#seb pls you pick the best questions

[intcritus]

There's an arm wrapping around Lucio's waist as the streamer finally finds it in him to turn in for the evening, earlier than usual, as a soft kiss isnprrssed against the back of his lover's shoulder; " ... did i keep you waiting for too long? i had to participate in a small charity stream," he utters against the curve of the shoulder, head soon settling on top of it as Sebastian pulls Lucio closer into his embrace under the duvet.

"it was for a mental health organization," he adds under a content breath, eyes closing as a sole hand trace the front of Lucio's stomach, admiring the company he finds himself lucky enough to call his. To remain so infatuated, one could almost mistake it for a dream. Prompted by thoughts tied to previous influence, Sebastian allowed himself to embark on a series of personal questions; "... what was high school like for you?"

lucio has longed gotten used to entertaining himself when sebastian was streaming. honetly, it wasn't a hardship to him. he liked being near when his boyfriend was doing his thing, it simply meant he had company. making sure the streamer had a few snacks and hydrating drinks here and there left him a little more content with himself. it's nice, he muses, lashes fluttering low over his gaze as he snuggles back against his boyfriend, a hum in his throat at the touch.

❝ ━ nah, one of my gremlin friends kept texting me thei escapades, so i was entertained. ❞ there's a note of laughter in their voice, shifting as he drags his fingers along sebastian's forearm. ❝ ━ that's a good cause y'know ? so many people resonate with things like that. i'm proud of you. ❞

being so close like this made lucio want to fall asleep, to curl closer to sebastian and just doze off into dreamland so easily. cuddles would always make him a little clingy, but hey, if sebastian didn't mind, the witch would never mention it. cozy thoughts screech to a halt at highschool. for the memories they chose to remember, it was a quiet affair. lots of fights. lots of darkness and closed doors. secrets kept and finding themselves. stomach gives a lurch as terrible memories began creeping in. ❝ ━….terrible.❞

a humorless smile curls lucio's lips, fingers tracing absent shapes on sebastian's forearm, leaning his head back against his shoulder. ❝ ━ i wasn't sure who i was back then. just someone who liked researching the macabre, a loner really, with a bad temper and a potty mouth and no self preservation. ❞ he's goes quiet for a moment, gnawing on his lip as lashes blink rapidly over his gaze, ❝ ━ between the mean girls and their dumbass, blockhead boyfriends, i was the subject of plenty of teasing, if that's what it can be called. they liked to shove me into closets. dark and damp and locked from the outside. just friends playing is the excuse they'd give when i finally got found. ❞

highschool memories were playing like a burning camera reel -- confrontations, slaps, darkness, suspensions after violence. ❝ ━ negative ten out of ten, wouldn't reccomend for anyone. bullying leaves a lasting effect that still leaves me with a deep mistrust of people and enclosed spaces. ❞ there's more, but that was the thick of it, but he's over it right ? probably more than he should admit, and yet he's comfortable enough to share.

[melancholiepeufiable]

7 :-)

Ahhh, thank you for your pick - good choice ;) It’s one of my fav chapters in the whole fic!

Did I forget to mention that this is a fake-ish marriage au (without crack)? If you have questions about renaissance, feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer, spoiler-free.

Again, this is very early draft from chapter 7, so pls bear in mind that this may change when actually published. I know the “congrats” part seems out of left-field here, but events that occur prior to chapter 7 explain what that’s about (it’s retirement). One of these days I’ll post the summary and it’ll make sense.

General premise of scene:

Sebastian has been staying in Monaco with Charles. Now it’s time for him to be driven to the airport. Charles has pretty bad trust issues and longs for him to stay.

Tags: sebchal; early draft; this is a bit fluffy, praise, kinda soft actually; ~240 words.

Snippet below the cut:

///

Maybe this is how Sebastian did it. Using words to entice his prey before he let the trap slam shut, swallowing them whole. Was he simply fattening Charles up to make his feast all the more sweeter? 

Seb’s grin broadened, blue growing even softer. “So handsome… my pretty little prince.”

He whimpered, a chill striking down his spine. The hair on the back of his neck rose, the exhilarating pull of want swirling in his belly. Charles gripped Seb’s forearm, pleading with wide-eyes. 

“What is it? Hmm?” Sebastian placed a feather-like peck on the tip of his nose. “What do you want, Charles?”

I ache for someone like you. 

“Please.” A quiet plea, left in the open, where the listener bore power, accepting it from the beggar. 

“Congratulations, liebling. I’m so proud of you.” Sebastian leaned in, pressing supple lips comfortably over his own, moving like they’d done this a thousand times. It was better than the wedding, smooth and less stiff. Charles bended on a whim, an embarrassing noise forced down, escaping only when Sebastian lingered too long, his facial hair rough on Charles’ chin. 

Greedy, Charles made to open his mouth, let Sebastian in – maybe he’ll stay – only for the other to huff in amusement and step back. The corridor seemed so much bigger. 

“Come on, I’m gonna be late.” Sebastian nodded in the direction of the elevator, picking up his duffle bag and carry-on. 

[fbfh]

rocks at your window pt. 10 - ricky bowen x reader

disclaimer: this series contains smut and chapter by chapter warnings, so as with all nsfw works, ricky is aged up to 18+!! ricky and reader are 18 and in their senior year

additionally, we're working towards a ricky x therapy plot so he's going to start expressing some symptoms of mental illness and bpd but he does get therapy eventually and has a good support system but he gets worse before he gets better yk. Obviously I'm not a professional and this is for entertainment so while I have done my research pls take this with a grain of salt!! or several!! /lh

!! contains some spoilers for season 1 of hsmtmts, and previous chapters of this fic !!

wc: 10.1k

genre: angst, hurt/comfort, more high highs and a lot of low lows, tooth rotting fluff

pairing: ricky bowen x (afab she/her) reader

warnings: saucy flashbacks, nini and ej are very unprofessional, more fake texts, more coping through the arts, ricky realizes he's a real theatre kid, ricky is simping for you, seb being seb/a good friend/an absolute sweetheart, ricky distancing himself from lynne (slay), spilling tea (after getting permission to do so), conflicted feelings, nini (and ej but mostly nini) ruins the show, three seperate nini pick me moments, reader is about to snap, ricky and reader are mvps, one playful 'babe' from reader to ricky, nini is one delusional bitch!, brief mention of reader's trauma (jumpy at loud noises, flinches when someone raises their voice), ricky and big red are bros, big red has good opinions bc he stans dr phil, minor big red x ashlyn, kourtney and ricky do not get along lol, reader DOES snap, nini is terrible idk how else to rephrase it she's just the worst, nini gets yelled at by both you and ricky (slay), realizations happen, jones BIGASS love confessions and neck kisses.html, flowery descriptions, ricky picks you up briefly, making out, ricky is good with kids and it's adorable, nini is the only one who calls it YAC, theatre kids at denny's jumpscare, mike is a good dad, you wear one of ricky's shirts, saccrine amounts of love declarations, tooth rotting fluff

summary: after the disaster that was act one, act two also finds some way to go unplanned, causing you to be completely fed up with Nini's unprofessional behavior. you turn a night of confrontations around as you realize something and ricky finally gets something important off his chest.

song recs: entr'acte (hands clean) - jagged little pill obc, smiling - jagged little pill obc, what am I to you - rm, you stupid bitch - crazy ex girlfriend cast, first - niki and gabi, for a pessimist, I'm pretty optimistic - paramore, I hear a symphony - cody fry, something to believe in - newsies obc, let's go to the movies - annie (1982), sunrise - in the heights obc

a/n: fangz again 2 cici for beta reading, prepz fuk off. I'm watching american horror story murder house so uh. i'll let you know how that goes. it's hilarious so far tbh i love basement babyman. also this is ricky at you

tags @yesv01 @afidiofobia @aliyahsutherland @hopefullhearts @pikzel @demirunner @brinaslittlefreak @girlfriendwhoseawitch @matiere-detoiles @ifilwtmfc @uselesssapphickitten @nxstalgicnxbxdy @ggclarissa @n-slayaaaaa @stormi-ames @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @rainforest-daisies @sunshineangel-reads

You had heard the first part of their argument from your dressing room. After that it was muffled yelling - most of which you hoped was Ricky’s. When Natalie called for places, they were still going at it. You found Miss Jenn as quickly as you could, worried about Ricky, unsure if he was still okay to perform. 

“EJ is already getting ready to go on.” She tells you. It’s the only answer you need for how ugly things got. She ushers everyone to their places, trying her best to squash their questions and speculations of what’s going on. 

“Nothing you need to worry about, just find you places, get in character, get ready for act two…” she instructs. She pulls you aside before you enter the wings. 

“Mr. Mazzara is escorting her out as we speak.” she informs you quietly. 

“Wait, Mr. Mazzara is here?” you ask. She pauses.

“Uh, yes. He’s been… helping run the lights up in the control booth. It was a last minute-” she shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter. The point is, the… shrew is leaving and Mike is on his way back to check on Ricky.” You’re relieved that his dad is here for him - and Miss Jenn. You look around momentarily. 

“Where is he?” you ask. 

“That dusty storage room we shoved the creepy mannequins in.” 

The one with the piano. The one where he helped you come down from a panic attack your first day at the El Rey, and… 

“...So they’re probably going to wait until the show is over, then head home.” You snap out of the onslaught of memories that stirred up at the mention of that storage room, catching the last half of what she said. “You can keep your phone in the wings to stay in touch, just make sure it’s not a distraction.” 

“Okay,” you agree, already feeling it buzzing in your pocket. She nudges you toward the wings as the intro to I Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You starts playing, Nini and EJ’s voices should be floating through the house. 

“Now, go be Sharpay!” she says with a smile, and you start to turn the corner, then pause. 

“Miss Jenn!” you whisper-yell, and she looks back up at you. “Thank you! For everything.” you say sincerely. She places her hands on her chest, smiling, and you finally find your place backstage. 

“Like, full on screaming,” you hear Zeke say to Martha. You try to ignore them, and everyone else talking and whispering. You knew it would spread like wildfire, backstage drama always does. You pull out your phone, blowing up with texts from Ricky and his dad. You keep switching between the two text threads, trying to figure out what happened, to make sure Ricky’s okay. As you type out replies to both him and his dad, you look out onto the stage. Something doesn’t sound right, the gaps between the dialog are too long. 

Your brow furrows, trying to figure out what’s going on. EJ’s hand comes up to his collar and he leans forward. Nina delivers her next line more stilted and awkward and out of character than anything you’ve ever seen. You watch, confusion turning into disbelief as Nina covers her mic with her hand, and whispers something to EJ. Being so close to where they’re standing, you’re able to catch most of what she says - ‘seriously, EJ, where’s Ricky?’, or something to that effect. 

High pitched feedback whines at the disturbance to her mic, and for a moment you think you must have imagined it. There’s no way, no chance in hell she covered her mic with her hand, broke character onstage, and got EJ to break character too. You take a few breaths, reminding yourself that you’re not the director. Miss Jenn will have to deal with that one. Your phone buzzes as you get more texts from Ricky, and you check it again. 

Ricky stares at the little gray box on his screen, letting your words sink in. He still has four shows to perform in. He has more than just tonight to look forward to. All of those shows, every single one of them, is going to go just fine. Even now, through the worst possible nightmare of a thing that could have happened, the show is still continuing; the show must go on. And it will. It is, right in front of his eyes, as he and his dad enter the auditorium, taking two empty seats, Ricky’s right on the aisle. EJ and Nini harmonize, dancing around the stage - like he was supposed to. They finish the last verse of Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You, as the audience applauds. He claps politely as the lights go down. 

He mentally runs through what he would be doing if he were back there with you guys. You’re probably getting ready for the scene at Sharpay’s locker with Zeke, standing center stage in the dark, looking at the prop accessories in the pink locker, while Zeke mentally goes over his lines and blocking in the stage left wing. The lights go up, and he’s right. He knows this whole show inside and out, he realizes, and it makes his chest squeeze. Instead of dwelling on that, he leans forward, watching the scene begin to play out. He realizes suddenly that he gets to actually watch you perform. Not just from the wings or during rehearsals or in a grainy camcorder video, but he gets to watch you live. 

He smiles a little, realizing how special that is. You deliver your lines flawlessly, bringing a chuckle from the audience with your attitude right when you want one. It’s crazy how you play the mean girl so well, when it couldn’t be further from your real personality. He figures you’re just that amazing. You let out a shrill, frustrated scream, then storm off stage with Zeke trailing after you. When the lights go down, he claps loudly, letting out a cheer. He lets out a shaky breath, knowing you’ll be in the next scene, too - you’re probably quick changing for it right now. 

He’s right again, and backstage, you pull on your jacket, relieved to be done a little earlier than usual. It’s probably nerves from everything that happened tonight making you go a little quicker, but you’re not complaining. 

“So,” Seb says quietly next to you, bending over to tug on his heels, “what happened earlier? It sounded bad…” You let out a slow, frustrated sigh. He gets the sense it wasn’t just bad, it was really bad. 

“Just…” you search for the words, “some personal stuff. Family stuff, I guess.” 

“Bad enough for him to leave halfway through the show?” he asks, and you can tell he’s concerned. You pause fixing your belt, looking up to the catwalk and praying for the strength to get through tonight. Seb is one of the sweetest people you’ve ever met, and you know he wouldn’t hurt a fly, but the last thing you need to do is add to the whispers, the desire for someone to spill the tea on what happened during intermission. 

“It’s really not for me to say…” you trail off, glancing at the other groups of castmates waiting to go on and techies listening for their cues. ‘Later’, you mouth to him. You have to go on any minute, and you want to text Ricky about it before you tell anyone anything. It’s really not your place to tell anyone what’s going on in his homelife. You pull out your phone, sending him a quick text that says some of your friends are worried about him, and does he want you to say anything or keep it under wraps for now. You turn your phone on silent and hide it in your bra before making your entrance on time. 

Seb lets out a huff, then follows you off stage as the ensemble runs in from the wings and the music for Wildcat Cheer reprise starts playing. As the ensemble begins dancing, Ricky checks his phone again, seeing a new text from you. ‘What do you want me to say?’ He pauses, staring at the screen. What does he want you to say? Nothing, at first. For a painful, fleeting moment, he wishes none of this had ever happened in the first place, he wishes he didn’t have to keep making up excuses and brushing things off. He doesn’t have to, he realizes. He doesn’t have to keep covering for her, and overcompensating for her shitty decisions. He bites the inside of his cheek, then texts you back. 

