#reggie app week

[my-castles-crumbling]

date - @jegulus-microfic - word count: 551

"Reg, can I borrow you phone?" James whispered to the man sleeping next to him, voice still rough with sleep.

Regulus, who was curled into James's chest, let out a groan of assent, moving closer into James's body. He smiled softly, placing a small kiss on Regulus's curls.

They weren't anything official. Not that James didn't want that with every fiber of his being. But he knew that Regulus struggled with the concept of being loved, with letting people in and being open and vulnerable, and he was willing to wait as long as it took for the fantastic man in his arms to be ready for the love he was bursting to give him.

So he went slow. Indeed, their first real date was last night. After weeks of hookups and heated exchanges when their friend groups went out together, Regulus had finally agreed to being taken out to a restaurant, and James had had to physically restrain himself from bringing Regulus to the fanciest restaurant in all of London. Or, really, flying the man to France or Italy, and wining and dining him there. Because Regulus deserved the world.

They'd fallen into bed after, as they had before, but it had felt more intimate. And, waking up now, James didn't want to pop the bubble by getting up, or even moving. So he allowed Regulus to cuddle into him. But he was bored, and his phone was in his pants pocket, and his pants had been discarded across the room.

Typing in the passcode (0311) he allowed Regulus's phone to unlock, hoping that Regulus at least had Candy Crush or something on his phone, so he could keep quiet and enjoy the man in his arms.

But before he even began to search the (very organized) apps, he let out a small gasp, his face breaking into a huge grin, and he turned to Regulus, shaking the man awake. "Reg! Reg, what is this?"

"The fuck, Potter? It's early!" Regulus grumbled. And normally James would have left him alone, but this was decidedly more important than the beauty sleep of a man who was already stunning.

"Reg. Am I you phone background?"

Immediately, Regulus's eyes popped open, and he looked very awake, like he'd been up for hours. "No," he said defensively, ignoring the evidence James was waving in front of his face.

"I am!" James said gleefully, grinning from ear to ear. "Reg, that's some boyfriend shit, right there! You- you like me, don't you?"

And instead of arguing, Regulus just turned a deeper shade of red, avoiding James's eyes, snatching the phone from his hands and turning away.

James knew he had about five seconds before Regulus got to in his head. Before he became angry and upset. So, whispering in Regulus's ear softly, he murmured, "Be my boyfriend, Reggie. Please?"

And turning again to face James, Regulus's eyes grew weary. "I..."

"Please? I've wanted you to be for ages," James whispered, not above begging.

The other man's mouth flickered into a small smile. "Alright."

And, laughing, James leaped out of bed, tripping to grab his pants.

"What are you doing?" Regulus asked, clearly confused.

Fishing his phone out of his pocket, James snapped a picture of a very annoyed-looking Regulus. "Changing my phone background," he smiled.

[pileofboneswrites]

THINGS ARE DIFFERENT.

SUMMARY — this year brought a world of horrors for you. a car accident just weeks before your first day of sophomore year leaves you with no memory of the last year of your life. six months later, things have settled for you; you've got perfect grades, you're a cheerleader and your boyfriend is the quarterback. life is great, perfect even, until a certain raven-haired boy comes crashing into your life, causing chaos and triggering some of your memories to come back.

PAIRING — sweet pea x fem!andrews!reader | reggie mantle x fem!andrews! reader

WORD COUNT — 9.6k

WARNINGS — shitty friends, mentions of a car accident, cheating (caught in the act), lying, angst, fighting, swearing, i think that's it???? (let me know if i missed anything!!!!)

A/N — the plot of riverdale is kind of muddled in this fic; hiram logde's plans are apart of it somewhat, but jason is still alive. no mention of "yn" everyone mostly refers to her as andrews, reg refers to reader as "sunshine" a few times, and fred refers to her as kiddo, also the absolute SHITSHOW i went through to post this, oh my god, tumblr formatting is FUCKED (i usually write everything in my notes app or on wattpad bc i have lost so many partially done fics to shitty service). like i get WHY, but AHHHHHHHH (that's me screaming at the top of my lungs,,, 24 hour loop edition), not proof read

MASTERLIST | RIVERDALE

YOU.

"ronnie needs our support on this," your twin brother archie explains, he's leaning against the door frame of your bedroom.

your back is to him, and you're trying to get ready to head out for school. your homework, laptop and other things sit spewed around your room. utter chaos from your midnight homework session. you straighten yourself, finally meeting his eyes.

"yeah, and? veronica is your girlfriend, not mine archie." you reply, leaning down to shove your laptop into your school bag.

"please?" he pleads, and you roll your eyes.

veronica lodge's dad is no good for riverdale, you can feel it. every move he makes seems to rattle one of archie's friends, or cause a disturbance within the town. since hiram rolled in it seems like one half of riverdale is always up in arms. first jughead when the serpents trashed the drive-in, and the northsiders because of the southsiders joining the now only school in riverdale.

"arch, i don't have the same kind of love from my friends you do. i step on their toes over this, i'm going to be an outcast." you reply, zipping up your bag.

"you can always hang with us," archie sighs, crossing his arms over his chest. "i know that betty misses you a lot, same with jughead."

"then why haven't they reached out?" you snap, sick of the conversation at hand.

archie always gets your hopes up, then plans fall through or they "unintentionally" leave you out. so, you're done. they know that you don't remember anything from the last year; the good, the bad or the petty. you're done trying to change things when with every effort you're shot down. you want normalcy. you want your friends back, but if they're not going to tell you what's going on, or make an effort, then why should you?

"just think about it, okay?" archie says, and you shake my head.

you throw my bag over your shoulder and push past him. you pause in the hallway, guilt creeping up on you, but ultimately decide not to worry about it. archie's been babying you, coddling you even since the accident. which to an extent you can understand it; you could have died. at the same time you feel like you never have a moment to yourself. archie's always lurking. you jog down the stairs, patting vegas as you slip out the front door onto the footpath.

the weather is hazy, it's damp out, fog lining the streets obscuring vision twenty feet head. you thank the powers that be for you remember a jacket. you pull your hood up as you walk towards the sidewalk, but you catch sight of your boyfriend's car parked on the street.

"morning princess," reggie calls through the open passenger window.

"morning reg," you reply pulling the door open and sliding into the passenger seat.

"did you hear about southside high closing?" he prompts after you give him a quick peck on the lips. "means all the trash is going to be clogging the halls of riverdale high,"

"yeah, arch filled me in this morning. you'd think after all the drama surrounding archie and the serpents he'd be less than excited about them transferring in." you sigh, tossing your bag into the backseat.

"he's on their side?" reggie asks, mouth twisting in disgust.

"guess so," you shrug, pulling on your seatbelt as reggie pulls away from the curb.

"but you're not?"

"i'm indifferent," you reply. "i don't care one way or the other,"

"cheryl's going to hate it," he says, and you shrug again.

the drive is relatively short, and silent. when you and reggie aren't making out, it's usually pretty quiet. you're together on the principle of "it makes sense". that's quite literally how he phrased it when he asked you out. and to an extent he's right. it makes sense for a football player to be dating a cheerleader. it makes sense. that being said, your relationship is entirely physical and for show. you're more along the lines of friends with benefits than an actual relationship. he only calls you when there's a party, or he's horny. romantic, you know. reggie grabs your backpack, and you climb out of the car.

"morning!" betty shouts, climbing out of her mom's car.

"hey," you reply, watching as she b-lines towards you.

"you friends with cooper again?" reggie whispers, leaning against the passenger side door.

"no, her friends want my support about the southside," you whisper back, plastering on a fake smile.

"good morning," mrs. cooper says as she drives past.

"good morning mrs. cooper!" you reply cheerily, she smiles and waves before turning out onto the street.

"hey, can we talk for a minute?" betty asks, stopping a few feet away.

she looks like she always does. blonde hair pulled up in a tight ponytail, makeup pretty minimal and natural, and her signature grey crown sweatshirt.

"sure," you say, and reggie leans down to plant a kiss on your lips, as you grab your backpack from him. "see you in homeroom."

he just smirks at you, as you turn away. you feel his eyes on your back until the two of you slip inside of the school. you feel slightly more at ease without reggie by your side. you follow betty to the room dedicated to the blue and gold (your school newspaper). betty drops into her seat at her desk, and you drop your bag on the table and plop down in the chair on the otherside of her desk. you sit, crossing your arms over your chest.

"whats do you want?" you ask, your question coming out ruder than you'd intended.

"i uh, i wanted to touch base." she says, averting eye conact.

"touch base? we haven't spoken since before my accident, betty. what do you really want?" you snap, becoming both annoyed and upset that she didn't actually mean it.

you could have played dumb, you could have gossiped, you could have gave her a life update. but you spend so much time being fake with your 'friends' that you can't handle any more superficial small talk that neither of you will remember. she looks taken a back by your brashness, and you feel a twinge of guilt. just a twinge.

"i—" she starts, but you cut her off as you forcfully shove your chair back, causing an awful screeching sound as it drags across the tile floor.

"look, cooper, if you need something, be straight with me and don't get my hopes up to use me for information." you grab your backpack and trudge into the hallway crashing straight into someone sending you flying back.

you grunt, bracing for the impact but instead you feel two hands on my arms steadying me. you peak your eyes open, and see a tall guy with dark hair and a leather jacket.

"oh shit, i'm sorry," you mutter slipping past him as you rush up the stairs.

you feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up, like someone's watching you. you turn your head as you head up, and see the guy who caught you staring in your direction. he looks pissed, and you wonder for a brief moment if that anger is directed at you. you feel someone poke you in the shoulder and you turn your head to look at them. you jump in shock at how close she is.

"you good?" cheryl asks, the usual distaste in her voice, one eyebrow raised in question.

"yeah, fine," you reply walking in step with her, glancing down the stairs, to see a brown and pink haired girl pulling him away.

"—and i don't know why she wants this so bad—" cheryl's voice drifts off into backgroung noise, something that tends to happen more and more frequently.

that guy looked weirdly familiar. you swear you've seen his face before but you can't seem to place it. which is also happening more, and more frequently to you. you know it's going to bug the hell out of you.

"—and i said—" cheryl continues, as you head towards english.

"andrews!" you feel two arms wrap around your middle, and you're yanked backwards and lifted up.

"ahhhhhh!" you shout, startled by the sudden movement and contact, your kneejerk reaction is to raise your elbow and throw it into the first piece of flesh you connect with.

"andr- shit!" a familiar voice yells, as you free fall to the ground, landing on your ass hard. "what the hell, dude!?"

you lift my head and see cheryl's twin brother jason leaning over, clutching his stomach in pain. you clap your hand over your mouth in a mix of embarrassment. he glances down at you, rubbing the tender area, mouthing 'what the fuck' over and over.

"shit! jason, i'm so sorry—" you say, quickly standing up, he waves you away so he can take a second.

"what has you so jumpy this morning?" cheryl asks, crossing her arms and raising both her eye brows at me.

"no clue," you reply truthfully.

"too much caffeine likely," jason says, standing up right and throwing his arms cross both mine and cheryl's shoulders to guide us to class.

"how many cups a day are you drinking?"

"two," you reply, no hesitation.

you haven't been sleeping much lately, or at all really. you weren't sure what was worse; the lack of sleep, or the fact that when you do manage to fall alseep all you seem to dream of is the four agonizing hours you were trapped in your car after the accident.

"four with extra espresso." jason chirps, and you mock elbow him and he flinches, dropping his arm from your shoulder to shield himself. "not cool dude,"

"aw, prwincess," you mutter tapping his cheek with your hand.

you duck under his arms at a weak attempt to catch you, and slide into class dropping into your usual seat beside ethel muggs. mrs. leroy has all the desks grouped in twos. she likes to assign a lot of partner assignments and classwork, so you ended up with desk pairs.

"good morning," ethel says brightly, and you smile at her.

"good morning ethel, how was your weekend?"

"it was good, how was yours?"

"it was okay," you reply and shrug as mrs. leroy, our english teacher waddles into the room.

she drops her bag beside her desk and takes off her jacket, hanging it on the back of her chair before standing at the front of the room and clearing her throat.

"alright guys, we have a bunch of new students joining us. i'm sure you heard about the students from southside high tranfering in, and we're going to be very welcoming. as such, i've decided to change up your desk partners to kick off our next project." she says, and everyone groans. "hey! who knows, maybe you'll meet your new best friend!"

you drop your head down on the desk as she continues to speak.

"i call your pairs and you'll move to the assigned set of desk pairs, every up."

everyone obeys, clearing to the back, front and sides of the room as she spends the next fifteen minutes reseating you.

"mr. blossom and ms. topaz, these desks please." jason nudges your foot as he passes.

"she's pretty," he mouths and you roll your eyes, a shit eating grin on his face.

"mr. sweet pea, and ms. andrews."

"sweet pea, what kind of name is that?" cheryl snickers, rolling her eyes.

you step forward, dropping into the closest desk to you, ducking your head to look into your backpack for my notebook and pencil. you drop them onto the desk, and look ahead to the board.

"uh, excuse me—?" you turn my head, and see the guy who caught me in the hallway.

"yeah?"

he's cute. messy—but like the intentional kind of messy—dark hair, with curls over his forehead, and dark eyes. there's a hint of ink poking out over the collar of his leather jacket, you catch sight of a snake's head.

"can i— uh— can i borrow a pencil or pen?" he asks, and you nod, turning to dig into you backpack for one.

you feel his eyes on you, watching your every move as you dig. you pull out the first pen you find and hand it over. he reaches out, grabbing hold of it, and your fingers briefly touch. a shiver immediately shoots down my spine, and you drop your hand. you get a flash of a memory, it's difficult to piece together what you're remembering. you see a flash of a half empty vodka bottle, a leather jacket, and a tattoo gun. you gather your things, and jump out of your seat rushing to the bathroom, you hastily shove your notebook away and drop your bag upon entering the bathroom. you drop to your knees in front of the first toilet you find, and empty the contents of your stomach. you wipe your mouth with the back of your hand and lean back against the stall dividers, trying to catch your breath.

it was like for a brief moment you was there. you could hear the tattoo gun buzzing, you could feel the scratch against your skin and you could taste the vodka. you stand up, and walk over to the mirror. maybe you're losing your mind. you would notice a tattoo, wouldn't you? if you didn't know to look for one, maybe you wouldn't... you lift your hoodie a little, and catch sight of one of the snake's heads poking out from under the underwire of your bra.

"holy shit," you breath, pulling your hoodie back down.

you lean down, and turn on the water slashing it onto your face. you stare hard at yourself in the mirror. how could you not see something like that? why didn't anyone tell you? you were told that you grew apart from your friends, but by the looks of things you had a whole other set that no one knew about, or at the very least didn't want you to go back to. the bell rings, signaling the end of first period, and you stand there staring at yourself in the mirror. the door opens slightly, and the brown and pick haired girl sticks her head in and sees you.

"hey, are you okay?" she asks, opening the door fully to come in.

"uh, yeah, i think so." you reply, and she nods, not pushing the topic any further, which you appreciate.

checking in on you is a small act of kindness that not even my so-called 'best friend' cheryl could give. you feel your phone vibrate in your pocket, and pull it out, turning away from the sink to lean on it. think of the devil, a text from cheryl.

you don't reply, you just sigh, and shove your phone back into your pocket. you look up and catch the girl's reflection staring at you.

"uh, sorry." she says and you shake your head, mustering a small smile.

"it's okay, i'm—," you say, sticking out your hand to her.

"actually, we've met bef—" she cuts you off, but is cut off by the bell ringing.

then there's a loud bang on the door, and it opens slightly.

"topaz! we need to talk," it's sweet pea.

she throws you a sympathetic smile and heads out to the hallway. you there for another few minutes, fully aware of the fact that you're missing chemistry before you pull your phone back out, and call your dad. i can't handle this, i'm incredibly overwhelmed. all of this is too much. i know toni? i'm a southside serpent?

"hey kiddo, what's up?" he asks, answering on the first ring, it's his coffee break. "aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"i am," you reply, your voice shaking, immediately giving away how you're feeling. "i just— dad—"

"sweetheart?" he prompts.

fred andrews, a saint walking, ever understanding. you're incredibly blessed to have him for a dad. you force yourself to take a shaky breath, you're on the verge of tears and your eyes burn.

"can i have a day? i just— i'm so overwhelmed. can i go home?" you ask, the dam breaking, tears slipping down your cheeks.

"yeah, kiddo, i'll come get you and sign you out for the day, okay?" he says, and you whisper okay. "hang tight, i'll be there soon."

"thanks dad," you say, and hang up.

you stare at your reflection, your eyes are puffy and you look like hell. your hair is a mess, but you really don't have the energy to fix it. you grab a couple paper towels from the dispenser and wipe your face. you grab your backpack and head down to the office. you drop into one of the chairs across from mrs. bell's desk to wait.

"oh, hi," she says, exiting mr. weatherbee's office holding a folder. "how can i help you dear?"

"i'm not feeling well, my dad's coming to pick me up." you reply, forcing a small smile.

"oh i'm sorry to hear that dear, i hope you feel better," she gives you a sympathetic look as she plops down at her desk.

you're used to the look; the sad eyes with a small forced smile, you'd recived it a lot since the accident. there were no fatalities thankfully, but it drastically changed your life. at least you have to assume it did, you'd lost a year's worth of memories and it only took you a severe concussion and a couple weeks of physical therapy.

"good morning, dorris," comes your dad's voice, he steps into the office and mrs. bell smiles at him.

"well hello, fred." she says, a faint smile on her lips.

everyone on this side of town loves your dad. fred andrews is the kind of guy who will drop everything if you're in a bind, whether you're a friend or not. he signs you out on the sign out clipboard and turns to you.

"ready to go?" he asks, and you nod, standing up.

he slings an arm around your shoulders, and you wrap an arm around his middle as you walk. he doesn't ask you any questions, but you're sure when you get home he's going to have some.

SWEETPEA.

"she acts like she's never met us before," fangs says, sitting down beside sweet pea on the steps leading up to the bleachers.

they need privacy to talk about what's happening, this was the closest thing sweet pea could find. especially with all the gawking, stares and judgemental looks they'd been receiving since showing up to their new school this morning.

"i know, she didn't even say "hi" or anything. it's the least she could have done given everything," sweet pea grumbles, watching as toni walks towards them.

"she doesn't remember us," toni says, coming to a stop in front of them. "she literally doesn't remember us. like at all, she introduced herself to me in the bathroom,"

"what the hell?" fangs mutters, "maybe it's an elaborate plan to keep her summer in the snakes den a secret?"

"that is the dumbest thing i have ever heard," toni says crossing her arms over her chest. "you heard how she was talking before she ghosted us, she was over it all, the cliques, school, all of it."

"she said we were her family," sweet pea mumbles, "and then she disappeared. maybe it was all a lie,"

"jesus christ, or maybe, something bad happened to her, and she actually doesn't remember us." toni replies, the annoyance in her voice prominent. "and if she didn't remember us, then how would she know to contact us?"

"i sent her over a hundred texts since she disappeared, none of them have even been opened."

"case and point," toni says, rolling her eyes. "look, sit and stew in your misery, or confront her. i don't know about you guys, but i plan on getting my friend back."

with that toni turns on her heel, and heads back towards the school. fangs sighs, and stands up, brushing the dust off his ass as he turns to stand where toni had just been.

"maybe she's right," he says, looking down at sweet pea. "we know elly, she wouldn't just up and ghost us like this unless something happened. i want our friend back, and i'm with toni on trying by any means necessary to get her back,"

fangs studies sweet pea's face, looking for any indication that he's heard anything he said. after a moment, fangs sighs again, and turns to follow toni back into the school. sweet pea sits there on the bleachers, he watches as his friends grow smaller and smaller the further they get. he groans, and throws his head back. he's frustrated. he hasn't heard a damn thing from you in months, and then he sees you at his new school and suddenly his whole world collapses. he sighs, and pulls his cellphone out of the pocket of his leather jacket. he opens up his texts, and pulls up your messages.

you never showed up, you never called, you just disappeared. well, apparently you hadn't, but for sweet pea you did. other than toni and fangs he had no other friends in common at the time. no way of getting a hold of you when his calls all suddenly hit you voicemail. now here you are, back in his life, but so far from his reach. he had hoped a million times over the last six months that he'd find out what happened, that he'd get some kind of explanation or closure. something. anything.

but when his eyes landed on you, it was like all the anger towards you, and the situation melted away. for a second, it was like you were never gone. then that daydream snapped, and you were rushing away. not an ounce of recognition in your eyes. it hurt. his phone vibrates in his hand, and it brings him back. back to the bleachers, back to the harsh reality that you might have no clue who he is, back to the anger that swirls in his head, back to how much he loves you, and how much his heart hurts because you might no remember any of it.

he looks down at the screen, leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees as the bell rings again.

