#someone sent me a nice message a while ago but it seems gone now oops

[simpleslimeart]

If you ever sent me a message and i never responded im so sorry

[hydroponicjj]

no place like home

pairing: peter parker x reader

summary: you get kicked out of your house and have nowhere to go. you want to tough it out on your own but your boyfriend won’t let you.

word count: 2k

warnings: mentions of abuse, alcohol, swearing

a/n: i’m back!!! wrote this instead of studying for my spanish midterm oops. hope that you all enjoy and make sure you send requests!

                    「 ₊˚.༄ 」

You were good at hiding your emotions.

This wasn’t something that you were appreciative of, you were ashamed. You wish that you could express how you genuinely feel without being terrified that someone would take advantage of your vulnerability.

But that’s just how life works when you grow up in a toxic household, with a mother that isn’t the friendliest.

“Y/N?” Peter spoke, causing you to return from your trance.

“If you aren’t going to take this seriously then you can just leave.” He puffed, flipping back and forth between pages, searching for an answer.

“I-I’m sorry.” You mumbled.

The two of you were currently studying for your midterms in Peter’s room. He was sitting at his desk, books sprawled everywhere while you sat on the carpeted floor, back pressed up against the wall.

“I can’t find the answer to question 32, did you?” He asked.

“No, I didn’t. I’m sorry.” You replied, weakly.

Peter huffed as he flipped the pages aggressively.

“What is it?”

“It’s just-” He hesitated, “I don’t understand why you come over here every day and just sit there and do nothing.”

You felt a pinch in your heart as he let out his frustrations, “I’m sorry.”

“And stop apologizing!” Peter struck his fist down on his desk, causing you to recoil.

He noticed how you inched away from him, “I shouldn’t have done that, I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re right,” You took a deep breath, “I’ve been in my head a lot lately and I haven’t been the girlfriend that you need right now.”

“Not to mention I’ve been a terrible study buddy.” You laughed, Peter smirked.

“That doesn’t excuse the fact that I scared you.” He was disappointed in himself. For a split second, he forgot about how sensitive you are.

“How about we take a little break? We can go out and get something to eat and maybe watch an episode of The Office?” You suggested as you stood up.

“I’m in work mode right now,” Peter watched your face for any signs of disappointment.

You nodded, glancing at the clock, noticing the time, “I should get moving before my parents notice that I’ve been gone this long.”

You bent down and began to place all the science and math textbooks into your bookbag.

“You should spend the night. May won’t mind, she loves having you over.”

“No, it’s fine.” You reassured but, Peter didn’t look satisfied.

“Hey, hey,” Grabbing his arms, you wrapped them around your waist, placing your head on his shoulder, “It’s okay, I promise.”

You stood in each other’s embrace for a few moments, finding harmony in each other’s presence.

Peter’s mind is always going 100 miles per hour, especially right now with the stress of midterms and having to make time to patrol the city. The both of you were dealing with stress and being able to have a few seconds of tranquility made all the difference.

“I’ve gotta go.” He released you from his clutch.

“Text me when you get home?”

“Of course.”

“I love you.” He beamed.

“I love you.”

--

Sneaking into your house is way harder than sneaking out. Having to avoid not only your parents but your loud dog that gets super excited when she sees you.

Throwing your bag on your bed, you climbed through your window, careful not to slip on any of the toys scattered on the floor.

Everything had been calculated so that your mother and father would eat dinner while your dog begged at their feet, so you come out of your room and claim that you had been taking a nap.

But not everything goes according to plan. Your parents never let the dog out of your room so, she was lying in your bed instead of on her own. She felt your bag hit the bed and shot up, beginning to bark.

“No, no, no!”

It was pointless trying to get her to stop because you could hear the harsh footsteps on the way to your room.

Your mom stood in the doorway, arms crossed as she leaned against the frame. The tension increased by a tenfold. Your confident stature depleted with every second that passed.

“You know, if I’m going to pay for this room, I expect it’s going to be used, right?”

“Yes,” You’d learned that she’ll make it easier if you agree and don’t antagonize her.

“So, when you’re not in here, it tells me you aren’t using it.” She spoke, malice laced within her voice, “Do you want to live here?”

“Yes.” You responded.

Your mother nodded her head, “If you sneak out again, I’ll see that you don’t have a room to come home to.” She sent you a passive-aggressive smile and slammed your door.

You let out a sigh of relief, even though she just threatened to kick you out if you snuck out to see Peter again. The exchange had gone better than most nights, presumably because it was too early for her to drink.

Flopping on your bed next to your dog, you let her give you a couple of kisses before pulling your phone out of your back pocket and sending Peter a message.

You: Hey! I’ve made it home.

Peter: Great. Still studying :(

You: Keep pushing!! I’ll make sure that I help next time

Peter: Any problems?

You: Nope :)

Peter: Good.

Peter: Wanna retry this study date tomorrow at 6:30?

You: Yep, see you then <3

“Shit.” You huffed.

--

You were asking to get thrown out. Here it was, 6:00 pm, and you were crawling out of your window as if your mother didn’t threaten you with eviction less than 24 hours ago.

As you strolled toward the Parker’s apartment, you thought of how your foolproof plan could go wrong. Would your dog bark again, or would your mom be waiting in your room as soon as you arrived?

“Hey,” Turning your head, you saw none other than Peter Parker send you his alluring smile.

“W-What are you doing out here?” You questioned, eyebrows contorted in confusion.

Pulling his hands from behind his back, he displayed 3 bags of food, “I was picking up our dinner for tonight.”

“Dinner?”

“I thought we could scrap the whole studying idea and have dinner with May.” He revealed.

You tried your best to control your facial expressions and body language, not wanting to give Peter any signal that this would raise a problem.

“Sounds good.” You nodded.

“I’m so glad that we’re able to do this before I patrol. It puts me in a good mood before I go-”

“Kick some ass?” You interjected.

“Somethin’ like that.”

The rest of the walk to Peter’s apartment was filled with stories of the peculiar things that he would see while patrolling the city at night. Weird things that people tried to steal and the extravagant costumes people wore.

“A nightgown?” You asked as you entered his apartment.

“A nightgown,” Peter confirmed as he took your jacket, hanging it on the rack mere feet away from the entrance.

“Hey, Y/N!” May greeted, waving at you from the kitchen.

“Hey, May! So nice to see you again.” She emerged from the kitchen and gave you a small hug before turning her attention towards her nephew.

He handed her a receipt, and the placed the bags on the dining table, “Let’s eat.”

“So, Y/N, how’s school going? Someone has been studying like crazy.”

“School is going well. I think people are stressed with midterms, but I can’t wait until things get back to normal.” You explained, putting food onto your plate.

The conversation flowed nicely. It was easy to talk to Peter’s aunt because she was so understanding and non-judgmental, she had become more of a mother towards you than your actual parent.

“I guess it’s true that time passes faster when you’re having fun,” Peter spoke.

You looked at the clock, it was almost 9:45. It was at least a 30-minute walk back to your house

“Oh my. I’m sorry to rush out like this but, I have to get home before-” You paused, not wanting to say anything that would worry Peter or May, “This was fun we’ve gotta do this again.”

“Soon.” May smiled, watching as you grabbed your coat, frantically.

“I love you, Peter. I’ll text you when I get home.” With that, you exited the Parker’s apartment and rushed out of the building.

There was no way that your absence went unnoticed by your mother, now that she’s on high alert of you sneaking out. You had completely forgotten about checking the time. There was something about the Parker’s that made your problems seem so minuscule to the point where you didn’t even think about them.

With every step you took, the pit in your stomach increased in size. Whatever destiny you had waiting for you at home, you didn’t want it. You wished that you could turn around and go back to Peter’s apartment and exchange funny stories with him and his aunt.

But you can’t outrun fate.

When you reached your window, you were faced with 3 black trash bags and a note, “I warned you.”

“Fuck,” You sobbed, “She fucking kicked me out.”

You always knew that your relationship with your mother wasn’t the best but, you loved her and you assumed that she loved you too. You didn’t even want to imagine what feelings she harbored towards you if she could throw you out with ease.

You opened the bags and saw your clothes, materials for school, and a few miscellaneous things. There was no way that you could carry all of this stuff, it was way too heavy and you didn’t own a car.

“Y/N, what’s going on?” You heard someone say from the roof.

The first thing you noticed was the colors red and black and knew exactly who it was, “What are you doing here?”

“Y-You rushed out of my house like we had a disease or something, I knew something was wrong.” He explained.

You couldn’t see under his mask but it didn’t take a genius to know that he was confused, “What’s all this?”

“Pete, I think I’m in trouble.” You croaked, your eyes were red and blurry from crying.

He came down from the roof and instantly embraced you in a hug. You let a sob escape your throat as he held you, “Why didn’t you just call me? We could’ve figured something out.”

You sighed, “I’m not your responsibility. Plus, you have all of this stress on you and-”

“Did you think that I’d turn you away or something?” He questioned, taking off the mask covering his face so that he could look you in the eyes.

“Look at me,” Peter gently took your face in his hands, “I know that you grew up thinking that you are a burden but you’re not.”

“Do you remember when I was distant from everyone for months after Uncle Ben?”

You nodded.

“You were the person that restored me to normal. No one asked you to but you did, remember that?”

“Yeah,” You sighed, resting your face in his palm.

“We’ll figure this out together.” Peter reassured, caressing the back of your head as he pulled you into yet another hug.

“Together?”

“Together.”

[steves-on-a-plane]

Run. (Pt 3.)

Run.

Part One /Part Two / Words: 2469 Pairing: Tony Stark & Reader   Timeline: Iron Man [2008] Other Info: Run AU   Summary: A lot can change in three months. Reader finds this out the hard way as she readies herself the afternoon of her wedding. Among all the guest who arrived and the congratulations being given there’s only one person she wishes was standing before her, but no one’s seen or heard from him in three months. A/N: Okay I was going to wait till next Wednesday to drop this one but it's actually my favorite Chapter so far, is I’m sending it! Next update will be Wednesday May 20th!!! 

May 2008

“Don’t worry Dear, everyone is nervous on their Wedding Day.” Your mother assured you. She reached up and adjusted the veil that felt like it was pinned to your scalp. The teeth of the veil’s comb, along with several bobby pins holding the hairpiece in place, were supposed to ensure that it didn’t fall off. Instead it felt like a crown of thorns.

“And rain is supposed to be good luck!” Your Mother said, casting her eyes outside to the thunderous rain. “You look so beautiful.” Your mother whispered, her gaze returning to you. She was blissfully unaware of how the white wedding dress that had been tailored to fit you perfectly, now felt suffocating.

“Mom, could you go check on, Serina?” You managed to ask despite an unusual dryness in your throat. “I’ve been getting ready all morning and it’s making me more nervous not knowing where she is.”

“Oh. Okay.” Your mother nodded. “You know, it might be easier if you had help more often. Especially with a second one on the way.” She’d been dropping little hints like this all week leading up to the wedding. Truthfully, both of your parents had made it clear that they thought you and Michael should move back home after the wedding. The wedding they had been waiting eleven years for.

A lot can change in three months. You thought to yourself as you glared at your cellphone across the room. It was only three months ago that you packed up Serina, drove to Malibu, and contemplated running away. It had been three months since Tony left for his weapons demonstration and never came home. It had only been a month since you’d told Michael you were pregnant. It had been your idea to get married. He’d asked a few times over the years and you always turned him down and you’d always had reasonable excuses at the ready. The timing wasn’t right, or you needed to save money to pay for some larger expense. He was elated the day you finally suggested “making things official”.

