#this just came to me after thinking about how arthur eats pizza

[lewvithur]

they're at the combination pizza hut and taco bell

(and they're kissing)

[arthurflecksgirl]

Reader finds out she`s pregnant with Arthur`s child

@jaraysha1121 requested this one! Thank you so much for the lovely request!!! I really, really, really hope you will like the result :)

Arthur humming quietly into your ear was the perfect way to wake up in the morning. Smelling his hair, that felt tickelish into your face while he kissed you awake was. You just wished that all of this, his bed hair in the morning, him humming oldies in the kitchen while making coffee, his skin on yours at night, would never come to end end.

You have been together for one year now but it felt like you had known him before the beginning of time. Having him in your arms felt like holding the entire universe in your hands. Like anything was possible and there was nothing that you weren`t able to face together. Arthur was your muse, your inspiration. Your proof that no matter how cruel life has been to you, there is still hope to stay gentle at heart and to end up being loved. It was just the same the other way around. You ended up being Arthurs salvation. His soul mate. Everything he ever hoped for and daydreamed about. You and him. It was just fate.

"Hey Y/N. I made you some tea. I hope you feel better this morning? I noticed you couldnt find sleep tonight?" He handed you the cup "Careful, its still very hot." You took a careful sip and put it back on the table. " Arthur crawled back on the couch with you, so you took him under the green blanket. He softly kissed your cheek.

"Um...yeah well I feel better now" you lied.  You didnt wanted him to be worried about you, since Arthur worried about you a lot. Whenever he thought there was the slightest chance for you to get sick or cold or anthing that made you feel uncomforable. He would ask you every five minutes if you already felt better, which was beyond adorable, but still, you didnt wanted him to get worried, because after a while he tended to get nervous and anxious , and that wasnt good for his mental health and insomnia at all. So yo decited to try to hide it from him. But he just knew you so well.

"Are you sure, baby? You seem like there is something wrong? You didnt even ate your fave cookies yesterday. The plate is still full so... I got evidence!" He joked and pulled your nose. "No, I`m fine, Artie, really. I mean.I just woke up beside you. How on earth wouldnt I feel great?" You took another sip of tea.

"Yeah..." Arthur lit himself a cig and stared at the ceiling while his arm was wrapped around you "You know, I just wish we could do this more often. The sleepover.  But its very diffucult to hide you from my mother. I dont know how she would react if she knew that a girl was sleeping in the living room."

You nodded. It was obvious that Arthur loved his mum but he was also afraid to get into a confrontation with her. He would only confront her with anything if there was absolutely no other way to handle it. So you sneaked into his apartment when Penny was already asleep.

"Sooo what if she just wakes up and walks through the living room? She will notice me for sure."

Arthur shook his head while he took a deep drag of his cig "She will not wake up".

"What do you mean?"

"She took some sleeping pills yesterday. Well... I made her do it but...anyway..." he stroke your hair "Dont worry abut that okay? She will still be asleep for the next few hours for sure. And even if she will wake up, she would be so confused, you could just hide under the blanket and she wouldnt notice anything."

"I see... you thought of anything didnt you? I wonder what she would sayif she knew there was a girl on the couch."

Arthur leaned in to kiss your ear "Just think of what she would do if she knew what I did with this girl last night...?!"

You smirked "Yeah that was definitely helping with feeling better."

"So what do you think she would do?"

"She would tell you you`re a naughty boy"

Arthur put the cig in his pink ashtray and  kissed you passionately.

"Yeah...being naughty is fun isnt it?"

You nodded under the sweet pressure of his lips.

You tried to be as quiet as possible, even though he claimed that Penny wouldnt wake up.  She was still in the back of your mind. There was something about the thought of being caught that you really liked.

Arthur checked the clock "Oh. I gotta go to work now. I`m pretty late. " He got up from the couch and grabbed his clown gear. You stood up to change your clothes as you realized how your head was spinning. Arthur didnt noticed. He was distracted by checking his bag.  " We`ll see each other on Monday, right?"

"Yeah, sure. I will visit  when you get home from work. "

Arthur grabbed the keys "Great. I cant wait to see you again, sweetheart. Any plans for today?"

You opened teh door "Yeah I will visit my best friend over the weekend. We`ll be watching movies and stuff."

You both headed down the hallway and got into the elevator "Sounds like fun" Arthur smiled at you with so much love in his eyes. His tiney wrinkles made you want to cover his beautiful face with kisses.

"What?" he asked as he noticed you staring.

"Nothing....its just...I love you so god damn much!"

Arthurs cheeks turned red "Dito!" he said, gently touching your cheek before you said goodbye. You watched him running towards the subway station. He was really late.

Being in the elevator a minute ago made your dizzyness even worse. You closed your eyes for a moment, wondering if you might catched the flu. You felt sick to the stomach for about three days now and it didnt seemed to get any better.  Hopefully it wouldnt ruin the whole weekend. You knew that your best friend bought sweets and cake but you didnt felt like eating anything at all.

Thirty minutes later you arrived. Your best friend welcomed you with the warmest hug. She was the only one who accepted your love to Arthur. Most of your other friends thought he was weird for his laughter and for still living with his mother at the age of 35. You started to realize that some of those people didnt even deserved your friendship, especially they didnt deserved to get to know the wonderful man that Arthur was.

"Hey Y/N ! I`m glad you`re here. I`ve planned something for tonight. You will be excited to hear about it. How is Arthur doing?"

You got out of your jacket and sat down on the couch "He`s doing fine. Thank you for asking. He`s on some new meds and they are much better than the last ones he had."

"I`m happy to hear this. But you kno what his best medicine is? YOU. Imean it. He looks so much healthier since the two of you meet each other on a regular basis."

Hearing those words coming out of her mouth meants the world to you "Thank you so much. I appriciate that. The others dont understand...."

"Pffff" she headed to the kitchen and came back with a huge self made pizza "Dont listen to them. They are idiots. Every single one of them. Arthur is a nice guy and he is good for you. I can see the way you look at each other. There is so much love between you."

"Yeah. I really do love him. More than anything. I think he`s my soulmate."You smiled "I understand him.  And he gets me. We get each other. We dont even have to say anything. Its just....we know. We`re the same. "

"Heyyyyy check this out" she put the huge pizza on the table in front of you "Its self made. i`m kinda proud. We will kill this delicios thing this evening. What do you think?"

Just looking at the food made you feel sick again "Um.....yeah thats....great. It looks delicious"

Your friend put her hand on your forehead "Y/N. You look kinda pale."

"Yeah...I dont feel so well....its been this way for half a week now. I can barely eat something and I feel dizzy at times and just....weird. Like...I dont know my body and mind feel funny and....I dont know....I havent slept for days..." you started crying.

"Ohhh noooo why are you crying? Is there anything going on with Arthur you wouldnt tell me?"

You wiped a tear away "No. No really. He is fine. I`m just very sensitive these days. I`m not sure why.... maybe it was all to much with the others not respecting Arthur as my boyfriend. ...I dont know....Just stressed out emotionally I think.. But I will be fine."

Your friend told you  that you didnt have to eat anything if you dont feel like it, but two hours later you decited to give it a try and grabbed a piece of her selfmade pizza. After one slice you felt so bad you coudlnt hide it from your bestie anymore "Oh my god. I think I gotta go to the bathroom" you hurried up and closed the door behind you.

"Y/N? Are you okay in there?"

"Yeah....kinda....just...I`m just sick to the stomach. I think I catched the flu or something. maybe its better for me to go home. I dont want you to get infected."

Ten minutes later you got back into the living room again. She waited for you with a big grin on her face. Why would she make fun of you feeling sick?

"Feeling better?" the grin still lingering on your lips. It kinda hurt you to see her reaction.

"No. I think I`m gonna go home. I think I have to rest until I see Arthur again on Monday.  I dont want to cancel our date. He is looking forward to it. I`m sorry thatI ruined our weekend before it even started...."

She giggled.

"Why are you laughing? Cant you see I`m feeling like shit?"

She pointed at the empty place beside her "Si down Y/N. And calm down for a second. I dont think that you`re ill at all. You feel sick to the stomach, dizzy and emotionally sensitive.....Think about what it might be."

"I dont know what you are talking about!" you yelled

"Oh I see, currently very emotional with your  reactions."

"Yeah go ahead making fun of me" you replied with a dissappointed look on your face.

"Y/N. You and Arthur I mean....you want to stay together right?"

"Of course we do!"

"You love each other to death?"

"Yeah!"

She clapped her hands "So I think Monday will be even more special when he hears the news!"

"Which news?" you still didnt understood what she was all about.

"Y/N. My dear, you might be pregnant with Arthur`s child!"

The very second you heard her saying this your heart just stopped. You tried to think about the symptoms  but all you could think about was Arthur and how he would react if this was really true. You rubbed your dimples, tried to remember how one of your friends felt like when she got pregnant.  It really could be it.

"Oh my god..." you whispered.

"YES great news. I mean....if you really are this would be great news for you, right? Hopefully...I mean...did you talked about that? You and Arthur?"

Concentrating was hard "We did....I mean....a while ago he told me how much he loves kids and that he always wanted to have a family and .....I mean look at him when he is with kids. he would be a great dad. I know he would. "

"And how do YOU feel about it?" she asked.

"I...I`m not sure....I mean...I want to spent the rest of my life with him and...the thought of being a parent is stil kinda scare, isnt it? But...yeah I think I really want to have a kid with Arthur. He is the only man who ever made me feel this way. Its just overwhelming right now. The thought that it might happen NOW. But yeah...I would be happy about it for sure. " you started to cry. Your best friend hugged you tight "Shhhhhtt . Eighter way it will be good. What do you think about going to the pharmacy and get a test right now? So you dont have to ask yourself that question all day?"

You nodded. Knowing would help. You just had to know if your friend was right.

An hour later you couldnt stop your hands from shaking as you got back to your friends apartment. The pregnancy test in your hand felt surreal. You never did such a test before, so you sat down with her to read everything through.

"Are you ready?" she asked you.

You werent sure. How could anyone ever be ready for something like that? Deep down you knew that there was nothing to be afraid of. The more you thought about it, the more you wanted the test to turn out positive. You just felt deep in your heart that Arthur would be happy,too. There was only a slight chance that he would be too overwhelmed and scared. But then again, who wouldnt be?

"No. I`m not ready" you smiled while you said it out loud.

"But you are smiling! Thats a good thing. Take your time. We can do this tonight if you want."

You got up and headed to the bathroom "No. No. I really want to know now.  So I will have more time to think about how I will tell Arthur on Monday."

