#the cropping in the second picture makes it look like he's got a wedding dress on with long white gloves | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

atlafan · 4 years ago

Text

a/n: Hello! My lovely patrons said it was alright to post the first part of my new miniseries here. I hope you enjoy this because it’s a fun story. If you’d like to see what happens next, subscribe to my patreon!

Warnings: angst and fluff, misunderstandings, some smoking of weed (THIS IS A SLOW BURN)

Words: 9.9K

Summary: Harry is 25, and decides to go to graduate school. He's in a film studies program, and becomes a GA for Dr. Casey Robertson, who he assumes is a man. When he goes to Casey's office for their first meeting, he realizes that Dr. Robertson is a woman. The two get along great as the semester progresses, and Harry starts to form a little crush on Casey. There's just one problem...she's engaged.

Harry thought he’d have his life together by now. His whole life he was told if he went to college, he’d be guaranteed a good job and a lasting career. He soon learned, however, that things wouldn’t be that simple. All he wanted to do was watch movies, and review them. He tried making a YouTube channel where he’d review the films he watched, but the videos didn’t get many views, and the few comments he’d get were pretty lewd.

He was sick of working at a grocery store during the day, and a bar at night. He barely had the time to do the things he liked, and he just wasn’t happy. So, he did what any other depressed twenty-five-year-old would do: he applied to graduate school. It made his parents happy since it would give him a break from having to pay off his student loans, and help him find some direction. Harry was able to secure a decent enough GA position that would pay him enough that he wouldn’t need to worry about a job, and he was able to find an apartment with some other graduate students.

So, there he was, enrolled into a Film Studies program, and he’d be a GA for the Writing, Literature, and Publishing undergraduate program. He wouldn’t be teaching or anything, but he would be helping out with a lot of grading and course design. He’d need to have office hours available, and be willing to work with students that have questions.

His roommates were nice enough. Two of them were in biology programs, and another was in art and animation program. Everyone had their own room, and they all had to share a bathroom, but it was okay. They were all adults, and all agreed on chores and how to keep things clean. The four all went out for drinks the first weekend they all moved in to get to know each other better. Harry could really see himself being friends with these people.

He was a little nervous about being a GA. He had to do a good job this semester in order to keep his grant money. It had been a while since he had been in a classroom, so he wasn’t sure how he’d do juggling his own classes and schoolwork along with helping a professor grade for their various courses. Luckily, a good chunk of Harry’s classes would be online, and he only needed to go to one in-person lecture. He got an email from the admin of the Writing and Literature department about meeting with a Dr. Robertson a week before classes start. This was the professor he’d be working with.

He wasn’t given a ton of information on what he needed, so he put his laptop in his backpack, threw on a pair of jeans and a nice button up, and headed out the door. He rolled up his sleeves and the ends of his jeans since it was a little hot out. His glasses were on, and his hair was still a little wet from his shower, but other than that he was feeling pretty confident in his look. He wanted to make a good first impression since he’d be working with this professor all year and not just the fall semester. Harry wondered what type of office he’d be given. He was hoping it would at least have a window, but he’d be grateful for whatever private area he’d be given. He was essentially being given a place to write and he wasn’t going to take it for granted.

As he enters the building, he realizes he has no idea where he’s going. He finds the directory, and sees that Dr. Robertson’s office is up on the second floor. He makes his way up, and takes a deep breath before heading down the hall to their office. As he approaches, he sees a woman with wild, wavy hair up in a high ponytail wearing black, high waist leggings, a slightly cropped tank top and sports bra combo, and was mumbling to herself as she rummaged through her bookshelves.

“Um, excuse me…” Harry speaks up.

“Oh!” The woman jumps. She sets her book down and pushes her glasses back up her nose. “You must be Harry, please, come in.” She waves him in.

“Are you Dr. Robertson?”

“I am.” She nods and extends her hand out for him to shake. “Have a seat.” Harry sits down in one of the chairs across from her desk. “You look a little confused.”

“It just doesn’t look like you were, um, expecting anyone…”

“I know, my office is a total disaster. I’m normally okay with organized chaos, but right now it’s just straight up chaos.” She chuckles. She notices Harry’s eyes drift to her cleavage for a moment. “I didn’t dress up for this since I knew I’d be cleaning things up around here, I apologize.”

“No! Uh, no need. I…I’m sorry, I thought you were a man…”

“Casey is a woman’s name.” She blinks.

“It’s also a man’s.” Harry runs a hand through his hair.

“Is it going to be a problem that I’m a woman?” She raises an eyebrow at him.

“No, of course not. I guess I was just picturing some older guy with a dark office and a bottle of whiskey in the corner that he sips on out of crystal.” He chuckles nervously.

“Ah, well, you know what they say about people who assume.” She smirks.

“I’m not making a very good first impression, am I.” It wasn’t a question.

“That depends.” She leans back in her chair.

“On?”

“What your favorite movie is.” She grins. “As long as it’s not The Wolf of Wallstreet you’ll be fine.”

“I mean, it’s not, but I don’t mind that movie. I thought Leo’s performance was good.” Harry shrugs.

“It definitely was, but I don’t think it needed to be three hours long, nor did I need full frontal of Margot Robbie’s vagina, but that’s besides the point. What’s your favorite movie?”

“This is going to sound cliché, but…it’s Citizen Kane.”

“Is that your favorite because it truly is, or is it your favorite because someone told you it should be?”

“No, it’s genuinely my favorite. I’m a big fan of Orson Welles, I think the film was extremely innovative at the time, it still is by today’s standards. And I love how it was blatant commentary on the harms of yellow journalism. It’s cool to think back on how much trouble Welles had with the distribution for it too.” Harry realizes how excited he’s getting, and clears his throat. “Sorry.”

“Never apologize for the things you’re passionate about.”

“What, uh, what’s your favorite movie?”

“The Wedding Singer.” She smiles.

“Isn’t that an Adam Sandler movie?”

“It sure is.” She says proudly. “Look, I can admit that some of his movies aren’t great. However, I’ve written a ton of academic pieces on The Wedding Singer.”

“Really?”

“Mhm, during a time of uncertainty with AIDS there was LGBTQ representation. The actor that played George ended up coming out as transgender, and lived out her days proudly as a woman. Not to mention that Adam Sandler doesn’t use being gay as a punchline, like, ever. There’re always people of color represented in his films as well. And on a personal note, as a Jewish woman, it was always nice seeing that his characters were Jewish. That type of representation was really important to me as a kid.”

“Wow, I guess I never really thought about that.”

“Well, that’s why I have a PhD and you’re going for your master’s.” She smirks. “Teasing.” She pulls some papers out of her desk. “Okay, so this fall I’m teaching Advanced Screenwriting, Analyzing Screen Media, and two sections of freshman Composition. I’ll need you physically there during the composition classes since those will be the ones I’m going to be having you grading the work for. I’m all for helping first year students learn the basics, but I just don’t have the strength to grade their papers this year. Plus, it’ll be good for you to learn how to properly grade an array of work.”

“All that sounds good…you won’t need help with your other classes?”

“Maybe next semester. I teach a scriptwriting class in the spring, along with some other writing courses. You’re going to be taking some pretty high-level stuff this semester, I don’t want you getting overwhelmed.”

“You know what classes I’m taking?”

“Of course I do. I’d be stupid not to look into the person I’m going to be working with. Even though I’m not your graduate advisor, I hope you know I’d be happy to help you with whatever you need. Are you coming right from undergrad, or did you take some time off?”

“It’s been a few years since I’ve been in school. I’m twenty-five.”

“Sometimes it’s good to take some time off, figure out what you want to focus on. What exactly are you hoping to get out of a graduate film program?”

“I want to write high-level film reviews. I was hoping to make a video series, but it’s really tough to build a base on YouTube. I got discouraged.”

“If you ever want me to watch what you have out there already, I’d be more than happy to.”

“Sure, that’d be great. So, uh, where will my office be?”

“Oh, honey, did you think you were getting your own office?” She can’t help but giggle. “We’re not in the science building, GA’s don’t get their own offices over here.”

“How will students meet with me if they have questions?”

“They won’t need to meet with you, you’re not teaching.”

“But I’ll be grading, what if a student wants to question me on a grade?”

“Then they can come to me.” She shrugs.

“Dr. Robertson, where am I supposed to get my own work done?”

“Mi oficina es tu oficina.” She smiles. “You can work in here any time you like. I actually have a key for you.” She opens a drawer and pulls out a key. “Here you go, don’t lose that.”

“What if you’re meeting with a student?”

“As you can see, we have a lovely lounge at the end of the hall, you can go there and set up shop if you need to. You’re a GA, Mr. Styles, pay your dues. Now, here are my syllabi, and you should have gotten an email stating that you’ve been given access to all my courses. There are rubrics for all of the assignments as well, as long as you follow those you should have no problem grading.”

“Alright.” Harry takes the different sheets of paper from her, catching sight of the ring on her finger. “Are you married?” He wasn’t quite sure why he asked, but he couldn’t stop himself.

“Hm? Oh, no.” She laughs. “Just engaged.” She extends her hand to look down at her ring. “Been engaged for over a year, we can’t seem to decide on a date. My fiancé is a lawyer, and a highly sought after one at that.”

“Why not just pick a random day to go to a courthouse?”

“Well, we both have big families, and we don’t want to disappoint any of them.” She sighs. “It’s fine, we’ll figure it out at some point. Neither of us are really in a rush. We’ve been together five years, it’ll happen when it happens.” She studies Harry for a moment. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Have anyone special?”

“Oh!” Harry’s cheeks redden. “Um, no…nothing serious, anyways.”

“Maybe you’ll meet someone here. You should go to the GA meetings, meet others doing what you’re doing.”

“I’m living with three other GA’s, we’re getting along pretty well so far. But I’ll definitely check out when those meetings are.”

“Good.” She smiles.

“May I ask how old you are? You seem so accomplished, I mean…look at all of the degrees and certificates you have.” Harry motions to the various frames on the walls.

“Some of those are just recognition certificates. I’m twenty-eight. I did a 4+1 program to get my master’s so I could zip right along into a PhD program. I was lucky enough that I was hired on full-time after getting it. The department really values me.”

“That’s awesome.” Harry smiles. “Anything else you’d like me to know about your classes?”

“Not at the moment. Would you be comfortable giving me your cell number? Anything I can do to have less emails, you know?”

“I don’t mind.” Harry smiles again and takes out his phone, handing it to her.

“Thanks, it’ll be much easier to tell you if something changes last minute this way.” She texts herself before handing him back his phone.

“Your fiancé won’t mind you texting me?” Harry asks playfully, warming up to her a bit more.

“No, why would he? We’re not one of those couples who reads each other’s texts. My phone is my property just as his phone is his property. We trust each other.” She rests her elbows on her desk, putting even more of her cleavage on display for him without realizing it. “Besides that, I’m not trying to start an affair with my GA who should be very careful about flirting with me so that he doesn’t end up on some very thin ice.”

“I…I…I wasn’t-“

“You were being cheeky with me.” She crosses her arms over her chest as a smug smile sets on her lips. “I like to tease, Mr. Styles, you can relax your shoulders now.”

“I think it’s going to take me some time to get used to your sense of humor.” Harry says with a relaxed sigh.

“Well, you’re stuck with me for an entire year, so you’ve got plenty of time to figure me out. Now, if you don’t have any other questions, you can go on and enjoy the rest of your day.” She stands back up. “I need to continue organizing my books, and the rest of this mess.” Harry nods and stands up.

“It was nice to meet you. You know you can just call me Harry, right?”

“Sure.” She smiles. “I prefer to be called Dr. Robertson in the classroom, when we’re not in there you can just call me Casey.”

“Okay.” Harry smiles.

“Oh, wait! Are you free the day before classes start? I was hoping to take you to lunch as a sort of good luck thing.”

“I can definitely do lunch the day before classes start.”

As Harry walks back to his apartment, he can’t help but think about how cool Casey is. She’s a bit frazzled, yes, but she seems like someone Harry will be able to easily work with. At least he wouldn’t have to kiss the ass of some stuffy old professor. Casey’s ass is one Harry wouldn’t mind kissing, but she had a fiancé to take care of that for her. He had to admit, Casey was insanely attractive, but he’d politely just admire her from afar and respect that she was very much a taken woman. Besides that, it would be incredibly inappropriate to even try to start something up with the professor he was GA’ing for. No, he’d keep things professional. He wasn’t even looking for someone to be with right now anyways. If he felt the need to hook up with someone, he could either head down to the bars or download Tinder.

“Alright, if we could settle down and get started!” Casey shouts over the buzz of students talking in her first section of composition. “My name is Dr. Robertson, and that is what I’d prefer to be called. My pronouns are she/her. I encourage you all to be vocal about how you’d like to be addressed just the same. This is Mr. Styles, you may call him Harry. He’s going to be grading all of your work this semester, so you can send any and all excuses his way.” Casey grins and sits down on top of the desk at the front of the room. “Now, I’d like us all to go around the room and say your name, where you’re from, and what TV show you binged over the summer. I know for me, I rewatched Boy Meets World for the millionth time, and it was still just as good.”

Harry was impressed. Most of the time students hated ice breakers, but this was a pretty engaging one. Once the class of twenty-five is through, Casey goes over their course page in Canvas and the syllabus.

“Now, this specific course of composition has a topic, so we’re going to be writing about television this semester. If you don’t think you can write about that, then you may want to find another section of composition to take. I will say, we’re going to have a lot of fun in this class. We’re going to watch some interesting shows, and you may find that you’re ‘to watch’ list will have grown exponentially by the end of the semester.”

Casey asks if anyone has any questions, and a few do which causes some lively class discussion for the remainder of the period. She lets them go about fifteen minutes early. Harry walks over to her as she unplugs her laptop from the monitor on the lectern.

“Seems like the majority of them are going to enjoy the content for this class.” Harry tells her, but all she does is hum her response as she looks down at her phone. She sighs heavily before putting her phone in her pocket. “Everything okay?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. Just figuring out what Daniel and I are going to have for dinner, nothing serious.” She waves him off as she slings her bag over her shoulder. “How are your classes going so far?” She asks as they walk out of the room and head towards her office.

“Pretty good, I don’t think anything is going to be too difficult for me. I have to watch a lot of movies, but I was expecting that.” Harry shrugs.

Once they’re in her office, Casey sits down at her desk, and Harry makes himself comfortable on her couch. This is the routine they had started since she took him for lunch a few days ago. They worked in a comfortable silence together, occasionally taking breaks to chat. Casey was happy she got assigned a GA that knew the difference between work and play. Her cell phone ends up ringing about five different times. By the fifth time Harry heard the buzzing, he couldn’t help but speak up.

“If you need to take that I can step out.” Harry says.

“No, it’s fine.” Casey sighs. “It’s just Daniel being Daniel.”

“What do you mean?”

“His time is more valuable than mine.” She rolls her eyes. “He knows I’m working.”

“What if it’s an emergency?”

“It’s not.”

“Casey, he’s called you five times-“

“It’s not an emergency, now mind your business.” She snaps and stands up with her phone in her hand. “I’ll be back shortly.”

Casey didn’t share too much personal stuff with Harry about her fiancé. When they had lunch together, she told Harry his name is Daniel, and she explained the type of law he practiced, but not much more than that. She didn’t get into how they met, or how he proposed. She didn’t even seem to be excited while talking about him like she did when she and Harry first met. Casey returns about ten minutes later, and sits back down in her chair.

“I’m sorry if I overstepped.” Harry says softly.

“You didn’t.” She sighs. “I snapped at you for no good reason, I apologize.”

“Is everything alright?”

“Mhm.” She says without looking at him, and going into her email on her computer.

Harry furrows his brows as he looks at her, but gets back to what he was doing. If she didn’t want to talk about it then he wasn’t going to push her. Harry notices her resting her chin on her fist as she looks at the picture of her and Daniel that she had on her desk. She sighs heavily and shakes her head, returning to her emails.

“I have my lecture in a bit, so I’m gonna head out.” Harry says, putting his backpack on.

“Alright, have a good class.” She gives him a soft smile. “See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” He smiles back. “See you tomorrow.”

Harry’s lecture was long and boring. It was a class all about black and white films, and the beginning of cinema up through the 1950’s. It would be a class full of dense reading materials and learning about theorists that Harry had only briefly learned about previously in undergrad. Normally this would be a class Harry would be really interested in, but the professor had to be at least 70, and he was quite monotone.

When he gets home to his apartment, he grabs a Bud Light out of the fridge, twists the cap off the top, then settles onto the couch. His roommates were all still in class and would be meeting up for pizza in a bit, so Harry had about an hour to himself before he was to go downtown to meet up for dinner. He takes his phone out and scrolls through his various notifications. Halfway through his beer he decides to text Casey.

Harry: any thoughts on Dr. Jensen?

Casey: oh god don’t tell me he’s teaching your lecture course…

Harry: yeah…so is he going to stay boring all semester?

Casey: that dinosaur should have retired years ago, I’m so sorry you have to have a class with him. Is it the early cinema through the 1950’s class?

Harry: that’s the one! The content is interesting enough, but I was on the verge of falling asleep the whole time, idk how I’m gonna survive an entire semester with the guy. Any tips on how to survive his course?

Casey: def make sure you keep up with the homework. He’s one of those jerks that’s been using the same syllabus for the last 20 yrs, so he doesn’t update his exams. I’d also recommend getting a recorder for his lectures, keeping up with notes is basically impossible during class, but if you can go back and listen he actually makes a lot of good points

Harry: you’re a lifesaver, thank you!! 😊

Casey: any time! I actually like a lot of the movies he has on his syllabus, so if you ever want a movie buddy just let me know!

Casey: I’ve got that couch in my office literally so I can comfortably watch movies

A sigh leaves Harry’s mouth when he sees that she rushed to make it known watching movies would only be an on-campus thing. Would it be so weird if she came to his apartment for a movie night?

Harry: that sounds great, I actually have to watch The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by the end of the week. I’m sure you’ve seen it a million times though…

Casey: I have, but it’s one of my favorites so I won’t mind watching it again

Harry: really??

Casey: yeah! I love German Gothic films, I took a class solely on them in grad school, I can’t get enough. The makeup, the sharp edges, the harsh shadows, it was all just so interesting

He sees the time on his phone and realizes he needs to head downtown to meet up with his roommates. Harry wasn’t one for using his phone while eating with friends, so much to his dismay he has to end the conversation.

Harry: learn something new about you every day! I have to get going, meeting up for pizza with friends. Did you figure out what you and Daniel are having for dinner?

Casey: pasta…have fun with your friends!

Harry: a classic choice, I love pasta

He almost wished he hadn’t sent that last text. She didn’t respond to it. Harry groans at himself, and picks himself up to head outside. He couldn’t wait to stuff his face with some greasy pizza, drink some more beer, and just unwind with his new friends. It was nice being back in school and feeling like your responsibilities could be put on the back burner for a bit. Schoolwork was a less anxiety inducing thing to focus on, as opposed to what the fuck Harry was going to do with his life. Casey would be a great mentor for him. She was essentially doing what he thinks he’d like to be doing. He had an entire year to pick her brain, and he wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. With any luck he’d be her GA again next year, but he didn’t want to get too far ahead of himself.

Casey and Harry were getting along famously. It was nearly October, and they were already in perfect sync. She was beyond grateful for him and his speedy grading. He was a fast reader, and she was not, so having him grade all of those papers and forum posts for her composition courses freed her up to focus on the work in her other classes. Harry tried his best not to bring up Daniel. Any time he did, Casey seemed to shut down. He’d only ask because he wanted to make sure Daniel wasn’t doing anything abusive to Casey. She never came in with a scratch on her, but Daniel could easily be doing something mental. Daniel never showed up to Casey’s office. If Harry were engaged to Casey, he’d want to visit her all he could, but maybe Casey didn’t like being visited since she always had something to do.

“Hey, Casey, what’s this faculty Halloween party about?” Harry asks her one Thursday afternoon. “I got an e-vite for it.”

“Oh! I forgot they put you on the faculty email list. You should go, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a great way for all of us to get together outside of the monthly faculty meetings. Everyone dresses up, it’s at one of the bars downtown. We get two drink tickets, and the rest you buy yourself.”

“Do other GA’s go?”

“Sometimes.” Casey nods. “It would be a good way for you to meet some of the other GA’s, and other faculty members. You can never have too many of us in your corner.”

“That’s true. What do you think I should dress up as? Like, how all out do people go?”

“Definitely keep it classy, appropriate, but don’t be afraid to have fun. Daniel and I usually do a couple’s costume. We have so much fun going to the store every year and figuring out what we want to do. It works out great cause his law firm has a costume party every year too.” She smiles. “We’re headed to the fabric store this weekend actually to start thinking of ideas.”

“Oh, that’s good. Um, what have you gone as in the past?”

“I’ll show you!” Casey grabs her phone, and wheels herself closer to Harry so he can see. “Last year we went as Bob and Linda from Bob’s Burgers, the year before that we went as vampires, and the year before that we went as Cosmo and Wanda from The Fairly Oddparents.”

“Aw, you guys looks so happy.”

“Yeah.” Casey swallows and locks her phone, wheeling back over to her desk. “Can’t wait to see what we come up with this year.” She mutters as she gets back to her work.

“I’ll have to really think about it. I haven’t dressed up for Halloween in forever.”

“Your friends didn’t have parties?”

“They did, but I was usually working. The bar I worked at had costume contests and stuff, so we were always busy. I’d get too hot from running around to dress up as anything.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Hmm…” She taps her chin as she thinks. “You could go as, like, a baseball player or something.”

“You’re just saying that because you want to see me in a pair of those tight pants.” Harry smirks.

“I see you in tight pants every day, it wouldn’t be anything new.” She says smugly before turning away from him.

“I do not wear tight pants every day.” Harry scoffs. “They may be tight in certain places, but it’s not like I’m walking around in skinny jeans.”

“True.” She side eyes him. “Maybe you could go as a Jonas Brother, all of them wear tight pants, or they used to.”

“I don’t think anyone at that party would get the reference.” Harry rolls his eyes.

“Well, don’t say I didn’t help you think of anything.” She shrugs.

Harry chuckles softly as he gets back to grading papers. He loved when Casey would tease him. He had grown a lot more comfortable with her sense of humor, and they would often end up in hysterics from their banter.

“Casey.” A tall man with salt and pepper hair wearing an expensive looking suit stands in the doorway. He was holding a small bouquet of flowers, and his eyes looked tired. “Baby, can I take you to lunch?”

“Daniel, I’m working.” Casey stands up. “Harry, this is my fiancé, Daniel. Daniel, this is my GA, Harry.”

“Hi, I’ve heard a lot about you.” Daniel says to Harry, then turns his attention back to Casey. “Please, you didn’t pack a lunch this morning. Let me take you out.”

Casey sighs, and ushers Daniel out into the hallway.

“You can’t just show up like this.” She says quietly.

“I’m really trying here, Honey.”

“I only have an hour, so we need to go somewhere quick.”

“That’s fine, uh, I got these for you. Know how much you like tulips.”

“These aren’t even season.” She smiles as she takes the flowers from him. “Thank you, Sweetheart, let me just go grab my jacket.” Casey goes back into her office and grabs her things. “Harry, I’ll be back in a little while.”

“Okay, I’ll probably be in class by the time you get back.”

“Alright.” She nods, and zips up her jacket.

“Do you want me to put those in some water for you?” He asks, nodding towards the flowers.

“Huh? Oh, no, that’s alright. They won’t last more than a few days as it is. It’s not worth it.”

Harry had ended up putting together a Clark Kent costume by wearing a light-wash pair of jeans, some converse, a Superman tee shirt with a jacket over it half zipped, and his glasses. He styled his hair to give the front an extra curl. The faculty would definitely be able to see the effort, but it also didn’t look like Harry was trying too hard. He heads downtown to the bar with his roommates, as they were all invited too. They all decided to be super heroes in disguise, so they made sure to take a ton of pictures before going to the party. Harry’s jaw nearly hits the floor when he spots Casey wearing a Morticia Addams costume. Even though Casey wasn’t showing much skin, her off the shoulder dress was leaving little to the imagination.

“Excuse me.” Harry says to his friends before making his way over to Casey. “Hi.”

“Harry!” She beams. “I’m so glad you could make it.”

“Me too, uh, what do you think of my costume?”

“I love it! Very cute and creative.” She smiles. “No one ever really thinks about dressing as the secret identity.”

“Casey, don’t you look lovely!” Dr. Lind says to her. “Where’s your Gomez?”

“Oh, uh, Daniel’s busy working a case. He couldn’t get away and I told him not to worry about it.” Casey explains.

“Aw, that’s too bad. It’s been ages since we’ve seen him. Have you two picked a date yet?”

“No, not yet. We both have had a lot going on, and we can’t seem to agree on the best time to do it. I’m sure we’ll figure it out soon.”

“You two should just elope, get it done at a courthouse and then have a big party for your families. I mean, the point of being engaged is not to stay engaged.”

“It’s only been a little over a year.” Casey mutters.

“I know, Dear, but you-“

“You know what’s great about being in a monogamous relationship? What happens between Daniel and I is between Daniel and I, none of this really concerns you, Nancy. I appreciate your input, but it’s not needed, excuse me.” Casey has to bite back tears as she walks away.

“My goodness, I didn’t mean to upset her.” Dr. Lind says to Harry.

“I’ll go see if she’s alright.” Harry finds Casey getting a new drink from the bar. He pulls her to the side to have a private word. “Dr. Lind always oversteps, she had no right to speak about what you should be doing.”

“I know that.” Casey says, looking away.

“Did Daniel really have to work late tonight?”

“No.”

“What happened?”

“Harry, I don’t want to talk about it.” She says before sipping on her drink. “I just want to have a good time tonight and not think about it, alright?”

“I can respect that, but I don’t think drinking your problems away is a great idea.”

“Harry, no offense, but I don’t need your opinion on this.” She brushes by him and goes to speak with some of her other friends.

A few hours pass, and it was starting to get a little stuffy in the bar, so Harry heads out for some fresh air. He sees Casey outside with a cigarette between her fingers. As he gets closer, he realizes it’s not a cigarette.

“Casey, are you smoking weed?” Harry asks her.

“It’s medicinal.” She mutters, blowing smoke in the opposite direction as to not hit him in the face with it. “It’s for my anxiety.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to take an edible?”

“Not when I need it to work right away.”

“Did you drive yourself here tonight?”

“I did, but I can just take an uber home.” She shrugs. “I came out for some air.”

“So did I.” Harry rubs the back of his neck. “I’m not trying to pry into your life, but things won’t get better if you keep shit bottled up.”

“I just prefer to keep my private life private.”

“Believe me, I get that, but…god, I wish you’d just talk to me, I’m your friend.”

“Daniel and I had an argument earlier and I told him not to come with me because I didn’t want to pretend like everything was fine. I couldn’t stand in that bar around my friends and colleagues pretending like everything’s fine with him when it’s not. We’re far from fine, and we have been for a while.”

“Did something happen?”

“The morning before the day I first took you out to lunch he told me he was up for a promotion at the firm…partner.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?”

“It would have been if it didn’t involve us having to move to New York. He took the bar exam out there without telling me, and he passed. They want him out there to work on larger cases, as a defense attorney. I wouldn’t have been opposed to moving, but he just assumed that I would. He said I could teach anywhere with no regard with how I’d feel about leaving this institution, our friends, and family behind. And then he told me it wouldn’t even matter because he’d be making enough money for me to never have to work another day in my life and that I could just stay home taking care of our future children.”

“That’s a bit old fashioned.”

“It is, which was shocking to me because he’s never acted that way towards me. He’s always been so modern, so progressive. I think he was given advice from the wrong people. Anyways, he took the job in New York because he basically had to, he would have been stupid not to take it, so we’ve only been seeing each other on weekends. And when we do see each other, we just end up fighting…we don’t even sleep in the same room.” She shakes her head. “I don’t know what we’re doing anymore.” Her voice cracks, but she swallows her tears down. She spent too long on her makeup to ruin it from crying. “We’ve grown apart, it’s as simple as that, but neither of us have the courage to end it. I love him so much, but lately…lately I’ve been feeling like love just isn’t enough.” She looks up at Harry who had been nice enough to stand out in the cold with her to listen to all of her woes.

“I’m so sorry.” It’s all he can think to say. “You should be home with him…trying to work it out.”

“I couldn’t get out of the house fast enough today. I told him to just go back to New York. He’s got a whole new life out there. I’ve been to his apartment a few times, and I didn’t feel like I fit in at all. I don’t even know why he still wants me, he could easily find someone new out there.”

“How could he not want you?” Harry steps a little closer to her. “You’re smart, funny, and…you’re a knockout. If I were him and I saw you about to leave the house looking like this, well…I wouldn’t have let you leave the house.”

“Why, so you could tell me to change into something less form fitting?” She scoffs as she crosses her arms over her chest. Her blunt all but forgotten.

“I would have asked you to take the dress off, that’s for certain. As far getting something back on…” Harry takes another step closer to Casey, making her cheeks feel warm.

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re not Daniel.”

“I didn’t have much to drink tonight. Let me drive you home, and I’ll take the uber back to my apartment. That way you don’t have to worry about coming back for your car tomorrow.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not, I’m making a suggestion.”

“Okay, yeah, if you don’t mind. I only live, like, fifteen minutes from here. We, uh, rent a townhome.”

Casey hands Harry her keys, and they make their way around the building to the parking lot. The drive is quiet. Casey could feel her eyes starting to droop. Harry had the heat cranked since it had gotten chilly. He watches the map on the navigation screen to make sure he makes the right turns to her house. He pulls into her driveway, and orders his uber.

“Thank you for driving.” Casey says.

“Any time.” Harry smiles and gets out of the car. He jogs around to the other side to open her door, and walks her up her front steps. “You gonna be okay?” He rubs his hands up and down her arms to keep her warm.

“Yeah.” She smiles softly up at him. “Harry, I-“ The front door opens with Daniel standing there.

“Casey, thank god, Baby, I’m so sorry.” He wraps his arms around her, kissing her without acknowledging Harry. “No argument is worth you leaving angry like that for.” He kisses her again.

“Daniel.” She pushes him off of her. “Harry’s here, he drove me home.”

“Oh! Sorry about that.” Daniel says. “Thanks for driving her, man.”

“No problem.” Harry’s uber pulls up in front of the house. “That’s my ride, uh, have a nice night.”

Harry’s gaze lingers on Casey for a moment before making his way to the car. Daniel leads Casey inside the house.

“Did you have a good time?” Daniel asks her as they both walk into the kitchen.

“I guess.” She shrugs. “Would have been more fun if my Gomez had been there with me.” She pouts at him.

“You told me you didn’t want me there.”

“I also told you to go back to New York, so clearly your listening skills are selective.”

“I was so mad at you that I actually almost left, but I couldn’t make it out of the driveway.” He comes over to her, caressing her cheek. “Casey, I want to figure all of this out with you. I don’t want to fight anymore, and I’m sick of sleeping alone.”

“I feel the same way. Let me take all of this off and put on some pj’s, and then we can talk.”

“Okay.” He smiles. “Want me to make you some tea?”

“That’d be great, thank you.”

Casey: I’m not able to come in today, I’m not feeling great…do you think you could handle my classes today? You can have comp peer edit their papers, and my other classes can just watch a movie

Harry: sure! Is there anything else you need?

Casey: just some rest, thanks for understanding

Harry had wondered for the rest of the weekend how things went between Casey and Daniel. Maybe he hung around and they were going to spend Monday together. All in all, he hoped Casey was okay. Her Monday classes were sad not to see their beloved Dr. Robertson, but many of the girls in class had no problem with Harry taking over for the day.

As a lark, Harry picked up some pepto bismol and other things that might make someone sick feel better. He pulls up to Casey’s house, and sighs with relief when he doesn’t see Daniel’s car. He rings the doorbell, and waits for Casey to open door.

“H-Harry?” She says as she opens the door. She had on an oversized, quarter-zip fleece and a pair of joggers. Her hair was in a loose, low ponytail with some strands left out in front. Her eyes were red and puffy, as was her nose.

“Hey, I…I brought you some pepto and some other stuff that might make you feel better. I didn’t know if you caught a cold or…are you okay?”

“Oh, Harry!” She wails, and throws her body into his, crying into his chest. Harry wraps his arms around her and moves them both further into the house, closing the door. “I’m not sick.” She sniffles as she looks up at him. “I’m…heartbroken.”

“What happened?”

“Daniel and I broke up.” Her voice cracks, and she shoves her face back into his chest. He holds her close and rubs her back. “We stayed up all night on Saturday talking.” She hiccups, stepping back from him and leading him into her living room. “We watched the sun come up in tears.” They both sit down on her sofa. There was a somewhat tattered blanket that she snatches, hugging it to her chest. “We just couldn’t come to a compromise that worked well enough for the both of us.” She pauses for a moment, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “We didn’t yell or argue, we just talked everything out. He agreed that we grew apart and that we still loved each other very much. He was feeling defeated because he felt like he was the only one trying. I knew I stopped trying because I just didn’t have the strength anymore. He’s coming back next weekend to pack up the rest of his things. After we got some sleep on Sunday we went out to get him some boxes, and he packed as much as he could into his car. Five years over and done with just like that.”

“Casey, I’m so sorry.”

“I just needed today to, like, rest and regroup, but I just spent it crying…mourning the loss of my relationship.”

“That sounds like a pretty healthy way to deal with it.”

“Every time I tried to sleep, I just cried. I haven’t eaten all day, I’ve just been in here…wallowing.” She laughs coldly at herself.

“Let me make you something to eat. Do you have food in the kitchen?”

“Harry, you don’t have to. I know you have homework to do.” She frowns.

“My bag’s in the car. I can make you some dinner, and I can work on my assignments. I can even put on one of the movies I need to watch.”

“You really don’t have to babysit me. I’m a grown woman, I can take care of myself.”

“Casey, I want to help. Why don’t you go take a shower or something? I’m sure I’ll be able to find my way around your kitchen. I can just whip up some pasta.”

“You’re very kind, thank you.” She sniffles. “A shower sounds nice, I’ll go do that.”

By the time Casey gets downstairs, all cozy in a fresh fleece and pair of sweatpants, Harry had finished making some ziti mixed with some peas. He seasoned it with some parmesan cheese, pepper, and adobo.

“Hey.” He smiles when he sees her.

“Smells good in here.” She smiles back, hopping up onto one of the stools at her kitchen island. Harry puts a bowl of food in front of her before sitting down next to her. “Thank you.”

“Stop thanking me, would you?”

“I can’t help it.” Her bottom lip quivers as she takes a bite of food. “This is just so nice of you.” She sniffles.

“Casey, come on.” Harry chuckles and cradles her cheeks to thumb her tears away. “Can’t have you crying into your dinner.” He pouts cutely at her making her giggle before letting her go.

Harry eats while getting some work done, typing away at his computer. Casey eats her dinner slowly, not wanting to overwhelm her empty stomach. She also got her period earlier in the day, so she knew her tears had to have been in overdrive because of that. She finishes her food with a sigh and sets her fork down.

“All done?” Harry asks softly.

“Mhm, I can clean up.”

“No, let me-“

“Harry, I’m not helpless, please.” She hops off her stool and takes both of their bowls and put them in the dishwasher. “Did you figure out which movie you need to watch for class?”

“I have a choice between Some Like it Hot and The Apartment.”

“God, I can’t stand The Apartment.” Casey groans. “Let’s watch Some Like it Hot, it’s way more entertaining. I actually have it on DVD.”

“Oh, perfect.” Harry follows Casey into her living room, and he sits down as she sets the movie up. “I’ve never seen this one before.”

“Really? You’ll love it, it’s a classic. Marilyn Monroe is in it, and she’s just wonderful.” Casey sits down and hits play on the remote. “Can I get you anything? Water?”

“I’m all set, thank you.” Harry smiles, sitting back into the couch, making himself more comfortable. “You feeling a little better now that you’ve eaten?”

“Yeah, I-“ Casey’s phone starts ringing, and she sees that it’s Daniel. “I’m sorry, I need to take this.” Casey gets up quickly, and makes her way upstairs. “Hi…”

“Hi.”

“You don’t sound great.” Casey says softly.

“Been crying all day.”

“Me too.” She sighs.

“Are we sure we’re doing the right thing? If it hurts this much, shouldn’t we try to find a way to make this work?”

“Daniel, we went round in circles all weekend. You’re staying in New York, and I’m staying here. I don’t want you sacrificing your career for me. We’re not the same people we were five years ago…we’re both different now. I…I don’t want to wait for things to get started anymore.”

“So, you’d rather start over with someone new than just wait a little longer to get married to someone you know and love?”

“I want to marry someone who doesn’t lie to me about a promotion! You didn’t even talk to me before you accepted. It was like I didn’t even matter in your life, Daniel, don’t you understand that?”

“I know it was wrong of me to do that, I just thought you’d be on board…”

“Well, you thought wrong.”

“Apparently so.” There’s a beat of silence between them. “I’ll be coming back late on Friday. I should be able to pack everything else up during the weekend.”

“Okay, do you want me to stay with Lola? Like, do you not want me here?”

“I’m not going to kick you out of your own home, Casey. Besides, I’ll need you there so we can properly divide things up.”

“Right, yeah…”

“And we didn’t exactly get to have a, uh, proper goodbye.”

“Daniel.” Casey giggles. “I don’t think doing it one last time would be a good idea.”

“I’m not saying we need to plan it out, but if it happens…”

“We’ll see. I really am sorry we couldn’t compromise on things.”

“Me too. Well, I’ll let you go now. Sleep well.”

“You too.” Casey sighs as she hangs up, and makes her way downstairs. “Hey, Harry, if it’s all the same, I think I’m gonna just go to bed, but you can borrow the DVD if you want.”

“Oh! Okay.” Harry pauses the movie and stands up. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, I’m just hormonal and tired. I’m ready to just crawl into bed and get cozy. I want to have a fresh start tomorrow.”

“Right, makes sense.” Harry gathers his things, and Casey walks him to the door.

“I can’t thank you enough for coming by.”

“All I did was make a little dinner.” Harry shrugs.

“It was more than that and you know it.” She pokes his chest playfully. “You’re a great friend.” She opens her arms up for him, and he gladly accepts her hug. He holds her close to him, maybe for a beat too long, but he likes the way she feels pressed up against him. Harry was also known for not being the first person to end a hug. Casey’s arms start to loosen around him, and he looks down at her. Her eyes widen when she sees Harry start to lean in. “Woah, what are you doing?” She steps back from him.

“N-nothing.” His face flushes.

“Were you just going to try to kiss me?”

“What, no! Of course not.” He swallows.

