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stillwintering · 1 year ago

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All's Fair in Love and Politics (a modern Nessian AU - where Rhys is running for president)

Summary: In the ruthless arena of politics, victory demands risking everything, even one's own heart. Rhysand has his eyes on the presidency. Feyre convinces her estranged sister, Nesta, to join the political campaign. Nesta and Cassian find themselves forging an unexpected bond as the campaign intensifies. But can their budding romance survive the treacherous waters of modern political warfare?

Read on AO3 / Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5

CW for this chapter: discussions of parental death

Chapter 6

"Balthazar Alvarez, ma'am," A fresh-faced young man introduced himself to Nesta. He was tall and lanky, with tanned skin and dark hair. His eyes were wide as he shook Nesta's hand. "Thank you for coming."

Cassian clasped the young man by his shoulders, smiling at him fondly. "Baz here has been recruiting volunteers for us in Iowa."

"Ms. Archeron," Baz said, looking at her nervously. "Would you like to go over the information packets that we'll be sending out to the local activists?"

"Please," she said. "Call me Nesta." She accepted the open laptop he handed her.

Baz nodded automatically. "Yes, ma'am."

"The voters in Iowa don't really know anything about the Congressman except that he's a Starborn," Nesta said, her eyes scanning through the screen. "We need to lead with the basic -- his biography, his values. The Democratic base needs to connect with his story first. What do you know about Rhysand, Baz?"

The young man shifted on his feet. "The Congressman is a decorated military veteran," Baz started. "He believes in immigration reform, pro-choice, universal healthcare, more stringent gun laws -- "

Nesta held up a hand. "Anyone can read about where Rhys stands on the issues by looking up his Wikipedia page," she stopped him. "But what do you know about him as a person?"

"Well, I've never met him in person, ma'am," Baz replied sheepishly.

Nesta looked the young man up and down. He wore an ill-fitting blue dress shirt, like something he bought in a department store without trying on different sizes. "Did you just graduate college, Baz?" she asked.

"This spring, ma'am," Baz confirmed. "I majored in political science at the University of Chicago."

"You could have worked for any number of political campaigns this cycle. There are many more established candidates," Nesta continued. "So why did you choose Rhysand Starborn?"

Baz considered and then replied, "Because the Congressman seems like he wants to do something new. He seems like someone who will lead with integrity. I think he's in politics for the right reasons, like he actually has principles."

"Good," Nesta approved. "That's what we need to communicate. When you're meeting with the local activists, start with that." She hands back the laptop.

Cassian grinned. "This is why we need you out here," he said. "Let's get started."

---

Over the afternoon, Nesta met with more volunteers and staffers. They discussed field strategy and planned campaign events through the summer and fall. Nesta asked for a litany of changes to canvassing materials and campaign literature. After the initial nervousness wore off, Baz demonstrated himself to be a capable and sharp operative.

Cassian took a late meeting with the leadership of the Iowa Democratic Party and left Nesta in charge of the field office. She held a volunteer training session over takeout. After she sent everyone home after dinner and Cassian was nowhere to be seen, Nesta called a taxi to take her back to the hotel.

It was dark when Nesta opened the door to her hotel room. The room's stillness enveloped her as she kicked off her heels and laid down in bed. She was tired from talking all day and meeting new people. She wanted to go to sleep early but found that she was restless. Finally, Nesta decided that she needed to move her body after, essentially, sitting all day. She fished her running gear out of her bag, smiling to herself that at least her best friends would be happy that she was training.

There was a paved trail along the Des Moines River, just a few blocks down the road from the hotel. The city had settled down for the evening. Storefronts were closed, and the roads were vacant. It was peaceful as she headed down towards the lit path along the riverfront, launching her body into movement.

Nesta had only run a mile when she started to feel out of breath. She frowned as she slowed to a walk, panting heavily and feeling out of shape. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots a tall man running on an adjacent trail. The long black hair was unmistakable.

"You couldn't sleep either?" Cassian called to her. His pace was brisque as he made the turn to meet her.

Nesta felt her face flush, even though she was already red from the exercise. "Do you always run at night?" she asked him instead.

Cassian's voice was steady, betraying no hint of fatigue. "I try to make time for as many workouts as I can," he answered.

"Of course you do," Nesta muttered.

Cassian slowed to jog in place near her. He was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, his muscles subtly flexed with each movement. He cocked his head towards the path leading to a bridge in the distance. "Mind if I join you?" he asked.

"I'll only slow you down," she said quickly.

Cassian smiled. "It's not a problem."

"Really," Nesta's heart was pounding. "You should go ahead."

"Come on, Nes," he was still smiling, but his eyes were issuing a challenge. "I won't show you up."

Nesta looked down the trail towards the lights from the bridge sparkling in the river water. It must only be a mile away. She knew continuing the run would be grueling, but she also couldn't resist the tacit challenge.

"Don't call me that," Nesta said as she propelled herself forward.

Cassian fell in step beside her, a soft chuckle escaping him as they ran side by side. Nesta willed herself to put one foot ahead of the other, even though every muscle in her body screamed in protest. She tried to remember the last time she had a real cardio workout -- it must have been months ago. The half-marathon she had committed to suddenly felt daunting.

Cassian didn't try to overtake her, allowing her to set the pace for both of them. Nesta did not falter. She couldn't let him know how utterly unprepared she was for this run. When they finally reached the bridge, Nesta felt like she was about to collapse.

"We can walk back to the hotel," Cassian offered.

Nesta's heart pounded in her ears, her body aching and roaring with exertion. Nesta shook her head. She didn't want him to have the satisfaction of seeing her weak and defeated from a measly two-mile run. She turned back the way they'd come.

Cassian followed wordlessly and matched her pace again. She could see a smirk on the edges of her vision. It irritated her, but it was also the push she needed to return to the trailhead. Only then did Nesta allow herself to bend over, bracing her hands over her knees, panting heavily. She felt like she was going to pass out, having pushed her body to its limits.

"Good run," Cassian commented, stopping beside her. He didn't even break a sweat -- the bastard.

Nesta flipped him off in reply.

Cassian chuckled and pushed a water bottle into her hand. "Drink up, sweetheart," he said.

She gave him a scathing glare that would have cut down a lesser man. But she was too out of breath to form words. She took his water bottle, tipped it back, and drained the whole thing.

He watched her throat work as she drank. "You're crossing your arms too much when you run," Cassian said, glancing away. "It tires you out faster."

"And you're some kind of running expert?" Nesta choked out, still breathless.

"I am actually," he looked back at her with a cocky grin. "We could train together, if you want."

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and returned the empty bottle. "No thanks," she replied, almost reflexively.

Nesta started back towards the hotel.

---

Cassian had the undeniable sense that he had been dismissed. But the trouble was that they were staying at the same hotel, so he trailed behind her across the street. He could tell Nesta had pushed herself to finish that run -- that unyielding determination, it was captivating.

"How did the volunteer meeting go?" Cassian asked as he fell back into step beside Nesta.

"Fine," she replied, her breathing still ragged.

Cassian forced himself to keep his eyes ahead, not daring his gaze to linger over Nesta's body. She was clad in form-fitting leggings and a sleek racerback top, her skin glowing with a warm flush and her chest rising and falling rapidly from the run. The sight almost threatened to overwhelm him.

They walked in silence for a whole city block.

"I came back after my meeting," Cassian finally said, clearing his throat. "But the office was shut."

"Was there something you needed?"

"Not really," Cassian replied, trying to explain. "I wanted to check whether you had a ride. Since I took the truck."

"I called a taxi."

They reached the entrance of the hotel, where Nesta's breathing had become more even, though her cheeks still bore a rosy glow. Her hair shimmered like burnished gold under the artificial lights. A single drop of sweat traced a path from her neck down to her chest, disappearing beneath the neckline of her tank top. Cassian swallowed, feeling a rush of warmth despite the cool night air.

"Is there anything else?" she asked, a hint of impatience in her voice.

Cassian, momentarily lost for words, suggested, "You should stretch now or else you'll be extra sore tomorrow." He instinctively moved into his post-workout routine.

Nesta seemed to hesitate, her eyes darting towards the hotel lobby before settling back on him. She then gracefully sunk into a deep lunge, mirroring his movements. Cassian silently led her through a sequence of stretches.

"Happy?" she asked as they wrapped up.

Cassian only grinned. "You'll thank me tomorrow."

"I doubt that," Nesta said, turning on her heels and walking into the lobby.

Cassian trailed behind her again. They reached the elevator bay, where Nesta stepped into an already waiting elevator. She looked back at him, a question in her eyes, "Which floor?"

Cassian stood frozen at the threshold. The confined space of the elevator suddenly struck him as dangerously intimate. He felt an urge to close the gap between the two of them.

"I'll take the stairs," he quickly declared.

"Show off," Nesta retorted as the elevator doors closed, separating them.

Cassian turned towards the stairwell with his heart threatening to leap out of his chest.

---

The following day, Nesta felt aching throughout her body. She groaned as she climbed into the truck for their trip to Cedar Rapids. Cassian smirked at her knowingly but held his tongue.

They quickly settled into a driving routine: Cassian got them drinks and snacks, and then Nesta worked on her laptop while he drove. Cassian let Nesta pick the music. She liked that Cassian never seemed to mind the silence between them -- he mostly left her to her work, keeping the truck steady.

It wasn't until halfway through the drive, when Nesta shut her laptop, that Cassian spoke up, "Have you ever been to this part of Iowa before?"

Nesta stowed her laptop away. "Only once, as a child," she said, a tad wistful. Nesta watched the endless fields of young corn stretched out around them.

"Really?" Cassian reached to turn down the music.

"I must have just finished the fifth grade. Feyre was barely starting school," Nesta replied, letting the memory flood through her.

"What brought you all out here?" Cassian asked, his eyes sparked with curiosity.

Nesta leaned towards the passenger side window, taking in the monotonous green landscape under the vast, indifferent sky. Cassian's presence beside her was warm and comforting. "That summer, our father, in a rare moment of whimsy, decided to take us all on a cross-country road trip from Virginia to California," Nesta began, voice soft and contemplative. "It was a few years before our mother's passing. She despised road trips; I've never understood why she came. And the three of us -- Feyre, Elain, and I -- were crammed in the backseat, squabbling and bickering nonstop for ten days. These cornfields... they haven't changed a bit."

Cassian nodded, his voice tender, "Must've been quite a trip, with three kids in tow."

Turning towards him, Nesta's eyes held something like a flicker of old pain. "Did Feyre ever speak to you about how our mother died?"

"Feyre mentioned it was cancer," Cassian replied quietly. "And that she was too young to remember much."

The truck continued its steady course, carving through the expanse of the blue sky and green fields. Nesta fell silent for a moment. She didn't know why she had revealed so much to him. Except, Nesta knew it wasn't cancer that took their mother, not really.

"Feyre was..." Nesta stopped herself, not sure how to continue.

Cassian gave her an encouraging smile. "Your mother, what was she like?" he asked, his voice a whisper against the backdrop of the road's hum.

Nesta sighed, a sound filled with memory and loss. "She was... complicated. Strong in her own way, yet fragile towards the end," Nesta said. She hadn't talked about her mother in so long that the words were tumbling out of her.

"Our parents did not have a happy marriage, you see, so our mother, she had poured all her energy into us. She was very demanding..." Nesta continued. "Expected nothing less than perfection. We went to the best schools, had the best tutors. But it was never enough. Especially after the financial crisis, our father lost everything, and all his businesses folded. We were -- we lost our house, I think that was the last straw. She died shortly after."

"I'm sorry, Nesta," Cassian glanced at her with empathy etched on his face. "Losing a parent when you were so young, that's a lot for anyone to handle."

Nesta scanned the horizon in the distance. She suddenly felt like that little girl in the backseat of her family's car, looking out at a world too big and too confusing to understand.

Nesta had often found herself thinking about that year when her mother died. It was as if their mother's illness, her passing, it was a fulcrum on which the sisters' lives were balanced. After she was gone, everything tilted, and Nesta felt like she had been scattered, trying to find her footing in a world that was off-kilter ever since.

"And what was your family like?" Nesta looked away from the empty landscape outside.

"I never knew my parents," Cassian replied, frowning. "My mother gave me up when I was a baby. I grew up being passed from one foster home to another. In a way, I had many families, or maybe none at all."

Nesta's eyes widened. "I'm sorry. I had no idea," she said. "Did you ever want to find your birth mother?"

"I tried when I was old enough," Cassian said, his voice detached. "But she had died shortly after giving birth to me -- in a car accident. From what I could piece together... my birth father was an alcoholic. I think maybe that's why she had given me up. He was driving drunk when they crashed into a highway barrier at night."

"I'm so sorry," Nesta repeated, not sure what else she could say. "It must have been a difficult childhood."

"I turned out okay," Cassian shrugged, turning slightly to give her a reassuring smirk. "The Starborns sort of took me in during college."

Nesta took a moment to process the information. She watched Cassian's right hand drop to sit on top of the gear shift. "Do you ever think about what life would've been like if things had been different? If your mother hadn't..." Her voice trailed off, not needing to complete the question.

Cassian turned to her, his eyes a storm of gold and green. "All the time," he replied. "I wonder who we would have been, and the choices we would have made. Don't you?"

Nesta nodded, finding her throat dry. Unable to speak, she only reached over and rested her hand on top of his. Her hands looked so small and delicate against his. Cassian went wholly still. His other hand clutched the steering wheel, and his eyes remained straight ahead as if afraid to look down at their joined hands.

"Thank you," Nesta finally said, taking her hand back and letting the soft silence envelop them once again for the remainder of the trip.

#fanfic #a court of silver flames #a court of thorns and roses #acosf #acotar #cassian #nessian #nesta #nesta archeron #nesta x cassian #all's fair in love and politics #acotar fanfiction #rhysand #feyre archeron #acomaf #acowar #modern au #political au

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lavender-lotion · 1 year ago

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hotchreid hospital au?

ugh I LOVE this idea I don't know why I haven't gone back to it yet!! here's a lil teaser from my doc!!

The doctor’s eyes were apologetic. “Agent Hotchner was shot in the hip. The bullet nicked his spleen and didn’t exit. He’ll have to go into surgery in order for his sleep to be repaired before the damage gets worse and for the bullet to be removed.” He took a breath, and Reid copied the exaggerated movement of his chest as he tried to sooth his own burning lungs. “It will be a routine surgery, and we don’t foresee any complications.” “Then why aren’t you in there?” Prentiss snapped, her back straight and shoulder’s tense. “We need someone to authorize the surgery as Agent Hotchner is unconscious.” “Then I authorize the damn surgery!” she cried, her voice strained. “Get in there and help him.” “Ma’am, you can’t. We’re currently attempting to reach out to Agent Hotchner’s healthcare proxy--” “That’s me,” Reid breathed, stepping forward as he forced himself to swallow the painful lump in his throat. The doctor looked at him with wide eyes, surprise evident in his expression. He pulled his clipboard up and flipped through it, asking, “Sorry, who are you?” Reid swallowed, again, and grabbed the lobe of his ear between his forefinger and thumb. “Spencer Walter Reid. P-Please just show me what I need to sign.” “Pretty boy, what?” Morgan asked, but the sound was distant as he stepped up to the Doctor and glared at his right eyebrow. “I’m his husband and his healthcare proxy. Please hurry up.”

send me a title from this WIP game and i’ll tell you what it’s about!

#lavenderlotion #my writing #criminal minds #cm #hotchreid #spencer reid

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forabeatofadrum · 1 year ago

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Je tik pred vami - a Ljubim te companion piece

Summary: Quinn Fabray has a lot more free time. Her boyfriend Blaine has moved to the other side of the world, but Quinn will be fine. Unfortunately, Denise Jackson-Smith, the daughter of a senator, just pisses her off. When Quinn keeps running into Denise, she can't help but despise her. After all, that's all that there is to it. Quinn despises Denise, right?

Notes: Welcome, welcome, welcome! This is the Quinn companion piece to Ljubim te, my Klaine Advent 2022 fic. In that fic, you learn that Quinn has fallen in love with someone named Denise and this is their love story. I really loved writing it, because I like writing Quinn in this AU and it was fun to explore how Quinn became who she is.

I also recommend that you read Plucking Daisy Petals by @thnxforknowingme/hundredindecisions, which delves a bit more into how Quinn and Blaine got together, so if you're also interested in this Quinn, read that as well!

The title is Slovene for "It's right in front of you". After all, Denise has been there this entire time. Enjoy!

AO3

Denise Jackson-Smith is insufferable.

Quinn almost regrets coming here. Ever since Quinn and Blaine moved to LA, she’s been going to these Women’s Political Collective meetings. Quinn isn’t in politics, but she’s still interested, and this organisation welcomes everyone who is passionate enough.

Quinn loves being here. She meets a lot of cool and inspirational women and they discuss topics that interest her, like reproductive rights, trans healthcare and equal pay.

Now that Blaine’s planning on going to Ljubljana, Quinn has a lot more time on her hands. One day, she’s at the meeting talking with some other women about what foundation is the best to use, when the door opens and another woman walks in.

She’s stunning and she carries herself with a lot of confidence. Her long dark hair is tied in a neat ponytail and that suit looks amazing on her. Quinn can’t help but stare.

“Who is that?” she asks another person.

“That’s the daughter of senator Jackson-Smith.”

Of course Quinn’s heard of senator Jackson-Smith. He’s a Democratic senator from California and Blaine likes his work, since Blaine says we need more senators from Asian descent. Quinn did know that the senator has a daughter, but she’s out of the public eye.

So why is she here?

“Her name is Denise,” another person murmurs, “Denise Jackson-Smith. That’s a mouthful.”

Just then, Denise turns around and she sees the group of women staring at her. She smiles and waves before turning away again. For some reason, it makes Quinn’s blood boil.

“Did you hear that Denise Jackson-Smith is in town?”

Quinn suppresses an eye roll. Why is her manager bringing this up?

“Yes, I did,” she replies, “We’ve met briefly.”

“Her father is the senator,” the manager continues with a smile on her face. Quinn recognises a smile like that. The manager sees an opportunity.

“I know. I ran into her at the Women’s Political Collective, after all.”

“See, that’s why I asked you to come here,” the manager’s smile widens, “From all of our employees, you’re the most politically active.”

“So?” Is she? That is kind of sad.

“Senator Jackson-Smith is a huge fan of our circularity and sustainability plan and he’d like to know more, so he is actually coming to visit our company.”

“That’s great. What does this have to do with Denise?”

“Ms. Jackson-Smith will accompany her father,” the manager answers, “But she is out of the picture, since she isn’t a politician herself. I hear that she’s graduated from a flimsy art college somewhere.”

Quinn does not like the mocking tone. Quinn initially wanted to study drama, and even though she loves business and doesn’t regret her change in major, she knows the arts are important. But Quinn bites her tongue, as usual. That’s all she can do, right?

“I still don’t follow, ma’am.”

“We need someone to entertain her. So tomorrow, you and Ms. Jackson-Smith will have brunch together.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’ve already met. It’s even more perfect than I thought!”

“But-” But I can’t stand her, Quinn wants to add. There are some people you just can’t stand from the moment you meet them, and Denise is one of them for Quinn. Quinn remembers being overwhelmed by Denise’s looks. Something about Denise just ticks Quinn off and sure, Quinn can’t really put a finger on it, but that’s how it is.

“Quinn,” the manager has a serious tone, “This is important. Being backed by an influential senator can help our plans immensely.”

Quinn wants to say that they are an outdoors-wear company and yes, they use recycled material, and yes, they want to patent a business plan about sustainability, but she’s not certain if the endorsement of a senator is the thing they need. Or vice versa. Doesn’t the senator have better things to do than visit a company?

She knows when to shut up, though. Quinn can feel those things.

“You will have brunch with his daughter. End of discussion.”

Quinn considers setting herself on fire, because that’s already how it feels.

She’s been having brunch with Denise for the past twenty minutes, and she feels like she’s on fire. The two of them sit in an awkward silence, because the conversation about the weather has dried up.

Quinn quickly checks her phone for the time. She knows Blaine’s already arrived in Ljubljana and while he’s off seeing new things, Quinn is stuck here.

“If it’s any consolation, I am also having a bad time,” Denise says flatly.

“Are you?”

“Well, you’re not much of a conversationalist,” Denise says and Quinn feels offended.

“I just don’t have a lot to say to you.”

Denise huffs.

“You didn’t have to ask me for brunch, you know?” she says and Quinn blinks in shock.

“Trust me, I didn’t ask you.”

Now, it’s Denise’s turn to look shocked.

“You didn’t?” the slight menace in her voice is gone.

“No, why would I?” Quinn sounds affronted. She genuinely doesn’t want to spend her free time with Denise Jackson-Smith.

Denise frowns and she looks down at her plate.

“Because usually everyone tries to get to my father by befriending me,” Denise admits and Quinn does feel for her when she hears it.

“Then, full disclosure, that is what’s happening,” Quinn says and she quickly explains what’s led to this situation. Denise looks annoyed, but also grateful for Quinn’s honestly.

“You’re the first person to be honest with me,” she says as a confirmation, “Not only that, but you’re the first person to be rude to me.”

“I beg your pardon?” Quinn asks.

“Usually, people are fake nice to me in order to get on my good side,” Denise explains.

Quinn scoffs.

“Believe me. I’ve been that fake person. I have no interest in that anymore.”

“Oh?” Denise leans closer. There is a curious glint in her eyes.

Quinn takes a sip from her glass and she looks back. She doesn’t owe Denise anything, but what does she have to lose? Denise appreciates honesty and so does Quinn. It’s a relief to not hold up a façade anymore.

“You should’ve seen me in high school,” Quinn laments. Then she proceeds to tell Denise the truth about what kind of petty girl she was. Quinn was mean-spirited and manipulative. She would do anything to be the head bitch in charge at her private all-girls school. She would be fake towards any other girl in order to get what she wanted. Quinn was cold, jealous and catty.

Quinn does feel genuine shame when she thinks of her actions, but she takes pride in knowing that she’s grown.