"Ha! You`re already talking like you are pregnant. I like that" her face lighted up.

And you realized that this was true. Somehow you suddenly felt like you already knew. Like everything was coming together. You imagined Arthur holding your baby for the first time. Imagined his big puppy eyes while trying to make his kid laugh. You already felt the love he was radiating as a dad. Your eyes started watering when you closed the door behind you. You followed the discriptions of the test and waited.

It wasnt long but it felt like a lifetime.

So many scenarios went through your head. Any possible reaction from Arthur. You checked the watch. It was time to take a look at the result. Your heart was beating fast. You didnt even knew how much you wanted a kid with him until now. You hoped for the test to be positive. So much it would even hurt you if it was not the case. This morning you didnt even thought of being a parent and suddenly it was all you could think about. Arthur as a dad. Arthur as the father of your child. What a wonderful life it would be! Not easy, but wonderful and worth living for.

Your shaky hand grabbed the test with eyes closed. One deep breath in. And another.

Okay.

Now.

Now you will know.

Postive. The test was positive. Arthur and you would be parents soon!

You wished for him to be here with you right now. A brief moment you felt regret for not making the test when he was there with you but anyway, you would make sure to surprise him in the sweetest way!

"Ohhh my god, you were right!" you screamed as you got out of teh bathroom "You were right!!!!"

Your friend ran towards you and held you tight "I knew. I just knew. I am so happy for you. Are you happy? You are feeling good, right? Oh my god!"

"Yeah, I...I am happy. So much happier than I thought I would be. I cant wait to tell Arthur the day after tomorrow. God, I dont even know if I can wait until then. But I have to because....I want the surprise to be perfect. And I gotta figure out how I will tell him the news!"

"You`re going to be a great mum Y/N. I just know. And Arthur is going to be the funniest daddy ever!"

You sat down on teh couch, dizzy but happy at heart "Wow,thats just...a lot to think about!"

Your friend told you to rest and made you a cup of tea to calm your stomach.  You realized that life would never be the same again after the kid would be born. But you wanted it. You wanted it all. With him. And him only.

It was so hard to no tell Arthur when he called you the next day. But you wanted to see his face when you told him. You wanted to feel his arms around you and this wasnt possible through the phone, so you waited for Monday evening.

You made sure that you arrived earlier than he would and put the pregnancy test into an envelope, so he would find it as soon as he checked the box for letters. He always did because his mum was waiting on a letter from Thomas Wayne for months now. Standing in the hallway was torture. You checked your watch at least twenty times until he finally arrived. Arthur was still wearing his clown make up. He carried his green wig and clown shoes in his big bag, looking tired. "Ohhhh honey. I`m so glad to be home. It was a long day at HaHas.  There was a kids birthday. I danced for at least three hours. But it was worth it. You should have seen the little boys face! God. I love making kids happy.....Y/N? Are you okay?"

"Arthur!" you jumped into his arms and felt him with all your senses.  "Yes I`m fine. Just so.....good to see you again and I missed you so much!"

A real smile was visible underneath his big, red fake smile "I`m happy to have you in my arms again,too. I missed you the moment you walked out of the elevator two days ago!"

Arhur grabbed his keys to open the letter box. That was the moment. In less than a minute he would know.

"A letter!" he mumbled "Maybe my mum finally gets what she was waiting for ."  He checked the envelope. "Wait....It says For Arthur....there is no stamp and....this is...your handwriting...?" he looked at you. The confused frown on his face made you want to kiss him so bad.

"Open it, darlin. please!"

Arthurs fingers felt that there was something in it.

"Darling, its not even my birthday." he joked "Did you got me a present?" he reached for what was in there and pulled it out.

Arthurs face froze for a moment. No reaction. Just him staring at the test and the little note that said "Soon we`re going to be a family! "

For a second your heart seemed to stop. Why didnt he say anything? Why wasnt he even moving? Was it bad news for him?

The envelope fell down to his feet as he covered his face with his hands. He was crying.

"A-Arthur? Darling?" you took a step closer to him. And another. Until you were able to put your arm around him. His tiney body was shaking.

"Arthur....please say something.

Seeing him cry now was torture. You were looking forward to this moment until you saw the test result and now he was crying in silence. He didnt even looked at you. His beautiful hands just covered his face while he was sobbing like a little boy.

"Oh Arthur, I thought....I really thought this would make you happy,too?!"

Arthur uncovered his face. His puffy eyes glanced at you with love "Are you kidding me Y/N? Of course I am happy. I was never happier in my whole life! Oh my god. I am....I never felt this way before. We are going to be a family! This is all I ever wanted in life. Thank you for making my dream come true!" Arthur fell into your arms. His head resting on your shouders  as tears of happiness ran down his face.

Now you started crying too.

"Oh god, I`m so glad. So reliefed. You`re going to be the best daddy ever. I love you so much, Artie! So incredibly much."

Arthur kissed you softly on the lips. Traces of his clown make up covered the corner of your mouth.

"You know what? Tomorrow I`m taking a day off and we`ll have a beautiful picnic in the park. Just the two of us. Out on a date to celebrate this! And when we`re back home, I´m going to tell my mum!"

You smiled "Your mum didnt even knew you had a girlfriend. She will be shocked."

"So what? Its our life! And our desicion. We will be looking for a new home anyway."

"Yeah" you wiped a curl out of his face.

"C`mon, honey, lets get in and relax for the night."

Arthur took you by the hand and soon you found yourself all cuddled up on the couch. Arthur on your side. Skin on skin. His breath behind your ear. His hand caressing your belly.

"So you think its going to be a boy or a girl?" he asked you while his fingers gently moved in circles. He lit some candles to make it even cozier for you.

"I dont know" you whispered "I would love a son who looks just like his father."

Arthurs hand on your tummy felt so calming. Like a charm that made your child feel loved.

"And I would love a daughter who is just as precious as her mother."

You smiled.

"I promise I will try my best to be a good dad. I will make our kid laugh as often as possible and teach him or her how to do magic tricks and I´ll dance to make the child feel better. I will try anything. to be.....good enough! I`m gonna take good care of our baby."

"I know you are going to be amazing. Who wouldnt love to have a funny clown as a father?"

Arthur leaned in to kiss you "I promise you, I will find a job as a stand up comedian so we can afford much more than now. I`m gonna make it work. "

"I know we will Arthur. The two....no. The three of us together."

Arthur pulled you even closer to his chest. The warmth of his body lulled you in as you drifted away into sleep. The last thing you`ve heard before your eyes closed was Arthur whispering "Sleep tight, little angel" while he placed his lips on your belly to kiss your child good night.

[msmarvelouswinchester]

Love In Sin

Chapter 5

Summary - Special Agent Winchester is forced to go undercover with his frenemy Special Agent L/N when they try to track down a notorious drug dealer. How will Y/N and Dean complete their task? Will their relationship worsen or will new feelings emerge between them?

Pairing -AU Detective!Dean Winchester x Reader

Series Warnings - Angst, Slow burn, Fluff, Implied Smut, Mentions of crime and drug, Swearing.

Chapter Warnings - Slow burn, Swearing

Word Count - 2.3k (this is probably the longest chapter in the series)

A/N - I was supposed to post this in two parts but here ya go folks!

Beta'd by the amazing @deanwanddamons (she is awesome)

The dividers by the talented @talesmaniac89

Series Masterlist

“I'm never organising a party again! I am exhausted!” you exclaimed sitting on the floor.

Dean let out a low whistle as he looked around the room full of streamers. He had been out to do the grocery shopping in the meantime. He came back with a bunch of food items and pie. That man really loved his pie.

“I knew you worked better with food in your system” he laughed.

“Shut up!” you grumbled, “we need to go and meet the neighbours now. Let them know about our party.”

“Now?” Dean raised an eyebrow at you.

“Dean, the party is tomorrow.”

“Why can't I get some alone time with my wife?” He pouted.

“What?”

“You know we haven't christened the bedroom yet,” he wiggled his brows, making you roll your eyes.

“Don't you think you are taking this undercover a bit too seriously?” Raising your finger, you poke his chest. He immediately grabbed your hand, pulling you close.

“I like roleplay,” he smirked. You jerked your handout of his grip and glared at him.

“Okay, okay. Let's go.”

You got up and went to your room to get changed into something better than the pants and oversized t-shirt you were wearing.

“Where ya goin’?” Dean asked, following you into the room.

“Get out, Winchester. I need to change,” you said and pushed him out of the room.

“You know I am your hus-” He started saying in a cocky tone, but was cut off by you yelling ‘Shut up’ to him.

You changed into jeans and a flannel and finally came out of your room.

“You look great.”

“Thanks,” you said blushing slightly. Can this man just stop complimenting you every now and then?

You and Dean approached the first house which was apparently Castiel’s .

You rang the doorbell and waited for someone to open the door.

“Yes?” A young boy of around twenty opened the door..

“Hey, is Castiel there?” you asked.

“Dad? Yeah sure. Wait here. Let me get him,” the boy said and went back inside the house, leaving you standing in front of the door which he had closed with a slam.

“Who's ask-oh hey! The Campbells right? That was my son, Jack. Come on in,” Cas said and gestured at you to follow him.

You went inside the house and took a seat on the couch. Castiel's house was beautiful. It was full of antique collections. There were also beautiful antique portraits on the wall.

“Hey! Cas told me you guys moved in here today. I'm Meg,” The woman greeted you both, and took a seat on another couch in front of you.

“Hey. Nice to meet you. I'm Y/N and he's Dean. You have a really beautiful house.”

“Thank you. It's all because of Cas. He loves to collect antique pieces and now our house looks like a museum. You just got married right? That's a really beautiful ring,” Meg said, glancing at the ring on your hand.

“Thank you but it was actually his choice,” you said looking at Dean, “so he deserves all the credit.”

“You two make a cute couple,” Meg grinned. You blushed at her words and nervously tucked your hair behind your ears.

“Thanks. We are actually here to invite you and Cas to our housewarming party. Tomorrow at seven,” Dean said.

“Oh we will be there, for sure!” Cas smiled.

“Awesome. So, as we are new here, can you tell us anything about the other neighbours?” Dean asked, hoping to get some information out of Meg and Cas.

“We have been living in this area for almost two years now. It may come off as a beautiful neighbourhood but actually it's the worst. No one talks to anyone and some of the neighbours are downright rude,” Meg said, clearly annoyed by her neighbours.

“Really?”

