#sorry this later than I said it would be Nate

[deva-arts]

zomg... the girls! Sketched out! And a few characters I never showed designs for! haha! I keep thinking about the beach, so this is their swimwear.

I hope to make a full fledged drawing for all of them soon~ then the guys~~

Some newbies are: Aura (blue!) Katya (Gold!) and more of Verra (Green!) We'll eventually see more about them as I draw more things and doodles.

[struniolos]

guitar lessons.

chapter two: meddle about.

(you can read chapter one here!)

synopsis: you decided to take guitar lessons from your boyfriend nate’s best friend, chris, while he’s away at college. but one night, things go too far. loosely based off the song sex by the 1975.

warnings: smut! minors do not interact.

“what did you yesterday baby?” nate’s voice hums through the phone, as you cuddle up into your bedsheets.

you rambled to him about everything, how you’d gone to buy a gingerbread house to make with your friends, how you bought a new coat, everything other than what was gnawing at you. chris. you tried your best to act as you usually did, but made an effort to bounce the questions back to him so you didn’t have to talk about yourself.

“so, when are you coming to visit me?” you said, biting your lips.

“i’ve got to study for finals next week, so i’m probably not for another two weeks.” nate told you, making your heart sink.

the less you saw him, the more you felt yourself drifting away from him. it was a gut wrenchingly awful feeling, guilt bubbling beneath the surface of your body. in everything you did, you felt it.

you sighed into the speaker. “i miss you.”

“i miss you too, baby.” nate told you. “well, i’ve got training in the morning so i should go, but we’ll talk soon. i love you.”

“i love you too.” you said quietly, holding your face in your hands.

as the phone call came to an end, you found yourself curled in a ball under the covers. it was almost 8pm, when you agreed to meet with chris. but your heart was telling you not to go, that this was an awful idea. because it was, you had just told your boyfriend how you loved him moments before meeting up with his best friend. you decided to message chris.

you: i’m not coming, i’m sorry.

he typed back instantly.

chris: why? we can just chill :(

you: it’s too cold. i just want to stay in bed.

you try and weasel your way out of the gate you’ve opened, to step back as if you weren’t the one also engaging in this.

chris: what if i came to pick you up?

you bit your lips, sighing.

you: fine.

about an hour later, you look out your bedroom window to see the familiar black van out the front of your house, it’s headlights illuminating the icy road thats caked in snow at the curb. you grab your hoodie and put on your slippers, sneaking down the staircase to not disturb your parents as they would know damn well it wasn’t nate.

you tiptoed your way out the front door, walking the snowy path towards the van. chris had already reached over to open the door for you, and you felt yourself getting flustered. you jumped into the van, closing the door firmly behind you and looking over at chris, his hair dark and loose, his silver necklace stark against his black crewneck.

“hey.” he smiled, putting the car into drive.

“hey.” you said shyly, biting your cheek. “so, where are we going?”

“you’ll see.” chris shrugged, with one the hand on the wheel and the other propped up against the window.

you felt an unbearable weight on your chest, something urging you to stop. to tell him to turn around and take you home. but there was something about him, something that you couldn’t fight. nate was the safe option, you knew that, but chris- chris was dangerous.

the radio was on quietly, the hum of the engine and icy roads filling your ears. you both didn’t speak for the rest of the drive, in complete silence within each other’s company. you wondered if chris was thinking about nate, or if he was selfishly wanting you all to himself.

eventually, you were parked at a lookout spot at the hilled part of the neighbourhood, looking out to the thousands of houses below only specks of yellow light against the darkness. you were shielded by woods, away from prying eyes.

chris parked the car, pulling the handbreak and leaning back in his chair. he looked over at you, his eyes dark.

“i don’t know what i’m doing, chris.” you said softly, breaking the silence. “i shouldn’t be here.”

“but you came.” he opposed, rubbing his face- his chain bracelet falling down his veined arm. you found yourself eyeing his fingers too, long and slender, the dimmed light carving out his features.

chris was the one to make the first move, shifting his hand to your thigh as he held eye contact with you. “why did you leave yesterday?”

“because it’s wrong and we shouldn’t be…i shouldn’t be doing this.” you said with pleading eyes.

chris continued rubbing your thigh. you don’t stop him. he leaned over to grab your face with his other hand, his finger tracing your warm cheek and lips, his thumb prying your mouth open.

“after you left, did you go home and touch yourself thinking about me?” he murmured, looking at you though hooded eyelids.

you hated how much you loved this, how much you revelled in his forbidden touch. you knew he wanted you to suck on his fingers but you didn’t, simply kissing the pad of his thumb. “no.”

“hmm.” he hummed, grabbing your cheeks with one hand, his fingers digging into your cheeks as he squeezed them together to pout your mouth. “i did.”

you clenched your thighs together, as he kissed you deep. you moaned into his mouth, as his tongue came to lick into yours. it was messy, all teeth and tongue. you never did this with nate, it was always so straightforward. you guessed this was why chris was so enticing- he was everything nate wasn’t.

“come over here.” he whispered, grabbing your hips to help you. he pushed the seat backwards to give you both more space, as you settled yourself on his lap, straddling him.

you rubbed your palms down his shirt, breathing heavily. “what happened to teaching me guitar?

“i’m teaching you something else.” he smirked, kissing you again, this time slower.

you pulled away briefly. “and what would that be?”

“how to feel good.” he flirted, kissing the corner of your mouth, his hands greedy as he squeezed your hips and groped your behind.

“my boyfriend makes me feel just fine.” you told him, trying to elicit a reaction.

but chris didn’t react, instead looking you directly in the eyes as he tilted his head as he dipped a hand below your sweatpants. “if he did, why did you come to me?”

your lips fall apart as he began to rub circles through your panties, your sensitive bundle of nerves pulsating at his touch. your lips found each other, tongues dancing and hot air spilling from your nose as your breathing picked up. he moved your underwear to the side, his fingers collecting your slick.

“i dreamed about this.” chris told you, as he began to push his ring finger inside your velvet walls.

“you did?” you breathed, bracing your hands on his shoulders.

he kissed your cheek sloppily. “mhm, about how good you’d feel.”

you moaned at the feeling of his finger fully seated inside you. fuck, it had been so long. chris pumped his finger in and out of you a few times before adding another, your vision blurring and body heating up.

“c’mon pretty girl.” he urged you, as his fingers curled and beckoned you towards your orgasm.

you moaned raggedly into his mouth, your hips starting to grind up and down. the feeling of his lips on yours, his hand on the small of your back guiding you as he fingered you deep sent you over the edge embarrassingly quickly. you moaned and squirmed in his lap, a complete mess. he coerced your release through small praises and kisses, holding you close to his chest. chris brought his fingers to his mouth to suck clean, locking eyes with you- it was lewd, but ridiculously hot.

“i want to be inside you.” chris confessed, his lips attaching to your neck to suck bruises into your skin.

“chris.” you protested, but he continued to assault your neck, his other hand coming to cup your ass, moulding it against his hand.

“i can take care of you better than him.” he uttered, now squeezing your breasts with both hands, kneading and palming them.

you felt your pussy flutter, your core coming in contact with his hardness. you ground down onto him, the friction euphoric. “show me.”

between kisses and whispers, chris assisted you in ridding yourself of your hoodie, and pulling your sweatpants off. he tossed them into the backseat, as well as tossing his crewneck and tshirt off and shimmying down his own sweatpants, so they sat at his thighs. you continued to grind yourself down on his hardness, both of you moaning and breathing heavily at the feeling.

you couldn’t do this to nate, this would completely change things. this would break you. you knew if you continued, that there was no going back. but it just felt so good.

chris kissed the valleys of your breasts, pulling your bra down so it hung at your hips, as he continued to suckle on each one, toying with the other with his free hand. you moaned heavily, the feeling of his warm mouth and breath on you too much. chris pulled away with a wet pop, leaving your nipples peaked and wet.

“i want you to spit on my cock before i fuck you.” he instructed, and you did as you were told.

you pulled down his boxers to let his weeping cock spring free, letting it slap against his stomach. you licked your lips, as you held it in your hands, the warm weight of it enough to send you over the edge. he was definitely bigger than nate, girthier too- you knew it was going to hurt. you spit on your hand, before coating it all over his cock like lube. chris threw his head back, groaning and bucking his hips up into your hand.

chris stopped you, placing his palm on your chest. he sat himself upright, as you hovered your hips above him. he pushed your soaked panties to the side once more, rubbing the red tip of his cock against your opening. you both indulged in the feeling, pushing your lips together and your breath mingling as one.

“want me to fuck you, pretty girl?” he growled.

“please.” you pleaded, feverishly kissing him.

“you think i can fuck you better than your boyfriend?” he dares, licking behind your ear and continuing to rub the tip of his cock against your wet folds.

you shudder, biting your lips to you conceal your answer as your pussy throbs. yes, you think to yourself.

chris grabs your hips, leaving crescent moons in your flesh from his nails as he guides you. you let out an embarrassing desperate moan as you sink yourself down onto him, seated perfectly in his lap. he’s only halfway in, and the stretch is much more than you’re used to. or maybe because it had been so long? was it because he was bigger than nate? your mind buzzed with thoughts. thoughts of your boyfriend. here you where, with his best friends dick inside of you- and it turned you on much more than you’d admit to yourself.

chris kissed you sloppily as he helped you seat yourself completely on him, your pussy swallowing him whole. you wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him impossibly close. you felt so full, so content. you hadn’t felt this...ever.

without much time to adjust to his size, chris began thrusting his hips up into you, filling you to the hilt. you gasped and grappled onto him, anywhere you could, his hair, his shoulders, the car seat behind him. he was relentless.

“i’ve wanted to do this for months.” he whispered, grabbing a fist full of your hair and using it to pull your head back, giving him full access to your neck and chest.

all you could do was moan in response, as his hips snapped up into you at a reckless pace. he licked up your throat, and dipped his fingers into your mouth. you gagged on them, saliva dripping down your chin. it was filthy and messy and so fucking hot. you had never experienced anything like it.

“do i fuck you better than your boyfriend? huh?” he growled, as you began to meet his thrusts, desperately chasing your release.

“mhm” you muffled, his fingers dropping from your mouth.

“what was that?” he taunted, a devilish smile daunting over him.

you almost felt like you were going to split in half with the pace and force he was fucking into you. tears were almost pricking your eyes, everything just felt so good.

“yes, yes chris.” you cried, a blubbering mess as he grabbed your hips tighter to pound into you.

you grabbed his face with both hands, kissing him full of tongue and saliva. everything was becoming blurred, your thoughts of nate a distant memory as you felt your orgasm building in your stomach. your toes began to curl, your face contorting and a high pitched squeal -you didn’t know you were capable of- coming from within you.

“fuck oh my god!” you shuddered, your body beginning to convulse and shake around him, clutching onto his sweaty body tighter.

you felt your release come quicker than you’d have liked, with chris’ thrusts becoming more languid as he helped you ride out your high. his hair was stuck to his forehead, his cheeks and chest flushed red. his eyebrows knit together and lips parted as he followed close behind you, shooting his hot juices into you. you let your forehead fall to his shoulder, breathing heavily and your body shuddering.

you both sat for a while, catching your breath, with chris still deep inside you. you raised your head, looking at him with saddened eyes, pushing his hair from his face.

chris pouted at you, scrunching his nose. “what?”

“i cant believe we did that. that…that shouldn’t have happened.” you tell him softly, as the weight of the situation finally sunk in.

you had cheated on nate.

“he won’t know.” chris assured you, rubbing slow circles on your bare back.

you shook your head. “but what if he finds out.“

“he won’t.” chris said firmly, looking at you with a seriousness you weren’t used to. “same time tomorrow?”

you rubbed your forehead, looking at the man before you. he was gorgeous, all fucked out and blissful, lips kissed and hair mussed. how could you say no?

“okay.”

taglist;

@creamoncreamoncream @certainfestivalnerdshepherd @sofiasnookiee @goandcomebsck @chrisluvbot @arizonaicedtealoverrr @lustfulslxt @s1urnioloslvr @meme2003 @starsturniolo

[querenciasturniolo]

never really over ⮕ m.s.

word count: 3.3k

warnings: swearing, angst, mention of a breakup, crying, self doubt

summary: „thought we kissed goodbye, thought we meant this time, was the last, but i guess it’s never really over”

a/n: this song played at work the other day and i started daydreaming, so here’s this LMAOOO. this song SCREAMS summer and lemme tell you, i’m so fucking sick of winter. also the picture of matt gives me heart palpitations, so enjoy.

everything written is completely fictional. the people i write for are written with characteristics and mannerisms that i made for them, this is in no way depicting what would actually happen in real life.

You knew coming home this summer was a stupid idea. Standing across the bonfire, staring directly into the dimly illuminated face you hadn’t seen in person in two years, you felt as though there was a pull screaming at you to move towards him. He hadn’t seen you yet, he was too busy laughing quietly at his brothers and a friend of his you weren’t particularly close with when the two of you were together. You, on the other hand, haven’t been able to keep your eyes off of him since you’d gotten to the party half an hour ago. It felt surreal, being in his space again after so long. It felt as though it was just yesterday you had your arms wrapped around him, your tears soaking the front of his shirt as he comforted you for the last time.

It seemed the only thing you and Matt were good at was breaking up, since it happened more often than not. Every other week you would decide that you didn’t deserve Matt and the two of you would call it quits. Then, a few days later, he’d show up at your door. He wouldn’t leave until the cycle repeated itself, but you knew he’d be back. You guys were never really over, after all.

You thought the last time you two said goodbye truly was the last time, considering you were going off to college and he was staying with his brothers to continue their YouTube career. You always knew he’d make it. Matt and his brother’s were the most genuine people you’d ever met, and it always transferred over into their videos. You watched them periodically while you were away at college, when missing him hurt so bad that you knew if you didn’t alleviate it somehow, you’d call him, and you couldn’t do that to him. The two of you promised each other that the last time was the last time, to keep the both of you from hurting each other. But seeing him only thirty feet away from you had your skin crawling in a familiar way you hadn’t felt in years.

“Who are you staring at?”

You jumped and whipped your head to the side, sighing and shaking your head when you met Nate’s eyes.

“Nothing, Nate. No one.” You said, clearing your throat and not letting your stare flicker back to Matt. You watched in horror as Nate’s eyebrows furrowed and he tracked your previous gaze until realization spread across his face.

“Matt, huh?” He asked, his voice casual as he slowly met your eyes. You hated the look on his face. It was almost as if he pitied you and your pathetic staring, which you couldn’t blame him. You scoffed and shook your head.

“No, I’m clearly staring at Dylan. What do you think?” You asked sarcastically, running a hand over your face to try and hide your embarrassment. You knew he meant well, but everyone always meant well, and they made you feel insane. They all had the same silent question; why couldn’t you just let him go? It’s been two fucking years, why did looking at him now feel the same as it did then? Your chest ached with how hard your heart was pumping against your ribcage. Goosebumps stayed prominent on every inch of your body just knowing he was so close to you. “I’m sorry, Nate. That was rude.” You said softly, moving your hand and sighing into the cool evening air.

Nate didn’t seem to take it to heart, he never really did. He was there for the entirety of your relationship with Matt, and unfortunately, he was one of the only few people who witnessed the aftermath. He’d answer your midnight texts, and when you were in town during breaks that first year of college, he’d pick you up from your house at three in the morning just for the two of you to drive around and blast music to keep your mind from racing.

“It’s been hard for him too.” He said, which was not at all what you were expecting him to say. You met his eyes with furrowed brows, though not a single one of his tells was showing. It was still hard to believe, considering how much of a mess you were when you went off to college and Matt moved to LA. Your teeth sunk into your bottom lip as you processed what he said, your heart telling you he’s genuine, but your mind telling you he’s just trying to make you feel better.

“What makes you say that?” You asked, your voice almost breathless as Nate scoffed and shrugged his shoulders.

“Oh, I dunno. Maybe the fact that I’ve known the kid for forever and we talk every single day.” He stated, your features dropping into a blank stare as he shook his head and glanced back over in Matt’s direction. You couldn’t bring yourself to look that way again, otherwise you’d be walking towards him immediately. “You’re allowed to talk to him, you know?” He said after a short while, meeting your eyes again with a soft smile. You knew he meant well, and you knew he was right, but the thought of walking over to Matt and him not wanting to talk to you had you shaking your head fervently.

“I know I can, but I also can’t. Besides, he doesn’t want to talk to me.” You said, your eyes flickering over in Matt’s direction once more. He was gone from his spot, Nick and Chris and the friend you couldn’t think of were still talking away as you furrowed your brows.

“Who doesn’t want to talk to you?”

You froze in place, your chest warming and your body relaxing the moment his voice washed over you completely. When you turned around, it felt as though a swarm of butterflies were flying behind your ribcage and hitting every single corner and bouncing off. There was no doubt in your mind he could hear it, no matter how impossible that seemed. Your eyes met the familiar cool blue, and you were back in every single moment you’d spent with him. He was smiling the same smile he always gave you, his eyes crinkling slightly as they flickered over your more than likely shocked face.

“How have you been?” He asked, his eyes meeting yours once more as you fought your useless brain to say something—anything to him.

“I’ve been alright.” You finally said, your heart hammering in your chest as your own lips stretched into a smile against your will. You couldn’t help it, he always had that effect on you. “What about you?”

Matt sighed through his nose, his shoulders dropping a few centimeters as the two of you began to fully relax again in each other’s presence. “I’ve been okay.” He said breathily, his eyebrows twitching inward as he studied you. “Were you talking about me to Nate?” He asked, the slightest hint of teasing in his voice. You snickered and shook your head, dropping your eyes to the grass below you.

“You were listening?” You teased back, lifting your head again. You couldn’t meet his eyes, so you studied his shirt. It was a simple flannel, similar to the one most of the guys at the bonfire were wearing to keep warm on this chilly Boston night. He grinned and nodded his head, dropping his eyes to his shoes right as you felt brave enough to look at him.

“Can you blame me?” He asked, his eyes meeting yours once more through his eyelashes. Your breath caught in your throat. That familiar pull was working against you without you realizing it, the space between the two of you had dwindled enough that you could feel the heat from his body, you could see the push and pull of his breaths and the rise and fall of his chest. Fuck, you missed him.

“How’s Los Angeles?” You asked dumbly, wanting to smack yourself as he inhaled softly and shrugged.

“Warm, sunny, crazy.” He mumbled. There was something in his eyes you couldn’t quite place, and it was driving you nuts. Two years ago you’d be able to tell what he was thinking just by the way he breathed, but you were out of practice. “How’s college?” He countered. You shrugged in return, a playful smile forming on your lips.

“Stressful, expensive, exhausting.” You said. Matt rolled his eyes and shook his head. His eyes were nothing but fond as they scanned over your face slowly. A million thoughts were racing through your mind at once, but all you could do was keep looking at him like it was the last time you ever would.

The two of you were silent for only a few heartbeats, the both of you just basking in the other’s presence for the first time since that last goodbye. He was the first to speak, and it took everything in you not to fall into his arms at the warmth and sincerity in his voice.

“I missed you.” His voice was only a few decibels above a whisper, but those three words were screaming in your mind the moment they left his mouth. You weren’t the only one wanting, yearning, wishing, hoping, praying, waiting. He missed you. He missed you. Your composure crumbled slightly, and you couldn’t help but smile sadly at him.

“Fuck.” You whispered, running your hands over your face and closing your eyes. “I missed you, too.” You said. Before you could open your eyes, you were pulled into his arms and against his chest. You couldn’t believe you were worried about the beating of your own heart as you listened to the rapid thumping of his against your ear. Like it was second nature, you wrapped your arms around his neck and stood on your toes to fully embrace him like you used to. Your face rested in the crook of his neck, the skin warm against the chilled tip of your nose.

He felt the same—the same warm chest and tight arms making you feel safe, the same familiar scent of vanilla bourbon soap and laundry detergent with the smallest hint of campfire, the same gentle movement of his thumb lightly caressing your back. You relaxed completely against him, his grip on you the only thing keeping you from sliding down his body and laying limp in the grass. He was so familiar, so comfortable, so fucking safe that you never wanted your embrace to end.

“Matty?” You asked, a shiver running down his spine when the warm breath from your lips puffed against his skin. He hummed in reply, swaying softly with you to the quiet music playing from someone’s car speakers. “This is gonna fuck everything up for us, isn’t it?” He didn’t pull away from you, like you expected. He didn’t stiffen either, which was odd. His lips pressed lightly against the top of your head, a soft sigh leaving your lips as you somehow relaxed further.

“I don’t care.” He whispered. You pulled back to meet his eyes, your pulse deafening in your ears as you searched for anything on his face that wasn’t sincere. Matt never broke eye contact with you, a small smile forming on his lips. “I’m being serious. These last two years have fucking sucked, and I don’t care if we fuck it up because I missed you. Can we forget about saying goodbye, just tonight?” He asked. He sounded almost breathless, begging you for just one night together like old times.

Before you could say anything, his eyes were flickering to your lips and he was leaning in. You gasped lightly, his lips barely brushing against yours as your eyes fluttered closed. Warmth completely enveloped you the moment you tightened your arms around his neck and closed the space between the two of you, the cool summer night completely forgotten as your fingers tangled in his hair and scratched lightly at his scalp.