Granted, part of it was to cover up the fact that she had a baby. It’s not as if people didn’t know. It was hard to miss when her belly started growing exponentially. But once she came back to school after giving birth, she knew that she didn’t want people to know her as the sinful Christian girl who got knocked up. She would much rather be the person you wouldn’t fucking cross and it worked. No one ever dared to bring up Beth and by the time she graduated, the younger students didn’t even know. Beth was forgotten, which is what Quinn had wanted, no, needed.

She doesn’t tell Denise that part. No one from her new life knows about Beth, except for Blaine.

“Now, this is interesting,” Denise says when Quinn’s done talking, “What made you stop?”

“I got into Yale,” Quinn answers.

“You did?” Denise looks surprised, which pisses Quinn off. Why wouldn’t she have gotten into Yale?

“I did. And I realised that I was a bitch who never learnt how to deal with her shit,” Quinn says lightly, “I have to thank my parents for that. They taught me and my sister from a young age to just sit and smile. Really, as I said, I know what kind of fakeness you mean, because I did that. So I cleaned up my act. And I met Blaine.”

“Blaine?”

“My boyfriend.”

Denise sits back in her chair.

“How does he matter in this story?”

Quinn feels offended again. How dare she imply that Blaine doesn’t matter in any way? Denise doesn’t even know him.

“He’s had a similar upbringing,” Quinn says back, “We understand each other.”

“Alright, alright,” Denise at least has the decency to sound apologetic, “You’re very protective over your boyfriend, I get it.”

“Of course I am,” Quinn says pointedly, “I love him.”

That evening, she relays everything to Blaine over the phone. Quinn mimics how Denise talked to her and Blaine laughs. Blaine then tells her about his first day in Ljubljana and Quinn’s glad to hear he’s already met two nice people.

Blaine is tired, though, so Quinn tells him to go to sleep.

“Good, love you,” Quinn says.

There’s a small moment of silence. Quinn’s holding her breath.

“Ah. Good night, Quinn,” Blaine says back.

Oh.

“… Good night,” Quinn says.

The call ends and Quinn stares at her phone.

It doesn’t go unnoticed that Blaine hasn’t said that he loves her. When Quinn told him that she loves him at the airport, she was certain that it was the big moment from the movies. Quinn says she loves him, Blaine says he loves her, they have a passionate kiss and birds sing in the background.

Okay, there was a passionate kiss. Blaine even chased after her for it.

But he hasn’t said that he loves her.

A part of Quinn feels silly for wanting it. Blaine is Blaine. He’s his own person and Quinn cannot tell him what to feel. The right thing would be to tell him that there’s no rush and that he doesn’t have to say it back if he doesn’t feel the same.

But why doesn’t he feel the same? They’ve been together for over a year. They were best friends and that turned into something more. They are building their future together in LA. Isn’t this the moment where they both declare their love?

After all, Quinn loves Blaine, right?

When Quinn walks into her yoga class, she didn’t expect Denise to be there.

Quinn is this close to turning around, but she likes yoga. Quinn has always loved sports. She does yoga, she’s in a spin class and she loves to hike with Blaine.

She doesn’t want Denise Jackson-Smith to ruin it for her. Quinn thought she’d never see Denise again, since their brunch was awkward, even after they opened up to each other.

Denise sees Quinn and she smiles.

Quinn can feel the rage grow. Everything that Denise does just pisses her off.

Quinn knows Denise appreciates honesty, so instead of smiling back, she turns away from her and she finds a spot in the gym. She can’t let Denise distract her, and yet, during the session her eyes find Denise’s reflection in the big mirrors.

Denise looks so concentrated.

In turn, Quinn is distracted.

The yoga instructor notices and comments on it, which makes everyone look at Quinn and Quinn can feel the shame. Damn Denise. She especially hates it when she notices that Denise is also looking at her.

The moment the yoga class is over, Quinn packs her bag and walks away.

Of course, Quinn runs into Denise again during the next Women’s Political Collective meeting. Denise is the daughter of a senator after all.

Today’s meeting is about the intersection of race and politics. Quinn keeps silent, because she knows it isn’t her place to talk about that, but this does give her more chances to stare at Denise.

Denise looks very invested in the conversation, which makes sense. Quinn has read that her dad has gotten grief from conservatives, since he wasn’t born in the United States. Unlike the President, senators don’t have to be American-born in order to do their jobs, but they need to at least have nine years of citizenship. Denise’s dad was adopted as a baby from Japan, so he’s been an American citizen since he was around one years old, and yet that doesn’t swerve conservatives.

Yes, Quinn knows this. Yes, she might’ve looked up Denise online and since Denise doesn’t want to be in the public eye, Quinn got more information on senator Jackson-Smith. And yes, Quinn read all of it.

She doesn’t care. Not really. But she had nothing else to do.

Denise is leaning forward. She is attentive and determined. There is a slight frown on her face. Quinn stares at the fire in Denise’s dark eyes and the dark, perfectly sculpted eyebrows. Quinn wishes her own eyebrows looked that good.

Denise sits back as she talks about her own experiences and Quinn feels bad for the fact that she isn’t listening. After all, Denise is saying valuable things and Quinn also has a lot to learn. But for some reason, everything that Denise says falls deaf to Quinn’s ears. She can’t stop thinking about how fucking classy Denise looks right now. She demands attention and she gets it.

It’s common for the members of the Women’s Political Collective to mingle, even after the meeting. People bring snacks to share around and Quinn’s made some wraps.

“That looks delicious,” she hears.

Quinn looks over her shoulder and she grimaces when she sees Denise.

“Hi,” Quinn says flatly.

“Hi,” Denise says in an equally flat tone.

“Is there anything you want?”

“Wraps, obviously.”

“Oh. Right.”

Quinn steps aside so that Denise can get some wraps. The moment Denise has them in her hands, Quinn wishes she could slap them out of her hands. Or she wishes that she could’ve spiked them. Or she wants to tell Denise that actually, they aren’t for her.

But Quinn stops herself.

She knows herself. She used to be like this, but she’s better than that.

Or at least, that is what she thought. She has no idea where this need for pettiness comes from, but Denise just triggers it in her.

“Enjoy,” Quinn says.

“Thank you,” Denise says back, but to Quinn’s dismay, she doesn’t move away to talk to other people.

“Yes?” Quinn asks and she raises her (not-as-perfect-as) eyebrow.

“You really don’t like me, do you?” Denise says with a smile.

“I don’t,” Quinn replies, because again, Denise appreciates honesty.

“Why?”

That pisses Quinn off. Can’t Quinn just not like Denise for no reason? Sometimes, people don’t click and it’s neither person’s fault.

Quinn tells Denise that.

“That’s fair,” Denise says casually, which also pisses Quinn off. Is Quinn not deserving of Denise’s annoyance? Really, everything this woman does just makes Quinn tick.

“Why are you sticking around then?” Quinn challenges her.

Denise shrugs.

“I appreciate you.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“As I said before, you’re upfront with how you feel about me and that is refreshing.”

“Really?” Quinn sounds unimpressed, “You want to hang out with me because you know I don’t like you?”

“As I keep saying, I appreciate the honesty.”

“That’s fucked up, you know?” Quinn can feel the agitation build. What is wrong with Denise?

“It might be,” Denise says calmly, which only agitates Quinn more, “But it’s the truth. You interest me, Quinn Fabray. I think we could be great friends.”

“Are you some kind of masochist?” Quinn snaps back. How dare Denise like the fact that Quinn is rude? Quinn is rude because she can’t stand being around Denise. “Do you get off when people degrade you, or what?”

Quinn watches Denise swallow and Quinn also realises what she’s just said.

“Why are you interested in what gets me off?” Denise taunts.

“Oh, fuck off,” Quinn grumbles, but fuck, she can feel her cheeks burning.

Denise has a satisfied smirk on her face and Quinn wants to slap it off. She thought that her desires for bitch-slapping also left the moment she started ay Yale, but once again, Denise brings back all of those weird feelings.

“Enjoy your wraps,” Quinn says before turning on her heel and walking away. Unlike Denise, she has no interest in further conversations and there are a lot of more interesting women here.

“Are you stalking me?” Quinn asks when she sees Denise at her regular hair salon.

“Why would I be stalking you?” Denise sounds bemused, which, as usual, pissed Quinn off.

“Why are you here?” Quinn demands.

“To get a haircut,” Denise deadpans and that’s when Quinn realises how stupid she sounds. Of course Denise is here at a hair salon to get a haircut, not to personally antagonise Quinn. Denise probably doesn’t even know this is Quinn’s regular place.

Still fuming, Quinn walks away to the waiting area.

She needs to calm down. She’s being unreasonable. But she can feel her heart beat in her chest and her face is red, probably from anger. For some reason, Quinn hates the fact that Denise goes to her regular hair salon. This is Quinn’s place!

Quinn scorns herself. She’s better than this. She turned her life around.

She almost wants to cancel her appointment, just to get away from Denise, but that is childish.

Quinn hates feeling this way. She wants to believe she’s grown. She was certain of it, but fucking Denise Jackson-Smith has to ruin it for her.

Quinn barely hears it when her name is called in, because she was so deep in thought. On her way to the chair, she passes Denise, and Quinn almost trips over her feet when she sees what Denise has done to her hair.

She cut it.

Denise cut her long locks to a pixie cut. She’s styled her hair with gel so that it sticks up.

“Quinn?” the hairdresser asks when she’s noticed that Quinn’s stumbling along.

“Coming,” Quinn squeals out.

Quinn can’t live like this. She needs to do something about this.

She’s scrolling through Denise’s Instagram for some reason.

She’s becoming obsessed with Denise’s whereabouts. Quinn needs to know where she is, so that she’s certain they won’t be in the same place. It’s clear from Denise’s account that Denise moved to LA and yes, LA is a big city, it’s certainly bigger than Ljubljana, but the world can be small at the most inconvenient times.

But Quinn really can’t live like this. She can’t be afraid to go somewhere without checking first, so it’s time to tackle this problem head’s first. She is going to beat Denise to the punch.

Quinn sends Denise a DM, requesting to meet up.

“I admit I am a little bit confused as to why I’m here,” Denise says before taking a sip of her boba. Quinn and Denise are at a small bubble tea shop. It felt like a nice place to go.

“That makes two.”

“You invited me.”

“You said we could be great friends.”

“And you suddenly want that?” Denise sounds apprehensive, “What changed? I was certain you hated me.”

“I do hate you, but maybe we’re both masochists,” Quinn sighs.

Denise looks amused and Quinn hates it. She shouldn’t be allowed to look like that. All facial expressions of Denise’s seem sharper because of the haircut. It makes her face pop.

“What?” Quinn sighs, “You were right. It is refreshing to just be. I can be myself around you and you can be myself around me. Deal?”

“What a weird way to start a wonderful friendship,” Denise says, but she holds out her hand. Quinn rolls her eyes, but she shakes it.

“Deal?” she asks again.

“Deal,” Denise says.

And after that moment, Quinn and Denise are friends between quotation marks. Quinn shows Denise around LA, since she just moved here, and Denise tolerates Quinn’s snippy behaviour. In fact, she gets a kick out of it.

At first, that annoyed Quinn, but over time, she grew to like it. She wasn’t kidding. It is nice to just act the way she wants without overthinking it. She feels so free. Not even Blaine makes her feel this free, since with him, Quinn wants to be the good perfect girl that she has worked so hard on to be. Not to say that that isn’t the real Quinn, but this is another side of her and it feels good to show it. She trusts that Denise will cut her off if she does ever cross a line.

They meet up a lot to go to places. They have lunch or they go shopping and Quinn’s even introduced Denise to her spin class, so they also go to yoga and spinning together.

And Quinn hates to admit it, but Denise is fun to be around. Quinn realises that Denise has become a huge part of her life when she talks to Blaine about what Denise had to say about body neutrality.

“But you should see him, Quinnie!” Blaine says over the phone. He’s been talking about his new friend Kurt. Of course Quinn knows about Kurt. Quinn and Blaine talk almost daily, either through text or through phone calls, and Blaine loves to talk about Kurt. “No man should look that handsome! And his body! Should I work out more?”

“You have a nice body, Blaine. You should value your body, you only have one!”

“Yeah, but Kurt’s nicer! His chest, Quinn! His chest!”

“Have you seen him shirtless?”

“Yes! He got drenched in a storm and I gave him a new set of clothes. He changed in front of me.”

“You’re a good friend,” Quinn says and she feels affection for him, “But Blaine, you look great. Even if you don’t look like Kurt. It’s hard to believe it, but Denise actually told me about something new the other day.”

“Denise?”

That stuns Quinn for a second. Quinn’s been hanging out with Denise a lot, but she’s never mentioned it to Blaine? That is weird.

“Oh, that’s senator Jackson-Smith’s daughter’s first name.”

“She’s still in LA?”

“Yes, we’ve been hanging out and today we talked about this thing called body neutrality!”

Quinn proceeds to explain the concept and Blaine listens. Afterwards, the conversation turns into talking about Denise. Really, why hasn’t she mentioned it before? Blaine talks about Kurt plenty. Quinn’s even seen photos of him, since Blaine’s sent them.

Quinn realises Blaine’s tired and they wrap up. Once the line is dead, Quinn realises she hasn’t told Blaine that she loves her in a while.

Weird, but to be frank, Blaine isn’t constantly on her mind. In fact, Denise occupies more of her thoughts.

Quinn shrugs. It doesn’t matter. She knows that she loves Blaine, even without the constant affirmation.

Quinn rejects Blaine’s incoming call. She’s in the middle of a shopping spree with Denise. Quinn quickly snaps a photo of the two of them. By now, Blaine knows that Quinn hangs out with Denise most of the time. She mentions Denise all the time, the same way he mentions Kurt. Both Quinn and Blaine like that the other has made a great friend.

“You can call him, if you want,” Denise says.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Quinn says as she sends the photo to Blaine, together with a small apology, “We talk plenty.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Quinn says. Blaine’s wishing them the best and Quinn smiles. “I mean, it’s become less. When he first moved to Slovenia, we talked on a daily basis, but the two of us are busy. We have lives of our own. We work full time and we do our own things. He has Kurt, and I have you.”

“You have me?” Denise laughs.

“I do, don’t I?” Quinn teases back.

“I guess you do,” Denise says quietly.

“Yeah.”

Quinn can’t pinpoint the exact moment it happened, but something changed between them over the past couple of weeks. At one point, the mutual hostility made room for whatever this is. Quinn can’t say they’re best friends forever, but Denise no longer annoys her solely by existing. They’re no longer friends between quotation marks, but actual friends.

In fact, traits that Quinn used to find annoying are almost endearing now that she gets to know Denise.

They still piss each other off, but by now it’s more like they rile each other up for fun. It’s an inside joke. No one else gets it.

“What’s Blaine like?” Denise asks.

“Alright.”

“Alright?”

“What else is there to say?” Quinn asks.

“It’s just that you never mention him. I know you’re together and I know you love him, but other people I know cannot stop gushing over their partners. You don’t do that.”

“Maybe I am just not like other people.”

“Hm.”

Really, Quinn doesn’t feel the need to talk about Blaine. She knows who he is, and that’s what matters, right? She cares for him on a deep level. Besides, once Blaine is back home, Denise will meet him.

“Dee, he’s in Ljubljana, he’s not dead,” Quinn says, “I miss him, but not all the time, and this is only temporary. I know he’ll come home to me. And I am visiting him soon. We’re going to spend four days in Ljubljana and the final three in Rome.”

Quinn nods to herself. She is looking forward to it.

“But you don’t miss him?” Denise asks and Quinn wonders why she can’t let it go. Why is Denise so invested? She seems more invested in it than Quinn.

“Not all the time,” Quinn repeats, but it does make her stop and think.

Should she miss him all the time? Blaine is her boyfriend and Quinn loves him. And Denise is right. Other couples are always yearning for each other. Quinn and Blaine have some friends in LA who are dating each other. And they have friends from Yale who have settled down together. Heck, back at high school, Brittany and Santana were insufferable when the other wasn’t around.

What does it mean that Quinn doesn’t feel like that?

But she shakes the thought aside.

Okay, sure, maybe Quinn and Blaine’s relationship is different, but what is a relationship anyway? They like and respect each other. They like spending time together. The kissing, cuddling and occasional sex is fine, but the most important part is that they cherish each other and enjoy being together. Isn’t that enough? Quinn can be with him without waiting by her phone for a sign of life from Blaine.

So yes, Quinn is fine without Blaine.

Quinn quickly learns that she, in fact, is not fine without Blaine.

It’s been four days since Blaine stopped responding to her calls and messages and Quinn is losing her mind.

Denise holds her while Quinn’s crying.

“What ha-ha-has led to this?” Quinn says through her sobs, “Why is… he doing this to me?”

“I got you, I got you,” Denise says soothingly, and she’s right. Quinn’s buries her face in Denise’s shoulder and she revels in the embrace. Quinn needs to be held. She needs Denise’s strong arms and calm voice.

“I don’t-” Quinn sniffs, “-know what is happening, Dee. What do I do?”

“Is he still expecting you to come?”

“I don’t even know!” Quinn cries out, “I cannot reach him. He doesn’t respond to my calls or texts or Instagram DMs. It’s as if I don’t exist. I even messaged him on Facebook. Facebook, Denise. Facebook!”

Quinn lets out another wail. She didn’t think she could feel this way. She never expected Blaine to make her feel this way in the first place.

“… I’m going to kick him in his balls,” Denise mutters.

“Please, don’t,” Quinn manages to say.

“But he’s hurting you! He’s breaking your heart!” Denise sounds choked up.

“He… isn’t,” Quinn admits, “Or maybe he is? I don’t know. I don’t care. I just want to know if he’s okay.”

“So, you’re worried about him?”

Quinn nods against Denise’s shoulder.

“Isn’t there another way to reach him?” Denise asks.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you know the phone number of his office?” Denise suggests.

“… I can look it up.”

“And just like that?” Jessica asks.

Quinn nods.

Jessica whistles and Denise shoots her a nasty look. Only Quinn sees it. The other women of the spin class are staring at Quinn, since they all want to know the story. They just finished their spinning routine and they’re now chilling in the canteen.

“And you’re fine with him not giving you an explanation?” Xia asks, incredulously.

Quinn nods and this time she keeps her gaze on Xia, not Denise. She doesn’t need Denise’s disapproval of the situation. Quinn knows that Denise doesn’t like it.

“Really?” Sahar also sounds surprised, “Because if my girlfriend would do this, I’d demand explanations. Plural. Multiple explanations.”

“Right?” Denise cuts in.

“Dee,” Quinn says with a warning tone. Denise holds up her hands as a defence.

“I think it’s important to trust your partner,” Imane says, “And I think Quinn just trusts Blaine.”

“Exactly, thank you!” Quinn says.

It’s the truth. She trusts Blaine fully. She understands that something has happened and that it rattled him to the core. It does make Quinn uneasy that she doesn’t know, because now her mind takes her into all sorts of directions. Has someone hurt him? Did he do something he regrets? Did he get unexpected news that he needs to process?

She does worry, but she knows Blaine. Blaine’s always been brutally honest with her. In fact, Quinn is the only person he can be honest to, since they know who’s underneath the confident appearances. For a long time, Quinn also only trusted Blaine, until Denise came along and Denise made clear from the start that she prefers Quinn to be honest.

Quinn’s tried telling that to Denise, but Denise doesn’t want to hear it. It’s almost as if Denise is angry on Quinn’s behalf, but Denise doesn’t get it.

Actually, Quinn doesn’t know if Denise would get it. They see each other a lot, but Denise has never mentioned a partner. Quinn knows Denise is single, but she’s never heard stories about a possible ex, so maybe Denise’s never been in love. If that’s the case, then who is she to judge Quinn?

The conversation moves to other topics and after an hour and another round of smoothies, it’s time to say goodbye.

“Till next week!” Jessica yells.

“Oh, wait, no,” Xia says, “Quinn will be in Ljubljana next week.”

“Right, have fun!”

“I will!” Quinn waves before walking to her car with Denise in tow. She’s Denise’s ride home.

The moment they’re in the car, Denise opens her mouth to say something, but Quinn cuts her off before she has the chance to say anything.

“I don’t wanna hear it, Dee,” Quinn groans. She leans her head on the steering wheel.

“You can’t possibly make me believe you’re fine with this,” Denise says, “You sobbed in my arms. Look at you now.”

Right. The steering wheel thing doesn’t make Quinn look confident.

“He can’t get away with this,” Denise continues.

Quinn shakes her head.

“He won’t. I promise. I am going to Ljubljana to see for myself what has happened,” Quinn says, “But whatever happened must’ve been big, Denise, and I am not going to push him! I want him to come to me when he’s ready!”

“And what if he doesn’t talk?”

“He always does,” Quinn says, “Look, you don’t know him. You only know him through my stories.”

“Aka, I don’t know him,” Denise says, “You barely talk about him.”

“What’s there to say? He’s fine, I mean, up until now. Besides, you will meet him once he’s back home.”

“Can’t wait,” Denise says flatly, and Quinn feels so fucking tired.

“Can’t you just let it go, for my sake?” Quinn sighs, “I love him, okay? And yes, things have been a bit weird, but that’s understandable. He’s on the other side of the fucking world and distance makes things weird. The moment I will see him next week, everything will make go back to the way it used to be. I’m sure of it.”

At least, that is what Quinn hopes for.

She starts the engine and the two of them drive home in silence.

The moment Quinn sees Blaine at the airport, she doesn’t know what to feel. She hasn’t seen him in real life in months and she expected to feel more. Maybe she’s still a bit jarred because of the fact that he ghosted her.

Still, something feels off.

Was three months too long?

“Blaine!” she yells out and he sees her.

The moment he’s in reach, Quinn grabs to kiss him. She plants a huge passionate kiss on his lips. She’s putting all her love for him into it, just to hold on to it. Blaine kisses back.

After a while, Quinn needs to breathe.

