#they have been telling me to drink tea and go to bed. check some memes or something instead of writing ahfkfjfk

[thousand-winters]

Girls who may or not have gotten sick due to the stress of trying to get the Dadrius week prompts done in time: I could so do NaNoWriMo...

[millennialgirlinagenzworld]

Underneath The Tree

Natalie and Declan have been friends for a couple of years, now – ever since Natalie moved into the building and refused to let anyone help her with her luggage.

She loves living in the capital, being independent, and having an active social life. She hasn`t had a steady boyfriend in years but loves swiping right on all the wrong men…

Declan doesn`t ever talk about his love-life, but he has always had a soft-spot for her. He hasn`t ever brought it up with her for fear of losing their friendship…

But a white-lie to her parents means that Natalie has suggested that she has a boyfriend, and Declan knows exactly who could pretend to be that man… Could a weekend at her home village pretending to be together for a mini pre-Christmas really be that bad? Will it bring them closer together? Or will it ruin their friendship completely?

ONE

Natalie’s morning started how it always started - with a message from Dec. After silencing her alarm, she opened the message to find a link to an animal video that immediately made her laugh. A dog doing an obstacle course in its living room, sliding down the side of the couch only to bang into a glass door. She sent some laughing emojis before getting out of bed to start her day. 

After showering and dressing, she started to make herself something to eat. It was pitch black out so she had on a few lamps to help give the flat a warm glow. A knock at the door instantly put a smile on her face because she knew who it was.

“Good morning, trouble,” Dec beamed at her. He was stood dressed in his work clothes – black tracksuit with a red and black Arsenal hoodie on. He wasn`t a footballer, but he was the physio for the first team so he was allowed to wear the same uniform as the well-paid members of staff (footballers). He had his black backpack over his shoulders and a baseball cap on backwards.

He was a morning person. Up early because he had to get into work early, but also he just functioned better first thing in the morning. His energy seemed to stay at a constant high, too, which always baffled Natalie. 

She took the mug of coffee off him. “Ahh, my hero,” she beamed back at him. Dec would buy her preferred flavour of coffee for the days that he would pop by with a steaming mug of good morning liquid; other days when they went to the coffee shop he would know her order depending on the season and what shop they went to. 

Natalie took a sip of the frothy hazelnut latte, before telling him to wait there while she passed him something. She handed him a tupperware box of last night’s tea. 

“Three minutes on full?” he checked, chuckling. That was the instruction for anything she handed to him to warm up in the microwave. 

“Something like that, yeah,” she chuckled back. 

“You in tonight?” he asked, putting the tupperware box into his backpack. 

Natalie shook her head. “Working late, then going for a drink with some guy I’ve been chatting to.”

Dec rolled his eyes. “Of course you are.”

“I’m going to get you on those apps,” she threatened with a twinkle in her eye. 

“Nah,” Dec said, shaking his head. “Leave me off those.”

They said their goodbyes for the day, but that didn’t mean they stopped talking. Every day throughout the day they would send each other memes or video links or articles. Even when she was on a date that night, she found herself scrolling on one app or another while the fella was in the loo or at the bar, sending Dec something that reminded her of him. 

Constant contact. 

That was how most of their days looked. It was nice having a friend live right across the hallway, especially in a big city full of anonymous people. Often, when Natalie sent Dec messages late at night, she knew to expect a reply in the morning rather than straight away. Dec was a morning person so went to bed earlier than her. She would wake up to his replies while she made them coffee and plodded over in her pyjamas and slippers.

“Good night?” he’d ask, leaning against the door frame, wiggling his eyebrows.

Natalie would shrug. “Was alright.”

“Gotta get you off those apps,” he would wink at her, mirroring her remark to him back at her.

Natalie would roll her eyes. “How else are people supposed to meet these days?”

Dec would shrug. “Maybe speak to people at work, in coffee shops, in their building…?” he suggested cheekily. 

Natalie would roll her eyes, hand him the coffee cup, and stroll back over to her flat. After she ate some breakfast and started to get herself ready, Dec would knock and hand her a tupperware of his tea from the previous night. 

TWO

But once a week, they would try and go out for tea together. While it was nice to have sporadic interactions throughout the week, it was even nicer to spend actual time together out and about. They would take it in turns trying to find a new place to try (they were living in the capital city, after all - there were always new places to try) but they would always end up in their local pub on the way home. 

“Oh my God,” Natalie groaned into her cocktail. “I have needed this.”

Dec smiled over the rim of his drink. “Week that bad?”

“Long,” she nodded. “With a side of I accidentally told my parents I had a boyfriend and now me and said pretend boyfriend are invited home for the weekend…” She downed the rest of her cocktail. “How’s your week been?”

“Not as chaotic as yours!” Dec laughed, enjoying yet another encounter of Natalie’s many crazy weeks. “Why did you lie to your Mum and Dad?”

“Because they always sound so disappointed and sad when I tell them that, yet again, I am still single. I just didn’t want to make them sad again,” she shrugged. “Can you point me in the direction of a single, rich, sexy footballer I can borrow for the weekend?“ she asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes at him.

“I can,” Dec nodded. “But I won’t…”

Natalie pouted.

“They work of a weekend, anyway,” he reminded her.

“Honestly, I’ll take the injured one at this point.”

Dec laughed. “You know you’re too good for a footballer,” he said. He told her this every so often whenever he talked about work. As much as he loved football and loved his job as a physiotherapist for the first team, Dec didn’t always love the people. 

“Well, my parents are expecting me to turn up with a male human being…” She blinked in thought. “I could pay someone for the weekend -“

“- You’re not doing that, either!” he told her. 

Natalie pouted again. “Fine.”

As Dec stuffed his face with some tasty food, he suggested going along with her for the weekend. 

“I know you, at least,” he shrugged. 

“You would do that?”

Dec nodded. “It doesn’t seem like the most difficult job in the world…”

Grinning, Natalie grabbed his shoulders and brought him in for a hug. “Dec, thank you so much! You don’t know how much this will mean to my parents.”

“Your Mum and Dad aren’t going to be bothered if you’re single forever - they just want you to be happy,” he reminded her.

“I think they’d rather I was with someone,” she told him. “And now, for the weekend, I can pretend to be with you!”

Dec rolled his eyes. 

“Is there anything I can do for you?” Natalie asked. “Can I be your fake girlfriend for your parents?” she joked.

“I don’t lie to my Mum and Dad,” Dec told her. Natalie nudged him, tutting. “You can do something for me, though.”

“Anything,” Natalie promised.

“You can stop dating weirdos.”

THREE

A few nights later, Dec turned up at Natalie’s straight from work.

“I’ve thought of that favour you can do me,” Dec winked, leaning against the door frame.

Natalie, dressed in her leggings and loose hoodie looking dishevelled from organising her Christmas decorations, opened the door wider for him. “Oh yeah?”

He handed her an invitation. “Christmas do,” he said. “Christmas Eve Eve.”

Natalie laughed. They liked calling the 23rd Christmas Eve Eve. “At the Covent Hotel… Fancy,” she noticed. “Why am I doing you a favour going with you?”

“Erm…” Dec started, not really having an answer for her.

“Oh, I know…” Natalie winked. “You trying to make someone jealous? You fancy someone and want them to see how you’d treat them if you were with them? You want me to dress all fancy?” 

Dec chuckled. “Nah,” he said, shaking his head. He looked a little sheepish. “I don’t need any help with that.”

“Are you sure? Because I’ve never seen you interested in anyone -“

“- Are you decorating?” Dec interrupted. He walked in through the open door, placed his bag down, and went over to the open Christmas tree box. “Come on, I’ll help.”

Natalie smiled. “I’m ordering some food in,” she told him. 

“Great,” he smiled, taking out the largest part of the tree first. “I’ll have some noodles.” 

As Natalie closed the front door over, she watched Dec piece together the tree and fluff out the plastic green branches. It was really the only decoration she had for Christmas. She hadn’t even really thought of keeping a lot of decorations in her flat over the years; she assumed at some point she would meet someone and move out with them and start their own traditions in time. As of yet, that still hadn’t transpired. 

But having a friend like Dec made her feel less alone.

FOUR

Natalie’s car was small. Once all their bags were packed in and the presents were safely stored in the back, there was just about enough room for the six foot two bearded man in her passenger seat. 

“You need a bigger car.”

“Your legs are too long.”

Dec wiggled his eyebrows at Natalie, making her laugh. 

“I like this car,” she shrugged, turning the heating on, putting on a playlist, and most importantly, checking her reflection in the rear-view mirror.

“If you drive to me Mum’s we can swap cars over and use mine,” Dec suggested, clicking his seatbelt in. 

He had a huge car that he shared with his brothers. Dec didn’t fancy paying the extra fees to park his car underground - like Natalie did - when he could use that money for his tube fare to work. Natalie liked his thrifty nature. Unlike him, she threw away her money needlessly. Often to make her city life more bearable, which she had long ago accepted was a very expensive way to live. 

“Or,” Natalie smiled at him, “we can just settle for this one.”

Dec rolled his eyes and began scrolling through the playlist on Natalie’s phone. She has specifically selected a Christmas playlist for the journey back to the countryside but she could already see him making another one up. His attention span was smaller than her car. 

*

The further away from the city they drove, the whiter the countryside became. Snowy fields. Bare tree branches bulging with snow. White skies.

“You live far away!” Dec pointed out an hour into their journey. His leg was bouncing up and down. He puffed his cheeks out. He pushed his head back against the headrest. 

Natalie reached her hand over to rest on his thigh. She squeezed it gently to bring his attention to her. “Tell me about those sexy footballers you work with,” she teased.

Dec pulled a face. “They’re not sexy.”

Natalie laughed, bringing her hand up to his face and squeezing his cheeks together. “Jealous Deccy!” she teased in a silly voice.

“Your hands are freezing!” he gasped, taking her hand in his and rubbing her cold fingers together in between his warm hands. “Is your other one cold as well? Can you turn the heating up?”

“Don’t touch my radiators,” she insisted. “Turn the temperature up or down just a little bit then the whole car fogs up, and I can’t deal with fog on the motorway.”

Dec chuckled, shaking his head. “Fine,” he relented, still warming Natalie’s left hand up. “Want to change hands?”

“I don’t think crossing my arms over on the motorway is a good idea,” she reminded him gently. His face looked a little sad, as if he had been told off. “When we get to the village, I’ll cross my hand over.”

“Deal,” he said softly, the voice sounding low. 

*

As promised, once they were off the motorway, Natalie crossed her arms over so Dec could warm her right hand up. He couldn’t spend as long on that one because she needed it every so often, but she liked the feel of her hand enveloped in his. His hands were toasty warm even if they were a little coarse. 

“This is where you live?” Dec asked, suddenly impressed by the scenery surrounding them. 

Chocolate box village. Sandstone walls. Detached cottages. 

“My parents will be so excited to see you,” Natalie reminded him. “Just go along with them. And if they make reference to me doing well for myself in the city, also just go along with that, too… They don’t need to know that I push on doors that say pull or frequently get on the train going in the opposite direction to where I need to go.”

Dec laughed. He loved hearing about all of Natalie’s trails and tribulations of her day-to-day. She was often surprised when Dec directed them to a new restaurant on the first go without any fuss. 

“Just so I know, why would they think you’re doing well? What does they mean?”

Natalie shrugged. “Like, I haven’t returned home crying and traumatised.”

Dec turned to face her. “You come crying to my door three times a week!” he reminded her. 

“Yeah, but you’re not… Like, you don’t… “ Natalie tutted to herself, struggling to find the right words. “You’re safe, Declan,” she eventually settled on. “You’re, like, my safe person to go and have a breakdown to.”

“Ahh, Nat!” he howled, ruffling her hair. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell them you’re a useless adult.”

“Thanks,” she smiled gratefully. 

FIVE

Natalie slowly meandered through the village to her family home. Everything slowed down. The speed limit as well as daily life. Kids and dogs were running out and about, no worries about traffic on the road. People stopped and chatted on their way from the corner shop or to the pub. 

“This is the opposite of where I grew up,” Dec laughed, taking in the scene around him.

Natalie smiled to herself. It felt nice coming home but she had always known that she would leave for the big city. Well, any city really! Just somewhere with more than a few hundred residents. 

*

“Look at you two!” Natalie’s Mum cooed, waiting on the front door step with her arms open wide, her Dad standing next to her. 

Natalie blushed. She knew it was a lie introducing Dec as her boyfriend, but she had only thought of it as a white lie. But the look of sheer delight on their faces felt heavier than she was expecting. 

“Muuum,” Natalie groaned, instantly turning back into a moody teenager. 

“And you must be someone special for our Natalie to bring you home,” her Dad said, holding out his hand.

Dec shook it. “Not sure about that,” he chuckled nervously.

“Nonsense,” her Mum said, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him in for a hug. “I can’t remember Natalie’s last serious boyfriend.”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “Dec’s not serious,” she said. 

Everyone looked at her, confused.

“I mean… he’s silly. Like, a silly guy with a fun personality…” she fumbled over her words. “Was that not obvious?”

Her parents smiled politely at her while Dec brought her into his embrace. He smelled of fresh soapy deodorant and spicy woody aftershave.

“Darling, help me get the bags from the boot,” he smiled kindly at her.

Natalie nodded, grateful for his intervention.

“We’ll go and put the kettle on,” her Mum said, returning to the inside of the house along with her Dad.

Dec opened the boot and handed Natalie a bag. “Why are you so nervous?” he whispered.

“I’m not,” she tried to shrug off. But Dec just looked at her, knowing her better than herself. “Ok, fine. I’m nervous. They look so… happy.”

“They’re happy to see you,” Dec reminded her, stroking her cheek. “Go on and catch-up with them.”

*

Dec followed Natalie in. He carried in the heavier bags, stacking them in the hallway before they all sat down for a cup of tea and quick catch-up. Some small-talk about what the weather was like and how busy the traffic had been and what the plans were for the weekend, before Natalie said they would get their bags upstairs and freshen up.

“It’s ok if I sleep down here, isn’t it?” Dec asked her Mum and Dad.

Everyone turned to Dec, a little taken aback by his question.

“There’s plenty of space in Natalie’s room,” her Mum offered.

“Yeah, Dec,” Natalie agreed, narrowing her eyes at him. “There’s plenty of room…”

But Dec shook his head. “Honestly. I’ve brought the blow-up bed and sleeping bag and pillow…” he listed.

“Is that what was taking up all the space?!” Natalie wondered.

“Didn’t you know?” her Dad asked a little suspiciously. 

Natalie shrugged. “I made sure your presents were packed,” she said to him, pulling her tongue out at him, which made her Dad chuckle.

“Dec, if you want to stay down here, you’re more than welcome,” her Mum agreed. “I’ll keep the heating on low -“

“- There’s no need,” Dec insisted. “I’ve got a hot water bottle as well.”

Natalie’s Dad patted his arm. “You’ve just thought of everything, haven’t you?”

Dec smiled nervously before offering to help Natalie take her bags upstairs.

“Yeah,” Natalie agreed once they were ascending the stairs. “Haven’t you just thought of everything…”

“Shut up,” Dec hissed, placing her bags in her childhood bedroom. “You know I can’t stay in here with you.” 

And with that comment, he took in her old bedroom. It was big, just like they said. Plenty of space either in her bed or to set-up camp on the floor. A bay window with a cushioned seat underneath and long flowy curtains. Posters of pop bands and token reminders of a decade gone by. 

“Why not?” Natalie asked, sitting on the edge of her bed. “Plenty of other boys have,” she joked, winking at him.

Dec rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well… Maybe I don’t want to be one of those boys,” he winked back at her. 

Natalie rolled her eyes before getting up and making her way out of her room. “I’m going for a shower.”

“I’ll go and help your Mum make dinner.”

“You’re such a suck-up,” Natalie teased him, grabbing his waist and squeezing him in his ticklish spot. 

Dec grabbed her wrist to stop her. “Might come in useful one day.” 

He watched the way her eyes trailed down to where he connected with her; the way she sucked in her bottom lip between her teeth. He couldn’t have been the only one whose heart rate had rocketed. 

“Go and shower,” he told her, nodding his head and letting go. 

SIX

Dinner was never usually as fancy as what it looked like on the large table. A Christmas dinner complete with three different meats, pigs in blankets, roasties, Yorkshire puddings, honey-roasted root vegetables, a variety of condiments and a bottle of champagne. Her Dad rolled his eyes at Natalie, secretly telling her to humour her Mum - who hadn’t seen her in a while - and also it was as if he was proud of his wife for making the feast.

“This looks amazing!” Dec enthused, thanking her, holding out his flute while it was topped with sparkling wine. “Thank you for going to all this effort.”

“Well, it’s not every day that I get my daughter and her boyfriend for the weekend, and it’s also Christmas!”

Natalie looked at Dec and smiled at him. Her eyes told him to just play along. Dec chose to wiggle his eyebrows back at bed as he widened an arm and wrapped in around her chair.

Natalie looked down at it, then back to Dec. 

“Merry Christmas, darling,” he said to her, holding his flute out for her to clink with his.

“Merry Christmas,” she finally replied, playing along. 

*

“Now, come on, spill…” Natalie’s Mum said, three glasses of champagne into the meal. “Tell us how you two met.”

“Muuuuum,” Natalie groaned, finding the bottle of champagne and topping herself up. 

“Dec - you tell us since this one won’t.”

He cleared his throat, pushing the empty plate towards the middle of the table a little. His arm returned to the back of Natalie’s chair whilst his other arm rested on the table. 

“Ok,” he agreed, nodding. “Well, it was a while ago that Nat moved into the building. I had just come home from work, and she was pushing boxes along the corridor. She looked like she needed help so I offered. Of course, she was stubborn - still is - and said that she could do it herself…”

Natalie rolled her eyes and finished the story off for him. “And you then stood at your doorway, drinking a cup of tea, telling me everything I was doing wrong!”

Everyone laughed; Natalie sipped more champagne.

“It got you talking to me, though,” Dec reminded her, quietly raising an eyebrow at her.

Her Mum cooed while her Dad asked whether that was when he asked her out.

“It just sort of happened naturally, I’d say,” Declan replied, peeling his eyes away from Natalie. “We ordered some food that night - after she finally accepted my help! - and we just never,” Dec shrugged, finding the right word, “stopped.” 

Natalie was aware that she was staring at Dec. His side profile as he spoke to her parents. His white smile as he played along politely. The way he multi-tasked topping up drinks and keeping the conversation going. She wondered if this was what he was like with girls. Attentive. Then remembered that he’d never been out with anyone so long as she had known him, nor did he like the subject being brought up. 

*

“What’s with you being able to lie so effortlessly?” Natalie whispered as she followed him out into the kitchen with some dishes. 

In truth, she wouldn’t have carried out the dishes herself. But Dec had offered so she took the opportunity to copy him as well as get him alone for a minute. 

“What lies am I telling?” he asked, scraping the plates clean into the bin. 

Natalie leaned against the counter as she watched him. “Erm… everything that you’ve just done?”

“What, telling them how we met? Telling them you’re stubborn? Telling them you’re useless at unpacking?” Dec listed, standing up straight, folding his arm across his chest. 

“No, well… I mean…” Natalie stumbled trying to overturn his points. “I’m not useless at unpacking,” she decided on, crossing her arms over her chest as well.

“So, you’ve unpacked those bags you brought with you?” he asked, knowing full well she hadn’t.

“Shut up, Declan,” she eventually tutted.

Dec laughed, embracing her. “You’re too easy to wind up.”

“Why can you tell lies so effortlessly?” she pressed, looking up at him.

Dec smiled before leaning in close. He raised his hand and tucked some hair behind her ear. “The art of telling a lie is to be as truthful as possible,” he whispered to her. 

And at the precise moment that Dec had his arms around her shoulders and Natalie was looking up at him, her Dad walked in with other dishes.

“Oh!” he chuckled, placing the plates down. “Sorry to interrupt.”

Dec laughed seamlessly whilst Natalie appeared flustered, trying to escape his embrace. “She just can’t get enough of me,” he teased.

“As if!” Natalie tutted.

“Well, my darling, lucky for you I still find you beautiful… even with gravy on your cheek.”

Natalie blushed. Had she had food on her face this whole time?!

Dec quickly dipped his finger on a plate and scooped a dollop of cold gravy onto her cheek.

“Declan!” Natalie screamed, her Dad oblivious to their playing. 

SEVEN

The evening ended with a large Bailey’s in the sitting room in front of the open fire and Christmas music playing on the record player. Dec had scooped Natalie into his side while they all talked about Christmases gone by.

When it was time for bed, Dec followed Natalie up the stairs to brush his teeth. When he had finished in the bathroom, he gently knocked on her bedroom door to let her know the bathroom was free. She has changed into a pair of boyfriend-style Christmas flannel pyjamas. 

“Look at you,” he smiled softly.

Natalie looked up at him. “What, I’m covered up,” she chuckled.

“Exactly,” he teased, pulling his tongue out at her. 

She swiped her arm out to push him but he was too quick and moved out of the way. “Brush your teeth, you,” he told her.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay up here? It’ll be warmer than the conservatory.” She smiled her sweetest smile at him but he was not about to give in to her.

“I’m all sorted down there,” he assured her. “You have a good sleep.”

Natalie nodded, hugging him goodnight. He felt firm and warm, and distinctly unlike any other time that she had hugged him previously.

*

When she returned from the bathroom - with a washed face and brushed teeth - she tried to settle in her childhood bed. The alcohol should have made her sleepy but she felt restless. She also felt frustrated that Dec had chosen to sleep downstairs instead of with her. Not that they’d ever slept together before, but surely sleeping separately would look suspicious and just create questions from her parents.

And why did that hug feel so different? Nice different, too.

She turned over and grabbed her phone from the side. 

thank you for today. you’ve been amazing 🥰

my pleasure 😘

father christmas is going to bring you a brilliant present 🎁

good. i’m a size 11 in footwear 👟 a medium in clothes 👕 and I love a gift voucher 🎟

😂 father christmas knows, obviously 🙄

i also love a lacy lingerie set 🫢👀

i didn’t know you were into that kinda thing… i’ll see if i can find something sexy in your size 😉

NOT FOR ME! never mind 🤦🏻 night you 😘

😘🥰🫶🏻

EIGHT

The following morning was Saturday. Normally, Natalie avoided getting up before midday - or, at least, not getting dressed or socialising before then. But since she was back home and knew she had to make the most of her time with her parents - and knew that Dec was an early riser - she set her alarm for an ungodly hour.

Her eyes stung as she peeled her eye mask off and silenced her alarm. She grumbled all the way to the bathroom and then grumbled all the way down the stairs to wake Dec up.

But he was already up.

“Morning,” he smiled, his voice all low and thick with sleep.

“Good morning,” she smiled back on her way to the kitchen to boil the kettle. “Sleep well?”

“Like a baby,” he replied, following her into the kitchen. “I’ll have a coffee,” he told her from over her shoulder.