You’d forgotten what it was like to kiss him, you’d forgotten how he’d hold the back of your neck with one hand and grip your waist with the other like his life depended on it, no matter how gentle the kiss was. It drove you wild every time, your body feeling like it was on fire as he pulled you impossibly closer to him. His kiss was gentle, soft, full of passion and yearning, yet rough, hard and full of tension and desperation. You could feel the pain he’d felt the last two years with each soft brush of his tongue against yours, and it took everything in you not to break down in tears mid kiss. Your Matty was back, and you didn’t think you’d ever be able to let him go again, even though you knew you had to.

When the two of you pulled a part for air, you couldn’t help but stare up at him with soft, gasping breaths leaving your lips. Matt’s eyes remained closed, his eyebrows furrowed tightly. He looked…miserable, and you hated it. You untangled your hands from his hair, one of your palms resting against his chest while your other hand reached up and cupped his cheek softly. Your thumb caressed the crease between his eyebrows until he relaxed, finally opening his eyes to meet yours. Every single bit of anguish you’d felt for the last two years was written all over his face. It was etched into the lines by his eyes, the twitching corners of his mouth, and it was glimmering in the cool blue of his iris’. He was in as much pain as you’d been in, and it made you want to scream.

“Did you stop loving me?” Matt asked, his voice thick and raspy. You inhaled sharply, your own brows furrowing.

“Matty, I—”

“Just.” He interrupted, exhaling deeply through his nose and looking into the flames of the fire rippling a few feet to your left. “Just answer the question, please.” He didn’t return his gaze to yours, no matter how badly you wanted him to look into your eyes and see the answer screaming out at him from your heart. You fish-mouthed for a few seconds before taking a deep, shaky breath and closing your eyes.

“I don’t think I could ever forgive myself if I stopped loving you.” You said, Matt’s gaze finally returning to yours. You smiled brokenly, letting your eyes well with the hot tears you’d been fighting since seeing him and his brothers the second you looked across the fire. Your hands clenched into fists in his flannel, your body desperate for him to stay close to you. “Loving you…fuck, loving you was the best thing I’ve ever done, even if it went up in flames. It made every argument, every bad day, every break up and reconnection worth it. I didn’t think it was possible, and I thought I was doing so well getting over you, but I love you just as much as I did the day we broke up for the last time. And it’s okay if you stopped loving me completely, because I can understand how you could.” You whispered the last few words, closing your eyes and letting the depth of your words fall over the two of you. You dropped your head, sniffling to yourself and trying to pull yourself together before you made a mess of things again.

Matt’s fingers lightly gripping your chin had a shaky exhale leaving your lips as he lifted your head. Your eyelids fluttered open, the tip of his nose almost touching yours with how close the two of you still were. His tongue peaked out to wet his lips and he opened his mouth to speak as his grip moved from your chin to his hand cupping your jaw and holding it firmly.

“The one thing I didn’t miss was the lack of faith you had in yourself being loveable.” He said clearly, firmly, matter-of-factly. He’d told you a million times before that there was absolutely no reason for him not to love you, but you never stopped looking for that one reason to present to him. “I have loved you so completely, so wholly, so entirely since the day I met you, and the day we said goodbye. You were and are the last person I think of when I fall asleep, and the first person I think of when I wake up in the morning. For so long, you were the only person I wanted to be around, and the only person I knew that I couldn’t live without.” He said, your eyes wide as you stared up at his smug face with a slack jaw.

“The fact that I came back each and every time you looked me in my face and tore my heart out of my chest, still wanting and needing to be a part of you and your life should show how much I loved and still love you. If you can’t see how deep my love for you is, then I truly don’t know what we were doing in the first place.” He finished, the tears that had welled in your eyes had begun to fall, Matt smiling softly down at you as his thumb tenderly swiped the tears away. “Don’t cry, baby. I was only telling you the truth. I’m just glad that it seems now you finally choose to believe it.”

You sniffled and shook your head up at him, not understanding how only a short time ago you were staring at him from across a bonfire, absolutely petrified of him seeing you and not being interested enough to even wave, and here you were. You were standing in his arms, only a few feet away from the fire, listening to him tell you that all of your sleepless nights full of tossing and turning, overthinking, watching him and his brothers’ videos on YouTube for some semblance of normalcy, he was missing you and loving you just as much as you were him. You couldn’t help but smile up at him and pull him closer to you, wrapping him in the tightest hug you could manage. You wanted it to feel the way his words made you feel, warm and safe and protected and loved. So fucking loved that you could hardly stand it.

“What does this mean, Matty?” You whispered against his shoulder. He sighed into your hair, his grip around your waist tightening as he shook his head.

“Just enjoy the moment, baby. We’ll talk about that later.” He mumbled, pulling away from the hug to press a kiss to your forehead, cheek, and then pressing his lips firmly to yours. It was only a firm peck, and he pulled away. “Watch the fireworks with me?” He asked. You nodded your head and turned around, letting him press himself against your back and wrap his arms around you like he’d done a million times before. His chin rested against your shoulder, and you leaned your head slightly to the side to rest your temple against his as the first firework shot into the sky. Each and every breath you took, you breathed him in, not wanting this moment to end.

It was possible that by the end of the night, the two of you would go your separate ways and leave one another again for an indefinite amount of time, or maybe even continue your cycle from two years ago. But it was also possible that the two of you would start something new, maybe change the cycle and make sure it wasn’t repeated again. You had a feeling it was one of the latter two options.

After all, you two were never really over.

tags: @strniolo , @ssturniolo , @thetriplets3 , @stvrni0lo , @gabbylovesreading , @dwntwn-strnlo , @tylerscreat0r , @toyourloves , @lvrsparadise , @angelcake-222 , @20nugs , @obsessivencrazy , @lollibumblebee , @stargirlv0id , @jellybeanbby , @idontexistman , @emssturniolo , @soursturniolo , @bernardenjoyer , @ev3rgreenxtrees , @reveriewave , @mxqdii , @leah-loves-lilies , @mattsnutsack , @champangekisses , @floofparker

[pepsiboyy]

HEARTSTRINGS. - p4

p3 ⚜ masterlist ⚜ p5

pairing: chris sturniolo x fem!reader summary: after moving to massachusetts from florida, y/n lives with her half brother, nathan doe, who is part of a small garage band. their sassy guitarist, chris sturniolo, can't help but get on her nerves. but there's something about him. warnings: use of y/n lol, cursing, make outtt, fluff !! a/n: HIIII you guys are absolutely blowing this up <3 i love u guys so much! longer part today, the moment u guys have been waiting for sort of !!

"i'm really, really fucking sorry."

i stared at chris with wide eyes after he had knocked on my door later that night.

struggling to keep a serious expression, i cracked a smile and leaned against my doorframe as i stared up at him. what's the hurt in prying a bit?

"sorry for what?"

chris stared at me in disbelief, the corner of his mouth raising into an undeniably attractive smirk. "don't do that, y/n."

the tone of his voice was deep, and the way his stated it made my chest feel like it was going to cave and my body feel like it was going to explode. "do what?"

"you're so fuckin' annoying, kid." chris stated, his smile now fully visible as he looked at me with a look that seemed to be one full of admiration. "really though. i overreacted and shouldn't have said what i said. i would have done the same thing, honestly." my only response was a soft nod.

we stayed like that for a while before i opened the door wider and invited him in.

i sat at the edge of my bed, and he hesitated to do so as he looked around my room. "'s bare in here."

my brows knitted together as i stared at him. "remember i moved in less than a week ago, idiot."

"i need to take you to ikea. genuinely." he then carefully took a seat beside me.

i blinked a few times as i stared at him, my cheeks turning a soft shade of pink. "ikea? like the furniture store?"

chris stared at me in disbelief before it clicked for him. "you've never been?" upon seeing me rapidly shake my head, he smiled softly.

"you free tomorrow?"

"the fuck do you mean you can't drive?"

"well, my brothers and i are always together, so i never really-" chris defended himself, rubbing the back of his head with pink cheeks. his fingers ran through his shaggy hair.

"you failed to think of that or even mention it before inviting me to ikea?" i teased, lightly hitting his shoulder.

chris took a breath to defend himself, but ultimately failed.

"i could have gotten us an uber or something. i don't want to bother your brother." i stated as we sat against the living room couch.

we woke up a bit earlier to get to ikea at a decent time, and nate was asleep still.

"no, it's fine. matt doesn't mind." chris reassured, a bright smile on his face.

"why couldn't you get an uber or something." was one of the few first sentences matt stated before chris quickly smacked his shoulder.

"because, you're here. and you're free."

"gas isn't."

i quickly lifted my hand like a kid in elementary school to intervene, smiling nervously. "i can pay you for gas."

matt stared at me for a moment before turning to chris. "would you look at that. she's offered more than you ever have. i like her." he joked and smiled, holding out his hand slightly. "i'm matt."

i stared at him for a moment before gently taking his hand and shaking it.

matt looked so much like chris, yet so different at the same time. they had different haircuts, but used different body language and had a few different features that were prominent.

"i'm y/n." i smiled softly before pulling my hand away.

i thought i would be the one looking at things on this trip, but i was the one pushing the cart while chris excitedly held things up to show me before setting it back down on the shelf.

"who are we here for?" i joked as i looked at chris.

"uhhh.. you, obviously," i mumbled softly, setting the oddly shaped beside alarm clock back where it goes. "i was just looking."

"right." i smiled and began to walk away, leaning over the cart as i allowed my eyes to wander.

chris quickly jogged to catch up to me, smiling down at me as he shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets. "you really haven't found anything yet?"

"nothing has really reached out to me and grabbed my attention, i guess."

chris nodded as he looked around, before he continued to watch me. i finally turned to him and smiled. "what?"

"you look nice today." chris quickly stated, turning away nonchalantly to cover the pink on his cheeks, but i could see his ear turning into a redder shade.

"thanks," i mumbled softly, continuing to walk as i bit my lip. "you don't look too bad yourself."

chris scoffed softly.

we were nearing the end of the store, and i had just found a few simple decorations to spice up the vibes in my room. nothing too crazy.

but something quickly caught my eye, and i stopped in my tracks before quickly making my way towards it.

chris quickly followed and looked at the item, then back to me with a cocked eyebrow. "a desk?"

i nodded and smiled softly.

the desk was white with a few shelves lined up against the back.

i smiled shyly as i ran my hand against the surface. "i could do some homework on it, maybe... write lyrics on it?" i tilted my head and shrugged.

chris just stared at me, the corned of his lips turning to a smirk. "you'd write lyrics?"

i turned to him and smiled defenselessly.

"when will i hear you sing?" he asked softly, and i looked up at his face, smiling at his serious yet soft expression.

a soft hum left me as i shrugged. "soon."

chris shrugged, seeming to enjoy that answer more than a "never" and knelt down to help me pick up a box for the desk.

we made our way to checkout, and took out the smaller items to scan and grabbed the small scanner to scan the big box in our cart.

once we finished scanning everything, i reached to grab my wallet, but chris scoffed audibly from beside me.

as i looked up, i heard the beep of the card reader that had already gotten his card's information. "chris!"

chris giggled and took his card back, sliding it back into his wallet and into his pocket.

"why'd you do that?"

"i'm the one that said your room was ugly." he stated quickly.

i stared at him and smacked his shoulder. "you never said that."

"right, it's bare." he corrected, smiling warmly at me. "don't worry about it. i had to make it up to you anyways."

i smiled warmly at him and let out a soft sigh. "thank you, chris."

"now let's go wait for matt to pick us up?"

"how the fuck do you do this?" chris whispered to himself.

i smiled softly at him as i held the instructions to building the desk between my fingers.

chris was laying on his side on the floor in my room, attempting to build the desk. he would smack my hand away whenever i tried to help him, insisting that he had it figured out.

"you're attaching the wrong part to that, chris-"

"i knew that!" he'd quickly defend, waving his hand and hiding his embarrassed expression by turning to cough.

i smiled softly at him.

this annoying ass kid had truly made me realize today that he meant a lot more to me than i had ever thought he would.

my eyes explored him as he laid on his side against my carpet, his white tee loose on him. the hem had lifted a bit with the impact of the floor, revealing a belt that hugged his waist in all the right ways to keep his baggy, blue jeans up. his bangs hung low against his face, and his eyes were a neutral blue that i couldn't seem to keep my eyes off of.

"is this right?" chris questioned, holding up two wooden boards. i quickly shook myself out of my thoughts and looked at the instructions before nodding. "good, because i already put this nail into this one."

i smiled at him and hummed as i shifted to sit on the floor beside him.

after a few minutes, chris sighed and sat up to sit upright, gently wiping the fake sweat off of his forehead. "all this hard work," he joked, and i smiled warmly at him.

chris stared at me for a few moments before he stood up and quickly bolted out of the room, leaving me confused.

but he quickly returned with an acoustic guitar from nate's room, smiling and sitting beside me with a soft smile.

i watched him sit beside me and get in a comfortable position before speaking up. "what possessed you to go get that?" i questioned.

chris scooted a bit closer to me, smiling softly as he leaned down to carefully position his hands. "i wanted to show you what i've been working on."

i nodded softly as i watched his hands position themselves. his bangs covered his eyes and gently grazed his nose as he looked down at the guitar.

i smiled at him in admiration as he began strumming the guitar. the soft chords filled my ears in every perfect way, the way he slowly played with the pick in his hand, strumming the strings a few times for each chord.

i couldn't stop looking at him. the way his bracelets dangled slightly, the way his hair fell, the way his nose scrunched every time he gently grazed a string on his guitar to get a squeaky sound that somehow fit perfectly into the song nonetheless.

i smiled at him as i watched, and chris's head lifted to look at me as he strummed the guitar.

we stayed like that for a few moments. his pick slowed down with each moment that passed, and i smiled at him.

i never noticed he had freckles until now. that was how close we had been sitting by one another, now staring at each other in a comfortable silence as he strummed his guitar and slowly finished.

a few more seconds went by before chris let out a loud sigh, one that almost sounded frustrated. he quickly set the guitar to the side, leaning against the half finished desk and leaned closer to me, a hand running against my jaw as our noses touched.

"can i kiss you?" he asked softly, his eyes a deeper shade of blue and his face a pretty shade of pink that made my stomach do flips.

i nodded quickly, moving my hands so that one moved to the side of his neck.

chris closed the gap between us, his lips pressed against mine as he tilted his head and closed his eyes.

his hand moved to gently rest on my waist, the other moving to my hand to gently intertwine with my fingers.

i felt my face head up and my lips curl into a bright smile as i tilted my head and kissed him back, my heart beating at a billion miles a minute.

chris carefully pulled away from the kiss and gently pulled my hand as he stood up, motioning for me to also stand up. i did just that, and he guided me to the side of my bed before urging me to sit down and crashing his lips into mine.

i laid down against my sheets, and chris crawled on top of me.

my hands found a home in his hair, fingers burying into his curls.

i fucking love his curls.

chris kept one hand by my side against the bed to hold himself up beside me as his other hand held my jaw and cheek, thumb caressing my cheek gently.

we stayed like this for what felt like an eternity, and honestly, i wouldn't have minded if it lasted longer.

chris pulled away and stared at me with lidded eyes and swollen, parted lips.

i smiled softly at him, and he reciprocated that as he chuckled softly.

"you know i thought you were gorgeous since i met you, right?"

i cringed slightly. "you thought i had a boyfriend who started an argument with me, actually."

"shut up," he quickly defended, chuckled softly before he moved to lay beside me, eyes now glued to the ceiling.

we sat in a comfortable silence before i turned toward him and wrapped an arm around his waist softly, smiling shyly.

chris turned to me and smiled softly, his cheeks pink as he hummed.

"now for the real question," chris started, and i nodded as i listened closely to him.

"how do we tell your brother?"

p3 ⚜ masterlist ⚜ p5

comment to be added to the taglist !! taglist;; @sturnioloshacker @nickgetsmewetter @matthewsturniolosgirlfriend101 @chrissgirlsstuff @nsjsnshey @sturniolosarethebest @sofie-1 @sturniololol @veysxrge @587528382527 @sturniolostars @larnieboox88 @eliana-4200

[thelovetheystole]

Thought I would list some of the things (clues) the show has revealed about John so far, as he is supposed to have plenty of secrets...

Quotes are not verbatim.

• He was born in 1988, making him two years younger than Robert and Andy and six years older than Victoria. (The actor however was born in 1982.)

• He likes the saying 'Never forgive, never forget' as revealed in his very first episode

• 'Barbara and I go way back' (quote from Eric about John's mum with a bit of innuendo?)

• He grew up locally, and is a capable farmhand

• He always assumed he had siblings 'out there', but just didn't care (again, he grew up locally and was right between Robert/Andy and Vic in age, his mum used to be a teacher in Hotten)

• He did mention that he thinks he might have heard of Robert, specifically

• He claims to not be interested in the Sugden family, and was seemingly especially un-interested in Sarah, as her dad was adopted, even though he did say sorry to her later

• But he did look intently (when Vic wasn't there) at the Sugden family photo, which had Jack, Sarah and all three kids in it

• He had a stepdad growing up, who apparently did care about him, so no reason to 'feel sorry for him'

• Barbara Ann's (his mum) married name looks like it started with a C or a G, like Conne(o)r, Chase, Cro(a)ft, Grant or Gray?

• He said his mum wrote Jack a letter about him once when he was young, but Jack never replied

• Called Robert some random/stranger 'that I happen to share dna with'

• Kept army tags that say 'Aidan Moore' in a box he doesn't want people to see

• 'I know more than you think' (to Aaron when he denied John knowing anything about him or something to that effect)

• Wears a St. Christopher necklace

• According to an interview with Oliver, John has spent 12 years in the army, It's unclear which 12 years

• Having been in the village for six month, he has asked zero questions about anything Sugden related

• He was a medic in the army

• He was the last person to see Nate before he supposedly left the village

• He looked like he might have had something in his van after the fire that he didn't want anyone to see

• Refused to be checked at the hospital, even though he was coughing his lungs up after the fire

• Has two medals, which appear to be the Operational Service Medal For Afghanistan and the Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (2022), but there is apparently supposed to be a third one in this set?

• Aidan Moore was not only his best friend, as he lied to Victoria, but a man he loved and was secretly involved with. John apparently couldn't save him in Afghanistan...

• In an interview Mike P (Ross) did around the time they filmed the aftermath of Christmas, he said John has a 'sinister military background', whatever that means...

• He's not the brightest, as he apparently failed to realize that Aaron and the man he married twice shared a deep connection and, you know, a life 🤷‍♀️

• He very much did not like being called an 'informant' by the PC, even though he did call the police and tell them about the illegal fight in Moira's barn

• He likes telling other people to be honest and thruthful, but has yet to tell Aaron he was the one who called the police that day

• Said four walls and a roof are like a 'prison' to him, and said about Aidan in Afghanistan; 'he only wanted to serve his time'

• He always goes camping in December on Aidan's birthday

• Seemed rather desperate for Aaron to say 'I love you' in the woods after making a show of throwing his dead ex's army tags in the woods... (Army tags that in reality would go to next of kin I believe?)

[thetarttfuldickhead]

Fic: Roy & Jamie & and that time when Jamie was NOT in a car crash

With ten minutes left until training officially began and still no sign of Jamie, there were a few raised eyebrows and murmurs and Isaac telling Will to put the player down for a 100 quid fine, but no one thought to be worried. People ran late, sometimes. Not usually Jamie, no, but Colin figured there was a first time for everything. Besides, he was busy listening to Bumbercatch explain the intricacies of post-Brexit labour shortages and the way it served to reproduce notions of capitalist realism, none of which Colin understood, but Bumbercatch was at his fittest when he was passionate and mysterious so Colin hung on to his every word all the same.

When Roy stepped into the dressing room a little while later and noticed the distinct lack of number 9 and rang Jamie to demand where the hell he was only to receive no answer, a slight sense of unease settled over the room, though Colin suspected that had more to to with the sinister look on Coach’s face rather than any real fear that Jamie might be in danger (at least not until he showed up and had to deal with Coach anyway).

And then they heard about the car crash.

---

It was Sam who – always eager to play peacemaker, bless him – checked his phone to see if Jamie had left any messages in the group chat to explain his absence, and Sam who went very quiet and stared at his screen in silence for so long that everyone else fell silent too and turned to stare at him. Never a good sign, that sort of silence in the dressing room.

“Yo, bruv, he write something?” Isaac asked when it became apparent that Sam was not going to volunteer whatever information he had found.

“No, nothing,” Sam said. “But… “

“But fucking what?” Roy demanded, words sharp and jagged like broken glass.

“There’s been a car crash,” Sam’s voice was quiet and slow and reluctant. “A big one, not far from Jamie’s house. At least two people are dead, and several injured. It doesn’t say anything about Jamie,” he quickly added into the collective intake of horrified breath. “I’m sure he’s perfectly fine.”

“Yeah,” Thierry agreed quickly. “He probably just got delayed because it caused a traffic jam or something.”

Eager nods around room, and Colin found himself nodding along because of course that was the most reasonable explanation, of course Jamie hadn’t— he wasn’t—

“But then why didn’t he pick up his phone?” Bumbercatch asked. “Or call to say he’d be late?”

A relevant question, and as with most of Moe’s questions, without a ready answer.

“We would have heard, wouldn’t we?” Nate suggested uneasily. “I mean, they would have called, if— “

He didn’t finish the sentence. No one else spoke.

Trying to distract himself from the quickly growing pit in his stomach, Colin turned his gaze on Roy, who had gone so still that he didn’t even seem to be breathing. His face was a blank mask, utterly devoid of any emotion, but his fists were clenched so tight that Colin’s own hands twinged in sympathy.