“Yes you were!” She pinches the bridge of her nose and takes a deep breath before looking at him. “Hi, I just broke up with my fiancé, who I’ve been with for over five years, what part of that made you think it was a good time to pull a move on me? Was all of this because you just wanted to try and get a piece?”

“Casey, that’s not what’s happening. I genuinely came to check on you. I…I just misread a signal, that’s all.”

“What signal? I literally just said you were a good friend and hugged you!” She puts her hands on her hips and frowns at him. “I’m really disappointed in you, Harry. You never struck me as the kind of guy to be nice to a girl just to try to-“

“I’m not one of those guys.” He shakes his head. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or disrespect you, I just thought…”

“Harry, you’re my GA.”

“I know.”

“It would be highly inappropriate for us to get involved. I mean, I know I’m only three years older than you, but at the end of the day I have a position of power over you. You’re a bright man, Harry, don’t be stupid and risk messing up your future because you have a crush.”

Harry looks down at his shoes, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“I understand what you’re saying.” He looks up at her. “But you haven’t said that you don’t like me back.” He smirks, making her mouth fall open. She was speechless. “Sleep tight, Casey.” Harry turns and opens the door, letting himself out. Casey stands in her doorway.

“You’re on thin ice, Styles!” She calls after him.

“I’ll make sure to step with caution, Dr. Robertson!” He shouts back before getting into his car.

Casey shuts her door, and sighs, leaning against it for a moment before bringing herself up to bed. She goes through her nightly routine, and gets herself settled into her sheets. She knew there was an underlying reason as to why she didn’t want to try harder with Daniel. The more she got to know Harry, the more she’d dread coming home to her now ex-fiancé. She used to love coming home to Daniel and recounting their days, but she realized she just didn’t care about his cases anymore. She wanted to have high level talks about film and media. Daniel would always listen, but he never really understood why Casey was so passionate about her work. To him, it all just seemed like a hobby rather than a career. Harry, on the other hand, had the same passions as her. He understood how stimulating talk about film and media could be. She wasn’t having sexual feelings towards Harry, but she couldn’t wrap her head around the emotional attachment that begun. She figured maybe she couldn’t love Daniel that much if she’d rather spend extra hours in her office with Harry instead of trying to get home to Daniel before heading back to New York. It pained her, but that was the truth. Tonight confirmed that Harry was definitely into Casey. Now all Casey had to do was figure out how she felt about Harry, but she needed to get over Daniel first.

“You’re here early.” Casey says to Harry the next morning.

“I wanted to talk to you about last night. I feel really bad about how I acted. I thought that maybe we were having a moment. I apologize for misreading things. Kept me up all night.”

“Have a seat.” She motions to her couch and he sits down. She turns in her seat to face him. “Don’t worry about last night. I was in a vulnerable state, and I was more affectionate than I should have been. Nothing really happened between us, so it’s all good. It’s going to take me some time to get over Daniel. Five years is a long time to be committed to one person. I’m seeing him again this weekend, and who knows what could happen?”

“What do you mean?”

“We could easily get back together, and then what? The last thing I want to do is hurt you. Besides that, you’re my GA, it would be wrong. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. It’s not like…I mean…it’s nothing, okay? Think I’m just into you cause we have so much in common. And I really look up to you. You’re so accomplished, you know?”

“A smart woman doesn’t intimidate you?”

“Not at all.” He shakes his head. “I think smart women are incredibly”, Harry gets up from his seat and sits on the edge of Casey’s desk, “incredibly sexy.”

“You’re not really sorry for trying to kiss me last night, are you?” She smirks up at him.

“I’m sorry for upsetting you and for overstepping a boundary.” A grins starts to pull on his lips. “But I’m not sorry that it’s lead to you admitting that you like me.”

“I never said I liked you.”

“You never said you didn’t.”

“Harry.” Casey sighs.

“Listen”, Harry gets off her desk and sits back down on the couch, taking out his laptop. “take as much time as you need to get over Daniel. I’ll be right here when you’re ready for me.” He peers up at her from his laptop, smiling from ear to ear.

“You’re insufferable.” She shakes her head, getting back to her own work.

“And yet, here we are.”

“Harry, it’s 8:30 in the morning, we don’t have class until 10. Do me a favor and stay quiet until then, yeah?”

He makes a motion as to zip his lips, making Casey chuckle and roll her eyes. Later that day, when Harry had to leave for his own lecture, Casey snuck off to go see her friend, Lola, who works in the financial aid office.

“You busy?” Casey asks her friend as she sits down.

“I’m always free for you, Honey.” Lola smiles warmly. “What’s up?”

“Um…Daniel and I decided to officially end things over the weekend.” Casey says quietly. Lola had a cubicle to herself, but there were always wandering ears.

“Oh my god! I knew you guys were on the rocks, but holy shit.”

“He didn’t want to give up New York, and I didn’t want to give up here. It sucks, I’m totally heartbroken.” Casey frowns, trying not to cry again.

“Why didn’t you call me? I would have come over or something.”

“Well, I sort of just wanted to be alone…um, but someone came by to take care of me.”

“Oh, who?”

“H-Harry.”

“Your GA?!” Lola whisper-screams, and Casey nods. “Holy fuck, did anything happen?”

“No.” Casey shakes her head. “He just made me dinner…but he tried to kiss me before he left. I called him out on it, but…I don’t know, like, I…fuck.” Casey pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. “I don’t really know how to articulate this.”

“You find your GA, who happens to only be three years younger than you, attractive.” Lola says for Casey.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it. But I don’t want to get involved with anyone else right now. I still love Daniel, like, my heart is still with him.”

“But you also think you like Harry.”

“Well, what’s not to like about him? He makes me laugh, I like talking to him, he’s very sweet…and…fuck, I can’t even think like this. This is so unethical of me. If this were a male professor with a female GA, I’d be totally against it.”

“Yes, but that’s not the situation. You’re twenty-eight, he’s twenty-five, it’d be weird if you didn’t fall for each other.”

“I feel like it’s like when you fall for your therapist, you know? Like, what if he just likes me because he looks up to me? I shouldn’t even be entertaining the thought of this, right? It’s got to be against the rules.”

“Are you his professor?”

“Of course not, you know I don’t teach graduate level courses.”

“So, he in no way is going to be graded by you?”

“No.”

“And he could have easily been assigned to any other professor in the department. There was no special request on your part. And again, he’s twenty-five-years-old, it’s not like he’s some naïve twenty-one-year-old kid who just finished undergrad, you know?”

“That’s true.” Casey chews on her bottom lip. “I don’t know, think I need to get over my break up before I do anything.”

“I think that’s a good idea. You were together for over five years, that’s not something you’ll get over in a day, Babe. What do you say you and I grab drinks this weekend?”

“I can’t, Daniel’s coming back to pack up the rest of his things and he wants me there.”

“Alright, how about on Thursday? We can go for happy hour downtown after I get out.”

“Yeah, okay.” Casey nods. “Think I could definitely use some girl time, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Don’t overthink this Harry thing either. It’s not a problem yet, so don’t turn it into one.”

“You’re right, it’s just been a little flirting, it’s not like anything’s actually happened between us. If he really likes me, he’ll be patient.”

“And don’t forget, you’re worth the wait.”

#harry styles #tell me I'm the only one #harry styles fic #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fluff #harry styles angst #harry styles smut #harry styles x oc #harry styles series #harry styles au #GA!Harry #GArry

91 notes · View notes

flyingkiki · 4 years ago

Text

I Secretly Enjoy Trashy Books

Oh, boy, oh boy. Because I promised you a #TimRae 2021 Year of Smut and Steam, here is this hot piece of something.

ENJOY! *fans self*

Raven liked buying trashy books. And she was the least bit embarrassed over her dirty reading choices when Tim Drake-Wayne caught her leaning over a pile of trashy books that simply reeked of trash at an art festival in Star City.

Raven wasn’t sure if she spotted Tim Drake-Wayne at the art festival in Star City until she did a double take and watched the man bend over some fancy cutlery embellished with shiny stones and copper wires a couple of stalls down. Casually dressed in a pair of dark grey chino shorts and a white band shirt with a worn Gotham Knights baseball hat, Raven assumed he tried to blend into the summer festival crowd. She watched him push his Rey-Ban’s up his nose and wondered if that was even possible, given how popular the man really was as CEO of Wayne Enterprises. The stall owner talked to Tim with gusto, shoving some sparkly spoons under his nose, and Raven was sure the old man seemed to recognize Tim.

“You gonna buy that lady?”

Raven blinked and turned back to the elderly woman selling old photographs from 1920. “Oh, yeah.” Raven breathed and looked down at the selection of old photos of women dressed in fur and slinky dresses in her hand. She had no particular knowledge in photography, but the old black and white photographs were pretty to look at. Picking two photographs of an attractive couple dressed glamorously for a party, and a mysterious woman in a fur coat, she showed them to the lady with a small smile. “Here,” she said and handed over her money to the woman.

After stuffing the two photographs into a small manila envelope the woman handed to, Raven looked back to the cutlery stall and wondered if Tim Drake was still there, getting sidled into buying forks he may never be able to use. Much as she had expected, Tim was already gone. Probably off inspecting other embellished kitchenware, if that seemed to have become his thing.

“Thanks,” Raven smiled at the woman and ducked out of her tent. She immediately regretted that decision and internally groaned as the blazing summer sun beat down her back. Star City was hot and muggy. It was wrong for her to wear dark blue today – no matter if it was a crop top. The material was accumulating heat and sticking to her back. She could feel her ponytail stick to her neck. Ugh.

Despite the blistering heat, the festival was alive with live music blasting from the center of Star City Central Park. The park was filled with a good number of people, visiting stalls and tents that sold books, paintings, knickknacks, and a wide array of food. While Jump had a similar art festival annually, she discovered a few years back that Star City had a far more well curated festival. There were a couple of painters from whom she’d get buy small paintings from. At night it turns into a music festival, which on occasion Raven would attend.

Heading over to one of the bookstands, Raven idly browsed through some old and beaten copies novels. Raven snorted as the selection seem to lean more on the trashy romance novels as pictures of barely clothed women and men’s hips draped in starchy white blankets looked up at her. She quickly discovered that the selection was largely all about raunchy romance, she mentally shrugged and picked one. A book was a book, no matter how trashy it was. Starfire would love this anyway. The burly man on the book cover, who of course looked like Fabio, had a woman dressed in a windswept lace dress draped over his muscular arm. Raven scrunched her nose in amusement.

“How much for this book?” she held up the image of Fabio to the elderly stall keeper. She wasn’t sure what the book was about, but a trashy sex book was a trashy sex book.

“A dollar,” the man told her and pointed at the sign over their heads.

Raven returned his amused smile and nodded. “Right,” she said and momentarily dropped the book back on the pile that screamed of sex and trash. As she fished through her bag to pull out her wallet, another person came up to the stall. Raven immediately recognized the aura and pointedly ignored the amusement that rolled off of him.

Handing over a dollar to the stall owner, she smiled softly. “Here you go, thanks!”

“I didn’t know you were into these, Rachel,” teased Tim, as he snatched the book from the pile before she could get it back. He led her out of the stall and threw her an amused grin.

“‘Love blossoms in the storm. Young, innocent, Violet is the secret in releasing the kingdom from a decade-long draught. Prince Rolf, the lord of thunder, has every intention to bring Violet to their nuptial bed. Their passion of love and hate releases a storm so violent, that brings life back to the kingdom’,” Tim read aloud and his brows furrowed. “That makes no sense.”

Raven rolled her eyes and snagged her book out of Tim’s hands. She ignored the amused chuckle and that familiar press of emotions and roughly shoved the book into her messenger bag. “When do trashy novels make sense?”

Tim stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “I’m just worried over poor Violet. Sounds like the makings of a Stockholm Syndrome,”

Raven made a face as they walked through past stalls. “At the expense of bringing rain back to the kingdom,” she added.

“I wonder how they’ll bring back rain from the nuptial bead,” Tim laughed, as they rounded the corner and entered an area filled with stalls of paintings for sale.

Raven snorted as she idly looked at some of the contemporary paintings on display. “I’ll let you know once Kori and I are done reading it,”

“Don’t hold back on the sordid details,” said Tim, as they bent over a painting of a square orange. Raven threw him an amused look, eyes twinkling. There it was, that familiar press of curious emotions as she watched him grin down at a painting of a shoe. “Sure,” Raven’s lips quirked. “I’ll tell you all of Prince Rolf’s deeds of deflowering young virgins,”

Tim snorted very gracefully. They moved on to the next stall and Raven threw him a curious glance. “What brings you to Star City?”

“I had a meeting at Queen Consolidated this morning. Working on a merger for a biotech project,” Tim explained. He held up a small painting of a sad green unicorn and showed it to Raven. “Thought I’d check this out and forget all the science and money talk for a bit,”

Raven took the painting out of his hands and returned it to the table of other oddly colored animals while shaking her head in amusement. “Don’t you have a report to write or something?”

“I live to inflict pain on myself and write out the report and proposal at the last minute tomorrow morning,” Tim chuckled. He shrugged when Raven sent him an incredulous look. “There’s not much to write about. I sent Bruce and Lucius an email before I got here,” he said while following Raven towards a new stall. “What brings you to Star City?”

Raven eyed an abstract painting curiously. Red, green, and yellow paint splattered all over a black canvas. “I come here every year,” she replied. “Dick knows I take a leave for a couple of days for this. The art festival here is much better than the one we have in Jump,”

“So this is your…”

“Second day,” supplied Raven. “I’m going back to Jump on Sunday. I like the music festival at night. I usually buy one or two paintings here too,”

“And some very raunchy novels,” Tim grinned.

“Hah!” Raven wrinkled her nose in a way that Tim thought was adorable. “Especially those,”

Tim looked around the stalls, trying to find any painting that was interesting. “Is there anything you are particularly looking for?”

Raven shrugged. “Not really,” she replied. Walking up to a stall that sold flower paintings, she spotted a painting of a white calla lily against a black and purple background. Engaging in quick small talk with the stall owner and discovering the young woman painted the work, Raven was set in buying the painting. “I’d like to buy this,”

Tim watched as Raven continued talking to the stall owner, Nora, and proceeded to pay for the painting. As the artist handed over the canvas, he stepped up to Raven and easily took the medium-sized canvas from Nora. “I got it,” he said, throwing a quick smile at Raven.

“Oh, thanks,” Raven thanked Tim. Nodding at the artist, she smiled at the woman and offered her thanks. Walking up to Tim, she quickly shot him a curious look. “I could take that from you if it’s too much of a bother,”

Tim gently tucked the medium-sized canvas under his arm and nodded for them to continue walking. “It’s no big deal,” he waived her off.

They continued walking around the park while idly talking about the festival and teasing each other every so often. As the Teen Titans quickly outgrew their Teen moniker and became the Titans, Raven and the rest of the team had taken on larger missions with the Justice League and other teams. She had worked and met with Tim and the rest of the Bat family on several occasions, Dick and Kori’s wedding most recently. Raven had quickly learned that Tim was quite easy to talk to, extremely smart, and kindhearted. His emotions were tumultuous just as any other of the Bats, but this was something Raven had gotten used to. They easily settled into conversations. She did admit, that his soft press of emotions against her were surprising, something she was unsure of still how to settle with – but she was not complaining. It was nice.

“You know as much as I like going around the festival and checking out weird art, I’m getting really thirsty,” Tim threw her an amused look. “Also very sweaty, Star City’s heat is unforgiving,”

Raven wrinkled her nose, suddenly all too aware of how she felt and looked. Pushing her sweaty black hair away from her neck, she nodded. “There’s a café out of this exit we could get something cold to drink and get out of the heat for a bit,” she said, pointing towards the exit up ahead.

“Lead the way,” Tim followed the small Titan out of the park.

They settled in a small café just around the corner, tucked away from the bustle of festival goers. Sighing loudly in relief as they entered the air conditioned café, they made quick work of ordering drinks.

“WHY are you did you order hot coffee, didn’t you just say that it was too hot outside?!” Raven sent Tim a bewildered look as they settled into one corner of the café. Tim laughed as he gingerly set her painting on a steel chair across of them. He settled down next to her around the small wooden table.

Tim shrugged and tugged at the collar of his shirt, trying to circulate some air. “Force of habit,” he said and stretched a bit, muscles still sore from last night’s patrol and work out this morning. After the waitress dropped off their drinks and cake to share, Tim pulled off his sunglasses and rubbed some sweat off his face. “Ugh,”

Raven carefully pressed the large glass of unsweetened cold green tea against her cheek and sighed softly. Tim titled his head towards her and watched her in mild amusement as she leaned over their small table and pressed the cold drink against her cheek. He silently mused how different this Raven was from the 16-year-old he met years ago. His gaze followed the trickle of condensation that slipped down her cheek and neck, before quickly looking back up at her blissful expression. A brief thought crossed his mind before blinking and stowing it away. “Better?”

Raven lazily cracked open her eyes and eyed him mildly. “Much,” she breathed before straightening and taking a sip through her metal straw.

“I didn’t know you were into art,” Tim said and leaning back into his seat, stretching his legs a bit. Settling for some small talk, he eyed the painting before curiously turning to Raven. “Any particular style you like?”

Raven made an absent noise in the back of her throat and shrugged. “I enjoy collecting art from local artists. I like supporting their work, I think it’s important we support local artists in their craft,” she replied. Propping her chin on her right hand, she cast her new painting a quick glance. “I’m not well versed with paintings, but I like modernism and impressionism. Surrealism and expressionism too. I honestly just enjoy the pieces, no matter the style.”

Tim nodded and hummed in acknowledgement. “Bruce has a lot of impressionist paintings back at the manor. Most of them from his parents and grandparents,” he said. “Gotham Museum keeps a big collection of Monet paintings. You should check those out if you haven’t yet,”

There it was again, that pleasant press of emotions that made Raven smile just lightly. She tilted her head in acknowledgement and smiled at him. “Sure. I’ve never been to the Gotham Museum,”

“Let me know when you’re in town. I could take you there,”

Raven snorted playfully. “Aren’t you too busy running Wayne Enterprises?”

“Nah,” Tim waived her off and fiddled with his coffee mug. “I could make time for you.”

There was a soft pause between them and Raven looked up at Tim, tilting her head in slight wonder and taking in his warm emotions. She blinked and the corner of her lips raised into a smile as she caught his gaze. They shared a smile. “Okay then.”

Ignoring the warmth that spread through him, Tim hastily took a sip of his hot coffee to keep himself (and his wandering thoughts) busy. Wincing slightly at the scalding liquid, he nodded towards Raven’s new painting. “Why’d you pick that?”

“Calla Lilies are my favorite flowers,” replied Raven and fiddled with the cold metal straw.

“Oh?”

Raven shrugged in response and absently tapped the crude drawing of a dick on the table. “Yeah. When I was younger, my mother brought some to Azarath once when she went on a quick trip to Earth. I liked them. We did not have calla lilies on Azarath,” she explained.

“They mean purity and innocence, I learned,” continued Raven. She quirked her lips a little at the irony. “And apparently they mean death too.” She hummed absently and shot him an amused glance. “Seems pretty appropriate flower to have as a favorite, all things considering.” She straightened in her seat and titled her head. “And it symbolizes fertility too,”

Tim made an amused sound in the back of his throat and squinted at the painting. “Well, it does look like…”

“A vagina?”

He was going to say a heart. But yeah, she was right. It did look like a vagina. Tim released a breathy laugh and smiled, ignoring the pleasant warm feeling that spread in his chest. Leaning back and catching his breath, he stared at the painting with a mixture of confusion and amusement. He shot Raven a torn look. “I cannot un-see this now.”

Raven shrugged. “Well it’s true,”

She felt Tim’s amused emotions and she offered him a small smile. She was about to continue when soft guitar music filled the air. Their attention shifted to the small stage in the corner of the café and a singer with a guitar appeared on stage. An upbeat guitar song filled the café and everyone’s attention shifted towards the stage. Sharing a brief glance, they both turned their attention the musician.

The café grew just a little dimmer as the upbeat song filled the air, something about happiness and summer heat, and Raven could feel the relaxed emotions of the crowd. Getting comfortable after some relief from the heat, she leaned back into her seat. Stealing a quick glance at Tim, she felt his content aura. They settled into a comfortable silence, listening to the musician up on stage. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Tim relax – a rather rare sight. Dick had previously told her he had been worrying over Tim working himself to the bone with cases and work as CEO at WE. Raven did notice his driven work ethic the times the Titans had to work on cases in Gotham. Tim was a slave-driver on himself.

Midway into the third (or fourth, Raven wasn’t really keeping track) song, a young boy sidled up to their table carrying a bunch of paper flowers. She noticed the boy earlier moving from table to table when they entered the café. “Hey mister!” he called their attention. Tim turned to the boy curiously.

The boy held up a bunch of his colorful paper flowers – roses, carnations, daisies – a few lopsided, but still intricately made. “You want to buy your girlfriend some flowers?”

Raven blinked and colored immediately. She leaned forward and tried to waive her hand in dismissal. “We’re not –”

“Yeah, sure,” Tim smoothly cut her off and leaned towards the boy. Ignoring her bewildered expression, he fished out his wallet from his pocket. “How much are they, buddy?”

“Three bucks each,”

“Great,” Tim pulled out a 20 and handed it to the boy. The boy raised the bunch of flowers towards Tim, who pulled out the lopsided yellow rose, a pink dahlia, and the green daisy. “Keep the change,” he waived off the boy as he tried to fish for change in his pocket.

The boy, who looked around 12 years old, blinked and stared at Tim in awe. “Really mister?” at Tim’s nod, he beamed. “Thank you, mister!” he gasped before scampering away towards another table.

“Here,” Tim handed the three flowers to Raven, who accepted them with a surprised look on her face. “They’re a bit wonky but I figured it’d be better we got these since I doubt others might be interested in buying them from him,”

Of course he had to do something nice. Something warm spread through her chest and Raven fought off a blush. She absently fiddled with a paper leaf. “You didn’t correct him,” she said with an accusing tone.

Tim shrugged his shoulder absently. He gave her an amused grin. “I’m pretty sure he did not recognize me. He’s definitely too young to be a gossip column writer. I doubt he knows what TMZ is,” he teased. He eyed the flowers briefly before looking at her curiously. “Do you like them?”

She felt the familiar warm press of his emotions. Leaning into his space just a little bit, Raven offered a him a small pleased smile. “Thank you, boyfriend.”

Tim laughed, eyes bright and amused at her teasing. Raven enjoyed how his emotions pressed into her. “You’re welcome, girlfriend.”

They stayed at the café for another few hours, enjoying the music and talking about random interests. When the sun was slowly setting and the heat was not as unforgiving as before, they left the market and returned to the fair for another quick look around the place.

Raven ended up buying one more painting, a small scene of pink cherry blossoms, claiming that Kori would like it.

“Where are you staying?” asked Tim after Raven paid for her latest painting and they were mindlessly walking past booths. It was getting dark and he was getting hungry, perhaps it was a good idea to drop off all her things. “Do you want to grab something to eat?”

Raven blinked, mildly aware that she was hungry. But with the paintings they were carrying, it didn’t seem like a good idea to grab anything at the fair. “I’m at the Grand just by the West exit of the park. I can drop the paintings off,” she said and raised her free hand to grab the painting Tim was holding.

“C’mon, I’ll walk you. It’s no big deal,” Tim waived her off and started walking towards the west exit. “I saw a Thai restaurant close by, we could go there after we drop off your humongous shopping haul,”

“Hey,” Raven frowned at Tim. “My shopping is not humongous,”

“You bought two paintings, Rachel,” Tim teased. “I think you were about to buy another too,”

“I was not,”

Tim grinned. “I saw you eyeing that small painting of a teacup,” He eyed her curiously. “How are you even going home with this many paintings?”

“I have my ways,” Raven rolled her eyes.

Tim knew what she meant and just chuckled. They made it to the hotel and politely declined help from hotel staff. Raven stole a curious glance at Tim as they entered the elevator and she swiped her room card on the sensor and pressed her floor number. She silently thought what a surprise this day turned out to be.

They made it to her floor and reached her room with little distractions. Opening the door for them, Raven switched on the lights.

“Come on in,” Raven said, throwing an amused smile at him before depositing the small painting, her paper flowers, and her bag on the large TV console table. Toeing off her shoes, she sighed in relief and padded towards the balcony to open it.

“Fancy hotel,” Tim commented after placing the large calla lily painting on the other end of the table. He idly walked around, taking in the large hotel room with the modern furnishings and the dim lights. He watched Raven pull aside the curtains of the large balcony glass doors and open the doors to allow a comfortable breeze to slip into the room.

“It’s the least I can do to get a good vacation from living with boys for all these years,” replied Raven as she moved onto the balcony and leaned on the railing to look down.

“That bad?” Tim chuckled and joined Raven on the balcony. He stood next to her and his eyes widened at the sprawling sight of the park down below them. “Oh wow, that’s an excellent view,” he commented. “You got a better view than my place,”

Raven blinked, surprised. She imagined he’d have a far better place than hers. “Where are you staying?”

“We have a WE apartment a block away from here,” Tim supplied. He pointed towards the other end of the park. “Right by the business center,” he shrugged his shoulders absently. “I get a good view of the business district, nothing as nice as this. I’ll probably book a stay here the next time I have to come by,”

“Do you always travel for work?” Raven asked curiously. She always wondered how Bruce and Tim balanced their day jobs and vigilante life. Richard was largely hands off from the business and kept most of his time either at the tower or helping out the local police force.

Tim placed his elbows on the railing and leaned forward a bit, enjoying the warm summer breeze they were getting. He stared at the lights and movements pensively down below. “Once in a while. It’s usually for large business acquisitions or other boring stuff,” he shrugged. “CEO work has me more at the office these days,”

“I was always curious how you guys get to balance your work at WE and your,” Raven paused and tried to find the right words. She titled her head and smiled up at him in amusement. “Night job?”

Tim chuckled. “A lot of coffee, no sleep, and painkillers?”

Raven made a face and snorted. “Sounds terrible,”

He shrugged. After years of living this kind of lifestyle and working as CEO since he was a teenager, Tim didn’t really mind as much anymore. “It isn’t as bad as it sounds. There are days off, though rare and in between,”

“Like now?”

She felt that familiar soft press of emotions again as the mood shifted ever so slightly just as a warm breeze settled on them. She watched Tim smile softly as he continued to stare at the people down below. “Yeah,” he said softly. Tilting his head in her direction he offered her a warm smile. “How do you spend your day at the Tower?”

Raven hummed and looked thoughtful. “Nothing really as exciting as business mergers,” she said and she could see Tim out of the corner of her eyes slowly in amusement. She leaned over the balcony railing and watched the busy festival below. “I don’t think there’s a lot going on for Rachel Roth outside of work,” she made a face. “I read most of the time,”

“Raunchy novels?” Tim teased, grinning at her and leaning into her space just a little bit.

Raven chuckled. “Especially those,” her blue eyes danced. “I help Victor with some upgrades on our vehicles. I’ve become very good at fixing rocket boosters and particle beams,” she said. “Also, I can change oil,” she said teasingly. “Let me know if you need your oil changed,”

Tim laughs. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“There’s really nothing else. I go to festivals like these once in a while, or a café,” she said.

“Didn’t you finish college recently?” Tim asked curiously. At her surprised look, he continued. “Dick mentioned you finished a history degree?”

“History and Literature,” supplied Raven, surprised that Tim even knew this. “I finished last year. Took classes at Jump University, but did most of the coursework online, because crime fighting keeps tight schedule,”

“Sounds pretty amazing to me,” Tim said with an impressed note in his voice. “Juggling school and ‘work’ is tough,”

Raven hummed in agreement. Looking down she watched lights blink from the festival and distant music fill the air. “Looks like the music festival is starting,”

Tim looked down briefly before turning to Raven. “Did you want to go back down? You said you liked the music festival,”

Raven ignored how nice it felt that Tim actually paid attention to what she said earlier. Her chest warmed and she nodded. “Sure,” she said. “Maybe grab something at the Thai place first though, I’m hungry,”

Tim laughed and followed her back into the room. He watched her close the balcony door. “I was hoping you’d say that. I’m famished,”

They wound up sharing a large order of pad Thai, some tom yum, and sticky rice. Tim discovered Raven had a sweet tooth after ordering a Thai milk tea to go just before they headed to the outdoor music area. The crowd wasn’t all to large but seemed very much alive and into the music from the indie rock band up on stage, with people cheering, dancing, and jumping up and down in time with the music. The two of them shuffled through the crowd, barely hearing each other over the loud bass and guitar riffs. With her free hand, Raven grabbed Tim’s wrist and steered them towards the side of the crowd, close enough to the stage but with some distance from the thick center of the audience.

Tim stared at the stage, unable to recognize the music or the group of men with full beards and tie-dye shirts on stage. The music was fun, with a rocky edge to it, though he barely could hear the lyrics over the loud bass. The crowd did not seem to mind as everyone cheered and danced to the music. Awkwardly stuffing his hands into his pockets, Tim glanced at Raven and grinned as she bobbed her head to the music and lightly swayed to the beat. A smile played on her lips and Tim watched as the lights of the large LED screens reflected on her face and made her eyes sparkle. He ignored how his chest fluttered at the sight.

“Do you even understand what they’re singing?” Tim asked, raising voice over the loud inaudible singing. He had to lean into her, drawing closer just so she could hear him. There was a loud guitar riff and people screamed in delight. Tim watched as Raven laughed and turned her face to him, unfazed at the close proximity, her eyes bright in amusement. Tim felt his breath catch.

“No!” Raven replied and bounced on her heels. Her milk tea sloshed dangerously in her plastic cup and some spilled over her hand. She took a careful sip and looked at him, still swaying to some random song. “Does it matter?”

“Well, yeah?” Tim laughed, delighted to see this side of her. He watched her glance over his shoulder, taking in the happy crowd close to them. He shuffled closer as some concert goers brushed past him. Tim watched as Raven glanced at him, lips curling into a small smile before turning back to the stage and lightly swaying to the music, her dark hair flying behind her back. Tim released soft chuckle and turned to the stage, silently surprised at Raven’s interest in loud music.

The band shifted to some kind of chanting and clapping, to which the crowd replied in gusto. Tim thought the band was rather eclectic and awkwardly clapping along, lest he looked out of place. Raven stood in front of him, lightly swaying and clumsily slapping her wrist to the beat while juggling her half-empty milk tea cup. Tim thought this was definitely a sight and he grinned, finally getting just a little bit into the music.

They stayed like that, swaying and bouncing to the music. Raven occasionally raised her hands clumsily when the rest of the crowd did too. Tim laughed and joined when she turned to him to do the same. At a particular upbeat song, which again, they barely understood, the crowd went wild and everyone was jumping and dancing.

“C’mon!” she yelled, tugging Tim’s arm and bouncing on her heels. He laughed and quickly joined her. They could figure out the actual lyrics to the songs later.

He glanced at Raven, drinking in her amused face and the bounce in her movements. She caught his gaze and they shared a long smile, both caught in the moment. As the music shifted to another song, Raven squeezed his hand and slowly let go, she kept close this time, gently pressing into Tim’s side and swaying to the music. Instinctively, Tim placed his hand on her shoulder and stole a glance at her, watching as the corners of her lips quirked into another smile. Turning back to the stage, Tim felt that familiar flutter in his chest and smiled.

“Opfh!”

Someone accidently bumped into Raven’s side and they barely registered who it was and what exactly happened. Raven jumped as some of the milk tea spilled out of the cup and slid down her side. “Ugh,” she breathed, and tried to swipe some off he shorts and her crop top.

Tim steadied her, watching her shake off some tea from her hand. “You good?” he asked, keeping close to her ear.

Raven looked up, briefly surprised at the close proximity, before offering him a small smile and nodding. “Yeah, just sticky,” she said.

They stayed at the concert until it ended at a little before midnight. They joined the crowd as they trickled out of the concert arena. Raven laughed as Tim commented that his knees were starting to hurt from all the bouncing around. (“Getting old Mr. Wayne?” Raven teased.)

“Did you like the concert?” Raven asked as they left the concert area. They passed a garbage can and she dropped her empty milk tea cup in it.

Tim leaned in and teasingly grinned at her. “I’m sorry, what was that? The deafening bass guitar busted my hearing,” he said, raising his voice just a little bit.

Raven rolled her eyes and nudged him away with her shoulder. “Okay, I honestly did not understand a thing too,” she said, voice still a little bit raised from the deafening music earlier.

Brushing his sweaty hair out of his face, Tim glanced at her. “It was fun. I honestly cannot remember the last time I ever went to a concert that did not require formalwear,” he said and beamed as Raven laughed. “I didn’t know you liked concerts, let alone bands with terrible sound engineering,”

Raven laughed and rolled her eyes at the jab at the band. They stopped at traffic light as they headed back to her hotel. “Kori loves them. I tag along with some of the girls. I’m honestly surprised that I actually enjoy going to some,” she said. She glanced at the red stoplight before turning to a curious Tim. “After the whole ordeal with my father, it’s nice to indulge in emotions once in a while. Though, it’ll be a while before I’ll ever go to a crowded place again,” she added.

Tim nodded in understanding. This also explained her open emotions. He silently wondered if he could see this side more of her – he would love to see more of this open side of her. The light switched to green. As they approached her hotel, they lightly discussed the band’s songs and blindly tried to guess the lyrics.

“I’m sorry, but I’m pretty sure the song did not go ‘flying turtled ‘yo back,’” Tim laughed as they stopped in front of the hotel’s entrance.

Dark blue eyes danced in delight. “Well, I could be wrong. But it definitely did,” Raven said.

“I’ll make sure to be on the lookout for this song on the radio then,” Tim teased.

They shared a smile, staring at each other momentarily before realizing that they had made it to their stop. Tim inhaled softly, awkwardly wondering if this was already goodbye. He wondered if there would be other chances to see Raven again.

“I had a fun today,” Tim said finally and offered Raven a gentle smile. Shuffling slightly in his spot, Tim thought perhaps they could go see each other again, maybe in Gotham? Or in Jump? The drive to Jump wasn’t all too bad.

“Yeah, me too. I had fun,” Raven breathed, suddenly flustered and just a tiny bit breathless. Her body was still buzzing from the high of a good time spent together, and somewhere in the warmth and high, she enjoyed Tim’s presence. She felt that familiar press of emotions from him, lingering around her. A thrill ran down her spine. Catching his long stare, she smiled. “Thanks for today, Tim,”

Tim returned her smile and nodded. “Yeah,” he breathed. Admittedly, Tim did not want this night to end. Because, there were so many discoveries and revelations – and he definitely wanted to know more about her. But perhaps at another time. “Well, good night. I’ll see you again?”

An open invitation. Her stomach fluttered and she nodded. “Yeah,” she breathed. Swallowing, she briefly glanced at the hotel’s entrance before turning back to Tim. She blinked and threw caution in to the window, heart suddenly in her throat and a tingle ran down her spine. “Actually, do you want to come up?”

Tim raised his eyebrows in surprise and watched Raven shift under his gaze, a tentative smile playing on her lips. He blinked and swallowed at the open invitation and what it held. A nervous jolt ran through his body as he thought of the possibilities and he quickly dismissed the images that came to mind. Inhaling softly and ignoring how breathless he felt suddenly, Tim smiled gently down at her. “Yeah,” he said. “Sure.”

Raven wordlessly nodded, her smile growing just a fraction, before ducking her head and leading the way into the hotel. Tim followed her into the hotel, silently crossing the lobby with her and joining her in the elevator. The elevator ride was filled with a heavy silence and Raven silently wondered if she felt her own nerves and Tim’s as she heard her heart beat loudly in her chest.

Their heavy silence was broken by the loud automatic lock of her hotel room door as it closed behind Tim. At the noise, Raven glanced at Tim, who in turn curiously looked back at her. As the silence settled again over them, Raven’s lips quirked into an amused smile. Funny how an afternoon of long conversations led to this moment of silence. Sensing her amusement over the situation, Tim offered a gentle smile in return.

“Do you want something to drink?” Raven asked, tearing away from Tim’s gaze as she suddenly grew warm again. She blinked and turned towards the mini fridge, wondering if there was anything to drink at all. Not really waiting for a reply, she pulled open the black fridge and grabbed one of the water bottles. Turning around, she noticed that Tim had silently crept up to her and was standing next to her. “Here,” she said and quickly pressed the cold bottle into his hands. Fingers brushed against her hand and she blinked at the contact.

“Thanks,” Tim chuckled and gratefully took the drink, at least it kept him preoccupied for a little bit. After taking a few gulps of water, Tim recapped his water bottle and watched as Raven pulled off her shoes and socks. Leaning against the console table, he watched Raven move around the room.

“So,” Tim breathed after Raven had neatly placed her shoes and socks into one corner of the room. She glanced at him as she walked towards the other end of the console and deposited her phone on the surface. “What are you plans tomorrow?”

Raven shrugged. “There’s supposed to be a pottery station tomorrow, I think I’ll do that tomorrow. Maybe buy a few ceramics for Kori and Jinx,” Her lips quirked teasingly and her eyes danced in the low light of her room. “Preferably something shaped like a dick for Jinx,”

Tim laughed, enjoying her teasing. “Good luck with that,”

“You’re going to miss out on the ceramic dicks,” Raven teased, crossing her arms and leaning into the table to face Tim.

“Ah,” Tim breathed and shook his head in mock disappointment. Moving away from his spot, he shuffled closer to Raven and grinned at her as the tension seemed to lift. “I think I’m good with what I have,” he blinked and immediately backpedaled once his brain caught up with his mouth. “I mean –”

Raven released a bark of laughter she had been holding and Tim felt heat rise to his face. He watched her snort ungracefully and Tim chuckled sheepishly in response. His laughter slowly died down as he watched Raven grin at him in total amusement, her eyes bright, and her nose scrunched up in that familiar way if she found something ridiculous.

“You’re weird, Tim Drake-Wayne,” Raven breathed as her chuckles subsided and she felt her cheeks hurt from all the laughter and smiling she had done today. When was the last time she actually thoroughly enjoyed someone’s company like this? She wondered as something achingly pleasant stirred within her.

“Hah,” Tim released a breathy chuckle. Stealing a quick glance at her, Tim surveyed her room and took in her how neatly she kept everything. His gaze briefly landed on her neatly made bed and he ignored how his heart leaped as he remembered where they were.

Turning back to Raven, he caught her staring at him in an expression he could not quite place. He swallowed thickly. “Could I see you again?” Tim asked tentatively, voice dropping just a little bit at the question. He watched Raven’s eyes widen in response.

“Tomorrow?” she asked a little breathlessly. The moment shifted. She felt it, that low press of flirting and desire, emotions she was not all quite too sure if they were his or her own. She shifted under Tim’s long stare and felt herself take a deep breath, as her body seemed to react all on its own.

