinting at the sun. He looks beautiful in the morning light, all bleary eyed and sleep warm. Alec doesn’t remember falling asleep here, doesn’t remember much after his mind-blowing orgasm and the look on Magnus’ face as he followed close behind. Evidently though they fell fast asleep not long after that.

He smiles despite the grass stains no doubt on his clothes and the ache in his back from laying half on the corner of hard stone. Magnus sits up, Alec following along as they help each other stand. Magnus reaches out with a chuckle redoing Alec’s belt, thankfully they’d had enough energy the night before to tuck themselves back into their underwear at least not giving the graveyard groundskeeper an eyeful.

They cut the rest of the way through the graveyard, which yes it turns out actually would have been a shortcut to the hotel if they had made it all the way through, hand in hand giving a passing wave to the groundskeeper who barely chances them a glance. It makes Alec wonder just how many times he’s found living people fast asleep here.

They’re in a rush once they get back to the hotel cutting their checkout time close, so close that they don’t have any time to talk. By the time they get on the plane to head back home they’re both still so tired they fall asleep almost instantly.

They share a cab once they land back in New York and Alec helps Magnus gather his bags from the trunk as they both linger outside of his building.

“So,” he says handing Magnus his bag their fingers lingering a touch as he does.

“So,” Magnus says in reply an almost shy smile on his lips.

“We should probably talk,” Alec says with a huff. “Maybe we can get lunch tomorrow?”

“I’d love to, but I have to leave for that business trip,” Magnus says sounding disappointed.

“Right, London and you won’t be back until the day before Hawaii,” Alec says sadly. He’d forgotten about the two-week business trip that will keep Magnus away, it’s why they won’t be flying to Hawaii together for Simon’s wedding.

Magnus nods his head. “We can talk then though right?” he says.

“Of course,” Alec says. Two weeks is a long time for Alec to think about this nonstop, but he can handle it.

Alec hesitates for a moment not sure what to do next, Magnus makes the decision for him leaning up and pressing a light kiss to his lips before turning away with a wave and a goodbye over his shoulder. He gives Alec one last look over his shoulder as he enters his building winking as he goes.

Yeah, it’s gonna be a long two weeks.

***

Simon & Maureen ~ June 26th, Oahu, Hawaii

Alec lands in Hawaii and just like the past two weeks his mind is instantly on Magnus. It should probably be on their old college buddy and his pending nuptials, but frankly he couldn’t care less about Simon right now.

They’ve talked here and there over the past two weeks a few passing texts and funny photos, but they still haven’t really talked about what happened, about what exactly they are now.

They fucked in a graveyard and it’s fine, it’s not weird, it’s not consuming Alec’s every waking moment or anything. It’s not. It’s just consuming about half of his waking moments and yeah, his wet dreams have gotten a lot more specific and star the same gorgeous man now, but whatever it’s still totally not a big deal.

He's totally cool with however this goes down once Magnus arrives in Hawaii and they see each other face to face.

***

He’s too jittery and eager to see Magnus to hang out in their hotel room once he’s settled in. He sits outside of the hotel at one of the little tables for far longer than he should head perking up every time a cab pulls through and being disappointed each time it’s not Magnus.

Eventually at least for a little while he distracts himself with the book he brought down to at least create the illusion of doing something other than eagerly awaiting his dates arrival like a dog waiting for their owner to come home from work.

“Oh my god, Alec Lightwood is that you?” a familiar voice says. Alec looks up pushing his sunglass back up the bridge of his nose to find Magnus hanging halfway out of a cab window.

“Oh my god it really is you,” he says far louder than he needs to pushing open the door. Alec huffs a little laugh and stands making his way over to the cab as Magnus hands a tip to the cabbie who’s pulling his suitcase from the trunk.

Magnus turns his attention. “It’s been what ten years, Cabo right?” Magnus says exaggeratedly as he bounds up to Alec tossing his arms around him in a tight hug.

He pulls back with a smile. “You look so different, the doctors finally figured out what to do about that face huh?” A few other hotel guests eye them questionably at that, but Alec’s focus stays on Magnus.

Alec smiles playing along, “Just like they figured out what to do about that hairline of yours it seems.”

Magnus shimmies his shoulders playfully thanking the cabbie as he sits his bag down beside him.

“It’s a miracle the things they can do with horse manes these days,” he says and the cabbie startles giving them both an odd look before he’s backing away and retreating to the driver’s seat.

“Hi,” Alec says with a smile amused by Magnus’ antics.

“Hi,” he parrots back finally speaking at a socially acceptable level. He looks down at Alec’s hands and snatches the book he’s still holding onto. “Did you bring a book to a Hawaiian vacation?”

Alec shrugs. “I was bored,” he says in his own defense.

“Aww couldn’t have any fun without me?” Magnus says using his free hand to tangle his fingers with Alec’s.

Alec pushes up his sunglasses and smiles. “Something like that.” They stand there for probably longer than two people should smiling at each other and swinging their joined hands between them.

“Be a dear and get my bag,” he says squeezing Alec’s hand once. “You have to show me this beach view we’re paying for.”

Magnus doesn’t drop his hand all the way up to the room only separating himself from him when he catches sight of the big fluffy bed that Alec has yet to touch.

Magnus flops back onto it bouncing a bit as he lands. He spread eagles out moving his arms back and forth like he’s making a snow angel.

“Well this is fancy,” he says smiling as he lifts himself up from the bed. He takes a moment to look out at the view as Alec looks at him before he catches sight of the bouquet of roses and chilled champagne sitting on the table.

“Was this you?” he asks turning back to Alec.

“Complimentary for all the wedding guests, but I’ll happily take credit if it scores me some romantic points,” Alec says just putting it out there. He’s been thinking about this, about Magnus nonstop for two weeks now and even though he’s not sure why it’s happening now he’s okay with this happening. He wants to try this with Magnus, something about them has always clicked and now it just clicks a little more.

Magnus runs his fingers over the petals of one of the roses before stepping over to Alec wrapping his arms around his waist.

“The way you’ve been looking at me since I hung my head out of that cab is earning you more romantic points than this would anyway,” he says. Alec leans down just a little hesitant to place a light kiss to Magnus’ lips.

“About what happened in North Carolina,” Alec starts as he rests his hands on Magnus’ shoulders.

“I don’t regret it,” Magnus says quickly.

“Neither do I.”

“Good, so should we maybe do it again some time? Preferably not in a graveyard,” Magnus says his finger unlinking behind Alec’s back to rub up and down slowly. Alec tenses at that, if Magnus just wants to keep having sex Alec’s not sure he could handle that. As much as he wants Magnus he’s never been good at separating sex and feelings and there’s no way in hell he could do that with Magnus. They’ve become too tangled up in one another lately for that.

Magnus must sense his tension though because he quickly continues on. “And other stuff too, you know like hand holding, cuddling, double date brunches with people we really don’t like and low-lit dinners.”

“So, like a relationship?” Alec says lifting his hands to cup Magnus’ neck.

“Yeah, one of those,” Magnus says leaning in to Alec’s touch. “If you want to try.”

Alec nods his head maybe a little too enthusiastically and Magnus chuckles. “I want to try,” he says before leaning in to kiss Magnus again.

***

They wander around the hotel for a while after they talk Alec’s arm slung over Magnus’ shoulder and Magnus’ hand in one of his back pockets like they’re some sort of teen rom com couple. It’d be cheesy if Alec didn’t like it so much.

Magnus tells him all about being back in London and how it felt odd that it didn’t feel like home anymore, which makes Alec a little sad for Magnus, but happy knowing that it means Magnus is staying put in New York.

Eventually they head down to the hotel bar meeting up with one of Alec’s lacrosse buddies that Magnus had never met when they were all at college together and his fiancé.

“Say what you will about us as people, but a queer couple would never make you travel this damn much for a wedding,” Victor says resting his hand on Elias’ thigh.

“Clearly you weren’t invited to Lorenzo and Andrew’s Canadian dream then,” Alec says with a disgruntled sigh, he’s not looking forward to that one at the summer’s end.

Victor chuckles, “Matter of fact I was not invited to that one, Lorenzo still hasn’t gotten over the fact I shagged his fiancé three full years before they even met.”

“Well, then how’d Alec get invited to that one, he did the same thing?” Elias says twisting the umbrella from his drink between his teeth.

Magnus turns to Alec with glee. “You did what now?”

Alec shakes his head furiously. “I did not! Fuck you very much Elias, I have better taste than your fiancé does, I turned blondie down after he fairly aggressively hit on me ten seconds after Vic dumped him.”

“Damn,” Magnus says with a sigh leaning a little closer to Alec. “We could have caused a real scandal at that one if you had.”

“Okay Alec what the hell? Why did you never bring Magnus around to hang with us in college, he’s my new favorite person,” Victor says with a laugh. Magnus raises his glass in his direction in thanks.

“That’s exactly why. I needed you to be my friend so I could cheat off your math homework to stay on the team and you’d have ditched me to hang out with him without thought,” Alec says pointedly and Victor concedes with a ‘you got me there’ shrug of his shoulders.

They stay at the bar till late drinking out of coconuts and trading stories with Victor and Elias until the other couple decides to call it a night. They head back to their room and get into their pajamas falling into bed together. For a moment they stay on their own sides of the bed just like they always have when sharing a bed, or at least have when they first go to bed how they wake up is between their sleeping selves, until Alec reaches out for Magnus because he can.

Magnus shuffles up close to him until they’re chest to chest and they fall asleep tangled together purposefully for the first time.

***

"How tacky would it be to steal all of these towels?" Alec asks from the bathroom as he ties one around his waist. He’s happy, hasn’t been able to take the smile off his face since he woke up in the morning with his head on Magnus’ chest and his strong arms around him. "Cause they're like heaven sewn into a towel."

"It's only tacky if we get caught,” Magnus says turning away from the mirror where he'd been fixing his hair to face Alec as he steps out of the bathroom still in nothing but the towel.

"Cool, we're definitely stealing them all then," he says and stops when he notices Magnus’ eyes dropping down, lingering, ogling really. That's when it hits him Magnus has never actually seen him without a shirt on. He's had his hands on Alec's dick, but they're graveyard tryst hadn't exactly given them time to get naked anywhere above the waist.

"Sorry, I'm back," Magnus says after a moment shaking his head, pulling his eyes away from the dusting of hair on Alec’s chest and the stark black tattoo over his heart to force himself to look Alec in the eyes. "I support you in all your towel thieving endeavors" he says taking one last look at Alec's chest before turning and walking over to his suitcase rummaging through nothing. Under his breath Alec swears he hears Magnus say a quiet emphatic "damn," and maybe just a little Alec privately gloats about it.

He gets dressed quickly, he and Magnus moving in each other’s space easily with lingering touches and quick kisses. The wedding is a lovely affair, Simon stumbles over his vows and Maureen doesn’t mind, she just laughs when a particularly hard wind comes through and nearly blows Simon’s yarmulka off his head catching it and pinning it back into his hair softly.

They spend the ceremony like a real couple, which ironically isn’t all that different from the way they were at the last wedding. They do shots with Victor and Elias and Alec gets to taste the tang of lime on Magnus’ lips when they’re done.

They slow dance a little slower and kiss this time though which is nice and when Magnus feeds him hors d'oeuvres he playfully bites at Magnus’ fingertips.

They don’t linger long at the reception both equally as eager to get back to their room and be alone. They don’t waste any time when they get there the door shut firmly behind them without pause. Alec pushes Magnus up against the closed door without hesitation kissing him for all he’s worth and pushing at his jacket.

It doesn’t take long for them to fall into bed both completely naked.

Magnus' reaction to Alec's bare chest pales in comparison to the no doubt slack jawed look Alec is sporting now. Alec's never seen anyone who looks like they were actually cut from marble before, Magnus' chest is like a damn Greek god. He always knew Magnus was fit could tell from the teases of skin he's seen over the years when Magnus would sport something particularly low cut, but the glimpses never could have prepared him for the full view. Alec dated a literal male model for a brief time a few years ago and even he couldn’t hold a candle to every bit of downright gorgeous that Magnus is. If Alec ever had any doubts that he was gay the vision of a naked Magnus straddling his lap makes him 1000% certain.

It's intense, but in the best possible ways. If they're graveyard quickie hadn't left Alec's mind for weeks this, this is going to be imprinted in his mind for the rest of his life. It's just him and Magnus and endless hours on soft sheets. He put his lips on every inch of Magnus' skin committing every pleased sound to memory, runs his hands over every dip and curve making a pathway he hopes to memorize as he goes. He gives it all, puts his whole self into making Magnus feel good. And Magnus, goddamn does Magnus give right back.

All it takes is one full night together and he's pretty sure Magnus has ruined him wholly and completely for any other man.

***

The glow of them being together doesn’t fade away when they get back from Hawaii like Alec feared it might. Dating Magnus in the city is just as good.

They get takeout and watch bad tv together on his couch, they even manage to get drinks with Izzy and Meliorn one night. It’s an easy thing almost like they’ve been double dating for years.

It’s all so easy the transition from friends to couple and for a good long while Alec doesn’t even get in his own head about how easy it’s been.

***

Lorenzo & Andrew ~ July 3rd, The Royal Conservatory of Music – Toronto, Canada

“I’d bet Andrew cheats on him before they hit their second year,” Alec says idly watching the couple as Lorenzo snips at something Andrew says.

“Alexander,” Magnus says chidingly stealing away his glass of champagne and sipping from it. “You can’t say that at their wedding, it’s so cynical.”

“Oh I can and I just did,” he says with a smile stealing his drink back from Magnus.

“Just because they’re,” Magnus pauses looking at them as Lorenzo straightens out Andrew’s tie, Andrew looking increasingly annoyed at Lorenzo’s micromanaging. “Unconventionally happy, doesn’t mean it’s doomed.”

“True,” Alec says sliding his glass back over to Magnus after he takes a drink of his own. “It’s doomed because Andrew has the ability to commit to monogamy the way a shark can commit to giving up living underwater, just ask Victor, and Lorenzo is an overbearing windbag.”

Magnus snorts covering his mouth to hide his obvious laughter. Alec smiles wrapping an arm around Magnus’ waist and pulling him closer to his side. This wedding has been ridiculous, a tacky nightmare of two personalities that clash so much Alec can’t fathom how they lasted this long. If it weren’t for the open bar, the giant complimentary gift basket back at their hotel room and the way Magnus looks in his auburn suit Alec would be questioning why they even made this trip all the way out here.

“You wanna get out of here soon?” Magnus asks discarding their shared glass on a passing ornate tray with a smile.

“Definitely, but I’m gonna steal some more of those shrimps before we go though,” Alec says already heading for the buffet with full intentions to stack a plate as high as he can and feed them to Magnus in bed.

***

Ragnor & Catarina ~ July 17th, San Francisco, California

Alec doesn’t realize he’s nervous about the San Francisco trip until he lands in San Francisco. This isn’t just some wedding of a college friend; this is meeting Magnus’ family. This is Magnus’ hometown; his sister is getting married to one of the friends he met in London that made London feel like home right in his mother’s backyard.

This is more than a wedding; this is Magnus bringing Alec home to meet his family like real boyfriend’s do. This is five days of Magnus showing Alec the places he liked to go to when he was younger, telling him stories about the streets where he used to ride his bike. This is what Alec does every day they spend together in New York when they pass by some place he has a memory, but packed into just five days. Even more so it’s Magnus really showing Alec a piece of him he’s never gotten to see. This is a man who despite his outward life of the party vibe is actually quite closed off saying to Alec here I am please still like what you see.

This is serious, because they are serious now Alec realizes, with each passing day Alec becomes more and more infatuated with his boyfriend. He won’t say he’s in love just yet, but that’s what this is.

“They’re gonna love you,” Magnus says reassuringly as they stand on the front steps of his childhood home.

Alec looks at him and lets out a deep breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

“Mom’s gonna love you instantly it’s in her nature and Rag and Cat will hound you but I promise it’s only because they’re tired of hearing me talk about you,” Magnus says squeezing his hand once. “You got this.”

Alec nods his head and takes another deep breath before putting on his best win the boyfriends family over smile. Magnus smiles a happy little smile at him before pushing the front door open and pulling Alec inside.

In an instant there’s a woman turning the corner with a big, bright smile on her face rushing towards Magnus.

“My baby!” she shouts barreling into him and holding him tight. A little too tight it seems judging from struggling, but fond look on Magnus’ face.

“Hi mama,” Magnus says when she finally pulls back. She lifts up a hand and pats him on the face once before running her fingers along his goatee.

“This is new,” she says observing the look. “It suits you.” Magnus smiles pleased.

His mother turns from him and sets her eyes on Alec seriously looking him up and down once, twice before turning back to her son. Magnus looks so much like her and it’s especially clear in the way she looks when she’s in deep thought, sizing up something or someone and forming an opinion. He’s seen that exact look on Magnus’ face a number of times, even on himself when they met for the first-time years ago.

“So tall, and quite handsome,” she says turning back to Magnus with another big smile. She turns away from him and puts her arms around Alec pulling him into a hug. She’s about the same height and build as his mother when she doesn’t wear those sensible heels she’s prone to so Alec’s reaction to hug her back is immediate.

“I’m Nadira. It’s nice to meet you Alec,” she says pulling back from him. “Well I guess meet you again. Drop your bags, come along I’ll get you some tea.”

She grabs Magnus’ hand and gestures for them both to follow her along into the kitchen.

“You remember the first time?” Alec says as he trails along after them. She pulls out two chairs for them to sit in and gently pushes them forward to take a seat as she flits about the kitchen fetching them some tea.

“Of course,” she says as she turns around attempting to juggle three mugs. Alec jumps up to help her and she smiles at him in thanks when he takes two of the mugs, keeping one for himself and handing Magnus the other.

“So, polite,” she says with a smile towards Magnus before she takes her seat. “Anyways, yes I remember you. You were still growing into that handsome face, but just as polite that parent’s weekend at NYU. All of Magnus’ other friends were hooligans, but you called me ma’am and held doors open for me.”

Alec smiles putting his hands around his mug. “I was just doing what any decent person would.”

“Exactly, it made you stand out,” she says. She reaches out laying a hand on one of Magnus’. “Plus you two were so cute together, I’m surprised this,” she says gesturing between them. “Didn’t happen sooner.”

Alec looks at Magnus unsure of what to say. People here and there have been saying as such since they officially got together in Hawaii and Alec to started to wonder about it himself.

Magnus just shrugs. “I guess we happened when we happened,” he says and then the conversation shifts. Magnus and his mom catch up while she asks questions here and there of Alec wanting to get to know him better.

***

“So, do my west coast ways live up to your east coast snobbery?” Magnus teases as he kicks his legs out swinging them back and forth.

They’re sitting on the edge of his and Catarina’s childhood “treehouse” it’s more of a cabin than a treehouse really, but any argument about the semantics of its design died on Alec’s lips when he saw his boyfriend and Cat jump inside both really too tall to fit now but squeezing in anyways. Magnus had just looked so damn carefree and happy that Alec couldn’t stop smiling.

From there they’ve spent two days just exploring the city, Magnus taking Alec to all his favorite spots, showing him the little corners that tourists don’t get to see that he and Cat would spend hours just wasting time away in.

Of course there’s been wedding duties and huge family dinners as well that have felt so easy. Cat and Ragnor have welcomed him in like family just as Magnus’ mother had from moment one.

Alec laughs. “With the food your mother has been feeding me alone, and you can never tell my born and bred New York family this, I would happily convert into a California guy.”

Magnus smiles one of those private bright little smiles he does and wraps his arm around Alec’s leaning his head on his shoulder.

Alec places a kiss on his hair and smiles. Things with Magnus are just so easy, sometimes he wonders if it’s almost too easy.

***

The night before the wedding is a frenzy of decorating the backyard and attempting to the cover it all with tarps in the hopes no raccoons will wreak havoc on their hard work. Magnus is moving nonstop, Alec isn’t even sure what he’s doing half the time, but he watches from the sidelines fondly lending a hand whenever his height is needed.

“Well you’re in love-love with him then aren’t you?” Ragnor says coming up behind Alec and startling him from his post happily just watching Magnus flit about the backyard. He turns to Ragnor stumbling over his words a bit.

“It’s not like, we’re not,” he says and Ragnor just waves him off with a chuckle and an amused shake of his head.

“Sure you’re not,” he says. Alec starts to try and explain, it’s not that he’s not very fond of Magnus and it’s not that maybe he’s there already, but it’s too soon. It’s way too soon to be showing his hand like that, things have gone so smoothly so far he’s certain dropping the L word so quickly would not be the right move.

But he doesn’t really get the chance to say any of that, which is probably for the better, because Catarina calls out for her husband to be across the lawn.

Alec leans back against the railing of the back porch again and finds Magnus once more. He’s crouched down talking to one of the daughters of an old childhood friend of theirs. Magnus says something that makes the little girl giggle before handing her a twisty little bouquet of flowers that he has in hands.

The scene makes Alec smile and just like that he realizes Ragnor is right, but it can’t be that easy can it? Nothing is ever this easy.

He knows he’s distracted the rest of the night thinking about Ragnor’s words and his own realization.

It’s not until they’re alone in Magnus’ room that he finally snaps out of it his attention solely on Magnus when he crawls onto the bed and straddles Alec’s waist. He trails his hands slowly up under Alec’s shirt and leans down placing a light kiss in just the right spot on Alec’s neck.

“Magnus,” Alec says trying to sound put out while turning his head to give Magnus more access to the long line of his neck.

“Alexander,” Magnus says breathy and warm against his neck before pressing another slow sweet kiss there.

“Magnus we can’t have sex in your childhood bedroom,” Alec says looking around the space, he makes eye contact with Magnus’ plush llama and shakes his head. Magnus lifts up his hands still on Alec’s chest.

“Why not?” Magnus pouts and oh, boy Alec is going to have a hard time standing his ground here.

“Because your llama is watching me and your mom is down the hall,” he says sitting up so that he and Magnus are nose to nose. It’s a bad idea because now his resolve is crumbling even more with Magnus’ lips so close to his.

Magnus leans over for a second knocking the llama to the floor.

“One problem solved,” he says with a smile. “As for my mom wells she’s a heavy sleeper, don’t worry I used to sneak out all the time and she never knew. As long as you can stay quiet we can do this, baby.”

Alec scoffs. “Me stay quiet?” he says incredulously. “As if I’m the loud one, I thought for sure you’d end up waking the dead in the graveyard that night.”

Magnus chuckles resting his forearms on Alec’s shoulders. “Okay so we’re both a little rowdy, it’ll be a fun game to play see if we can both stay quiet.”

Alec sighs and feels his resolve completely crumble when Magnus leans in and brushes their noses together.

“Fine, but one loud noise and I’ll leave you wanting,” Alec says flipping them over so that he’s hovering over Magnus.

Magnus hums pleased. “Keep talking like that and this won’t last long.”

Alec rolls his eyes fondly then kisses Magnus all messy tongue and teeth letting himself get lost in it, letting himself drown out the little voice in the back of his head that’s saying he can’t be this happy by accident, that somethings gotta give.

***

Alec promises himself that he’s not going to overthink for the day and somehow he manages to keep that promise. He ties Magnus’ tie for him in the morning and just basks in the closeness of it, he helps Nadira set out food for the reception and sings along when she starts her own little karaoke party.

He lives in the moment for the day, just like he had when things with him and Magnus first started, when he wasn’t overthinking how this happened and what could go wrong.

The wedding is by far the nicest one he’s been too of late because of its simplicity. There’s no flash or fanfare, Cat wears a dress she borrowed from her adoptive mother and looks more beautiful than any bride ever has. Ragnor dresses like a librarian and says vows that Alec can’t believe aren’t prepared. They’re incredibly in love and happy in the backyard where Cat and Magnus used to play and it’s perfect.

“Thanks for coming,” Magnus says while they sway on the deck of the treehouse, some slow 90’s song Alec doesn’t recognize but Magnus had gotten insanely excited about playing in the background. The lights in the yard twinkle in Magnus’ eyes and here in this moment it kind of feels like they’re the only ones here despite being surrounded by dozens of people.