“Yes. There is Rowena. She lives two houses down from us. She is extremely sophisticated, she is the CEO of the company called Herbs and Magic.It's a company which produces organic skin care products,” Meg said. She definitely had a lot of information about the people living in the area.

“So, she is like the queen bitch,” you joked.

“No. Actually she is kind of polite. The queen bitch is Amara. She lives with her brother Chuck . I think you may know Amara. She worked on “Love in Sin” and a bunch of other films.”

“Yeah, I have heard of that film, not that I have watched it. This neighbourhood is really one of a kind,” you chuckled.

“Tell me about it,” Cas laughed along with you, “I don't know why Meg loves this neighbourhood so much. All the people who live here are assholes.”

“Hey! Not all of them. There is Mick Davies and Arthur Ketch - they seem like nice people and you know why I chose this place. It's easier to get to work from here.”

“Well Mick and Arthur haven't talked to us at all,” Cas rolled his eyes.

“Where do you work?” You asked.

“I work at Chuck's company.” You shared a look with Dean.

“Chuck Shurley? The producer of the film Love in Sin?"

“Yeah that and he is like the God of the business industry!” Meg exclaimed, "You know about the Carver Industries which deals with automobile manufactures?"

“Uh-yeah, of course we have heard of him,” Dean said, "Rich neighbourhood!"

“Anyways, thank you so much Meg. We have wasted a lot of your precious time. We should go now. We have others to invite too,” you said and got up from the couch.

“It was so nice to talk to you. Let's meet up some other time. You know, just a girl's day out,” Meg said.

“Definitely! I love to have a girl's day out with you,” you said and Meg pulled you in a hug.

“And they are already making plans,” Dean joked, making Cas laugh out loud.

You and Dean left the Novak household and went to invite the other neighbours - all of them definitely lived up to their reputation.

“Well, that was interesting. The Novaks don't seem like someone to be the right hand person of Crowley. Rowena is the CEO of a company - why would she need to be partnered up with a drug dealer? And the Shurley’s? How did the bureau forget to mention such an important detail?” You asked.

You had ordered a pizza because you neither had the energy nor the will to cook.

Dean hummed at your words and bit into a slice of pizza. “We need to keep a close eye on all of them. The Shurleys are our top priority.”

“Yup,” you said and noticed Dean typing on his phone after he was done eating.

“I have briefed Mr. Singer about today's incidents. Let's call it a night. We have to be on our toes the whole day tomorrow,” Dean said, making you nod in agreement.

Your eyes trailed up his body as he stretched his hands, his biceps flexing under the thin material of his unbuttoned flannel. You continued to stare as he yawned and shook his head.

“Like what you see, sweetheart?” Dean said, a stupid smirk on his face. Your heart fluttered in your chest as you blushed at him - this man was surely doing things to you.

“Shut up,” you grumbled and left to go back to your room.

“Night!” You heard Dean call out to you.

“Night,” you replied to him.

You woke up in the morning to find an arm draped over your stomach. You froze when you realised it was Dean's arm. What was he doing in your bed? You remember clearly you went to bed alone in your own fucking room.

Dean was still asleep. He was spooning you from behind, his hot breath fanning against your bare skin which was not covered by your tank top. Goosebumps erupted on your skin. So he was a cuddler - no that's not the important thing now. Why was he in your bed?

You tried to remove his arm from your stomach and started to stir beside you.

“Hey, morning,” Dean said in a gruff voice. You looked back and saw him greeting you with his eyes closed. Damn that son of bitch for looking like a model from one of the fashion magazines in the morning whereas you looked like you had just fought a war.

“Morning. What are you doing in my bed?”

“You don't remember?” Dean asked, finally opening up his eyes - he really did have beautiful eyes.

“Nope,” you said, popping the ‘p’.

“So all that effort went to waste? Awesome,” Dean groaned and rolled to the other side of the bed.

“What happened Dean Winchester?” You narrowed your eyes at him.

“You had a nightmare. I woke up to hear you yelling and then your gorgeous mouth started saying my name. I tried to wake you up but you had turned into a sleeping beauty and I was too tired to kiss you awake so I climbed into the bed with you and voila! You calmed down and I think I fell asleep here,” Dean shrugged.

You observed him for a moment. He was straight up lying to you. If you had a nightmare that bad you would have remembered it. Why was he lying to you or maybe you really didn't remember? You wanted to ask him, but instead decided to drop the subject.

“Well then thanks. My nightmares are pretty intense,” you played along, “ready for today?”

Dean nodded and got out of your bed but stopped at the doorway and turned towards you.

“If you want to talk to me about your nightmares, I'm here for you, sweetheart,” he gave you a small smile.

You both got freshened up and Dean offered to cook you breakfast. You came down to the kitchen after some time to find Dean setting a plate of homemade waffles on the table.

“Smells nice in here,” you said.

“It tastes even better,” Dean gloated.

“Okay smartass,” you mumbled and sat down at the table. You ate a piece of the waffle.

“God Dean, these are so good,” you moaned, “you are an amazing cook.”

“I know,” Dean chuckled when you kept moaning after eating every piece of the waffle. You looked up at Dean and saw the tips of his ears had turned bright red and he was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. You immediately became embarrassed when you realised what you were doing. Your face became hot with embarrassment.

Dean cleared his throat and got up from his chair.

“I am going to take a shower,” he said.

“But you didn't eat your waffles.”

“I-uh,” he cleared his throat once again, “I'll eat those later.” Dean left the room in a hurry. You kept eating your breakfast in silence and decided to take a shower and get ready for the day after you were done with your food.

You went up to your room and grabbed a pair of fresh pants and a sweatshirt. You made your way towards the bathroom but before you could go into the shower, you collided with Dean, falling ungraciously on your ass.

“Shit, sorry,” he said and extended his hands at you.

You looked up at Dean and swallowed hard. He was shirtless and only in a towel. He had just come out of the shower and his hair was still wet, tiny droplets of water lining his hair and chest. You grabbed his hand and he pulled you up to your feet.

“Sorry, fault’s all mine. I-” your eyes travelled down to his body. You saw him smirk a little. That cocky bastard.

“My eyes are up her L/N,” Dean said.

“I-I should go,” you said, picking your belongings up from the floor and going to the bathroom.

The rest of the day until the party started was uneventful. You lazed around the house, occasionally asking about each other's lives and discussing about the case. Dean said since he was ‘the best husband in the world’ - his words, not yours- he would cook for the guests and you agreed with him, knowing you were a terrible cook yourself.

It was almost an hour before the party started, so you decided to start dressing up for the party. You decided to keep it simple and also because you had one dress with you. You chose a navy blue cocktail dress and paired it with some blue earrings. You looked at yourself in the mirror and your attention went to the diamond ring on your finger. It was for a job, but it still felt weird to look at the ring.

“You ready?” Dean knocked on your bedroom door.

“Yeah.”

“People have started to co-” Dean's words got stuck in his throat as he let his eyes roam your body.

“You,” Dean cleared his throat, “you look beautiful sweetheart.”

“Thank you,” you bit your lip to stop the blush which was threatening to spread on your face, “I'm almost done.”

You gave the final touches to your makeup - you chose to go for a light makeup. You took your phone from the nightstand and stepped your foot out of the room but was immediately pulled back by Dean, turning you around so fast that you almost had whiplash.

“Sorry, didn't mean to surprise you,” Dean said, “we are newly married, we should be a little handsy - honeymoon phase, as they call it. Maybe we have to kiss when we are downstairs,” Dean reasoned.

“Okay,” you said, nodding your head.

You left the room, swaying your hips a little but you couldn't hear the groan that left Dean’s lips.

“Hey gorgeous! You look lovely,” Meg exclaimed and pulled you into a hug as soon as she saw you coming down the stairs. That girl was such a hugger.

“Thanks Meg. Right back at you.. Where's Cas?” You asked looking around the room.

“Looking for me?” Cas popped up behind you, startling you, “you guys got yourself a lovely home.”

“Thank you guys!”

“Hey! Sorry but can I borrow Y/N for a second?” Dean came down the stairs and asked your neighbours.

“Yeah sure, Campbell,” Cas said and you followed Dean into a secluded corner of the house.

Let me know if you want to be tagged in the series!

Feedback is appreciated!

[salenakingston]

Mystery March Day 25 - Hobby

The jobs were going well, for the most part. Somehow even with the addition of a ghost to the team, a kitsune, and Vivi’s magic, there was still a chance of something happening to go wrong. All of them learned their lesson with going to places without the proper research. The last thing they needed was another incident like the cave to happen. Never again.

In fact, it was probably for the best they swore off any that had to deal with such a location. That had actually been the bluenette’s idea. It was arguable that she had suffered the least of the three of them, but she was there with Arthur when he was stuck in the past, and losing a battle to depression before the mansion.

And Mystery’s secret must have been hard to keep, and the guilt of mauling one of the humans he was protected weighed on his mind. She wasn’t going to have any of her team go through that trauma again.

And all of them agreed without hesitation.

As was typical, Arthur was usually the one getting in harm’s way. It wasn’t because of his luck, but rather that when it came to combat, he didn’t have much to offer. He was their planner, pointing out flaws, and taking care of locks, or distractions. Thank god for his fast legs. It still bothered him, but his friends always made an effort to make it up to him. For some reason, probably a stupid one in his mind, he wasn’t sure why he let them continue to spoil to him.

Well, as long as they were rebuilding. He would always do anything for them.

The group of four made their way back to the mansion, a usual stop before the blonde, bluenette, and kitsune all made their way back to their own homes. It gave them a chance to wind down from the excitement, find their focus on something else, or even store something that might have been brought back from a job. If there was any safe place in Tempo for such items, it would be at Lewis’ greatest creation.

Sometimes the gang would stay later into the night. For Arthur, that wasn’t much of an issue, seeing as he already had a problem with staying up later than he should. It wasn’t unheard of for the ghost to randomly turn up in his room, pulling him over to bed to make sure he was getting enough sleep.

There was no longer a hunt for a missing person.

Nothing vengeful hunting him down anymore.

He could rest knowing he had finally accomplished his primary goal. He found Lewis.

Speaking of him, he found himself in the kitchen, as was his usual haunt. There were… downsides to his condition, but ones that never seemed to hinder him from doing what he loved most. Senses were lost, but that’s what his living companions were for. Sometimes they would wander on him in the middle of his craft, cleverly sneaking a taste away from him.

Or at least, they assumed they were being clever. Most of the time, he didn’t have a problem with them indulging in such acts. After all, who better to make sure everything tasted properly than the ones who would be eating the final product.

Another aspect of life stolen from him.