Tim hummed and tilted his head to the right light, studying Raven under the pale light of her decorative lamp in the room. “I have a board meeting tomorrow,” he explained. Not one to wait any longer, Tim took a step towards her, and slowly crowded into her space. A thrill ran down his spine as he realized just how tiny Raven was she craned her head to look at him. “I was thinking some other day? For dinner? The museum? Or maybe coffee?” he paused and quirked his lips. “Milk tea?”

Raven was aware of the little space they now shared and she could see his gaze drop to her lips and back to her eyes. “Yeah,” she said and nodded. “I’d like that,”

“Great,” Tim breathed and drank in the pleased expression that crossed her face. “I,” he briefly stumbled and very tentatively touched her hand that rested on the table next to them. He stared into Raven’s blue eyes that seemed to darken under the light. Her fingers twitched as his calloused fingertips ran over the rings on her fingers. “I like you, you’re pretty amazing, Raven,”

“Oh,” Raven breathed and somewhere in the middle of his confession and where his fingers ran over an old scar on the back of her hand, she felt her body react and her breath catch in her throat. His fingers stilled on her wrist and Raven vaguely registered the little space between them and the warm press of his emotions into her. “How long?”

Tim’s finger wrapped around her wrist and she felt his index finger ran along the thin silver bracelets she wore. She watched him shrug absently, his expression turning light. “Since the mission in Peru,” he said, lips tugging in amusement.

“Two years ago?” she asked and she watched him nod. Or was it three? She wasn’t all too sure anymore as her mind slowly refused to work as she grew increasingly distracted by her own warm emotions, desires, and the little ministrations of his fingers against the inside of her wrist. She vaguely remembered the long conversations they shared in briefing rooms, the linger stares, and the stray smiles. Her chest tightened and stared up at Tim as he waited for her reaction.

She wasn’t all too sure what happened next – if she pulled him in or if Tim pulled her in. But she was sure that Tim’s fingers were dangerous as they teasingly slipped up and down the of her arm, sending shivers down her spine and stocking a heat low in her abdomen. She sighed into his lips, as long fingers curled into the nape of her neck and tilted her head in such a way he could better drink the soft whimpers that escaped her lips.

She felt him push her into the table behind her, the sharp edge digging into her back and drawing a soft gasp from her. Tim eagerly chased her soft gasps with long kisses, tongue swiping against her own and teeth sinking into her bottom lip. She could barely hear their heavy breathing and soft whimpers as her heart beat loudly in her ears.

Her fingers sunk into Tim’s shoulders, curling into the soft material of his shirt and pressing into hard muscle. Raven gasped as warm hands pressed into her bare waist, fingertips stroking old scars and pushing under her crop top. His fingers were a confusing mix of feathery and strong as they danced over scars, she faintly wondered what else his talented fingers could do.

Tim released her lips and pressed a soft huff of laughter into her cheek, as his hand pressed into the dip of her waist. “So sticky,” he chuckled into her cheek and Raven became vaguely aware of the sensation of sticky milk tea on her skin.

“Shut up,” Raven mumbled and she felt his lips spread into a languid smile against her cheeks. Clumsily reaching up and pressing herself against Tim’s solid body, her fingers curled around his neck and shifted his face to press their noses together. “Less complaining, more kissing,”

And kiss he did. As Tim greedily drank her whimpers, Raven was sure she was drowning. She felt teeth sink into her bottom lip, drawing out a long gasp from her and her fingertips clumsily slipped from his neck and caught in the collar of his shirt. She felt the low rumble in his chest as Tim groaned and pressed into her.

Unable to bare the sharp edge of the table press into her back anymore, Raven unsteadily tried to lift herself onto the table. Catching her movement, Tim grabbed her hips and pushed her onto the table, promptly filling the space between her legs. Pitching forward, Tim kissed her neck with teeth dragging slowly across her pulse point. Raven groaned in response, body arching into Tim and her fingers slipping into his hair. Tim hummed as she tugged his hair.

In the haze of her mind, she vaguely felt rough hands slip under her crop top and slide over her ribs, dragging the material up with them. Tim pulled away from her neck and Raven felt herself melt under his gaze as his dark eyes started at her, searching for a reaction. She watched his eyes drop briefly to her chest; his hands stopped on the sides of her chest and pooled her shirt with them – the beginnings of her black bra teasingly peeking out below her shirt. Tim swallowed thickly and looked up, gaging her response.

“Is this okay?” he whispered, his breath fanning teasingly over her face. Tim was sure his whole body was on fire, desperately seeking more of Raven. The little gasps and whispers of his name were driving him crazy and he was desperate for more. His fingers teasingly slipped under her bra, waiting for her reply.

Raven took in his hooded gaze and flushed cheeks. Her fingers curled into his shoulders, digging into muscle. Vaguely feeling the heat building inside of her, Raven inhaled sharply and nodded, thighs pressing into his hips. “Yes,” she whimpered.

Tim released an unsteady breath and he felt heat pool low in his abdomen at her breathy response. Pitching forward, he kissed her roughly before pulling away and made quick work on her clothes.

His hands were swift as they worked off her shirt and her bra, and Raven gasped as rough hands dragged agonizingly slow down her chest, slipping over her nipples, and sliding down her stomach. Her back arched, she desperately gasped for a deep breath as she leaned heavily against the wall behind her. Tim’s hands were addicting, fingers longer and gentle, yet rough and powerful at the same time. She whimpered as hands stopped at her waist and fingers dug into hot flesh.

Opening her eyes, Raven watched Tim stare openly at her. She sat there, bare and open and Tim seemed to drink in her nakedness – his gaze greedily drinking in her form. Her back arched as his hands made another slow and agonizing trek up her body. It was like she was on display and Tim took his careful time in cataloguing every bump, ridge and scar under the dim lights of her room. Raven felt deliciously exposed under his gaze as he studied every last inch of her. She hummed as fingers slipped over the swell of her breasts before feathering over perk nipples, and sliding over her collarbones and around her neck.

Raven was addicting, Tim thought. She was everything and more, he realized as he watched transfixed at her heady gaze on his hands as they travelled up her body and slipped over her breasts. He felt his cock ache at her soft whimper and he vowed that her whispers were like music he had been craving for.

Tim pulled her upright and Raven sank into him for another long kiss, groaning as fingers danced down her back and counted ever bump of her spine. Blindly sliding her hands down his sides, Raven slipped her hands under his shirt and made quick work to remove it from his body. Tim drew away from her, breathless as he pulled his shirt over his head and his hands dropped to the tops of her thighs to give them a moment to breathe.

Raven stared transfixed at Tim, drinking in the broad muscle and watching it contract with each movement. God it was a sin to look this beautiful, she thought as her fingers slipped over his sides and she listened to his sharp intake of breath. The old bullet wound scar in his right oblique contracted as her fingers pressed into the defined dips of muscles.

“Raven,” Tim breathed into her neck as she continued her careful ministration of memorizing every scar and muscle. Raven’s fingers left a trail of fire as they danced over his abs. Fuck. Tim breathed into her neck and felt her hips roll into his.

He caught her lips in another delirious kiss and Raven whimpered at the hot contact of hard muscle against her chest. She sank to him, trying desperately to feed the growing hunger within her. She could hear her breathy gasps and moans. His fingers slipped down her ribs and teased her old scars on her waist. As teeth greedily sank into her bottom lip, Raven was sure she was going to explode.

“Bed,” she whimpered, feebly pushing against his shoulders and gasping for breath. “Please,” she whimpered and her hips rocked into his clumsily. She heard Tim growl and pull away from her to allow her to get off the table. Raven stumbled off the table with her feet landing on the floor unsteadily, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders for support. Tim caught her, pressing a lingering kiss to her cheek and guiding her towards the large hotel bed.

Raven released a breathy laugh as they tumbled into bed, Tim’s weight pressing deliciously into her. She felt the low rumble of Tim’s chuckle against her chest, and she smiled as she relished the feeling of being wrapped up and held tight. Fingers danced up her ribcage and over the swell of her breast, before slipping under her chin and pressing her face up for another heady kiss. She arched her body into Tim’s, groaning at the needy press of emotions.

After another strong nip to her lower lip, Tim pulled away and stared at her breathless face. Grinning languidly, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her flushed cheeks. “You taste like Thai milk tea,” he mumbled with a soft teasing lilt into her ear.

Raven laughed, chest light and her arms wrapped around his broad shoulders. Tilting her head to offer better access to her neck, she felt him chuckle and press feathery kisses down her neck. Her breathing hitched as Tim’s lips slowly worked their way down, nibbling at the curve of her neck and slipping down to her collar bone and to the swell of her breasts. Raven gasped and slid her fingers into Tim’s hair as his tongue flicked her nipple before eagerly sucking and nibbling the pebbled peak. After a few sharp breaths, Tim switched to the other breast and Raven felt like her body was burning.

“You’re beautiful, Raven,” breathed Tim as he pulled away and hovered over her, his dark gaze sweeping over her writhing form. Tim was sure the sight of Raven pressed into white bedsheets, black hair flayed, body flushed, and completely on display to him would forever be etched in his memory. He watched her take in a shuddering breath as she looked up at him, blushing in response.

With how on fire her body was, Raven barely felt the heat that rushed to her cheeks. Releasing a soft huff, she watched Tim grin at her. Rolling her eyes playfully, Raven tugged Tim back to her for a languid kiss. She sighed at the welcome press of his weight and she felt his hips press into hers, drawing out a soft moan at the telltale press of his erection against her hip.

Raven shifted her hips against Tim’s, enjoying the hard friction and the whisper of relief that came with it. Tim groaned in response and rolled his hips into hers. Tim’s fingers slid down her stomach and hooked teasingly into the waistband of her shorts. His knuckles pressed into her abdomen and he pressed his thumb against the button of her shorts.

“Is this okay?” he mumbled into the crook of her neck. He pressed a kiss to her neck as he waited for a reply.

Unable to find her voice at this point, Raven whimpered softly and nodded. She released a breathy sigh and closed her eyes as fingers were fast at work on her shorts and underwear and slipping them down her trembling legs. She breathed unsteadily at the cool brush of air against her hot, wet center.

“Ah,” Raven gasped, back arching off the bed as fingers slid over her and her legs obediently spread open. Long nibble fingers stroked and probed her, Tim’s lips brushing gently against her cheek, coaxing long breathy moans from her. She felt his own hum and groan as Tim continued with his thorough ministrations.

The whole world seemed to melt away as Tim greedily drank in her gloriously naked sight. Tim inhaled sharply as he watched her eyes roll back as he spread her wide to him and brushed her clit with his fingers. His cock twitched painfully as she whispered his name with every quick stroke.

Heat pooled low in her abdomen and she rolled her hips into his hand as one finger slowly slipped into her. Raven moaned as she felt his long heated stare over her body, as if memorizing every reaction and storing it to memory. She burned under his gaze. “Tim,” she gasped, thighs spreading wider in invitation. Heat was consuming her.

One finger became two and Raven was sure she was going to burst into flames. She whimpered and her fingers curled into Tim’s shoulder trying to anchor herself. Tim pressed a kiss to her flushed cheeks, murmuring her name into her heated skin.

“Please,” her voice cracked embarrassingly and her right hand blindly reached down, clumsily hooking into the waistband of Tim’s shorts. Her knuckles pressed into hard abdomen and she felt the muscle contract.

She felt the low rumble of a groan in Tim’s chest and they shifted, bodies pressing together in a hurried motion. The material of Tim’s short’s rough against her thigh with every desperate little thrust she tried to make. They kissed once more, rough and languid, and Raven released a shuddering breath into Tim’s lips as she felt his fingers slip out of her. She whimpered as slick fingers pressed into her hips to pin her body down.

His shorts and underwear disappeared soon thereafter. Raven inhaled sharply as she watched Tim kneel in between her spread legs, his form large with muscles glistening and scars prominent as a thin sheen of sweat covered his body. His bright blue eyes roamed her body, eagerly drinking her in.

Tim was burning for release and he was dead set in making it as pleasurable for Raven as it was for him – and more. Tim loomed over her, his left hand dropping to her thigh to anchor himself as his gaze traveled from her dripping core to her face. He gave himself a few strokes as he consumed the sight of her spread legs and writhing hips.

Raven watched Tim give himself a few powerful strokes. Raven’s breath hitched at the movement, tearing her eyes away from his hand and the way his cock pressed into his abdomen to look up at his face. Tim’s lips quirked as he caught her stare.

Tim leaned into her and kissed her long and hard. Raven thought his kissed were that of a thirsty man, as he eagerly drank her breathy sighs and milked her for more with the feathery touch of his fingers dancing over her ribs and waist. She felt the hot press of his erection against her thigh and she instinctively rolled her hips into him, purring at the delicious feel of hot silky cock sliding against her inner thigh. Her legs spread wider for him, accommodating his hips in between her legs and she whispered his name in pleasure as he pressed his body harder into her.

Tim hummed and pressed his hips into her. He pulled his lips away from hers with a shuddering breath as he felt his cock brush against her wet center. Fuck.

“Raven,” Tim released a throaty groan as he felt Raven roll her hips against him again. He heard her whimper in response. He felt a whispered ‘please’ against his cheek and Tim groaned. Leaning back, he took his erection and lined himself up to her center. His body hummed in eager anticipation and he watched Raven writhe below him. He sunk in.

Raven saw blinding hot white wrap around her as her eyes sharply pressed closed and her back arched off the bed. She gasped loudly as Tim stretched her wide in the most delicious way possible. She felt his restrain as he hovered above her, arms on either side of her head quivering, as he slowly sunk deeper into her – stretching her wide and filling her. Her body burned and she moaned loudly as he finally, finally, filled her to the hilt and sunk his hips into her and pressed his face into her neck, groaning loudly into her ear in sheer pleasure. She was so full and hot – Raven was sure she was going to explode.

Tim whispered her name breathlessly into her skin, still delirious at the hot feel of pure Raven around him. His cock throbbed as he sought for more. Dragging his teeth over her pulse point, he slowly pulled out of her, earning a soft gasp from her lips, and sunk back into her. Tim cursed at the delicious friction and prayed that he would last as heat slowly flooded his veins with each stroke of his hips into her.

Raven gasped and her fingers sunk into Tim’s upper back as they found rhythm that stoked the fire that was settling lower and lower into her. She dragged her nails down his back as she released a strangled groan just as Tim filled her to the hilt, hips snapping loudly against hers. Tim cursed loudly into her neck as each push sent another shock of blinding pleasure through him, each press and stroke more powerful and addicting than the last. He could feel her tighten around him, his cock eagerly stroking her hot core.

They picked up their pace and Raven eagerly pushed her body up to meet his every thrust, stoking that burning fire within her. She moaned loudly as Tim adjusted her hips and dragged her right leg over his hips, hitting her just the right way.

“Fuck,” Raven cried and rolled her head back in pleasure as Tim rocked into her at a pace that had her racing towards the edge of a cliff. Her leg tightened around Tim’s hips and she dug her nails into his back as his hips snapped into her.

The sounds Raven was making were driving Tim wild. He hitched her leg higher up his hips, sinking his cock deeper into her and making her sing. He groaned as he felt her flutter around him, and he was stunned at how loud and responsive Raven could be. Tim desperately wanted to hear her more.

Life around them disappeared as the sound of flesh hitting flesh and their breathy moans filled the room. Their thrusts became more frantic as the build of fire burned their nerves. Tim growled and sunk into her, hips snapping into Raven and his fingers quickly sliding between them as she mewled in pleasure. He pressed his thumb against her clit and rubbed the sensitive nub. He watched mesmerized as Raven gasped, her mouth dropping open and her back arching off the bed as she released a loud strangled cry.

Raven cried out his name as she flew off the cliff and into oblivion. The whole world disappeared into a burst of bright light and her body soared. Her thighs quivered around Tim, thrusting frantically into him as his cock continued to stroke her, guiding her through a blinding high. She pressed herself into him, gasping his name like a mantra and her hips snapped wildly into him, as she felt his own release barrel into her. She felt his muscles contract as her fingers slipped over his slick skin and he continued to thrust into her, stroking a delicious hot fire as they rode off the edge. Tim shuddered as hot jolts of pleasure ran down his spine and he sank his teeth into her neck to muffle his groans.

Tim released a shuddering breath and pressed himself into Raven, careful not to crush her. Pressing his face into her neck, he breathed in the scent of lavender and sweat and listened to her unsteady breaths. Raven wrapped her arms around his shoulders, as she felt Tim’s loud heart beat against her own frantically beating heart. Her senses were slowly coming back, as the sweat and smell of the world around them slowly creeped back into her mind.

Raven opened her eyes and turned her head to watch Tim’s face. Catching her gaze, Tim gave her a breathless smile and clumsily pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. He slowly pulled back, pulling himself out of her. Raven shuddered at the sensation and sighed softly at the loss. Tim rolled over onto his back into the space next to her and sighed loudly. He quickly grabbed her and pulled her towards him. Raven immediately curled into his side, legs tangling into his and her arm draping over his chest. Tim tucked her under his arm, pressing her closer and allowing them both to catch their breaths and bask in the aftermath of the moment.

When the world finally fully came back to them, Raven inhaled deeply and tilted her head towards Tim’s face just to catch him staring at her intently. Tim reached out and gently brushed some sweaty strands of hair away from her face, the gentle action made her chest warm and her lips curled into a soft smile.

“Hey,” Tim breathed, his hand sliding down her chin and his thumb feathering over her lower lip.

“Hi,” Raven whispered. Her chest fluttered at the warm emotions that seemed to wrap around them. She knew that they had to talk about what just happened, perhaps once she could think properly. For now, she would enjoy the way Tim’s fingers danced over her shoulder and traced imaginary patterns into her skin. For now, she won’t overthink this and just bask in the moment, relish the confessions spoken earlier, and drink in every minute of tonight and the promise of tomorrow. They would talk, soon.

Raven woke up to loud knocking at the hotel room door. She groaned and pulled her face from her pillow as the feeling of tiredness and sore muscles kicked in. She was sleepy and exhausted – they had stayed up most of the night up until dawn before exhaustion finally kicked in and knocked them out. She turned to the empty space next to her, she could still smell hints of cedarwood waft from the pillow and tickle her nose. She faintly remembered rustling of bedsheets and clothes, and the gentle press of a kiss into her bare shoulder blade that morning.

The door knocked again, ‘Room Service!’, and Raven sighed. Ignoring the pang of disappointment of waking up alone, she hauled her naked body out of bed. Her muscles ached, a reminder of everything that happened. She grabbed one of the spare bathrobes from the bathroom and quickly attempted to to fix her hair to hide all evidence of her long night of debauchery.

The door knocked again and Raven frowned at the persistence. “Coming!” she called. Making sure her robe was secure, lest she wanted to flash the poor hotel staff, she marched towards the door and promptly opened the door. She stared in surprise at the hotel staff and the trolley in front of her.

“Good Morning, Ms. Roth. Breakfast time!” chirped the hotel staff, a young woman. Not really waiting for Raven’s response, she pushed the trolley into Raven’s room, set up the trolley next to the balcony, and made a few adjustments on the trolley. “Enjoy!” she said and disappeared out of Raven’s room as quickly as she came. The door locked behind her.

Raven blinked, utterly confused at the sight of a rather lavish breakfast trolley with silver serving covers and large pot of tea. Her gaze settle on the beautiful bouquet of flowers set in the center of the trolley – calla lilies. Her earlier disappointment dissipated and Raven found herself smiling at the bunch of white calla lilies. She felt her stomach flip and chest flutter at the sight of the flowers and she gingerly touched one of the silky petals. Noticing the small white envelope with her name on it. Picking it up, she pulled out a simple white card. Raven smiled.

“See you soon.

- T.”

#TimRae #Tim Drake #Raven #Teen Titans Fanfiction #TimRae 2021 Year of Smut and Steam

82 notes · View notes

deafchild2000 · 3 years ago

Text

H2O Headcanon #23:

Gracie Made All Of Annette's Dresses

A Word from our sponsor: All dresses can be linked to this IG Page:

https://instagram.com/xtabayvintage?utm_medium=copy_link

Alright, let's get started!

So, I had been thinking about this for a while and I was like: Why not have Gracie learn sewing? Considering she's lived through the 60s, 70s, 80s, and early 90s, it wouldn't be ridiculous thing to pick up maybe a lesser known talent. So, I got to thinking of narratives:

Gracie is a mostly forward person, but even as she grew up, she had a divided taste in fashion, especially in the 80s. On one hand, she loved the vibrant neon colors and fabric that came with the new decade, but sometimes the mother in her turned her head from the more newer designs. Gracie guessed the girl from the 50s inside her preferred more classic and somewhat conservative looks to what else was being worn nowadays [80s]. Just don't get her started on two-piece bikinis! (It was one thing having the top part as a mermaid, where there was nothing to show from the waist below, but the bottom part was something she still needed getting used to.)

But that didn't mean she didn't enjoy new ideas! Working in a restaurant as a manager paid the bills but she enjoyed working on her artwork most of all (tied with spending time with her daughter, Annette.)

However, she wasn't blind. Her daughter was entering her teen years and for the curly, blonde hair she inherited from her father, Annette - to the dimples, high cheekbones, and rose cheeks - got all the beauty from Gracie, which made both of them head-turners, unfortunately.

However, unlike her mother's reservations, Annette was immersed in the 80s trends of big hair, scrunchies, leg warmers, fingerless gloves, leotards , oversized shirts, plastic bangles, large funky earrings in neon shades, mesh accents, fanny packs and pearl necklaces (probably the only thing in regards to accessory Gracie appreciated!)

Gracie HATED it all! The 80s was very materialistic and all about flaunting wealth and who payed the price for all these fancy and designer clothes!? Where did the pearls come from? How much labor went into sewing a shopping out clothes to stores? What about the work laborers and the excessive need to mass-produce at fast rates? What happened to quality over quantity!?

(Annette got these lectures every time she asked for something out of a catalog and just beared with it.)

In some ways, it was lucky enough that Gracie preferred handcrafted quality items, with the occasional vintage jewelry found in second-rate stores and market stalls. She enjoyed the classics, but there was something divine in wearing something handmade. Back when her husband was alive and she lived on the military base with him, she had told this to a friend and fellow army wife one day, who reckoned her an "Old Soul" and suggested she take up sewing if she disliked name-brand clothes so much. At the time, she never considered it, but it wasn't a foreign concept. She grew up in a well-to-do family and her mother always made her dresses for special occasions. From her evening gowns to her school formal, perhaps there was something to it that she could do for her future child. Alas, it wasn't easy, but she had her mother and local wives to help with her exciting projects! Even once she left, she never really stopped making dresses.

If anything, she found it challenging to make dresses to prove to Annette that homemade was better than store brand! And especially bring the 50s to the 80s!

The Debutante Dress (Age 16- 1981)

Ah, the debutante ball. A girl's coming out to society and the elegance of being accepted as a lady - and there was just something about that flowing white, silk dress that Gracie just loved! When she had the first opportunity to be a part of one, it was for charity and her mother convinced her. To be frank, the etiquette lessons were a bore and the only real excitement was the dance lessons. Looking back, those lessons did pay off whenever she had to attend functions with her husband. She and Julia had been selected and their escorts had been Max and Karl (perhaps that was the only reason Julia took fancy to the entire event.) It had been held at the Cloudland Ballroom and been an invigorating event! She danced all night in the gown her mother made for her and she felt like the wind gliding through the air.

So perhaps it was destined that the very ballroom (unaware of its drastic fate) would be danced upon by Gracie's daughter, the very floor where she once danced with her first love and later met and fell in love with her future husband! Annette however wasn't taking being a debutante so well and fought every minute of it. It took time to get her stubborn daughter to get used to the idea and perhaps her hand-sewn dress also helped:

(The pearls were once Gracie's...and she realized she had turned into her mother!)

Halloween Costume

This one caused a fight between mother and daughter. See, while Annette wasn't going all-out Disney, she requested a princess dress that would make her stand out. And Gracie did just that, only it mirrored something more traditional with a red cloak when what Annette wanted was something more glamorous. The fight wasn't bad (compared to the ones they'd have in the future) but it did leave Gracie a bit heartbroken and the girls in separate rooms. Eventually, Annette came around and apologized, saying she'll still wear it. (Which she wouldn't regret seeing as a lot of people enjoyed a more realistic take of medieval fantasies!)

First Date

Annette had her first date! Gracie knew that he was taking her out on a beach date (Sugtons Beach) and wanted to express just that. Turns out her date was the one who was commented Annette on her Halloween costume! Annette had nothing to wear and consulted with Gracie again, this time asking if she owned anything and could modernize it. Well...Gracie did have something, but though she herself thought it could have been done better, Annette loved it! [10 points to whoever recognizes such a design from H2O!]

Year 11 Formal (age 17 - 1982)

The formal was the first dance Annette had gone without a date and was just going with her girlfriends. She turned out to like her mother's sewing skills and told her she didn't want anything too fancy to go in. However, she begged her to make it something 80s-like! But alas, Gracie could only grant that request so much before she had her artbook in one hand and needle & thread in another! [With a reference to a dress Tiffany Lamb (Annette) to rein the 80s!)

Wedding Guest

Annette and Gracie had been invited to a wedding! Well, it was more of a vow renewal, as the couple were old friends of parents back when they lived on the base and had a bit of a nostalgic touch! Considering Gracie was a bit of the same way, she found an old dress she owned when she was 16 and spruced it up a bit for Annette.

Dance Party Dress

After so much time and begging, this would be the ONLY dress Annette got from her that even resembled the 80s glitz and glam they once fought over. To be fair, the glitz existed in the 60s but she wasn't a fan of them. However, Annette was over the moon once she saw this:

Yearbook Photos

Annette may have been getting only a headshot for her school yearbook photos, but Gracie wanted to make memories. With the help of a friend, she and Annette took pictures all over Brisbane to add to the photo album. And once again that pesky beauty the mother and daughter shared cropped up when someone thought it was a genuine photo shoot and tried to recruit Annette into modeling! Gracie herself was a model in her teens and while she can say she had a good experience, there was a reason she never joined the industry full time! Luckily for her, Annette was more into becoming an inspiring chef than photos.

Year 12 Formal (age 18 - 1983)

At this point, Gracie had decided to take her daughter's advice and try to at least incorporate modern 80s with the classic 50s, and at the right time. Unlike the last formal, this time, Annette had a date, Gracie decided to do something to reflect the occasion. It also hit her how much she changed herself at 17 (most, she would never bring herself to tell Annette) and found herself designing a dress that brought back an old memory.

Gracie's 50th Birthday (age 25 - 1990)

There must have been a hint of irony in the world as for as Gracie knew. For weeks, her daughter had been quite secretive and she couldn't guess why. And when she questioned her son-in-law, he had the nerve to be cheeky and not confide in her daughter's secrets (but then again, that's how she knew he was the one for Annette!). However, during that time, she had asked once more for a dress. At the time, it had been year's and the last thing she made was the veil and reception dress for her daughter's wedding (the wedding dress she wore ended up being the one from the Debutante ball.) However, that night of her 50th birthday, Annette presented her a gift: A seafoam blue dress with pearls that she recognized as being something out of the 80s (irony Is that she liked the dresses when the 90s hit!) Annette has made it - with help, as she didn't inherit the skill from her mother and grandmother. She, Annette, and her son-in-law went out to what she thought was some fancy dinner...when it was revealed to be a small dance hall with the theme: Cloudland. Everyone they knew from friends (old and new) to coworkers, and even strangers she befriended who kept in touch, attended the party. She did raise an eyebrow at Annette being fit for the 50s while she was in the 80s...at least until an old song started playing and Annette asked her to dance...dance to the very song she fell in love with her father to. And then, she told her the most surprising news: She was to be a grandmother.

#h2o just add water #annette watsford #gracie watsford #h2o just add water 50s mermaids #fashion #charlotte watsford

19 notes · View notes

since0202 · 4 years ago

Text

Chapter 33: Wedding

The day of the wedding was a blur for Grace. She had dutifully arrived by 7 a.m. to help Alice start coordinating the set up of the clearing just off of their house. Bella was to get there no later than 10 to start getting ready. Grace was in sweats and a cropped sweatshirt with her hair pulled up in a messy bun as she artfully wove fresh flowers together.

“Emmett! Come on, I said finish clearing the boulders not smash them to pieces and scattering broken rock across the dance floor.” Grace clucked making her way over.

“I’m trying to see if I can hit it just right so that it crumbles into a likeness of their faces! Like when you see the virgin Mary in toast,” Emmett said to Grace’s confusion.

“Well you’re about to be put on duck duty if you don’t knock it off and clean this up!” Grace scolded. Jasper was hovering around a nearby pond eyeing the swimming ducks with a pained look on his face. Whenever a duck got too close, he’d move ever so slightly and they’d bounce away from him squawking.

“I’m not dealing with ducks,” Emmett said under his breath. Grace turned to go back inside looking for more ribbon as a bustle of energy moved in and around the house. Alice had tasked each member of her family with some important task.

Grace went upstairs and into Alice’s studio as she pricked at the flowers and gave out a shriek when she looked up to find Edward there stock still and staring at Bella’s wedding dress.

“Jesus Edward!” Grace said placing a hand over her chest and taking a minute to recover. He looked over at her slightly amused and a little embarrassed before Grace continued, “What are you doing in here, isn’t that bad luck?” she pointed toward Bella’s dress.

“Only if she’s in it, I think,” He said quietly. His eyes returned the dress and Grace moved past him to open the craft drawers spilling over with ribbons. Once she found one she liked, she moved to sit at the makeup station Alice had set up for Bella to get ready at and set to work on the flowers.

“What are you making?” he asked after a second.

“Boutaneers,” Grace said with a needle in between her teeth still. “You gonna tell me why you’re really in here?”

Edward gave a knowing smirk, “So perceptive,” he said looking back to the dress before he spoke. “She’s going to want me to turn her after we get back from the honeymoon.” He heard Grace hold her breath, her fingers stalling over the flowers momentarily. “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to refuse her.”

Grace let out a long exhale and looked up at him, “It’s easy. Just say no.”

“But then Alice or Carlisle will do it,” Edward shook his head annoyed again.

“Then stop them,” Grace said simply, grumbling now.

“Were it so easy,” he said, his eyes trained on Grace now. “Would you help?”

“I have tried.She won’t listen to me. She’ll throw supernatural destiny in my face and call it square.”

“So what happens then? I change her and your pack comes after us for the rest of our lives?” Edward said disappointedly. “I told her forever and I meant it.”

“I don’t know what will happen, but you definitely won’t be welcome back to Forks and neither will Bella. Not anyone. But what other way is there?” Grace looked tired suddenly. “I’m not starting the war but I will put a stop to it if it starts.”

“You think we want a war?” Edward probed.

“No, but the pack will see it as nothing other than a gauntlet thrown. And without the treaty in place, they won’t have any reason not to come after you. It depends on how far Sam lets them go.”

“But you’ll help us, right?” Edward’s eyes were controlled. Grace looked up at him.

“She’s my family, which makes you my family, which probably makes me a traitor, so yes?” Grace narrowly avoided pricking her finger to the point of blood as she hissed. “But I highly doubt they’ll kill me. Who knows though.” Grace sighed dejectedly. “Happy returns.” she toasted one of the boutaneers and frowned. “I’m sorry, I’m trying.”

Edward nodded and looked back to the wedding dress before making his way past her. He paused and put a cold hand on her shoulder causing her to look up, “It’s okay. We’ll meet it as it comes….together,” he gave her a reassuring smile and left her in the room alone.

The ceremony was everything Grace had imagined. As she sat in the front row next to Renee and Charlie in her silvery blue satin dress, her hair spilling gorgeously down her back and pulled half up with soft wispy strands floating around her face, she couldn’t help but think that this is what forever must look like with someone you loved beyond words.

Bella stared so intently at Edward, at every vow he uttered and he returned the look. There was everything between and yet they were close, conquered immeasurable hurtles, fought death and destruction, and promised forever. Grace’s eyes glittered with tears as they were pronounced man and wife and with a soft, endearing, and terribly intimate kiss, they turned to smile adoringly at their loved ones.

Grace broke into loud cheers and claps, hearing Embry, Quil, and Seth crooning at the very back close to the treeline.

The night wore on easy from there, Grace and Bella happily discarding their high heels to go barefoot to the shock and laughter of Alice. They danced until their lungs hurt on the dance floor with Angela and Jessica and Mike and Eric. A farewell to their childhood in the most spectacularly noisy way possible.

After a few slow songs that she coerced Seth and then Embry to dance with her on, she collapsed into a chair fanning herself. The night had come upon them long ago and Grace shone like moonlight in her dress. She turned to Embry and Quil at her table and said “I’m going to get a drink do you guys want—” but she was cut off by their nervous looks.

“What? Don’t tell me you’re chickening out now! You made it through a whole ceremony and dance party with a bunch of vampires.” she said a smile moving across her face teasing them.

“Must be the punch,” Quil played off and took another swig. Grace shrugged and looked back to the dance floor. But her eyes saw the receding figures of Edward and Bella sneak around the back of the house. “Where are they going?”

Her question was short lived though because Seth was pulling her up onto the dance floor again, trying to spin and gleefully dip her to his heart’s content. Seth was a good head and half taller than her now, even though he was barely 15. They drew the stares and laughter of couples closest to them but Grace didn’t care. Just a week after her meeting with Ti’Hal, she was starting to feel better.

She didn’t lose her breath every other second, she was recasting with ease around the reservation, Sam had reinstated her back onto patrols, and she had even spent the afternoon baking with Emily just for fun. She was by no means whole, and the grief would often return at night when she was alone in bed, but she was standing on her own two feet again and it didn’t hurt so much to smile. She had her pack to thank for that. They wholeheartedly threw themselves into Grace’s path to help her along in her healing. No flickering thoughts or judgements were thrown her way and even Paul was helpful on rounds.

He had somewhat patched up with Rachel according to Quil, visiting her every weekend at UW after she went back in August. They were taking it slow, but something told Grace that it wouldn’t take long. Paul was happier by the day, a warm glow bouncing off of him as he ran through the forest and Grace breathed a sigh of relief at that. He needed to be happy so that she could be happy too. She just wasn’t sure how yet.

Once the song ended, Angela was by her side, “Hey have you seen Bella? We should take our shots in the photobooth now!” her cheeks were rosy and she’d definitely had some of the famous punch.

“Oh! I’ll grab her, I think I saw her and Edward heading around back to go smoooooch,” Grace said happily pulling out of Seth’s arms to his shock and protest.

Grace bounded off the dance floor and around the back of the house, humming to the song back in the crowd without realizing a little too late that she was indeed a party crasher.

“Hey, Bella! Ange wants to take pictures in the photobooth if you’re ready—” her mouth closed quick as she came to an abrupt halt.

In the dark, moonlit clearing, Bella was standing in front of none other than Jacob Black. His hair was longer but he had pulled it up into a loosely fitted bun to keep it out of his face. His features were hard, like sunwarmed stone and his frame was somehow broader, more sure, but shaking. Her eyes connected with his instantly and that familiar rush, the pang in her stomach that had been dormant roared to life. Her whole body tingled with anticipation and then fizzled quietly as Jake automatically took a step back from Bella, trying to quell the violent shaking in his body.

Grace was having a hard time reading his face, the emotions were changing so quickly: fear, desire, sadness, overwhelming joy, crushing pain, and finally, hard as stone anger.

“I...I’m sorry I didn’t know you were..” Grace breathed unable to take her eyes off of the man that she had loved for the past year, maybe longer, maybe in lifetimes before if she would let herself remember, “Busy.” she finally breathed taking a step up the hill. “Jacob.” She had to say his name, just once. A call for a hopeful return. Jake gave an imperceptible shake of the head and held his body tight.

“‘I came to see Bella.” His voice even laced with so much anger was music to her ears. She had to hold in a sigh of relief at finally hearing it again outside of her dreams.

“Right,” she said, finally pulling her gaze from Jake to Bella who was looking at her tearfully. “I’ll just…” She turned and hastily made her exit, but could clearly hear a strangled groan coming from Jacob as she left. Her heart was about to burst with how quickly it was hammering in her chest. Just as she came to the crest of the hill, she bumped into Edward who grasped onto her forearms to steady her.

“Are you alright?” he said worriedly.

“Yeah, I just….Jacob,” she shook her head and Edward looked over her down the hill. Something was clearly escalating now in the clearing from which she had come but she needed steady ground. Edward let go of her as she pushed past him and made her way toward Embry and Quil. They looked up at her with clear worry and she put a hand on each of their shoulders. Embry raised his hand to place over hers and she took deep, gulping breaths like she had been drowning. After a couple of minutes, she calmed her breathing and opened her eyes to look at them.

“You okay?” Quil said, clear worry in his eyes. He knew Jacob was near.

“Jacob’s back,” she breathed, a small smile pulling at the side of her mouth without her meaning to. Quil and Embry shot each other a look like she had truly lost it this time.

But it felt like coming up for air. Jacob returning didn’t hurt, it felt good, and the warmth that Ti’Hal had shot through her a week ago ratcheted up her body and nestled in her belly again.

Jacob came back.

Her eyes went wide and Quil stood up to brace her back. She took one startled look at Quil and drifted over to the photobooth where Jessica and Angela were giggling while holding a tray between them. Grace leaned in and took one of the shots from the tray throwing it back down her throat to squeals of delight from Angela. She took another one and downed that too making a ‘Blegh’ sound after and Jessica protested:

“Hey! That one was mine!” Grace sloppily wiped the back of her hand against her mouth.

“I’ll get you more. Don’t let Esme see,” Grace sneakily darted her eyes around the dance floor. Esme already knew but the pretense was important. It added to their glee hiding in the booth and taking shots.

“Where’s Bella?” Angela said through giggles.

“Couldn’t find her,” Grace said shortly squeezing in and pressing start on the photobooth to take 6 quick pictures. Just as the flashes started to pop, Bella peeked her head in with a quick ‘Hey,” her eyes still red rimmed.

The shots were hitting Grace’s stomach now and she looked at Bella delighted. They all returned with a joyful “Hey!” and pulled her into the tight booth, sitting Bella on their collective laps and clinking yet another round of shots together. Bella hesitantly took hers but one look at Grace and she downed it quickly.

“Boys,” Bella murmured, pulling a face as the flash went off again. Grace tightened her grip around Bella’s hand.

The cheers were deafening around her as she stood off to the side of the crowd for Bella and Edward’s send off to their honeymoon. Quil and Embry flanked her while Seth was standing out in front throwing rice and soaking in the wonder of the moment. As they came to the end, Bella reached for Grace and pulled her into her arms tightly.

“Have fun okay?” Grace said, the words getting choked as emotion swept through her.

“I will..” Bella whispered.

“And come back okay, Bells?” Grace pulled back from her and looked her in the eyes. “Come back.”