Your cellphone chimed. You rolled your eyes. It was most likely just another well-meaning congratulatory text from a friend or extended family member who couldn’t be in attendance on your “special” day. None of it mattered because the one person who meant the world to you wasn’t around at all anymore. No one even knew if he was alive.

You hardened your resolve and decided to sneak a peek at your cellphone. You’d have to get used to hearing “Congratulations!” and ‘You Must be so happy!” in person all day long anyway. One little text message couldn’t have hurt more than hundreds of words would.  You didn’t have the number saved in your contacts, but you weren’t always diligent about updating them. You thought nothing of opening the message from the unknown sender and when you did, you

saw something that could have made your heart stop. It might have been the combined effort of the message, the pain and pressure from the veil on your head and the constricting dress, but your knees buckled, and you sank to the floor.

Run?

It would have been impossible for anyone else to know what the word meant. You’d certainly never told anyone, and you doubted Tony had. He’d never been much for sharing anything, especially his personal business. A rational person may have imagined several scenarios in which the person who’d sent that texted wasn’t Tony Stark, but in your heart you knew it had to be him.

“[Y/N]? What are you doing on the floor?” Your mother gasped. She had returned with Serina trailing closely behind her.

“Hmm?” You looked up at her, trying to explain yourself. “Oh I just…it’s really hot in this room.”

“Well then open a window.” Your mother sighed. She crossed the room, the heels of her shoes click-clicking across the hardwood floor as she did. She cracked the window just enough for fresh air to get in but not enough for the rain water to spill inside. “I’m going to head back downstairs to let them know you’re almost ready, alright?”

“Yeah sure.” You agreed hastily.

“Mama, you look pretty.” Serina said once you were alone together. She was wearing a red dress, her current favorite color. She adored the swishing noise the fabric made whenever she moved. She smiled at you widely, her cheeks baring just the slightest of dimples on either side.

“You look pretty too, Rina.” You told her. “You came here with Daddy, right?” You asked her. She nodded her head. Did he bring any of your toys with you?”

“No.” She shook her head. Her smile fading. “Daddy said weddings aren’t the place for toys.”

“He’s probably right.” You nodded, making an exaggerate face that you knew would make her giggle. “Would you like to come for a walk with me, just a quick one? But we’ll have to be quiet, because we don’t want anyone to see mommy in her wedding dress okay?”

“Okay!” She agreed. “Oops. I mean okay.” She added in a whisper. You looked around the room for anything you couldn’t live without. In the end you grabbed your purse, shrugged on the hoodie you’d worn to the wedding venue and your cellphone.

Run. You texted the mystery number back and set the ringtone volume to vibrate.

You led Serina down the back stairwell of the wedding venue. To her credit your daughter tried to move as quietly as an eight-year-old in a noisy nylon and tulle dress could. The cellphone in your hand buzzed.

“I’m outside, I’ll be the guy in the limo.” The new text message read. You stopped your daughter at the bottom of the back staircase.

“Ok, Rina, it’s raining outside and I don’t want to ruin your fancy dress. So, I’m going to put Mama’s jacket on you okay?” She nodded, remembering that she’s supposed to be quiet. One arm at a time, you helped Serina into your hoodie, making sure to roll up the sleeves so she could still use her hands. You then pulled the hood up over her head. “Ready to go?” You asked at last. She nodded. “Okay.” You held one of her small hands and led her out the back door.

Once outside you had to squint through the hazy mist surrounding the rain drops. The sun was going down which only made it harder to see. It took several seconds for your eyes to adjust, but finally you saw a familiar frame standing outside of a limousine.

“Rina?” You called out to your daughter quietly.

“Yes Mama?” She tried to look up at you but the hood obscured your vision.

“I’m gonna put you in the car, so you’re not out in the rain okay? Then I’m going to talk to someone and we’ll both join you in the car, okay.”

“Okay, Mama. It’s cold out here.” She shivered.

“It will be warm on the car.” You promised, picking her up.

“[Y/N]?” A familiar voice almost sent you toppling to the ground once more. You never thought you’d hear that voice again. You walked past Tony with a finger over your mouth and nodded at Serina. Letting him know you didn’t want to talk until you put her in the car. Tony nodded and waited for you to put her inside.

“Happy!” Serina exclaimed, recognizing Tony’s driver. She crawled across the limo and tapped excitedly on the glass divider. You placed your purse safe inside the limo and watched as Happy lowered the divider. He nodded at you with a familiar grin. You smiled back before shutting the door and finally turning your attention to Tony.

“How long before they notice you’re…” Tony didn’t finish his sentence. The second the limo door was shut you’d turned and shoved him, hard. The lack of traction in his expensive shoes and the muddy terrain caused the billionaire to fall fast and hard on the ground. “It’s nice to see you too.” He gasped from the ground.

“Where the hell have you been?” You shouted over the rain.

“I’m sorry Sweetheart!” Tony grumbled getting to his feet. “Next time I get kidnapped by terrorist I’ll be sure to ask them if it’s okay with you first.”

“I fucking missed you.” You confessed. The cold rain hitting your face was now mixing with warm salty tears. “I needed you.”

“I know. I know.” He replied. “But I’m here now.”

He opened his arms to you, but seemed slightly hesitant, like he thought you may push him again. You leaned forward, almost folding into him. Tony’s arms encircled you as you breathed in the familiar scent of his leathery cologne. You shivered slightly as the wind picked up around you.

“C’mon we can talk in the car. Unless you’re staying or you want to push me in the mud again.” Tony opened the car door for you and waited for an answer.

“Pushing you in the mud again is tempting, but I’m freezing.” You climbed into the limo. Happy was listening politely to Serina as she told him all about the different kinds of unicorns.

“Happy do we have blankets or towels or something in here?” Tony asked, poking his head inside the car.

“Uncle Tony!” Serina shouted when she heard his voice and saw his face.

“Hey there Serina Ballerina!” Tony clambered into the limo to catch the eight-year-old who was about to launch herself at him.

“Uncle Tony, Mama said you were going away for a really long time. Maybe forever!” She told him. “Are you going away forever?” She asked him.

“Not anymore, Baby Girl.” He promised. While Tony bonded with his favorite tiny human, you followed Happy’s instructions to find the blankets stored under one of the seats. Tony shut the limo door and Happy began driving the getaway car.

“Rina, come here and sit down.” You patted an empty spot on the leathery bench next to you.

“But I want to tell Uncle Tony about all the things that he missed while he was gone!” Serina pouted. Despite her protesting, she dropped down next to you and let you drape a blanket around her. “Like Pebbles.”

“Pebbles?” Tony repeated. “Did your dad finally let you get a pet while I was gone?”

“No!” Serina laughed. “Pebbles is Mama’s new baby.”

“Baby?” Tony looked to you with his eyebrows shooting up to the ceiling. “That’s new.”

“Where are we going anyway?” You asked, looking out the window.

“Airport.” He said as if it should have been obvious. Tony took the second blanket from you and wrapped it around your shoulders.

“Rina, it’s a long way to the airport.” You told her. “Why don’t you lay down and take a nap.”

“No!” Serina shouted suddenly. “Last time, I went to sleep and Uncle Tony was there but then I woke up and he was gone!”

“That must have been scary, huh, Serina Ballerina?” Tony frowned. He moved so that he was sitting next to her. “How about you rest your head in my lap. I’ll hold your hand the entire time that way you know I’m not going anywhere.” Serina looked up at Tony and her face scrunched up as she concentrated on his offer.

“Okay.” She accepted. She laid her head on one of Tony’s thighs and tucked one hand under her cheek. She then held up her free hand expectedly. Tony made sure she was covered up with her blanket before wrapping his fingers around her open palm.

“So, Pebbles?” Tony brought the subject back around with his usual level of tact.

“I’m three months along.” You said, allowing Tony to draw his own conclusions.

“Three months. So right around the time that we…” Tony glanced down at the child pretending to sleep in his lap and decided not to finish his sentence. “You should have pushed me in the mud again.” He told you.

“No, it wasn’t your fault.” You told him, looking back out the window again.

“It was at least half.” He disagreed.

“I should text Michael.” You announced. “They’ll have noticed us missing by now.”

“What are you going to say to him?” Tony wanted to know.

“Just that we’re safe and I’ll call him in the morning. I’ll tell my parents to same.” You reached for your phone and started sending out messages to the people that you thought you should.

“I’m sorry, [Y/N].” Tony blurted out. He finally removed his sunglasses, which were still speckled with raindrops. You looked up from your phone and for the first time, you got an image in your head of what the three of you must have looked like. You with your veil and your wedding dress soaked to the bone. Tony in his second favorite suit caked with mud, his eyes red with tears. And Serina, laying in Tony’s lap. Her hair already frizzy. Tony dragged a hand over his face.

“If I wouldn’t have known I would have come here first before the press conference.” He lamented.

“Press conference?” You asked. “How long have you been back? Days? Weeks?”

“In the US?” He pinched the bridge of his nose, doing some quick math in his head. “About Fourteen hours. Pepper and Happy picked me up at an Air Force base around four am and the press conference was at eight or nine. Then Pepper mention the wedding and we hopped on a plane. Which by the way,” Tony removed the hand covering his face so that he could look directly at you. “Who gets married at six pm on a Monday?”

“Architects whose firms are closed on Tuesdays.” You snapped.

“Who the fuck marries an architect whose business is closed on a weekday!” Tony hissed, barely audible. “And another thing, I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t marry this guy, ever.”

“Yeah, well you said you’d always be there.” You argued. “I was pregnant and you were missing and I felt alone. And then that video came out...” Your voice cracked and more tears threated to come out. You took a deep breath and steadied yourself. You reached out and lightly brushed a hand against his cheek. “You’ve got a scar there. It’s faint, barely noticeable. I know you lived it, but seeing you like that, Tony? I was scared. I needed someone to protect me.”

“Well as the mother of my…favorite niece.” Tony’s eyes briefly flashed to Serina before looking back at a you. “I hope you’ll extend me the same curtesy. Give me eleven years to prove that I can make you feel safe again.” Tony held out his free hand to you. “Starting right now. Take my hand so you know I’m still gonna be here when you wake up.”

[inakua]

Late Night Wanderings

Request: Oneshot for Percy Weasley x Oliver Wood?? Recently discovered this ship, but there’s not a lot written about it :’( Don’t really have any specific plot ideas but could you do something set while they are still at Hogwarts, about them getting together?? AND LOTS OF FLUFF - @me-just-pretending-to-know 

Warnings: n/a(I will always try and tag as many warnings as I can think of for each writing, if you read through and find something that I haven’t listed which may be a trigger for someone please send me an ask or message me so that I can add it to this list, thanks!)

Pairings: Percy Weasley x Oliver Wood

Words: 1617

Fandom: Harry Potter

A/N: Okay, so for this my basic plot idea is that Percy likes to sneak out at night and go sit in the Quidditch stands, him and Oliver see each other start chatting and bam they like each other lol … also I realise that this request was literally sent in like over a year ago oops … so sorry I’ve been sooo inactive! Enjoy :)

REQUEST A ONESHOT

I suppose you could say that Percy Weasley was the odd one out. His whole family were different in there own unique ways, but him, he was completely different to all of them. He was known as the stuck-up, sensible, snobbish Weasley, the one who couldn’t have fun, the one who couldn’t take a joke.

Sometimes he just had to take a break from all of it, he only acted the way he did because he wanted to do well. He wanted to get a good, respected job in the Ministry, he wanted to provide financially for his future family in the way that his family couldn’t now. He loved his family, each and every one of them, although he didn’t show it every often, and he honestly wouldn’t trade them for the world, sometimes they just got on his nerves a bit; as all families do. They knew most of the things that went on in his life, whether he’d told them directly or they found out because the twins had gone snooping. However, there were two things that they didn’t know and he certainly never wanted them to find out, at least not until he was ready.