“Here,” Blaine holds out a bouquet of crumpled roses, “You look nice.”

“I’ve missed you,” Quinn says, “Oh, I am so glad to be here!”

“Shall we?” Blaine holds out his arm and Quinn hooks hers around it. Together they walk outside.

Quinn’s in Blaine’s shower. Blaine just left to get burek, so she has some time to herself.

Blaine doesn’t want to have sex with her.

She doesn’t mind.

Or, she wishes she doesn’t mind. She meant what she said to him. He doesn’t have to justify a no. A no is a no and Quinn respects that, but something’s felt off the moment she landed in Ljubljana. As she said to Denise, she had hoped that this would make it all alright. She noticed that Blaine was a bit lost and she tried to help him out, but that backfired.

Blaine doesn’t want her.

It’s alright. They prefer kissing and cuddling, which is great, since Quinn is always a bit nervous. She’s only had sex with one other man and he made her drunk and got her pregnant. Quinn shudders at the thought of it. Every time she thinks about sex, she remembers that she is a mother.

But she trusts Blaine with her life. There was a lack of trust between Quinn and Puck and that led to Puck being able to take advantage of her. Blaine isn’t like that. He knows of her past and he always comforts her when she cries when she’s reminded of Beth and the conflicted feelings that come with it. Quinn and Blaine have a bland sex life and sometimes it’s downright boring, but Quinn always feels safe with him and she wants that safety.

It’s actually been a long time since Quinn wanted and instigated it, so that makes it an extra bummer.

The weird thing is, is that she isn’t upset about Blaine not being interested. If she’s quite honest, she was also working very hard to get turned on, which is weird, since it’s been a long time. She hoped that Blaine touching her would finally light that spark, but he cut it off before they could try.

So she’s upset that she didn’t seem interested and that frustrates her.

They try again a few days later. Quinn has Blaine pressed against a wall underneath the rugby stands. Quinn keeps going and going and she hopes to finally feel something. It confuses her.

Again, Blaine cuts it off before she can ask him for more.

They go back to the stands and Quinn is just so frustrated with herself and then she gets frustrated about being frustrated. She shouldn’t feel obligated. It’s nice to be with Blaine again. They’ve explored Ljubljana and other parts of the beautiful country. Quinn really likes being there and she can’t stop making photos of everything. They seek out nature. They have dinner at great restaurants. It’s as if they’re back in LA, except they’re in Ljubljana. They’ve fallen back into their comfortable state of being. Quinn is having fun with her best friend. That was always the most rewarding part of this relationship. She’s never bemoaned the lack of attraction, so why is she now?

Quinn’s certain that Kurt and Blaine cannot see her. She’s bought a wonderful hat and when she wanted to leave the shop, she saw Kurt and Blaine through the glass window.

Or better yet, she saw Blaine. Kurt has his back turned to her.

But Blaine is all she needs to see.

The look on his face is new. She’s never seen Blaine looks so enamoured. He certainly never looked at Quinn like that.

Kurt pushes Blaine’s hand off his shoulder and Blaine’s face changes.

Quinn feels uneasy. It’s as if something big is happening right in front of her, but she can’t quite place her finger on it. She knows she’s missing something. It didn’t go unnoticed that she hadn’t met Kurt yet. Even Tadeja asked if she already had, but nope.

She watches Kurt and Blaine discuss something and Blaine looks anxious. Quinn doesn’t like it that he’s anxious.

Quinn decides to make her presence known. She gets out of the shop and she pretends to look for them. It works.

Blaine sprints to the nearest bus station and Quinn watches her go. She stopped crying a while ago, but out of reflex, she wipes her eyes.

Her boyfriend is in love with someone else.

Or, ex-boyfriend.

Once she sees Blaine getting on a bus, presumably to Kurt’s place, Quinn knows it’s over.

She clutches her bag with her new hat to her chest and she slowly walks away. She has no idea where she’s going, but since Ljubljana is a small city, she recognises where she is. She’s just walking around aimlessly.

Every step she takes feels heavy, though. Everything feels heavy. It’s as if she’s dragging her body around. It’s all too much.

After walking around for an unknown amount of time, Quinn gives up and she sits down underneath the statue at Prešeren Square.

Like Blaine, she feels as if her entire life has changed in a small amount of time. When she saw Kurt at that pizza place, she didn’t know it would lead to this. Her relationship ended abruptly and it’s a horrendous feeling, but not in the way she expected.

She’s upset, definitely. She’s defeated and her mind is in shambles, but she’s not heartbroken. It is what it is and Quinn can already feel herself accept it. She only saw Kurt and Blaine together for a small time, but the moment Quinn realised that Blaine had feelings for him, it made sense.

Why does it make sense?

Quinn is more upset about her life not going the way she expected than about her heart being broken, because she doesn’t think she is heartbroken. She thinks of what Blaine said and what his reasoning was behind staying with Quinn. It was wrong to stay together, just because the sake of it. And when Blaine said that, Quinn realised she also only sticked around because she thought it was the way it was supposed to be. She wants the safety and security of the relationship. She wants to be reassured that this is right.

She loves Blaine, but maybe not in the way she wants to, and it confuses her. How is she supposed to love him anyway?

Quinn doesn’t know what to do, so she makes her way to Blaine’s apartment. That’s when she sees Kurt standing at the art shop and Blaine running towards him. She doesn’t think they see her, and Quinn realises she doesn’t want to impose.

She’s lost in a somewhat unfamiliar city and she has nowhere to go, but she does have her phone and a wallet. Quinn makes a plan. She walks back to the McDonald’s so that she connect to the free Wi-Fi (and she orders some McNuggets, just because she can). There, she looks up hotels in Ljubljana. She picks the City Hotel, simply because it’s top rated at TripAdvisor and she goes there, with her hat and McNuggets.

Blaine’s leaning against the table in her hotel room. He looks really good. He looks really happy. Quinn doesn’t know the details of what happened between Kurt and Blaine last night, and maybe she shouldn’t, but it’s clear that it did a lot of good for him.

Quinn’s sat in the chair in the corner of the room. She asked him to be here, but it is a bit weird.

“Kurt said you had an epiphany of your own,” he says.

Quinn nods and instantly starts laughing. This is insane. Blaine also cracks a tentative smile.

“Is this really happening?” Blaine says.

“I think so,” Quinn affirms, “I have feelings for Denise.”

“I want to be surprised, but strangely enough, I am not.”

“That’s how I felt with you and Kurt,” Quinn says, “I didn’t expect it. I was still shocked, but it makes sense. It’s also starting to make sense that I am into Denise.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Quinn says confidently, “Yeah, Blaine. It does make so much sense.”

Quinn tells Blaine how she’s been interested in Denise from the moment she saw her, and how Quinn was seeking her out, even though she was in denial about that. Everything that Denise did, made Quinn tick. She couldn’t stop staring at Denise when they were in the same room. Quinn knows everything about Denise’s look. She always focuses on how her hair falls, how her eyes are a gorgeous shade of brown, how her face looks so soft, yet her eyebrows are sharp and perfect.

And then they actually got to know each other and Quinn’s interest in her only grew. She hung out with her all the time. She couldn’t stand being without her. She could be herself around her.

Quinn didn’t mind not seeing Blaine, ghosting aside, but she did mind not seeing Denise for a long time. That was a huge green flag.

“You did mention her all the time,” Blaine admits.

“You mentioned Kurt all the time!” Quinn says and another round of laughs hits her. It was right in front of them. The moment Blaine met Kurt and Quinn met Denise, their relationship was as good as over. It didn’t stand a chance.

Blaine finally joins in with the laughter, because it is kind of funny.

“Aren’t you afraid, though?” Blaine asks after the laughter has died down.

Quinn frowns. Why should she be afraid?

“No? Of what?”

Blaine looks shocked to hear it. Quinn can see it.

“Are you?” she asks.

Blaine nods slowly.

“Why?”

Blaine stammers over his words.

“This is all so new,” he eventually manages to say.

“Is it, though?” Quinn ponders, “We’ve had these feelings for quite some time. We just didn’t know what to do with them.”

Quinn does get that it is weird, but it just makes sense that she is into Denise. Quinn was in a weird headspace when she rushed back to the hotel, but she did have some thoughts fleeting through her head.

Quinn is gay.

Is she a lesbian? Or bi? Does it even matter, really?

Should she have known? Like Blaine, she genuinely didn’t, but also like Blaine, she never stopped to reflect on her feelings. They weren’t raised to self-reflect. They were raised to be the perfect son and daughter.

The signs were there.

The way Quinn’s past behaviour was triggered by Denise made Quinn stop and think about her past. In hindsight, Denise isn’t the first person who made her feel like this. At school, lot of girls ticked her off. She would get upset if those certain girls didn’t pay her any mind, because Quinn craved their attention. She even drew pornographic images of Rachel Berry when she was “pissed off” at her. Come to think about it, it isn’t very heterosexual of Quinn to draw girls like that.

Quinn was the head bitch in charge and yes, it was to project a certain desired image of herself, but also because she revelled in the idea of all these girls wanting to be like her in some way. Or the idea of all these girls wanting her in some way.

And even after that, she loved being around women. She joined a feminist group at Yale. She loves her all-female yoga club and spin class. She adores all the women in the Women’s Political Collective. She feels better around women.

Quinn thought it was a safety thing and it probably still is, but maybe there was something else going on as well?

Blaine is right, though. Things will change and there will be highs and lows. They need to figure out what to do with their shared life in LA. They need to figure out how to tell their friends and families. They completely need to reassess the future that they have been working towards. That is scary, but in this moment, unlike Blaine, Quinn doesn’t feel scared. Maybe the fear will catch up with her at a later point, but all she can think of now is Denise and only Denise. The practicalities can wait.

It’s all a bit overwhelming to think about. She’s only had this realisation for a few hours. Blaine must’ve gone mad, since he’s been thinking about it for weeks.

She asks Blaine about it and Blaine confirms that this is the reason he ghosted Quinn. He couldn’t handle himself.

“Oh, Blaine,” Quinn gets up to hug him. He relaxes into the familiar embrace. They can still hug and be there for each other.

Blaine, her ex-boyfriend. Blaine, her best friend.

He quickly talks about what it was like for him, and he explains the signs in his life. Quinn remembers the conversation they had about body neutrality. She’s known for a long time that Blaine felt insecure around other attractive men, but it also never clicked in her mind.

“I mean, yeah Blaine, it sounds pretty fucking gay that you wondered what it was like to kiss a guy,” she says.

“I almost straight up asked Nick and Jeff.”

“Straight up?” Quinn giggles.

“Oh come on!” Blaine says, but he also sounds like he finds it funny.

Damn, they are both gay. That’s why it never worked out. Hopefully they’ll be able to laugh about it one day. They’re already getting there.

Quinn pulls away so that she can look at him.

“What now, though?” Quinn asks him.

“I don’t know.”

“We’re supposed to leave for Rome, but…”

Quinn beckons him to go on.

Blaine turns red.

“I want to stay here with Kurt.”

Quinn coos and Blaine hides his face in his hands.

“Then stay here,” Quinn says, “You want to, right?”

“Definitely,” Blaine says through his hands, “I can’t stop thinking about him, even now. This is so new and I want to savour every moment. I want to stick around and see where it is going.”

This is why Quinn wasn’t into Blaine. She isn’t sad to hear this. On the contrary, her heart melts when she hears how in love Blaine is.

“I also want to be with Denise right now.”

“Then do that,” Blaine lowers his hands, “I mean, if you can.”

Quinn straightens her back. What is Blaine suggesting?

“I don’t even know if she likes women,” Quinn says quietly.

“Don’t you want to go and find out?”

“What should I do?”

“Well, Quinn, I don’t want to kick you out of Ljubljana or anything,” Blaine says, “In fact, you’re free to stay, even at my place, but I can’t be the perfect host.”

Quinn smiles.

“Because you’ll be occupied with Kurt?”

Blaine turns even redder. It’s adorable.

“You’re saying I should go home early and confess?”

“It’d be properly romantic,” Blaine laughs, “Flying back to the other side of the world is way more romantic than my blubbery confession in my hallway. You told me to follow my heart. I am telling you to do the same.”

Quinn thinks it over. Blaine does have a point. She likes Kurt and Blaine together, but she’s not interested in being a third wheel for the remainder of the trip. She also doesn’t feel like going to Rome alone. She could stay and maybe chill out with Tadeja, since she’s really cool.

Or she could go back to Denise.

That sounds the most appealing. Now that Quinn’s realised the extent of her feelings, she misses Denise more than ever. It’s as if her entire being is yearning for her.

Blaine is right. Quinn should also follow her heart.

“Get me my phone,” she says to Blaine, “I need to book a plane ticket.”

The moment Quinn lands in LAX, she sends Blaine a message telling him she’s arrived.

Then she gets a taxi to take her home. She barely slept during the plane ride, since she was filled with adrenaline and nerves, but she needs to be smart about this. A part of her wants to go to Denise straight away, but Quinn should be rational.

She should go home and sleep.

She cannot make an ass out of herself.

Quinn feels the jitters, though. She can’t believe she is actually doing this. She’s going to confess to Denise. She knows it might backfire, because she doesn’t even know if Denise would like her back, but now that Quinn understands her own feelings, she needs to get it off her chest.

But really, she needs sleep first.

Quinn didn’t sleep properly, but she’s glad she got some of it. After breakfast, she puts on her best clothes, she styles her hair and she puts on her prettiest make-up. The last time she dressed up like this was for Blaine and it makes her laugh.

Oh, Blaine.

He’s so lovely. He and Kurt have sent her some gifs of encouragement. It’s kind of weird to have her ex-boyfriend and his new boyfriend root for her, but in the same vein, she roots for them.

She sends a selfie back and then it’s time to go.

Denise doesn’t know she’s coming. She doesn’t even know Quinn’s back in the country.

Maybe Quinn should tell Denise she’s on her way, so that she won’t be disappointed if Denise isn’t home, but Quinn also doesn’t want to raise questions and a possible rejection.

This is nerve wrecking.

She passes a florist and on a whim she decides to buy a bouquet of roses. It’s thrilling. Quinn’s always received flowers, but she didn’t really give them. She’s going to change that. A lot will be different from this moment on.

Denise doesn’t live too far away, so Quinn can’t spend a lot of time dwelling on whatever might happen. Once she’s rang the doorbell, it’s time.

“Hello?” Denise’s voice rings through the intercom.

“Hey,” Quinn says lamely, “It’s me.”

“… Quinn?”

“Yeah. Can you open the door?”

“What- How did- Wait, okay, come on up.”

Quinn hears a buzzer and the door to the building opens. While riding the elevator, Quinn takes one last deep breath. This is her last chance to turn around, but she doesn’t want to. She knows that she needs to tell Denise. She hides the bouquet behind her back and she steps out of the elevator.

Denise is already standing in the doorway. She looks very confused to see Quinn and Quinn can’t blame her.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in Ljubljana?” Denise asks with a frown.

“Came home yesterday,” Quinn answers.

“Why? Is everything alright? Is Blaine still there?”

“Yes. He’s doing alright. We broke up, though.”

Denise’s eyes widen in shock.

“Quinn, oh my God, I am so sorry…” Denise trials off, awkwardly, but Quinn uses one shoulder to shrug. She really doesn’t mind the break-up and she thinks that Denise doesn’t really mind either. Quinn sees that as a good sign.

“Denise,” Quinn then says, “I didn’t come home early to get away from Blaine.”

“Okay?”

“I came home early… to give you this,” Quinn says and she shows Denise the roses. Denise looks absolutely baffled.

“What?”

“Denise, I know this might sound sudden. Trust me, this is sudden for me as well, but I am in love with you.”

“What?” Denise says again.

Quinn nods.

“I think I have been in love with you ever since I first met you, but I just didn’t know. I thought I was jealous of you, but at the same time, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I spent all my free time with you in my head. Even when I still thought you were a bitch, I needed you around me, and when I realised I was wrong, I never wanted to stop being around you.”

Denise has a weird look on her face, but she doesn’t stop Quinn and she doesn’t seem disgusted. On the contrary, she seems curious.

“I was so stuck in my head, Denise. I didn’t stop and think about myself. It wasn’t until I was in Ljubljana and I saw that Blaine had fallen in love with another man-” Denise’s eyes widen “-that things started to make sense. I never loved him. I believed I did. Truly, I did.”

Quinn laughs awkwardly. Maybe this isn’t making any sense to Denise, but it makes sense to her, and that is what matters. Quinn kept telling everyone, including herself, that she loves Blaine, so yes, it is a big change. But now Quinn understands that she kept reaffirming her supposed love for Blaine because she needed to keep believing it.

“What I am saying is that once I saw how Blaine acted around Kurt, that I knew. I saw myself in that. And when we broke up, I realised I wasn’t sad, because it felt right. We weren’t meant to be together, we never were. When Kurt and Blaine showed me what love looks like, I realised I already knew. I love you, Denise Jackson-Smith. I want to kiss you. I want to be with you, if you’d let me.”

No going back.

Denise looks absolutely lost for words.

Quinn holds out the bouquet of roses and Denise stares at it as if it’s an alien object. Quinn likes to think she’s a patient woman, but she can feel her stomach drop.

“Quinn, are you serious?” Denise asks.

“Dead serious. I flew home just to confess.”

“Come in,” Denise steps aside so that Quinn can go inside. She holds the bouquet close to her, since Denise didn’t take it.

Denise closes the door behind her and she leans against it.

“Quinn, are you serious?” she asks again.

Quinn nods.

“Don’t you… want me?” she asks.

“I do,” Denise says quickly and Quinn can feel the hope return, “God, Quinn, fuck. I do. But I thought you were straight.”

“Well, so did I,” Quinn says, “And I don’t know what I am. I don’t know if I am a lesbian, or bi, or whatever flavour of queer. All I know that I could be yours.”

“Fucking hell,” Denise slumps against her door.

Quinn tilts her head in confusion. Denise just admitted that she has feelings for Quinn as well, but she doesn’t seem excited about it.

“What… What is it?” Quinn asks.

“I just…” Denise closes her eyes and she looks pinched, “I just need to know that this is real. Quinn, I’ve- You’re not the first quote-unquote straight girl who suddenly wants me. I studied art. There were a lot of girls who were straight but after a couple of drinks they’d get close.”

“That’s not what is happening, I swear,” Quinn says quickly.

“Yeah, she said that as well,” Denise mutters, “She just thought it was exciting to screw a senator’s hot daughter and once she got what she wanted, she decided it was an experiment after all. And she wasn’t the only one. And experimentation is fine, but just… not with me.”

“Denise…”

Denise looks at Quinn and there are tears in her eyes.

“I want you too, Quinn Fabray,” she says tearfully, “I do. I really do. But I’ve been hurt before. This is why I no longer make a big deal about the fact that I like women, because it’s always attracted the wrong crowd.”

“Oh, I am so sorry,” Quinn takes a step forward and Denise realises she’s backed herself against a wall. Quinn stops in her tracks when she sees it. “Denise, I don’t- I can’t tell you what to do. If you don’t want to be with me then…”

Well, then that sucks. The thought alone is unbearable. It’s as if Quinn can feel her heart shatter. So this is what heartbreak is like.

She takes a breath.

“Then I can’t force you to be with me. I will go home. But if you change your mind, you know where to find me, alright? I don’t know what to do to proof to you that this is real, but if you know, let me know, because I would love to show you.”

Denise nods slowly.

Quinn looks at her bouquet of roses. Then she looks around the hallway for a surface to put them on. She doesn’t want to take them home and be reminded of this failure, but trashing them feels like a waste.

She looks at the small table near the door that leads to the living room. That will do.

The roses lie on the table and Quinn decides that it’s time to go.

“Well. I am off.”

But to her surprise, Denise doesn’t move away from the door.

“Uh, can I?” Quinn asks, but Denise looks at the roses.

“You bought those for me, right?” she asks with a small voice.

Quinn nods.

“No one’s ever given me roses before.”

“First thing for everything,” Quinn says.

Denise looks back to Quinn.

“It’s… I want to believe you, Quinn. I like you so much. I have dreamt of this moment and now-” Denise laughs awkwardly, “-I’m ruining this.”

“You’ve dreamt of this?” Quinn asks.

“Yes. This. You’d stop by and tell me you broke up with Blaine and that you’re not straight and you’d want to be with me. That is exactly what happened.”

It is.

“Then, how do these dreams end?”

“With this,” Denise says and she puts her hands on Quinn’s face. Quinn’s eyes widen and her heart races with excitement when she realises what Denise is doing. She lifts up her chin in anticipation. Denise is a bit taller and Quinn never thought about that, but now she does. Now, she can. Denise moves closer to her face, but she doesn’t kiss Quinn. “With me kissing you.”

“You can,” Quinn tries to stay calm.

Quinn gets it, though. Denise is hopeful, but she also doesn’t allow herself to hope. She doesn’t want to feel the pain again.

“Please, Denise. Take a chance on me,” Quinn pleads. Denise is so close and Quinn fights herself to not kiss her. “You’ve appreciated honesty, from the very beginning, so let me be honest. I haven’t lied to you before. I wouldn’t start now.”

Then, a cautious smile appears on Denise’s face.

“You gave me roses.”

“I did.”

“You flew from the other side of the world to confess.”

“I did.”

“Alright.”

“Alright?”

“Yeah. Leap of faith.”

And then, Denise finally closes the gap between them and she kisses Quinn. Quinn saw it coming but she’s still thrown off guard by the unexpected feeling that comes with this. She thought she knew what it was like to kiss and to be kissed, but she didn’t. Everything she thought she knew is being flown out of the window and she couldn’t be happier about it.

Quinn hooks her arms around Denise’s neck and the two of them keep kissing until they’re spent.

“Woah,” Quinn breathes out.

“Yeah.”

Quinn leans her head in the crook of Denise’s neck, which surprises Denise, but Denise holds her.

“Was that real enough for you?” Quinn asks.

“Yes. Yes, it was.”

The roses have been put in a beautiful vase.