“I will, I promise,” she nodded and they swept each other into one more hug, before Grace released her and she went to say goodbye to her parents.

She turned to Quil and Embry just a tad wobbly still from the shots, “Ready?” They nodded and she called for Seth. As they moved into the treeline, Grace looked over her shoulder and sent a silent pleading thought out one more time to Bella, Please, please come back.

In the distance, she heard a wolf howl.

#twilight fanfiction #twilightfanfic #Twilight FanFic #twilight #new moon #eclipse #the cullens #edward cullen #bella swan #breaking dawn #smeyer #jacob black #jacobblackxoc #jacobxoc #jacobblack #the pack #chapter 33 #a monster lives here

14 notes · View notes

lochrannn · 3 years ago

Link

Warnings: Sexual Content (M Rating)

Characters: Lila Pitts; Diego Hargreeves; Allison Hargreeves; Klaus Hargreeves; Hargreeves Siblings (background)

Relationship: Lila Pitts/Diego Hargreeves

Roommates AU; Fake Marriage; Slow Burn; Mutual Pining; Emotional H/C

Chapter 6/?

Lila picks up the letter with the marriage license from the letterbox when she comes home from running some errands only a few days after they applied for it. She recognises that it’s from city hall and hesitates for a moment as it’s addressed to Diego and could honestly be anything, how would she know, but she’s desperately impatient so she decides to open the letter and just give it a cursory look and apologise for snooping through his mail later if it turns out to be something else.

As it is, in fact, the marriage license, Lila gets on the phone right away and books an appointment at the courthouse for a wedding in a week’s time, apparently managing to get a slot that just opened up again earlier in the morning, as the waiting time would otherwise have been a couple more weeks. The clerk at city hall had very kindly explained to them how to go about booking a courthouse wedding and what that would entail, otherwise Lila would have been back at square one again even with the license.

All they need to bring is their necessary documentation and a single witness. Lila really hopes Diego has someone he can ask, because she doesn’t want to get one of her coworkers to come along.

She explains this to Diego when he turns up in the evening and he doesn’t even blink at the fact that she opened the letter addressed to him and then suggests he could ask Klaus to be their witness.

“I can ask my brother to take some pictures as well, so we have them as proof for the visa proceedings.” Diego muses.

“Who, Klaus?” Lila asks a bit confused why Diego wouldn’t just refer to him by name, seeing as she’s already met him.

“No, Ben.” Diego says, a bit distracted, as he reads through the letter that she handed him.

“You have another brother?” Lila asks, surprised.

Diego gives her a blank look for a second, then says, “Uh, I have four brothers…”

“And a sister?” Lila puts together, her voice a little high in disbelief.

“Two sisters, actually… all adopted.” Diego shrugs noncommittally, “I guess we’ll have to go through all of that before the interview process.”

Lila could kick herself, because she forgot to ask him exactly what the interview could possibly entail as she’d not heard of it before Diego mentioned it back at city hall. She’s relatively certain that the image that pops into her head of her pretending to be some kind of nineteen fifties housewife in a hoop skirt and delicate curls, who has to fawn over her breadwinner husband while a government agent takes notes, is probably not exactly what they are in for.

But before she can ask about the interview this time, Diego asks tentatively, “Uhm, have you thought about what you’re gonna wear?”

Lila is sitting on the arm of the couch, Diego standing not too far away from her, very strenuously looking down at the letter in his hand. Lila crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow, but says nothing, and after a moment Diego does look at her and is immediately flustered.

“I’m not— It’s not… It’s just, if we’re taking pictures, we can’t look too shabby, but it’s also just a courthouse wedding, so we can’t look too fancy either.”

“You think I might turn up to my wedding looking shabby?” Lila asks in an even tone, but she tries very hard to give it an edge and tries even harder not to start laughing out loud at the look of panic that makes its way onto Diego’s face.

“That’s not… I didn’t mean…” he stammers, but Lila takes sympathy and interrupts him to say, not unkindly, “I have a dress I can wear.”

“Ok,” Diego says, clearly relieved that she didn’t end up getting annoyed at him again, and a tiny part of Lila is filled with a little bit of guilty regret for making him feel like he can’t say anything to her without the danger of her blowing up at him. He’s doing her a massive favour, apparently despite the fact he seems to think of her as some kind of raging bitch. It’s not like she can entirely blame him, but for some reason that thought really twists something in the pit of her stomach.

Which is odd, because she usually couldn’t give a flying toss about what people think of her.

In the end the day somehow arrives much sooner than she expected and Lila finds herself stepping out of her room in a short red cotton dress that hangs a little loosely off the thin straps across her shoulder but is cinched at the waist with a drawstring with a bow, and she’s put on a pair of black high heel sandals.

She hears Diego in the kitchen, so she makes her way over and when she finds him she is hit by the view of Diego in a pair of very nicely fitted grey suit trousers, a matching jacket, and what must be a black t-shirt underneath as he’s pouring himself a cup of coffee. For a second Lila can’t work out if she’s completely underdressed by comparison, or whether Diego is just wearing the heck out of his clothes, but then he notices her and gives her a once over with a strange expression.

“You look… uh… really, uhm, cute,” he says, a bit hesitantly.

“Ah shit,” Lila says, a bit frustrated, “this is way too casual… Hold on, I can take another look in my cupboard…” but Diego interrupts her. “No, Lila, honestly, you look lovely! You’re perf— It’s perfect! Not too flashy, but you look very nice, really!” Diego says in a reassuring tone and despite the fact she doesn’t quite feel like she’s actually struck the balance, she’s finding it hard not to believe him, he does sound awfully sincere.

Diego drives them to the courthouse and Lila is very intrigued by his car. It's classic Chevy and it’s a bit of a banger of a thing, but inside it smells of leather seats and very faintly of Diego’s aftershave, and Lila is weirdly comforted by that, considering her stomach is rolling with nerves. She’s not even sure why. This means nothing, they are doing this so she can get a visa and yet Lila wonders whether she’d honestly be significantly more nervous if this was her real wedding.

On their way they pick up Klaus, who is wearing a sarong and a tie dye crop top and Lila is interested to see that Diego doesn’t comment at all on the outfit, so neither does she. Then they pick up Diego’s other brother, Ben, who’s wearing a leather jacket over a hoodie, Lila can see as he approaches the car. A lot more sensibly dressed than Klaus, but still a little casual for a wedding. Then again, Lila thinks, he’s mostly only there to take the photos, so it doesn’t actually matter.

The first thing Ben does, as he climbs into the car, is make a snide comment at Klaus’s attire and Klaus shoots back with something equally insulting and after a short back and forth Diego interrupts them in annoyance, “Shut the fuck up back there, or I swear, I’m gonna pull someone off the sidewalk to be the witness, and I’m sure we can get the officiant to take a couple of pictures!”

The two brothers in the backseat take that as an invitation to have an argument amongst themselves about the ungratefulness they have to deal with and Diego rolls his eyes at them in the rearview mirror, but Lila catches the fond smile that etches it’s way across his lips and she’s quite certain that she wasn’t meant to see that. She’s glad she did.

She’s also glad that Diego has apparently told his brothers the purpose of their wedding, which means they don’t have to pretend in front of them and only need to start acting like a couple as they are called into the ceremonial office twenty minutes after their actual appointment.

The officiating judge seems harassed and in a hurry and just makes a grabbing motion as they enter. Diego catches on right away. Maybe, Lila muses, he deals with people like this all the time in his job, so he hands over all of their documents that they have compiled in one file.

The judge gives the paperwork a very thorough look, while Lila and Diego stand a little awkwardly in front of her desk.

“Okay, this all seems fine. Can I see the witness’s ID?” she says looking over the rim of her glasses at Ben.

“Oh, that’s me!” chirps Klaus and flounces over to the desk and hands the judge a passport that Lila doesn’t want to think about where he’d been keeping it on his person.

“Alright!” Says the judge and pulls a form out of a tray and starts writing their names on it in what looks, from where Lila can see it, like remarkably tidy cursive.

“Well then, are you, Diego Hargreeves, free lawfully to marry Lila Pitts?” she asks in a very official sounding voice.

Diego, much like Lila herself, must be a bit taken aback at how quickly they got to this part but rallies and says, in an unwavering voice, “I am!”

The judge turns to her and Lila swallows hard as she hears, “Are you, Lila Pitts, free lawfully to marry Diego Hargreeves?”

“I am!” Lila answers without hesitation, maybe she even sounds a bit rushed, but she hasn’t got the time to think about whether that is in any way embarrassing, because the judge just plows on, “Ok, then you sign here and here,” she points at the two gaps and Diego lets Lila go first. Then the judge says quite impatiently, “Witness?” and Klaus hurries over to put down his own name.

“Great! Then, by the power vested in me by the state, I now pronounce you husband and wife!” the judge says, reaching for a stamp and then distractedly adding, “You may kiss the bride.”

Lila watches as Diego’s eyes go wide, and she can’t blame him for that. For some incomprehensible reason she had also not thought about the fact that this might come up.

Diego looks at the judge for a second, but she’s busy sorting out their paperwork, then he looks at Lila and she gives him a half smile and a tiny shrug, because they can hardly just back out of this part now and Ben is just there with his camera at the ready, so Lila feels emboldened by the thought that this is probably really useful evidence for the immigration file, and she’s just about to reach for Diego, as his hand gently lands on the side of her face and in surprise she covers it with her own, and then his lips are softly pressing against her mouth.

She doesn’t even notice that she’s closed her eyes, but for a moment all she can focus on is the warmth of Diego’s hand on her face, the gentle breath that ghost across her cheek as he slowly breaths out of his nose, and the tension in his lips as they move gently against hers. Then he starts pulling away and a deep sense of loss settles into a spot just behind her breast bone just before Diego ever so slightly brushes his lips against hers for one more moment and then he’s gone and Lila almost over balances. She just about manages not to fall forwards and hopes nobody noticed that for a beat she turned into a swooning damsel.

Things turn into a blur then. They are dismissed hastily by the judge and then find themselves outside the courthouse. Klaus has produced a bottle of champagne and some paper cups from somewhere and Ben encourages them to pose for a few pictures in which they are toasting their newly established matrimony.

Lila downs the first cup of champagne she’s handed and immediately asks for a second and Diego gives her a slightly bewildered look, but at this point the day has been too much for her already and she no longer has the energy to feel embarrassed.

“C’mon!” Klaus then says clapping his hands together decisively, “We need to get a few more pictures of the happy couple,” and adds in a loud stage whisper, “for the whole visa things.”

Lila catches a glimpse of how Diego’s jaw tightens in response and when she looks back at Klaus there is decidedly a glint in his eye, and Lila is relatively certain that they are having some kind of unspoken communication literally over the top of her head.

Klaus glides over to stand beside Ben and in the meantime Lila suddenly feels Diego’s arm coming around the back of her and landing on her waist. But his grip is loose and he doesn’t pull her in and she’s unsure of how to go about this herself, so she fusses for a moment before putting her arm around his waist as well and then leaning into him just a bit and putting her other hand against his side.

Apparently encouraged by the fact that she’s not pulled away, Diego’s grip on her tightens and Lila makes the mistake of looking up at him, and their eyes meet and she freezes.

Diego’s eyes are impossibly soft as he’s looking back at her and for a moment Lila wonders whether that means anything. Then she slowly starts panicking as she thinks about whether she wants it to mean anything and just as Diego clears his throat and it almost seems like he wants to say something, Klaus shouts, “Lovely! And now kiss!”

Both Lila and Diego swivel round to look at Klaus but he just gives them an encouraging hand gesture, so they turn back to each other and this time a bit awkwardly press their lips against each other, noses bumping a bit uncomfortably.

It’s not a terrible kiss, Lila has had worse, but it certainly has nowhere near the effect on her that the one in the judge's office did. As she makes a little displeased noise in the back of her throat and Diego pulls away instantly with an expression that looks about as frustrated as she feels, Lila is suddently completely off kilter. In one instant she feels like she might get lost in his eyes and the next they can’t even manage an even slightly romantic kiss despite the fact they have already done so much more together.

Apparently Klaus is also not particularly impressed by their display because he says, irritation in his voice, “Are you kidding me? What was that? Come on you guys, you’re young and hot and… well… not so much unattached, but you know what I mean, you should manage a more passionate kiss than that even if it’s just for the camera! Stop kissing like you would your grandma!”

“Shut the fuck up, Klaus!” Diego growls and Lila can feel him tense next to her, but she’s too busy gaping at Klaus and asks at the same time as Diego speaks, “How the fuck do you kiss your grandma?”

“Never you mind!” Klaus grins at her with a little flick of the hand, “Anyway, we need more passion, right Benny?” he adds, elbowing his brother enthusiastically.

“I’m just the photograoher!” Ben says, raising his hands in defense, one of them still holding his camera, “But yeah that was pretty lame.”

“Fuck you both!” Diego says angrily and Lila definitely shares the sentiment but doesn’t get a chance to voice it, because all of a sudden, she’s vertical, with Diego’s arm firmly behind her back pressing her up against his chest, his other hand at the back of her knee pulling it up against his hip and he is properly kissing her this time.

Almost on autopilot, as her brain has momentarily stopped working, Lila wraps one arm around Diego’s neck, threads her other hand into his hair, and when his tongue runs along the seam of her lips, she opens her mouth and licks into his before he even gets any further. Diego makes a tiny whining noise and Lila automatically presses herself harder against him, even though she’s basically suspended in mid air with only one foot on the ground.

Then there’s a loud whoop from somewhere off to the side and as suddenly as she was tipped backwards, Diego pulls her back upright and then she’s standing unsteadily on her own, already desperately missing the sensation of pressing up against Diego’s warm, solid body and the wet heat of his mouth on hers.

It’s become a habit by now.

Diego will go to bed and then lie awake staring up at the ceiling for hours, trying to sort out his thoughts.

But today is particularly bad. It’s past two in the morning and he’s not slept a single minute, despite the fact he didn’t get in that late.

After the ceremony, he invited Lila, Klaus, and Ben out for lunch, mostly to thank his brothers for their help and because his stepmom had taught him how to be at least somewhat classy, so he wasn’t going to marry a girl and then not at least take her out to dinner – or lunch in this case – even if it was a sham wedding. Then he’d driven them all home and as he couldn’t afford to take a full day off, made his way back to his office in a daze.

When he got back in the evening, the apartment was already dark and he couldn’t hear any sounds coming from Lila’s room, so he assumed she’d gone to bed and almost felt guilty at how relieved he was not to bump into her.

Fuck, here he is, lying awake in bed, his wife in the other room—Jesus Christ, his wife!—and he can’t even face her.

But he just can’t work out how to be around her, now.

He has no doubt anymore about the fact that he’s in love with Lila but that realisation has almost made things worse.

For a moment, when he stupidly let himself be goaded into kissing her for the photos, he started imagining that she was kissing him back with the same fervor as he was feeling. It felt so real, he’s not even entirely sure he imagined it, but he worries that he’s just seeing what he wants to see.

He even contemplated telling her about how he feels, but that just wouldn’t be fair, even if a tiny part of him hopes that maybe there is a remote chance that she could at least feel something for him beyond friendship. But it would be so unfair on her if she didn’t reciprocate his feelings. They entered their deal under very specific terms and he can’t just go and make things awkward for her, just because he can’t handle being close to Lila without wanting to pull her in and kiss her senseless. He does wonder, though, if he maybe could talk to her about it once she has her visa, once she has options. She wouldn’t be stuck with him then and wouldn’t have to continue pretending to be in a relationship any longer.

Fuck, this is all so messed up, Diego thinks, angry with himself for not being able to keep his feelings under control better. But who is he kidding, that’s never been his strong suit.

He abandons the idea of getting any sleep, so he rolls out of bed and pulls on a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt and hopes that a run around the neighborhood might tire him out enough that he can maybe catch at least a little bit of sleep.

#otp: just be gentle #lila pitts #diego hargreeves #dielila #diego x lila #diego/lila #tua #the umbrella academy #fanfic #ongoing fic

3 notes · View notes

let-me-write-shit · 5 years ago

Text

Like We Used To: 3

A/N: Hey guys! I’m glad some of you are enjoying my story so far! I love the feedback and messages. Please don’t hesitate to message me. Suggestions, comments, or even theories. Happy reading!

[ONE] [TWO]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER THREE

The girls had stayed behind at the wedding venue to gather the gifts, decor pieces, and a few leftover disposable cameras while the guys made their way over to the rental manor after Kate and Lewis. It was a long few months of wedding planning, so being able to relax with each other was much appreciated. Elizabeth and Daisy took a lot of silly pictures on the disposable camera in the limo ride to the manor and Heather had made a verbal reminder to herself that she needed to get the film developed after the weekend ended.

It wasn’t long before the limo was pulling down the long, tree-lit drive of the beautifully restored manor. The girls spilled out of the limo, smiling up at the building in awe before grabbing their things and heading to the entrance. As soon as the doors opened up, you could hear the boys’ booming voices making fun of each other over music playing in the background.

“Girls are here!” Owen called out, coming up to them and helping with some of the bags, followed by the rest of them.

“Oh, thank god!” Kate squeezed through the boys, giving each of the girls a little hug.

It looked like Kate, Lewis, Jimmy, and Owen had managed to get a shower in while Matt and Edward just took their ties off, loosened the buttons on their shirt collars, and untucked their shirts from their pants.

“Now you girls can head on up to the first and second floors. Any room with a door open is available, so bring your things up with you. And every room has a shower. We’ll be down here getting some drinks ready for you!” Kate continued

“Is Harry here yet?” Daisy asked, excitedly.

“No, not yet,” Kate smiled at her before eyeing Elizabeth hesitantly.

Elizabeth nodded as if to say ‘it’s okay’ before heading to the stairs with the rest of the girls. There were two bedrooms left on the first floor with Kate, Lewis, Owen, and Jimmy, so Heather and Elizabeth decided to take them. Up on the second floor the bedrooms belonged to Edward, Matt, Celeste, Daisy, and eventually Harry when he got there.

Elizabeth’s room was quite spacious. It definitely had a victorian quality about it, but was modernized with a marble walk-in shower. She dropped her bags on the Queen sized bed and made her way to the bathroom, liking the idea of a hot shower. She turned on the shower head and examined herself in the mirror while the water heated up. Her wavy hair had lost its bounce and her makeup was starting to separate due to the sweat which made her look tired. Elizabeth supposed that was a good thing, as it was a sign of a good day. But she felt wide awake, excited to celebrate some more with her friends. She ran her fingers at the neckline of her silk dress, almost sad to take it off. She did love the way she looked in it, and if she was honest, was glad that this was how Harry saw her after nine years.

The steam of the hot water running down her body relaxed her and gave her a moment of clarity. Harry was back. She knew she had mixed emotions about that fact, but he was here and everyone else seemed to be happy about it, nevertheless. Elizabeth decided that she was going to be okay with it. She still wanted to keep a healthy amount of distance from him. I mean, the first time he left was hard enough, she definitely didn’t want to let her guard down. But, she resolved that wasn’t going to let some dumb ass insecurities ruin her weekend.

Elizabeth towel dried her hair as much as she could, slipped into her light peach tie dyed lounge set, and rubbed her sore feet before pulling on some socks and grabbing her phone. 10:42 PM. The night was still young. She bounced down the stairs and followed the sound of her friends voices to what seemed like a parlor room filled with two four-seater couches on either side of a fireplace, which Jimmy had apparently managed so start a fire in and was prodding the logs with an iron poker, and two rather large armchairs at the end of the couches. It looked like Heather and Celeste had the same idea as she did, because their hair was damp and they were now fresh-faced. Daisy, however, had just thrown her platinum hair in a perfect messy bun, got into a crop-top sweat set, and kept her makeup on. It didn’t look like Harry had arrived yet.

“Lizzy!” Matt called over, patting the tiny bit of space next to him on one of the armchairs. There was plenty of room on the two couches, but she squeezed beside him while Kate had disappeared and quickly reappeared with Elizabeth’s go-to drink. A Moscow Mule. Elizabeth whispered a ‘thank you, love’, so as not to disrupt the conversation happening in the room and Kate sat at the end of the couch next to her husband, Owen, and Heather.

“I see JJ started the fire,” Elizabeth noted aloud while the others confirmed with a nod, “So did we all learn from our last camping fail not to let Edward near it,” she sneered with a grin.

“Oi!” Edward shouted from the chair next to her as the friends all laughed and she felt Matt’s arm jerk behind her back to swat at Edward.

“The dumbass almost burnt down our cabin!” Celeste recalled, making them all laugh harder.

The sound of the front door opening and closing followed by footsteps made everyone turn to look at the entrance of the room. Elizabeth had to crank her head back to be able to see and was met with Harry’s gaze.

“Hey!” Harry smiled and waved. He had clearly taken a shower and had changed into a casual long sleeve sleeping shirt and some lounge pants, carrying a small duffel bag. His rings no longer covered his fingers.

“Harry! Glad you made it!” Lewis called, standing up. They patted each others back when they were within range and Lewis said, “Come on, let me show you to your room.”

“You’re across from me!” Daisy called out. Harry turned back and chuckled in response to her before he was out of sight.

“Jesus, Daisy!” Celeste snorted, rolling her eyes while the others laughed and shook their heads.

Once Lewis and Harry joined them back in the room with some more drinks, Harry had taken a seat on the other couch next to Jimmy, Celeste, and Daisy. Immediately the conversations, like always with this group, had gotten a little out of control with laughter to the point of tears. Many pictures were taken on the disposable cameras and even more drinks were made. Eventually Heather and Owen had excused themselves to go to bed and the conversation died down a bit. With Matt’s arms resting on Elizabeth’s legs that had been strewn across his in the chair, he whispered in her ear something about getting more drinks when a small piece of ice was chucked at them and had landed on his arms.

“If you two are quite finished flirting, then.” Celeste smirked.

“He wishes,” scoffed Edward, which provoked another smack from Matt.

Kate busted into laughter, “Do you remember when they hooked up with each other after college graduation?” Which caused even more laughter from the bunch with some saying ‘Holy shit, I forgot about that!’

“Wait, what? Really?” Harry straightened up, looking between the two of them with a slightly intrigued and surprised look. Harry had known them since they were fourteen, and back then he probably couldn’t picture that ever happening.

Matt chuckled and joked, patting Elizabeth’s back, “What can I say? I was able to do what every guy in our friend group wanted to do since junior high. I’m a stud.”

“Relax, stud,” Elizabeth blushed, elbowing him in the chest, “It was just a kiss. I’m pretty sure everyone here has kissed each other at least once at some point.”

“Was there some sort of sexual awakening after I left or something?” Harry joked, with nods and laughter from the rest, “Vecause back then it was only Kate and Lewis snogging each other.”

“Remember when Celeste and Edward actually hooked up last year?” Lewis remembered.

“Hell yeah! Broke my two-year dry spell with that!” Edward winked at her.

“And you haven’t had any action since,” Elizabeth quipped, causing an eruption of laughter.

“Alright, alright!” Celeste grinned sheepishly. “We said we would never mention that night again!”

“I bet there will be at least three hookups by the end of the weekend,” Lewis said, assuredly with a nod of agreement from Kate.

Harry looked at them, amused, “Who?”

“Right, should we make bets? Ten bucks each. The one with the most guesses correct by the end of the weekend wins. Ties split.” Jimmy suggested followed by yelps and hoots of acceptance. Harry hesitantly agreed.

“Well, obviously JJ, Heather, Owen, and the bride and groom here are out since they’re in relationships,” Matt thought allowed, “but I reckon that Celeste and Edward will get together after having one too many.” Everyone agreed except for Celeste and Kate.

Then Edward said, “Alright, and I think that Matt and Elizabeth will make out at least once,” to which only Daisy and Celeste agreed.

Kate smiled apprehensively, “Sorry, but I think it’s more likely to be Elizabeth and Harry.”

Elizabeth blushed and her eyes widened, shooting daggers towards Kate as Jimmy, Lewis, and Celeste agreed. She felt Harry’s eyes on her, but she avoided his gaze, unable to look at him. They are out of their minds! What was Kate thinking?

Jimmy spoke up, “And I think Daisy is going to try to get with every available person here. And I mean every available person here.” He wiggled his eyebrows at the girls. A harmonious laughter of agreement emitted from the entire group.

The night continued with more banter. Everyone had agreed upon what to do when they woke up. They had planned on taking the inner tubes out on the manor’s private lake in the morning and having a BBQ. Daisy, after a few drinks and expressing her deep love for everyone there, managed to kiss both Celeste and Edward. “Two down, three to go,” Jimmy sniggered. Slowly the group started to lighten as people were excusing themselves to go to bed.

Eventually it was only Daisy, Harry, Matt, and Elizabeth left. Daisy was nodding in and out of consciousness, the fire was now burned out, and Elizabeth was still comfortably smushed next to Matt on the chair with her legs draped over his and her head resting on his chest. Even though she had told herself she wasn’t going to ignore Harry, she still felt herself at a loss for what to say to him. She still felt confused. Elizabeth just wound up twiddling her thumbs while him and Matt conversed or giving short replies when Harry tried to talk to her.

Daisy suddenly stood up and mumbled, “I’m going to bed,” before making her way out of the room.

“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. I think I should head up, too,” Matt yawned, patting Elizabeth’s legs and sliding out from under her to get up, stretching.

Elizabeth caught Harry’s eyes which read a sort of hesitance, almost as if he was waiting on her to say something. She stood up after Matt and said, “Yeah, me too.”

As they made their way up the steps, she felt Harry behind her, obviously deciding he didn’t want to be the only one up. Matt stopped at the top of the landing to give Elizabeth a hug and a friendly peck on the cheek, wishing her a goodnight and bounded the stairs to the next floor where his room was. Elizabeth was almost at her door when she heard a sad, soft, “Goodnight, Lizzy.” But when she turned around, Harry was already halfway up the steps after Matt.

Elizabeth threw herself onto the bed, turning over to click off the light and look out the window. It would have been pitch dark in the room if it weren’t for the light glow of the crescent moon shining through her window. Elizabeth felt like she failed. Everyone else was so happy and comfortable around Harry after so much time. It didn’t make sense why she was the only one that didn’t feel the same.

Just when she started to slip under the sheets, she heard a soft tapping at her door. “One second,” she called, slipping back out of bed and towards the door. When she opened it she tensed, seeing Harry nervously standing there. “Oh...uh…” she started.

Harry cut her off, “I just didn’t want to go to bed thinking I was crazy. Is it just in my head, or have you been trying to avoid me?” He smiled, anxiously, trying to lighten the tension.

Elizabeth stuttered, shocked at this confrontation, “No, I...Sorry. It’s just…” she paused for a second before straightening up. She wasn’t going to chicken out. If he really wanted to know, she would be honest, “You want the truth? You really want to have a whole-ass heart to heart at 2 AM?”

Harry blinked before nodding his head, his smile starting to fade. A creak was heard from the hallway and they both turned, half expecting someone to be peering out of their room, but they didn’t see anyone. Still, Elizabeth didn’t want anyone listening in, so she stepped to the side and invited him in. He sat at the edge of her bed, hands clasped, and watched her, waiting for her to say something. She stood by the closed door, collecting her thoughts as she had so much she wanted to say, before starting.

“I don’t know, Harry. This is awkward! It shouldn’t be so awkward, but it is! Everyone else seems to be perfectly fine with the fact that you’re here, but I honestly don’t know how to feel. I mean you left me! For nine years I hadn’t heard a word from you. You managed to keep in touch with Lewis and Kate just fine, but why not me?” Elizabeth started pacing the room and started letting it all out. “I mean you were my best friend, for Christ sake. When Kate and Lewis finally got together it was basically you and me every single day! But as soon as you started getting a little bit of attention, you stopped talking to me. I felt crazy. For years I felt like maybe...maybe I just thought we were better friends than we actually were. There’s no way I could have meant that much to you if it was so easy for you to leave the way you did. Then you show up here expecting everything to be all peachy. Everyone else can forgive and forget so easily, Harry. But I’m struggling here.”

By the time she had finished she had felt a lump in her throat the size of a golf ball and her eyes stung as she tried to hold back her tears. She didn’t mean to get so emotional. But she would not allow herself to cry. She didn’t want to show weakness.

An uneasy silence filled the room. It felt like a lifetime before Harry finally spoke, clearing his voice, “I’m so sorry, Lizzy.” Elizabeth looked over at him and could see his eyes were slightly glassy. And instead of his usual lopsided smile it was turned down into a slight frown. He wiped the inner corner of his eye and continued, “I was trying to think of all the reasons for why I did what I did, but they all seem so….fucking stupid now.” He hit the covers lightly, seeming annoyed with himself. “You’re right. I was being a dumbass. And you were not crazy to be upset. You were my best friend. I know you always had Kate. And obviously our friend group was there. I mean there was Lewis and Celeste and JJ and Matt. But...you were my best friend. You knew more about me than anyone else in that group. I’m…..fuck. There’s no excuse. I’m so sorry!”

Elizabeth stared at him as he spoke. She was expecting excuse upon excuse. Definitely not that. She could hear the frustration in his voice and saw the sadness in his eyes. He meant what he said. Elizabeth softened up, “A lot has changed in nine years, Harry. I know we’ve all been picking up where we left off, but we’re not the same as we were when we were seventeen.”

Harry nodded, “I know. You’re right, and neither am I. So….I’m hoping we can use this weekend to get to know each other again. Or...I can get to know everyone again. We can get ourselves reacquainted. I may not be exactly the same, but I’m not that much different.” He noticed her hesitance before adding, “I promise, Lizzy. I promise I won’t leave like that again.”

Elizabeth let her lips twitch upwards into a small smile. Harry’s eyes softened and his eyebrows raised, searching for some kind of response in her face. He must have seen it, because he smiled his bright white smile and outstretched his hands to her in a mock handshake and said, “Hi. My name is Harry Styles. I used to be your best friend before I ruined that. Nice to meet you, again.”

Elizabeth let out a small laugh and a tear that threatened to leave her eye finally spilled out. She quickly wiped it away and swatted his hand, “No, we’re not doing handshakes.” She said, finally allowing herself to propel into his arms. He tightened his arms around her embrace and let his cheek press onto the top of her head. Although he was bigger than he once was, and older, his hug felt the same. The familiar feeling of warmth, comfort, and safety embodied her.

They stayed like that for a while before Harry whispered, “You smell good.”

“Don’t make it weird,” Elizabeth snorted into his chest, pausing before she said, “But so do you.”

Harry laughed and they pulled away, smiling at each other. “Ok. I guess I should…”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth nodded, walking him to the door and opening it for him.

He stepped into the hall and turned to face her. With a warm grin he said, “Goodnight, Lizzy.”

“Goodnight.” Elizabeth whispered, and closed the door.

She stood there for a second, letting what just happened sink in before climbing back into bed and under the covers feeling a warmth grow in her chest. She started to feel the wall that she built up to protect herself start to crumble. This was either going to be really good, or really bad.

Keep Reading

#Harry Styles #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles one shot #harry styles oneshot #harry styles fan fic #Harry Styles fanfiction #harry styles imagine #one direction #writing #story

132 notes · View notes

artificialqueens · 4 years ago

Text

Come Home to My Heart, Chapter 7 (Lemyanka) - Plastiquedoll

read on ao3 ✨| previous chapters

A/N: I don’t know if I can say this but this is one of my favorite chapters I’ve written and I’m so excited I can finally share it! it’s literally two people driving around but it matches the song I guess… I hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading it! <3

-7-

“So Lemon thinks I’m dating you.” Priyanka used the home phone to call her friend the day after their night out.

It was almost noon and Priyanka’s hangover had abandoned her body after drinking a gallon of water and taking a long -long- shower. She was walking around the house with the phone in one ear and a half-empty cup of coffee in the other. Her parents were at her sister’s place, having lunch with the kids so she had the house for herself –and when you’re hangover no matter how much you love kids you do want to be alone.

Denali burst into laughter. “Does she?” Her voice sounded distorted after singing all night.

“Well, thank you for being so considerate and laugh at the possibility of dating me. At least you didn’t do it on my face.”

“It’s not that… I’m sorry. You’re gorgeous for what matters.”

“You’re still laughing.”

“It’s your telephone connection. But wait, are you going to tell her the truth?”

“Eventually, if she asks again… Until then, would you mind if I play dumb with it?”

“Priyanka, oh my God… You’re so silly.”

“Okay, I’ll take that. But let me be potentially unrealistic for a moment here… she might be jealous of you.”

Denali gasped exaggeratedly.

“Quit making fun of me, you bitch.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… This is just so entertaining for me.”

“I’m sure it is.”

“But the night ended up well for you two, right? Progress… character development?”

“She was drunk and called me Sprinky before I pushed her into a taxi.”

“I love Sprinky! Aw, you guys, pet names already.”

“That hardly qualifies as a pet name but…”

“Tomayto, tomahto, same thing.”

It really was Denali the one who lived in a fantasy world.

“I gotta go. I need to pick some groceries from the supermarket.”

“Okay, bye Sprinky!”

Priyanka clicked her tongue. “Bye. Bitch.”

Her mother had given her a list of things to buy since she was staying in all day and she said her lazy ass needed to do something productive, -she didn’t say it like that but that was what Priyanka heard when she was still wasted on her bed.

She had taken her car to the supermarket that was in the center of the city since it was the biggest one around. On her way there, she noticed the engine coughing a little more than usual but she downplayed it when the noises stopped.

The day was sunny and hot, it warmed her skin and made it glow as she drove to the location. She had grabbed a pair of denim shorts that were on top of her suitcase –luckily, since she hadn’t unpacked yet- but she had to dig some more to find an ombré knitted white and blue crop top she had brought, then complimented the outfit with a pair of sandals and vintage round orange sunglasses. After brushing her hair a little, she was ready to go.

She got to the store, picked a shopping cart, and wandered through the aisles with her mother’s list in her hand. She occasionally lifted her feet and slid with the cart when no one was watching. Then she got distracted whereas she was goofing around and almost crashed it on the cereal aisle, fortunately, no one saw that.

Well, almost no one.

“Jesus Christ you’re going to kill someone with that.”

Priyanka stopped in her tracks when she recognized the voice right away.

Naturally, Lemon was there to see her making a fool of herself.

She was there, looking unimpressed as usual with a shopping basket on the floor next to her. Lemon was wearing a NYC t-shirt in pastel yellow, pink and blue, a pair of mom jeans, and white chunky sneakers that made her a bit taller. She also had a giant pair of white oval sunglasses with black glasses on -Priyanka only suspected the reason behind that fashion choice- she had her hair wet but tied into pigtails and lip gloss, lip gloss was never missing with her.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Priyanka mumbled.

“Can’t say the same,” she sighed. “are you following me or something?”

The brunette scoffed. “You wished…”

“Then move aside I’m trying to get the Froot Loops.”

Priyanka looked up and spotted the colorful cereal box above her head. “But the real question is can you get the Froot Loops?”

“Oh, fuck you.” She almost pushed Priyanka off the way but the other girl moved faster.

Lemon had to tiptoe and jump a little to reach for the box and Priyanka enjoyed every second of it.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Lemon was surely grumpy that day, it was the hangover speaking.

“Not really.” She grabbed a box of Cookie Crisp. “I was wondering if you made it home alright after the state you left.”

“I did… thanks for pushing me into a taxi.” There was some of sarcasm there, Priyanka detected.

“Anytime.”

Lemon started walking and Priyanka followed her with her cart, at that point to mess with her some more.

“You still have that sweet tooth for the chocolate chip cookies…” The blonde observed.

Priyanka looked at the cereal she had chosen without giving it much thought. “I guess I do… You still like anything colorful and sugary.”

“Some things never change.”

But other things changed too much.

After roaming a little, at some point, they split and when Priyanka collected the rest of the items on the list she waited in line to pay for her shop. She saw the blonde when she crossed the automatic door with her grocery bags.

Priyanka slid the credit card and then left as well. She loaded the bags on the trunk, then sat at the driver’s seat and inserted the keys to turn on the engine. She tried a couple of times without significant results, the engine coughed a little and then when she thought she had it, it died again.

“C’mon girl, don’t do this to me now… I bought ice cream bars.”

The sight of smoke wasn’t a lovely view, to say the least. When she lifted the engine cover, she discovered it was worse than what she expected.

“Shit… shit, shit, shit… this is bad.”

She pulled her flipping phone from her back pocket and called her father who calmed her down but couldn’t do much in the distance; he suggested a mechanic nearby that could take a look at it.

Priyanka was losing her mind. She sat at the curb and buried her face in her hands.

“Looks like you could use a ride.” Lemon’s voice made her look at the girl.

“Not now.” She blurted out. “I don’t have time for your snarky comments so please refrain from saying anything you’d think is clever.”

Lemon lifted her sunglasses. “I’m not trying to get on your nerves; I’m legit offering you a ride.” Priyanka didn’t seem convinced. “Think for a moment, your groceries are going to go bad with the heat and no air conditioner.”

“The ice cream bars…” She was on the verge of tears. “Fine. Yes, I need a ride, would you be so nice and help me out?”

“Come with me, my car is around the corner in front of the drugstore.”

“Buying some aspirins?”

“Cut the slack I’m trying to do a good deed here.”

“For a change.”

They carried the bags to Lemon’s car around the corner and Priyanka raised an eyebrow as soon as she saw her car.

As expected, from all people, Lemon would be the one driving a sunny yellow Volkswagen New Beetle. They put the groceries on the trunk yet again and the blonde took a seat in the driver’s position, Priyanka sat on the passenger seat.

“A yellow car?” She questioned.

Lemon buckled up. “My dad gave it to me.”

“Your daddy bought you a pretty car? For real?”

She adjusted the sunglasses back on. “He felt guilty after getting re-married and I accepted it as a peace offering. Is that so terrible?”

“Of course…”

Lemon started the engine and moved the vehicle toward the roundabout, heading for Priyanka’s house.

“You have to turn right in the next street.” Priyanka indicated.

“I think I know where your house is.” Lemon murmured as she took a different way.

“Yeah, you could get there faster this way but you’re about to enter to a one-way street… on the opposite side.”

“Shit.” Lemon maneuvered her way out with a U-turn.

“Does everyone in New York drive like this?”

Lemon blushed. “This is my third time driving in town.”

“Did you drive all the way from the Big Apple alone?”

She shook her head. “Rita visited me there and then we traveled together.”

“You two get along for what it seems…”

“It took some time and adjustment. That was supposed to be our bonding trip but I’m pretty sure she secretly holds a grudge since I convinced her mother of making the bridesmaids’ dresses pastel yellow for the wedding.”

Typical Lemon.

“But her mother is nice, she makes my dad happy so I can’t complain.”

“What about your mom? How is she?”