Firstly, Percy was gay. 

Secondly, Percy spent almost every night down at the Quidditch pitch, it was his sanctuary in the dark, the place that he went to let his thoughts roam free and true feelings run around.

Tonight was that same as any other, Percy wandered down to the Quidditch Pitch, his robes pulled tightly around him, protecting him from the chill of the February night.

Only, as much as it was the same, it was also extremely different. 

As usual, he walked down to the pitch, sat in at the very top of the stands, squished in a corner, a book clutched in his hand as if he were meaning to read it; yet he never did. 

He’d been there not even 5 minutes when a figure in the distance caught his eye. Sinking lower into his seat he prayed they weren’t making there way into the pitch, aka the only place at Hogwarts in this part of the castle.

“Shit,” Percy whispered, practically on the floor in an attempt to hide himself, book clutched tightly to his chest and glasses fogging up.

As the figure came closer, finally making it’s way onto the pitch, Percy wished he could’ve cursed louder.

Oliver Woods.

Roommate, captain of the quidditch team and possibly the hottest guy Percy had ever laid eyes on.

Percy watched as Oliver placed his broom on the ground, eyes scanning the stalls. If possible Percy sank even lower in his seat, praying that he wouldn’t be seen.

…

Oliver scanned the pitch, looking for any signs of movement. He hadn’t been out to practice on the pitch in the past couple of days, revision for NEWTs taking over his life, or that’s the excuse he told himself.

You see the thing is he was only in the library for one reason, and one reason only - Percy Weasley.

He’d be lying of he said that he hadn’t noticed the boy, almost everyday for the past week Oliver had been ‘revising’ at the table opposite from Percy Weasley. He always made sure to sit behind him so the boy in question wouldn’t notice, but he couldn’t help himself from watching as he studied.

The revision causing his eyebrows to furrow cutely in concentration, and the innocent way he chewed on his quill when he’d get stuck on something drove him crazy.

He wished he’d have the courage to actually talk to him, but he never seemed to get the chance.

Sighing, Oliver mounted his broom, shaking his head to try and clear the thoughts of Percy from his mind.

Before his obsession with ‘revising’, he’d been trying to perfect the Wronski feint, hoping to use it and surprise the Slytherins in their upcoming match.

“Come on Wood, time to concentrate,” he muttered to himself, willing his mind to focus. As he flew up into the air a glimpse of red caught his eye. Swinging around to see if his eyes were playing tricks in him, he spotted a mop if red hair lying in amongst the stands.

“Uh … hello?” Oliver called, flying over.

“Shit,” Percy cursed, scrambling to get up off the floor, hitting his head on a seat in the process, “ Um … I dropped my book?”

“Percy?! Uh hi, what - er what are you doing here?” Oliver asked in surprise, making a mental note of how cute Percy looked when he blushed.

“Just studying,” He squeaked, his face going even redder, “ya know for NEWTs and everything.”

“Yeah, well I was just gonna practise for the next match, you’re welcome to watch,” Oliver offered, hoping he’d accept.

Percy just sat there in shock, his brain scrambling for anything to say, had the Oliver Woods just asked him to watch him train?

“I mean you don’t have to or anything, I was just - I,”

“No!” Percy practically screamed, blush reaching down to his neck now, “I’d love to watch you train,”

“Really?” Oliver asked, stunned.

Percy rubbed the back of his neck, nervous all of a sudden, “Um yeah, really.”

“I - great! I’ll get started then,” Oliver replied, his body bouncing as he was filled with excitement and adrenaline, “you know you’re cute when you blush,” and with that he flew off into the sky.

Meanwhile, Percy’s brain was moving at a mile a minute, trying to process what the hell had just gone on.

“C - cute?” Percy mumbled, a smile creeping onto his face as he looked up and watched Oliver flying around the pitch.

They must’ve been down at the pitch for at least an hour before Oliver stared to warm down, realising what he was doing Percy jumped up from his seat and made his way down onto the pitch just as Oliver got off the broom.

“So? What you think?”

“I think you’re gonna beat Slytherin on Sunday,” Percy replied shyly, clutching his book to his chest.

“Yeah? I hope so, I’d really love it if we could win the cup our final year, ya know? Go out with a bang.”

Percy simply nodded, unsure what to reply as Quidditch wasn’t really his forte.

“You should probably head back up to the castle, curfew was a few hours ago and I need to shower in the changing rooms,” Oliver said, picking his broom up off the floor.

“Oh yeah, of course … I’ll see you around then?” Percy asked, shuffling nervously on his feet.

“Yeah see you around Perce,” Oliver replied, turning around to make his way to the changing rooms, mentally kicking himself for not being able to ask him out.

“Oliver!” Percy called, not being able to believe what he was about to do.

“Yeah?”

“I think you’re cute too!”

Oliver grinned as he watched Percy blush a bright red, before spinning around and practically running back towards the castle.

…

Two days later Oliver walked into the library, intent on getting what he wanted … Percy Weasley.

Thankfully, he was there, sat at his usual desk, a quill already in between his teeth and brow furrowed.

Unlike in the past, Oliver didn’t sit at the table opposite him bit marched straight up to his table, pulling out the chair opposite him.

“Hi Perce,”

“Oliver?” Percy asked, head cocked in confusion.

“Yep.”

Only just realising who it was that was sitting in front of him, Percy immediately sprang up in his chair, face quickly turning red, almost toppling over onto the floor.

“Woah, don’t wanna hurt yourself there Perce,” Oliver grinned, clutching onto Percy’s arm to keep him steady.

“Right. Yeah, sorry,” Percy mumbled, looking up at Oliver from his precarious position half off his chair.

“So um, about the other night,” Oliver began, moving his hand down Percy’s arm until it rested on his hand that clutched the edge of the table. “I just wanted to ask -”

“Willyougotohogsmeadewithme?” Percy suddenly blurted, his mind working on autopilot, as his eyes popped open wide.

“What?”

“Shit … um - I. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that I didn’t really know what I was thinking, I mean why would you want to go out with someone like me? I don’t even know if you like guys, but there was the other night and now your hand and I just -”

Oliver smiled at Percy as he continued to rant, unbelieving that he’d just asked him to Hogsmeade. Before he knew what he was doing he cupped Percy’s face with his hands, immediately shutting him up.

Staring into his eyes Oliver grinned, the shocked expression and doe eyes looking up at him making him melt inside, “I like you too.”

Pulling him closer Oliver rested their foreheads together, not wanting to take advantage or pressure Percy into anything.

“Just kiss me already,” Percy muttered breathlessly. Oliver did just that, pressing their lips together as they clung to each other in the corner of the library, unaware of the two pairs of eyes watching from the bookcase behind them.

“Good thing we told Oliver to go out and practise that nice Georgie.”

“Yeah, didn’t know Perfect Percy had it in him.”

[lavender-hemlock]

the be honest meme. - ALL OF THEM! -From ya know who.

Breathes. I am going to kill you. Everything of the honesty meme is under the cut you absolute fruitcake @kazexvoss . 

1.     What would prevent you from following someone?

Possibly if that person isnotoriously opinionated and hateful towards any opinion that opposes theirs.That’s about the only preventive thing. Just unbearable and toxic people. 

2.     Are aesthetics important to you? If they are, why?

Sure, I think aesthetics aregreat outlets to demonstrating outside of screenshots and prompts what yourcharacter is about in an array of colors, art, or examples. It’s beautiful.

3.     What current rp trend do you hate? Taken.

4.     How do you explain rp to someone in the real world?

Hahah- I don’t, but I would probably compare it to my lovefor literature and writing if I had to. I’m writing stories and adventures.

5.     Do you prefer interacting with male muses or female more? Why?

I don’t have a preference!

6.     Do you prefer writing male muses or female more? Why?

I write female muses because it is simply easier for me to put myshoes in the shoes of a female muse. For obvious reasons I should hope. However,I have written with a male oc in the past. I want to, just haven’t found theright dynamic yet for ffxiv. I had a male Au Ra by the name of Xathun- but nowhe is simply my retainer that brings me stuff he deems is shiny. 

I love himeven if he brings me level 5 rocks.

7.     What’s your opinion on call-out posts?

I think they are both useful topoint out harmful individuals who have harmful or greedy intentions – andharmful because some call-out posts I believe are just posts to continue a potstir off the platform itself or off the drama seeping from another dms. Thereis a time and place for all things.

8.     Name any three things about the rpc that bother you. Taken.

9.     What is your opinion on exclusivity? Do you practice it? Why / why not?

I think exclusivity iscompletely up to those who choose to practice it. I only practice it on whetherI am comfortable. Very few people can make me feel uncomfortable- but my guthas yet to fail me in this. I will not RP with anyone who makes meuncomfortable or if they are just looking for ERP. I’m not about it.

10.   Have you everhad a bad experience with commissions? As either someone who makes them or assomeone who buys them?

I have not had a bad experiencewith commissions. I really need to seek out one.

11.   What do youknow now about rp that you wish you knew when you first started? Taken.

12.   Have you beeninvolved in drama? Do you regret it?

In this community, I have onlybeen involved in one instance. It was during my first few months joining FFXIV,super early on. A RPer tried to guilt trip me for not responding to them forone day. One day caused a lot of drama from someone else’s greed and possessivenature.

I don’t regret it. It just demonstrated another example for me to be wary of everyone’s intentions. Unfortunately. It isthat split-second decision that you want to think the best in everyone that brings the failure. Oops.

13.   Have you everthought about leaving rp? What caused it? What changed your mind?

I probably considered leavingRP when I was leaving a forum base that I had invested eleven or so years of mylife into. I had grown so much through it and watched as it died out bit by bitonly for trolls to really remain. None of the inspiration was there and noone truly seemed passionate about anything but bars. Taverns. 

I changed my mind when I joinedFFXIV. At first I played the game because it was something to do. I wasbored and things were dying down for me. I have loved the FF series for such along time, so I thought, why not? Screw the pay wall. I just played through AtRealm Reborn and focused that down in a binge. Over time I got the itch Iwanted to write, and that had propelled me right into the RP crew in Siren.Then that branched onto the Tumblr. Creating my blog has led me to meet such wonderful people along the way. 

14.   Do you think rphas had a positive or negative affect on your life or you as a person?

Positive for sure. RP helped meduring the years I was unsure who I wanted to be, what I wanted to express, andhelped me communicate more when I said so little. I was so much moreintroverted, and the writing RP brought was so uplifting.

The character, Haine, I madeyears ago is a force in my life that influenced my traits as a role model. She’llalways have a special place in my heart.

15.   How has rpchanged you personally?

I suppose this builds on thelast question, huh?

Without finding RP as anoutlet, I don’t think I would have been ready to embrace what I could be.Things could have been far worse in my life, and I like to think some of thetraits I had crafted Haine to be throughout the years helped me remain true towho I should be rather than what everyone wanted me to be- or knock me down tobe.

16.   If you couldchange one thing about rp on tumblr, what would it be? Why?

I don’t think I want to changeanything- I would just want to encourage others to write and express themselvesmore in their outlets. Which can be writing, drawing, aesthetics. You do you.The passion is my favorite thing to see in others.

17.   Have you eversent a message to yourself on anon? Why?

No. Why would anyone do that?

18.   Have you eversent hate to yourself on anon? Why?

Why… would anyone do that? Arethey okay?

19.   Do you deleteanon hate or post and address it? Why?

I am content to say I havenever received anon hate. Yet.

20.   Have you everfelt pressured to write something you weren’t comfortable with?

No. I refuse to put myself inthat position.