Denise is in her kitchen and Quinn’s sat in her living room. Her mind is reeling. She just did it. She confessed and got the girl. She fucking got the girl.

Denise hands her a cup of tea and then sits down next to Quinn with her own cup. Quinn leans against her and the two of them sip their drinks in comfortable silence.

It feels right. Quinn’s spent so many years of her life trying to live up to what she was supposed to do, but this is where Quinn is supposed to be. She couldn’t be happier.

End notes: Thank you for reading.

#klaineadvent #klaine advent 2022 #klaine advent #glee #holy fuck I wrote #2023 #oneshot

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silversoulstardust · 2 years ago

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Tag Game To Better Know You! Send this to people you'd like to know better!

tagged by @abitofboth (thank you for the tag mills🥺)

what book are you currently reading?

under the whispering door by by TJ Klune. the book is fine, I like reading TJ Klune’s work but it’s taking me forever to finish because of its heavy subjects. (death and afterlife, and it’s hard for me because of recent losses)

what do you usually wear?

depends on what I’m doing, I guess. currently staying up in bed past midnight so i’m in my comfy jammy and a yellow sweater <3

how tall are you?

5 ft 2. AND OLY @olyollyoxenfree BEFORE YOU COME FOR ME I AM TALL FOR AN ASIAN LMAO

what’s your star sign? do you share a birthday with a celebrity or historical event?

sagittarius. I share birthday with Scarlet Johanson, Mark Ruffalo and Jamie-Lee Curtis!

do you go by your name or a nickname?

I go by Chromie online. it’s a nickname given by someone I talked to on tumblr in the past, and I like it so much it stuck with me even though we part ways not on so good terms. wherever she is I hope she’s doing fine <3

did you grow up to become what you wanted to be as a child?

yeah but I kinda wish I didn’t, honestly. working in healthcare is taxing both mentally and physically, and I have assholes for colleagues. (tho I think that’s applicable everywhere.)

what’s something you’re good at vs something you’re bad at?

good at: showing up and being there for people I care about

bad at: asking for help

if you draw/write, or create in any way, what's your favorite picture/favorite line/favorite etc. from something you created this year?

This is from my Steddie time travel fix it AU, and I don’t know why but I really loved it.

Steve never really had anyone to split chores with before. His parents are almost never home. Robin does stay over from time to time, but she prefers ordering pizza, it’s her comfort food that’s almost always denied when she’s home, so she takes the chance to order it whenever she’s sleeping over at Steve’s place. Steve never thought having someone do the dishes for him as romantic, but here he is, staring at this metalhead in his kitchen, with glorious long hair and tattoos all over his skin wearing all black ensemble, wiping a spatula using dry cloth over the sink, occasionally smiling at Steve, a domestic bliss in the unlikeliest of time. Eddie caught him staring and when he asks why, there’s just a jumbled up emotions inside Steve that he can’t possibly put into words. So instead he turns the stove off and makes out with Eddie against the counter, thinking that this, this is what he’s been missing his entire life.

dogs or cats?

a cat person through and through. cant live with them, cant live without them, y’know?

what's something you would like to create content for?

thinking of writing some ronance fics in the future! maybe loid/yor tooth rotting fluff and some nanami kento/haibara yu content because those two deserve better than their fate in the manga

what’s something you’re currently obsessed with?

if you’ve been on my tumblr for the last six months, you’d notice I have been entirely consumed by steddie brainrot and stranger things lol

what's something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year?

Dr Strange: multiverse of madness. wandavision series was so spectacular and I was giddy for it until months later they revealed that the writer was mike waldron. the bar of my expectation was so low it was basically on the floor and yet I was still disappointed

what’s a hidden talent of yours?

I can write with both hands. does that count??

what's something you wish to have at this moment?

a long hug and a shoulder to cry on would be nice. cant exactly cry on cue but I think if someone hold me long enough I might start crying lol

tagging @mygeekcorner @olyollyoxenfree @harrringtons @steviesmunson @froof-of-the-loof @princessstevemunson @cursedfoxteeth @iprefertheterminsane @gundamthey17 <3

#ask game #chrmz.txt #get to know chromie

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twwpress · 2 years ago

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Creator Spotlight #20: worldsofdreamers

Welcome back to the TWW Author Spotlight! For every spotlight, we’ll ask each featured author the same ten questions (as well as questions you submitted on Twitter!). This week we’re sitting down with @worldsofdreamers (worldsofdreamers on ao3)!

1) What are your top 5 desert island fics by other authors?

Healthcare Reform by hufflepuffhermione This fic is one of those that had me itching to read each update as soon as the notification hit my inbox. Absolutely everything I could have wanted in a season six au and more. The angst and romance are perfectly balanced and the transition from marriage of convenience to more had me tossing my phone across the couch more than I care to admit. Captures the magic of Josh and Donna beautifully and truly just how much of a dumbass that man is when it comes to his feelings.

just stay this little by mikaylawrites a sweet fluffy filled post canon josh and donna and their babies fic. So sweet and heartwarming I cry every time I read it. Happy families are my weakness and my oh my are they happy here. The perfect pick me up fic.

Yichud by Lily_Padd_23 a short lovely Sam and Josh fic that takes place after they get married. One of the first fics I read with this pairing as I was exploring the archive in this fandom, long before I ever considered writing fanfic again or for this fandom. I really love how it captures their dynamic and the jokey, easy-going nature of their love. The way it’s clear that they are best friends and lovers is something special and reminds me so much of my own relationship. They are absolute dorks and I love them so much it hurts.

brothers in arms by hufflepuffhermione A character study of Josh that is so unbelievably gorgeous it rips your heart out and knits you back together. I reread it recently and it’s just as poignant and impactful as the first time. In my book it’s required reading for anyone who loves Josh, found family, and interconnected stories. I could go on and on about how much I love chosen family but I’ll refrain if y’all just go read this fic as soon as possible. Have tissues nearby because you’ll need them.

for every year’s a souvenir by crossingdelancey A CJ and Toby fic with some background Josh and Donna. It has everything I love in a story from The West Wing universe, chosen family, Josh being CJ’s annoying little brother, plus a second chance romance for CJ and Toby with a family to boot, and a happy ending for all of them. What more could you possibly want? Other than more that is, an absolutely stunning fic all around.

2) Do you have a favorite character to write? Favorite ship(s) to write? Are there characters or ships you'd like to write more of?

I like writing Sam a lot, he is on-screen a lot but we don’t always see into his head like we do with some of the others. He’s a good canvas to play with and create a backstory that serves for whatever story you want to tell. Plus the information we do have about him creates touchstones to build from. His complex family structure and background as a writer are something that all my narrators typically share across original and fan works so he’s very easy for me to fall into writing. The typical advice is write what you know after all (even if I don’t particularly think that’s great advice all the time).

Currently I only write Sam/Josh and that’s really fun for me but once this story cycle reaches a logical conclusion I’m open to writing other pairings if the right idea comes along. I find the dynamic between Toby and Congresswoman Wyatt fascinating, especially in my current watch through of the series.

3) Tell us about your writing process (setup/location? Night or day? Snacks/beverages? Computer/phone/notebook? Music or silence? Anything else you want to share is welcome!)

Generally my ideal writing circumstances are the same when it comes to original fiction or fanfiction. Block out all the noise around me with noise canceling headphones and a character playlist. As someone with ADHD it’s vital to be able to tune into what I'm doing with as little outside distraction as possible. I use google docs for the actual story because I can write and edit on multiple devices without having to worry about flash drives and then physical notes in a designated book depending on the project. I have to have music, at least two beverages, usually one that’s caffeinated, and if at all possible a blank wall ahead of me.

My process for West Wing fics specifically starts with watching the source material that overlaps with wherever the AU is headed and cherry picking the moments that are relevant in the larger context of this universe as well as backrought things going on in the administration. Typically this also serves as a way back to a Sorkin-esque style from my original fiction. I also make a point of tracking Sam/Josh and any other relevant characters, specifically the interactions they have with each other. I also love researching moments of real world politics both of the time the story occurs and present day and leaving them around as easter eggs for the government dorks of the world like me.

Typically there are also a few songs from my obnoxiously large music library that become the soundtrack of a piece and that’s how the “title track” comes out. With my most recent fic Secrets (Just to keep you) the title track was Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift. The whole time I was writing this story I was listening to a lot of the unreleased tracks as well as Adore You from Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson’s album Walls, and Taylor Swift’s reputation which just beautifully fit the feeling of a secret love that you’re desperately trying to keep under wraps, the heat and tension that bubbles over when you’re finally alone with that person and the secrets we all carry around.

4) What writing advice do you have for others who may be reading this?

You can’t force inspiration or at least I can’t. She sort of just comes to you, I've found the more I read, listen to, and watch the more she finds me.

At least that’s what happened when I considered writing in this fandom. I’d just watched Season 1 episode 19 Let Bartlet Be Bartlet the night before and was in the car on the way to get groceries or something and was listening to the Harry Styles and the line “Kiss her and don’t tell” from his song Keep Driving got stuck and all through the store I was thinking about that episode and what would change if we as the audience knew Sam was bisexual and had this unexplored history of allyship? Why was he the one in the room with the guys from the DOD taking the meeting about DADT? It sort of snowballed from there into a character study in my notes app and then a fic of the same name came out.

5) From where do you usually draw your inspiration? (Other forms of media, music, tropes, etc?)

Usually fleeting moments in the canon mixed with a song lyric and the question what if?

Sam and Josh having a cat that Josh is at odds with in my universe came from the line about Josh yelling at Donna’s roommate’s cats. It made my partner laugh the first time we watched the series together and now every time the line comes up he brings it up.

The whole idea of exploring a long term relationship between Josh and Sam has been ping ponging around for years in my mind because of the interactions they have at Gage-Whitney and on the street outside.

I’ve been a fan of the show for nearly two decades so I have a lot of history with the characters and there are sometimes when a song just clicks for them or a moment in the show.

6) What is the fic you've written that you're most proud of and why?

Probably Secrets (just to keep you). It’s my longest fanwork to date and I really enjoyed writing a summer romance over the summer. I’m a sucker for romances that are equal parts tender and spicy and while there are things I’d change about the process I’m proud of the fact I actually put it out in the world.

7) What's the fic trope/concept/AU you'd read 1000 of? What's the fic trope/concept/AU you'd write 1000 of?

I’m a sucker for a friends to lovers arc and a clandestine romance. I will watch or read the “oh shit… I love them” moment over and over again.

I love a second chance romance and will read or write them until the end of my days. I love exploring how you find your way back to someone who hurt you and who you also hurt. The negotiations of it and the exercise in trust it takes to open yourself up to the potential of being hurt again.

When it comes to writing I’m a big fan of stories that deep dive into the small moments in canon and attempt to bring more depth to characters.

8) Is there anything you'd like to try writing-wise that you haven't yet?

I don’t typically write m/f main pairings in anything I do but I’d love to write something about Toby and Andy pre-canon. I think if the right idea came along it could be a really interesting character study. It would also give me the opportunity to humanize and flesh out the grumpy men of The West Wing which is one of my favorite things to do. Also I love Andy so much she always steals the scene for me.

9) What's your go-to Starbucks/coffee shop/other drink order?

Always the largest available size of cold brew or iced coffee, with one or two packets of sweet and low. If I'm feeling fancy I add a splash of oat milk and a pump or two of cinnamon syrup.

Whenever possible, Dunkin or a mom and pop shop over Starbucks. I have chronically bad luck with Starbucks beans being burnt or my drink being undrinkable in some other way like getting dairy milk instead of plant milk. I've stopped risking it.

10) Do you have any current projects you'd like to promote or anything upcoming you'd like to tell us about?

My ongoing AU series Love of my life has five entries currently with at least two more on the way. Whichever tumbles out faster will be the next update tentatively scheduled sometime before Valentine’s.

The first one, Holy Orange Bottles, a multi-chapter post-rosslyn recovery story through the eyes of Donna, Sam, and Josh’s mom. It explores the sheer amount of tragedy that has hit the Lyman family and how the four of them (and Harry the cat) work together towards a new normal. It’s pretty emotionally taxing for obvious reasons so I’ve been tackling it in small chunks.The title comes from the Taylor Swift song Soon You’ll Get Better and the chapter titles come from The Mountain Goats song Matthew 25:21

I also have a one-shot that covers the portland trip in season two titled A Clock That’s Ticking. It’s the first one I’m writing from Josh’s Pov and covers the meeting with Congressman Skinner and what would change if he knew about the election night conversation between the President and Dr. Jacobs. I also wondered what would change if after hearing the display of period/party typical allyship how Josh would address the assignment. And without giving too much away what would happen if Josh revealed his identity to Leo and the president. The title for this one comes from Holding onto Heartache by Louis Tomlinson which from the first listen hit me as such a Josh song and instantly became the title track to the piece despite the fic being nothing more than a series of scribbled notes when that album dropped in November.

Submitted questions:

From @S4MWILS0N: fave ep ? fave season ? fave plot arc ? fave character ? fave character duo (platonic and romantic) ? actor you’d most like to meet irl ? plot line you wish you could get rid of ? funniest and most poignant one liner ?

Episode: Five Votes Down (Season 1 Episode 4) Ultimate comfort episode and I watched it so much during the 2020 election cycle after hard campaign vol days that I can still quote it word for word.

Season: Season 2 without question.

Plot Arc: It’s tied between the MS storyline and the post-in the shadow of two gunmen PTSD arc.

Favorite character: When it comes to a favorite character it feels nearly impossible to pick just one. It fluctuates so much depending on where I am in the series or if someone is asking senior staff/assistant level or recurring character. Right now though it’s probably CJ, but I will always be a Josh fan with all that I am. From the first episode I watched nearly two decades ago he’s always been a forever favorite. I love that disaster of a man so much.

Romantic Duo: I think it’s nearly impossible to walk away from a viewing of The West Wing without a deep affection for Josh and Donna, even as someone who strictly writes in an alternate timeline where they never were or will be together.

Platonic Duo: Currently it’s Margaret and Leo, it changes a lot but I love watching them so much.

Actor: Allison, I would probably collapse to be fair but Allison.

As much as it would be cool meeting Bradley or Richard would be way too much for me.

Plot line you’d get rid of: Toby and the leak, because what the hell was that.

One liner: either “There’s literally no one in the world I don’t hate right now” or “I’m so sick of congress I could vomit”.

Infinitely applicable to modern American politics, especially recently with the speaker vote. Also the grumpy nature of Toby Ziegler in that episode speaks to my soul on such a deep level.

From the editors (borrowed from a past Q&A, originally asked by @donnamossburner): what’s a fic that’s been sitting in the back of your mind forever and you hope one day you can finally write it?

A somebody’s going to emergency, somebody’s going to jail Sam/Josh alternating pov deep dive because the scene where Leo tells Sam to go home and that Josh told Leo about Sam’s parents haunts me. I can just imagine Josh telling Leo as a last effort of trying to reach Sam. It’s well documented throughout the series that Josh looks at Leo as a sort of father figure so I see him going to him for advice and it all comes tumbling out, his fears and doubts and how he just wants to help but can’t. In my mind it parallels The Crackpots and these women with the N.S.C. card and the conversations Josh has with various folks about it and how lost he is.

Thanks again to worldsofdreamers!! And thanks to everyone who submitted questions. If you’d like to be featured in a future Creator Spotlight, message us here, email [email protected] or DM us on Twitter!

xx, What’s next?

#the west wing #west wing #tww #tww fic #tww fandom #creator spotlight #fic authors #sam seaborn #josh lyman #samjosh #sam x josh #toby ziegler #andy wyatt #leo mcgarry #cj cregg #tww fic rec

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aurumacadicus · 2 years ago

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Hmmm. You know who I’m currently fixated on lmaooo.

Bruce/Clark

AU: healthcare? veterinarian? no clue

*kicks in your door* DID SOMEONE SAY VETERINARIAN AU???? I'm saving this man. Unfortunately, you can take Bruce out of Gotham, but you can't take Gotham out of Bruce.

"I think you need to call the vet, Clark," Jonathan said, lifting his arm to wipe his brow with his flannel sleeve. He patted the horse they'd just gotten to stand on the neck, wondering how long it would last before it laid down again. "Something's wrong."

"Please don't make me do that," Clark answered immediately. "Pa, please, you remember what happened last time."

Jonathan raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, sure, son, it's kinda hard to forget you tripped over nothing and nearly gored yourself on a pitchfork. Luckily the doc was willing to do your stitches."

Clark closed his eyes and sighed. "I can't believe you're torturing me like this."

"You could always... I dunno, get a job?" Jonathan replied, carefully casual, and then rolled his eyes when Clark groaned loudly in response. "We sent you to school for journalism, Clark. The least you could do was try to apply to some places. The Smallville Gazette is fine for building a resume, but--"

"Maybe I wanna be here with you and Ma, did you ever think of that?" Clark cut in, scowling. "This is a big farm, and you're just two people, so--"

"It's not, and we can handle it," Jonathan told him firmly, and then added, "Oh, speak of the devil. Dr. Wayne."

"I didn't even call him," Clark gasped, spinning around to find a familiar truck pulling up.

Dick was jumping out before the truck even rolled to a stop, and Bruce was quick to follow, chasing after him with a stern scowl. Alfred parked the truck, looking put upon, and when he got out of the truck, he was holding a plate of cookies, it looked like. Clearly, his ma had invited them over for supper, otherwise Bruce would be alone.

Clark narrowed his eyes at the house, where Martha was warmly welcoming Alfred in. It explained the roast she'd started a few hours ago. She noticed him looking at her and gave him a stern frown that very clearly said 'behave' before she returned to smiling at Alfred.

"Can I pet your horse?" Dick asked loudly as he climbed up the fence.

"She doesn't feel well, so no, please don't," Jonathan answered kindly. He glanced at Bruce as he finally caught up to his son. "I know you're off the clock, Dr. Wayne, but would you mind-?"

"Martha mentioned your horse being sick, so I'm not surprised. Again, call me Bruce," Bruce said, climbing over the fence as well. "Looks like colic."

"You can tell just by looking at her?" Clark asked, agog.

Bruce gave him a long look, then said, "We watched you pulling her to her feet on the drive up. She's biting at her side, too," he added, motioning at her, and Clark and Jonathan turned to find she was, indeed, biting at her side irritably. "And I'm sure that if I..." He reached out, gently petting the horse's nose, then carefully flipped her lips back. "...Yup, tacky gums. They look a little blue, too. Let's get you moving," he added to the horse, taking the lead she was wearing and beginning to walk her in slow circles.

Clark watched him, unable to help swallowing thickly at the gentle expression on Bruce's face. Bruce never looked so nice when talking to him.

"Good thing there's no pitchforks out here," Dick said pointedly.

Clark blushed and turned to glare at him. "Aren't you like... five?"

"I'm seven," Dick said, and then, "And I'm not the one who tripped over a pitchfork and hurt himself because Bruce was rolling up his sleeves."

"Who fucking told you that," Clark hissed as Jonathan began to laugh. Dick just looked smug. Clark suddenly thought about taking his pa's advice and looking for a job anywhere that wasn't local. He was never going to live this down.

#ask meme #write a blurb meme #superbat #starkexpos

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cosmiclove-heavenstruck · 4 years ago

Text

Midnight Quidditch Games | Harry Potter

Pairing: Harry Potter x Gryffindor!Reader (written with a female reader in mind, though the gender is not stated)

Wordcount: 3800 words

Warnings: none, just fluff and friends-to-lovers

Summary: Fred and George come up with the idea of hosting illegal Quidditch Games for all four houses every Friday night. Harry convinces Reader to play with him and they end up on the same broom.

a/n: No Voldemort Au, set in Harry's fifth year. English is not my native language, so there might be spelling/grammar mistakes. (Based on a headcanon by @/ murphcooper on tumblr)

Friday was my favourite day of the week, and there were two reasons for that: One, it was the start of the weekend, and two, we played Quidditch.

Up until fifth year, the most I had to do with the popular wizarding sport was cheering at the official school games for the Gryffindor team and attending the Quidditch World Cup in 1994. Then Fred and George came up with a very illegal, yet very exciting and fun idea, which was to host unofficial Quidditch games in the middle of the night that any student could attend. Whether it were First Years who could barely fly, or simple people that never made it onto their house's team, anyone was welcome.

The twins had planned it the first two months of their sixth year together with Quidditch fans from the other houses and had created lists for every common room, which wouldn't be readable by the teachers or Filch.

“It's illegal! What if something happens? What if someone gets hurt, how do you want to explain that to Dumbledore, or worse, to Professor McGonagall,” Hermione argued as soon as Fred and George had prompted their idea to us one Sunday evening.

“I'm disappointed. Do you really think we would work that sloppy?”, Fred asked.

“The house elves are in,” George explained. “Which means free food and free healthcare, all in one!”

“Awesome,” Ron said, and he should be proven right.

The only rules to attend were the duty to remain silent and to come in your pyjamas, just for the sake of it. Gryffindors and Ravenclaws would be playing against Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, Lee Jordan would be commenting as always and because Madam Hooch wasn't available, Hermione would be our judge. This was decided unanimously.

The first two games had occurred at the end of November, and they had been a complete mess. We had to raise the number of players on each team so everyone who wanted to play fit in, which led to three Keepers, six Chasers, four Beaters and two Seekers for each house. Furthermore, there had been a dozen of first years who couldn't fly yet and who had to be taught by voluntaries.

Those first two Friday nights I had spent with Lee, Hermione, Luna and Dobby on the commentary stand, cheering and eating chocolate biscuits. Once in a while, I had thrown a biscuit in the air for Harry to catch.

Because of the bone-chilling cold and pitch-black darkness brought by the Scottish winter, Fred and George had invented glass bulbs which carried bright orange, warm fire and hovered over the Quidditch pitch.

With the first Friday of December approaching, the excitement grew bigger and it was basically the only topic during every meal. Now that the rules and positions had set and the First Years could fly, we were awaiting the first serious game – as serious as playing Quidditch in pyjamas with Hermione as a judge could be.