“I know this was probably a lot with the whole family and everything, so thank you,” he says quietly tightening his arms around Alec’s waist.

Alec shakes his head. “You don’t have to thank me, I wanted to be here. With you. This wasn’t a lot, you’re not a lot,” Alec says truthful. Whatever the hell has sparked his sudden brain melt about this being so good and thinking it can’t be this good has nothing to do with Magnus or his family being too much for him to handle.

Magnus smiles at him pleased and a little surprised which makes Alec want to fight anyone that ever told him he was too much to handle.

“Good, that’s good,” Magnus says before laying his head on Alec’s chest. They stay like that for a long while, well after the song has switched to something more upbeat.

***

The five days in San Francisco move by almost too quickly. Before Alec knows it he’s getting another massive bear hug from Nadira and being handed a massive bag of leftovers that he has to load into the car. Leftovers that he knows they will absolutely confiscate at the airport, but he appreciates the thought nonetheless.

He shuts the trunk and leans back on it watching as Magnus says goodbye to his mother and now in this moment he’s back to slipping into his own head.

Alec looks at Magnus and he realizes he’s doing that thing he does. That thing where he questions something good that happened without any rhyme or reason, without him having to put any work in to make it happen. He’s the happiest he’s probably ever been and he’s questioning it, he’s questioning why it’s happened when it’s happened and what will inevitably go wrong.

He doesn’t want to do that with this, but he can’t seem to stop it creeping in.

***

Victor & Elias ~ July 31st, Brooklyn, New York City

“Earth to Alexander,” Magnus says waving his hand in front of Alec’s face. Alec shakes his head, once again overthinking just like he has been on and off since San Francisco. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Alec says smiling so that Magnus doesn’t worry. Again this is all Alec’s dumb head, Magnus doesn’t need to worry about it. “Of course, ready to go?”

Magnus nods and holds out his hand for Alec to take. Tonight’s not technically a wedding Victor and Elias just didn’t care about the fanfare of it and plan to at some point get down to the courthouse, tonight is just for bringing them presents and drinking on a rooftop.

Magnus talks all the subway ride to the party telling Alec about a guy he works with who made a fool of himself earlier in the day. Alec listens like he always does, but he finds himself drifting.

He continues to drift when they hit the party only halfheartedly putting his energy into conversation with Victor and playful photobooth pictures with his boyfriend. Magnus notices of course giving Alec all these concerned looks as the night goes on.

“Or at least that’s what I heard,” Victor says finishing up on the rumor he’s heard about Lorenzo and Andrew already having problems.

“Well damn, looks like your cynicism was not misplaced,” Magnus says nudging Alec’s shoulder. Alec just hums into his glass in agreement. He doesn’t want his cynicism to be right, because if his cynicism about that was right then what if it’s right about how they’re relationship has been too easy so far. He wants to be wrong about that.

“Okay, what’s up with you?” Magnus asks turning his body to Alec. Alec looks up from where he’d been gazing off into his empty glass to find Victor and Elias gone.

“Nothing,” Alec says pushing back from the table. “You wanna dance?”

Magnus gives him a somewhat incredulous look. “Now I know it’s not nothing you never dance unless I make you, so what’s going on. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you’ve been having these moments where you’re so distracted ever since Cat and Ragnor’s wedding, so tell me what’s going on.”

He takes one of Alec’s hands in a tender hold and Alec says the wrong thing.

“Do you think we happened too easily?” he asks and instantly wants to put the question back inside his mouth.

“What?” Magnus says dropping Alec’s hand.

“I just, fuck,” he says running a hand through his hair. Now that he’s opened his mouth he can’t seem to stop. “Everyone seems to think we should have gotten together ages ago and I just can’t help but wonder why now and then it’s been so easy, so goddamn easy being with you.”

“And that’s a problem?” Magnus says. He sounds angry, not that Alec can blame him for that, but he’s keeping his tone controlled making sure to not draw attention to them.

“Yes, no, I don’t know,” Alec says his hands moving as he talks. “I mean good things don’t just happen and if they do I mean somethings bound to give right.”

Magnus laughs humorlessly stepping back a bit from Alec. “So what we’re doomed because we’re happy?”

Alec shuts his eyes in frustration for a moment trying to collect his thoughts to actually say something right.

“No, that’s not what I mean, I guess I just wonder if this is too good to be true,” he says dropping his arms to his side feeling a little defeated. That’s not what he wanted to say, that’s not how he should have worded it. He’s in love with Magnus and he’s scared that something is going to go wrong because it’s all gone so right so far and he didn’t even have to try to make it that way, that’s what he should say but he can’t seem to get any of that out.

“No I don’t think that, god Alec where is this coming from? All this time you’ve been here with me you haven’t questioned it, you haven’t second guessed it, so why now huh?”

Alec opens his mouth and nothing comes out so Magnus soldiers on.

“I mean do you want this to end is that what you’re saying?” Magnus asks a sad look in his eyes that Alec hates he’s the one responsible for putting there.

“No, that’s not-“ he starts and stutters out uncertain of what to say to fix this. Of course he doesn’t want this to end, that’s the last thing he wants that’s why he can’t stop thinking about losing it. He’s not lost on the irony that he was in his head about this falling apart because it’s been so easy and here he is the one making it fall apart because he can’t get out of his own head.

“Why are you suddenly questioning this Alec?” Magnus almost shouts.

“I-” Alec stutters out frustrated with this argument and with himself for starting it, for not being able to turn off his damn brain just once. Just for this one thing, this one good thing. “I don’t know,” he settles on running a hand through his hair tugging a little too hard at the ends of it.

Magnus huffs and just shakes his head. “Okay, well when you figure it out, give me call,” he says turning to leave. “But don’t wait too long, I know I won’t.” He moves fast turning for the exit before Alec can even get out another word. Before he gets the chance to say something to maybe convince him to stay.

Not that Alec has the words, he’s doing what he always does. He’s blowing up a good thing because he can’t figure out quite how he earned it.

***

Sebastian & Kaelie ~ August 7th, Lakeville, Connecticut

He doesn’t want to be here. He doesn’t want to be anywhere, really. He wants to sit at home and wallow in his sadness and think about all the things he should have said to Magnus and didn’t, about the fact that he hasn’t mustered up the courage to call him because he’s now worried he’ll just keep saying all the wrong things but Isabelle won’t let him. So now he’s watching two people he only kind of knows through family connections get married and he’s doing it all alone.

Despite the fact she quite literally dragged him from bed to be here Alec doesn’t talk to Isabelle the whole day. Every question she asks about Magnus or what happened he brushes off. He huffs his way through the ceremony his arms crossed and a no doubt upset look on his face. When Kaelie’s vows talk about timing and how it’s random sometimes it hits a little too close to home and he just barely refrains from getting up and jumping into the nearby lake.

Everything at this wedding sucks without Magnus so to make up for it the second vows are exchanged Alec is at the bar. It becomes his go to spot ignoring the concerned looks from his sister and ordering drink after drink. He orders a few more when they find their way to their table and he sees the little place setting beside his with Magnus’ name. He crumples up the paper and shoves it into the bottom of a glass of whiskey and still drinks it anyways.

The sun is still high in the sky and Alec is well and truly wasted sipping on his he doesn’t even know what number drink of the day at their little table.

He looks down at his glass determined to refill it and stumbles as he gets up from the table. Izzy is at his side instantly gripping his arm.

“Okay, that’s enough of that for you big brother,” she says taking the half empty glass from his hand. “Let’s get you some water.”

Meliorn stands at his other side and takes his other arm. “Let me take him.”

Alec watches as they have some sort of silent married people conversation with each other, he tries to open his mouth to defend himself, he’s not their child he doesn’t need them to take care of him but the second he starts to Isabelle is covering his mouth with her hand.

He sighs behind her hand and evidently their silent conversation is over. Izzy lets his arm go and nods at her partner.

“Get him some damn mints,” she says before sitting back down at the table. “His breath smells terrible.” Meliorn chuckles dragging Alec off to the side and through the little pathway that leads to a series of benches.

They sit Alec down and sternly tell him not to go anywhere. Alec waits till Meliorn is out of sight and tries to stand an action he regrets instantly when he feels everything start to spin. He barely manages to fall back onto the bench his head in his hands

“Drink this,” Meliorn says holding out a glass of something that smells of vinegar to him. Alec takes a sip and instantly grimaces regretting the day he met Meliorn.

“All of it,” Meliorn chides giving Alec a look that’s very akin to the ones he’s received from Isabelle since childhood when she means business. Alec grumbles a bit but complies downing the whole disgusting glass.

When he’s finished it down to the last drop he must admit he feels better, clearer, even if there’s a putrid taste lingering in his mouth.

“What was that?” he asks wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“A mix of kombucha and some other things, a guaranteed instant sober cocktail I invented,” Meliorn explains taking the empty glass and sitting it on the ground beside them.

“Does it make people instantly sober because they want to be clear headed enough to punch you in face for making them drink something so disgusting?” Alec says still attempting to wipe the taste away.

Meliorn chuckles and gives him that I know more than you do look he gives sometimes. “Sometimes,” he says before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a water bottle and handing it to Alec. He takes it gratefully chugging it down and swishing some around for good measure in the hopes that it can wash the taste away.

“So, shall we talk about what’s going on with you and Magnus?”

Alec shakes his head. “There’s nothing going on with me and Magnus.”

“Yes, that seems to be the exact problem,” Meliorn says brushing their hair over their shoulder. It’s blue now a change from the last time he saw them. “So, what happened? Isabelle and I are very concerned, especially after that little display.

“How did you choose to marry my sister so easily?” he asks evading Meliorn’s question. They hadn’t hesitated when Isabelle had proposed on a whim after six months of dating. Alec can’t even get out of his head enough to make a relationship that could be the most important one he’ll ever have last a whole summer.

“I just did,” Meliorn says magnanimously.

“You just did?” Alec says laughing a little hysterically. “That’s it? God, I wish it was that easy, I wish I could just make a choice and not question it. In my head something doesn’t just happen, you don’t just do it. There’s work and there’s planning and if there’s not then the other shoe is always going to drop eventually.”

He runs a frustrated hand through his hair wishing Meliorn hadn’t sobered him up so easily.

“Alec loving someone sometimes just is, it’s not that there isn’t work you have to put in because there is, but sometimes things just happen and maybe the other shoe, as you say, will drop, but when it does you’re not alone,” Meliorn says. He reaches out a comforting hand resting it on Alec’s shoulder, it’s a rare moment of touch for them aside from when they first met and shook hands.

“And what do you do if you’re the one who dropped the damn shoe?” he says.

Meliorn drops his hand and stands up from the bench. “I hate the metaphor, but you pick it up and tell the person you love you’re a cynical asshole who is very sorry.”

He walks away at that leaving Alec alone on the bench with his lips turned up just a bit in a smile. He thinks about what Meliorn said in his own unique way and with a bottle of water in his hand and the lingering taste of vinegar hell in his mouth he decides to take their advice.

He might not be able to stop being a cynical asshole but at the very least he can tell Magnus what’s been running through his head, how he got scared and questioning because he’s a little messed up when it comes to these things. He doesn’t know if he stands a chance, it’s been a long week of radio silence that Alec himself has caused, but he’s determined to at least try to explain. To find the words that he couldn’t that night when Magnus walked away.

***

Bat & Gretel ~ August 14th, Queens, New York City

Alec technically wasn’t invited to this wedding, he knows that. He was just supposed to be Magnus’ date and that’s it, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hang around outside in a suit with a bouquet of Magnus’ favorite flowers hoping to catch the other man.

He thought about doing this some other way, but calling or texting seemed empty. Showing up without warning at Magnus’ apartment felt like a thing he just wasn’t allowed to do right now, so he decided to be here. Maybe in its own little way it’ll be romantic showing up at a wedding with some flowers since this has become their thing now, since weddings are what got them started in the first place.

Thanks to the fact that all of Magnus’ friends follow him on social media now he knows the wedding is still on and Magnus is still very much going, it’s just a matter of catching him at the door.

He’s spent a week planning what to say, planning exactly how to tell Magnus why he got so in his head and why he blew it all up and vow to do better. He also really needs to tell Magnus he loves him because it feels so stupid that he never did.

He wrings his hands as he waits leaning up against the wall outside of the church he smiles politely at guests who pass him by twisting around every time he hears a car door to see who’s getting out of the next cab.

What seems like hours pass as he waits until finally a cab door opens and Magnus steps out. He looks gorgeous and Alec’s never been so certain of the fact that absence makes the heart grow fonder because god he has never felt so much from just looking at person before. He stands up straightening out his jacket and double checking that the flowers are still intact and that’s when Imasu rounds the cab from the other side.

He doesn’t hold Magnus’ hand or offer his arm, but it’s clear they came here together. Off all the fucking people in the world it had to be Imasu. Magnus could have showed up with the ghost of Stalin and Alec would have been less annoyed.

Alec watches as Imasu looks Magnus up and down, a borderline predatory smirk on his lips. Alec wants to scream, to run and to punch Imasu for this and about a million little things over the years all at the same time. Magnus smiles at something Imasu says and he knows it’s not physically possible, but he feels his heart fall right from his chest.

“Shit,” he says to himself; this was clearly a mistake. He tries to move fast, turning around to find a place to discard the flowers and get lost before Magnus can spot him.

“Alec?” Magnus says and Alec hears his footsteps getting nearer, there’s no making a run for it now.

“Shit,” he whispers to himself again before putting on a brave face and turning. He does his best to keep the flowers behind his back out of sight and out of mind, but Magnus notices them his eyes trailing across the tulips.

“Hey, Magnus,” he says trying to come off casual and missing by a few thousand miles.

“Alec, what are you doing here?” Magnus asks and Alec for the life of him can’t read him. He’s more closed off than even when they first met in college. Alec can’t blame him for that, he’s the reason he’s put back up the wall, but it makes his heart clench.

“I am here to give these flowers to,” he pauses looking around and catching sight of a little girl who’s just about to walk past them. “You, here you go kiddo.”

The little girl smiles up at Alec and takes off with bouquet calling out to her mother excitedly.

“You’re here to give Gretel’s little sister flowers?” Magnus says his arms falling to the side.

“Yup and that’s done so, I should go,” he says with a nod trying desperately to ignore Imasu.

He starts to move, but Magnus shifts just enough blocking his path. “That can’t be the only reason you’re here.” The walls fall a bit at that, Magnus’ eyes looking a little softer at him.

Alec sighs sadly. “It’s not, but the other reason doesn’t matter now I guess.”

“Of course it still-” Magnus starts, but he’s cut off by Alec’s phone ringing. Alec curses under his breath once again and pulls it from his jacket pocket.

“Hey, mom,” he says as he answers it his eyes still locked onto Magnus’ like it’s the last time he’ll get to see them. On the other end his mom is talking fast, way faster than she usually does. So fast that he has to have her repeat what she says three times before he believes it.

He hangs up a few beats later his mom giggling away on the other end.

"I gotta go. My mom is high at a mini golf course and needs me to pick her up," Alec says running a hand through his hair.

"Alexander," Magnus says his arm reaching upward. For moment it’s almost like he was contemplating reaching out to touch.

"I know it sounds like a fake made up excuse to avoid talking but I promise it's real," Alec says with a disappointed chuckle. "All I've wanted to do is talk to you for the past two weeks, to tell you how I felt." He adds on more somberly.

Magnus says his name again, so much emotion that Alec doesn't deserve in the one word. Alec waves him off stepping back just as he spots Imasu hovering just off to the side clearly listening in.

"It's okay you've got a date," he says nodding his head in Imasu's direction. Magnus barely spares his date a glance. "And I've got a high mother. I blew it I get it, it's okay."

He says it quickly not even hiding in his tone of voice how not okay it is for him before he brushes past Magnus and heads for his car parked down the street. For a moment he wonders if he should take one last look back, but he just doesn’t have it in him.

***

Alec slows down outside of the mini golf course double checking the address to be certain he’s got the right spot when he spots his mother running towards his car a few of her friend trailing behind. She pulls open the door before he even has the chance to stop the car fully.

“Hi sweetheart!” she says as she ushers in her friends all giggling their asses off before she rounds to the front hopping in the passenger seat. “Drive!”

“Mom,” he starts and she cuts him off.

“No seriously drive, the manager was not happy with our shenanigans, we are banned and we stole these,” she says with a big bright smile holding up a bag of multicolored golf balls. His eyes go wide before he focuses back on the road. He’s questions her, but his mother is clearly too high to care already rattling off addresses of her friends so that Alec can take them home.

It takes nearly two hours to get everyone settled in which is time his mother uses to finally explain that for a little early bachelorette party she bought some weed from the neighbor kid and decided mini golf was the best way to utilize it.

Soon enough after dropping off the last of her friends and making said friend take all the golf ball contraband but one it’s just him and his mother driving slow as the sun goes down.

“Where is the lovely Magnus tonight?” Maryse asks tossing the bright pink golf ball she kept back and forth between her hands. She’s always asking after him even though she’s only met him once before at Izzy’s wedding. She was smitten with him immediately; a reaction Alec understands wholeheartedly.

“We, uh, we broke up I guess,” Alec says trying not to think about the image of Magnus walking into that wedding with Imasu, fucking Imasu.

“Oh, Alec,” she says sounding sad and pitying.

“It’s fine, I’m fine,” he says quickly squeezing the steering wheel a little too tight. “I overthought it and ruined it, business as usual.”

“Sweetheart, I’m so sorry,” she says sounding even sadder than she did before. She tosses her golf ball into the backseat accidentally and undoes her seat belt crawling over the middle console to follow it.

“Mom!” Alec shouts as she stumbles her way into the back very narrowly missing kicking him in the face.

“I’m good,” she says triumphantly as she lands in the backseat making a little aha sound when she finds her golf ball.

Alec rolls his eyes focusing on the road as she settles in and leans forward her hand on Alec’s shoulder.

“It’s my fault,” she says with a sigh.

Alec squints looking back at her briefly with a raised eyebrow in question.

“Your father and I, we never taught you to accept good things when they come,” she sighs again squeezing Alec’s shoulder in comfort. “We always told you the only way to have good was to earn it, that there was always a catch when something just happened and to question it from every angle.”

“We made you doubt every accomplishment, every win, every little thing that made you happy. We made you skeptical,” she drops her hand from his shoulder in favor of leaning forward to rest her chin on his seat just over his shoulder. “We made you think everything through so much you over thought to the point of distraction; we made you bottle up all your feelings thinking it was for the best. I wish I could undo it; I wish I was a better mother to you all growing up.”

From the corner of his eye he sees her looking out the window a sad look in her eyes.

He doesn’t say anything though, because deep down he knows she’s right and he’s gotten a lot better in recent years at not giving her an out for the way she used to be, for the number that her and his father did on all four of them, him as the oldest in particular.

“I know it’s a hard habit to break, but sometimes things are just good. Sometimes things happen and you don’t have to work hard for them. All that cynicism and overthinking will only lead to a life filled with loneliness and you deserve to never feel lonely.” she says pausing to give him a moment to respond. He stays quiet and she carries on. “I know you’ve been thinking about why now when it comes to you and Magnus after all these years, that you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

Alec freezes at the red light and looks at her a little wide eyed. Damn if he isn’t his mother’s son and she can read him like a book when she’s paying attention.

“But sometimes the shoe doesn’t drop, sometimes good things happen without having to sacrifice, sometimes things take their time and happen at just the right time and you can’t overthink it,” her face transforms and she smiles at him. “Like me and Luke, all these years later and now it happens if it’d overthought it, if I’d questioned every little thing, I wouldn’t be here right now. A few months shy of marrying my dream guy.”

“Yeah, well I think I already blew it with mine,” he says finally responding to her.

“Oh, honey, you’ve only blown it if you don’t fight for it. Don’t think just speak from the heart it’s a lot better than bottling it all up and waiting for a fall,” she kisses Alec on the cheek making him feel like he’s five years old again just as the light turns green and he drives forward. She falls into the backseat laying down.

“Can we get taco bell?” she says suddenly like she hadn’t just poured out some shockingly coherent wisdom for a stoned woman who was just forcefully removed from a mini-golf course.

Alec huffs out a little laugh with a nod of his head, “Yeah, we can get taco bell.”

In the rearview mirror he sees his mother’s fist rise up triumphantly.

***

After their trip to Taco Bell his mother seems satisfied and a little bit more sober so he takes her home leaving her in the capable arms of her fiancé. Luke chuckles at his high wife to be when she offers him one of her quesadillas and salutes Alec in thanks.

He smiles as he watches Luke usher her and her bags of Taco Bell inside carefully before he turns around and heads to his car. He drives home quietly in thought thinking of how happy his mom looked with Luke or how happy he probably looked with Magnus before he obliterated it all.

But he wants to take his mother’s advice, take Meliorn’s advice once again. He wants to fight for it.

Alec parks outside of his lonely little brownstone wondering if it’s too late to call Magnus. To take his mom’s words to heart and just throw it all out there, no overthinking just him with his heart on the line and the hope Magnus would listen.

He gets out his phone as he gets out of his car thumb hovering over Magnus’ name when he hears someone clear their throat. He startles, his phone leaping out of his hand he just barely catches it before it hits the concrete when he finally looks up and there in the dim light of his brownstones stoop is Magnus sitting with his elbows resting on his knees looking far more beautiful than any person has the right to be. He’s still wearing his clothes from the wedding sans the jacket; it highlights his arms even more and Alec can’t help but look them over intently for a beat.

“Magnus?” he questions as he rises back to his full height, phone in hand as he meets Magnus’ eyes.

“Is your mom okay?” Magnus asks as he stretches out his legs.

Alec nods a little numbly, still trying to rattle his brain with the reality that Magnus is here.

“Yeah, got her a Doritos crunch wrap and you would have thought I handed her a bar of gold,” he says with a small smile, chuckling fondly at the memory of the child like glee she’d exhibited when he handed her the bag of food.

Magnus laughs a little, that small beautiful smile he does when he’s happy coming to his lips.

“Good,” he says with a nod. He pauses for a moment chewing on his bottom lip a little nervously. “So what was it you wanted to say to me? Because you didn’t play off bringing flowers to a little girl you’ve never met as being your sole reason for showing up today very well.”

Alec opens his mouth and nothing comes out, of course.

“Come on Alec, I’m not sitting on your doorstep for another mouth gaping silent treatment. You said if you just wanted to tell me how you felt, so tell me,” Magnus says a surety and forcefulness that’s oddly gentle in his voice.

Alec takes a deep breath and finally pockets his phone. He wrings his hands together nervously pinching the skin to ground himself.

“I have this tendency to overthink things,” he says. Magnus snorts at that, the ‘tell me something I don’t know’ clear in the sound. Alec just playfully glares at him before soldiering on. “And that’s exactly what I did that night. How we happened, when, if something could go wrong someday, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is we did happen, that if something did go wrong someday maybe we could face it together and then I just blew it up.”

He takes a step closer to Magnus, comforted when Magnus doesn’t even break eye contact.

“The short of it is that sometimes I’m a cynical mess, and I can’t promise I won’t be that sometimes, but I want to try so damn hard to not be for you, for us. And the long of it is I’m in love with you and it scares the hell out of me, not that that’s an excuse for how I acted or how long it took me to say all this to you, but it’s the truth and I just, I get it if I don’t stand a chance here, but considering you’re sitting on my doorstep I’m hoping I’ve got a little bit of one left.”

He runs out of steam at that and waits. The silence is excruciating in a way it’s never been between them as he waits and watches as Magnus twirls the rings on his fingers and thinks. Alec’s not sure if it’s minutes or hours, but eventually Magnus stands straightening out his vest. Slowly he gets closer and closer to Alec until he’s standing right in front of him.

Alec holds his breath.

“You do realize that if I give you another chance you absolutely don’t deserve it right?” he says reaching out a hand to smooth the collar of Alec’s jacket.