Backstage, you return to the stage right wing, ready for your next scene. You check to see if Ricky has texted you back, and he did. ‘Tell them she showed up unannounced and we got in a fight. I’m not trying to make her look good anymore.’ You agree, and a part of you is glad he’s not making himself responsible for his mother’s emotions anymore. When your scene is over, you rush to your dressing room to get ready for Bop to the Top. You have a full costume and hair change, and you need to tweak your makeup a little, so it usually takes you the longest to get ready for. Once you’ve applied enough body glitter to choke a bratz doll, you leave your dressing room, meeting Seb on the way to the wings. 

Most of the cast is onstage right now, so it’s not very crowded backstage where you stand, waiting for the current song to end. Seb moves a little closer to you and lowers his voice.

“I know it’s probably not a good time to ask, but what in the Mount Saint Helens happened with Ricky?” He asks in a hushed, worried tone. You bite back a smile at his turns of phrase, and sigh. You think back to Ricky’s text, how he said he’s done covering for her. 

“His mother showed up…” you say slowly, pausing at the shocked expression on his face. 

“She what?” he exclaims quietly. 

“And she tried to corner Ricky during intermission,” he gasps, and you continue, “and they got into a huge fight.” 

“Oh my god.” he says, thinking back to the yelling he’d heard. 

“Mhm.” you confirm, “Miss Jenn had to kick her out so she wouldn’t cause more of a scene.” 

“Oh my god!” he gasps in disbelief that it got that bad. He feels like he’s on an episode of Real Housewives. Or maybe Dance Moms. 

“Poor Ricky… Is he okay?” His mind constructs different images of Ricky’s mother ambushing him while he tries to get ready for act two. He can’t imagine how terrible that must have been. 

“As much as he can be right now,” you say. Seb can see how worried you are about him. This night took a toll on you, and he’s sure Ricky’s dad and Miss Jenn can’t be doing much better. It makes sense, and he’s glad to at least know what happened. 

“That’s pretty much it, but I’ll give you the details later.” you say, noting that you have to go on soon, and walking over to Ashlyn so you can enter together. 

The music starts, and Ricky has never been more excited for Bop to the Top. He’s never had the opportunity to see you and Seb perform full out like this from the audience, he’s always been just out of view before because of the blocking and where he was supposed to stand on stage. But now, he’s front and center, watching the light bounce off the glitter scattered across your chest and arms. You’re in a gorgeous, glittering teal dress that bounces and moves with every step you take. Your silver sparkling heels match your bracelets, and your hair is pinned up with big pink and white flowers on the side. Seb begins to dance with you, wearing a coordinating outfit that’s just as flashy. 

As the music cuts between the basketball game and science decathlon, you and Seb continue to steal the show. Your singing is gorgeous and your choreography is flawless. You harmonize as you spin around, totally in sync. Your attitude, your charisma is overflowing. The two most important events of the show are happening on either side of you, and you’re keeping all eyes center stage. He’s never seen a number with this much energy, this much flare, and based on the way the crowd is reacting, they feel the same way. 

As the tension builds, as the time to score the winning shot runs out and the science questions get harder and harder, as the music builds, Ricky’s breath is taken away. At the climax of the number, the East High Wildcats win the championship basketball game, and the science decathlon at the same moment. You and Seb hit the final note, holding it out as you strike your ending pose. Right as you’re done, Taylor kills the lights. 

Ricky is stunned at how good the show looks from the audience. But in spite of how amazing it’s been, he can’t ignore the gnawing in his chest anymore. He’s been trying so hard to focus on you, to not be jealous of EJ standing up there reciting his lines, singing his parts and doing his choreography. Seeing EJ up there, seeing Carlos struggle to fill in as Chad makes his stomach sink. It’s supposed to be him up there. He’s supposed to be the one scrambling to make it to callbacks on time, just like he did in real life all those months ago. He turns his attention back to you, as you begin your biggest Sharpay diva moment of the show. 

You storm off with Seb at your heels, and you both begin to get changed for the finale. As you get dressed into your white and red outfits, you can’t resist telling him a little more about what happened during act one and intermission. 

“...And she just stormed up to me, demanding to see him. Like, I told her, ‘you’re not cast or crew, you are so not allowed to be back here’, but she didn’t care!” Your voice is intense, but hushed. 

“Are you kidding?” he demands, shock evident on his face. 

“I wish I was…” you laugh softly, just as flabbergasted by the recent turn of events as he is. You inch closer to the curtain, and see Ricky wave to you in the audience - or more specifically in the general direction of where he knows you’d be right about now. His eyes are still a little pink and puffy, and it’s obvious how much everything that happened tonight has fucked him up. Your chest squeezes at the sight, and you wish you could hug him or do something to help. You sigh, trying to think of something encouraging to text him when you get a spare minute to. You snap out of your train of thought when you realize it’s quiet onstage. Your stomach sinks as EJ repeats his line, trying to cue Nina.

“Oh god,” you mutter next to Seb. 

“Did she forget her lines?” he asks. Her head turns, and you see what she’s looking at - who she’s looking at. You’re minutes away from the finale of the show, and she’s staring at Ricky. EJ begins speaking again, reciting his lines, but he just keeps going.

“Is he improving?” you ask rhetorically. “Why is he improving?” 

You have no idea what’s going on, but this show is going off the rails so fast. It’s like a slow motion trainwreck, and you find yourself unable to look away as Nina whispers to him out of character, for the second time in the last hour. You can feel your blood pressure rise as she breaks character too, the both of them floundering onstage and deviating from every rule of theatre Miss Jenn has been drilling into your heads for the last three months. Again, EJ speaks up, not even trying at this point. 

“I’m not the Troy you want,” he says melancholically. 

“What the fuck are they doing?” you hiss, and Seb can tell that after everything that happened tonight, this is really the last straw for you - you’re out for blood. You watch in disbelief as EJ just… walks offstage. And that’s it. You think it’s a really good thing he exited to the other side of the stage, because you sure have some choice words for him right now. 

“What is he doing?!” you question again, more pissed off than Seb has ever seen you. As if things couldn’t possibly get worse, you can’t believe what you’re seeing. Nina picks up her mic and begins to walk toward the edge of the stage, singing acapella. 

“She better not fucking do what I think she’s doing.” your voice is quiet, dangerous, and Seb is momentarily worried on her behalf. Even though you’re like, the nicest person ever, he doesn’t think anyone would want to be on your bad side.

Your hand flies over your mouth in utter disbelief as she walks into the audience and right over to Ricky, signaling for Big Red to follow her with a spotlight. Just when you think this couldn’t be more of an amature hour shit show, she pulls out her phone, turning her flashlight on him. You have no idea what she thinks that’s going to do, and thank god when she puts it away after a minute. She grabs Ricky’s hand, trying multiple times to pull him out of his seat. His heart is pounding, and he can feel himself freezing up. He has no idea what’s happening or why she’s doing this, and he has even less of an idea what he’s supposed to do. 

“I’m�� really not at my best right now…” he manages to choke out. She doesn’t listen, and grips his hand, limp in hers. 

“Just look at me, Ricky. Right at me.” She smiles, like that will fix anything. He shouldn’t go up there, he shouldn’t go onstage when he’s like this. He and his dad had a whole conversation about it after intermission. But with everyone staring at him, Nini begins to sing. When she holds out the mic for him to finish the verse, he does, almost on instinct. He can’t leave her hanging, not like this. He panics, and next thing he knows, he’s letting her drag him onstage. He doesn’t know what’s happening, why she’s doing this, but he moves automatically and lets her drag him onstage. 

He’s struggling to keep his voice level, using all his effort to push past the pain, and smile at her. As she finally brings him center stage, taking his shaking hands in hers, he fights with everything inside him to make this work, to make it convincing, and be the finale it was supposed to be. He just has to keep it together for this last number, work through the pain, the ache in his chest and stomach that’s killing him as he stands up there, just for three minutes. As the rest of the cast begins to hit their cues, the energy has never been higher. They’re giving it everything they’ve got to hype him up, give him something to hold onto. He can feel them reaching out to him, singing and dancing their hearts out to lift him up. 

He’s trying so hard to be Troy, to seem convincing, to smile sincerely - not at Nini, but at Gabriella. He holds her hands, beaming, thinking about how badly Troy wants to kiss her. He clings onto this moment, the music, this role like a lifeboat. Troy has a great relationship with both his parents, Troy doesn’t come from a broken home. Troy is okay, he’s never been better, which means that Ricky gets to be okay vicariously through him, just for a little while. Just for a few minutes. He holds onto this catharsis as tightly as he can. He’s not going to let this moment be taken away from him too. The audience is cheering louder than ever as they make their way to the end of the song, incredibly confused at the cast changes and Nini’s actions, but they cheer everyone on - especially Ricky - nonetheless. 

He smiles at her through misty eyes, holding her hands and gazing at her in adoration. ‘This is it,’ Nini thinks, ‘my Ricky has come back to me. It’s always going to be us.’ He caresses her cheek, and looks at her like he really wants to kiss her as they harmonize. She knows he wants to kiss her, he’s always loved her and he’s always going to. They’ve had their ups and downs, but she knows that Ricky will always be hers. She was his first love, his first everything, and that’s what really matters. They have history, and you can’t fake that, you can’t manufacture that. 

The song ends and she drags him into the wings away from you and Seb, shoving his finale costume at him. He fumbles to take off his jacket, desperately trying to stay in motion, to keep moving, keep smiling, keep being Troy. He throws the sparkly white and red tracksuit on over his remaining clothes, and has seconds before he’s going to get dragged back out for the finale of a show he was only able to half participate in. He hates her so much for ruining this for him. He hates Nini for dragging him back up here, for literally putting him in a spotlight in the aftermath of the worst event of his life. He sucks it up, putting on a smile and getting hyped up to sing along to the megamix. 

It takes one look at your face for Seb to know just how bad this is. He can feel the rage, the disbelief radiating off of you, and he has no idea what’s going to happen after this. He thinks it’s nice that Nini tried to include Ricky, but she definitely didn’t go about it the right way. He’s sure you’d feel that’s probably the biggest understatement that could be made about the situation. 

“Are you okay?” he asks quietly, really worried. There’s already been so much drama tonight, he knows your bullshit tolerance is in the negatives right now. You stare at Nina across the stage, watching her whisper something to Kourtney with an expression on her face that infuriates you.

“Not sure yet.” You answer quietly, voice dangerous. Finally, you hear your cue, and you and Seb enter the stage.

He watches you change on a dime, transforming into a sassy, fun, reformed mean girl. You dance with him, and flirt with Zeke effortlessly. He can’t find a trace of your previous rage once you’re past the curtain, singing and dancing as Sharpay. There’s a light, fun, playful energy around you, and it’s infectious, making Seb and Zeke and everyone else around you have even more fun out there. For a moment, he forgets how ugly this is going to get once the lights go down. 

You make your way over to Gabriella, doing a little dance with her, just like you’re supposed to. You flash her a thumbs up, and wink at her supportively when Troy pulls her closer to dance, just like you’ve been practicing at every rehearsal leading up to this moment. Nina smiles at you when you do, interpreting yours and Ricky’s behavior as more than just stage directions. She feels a sense of benevolent camaraderie with you in these fleeting moments. Maybe she will be the bigger person, maybe she will extend her friendship to you, because even though you did try to steal Ricky from her - unsuccessfully at that - fighting over dumb boys is stupid. 

She and Gina run off to pull Miss Jenn onstage so she can deliver her infamous deleted line. It was your idea initially, but you made sure to tell the rest of the cast before tonight so the surprise could be from all of you. The cast and house cheer as she delivers her line, and you can see how much it means to her. You get a minute to dance with Ricky, and make your way over to him as quickly and naturally as possible. You couldn’t seem happier or more care free, but when you speak, your voice is strained. 

“I am so sorry that happened…” you say, barely loud enough for him to hear over the swell of the music and the rhythmic clapping as the audience keeps time. He can see it, the frustration being masked by your energetic, jovial nature. You’re doing the same thing he is, he realizes. You’re using this moment onstage and in character to keep the real world at bay. He doesn’t think he’s ever felt closer to you than he does right now. He wants to say something, he wants to feel horrible - he’s sure it’s justified - but when he looks at you, he can’t 

You’re onstage together at the end of your opening night performance, with a full house clapping and cheering and singing along with you both, with the whole cast. And in this moment, you’re worried about him. You’re worried about him. He’s so overwhelmed by this feeling of being onstage with all his friends, an audience full of people who came here and bought tickets and watched the show and are now cheering them on for this, the penultimate moment of all their hard work and dedication and doubts over the last three months culminating to this. He knows you know this feeling well, that this is the first show you’ve done in so long and how badly you’ve missed it - and you’re still up here, worried about him. 

“There were some… hiccups, but…” he starts, locking eyes with yours, looking at you that way that he does. He doesn’t think he’s ever felt more strongly for you than he does right now. “This is kind of the best, right?” You smile suddenly at his words, relief evident on your face. You feel like you can breathe a little easier knowing he’s doing okay - or at least, better than he was. 

“This is just the tip of the iceberg babe,” you chuckle, nudging him playfully. You’re still livid at that… stunt Nina pulled, that hasn’t slipped your mind. But for now, Ricky is okay. That’s what’s important. You’ll deal with her later, if you get the chance. 

“Just wait till you see what I have picked out for the spring musical!” you both look over at Miss Jenn as she smiles, drawing an excited laugh from you and Ricky. 

Nina looks over, hearing you laughing with Ricky. It makes her stomach sink. She scoffs, figuring it must be platonic. He’s probably just giving you closure, or something. She looks back out into the crowd, and stops dancing as she watches the scout from YAC leave. Her mouth hangs open in disbelief. If she doesn’t get into YAC, the performing arts school of her dreams, what was the point of all this?

After everyone runs forward in groups, then individually to bow in front of the audience, You, Nina, and Ricky are the last to go. He stands between you, lined up with everyone else, holding both your hands as you and all your friends bow as a cast.  He snaps to attention as he hears a certain part of the music, squeezing your hand in warning. Confetti cannons go off from the wings moments later, drawing out a new wave of cheers and applause from the audience. You’re grateful for the warning, and you squeeze his hand back as a thank you. Your heart is warmed that even now, after so many difficult things happening back to back in one night, he still remembered that loud noises can make you jumpy. 