21.   Have you everfollowed someone because you felt like you had to, not because you wanted to? Taken.

22.   What would makeyou block someone?

I try to avoid blocking becauseI believe most things can be recovered- because if I put you on that block list,I am never looking at it. You’re gone. You must be very toxic to get put there-or annoying. There was that one guy…

23.   Have you everstolen something from someone else?

Does luck count? Because Iswear I stole someone’s luck once and it was the funniest thing I had everwitnessed.

24.   Have you everhad something stolen from you? If so, how did you handle it?

Yes. I’ve had the alias Hainefor over ten years. I carried that name from my old RP community and thisperson that I used to call a good friend disappeared. She came back under a newname, and then I went on a hiatus. I come back, she’s going as the name “Haine.”She pretended she was just an anonymous person and not the friend I always knewbut playing stupid never was her skill.

I was… indifferent at first.Yet, it felt like a part of me was being violated. I knew her. It hurt. I hadmade Haine as this love child of my creativity. I tried to be reasonable butthen this person began to start discourse so it would go. “Did Haine do this?” “Whydid Haine do that?” It was confusing to always say “It was the other one.” Whenoften duplicate alias’ were not typical.

It was upsetting to say theleast, and after a while, as above it as I like to be- I started getting prettyangry. It was never pretty. I can regret a bit of it.

25.   Are you open toduplicates? Why / why not?

As in duplicates acrossservers? I do that! I had stared on Siren originally before I made a characteron Balmung before world visit opened up. I think duplicates are helpful in caseyou want to keep your strong attachments in both data centers.

26.   How do you feelabout vague posting?

Vague… posting?

27.   Do you followpeople even if they don’t follow you back?

Of course! Someone I followdoes not have to follow me back. I love their content and I want to stay tuned!That is the entire point! If they follow back, it is just equally delighting.

28.   Do you readpeople’s rules before following or interacting?

If they have rules, yes. Ithink it is very important to have OOC communication to express what you willallow or what you find inappropriate.

29.   What is youropinion on “reblog karma” and do you practice it?

I don’t.. understand.

30.   How have youresponded to popular slang used on tumblr? Do you use it in every day life? Doyou use it at all?

I don’t follow tumblr trends enough toknow?

31.   Is theresomething you don’t know the meaning of but you haven’t asked anyone becauseyou think it’s supposed to be general knowledge? Was there ever something youhad to ask someone to explain?

OH! I think I did this once. Beingnew on Tumblr awhile back, I did not understand a lot of things. So some of theterms was lost on me. I think I remember asking what on earth a “mun” was. Itwas lost on me.

32.   Have you everexperienced discrimination?

Yeah.

33.   How do you feelabout personal blogs following your rp blog?

The more the merrier! I thinkthat makes it more flattering to see. It makes me think that something on myblog had to be nice for someone to want to keep up on their personal blog.

34.   Have you evercried while writing a reply?

Oh go- Yes. Recently. The plot lines that make me feel things are the best kind. Happy, excited, nervous, bittersweet, thrilled. I love it. 

35.   Do you readother people’s threads or do you only read your own?

I read other people’s threads,and my own. I read mine several times because I figure it can be better. I love reading thewriting of others.

36.   What’s onething that other people seem to hate that doesn’t bother you? Taken.

37.   How do you feelabout tagging triggers? Do you tag them? How do you determine what istriggering content and what isn’t?

I don’t feel anything for themor tag them.

38.   What advicewould you give to someone new to rp?

 Embrace what you want to be and do not divert from what youare comfortable with. Feel free to go to public places and watch others work.If I know the person who is new to RP I would usually offer to be their partnerto get them into the cadence.

This exhausted me. I felt things throughout this journey of asks, and through it all I give to you- 

[cultofbats]

Take Care of You

So this fic is based loosely off of Mystic Messenger in that it loosely follows the plot line, and all the characters are original characters based off of the characters from Mystic Messenger. It’s obvious once you read them and get a feel for their personalities! I’ve been working on this for a while and I’m really excited for you guys to read it. I’ll put the rest under the cut! Let me know what you think, and if you like it! 

Chapter One

I had an interview for a receptionist position and I was fucking late! I hurried into the large building and quickly walked up to the front desk. The receptionist let me know where to wait, and that someone would be out for me in just a moment. I turned and was hurrying to my seat when I collided with a tall, dark force. My ass hit the ground and my carefully put together folder skittered across the cool marble tile.   What the fuck? I glared up to see slender fingers extended towards me.   “You must excuse me. I’m in quite a hurry and was not watching where I was going. Nonetheless, I should have been more careful. Are you alright Ms...?” I looked up into dark grey eyes and was astounded at how handsome this man was. Everything about him was measured and cool. I felt heat rise to my cheeks as I took his cool hand and rose to my feet. He kneeled to grab my folder and then put it gently back in my hands.   “Oh! No harm no foul, sir. I should have been more careful. I’m late for an interview and I was definitely rushing out of nervousness. My name is Alice Carter, but my friends call me Allie. I’m sorry again, Mr...?” He shook my hand, nodded once and then turned to leave. He glanced over his shoulder and regarded me judgmentally.   “Cameron. Cameron Blackstone, Executive Director of Blackstone Industries. Have a nice day, Ms. Carter. We don’t hire those who cannot keep track of time. It would be prudent to keep that in mind going forward.” Before I could give him a snarky reply, he was gone. A small, tired looking woman scurried after him, glancing back at me and whispering something to the corporate heir.   I knew everything there was to know about Cameron Blackstone and his father’s company. Once his father died or retired, he would inherit the entirety of Blackstone Industries. He was an absolute prick. I rolled my eyes before taking a seat ad awaiting my fate. I hoped this day was over with sooner rather than later. ***   I slammed my front door shut and slumped down onto the floor. After the interview, which had admittedly, gone extremely well, I had ran around town finishing errands. I went grocery shopping, ordered some new bookshelves for the apartment and bought a new pack of guitar picks. Mine always seemed to disappear two weeks after I bought them.   My phone vibrated and I groaned before hitting the “answer call” button.   “Hi, is this Alice Carter?”   “Yes, this is she. How may I help you today?”   “I’m calling to inform you that we’ve accepted you for the position of receptionist. An email with more detailed instructions, as well as a explanation of job duties has been sent to you. Congratulations, Ms. Carter. We look forward to working with you.”   “Oh my god, thank you so much! Do you have an expected start date for me, or will that be in the email as well?”   “Your employee login for our online scheduling is in the email, but you’ll have a paper schedule for the first week until we get you integrated with our system. You start next week on the 2nd at 8:00AM sharp. Congratulations again, Ms. Carter. Have a wonderful rest of your day.”   “Yes, thank you so much. I’ll see you Monday the 2nd at 8:00AM!” I hung up, kicking my feet and squealing in excitement. I got the job! Mr. Snooty would have to see my face every morning when he came into work!   Now, if only I had friends or family to celebrate with. My parents had died when I was nine and I had always had trouble making friends growing up. Growing into adulthood hadn’t made it any easier. Well, either way I could still go out for drinks tonight! Well, one or two drinks. I wasn’t the type to go out and get shit-faced, but this was a special occasion!   Of course, I could just grab a bottle of wine and practice guitar at home. Mrs. Lynne would be happier if I went out, though. Not that I cared too much about whether Mrs. Lynne was happy. Fuck it, I was going out tonight. I could piss off my neighbor another night. I rifled through my closet, as if anyone would even notice what I put on.   Yeah, Allie of course. You’re meeting the love of your life tonight, can’t you tell? Well, whether or not that's true, I still deserved to look cute and feel good about myself. I grabbed some clothes and headed to shower and get ready. I decided to let my hair dry on it’s own, but I didn’t want wet hair bogging me down all night, so I threw it up into a bun and let a few tendrils frame my face. After that, it was time to move on to my makeup.   With a flourish, I applied the finishing touches and stood to pull on socks and shoes. Heading out the door still tying the laces of my boots, I grabbed my purse and car keys and was on my way.   I was happy that it was a Tuesday because my favorite bar was dead. I pulled up to a parking spot in the front, turning my music down and sitting there for a few minutes. I was comfortable in my loneliness and with the fact that I didn’t have people to share good things with. However, it was jarring to realize that I was here, at a bar on a Tuesday evening all by myself. I wouldn’t be going home to anyone and no one would be there to notice if I didn’t return.   My good mood was dampened slightly by that fact, but I did my best to brush it off before I headed inside.   “I’ll have your best white wine and some chicken wings, if you still have them” i sighed, sliding into a barstool. The bartender smiled kindly at me before turning to pour me a glass of wine. He popped his head into the window in the back and called for chicken wings. I was one of the only two people in here.   There was a young looking blonde boy sitting in the corner seat, glancing around every so often like he was waiting for someone. He was kind of cute, but definitely in a “i just brought this puppy home from the pound and he’s going to ruin my life in the cutest way possible” way. He kept checking his phone, and I giggled quietly at how nervous and adorable he was. He glanced around once more and our eyes met. Which of course, caused me to blush and look away...like a nosey idiot.   The bartender set my glass in front of me, as well as a full tray of his famous spicy wings. I dug right in, keeping up comfortable conversation with the bartender. The blonde kid finally stood from his seat, apparently he had been stood up. I glanced sympathetically at the bartender and he shrugged. I should say something nice, shouldn’t I?

  I turned towards the boy, who looked conflicted about leaving and decided to say something. “If she hasn’t shown up by now, she most likely won’t show up at all. There are girls out there who will treat you better, I promise.”

  “Oh! Are you talking to me? I...um...I was waiting for my friend actually. He was supposed to be here an hour ago...I was...stepping outside to...call. Well anyways, thanks! You’re super nice” he beamed at me.

  I shook my head and turned back around.  “You should find new friends, then. Friends who stand you up are just as bad as girlfriends.”

  “Well, he’s busy at work. Isn’t that allowed?” He sat next to me and I looked over at him before rolling my eyes.

  “Did he tell you he was busy at work, or did you assume that because the last time you talked, he was at work? People lie, dude.” I felt as if I was explaining this simple concept to a child, but on the other hand, it was nice to talk to someone other than the bartender. I heard the click of his phone unlock and then he shoved the screen into my line of view.

  It showed some sort of messaging app...I think. On screen were messages between this boy and another person who’s avatar showed a very handsome man with bright vermillion hair.

God Alec: Clarke!!! Little baby Clarke!!! I would love to be there on time but mister trust fund won’t release me from the evil room I’ve been stuck in to work! I’ll be there soon, I pinky promise.

Clarke: Al, you promised you’d be here on time! I’m not waiting much longer for you. Come on, this isn’t fair. I’m here all by myself :(

God Alec: Defender of Earth, God Alec is on his way right now! Uh, I got stuck in downtown traffic tho so it might be awhile heh...oops. Even my baby car can’t get us there faster with this kind of traffic

  I pushed the phone back to him after I glanced at the time. It was nearing 5:30PM which, admittedly, was around the time when downtown traffic was at its worst. What was it like to have friends that actually followed through on their word?

  “See? I told you he was coming! You saw, right?” Eager blondie was practically bouncing up and down in his seat. Whoa, there. Down, boy.

  “Alright, that’s fair. Traffic downtown right now is absolutely horrible. Your name is Clarke, huh? I’m Alice. Well, the friends I don’t have call me Allie. What brings you here tonight?” I took a long sip from my glass as I turned and met his brilliantly violet eyes. Who had eyes like that?