No, he couldn’t let his mind be plagued with such thoughts.

Vivi strolled in, a smile trailing over the ghost’s face as he watched her from the corners of his vision. He knew why she was here. It mattered not. He still leaned over, pecking her on the cheek as she came to his side. It surprised him to see her just standing there, watching rather than getting something for herself, then leaving. What was up with this change? Maybe she had just gotten bored? Read through all her books? Why not do something with Mystery then?

“You want some help Lew?”

Help? How curious.

“I wouldn’t mind a little extra help mi amor, but what brought this on?”

“Well, you’re always in here alone. Figured I could lend you a hand with my own skills.”

His smile grew wider, though eyes opened more at the surprise of those words leaving her mouth, “You? Cooking?”

“Well, someone had to make sure Arthur was eating while you were gone, and he couldn’t just have that nasty seafood pizza and energy drinks all the time. It became kind of a necessity.”

Lewis only learned about the consequences to the blonde’s depression mostly after the fact. The habits were still present, especially at the beginning when the two of them were on very rough terms. It was part of what caused the ghost to reevaluate the hatred he felt for his best friend. Why would his killer be working so hard to drive himself towards death if he wasn’t sorry for the actions he had been forced to commit? It tore the blonde apart.

He needed his friends to help pull him out of his own head, more so the one he had spent who knew how long just trying to find him.

Vivi was there for him before, and now both of them could watch over him.

The pair took a little longer than usual when it came to making dinner. It probably wasn’t helped by the fact there were two cooks trying to not only coordinate with one another, but had their own style of cooking. Vivi’s items tended to be something more suited to her culture, whereas Lewis could be all around. Then again, he was fond of any food item that had some heat to it was a good go-to.

When the blonde eventually pulled himself away from his work desk, he strolled into the kitchen. One of his eyebrows rose at the somewhat larger mess than normally was there. Food was still being plated, but this time by Vivi, while Lewis was the one cleaning. He gave a small chuckle, “I don’t think I want to know.”

“Oh hush you. Sit down. You get to enjoy a combination of our culinary skills.”

“Vivi, come help me clean up your mess, then you can eat.”

The blonde and bluenette couldn’t help but laugh, the former finding his way to the table while the latter joined her supernatural boyfriend in the final task of their night.

[demauryss]

for mtea @bluronyourradar. based on her tags on this post. i had minimum knowledge of how speed dating works so i wrote what came to me with the bit of research i did!!! i hope you like this and i’m sorry for taking too long!!

slow motion (i’m watching our love) 💌 | 3.9 k

in which there’s speed dating, some unexpected friends, a brief stint of matchmaking and a whole lot of sunshine smiles.

Lucas didn’t know what he was expecting to happen when he’d agreed with Mika to come to this … event or whatever it was. Because apparently Lucas was like a house plant Mika had got and forgot to take care of – and now it was starting to rot and needed someone to looks after it pronto.

That had been Mika’s analogy in trying to convince Lucas to try speed dating. Something he hadn’t heard of before. And with the promise of Mika buying all of Lucas’s groceries for the month if he came, Lucas had landed himself in this place. And it was the most recent thing he was regretting.

It’ll be fun, I promise!                      

It’s stupid, is what it is.

He didn’t know what to expect – but it was certainly not resorting to hide in a corner away from Mika’s prying eyes after talking with a total of four people – and being a witness to a very explicit kiss.

He wasn't thinking he'd get anyone when he had agreed to this, if you ask him. His thought process has been more towards getting through the evening with avoiding as much human interaction as he can. But in a succession of events, Mika had dragged him to a table, and Even, taller than nine of Lucases combined and eyes which was the reason why Lucas's tongue had forgot to form words, had approached him, and that was the first negative spike in his brain's specified compartment for dread.

They had talked for eight minutes before the bell rang and Even moved on to the next person. Lucas had learnt he was from Oslo; in his second year of college. He seemed nice, if those eight minutes were anything to go by, and totally someone Lucas would probably consider himself with. 

But there was something nagging inside his brain.

So he'd smiled as Even had left. Totally chiding his brain for worrying about lost potential when there were more pressing matters to discuss. Like why the next person coming after Even looked like a live incarnation Jack Frost. His name was Sander, and he was a David Bowie enthusiast. And then had come Nico and David, one after the other. 

And if it hadn't been for the way his stomach had crumbled at the thought of being with any of them -that he was slowly feeling his insides coming to his throat whenever he as much as smiled at them, that there was this empty hollow feeling inside of him as he sat talking to them despite his brain accepting them to be nice as the first thing it made sense of – Lucas wouldn’t be sitting here in his natural habitat being miserable at cursing his luck.

But as it happens – there was something nagging inside his brain. A black space. A variable entirely missing from the equation.

Lucas looks around the multitude of people all in an assortment of fading lights and a cacophony of voices all going over his head of people conversing. Lucas has never been good at that part, and that's why he finds it all so surreal to see. And it’s between that, hiding from Mika and cursing his fate, that there’s a mild commotion behind him. It would have been impossible to separate it from the discordance around him, had it not been for the way the reason the said commotion is created comes to where he’s sitting in the corner. Lucas, without meaning to, trains his ears on – he does a quick counting in his head – four people.

“I’m just saying,” One of them says, rubbing a hand over his neck. He looks like how Lucas feels after having to deal with a stupid customer on the phone – which is a story of a daily basis, “If you want to find a match, then maybe you should try and – I don’t know – talk to someone! ---

“Shut up Marti! This whole concept is stupid.” The one Lucas assumes to be Isak snaps. He looks tired, and Lucas really can’t argue with that sentiment.

“But it won’t hurt you to try?” Marti begins as a final resort. Isak only glares at him, “I don’t know what you think, but going on a date once doesn’t make you a relationship expert.”

“And especially when you call us in the middle of it to help you fake an emergency so you could run away.” The third person speaks, and Marti turns his murder filled eyes towards him. Lucas watches, heart somewhat lighter, as Marti just about digs the grave of the person in front of him.

“I like you better when you’re stoned, Matteo.” Marti grumbles, and the person in question turns starry eyed towards him, his tongue peeking out as he takes a gulp of the liquid in the glass he’s holding. These people remind Lucas of his own group of friends, those he hasn’t seen in months. With Yann and Basile both gone to spend the summer with their grandparents and Arthur on that science camp he signed up for ages ago – it has been quite some time since he last saw of them.

And now he misses them, terribly.

Marti looks at his friends disapprovingly as Isak and Matteo and the quiet friend whose name Lucas hasn’t got yet fail to hide their laughs at Marti’s distraught expression. He sighs, turning sideways and catching Lucas’s eyes. Lucas feels heat crawling up his neck spreading over his face at the thought of being caught in listening to someone else’s conversation. His initial reaction is to looks away, but his brain prevents him from doing so. Whatever, it’s too late now.

To his surprise, Marti addresses him like he’s talking to an old friend or something. “Please help me clear a point to these idiots,” he begins, “I’ll owe you forever.”

As if on cue, three pairs of eyes turn towards him in sync. Lucas gulps down whatever he was feeling earlier at being caught. “I’m sorry I can’t do that,” Lucas starts, feeling foreign being the subject of unknown gazes.

“Because you also think it’s stupid, right?” It’s Isak who begins with a hopeful cadence in his tone. Marti frowns at him, and Lucas sends a small smile in his direction.

“Well, there’s no denying that.”

The yell that breaks past Isak’s lips as he jumps in triumph raises several eyes in their direction. Lucas chuckles, apologetically looking at Marti who’s watching everything with a scowl on his face.

“I knew you were one of us,” Isak gestures to himself and the two people standing behind him. He looks out into the ground, pulling a sour expression on his face, “No sane person would be willing to spend an entire evening out there. It’s what I’ve been trying to tell this idiot here. But I think he gets it now. Do you, Marti?”

Marti, who has turned his head away from them, grumbles childishly, “Whatever. You guys don’t care for me.”

Isak laughs, and it’s Matteo who comes forward at that instant, wrapping an affectionate arm around Marti’s neck. “Don’t be like that, Marti. We do care for you!”

“Yeah. You’re the one who opens all of our jars when we need them.” The quiet one steps forward, and Lucas watches with Isak next to him. He heaves a sigh, before rolling his eyes, “Yeah yeah, now you can stop being a diva-” he turns to Lucas, “-he’s just being dramatic. Ignore him.”

Lucas laughs, now all unease under the guise of the nervousness which comes from meeting these people. Isak steps forward, taking a seat next to where Lucas is sitting. His friends follow, and soon he’s include in a circle of unknown people in a place he’d rather bolt out of.

“If we’ve reached an agreement here,” Isak pointedly says towards Marti, who is busy drilling holes in his skull. There’s light music present in the air around him, filled with occasional ringing of bell. Lucas ignores it and focuses on Isak. “I’d like to formerly make an introduction. I’m Isak, that’s Marti, Robbe and Matteo, and we’re seriously not having a good time right now.”

Lucas grins, “I’m Lucas, and you can count me in that.”

“Then what brings you here, Lucas?” It’s Robbe – the quiet one – who asks him that. His eyes have a kind look in them, and it’s accentuated by the light hanging over his head.

“My roommate,” Lucas sighs, “He works here, and he kind of convinced me to come and by convinced I mean he offered to buy my groceries for the month, so.”

They laugh, even Marti, who lets his annoyed expression slip for a minute before picking it up again as if nothing happened. It does occur to Lucas that he’s basically oversharing to a bunch of random people he just met. But the thought evaporates when they smile together, a familiar glint to all of their eyes. Lucas follows the warmth and soon, he finds himself getting enveloped.

Matteo smiles, “I was tagged into this Instagram post and someone thought it’d be a good idea to try this out.”

“And I still stand by it,” Marti somewhat grumbles. Lucas chuckles as Isak shakes his head at him. Robbe pats him on the back as Marti turns to Lucas.

“Please tell me you atleast talked to people before forming your opinion instead of criticizing from afar like some people here.”

“Hey!” Isak, Matteo and Robbe shout in unison. Lucas smiles, shaking his head. “Yeah I did meet some people but –“ Lucas shrugs, “-they were not someone I’d consider eating a pizza with brought from my roommate’s money.”

“That makes a lot of sense. Why didn’t I think of it before?” Matteo asks Robbe, who just shrugs. It Marti who bites back, “Because you’re stupid, that’s why.”

Lucas looks between them, as Isak raises his hand, high-fiving Marti over Lucas’s head. This night is going to be fun.