When Nina goes to share a look with Ricky, her smile drops. He’s already looking at you. There’s a certain type of joy in his eye, the kind you can only find amidst the ashes of misery, as he realizes that through everything that happened, he’s still okay. You’re still here. That’s the important part. You’re still right here with him, holding his hand. He made it to bows. Everything is going to be okay. In sharing this eye contact with him, you can’t help but reflect on how pretty he looks in the blue cast of the stage lights as he looks at you that way that makes your stomach twist. 

The curtains begin to draw closed, and you all wave at the audience until they’re out of sight. Sporadic cheers are let out around you as hugs are initiated here and there, and everyone begins flooding to the dressing rooms to get changed. As you make your way to the back, Ashlyn already leading everyone in a very loud, high energy reprise of We’re All in This Together, you squeeze Ricky’s arm. When he looks at you, he seems to be doing exactly as well as you’d expect - okay for now, the massive high from the end of the show keeping him afloat for now, but you know it won’t last forever. 

“I’m gonna go get changed real quick, I’ll say hi to my mom then we can go home, okay?” you say quietly, and he can tell from your tone of voice that you’re here for him, he just needs to hang in there a little longer. 

“Okay,” he says with a shaky breath. He doesn’t really need to get changed since he has his street clothes on under his tracksuit, so after hanging it up in its place, he waits in the hall outside the dressing rooms. A few minutes later, everyone who got changed the fastest are in the halls and on the stairs outside the dressing rooms, talking and congratulating each other before they go to the lobby. There's a silent understanding that you're all waiting just a few more minutes before you have to leave, before you have to acknowledge that the show is over. Big Red runs over to Ricky as soon as he spots him. 

“Are you okay, dude?” he asks quietly, clearly worried about him. Ricky lets out a breathy laugh. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.” Ricky realizes how stressed he must be, having no idea of anything that was going on until half way through the show. "There’s a lot to fill you in on." Ricky nods his head, and they move to a more secluded area so Ricky can begin catching him up. He goes over the series of events from earlier tonight quickly, trying not to get worked up over all of it again. Soon he's wrapping up his summary of the horrible things that happened in such a short span of time, and his eyes are much less misty than he was worried they'd be. 

"Oh. My. God." Red states, laughing in disbelief that his mother would do something like that. 

"Yeah." Ricky nods, still in shock. 

"Don't take this the wrong way, dude," Red says tentatively, "but that does sound like something she would do; the guilt tripping, mind games, all of it." Ricky can't help but agree. In retrospect, Red does remember her using a lot of language that read as passive aggressive or guilt  tripping. There’s no way they could have picked up on that as kids, but hindsight is 20/20. Ricky loses Red's attention real quick as Ashlyn walks toward her friends, no longer loitering outside the dressing room she shares with you and Nini - and soon, Gina. She holds up a piece of paper from the mystery bouquet she'd been inspecting more closely. 

“We found a card!” she says excitedly. Ricky nudges Red, encouraging him to tell Ashlyn that he was the one to send the flowers. He looks at Ricky, nervous, and gets an encouraging nod. Big Red takes a breath, steadying himself, then stands up and walks towards Ashlyn. 

"Actually…" he starts. He doesn't need to say anything else, watching the realization hit. They walk a few feet away, talking animatedly and seeming to have a good time. More people start to filter out to see their friends and family, and as they dissipate, he realizes he still hasn't seen you since you went to change. He spots Kourtney passing by a few feet away and runs over to her. 

"Hey, uh," he starts carefully. He knows Kourtney hasn't been too fond of him for a while. "Do you know where Nini is?" He knows where Gina and Ashlyn are, and he really just wants to grab you and get out of here without even more drama. Kourtney sucks her teeth, considering how to respond for a moment. She could say something, she always has something to say when it comes to Ricky, but she knows tonight was hard on him. She doesn't know the details, but she's sure the last thing she'd want in his position is more animosity. 

"The scout left, and she's taking it hard. I think she's with her moms, but I don't know for sure." He waits a beat, realizing there's no other shoe that's going to drop, no glares or snarky comments.

"Thanks," he says quietly, before making his way to your dressing room. You're probably just having trouble getting everything back in your bag. He thought you had way over packed when you showed him the huge tote bag you got ready for tech week, but by the end, every 'just in case you had brought had been needed more than once. You really know your way around a theater, he thinks. 

When you first enter your dressing room, all you want to do is get changed and get out. Ashlyn talks a little - mostly to herself - about how excited she is for the next show. You reply as politely as possible, doing everything you can to avoid Nina, ignore her as much as you can. You just have to get changed and get out. You have bigger issues to deal with, bigger fish to fry than to chew her out for what she did back there. 

"Yeah," she replies, a faux chipper tone to her voice "hopefully we won't have as many last minute cast changes tomorrow night," you pause, gripping the empty plastic hanger so hard your knuckles turn white. "But who knows, right?" 

You've tried your best, you really have, but you can't take her bullshit anymore. The hanger snaps in your hands with a loud crack. Ashlyn's eyes widen in surprise, and now out of costume, she makes her way to the door. 

"I'll give you two a minute…"

The cacophony of voices get louder for a moment as she opens the door to leave, then it's quiet again. You turn away from her to tug on your shoes, praying to god she'll just leave it alone, let you get out of here quietly. 

"Sorry," her voice is dripping with a passive aggressive ignorance that grates on your ears. "Did you have something to say to me?" Before she can scoff and drop a yeah, that's what I thought, you turn, looking over your shoulder at her with a stone cold glare. When you speak, your voice is so deadly, so sharp she feels like she's been stung. 

"Count yourself fucking lucky that I don't have time to hang around right now, but I swear to god, Nina, if you pull shit like that again-"

"Wh-" she sputters, "excuse me? Pull what? Including Ricky, and helping him?"

"You think you were helping him?" You repeat, turning to face her. You roll your eyes scoffing. "Wow." She starts to say something, but you cut her off. 

"Look, I don't know why you're here, but some of us actually take this seriously. This actually means something- this matters to some people, and nobody needs you turning it into a little three ring Nina circus, and ruining it for the people who actually want to be here!" Your voice rises as you continue, driving your point home, and refusing to let her interrupt you. By the time you’re done, her mouth is hanging open.

“I don’t care what you do in your free time,” you continue decisively, “I really don’t, but don’t ruin everything for the people who actually give a fuck!” you say, a humorless laugh at the end. You don’t know who’s been coddling her up until now, but you are sure as hell are not going to let someone get away with a stunt like that. It’s clear from her reaction that no one has ever spoken to her like this, and you think it’s long overdue. “That was the most unprofessional load of bullshit I have ever fucking seen! And I’ve been around the rodeo a few times.” 

Nina blinks hard, fighting tears prickling the corners of her eyes. She feels like she’s just been slapped. Her? Unprofessional? Wow. You’re really reaching now. She’s the most professional person at this whole school, she just… She freezes as it hits her in a split second of clarity, that she doesn’t have a leg to stand on. She broke the cardinal rules of theatre; she broke character, went into the audience, broke the immersion. She ruined opening night. You can see the moment of lucidity where she realizes she’s in the wrong, and it’s gone just as fast. 

“You’re one to talk about being a professional.” She spits. You look at her incredulously. Once again you have no idea where she’s going with this. When you don’t react, don’t instantly get it, she continues. 

“You had a Broadway career handed to you on a silver platter, and you threw it away!” she searches your face for shock that she figured out your secret, continuing, “And for what, so you could slum it at some midwestern high school full of amateurs?” 

You figured it was a matter of time before someone found out you’ve done professional theatre before, so if she’s waiting for a reaction from you, she’s not going to get one. The only reason you didn’t tell anyone, the only reason you kept quiet about it is because you didn’t want to come across as cocky or seem like you were bragging. Plus, with how hard things got towards the end, you don’t really want to go around and dig up memories from that time in your life. Besides, you’re not in New York right now, you’re at East High. You’re here with all your friends, finally getting a little piece of normalcy. You’re exactly where you want to be, so why would you waste it living in the past?

Before you can answer, she continues.

“The point is, you need to stay away from Ricky and stop lying to him. Okay?” she demands. Her voice is muffled through the door, but right outside, Ricky hears her loud and clear. He didn’t hear you two before, but now the halls and dressing rooms are mostly empty.

Is she still seriously going on about that? You let out a breath, trying to regain your composure. 

“I really do not have the time to keep having the same conversation with you over and over - or explain to you that you can’t tell people who they can and can’t date!” you exclaim. You’re about to drop it, but there’s one more thing you need to get off your chest. “And for the fucking record, you don’t know jack shit about what else was going on in my life when I left New York. And I don’t owe you an explanation either.” you say coldly. You’ve said your peace, the only thing you need to do is fucking get out of here and find Ricky. 

“I can’t believe I actually used to look up to you!” she exclaims. “Look. It was cute, or whatever, at first, but this little game of yours has gone on for long enough. He’s mine. Now can you leave him alone, please?” she demands. She’s dripping that passive aggression you’re really starting to get sick of. You look at her in the mirror, illuminated with lights. 

“Seriously? You seriously want to do this right now.” You say, exhausted. She either doesn’t hear you or pretends not to as she continues.

“I knew him first! I dated him first, I kissed him first. Everything he’s done with you, he did with me first.” she states. She doesn’t know how else to get it into your head that she was his first everything, and you’re just a rebound or something. What they have isn’t something you can just get over like that.

“You weren’t… every first, Nini.” You both look over at Ricky, and you wonder how long he’s been standing in the doorway, how much he heard. 

“Ricky… what?” she whips around at the sound of his voice. He stares back at her, teary eyed and serious. 

“You weren’t every first.” he repeats. You both look at him in disbelief. Nina furrows her brow. She can’t believe he’s disrespecting their relationship like this. You stare at him, thinking back, reanalyzing your memories. He can’t be saying what you think he’s saying. There’s no way you were his first time. That couldn’t have been his first time. There’s no way that Ricky Bowen was a virgin before he showed up at your house that night, there’s no way that you took his virginity. ‘Oh god, I did, didn’t I?’ you think, remembering the way he looked at you, how nervous and desperate he was. Heat floods to your cheeks. You have no idea what to do with this information.

“How could you say that?” she demands. She was his first crush, his first kiss, his first date, girlfriend, heartbreak. She was all of it. 

“Because it’s true!” he exclaims. “The only first I care about, the only first that matters, is right there.” he gestures to you. 

Oh yeah, no, you definitely did take his virginity. You did not expect this, much less that it would make you feel so… tender? Flattered? Warm and fuzzy maybe? You hold back a flustered laugh. Whatever warm thing it is, you’re sure feeling a lot of it. You stare at the ground, cheeks hot, butterflies fluttering in your stomach as you process this in the back of your mind. The majority of your attention is still on Ricky. You’ve been so worried, but he seems okay, which is a huge relief. He catches your eye, and your stomach twists. He’s looking at you like that again, and you’re sure you must be looking at him the same way. Anyone could see it. You snap back to attention, remembering Nina is still in the room with you. 

“We should get going-” you start quietly, reaching for your bag.

“Stay out of this!” she snaps, and you recoil at the sudden sharpness to her voice. “This is between Ricky and me.”  She turns to him, continuing, “And we are not done talking about this.” 

“Don’t talk to her like that.” He says quickly, more defensive of you after what happened earlier. He walks over to you, standing in between you and her. “Anything you have to say to me, you can say it in front of her.” Even though his voice wavers with emotion for a moment, Nina can tell he’s not backing down on this. She weighs her options. 

“Okay.” she starts, sucking her teeth. “I think she’s manipulating you.”

He lets out a breathy laugh with a bitter edge. He rolls his eyes, looking away for a second.

“That’s… hilarious, coming from you…” he mutters. 

“What? She’s been lying to you this whole time! She’s been doing professional theatre for years, Ricky, she-”

“That’s what this is about?” He realizes. “Oh my god, I already knew that!” he yells. Relief floods him as it clicks that all the bullshit she’s been spewing is nothing he didn’t know about already. She really was just trying to get into his head. “She’s not manipulating me, Nini, she’s there for me! There’s a difference! She actually cares about me - unlike you, and Lynne, and everybody else.” 

“That’s not fair-”

“She’s actually there for me, and she doesn’t just bail when shit gets hard. Not like you’d know anything about that.” he says the last part quieter, but she still hears it. She doesn’t have a comeback, she doesn’t have anything she can say to that. 

“I don’t have to listen to this.” She grabs her bag, brushing past him. Before she leaves, he turns to her, finally saying something he never thought he’d be able to. 

“I’m starting to think I wasn’t the problem in our relationship.” 

She freezes, turning to him slowly, eyes glistening.

“What?”

“You heard me.” he states. 

“You know what?” There’s nothing she can say, no comeback, no way to defend herself. She lets a single tear fall. “Screw you, Ricky.” She leaves quickly, huffing at what he said. He turns to you, still staring at where she left in disbelief. You exhale for what feels like the first time since this confrontation began, then immediately turn your attention back to Ricky. You’re grabbing your stuff as quickly as you can, desperate to finally get out of here, laughing nervously. 

“I can’t believe this night keeps getting worse. Look, we can just go home, we don’t have to go to Denny’s or anything if you don’t want to, I just want to make sure you’re okay, because obviously a lot of-” 

“I love you.” 

It tears from his throat with more raw emotion than you’ve ever heard, stopping you in your tracks. Your eyes widen as his hands come up to hold your face. He wants to kiss you so badly, more than he’s wanted anything, and you can feel it. He keeps going.

“I love you so much, I wanted to say it before. I’ve wanted to say it since that first amazing night we spent together. Ever since you snuck me into your room, and we talked and watched old episodes of cartoons, and you took me in when I needed you, I have loved you. And then you got those little plastic rings when we were running late for rehearsal, because we stopped for coffee and peach scones, and- and we traded colors, I felt like my heart was going to explode.” 

His thumbs caress your cheeks, and it makes you light headed. 