“I’ll go talk to Higgins,” Beard said abruptly, breaking the fraught silence.

“Yeah, no, that’s a great idea,” Nate quickly chimed in. Like Colin, he’d been eyeing Roy nervously. “He’ll know what—“

The door slammed open. Jamie rushed inside. “Sorry, sorry I’m late,” he called as he dumped his bag on the bench by his cubby and started pulling his vest off, “been this massive car accident, was stuck for ages and then the road was closed off so I had to go round and— Eh?“

Cockburn, by virtue of being closest, had pulled Jamie into a tight hug, and the rest of the players immediately closed in to follow suit, Colin among them. In his relief he wasn’t sure whether to kiss Jamie or smack him on the head for worrying them, and in the end he settled for briefly squeezing his neck. Jamie grinned at him, at all of them, looking a little bemused but very much delighted by the attention.

“Fucking hell, lads,” he laughed. “Thought I’d be getting a fine, not a fucking group hug. Realized how dull training would be without me, huh?”

“You are getting a fine,” Isaac told him, even as he put his arm around Jamie’s shoulder and shook him gently. “But we’re fucking happy you’re here, yeah?”

“We thought you had died in the car crash,” Jan explained.

“Sí, amigo, we were so worried for you!”

“Oh! Yeah, no, I’m fine, I’m fine. Not fucking Colin, am I? I don’t get into any car crashes.” He caught Colin’s eye and winked, sticking his tongue out like the utter tosser he was and Colin rolled his eyes and was so, so stupidly happy the idiot was there to be annoying.

Eventually, after everyone had gotten to hug Jamie or pat him on the back or ruffle his hair (to his loud but clearly half-hearted protests), the team drifted back to their own cubbies, happily chatting amongst themselves—

— leaving Roy standing on the middle of the floor, staring at Jamie with a look on his face that had Colin take an involuntary step backwards. Their gaffer did not look relieved. In fact, he looked absolutely murderous.

“Why the fuck,” he intoned, emphasizing each word, “did you not fucking call to say you were fucking late? And why the fuck did you not answer your fucking phone?”

The tone of voice would have had anyone with even an ounce of self-preservation running for cover if directed at them, but Jamie just blinked. “Oh, er, left it at home, didn’t I? Already had it in me black bag, right, only I realized the tan one went better with this outfit so I grabbed that instead, but I forgot about the phone ‘cause I was in a bit of a rush, yeah?” He shrugged a little sheepishly. “It was stupid. Sorry about that.”

“Oh, you’re sorry about that, are you? Do you have any fucking idea—“ Taking a step closer, getting right up into Jamie’s face, Roy launched into a dressing-down of such volume and viciousness Colin was convinced it had the walls vibrating. Even by Roy Kent’s considerable standards, it was a lot and it lasted for well over a minute until Roy growled, “If you’re not out on the pitch running laps in two minutes you won’t have to worry about getting into any car crashes going home ‘cause you’ll be here all night, running ‘til you fucking drop in your own puke, got it?”

Initially, Jamie had seemed slightly taken aback by Roy’s furious remonstration, but then something that looked strangely like understanding passed over his face and he settled into a determined stoicism, neither talking back nor looking cowed. By the end of it, though, there was definitively barely suppressed anger glinting in his gray eyes, leaving Colin worried he might snap and then they’d have a full-on brawl on their hands, just like back in the bad old days when Roy and Jamie well and truly hated each others’ guts and wouldn’t that be exactly the sort of fun they all wanted on a Tuesday?

He gave a sigh of relief (and could hear Richard do the same just next to him) when Jamie just offered a curt, “yes, Coach,” and set to getting changed at an appropriately hurried speed.

“And fucking apologize to your teammates for delaying training!” Roy barked.

“We’d be out there already if you hadn’t spent the last hour shouting at me,” Jamie muttered to the boot he was tying.

“The fuck did you say?”

“Nothing, Coach. Sorry, everyone.” He looked up. “Really am,” he added, sounding quite sincere about it. “Didn’t mean to hold you up or, you know, worry you or nothing.”

---

Training was an awkward and quietly tense affair. Once Jamie had finished his laps and was allowed to join the rest of them, Roy pointedly and resolutely ignored him, refusing to so much as spare him a glance while the team muddled through the day’s exercises and scrimmage.

Jamie, for his part, seemed utterly determined not to give a shit. He went through the drills as diligently as ever, dribbled and passed and shot with his usual flair, shouting encouragements and slapping Colin’s butt after a particularly good free kick. For all intents and purposes, it was just another day at the job for Jamie Tartt – but Colin saw the looks he kept shooting Roy when he thought no one was watching, and he noticed how Jamie didn’t just play well but played brilliantly, stubbornly lining up one little footie miracle after another on the pitch. He wasn’t being a prick about it either, prompting Colin to mutter to Isaac: “Looks like Jamie’s trying to get back on Roy’s good side by going for player of the year.”

Isaac glanced over at Jamie, then shook his head in dismissal. “Nah, bruv,” he said. “He ain’t trying to appease the gaffer. Sticking it to him, innit.”

“Oh. Okay.” Colin frowned. That… didn’t make a lot of sense, really, but Isaac usually knew what he was talking about, and it wasn’t like Colin begrudged Jamie a little bit of pushback, not after the way Roy had chewed him out in front of everyone. It was just that, if this escalated and the two of them got into it properly, the way they used to back when Roy was still the captain rather than the coach… Well. It’d be a shit time for everyone. Colin could do without it. They could all do without it.

Not that that sort of consideration had ever stopped either Roy or Jamie before.

On the other side of the pitch, Jamie threw himself down in a bicycle kick that saw the ball soar right past two defender’s and Thierry’s outstretched hands.

“Whistle,” Roy snapped. “Training’s fucking over.”

---

“Oi! Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

Colin, with Dani, Jeff and Jamie in tow, had almost made it out of the dressing room, freshly showered and changed and very ready to put the training session behind them, when Roy’s bark brought them to abrupt heel. Dani stopped so suddenly that Jeff almost walked straight into him, and Colin himself accidentally elbowed Jamie when he startled at the sudden roar.

You’d think they’d be more than used to Roy’s yelling by now, Colin thought. Then again, he supposed it’d been a strange day and they were all a little on edge. Jumpy.

“We’re going to my place, Coach,” he quickly offered, hoping to stave off another round of shouting. “To play some FIFA.” He briefly considered inviting Roy to join them, it would only be polite, right, and could be good for morale maybe, but he was held back by the notion that the gaffer might say yes.

“Tartt isn’t,” Roy informed him curtly.

Jamie cocked his head to the side. “I’m not?” Definitively a hint of challenge in his tone, and Jesus, this was all going to go straight to hell, wasn’t it? And after they’d almost made it out of here, too.

Roy was unmoved; unyielding as stone. “No, you’re coming with me so I can keep an eye on you since you’re too much of a fucking child to be trusted on your own.”

For a moment, the two men simply stared at each other, both faces shadowed by stubborn scowls. Colin realized he was holding his breath, and glanced over at Isaac getting ready for dinner with his parents in front of the mirror to check if he, as captain, was maybe planning to step in and deescalate the situation. How he was going to do that Colin had no idea; he wasn’t the captain.

Isaac said nothing, though, just watched the exchange with an unreadable expression. Figures, Colin thought a little sourly; his friend was utter shit at keeping secrets but could pull inscrutable like nobody’s business when it suited him.

“Fine.” In the end, Jamie relented with an exaggerated sigh. “But I’m taking me own car, which I have, what with me not actually being in a car crash today and all.”

Roy looked furious at that, as if Jamie’s lack of fiery death in a burning inferno was somehow a personal insult to him, but then he pressed his lips together and jerked his head in a sharp t nod. “Fine.”

He spun around and stalked away, leaving Jamie rolling his eyes and muttering Jesus fucking Christ you overdramatic grumpy fuck under his breath. Then he turned to the rest of them and shrugged. “Sorry, lads. Another time, yeah?”

Dani made a small, unhappy sound. Colin exchanged a look with Jeff, who looked about as unsure and uncomfortable as Colin felt. Over on the other side of the room, Isaac was still quiet, potentially a sign to the others to keep out of it as well, but in spite of that Colin found himself compelled to ask: “Boyo, do you want us to… talk to Coach?”

It was a mildly terrifying idea, and it very much went against the unspoken agreement that nobody interfere with the continued absurdity that was Roy and Jamie’s relationship these days. But, today had been weird in a way that seemed to have little enough to do with training, extracurricular or otherwise. A particular kind of weird, even for these two. Besides, his whole idea of an impromptu game night had been, at least in part, a bid to cheer Jamie up after all that, and it seemed a shame that he’d miss it for more of the same.

Jamie, however, waved his hand dismissively. “Nah, mate, it’s fine.”

He looked like he meant it, too. There was a frown on his face, sure, but as far as Colin could tell it spoke more of mild annoyance than actual upset or worry.

“But forgetting your phone was a simple mistake, and it is not your fault you were late. It’s not right that Coach should keep punishing you for it.” Sam, who had declined FIFA in favour of being a responsible restaurant owner (“and bad fucking flirt, it’s been almost a year mate, why haven’t you asked her out yet?”), had walked over from his locker and was eyeing Jamie with customarily earnest concern.

Jamie just shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, and off their worried stares added, “He’s not going to do anything bad or anything. It’s just, I fucking scared him, right, and he’s being a twat about it ‘cause he’s an idiot who doesn’t know how to have feelings properly and he’s only been in therapy for like three months and it’ll probably take a year for anything Dr. Sharon says to go through his big stupid head, yeah? That’s all.”

Which. Okay. Colin could see how the prospect of Jamie actually dying might scare even Roy, but on the other hand… it was Roy. Roy Kent. And besides—

“I don’t know, man, he didn’t seem scared,” Jeff ventured.

“No, amigo, he seemed like he wanted to rip your head off,” Dani helpfully filled in. “And maybe use it as a football.”

“Yeah, because he’s a twat,” Jamie said. “But it’ll be fine, I promise. Probably just wants to make me dinner or something.”

Colin blinked. That… was a leap. Even by Jamie’s particular kind of logic, that was definitively a leap.

“He’s right.” Oh, so now Isaac decided to speak up. “Roy’s not mad at Jamie, he’s mad because he was frightened.”

Jamie raised his eyebrows meaningfully and pointed at their captain. “Yeah, that. So don’t worry.” Adjusting his cap he shot Colin a cheeky wink. “Whoever plays me better score a fuckton of goals tonight, yeah? See you tomorrow, lads.”

And he was out the door, fucking humming as he went. Doing that Jamie Tartt thing of untouchable and unshakeable confidence and you think you can get to me? Nothing ever gets to me and even now that Colin knew Jamie wasn’t quite as invulnerable as all that, some of the old awe and jealousy stirred, mixed with concerned incredulity.

“Is it just me,” he asked after a protracted moment, “or are those two getting even weirder?”

“It’s not just you,” Jeff muttered.

“Don’t worry, my friend,” Dani promised brightly, “I will play Richmond tonight and score a fuckton of goals and I will crush you for the sake of our amigo Jamie.”

Colin sighed. “Fantastic.”

At least he’d have the comfort of knowing that getting trashed by Dani Rojas was still far, far better than whatever cruel and unusual punishment Roy had planned for Jamie.

---

Jamie leaned back against Roy’s surprisingly comfortable couch and let out a small sigh of contentment. He wondered whether he ought to be still annoyed with Roy for being a massive wanker or pleased with himself for how utterly he’d called this. He settled for alternating between the two; he was complex like that. People didn’t know it, but he had depths.

Roy hadn’t tried to make him run a marathon or do a million burpees or whatever Colin and the rest had imagined. He hadn’t yelled. Hadn’t said much at all, really, since Jamie stepped through the front door without knocking; mostly he’d glared and grunted and used those funny little head jerks to communicate that Jamie should sit down and be quiet and drink the water Roy put in front of him.

Jamie had sat down and drunk the water. He had not been quiet. He’d watched the Spurs game on the telly last night and he had opinions relevant to their upcoming match against them, which by rights should interest the gaffer and if it didn’t, too fucking bad.

Roy hadn’t told him to shut up.

Instead, he’d made them dinner (fucking called it), a nutritionist approved salmon pasta with saffron and fennel that Jamie was particularly fond of, and then sent Jamie off to the couch while he did the washing up. He hadn’t said a word about Jamie’s choice of entertainment either, when he appeared a little while later with two steaming cups of tea and found the telly turned on to an old episode of Doctor Who. The show had been a staple of Jamie’s early teens and remained a nostalgic comfort; just a bit of silly fun, really, and so naturally something Roy fucking loathed, sad old fuck that he was.

Normally even the suggestion of watching it (or anything else even halfway interesting) would have been met with foul-mouthed refusal and something about Roy’s house, Roy’s rules, but tonight Roy just put the tea down wordlessly and sat down next to Jamie, as on the screen Martha, Jack and the Tenth Doctor (fittest of them all, although Jamie had a soft spot for Eleven) narrowly escaped an exploding flat.

Jamie smiled to himself. For all Roy was utter shit at saying stuff, he could be fucking transparent at times.

It had been dead obvious when Roy’s anger finally and fully faded, and guilt started trickling in to fill the void. It was right there in the way Roy went all the way quiet and started shooting him little looks out of the corner of his eye when he thought Jamie wouldn’t notice throughout dinner; there in the way he sat down far closer to Jamie than he normally would on the couch now, their legs all but touching.

It was as blatant an invitation as you could ever expect from Roy Kent, and tempting, but Jamie stubbornly held himself to himself, upright and with his arms crossed over his chest. Roy had been a right proper arsehole today and he hadn’t even said sorry so if he wanted a cuddle he could fucking ask for one, or he could wait until Jamie felt inclined to indulge him.

Eventually, though, after what Jamie deemed an appropriate amount of time (which may or may not have amounted to two whole minutes), he relented and allowed himself to lean against Roy, casual like, and tipping his head to rest Roy’s shoulder.

He smirked at how Roy not only failed to ask what the fuck he thought he was doing but also was very quick to put a tentative arm around his shoulders, the grip growing firmer when Jamie didn’t shrug him off or ask him what the fuck he thought he was doing.

For a while there was only that; the warmth of Roy’s body pressed into his; the sounds of the television. I love it when you say my name, the Master declared.

“I’m sorry about today,” Roy said suddenly. The words came haltingly, reluctantly. Still, he pressed on. “I … fucking overreacted.”

Jamie snorted. “Little bit, yeah.” Then he added, not bothering to conceal his smugness, “All the lads think you were dead mean to me.”

He glanced up at Roy who was determinedly staring at the telly while his eyebrows were doing something complicated and seemingly painful. “I think that… maybe… I got a bit… fucking worried, when we thought you’d been in that car crash.”

He offered like it was some great admission, a grand fucking reveal, and Jamie rolled his eyes. “Uh, yeah, mate, I know.”

Roy’s eyes snapped to his face at that, all disbelieving like, so Jamie rolled his eyes again, even harder. “Come on, man. Pretty obvious, that.”

For a long moment, Roy didn’t respond. He looked away from Jamie again. Then finally, “It wasn’t obvious to me.”

And the thing was, Roy sounded so fucking unhappy about it that Jamie clamped his mouth shut around a reflexive no, but you’re an idiot.

“Maybe something for Dr. Sharon, yeah,” he suggested instead, noting with some satisfaction that he was being really mature about all of this.

He’d have liked pointing that out to Roy, too, but had a feeling that maybe that would take away from the maturity a little. He’d mention it to Keeley later instead.

“Yeah,” Roy said after a moment of looking like he’d rather let Isaac kick a football straight at his head. “I’ll talk to her.”

“And maybe fucking apologize to my teammates for delaying training,” Jamie added innocently, feeling a smirk tug at his lips and then blossom into a full-fledged grin when Roy pulled back a little to stare at him, seemingly trying to gauge whether he was serious or not.

“You’re a prick,” Roy said eventually, relaxing again and sounding right fond about it.

“Mmmhm,” Jamie agreed happily, pulling his feet up on the couch and curling up closer to Roy. It was nice, this. Worth all that, maybe. “And here you are, fucking glad I’m not dead and all.”

Roy sighed. His arm around Jamie’s shoulder was warm and solid.

“Yeah,” he said, quietly enough that they might both pretend it wasn’t meant for Jamie’s ears at all. “I am.” 

[upontherisers]

"They're all lying" for Mahalia pretty please?

a/n: nATE this is so late i am sorry. this sparked something in me and i'd say that this is the prologue for the dysfunction fic.

summary: john housesits for mahalia while she recovers at an army hospital in detroit. he visits everyday. cw for discussions of attempted suicide.

“They’re lying.”

“Really? They’re all lying?”

“Every one of ‘em,” Mahalia says, taking a drag of her cigarette before smashing it in the ashtray between them. “Fuckin’ white coats trying to see something that ain’t there.”

She whacks his hand with the back of hers and it feels like getting hit by a child. “Gimme another one.”

He tugs the pack out of his breast pocket but doesn’t pass it over, instead placing it out of her reach on the frosted glass tabletop.

“What happened?” he asks.

No answer. She tosses her curls out of her eyes before dragging her hands down her face and pulling at her skin. His stomach turns as he watches the sun catch on protruding knuckles and gaunt tendons; she looks worse than she did in the stalag, and he’s already apologized to the staff for his outburst on Monday, but he still has half a mind to go to the Air Force about this. Still has half a mind to take her home and do the rest himself. There’d been assurances when this started — the best care possible, they’d said — but he’s only gotten closer to losing her since he arrived. 

Wind rustles through the trees lining the yard. He’s not used to the sounds yet — trees, water, birds — but they’re stopped feeling foreign to his ears. That’s a start.

We’re gonna get through this, come on. Don’t you stop believing that.

“How’s your leg?”

“Broke,” she snorts, and he feels bad so he finally hands her a smoke and his match book. Does she know she still hunches against the cold air when she lights up? Uses the small flame to warm her face and her hands for a moment before she shakes it out, winking with an indulgent grin. “Sure’d be nice to have this in bed. Where’s your lighter?”

“Germany. The girl next to ya’s got half a lung.”

“No one asked her to hop on a grenade. They let ‘em smoke in the loony ward, you know that? But all of us sound mind folks have to slum it out here ‘cause of Sergeant Silver Star.”

“Sound mind?” He has her talking now, might as well try.

She props an elbow on the arm of her wheelchair and taps, ash spilling onto her robe. Doesn’t acknowledge the ashtray when he pushes it toward her, just stares over the water and half-smiles, distant, flagellatory. “I’m righter than rain.”

“What’s the bandage from?” he asks, taking back his smokes. He needs something to do with his hands.

Her wrist turns slowly as she examines the white gauze wrapping up her forearm with critical interest, as if she’s only now noticed the wound. She sniffs. “Alex didn’t ask so many questions.”

Funny, since Alex is the reason he’s here in the first place. “You didn’t give him the chance.” 

“I did, he lost it,” she says, scowling at a pair of birds taking flight from the riverbank. “He marched up in here talkin’ ‘bout ‘healing’—” Her disdain is so palpable he can taste it next to his cigarette. “—Talkin’ ‘bout ‘guilt’ and ‘conscious.’ Talkin’ ‘bout talkin’ ‘bout it, like talkin’ ‘bout it will fix my leg, like that fuckin’ shrink gives a damn about me.”

She banned me from seeing her, Alex wrote. She’s got no one to take her once she’s discharged. The psychiatrist is worried she’ll try something again. Come down for a week, see if she’ll let you in.

Again? John wrote back along with the number for the boarding house in Green Bay, and Alex called three days later with that question that made him sick. Oh, no one’s told you?

No, no one’s told him. No one’s told him about anything — not Alex, certainly not her, not even Dr. Kaminski, the nervous little man John had cornered after he arrived to Mahalia’s empty bed and a nurse wiping up a pool of blood without a single person informing him of an incident as he was on his way up.

Major, I would prefer to save such a discussion for next-of-kin—

That’s me.

The doctor dipped the left temple of his eyeglasses and mopped at his forehead with a white handkerchief. Shell shock can manifest in bouts of passion, anger—

Passion? he asked not as a question, but so that the good doctor could hear his own words. The wood floor had already stained russet as the nurse ran a cloth over it, the smell of iron in his nose sending white-hot terror down his spine. Mahalia doesn’t do passion.

Kaminski sighs. I understand that Ms. Summerton—

Lieutenant.

I’m sorry?

Lieutenant, John repeats and it feels like he’s back in the stalag when her cough started and he knew it was something and no one would fucking listen until it landed her here. Backs against the wall, just them against the world, and he her protector. You don’t know her, not like I do. Lieutenant Summerton.

Yes, yes, of course, Kaminski said, waving a hand with all the ivory tower confidence of a man who’d seen John’s intensity and stature and decided he’s brawn over brain, another Major Meathead.

That’s when he resolved to break her out of here. They’ve let this happen twice on their watch in four weeks and he made it ten months, through pain so bad it made her sick and cold that you wouldn’t wish on the Devil, without losing her once. Later, sitting next to her bed while she slept in the neurological ward, he started planning his move from her parents’ bedroom to the couch so she can have the bed and the sunrise through the window in the morning, started calculating how to downsize to the top cabinet in the kitchen so she won’t know he’s back on the bottle. He’ll cook something she’ll finally eat and he doesn’t scream in his nightmares — not as far as he knows — so she’ll get a full night’s sleep, and he’ll help her stretch and drive her to the doctor’s and heal.