YOU.

"alright, so, what's up?" he asks, as you drop onto the couch.

vegas jumps up beside you, and drops his head into your lap. you run your fingers through his soft fur and try to figure out a way to start this conversation.

"what was i like over the summer?" you ask, looking up at him.

he's standing by the front door, leaning against the archway leading into the living room. he's got his arms crossed and he's watching you silently.

"you were like you are now," he shrugs, "you didn't spend much time home, at first you were busy with cheryl and then you got a job."

"a job?" you ask, that's new information. "where?"

"the twilight drive-in," he replies, "you made some new friends with your co-workers, or so you said. you and archie were barely home over the summer,"

there's a few moments of silence as you digest this new information.

"dad?"

"yeah kiddo?"

"where was i going? why was i in that car?"

"truthfully, i don't know. archie said the two of you had gotten in a pretty heated fight, and you'd stormed out. a few hours later i got a call from sheriff keller,"

you nod, and sigh, leaning forward. you rest your elbows on your knees, and rub your eyes.

"i had a memory come back," you say after a minute, you don't look up at him. "it was weird though, it was really intense. it was like i was inside the memory."

"do you know what triggered it?"

"no," you lie, until you figure out what's going on with you, you plan to keep sweet pea and toni out of things. "it just hit me in the middle of english, and i had to get out of the room. i went to the bathroom and i puked."

"you puked?"

"yeah, nausea hit me seconds after the memory."

"well, at least you're making progress. the doctor said it could take a while,"

you nod, finally looking up at him. he checks his watch, and comes into the livingroom.

"you take it easy okay? don't strain yourself," he kisses your forehead and heads back to the front door. "i love you,"

"love you too dad," you murmur, watching him leave.

when you can no longer hear the rumble of his truck, you decide to head up to your room. until the accident you'd kept a near meticulous set of diaries, if you can find the one you was working on, maybe it can shed some light on what's going on.

it's weird, you're you, living in your body, but up until six months ago you were a completely different person. it's like living inside a stranger. you step into your room, it's a mess. clothes litter the floor, spilling from your closet, empty take away coffee cups, empty mugs from downstairs and energy drink cans litter the top of your dresser and desk. you go to the hall closet across from your room and grab a garbage bag and head back in. might as well clean up.

a few hours later you stand in the center of your now clean room. all your clean clothes have been re-folded or hung up, all the dirty clothes are in the wash and there's not a single thing out of place. except for—you squint, dropping to your knees in front of your bed, leaning down to pull two cardboard boxes from underneath. one is marked MY NOTEBOOKS, DON'T TOUCH (THAT MEANS YOU ARCH) in all caps—obviously your diaries, but the other has no label. you take off the lid and audibly gasp at the contents. sitting on top is a leather jacket with the southside serpents logo on the back, under the jacket is a dark green journal, a white handled switchblade, your old cellphone and a set of keys.

the screen on the phone is shattered, pretty near unusable by most people's standards. no one knew where your phone was after the crash. you'd just written it off as lost... finding it here, in this box changes things. you put it on the charger, and sit cross legged on the floor. maybe it'll be able to turn it on, if not you could to take it to a repair shop. you pick up the jacket, and check all the pockets. inside the left pocket is a half crumpled note, you pull it out and flatten it. it's definitely not your writing. it has one sentence, and it crushes you.

i love you too - sweet pea

you drop your hand holding the paper into your lap. that just makes everything even worse. does he know that you lost your memories? does he know about the accident? does toni? do they think you're pretending? were you on your way to see him when you crashed?

"fuck," you whisper, pulling your knees up to your chest.

you wanted the truth, and you got it, well part of it. how do you process all of this? how do you fix this? god, you just want to scream. throw things. have a little bit of a meltdown. it won't fix anything, but it might make you feel better. you rest your forehead on the edge of your bed and sit there on the floor, the jacket half hanging out of the box.

"hey?" comes archie's voice from the hallway, i jump at the sound. "hey- are you okay?"

you kick the box under your bed and glance up to see archie. he stops at the threshold, looking intently at you. you hear more sets of feet coming up the steps.

"i—"

you want to lie, you want to tell him you're fine. say everything's a-ok. but it's not. it's really not. and then betty, jughead and veronica come up behind archie and the damn breaks. you start violently, and uncontrollably sobbing into my arms. how did you wake up a year and a half older with such resentment for your three best friends? how did your life fall apart so quickly?

"hey, sh, sh, you're okay, everything's okay," archie says dropping to his knees to envelope you in a hug.

the other drop down on the floor with you. veronica and betty rub your back soothingly. you need to apologize, but you can't stop crying. maybe that's just as well, still a meltdown, just a different kind you suppose.

"i'm sorry!" you cry, frantically wiping your eyes with the sleeve of your sweater.

you dislike crying in front of people, and you know most people don't like having someone cry in front of them. you try and steady your breathing.

"hey, you don't have to apologize," veronica says. "we've all kind of been terrible friends since your accident,"

"that's why we're here," betty adds, patting your shoulder comfortingly.

"that's why they're here," jughead says, and betty swats at him and misses. "hey! let me finish woman! i was going to say, i've been a great friend. we had lots of fun working at the drive-in together,"

"jug..." betty says softly, using that same tone people often use when they're tip-toing around things that might hurt you. she shakes her head slightly, "she doesn't—"

"hey! don't talk about me like i'm not here!" you say loudly, all three of them turn to look at you. "i'm not fragile, you don't have to choose your words carefully around me, i have amnesia not brain damage."

"you're right," veronica says, staring each of them down until they nod. "we all need to stop treating you like glass,"

you quickly stand, your back to them for a minute. you take a deep breath, and turn around.

"arch, what were we fighting about when i left?" you ask, and he looks at you for a moment before swallowing, hard.

"you felt abandoned," he says, his eyes falling to the black rug they're sitting on. "you were upset because we were going on our annual nyc trip, but i'd also promised ronnie i'd help her with something in the morning, and i wanted to push the trip back by two, three hours. and you got really upset and exploded on me—it was entirely justified on your end—there was a lot of things you wanted to do together over the summer and i either canceled or forgot. i was a shitty brother."

"no, arch, you weren't. i'm sure i was just being drama—" you start, but archie raises his hand and you stop.

"no, i was being selfish. i made you a promise, and i broke it. i'm sorry," archie says, standing up and pulling you into a tight hug. "i'm sorry, i really am."

"and we're sorry," jughead says, as archie lets you go. "we thought that giving you some space would be a good thing, but we all got a little caught up in our own shit."

"i understand that, however, i've been alone pretty much for six months." you reply, crossing your arms over your chest.

"you've had cheryl, and jason, and reggie—you seemed like you were pretty happy..." betty says, and you shrug, looking away from her. 

"cheryl is nice— but all we talk about is her. jason's fun to hang with but we have nothing in common other than reggie and cheryl. and reggie.." you sigh, staring out your window over their heads. "reggie made sense."

"he made sense?" veronica asks, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"picking reggie made sense, and don't get me wrong i do like reggie, he's a great guy—a good listener, great at solving problems, fun to hang out with and all—but there's no connection." you sigh, you briefly contemplate telling them about the jacket, about your supposed summer with the serpents, but decide against it for now.

"are you going to break up with him?" archie asks, and you shrug in reply.

"i probably should," you sigh again, why does all of this have to be so damn hard? "did he ask about me when i disappeared this morning?"

"yeah, i told him you weren't feeling well. dad text me about you being home," archie says, and you nod.

"well, i say we grab dinner at pops tonight like old times," veronica says when the silence goes on a beat too long.

"honestly, i would love that, but i have to tie up some lose ends first. i'll meet you guys there at," you pause, walking over to your old phone, tapping the screen, relief shoots through you when it lights up, "say, 6?"

"sounds good," betty says, and they all stand up.

you unplug your phone, pocketing it as jughead, archie and veronica file out, heading back downstairs, but betty lingers.

"you okay, cooper?" you ask, teasingly.

she turns towards you sharply, hands clasped behind her back, "this morning, i— i really was trying to touch base with you. i know that the whole southside thing kind of has half the school losing it, but you told archie no, and i wasn't going to push it. he mentioned that you were upset about the group not reconnecting with you after everything, and i just wanted to see how you were— are."

"i owe you an apology for how i acted, i was frustrated with arch, not that that's an excuse, but i just kind of snapped. i'm really sorry, i shouldn't have taken that out on you betty,"

"your anger is justified, we should have been by you every step of the way—"

"you were busy, things happen. i missed you guys, sure, but this entire thing has been insane. i woke up six months ago with no memories from the last year. and to be fair, it's not like i made much of an effort with you guys."

"well, we're all okay now. and, you could never truly get rid of us,"

you let out a short laugh, throwing your arm over her shoulder, leading her out into the hallway.

"and you couldn't get rid of me if you tried," you say, and betty grins at you, her arm circling your back as you descend the stairs.

you're standing outside the mantle's house, trying to decide if now is really the best time to be doing this, but your rationality wins out and you move towards the door before you lose your nerve. you raise your hand to knock, but the door flies open and you're met face to face with mrs. mantle. 

"hi dear, are you okay?" she asks, a warm smile on her face. 

"yes. ma'am, i just..." you were not prepared for his mom to open the door. 

that was actually the worse possible thing that could have happened. mrs. mantle has always been such a kind, and wonderful person towards you. you almost wonder if she's the reason you'd let things between you and reggie continue as long as they have. 

"sorry, is reggie home?" you ask, and she nods, stepping out of the way to let you in.

"he's upstairs doing homework, are you staying for supper?" 

the longer you speak to her the more you're dreading following through with this. she's such a nice lady, and you're not entirely sure how reggie's going to handle this. you really don't want to lose her. 

you force yourself to shake your head, "no ma'am, i just have to talk to reggie and then i have dinner plans with my brother," 

she nods again, and you slip your shoes off, and head upstairs. 

you've been here so many times that you don't even have to think about where you're going. as such, this leaves time for you to panic and try to talk yourself out of it. you're not sure why. reggie had been a crush of yours for a long time, from middle school to freshman year at least. when you woke up without your memories from the last year, you'd still felt that way about him. you'd been excited when he initially asked you out. mind you that excitement fizzled rather quickly, realizing what the arrangement meant for your relationship.

you were disappointed, sure, but you weren't blindsided by any means. reggie had always given you the kind of vibe that he wasn't interested in settling down just yet. so, when you push his partially closed door open and find him with his tongue down the throat of a different cheerleader, you're not entirely shocked. the girl notices you first, she's younger than you and reggie by at least a year, and she squeals, pulling away from him. he doesn't notice you at first, his eyebrows pulling together in confusion before he follows her eyeline. they both look like deer, and you're the headlights.

"uh, h-hey..." reggie musters, sitting down beside the girl, "i think you should probably go,"

"y-yeah, g-go...." she says, jumping up and flying out of the room.

you stare at him, unsure of how to continue. sure, he'd made this infinitely easier on you, but at the same time you still find yourself hurting a bit.

"i'm sorry," he says, dropping his head into his hands.

"despite our "arrangement", reg," you use air quotes, "i thought you respected me more than this,"

"i do!" his voice comes out loud, then softer, "i do."

the silence that follows is deafening, and feels like it stretches for hours. he doesn't look at you the whole time, his eyes trained on the ground.

"well, you've made this decision a whole lot easier for me. i'm breaking up with you, reg." you sigh, "i don't hate you; i'm not mad at you; i am a bit disappointed, but i think we were kind of doomed from the start. maybe in a couple months we can try to be friends, just friends. if you're down with that..."

he raises his head, guilt written clear across his features, but he nods, "i'm sorry, sunshine. i really, really am."

"i know reg," you say, leaning down to give his hand a squeeze. "so am i,"

you turn to leave, hesitanting in the doorway.

"reg?"

"yeah?"

you turn to look at him, "see you around,"

4:50pm. you have about an hour and ten minutes before you have to meet archie and the others. you plop down on your bed, and flip your diary open. there are only eight entries.

entry 1: may 16th

i can't do this anymore. faking everything. it's driving me fucking insane. betty, ronnie, and archie are always flaking on me. internship this. summer job that. charity this. sorry i forgot that. jug is the only one who hasn't consistently left me hanging, and we're not even all that close. that being said, out of all of them, i'm starting to change my tune on that. he's even offered to talk to his manager about possibly getting me a summer job at the twilight. which would be killer, i'm there for most of the showings anyway. at least i'll get paid for doing something i already enjoy. then at least i'll have something going on. i'm honestly not ok with them constantly rescheduling things but for whatever reason i just sit there and take it. i need to start putting myself first, and find some friends that put in just as much effort as i do. i wonder if the three of them will even notice if i stop putting in the effort.

entry 2: may 19th

guess who has a new job!!! me!!!!!!!! i'm so excited, i don't think i've been this happy about something in a long time. i start tomorrow night, and jug's already introduced me to some of his coworkers. i'll be working in concession. we're even allowed to sit outside and watch the movie when we're between customers. i'm so looking forward to having this. betty, ronnie and i were supposed to go shopping today but they both just texted to cancel. go figure.

entry 3: may 20th

first day was a success! my new coworkers are so nice, i even made quick friends with a girl named toni. she's got pink highlights in her hair which really suit her. i also overheard that she's a southside serpent. mind you she doesn't really seem like the kind of people i’ve been told are in that motorcycle gang. then again, you're not supposed to believe everything you hear.

okay!! it's later now, and toni asked me if i wanted to hang out with her and her friends at the quarry tomorrow!! that's the first time in a really long time someone’s asked me to do something with them! i, of course said yes! i’m so excited!!

just got back from the quarry, i had so much fun. more fun than i’ve had all year! toni is so much fun to be around, she has the best energy, and it's just so refreshing to be around someone who actually wants to do things and live in the moment. the last time i hung out with ronnie and betty they were both glued to their cellphones, undoubtedly texting jug and archie. i also met her two best friends sweet pea and fangs, who are also super cool. they were really nice, and welcoming. i was pretty nervous, because i’d seen the two of them at the drive-in with fp a bunch of times, so i knew they were serpents, but they were both so nice! i’m really starting to wonder if the serpents are as “bad” and as much of a problem as other northsiders insist they are.

entry 4: june 21st

oh god, it’s been a month since my last entry. i have so much to write about… i honestly don't know where to start. i’ve been hanging out with toni, sweet pea and fangs pretty consistently since that day they invited me to the quarry. i’ve stopped chasing archie and his friends to hang out, and i was right in my guess that they wouldn't notice if i stopped trying. i haven't received a single text from any of them. i mean, i have from archie, but he’s my brother so that doesn't really count in my opinion. and i guess jug too, but we're coworkers and he was the only non-flake before anyway. either way, it’s been so nice having toni, fangs and sweet pea reaching out to make plans with me and when i reach out to them they actually follow through. we all have a lot in common; we enjoy a lot of the same music and tv shows.

toni is a god with her camera, i don't think i’ve seen more beautiful photography, and she takes the BEST candids. she’s taken so many pictures of us, she’s going to get me some physical copies for my scrapbook.

fangs can get you ANYTHING. he’s such a smooth talker that people just end up giving him things. he even got us into a sold out _ show. i’m really not sure how he managed, but we got escorted by security to the barricade.

i was supposed to go with betty, archie and ronnie, but i decided to flake on them for a change. that did get me a few texts from each of them, and i didn't answer them. i just turned off my phone and enjoyed the show. it was amazing!!!!!! i had an absolute blast.

i’ve also been spending more time with sweet pea… alone… (obviously, with toni & fangs too) he’s nothing like i thought he’d be when we met. here i go again judging a book by its cover, shame on me. but he’s so sweet, it took a bit to get him to open up to me, toni says he’s just protective, which i both completely agree and understand. with friends as cool as those two, i don't blame him. he goes out of his way for everyone; holding the door for old ladies, standing in the middle of a busy street so kids can cross. he seems so scary and mean, but that's just his defence. we've been getting a really close, and every time he asks me to hangout i get butterflies.

we're hanging out tonight too, i’m going to pick him up in twenty minutes and we're going to the quarry. i’m sitting in a booth at pop’s waiting for our food. i really like him, and i enjoy spending time with him. toni said she’s never seen him so happy, and that she thinks he likes me. i really hope he does, because i like him. i might even tell him as much tonight… that might be a bit too much, actually. i don't know. oh, pop’s calling my order, i’ll update you later!

just got back from the quarry, and oh. my. god. sweet pea kissed me! i was all nervous, and i decided i was going to tell him how i felt and before i got the words out, he leaned over and just did it! i’ve had a few kisses before, some good, some not so much, but this one? it was the BEST i’ve ever had. that thing you read about in fanfics or novels about fireworks or butterflies, it's REAL. he asked me out on a date too, and i’m literally so excited. i called toni before i added this update and she squealed. she was right, he does like me. mine and sweet pea’s date is wednesday night, we're going to watch a movieat the drive-in and then in the morning we're all going camping at sweetwater river.

my phone is ringing… it’s archie? weird, he usually texts me. i’m going to answer him, i’ll be right back.

just got off the phone with arch. mom is coming down from chicago for the weekend, and we were supposed to go together to pick her up, now he’s backed out on me and i have to go alone. what could be more important than picking mom up from the airport?! especially considering we rarely see her. whatever, i guess it’ll give us time to talk.

entry 5: june 30th

just dropped mom back off at the airport. this visit was so fucked. i picked her up, we had a lovely conversation, and then she asked me where arch was and i had to lie to her. he said he was going to call her and let her know, but apparently he didn't. then, he didn’t show up for family dinner, which he was also supposed to help me cook (spoiler: he DIDN’T). when mom and dad asked where he was, i was like a dear caught in headlights. i have no fucking clue!! i called him, and BAM! voicemail. mom calls him and woah, he picks up first ring. he lies, and gets away with it. arch was gone all weekend which screwed up my itinerary. i mean, seeing mom was the highlight, obviously, but archie and i planned all this stuff and we didn't get to do any of it. not to mention, archie had promised he’s take mom to the airport because he was gone all weekend, and then he didn't show! again! i had plans with toni, and i had to apologize and cancel on her (which isn't fair to her or me (but fuck us i guess??)) anyway, i’m banking on archie cancelling our yearly trip to nyc with everything going on. i’d lay money on it now.

entry 6: july 1st

i’m so mad right now. archie saw me and sweet pea coming out of pop’s with lunch, and got in sweets face. he has NO RIGHT. especially considering how much he's left me hanging lately. i will admit, i did something i shouldn't have, but he said something he definitely shouldn't have (that i shant repeat here (just know it's vile)) and i then punched him. sweets then threw me over his shoulder and carried me to my car. i bruised the crap out of my hand, archie’s got a hard face i guess. toni and fangs tried to lighten the mood when we got back but i couldn't help myself. sweet pea and i ended up leaving early, and we just drove around for a while. when i finally did calm down, he thanked me for standing up for him. why wouldn't i?? archie has no right to treat any of my friends like that, let alone my maybe boyfriend (we haven't really labelled it yet). and archie’s one to talk about people’s “priorities” and who they “really” are, seeing as toni, sweet pea and fangs have done nothing but be great friends and have been there for me all summer and he (MY! TWIN! BROTHER!) couldn’t even see his mother while she was down from chicago. i haven't seen archie since our altercation at pop’s and i’m more than okay with that.

entry 7: august 15th

sweet pea and i got into a fight. it’s nothing major, and i know he’s just looking out for me, but somethings aren’t really any of his business. namely, things involving my family. i was telling him about mine and archie’s annual trip to nyc, and how this will be the first year that it’s just the two of us. mom and dad usually go with us, and it’s the highlight of our summer. i’ve been really looking forward to it, and that i’m hoping this will help mend the tear we’ve both been helping create in our relationship. i’m not going to entirely blame arch because i’ve definitely not helped… especially when i punched him in the face in july. he’s finally speaking to me again. it took a couple of weeks and awkwardly dodging each other but we’re at least talking again. which is progress i guess. we haven’t talked about it either. he just walked into my room last tuesday and started telling about this video he saw, and then everything was fine again. we’ve always been like that, but what archie said really isn’t ok, and what i did really isn’t ok either. i plan to bring it up on our trip. anyway, back to sweets, he’s worried i’m going to get super hyped up about this trip and then archie’s going to yank the carpet from under my feet (kind of like he’s been doing all summer, but i digress). we leave in two days, and so far everything seems to be going well. i should apologize to sweets before we leave though, cause i did kind of snap at him… adding that to the to-do list.

entry 8: august 17th

fuck archie. FUCK. HIM. sweets was right. FUCK EVERYTHING. GODDAMN NORTHSIDERS. 

that was it, the last entry. you wrote that the night of your accident. that's why you were in your car. that's where you were headed. you close the diary, and smack it off your forehead. you close your eyes, and then let out a scream of frustration. you throw the book across your room, and pull your old phone from your pocket. you sift through your text threads, you'd sent more outgoing messages to betty, veronica and archie then they'd sent back to you for months before your accident. turns out they weren't  just shitty friends afterwards. 

you pause for a moment, your finger hovering over fp jones' contact. why would you have jughead's dad's number? up until hiram started causing a stir in town, jughead hadn't even been living with his dad so you never would've needed to contact him. you click it and a bunch of text messages load in. 

things were falling into place for you. they were shitty friends before. you were going to need new ones regardless, that's how you ended up in friendship purgatory at riverdale high. cheryl just isn't your cup of tea, and you're still not sure how you feel about reggie after everything you witnessed this afternoon. one thing you do know; you owe some people an explanation. you close out of the messages, and go to your gallery. the first picture that you see is one of you, toni, sweet pea and fangs, your faces all pressed together cheek to cheek, smiling widely. you smile, and then suddenly it's like a damn breaks and a years worth of memories come flooding in. you drop the phone, and rush downstairs, grabbing your keys from the bowl by the front door. 