Alec nods with a little laugh.

“And you do realize that for at least the next two weddings you’re paying for the hotel all by yourself to make up for your jackassery, right?” he says this time curling his fingers into Alec’s lapels.

Alec nods again.

“Well, in that case you’re forgiven I suppose.”

Alec finally breathes and it’s a good thing too, because before he can even nod again Magnus is pulling him in connecting their lips. As their lips slide together, for the first time in weeks Alec feels happy, just purely happy.

It takes a while, but eventually they part needing to breathe, that silly living human requirement.

Alec’s hands move from Magnus’ hips where they’d landed during the kiss and slide around him pulling him in even closer into his embrace. Magnus tilts his forehead to Alec’s and smiles that small beautiful smile again.

“I’m in love with you too, for the record,” Magnus says after a beat his hands moving up and twining around Alec’s neck.

Alec smiles.

“Also I just brought Imasu to the wedding to make you jealous cause I had an inkling from some vague weirdness Meliorn texted me that you’d show up, he wasn’t actually my date or anything in case you were overthinking that too,” Magnus adds on kissing Alec lightly on the lips once.

He wasn’t actually overthinking that, he’s weirdly proud of the fact, frankly he’d forgotten entirely about Imasu the second he saw Magnus sitting on his front steps.

“Well it worked,” he says honest, even though he hadn’t thought it about since he saw Magnus here, that doesn’t mean he hadn’t seethed all through the drive to get his mother about seeing the two of them together.

“You always did hate him,” Magnus muses twisting his fingers in the hairs at Alec’s nape.

“He’s pretentious,” Alec says defending his dislike of the man, it goes far beyond his attachment to Magnus and all the way back to college. The second Imasu had played three different instruments in front of him just to show off and called a bowl of party snacks charcuterie Alec had not an ounce of patience for the man.

“He’s cultured,” Magnus defends with smirk, absolutely just teasing Alec at this point. It’s nice, it’s a thing he’d missed and craved desperately these last few weeks without him.

“That’s just a polite way of saying pretentious,” Alec with a roll of his eyes. Magnus laughs scrunching up his nose and getting impossibly closer to Alec holding him in a proper hug.

***

Luke & Maryse ~ October 2nd, Atlanta, Georgia

“So?” Alec says with a bright questioning smile turning his head to look Magnus in the eyes.

Magnus runs his fingers along Alec’s shoulder in thought as Alec’s grip on his waist gets a little tighter.

“Bringing up your mother’s ex-husband, your deadbeat father, might not be the best course of action,” Magnus says lifting his other hand up to brush Alec’s bangs to the side. “This is supposed to be a happy occasion.”

Alec rolls his eyes. “It’s a metaphor Magnus, you know about things not always happening the first time around,” he says pointedly making it clear it’s not only about his mother, but about them, about how they ended up here in the right spot close together where they were always meant to be.

“And while I appreciate that, love, I mean isn’t it a bad omen or something bringing it up?” Magnus questions hand now fiddling with the collar of Alec’s shirt.

“If I take out the part where I mention my dad, I have to rework the whole thing, babe,” Alec says reaching up to take Magnus’ hand in his. “The reception starts in like ten minutes I can’t commit a new one to memory in that time.”

“Fine, but if they don’t like it don’t complain to me,” he says squeezing Alec’s fingers once softly.

“Mom loves a metaphor she’ll get it, and Luke owns a bookstore, words, metaphors he’s all about that stuff,” Alec says with a smile, maybe it’s a bit of a risk, but he’s 99 percent certain they’ll like it. “Also, you’re my boyfriend I’m absolutely going to complain to you if they don’t like it whether you want me to or not.”

Magnus huffs out a laugh giving Alec a quick kiss before pulling away.

“Shall we?” he says holding out a hand that Alec immediately takes happily being pulled through the archway to the reception hall.

***

One Year Later

Magnus & Alec ~ City Clerk’s Office, New York City

“Are you sure?” Alec asks once more because he needs to hear it.

“Of course I’m sure,” Magnus says with a smile eyes locked to his. “You’re sure, right? Not doing that thing where you’re going down cynicism lane again?”

“Of course not,” Alec says a little defensively. He’s been working on that little voice on ignoring it and just thinking about the good, about the future they can build together. Not the what ifs or the how’s. “I just figured you’d want to do a whole party or at the minimum make everyone travel a million miles to our wedding since we had to for all of theirs.”

“Oh don’t worry my dear, we’ll have a big party somewhere down the line and make every single one of them attend somewhere far, far away,” Magnus says, he drops one of Alec’s hands and taps his chin in thought. “Like Greece or Aruba.”

“I like the sound of that,” Alec says pulling Magnus’ other hand back to him. He squeezes both of his hands with a bright smile. “So, we’re doing this?”

“We’re doing this,” Magnus says leaning up quickly once for a kiss before turning to the Justice of the Peace. “I know I’m supposed to wait till the end for that, but look at him, it’s hard to resist.”

The Justice of the Peace chuckles as Alec rolls his eyes.

“Magnus,” he says chiding and teasing. Magnus just smiles at him unbothered.

“Shall we proceed?” the Justice of the Peace asks. He’s been very patient since they showed up here with a marriage license and two freshly bought rings cracking jokes the entire time.

They both nod in unison stepping a little closer to one another. It all started at a wedding a year ago, a wedding that he thought might be the most important one he’d ever attend, but he was so, so wrong. This wedding right here, this spur of the moment thing in a courthouse is the most important wedding he’ll ever attend. And just like how Magnus made that one a year ago a little more special, he’s doing the same here when he says I do.

#my fic #malec #magnus bane #alec lightwood #shadowhunters #malec fic

18 notes · View notes

melodious-madrigals · 4 years ago

Text

prompt: “it was the best blind date I didn’t know I was on” -wondertrev edition

***

Diana is late.

And she’s not even sure she wants to be here, which is making her even more late as she dithers just outside the bistro where her blind date is meant to be taking place.

Damn it, Etta.

Etta’s been pushing to set Diana up on a blind date since a couple of months after her break-up with Kasia, which—it had been a bad break-up. Not messy or dramatic, but still heartbreaking to come to the conclusion that they’d grown, just not together, and wanted different things out of life.

Diana is still smarting, not entirely sure if she even wants a new relationship. And then there’s the fact that she doesn’t particularly like blind dates, and that the person Etta has suggested is a man. Which is...theoretically valid; Diana can’t contest that. But men can be such pigs, and it’s one of many reasons that she’s second-guessing this whole endeavor.

In fact, she’s in the middle of round four of questioning whether she’s even going to go in (and cursing the day she absentmindedly agreed to Etta’s offer to set her up with ‘Grant’) when she realizes: it’s a person in there, wondering why they’re being stood up, and that’s not fair, no matter how much she doesn’t want to be here.

Steeling herself, she marches in. Her eyes scan the restaurant—ah, there. Tucked away in a corner, near one of the windows looking out onto the street, is the only solo diner in the establishment. And he’s already got a bowl of soup in front of him. (That’s fair; she’s now twenty-four whole minutes late.) Taking a calming breath, she heads over to the table.

“I’m so sorry for how late I am,” she says, sliding into the chair opposite of what she now realizes is an unfairly attractive man: swooping blond hair and bright blue eyes and a strong jaw—focus, Diana! “It’s truly unforgivable. I—” She could fib, blame it all on her work, but that would only account for about seven minutes of tardiness. The rest is all on her, and she’s not one for lying. “I have no excuse.” She takes a breath, allows herself to reset. Gives the man in front of her a small smile. “I’m Diana.”

“Steve,” says the man, a strange expression on his face as he reaches across the table to shake her hand. (Firm, but not the arsehole power-grip that so many men prefer.)

She blinks, because Etta had said Grant, but now that she thinks about it, Etta has a habit, left over from her days in the military, of calling people almost exclusively by their last names.

“Right, Steve,” she says, testing the name out, and his mouth quirks up into a smile. Maybe this isn’t so bad after all. She ducks her head to hide her own smile, and her eyes again fall on the half-eaten bowl of soup. The smile drops, registering that she’s kept him waiting long enough to not only order but start eating. “I really am sorry,” she apologizes, but Steve waves a hand.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says. “I’m glad for the company.”

If this is a strange thing to say to a blind date, Diana doesn’t notice, too focused on the way he hands her a menu and politely seeks the waitress’s attention. (Another point in his favor; he isn’t demanding, and makes casual, affable conversation with the woman while Diana scans the menu so she can place her food order right away with her drink.)

“So, Diana,” Steve says, after she’s ordered, “what is it that you do?”

It strikes her as odd; she would’ve thought Etta would have told him, but maybe he’s just being polite, so she launches into an explanation of her curation job, and he asks intelligent, relevant follow-up questions, and suddenly they’re talking about art and architecture and the best uses of beetroot and the innovation of the Gambian case in front of the ICJ and that Icelandic group that sang the haunting 800 year old hymn a cappella in the metro a few years back and a number of things in between.

There’s something that feels so natural about talking to him, and before she realizes it, the bistro is starting to close down for the evening.

“Can I have your number?” asks Steve, as they pay and make their way back into the cool night air.

Diana bites back a grin and nods, holding out her hand for his phone, where she adds herself as a contact.

“I had a really nice time tonight.”

“Me too.”

She kisses him on the cheek, and then they’re headed in separate directions. Almost immediately her phone buzzes, and when she pauses to look at it, she sees a message from an unknown number.

This is Steve!

She turns back to find him standing at the opposite end of the block, grinning at his phone. He looks up in time to catch her watching him and raises a hand in a sort of faux salute, making her laugh and shake her head.

There’s a lingering smile stuck on her face that she can’t seem to get rid of (and doesn’t particularly want to) as she walks home, enjoying the cool night air and the giddy feeling of a nice evening.

The next morning, there’s a frantic knock on her door. When she opens it, it’s Etta, who’s absolutely beside herself.

“I’m so sorry, Diana. I’m going to murder him!” she exclaims, hurriedly pacing the room. “I really thought he was better than that.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Grant,” she hisses. “He just—left you there. Decided not to show. Freely admitted to it via text this morning! I’m going to skin him alive when I find him in person.”

“But Etta, I—” Her brow furrows, and suddenly a couple of things that didn’t quite make sense about the evening slot into place. “Etta, it’s okay. I had an enjoyable night anyways.”

“—the audacity,” Etta is saying.

“Etta,” Diana says more forcefully, catching her by the shoulders gently. “Don’t trouble yourself. It was hardly a wasted evening. Maybe no more blind dates, though, okay?”

“Right,” agrees Etta, deflating. “Of course not.”

The moment Etta finally leaves, Diana picks up her phone, stares at the text there (“This is Steve!” stares back, bafflingly unhelpful in revealing answers to the questions she has), and hits the call button before she can overthink it. Steve picks up after just two rings.

“Diana, hi!” He sounds pleased and a little surprised, but she mostly misses it in getting straight to the point.

“Your last name isn’t Grant.”

She can almost hear the wince through the line. “Er, no. It’s not.”

“You weren’t at Bistro Papillon for a blind date last night.”

A slight pause. “I was not.”

“Steve—”

“I didn’t realize, right away, what was going on,” says Steve, rushed now, something desperate in his tone. “And when I did—I was going to tell you, I swear. But then—I wanted to keep talking,” he admits quietly, almost defeated. “And I was afraid if I told you, you’d leave, which in hindsight is stupid, because it should have been your choice—”

“My would-be date stood me up.”

“Then they’re an idiot,” says Steve, without missing a beat.

Diana huffs a laugh. “I’m the idiot,” she says, “for just sitting down when you were in the middle of your meal and assuming you were my date like a crazy person, and ruining your evening—”

“You didn’t ruin anything.” And gods, he sounds so sure.

“But when I sat down—”

“You looked like an angelic vision,” he interrupts, voice still perfectly resolute, “and I knew that even if I didn’t know you, or why you were at my table, I wanted to get to know you.”

“And—”

“And then you were brilliant and witty, and we had the best dinner conversation I’ve had in a really, really long time.”

“I ranted about the fallacies of using a hegemonic, patriarchal lens to view Hellenistic terracottas and marbles for at least eight uninterrupted minutes,” refutes Diana, somewhat sheepishly.

“Yeah,” says Steve, and she thinks, somehow, that she can hear the amusement in his voice. “As I said, brilliant, and the most interesting conversation I’ve had in ages.”

Diana shakes her head, then realizes he can’t see that through the phone. “This whole thing is ridiculous.”

“Yet here we are.”

He hasn’t hung up yet. Neither has she, for that matter.

(She finds that she doesn’t really want to.)

“So what is your last name, if you’re not the Grant with whom my friend was going to set me up?”

“Trevor,” he replies. “Steve Trevor.”

“Where does that leave us, Steve Trevor?”

“Well, what are you doing for lunch?” Steve asks, and she laughs; she can’t help it.

“I’ve got no plans, just yet.”

“I’d like to hear the whole story,” muses Steve. “Come on a date with me?”

“Yes,” says Diana automatically, before she can overthink it. Then, “This is absurd. The way we’ve started—”

“Will be an excellent story to tell, someday,” he counters.

And it is. Whenever someone asks them how they met, later, Steve inevitably grins, sharing a wink with Diana as he prepares his version of the tale. “Well,” he starts, every time, “it was the best blind date I didn’t realize I was on…”

***

#wondertrev #diana prince #steve trevor #lenci writes #lenci's tumblr ficlets #i started this fic this morning and am posting now because i have no self control #this was inspired by a fic i read in another fandom and i couldn't resist using the trope for wondertrev

60 notes · View notes

shadow-assassin-blix · 4 years ago

Text

Stitches

Benny Miller x reader/you

Continuing the Shawn Mendes Song Fic. Santiago is next and then I’ll be moving onto another band/theme. Uh. Some fights. Nothing really too extreme here. Enjoy.

Everything Tag: @mikeisthricedeceased

I thought that I've been hurt before

But no one's ever left me quite this sore

Benny was watching an MMA tournament, checking out his competition for his tournament next month. Will was there with him, watching the matches with his keen eyes. Benny was… easily distracted to say the least. He smiled flirtatiously at many women who passed by him. At one point he noticed a group of women, standing off to the side. Most of them had a guy with them, all except one.

As he looked at her, he could tell she looked extremely bored. She had her arms crossed; her foot was tapping. She kept checking her phone for either the time or something to give her an escape.

After a moment, a guy joined her, handing her a clear solo cup of beer. She smiled tensely at him and would duck under his arm anytime he tried to wrap it around her. She eventually, handed the drink to one of her girlfriends, and said something to excuse herself. He watched as she walked over to the concession stand. That was when he decided to make his move.

Your words cut deeper than a knife

Now I need someone to breathe me back to life

You were idly standing by the concession stand, pretending to look over the menu. You were not thrilled to be there, and just wanted to leave as soon as possible.

While you were standing there, a guy stood nearby you. You glanced at him from the corner of your eye. You noticed he was pretty handsome. Brown hair, blue eyes, a light amount of scruff, and well built.

“Having a hard time deciding what to get?” You hear him ask, as he stepped a little closer, so you could hear him.

“Oh yeah. So hard to chose between popcorn, a corndog, or a hotdog. What would you recommend?” You asked, chuckling at the situation.

“Uhh. Nothing from here. I would recommend only eating this food, if you had a lot of liquor and no taste buds left,” He joked scratching the back of his head.

You crinkled your nose in slight disgust.

“I’m Benny. What’s your name?” He asked.

You tell him yours and he smiled brightly.

“So. Don’t take this the wrong way, but this doesn’t seem to be your scene? Or rather… you don’t look thrilled to be here,” He gently probed, wanting to know.

Just like a moth drawn to a flame

Oh, you lured me in I couldn't sense the pain

“Oh. Um. Blind date. I hate it. Him. He’s rather touchy, and he’s just boring. My friends thought this was a good idea. After my ex broke up with me because I “wasn’t there enough.” I’m a med student. Sorry my life doesn’t revolve around you,” She informed him with an eyeroll.

“Oh? Med student? Nice. Good to know,” He teased.

“How is that good to know?” She questioned, staring at him confused.

“I’m a fighter. Uh. I have a tournament next month. So, I’m here with my brother to check out my competition. It’s nice to know a pretty doctor is all,” Benny tells her, feeling slightly awkward, thinking he overstepped.

She shook her head with a small smile, thinking he was cute.

“A fighter eh? You any good?” She asked him, biting her lip.

“Come to my tournament next month. You’ll see. Maybe I can…take you to dinner after?” Benny asked charmingly.

She smiled, looking down. She looked over at her group of friends who were apparently waiting on her. She pulled out her phone, quickly unlocking it.

“Put your number in, and text me the details,” She requested.

Benny gave her a 1000-watt smile, as he input his number, sending a text to himself, and saving himself as a contact.

He felt his phone buzz as he received the messaged.

“I’ll see ya then,” Benny stated, pressing a kiss to her cheek quickly.

He ran back over to his brother and looked back to see her still standing where he left her. Her hand was gently touching where he kissed her, and he could see her smiling softly.

Will simply rolled his eyes and shook his head at him.

Your bitter heart cold to the touch

Now I'm gonna reap what I sow

It had been a week since that day, and you were nervous as you stared at your phone. You wanted to talk to Benny again. You didn’t want to wait a month. You opened up the chat he created, laughing at the name he gave himself.

“Hot Stuff”

You sent him a message simply saying ‘hi.’

Seconds later you got a response. ‘hey! How are you?’

‘I’m well. I... hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time? I just wanted to talk to you again’

‘Oh really? How did the rest of your date go with Mr. Boring?’

‘It didn’t. I ran when he went to the bathroom. He apparently thinks it was a magical date. I told him I wasn’t ready for anything more.’

‘lol. Poor guy. Shame he couldn’t see that you hated it. His loss is my gain tho’

‘Oh. Is that so? What did you gain, besides someone to tend to your wounds?’

‘A beautiful girlfriend? If you’re interested?’

She paused at that. She could feel her face warm up a bit. She bit her lip as she typed out her response.

‘Wouldn’t that imply you have to take me on a few dates before receiving that title?’

‘What are you doing for the next 3 weekends up till my fight?’

She laughed at that before typing out a response.

I'm left seeing red on my own

Got a feeling that I'm going under

The month passed by quickly. Benny had taken you out every weekend: movies, lunch/dinner, walks around the park. He made every date feel relaxed and easy. You didn’t feel like you had to be on guard or put on a façade. He made you forget about all about your dumb ex and was very supportive of your learning.

One date, he actually helped you create flashcards and study for an upcoming exam. Something Brian would never do. He always felt that the attention should be 100% on him, and to hell with your education.

Benny even made copies of your study notes, so he could quiz you randomly throughout the day. Something you appreciated greatly, because it kept the info fresh in her mind. When the exam day came around, Benny sent you flowers and candy wishing you luck. About 2 hours later, you were turning the test in online, which automatically gave you a score. 100%.

You immediately called Benny, excited, “Benny! I aced it! Thank you so much for your help!”

“Congrats baby! I knew you would ace it! Shall we… celebrate? I’ll bring over food, and we can watch movies?” He offered somewhat shyly.

“Yes! I would love that! But wait… Weren’t you supposed to hang out with your brother and friends tonight?” You asked thinking back to a previous conversation.

“I could cancel with them, it’s not a big deal,” Benny said nonchalantly.

“No. Don’t do that. They are your family. How about we celebrate after your fight on Saturday?” You countered, not wanting him to change his plans just for you.

“Alright. If you’re sure?” He asked wanting to confirm.

“I’m sure. Bye babe,” You tell him as you hang up.

“Bye!” He chirped.

But I know that I'll make it out alive

If I quit calling you my lover

Saturday rolled around fast, and after a rush of getting your badge that gave you VIP access, you were searching for someone familiar. As you were searching, a blonde man appeared before you.

“Hey Doc. I’m Will. C’mon. Benny wants to see you, seems to think you’ll bring him good luck,” Will’s voice was slightly deeper and raspier than Benny’s.

As you looked at him, you could see the resemblance between the two of them. You followed him toward the back, where the locker rooms were located. He led you down a hallway and to a room about midway. Benny was in the middle of bandaging his hands, rather poorly.

“Stop. I have no idea what you’re doing but stop,” You command moving forward.

You grabbed the bandages, undoing his work.

“No wonder you keep busting your hands. Who taught you how to wrap?” You asked him as you wrapped them properly.

You heard several chuckles.

“We keep telling him, but he refuses to listen,” Came a deep voice to your right.

You glance at the man, one of two Latino men who stood nearby. The one who talked was the kind who looked painfully handsome and knew it. The other, who wore a cap, looked sweet and was shaking his head at the scene he was seeing.

“You’re legit the only person he’s ever let touch those wraps. Us? The men he spent years in the army with? Oh no. We know nothing,” He teased, lightly shoving Benny.

“You should listen to them more often. They were correct,” You lightly admonished as you finished wrapping both of his hands.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side!” Benny exclaimed, as he tested his hands, making fists.

“Says who?” You asked him teasingly. “So, who is on the lineup?”

Will handed you the list of fighters that were supposed to be there. As you looked at the list, you noticed the first fight Benny had was against Brian Holden… Your ex.

You snorted. Loudly.

Move on

Needle and the thread

“What? What’s so funny?” Benny asked watching her reaction.

“Just... do me a favor. Your first fight? Make sure you not only win, but make sure it hurts,” She requested handing the list back to Will.

He glanced at the list and chuckled when he recognized the name. The match was in a few minutes and he had a feeling he was going to enjoy it.

Gotta get you outta my head

Gonna wind up dead

They walked out and as Benny was announced, you and the guys made your way to your seats upfront. Benny got in the cage with your ex and you were snickering.

Will leaned over as the fight began, and stated, “He really likes you, you know?”

You turned to face with a smile, “I like him a lot too. He makes me very happy.”

“He… he falls pretty hard, pretty fast. Do me a favor? Don’t break his heart, yeah?” Will requested.

“I don’t plan too,” You assured him, turning your attention back to the match, to cheer Benny on.

“WHOOOO! GO BENNY!” You cheered as Benny landed several hits onto Brian.

“They don’t allow chairs, or anything do they?” You asked all of three of them.

The three of them laughed, before Frankie, as you found out, “No. It’s not wrestling. It’s MMA, there is a bit more class here.”

“Damn. Oh well,” You said, in mock disappointment.

The fight took about 15 minutes and Benny came out on top. As Benny stepped out, he walked over to them and you hugged him in congrats.

“You did great!” You tell him.

You looked him over really quickly and noticed he had a busted lip.

“Ooh. Ouch. Does that hurt?” You ask him, digging into your bag.

He goes to answer but stopped when he watches you pull out a small med-bag.

“You.. came prepared I see?” Benny noted with a smile.

“Just… some small things. Is that weird?” You asked concerned.

“No. No it’s not weird. Let’s get to the locker room and you can tend to me,” Benny tells her appreciating the gesture.

You watch me bleed until I can't breathe

I'm shaking, falling onto my knees (falling on my knees)

A couple hours later, and few more scrapes, the tournament was over. Benny came in first and was super happy. The five of you made your way to a local bar, and order food and drinks.

“So. What do ya think of my fighting skills now?” Benny asked taking a drink of beer, basking in his win.

“Mh. You’re good. Could be better,” You teased, hiding your smile in your drink.

“OhHo! What?” Benny exclaimed pulling you to him, his hands running up your sides, tickling you.

You laughed loudly, as you squirmed away.

“Brian used to make me watch all sorts of MMA tournaments. Said it helped him get in the zone or something. I always thought it was kind of boring to be honest,” You admitted once he finally stopped.

“And now?” Benny prompted.

“I… could find a reason or two to find it enjoyable… So long as I’m not patching you up every time you forget to dodge or block a very obvious punch,” You stated with a raised eyebrow.

The guys laughed at that and as Benny dramatically clutched at his heart.

As they talked, someone strolled up next to you.

“Thought you hated fighting?” Came the somewhat nasally voice of your ex, Brian.