“I wanted to say it when we were dancing at homecoming and you were so beautiful I thought I’d die, I wanted to say it every time we kissed, and every time you laugh so hard your nose scrunches up, I wanted to say it. You made me fall in love with theatre, and this beautiful place, and with you. You love everyone around you so selflessly,” his voice breaks, “please, let me love you. The way you deserve to be loved. Even if you don’t want to say it back-” 

“I love you too.” You can’t help interrupting him, unable to ignore how true they are any longer. He’s stopped dead in his tracks. “I would have said something sooner, but the last thing I wanted was for you to feel pressured, so I… figured I’d follow your lead.” The room is quiet as he tries to get the air back in his lungs. 

“You love me?” he breathes.

“Yeah,” you confirm, nodding, “I do.” 

He takes one look at you, holding you intensely in his gaze, confirming that you really just said that. In one swift motion, he pulls you close to him, dipping you, and finally connects his lips to yours. He kisses you more passionately than anything he’s ever done. He kisses the air out of your lungs, kisses away the little space between you, desperately kissing everything he feels for you onto your lips. You lose yourself for a beautiful moment in that kiss. You’re not sure how long you stay like that, holding each other as close as you can get, with kissing as the only means of expressing the depths of your feelings, but it’s long enough that your lungs burn when you finally pull away. He barely moves his face away from yours as you attempt in sync to catch your breath. 

“Say it again,” he murmurs against your lips. 

“I love you,” you say, soft and sincere, that beautiful smile on your lips where his ache to be again. He reacts instantly to your words, picking you up, and kissing you again and again. You wrap your legs around his waist, giggling in surprise. He sets you on the table in front of the big dressing room mirror where Ashlyn’s character shoes still sit. The mental note to make sure she doesn’t forget them flies out of your mind as Ricky kisses you again and again, mouth open against yours. His lips are all over your face and your neck, turning you into a giggling mess as he holds you tight. He mutters sweet nothings against your skin that turn sensual very quick, but mostly he keeps telling you how much he loves you between kisses, mumbling the three words into your skin over and over. 

“Ricky…” you trail off as he bites your neck playfully, causing you to let out a flustered noise. “We have to go upstairs…” you start to forget what you were saying as he runs his tongue over your skin. “Our parents are waiting!” you laugh, desperately holding onto the train of thought. 

“Let them wait…” he murmurs, “You said we could kiss after the show, and… it’s after.” The flustered look on your face is too much for him, and he presses his lips to yours again, pushing his tongue into your mouth. You feel so good, your skin is so soft and you smell so sweet, and it’s all so much more now that he’s said it, now that you said it back to him. He squeezes your thigh and bites your lip and moans into your mouth, loving every noise you make, every tug of his hair and grab of his shirt. He’s so desperate for you and your touch, he would fuck you right here if he could. He considers it for a moment. 

After eavesdropping too long for her own good, Nina feels a solitary tear roll down her cheek. Ricky’s words ring in her ears. He loves you. He didn’t just say it back, he initiated it. She didn’t stick around too long, just enough for it to hurt. She reaches into her bag, pulling out her songwriting book. She’s sure this will give her plenty to write about, she thinks bitterly. She could probably get a whole album out of it. ‘At least then the pain would be worth something…’ she muses, taking one last look over her shoulder before leaving the dressing rooms - and Ricky - out of her sight.

Eventually, you and Ricky manage to drag yourselves upstairs and greet people in the lobby. Mike finds him quickly, pulling him aside to check on him. He looks back over at you, accepting flowers from your mom and pulling her in for a hug. 

“Yeah,” he says. “I’m okay.” He doesn’t look away from you, and Mike doesn’t miss this. His son is a lot of wonderful things, but he sure wouldn’t describe him as subtle. Ricky watches you as a girl in a pink dress walks up nervously to you with who he presumes is her sister. He’s too far away to hear your conversation over the chatter from people milling about, but your face lights up after she speaks. You pull a hot pink sharpie out of your bag and sign her playbill before handing it back to her. The sight makes his chest squeeze. He didn’t know you were good with kids, but it makes total sense - you’re good with everybody. 

Mike nudges him toward you.

“Go ahead,” he smiles, so Ricky does. 

“Hey,” he starts, pausing when a woman walks up to him, a little girl hiding behind her leg, looking up at Ricky in admiration. 

“Excuse me,” the woman says, getting his attention. “You were fantastic. She really loves High School Musical, and we wanted to know if you’d sign her playbill…” 

The girl looks up at him nervously, and he smiles, letting out a flustered chuckle. He didn’t expect this, he doesn’t even have a pen - but luckily as always you’re right behind him, extending a sharpie his way. 

“Yeah,” he smiles, “sure, of course!” He scribbles his name across the front before handing it back. “What was your favorite part?” he asks. She considers. 

“We’re All in This Together.” she decides, singing out the song title. 

“No way, that’s my favorite song too!” The way her face lights up is something he doesn’t think he’ll ever forget. She jumps excitedly that someone as cool as Troy Bolton has the same favorite song as her before hiding behind her mom’s legs again. The mom thanks him again before picking up her daughter. Ricky turns to you, not even needing to say anything. 

“I know,” you smile, “it’s the best, right?” 

“Yeah,” he agrees. “It is.” Your eyes light up that way they do when you remember something, and you reach into your bag. You pull out Ashlyn’s character shoes - thank god you remembered to bring them out with you - and gesture down the hall to where Ashlyn is talking to some of her friends that came to see the show. 

“I’m gonna give these back to Ashlyn, and I’ll meet you and our parents by the doors in like, two seconds.” He agrees, and you part ways. 

“Thank you!” Ashlyn gasps when you hand her the shoes. “I was looking everywhere for these.” 

She pauses, remembering how tense things got between you and Nini earlier before she left. 

“Was everything okay with…” she trails off, jogging your memory. 

“Oh,” you start, a little unsure of how to answer. “Yeah. Everything’s fine now.” You look off to the side, and she follows your gaze to Ricky. He’s talking to his dad and seems to be doing a lot better now, and you seem to be doing better too. 

As you make your way down the hall and across the lobby you’re stopped by a woman you don’t recognize, but she seems to know you, addressing you by name as she introduces herself. 

“I’m Kalyani Patel, the dean of the Youth Actors Conservatory in Denver. I’ve been following your career for some time, and I have to say, I’m very impressed. You’re incredibly talented and have a lot of notable credits for someone as young as you are. We have one more available place available for the upcoming semester, and we would be thrilled for you to attend.” 

“Thank you so much, Kalyani. I’ve heard a lot about Youth Actors Conservatory, and I’m so honored by your offer, but I’m not planning on switching schools at the moment.” You say as graciously as you can. 

“Of course, I understand.” She smiles. 

“Thank you again for the opportunity, and I hope we can work together in the future.” You smile back, saying goodbye, and making your way over to Ricky and your parents. 

After returning to the dressing rooms to write sad song lyrics and watch herself cry in the mirror, when Nina finally finds her moms in the lobby, she has a piece of good news for once.

“The dean of YAC!” she exclaims. 

“I thought they were full, sweetie.” Carol says. She and Dana had gotten a rejection letter addressed to Nini a few days ago, and were trying to find the right time to break the news. 

“She said a spot opened up,” she beams, “which means I’m going to YAC!” 

Her moms hug her, congratulating her on the good news, and that they’d discuss it in detail at home. Nina looks over to where you and Ricky are standing. He holds your hands in his while you talk quietly. You have no idea that soon she’ll be out of here, and you’ll never see her again. She was on the fence, but after what he said to you, she’s made up her mind. She’s leaving this town, and going somewhere that she’ll be appreciated, somewhere she’s wanted. If that happens to be a boarding school in Colorado, then so be it. ‘Take a good look’, she thinks, ‘because that’s the last you’ll ever see of Nini Salazar-Roberts.’ 

 After more mingling, congratulations, flowers, and playbill signing, you turn to Ricky.

“You ready to go home?” you ask, walking toward your car. He stops, turning to look at you. 

“You know what? No.” he lets out a breathy laugh. “I don’t want to go home. I… want to go to Denny’s! I’m a theatre kid, and I just finished my first show, and it’s like, tradition to go to Denny’s, so I want to!” You smile at his sudden enthusiasm, laughter matching his. 

“Yeah, okay,” you smile, “let’s go!” 

You both walk over to your castmates, who are trying to figure out a carpool to get everyone there before it gets any later. You nudge Ricky.

“So, does anyone need a ride to Denny’s, or should we just meet you there?” he asks. For what feels like the millionth time, everyone erupts into cheers. You know all your friends were worried about him after what happened, and Seb instigates a group hug, that everyone quickly jumps on to. You think it’s important to end the night on a good note like this, spending time with your castmates, cramming into booths and singing obnoxiously in an empty restaurant. It’s sort of a rite of passage, and you’re glad that Ricky’s able to participate, especially after opening night of his first show. 

You sleep over at his place that night. After everything Ricky’s been through, after he seems to finally be okay again, the last thing Mike wants to do is not let him spend time with someone he’s so close to - especially considering what a good influence Mike thinks you are on him. From what Ricky told him, you didn’t instigate any drama tonight, and spent every spare moment off stage trying to help Ricky through what was going on. It’s not the first time you’ve helped Ricky navigate the ups and downs of growing up in the time you’ve known him, so when Ricky asked if you could stay the night, he agreed. While you’re brushing your teeth, Mike pulls Ricky aside to talk. 

“I spoke to Nini’s moms,” he starts, and Ricky braces himself. “They’re going to talk to her, and I said I’d talk to you to make sure these last shows go smoothly, alright? So, no more fights, no arguing, no more of this… reality tv stuff.” 

“Believe me,” Ricky sighs, “I don’t want any more drama. Especially at the expense of the show.” 

“I know,” Mike agrees. “So just… it’s only a few more shows. Try your best to…” he looks for the words.

“Politely avoid each other?” Ricky supplements.

“Exactly.” Mike nods. “Just politely avoid each other for a few more days, and all this will blow over.” 

When he finally reenters his room, he hands you a t shirt to wear. He knows you probably brought pajamas, but he wants to tell you he loves you in as many ways as he can, like wearing his clothes. When you come back in and sit on his bed in his big shirt and your little shorts, he doesn’t think you’ve ever looked more beautiful. 

“Do you want to talk about anything?” you ask tentatively. 

“Not really,” he chuckles. “I feel like I’ve kind of talked it all to death by now.”

“You know what we haven’t talked about?” you ask, a look in your eye that immediately has his attention. “How Nina and EJ - but like, mostly Nina - ruined the finale of the show.” 

“Yeah,” he starts, remembering how stunned he was. “What the fuck was that?” 

You talk shit until you have nothing else to say about it, and soon you’re curled up under the covers together. You’re laughing and talking, and things almost feel normal again. It’s like every bad thing never happened tonight. He doesn’t know how you do it, how you make things feel so okay again, but he holds you tight, clinging onto the feeling. He was going to say it earlier, but he was so distracted by you, by how beautiful you are. 

“I love you.” he says, pressing a kiss to your forehead. He feels you smile against his chest. 

“I love you too, Ricky.” 

You sound so content, so comfortable with him, and he feels like his heart is going to burst. 

“I love you,” he says again, running his fingers along your waist. 

“I love you too,” you giggle sleepily. Every time you think he’s asleep, he says it again, and again, and again. He can’t help himself, he loves the way you blush and giggle, loves how warm you are against him, loves the way you say it back to him. It’s quiet for a little while, but you feel his hands still tracing little shapes into your skin. You glance up at him to find him staring at you  in that way that makes your stomach twist. 

“Close your eyes,” you mutter, drowsy. 

“But I love you.” he replies quietly, and you can hear the smile in his voice. “I love looking at you. I love everything about you.” 

“I love you too,” you answer groggily, and he doesn’t think he’s ever felt better than he does when you say it like that. “But we have a full day of school in the morning, then homework, then another show to perform in, so we have to get at least a little sleep.”

“Yeah,” he sighs, eyes growing heavy as the day catches up to him. “As long as we have time for coffee and peach scones.”

“There is literally always time for coffee and peach scones.” he chuckles at how quickly you respond. You lean up, pressing a kiss to his nose, then snuggle back into his chest. It’s his favorite time of day again, he realizes, where he gets to sleep next to you, and kiss, and cuddle. Except this time, it’s better than it ever has been, because right before you fall asleep, he gets to say it.

“I love you.” he breathes, kissing your forehead.

“‘Love you too.” you mutter, barely awake. Your words reverberate and replay in his mind as he closes his eyes, finally drifting off. He doesn’t know how the next shows are going to go, he doesn't know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about what will happen when the sun rises,  he’s just excited for it to happen with you. He sleeps better than he has in a long time. 

[savemesomenachos]

if you still taking request can you made a one shot with Sebastian stan and a reader with a 20ish years age gap ? fluffy pls

I adore!!!!! Have fun✨

You can find my other works on my Main Masterlist.

Heaven

AN: Also, why do I always assume Seb says doll and has a Brooklyn-ish drawl like Bucky does? It’s still cute and makes my insides tingle so imma go with it.

Pairing: Sebastian Stan × Reader

Warnings: Just another fluffy day with Seb, some angst and brief insecure! Reader, significant age gap ( Seb-38y, Reader-20y), Mentions of nudity but no smut

Word Count: 1330

Y/n’s POV:

It was raining again and all the waterlogging in the city allowed for a much needed holiday. So here I was at 10 in the morning, still in bed. But the best part was the man next to me. Sebastian was barely home because of all the work he’s been doing.

Now he finally is after months. I was so excited to see him yesterday that I surprised him by picking him up at the airport. He was so ecstatic to see me that he dropped his bags, ran over to me and spun me around right in the middle of the exit. I hadn’t smiled so wide in a really long time.

“Mmm,” I heard from beside me. I shifted to lie on my chest while the sheets moved with me. The sheets bunched dangerously low on his bare waist. If he moved even a little, the sheets would be off him.

“Whatcha looking at doll?” his gravelly voice sounds near my ear.

I squeal in surprise. When I turn my head to look at him, he’s right in front of my face. I blush a deep red and nuzzle my face into his warm chest while he laughs.

“I was just looking,” I whisper as I pull myself up to his face with my elbows. “I missed you,” I breathe against his lips.

He takes that as his cue to pull me into a kiss that makes me dizzy. My hand instinctively bury themselves in his hair. He smiles against my lips while curling his arms around my waist and he locks his hand at the base of my spine. I hum in satisfaction as his chest touches mine while our heartbeats seem to sync. The pit in my stomach that had been existent ever since he left starts to seal itself back together the minute his lips collided with mine.