The birds land on a birch branch nearby, beautiful dark chests blending into the dappled shade from the canopy above. Her eyes go orange in the sunlight, like the dark center of an acorn, like sweet potato, as she follows them upward. 

“Those are black terns,” he says.

A laugh bubbles from her throat, more surprise than amusement, and he sniffs, tossing his head with a shrug. “My mother likes birdwatching.”

It comes out as more of a mumble than he meant it to, unable to raise his eyes above his lap, but is the best he can do. Tit for tat. 

Her lips part and he braces for impact — she can’t see his throat exposed without lunging for it — but the terns start singing, shrill and rhythmic, an alarm blaring. Smoke turns to ash in his mouth when he sees her eyes blow wide. The Red Tails were the defense part of the Allied Air Defense; he got gently shaken awake and coffee before his flights, she got sirens and no time to pray, and now she’s locked onto the branch, chest heaving, knuckles turning white as she grips the arms of her wheelchair. Prepared to fly.

A beat passes, then another, then a whole cigarette in silence. The birds keep crying and her head turns unconsciously toward the wind chimes sounding from the patio like a dog hearing a high whistle. 

Eventually, her shoulders drop from their hunch and she smooths over her robe with mechanical precision. “My mother liked gardening.”

“Yeah?”

She nods. “Yeah.”

They lapse into quiet again, but he doesn’t feel settled. There’s a buzz hanging in the air, a trickle through a crack in a dam, a page turning — it’s unlike her to not pick up after herself, but he finds that she leaves the words with him more and more. The ball in his court, the door unlocked behind her exit.

He steps through after her. “I saw some tools in the shed.”

“You can toss those. The same rusty ones she’s been using forever. Couldn’t get a nickel for ‘em if you tried to sell.” 

And to think he’d forgotten what it feels like to sit next to her — the hot prickle on every inch of his skin and the peace in his bones like he’s finally in the ground, as if his heart’s walked out his chest to stand right in front of him. Like a reflection, like the back of his hand, like eighteen months of stalemates on Hambone’s busted chessboard. Gale calls it Newton’s Third Law, and perhaps that’s why John can feel the pain behind her eyes like he’s the one seeing through them. The defective parts in him are the same in her, mirrored each time he tries to pull her closer and she pushes him away.

He’ll keep trailing her footsteps because this war taught him that there are three things he can’t quit: drinking, hope, and her. And as these bright June days march into July, she’s unfolded as much as she dares — still angry, still stubborn and haughty and righteous — but unfolded nonetheless, giving him hope.

“It doesn’t hurt to have them,” he says.

You gotta meet me somewhere. A quarter of the way, an eighth, even — I see your sister’s pictures on the walls and no one tells me a goddamn thing. Meet me somewhere.

“I suppose,” she replies. And that’s a start. She doesn’t yell at him, doesn’t tell him to get out, doesn’t roll off on her own and leave him with only himself and the terns. She instead picks at her robe while the breeze turns cool in the early evening. “I — Don’t—“

“Excuse me, sir.” A nurse approaches, hands twisting nervously, eyes flitting between him and Mahalia. “Visitation will end in an hour for patient dinner.”

He nods at her, pops a soothing smile. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Lieutenant Summerton.” She departs with a dip of her head.

“Did I yell at her?”

“I did,” Mahalia sighs, “and I got blood on her shoes.”

His heart seizes to the point that he’s speechless, but he can’t sit in it or she’ll back out. “How’d that happen?”

For a moment, he thinks he’s too late as she pulls her good leg to her chest and rests her arm on her knee, her chin tucking into the crook of her elbow. She doesn’t say anything until the birds sing again.

“Don’t tell Alex,” she murmurs. “Or Vera and Benny, or — or Brady, or—”

“Or Gale?”

She exhales and her entire body sinks. It’s easy to lie to Gale — to counter, contradict — because he doesn’t believe you. But omission is another thing. That’s when the guilt comes in; Gale knows when you’re telling the truth, he just doesn’t know that something’s missing. And you get that small, easy smile like he’s proud of you for your candor knowing you usually dodge, and he’s none the wiser.

“Not Gale.”

“He’s worried about you.”

“He’ll get over it.”

“He wants to visit.”

“Great, he should bring Marge.”

A low blow, but that’s how she gets when she’s cornered and how she prefers to do her fighting. She and Alex still won’t talk about what happened on the day they went down; trapped animals will do whatever necessary to be free. Whatever necessary.

“You wanna get outta here?” he asks, squinting at the sunlight circling her head in a corona. 

She turns to him, a saint. “I thought you’d never ask.”

It’s humorless and bitter and she lights a smoke like it’s February in Germany, but it’s not a no, and he’s instantly dreaming — hope again, fucking hope — of watching her shamble into the kitchen in the mornings and sitting barefoot on the porch stairs with coffee as they watch the streetlights come on. There’s life, Mahalia, it’s everywhere. I’ll show you.

“They can discharge you tomorrow.”

Her frown loosens and her brows furrow like they’re of two different minds. “But — how — but you’re working.”

He shrugs. “A man’s gotta make a living.”

“And you trust me? Alone in the house by myself?”

If she wants him to flinch first, she’s going to have to come out with it. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I — I just figured, y’know…”

“What?”

She shrugs, all nonchalance falling flat over the avian thinness in her shoulders, and stares at a passing nurse. “I just figured you learned your lesson the first time.”

Ah, the first time. He was determined to get himself killed the first time, losing her and Gale within hours of each other. But he lived, didn’t he? And she lived and Gale lived, and that makes him want to stay right in it as long as he can. She his mirror wants to run before it burns her. They’ll meet in the middle.

Her cigarette burns down to her fingers and she turns to the ashtray. Stamp, stamp, stamp. She checks her watch before gesturing for his pack. “Gimme another one.”

He slides it over and takes in the sunset, by her side until they kick him out.

[hopefulromances]

Long Time Coming I Chapter Two I Tell Me About You

Summary: Being hired as the first female assistant coach in the league was a challenge of it itself. Being a football protigy and University Football Legend was easy enough. Coaching Jamie Tartt was a challenge all on its own.

Word Count: 2481

Warning: I have literally no clue how football works. Enemies to lovers. First Person. Minimal Y/N.

A/N: LMAO I LOVE THIS GIF One of my favorite chapters! Hope y'all are enjoying!

Prologue One

Nearing a year later, I was outside the club, again, in the early morning. After being regulated at the end of last season, I had blamed myself. Ted assured me that it wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Just bad luck. But I took it as a chance to do better. To be better.

But recently I’ve been having a mental blockage. I couldn’t picture myself playing the game anymore. I was struggling to coach and to train on my own. I know they hadn’t said anything, but I could tell the other coaches had noticed. With Nate being promoted I was worried that I was going to be let go or replaced. It didn’t go unnoticed to me that I was having the same insecurity that Jamie had been feeling before he left.

But still, here I was looking down the field trying to shove all those feelings of fear and insecurity aside so I could just train. I took a breath and closed my eyes, slowing my heart so I could focus on the game. With a deep intake of crisp morning air, I pulled back my foot and-

            “’Morning (Y/N)!”

I whiffed my foot right over the ball and stumbled a few feet before whipping around to see who caused the distraction.

            “Oh, good morning, Ted,” I sighed. There was no way I could be cross with him. I kicked the ball up into my hands.

            “Sorry, I didn’t interrupt you, did I?” Ted apologized as he approached.

            “No, no. I was just finishing up,” I conceded. I spun the ball in my hands wishing I could feel the same magnetism to it I had when I started the job.

Ted took a long look at me before speaking again. “Ya know… when I was little, I had this puzzle. I loved this puzzle more than anything. I would take it apart and put it together over and over, excited to see the same photo every time I put it together.  But one day, when I put it together, it felt off. Different. I tried everything to get that feeling back. The excitement to see that photo again. But eventually, I realized I had outgrown that puzzle. That it was time to move on.”

My stomach dropped. This was it, this was the moment he was going to tell me I was being let go.

            “Are you firing me, Ted?” I asked, my voice shaky with fear.

            “What? Oh, good heavens no!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. “Oh my god. You scared me. I thought that was what you were saying. With the whole puzzle metaphor.”

            “Yeah, I can see how you would think that, but most certainly not.” He chuckled and made a dramatic sweat wiping motion with his hand.

After our laughter died down a moment, I twisted the ball in my hands again before looking at him to continue. “What were you trying to say then?

            “I’m just saying that sometimes it time to try a new challenge,” he paused. “I wanted to get your thoughts on bringing Jamie back.”

My eyes widened in surprise. As far as I knew, Jamie wasn’t even an option. He had quite a fall from grace after he left Man City and had his brief stint on ‘Lust Conquers All’. Sam and Isaac had hosted quite a few watch parties to watch his floundering attempt at finding love on the dating show. As expected, he was kicked off early in the game after double crossing one of the girls on the show. It was fun to watch, especially after what he had said about me in the press.

Yesterday, Sam had come to me, showing me a photo of Ted and Jamie together. He was nervous about Jamie coming back, scared of how he might ruin the good vibes that the team had now with Ted in charge. But Ted had assured us both that Jamie was not coming back. He had told Jamie no. I couldn’t lie and say that brining back Jamie wouldn’t have its pluses. The boy was talented and that’s a fact. But was that talent enough to outweigh the team dynamic.

            “Jamie?” I echoed. “I thought you said that you had told him no.”

Ted shrugged sliding, his hands in his pockets. “I did. But it’s been nagging me anyways. He’s going through a tough spot right now.”

            “Oh, really, he’s going through a ‘tough spot’?” I couldn’t help but laugh.

            “I know, I know, but there is something different about him, I swear.” Ted continued. “It takes a lot for a guy like that to come asking for help. And I’m thinking he might deserve another chance.”

I skewed my lips to the side in thought. “Jamie is… talented. But you saw Sam. He wasn’t just angry he was scared. Scared of how Jamie would treat him when he came back. It’s not about talent. It’s about… personality.”

            “So, you think it’s a bad idea,” he clarified.

Is that what I was saying? The truth was bringing Jamie back could be just what we need to push forward in the league. Get out of the tie streak and start getting back to promotion. That, or we could be stuck in the Championship League forever. And I would be known as the coach that ruined AFC Richmond. But how could I know that if we didn’t try. Something had to change. I couldn’t just keep putting together the same puzzle, hoping it would excite me every time.

            “No, I don’t,” I decided, looking at Ted. “I think we just need to be careful.”

Ted sent me a dazzling smile. “Good, cause I’m putting you on Jamie duty.”

            “Jamie duty?”

            “Yeah, cause he’s coming back today!”

            “Today- TED!”

That’s how I got stuck waiting for Jamie in the locker room. Ted thought it would be a good idea to start him slow. Get the team used to him being back, make him earn his spot.  I leaned against the doorframe, waiting for him to finish changing. Out he came, bouncing from foot to foot, punching the air occasionally.

            “’Morning! Ready for a great day of trainin’” He exclaimed, seemingly unable to stop bouncing.

I didn’t react, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. “Alright then, let’s go.”

I pushed myself off the wall and headed towards the pitch. But as I walked past him, he grabbed my arm and turned me around to face him.

            “Wait, before we go, I just wanted to tell you that I’m different now, yeah? I’m not a prick, like I was,” he told me sincerely.

I glanced between him and where his hand touched my arm. For some stupid, idiotic, unbelievable reason, it made my heart skip a beat. His eyes looked so desperate for me to hear him. I pursed my lips and gave him a sympathetic, albeit somewhat sarcastic smile.

            “Sure, Jamie, whatever you say.” I gave him a pat on his hand, signaling for him to let go. He withdrew his hand, looking for something more from me. A sign that I had forgiven him for everything. I rolled my eyes at him. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Practice was a mess to say the least. All the lads seemed determined to bring Jamie down as far as they could. Ted told me it was my job to make sure Jamie felt comfortable coming back to practice, but it was really hard when watching Colin and Sam take their revenge was just a little too sweet.

            “Hey (Y/N), why don’t you stick around a bit after practice, give Jamie some one-on-one training to get him back into the sense of what we’re doing around here,” Ted suggested after watching Jamie flub yet another pass.

            “You want me to what?!” I blurted out before I had a chance to think.

            “Yeah! Just give him the run around. Ya’ know, literally!” He smiled at me, like it was the most amazing idea in the world. “Give you a chance to catch up on that personal training you missed this morning.” 

Ted was about to be ded. As in dead. This whole Jamie thing was HIS idea and yet here he was shoving it on me! He’s a shover.

            “Ooooh she’s looking at you with her angry eyes,” Beard cautioned, lowering his sunglasses.

            “That’s actually quite scary,” Nate chimed in.

            “Ted, I swear to god, I better not be your new puzzle,” I sneered at him.

            “New puzzle?” Nate questioned, turning to Beard.

            “Oh, the puzzle metaphor…” Beard whistled lowly. “He’s really trying something out.”

            “You know the puzzle metaphor?” I accused, narrowing my eyes at him.

            “Oh, yeah I know the puzzle metaphor.”

 “Woo, I love the puzzle metaphor, let’s get these kids in the showers!” Ted finally joined in. With that he walked forward, blowing his whistle to signify the end of training.

Then it was Jamie and me. I kicked the ball onto the field. Jamie, somehow, was still bouncing with energy.  

            “Did you see how they was treating me, (Y/N)?” he said, kicking the grass. “I’m trying me best here.”

I passed him the ball. “Score a goal.”

He backed up and readied himself. “I mean, I said I was sorry.”

With that he moved forward and kicked the ball, sending it flying on a beautiful arc to swish into the goal. I rolled him another ball.

            “Yes, you did,” I agreed, rolling him another ball. “Take 5 steps back and score again.”

He did as I instructed, stepping back to score again. “I just don’t know what else they want from meh.”

He moved forward and scored again. This time, however, the ball moved further to the left. Still in the goal, but drifting. I eyed where the ball landed. I rolled him another ball.

            “Another 5 steps,” I instructed. “Are you being serious right now?”

He took another five steps back before jogging forward and hitting another swish of a goal. This time it was even further to the left. “Yeah, I’m being serious. I’m still new at this whole nice thing.”

            “Go get the balls,” I told him. “So, you really just thought you would come back and say you’re sorry and everything would go back to the way it was?”

He jogged back with the balls. He kicked one towards me. “I mean… yeah?”

I studied the ball on the ground. Then I took three steps back, dragging my feet back as I did. Then I jaunted forward and kicked the ball, it flew through the air and swished into the center of the goal. Jamie starred at the ball.

            “You’re trying too hard, Jamie,” I explained to him. “Things aren’t going to go back to the way they were. And it shouldn’t.” I kicked a ball towards him. “You were a prick.”

He stops the ball. “What do you mean.”

            “Score a goal from there,” I told him. “I mean… do you actually know what you’re apologizing for?”

Jamie took a breath before sending the ball flying. “I mean, yeah. I was a dick. I said shitty things. I did shitty things.”

            “Do you know why I’m mad at you?” I asked him. I placed the ball on the ground and took a few steps back, dragging my feet again. The ball flew through the air and landed in the middle of the net again. Jamie looked between the ball and me.

            “How many times do I have to say that I was a prick,” he whined.

            “Go get the balls,” I shooed. “And always, you always have to say you were a prick.” He began jogging towards the goal. “And, you were a prick, but do you know why you should be sorry.”

The kicked the balls back in my direction. He furrowed his brows, thinking hard about it. I rolled my eyes at him while kicking the ball back, at nearly the halfway point of the field it was a long goal. I took a deep breath, taking three dragging steps backwards, then one step to the side.

            “You aren’t actually going to- “

I didn’t listen. I could see it. I visualized the ball and the opponents. I could see the clock ticking down as I set my feet in motion. Like slow motion, I kicked the ball and watched as it went soaring until it landed in the goal with a satisfying noise. I smirked.

            “Holy shit,” Jamie gapped. “That was like… really impressive.”

            “Jamie, I know. I’m fucking good at this. And I am the first female coach in the league. And every day I woke up with a million reasons why I shouldn’t have my job or come to work. I convinced myself every day that it would be worth it. And every day I you came up with another 20 reasons why I shouldn’t be here.” I kicked a ball up into my hands. “And you made sure to let me know that you thought you were better than me. Think about that.” I pressed the ball into his hands. “Score a goal.”

He took the ball from my hands and dropped it on the ground. He took a step backwards before kicking the ball. He missed, but just barely.

            “You need to plan where you hit the ball. The further back you go the further harder it is to get it in the goal,” I explained. He scoffed at me. “It becomes more important to really know where your boot hits the ball.” I placed the last ball on the ground and motioned for him to come stand next to me. “If you drag your feet, it gives your legs muscle memory. You’re more likely to get the ball where you want it to go.” He looked at me skeptically. I moved my hand in a swooping motion, presenting the ball to him. “Well, I’m not going to wait all day.”

He looked at the ball, then down to the goal. He mimicked my movement, backing up three steps with his feet dragging on the grass then one step over. Then he moved forward and kicked the ball. Swish. The middle of the goal.

            “Damn,” he sighed. I came up next to Jamie and stared at where the ball sat in the goal.

            “You made me feel like I didn’t deserve to be here. And that’s what I can’t forgive you for,” I stated, not looking at him. I could feel him turn to look at me, but I shook my head, feeling tears spring into my eyes. “Pick up the balls and go get showered.” With that I spun on my heel and walked inside, Jamie’s eyes burning on the back of my head.

[matttgirlies]

Matt & Me🎀

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

a story heavily based on Priscilla Presley’s Book “Elvis & Me” based in the 1950’s - 1970’s.

fem! reader x singer! matt

disclaimer!! - in no way am i saying matt would ever support or do these kind of things, for the sake of the book certain unethical things do happen at times.

warnings - none i dont think

y/nn = your nickname for anyone confused🩷

Chapter 4

It was already Christmas 1959, and I had no idea what to get Matt. I walked through the crowded streets of Wiesbaden, windowshopping, trying to get ideas. Picking out gifts for the family had always been easy, since we always knew exactly what was wanted or needed; in fact, we often made our gifts for one another. On this occasion my father gave me thirty-five dollars to spend on Matt, and it seemed a vast amount to me when I set out on this freezing cold day. I was slapped with the reality when I noticed a beautiful hand-made cigar box with porcelain outlining and a decorative design. Matt, a cigar smoker, would have loved it. But after the shopkeeper told me the price, 650 Deutsche marks or $155, all I walked out with was my expensive taste.

It was snowing heavily and I hurried into another shop, this one full of bright toys, including a solidly built toy German train that I could imagine Matt instantly setting up in his living room. But the train cost 2,000 Deutsche marks.

Heading home in the dark, on the verge of tears, I spotted a music store, where a pair of bongo drums inlaid with gleaming brass were displayed in the window. They were forty dollars, but the clerk took mercy on me and sold them for thirty-five. As I headed home I was beset by a thousand doubts, convinced that the drums were the least romantic of gifts.

I must have asked Nate Doe and David Jones twenty times if they thought the drums were appropriate. “Oh sure,” Nate said. “Anything you give him, he’ll like.” I still wasn’t convinced.

On the night we exchanged gifts, Matt emerged from his dad’s room and drew me to one corner of the living room, where he handed me a small wrapped box, in it, a delicate gold watch with a diamond set on the lid and a ring with a pearl bracketed by two diamonds.

I had never owned anything so beautiful, nor had any smile ever warmed me as Matt’s did then. “I’ll cherish these forever,” I told him, and he made me put them on right away and took me around to show everyone.

I waited as long as possible to give Matt my present. Laughing, he said, “Bongos! Just what I always wanted!” Matt could see that I didn’t believe him; he was better at giving than receiving. “Charlie,” he persisted, “didn’t I need some bongos?”

Motioning for me to sit next to him at the piano, he started playing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” with such emotion that I couldn’t look up for fear he’d see I was crying. When at last I couldn’t resist meeting his eyes, I saw that he too was holding back tears.

It was not until many days later that I discovered a whole closet full of bongo drums, mine not included, in the basement. The fact that my white elephants had not been throw into the closet but instead were prominently displayed beside his guitar made me love him all the more.

As the days passed I began to dread the day of Matt’s departure. By January he was already packing, and each night I spent with him became more precious than the one before.

Then, just as the weather turned freezing cold, Matt was sent out on field maneuvers for ten days, and if there was anything Matt hated, it was having to sleep outside on the frozen ground.

The morning after he left, it began to snow and by afternoon it was a blizzard. As Michelle and I were driving home from school with my mother, I turned on the radio, just in time to hear a late-breaking news bulletin.

“Sorry to interrupt, folks, but it was just reported that Corporal Matt Sturniolo has been rushed from field maneuvers to a hospital in Frankfurt, suffering from an acute attack of tonsillitis. Matt, if you’re listening, we all hope you get well real soon.”

Frantic with worry, I called the hospital, hoping to learn more about his condition. To my surprise, when the operator heard my name she put me right through, saying Corporal Sturniolo had left word to do so if I called.

“I’m a sick man, Little One,” Matt rasped. “I need you by my side. If it’s okay with your folks, I’ll send David for you right now.”

Of course my parents gave me permission to go to the hospital, and an hour later I entered his room, just as the nurse was leaving. Matt was propped up in bed with a thermometer in his mouth, surrounded by dozens of floral arrangements.