“No. I thought it was boring because you never bothered to explain anything. Plus. You always felt the need to interrupt my study time with a match that I just ‘had to watch.’ There’s a difference,” You replied annoyed, not even bothering to look at him.

“Don’t be a bitch. So, what you are with this asshole now?” Brian questioned, grabbing you and making you turn.

You moved to shove his hand off of you, but Will got in between you two, shoving him away. Benny also, moved to place you behind him.

“Get out. You put your hands on her again, and a busted nose will be the least of your concerns,” Will threatened.

Brian turned, acting like he was going to leave before, he swiftly turned back throwing a punch. Will dodged easily. All four of them were gearing up for a throw down but you were sick of it already.

You reached into your medical bag and pulled out your scalpel.

“BRIAN!” You shouted his name to get his attention.

He turned to you and paused when he saw the knife in your hand.

“As you very well know, I am very good with this small sharp object. Get away from me now. Stay away from me. Or I will CUT you,” You warned him brandishing it to him.

He stared at you for a moment before quickly moving away, tripping over a chair as he did so.

You put the knife back into your bag, and all four of the guys stared at you.

“What?” You asked innocently.

Benny reacted first, with loud laughter. “That… that was hot. Terrifying. But hot.”

The others shook their heads and retook their seats.

“Appears, your girl doesn’t need a knight Benny. She can handle herself quite well,” Santi remarked.

“Yeah. She’s more of a knight than you are,” Frankie teased.

“Oh yeah. What does that make me then?” Benny demanded as he pressed a kiss to your face, wrapping his arms around you.

You looked at the guys, and they you, all four of you stating at the same time, “Jester.”

You all laughed at Benny’s pout, and you pressed a kiss to his lips.

“But a very cute Jester,” You try to placate.

“That sounds too similar to “very cute moose,”” He said suspiciously.

“You… remember that line from Princess Diaries 2? Really?” You asked with a giggle.

“It was the funniest part of the movie,” He mumbled looking away.

“Wait… You got him to watch what now?” Santi asked.

The rest of the evening was spent talking about some of your previous dates, while the guys told you funny stories.

You enjoyed the evening and looked forward to more dates and nights out with all of them. Benny came into your life unexpectantly but you wouldn’t trade him for the world.

And now that I'm without your kisses (without you)

I'll be needing stitches (and I'll be needing stitches)

Tripping over myself

Aching, begging you to come help (begging baby please)

#benny miller #benny miller x reader #Triple Frontier #song fic

32 notes · View notes

ruzek-halstead · 4 years ago

Text

respectfully

pairing: jay halstead x hailey upton

hailey somehow gets roped into attending her ex-fiancé & ex-best friend's wedding, and there's no way in hell she's going solo. hailey requests jay's help as her pretend boyfriend and he discovers he is incredibly attracted to badass hailey.

“anyway, congratulations on your wedding day but respectfully, fuck off.”

masterlist || ao3

warnings: swearing, fluffery, hailey upton’s badassery

jay can tell something is bothering his partner. he notices it during the first twenty seconds after he picks her up that sunny chicago morning. he doesn’t pry though; that’s just not how they work. he knows she’ll talk about it when she’s ready.

today is actually supposed to be their day off; however, both detectives are interested in some overtime, after sergeant platt asked them to help out oh so nicely.

they are in their blues (which is a very rare occurrence), acting as extra security during a chicago street festival. jay honestly has no idea what the festival was for and platt wasn’t in the mood to explain it to him.

jay and hailey stick together as they patrol the street; the conversation is kept fairly light, but hailey seems distant and uninterested and jay is starting to worry slightly.

“hey, is everything okay?” he asks her, as they turn a corner. she turns to him with her eyebrows raised and he instantly jumps in to defend himself. “i know, personal question. but you’ve been off all morning. just want to make sure you’re alright.”

hailey chuckles, losing their eye contact to watch the festival in front of them. it was busy but not overly crowded that they couldn’t hear what the other was saying. “no, i’m fine. just have a few things on my mind.”

it was jay’s turn to raise his single eyebrow, attempting to catch her gaze again. “anything you want to talk about?”

hailey looks like she wants to laugh and that just leaves jay even more clueless; she really was aloof about her personal life. “no, it’s nothing serious.”

“still,” he shrugs, stuffing his hands into his front pockets. “i’ll listen.”

hailey smiles, patting his shoulder that slumps in defeat. “i know, jay. but i’m fine.”

🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊

jay doesn’t pry anymore after she shuts him down. they finish their volunteer shift, agree to go home and shower and meet up at a bar nearby. they still go to molly’s to hang out with the other first responders, but they’ve started going to this other bar, as to not have other prying eyes around. sometimes they just want to talk, something they just want to drink, but this way, it’s just the two of them.

he’s watching hailey at the bar, buying them another round of beers. she’s still been slightly off, but he’s confident she’s about ready to crack.

jay’s halfway into his second beer when she finally explodes.

“okay, i've decided i'm going to tell you what’s up, but you’re not allowed to laugh.”

she looks so serious and jay is so confused. why would he laugh if something was wrong?

“okay?” he replies, more as a question.

she looks as if she’s mentally preparing herself and he’s clueless, but that seems to be the norm around hailey.

“one of my ex-boyfriends is getting married.”

jay raises his eyebrows, expecting everything but that.

“to my ex-best friend.”

realization is slowly dawning on him.

“he cheated on me with her, so we broke up, naturally.”

he’s kept quiet because she doesn’t look finished venting yet.

“but they’re getting married in like a week, and i wasn’t going to go because fuck them, you know?” hailey was going off now and jay listened diligently, a hint of a smile on his lips. “yes, you heard correctly; i received an invite. anyway, i never sent in my rsvp either just to keep them guessing and mess up their wedding plans. but then,” she adds dramatically, rolling her eyes; jay is trying really hard not to laugh now. “i saw them! i saw both of them last night on my way home. of all the places i could run into them, i ran into them at the convenience store when i was picking up milk,” she looks so annoyed, “milk, jay.”

at this point, jay can’t contain his laughter anymore. hailey looks affronted.

“hailey, i’m sorry, okay?” he can’t seem to stop or look the least bit apologetic. “i’m not laughing at your story, i promise. it's just the way you’re telling it. i've never seen you so invested in something and so annoyed.”

hailey is pissed, but not at jay; it’s just the whole situation in general has been bugging her all day and she just needed to tell someone. “oh, there’s more.”

jay's eyes widen. “oh no, what happened?”

“so, there i am, carrying the milk and they’re being all friendly and shit like nothing happened,” her eyes are squinted, “like what the fuck?”

jay nods, smirking. “how dare they?”

hailey pauses, glaring at him. “i know you’re being a smartass, but i'm going to ignore that because, listen to this,” he leans in, completely invested. “they asked if i was going to the wedding, but like what the hell am i supposed to say to their faces?”

“oh no,” jay mumbles, “hailey, you didn’t.”

“yes, jay, i absolutely did,” she laughs, “when they mentioned they never got my rsvp, i told them it must have been lost in the mail because i definitely sent it.”

jay is full on laughing again and hailey can’t even be mad because she’s laughing too.

“jay, it gets worse,” she groans, dropping her head into her hands. jay is basically already losing it; he’s not sure how much worse it can get. “they asked me for the details so they could add it into their plans, and they asked me if it was two spots; one for me and one for my boyfriend.”

jay's eyes widen. “oh shit.”

“i know they were messing with me; i could see it on their faces,” she adds angrily. her blue eyes are slightly wild, and her messy hair is sticking to her face as she spoke ferociously. “but there was no way in hell i was telling them i’m going to their wedding solo! so, now i need a last-minute date, and the wedding is in like a week.”

jay takes a swig from his beer, amusement still present on his facial features. “wow hailey, that was a rollercoaster. no wonder you’ve been off all day.”

“yeah, yeah, laugh it up, halstead,” hailey sasses while rolling her eyes. “but don’t you worry, your time of reckoning will come.” jay’s eyebrows furrow and he doesn’t like where this conversation is going. “you got a nice suit?”

jay shakes his head rapidly. “no. not this again.”

“what?” hailey interrupts, looking confused. “you’re coming to this wedding with me, you have no choice.”

jay sighs. “are you sure this is a good idea?”

“i'm not showing up solo, jay,” her expression is serious. “and if i have to pretend to be in a fake relationship for one night, i would rather it be you.”

jay ignores the way her words make him feel inside. “okay, fine. looks like i don’t have much of a say anyway.”

hailey smiles toothily and any doubts he previously had disappear. “no, you definitely don’t. also, i'm pretty sure voight is out of town, so you’re really my only other option.”

he chuckles, finishing the last of his beer. “okay, if we’re going to do this, tell me everything i need to know.”

🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊

hailey should probably be nervous, but she surprisingly isn’t.

she's about to spend a night pretending to be madly in love with her partner (which honestly wasn’t that hard to do), and she hasn’t started panicking. it's basically like working undercover; she has just never done this level role-playing with jay before.

but he seemed good. he didn’t seem nervous at all, as she gazed at him from the passenger seat of his truck. he picked her up about twenty minutes ago, looking absolutely dazzling in a pressed simple black suit. she was momentarily speechless, but she awkwardly smiled and gave him a random compliment when he cleared his throat.

contrary to what hailey thought, jay was a little nervous. this was uncharted territory and they hadn’t discussed much of how they would act around each other. it was like an undercover operation and they would just go with the flow. but he had to be honest; with hailey wearing a dress like that, it was going to be extremely hard to focus. her dress actually was quite similar to erin's from their undercover op in the sex club and honestly, the parallels between them lately were uncanny.

“what?” he asks as he catches her staring for the fifth time since they left for the ceremony.

she giggles, “sorry, nothing. i'm just picturing nate’s face when he sees you.”

nate is the ex-boyfriend; kathy is the ex-best friend. hailey had caught him up over the last week on everything he needed to know. she may have omitted a few details, but what he didn’t know, he didn’t know, right?

jay raises an eyebrow, turning right onto the street of their destination. “why?”

hailey rolls her eyes; he can be so adorably clueless. “shut up; you know you’re attractive, okay?”

he smirks and internally debates whether he should use this moment to blatantly flirt with her, but figures he’ll have lots of time for that throughout the evening. he pulls into the venue and secure a parking spot, catching hailey’s fidgety hands from the corner of his eye.

they had decided to keep their fake relationship as close to reality as possible, as to make everything easier. they had been partners for a bit over three years and started showing romantic interests in each other two years in. they decided to give it a try a few months later, and have been together ever since.

“you ready?” he asks in a soft voice.

hailey nods. “yeah, yeah, i'm okay,” she wipes her hands on her red dress (honestly, red? was she trying to kill him?). “just realizing i'm going to see a lot of people from my past in there tonight.”

jay reaches over the console and taps her knee, careful not to linger. “what did you say the other day? fuck ‘em?”

she looks over at him and smiles. “fuck ‘em.”

🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊

the wedding is taking place at an extravagant hotel wedding plaza; the ceremony is happening in the outside garden at sunset, while the reception is immediately following within the hotel. as they make their way to the back garden, hailey is stunned by the beauty of it all. there are fairy lights decorating the whole perimeter, clearly illuminating the make-shift altar where the vows would be held. over the altar, there is a gorgeous arc with lights intertwined and a pathway made up entirely of flowers. the color scheme is off-white and light pink and it blends together beautifully.

“i have to hand it to them; this place looks amazing,” hailey murmurs low enough for only jay to hear.

jay smiles, grabbing two flutes of champagne from the waiter passing through. “you ever think of how your wedding would look?” he asks as he hands her a flute.

hailey chokes into her first sip. “god no,” she licks her lips and jay stares. “after everything we deal with and see on a daily basis, thinking of something like my own wedding just seems so miniscule and pointless.”

“so, you’re a vegas wedding type of girl?” he smirks.

hailey returns his devious look. “if it saves me time and money, i'll cheers to that,” she clinks her glass with jay's before turning to scan the crowd. it was part of her nature to surveillance everyone around her, even if she didn’t realize it. “oh hey, that’s nate, by the way.”

she points to a tall man, dressed in a pressed black tux, laughing with what jay assumed were his groomsmen. jay surveys him for a second, well aware of hailey’s eyes on him, and shrugs, “you can do better,” he says as he takes another sip of champagne.

hailey beams and he fucking loves it.

but he sees her smile fade away as the man in question starts making his way over to them.

“oh my god,” she panics, “here we go.”

“relax,” he murmurs into her ear, sliding closer, “we’ve got this.”

nate reaches them and jay takes a moment to study him up close. he looks polite enough, but jay knows better. nate’s eyeing hailey like she’s a piece of meat and he’s definitely not into that. he decides he doesn’t like the guy.

“hailey! i’m so glad you could make it!”

jay glances at hailey and sees the strain in her features. he can almost read her mind; is this guy serious?

“thanks nate, and congratulations,” she turns to jay with adoration in her eyes (wow, she’s good). “i want you to meet my boyfriend, this is jay.”

jay sets nate with a cool but polite look. “hey, it’s nice to meet you. and congratulations on your wedding, this place looks beautiful.”

nate reaches for jay’s outstretched hand and doesn’t falter under his tight grip. “thanks, man. how did you meet hailey?”

“we’re partners,” he replies easily.

nate raises his eyebrows. “robbery-homicide?”

“no, i joined the intelligence unit at the 21st district a few years ago,” hailey jumps in.

nate looks oddly surprised. “oh, you left? i didn’t know you moved to the other side of town.”

hailey smirks, “yeah, guess i just had to leave some stuff behind.”

nate nods, teetering awkwardly. “sorry, i just always thought you’d be a lifer down there,” he says with such a nonchalant attitude that jay is raising his eyebrows at his audacity. “you always said you weren’t cut out for more.”

hailey opens her mouth to respond but she looks temporarily stunned; jay decides to step in with some truth bombs. “hey man, hailey’s an amazing detective. it it wasn’t for her, i probably wouldn’t even be here today.”

“wait a minute, what the fuck?” hailey snaps and jay bites his lip. her voice is low because she knows better than to embarrass the guy too horribly on his wedding day, but he deserves this. “i never said that, you said that! because you didn’t want a fiancée more successful than you!”

jay casts a quick look at her when he hears her say fiancée, but she’s too heated to notice.

nate also looks affronted that she mentioned that, or that she responded at all. clearly we’re both remembering different situations.”

“yeah, clearly,” hailey snorts. “anyway, congratulations on your wedding day but respectfully, fuck off.”

jay is absolutely stunned as she grabs his wrist and yanks him in the direction of the outdoor bar. she quickly asks the bartender for four tequila shots and downs the first one, all within the minute.

jay has literally never been more attracted to her.

“can you believe the nerve of that guy?” hailey hisses angrily. she takes another shot. “i swear he just invited me to piss me off.”

jay pushes the other two shots in her direction. it's one in the afternoon; he can’t fathom having two tequila shots at that hour, but hailey has already had a day and she clearly needs them. with jay’s silence, hailey stills after her third tequila shot. her brows furrow and worry lines appear on her face.

“shit, was that too much?” she says, panicking. “did i overreact and make a big scene on his wedding day for no reason?”

jay smiles, instantly putting her worries at ease. “oh no, not at all. he was an ass and deserved it, trust me,” she nods and takes the last shot. “that was pretty badass.”

hailey snorts, rolling her eyes. “he's lucky i didn’t punch him in the face. i have a pretty great right-cross.”

“let's not give the groom a black eye before he’s even gotten to the altar,” he says as he leads her to the seating area with a hand on her lower back. other guests are starting to find their seats, while the groom and his party make their way to the altar. “we’re still not halfway through this thing.”

🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊🎊

the ceremony is standard; nothing special.

jay and hailey politely stand for the bride to make her grand entrance. her dress is big and poofy and hailey hates everything about it, but she stands quietly and watches. her anxiety is out the roof given the situation she’s currently in but having jay next to her really does calm her. he's not doing anything special; they’re only touching the bare minimum, sitting right next to each other, but that’s all she needs to relax her.

the reception that follows is also very bland. they are seated with three other couples, who are surprisingly very friendly. hailey doesn’t recognize them, so they must have come into the picture after her departure.

“hey,” jay murmurs, a few minutes after they dim the lights for dancing. “i don’t want to pry, but i’m curious.”

truthfully, hailey has been waiting for this question since her outburst earlier with nate. she’s surprised he didn’t ask sooner, considering his lack of patience when it comes to curiosity. “what do you want to know?” she levels him with a slightly smirk.

“come on, hailey,” jay gives into a half smile. “why didn’t you tell me you were engaged to him?”

hailey pauses for a moment, actually thinking about her response. “the truth?” he nods solemnly. “i didn’t really want you to know about my failed relationships.”

jay’s eyebrows raise to his hairline. “your failed relationships?” he’s almost laughing. “hailey, have you even seen all of mine?”

she laughs, “i know, but i don’t know,” she’s twisting her fingers together to keep her busy. “i just – i really loved him. and then that happened, and i felt like it was my fault, you know? like i did something to warrant that. i didn’t want people knowing. especially you; i didn’t want you to think any less of me.”

jay’s eyes go wide and he shakes his head. “hailey, i can’t even begin to tell you how wrong everything you just said is.”

hailey looks at him shyly; she’s not a shy person.

“i would never think any less of you; you’re one of the best people i’ve ever known,” he says seriously, his eyes star deep into her soul; she can’t escape. “also, none of that was your fault. if he was stupid enough to lose you, he’s an idiot and nothing you did caused that.”

hailey smirks at him. “i know that now. he’s trash and i deserve better.”

the smile jay sends her is blinding. “good. you do deserve better.”

he continues to look at her and she doesn’t tear her gaze away; she can’t.

their tender moment is interrupted by the screeching of chairs, as the bride and groom decide to make their rounds to every table. and because hailey has been extremely lucky lately, all the other couples are either on the dance floor or at the bar when they decide to come to jay and hailey's table.

hailey can see them approaching, and she wants to run, yet tragically, she cannot.

“you got me?” she mumbles to jay quietly, grasping his hand automatically.

he looks at her with a fond smile and tightens his grip. “always.”

both detectives brace themselves for the next few minutes. they've faced flying bullets and bombs, but somehow, this feels worse.

“hailey!” kathy squeals, dipping in for a hug. hailey goes rigid and her facial expression changes to one of pure discomfort. “so glad you could make it! and who’s this?” she sets her eyes on jay, and now it’s his turn to be uncomfortable. nate has looked uncomfortable during this whole interaction so far; probably has something to do with hailey telling him to fuck off. respectfully.

“i'm jay,” he introduces himself, thrusting out his hand before she has the idea to hug him too. kathy pauses, but shakes his hand anyway; clearly, she wanted a hug.

kathy raises an eyebrow. “you’re the new partner, right?”

“sure,” jay shrugs. “it's been a while, but yeah, you could say that.”

she raises her eyebrows suggestively in hailey's direction. “i can definitely see why you wanted more than just partnership with this hunk.”

hailey stares at her. “do you hit on everyone’s boyfriends, or just all of mine?”

jay's eyes widen, but he keeps his composure for hailey’s sake. kathy’s face blanches and she straightens as if hailey has just slapped her across the face; well, she may as well have.

“hailey, please don’t forget you’re here at my wedding, as per my request,” kathy deadpans in response and if jay thinks they were in trouble before, they’re really in for it now. “do not disrespect me like that.”

hailey’s eyes squint and the words she’s hearing are causing her physical pain. “are you kidding me?” she hisses. “you slept with my fiancé and had the audacity to invite me to the wedding, so who the hell do you think you are sassing right now?”

kathy purses her lips. “i thought you’d be happy for me. we were such great friends.”

hailey is about to lose her shit. “jay, i’m going to hit her,” she says quickly and jay decides to take charge and jump in.

“alright, you know what? it's your wedding day, we don’t need to make a scene,” he says calmly; hailey is still breathing deeply. “but you both should acknowledge you did hailey dirty and she deserves an apology, at least.”

the bride looks affronted that he would even get involved. “apology? she should be apologizing to me! she’s causing me stress! you don’t upset the bride on her wedding day!”

“i’m about to do more than just upset you,” hailey growls, quickly standing up and planting her feet firmly to the ground. jay has no doubt in his mind that hailey will not hesitate to give the bride a black eye, but he really can’t let her do that.

with his rapid instincts, he’s able to wrap an arm around her waist and yank her into his side and farther away from kathy, who pales and flinches a few steps back. to anyone watching, it merely looks like he’s unable to keep his hands off his girlfriend and pulled her closer for a quick cuddle. it seems this is enough to snap hailey out of whatever revenge-infused fantasy she’s living in her head. “i'm going to leave,” she says calmly, “and i would like to say i wish you both nothing but happiness but really, i want to tell you both to go fuck yourselves. respectfully.”

with those last few words, hailey grabs her clutch, jay’s hand and pulls him in the direction of the exit doors.

and once again, he has never been so attracted to her.

“oh my god, i can’t believe that just happened,” she groans as soon as she exits the building. she instantly leans against the brick wall and allows the coldness to distract her. at his silence, she peaks an eye open to see him gaping at her. his cheeks are flushed, and he looks flustered, which is highly unusual for jay.

“what's wrong?” she questions. “why are you looking at me like that?”

he seems to snap out of it but he is blushing like no tomorrow. hailey is shocked; this literally never happens. “it's nothing, sorry,” he mumbles. “you just look really good.”

hailey has to strain her ears because she almost can’t hear him, but she does. “what?”

jay huffs but decides he can’t get out of this now. “apparently i have a thing for angry hailey,” he says honestly, and she’s floored. “i’m probably crossing a line here or something, but i'm very attracted to you right now.”

jay is being bold and meeting her blue eyes, but hailey is slightly speechless.

“and if i'm being honest, i really want to kiss you. i've wanted to all night.”

hailey decides to feed off his confidence and play along. “what's stopping you?”

he forces his eyes not to widen at her forward manner and instead takes a step closer to her position against the brick wall. “so many things…” he groans, his hands finding her waist.

“but?”

“but i don’t care.”

his lips meet hers tantalizingly slow.

his kiss is soft, much like his entire character when it comes to hailey. one of his hands reaches up to cradle her cheek and hailey surges forward because it’s not enough. jay pulls back.

“finally,” hailey mumbles, cuddling her face into his neck. he holds on tight, the overwhelming scent of her enough to keep him smiling. “i've been wanting to kiss you since the first time you got shot.”

honestly, he can’t remember when he started wanting to kiss her but he’s damn well glad he finally did. “thanks for coming with me today,” she says quietly, “it’s hard for me to open up about my past, but i really hope i can get there with you.”

he's still holding on tight, and he’s smiling as she sneaks a glance at him. “we have all the time in the world.”

86 notes · View notes

chaoslaura · 4 years ago

Text

Tchaikovsky or Led Zeppelin (or both?)

Ballet!Reggie Fluff with his friends

Warnings: None

Word count: 2,693

„Hand on the bar, chin up, shoulders down, stomach in, looking straight ahead. Don’t forget to straighten your inner leg at all times, most important before you go into relevé. Toni, leave you heel flat on the floor. What kind of arm movement is that supposed to display, Marcus?” Mrs. Petrow gave a few tututut noises while going around the room, inspecting every student, attentive for every minimalistic mistake.

‘The arm is not round enough, point the foot more, pay attention to where the little toe points, the gaze follows the arm.’ Every little detail was observed by Mrs. Petrow and nothing escaped her even with twenty students scattered around the room. She found something to complain about with everyone, like every lesson, every week, for years. You get the notion. When she reached Reggie, she merely put her index finger under his chin und lifted it up a bit, otherwise saying nothing and Reggie felt proud he didn’t make a mistake for once. Rare occurrence.

Clapping her hands once, the dance teacher signalled the end of the exercise “You all have to focus more, the performance must be perfect, but in the current state you’re all in I would never let you on stage.” Mrs. Petrow was as kind as always, never holding back with her dissatisfaction, Reggie sighed.