A particularly sharp tug on his hair makes him pull away from me but I’m not satisfied just yet. I yank the sheets off myself completely and straddle his hips.

“Baby?” he questions, confused. I cut him off with a hard kiss to his lips. He moans in surprise but before I could deepen the kiss, he tugs me away from his lips.

“What’s goin’ on?” he asks, concern written all over his face.

“Nothing, I just missed you,” I say, leaning down to kiss him again. His face contorts into a knowing look.

“I swear, Bash. There’s nothing,” I say again, squirming under his scrutinous gaze.

“You know I can tell when you’re lying, right?” he asks as he cradles my head to his chest with a hand wrapped around my back. I pull the sheets back over us as I nestle my face into his thick neck. I only sigh in response and cuddle further into him.

“Well, if you do wanna talk about it, I’m here, m’kay?” he asks, running his hand down my sheet covered back.

“I know,” I murmur into the soft hair of his chest and place a kiss on his heart for good measure.

We lay in silence for a while. The sound of our breathing and the crinkling of the sheets the only audible sound in the room. My eyes flit to Sebastian’s sleeping figure yet again. The sunlight pouring into our bedroom, filtered by the curtains, painted Sebastian in a golden hue. His hair seemed more brown than usual while his skin shone. His eyes moved beneath his eyelids while his lips upturned into a smile like he was in a beautiful dream.

“You’re staring again honey,” his voice sounded but his eyes were still closed.

“Is that why you were smiling like a lovesick idiot? Because you knew I was staring?” I asked as I leaned in closer to plant butterfly kisses along the column of his neck.

“Mhmm, yeah,” he whispered as he turned to face me.

We stared into each other’s eyes for a beat. I could see the blues and the greens swirl to render emotions. And now, his eyes seemed to mirror the sky; the bluest of blues.

“Breakfast?” he asked as his warm hand cupped my cheek and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear with so much delicacy, it would make angels weep.

“Yeah,” I said as I leaned forward to kiss his nose. He scrunched his face in a retort which made me snort. I knew for sure that nose kisses were his favourite.

“Eggs and bacon?” he asks as he lifts himself off the bed.

“Mhmm,” I hum, distracted by the sight of his bare legs. The muscles shifted and stretched as he picked up his discarded sweatpants off the floor and slid them up to his legs. I had decided that my favourite part of lazy days was that he seemed to forego underwear.

“Honey baby, you need to get up before I throw you over my fucking shoulder,” he growled at my laziness and the fact that I refused to leave the bed.

“But it’s so warm here!” I whined as I rolled around in the sheets some more.

“Come on, brat,” he says as he crawls over to my side and throws me over his shoulder.

I squeal at his actions but lay relatively still as he carries me down the stairs and into the kitchen. He sets me down on an island stool and immediately gets to work, making breakfast.

I watch his back as he shuffles around the kitchen, making eggs and bacon, our favourite. “Why do you keep staring at me?” he suddenly asks. I freeze briefly before going back to casually flipping the paper.

“You’re pretty,” I say as he sets the coffee down in front of me. “And you make me breakfast. Do I really need another reason?”

“This is definitely something else. I can tell,” he says shoving his face in front of the newspaper across the island.

I sigh and close the paper and toss it to the end of the counter while my fingers begin to twitch. I try to look anywhere but him, but his frame fills my vision completely.

“Hey, is everything okay?” he asks, his concerned gaze flitting between my eyes and my fidgeting hands.

“I… There were these comments and-”

“I’ve told you not to read those baby”

“I know, I couldn’t help myself, I guess,” I say, trailing off. He stares at me intently while I stand up and go around him to plate our breakfast.

I feel his arms around my waist before his scent surrounds my senses. I start to feel dizzy with all the love I have for him.

“Baby, I love you. People are always gonna talk but the fact that I love you will never change. Okay?” he asks as he spins me around to face him while his fingers rub circles on my bare waist.

“Okay. I’m sorry,” I say, embarrassed that I let this get to me.

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. People are mean. You can’t really do anything but ignore them.” He says, carrying our plates to the table where he pulls me onto his lap. He buries his face in my neck and takes a deep breath.

“Are you sniffing me?” I ask, turning around to face him with an exasperated look on my face.

“Shut up!” he whines, trying to hide his blush by burying his face even further in my neck.

“Seb, stop! That tickles!” I squeal and pull him away with a tug on his hair.

“Ugh fine. Let’s just eat breakfast so I can get you back to bed and a repeat of last night,” he says, waggling his eyebrows at the end.

I swat his arm away from where it had started to slide down my waist to my thigh.

“For that, you’d have to actually get through breakfast without doing anything.”

“No fair!”

“Life’s not fair, old man. Eat your bacon.”

“Oh, I will!”

“Seb!!”

@julyvegan @tenaciousperfectionunknown @mysweetlittledesire @bbl32 @noshame-bb @cece5 @white-wolf1940 @marvelfansworld @jassiejj2118 @sohosteve @sia2raw @honeymarvel @hart-failure @Clints-worldavengers

If you wanna be tagged in my works, lemme know here

[farfromtommy]

seb being a stepdad to chris' kids or vice versa!

not my gif

a/n: okay this is literally one of the best ideas ever and im so in love with this fic. i think this takes the cake for my favorite fic i’ve written!! this is mildly edited so pls be kind. im so proud of it and hope you guys love it <3

please reblog if you enjoyed reading and and feel free to leave any comments!!

warnings: drinking, mentions of sex, brief mention of medical procedure(s), there might be some language i dont remember