“You have to play, too,” Harry said to me during lunch on Friday. My friends had tried all week to persuade me to play instead of only keeping Hermione company, while I had constantly declined.

“Yes, come on,” Ron agreed. “We know you can fly, you played with us this summer.”

“No, no way.” I shook my head and pulled the pumpkin juice jug closer.

“Why not?”, Harry asked, covering my glass with his hand. I raised my eyebrows, but he only grinned, which made my stomach tingle. But I glossed over the unwanted feeling and shoved his hand away.

“Because all positions are filled. And besides that, I would be a terrible Chaser,” I answered. “Or a terrible anything, really.”

“You could play as a Seeker,” Hermione suggested and poured herself a drink. “You're good at noticing details.”

“But Harry and that boy from third year are playing as Gryffindor Seeker,” I reminded her, cutting my toast in half.

“You could fly with Harry,” She said plainly. I stared at her with wide eyes. I should had known the moment I had told Hermione about my not-so-tiny crush on Harry that it had been a bad idea. Now she did what I should had expected: Trying to set me up with him.

“No, I – no.”

“But I wouldn’t mind,” Harry said. “And if you don't like it, I can drop you off at the stands again. Come on Y/N, say yes.” He nudged my shoulder, looking at me with sweetest puppy eyes. I couldn't say no to him, he knew that. I sighed.

“Fine.”

A content smile lit up on his face. “Brilliant.”

Around half past nine, we made our way out of the castle and down to the Quidditch pitch. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George, as well as a dozen other Gryffindor students had their brooms shouldered, following me and Hermione through the dimly lit corridors.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,” I whispered, tapping the Marauders Map, which soon revealed Hogwarts’ grounds, ink lines flowing over the parchment. Filch was strolling around in his office, and so was Snape. McGonagall’s ink dot hovered in the East tower of the Fourth Floor. “Everything’s clear, but keep quiet,” I informed the others.

Hermione linked her arms with me.

“How are you?”, She asked, a knowing smile on her lips.

“Shut up. What was that at lunch?”

“Oh, come on, I just said what you were thinking. Everybody knows you have a thing for each other,” She said, and I quickly turned to make sure Harry was still talking to Dean and Ginny. Hermione chuckled. “I made a bet with Ginny that you will kiss after catching the Snitch together,” She added.

I swirled back around. “You what?”

“But Ginny thinks you'll snog in a broom closet afterwards.”

Before I could reply anything, Harry had caught up with us.

“What are you two whispering about?”, He asked, leaning closer so I could smell his deodorant.

“Nothing,” I said and was glad that the darkness hid my tinted cheeks. Hermione let herself fall back, leaving Harry and me alone at the front of the group.

“You're a terrible liar,” He said.

“Says you. Remember last year when we had detention with Snape –”

Harry wrapped his left arm around my shoulders, pulling me unintentionally closer, and placed his hand over my mouth to stop me from talking any further.

“You promised you'd take that to the grave.”

I grinned and pulled his hand away, though his arm stayed around me.

We made it out of the castle without any inconveniences, thanks to Peeves, who – on orders from the twins – created some chaos in the trophy room and distracted McGonagall.

We were the first to reach the pitch, and Harry unlocked the door under the stands with the key on the necklace around his neck, which led to the changing rooms and the spare brooms. Fred and George had stored the fire bulbs under a loose floorboard and were now freeing them so they could fly over the pitch. Hermione directed her wand towards the sky, sending out a Muffliato Charm, then winked at me and climbed up to the commentary stand with Lee.

In the meantime, the other houses arrived; the Hufflepuffs were followed by a tiny body of house elves carrying fast food on tablets over their heads. They spread over the stands, consorting with the students watching the game and providing them with hot meals and drinks.

“Welcome back everyone!”, Lee's voice echoed over the pitch and the crowd cheered. “And also welcome to everyone new here who wants to play or just likes to break the rules.”

“Hello from me too. We have some new players I want to introduce,” Hermione continued. “Marina Florence playing Keeper for Slytherpuff, Arthur Mitchell deputizing for Gryffinclaw’s Chaser Demelza Robbins, who is currently stationed in the hospital wing, and Y/N playing Seeker for Gryffinclaw together with Harry Potter.”

“That's ridiculous! Since when are we playing in pairs?!”, Draco yelled out of the crowd of Slytherin players.

“Since I'm making the rules, you daft idiot!”, Hermione called back, and laughing echoed over the field. Ron's language was clearly leaving a mark on her. “Now get on your brooms, everyone!”

“Make sure you don't slip off your broom in those silk pyjamas, Malfoy, ” Fred snickered loudly, and Draco held up his middle finger.

Slowly, the huge crowd of players on the pitch flew up into the air, positioning themselves on the right spots. I turned to Harry, who climbed on his broom. That was the part I had avoided to think about all afternoon: How would we fly on that thing together?

My heart drummed so loudly against my ribcage it was a miracle he couldn't hear it. We were friends, I reminded myself. And I would not ruin this friendship for the sake of some stupid feelings.

“Come on, Y/N,” Harry said, stretching out his hand. I grabbed it, and he helped me to climb onto his Firebolt, so that I was sitting in front of him. His fingers gripped around the broom stick, not very far from where I had placed my hands.

“You alright?”, He asked and I nodded.

“Brilliant,” I said, and he chuckled. He then wrapped his left arm around my waist before he kicked us off the ground and the Firebolt shot through the cold night air. My back got pressed against his chest, his knees squeezing my thighs, and out of shock, I held onto his arm around me.

I hadn't flown since last summer, and even then it had only been on Ron's old broomstick a few feet above the earth. This here was the complete opposite: Harry's Firebolt was a hundred times faster, and it barely took us three seconds to be the ones flying the highest over the stadium.

“I got you, everything's fine,” Harry said somewhere close to my ear as he had noticed my hand clenched around his arm, and a warm shiver ran down my spin. I looked down on the Quidditch pitch.

“It never looks that high when I’m down there,” I said.

“Are you afraid of heights?”, He asked, but I shook my head.

“No.” Not with you. I could feel his heart beating against my back and absently stroked over his hand on my waist, until Hermione's voice ripped me out of my thoughts.

“Okay, I want a fair game and no injuries, is that clear? And show some respect to the youngest players! Now ready, steady, GO!” With a wave of her wand, the trunk with the Quidditch balls snapped open and the Quaffle flew high into the air, followed by two Bludgers. For a short moment, I saw the Golden Snitch, then it rushed off into the darkness.

“So, what do we do now? Any secret strategies?”, I asked.

“No,” Harry answered, placing his chin on my shoulder. “We just wait and watch.”

A tingling warmth spread through my body at the subtle touch. Gently, Harry steered the broom around the pitch, while the others beneath us played.

“Katie wins the Quaffle – passes to Montgomery – Rick close to score, come on – YES, Gryffinclaw scores 10 points!”, Lee bellowed and loud applause erupted. “And Slytherpuff in possession – Blaise with the Quaffle – Josephine Gordon from Hufflepuff takes over, excellent Chaser that girl, and rather attractive – OW, I'm just stating facts!”

Hermione had smacked Lee on the back of his head.

“Anyways, Blaise in possession once again – now First Year Conan Ivory – Smith overtakes – and he scores. Ron, look at the Quaffle, not at Hermione – OW! – But Gryffinclaw still leads – Ginny overtakes – fights off some Slytherins – hey, careful Harry, Bludger coming your way –”

Harry quickly leaned over me and the Firebolt dropped a few meters, dodging the Bludger rushing over our heads. George (or Fred?) darted after the ball, calling a quick “Watch it, lovebirds!” at us, and hit the Bludger towards a Slytherin Chaser.

The other twin was close behind, shouting “Less snogging, more seeking!”

“Shut it!”, I yelled. For Merlin's sake, did everyone knew about my crush? Was it really that obvious for everyone except Harry? Not that I wanted him to find out – he would be embarrassed, he didn't think of us as anything other than friends.

Harry's arm slipped from my waist and he cleared his throat, but a broomstick did not provide much space, wherefore his chest was still pressed against my back and I could feel his rather fast heartbeat.

“Do you, uhm... want me to drop you off?”, He asked.

“Oh. Uh, no,” I said, trying to turn so I could face him, “I like it, but if you want to –”

“No! No, I just thought...” Harry’s eyes danced over my face like they had never before and we were quite close.

“ – Applebee has the Quaffle - and that's a score! Sixty to sixty!”, Lee called, and Hermione blew her silver whistle. I ripped my eyes off of Harry and looked down to the commentary stand. “Now, we’re gonna have a short break, because Dobby thinks you're gonna starve otherwise. All the first and second years are asked to go back to their dorms, because it's almost midnight – don't complain to me –”

Harry carefully steered his Firebolt back to the ground where he landed near Ron and Ginny. I climbed off and was glad to be spared an awkward conversation, because Ginny grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side of the pitch. The sudden loss of Harry's warm chest made me shiver.

“Now, have you ever thought about making out in a broom closet?”, She asked, a mischievous grin on her reddened face. I rolled my eyes at her.

“Hermione told me about the bet, so don't even try! No one's gonna make out in a broom closet,” I said.

“Except you and Harry,” Ginny replied. I opened my mouth to talk back, but was interrupted.

“What’s going on with you and Harry?” Cho had caught up to us, snatching a plate with fish and chips from a tablet an house elf carried through the crowd. “I have watched you, it's adorable, honestly.”

“First off, there's nothing to be adorable,” I said and stole a fry from her plate, “and second, you are supposed to watch the Snitch, not us.”

“So is Harry, but he only has eyes for you.” Cho smiled and tapped my nose with her finger. Ginny giggled and ate a piece of fried fish. In the same moment, Hermione breathlessly jogged up to us.

“What – were – you – waiting – for?”, She panted. I furrowed my brows.

“Huh?” Hermione sighed and shook her head.

“You were this close to kiss him, why didn't you do anything?”

“Is my love life this much more interesting the Quidditch game?!”

All three girls answered “Yes” in union.

“But he doesn't feel the same way for me!”, I argued. “We are friends –”

Ginny grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around. “Do friends look at each other that way? I don’t think so.”

Harry stood a few feet away with Ron, Seamus and Dean, though he seemed not to listen to their conversations and instead stared over at us. At me. When he realised he had been caught, he waved shyly and almost spilled his pumpkin juice. I waved back at him before turning to the girls again, all of whom were looking temporising at me.

“Oh, I – I don't know. Even if you're right, I can't just kiss him out of nowhere on his broom.”

“No, you gotta snog him in a broom closet so I get my Galleon,” Ginny said smugly, and Hermione nudged her with her elbow and looked at her watch, before blowing her whistle again.

“Everyone back on their positions, break's over!” Then Hermione shot me a serious look. “Get the boy, we're all done of you pining over one another. Ron can get the other boys to crash somewhere else, if you need the dorm.”

“Hermione!”, I gasped, but she was already rushing back to the commentary stand.

“Good luck,” Cho said, and Ginny winked. I glared at them before making my way over to where the Gryffindor boys stood. I saw how Ron said something to Harry, patted his shoulder and flew off.

Harry turned to me, smiling. His hair was even messier than usual due to the wind, and he had put on a black hoodie over his pyjamas. He looked cute and hot at the same time, and I couldn't quite believe that he was supposed to like me back.

“Do you want to – or?”, He asked.

“Yeah,” I smiled and he got on his Firebolt, making space in front of him for me.

“Good. I mean –” He cleared his throat as I climbed on his broom. The next second, we were high up in the air, his chest against my back again.

“Okay, guys, game's on again! Go!”, Hermione shouted and waved her wand at the Quaffle, which flew upwards and was caught by Ginny instantly.

“And we're back – Katie passes the Quaffle to Valentina – She flawlessly dodges a Bludger – Back to Peters, almost made it onto the Ravenclaw team – and he scores! SEVENTY TO SIXTY.”

I took a deep breath and leaned back against Harry, watching the game unfold. He propped his chin back onto my right shoulder, like an unspoken routine.

“I think I'm gonna play again next Friday,” I said out of the blue.

“Really?”, He asked, sounding surprised. I smiled. The crowd underneath us cheered.

“Yes. If you save me a place on your broomstick.” I turned to look at him, and he smiled brightly at me. We were as close as earlier, maybe even closer. I held my breath, until I noticed something small and golden buzzing through the air behind Harry, illuminated by one of the fire bulbs.

“There!” I pointed at the Golden Snitch, and Harry's head spun around to assure himself.

“Do you trust me?”, He asked.

“Of course,” I replied. Instantly, his hand was back around my waist and he yanked the Firebolt around.

“ – Seamus throws the Quaffle to Dean – Dean passes Nott – and he scores! NINTHY TO EIGHTY FOR GRYFFINCLAW! And Potter seems to have spotted the Snitch, Draco, Cedric and Cho close behind – Come on, show them what that Firebolt can do!”, Lee's voice roared from somewhere deep down, but my eyes were glued onto the Snitch: It whirred through the ice cold December air and up to the left ring of the Slytherpuff team.

Malfoy had almost caught up to us; even though the Firebolt was the fastest broomstick on the market, it was obviously slower when carrying two people instead of one.

The Snitch twirled around the pole, then dropped down and headed for the floor. Harry followed, and now we where almost vertically flying downwards. Because of the sudden shift of direction, I swore loudly and clenched my hands tighter around the broom.

“I won't let you fall, I promise,” Harry called over air rushing past us.

“I know, but a warning would have been nice!”, I yelled back, and he chuckled.

The weight of two people on one broomstick also meant that we got dragged downwards way faster, which meant we were outdistancing Malfoy. The Golden Snitch took a sharp right turn and now buzzed two meters above the ground to the other side of the pitch.

“You have to catch it!”, Harry yelled.

“WHAT? No, I can't –”

“Yes, you can! I have to steer!” And hold you. But he did not say that. I swore under my breath and carefully loosened one hand from the broomstick, stretching it forward. The Snitch was inches away from my fingertips and I pushed myself up, Harry's grip around my mid tightening. The silver wings touched my fingers, I stretched my arm further and in the same moment my hands clasped around the tiny, golden ball, we fell forward.

“ – And that doesn't look – Oh, Potter and Y/L/N are on the ground. I can't really see, if someone caught the Snitch –”

As one tangled mess, we landed on the frozen lawn, rolling over one another and stopping with Harry half on top of me. My whole body ached and I would definitely get bruises from the fall, but that was something I could worry about later. I caught the Snitch!

“Shit, sorry, fuck. Y/N, are you alright?” Harry's face hovered over me, a bloody scratch on his cheek. I grinned happily and held up the golden ball.

“Yeah, more than alright.”

“Y/N caught the Snitch! TWOHUNDRED AND FORTY TO EIGHTY! Gryffinclaw wins!”, Lee bellowed and the crowd cheered and applauded loudly. Harry held out one hand to help me up, and I took it.

“I'm sorry, I know I promised, but I couldn't hold you any longer and –”

“Shut up.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips. My hands found their way into his raven hair, and he hugged my waist, pulling me so tightly his fingers almost touched his own rips with the opposite hand. I kissed him, and he was kissing me back; it felt like someone had lit a firework in my heart, and for one marvellous moment, we were the only two people in the whole wide world.

Then the other players landed on the field, and we broke apart, catching our breaths. We were both grinning, and I felt drunk from the cold night and catching the Snitch and kissing Harry.

The raven haired boy bent down to kiss me once more, this time softer, and he intertwined our fingers before leading us over to our friends, where Ginny flicked a Galleon into Hermione's open hand.

“Took you long enough,” Ron said, who had both his and Harry's broomstick shouldered.

“Well, they got around in the end,” Cho added, leaning against Cedric, his chin propped on her head. “Sleepover at the Ravenclaw dorm?”, She added, and we all nodded in agreement.

While Fred, George and Lee collected the fire bulbs and Quidditch balls, and the house elves cleaned up the dirt with a snap of their fingers, we made our way back to the Hogwarts castle:

Ron alongside Hermione, followed by Seamus and Dean arm-in-arm, Cho with Cedric, one arm around her waist, Ginny carrying a tired Luna on her back, and lastly, Harry and me, holding hands.

“You know, I'm glad I agreed to play with you,” I said. Harry smiled.

“Yeah, me too.” He pressed a kiss on my cheek. In spite of the shivering cold, I had never felt more warm and comfortable than in this moment.

#fluff #my writing #oneshot #harry potter #harry potter x reader #harry james potter x reader #harry james potter #no voldemort au #quidditch

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skyloftian-nutcase · 4 months ago

Note

Never once did I think that physical therapy would have me rolling around all over the place on a freaking stool with wheels, but here we are.

Like, they have me walking around but while sitting on said stool, and I can’t help but find the situation hilarious. It has helped my knee, though, so I guess it works somehow, and it makes me feel like a little kid, so I’m not complaining.

The reason why I am sending this as an ask to you is because it reminded me of one I sent roughly a month ago (I think) asking if you had a physical therapist character for your Healthcare AU (speaking of which, were you ever able to find one?) and it reminded me of the part about which Link would be a physical therapist if he wasn’t already in his current field and you answered with Wild.

I feel as though Wild would definitely either be the one on the wheelie-stool (I’ve decided that that’s what I’m calling it because I don’t know what it’s actually called (I think the physical therapist I had today referred to it as a buggy?)) or he’d be the one telling the patient to get on the wheelie-stool.

You should’ve challenged your PT to a wheelie race 😂 I’m glad it helped your knee though!

I think someone suggested Steen for a PT, which I can vibe with. :)

Wild would 100% just move around on a wheelie stool all day lol

#you ask skye answers #lovely summaryscar #Lu in healthcare #lu wild

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britishassistant · 4 years ago

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Consider for the Supervillain AU: Yuu is currently playing Hostage for one of the Dorms when they hear a crashing sound from another room. Thinking it’s one of the RSA boys, they decide not to engage Prefect Time.

Turns out, it’s one of the other NRC villain teams pulling a raid on their current captors. When said raiders spot Yuu as a hostage, they take them along and end up protecting them.

After getting out the Villains base, the Raiding Team and Yuu take a quick breath at a designated rendezvous point.

Playing the role of Innocent Hostage, Yuu thanks the Raiding Villain team for Saving them.

“‘Save you’?” They say. “More like...’under new management’”

Yuu can’t even finish a word before they felt themselves getting regagged again (maybe in a different style to reflect the dorm that just ‘saved’ them). Yuu knows that they’re going to get a major headache from all this nonsense

Bonus points for the villains being petty and sending a picture to the Villain Dorm that just got raided of not only the stuff they stole but one adorable Hostage as well they found along the way

Thank you for the ask, dear anon!

Something’s... off today.

Yuu’s sitting in their cell in the lair, shuffling and reshuffling a deck of playing cards to try and pass the time.

They were trying to subtly gather information about Royal Flush’s latest heist from Ace and Deuce while playing Go Fish, but then both minions’ phones went off. The pair of them grabbed their weapons and left, promising that whatever was going on would take no more than five minutes.

That was ten minutes ago.

Maybe it’s that “Champion” hero again, trying to reclaim that topaz Royal Flush stole two nights ago. He causes enough collateral damage that his presence would certainly warrant a call for all hands on deck, especially if Niko Niko Neko has decided to lend him some help. Poor Ace of Diamonds still has a fractured collarbone from the heroes’ last “collaboration”, though at least Seven of Spades finally has the cast off her foot.

The cell block is soundproofed, so even if the reporter strains their ears, they can hear nothing of what could be going on in the rest of the base. The sound of cards flipping between their fingers is doing little to settle their nerves.

Yuu’s arm brushes against the brim of their fedora.

No. No need to be hasty. It’ll look too suspicious if The Prefect appears from the cells and it turns out to just be the RSA heroes saving the day after all. Plus the haphazard stitches from where Ace’s throwing cards cut into their ribs still haven’t healed enough that they won’t get pulled if Yuu starts running around willy-nilly, and then how will they explain the blood? There’s no need to jump to conclusions. There probably isn’t anything seriously wr—

A loud crash echoes from the entrance to the cell block.

Yuu stands, shoving the deck of cards into a pocket of their blazer. They rush to the bars of their cell, trying to peer through and see what the source of the noise is.

Thick plaster is rolling in from the entrance, obscuring their vision. They think they can glimpse the sight of the door, a twisted mess of wood and metal lodged in the opposing wall.

What in the name of the Great Seven could’ve—?!

The reporter’s blood runs cold at the sound of a low, rumbling growl.

It almost sounds like a dog warning an unwelcome intruder, if that dog were much, much bigger than even a Great Dane had any business being.

Not a dog then. Yuu exhales, and calls out in their most level voice. “Hello? Is someone there?”

If it’s a monster, it can probably already smell them if it’s growling like that, and the bars should provide some measure of defense if it attacks so Yuu can figure out how to subdue it enough to run. If it’s not a monster...

The growl grows louder, but also...less, somehow? As if it had changed outputs or something, like going from listening in stereo to through headphones.

A figure becomes visible through the dust and gloom. One that’s as tall and built as Yuuken is. Oh dear.

An angry looking man with white hair in a rough-and-tumble outfit looms in front of the cell, arms crossed and one pointed ear on the top of his head flickering. A beastman, probably some kind of canine if the growl was any indication.

The reporter fights the urge to swallow nervously. “Excuse me, but you aren’t one of Royal Flush’s minions, are you? Who are you? Are-were you being held captive too?”

The beastman doesn’t answer their questions. Instead, he barks, “You’re that reporter, right? The one who gets captured a lot.”

Yuu’s mouth flattens into a line, but they nod. Oh Seven, they hope that’s not what they’re becoming famous for. “Well, I am a hostage here, and I am a reporter for TWST local news. Yuu Radcliffe, and you are?”

The beastman grimaces, looking even angrier at the admission. “Get back.”

They obligingly let go of the bars and back up a few steps, shuffling away a few more when another growl ripples out the man’s chest. They tilt their head as he seizes the bars they were just holding. Wait, what does he think he’s—

There’s a hideous shriek of metal as the beastman’s muscles ripple and the bars bend apart like they’re no more than wet clay. The reporter can see indents of his grip left from where he pushed at the steel.