"you guys are terrible fucking friends," you say, not really caring to control the level of your voice as you stomp towards your brother and his friends. "not you jug, you're fine, i'm talking about these three."

archie, veronica and betty share confused looks then look up at you. you tower over their table, anger coursing through you. you stare the three of them down quietly, eyes darting from one to the other, to the other.

"uh, didn't we already go over that?" veronica asks, her tone light and joking. 

"not really," you say, "i got my memories back, and you guys were fucking terrible. what did i do to deserve being cancelled on, and forgotten about so easily by you three? especially you arch, you're my brother. my twin. you of everyone are supposed to have my back!"

betty and veronica's eyes drop to their laps, and archie freezes, his eyes wide. 

 "while i appreciate your apology from before archie, with all the facts, i don't accept. what you did was fucking shitty, and i never would have done that to you. never. as for you two, if you don't like me, or just don't like hanging out with me, or just don't want to be my friend, stop making plans with me. i'm done being treated like that, and if any of you want to make things right, actually make things right, you'll be able to find me with my real friends; toni, sweet pea and fangs. who, unlike you three, actually like spending time with me. and for the record, are really good people, and deserve to be treated with respect." you turn on your heels to leave, and then pause at the last booth, whipping back around, "also, fuck you guys."

you pray that you're right about this. you never hung out with them during school, so you weren't sure if they were going to be at the quarry tonight. the weather's still nice, so you're hoping that you're right. you turn onto the familiar dirt road, and catch sight of their bikes in the distance of your headlights. relief washes over you as you get closer, you see three figures walking towards you and you pull in beside the bikes, like you had so many times before. you turn the car off, and jump out. 

"fucking hell, andrews! you scared the shit out of us!" you hear fangs yell, a bark of laughter leaving him. 

"guys--" you say, walking closer to them, your heart beating hard against your ribs. 

you almost wonder if it's going to beat right out of your chest, you're  so nervous, but you're so happy to see them. you missed them. 

"told you she knew who we were." sweet pea sneers, cutting you off. "what schools out so you can be friends with us again?"

"what? no--" you start but he cuts you off again. 

"where were you? why are you back now?" he bites out, and toni smacks him. 

"shut up and let her talk." toni says, nodding at you. "go,"

"i got into a car accident on august 17th. i have no idea how, or what happened, but i was trapped in that car for four hours, and spent two days in a coma. then when i woke up, i couldn't remember anything that happened over the last year. i now remember everything, and am really, really sorry for unintentionally ghosting you guys for six months." you pause to take a breath, and gage their reactions, "i know how this all sounds, but i promise i'm telling the truth,"

toni smirks, stepping forward to throw her arms around you, "i'm glad you're back, i fucking missed you."

you hug her tightly, "i missed you guys way more,"

"i bet you did," she laughs, letting you go, and stepping back.

you hug her tightly, "i missed you guys way more,"

"i bet you did," she laughs, letting you go, and stepping back.

she turns to look at fangs, and sweet pea and holds her hand out, “c’mon boys, cough it up.”

begrudgingly, they both pull five dollars out of their pockets and drop it into her hand. fangs then moves past her, and scoops you into a bone crushing hug.

“missed you,” he whispers, then lets you go.

“missed you too,” you smile, and the pair of them slowly slink back to the fire they’d been sitting around, giving you and sweet pea space.

sweet pea stares at you, dark eyes unreadable, his posture tense. it takes you back to how he was when you met for the first time. closed off, on guard, and analytical. you want to reach out for him, wrap yourself around him and never let go. you’re not sure he’s ready for that, so you shove your hands deep into the pockets of your jacket. your fingers catching the slip of paper he’d given you months ago, curling around it, you put it out and his eyes close briefly.

“i understand if you need space,” you say carefully, unfolding the small scrap. “but if you ever actually meant this, you have to know that i never would have left you hanging like that intentionally.”

he takes the note from you, his eyes leaving yours to look at it. he stays quiet for what feels like an eternity.

“i know.” he finally speaks, eyes still on the note. “deep down, i knew you wouldn't have left. not when you socked your brother for me. i was just so mad… at myself for what i said to you last, at you, for not following through on your text… then seeing you at school– it didn't make sense. instead of really thinking about it, like toni did, i just–” his eyes meet yours again, “i don't know, i let my fears take hold, i guess.”

"i--"

"JUST KISS ALREADY; YOU LOVE HER, HE LOVES YOU, THE END-"

"FANGS, SHUT UP!" toni yells, the sound of her smacking him and him asking her to stop follows.

you and sweet pea share a glance, and then both break out in giggles. when the giggles subside, you step closer to him, your hand landing on his shoulder.

"i love you, sweets, and if you need time--"

"i've had enough time, what i need now, is you." he says before pulling you against him, and kissing you.

he pulls back briefly, letting you catch your breath, "i love you too,"

[lulublack90]

Prompt 26 - Knee

@jegulus-microfic June 26, Word count 852

Previous part First part

They got a taxi to the club. Regulus thought he looked alright. James had certainly approved of his choice. James was now happily sitting in the front seat of the taxi chatting away to the equally chatty driver. Regulus had been forced into the middle seat because he was the smallest. The only benefit of sitting in the middle was that Sirius and Remus were separated.

They pulled up outside the club. Regulus had to literally drag James from the car before he gave the driver all his personal information. Inside, the club was already warm even with the AC blasting. Too many bodies. Sirius raced over to the bar and slid across it to get his hands on the bartender. A beautiful woman with dark skin and gorgeous golden eyes caught him and wrapped him in a hug. 

“Sirius, you nutter,” She laughed as she picked him up and plopped him on the edge of the bar. Sirius wrapped his legs around her waist and drew her in. 

“Do I need to be worried?” Remus asked in his ear, his breath tickling. Regulus shook his head. 

“Nah, Mary’s married, they’re just really close, always have been.” Regulus patted him on the shoulder. “He’s just an incurable flirt, but it’s totally platonic between them.”

“Remus, Remus, come here!” Sirius waved him over. “Come meet Mary!” Remus walked over.  

“Do you want a drink?” James asked. Regulus nodded and let James lead him over to Sirius, Remus and Mary. 

“Reggie is that you?!” Mary gasped, surprised. “Oh, gods, you lost to him again, didn’t you? Regulus, what have I told you about making bets with him, he cheats!” She turned around and poured a gin and tonic and slid it into his hand. “This one’s on me. I feel like you need it.” Mary’s eyes flicked to James, who was holding Regulus’s other hand. “And who is this tall, dark and handsome, Reggie? Did you finally find a friend?” She wasn’t teasing him even if it sounded that way. Regulus had known her long enough to know when he was the butt of a joke. 

“Oh my god, Mary! It is the best story. So Regulus was on the slopes, minding his own business when James comes out of nowhere and tries to kill him.” Sirius began telling the story, waving his hands around dramatically. 

“He what?!” Mary said, playing right into Sirius's need for an audience. 

“Total accident, but then he carries Regulus back to the hotel like some sappy rom-com. Then they spend the next week being all cute watching old 80s films in Regulus’s bed.”

“In his bed?” Mary raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at Regulus, who blushed and tried to hide it by taking a long sip of his drink.

“I honestly don’t know who they were trying to kid, they were so cuddly with each other. But then Barty showed up.”

“What! I’ll kill him! What the fuck was he even doing there?!” Mary exploded with rage. She’d never liked Barty and had been one of the reasons Regulus had finally left him. 

“Don’t worry, James and I handled him. But that fucker had a tracker app on Reggie’s phone,”

“If I ever see that sorry excuse for a human being again, I’ll, I’ll…” 

“Don’t worry, he won’t be troubling Reggie any more,” Remus said pleasantly. 

“Wait, what does that mean?” Sirius spun so quickly on the bar that Mary had to catch him before he fell to the floor. 

“Barty’s gone and you don’t need to worry about him coming around any more,” Remus said, not explaining anything. Remus leaned over and squeezed Sirius’s knee. “I had a little word with him earlier, it’s all good now, I promise.” 

James spun Regulus around. 

“Is that what took you so long when you went to the shop?” James looked hurt. Regulus hadn’t lied, technically. He just hadn’t mentioned it. 

“After last night I had to get him out of my life. I couldn’t keep looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. Remus said something to him and I’ve never seen him so scared. I should have told you and I wish I had, but I’m not sorry I did it. I had to James. Please understand.” This was not a conversation for the club, but apparently it was happening now. 

James looked at him, scrutinising his face. Finally, he sighed.

“I don’t like it, but if that’s what you needed, then I’ll have to be okay with it.” James stroked Regulus’s hair and leaned in to plant a kiss on his lips. 

“Oooooooo,” Mary, Sirius and Remus all cooed at them. 

“Alright, who wants what? It’s time you lot spent some cash instead of cluttering up the place.” Mary winked at them as she took everyone’s orders. Regulus leaned back into James and smiled happily when James wrapped his arm around his waist as they swayed to the music playing in the club. Tonight might actually not be that bad, Regulus thought as he finished his drink and accepted the freshly poured one from Mary.  

Next part

[innytoes]

"Sure I'm a little stupid, but that's like 80% of my charm!" Is such a Reggie line

Everyone knew that Reggie was a huge flirt. It was fun! There were a lot of cool and pretty people in the world, and he enjoyed letting them know that. He gave fans T-shirts 'size beautiful', he complimented cool haircuts, he made people at parties giggle with his cheesy pick-up lines.

It never really went anywhere, of course. Sure, sometimes the handsome barista would give him extra whipped cream, or they'd get some new follows on social media for the band, or he'd make out with a cute girl for half an hour before they never saw one another again.

But that did mean he was the only single person in their group. Alex and Willie had the most romcom meet-cute ever, literally crashing into one another. Luke and Julie were basically soulmates, anyone could see that. Hell, even Flynn and Carrie finally figured themselves out, going from friends to enemies to lovers.

And then there was Reggie. Goofy, flirty, fun Reggie, who was great for a one night stand but not much more, apparently. He tried to let his friends set him up. (Kayla was great but came out as a lesbian the following week, which was... something.) He tried the apps, even the shady kinky one. He tried going to cool events, concerts, nerdy meet ups. Nothing stuck. Or should he say, nobody stuck around.

He tried not to let it get him down, but after the umpteenth time of getting ghosted, he was wallowing on Alex and Willie's couch, feeling sorry for himself.

"I mean, I'm not hideous or anything!" he ranted, playing with one of the dozens of fidget toys Willie had lying around. "Sure I'm a little stupid, but that's like 80% of my charm!"

"Plenty of people in LA who are himbosexual," Willie nodded sagely, as if he wasn't one of them.

"I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. That girl from the club we played last week, she seemed to really like me. She even asked what I played as in my current D&D campaign. And then knew what I meant!" he whined, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes. "A pretty D&D playing punk rock girl gave me her number and then didn't respond to any of my four texts. Not even the puppy gif! And if I send any more I'm a creep!"

"Oh for..." Alex said, annoyed. "Do you think maybe she hasn't texted back because the second you even thought Julie said your name you turned to her like a lovesick puppy?"

"Alex," Willie warned.

"Or maybe because you talk about Luke and Julie like they hung the moon, the stars, and invented pizza?"

"I don't... I talk about the whole band," Reggie said, even as he thought back. Okay, maybe he had mentioned Luke and Julie more often, but only because they wrote the songs. And yeah, when Julie said his name, of course he checked in with them. Maybe it was time to go.

And yeah, maybe he thought Julie was the prettiest girl in the entire universe, but she was dating Luke. (The hottest dude in the entire universe.) They were happy together, so Reggie tried to be happy for them. He just needed to find someone that made him that happy, too.

Right?

"Reggie," Alex said, grabbing his hand. He looked serious. "The reason you can't keep a date is because you're totally in love with Luke and Julie. And they look at you the same way."

"What?" he stared at Alex. "Like, for real?"

"Yes!" Alex said, looking a little fed up, but mostly very soft. Because he cared about Reggie. Even if he was like 80% a himbo.

He thought back to all the times Luke and Julie had invited him along with them on dates, on how they always plopped next to him (or even better, on either side of him) for movie nights. How they never passed up an opportunity to share a mic with him, giving him a head nod to come over, or holding it out to him.

How every time they sang together, sparks flew.

"Oh. Oh!"

"Finally," Alex groaned.

"Wait, why did you try to stop him?" Reggie asked Willie, betrayed.

"I had five bucks riding on you figuring it out yourself," Willie said, unrepentant.

"I'll make it up to you," Alex said, rolling his eyes. To Reggie, he said: "Now get off my couch and go get 'em, tiger."

[expirisims]

Okay here are my favorite 24 screenshots from 2024! Thank you @treason-and-plot for the tag, it was hard to pick just 24!

JAN

My first shared screenshot of the new Pickerling Cove! I have finally set aside a little time every week so I can get this puppy DONE! And heads up, Microsoft will stop ALL support for Origin in April, so I don't know how us world builders with the EA app are going to use Edit In Game 😞

Joanna McAlister casually trying to give birth just outside of the hospital in Redwood Harbor Round 2!

FEB

Howard taking baby Rob to a house party at Shayne's, only to leave him in the pouring rain 🤦 Redwood Harbor Round 2.

Gerald and Simili just leaving an a'hem...date at the museum. St Bernie Round 1.

MARCH

Isaiah out for a peaceful morning surf! St Bernie Round 1

Brianna getting over Reggie ( for a little bit anyways) on vacay with her bestie Cristina! Redwood Harbor Round 3.

Okay, a lot of these aren't separated into months from here on out because my posting got a little spotty!

A random townie I found singing in the empty karaoke bar while my active sim was at work 🤣 Go for your dreams dude! Redwood Harbor Round 3.

Dimitri giving an expression I can FEEL dealing with two crying kids and a begging cat. Redwood Harbor Round 3

After I predicted these two as a couple back in round 2, Clark and Edith did eventually get together on their own and tie the knot in Round 3 of Redwood Harbor! Now if my game can STOP throwing Clark into flirtation situations... it's not in his personality so I don't know why it keeps happening 😭

Antonio and Joanna worked on this car for YEARS!! Redwood harbor Round 3.

Howard breaking the fourth wall with some mad side eye while on a date with Rayne in Round 3 of Redwood Harbor.

Lulu rolling in her own pee, oh how I know the mess our favorite fur babies can make! Redwood Harbor Round 3.

Maggie Marks (the cat) who ran across town to the Chadwick household when Woodrow and Sharon threw a rager of a party! Redwood Harbor Round 3.

The Gale's (minus 1 kiddo because there was no one to carry her) finally moving out of their TINY houseboat! Redwood Harbor Round 3.

I love this picture of Clark playing games in Round 3 of Redwood Harbor.

Little Jerrod Thigpen was so excited to finally get his own room! Redwood Harbor Round 3.

Jill Garrett just bustin out the Chicken Dance at the ballet studio! LOL! St. Bernie Round 1.

Petunia Lum watching for Teddy to get home out the bathroom window! St. Bernie Round 1.

Poor Kasey, who tried (and failed) to do her own tatoos! St. Bernie Round 1.

An awesomely timed pic of Shorty and Brooks playing. St. Bernie Round 1.

When I discovered there were random townies living in one of the apartments in St. Bernie and caught one of them practicing his flaming batons! Round 1 of St. Bernie.

That time Gerald blew off Simili to attend this protest with questionable footing. St. Bernie Round 1.

Bella's VERY crispy looking sunburn. St. Bernie Round 1.

A wholesome pic of George Snooty autonomously helping Margo with homework. St. Bernie Round 1.

I'm tagging @satureja13, @mercury101, @leplumbobvert, @kevinvoncrastenburg, and anyone else who wants to share! As always, no pressure if you don't want to play!

[zerolostwalks]

"hold my hand" "absolutely not" "they'll think somethings wrong if you don't" *grabs hand and kisses cheek* / sweet tarts

“Do you need a job?” 

Reggie startled ever so slightly, trying his best to hide it by sitting up from the lounging position he was in while reading his book. Once up he found an aggravated Carrie standing in the doorway of the studio. 

“Are you talking to me?” He asked, looking around knowing full well he was the only one here. Everyone else had gotten pulled into various family holiday events. Even Luke and his mom had managed to reach a sort of compromise for the season. 

“Is there anyone else here?” She said again before releasing a long exhale disguised as a groan, “Anyway, did you need a job or not?”

“A job” He couldn’t help repeating the question, one of his eyebrows rising against his better judgment. 

“Ok, so it’s barely a job.” She said weight shifting as she adjusted her feet with her eye roll. Her gaze shifted away from him, examining the room around them, eyes lingering on the many photos Flynn and Julie had plastered across the wall. “I really just need someone to come with me when I go to my mom’s for Christmas.”

“I’m sorry what?” He really didn’t mean to blurt out the question as fast as he did. Still blinking away the shock of the words he was hearing. Couldn’t recall her ever mentioning her mom before, or anyone for that matter. Though if he had to judge based on the way Carrie’s face scrunched up and how she shifted her feet again she wasn’t very comfortable with the topic. 

“My mom’s been trying to reconnect and make up for lost time.” She said, voice bordering on her peppy show tone. 

“I don’t know.”

“It would be just for a week and she lives incredibly close to some decent skiing. So you could think of it more like a little winter vacation if you’d like.” Carrie said, her voice never straying far from that peppy ‘sales pitch’ tone which did not ease any unease he had at the idea. 

“What’s the catch?”

“There’s no catch.” She quickly said, disbelief written all over her face in the short seconds before managing to school her expression again. “Look, me and my family are even paying for everything. All you have to do is show up.”

He chewed over the idea, also chewing the inside of his bottom lip not really buying this perfect vacation she was trying to sell him on. There definitely had to be something she wasn’t telling him. Why him? Why not any of her other friends? 

On the other hand, it would be nice to have something to keep him out of his parents house that wouldn’t also have all his friends playing their usual ‘let’s help Reggie without him knowing it’ tactics. It might take them all a while to believe Carrie had randomly offered him what basically amounted to an all expenses paid ski trip out of nowhere. But weirder things had happened. 

“All right, when’s this trip?” He asked, trying not to be floored by Carrie’s unexpectedly bright, if short lived, smile. 

“We leave tomorrow.” She said digging her phone out of her purse and settling on the couch so close to him she‘d barely need to move to be in his lap. “Quick, give me your number so I can send you the details.”

“Oh yeah, sure.” He said fumbling for his phone, caught a little off guard by both her sudden proximity and the amount of shit he suddenly had to do before tomorrow. 

He barely registered everything she said about texting her his address to coordinate with her driver. Far too focused on mentally making his packing list, hoping he had enough clean clothes. Didn’t even question her when she suddenly pulled him in for a series of selfies, the first half dozen inadequate because he didn’t look happy enough. He doubted he ever looked happy enough, certain she just gave up, and resorted to using whatever filter for whatever app she was sure to be posting it to.

The next day didn’t fare much better for his nerves. Pleasantly surprised when she did in fact show up at his place several hours before the sun would even dare to be up so they could get to the airport on time. Too tired to enjoy the fact he got to sit in the slightly roomier business class, falling asleep before the even finished taking off. It was a rare direct flight too, so he wouldn’t get another chance until the flight home. 

Just as they passed security and into the throng of all the friends and family waiting, Carrie’s hand gripped his bicep tight pulling his attention to her as they walked. 

“Ok so, before we get too far there is something you need to know.” She said in a sort of half whisper, trying to not be overheard but still trying to be heard over the noise all around them. “I may have lied about there not being a catch.”

His heart clenched, he knew it was too good to be true, but more than that he felt more than a little betrayed. Did she seriously wait til he couldn’t escape to tell him what basically amounted to his side of the deal? He didn’t get the chance to call her out though, as soon a woman Reggie could describe as overly sparkly was rushing toward them with a big smile. 

“Carrie?” The woman said, throwing her arms around Carrie who had never looked so tense before.