The moment the nurse was gone, Matt took the thermometer out of his mouth, lit a match, and carefully held it under the thermometer. Then he stuck the thermometer back in his mouth and slumped down on the bed just as the door opened and the nurse returned, carrying in even more flowers.

Smiling warmly to her famous patient, she took the thermometer out of Matt’s mouth, looked at it, and gasped, “A hundred and three. Why, Matt, you’re really sick. I’m afraid you’ll have to stay here at least a week.”

Matt nodded mutely as the nurse fluffed up his pillows, filled his water glass, and left the room. Then he burst out laughing, jumped out of bed, and took me in his arms.

He despised maneuvers, and since the weather was so bad and everyone was so worried about his voice, his answer was tonsillitis. Already susceptible to catching colds, Matt learned to dramatize his sickness with a little flick of a match.

It was March 1, 1960, the night before Matt was to leave Germany to return to the States.

We were lying on his bed, our arms around each other. I was in a state of complete despair.

“Oh, Matt,” I said, “I just wish there were some way you could take me with you. I can’t stand the thought of life without you. I love you so much.”

I began sobbing, my anguish overcoming my control.

“Shhh, Baby,” Matt whispered. “Try to calm down. There’s nothing we can do.”

“I’m just afraid you’ll forget me the moment you land,” I cried.

He smiled and kissed me gently. “I’m not going to forget you, y/nn. I’ve never felt this way about another girl. I love you.”

“You do?” I was stunned. Matt had said that I was special before, but he’d never said that he loved me. I wanted so badly to believe him, but I was frightened of getting hurt. I’d read some of Nicole’s letters, and I was sure Matt was on his way back to her open arms.

Holding me close, he said, “I’m torn with the feelings I have for you. I don’t know what to do. Maybe being away will help me understand what I really feel.”

That night our lovemaking took on a new urgency. Would I ever see him again, be in his arms the way I had been nearly every night for the past six months? I missed him already. I could not bear the thought of the night ending and our saying goodbye for what I thought would be the last time. I wept and wept until my body ached with pain.

For the last time I begged him to finally have sex with me. It would have been so easy for him. I was young, vulnerable, desperately in love, and he could have taken complete advantage of me. But he quietly said, “No. Someday we will, y/n, but not now. You’re just too young.”

I lay awake all that night and early the next morning I was back at 18 Hauptstrasse, lost in the midst of a large group of people milling about the living room. They were waiting to say goodbye to Matt, who was upstairs finishing his last-minute packing. Knowing that I alone would be accompanying him to the airport gave me little comfort.

When Matt came downstairs, he laughed and joked with everyone there. Finally, after saying his last goodbye, Matt turned to me. “Okay, Little One, it’s time to go.”

I nodded glumly and followed him out the door. Oblivious to the drizzling rain, hundreds of fans were waiting outside. When they saw Matt they went crazy, begging him to sign autographs. When he finished he jumped into the waiting car and pulled me in behind him. As the door slammed, the driver accelerated and we sped toward the airport.

We rode for a long while in silence, both of us lost in thought. Matt was gazing out the window, frowning over the falling rain. “I know it’s not going to be easy for you to go back to being a schoolgirl again after being with me, y/nn, but you’ve got to. I don’t want you to be sitting around moping after I leave, Little One.”

I started to protest, but he silenced me. “Try to have a good time, write to me every chance you get. I’ll look forward to your letters. Get pink stationery. Address them to Nate. That way I’ll know they’re from you. I want you to promise me you’ll stay the way you are. Untouched, as I left you.”

“I will,” I promised.

“I’ll look for you from the top of the ramp. I don’t want to see a sad face. Give me a little smile. I’ll take that with me.”

Then, handing me his combat jacket and the sergeant’s stripes he’d recently been

awarded, he said, “I want you to have these. It shows you belong to me.” After that, he held me tight.

As we approached the airport, the cheers of the waiting crowds grew louder. We drove as close to the runway as possible, then Matt turned to me and said, “This is it, Baby.”

We got out as cameras flashed, reporters shouted, and screaming fans pressed toward us. Matt held my hand and walked across the runway apron until the guard, who was there to escort Matt to the plane, stopped me from going further.

Matt gave me a brief hug and whispered, “Don’t worry, I’ll call you when I get home, Baby, promise.”

I nodded, but before I could answer, we were pulled apart as the crowd rushed in. I was swept away by hundreds of fans, pushing and pulling, trying to get to him. I cried, “Matt!” but he never heard me.

He ran up the boarding steps. Then he turned and waved to the crowd, his eyes searching for me. I waved frantically, as did hundreds of other fans, yet he found me, and for one more brief moment, our eyes locked. Then he disappeared. Just like that.

My parents came to the airport to drive me back to Wiesbaden. During the long ride I was silent.

Excerpt from: "Elvis and Me" by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley. Scribd.

This material may be protected by copyright.

a/n - sad chapter 😪 (sorry its shorter than ones before)🎀

[blue-bujo]

Bowled Over (Roy Kent x Reader): Chapter Two

You work at a bowling alley and a young girl named Phoebe has a birthday party there. You catch her uncle's eye.

Roy Kent x female reader

Will try to update roughly every two weeks

Chapter Two: Being Better

Words: 1.2k

Warnings: Roy Kent-level language (you know what you're in for), discussion of mental health, past medical trauma

Author's note: A short one this time around, but I'm quite proud of it. They get longer after this. Enjoy getting a look inside Roy's head!

Roy Kent, the whistle-less manager of AFC Richmond, was done thinking about women. And he was happy being friends with Jamie Tartt, and he wasn’t at all hurt that Keeley Jones was now back into women after he was her last man. Doctor Fieldstone had helped him figure all that out, and she had pissed him off doing it. He respected her for that. Roy Kent told himself that he could handle being Just Roy.

So why was he still mad, a week later, that he had been Just Roy at Phoebe’s birthday party, and that fucking Just Roy had been distracted by an incredibly fit woman at the bowling alley? Why did it matter so much that her hand had brushed his?

The team had noticed that something was off. Beard, Nate, Higgins, and Will had even convened the Diamond Dogs to address it, but Roy had firmly shut it down. Only Jamie was close to figuring it out, bless him, and that was only because the little prick had been at the birthday party. He had the full context. Once he put the pieces together, Roy knew it was only a matter of time until he blabbed it to the other Greyhounds, so he had to get himself under control before then. If he had to be a bit more brutal in training to wear them out, then so be it.

After a particularly rough training in which Isaac was on the verge of attacking Roy, Beard pulled the manager aside.

“Whatever you have going on, Roy, you need to cut it out. Your opponent is the other team, not your team. These boys are about to break.”

Roy growled. If only Beard knew! But then he looked at the pitch, and his team being dejected all over it, and knew Beard was right.

Fuck.

“Oi! Circle up!”

The players did so slowly, cautiously. They looked at him like they were expecting him to blow up. He hated that.

“I’ve forgotten that this is a game that we’re supposed to play. For fun. That’s on me, and I took out my shit on you. That was… wrong of me, and I’m… sorry.”

“Is it shit we can help you with?” asked Dani Rojas, the only player who wasn’t quaking in his boots expecting Roy to snap. He was such a golden retriever, it was unbearable.

“You don’t know what’s going on in my life for a reason, and I’d like to keep my shit my shit,” said Roy, because he didn’t want to have a repeat of his team’s involvement in his relationship with Keeley. Not that the girl at Phoebe’s birthday party was even an option. He’d never see her again, and he didn’t care. “Just deal with your shit, and I’ll deal with mine, and I won’t get carried away at training again. Deal?”

All of the guys rumbled their agreement. They looked relieved, Roy noticed. Then he noticed Sam Obisanya’s hand up. “Yeah?”

“Coach, I think in this situation, we should all remember what Coach Lasso used to always say was the happiest animal.”

Joining in, Nate added, “Sam is right.”

With a roll of his eyes, Roy allowed the smallest of smiles “I will try to be a bloody goldfish. Now get out of here. We’ve got Brighton in two days, and I don’t need you lot dying on the pitch before then. The bus leaves tomorrow at half-ten. Dismissed.”

AFC Richmond all parted ways there, and Roy eventually found himself sitting on the sidelines alone. He enjoyed his life – of course he fucking did – but he was reminded of what he’d had before he’d started managing the club and trying to better himself. He’d had people. They hadn’t been perfect, but he’d had places to hang out other than his empty house. Now he was technically above them, and it would probably be inappropriate to hang out with his players.

Trying to be better made you feel like shit.

He had to go inside; sitting out here alone was too depressing. But he didn’t have to face the team if he stayed out here, and he didn’t have to go home to the empty house that was too big for him. At least here, he was on the pitch, even if he wasn’t playing.

Although, why did he have to keep from playing? Now would be the perfect time, with nobody out here but Will, who was cleaning up the drink station.

“Oi! Will!”

The young man looked up. “Yeah?”

“Bring me the fucking balls, will you?”

Grabbing the mesh bag full of training balls, the kitman jogged up to Roy and held it out uncertainly.

“Not a word to the boys,” growled Roy as he took the bag.

“No, not at all, Coach Kent,” Will promised, backing away.

Now left to his own devices, Roy dumped the bag at the penalty marker and nudged one of the balls into place. He hadn’t shot a penalty, or kicked a ball at all, in a long time. Even when he’d played, he hadn’t had many opportunities on goal as a wide midfielder.

He stretched quickly, then squared up at the box. After taking a breath to steady himself, he backed up three steps and charged.

The football flew up into the top right corner of the goal, ricocheting off of the side post with a clang. An ugly shot.

Roy repeated the process four more times, hammering the ball into the net. On the last show, he planted his leg a little too abruptly and felt his knee twinge painfully. Fuck. It hadn’t slipped out of position, but it was close. He’d have to ice it tonight, alone on his couch or in his bed. He hated that; being laid up with nobody to talk to and distract him. He’d have to start a book and hope it was good.

He packed up the balls, limping slightly as he brought them into the training facility and stowed them in the equipment room. It was a disorganized mess; someone had dumped some old things from the upstairs offices to store in there. His old standee was there, randomly, from his first season with Ted, his last as a player. The cardboard Roy Kent was only from a few years ago, but the real Roy had a hard time recognizing him. The cardboard Roy had been miserable. He’d been younger, yes, and he definitely looked it, but in addition to the general lack of aging on his face, he lacked the smile lines that had started to appear more noticeably around his eyes and nose.

Maybe he was better than he’d been then. He was older now, yes, and he had a shit knee, but he wasn’t as miserable.

“Dr. Fieldstone’s turned me soft,” he muttered. His knee hurt, and he was immediately turning to all of the work they’d done on the way he thought about himself rather than sulking about it. It was fucking annoying. He wanted to be mad. He was going home to stew about being old and alone with his fucked knee in his empty house, he decided.

But first, he hobbled out the long way, through the locker room and to his office, to place a hand on the sign. Because he had to Believe that things would be better eventually.

[droumack]

i love love love ur most recent fic. if you do decide to continue (which no pressure ofc) I predict there’ll be some angst bc nates still young & douchey & since they have to keep their relationship private he might just make Jo feel like a hookup. jo also gets self conscious bc he feels like Nate’s using him to understand his sexuality & since he’s the projected top draft pick “hot girls” keep throwing themselves at nate (ofc no ones more beautiful than Jo).

also I noticed in the fic nate said he wanted to “fuck” jo, not rlly be in a relationship & he didn’t express too many feelings. ofc emotionally stunted pre sports psychologist nate probs wouldn’t have been great at expressing feelings but I wonder if you left that a little vague on purpose…

also I notice a lot of players will have girlfriends at the draft (& then will break up just a few months later). but maybe nate feels pressured to have a girlfriend as the draft comes up which only hurts Jo more. thinking of sweet baby nerd Jo being heartbroken actually makes me want to cry I never want to see him hurt ever hes too precious.

a heartbroken jo who already struggles with anxiety & his self esteem with an emotionally stunted nate whose still dealing with his anger results in a fight where Nate says some things he regrets & they break it off. also the part where nate gets a hat trick when jo comes to the game vs no points when Jo isn’t there so maybe jo feels like nate never even liked him & was just using him as one of his strange hockey superstitions. that combined with his low self esteem & internalized homophobia I just… (I’m not very articulate thus why I don’t write but yk, Jo’s not doing well).

maybe right after Jo’s distraught but he eventually takes the time to heal & Nate is “fine” at first but then after the high of the draft & immediately starting in the nhl as a rookie he rlly starts to process the break up & realizes he was in love with jo & misses him BAD. maybe he to stalk Jo on instagram & he’s now in his freshman yr at college & he’s had a bit of a “glow up” (still adorable nerd Jo but yk) & there are tagged pictures of him with other guys who are pretty touchy and look VERY interested. ofc pre sports psychologist angry Nate spirals a bit & has to hold himself back from flying to Jo’s college town & murdering any guy who looks at him.

nate & jo do end up together again but only AFTER jo makes nate work for it for a long time. also jo’s still navigating his low self worth when Nate first tries to get back with him & there’s a break Nate’s heart when he says something like “every time I look at you I feel worthless.”

also I do love the idea of Nate helping jo pay tuition (esp bc he wants to go to college in the US & as a senior in college rn ts is so expensive😭). maybe he does it secretly. like jo is on one of those “special” scholarships (like the fancy ones with a name for students who most exemplify certain qualities, idk im just on financial aid) but then an anonymous donor has added like $10k more for the next 5 yrs. Also 5 yrs so the school doesn’t get suspicious ab why this donation is only for Jos years there.

ok wait I just realized how much I wrote and you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT have to write this I promise this isn’t like a request ur recent fic just inspired me so much. sorry if this all nonsensical I’m not the best writer😭 you can literally just leave this in ur inbox I totally get it but love you bruinss!! can’t way for ur next fic or even just ur next tumblr post I love when u update even if it’s just a reblog!!

OH WOW HELLO ANON thank you for this gorgeous wall of text, I love all your thoughts

while this would be fun, this is not the direction I have my high school fic going in!

that said I highly encourage to you write your own natejo high school fic because i would devour a plot based on the above

[dani-says-stuff]

Dracula's Castle

❥ Back to the Control Center

❥ Nate Hardy Masterlist

I'm sorry it took so long to everyone who's been asking for another Nate fic… I got about halfway through and completely lost steam and then forgot about it for like a week. my b.

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

Nate Hardy x fem!medium(?)reader

Summary: Rather than exploring, you find yourself wrangling the idiots you call your best friends.

Word Count: 3.4k

Warnings: creepy stuff, hauntings, language, Colby and Nate being dumb, inconsistent capitalization, my disregard for grammar and run on sentences

Dialogue Key:

Y/N

Nate

Sam

Colby

Alex

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

What. The. Fuck. That was your only thought as you watched the scene playing out before you.

The four of you were supposed to record the intro to the video by the gravesite, but the boys quickly got sidetracked. You were about to pick up Sam's camera and just film it yourself, when you realized it wasn't there.

Your boyfriend was holding the device as they all recorded each other with the small horse in the field. 

Every doubt you ever had about having guy friends throughout middle and high school came rushing back as you watched the 20 year olds act like toddlers. 

'Dude, this is like so Romania!' 

Yeah, you had no clue what that was supposed to mean- but that's what they said over and over as they chased the animal around. 

You pinched the bridge of your nose, quickly glancing at your phone for the time. Hopefully they'd stop soon... otherwise you were going to miss the car meant to take you to the next stop. 

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

Eventually, you were able to get the intro filmed and good news... you didn't miss the car! Now the four of you were in the woods walking to the pond. 

Colby was in the back, filming Sam as he explained where you all were going, leaving you and Nate to lead. His arm was wrapped around your shoulder as the both of you walked, tucking you into his side. 

Usually, you didn't mind walks or hiking but this place was freaking you out. You couldn't quite place what was so different from the trails you enjoyed, but you definitely weren't a fan. Maybe it was the fact that there were over grown branches that would graze your arms as you walked past. Maybe it was the way the trail was worn and barely separated from the nature on the sides.

Strangely, you knew it wasn't the destination that freaked you out. By now, you've had more than your fair share of ghostly encounters and knew how to take care of that... you weren't as confident in your ability to dispel wild animals and insects.

A low bush brushed against your ankle, making you jump at the unwelcome feeling. You looked behind you, trying to find what touched you, just to be hit in the head by a tree branch when turning back around.

Nate was having a very hard time keeping his laughter to himself, but he could tell you were on edge and didn't want to make you anymore upset. However, you could feel the suppressed laughter shaking his ribs since you were pressed so close to his side. 

"It's not funny." you pouted, looking up to see the less-than-subtle-smirk gracing his lips. "I hate bugs. You know that." 

He coughed- well, he laughed, he was just trying to pass it off as a cough. "Yeah, I know babe, it's just the irony of it, thats all." He looked down, seeing your confused expression, and decided to continue, "Well... we're on our way to what is basically count Dracula's execution sight-" he laughed softly, "and you're freaked about a fern."

You reached up, covering your face with your hands, "It's not the fern I'm freaked about, it's the stuff that lives in it." you shuddered, peaking your eyes over your fingers to look up at him, "Like what if there are ticks in there! What if I get bitten by a tick and get some obscure strain of Lyme disease or something!"

"Well" Nate smirked looking down at you, "If it's ticks you're worried about... I'll happily check you over later." he spoke, wiggling his eyebrows. 

You shoved him slightly, keeping your gaze glued to your feet as you walked forward. 

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

"You two are so fucking strange." Sam called out, pointing the camera at you and Nate as you walked down the street. "You'd think they were on a family vacation in Disney-"

"But nope" Colby took over when the blonde began to laugh hysterically, "We're on the way to Dracula's Castle, and that" he zoomed in on the jar, "is Vlad's execution water." 

Nate glanced down at you as you glanced up, the two of you shrugging in sync before continuing to walk forward, "It's comforting."

You hummed in agreement, "yeah, if we're nice to 'em, he won't want to mess with us that bad right?" 

You spoke nonshalently to the camera and for the most part it was true that you didnt care, but there was a small part of you that realized how stupid you probably looked. The locals walked the street, getting ready for the festival and they were met with a group of four loud, obnoxious kids. Then within the group, was you and your boyfriend. Nate strutting down the road, you under one arm and the grosses mason jar of water you've ever seen in the other. 

Yep. Totally normal.

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

When you finally approached the castle, you met your guide. You, thought he was adorable, Colby... not so much. 

"do you think Alex is a vampire?" he whispered, eyes wide. 

You squinted at him, blinking rapidly, "I- You're joking... right?" 

He waved his hands at you're volume, "shh! Shh! not so loud, I'm serious." 

You looked at him for a moment, eyebrow arching in annoyance. Looking past Colby's shoulder, you could see Nate and Sam already inside talking with your guide. 

"Y/N, I'm being serious here!" he rushed after hearing your mild exhausted sigh, "Y/N please, like think about it for a second" he raised a hand, counting off the strange occurances, "Ok, so he asked for our blood types-"

"Because Nate brought it up."

"-he sounds like Dracula-"

"Cole. It's just an accent." 

"AND-" he spoke dramatically, whatever he was going to say, was the hard hitter, "Y/N he legit has fangs" 

Your jaw dropped at his words, causing the boys eyes to light up as he pointed at you, "See! see, I told you!"

You blinked. Once, twice, three times. "Colby" you spoke, reaching out, putting your hands on his shoulders, "No. He is not a vampire."

"But-"

"Colby. He doesn't have fangs. they're canine teeth. you have canine teeth, I have canine teeth-"

"But this is different!" 

"No it's not."

"Yes it is-"

"Oh my god" you were trying to be stern, while also obliging to his insistence of a hushed tone so 'count Alex the vampire' didn't overhear.

He was really beginning to test your patients.

Thankfully, Nate cut off your crazy best friend's rambling after realizing the two of you hadn't followed. "Yo Colby!" he called, faux annoyance in his voice as he walked over, "You tryin' to steal my girlfriend?"

"oooooh- he's gonna get it now!" Sam laughed, moving the camera to show the obviously fake fight between the boys as you laughed on the sidelines.

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

You found yourself moving to the back of the group as the tour continued, trying to fade in the background. Not because what Colby said got to you, there was no way you were choosing to believe any of that, but because you didn't want to seem rude. 

Alex was obviously very into the subject and history of the castle, you were too, but the feeling there was just... strange. You had been on many investigations with the boys before, from the weird places you'd find in Kansas to the more famous sights. Most of the time, Sam and Colby would bring you along because you tended to feel things a little deeper than the boys could. 

You weren't a medium- or at least not like the ones that were usually associated with the word. You couldn't speak to them, you couldn't see them, and you definitely couldn't communicate far beyond what the boys already did. But, you did pick up on things a little quicker. You could feel the energies that a location was giving off, sense the emotion and feeling within the area. 

It was always a bit weird when it happened. All of a sudden you would feel an intense burst of emotion completely unwarranted and unrelated to anything you were doing, but that strangely seemed to correlate with the history of the place. You could feel it as if it was your own but in a small tucked away corner of your mind, it felt alien.

And right now as you tried to listen to the guide, all you could concentrate on was how sick you felt. Your stomach was flipping and your head was pounding, you felt incredibly nauseous but you weren't actually going to be sick... hopefully. You felt paranoid and antsy, as if you had just had to get out of this place. But you didn't. You stayed put because you knew that what you were feeling wasn't really you who felt it. 

You jumped when a hand fell upon your shoulder, "Woah, woah, hey" Nate spoke softly, "Are you ok? You seem off."