Yuu feels a little lightheaded, staring blankly as the beastman steps into the cell. They do startle when he pulls what looks like a small black sack out of his pocket, holding it out to their head. “Hey, what-?!”

“You wanna get out of here?” The beastman says brusquely. “You wear this.”

There’s a sinking feeling in Yuu’s gut, but the way he’s brandishing the sack makes them think he’s not about to take “no” for an answer. They doubt they could outrun him at this range, given that he’s blocking the new exit out of the cell. The reporter reluctantly takes the bag and pulls it on over their head, wincing as their field of vision goes dark.

They can’t help the yelp they make as they’re suddenly scooped up by a pair of unseen arms and held a little too tightly for comfort. Yuu contemplates trying to squirm out of his grip, and then remembers what his hands did to the steel bars. Instead they just try to make themselves as small as possible as the beastman starts to run.

It’s disconcerting, hearing so much noise after being stuck in the soundproofed cellblock for so long. Screams, yells, cries, and howls, the sounds of a battle they can’t see raging around them. Yuu thinks they hear their name being called out once, but it’s drowned out as the beastman picks up speed and the scent of roses and strawberries is replaced by the fresher, more noxious air of the city outside.

Their ride takes so many twists and turns that Yuu can barely keep track of where they are relative to Royal Flush’s lair, let alone where they’re headed. They honestly feel a little motion sick by the time the beastman slows down, and releases one arm to push open what sounds like a creaky metal door.

It feels like a wall of heat and noise hits the reporter in the face. There’s lots of loud complaining and ribbing from what sounds like a large and rowdy group of people, and the grip of the man carrying them gets tighter, tucking them closer to his chest.

One voice rises above the rest. “Oi, Jack-kun, what took you so long? We were beginning to think you’d run off with our little guest there.”

“Jack-kun’s” hold tightens again at the sound of that voice, to the point where Yuu is beginning to get worried that they’re going to end up like the bars on their cell back in the lair. His voice is clipped as he bites out, “Had to lose a tail, senpai. Got sidetracked.”

The world tilts oddly and it takes the reporter a moment to get their feet under them and not stumble as they are finally, finally set down. One of “Jack’s” arms remains clamped on their shoulder, steadying them and preventing them from moving too far away from him.

“Well, you’re both in one piece!” The new voice comes closer. “Now let’s see the reporter who went and got Royal all bent out of shape, huh?”

They wince when the bag is pulled off their head suddenly, blinking in the sudden light. The face of another beastman swims in front of their eyes before their gaze finally focuses, greyish eyes and dyed blond hair with much more rounded ears perched atop it. The glimmering orange jewel the size of a canatloupe he’s clutching in one hand isn’t exactly helping any with how it keeps refracting light into the reporter’s eyes.

The same orange jewel that Royal Flush stole from the pier two nights ago.

The sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach only grows.

“Well, I don’t see the appeal.” The beastman declares. “Maybe that midget just has weird taste.”

“Ouch.” Yuu forces a thin smile onto their face. Play along, keep calm, keep the levity up. “You’ll hurt my feelings at this rate.”

“Hey, truth hurts.” The beastman shrugs, spreading his hands wide. “Woulda thought a nosy journo like you would know that by heart, with all the dirt you dig up.”

“You would think so.” Yuu chuckles weakly. “Well, thank you all so much for rescuing me from Royal Flush’s lair, in any case.”

The ears on Jack’s head flatten slightly, and he glares at a spot on the floor by Yuu’s feet.

Well. That’s disappointing. Unsurprising, given that everyone here is also in an outlandish form of uniform without being clowns, but disappointing all the same.

“Shi hi hi hi hi. Oh, I wouldn’t call it ‘rescued’.” The beastman chuckles, grinning unsettlingly wide. “More like...under new management.”

Yuu stares at the minion.

“Wow. Wow.” The reporter tells him flatly. “I hope your boss pays you well to say stuff like that.”

The beastman shrugs again, grin not diminishing in the slightest. “Four figures, with holiday bonuses and healthcare. It’s a pretty good gig.”

Yuu tilts their head in acknowledgement. It’s better than their current working conditions, they’ll give him that.

“Ah, before I forget. No point in a good raid without a celebration photo, right?” The blond man pulls out a smart phone and waggles it in one hand. “That’s what that selfie junkie of Royal Flush’s likes to do, right? Jack-kun, you get in too.”

It’s sad that this barely makes it into the top five most surreal selfies that Yuu has ever taken. Even when the senior minion orders Jack-kun to curl a hand around their throat, gripping tight enough to make their breath go short, while the blond man holds the jewel up by their face in a place of prominence. “Make sure to look nice and menaced now, kay~? Shi hi hi hi hi.”

The camera flash goes off, once, twice. Then the phone comes down, and the hand comes off the reporter’s throat. They try to suck in a series of deep breaths as discreetly as they can.

“Great expression there, really selling the unwilling captive shtick.” The beastman pats their cheek condescendingly, thumb moving over the screen of the phone until there’s the ping of a Magicam upload. “Ok, let’s get your hands and legs tied and hood back on. Oh, and I’d watch your mouth when I meet the boss man, if I were you. You’ve got an audience with the King, after all.”

“Do you get a raise every time you spout off a line like that?” Yuu grumbles as the deeply frowning Jack is handed a length of rope and begins looping it around their wrists.

“Not yet!” The beastman calls back jovially as he strides away, admiring the topaz in his hand and barking orders to all the other henchpeople milling around.

“...Sorry.” Jack mutters by their feet as he finishes the tight knot binding their ankles together.

“It’s okay.” Yuu murmurs back, as he picks up the bag to place it back on their head. “You're just doing your job, right?”

And they’ll just be doing theirs, the reporter thinks to themselves as the darkness descends again and they’re hoisted up over the minion’s shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

Maybe they’ll finally get to learn why the topaz is so important to both Royal Flush and their current captor that it was worth staging a raid on another supervillain’s lair to get it. At the very least they’ll have the opportunity to interview this “King” to uncover his side of the story...

That is, if he doesn’t somehow work out whose biological child they are first.

#ask #twisted wonderland #twst #supervillain au #twisted wonderland yuu #twst yuu #jack howl #twst jack #ruggie bucchi #twst ruggie #savannaclaw

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txemrn · 2 years ago

Note

It's me, literally sprinting into your Asks! ❤️

Can we have a taste of:

Ethan/Casey

Mr. & Mrs. Ramsey

OPH Cancer (I hope it is not what I think it is!)

Thank you! 🥰

Lin! Eep!💜 Thank you so much for sending me the Ask for the WIP game! I'm so nervous, but hopefully something will pique your interesting. lol

Also, keep in mind: these titles are awful. They're almost like my own personal titles to remind me of the fics, so hopefully they haven't been too misleading. LOL

Warning: Long Post...

Ethan/Casey

Someone sent me an Ask last week about Ethan and Tatum's attraction if Ethan was still with Casey when Tatum was hired, and then someone (maybe the same person) asked if I could write something about that. Well, this got away from me, and I developed this AU of my HC, and I'm hoping to have this as a miniseries for October! Here's a snippet:

"And over here are the charts of the new arrivals," Casey pivots back to her new batch of interns. Her arms are outstretched as if she's the Vanna White of medicine, guiding them on a tour of the emergency room. "Remember, folks, every patient needs to be triaged–" she freezes as she watches a familiar tall blonde at the nurse's station, thumb through all the charts. "Um… they need to be triaged within thirty minutes," she hurries through her instructions before holding up a finger. "Just a minute, guys."

Casey walks up to the desk, inquisitively observing the woman. Even under the fluorescent lights, her platinum highlights perfectly shine, her waves bouncing effortless on her shoulders. Her scarlet wrap dress hugs her curves beautifully, and her patent-leather nude pumps show off the musculature of her calves, those thick thighs, and–

The stranger clears her throat, Casey painfully aware of the warm flush crawling across her cheeks as her eyes dart from the shapely woman's backside to her face.

Without looking facing towards the diagnostician, the curious stranger continues to pull folders. "I'll be done in a minute," she nods to the registration desk, "you can finish undressing me with your eyes over there.’

Does she not remember me?

~🖤~

Mr. & Mrs. Ramsey

Did you ever see Mr. & Mrs. Smith with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt? Long story short, they are a married couple who have no clue that the other has a secret assassin life until their agencies pin them head-to-head to chase after a specific hit. In turns into a dangerously sexy good time.

With the overturning of Roe v. Wade fresh on our minds here (removing not only autonomy for women, but appropriate healthcare for women), one of my writing friends shared with me how she would love to see an AU where Tatum is this underground abortionist, secretly saving lives. I thought it was a hilariously genius idea (even though Massachusetts is luckily a more progressive state).

So for this story, it's just that. Tatum is part of an underground abortion ring, and Ethan has no idea. Not much has been written, but here's a snippet:

The sweet, maple aroma of thick-cut bacon wafts throughout the pristine townhome. As she scrambles some egg whites for herself, Tatum carefully prepares two over-easy yolks for her husband as she toasts an artisan loaf for their breakfast.

“Mmmm,” Ethan bounds into the kitchen, a sports coat tucked over his forearm. “Something smells delicious in here.” He hastily grabs his mug of brewed coffee, but stops for a brief moment to brush a peck on his wife’s cheek while she carefully shimmies his delicate eggs onto a plate.

“Would you like for me to butter your toast, sweetheart?” She sweetly croons, a doting smile warming her early-morning expression.

“I think I can manage that, thank you, darling.” Ethan collects his plate, stealing the delivered morning newspaper and hoarding it under his arm. Making himself comfortable at the breakfast nook on the island of the kitchen, he takes a bite of bacon before fanning out the oversized-paper to catch up with the news.

Tatum quietly fixes her coffee, but as she stirs in her hazelnut creamer, a large bold font on the front page startles her: Feds Confirm Underground Abortion Ring in Kinsington County; GOP Outraged. She coolly takes a sip of her smooth Arabica roast, her eyes shifting from the headline to Ethan, and then back again. “How are your eggs, sweetheart?”

“Perfect,” he answers, his eyes trained to the text before looking up to give her an appeasing smile.

“Perfect,” she offers an ostensible grin.

~🖤~

OPH Cancer

Unfortunately, this is exactly what you think it is. There was a prompt going around several months ago about "My love comes with a lifetime guarantee" ... and because I'm me, this angst was born from it.

This is from the POV of Tatum. It's several months after she gives birth, and she finds a lump in her breast. I haven't written much of this one either, but here's a snippet:

I get it.

Physicians like myself go to great lengths to create safe spaces, special offices developed to establish a calm atmosphere for effective communication while discussing emotional health concerns. These meeting rooms are ideal when patients and loved ones need to make tough, well-thought out medical decisions. You know the type: a comfortable chaise lounge; soft sounds from a noise machine, like a babbling brook or a rainstorm; low and soothing ambient lighting–none of the fluorescent bullshit that makes you look sick.

Because you are sick.

But, beyond the perfectly polished wood, the infusion of essential oils in the air and the crisp cucumber water for enjoyment, being in this seat, the patient’s seat, is terrifying.

~🖤~

Thanks again, girlie!

#wip game #open heart #open heart wips #ethan ramsey #casey valentine #tatum erikson #choices fanfic

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plounce · 4 years ago

Photo

what if gay CATS........... were gay PERSONS

(info on this au under the cut)

theyre all shitty young adults just kind of. getting through their early 20s as best they can. or as much as they can. maybe things will get better someday, but right now they’re kind of spinning their wheels

magic exists but like eh it’s not a big thing don’t worry about it. it’s around but like whatever. not many people have it and it’s mostly just like. a curiosity or a party trick

demeter and bombularina are together, tugger and mistoffelees are together, bombularina and tugger occasionally fwb, it’s cool and aboveboard and it’s all fine

demeter:

bisexual with a preference for women. 24 years old

semi-psychic (not as powerful as tantomile or coricopat). tends to have vague and confusing prophetic dreams

dropped out of grad school for sociology due to trauma and ensuing intensified mental illness. kind of bitter about it, but tries to get through every day. general anxiety disorder even before all that

very nervous around most men she doesn’t know & trust

currently working at a barnes & noble starbucks, which sucks. she recently became the assistant manager, which turbo sucks because now she has more work for only like a buck raise, but at least she’s getting reliable shifts

her go-to therapy is cutting her hair with scissors. her hair is fried to all hell from regular bleaching

she’s learning how to crochet because she’s decided she needs to do something physically productively creative with her hands to distract herself from Stuff

bombalurina:

bisexual. 24 years old

got her bachelor’s in english two years ago and hasn’t found a job in her field and has kind of given up on it for now

she’s been bartending for like four years, does freelance editing work on the side. will occasionally write listicles for clickbait sites if she needs extra cash

literally any extra money she can save goes to tattoos. her right sleeve’s almost done

has natural red hair but dyes it cherry red

a hedonist to cope but is also just a natural hedonist. likes a good bath

i know that like the typical thing fandoms say about female characters is “doesn’t take shit” for the girlboss points but she truly does not take shit anymore. she used to take people’s shit sometimes but at this point in her life she’s tired and she has a girlfriend to be protective of. she has a couple people whose shit she will take (mostly just tugger) but besides them (and having to practice basic customer service to keep her job) she’s tired of other people’s shit! enough!

my personal take on bombalurina is a mix between the riot grrrls of the 90s and 80s punk girls, and then a dash of the greaser chicks from grease. i saw that spiked collar and my brain went OH okay i can run with this somewhere fun. same for demeter, but less so - she just has the piercings.

demelurina:

bombalurina met demeter in college at a women’s activism club, noticed her because of her dimple piercings and was like “oh someone else with a lot of metal in her face, i’ll sit next to her”

they were each other’s first off-campus roommates and were close friends. made out a couple times, but it was mostly a lot of sexual tension. there was a lot of bombalurina staring at demeter while she or demeter made out with someone else

demeter was on and off with her high school boyfriend munkustrap and bombalurina was like “oh he’s so much more stable/calm than me and she needs that, i party a bit too much for her, i shouldn’t try anything” so she just sort of. lets their almost-there peter off

(this is all bombalurina’s internal thoughts - demeter always was interested in her, but thought she was too boring for bombalurina. so neither of them thought they could pursue it)

bombalurina graduated and moved somewhere cheaper further away from campus. they kind of drift apart

munkustrap and demeter peter off and he moves away for a job (they’re still good friends, it was a very amicable breakup) and then demeter gets with macavity, which is a deeply toxic situation for her and sucks hugely and throws her whole life really off track. won’t go into further details

she finally manages to break up with him and calls bombalurina at like 2 am asking if she can pick her up, and also if she can sleep on her couch, it’s okay if that’s not okay, she just. really needs a place she feels safe, and her gut is telling her to. and of course bombalurina says yes

bombalurina also knew macavity and had also made out a couple times with him at like parties and stuff (see: staring at demeter as she makes out with people). something about transference of feelings - bombalurina was into him for a couple moments because he and demeter had a thing.

this is due to me interpreting the song “macavity” as actually about bombalurina wanting to fuck demeter and her singing as a half-repressed expression of that. i use my really good wlw brain to reach that conclusion. it’s kind of a non-competitive version of eve sedgwick’s take on the love triangle. (<-- normal thing to say)

but anyway demeter stays on bombalurina’s couch and she tries so hard to stay on track but eventually she just has to drop out. bombalurina helps her with that too. she’s just really supportive even as demeter’s life is at its lowest point. when she gets home from bartending she gets demeter to go to sleep

she just Stays with her and makes her smile and reminds her that her life isn’t over, there’s still things in her day to enjoy, to keep her trudging forward

bombalurina is roommates with tugger at this point - he also recently dropped out and demeter knows him because he’s munkustrap’s brother, so he’s Trusted and also is like “hey it’s okay that you dropped out, im here and im chilling and you like me and respect me at least a little, and you have a bachelor’s degree at least!” (more on him later)

demeter is like “oh god ive been crashing at their place for so long not paying rent, theyre gonna ask me to leave, im such a freeloader, they wont take my attempts at paying rent” but then bombalurina and tugger are like “hey! the lease is almost up! we found a pretty good 3 bedroom, do you wanna have your own room for real?” and she nearly cries because 1. the RELIEF 2. oh my god you want me around???

cut to bombalurina helping demeter put together an ikea dresser (tugger got banished to the kitchen to make crystal light lemonade for them because he’s useless with a screwdriver) and demeter has two epiphanies:

1. i thought i was ready to d*e four months ago and here i am making a dresser to put clothes into in my new apartment where i live and feel safe and loved. im still not happy but im still alive and im making a dresser

2. holy fuck im back in love with my best friend, and ten times more than i was back then.

so she like kind of freaks out because she’s already imposed so much on bombalurina, how could she impose her FEELINGS on her like this, oh no oh no oh no

meanwhile bombalurina’s back in love with her even MORE and she’s also like no... she’s already dealing with so much... i don’t want to make her uncomfortable or feel unsafe in her own home especially after her recent relationship trauma... i just want her to feel safe around me...

you might think tugger as their roommate would be like “JUST KISS” but he is in fact pretty oblivious because he is self-absorbed. mistoffelees on the other hand..

eventually they do have a big confession of feelings after demeter has a bad day and it’s very dramatic and they make out in the rain. and it’s like. well this is a movie scene. but also im cold and damp. let’s head inside our home and get warm and dry :)

and then they go inside and and talk through everything, all their feelings (not just their romantic feelings but like ALL their feelings) and their shared histories and bombalurina is like “do you think you’re... ready for a relationship right now? like that would be a good thing for you?”

and demeter considers it. she does stop and think. and then she says, “with anyone else... probably not. but it’s you. and i feel so safe around you, and we’re already so close. you make the future feel more worth it. you make more days alive feel not just tolerable, but something to look forward to. and knowing you’ve loved me all this time... it’s nice. it’s good. i’m - i’m understating it so much, it’s more than nice, it’s just - it’s a lot. i wish i had noticed back then.” “hey, hey, don’t blame yourself. i’m the one who never said anything.”

anyway. everything works out, and they start dating for real :)

tugger:

bisexual. 22 years old

dishwasher at the same bar bombalurina works at. she got him the job. he keeps bugging her to teach him bartending tricks and on slow nights she will agree to

he dropped out of their four year, but he managed to secure an associate’s in communications before he dipped

trying to be an ig influencer hotboy and hopefully get modeling jobs from that but his phone’s camera sucks shit so his account isn’t really going anywhere. but he continues to post his low resolution shirtless selfies

trying to cope with being the failure son who does not have a fancy nonprofit job with a salary and healthcare by being self-absorbed and self-aggrandizing

it works about 60% of the time and 60% of the times that it doesn’t he’s able to hide it

he dropped out right around when bombalurina graduated and he was like HEY! ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A ROOMMATE WHO DOESN’T CARE IF WE LIVE TEN MILES AWAY FROM CAMPUS? WELL HAVE I GOT A SOLUTION FOR YOU: ME!

to which bombalurina (who has fooled around with him here and there and thinks he is funny little man and genuinely goodhearted, and also he has rockin abs as a plus) says munkustrap already asked me if i need a roommate and if i do to consider you, because you don’t want to move back home. in other words: yes, you little idiot

they do fool around with each other but they are both very understanding that it is strictly platonic and for fun, especially once they become roommates. they both do not desire each other for anything serious

he did have a bit of a crush on each other when they met (hot punk older girl who’s friends with his brother) but 1. it dissipated pretty quick after they fooled around for the first time because it was not a very serious crush 2. she was in the middle of being in love with demeter so she was focused on that, emotionally

he got his ears pierced a couple times in high school but bombalurina inspired him to get a couple more. she went with him when he got his nose pierced

demeter has always understood that him and bombalurina are strictly fwb, has never been an issue.

she and him like to bleach their hair together when their hair schedules line up (he bleaches his way less often then she does), but she refuses to use his fancy conditioner that keeps his hair unfried because it’s expensive, even though he tells her to go ahead and use it, please, the health of her hair is giving HIM anxiety, demeter please. please demeter

mistoffelees:

gay. 20 years old

has magic. it’s pretty good magic but again: magic is not a big deal in this concept

a bit spooky. skulks around. a bit of a bitch but also very very nice. chooses when to speak

he has postings on craigslist and fiverr about finding lost objects and people with magic. like a gig economy private detective

side job is a waiter at a fancy restaurant

sometimes he gets paid VERY well from the private detecting, depending on the client. he does ask his psychic friends (tantomile & coricopat) to give a quick glance over on some of the more suspicious clients just to make sure he isn’t finding someone who should not be found by that person.

doesn’t go to college. is roommates with his sister victoria, who’s a freshman and studying dance. moved into town with her so she wouldn’t have to live in the dorms by having a guaranteed roommate.

tuggoffelees:

the general vibe i want for these two is mistoffelees walking around town or driving around in his shitty toyota camry while tugger tags along because he’s bored and thinks this is cool as shit

the general tone of the au is “magic isn’t a big deal” except for tugger, who thinks mistoffelees’ magic and his magic freelancing is the coolest shit ever. this is mostly because he just likes mistoffelees. “there are people who can do cooler shit than me, tug” “yeah but i don’t KNOW them also theyre not as COOL as you” “you had to explain to me how instagram reels work”

idk how they met i just think tugger shows up at his and bombalurina’s apartment one day (this is when demeter has moved in but they havent moved to the 3br yet) with this dude to dash in and pick something up and bombalurina is like “uh. who’s this” “oh this is mistoffelees he’s SO GOOD AT MAGIC” [mistoffelees nods hello] “okay bye bombalurina see you at work!!!” “uh. later”

after that he just shows up a lot. sort of ambiguous if theyre dating or what for a while before bombalurina straight up asks like “hey does the dude you’re dating know we fool around” “the dude im - what?” “... the little magic guy who keeps using our hot cocoa mix. misty.” “oh. uh. we aren’t dating.” “... do you want to? because you’re kind of all over him constantly” “um. well! haha, if i wanted to, i could! haha!” “yeah get back to me on that”

tugger trying to use his ig clout to get mistoffelees more work even though 1. he has no clout 2. mistoffelees has a very stable client base. but mistoffelees appreciates the effort. the self-promo guy promoing someone other than himself... the highest expression of love...

mistoffelees is A Nonthreatening Man plus he’s pretty obviously gay so demeter is chill around him pretty quickly. when mistoffelees is over they’ll sit on the couch where demeter sleeps and watch documentaries quietly while she crochets

they both occasionally say spooky shit at the same time because magic stuff. bombalurina and tugger are both torn between “that was cool as fuck” and “god that’s unnerving”

just a lot of tugger following mistoffelees around on his jobs and mistoffelees letting him because he’s fond of him and them occasionally getting into minor peril and interesting shenanigans, but it is 90% fetch quests

i think the first time they met tugger was taking selfies in front of a hydrangea in a public park and he saw mistoffelees walk up with a shovel and start digging in one of the flower beds and he thought he was hot so he went over and offered to take over on the shoveling to look strong and masculine and he ended up digging up a skull, which mistoffelees picked up and said “thanks” and then walked away

mildly terrifying but also very interesting and tugger’s days are kind of boring and dishwashing kind of sucks as a job to do like every night and he is a person who thrives on novelty so. moth to a porchlight

i think they do start making out for fun here and there and then a while later theyre out on one of mistoffelees’ jobs and someone asks “who’s the guy with you” and mistoffelees replies “oh that’s my boyfriend, don’t worry about him” and then it’s like. “HUH? I’M YOUR BOYFRIEND?” “uh. yeah? i assumed. is that okay?” “i mean yeah of course i think you’re great! how long have we–” “oh like a while.” “oh. uh. cool!!”

they just hang out a lot. mistoffelees enjoys teasing him and enjoys his warmth and bombasticity and tugger likes watching and helping him solve little mysteries around the county because it’s always something new. they’re kind of a comedy duo. they just enjoy spending their time together and following mistoffelee’s internal magic gps to find lost dogs and lost necklaces

yeah right now this au is just vibes and just sort of. continuing forward with your days and your weeks and your months. just young adults hanging out

#cats the musical #mr mistoffelees #rum tum tugger #demeter cats #bombalurina #tuggoffelees #demelurina #chirps #bird in the hand

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xpeachesncream · 4 years ago

Text

off the grid | three

summary: it was as simple as swapping places with a stranger from across the world to get away from everything back home. that is - until you meet Jimin. things become more complicated as he unfolds a new chapter in your life that you were initially trying to avoid.

pairing: reader x pjm

genre: post-college au, christmas/holiday au | angst, fluff, smut (to come)

words: 2.4k

chapter warnings: cussing / mature language, definitely inaccurate depiction of transportation, events and whereabouts in South Korea since i only did my research thru the internet, jimin continues to be cute as fuck for being such an angel

> series masterlist <

"Jimin!" You whined as he had hurriedly grabbed the check from the waitress and politely shoved it back in her hand with his card.