“Now to the grand battement jeté, hurry up. And one and two and three.” With every jeté she clapped her hands in sync with the piano music. Reggie loathed this exercise, his leg wouldn’t comply with going higher, no matter how often Reggie trained, and he knew his teacher wasn’t satisfied either.

After their exercises on the bar they would go over to routines in the middle of the room, alone or pairing up with the girls. Pirouettes were Reggie’s passion. He could spin and turn around the room and would never stop when his head wouldn’t complain at one point, getting dizzy and his vision turning with the room. But there was something so deeply connecting him with the music, how his body would sway with the rhythm, letting it fill his mind. He could follow the moves with his eyes closed, concentrating on every little muscle, the emotions flowing through him to the tips of his fingers.

But today they would train for their performance in pas de deux and Reggie looked out for his partner Toni. She came over with a smile on her lips, ready to gossip about their teacher when she wasn’t looking. It was their favourite activity to pass the time and a way to get rid of the stress. Mrs. Petrow would be lecturing them for their giggling in no time. Too much fun wasn’t allowed withing these walls. It was a tragic story and their faces had to portray that too, each little smile was out of place.

But with Toni he didn’t mind. She was as goofy as him outside of practice and they had gotten along really good since the beginning when he started dancing at age 7 and she was 8. Now he was 17 and still going.

For their teacher’s sake both of them pushed their jokes to the back of their minds and got to their start position. Reggie always loved how the men were playing an essential part as a supporting role for the women and weren’t in the spotlight for once unless they had a solo, but they could never reach the level of gracefulness female ballet dancers achieved.

So, he picked Toni up with his hands on her waist and lifted her up, her legs straight while she moved her arms around in a precise manner. Letting her down again he twirled her once before she got into an attitude. When she was on her point shoes, she protruded him just two inches, but she never stopped teasing him about it since he hit his last growth spurt and would never catch up with her again. (Him and Luke had gotten in enough fights over their heights he didn’t need another person teasing him about it.)

When they were finally allowed to leave, his white shirt clung to his skin, sweat running down his back. His muscles were tired and riding his bicycle seemed like an impossible task. His body was all mushy from the stretches but at least he had a pause for two days before the cycle began again.

Changing into his street clothes and packing his shirt, tights, and ballet slippers into his bag, he met with Toni at the entrance again, they were always waiting for each other for a quick chat.

“You feel like grabbing a bite? Training put a hole in my stomach, I was afraid Mrs. Petrow would hear it grumbling and scold me for it, for making the act unbelievable.” Toni asked him, her own bag slung over her shoulder.

Reggie shook his head, regretting his last minute made plans. “Well, I would love to, but I also have practice with the band in a minute. No time, sorry.”

Toni gave him a bewildered look. “Now? After training? Sometimes I wonder how you fit everything under your hat. Must be a pretty big one. No wonder you like cowboy hats.” As everyone else of his friends Toni picked up his passion for Country pretty early but never made fun of him because of that. Might be another reason why he liked her so much.

“There should really be a cowboy themed ballet. Imagine a magical story between a cowboy and his beloved horse, going on an adventure together, maybe meeting a woman along the way but in the end he realizes that his one true love is his freedom and his horse.”

Toni let out a loud laugh, holding her stomach and laid a hand on Reggie’s shoulder, squeezing it shortly. She was clearly amused. “You watched Brokeback Mountain one too many times I would say.”

Reggie gave a scandalized look. “I said freedom not men. Don’t read between the lines where there is nothing to be found.” He scoffed once again but he knew Toni was just making fun of him.

Taking her hand back from his shoulder, she instead pulled him into a hug as a goodbye. “Well then, have fun tonight, say hello to the boys and Julie for me, haven’t seen them in a while.”

Reggie put his arms around Toni’s waist and gave a last squeeze before letting loose. “I’ll bring them to the premier if they want to or not. They’re in debt after the accident at the pier and I will use this favour to drag them to the show.”

“Can’t wait. Bye Reg, I really have to go now or my stomach will eat itself.” As on cue a grumbling was heard, and Toni clutched at her tummy before continuing in a dramatic voice “See, it’s too late. I will die a horrible death, tell Alex that I always appreciated his advices, and Bobby’s dating tips, Julie is just amazing and has great style, and most importantly tell Luke he’s a dumbass.”

Reggie chuckled at the last comment. “Will do, but what’s with me? Don’t say I wasn’t important enough to get a last goodbye. I never let you fall when I held you, you should appreciate that” A pout decorated Reggie’s face and he was ready to sulk at such injustice.

“Oh thanks Reggie, really. Thank you for not harming me, the bare minimum. You won’t get a thanks for that and now go before your boys start searching for you.”

“Alright, kiss a meatball sub for me. “ With a last wave Reggie turned around and walked in the opposite direction, he wasn’t entirely sure if he locked his bike over there, or maybe around the corner? Oh thank god, there it was, he was in no condition to walk to their studio or how Alex would call it ‘a rundown garage at best’.

The wind that passed him as he paddled down the road, cooled down his flushed skin, and left him feeling more alive than half an hour ago. The lights at the garage were already on when Reggie turned into the driveway, leaning his bike against the wall and grabbing his bag. Luckily for him his bass had found a permanent residency at the studio, the thought of having to drag it around too, no thanks, his arm muscles were aching enough.

He opened the creaking door to reveal his four bandmates standing around the room, doing various things. Luke looked up from his notebook, what else would he be doing.

“Toni said I should tell you you’re a dumbass Luke.” Reggie said as a greeting and slumped down on the couch, feeling the soft material and sighed at how comfortable it was.

Luke sputtered and gave him a confused and questioning look, coming over and joining him on the couch, instantly crossing his arms and started pouting. “What did I do?”

Luke seemed really upset and Reggie felt sorry for saying it like that. “Luke, it was a joke! You know how Toni is, we were just joking around.”

Luke had gone from sad back to upbeat in a second and stood up again to retrieve his notebook, a pencil was still clamped behind his ear. “Oh good, and I thought I forgot something I did.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Ales smiled sweetly at Luke from where he was already seated behind his drum kit, giving a snickering Julie a bro fist, who was always in to drag Luke. It was their little game. How everyone else but them could see how much it counted as flirting was astonishing, but well, what could they do besides follow the play?

“Back to Toni. How’s it going with her?” Bobby asked then, repeatingly raising his eyebrows in a seemingly suggesting manner, a lopsided grin plastered on his face.

“What do you mean?” Reggie was seriously confused at that question. “She’s fine if that is what you wanted to know.”

Alex groaned in the background. There was oblivious Reggie again, how they knew and loved him. Luke sprung in, helping Bobby out. “What Bobby wanted to know is if you finally made a move on Toni. You know, like asking her out on a date?”

Reggie’s mouth popped open. He had never been thinking about going on a date with Toni, not even considering it. That concept was weird, they were just really good friends. “Why would I ask her out? She’s just a friend.” He said so.

Julie put the mic she had been holding until now into the stand and turned to Reggie. “First of all, you know each other for 10 years. Second, you two have the same personality and interests, you two fit so good together. When she’s around, your happiness is bouncing off the balls, much like Luke after a gig. And to wrap it up, she looks gorgeous, you love her style, you said so yourself.” Great, now Julie had conspired against him too.

Reggie raised an eyebrow, was that it? “And? We all share interests, we’re in a band together, and Luke and I have known each other since we’re 10 and I can say with confidence that you all look good, but have I asked any of you out yet? No. So why would I do that with Toni?”

“I’m honoured for being called good-looking.” Alex said. “But Reggie, if you don’t want to you don’t have to ask Toni out. We just thought you two really liked each other, we thought it was obvious, sorry.” Reggie couldn’t stay mad long at Alex; he was just too sweet. He sighed, stood up from the couch and doubled over, stretching his knees. It was never a good idea to sit down after training.

“I will never get over how flexible you are.” Reggie looked up and saw Bobby staring at him with amazement.

Reggie grinned at the hidden compliment. “If you wouldn’t skip PE all the time, you might get there one day.”

Julie hollered, satisfied with where this was going. “Yes, call him out for what he is, a lazy pazy, abandoning us in gym hell.”

Luke meanwhile stopped scribbling in his book again and gave an annoyed expression. “Guys, we said no school talk during band time.” There was nothing new with Luke’s hate of school. For him it was just another distraction in his music career, another way to waste precious song writing time.

Reggie stretched his arms a last time, rolling his shoulder blades, and made a beeline for his bass. He loved practice time with his friends, but he was ready for this day to be over, but hoped it wasn’t too obvious. Not that his friends got the impression he didn’t like spending time with them. Luke picked up on his exhaustion though.

“Why you seem so tired today? You look like you’re done with the day and it’s only 8.”

Reggie wasn’t sure if that was a serious question and needed a second. “You can try giving your everything in ballet with Mrs. Petrow for two and a half hours and see how fresh you’re looking afterwards.”

Luke’s eyes got soft again. “Sorry, didn’t know you had practice beforehand.” He apologized and then as another thought crossed his mind “- Wait, didn’t you were at practice two days ago?”

“I have practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It has always been like this before a performance.” How could Luke had never catch up on that?

“What?? You’re training three days a week on top of schoolwork and band practice almost every day a week?” Bobby let out like it was implausible, showing the same baffled look as Luke.

Reggie was looking between the two. “Yeah?” He wasn’t sure what they wanted him to say.

All four seemed impressed at that and Alex sympathetic smile greeted him when Reggie looked his way. “When you’re tired, we can call it off for today and just watch a movie or something.” He proposed and everyone else agreed, even Luke, who pushed them the hardest.

Reggie was quick to jump on that opportunity and before someone else could chime in with ideas he picked up a DVD from his Star Wars collection, hearing a collective groaning behind him, but he didn’t care. It was his feel-good escape.

Bobby tousled his hair when he walked past him where the TV sat and laughed at Reggie’s disgruntled look. “You don’t look as threatening as you want, you’re just too cute.” Fantastic, just what he liked to hear. Pulling his hair back again that had fallen in his face from Bobby’s action, Alex called out to him.

“Hey Reg, do a pair of spins to the TV.”

Reggie didn’t need to be told twice before he started turning to where he wanted to go, fixating a point on the wall, his leg going into a passé on every turn. Landing in perfect position in front of the older telly, he gave his audience one bow and got applause in return, eliciting a smile from him.

When they were all seated on a pile of cushions and surrounded with blankets, a cuddling mess on the floor, Reggie remembered what he wanted to ask them. “Hey, would you like to come to the premier? It’s in two weeks. It’s okay if you have plans already, it’s not as important, I wouldn’t be mad, I just wan-“

Alex hand was placed on his arm, interrupting his nervous rambling. “Of course we’ll come Reg. Right guys?” The other three were quick to agree and Reggie beamed at them.

“I’ll sit front row and whistle every time you come on stage.” Luke added. Reggie was not keen on finding out if Luke was serious and made a mental note to place Luke in the back of the venue.

When the credits scrolled down on the screen later, Reggie was already fast asleep, laying between his friends, who just pulled the blanked higher on him and tried to be as silent as possible while chatting quietly.

#Julie and the Phantoms #jatp #jatp fic #reggie peters #luke patterson #alex mercer #bobby wilson #julie molina #mine #my fic

23 notes · View notes

gagmebucky · 5 years ago

Text

thank you to taylor @blessedbucky, mia @theamericanfalcon, liz @marvelous-mr-stark, raechel, shayla, lauren, courtney, em and tina for allowing me to write this content as well as my beta reader kat @angel-fire! love you all!

read the full synopsis and excerpt // read chapters snippets here.

o. in which you accidentally send your nudes to your brothers’ best friend. (includes reader’s pov, bucky’s pov, mentions of sexting.)

—

Initially, taking the photos—exposing yourself in such an intimate state to another—you were hesitant. It wasn’t the possible repercussions, i.e. revenge porn, that gave you pause but more-so an insecurity in your own body. Having never done something like this before, you briefly dithered between whether you should or not.

Ultimately, however, you do. The guy had spent money on you, went through the trouble of finding something you’d like and shipped it discreetly. And when you slip the racy number on, your insecurities wash away and leave excitement in its wake. Everything about it you love, and it has you preening in a solo photo shoot you’re eager to show off.

After a good time of selfie shutters bulking your phone’s storage—positions of you scantily-clad standing, sitting, a cross of both—you finally relent. There’s too many pictures to pick from, but you do. Three poses that optimize the best aspects of the outfit and that you think he’ll like the best have you buzzing in anticipation of his reaction.

Giddy, you tap them directly on the album app and click the share button; you input the letter B in the ‘To:’ slot. Since there’s only two contact names under that letter, his name shows up immediately, the first with the nickname Bucky beneath it. You gloss over that and in quick succession, you quickly hit the contact and press send.

For a split second, you’re proud: you’ve taken this e-relationship to the next level like he wanted, and he’ll be happy with you. Then it hits you like a brick through glass. A replay of your actions travel to your brain, and you belatedly realize what your eyes saw—your thumb smearing too low on the screen, so instead of Brock as the recipient, it’s Bucky.

“No, no, no!” you whisper as your heart hurtles like a jackhammer stuck in your rib cage.

A part of you insists it’s your paranoia playing tricks on you, and that’s a valid rationale because this whole thing does worry you about getting caught. Except, upon checking its legitimacy, you confirm what you accidentally did. There’s no mistaking it, now, because with your brightness turned up full, your partially nude figure stares you in the face underneath of a thread between you and your brothers’ best friend.

James Bucky Barnes—the man who’s nicknamed you bambi because the numerous times he’s seen you face-plant over your own footing, the twenty-four year old who still ruffles your hair when he greets you, the soon-to-be business owner who dates certified models—has a trio of your attempts to be seductive; bottom lined with text you hope comes off likewise seductive.

Mortification swallows you. Your skin burns hotter and hotter by the second. Sure, you’ve embarrassed yourself before: you fall a lot, and you’re awkward conversationalist. But never something of this magnitude, not something that makes you seem so desperate and pathetic.

You can imagine him opening the messages. He’d immediately assume, understandably, it’s a come-on; a girl trying to be a woman’s failed goal to enthrall a man like him, his best friend’s kid sister’s pitiful effort to be anything other than just that. As if you could ever measure up to the types of women he dates.

And, yes, there’s been a time where you had a crush on him. But it’s not your fault when he looks like how he does, a rugged example of masculine sex appeal, and treating you the way he does, teasing but with a twist of kindness, and the fact that he’s the only non-blood related man allowed near you.

But that time has passed. Even then, you knew the one-sided attraction was delusional to have. You were—still are—so sure about it that you never even dared to fantasize about him and the rumors that used to trek behind him about his sexual escapades. There’s no hidden desire to be with him, and that worsens it because it’s not like you’d feel any relief in knowing his reaction. You don’t care about his reaction in the first place!

Now, no matter how much you will insist it’s an accident, there will always be a dubiousness about it. With how close your families are, things are going to be tense. Because there’s no forgetting he’s viewed you like that, and there’s photo evidence of it.

It hits you then. The extremity of your fuckup douses you in ice, and your muscles freeze because you register that since he knows about your family borderline patriarchal values concerning you, he has to tell them you’re taking nudes, and it will be over for you.

It has taken you twenty years of your life to finally venture outside what your family has allowed, to sate your curiosity of what exactly your fathers and older siblings have kept so strictly from you: sex and all the goodness it entails.

It has taken you an additional six months to explore in-depth and build the courage to start something tangible, to wander the depraved side of the internet where strangers did things to each other that made you want to do things with someone of your own: stirring foreign but oh-so amazing feelings in your nether regions.

For twenty-six weeks you carefully treaded across in order to ensure your family had no clue what you’re doing, clearing your web history and using incognito mode, all your accounts anonymous, keeping your notifications on silent in case anyone becomes suspicious of who’s continuously contacting you.

One hundred and eighty-two days later—in the middle of which you started your sex-based communication—of preparing to lose your virginity, your family will find out what you’ve been up to, and your life will be hell.

Everything has been going so perfectly. You found a guy enough distance away he isn't affected by your family’s influence, middle-aged so he’s experience and doesn’t mind handling a virgin, and is willing to drive an hour to meet you at a specified hotel when the time comes.

All that hard work down the drain.

You toss your phone and jump to your feet. Panicked, your bare feet pad back and forth on your rug-covered wood floors. Your teeth gnaw at your thumbnail as different scenarios of how everything will transpire flit through your head. Each one is more terrible than the last, and your anxiety heightens.

Somewhere in your disquietude, it occurs to you. Your brothers are downstairs and so is Bucky, but it’s ten o’clock at night, and that means they’re gaming. That particular activity coined a rule that all players have to stow their phones in the guest room. The specifics are blurry but it was something about Bucky interrupting the session due to excessive texts.

It’s an opportunity. A chance that you can creep downstairs, swipe his phone and delete your mistake—hell, you’ll break his phone if you need to—before he’s any the wiser.

“And—” Bucky Barnes drawls out the vowel as the rough-textured ball hurls through the air and swishes sharply into the hoop. “—nothin’ but net.” He relaxes from the perfected basketball follow-through stance, hands dropping to his sides, while he regards his old friend with a cocky smile. “Beat that, Rogers.”

Steve snorts and catches the ball when it bounces onto the concrete. Palming it in one hand, he dribbles it twice and trades positions so instead of being stationed next to the hoop, he’s descended to the driveway curb where the established three-pointer line is.

“You still got it, Barnes,” the blond admits, loosening his shoulders and spreading his footing to be a width apart. His right hand balances the ball from below, elbow tucked underneath, while the left splays against the side as his knees bend, and he springs up. With a practiced flick of his wrist, he releases the orange sphere at the top of his jump. It catapults in a flawless arc and drops through criss-crossed netting with a similar swish. His lips curve with satisfaction as he adds, “But, so do I.”

Bucky laughs and seizes the ball as it falls free. “Callum and Henry have no idea they’re going to get obliterated,” he says, coming to slap his palm in an affable embrace. “Fair warning, they’re still as sore losers as they were five years ago so be prepared for that.”

Steve Rogers chuckles. The former fourth to their high school cliquè, he’s aware of just how bad sports they are.

After graduation, he left out-of-state to pursue a degree in technological engineering, which he acquired last month in May, prompting his return back to New York. Between the four of them, Bucky and Steve are the level headed ones so he’s glad to have the support to handle the wild children his childhood best friends are.

“Speaking of,” Steve starts, dirty blond eyebrows knitting as he glances around the neighborhood’s cul-de-sac. “Where are they? I thought Henry was supposed to be waking up Callum? If we aren’t starting yet, then can I get my phone back?”

Bucky clicks his teeth. “Yeah. They’re probably stuffing their faces right now. Their sister went grocery shopping and got a cake so. . .” He waves his hand in gesture before continuing in vehement passion on the second point, “The whole phone thing is bullshit, though. I miss a few winning shots ‘cause I was busy with some pretty little thing texting me, and now there’s a ‘no technology rule’.” He scoffs and folds his arms.

Now that he thinks about it, he could totally have his phone right now. And he’s more interested in having it than usual. There’s this girl he’s been seeing frequently at local parties—six feet tall with gorgeous brown skin, always done up in intricate eye makeup, silver tongued (he’s very interested in her tongue) when she speaks—and he’s finally gotten her number. She could be texting him, and he doesn’t even know it!

“You know, yeah, we should get our phones back if those assholes want to take all day,” Bucky decides, agreeing with steps toward the closed storm door, but opened front door until he hears the inquiry:

“How is Y/N, anyway?” Steve’s voice is genuinely and harmlessly curious behind him, and he stops in his tracks because Bucky remembers the poorly hid crush he harbored for you. “I saw her instagram the other day, and she must be quite the heartbreaker.”

Spinning around to face him, Bucky lifts a brow. “Huh?” Then he processes the implication that you’re out dating and such. The mere prospect has him surprising laughter.

With their dad and his girlfriend on a tour of the world, the three of them are the only ones in the household. Given you’re the baby of your siblings, despite being an independent twenty-year-old, your older brothers have taken it upon themselves to ensure you focus solely on school work. Callum and Henry know exactly how to threaten their message across that you are not to be bothered, and anyone who tries will end up battered and bruised.

He shakes his head. “Nah. She’s not with anyone, hasn’t been ever,” he tells him. “If you thought Callum and Henry were overprotective back then, you should see them now.”

Gunmetal blue eyes blink surprised at him, and there’s a faint battle between delight and disappointment. “Really?” He shoves his hands in his sweats and falters somewhat. “It’s gotta be hard considering the way she has grown up,” he says but Bucky’s face scrunches in confusion. “You can’t tell me you don’t see how cute she is.” Before he can respond, Steve adds, “Obviously I wouldn’t ever see or be with her in that way—I wouldn’t betray Callum or Henry like that—but objectively, you can admit she’s gorgeous, right?”

Bucky has to take a moment and genuinely consider it—consider you—because he hasn’t before. (Other than noticing the genetic similarities to Callum, who shares your eye and hair color but is a shade lighter than you, and Henry, who shares your complexion and eye color, but his hair is darker than yours.)

There’s no denying your looks are better than most: the structure of your face works beautifully, dazzling eyes framed by your lashes and occasionally accentuated by mascara, lips usually adorned in gloss or anything that keeps them hydrated which could be described as alluring, and your hair is almost always done, sometimes switched up in style. But there’s an inherent innocence there, a sweet and clumsy awkwardness, and maybe because he’s watched you grow up, four years your senior, but it just doesn’t do it for him.

You’re his best friends’ baby sister, for God’s sake. He’d never at you like that in the first place. Especially not when he’s been aware, in the past, you harbored a schoolgirl crush on him. It was painfully obvious, to your chagrin, but he found it adorable—flattering but unsurprising considering girls flock to him like seagulls to boardwalk french fries.

Currently, he’s sure you know he won’t ever pick you—under principle, under the lack of attraction. Other than pleasant smiles and occasional small talk mixed with teasing, you don’t gaze at him with starry eyes anymore, at least it’s waned significantly as you matured.

Back to the question: “Uh, no, not really. Even if Callum and Henry didn’t care, I don’t think I’d be attracted to her,” he answers truthfully. Your purity doesn’t provoke his sexual attraction although it does invoke a duty of protectiveness. “She just isn’t my type.”

Steve arches a brow, a surprised playfulness in his expression. “Oh? Then what is your type, then?” he asks, nudging him with his elbow. ‘Cause from what I remember you’re up for anyone and everyone.”

“That makes me sound like a whore,” he feigns offense but digresses into a fit of chuckles as he thinks back to all his various sex-capades and Steve flashes him a look that says aren’t you? “Yeah.” He nods with a prideful chortle. “But I’m into more frisky girls, y’know? Ones who’ve been everywhere and done everything. They’re brass and loud and just do whatever the fuck they want. I like to be one of those things.”

Behind him, his best friend, Callum’s orotund voice rings out between the pressurized shh of the storm door, “Buck’s into slutty girls, Steve.”

He cringes at the diction. “Don’t call ‘em slutty. Sounds degrading when you guys say it like that.” Most of the time, he agrees with him—and his brother—but when it comes to women, there’s usually a dissent and a need for correction. “But yeah. I prefer girls with experience,” he declares strongly. “They don’t get attached like girls with... less experience do.”

Callum rolls his eyes, bounding down the porch stairs to the recently pressure-washed driveway, and he plucks the basketball out of his hands. “Here we go again. Bucky and his ‘I hate virgin’s’ campaign,” he mocks, shaking his head. “Doesn’t make any sense to me ‘cause everyone knows virgins are the tightest.”

This time, Bucky is the one to roll his eyes. “Well, that doesn’t make any sense considering tightness isn’t dependent upon whether it’s their first time ‘cause, y’know, vaginas stretch, you morons.” Sometimes he has no clue how Callum passed sex education (then he remembers that he bribed the health teacher). “Meaning a girl can have sex, then after a period of time, her virgin ‘tightness’ eventually returns. The only reason virgins may seem tighter is because they’re usually nervous.”

The look on Callum’s face says that what he just said went right over his head. “Whatever.” He shrugs and starts dribbling the ball half-heartedly. “I just know the woman I end up with better be a virgin.”