//

Some twenty minutes later, and Lucas is now a member of a groupchat with the four people whom Lucas can now almost call him his friends. (They’ve exchanged numbers, followed each on Instagram, exchanged pretty heavy details of their lives and exchanged some solid opinions on the people they’ve found mildly interesting.)

Now he and Matteo are surveying the crowd, finding someone suitable for Isak to go and talk to since his great epiphany seconds ago about not wasting any chance he’s presented with. (Marti had the most smug ‘I’ve been saying it for ages’ look on his face which Isak had wiped away with a middle finger raised in his direction.) Robbe and Marti were helping them, but it wasn’t up to any use since so far Isak had rejected hundred percent of the guys they had picked, all with the same monotonous ‘I’m not feeling it now.’

And Robbe had coughed a laugh with Marti hiding his face in Robbe’s shoulder, Matteo had whispered under his breath, that’s not the only thing you’re going to not feel tonight if you keep this up, and Isak had landed a smack at the back of his head – and it was when Lucas had realized his evening had turned out quite different from what he was thinking. He may not have found a match tonight, and Mika hadn’t said that he must find one. Atleast he’d be walking out with this memory with four new contacts – and the freedom from worrying about buying his groceries for the next month.

He looks out into the crowd dimmed with light. He doesn’t know if any successful match has been formed yet or not, but he doesn’t have to worry about that for more as he spots Mika sashaying towards him with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Damn Lucas,” he says. His eyes turn brighter as his gaze shifts from Lucas to the people sitting around him. “I thought finding one match would take you centuries but you’ve managed to snag four beautiful people from the crowd. I must be teaching you well.”

Lucas rolls his eyes as Mika goes on introducing himself to them. It’s when terms like Lucas’s gay guru and Lucas’s foray for the night are exchanged between the group, that he turns around, way past feeling embarrassed at his roommate’s antics. He’s so used to them now it’s not even funny.

“Okay Mika you can stop it now,” he says, watching as the guys including Mika act entirely too pleased at Lucas’s discomfort. “Sorry to burst your bubble but none of them is my match.”

“Oh he wishes he could get someone like me,” Robbe grins as Marti and Matteo fail to hide their terrible smiles. There’s a moment where Lucas remembers he called them kind, but that’s all gone now.

“Yeah. He was alone and miserable in the corner. If it hadn’t been for us he would have probably died from sadness.” Isak says, elbowing Lucas in his shoulder. Lucas musters his most perfect glare he could in that moment.

“I hate you all.”

“Oh but I don’t!” Mika laughs as if he’s having the time of his life. “I’m not pleased with anything Lucas does in his life, but I’m so proud of him for finding you guys!” He looks like a proud parent, Lucas would have felt to say had it not been for Mika declaring the sentiment himself. “I’ve work to do now, but you guys are welcome to come here anytime you want.”

Mika leaves, and Lucas glares at the four devils now grinning from ear to ear. Lucas rolls his eyes, scowling when their expressions don’t drop.

“Seriously?” Lucas asks.

“Yes,” they all reply in unison, and Lucas shakes his head.

“Now if you’re done being creepy can we go back to the task at hand?”

It gets their attention as Isak straightens up, a serious expression falling on his face. “I’ve come to a conclusion; I’m letting fate decide it for me.” as he speaks, he pulls out a coin from his inner pocket and puts it forward in his open palm in front of Lucas. “Lucas, take this coin and throw it in whatever way you want. If it lands on the floor somewhere, I’d go home and never try speed dating again. But if it lands on a table or hits someone on the head and that person turns then-“

He shrugs, and Lucas doesn’t see the logic in his plan. “It’s stupid,” Robbe says, to which Isak snaps in his direction, “Shut up I’m trying something here.”

So with one last hopeless look shared between Lucas and Marti and Robbe and Matteo, and a hopeful Isak jumping with glee, Lucas takes the coin, throwing it away and –

It follows a perfect projectile, a silver running through air, disappearing for a second. They all watch it and Lucas can swear they’re all holding their breaths. It’s silly, how they collectively exhale when the coin reappears into their vision before landing on-

Even’s table.

Lucas can tell he’s shocked when a coin lands on his table not far from them as he starts looking around. Lucas turns his head to the side, watching Marti and Matteo and Robbe do the same. But Isak- he stays with his stare focused on Even who’s now smiling at someone and Isak looks completely smitten.

“Um…Isak?” Marti waves a hand in front of his face, sharing a look with the three as Isak completely ignores him.

“Lucas you beautiful being!” Isak says, still in a kind of trance as he gets up from his chair. Lucas understands his intentions, and with a pat on his back, Lucas says, “Go on. He’s from Oslo too.”

It’s what sets the deal as Isak sets in motion. “I’ll catch up with you guys later,” he says off-handedly. They watch him make his way to Even, the crowd swallowing him just when he makes his way to the table.

Matteo turns to Lucas, “Is he one of the guys you said you talked too?”

Lucas nods, “Yeah he is – and come to think of it, I think I met some people you guys would like.”

And as Lucas plays matchmaker, he looks for the remaining three people he had met before. It’s funny really – this fate or kismet or whatever was going on when he met these people each of which bears a connection with the people he’d met earlier – and he spots Sander, his lighter than blond hair standing from the crowd. Lucas turns to Robbe.

“You see that guy over there? He’s Sander, and I think you’d be perfect together.”

//

It takes him a minute or two to find Nico and David in the crowd, and it takes him a minute as he convinced Marti and Matteo to go talk with them. Unlike Robbe who had fled straightaway, these two were difficult, and Lucas had resorted to quoting Marti’s own lines to him.

“It doesn’t hurt you to try, does it?”

And now he is left alone on their table as he tries to check up on his friends in the crowd. He had seen Isak disappearing with Even, and he’d shot him a thumbs-up when he’d met his eyes from across the room. The rest of them are still in the talking stage from what Lucas can see, even Mika, who’s now stood talking to someone much too familiarly – and Lucas can’t help but be envious of apparently how easy that looks for him.

He’s thinking of calling it a night after Isak sends a message in their newly formed groupchat, saying how he doesn’t think he’d be back anytime soon (which Lucas kind of guessed, by the way). The other boys reply in variations of same sentiment, and Lucas guesses his attempt at matchmaking was more successful than he thought it would be.

Lucas shakes his head, sending a message back into the groupchat, making sure the guys knew he won’t be missing them if they end up getting murdered tonight.

(But in all seriousness, he tells them to be safe, and he smiles when gets all affirmative responses in return.)

It’s when he’s beginning to leave that he feels a presence beside him. It’s a repeat of just a few moments ago, and he turns, expecting it to be Robbe or Matteo or even Mika and-

-and it’s not them. Not by a long shot.

For a moment it feels like one of Lucas’s daydreams as the light turning green and blue dances over the stranger’s head. His lips are curved in a smile, and Lucas really feels he’s tripped and transported into one of the universes he’s created during many of his bouts of daydreaming.

“Hi. You’re Lucas right?” The stranger’s voice carries over the noise of the club. It’s soft, sweet, and Lucas would have lost it had it not been for the stranger to be standing literally in a meter’s distance of him.

The stranger meets his eyes, and Lucas feels all the conversation skills in him reverting to zero. He was having no problem talking about his life to then-strangers just moments ago. Why does it brain have to be filled with hay now?

“Um – yes?” It comes out as a question, and the person smiles. Lucas feels his idiot brain transporting him to somewhere else – where it’s only him and the stranger, where the voices in the background aren’t filling his mind like white noise and where the sun is shining directly over him so Lucas is able to make out the colours lighting up in the stranger’s eyes.

Lucas’s heart beats heavily in the hollow of his chest.

The stranger cocks his neck to one side, “I’m Eliott,” he says. Eliott, Lucas rolls the name in his head. “And I’ve been watching you play matchmaker for a while and I’ve been meaning to ask -,” he takes a pause; Lucas hangs onto it, “-which of these beautiful boys do you think I’d match perfectly with?”

It’s a wonder Eliott doesn’t notice when Lucas’s heart tears his chest and lands on the table in front of him, beating so heavily it’s a struggle trying to calm it down. Eliott has been watching him. Eliott, who looks like he makes a living out of appearing on billboards and photoshoots, has been watching Lucas for a better part of his night.

Lucas wets his lips, thankful for the dim lighting of the café to hide his burning cheeks. What he wouldn’t give to-

“Do you have your eyes set on someone tonight?” Lucas mirrors the position of Eliott’s head. Eliott’s face lights up even more, and Lucas feels a shiver of unknown reason pass through the length of his spine.

“I do, actually. He has a nice smile and pretty blue eyes. And his hair is the wildest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Lucas looks around, confused for a moment, “That’s like, half of the people here?”

Eliott wrinkles his face adorably. Something jumps inside Lucas’s stomach at the sight. Eliott mutters something under his breath which Lucas fails to catch. And then he looks up, his eyes now gaining a glint which wasn’t there before. Lucas focuses – and it’s of nervousness.

“I suppose I should be more direct,” Eliott begins, taking a step forward so he’s just an inch away from Lucas, “If you’re free now then I’d like to take you somewhere.”

What?

Lucas chokes on the air caught in his throat at Eliott’s sudden statement, neck whipping towards him so fast it’s a wonder he doesn’t break it. Eliott himself looks taken back, and Lucas doesn’t know if it’s at his own words or something else.

“Wait no – that was so straightforward I’m sorry!” Eliott’s voice is frantic, and Lucas feels a beginning of something in his chest. “I – uh – I wanted to know if you’ve found someone tonight.” He says in one single breath. Lucas feels his face getting warm. The good warm you get after spending a day out in the sun as it washes away your sadness and takes it from you as it begins to set. He feels ants crawling inside him – those who begin from his heart and spread like a warm fire all around him with his blood.

Eliott looks like he might mass out when Lucas comes back. This doesn’t happen to him. It isn’t often that people actively seek him out. And here’s him – Eliott – in all his beauty sitting in front of hm. There’s something restless inside his arms, a nervousness which rises from the feeling which he’s refusing from letting it set in his bones.

“I haven’t,” Lucas’s voice is small, but it’s everything which brings a light to Eliott’s face which he can’t wait to follow. The warmth settles over him, and Lucas turns his head to the side when it becomes too much. He finds the guys, minus Isak, who have now taken the role of an audience for Lucas, and apparently look shameless when Lucas catches them staring.

(It isn’t like Lucas can judge them or anything.)