"I just wanted you to enjoy your lunch." He laughed at your pouty face - brows furrowed, lips poking out.

"That doesn't mean I can't pay for my own food."

"Can you relax? It's fine. If anything, you can just get me when we grab dessert later."

"Sure, if you don't beat me to it again."

"Maybe it's your reflexes."

"Wow, I'm a little appalled at that statement. Already judging me?"

"Never that, just being honest." He smiled. "Okay, I'm joking. Don't kill me." He laughed as he stood up and gathered his stuff. You two were spending some time going around Insa-Dong before heading to a park near the N Seoul Tower later tonight to chill.

Besides beaming with kindness, Jimin was patient. He let you walk around wherever, doing whatever, without complaining. He was also very smart, giving the inside scoop with the added bonus of tips and tricks and reciting historical facts when the perfect opportunity arose. He made fun of you for buying small, cute souvenirs because it seemed like a never ending collection, but nonetheless, he really enjoyed how happy you looked. How you glowed. How down to earth and laid back you were. Even though it hadn't been long since you met, you weren't reserved and you took him in (as he was) with ease. He was normally a shy person, but he appreciated the warmth that radiated from you. He felt comfortable, almost like you both had known each other for years.

"Come on, Y/N." He laughed. "Really? How many more pins and stickers do you need?"

"Jimin, you need to lower your voice." You joked.

"I'm sorry." He began to raise his voice, causing others to turn towards you two. "HOW MANY MORE PINS-"

"Oh my god, okay! Stop! I'll drop it!" He laughed and prevented you from dropping your items down.

"I'm just playing. I'll stop." It hit you that his hand still lingered on yours, so you quickly drop it down before shyly tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

"I promise this is it." You shrugged. "For now." You kept smirking at him over your shoulder before you happily walked over to the counter. After slipping the small shopping bag into your bigger shopping bag, you met Jimin outside of the shop who had been taking pictures of the street with his polaroid camera. "Do you always do this?"

"Take pictures? Yeah, I like holding onto the memories, as cliché as that sounds. They really do hold a lot of meaning for me."

"No, I think that's pretty cool."

"Do you mind?" He slightly rose his camera towards you.

"If you take pictures of me?" He nodded silently. "No, I don't."

"Thanks. It'll add a nice touch to my collection." He quickly snapped a picture of you smiling.

The two of you continued to walk around, with Jimin making sure you didn't miss anything significant. He led the way majority of the time, dancing when he would hear music playing on the street, mimicking ads posted on the walls or simply taking more pictures. When you both had your fill of the area, he drove to a nearby bbq restaurant where you could get some jajangmyeon, samgyeopsal and other entrees ready made for takeout before grabbing dessert on the way to the park. You held onto the food while he grabbed a blanket from the trunk of his car and laid it on the grass so you two could dig in and eat.

"That's a nice ass view." You said, staring at the tower up ahead.

"I could take you up there another day. There isn't much, but the view at the tower is amazing."

"I bet."

"So, what made you want to come to here?" All this time you had been spending with Jimin had been occupied by all the plans that you hadn't been able to really talk about this. You hadn't been able to divulge about the dirty details of all things home.

"I really just wanted a break from the chaos." You shrugged.

"Mmm, really painting a great picture of Los Angeles right now." He said sarcastically before he covered his mouth to laugh.

"Sorry, it's a great place, really. I honestly can't see myself anywhere else." You sighed. "I just.. felt myself slipping, you know? I was getting lost in all the work I had to get done, all the projects on my plate. At one point I felt so stuck that I really questioned if I belonged. I'm turning 26 soon and I still feel lost."

"Impostor syndrome?"

"Yes, that."

"Why? You made it that far, haven't you? May I ask what you do back home?"

"I work in translational science." His eyes widened.

"Wow, that's amazing. You came this far, Y/N. Why would you doubt yourself like that?"

"I guess I just always feel like I need to prove myself to everyone around me."

"In work or in general?"

"It was starting to feel like I had to prove myself in general."

"That's not fair. I know it's easier said than done, but you shouldn't do that to yourself. From what I can tell, you're a great person who's down to earth and enjoys life as it comes. There's nothing wrong with that. You're where you're at for a reason. I'm sure your friends and parents are really proud of you."

"Thanks." You smiled softly. "Yeah, my parents are pretty great."

"Yeah? See, that's good. What are your parents like?"

"Well, my dad is the executive director of another lab, while my mom is a pediatric nurse."

"So, science and healthcare revolves around your family."

"Pretty much. My dad is the reason why I got so interested in pursuing a career in science. He would always teach me things growing up and I always enjoyed going to science museums with him. That's all I wanted to do."

"That's cute." He smiled. "You're really close to your parents, then."

"Yeah, I am."

"Do they know you're here?" You nodded.

"Yeah. They were just sad I didn't join them on their Europe holiday trip."

"What?! You turned that down to come here? You're something else." You laughed and tossed a crumpled napkin at him, making him dodge it.

"Hey! I told you. I just wanted to do something solo. Something different."

"I mean, are you really doing it solo if you're here with me?" He smirked.

"I'm leaving."

"No, I'm kidding." He laughed as he put his hand out to stop you. "I know, I know. For the record, I'm glad you're hanging out with me and letting me show you around."

"Nice save, Park."

"You got it, sweetness." He winked, making you shake your head at the pet name.

"What about you? What's up with you and your family? I can tell you and Yana are close."

"Yeah, we are. I'm really happy about the relationship we have. She's my older sister and she's done a lot for me. A lot." He emphasized. "I can't help but feel super protective of her. I feel like I want to shield her from the world sometimes because she's such a good person and I don't want to see her get hurt, you know? It hurts me." You nodded silently. "I know part of the reason why she agreed to this whole thing was because of her ex." You swallowed the lump in your throat because same. Fucking same.

"I get that. That's really sweet of you."

"As for the rest of my family, I mean.." He sighed. "Yeah, we're all close. I love my mom and dad. I'd do anything for them, no question about that. They've always been supportive. But, sometimes I can't help but feel like I disappoint them."

"Why do you say that? Only if you feel comfortable, though." And he did. Jimin really did. He wasn't much to talk about his personal details because he was so busy trying to make sure his people were good, that people he cared for were okay. He barely had time to look out for himself, but he didn't mind it. All he wanted was for his people to be good. If that could happen, then all was well. Plus, he would hate to have to burden someone with such negative thoughts. It wasn't the happiest topic for him.

"I do." He softly smiled at you, his eyes wide and round like a puppy. He ran his hand through his hair before adjusting his position on the blanket. You couldn't help but feel weak at the sight of him. Sheesh. He could do the bare minimum and it would still be so attractive. "My sister is super smart and successful. She's worked so hard to get to where she is now. I mean, she works for a really popular magazine here. She started as an intern, then worked her way up and now she's close to creating her own clothing line. It's been her dream and she really worked to make it happen."

"That's amazing."

"Isn't it? She's such a boss." He shook his head. "And then there's me." He scoffed. "I went to school for business, with a minor in art. But that's about it for me. I don't really know what I want to do or how to go about making my degree useful." He used air quotes. "I honestly just don't even know. I got through school just fine, but I never had set plans for myself. I help my mom and dad at their cafe, then that's it." He shrugged.

"Jimin, you still have so much time to figure out what you want to do. Don't beat yourself up just because you didn't get there as quickly as Yana or other people. Your path isn't theirs and vice versa."

"It just gets hard, you know? I want to make them proud."

"And I'm sure they are. They always will be. You have so much to offer to the world, no doubt. You'll be able to show that in time."

"Thanks Y/N, I needed to hear that. Really." He smiled. "Just you listening makes me feel better."

"You should make more time for yourself, Jimin." You already could tell what kind of person Jimin was. One that always made time for everyone but himself. One who was completely and utterly selfless.

"I know, I'm working on it." He scooped into his ice cream cup. "So, enough of me." He chuckled. "Back to you."

"What else can I say about me?"

"I don't know, Y/N. I'm sure you have a lot you can say about yourself besides being a badass scientist." You chuckled. "Is that really the only reason why you came to Seoul? To get a break from LA and work?"

"If I'm being completely honest, no." He nodded as he continued to keep his attention on scooping more of his ice cream. "I'm actually in the same boat as Yana with the whole ex situation." You scoffed. "It sounds pathetic coming from me, I know."

"No." He shook his head. "No, it doesn't."

"I dated this guy for almost 5 years. But, it was so on and off and inconsistent during the last year. After we officially broke up, I couldn't separate myself from him, even if he was treating me like shit. Like a convenience. He would come around whenever he wanted to, even though he was already seeing other girls and playing his games. I was so tired of crying and feeling hurt over the fact that I was so replaceable. I was longing to find myself again."

"I'm really sorry, Y/N. I can't apologize on his behalf, but you definitely don't deserve that."

"It is what it is."

"No, it's not. Someone who is more worried about getting their ego boosted than treating someone right doesn't deserve your time. None of this was your fault and I really hope you know that."

"It took me a long time to see it that way, of course. It was really difficult. I always questioned what was wrong with me."

"Nothing. There's absolutely nothing wrong with you. Please hear me when I say that. I know we haven't known each other for long, but I really mean it. You're beautiful, smart and you have a lot of things going for you. If he can't fit in that equation, then fuck it. That's on him and that's his loss." You chuckled.

"Thanks, Jimin."

"Of course." He tilted his head to the side as he smiled. He continued to stare for a bit longer, eyeing all of your features and taking it all in. You were really beautiful to him. A work of art. The last thing he wanted to do was scare you away, but he felt compelled to be by your side while you were around. He just wanted to keep spending time with you, getting to know you and making you happy. That became his goal. "So, uh. I have a couple of more places I'd like to take you to, if that's alright?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm down to see everything and anything I can while I'm still here."

"I'll do my best." He chuckled. After you both finished up your ice cream, you threw out the empty containers and packed up the blanket before heading back home. You knew you were going to keep spending more time with Jimin and his friends, but you were beginning to feel a little sad parting ways at the end of the night. You gave Jimin a tight hug and said your goodnights before shutting the door. You threw your shoes off to the side and took a quick shower before plopping yourself into the warm sheets. Yoongi had left you a voicemail you hours ago, but you had been so caught up that you hadn't checked your phone until now. You weren't going to call back due to the time change. Namjoon and Yoongi were for sure knocked the hell out. They wouldn't hear a thing.

"Oyyy," Yoongi's raspy voice came up on the voicemail. "Just wanted to check on you and see how you were doing down there. Namjoon is out running errands but I think he's gonna be hanging out with Yana again. Call me back when you get a chance. But not when it's like 4 or 5AM here please. Take care of yourself and be safe."

#bts #bts fanfiction #jimin fanfiction #jimin #park jimin #pjm series #pjm x reader #off the grid #otg #writing #jimin x reader #jimin fluff

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aclosetfan · 3 years ago

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15 and No Problem, again,🙃

(ask game)

15 is eloquently titled "Pimped" (which is funny, so hold on). it's a semi-fake dating au b/c Buttercup and Bubbles aren't privy to the fake they are fake dating people (or even dating at all).

I've got a whole four sentences for the outline, but they aren't funny or descriptive, so I won't paste them in. It's not well thought out and needs a LOT of work. It's just one of those stories that live in my head.

oof this is again a no power au. I swear I have power-focused au's they just haven't been picked!!! If I wrote this out, I don't think it would be longer than five chapters.

Background:

The girls are in college. Blossom's going for some complicated science degree I haven't worked out yet. Bubbles is going for a bio degree with plans to go to vet school (with an art minor). Buttercup is Undecided atm b/c I have zero ideas what she'd go to school for outside of "wouldn't it be funny if Buttercup were a nurse?" (I usually see her in healthcare/emergency services/sports)

Plot:

Blossom's STRESSED. She's got three papers, one group project, two presentations, and a research assignment due by the end of the semester, and that's excluding the finals she has to study for!! Sure, sure, sure, she's got plenty of time, but that doesn't make her any less stressed. It certainly doesn't help that her sisters keep bugging her without an end! She wants one moment of peace so she can crank out her work, but they won't leave her alone!! At her wit's end, she is forced to resort to more...drastic measures to get her sisters to lay off.

There's a rumor--a really horrible one--that a guy on campus has the means to offer her sisters a "distraction." The biggest problem though is Blossom's savior is actually the bane of her existence and ex-lab partner, with who she may or may not have gotten into a physical altercation. (i.e Brick Jojo.) It takes an insane amount of money, the promise to complete two of his assignments for him, and her biochem outlines to acquire his help.

His help? What did Blossom pay for? lol his brothers. She pays them to "distract, date, I don't care, just keep them out of my hair!" her sisters. Usually, Brick sells his brothers off to desperate sorority girls who still need a date for their sorority Date Party or people trying to make their ex's jealous. Butch and Boomer go along with it because as a family they're poor as shit, and with Brick in school, they need all the extra cash they can get. Does the title make sense now?

Brick makes it clear that his brothers aren't for sex (but if it ends up like that, hey, not his problem). Blossom doesn't want them for that. She just needs them to distract her sisters long enough so they stop bugging her about "getting things to eat" or "getting enough sleep" or other pointless things along those lines while she's working on school stuff. When Brick's like "why don't you ask their friends??" Blossom's like, "because their friends will rat me out! And I can't have that! I need things to be discrete." Brick (a professional scam artist at this point) is like, "oof actually discretion is going to be an extra few meal swipes into the cafe." Which Blossom, who doesn't understand she's being suckered, is like "whatever it takes."

The majority of the story follows Boomer who's pissy he has to pretend to date someone AGAIN. He discovers that Bubbles is perfectly fine just having a friend around. She's a little odd, talks to the squirrel's on Brick's campus, and is way more adventurous than she looks. She can out-drink burly men at the bars, she thinks graffiti is cool and would like to give it a try with him, and is interested in learning more about drag racing. She pulls him into all sorts of odd, but very exciting happenstance, and before he knows it, he's developed a crush on the clientele! (and he's pretty sure his crush is reciprocated)

He doesn't ask Butch much about his experience, but he also doesn't see much of Butch after he starts hanging out with Bubbles because they're being paid to be discrete and need to keep the girls separated. Everything's going to plan. And no one's the wiser.

Until, ya know, we finally cut to Buttercup's pov. She knows exactly who these boys are because Blossom isn't the only one who pays attention to on-campus rumors. In fact, she's pretty sure she's even seen Butch at a few parties before grinding on half the female population. She doesn't know why this guy is hanging around her, but she's biding her time to find out.

Poor Butch has a harder time than Boomer does with Bubbles. It takes him forever to get her to even acknowledge his assistance (which is pissing off Blossom, which is, in turn, pissing off Brick). He almost has her convinced that he's not pulling her leg, but slips, after she admits she "may like him back too" and accidentally reveals the truth. Buttercup's pissed. She lays Butch out with a mean right hook and goes searching for Bubbles. When Bubbles find out, she also gives Boomer a black eye, and together the girls confront the reds (who are studying together by this point in the story). ("YOU PAID SOMEONE TO PRETEND TO LIKE US!" "Well, when you put it that way it sounds bad!")

Buttercup and Bubbles pull a hard cold shoulder on Blossom and the boys. And Blossom looks a Brick and goes, "you better fix this." Brick's like "sorry no refunds." She fucking decks him.

So, we end up with three brothers, who are all sporting an identical nasty black eye like, "maybe we should have thought this through?" Butch and Boomer go on strike--no more pimping them out (their little hearts are broken), and Brick's like "shit." He meets up with Blossom at one point, and together they try to figure out how to get into the good graces of their siblings once more. Meanwhile, Butch and Boomer hunt down BC and Bubbles to win their favor.

And because Idk how "winning their favor again" would exactly work, I'm ending this post here. The ending isn't clear yet, but I plan on making it happy :)

#funny sad #idk how to explain this but i want the vibe to be #eh writing this out now tho i can't say it's my fave #you win some you lose some #my outlines #my writing #ppg fic outlines #outline ask game #thanks for playing!

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jaminjims · 4 years ago

Text

found family {imagine}

@catsandstrawberries requests: Hi I have a request. Can you do an ot7 x youngest female 8th member reader maybe late teens (like 17 18ish) maybe fathers day is coming up and reader never had a good relationship with her father or any male in her life (abuse, abondment, trauma, etc) and maybe just a bunch of fluffy and angsty scenarios of her relationship with the boys when they become more like older brothers/father figures to her. Maybe one where she choreographs a dance and shows Hobi and he openly stares how proud Cont. 🐣

He is of her and maybe it just really touches her. Or maybe one where she falls asleep on the couch and one of the boys brings her to her room. And maybe a final angsty one where she tells them how much she loves them and how hard it is to know her own family didnt care about her but the b o us are like, you're wrong, your family does care about you, were your family. Something like that. I really love your writing and hopefully you can write this, if not dont worry, much love! 🐣

a/n: ahh this was the fic i wrote 4.3k words for but then decided i didn’t like it so i started over lmao. i don’t really know why this fic was kinda difficult for me to write but it was still something i enjoyed writing a lot and i’m proud of myself for finishing it! and this is probably one of my favorites that i’ve written if i’m being completely honest. the found family troupe is what i LIVE for and this one literally melts my heart. and of course thank you so so much to the lovely catsandstrawberries for the request! i really enjoyed writing it so i hope you enjoy reading it!

pairing: platonic ot7 x f!reader (reader will refer to the older members as hyung though!)

genre: angsty in the beginning but it turns really fluffy so just hang in there!

warnings: brief mention of child abandonment, child neglect, bad father daughter relationship, loneliness, insomnia, forgetting to eat

words: 6k

[disclaimer: when writing idol aus, i will only be focusing on the struggles of the reader, not of the idols themselves because i don’t personally know what struggles they go through and how they handle them.]