“Aunt Debbie.” Carrie said through a forced grin, “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“What nonsense.” Aunt Debbie said as she playfully slapped Carrie’s shoulder. “Of course we were going to pick you up, Richard’s keeping the car warm. Your mom would have come but she’s a little preoccupied.”

Aunt Debbie tried to do a little hand wave through the air, her vibrant nails looking more like talons than Reggie expected them to, clearly trying to dismiss or wave something away. The movement only seemed to make Carrie tense up more than she already was. Reggie didn’t get long to focus on that though as Aunt Debbie’s attention fell on him.

“Oh sorry, you must be..?”

“Oh, right, sorry. Aunt Debbie, this is Reggie.” Carrie said as Reggie extended his hand out to shake Debbie’s, all of the syllables he was going to use to greet her with however froze up in his throat as Carrie continued on. “My boyfriend I was telling you all about.”

“Ooooh well aren’t you handsome.” Debbie said, patting his, the sensation all he needed to know he wasn’t dreaming. “Well, we better hurry up before Rich gets too bored and does something foolish. Did you check anything?”

Debbie walked off after Carrie’s reassurances they only had carry-on’s. Reggie did not follow, forcing Carrie to double back for him, if she felt any guilt over the situation she had it hidden well under all the resigned exhaustion she wore.

“Your boyfriend?” 

“It’s only for the week.” 

“Carrie we’ve barely ever spoken to each other.” He said in lieu of saying how they could barely be called friends. 

“Please,” she said, surprising them both, though she recovered faster than he did. “Like I said it’s only for the week. We don’t even have to get all lovey-dovey with the pet names or overt PDA.”

“But why do they need to think I”m your boyfriend?”

Carrie quickly looked over her shoulder to where Aunt Debbie was impatiently looking like she was waiting patiently.  “I promise I’ll tell you later.”

He sighed, slowly resigning himself to the idea. His only other real options being telling everyone the truth and spending the next week uncomfortably awkward around strangers or trying to find some way to pay for a flight back home and leaving Carrie alone, by herself. “You owe me.”

She nodded as she painted on that winning showmanship smile of hers, “Of course, now hold my hand.”

“Absolutely not.” The words were out of his mouth faster than he intended, still too caught up in his own blindsided irritation. Her smile barely faltered, the slightest furrow of her brow.

“They’ll think somethings wrong if you don’t.”

He glanced toward Debbie who had definitely stopped trying to not look confused. He didn’t exactly trust his mouth at the moment, so he merely held out his hand towards Carrie. She grasped it in hers and pulled him down so she could quickly press a quick kiss to his cheek and whispering a quick “thank you” into his ear. 

He swallowed hard, an attempt to both unclog his throat of all the wrong words and to clear his head of the memory of her lips ghosting across the shell of his ear. This was going to be a more complicated week than if he had just stayed home.

[zaruba-needslove]

Gotta say that this ended up being hilariously funny for me for no reason cos a few weeks back I used to grumble to myself about how it's hard for me to view recent dual audio vids in Japanese cos Youtube on mobile (I dunno about the App cos I stopped using it when my phone dun have extra space for it) don't actually make it easy to change audio, like you can't SEE the settings to change audio... and my youtube always DEFAULTS to Eng. .... and then TPC did this, now I have no free will to NOT watch Reggie's first mission episodes in Eng dub as well cos TPC casts Tom as Zarab. 🤣🤣🤣

[virtueofsanityx]

i know things were better before---

like an icy shot to the heart, reggie feels the words, feels the regret, and despite their seemingly tepid agreement to not talk about it, to try and make everything go back to the way it was before (with reggie uselessly pining after his best friend and feeling miserable about it all on his own), it seems as if its something they simply won't ever be able to escape fully. that lingering thing between them is pressing against every aspect of their strained relationship and threatening to shatter it completely, all because of one thing that they seemingly can't get past.

maybe, reggie thinks, space would be best for them. dmitri away at a camp for a few weeks, reggie on his pitiful dating apps, actively trying to move on, and when they come back together, instead of this awkward, tepid tension that neither of them seems to be able to break, it will be better.

an alert on his phone splits his attention, and reggie slips it out of his pocket. a message from one of those guys on the dating sites. it's casually flirtatious in a way that feels forced and perhaps it's reggie's own extremely biased judgement, but he seems to be trying a little too hard to be smooth, when dmitri does it so gracefully, so easily, like it's as simple as breathing.

but perhaps it's unfair to compare anyone to dmitri.

he shoots off a quick response to the message and then switches his phone over to silent mode before slipping it back into his pocket, looking up to meet dmitri's eye again, trying for a casual, comfortable smile at his friend, but feeling himself getting lost and trapped in those stunning eyes, melting and warm. dark and rich. trouble, plain and simple.

"i don't really think either of us has been a good friend lately." reggie finally answers him, trying to completely sidestep the issue. he isn't sure he can be a good friend anymore, knowing too much and too desperately how much he craves dmitri. even sitting here, so close to him, eyes darting down to look at those soft, plush lips, is almost too much, but he's rooted to the spot, unable to force himself to get up, either.

the champagne in his glass disappears in a rapid gulp down his throat, praying that the alcohol will ease up the tension, relax his shoulders and calm him down. he shifts only slightly in dmitri's lap, not quite moving to stand up, but perching in a way that would make it much more simple to do so.

"look, it's fine. i think we're both... being kind of shitty." he finally admits it, the painful truth. reggie isn't being fair to his best friend. he knows dmitri as well as anyone. he knows that dmitri isn't that guy that's going to be into the idea of relationships and romance, and they had a tryst that is going to live forever somewhere in reggie's mind, that dmitri may very well have already forgotten about. "i'm sorry. for being kind of a dick. it's not fair and it's not right."

abuela would be proud of him for trying. though she thinks this entire thing is stupid to begin with. nosy old woman. "water under the bridge. spilt milk. all those cliches." he finally says, and then looks away from dmitri to try and maintain his composure as he forces himself to relax into this new agreement, more with himself than with dmitri. "i'm excited to see you in the ring again, anyway. one of the guys i've been chatting with, he can't believe that i know you. that we're actually friends. he's a total fanboy."

If Dmitri could, he would crawl right into Reggie's skin, craving a closeness so profound that it defied the boundaries of flesh and form. And yes, that yearning had only grown more ravenous since that night at the cabin------- the night that 'didn't happen,' the one they mutually (or so Dmitri assumed) agreed to bury in silence. Even though Dmitri was haunted by it, constantly dazed and disoriented by vivid flashes of heated memories that made his pulse quiver and his body ache. He knew better than to bring it up, but God, how he fucking wished that night had stretched on endlessly. He shouldn’t have let Reggie leave. But even worse? He had no right even asking him to stay, where Dmitri would have selfishly kept him prisoner, a willing captive to every dark, hidden desire that ravaged his insides.

No matter how much he fought it, that night had torn through the very foundation of their friendship. Perhaps one day things could be as they were again, and Dmitri was aiming to make it so, however, he could tell having one primal taste of each other had left them in some sort of intensely suffocating state of goddamn limbo. More than that, he was made fully aware of Reggie’s new dating habits, and realizing that had only plunged him into a more vicious pit of insatiable lust where Dmitri went on using others up and discarding them like trash. And, as horrid as it sounded, he was comfortable to do so if it kept his mind from wandering about who Reggie was with-------- all the while never asking his friend about his love life. He didn’t want to hear about it. A single spark of jealousy was all it would take to make him explode, and Dmitri knew that wasn’t Reggie’s fault... he couldn’t blame him for the state he was in. He simply wasn’t in a place where he could be the kind of friend Reggie deserved, the kind of friend he wanted to be. But he would get there. He swore it. Just a little more time, and then he’d move on. He had to. He’d make himself.

...Easier said than done, especially when his best friend was currently perched on his lap, but progress had been made, however small. For one, they were showing up at public events together, not letting the whispers and rumors proceed to completely diminish their already uneasy camaraderie. And, more remarkably, Dmitri had somehow resisted the constant alarming need to let his hands wander, to touch, to claim, whenever the hunger for him spiked. It was progress------- frustrating, agonizing progress. Better than nothing, though, Dmitri thought as a grin finally stretched across his darkly handsome features, large and broad digits curling around the stem of a champagne glass. "You're amazing," he beams, because it's true, and Reggie should hear about all the ways he's so good and thoughtful. Things between them remained taut with a fragile thread holding them together, but the underlying care would never fully dissipate. Admittedly, Dmitri had already sought advice from other friends, hoping for some sort of clarity, but no one seemed capable of offering a simple answer. The situation was too tangled, too complex for any straightforward advice. Most of his friends couldn’t fathom how two people could share something so intensely physical (sex that was undeniably more than a temporary tryst between casual fuck buddies) only to push it all down and pretend it didn’t matter. But Dmitri knew the truth; it was that very care and shared tenderness that made everything so complicated. ...Because it would eventually all go away if Dmitri said anything dangerous out loud, such as the word love.

With a fond clink of his glass against Reggie’s, Dmitri gave a brief motion of 'cheers' before tipping it back, swallowing the champagne in a few quick, man-sized gulps. Then his arm reached to set the emptied glass down before his eyes snapped back to intently watching Reggie... and trying to get those whimpered sounds of 'belong to you, sir,' out of his mind that kept rushing back again. That he missed fucking terribly. He wouldn't be seen aching in desperation without Reggie, but goddamn was remaining alone with the truth hardly any better. "You know I'm glad you came, right? I feel like I haven't been much of a good friend to you lately, but I'm real happy you're here and----- fuck it, I'm trying." He's just waiting to be fine again, even though not having Reggie feels like the taste of blood in his mouth. Bitter, violent.

With a subtle tilt of his head, Dmitri’s thumb and forefinger capture Reggie’s chin, pinching it with a soft, mischievous touch. "We're working on scheduling me another fight. So, maybe, after that... you know." Championship fight camps can last up to eight to twelve weeks, and maybe that's what he needs to regulate his system that's been so hardwired to only think about or crave Reggie lately. "I won't always be like this. I know things were better before------" Shit.

[shmaptainwrites]

𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐃 [𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐆𝐈𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒]

PAIRINGS —  Reggie Peters x fem!Reader

SUMMARY —  The gang decides to have a sleepover and spend some time in a day where life is really crazy.

WARNINGS — maybe a minor swear or two, but i tried to keep it family friendly

NOTE — this is my submission for the first day of reggie appreciation week! i’m super excited to be giving you guys some new content over the next seven days. today’s theme was quotes and the one i chose was “I always thought that quicksand was going to be a much bigger problem than it turned out to be.” happy reading! ​

“Mom I’m gonna be fine,” you insisted, waving your hand dismissively while you packed a bag. “Emily will be around and it’s just the boys,”

“I know,” your mother sighed and scratched her head. “Just keep safe and remind the boys to as well,”

“I will you nodded,” slinging your bag over your shoulder and grabbing your guitar on the way out in case the boys decided to have a jam session.

“Who’s coming to pick you up?” your mother asked.

“Alex and Reggie,” you said while sliding down the railing. “I’ll be back sometime tomorrow,”

“Love you!” your mom called back in a rushed confusion.

“Love you too!” you slammed the door and waved happily at Reggie and Alex who were parked outside of your driveway.

“(N/N), what’s up,” Alex grinned back at you while turning the keys in the ignition.

“Nothing much, how about you?”

“Well I mean we did see each other like three hours ago so the most interesting thing that’s happened since then is I saw Reggie get stuck in a revolving door, but that happens at least once a month.”

“I know, but hey!” Reggie feigned offence and you laughed at the boys.

“How about you Reggie? Excited for tonight? It’s been ages since we’ve done this,”

“It sure has,” Reggie nodded in agreement. ‘It’s quite possible I forgot to pack clothes and just brought food, but Luke will have something I can borrow,”

“You guys are really something else,” you rolled your eyes and sat back in the middle seat, not really bothering to put your seatbelt on.

Alex popped in a CD and Reggie turned up the volume, blasting the music as you sped down the streets to Luke’s place.

When you arrived at the small home you were greeted warmly by Emily who brought each of you in for a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. She was like a mom to all of you, Luke’s house had just become the general gathering place. And even though she butted heads with her son and his choices on occasion everyone knew they loved each other deeply.

“Looking wonderful as ever Mrs. Patterson,” Reggie smiled after giving her a hug.

“Why am I not surprised he’s such a mom friend?” Bobby asked while making his way from the hallway into the living room.

Reggie stuck his tongue out at Bobby and said, “You’re only saying that because you’re jealous I’m Em’s favourite,”

“Okay pretty sure I’m her favourite,” Luke added while coming into the room. “You guys ready? I’ve got some games set up in my room,”

“And dinner will be ready at six so don’t be late otherwise I might have to eat all the pizza,”

“Emily you’re an angel,” Reggie grinned and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“Alright now shoo you guys,” she waved her hands, prompting you all to drag your things into Luke’s room, piling up the bags in one corner and the instruments in another.

“Okay I’m calling it, we do Monopoly first,” you said, pulling out the game from Luke’s closet.

You had all been there so many times it was practically your collective room.

Luke’s parents had even allowed him to move into the larger room when it seemed his old one was too small to hold all five of you.

“I want the dog!” Reggie bolted for the pieces, grabbing the bag out of your hands and snatching the small metal dog.

“And I will take the trash,” Bobby nodded, “Cause that's where I belong,”

“You do know that’s a thimble,” Alex noted and Bobby replied with an obscene gesture.

“I’ll take the car,” Luke nodded.

“I’m good with the boot,” Alex said, motioning for Luke to pass him the figure.

“I’ll take the iron then,” you said, taking the bag from Luke. “You know these are really random. It’s like someone looked at what was laying in and around their house and said: you know what these would make great game pieces.”

“You’re not wrong,” Reggie agreed with you while looking curiously at the small dog.

About an hour and a half into the game things were starting to get heated,

“Bobby you knew I was going for Reading Railroad you asshole!”

“Language honey!” Emily called from the kitchen.

“Well you snooze you lose Patterson,” Bobby grinned and Luke lunged towards him only to be stopped by Alex, but unfortunately taking out the whole board and messing up all the placements and cards in the process.

“Can someone lend me some money,” Reggie asked, puckering his lips and holding you his small stack of cash. “I have like 43 dollars,”

Meanwhile, you were sitting on your corner, piles of money surrounding you. It was so much you even had to borrow some from the game of life at one point, but it seemed as though it was becoming time to end the game and move onto something else.

The unanimous decision was to play the game of Life and save the non-board game activities for later in the night.

Let’s just say the gang had a track record of getting violent over games if that wasn’t already obvious.

“Oh my God, I have another baby!” Reggie grinned happily, placing his fifth or sixth child on the top of the car.

“What did you name this one?” Bobby asked, leaning back.

“Okay, so,” Reggie grinned, ready to give everyone a rundown of the names of all of the children in his car. “This is Jessica, she’s my oldest, absolute sweetheart and loves cooking, then there’s Elliot who’s such a drama geek, but we love him, Then there’s Carla and Sophiana who are twins, they hate each other, but are also very protective, and lastly here we have little Alexander, named after Alex because I felt like it,”

Alex placed a hand over his heart and cooed while the rest of you laughed.

“Guys dinner’s ready!” Emily called and Reggie was the first to abandon everything, even stepping over Luke and Bobby to get through the door.

“Reggie, relax babe,” you laughed, pushing yourself up and helping Luke and Bobby in the process.

“Have I ever told you how cute I think it is when you call us dumb pet names?” Bobby chuckled, slinging an arm around your shoulder.

It was true, Reggie was exclusively babe, Luke was honey, Alex was sweetie, and Bobby was darlin’.

“Someone might get the wrong impression and think I’m dating one of you guys,” you poked and Reggie came and attacked you with a hug from behind,

“I hope you tell them it’s me,” he said while pressing a smacking kiss to your cheek.

“We’ll see about that,” you teased.

Dinner was phenomenal as usual, Emily would always make her own pizzas from scratch and it was the comfort food for the band.

The meal was running quite smoothly until Bobby decided it would be a great idea to pick off a mushroom from his pizza, which Luke hated, and throw it in his direction, just not accounting for the fact you’d be leaning right in between the two, letting the mushroom smack you straight in the eye.

“Bobby!” you exclaimed.

“Sorry that was meant for Luke!” he apologized profusely,

“What?! For me?! After what you did?!” Luke exclaimed, grabbing his coca-cola and throwing it in Bobby’s face.

“Oh please God no,” Alex whispered.

“Food fight!” Bobby exclaimed and Emily didn’t even hesitate a second to get up, knowing it was no use to stop the teenagers.

“I hope you know you’re cleaning this up, Lucas! I was no wasted food!” she called.

“Got it mom!” he nodded, throwing a slice of pizza in Bobby’s direction, nailing him in the shoulder.

Reggie had since then decided to use you as a human shield, covering behind you.

“Stop using me as a shield Peters!” you exclaimed while you were getting caught in the crossfire of toppings and vegetables.

“Hey! I thought I was babe,” he pouted, turning you around to look at you.

“Not when you use me to deflect food you aren’t,”

Reggie instead, pulled you into his embrace, now shielding you from the incoming attacks.

“Guys!” Alex complained. “Come on we could be eating this!”

“It’s okay Reggie doesn’t care he can eat it,”

“I feel like I should be offended by that, but it’s true so I can’t be,” he admitted and you laughed.

After things died down you all got up, helping clean up the dining room.

Thank God it’s hardwood floors. You thought to yourself.

Luke suggested then you take things to the hot tub where you could all relax before slipping into bed and talking into the late hours of the morning.

You all agreed and took turns getting changed in the two washrooms. Luke tossed you a towel as you headed out the back door and the rest of the boys were hot on your tail, all slipping into the comfortable hot water.

Reggie seemed to think it was his duty to shield you from the prying eyes of Luke and Bobby, who to be perfectly honest weren’t even doing anything,

“Stop looking at my girlfriend you pervs!” he exclaimed, using his own body to hide yours.

“Reggie you do know I’m not your girlfriend,” you raised a brow.

“Not yet you aren’t gorgeous,” he winked at you and the boys laughed at his shenanigans.

“You also know we’ve seen (Y/N) in a bikini before,” Bobby added.

“Shame on you,” Reggie clicked his tongue before finally moving aside, but still wrapping his arms around you like a koala.

“Alex is there something wrong with your suit?” you asked as he had his hands awkwardly placed on his lap.

“N-No all good,” he insisted.

“Dude, come on, did it get small or something?” Luke asked.

Before Alex could say anything Boby swatted Alex’s hands away and his bathing suit filled with air from the jets, filling up like a balloon and Alex quickly tried to push the suit back down.

The boys burst into a fit of roaring laughter and you let out a chuckle as Alex’s beet-red face insisted.

“It’s not my fault guys!”

“Yeah doesn’t stop it from being funny,” Reggie continued to laugh.

As relaxing as the hot tub was you all had to leave before you increased your body temperatures too much and started to feel faint.

When you went inside you all changed into pyjamas and laid down on your respective mats and beds.

“You know,” Reggie started and the group groaned, already knowing what was coming. You just giggled, snuggling yourself further into his embrace. “I really thought quicksand was going to be a much bigger problem than it turned out to be,”

“Reggie I love you, but sometimes the things you say-,” you cut yourself off with your own laughter.

“No seriously though! You always see it in comics and cartoons and movies and when do you ever encounter it in real life. Almost never! Like why didn’t they warn us about the dangers of walking the street at night or something actually useful,”

“Cause what kids show is going to centre their plot around walking alone at night?” Alex added from the couch, tossing a ball up and down in the air.

“Guys I don’t mean to bring down the mood,” Bobby said, looking up at the ceiling. “but do you guys ever feel like there’s not really a place for us besides with each other? I-I mean that’s just kind of how I feel but I wasn’t sure if you guys did too,”

“No I get what you mean,” you nodded in agreement. “but I also don’t think that’s a bad thing, you guys are family,”

Alex nodded stiffly and seemed to be biting the inside of his cheek, Reggie noticed this and brought it up,

“Alex you alright man?”

Alex looked like he was about to nod his head, but shook it instead, choosing to be honest.

“What happened sweetie?” you asked gently and he stopped throwing his ball up in the air.

“I came out to my parents… it… it didn’t go as well as I hoped,” he explained, fighting back tears. “They just looked so disappointed.”

Reggie didn’t hesitate to push himself up from the mat, coming to join Alex on the couch and bringing his friend into a tight hug.

You, Bobby, and Luke joined not much longer after, hoping you could deliver some comfort to your friend. Alex was Alex, that hadn’t changed and you wondered why his parents couldn’t see that.

“You know I was having an existential crisis once,” Reggie started and Alex was already laughing through his tears knowing his friend was going to use some sort of random story to try and cheer him up. “See I couldn’t find the parmesan cheese and then I started freaking out, but it was just on the table,” Reggie nodded while Bobby gave him a punch in the arm.