Lucas tries to convey a message to them with his eyes, and they get it, thankfully, as they turn to their respective partners, now forming a small circle which Lucas watches from afar. He turns to Eliott, his eyes in half-moons and smile in all suns. It really feels like a dream, and he wastes no moment in sending a prayer above.

“So – the place you wanted to take me?”

Eliott laughs, his voice soft and high. He leans forward, and Lucas meets him halfway.

[kissjane]

DELAYED DATE / Short(ish) fic

#12 from this prompt list.

TW / Mental illness, mention of suicide (but no actual attempt)

We dated in high school but then you moved away but now you’re back in town

“Have you guys heard?”

Basile came running towards them, ten minutes late for the gang’s weekly pizza night. As soon as he was near enough, he came to a skidding halt, bent double, his hands on his knees, his face red and ruddy, taking in gulps of oxygen while he tried to tell them his big news.

“Daphné told me, she heard from Imane, who had it from Sofiane, so that must mean it’s true, because obviously Sofiane would not just make something like that up, would he? Anyway, so Daphné heard it this morning when the girls went all shopping together, and she came over to my place to tell me just as I was about to leave, so that’s why I’m late, sorry about that, guys, have you ordered yet? You remembered to leave off the mushrooms on mine, right? Anyway, so what do you think about it, huh?”

He looked around expectantly.

“Baz, my man,” Arthur said, shaking his head fondly but exasperatedly, “why don’t you sit down first, and then tell us this piece of bombshell gossip Daphné thought was more important than pizza with your friends.”

Basile did as suggested, and then looked around again with aplomb, eager to share his news.

“Eliott is back in town!”

Silence fell, as Yann and Arthur glanced over at Lucas.

“Eliott Demaury?”, Yann asked after a long beat.

“Of course, Eliott Demaury, do we know any other Eliotts?”

Basile was so extraordinarily proud of surprising his friends with his announcement that he completely missed how Lucas suddenly had gone pale.

“We should text him, ask him if he wants to hang out again, like before!”

Lucas noticed how Yann elbowed Basile in the arm while Arthur frantically shook his head, and it made him feel bad. If the boys wanted to hang out with Eliott again, they should be able to. But Yann knew, and Arthur could probably guess, that Lucas would very much prefer not to. But whether Basile tried to set something up or not, chances were Lucas would run into Eliott at some point anyway.

“Yeah, sure,” he therefore said. Better to meet him with Yann there for emotional support, than running into him alone and when he was least expecting it. This way, he could prepare.

But not enough, it turned out, when Basile immediately took out his phone, and before anyone realized what was going on, announced gleefully, “That’s arranged! He’s coming over.”

Lucas choked on his own saliva, and a worried look appeared in Yann’s eyes, but the damage was done, and when a familiar figure walked up a few minutes later, Lucas took a big gulp of air and hoped for the best.

“Hi,” a hesitant voice came, and Lucas had to close his eyes against the memories crashing over him.

Eliott calling him late at night, his voice warm with sleep.

Eliott whispering nonsensical words in Lucas’ hair, against Lucas’ skin.

Eliott breathing out Lucas’ name into Lucas’ mouth, his lips taking on the shapes with Eliott’s.

“Hey,” he crooked, willing himself to act normally, to just greet him like an old friend he hadn’t seen in a while.

And why wouldn’t he? Of course, he had had the biggest crush on Eliott for most of the time they’d known each other, and Eliott had definitely given him the impression it had been reciprocated, until he had just disappeared – but nobody needed to know that.

Only Yann knew the full story – he had confronted Lucas one night, a few weeks after Eliott had left. Lucas had barely left his room for days, not speaking, eating only because Manon forced him. When he finally came back to school, he had been silent, withdrawn, and pale, and he snapped at the boys a couple of times for no reason. And then Yann had shown up, demanding answers, and Lucas had broken down and cried his heart out, telling his best friend about his whirlwind romance with Eliott, and the bitter taste it had left when Eliott had just packed up and left, not answering Lucas’ attempts at communication.

He would have sworn, only this morning, that he was definitely over Eliott Demaury, after three years – although maybe his glaring lack of any boyfriends in that time might suggest otherwise. Oh, sure, he’d kissed the occasional guy here and there, but nothing serious. And now, seeing Eliott, watching his grey eyes shine and his hands gesture wildly, he was forced to admit that the reason nothing ever went further was that he was the farthest thing away from being over him.

Basile was already jumping around Eliott like a young puppy, bouncing up and down, asking him how he was, what was going on, whether he was back for good, where he had been, why he had moved without notifying any of them – all in rapid-fire, without giving the older boy a chance to reply.

Finally, Eliott spoke up.

“It’s not the happiest story, but if you guys are up for it, I would like to tell you all.”

He stared straight at Lucas, and Lucas needed to turn his head, afraid of falling for Eliott all over at the slightest opportunity. He steeled himself not to believe any of his beautiful words this time, not to walk into his trap again.

But Yann nodded solemnly, and Eliott gangly sat down, folding his long limbs and hunching his shoulders.

“So, uh, I am bipolar. I don’t know if you guys know, but it’s a mental disorder…”

A silence fell. They all knew what that meant. Lucas had finally told the gang about his mom’s admission into the mental ward in their last year, and Basile had told them about his mom’s mental illness.

“We know,” Arthur said. “That sucks.”

“Uh, okay, yeah, it does. So we didn’t know at the time, but a lot of the stuff I did at my old school was due to episodes. It’s also why I failed my bac and got expelled from my other school and came to your high school. But like I said, nobody knew at the time and so, one day, I went into a manic stage and I tried to jump off a rooftop because I thought I could fly. A police agent managed to talk into me enough to get me down safely, and I got brought into the station. They called my parents, and they thought I had tried to commit suicide – which wasn’t true. I had everything to live for, and I wouldn’t want to give up –”

He looked at Lucas again. So did Yann. Both sets of eyes were trying to gauge what Lucas was thinking, feeling, but Lucas was numb.

“Anyway. They had me admitted into a psych ward near Le Havre, where they had moved to a few months earlier, that same night. I couldn’t keep my phone or anything, I couldn’t contact anybody, I –”

Again, his eyes found Lucas, pleading.

“I wanted to call you so badly, I swear, but they wouldn’t let me, and then when they finally gave me my phone back, it was weeks later, after they had diagnosed me, and I just – I thought you would be better off without me. Or that you would have forgotten me, or had moved on, and so I just… didn’t.”

Lucas saw Eliott’s eyes shine with something different now, as if he was blinking back tears. He wasn’t sure his own eyes looked any better.

It remained silent for a while. The boys looked from one to the other, unsure what was going on.

“So why are you back now, then?”, Yann asked, when nobody else made a move.

“The simple reason is that I finally got accepted into the Arts program at the University of Paris,” he answered, but his eyes still never left Lucas.

Yann nudged him with his elbow, willing him to ask the obvious reason, but Lucas was still too much in shock to do so.

In the end, it was Arthur who finally broke the heavy tension.

“And the complicated reason?”

Eliott took a deep breath.

“I had to leave something behind I never wanted to leave. Or someone, rather. Someone who I hadn’t even known all that long, but who meant everything to me. Someone who I missed every goddamn day I was out there. Who I have written thousands of texts to, and deleted them all, who I wanted to call millions of times, but never did. Someone I made so many drawings for over the years I could barely get them all to Paris with me – I just hope he gives me a chance to show them to him one day.”

“Sound like someone pretty important,” Yann said, when Eliott’s voice broke.

“The most important person I ever met,” Eliott agreed. “I loved him then, and I hate the fact that I never got to tell him, so I just hope I get to tell him now.”

“Do you – still?”, Lucas whispered. “Love him?”

Eliott nodded. “I never stopped. Please, Lucas,” he said, suddenly giving up all the pretense, beseeching him, “I swear I never meant to hurt you, it all happened so fast, and I know I am years too late, and you probably have somebody else by now, I just – I need you to believe me. I fell in love with you the first day I saw you walking the hallway at school, and I never stopped.”

Basile gasped.

“You are in love with Lucas? Our Lucas?”

“Oh, come on, Baz,” Arthur said as he stood up. “Let’s go get pizza. You coming, Yann?”

And as Basile still protested indignantly – “But I didn’t know! Lucas never said anything!” – Arthur and Yann dragged him along, the latter winking over his shoulder at Lucas.

As Basile’s voice finally died down, Lucas lifted his eyes to Eliott’s, and then dropped them to his mouth almost immediately.

“Lucas?”, Eliott said tentatively, gingerly reaching out a hand to Lucas’ shoulder.

“You drew for me?”

He didn’t know why he came up with that, after everything Eliott had said, but he was rewarded when Eliott smiled.

“Hundreds of times. Hundreds of happy hedgehogs and raccoons.”

Lucas smiled.

“Do you… I mean, maybe… If you wanted… You could come with me and I could show them to you?”

Eliott’s tone was hopeful, but cautious, and suddenly Lucas didn’t want to waste another minute. He’d pined over Eliott for years, and here he was. Nobody could predict the future, but tonight, he wasn’t going to let Eliott slip away.

“Only if I can stay the night,” he said, softly, and he laughed as Eliott’s eyes went wide and his breath hitched.

“I can’t wait until we get there to kiss you,” Eliott replied just as softly, when he was sufficiently recovered.

“Please don’t.”

And when their lips found each other again after all those years, they both knew it was going to take a while to get to the drawings – but neither of them overly minded.

[bomberqueen17]

busy

Monday I have already forgotten what happened, but I did make 36 dried arrangements; it’s written on the tally sheet, so I know I did it. Oh, in the morning surely I cleaned the slaughterhouse and sharpened the knives, that’s what I do every other Monday, so clearly, that’s what happened. Yes, I did an extra-thorough job, because we’re due for state inspection one of these times, and I want it noted that I’ve been sweeping the goddamned ceiling this whole time but especially yesterday.

We did not get our inspection, though.

(cut tag won’t work on DW; cut for length and for discussion of chicken processing, which by nature involves animal death)  (oh but there’s also a description of the Great Pumpkin Pie Experiment here so it might be worth a click if you’re a pumpkin pie enthusiast.)

We did process 310 chickens or so, which is as many as we ever do. We were short one or two people from our maximum, and while normally there winds up being a big backlog for the eviscerators, there wasn’t this time; several times I washed my hands and went out to the plucking table to hurry them along, because we could see a dozen carcasses on that table sitting there but nothing for us to do in our room. I think it’s that the person we were missing usually quietly does much of the work on that table, and also that Assistant Livestock Manager is injured.