“Right!” Henry’s likewise orotund voice, a pitch higher, speaks after he pushes through the glass door. He presses to the court-slash-driveway, wiping icing off his mouth. “That’s marriage material. I’m not fucking around in a relationship with no woman that’s been fucked already, y’know?”

Bucky’s eye twitches, jaw locking for a millisecond. “But you guys aren’t even virgins yourself,” he points out their hypocrisy. When they look at him to rebuttal, he automatically knows it’s going to run his blood pressure up and it’s not worth it. “You know, I’m gonna go to the bathroom. You guys have fun with your conversation.”

Swiftly, he whirls around and heads for inside. The last thing he hears is Steve’s ambivalent, “I get the appeal of virgins. But you know, I don’t think it really matters. I think it just matters if you’re into them, and if they’re into you. I wouldn’t care either way but. . .”

The air conditioned air greets him coldly, and he revels in it. The June sun is killer, though perfect weather for playing a game outside, and the chill dries the sweat beaded on his forehead. He pads down the foyer, turns the corner to the bathroom and enters to take a much needed leak.

Bucky has so much brotherly love for your brothers: neighbors since being in diapers, his mother the female figure in their life, and becoming and remaining best friends for over twenty years. There’s only one thing that grates his nerves when it comes to them and that’s their view of women is somewhat skewed. Sometimes—most of the time—went the topic comes up, he’s always one second away from throttling them.

Hopefully after he pisses, they’ll be talking about something else, and finally they all can play basketball. It.

Flushing the toilet, he goes onto wash his hands. He lathers up in orange antibacterial soap and rinses the suds off with hot water. There isn’t a towel, at least not a clean one, so instead he just lets the remaining droplets drip onto the floor.

Emerging from the bathroom, James pauses and absentmindedly wipes his hands dry on his mesh-polyester shorts. His attention automatically draws to the guest room’s closed door adjacent to his position. A decision strikes him, and he steps forward and casts a curious glance down the corner.

When boisterous and distracted laughter filters through the front door and down the empty corridor, it springs him into action. He figures there’s no harm in checking his phone while he’s here. He’d been especially resistant to giving it away because he’s engaged in a particularly stimulating conversation with a particularly titillating woman—popular in her own right, he can’t afford to miss his shot with her.

His fingers turn the knob, and he shoulders through. The furniture is decorated and accented in yellow and white, condition otherwise pristine, save for the phones littered across the king-sized poster bed’s fluffy duvet. He strides across gleaming light oak floors and hones in on the only golden-colored, rubbed encased titanium.

As he grips it, long digits curling around the back, pinkie supporting the bottom, thumb tapping the screen to life, he can hear the dwindling of high-spirited jesting through the en-suite’s rectangular horizontal slider window; a wondering of where he’s gone has him speeding up.

Although he’d been gone for under an hour, his screen is bright with various notifications, social media accounts and text messages. He ignores the former and searches for the latter, specifically the contact, Val 😛💦. Scrolling quickly, he comes to a stop but not because of his original intent.

His head cocks, and he knits his brows when he sees your name instead; formally nicknamed, bambi, due to your penchant for clumsiness and general fragility. You don’t text him—except for that one time you needed to be picked up from the library—and considering you know he’s just outside, his baffled curiosity is further spurred.

With a sideways swipe of his thumb, your thread enlarges on the high-definition display. He isn’t sure what he expected, but this? Oh, this, definitely is not it. His eyes widen as the content loads, and reveals you, in all your half-naked glory.

“Shit,” he breathes out raggedly, blinking multiple times because he has to be seeing things. But, nope, it’s still you—looking like that, wearing that. “Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Your brothers are beginning to call his name, demanding his attendance, and he froze in shock, unable to tear his stare away from the girl who’s tripped over her own feet more times than he can count; the wallflower who spends all her time studying in her room; the forbidden fruit who’s innocent has always stirred a vigilant feeling inside him—now stirring something hard between his thighs because there you are.

Like always, your hair is done prettily, wispy-lashed eyes big and inviting, a saucy pout to your glossed lips. Your flawless complexion seems to glow in the reflection of the mirror, and he doesn’t know if it’s because of the warm lighting, or if it’s the confidence you exude in your faux-innocent expression from where something so sinfully sexy.

Three photos, and every single one is like a punch in the gut; displaying your usually hoodie-hidden figure in its bare, exquisite form. The skimpy white two-piece caresses your breasts in a lace halter top, leaving a teasing amount of cleavage. Your navel exposed, he becomes aware of how soft your skin would be. Moving lower, your untouched flower is wrapped in a thin thong with a bow on the center of the waistband.

A million things flit through his head; a million disgusting things he never thought he’d think about you.

The main one is every sort of attraction these snapshots arouse. A laser slices down his center and sears him to the core. The multiple poses calls every hungry part of him to attention, the curve of your breasts, the contours of your hips and the jut of your ass. And he shoves to the darkest recess in his mind because that’s just an innate reaction to lingerie. (Right? Right.)

He combats your images with that of Val: knows-what-she’s-doing and equally promiscuous as him Val. The anthropology major who downs beers within seconds and tongue kisses the first person she sees afterwards.

The next is the one he focuses on, that you would take these and send them to him—as if he’d betray your brothers like that. Second-hand embarrassment strikes him because he knows if you’ll send something as risky as this, he’ll have to formally reject you and break your unreciprocated pining heart.

He grimaces at the thought. This is why he doesn’t do virgins and the less experienced in general. The inherent strings are a killer, and he resents the drama; and it’d be ten times worse with you because of the added complications of your siblings.

In fact, he hears something beyond him, coming down the hallway, and it’s probably them, but he can’t stop rereading your text accompanying the photos, partially imagining how it’d sound in your delicate voice:

bambi (4:21PM): is this as pretty as you imagined? did i do good? just tell me what you want, and ill do it. i want you. soon, please - and yes, ill beg. i promise itll sound even better in person.

[read it in its entirety on my patreon - one time fee of $5 to access!]

#bucky x reader #bucky x you smut #bucky barnes imagines #marvel imagines #bucky barnes fanfiction #marvel x you #bucky smut series #marvel chaptered fics #my writing #tva

630 notes · View notes

argylemnwrites · 4 years ago

Text

Fight or Flight - Chapter 10: Why

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Heir (canon divergent from the end of book 2)

Word Count: ~4400

Rating: PG-13 (language only)

Summary: Five days since The Walker Absconding

Author’s Note: This series follows the Walkers, their friends, and Cordonia as a whole after they flee the country with their daughter during Barthelemy Beaumont’s attempted coup. To catch up on this series, check out it’s masterlist. (link can be found via my bio - sorry, Tumblr is once again not putting my posts with links in tag searches)

“I know the location of the former Duchess and Duke of Valtoria and the Queen-Regent of Cordonia.” Her tone was even and calm. Amalas wasn’t giving anything away.

“Is that so?” Olivia asked, her mind scrambling to let go of her irritation with Leo and figure out her best strategy here. “How did you happen to come across such information?”

“Oh, they don’t call me the ‘Spy Queen’ for nothing.”

“And why are you calling me? This would seem like the type of information that would be more useful to the acting monarch than me.” She tapped her nails against her desk, trying to come up with a way to get Amalas to reveal more. As helpful as it would be to hear how she had tracked Riley and Drake, finding out why she was following their whereabouts would be infinitely more invaluable.

“Interesting. I would have assumed that you had a vested interest in keeping them from being taken into custody.”

“Why would you think that? The Walkers are traitors who deserve whatever comes to them.” She and Hana had rehearsed variations of that sentiment with each other over the past few days. Hana had opted for a gentler stance, focusing on how sad the whole affair made her. Olivia knew that righteous anger was more believable from her, though.

Amalas was silent for a few seconds before she responded, “Very interesting indeed. Can you give me a way to get in touch with King-Regent Rashad, in that case? I’m sure he will find my intel quite valuable.”

She was trying to call her bluff here. There was no way Amalas had just decided to contact her out of the goodness of her heart. There had to be a reason why she came to her first. Olivia knew she had to keep pushing. “Of course, I would be happy to do so.”

Another pause followed. “Thank you; that would be so helpful.”

“You’re welcome, Your Majesty. You know, you might want to look at your staff’s performance, though. If they can’t keep track of the palace’s contact information, I worry about what other details might be slipping through the cracks.”

The silence lasted longer this time. Jackpot. Olivia knew she was on the right track. “Just some friendly advice,” she continued, “unless you don’t want to interact with Rashad for some reason.”

“Why would you possibly think that?”

“Because he’s just a placeholder. You want more influence. He has nothing of value to offer you. An agreement with him could very well fizzle into nothing after the Conclave in a couple of months. So that means I have more bargaining power here than you want to admit.”

“There’s no need to be so confrontational about this, Lady Olivia. As I see it, this can be mutually beneficial.”

“What are you hoping to gain here?”

“The same thing I’ve always wanted - an alliance between Monterisso and Cordonia. And I’m willing to help poor Mr. Rys regain his place on the throne to arrange that. You see, we can help each other.”

Olivia frowned. She didn’t trust Amalas, not one bit. Her being more tolerable than Bradshaw and Isabella wasn’t any sort of ringing endorsement. But it was possible that they weren’t going to have better options. She needed to tread carefully here. Not commit, but not close the door.

“I’m not sure how much help any outside power would be at this point, quite frankly. Why don’t you give us a taste of how useful you can be. It’ll be what I bring to Liam, so you might want to make it convincing.”

“Well, I’m not a fan of giving away my hard-earned information for free… but let’s just say that the Walkers might be doing a good job of not allowing their financials to be traced past Ioannina, but that if Cordonia had the surveillance and facial recognition technology of Monterisso, or if Greece actually cared about those warrants that have been issued, bringing them in would not be difficult. Have a nice day. I’m sure we’ll be in touch soon.” And with that, the line went dead.

Olivia massaged her temples. There were just too many moving parts, too many different parties with their own agendas here for her to try and do this solo, or even just with Hana’s help. It was time to end Leo’s lackluster efforts at support. She needed Liam back in the fray.

She marched through the keep to the quarters customarily given to the reigning monarch upon a visit, quarters that Liam had used for years and that she wasn’t going to prevent him from using now, even though both he and his brother were titleless at this point. She knocked on the door, waiting a few moments before Leo flung the door open, a glass of scotch clutched in his free hand.

“Liv! I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away.”

“Yeah, not here for you. I need to talk to him.”

Leo stepped to the side, gesturing grandly as she passed. “Of course, Your Grace.”

She rolled her eyes and looked around the sitting room. There was Liam, wearing a green sweater, a pair of jeans, and a pair of plaid slippers. It was his equivalent of not getting out of his sleepwear. He was also holding a glass of scotch, a highlighted copy of what appeared to be a section of Cordonian National Law laying forgotten on the coffee table in front of him as he instead was intently focused on the television, which had some sort of football match playing.

“Really, Leo?” she hissed at him, “I thought you were joking about getting him drunk.”

“Relax, Olivia. He’s not drunk drunk. And it’s Cordonia vs. Barcelona, so he’s actually distracted. I thought you wanted me to improve his mood,” he said, under his breath, before raising his voice enough to carry across to his brother, “Hey, look who came to join us?”

Liam glanced over, and Olivia was pleased to notice a little more life behind his eyes. “Olivia? But you hate football.”

Leo clapped a hand on her shoulder and attempted to guide her to the couch, but she rolled it off, walking over to join Liam on her own. “I actually came because I think it’s time we talk about some details, start planning your next steps.”

“Of course,” said Liam, setting his glass down with a little more force than usual, but otherwise not showing any signs of any tipsiness or drunkenness. He moved to grab the papers he’d abandoned in front of him, but Leo interrupted him.

“Hey! I thought we were getting drunk and watching football? The one thing I suggested since I’ve been here that you actually showed enthusiasm for, and now she gets to just cancel the plans?”

“Leo, if Olivia needs-” Liam started, but she held a hand up, stopping him as she glared at Leo.

“Unlike you, I think he and I are capable of multitasking, but I will not drink that swill you two are having. If you go a fetch me a decent Merlot, I will stay and have a drink with you while we talk. And the game can stay on.”

Leo grinned and gave her a little nod before turning and heading out in search of her wine, likely aware he wasn’t going to get a better deal from her than that one. When the door closed, Liam started apologizing.

“Sorry, I wouldn’t have agreed to drink with him if I had known you wanted to meet. But he’s just been insistent, and with this match, I thought-”

“It’s fine, Liam. I wouldn’t have disturbed you two if I hadn’t just received a very interesting call from Amalas.”

Liam’s eyes widened at that. “She… called you?”

“Yes. She is apparently still looking for a formal alliance with Cordonia.”

His eyes dropped to his lap just briefly. “That’s not exactly our place to consider at this point, though.”

“Liam…” Olivia wasn’t quite sure what to say. She had never been good at the whole comforting, shoulder to cry on thing.

“It’s fine,” he said, shaking his head slightly. “Why did she want to speak to you and not Rashad?”

Olivia knew he was deflecting, but she didn’t know how to make him open up to her, particularly not when she actually needed to tell him about that phone call. “She’s thinking long term. She made it pretty clear she’s willing to help you with your bid to reclaim the throne in exchange for the promise of an alliance going forward.”

Liam sighed heavily, letting his head sag. “Alliance via betrothal? As per her original terms? After everything with Auvernal, I struggle to envision Drake and Riley…” he trailed off, “I guess that doesn’t matter at this point does it?”

He had a point. If they were able to regain his title through the Conclave, it was highly unlikely that Bridget was going to remain his appointed heir. But at this point, that felt so far off, like a concern that didn’t really warrant discussion until a much later date. “No, that’s not really worth worrying about right now. To answer your original question, she didn’t state her preferred terms.”

“Did she elaborate as to what she intended to offer in exchange?”

“Not much. The only thing I was able to get out of her is that she knows where Drake, Riley, and Bridget are.”

His head whipped around to face her fully at that, so she continued, “She’s not going to do anything with that info yet. It’s leverage when negotiating with us, but she gets nothing from telling it to Rashad.”

“How does she know, though?” His eyes were wide, the fear clear in them. “And what if she decides to contact Greek authorities?”

“Via facial recognition tech, apparently. But going to the Greek authorities costs her the best bargaining chip she has. She only wants to tell us, Liam. I’m sure of that.”

“I feel like we can’t be sure of anything at this point.”

Olivia took a breath before she spoke again. “Speaking of not being sure of anything, before your brother comes back, you need to know that he was asking me a lot of questions surrounding Drake and Riley.”

“Wait, he was?”

“Yes. I think it’s nothing, but just be aware.”

Liam shook his head. “Leo hates politics. Hates the monarchy, even. I can’t imagine him having any sort of agenda here.”

“Yeah… I know, but I think we need to be cautious here.”

“I’m finding myself being exceedingly cautious lately.” He frowned slightly, then picked up his glass and took another sip of his scotch. “Did he tell you why he was so interested in Drake and Riley?”

“It seemed like he had a possible interest in… reaching out to provide some assistance.”

“Ah,” Liam said, taking another drink. “That’s understandable, I suppose.” He stared at the match, but in a way that made Olivia think he wasn’t exactly watching.

“Look, you know Hana and I are trying to help them in little ways where we can, but if you’d rather not hear the details, then-”

Liam shook his head. “No, I need to know what’s going on, don’t I? It’s not like I want any harm to come to them. It’s all just so… muddled at the moment.”

Yet again, she wasn’t sure how best to comfort him, so she just placed her hand gently on his knee and gave him a little nod. He seemed to understand her intent, as he forced a smile before reaching for all the papers scattered in front of him.

“Why don’t you warn Drake and Riley that Amalas is tracking them? Then we can go over what you’ve heard about staff in Portavira we might be able to buy off.”

Olivia gave him a little frown. “Are you sure you're ready to do this today? If you wanted to watch this match or-”

“I’m sure, Liv. Too many pieces are moving for me to sit still.”

“And you’re up for this?”

He nodded. “More or less. Enough to be productive at the very least.”

Olivia wasn’t sure about that. He was clearly still processing everything, but maybe having a goal to work towards would be good for him. She wasn’t sure if it was the healthiest coping mechanism she was providing him with, but at least it was a useful one. So she shot a quick text to Drake before settling in to discuss what she’d been working on. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drake tried to shift in bed without disturbing Riley or Bridget. Usually, Riley was a heavy sleeper. At home, on nights where he couldn’t sleep, he could move about, sometimes even turn on a light and read, without waking her. But since they’d fled Cordonia, she’d been waking up much more easily, and he figured it wouldn’t do any good for both of them to be sleep deprived.

He knew it was a bad idea, but he grabbed his phone to check the time anyway. 2:04 am. Great. Another night where he would be lucky to get four hours of sleep. He resisted the urge to look for more news stories out of Cordonia on his phone, instead shifting onto his back and staring at the ceiling, a rickety old fan clicking as it spun above them.

Not only was he finding it difficult to relax enough to sleep these days, but he’d been having strange dreams too. Some of them didn’t take much effort to see their meaning. He’d had several nightmares where Bridget was wailing and he couldn’t find her, often with Riley sobbing somewhere out of sight, crying out for him to fucking find their child. In others, some combination of Bridget, Riley, and Liam were missing, and he couldn’t move his legs to go find them. It didn’t take a professional to figure out why he was having those dreams.

The dreams that featured his dad were a bit more unsettling. These dreams were more varied, but they all featured his father, now a giant, looking down at him as an adult and expressing his disappointment in him. Once it was for breaking the motor on the boat and lying about it. Once it was for running out of Mom’s line of sight at the store. Most of the time, Drake couldn’t even remember what he’d done wrong in his dream when he woke up, only recalling Dad shaking his head in shame repeatedly.

He hadn’t really dreamed about his father much over the past decade. For the first few years after his death, it had been a somewhat common occurrence, but eventually, those dreams faded. But now Dad was back, judging him for his actions over and over again. He supposed those dreams didn’t need to be analyzed by a therapist either. The message was pretty damn clear.

So often, he wondered if his dad would have been proud of the man he grew into. This was the first time in his life he didn’t need to wonder at all - he knew his father would have been disappointed in him. He’d fled, acted without honor or regard for his duty towards his country. And he just didn’t think all his reasons would be good enough for Dad. The man had put king and country first time and time again, even when it meant letting down Mom or him and Savannah. He’d given his life for his cause.

But Drake hadn’t been able to do that. When Riley had stood there, crumbling to pieces on the palace drive, a panicked mess of terror, he’d just held her tight and done what she needed from him. When Olivia and Liam had asked him to return, he’d denied their request. He’d done what his wife and daughter had needed each and every time. And he couldn’t even bring himself to regret about that choice. Hell, it hadn’t even really been a choice, not when it came down to it.

But that fact that he’d been so able to ignore his other obligations, ignore Dad’s lessons, weighed on him. He both felt like he did the wrong thing and that he’d made the absolute right choice all at the same time, and that conflict had settled into his gut as a massive pit of guilt. And with everything going on, he’d been reluctant to share these thoughts with Riley. She was just now seeming to trust him to be there for her and Bridget. Today, when she’d come back to find him in the park, he couldn’t even be irritated that she would have been wasting precious time if that woman had been a threat. He was just so relieved that she hadn’t wanted to leave without him, so different than her instinct back at the palace.

He knew he should probably talk to her about how he was feeling, that these feelings weren’t going to get better the longer they stayed on the run. And she’d always been good at listening to him in a way that made him feel understood, not stupid or dumb. She got what he meant when he stumbled over describing things or when he couldn’t quite put things in words. But she was still frayed and on edge herself. Today’s trip to the park proved that.

Besides, there were more pressing matters to discuss. Like what they were going to do about aliases. Or the fact that Amalas had apparently located them. Olivia had told him she had it under control, but Drake was still unsure. He hadn’t brought that up with Riley yet. She was already kicking herself after the trip out, and he hadn’t wanted to pile on, but he knew he would have to let her know in the morning. She wasn’t like his mom, who had adopted a clear “ignorance is bliss” policy when it came to obvious dangers his dad had faced at work. Riley was tougher than that, and she really was his partner in this. He would have to let her know so they could decide what they wanted to do next.

Letting out a sigh, Drake rolled to face Riley, sprawled on her stomach with Bridget curled up next to her on the far side. He inched closer to her, but the fact that her hair no longer smelled like peaches was just one more unsettling change in their lives. But that couldn’t really be helped. All he could do was watch his wife and daughter sleep and hope that seeing them safe would calm him enough to get some rest of his own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hana shifted in her seat slightly, uncrossing and recrossing her ankles as she smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt. She glanced around the little cafe, but she didn’t see any members of the press. She usually wasn’t deemed interesting enough to be followed, but given everything that had transpired in the past week, that could have changed. Thankfully, it just seemed to be other patrons, absorbed in their own meals, phones, and conversations.

She’d decided to extend this invite to a public venue in the capital because that felt like neutral ground. Although the estate at Valtoria would have provided privacy, she couldn’t be bringing outsiders in there. Not until she was sure that no information could be gleaned from a visit.

Of course, the investigators hadn’t left much anyway. The office had been emptied essentially, as had the bedroom, the private lounge, and the library. Thankfully, they had only done a cursory check through her personal belongings, and they hadn’t checked under the floorboards she’d pried up in her quarters, now filled with Drake, Riley, and Bridget’s passports, some of their favorite pieces of clothing, Riley’s glasses and spare contacts, a few of Bridget’s toys, and a handful of framed photos.

It was strange, still living there without Riley, but Hana knew she had to stay as long as she was allowed. She wasn’t even sure if she technically could be there now that Riley had been stripped of her title, but no one had told her she needed to vacate the premises just yet. The staff all gave her a wide berth, clearly unsure what to make of the whole situation. Hana knew gossip must be running rampant, and she wondered who was sympathetic to their former employers and who saw them as selfish and reckless.

The little bell over the door rang as the woman Hana was waiting for entered, large sunglasses covering her eyes. She gave a little nod of acknowledgement from the doorway, then joined Hana, sitting down across from her, a slight tremor visible in her hand as she pulled out her chair.

“Hello, Hana.”

“Hello, Kiara.”

She pulled off her sunglasses and placed them gently in front of her. “I’m surprised Olivia approved you meeting with me one on one.”

Hana shook her head. “Olivia doesn’t have much interest in speaking to you directly, I’m afraid.”

“So she sent you to do her dirty work?”

“No, she has no idea I asked you to meet for coffee.”

Kiara stared at Hana for just a moment, her eyes wide and her eyebrows raised. “Vraiment?” she finally asked, “That’s not what I expected.”

Hana gave a little shrug, signalling a waiter and ordering their drinks before she responded. With as much as Olivia had on her plate, she’d decided that she could handle this conversation herself. Additionally, Olivia’s one size fits all, rather aggressive approach didn’t feel right here. She and Kiara had been friends, or so she had thought. They were certainly closer than Kiara had been with Riley or had even been with Olivia herself. She wanted to see if she could reopen a line of communication here, handling things far more gently than Olivia would ever support.

“Look, I always considered us friends, Kiara, but what happened last week…”

“I know. I didn’t want to do that. I don’t know if you can believe that, but it’s the truth. I even tried to warn Riley ahead of the vote.”

“What happened, Kiara? I’m just trying to understand how this all came to pass.”

Kiara glanced around, likely scanning for any obvious eavesdroppers, before she answered, “I can’t get into it all here. If he found out we were talking…”

“Barthelemy?”

“Or my father. Look, Barthelemy has foreign support for his bid for control.”

“Kiara, what do you mean?” Hana was trying to put together these little scraps of information, but she just did not have anywhere near enough to go on at this point.

“I can’t give you more details than that, at least not in public.”

“Then where do you propose we meet next?”

“The Social Season is currently delayed, but it will have to resume again soon, oui? So we will have to talk then. Step away from curious ears discuss things without arousing suspicion.”