word count: 4,400

masterlist

social media au masterlist

taglist 

~~~

Chris has been your best friend since elementary school and all through middle and high school. Everyone knew how close you were to him and how deeply you loved each other. It was never in a romantic sort of way, though. Nobody really understood the relationship you had with him, they just shrugged their shoulders and minded their business.

When Chris told you he wanted to move to New York to follow his dream of being an actor, he asked you to go with him. You shared his love for theatre and the arts and always wanted to see if you could make it as a big-time Hollywood actress. You packed all your things into your tiny car and made your way to New York with your best friend.

You spent your 28th birthday sitting on Chris’s couch with a bottle of tequila and a broken heart. Your boyfriend of 3 years broke up with you on the grounds of you being “such a drag” and “not someone he wants to settle down with any more”. You had planned a life with him. He talked about marrying you and having kids with you just weeks prior. And he had just thrown it all away.

Having gone through almost half of the bottle of tequila already, Chris took the bottle from you and just looked at you with sad eyes. He ran his hand through your hair as you buried your face in your pillow and just cried. You pulled yourself together after a while and willed yourself to sit up and look Chris in the eyes.

“I know I’m kinda drunk right now but Chris, listen to me. Can we make a pact? When we’re both 30 and if we’re both still single and loveless. Let’s have a baby. We don’t have to like… y’know… do it or anything. We can do it through insemination or in a petri dish or however they do it. I’m just- I want to settle down and have kids but I don’t think I’ll ever trust anyone else.” You rambled, gesturing wildly with your hands. Chris suppressed a laugh and looked at you like you were crazy. You just looked at him questioningly until he realized this was not the alcohol talking.

“Are you serious? Like, me and you? Having a baby? Seriously?” He pulled himself off the floor and sat on the coffee table in front of you.

“I’m so serious. You can say no, Chris. This is me asking you what you think. I always said that if I don’t have a husband or have been with someone long enough to have a child with them, that I would go to a sperm bank and do it like that. You know how badly I want kids, and I know you want them too.” You moved to the edge of the couch to move closer to him. He stood up and grabbed your hand to help you up. He dragged you towards the kitchen and sat you down at the table, telling you to wait there while he grabbed something. He came back a few moments later with a notebook and a pen.

“Alright, let’s figure this out. We’re going to ask each other questions about this and write down the answers. Any conditions we have we’ll write down, if we can’t agree on them we don’t do it. I know you’re not super sober right now so we can do this now and talk about it again tomorrow.” He wrote ‘Y/L/N - Evans Baby’ along the top. You smiled a bit to yourself and waited for him to talk.  

“I don’t want to be just the sperm donor, I want to be involved in everything. From the ultrasound appointments to picking preschools. I also want to be in the room when you’re in labor.” He wrote it down as he was talking and looked up at you. You nodded with a big smile on your face.

“I would want you as involved as possible. We would be co-parenting this hypothetical child. My turn. To keep this from getting messy, we should do it through a clinic. Me in stirrups and your swimmers in a turkey baster. Sex can make things complicated and weird, I don’t want to risk something going wrong between us and then there be a child involved. Insemination isn’t as effective but we can always keep trying if it doesn’t work.” You pulled the notebook towards you and wrote down your condition.

That went on for the rest of the night. You and Chris take turns asking questions about your hypothetical baby. You had filled up pages and pages of notes about what you both want, from how you would decide to tell your families to living arrangements to if you’d circumcise or not if it was a boy.

A little more than 2 years later you and Chris found yourselves at the dining room table of his Boston home again. The notebook you had filled just a few years back right in front of you, along with 5 pregnancy tests. They were face down on the table as you anxiously waited for the timer to go off.

“Alright, Chris. This is it. It’s been 5 minutes, we can flip them over.” You released a shaky breath and stared at the tests right in front of you. Chris grabbed your hand and laced your fingers together. You looked at each other before reaching out to flip over the individual tests. Seeing all 5 of the tests with 2 solid pink lines knocked all the air out of your lungs.

“Oh my god. They’re all positive! Oh my god, Chris!! We’re going to have a baby!” You both jumped out of your seats and jumped around the kitchen before hugging each other and crying. He kept thanking you and kissing the top of your head while you sobbed into his chest, soaking his shirt. There were lots of tears over the next few weeks from you both after confirming your pregnancy with your midwife.

8 or so months later Penelope Elizabeth Evans-Y/L/N made her way into the world and the arms of her parents. The world seemed to stop when you heard the cries of your daughter for the first time. You could’ve sworn Chris stopped breathing the second he laid eyes on her when she was placed on your bare chest. He didn’t even care that she was covered in blood and other bodily fluids, he swore that she was the most beautiful human being to ever exist.

He took a lot of time off from filming and working to take care of you both. Once you found out you were pregnant, you stopped acting for the most part. You knew that you wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, at least until she was old enough to go to school, and maybe then you’d go back to smaller roles that kept you close to home.

Chris had a hard time leaving you and Penny once it was time to go back to work. He held her close to his chest and cried at the thought of leaving her when she’s still so little. Seeing the extreme separation anxiety he was already having, you offered to go with him to set and find an apartment or house to rent for the duration of the shoot. This ended up being the greatest thing you could have come up with. Every single project that took him away from Boston, you and Penny were right there next to him. You and Penny followed him to what seemed like every corner of the Earth.

The weeks leading up to shooting The Winter Soldier were the most exciting for Chris. He had been training for months to get into shape and was really excited to have you and Penny on set with him. He had also been talking nonstop about working with Sebastian and Anthony again.

One night Chris came home with Sebastian and Anthony trailing behind him. Penny had gone down for the night and you were nursing a glass of wine on the recliner, watching whatever you could find on TV.

“Hey, Y/N. I should've called ahead, I’m sorry. We’re just going to have some beers while we watch the game.” He walked in and gave you a quick kiss on the cheek. You moved the blankets off your lap and stood up to greet Anthony and Sebastian.

“I don’t think you ever got a chance to meet these guys before. Y/N this is Anthony and Sebastian, guys this is Y/N.” Chris introduced you and you moved forward to give them both hugs.

“Sorry for barging in on you unannounced, we would’ve made sure this idiot called you before to make sure it was all good,” Anthony said, taking the beer Chris handed him.

“Oh please, don’t worry about it. He used to do it all the time when we lived in New York. Sorry, the place is a bit of a mess. Didn’t get a chance to clean today, I’ve had my hands full, especially with this one” You gestured a thumb to Chris and he sent you a playful glare in return.

You offered to put together some snacks for the game, knowing very well Chris couldn’t handle his alcohol without some sort of food in his system. Anthony and Sebastian offered to help while Chris snuck off to go see Penny.

“How long have you and Chris been together?” Sebastian made some small talk while looking for serving bowls in your kitchen. Anthony leaned against the counter and continued to sip on his beer.

“Oh, we’re not together. We’ve been friends since we were kids and we actually are just uh...” You chuckled nervously, not knowing what to say to his friends. Chris walked into the kitchen with Penny in his arms at that moment. Her head tucked into his neck, hands gripping at the fabric of his shirt and his arms under her butt.

“We’re raising our daughter together. They go with me wherever I go so I don’t miss anything and so Y/N doesn’t raise Penelope by herself. We’re co-parenting in the same house.” He said, looking at the tired toddler in his arms. Sebastian and Anthony both sputtered on their beers at the same time, not believing what they were seeing.

There was no denying that she was a product of you and Chris. Even with her sleepy eyes, they could see the bright blue color that matched the man carrying her. They saw the swoop of your nose and the color of your hair. They stood there just taking it all in.

“I had a bit of a crisis when I turned 28 after my long term boyfriend dumped me out of nowhere. It was one of those ‘if we’re 30 and aren’t married’ sort of things. We turned 30 and were both still single, so we had a baby.” You shrugged, looking over at your girl.

“And it works, being parents without being together but still living together?” Anthony asked, gesturing towards the two of you.

“We had everything figured out before she got pregnant. We had conditions that we both had to agree on before we even got serious about it. We were both very adamant about not doing it the old fashioned way so things didn’t get messy. It took some time to figure out the… terms and conditions I guess.” Chris laughed a little bit. Anthony and Seb nodded in understanding and kept looking at Penny.

“I’m happy for you, man. Seems like you both are really happy. How old is she?” Anthony walked into her line of sight and waved his fingers a bit, trying to get her attention.

“She turned one a couple of months ago.” You said and watched Penny pick her head up and look at Seb and Anthony, inspecting them a bit. Her big blue eyes landed on Sebastian and she stared him down before he gave her a small smile and waved at her. She was a little shy around new people and would usually bury her face in the neck of whoever was holding her.

To your surprise, she leaned away from Chris and moved her hands out to Sebastian. Everyone’s eyes widened as she whined a little bit when he didn’t reach out to grab her. Chris moved closer and told him it was okay and let Penny make herself comfortable in his arms. She buried herself into his neck much like she does with you and Chris, her tiny fists clutching his shirt. Her eyes shut immediately and let herself fall asleep in his arms.

The next few months went on more pleasantly than expected. Chris often had late-night shoots and training, leaving you with Penny most of the day. Anytime he knew he would be home late, he’d send Seb over with dinner or just an extra set of hands to help you with Penny. She knew you were her mama and Chris was her dada, then one day she had her Seba. Anytime you opened the door to let him in with her on your hip, she immediately squealed and started to chant ‘Seba! Seba!’ and didn’t stop until he was holding her.

Sebastian had brought up the idea of taking you to dinner one night to Chris. Even though you were a single adult who could make decisions on your own, he didn’t want to disrespect Chris at all. Chris never saw you as anything more than his best friend, it had always been like that. He was ecstatic when Sebastian brought up the idea of asking you out.

“I’m so serious, Seb. I think it’s a great idea. She talks about you a lot and really loves being around you. She’s going to say yes, I promise. Y/N hasn’t dated since we had Penny, mostly because she’s scared of what someone would think about her living with her childhood best friend who happens to be the father of her child.” Chris told him honestly. You weren’t interested in dating at all since having Penny. Mostly because being a mom was your first and only priority.

Sebastian let out the breath he was holding and ran his fingers through his hair, all of a sudden nervous about asking you to dinner. Chris clapped a hand around his shoulder and gave him a quick pep talk before sending him on his way.

The 2 years between wrapping Winter Soldier and starting Civil War had been interesting, to say the least. Everything Chris did kept him in the states for the most part. You and Penny were still trailing along with him, always loving the things you got to experience as a family.

Sebastian had found his place right in your crazy life. You had been unofficially together after wrapping Winter Soldier. He went off to do his next project and you and Chris spent some time in Boston with your families. You texted him most of the day, and he called at night to talk for a few hours before you went to sleep. He always said goodnight to Penny and she blew her Seba kisses through the phone.

He flew to Boston a bunch of times to see you, even if it was only for a few hours. You flew to wherever he was for a few days at a time, most of the time with Penny. Chris somehow managed to get you on the plane by yourself a few times and promised he would FaceTime every single night and would have hourly pictures sent.

On one of your first weekend trips out to see him, he refused to let you leave without making it official with you. He had you in tears at the end of his ‘I can’t spend another second without calling you my girlfriend’ speech. When he proposed to you he had said that the only thing better than the girlfriend speech was the one he was about to give. His ‘I can’t spend another second without calling you my wife’ speech knocked that one out of the water.

Neither of you wanted to make a big fuss about a wedding. You weren’t interested in the big white dress and the stressful bridesmaids and the whole cliche wedding things. Sebastian suggested getting eloped somewhere quiet with a handful of the most important people in your life. Chris’s mom, Lisa, had offered to hold the ceremony in her backyard. Knowing very well how spacious and beautiful it was, you and Seb graciously accepted her offer.

You kept your dress simple yet elegant, a beautiful white lace dress that ended mid-thigh, and complimented your body so perfectly. Seb kept it classy with a dark blue suit and light blue button-up that brought out his eyes, no tie, because who needs one?

Right at the end of the ceremony right as the officiant was about to have you say ‘i do’, you heard whines coming from Penny, who was sitting right up front on her daddy’s lap. You looked over to see her squirming in his lap and whining out ‘mama’ and reaching out for you. Chris made eye contact with you and mouthed ‘i’m sorry’. You shook your head and let go of one of Sebastian’s hands to motion to let her go so she could walk over to you.

Everyone aww’d as she walked over to you as quickly as her legs could take her. You bent down and scooped her up, resting her on your hip and wrapping your arm around her waist to keep her up. Sebastian made faces at her to make her laugh and keep her happy for a few more minutes. Your photographer had taken advantage of the incredibly sweet moment and had made sure to get as many shots of Penny at the altar with you.

When the officiant pronounced you husband and wife, you were going to set Penny down but Sebastian was quick to pull you both close to him and go in for your first kiss as a married couple with your daughter right there. Everyone cheered and Penny was mimicking the claps of everyone around her. Before he pulled away from you two he pressed two sloppy kisses on Penny’s cheeks as she giggled, which pulled some tears out of you.

No more than 15 people were attending the ceremony. You wanted to keep it quiet with just family and a few close friends. The reception, however, was anyone and everyone you could fit into the ballroom you had rented at one of the best hotels in Boston. All your guests had filled the room before you and Seb arrived. You nervously held his hand as you heard the cheers from everyone inside after hearing the DJ announce “Ladies, gentlemen, and nonbinary friends … let’s give it up for the couple of the hour, Mr. and Mrs. Sebastian Stan!!”

No one understood how you, Chris, and Seb managed to make your situation seem so easy and flawless. He knew that living in Boston was a must, so he bought the house that sits right behind the one you shared with Chris for so many years. He never wanted to get in the way of the system you and Chris had created over the years. Somehow, he managed to make things easier for everyone.

Penny’s first day of school was emotional for all 3 of you. You were all at your front door taking pictures of Penny in her school uniform that she looks so ridiculously cute in and the backpack that was way too big for her. She insisted on getting the Avengers backpack that “has my daddy on it!”

“Okay my love, it’s time for us to go to school! Are you ready?” Chris grabbed her tiny hand and led her to the car.

“Yeah daddy, I’m ready!” Penny said as he lifted her into the car and her car seat.

“Daddy? Mama and Sebbie coming too?” She asked him when he clicked the last buckle together. Right on cue Sebastian opened up the door to the free seat in the back and climbed in right next to her. She squealed in excitement at the sight of Sebastian buckling himself in the car.

Chris laughed at her genuine excitement and made sure all her fingers and toes were inside the car before shutting the door. He saw you lock the front door and make your way to the front seat. He noticed you put a few packs of tissues in your bag before setting it on the ground and buckling your seatbelt.

“Planning on crying today, Y/N?” Chris asked in a teasing tone. You swatted his arm lightly and scoffed at his question.

“Our baby is going to her first day of school, of course, I’m going to cry! I cried last night after I tucked her in, I cried in the shower this morning, I cried doing her hair.” You heard Seb talking enthusiastically to Penny, telling her about all the fun things she’ll get to do in kindergarten.

“It’s okay, I cried in the bathroom while she ate her waffles this morning.” You snorted at Chris’s confession and looked back at your baby girl, who was not a baby anymore. She was waving her hands around telling Seb about how excited she was to see her teacher again.

Chris and Sebastian watched from the car as you walked through the front doors of the school with Penny’s hand in yours. They had agreed that it might not have been a good idea to go in with her since they might get recognized and to avoid causing a ruckus. They both waved at her as she turned around and waved one more time before the door shut.

“Did you and Y/N ever think about having more kids together? If I hadn’t started dating her, do you think you would've had more?” Sebastian asked Chris.

“We never explicitly talked about it. She brought up wanting Penny to have lots of siblings not long after you started seeing each other. She felt guilty and thought that I was going to be upset about you and her maybe having kids one day, which meant I probably wouldn’t have anymore. I told her that this was honestly the best thing that could’ve happened because I don’t think I want any more of my own. Penny is all I ever wished and hoped for, and I got it. But since you’re together, she’ll get all the siblings she could ever want, and I won’t have to change a single diaper.” Chris nudged Seb’s shoulder with his. “You guys thinking about having one?”

“Yeah... Yeah, we are.” Sebastian lowered his head and smiled a bit. “With Penny in school and everything, it makes sense. She’s ready, I’m ready.” Seb sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He looked up and saw you walking back towards them with a tissue in your hand.

“I had the morning crying shift, it’s your turn.” Seb looked at Chris.

Just as Penny wrapped up her very first year in school, you and Sebastian welcomed Beverly Olivia Stan-Y/L/N into your family. Penelope had been so excited to hear that her mama finally had the baby she had been waiting so long for. You had gone into labor in the late afternoon and Beverly made her debut in the middle of the night.

Sebastian had called Chris an hour or so after to let him know that both you and the baby were doing phenomenally and that you were asking for Penny and wanted to see her as soon as you could. Chris chuckled at the demands you were making, knowing very well how the epidural and pain meds messed with you.