{song(s) i recommend while reading: someone’s someone - monsta x}

~**~

here’s the thing about family: it’s sometimes fickle and sometimes strong

you came from a prestigious family of bankers, except you wouldn’t really call it a family

it was more like relatives tolerating each other more than anything

your mom had left when you were young so you only had faint silhouettes and hollow laughter to remember her by. but that just left the two of you

you and your father

instead the memories you grew up with were of a dad who was cold and controlling and never really around long enough for you to truly feel like he loved you

it was always “y/n you have to look good for the family” “y/n you have to do this for the families reputation” “y/n you have to smile for the media so they think we are a happy family”

the word family was thrown around so much you didn’t think you really knew what it meant anymore

because it was always “y/n you need to do better” “y/n why are you so flawed?” y/n you’re more of a disappointment that a daughter”

never “y/n, i’m proud of you”

it was always what he wanted and never had he asked what you wanted

he never once helped you with your homework, never once had a family meal together

never once said he loved you

you had to instead learn to cook yourself, learn to swim, learn to ride your bike, all by yourself

all things a father should have done, he never did

instead it was all fake laughter and smiles in front of the media and cold stares and loneliness behind closed doors

you used to cry yourself to sleep because of how lonely and lost you felt but now you just opted to barely sleeping at all

and you often forgot to eat because it would just remind you what you could’ve had but didn’t

you also tended to be alone at school because everyone knew of you but no one really knew you

the only thing that really saved you was dancing

it was the only way you could really express yourself without needing words and you found that comforting

it was intimate and deep and it was your raw soul being transmitted through movements

and it was your only reprieve from the fake media, the fake smiles, the fake laughter

and the fake family

so most of your days were spent in a dance studio, choreographing your own pieces and dancing your heart out and it was really the only way you knew how to express yourself

it was when you were fifteen when you had discovered that music companies were hosting auditions and you wanted more than anything to be up on a stage and preform

you had never longed for something more than you did now

but you knew your father would never allow it and maybe that was the thought that pushed you to make the decision of joining

because you knew if you continued to live the way you did now, you would never be enough for him and you were sad and lonely and just tired of faking everything

so if you were always going to be a failure to him then at least you could have fun along the way, right?

so you auditioned to every single company you could and in the end it was only one who had accepted you and for the first time you were really happy

so, so happy that you danced all the way home and cried and for once didn’t pay mind to the eyes looking in

your dad was of course furious when he found out and it hurt that he was so against your dream

but the elation you felt at finally doing something for yourself, with no other reason but because you wanted too, it was something thrilling and if you had known that freedom would feel like this then you would’ve done it a long time ago

but it still stung when he cut you out of his life completely, like you weren’t even there in the first place. like you never existed

cut off all means of financial support. insurance, healthcare, even schooling

all because you didn’t want to be what he wanted you to be

and you cried for the first few nights because this was your conformation. conformation that he really didn’t love you and only saw you as a means to continue his legacy

but you continued on. confidently packing your bags and leaving that place that was never really a home to you

and when you moved into the dorms bighit had for trainee’s, you felt like this, this was your chance. and if you failed, then you would go crawling back to your father and beg for forgiveness like you knew he wanted

you only had one opportunity, and you used it for everything it was worth

you had gotten a part time job, something you wanted to experience because for every other kid it was normal. got to stay out late and dance and sing and just experience things that you had never gotten to do in the confines of your old home

in the confines of your father

and even if you didn’t get to continue your education (which you were greatly distressed about) you were happy because you were doing stuff you wanted

it was when you were eighteen, when you spent two years as a trainee before you got the news that...

you made it

you had made it! you were going to be put in a group! and even if they had already long ago debuted, you were going to show them that you were worth it

you were worth more than what you father had said about you, than what he had planned for you

but with that elation came hesitance

because you were joining a group that was composed of all males, seven of them, and you didn’t have a good experience with any males (well, male) in your life and you would be lying if you said you weren’t even a little bit scared

because you were never good enough for your father, what made them any different? what if you weren’t ever going to be good enough for anyone?

but they were different. they showed you that not every male was going to be like your father, that you were enough and more

when you had first met them, you were a timid little thing because you had previously been sheltered and didn’t really have any friends

you didn’t really know how to open up to anyone because no one ever cared to really try to connect

they were all smiles and politeness and you blushed under their attention because no one really showed an interest in learning about you, not like they had

but you didn’t tell them everything. actually, you didn’t really tell them anything because you were scared that if the found out the truth, they would think you were useless just like your father

so you told them your name, age (which they were surprised about because you were young compared to them), and half truths

about how you were not really close with your family, about how you weren’t really close with any friends

and you expected them to look down on you for your answers but instead they welcomed you with open arms and treated you like they would treat anyone else

and you loved it. loved that they saw you for you instead of just a rich mans daughter

so slowly, you started opening up to them

they treated you like a normal person (a thing which you craved because it was something you never experienced) and they never only pointed out the things you were doing wrong, like your father had

instead they pointed out your flaws and also pointed out what you had excelled at

“y/n, you should turn your body and bend a bit more for that move, but your energy was really good!” “maybe reach a little bit higher for that note? it went a little flat for a second, but your part in the bridge was perfect.”

and it was those comments that you held close and cherished because they pushed you to do better but it was different than than the way your father pushed you

because you refined the things that you could actually fix instead of just thinking everything about yourself was horrible

and maybe it was weird, but you really started to look up to them and that only caused you to work harder so that you would make them proud

but it wasn’t until a late night in the dance studio with jimin that really shifted your relationship with all of them

you couldn’t sleep again (like most nights) and you were dancing to a song that you had choreographed yourself

you slightly overstepped and pushed your body forward by accident and had ended up twisting your ankle

you almost started crying because what if the boys thought you were going to be a hindrance? what if they thought you were a failure for holding them back?

but then the the dance studio door opened and in came walking jimin and you felt yourself shrink in, trying to make your body as small as possible because you were so scared

and it was weird because you never felt this scared when you thought your dad would look down on you and you had only been in the group for two months and you shouldn’t be feeling this attached

and everything was overwhelming and jimin gasped when he spotted you on the floor crying with a bruised ankle

his heart hurt to see you this upset so he quickly walked over and tried to get you to slow your breathing and when his calm and soothing voice reached your ears, you couldn’t help but relax slightly because he didn’t seem to be angry, only worried

and then what he said next had you crying for a whole different reason

“is it ok with you if i look at your ankle?”

he had asked. he had asked if it was something you wanted and that surprisingly meant more to you then it probably should

and once again they proved that they were different than your father because your dad would just do, without any concern to what it might do to you. but they thought about you, about your well being

you found yourself nodding and once he saw you were crying still he creased his eyebrows with worry, “does it hurt that bad?”

you shook your head again and managed to get out, “you aren't mad at me?”

and the world seemed to stop for a second and you held your breathe as you waited for his answer, and when he opened his mouth you got scared that he was actually angry

“you thought i would be mad? of course i’m not, it wasn’t your fault. it’s ok, you’re ok.” and even with your hurt ankle you leaned forward and hugged him because you were so relieved that he didn’t think you were a failure, glad that he still thought you were worth it

and even though he was confused at your reaction, he hugged you back anyway because he wanted to be there for you in any way he could

and your adoration for them only increase since then. you were really starting to feel closer to them and really starting to rely on them

the week your ankle was healing, they made sure to check in every hour to see if everything was ok and it was a little overwhelming at times because you had never been this looked after before and it was new to you

and at least one of them would arrive home from practice early and give you everything you needed

one time when yoongi came back early, he had come into your room and asked if you needed anything and you said no because you didn’t wanna hinder him but then your stomach growled in betrayal and you blushed

he frowned and sat beside you on you’re bed, rubbing the back of his neck, “now, i know that i don’t look like the comforting type, but i’ll still help if you ask.”

and your eyes widened and you shook your head, shooting up in bed because it really wasn’t that you thought he was bad at comforting but it was because you really just forgot to eat again

and that’s what you told him and he frowned for a different reason, “you forget to eat?” and then you would look down in shame because you thought he was disappointed in you

he looked at your lowered head and sighed, lightly bumping shoulders with you, “hey, it’s ok. i’m not mad or anything. just worried.”

and you tentatively looked up at him, hiding behind your hair, “i... just don’t eat that much. reminds me of the things i can’t have.” and then you looked back down

and yoongi thought that his heart broke a little bit because you sounded so small and sad and he was confused as to why but what he did know is that it hurt him to hear and see you like that

he then bumped his shoulder with yours again so you would look up and then he flicked your forehead when you did

and you looked at him with a slightly offended expression while bringing your hand up to touch the spot he flicked and once he saw the look on your face, he smirked a little, “what are you thinking about now?” and you would get this confused look on your face, because why was he asking? “why you flicked me.”

and then he would smile triumphantly, “then it worked.”

and it wouldn’t be till later that you realized that he had gotten you too think about something else so you wouldn’t dwell on the bad memories you had, and you smiled brightly trying to fall asleep that night

but you noticed that they all would start to bring more snacks in their bags whenever they went anywhere and offer them to you and it was hard to say no because you were kinda hungry when you thought about it

and food started to taste a little better when you were around them

and as time passed, they only surprised you more and more with their personalities and you started to really like just being around them, you felt like a better person

and over time you had all grown closer too, up to the point where you would get into petty fights like real siblings (at least you liked to think of it that way, you never had any siblings)

for example, one time you were sitting on the couch scrolling through a phone the company recently got you and here comes jungkook running down the hallway

he then jumps and lands right on top of your sitting figure on the couch and you yell because it scared you and why was he sweaty?

“yah! get off me!” you then would push him on the face but it would get you nowhere because he was quite literally almost twice your size

“no, i don’t wanna.” then he would shrug and pull out his phone while he was crushing you with his body weight and then you would scream out “hyung!” in hopes anyone would hear you and all of them would come running into the room because you never yelled and they thought it was an emergency

but then it would sink in that, that was the first time you had called them hyung and they would get these goofy smiles on their faces (even jungkook, from where he was sitting on top of you) and you would look at them and then realize what you did

you gasped and started apologizing because what if they didn’t want you to call them that? (obliviously not getting the message that they did from their faces alone)

but they would just shoot down your apologies because they would be happy that you finally felt close and comfortable enough to call them that

and jin would walk up and ruffle your hair - well as best he could while jungkook was still sitting on you - and “come help your hyung in the kitchen.” and your smile would be worth more than anything to them and you would push jungkook off of you easily this time while yelling yes

you then stuck your tongue out at him and he made a funny face back that had you giggling

but something was always weighing on your mind, and it was the lack of your education. since your father had cut you off, you had no means on furthering your learning and it was something that really upset you because who couldn’t even complete highschool education? and you were afraid that the other members would be disappointed in you

so you asked manager sejin (which he had grown pretty fond of you over the months) for a computer because you wanted to complete your education online if anything and he was completely behind the idea and backed you up 100 percent

so you started your online learning but you had to admit, it was hard when you didn’t have a teacher to consult things with

and you would get so frustrated because why couldn’t you just get this right? it was simple math! and you were disappointed in yourself because this was a big blow to your ego

you were afraid that the others would would laugh at you but then you thought about how they proved time and time again that they were different than your father and so with that thought in mind you summoned your courage and went to knock on namjoon’s door

he was surprised to see you but smiled anyway and you sat down on his bed with your hair covering your face because you were still embarrassed and they didn’t know that you hadn’t finished highschool

and he saw that you were struggling with what to say so he waited patiently because the last thing he wanted to do was scare you off

and you were grateful for that, so after a few minutes you gathered your thoughts and decided to just plunge right into the conversation, “hyung,” and they still smiled when you called them that, “i’m doing online school and um, was wondering if you could help me? i mean you don’t have to or anything but i just-” and he put a hand over your head to stop your rambling and smiled that dimple smile of his, “of course i’ll help. what do you need me for?”

and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little surprised because it was highschool sophomore math because he thought that you had already graduated highschool but he still was glad to help you anyway

and you could tell he wanted to ask but was hesitant, so you made it easier for him, “i wasn’t able to finish highschool.” and he looked perplexed for a moment but when he took in your sad expression he didn’t say anything more so you quietly added on “i don’t have a relationship with my father so..” and you trailed off and he sighed silently because it was hard for him to wrap his head around why someone would make you so sad, especially if that someone was your father so instead he opted to take your mind off the issue

so he spoke up, “yah, the pythagorean theorem isn’t gonna learn itself.” and so the two of your stayed up and you understood the subject more when he explained it than in any real class you ever had

so, these teaching sessions are almost a daily routine and sometimes it would be the others helping and it became something that you really enjoyed

because no one was ever willing to help you like this

after months of living and knowing them, it was finally the crunch time to get ready for your first comeback with them and you were so nervous

you would stay up later than usual to practice and they would be lying if they said they weren’t a little worried about your lack of sleep but they used to do the same thing before comebacks so they let it slide somewhat

but what they didn’t know was that you were also going to be doing a solo dance performance and you were so scared that no one would like it so you finally crumbled and asked for hobi because you wanted his opinion on your routine

but his reaction to your dance sequence was one you didn’t expect

as you flipped and glided through your choreo, hoseok stared wide eyed at you in wonder because he knew you were an amazing dancer but when it was just you and him in the dance studio, the emotion that you portrayed... it was just an astounding site to see

and when you finished you saw his expression and blushed, hiding your face in your hair because no one had looked at you like that before

“what? was it bad?” and it was a couple more moments before hoseok really gathered his thoughts to put them into words and he just walked over to you and put his hands on your shoulders so you would look at him

“y/n-ah, that was amazing. just everything about it... aish you have me speechless.” and he gave you that hobi heart smile and you couldn’t keep your eyes from tearing up but what he said next really got the waterworks going

“i am so, so proud of you, y/n”

and you openly cried and hearing that sentence from someone you really looked up to was something you never knew you needed and you hugged him so tight and said ‘thank you’ over and over again because you really were

you were so, so thankful

and he carded his hands through your hair because namjoon had told him about you not having a good relationship with your dad and knew this was probably something that meant a lot to you. but he really was so, so proud of you because you had grown so much since being that little timid girl he had met months ago

so you went home and played videogames with everyone and just had a good time so you wouldn’t get to stressed and later when you had finally managed to fall asleep, hobi would gush about your dance to the other members (without knowing you were going to be preforming it soon) and everyone was excited and wanted to see it too

but with hobi’s encouragement came more determination for you to work harder because you were going to amaze everyone if you had anything to say about it

so you started to stay out late to the point where you would come back to the house when everyone else was sleeping and just be so tired that you would fall asleep on the couch, not even making it back to your room

and they would wake up and see you and look at you so fondly because they could see that you were working so hard and could see how badly you wanted everyone to succeed

and it would usually be jungkook who would pick you up and bring you back to your room so you could sleep just a little bit longer

they really were so proud of you

and then it came to your comeback date and you were still so nervous but they’re presences made it better

it was taehyung who came up to you then right before they were supposed to go onto the comeback stage and what he said would always stick with you, “no matter what happens out there, i, we, will always be there for you, no matter what. we will always be proud of you.” and you would tear up and the makeup unnie’s would get angry and push you back down in the makeup chair but they would have this gooey smile on their faces anyway

and your performance went perfectly

it seemed like the audience was just as memorized as hoseok had been when you preformed your solo and army, thrown off by your presence, still accepted you because they could see the bond you had with the boys and how pure it was

and even though some didn’t agree, it was ok because seven other people where proud of you and that’s all you really needed

and then because of the amazing performance the eight of you go out to eat and you all joke and laugh and the food tastes amazing

and you think, this is what a family dinner must feel like

and you almost cry again because this is all you really ever wanted, to be accepted, to be seen for your achievements instead of your flaws

and you've only spent five months together but in those five months, you had grown so close to these people that showed you that you were more than what your father had told you, that you were amazing and perfect in your own way and they would never look down on you for your flaws

you could definitely get used to this

so the next day taehyung took you out on a shopping spree because he wanted to spend time with you and you both basically wrecked havoc in a gucci store trying on everything you could

and he wold tease you when you came out of the dressing room with a size that was way to big for you and you would taunt him back and bicker back and forth

then you both went to the store and got ice cream for everyone and you all set up a fort in the living room and it was easily one of the best days of your life

and after that the eight of you experienced things and created memories together and they showed you what real friends were, what real companionship and love felt like

and before you knew it, fathers day was in two days and you didn’t know what you were going to do, but you still felt like you should do something because father’s day is a day to celebrate the important males in your life

you had never felt like doing something like this when you lived with your actual father, and that spoke volumes to how close you had come to these boys

so on the saturday before the actual day, you tried to wake up as early as you could and get all the ingredients you needed

when you saw that you were missing eggs for the cake that you wanted to make for them, you tried to be as quick as possible so your hyungs wouldn’t be wondering where you went if they woke up

it was the probably the fastest trip you had ever taken but it was all for naught when you walked back through the door

you almost dropped your newly bought eggs when you heard a scream come from the living room and suddenly there were arms wrapping around you in a tight hug

“j-jimin?” was all you could squeak out before a barrage of voices tumbled over each other in efforts to scold you for leaving and not telling at least one of them, if not all of them

“what were you thinking!? you scared me! you scared us!” jin said in your direction, where jimin was still wrapped around you

“yah! we thought you left! or-or got kidnapped!” hoseok’s raised voice was one you decide you didn’t like

once jimin let go, yoongi was quick to envelope you in a hug, “aish. i never wanna wake up to that kind of scare ever again.”

once he pulled away you spotted taehyung and jungkook pouting with their arms crossed sitting on the couch, namjoon fixing you with a serious stare. “promise me you won’t do that again.”

“promise us!” taehyung quickly added in and all you could do was nod because your head was still trying to process what just happened over the span of the last ten seconds

it wasn’t until your pinky was wrapped around jungkook’s in a pinky promise that the situation really set into your head and you lowered your head in shame and embarrassment, “i’m sorry.”

jin sighed and ruffled his hair, “we were just worried. sorry for yelling y/n-ah,” and it warmed you with how protective they were over you and you looked up at him teasingly, “sorry eomma” and jin frowned while you and the maknae line snickered

it was when you got up to finally put the eggs away that jimin pulled you back down to sit beside him, hugging you again, “we worry about you because you’re our yodongseng, y/n-ah” and it was that one sentence that had you all smiley and giggly because that was the first time any of them had called you that, the first time anyone called you that and you were so happy

because they saw you as their little sister and a bond like that was something you hadn’t felt before, and one you would never want to break

“thank you” you whispered as you got up and went to put the eggs away, the boys following after you

“so why did you go to the store?” taehyung said as he looked at all the ingredients littered around the kitchen counters

you gasped and remembered what you were doing and quickly turned around, “all of you, out! go away!” you yelled while physically pushing hoseok and yoongi out the kitchen door

“wha- why?” namjoon got out before almost being pushed over and into a table by jungkook

“surprise!” was all you yelled as you got all of them out of the kitchen but seokjin waited by the door. “hyung, what are you doing?” hoseok questioned. “just wait for it.” was all he said as he started counting down from five. and as he was just about to say one, you popped your head back through the door and shyly asked, “hey jin-hyung, can you help me with something?” and then he looked toward the others and smirked at their bewildered expressions. “i told you. she always asks for me when she needs help in the kitchen, and she always needs help.” you then hit him on the arm, “yah. i’m not that bad.”

then the both of you would enter the kitchen and you would try to explain that you needed to make a cake without really telling him you needed to bake one and it just led to a lot of confusion

in the end you gave up and told him you needed to make one but you didn’t tell him what for, still trying to preserve a least a little bit of surprise

the both of you joked and laughed about useless things while mixing the eggs and milk and flour, making a cake from scratch and the others listened to your banter and smiled among themselves

when the both of you settled down and put the cake in the oven, seokjin called your name, “y/n-ah,” and as soon as you turned around a wad of flour hit you in the face and jin’s windshield wiper laugh echoed out

but that was only the begging

“this is war!” and then all of them came running into the kitchen and the flour that was supposed to hit jin, hit yoongi instead and you could’ve sworn you heard namjoon face plant at one point and then fifteen minutes later everyone was covered in flower and the kitchen was a mess

and you all found yourself sitting on the floor, waiting for when you had to take out the cake. and just being surrounded by all their presences, suddenly got you emotional

“thank you” you said again, for the umpteenth time since you’ve known them. you took a deep breath, “i never got along with my father and-,” you sniffed and they waited for you to finish, jungkook nudging you with his shoulder and taehyung gently holding your hand, “and, all of this, the comfort and compassion you’ve shown me,” tears started to fall from your eyes and hoseok who was sitting across from you leaned over and wiped them off your face, “and i’m really grateful.”

but before they could say anything to that, the oven went off and you took another deep breath and gathered your emotions, once again pushing them out of the kitchen so you could decorate the cake you would show them tomorrow

and while they were sitting in the living room together, waiting for you to finish, they all looked at each other and they could easily say that they would do anything for you because you really were their little sister and they cared about you so much

and while you decorated your cake for them, you thought that a giving them their surprise a day early couldn’t hurt (and you knew one of the maknae line would definitely come and sneak a bite of the treat in the middle of the night)

so you walked out, flour caking your hair and clothes, holding the vanilla frosted cake that said ‘happy father’s day ‘ in purple, messy icing

and oh my god they were so touched they could have cried (and some of them did)

and you stood in front of them, gathering your thoughts and as soon as you saw that jimin was about to say something, you started talking. “so, uh, originally i was going to give you all this tomorrow but i figured that it wouldn’t hurt to give it today. and father’s day is not only to celebrate fathers but to celebrate the important males in your life.” and there you go tearing up again, “and when i was younger, my mom left before i could really remember her, and my dad, he-” tears fell and you wiped them, “aish, i’m crying.” then you giggled and their hearts were simultaneously breaking and filling up at the same time. “he was never a father to me, so i never knew what it felt like to have one, to have a family. and it hurt everyday to think that no one in my family wanted me.” god you were a wreck and your words were coming out blurred now. “but then i came here-”

and before you could get out anymore there were seven pairs of arms wrapping themselves around you and your burrowed your head into the chest of nearest person (which happened to be yoongi)

“that’s not true y/n” namjoon murmured and for a second you were confused because why would he say that about your situation? but then he continued, “we will always, always, want you in our lives. we are your family. and always will be.” and you were full on sobbing and so were they

and all you could get out was a sloppy, sobbed filled: “i love you” but they understood perfectly

“we love you too, y/n” and that was the single best moment in your life.

and then perhaps the next day you did anything they asked of you which led to the younger ones being scolded about how you weren’t their maid but then you would get up and get what they asked for anyway because this was their day

and the bickering, the love, and even the fights you would have sometimes, it would all be worth it in the end if it led you back to them

[end]

end note: oh. my. god. i’m not crying, you are. the ending? when i was writing the flour scene? PLEASE I WAS SOBBING. this is one of the fics that i am most proud of and i really didn’t mean to make it this long, but here i am. i hope everyone has an amazing father’s day, and you get to celebrate it the way you want to! everyone reading this (and those who aren’t) deserve happiness, no matter who you are. and you are more then what people say about you. i love you guys to the moon and back, make sure you stay safe! (and as always, sorry for any spelling errors!)

~**~

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