All Hana could do was nod. As helpful as it would be to gain more information today, she needed to tread cautiously. She was relatively new to this degree of political maneuvering, and she didn’t want to damage the connection she had here by pushing too aggressively too quickly.

A few moments later, their waiter returned with their drinks. “Will you ladies be ordering lunch as well?” he asked, reaching for his pad of paper.

“No, thank you,” Hana said, turning to Kiara to explain, “I’m meeting with Rashad at the palace in less than an hour.”

Kiara pursed her lips at that, glancing around once more before saying, “If that’s the case, I would recommend trying to persuade him to delay the Social Season for at least two weeks.”

Surprised by that statement, Hana returned her coffee to the table and looked Kiara dead in the eye. “Why might you suggest that?”

“Old bylaws are pretty strict about both the minimum length of a Social Season and that it must conclude prior to the apple harvest.”

“Yes, I’m aware. It’s only happened twice in Cordonian history, if I recall correctly, that the Social Season had not technically concluded by the first harvest.”

“Correct. And both those times the Social Season was merely suspended until the next calendar year, picking up for its conclusion in early January.”

Hana knew there was some important detail here that Kiara was dancing around. If the Social Season got pushed into the next year, so would the Conclave. But that wouldn’t benefit Liam unless…

“Kiara, has your father set a date to formally transfer his head of house status to you yet?”

Kiara widened her eyes significantly as she nodded. “Oui, I will claim the title officially on New Year’s Day.”

“Congratulations! So you will represent House Theron in all matters after that point?”

“Indeed, and while I look to my father as an inspiration for how to lead, I think you will find I am interested in striking my own path as well.”

Hana opened her mouth to try and clarify things a little further, but Kiara shook her head.

“Enough of these matters. I went wedding dress shopping with Penelope the other day, and she was hoping to get your opinion on some options. Shall we look at some photos I took?”

It was a clear redirection of the conversation. Hana knew she was unlikely to get anymore information from Kiara today, so she nodded and gave her a smile, scooting her chair over to look at her phone screen. But instead of photos of Penelope in white gowns, she was surprised to see a blank message thread, an unsent text typed at the bottom of the screen.

You will want me voting at the Conclave, not my father. His vote is decided. Mine is not.

Hana looked at her, but Kiara just nodded, not taking her eyes off the screen as she pulled open her gallery and scrolled to a series of photos taken a few days earlier. As Hana oohed and ahhed over dress after dress, millions of questions swirled through her mind. And even though she didn’t have most of the answers, at least she felt like she was making progress. That had to count for something.

Permatag: @walkerswhiskeygirl @riley--walker @bebepac @ravenpuff02 @oofchoices @octobereighth @drakewalker04 @kimmiedoo5 @mfackenthal @thequeenofcronuts

The Royal Romance/The Royal Heir: @iaminlovewithtrr @ao719 @mskaneko @katedrakeohd @jovialyouthmusic @marshmallowsandfire @axwalker @kingliam2019 @sirbeepsalot @texaskitten30 @princessleac1 @ladyangel70 @dcbbw @yaushie

Drake x MC: @no-one-u-know @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria @iplaydrake @gibbles82 @drakewalkerisreal @notoriouscs @drakesensworld @drake-colt-lover-99

Fight or Flight: @masterofbluff @burnsoslow @bobasheebaby @shz256

#drake walker #drake x mc #trr au #trh au #trr fanfic #trh fanfic #trr au fanfic #trh au fanfic #choices fanfiction #olivia nevrakis #king liam #hana lee #kiara theron

42 notes · View notes

d-p-f-m · 5 years ago

Text

Jonquil |💕|✖|🍑|

Pt.7: Stifling priorities

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

Word count: 5.809

With an amused smile on your lips, you watch how Jimin's head whips around in surprise when he reads your message. His eyes scan the crowd of drunk students that formed on the improvised dance floor in the middle of the living room in an almost overly eager attempt to spot you, but you're purposely standing in a part of the room that's just dark enough to hide you from his view. It's funny, really. It didn't even take you a minute to find him after you walked in.

Your eyes were immediately drawn to him, like it's the most natural thing in the world and you wonder if it's because of his stunning looks that have most girls instantly pining after him, or if it's actually because of the way he makes you feel. You bite the inside of your cheek at the thought. Suddenly, you're not so sure if it was the best decision to show up here. The girl he made out with just a few moments ago leans over to say something in his ear, probably asking what's going on, but slowly takes a step back when he dismisses her with a quick shake of his head.

She's beautiful, you notice. Her curves are something out of a fashion magazine and her flawless skin is almost glowing under the dim lighting of the room. Comparing yourself to her could make even you insecure and you can't help but shift subconsciously when she runs a hand through her long hair, exposing more of her cleavage in the process. Even though you don't like to admit it, it's flattering that Jimin's ignoring someone like her for you. The moment Jimin's searching eyes turn in your direction, you panic and hurriedly look down at your phone to distract him with another text. Not that you’re trying to avoid him or anything, it’s just… you are.

You don’t know why you even agreed to showing up in the first place. You’re really not the biggest fan of loud and crowded places and the smell of alcohol mixed with sweat and underlying traces of vomit makes your stomach churn in an unpleasant way. Not even your best friend of fourteen years has usually much luck with convincing you to go to parties like this, but with Jimin asking in his slightly pouty and clingy way you just didn’t have it in you to say no.

The second you saw Jimin having fun on his own with some random girl though, you regretted your decision instantly. You’re not jealous, of course. You don’t have any reason nor right to be. But the fact that you actually felt bad for rejecting his invitation and fought yourself out of the comfort of your fluffy blanket in favor of meeting him, just for him to spend his time shoving his tongue down another girl’s throat makes you mad at yourself for even caring.

Despite your first instinct to turn on your heels and leave to go back to the cozy blanket fort waiting for you at home, you find yourself more interested in Jimin’s reactions and patiently stand there, waiting for his next move. It really makes no sense to you how persistent he is with wanting to see you. The girl was literally just five seconds from shoving her hand down his pants and yet here he is, asking you where you are.

You’re not at all insecure about your looks when it comes to the possibility of guys being attracted to you, in fact, you know you could be considered pretty by most standards. But from Jimin’s point of view, with a beautiful girl almost begging for his attention, it’s hard to imagine you being his number one priority right now. Especially since you already told him you’re not interested in fooling around. Is he trying to prove a point? He must be, right? Maybe your rejection hurt his ego and now he wants to show you he's worth your time by putting you over his next potential one-night-stand.

Sad thing is, it's actually working. You can't help but to be impressed by the effort he puts into wooing you, despite the fact that you told him the only thing you want from him is his friendship. There's something about him that intrigues you and you want to slap yourself for the warmth spreading on your cheeks every time he says or does something unexpectedly sweet, catching you off guard with his bluntness.

It’s far more difficult to put a stop to his flirting than you originally thought it would be and, allowing yourself to be completely honest for a second, you enjoy having his eyes on you every once in a while. Maybe you should cut him some slack and go on a date with him? That way, you’ll be able to prove to him that you’re not a good choice for a love interest. Even if you do end up sleeping with him, at least he’ll probably be satisfied with winning you over and you both can finally treat each other as friends.

Woah... were you... actually just thinking that? No. No way in hell. You can't let that happen. You're just friends. He might be cute and you might be a little more attracted to him than you want to admit but who can blame you? He's gorgeous and so much fun to be around and you both just seem to get each other, like you've been friends for ages when in reality, it's only been a few days. It's just a little crush because he's giving you attention, that's it. You won't let it sway you in a decision you made years ago just because he makes your heart flutter from time to time.

You're not meant to be with someone like him, in any way, and he'll have to accept it sooner or later. No dates. No fucking. No attachment. Period. Honestly, it shouldn’t even bother you this much. He’s a cute fuckboy looking for a good time and while it seems unusual to you how invested he is in getting to know you, he’s probably like this with everyone.

Shaking your head at your own ridiculous thoughts, you grin to yourself as you read Jimin’s last message before you start walking in the general direction of where you believe the kitchen to be. Your eyes casually scan the crowd around you in search for familiar faces while you’re trying to coordinate your way through the mass of socalizing students. Suji and Taehyung should be around here somewhere.

God, Suji is going to complain about you not telling her you’d come here as soon as she sees you, you just know it. You reject her most of the time when she offers to go out partying, so you probably won’t hear the end of it for a while. Still, you can’t just leave without at least checking up on how she’s doing. You’re here now anyway, so you’re going to make the most of the night.

It amazes you every time how many people are able to fit into the smallest of places when it comes to free alcohol and the chances of potential hook-ups. There’s even more students once you enter the kitchen and you have to gently shove your way up to the counter, apologizing from time to time when your hands accidentally touch body parts they’re definitely not supposed to touch. ‘Y/N?!’ A low voice suddenly sounds from somewhere to your right.

Thankfully, the booming music coming from the next room is somewhat subdued through the walls, so you don’t have to scream while talking and hearing your name being called you turn in surprise. After searching around for a moment you spot Taehyung only a few meters away, trying to get a better look at you over the heads of the people between you by standing on his tiptoes. Once you make eye contact, he excitedly waves at you and starts to make his way over to wrap his arms around you in a warm hug that you immediately return.

‘It really is you! I’m so glad you made it! Did you just come?’ The bright smile he gives you makes you grin as well and you automatically reach up to ruffle his hair with one hand before nodding at his question. ‘Yeah, I just came. I was actually looking for you to say hi! You know where Suji is?’ He grins even wider at your response and pulls you closer to his chest when someone pushes past you two. ‘Knowing her she’s probably off dancing somewhere. Want me to come with you to look for her?’ Shaking your head no with a smile, you point behind you instead. ‘I’m gonna get a drink first. Care to join me?’

As expected, there’s no need to ask Taehyung twice. He pulls you after him to your new set destination and grabs a clean solo cup on his way before pausing to look at you expectantly. Realizing what he’s waiting for, you just shrug and wave in the general direction of all the different bottles scattered around. ‘Surprise me,’ you say and while he turns his attention to his task at hand, you hop onto the counter, letting your legs dangle lazily as you wait for your friend to hand you your drink.

Your right wrist slightly protests from the pressure you put on it when you jumped up and you subconsciously reach up to massage it with your free hand to ease the familiar ache. ‘Did you see Jeonggukie already?’ Looking up from the ripped material of your jeans, you nod at the question and give the man next to you an amused grin.

‘Jup, he’s the one who let me in. I felt kind of bad because the present I got him was pretty much last minute but he said he liked it, so I guess we’re good.’ The acting major laughs at your answer and comes over to lean next to you against the counter, his elbows resting on it’s surface. ‘I think you’re the only one who actually got him a gift. Half of the people here probably don’t even know Gguk. They’re just here for the fun.’ You furrow your eyebrows at that but then shrug and accept the cup Taehyung holds out to you. Taking a sip, you hum in approval of Taehyung’s choice when the sweet tasting liquid leaves a pleasant burn at the back of your throat.

You’re able to talk for maybe another minute before one of Taehyung’s many friends from around campus shows up to start a conversation with him out of nowhere. After listening in for a bit, you realize what they’re saying is not really your business but you’re also not in the mood to go and search for Suji yet, so you find yourself scrolling through your phone instead. You’re so caught up in what you’re doing, you don’t even notice the arms sneaking around your waist until you’re being pulled forward to the edge of the counter. Gasping in surprise at the sudden movement, you let your hands find purchase on the firm chest in front of you, your phone falling into your lap in the process.

It takes you a second to realize what’s happening but when you finally look up, ready to give the guy a piece of your mind for touching you without your permission, the words immediately die in your throat. Jimin smiles so brightly his eyes form into little crescendents and you go soft at the adorable sight instantly. He carefully places his hands on either side of your hips before slowly leaning in to murmur in your ear. ‘Found you, princess.’

The husky tone of his voice sends a pleasant shiver down your spine and you take your time to come up with a response, just to make sure your own voice won’t fail you once you speak up. When he draws back to look at you, his lips are pulled into a knowing smirk. The dancer slightly squeezes your hips in a teasing manner and steps closer to stand in between your parted legs, obviously growing more confident since you don't seem to mind his touch on you.

You hate how smug he looks because of your reaction but you can’t deny that you’re happy he actually came to see you, so you decide not to comment on it for now. ‘You sound awfully happy right now,’ you say instead and raise one eyebrow in question when he nods enthusiastically, the cute smile from before making it’s way back onto his features.

‘Well, that’s because I am. I thought I wouldn’t be able to see you tonight but now you’re here. Did you change your mind because of me?’ There’s an alarm going off in your head at the question and you know you shouldn’t give him any reason to think his opinion matters to you in some way, but seeing the anticipation flickering in his eyes you can’t bring yourself to just blatantly lie to him. God, he’s going to be the death of you someday.

‘You seemed genuinely disappointed when I said I wouldn’t come and I guess I kinda did promise you to show up. I hate to go back on my word, that’s why I decided to come’, you answer truthfully. Jimin’s eyes soften at your words and once again, you find yourself wondering what he might be thinking. His hands casually slide from your hips down to your hands still resting on his chest and you watch in silence as you let him intertwine his fingers with yours. 'That's more than enough for now,' he mumbles with a fond smile grazing his plump lips.

You’re both quiet for a moment, just looking down at your interlaced hands while Jimin gently brushes his thumbs over your knuckles one at a time. The gesture feels oddly intimate for some reason and not knowing what has gotten into him, you hesitantly squeeze Jimin’s hands to get him to stop when it becomes too much. He immediately lets up his movements but he doesn't let go, just gazes up at you through strands of his hair.

Your heart jumps in an unwelcome and irritating way at the intense look in his eyes and when he suddenly opens his mouth to say something, you shake your head so softly it's almost not visible. You don't even know what you're trying to tell him yourself, but Jimin seems to understand nonetheless. He tilts his head to one side to observe you for a bit before he gives you a reassuring smile and loosens his grip on your fingers to place his hands back on both sides of your waist.

And just like that the flirtatious smirk is back on Jimin's features, making you question if the last few minutes even happened in the first place. 'Come dance with me, y/n~' The suggestive tone of his voice has you bashfully rolling your eyes at him before he’s even done talking. Before you can dismiss his idea though, he already pulls you further against him in an attempt to get you to stand up and your body immediately goes stiff underneath his teasing grip.

Sensing something is off, he furrows his eyebrows in confusion and regards you with a sceptical look. 'Sorry, it's just... I don't dance. Let's do something else instead?' You offer and the boy chuckles in amusement. 'You're not feeling shy, are you? Don't worry if you're not the best on the dance floor. It's about having fun anyway and with me next to you, there's no way you'll look bad.' His cocky attitude has you dying to tell him just exactly how wrong his assumption about your dancing skills is, but you have a feeling that he most definitely won't let you talk yourself out of it if he knows.

So instead you just click your tongue in fake defiance and slap his shoulder with one hand playfully. 'Oh no, you got it all wrong. I can dance. I just don't do it.' Jimin bites his bottom lip to suppress a smile when you pout at him and you notice him mindlessly tugging at the hem of your shirt, but it's so innocent you don't really feel the need to call him out for it. 'Is what all people say who can't dance,' the blonde retorts and you snort in disbelief at his cheekiness.

'You seem to be so sure of yourself there, Jimin.' The teasing edge to your voice doesn't go unnoticed by him and something flashes in his eyes, a wide grin spreading over his face. 'Prove me wrong, then.' It's dangerous how easily you find yourself wanting to please him, you think. Things that scared you for the longest time seem so harmless with him encouraging you to do them.

All it takes is his sweet voice asking you to dance and suddenly, instead of dreading the thought of going out there and letting your body remember all the movements you've been so desperately trying to forget over the last three years, you actually find yourself considering it. You know you're going to enjoy it, after all. Even if just for tonight.

The moment of weakness is gone almost as quickly as it came though and so you slowly move back to sit as far away from the edge of the counter as Jimin's hold on your waist allows you to, ignoring the sad puppy dog eyes he sends your way. 'You're making it sound like I should feel the need to prove you wrong. I know I can dance. Whether you believe me or not is not really my problem.' The man in front of you groans in defeat at your answer and immediately steps forward to close the distance you just created between you both.

'Alright, you win. No dancing for now. Maybe later, though?' The cute pout that forms on his lips while he's saying it makes you smile involuntarily and you don't even realize you're trying to comfort him by brushing your hand through his soft hair until he subtly leans into your touch to feel more of it. 'Yeah... maybe later,' you agree, well aware that there most likely won't be a later at all. Jimin goes back to observing you for another minute, as if trying to understand what's going on inside your head. There's an unreadable expression on his face and you shift awkwardly under his calculating gaze when his eyes never once leave yours for even a second.

'So...' he says to break the silence before it starts to feel uncomfortable. 'Is there a reason you don't want to do it? Dance, I mean. Or are you just trying to avoid touching me, because you know how it'll make you feel, hmm?' Jimin lets his hands slide down your waist to rest them on both your thighs instead as if trying to further emphasize his point and you bite the inside of your cheek in thought before nodding slightly.

'That's certainly one reason.' Your honesty obviously catches him off guard for a moment, if the surprise written all over his face serves as any kind of indication. Shrugging nonchalantly at his raised eyebrows you poke his nose with your index finger, making him scrunch his face cutely, before placing your hands on his shouders to relax a bit more in his hold.

'Well... it's been a long time since I last danced, you know? And I promised myself back then that I wouldn't do it anymore. Ever.' Tilting his head to one side he waits for you to continue but when you don’t speak up again he sighs and starts to softly massage your thighs in silent comfort. His fingers slip underneath the cuts of your jeans and when you don’t push him away he lets them brush over your sensitive skin almost coyly. 'Were you embarrassed?' The sympathy coloring his words melts you heart.

You tenderly lean your forhead against his and close your eyes to simply enjoy his warmth for a moment without thinking. Were you embarrassed? Well, telling your teacher of fifteen years that you would have to give up on your scholarship because your bones will slowly but surely degenerate to the point where you won’t even be able to stand by probably the end of fourty was kind of embarrassing. Although, more humiliating if you’re being honest. 'Something like that,' you say with a chuckle before reculantly leaning back again to look at him.

'Mhm... I think I get it. I'm always free for you if you decide to try again, though! Maybe you're just in need of the right partner, who knows?’ There’s an almost childlike innocence in the way he says it, completely different from what you would have expected those words to sound like coming from him. Jimin’s smile widens when you move to brush some loose strands of hair out of his face and start to lovingly pat his head afterward as if to reward him for his words. You roll your eyes at him, an amused smile playing on your own lips as well. 'Thanks Chim, I really appreciate it.'

The grip on your legs suddenly tightens after what you just said. Surprised by the unexpected display of possessiveness you raise an eyebrow at him in question. 'What?' The man in front of you is silent for a while and just looks at you with a small grin on his face that slowly stretches into a self-satisfied smirk.

'You gave me a pet name, princess! Guess I’m finally starting to get under skin after all.' The confidence radiating off of him makes you let out a huff in faked annoyance. Cheeky bastard. He’s getting too comfortable around you far too quickly for your liking. And so are you. Shit. If you keep giving him opportunities to tease you like this, you’ll never get him to lose interest.

'Why of course. I'm absolutely smitten,' you shoot back, determined to let your voice sound as sarcastic as you possibly can in hopes of irritating him, but he just smirks wider. Seriously, how are you supposed to not fall for him if he’s so frustratingly handsome all the damn time? This is ridiculous. What on earth do you have to do to get him to stop flirting with you for fuck’s sake? Tell him you’re gay? Commit a crime? Show him a picture of your brother and pretend he’s your boyfriend? Because you’re so close to actually giving it a shot if there’s a chance that it’s going to work.

Jimin hums in content as if he doesn’t notice the displeased grimace you make at him. 'Well, if you don't wanna dance with me...' He suddenly leans in even closer until his nose softly brushes against yours and the amused glint in his dark eyes tells you he’s probably up to something silly. One of his hands leaves your thigh to reach behind you but when you open your mouth to ask what he’s doing, he’s already leaning back to hold your cup out to you. ‘… then you should at least drink with me.'

Sighing in defeat, you take the cup from him and take a large sip without complaint before handing it back to him in invitation. If he’s trying to get you drunk enough so you’ll agree to dance with him, then you’re definitely going to return the favor. The tips of his fingers brush against your knuckles when he takes the cup from your hand, sending a pleasant shiver down your spine in the process. Turning the cup in his hand as if thinking about something he guides it to his plump lips after a moment, his eyes never leaving you and you have to stop yourself from fidgeting with how flustered it makes you for some stupid reason.

'Ohhh that's an indirect kiss, guys!' The sudden voice makes you jump a bit in surprise and when you look in the direction of where it came from, you see Taehyung walking up to you with a big grin on his face. Jimin chuckles at his words before he greets his best friend with a pat on his shoulder instead of their usual hug, not bothering to leave his position between your thighs. Amused by the confident smirk he’s wearing because of the kissing comment, you click your tongue and casually wrap your legs around his waist, making Jimin snap his head back to you, puzzled.

'That's probably the closest he'll ever get to touching my lips with his, so I guess I'll let him feel good about it,' you say dryly while you cross your ankles behind him to cage him in. He stares at you with his mouth standing slightly open from surprise at your sudden change of attitude and you definitely see him blush a bit when you look up to observe his face. He’s quick to recover though, sliding his arms around you to pull you into him even more only a few seconds later. 'Is it just me or did you sound less sure about yourself than last time?' The dancer grins at you with his bottom lip caught between his teeth and you would find it endearing if not for the husky tone of his voice.

You both look at each other in amusement until Taehyung clears his throat to get your attention. ‘You guys wanna be alone for a minute or are we gonna go over and play some games?’ The knowing look your fellow actor throws your way makes you shrug your shoulders casually. ‘Sure, lets go. I need to find Suji anyway.’ Jimin reculantly takes a step back when you unwrap your legs from around his waist and tap one of his arms to get him to move. You let him help you get off the counter and don’t complain when he silently wraps his arm around you as you follow your shared friend into the living room.

With Taehyung by your side, it doesn’t take long until you’re involved in half the drinking games going on at the party. Normally, you’re pretty decent when it comes to holding your liquor, but even you need to sit back and take a break every now and then with the amount of cups that are handed out your way. Somewhere along the lines Suji joins the fun as well, bringing friends of her own with her. She’s far too gone to make a fuss over you being there and for once, you thank your lucky stars for her inability to hold herself back at parties.

You’re actually enjoying yourself more than you originally thought you would. Being able to relax and goof around with your two best friends like this, you’re suddenly glad you decided to come. It’s been a while since you’ve seen them drunk and you make a mental note to maybe come with them a bit more often in the future. For blackmail purposes, of course. Jimin doesn’t leave your side for the whole length of the night and with time you even start missing the warmth of his touch when he has to drop his arm from around you in favor of his turn at a game. It’s just the slight buzz in your head that has you clinging to him like this. Being tipsy always makes you a bit needy. That’s what you tell yourself, anyway.

A few hours in and now you’re all sprawled out on the couches on one side of the living room to take a break from drinking. You’re leaning against Jimin’s side while scrolling through your phone, your head resting on his shoulder and his hand casually resting on your thigh. Feeling your eyes getting a little droopy you finally decide it's time for you to leave. It's far too comfortable being cuddled up to Jimin like this and you don't want to risk falling asleep at someone else's dorm.

Poking at his leg lazily to get his attention, you're just about to warn Jimin that you want to get up when suddenly a random girl comes up to where you guys are sitting. You squint your eyes at her in concentration, feeling like you should know her from somewhere. Maybe she's one of Suji's classmates? She asks if someone wants to join her on the dance floor since most of her friends are too wasted to go and you don't miss the way Jimin slightly perks up beside you at the question.

And as you would have expected, Suji is up on her feet in seconds at the prospect of dancing, although she's already swaying a bit from jumping up so fast. You roll your eyes at her antics with a fond smile. ‘Hell yeah! I’m in, guys let’s go go go,’ she slurs and grabs Hoseok’s arm to drag him after her to the dance floor giddily, without even waiting for anyone else to join in. Her friend just lets her do as she pleases and stumbles after her with a surprised laugh.