She turned her head to acknowledge him, humming some sort of response.

“This is too early for you, isn’t it?” Dec chuckled, resting against the counter, one ankle resting over the other, his arms folded across his chest.

He was chatty in the morning. Natalie wasn’t. She hummed at him again in lieu of words. When the kettle boiled, she poured the hot water over the coffee granules in both of their cups. Dec passed her the milk from the fridge, their fingers touching as she grabbed the carton off him.

“Morning, you two,” her Mum beamed as she then walked into the kitchen. 

Her Dad wasn’t far behind, so that meant Natalie was making another two hot drinks and humming responses at everyone who insisted on talking loudly and cheery in her vicinity.

“She’s grumpy in the morning, isn’t she,” her Dad chucked, nodding his head at Natalie but aiming the observation at Dec.

Dec agreed, of course. Then went on to regale several stories of how unsociable she was first thing. Or when she generally was tired, hungry and / or annoyed with someone. 

Her Dad blew breath out of his mouth and shook his head. “You poor thing.” He sipped his coffee. “Please don’t return her.”

Dec laughed, wrapping an arm around Natalie’s shoulders. “I think I’ll keep her.”

*

Once Natalie had had her much-needed coffee, Dec noticed how she had thawed and had joined in with the morning conversation. He had suggested all going out for breakfast - his treat - and remembered that Natalie used to enjoy going to a particular cafe in the village square. 

“I love this place!” Natalie enthused, clapping her hands together as they sat down at the table in the crowded cafe. “Every single thing on the menu is delicious,” she told Dec, handing him a laminated list of food and drink. 

Dec nodded, relaxing back on his chair and resting his nearest arm across the back of Natalie’s. Again. Because it was a comfortable position. And it looked good for her parents. But he noticed how Natalie had started to side-eye him whenever he did this. He couldn’t decided whether she was warning him or thanking him. Or enjoying it… But maybe that was too much to hope for.

“I fancy something sweet,” Natalie decided, pointing at the pancakes. “Hmm… But I also want lots of bacon.”

Dec chuckled. “Order both,” he suggested. “We can always share?”

It didn’t take much for Natalie to agree. After all, that was something they usually did. Whenever they went out to new restaurants, they’d buy small dishes and share it all so they could taste as much as possible. Sharing two breakfast dishes was child’s play for them. 

“Aww, they share food,” Natalie’s Mum cooed to her Dad.

“Don’t get any ideas,” he replied back, before both of them promptly ordered separate breakfasts for themselves.

*

As usual, Natalie was correct about the cafe being delicious. She generally had good awareness of restaurants or food stalls, so when she had asked Dec how his breakfast was and all he could do was nod as he devoured the food, he knew she would have felt vindicated in her recommending the place. 

“Shall we have a look around the market as well?” her Mum asked, finishing her pot of tea. “I’m sure it’s not as exciting as that big wonderland one in the city, but the stalls are usually very good and reasonably priced.”

“Of course,” Natalie agreed, finishing her third coffee of the morning. She had completely melted away her grumpy morning face and had a full and satisfied smile on her. “Do you think there’ll be an underwear stall?”

Dec spluttered his coffee.

“I think there is,” her Mum replied. “I normally get your Dad’s long Johns from there.”

Luckily, her Mum and Dad had no idea how much of a minx their daughter was. She was obviously referring to the messages last night… referring to his preference of lacy lingerie. 

Natalie turned to Dec and spoke quietly to him. “Not quite what I had in mind.”

Dec swallowed what was left of his coffee before averting had eyes from her and catching the attention of the waitress to ask for the bill. 

*

The village square was like something Dec would see on a Christmas card or in a Christmas film. It was picturesque, and Dec wondered why Natalie ever left this place or seemed unsure of returning. 

Her Mum and Dad explained to Dec that the village square would often be utilised during all the seasons, decorated with bunting and fairy lights and stalls according to each season. He was even pleasantly pleased to hear that the locals gathered around to watch the cricket or rugby games when they televised the big games. It wasn’t quite football… but nothing could compare to the beautiful game.

As they made their way leisurely around the stalls, they sipped mulled wine and were introduced to neighbours and friends. Dec noticed the way Natalie froze a little, and he remembered her questioning him about lying last night.

“Ahh, so this is your partner?” a couple had asked Natalie.

In lieu of her answering, Dec took hold of the reins and wrapped a protective arm around her. “We’re best mates, really, aren’t we?” he beamed, scooping into the side of his body a little tighter, getting her to make eye contact with him.

Natalie nodded at him. “Yeah,” she agreed, dipping her head underneath his shoulder. “Best mates.”

All the parents cooed and mentioned how nice it was that the kids were finally settling down and how maybe hats were to be called for in the not so distant future…

The space underneath Dec’s arm suddenly wasn’t occupied. Natalie had made her excuses about finding more mulled wine and walked off to a near-by stall.

“Hey,” Dec said, grabbing her hand. “Wait up.”

“That was a lot,” she admitted, ordering two more mulled wines. “I’m not crazy, right? They’re the crazy ones. Talking about the future and pressurising us…”

Dec shook his head. “You’re not crazy,” he agreed.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see her Mum and Dad looking over. Dec didn’t want to arouse suspicion further so he bent down and leaned in close. His nose touched hers; their lips were inches apart.

“Stay still,” he whispered to her, bringing his hand to the back of her head. Natalie’s eyes widened - a silent question to him asking what the hell he was doing. “From over there, this might look like we’re kissing.”

Natalie swallowed. “Kissing?”

Dec nodded slowly. “Wrap your arms around my neck.”

“I’m not a naturally tactile person, Dec,” she insisted.

“Coulda fooled me, all the guys you sleep with…”

Natalie gasped before laughing, all while raising her arms and placing them around his neck. “Declan… That was a low blow.”

“Got you smiling, though,” he reminded her. “And it’s true.”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “How long does this kiss have to last, then?”

Dec shrugged. “How long do your kisses normally last?”

“Erm…” she smirked, but before she could answer the stall holder motioned that her mulled wine was ready and told her the price. “Thank you,” she said, her eyes still on Dec’s. “I feel calmer.”

“Any time,” he promised, slowly letting go of her. As he did, he placed a kiss on top of her head. For the first time, Dec could see a vulnerability in Natalie that he hadn’t seen before. The way she couldn’t handle the pressure. The way she couldn’t be honest with any of her family - including herself. It seemed a lot clearer why she was desperate to invite someone with her to pose as her boyfriend. 

*

Natalie finished her mulled wine, and then another. She consumed some mine pies, cannolis and leberkuchens before having another mulled wine and feeling somewhat tipsy for early afternoon. 

“It’s early afternoon,” Dec reminded her, passing her a coke bottle of fizzy pop. “Drink this.”

Natalie did as she was told. “I’m not drunk.”

Dec looked down to where Natalie was linking his arm and resting her head against his shoulder. “Then why are you all… clingy?”

“I’m not,” she told him defensively. “Besides, you said act couple-y.”

Dec shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”

“Well, you were the one leaning in for some kind of kiss earlier on… I’m just following your lead.”

“How about I just follow your lead… to the pub,” Dec told her, nodding at the public house over the other side of the square. “Your Dad mentioned going for some lunch.”

“Ooh, you sure you want me drinking any more?” she teased, pulling her tongue out to him. “God forbid I get drunk at Christmas with my fake boy -“

“- Let’s get going before someone overhears!” Dec called out over the volume of Natalie. “Drink that drink on the way.”

Natalie rolled her eyes but did as she was told. She then drank some water while sitting at the table waiting for her parents to meet them inside. By the time it was the four of them again, her mulled wine buzz had worn off, and she and Declan were back to being best friends again. 

As her Dad was explaining to Dec how long the pub had been in the village for, Natalie noticed how Dec’s arm had found itself on the back of her chair once again. Just casually slung around the wooden back. Looking protective. And feeling… normal. Nice, even. 

Her Mum asked her a question but she couldn’t reply because she was too busy staring at Dec who was indulging her Dad in conversation. 

She found herself mesmerised by how wide and concentrating his eyes were. The way he nodded to show he was listening. The way he asked him questions to continue the conversation. Before she knew it, Natalie had raised her hand to his head and found herself touching his hair - his soft brown hair - as if she was petting a kitten. 

“Hey,” Dec smiled as he turned his head slowly. He wasn’t telling her to stop; he was just taken by surprise by her unusual tactile gesture. “You ok?”

Natalie nodded, smiling back at him. It took a good few seconds of them smiling silly at each other before she realised what she was doing. Her eyes widened. She stopped breathing. She quickly removed her hand.

“You had… fluff,” she stuttered, trying her hardest not to blush. “From your… jumper,” she said, hoping it was plausible that his fair-aisle knit would produce fluff. 

“Fluff,” Dec repeated slowly. 

Natalie clasped her hands firmly on top of her jeaned legs. She was now sweating - and it wasn’t because of her Christmas jumper nor the roaring open fire in the corner of the pub. But because Declan was looking straight at her lying face. 

Thankfully, her parents were too busy looking at the lunch menu to notice the tension between them. So Declan took his opportunity…

He leaned in, and tucked some loose hair behind her ear. He whispered into her exposed area that she was welcome to remove any other pieces of fluff that might attach themselves to his hair. His breath tickled her ear, making her shiver in a way that she hadn`t in a long time. She smiled to herself, knowing full-well that he knew she wasn’t really picking fluff out of his hair. She knew he had liked it; that she had liked it. Natalie had never touched his hair before. Had never thought about him in a boyfriend way before at all. 

But now… it was hard to think of him in any other way.

*

After lunch, and after a bottle of red shared between the four of them, Natalie’s Mum and Dad had insisted that Natalie and Dec have some photos taken of them together. Of all of them, really. And the pub provided the perfect backdrop to facilitate the pictures. 

In their Christmas jumpers, they were directed to stand by the tree, and then stand by the log fire with the garland draped along the mantelpiece, and then outside next to the bare trees surrounded by the snow. They were told to look happy, look cosy, look like they know each other. They were fine to take silly photos but the more serious couple-y ones felt a little too intimate at times. Nice intimate, though. Like Natalie underneath his arm should just be a given on all of their photos from now on. Like Natalie was the perfect height next to his taller frame. Like the smell of Natalie’s perfume overtook his senses making me feel drunk and lucky and like this was all real. 

When Natalie insisted that they get some photos on her phone, Dec offered to hold the camera while she and her Mum and Dad had some family pictures together. As he was snapping away, notifications came through from one of her dating apps. Messages from the guys that she had clearly matched with. 

Seeing the notifications snapped him out of this alternative reality. This fantasy. Natalie was single, and very much looking for someone to meet up with. It felt like the equivalent of having a bucket of cold water poured over him. 

When Natalie took the phone off him to look at the pictures, she asked him if he was ok. He was better than she was at hiding his feelings, but even he was struggling to hide his disappointment. 

“I’m good, yeah,” he swallowed, forcing a smile. “You good?”

Natalie looked through her photos, then nodded her head as she replied. 

NINE

They returned home mid-afternoon for a quick change of clothes for their evening booking at the local cinema. In the city, the local cinema was usually a huge multiplex with various options of how to watch lots of different films. Here, there was one screen with a few dozen seats and an interval. The decor hadn’t changed, really, since it’s opening in the nineteen twenties. The only difference was that it now had a license to serve alcohol. This kind of cinema in the city would have been classed as a quirky spot to go to watch a classic film. But in this village, it was all Natalie had known.

There was no specific dress code to go the cinema. In fact, most people tended to go fairly casual. But her parents liked to dress somewhat smart to go; even more so if they went to the theatre when they visited Natalie in the city. So, Natalie knew that she’d have to make the effort. Also, she found it felt quite nice to dress up a little - especially to go and see an old classic Christmas film. 

She had reminded Declan to bring something smart-casual, but when she watched him stand leaning against her bedroom door frame waiting for her to finish getting ready, she realised that he had made slightly more of an effort than what he usually did. When they went out for their weekly meal and drinks, he might wear jeans and a polo top with a nice pair of trainers. It wasn’t difficult to dress in the city because anyone could basically get away with anything and still be completely anonymous. In a small village, people often felt the need to dress to fit in - like Natalie used to. Now, after living in the city for a few years, she was confident enough to wear whatever she fancied. Happily, her short black velvet dress, black sheer tights and black latent boots complimented Declan’s black chinos, white brushed cotton shirt and black suede lace ups. His hair was freshly brushed and sweeped back, and over his arm he carried his winter coat to keep the cold winter chill away on the walk there and back. 

“I feel like I spend my life waiting for you to get ready,” he smiled, watching her apply some red lipstick expertly in the mirror.

It was true. Declan was usually ready and on time waiting in her living room for her to finish getting ready. Every week he said the same thing. And every week she replied with the same thing. 

Natalie blotted her lip and pouted at herself in the mirror, checking she had perfected the lining. “Am I worth waiting for?” she asked, getting up slowly and twirling for him. 

Declan hummed before checking the time on his watch. 

“It’s literally five minutes away,” Natalie told him knowing he hated being late. She spritzed some perfume before pulling on her black coat, scarf and gloves. “Ready,” she smiled.

They had not even made their way to the bottom of the stairs before her Mum insisted that they get a photo because they looked so lovely. Natalie blushed, but they both obliged. One in front of the tree. One outside the front door by the wreath. One with all four of them. 

“They like photos,” Natalie murmured as she linked his arm on the walk to the cinema.

Declan shrugged. “I don’t mind. We never get nice pictures together.”

“Because we’re not… you know,” she whispered. “Everyone would assume…”

Dec didn’t reply. Natalie wondered whether it meant something or not. But they kept linking, and when they got to the cinema he bought some drinks for them all and got himself comfortable in the cosy chair next to her. And when the lights went out save the odd flickering lamp on the side walls, Dec wrapped his arm around her shoulders and stroked her hair.

Natalie looked over at him.

“Fluff,” he shrugged, but didn’t move his fingers from her hair.

Natalie smiled then snuggled into the side of his warm body. They stayed in that position for the next hour until the interval, watching Jimmy Stewart wonder what life would have been like if he wasn’t born… 

*

Dec didn’t want the interval to come. He didn’t want the film to end. He was enjoying having Natalie underneath his arm. To anyone passing, they looked like a couple. To him, he felt the most comfortable he’d ever felt with her. Even though he was disappointed with the messages he`d seen earlier on, he couldn`t let her down this weekend. He didn`t want to let her down. And, sadistically, he was enjoying all the pretending. All the linking arms and hugging bodies and stroking hair…

Natalie peeled herself away from his side. She promised to bring them both back some wine for the second half of the film. And some popcorn, because Dec’s sweet tooth was crying out for some munch. He watched her walk away, her short dress swishing around the tops of her slim thighs. He noticed other people noticing her, and he felt almost smug that it was him she was cuddled up to.

While Natalie was gone, he made conversation with her Mum and Dad, checked his phone, then realised that he also needed the loo. Thankfully, the queue was short. But on his way out, he noticed Natalie in the foyer. She was talking to some guy. Looking cosy. Like she knew him. He wondered whether he was one of those guys that she had matched with on the dating apps. Had she arranged to meet up with him here? While they were pretending to be a couple for the sake of keeping her Mum and Dad happy? 

Dec didn’t often feel angry with Natalie, but watching her flirt while he was all dressed up and waiting for her to return to him had really pissed him off. 

“One red wine,” Natalie smiled at Dec, handing him a large glass. “And one sweet popcorn.”

Dec took the glass and the cardboard box off her, and repositioned himself on the seat. 

“It’s cold in the foyer,” she said, rubbing her hands together to generate some heat. “Warm me up,” she requested, positioning herself back to where she was previously, smiling at him.

But Dec didn’t move. He sipped some of his wine before telling her that he was more comfortable how he was for now. Natalie visibly appeared confused and little hurt, but he didn’t care. That was exactly how he felt. 

TEN

Once the film had finished, and everyone had finished their drinks and put their coats back on ready for the walk back home, Natalie announced that she was going to show Dec the lights in the square before returning home. Her parents understood and smiled at them both, gushing something about them being a lovely couple and looking so nice together. 

Thankfully, her parents never picked up on the tension between her and Dec. Not that she knew why there was tension, but that was the reason for their walk home the long way round. She wanted to know exactly what had happened.

“So, spill…” she said once they were by themselves. The square was empty but the twinkling lights were still on. 

Dec sighed. 

“Come on, Dec,” she tutted at his lack of verbal response. “Just tell me what’s wrong.”

“Ok. I just feel like you’ve taken me for a bit of a mug,” he told her, stuffing his hands in his pockets. 

Natalie frowned. “What… How?! When have I -“

“- You’ve been doing it this whole trip,” he interrupted her. “You’re always on your phone swiping on those dating apps, having men message you, meeting up with them… “

It took a moment for Natalie to digest what he was accusing her of. “I haven’t really been on my phone,” she told him. “And even though I have had messages sent to me, I haven’t messaged anyone. And I have no idea what you’re talking about, about me meeting up with people… I’ve been with you this whole time.”

“No you haven’t!” Dec shouted. “Not really. You’ve looked like you’ve been with me… but I’ve actually -“ And then he stopped himself talking. He breathed out, shaking his head.

“Finish that sentence, Dec,” she told him. 

But he didn’t. 

“How am I supposed to know what you’re cross about if you won’t tell me?”

“Why was it so important that you brought me home with you? Your Mum and Dad don’t seem too bothered either way. You made them out to be worse than what they actually are.”

“They’re only being like this because I’ve come home with you. If I was here alone, I’d get the third degree the whole weekend. It’d be constant questions about why I haven’t met someone and when will I settle down… I can’t face that kind of pressure, Dec. You’ve made this trip so much more bearable.”

But Dec just shook his head. “I think you could have brought anyone.” 

Natalie shook her head. “No,” she argued. “You suggesting coming was a genius idea. I’m most comfortable with you so it makes sense - we make sense.” 

Dec smirked at her. “What does that even mean, Nat?”

Natalie didn’t like Dec when he was like this. She didn’t see him like this often - and wasn’t usually on the end of his cross words - but hated it all the same. “Why are you being like this?”

“Can’t you think?” he asked, leaning against the black railings. “Can’t you guess why I don’t like you meeting up with a guy when I’m all dressed up pretending for your Mum and Dad?”

“Who the fuck did I meet up with?!” she shouted at him.

“In the foyer!” he shouted back. “I saw you flirting with someone at the bar.”

Then the penny dropped. Natalie chuckled. “I didn’t meet up with him… I bumped into him.”

“Who the fuck is he, Nat?”

“Someone I used to see a million years ago. I was just saying hello.”

“Looked cosier than that.”

“It wasn’t. Also, why is it any of your business who I look cosy with?”

“It’s my business when I’m pretending to be your boyfriend.”

“Oh, you can stop tomorrow,” Natalie sighed. “I’m so sorry that the idea you came up with is exhausting you!”

Natalie had had enough of Dec so she walked away. Not that it would be a long walk back home but staying and arguing about God knows what was pointless. 

“Nat!” Dec called out, catching up to her. “Don’t walk away. We need to sort this out.”

“Sort what out?” she mumbled, still walking. 

But Dec was faster than her, of course. He jogged ahead, stood in front of her, and stopped her walking any further. 

“You’re right - I am exhausted,” he admitted. “I’m tired and fed-up of pretending. And I don’t just mean this weekend… I have tried my hardest to not lie to your Mum and Dad. To you, even. I don’t think we’ve really acted any differently this weekend - other than let people think we’re together.” He sighed. “I just wish you knew how lucky anyone would be to be with you. Not just for one night, either.”

Natalie had been determined to walk home. But Dec’s words had floored her. 

She swallowed before trying to get her words out. “You mean -“

“- Let’s just get back,” Dec said, holding out his arm for her to link. The pavements were slippery and he didn’t want her falling over in her heels. 

ELEVEN

Back home, Natalie and Declan got dressed for bed quietly. No brushing their teeth at the sink together. No teasing how long Natalie took taking her make-up off. No rolling eyes when Dec commented on how she wore more to bed than out in the snow. 

Quiet, and then separate as Dec retreated back down to the conservatory. 

Despite the amount of drink Natalie had had throughout the day, she found sleep hard to come by. She tossed and turned before she grabbed her phone and opened it up. She looked at the photos of her and Dec together. Not just from this weekend away but from all the times they had taken silly selfies of themselves or caught the other off-guard and captured an unflattering angle. The ease of them both… When had it become so hard to just be friends? 

hey, you asleep?

yes. in the lane of nod. get some rest x 

But his message only spurred her on to peel the bed covers back, creep down the stairs and visit him in the conservatory. 

“Shit, Nat - I didn’t even hear you come down the stairs,” Dec said, pushing himself up on the blow-up bed to see her outline in the semi-darkness. 

“I’ve been avoiding the creaks on the stairs for years,” she said. “I can come and go without anyone noticing.”

Dec rolled his eyes at Natalie’s admission of naughtiness. “Why aren’t you asleep?”

Natalie shrugged. “Why aren’t you?”

“Because you’ve just scared the life out of me!”

Kneeling down, Natalie chuckled. “Budge up. Let me in,” she requested, crawling up the blow-up bed.

“What’s wrong with your bed?”

You’re not in it, she thought. “I think I just need to sleep next to you tonight.”

“Why?” he asked, almost as if he didn’t believe her or understand her intentions, but it didn’t stop him opening the sleeping bag and allowing her to scooch in next to him. 

Natalie smiled shyly. “Well, it’s been a whole weekend since I’ve last slept with anyone so I guess I was due a body next to me,” she chuckled sardonically. 

Dec tutted. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s true. It’s what you think.”

“I don’t,” Dec argued. “I don’t really think anything about you sleeping with anyone else.”

“You always being it up, though,” she reminded him. “And you must think something if you… like me?”

Dec shifted uncomfortably inside the sleeping bag. “This proximity is probably not the best for this conversation,” he chuckled nervously.

Natalie slid herself comfortably into the sleeping bag at his side, turning into her side so she was face to face with Dec. “I think it’s the perfect amount of space for us.” She rested her head on a bent arm. “Talk to me, Dec. Be honest with me about how long you’ve felt like this.”

Dec swallowed, looking down at her. He had mirrored her position but his height advantage put him above her even when laying side by side. “I don’t know… I suppose I’ve always kinda felt like this with you,” he shrugged. 

“Why haven’t you ever told me?”

Dec shrugged. “What am I supposed to say? `Oh, by the way, in between you going out with this guy and that guy I quite like you and would you mind just giving me a go to take you out?` It just became harder to fit it into the conversation…”

“I wish you’d have told me sooner.”

“Why?” he asked hopefully, his heart beating faster.

“Because I would never have put you in this position this weekend.”

“Oh,” he said sadly. “Well, it’s been nice getting to know your Mum and Dad.”

“Has it?”