Early the next morning Penny had crawled into bed with Chris, crying for you and wanting to know when she was going to see you. It was still too early for them to go to the hospital, so he called Seb in hopes that he was already going to be awake.

A very exhausted Sebastian lit up the screen and Chris heard the soft cries of the new baby in the background. Penny’s cries turned into hiccups as soon as she saw Seb’s face because she knew she would be able to see her mama, too.

“Sebbie can I see mama, please?” Penny’s little voice spoke up. Sebastian immediately handed the phone to you and whispered that Penny was on the phone.

“Hi, baby.” You spoke softly to not disturb the baby.

“Mama when you come home? I miss you.” Penny wiped her eyes with her fists to get rid of the tears stuck in her eyelashes.

“It’s going to be a few days until I get to go home, baby. But you and daddy will be able to come to see me, Sebbie, and the new baby in a few hours. You need to go back to sleep and be a good girl for your daddy. I’m sure he’ll let you have some cuddles in his bed with him and Dodger until it’s time to wake up again.” Penny hiccuped and looked at Chris with eyes that mirrored his. He nodded his head and she buried herself closer to him.

“Okay, I go back to sleep with daddy and Dodger. I love you, mama. I love Sebbie, too.” She yawned out, her eyes blinking with sleep.

“Me and Sebbie love you so much, Penny. We’ll see you so soon, I promise” You blew a kiss to her through the screen and waited for her to throw one back. She giggled when you caught it through the camera and put it over your heart.

You, Sebastian, and Chris all watched with tears in your eyes as Penny held her baby sister for the first time. Penny had jumped right up in the bed next to you the second she walked into the room and told you about all the fun she had with Chris. Seeing your girls together melted your heart into a puddle. Chris couldn’t believe his little girl was so grown up and was a big sister. Seb thought about the night he first met you and Penny and would’ve never imagined that he’d be right here at this very moment.

Everything was so perfect and you never wanted to imagine your life being any different.

[supersoldiersruined-me]

I’m a sucker for letters, I love them so much although I’ve never received a love letter before, maybe one day! So can you write a drabble with Seb professing his love in a letter? Pls and thank you 💛

A/N: This is so belated and I’m sorry, the last couple months haven’t gone quite as expected. Thank you for being so patient love.Warnings: None!Word count: Short and sweet

Main Masterlist

Ever since you met Seb on the set of his upcoming movie, things have been going smoothly, as if you had been long lost childhood friends. He was super sweet from the moment he laid eyes on you in that flowy dress, and every time he was in town or close by, nothing would keep his hands off you.

He had made the first move when it came to the whole concept of a relationship. You arrived at his place one night and his dining room was lit by an array of candles; one of his mom’s recipe waited on the table. The evening was filled with small talk and board games, as you enjoyed the fresh air his New York balcony could offer.

The thing with Seb though was that he would most often translate his emotions into actions. Which, to be fair, was rather nice for a while. He indulged you in way too many items you could have only dreamed of before. But anytime you tried to get him to confess his feelings, he would find a way to bail out and expertly change the subject. So one night you put him to a wall and gave him an ultimatum. A thing you never wanted to do in your life, let alone with someone you admired so much.

The next day he was gone to start filming abroad, although he wasn’t scheduled to begin for another three weeks. The action spoke for itself and you packed the few pieces of your stuff out of his apartment the morning after his flight. With a heavy heart you tried your best to get into your old routine, in your cold, crammy studio. You had tried to reach him but ended up realising that he probably got himself a European phone and didn’t bother send the new number.

One week into his actual work time, you headed back to his place to pick up something of yours you had forgotten in his office. As you got to the door, you frowned at the sight of the overflowing mailbox in the hall, wondering why his housekeeper never got them in. Or if she had even come once. You set the pile of envelopes and pamphlets onto his counter and just as you walked passed them on your way out a bright one caught your eye.

Your name appeared on the front as you pulled it from underneath the others. A small gasp escaped your lips when you saw the sender’s address. Quickly, you ripped the top and unfolded the perfumed piece of paper.

There’s no way to easily get myself out of the crap I’ve been sending your way these past couple months. I want to blame everything on work, or on the lack of time in general. But honestly everything is my fault, and I’ve been avoiding responsibility for too long.

The fact that I’m writing it down on paper proves how big of a coward I can be. And I want to apologize for it. If you’re still reading this, or just reading at all, I want you to know that you’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time. Or like, ever.

I’ve been meaning to tell you that I began seeing my therapist more often. But I didn’t want to be weak and I needed you to know you could rely on me. Yet, here we are, into the hot mess I created with my own fears.

Before leaving for Europe, I promised myself I would become a better man for you, and that included spoiling you with things, I thought back then, would keep you interested in me. And well, I was really wrong. As I talked with my therapist she made me understand that I can’t go around thinking everyone is after my money, or my fame, and that it wasn’t fair to the people around me that my only reflex was to give them exactly what I feared them for.

Then when I started talking about you, I just couldn’t shut up. And she didn’t stop me even when my time was up. I called her while I was walking home from the grocery store one morning. I just had to tell her how amazing you are. Because you are, and I had to let it out. Then after my third call she stopped me and said ‘Don’t you think there’s someone out there who would rather hear these words than me?’ And that’s when it hit me.

I was so scared of your reaction, of losing you that I decided to hide the existence of a future with you in the back of my mind. It seemed to ease the anxiety for a while, until she asked me that question, and I realised I was probably hurting your feelings in the process. I want to apologise for this, amongst everything else.

So here I am, in damp clothes, sitting on the steps to my trailer, writing this letter. And after my rambling and baby whining, I can finally write it down, three pens later.

Y/N, baby.

I fucking love you.

Everything tag  

@buckmesideways22​ @stanclub​ @buckysbrat​ @eyesfixedonthesun22​ @captainrogerrsbeard​ @loricameback​ @freshwoods @onehotgreasymechanic @wintersoldier1989 @mybloodtypeiscoffee @msruchita @katiew1973 @badassbaker @its-forevermore @its-a-pretty-interesting-wall @musette22 @if-n0t-l8ter-when

[consultingsister-aa]

✩ ceebastian, pls!!

SEND ‘✩’ FOR SHIP THINGS // @asteriananthologies

under read more for some nsfw, tw things but mostly bc it’s really fucking long. 

𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒. Who is more likely to raise their voice? Cecelia, easy. Sebastian pretty must never shouts and if he does, Cee instantly starts crying. It’s like yelling at a puppy, you know something you should because that’s how they learn but it is horrible. Cee shouts all the time though. Who threatens to leave but never actually does? Kind of Cecelia, she doesn’t really ever threaten to leave but she’ll say she met this really nice man and she’s going to go off and live with him now if Seb doesn’t give her enough attention for two minutes. Who actually keeps their word and leaves? Probably Sebastian, never for long, but Cee is sometimes very hard to live with and I think, after a massive fight, he’s way more likely to leave the house for a night or two. She won’t leave because she’ll want to talk it through ( in reality she just wants to keep shouting until he agrees she is right ) but Seb can always tell when it’s not going to go anywhere constructive for either of them and leaves before she has a chance to say something really horrid that she can’t really take back, because she will. Who trashes the house? Neither, although Cee is known to throw things.Do either of them get physical? Cee does, Sebastian never does. Not specifically angry with Seb but Cee lets her anger about lots of things build up until she physically cannot hold it back anymore and, like a child who doesn’t know any better, can become violent. While this is never okay, she’s really not that strong, so can’t do much damage but it does remain something she really needs to work on, it’s just lucky that big strong Seb can take her. How often do they argue/disagree? They get into joke/silly argument a lot but real actual argument happens much less frequently. They can argue about the kids a lot, especially when they’re young because Cee is perfectly happy for the girls to go to private schools and have nannies and basically have the same upbringing she and Seb did but… Seb is not. Who is the first to apologise? Does anyone? Seb will if it’s something he started but most of the time it’s not and Cee just pretends nothing happened because avoidance is a personality trait at this point. Cee will though if Sebastian continues to huff about something but it won’t be a good apology. It’s like, ‘sorry you took that horrible thing I said a bad way?’ 

𝐒𝐄𝐗.Who is on top? Cecelia. Sebastian can be, and Cee likes him to take control but naturally, she likes to control the situation and he likes her to take control. Who has the strangest desires? [ cee voice ] as a non-judgmental couple, none of our desires are strange, sexual desires are a perfectly healthy thing. Seb does though, fo’ sure. Any kinks? They’re both pretty into rough sex or passionate sex. Post-argument sex is a major thing in the Holmes-Moran household. Things get full-on broken as they roll around. Also, Sebastian likes being told what to do and Cee is very bossy so that works out well. Who’s dominant in bed? Cecelia, she falls into it and Sebastian likes it, it’s perfect.Is head ever in the equation? Head is always in the equation, it’s not even a question, it’s the answer. Cee likes it to be known that she enjoys giving head, okay, it’s empowering. If so, who is better at performing it? Cee has zero complaints but she would probably say herself, and I think Sebastian would have a hard time arguing that one. She gives great head! Ever had sex in public? Yes. If Seb is being chatted up at the bar, Cee will just get jealous and drag him into the bathroom, which is probably why Seb started talking to someone at the bar. They’re probably the sort of couple who leave a restaurant table, with friends, to go have sex. They’re horny teenagers who never left the honeymoon stage, it’s not their fault! Who moans the most? Cecelia, you know, unless she’s telling Seb to be louder. Who leaves the most marks? Sebastian, although Cee is known to leave a hickey or two. Who screams the loudest? Cee, she is so loud. Like, Sebastian putting his hand over her mouth loud and if he tells her to be quiet, she’ll be louder because that’s hilarious to her. Who is the more experienced of the two? They’re both slutty equals and proud of it. Do they ‘fuck’ or ‘make love’? Probably fuck more, but can be known to have very loving sex. However, both of those terms made Cee super uncomfortable so they have sex. Rough or soft? A little rough. A lot rough? There is a time and place for everything. How long do they usually last? They both know what they’re doing, they can go for a while however with two children and full-time jobs? A quickie is almost always called for. Is protection used? Cee is the worst at remembering to take the pill, that’s how they ended up with Lia (sorry darling), plus it makes her very depressed. Eventually, she gets an implant or something because they’d go through even her fortune buying condoms every time. Does it ever get boring? No, they’re way too into each other. They also probably like to spice things up sometimes because they’re an old married couple now. Meeting in hotel rooms, pretending they don’t know each other, maybe inviting someone else to join? They know what they’re doing at this point, they’re not the sort to have sex for the sake of it. Where is the strangest place they’d have sex? So one time they had sex in an old office block, which was sort of around the corners from the Vogue offices. Although it’s not really his job much anymore, very occasionally it will fall to Sebastian to deal with some of his employees which leaves him very amped up. Basically, Seb beats a guy up, realises how close he is to his wife, calls her to come over (once everyone else has left) to come have sex because what would be better than hitting someone over and over and then having sex with your wife, thirty floors up, with panoramic views of London? Nothing, nothing it better. 

𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘.Do your muses plan on having children/or have children? Yes, their first daughter was very unplanned however, but their second daughter was planned, badly perhaps. If so, how many children do your muses want/have? They have two girls and since Celia kinda didn’t want… any, that’s quite enough, but she loves her kids very much.  Who is the favorite parent? Ophelia, who the oldest likes her dad best and Viola is a massive mummy’s girl so luckily they each have a child who likes them, most of the time. Who is the authoritative parent? Cecelia is always like, “wait till your dad gets home!” like? he? is in the one who gives out the punishments but it’s almost always Cee, she’s the scary shouty one while the girls have Sebastian wrapped around their little fingers. Who is more likely to allow the children to have a day off school? Cecelia, she takes them out of school a lot even though she thinks a good education is so important, she’s also like, let’s go to New York for the week! And honestly, since money is no object, she knows it’s more important for her children to be informed than… educated since lol what’s a real job. Who lets the children indulge in sweets and junk food when the other isn’t around? Probably Sebastian, Cee does sometimes give up but most of the time she’s a all-orgianic-vegan-bullshit sort of mother. She eats McDonald’s all the time but the children do not. Who turns up to extra curricular activities to support their children? They do both try but they’re pretty busy working parents; probably Sebastian more? But Cee is convinced he only does it because the other mum’s fawn over him whenever he picks Vi up from ballet. Who goes to parent teacher interviews? That’s a joint effort. Mostly because Cee knows they’re going to get in trouble for Lia swearing and starting fights a lot and she wants Sebastian there so she can blame him, because like, for fuck sake she never swears, ever. Who changes the diapers? Cee does because she takes time off with both Viola and Ophelia but if it’s a case of both Cee and Seb at home, she gave birth to them, he can do that. Cee is super dramatic about it as well, she’ll make retching noises till Seb takes over. Who gets up in the middle of the night to feed the baby? Usually Cee, she doesn’t really need as much sleep as a normal human but they try and take turns. It’s different depending on who is working or maybe they swap nights or week “shifts” so it’s fair on them both. Who spends the most time with the children? Cee spends more time with them on a daily basis, because she’s cut down her hours but she also goes away more, so she’ll go away for weeks at a time and then Sebastian is with them, but she picks them up from school mostly. Who packs their lunch boxes? Sebastian gets then ready int he mornings, so he does their lunches. The first time Seb was away for a while Cee was so confused because she thought they just got their lunch at school and has pretty much zero idea Seb packed their lunch. Who gives their children ‘the talk’? Cee does, although sex was never really a taboo subject. Celia always thought it would be more awkward if it was all kept a secret or lies about for years and she really never wanted sex and sexuality to be something that was hidden or something to be ashamed about. She knew from her own experience that without a healthy view on sex, she did things way too young and before she understood what it meant or the physical + mental consequences and didn’t want the same for the girls. Who cleans up after the kids? Celia mostly, but they do have a cleaner. Who worries the most? Cee and Seb are the more chill parents ever and they worried ALL THE TIME. It’s sort of impossible to correlate the two but they’re both massive worriers. To be fair, Seb has a very risky job and with since Cee’s first daughter dies, it understandable. Who are the children more likely to learn their first swear word from? Really it’s hard to know, they both swear as much as each other, but Cee would probably blame Sebastian. 

𝐀𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍.Who likes to cuddle? It’s a mix of both, you would never describe them as cuddly people but they do like to be in each other arms and they can be very affectionate with each other. Who is the little spoon? Cecelia, but it’s more like how much ‘accidental’ bum wiggling can she do before he gets hard. Soz not soz that she’s still a sex-crazed teenager. Who gets naughty in the most inappropriate of places? Cecelia probably initiates more but Seb is never adverse. Again, she gets pure joy out of giving him public boners. Who struggles to keep their hands to themself? Sebastian, although not always sexually. He likes being able to touch Cee, hand on her back, holding into her knee etc. How long can they cuddle until one becomes uncomfortable? Cee likes being held but she is also very big on personal space. She’ll say, “okay, done now” and he has to let go. Who gives the most kisses? Cee, she wants a kiss every minute of every day. What is their favourite non-sexual activity? Horseriding! Or more specifically, teaching their kids how to ride a horse. It was one of the draws to get a house and land in the country.Where is their favourite place to cuddle? Living room couch in the country house. Who is more likely to playfully grope the other? Probably Cee. How often do they get time to themselves? Almost never, they have two kids, one dog, are always hanging out with friends of Cee’s, or work commitments get in the way. Honestly, they’re lucky if they get one date night a month. It sometimes makes Cee sad because they never really got time to be a newly married couple in their own home because Lia was already born but she also loves a chaotic messy busy house so wouldn’t change it. 

𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆.Who snores? Cee does a little bit, like tiny, it’s cute but if you say that? Ultimate denial. Do they share a bed or sleep separately? It depends. They have their bed, in their bedroom, which they share but it Seb is having a bad night, he sleeps in the spare room to avoid waking Cee up or, at worst, hiring her during one of his night terrors. If they sleep together, do they cozy up together or lay far apart? Cozy up at first, then move apart to sleep, Cee really cannot bare being held when she’s trying to sleep. Who talks in their sleep? During nightmares, Seb yells. If it’s a peaceful night, no one. What do they wear to bed? Seb used to wear nothing until the girls were old enough to just barge into their bedroom unannounced, now he at least wears boxers or pyjama bottoms. Cee loves wearing Seb’s shirts to bed but also silky pyjama sets, mood dependent. Are either of your muses insomniacs? To some degree, they both are. If Cee is going through a more manic episode, she can be. Seb though really does suffer at night due to PTSD and often goes out for a run very early in the morning because he can’t sleep. Can sleeping pills be found by the bedside? In the bathroom cabinet, but yes. Do they wrap their limbs around each other or just lay side by side? At night and in the mornings they come back together but while sleeping they lay side by side. Who wakes up with bed hair? Neither, Cee would but she puts her hair in plats. Who wakes up first? Usually, Sebastian but they’re both morning people to some degree. Who prepares breakfast in bed for the other? Sebastian does most weekends. What is their favourite sleeping position? Celia has perfected sleeping on her back to avoid getting wrinkles, so dumb and Seb lies on his front with one arm stretched out to Cee. Who hogs the sheets? Probably Cecelia. No, actually, definitely Cecelia. Do they set an alarm each night? Yes, although Seb is often awake before it. Also with young kids, who needs an alarm clock? It’s usually set for half six and then another at seven.Can a television be found in their bedroom? Yes, but Cee got one of those ones which double as a picture that hangs above the unused fireplace across from their bed. Who has nightmares? They both do and they’re both bad but Seb’s are way more frequent and way worse. Nightmares are a big part of Seb’s PTSD and a real strain in their marriage.Who has ridiculous dreams? Cee, her dreams are insane. Also if she ever dreams that Sebastian is cheating on her, she’ll hold him against him all day, no matter what he says. Who sprawls out and takes up most of the bed? Cecelia, for a woman who doesn’t like to be touching, she certainly makes her way over to Seb’s side of the bed a lot. Who makes the bed? Cee does, it’ll ruin the aesthetic of the room otherwise. What time is bed time? Ten or eleven for Sebastian, sometimes the same for Cee but she quite often uses the time the kids are in bed to catch up on some work. Seb tries his best to pull her away from her emails before twelve though, often physically lifting her to bed. Any routines/rituals before bed? Cee has a Vogue youtube channel worthy skincare routine, Seb brushes his teeth. They do often chat in the bathroom before bed though, it’s like their peaceful catch-up time. Also, Seb checks on the girls once more before bed. Who’s the grumpiest when they wake up? Maybe Cee but she’s quite good at getting up without a fuss. But if she is being very fussy, Seb can bring her round with morning sex. 