“Christina is alright. She got signed by an important architectural firm two years ago and has been working non-stop since then. She dated a few men but nothing too transcendental. She still listens to ABBA on a daily basis and sings every song in the repertoire deliberately loud enough to embarrass me in front of people but she’s happy. She’s on a cruise right now having the time of her life probably, that’s part of why I’m here.”

“Good for her, good for Christina.”

“That’s what I said. I thought this whole thing of my dad marrying someone else was going to trigger her somehow but she’s proven me wrong when getting over exes is about. Maybe it helped a little that the woman her ex married is older than her but who knows.”

Priyanka chuckled.

Lemon turned the radio on, Give Me All Your Luvin played through the speakers.

It was nice, to get to talk with Lemon like that, forgetting all the fights and unresolved problems they had for a moment. If Priyanka closed her eyes for an instant she could almost picture them both chatting in Lemon’s room with the music playing on the radio and the smell of wet nail polish in the air.

But then, when she opened her eyes, she got back to reality in a world where they had missed seven years of each other’s lives. There was a time where she could tell exactly what Lemon was thinking of but now it was a different story, the blonde was inscrutable and Priyanka couldn’t predict her reactions or guess the words that would come from her mouth. There were many things she didn’t know about Lemon now.

“Do you like Rihanna?” Priyanka asked when they stopped in front of a red light.

“What?” Lemon turned her head. “What kind of question is that?”

The brunette shrugged. “A thought I had.”

“Of course I like Rihanna, what kind of monster do you think I am?”

“One that doesn’t like Rihanna… perhaps.”

Lemon laughed at how ridiculous the conversation was. She had to continue driving when the light changed to green.

“Rihanna’s first album came out seven years ago and she didn’t get the recognition she deserved until a few years later…” Priyanka explained. “so I never got to know if you liked her music and I’m asking it now because there are two types of people in the world, the ones who have the taste and the ones that are monsters and dislike Rihanna’s music.”

“Okay, I’m telling you I love her. In fact, open the glove compartment.”

Priyanka looked at her.

“Go ahead, open it.” She commanded.

She did as the girl said and when the glove compartment was opened, a pile of CDs boxes where revealed inside. The first of them was a copy of Loud by Rihanna and the next one Good Girl Gone Bad.

“I couldn’t bring all of them but I have a few of them here and others at home.”

“Fair enough.” Priyanka checked the other albums underneath.

The little collection included Circus by Britney Spears, Teenage Dream by Katy Perry, Survivor by Destiny’s Child, Overexposed by Maroon 5, The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani and Fearless by Taylor Swift –that last one was Rita’s, she explained- Priyanka inspected the CDs until she found one last album that was in the bottom of the box, it was a worn out copy of Spice World by the Spice Girls, nothing more and nothing less.

“Hey, this is the album you gave me before moving to New York, remember?” A smile grew wide on her face before the memory.

Lemon blushed till the tip of her ears. “I do… that’s actually the copy I used to have in my room… the one we listened to on my radio.”

“Is it?” Priyanka looked at it with admiration. The colors were a bit pale and the box had several scratches, it was clear it has a few years on.

“Yeah… the CD doesn’t work anymore but I still got it there.”

Priyanka looked at the blonde who had her eyes fixed on the road and her hands closed around the steering wheel.

“Why did you keep it?”

“Sentimental value.” Her voice tone was almost inaudible. “I guess I’m not that cold heart monster you think I am, right?” She sounded somber.

“That’s not what I said… I-”

“We’re here.” She announced when she stopped in front of Priyanka’s house. “I’ll help you with the bags and then we can go get the mechanic for your car.”

She got down from the car leaving Priyanka with the words stuck on her throat once again.

It was becoming a pattern now, right when they started getting along again or when they had a decent conversation, Lemon shut the doors and closed all the windows before Priyanka had the chance to break through her walls.

“Your house hasn’t changed at all.” Lemon observed when they walked in with the groceries.

“Ah, yeah. My mom didn’t fall for the charms of the Property Brothers.”

“Do you have the hots for Drew or Jonathan?”

Priyanka cackled. “I stand behind my mother’s beliefs in this one.”

They put the bags on the countertop, Priyanka rushed to place ice cream on the freezer and other products on the fridge before they got spoiled. Lemon folded the paper bags in the meantime.

“Do you have some water?”

“Yeah, here.” Priyanka threw a water bottle at her and the girl caught it in the air.

She opened her purse and took two aspirins and chugged them down with a water sip.

Priyanka just watched her.

“What?” The blonde asked.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“I’m hangover, okay? Tequila is not my best friend… or vodka… neither of them.”

“That’s weird, judging by the way you drank yesterday you’d never guess.”

“Fuck off.” She drank some more water. “Now let’s go get the mechanic for that jalopy of yours.”

“Jalopy?” Priyanka gaped at her. “Excuse you, miss, but I paid that car with my blood, sweat and tears, and two part-time jobs.”

It was the car that was supposed to take her to New York, to Lemon.

“We should hurry then, I don’t know much about mechanics but the amount of smoke that engine released isn’t normal.”

“I know that.”

“Then, let’s go.” The aspirins probably were kicking in.

Before they left the house, Lemon stopped in front of the wall where Priyanka’s mother hung pictures of her and her siblings. In the past, there was a photo of the two of them in school but all over the years her mother probably had saved it just like Priyanka did with all the other Lemon memorabilia. The blonde cast an eye on a photo of the family’s matriarch with a group of children.

“Her grandchildren?”

“Yes, my nephews and nieces.”

“That’s cute… you’re an aunt now.” Priyanka recognized the softness behind her voice and it made her heart skip a beat.

They were back on the road again and Lemon followed the directions until they got to the mechanical workshop Priyanka’s father had suggested her to go. Priyanka explained the man in charge what had happened and then followed the girls with a tow truck.

Priyanka’s car was still where they had left it. It broke her heart to see it there in the streets completely abandoned.

The mechanic took his time to check the engine, he tried to make it work after adjusting some screws and move pieces Priyanka had never heard naming before. Lemon could’ve gone by that moment but she stayed with the brunette, she even shared her bubblegum with her when she noticed how stressed Priyanka was.

After thirty minutes, the man spoke with Priyanka. The diagnosis was not good and he explained that there wasn’t much for him to do. Priyanka felt the knot on her throat and the tears coming at any second. That was her car her baby… this couldn’t be the end of their adventures.

She was beyond surprised when she heard Lemon’s voice.

“But there must be something you can do about it.” She sounded assertive. “The chances are low but there are still chances, right?”

The man babbled some excuses about the car being old and even when it was in a good state; it was going to require some extra work.

“Then do the work.” The blonde continued. “That might look like a piece of junk for both of us but that’s her piece of junk and it means a lot to her so you will take it back to the workshop and do whatever you have to do to save it. Am I being clear enough?”

The man just nodded with wide eyes, maybe too scared to add anything else.

Priyanka was also speechless.

She watched the mechanic hooking her car to the tuck and then stared at Lemon.

“Thanks.” She blinked a couple of times. “That was amazing.”

“I’m sorry I called your car a jalopy.”

“She’s temperamental but it’s okay, I don’t think she heard you anyway.”

“I know you might think of me as this spoiled brat but don’t think I don’t understand what’s like to work hard to achieve something.”

“Thank you.”

“Now let’s go before that guy mistakes the junkyard for the workshop.”

“Hey!”

All was not lost.

That was what the mechanic had said once they left Priyanka’s car at the workshop. It was going to take a couple of days to have a better picture of the problem but maybe replacing some parts would make the difference.

Priyanka sighed of relief and almost hugged the man but then she saw the zeroes on the estimated budget for the repairs and decided to keep the hug for herself… she was more than thankful for having a job back in Toronto that would pay for the bills.

“Well, the good news is that she might live.” Priyanka announced when she got in the car with Lemon.

“There you have. He was just playing hard to get and I know about that.”

“Thank you, Lemon… for helping me so much today. You didn’t have to but still, you did.”

She started the engine. “You’ve done the same for me no questions asked.”

“Are you feeling better after the aspirins?”

“Yeah… I’m never drinking again I swear…”

“That’s a lie.”

“It is…”

“Do you even remember what you said? Last night?”

Lemon stopped in the red light. Her face was as pale as paper and she stared at Priyanka with big eyes, there was horror on them.

“What did I say?”

Priyanka started laughing.

“Priyanka, what did I say?”

The brunette ceased laughing. It was the first time Lemon called her by her name.

“You called me Sprinky and kept asking if Denali is my girlfriend.”

Lemon breathed again. “Thank God… it was just that…”

Priyanka was now puzzled. What else could she’d said?

“I remember that part, you never answered the question anyway.”

She sighed. “Denali is my friend. Just that… we’re friends. Are you happy now?”

Lemon kept driving, it became evening all of sudden.

“I don’t understand though, how did you get to the conclusion that we were dating? I mean, where did the idea come from?”

“Uhm… I’m friends with Kiara and Scarlett on Facebook…”

Traitors, both of them.

“Aha…”

“…and… well, sometimes a picture with you would appear… or pictures of you in nightclubs…”

“I’m so going to kill Scarlett. I told her not to post those…”

“I didn’t mean to assume anything but… I saw you and Denali together the other day and I thought… maybe…”

Priyanka took a deep breath.

“So you know… you know I like girls…”

She nodded.

“And are you okay with that?”

Lemon looked at her. “Why wouldn’t I? Of course I’m okay with that…”

There was a short silence between them, a part of Priyanka was relieved but she could feel her heart pounding.

“Don’t tell me that on top of you thinking that I dislike Rihanna you also consider myself to be homophobic or an ignorant asshole… that being the same thing.”

“I’m asking you.”

“Well, you’ll never have to question it again.” She sounded angry.

“I’m sorry… I take it back, you’re not a monster.”

Lemon’s face softened.

“It’s just… I think of Jan…”

Jan.

That name again, seven years after.

“Jan and her girlfriend Jackie are the one example of true love I have. My parents’ marriage didn’t work but Jan and Jackie… they are grossly in love, it’s disgusting and I love them so much.”

So Jan had a girlfriend… interesting.

“If they couldn’t be themselves and be together I would’ve lost all hope in love, to be honest.” She looked at Priyanka. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to but do your parents know?”

Lemon was probably one of the only people who knew Priyanka’s struggles with her family by first hand; they had spoken about it so many times before but never specifically on that topic.

“Yes.” She took a deep breath. “I told them a few years ago when my oldest brother was planning his wedding and they were trying to set me up with the son of their friends or something like that.” Priyanka tittered. “I told my mom first and she was more sympathetic, I had a long talk with her, lots of tears… then we hugged and she told me she loves me…”

Lemon did the unthinkable: she reached for her shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. It was a small gesture; it didn’t last longer than a few seconds –she was driving after all- but for some reason, it made Priyanka feel much better.

“My dad… it was a different story. It took him longer to accept it and I believe he’s still digesting it so we don’t talk much about it. It was easier when I moved to a new city… It’s not like I had to need to hide who I am but there I could start from zero and be one hundred percent myself since the first moment.”

“I’m happy for you.” She smiled. “I really am.”

With all the resentment and the bickering, Priyanka had forgotten that Lemon could be sweet, that she could be caring, that she could be her friend.

A friend.

“So your friend Jan, she’s your roommate, right?”

“Yeah, the same.

“Is it Janice, Janelle, Janet…?”

“I’m quite sure it’s just Jan but even after these years they probably don’t even know my real name so it could be anything at this point…”

“And she’s dating Jackie.” Just to make it clear.

“They have the corniest love story that involves love confessions in carriage rides in Central Park, roses and singing songs under the starry sky.”

Priyanka almost choked.

“Exactly.” Lemon giggled. “They are a constant reminder I’m single as hell.”

This time, Priyanka choked for real.

At that moment, Lemon stopped the car, they had arrived.

In the distance, Priyanka spotted her parents’ car arriving shortly after.

Priyanka’s mom got down from the car and got closer to the unfamiliar car parked in front of their house meanwhile her dad put the car in the garage.

“Priyanka and… Lemon? Is that you?”

“Hello Mrs. Suknanan, it’s been a while.” She opened the door of the car and hugged Priyanka’s mom.

“I haven’t seen you in ages… You look all grown-up.”

“Don’t lie to her like that, mom.” Priyanka walked to where the little reunion was taking place.

Lemon rolled her eyes.

Here we go again.

“Are you staying for dinner? We’d love you to stay. I insist… I’m sure Priyanka would love it too.” She elbowed her daughter.

Traitors, even the ones you’d never expect.

“She wants to know if you’re staying for dinner…”

Lemon pulled one of her pageant full teeth smiles. “I’d love to, Mrs. Suknanan but I promised my dad I’d be back by now. Maybe some other day.”

“You have to promise it to me or Priyanka is never going to bring you back.”

“Mom! Leave her alone.” Priyanka wanted to hide under a rock.

“Actually, I’m the one who brought her tonight so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’ll wait for you to stop by next week, alright?”

“I’ll be here.”

Priyanka raised her hand. “Am I invited?”

“We’ll think about it.” Lemon grinned. “Mrs. Suknanan, always a pleasure to see you, please give Mr. Suknanan my regards.”

“I will, dear. Give your father my best wishes.”

“I surely will.”

Priyanka’s mom got into the house leaving them alone again.

“She’s so lovely… why didn’t you pick any of that?”

“Ha. Ha.” Priyanka exaggerated her fake laughter.

“As much as I know you enjoy having me as your driver, I have to leave now.”

“Thanks again for that. My car might live another day because of you.”

“I know.” Lemon seemed pleased.

“I’ll make it up to you… somehow.”

“I’ll think of something just wait for it.” She opened the door of her car and Priyanka closed it for her.

“See you around, Lemon.”

“I knew you were stalking me.” She started the engine.

Priyanka threw her head back and released a laugh. “In your dreams, doll.”

The brunette watched the sunny-side up vehicle getting away and then walked toward her house with a smile on her face she couldn’t erase.

#rpdr fanfiction #drcan #can1 #lemon #priyanka #lemon x priyanka #childhood friends #friends to lovers #lesbian au #come home to my heart #plastiquedoll #concrit welcome

4 notes · View notes

mysterioh · 5 years ago

Text

The Ignorant Beauty and The Beast of New York - Ch. 6

PAIRING: MOB!STEVE ROGERS X READER

SYNOPSIS: Y/N is an exhausted bio major. Steve is danger with a capital DANGER. She thinks he’s a sarcastic prick with an impressive knowledge of art history. He thinks she’s cute even if she’s only running on one brain cell. All he wants is a single date, but she’s adamant upon denying.

Masterlist

I’m Your What Now?

Ah, Columbia University. The pride and joy of New York. The mecca for philosophical thinking and scientific advancement.

It kept only the cream of the crop. Sons and daughters of the wealthy, valedictorians, and exceptionally bright international students. The future president. The next Plato. Another Einstein.

There was a certain standard that came with being a student here. The ooh's and ah's and the jealous eyes that bore into their backs were natural for these Ivy League students.

And yet as Steve stood there he found it to be like the overpriced Catholic school he spent twelve torturous years at. After school, he didn't really see a reason to go to university. His future was predetermined and he had no desire to go against it.

Steve wasn't stupid. He was intelligent. An expert in combat and tact and a mogul in the business world. His performance was better than his peers with their fancy degrees and certifications. He had them under his foot and they only moved when he let them.

It just went to show that knowledge and wisdom didn't come from going to a fancy school. It came from experience and hard work, rigor, and determination. But even so, he couldn't help but feel an odd sense of pride in his chest when he learned you attended Columbia.

Mrs. Rogers, you genius woman.

He sprinted up the steps and in towards the overarching gate. It was like a world populated by teenagers. Here, twenty-five was considered middle-aged. They milled around clad with backpacks and textbooks usually in a small group of three or four. Some passed by on bikes while others strutted to the beat of their music.

There were a plethora of styles. Punks and goths. Preps and jocks. Basic white girls with their leggings and UGGs. Snazzy poets in all black and topped with berets. Those avant-garde chicks that had an aesthetic like none other. Diversity was key at Columbia. The world was being represented here.

Steve passes by, following google maps on his phone to find the Student Resource Center in a hope to find you there.

A day ago…

"Okay," Sam sighed, holding a paper in his hand with a laptop sitting on Steve's desk. "Quentin Beck, a biochemical engineering student at Columbia. Around twenty-one years old and is most likely a total geek."

"Hey," Steve warns. Bucky snickers like a child, chomping loudly on some potato chips.

"Sorry," Sam replied. "No social media accounts. Not even an old facebook. You sure this chick's not a hermit?"

"She's probably focusing on her studies. She's diligent."

"You're defending her as if you know her," Bucky piped up.

"I do know her," Steve said.

"Yeah, that's why you're googling her like a pervert."

"Shut up before I punch your teeth out."

"Anyways," Sam called them back. "She's on the school website."

"She is," Steve pushes him to the side. "Lemme see."

"There's no picture. It's just a list of tutors."

"She's a tutor? Smart chicks are so hot."

Bucky rolls his eyes. "I can hear your heart pounding all the way over here," he said lazily while sitting at his desk.

"Get your dirty shoes off my desk."

"Make me," Bucky taunted.

"So it's got hours of availability here," Sam said scrolling down. "Like when she's working."

"Ya know Sam I know you're a freak and all, but this is low, even for you," Bucky said, his feet still on the desk and his right hand greasy with potato chips. "I didn't know you were as big of a creep as Stevie."

"I wouldn't be talking, Mr. I stalk my ex's insta at four in the morning." Sam retorted, making Steve chuckle.

"I don't!"

"Bro, I saw you the other day!"

"What the hell are you doing at my house at four in the morning, you freak?"

Nat walks in to see the three lazing around and sighs. Sam quickly slams the laptop shut and Bucky slips his feet off the desk.

"What are you three doing?" She asked.

"Nothing," Steve smiled.

"For NY’s biggest mob man, you sure do suck at lying." He frowns. "You're also pretty horrible at signing your own damn name on important papers." She said, waving a paper in her hand. "What the hell are these hearts?"

"That's not me!" He retorted with a light blush. "How do I know it's not you?”

"You really think I have the time to do that?" She snapped at him. "We've got shipments coming in today and you have a meeting with the Gambino head tomorrow. Do you have anything prepared?"

"No…" he whispered.

"Am I the only one working around here?!" She shouted making the three cringe at her shrill voice. "What have you three been doing all morning anyway?"

"Planning," Bucky spoke up and Steve whipped his head towards him. Bucky if you say anything.

"Planning?"

"Yeah, we're planning Steve's wedding."

Nat almost snaps her neck by the way she turns to look at him. Her red locks bouncing around as she turns. She gapes at him with a million questions.

Steve sighs, rubbing his face with his hands in embarrassment.

"Stevie, you're getting married?!?!"

"Sn2 Reactions have bulky bases and only occur when you have…" you said, snapping your finger to remember what comes next. "Wait, don't say it," you stop Quentin. "Primary carbocations!"

"Correct," he smiled, looking up at you from the flashcard in his hand. "Man, you're just killing it today."

"I've been studying," you informed. "...and living in Chubbic's office.

"And it shows," Quentin chuckles.

Tutoring was slow today with only a student here and there, leaving you and Quentin with some prime time to study.

"I swear all you ever do is study," Quentin said.

"No, I don't," you denied. "Last night, I played Overwatch till three."

"Okay, scratch that, you're a geek." Quentin corrected. You huffed.

"No, I am not," you retorted.

"Y/N, you don't do anything but school and work. You don't even go to parties or socialize with other people."

"People are overrated. I have better things to do with my time."

"Like what?"

"Like...stuff," you said.

Quentin rolls his eyes. "You can't keep living a shelled life, Y/N. It's not healthy."

"I don't see how it isn't."

"You have to go out and make friends. You're gonna go crazy if you sit in your apartment forever," Quentin sounded like a mom.

"Quentin, my dude, it's the 21st century. Technology exists."

"That's not good for you either!" Quentin sassed then sighed. "All I'm saying is that you should be more open. Not everyone is out to hurt you."

You sink in your chair with a frown. You look out the window of the second floor to watch people walk by meters below. "But that’s how it always is in the end," you murmured. Quentin frowns. "Besides what do I need anyone else for? I have you."

Quentin's heart skips a beat, but he tries to ignore it. "But what if I'm not here? What if I have to leave?"

You sit up. "Where are you going?"

"I applied for this internship for this company in London."

"Wow, Quint! That's great!" You exclaimed. "I know you'll get it!"

"Thanks," he chuckles at your enthusiasm. "But I just worry about you sometimes. You're going to be all alone if I leave and I worry if you'll be alright."

"Then I'll call you every day!"

"Y/N," Quentin said with a lopsided smile. "I'm being serious."

You exhaled, masking the fear of him leaving by giving him a bright smile. One that's always only been for him. "Don't worry about me, alright? I'll be fine. You go out there and show 'em what you're made of. You're gonna kill it."

"Yeah?" He asked and you can sense the nervousness in his shaking hands.

"Like my good friend Naruto once said…" you alluded. "Believe it!" You said, giving him a thumbs up.

Quentin groans while crossing his arms. "You still watch that crap?"

"It's cool!" you defended.

"I swear you're a nerd."

"Hey, Quentin," Angelica from the front desk called walking towards you.

"Yeah?"

"There's a guy at the desk asking for you," she pointed.

"For me?" He asked puzzled. She nodded before leaving.

He gets up to leave. "I'll be right back. E1 reactions are next," he reminded. You nodded with a chuckle and took the cards he left.

Quentin walks up to the desk to find a blonde dressed stylishly at the front desk, chatting up one of the employees.

“Oh, Quentin,” Maria at the desk said as he arrived. “This is Mr. Rogers.”

Steve turns to look and his shoulders drop. “Uh, sorry, I think they’ve got the wrong person.” Quentin furrows his brows in confusion. “I’m looking for a Quentin Beck.”

“Um, I’m Quentin Beck,” he replied awkwardly, shaking the photo id that was around his neck.

“No, no,” Steve shakes his head. “I’m looking for a girl and her name is Quentin Beck.”

“There’s only one Quentin Beck here and he’s a man and it’s me,” he said in the nicest way possible.

Steve snorts. “Just because you grew a little beard doesn’t mean you’re a man,” he guffawed.

Quentin blinks once and then twice and a third time for good measure. “Excuse me?”

Back over at the table, you wondered what was taking Quentin so long. Taking a sip from your Hydroflask, you crane your neck to get a view of the front desk. The head full of blonde hair and spread of broad shoulders was hard to miss. You choked while drinking. Quickly placing your bottle on the table, you pat your chest in need of air.

What was he doing here?

You quickly jump up and run to the two. Steve catches you in the corner of his eye and pushes past a fuming Quentin.

“I knew I’d find you here!” he exclaimed.

“What the hell are you doing here, you freak?” you seethed.

“What do you think?” Steve chuckled, loving the way you pouted at him. “Here to see you, princess.”

Your cheeks burst in color and before you could say anything Quentin spoke.

“Y/N, you know this guy?” he asked.

“Y/N, so that’s your real name,” Steve takes both of your hands in his. His smile is so bright that you cringed under him. “I knew it wasn’t Quentin. I mean it doesn’t even make sense,” he starts to ramble and you just listen. “To think someone as pretty as you would have a name as ugly as Quentin. Like who the hell names their kid Quentin these days anyway?”

“Ah, Y/N,” Steve sighs dreamily. “It’s like a sweet melody to my ears.”

You tried to reply, but all you could let out was a garbled jumble of words.

“Quentin’s a good name!” your brunette friend jumped in.

“Yeah, if it’s the 18th century,” Steve deadpanned, before turning back to you. “Anyways…”

“Y/N, who the hell is this guy?” he questioned irritated.

“Uh, well, you see, um…” you tried to explain.

“Been keepin’ me a secret, huh, baby?” Steve chuckled. “I’m Steve, a friend.”

“We aren’t friends,” you hissed, breaking from his grasp. “How many times do I have to tell you to leave me alone, huh?”

“Wait,” Quentin butt in. “Is he that guy?” he pointed at Steve while looking at you. “Is he the bad guy?”

“Bad guy?” Steve asked you, making you blush under his gaze. “So you have been talking about me? Y/N, sweetheart, I ain’t a bad guy. I promise I’ll be nothing but good to you,” he said with a wink.

It’s like every ounce of sass inside of you is gone and you’re left speechless. Screw this man and his way with words.

He takes your hand in his and brings it to his soft plump lips before Quentin butts in and swipes your hand.

“Yeah, she told me about you,” he hurls at him, his voice firm and his grip on your hand firmer. “Who the hell do you think you are, messing with my girlfriend?”

Steve is taken aback by his words and you gape at Quentin. You’re his what now?

Quentin looks towards you and sends a message with his eyes. Just play along.

“Y-yeah,” you stumbled at first, “Quentin’s my boyfriend and I like his name! Actually I love it because I love him.” you straight up lied. Steve’s brows creased in irritation and he had the biggest frown on his face. You wrap your arms around Quentin’s. “So leave me alone, freak,” you hissed at him.

Now it’s Steve’s turn to be speechless. Your words pierce through his heart like a bullet. It’s like being shot in the core of his spirit over and over again until there’s a big gaping hole.

“Listen, jackass,” Quentin calls him back. “If you even look in my girlfriend’s direction, I’ll rip your eyes out,” he threatened, before turning around and taking you with him.

“Wow,” you whispered to him. “I think he bought it.”

“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” he said, clearly dissatisfied.

“Shut up and kiss me on the cheek.”

“What?” he freaked out with a light red creeping on his cheeks.

“Just do it,” you ordered quietly. “And wrap your arm around my shoulders.”

He sighed. “The things you make me do,” he groaned, making you chuckle quietly. He places a sweet kiss on your cheek while hooking his arm over your shoulders protectively. He turns his head to see Steve still standing there. His face twisted in a scowl and fists balled so tight you could see white in his knuckles.

Quentin’s sharp blue eyes locked with his own. His gaze was as deadly as a violent act with an intensity that had the fearless mob man’s chest tighten. His eyes drilled out any notion that it could all be a hoax. Either he was a really good actor or there really was something between the two.

Whatever it was, Steve stood still with a strange sense of deja vu. He was a hopeless romantic and hopeless in all things that concerned love. And as he watches your retreating form chuckling at something the boy whispered in your ear, he regrets even thinking he had another chance at love.

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #mob!steve #steve rogers #mob!steve rogers x reader #mobster steve rogers x reader #mob au

244 notes · View notes

saiilorstars · 4 years ago

Text

Falling in Temptation

Ch. 15: The Task of Death

Previous chapters • Sequel to Stars Dance • Fairy Tale Memoirs (Companion story)

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 11th Doctor x Female OC

Chapter summary: Melody Pond strikes back against the Doctor with a secret weapon from Kovarian. When the Doctor is dying, who can save him?

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel

4 Months After Demon's Run.

The Doctor, Lena and the Sapling all awaited outside the TARDIS in the center of a crop field. It was no ordinary crop field though because somebody had decided to write 'Doctor' in it, making it the number one headline in Leadworth. The Ponds were very creative, the Doctor would give them that. With no other choice, he had to come back and visit them to update them on the search for Melody and Avalon. In no time they saw Amy and Rory coming to a halt in their car, both getting out with utter urgency.

"Seriously?" the Doctor raised the Leadworth newspaper to the pair. "You do realize you can't do this, right?"

"You weren't answering your phone," Rory snapped at the Doctor as he shut the car door. Neither of them looked guilty for what they'd done.

"Because we were searching," Lena explained. She was supposed to be in charge of keeping the connection between the Doctor and the Ponds, given the Doctor's reputation with phones and whatnot. But in the end, they'd gotten in too deep with the search after getting the clue Avalon left behind for them.

They took every Black Market by storm afterwards, and there were a lot of them. The Sapling had even used his unique abilities to instill new fear in those who were holding things back. With a raging, gigantic tree threatening them, everybody sang like canaries.

Kovarian had been picking up devices for mind altering. Brainwashing to the next level.

Others reported that she was gathering chipping devices. She would probably be branding Avalon and Melody soon enough.

Several of the people described watching Kovarian order Avalon to go to the end of an aisle and back. It was an odd test for them but the Doctor straightaway knew what the purpose of it was. Kovarian wanted to see how conditioned Avalon was. If she came to and back without so much of a kick in protest, it meant Avalon would be a loyal, dependent toy. And all that took the trio a month to gather, leaving everybody back on Earth in distraught over their lack of communication.

"OK, you've had all summer," Amy got straight to business and walked for the Doctor. It'd been the longest summer of her life, definitely the most unbearable one. Things had to be better now. "Have you found them? Have you found Melody and Avalon?"

The Doctor took a moment to look back on his recent efforts to find both mother and daughter. He handed the newspaper to Rory. "Permission?" he asked the human.

"Granted," Rory motioned for him to go on.

The Doctor hugged Amy tightly, "You know who Melody grows up to be, so you know I will find her."

"But you haven't yet?" Amy assumed the last the words, "Not even Avalon?"

"No," the Doctor quietly mumbled.

"But we won't give up," the Sapling said with a finger raised in the air. It brought a momentary smile from Amy, but it was short lived when they heard Rory's puzzled question.

"Hang on, what's this bit?" he was staring at the newspaper with Lena as the picture of the crop circle now showed a slash through the word 'Doctor'.

Amy walked over and took a look, "That wasn't us."

The Doctor took the newspaper and tried seeing where the line would be coming through in the real world. Everyone gathered behind him to try and pinpoint where the exactly that mysterious line came from. However, he stopped and lowered the newspaper when the noise of car came into hearing shot. They screamed as a bright red Corvette headed straight for them. They jumped out of the way just as the car did an abrupt stop only inches from the TARDIS. The driver's door opened up and out stepped a dark skinned young woman with blue eyes and black hair, dressed in a pink and black dress with black boots.

Lena rubbed the dust out of her eyes and immediately recognized the woman across them. "Mels? What are...what are you doing here!?"

"Lena can't you ever keep up?" Mels raised an eyebrow. Lena rolled her eyes but didn't say anything back. She wasn't quite for Mels' attitude. "I was following you. Oh, and I also acted as a delivery girl."

"Um, where did you get the car?" Rory dreaded to ask. It looked far too new for Mels to own.

"Like I said, I'm acting as a delivery girl right now," Mels whistled through her fingers and made everyone cover their ears.

The passenger door of the door opened up and out stepped a familiar, messy ginger haired woman.

"Avalon?" Lena's mouth fell open.

"Mother!" the Sapling squealed and jumped to his feet. He and Lena ran towards Avalon, each encasing her in a tight hug. However, Avalon didn't say anything. She cocked her head to the side, darting immediately to Mels as if she held all the answers.

The Doctor straight away noticed something different about Avalon. It was what stopped him from running towards her. She was looking around like she was new to the place, her eyes filled with confusion and...fear? That was not his Ava, not by a long shot. However, nobody else found such differences in that moment. Amy and Rory had followed in the others' foot steps and ambushed Avalon in more hugs. The Doctor turned his head towards Mels and watched the woman smirk proudly, like she knew what was happening.

"Get off me!" Avalon suddenly cried and pushed everyone away from her. Her nose crinkled while her eyebrows knitted together. She was angry. "Get the hell away from me!"

"A-Avalon..." Rory tried taking a step towards her but she drew back the same step.

"Stay away," she warned them with a pointed finger. "Mels!"

"Oh don't worry," Mels strolled over to the woman's side and swung an arm around her shoulders. "They're pretty harmless."

"I don't...I don't understand..." Amy directly looked at the Doctor for the answers they were demanding now.

The Doctor walked up to Avalon and struggled to ignore the fearful retraction of her steps. "Avalon, do you know who we are?"

She looked him over and stared at him for a few minutes. In those minutes, the Doctor studied her to the brim. Her eyes were red and puffy, a clear sign that she'd been crying not too long ago. Her voluminous hair was a bit lifeless at the moment, as if no care had been given to it in a good while. Her skin was a shade of sickly pale and she did look like she'd lost some weight. If he looked really hard, he could see her shake as if she'd been shocked. The bruises on her arms were heartbreaking. It was a heavy challenge not to touch the healing stitches on her arms.

"You're the Doctor," Avalon said after a moment but when she did, the Doctor swore there was a brief flash of anger in her eyes.

"Did she lose her memory? Is that what's going on?" Lena called from behind, attracting the eyes of her sister. "Avalon?"

"Lena," she recited before doing the same to the Sapling, Rory and Amy. "They...they did something...I c-can't...remember...my thoughts..." her shaky hand tried to gesture something beside her head. "All j-j-jumbled up."

Now the Doctor laid dark, suspicious eyes on Mels who couldn't seem more delighted with the scene. "Where did you find her?"

"What, did you lose her or something?"

The Doctor glared and waited for her to say what he needed to know.

"Mels, this is important," snapped Amy. "Where did you find Avalon?"

"Gah!" Mels dramatically threw her arms in the air. "What does it matter? I found her on the entry road to the town! Poor thing can't remember, well...a thing!" she gently tapped Avalon's head, a small action that still elicited a great flinch from Avalon. "Hello? Nobody's home!"

The Doctor yanked Avalon away from Mels with a look warning her not try that again. "Was anybody with her? Did she say anything?"

"So boring," Mels rolled her eyes. "I'm kind of in a rush, actually. Errands to run and whatnot!" A few seconds later, the group heard the blaring sirens of police cars.

There was a collective groan from Lena, Amy and Rory.

"Mels, did you steal the car?" Rory was too tired to deal with this nonsense.

"I'll have you know that it's mine," Mels wagged a finger but at the growing glares of her friends she groaned, "...ish! It's mine-ish!"

"Oh, Mels, not again?" Amy sighed as she rubbed her forehead, "We really don't have time for this today."

"You can't keep doing this. You'll end up in a real prison," Rory added.

"I can see why your father disapproves of her," the Doctor whispered to Lena as he brought Avalon towards the TARDIS.

"Mhm," Lena crossed her arms, "She's half the reasons why Avalon was put under arrest."

"Is that the phone box!" Mels was studying the TARDIS from her spot, somewhat impressed. She'd heard Avalon tell the stories of the box but it didn't compare to seeing it in person. "The bigger-on-the-inside phone box? Time travel - that's just brilliant," she then eyed the Doctor, "Yeah, I've heard a lot about you. I'm their best mate."

"Then why don't I know you?" the Doctor challenged, still unable to trust her despite her relation with the entire group, "I danced with everyone at the wedding. The women were all brilliant, the men were a bit shy."

"I don't do weddings," Mels made a face. She looked back as the sirens grew closer, "And that's me out of time," she took out a gun and aimed it at the Doctor.

The Doctor pushed Avalon away within the second. Rory lunged to catch Avalon before she would fall and once he touched her, he realized how incredibly cold she was.

"M-Mels...not yet..." Avalon said before she even realized she said it. There were so many thoughts inside her right now, she had to sort which ones were pertinent to the situation.

"Mels, for God's sake!" Lena groaned, "You're actions get stupider by the day. Avalon is...sick," she considered her choice of words carefully since her sister truly looked terrified as she basically clung Rory, "And we need your help so put that thing away."

"I'll get her to put it down," the Sapling glowered at the woman. He put his hands together and extended them forwards...when the Doctor pushed them down. "Father!"

"No," he said calmly. He needed Mels inside the TARDIS so he could question her until she passed out from exhaustion. She had more information than what she was letting on and he wasn't going to let her get away.

"I need out of here, now, can you deliver?" Mels looked at the Doctor questioningly.

"Anywhere in particular?"

"Well, let's see! You've got a time machine, I've got a gun. What the hell - let's kill Hitler."

~ 0 ~

Yes, the Doctor could see why Ryland Reynolds disapproved of the Mels' friendship with his daughters. First, she influenced Avalon negatively, she wasn't very well-mannered, and third...because...

"You've shot it!" the Doctor shouted angrily as he stared at the bullet hole that was in the time-rotor casing, the TARDIS already affected badly with the sparks and smoke it billowed while flying out of control. The Doctor turned to Mels, "You shot my TARDIS! You shot the console!"

The girl was holding onto the railing, "It's your fault!"

"Argh! How's it my fault?!"

"You said guns didn't work in this place. You said we're in a state of temporal grace!"

The Doctor tried working the controls to get them flying in a stable manner, "That was a clever lie, you idiot! Anyone could tell that was a clever lie!"

The travelers were thrown all around the room as the TARDIS crashed into a landing, God knew where. The Doctor had opened the doors and pulled out Avalon first since she looked the weakest out of everyone.

"Out, out, out! Everybody out. Don't breathe the smoke, just get out!" he called to the others whilst coughing from the smoke spewing out from the box.

"Where are we?" Amy stumbled out the box, with her pulling the Sapling.

"A room."

"What room?" Rory coughed.

"I don't know! I haven't memorized every room in the universe. I had yesterday off," the Doctor caught Mels trying to get back into the TARDIS, "Mels, don't go in there!"

"Oi!" Mels frowned as her gun was snatched away from her hand.

"Bad smoke! Don't breathe the bad, bad, smoke. Bad, deadly smoke, because somebody shot my TARDIS!"

Lena stood beside Avalon, helping her stand straight, "You okay?"

"I-I have to do something," Avalon coughed and struggled to breathe in. "My body hurts!"

Lena knew that had to be true. Avalon looked exhausted and the last thing she needed was to be bounced all around inside a shot time traveling machine. "I know, I know, we're going to get this all sorted and then you're going to take a big nap! We could make hot chocolate and oh! We could watch Sleeping Beauty!" she threw her arms around Avalon, momentarily relishing that her sister was back. She was alive!

"What?" Avalon only frowned. "What's Sleeping Beauty?"

Lena pulled away and incredulously looked at Avalon. She had no idea, she really had no idea! Lena turned to the Doctor for some help. "What did they do to her?"

The Doctor let go of Mels but not without warning her to stay put. He strode up to Avalon and took her by the head, specifically studying her eyes. "It's ECT side effects and the overuse of memory wipes. They've been working very hard on her."

Avalon scrunched her face and tried pushing his hands off her. "Stop it! Let go!" she exclaimed, a bit too frantic for such a small moment.

But the Doctor knew that had to be a consequence from whatever torture she'd gone through. He let go of her and kept his hands raised, wanting her to see that he wasn't one of those people who would hurt her. "Ava, it's me. Remember? I'm...well...I'm your Fairy tale man, remember?"

There was no significant reaction from Avalon - that alone hurt the Doctor - but she did abandon her brief suspicions over him. "You're...my friend..." She suddenly yelped when a sharp pain struck her head. She cried and clapped her hands to head. Images were running through her mind but they were going so fast like somebody had pressed the forwarding button 4 times.

"Yes, glad we got that cleared up," the Doctor rocked on his shoes. "Because as the 'fairy tale man' that's not the right thing to do."