Dec nodded. “You should get your Dad some gardening stuff for Christmas - he loves it out there. And your Mum was talking about going to the new play at the theatre.”

Natalie chuckled. “Declan… You’re really sweet. And you know my parents a lot better than I do, apparently!” 

He smiled a small smile at her as he brought his fingers up to stroke her cheek. “Do you think that you could ever feel the same about me as I do you?”

Natalie took a deep breath. “Dec… I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “I mean, this weekend has felt lovely. Stress-free. Almost as if we’re really together. I feel so comfortable around you. And I have felt… different around you today. But I don’t know if I can base today the same as you`ve feel about me over a longer period of time.”

Dec took all of her words in, then nodded slowly. “That’s fine,” he smiled sadly again. “At least this weekend gave me a taste of what it might be like to be with you.”

“How? You wouldn’t even share my bed with me,” she teased.

“I think I can offer you more than who you usually go out with.”

Natalie found herself nodding along to his truthful words. “I wish I could give you the answer you want,” she admitted quietly. “But I’ve just never thought of us in that way before…”

Dec pulled a face to show that he understood her words. “Start thinking, Natalie,” he told her, kissing her forehead softly. 

And without spoken permission, he turned onto his back and lifted his arm for Natalie to snuggle into his side. She wrapped an arm over his waist and a leg around his. Perfectly natural. 

TWELVE

Dec didn’t get much sleep that night. A few hours on and off. In fact, he was a bit uncomfortable laying on his back most of the night - but whenever he tried to move, the koala bear around his body reminded him that he would rather feel uncomfortable than move her and risk her untangling herself from him. 

But somewhere between the dead of night and the crack of morning, Dec couldn’t stay in his position any longer. He needed a piss, and needed to stretch out. Quietly, he rearranged Natalie so she turned onto her side, kissed her forehead softly, and did what he needed to do before changing his clothes and starting the day. 

Natalie moaned lightly, slowly waking up. 

“Morning, trouble,” Dec said quietly as he packed his bags.

She hummed, before sitting up and wrapping the sleeping bag around her tighter. “Time is it?”

“Six.”

“Oh, for f…” she grumbled, cosying back down into the blow-up bed. “Why are you up?” she asked closing her eyes and yawning.

“We’re going back today,” he reminded her. “Need to beat the traffic.”

“We live, like, an hour away.”

“It’s the last weekend before Christmas, and it’s snowing,” he told her. “And I’ve got work in the morning. And I need to meal prep and do some washing and -“

“- Alright, alright,” Natalie moaned, covering her ears with her hands. “Stop talking about real life.”

Dec smiled to himself as he zipped his bag up. “Come on, you,” he said, encouraging her to wake up. “Up, coffee, shower.”

Natalie groaned into the pillow. “You make the coffee, then” she tried to bargain. 

*

After watering Natalie with caffeine, and then telling her to actually shower to wake herself up, Dec and Natalie were ready and packed before Natalie’s Mum and Dad got up for breakfast. 

“I wish you could stay longer,” her Mum said over the breakfast table. 

“Or come back more often,” her Dad suggested.

Dec looked at Natalie, who looked slightly uncomfortable. But she smiled, nodded, and agreed to think about it. Then, she turned to Dec and nodded at him. 

*

Once all their bags were in the car, Natalie hugged her parents goodbye and wished them a merry Christmas. She said that she’s phone them on Christmas Day. And she meant it this time.

“It’s so nice to finally see you with someone,” her Mum smiled at her, hugging her tightly. “Declan is a lovely lad. He cares about you so much.”

A dead weight dropped to the bottom of Natalie’s stomach. Guilt. If she’d have known how he felt she truly wouldn’t have put him in this position this weekend. 

But the fact that he suggested it and allowed himself to be put in this position made her appreciate Dec all the more. One weekend feeling like she had a crush on him wasn’t enough to give him false hope, but she definitely knew that she wouldn’t be able to see him in the same way again…

THIRTEEN

Unlike on their journey to Natalie’s parents, Dec was quiet and still in the car back to the city. He didn’t protest about the playlist that was playing, didn’t bother complaining about the temperature in the car, and didn’t suggest stopping for a coffee at the service station. 

“Are you hungry?” Natalie asked, seeing a sign for a drive-thru Burger King. 

Dec shook his head. “I’m good.”

He was lying. Dec was always hungry. 

“We could order some food in when we’re back and -“

“- I’ve got things to do,” he replied coolly. 

Natalie sighed. She continued driving in silence with only the playlist for company until they arrived back home. 

*

Because Dec was, at heart, a gentleman, he carried his and Natalie’s heaviest bags up to the flat whilst she took the smaller and lighter ones. He checked they had everything of their own, then proceeded to open his front door almost as if without thinking about saying goodbye to Natalie.

“Oi,” she said, noticing him trying to slip away. “I know you’re pissed off with me but you’re not allowed to just ignore me and walk away without saying anything -“

“- I’m not pissed off with you,” he sighed. “But I do need some time away.”

“Oh,” Natalie swallowed. “Ok… Time. How much time?”

Dec shrugged. “I don’t know. But we can’t be the way we usually are now you know how I feel about you.”

“I know,” she agreed sadly. “But you said -“

“- Nat,” he interrupted, squeezing the bridge of his nose. “Please. Just… have a think about what I’ve said and about what you want… And we’ll go from there.”

“But what if…?”

Dec swallowed. “What if you don’t feel the same as me?” he asked, saying the question that she couldn’t finish. He shrugged. “Then at least we know where we both stand.”

“But I don’t want to lose a friend.”

“And I don’t want to be just your friend.” 

And before Natalie could register the words enough to form a response, Dec had taken himself and his luggage into his flat and closed the front door behind him. 

FOURTEEN

Monday came around quickly. It felt both like no time at all had passed since returning home from her parents, and that time had stop moving since Dec had needed some time and stopped talking to her. 

She could understand his point of view. But it didn’t make it any easier. And every time she had a thought or seen something funny online she remembered that she couldn’t just send him a message. Well, she could… but he wouldn’t reply. And that was worse. 

Their usual morning coffee ceased to exist. Natalie had to make do with making herself just the one cup, and switching the TV on for company. The meals that Dec was supposedly prepping the day before were just for him this week so she wouldn’t get to share his food nor would he get to share any of hers. She wasn’t able to send him a song that she’d heard on the radio in work that was new and sounded good. He’d have hated it because it was a poppy dance number, but she would have made him listen to it over and over until he at least admitted that it was catchy. 

When Natalie returned from work, she was tired but she still would have normally messaged Dec something about her day. Sometimes just a meme or a voice note was swapped between them. But not being able to do just that felt like a vital lifeline had been taken away. 

Just twenty-four hours without him was evidence enough that he was a major part of her day-to-day life. That night, she didn’t even bother making herself anything to eat. She just went straight to bed to try and forget about it all.

Tuesday and Wednesday felt just as long and lonely and sad. 

On Thursday, she received a message. Her heart leapt out of her chest at the pinging notification, only to drop back down into the pits of her stomach to find that it wasn’t from Dec. 

It was, however, someone that she had matched with a few weeks previously trying to arrange a date with her. Natalie read the message but didn’t respond. She wasn’t in the mood to socialise. Well, she wanted to socialise with Dec. She wanted them to Google some new restaurant to try and bicker about which place would be the better option. 

In work, she invited some colleagues out for after work Christmas drinks. No one could go since it was so close to Christmas that they had other plans or hated the idea of being out in chocker bars. 

So, depressed at the thought of spending every single night in by herself after work, she picked up her phone and agreed to the date that she was offered for the following night. 

The last Friday before Christmas was always busy. The busiest, probably. Thankfully, she only had half a day in work so had some time in the afternoon to meet up with this guy before the bars got really busy. 

She knew her heart wasn’t really in it, but it beat being alone for another night. It wasn`t fair on the guy either, but her sympathy for him soon waned once he started talking only about himself and allowing his eyes to wander at every female that walked by.

FIFTEEN

Natalie phoned her Mum. “I just want to tell you something,” she started.

“Is everything ok, love?”

Natalie swallowed down her tears. “Dec isn’t my boyfriend. I lied about that. I didn’t want you to think I was unhappy being alone. Dec’s one of my best friends.”

“Oh,” her Mum hummed on the other end of the phone. “Well, he certainly seemed to like you enough.”

“Yeah, he’s a good friend,” Natalie admitted. “My best friend.”

“That’s nice,” her Mum said. “But I think he likes you more than a friend.”

“I know.”

“How do you feel about that?”

Natalie shrugged, not that her Mum could see. “I don’t know. I’m confused, Mum.”

“Oh, Natalie…” her Mum sympathised. “For what it’s worth, he seems like a lovely boy.”

“He is. The best.”

“Then would it be so bad to be more than friend?”

Natalie cried. “What if it goes wrong? And I lose my friend? Then I’m down a boyfriend and a friend.”

“Oh, Nat. Come on, now. From the way you two were carrying on you’d have thought you were a long-term couple already. A good basis for a relationship is friendship. You’ve already got that. Now you just have to decide whether you want to be brave and try to make it work in a relationship.”

“So, you liked him?”

“Yes. Very much.” She could hear her Mum smile.

“What did Dad think?”

“Do you want to speak to Dad?”

“Yes, please.” Nat sniffed away some more tears before she spoke to her Dad.

“How’s my favourite daughter?”

“Daaad,” Natalie half-laughed half-groaned. Her Dad chuckled at her. “Did you like Declan?”

“Of course I did,” he replied, as if it was a silly question. “Why’d you ask?”

“Because,” she mumbled. 

“Because what?”

“I’m just doing a survey to see how you two found him last weekend.”

“Why?”

“Because,” Nat continued to groan. “Put Mum back on, please.”

“Not get the answer you wanted?” her Mum asked.

“I got it,” Natalie said. “You both like him. I like him… Maybe I should go and tell him.”

“I think that sounds like a good idea.”

“You won’t let on that you knew that we weren’t really together, will you?”

Her Mum promised. “As I said, you two seemed very much like a couple so why would I think any different…?”

“You won’t tell Dad, will you?”

“He’s none the wiser, I promise you,” which made Natalie stop crying and chuckle. 

SIXTEEN

Natalie checked herself in the mirror one last time before leaving the flat and making her way to the hotel. A sequined red dress that had been hanging up on her wardrobe since she`d learned of the invitation. Black strappy sandals that would no doubt cripple her before she even got to the venue. A small black cross-body handbag – mainly for practical purposes travelling across the city but it was cute all the same.

The invitation safely in her handbag. 

The hotel was decorated beautifully. Red and green – predominantly Christmas colours, but also the colours of the team`s kit, which fitted the theme nicely.

Taking a deep breath, Natalie crossed the cobbled courtyard and headed for the red carpet into the main entrance.

“Good evening!” she smiled brightly at the doorman, hoping to inject a bit of confidence in herself.

“He’s already arrived,” the man with the clipboard informed Natalie as she handed over the invitation. He was tall, miserable-looking, and no-nonsense.

“I know,” she nodded, pretending that she was in on the plan. “I’m meeting him in there.”

He looked her up and down. They looked at the invitation. Then looked down at the clipboard. He ticked something off, unhooked the velvet rope, and let her past. “Have a good night.”

*

The first thing that Natalie saw in the courtyard was a huge Christmas tree. Over twenty foot tall, easily. Covered in twinkling fairy lights and shiny red baubles of varying sizes. Sitting in a wooden planter. Surrounding the tree were wooden benches and chairs, where people were mulling about taking selfies or waiting for other guests of the party of arrive.

Natalie took a picture of herself underneath the Christmas tree and sent it to Dec.

Meet me here 🤳🏻🎄❤️

Natalie stood pacing on her block heels, waiting for Dec to appear. The music from the inside hall was thumping out over the speakers. So loud that Natalie could feel the bass beat through her chest.

“Nat,” she finally heard his familiar voice call out. She smiled up at him, in his black suit. He looked lovely; so handsome. “What’re you doing here?”

She held up her invitation. “You invited me.”

“Yeah, but -“

“- No,” she interrupted him. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” he shrugged.

“Pretend like you haven’t had enough time away from me.”

“It’s been a week, Nat,” he reminded her.

“I know. And it’s been a long fucking week! Don’t tell me you haven’t thought that this has been the crappiest week you’ve had since knowing me.”

Dec thought about it for a moment. “That week you were ill and had me in and out with food and Lucozade and sympathy was pretty miserable.”

Tears pricked the back of Natalie’s eyes. “See,” she smiled, pushing his arm lightly. “Only you know that kind of thing about me.”

“What, that you’re a nightmare when you’re ill? Everyone knows that.”

Natalie shook her head. “They don’t know what soup I like from what Chinese restaurant, and they don’t know that I like my Lucozade ice cold, and they don’t know much I overdose on my cold relief, and that -“

“- Nat,” Dec interrupted, grabbing her arms, stopping her in her flow. “What’s all this about?”

Natalie wiped away a tear that fell from her eye. “It’s me turning up for your Christmas party like I promised I would. Because we’re best friends.” She saw Dec’s face fall a little at hearing that they were friends. She smoothed her hands up his arms and wrapped them around his neck. “And because I want us to be more.”

“More?” Dec asked, almost looking scared to be hopeful; scared he would get it wrong. 

Nat smiled, nodding. He rested his forehead against hers. “Yes. More.”

A grin broke out on Dec’s face. “So you think you can just turn up and make a grand gesture underneath this Christmas tree and I’ll just fall into your arms?” 

“Basically,” Natalie chuckled.

Dec shook his head. “And you’d be absolutely right,” he told her, wrapping his arms around her lower back and pulling her in tight to his body. “You look beautiful, by the way,” he told her. As Natalie smiled at him, he leaned in and kissed her. 

[elysianslove]

um um hi i hope ur doing well :( <3 i love ur writings. idk if this counts as a request but feel free to wait on it or delete it entirely,,... i’ve just been feeling very um. drained lately. burnt out if u will. got lotsa family problems and friendship struggles going on rn plus school shit,, idk :(( it’s a sensitive topic but how do u think fushiguro or itadori would respond to smth like this, esp if their s/o isn’t exactly taking care of themselves? once again feel free to not answer at all, just wanted to get some thoughts out ;(

hi lovely <3 just want to say that i’m very sorry you have to go through what you’re going through, and i know it doesn’t sound like much right now, but it does get better. and i trust in that you’ll be okay soon <3 feel free to come here at any time to rant or to just talk to me. i might be able to help, and even if i can’t, i’m here to listen, always <3 i love you so much, and i hope life is kinder to you soon, and that this helps in any way at all mwah <3

and to anyone else that needs this, i hope this helps, and i love you! <3

fushiguro megumi reads people really well, and you’ll find that majority of the time, you never have to tell him you’re upset for him to know that you are. but i see him as the type of person that’s not all that good with comforting, not because he doesn’t care for you, but rather the opposite. he cares way too much. he just does not know how to vocalize it very well. that being said, he will subtly ask you to confide in him. he’d invite you over after having seen enough of you being down and upset, make you some tea and/or bring you a snack, sit you down on the couch or bed and just chat with you. it’s mostly you talking, him listening, but he does that incredibly well. he definitely becomes very touchy and clingy with you, but tries to seem so casual about it. he just really wants to make you feel better, but he just doesn’t know how to go about it. he spends a lot of time texting you, checking in with you, and i see him sending you the most random of memes and going “this reminded me of you” and it could be like a frog perched on a leaf, like, he’s trying it’s okay <3 he also kisses you a lot, like, softly. lots of kisses to the corner of your mouth, to your eyelids, to your jaw, to the tip of your nose. so gently and lightly it’s barely there, but you feel it, and you appreciate it, so much. 

itadori yuuji you’d expect to be a lot louder, but he’s just as soft and quiet as megumi when it comes to caring for his s/o when they’re upset. it’s not that he can’t be loud, because trust, he can. i just think yuuji is naturally very good at comforting that he knows when to approach a certain situation how. like he knows whether to love you loudly or quietly, and it’s always right somehow. if it’s been an ongoing thing, the first thing he does every time he sees you is hug you really, really tightly. he makes sure he’s with you every second of the day he can be, just because he can’t bring himself to leave your side, and honestly, his presence alone can be extremely comforting. but he also makes sure he’s holding your hand, or maybe his fingers are playing with the hem or sleeves of your shirt, or maybe he’s simply got his ankle locked with yours. spams you with wholesome memes every single day. sends you love songs and captions it with “thinking of u <3.” picks you flowers while he’s walking and they’re kinda dirty and some are a little on their way to dying but it’s still very charming. he cuddles you more than he kisses you, and he’s a very active listener. hums a lot to let you know he’s listening, leaves little comments every now and then, reacts exactly how you expect him to. 

for the both of them, their biggest priority is making sure you know that they’re there for you. they want you to be aware and to be certain that despite everything, they’re a constant, and they’re not running away. 

when it comes to advice, they’re both equally as likely to try and look at things from other perspectives, to try and get you out of your negative mindsets, to look at things differently. megumi is a little bit more blunt about it, but yuuji tries to steer his way through it as carefully as he can. 

they also both make sure that through it all, you’re taking care of yourself. yuuji will take long, hot showers with you where he’ll scrub at your hair and make fake breasts with bubbly soap to see you giggle even a little. megumi takes warm and soothing baths with you where he’ll knead through the tension in your shoulders, letting you lean into him, and stays there for as long as you’d like. megumi makes sure you’re eating healthy: he cuts you up fruit, makes you drink water, (attempts to) cooks you some homemade meals. yuuji is more likely to go on a binging spree with you, because he knows that comfort foods usually do best at cheering a person up. he will cook you something at home though, because he knows homemade meals made with love cheer a person up even more. even if it’s just some soup. 

neither will really distract you, per se, but yuuji will make you do a lot of things to try and put your mind off it for a little bit, to try and put you in a better mood. things like making cake together or doing stupid tiktok trends. megumi is similar, except he likes to try and talk you through whatever issues you have first, so that no feelings of guilt over the fact that you’re letting yourself be happy creep up on you. after a talk that usually has you feeling lighter, he’ll take you on a walk or maybe you’ll climb up on the roof and listen to music through shared headphones with you. 

like i said before, their main priority is making sure that you know that they love you, forever and always, and that they’ll always be there for you, no matter what. 

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Into The Unknown, Part 8

First

Previous

Marinette had never thought that living in another world would be this hard.

Sure, she had known that she would have issues when it came to the whole ‘she wasn’t technically supposed to be here and therefore needed a new identity’ thing. That was kind of obvious. The story they’d come up with had been simple enough -- she had grown up in Gotham with her parents, was highschool sweethearts with Tim, they had gotten married, he’d moved in with her, and her parents had died so she’d gotten custody of Damian. She was pretty sure Tim had a tragic backstory, but she didn’t really have that memorized yet. She wasn’t all that worried about it, though, she spent quite a lot of time dodging answering questions about her private life as Ladybug. Marinette probably wouldn’t even need to memorize his backstory (she would, of course, because she was nothing if not an overachiever, but she was well aware of the fact that it wasn’t quite necessary).

But, no, it was the small things that made it difficult.

Like affection.

Marinette was Parisian, she was used to greeting people with kisses on both cheeks. Hugs were something reserved for people you were close to.

But, no, Americans just insisted on being backward in everything that they do. And, supposedly, Marinette was American. She could get away with her accent because Gotham had a bunch of different people and it was easy to claim she came from the French part of town, but when it came to customs? No, she had to at least try and act like someone who had lived in America for her entire life.

So, when she was greeted with a hug from the most affectionate of her fellow interns, Marinette suppressed a cringe and patted her on the back awkwardly.

“Hi, Paige,” she said.

Paige beamed. “Ready for work?”

Marinette squinted up at the building. The WE in this universe was even taller than in her usual one.

… or maybe it just looked like that because she dreaded going inside. Ugh. Being an intern was going to suck.

“No.”

“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”

“Thanks…”

But, despite Paige’s assurances, it did not go fine.

And it wasn’t even the job thing that wasn’t going well. That, at least, she could handle. No, it was this world’s meme culture that sent her spiraling.

She’d been holding exactly nine cups of coffee, seven mugs of tea, and one energy drink can. Marinette didn’t know if it was her time working in a bakery or some sort of latent Ladybug skills or what but it wasn’t even all that difficult to hold them all.

Paige raised her eyebrows at her, looking vaguely concerned. “Do you need help?” She asked, hands already out as if expecting her to say yes.

Marinette cracked a grin. “No. I’m fine. It’s not even that hard. I could probably carry another two drinks, even.”

“Freaky flexing, but fine.”

“... the fuck did you just say to me?”

~

Tim hummed lightly as he bounced on the balls of his feet, baby sleeping soundly on his shoulder. Marinette fumbled the keys to their new apartment, mumbling curses.

She’d outright told him that she didn’t really care, that she’d lived above a bakery for most of her life so it wasn’t like she would mind as long as the place had counter space…

So why was he nervous?

He felt the tiny hand in his shirt grip him tighter and he looked down. Damian was still fast asleep, sucking on his pacifier peacefully. Tim wondered, idly, how that worked. Was it a reflex that humans lose as they age like the grasping reflex or was it a learned behavior that went away when it wasn’t reinforced anymore?

Marinette managed to open the door, her cheeks tinged red at how difficult it had been, and she swung it open.

He stopped bobbing up and down to watch her face.

But she just shrugged to herself and bent down to grab the box she’d brought up.

He tried not to look too relieved as he followed her inside and watched her set the box down on the kitchen island.

She glanced back at him. “I call cleaning and setting up the apartment!” She said brightly.

“Okay…?” He said, confused as to why she was so excited to clean up…

But then Damian started to stir.

Oh. If she had cleanup duty… then he had…

Baby duty.

Oh.

Oh no.

“Shit, Mari, wait --!”

“Too late! You already said okay!” She said, already heading to the door.

Damian spat out his pacifier and took that one long, deep breath he always took before he was about to scream.

“Mari!”

She stuck her tongue out at him and disappeared around the doorframe just as the baby started to cry.

Tim heaved a sigh and pressed a kiss to the top of the kid’s head. The wailing quieted a little, but didn’t stop. Tim would take it, he hadn’t even been expecting Damian to quiet himself. This was an absolute win in his book.

He glanced at the box that had been brought up but, unfortunately, they hadn’t had enough foresight to bring the baby supplies.

He poked his head out the door and yelled for Marinette to bring up the box with the baby stuff first. She yelled ‘fuck you’ in response but when she came back she handed him the box regardless.

He smiled -- or, at least, he smiled as much as it was possible to smile when a baby was screaming at you -- and went to work figuring out what was wrong.

~

There was good news and bad news.

Good news was that Damian was starting to learn that crying was okay.

Bad news was that Damian was starting to learn that crying was okay.

And, listen, Marinette obviously preferred that. She wanted to know when the kid was hurt or hungry or even just craving affection… but ugh.

She twisted around in the bed to squint at the clock.

Three o’clock. Great.