“Reggie that’s not even funny,” you said, but couldn’t help yourself from laughing.

“Well, Alex thinks it’s hilarious and that’s all that matters,” Reggie added squeezing his friend tighter.

The group continued to speak a bit more about the heavy topics until their eyes became heavier than words and most of them fell asleep.

Reggie thought you wouldn’t notice as he quietly stood up and left the room, so you followed him, seeing him leave through the unlocked back door, sitting on the brick ledge in the backyard.

“You know you can’t escape that easy babe,” you said softly, causing him to turn around and notice you.

He chuckled softly while you slowly walked over to him, one hand in the pocket of your sweater, the other fixing his hair that had fallen in front of his eyes.

“Hey, Reg?”

“Mhmm,” he nodded, looking out at the soft city lights in the distance.

“I know you were deflecting with that whole cheese thing,” you said while seating yourself sideways in his lap.

“Oh really?” he asked and you nodded.

“Everyone else shared something, you just kind of stayed quiet,” you explained. “But you don’t have to if you don’t want to. You can always talk to me,”

There was a short period of silence, but then out of the blue Reggie decided to speak up,

“Sometimes I don’t wanna talk,” Reggie admitted, looking up at you. “Sometimes I just want someone to hold me, pretend my problems don’t exist. Just for a second,”

“Well I can do that too,” you nodded, turning yourself slightly so you could wrap your arms around his neck and pull him into a hug.

You stayed there, you weren’t entirely sure how long, but when you pulled apart it was agonizingly slow, clear that both of you would have rather stayed in that position.

When Reggie’s cheek grazed against your own, your eyes couldn’t help but flick down to his lips, and you didn’t know if it was the exhaustion or the need to be close to him again, but you kissed him.

It was soft and not very long, but it felt warm and complete.

When you pulled back again, Reggie went to tuck a stray strand of hair behind your ear, resting his forehead on yours.

Your mom had told you at the beginning of the night to stay safe, you were almost one hundred percent sure that wasn’t what she meant, but with Reggie, everything felt safe and that’s all that mattered.

​​

[queenmolina]

does this count as an au??

(part two)

[lulublack90]

Prompt - Message

@jegulus-microfic December 18 Word count 632

‘Ding!’ 

James’s phone alerted him to a new message. He looked down at the illuminated screen ‘New Match.’ The dating app notification read. He opened the app and scanned the message.

Congratulations Hotterthanthesun, Princeofstars has matched with you.

He clicked on the link to see his profile page. No pictures of his face. Just a rather artsy one of long, elegant fingers wrapped around the stem of a crystal wine glass filled with red wine. It made the fingers look ghostly pale, making the emerald ring wrapped around his index finger pop.

James sent a quick message.

Hotterthanthesun

Hey, how’s it going? gorgeous hands btw.  

He barely had to wait before he received another message. 

Princeofstars

Not bad just got back from work. Excellent abs btw. 😉

Hotterthanthesun

Wait what?

He checks what profile picture he’s got. Usually, it’s one of him at the top of the London Eye, the sky lit up golden behind him as the sun sets. What he finds is a cropped shirtless picture he took as a joke for Sirius. That backstabbing little…

Hotterthanthesun

So, looks like my best mate changed my profile pic. That is me though just to be clear. Totally not catfishing. 

Princeofstars 

Well, now I’m certain you are middle-aged and balding with a beer gut.

Hotterthanthesun

😅 No, I promise I’m not.

James and his mystery match continued to send messages to each other every day for weeks. There was a lot of flirting. But they also touched on a few more serious topics. 

Princeofstars

My brother keeps pestering me to go see him. It’s getting annoying. 

 Hotterthanthesun

Why don’t you go see him then?

Princeofstars

We have a lot of baggage. He wants to try and mend our relationship. But I’m not so sure it’s a good idea. 

Hotterthanthesun

My best friend would do anything to get closer to his brother again. Not that I know the ins and outs of your relationship but it might be worth thinking about. 

Princeofstars

Ugh, you’re so sentimental. Fine, I’ll contact my brother. But be warned I’m blaming you if it goes tits up.

Hotterthanthesun

You can take it out on me when we finally meet. 

Princeofstars

Well, now I don’t want it to go well.

Hotterthanthesun

I can think of a few things we could do if it goes right. 😜

Princeofstars

Incorrigible devil

Hotterthanthesun

😈

Princeofstars

Goodnight

Hotterthanthesun

Nighty night x 

They’d both agreed they quite liked the mystery of not seeing each other's faces so they didn’t share them. James was having a good time. Whoever this faceless prince was he and James seemed to fit together.  

“Oh, Reggie’s popping in later,” Sirius said as he poured them both drinks. “Took a lot to get him to agree mind. He’s still being a little shit. But at least this is progress.” James caught the happy little smile Sirius tried to hide. He knew how much Sirius missed his brother.

The doorbell rang and Sirius leapt out of his chair, furiously smoothing his hair as he rushed to open the door. 

“Hi, Reggie.” James could hear the joy in Sirius’s voice.

“Don’t call me that, Sirius.” And the disdain in Regulus’s. 

“Sorry,” Sirius said trying to appease him. “Drink?” 

“Red wine if you have it.” Regulus sauntered past his brother and fluidly folded himself into the chair Sirius had just abandoned.

“Potter.” He reluctantly acknowledged James. 

“Regulus.” Sirius was right he was definitely still a little shit. Sirius hurriedly gave his brother a glass of red. 

“It’s not the best, but it has a fantastic tartness to it.” Regulus nodded, took a sip and grimaced. He put the glass down on the table next to his chair. 

James went cold with shock. He recognised those long elegant fingers and that emerald ring

“Fuck.”

[liaromancewriter]

Not Ready to Make Nice

Premise: When Ethan gets hurt, he’s not surprised to find that Cassie isn’t quite as understanding of his predicament.

Book: Open Heart Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Cassie Valentine) Rating/Category: Teen. Fluff. Trope: Hurt/Comfort Words: 1,470

A/N: My Tumblrversary celebration continues with a fic 3, requested by the lovely @rosebudde who wanted to know how Cassie would handle Ethan getting hurt. This is set during the third year of residency, shortly after Surrender takes place.

I’m participating in this week’s @wackydrabbles​; the prompt will appear in bold below.

He felt his ribs sing as his assailant managed to get past his guard. The satisfaction he felt when his right hook connected with the other man’s face and heard the load groan more than made up for his previous distraction.

In the back of his mind, he knew he was pushing his luck. But when his gaze met his opponent’s, he knew neither was ready to call it just yet.

“Ethan’s hurt.”

All it took was two words from Reggie, the owner-bartender at Donahue’s, for Cassie’s world to come crashing down. 

She had just finished getting ready for the bed after a particularly long shift when her phone lit up. She quickly changed out of her pajamas, donning the first tee shirt she found along with dark jeans. 

Sliding her feet into the slip-ons she’d left by the bedroom door, she tapped the app on her phone to book a rideshare and ran out of the apartment, slinging her purse on crossbody.

During the short ride, her mind kept jumping through scenarios, wondering what had happened and how badly he was hurt. Given how close the bar was to Edenbrook, maybe he had been taken to the hospital instead.

But no, thought Cassie. Reggie had told her to come to the bar, not the hospital.

She practically jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped, throwing a quick ‘thank you’ to the driver before she hurried inside. She came to a halt when she saw Ethan sitting on his usual spot at the bar looking worse for wear.

His hair was badly mussed; there were small cuts near the corners of his eyes and his lips; as well, he had an ice pack pressed against the left side of his face. When he shifted, she saw the bruise forming along his jawline.

She started to walk towards him, the movement causing him to turn his head in her direction.

He raised his hand to brush away the lock of hair that had fallen across his forehead and she saw that his knuckles were badly bruised and slightly bloody. At least the bleeding had stopped.

“Ethan…” she whimpered as she reached his side, stepping between his open thighs.

Her hands shook as she framed his face between her hands, tears pooling in her eyes when he winced at the contact.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly, dropping her hands but otherwise staying where she was. “What happened? Were you mugged? Did they catch the person who did this?”

Ethan grimaced again, but this time it was more rueful than from pain.

“Are you sure you don’t want to…” Reggie’s voice cut off when he saw Cassie.

He’d come in from the back where he had his office, a first aid kit in his hands. Without a word, he handed the box to Cassie and walked away.

She unlatched the cover, sifting through the materials in the box before removing the antiseptic pads and bandages in different sizes. She would have preferred a suture kit, but she could likely take care of the worse of the cuts with this.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” she said, using the pads to gently clean the cuts on his face, ignoring the way he flinched when the antiseptic stung.

She was more worried about his knuckles and wondered how she could persuade him to go to Edenbrook.

“In hindsight, it was a stupid thing to do,” he said, shifting in his seat. “At least I have the satisfaction of knowing my opponent probably looks and feels worse.”

She saw a wave of pain cross his face as his hand probed the area near his sternum.

“Do your ribs feel broken?” she asked, eyebrows snapping together as she added another worry to her list.

“No,” he sighed, dropping his hand, “just sore. Uh, there’s something you should know…”

Before he could continue, he heard heavy footsteps behind him and knew his time had run out.

“You!”

Cassie spat out the word, her eyes firing up when a badly bruised Tobias Carrick walked into her view.

The collar of his shirt was wet; his face sported tiny cuts much like Ethan and he was sure to have a black eye by tomorrow. His knuckles weren’t as torn, but Cassie noticed that he moved gingerly, an arm wrapped around his ribs as if holding them in.  

“What did you do to Ethan?” she accused, advancing on him.

“Uh, Cassie…” began Ethan.

Tobias stood as still as a deer in the headlights, his expression neutral as his eyes clashed with Ethan’s. Both men shared a look that spoke volumes. Cassie caught it and she stepped back as she stared back and forth between both of them.

“You two did this to each other,” she said, sounding more resigned than shocked. “I don’t believe this. Aren’t you both too old for this BS?”

“Thirty-eight isn’t old, Rookie,” scoffed Ethan as Tobias protested the characterization too.

“I rushed here in a panic thinking you’d been mugged or robbed or worse,” she shouted, her anger escalating with every word. “When in fact the two of you decided to get into a fucking fight like two dogs after a bone. Am I getting this right?”

Ethan sighed loudly. “Tobias, can you give us the room?”

“Sure thing, buddy,” he said flippantly, reaching for the jacket he’d left draped across the bar stool. “My ride’s waiting outside anyway. I’ll see you both at work tomorrow…or not.”

He grimaced as he tried to stuff his arms into the sleeves, the twisting movement likely stretching his sore muscles.

Cassie turned away to slam the first aid kit shut, no longer caring to finish the job. If he could get into a childish fight, she thought pettily, he could fix himself up too.

“Cassie, please.”

His hands came to rest on her stiff shoulders, turning her around to face him. When she refused to look up, he put two fingers on her chin, raising her face to meet his.

“Let me explain,” he pleaded.

In response, she lifted an eyebrow and folded her arms beneath her breasts as she leaned back against the bar.

“This isn’t about me being jealous or not wanting Tobias to join the team,” he began, stopping when she dabbed at the edge of his eye with a napkin as the blood started seeping from one of the cuts.

“Anyway, what happened tonight was about a lot of things. Hopkins, our friendship, our rivalry, what happened in the past. It’s something that’s been building between us for more than ten years and we needed to settle it our way,” he explained, hoping that was enough but her expression told him it wasn’t.

“You were right when you said once that he’s my oldest friend; we were like brothers,” he continued. “But that doesn’t mean we didn’t have issues to work through; things we were too young and stupid to understand back then.”

She snorted at his description of them and then unfolded her arms to step closer, her hands resting on his wrist.

“Did you have to beat each other up?” she asked. “Couldn’t you try couples therapy instead?”

He grinned at that, flinching when his lip split open.

“Serves you right,” she said unsympathetically.

“It worked well enough for us when we were back at Hopkins,” he told her, holding out his hands in front of him. “Of course, back then we’d head to a boxing ring and did a better job of protecting our hands.”

“I don’t understand it,” she said, “but I will accept your explanation.”

She unbent enough to hold his hands between hers, taking perverse pleasure as he grimaced in pain when she deliberately pressed against his bruised skin.

He seemed to deflate in front of her eyes as the adrenaline wore off and the soreness in his muscles made itself known.

“You should worry about that tomorrow,” she said, nodding towards his ribs. “It’s always worse the next day. Let’s go home.”

He called out to Reggie, letting the other man know they were heading out.

Cassie tucked herself against him, carrying some of his weight as he draped one arm across her shoulder. He handed her his car keys as they slowly walked out of Donahue’s and towards the hospital parking garage.

Men, thought Cassie with a shake of her head, as she helped him get ready for bed and saw the bruising on his torso already turning purple. He groaned with pain when she nestled against him.

“Does it hurt?” she asked, shifting slightly away.

“What doesn’t hurt?” he complained, tugging her back.

“Good!” she said with gusto, angling her head to gaze up at him. “Maybe next time you’ll think twice about getting into stupid fights with your best friend.”

@choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics​

Tagging in reblog.

[remuslupininskirts]

Before I get into the good stuff I would just like a quick comment on the post+ while all my moots are being tagged. I will not be signing up to it, it’s so stupid and since most of my stuff is fandom based it would be so idiotic for me to do it. It’s an awful idea and I encourage you guys not to use it if you were thinking about doing it.

(Okay the actual post now) Oh my god this is fucking insane! I can’t believe it! This took me like a week and a half to get here! This is amazing!

I’m gonna do a small appreciation post, no celebration this time, just because of the Christmas season, which is something that I celebrate and it’s all very hectic right now lmaooo. Any of the things I say are not allowed to be used against me at any later date.

@siriusblackinskirts @jamespotterinskirts my lovely pads and prongsy, my other thirds of our very own wolfstarbucks. Love you guys. Please don’t do anything else stupid, don’t eat anything that’s not ment to be consumed and don’t draw on your faces again. Your both idiots, but I love you for it :))

@regulusblackinskirts @dorcasmeadowesinsuits you guys are amazing! Cab, I said I would all you that from now on, and Reggie, I just hope that we always stay friends. Really i just love you guys. :))

@moony-likes-hot-choc teddie bear. Please, you are just the most fantastic person. So funny, amazing. just an all round good person basically. Love you my child!

@goingthruphases @nightowlart my irl people. Honestly I’m just happy that you don’t make fun of me for being on tumblr and actually using it for so long.

@nymphadorathebubba hehe my Dora The Explorer. I will always call you that. Your doing amazing and growing so fast! I’m so proud of you! Love you :)

@love-is-an-imaginary-dagger ash, my darling poet. Your just amazing! I can’t wait to talk to you on the server a lot and just aaaa. Hehe

@wolfstar-lb @potteringdeers I know I haven’t known each of you for a long long time like I have other moots but yeah, you guys are both lovely: I’m so glad I met both of you, and that I brought you to the server.

@cwossiants we also haven’t known each other for long, and we don’t interact a lot but my mincraft friend so I had to mention you spicificly! Hehe

And @/all my other moots. I love you all. You are all just so cool and loving and I’m so glad I met all of you. I really wouldn’t be here without you guys so I owe all my success on this stupid app.

@simpformoony @tarafications @moonystoast @mrs-brekker15 @freddie-boi @lupiningwolves @gayremus @moonypadfootprongss @1llalw4ysl0v3y0u @queerdeadwizards @huffpuff10 @enbysiriusblack @pansyspet @the-aggressiveshipper @elliethefanficwriter @japanniallslotion @albusseveruspottery @secret-murmurs @jeguluswhore @robincantfunction @carolinesalvawhore @couldibeanymorechaotic @acciorxses @fuckboyregulus @mischiefhasbeenmanaged @lucianinsanity @impishtubist @ceilu @mentalaboutyoutoo @velvetcloxds @accio-regulus-black @remusblake @theforestisspeaking @girlwithacrown @moonylovespoetry @mayamoons @remusloopy @that-freewheeling-bisexual

[nicknellie]

Anonymous requested: Could I request willex fake dating au, maybe the boys are trying to get Alex a boyfriend and so he asks Willie to fake date him to get the boys off his back or something please!

Anon, I love fake dating AUs, I’m beyond glad that you suggested this. Plus with willex I think fake dating is very in character, especially for Alex. I had a lot of fun writing this one, thank you for your request! I’m sorry it took me so long to get round to writing it, but to make up for it I’ve made it longer than most of my other fics.

A Dream Come True

Alex had to hand it to them – when Luke and Reggie wanted something, they really pushed for it. Normally it would be one of the many things he loved about the two of them. Determination, perseverance, resilience, all good qualities. And when they put their minds towards something useful like booking Julie and the Phantoms a gig or dragging Willie out of the washing machine when he got stuck in it playing hide and seek, they were definitely useful to have around. So usually, Alex loved their pushiness.

He just didn’t like it when it was aimed at him. Even less so when they were trying (for the umpteenth time that month) to get him a boyfriend.

And the worst part was that this time Alex had run out of excuses.

For reasons Alex simply couldn’t fathom, Luke and Reggie had been obsessed with the idea of finding him a boyfriend for some weeks now. Reggie had downloaded several dating apps and entered all of Alex’s information, and every time Alex saw him the first thing Reggie would do was reel off a list of several candidates he’d deemed worthy. Luke, ever the technophobe (or rather just terrible with technology), had taken a more natural approach and spent countless hours wandering the streets of Hollywood for someone who was, in his words, ‘the sort of guy who would make Alex lose his goddamn mind’.

It wasn’t that Alex didn’t appreciate them trying to make him happy – he found it sweet, if a little weird – it was just that he knew nobody they found would ever be right. He knew what he was looking for, he knew what he wanted, and he didn’t think that Luke and Reggie could get it for him.

The first time they had tried to send him on a date Alex had faked a cold and pulled out at the last minute. The second time he had “accidentally” shown up to the wrong location and missed the entire thing. The third time he simply hadn’t gone – instead, he turned off all the lights in his house, locked all the doors and windows, and hid, so when he didn’t show up and Luke and Reggie came over looking for him they assumed he was out. The fourth time and most recent time he had pretended to fall asleep when they told him about it.

Alex wasn’t the most creative of people and he had pretty much exhausted all of his go-to date-dodging tactics. So the fifth time his friends tried to set him up, he completely panicked.

“So I was doing my usual lap of Sunset Boulevard this morning,” Luke said in lieu of a greeting the moment he walked into Julie’s garage. “And Alex, dude, bro, you will not believe the guy I saw.”

“Good morning to you to,” Alex said flatly.

Luke wrinkled his nose like the greeting confused him, but then saw Julie setting up her mic in the corner. A bright smile grew on his face as he was distracted and for a moment Alex thought he might have been lucky enough to get out of the conversation. But a moment later, Reggie entered the studio and also decided that greetings weren’t a necessity.

“Luke! Did you tell Alex about the guy yet?”

Julie snickered (she found the whole thing much funnier than Alex did and he most certainly did not appreciate it) and for a moment more Luke continued to just look at her, absolutely besotted, but then he came to his senses and all of a sudden his excited smile was directed at Alex.

“Right, that. So I ran into him outside the Orpheum, so he’s probably a music guy,” Luke gushed, winking in a way that Alex supposed was meant to be suggestive. “We had a little chat and he told me he’s training as a teacher and is also looking for someone to settle down with.”

“Sometimes I worry about you,” Alex said, laying a gentle hand on Luke’s arm. “You’re getting forgetful. I’m not looking to settle down with anyone.”

Rolling his eyes dramatically, Luke shrugged Alex’s arm off and instead planted his own hands firmly on Alex’s shoulders, shaking him a little. “Maybe not, but that might change when you meet this guy.”

“I doubt it. What’s his name?”

“Oscar. Maybe Oliver. Orville? I don’t know, but it definitely began with an ‘o’.”

“He sounds memorable,” Alex deadpanned. “I’m sure we’ll have a great time together.”

Reggie gasped excitedly. “So you’ll meet up with him then?”

“No,” Alex said firmly.

Julie giggled again (and once again Luke looked at her, dazzled). “Why not, Alex? You sounded so enthusiastic about him!”

“Very funny,” he returned. “I’m not meeting him.”

“Why not?” Luke whined, dragging the words out like a frustrated toddler. “You always do this! Reg and I try to set you up with people but you always say you don’t want to. Are we missing something?”

Alex could see the cogs whirring in Reggie’s mind before his face lit up and he triumphantly guessed, “Or are we missing someone?”

If anyone had asked, Alex wouldn’t have been able to give a reason for what he said next. It was completely untrue, a wild statement made under extreme pressure in the face of an emergency. Perhaps it was a bad decision, but he had run out of excuses to not meet people and he was getting desperate. He hadn’t had time to consider it.

Alex said, “Yes.”