Avalon briefly smiled but it was done with flushed cheeks. "You know you don't have to keep answering to that name, right? It was a stupid nickname I gave you when I was some stupid kid..."

"It's not stupid," the Doctor promised her, though his amused expression didn't quite convince her.

"Please, what do you call him, eh?" Idris encouraged Avalon to say the answer out loud. "That name you gave him when you were just seven years old."

"Fairy-tale man," Avalon answered slowly, still in confusion.

"And that is exactly what he doesn't want to lose," Idris smiled sadly, "That image you have of him since you were seven."

The Doctor and Lena struggled to calm Avalon down but suddenly, just like that, Avalon sucked in a deep sharp breath and snapped her head up. "You're my Fairy Tale Man!"

"What was that?" Lena frowned. "Avalon, you were in pain-"

Avalon practically shoved her sister away and grabbed the Doctor's arm. "You're my Doctor! You-you found me!"

The Doctor didn't exactly know how she was getting her memories back, nor if it was a trick, but he wanted to be a bit happy right now that she was remembering him. "Yes, I am. I am..."

Avalon took him into a tight hug. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her tightly as if she were about to disappear again. He kissed her hair a few times, not that she would notice.

"Doctor, this guy, I think he's hurt!" Rory had found an unconscious man on the floor, his body poking around his desk. Rory rushed over to help him but when he did, he found that the man was alright. "No, hang on. No, he's... he's fine." Well, something good had to happen he supposed.

Against his wishes, the Doctor pulled away from Avalon and gave her a small smile. "You'll be just fine now, Ava." She nodded and watched him go then patted something in her back pocket.

"Mother!" the Sapling would take his turn and hug his mother. "You're okay! We've been looking for you!"

"That's you're kid?" Mels gave a horrid-eye stare at the Sapling. In return, the Sapling stuck his tongue out at the woman.

"Ooh, hello! Sorry, is this your office?" the Doctor asked the man who was now getting up. "Had a sort of collision with my vehicle. Faults on both sides, let's say no more about..." words left him when he saw Adolf Hitler turning around "…it."

"I remember him..." Avalon's eyes widened in horror at the sight of the man.

Slowly, the companions moved to the Doctor, "Is that...? No, it can't be, Doctor?" Amy struggled to speak coherently.

"Thank you. Whoever you are, I think you have just saved my life," Hitler honestly said, chuckling at the group.

"Believe me... it was an accident," the Doctor blinked rapidly.

"What is this thing?" Hitler blinked at the sight of the TARDIS and walked to it.

"What did he mean we saved his life?" Amy tapped the Doctor's arm, "We could not have saved Hitler."

"You see?" the alien groaned, "You see, time travel, it never goes to plan."

"I think we need to get out of here," Lena shook her head.

"This box, what is it?" Hitler looked at the group.

"It's a police telephone box from London, England," the Doctor walked over, "That's right, Adolf, the British are coming!"

Hitler didn't seem to take notice of the answer as he watched past the group to the man who tried killing him rise to his feet, "No, stop him!"

Rory punched Hitler on the chin and picked up the gun while Hitler fell to the floor, "Sit still, shut up."

Lena and Amy went to check on the second man. "Are you OK?" she asked as she and Amy helped him up.

"Yes, yes. Yes. I'm fine. I think he missed."

"He was going to kill me," Hitler tried saying but there was nobody listening to him.

"Shut up, Hitler!" Rory ordered with the gun still aimed.

"Rory, take Hitler and put him in that cupboard over there now," the Doctor ordered as he went to the attacked man, "Do it!"

While Rory shoved Hitler into the cupboard while the Doctor helped the second man sit up. "Are you okay?" he wondered.

"Oh, I..." the man started but fell back, unconscious again.

"Um, he just fainted," Lena remarked, surprised.

"Yes, that was a faint," the Doctor agreed as he stood up and studied the man, "A perfect faint."

"What? You think that was intentional?" Lena looked at the man with new suspicion. There could not be more trouble right now, this was just really bad luck.

"Mels?" Avalon's voice pulled the group's attention. She was gazing worriedly at Mels across the room who had her hands pressed against her stomach. "Are you alright?"

"Hitler..." Mels looked at the cupboard.

"What about him?" Lena raised an eyebrow, half expecting the woman to make some cruddy joke about their situation.

"Lousy shot," Mels said before she collapsed to the floor. Everyone dashed to her side, including Avalon who took first place at Mels' left side.

"Mels!" she took Mels' hand.

"Rory," the Doctor motioned for the nurse to start helping. He made sure the Sapling stayed a decent distance from them. The last thing he wanted was for the Sapling to see more blood than he needed to.

"I've got to stop the bleeding," Rory exclaimed.

"Well, how bad is it?" Lena stared at Mels with concern, knowing a cure from Avalon wouldn't work now.

"Just keep her conscious! Stay with us, Mels."

"Hey, look at me. Just hold on," the Doctor tried to get the girl's attention.

"I don't know what is so cool about you," Mels honestly remarked to him while looking at Avalon. "You said he was cool but he's not."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, of course she was dying and insulting him, "Alright, fine, let's make a list of why I'm not cool, then! Any suggestions?"

But Mels wasn't paying attention to him. She was whispering something into Avalon's ear. When Avalon pulled away, she was blinking rapidly. It earned herself some questionable looks from the others, especially the Doctor.

"Almost time," Avalon repeated, nodding her head.

"Time? Time for what?" the Doctor stared at her suspiciously.

"I-I don't remember..." Avalon looked down at Mels questioningly, "...is it time?"

Mels smirked and looked at the others anxiously waiting for her to either die or live. "Wanna know a secret?" she asked. "I didn't really 'find' her at the entry road," she whispered, "...she was handed over by the big ole boss."

The Doctor's eyebrows shot up, "WHAT?"

Mels smirked as her hands started glowing with regeneration energy. The Doctor quickly stood up and shooed everyone back, pulling Avalon to him in the process.

"No! No! Stop it!" she yelled at him to let go. She wanted to run back to Mels, but the Doctor held her arm to keep her still.

"Father, is she like you?" the Sapling was making a face as the regeneration energy got stronger around Mels.

"Last time I did this, I ended up a toddler in the middle of New York," Mels gazed at her hands that were almost completely enveloped by the energy. She really hoped this time she would get it right because it'd been a pain in the ass having to grow up all over again. If she got this right, then she would finally be free.

"OK, Doctor, explain what is happening?" Amy shot a look at the alien, "Please!"

The Doctor was nearly kicking himself for being so stupid. All this time, searching through the galaxies when he himself had said that Kovarian could hide Melody and Avalon right under their noses. "Mels, short for...?"

"Melody," Mels answered with a wide smirk. She knew exactly what he was thinking. "Gotcha!"

The Doctor then shot the same look back to Amy, a bit irritated she hadn't mentioned this to him. Nobody had bothered to mention that the mysterious friend 'Mels' everyone always talked about was in reality named Melody. That would've been extremely helpful. Amy, however, didn't see the problem so clearly yet...along with the others. "Yeah, I named my daughter after her."

"You named your daughter... after your daughter."

"Took me years to find you two. I'm so glad I did," Mels honestly said to her parents, "And, you see, it all worked out in the end, didn't it? You got to raise me after all."

"You're Melody?" Amy's eyes widened.

"No, my head hurts," Lena was thinking how they could have missed this. Mels never gave an indication that she knew more about the Doctor than them. She was always curious, yes, even asking questions like Avalon would.

Rory, however, was thinking farther ahead. "But if she's Melody, that means she's also..." he glanced at Avalon who didn't even notice as she stared in horror at her friend.

"Oh, shut up, Dad! I'm focusing on a dress size," Mels struggled to say right before the regeneration took her over. The group shielded their eyes from the blinding energy. Once it was over, a new, yet familiar, person stood across them. "Right, let's see, then!" River Song gasped as she started taking a look at her new self, "Ooh, it's all going on down there, isn't it? The hair!" she touched her hair and ran to a long mirror on the wall. It was incredibly voluminous. "Avalon, I beat you this time!" she cheered and glanced back at the ginger who was blankly staring at her. "You're going to have to pass on the tips, though!"

Neither knew their similar hair went deeper than just a coincident.

"Everything changes!" Melody laughed, "Oh, but I love it, I love it! I'm all sort of... mature!" she set her foot on the endpiece of a furniture beside her, "Hello, Benjamin!"

"Who's Benjamin?" the Sapling tilted his head.

"Tree kid, you couldn't keep up even if you tried!" River sighed and gasped as she passed her tongue over her teeth, "The teeth, the teeth! Oh, look at them!" she pointed to her mouth, "Excuse me, you lot, I need to weigh myself!"

The group leaned on the edge of the desk except for Avalon who had walked a couple steps away from them. Something was coming and she needed to be ready, but she couldn't quite remember.

"That's Melody?" Amy breathed in, her eyes wide as could be.

"That's River Song," Lena shook her head. She felt like something was compressing her head because everything hurt up there.

"Who's River Song?" Melody stood at the doorway with curiosity.

"Spoilers," the Doctor decided no word than that one fit better.

"Spoilers? What's spoilers? Hang on, just something I have to check!" and she ran back to the restroom.

"She's...River Song," Rory whispered quietly. Oh, time travel was really hurting right now.

"And she's also my sister's mother!" Lena whisper-hissed. Speaking of...

At the mention of Avalon, the Doctor stood away from the desk and walked over to her, "Ava?" he cautiously turned her to face him, "You alright?"

"Honestly, no," she put a hand on her stomach, "I feel terrible. I c-can't remember anything except th-that there's something really important I have t-to do. But I feel sick. And everything hurts."

"I promise you we will get you sorted as soon as the TARDIS is safe to get back inside in." He didn't want to touch her since almost every part of her arms were covered in bruises, but he did want to hold her.

"But what about Mels? Or, River..." she moved her hand to her forehead, "...all this time she was really the daughter of Amy and Rory? No, wait..." Avalon's head snapped to the side when she realized something, "I knew th-that already. I...I l-learned that...I'm forgetting things."

"Your head's a bit, uh, it's bit jumbled up," the Doctor gently said as he turned her head back to him. "But you'll get better."

"I-I..." Avalon blinked as if there was something in her eyes. The images were coming fast again.

"Ah, that's magnificent!" they heard Melody shout from the restroom. Quickly, she returned to the room with a bright smile, "I'm going to wear lots of jumpers! Well, now, enough of all that!" she shrugged and pulled out a gun which was aimed at the Doctor, "Down to business."

"Mels, what are you doing?" Lena sighed, "This isn't you. Well..."

"She's doing exactly what she's programmed to do, baby sister," the Doctor slowly moved for Melody.

"Where'd she get the gun?" Rory had to ask. How on Earth could Melody - River - carry a gun when she'd just regenerated?

"Hello, Benjamin," the Doctor recalled, "It was in the chair..."

"You noticed!" Melody chuckled and fired but found the gun was empty.

"Of course I noticed," the Doctor smirked at his quick-wit, "As soon as I knew you were coming, I tidied up a bit."

"So you're one step ahead of me, then?"

"Always."

Melody smirked and looked past him. "But are you though?" At the sound of a click, the Doctor turned back to find Avalon holding another gun at him from her spot. Alright, that one scared him a little bit.

"Ava, put that down..." he slowly raised a hand, barely moving an inch forwards when Avalon waved the gun at him again.

"I-I don't remember when somebody told me to do this..." she admitted, but it still didn't make her lower the gun.

"That would be me," Melody said for everybody's clarification. "Posthypnotic suggestion, anybody?" It was the same trick the Silence used on the humans while they were watching over her. "Kovarian made sure to leave her very well trained for this moment."

"You made Mother do this?" frowned the Sapling. "Why!? She's done nothing wrong!"

"Mmm, clearly you haven't learned everything about dear old Mummy," Melody rolled her eyes. "Mummy's not that innocent, you know? She and I...we've had our fair share of moments."

"If she's your friend, then why would you do this to her!?" Amy didn't know whether to cry over her daughter's twisted mind or scream out of frustration.

"Because it's what I'm supposed to do," Melody said quietly. "That's the order and I learned a long time ago that when Kovarian makes an order, you follow it...or else."

There was a sharp tinge in the last words that made everybody wonder what Melody had to go through to make that discovery.

"Hey, hey, Avalon, it's me," the Doctor was still holding his hands up. "We went over this remember? I'm the Fairy Tale Man and I came here to rescue you."

"No you didn't, you didn't save me," Avalon shook her head, eyes tearing up in a matter of seconds. It broke the Doctor's hearts because she was saying the truth. He failed her and her mother. "I-I can remember...bits and p-parts...they-they hurt me. And then...and then they hurt me again, and again..." her face scrunched with raw anger and despondence. "They kept hurting me..."

"I know, Ava, I know," the Doctor's own eyes teared up. "It's all my fault but listen, that will never happen again. I'll die if it means you'll live happily and safe. But right now, Ava, right now I really need you to put the gun down. It's okay if you hurt me, but you don't want to hurt Lena, right? Or Amy and Rory? Or the Sapling?"

Avalon's eyes flickered to the others in the room. They were all so scared - though she didn't know they were scared for her and not of her - and the Sapling seemed to want to hide from her. Something went off her in mind and it made her drop the gun on the floor. "Oh my God!" she blinked. The Doctor quickly seized the gun from the floor and gave it to Rory. "Oh my God! Oh my God! I didn't...Doctor, I didn't mean it! I-I didn't mean any of that! Oh my God!" she brought her hands to her mouth as her tears streamed down her eyes. "What did they do to me!?"

The Doctor hurried over to her and pulled her into another hug. She cried and shook between his arms while she begged him to forgive him.

Lena was infuriated to see her sister so...broken. Avalon was always so put together, a leader, and she knew exactly what she wanted at all times. Lena rounded on Melody with the ugliest scowl marking her face. "What did you do to my sister!? Fix her right now!"

"I told you," Melody shrugged carelessly. "Posthypnotic suggestion. Kovarian left instructions that I only reinforced."

"You whispered into her ear," Rory recalled the moment just before Melody had regenerated.

Melody smiled. "Use the gun when I use mine. Simple, but very effective."

"And where'd Avalon get the gun from?" demanded Amy.

"Kovarian gave her one!"

"You're a psychopath!" Lena erupted into a loud scream that could probably echo down the streets. She didn't care if this was her friends' daughter, nobody hurts her sister. "Avalon is your friend! Instead of helping her, you're dooming her!"

"I am helping her!" Melody argued defensively which just made incredulously glare.

"How are you helping her!?"

"I may be a psychopath, but I'm also honest."

"You were not a psychopath! Why would she be a psychopath?" Amy snapped at both women for using that horrible term. However, Melody didn't look at all offended by the term.

"Oh, Mummy, Mummy, pay attention," Melody groaned, "I was trained and conditioned for one purpose. I was born to kill the Doctor."

"Demons Run, remember? This is what they were building, my bespoke psychopath," the Doctor explained whilst still holding onto Avalon. He was rubbing a hand down her back, hoping to soothe her until she could understand that he had nothing to forgive her for. "What I can't understand is why you felt the need to get my Ava involved."

"Yeah, Mother didn't do anything wrong," the Sapling chimed in with his own glare.

"No, she only got involved," Melody shook her head. Things were supposed to have gone a different way but Kovarian just chucked Avalon to her at the last minute and expected Melody to work with what she had. "Nice going there. She always looked up to you. She went on and on about how the Doctor could save anyone. Well guess what? You didn't save her nor me!" Because if he had saved her, she could've grown up with her parents. She wouldn't have had to grovel on the streets of New York, swallowed up by an astronaut suit. She could've had what Amy had as a child, what Rory had, what the Reynolds had. She could've been like them and then maybe she could've traveled with the Doctor too.

"You're right," the Doctor agreed with a nod.

"No, big brother," Lena turned back to him but he had long ago made up his mind about the matter.

"I didn't save either of them. I put them into this situation," he looked down at Avalon who had buried her face in his chest. "I put people I care about in danger and I don't save them."

"No, no, that's not true," the Sapling frowned. "You've saved so many people, Father. It's impossible to save everybody. Otherwise, this would be a fairy tale."

"Avalon," called Melody, "Time to go."

Avalon jerked between the Doctor's arms, but instead of leaving him she only drew back enough to look up at the Doctor. "I'm sorry," she sniffed.

"Hey, you don't have to be sorry about anything," he whispered and cleared off a few of her tears from her cheeks. Her skin felt so dry he picked up a few flecks of dead skin. "You just have to worry about getting better. I'm going to get you to a real doctor, and they'll fix you right up."

"But you are my Doctor," she frowned slightly. "Why are you saying nonsense? Nobody can fix me, only you can."

"My Ava, you have no idea how badly I want to change all this," he cupped one side of her face. "I-I wish I could turn back time and keep you safe."

"You said 'my Ava'," she said, choosing to focus on the best part of his words. "My Ava, you are everything to me. You've owned these hearts for a long while now," Her bright smile could light up anyone's day. "That's what he said. The other Doctor. He told me that, just before he died. Is that true for you too?"

The Doctor thought this was hardly the place to discuss this matter but his hearts did leap a bit now that he finally knew what his ganger had told Avalon just before they escaped the ganger factory. And the ganger Doctor got it spot on too. "It is," he admitted, swallowing hard as if there was something lodged in his throat. "But look at where that's gotten you, where it's gotten everyone..." his eyes looked over her to the rest of the group that he'd solely ruined.

"It's given me a new feeling," Avalon pulled him down closer to her face. "And-and I wouldn't change it. It's my story. And do you know what my story deserves?"

The Doctor could think of a few things, starting with 'safe' and 'happiness'. "Peace," he settled for in the end.

"Nu-uh," Avalon's smile turned sly seconds before she pulled him one more time to close the gap between them. She kissed him like she'd been wanting to for a while - that she could remember perfectly - and held onto his arms because if she kept going, she didn't know if her legs would be able to stand it. But the Doctor was also holding her and with her surprise kiss, he wouldn't be letting go of her anytime soon. He finally got a taste of her lips that, despite being chapped, were so sweet. For a woman who had quite a loud mouth - which he was really fond of - she had such a way of kissing. He could do this for hours...

"Avalon?" called Melody, almost snarling, as she headed for the open window, "Quit your snogging and get over here, now! Time to go!"

Avalon's body jerked again, forcing her to pull away from the Doctor in the process. She blinked fast and once she found Melody by the window, she walked towards the woman like a robot following orders.

"A-Ava, don't," the Doctor tried to stop her but Avalon ignored him and stopped by Melody.

"Look at that, Berlin on the eve of war," Melody put an arm around Avalon's shoulders, "A whole world about to tear itself apart. Now that's my kind of town. Mum, Dad, Lena, don't follow us. Tree kid...don't you dare go all gigantic on me. And, yes, that is a warning for everybody!" She specifically made sure to look at everyone except the Doctor, something he easily picked up on.

"No warning for me, then?" he slowly walked back to the group, thinking of the perfect moment to snatch Avalon from her. He wasn't going to let her take his Ava off to some deranged city.

"Rather save my breath," Melody smirked, "The deed is done and so are you."

The Doctor only had seconds to wonder what she meant when he felt his legs weaken to the point he wobbled till he would fall. Rory and Amy ran to help him stand.

"Father, what's wrong!?" the Sapling, frightened, rushed to his side.

Lena once again glared at Melody, knowing that she was the culprit of whatever was happening to the Doctor. "What did you do to him, Melody!?"

"Oh, that wasn't me," Melody proudly presented Avalon to them.

Avalon seemed horrified to learn, to remember, that it was her fault. "Oh my God!" she brought her hands to her mouth. "It was me!"

"It was never going to be a gun for him," Melody smirked even wider seeing everyone's reactions. "Doctor, the man of peace who understands every kind of warfare, except, perhaps, the cruelest. You shouldn't have fallen into temptation."

The Doctor put a finger on his lips as he looked at Avalon, the ginger completely destroyed over what she'd done. He didn't need to ask to know that she hadn't even remembered what she was supposed to do. Somebody had left those instructions in her head and she would've done them no matter what.

"Doctor, I'm sorry," Avalon cried and tried running to them when Melody grabbed her arm and yanked them out the window.

"NO!" Everyone cried as the woman disappeared.

"Why would Mother do this?" the Sapling sniffed as he looked at his father who really struggled to stand on his own.

"It's not her fault, Sapling," the Doctor said.

"What did she do to you, exactly?" asked Rory so that they knew what to work with. Meanwhile, Lena bolted for the window to see if she could catch where Melody was taking her sister to.

"Avalon, she-she poisoned me," the Doctor answered with a struggle.

"Don't let Avalon kiss you in Berlin," Rory remembered Ryland's words that he'd gotten from a future version of the Doctor. "You literally left yourself a message about this!"

"I'm terrible at messages!" the Doctor snapped, but truth be told he'd kiss Avalon again if the chance was at hand. "And don't start! Avalon didn't know any better, her mother tricked her!"

"Her mother," Amy sighed, "This is completely awful!"

"Oh, her mother is brainwashed too!"

"That makes it better," Lena returned to them, "How do we help you, big brother? Do you have a plan?"

"The plan is not to die," the Doctor pointed at her, "I gotta save my Ava. Take this! The TARDIS can home in on it," he gave Amy his screwdriver, "Now, go, get after them!" he pushed Rory to the window.

"But what about you?" Lena helped Amy to get him into the TARDIS, "You said the smoke was deadly."

"The smoke's fine. The poison will kill me first," he tried to humor and actually expected for Avalon to remark on that, only she was nowhere around anymore, "Now, get after Avalon and River! Sapling, with me! Poison can't really affect trees!"

The Sapling grinned and nodded.

"But I don't understand," Amy shook her head, "Why would Avalon poison you?"

"She didn't mean to, she was brainwashed," the Doctor explained fast, "The head is a delicate thing and they've managed to get into it. Now, please, just go!" he entered the TARDIS and left them to do their task.

~ 0 ~

Down in front of the building stood Avalon and Melody and were being questioned by German officers. While Avalon seemed completely wrecked, Melody was quite confident in herself.

"What are you doing here?" the officer demanded to know.

"Well," Melody stepped forwards, "We were off to this gay Gypsy bar mitzvah for the disabled, when I thought, "Gosh, the Third Reich's a bit rubbish, I think I'll kill the Fuhrer." Who's with me?"

"Shoot them."

Melody quickly stepped back, in front of Avalon and took all the shots for the both of them. After the shots were finished, she looked up at the officers while hugging herself, "Tip for you all...never shoot a girl while she's regenerating," she opened her arms and sent out regeneration energy towards the soldiers and laughed as she knocked the entire group down, "Ah! Now, that hit the spot."

"Please...we have to go back," Avalon looked up at the window where she was sure the Doctor was still in, "I-I killed him, I have to go help...maybe there's cure..."

"Oh, it's Judas Poison, didn't they tell you?" Melody grabbed a couple machine guns and moved over to a motorcycle.

"I can't remember," Avalon glanced at her, "But you do, you knew I was going to do that, didn't you?"

Melody smirked and started the motorcycle, "C'mon, Avalon."

"But Melody-"

"Look, you killed the Doctor. You committed a crime, they're not gonna want you anymore. But I will," Melody gestured to the motorcycle, "I didn't want you to do any of this but if we didn't do what Kovarian said, she would've killed us. We had to do this. Plus, it's the Doctor's own fault. If he would've been there for us, we wouldn't have gotten here."

"But my friends..." Avalon looked up at the building.

"I am your friend, always have been. C'mon, don't you feel like shopping?"

Avalon was terrified but Melody did ring some facts. She'd done a terrible thing, how could anyone forgive her for that? "Sh-shopping?"

Melody grinned. "Yup! New body, means I've got to get new clothes. Shall we?"

Avalon looked up to see Amy, Lena, and Rory climbing down and grew even more frightened. She didn't want to face them, much less her sister. Melody was right, she'd committed a crime. A crime against the most wonderful man she'd ever met, no one would want her after that.

"Avalon, no!" Lena shouted after her sister as the ginger hurried and climbed on the back of the motorcycle Melody was in, "Avalon!" but it was too late, the women were gone. "We have to stop them, we have to stop them now!"

A soldier came through the gate behind the trio, riding a motorcycle. He stopped in front of them and Rory stepped forwards to explain, "Look, I know how this looks, but let me explain everything from the beginning," but the soldier started reaching for a weapon and so he panicked. "Heil!" he saluted.

"Heil!" the soldier saluted back to him.

Rory took advantage and punched him down. He climbed on the motorcycle and motioned for the other two women to do the same.

"You're all punchy today," Lena remarked as she took her place behind Amy.

"Well, my daughter and granddaughter are out in a city on the brink of war, hell of a reason to punch," Rory shrugged, meaning every last word he said. He'd always cared for Mels and Avalon, Avalon a bit more since he'd met her first. But now after knowing who they were in reality, his protection fired up and he knew he would do anything to keep them safe, even if that meant punching Hitler.

"Can you ride a motorbike?" Amy dreaded to ask as he started the motorcycle.

"I expect so. It's that sort of day," Rory shrugged once more and drove off.

~ 0 ~

Melody had found a nice restaurant filled with elegant people and decided to hijack them, both men and women. While she tried several pieces on and checked herself in the mirror, Avalon sat at a nearby table with her hands in her hair, desperately trying to remember and process what she'd done.

"I might take the age down a little, just gradually, to freak people out," Melody chuckled as she tried on a captain's hat and looked back to Avalon, "Whaddya think?"

"What have I done?" Avalon mumbled to herself, "I killed someone, and not just anyone, but the Doctor. I killed him," she looked up at Melody with teary eyes, "Why did you let me do that? What's he ever done to you?"

"I was taken from my parents, you forget that?" Melody raised an eyebrow, "I was thrown into a life of hell because they're all afraid of him and needed someone to do the job that none of them could do."

"And yet I'm the one who did it," Avalon stood up, "Your life may have been hell as a child, but when you came into Leadworth you became my friend and Amy's and Rory, even Lena's. Don't tell me your life was awful back then too."

"Of course it wasn't," Melody admitted quietly and looked around, "It was fun, the most fun I'd ever had."

"Then? Why did you do this to me?" Avalon gestured to herself, her voice breaking in the end. "They stole me and they did something to my head, brainwashed me, hurt me!" She frantically gestured to her injured arms. Melody did swallow hard at the sight of her nearly purple arms. "They did so m-many things to me...and you just let me kill the one person who could've saved us both!"

"I never had a choice, Avalon," Melody's voice softened, "You think I asked for all this? That I wanted my best friend to do what I was trained to do my entire life?"

"Then why did you let me do it!?" Avalon shouted, her tears strolling down her cheeks.

"Because it was either you did it or you died," Melody shrugged, seeing no other way to put it, "I didn't just find you on the entry road, you were handed over to me."

"By who?"

"Avalon, you seriously don't remember anything!?" Melody couldn't help but shout the question, quite exasperated that she really had to start from zero.

"I s-s-see bits and pieces..." Avalon screwed her eyes shut but once she did she saw the woman with the eye patch. "Mels...how could you do this to me?"

"Because I didn't want to see you die, alright? Anyone else, I wouldn't have cared," Melody snapped, honestly not even understanding herself why she had cared so much for her friend's safety, "But you, you are the only one that I can be myself without getting any scolds nor reproaches. It's either you did the task or they killed you on the spot."

"Well I would have rather died," Avalon exclaimed and leaned back on the table, sniffling, "You don't understand, Mels, you didn't make me kill just anyone...you made me kill my Fairy Tale Man. He was mine and he actually cared for me like no one else has. And now, he'll die and I'll lose my friends, my sister, my family. Cos you're right, they won't want me anymore. Who'd love a murderer?"

"It won't matter anymore, Avalon," Melody walked over to her and took her hands, "We'll have a fresh new start, I told you. We can travel the world and do things our way now. No following the rules and pretending to be who we're not."

"But with the Doctor I did do that," Avalon whispered, "He didn't care who I was."

"You killed the Doctor," came Amy's voice from behind them.

Avalon tensed and turned around, seeing Amy a couple steps away from them, "Amy, I know what I did, and there's nothing I can do anymore. She says my healing won't work."

"You killed the Doctor on the orders of the movement known as the Silence and Academy of the Question. You accept and know this to be true?"

Avalon raised an eyebrow, "I...don't understand what all that is. I can't remember, I swear. I killed him and I can't even remember who told me to do it."

'Amy' opened up her mouth and shot out a blue beam at Avalon, making the ginger cry out in pain, "No! No! Get off me!" she pleaded. It brought back the moments of her torture where they would carve her skin.

"That's not Amy!" Melody kicked the Teselecta robot of her mother back and managed to shut down the beam.

Avalon stumbled back onto the floor, "Oh, you don't say? I was just about to ask her when she got that new beam built into her mouth!"

"Oh your sense of humor is back," the Doctor's voice made her look to the side and see the alien standing beside the TARDIS, dressed in black tails and a top hat along with a cane.

"First of all, what the hell are you wearing?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, "You're dying and you stopped to change? You know what, I'm not even surprised."

The Sapling giggled beside his Father. "I think he looked nice! I need to find me a suit too!"

The Doctor spun around with a grin and made his way down the steps, "You should always waste time when you don't have any. Time is not the boss of you - Rule 408," he stopped in front of the robotic Amy, "Amelia Pond, judgment death machine. Why am I not surprised? Sonic cane!"

"Are you serious?" even Melody was stumped by the man.

"Never knowingly. Never knowingly be serious," the Doctor used his cane to scan the Teselecta, "Rule 27. You might want to write these down. Oh, it's a robot!" he concluded from the readings, "With 423 life signs inside. A robot worked by tiny people. Love it! But how do you all get in there, though? Bigger on the inside? No, basic miniaturization sustained by a compression field. Oh, watch what you eat, it'll get you every time. Amy, if you, Rory and Lena are OK, signal me," and then the Doctor got a signal from his cane, "Thanking you," he then gave out a cry of pain.

"Doctor!" Avalon ran to help him, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright, leg just went to sleep," he tried to humor her to no avail, "Just had a quick left leg power nap, I forgot I had one scheduled. Actually, better sit down, I think I heard the right one yawning," he sat on the dais of the steps with her help.

"I am so sorry for all this," Avalon stepped away from him. He probably wouldn't want her anywhere near him. "I can't remember, and I know that's no excuse but it's the truth. I don't remember why I did it, I just knew it after I did it and now I've killed you. I'm the woman who kills you." Flashes of the astronaut at Lake Silencio crossed her mind. It was her, wasn't it? She killed him at that lake. But now she'd rewritten time and killed him earlier. She felt sick and it wasn't because of her own injuries. "You...should have just left me that night...that you came back for me. You should have just left me there."

"No, hey!" the Doctor snapped a finger at her, snapping her out of those horrid thoughts. "I don't regret anything we've done in the past! The only thing I regret is not saving you sooner!"

"But I'm a murderer," Avalon whispered and glanced at the robot, the Teselecta. "And they know it. Everybody inside that thing...they know who I am. A murderer." She turned towards the robot, swallowing hard. "You should kill me."

"No, Avalon-"

"I accept my fault," she stepped towards the Teselecta, "I accept my punishment..."

With the confession, the Teselecta shot out a beam of light and trapped her in it. Avalon screamed in terrible pain, one that even made Melody flinch.

"Mother!" the Sapling growled and grew one of his left arms to smack the Teselecta, but the Doctor stopped him.

"NO! Don't you touch her! Do not harm her in any way," the Doctor shouted at the Teselecta and managed to stop the painful beam, leaving only a containment field around Avalon.

"Remember that Amy, Rory and Lena are still inside!"

But after that, the Teselecta turned on Melody and before the brunette tried making a run for it, she was trapped in a containment field as well. "I haven't done anything," Melody writhed in her field, far more awake than Avalon at the moment.

"According to records you are the women who kills the Doctor," was the response of the robot.

"Listen, I love my friend, but she is the one that kills him today, sweetie," Melody snapped, "So far, I've committed no crime."

"He's dying."

"Well, at least I'm not a time-travelling shape-shifting robot operated by miniaturized cross people," the Doctor called, eyeing the situation, perplexed to see Melody 'arrested' as well, "Which, I have got to admit, I didn't see coming. What do you want with them?" he pointed his cane to both women.

"She's Melody Pond, the woman who kills the Doctor. And she-" the robot pointed to Avalon, "-kills you today."

"How can I kill him if he's already dying!? Let me go!" Melody ordered.

"What is any of this to you?" the Doctor demanded from the robot, "Cos my friend there-" he pointed to Melody, "-has a point."

"Throughout history, many criminals have gone unpunished in their lifetimes. Time travel has... responsibilities."

The Doctor laughed, "What? You got yourselves time travel, so you decided to punish dead people?"

"We don't kill them. We extract them near the end of their established timelines."

"And then what?"

"Give them hell."

The Doctor's humor faded away immediately to be replaced by the darkness the Black Markets had come to know in the last month. "I'd ask you who you think you are but I think the answer is pretty obvious. So, who do you think I am? From everything I've heard, it sounds like you've got a record of mine being altered," he glanced at Avalon who was slowly coming around, "Gotta say, I'd love a peek."

"Our records office is sealed to the public. Foreknowledge is dangerous."

"Yes, well, I'll be dead in three minutes. There isn't much foreknowledge left."

"Sorry, can't do that..." There was a moment of silence before the Teselecta changed its mind. "Records available."

The Doctor wouldn't question the change so stood up with great struggle on his cane. The Sapling helped him walk on his wobbly feet. "Question. I'm dying... who wants me dead?"

"The Silence."

"What is the Silence? Why is it called that? What does it mean?"

"The Silence is not a species. It is a religious order, or movement. Their core belief is that silence will fall when the question is asked."

"What question?"

"The first question. The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight."

"Yes, but what is the question?"

"Unknown."

"Well, fat lot of use that is, you big ginge! Call yourself a Records... Argh!" the Doctor fell to the floor with a cry of pain, "Kidneys are always the first to quit. I've had better, you know."

The containment field around Melody vanished and she dropped to the ground. She would've cheered if the field around Avalon hadn't turned into a flaming red that tortured her. Her shrill screams filled the room and perhaps the rest of the building. Everything was on fire. It felt like she was back with Kovarian and the Silence...oh. She remembered who gave her the order now.

The Doctor pulled himself across the floor with his hands and called out to the robot, "Amy! Rory! Lena! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah. What do we do? What do we do?" Amy's distraught voice came from the robot.

"Just stop them, please. She's your granddaughter, just stop them." Because the Doctor felt his life slowly slipping away. There was no more of his energy to use and the Sapling was still just a child. He was terrified. If he was to die, then he needed to know that Avalon would come out safe and sound.

"What did you say?" Melody stared at him with confusion from her spot.

The Doctor considered his next words while his gaze was stuck on Avalon. It was a huge no in the world of timelines telling Melody of her future, especially about something - someone - so important to her. But as the field stopped and Avalon dropped to the floor, completely unconscious, and the real Amy (or Rory or Lena) pleaded for his help through the Teselecta, he found there was no other choice. Besides, the universe owed him this.

"Please, now we have to save your parents. Don't run. Now, I know you're scared, but never run when you're scared. Rule 7. Please," he looked at Melody with urgency.

"Why did you say granddaughter?" Melody rose to her feet and frowned. "You said 'granddaughter', why?"

"Her mother, her real mother, is River Song, and she would kill you right now for what you've done..."

"Who is this River person?" Melody sighed with exasperation, "And why are you saying she's Avalon's mother? Emmalina is!"

"Imagine, imagine something for me please," the Doctor mustered his final coherent words. Not even the Sapling's strength could keep him up. He had to sit back down, preparing for his final moments. "Imagine that little Melody grows up and she goes to college and she has a baby of her own..." his eyes drifted to Avalon.

Melody slowly looked over to Avalon. Her face was covered by her hair. Melody inched closer to Avalon and touched her ginger locks. They felt like hers. "You're lying..."

"You're no fool, Melody, look into your past, look into the now. You've gotten along so good despite everyone else's opinions about you two, the Silence stole her and brought her back to you for some twisted mother-daughter job. You look me in the eye and tell me you're gonna let your parents, her grandparents and sister die," the Doctor ordered her and surprisingly Melody did as told. She looked straight at him and could feel his urgency radiating. "You know there's a special connection between you and Avalon. There always has been and this is why. Somewhere along your timeline you have a daughter, and you do love her. You've hurt her, now make it up by giving her, her grandparents and sister back. Rory can treat her after I...die. Do this for your daughter, Melody..."

Melody turned for Avalon, considering everything she'd heard. It made sense, all of it...but...to believe it...that was hard. She brushed a lock from Avalon's face, "Avalon..." she whispered, unable to bring herself to actually touch her now, "...Avalon, please? I didn't mean to hurt you. I was scared that they would hurt us both. Avalon, wake up."

"Go to her, Sapling," the Doctor urged the child with him. The Sapling was torn between staying with his father or going to his mother. They both needed him. "It's okay, Sapling," the Doctor offered him his best smile. "You go and help your Mother. That's what we wanted to do, remember? Help her."

The Sapling slowly nodded and walked over to Avalon and Melody. He knelt down beside his mother and gently shook her arm. "Mother, please wake up. Aunt Lena, aunt Amy and Uncle Rory need you. I need you too. And so does Father. I don't want my family to be ripped apart. I'm just a kid. I don't know what to do by myself."

Melody blinked at the tree child with a ripple of...sympathy? She knew exactly what he was talking about. She had no idea what to do with herself when she was a child. The Silence had given her full independence but she was a child. What was she supposed to do without her parents? She had to figure it out on her own sometimes. She wished somebody could have saved her way before any of this happened. She was just a kid...she shouldn't have had to live the way she had. And now she was the reason why another child would have to figure it out on their own. The Silence didn't do that, she did.

"I'm sorry," the words blurted from her mouth.

The Sapling met Melody's gaze with teary eyes. "Why would you hurt us? We worked so hard to find you, to save you, and you hurt us? That's not fair. You're taking my Mother, my Father, my family."

"No, no," Melody shook her head. "I didn't-I didn't mean to..."

The Sapling gently lowered himself to his Mother's side and brushed her hair with his hands. "Mother..." he sniffled.

~ 0 ~

Just as Lena, Amy and Rory were about to die, the TARDIS appeared around them, saving them in time. Lena quickly left her friends' side and ran for the console, "Big brother!" but she stopped when she saw Melody standing there and gasped at the sight of Avalon on the chair, trying to get out of it. "What did you do!?" she fiercely demanded from Melody as she ran to Avalon.

"i-it's fine, Lena," Avalon assured her. Her sight was coming back at least. "I...taught her to fly the TARDIS. Guess those lessons did pay off." She managed a weak smile while her sister hugged her.

"Where's the Doctor?" frowned Amy. "And the Sapling?"

"Then bring us back to the Doctor so he can help her," Lena ordered.