She groaned softly and buried her face in Damian’s hair again. “Dami, please, I have work tomorrow. Shhhhhhhhh,” she pleaded. As if she didn’t have to go to work every day.

Damian, of course, didn’t stop crying.

Marinette thought she was going to cry.

Tim pulled his arm from around them so he could cover his ears with his pillow.

She reluctantly sat up. Damian banged his little fists against her shoulder in an attempt to tell her… something. Probably that he wasn’t happy. As if the entire apartment complex couldn’t hear just how unhappy he was.

She changed his diaper and then got him Cow. Hopefully that would sate him for the rest of the night.

She clambered back into bed and sent Tim a weak smile when he wrapped an arm around them.

She scooted toward him, because Damian was reaching for him and his eyes were closed, and tucked her head under his chin. He tensed just slightly before relaxing and tangling his legs with hers.

Damian seemed to like being cocooned between them, because he made a vague happy sound and settled down to sleep without much (more) fussing.

Tim hummed lightly. His voice was terrible, but it seemed to calm Damian so Marinette wasn’t about to complain.

It took a while for Damian to go back to sleep but, eventually, he did. Unfortunately, he fell asleep while biting the crinkly ears of his plush and it was hard to sleep with the steady crkcrkcrkcrk sound right next to her.

From the way Tim’s breathing had yet to slow, he wasn’t asleep either.

Well, at least that was something to do.

“I’m beginning to think the reason babies are so cute is that otherwise we would kill them,” she joked, her voice soft so as not to wake the kid again.

Not that it would matter all that much. She could, unfortunately, not see herself going back to sleep before her alarm went off.

He chuckled and nodded as much as he could with her head beneath his. “Right? I just want one night of good sleep --.”

He stopped suddenly.

She drew back a little to check that he was fine, only to see him looking mildly horrified.

“We need to go back home soon. I’m going to get used to sleeping like a normal person. I can’t do that,” he said.

She grinned. “Oh no. The horror.”

“No, you don’t get it. If I do that then I’ll be giving into my family’s wishes. I can’t let them think they’re right about something!”

She giggled, shaking her head. “Here, I’ll make it easier for you: I don’t want you to sleep. As Dami and I are your only family -- legally -- for the next fifteen years, you must not do what we want. Therefore, you have to sleep.”

“Ah. Reverse psychology.”

“Well, I am a psych major.” Some of the amusement faded. “Was a psych major.”

“... really?”

“Yeah. I dunno. I’d figured it was the closest I could get to being Ladybug again.”

“You’re still Ladybug.”

She shrugged just slightly. “Yeah. I dunno,” she said again. She tried for a grin. “Doesn’t feel the same when there’s no emotional terrorism involved.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to do the same thing over and over again for a million years.”

“There’s some comfort in things staying the same.”

“Oh? Maybe we should trade.”

“That’s an amazing plan that I see no problems with. You get to go around beating up the Meta Of The Week and I’ll stay in Gotham dealing with all the idiots in spandex.”

“Are we switching outfits, too?”

“Oh yeah. Obviously. Gotta commit to the whole ‘switching’ thing. I bet I’ll look cuter in your outfit, too.”

“Ah, yes, because cuteness is the most important part of vigilante costumes.”

“We end up in papers all the time, being cute is totally important.”

He chuckled lightly and she felt the arm around her give her a tiny squeeze. She buried her face in his chest.

“You should try and sleep.”

“Hypocrite,” she teased, but she could already feel her eyelids drooping.

He hummed. She thought that, maybe, it didn’t sound so bad as to make him stop.

~

Tim had been in the middle of bathing Damian as he always did before bed when he’d accidentally splashed water on his face.

Perfectly fine and normal.

What wasn’t perfectly fine and normal was that the baby responded by saying: “Oh shit!”

Tim’s eyes narrowed.

“MARINETTE,” he yelled.

Marinette was there in seconds. There was some kind of green paste on her face. She’d been in the middle of her usual skincare routine. He thought it was kind of weird that near-immortals needed skincare routines but that wasn’t the point here.

She looked around frantically. “What?! What’s wrong?!”

“Damian just said sh --... he said the s-word.”

Marinette relaxed at that and sent Tim a glare. “Don’t blame this one on me. You’re the one that says that.”

Tim frowned. Because, now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure she was right.

“Now, if he’d said ‘fuck’, that would have been on me, but he didn’t, so --.”

“FUCK,” Damian said brightly.

Tim glared at Marinette again, this time rightfully so.