Reggie’s jaw dropped, Julie dropped her microphone, and Luke dropped whatever respect he had left for Alex’s personal boundaries. He launched himself at Alex, tackling him to the floor in what he assumed was supposed to be a hug, and Alex was fairly certain that Luke was crying with happiness.

“Dude!” he shouted (though it was rather muffled since he had his face buried in Alex’s shirt). “That’s awesome news! Reggie and I can stop searching! I didn’t think you’d be able to find someone yourself, bro.”

“Thanks for having so much confidence in me,” Alex said flatly as he extricated himself from Luke’s vice grip and hoisted himself to his feet.

“You’re welcome,” Luke said as he wiped his eyes (yes, he was actually crying happy tears).

Julie had her arms crossed in front of her chest, looking half-puzzled and half-affronted. “You’re seeing someone? And you didn’t tell me? The only one of your friends who is even a little bit good at keeping a secret?”

“Hey,” Reggie interrupted, “I’m good at keeping secrets!”

“Reggie, honey, I love you but at Christmas you told everyone what you’d bought them as soon as you’d bought it.”

Reggie looked like he wanted to defend himself but couldn’t. “I was excited to see everyone’s reactions…”

Rolling her eyes fondly, Julie turned back to Alex. “Anyway – why didn’t you tell me?”

While he was a terrible liar, Alex just so happened to be a very good actor. In high school he’d got the lead role in the school play two years in a row, but whenever someone asked him if he was gay (before he had come out) he would often panic and pretend to faint to get out of the situation. Though he was technically telling a lie here, he decided it would be the prime opportunity to employ some of the improvisational skills he had worked on with Carrie back in their theatre club.

“It was all very new,” he explained, “we weren’t sure if it was going to go anywhere and we didn’t want to tell everyone until we were sure.”

It was only at this point that Alex realised he was digging a very deep hole for himself and it was most certainly too late to climb out of it now.

“When do we get to meet him?” Reggie asked excitedly.

“You already have,” Alex replied.

A little voice in the back of his mind was saying, shut up, you absolute idiot, what the hell are you playing at? Perhaps stupidly, he drowned that voice out.

Looking dumbfounded, Luke clutched Alex’s shoulders again. “We have? Who is it?”

The little voice got louder – don’t say it, Alex, I’m begging you not to say it, it’s like you’re actively trying to ruin your own life, you absolute–

“Willie.”

In eery synchrony, Luke, Julie, and Reggie all looked to each other with identical expressions of shock and bewilderment and then turned back to Alex with furrowed brows.

“Willie?” they all chorused.

Alex pursed his lips and rocked on the balls of his feet, suddenly regretting every decision he’d made that had brought him to this point in his life. “Yep.”

“I thought your thing with him finished like six months ago?” Julie said.

“Well, there wasn’t really much of a thing to finish,” Reggie reasoned, “just Alex’s pining from afar that had lasted for like four years–”

“Yes, thank you, Reginald,” Alex interrupted. It wasn’t that Reggie was wrong, Alex just didn’t like how right he was. “And yeah, it did… I guess. But then we were hanging out together a few months ago and it was really nice and we started doing it more often and eventually he asked me on a date.”

Alex was overly aware that every word he had just said was an utter lie. Firstly, he had never really got over Willie – Willie wasn’t the sort of person you could just forget or move on from, even though Alex had never actually dated him. Secondly, Alex and Willie hadn’t actually hung out together alone in quite a while. Willie had been busy with their blossoming art career, going to different presentations and awards shows, trying to make a name for himself; Alex, on the other hand, had been doing his best to avoid dating anyone. And thirdly, Willie had never once asked Alex on a date.

He knew he should have backtracked, told them the truth, but he was in far too deep.

“This has been going on for a few months?” Luke said incredulously. “How have you kept it from us that long? Dude, you just let Reggie and I spend literally all our free time trying to find you a boyfriend!”

“I never asked you to do that.”

“You could have told us to stop,” Reggie said.

“I did,” Alex returned. “Several times.”

Julie raised her hands placatingly. “Okay, okay. That’s not important right now. What’s important is that Alex and Willie are finally together. Are you sure they’ll be alright with you telling us while he’s not here?”

Alex shrugged, trying to act like he wasn’t too sure (which was easy because he’d never been less sure of anything at any time in his life). “Umm… well… we haven’t really talked about it much, but… you know, I’m sure he won’t mind too much. I’ll tell them tonight.”

Julie smiled warmly. “Well, I’m happy for you in any case. It’s nice that you’ve finally got what you wanted for so long.”

“Amen to that,” Luke said, finally picking up his guitar. Alex had all but forgotten they were supposed to be practising instead of talking about his very fake relationship with Willie which Willie didn’t even know about. “And Reg and I can finally stop looking for someone.”

“Could’ve stopped before you’d even started,” Alex said, sitting down behind his drumkit, “but alright.”

He knew that sooner or later he would have to tell Willie what he’d done and he was absolutely dreading it. Willie was a very chill person and Alex knew they’d probably find it funny more than anything, but it was still a daunting prospect. But for now, he focused himself on his drums, hammering out all of that excess anxiety, and forgetting the absolute nightmare he’d created for himself just for a little bit.

*

It was nearing one o’clock in the morning and Alex was very much not ready to go to sleep. For one thing, he was still wearing his clothes instead of pyjamas, and for another he was pacing his room like a caged lion with anxiety and had been doing so for almost three hours. He was trying to build up the courage to call Willie and let him know what had gone on, but he was so nervous that he wasn’t sure he’d even be able to string a sentence together if Willie picked up the phone.

He knew he would just have to bite the bullet. He couldn’t put it off forever or it would end in disaster. For the thousandth time he reminded himself that Willie was the kindest, funniest, most good-natured person he knew and that he had nothing to be scared of when it came to telling them that he had made a massive, probably damning mistake. Willie would be fine with it, Alex knew.

Before he could dwell on it a second longer, Alex dialled Willie’s number and let it ring.

It only rang twice before Willie picked up. Even though it was late, Alex had known Willie would pick up (the guy hardly slept at all) and he fought the urge to tell him to go to bed.

“Morning,” Willie said chirpily.

Alex checked the time and blinked in surprise; he hadn’t realise how long he’d been pacing for.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” he said. “How come you’re still awake?”

“Mario Kart,” they replied. Alex could practically hear Willie’s smile – suddenly there were butterflies in his already anxious stomach and they certainly weren’t helping. “Why are you still awake? I thought your bedtime was half nine.”

“It hasn’t been in two years and you know that,” Alex said. Willie giggled brightly which teased a smile out of Alex. “I, uh… I actually need to talk to you about something that happened today.”

Just get on with it, he told himself, don’t drag it out.

“Oh?” Willie said. “What is it? You sound nervous – do you need me to come over?”

“No,” Alex told him, “it’s late – or maybe early. Either way, you don’t need to come all the way to my place just so I can tell you this.”

“It sounds serious.”

“It might be,” Alex admitted. “It depends on how you take it.”

There was a brief silence on the other end and for a moment Alex wondered if Willie had decided to end the conversation, but then they said, “Alright, let me just pause the game.”

Another short pause as Willie stopped mid-race. Alex took the opportunity to collect himself, shake out his nerves. It would be fine. Willie would be fine with it.

“Okay,” he said a moment later. “I’m back. What’s going on, hotdog?”

Alex scratched awkwardly at the back of his neck, suddenly unsure where to start.

“Okay,” he began uncertainly. “Well… Luke and Reg have been trying to set me up with someone for a while now and I’ve been trying to avoid it as much as I can. I’ve sort of run out of excuses and you know how difficult it is for me to say no to them.”

Willie hummed knowingly. “Like with the Great Cactus Robbery of 2019.”

Alex winced at the memory – he hadn’t realised cactus spikes hurt quite that much, but he’d gone through with a lot that night for Luke and Reggie’s sake.

“Don’t remind me,” he said witheringly. “Anyway, you know what I’m talking about then. They told me about another guy earlier today and I really needed another excuse to give them. I tried just point-blank telling them no, but then they started asking questions and…”

“And?” Willie prompted.

“I told them I was seeing someone,” Alex said. There was silence on the other end. “I told them I was seeing you.”

After a moment or two (that felt like an eternity) Willie burst out laughing. Alex sighed, affronted, but he supposed it was one of the better reactions he could have got. At least Willie wasn’t angry at him.

“Why?” Willie wheezed between laughs. “Was that seriously the first thing that came to your mind?”

“Yes,” Alex grumbled. “I was under a lot of pressure. You were the obvious choice.”

They giggled happily and Alex realised just how true those words had been – whether he liked it or not, Willie would always be the obvious choice for him.

“Well, I’m flattered,” they told him, blatantly trying to contain their giggles. “Thank you for thinking of me, hotdog.”

“You’re welcome,” Alex said. “But I’m sorry about it too. I’ve created an absolute mess and dragged you into it, so I understand if you’re angry at me.”

“Does it sound like I’m angry at you?”

“No?”

“That’s because I’m not,” Willie said kindly. “I get it, man, you just panicked. No big deal. Besides, we can ride this out easily.”

Alex blinked. “We can?”

“Sure, man, it’ll be fun. We’ll pretend to date for a few weeks, have a friendly breakup, and then everything can go back to normal.”

“You’re sure?” Alex checked. This hadn’t been what he was expecting – he’d thought Willie would say it didn’t matter but he needed to come clean. He hadn’t been expecting the offer of dating.

Fake dating, said that irritating little voice in his head. It’s not real. Don’t let yourself forget that.

“Of course I’m sure,” they said. “I mean, it’s totally cool if you don’t want to, but surely it’ll be easier than backtracking completely with the others. And it’ll get Reggie and Luke off your back for a little while longer.”

He considered it, weighing up the pros and cons. On one hand, he’d get to date Willie at last, something he’d wanted to do since he met him. It would give them more of a chance to hang out together, Luke and Reggie would stop pestering him, and it was always fun to harmlessly mess with his friends. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure his sentimental little heart could stand getting to date Willie and then having him taken away even if that was the arrangement from the very start.

But it was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

“Alright,” he said resolutely. “I’m in.”

“Cool,” Willie returned happily. “Shall we meet tomorrow to discuss, you know, like, boundaries and stuff like that?”

“Sounds great. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He heard Willie press play on his game, the unmistakable sound of an item box being broken on Mario Kart.

“See you tomorrow, Alex,” Willie said. “Or maybe now we’re dating I should be calling you ‘babe’ or something.”

If that made Alex’s heart flutter, he wouldn’t say anything about it. “We’ll go over pet names tomorrow. Goodnight, Willie.”

“Goodnight, babe.”

As Alex put his phone down and launched himself into bed (still fully clothed but suddenly far too tired to even consider getting changed) he thought to himself that there probably couldn’t have been a better outcome.

*

Alex had expected the meeting with Willie to feel awkward and weirdly formal, but it was completely the opposite. Both of them were in high spirits the whole time, jokingly holding hands and making heart eyes at each other, laughing every time one of them used a particularly ridiculous pet name for the other. (When Alex had called Willie ‘sugarpoops’ he had thought they might die from laughing.)

But the meeting was productive too. They set some effective boundaries – any touching was allowed, just not too intimate; kissing was fine, but only to prove a point; and just for the fun of it they agreed they had to act like the most sickeningly in-love couple the world had ever known. Alex didn’t really care if that would give the whole thing away, it seemed like a bit of fun and it would be useful when it came to reminding himself that none of this was actually real.

That bit, he had to admit, still stung.

He and Willie had arranged to meet Luke, Reggie, and Julie at the studio that afternoon, so spent the day together beforehand. Just to try and get into the swing of things, they treated their morning together as a mini date. Alex took Willie to minigolf, then they went to an ice cream parlour, and after that Willie tried to teach Alex how to skateboard for fifteen minutes before Alex got too nervous and gave up. It was fun and Alex tried not to think about the fact that this was the reality he was missing out on – if he imagined he was just hanging out with Willie as a friend, which in a way he was, then it was just about bearable.

They arrived outside the studio together and they could hear the other band members’ voices already inside. Alex’s stomach started squirming nervously which he thought was weird. He didn’t actually have anything to be nervous about – he and Willie weren’t really dating.

But still, he was starting to feel a little bit queasy and was seriously considering just running away.

Then he felt Willie’s hand slip into his and their fingers lace together. He looked down at them and saw that he had a kind, soft smile on his face, gently encouraging.

“Ready to be my boyfriend, sweetheart?” Willie asked teasingly.

The nerves didn’t disappear, but Alex found it a lot easier to ignore them after that.

“Always,” he said. “Let’s do this.”

Without another moment’s hesitation, Alex pushed open the studio door and led Willie inside. Julie, Luke, and Reggie all hushed immediately and looked at the couple like they’d been caught red-handed. If their guilty expressions were anything to go by, they had been talking about Alex and Willie before they had walked in. He could only guess as to what they had been saying, but at that point Alex hardly thought it mattered.

It was showtime.

“Hey guys,” he said, grinning broadly. “What are you talking about?”

The three all responded at the same time but with wildly different answers.

“That gig next week,” blurted Luke.

“I lost my favourite hairclip,” Julie explained.

“I’m thinking of buying a horse,” Reggie told them.

Alex and Willie looked at each other, trying to hide their amusement.

“Anyway,” Julie said, “doesn’t matter what we were talking about! Because you’re here now, both of you! And you’re dating!”

Without warning, Willie giggled brightly and attached himself to Alex like a koala to a tree. Alex laughed and threw his arms around Willie, holding them tightly, pressing a firm kiss to the top of their head.

“I feels so good to finally have it out in the open,” Willie gushed, gazing at Alex with pure adoration in his eyes. “Right, sugarplum?”

Alex gently rubbed the tip of his nose against Willie’s, fighting the urge to laugh. “Of course, my little cheesecake.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex could see his friends’ expressions – he had to close his eyes so he wouldn’t be able to see them, otherwise he definitely would have broken character and started laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe. Luke looked utterly horrified, like the display of affection was disgusting; Julie was staring at the two of them wide-eyed, her face flushed red, looking like she would rather be anywhere else; and Reggie just looked baffled.

After a while, Julie cleared her throat and the couple turned to look at her innocently.

“So,” she said, “we’ve heard Alex’s version of the story, but Willie – how did… all this happen?”

Willie linked his arm through Alex’s marched the two of them over to the couch and sat Alex down, then sat primly on his lap, laying their head against Alex’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you asked.”

“I’m not,” Luke muttered, “this is weird.”

Julie kicked his shin and he shut his mouth.

“I had been watching Alex from afar ever since we met, but I didn’t think a cool, handsome drummer could ever care about someone like me. I was convinced we would only ever be friends. But then we hung out together and I saw all these different sides to his personality – he’s so caring and soft, you know, and he means everything he says. Alex isn’t like anyone I’ve ever met. So I decided to just go for it, ask him out, admit how I feel.”

Alex stroked a hand through Willie’s hair, eyes fixed on him. “Since then we’ve never looked back. And we never will.”

“Oh, my darling!” Willie exclaimed, throwing themself at Alex and pressing a kiss to his lips.

It certainly wasn’t how Alex had envisioned his first kiss with Willie going (and he had envisioned a great many different versions of it) but in a strange way it felt just right. Sure, they weren’t dating, but they were hanging out together, having fun, being in each other’s company and loving every second of it. Maybe the circumstances weren’t exactly what Alex wanted, but the love they held for one another was still there, nothing could take that away.

So maybe it wasn’t the best decision he’d ever made, but Alex let himself get lost in the kiss. He didn’t know how many times he’d get to do this in his life, so he figured it was better to make the most of it. He blocked out the fact that his friends were right there (a sure sign that he wasn’t thinking straight – absently he knew that he would be very embarrassed by this when it was all over) and just focused on Willie.

And he was sure he wasn’t imagining the fact that Willie seemed to be enjoying it just as much.

When Julie eventually cleared her throat again, they separated. But Alex couldn’t take his eyes off Willie. He knew he wasn’t imagining what he’d felt in that kiss – like sparks had flown between them, forcing their dynamic into something much more than friendly banter and an inside joke. Willie’s eyes were glassy and he was breathing heavily, scanning Alex’s face for something, though Alex didn’t know what. All he knew was that the kiss had pushed the boundaries they had spent all morning setting and if he wasn’t more careful he would lose himself to this silly little charade.

The five of them spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just talking to each other. Willie stayed firmly planted in Alex’s lap and they both used the occasional cutesy nickname for each other, but it seemed as if both of them had silently made the decision to tone things down a little bit. Luke seemed relieved about it at least – for all the heart eyes he made at Julie he certainly seemed uncomfortable at the affection Alex and Willie had shown. It was probably because Alex hardly ever showed love like that in front of people.

But god, he wanted to do it all again.

Luckily, it didn’t seem like any of their friends suspected Alex and Willie of lying to them. By the time they were all on their way home – Alex and Willie walking away hand in hand – nobody had brought up the fact that it could all be fake.

“That went well,” Willie said as they walked along the seafront, heading back to his place. The cold night breeze lifted their hair and Alex couldn’t keep his eyes off them, not when they were looking so beautiful.

“Yeah,” he said, watching the way the amber glow of the streetlamps danced in Willie’s eyes. “It did.”

“Have you thought about how long we’re going to do this for?” Willie asked. Alex was sure he heard nervousness in Willie’s tone, maybe mingled with hope.

He shrugged. “A few weeks maybe. Unless you had something else in mind.”

“No, no, that’s fine, man.” They had arrived at Willie’s apartment building and stopped just outside of it. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, smiling smally. “See you tomorrow.”

He didn’t know what he was thinking – he had expected a goodnight kiss from Willie, but instead he was left alone in the cold as Willie let go of his hand and hurried into the building. Alex was suddenly reminded again that it was all fake, that he shouldn’t have expected kisses when they were alone.

It hurt though. He knew that kiss earlier had been more than just top-notch acting.

He fell asleep that night, still thinking about it, the memory replaying on a loop in his mind. In one way or another, Willie was going to drive him crazy.

*

The next two weeks flew by. Alex found himself hanging out just with Willie more and more often, playing Mario Kart together at Willie’s insistence, going on more dates that weren’t actually dates, or even just video-chatting each other while doing their own separate things to enjoy the company.

After that first day as a “couple”, Alex was sure Willie’s confidence had been knocked. For the next few days they withdrew himself from Alex and Alex didn’t know if he’d done something wrong or if it was just something on Willie’s mind. Still, he let Willie work through it, and a few days later he was back to normal, clinging to Alex like a barnacle to a ship, calling him every pet name under the sun.

And still their friends were none the wiser.

The end of their time as a couple came all too quickly. Alex walked Willie back to his apartment again, a heaviness in his heart. He didn’t know how an actual breakup felt, but he was willing to bet that a breakup would be less painful than whatever this was. No part of him wanted to give this up, whatever silly little thing was going on between him and Willie – it was fun, it was freeing, it gave Alex a light feeling in his chest and made him so happy he thought he might burst at any moment. He didn’t want to give any of it up.

But still he walked Willie to his door.

They stood facing each other, hands interlinked between them, sad smiles on each of their faces. Alex tried to memorise every detail on Willie’s face as if it was the last time he would see them.

“This has been fun,” he said eventually, his voice low, quiet in the night air.

“You can say that again,” Willie agreed. “I loved being your boyfriend.”

“I loved being your boyfriend.”

Something flickered in Willie’s eyes, an expression gone too quickly for Alex to name, but it was quickly forgotten because a moment later Willie stood up on his tiptoes and kissed Alex.

It wasn’t like any of the other kisses they had shared in the past few weeks. There was nothing over-the-top and exaggerated about it, it wasn’t just a stunt they pulled to fool their friends. It was slow and soft and Alex felt the rest of his body go fuzzy and numb as all he could concentrate on was Willie’s lips on his.

An eternity later, Willie pulled away, his eyes scanning Alex’s face.

Alex swallowed heavily and said, “I thought we could only kiss each other to prove a point.”

Willie nodded. “Did I not get my point across very well? Do I need to kiss you again?”

Alex almost laughed but something stopped him. “Just… just explain it to me first. So I don’t get the wrong idea.”

“I loved being your boyfriend,” Willie said. “You enjoyed being my boyfriend. So… why should we stop?”

Alex felt his head spin. Somehow the nightmare he’d created for himself all those weeks ago was turning into a dream come true.

“You mean that?” he asked. “Tell me you mean that, Willie, please.”

“I mean it,” Willie said resolutely. “I’ve felt this way about you for too long just to let it go. If you want me then I want you. I want to date you, Alex. For real.”

Alex kissed him again, short but sweet.

“Is that a yes?” Willie asked, giggling.

“There’s no other answer I could have ever given.”