Oh, IDK if I mentioned that-- Assistant Livestock Manager, who I was calling This Big Boy for a while because it was funny (I will never find the entry where I wrote about it on here but some months back the former assistant livestock manager came back to help with slaughter and admiringly was exclaiming over a table or something just as the new ALM was wandering by; she said “oooh look at this big boy” and he said “why thank you” and did a little curtsey and it remains the funniest thing ever to have happened in that slaughterhouse)-- anyway, TBB, as he’s now called by me, fell off the water wagon on Thursday and dislocated his shoulder, and had to go to the emergency room, and it was in the midst of the power being out region-wide, and it was all very dramatic and terrible. He’s back to work, and was going nuts with boredom at home, but he really can’t use the affected arm at all. He was running the plucker one-handed, and did not complain, but was clearly subdued, and we kept asking if he was overdoing it. Despite being a man in his early twenties, he is reasonably sensible about most things, so.

Anyway-- we were done by noon, and then packaging was all afternoon and was exhausting and we did send TBB home from that, but only after hours of work.

We didn’t finish everything until 5:30. But everyone was excited for the evening because we did a big experiment:

The Great Pumpkin Pie Experiment

There were five pies to be made. Three kinds of pumpkin grown on the farm, plus butternut squash, and the control was canned pumpkin from the store. Everyone followed the same King Arthur Flour recipe, which Veg Manager had previously tested and knew to be good. And, to remove that as a variable, Farmsister made all five crusts, so they were all the same recipe and same ingredients. (She has distinctive flour in her kitchen, among other things.) So, Veg Man made one, Farmsister made one, each of the two apprentices made one, and then TBB made one. (He had to have his roommate put the pie into the oven for him, since he couldn’t do it one-handed.)

Then after chicken day, we ordered pizza as per usual, and then had the five pies for dessert. (We invited Farmkid’s BFF’s family over too, to be impartial judges, but when it transpired that there was lard in the crust, her dad wouldn’t eat it because he’s vegetarian, so he really was very impartial as a judge and mostly provided color commentary, and was fed coffee cake instead which my mother had made with regular old vegetable oil because that’s how she rolls.)

VM anonymized the pies and brought them out to us in random order, and we scored them by number on a ballot sheet. Hang on, I have a photo, I have to attach it. It’s amazing.

[image description: a slip of paper with a grid on it, with five rows and five columns: the rows are numbered one through five and the columns are labeled “texture”, “sweetness”, “essence of pumpkin”, “color”, and are left blank for comments. I’ve scrawled some notes on two of the rows.]

The clear loser was the canned pumpkin; it tasted of nothing in particular, though it did have a good and very uniform texture. The fourth place finisher was the butternut squash; it was included because often that’s what’s actually in “canned pumpkin”, which is legally allowed because there’s very little actual difference between a pumpkin and a squash.

There was a clear favorite, but VM was dissatisfied with the trial; he felt there were still too many variables. One pumpkin (the New England Pie) had been processed in a food procesor, which had left too much graininess and had caused it to get poorer marks from the tasters, while the others had been processed with an immersion blender or standard blender. And the winner, which was the Long Island Cheese pumpkin, had been left overnight to rest in the custard form before baking, while the runner-up, the Long Pie, had not been given the same time to rest because the baker had not had the time.

But, the results were clear enough-- Long Island Cheese was the winner, Long Pie the runner-up, New England Pie a solid third but some didn’t like the texture, and then the butternut squash was a fine pie but a bit lacking in pumpkiny flavor, for reasons obvious once you knew why. The canned pumpkin, even in a blind taste test, scored way lower; it just had no joy to it at all. So we were glad to realize that it does make a difference.

Worth mentioning-- all of them were good pies, worthwhile to eat, and not in any way inadequate.

We have a lot of leftover pie...

Notably, we did not make an attempt using a non-pie pumpkin. Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins aren’t really worth trying to bake with.

For the record, New England Pie has the best-tasting seeds if you want to make your own pepitas, but Long Island Cheese has by far the most seeds per pumpkin, so if you want to go for volume you can’t beat that one.

anyway. today i spent the morning putting the slaughterhouse back together, washing eggs, washing more eggs, washing eggs, and then I made lunch, and then I spent the whole afternoon making more dried arrangements, to bring it back around in a circle.

I managed another 36. Which seems like a lot but they’ve been selling out the 40 I usually make, in a single market, each time, and there are two markets until I’m back in town again, so.

[softeddiek]

so @aryaofoldstones answered this ask awhile ago about gendrya’s favorite fast food place and, as a Sonic fan, i loved their answer (tags included) and ended up writing about some of it??

so modern gendrya first date au 

read on ao3 

i’ve got a hunger, twisting my stomach into knots 

Arya is standing in front of her full-length mirror tugging at the bottom of her shirt when, out of the corner of her eye, she sees Bran wheeling himself into her doorway.

“Sansa’s going to call and order us some pizza. Want your usual?” he grins, thinking she’ll request her own box of sausage and mushroom that nobody else will eat. But not tonight.

“No, I’m going out for dinner actually, but thanks,” she answers, turning her head back toward her reflection.

She can still feel his eyes on her and hears the confusion in his voice when he asks, “Out? Like, with someone else?”

“Just with Gendry.”

She’s turning toward her bedside table, reaching for her phone to see if he’s texted her to let her know he’s here, when she realizes she hasn’t heard the telltale sound of Bran’s wheelchair rolling away on the hardwood floors of the hallway.

“So, like on a date?”  

She whips her head around to see a shit-eating grin on Bran’s face. “You and Gendry are going on a date,” he states this time, pleased to have figured it out. Or to think he’s figured it out, because even if Bran would likely be cool about this sort of thing, no way in hell is she going to let him blabber on about her and Gendry and dates to their siblings.

And yeah so, maybe the past few weeks all she’s really had to go off of was the way things between her and Gendry had started to feel…different, but when she’d agreed to grab dinner with him tonight—something they did frequently—he had actually looked her in the eyes and said “Great, it’s a date then.” So really, it was a date. But again, Bran couldn’t know that.

“A date?” she scoffs, “Very funny Bran, I don’t know how you came up with that. Gendry and I go out for food all of the time.”

“Yeah but this is different. I can just tell.”

“Oh please,” she says, rolling her eyes, “don’t even start with that intuition shit again. We’re just going out for food. Like we always do.” If the raised eyebrow he gives her says anything, it’s that he sees right through her. “Sonic,” she blurts out. “We’re going to get Sonic. Now tell me that’s somewhere you go on a date.” That should do it.

“Arya,” he starts, a quizzical look forming on his face, “you guys love Sonic.”

She can feel the heat creeping up her cheeks and is preparing to defend herself by trashing her favorite drive-in when she hears the front door opening, accompanied by voices carrying up to her bedroom.

Deciding to use this as her out, she turns back around quickly to pocket her phone and slips into a pair of shoes lying at the foot of her bed.

“Bye Bran enjoy the pizza,” she says, edging around where he still sits in her doorway. She takes the stairs down two at a time, coming to an abrupt stop at the foot of them when she sees Gendry in her living room. Gendry in her living room having a conversation with Rickon.

Despite having been friends with Gendry for years, she can count the number of times he’d been inside of her house on one hand. At first, there hadn’t been a reason for them to hang out at her house. She’d met him and their other friends, Lommy and Hot Pie, in the park downtown a few blocks from her school. She’d asked to join them on the basketball court where they were messing around with a ball. Lommy and Hot Pie hadn’t been too thrilled to let a girl join them, but after some terse words from both herself and Gendry, they relented. After that, it had just become sort of a routine to meet up with them at the park after school each day.

Eventually though, Lommy moved away and Hot Pie had had to start helping out in his parents’ bakery after school, so it was usually just Gendry she’d meet up with when he wasn’t trying to pick up shifts at his new job. When she finally started attending the high school he went to along with Sansa and Jon, he’d been surprised to find out she was a Stark. (How it took that long to find out her last name, she didn’t know.)

He continued acting strange around her for a few weeks until one day when Jon was away visiting his sick uncle Aemon and Arya had no way of getting home after school. Sansa usually got a ride from her friend Margaery, but she wasn’t in the mood to ride with them, so she went to Gendry. He’d reluctantly agreed to drive her home in his beat-up old pickup. With plenty to tell him about her first few weeks of high school, things between them seemed to have gone back to normal as they talked on the ride there. Until they reached her house.

She’d invited him inside to play some video games, not picking up on the wary looks he was shooting her as she all but dragged him through the door. As he stood in their front living room, taking in the ostentatious furniture her mother had it decorated with at the time, his brow had begun to furrow, and a frown formed on his face.

“I gotta get going, actually. My mom’s expecting me home.” He turned quickly to rush out the door, ignoring Arya’s shouts behind him until she’d caught up just as he was reaching for the driver’s side door, grabbing onto his arm to turn him around.

“What’s going on, why are you leaving?” she’d asked.

“I already told you,” he’d said, eyes looking at everything but her, “I’m expected home soon.”

“No, you aren’t,” she chanced. “So why are you being a dick Gendry?”

He looked up at her with a scowl. “I’m not—”

“Yeah, you are, so just tell me why so we can move past it because you’ve been weird for weeks now.”

He looked at her for a minute, face betraying nothing, until finally, seeing she wouldn’t leave it alone, his resolve broke. Sighing, he’d said, “You’re rich, Arya. Like, really rich.”

“Technically, my parents are rich--.” She stopped at the look on Gendry’s face that seemed to say, ‘Are you serious?’ “Okay, my family is rich. So what?”

“So, you’re rich and practically live in a mansion. My mom and I live in a run-down, one-bedroom apartment. I just don’t get why we’d be friends is all.”

She’d tried not to let the hurt show on her face, but at his guilty look she’d known she hadn’t succeeded. “We’re friends because we like hanging out together,” she’d supplied. “I don’t care about that kind of thing; I never have, and you should know that seeing as we’ve been best friends for years.”

After a bit more cajoling on Arya’s part, he’d relented and gone back inside with her, but she noticed his discomfort the rest of the afternoon. She had thrown out the occasional casual invitation to come over the last few years, but she could only be shrugged off so many times before she stopped asking.

And it’s not like he has a phobia of her house or anything. Once Jon had graduated with his AA and transferred down to King’s Landing to finish his Bachelors, Gendry had taken to picking her up after school. They’d usually grab some food to take back to the shop while he worked the last couple hours of his shift, and then he’d drive her home. He rarely ever came inside though.

But now, here he was, perched on the edge of the couch having a conversation with Rickon. Or, listening to Rickon.