She looked a little sheepish. “... okay, yeah, that one’s on me.”

~~~~~

Next

@nathleigh @peachmuses @unoriginalmess @hammalammadamdam @astrynyx @laurcad123 @927roses-and-stuff

[lenaariewrld]

4. streaming

You rolled your shoulders back and fell into your seat, spinning idly with the weight of your body. You had thanked the guys for joining you on your stream, lamenting how you honestly enjoyed their company and would love to be in their content too if they needed or wanted you there. Of course, you had also gone through a five hour stream (not the longest one you’d had), and completely neglected the entire video you still actually had to edit and post.

So you pulled your chair closer to your desk, assuming your position and powering on your pc to begin the long and arduous process of editing your video. You really should’ve hired an editor or something when you had the chance.

A knock at your door alerted you to someone’s presence, obviously. “Come in,” You called mindlessly, not glancing over at your door. It creaked slightly as it opened, muffled footsteps nearing you before a mug was gingerly placed on your desk, a safe distance from your arms or anything that could knock it over or be a danger to your pc.

You blinked, turning your head.

Kageyama stood there, wearing his usual dark blue hoodie and sweatpants. “What, uh, what’s this? Are you poisoning me, Kags?” You asked playfully, pushing your keyboard away from you slightly and grasping the mug. It was warm in your palm.

“No!” The male flushed, looking away from you and mumbling out something that could couldn’t hear. cuz he was mumbling. “I was, uh, talking to Shoyo and he said to… check up on you after your streams,” He finally told you, speaking loud enough to reach your ears.

“Oh!” You smiled, understanding now. “Thank you, Kags, that’s nice of you… you still didn’t tell me what the drink is,” You pointed out, laughing softly as Kageyama’s eyes widened slightly. For someone who looked so stone-faced, he was awfully expressive. “Sit,” You offered, moving one of the chairs the other guys had been sitting it to be closer to your current position.

“It’s tea.. Sho told me what type would work best for you and insisted on calling the entire time I made it,” Kageyama rolled his eyes, huffing in slight annoyance at your more energetic friend’s gestures.

You chuckled, sniffing the mug and smiling at the warm and familiar scent that filled your nostrils. Hinata really did know you. “Sounds like him,” You admitted. “He probably was all ‘make sure she does this and that’ on you, wasn’t he?” You raised your brow in question. Kageyama nodded at you. Again, you chuckled.

Finally, you brought the mug to your lips, carefully sipping some of the liquid, it wasn’t boiling hot, so you didn’t have to worry about scalding your tongue. Yay! “How, um, was your stream?” Kageyama asked. You lowered the cup after taking a sufficient drink, shrugging and placing it back on your desk.

“It was pretty fun, the guys interacted well with the chat and all that,” You said, leaning back in your chair. You turned the question on him now, asking about what he did or just how his day was. Even though it had been a month since you moved in, you rarely had one-on-one time with any of the guys. Mostly it was in groups or something. Kageyama was more talkative when it was just you two, you noticed. Maybe he wasn’t a crowd person.

You went back to editing while he just sat beside you and talked. Eventually, you got your video done and began uploading it. “Want to watch a movie or something while I wait for this to finish?” You ask, jabbing your thumb in the direction of your screen. Kageyama stares for a second in silence before nodding. “Great!” You clap your hands together.

“You pick the movie, and I’ll set up the bedding!” You declared, standing up from your chair and stretching your back.

“Bedding?”

“Yup!” you popped the ‘p’ and began grabbing extra pillows from your closet, courtesy of the many sleepovers you had with Hinata, Tanaka, or Nishinoya where they left their things behind for you to lay claim to. “You know, any good movie viewing has to have comfortable blankets and such, otherwise you’ll just focus on wherever you’re uncomfortably sitting!” You said, speaking as if it was common knowledge and totally normal. Kageyama accepted your rules and took the laptop you offered him (another reason you were broke).

He helped you fix your blankets and pillows on your bed in a sort of nest-like situation big enough for the two of you, with an extra thick pillow placed between you two to act as the mount for the laptop. Kageyama picked a random movie for you two and settled onto your bed, at your request.

“Did you do this often with your other friends?” He asked while the movie loaded. You snuggled into your blankets, peering at him from underneath the fluffy duvet. “Sometimes, mainly with Yachi or Kiyoko.” You explained, attention turning back to the screen.

Kageyama nodded and let his eyes go to the screen as well, watching the movie as it finally started playing. Your whole focus was on the screen, watching the scenes play out with an intense look, processing the plot. You only looked away to glance at your PC, squinting at the loading video to see its progress, and then returning to the movie.

———

previous | masterlist | next

funfacts::

yamaguchi is indeed y/n’s favorite, but she enjoys all the boys company

kageyama and y/n fell asleep after watching five movies bc they forgot they were waiting for y/n’s video to upload

hinata usually blows up y/n's phone while watching her streams but was busy talking w kags

taglist: @odxrilove @pogpixelz @toshiswifey @thechaosoflonging @anime-meme-sanctuary @chaseyui @lucyrocks86

[albdodaze]

blooming. y.itadori

‘she’s satoru’s sister’ (chapter two)

warnings: none

context: IN WHICH kami gojo, younger sister of certain powerful jujutsu sorcerer, meets an idiot who makes cold barrier around her heart melt.

There weren't many things that Kami hated. She probably poured all her hatred onto her parents, whom she felt incredibly sorry for. But there was another thing that Kami hated practically as much as her parents.

"She’s Satoru's sister. From Gojo Family."

Oh, how she hated being seen only as the sister of a famous jujutsu sorcerer and a member of a powerful family.

Kami wasn't powerful, in fact, she had no cursed energy, she couldn't do any cursed technique. The only thing she had in common with her family was that she could see curses, nothing more. She was often referred to as the window of the Gojo family. No one ever wanted to meet her, no one wanted to know anything about her, and when someone actually started talking to her, it was only to find out about Satoru.

Because of this, she was also the scapegoat in the family. Her parents were ashamed of her. In fact, they abhorred her. They couldn't stand the thought that their daughter was nothing compared to her family. Compared to her brother. Therefore, she was excluded from practically everything that went on in her family. Meetings, celebrations, birthdays, nothing. She was always left alone at home, under the care of the babysitter her parents had hired.

When she was younger, she thought it was just the way it was supposed to be, that it was like that in every family. After all, they never hit her, so what was wrong with that? Sometimes they yelled at her, screamed about not being good enough, but they never hit her. So nothing bad happened, right? Right?

The only thing she had in common with her family was her white hair and her rather tall height. And everything else was different. Even her eyes were black. Black. When her family had them blue, heavenly.

As she grew up, she began to understand how different she was from her family. She saw how disappointed they were in her for not being like them. So she began to practice and learn as much as she could. By the age of twelve, she already knew all about cursed weapons, she knew how to use them, how to defend herself. But her parents continued to look down on her. They continued to look at her with the same eyes. With pity and disgust.

The only person who didn't seem to look down on her was her brother. Satoru. And still, Kami hated him with all her heart.

She hated being inferior to him. She hated being compared to him. She hated being in his shadow. She hated all of him.

And yet she continued to stay with him. She stayed with him because of that stupid bond, the fear that no one else would accept her, that no one else would love her. Because no matter how angry, pissed off Kami could be at him, no matter how much she could call him names and tell him how much she hated him, he always stayed by her side and never doubted her.

After all, he was her big brother, how could he doubt in his loving little sister, for whom he would give his life, for whom he would do anything.

Satoru loved—duh—loves Kami with all his heart and considers her the smartest, strongest, and most beautiful woman—not girl, woman—he could ever meet. Satoru is the proudest brother, and he couldn't be prouder of how well his little sister, who holds his whole heart, is doing.

Even though she was over a decade younger than him, Kami was able to talk some sense into him more than once, show him how wrong he was about many things. Kami had taught him everything. It was for her that he tried his best. It was for her that he stayed in his family home as long as possible. It was for her that he befriended Megumi, seeing how well the two of them would get along and not being able to pass up the opportunity to find—probably—a lifelong friend for his sister.

And he found one.

Satoru was able to stay with Kami through the nights while she learned all about jujutsu sorcerers, he would bring her tea whenever she ran out of it, he would make her food when he heard her stomach clamoring for a snack. He would be the one to move her helpless body from her desk chair or the floor to her soft and comfortable bed so her back and neck wouldn't hurt the next morning.

He was the one who brought her breakfast every morning, for which he got up two hours earlier before her alarm clock. And when he was out, he would always send her a simple "have a nice day, don't forget to drink water" in the morning with some stupid meme or gif he found on the internet. It was the only thing Kami always woke up at 6:30am for, a silly and simple text message from her brother.

Let's also not forget the "good night, I love you little sister, sleep well" in the evening. Kami would never admit it, but she has screenshots of every single such message, printed out and tucked away in one of her binders, in case her phone breaks or gets lost.

In the end, Kami snapped. After all, how could she hate her brother, who would do anything to make her the happiest person in the world, who would do anything so that only his sister could have the best life, the one she deserved.

A soft knock on the door of her room snapped her out of her thoughts. She knew very well who it was. After all, he had said himself that as soon as he showed Yuuji around, he would come.

"You alive?" Her brother's familiar voice asked and Kami lifted her head from her pillow, smiling softly.

"How do you feel?"

"Like pulled straight from the grave," she muttered, and Satoru laughed, sitting down on the edge of her bed where she lay. "Itadori's been in his room since yesterday?" She asked, and her brother nodded. "Megumi?"

"He and Yuuji are already on their way to Harajuku where we're supposed to meet the fourth student," he replied, and Kami raised an eyebrow.

"Why didn't you go with them?"

"I was waiting for you," he smiled softly and started to speak before Kami had a chance. "And don't tell me you're not going. The fourth student is a girl, maybe you'll get along. Besides, you need to get out of this room eventually. And I don't mean leaving the room to move to Megumi's room or mine," he said as he noticed his sister opening her mouth to start defending herself. "Come on, I'll buy you a bubble tea on the way, okay?"

Kami glared at him for a good few seconds and finally sighed, which caused a big grin to spread across Satoru's face, which Kami smiled at, too.

With the help of her brother, the white-haired girl got out of bed and put on her feet, covered in black knee-high socks, mary-jane boots—the same colour as her socks—from her school uniform.

She quickly looked at herself in the mirror again, checking if her pleated mid-thigh skirt hadn't rolled up and if her short button down jacket, covering her perfectly white turtleneck, hadn't twisted anywhere. Adjusting her hood pinned to her jacket, she walked out the door that Satoru had opened for her, having previously put her phone in her pocket.

Just as Satoru had promised, they quickly bought her favorite strawberry bubble tea on the way and immediately headed towards the street they were supposed to meet at. As soon as they saw two familiar faces in the distance, Satoru raised his hand.

"Sorry for the wait!" He shouted and headed with Kami towards the two teenagers. "Your uniform made it in time, I see," he added when he saw a perfectly fitting uniform for Yuuji.

"Yeah, it's a perfect fit. Though it's slightly different from Fushiguro's. It has a hood, for one," Yuuji said, taking the red hood his uniform had in his hand.

"That's because the uniforms can be customised upon request," Satoru replied.

"Huh? But I never put in any requests."

"I was the one who put in the custom order. With a little help of our master," Satoru smiled, pointing at his sister, who was shorter than him and too focused on her bubble tea to get anything out of the conversation.

"Whatever, I guess," Yuuji replied.

"Be careful. Gojo-sensei has a tendency to do things like that," Megumi interjected, looking at his classmate out of the corner of her eye. "Most importantly, why are we meeting up in Harajuku?"

"Because it's what she asked for," said Satoru.

"Ahh! Popcorn! I want some!"

After a few minutes, Satoru poked his sister with his elbow and, as she raised her eyes at him, he pointed to something by the entrance to the street, or rather, someone.

There stood a redheaded girl, not too tall, tiring of some middle-aged man, but Kami couldn't hear what was going on through the crowd of people making noise around her. The short-haired girl had a very similar uniform to Kami, though this one had brown moccasins, black tights and a white shirt instead of black mary-jane shoes, knee socks and turtleneck.

"This is kinda embarrassing," Yuuji spoke up with his 2018 glasses on his nose and popcorn in one hand, in the other ice cream. Kami shook her head and closed her eyes, going back to drinking her bubble tea.

"So are you," Megumi heard and she snorted softly making the drink she was drinking fly up her nose.

As Kami tried to get rid of the sticky drink from her nose, the redhead approached them and began leading them to 400 Yen Corner where she could leave her luggage.

As the other freshman girl closed the locker with her things, she turned towards the rest of them and put her hand on her hip.

"Ok, once again," Satoru began and pointed his hand at the girl.

"Kugisaki Nobara. Be happy, boys. I'm the one woman in your group," she said, as if she hadn't noticed Kami standing next to her brother at all.

"And what am I? Guide dog?" Kami said, pulling away from her already almost finished drink. Nobara looked at the girl and her eyes lit up.

"Oh, hey! I didn't notice you. We will be great friends!" she said and returned her gaze to the two boys in her year.

"I'm Itadori Yuuji. I'm from Sendai!"

"Fushiguro Megumi."

"Kami Gojo. Guide dog."

After a few seconds in which Nobara looked like she was thinking hard about something, she finally sighed.

"I always get stuck with unfortunate circumstances," she said and sighed once more.

"She took one look and sighed," muttered Itadori.

"Are we going somewhere from here?" Megumi asked, turning his gaze to Satoru, who only laughed.

"We do have all four of you together. Not to mention, two of you are from the countryside," said Satoru, lifting his head proudly and throwing his arm around his sister's shoulders. "So of course we're going on a tour of Tokyo!"

Nobara and Itadori began shouting "Tokyo!", attaching themselves to Satoru, causing Kami to have to walk over to Megumi, throwing away an empty cup on the way.

"We're definitely not going on any tour," Kami muttered, and Fushiguro-kun nodded softly, knowing Gojo-sensei all too well.

"We love Tokyo!"

"TDL! I want to go to TDL!"

"Idiot! TDL's in Chiba! Let's go to Chinatown, Sensei!"

"Chinatown's in Yokohama!"

"Yokohama's part of Tokyo! Don't you know that? Look at a map!"

Kami, Satoru and Megumi were quietly watching the argument that was going on in front of them when the elder Gojo spoke up.

"I will now announce our destination!"

Nobara and Itadori knelt before Satoru at which Kami shook her head with her eyes closed and Megumi deadpanned at them.

"Roppongi!"

"Roppongi?!" Said Itadori and Nobara at the same time, looking at each other, incredibly pleased with what they heard.

[jesswritesthat]

hey babe! i love your writing so much!!! so i recently watched kaguya-sama: love is war and i was wondering if you could do a headcanon of kuroo, bokuto and atsumu where their crush gets sick and they visit her and she drags them into her bed to sleep with them? you can decide how it ends. thank you so much in advance if you do end up writing this! i love you and take care of youself💞

Hello lovely! Thank you so much for this, I’ve never seen Kaguya-Sama but it sounds really cute. Also take care of yourself too and I hope these are okay! Much love 💕

Summary: Bokuto, Kuroo and Atsumu checking up on their sick crush headcanons

>>>>—————————>

Bokuto Kōtarō:

• Has felt like he's been missing something all day but couldn't quite decipher what it was until Akaashi mentions how you're off sick.

• Thats when your phone is bombarded with ‘urgent’ messages inquiring about your wellbeing to the dramatic extent of:

[ Kou: (N/N)! You haven't answered me yet, are yOu StiLl AliVe?! ]

[ (N/n): no ]

[ Kou: Aw, can I have your cool headphones then, since you won't be needing them anymore? 😁💕 ]

[ (N/n): Wow Kou, I'll haunt your dumbass at Volleyball games for that. ]

[ Kou: Even in death, your support means everything to me. ]

• Despite his nonsense he kept updated with you throughout the school day by sending memes in hopes of raising your spirits. The most peace you got was during Volleyball Club time - the Ace too invested to message you at that point.

• At the end though he calls his team for a serious discussion and they're all expecting major improvements on their gameplay ready for Nationals.

But no.

"What can I get (N/n) to make her feel better, this is crucial. I need only good ideas!"

• They all knew about his crush on you, he wasn't exactly secretive about it but you were none the wiser. Even so, Fukurōdani offered what advice they could to their friend because like him, they cared about you too.

• "Akaashi picked up your schoolwork." Bokuto says as he walks into your room, waving the papers and placing them on your side.

"And you didn't think to take notes for me?"

"Nah, I wanted to bring you good stuff."

"Fair point."

• Bokutos likely brought everything he could find once he went home and changed/showered - he's got flowers, your favourite snacks, drinks, medicine and some movies to cure your boredom. Like how much do I owe you???

He's says it's fine though, in return you have to be better by tomorrow.

That's not how it works Kou.

• You're both seated on your bed watching some shitty movie when you start getting a bit sleepy and you just want warmth.

"Can you give me a hug Kōtarō? I just need a hug, I know how weird that sounds..."

• Doesn't even think twice about it, he practically tackles you onto the covers which elicits lovely giggles from you - the potential of him getting sick too isn't even considered, he's just focused on being with you and making you feel better.

• His arms are so warm and they’re beautiful, you forgot how toned he is and you grow so comfortable in his embrace. He’s also really relaxed about it and is calm enough to ramble on normally - except when you nuzzle against him during a cold shiver. Bokuto full on freezes mid sentence, releasing a cautious breath prior to changing the subject.

• It’s obvious he’s content with you though, and surprisingly falls asleep first which makes you laugh. Kōtarō keeps a strong but delicate hold on your body and is subconsciously receptive enough to your every move. You adjusted yourself slightly which stirred him, his voice is much huskier than before due to sleep but remains concerned.

“Can’t you sleep (Y/n)? I can-“

“I’m fine, you’re keeping me warm.”

• With a nod of understanding he’s gone again and you follow shortly afterwards, the both of you unintentionally making the nap a sleepover. Which you only realise the next morning - still in his arms even if the position has changed. You take a few minutes to enjoy it.

• Miraculously doesn't get sick, his immune system must be immortal as he's brimming with energy once he gets up. His radiance is actually contagious as you feel much better in yourself too and his vibrant attitude really motivates you for the day despite being physically exhausted from beating the flu.

• "Your partner is going to be blessed if you bring them breakfast, I mean talk about amazing." You comment as he brings up a plate that he’d crafted in your kitchen, which is surprisingly decent. You suppose he must keep his body fit somehow.

"My crush will have to do for now."

"Wait I - ah, you have a crush on me?"

"Hah, didn't you know? I never tried to hide it or anything."

Kuroo Tetsurō:

• Notices your absence immediately, he's observant by nature but especially where his crush is concerned and he isn't afraid to contact you before class starts.

• "Hey (Y/n), it's Kuroo, are you running late today?"

"Hnn, I'm not gonna make it. I tried but I feel awful - Sickness: 1, (L/n): 0." Already by the grogginess in your voice he can tell you're under the weather and winces at the sound of you stifling a cough.

"Ah geez, go to bed would you? And drink plenty of water, I'll inform the teachers and everything."

"Thanks Tetsurō, I owe you one."

• Will message you at regular intervals throughout the day regarding your health with cute little reminders. You were on his mind frequently, he’s lowkey worried okay?

[ Tetsu: Drink water, and eat breakfast if you can. ]

[ (Y/n): Yeah yeah I have, go learn something. ]

[ Tetsu: Why are you replying? Shouldn't you be sleeping it off - I don't want your germs. ]

[ (Y/n): Sharing is caring. ]

[ Tetsu: Oya? It took a cold for you finally admit you care, so is it gonna take a pandemic to say you love me? 😏 ]

[ (Y/n): 🖕🏻]

• Is actually considerate enough to tell you he'll swing by after practice, and asks if you want anything from the shop so you give basics like water and tablets. Comes equipped with the extra notes he's taken from all of your shared classes and requested papers from teachers in those you don't, so you're not falling behind.

• Aside from the bare minimum you requested, he chucks your favourite snacks on your desk stating that it’s important to keep morale high too. Liar. He just wanted to do something nice for you.

• Checks your temperature despite your protests of not being a child, he only does this because it vexes you and Kuroo finds that cute. As a silent apology for teasing the Hell out of you, he’ll make you some tea and you both get lost in conversation.

• Notices you’re starting to doze off, rest you should’ve had instead of texting everyone - but ensuring everything is fine, he’s about to stealthily exit until your fingers grasp his wrist and tug him back slightly.

"Stay Tetsurō..."

"You'll likely regret that request once you wake up."

"S'ok, it's you."

• The strength you have when tugging him into bed with you catches him completely off guard and he’s actually blushing - doesn’t know what to say but knows he has to at least maintain some composure.

“So uh, never knew you wanted me this badly.”

“Ugh shut up dumbass, I can feel your rapid heartbeat from here.”

“Right...”

• Kuroo goes all shy, you’ve wrapped your arms around his waist and are comfortably leaning against his side and he absentmindedly runs his fingers soothingly up and down your arm to settle his own nerves.

• It’s peacefully silent, simply enjoying one another’s company before he hears your muffled sniffles indicating you’ve fallen asleep and a soft smile graces his lips. If you were his, then he’d definitely kiss your forehead, and lips to be honest, but the fact you aren’t leaves him with a disappointed sigh.

• You both end up taking a nap, waking up wrapped in each other’s arms and noses practically touching which startled the Captain - Kuroo literally falling off of your bed with a yelp much to your amusement. Afterwards, he departs suggesting you get more rest, get better soon and he’ll see you at school next week.

• At least that was the plan, which altered with the text exchange the following morning.

[ Kuroo: Sharing is not caring, I wanted your snacks not your sickness! ]

[ (Y/n): RIP us. 💀 ]

[ Tetsu: You owe me one remember? I've got the house to myself this weekend so would you like to suffer together? I have blankets, entertainment and food. ]

[ (Y/n): Beats sniffling alone, I'll bring the tissues and drugs. ]

• So, you went over with a trail of sneezing in your wake and ended up snuggled with Kuroo under a blanket with a variety of games gracing the TV as you skilfully passed around the tissues. Aside from being ill, spending time like this with him was perfect.

• "Sickness: 2, (L/n) and Kuroo: 0..."

"No, Kuroo: 1.”

"How so? You K.O. a sneeze or something?"

"I got to spend the day with you didn't I? That counts as a win in my book."

"Tch careful, anyone would think the Scheming Captain cares~"

"I do smartass, I care about you a lot (Y/n)..."

Miya Atsumu:

• Atsumu wasn't one to act needy in any way, the only excuse for him to contact you in regards to your absence was to do it with a remark and hope you'd elaborate.

[ Atsumu: Yo, are ya ditching me to survive English on my own? That's cold (Y/n) 😭 ]

[ (Y/n): Sorry 'Tsumu, I'm too busy dying to care rn. Have a fun missing me loser. ]

[ Atsumu: Hah you wish, you alright tho? ]

• You're good friends but he's never really expressed genuine concern about you before, not verbally anyway. You thought the final "K" after you'd told him you were gonna rest would be the end of it.

So you were beyond surprised when he rocked up to your house later that evening.

• It took everything you had not to mock him for his embarrassed stature, solely flustered by the fact you'd seen him so considerate. Admittedly you were also exhausted and probably couldn't think of a snarky reply anyway.

• "What's up? Was there homework or - ugh, or something?"

"Huh? Oh I dunno. But uh, I got 'Samu to make you some Okayu, and a Umeboshi Tea since it's good for colds and stuff."

• Totally pestered Osamu all day to help him make you something and had to do stupid favours in return but Atsumu will deny it if you ever ask.

• “I love how you don’t care what you look like when you have guests over.”

“Take your stupid backhanded compliments and shove them up your pretty litt-“ You bite back, flipping him off in the process while Atsumu remains proudly victorious.

“Nah ah, is that any way to speak to the man who brought you dinner?”

“It’s the way to speak to the man whose currently annoying me.”

“You’re welcome, this is revenge for ditching me in class gorgeous~”

• Despite how irritating he could be, Atsumu stuck around for a bit to make sure you ate everything he’d brought and taken the appropriate medication.

• “Oh yeah, I brought that movie you were talking about the other day. Figured it might pass the time a bit.”

“Thank you! I’ll give it back once I’m better - thank you so much ‘Tsumu.”

Your excitement was endearing, and he had to collect himself a bit since admiring such little quirks was out of the question - his crush was bad enough as it is.

“Wanna watch it now? I haven’t got anything to do so I can give you spoilers.”

“Sounds good - and not a word!”

• You spent the afternoon watching the film and playfully wrestling the blonde in order to shut him up whenever he made an attempt to spoil it - he would never, but provoking you was too funny.

• You settle down later on, putting on a mindless tv show for background noise before collapsing onto your bed with groan. Atsumu raising a smug brow at your exhausted state as he threw his jacket on.

• "Wanna sleep with me?" It was innocent, at least you didn’t think much of it then.

"Do I what now?" He was smirking, thankful that your panic left you oblivious to the blush crawling up his neck at the mere insinuation alone.

"Sleep wit- ohh I did not think that through! I meant sleep in my bed, next to me, to help me drift off. Maybe it's the sleepiness or medicine but I really want you Atsumu..."

"Not helping your case at all." Again he smugly responded, dropping his jacket to the floor with a sly smile.

"Stop smirking and just hug me okay? Then you can leave and tease me about this later."

• Atsumu isn't awkward about it, subduing his nerves enough to pull you into his arms as he sits up - dutifully ignoring the butterflies in his stomach due to your close proximity and the intoxicating smell of your hair.

• Atsumu becomes unintentionally soft, his fingers slowly begin to glide through your hair and he hesitates when he feels the hum of contentment you release before continuing. Your whole body just relaxes against his and he subconsciously does the same, not even realising he was this tense around you - was his body always like that in your general presence?

• As you start quietly talking about nothing and everything, he notices a weakness - you’re a lot more open when drowsy and god he wants to take advantage but knows you’ll remember the questions he asked and murder him for it when you’re able.

• Intead he attempts to protect any dignity he thinks he has left with you - jokes on him, it’s absolutely none. You guys are way past that level and he knows it.

“You better get healthy quick, not that I care but English is really borin’ on my own ya know?”

"The people you truly care about must be really lucky to have you 'Tsumu..." The mumble is enough to make him roll his eyes, but he waits until you’re asleep to reply.

"Yeah... you are..."

<——————————<<<<

[ Masterlist ]

[crimsonandcloverwrites]

bhah ch7 can’t stop won’t stop

lmao Dani being like ‘we should wait to discuss kids til after we’re married’ yes doesn’t seem like a giant thing u should make sure u agree on before u make a major commitment at all

Dani is so in love with Jamie sdjkhdfkjg driving to her house on instinct and just like...gazing at her in her old t-shirt and sweats like you’ve finally seen the light girl just kiss her already

god I can’t believe I have 2 more chapters of them as adults just being the absolute perfect match for each other to get through before they finally kiss in ch 11 (i’m maninfesting it no one say anything) I am literally going to scream. Dani will like... feel a little off and it’s all “i need to go to Jamie’s house and also tell Jamie everything and she will make me tea and let me be myself without all the expectations and I will feel better” I AM VERY HAPPY SHE CAN BE THAT FOR YOU BUT ALSO CAN YOU SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE MS CLAYTON (actually I think she kind of does but she must extract herself from her real life first I guess)

oh no the new chapter is almost here I still have so much to read

forget ‘there was only one bed’ this is now a ‘there was only one tent’ stan blog only

thirsty Dani truly is the funniest I am so sorry ur suffering is so entertaining. Dani: literally whacks her finger with a mallet bc horny for Jamie. Me: uncontrollable chortling

the idea of Dani wrangling 8 year olds that are probably just about as tall as her is too funny. tiny legend

aww the lil background Hannah and Owen moments. cute

Dani in a big ol’ straw hat pls that’s so cute

this Jackie and Jamie situation..... GIVE US THE DEETS