Even though they remained boyfriends (real ones this time), Alex and Willie decided to drop the over-the-top, lovey-dovey stuff. It was fun, but it wasn’t them. Instead, they chose to fill every second together with quiet declarations of love, casual dates, soft kisses, nothing that wasn’t real.

But they never did tell Luke, Reggie, and Julie how much of it had been fake.

*

Taglist (if you want to be added or removed just let me know): @ace-bookworm @williexmercer @boggie-brainrot @itstiger720 @the-reckless-and-the-brave @that-one-newsie @bluedarkness @lookingthroughmirrors @tmp-jatp @salty-star @julieandthequeers @lmaohuh @sunnysbright @sylphrenas @callmeontheleyline

[calamitykaty]

A Twist of Fate

Charlie x Fem! Reader

Word count:7670

Warnings: Slight Swearing, I think that’s it?

Requested: Sorta? It’s a multi writer topic by @vicesvsvirtuesfanfic​ revolving around the idea of y/n finding an ad to rent a date for Thanksgiving. *You can find the first writers fic HERE

A/N: HUGE thank you to @dream-a-little-bigger-x​ for reading every rough draft of this that I sent her, along with bouncing ideas with me! Also a huge thank you to @vicesvsvirtuesfanfic​ for supporting me when I got stuck and reading my super rough draft! 

I wasn’t gonna post this until tomorrow but now I have a Christmas Reggie fic that I want to post tomorrow so...Happy Reading.

 Y/N wrapped the buffalo plaid scarf around her neck and pulled her favorite slouchy red beanie over her thick mop of curls. Her cellphone was pressed between her right shoulder and ear as she buttoned up her navy peacoat and half-listened to her mom rattle off the preparations she needed to make for Thanksgiving.

“Mom, I really need to…” Y/N attempted to interject only to be cut off by her mother. She placed the phone on speaker and set it down on the counter while she slipped her feet into a pair of black boots. She had stopped listening to her mother’s droning voice nearly a half-hour beforehand, but her ears perked up when her mother asked the dreaded question.

“Are you bringing Noah this year honey? I know you guys like to alternate holidays with his family, but your Aunt Martha is going to make it this year and she is just tickled to finally get to meet him.”

Y/N pursed her lips and ran a hand over her face, she hadn’t told anyone that Noah broke things off with her two months prior. She hadn’t meant to keep it a secret for so long, but her mom loved Noah and she just knew she would blame her for ruining a good thing. She had been dating Noah for three years and it was perfect until Noah started talking about marriage and Y/N began to realize that she couldn’t picture her entire life with him. Noah felt like a moment in time to her, not an eternity. 

“I’ll have to check, Mom, I don’t know what Noah is doing yet.” Y/N settled on a half-truth to buy herself some time. She placed her elbows on the edge of the counter and rested her head in her hands.

“Honey, I need to know by the end of the week, okay?”

She could hear the irritation in her mother's voice at the non-answer that Y/N had given to her. Her mother was a meticulous planner and she could not stand curve balls making a mess of her perfect holiday plans. Her mother treated every holiday as if the editors of Better Homes & Gardens were going to drop in at any moment and do a two-page spread on her decor and perfect meal. 

“Got it, mom! I have to go!” Y/N quickly ended the phone call and shoved her phone into her pocket. She huffed out a heavy sigh and made her way to her front door, grabbing her keys from the catch-all bowl on the table next to the door. She quickly locked up her apartment and rushed down the two flights of stairs to the small community lobby. She adjusted the scarf around her neck and reached for the door but stopped as a new flyer on the community board caught her eye. She took a step back and ripped the paper from the thumbtack that held it to the cork board and shoved it into her coat pocket before pulling the door open. 

Her hair whipped around her face as she stepped outside and was met with the cool autumn breeze that had settled in over the last month. Y/N looked both ways before stepping off of the sidewalk and hurrying across the street where her best friend, Leigha, was already waiting for her inside the small corner cafe. 

“How is it that I have to drive from the other side of town and can make it on time but you literally live across the street and can’t?” Leigha teased as Y/N unraveled her scarf and took her coat off, draping both over the back of her chair before sitting down. 

“Sorry! Sorry! My mother…” Y/N rolled her eyes as she recalled the phone call.

“Enough said!” Leigha laughed, she had one of those laughs that turned heads. Her laugh was always a little too loud and sometimes she would snort, it always caused Y/N to break into a fit of giggles. Leigha had been Y/N’s roommate all the way through college and they had been inseparable since the very first day they had met. 

“So,” Leigha crossed her arms on top of the table,” did you work up the courage to tell her about Noah?”

Y/N shifted her gaze across the cafe and bit her lip “not exactly…” 

“You are unbelievable, y/n ” Leigha sighed, exasperated.  

Y/N snapped her eyes back to Leigha and held her hands up in defense “I tried! Well...I mean…I tried to try…” 

“You know if you show up stag and your mother already has a place setting for a plus one, you might as well just go ahead and bury yourself, honestly” Leigha tutted. 

“That’s why I have a plan!”  Y/N turned around and rustled through the pockets of her peacoat before placing the crumpled flyer on the table. She smoothed her hands over the paper and pushed it towards the middle of the table. 

Leigha snatched the paper up as the waitress came over and took their orders, Leigha ordered a blueberry scone with a chai tea while Y/N ordered a croissant with a side of strawberry preserves and a coffee.

“I mean…” Leigha read over the paper before sliding it back over to Y/N, “you’ve got nothing to lose.”

Y/N bit her lip and stared down at the flyer, re-reading it for the fourth time before she pulled out her phone and scanned the QR code to bring up the app. 

“I can’t believe I am actually this desperate to try to literally purchase a date a week before Thanksgiving.” She muttered as she began to fill out her profile. 

“Wait! Thanksgiving is next week? As in a week from today? I haven’t even made my Thanksgiving Pinterest board yet!” Leigha panicked and grabbed her face.

Y/N looked up from her phone and shook her head at Leigha’s antics “why do you need a Pinterest board? You literally do the same thing every single year.” 

“Yeah…” Leigha jutted her bottom lip out in a pout, “but I want people to think that I am making all of these intricate and super cute appetizers and stuff. It’s the illusion that I care about!” 

Y/N looked up and thanked the waitress as she set the food and coffee down in front of her before turning her attention back to Leigha who was eagerly biting into her scone. 

“Help me answer these?” She passed her phone over to the girl and picked up the knife, spreading the strawberry preserves onto her croissant. 

“Beach or Mountains?” Leigha readout with her mouth half full. 

“Mountains!” Both girls yelled out at the same time and burst into giggles. They continued down the row of questions, passing the phone back and forth until Y/N finally hit the submit button. Leigha practically yanked the phone from Y/N’s hand as the algorithm began to shoot out potential matches. Her thumb scrolled through the pictures at lighting speed before she stopped and slowly scrolled back up before thrusting the phone in Y/N’s face. 

“This one! Oh my god, this one! And if you don’t select the platinum package so that boy can say he loves you then I will literally never speak to you again!” 

Y/N wiped the jam from her chin and grabbed the phone from Leigha. He was cute, there was no doubt about that but unlike Leigha, she cared about what his profile said about him. She scrolled through his pictures, one of him playing guitar, one hiking, one surrounded by friends around a campfire. Lover of nature, endless adventure, campfire songs, and sharing the love with my friends. I’ll jump if you jump, let’s take this plunge together? 

She felt her lips curl up into a soft smile as she whispered his name to herself, liking the way that it rolled so easily off of her tongue. 

“I told yooouuuu!” Leigha sang out and crossed her arms over her chest, a smug look on her face. 

Y/N placed the phone on the table and tried to control the blush that she could fill rising to her cheeks, “calm down,” she rolled her eyes, “I’m paying for a Thanksgiving date, not falling in love.” She selected the platinum option and typed in her credit card number before clicking the purchase open without a second hesitation. 

“I better be your maid of honor!” Leigha teased as the two girls dropped the appropriate amount of money onto the table and began to layer their coats and scarves back on. Y/N pulled the girl into a hug and placed a kiss on her cheek before heading back across the street towards her apartment.

 She had just placed the keys back into her catch-all bowl by the door when her phone began to ding. She felt her heart begin to race as she saw the approval message on her screen that Charlie had accepted her request to rent him as her Thanksgiving date.

“Oh my god...okay...okay, this is fine...everything is fine.” She muttered to herself as she received another notification that Charlie had messaged her. She set her phone down on the counter and peeled her coat and scarf off before slipping her feet out of her boots. She wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans and grabbed her phone, refusing to look at it until she had settled in on her couch. She crossed her feet under her and pulled a throw pillow to her chest before finally sliding up on the notification and reading the message that he sent. 

Let's get to know each other? Lunch tomorrow?

Y/N hesitated for a moment before her fingertips began to slide across the keyboard on her screen.

Sounds good! How do you feel about chicken & waffles? I know a place!

She read over what she had sent several times, worried that she sounded too eager. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears as she waited for his response, watching as several dots appeared and disappeared several times on her screen before he finally sent his response. 

A girl after my own heart! How is 12:30? Send me the address? 

She felt her cheeks grow warm at his response and mentally reminded herself that he was just being kind and that she was quite literally paying for him. 

500 Rue Kennedy Dieppe, NB. and 12:30 is perfect! I’ll see you then! 

Y/N took a deep breath and closed the app before her thumb hovered over her mother’s contact. She quickly clicked on her number and quietly whispered to herself “please don’t answer, please don’t answer, please don’t answer.” 

“Thank god!” she exclaimed as the phone sent her to voicemail. She rolled her eyes at her mother’s elaborate message before finally being told to leave her message at the sound of the beep. 

“Hi, mom...it’s me...I just wanted to let you know that you will need to make sure to set an extra place setting for thanksgiving. Love you.” She rattled off, keeping the message vague but to the point. 

The following day Y/N stood inside of her closet staring at her assortment of clothes trying to decide what said “I'm cool and  definitely not desperate even though I paid for a date for Thanksgiving because my family is insane.” 

She pulled a mustard yellow cable knit sweater from a hanger and laid it out on her bed before heading back to her closet. Her fingers sorted through the variety of skirts before settling on a silky, pleated navy skirt that was cinched at the waist. She laid the skirt out next to the sweater before moving over to her vanity. 

She sat on the poof chair and stared at her reflection for a brief moment before pulling the small drawer to the left open and lining up her primers, eye palette, eyeliner, mascara, and her signature red lipstick. She grabbed the mason jar that sat on the right tableside of the vanity and grabbed the appropriate brushes, lining those up as well. 

She used her middle finger of her right hand to gently swipe the eyeshadow primer onto her eyelids before dusting the brush across a shimmery gold eyeshadow. She used a maroon eyeshadow on her crease and slowly blended the colors until she achieved a golden and subtle smokey eye.Y/N shook her hands out to steady her nerves before slowly pulling the liquid eyeliner across her eyelids and flicking it softly at the end for a subtle cat-eye before she carefully built volume on her eyelashes with the mascara. Finally, she grabbed the matte red lipstick and carefully swiped it across her lips before blotting them with a tissue. 

Y/N jumped at the sound of her phone vibrating on her nightstand. She moved across the room and grabbed the phone from the charger. 

See you soon! 

She felt the nerves settle back into her stomach and wiped her clammy hands on her pajama pants before quickly undressing. She pulled the yellow cable knit sweater over her head, careful not to let it touch her face. She followed that by pulling on the pleated navy skirt,  the fabric falling just above her knee. She pulled on the fabric of the sweater at her waist so that it slightly hung over the waistband of the skirt before she slipped her feet into a pair of black pointed flats. She took one last look at herself in the mirror and pulled her curls over her shoulders before grabbing her purse and slinging it across her body. 

Y/N entered the bustling restaurant and let her eyes wander across the tables trying to find Charlie. She wrung her hands together and pulled her lips into a thin line when she didn’t see him, her heart dropping at the thought that she had been stood up or even worse, that she had really fallen for a scam. She turned on her left foot and reached for the door, barely pulling it open before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She let go of the door, resulting in a soft thud as it closed. 

“Y/N? You weren’t about to bail on me were you?” The soft voice teased as she turned around. 

 “I thought you had stood me up, actually.” She could feel the blush that dusted across her cheeks at the accusation. Her left hand fell to her right wrist, her fingers loosely wrapping around it as she looked up at Charlie through her eyelashes and offered an apologetic smile. 

Charlie’s green eyes crinkled at the edges and his nose scrunched up as he laughed “take the money and run, I wish I would have thought of that!” 

“Oh..” Y/N looked back at the door and then back towards Charlie, “if you don’t want to do this, it’s fi--” 

Charlie smiled softly at her “I was just teasing, I didn’t want to sit at the table by myself in case you didn’t show and have to do the walk of shame, so I was at the bar.” 

Charlie placed his right hand on the small of her back and guided her to a table in the middle of the bustling restaurant. He pulled her chair out for her before taking a seat on the opposite side of the table. Y/N tucked her hair behind her ears and glanced at the menu, though she already knew what she was going to order. The waiter, a young kid, probably seventeen stopped by their table and quickly took their order. 

Y/N  finally looked up to find Charlie staring at her, his face cradled in his hands with his elbows propped up on the table. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” 

“I’m just trying to figure out why a very beautiful girl would need to rent a date for a Holiday.” 

Y/N felt herself blush at his compliment and shrugged her left shoulder “I got dumped.” 

“Oh, I’m so sorry” 

She smiled and waved him off “It’s no big deal, we wanted different things out of life. He wanted marriage and I,” she hesitated, she hadn’t talked about this with anyone other than Leigha.

“You what?” 

 “I want adventure and I know that sounds silly. Like, of course, you can have adventure and marriage but Noah,” she paused, “that’s my ex.” 

Charlie nodded and gestured for her to continue, “Noah works in the financial district and he wanted marriage and kids and stability….and I barely know what I want to eat for breakfast let alone what I want for eternity.” 

“You’re a free spirit, nothing wrong with that!” Charlie interjected and Y/N felt her first genuine smile of the night spread across her face. 

“You get it.” 

“I do get it.” 

Y/N thanked the waiter as he sat down two beers along with their orders of chicken and waffles, before turning back to Charlie. 

“So, tell me about your family. What should I prepare myself for?” Charlie lifted the pint glass to his lips and took a sip of the amber-colored beer.

‘Well,” Y/N blew air into her cheeks and sighed, “my mother thinks she’s Martha Stewart. So be sure to compliment the decor as soon as you see her. You’ll win her over for sure...and maybe don’t mention the whole free spirit thing or you will definitely end up on her list of terrible suitors that I have brought home.” 

“Noted.” Charlie nodded before adding, “and your dad?” 

“My dad is easy going, just talk about beer and hockey and you'll be fine.” 

Charlie threw his head back in laughter and Y/N couldn’t help but smile at the way his whole face lit up when he laughed. She felt a flutter in her stomach as Charlie leaned forward so that his forearms rested on the table and his fingers lightly brushed across hers before he pulled back. Y/n pulled her hands off of the table and dropped them into her lap, her fingers lightly traced over the silky fabric of her skirt.

“Is everything okay?” 

Y/N inhaled a sharp breath and rolled her bottom lip into her mouth before exhaling, “yeah, but I should probably tell you something,” she looked up at Charlie through her eyelashes. 

“Well, c’mon then..” Charlie teased after several seconds of silence. 

“My folks don’t exactly know that Noah and I are….done...and I know there’s going to be a big event made of it when they find out.”

“Oof…” Charlie sighed and took a swig from his beer and a bite of his food. 

Y/N felt her heart beating in her ears, “I understand if you, I mean if this is too much and you want to back out.” 

Charlie looked at her with a playful smirk, “are you actually going to eat that or?” He pointed at her untouched plate of food with his fork. 

“W-what?” Y/N looked down at her food and back up at Charlie before letting a smile slip onto her face. She didn’t understand how someone she had just met could put her nerves at ease without even trying. 

Charlie let his fork clatter on his plate before leaning forward on his elbows. Y/N watched with furrowed brows as he grabbed the maple syrup and poured it in a circle over her chicken before he leaned back into his seat and met her eyes with a soft smile on his face. 

Y/N picked up her fork and knife and cut into her maple drenched chicken before popping a small bite into her mouth, “are you happy now?” she teased Charlie before putting her fork back down. 

Charlie tried to hold back the smile that threatened to take over his face as he nodded his head. 

“So, what’s our story going to be? It’s gonna have to be a good one if I have to upstage Noah to win over your folks.”

The two spent the next hour concocting a believable, but very romantic story of how they met. They talked about their likes and dislikes, their quirks and habits, and all of the little things that couples are supposed to know about each other, 

Y/N felt butterflies erupt in her stomach as Charlie walked her to her car, his left hand just barely brushing against hers. She mentally scolded herself for feeling jittery over a guy that was simply fulfilling his job, but she also couldn’t help but hope that maybe he was feeling their connection too.

“I’ll pick you up next Wednesday at 4 pm, yeah?” Charlie asked as they arrived at her car. Y/n tucked her hair behind her right ear and nodded. 

She felt her breath hitch as Charlie leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek before walking backward and sending her a wave. 

A week later and Y/N found herself pulling on a green sequined, long sleeve dress, the hem set just above her knees. It was her go-to holiday dress, classic but not too formal. She painted her face with gold eyeshadow, a sharp winged eyeliner, and her classic red lips. Her hair hung over her shoulders in cascading curls. She sat on her bed, fastening a pair of strappy black heels when her phone dinged. She fastened the buckles of her heels and grabbed her phone, a smile instantly sliding onto her face at Charlie letting her know he’d be at her place in five minutes. 

She stood up and checked her appearance one final time before grabbing her gold clutch handbag and shoving her phone into it, just as Charlie knocked on her door. She quickly made her way to the front door and turned the lock before pulling the door open. 

“Wow…” Charlie breathed out as she came into full view. 

Y/N shyly smiled back at the boy, thankful that the blush she had on her cheeks already would mask the red glow that she could feel heating up her face.

“You’re not too bad yourself,” she teased, her eyes trailing from his brown wing toed shoes up to his pristine white button-up and finally to his slightly coiffed hair.

“Shall we?” Charlie extended his arm out to Y/N after she locked her door. She looped her right arm through his left, her hand resting lightly on his forearm as they made their way through the corridor and outside to Charlie’s car. 

He opened the passenger side door for her and waited for her to get situated before closing the door and running around to the other side of the car. Their forty-minute drive was mostly silent as Y/N worked to calm her nerves down. She knew that she was going to have a lot of explaining to do when she showed up with Charlie in place of Noah and she was trying to memorize all of the details that they had agreed on a week prior. 

“Are you okay?” Charlie glanced over at her for a brief moment before returning his eyes to the road, his left hand took hold of the steering wheel as his right hand settled on her bare knee. 

His hand was warm against her cold skin and Y/N wasn’t sure why but she found her left hand moving to settle on top of his hand. Without hesitation, Charlie flipped his hand over and let her palm fall into his before his fingers slid between hers and gently curled. 

“Just nervous…”

Charlie lightly squeezed her hand before letting out a small chuckle “if I didn’t know any better, I would think that you’re the one about to meet my family.”

“Oh, I’m not nervous about them meeting you, they’ll love you,” Y/N clarified,” I’m nervous about the terrible things that I know my mother is going to say to me about ending things with Noah.”

Charlie licked his lips as he pulled into her parents’ driveway. He pulled his right hand free from hers and put the car in park before turning slightly in his seat to face her. 

“You know that nothing she says is going to be true, right? You don’t have to live by someone else's timeline for your life.”

Y/N pushed down the warming feeling in her heart and nodded her head at his words. 

“Yeah, I know...are you ready?” 

Charlie smiled brightly at her and pulled the keys from the ignition before getting out of the car. He double-stepped around the car to the passenger door and pulled it open for her, waiting for her to get out before closing the door. 

He slid his left palm into her right hand and tangled their fingers together before placing a soft kiss on her hairline and whispered “let’s put on a show.” 

Y/N could feel the nervous energy erupting in her stomach as they stood outside of her childhood home. She took a deep breath before twisting the doorknob and pushing the red front door open. They were met with the warm heat of the home and the smell of cinnamon as soon as they stepped inside. Charlie let his eyes wander across the walls of the entryway, scanning the line of pictures before tugging Y/N over to one. 

“This is you, yeah?” The question was rhetorical as it had been obvious that it was her in the picture. She stood on a cliffside, at the top of a mountain with a bright smile on her face, her childhood dog, Rex, beside her and the ocean behind her. 

“Yeah, I was seventeen and went backpacking by myself for the first time. My mom was so mad. This family that was passing by was kind enough to capture the moment for me and my dad insisted that it be hung on the wall of accomplishments…” Y/N rambled off the story before letting her eyes move from the picture and up to Charlie. 

Charlie smiled down at her and laughed, “this is gonna sound insane, but I think that was my family that stopped and took the picture.”