  “Oh! Yeah I’m Clarke! I’m a sophomore down at Rainier University. It’s nice to meet you, Alice! I uh...I took a pop quiz and passed today and wanted to celebrate with my friend, but he’s late” he pouted as the last few words left his lips and I smiled at how cute he was. His eyes went wide, as if remembering something important and he blurted out “Oh! I didn’t ask what you’re here for. What brings you here? The bartender seems to know you well!”

  “Well congrats on the pop quiz! I got a job I interviewed for today and decided I needed to celebrate, despite not having anyone to celebrate with...which sounds pretty lame now that I said it out loud” i smiled sheepishly at him.

  “You can celebrate with Alec and I! I just turned 21 last year so I don’t drink a lot...and I’m a lightweight but you’re still welcome to celebrate with us if you want to! We love making new friends!” He was practically vibrating in his seat and it was adorable, but holy shit this guy was only twenty one?

  I was twenty four, with my twenty fifth birthday coming up in about six months. How old was his friend? How did they even meet? I had so many questions. I smiled and nodded as eagerly as I could. “I’d love to! I had a long day running errands after my interview so it would be nice to have people to talk to while I unwind. I’m still suspicious that your friend is lying about being late, though.” I grabbed his phone from the bar top and clicked on the redhead’s profile in the app he was in...what app was this? I saw a phone icon and hit it, taking another sip from my drink and giggling.

  “Clarke!! I told you I was on my way, ya nerd!” A deep voice rumbled over the other end of the line and I was pleased at how nice it was.

  “I told Clarke he should get new friends because I thought you stood him up” I stated simply into the phone. Clarke laughed softly beside me and called to the bartender for a basket of fries.

  “Whaaa...who is this? How did you get Clarke’s phone? Is he okay? Wait, you sound like a pretty lady! Does Clarke have a pretty lady in his life?” The voice was giggling at me from the other end of the phone and I was shocked at how weird it was to hear a man giggle.

  “No, I just met him, actually. I gave him some friendly advice and I guess we’re all hanging out now. Are you really stuck in traffic or were you standing him up?” I was being jokingly snarky and I hope that came across through the phone, because I wasn’t being rude or even wanting it to seem that way. Clarke gasped behind me, but I ignored it, waiting for my answer.

  A hand tapped my shoulder and I spun around to look directly into the face of a tall, handsome man with vermillion hair and brown eyes so light, they may as well have been molten honey. This wasn’t...the friend...was it? He was laughing at me as I stared at him dumbly.

  “I’m Alec. Who are you, lovely lady?” He asked, bowing in front of me. I cracked a smile before laughing along with him.

  “I’m Alice. It’s nice to meet another A in the world. I was worried you were going to stand up your friend, but clearly I have nothing to worry about. Again, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” I held out my hand and he shook it firmly.

  “So are you Clarke’s girlfriend?”

  “No, I literally just met him tonight, he just seemed stressed so I was trying to give him good advice. Of course, I shouldn’t be giving anyone advice about friendship, considering I’ve never kept a friend for longer than a couple months. Well, anyways you should both have a good rest of your night and not let a stranger bother you.” I turned around in my chair, setting the phone down and smiling to Clarke just hoping they would forget about the weird girl who tried to insert herself into their relationship.

  “Hey! Don’t leave us alone. We’re celebrating together, right? Alec, she had an interview today and she got the job! So we’re all celebrating tonight, us for my pop quiz, and her for her job.” Clarke was sweet explaining, but I really didn’t want to infringe myself upon these two strangers.

  “Oh! Where did you get the job? I...I’m almost, but not quite ashamed to admit that I can do nefarious things with a computer and I can look into the company for you! Of course, you can’t tell them that I looked into them because my skills are...well they border on highly illegal so..anyways congratulations on the job!” Alec was beaming at me and motioning for me to join him at the table across the way, where Clarke had already made himself comfortable.

  “You’re going to hack into my new job to find out what kind of company they are?” I asked.

  “Hey! I don’t like the term hack...I don't know what term I do like, actually so just use that one. Besides, maybe I’ll find information about the man that died onsite who’s ghost still roams the halls to this day! How horrible would that be for you? Ghosts can be a nuisance.” He was joking, and I really liked how at ease I was with these two strangers.

  “I got a receptionist position at Blackwell Industries, actually. Nothing special, but it will pay the bills. I don’t think there are any ghosts haunting that particular building, at least. The CEO in line would be enough to send even the toughest ghosts floating to the hills.” I rolled my eyes at my last remark, but both Alec and Clarke looked like I had punched them in the face. Oh no, what did I say?

  “Alec works at Blackwell...so does-” Alec slapped his hand over Clarke’s mouth before he could finish his sentence and waved it away.

  “Nah! Don’t worry about it. I just do IT work and all that. Nothing special. We won’t even see each other. Although, I definitely can’t hack into Blackwell. Mainly because I think breaking through my own firewall is some sort of hacker sin...also it would be very easy. Don’t worry, it’s a great company to work at. Cameron Blackwell is a good boss, you’ll see.” He explained, motioning for the bartender. I shrugged and dismissed the weird turn that had gone.

  “Well, either way I’m just happy to have a job again. My neighbor was getting a bit peeved with me...just sitting at home playing the guitar all day. The walls at my apartment complex are about as thin as paper. Which, of course, means that I can hear every single sound that old bat makes when she invites one of her many boyfriends over for the night.” I giggled and Clarke laughed along with me. Alec was assessing me, as if measuring me up and I wanted him to stop

  Mainly because his gaze made me uncomfortable in a way that I couldn’t understand. He was unreadable, and I didn’t like that one bit.

  The bartender brought them their drinks and brought me another glass of wine, smiling gratefully when I slipped him a twenty. He was a sweet man, and I knew this bar wasn’t as popular as some of the other ones in town. Well, I knew that because that’s exactly what I was looking for when I found it.

  I didn’t like being around a lot of people. People let you down and then they kept on letting you down until you felt as small as a speck of dust. I’d prefer to stay far away from large groups of them. It’s best for me to be alone.

  “Well, if you want to, you can hang out with us! Right, Alec? I’m sure Damion would be okay with it if we just asked him. Of course, he never fucking answers my messages or calls, but if you call and ask, that would be okay!” He was talking half to me and half to Alec, but Alec looked like he had just asked if it was okay to let me kill his grandmother. Jesus Christ, what was wrong with me? Why was this guy so repulsed by me? Also who was Damion and why did they have to ask him permission to be my friend? Was he an overprotective parent? I mean, they were a little old for that, but who was I to judge? My parents died when I was sixteen.

  “Clarke, not now. Let’s just enjoy the night and leave it at that. I’m sure this girl doesn’t want to get wrapped up in all of that, especially since she just got a new job. Also, don’t be bitter about Damion. He’s doing his best.” He was whispering to Clarke, but I could still hear everything he was saying.

  Alright, well that was enough weirdness for me. I should have left a while ago. I couldn’t safely drive home if I had anymore to drink anyways.

  I stood, pushing back my chair a bit forcefully. “I should probably head out. If I drink anymore I won’t be able to drive home. It was nice to meet you both. Congrats on acing the pop quiz, Clarke. I’ll see you guys around, yeah?” Before they could reply, I was walking out the front door and up to my car. Before I could get in, a hand was on my shoulder, stopping me.

  “Hey, I hope I didn’t make things weird for you back there. I’m sorry. Um...can I give you my number? That sounds...like I’m hitting on you. God, Alec can you not be an idiot for once? Just...in case you need me, you can call me. If you have computer problems or...anything. I’d be happy to help. I’m sorry again for making you uncomfortable back there.” He was smiling apologetically at me and I couldn’t help but to smile back.

  “Here, put your number in my phone. Thank you. I appreciate it but you didn’t make me uncomfortable. I’ll text you if I have any computer problems. Thanks. Uh...especially since fixing computers is really expensive and my laptop has a lot of problems...which sounded a lot less pathetic in my head. Anyways, thank you again for the offer.” I said, handing him my phone.

  “Um, me, Clarke and our friends have a group messaging app that we use to contact each other and it’s a lot easier to use than my personal number...do you mind if I just...add you to that? It’s just...it’s just for us.” He was holding my phone, but looked hesitant. A group messaging app? What, like FaceTube? Whatever, he seemed sincere enough. Although I didn’t know any of their other friends. Couldn’t hurt, right?

  “What? Yeah of course. Go for it. I don’t have a lot of storage on my phone, though. Um...you may not be able to download anymore apps. Can’t you guys just...send group texts? That’s a thing now, you know.” He rolled his eyes at the comment about group texts, but otherwise stayed silent as he typed on my phone.

  “Trust me, this app won’t take up any extra storage in your phone. Let’s just say that your phone won’t even register its existence, nor will you be able to access it without your phone’s fingerprint sensor. I made it special just for us. It’s the most secure app you’ll find, so don’t be worried.” He finished his sentence, sticking his tongue between his teeth as he pressed a few more times on my screen. Wait, what did he mean that my phone wouldn’t register its existence? Was he hacking into my phone? I took a step closer and saw nothing out of the ordinary on the screen, just a new app downloading. Hm, that was kind of weird. I mean, I guess he knew a lot about computers, so this was probably safe for my phone. Of course, he could have also put a virus on it. I was due for a new phone in a couple months anyways, so who cares? He handed me back my phone, a new app sitting on the front screen. ZFO were the letters under the icon. What did “ZFO” stand for? I would definitely check this app out once I got home.

  “Thanks, Alec. I appreciate it.” I smiled at him and he smiled back.

  “I already registered you in the app so whenever you wanna talk to us, you just gotta open up the app and it will already have you logged in. Um it will notify you every time a chatroom is opened...I think that’s all there is to know. You can also individually text all the other people if you want and there’s voice and video call so...yeah. Nice meeting you, Alice. I’ll see you at work, I guess?” He shrugged and turned around to walk back into the bar. Well, seemed nice enough.

  I blasted music the entirety of the drive home, letting myself finally be excited about getting a new job. I was definitely going to practice guitar when I got inside. Mrs. Lynne could go to hell or buy me a house.

  My phone dinged a few times once I pulled up, but I ignored it, assuming it was just emails coming in that I could get to later. I climbed the stairs, tapping eagerly on the handrail. I was itching to practice the new song I was learning and I really think I could get it down before I started at Blackwell. My phone dinged a few more times once I went inside, and i glanced quizzically down at it. That was way too many times for it to be my email. I unlocked it, and saw several notifications from ZFO. What the fuck? I clicked it open and was pulled immediately into an open group message.

Alice has entered the chatroom

Olivia Allen: I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired in my life *sigh*

Damion: Did he give you a lot of work today, Liv?

Olivia Allen: Yes...another cat project...the third one...this week…

Adrian: You guys...stop for a second. There’s someone here.

Damion: I mean, yes, we’re all here, right? What do you mean there’s someone here?

Adrian: Scroll up before Olivia’s first message

Cameron Blackwell has entered the chatroom

Olivia Allen: Oh my…

Damion: What…?

Cameron Blackwell: What’s going on now?

Olivia Allen: Mr. Blackwell, there’s someone here.

Cameron Blackwell: Of course there’s someone here, Ms. Allen. I just arrived *smirk*

Damion: No, Cam...someone new…

Adrian: Whoever it is, can you identify yourself? If not I can just hack into your phone camera and see for myself. You probably don’t want that

Cameron Blackwell: Adrian, don’t threaten them. We don’t know how they gained access to a confidential application. I’m sure there’s a good excuse...I’m sure.

Alice: Whoa, everybody calm down. Alec downloaded the app onto my phone. He said it was a group messaging app that he preferred to giving out his personal number. I can just delete it if I’m intruding on something. My name is Alice...I’m not here to like...steal information or anything like that.