You nodded at his question, heart melting a little at the concern swimming in his eyes, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." despite the words, it was easy to pick up on the unease lacing your tone, "I just- it just feels weird in here, thats all."

"What? Like what? Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, i don't know, it's just weird." you didn't quite know how to explain it. In your head you knew how, but the words felt wrong when you tried to say them. "I dont know, it's weird, I feel jumpy and sick to my stomach." your statement lifted towards the ending, making it sound more like a question than fact. 

Maybe you should've worded that better. You didn't think he could look any more concerned, but he somehow managed at the word 'sick'. Eyebrows furrowing together and a tense look crossing his face, "Do you need to go outside? Get some air?" 

You shook your head, dismissing the offer.

He nodded, the worry didn't completely clear from his eyes, but he tried to appear neutral when the two of you headed back to the group. 

The two of you didn't receive all the background and lead up, but you did hear Alex mention the floors.

The wood flooring was original, even in the tourture chambers. You tugged on Nate's hand making him glance down at you. "Yup." you nodded, "that explains it."

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

"Jesus Colby, not again." you groaned rolling your eyes. He had pulled all four of you aside at this point, trying to make his case again about the guide. 

"He's a vampire!" 

You could tell Sam thought it was bullshit, but he indulged wanting to see where his friend would take this. It was hard for the blonde to say anything without laughing, but he tried his best, "How do you know he's a vampire?" 

Your eyes widened, shaking your head wildly, "Oh my god, no. Please don't-"

"Did you not see his fangs?" Colby rushed, cutting you off as he spoke wildly with his hands.

"I did not see his fangs-"

You glared at the blue eyed boy, "thats because he doesn't have-"

"dude! look closely! just watch his teeth"

"and there's absolutely no part of you that thinks that statement was weird? like at all?" you sassed, crossing your arms.

"not when he's a motherfucking vampire Y/N" Colby turned to Nate, "Did you see them? Did you see the fangs?"

Nate looked between the two of you; Colby was eager, eyes blown wide begging him to agree, meanwhile you sat there, eyebrow arched and challenging him to side with Colby. He loved you, but he had to be honest, right. 

He nodded, looking straight at Colby with no hesitation as he nodded, "yeah, I saw 'em" 

Your jaw dropped, "No the fuck you did not."

"See!" Colby cheered, blue eyes staring back at you and Sam, "Told you!"

You groaned, rubbing your eyes in frustration, "You've got to be kidding me. He's not-"

"He's a vampire." Nate nodded, "Plus that blood type thing earlier was weird-" He struggled not to laugh through his sentence when you looked up at him. 

Your head lifted, turning to him comically slow and your eyes were cartoonishly large in astonishment. You blinked rapidly at him, "Nate."

"Yes?"

You made sure to speak slowly, enunciating each word, "You. Were. The. One. To. Bring. It. Up." 

"No I wasn't."

"Yes you were."

"Wait, wait, wait" Sam broke back into the conversation, taking a minute to think over everyones words, "So you're serious?" he smiled, "You think he's a vampire?" 

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"NO!" 

"wait- so this is actually a thing?" 

"Holy- ok." you spoke, raising your arms and letting them slap against your sides, "Well, while you three sit here are talk nonsense, Imma go live my teenage-Twilight-dreams with the vampire." You mocked, Turning to follow through the door Alex disappeared through. 

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

You squealed, jumping slightly as you entered the next room. "Nate!" you whisper shouted, he looked up humming in affirmation. You waved him over, a large smile on your face, "Come here!"

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion but he approached nonetheless, "Whats up?" 

You pointed across the room, "Look!" He chuckled softly, dropping his head onto your shoulder as the guide continued the tour once again. 

Sam seemed to be on a similar train of thought as you were, cheeky smiles meeting once before he spoke up, "Can we play it?"

Alex shrugged, "I mean, yeah, sure. Would you like to?" 

You quickly began hitting Nate's arm in excitement and Sam turned, pointing straight at him, "He's really good at piano."

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

Several incredibly out of tune piano melodies later, you all were on the fourth floor in an unfinished exhibit. 

"This, is a vampire hunting kit." Alex spoke, gesturing to the box set up on a table, "Silver bullets, cross, bible, wooden stick."

"Sweet, so silver repels vampires?" Nate questioned.

"Uh, in these stories, yes."

"Hey babe," Nate spoke jutting his chin, "You wearing the neckless I got you for your birthday?" you reached to your neck, pulling the chain from where it got tucked under your hoodie. "Nice, see? Now you're protected from the vampires, God I'm a great boyfriend."

Colby sniffled fake crying while he flipped the camera around to face himself, "Yeah ok guys we get it. you're in a relationship. Be nice to the poor lonely people out there."

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

It was finally time to begin the investigation, you all had filmed the information segments and finished the tour, now it was time for the ghost hunting. The boys decided to start in the torture room. 

"do we have to?" you whined, "It's gross in there."

Sam laughed at your words, "well... it is a torture room Y/N"

"No, thats not what I meant" Your eyes roamed the walls from your position by the door. Even earlier you never stepped too far from the door way, the energy in the room was too heavy. "It just feels bad. Like I feel like my skin is crawling in here." 

"We'll make it quick" Colby reassured, "I just want to see if we can get anything."

What. A. Shocker. 

The room of atrocities, horror, and pain didn't have much action.

Crazy.

The four of you decided to move locations for better luck. One by one, you tried the Estes method. Sam first, then Colby, Nate, and finally yourself.

Originally you weren't planning on going under, but after the lack of or incredibly cryptic answers you'd all gotten, you decided to give it a shot. 

You also gave the boys a few callback questions to ask for clarity. They were going to sprinkle them in with their own questions so you wouldn't know the order. 

You sat in the chair, blindfold on and headphones turned up. 

"Jesus fuck thats loud." you spoke causing the boys to laugh, "I wasn't expecting that."

Colby waved his hand infant of your face and called your name a few times to make sure you couldn't hear or see them. 

"Ok, so we're going to continue asking some questions is that-"

"Yes."

Colby's eyes widened, "damn, she was right. that was fast."

"Who are we talking to?"

"Me" 

"We got that, but who are you?" Nate spoke, "What is your name, we get you're talking, but who are you?"

"Nobody"

The boys looked at each other confused, "Nobody?" Sam repeated, "Whats that supposed to mean?"

Colby shrugged, "I dont know man, maybe its messing with us?"

"ooh, like being cheeky about it?" Nate jumped in, "like 'who are you?' 'oh, nobody hahaha' like that?"

You shuddered, "I didn't hear anything but I just felt really cold. Like it's very solemn."

"Shit, so maybe it's not like that." the brunette amended, "they actually think they're nobody?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

Sam nodded at the conformation, "so, maybe they're not Vlad after all?"

"No."

"What do you mean no? No were wrong, or no you're not Vlad?"

There was a brief pause after Sam's question before you responded once more.

"No, not him."

"Someone else."

"Elsewhere."

"What do you mean elsewhere?"

"Not it."

"Elsewhere."

"Scared."

"You're scared? Is there anything we can do to-"

"Blood."

The boys eyes all widened at the word. Colby spoke up first, voice shaky, "Blood? you want blood?"

"No."

"There is."

"Scared."

"There is?" Nate questioned, "What is there?"

"Blood" you repeated the word three times before you stopped, reaching up to feel your rib, "Once again, not something I heard, but I just got a sharp pain through my chest."

Nate looked up worriedly, glancing between the others at the grimace on your face, "Ok, a few more questions and were done? Ok?" The other two quickly nodded in agreance, getting ready to say questions they'd never get to ask. 

"leave."

The sudden and sterness of your voice started the boys, "D-Do you want us to leave?"

"No."

"Yes."

"Not you, you."

"Leave."

"Out."

"Scared."

Your face crunched as you spoke the words, they were rapidly spat out into your ears and you struggled to focus and say them all. 

"Out."

"Please."

"Stay."

"Blood."

"Go."

"Its like a conversation." Colby whispered, "Its like a conversation!"

The blonde looked at him, forehead creased in utter confusion, "What the hell are you talking about?"

The blue eyed man was smiling wide, the situation was far from the time for smiling but he was thrilled he cracked it. "Its a conversation between two different people. Thats why our answers have been so weird." 

Sam shook his head looking over at you who was still spouting absolute nonsense, "yeah, I don't follow."

"Ok-" Colby stretched out his arms to make a physical picture of what was going on, "So we have person A and person B. Person A, is trapped here. Thats nobody, they're not well known and were trapped her in life? so maybe thats why?" he questioned, halting for a moment before shaking his head out, "I dont know, haven't thought about that yet. but person A, is the one who is saying 'stay' and 'scared' because-"

"they're scared of person B" Sam finished, "Ok, so were having a dispute between a prisoner and a capturer?" he asked for confirmation, "The prisoner is scared and asking the capture to leave, but were overhearing the conversation?" 

Your ramble stopped, making way for one single word. 

"Yes." 

Nate, who had been frozen during this entire ordeal watching you struggle to say the consistent two-way-battle in your ears, had finally had enough. "Ok. Yep, were done now right?" he looked up from the floor, wide eyes glancing between his friends barely waiting for an answer. "Yes? We're done? Awesome."

He crawled over, tapping your leg to signal it was over, "Babe?" 

You pulled down the blindfold and took off the headphones, moving to stretch out your neck. A small shudder racked your body due to the sudden quiet of the room compared to the loud audio from seconds before. 

"Are you alright?" he asked still perched in his place on the floor, eyes wide with concern. You nodded, but he still stood and gave you a tight hug anyway. Even if you were completely fine, watching whatever the hell that was, was scary to him. 

When the two of you separated, you looked over to Sam and Colby who still seemed to be talking about something. "Ok, so what's the plan?"

Sam looked between you both and Colby, "I think we should go."

"Yeah, I agree. Like, even if we weren't talking to a strigoi or Vlad, it still confirmed that something bad was here." he took out his phone, checking the time, "Plus, we're almost out of time and I dont really want to accidently piss something off." 

You shrugged, nodding along, "Yeah... that's fair." 

"Welp" Nate spoke cheerfully, "I'm down with leaving! Next time we do creepy shit, lets not make it as..." he trailed off, failing to find the words. He eventually just gestured over the room, "as this. Yeah, let's not make it as this next time."

[marleyybluu]

Fight for You

Fezco x non race-coded OC

WC: 2.4k

Warnings: Mentions of blood, fighting, drinking, Nate getting his face rearranged, Nate being a dick, two shy people confessing their feelings aka my favourite trope, lmk if I missed any

A/N: This was not supposed to be longer than like 900 but whatever. Just tossing this to yall before we get to the good stuff, I literally just typed and didn't stop so if it's like not the best sorry lol I just wanted to write about Fez beating up Nate cus it was kinda hot.

Ella wasn't one for parties, she'd been like that since high school. The copious amount of drugs that her peers took and tried to convince her to take was why she had no interest in it. But, it was New Year's Eve and her friend Maddy had invited her to a house party, she agreed to attend but as she got ready the regret was settling in-- she'd just come home from work and she was exasperated, all she wanted to do was shower and slip under her covers but it'd been a while since she'd seen Maddy and the rest of the girls so she sucked up her feelings and got ready to participate. 

Her phone buzzed on the surface of her Vanity, floods of messages from the group chat that she'd respond to later but a message from a certain someone caught her eye. 

Fez💚: FaceTime?

She propped her phone up against the mirror and clicked his contact name and the video camera icon, the phone rang once before he was on her screen. 

"Hey, pretty lady." 

When people asked Ella what was the deal with her and Fez, she always said that they were friends which was the truth but she always felt like they could be more than that, hell sometimes he acted like he was more than that. Fez was a sweetheart, he was the first person to really interact with her when she was the new girl and she'd clung to him ever since, until she met Rue and then Maddy who introduced her to the rest. 

Fez wouldn't admit it but he liked Ella from the beginning, how easy she was to talk to and how comfortable she seemed to be around him. She wasn't doing hardcore drugs like everyone else, strung out in class half the time and when he dropped out she wasn't too hard on him. Though she reminded him every once in a while how he should go for his GED. She was a great support system in anything he did, she was encouraging and she was a beautiful person inside and out. 

Her nose would crinkle whenever she smiled, her brown eyes were so curious and inquisitive about everything, she was a never-ending supply of questions. He chuckled whenever he thought about the first time he got her to smoke, the flood of questions she asked like how did it taste? How did it feel? What was the difference between THC and CBD? 

All questions he was happy to answer while sharing his blunt with her. 

"What are you getting all dolled up for?" 

She shivered at his low, groggily voice. He always sounded like that but it became enunciated whenever he was fried. "The girls are going to this house party tonight, ring in the New Year or whatever." 

He scrunched up his nose, he knew her well enough and knew she didn't want to go for real. "And you're actually going?" 

She sighed putting down her makeup brush to pick up another. When Fez met Ella she didn't like makeup, mostly because she didn't know how to do it, but once Maddy taught her she was obsessed and it was like a hobby for her. He found a hobby in it himself-- watching her whenever she did it was enough entertainment for him, no matter how long it took and how often it'd make them late for things. 

"Yeah, I mean I'm tired but I already said yes. Plus, I know she'd come breaking down my door if I didn't." She softly laughed. "But you know," Ella cast her eyes to the screen giving him her full attention. "Maybe I'd have a better time if someone else would come with me." 

Fez groaned, he was just as antisocial as she was, he wasn't interested in parties unless he knew he'd make a profit. "Ella..." 

"Pleeeease? Come on, it's been a while since we hung out, I'm so busy with work and college. I miss you." She pouted. Fez playfully rolled his eyes, running his hand over his face to hide the shade of pink that was gradually growing on his freckled cheeks. He couldn't say no to her, he missed her too. 

"Fine." 

She clapped with joy. "Thank you, love you, I'll see you there." 

"Wha- hold on, I mean I need help picking out an outfit don't I?" He asked hoping to keep her on the line. She smiled and nodded. "Alright, go through your closet, O'Neil." 

-- --

Ella was a giggling, tipsy mess. Slinging her tattooed arm over Maddy's shoulder as they laughed together. She was stubborn to go to these things but once she was there she was okay. She turned her head to whisper to Maddy that she was going to the kitchen for another drink and Maddy asked her to get one for her while she ducked out to the bathroom. 

She agreed and took the two cups to the kitchen, on her way there someone gently wrapped their fingers around her arm. She looked to see that it was Fez and his brother Ashtray, she smiled knowing that Ashtray would be wherever good profit was and what a better night than a New Year's Eve house party.

"Hey, I was starting to think you wouldn't show up." She hiccuped trying to talk louder than the music. Ashtray nodded at her as a silent greeting and went off to the backyard. "Sorry, had to get some things." 

"No worries, you want a drink?" She asked. He declined, he was more of a smoker than a drinker. "Okay, well I gotta fill these up, I'll be back in a bit okay?" 

He nodded loosening his grip on her. She skipped over to the kitchen while he stood in the same spot waiting for her return. Ella grabbed a bottle of Titos and poured it for Maddy, once she was done she stared down the counter of various liquors passing over the ones she's drunk before and wanting to try a new one. 

"This one will get you fucked up... if that's what you want." A deep and familiar voice advised from behind her, his heat radiating onto her body. She turned to notice Maddy's, now ex-boyfriend, Nate. None of them were fans of this guy, he was the textbook definition of an asshole but she rarely ever commented on their relationship. 

She scowled. "I'm good." She reached over to grab a bottle of Green Apple Sour Puss and poured out the last of it into her cup. "You know, you're the prettiest out of all of Maddy's friends." He flirted. "Might be prettier than the girl herself." 

She wasn't interested in entertaining this, meanwhile, Fez was watching the interaction with flared nostrils. He already had beef with this guy for the shit he was doing to Rue and her friend Jules. But this might be the tip of the iceberg. He could see how visibly uncomfortable Ella was and how she looked like she couldn't escape. He took a step forward, about to squash this shit, until he saw Nate's firm grip on her wrist and the anger on his face. Whatever she said to him pissed him off. 

Ella tried to pull back but he had a good grip. "Aye!" Fez yelled. Gasps were heard through the crowd in the kitchen but not over him, it was over Ella throwing both drinks at Nate in order to break away from him. 

"Fuckin' bitch!" 

She ran as fast as her little heels could carry, she huffed past Fez and b-lined for the door to the backyard. Fez had half the mind to fuck Nate up right then and there but he knew checking in on Ella was more important. He hustled out the door to find her sitting by the pool, her heels already off and her feet inside the water swishing back and forth. He took his place beside her and nudged her with his shoulder, a quick smile appeared on her face. "You okay?" 

She nodded. "He's just being a little bitch that can't take no for an answer." 

"So, he was just being himself." 

She giggled, "Yeah, pretty much." 

Ella sighed looking up at the night sky and then back down at the water that was changing colours due to the lights installed. "Why can't all guys be like you?" 

Fez almost choked. "Wh-what do you mean?"

She faced him. "Like sweet, considerate, and funny. Mind their business. Not be a dick." 

He took his chance. "You think I'm sweet?" 

"Course I do... you say the sweetest things and do cute shit for me. And... and you're cute yourself." She cringed. "I don't know I sound stupid." 

He shook his head. "I think you're cute too." He confessed, "Gorgeous, actually, like I like looking at you." 

The two smiled and quickly looked away from each other like two shy kids. "You trynna smoke?" He asked breaking the awkwardness. "Always." 

-- --

After spending some time outside, smoking and laughing the two went back in after Ella said she was ready to call it a night and wanted to say goodbye to the girls. Her hand slipped out of his as she searched for them. He shoved his hands in his pockets while he waited for her, just scanning the crowd of degenerates having a good time with their drinks in their hands and drugs in their systems. 

His eyes landed on Nate's tall figure that almost towered everyone. He wasn't thinking much when he started to maneuver his way through the assemblage of bodies, even passing through the girls as they said their goodbyes. Ella had a keen eye on him as he approached Nate, this couldn't be good. He met up at a counter for more alcohol, grabbed an empty cup and the nearest bottle of Tito's, he began to pour and make light conversation. 

"Wassup man? Havin' a good time?" Fez asked with a devious plan in his eyes. 

Nate coughed. "Yeah," He simply responded. "Make any New Year's resolutions?" 

"No, you?" 

"A few." 

Nate wore that cocky and smug smile on his face like he always did, so conceited and wrapped up in himself thinking he was the most perfect person on this planet. In his own eyes, he could do no wrong. "Last time we talked, didn't you say you wanted to kill me?" 

Fez looked up at him with a deadpan look on his face, he raised his cup up at Nate. "It's a New Year, playboy." 

And suddenly the loud sound of glass breaking caused the whole room to stop. Cassie, one of Ella's friends, screamed and rushed over to the commotion. Fez was beating, scratch that, he was pummeling the fuck out of Nate's face. Both Maddy and Cassie along with a few other patrons screamed and squealed begging Fezco to ease up or stop completely of his abuse over Nate but Ella stood there in shock. 

She'd seen Fez angry before but never this angry, he was infuriated and used Nate as his punching bag. It wouldn't stop, hit after hit after hit. The scene caused the guests to scatter and pour themselves out of the house while a few stayed behind to see how far this would go. Nate's facial features were being rearranged, hidden by the now bloody mess that he was. 

Something about seeing Fez beat up Nate for whatever reason he had (either way it was deserved), made Ella's skin heat up, goosebumps forming on her skin at the sight of this strong ass man handing this spoiled bitch an ass whooping on a silver platter. 

"Ella! Do something! Get him off of Nate!" Cassie cried. Ella snapped out of her trance and rushed over to Fez, holding onto the arm that was delivering the blows. "Okay, Fez..." She said but it's like he had blacked out. "Fez... Fez! Sweetie, I think he's had enough!" 

He stopped, his chest quickly heaving up and down. He realized what he'd done and truthfully he didn't regret it. "We have to get the fuck out of here," Ella whispered pulling him up. The two rushed out of the house and into the car that Ashtray had already started once he saw the crowd file out. 

-- --

It was quiet. Ashtray was asleep on the couch, the television on the lowest volume with the bright screen illuminating the living room. 

Ella and Fez were in the kitchen, he sat on a stool with his bloody hand in his lap. She placed the rubbing alcohol and cotton pads on the counter with an ice pack fresh out of the freezer and a bandage to wrap around his hand when she was done. She sat across from him with her phone facing down and on Do Not Disturb so she wouldn't have to read all the negative shit they had to say about him. "Give me your hand." She softly spoke holding out her palm. He rested his hand on hers, his knuckles were stained with dried blood and a few bruises, possibly small cuts she couldn't see. She poured the alcohol on the cotton and gently pressed it on his skin. 

He hissed and squeezed his eyes shut. "Sorry." She mumbled. "It's okay." 

She cleaned his hand up as best as she could and tossed away the bloody evidence. "I didn't mean for you to see me like that. I don't want you to think I'm some fucked up hot head, but this guy had it coming... especially after he grabbed you like that." He explained. Ella half-smiled. "Thank you." 

"Always baby." 

After she had finished dressing his wounds, she put the items she found back where they were and turned off the tv, she grabbed a nearby blanket placed it over Ash's body and left him in the living room to continue his sleep. She wandered off to Fez's room closing the door behind her and switching off the light. "You gonna sleep in that dress?" He chuckled. "I mean I don't have anything." 

"Go through my closet, what's mine is yours." 