hmmmmnnnnnngggg Jamie just straight down on her knees in front of Dani to tie her shoe lace I will absolutely let u have this gay panic Dani u don’t deserve to be made fun of right now

Jamie “I have a story” absolutely NOT

Viola, emerging from the lake in this no ghosts childhood friends story: surprise bitch

these two drunk idiots are literally teenagers dsjkhdfkgjh just get in ur tent

Dani, drunk in a tiny tent w the love of her life: hope this doesn’t awaken anything in me

when we finally get a Jamie on her knees redemption moment-

Dani, drunk in a tiny tent w the love of her life currently taking her clothing off: oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck (y’all really wanted to torture her this chapt huh?)

“dawn was a saffron colored suggestion peeking through a pinhole gap in the tent’s zipper” god that’s a pretty sentence can i pls borrow some talent

Jamie and Dani w kids is sooooo cute they have such a nice balance between them

just thinking about if teenage Jamie desperately in love w her bestie could see things now Dani being all into her w all her lingering looks etc how the fuckin turn tables

“Dani kept a firm grip on her sanity” lol

oh my god they’re both drenched in the tent w the soft lamplight and only their own bodyheat to keep warm whatever will they do

oh wait they also have the heat of their burning attraction to each other they’ll be toasty as anything

hhhhngggg abs

that’s like 4 mentions of Jamie on her knees aklhfdkjgkdjh enough

lads is it gay to imagine running ur fingertips over the scar on your friends back before pressing ur lips to it or...?

Jamie taking the time to teach Dani car things aww

lol not the smutty book

eddie honking at her gets so under my skin like my dude... my guy... stop

Dani thinking so hard about rain damp Jamie and how much she wanted to jump her while she’s in the car w her boyf and MIL. girl

imagine if we had to sit through a dani and eddie wedding before she finally managed to call this off how cursed

ayoooo Carson’s show I cannot wait. omg we get it this chapter too gbless this really is the Dani suffering hours

Jamie just so casually like.... not even flirting w Dani it’s all just kinda observations but every other thing she says makes Dani stop breathing skdhfdkfjh this is so good

Dani has like... a lack of object permanence but with Jamie feelings ok

pleeease the Dani Carson road trip that’s so cute I can just imagine what fun they would have had

uuughhh i wanna go to a sweaty bar n listen to loud music again

also would like a Jamie to press their hand to my lower back n make me lose my mind in a sweaty bar to loud music

this lil jamie dani carson trio is my faaaave

“Girls must be all over you.” and Jamie choking on her drink dsfkjsdhkf oh Dani u beautiful naive angel. god that’s so funny

Robin instantly going for Jamie... same bro

Carson’s lil found family band pls my heart is so full

Carson calling them his sisters n Jamie freezing up bby when are u going to accept these people care abt u and love u like family

Robin is so brazenly just like ‘ur hot’. a voice of the people i love her

Dani being lowkey jealous as IF Ms Taylor has eyes for anyone else babe

Carson knoooowwwwws. When do we get the Carson O’Mara biopic please I want his takes on everything I know they’re excellent

oh my god Jamie knowing Dani’s fave kind of pizza pls I love that so much (I can’t remember if it’s been mentioned in the past few chapters but I remember her being mad that Eddie didn’t in CH1? i love this lil detail) (also I literally just ate vegge pizza I feel so immersed in this experience)

dfkgjhdfkjgh Jamie licking her finger and Dani completely combusting this is so entertaining

fuck n then it gets all soft and about how they’ve been in love their whole lives this is emotional whiplash

Jamie constantly in protector mode but in this really quiet comforting way is so sweet I love her so much

god I just feel so bad for Dani that this kind of insane electricity she has with Jamie has probably never been a thing in her relationship w Ed bby u deserve someone that makes u feel like this

awww Carsons bf

Dani’s soul leaving her body when she sees them kissing oh no

Jamie giving Dani her jacket pleeease I am dying here... the romance of it all

and shariing cigarettes and intense looks these two really are somethin else

lmao even Robin is picking up on their vibes you two could level a building with the amount of tension between u

Dani’s moment of Realisation abt Carson n Jamie just being like... well yeah

lmao Dani subtly trying to figure out if Jamie is gettin’ it sdkgdfhkjgh

when these do two finally get together both of them are gonna be like... taken out by all of this. Dani has only ever known Eddie who just does not get her (and the fact that she is a lesbian so she’s never had real feelings for him in that way) and it seems like Jamie has only ever had surface level relationships with people who never really got her either (while also being in love w her best friend who she never thought would love her back). there’s no way this is wont eventually make at least one person cry a bunch (probably me) with how right all of it is

god Dani is so horny for Jamie sdflkdfjgkfdj preemptive RIP for Ms Taylor when Dani finally does get to live out all these daydreams on her I just know someones gonna end up pulling somethin

Does Dani like.... get that she will never love Edmund that way like is she fully aware of the fact she loves him but she’s not in love with him and all these feelings for Jamie aren’t just because it’s Jamie but because she’s not straight??? have we gone on that journey yet

aw Ed waited up for her

the book the book the book

dsfkdhfgkj oh Dani

“Jamie on her knees, looking up at her” listen-

girl u are so fucked

SIX. SIX MENTIONS OF JAMIE ON HER KNEES pls

THE DREAM

who could this possibly be about hmmmm Dani

christ

THE MEASURES SHE TAKES TO DEAL WITH THE DREAM lordt

“baffled but excited” i think is how I almost always picture eddie lol

dang get it girl take control

aw dani u poor confused little duck. i just wanna give her a hug

Dani dressed as Dorothy is awfuly cute

heh Jamie as a wolf i love her fursona

lmao toto

of course Jamie is well aquainted with the bleachers. cheeky. oh no not the art room. Dani dying inside and then imagining herself there with Jamie girl has got it baaaad u poor lil repressed gayby

Dani is... so thirsty... goddamn

lmao Jamie blatantly checking her out are u trying to kill her she already wants to rip ur clothes off

“To the third floor art room?” dfksdhfgkjdfhgjdhf imagine if this was it they just banged it out in the art room right now n got things sorted

god they go from horny to soft so quick i love the ways they care about each other

Jamie saying the scarecrow costume is fitting for Eddie PLEASE

ooh the infamous hickey

What Dani deseves: snuggles. What Dani recieves: struggles

the MEMES. god bless the memes

this was an excellent companion for my Wednesday hopefully I can churn through the rest of em before we are blessed w ch11 amen

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Suit Up

Warnings: dub/noncon sex (a good ole American fucking)

This is dark!Bucky Barnes and explicit. 18+ only.

Summary: Bucky borrows a couple things from Steve.

Note: Okay so we wanted Bucky in the cap suit so here you go. I don’t need forgiveness, I’m already too far gone.

Anyway :) Please like, reply, and/or reblog if you read. <3 Love you all.

It was quiet at the compound. You had a few minutes to yourself, a fresh tea in hand as you sat in the kitchen and scrolled through your phone. Despite the lull, it had been a high pressure day. A press conference featuring your best and worst public faces. Steve was always good for his million dollar smile but Bucky’s brooding made him less than favoured by the media.

Stick to the talking points. The reminder had been given to both of them but Bucky knew the words were aimed at him. Smile and answer the questions, don’t say anything more than you need to. Bucky was good at the last part. Not the most talkative.

He had done quite well. His best appearance to date. He managed a closed-lip smile and came off as personable even if he looked a bit troubled when not speaking. Steve saved him. He assured the public of their last mission’s success and the necessity of collateral. No lives were lost, only material damage.

You read over the headlines, tweets, and hashtags. The reaction was mostly positive. Tony would be pleased. He was even more uptight about these things than you; his PR manager. He was especially paranoid about your treatment of Bucky, he said you were too easy on him. Maybe you were but you weren’t going to be a business bitch to your own boyfriend.

Speaking of. You sipped your tea as the voices interrupted your peace. Steve entered with his shield in hand. Bucky was just behind him. They were in mid-conversation as they came upon you on the stool with your English Breakfast.

“Hey,” You greeted as you set down your mug. 

“Hey,” Steve was smiles still; Bucky was less than. He grumbled his hello.

“You guys did great,” You praised, “Really. Hit every single point we went over. And you dealt with the Buzzfeed lady just perfectly.”

“Really?” Bucky came up beside you. He looked tired. “She didn’t seem to like me much.

“She doesn’t like anyone.” You assured him and touched his elbow. He bent to peck your cheek. “She no longer has clearance to attend Nat’s appearances ...due to security issues.”

“Oh, so she’s that one,” Bucky nodded, “It was really okay?”

“Perfect,” You promised him. Steve set his shield on the counter with a clink. “Shield was a bit much.”

“I said so but Tony said to take it.” Steve sighed. “Says it completes the image.”

“Oh yeah, it really complements that leather jacket,” You shook your head, “He may as well have you in the whole suit.”

“Please don’t put it past him,” Steve leaned on the counter as Bucky’s hand settled on your lower back. “I don’t think I could make it through sweating in that damned cowl.”

“Really that bad? Always thought the suit looked quite comfortable.” You joked. 

“Some of it. It’s improved. The stars and stripes they had me in before were the worst. Didn’t breathe at all,” He chuckled. “Just holding the shield gets a bit tiring.”

“Whine, whine, whine,” Bucky commented, “The guy’s been bitching all morning.”

“You wanna hold it next time?” Steve challenged lightly.

“Hey, I carry this thing around twenty-four seven,” Bucky tapped his vibranium shoulder. “Don’t think you’d be up for a fair trade.”

You stared at the silver rim of the bulls eye and took a drink of your tea as they bickered. “It looks pretty light to me.” You said. “Well, I mean not for me, but you make it look light.”

“I mean, it’s subjective,” Steve ran his fingers along the shields edge, “You can give it a try if you like.”

“What, uh no.” You stuttered. “No, I’d never...it’s like...sacred, isn’t it.”

“I toss that thing directly into flames, it’s far from fragile,” Steve scoffed, “Go on.”

He lifted the shield and rounded the island. Bucky stepped back and crossed his arms. He watched with pursed lips. You glanced at him. Did he disapprove? Steve offered the shield and you stared at it. 

“I don’t know. I’m not very strong.” You said.

“There’s straps,” He turned it and presented the thick leather handles. “I won’t let go unless you say so, okay?”

“Oh...fine,” You smiled, “How could I turn this up?”

You reached for the leather straps and Bucky loomed in your purview. Steve kept hold of the vibranium as you felt its weight and you bit your lip. You looked up at him nervously. “Just let go a little maybe? I don’t wanna drop it.”

“Sure,” He kept one hand on it and you threatened to tip. You planted your feet and nodded. He released it entirely and you wobbled. You grunted as you held it up with effort and he laughed in amusement.

“See, you got it,” He remarked, “You’re a lot stronger than you look.” He glanced at your phone beside your mug. “You wanna pic? People usually love that.”

“Oh, no,” You giggled. “That’s fine. I’m sure it looks ridiculous without the whole get up.”

“Ridiculous, eh?” Steve challenged.

“I didn’t mean…” Your arms slumped and Steve caught the shield before it could crash out of your grip. “Didn’t mean it like that, I just meant...I don’t know, it’s a whole look.”

Steve swiftly flipped the shield back onto the counter. You looked over as Bucky crossed to the fridge and opened it. He peered inside and pulled out a bottle of bright blue vitamin water. He turned back to you and cracked it open. He looked less than impressed.

“Sorry, arm’s attached,” He shrugged as he sat in your former stool.

“Buck,” You shook your head.

“Just a glorified plate,” He muttered.

“Hey, you could show off the arm, buddy,” Steve smirked. “You’re the one who hides it.”

Bucky narrowed his eyes and swigged from his bottle. You reached for your mug and felt the heat rising from him. Was he jealous? Over a shield? You shrugged off his displeasure and sipped from your tea.

“Next time, don’t listen to Tony,” You advised. “The shield is a distraction and not a good one.”

-

You left the pair of super soldiers shortly after and returned to your office. Tony went over the press conference with a fine tooth comb and despite his best efforts, could find few faults. You were relieved and quickly got back to your perusal of social media to monitor the response. 

You left your office an hour late that night but Bucky had made himself sparse. He didn’t answer when you knocked and no texts chimed in your inbox. He was always quiet on press days. He needed to decompress. You’d give him his space and tell him how proud you were the next day.

You messaged him as you closed your door. Just checking in. You undressed casually as you moved around your room and left your clothes strewn along the chair. You turned on the shower and lost yourself in the steam. A long but otherwise successful day.

You pulled on a night shirt and settled into bed with your phone. Still no response. You distracted yourself with kitten pictures and dumb memes along your feed. You yawned and slumped down against the pillows. You texted Bucky again. No response. 

‘Hey, when’s the last time you saw Buck?’ You texted Steve. You just needed some assurance before you settled down.

You hit back and selected the “top ten moments from Steve Roger’s press conference.” That wouldn’t please Bucky, he was never mentioned.

You didn’t get past the first heading when the click startled you. You looked up as your locked handle rattled and cracked. You shimmied across the bed and stood as the door opened. You set aside your phone and gaped at the vision before you. Were you dreaming? Surely you were.

“Why’s your door locked?” Bucky asked and you blinked. 

For a moment, you thought Steve had broken into your room. The blue suit strained against his thicker arms and the shield was held lithely on his left forearm. His hair was hidden beneath the cowl and his jaw looked even squarer. He was wearing the Captain suit and it didn’t quite fit him. In fact, it was much too tight.

“What are you doing?” You laughed. Stunned.

“Don’t you like it?” He closed the door but it wouldn’t catch. The latch was entirely busted. “Isn’t this what you like?” He struck Steve’s typical stance, hands on belt as he posed. 

“What do you mean, Buck?” You trilled, thoroughly amused.

“I saw the look on your face,” He said darkly, “Heard the little glimmer in your voice.”

“Buck…” You shook your head. “We we’re having fun. That’s all.”

“You two were having fun,” He asserted. Your smile fell as he lowered the shield and stepped forward. 

“You’re jealous? Of me and Steve?” You scoffed. “That’s--Bucky.”

“You were practically drooling,” He snarled. “Isn’t this what you want? Good ole Cap to fuck you right?”

“Bucky,” You warned. “You’re being mean.”

“Mean? I’m making your dreams come true, babe,” He shoved the shield into the chair and turned back to you.

“I think you should go,” You tried to push past him and move the shield. “Put all this back before Steve notices.”

“I think you should listen to your captain,” He grabbed your arm and shoved you back towards the bed. “Look at you,” He inched the bottom of your night shirt up and peeked at your bare vee. “You we’re just waiting for this.”

“Bucky,” You pushed on his chest and he led you backward until your legs met the end of the bed.

“Captain,” He corrected you and nudged you back so that you fell onto the mattress. You bounced on your ass and tried to stand. He pointed a gloved finger hand at your face and tutted. “Don’t move.”

You sat and stared up at him. He reached up and removed the cowl and his hair spilled forth. “He’s fucking right about the helmet,” He threw it against the shield. He grasped the belt again and glared down at you. “Take that off.”

You winced in confusion. “Bucky, it’s enough.”

“Take it off,” He growled, each word punctuated. “Now.”

You huffed and tugged the tail of the night shirt from beneath your ass and pulled it over your head. He took it from you and tossed it away. You crossed your legs and arms in an effort to hide yourself.

“Why you being shy now, babe?” He felt along the belt. “He’s got lots of little toys for us to play with.”

Your nostrils flared and you stayed silent. You didn’t know what to say or do. It was like he was in a trance. On some mission and he wouldn’t stop until he was done. He held up a pair of cuffs; hi-tech and unbreakable. The kind they used for the most dangerous criminals. 

You shook your head. “Uh-uh.”

“What? Are you telling your captain no?” He sneered. He spun the cuffs around his finger. “Do you know the protocol for disobedience?” You gulped as he neared. He grabbed your hand and clasped a cuff around your wrist. “I mean, now I have to use these, don’t I?”

He pulled you around and dragged you across the bed on your knees. You tried to resist him but he was too strong. He looped the cuffs through the head board and caught your other wrist. He locked the other cuff and left you bent over, your hands bound to the frame.

“Bucky,” You said frantically. “Bucky, I don’t like this. You know I hate being trapped.”

“Shhh,” He hushed you as he paced around the bed. “Get that ass up, babe.”

You growled and pulled harder on the cuffs. The bed sank behind you and he grasped your hips. He forced your ass up and you wiggled against him. “I fucking mean it, Bucky.”

“Captain!” He barked and spanked your ass. Hard. You yelped. “Better start listening or I’ll see what else he has hidden in this belt.”

You sucked in your bottom lip and groaned. He kneaded your ass as you tried to lower it and pinched. 

“Don’t you fucking dare,” He warned. “Keep it up.”

Your shoulders strained and you fell down on your elbows as you kept your ass in the air. He pushed your legs apart with his and pressed his crotch to you. He rubbed against you until you felt his erection through the suit. 

He brought his hand up between you and shoved his gloved fingers along your folds. You tremble and he played with you. Despite your confusion, your fear, your anger, you were wet. You hadn’t fucked since before his last mission. He had been too anxious about the conference. 

He slicked the fingertips of the leather gloves and pushed them inside. You whined at the sudden intrusion and he buried his fingers as far as they would go. He drew them in and out a few times until your juices had spread. He removed his hand and fumbled between your bodies.

He pressed his cock along your ass and down to your pussy. You leaned forward and he pulled you back. He entered you in a single motion and you gasped. You held onto the bedframe as you struggled not to fall onto your face. He reared and slammed back into you as hard as he can. He was never this rough with you.

“You think he can fuck you like this?” He hissed between thrusts; each harder than the last. “Hmm? You think Captain America can make you cum?”

You arched your back as he fucked you. The fabric of the suit chafed against your ass as he guided your hips. Your legs trembled as he plunged deeper and deeper. You couldn’t help the twinge you felt at your core. The gathering fervour that nipped at your flesh. 

“Is this what you think of when you fuck me?” He snapped and you looked over your shoulder at him. His eyes were dark and furious. He grabbed your head and forced it down to the mattress. “Hmm? Are you thinking of him breaking your little pussy?”

“No,” You panted as your arms were stretched painfully above you. “No.”

“Oh yeah?” He sped up and you moaned. 

“No, no, not him,” You swore between gasps. Your orgasm hovered just along your spine. “Only you. Bucky…”

“Captain,” He let go of your head and smacked your ass. 

He pushed your pelvis down to the bed so your legs splayed out between him and he continued to pound into you. He pinned your shoulders down with his hands and hammered into you.

“Oh, oh, oh,” You ascended quickly, “Captain. Oh, Captain!”

You cried out in orgasm and spasmed beneath him. You heard a creak as you buried your face in the pillows and Bucky’s rhythm wavered slightly. He moved his hand to the back of your head again and kept your face towards the wall.

“Again,” He ordered, “Louder.”

“Oh, Captain,” You exclaimed as your pussy thrummed around him. “Captain, Captain, Captain…”

He grunted and groaned. He bucked against you and his breath hitched as he came. The ribbons coated your walls as he slowed and chuckled. He smacked your ass as he leaned back and slowly pulled out.

“Sorry about that,” Bucky said nonchalantly as he climbed off the bed, “Didn’t hear you knock.”

“What?” You lifted your head and looked over your shoulder. Steve stood in the door and stared at your naked body across the bed. You closed your legs as his eyes drifted to your dripping pussy. “Bucky!”

“Don’t worry,” Bucky tucked his cock away and neared his friend. “I’ll have the suit cleaned.” He clapped Steve’s shoulder and gripped the door with his other hand. “But if it’s alright with you, I’m not done with it just yet.”

You couldn’t see past Bucky and were glad for it as you listened to Steve sputter and the rush of his footsteps as he retreated down the hall. Bucky closed the door and grabbed the shield to prop up against it so that it didn’t budge. He turned back to you and reached into his pants.

“Shit,” He stopped short as he came to the end of the bed, “Was that rude? Should I have invited him to join?”

[spotofimagines]

Facetime ~ Ross Barkley

A/N: This is part of a writing challenge set by @footballffbarbiex​ which is giving me the kick up the backside to get writing. Check out her blog for all the other fics people have written for the challenge, maybe even do one yourself! It’s fairly short and I didn’t know how to end it but it’s here. I’ll be working through my upcoming list like normal now, requests are open. Enjoy!

Warnings: just sickly sweet fluff.

Summary: Quarantine has got you missing a lot of things, but you by far miss him the most.

“I can’t stop thinking about you.”

You missed a lot of things from your everyday life whilst you were stuck at home for some time. You missed going out with your friends, drinks on the weekends and lunch on wednesdays. You missed randomly visiting your parents house to see how they’re doing over a cup of tea. You missed your job which you love dearly. You missed the atmosphere of a full stadium on game days, or even just kicking back and watching it from home.

But you didn’t expect to miss him as much as you did.

The dates you’d been on kept replaying in your head, reminding you of the fuzzy feeling you got each time he smiled at you and the magnetic spark between you when you held his hand. The innocent touches of something new that were turning themselves into the familiar grips of romance.

Just as things had started to blossom rather nicely, the country was advised to stay indoors, and it’s now that you regret the choice to isolate at your place instead of his. The walls were going without a special light dancing across them and the air was craving the sound of the cosy chatter it knew. The sofa seemed larger when it was just you to fill its space, and even though he didn’t live with you before, every piece of the small house now lacked the second person it knew would make it whole.

You remembered what it looked like, him cooking in his sweatpants, him rolling over to you in bed before he drifted to sleep, him scrolling through his phone with his feet on your coffee table. How you wished to see it all again.

A muffled ringtone stopped you staring off into space as you pictured him beside you and instead had you searching under the pillows for your phone. You knew who it would be. A lazy promise made to talk to you first thing when he wakes up everyday surprisingly holding strong.

Pressing the green accept button, your daydreams of him were put aside to greet the man you longed to see. A lazy smile donned his lips but the happiness in his features shone through without effort. His strong accent spoke through the phone, still gravelly from sleep despite it being close to noon. A newly grown beard lay on his face that you had yet to see in person, but by the way it made his tired eyes stand brighter than before told you that you’d be campaigning for it to stay a little longer.

You lost track of the happenings in his life he was telling you about, too busy focusing on the details of him as he sat up comfortably in his bed, the sheets loose around his waist leaving his body for you to catch glimpses of when his hand slipped the phone down in his fingers by mistake.

That was until he was quiet for a moment as he took you in properly. Your messy hair framed your face and the oversized jumper, which he recognised as the one he gave you from his closet the first time you stayed the night at his, looked snug on your shoulders. As if he didn’t already know it, he couldn’t deny for another second that you were the most beautiful thing he’d laid eyes on in months, the only thing coming close being the sight of you in that navy blue dress back in early January.

“I can’t stop thinking about you.” The words found no resistance before they came, rolling off his tongue in a gentle admission to the feelings he’d yet to say.

Instantly your heart jumped out of your skin, your eyes softening at his slowly forming smile on the screen. The warmth you felt for him now spreading all over you, making you melt on the spot as he started rambling about how distracted he’s been because of you, how little activities in the day have his mind running right back to you.

You knew it was true. He’d been finding the tiniest excuses to talk to you. Asking you for recipes, chatting about the new show you both watched, whether he should buy apples or bananas from the shop, sending you memes he finds funny during the day. But the look in his eyes as he spoke in the moment, the fact he couldn’t stop the grin growing on his lips as he reminded you your hairbrush was still in his room, and that he was taking very good care of it for you, it was everything he couldn’t hide that told you all you needed to know.

You didn’t need his admission, you were already aware of how he truly felt, but hearing the words and noticing the ever so slight tint to his cheeks when he said it, how blissful it was to be his.

You couldn’t wait for so many things in life to come back to you after all this was said and done, but you just know nothing will come close to having him in your arms again.

[pixiegrl]

For the intimacy prompts, #90 with mashton would be very lovely but no pressure if it doesn’t fit!!

Okay so, this was suppose to be short! Brief! A cute night drive! But then Michael decided to do whatever he wanted. And then Ashton surprised me so. It got very very long. I hope you like it! And that it’s everything you wanted!

(this is a preview of how I write all the time so. This is what to expect from the stardust AU lmao)

Mashton with #90, going for a ride together

Michael’s been playing Kingdom Hearts for the last 12 hours when his phone rings. He ignores it because he’s almost completed the level he’s on and he’s determined to at least finish the Toy Story planet before he takes a break. His phone stops and then rings a second, third, fourth time. On the fifth time, Michael coincides that whoever it is probably won’t stop anytime soon and with a heavy sign he pauses the game to grab his phone.  He figures it has to be Luke, the only person who would possibly pester Michael that aggressively, probably because Calum left him alone for longer than 5 minutes and Luke got bored.

“What?” Michael answers with a heavy sign, grabbing his game controller figuring he can probably multi-task listening to Luke babble about whatever’s grabbed his interest and finish his game.

“Well that’s no way to talk to your boyfriend,” Ashton’s voice trickles through the speaker, echo-y and far away.  Michael can hear the crackling of wind through the speaker.

“To be fair I thought you were Luke,” Michael saves his game knowing that whatever it is Ashton’s calling about, Michael wants to focus his attention on his boyfriend. In the dim light of his room illuminated by the light of his monitor, Michael can admit that he misses Ashton. They’ve been finishing up the recording for the new 5sos album and while he’s been spending every waking moment with Ashton, he hasn’t been spending time with Ashton.

“You know for that moment I should turn the car around,” Ashton laughs, the sound warming Michael and making him smile.

“Where are you?” 

“About 10 minutes away.”

“Ashton it’s,” Michael glances at the clock, “9pm at night.”

“I know but I. Miss you. I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

Michael rolls his eyes but stands up, going over to his closet and rummaging around for a jacket to wear. He knows that once Ashton’s set his mind to something he won’t be dissuaded, even if it's far too late at night to do anything. 

“You saw me yesterday at the studio,” Michael teases fondly, yanking a sweatshirt off the hanger and setting his phone to speaker as he pulls it on. 

“Yeah but that was as a band mate. I haven’t seen you as a boyfriend in ages with how busy we’ve been. I figured we could go for a ride together, like we used to. Maybe by the beach? It's a beautiful night.” Ashton sounds unsure across the line. Michael feels his heart warm. Late night drives are something he and Ashton used to do frequently on break, when they’d had free time to go out on dates. They haven’t been able to do anything like this since coming off of the World War Joy tour and it’s sweet of Ashton to remember their favorite date night activity.

“You’re lucky I’m nocturnal babe.” Michael grabs a pair of sneakers sliding them on. He checks his hair in the mirror, pulling a beanie down over his blonde hair. He slides his wallet and keys into his pocket, rubbing Moose’s head as he goes.  She looks up from her spot on the bed, but seeing that it’s only Michael curls back up, unbothered by the disturbance. “I’ll wait outside for you.”

“See in you a bit darling.” The line goes dead and Michael exits his house, locking the door behind him and flopping down onto his steps to wait for Ashton. He’s scrolling those the band’s group chat, rolling his eyes at the memes Cal and Luke have been sending back and forth when he sees the headlights of Ashton’s car come into view. He jumps up and darts towards the car, pulling the door open before Ashton fully comes to a stop, and throws himself into the passenger seat.

Ashton’s grinning, leaning across the center console to steal a kiss from Michael. His eyes shine in the light and he kisses Michael quickly on the lips before putting the car back into drive and pulling back out onto the street.

They drive in silence on the way to the boardwalk they’ve come to think of as theirs. The radio’s playing some kind of classic rock song quietly in the background, clearly an afterthought to the drive. Michael grabs Ashton’s hand, intertwining their fingers and pulling Ashton’s hand into his lap. Michael steals a quick glance over to Ashton. He’s glowing in the light of the moon, red hair falling in soft curls around his face. Michael’s missed Ashton like this, soft and uninhibited, looking young like the teenagers they never got the chance to really be. He’s smiling softly, the dimple in his cheek standing out in the glow of the moonlight. 