Adrian: I don’t believe you. My brother is an idiot, but he would never give a complete stranger access to this app. I’m deleting it off of your phone.

God Alec has entered the chatroom

God Alec: WAIT! Geez, Adrian don’t jump the gun so fast. I gave her access to this app because I thought we all needed a new face around here..You can even ask Clarke whenever he shows up. We’ve been looking for a new member anyways…

God Alec: Damion...I tried to call you…

Damion: I’m sorry, I just got in from my flight and I didn’t have service on the plane. Want me to come over?

God Alec: No, it’s okay. I just wanted to tell you that I brought Alice here so that...well, so that this wouldn’t happen.

Olivia Allen: Damion, what do you think?

Cameron Blackwell: Yes, what do you think? Do we really need a new member?

Adrian: *eye roll* I wish you would have told us before dropping her into the chatroom, Alec.

Damion: Of course she can stay. Granted, she needs to know that Zoey’s Fundraising Organization  is a nonprofit confidential charity organization and any information shared here is not to be shared with the outside world. We do kind of need a new party coordinator…

Alice: Hold on. Just...jesus fucking christ hold on a minute.

Cameron Blackwell: Well, she certainly has world-class manners…

Olivia Allen: Mr. Blackwell, don’t be rude.

Alice: Cameron Blackwell...certainly not...Executive Director of Blackwell Industries?

Cameron Blackwell: Do you know many other Cameron Blackwells? Is there a club, perhaps? Did I miss the invite, perchance?

Olivia Allen: Mr. Blackwell…

Alice: Holy shit...I just got a job at your company...so that makes you...my boss’s boss? My boss’s boss’s boss?

Cameron Blackwell: Wait just a minute. Alice...Ah! Yes! I remember now. You were late for your interview, but Miranda let me know she hired you anyways due to your impressive qualifications. I meant what I said, Ms. Carter. We don’t tolerate tardiness at Blackwell Industries. We also don’t tolerate bulldozing your boss’s boss’s boss *wink*

Alice: Wait! You ran into me! I did not bulldoze you. I missed my alarm this morning...it’s not a regular occurrence...Why am I explaining myself to you? This is on my own personal time, is it not? I don’t have to be nice to you right now.

God Alec: Well anyways...what do you think, Alice? Wanna be our party planner?

Adrian: I didn’t mean what I said about hacking into your phone. I was mostly kidding. We’d love for you to join our organization. My brother is an idiot, but generally, you won’t find a more loyal friend. I have to go meditate but we should all introduce ourselves to Alice. I’m sure Alec told her about as much as he told us.

Adrian: I don’t know where Ezra and Clarke are, but I’m Adrian Bradshaw. Alec is my dumbass twin brother. Uh I’m twenty three, I work at Blackwell Industries, but we won’t get into the specifics. Just know that we likely won’t cross paths at work, except on breaks but I meant what I said about hacking into your phone. I have...a lot of free time *laugh* we should go get ice cream sometime and formally meet.

Damion: I’m Damion Matthews. I’m a photographer, most people have seen my work, but I’ve been on a hiatus due to the loss of my late fiance Zoey Graham. She was the founder of this organization, but I’m leading it in her place. If you have any questions at all about ZFO, I will answer them to the best of my abilities, if Alec or Adrian are otherwise occupied.

Cameron Blackwell: I’m not introducing myself for a second time. Damion, if you trust this girl, I will trust her as well. That’s all I have to say. Wait, I changed my mind. Do you like cats, Ms. Carter?

Olivia Allen: I’m Olivia Allen. I’m Mr. Blackwell’s Chief Assistant, so I won’t see you very often, if at all at work, but I’m happy to have another woman here once more. It was quite tiresome with all these boys. I think we should go out for coffee, if you would like that.

Clarke★ has entered the chatroom

Ares has entered the chatroom

Clarke★: Allie! Hi! When Alec told me he was giving you access to the app, I got so excited! We can talk all the time now!

Ares: Wait, what’s going on? Who’s the new girl? She’s cute *wink*

Cameron Blackwell: Ares, if you flirt with our new member, you may scare her off

Ares: Hey! Jerk…

Clarke★: Guys! Stop fighting *crying* it looked like we were all introducing ourselves? We met earlier tonight, but I’m Clarke Weiss. I’m a sophomore over at Rainier college, and I’m the youngest here. Everyone treats me like a kid *crying*

Ares: Oh! Introductions! I love those! My lady, I’m Ares, and I’m a rising star in the world of musicals. I hope to see you front row one of these days, babe *wink* Don’t listen to mister trust fund kid whenever he talks. He was born with a silver spoon and just doesn’t understand any of us. I’ll talk to you whenever, babe. Call me anytime you need someone.

God Alec: Ah! My turn! Ooooo, that’s exciting! I’ve never introduced myself before! Defender of the earth, God Alec is at your service! I already told ya where I work, and I definitely hope to see you there *heart eyes* Ares and Cameron fight a lot...but I know they secretly love each other *laugh*

Ares: Hey! I do not love that jerk!

Alice: This is a lot of stuff to take in all at once. Can I...please have time to think about it?

Cameron Blackwell: Unfortunately Ms. Carter, you don’t have the luxury of time right now. Everything we say here is confidential and we cannot allow anyone who is not a member to have access to our information. You’re either in...or you’re not

Alice: This...this is too much

Damion: Cam, don’t be so threatening. Alice, you live in the city, I’m assuming? Why don’t you and I meet up and I will explain everything to you, and you can make your decision then?

Ares: Hey! Why do you get to meet her before the rest of us?

Adrian: Well he is the head of our group...not to mention Clarke and Alec already met her so the rest of us are kind of the odd man out

Olivia Allen: Yes, Adrian is right. Damion makes the decisions and we all trust his judgement, so if he decides that Alice is worth it, we should accept it

Cameron Blackwell: Damion, I thought...well I thought you were coming to the penthouse to visit tonight. Alas, if you have other plans…

Damion: Ah, yes. I did agree to that, didn’t I? You know that I never cancel on friends, especially one as dear as you are. I’ll be there on time. Pour a glass of our favorite, yes?

Cameron Blackwell: Yes. Well then, I will see you in an hour. I must go. Jewel is hungry and I must feed her on time

Alice: Fine! God, I accept. I’ll stay. I want to stay here and be your party coordinator. Don’t go out of your way for me when you already have plans…

God Alec: Ooooo this is amazing news! We have a new party coordinator and she’s a cutie *heart eyes*

Adrian: Idiot…

Olivia Allen: Alec...please…

Cameron Blackwell has left the chatroom

Ares: Welcome to ZFO, Alice. If you ever wanna go get a beer *wink* let me know

Clarke★: Yay! I’m so happy you joined and we get to be better friends now

Damion: I have to go now, Cameron is sending his driver to pick me up at the airport. I’ll see everyone later. Thank you for joining, Alice. I look forward to getting to know you

Damion has left the chatroom

Olivia Allen: I must go as well. I’m going to take a bath and watch Ares’ latest musical on DVD. It’s nice that you’re here, Alice. I hope you find happiness and comfort with us

Olivia Allen has left the chatroom

Adrian: Nice to see a new face. Sorry for threatening to hack your phone. Let’s meditate together or get ice cream sometime.

Adrian: I’m headed out to meditate now. Have a good night everybody

Adrian has left the chatroom

Ares: I hate to leave a lovely lady like yourself alone with Clarke and Alec, but I have to go practice my lines. Goodnight, babe *wink*

Ares has left the chatroom

Clarke★: I’m gonna go game for a bit before I start on my homework! If you’re ever online on WoW, we should play together!

Clarke★ has left the chatroom

God Alec: The life of a god is never ending *sigh* I gotta go work on some things. Thanks for taking a chance. You’ll never find a better group of friends or anyone more loyal than us. I’m happy you’re here. Defender of Earth over and out!

God Alec has left the chatroom

Alice has left the chatroom

  I sighed heavily and tossed my phone across the room. What had I just gotten myself into? I needed to sit back and practice guitar to get my mind off of whatever the hell that was. This day had been too long. I had started it with no friends and ended it with seven of them. I always seemed to get into the weirdest situations. How was this going to turn out?

[bibliosexxual]

accidentally?

Based on this prompt I said I’d fill a few days ago:

boss: “know why I called you in here?” me: “because I accidentally sent you a dick pic” boss: “accidentally?”

yup.

(on ao3)

“You need to stop pining after people you haven’t even spoken to,” Lydia says one day, probably because Derek—er, Mr. Hale, their boss—has just stepped through the front door of the cafe where they’re having lunch, and Stiles has trailed off mid-word to watch him walk up to the counter. In Stiles’ defense, he’s never seen Mr. Hale outside of the office before, let alone Mr. Hale wearing a leather jacket over his dress shirt. God, and Stiles thought the tailored suits were bad enough…

Anyway.

“Uh, I have too spoken to him,” Stiles says indignantly, tearing his eyes away from Derek’s broad back across the room. “One day I was coming out of the break room and I almost walked right into him and he said, ‘Excuse me,’ so then I said, ‘Oops,’ and he smiled at me. Kind of. A little bit. I mean, I interpreted it as a smile. There was some prolonged eye contact.”

Lydia abruptly stops stirring her fat-free latte to stare at him—one of those Oh god, it’s worse than I thought kind of looks. “That’s it?”

“No. I wasn’t finished,” Stiles says. “We also ate lunch together last Monday. I forgot to bring my lunch, so I was just eating a bag of chips from the vending machine and he offered me half his tuna sandwich.”

It had been one of the nicest office lunch breaks he’d ever had, actually. Stiles was sitting on the low brick wall at the edge of the picnic area, and to his surprise, Derek sat down there, too, in his probably-thousand-dollar suit, while Stiles gaped at him a little for doing it. 

Derek had then continued to sit there even after giving away the sandwich. It had been clear from the way he kept glancing at Stiles that he didn’t know what to say but he wanted to say something, so Stiles had prompted, “Got any weekend plans?” and Derek had said he didn’t have any, so Stiles had rambled for a while about his weekend plans, which involved going down to San Francisco for the weekend for a Bastille concert. Derek sat there and listened attentively the whole time, which, in Stiles’ experience, not many people would do. He also said he didn’t know who Bastille was. That was a little surprising, but then again, Stiles supposed Derek didn’t have a lot of time to absorb pop culture, what with running the foundation and owning a dog and all.

He’d obviously had a bit of time at that moment, though, so Stiles had pulled out his phone and played Derek some of their songs, and Derek had nodded his head subtly to the beat and smiled a little and instantly made Stiles’ crush on him a whole lot more intense.

“And that’s it,” he concludes now. “So do you think he’s into me at all?“

"How should I know? I’m not a mind reader.”

“Coulda fooled me,” Stiles mutters, thinking about all the times she’s guessed ahead of time what he was going to get her for her birthday and all the times she’s taken one look at him and known with an uncanny certainty that he’s just gotten laid or, more commonly, that he’s just spent the whole night playing video games and ignoring life’s responsibilities.

Now Lydia sighs. “Look, all I know is, office romances are tricky. Even if he is interested, he’d probably feel like he can’t ask you out because of the power dynamic. You’ll have to make the first move.”

“Yeah, right,” Stiles snorts.

Lydia raises her eyebrows like, I thought so. “Stiles…” she says, “as your friend who’s concerned for your happiness, I’m going to ask you something: Have you gone on a single date in the last month? The last six months?”

Stiles resists the urge to squirm under her knowing gaze. She could be a world-class interrogator if she ever wanted a career change. “Okay, but… I’ve been busy, okay? It has nothing to do with Der— Mr. Hale. As if. That’s ridiculous. Totally ludicrous.”

“I see,” Lydia says, unimpressed.