She smiled shyly and took him up on the offer. Ella found a shirt and a pair of boxers she could sleep in, she headed to the bathroom to change and came back, she hated sleeping in makeup but tonight would have to suffice. The bed dipped behind Fez as she joined his company, he reached behind him gripping her leg and swinging it over his body, she giggled pressing herself into his warm back. 

"You know imma always fight for you, right?" Fez grumbled drifting off to sleep. She nuzzled her nose between his shoulder blades. 

"I know." 

If you liked this fic, feel free to like it. comments, reblogs are appreciated. peace and love. see you in the next one✌🏾

🏷: @darqchilddaydreamz @skyesthebomb

[ilovehugslikealotalot]

Unexpected Call

Rebecca Welton x Fem!Reader

I just want to say thank you for requesting!

—

Ted, Beard, Roy, Higgins, and y/n were having a little ‘meeting’ they were supposed to be talking about the foul stench coming from Tartt’s under-cubby in his locker. But instead, they dicussed their girl problems and experiences.

“Is Rebecca more of a big spoon? I’d imagine her to be. It’s hard to think she’d be a little spoon, unless she asked to be” Ted wondered a loud, y/n only laughed, “Rebecca? A little spoon? Puh-lease!” she reasoned, leaning agaisnt the closed door of their office. Higgins kept a laugh in while Ted was wheezing, Beard was only smiling. Roy kept his laugh in and only had his signature scowl. The door opened and in came the extrodinary woman they were just talking about, “I heard my name. Something you have to say?” She asked directly looking at Nate, she knew he would crack under pressure. “I- I- uh-…it was y/n!” He confessed, swallowing hard and hiding next to Roy. Y/n scoffed, “did not!” Rebecca raised an eyebrow at her, “mhm” she hummed, her upper lip folding upward slightly.

“I didn’t do anything!” Y/n shrugged, continuing to drink her pineapple juce, Rebecca narrowed her eyes and straightened her lips. Ted, Beard, Roy looked at her and quivered a bit. Though, Roy would never admit that he could be afraid of her when she was angry.

“It was her.”

“Sorry little lady”

“Nope.”

“Apologies”

Y/n was left standing on her own, “Uh! Y’know that’s soo nice!” Y/n sarcastically bopped her head to the side. Rebecca raised her eyebrow, “okay! Okay! It was me!” Rebecca’s lips formed a line, staring y/n down until she was practically sweating.

To y/n’s surprise her phone began to ring, she used it as her advantage to escape, “Oh, sorry, y’know! Duty calls!” She said in a sing-song voice, Rebecca looked at the others and left with a smirk. She had authority around the club and she knew it.

y/n went outside to take the call, it was her mother, “Hey, mom! How’s it going?” She asked, all excited, she hadn’t seen or talked to her mom in quite a while. It was nice to here her voice again. “Hello honey, it’s about…Riley.” She sounded upset, y/n knew what she was talking about but she didn’t accept. It couldn’t happen not now, not when things just started getting better. When she was starting to finally be happy again.

“Oh, what? Did she do good on her chemo? I told you that she’d make a recovery!” Y/n exclaimed, resisting the urge to cry, “she’s gone, honey. Riley’s gone. I don’t have much time but, I’ll call you later, her funeral is next week. You’re flying out right?” Y/n stayed silent, her mouth hanging open. She knew it was gonna happen, yet, it still hit her like a train.

“Yeah, uh, I’ll be there. I’ll hear ya soon” y/n mumbled, hanging up the call, she ran up to Rebecca’s office passing, Roy, Higgins, and Keeley, she completely ignored them and their concerned remarks.

As much as she loved them to, she needed Rebecca right now. Nothing could ever make her feel better than a big warm hug from Rebecca. Y/n burst into her office in tears, Rebecca, who was just finishing up her work looked up to see her distraught girlfriend in tears and sobbing her heart out.

“Oh, darling. What ever is the matter? I know that earlier about you talking about me was a joke so I’m not upset about that if this is what it’s about?” She wrapped her strong arms around y/n and guided her to the couch where y/n cuddled into her chest, sobbing into it she mumbled. “It’s not about that, it’s…” she choked on her sobs, gently, Rebecca wiped her tears away and cooed, “take your time darling, I have all day to listen” y/n looked at her and sniffled, “remember what I told you about Riley?” Y/n went on, Rebecca’s face dropped, “wait, she didn’t…” Rebecca’s words faded away as y/n’s tears came back. “She did..”

————

A week later the team accompanied y/n and Rebecca to Riley’s funeral. Rebecca never left y/n’s side, knowing her girlfriend was fragile at the moment, she didn’t allow her to be alone.

Rebecca finally met y/n’s parents but they had wished it was under better circumstances, they loved Rebecca and the way she treated y/n so it was one heavy worry taken away from y/n.

As the funeral went on, it was time for y/n’s eulogy. She had rehearsed this moment so many times it felt like a memory, now knowing how much time didn’t wait for anyone, she blamed herself for not being there for her best-friend.

stepping up onto the stage she holds back tears, “Riley, she was a- she was a very kind soul. Never once did she leave someone on the streets hungry or not donate to a organization that helped people. She loved- she-“ y/n stopped for a moment, her breathing was unsteady and her body shook, Rebecca left her seat and hugged her tightly, “you’re okay, my love. I’m here, sweetheart. Take your time, Riley would be so proud of you, darling” Rebecca hugged her tightly and let go to let her deliver her speech.

Through the whole thing she held on to her hand, proudly stroking her back as she delivered the eulogy with a heavy heart.

[redrydersrequiem]

The Raven and the Vampire

Chapter 3

updated 11/21/25 warning long chapter

anything purple is inner monologe

“So, Elara, how are you liking forks?” Jessica asks from her side of the table, trying to bring the conversation and attention back to the group instead of the Cullens.

“Oh, it's very interesting now. I like it a lot more than I thought I would.

“ Why did you and your family move here, if you don’t mind us asking?

“It’s fine, Angela. I didn’t move with my immediate family. My parents are very busy and have to move around for their jobs. I didn't want to move continuously during school, so when my uncle got positioned here for his job, I stayed with them until my parents moved around.”

I'm not technically lying; I tell my story to the group. I mean, my parents are busy; they are royalty. However, I can’t say to a group of Midgardian teenagers. I'm 800-plus years old and only in Forks to look for my soulmate. 

“I do miss them, though, and my baby brothers.”

“You have siblings?”

“Yes, they were just born, so they still have to be with my mum, who goes with my father everywhere.”

“What are their names?” 

I begin to say Narfi and Vali, but remember those aren't Midgardian names, “Their names are Vance and Nate, their twins.”

“Aww, that’s so cute. Babies are adorable,” Jessica gushes.

The bell rings, and I quickly return to the Cullens' table, but they have all vanished. They are pretty fast, aren’t they? This is just another clue to the puzzle. I’ll have to ask Lucas later if he has any ideas. 

“Oh crap, guys, lunch is over; what class do you have next, elara.”

“ I have art, AP foreign language, and then AP history.”

“ I have journalism next, but art is right next to it. I'll walk with you.”

“Thanks, Angela.”

Walking with Angela was okay; she seemed nice and very smart. The classroom was again in shades of white but did have pops of color from the artwork hanging all around. Setting down your stuff and waiting for the teacher, a familiar figure bounces up and sets down. 

“Your name is Elara, right? It's nice to meet you, I’m Alice. Alice Cullen, it's lovely to meet you,” she says, shaking my hand.

“You as well,” I respond. As I shake her hand, I notice how cold she is. It’s unusual because even I can tell she’s cold. 

“Wow, your hands are freezing.”

“Oh, yeah, you know what they say: cold hands, warm heart.”

“I agree.”

“You know, I can already tell we’ll be great friends. I hope everything comes together for you.”

“Oh, thanks! I hope we become friends, too.”

Just as we finish that conversation, the teacher starts the lesson. I find myself glancing back and forth between the canvas in front of me and Alice, trying not to stare at her for the entire class. The mystery surrounding her is too strong to ignore. So, I decided to use my other senses, just like Aunt Sif always said: When you can’t use your eyes, use your other senses.

Slowing my breathing, I close my eyes and wait. I can hear all the heartbeats in the room and the air filling their lungs—except one coming from the space right next to me.

Looking at Alice, I see her moving and blinking as she works on her sketch. Now that’s interesting; what on earth are the Cullens? There hasn't been a species or being I've met yet, that doesn't have some sort of bodily anatomy that can be detected. 

“So, Elara, how old are you?” Alice asks, noticing that I've been watching her.

“I’m 853 as of October 13th,” I reply with a playful grin.

“What?” 

“Sorry, I was joking. I'm 18.”

“Oh, you're the same age as some of my siblings.”

“Yeah, I saw all of you at lunch. I'm sorry that some people at the table were discussing your family. I’m sure that’s not a good feeling.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. They’ve talked about us since we moved here.”

“Well, based on what they said, you have an amazing family.”

“Thank you. I can tell you're lovely, too. You’re going to make someone very happy someday.”

“Why, thank you! That’s sweet.” Just then, the bell rings, cutting me off.

“Have a nice next class, Elara. I think you’ll enjoy it.”

Before I can respond, she’s gone—much faster than any ordinary human.

As I walk to my last class of the day, I ponder the clues to the puzzle. Cold skin—my magic reacted to them, but they were unaware it came from me. Alice didn’t have a heartbeat, but I hadn’t checked the others yet, so I couldn't be sure if it was just her. They seemed quick, which made my mind race as I entered the room. Suddenly, my aesir started yelling at me. 

Looking up, the first thing I noticed was him. The very air around him seemed to shimmer. 

“Ah, Miss Mani, I presume. I'm Mr. Wright. Welcome to AP History. Please take a seat over by Mr. Hale. Mr. Hale, please raise your hand so she knows where to go.”

Jaspers pov

I did as I was asked, trying to mask the internal crisis. God, Edward wanted to kill Bella upon meeting her, and I wanted to kill everyone most of the time, and now the new girl is being sent right into the lion's den, damn my luck. I didn't want to breathe or move, but as she got closer, her presence washed over me. A cooling breath of air in the never-ending smell of the other students' blood. It was incredible how her whole being captured me, and it was in that instance I knew she was my mate. 

Elaras pov

I was raised in a noble court and have over 800 years of speaking experience. Yet, I cannot utter a word while sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with my soulmate. I’m not even paying attention to the teacher’s ramblings; my mind is consumed by the subtle details I notice about him. The golden color of his hair, the slope of his nose, and the way one curl brushes above his right eye captivate me. Speaking of his eyes, they are the most beautiful ember color I’ve ever seen. The plaid blue shirt he’s wearing fits him perfectly. Oh, for the love of the gods, just say something to him!

“Um, hi,”

“Hello.”

“Im Elara”

“Jasper Hale, a pleasure to meet you, Darlin”

Darlin is officially my new favorite word, especially in that beautiful accent.

“ Are you enjoying forks?”

“It’s starting to grow on me.”

“I think I can understand that.”

You exchange notes and make small talk for the rest of the class before the dreaded bell rings, signaling your departure from him.

“I guess I'll see you tomorrow?” I almost don’t want to part from him, but I know now isn’t the time for us, but it is a start

“Of course, see you tomorrow, darlin'.”

Busting through the front door, I call for Mila and Lucas. I have to share all my experiences with them. I have to call Mom and Dad. I have to…….

“Goddess Elara, is that you banging around out there.” I hear coming from the kitchen, cutting off my inner turmoil. 

“Yes, Mila, but I have a good cause. Where’s Lucas? I need to speak to him, as well.”

“I'm right here, princess; how was your first day of school? ' Lucas asks as he steps out of the study.

“I found them; I found my soulmate.”

“That's terrific news, my lady!”

“Isn’t it? It’s just um.”

“I sense a but coming.” 

“You’re correct, Mila. That’s why I need you and Lucas. From everything I’ve observed today, him and his are not human.”

"Before we delve into all that, why don't you start by telling us their name?"

"Oh, yes. Sorry! His name is Jasper. Jasper Hale."

"What a lovely and strong name."

"I would prefer to focus more on the non-human aspect."

" Lucas."

“I'm sorry, Mila, but the princess's safety is my first concern. I promised her father and, more importantly, the Allfather.”

“Yes, and we shall let you complete your duty, continue, little one.”

“ I observed that they don’t have heartbeats and seem very fast. Alice, Jasper's sister, was also cold and colder than any human should be.”

“Hmmmmm, by any chance, did they seem inhumanly beautiful?

“Yes, actually, they did stand out more than the other children.”

“What about their eyes?”

“My soulmate had beautiful ember, almost yellow eyes while his family had varying shades to almost deep brown/black.”

“Then I believe I know what they may be, my lady.” 

“You do.”

“Yes, Midgardians have a legend of an inhuman species that survives on the blood of other sentient beings. While many believe these stories to be just that, the being is real. Here, the local tribe calls them the cold ones,”

“Local tribe?”

“Yes, there is a tribe here of children of Fenrir.”

“Oh, wolf shifters, Amazing. I remember reading about them as a child. I'm glad they are still around.

“Yes, they are. Many of them have taken on the charge of maintaining peace 

and protecting the humans from the cold ones.”

“Why must they protect the humans?”

“Cold ones, while intelligent, would be overcome by their darker tendencies and slaughter full villages. The packs are some creatures capable of defeating a cold one, so they took on the role of protectors for their packs and the humans in their territories. From what you’ve told me, your soulmate and his family seem to be the other end of that spectrum.”

“What do you mean?”

“ Well, most cold ones, when changed, their eyes hold the color of blood, mainly if they feed off humans. But with your soulmate having gold-colored eyes, it would seem he and his family are, in a way….vegetarian vampires,

“Meaning?

“Meaning they don’t prey on humans but animals instead.”

“Amazing, what else do you know of their species.’

“Well, the good thing is they are a long-lived race; they do not age from when they are turned.”

“Perfect. I won't have to worry about outliving them and the aging we could figure out later, but that is so far away.”

“The cold ones can also have gifts.”

“They have aesir?”

“No, my lady, not Asgardian aesir; it's a special form that we don’t know much about; all I know is that they can have abilities from telepathy to elemental manipulation. From my understanding, it all depends on their lives before they are turned, and even then, not every vampire has a gift.”

“Interesting, Mom and dad will be impressed.”

“Elara, dear, when you contact them, please tell them we’ve finished the house preparations so they can send over your pet.

“Mila, you're the best; Aurelius will love the woods here.”

“Yes, I'm sure that ball of mischief you call a pet will be so happy.”

“Oh, Lucas, it'll be fine. Relius stays in snake form most of the time. Those are common in Midgard. 

“Indeed, smaller varieties of snakes are, but the offspring of Jormungandr. I doubt the residents would view a practical dragon as anything other than the harmless creature you claim to be.

For starters, Lucus and Aurelius are a he, not an it. Secondly, you have to let that accidental paralysis incident go—it was almost 100 years ago. He was after a mouse; he didn't mean to bite your foot. Thirdly, he's just a baby.

Whatever you say, princess, just keep him in line is all I ask.

I will, and. Besides, think of it this way: he can help you protect me.”

“Whatever you say, dear princess, whatever you say.”

Cullens pov

The following day at school, the Cullens gathered around their sleek cars, a familiar scene that had become part of their routine. However, this time, there was a palpable sense of anticipation, a stark contrast to their usual reluctance about slipping back into their high school identities for another tedious day. Instead of the usual banter and quiet sighs, they stood together with a collective focus, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new girl that had already impacted their world.”

“Jasper, are you sure it's her you felt the connection to?”

“Yes, I’m sure. She’s the only one around that I don’t feel the urge to kill.”  Her presence alone feels like a cool blanket covering the aching heat in his throat. Not that he’d admit that to his siblings yet.

“Well, everyone, how do we think we should handle this.?” Alice asks the group surrounding her 

“ Last time we got involved with a human, it didn’t go well, Sorry Bella.”

“No offense taken Rue.”

“I haven’t seen anything in our futures that suggests she’s a danger, and I still haven't been able to see hers either; everything is covered in light when I try.”

“It's ok, Alice, thanks for trying. 

“No problem, Jas. And besides, everyone, this could finally be Jasper's chance to have the happiness he deserves. I'm not going to let you all ruin that for him.”

Jasper smiles, thankful for the pixie he called a friend and a sister. 

“I think we should get to know her, and if she is a danger, we'll speak to Carlisle and go from there,” Rue states to the group. 

“ Exactly, and besides, I've already introduced myself to her; I know she'll be a wonderful addition to our family.”

“Just make sure you respect her boundaries, babe.”

“Rue, I'm offended; I greatly respect boundaries.” Rue shakes her head along with the rest of the Cullens  

“Sure you do, sweety. Come on, the bells about to ring. I wouldn’t want to miss another glorious day of high school.

Elaras pov

Watching the Cullens enter the school, I feel a smile spread as I lean against the purple jeep Lucas suggested I drive instead of my bike. I can see them all once again watching me from around their cars. 

“Is that your mate?” Aurelius asks from his disguised position on my head 

“Yes, the blonde with the curly hair; the rest are his family.”

“They seem different.”

“They are their vampires.”

“Vampires, huh? How very, very interesting.”

I smile at my pet as I eye the Cullens looking at me. Most of them, i.e., Emmet, Alice, and Jasper have smiles on their faces, while the others look somewhat grim. It’s almost like they are suspicious of me. All I can do is smile, knowing they won't be able to see through the glamor i have unless I want them to.

Yet they are suspicious of me; hmmmm, we'll just have to see who figures it out first.

I brush the loose strands of my hair and remind Aurelius to be good as I make my way onto the brick building.

The morning was off to a good start when I spotted Alice while walking to my next class. She was in the hallway with her girlfriend Rue and their sister Rosalie. I decided to wait for the rushing crowd of students to thin out before making my way over. Alice noticed me and greeted me with a big smile, enthusiastically gesturing for me to come closer to them. 

“Elara, good morning.”

“Morning, Alice.”

“Let me introduce you, this is my girlfriend Rue and my older sister Rosalie,” 

“It’s nice to meet both of you.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Alice wouldn’t stop talking about you yesterday after art. It's almost like I already know you. Rose says hi, hun. Don’t be so stiff.” rue says, nudging the blonde with her elbow. 

“No, it's fine. She doesn’t have to say anything if she doesn’t want to.”

No, that's not it. Sorry, I was just thinking. Hello, my name is Rosalie. It's nice to meet you. I assume you received everyone's whole tour yesterday.

“Yeah, it was so much fun. Especially all the staring and whispering.”

“ I can understand it was the same when we started school here.”

“At least you all have each other. It seems like you’re a very tight-knit family.”  

“Yeah, we can be.”

“Elara, I’m so excited! You have to sit with us at lunch today and meet everyone. I’m sure we’ll all become fast friends.”  

“Sure, Alice. I would love that, but only if everyone is comfortable. I’ve only really talked to you and Jasper a little.”

“Oh no, everyone would be just fine. I'll make sure of it. Now I'll see you at lunch. I'll wait for you by the front door. Come on, rue, we have science class. “ the brunette says, grabbing her girlfriend's hand and dragging her down the hallway.

“Oh joy, bye, elara,” Rue replies, her whole body slumping with disdain at the upcoming class. I simply laugh, waving after her. Rosalie stands beside me, smiling lightly at her sibling's behavior. 

“What about you, Rosalie?”

“I have math with Emmet next, but I guess I'll see you at lunch.”

As the blond strides away, I turn and head towards my next class, anticipation bubbling within me—a lunch date with the mysterious Cullen family. I can't wait. 

Jaspers pov 

“You did what? Alice, what the hell?”

“Oh, calm down, Jasper; this is the perfect opportunity to introduce her to our family formally.”

“Have you met our family? Look what happened when Edward met Bella; we're still dealing with that. I'm not going to let my mate get hurt.”

“Jasper, calm down. Nothing will happen to Elara.”

“How do you know? She's a shield like Bella?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say she’s necessarily a shield. Like I said earlier, I've seen glimpses of her in your and our future, but it's like she’s surrounded by bright light every time I see her. Almost like she's silenced in a way.”

“That still doesn’t mean she won't be hurt by me or anyone else.”

“Jasper, you can’t live your life in fear, or you won't live at all. I want you to be happy, and I know she’s what will make you happy. Now pull yourself together, soldier; she's joining us for lunch, " Alice says sternly before hopping off to her class. I remain seated under the bleachers, preparing for the storm ahead. I wish more now than ever that Edward is mistaken about his eternal damnation theory because I could use hope.

Elaras pov 

The bells ring loudly, momentarily drowning out the steady rhythm of my heart. Alright, Elara, you've got this. You are an 853-year-old princess of Asgard, skilled in the mystic arts and combat since childhood. A group of Midgardian vampire teenagers is easy for you.  Pep talk done; I head into the lunch room and immediately see Alice bounding up to me.

“There you are, girly, right this way, and don’t worry, only Edward bites, but you can just ignore him. The rest of us do most of the time.”

Slipping her arm through mine, I have no choice but to follow her as the cafeteria watches. It’s just like a court function back home. I keep my head high and walk forward until the table comes into view, and there he is—gorgeous curls and all. 

“Here she is, everyone!” Alice exclaims as she introduces everyone. “Elara, you’ve already met my better half, Rue. " You wave and smile at Rue, which she copies. 

“Next to her is Bella Swan. I don’t know if you have officially met.”

“We haven't Hello Bella”

“Hi elara”

“The brooding one beside her is her boyfriend and our brother Edward.” He just nods, which is fine with me, as I reciprocate.

“Hey, don’t forget about me; I want to say hi too.”