Michael’s heart aches just looking at Ashton. He’s been in love with this boy for almost 10 years and even if they’ve only been together for the last 5 years, Michael feels as if he’s always loved Ashton, as if he’ll never stop loving him. Michael’s watched Ashton grow so much over the years and every day he’s left in awe that Ashton would choose him over everyone else to love.  That Ashton continues to love him through it all.   

“What are you thinking about?” Michael’s startled out of his head, blushing when he realizes he’s been staring intently at the side of Ashton’s face for the last few minutes, rubbing his thumb over the back of Ashton’s hand. 

“What?”

“You look very pensive. What’s grabbed your attention?”

“Nothing I’m just…” Michael glances out the front window, looking up at the moon. If he doesn’t stop now he’ll do something silly, like propose to Ashton. He feels it in his chest, love bubbling over and he’s not sure he can stop himself from saying it aloud. “I’m just thinking about the arrangement we recorded today.”

Ashton glances at Michael out of the corner of his eye. He looks like he wants to say something, like he knows Michael’s lying but he seems to think better of it. He tugs his hand back, maneuvering the car into a space to park and Michael hadn’t realized they’d reach the boardwalk, so wrapped in his own thoughts he missed the smell of salt water and the sound of waves.  The boardwalks always made him feel homesick for Australia. He’s always been adamant that he wanted to get out, that he’d felt stifled in their small town, needed to explore the world but it’s times like this, in the late night hours, that he misses home, misses his parents.

Ashton shuts the car off, reaching into the backseat to grab the towel he always keeps back there. He gets out of the car, coming around the front to open Michael’s door and hold his hand out. Michael interlocks their fingers around, allowing himself to be pulled out of the car and down to the sand.  Ashton spreads the blanket out and they collapse onto it.  Ashton pulls Michael into his lap, wrapping his arms around Michael's waist and resting his head onto Michael’s shoulder.

They sit like that for a few moments, breathing in sync, Ashton’s chest pressed to Michael’s back.  Michael’s been rubbing his thumbs over the back of Ashton’s hand where they’re resting in his lap and Michael thinks he could cry from how soft and loved he feels, here on a beach in LA under the moonlight, the waves crashing in front of him and the love of his life holding onto him.

“Hey Michael?”

“Yeah.”

“Will you marry me?”

Michael stops breathing. He literally feels his heart stop and his breath stutter. “What,” He breathes out quieter this time. He’s worried if he answers the question, speaks the words he’ll ruin this moment, this one perfect beautiful moment.

“I don’t have a ring. I literally was not prepared to do this but. I love you. I love you so much I can’t find the words for it and I want to marry you. I want to tell the whole world that you’re mine and that we’re together. I want to buy a house with you and have your dogs’ hair on all my clothing and wake up next to you in the morning with the sunshine streaming in through the window lighting you up, cold because you stole all the blankets like you always do. I want to drink the terrible tea that you make and make sure you actually eat your vegetables and watch you get stupidly worked up over your video games. I want to be able to kiss you first thing in the morning and I want you to be the last person I see before I go to sleep.  I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. So Michael Gordon Clifford, will you do me the greatest honor and marry me?” Ashton rushes the words out, taking a deep breathe once he’s asked the question again.

Michael thinks he might cry. He feels the love spilling over and his heart, his words catch in his throat.  He wants to say yes, he’s never been more sure of anything ever. He can’t seem to say the words, hiccuping around them as the tears spill over.  He starts nodding furiously, hoping that Ashton will understand what he means.

“Michael? Have I broken you? Is this where you tell me we have to break up?” Ashton sounds uncertain and Michael can’t have that.  He turns himself around in Ashton’s arms flinging his arms around Ashton’s neck, hiccuping around his answer as the tears spill out.

“Yes Ashton. God yes of course I’ll marry you. I love you so much I can’t get the words out sometimes. I want to make a home together and let you put your stupid plants everywhere and wake up in the morning when you get back from your runs and throw your sweaty body on top of me. I want to spend every night cuddling with you and Moose and Southie and watching whatever terrible show you’ve decided was worth our time.  I want to make you tea every morning, even if you think it’s too weak and fill the cabinets with chips even when you complain and let you make me veggies. I want you to drag me away from my games and go on late night drives with you and stare at you in the moonlight and kiss you every moment of every day. I love you and I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. Ashton Fletcher Irwin, of course I’ll marry you.” Michael confesses, hiccuping sobs into Ashton’s neck.  

Ashton grabs his face with both hands, staring intently into Michael’s eyes.  Whatever answer, whatever sincerity Ashton’s looking for, he must find.  Ashton grins widely, dimple indented on his cheek, pulling Michael in and capturing his lips in a kiss, which is ruined by how much the two of them are grinning, barely able to kiss from the smiles plastered on their faces. Michael’s face is starting to hurt from the force of his grin but he can’t bring himself to care, capturing Ashton’s lips in small quick kisses, twining his fingers into Ashton’s curls. 

Michael feels happy, feels full, and he doesn’t think he’s even been happier, will ever feel happier than he does at this moment, on a beach in LA, kissing the love of his life, his fiancee here in the sand, with the moonlight shining down on them.

(Later, driving back to Michael’s house, holding hands again with smiles plastered across their faces, Ashton will tell Michael that he and Calum bet each other which of them would propose first. He’ll tell Michael that Calum’s planning to propose to Luke on Valentine’s Day and that Ashton just beat him by a month. He’ll ask Michael if he thinks Calum will be upset about Cal lost. Michael will say he doesn’t care what Calum thinks, as long as Calum’s lost money will pay for a nice engagement ring for Michael. 

“Hey! I deserve a ring too.” Ashton will say in mock outrage.

“You proposed to me sweetheart. According to proposal logic, I get the engagement ring and all you get is the wedding band.” Michael says smugly. Ashton will scoff, but he still leans over the center console to press a kiss to Michael’s cheek as they pull into his drive. Michael thinks he was wrong earlier. This is the happiest he’s ever been, here in this car sitting next to Ashton basking in his love.)

(Michael’s wrong. A year from then, he thinks the happiest he’s ever been is on his wedding day, facing Ashton as they proclaim their eternal love for each other, surrounded by Luke and Calum and their families, ready to build their life together.)

(Michael’s still wrong.  Every morning when he wakes up next to Ashton, to his husband, he thinks “This is the happiest I’ll ever be.” But it’s fine. Michael has a life-time of “the happiest he’ll ever be” to create with Ashton.)

[casualmaraudering]

after 2342394 years we have a second chapter

***

The bedroom is pitch black when Sirius wakes up. And right from the moment he opens his eyes, he feels like death.

His throat is dry and sore - as if he’s caught a nasty cold or spent the past two days drinking - and his eyes feel heavy and wet. He’s sweaty, there’s a rather painful squeeze to his stomach, and his head is pounding.

None of it comes as a surprise, really. He always feels like shit whenever his body decides to catch up on sleep - it’s funny, almost. When he doesn’t sleep at all - he feels awful. And then when he sleeps for more than absolutely necessary - he ends up just as bad, if not worse. A lose-lose situation, his sleeping habits.

There’s a moment of hesitation before he reluctantly reaches for his phone.

4.52AM

Undoubtedly, the worst part about his body catching up after bad episodes is how it fucks up his mood. The wrecking guilt for waisting 14 goddamn hours is already set heavy in his stomach. He’s wasted the whole evening - and in his current situation, he can’t fucking afford to do that. He could’ve gone shopping - there’s barely any food in the fridge - or done his schoolwork, or even just spend time with his brother.

And God, thinking about Regulus always manages to make Sirius feels even worse.

Cause he’s supposed to be better than the goddamn fuckup he currently is. He should be able to set a good example. But he can’t. Hell, he feels that Regulus is the one taking care of him more often than the other way around.

Sometimes, Sirius wonders whether he should’ve left Reg at Grimmauld. To live a privileged, rich life they were so used to, with cooks and maids and no worry in the world on his head. They’ve always liked Regulus better anyway - it’s Sirius who’s always been the rebel, the improper one, the hated one. The queer one, though that came a bit later (and it’s not like Sirius ever told anyone. That would’ve gotten him thrown out, and he couldn’t let that happen - he needed to leave on his own terms, with Regulus in tow). Maybe they never would’ve hit Regulus? He knows how to behave, after all.

Yet Sirius couldn’t bring himself to chance it. He can’t stomach the thought of his little brother alone in that godforsaken place. Even if Sirius fucks up at being an adult, at least he can assure Regulus grows up loved and without anyone ever raising their hand on him. It’s all he can do for now.

But, while Sirius would love to stay in bed for the rest of the day - or possibly the rest of time - and sink deeper into the pit of despair he’s fallen into, he can’t. Not when he’s got work at 8 and so many things to do before that. The disgusting mood will stay, just like it always does, but Sirius can just lie his way through the mental disarray he’s got going on. He might be a fuck up, but he’s a fuck up responsible for a human being that needs tending to. If it weren’t for Regulus, well… Sirius probably wouldn’t make it as far as today.

So, with a bit of difficulty, he gets up. Right away he gets overwhelmingly dizzy, and his stomach churns with discomfort. He groans in annoyance and sways towards the bathroom. What a way to start the day indeed.

After throwing up (and dry heaving for a bit, because he hasn’t eaten in a good while, so there’s not really much to vomit with), Sirius follows his usual routine of loo-teeth-shower-hair drying. It makes him feel a bit better, at least. He throws the clothes he fell asleep in into the hamper (he needs to do the laundry sometime today, he notes) and trots to his bedroom to look for something to wear.

He checks his phone while squeezing himself into his jeans (not as tight as he’d usually go for - he wants to be able to move comfortably at work) and finds he has several messages.

There’s a few from James - nothing important, either random things he did throughout the day or memes. One from Lily, telling him there’s Chinese in the fridge for when he wakes up and that if he tries to slip her the money for it, she’ll slit his throat (typical, but Sirius will find a way to pay her back anyway).

And then, there’s one that actually makes Sirius smile.

From: Remus

6.21PM

Hope you dream about something nice tonight.

Sirius wished he didn’t remember all the extremely embarrassing things he had said to Remus yesterday - declaring love after knowing the man for five minutes being icing on the cake - but they’re stuck in his memory, ready to taunt him tonight when he inevitably won’t be able to sleep. Though, seeing as Remus did send him a text, maybe not all is lost?

To: Remus

5.20AM

I had the nicest dream. Guess who was in it ;)

There’s no harm in hoping, at least.

****

After getting breakfast (and praising Lily for thoughtfulness, because of course, the fridge is empty), Sirius goes through as many chores as he can before he has to hurry off to work. He puts the laundry on, gets groceries - cringes at the bill extremely, but he can’t just feed his brother instant ramen - and even cleans the kitchen a bit. He puts some toast into the toaster (without the crusts, and leaves a kettle full of freshly boiled water next to a box of green tea) and goes to wake Regulus. It’s not that Sirius necessarily needs to - the kid has a phone with an alarm, after all - but he likes it. It makes him feel more involved; more like an actual responsible brother.

Upon knocking on his door, before even Sirius has a chance to enter, he hears a loud groan; Sirius chuckles at that as he steps inside. While he himself had always been an early riser, Regulus loathes mornings more than anything in the world.

“Rise and shine, Your Majesty,” Sirius says brightly, leaning against the doorway. He smiles as he watches Regulus pull the covers over his head.

“‘eout-”

“No can do, you have a maths test today. Out of bed, sir.”

“Mhmm.”

“If I don’t see you at breakfast in ten minutes, I’m dumping a bucket of cold water right on your head.”

“‘u w’ldn’t. You’d h’ve to clean.”

Sirius laughs, shaking his head slightly. “Ten minutes,” he only says, stepping back and closing the door again.

It’s fifteen minutes until Regulus, sleepy and visibly very grumpy, stomps into the kitchen and sits himself next to Sirius at the kitchen table (Sirius lets him have 20 minutes - if it’s more than that, he always finds he had fallen back asleep).

“I’ll be back from work at 6,” he says, passing a cup of tea to his brother, who takes it without even slight hesitation. “D’you wanna wait for me and have dinner then, or do you want to order in?”

“I’ll be back later too,” Regulus informs him, taking small sips of his tea (he takes his tea ridiculously hot, Sirius had learned, which he simply stopped questioning it after a while). “I have a project to do with a friend. I’ll be at her house.”

“A friend, huh?” Sirius’s mouth raises in a smirk. “And what’s that friend’s name?”

Regulus rolls his eyes and huffs. “Amelia.”

Sirius smiles harder. “And are you and Amelia good friends?”

“Oh stop that.”

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. ‘m not doing anything.”

“Yes you are!” Regulus says in frustration. “You’re doing the girls thing. She’s not my girlfriend or anything, I don’t like her like that. She’s just a friend.”

Sirius’s gaze softens, and he ends up ruffling Reg’s hair - something he knows Regulus extremely hates.

“I know, I’m just joking around.”

He trusts - and hopes - Regulus would tell him if he started being interested in someone. Both of them aren’t really the type to talk about things like that anyway. Regulus, of course, knows Sirius is gay, but Sirius rarely talks about any boyfriends. Though, that might be cause he doesn’t really do that. Not since they left their parents, anyway.

And it’s not he doesn’t want to; it just never seems like the right time. He’s far too busy with school and then work and then caring for his brother - there’s nowhere to squeeze in dates. And sure, every now and again James and Lily drag him out of the house for the evening, but he never ends up coming home with anybody either; the anxiety about leaving his brother alone for the night is too much. Regulus isn’t a little kid anymore, but Sirius feels he shouldn’t leave him alone for a whole night. Not just yet, at least.

“So when will you be home?” Sirius asks, leaving the table to get his gear on and look for his bike keys (he always manages to loose them, somehow). Thank God for his bike - if it weren't for her, Sirius would be late for work pretty much every day, with how late he leaves the house.

“At 8, maybe?”

“No later than 9, okay? And give me a call if you need me to pick you up.”

“Mhm.”

“You’re grounded if you’re here a second after nine.”

He hears Regulus snort in reply. He walks to the kitchen, ruffles his brother’s hair once again (and earns a very displeased noise in response) and makes his way out the door.

By that time, Sirius’s stomach has settled, and although his head is still throbbing, and he still feels like shit, he’s confident the day at work should pass swiftly. Or so he hopes, at least.

And an hour into the workday, he’s proven wrong.

Working as a mechanic is, obviously, incredibly messy and even more tiring, but today everything seems to go slightly wrong; fussy customers, parts falling onto his feet or hands, accidental burns, and an oil spill all over his trousers. And that’s just little over an hour since he clocked in.

If only he could quit, he would.

Except he has barely any cash in his bank account right now, and it’s not like he has Mummy and Daddy’s fortune to rely on anymore. There’s some savings in his account, but that’s only for emergencies, and it’s not like it’s much. Not enough for rent and utilities, anyway.

Thinking about that always makes Sirius’s stomach clench uncomfortably. He’s so damn tired all the time from constant work, and all his muscles ache at the end of the day, and then there’s always something left to do at home. There’s not really much he can do about that other than to suck it up. It always comes down to Regulus anyway. Sirius isn’t doing it for himself - he wants Reg to have a good life, a happy life, not to be miserable like Sirius had been back in their family home.

He just wants his brother to be happy and healthy, and if that means having to work a few too many hours, then be it.

Sirius’s day passes in a blur of oil spills, clunking of metal, and about four cups of coffee, before he can finally make his way back home and drop onto the couch in exhaustion. The tension in his shoulders aches deeply whenever he moves; the skin on his hands is irritated and red (he really should invest in some moisturizer), and his hair feels uncomfortably dirty even if he's washed it today morning. He could stay on the couch forever.

But of course, life calls. Or more like texts.

And by life, he means James.

From: Prongs 🥰

6.15PM

pub??? now???? come pls?? i miss you :(

Sirius sighs deeply (and probably far too dramatically). He’s exhausted, and sore, and he wouldn’t even be able to drink because Reggie might call him for a ride later. All he wants is to crawl into bed right now, and hope he can sleep for even just a little bit tonight.

But then, he hasn’t seen his friends in what feels like ages and he genuinely misses them. It might be a bad choice, but well... if there’s one thing Sirius is known for, it’s making bad choices. So he agrees.

He quickly cooks dinner, just so there’s something to heat up when Regulus is back, and leaves a post-it note on the counter in case Regulus is home before him. Then, just as he’s about to throw on his jacket again and rush out the door, a thought pops into his mind. 

He pulls out his phone, sends a quick texts, and leaves his flat.

To: Remus

6.21PM

any chance you wanna come down to Three Broomsticks for a pint? my treat

[diner-drama]

Cuddle Buddies (1/?)

"Cuddle Buddies: professional platonic cuddling therapy services for the busy modern professional" are an entirely legitimate organization serving the touch-starved. Look, it's just been a long time since Steve's been in a relationship, and a guy has needs, you know? Sometimes after a long day of being a strong, hard-nosed solicitor, weathering insults and attacks from the opposing counsel and your own coworkers, you just want to have someone stroke your hair and tell you you're good. Bucky loves his job as a professional cuddler, providing non-romantic physical touch to people that need it, and when his new client turns out to be a pint-sized spitfire with a smile to die for, that's just a bonus.

Also on ao3.

"Rumlow, if I wake up tomorrow to find out that you've thrown my client on an airplane and deported her in the middle of the night I will have your ass in front of the bar association before you can blink," barked Steve into the phone held between his ear and shoulder, trying to get his keys out of his pocket one-handed. "You really think they're going to let this slide after last time?"

He paused for a second as the person on the other end of the line made a few abortive attempts at a response, then cut him off. "I'm turning off my phone now. If you still want to talk in the morning after considering my offer you can call me then, but if you pull any of your bullshit in the meantime, I will fucking ruin you."

Steve hung up the call with a flourish and shouldered his front door open, throwing his phone into a basket on an occasional table before closing the door behind him and leaning against it, rubbing his eyes exhaustedly. Being a hard-ass human rights lawyer was all very well and good during the work day, but by the time he got home Steve was more than ready to shed his tough persona and let himself be soft.

The suit jacket was the first to go, shrugged off his slim shoulders and slipped onto a hanger. Then, his smart, shiny shoes were slipped off and replaced with warm, thick socks. He swapped his starched shirt for an old, lived-in hoodie, and his neatly pressed slacks for sweatpants. His black briefcase found a home in the spare room he used as an office, and he shut the door after it, mentally shutting away his work life. He ran his hand through his smartly-combed hair to muss it up and rolled his shoulders back, taking a few deep breaths and letting the stress of his day roll off him.

He wandered around the living room, picking up a blanket from the steamer trunk by the window, drawing the curtains, and switching on the electric fireplace which filled the space with warmth and low, flickering light. He picked up his personal phone from the coffee table and sent a quick text to Sam to let him know he made it home safely, sent a thumbs up to Darcy in response to a terrible meme she'd sent him, and briefly considered video calling Peggy before remembering that she was in a conference in Singapore.

He flopped down onto the couch and wrapped himself up tight in the blanket, enjoying its weight on his shoulders. Opening his laptop, he coughed in embarrassment when the tab that he'd opened in a fit of loneliness last night popped up. "Cuddle Buddies: professional platonic cuddling therapy services for the busy modern professional" seemed to be an entirely legitimate organization serving the touch-starved, and they had excellent reviews.

Look, it's just been a long time since Steve's been in a relationship, and a guy has needs, you know? Sometimes after a long day of being a strong, hard-nosed solicitor, weathering insults and attacks from the opposing counsel and your own coworkers, you just want to have someone stroke your hair and tell you you're good. Steve did his best to keep his work and home lives separate, but lately it was getting difficult to switch off from his worries when he was lying in bed at night, going over details from his cases while he tossed and turned on his pillows.

He scrolled through the information on the website one more time, thinking about how it might feel to invite a stranger into his home to cuddle him. Would it be uncomfortable? Would they think he was pathetic?

Putting aside the laptop for a minute, he ambled back into the kitchen to re-heat some shepherd's pie and put on the kettle for a cup of tea, climbing on a step stool to reach the mugs. His fingers and toes still a little chilly from the crisp autumn evening outside, he decided to fill up a hot water bottle, tucking it carefully into its fluffy case and holding it under his arm as he brought his dinner and drink back to the table. After a couple of bites of the pie, he pulled out a neat little wicker basket from under the table and took out his evening medications. Tapping the pills into his hand, he swallowed them with a gulp of tea and took a couple of huffs of his steroid inhaler for good measure, before getting back to his meal.

Steve may have lost the genetic lottery when it came to his height and his abysmal health, but the gods had seen fit to bless him with more than his share of sheer, bloody-minded scrappiness, which he felt more than made up for it.

Once he'd cleared the plate away and made himself a second cuppa, he opened up a book on his e-reader and held the comforting, warm weight of the hot water bottle to his chest, wondering idly, not for the first time, whether he should get a cat. He was a couple of chapters into a mediocre romance novel when he started tapping his fingers, thinking.

After a brief moment of indecision, he grabbed the laptop with renewed certainty and began to type a request into the website.

Bucky was just waving goodbye to Nat as he walked away from their session when his phone chimed, alerting him that there was a new customer inquiry that the agency wanted him to look at.

Maria: 28 yo man in Red Hook interested in trying cuddle therapy to help with work stress. Would prefer male therapist. Due to asthma, no cologne or scented products, and non-smokers only.

He smiled, and shot off a quick affirmative response. Maria often sent him their new clients - there was something about him that reassured people if they felt a little unsure about the services. Bucky was perfectly happy with his chosen profession - non-romantic physical touch was, in his opinion, essential for a happy life, and he got to provide it to people that needed it. Bucky liked to observe people and through his job he'd met a wide array of curious characters, so the work was never boring.

Also, the pay was amazing and Alpine would only eat the expensive cat food, so there was that.

He continued on his journey, enjoying the changing leaves on the trees around him and the chill in the air. Just as he was about to step onto the subway, his phone buzzed again, and after he found a seat he saw that Maria had sent him the phone number for his new client. He sent off his standard greeting straight away, eager to get his schedule firmed up.

Bucky: Hi Steve, this is Bucky from the Cuddle Buddies agency. When works for you for our first meeting? Looking forward to working with you!

Steve: Thanks for getting back to me. Saturday evening would be best for my schedule. Can I pay the $80 fee via bank transfer? -Steven Grant Rogers, Shield Solicitors

The response came immediately, and was far more businesslike than his usual interactions with clients. Still, Bucky could be businesslike. He even owned a tie.

Bucky: You sure can - the agency should send you out a contract tonight with the bank details. I can do Saturday at 7 if that suits.

Steve: Saturday at 7 sounds fine. What are the terms of the contract?

Of course, Mr. Lawyer Man wanted to know about the contract.

Bucky: It lays out what to expect in our interactions - we provide purely non-sexual services - as well as how to deal with cancellations, how we protect your privacy, and the billing structure.

Steve: Thank you. I look forward to meeting you on Saturday.

Bucky shook his head, wondering how this stuffy, formal guy was going to act during their cuddle session.

Steve didn't have the opportunity to start feeling anxious about his cuddle appointment because the negotiations with the lawyers at the ICE detention center took up every moment of his time. He was wrapping up his conversation with a client via email in his home office when his alarm chimed to let him know that he had half an hour until Bucky arrived.

After stretching his arms over his head, wincing at the tightness of his shoulders after slouching all day, he stripped out of the pajamas he was still wearing and indulged in a long, hot shower, scrubbing away his stress and emerging pink-cheeked and fluffy-haired. In his bedroom, he changed into a soft blue flannel shirt and a pair of pants that looked like slacks but felt like sweatpants, and another pair of his warm, fuzzy socks.

Pacing around his living room, his nerves ramping up, he selected a different blanket to leave ready on the couch and checked twice on his selection of teas. He had just put the kettle on to boil when the buzzer sounded.

On opening the door, he was immediately reassured to see that Bucky had a friendly, engaging grin, and was wearing a soft, knitted sweater. He held out a hand to shake and then immediately felt like an idiot, but Bucky just grasped Steve's cold hand with his warm one and squeezed it.

"Hi, you must be Steve," said Bucky with a pleasant Brooklyn drawl. Without being asked, he pulled a Cuddle Buddies ID card out of his pocket and handed it over to Steve, who checked the details on it and handed it back.

"Nice to meet you," said Steve stiffly. "Please, come on in. I'm just making a cup of mint tea, do you want one?"

"That'd be perfect, Steve. Mind if I take my shoes off?"

"Go ahead," replied Steve with a thin smile, attending to the whistling kettle.

"Thanks," said Bucky when he accepted his cup of tea. Steve couldn't help but notice that Bucky was wearing mis-matched but co-ordinating socks, one with red stars on a white background, and the other with white stars on a red background. He ushered Bucky to take a seat on the couch and sat in the armchair opposite. Bucky's posture was loose and open, but Steve was sitting bolt upright and jiggling his leg nervously. Fortunately, Bucky chose to take the lead in the conversation.

"So, I usually start first sessions with clients by talking about what your goals are for therapy," he began with a reassuring smile. "For example, some clients are looking to feel more comfortable with physical touch, some want to get over a breakup, or reduce stress, and some are just looking for companionship."

"I guess the companionship and stress things," said Steve after thinking for a moment. "My job takes a lot out of me, so I don't really have the time to pursue a relationship, but I do miss that human touch."

Bucky smiled gently, as though what Steve had said wasn't anything out of the ordinary. "What do you do?"

"I'm a lawyer, I mostly represent people who are in danger of deportation," said Steve automatically.

"That sounds rewarding," replied Bucky encouragingly.

"It is," agreed Steve, "but it's incredibly draining. I have to be so hard and tough all the time. Sometimes I think it would be nice to just be..." He tailed off, unsure how to finish his sentence.

"Soft?" supplied Bucky.

Steve smiled, feeling more comfortable despite his misgivings. "Yeah."

"Thank you for being so open with me, Steve," said Bucky, reaching over to squeeze Steve's knee. "If you don't have a particular preference for how we start, how about you join me on the couch and I put my arms around you. Does that sound good?"

Suddenly shy, Steve nodded and moved to sit next to Bucky, who immediately wrapped his big arms around Steve's shoulders and pulled Steve into his broad chest. As requested, Bucky wasn't wearing any fragrance, but he still smelled good, like fresh laundry and crisp autumn air, with an undercurrent of clean skin.

As he relaxed into Bucky's embrace, Steve tried to remember the last time he'd been held so gently. He was a regular recipient of Sam's big bear hugs and Darcy's chest-crushing squeezes, but he hadn't had a long-term romantic partner since law school, and his career didn't leave him a lot of free time to look for one.

"How does that feel?" asked Bucky in a low, soothing voice, gently rubbing at Steve's shoulder.

"Really good," breathed Steve.

"I'm glad," said Bucky gently. "How about I lie down on my back here and you snuggle up to my chest?"

Steve nodded his assent and Bucky released him slowly, and then rolled over to lie along the couch, opening up his arms so that Steve could slot himself in to rest his head on Bucky's warm chest. The knit of his sweater was soft against Steve's face, and one of Bucky's big hands came up to cup the back of Steve's head, rubbing small circles at the base of his skull with his fingertips.

"Thanks for not wearing cologne," said Steve, sounding muffled.