Melody looked around, refusing to tell her exactly what was going to happen to the Doctor in just a moment. Still, she used what Avalon had told her and successfully brought the TARDIS back to the restaurant.

Amy ran out the TARDIS first to find the Doctor lying on the stairs, nearly unconscious, with the Sapling at his side. Amy dropped on one of his sides, "You can't die now. I know you don't die now."

"Oh, Pond! You've got a schedule for everything," the Doctor managed to smile. From the corner of his eyes he could see Avalon coming out of the TARDIS with Lena's and Melody's help. She was safe now. Now it was okay to...to go.

"Doctor, what do we do? Come on. How do we help you?" Rory called to him as he and the others neared him.

"No, sorry, Rory. You can't. Nobody can," the Doctor sighed, "Ponds, listen to me, I need to talk to your daughter."

Everyone looked back at Melody who now looked completely uncomfortable. Slowly, she came towards the Doctor while the others backed away. She bent down beside him and whispered quietly to him, "You're not lying are you?" she glanced back to Avalon who was direcly staring at them with tears in her eyes, still filled with guilt.

"You see it now, don't you?" the Doctor questioned her, "Her eyes are yours, her hair is yours, her spirits are yours. But she doesn't know it yet, she thinks you're just a really close friend."

"I'm her mother...and I let her commit murder," Melody swallowed hard, if that didn't make her the worst mother of the year she didn't know what would.

"I need you to do something for me," the Doctor told her, "Find River Song and tell her something from me."

"Tell her what?" she raised an eyebrow and leaned down to listen to his quiet words. After she sat straight again, she had tears in her eyes, "Well, I don't know how..." but he gave her a pointed look that made her shift in place. She stood up and turned to the group, "Who's River Song?" she demanded.

Without a word, Amy moved to the Teselecta now host to no lives inside, "Are you still working because I'm still a relative? Access files on River Song."

"Records available."

"Show me her. Show me River Song."

Melody's tears strolled down her face as she now saw herself in the Teselecta. She glanced back at Avalon and shuddered a breath, "I lied."

Avalon shooed Rory off her, "What about?"

"There's no cure...but you have all the cures in your immune system...a well evolutionized system..."

Avalon's eyes half-widened. She raised her hands and turned them over. "And that would work? That would really work?"

"Might..." Melody shrugged with a small smile as she watched the ginger's hope increase by the seconds. "...but there could be consequences..."

"Don't care," Avalon snapped and hurried to the Doctor however she could on her wobbly feet. She came to sit beside him, ignoring the slight pain she felt on her knees. She motioned for the Sapling to move away. She would need a moment alone.

"What's she doing?" Lena looked at Melody suspiciously. One more trick from hers and this time Lena might just slap her.

Melody didn't answer and turned for Avalon, hoping her words would be true and...perhaps, do one good thing for her...daughter. She didn't want anyone to grow up the way that she did.

"I promise you after this you can chuck me into a black hole," Avalon whispered to the Doctor. "Or put me in jail. That's what I deserve. I'm so sorry for all this. Believe me, killing you is the last thing I wanted to do," she leaned down and stroked his hair, smiling slightly when he opened his eyes. He looked so weak and it was all her fault. He would never sit still, never lay down. He was always on the run, exploring different worlds, saving people here and there. He was the perfect man. A man that should not have to die.

"You remember those stories you wanted to see? The ones I wrote when I was younger? Well, they were all about you, stupid," Avalon's face blushed a warm pink as she explained what she thought she'd never say. "You're the Fairy Tale Man and you were always my hero, saving me...and do you remember when I couldn't sleep last year? You had to talk to me about my nightmare and you said I should dream up something that would ward the nightmares away? Well, you were the knight-in-shining-armor that fought off all my nightmares. You protected me. You've been quite the busy man," her smile spread as her blush deepened, "Now the princess - albeit an odd one - gets to save the prince."

"But Ava..." the Doctor could barely say those two words. Even with his bypass system, his lungs had expended his air.

"Be sure to rest for a bit before you go gallivanting through galaxies, alright?" Avalon leaned down, ignoring his weak attempts to stop her, and kissed him. Her fingers held onto the lapels of his jacket, as if she'd need it to keep him still. Her body glowed as the energy of her immunization began to transfer from her to the Doctor's. Avalon could feel her strength slipping away but she took comfort knowing it was going to the right place.

Towards the end, Avalon barely had the strength to raise her head. She weakly glanced at the others with a small smile. But her eyelids became heavy and before she knew it, she laid her head on the Doctor's chest and fell into darkness.

~ 0 ~

The next time Avalon opened her eyes, she was in a bright, white room. For a few seconds, she thought this was what the afterlife looked like...but then she heard a familiar voice.

"Avalon, sweetie, you're awake," Ryland was sitting right next to her bed - a hospital bed because she was in the hospital.

"Yeah, took you long enough," Gavin snorted but soon yelped when Lena elbowed him on the side. "I mean, yay, you're awake!"

Avalon scrunched her face and tried getting up, but everybody told her to stay put. "What's...what's going on?" she swallowed hard. Her body hurt. Everything was sore and moving the slightest caused a wave of pain to wash over her. "Owww."

"You're in the hospital, Avalon," Lena explained the bits most pertinent for the moment. "We brought you here after, um...Berlin."

It took only a few seconds for Avalon to remember what she did. "Oh my God! The Doctor!" she tried getting up again but Ryland pushed her down and kept a firm hold over her shoulders. "Daddy, stop! I have to go-"

"Avalon, it's okay! He's okay!" Ryland exclaimed over her voice. "The Doctor's just fine now." Avalon stopped struggling and studied Ryland's face for any indication that he was lying just so she wouldn't get up. Ryland knew her so well. "I'm telling you the truth. He's here, taking care of some things."

"So I...I didn't kill him?" Avalon's eyes flickered to Lena. "He-he survived?"

Lena smiled at her. "Yes. And as Daddy said, he's just taking care of some things. But you, Miss, you need to rest. A lot."

Avalon could care less about herself right now. She was just relieved that the Doctor had survived. "I...I didn't kill him."

"No, but you gave up something else," Gavin spoke up, sounding a bit irritated with her.

"What...?"

Ryland shot his son a look to keep quiet. What they had to tell her to needed to be done in a delicate manner. "Um, sweetie, there's something you need to know. You, uh...you saved the Doctor and nobody could be more proud of you for that, but...there were some consequences."

"Like?"

Ryland sighed. "Your immunity system has dropped, almost entirely. You lost the ability to heal people and your health has reverted to that of, well, an average human."

"Without those vaccinations all the babies usually get," Gavin chimed in, once again receiving the glares from his father and now his sister. "What? It's true."

Avalon was trying to understand what it meant, but it didn't take a lot of her thought process to figure it out. "So I-I don't have my abilities anymore? I don't have all the cures?"

"No," Ryland confirmed. "And the doctors here tried everything to activate it but there's nothing there anymore. We're going to have to be very careful for a long while now, until we can build up your immunity from scratch. But, even when that happens, it won't be like it used to be."

"I'll just be like Amy and Rory," Avalon nodded to herself. "Like every other human. I can get a cold now..."

"It's a bit more dangerous right now because you literally have no defense system."

"It's fine," Avalon swallowed hard and smiled. "It's my punishment for what I did."

"No, it's not," Lena frowned. "This was an accident but it is not because you did something wrong. Nothing is your fault. It's on Kovarian and the Silence." As soon as she spoke those two names, Avalon flinched. Lena regretted it deeply. "I'm sorry."

"No, no...it's okay..." Avalon bit her lower lip.

"How long were you with them, Avalon?" Lena decided to ask after a moment.

"...about...5 months..." Avalon scrunched her face when more memories started coming back to her. A lot of them included her screaming and begging for them to stop hurting her. "They-they kept..."

Lena reached for her sister's hand and held it tight. Avalon didn't have the strength, currently, to do the same. "It's okay, Avalon."

Avalon brought her free hand to her hair, pulling the strands as she continued to remember. Every pain she felt from the carvings, from the prodding, the needles. Her body was on fire. And she was so terrified.

"Avalon, it's okay," Ryland tried to take Avalon's hand off her hair but she kept pulling on it.

"I was so scared, Daddy! I was so scared!" The tears streamed down Avalon's face. "Everybody was prodding me like a-an experiment! They-they stabbed me with needles! They starved me! It was cold, it was hot! And I just wanted them to stop!" Her voice cracked in the end, but all in all she sounded like a terrified child when she burst into sobs. "But then I-I can't remember everything but...I know they did things to me, bad things. I don't want to go back there!"

"And you're not going to," Ryland promised her, almost crying himself because of her. He allowed Avalon to sit up so he could hug her tightly. "Nobody is ever going to touch you again. Not on our watch."

~ 0 ~

Melody stepped into a the admittedly nice building. Her eyes raked over the neat hallways and cheery decorations. It seemed to be very busy with employees - nuns - coming in and out of rooms. Patients, or inhabitants, were out making their daily lives. They looked happy. It seemed like a nice place to live...for now. She turned sideways, meeting her parents' gaze and the Doctor's. "This is it, then? This is where I have to stay?"

"It looks like fun," the Sapling made the comment to lift the spirits.

"It's your basic home for, well, anybody who needs it," the Doctor explained. "The Sisters here will help you make your way, whatever path you want to take."

Melody knew what he meant. Even though she knew about an important part of her future, the choice was still hers. "I am sorry," she said, even though it pained her to admit that she was wrong. "You have no idea what Kovarian is like...she doesn't take 'no' for an answer. She doesn't show mercy which is why I can't understand why she decided to wipe Avalon's memories. She had her for months and...she just erased it?"

"She did it for a reason," the Doctor muttered. Kovarian didn't do anything without a reason.

"But she didn't do a very good job because Avalon still remembers bits and pieces," Melody said, not understanding herself. Avalon didn't seem to have all her memories but she remembered what kind of torture strategies they used on her.

"That's her biology at work," the Doctor sighed. He had no doubt that within the coming months, Avalon would begin to remember more of her time with Kovarian.

"I wish I would've known," Melody looked at her parents. "I didn't know. But after spending years with Kovarian breathing over my shoulder, I learned the best way to survive is to just follow her orders."

"You're forgiven for everything," the Doctor assured her. He could see the guilt in her eyes from a mile away.

"Absolutely," Amy moved towards Melody and took her into a big hug. It soon brought Rory over as well. "None of it was your fault," Amy promised.

"But I just...I don't understand," Melody pulled away. "How could Avalon be my daughter? I don't...I don't even want kids. They're kind of annoying." The others chuckled, but she wanted to point out that she was being very serious.

"Well, that's up to you," the Doctor said, but Melody folded her arms over her chest and settled a sharp look on him.

"Mhm. You snogged my daughter and you expect me to believe that you don't care one tiny bit whether or not I have her?"

The Doctor's face flushed at the reminder. It made Melody smirk, much like Avalon would. "Well, I-I didn't mean to..." Truth be told, he would hardly call what happened between him and Avalon a kiss. There'd been two kisses and while the first one was a more of a kiss but it'd only happened because Avalon was brainwashed into doing it, not because she wanted to. And the second one? Well, he'd been dying. He could hardly remember it. It hurt his hearts realizing it.

"Oh forget it," Melody sighed deeply when she saw the Doctor getting lost in his thoughts. "I'll stay here for a bit, then, if that's what it takes to keep her safe. Whether she's my daughter or my friend, I do care about Avalon. I had to do what I had to do to keep us both alive."

"I believe you," the Doctor assured her.

"And...the Sapling...I didn't mean to take your family," Melody looked at the tree child. He no longer held contempt for her, but she wanted to make sure that he understood her. "I know exactly what that feels like and I never want to do that to a child."

The Sapling nodded and offered her a smile. "I believe you. You helped save my parents. Plus, your my grandmother."

"Oooh, that hurts," Melody put a hand over her chest. "That word hurts."

"Imagine great-grandmother," Amy muttered and shared a small laugh with her.

"So, Doctor, how long do I have to wait until I can see Avalon and apologize to her too?" Melody looked at the Time Lord anxiously. She didn't like the idea of being far away when Avalon was recovering from a situation she helped create.

"For a while," the Doctor answered, knowing that it wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. "The Silence and Kovarian are still out there and until we capture them, you shouldn't see Avalon. Plus, you might have your own Avalon to deal with further along your timeline."

Melody smirked. "Oh boy."

"But don't worry, she'll know that it wasn't your fault either."

"And what about the fact that I'm her Mother? Will she know that too?"

"Do you want her to know?" the Doctor challenged. The choice was entirely upon Melody because as far as he knew, it didn't matter from this point on if Avalon learned who her mother was.

Melody pursed her lips together. "I...don't know. I mean, if she wants to know then...I suppose I have no right hiding that from her. I owe her that much. So, if she asks, if she wants to know, you tell her. But you make sure-" she pointed a finger at him, "-that she knows that I do love her. She's been my friend for so many years, she shouldn't doubt that."

"Okay," the Doctor nodded. "Well, I guess it's time for us to go."

Melody faced her parents with a sad smile. "I'll see you around, then?"

"Definitely," Amy promised. "Stay out of trouble, Miss."

"Seriously," Rory warned her. "Out of it. Don't even think of getting into it!"

Melody laughed. "I'll try my best. But you know me...it calls me." She walked over to give them both a hug. While they said goodbye, the Doctor took the Sapling with him back to the TARDIS. The Ponds would need a moment to say goodbye to their daughter.

"Are we going to see Mother now!?" the Sapling hopped excitedly up to the console.

"Yeah," the Doctor went straight to the console. He shouldn't have done it but he downloaded his biography from the Teselecta archive. Now he knew exactly what he was in for, and it was not pretty. But so long as Avalon was kept out of it, he didn't care what was coming for him.

~ 0 ~

When Ryland emerged from from Avalon's hospital room, he spotted the Doctor, Amy, Rory and the Sapling coming down the hallway. He immediately searched for the woman responsible for all this mess, but she wasn't there. And she wouldn't be coming back soon, that much he could tell from Amy's and Rory's distraught faces. The Sapling didn't waste time and scurried down the hallway, straight into Avalon's room before anyone could tell him anything. He wanted to see his Mother so badly!

"Where is she?" Ryland still asked the group when they joined him. He didn't have to say her name for them to know he meant River.

"Somewhere, making her own way now," the Doctor said, glancing over his shoulder to the Ponds. It hurt them badly to let their daughter go, but it was the best thing they could for Melody and Avalon.

"Is she alright?"

"Yes, in what fits."

Ryland nodded then sighed. "Avalon's woken up, though she's been in and out of consciousness. The Silence, Kovarian - they did a number on my niece." His heart broke when he first saw Avalon's arms, when she sobbed about how terrified she'd been. "I want them to pay. All of them."

The sentiment was shared amongst the others, but they knew that they literally had to wait.

"It's a tricky thing, Ryland," the Doctor began, looking unsure himself...because he was. "Kovarian has created the perfect game here. We can't strike because of Time. We make one wrong move and both Melody and Avalon go 'poof!'." He did the hand gesture for effect, but he was sure the word was more than enough to make a point. "And that's not what we want, right?"

Ryland sighed with exasperation. "Of course not! But we can't just let this stand!"

"Oh, we won't," the Doctor said, his voice dropping low. "You better believe that I'm going after them."

Ryland wasn't one to doubt him, so he nodded but there was still heavy concern in his eyes when he glanced back at Avalon's room. "She's really hurt. I trust this hospital but I'm also scared. She lost her entire immune system. She has zero defenses."

"But we can fix that," Rory finally spoke up but then he realized that Avalon's biology was a bit out of his element so he looked at the Doctor just to be sure. "Right?"

"Yes, of course we can," the Doctor nodded. "But I'm going to need to take Avalon away for a while," he told Ryland, knowing that the man wouldn't be so happy about that detail.

And true to that, Ryland's mouth opened to argue. "But we just got her back!"

"And like you said, she doesn't have any defenses. Earth is filled with bacteria and germs that she cannot fight right now. The TARDIS is a sterile place where I can monitor her at all times, where we-" the Doctor gestured behind him to Amy and Rory, "-will look after her and raise her health. Physically and mentally."

Because of course there was no way in hell the Ponds would let go of the only piece they had of their daughter. Both Amy and Rory nodded affirmatively. Where Avalon went, they went. Period.

"I am a nurse," Rory reminded Ryland. "I know exactly what humans need. I'll help take good care of Avalon."

"I don't suppose I have a choice," Ryland mumbled, but he did realize that the TARDIS was the safest spot for Avalon at the moment. "But will you bring her when she gets better?"

"You have my word," the Doctor promised, raising his hand in the air. It would be some time before Avalon could leave sterile rooms, but he would bring her back to Earth the moment she could withstand it.

Ryland nodded. "Thank you. And...thank you for bringing her back. All of you." The Doctor gave a slight nod of his head but it was easy to see that he didn't feel like he actually did anything. He hadn't found Avalon, she had found him. "I trust you, Doctor. And you," Ryland gave Amy and Rory a half smile. "I trust that you'll keep her safe." He gave Avalon's door another glance before motioning them to go inside. "See if she's awake. I assume there's plenty to talk about."

That was an understatement. Still, the three of them took in some deep, brave breaths and headed for Avalon's room.

Avalon was asleep but with the Sapling's movements and whispers, she would end up waking up. Seeing the tree child did bring out a smile, which was all anyone wanted right now.

"Hey, don't try to move so much," Rory took the nearest seat beside her bed. "You gotta save your strength."

"Ugh, now you're sounding like my Dad," Avalon licked her chapped lips then made a face after it stung her. "I really need chapstick. Actually...I really need and want a bath."

"Lavender scented bath bombs await in the TARDIS," Amy promised her. She'd taken the opposite side and grabbed Avalon's hand first chance she got. There was a different feeling Amy got now that she knew who Avalon was. Maybe it was the part of her motherhood that she didn't get to live out with Melody, or maybe it was just the grandmother part of her too. She wanted to protect Avalon and be there for whatever Avalon might need.

"Mm, sounds nice," Avalon drew in a breath but it stung as well. "My entire body hurts. Even breathing hurts - how pathetic is that?"

"Don't say that," the Doctor spoke up for the first time, and it was only because that had come out automatically. He didn't want Avalon feeling bad for anything that happened. "You don't say anything like that, got it? Because you have no reason to put yourself down."

Avalon's gaze lowered the moment his eyes landed on her. She couldn't fathom looking at anyone right now. She was guilty. And embarrassed. "I'm sorry guys," her apology came in the form of a frail whisper. "I couldn't save Melody and I let them brainwash me."

"Avalon, this wasn't your fault," Rory reached for Avalon's other hand.

The Sapling squirmed his way around Amy's chair, going under Amy's arm that was holding Avalon's hand, until he was right next to his Mother. "Mother, you shouldn't cry. It was the bad people's fault."

"But neither of you have Melody because I couldn't hold onto her," Avalon raised her head, showing new tears in her eyes. "I had her in my arms and Kovarian ripped her away from me. I took care of her for a week and then I never saw her again. I'm so sorry."

Amy couldn't help the tears in her own eyes. "Avalon, the same thing happened to me and I'm her mother. But Kovarian was too smart. But hey, she's okay now and she's going to make her own way. This is where River Song starts and we'll be seeing her around."

"I didn't get to apologize to her," Avalon glanced at the Doctor. "Could I see her, please? I-I really want to talk to her. River's saved me so many times and the one chance I had to save her...I didn't do it."

"She doesn't blame you - actually, she's mad as hell with Kovarian," he gave her a soft smile. "You're so alike, actually."

Avalon would've smiled but instead of seeing him, she saw his dying body in Berlin. The tears doubled and whether she wanted to or not, she sniffled all over again. "Doctor, I'm so sorry! I nearly killed you! I-I didn't know I was going to do it but I'm so sorry!"

The Doctor forgot all about his own guilt for the moment as he moved up to her bed to hug her. Amy and Rory let go of Avalon's hands and the moment they did, Avalon clung to the Doctor's arms. Even the Sapling had leaned away, more on his great-grandmother's side, to give his parents some space.

"You're good, Avalon. You are so good, don't ever think that I will reproach you for anything," the Doctor kissed Avalon's messy hair.

"But I-I poisoned you-"

"-and you saved my life," the Doctor pulled away to give her a small smile. He poked her forehead, something that brought out a teary-eyed smile from her. "And now you lost your ability to heal people."

"I don't care," she said, sounding pretty damn certain about it too. "I saved you. I would do it again if I had to."

"I recommend you don't," the Doctor's gaze turned sharp just at the idea of her having to do it again. Next time, she might just use up all of her regenerations, however many she had. "I'm the Fairy Tale Man. I will do the saving around here. And I'm sorry I didn't do that before Kovarian hurt you so much."

Avalon completely let go of him to see her bruised and stitched arms. She screwed her eyes shut for a moment to push away any of those memories. "I can't remember everything...but I know that they hurt me. I can see some of it. I hate her so much."

"We're going to find her," Amy promised, her teeth gritting together as the raw fury crept over her. It only faltered when she saw the brief terror in Avalon's eyes. "But she's not going to hurt you again. She's going to have go through all of us first." Everyone nodded, including the Sapling.

"You stay far away, Mister," Avalon wagged a finger at the Sapling, relishing in his childlike giggle. She missed him. "I may be a terrible mother but I will still do my best to keep you away from danger." At the mention of 'mother', the others exchanged nervous glances. Avalon noticed it fairly quick and arched an eyebrow at them. "What is it?"

"Uum..." the Doctor would be brave and take the lead in the conversation. "You mentioned that your memory's a bit foggy?" Avalon nodded. "Do you remember if Kovarian mentioned anything about, I don't know, your parents?"

Avalon crinkled her nose. "No. Why would she?"

"Just curious," the Doctor checked for Amy's and Rory's reactions. He'd continue if they wanted him to...and they seemed to want him to. Oh boy.

"What's going on?" Avalon saw their discreet glances with each other. "What more is going on?"

"Avalon...we, uh...blimey, there's not an easy way to say it but...we know about your real Mother and..." the Doctor watched her face go pale - paler than what it already was - then was quick to go for anger.

"I told you I didn't want to know!" she practically snarled.

"But things are different now," Amy chimed in for the sake of her daughter.

"Yeah, I'm a murderer!" Avalon shot the Doctor a look. "I nearly murdered you and you want talk about my...my Mother?"

"Actually, her and-"

"No!" she yelled. "You know what? I do remember Kovarian mentioning something about that. My mother abandoned me because she didn't care about me."

"That's not true," Amy scowled, but in doing so it made Avalon even more angry.

"How would you know? Nobody abandoned you!"

"Because I know who she is and she didn't leave you behind!"

"Amy," Rory's voice was warning her to watch what she would say. Amy was distraught over their situation, more so by the fact Avalon would still believe in the lie that River abandoned her. But there was a reality that none of them were facing yet, one that nobody had asked out loud. River didn't abandon Avalon, okay, but then why did she give Avalon away?

Avalon squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to remember moments with Kovarian but her mind was all jumbled up and everything was fuzzy. She couldn't remember even if she truly wanted to. "My life is in pieces right now and I don't want it to be broken into smaller fragments. Please leave it alone. Please." Her begging reminded her a lot of when she had to beg for people not to slice her skin, or when she had Melody taken away from her, or pretty much every time she was in pain. New tears rolled down her cheeks and even if she couldn't move a lot, she put her best efforts to scoot towards the Doctor, trying to reach for his closest hand. "Please just forget about it. I don't want to know. I-I don't want to know!"

The Doctor wouldn't further victimize her like Kovarian had. He gave her a reassuring nod that he would not say anything. It brought her such relief that she thanked him over and over again, like he'd just saved her life. He checked Amy's and Rory's expressions and he wasn't surprised to find them grim. Their granddaughter hated their daughter because of a lie.

The Silence had ruined them from top to bottom and he let it happen.

#ocappreciation #doctor who #11th doctor imagines #dw imagine #doctor who fics #dw fics #doctor who imagines #11th doctor fics #oc: Avalon Reynolds #oc: Lena Reynolds #fic: falling in temptation

14 notes · View notes

metellastella · 5 years ago

Text

Mao Mao Pride Week Prompts, Part 3

A continuation of the prompts put out by @maomaosmother Part 1 https://metellastella.tumblr.com/post/621726687992872960/hello-everyone-happy-pride-month-to-all-of-you Part 2 https://metellastella.tumblr.com/post/621834183114932224/mao-mao-pride-week-prompts

7. Marriage

“But first,” Mao’s sister clapped her hands together, “I wanna talk weddings some more!”

“Right on!” the badger agreed. He whooped.

“Oh good grief,” Mao rolled his eyes. “Fine. You two can chat with the king about the possibility. And I reiterate. Possibility. When you’re ready to make good on your promise, come find me.”

She clucked her tongue in disapproval. “Fine. Be the usual stick in the mud. Don’t know why I’m surprised.”

He grabbed a few more things off his plate and left.

“So,” she sat back down, “I guess if you favor men, the animals here didn’t have to petition for marriage laws to be amended, huh?”

”Correct.” the lion replied.

“Though some thought I was … ironically … being ‘biased.’ Oh well. Can’t help that. Royal power is absolute, for better or worse. I’ve traveled to other nations and, during debates, have suggested that they not use the term ‘marriage’ as I have. Law is, at least in some peoples’ opinions, supposed to be ‘secular,’ and not ‘religious,’ anyway, so why cling to a specific term that isn’t? Simply afford all the exact same rights to civil unions or domestic partnerships. Or make up a third designation. Much easier to get it passed that way. Bypasses a whole lot of entrenched resistance. People can hash out in their own communities what to do with the non-legal angles and rituals and what to call it. But for a ‘marriage’ certificate? What, after all, is a rhetorical difference, in the end?” the diplomat and statesman snapped his fingers. “And like that, less angst for absolutely everyone involved. It’s not always that easy to reconcile or find middle ground. I can’t think of practically any other issues where simply altering one single word could have that effect. Despite a couple of decades worth of rhetorical experience under my belt.”

He sat back, and interlaced his paws contentedly. “Some countries insisted they were still going to adjust tax breaks because of the very unlikely event of children. Unless surrogates are involved, and properly registered as such, to try to avoid wrangling over child custody. That’s a whole other kettle of fish to get into, obviously.”

She nodded. “Well like Mao said, I’m not here to talk politics. Let’s hear your fantasies about the most important day of your life!”

The badger shook his head. “Well it’s not like that for everyone, but don’t get me wrong, I wanna hear, too!” he said excitedly.

“Erm … “ the lion looked down.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“It’s just … I’m more enthusiastic about the idea than Mao, but I’m still a long way off from that myself. So, I don’t want to insult you by making you think I’m further along, just because I have envisioned a marriage … regardless of who the groom is.”

She frowned a little, thinking. “All right then.”

“But I would love to hear about some of your customs, in that event.”

Her face fell some more. “I’m not sure that would be a good idea.”

“Oh?”

“The homeland, though the majority is plenty accepting of pairing in general, has not approved marriage between men,” she said, “so any customs you applied to each other or one of you … might be seen as disrespectful. For example. Would Mao dress as the woman, since he’s chosen to sub? Not only do I think he would never, ever do that …” she looked at the badger for confirmation.

He shook his head, “Oh most definitely not.” He thought for a second. “Maybe that’s why he got up out of here, for that matter. He thought we were gonna suggest doing that. We’ve been to weddings like that. Again, a little like misgendering, no? Even in the rare cases where he gets a mind for it, he’s not at all like a typical sub.”

The badger paused.

“He doesn’t really fit in when I would hang out with other subs. One panda I met just could not wrap his mind around Mao. It was kinda funny. Irritating for him, though. I would be totally down for dressing like the female counterpart in a wedding, if it were me. I’ve pictured it both ways. Maybe even a costume change in the middle?” he waggled his eyebrows. “Or whatever my partner wanted? If a polar bear gave me any direction I’d melt under his strong paw,” his gaze unfocused, and he hummed appreciatively. “Tuxedo? Coming right up. What color? What style? White wool tunic and stole, as is customary for you big guy? I’ll match you! Usus? My Ursus. My dear ursine. Coemptio? Confarreati? Gown? Dress? You got it, my bae bear. I’m male, sure, but a lot more loosey-goosey in that way. But. It’s not me.”

He sighed romantically.

“If I understand Mao,” the lion said slowly, “in general, he’s less sentimental, at the very least in expression, so maybe it’s simply that he doesn’t get as wrapped up in it as you or I would.”

The badger shrugged.

“Also, women tend to get more excited about wedding planning. Not a hard and fast rule of course, but I think we’ve established that you and I have a lot more in common with women, so it makes sense we’d be more enamored, even if it didn’t necessarily need to be that way.”

The badger slapped his forehead. “Oh yeah, wow. How could I not think of that!” He put his paw down and gestured towards her. “I mean this whole conversation we've had a vibe and Mao has seemed the odd one out, gender wise, but I didn’t consider that.”

The badger went on, “Even without a wedding on the table, which is usually headed up by women in this part of the world, it’s often awkward in the first place for a typical guy to be in a room with all women and vice versa … so this visit has kinda been like that for him, I think. I mean, Mao’s always eager enough to go to a wedding, excited about hitting on and dancing with some ladies, and all, but that doesn’t mean he’d necessarily enjoy planning one. He might even leave it all up to you even if he was totally ready for it!”

The three femme animals spent the next few hours discussing flower arrangements, color palettes, the band of tolerant aristocracy he would invite, and who among the clan would approve enough to come. That was hard for the sister to get through, as she thought of those she loved who would refuse to give their blessing and ‘miss all the fun.’

8. Self-Acceptance

Mao threw up his hands in exasperation. “This was different than anything anybody knew of. Other clans’ elders who had wielders hurt badly were brought in to consult. We wielders can be slammed around by dragons, can be thrown into the ground and make craters, and walk away. With lesser wielders, bruises could be shrugged off and healed. But SOMEHOW, the universe had, like a homing pigeon bent on mouse’s blood, found one little chink in our armor. . . . Delicate tails aren’t resistant enough to damage to withstand direct crush force. Some of the visiting canine elders spoke of a time when groups of semi-sapient non-magical hunting dogs had their flowing, floppy ears or long tails surgically cropped to keep them from injuring themselves on hunts. To potentially avoid something like this happening again … by cave-ins, like mine, by boulders hurled by some types of dragons, even just being stepped on by a dragon big enough … Should all wielder animals, intending to fight these beasts … should every species with long tails start doing this removal with our children, they asked? With consent, of course. Like removing tonsils or primates removing the appendix? Lizards probably couldn’t do it, because their slanted gait was too dependent and their tails too heavy. So maybe just the tips? Surely the thicker parts of their tails withstand something like this? They asked. The elders of felines and canines and rodents and otters … the later they waited to dock tails in a trainee’s life, the more they would have to adjust to the missing counterbalance just as I was. They swarmed me and questioned me about it relentlessly. They were asking among themselves … What age would this terrible offered choice be appropriate?”

His green eyes widened in horror at these questions. As if he needed any more psychological stress after being temporarily crippled, he seemed to have altered the entire course of history with the way clans viewed preparation for wielder heroes.

“Inwardly, I felt like …” he once again tried to force the words out he had started before. “I felt like I was causing an implosion of the whole clan. The tranquil meditation spaces were overrun with visitors. Children still hid from me. Our elders argued over whether they should move me for the duration of my recovery, from the clan’s circle. They argued over what to do about the little ones. But didn’t I deserve to feel safe, too? Of course I was ripping everyone apart! It was what always happened when I was around! When we were all younger, and my sisters occasionally came to my defense from one another or dad, I felt it was somehow my fault they argued, too.”

Even if the elders made these new procedures for children voluntary, he would still be virtually ‘responsible’ for possibly unneeded selective surgical alteration of innocents.

“Blue says that’s common, for bullied children to feel like it’s their fault.”

He looked towards the door, probably thinking of the dog’s unruffled voice of reason.

“I try to listen to him. I try to like myself. B-but I … it seemed l-like my family w-was disintegrating because of m-m-me. And my stupid ‘mistake.’ The whole world of wielders, even! Sometimes it still does, when they visit …! Arguing over father’s treatment of me. Remember when my sister said she wasn’t sure starting arguments over lesser wielders was worth unsettling future heroes? Now imagine what I was thinking when the little ones didn’t feel safe in the circle of the clan because of me. I was drowning in self-blame and the only way I felt I could escape it was to work harder, push myself more, and get away from there.”

Could Blue even help him out of this? The lion pictured him like a seeing eye dog this time, trying for all the world to lead the black cat out of such darkness.

Bonus:

From my second story, Outnumbered. Tanya sashayed around the red-caped cat. “Hello Mittens.” “Tanya I swear if you do not stop calling me that, I’m going to use the wrong pronouns for you,” the cat threatened. “Touchy, touchy,” the tanuki tutted teasingly, but her normally chipper attitude got a dent in it. “As if that’s an even trade, anyway.” The masculine magic cat said gruffly, “Maybe not. But I’m tired of you mocking me without consequences. Just because that’s the only thing that ever gets under your skin is no fault of mine. Perky little miss.” She rolled her eyes. “So, you try to make gendering me correctly even sound derogatory. No wonder I broke up with you.” The cat’s fists tightened, but he spoke cooly. “If you can’t handle all this. I’ll just find someone who can.”

“Like the king you’re serving as a bodyguard to?” the fox-like animal said in a silken tone. “The only kind of lion with no birth mane. Are you a chaser, you dog?” “First off. No. How dare you. Targeting gender non-conforming animals may not be officially dishonorable, but as a concept, it is,” the samurai bristled, “We’re not involved, and we’re never going to be. We’re not attracted to each other, as my nose could clearly tell if he was. Second of all. Since when do you have something against dogs?” “It’s an expression.” “An expression that’s derogatory towards dogs,” the cat sneered. “I can’t imagine the blue therapist dog could be less like that. It’s like ‘sexist pig.’ The yellow pig back in Pure Heart would be crushed if he ever heard someone utter it. Yet outside that nice little paradise, it’s a common saying. King Snugglemagne is having to adjust mightily to the outside world. You may be used to it, steeped in it, but for magic’s sake, stop teasing him about it.” “Oh, a king can’t take a little hardship?” she said lazily. “Of course not, he’s been ensconced in his fancy-pants palace. Now that he has an idea of how it is for everyone else, he crumples at the slightest trouble. Sorry I can’t muster up enough energy to care.” “You should care. Given that he has the same problems you do.” “With pronouns? Puh. Since I’m a roaming outlaw,” the orange animal said flouncily, “I don’t expect either other crooks or enforcers I encounter to respect that my gender doesn’t match my body’s smell. The former doesn’t even respect the law, so why should I take that personally? And the latter are more focused on getting me behind bars. So, no, not my problem. Too much of a bother.” “If you settled down, and got a respectable job,” the cat pointed out, “Established yourself as a constant presence, people would probably collectively accept you.” She laughed derisively. “Oh no, I value my freedom far more than that, Mi-” she swallowed back the nickname. He laughed just as derisively. “I see you do value my word on the matter, though,” he said suggestively. “Are you just not as tough as you make out, or do you still harbor some feelings for me, my sweet little illusionist?”

She opened her mouth, but then shut it again.

“You slippery mirage master,” he said “you do, don’t you?”

He paused. “Hm. ‘Master,’ maybe I should say ‘Mistress’?” he amended. “There’s . . . really no good choice there,” she chuckled hesitantly. “There are ‘Head Mistresses’ at some schools in Snugglemagne’s kingdom,” the cat pointed out.

“Yes but . . . still has connotations. I don’t break the law that way,” she said, normally carefree attitude wobbling. “Even I have standards.”

“Hasn't stopped you from dangling the offer to get what you want,” he said.

She blushed.

“Yeah, word gets around,” he went on blithely as she uncomfortably gripped one of her arms. “Don't know why I should be surprised that playing with hearts isn't beneath you. But more to the point. I know you’re ultimately reasonably principled in that arena, if really flirty. You ever want to get back together, babe, the invitation is open,” he winked.

“And endure your jealous behavior again? I think not. I’ll file that away with other useless knowledge,” she said icily.

“Oh that’s not like you,” he said in a low baritone. “You’re sweet to everyone, even if they can’t catch the mocking tone sometimes.” “Not everyone’s as smart as you, cupcake.” He looked caught off guard by the compliment. “She brushed her fingers under his chin. “I guess you’ll just have to miss me.”

She somersaulted away from him, waving goodbye and blowing a kiss. He said under his breath, “As if I’d ever misgender you. You may play a lot of mind games, love, but you didn’t catch that bluff.”

Comic page: https://metellastella.tumblr.com/post/621837213819437056/mao-maos-specific-trigger-should-not-be First chapter of Piercing the Swordsman https://metellastella.tumblr.com/post/617045879413719040/piercing-the-swordsman-chapter-1

@beesechurguer @king-himbo

#maomaosprideweek2020 #mao mao heroes of pure heart #mao mao snugglemagne #snugglemao #badgerclops #mao mao sisters #fanfiction #LGBT Pride Month #piercingtheswordsman

29 notes · View notes

crazy4dragons · 5 years ago

Text

Okay, so I was just thinking about all the things that happened/were taught in my churches growing up that eventually made me leave:

- Gossip (a lot of it; people were nice to your face, but talked about you behind your back).

- What you wore mattered: At my first church, if you were a girl and didn’t come in a dress and nice shoes, the old people (who made up 75% of the church) would talk about it for weeks. At my second church, I got in trouble for coming to a youth event in spaghetti straps in 95 degree weather, when I was running late and didn’t have time to change before going. Leggings were also banned.

- White Jesus. Everywhere. I grew up thinking Jesus was white. It was only in the past few years I realized there’s a 99.9% chance he was Middle Eastern. I also grew up thinking he spent most of his time in Europe because all the pictures of Jesus and his disciples looked very ancient Greek/Roman.

- Women weren’t allowed to take a turn leading Sunday school for adults, but they were expected to take a turn leading kids’ Sunday school and volunteering for the nursery.

- Every single baptism testimony speech at my first church seemed to include, “I learned how to identify the mistakes of others.”

- The congregation “decided” whether or not you were really Christian or should be a church member. Somehow this involved being a registered Republican, going to church every Sunday, (women) dressing “modestly,” and only associating with other Christians (or only being friends with non-Christians to convert them). Also, you could only date/marry other people who fit the definition, and promising to allow yourselves to be “blessed” with children was a must in wedding vows.

- Along with that, I remember being 14 and having a pastor talk to all the teens about all birth control being a form of abortion that only existed for women to hide their “sin” of premarital sex. I went around terrified thinking I was just counting down the years of freedom before getting married and being forced to pop out babies every year.