The next thing he knows, she’s installing a dating app on his phone and filling in a profile that’s a hundred times more charming and put-together than anything Stiles could’ve come up with on his own and finagling a promise out of him that he’ll at least give it a decent try.

Stiles gives his word, but privately he wonders if he can keep it.

It was actually Derek who inspired Stiles to apply to work at the Howls for Change Foundation to begin with. The local newspaper interviewed him a couple of years ago about the foundation, back when it was just starting up. Stiles had been just skimming, not planning to sit down and read the paper for half an hour, but that’s just what he ended up doing, drawn in by Derek’s interview—his enthusiasm and love for wolves, his eloquence in replying to the journalist’s questions, the accompanying picture of him… He was in jogging clothes, crouched on a trail out in the woods somewhere and hugging his German Shepherd while flashing the camera a rare, genuine smile so bright it made Stiles feel warm all over, and yeah, Stiles applied to this job about 75% because he loved wildlife conservation and about 25% because he wanted to see Derek Hale smile like that again, and possibly be the one to make him do it.

The feeling has only gotten stronger since then.

Derek likes to act like he’s just one of the employees, even though he’s not only the boss but also the organization’s founder. He has his own corner office, but he mainly just uses it for meeting with local policymakers and other bigwigs. The rest of the time, he has a cubicle where he plugs away on his laptop or just sits contemplatively, eating an apple or listening to music on an old CD player he keeps in the top drawer. He eats lunch outside in the picnic area with his employees, too, when it’s nice out. He brings bag lunches from home, which Stiles finds oddly charming.

Still, Stiles can see Derek is set apart. No matter how much he acts like he’s just an employee, no one ever forgets he’s the boss. When he walks into the break room, a hush always falls, and if they were talking about something gossipy or off-color before he walked in, they always hastily change the subject to something more workplace-appropriate and bland, like the weather or what’s for lunch, and Derek nods politely at them, gets his coffee, and leaves without a word. Stiles thinks he looks kind of lonely. He always comes off as hardworking and unpretentious, but he also doesn’t seem that fond of small talk or smiling, and it clearly makes a lot of people feel awkward around him.

For all the great work Derek is doing in the conservation world, he doesn’t seem to have a lot of friends.

Even so, the thought of Stiles asking him out and Derek actually saying yes… Well. It’s laughable, really.

So Lydia says, “Promise me you’ll at least try the app?” and Stiles says he will.

*

Two weeks and several mediocre first dates later, Stiles is sitting in a budget meeting at 9 a.m. on a Monday morning, poking at his phone under the table. He doesn’t make any attempt to stay on task first; whenever Greenberg starts talking in these meetings, like clockwork Stiles always gets this unbearable itch to look at his phone or pick at his nails or even just stare blankly out the window, anything but listen to him.

He deletes a dozen spam emails and replies to a couple punny texts from Scott from last night before he finally, reluctantly thumbs over to his unread messages on the dating app. By this point he’s not very optimistic. Turns out he was right to be, because someone has sent him an unsolicited dick pic.

Instinctively he sinks down a little lower in his seat. It turns out to be an unnecessary precaution, though. One glance around confirms it: the woman to his left is absorbed in doodling Power Rangers on her notepad, and the man to his right is gazing straight ahead into space, so zoned out he’s practically comatose.

Stiles looks back down at his phone.

It’s a nice dick pic, objectively. Very artistic, very tasteful. The guy, whose head is cropped out of the photo, is sprawled on his back on a turquoise sheet, soft sunlight falling on his naked torso, one long-fingered hand curled lazily around his erection. A+ for aesthetics.

Still, Stiles did not wake up this morning after only three hours of sleep (what can he say, he got distracted by Wikipedia again) just so he could see a complete stranger’s junk.

The sad thing is, this isn’t even the first time this has happened, or the third, or the fifth… Would it kill these guys to say hello first?

Stiles screenshots it, then pastes it into a new email to Lydia (he’s been keeping her apprised of his dating app adventures, at her insistence). He captions it with a grumpy, “guess how my morning is going.”

She’s the one who thought this app would be such a great idea in the first place. Maybe now, face-to-face with what Stiles has had to put up with on a daily basis for the past two weeks, she’ll finally admit the whole online dating thing was a bad idea and stop shooting him pitying looks whenever the subject of Derek Hale comes up.

After that, he blocks the dick-pic-sender and puts his phone away. Greenberg is still talking, still meticulously going over lots of hard-to-read charts, and Stiles’ gaze inevitably wanders to fall on Derek instead. Derek, who’s sitting at the head of the table, looking at something on his phone and not even trying to hide it.

Stiles supposes if you’re the founder of the company, you don’t have to pretend to be paying attention while Greenberg talks.

Derek’s phone buzzes in his hand; Stiles can just barely hear it. Derek taps at the screen while lifting his glass of water to his mouth, and then he must read something shocking because he simultaneously spits out his water all over his notes and starts coughing furiously, doubling over like he’s dying, his phone clattering to the table.

Greenberg momentarily stops his monotone speech, hovering like he’s not sure what to do, while pretty much everyone around the table freezes up except for the vice president, Boyd, who’s sitting next to him and never seems even remotely fazed by anything. He pounds Derek heartily on the back a couple times.

It seems to help. After a long half minute, the coughing fit passes. Derek looks up, red-faced, and rasps, “I’m okay.”

Hesitantly, Greenberg starts talking again. Derek straightens his tie and puts his phone away, and Stiles’ fellow employees go back to slumping in their seats with blank, I’m-bored-out-of-my-mind expressions on their faces, and that’s that.

Stiles can’t help wondering what it was Derek saw that got such a reaction out of him. Whatever it was, it’s guaranteed to be more interesting than this meeting.

Ah, well. Stiles will probably never know.

Or so he thinks until about half an hour later, when his phone buzzes with a new email from Derek—the only email he’s ever gotten from Derek, not counting the company-wide newsletters and memos.

It’s a good thing Stiles finishes pouring his coffee before taking a look at it, because otherwise he probably would have scalded the skin of his hand off and spilled coffee all over his shoes and the break room floor in the process.

The subject line reads, “re: guess how my morning is going.”

Stiles freezes.

Blinks.

Closes out of his email app and opens it again.

The email is still there. It’s still titled "re: guess how my morning is going.” Stiles didn’t misread it.

He’s pretty sure he doesn’t breathe for a solid five minutes while he lets the mingled surges of horror and adrenaline wash over him. It’s like one of those nightmares he used to have in high school where he’d stand up in class to give a presentation, only to look down and realize he was inexplicably buck-ass naked and everyone was laughing at him.

Finally he sucks in enough air to gasp, "Oh god. I’m dead. I’m so dead.” There’s no one else in the break room, but he still says it. It seems like the kind of momentous occasion that needs stating out loud to the universe.

Then he chugs his entire mug of coffee and speed-walks as casually as possible down the hall. A few people glance at him curiously from their cubicles, probably because he’s blushing so hard he looks like a tomato on the verge of a nervous breakdown, or possibly because no one runs in this office, anywhere, for any reason. Dignity is the name of the game. Stiles has none.

Stiles ignores them all in favor of diving into Lydia’s office and slamming the door shut behind him. He doesn’t care what work she might be doing; this is more important. This is a crisis.

She must get some sense of that from the look on his face, or maybe from the way he’s slumped back against the door and panting, because she doesn’t snap at him or even look that annoyed.

Stiles waves his phone at her and tries, in a rambling and adrenaline-fueled outburst, to explain. He’s not sure how much of it is actually anything bordering on English, but he thinks he ultimately conveys the important bits.

While he talks, Lydia rests her elbows on her desk, steepling her fingers, and looks intrigued. “So,” she says when he finally runs out of breath, “what did Derek actually say?”

“I don’t know!” Stiles says, only a little hysterically.

“You didn’t read the email?“

Stiles shakes his head, sheepish. She’s undoubtedly judging him so hard right now, and he knows, okay. He knows.

Lydia lets out one of her trademark "why am I surrounded by incompetence” sighs and holds out her hand for his phone. Stiles meekly hands it over.

Lydia unlocks it without asking him for the passcode, which suggests either that Stiles needs to make his passwords stronger or that they spend entirely too much time together. Then she reads, and Stiles chews on his thumbnail and practices the breathing exercises his therapist taught him.

Lydia hands his phone back after only half a minute, her expression softening to something almost sympathetic. That’s when Stiles truly comprehends how truly, apocalyptically bad this is. Lydia never looks sympathetic.

“Well?” Stiles croaks.

“It just says he’d like you to come see him in his office as soon as you get a chance.”

Stiles has never heard anything so ominous.

“You shouldn’t keep him waiting,” she says gently. “Go get it over with, and while you’re doing that, I’ll write you a glowing recommendation letter.”

A recommendation letter. To take with him when he gets fired. Oh god.

*

When Stiles edges into Derek’s office, Derek is standing over by the window. He looks stunning as usual, tailored suit perfectly accenting the powerful lines of his body, but his ears are kind of pink. He’s got out a bottle of wine and two glasses on a little trolley table; he must have an important meeting with a big client later today. Stiles will probably never find out about it, though, seeing as he’s about to get fired and all.

“Stiles,” Derek nods.

Stiles would reply, but he’s afraid nothing will come out but an unmanly squeak, so instead he just focuses on perching on the edge of the nearest chair. He’s never actually been in Derek’s office before. It’s very Derek; it reminds him of the woods, lots of earth tones and accents of green. If not for the circumstances, Stiles would probably find it calming. As it is, he’s not sure he would find anything calming right now, except maybe a Xanax.

“Do you know why I called you in here?“ Derek asks.

Oh god, does he have to say it out loud? It’s not like they don’t both know already. Stiles opens his mouth, and no words come out. His mind is one long internal scream. All he can do is clutch the arms of his chair and watch as Derek uncorks the wine and starts pouring it into the first glass with intimidating casualness. He looks like he’s not mad at all. It’s terrifying.

Finally Stiles manages to force the words out. “Because I accidentally sent you a dick pic.”

Derek stops pouring wine into the second glass. “Accidentally?”

“Yes!” Stiles says, latching onto that word like a lifeline. Is it even legal to fire someone for an accident? Well. Probably yes, if it results in somebody’s arm getting lopped off or something, but a dick pic isn’t quite on that level. Stiles hopes so, anyway. “And it wasn’t even my dick!”

Derek puts down the bottle of wine completely. “So… your boyfriend’s…?”

Stiles shakes his head. “Don’t have one.”

“So you’re saying you sent me porn.”

Stiles groans and drops his head to his hands. He can’t look at Derek right now; he’s already reached maximum mortification levels. “No, I, um, so the thing is, I have Lydia Martin down in my email contacts as ‘Divine Goddess,’ which alphabetically puts her next to you, so I accidentally emailed the dick pic to you when I meant to email it to her, and before you say anything, I know I’m not supposed to send explicit materials over the company email and I swear it won’t happen again.” Assuming Stiles ever gets another chance to use his company email, that is, but he’s not going to be the one to point that out.

There’s a long silence, and Stiles risks a peek up through his fingers. Derek is frowning at him, but not like he’s angry. More like he’s confused. “Isn’t Lydia married? To a woman?”

That makes Stiles forget for a moment about being embarrassed. He sits up straight, flailing his hands in a chopping motion. “Whoa, no, it’s definitely not like that. It’s not a flirting thing. We’re just friends, and you’re right, she and Allison are very happily married and I’d never do anything to get between that. Ever. It’s just, she set me up for an online dating profile recently and I kind of hate it because I keep getting dick pics, so that pic you saw was like, like a status update. Like, 'Look how terribly this is going, I hate all of these dudes sending me dick pics because none of them are you'—”

Shit. He bites his tongue so hard he’s surprised he doesn’t taste blood, because nope, what the fuck, that was not supposed to be a part of this conversation, and now Derek’s grip on the neck of the wine bottle has gone white-knuckled and he’s just staring at Stiles, all deer-in-the-headlights.