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊.Who is the busiest? They are both very busy people but Cecelia can always seem more stressed so might come across as the busiest. She has said she’s cut down her hours since the girls arrived but in reality, she’s trying to shove the same amount of work into less time.Who rakes in the highest income? Sebastian, Cee is well paid and is probably worth more (also probably earns more from investments) but Sebastian is raking it in as king of crime. Are any of your muses unemployed? These workaholics? No. Who takes the most sick days? [ cee voice ] what the fuck is a sick day? Neither. Who is more likely to turn up late to work? Again, neither. Who sucks up to their boss? Ugh, Cee can but she’s very opinionated at work and that’s one of the reasons her boss likes her. Sebastian doesn’t really have a boss. What are their jobs? Cecelia is fashion editor at British Vogue, eventually becoming Creative Director. Sebastian is… CEO of Moriarty Co. I guess? King of Crime also works though. Who stresses the most? Cee. Shoes are much more stressful than crime. Do your muses enjoy or despise their careers/occupations? Celia really really loves her job, like, would die for her job, is killing herself for her job. Sebastian does to a point, his work is hard and he’s not overly interested in being the boss. He also just doesn’t want to have someone dictating what he can and can’t do. He’s happier when he can take a step back from it, his job isn’t his life or his passion, while Cee does not understand that at all. Are your muses financially stable? Very. Their finances also are not that dependent on their jobs; Celia has various trusts and Sebastian was a good saver when working for Jim. 

𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄.Who does the washing? Sebastian. Who takes out the trash? Sebastian. Who does the ironing? Sebastian. Who does the cooking? I’ll give you three guesses. Sebastian. Who is more likely to burn the house down just trying? Cecelia. It’s not even an inability to cook, it’s just a complete lack of interest and a tendency to get distracted while cooking. Who is messier? Cee kicks off her shoes at the door when she gets home and Seb trips over them every time. Although Cee really does hate a messy house, she just… doesn’t really keep it tidy. She leaves her books and mugs of tea and paperwork and clothes everywhere.Who leaves the toilet roll empty? Actually, this might be Seb. Who leaves their dirty clothes on the floor? Cecelia. Who forgets to flush the toilet? Neither, usually one of the girls. Who is the prankster around the house? Kind of neither, although Seb is more likely to help the girls with something to get Cee. Celia do dumb shit occasionally but not often. Who loses the car keys when it comes time to go somewhere? Cecelia, “fuck, they’re in my other handbag!” Or Vi took them to add to her collection of shiny things. Who mows the lawn? Sebastian, with his top off, because his wife is watching. Who answers the telephone? Whoever is closets, usually Cee. Who the hell would be calling for Sebastian, he has no friends. Also, his work people never call the house. Who does the vacuuming? Sebastian. But honestly, I think they have a cleaner. Who does the groceries? Celia usually does an online shop, if they actually go to a supermarket they usually go together. Sunday family outing at Waitrose, super fun. Who takes the longest to shower? Cecelia. She can shower quickly but she loves a long hot shower. Even if they have a shower together, which they often do, Cee will be the first to get in and the last to get out. Seb turns on the hot tap to hurry her up sometimes. Who spends the most time in the bathroom? Cecelia, without a doubt. 

𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂.Is money a problem? No but only because Cee is so bloody wealthy, she still spends way too much. I feel like Seb does get on at her for spending money, but not because they’re short of it or because it’s his and she’s spending it but just because she buys the dumbest things or another pair of shoes; no one should be able to spend eight grande in a day but… How many cars do they own? A few. They have a family car, which is probably a Range Rover or something of that ilk and Cee has a couple cars in storage, she’s a bit of a speed demon and then Sebastian probably has more than one. Basically a lot for a woman who pretty much always gets a town car to work and for a couple who live in London. Do they own their home or do they rent? They own both their homes. Do they live near the coast or deep in the countryside? Deep in the countryside. Do they live in the city or in the country? Both! They have a home in London which is sort of their main house because that’s where they work and where the girls go to school but they have the country house; their favourite house and that feels more like home these days. Do they enjoy their surroundings? Seb is happier in the country, Cee is marginally happier in the city but loves being in the country; that feels more like home to her. What’s their song? So cheesy but, Taylor Swift’s You Belong With Me. From the good old days of Cee trying to convince he would be better off with her, rather than Jim. She will still dramatically sing along to this song, prancing around Seb, making up new lyrics so they fit in better with her and Jim, “ALL THIS TIME HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW BAAABBYYY!” What do they do when they’re away from each other? Seb and Cee are pretty independent people, they’re happiest when they’re together but Celia enjoys her time away from husband and kids as much as any normal person. She likes going out with friends and she loves going to Paris and New York for fashion week. Seb gets more into going out for drinks and guy chat with Aidan, John and Mike. They text a lot though, little life updates, teasing each other, mostly flirting with each other like teenagers who just fell in love though. Where did they first meet? A bookshop called Topping’s Books in London. How did they first meet? Sebastian offers her out Romeo and Juliet and asked if this is what she was looking for, Cee said she was looking for Hamlet. That conversation became one about which Shakespeare play was the best, which became a coffee date, which became a dinner date. This would have all been very cute if it wasn’t a clever plan that Seb and Jim had come up with to get to Sherlock’s sister and use her against the detective. Who spends the most money when out shopping? Easily Cecelia, easily. Seb knows she’s had a down day if he trips over Dior shopping bags left in the hall. Her card has no limit. Who’s more likely to flash their assets? Cecelia, she would flash Seb across a room. Who finds it amusing when the other trips over? Both, although Cee looks like a baby giraffe learning to walk when she’s drunk and you can’t not laugh at that shit. Any mental issues? How long you got? Both Celia and Seb suffer from PTSD, although Cee has better control, or at least sees a therapy more often. Cee also suffers from bouts of manic depression and has a lot of anger issues, so does Seb but they tend to come out in different ways. Cee and Seb, and their children, are both shelter and storm for each other. Who’s terrified of bugs? Neither, but Cee does get creeped out when they’re in the house. Who kills the spiders around the house? Cee takes real joy in crushing spiders, mostly when she imagines they’re Moriarty in the middle of his web. However, she also puts cups over them sometimes and waits for Seb to get home and deal with it. Their favourite place? The country house, with the house full, probably in the garden. Who pays the bills? Mycroft managed Cee’s bills for most of her like, or at least managed the accountant who managed her bills, and this went on for about a year until Seb found out. He was asking about a discrepancy with a bill and Cee just shrugged and told him to ask Myc. Obviously, he wasn’t having Mycroft running his household so now Sebastian does.Do they have any fears for their future? All the fears. All the normal fears for parents plus a whole host of others because of Seb’s work and Cee’s family. Sebastian and Cecelia aren’t exactly your dream parents mental health-wise and they worry about how that is going to affect the girls when they grow up. It’s also hard to see Vi and Lia growing up and not think of Charlotte and how it’s possible they might suffer the same fate because of Seb’s work. Who’s more likely to surprise the other with a fancy dinner? Cecelia! Kids in bed or staying with Mary and John, she’s maybe cooked, or maybe… got someone to cook? A night in just to themselves, you can’t beat it. Well, actually, a night in Paris would beat it but…. Who uses up all of the hot water? I would say Cecelia but I feel like she made sure they had a heating system where that wasn’t possible, it’s 2020 people, that can’t still be a thing?Who’s the tallest? Sebastian, he’s over six foot and Cee is just under. Who’s more likely to just randomly hop into the shower with the other? Cecelia, maybe, but they quote often shower together. It saves time, plus they’re wet and naked? Score. Who wanders around in their underwear? Neither, not with kids running around. Who sings the loudest when singing along to the radio? Cecelia, although sometimes they duet and it’s truly awful. They don’t even sing, they butcher classic songs. What do they tease each other about? Other people fancying them, constantly. Seb is always winding up Cee, telling her about all the mum’s at school staring at him. Cee sends him selfies with young hot models with things like, “thinking about trading you in for this.” Who is more likely to cringe at the other’s fashion sense at times? Cee likes the way Seb dresses, so oddly, for all her fashion awards, maybe Seb? Not often, if ever, but maybe she’ll wear something a little out there and he’ll question it. Cringing is a bit strong though. Do they have mutual friends? Seb has adopted Cee’s friends because he didn’t have any, sorry Seb! Although they did both know Mikey, who is Cee’s assistant’s husband but also owns the private London gym that Sebastian goes to. Mikey and Seb weren’t really friends beforehand though, that came from hanging out through Cee and Syd and the children. Now they quite often hang out with Mary and John. John and Sebastian get on really well. Who crushed first? [ cee voice ] ‘Bas did, obviously, look at me? (but also, Cee did). Any alcohol or substance-related problems? Sebastian has had his problems in the past and occasionally, they creep into his present. Celia’s drinking and drugs problem are still pretty prevalent, although she’s high functioning. Although she is aware she needs help, she doesn’t actively seek it because she knows to come off drugs and drink will be very hard. Who is more likely to stumble home, drunk, at 3am? Cecelia. Although Seb is more likely to be called out to come to pick her up, drunk, at 3am, demanding they stop at Mcdonalds. Who swears the most? Sebastian but not by much, their both bad for it. 

[teenbasher]

Swimming Lessons

TW: physical, and emotional abuse of a minor, ptsd, near drowning, trauma mention.

Painful,awful,horrible headcanon (post Alex drowning) on how Augustus would try to nearly drown Seb after the accident at the lake "teaching him to swim"

(Will add link to previous fic where Alex dies below to keep the timeline somewhat organized)

If I am going to hell this fan fic is the reason why.

"There you are!"

Augustus rough voice startles the child as Sebastian tries huddling up small under the kitchen sink, hiding.

Thinking this time his father wouldn't find him Sebastian tried his best to stay still and quiet until the man had left again, but to his luck, Augustus was looking specifically for him today.

Grabbing him roughly by the wrists he yanks the boy out from his hidding spot, it's clear by the frown on his father's face, Sebastian is not going to enjoy whatever comes next.

At the pull and its force settles on his small body, a small, anxious squeak escapes the five almost six year old upsetting his dad.

"Shut up!"

Augustus barks instantly.

His father's harsh tone stingins his ears as much as his hands against his skin did.

Sebastian's eyes water and his lip quivers, trying his hardest not to make another sound, but more importantly, not to cry.

He always got punished for crying, me more he cried the severerity of the punishment increased.

Augustus terrified him, specially when he was the only thing in the room for the bastard to take his anger out on during his rages.

Starting to be dragged out the room, the boy's stomach hurts knowing going with his dad would hurt.

trying to put some resistance, he steps on the soles of his sneakers as hard as he could, creating traction between the wooden kitchen floor and the rubber bottoms of his shoes.

But having no time for this nonsense Augustus simply lifts him up by the tight grip he got on the boy's frail wrists; swinging him above the floor momentarily as Sebastian instinctively kicks in protest.

Stopping instantly; as he feels the increasing pain from his father's grip, Sebastian whimpers, unable to contain the tears this time.

A single tear rolls down his cheek. Sniffling and blinking rapidly, trying to stop more from falling the boy focuses his vision again. And his father's cold eyes pierce through him momentarily, as they meet his own.

The short few seconds he suffers the soules stare of the old man feels like hours to him making him feel unsure about himself.

Being so focused on not blinking and holding Augustus' gaze for as long as need be to show his father he was not the cry baby he thought he was.

He can't help but flinch at the sudden and surprising feeling of his cheeks being pressed together until his lips form an uncomfortable and awkard, squished "O" shape from his father's strong fingers pressing his face forcefully.

"You know, not to cry"

The old sadistic slow and calculated voice sends a shiver down Sebastian's spine.

"I have not, yet given you a reason to....."

He continues.

Sebastian's eyes widen and his body unvolutarily shifts as he feels his arms starting to go numb from the lack of circulation going through them, thanks to the awkward position his father has him pinned in.

Trying to nod he whimpers quietly & breaths shakily, learning to remain as calm as he can when his father is in his moods.

After a moment of silence Augustus speaks again.

" 'right, good"

His lips twisting into a wicket smirk, releasing the boy's cheeks.

"Today, Sebastian, I have a surprise for you, we are spending some, much needed quality time together, son"

The word son hardens the man's face for a slight second as he shifts the boy, releasing his wrists, instead sliding him against his side, wrapping an arm around Sebastian's hip.

Confused and still, not very comfortable the boy's little hands imediately go to his wrists, rubbing at the reddened marks left against them, fear settling in.

Shifting as little as possible the child frowns as his dad begins walking, carrying him out of the house through the kitchen's back door, out towards the small forests surrounding the back of the property.

Being too afraid to ask where they where going Sebastian focuses on the ground, observing the worn on his father's boots and the details on the grass they pass.

After some fifteen minutes of walking Augustus stops, and puts Sebastian down.

Still holding on to the boy he turns him to face him, not allowing him to look behind him, just yet.

"Don't turn around, is a surprise, I want you to keep looking at me until I tell you to, okay, Ale- Sebastian."

Hearing the almost mention of his brother's name instead of his own Sebastian's face drops, making his stomach twist.

"Okay, dad" the child whispers anxiously, looking up at his father.

"I need you to strip down to your underclothes okay?"

Augustus instructs him calmly.

"Wha-"

Frowning Sebastian opens his mouth to protest, but closes it imediately before he triggerinh the old man, knowing better than to question him.

Obeying the order, he nods slowly as his hands anxiously pull off his top, offering it to him. Not wanting to get in trouble for dropping it on the grass & getting it dirty.

Once he was stripped Augustus watches him momentarily, picking him up.

"Alright, Sebastian...."

He says, walking him forward.

"Today, I will be teaching you....."

As his dad spoke Sebastian looks around, finally seeing where they are headed, and the closer they get to the pond the colder his blood runs, as panick settles in his chest and he sinks deeper into his father's arms.

Hyper focusing on his emotions now, his little hands grip whatever they can of their father's clothing as firmly as poosible, foolishly thinking that as long as he stays close to Augustus he is safe, half listening to his dad speak; only tuning in again as the man says.....

"To swim"

And moments later, before the thought clicks in his mind he's tossed mid air towards the pond, landing in, making a large splash.

The moment his body submerges under the water, he freaks out and begins to desperately trash around, opening his mouth, trying to scream to his dad, to pull him out, to save him.

But unsurprisingly Augustus just stands there watching his remaining twin son struggle to breath.

Crouching down enough, he reaches into the water, gripping the boy by whatever part of his body he can grab wrapping his hand, tightly aroung his left upper arm, lifting him out the water.

Taking the boy a moment to realize he was not in the pond anymore, he blinks and coughs violently, expelling as much water as he can out of his system, trying to remember how to breath as he settled.

Before fully coming to, a sharp slap to the right side of his face, causes his ear to ring and his eyes to overflow with tears bringing his attention to his father as he tells him something he could not yet understand, still trying to calm down from the fright and listen, misserably reaching for Augustus despite him hurting him, just looking for some sort of familiar comfort.

He is betrayed once more as Augustus drops him in the water again without warning.

And again the small boy struggles to keep his head afloat and breath without swallowing buckets of water.

By the fourth time Augustus pulls him out the water monetarily Sebastian is exhausted and begs him with tears streaming down his face to take him home.

"Da-ddy.....pl-ease....stop, take me hoME......I'll be a good boy Daddy ple-ase"

He sobs, terrified, confused and tired beyond belief, at the mercy of his sadistic father who has decided his mission in life is to destroy him.

Without a word Augustus drops him in the water again but this time he holds him under the surface for a couple of moments until he feels the boy has had enough.

Pulling out the exhausted, semi consious kid a final time.

The man lays him on the ground, watching him before compressing his chest, until he comes to a little and coughs violently, eventually vomiting water.

Lifting him a final time after. Augustus tosses him over his shoulder, finally carrying him home. Passing out on the walk back, Sebastian wakes up hours later, in bed, in dried clothes, new bruising on his face, wrists and chest and the rawest throat he has ever felt, tingles.

A fresh and deepened sense of terror of both his father and the water sit on his chest as his eyes water and finally being alone again he can cry.