- Oh, and of course sex was for guys. We were told not to tempt them with wearing “inappropriate” clothing. Nobody ever told us that it was normal for girls to have sexual feelings, so when I had my first boyfriend and started thinking about sex we were cuddling in his bed (which was another thing churches taught me not to do — never sleep over with a significant other or be alone together in private before marriage), I thought there was something seriously wrong with me. It was only after I talked to non-religious friends that I realized I was normal.

- You had to live close to your family (by family, I mean parents), or else you were considered “rebellious.” You can imagine that I wasn’t received well when I moved across the country for college.

- Speaking of college, you could only go to a Christian college (didn’t do that, either).

- Professions for women: nurse, Pre-K-3rd grade teacher at a Christian school, mom, church secretary, missionary (I’m a 6th - 8th grade teacher at an urban school with zero white kids).

- Trump supporter (honestly, this is what pushed me to the limit and made me ultimately decide not to go to church anymore).

- Also, for some reason churches were full of American nationalism. Like this country isn’t all that great? First of all, we colonized the original states, then we colonized Alaska and Hawaii, where there were more indigenous people. But it’s okay, because we just wanted to “convert” them.

- If someone was gay, there was something wrong with them and they needed to be put in therapy. This was another lesson I was taught in high school. Thankfully, I ended up a very diverse college with a lot of people who weren’t straight, and had a lot of gay and lesbian friends. Everyone was also so courteous and would ask, “Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?” instead of just assuming people were with someone of the opposite gender. I’m straight, but it was still refreshing to hear people being so open.

- List of clothes women couldn’t wear: tank tops, spaghetti straps, short shorts, crop tops, anything that shows your stomach, bikinis.

- If you were a woman, the only real option for you was to be part of the mother’s group at church. If you didn’t have babies, there wasn’t a place for you at church and the women without babies seemed to quickly marry just to fit in.

I don’t want to say that I’m anti-religion. I do still believe in Biblical accounts of creation, the Flood, etc. and I pray and believe that God is real. But in my experience with churches, they were so political and legalistic. Like I don’t really remember learning anything other than don’t have sex and don’t wear shorts. And after the 2016 election disaster, I was just done. I’m not saying this is true of all churches, and I really hope other people have had better experiences, but here’s what went on in my church life growing up, so I thought I’d make a list of the insanity (and misinformation about women and sexuality) that went on.

9 notes · View notes

atlafan · 5 years ago

Text

Take it Slow - Part Seven

a/n: okay this is my first shot at a harry:y/n fic, and it will be multiple parts. y/n had a bad experience with an ex over a year ago, and finally accepts her coworker and good friend Niall’s invitation to go on a blind date with his friend Harry.

(Dialogue heavy part. Also, I plan to make a masterpost with a link in my description so all the parts are easy to find in one place, and I can keep adding to it.)

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six

Harry spent most of the day with you Sunday, and went back to his place a little before dinner time. You woke up early Monday so you could get your workout in at home, and showered. Feeling fresh, you were thankful you had plenty of slacks to wear for the week. You hated wearing skirts or dresses on your period. You couldn’t wait to see Niall to ask him about Sarah.

You stop at the coffee shop and grab yours and Niall’s coffees. You get up to your office, and go right to his. He’s just settling in, and smiles at you.

“Hey there, lady killer.” You said handing him his coffee.

“Shh.” He looks around and closes his door. “Did she tell you anything?”

“She said she had a great time with you. Have you texted or called?”

“We’ve texted. I could kill you for not setting me up sooner.”

“I could say the same thing to you about Harry.”

“Fine, we’re even.”

“Besides, she was in between guys, I didn’t even know she was available. She raved about you, so I hope you guys see where it goes.”

“I’m hoping to see her Tuesday after work for a movie.”

“Oh, nice.” You smile at your friend. “You know if it goes well, the four of us could go on double dates, how much fun would that be?”

“Not so much.” Your face falls.

“Why not? I feel like we never hang out anymore.”

“Well, you’ve been busy, which is perfectly fine. And, I don’t really like double dates with Harry. I feel like I have to compete with him or something.” He shrugs, sipping his coffee.

“Compete with what?”

“I don’t know, everyone finds him so charming.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter now. Sarah may decide the only thing she likes about you is your tongue.” You tease. Niall nearly chokes on his hot drink.

“She, she told you?”

“Only a couple of details.” You lie, you didn’t want to embarrass him. “It was all good things though, she was very impressed.”

“I honestly have to thank Harry for help in that department.”

“So I’ve learned.” You say blushing.

“Hold on a second.” He sits down next to you in the chairs across from desk. “Did you two get a little frisky this weekend?”

“Maybe a little.” You play with the top of your coffee lid.

“How do you feel?”

“Safe.” You lock eyes with him. “I only let him do…that. I didn’t let him use his hands or anything.”

“What made you want to do it?”

“Honestly, I was curious.” You shrug. “And I was just feeling really close to him. He, um, asked me to be his girlfriend.” Niall jumps up with a huge smile on his face.

“That just made my whole morning!”

“You don’t think it’s too soon to be official?”

“Not at all, in fact, Harry hasn’t had an actual girlfriend in like two years. He really does like you, (y/n).” You can’t help but giggle at his praise. “You haven’t changed your relationship status.” He says checking Facebook.

“I honestly hadn’t thought of it since he doesn’t have a Facebook.” You say getting up. “I’ll ask him if he minds if I change it.”

“Why would he mind?”

“I don’t know, then it’ll like really be official. Everyone will know I’m seeing someone. I don’t know if I’m ready for my parents and siblings to be up my ass.”

“Fair point. Okay, I’ll tell you what, things go well with Sarah, and all four of us can hang out some time.”

“I would love that.”

You go to your office, and get some work done. Lunch rolls around quick. Before you can go meet Niall you see a name on your phone. It’s Kate.

“Hello?”

“Hey, (y/n).”

“Um, what’s up?”

“Nothing, just saw the pictures Rachel posted of the three of you. Thanks for the invite.”

“You wouldn’t have come anyways.”

“So, it’s still nice to be included.”

“Well, I wasn’t the one who made the plans, so take it up with them.”

“You’re my best friend, you should’ve texted me.”

“Kate, I’m at work.”

“You’re on your lunch break.” There’s an awkward pause. “Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone new?”

“Because it’s still really new.”

“Still, I hate hearing things from other people about you.”

“Who told you?”

“Rachel. She said some guy showed up to the club, and his friend took Sarah home or something. Apparently he’s super-hot.”

“You’ve met Niall before. Remember? He came with me to your wedding?”

“No, I mean the guy you brought.”

“His name is Harry.”

“Harry what?”

“Don’t bother looking him up, he doesn’t have a Facebook, and his Instagram doesn’t have any pictures of him.”

“Great, so you’re seeing a serial killer.”

“You could be happy for me. He’s really into me.”

“I just think you need to be more cautious.”

“I am. We haven’t done anything…serious.”

“Define serious.”

“I don’t owe you any explanations.” Usually, you and your friends were very open about sex, but lately it was hard to talk to Kate about these things.

“(y/n), you were practically ra-“ You cut her off before she could finish the word.

“Stop it! Harry is nothing like Jake!” Niall walks into your office horrified. You wave him in, and put your finger up to signal you’re almost done. “Kate, I’m not doing this with you right now.”

“Fine. Look, Kevin and I are spending the weekend in the city, and we were wondering if you’d wanna hang out. Maybe the four of us can do a double date.”

“You know, it would be nice if just us girls could get together. You never come here alone.”

“You know how Kev is.”

“Possessive, controlling.”

“Enough. Do you want to see each other or not?”

“Of course I do. I’ll see what Harry’s up to. When did you want to get together?”

“Friday night? Dinner at our spot?”

“Alright, I’ll text you later, I need to go eat.” You hang up in a huff and nearly throw your phone across the room, but you stop yourself. You look at Niall.

“Was that Kate?”

“Yeah! God, she is so fucking infuriating. She has no problem making me feel bad about my past, but the second I call her out on something.” You try to steady tour breathing. “And now I have to see her this weekend.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I miss her, Niall. She used to be so much fun.”

“Well, if you bring Harry, just be prepared, he’s not going to let someone speak to you like that.”

“Great, dinner and a show.”

You show up to Harry’s after the gym. You drive there sort of on autopilot. You let him know you’re outside, and he buzzes you in. You have an open sweatshirt on over a sports bra. Your hair is up in a messy bun, and you’re wearing cropped leggings. You only went to lift weights since you got your cardio in this morning.

“This is a nice surprise.” He says kissing you on the cheek. He makes you stand in front of him to get a good look at you. “Sexy outfit.” Your cheeks flush. “Want something to eat? I was just making dinner.”

“I don’t want to impose, love.”

“S’not an imposition.” He smiles. “ I always make extra.” You walk over to the stove to see what he’s making. “Nothing special, just roasted chickpeas to top my salad.”

“It smells delicious. I’ll have a little.”

“Good, go sit.” He makes a plate for you, and sits down at the table with you. “So, what do I owe this honor on a school night?” You giggle.

“Well, I got a call from my friend Kate today.”

“The one you miss who’s married?”

“Correct.” He nods. “Her and Kevin, her husband, are coming into town this weekend, and she wanted to know if we’d have dinner with them.”

“We huh?”

“Mhm.”

“I didn’t even have a chance to tell her about you. Rachel told her I was seeing someone.”

“What night?”

“Friday.” He takes out his phone and checks his calendar. “Um, yeah that works. I have to work late that night, so if they’re okay with an eight o’clock dinner…”

“That would work well I think. I’m sure they’ll hit traffic. The place we’re going is kind of swanky, so you may want to bring a change of dress clothes with you to work.”

“Alright.”

“Is this okay with you? If you don’t feel comfortable-“ He puts a hand over yours.

“I would love nothing more than to meet more of your friends. Plus, she seems important to you.” He shrugs.

“I have another question?”

“Shoot.”

“So, we’re together.”

“Correct.”

“And typically, when two people make things official, it’s customary for them to change their status online, to let others know they are no longer available.”

“Are you asking me if it’s okay to change your Facebook status?” You smile nervously and he starts laughing. “Go ahead, baby. I mean, s’not like you can tag me in it, so it’ll just say you’re in a relationship.”

“I know, it seems silly. But now that Kate knows, and Sarah and Rachel…I mean, god I haven’t even told my mom.” He furrows his eyebrows at you.

“So wait to change then.” He takes his phone out. He goes into Instagram, and you get a ping on your phone. “style2294 has requested to follow you?” You smile at him.

“That’s my private Instagram. Told ya it wasn’t really under my name.”

“Very cryptic that you left it as style and not styles. Is that your birthday?” You ask, accepting the request, and follow him back. He accepts.

“Yup.”

“That’s around my half birthday.”

“Wait, don’t tell me.” He thinks for a moment. “August?”

“Bingo.”

“What’s the date?”

“The fourth, ’95.”

“So you like just turned twenty-four only a couple months ago. You young thing.” He teases.

“Oh stop, you’re literally a year and half older than me.” You go to scroll through his pictures, but he stops you.

“Wait to do that until we’re not together, please, some of those pictures are old, and embarrassing.”

“Alright.” You stop to think about your own photos. “I have some embarrassing ones too.”

“I’ll bet.”

“So, Friday, you’re sure?”

“Positive.” He takes both of your empty plates and places them in the sink. “Now then, come here so I can kiss ya.”

You go over to him, and he holds you in his arms, and kisses your cheecks, nose, forehead, and jawline. His hands move down to your bum, and you jump back with a squeak.

“Still got my period.” He gives you a funny look.

“So that means I can’t squeeze that glorious-“ You put your hand over his mouth.

“Please, I’m begging, don’t finish that sentence.” You say looking up at him with big eyes. He smirks at you. “What?”

“Lil horny are we?”

“Harry!”

“You are, aren’t you?”

“It’s not funny!”

“I’m not laughing!”

“Your smile says it all.” You cross your arms over your tender breasts. “It’s the hormones.”

“Sure it is. How were your cramps today?”

“Much better. What you saw yesterday was an anomaly.” You look down at your watch. “I should probably head home now.”

“I’m going to be really busy this week. With the weather still nice, and the leaves just turning, I’ve racked up some freelance stuff. I don’t want you to think I’m ignorin’ ya or anything.” You give me a hug and rest your head on his chest.

“Thank you for letting me know.” You kiss him on the cheek. As you’re about to break the hug he pulls you in, and kisses you on the mouth.

“Didn’t think I’d let ya leave with just a peck on the cheek?”

“What was I thinking?” You kiss him again. “Thanks for dinner.” You say on your way out.

Your period ends Thursday, thank god. Kate texts you saying that eight is perfectly fine for dinner Friday. You and Niall find yourself chatting before you leave for work Friday.

“You never told me how the movie with Sarah went.”

“We never made it to the movie.” He winks at you.

“You dirty dog.” You tease.

“So, tonight is your big double date?”

“Yup, I gotta go home and change.”

“Where are you guys going again? That Italian place?”

“Yeah, it’s really nice. Kate and I used to save up our money once a month to go there when we were in college.”

“Well, I hope it all goes smoothly. I know Harry will be there, but if you need anything, I’m there for you.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that. I’m seeing Sarah and Rachel with Kate and Kevin tomorrow.”

“Yeah, Sarah told me. I’m seeing her tonight.”

“Dirty, dirty dog.”

You go home, and freshen up. You pull out a red dress. It has a high neckline, but hugs tight around your thighs, accentuating your bum. You know Harry will love it, and Kate won’t be able to say anything because your chest is covered. The back is open, so you opt to not wear a bra. Instead you just tape yourself up. The material is thick enough that you can’t see your piercings through it. You curl your hair and brush it out to create your waves. You put on some red strappy heels, and uber to the restaurant. You want to be able to leave with Harry in his car later.

Kate and Kevin are standing in the lobby of the restaurant, it’s ten of eight. You two smile at each other and take each other in for a big hug. You give Kevin a much smaller embrace.

“You look amazing!” Kate beams at you. “That gym membership is doing wonders for you.”

“The best part is my company pays for it. I think laying off the meat has helped too. I mostly am forced to eat fruit and veggies.” You hear Kevin scoff.

“I still can’t believe you’re a vegetarian. It’s like you crossed over to the darkside.” You flip him off, and he rolls his eyes.

“Harry’s a vegan, and I don’t want you making fun of him.”

“What the hell is he supposed to eat here then?”

“He’ll get some gluten free pasta and a salad or something.” You shrug.

“Where is he anyways?” Kate asks.

“It’s only eight now. He said he might run late, he had a really busy work week.”

“What does he do?” Kevin asks.

“He’s a photographer, a highly sought after one at that.” The two look at each other. “He works for a magazine, and does some freelancing on the side.” You take your phone out to show them his professional Instagram.

“Wow, these are actually really good.” Kate says.

“Don’t sound so surprised. Niall wouldn’t have set me up with some idiot.”

“Oh, you two met on a blind date?” Kevin asks. “Kate didn’t tell me the story.”

“That’s because she didn’t tell me the story.”

“Well, you can both hear it soon, when he gets here.”

“I hope it is soon, I don’t want them to give our table up.” Kate says harshly.

You feel a gust of wind, and turn around. Suddenly everything feels like slow motion. Harry walks in with damp hair, accentuating his natural curls. He’s wearing a light blue suit and a white dress shirt. He has brown dress shoes on. He looks heavenly.

“That’s him.” You say to Kate before walking over to greet him. He takes you in his arms, and kisses the top of your head.

“So sorry I’m wait, love, I had to have a shower. I was rolling in dirt all day.” He looks over at Kate and Kevin whose mouths are hanging open. “Hi, I’m Harry.” He sticks his hand out and they each take a turn shaking it. They both furrow their brows at his nails. He must have gotten them done this week because they were now a pastel pink and blue. His forefinger and middle finger were both pink on one hand and the rest blue. The opposite hand had the same, but opposite. He notices them notice. “Right, shall we?”

You all go to the hostess, and she seats you. Harry pulls your chair out for you, and helps you in. He takes his suit jacket off, and puts it over the chair. Kevin and Kate just sit down. You put your hand on Harry’s leg and give him a gentle squeeze.

“It’s great to meet you, Harry.” Kate finally says.

“Likewise.” A waiter comes over before anything else can be said.

“Hi folks, I’m Matt, and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I start you all off with a drink?”

“Vodka tonic for me please.” You say.

“Lime?”

“Yes, please.”

“I’ll have a glass of pinot noir.” Kate says. You frown for a second. She’s drinking, which means she’s still not pregnant.

“I’ll have a corona.” Kevin says.

“I’ll, um, have a gin and tonic.” Harry says.

“Perfect, be back with those in a few.”

Harry squints at the menu trying to see what he can actually eat. Another server brings over some bread and butter, and fills the water glasses. Harry leans into you.

“You look lovely, by the way.” You giggle.

“Thank you.”

“What are you going to eat?”

“Not sure yet. Maybe some ravioli?”

“So, Harry, (y/n), tells us you’re a vegan?” Kevin asks.

“Um, yeah.”

“If we had known we could have gone somewhere else.” Kate says, trying to make you look bad.

“It’s really no problem. There’s actually a lot I can have. They have zucchini noodles it seems. I’ll probably have that.”

“Don’t you feel hungry all the time without the protein?” Kevin asks.

“Not really, I eat a lot of nuts and beans.”

The waiter comes over with the drinks. He notices Harry’s nails.

“Oh, sir, I don’t mean to sound weird, but I love your nails.”

“Oh, thanks mate.” Harry smiles up at the young boy.

“So, um, did we have a chance to look over the menu?” Everyone nods. “Great, miss?” He nods to you.

“Can I please have the cheese ravioli, and can I have a side of whatever today’s vegetable is?”

“Of course. Sir?”

“I’ll have these zoodles with the roasted vegetables on top. No sauce, please.”

Kevin orders steak tips of course, which nearly makes you gag. Kate orders the raviolis as well. The two of them dig into the bread, and you also have a piece.

“Since the waiter brought it up, can I ask why you paint your nails?” Kevin asks. You want to kick him under the table, but glare at him instead.

“Just something I do for fun.” Harry shrugs. “I’m sure as an oral surgeon, you’re probably not allowed to have yours painted.”

“Even if I could, I wouldn’t. It’s a little girly.”

“Kevin.” You say, warning.

“S’alright.” Harry says. “I know it looks a little weird. But, I don’t necessarily think it’s girly. I like having clean nails. Why should women be the only people allowed to have a manicure?” He sips his drink.

“You can get a manicure without getting your nails painted.” Kate interjects.

“What’s the fun in that?” Kate looks down at his hands.

“The rings are nice.” She says.

“Thanks.”

“Is that an anchor on your wrist?” Kevin asks.

“Yup.” Harry rolls his sleeve a bit so they can better see it. “Can’t remember when exactly I got it, but it was a while ago.” Kate sees the cross on his hand.

“(y/n) is Jewish, you know?” Harry raises an eyebrow at her, then looks at you. “We all are, that’s how we became friends at school.”

“I didn’t know that.” He says looking at you, and smiles. “Guess the mezuzah in your front hall makes more sense now.”

“You didn’t tell him?”

“It didn’t come up, Kate.”

“Alright, so, how exactly did you two meet?” Kevin interjects.

“We have a mutual friend that set us up.” Harry rests a hand on your thigh.

“Niall, right?” Kate asks. “He came to our wedding with (y/n).”

“Yup, Niall. He and I were mates in school, and he works with (y/n), obviously.”

“What did you do for a first date?” Kevin asks.

“We went to dinner at that tapas place.” You say, smiling at the memory. “And then after that we just kept seeing each other.” You lean close to him.

The food runner brings all of your plates over. You stare at the steak tips. They smell heavenly, but as soon as you see the juices drip down Kevin’s knife, you find yourself standing up.

“You alright?” Harry asks, slightly standing.

“Yeah, just, um, excuse me, I need to use the ladies room.”

“I’ll go with you.” Kate says standing up.

You two rush to the bathroom, and you splash a little cold water on your face.

“What’s wrong?” She rubs your now clammy back.

“Nothing, I thought I was going to puke. He had to order steak tips?”

“I thought you weren’t an ethical vegetarian.”

“I’m not, Kate, but jesus, I can’t help being absolutely disgusted.”

“Is this because Jake ate steak on your first date? Is it triggering?”

“No! You mentioning his fucking name is triggering.” You turn to face her. “You both could also stop grilling Harry so much. He’s really sweet and you both are judging him. Nail polish on men is becoming more and more popular, it’s really not that fucking weird.” She sighs.

“You’re right, we’ve been rude. I’ll settle down a little. Just please come back and try not to look at his food.”

While you both are in the bathroom, Harry and Kevin wait to eat.

“I hope she’s alright.” Harry keeps his eyes locked on the direction you ran in.

“She’s fine. So, how long have you two been seeing each other?”

“It’s been a month this weekend, actually.”

“I think that’s the longest she’s ever seen someone.” He laughs. “She was pretty wild in college.”

“Who wasn’t?” Harry shrugs off the statement, taking a sip of his drink. He sighs in relief when he sees you walking back to the table, and stands up. Kevin stays seated. “Alright?” He says sitting back down as you do.

“Yeah, just needed to powder my nose.” You keep your eyes locked on your food. Everyone digs in to their own.

“(y/n), I was thinking we could all go back to your place tonight after dinner.” Kate says. “That way we can keep getting to know each other.” She says with a smile.

“Um, sure, we could do that.” You look up at Harry who is giving Kate a funny look. “Does that work for you?”

“Sure does.” He smiles at you.

The waiter comes over and asks if anyone wants dessert, you all say no, and he leaves the check. Harry and Kevin reach for it at the same time.

“Your money’s no good here.” Kevin says. “We asked you both here.” You guess all men have this rule.

“I insist, at least let me split it with you.”

“Sure, we can split it.” They each put their credit cards in, and the wait come by and grabs it. He brings it back in no time, they both sign the slips. Harry leaves some extra cash on the table.

“Where’d you park, love?” He asks putting his jacket on.

“Oh, I didn’t drive here, I took an uber. I figured I’d just leave with you.” You shrug. He smiles and kisses you on the cheek. “Right, so we’ll just meet you guys at her place?”

“Sounds good, see you soon.” Kate says.

You and Harry don’t say much on the car ride to your place. Once you’re inside, you quickly tidy up. He sighs.

“What?” You ask, as you run around.

“Kinda rude to invite herself here, don’t you think?”

“That’s Kate.” You pull up a playlist on your Spotify, and connect it to your Bluetooth. “It’s a late 2000s playlist, should help lighten the mood.” You say, taking your heels off. “They won’t stay long anyways.”

“Kevin is, interesting.”

“He used to be more fun too.”

“He mentioned you used to be wild.” Harry puts his hands on your waist. His touch burns into you. “This is a really nice dress.”

“Thank you, and he’s just talking smack. I did used to party probably a little too much. But who doesn’t when they’re in college?”

“That’s what I said.” The buzzer goes off, and you buzz them in.

“Harry, could you open that bottle of wine for me please?” You ask pointing to the one in the kitchen, as you go to open the door.

“I love what you’ve done with the place.” Kate beams at you. “You really should be an interior decorator.”

“Oh stop, you know my Nannie picked everything out.”

“Nannie?” Harry asks.

“My grandmother, I call her Nannie.” You say giving him a peck on the cheek. “You guys want some wine?” You take out four glasses.

“Yes, please.” Kate says. You pour the wine into the glasses.

Kate and Kevin sit on the couch. Harry sits in the large chair adjacent to the couch, and you sit on the arm rest of the chair. He takes his arm, and moves you to sit on his lap. You giggle, and make yourself comfortable.

“So, how did you all meet?” Harry asks.

“Oh god, well (y/n) and I met at an activities fair. We both were looking for a film club.” Kate says. “I think you and Rachel were roommates freshman year right?”

“Yup. Then we met Sarah at that Jewish students meeting, that school had a club for everything. You and I roomed together sophomore year.”

“Awe that was such a good year. Then the four of us lived together our last two years. We met Kev our junior year.”

“And when did you two start dating?”

“Mid-way through our senior year.” She squeezes his hand. Kevin smiles at Kate.

“Yup, and then I stole her away.”

“That’s an understatement.” You say, sipping your wine.

“Excuse me?” Kevin says.

“Nothing, we just barely saw Kate after. You two stopped hanging out with us.” You shrug.

“We were busy.” Kevin says with a smirk.

“Kev, please, don’t flatter yourself.” Kate says, teasing. “You know we had a lot of classes together second semester, we were studying together a lot.”

“You practically moved out of our apartment.” Harry taps his hand on your thigh to the beat of the song playing, and you lean back further into him.

“I’m surprised you didn’t notice, with how little you slept there.” You shoot daggers at her. “And at least I was staying with the same person every night, not just throwing it around for anyone who would take it.” She takes a large sip of her wine.

“That’s because you got all of that out of your system your freshman year, remember?”

“I do remember, I remember you saying how jealous you were of me.”

“Little did I know there wasn’t much to be jealous of. You’re still bitter that Eric stopped seeing you because he wanted to see me.” You take an even bigger sip of your wine.

“Really? You’re bringing up Eric?”

“You started it.”

“Well, at least I never got an STD!” You stand up and so does Kate. The guys just look at the two of you.

“Kate! For the last time, I did not get scabies from sleeping with someone!”

“Oh no? Then you how else do you get scabies?”

“I don’t know, but I didn’t sleep with any dirty guys.”

“Are you sure? Sophomore year you fucked anything with a dick! And you wanna know why we stopped hanging out with the three of you that last year? I told Kev how you felt about him, and he didn’t want to be around you anymore.”

“How I felt about him?” You point at Kevin. “I didn’t have feelings for Kevin, fuck Kevin.”

“Yes you did, you told Sarah that you wanted to fuck him, and you knew I liked him!”

“Well good fucking thing you married him, Kate! And I never told Sarah that, I never wanted to fuck your fucking boyfriend.”

“Then why would she have told me you did?”

“She was probably talking about Kevin from the track team. Did she tell you when she was drunk? She probably got confused. And just like always, instead of you just talking to me about an issue, you let it blow up for no fucking reason.”

“What do you mean like always?”

“You always make mountains out of mole hills, and you always think you know better than everyone else. Guess what, just because you’re married doesn’t make you any better than me.”

“There it is, you’re jealous that I’m living the life that you want.”

“What is there to be jealous of? You never have any fun, Kevin never fucking lets you go out!”

“Stop it.”

“You’re afraid of him, right? You’re afraid he’ll leave you? Personally, I think you could’ve done a lot better than him, but you needed the security right? You’re lonely, and you get mad at us for actually having lives. I didn’t tell you to run off with him, and buy a big fucking house. No one had a gun to your head, you made your choices.”

“Would you shut up!? You’re making me sound like I’m this idiot that can’t make a life for myself. Kevin and I love each other, and you’re just jealous of that because you can’t stand to see a married couple happy.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Ever since your parents separated you haven’t been able to stand the thought of marriage! I think you’re mad at yourself, you’re a slut, just like your mom!” You’re about to raise your hand to Kate, but Harry grabs your wrist.

“Alright”, he turns the music off. “I think that’s about enough of that.”

“Who are you?” She says to him.

“Kate, he’s right, you went too far.” Kevin says standing up.

“I won’t sit here and listen to you talk to my girlfriend like that.”

“Girlfriend? You two just started seeing each other!” She looks at you. “You said you were going to take it slow this time.”

“I did, we are!”

“Then how is he already your boyfriend, Jesus Christ, you are so fucking stupid! You trust people way too easily.” She shakes her head at you. Your blood is boiling, and you go to lunge at her, but Harry wraps his arms around you and holds you back. “Go ahead, let her hit me, it’s what she wants.”

“I think it’s time for you both to leave.” Harry says, still holding onto your shaking body. You steady your breathing, and tap his hands.

“You know something Kate, I know what you’re really mad about.” You smirk.

“What’s that?”

“You’re not actually angry with me, you’re angry at the fact that you married a guy that hasn’t been able to make you orgasm since you met.”

“Woah, what?” Kevin interjects. Kate’s mouth falls open.

“Speechless? That’s a first.”

You don’t register what’s happening until you feel Kate’s hand connect with your cheek. Harry steps in front of you.

“You need to get the fuck out now.” He says to her with dark eyes. You’re holding you’re stinging cheek.

“Have fun with your fru fru boyfriend, and his photos and his painted nails. Let’s see how long this one lasts.”

You don’t say anything, Harry follows them out. He comes back to you, tears streaming down your cheeks. You can barely breathe, your mascara starts to sting your eyes, and you can feel your cheek swelling. Harry crosses the room, he goes to touch you, but you flinch away from him.

“I’m so sorry all that happened. I should have interjected sooner, but it just seemed like you two needed to get something out.”

“It’s not your fault.” You say with a crack in your voice. “She’s just a bitch, and I should have stopped talking to her a long fucking time ago.” You press your fingers slowly to your cheek. “Fuck.”

“Let me get you some ice, go sit on the couch.” You do as he says. He pulls some ice out of your freezer and puts it in a baggy, then wraps it in a towel. He sits next you, and lightly dabs your face.

“Thanks.” You sniffle.

“She’s not worth your tears, love.” He takes his thumb and wipes just under your good eye. You lean into his touch.

“Baby?”

“Mm?”

“Will you please take me to bed?” He smiles and nods.

He scoops you up in his arms, and carries you to your room. He gently sets you down on the bed. He goes over to your bureau, and pulls out a t-shirt and shorts for you.

“I’m just gonna go down to my car. I, uh, packed an overnight bag just in case.” You nod.

You go into the bathroom, and wash your face, your cheek is still sore, but it shouldn’t leave a mark. You didn’t want anyone thinking Harry hit you. You change, and grab your phone. You sit down at your desk, and you call Rachel, knowing Sarah is with Niall.

“Hey girl.” She says to you.

“Kate fucking slapped me.”

“What?!”

“That bitch fucking slapped me!” Harry walks into your room, and starts to change in front of you. You can’t help but watch while you talk to your friend.

“Why? What happened?”

“She started a fight with me…I know I added fuel the fire, but she called myself and my mom a whore, so I blurted out that Kevin can’t fuck her right, and she slapped me.”

“Jesus, and she did this in front of Harry?”

“Of course she did!”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, it just stings a little, she slapped me with one of her rings on.”

“Well, you know how she likes it rough.” You and Rachel burst out laughing.

“Oh yeah, she a freak.” You stifle your laughter, as Harry gives you a very confused look. He looks heavenly in his grey sweat pants.

“So, I’m assuming we’re not all hanging out tomorrow?”

“I’m not seeing her again.”

“Alright, maybe Sarah and I could come by to see you then. You know Kate is going to twist this whole thing around. I’m glad you called to tell me first.”

“Me too. It’s sad how much she’s changed.”

“I think if she just left Kevin she would be so much happier. They’re not a good match.”

“We tried to tell her, Rach.”

“But mother knows best.” Rachel groans. “Is Harry still with you?”

“Mhm.”

“Alright, then go be with your man. I’ll text you tomorrow to see when we should come by. Probably in the afternoon. Sarah is with your friend again tonight.”

“Oh, I know. And sounds good, talk to you tomorrow.” You hang up the phone, and look at the man sitting at the edge of the bed.

“What was so funny?”

“Nothing, Rachel just reminded me of something that Kate likes.” You shrug. You stand up and walk over to him until you’re standing between his legs.

“Do you wanna just go to bed? I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

“Yeah, would you cuddle me?”

“Do you even need to ask?”

You both get cozy under the covers, and he spoons you nice and close to him. You wiggle your bum against him a couple of time, and he adjusts himself.

“If you keep moving against me like that, we’re going to have a problem.” He says into your ear. He starts laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, I just can’t believe she slapped you.” You start laughing with him.

“She’s an idiot.” He hugs you closer to him, and nestles in your hair. You both slowly drift off into sleep.

Early that morning, you hear your name being called by a familiar voice. Harry jolts awake and you look at each other.

“How many friends of yours have a key to this apartment?” He asks getting up.

“Too many.” You hide under the covers. “Make her go away.” He gets up, and leaves the room.

Kate looks much different from last night. She’s in sweats, her hair in a messy bun, and no makeup. She looks up at Harry. Her eyes are swollen and red, probably from crying. He crosses his arms when he looks back at her.

“I really don’t think she wants to see you.”

“I just need to talk with her privately. I need to apologize, I can’t lose her.”

“Seems like you lost her a long time ago.” She sighs and stands up. She starts to walk to toward your room, but he stands in her way.

“Move.”

“No.”

“You don’t get to decide who she speaks to.”

“You’re right, but she did ask me to make you leave. And you should probably leave that key on the counter on your way out.” Kate brushes past Harry, and she bursts into your room. She closes the door quickly behind him and she locks it.

“Harry!”

“She locked the door!” He yells. You get out of bed, and stand with your arms crossed.

“I have some explaining to do. I acted like a psycho last night.” You roll your eyes at her. “I suppose I was just taking all of my frustrations out on you.”

“Like you always do. I can’t be your punching bag.”

“I know that. I’m so sorry. Kevin and I stopped trying to get pregnant, and I haven’t wanted him to touch me. I may have lied about him not being okay with me coming to visit you guys.”

“What do you mean?” You both sit on the bed.

“Well, I made it all up. The truth was, it hurt to hang out. I was jealous of your lives. My parents pressured me into staying with him, and I stupidly listened. I love him, I do, but there’s no passion. Not like there was. We’re, um, going to separate for a while.” She chokes back a few tears. “I don’t expect you to feel bad for me, because honestly I deserve everything bad that has happened to me.”

“You don’t deserve to be unhappy, Kate.”

“Yes, I do. I’ve been having an affair for the last month. I told Kevin last night.”

“Oh my god, with who?”

“One of his colleagues.” She says looking down. “I was always attracted to him, and one night we met up and just fucked, all night. It was incredible. He, um, likes the same things that I do.” Her cheeks grow red.

“Where are you gonna go?”

“Kev’s gonna sublet an apartment closer to the hospital so I can stay in the house. At least until we figure everything out. We’re probably going to get divorced.”

“What did he say when you told him about the affair?”

“Well, he asked why I would do that. And he asked how he could better satisfy me, and I told him what I was into, and he said he just didn’t feel comfortable with it, and I told him I knew that. He knows it was just a sex thing. We’re both still so young, and we don’t want to waste anymore of each other’s time.”

“What will you do?”

“Well, I’m almost done with my master’s degree, and once I have that I’ll start making more money so I’ll be able to move out. He said once I’m a month into my raise we’ll put the house on the market.”

“You figured all of this out last night?”

“Yeah, we were up all night talking. God, my parents are going to be pissed.”

“It’s not their life, Kate.”

“I know. Listen, I am so sorry I said that stuff about your mom, I never should have gone there.”

“I’m not going to say it’s okay, because it’s not.”

“Do you think we’ll be able to move on from this?”

“You assaulted me.”

“I really shouldn’t drink anymore. I’m sorry.”

“I’m going to need some time. I know I said some hurtful things to you too.”

“I told Rachel and Sarah what happened in a group text.”

“I called Rachel last night.”

“I cancelled our plans today. Kev is waiting in the car downstairs, I just wanted the chance to explain.”

“I appreciate you being honest.” You reach out and hug her. “I need some time to cool down from all this.”

“Okay.” She breaks your hug and stands up. “When will we talk next?”

“When I feel ready, I’ll call.” She nods. “Kate, I still care a lot about you, and I want to be there for you. But…”

“I made this mess, it’s time I cleaned it up.” She opens the door. Harry is leaning against the hall closet. “Thanks warden.” She says to him. She looks back at you, and then to him. “Treat her right, she’s special.” Kate leaves the apartment, and leaves the key on the counter like Harry said. Harry sits on the bed next to you.

“Good talk?”

“Sort of. Her and Kevin are going to separate. She’s been having an affair with another doctor for over a month.”

“I heard a little, why exactly did she stray from Kevin?”

“Kate, how do I put this, she likes to be a little rough when she has sex.”

“She likes to be rough, or she likes when someone is rough with her?”

“The second one. We all know about it, and promised not to say anything. At first she said she was just into like being tied up, you know little fantasies, but she’s into some really dark shit. Not to kink shame.” You say in defense. “People like what they like.”

“Define dark shit.”

“God, don’t make me say it.” You say a little embarrassed.

“What is it, a daddy kink?”

“Yeah, but like it’s more than that. She likes when a guy is like really dominant, like scary dominant. Like one time she came back from hooking up with this guy, and she showed us her butt and it was beat red, like it left this giant bruise. I guess he spanked her like ten times in a row or something. And then she told us that he like choked her and would spit in her mouth.” It sends a shiver up your spine. “Gross.”

“And Kevin wasn’t willing to do any of that with her?”

“Not really. He was scared of hurting her, which I completely understand. Ugh, this whole conversation has turned my stomach. Could you imagine spitting your own come into someone’s mouth?”

“Wait what?” He bursts out laughing.

“Some guy came inside of her, went down on her, licked it up, and spit it into her mouth and made her swallow it.”

“And she liked that?”

“Loved it!” You start laughing. “I really shouldn’t laugh, it’s not her fault she’s into that sorta thing. She just discovered it.”

“At first I thought you were just grossed out at like regular spitting, but I can see how that would gross you out. Even I wouldn’t do that.”

“What are you saying exactly?”

“Regular spit isn’t gross, you’re already swapping spit as it is.” He shrugs. You put a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m only going to say this once. Please, do not ever spit into my mouth.” He chuckles.

“You got it.” Your phone starts to buzz, it’s Sarah.

“(y/n), are you okay????”

“Yeah, Sarah, I’m fine.”

“I felt so bad, Rachel told me everything and I didn’t get Kate’s texts until a little while ago. Do you want us to come over?”

“No, I think I’d like to just hang out with Harry today. I’ve had my fill of girl time, but I’ll check in with you guys tomorrow.”

“Alright, sweetie. Talk soon.” You hang up, and fling your back on the bed and groan.

“I just want to turn my brain off!” You look at him, he’s smiling at you. “What?”

“You wanna spend the day with Harry huh?”

“Sorry, do you have other things you need to do?” You say apologetically.

“Nope, I just thought it was sweet.” He climbs on top of you, and you wrap your legs around him. “Let me distract you for a little while.” He says into your neck, and he starts to kiss you slowly.

“I really should take a shower.” He sighs, and gets off of you. You get up, and look at him confused. “Well?”

“Well what?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you going to join me?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I wanna be close with you.”

“You realize I’ll be naked, and you haven’t seen me yet.”

“But I’ve felt you. And who says I would even look?” You say playfully. “C’mon, come shower with me.”

He doesn’t hesitate, and gets up, following you into the bathroom.

#harry styles #harry styles imagine #harry styles fic #harry styles x reader #harry styles y/n #harry styles y/n fic #harry styles fluff #harry styles fluff fic #take it slow #photographer!harry

463 notes · View notes