The stranger giggles cutely at her enthusiasm and then looks back over to your spot on the couch as if hoping you’ll agree as well. You observe her out of the corner of your eyes while taking a sip off your drink and finally notice it’s the same girl you saw dancing with Jimin when you first came to the dorms. ‘What about you guys?’ She bites her lip while shyly watching Jimin for his reaction and it’s more than obvious the question is only meant for him, not you. You chuckle in amusement and smirk at her knowingly before slightly pushing the dancer in her direction.

‘Sure, he’s free right now,’ you answer for him, making the blonde look at you in bewilderment. ‘I am?’ He raises an eyebrow at you in confusion and repositions himself next to you on the couch as if to prove your statement wrong. Rolling your eyes at him, you playfully nudge his shoulder with yours before nodding your head. ‘I’m not blind, you know? You’ve been waiting for a chance to go back to dancing for hours now and we both know I won’t do you the favor. I think I’m gonna call it a night anyway. Just go and have fun with her. She really wants to.’

It’s not actually the prospect of them dancing what you’re referring to and judging from the look in his eyes, he knows it too. There’s something about the way he stares at you that you can’t quite place. He almost looks… disappointed about your casual reaction to the possibility of him leaving with another girl. ‘Then what about you?’ Narrowing your gaze at his question you tilt your head to one side, not really understanding what he’s getting at. ‘What about me?’

Jimin’s jaw visibly tightens in irritation and you don't need to be an empath to realize that he's getting impatient with you. You subconsciously press your thighs together when you see something similar to anger flash in his dark eyes for a second. ‘You drank quite a bit and your apartment is a few blocks away. So if you want me to leave you here, I need to know someone else is bringing you home or I’m going to do it myself.’

The concern coloring his voice catches you off guard. You didn't even think about asking someone to walk you home because you're usually the one who gets called at three in the morning to play taxi driver, not the other way around. There's a knot forming inside your throat when you realize Jimin actually cares for your well-being and you lick your lips absentmindedly while you think of something to say. ‘It’s not like I’m too drunk to walk by myself or anything…’, is the first thing you can come up with in your slightly hazy state but the warning squeeze of Jimin’s hand on your knee shuts you up instantly. When the fuck did he even put it there? And why is it suddenly so hot in here?

Your breath hitches when he grabs your face with one hand carefully to make you look at him and you curse yourself for being so pliant under his touch. Maybe you’re really more intoxicated than you originally thought. Jimin leans in close until you can feel his warm breath on your slightly sweaty skin and he scoffs, unamused, when you try to squirm away from the attention. ‘It’s enough to have you slurring your words, so don’t argue with me here, princess.’

Mumbling something that’s supposed to sound like an apology, you bite your bottom lip in thought and look up into his eyes before you wrap your fingers around his wrist in determination to get him to loosen his grip on your chin. After hesitating for a moment he finally backs off and you almost sigh in relief when the distance he puts in between you two makes you feel like you can breathe again.

Looking to the side to avoid Jimin’s piercing eyes, you spot Taehyung and Seokjin cuddled up on one of the other couches and a victorious smile spreads on your lips. ‘Don’t worry about me. Seokjin will take me home. His apartment is in the same area as mine anyway.’ Jimin follows your gaze over to your shared friends and looking back at him you see the gears turning in his head, as if he’s searching for another reason to disagree with you again.

‘It’s really fine, you know?’ You try again and when his gaze shifts between you and the still patiently waiting girl a few feet away, you know he’s done arguing. ‘Text me when you get home, alright?’ The strained tone of his voice doesn't allow any disagreement and so you just nod your head and lean in to give him an appreciative hug. He hugs you back twice as hard before he leaves a kiss on your forhead and leans back to look at you with a smile. 'Take care, y/n.'

'You too,' you mumble while he stands up to walk over to the girl waiting for him, whose smile is so wide you think her jaw is going to fall off any second. Sighing to yourself, you ignore the strange feeling in your chest while you watch Jimin put an arm around her waist on their way to the dance floor. And if you regret your choice to send him off with some random girl instead of letting him take you home, well, nobody else is ever going to know that.

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

Fuckboy!Jimin x Reader |💕|✖|🍑|✒| Pt.7 |

| Prev. | Next |

As always, I'm sorry for taking so long. Trying to make as little mistakes as possible mixed with the already low ass motivation I have left in me, consumes an frustratingly huge amount of time.

I appreciate you reading my work! Feel free to tell me what you thought of the chapter, if you want to🔥

Special thanks to my lovely beta! I couldn't do it without you girl🧡

Hope you enjoy💕

Shoutout to @friendly-neighborhood-michelle, thanks for supporting this fic!

If anyone wants to be tagged too, just ask!

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

56 notes · View notes

ohemgeeitscoley · 4 years ago

Text

"I need you to agree to let me record you kissing a complete stranger."

One day Rey is going to tell Poe no to participating in his crazy social experiments. But one kiss won't hurt, will it?

Kiss on me (1/1)

Fandom: Star Wars

Pairing: Rey/Ben Solo (Reylo)

Note: @andyouweremine sent me this prompt: also here's your reylo prompt: they have to kiss someone they've never met for an experiment and HOT DAM they were not expecting THAT.

I spiraled with it, because of course it did. And, as always, andyouweremine deserves all of the thanks and love for betaing this, her own prompt, because she is the best kind of friend.

Read below or on AO3.

"You need me to what?" Rey sputtered, pulling her glass away from her face so that she could look at Poe.

Poe gave her a bright, open mouthed smile. "I need you to agree to let me record you kissing a complete stranger."

"That's what I thought you said." Rey lifted the glass back up to her lips to down the rest of the liquid. The tequila burned her throat as she sat the empty glass down toward the edge of the table. "Why exactly do you need me to agree to this?"

"It's for my sociology class," Poe shrugged, almost as if that was explanation enough. "I needed to come up with a social experiment."

"And you came up with strangers kissing while on camera?" Rey rolled her eyes. It really wasn't surprising that Poe would ask her to do something as crazy as kissing a complete stranger. What was, however, surprising to Rey was that she wasn't entirely opposed to the idea.

Rey couldn't even think of the last time she had kissed someone. Between her job at Maz's Cantina, the insane amount of classes she had to enroll in to avoid taking summer classes, and the volunteer hours she needed to maintain to have any chance of getting accepted into the social work grad program, Rey was pretty sure it had been at least a year since she'd even been on a date.

Maybe agreeing to Poe's request wouldn't be the worst decision.

"You're considering it?" Poe asked.

"Absolutely not." Rey grabbed a french fry from Poe's plate and popped it into her mouth. "I swore I would never agree to another one of your social experiments after the mud bikini event."

Color spread across Poe's face as he stared down at the wood table. "I actually got a really great grade on that paper."

Rey snorted. "I bet you did. I was mortified Poe. Standing up on a stage in a bikini while the entire bar voted that mud was the choice substance to cover me with."

"I really didn't think with all of the options that mud was going to be the one that got the highest vote." Poe at least had the decency to cover his laugh by a fake cough and a hand.

"What did you think was the better option?" Rey asked, raising an eyebrow. She narrowed her eyes as she continued. "Would that have been the option to have vats of honey dumped on me? Or maybe you were really wishing for the flour option. That one sounded particularly explosive."

"Water," Poe choked out, not bothering to hide his laughter anymore. "If I recall, water was an option. The cheapest option actually, so obviously water was what I assumed would win."

"Right," Rey looked over at her empty glass and debated ordering another. It was already past midnight and Rey had an early morning class. "I'm sure you were out a lot with the cost of mud."

Rey picked up Poe's glass and took a drink from it. She smiled against the rim of the cup when she saw Poe roll his eyes at her.

"I'm also pretty sure I paid you for that one." Poe took the glass back from her, swirling the liquid in the bottom of the cup. "I think you're just complaining about that one to make it seem like you're doing me a big favor by agreeing to participate in this one."

Rey scrunched her nose. "I would be doing you a favor."

Poe finished his drink. "Another?" He asked, nodding his head toward Rey's empty drink.

"No thanks." Rey shook her head, pressing her palms against the table."I really should be going. I have a class at 7:30."

"Who voluntarily signs up for a 7:30 class in their last year? You had priority in your class selection."

"It was literally the only time the class was offered. And my scholarship doesn't cover summer tuition. I didn't really have a choice." Rey shrugged, taking another one of Poe's fries. "But it hasn't been too bad. Gives me a good excuse to stay in and go to bed early. Keeps me out of trouble."

Chewing slowly on the fry, Rey thought about agreeing to Poe's request. Rey liked kissing. She always had. It was everything that was usually needed to get to the kissing that stressed her out to the point of wondering if any of it was really worth it.

There was the fact that she really, truly was busy. That meant that she didn't always notice attractive people were attractive and that she should allow herself to pause and appreciate that about them. Then there was the flirting. Was it too much, too little? Rey had always had a hard time judging if she was coming on too strong.

After the flirting came the awkward first dates. The movies she sat through with plots that she wasn't interested in, but agreed to because the other person seemed so passionate about some detail or meaning or actor. Rey had never understood the desire to go to a movie on a first date. The theaters were dark and didn't allow for any talking. She wasn't sure that any of her first dates at a movie had led to a second date.

But the awkwardness of trying to keep a conversation going throughout a dinner or even coffee had its own downsides. Dating was a nightmare and if Rey was being honest, her busy schedule might just be an excuse for pausing dating because it had gotten exhausting.

But kissing, the innate intimacy that just kissing someone entailed. That was something that Rey deeply missed.

There was something about the feeling of someone else's mouth moving against hers, the brief hesitation over where to place their hands and determining how much pressure was enough and how much was too much. The way a slide of someone's tongue against her own could cause tendrils of pleasure to spread across her body.

There was an underlying promise of more, but always a satisfaction that maybe, just maybe, that moment could be enough.

Fuck.

Rey wanted to be kissed.

"If I were to agree," Rey started, leaning her head back against the booth and closing her eyes, "how would it work?"

"You'll do it?" Poe asked and even with her eyes closed Rey could see the smug grin that would be on his face.

"I didn't say that," Rey sat back up, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Poe. "I asked how it would work if I were to agree."

"Right, right," Poe laughed, holding up two fingers to catch the waiter's attention as he walked by. "Can we get two more?" He asked as the man slowed down by their table.

Rey thought about protesting, but it was already hours past when she should have gone to bed. And she did have a few questions and one more drink wouldn't kill her.

"What do you want to know?" Poe asked once the waiter walked away, his attention moving back to Rey.

"Well, so far, all you've told me is that you need me to kiss a stranger on camera. I'd take any other details you'd like to share with me about what that is going to look like."

"Those are the details." Poe slid his plate across the table to Rey. "There isn't much more to it. I'm thinking next weekend since Finn is moving to that new apartment, and he said I can use the old one. You'll show up, stranger will show up, you'll kiss, it'll be recorded, and you'll go your separate ways."

Rey placed her elbows on the table, resting her chin against her hand as she looked at Poe. "No twenty questions and a cup of coffee first?"

"Nope."

"Just you, me, a stranger, and a camera?"

"Actually, I won't be there," Poe gave a small shrug at her concerned glance. "The feed is going to be live streamed to my computer and I'll only be a few blocks away."

Rey must not have looked very convinced or comforted by the idea, because Poe kept explaining, not giving Rey time to say anything. "I'm not going to have a serial killer walk in Rey. It'll be someone you don't know, but you'll be completely safe. I just think that if anyone else is in the room it'll mess up the dynamic."

"I guess that makes some sense," Rey conceded. "And this is really for an assignment? It's starting to sound a bit like a way to set me up."

Poe lifted up his hand, drawing an x in the air over his heart. "Would I do that?"

"Yes," Rey huffed, an amused smile on his face. "That is absolutely something you would do."

The waiter came back to their table then, setting their drinks down in front of them.

Rey lifted up one of the glasses, holding it up until Poe did the same and tapped his glass against hers.

"Okay," Rey said, taking a drink. "Okay, I'm in."

*****

Rey arrived at Finn's building 15 minutes before the time Poe texted her to show up. It was silly, but if Rey was going to kiss someone that she didn't know, she wanted to be in the room waiting. She wanted to see them first.

Walking into the building, Rey placed another mint in her mouth as she started climbing up the three flights of stairs to Finn's old apartment. Finn had talked almost nonstop since he signed the lease for his new apartment about the fact that it had an elevator. By the time Rey made it to the third floor, she couldn't really blame him.

Glancing down at her phone, Rey pursed her lips at the time. She wanted to be early, but being this early seemed like too much. What if Poe had another couple in the apartment? She didn't want to just barge into someone else's kiss.

For some reason, she had really expected Poe to send her more information. Maybe a picture of the person she would be meeting, a name, a psychological evaluation confirming that the person didn't share characteristics with a serial killer.

But all she received was a time to show up and the code to get into the apartment.

Leaning back against the wall across from the apartment door, Rey decided that she'd wait until five minutes before the time Poe told her to show up to go in. Just in case there were other people inside.

That was just enough time for Rey's nerves to settle in. She had been able to distract herself that morning with revisions on a paper and then deciding what to wear and how to do her hair. She had looked up directions how to get to Finn's apartment despite her knowing how to walk from her apartment to Finn's drunk at three AM. She had debated the pros and cons of wearing her favorite lipstick (pro: the color made her lips look full and amazing, con: the lipstick was a little sticky and was a deep shade of red, not exactly the best thing to wear to kiss someone for the first time). She wore chapstick instead.

She had considered stopping for coffee, but then spent half of the walk to the best neighborhood coffee shop thinking about the inevitable bad breath that would come from drinking coffee.

Five more minutes until she would allow herself to go inside.

Five minutes was plenty of time to leave. To walk back outside and start back toward her apartment with nothing but a quick text to Poe that she was sorry but that she couldn't go through with this.

Her phone chimed.

Poe: I can't tell you how much I appreciate this.

Poe: You won't be disappointed. Promise.

Rey sighed, quickly typing that it was no problem and sending the message.

She thought about saying that she was looking forward to it, but that sounded too desperate. Poe was already on the receiving end of too many of Rey's complaints about how much being single sucked sometimes.

Not all the time. Most days Rey was okay with it. Logically she knew that her schedule didn't leave her enough time for a relationship.

But logic didn't stop her from wishing she had someone to share her time with.

Two minutes left.

No longer enough time to leave, she reasoned.

The staircase door opened, two people walked into the hallway. Their conversation stalled when they saw Rey, the girl's stare grew suspicious when she took in Rey, just standing in an empty hallway.

Rey lifted her hand in a small greeting, trying to signal that she didn't mean any harm. Pushing off the wall, Rey stepped toward the door and punched in the code that she memorized after Poe had sent it. The lock whirled to life as it unlocked, Rey opened the door and stepped inside.

No one else was there.

It was weird to see Finn's apartment mostly empty. The studio apartment had always been small, but Finn's belongings and furniture had always been familiar and made it feel homey. Void of his belongings, the studio seemed cold.

A camera sat on top of a tripod centered in the room toward the back of the far wall. There were four more cameras at the corners of the room, Rey imagined to capture all of the angles.

Rey moved away from the door, until she decided she was far enough away to not feel like she would be crowding the person whenever they arrived. She faced the door, awkwardly twirling a loose thread on the sleeve of her jean jacket as she waited.

She hated waiting.

Rey had spent her entire life waiting. After her parents left, nothing more than a green car blurring as it sped down the highway away from her, Rey waited for them to come back. She waited for years before she finally let go of the idea that they would come back and rescue her.

That she would have a family again.

After she moved on from waiting for her parents, she waited for the day she would be able to get out of Jakku. She wanted nothing more than to get as far away from Arizona as she could. Away from the desert, the heat, and the vast nothingness that lingered in the sand.

The day she received her acceptance letter to Coruscant City University, Rey thought she was finally done waiting.

Instead, after she arrived, Rey waited to feel like she belonged there.

Her therapist liked to remind Rey that waiting and longing were universal feelings. She wasn't alone in wanting to find a place of her own. To find people she belonged with.

A beeping noise broke Rey out of her thoughts, someone was punching in the code to the door. Rey heard the door unlock, but the door remained shut.

Maybe Poe told whoever was on the other side of the door to drag out the first appearance. The anticipation was killing her. Rey glanced at the camera, remembering then that it was recording her already, capturing everything.

Finally, the door opened. Rey's breath caught in her throat as she took in the man that walked inside the room. Her first instinct was to look away, a voice in her head trying to remind her that it wasn't polite to ogle someone seconds after seeing them for the first time.

Only, in this situation, she was supposed to be kissing him any minute and staring at him might actually be the appropriate response.

A thrill shot through her with that knowledge.

She let herself look him over. He was standing just in front of the door he had closed after walking in, one hand awkwardly scratching at his neck while the other was shoved in the front pocket of his faded black jeans.

He was tall and broad shouldered. The olive green t-shirt he wore was stretched tight across his chest and it was really unfair how that alone was clouding Rey's mind. The leather jacket he wore over the shirt wasn't sleek and shiny, but well worn and, Rey guessed, probably vintage or passed down.

Everything about his outfit shouted bad boy and that wasn't usually the look that Rey went for, but on him, it worked.

It really worked.

Rey wondered what he was thinking about when he looked at her. Compared to him, Rey was a burst of color. From the cropped, light-washed denim jacket she wore over a yellow tank top with tiny pink and blue flowers. Her pants were darker, but they were also green. Her flats were gold and glittery with a tiny bow on the center.

They couldn't possibly look more mismatched.

His hair looked soft. It was dark and wavy, long enough to cover his ears and to just barely graze over his shoulders. Rey wanted to run her fingers through the stands, to see if it was as soft as it looked.

It was a little overwhelming to think that she could.

His mouth curved up in a slow, small smile while he took a step toward her. Rey matched his steps until they met somewhere in the middle. He moved a hand out toward hers, running a finger across her wrist before clasping their hands together.

Rey didn't even know his name. She wasn't sure if she should ask, but she wanted to know. There were so many things about him she wanted to know, things that she wanted to ask. What was his astrological sign, what was his favorite kind of--

His other hand settled on her lower back, his palm warming her skin through the thin fabric of her shirt, and whatever question had been on her mind vanished and all she could think about was him.

Rey raised her free hand, tracing the side of his face before running her fingers through his hair. He groaned, the sound deep and low, when Rey tugged slightly on the ends. Desire pooled in her stomach at the sound.

And then she was kissing him.

Not that Rey had a lot of experience kissing complete strangers, but she had anticipated there being a lot of awkwardness at first. For the most part, when she had imagined what the kiss would be like, she had imagined the kiss to be chaste and a little timid.

But there was nothing chaste or timid about the way he kissed. His mouth moved against hers with certainty, his fingers pressed into her back pushing her closer to him. Rey opened her mouth, revelling in the feeling of his tongue sliding against her own. Letting go of his hand, Rey wrapped her arms around his neck, lifting up on her feet so he didn't have to bend down quite as much.

He didn't waste any time before burying a hand in her hair. Rey moaned at the sensation of his fingers massaging her scalp.

His lips were smooth and soft against her own. Rey lowered a hand down from his neck to his back. He was strong. Rey felt the way his muscles in his back shifted under her hands.

She needed to breathe. The small amounts of air from breathing through her nose was not enough to sustain her. Her lungs burned. It was time for her to break the kiss, but instead she tried to pull him closer, to kiss him deeper, because she didn't want the moment to end.

He drug his hands away from her back, gliding up the sides of her waist, brushing above the swell of her breasts, before cupping her face.

Rey pulled away, losing the battle between the kiss and her lungs. He didn't pull away, instead he placed small kisses along her jaw, down the slope of her neck, the hollow of her throat.

Rey tried to catch her breath, but even though her mouth was now free to breathe normally, her mind was lost in how good his lips felt on her skin.

Placing a finger under his jaw, Rey pushed upward until he straightened and moved his head away from her skin.

Rey was suddenly grateful that Poe hadn't given her any real ground rules. Nothing was stopping her from kissing him again.

So she did. Bunching her fingers into the front of his shirt, Rey pulled him back down into another kiss.

He sighed against her lips, and Rey could feel the way his heartbeat speed up underneath her hand.

Their second kiss was slower, more sensual. They tested different angles and pressures, working together to find what worked best for them. His hands continued to roam across her body.

He pulled away first that time, resting his forehead against her own, his breath heavy as he stared at her.

Rey held his gaze, waiting for him to kiss her again or to say something.

He didn't do either of those things. Instead, he pulled away, placing one last kiss on her forehead before removing his hands from her body and walking backward to the door.

Rey watched as he left, unable to figure out what to say to him before he was gone and the door was closing.

"Oh," Rey said to herself after another moment had passed. She glanced over at the camera, heat flooding her cheeks as she remembered that the entire kiss had been recorded and somewhere Poe was watching her lose herself in thought after a guy left her alone without saying a single word to her.

While she wasn't comfortable committing to anything without allowing her some time for her adrenaline and other hormone levels to level out, Rey was positive that had been the best kiss of her life.

And she didn't even know his name.

This was why Rey knew agreeing to help Poe out with another experiment was a bad idea. How was she supposed to go about her life knowing that somewhere out there in the city was him with those lips and those hands and who knew just how to kiss her without her saying anything?

It was entirely unjust and entirely Poe's fault.

Shaking her head, Rey looked around the studio one last time before she walked out. She focused on the many buttons of the lock on the door, quickly hitting the button she was only sort of convinced was the lock button. It worked, Rey could hear the lock click into place.

"I'm Ben, by the way."

Rey turned her to the side to confirm that the deep voice was him. He was leaning against the wall next to the stairwell.

"Ben," Rey repeated with a smile. "That's a nice name."

"Not really." Ben laughed and it was a beautiful sound. One Rey wanted to hear again. "But thank you."

Rey walked closer to him, resting her hand on the handle to the stairwell door. "I'm surprised you're still out here."

Ben's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Rey tilted her head, turning the door handle. "I mean you left so fast back there?" She pulled open the door, pressing her palm just above the handle to keep it from closing again. "I assumed you had somewhere to be."

She tried to keep the hurt out of her voice. To keep the insecurity that had bubbled up inside her-that maybe what might have been the best kiss of her life was unremarkable to him- off of her face.

"Ah, actually, I don't have anywhere to be," he clarified, running his fingers through his hair. "I wanted to talk to you and I wasn't sure if that was allowed? Poe gave me the worst fucking guidelines on how this was supposed to work. I didn't think about how that would look at all. I just-"

He paused, sighing as he shut his eyes. Rey could almost hear him counting to five in his head before he opened his eyes again. In the light of the hallway, his eyes seemed lighter than they had before, but his gaze was just as intense as it settled on her. Almost as if he was trying to imprint her image in his memory.

"I just wanted to know your name," he finished softly.

"Rey," she answered his unasked question. "My name is Rey."

"Nice to meet you," Ben held out his hand and Rey snorted at the idea of shaking hands with someone whose taste she knew.

She grabbed his hand anyway, leading it to her hip. "I think we're past polite introductions and shaking hands, Ben."

Rey leaned in slowly, keeping her eyes open to watch Ben, looking for any sign that he didn't want to kiss her again. He cupped her face with his other hand, his thumb tracing along her jaw and bottom lip before he closed the distance between them.

Her name falling from his mouth as their lips met was Rey's new favorite sound.

"Nice to meet you," Rey teased in between kisses.

Ben chuckled while he kissed her nose and took a step back. Reaching for her hand, her intertwined their fingers.

"Would you like to get some coffee with me?" He asked, kissing the side of her mouth. "Or lunch? Or ice cream? Or really whatever--"

"Yes," Rey interrupted him, squeezing his hand. "I would love to get coffee with you."

She kissed the underside of his jaw. "Or lunch." Another kiss at the base of his throat. "Or ice cream." She was half laughing when she kissed the skin just under his ear. "Or really whatever you want.

#reylo #reylo fanfic #reylo fanfiction #reylo fic #reylo au #my fic

30 notes · View notes