Y/N pulled her brows forward so that her forehead was pinched in the middle “shut up! No it wasn’t!” she finally exclaimed. 

“Rex….the dog’s name was Rex. I remember because I thought you were pretty and I got flustered and I said something dumb about Rex from Toy Story.”

Y/N’s eyes grew wide as Charlie recounted the story and she felt her cheeks growing red at the revelation “well, this is a weird twist in fate--” 

She was cut off by the sound of her dad’s deep voice bellowing her name as he turned the corner. Charlie pulled her into his side and let his right-hand rest on her hip, while her right hand rested on his chest. 

“Well, this certainly isn’t Noah!” Her father exclaimed a large smile on his face and his eyes soft. He had never been the biggest fan of Noah’s to begin with. 

Charlie dropped his hand from her waist and stepped forward with it stretched out towards her dad, “Charlie Gillespie, sir.” He was taken aback when her dad threw his head back in laughter and pulled him in for a full bear hug. 

“Nice to meet you, son” 

Y/N giggled at her dad’s antics, he had always been the type to do things like that. He was a stout man with laugh lines at the corners of his eyes. He had graying hair and a well-kept beard and he radiated kindness. 

“And you, little missy, are going to have a lot of explaining to do to your mother.” Y/N pulled back from her dad's embrace and blew the air out of her cheeks. 

“Yeah, I know…” 

Her dad gently squeezed her arm and gave her a reassuring smile before leaving the two to grab a beer from the kitchen. 

“Why do I have the overwhelming feeling to call your dad pops and ask him over to mine to watch hockey?” Charlie joked. 

Y/N shrugged and tangled her fingers with his, “I told you he was the easy one. Are you ready for the rest?” 

“Lead the way, beautiful.” 

Y/N tugged on Charlie’s hand and he followed behind her as they made their way to the den where her brothers were corralled around and a card table, intense looks on each of their faces as they held their cards close to their bodies. Their wives were set on the opposite side of the room. Y/N could feel the three women’s eyes on her as she entered the room with Charlie and she knew their hushed whispers were aimed at her and the fact that Charlie was very much not Noah. 

Her youngest brother, Josh, was the first of the three boys to look up and notice her. He dropped his cards on the table, face down, and scooted his chair back against the hardwood floors. 

“Junebug!” He yelled as he practically launched himself towards her. Y/N exploded into a fit of giggles as her feet left the floor and he twirled her around in circles. Josh was three years younger than her, sitting at nineteen but she had always been the closest with him. Her giggles quieted down as he sat her back down and turned to Charlie. 

“Well, you’re not Noah.” Josh quipped with a playful smirk on his face. 

Charlie rubbed the back of his neck and laughed “I have a feeling I am going to be getting that a lot today.” 

“You play poker?” Josh eyeballed him. 

“I know my way around a deck of cards, yeah.” Charlie shrugged. 

Josh turned to Y/N and lightly punched her shoulder, “looks like you got yourself an upgrade, Junebug!” 

Y/N rolled her eyes at her brother and wished Charlie luck as he was pulled over to the table and introduced to her two older brothers, Samuel and Michael. She felt her shoulders relax for a moment as the table erupted with laughter from something Charlie had said. He looked up from his cards and shot her a wink before turning his attention back to the game at hand. 

Y/N glanced back at Charlie one last time before making her way over to the prying eyes of Amy and Melissa, the wives of Samuel and Michael. The two women each held a mug of her mother’s homemade cider in their manicured hands. 

“Who’s the cutie?” Amy was the first to speak, her left eyebrow raised as she asked the question. 

Y/N looked over her shoulder for a moment with a smile before turning back around “Charlie…” 

“Oh! Well, you’ve certainly never said Noah’s name like that before!” Melissa looked at Y/N with wide eyes. 

Y/N shook her head at the two gossipy women “like what?’

Amy and Melissa both shot knowing looks to each other before Amy quipped, “sweetie, that boy’s name left your lips like honey falling from a spoon.” 

“It did not!’ 

“You can deny it all you want, but we both heard it!” Melissa declared and brought her mug up to her lips, taking a sip of the warm cider. 

“Looks like I’m out boys!” Y/N heard from the other side of the room. She glanced over her shoulder to find Charlie laying his cards down on the table before he slid out of his chair. She smiled at him as he made his way over to her. He stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist and tugged her back into his chest, his head resting on her shoulder. 

“Charlie, these are my sister-in-laws, Amy, and Melissa.” 

“Very nice to meet both of you.” Charlie beamed at the two women. 

Melissa and Amy stood up at the sound of heels clicking against the tile floor of the kitchen. Melissa made her way around Y/N and she gently squeezed Charlies’s bicep, “good luck honey.” 

Charlie pressed a kiss to Y/N’s cheek and tightened his arms around her waist as he felt her body tense in his arms.

“You’ve got this,” Charlie reassured before loosening his grip on her and letting her grab his hand. 

Y/N sucked in a deep breath and gently pulled Charlie behind her as she navigated through the formal dining room and towards the kitchen where her mother was sure to be found. 

She stopped just inside the doorway to the kitchen and turned to face Charlie, “you can still get out of this, ya know?” 

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Charlie placed his hands on her shoulders and gently turned her around, nudging her into the kitchen while he followed. 

Y/N stood silently for a minute as she watched her mother pull the green bean casserole from the oven and wipe her hands across her floral apron. Her mother was a thin woman with auburn hair that was almost always pulled into a chignon. 

“Mom? Can I talk to you?” Y/N hesitantly asked, suddenly feeling less like a twenty-two year old woman and more like a twelve-year old child. 

“What do you want to talk about, dear? Because if it’s about Noah,” her mother grabbed a wooden spoon and stirred the brown gravy that was simmering on the stove, “then I frankly don’t have time to listen to your childish reasons for ending the only good thing you had.” 

“You know?” Y/N choked out

Her mother grabbed the pepper grinder and began to twist the top over another pot of food, “I called Noah after we spoke last week since you couldn’t give me a straight answer when I called you.” 

“Oh…” Y/N placed her hands on Charlie’s chest and gently pushed him backward. Her eyes pleading with him to give her a minute. She didn’t want him to bear witness to the reprimanding she knew was about to come. Charlie hesitantly left her side and waited on the other side of the door. 

Her mother finally turned around to face Y/N. She placed her hands on the edge of the counter, her knuckles white from the tight grip. 

“Honestly, y/n. I don’t know why you can’t get your life together. You graduated college just to throw away your education for this silly photography hobby of yours and now you threw away a perfectly acceptable relationship because you want to travel and have adventures? You’re not a child, anymore, y/n. When is this going to stop? When are you going to grow up?”

Y/N stood silently as the words washed over her. She could feel the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes and let out a shaky breath. 

“I…”

“What? You what, Y/N? What explanation could you possibly have this time?” Her mother cut her off. 

Charlie pushed himself off of the wall he had been leaning on from the other side of the door and quickly made his way back into the kitchen. He felt her mother’s eyes on him as he quickly pressed a kiss to Y/N’s cheek, his hand sliding across the middle of her back before he put on his best smile and made his way over to her mother. 

“You have a lovely home, Mrs. Y/L/N. My mother would be insanely envious of the spread you’ve created, it’s magazine worthy!” 

“Thank you, dear. You are much too kind! I am so sorry, but I don’t believe I caught your name?”

Y/N looked down at the floor and smiled to herself at the charm that Charlie exuded as he introduced himself to her mother and offered to help her bring the endless amounts of food to the formal dining room for her. 

“I’ll go gather everyone.” Y/N shot an appreciative smile to Charlie before she made her way back to the den to gather the rest of the family into the dining room. 

Y/N made her way over to the empty chair next to Charlie, the latter getting out of his own chair to pull her chair out for her before sitting back down. He placed his hand on the inside of her thigh and let his thumb rub circles on the top of her leg. 

Her dad stood at the top of the table and carved the turkey while small talk was exchanged between her brothers and their wives and suddenly the question finally came from her mother. 

“So, how did you two meet?” 

Y/N glanced over at Charlie not sure if he was going to take the lead or not and was surprised when he started spitting out a story that was definitely not the one they had agreed on during their lunch meeting, 

 “I met your daughter several years ago on a hiking trip with my family,” Charlie paused and looked over at her before continuing, “my older brother, Patrick actually took that photo that you have on your wall in the entryway!” 

Y/N’s heart was beating erratically as Charlie squeezed her knee before turning his focus back to her mother “your daughter took my breath away that day and I kicked myself for weeks for not getting her number and just having this missed connection. I guess you could call it a twist of fate, really, that I found her again.” 

Y/N’s mother smiled at the two of them and Y/N felt her body tense for just a moment before relief rushed over her at her mother’s words “that may be the most romantic thing I have ever heard in my life.”

“Can we eat now or?” Josh hesitantly asked as he grabbed the plate of yams and began piling a portion onto his plate. 

Y/N felt at ease for the rest of the evening as their shared meal went off without a hitch. Her family shared embarrassing stories of her with Charlie and she sipped glasses of wine as he endlessly complimented her. Her heart felt full as the night drew to a close and her dad pulled out the last Thanksgiving tradition. The wishbone was passed around the table until it landed in her hands. She turned to Charlie and gestured for him to grab the other end of the bone. They both tugged on the bone with their eyes closed until it snapped. 

Y/N opened her eyes and looked down at the fractured bone in her hand and then over to Charlie who was holding the larger side. 

“Make a wish,” she whispered to him with a soft smile on her face. Charlie shook his head and kissed her forehead. 

“I don’t have to, I’ve got everything I want right here.” 

Y/N dropped her eyes to the table and reminded herself that as much as she felt the connection between her and Charlie, that he was just playing a role.

She looked up as the sound of chairs sliding against the floor filled the room. She followed suit and slowly stood up from her chair. 

“Do you need help, mom?” 

“You go ahead and head out honey, I know you have a long drive.”

Y/N made her rounds of goodbye to her family before looking back at Charlie and grabbing his hand. They silently walked to his car and he opened the car door for her. Y/N hummed along to the songs that played on the radio during the drive back to her place. She tried to ignore the heat that she felt in her stomach as Charlie’s thumb ran across her knuckles every now and then. She watched the cars that passed by them, red tail lights lighting up her face as they drove on the highway. Before she knew it they were parked outside of her apartment. 

“I guess this is it then…” Charlie looked over at Y/N as she unbuckled her seatbelt. 

“I guess so.” Y/N agreed, her right hand rested on the door handle as she looked at Charlie, her eyes searching for any indication that he didn’t want her to leave. She let her hand pull on the door handle when Charlie didn’t respond. 

She swung the car door open and stepped out into the street before making her way to the sidewalk. She turned around at the sound of another car door shutting and was taken aback by Charlie running over to her side 

“I should walk you to your door,” Charlie answered the silent question

Y/N smiled and led the way through the apartment corridor until they stood outside of her door, her keys dangling in her left hand. She looked up at Charlie and smiled, “you didn’t have to see me inside, ya know?” 

Charlie rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand and shrugged, “all part of the job.” 

Y/N felt her smile falter and turned around to place the key into the lock of her apartment door. She quickly turned the key and opened the door before stepping inside. She turned to look at Charlie one last time, “well, thank you for giving me my money’s worth,” she let her eyes fall from his. 

“Goodbye, Charlie.” She closed the door and dropped her keys into the catch-all bowl before kicking her heels off and making her way over to the couch. She let her body slump into the soft cushions and pulled her phone out to call the only person that was going to understand. 

“Tell me everything!” Leigha demanded as soon as her face appeared on the phone. 

‘Well,” Y/N sighed, “I think I accidentally started to fall in love with him.” 

Leigha couldn’t stop the giddy laughter that erupted from her small frame “I knew this was going to happen! I so called this!” 

Y/N rolled her eyes at her best friend and poked her bottom lip out in a pout “it’s not funny Lee...I’m never gonna see him again and now I have all of these feelings to deal with.”

“You don’t know that!” Leigha argued

“I appreciate that you’re a hopeless romantic, Lee, but I was nothing but a paying customer to him...he basically said so himself.” Y/N frowned, thinking back to Charlie’s words as he walked her to her door. 

“Oh...hun, I’m so sorry.” 

Y/N let a sad smile slip onto her face, “I’m gonna go to bed, coffee tomorrow morning?”

Y/N hung her phone up and pulled herself up from the couch. She shuffled through the apartment until she reached her room and slowly peeled the sequined dress from her body. She made her way to the vanity and grabbed a makeup wipe and slowly removed the makeup from her face before she crawled into bed and pulled the covers tight around her body. 

It was 8 am when Y/N was pulled from her slumber by her phone blaring the ringtone that Leigha insisted she set for herself. She rolled over with her eyes still closed and fumbled around for her phone before slowly cracking her eyes to hit the green button.

“What?” Y/N grumpily answered

“Don’t what me!” Leigha chastised, “there’s a cute boy at the cafe and he just ordered your order! Like to the T!” 

Y/N set up in her bed and pressed her fingers into her eyes, rubbing the sleep away in small circles. 

“Ok? And?” 

“AND?! AND!!! His name is Charlie! I swear to god if you don’t get out of bed and make yourself look decent, I will literally kill you!” 

Y/N dropped her phone onto her bed and pulled the covers back. She quickly made her way to her bathroom and brushed her teeth. She stared at herself in the mirror and ran her fingers through her messy bed head, her curls tangling together between her fingers. 

“Shit..okay….okay…” She muttered to herself and opted to twist her hair up into a top knot. She secured it with a hair tie and ran back to her room where she threw on a pair of black leggings and an oversized jumper. Her heart nearly leaped out of her chest when she heard a knock on her door. 

She wiped her hands on her leggings and quickly made her way to her front door. She took a deep breath to settle her nerves before reaching forward to unlock the door. Her hand shook as she turned the doorknob and slowly pulled the door open. Stood on the other side was Charlie with a small brown bag and a hot coffee extended out to her. 

Y/N stepped to the side and opened the door wider, allowing Charlie to come in.

“What are you doing here?” She asked as she took the bag and coffee from his hands. She sat the bag on the counter and pulled the cup to her lips, taking a small sip. She hummed to herself as the warm liquid slid down her throat. 

Charlie stepped forward and hesitantly took the drink from her hands, setting it on the counter behind her. Y/N watched anxiously as Charlie’s eyes moved across her face, flickering between her eyes and lips several times before he lifted his hands and placed one on her right cheek while the other cradled her neck.

“I’m gonna kiss you now,” Charlie whispered into the space between them before catching her lips with his. Charlie pulled away before Y/N had a chance to react, his face glowing red as he held his bottom teeth between his top two teeth. 

“Is this free of charge?” Y/N joked as she placed her hands on Charlie’s chest and leaned forward, bringing her lips back to his. 

@straywonpil @siennanoelle01 @choppedhoundsludgeclod @cool-ultra-nerd @hxney-bunches-x @crybabyddl @sorryyoureoutofmyleague @dream-a-little-bigger-x @kcd15 @all-in-fangirl @ifilwtmfc @onlygetaway @iainttakingshitfromnobody @angryknightstatesmantrash @jazzyhales @bathtimejish @lanasfandoms @miranda0102 @emotionalbruv @aliandthephantoms @multifandombabies @kinda-really-lost @5sosmukefan @alexpjoyner @mo-d3ans @hannahhistorian92 @sunsetcurvenotsunsetswerve @i-should-be-writing-my-own-fic @sunflowerbecca @n0wornever @vicesvsvirtuesfanfic

[misfits1a]

OLIVE GARDEN BREADSTICK. reggie peters x reader

crack

posted. 15 march 2021

notes. heavily influenced by these tiktoks: 1 2 3 4

banner inspired by & template from @cafekitsune​

cw. language; one teeny mention of segs; reader has a family (barely mentioned); unedited

wc. 1k

“reggie, i’m home!” you call out as you shut the door to the apartment behind you.

“in the bedroom!” he answers.

you’d spent the weekend over at your parents’ place, as it had been a while since you’d last seen them, but by the second day, you were more than ready to get back to your apartment and be with reggie.

you kick off your shoes before skipping down the hall.

little did you know though that reggie had planned to get you back for that little prank you’d pulled on him a couple of weeks ago.

it was time for his uno reverse card.

as soon as he heard your key in the lock, he took out his phone and opened the camera app. he sets his phone on the nightstand and makes sure most of the room (including the doorway) is in frame before he presses record.

you run into the room, jumping onto the bed and tackling reggie. you press a kiss to one of his rosy cheeks.

“mm,” he hums, wrapping his arms around you and rubbing your back. “it’s so good to see you again my sexy little granny panty.”

you cringe. “what did you just call me?”

he gives you a knowing look.

“reggie, no!” you groan, burying your face in the crook of his neck. “please, no!”

. . .

you’re in the kitchen, digging around in the cabinet under the sink for the multi-surface cleaner.

you let out a satisfied kind of grunt when you find the bottle, and bring yourself to your feet. you reach to grab the paper towels.

reggie is leaning against the island, holding the paper towels out to you.

“here you are, my little ketchup packet.”

“reg!” you whine, snatching the paper towels from him.

. . .

reggie stops in the doorway to your shared bedroom, leaning against the doorframe to watch as you pull on your shoes.

the two of you had planned a bowling date. you’re wearing one of reggie’s simple black tees and a pair of sweatpants.

he thinks you’re the most breathtaking girl he’s every seen.

he has a name in mind, but before he forgets, he fishes his phone from the pocket and pulls up the camera app.

“there’s my beautiful greasy olive garden breadstick!” he coos.

you look up at him, jutting out your lower lip. he steps up to you and goes to scratch under your chin. you giggle at the sensation and pull away from his hand.

“can i please be a buttery breadstick?”

“sure,” he laughs. “you ready to go, my buttery olive garden breadstick?”

you smile and take his hand, letting him pull you to your feet.

. . .

“woo!” you cheer, throwing your arms up and jumping around. you turn to look at reggie, who’s nodding at the scoreboard impressively. “take that, peters!”

he leaves his phone on the table, the back camera facing the two of you before he stands up, slowly clapping his hands as he approaches you. he places a hand on your hip and pulls you to him.

your heart thumps in your chest as he leans down, his breath fanning over your face. you close your eyes, awaiting the kiss.

“gah!” you exclaim when you feel his tongue dragging up your cheek.

“good job, swiffer duster wet jet.”

“reginald,” you huff, crossing your arms. you fix him with a pointed glance. “please, i promise i will blow you all night if you stop with the names.”

“babe!” he gasps, immediately running to his phone to stop the recording. “that’s going on tik tok!”

you shrug. “edit it out!”

. . .

you climb into the passenger’s side of the deep red grand cherokee, placing your two drinks in the cupholders.

when reggie climbs into the driver’s side, you pull out your phone and open instagram. you prepare to take a selfie. “reg, i want to take a picture of us for my insta story.”

he looks at the camera and makes a face while you simply smile, snapping the pic.

as you’re adding a couple of stickers and a caption (“bowling date with my honey!”), reggie takes out his phone and starts recording.

your boyfriend pokes your shoulder, and you look up at him. looking at his gentle eyes and sweet face, you quite forget about his vendetta. you give him a soft smile.

“i love you, reggie.” you say dreamily.

not exactly what he was expecting, but he can work with it. “ i love you, my brand new packaged tampon.”

the smile falls from your face and you throw your arms up in exasperation. he goes to turn off the video, laughing thoroughly, before pulling out of the bowling alley parking lot.

. . .

“reggie, do you want cheese on your hamburger?”

“yes please!” he calls back.

you grab a square of cheese and open the package, before tossing it onto the patty sizzling on the stovetop.

when the patty is finished cooking, you scoop it up with the spatula and throw it on a plate. you squirt some ketchup onto the top bun and with that, reggie’s hamburger is finished.

you gather the fries from the cookie sheets and scoop them into a bowl.

“reggie, dinner is ready!” you say, as you go to set up the table.

“yep, one sec!”

the bowl of fries goes in the center of the table. you set reggie’s plate in front of his usual seat and then set down your place before taking a seat.

reggie runs out into the dining room, phone in hand. your heart falls to your butt.

he gives you a sloppy kiss on the cheek. even though you know he’ll call you a name soon, you think you still want a kiss. you turn to him, puckering your lips.

when he pulls away from the kiss, he says, “thank you so much for dinner, trash panda.”

“did you just call me a raccoon?” he bursts out laughing as he takes his seat, and it takes everything in you to remain stone-faced. “reggie, can we please call a truce?”

. . .

@reggienhisbanjo

had to do it to you babe @yourtiktokuser #coupleprank #girlfriend #fyp

© 2021 misfits1a. all rights reserved. do not repost, translate or claim my work as yours; please credit if you want to repost my work in a fic rec

taglists. @biqherosix @anything-and-everything-20 @allthatgl1tters-1sgold @caitsymichelle13 @sunsetcurvej @bright-forever-drabbles bc they asked for the part two :)