"Pal, I think you sneezing in my face would be worse for me than for you," laughed Bucky, the sound rumbling through his chest.

"It's not my sexiest move," agreed Steve, burrowing deeper into the soft warmth of Bucky's body.

Steve hadn't expected that conversation would carry on easily while they were cuddling - he predicted awkward silences and a feeling of general embarrassment - but they continued chatting while Bucky carded his fingers through Steve's hair, and he felt himself dropping deeper and deeper into a calm state of relaxation.

"So why'd you become a lawyer?" asked Bucky in a low voice, barely breaking into the spell he was casting over Steve.

"Ma came over here from Ireland to work as a nurse," replied Steve drowsily, "and when my pa died, she ran into some trouble with some of her immigration paperwork. There was a lawyer who worked pro bono to stop her from getting deported... the guy really changed our lives."

"So now you help other people the same way."

"I try to. How'd you get into professional cuddling?"

"After I got out of the army, I used to go for counseling sessions at the VA. Took a couple of years, but eventually I started on a course to be a counselor myself. A lot of those guys are so touch-starved, you know? My friend got the idea to start up a cuddling service and I jumped at the chance. It's been my full-time job for three years now."

Digesting this information, Steve was silent for a moment. He wouldn't have pegged Bucky as a soldier given how open and relaxed he was, but Sam didn't seem like an air force pilot, so you never knew. He cast around for a follow-up question. "Are there a lot of cuddling agencies in the world?" he settled on eventually.

"Oh yeah, it's a real growth industry. There's even a book called the Cuddle Sutra."

Steve scoffed. "You're kidding me, people write books about this stuff?"

Bucky cuffed him gently on the back of the head. "Shut up, punk. That's my profession you're besmirching."

"Are you allowed to tell your clients to shut up?" smirked Steve, never happier than when he was being a little shit.

"Only if they're being a punk," grumbled Bucky, wrapping an arm around the back of Steve's shoulders to pull him closer.

Over the course of the next forty five minutes, Steve learned more about Bucky's family, his asshole cat, his collection of semi-dead succulent plants, and his opinions on the present administration of the country. Bucky managed to wheedle Steve into talking about the bullying he faced at work, the stress of not having as many resources as he needed to help everyone he worked with - and he very nearly managed to get him to disclose his mother's recipe for shepherd's pie, and was only stopped by the threat that the ghost of Sarah Rogers would haunt him until he died.

Between the cozy warmth of Bucky's body, the soothing cadence of his voice, and the way his minty breath ghosted over Steve's forehead when he chuckled, Steve was pretty much in heaven, wrapped up in comfort. When Bucky's phone started to vibrate in his pocket, they both let out a little noise of annoyance.

"'Fraid that's my alarm. How'd you enjoy your first session?" asked Bucky, still stroking lines down Steve's back.

Steve hummed contentedly. "Worth every penny," he replied, sitting up and stretching his arms over his head.

"I'm really glad," said Bucky sincerely, squeezing his shoulder before standing up and heading towards his shoes. "Same time next week?"

"That'd be perfect. Thanks, Bucky. For everything."

"No problem," he replied with a genuine grin, fishing his phone out of his pocket. "Now I'd better call Maria before she gets the cops after me to make sure I haven't been murdered in a back alley somewhere."

"I'm glad they care so much about your safety."

"I love my job," laughed Bucky as he let himself out the front door, waving goodbye to Steve as he put the phone to his ear.

Steve spent some time smiling and waving like a goof until Bucky rounded the corner, at which point he finally shook himself awake and shut and locked his door. It was only eight PM but after a few nights of fractured sleep he was ready to follow his relaxed, sleepy feeling straight to bed.

After he pottered around the room, straightening up and putting things away, he brushed his teeth and jumped onto his big, comfortable bed, where he rolled himself up in his comforter like a burrito. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

[thebeastofblackmoor]

get to know me!

tagged by: @joehardysdrift​ (THANK YOU btw i was hoping I’d get to do this)

name: Julia

nickname: My best friend calls me exclusively by my last name and in video games and online I go by Jukebox? If either of those really count lmao

zodiac sign: Aries!

height: 5′4″

nationality: American

languages spoken: English. Also, in the words of Lisa Ostrum, “I only barely passed Spanish in high school.”

what time is it?: Summertime? Valentimes? Time for you to get a watch??? 6:04.

celebrity crush: Anne Hathaway. Margot Robbie. Cecily Strong.

favourite fictional character: *checks my phone’s note of fav fictional characters because that is a way of measuring eras thank you very much* Well Jade West from Victorious was my first fictional fave because I was a young lesbian. I couldn’t tell you an all-time fave but some other really significant characters are Harley Quinn, Sierra Knox, Cheryl Blossom (look Riverdale season one was okay, okay??), Elliot Reid... and Clara Thornton def makes the list

favourite musician: Ha. My mom just asked me this. Gotta be between Panic! At the Disco, AJR, and the Barenaked Ladies

favourite sports team: Packer? I have Wisconsin family so I guess if I had to choose it’d be them, but don’t mistake me for any sort of sportsfan...

favourite season: SUMMERTIME!

favourite flower: Orchids? because of an obscure reference to this one show I watched in like middle school..

favourite scent: Fresh-baked cookies

favourite color: Red & pink!

favourite animal: Sea lions. They’re da bomb diggity.

favourite food: ICE CREAM

dream car: Some kind of convertible. Maybe even a motorcycle? 

dream trip: Hawaii is probably the greatest place on Earth.

instruments: ha! I can’t even make a good town tune on Animal Crossing!

coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: Iced coffee and I are straight up besties

dog or cat person: Dog person, but not the kind that hates cats. I also adore cats. I used to have a cat and he was the love of my entire life.

following: 878

followers: 632 on this one!

other blogs: my main is @bassproshopsofficial​. I also have @poorlydrawnriverdale​. Those are probably the only ones anyone needs to know about.

blog established: twenty FOURTEEN LSDJFLSDJSDF

do you have a tumblr crush?: lol nope

do you get asks?: If I post an ask meme I’ll get some, but guys, seriously, I always love an ask.

what is your lucky number?: 13

what are you wearing rn?: Shorts. AJR tee. Hawaiian shirt over that. 

drink of choice: I usually just order water but if it’s time to #treat myself I am known to enjoy a cola from time to time.

number of blankets you sleep with: Disclaimer: I sleep in the basement and it gets cold. That said.. there are currently nine laid out across the bed.

average # of sleep hours: okay I used to get like a good 8-9 hours every single night but for some reason the stay-at-home order going on rn has messed with that and I’m only getting like 5.

random fact: I could tell the Mall of American Horror Story but it would be too long so.. I have my desktop background set to “slideshow” in which there are 100+ backgrounds from media or artists I like. Once I broke my laptop and had to get it fixed so I didn’t bring it to one of my (really boring) lectures and the girl who sat next to me every day said “Oh no, I always watch your backgrounds. I’m gonna get really bored today.” So I have a lowkey famous laptop

I tag, uh, @hotchkiss-medallion even though I already know her (I have no idea who’s already been tagged I’ve seen a LOT of these going around...)

[missn11]

I wonder if you might want to do that Headcanon meme that's been floating around for your Nines/LaCroix/Ming Xiao polycule? How about 🍣 Cooking Together HC for LaCroix and Ming Xiao in their Seattle coffee shop/patisserie. 🏥 Taking Care of Injuries HC between Ming Xiao and Nines (which one is hurt? up to you). 🎭 Jealous HC for LaCroix and 👑 Fancy Dinner HC between all of them. (Sorry, was that a lot? ^_^' Have fun.)

@nessynoname Oh yes I would love to! thank you! :D

🍣 Ming Xiao is the one in charge of making the sweet pastries as she is the best baker out of the two of them, as she not only has the centuries of experience of cooking sweet things and pastries but also has the patience to make them. But while Ming Xiao is a master of brewing teas, she never quite got the hang of brewing coffee, thankfully for their coffeeshop, LaCroix is amazing at making coffee. 

Unlike LaCroix, who has forgotten, due to him not being able to eat mortal food anymore, how to cook and even back when he was human, he was mediocre at best. So he’s mostly been relegated to measure out the ingredients, although, since his hands are really cold thanks to being a Kindred, LaCroix is allowed to make the pastry,(cold surfaces and cold hands do a better job of keeping the butter in the pastry dough from melting)

Cooking together is one of Ming Xiao’s and LaCroix’s favorite things to do together as it is peaceful(also their big moneymaker in the coffeeshop XD) and few times they actually get to spend some alone time together during the night.

🏥 Ooooh, I like this one! which one should be injured, I wonder? 😏

Well, in this case, I think Ming Xiao ends up taking care of Nines’ wounds(he has gotten himself badly injured by the Werewolf) by feeding him some of her and some her most healthy mortal helpers’ blood. (Don’t worry, drinking Kuei-jin blood can’t bind others to them on its own, that would take some special rites to do that.) As well as forcing him to stay in bed, as Nines can be a bad patient, wanting to get up and move around or check on how his friends are doing, etc. 

Despite his complaints, Nines does appreciate Ming Xiao for caring for him and is happy to see more of the softer, more caring side of her. He also likes it when she reads to him some stories, especially ones based on Kuei-jin myth. 

🎭 I did detail a little about how LaCroix can get really jealous of Nines and Ming Xiao being together here –> https://missn11.tumblr.com/post/190557578151/for-the-ship-headcanon-meme-ming#notes But I’ll go into more detail.

LaCroix’s jealously comes out when he thinks that Nines and Ming Xiao are leaving him out of things and sometimes gets rather snappy and sulky if he finds out they did something together without telling him. It comes from the fact that he’s deeply afraid that they’ll get bored of him and leave him behind, as it has happened to him in past with other lovers. Although, a lot of the time LaCroix doesn’t often even realize that he is acting out of jealously   

Of course, Nines and Ming Xiao weren’t simply the type to let this continue and fester, confront LaCroix about his behavior and how it was going to tearing them apart if this continued. At first, LaCroix denied he was being jealous but when it dawned on him how serious they were, he swallowed his pride and admitted his bad behavior.

After having Nines’ and Ming Xiao’s help with examining the root cause of his jealously, LaCroix realized that he was fulfilling a self-made prophecy of them leaving him by acting badly. 

LaCroix now has gotten a lot better at not giving in to his jealously but every now and again has a sulky fit when he’s in a bad way, which Nines or/and Ming Xiao quickly call him out on.

(I’m sorry if that was a lot repeated info from my previous headcanon post of LaCroix/Nines/Ming Xiao) 😅

👑 LaCroix would spare no expense in treating his lovers to a damn fine meal and so books a table at a restaurant with not only a lovely view of the night sky but that also has a ton of privacy. It makes him rather happy to be pampering Nines and Ming Xiao.

Nines does feel at first a little bad about enjoying drinking the amazingly great blood being given to him in an expensive wine glass (After all, the blood would still taste nice even served in a bag) but he does get over it, he might as well enjoy it, (but he does bag some of the extra leftover blood in some ziplock bags to share with his friends or anyone in great need of it.)

Ming Xiao wastes no time in ordering as many tasty meals on the menu, sometimes ordering multi able dishes in the same course! (most of them were desserts, our Kuei-jin Highpriestess has a sweet tooth! XD) A favorite was a nice rare steak marinated with lots of spices topped with a melting pad of garlic and herb butter and the decadent chocolate cake that both Nines and LaCroix take turns spoon-feeding her.🥰

Phew! I hope that answers your questions and thanks again to @nessynoname for sending me this ask, it was a lot of fun! (and what I’ve needed :D)    

[saysomethingspiderman]

Something Wonderful (PT. 3)

Synopsis: During your time as a professional photographer, you had come across incredibly good looking men, but there was just something about Tom that stood out. Who would have thought shooting the self-titled “walking meme” would change your life forever?

Chapter word count: 3.5k

Part One // Part Two // Part Three // Part Four // Part Five // Part Six // Part Seven // Part Eight

There had never been pain like it. You carefully opened an eyelid, but shut it almost instantly. An awful ray of sunshine shot through the curtains, making your brain bleed. You barely felt alive. Were you alive? Honestly, you weren’t a hundred percent sure of the answer.

How much had you had to drink?

You vaguely remembered shots and anything after that was a big blur that was gone for good. There was no memory of how you even got home, just the faint recollection of laughing. A lot of laughing. That could have been going on the whole night, though. You always became a giggler after even just a sniff of alcohol.

After taking a deep breath through your nose, you forced yourself to sit up in bed and a horrible feeling that you were going to die in about five minutes swept over you. This was it, this was the end of your drinking adventures. No more drinking… Ah, those famous last words. The disgusting feeling one gets after waking up after far too many cocktails was quite clearly present and you all but prayed that it would be over soon, whether that be the hangover or your life. You weren’t fussed. As long as your headache and nausea disappeared, you’d be happy with either outcome.

A high pitched squeal coming from outside the door made you frown and you rolled out of bed, keeping your bedding cocooned around your frail frame as you shuffled through to the living room. Olivia stood red-faced near the window, teeth sunk into her lower lip to try and deny the presence of a cheeky smile.

“Well now I know why you wouldn’t tell me his name,” she chuckled, looking across the room at you and then glanced back down at Tom, who lay sprawled across the couch, snoring quietly.

“And it’s also why you won’t be telling anyone,” you replied, voice thick and husky from singing along to the music all night. You stared at Tom for a moment and gave a faint smile at the state of him. You were in no state to judge; you were near enough in the same way.

Olivia got started on breakfast so you curled up on the smaller couch in front of the window, feeling sorry for yourself. You tried to rack your brain for any memories from the night before. The headache got worse the more you dug deeper. Your eyes scanned the room, seeing Tom’s boots that he’d kicked to the other side near the television. Your heels weren’t too far away and you frowned a little at the colour of the toes. What was on- Oh. It was vomit. Now you remembered. Tom had thrown up on your feet right after you’d nearly-

“Thank fuck you’re here.” Your head snapped back over to the occupant of the couch. Tom rubbed a hand over his face and gave a heavy sigh. “I thought I’d been kidnapped or something.”

“I’m not sure a kidnapper would leave you all alone to drool on the cushions,” you hummed, shaking your head a little.

He looked around tiredly and wiped the sleep from his eyes. His hair stuck up at all angles and there was the slightest hint of stubble on his jaw. “Did we-”

“No.”

“-do shots?”

“Oh. Right. Yeah. My treat, I guess,” you murmured, cheeks burning. You weren’t sure whether you were more nervous about the possibility of him meaning sex or just the kiss. Both ideas made your stomach flutter.

“They’re always my killer,” he grunted and curled into himself, mirroring your position. It was obvious how much he was dying and you’d never related to anything more.

“Was a fucking great night though,” you smirked. “We’ve got the hangovers to prove it.”

“You’ve got that right,” he agreed and fumbled around to find his phone, eventually pulling it from the back pocket of his trousers. He squinted slightly at the brightness of the screen as he read over the extortionate amount of missed calls and text messages. “Shit,” he muttered, raking his fingers through his hair and messing the curls up even more. “I was supposed to leave for the airport an hour ago.”

You waited for him to move, to start gathering his things, to run out the door. Your brows furrowed into a deep frown when he just stayed, fingers tapping rapidly at his screen as he typed out a message. “The plane won’t wait for you, you know,” you told him, pushing your hair from your face to tuck behind your ear.

“Yes, yes, I know that, I’m just trying to find out how I’m meant to get there in time.” He sat up and his face paled considerably at the swift movement, but he just took a deep breath to hold back the urge to throw up.

When his phone rang and he answered almost instantly, you headed into the kitchen to make a cup of tea for the both of you. Your parents had ingrained in your brain since your early years that tea fixed everything. You placed his mug on the coffee table in front of him and sat down with your own, sipping the hot liquid quietly.

“Yes, I know, I’m sorry,” Tom sighed into the phone, visibly frustrated. “It was just a few dri- I don’t know, Chelsea I think… Well, I don’t remember getting home, that’s how I don’t know where I am, Harry…”

You bit your lip to stop yourself from laughing and had to force yourself not to listen in case something broke you. Despite your brother being three years old, you were still well experienced in that kind of bickering only siblings could understand.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” he said with a small chuckle after saying goodbye to his brother. He reached over and took the cup of tea, taking a much needed gulp. “You’d think he was my mother or something with the way he treats me sometimes.”

“Just sounds like he’s looking out for you,” you shrugged, staring as he licked his lips after placing the mug back down on its coaster. “And it also sounds like you need to go. I’m sure you don’t need nor want another lecture if you actually do miss your flight.”

Tom nodded and stood, taking a moment to catch his balance before shoving on his boots. After double checking he had his wallet, keys and phone (although there was a huge temptation to leave it to avoid more calls and texts), you walked him down the short hallway to the front door.

“I really wish I wasn’t leaving today.” He fumbled with his keys in his hand and stayed standing in the doorway. He gave a half smile, the exhaustion evident in his eyes. “Maybe we could have gone out for food or something… Somewhere where we’d actually remember how it ends.”

The image of your almost kiss made its way into your mind, the memory near enough teasing you about what could have been. You glanced up at him and caught a glimmer in his eye. Did he remember? You cleared your throat quietly. “Yeah, well we can sort something for when you get back,” you suggested and tried to keep the hopefulness in your voice at bay.

“Or if you just happen to be hanging around America at any point in the next couple of weeks, just give me a shout,” Tom laughed and you couldn’t help the grin that lit up your face.

“I’m actually over there for another shoot soon so I guess we can go out then if we cross paths again.” You weren’t one to believe in fate, but what was the likelihood that you were both in another country at the same time in the middle of your busy schedules?

“Let me know when you’re over and I’ll see what I can do,” he winked and your eyes sparkled.

You shook your head and moved to start pushing him out onto the landing. “Well we’ll see about that, Holland. You’ve got work to do over there and that means you can’t miss this flight so off you go, go be a good little actor,” you teased and he snorted as he humoured you by moving away, though you knew your small frame barely did anything to force him out. He bent down to kiss your cheek, but gave a huff when his phone started ringing for the second time that morning. With another wink, he hurried off down the stairs, talking frantically to the person on the other end.

~*~

The two of you talked near enough on a constant basis. Whether that was through text, voice notes of stories just too long and exciting to type, FaceTime or the odd phone call that was usually cut short. It was strange. You knew more than likely that nothing would happen, that your lives were too busy for each other, but not one part of you wanted to end it. It felt like being back at school and getting excited every morning at the thought of seeing him again, except instead of giving a shy smile in the school corridor, you both sent ugly snapchats to each other as a way to wish one another good morning.

The time difference was difficult, that was to be expected. With Tom flying all over America and you staying in London for some home shoots, there were days where only a phone call would do, but those phone calls would last way over an hour. He’d tell you all about his day, about the fun him and the team were having. He’d tell you some of the crazy requests he’d been asked to do during interviews, all of which he’d happily complied. It was all in good nature and he loved showing off; it was all part of the job. When he’d catch himself excitedly recounting a funny story of what he, Zendaya and Jacob had gotten up to during their day of promoting, he’d ask how your day had been, the tone in his voice always giving away how genuinely interested he was. You’d let him in on the photoshoots you’d done and how much of your life work had taken over, and how you wouldn’t have it any other way. Luck had given you your break and you weren’t one to be ungrateful for the opportunity, no matter how much you craved just an extra ten minutes of free time.

When you eventually arrived in the States, the schedule of the shoot ended up changing to be spread out over a few days, which meant your plans with Tom had to be completely amended. The two of you had set a whole day aside to explore New York together and you’d even added notes to your phone of a number of places you wanted to eat at. All that had to be thrown out the window. Why were you so bothered? You’d spent one night getting drunk together which ultimately led him spending the night at your flat in another room. It wasn’t anything special. Yet you still couldn’t help the giddy feeling over seeing Tom for barely even half of what was originally planned.

You spent extra time on your makeup the morning you were finally getting to see Tom, and went through your whole suitcase as though there would be a completely new set of clothes that were better than the multiple pairs of black jeans you’d packed. As there was no other choice, you settled on a pair of black jeans and a simple t-shirt. Afterall, it was just breakfast. After zipping up your heeled boots, you headed out of your hotel room and hailed a taxi to meet Tom at Buvette over in the West Village.

Unlike the first time you’d met up, Tom arrived early and you saw him standing outside the building on his phone. You beamed at the sight of the young man, appreciating how tight his jeans were. “Hey, stranger,” you smiled, having to raise your voice slightly to be heard over the car horns on the busy road.

Tom looked up from his phone and grinned. He slipped his phone into his back pocket and reached over to pull you into a tight hug, erasing the worry that things would be awkward. “Hello, darling,” he hummed and gave your cheek a gentle kiss. “Long time no see.”

“We’ll save the catching up for later, I’m bloody starving!” you laughed and led him into the restaurant. A waiter brought you both to a table by the window and you took a moment to just people watch, making up your own stories in your head about what they were rushing around to do. Orders were taken and the food soon arrived. “Have you seen how much people love those photos from our shoot?” you asked after swallowing a mouthful of poached egg. “I posted a few the other day on Instagram and it’s safe to say you have a lot of, ah, imaginative fans,” you snorted and glanced up at him with a bold glint in your eye, catching the blush on his cheeks.

Tom shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I don’t read comments so wouldn’t know.”

“Yeah, I wish I could erase some of the comments from my memory.”

“It’s a talent I’ve come to master.” He pushed up his glasses before cutting into his waffles and dunked a large piece into the syrup. “I wish we had the whole day together. I even tried to move a couple things around.”

“The morning is better than nothing.”

“Yeah, but I wanted it to be a good date, not something we could do any day of the year.”

“Oh, so this is a date, huh?” you questioned, brow raised to go with the teasing smirk that graced your lips. It hadn’t been discussed, you’d just assumed you were catching up. Admittedly, it sounded like a date from the beginning with all the planning and the cute little food spots you’d planned to visit, but neither of you had given the day an official title. Was that too much of a pre-teen thought?

Tom’s eyes widened a little and he did near enough everything to avoid looking at you. “I, uh, well I mean… I just-”

“We’ll call it a date,” you giggled. “Just to please you.”

His soft laughter filled the room, the sound drowning out the morning chatter of workers grabbing a quick bite to eat before their long day. “We’ll make it a good one, I promise.”

Tom was definitely one to stick to his promise. After much protesting, you gave in and let him be the gentleman and allowed him to pay the bill before he whisked you away out into the hectic streets of New York. The heat from the sun hit your skin, the warmth hot enough to burn. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, something that helped you ignore the large amount of New Yorkers who shoved past you on their way to work without so much as an apology. There was something about early starts that almost always made people grumpy.

At the end of the street, Tom raised his arm to hail a taxi and you both climbed into the back seat. He handed the driver a note and told him to go to the address written.

“Where are we going?” you asked as you pulled the seat belt over your shoulder. The car took off barely a couple of seconds after the door slammed shut.

“It’s a surprise,” he replied with an excited grin that lit up his whole face. “You’ll like it. Well, I hope you will. It’s quite a way away, we’ve to go over the bridge, but it’s worth it, trust me. It’s somewhere I always go if I have spare time whenever I’m here.”

“Okay, well no pressure on me to like it then.”

“No, no pressure at all. Just know that if you hate it then you’ll have ruined the whole day for the both of us.”

The taxi zoomed through the city, cutting in front of near enough every other car on the road. It wouldn’t be New York without a taxi driver auditioning for the next Fast and Furious film.

Ever since you received your first disposable camera on your tenth birthday, you rarely went anywhere without one in your bag. Granted, there had been multiple upgrades since then, but the enthusiasm for shooting never faded. You pulled your camera from your backpack and clicked away, trying to get the best photos possible. Tom even appeared in a few, pulling faces when he caught you aiming the lense his way, though he did give a smile in a couple. That smile could have killed someone. You let Tom have a play, though gave a firm warning that it cost more than double your rent, which was incredibly high for a small flat in Chelsea, so if he broke it, he’d be coughing up the money. Your collection of cameras gave you a feeling of happiness you assumed parents felt about their children. Laughing at how protective you were over an inanimate object, Tom used some tips and tricks he’d been given from his brother Harry and shot some photos of the scenery that flew by, only stopping when the taxi pulled up outside the gates to Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

“There’s one back in the city, but this one’s quieter,” Tom explained as he followed you out of the car. “That’s one of the reasons I love it.”

To no surprise, after barely making it into the gardens, Tom was spotted. Thankfully, after a few photos and a couple minutes of chatting, the two of you were left alone to wander around the greenery.

“I have to say, I wasn’t expecting this,” you confessed, eyes glued to a butterfly fluttering mere inches from your face.

“What were you expecting, just a quick breakfast and a wave goodbye?”

“A wave is being generous,” you teased and bumped your shoulder against his arm. “I don’t know what I was expecting. Something a bit more… Rushed maybe? Just because I know you’ve got to be back by noon.”

“I wanted this to be special,” he replied in a quiet voice and gave a laugh. “I’m hoping this is memorable and not as a horrendous story you’ll tell your friends when you talk about the worst dates you’ve been on.”

“Oh you just had to go and ruin it, didn’t you?”

He grinned and after an almost unnoticeable hesitation, he slung an arm around your shoulders. Why did this feel so normal? Wasn’t it natural to go through an awkward phase of inwardly squealing about every glance or constantly wondering whether or not he was supposed to brush his hand against yours? In your defense, you hadn’t been in a relationship in two years and you’d matured quite a bit since then. Maybe this was what it was like to actually have a crush on someone in adulthood?

“It reminds me a bit of the Chelsea Flower Show,” you said after snapping a photo of some of the pink roses as the two of you strolled through the Cranford Rose Garden. “My grandparents used to let me tag along when I was younger.” You caught the smirk on Tom’s face and held a hand up before he could say anything. “Yes, yes, I know. I’m aware of how much of a posh totty that makes me sound…”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” he laughed, giving your shoulder a squeeze. “We don’t choose where we come from and the privileges we have.”

“Hey, my family worked hard for what we have and I don’t live off that-”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said quickly. Your frown eased slightly. “You’re speaking to someone who completely understands the judgement. And anyway, I can relate to wanting to earn and live off your own money.”

“Okay, okay, let’s both stop with the compliments and be actual normal people,” you laughed and Tom grabbed the camera from your hands. His tongue poked out between his lips as he focused intently.

“What are you doing this next week?” he asked, not looking up from flicking through the camera roll to see if any could be put up against yours.

“Well I’ll be back home so I’m not sure. Why?”

“How do you feel about staying for a bit longer?” He stood up straighter and pushed his glasses up his nose. He offered a smile. “Change your flight. Stay another week. What’ve you got to lose?”

He wanted you to stay. Were things moving too fast? You didn’t care. Staying an extra week with Tom was a whole lot better than spending it at home trying to find the best time to call with a five hour time difference. Just like Tom said, what did you have to lose?

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