Not for the first time in his life, or even the hundredth, Stiles wishes he had the power to rewind the last ten or so seconds of what just happened and start over. Unfortunately, no such luck.

“Just to clarify, I didn’t mean to imply that I want you to send me a pic of your dick,” Stiles blurts. “I just meant in a, um, a purely romantic sense, no one on that app is as good as… yeah.” Stiles trails off because Derek’s eyes are continuing to widen, and that’s probably not good. “Oh god, I’m making this worse. I shouldn’t be allowed to talk.”

Derek still doesn’t say anything. Maybe it’s an interrogation tactic or maybe (probably) he’s just in shock.

Either way, Stiles feels compelled to break the silence. “Are you going to fire me?” he asks tentatively, after what feels like the longest and most awkward minute of his life to date.

Derek finally blinks and relaxes his death-grip on the wine bottle. “I’d be crazy to fire you. You’re one of my best employees.”

“Except for the whole dick pic thing,” Stiles points out, risking a smile, and Derek smiles back. Stiles feels a little of the oh-god-I’m-about-to-get-fired tension leave him, and in its place the usual oh-god-I’m-in-the-presence-of-Derek-Hale tension starts creeping back in. That’s a lot more familiar, and a lot more exciting.

“Oh, I don’t know, I didn’t…” Derek starts, looking away out the window and then nervously meeting Stiles’ eyes. “I didn’t mind the dick pic thing so much. Not when it was from you.”

It’s Stiles’ turn to stare in shock.

Derek spins jerkily on his heel and picks up one of the wine glasses and starts chugging it down, and okay. Maybe Stiles isn’t the only one who’s pretty nervous right now. That thought makes Stiles a whole lot less nervous, and he stands up and moves around the desk while it lasts. Derek turns his head a little. Stiles reaches up and takes the glass away and sets it down on the table.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have— It’s not professional—” Derek starts.

“I would send you a picture of my dick if you asked,” Stiles blurts, and it feels like one of the bravest and most romantic things he’s ever said.

“I would send you one, too,” Derek says, blushing furiously.

That basically shreds the last bit of Stiles’ self-control. He grabs Derek’s fancy silk tie and tugs, and, before he can second-guess it, kisses Derek Hale the way he deserves to be kissed, thoroughly and so enthusiastically that Derek ends up sinking back to lean against his desk like his knees just won’t hold him up anymore.

“So, just to clarify,” Stiles pants, resting a hand on Derek’s chest and thrilling that he can do that now, “I’m definitely not fired.”

Derek rolls his eyes and pulls him back in.

(end)

[scribblepot]

Happy June Happenings

Shwmae!

Halfway through June and the blog post is already going up. It must be a good month.

For real though, it has been. So much has gone on, I’m definitely feeling a bit more positive than the last few posts have probably come across. I kicked off the month still on a high from going to Radio 1′s Big Weekend at the end of May - which really was as amazing as you’d expect, and then some. Despite the many showers I had afterwards, I’m pretty sure I entered June with traces of glitter still in my hair (and Phill suffered the same fate second-hand, bless him).

The excitement of the month started on the very first day of it. You’ll probably know I’ve had my cat, Posie, for nearly four years now. Here she is in all her gorgeous feline glory:

I first got Posie in August 2014, when she must’ve been about four weeks old - the managers of the shop I worked in at the time found her in the woods, and brought her to me since they couldn’t keep her because of their dogs (and because they knew I’d been sorely tempted to get a cat). Since at the time I lived in a small top-floor flat with no way for her to get in and out while I was out at work during the day, I had to keep her as a house cat. This has meant she’s had a pretty sheltered upbringing. It was just the two of us for so long, that it’s only recently she’s started to be alright around other people (by that I mean she doesn’t hiss and growl at every person who isn’t me within the first five seconds of spotting them). Of course, she’s used to Phill living with us now too, and we live in a bigger house with more room for her to play, or to hide away if she doesn’t feel like being sociable. So her temperament is generally loads better, even with other people - when our landlord came to visit, he seemed oblivious to the fact that Phill and I were rendered speechless at seeing Posie rubbing herself all over his legs and purring like an engine. But, despite the fact that we’ve started to let her snoop around the back garden on sunny days, I was under no illusions that she would have quite as warm an attitude towards another cat. The above photos were taken on May 31st, when we spent a good chunk of the day cwtched up on the sofa together - I was making the most of it because I figured that after that she’d have it in for us all for a bit for disrupting her peace. Because the next day, we brought in a new addition.

This is Albus!

Yup, we finally got a new little kitty buddy. :) Jess and Liam were looking after his mama for a friend when she had her litter, so we met and even had our first cuddles with Albus when he was only three days old. Naturally he was still a bit anxious when we took him home without his brothers and sister, but he settled in so quickly - he had a little snoop around the place before deciding to settle down and watch The Office with Phill, who very quickly became his favourite thing.

Posie, on the other hand ...

Her eyes bulged like saucers as soon as she spotted movement in his carrier, and then she took herself upstairs to the office and pretty much didn’t come back down for two days, even for food. Once she realised her protest wasn’t going to get rid of the intruder, she started to allow herself to associate with Phill and I again - only when strictly necessary - and if Albus came near her, she was absolutely not having it; there would be hissing and growling until he backed the hell up, thank you very much. She was never actively aggressive or violent towards him though, just defensive. It became obvious that she was absolutely petrified of the little dude. The problem with this - or maybe the saving grace of it - was that, after the initial shock of being growled at a couple times, Albus decided not to take any notice of her attitude. Concluding that he would take his chances on his face being ripped off, he resolved to make Posie his friend whether she liked it or not. Which, at first, she definitely did not. She came down to greet me when I got home from work one night and I watched Albus take the opportunity to bound right up to her, only dodging at the last second when he realised that her ears being flat against her head and her literal snorts of fury meant that perhaps she wasn’t in the mood to play.

But then we got a Feliway Friends diffuser. We’d used Feliway when we first moved into the new house, to help Posie settle into her new surroundings, and it had worked like a charm - she warmed to the new house, and to Phill, in a matter of days. So I reckon it was a combination of that and of Albus’ sheer bravery that led to the defining moment just a couple of days after the above incident. It was sunny, and Posie was sunbathing on the windowsill, lying belly up, basking in the warmth. She had her eyes closed, so she didn’t notice Albus jump up onto the back of the sofa right behind her. I thought I’d better warn her so she wasn’t unprepared if she tried to jump on her - since I was sitting on the sofa myself, I didn’t fancy being in their line of fire if they rocketed off the windowsill in a ball of claws and spit. I called her name, and as she opened her eyes, they landed on him instead of me. I braced myself for her to hiss and launch herself away as he’d dared to get so close. But instead, she simply flinched, and let out a small, squeaky “mrarp!” sound, like she does when she spots a bird through the window. She stretched her body for a moment, still on her back, and reached her paws out towards him ... then rolled over, unperturbed, giving him the go-ahead to come onto the windowsill with her.

Since then, Albus follows Posie pretty much everywhere - into other rooms, to her favoured chill-out spots, even to the litter tray. Don’t get me wrong, she’ll still throw the occasional hiss at him if she’s not in the mood, and she will readily give him a battering - Phill and I were literally weak with laughter last night as Albus pawed at Posie from inside the laundry basket, and she turned and pummelled the top of his head like a whack-a-mole. But they’re playing, rather than fighting it out, and it’s the most adorable thing to watch when they chase each other around the room. We never dreamed they’d accept each other this quickly. They’re not exactly cuddle buddies yet, but watch this space!

In other news this month, I had something else incredibly exciting to look forward to. About ten years ago, my friend Dominic moved to Canada. Having been one of my best friends since we were seven or eight, I was pretty cut up about it. He came back for a visit at Christmas time in 2008, but apart from that and the odd Skype call, the last time I’d seen him was when he looked like this:

To Dom’s credit, he’d been hounding me to come to Canada and see him in almost every conversation we’d had since he left - it just wasn’t something that ever happened. So you can imagine my excitement when he sent me a message in January to say he was coming back to visit again.

So the day finally came last Sunday, and Phill and I took the train into Cardiff. I scouted the area outside central station - bearing in mind that we mainly kept in touch over messenger, my last face-to-face reference was the picture above, and I was almost anxious I wouldn’t recognise him. We eventually established that we did, in fact, walk past each other once or twice. But as I phoned him to find out what colour shirt I was supposed to be looking for, I clocked him outside the Great Western and realised I could’ve spotted his grin from a mile off. Given that he only ever came up to my shoulders the whole time he lived here, I was fully prepared for the first thing he did (after the giant hug) being to point out that he is now, marginally, taller than me. Apart from that minor detail, and the Canadian twang in his accent, not much had changed. The three of had lunch in Spoons, met Ashleigh for a drink, and then all went back to our house so Jess and Liam could come over and see him too. When you’ve been close with someone for that long, it’s always easy to pick things up, no matter how far apart you’ve been or for how long. It really was so wonderful to see him again. :)

Aside from all this, I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently. After a reading slump right throughout March, I was steadily getting back into it, as I mentioned last month. And then, earlier this month, Louise Pentland set up a group on Facebook called Wilde Readers! for her followers who have not only read and loved her novel Wilde Like Me (which I did on both counts late last year), but who are also just bookworms in general. It’s such a nice little community to be a part of! At the moment it’s a closed group, but requests to join are generally accepted by Lousie’s sister Tiyana. It’s not there for promo, or book clubs, or swaps or anything like that - it’s just a page where you can post and chat about all things bookish. Be warned though - as much as your literary appetites may thank you for joining, your bank balance may not! I’ve bought five books since joining. Oops. One of them was Giovanna & Tom Fletcher’s Eve Of Man, which in fairness I would have bought anyway, but I was spurred on by the fact that it was arguably the most talked-about book in the group following its release. I burned through that in a couple of days; it really does live up to the hype! After I’d finished that, I went straight on to Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, which I was given by my lovely friend Lauren from work when I said I’d been in two minds about buying it. I’m really interested to see what that one will be like - I’ve heard it’s unusual, and I’m still at the stage right now where I’m not quite sure what to make of it yet. I’m also re-reading Goblet of Fire right now, but I’m keeping that for bedtime reading as it’s a big hunk of a book, so it’s a bit heavy to be taking in my bag for the train journey to & from work, which is when most of my reading gets done. If you’re into reading - no matter what genre - Louise’s group is definitely worth checking out, as there are so many people posting reviews and recommendations for all kinds of books.

Last - but by no means least - the 8th of this month marked two years since Sarah and I passed up our planned jogging session in favour of going to a beach barbecue with her friend from work who I’d never met before, and who I’d eventually fall head over heels in love with. I mentioned it to him before I left for work in the morning, and when I came home that night I found a gorgeous bunch of flowers waiting on the mantelpiece for me. :) Otherwise, we didn’t really do anything to mark the day, as I was on a late shift. But we’ve booked our first little getaway together for our actual anniversary in August - three nights in a hotel in Frome, day tickets to Longleat for the actual day of our anniversary, and a full day the next day to explore Frome, Bath or Glastonbury. So there’s a blog post just waiting to happen already!

For the moment though, that’s pretty much it. I don’t think I’ve really got any big plans for July, that I know of - but I’m sure we’ll find something to natter about in the meantime. :) Hope your month is going just as nicely so far! xx