“Yeah yeah, emmet, hold your horses. Elara, this is emmet, the loud one of the group.”

“Don’t you mean the fun one of the group?”

“No, I mean loud.” 

“Hahaha, hi emmet, it's nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, Elara. I have to say your bike was sick the first day. We'll have to talk.”

“You bet.”

“Like you know anything about motorcycles.”

“Hey babe, that’s not nice. I'm a wealth of knowledge.”

“If you want to talk about cars and bikes, I’m the one to talk to. Emmets more tech than anything.”

“Yeah, All the shiny surfaces attract him,” Edward adds, mocking his brother.

“Hey!”

Laughter filled the air, a warm and infectious sound that wrapped around us like a cozy blanket. A wave of tranquility washed over me as I listened, and I could sense a shift among them. It was as if a small crack had formed in the defenses they had built up in their lives, allowing a glimpse of 

vulnerability and connection to shine through.

“And last but not least is Jasper, who I've been told you've met before,” Alice comments as she pushes me toward the empty chair beside him. 

The slight blush that enveloped my checks didn’t go unnoticed by the others, but thankfully, no one commented.

“Hey, darling! It’s wonderful to see you again,” Jasper exclaimed, his eyes lighting up warmly.

“It’s great to see you too, Jasper,” I replied, my smile matching his.

Emmett, always the jokester, dramatically threw his hands in the air and said, “ Get a room! We're trying to have a conversation here, you two…” His voice was filled with laughter, and I could only stare in disbelief as Jasper shot him an irritated glare.

“Anyway, Elara, how’s the rain treating you?” he asked, shifting the conversation.

“I enjoy the rain; it brings me comfort," I replied,

“Wow, the complete opposite of Bella, huh? Hahaha!” Emmett chuckled, his laughter infectious. The group shared a quiet laugh, though I could feel the heat of irritation rising in Bella as she shot Emmett an annoyed glare.

“I was told you were new last year, Bella. Where did you move from?” I asked, genuinely interested.

“I came from Phoenix, Arizona,” Bella responded, her tone casual yet hinting at a deeper story behind the move.

“What’s it like there?” Elara inquired, eager to learn more.“It's mostly like a hot and dry desert, so moving here was a big change.”

“uhh, I don't think I could do it there. I'm not good with extreme heat.”

“Yeah, it does get hot there, but you get used to it just like here. I was iffy about it initially, but now it's grown on me.” She hugs Edwards's arm, and they both stare at each other with apparent love in their eyes.

“Get a room, you two,” Rue says, echoing emmets earlier exaggeration. 

“So, Elara, tell us about yourself,” Alice prompted, leaning forward with interest.

Elara smiled softly, her eyes glimmering with excitement and nervousness. “Well, I moved here with my aunt and uncle a few weeks ago.”

“Why did you move? If you don’t mind my asking,” Alice continued, her curiosity piqued.

“Oh no, it’s perfectly fine!” Elara assured her. My parents' jobs required them to travel often to distant places, so it was becoming difficult for me to settle down. I decided to come here to finish school in one place instead of constantly moving from city to city.” The cover story I came up with easily spilled from my lips.

Alice nodded sympathetically, her expression understanding. “I can imagine how challenging that must be. It must be tough to be the new kid constantly; I can only imagine how it feels to start over multiple times a year.”

I shrugged slightly, “I don’t mind it as much as you might think.”

Intrigued,  Rose tilted her head and asked, “Are you an only child?”

“No, actually,” Elara replied, her expression brightening. “I have two new baby brothers named Vance and Nate. They’re just a few months old, and the family dynamics have certainly changed with them around!” I chuckled, pulling my phone out to show the latest picture I had of the boys 

“Aw, they are so cute; I'm sure you miss them,” Alice states. 

“I do, but it's okay. I know they are being well taken care of, and besides, my pet takes up more time than he should, so I'm never really that lonely. 

“Oh, you have a pet; what animal are they?”  Alice asks from her seat next to Rue 

“He's an albino ball python.” 

“You have a pet snake? Bella asks incredulously. 

“Yes, I know the general population doesn't like them, but I found him as a child, and he has been with me since. He's smart, almost mischievously so. I say, showing Bella the various photos I have 

“Hey!!!!” I can hear Aurelius complain through our bond. 

“He's almost crystal-like; those pretty scales look like thousands of diamonds.

Though Bella sits in aww, I can feel the others stiffen slightly. Hmm 

“Let's change the subject, elara. What’s your favorite class so far.?” emmet asks once again, breaking the tension. 

“I would have to say history so far.”

“Oh, that's your class with Jasper, right?”

“Alice!” Jasper scolds her silently as he sees the blush form on my cheeks. 

“Yes, that is the class I have with Jasper, who has been nothing short of a gentleman to me since he got saddled with me being his desk partner.”

“That’s how my momma raised me, true Southern hospitality.”

“I'm glad it's an attractive feature.”

Alice suddenly Interrupts the staring between Jasper and I

“Hey Elara, you wouldn’t happen to have any plans next weekend, do you?”

“Nope”

“Then you should come to port A with all of us girls; I think we would all love for you to become a friend.”

“I would love that.”

“Hooray, okay, here's my phone number, and we'll finalize all the details.” Exchanging numbers with Alice feels mundane; she even whispered she'd give me the other's numbers later, only if I wanted them. 

The rest of lunch is filled with general small talk and some munching, with Bella and I being the only ones eating at the table. All too soon, the bell echoes in the room, signaling the end of the lunch period. 

“Oh shoot, there's the bell right when the conversation was getting good, to”

“It’s ok, Alice. Maybe Elara would like to sit with us again,” Jasper asks, showing his beautiful smile. 

“Of course I will. Besides Alice, you and I have the next class together; we can continue talking there.” 

“Perfect, then let's go.” She hops up quickly, kissing Rue on the cheek before taking my arm in hers to start walking to our class 

“Bye, Elara; I'll see you in the last period.” Jasper manages before emmet slings his arm around him in a half-choke with a giant smile on his face. 

“Yeah, Elara, he’ll see your last period,” Laughs emmet as he drags Jasper off. 

“Bye, Jasper.” you wave after them just in time to see him look back and give a final kilowatt smile. 

Walking to my car after school, Aurelius warns me my mate is approaching quickly. 

“Hey elara”

“Hey Jasper”

“I wanted to say sorry about lunch. 

“Why?” 

“I just didn't want you to feel pressured about anything. I know Alice can be pushy sometimes.”

“It was perfect, Jasper. Besides, I needed an excuse to get closer to you anyway. 

He smiles at this. “Would you be up for a date this weekend if that's the case? 

“Absolutely” 

“Good, I got your number from Alice. I'll call you later, okay? 

“Okay”

“Good, be safe getting home, darlin.”  He says, giving me a kilowatt smile as he walks back to the group. I can see Emmett and Edward giving him a hard time. Emmett even screams out "Bye Elara" to further embarrass his brother,  several heads turning at the sound. I smile, laughing at the boy as I wave off the group before stepping into my car and driving off.

Saturday rolls around, and I meet Jasper and the location he sent me. It was the entrance of a nature preserve. Arriving early, nervous yet excited, the gentle breeze plays with my red hair as my heart races at the thought of seeing him. Moments later, he arrives—tousled blond hair and a disarming smile that makes my stomach flutter. He's dressed casually yet stylishly, wearing a fitted navy shirt and dark jeans. With a light jacket thrown over,

“Hey there,” he greeted, his voice warm and inviting.

 “Hi!” she replied, trying to contain her excitement. 

“I’m glad you could make it.” 

He gestured for my hand and placed it on his as we started along the flower-lined path. The sweet fragrance of blooms surrounded us as we exchanged stories about our experiences growing up, though we both had to negate certain aspects. We made each other laugh with anecdotes that revealed our personalities. 

Our first stop was an outdoor café, where we ordered hot teas and a small assortment of breakfast pastries to share. Laughter filled the air between us as we played the card games they had scattered about, playfully competing to see who could win the most rounds. 

After that, the park had a horse rental that Jasper suggested, stating he had grown up around horses. Having had the same experience, I readily agreed. The mare I chose was a beautiful paint horse, who, unlike my mount at home, was bread-for-speed; this one was bred for a gentle temperament. Jasper chose a deep brown male with a beautiful dark mane. That seemed a perfect companion for Jasper.

Quickly, we saddled up, and off we went, the wind and mist rushing past us. I always felt so free riding my horse. It was my family's favorite pastime; my father disliked flying. (Bad experiences and all that.) It was exhilarating—just living in the moment, exploring hidden nooks of the park, stopping now and then to admire a picturesque view or take silly selfies together. 

As twilight descended, we found a quiet spot by a small pond, where the water mirrored the colors of the sunset—sitting side by side on a large rock as the horse grazed nearby.  Everything felt so easy around Jasper. Natural as if we had been with each other forever. Before I knew it, the sun began setting. We took the horses back and started walking back to the cafe and exiting, darkness enveloping the park. Jasper reached for my hand, bringing it softly. Our fingers intertwined as warmth spread through me, a blend of excitement and comfort.

 The atmosphere grew more intimate as stars began to twinkle overhead. He turned to me, his expression severe yet soft.

 “I’ve enjoyed today. You’re not like anyone I’ve met before.” 

I felt my cheeks flush. “I could say the same about you, cowboy. This has been amazing.” 

“I know we haven't known each other long, but I love you, elara.

“I love you too, Jasper.”

Then would you be willing to be mine, darlin?.” he said, searching her eyes for a response. 

“Of course, cowboy,” I replied, smiling brightly. 

They lingered a little longer in the moment, sharing glances before he leaned in and kissed me softly, a sweet, tentative kiss that sent butterflies swirling in my stomach. I could tell he was worried about tightening his arms around me, thinking I was a fragile human, but soon, it passed as he gathered me fully in his arms, our chests brushing as the kiss deepened.

The world around seemed to fade, leaving just the two of us under the starlit sky—a perfect ending to a beautiful date.

The remainder of the week spent with the Cullens was fantastic. Each meal was better than the last, and their laughter and engaging conversations warmed my heart. Each sibling was unique, yet they were intertwined in a familial embrace that was hard to resist. I was over the moon with the progress I was making now that I was officially with Jasper. I stayed by his side, slowly becoming part of the group, though I could tell they were still holding back.

It was not surprising, considering their family's secret. I wouldn't tell anyone if I were in their position. I was in that situation myself, but hopefully, soon, I would be able to share everything with them and with them. I just had to make sure they would accept it all.

It’s finally the following Sunday, and I'm ready to experience Midgardian shopping and meet my mate's parents, even though I'm slightly nervous. Arriving at the house, I momentarily admire its beauty, with its all-glass walls and natural light, before walking up to the front door. I go to knock when the door flies open to reveal a smiling Alice. 

“Oh, elara, I'm so happy you're here.” 

Alice practically pulls me through the house to the kitchen, where the smell of cookies wafts. Behind the kitchen island, a beautiful woman stands; she reminds me of Grandma Frigga, the grace, strength, and kindness radiating off her in the same waves as her beautiful chestnut hair. This must be Esme Cullen, their mom.

“Esme, look who’s here.”

“Oh, hello there, dear. How great to finally meet you. The children haven’t stopped talking about you.”

She crosses over to you and pulls you into a quick Hug.

“Oh, thank you. It's wonderful to meet you, too, and I must say it smells amazing here.”

“Oh, thank you, dear; I'm making cookies for Carlisle's colleges at the hospital.

“Did I hear my name?” A sweet, honeyed voice calls as the head of the family walks up to his wife, embracing her from behind.

“You did, but now that you're here, introduce yourself to the children's new friend.

“Ahh, you must be Elara Mani,” Carlisle greets as he reaches out to shake hands. 

“That would be me, sir.”

“Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm glad the kids have all made a new friend.

“It's my pleasure. 

“ I hear you girls are going up to Port Arthur to shop 

“Yes, sir. Alice graciously invited me along. I’ve never been up there, so I'm sure it will be exciting. 

“Oh course it will elara well go to all my favorite stores and find the perfect outfits. 

“What about us, Alice?”

“Oh, there you two are. Where's Bella? Did she skip again.?”

“Yeah, she’s with Edward today. ;)

“Oh, are they that couple?” I ask 

“Yes, they are a girl! But Rose can’t say much; she and Emmet are about the same.

“Oh please, rue, like you and Alice aren't. “

I won't say we aren’t. I love my little pixie pie.” Rue rushes over to Alice to kiss her cheek and squeeze her

“Ok, whatever, elara, we're gonna go in my  car instead of Alice because, trust me, you don’t want Alice to drive.”

“I heard that Rose,’

“Good, you were supposed to. Come on”

As the girls all say their goodbyes and walk away, I can’t help but turn back to again say goodbye to Carlisle and Esme, 

“Thank you so much; it was terrific to meet you both.

“You too, dear.”

“Yes, don’t let those girls bully you into anything you don’t want to do. We thought poor Bella would never go with them again.”

“I'll keep that in mind, Dr.Cullen.” 

“You can just call me Carlisle. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again.

“I hope so.”

Honking from the garage signals my retreat from the loving matriarchs to the hyper vampire waiting for me in the garage. 

Esme and Carlisle’s pov 

Watching the young girl leave, I turn to my beautiful wife. 

“So that's Jasper's mate.

“Yes, and I can already tell she'll be a fantastic mate for him. I’ve never seen him smile as much as he has this past week. He’s finally coming out of that scared shell of his.

“I agree, dear, and all the others seem to like her. I hope Rose stays so open with her and we don’t have another repeat of Bella.

“I believe she will. Elara has a unique air about her, and I’m sure good things will come to our family.” 

Taking one last look at the directions the girls went, I silently agreed with my wife as I pulled her into my side.

Elaras pov 

The red BMW drives down the street, top-down, and music blasting. The wind flows through my hair as Rose expertly drives into town. All I can hear is the occasional signing from Rue beside me as Alice and Rose go on about Alice’s driving skills. After five minutes, we all pulled into a shopping district, and the day began.

We go to shop after shop, and I now have no doubt that these girls are inhuman. We’ve blown through so many stores, and it's almost shocking. But the fun and light conversation between all of us keeps driving me. Finally, we stopped at the food court. They all get a smoothie, and I find whatever seems most appetizing here. 

“So Elara, tell us how it's going with Jasper. Have you done anything yet.?”

Spitting out my drink, I can only mimic a fish caught above water as everyone else slightly laughs at my expression. 

“Alice, subtel much.”

“Oh, Rose, I know you wanted to ask. So Elara tells us.”

“Is this appropriate, considering he’s your brother?”

“I mean, he is our brother, but I can tell there is a connection between you, too. Finally, it's nice to pick at him about relationship stuff.”

“Of course.” 

“What it is! None of us have seen him smile so much in a long time.”

“Rues right, you’ve truly had an amazing effect on him.” 

“What can I say?” I say, shrugging my shoulders and downing my smoothie.

“Aww, she's embarrassed.”  Rue smacks Alice’s shoulder at the sound.

“Stop it; go on, elara.” 

“He is incredibly kind-hearted and has a beautiful sense of humor that always makes me smile. He is brilliant; I think he knows more about history than our teacher does. (which is evident since he was around during that period). Beyond that, he embodies the qualities of a true gentleman—always respectful and thoughtful in his actions, which is a big bonus; my father taught me I shouldn't accept less since I was little ( you know, being royalty and all)  He's truly everything I have ever dreamed of in a partner. (Thank Odin, since he's my soulmate)

“Aww, that's adorable. I’ve got to tell you that he thinks the same. 

“Alice, for god's sake, stop.” 

“No, Rose. I want my brother and our friend to be together. I know they will be happy, Elara. I want you and Jasper to live happily ever after; it's the least I can do for my future sister. 

“Future sister, huh? " I ask even though I'm glad Alice is so gun-ho. It's honestly entertaining watching the others try to reel in her enthusiasm. 

“Alice, they just started dating. They're not about to get married. Reel it in a little!!!” Rose scolds the girl again as she pouts and clings to my arm. I just laugh, shielding her from the others, calling her my future sister-in-law, and perking the girl back up.

Sticking her tongue out at Rosalie triumphantly, she stands, whisking us away from the food court to continue the shopping extravaganza.

The air is light, and I only think of how I hope this peace remains. With all of our secrets yet to be revealed, so much could go wrong, but at this moment, we are simply four girls living in the moment.

[dirtybitfic]

TRIP(Chris sturniolo fic)

There will be SMUUUUUUUT coming in the next parts .BITCHHHes YESSSSS be readyyy.

Story line- You are seniors in highschool and your school has a senior trip to the Bahamas and you end up with an unexpected roommate

Y/n pov-

We just landed after a long flight and I can’t wait to finally get to the hotel , we only have two chaperones for the trip and thank god they are the cool teachers.

I was talking to my best friend Thalia when our teacher said that the bus to the hotel arrived and told us all to grab our bags and get on .

✨20 mins later ✨

We just got to the resort and we all are talking loud asf while Mrs. James is trying to get everyone’s attention.

She takes the intercom and tells us all to quite down which we do quickly.

“Okay everyone a couple ground rules before we get to room assignments. None of you are allowed to leave the resort for your safety leaving the resort walls can be very dangerous at night okay . Second we don’t give a fuck if you drink givin most of y’all are 18 and it’s legal year just be smart about it and third HAVE FUNNNNNNN! “ she said over the intercom and we all cheered

This is why we love her she’s so chill and layed back it’s very refreshing when most teachers we have had are . Cunts!

We all started to grab our stuff and get off the bus we all walked into the lobby and I couldn’t help but look around at how beautiful it was. Mrs. James walked in front of everybody to start listing off the room assignments. “ OK first room we have is Nick, Tallia, James and lily… she kept listing off rooms until there was only a couple of us left. And one of them being non other than Chris sturniolo one of your good friend nicks triplet brothers who you’ve had a major crush on for so long but never said anything about it since you and Nick are good friends and you’d never want to jeopardize  that.

“Okay next … Chris and arwen your in room 1122 it’s all the way on the east wing and might I add probably the best room you could have gotten ! “ she said excitedly.

You looked at her and smiled and looked at Chris as you both walked up to grab your keys from her. As you started walking towards the hall leading to the east side of the resort, Chris stopped you. Hey, I’m gonna go grab one of the bag carts since we’re gonna have to walk a a good amount over two the other side of the resort OK Chris says to you. Yeah sounds good. You said as he ran off to go grab the cart

You started thinking to yourself how nervous you really were to have to be spending two weeks in a room alone with Chris you didn’t know what would happen, or if you could keep yourself in check. As you were deep in thought, Chris came back with the cart.

“hey y/n you good” he asked you as he was putting your bags on the cart.

“Oh uuuh yeah sorry must have zoned out” you said trying to cover up the blush that was taking over your face.

“Well what are waiting for let’s go “ he says starting to walk down the long hall to the other side of the resort.

You jogged to catch up with him.

“Hey I’m really glad I got roomed with you y/n . I was getting a little scared that I was gonna be with someone I don’t know aw fucking all” he said looking over at you .

“Yeah same after I heard Nick , thalia, Matt , Nate , lily and James’s names I got a little nervous I was gonna be out with a weirdo “ you said laughing a little.

He laughed with you . After about 19 more minutes you reached the elevator and took it up to the 10th floor and got to your room.

You opened it since Chris had the cart and you held the door for him to bring the cart in.

“HOLY SHIT “ you yelled when you finally took a look at the room.

He threw a hand over your mouth laughing.

“Y/n oh my god we don’t want to get a noise complaint first day we’re here” he said.

“I’m sorry it’s just so … fucking beautiful “ you said and you walked over to the huge sliding glass door out to a small lap pool over looking the crystal blue ocean .

After Chris unloaded the bags and put the cart back out into the hall he walked up behind you looking out at the view.

His presence behind you making you shiver a little bit from how close he was . “god I could die happy if I saw this everyday” he said from behind you .

You turned your head a bit too look at him and smile agreeing with him.

“So what should we do first “ he said excitedly.

“Idk we could see about maybe getting some room service since I am starving” you said as yours and his stomach growled from the sound of food.

“Agreed I didn’t realize how hungry I was till you said that” he laughed a little.

You guys looked through the book of stuff to order and picked out what you wanted . Chris called since he knew you had social anxiety and speaking on the phone and ordering food were two of the things you hated most.

You went to start unpacking your stuff and your phone rang Chris picked it up and answered it.

“Hey y/n… oh shit hey Chris I didn’t expect you to answer” you heard Nick say in the other line . You laughed a little .

“Yep me and y/n got roomed together . So what’s up” Chris asked .

“Welllll me and Thalia were looking through all the books to find fun things to do tonight and they are having a beach bonfire , movie night, Oooor they have a club in the resort that looks cool asf . So I was calling to see which one y/n and now ig you think sounds more fun” Nick said .

You walked over to sit with Chris and discuss it with each other. You both agreed to start with the bonfire and then go to the club after.

Nick and Thalia agreed and then said they call the others to tell them the plan .

As you got up again there was a knock at the door and Chris went to answer it .

He wheeled in the cart of our food and thanked the person who brought it and then brought it over to the side of the bed. You finished unpacking your stuff into the big open walk in closet and went to sit down with chris.

“Oh I got you a pina colada since I know you love them” chris says.

“Ahh thank you how did you know that though “ you asked him not remembering ever telling him.

“Eh you know I’m just like that” chris says making you laugh and shove him a little with your shoulder.

Pt.2 and others coming sooooon. 🫦💋.