“And the Direwolves drafted Margaery’s brother, Loras, from Storm’s End two years ago because he led them to the Final Four, but he tore his ACL in his second game with us and sat out basically his whole rookie season and just hasn’t been the same since he came back. Arya thinks we should put him in some kind of trade package and send him to the Riverlands, but I think that’s just because she didn’t like him when Margaery introduced them.”

Gendry’s head is nodding as Rickon speaks, but she knows he has no clue what Rickon’s talking about. They may have met on a basketball court, but Gendry was too big and clumsy to seriously play, and he never had the time to watch professional games with her.

“I don’t like Loras because he thinks he’s the next Arthur Dayne,” she pipes up, moving from her spot at the bottom of the stairs to stand behind the couch they’re sitting on, “but he has none of the defensive skill and his handles are trash.” Gendry is grinning up at her now. “You’re right though, he did piss me off the first time we met,” she adds.

“Hey Arya. You ready to go?” Gendry asks, still smiling.

“Go? Where are you guys going, Sansa’s ordering pizza and Bran and I were going to play Smash,” Rickon interjects, a small frown on his lips.  

“They’re going to get Sonic instead,” Bran’s voice calls out across the room from the bottom of his wheelchair ramp.

Gendry glances over at Arya confused, while she and Bran hold each other’s stares.

“Oh, can you guys pick me up that new Red Bull slushie they have? I’ve been wanting to try it, but Mom won’t let me,” Rickon pleads.

Arya glances at Gendry out of the corner of her eye before fumbling for a response. “Umm, actually Rickon, I don’t think—”

“Hey Rick, I forgot to tell Sansa you want cheese bread, and she’s placing the order right now,” Bran interrupts, saving her from the mess he made.

“Oh shit,” her brother exclaims, jumping up off the couch and darting into the kitchen.

Bran starts following him, only looking back at Arya’s icy glare once to call out, “Have fun guys!”

Gendry, now off the couch and standing at her side, is rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, keys in the other. “I’m guessing Bran knows about our…us?”

He hadn’t used the word date and not quite wanting to ask for clarification—especially when her siblings are still in the other room and she knows, just knows, that if Sansa were to come and see them, she’d know exactly what was going on—she just nods her affirmation.

“Let’s get going,” she says, heading for the door.

His truck is sitting in their circular driveway, parked in the spot it usually is when he drops her off. She’s reaching for the door handle, but he beats her to it, his arm reaching out in front of her, chest lightly brushing her back. She lets him open it for her and slides into the cab of the truck. When she looks over as he’s shutting the door, she sees a blush spreading across his cheeks.

Okay, this is definitely a date. One hundred percent a date. As much as she had made fun of Sansa for combing over magazines for relationship advice over the years, she’d still listened to some of the things she went on about. And in this moment, she can hear her sister’s voice saying, “A gentlemen always opens doors for a lady, Arya. It’s just proper date etiquette.” She always thought that was dumb—because yeah, it’s nice and polite, but she doesn’t want anyone to open a door for her just because she’s a girl—and Gendry doesn’t just regularly open doors for her.

“Thanks,” she mumbles out.

He’s slid into his side of the cab and taken a deep breath when he looks over at her and says, “So. Sonic?” She can hear the confusion in his voice. They hadn’t really discussed it before, only agreed to get dinner, but if that’s how Bran’s going to spin it to her family, they might as well. And besides, Bran was right, they do frequently pick it up to take it back to the shop with them, they’ve just never actually pulled in to eat because that would be so, well, date-like.

“Yeah, I mean. That works. I could really go for a slushie right now.”

He cracks a smile at that. “Can’t you always?” She grins back at him as he starts his truck, slowly pulling out of the driveway.

Sonic is only about a fifteen-minute ride from her house, closer to Gendry’s side of town, but now, only a few minutes in, the silence is beginning to become oppressive. His fingers are tapping on the steering wheel, whether to an imaginary beat or out of nerves, she isn’t sure. She reaches forward to turn on the radio, messing with the dial until it lands on a station she enjoys, and he tolerates. She hums along to the radio under her breath for a little while and, from the corner of her eye, can see the tension slowly start to seep out of his shoulders.

Gendry’s never been much of a talker. His surly looks and generally shy personality tend to put people off, and that’s just how he likes it. Arya on the other hand loves talking to people, always has. Her parents’ friends had taken to calling her Arya Underfoot as a child because at their big fancy holiday parties she could always be found darting around the room, catching snippets of conversations, before taking off to see whatever else caught her fancy.

But just because Gendry didn’t love holding long, drawn-out conversations, that didn’t mean he’d been exempt from holding them with Arya. And, seemingly quickly, he became comfortable with that. So, this was just weird. Just because this could now be classified as a date and not just the two of them hanging out, didn’t mean there was a reason for either one of them to be this nervous, right? One of them needed to speak.

“How was Tobho’s today?” Good, that’s a safe question. Gendry loves talking about the auto shop he works at and she knows he had a heavy workload today, even going so far as to seeing if she could get Sansa, who was home from school for the weekend, to pick her up after classes.

He looks over at her then—for the first time since they pulled away from her house—and the relief she sees on his face is practically palpable.

“Great actually. You know how I said that old rich guy, Lannister, was being an ass about me working on his car, had all these stupid ‘rules’ and stuff?” She nods her head with a scowl, thinking about the family her Uncle Robert had married into. “Well apparently he actually thought I did a good job on his car and gave me a decent tip. I mean,” he scoffs, “not like it’s much to him. With a car like that, the man probably shits gold.”

He continues talking about his day and all of the technical aspects of what he worked on, with Arya only slightly struggling to keep up—she has spent most afternoons after school at the shop for a few years now, after all—and the rest of the ride flies by.

As they pull into Sonic, they’re busy laughing about that time Arya was sitting inside a car at the shop and accidentally blew on the horn, not knowing that his coworker, Lem, was working on it. She surprised him so badly that he jumped up and nearly broke his nose on the hood.

When her laughter dies down, she notices only a handful of the drive-in spots are taken and a few people are sitting at the tables outside. He pulls into an open space near the middle.

“Do you know what you want,” he asks, looking over at her.

“Umm…a large watermelon slushie with Nerds and some fries.”

Face scrunched up and laughing, Gendry says, “A slushie with Nerds? That’s so gross Arry.” She sticks her tongue out as him as he leans forward out of his window to press the button to order.

A vaguely familiar voice crackles out of the speaker, asking to take their order. “Yeah, can I get a large watermelon slushie, with Nerds,” he pauses, looking over at her for dramatic effect, “a large order of fries, a bacon double cheeseburger, a corndog, a large Coke, and umm, some onion rings, and an order of chili cheese tots?”

He’s fumbling for his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans and listening to the voice rattle the order off back to him, not noticing the incredulous look she’s shooting him.

“What?” he questions, when he finally looks over.

“I’m sorry, is Hot Pie in the bed of the tuck and you just forgot to tell me?”

“I missed lunch,” he grumbles out. “And besides, I told you I got a big tip today. Might as well spend it on something, right?”

“Gendry, I can pay for my half, you don’t have to—”

“Arya,” he cuts her off, giving her a familiar look, one that says, ‘Don’t argue’. They usually alternate paying for food that they pick up and she knows for a fact that he paid for their McDonald’s the other day. But she knows how self-conscious he gets about money. As much as she doesn’t want him to have to spend his hard-earned tip on their food, she knows that talking about it anymore will only make him crabby. Besides, this is a date, right? Dates are allowed to want to pay for each other’s food.

“Fine, but I’ll get it next time.”

“Sure,” he says around a smile, knowing she doesn’t just mean the next time they hang out at the shop. “Next time.”

They grin at each other for a minute, the air around them silent but for the sound of the radio outside playing some song that she can vaguely identify as being sung by Bruce Springsteen and the occasional sound of roller skates on the asphalt. As goofy as she knows her smile is and as much as she would normally call this moment a cliché, she can’t find it in herself to care, what with the feeling of Gendry’s blue eyes on her and knowing that she’s the reason for his wide grin.

“So,” he begins, “how was school today?”

“Pretty good actually,” she starts, thinking on it. “I found out I got an A on my Braavosi test. Mr. Terys said that when I go to college, I should take a Pentoshi class for my foreign language credit since they’re pretty similar. And then, in drama, Ms. Sand announced that we’re going to be doing Antigone for our spring show, which I personally think is way too much for us to handle but she loves her tragedies.”

“Is she the one that was dating the chemistry teacher a few years back?”

“Mr. Martell, yeah. I think they’re off-again right now,” she muses, “she’s been having us perform lots of sad monologues in class.”

“So, are you going to audition?”

“Oh yeah. There aren’t a lot of speaking roles or female roles, but Ms. Sand always gives preference to seniors for leads, so I think I have a pretty good shot.”

He’s opening his mouth to say something when they both spot someone on a pair of roller skates in the rearview mirror headed their way. When they pull to a stop by Gendry’s rolled down window, greeting them with their order and the total, Arya realizes why she recognized the voice on the speaker.

“…and one large Coke,” she finishes off, taking payment from Gendry. It’s when she looks up to begin handing them their order that she notices Arya in the passenger seat. “Arya, hi!” she says, complete with a friendly smile.

“Hey Brea. I didn’t know you worked here.”

“Yeah, the waters are too cold right now for me to stay busy working with Dad, so I applied here for some extra cash.” Arya nods at this, vaguely remembering Brea’s dad being involved in deep sea fishing or something like that. “Who’s this?” she asks, giving Gendry an appreciative look.

“Gendry,” he grunts out, more focused on the food they have yet to be given than the sly glance she’s sending Arya.

“Oh, so you’re Gendry?” She lets out a giggle that gets his attention. Arya narrows her eyes at Brea, confused. She’s mentioned Gendry to Brea in passing, he’s her best friend, how could she not? But she hadn’t said anything that would warrant the giggle and the knowing look Brea now wears.

“Yeah,” he draws out suspiciously, looking between the two girls. “Think we can get our food now?”

“Of course!” She begins handing Gendry the outrageous amount of food—a bemused expression forming as she realizes that all of this seems to be for them—while he sets it down in some pseudo-picnic style on the stretch of seat in between them.

“See you around Arya,” she says after collecting the money, skating away with ease.

Gendry thrusts her slushie into her outstretched hand. Arya expects him to ask about Brea, but when she’s done poking her straw into her drink and looks at him, he’s already shoveling onion rings and a few of her fries into his mouth while one-handedly trying to pull his burger out of the slip of foil.

“You know,” she starts, “the meat’s already dead Gendry. I don’t think your burger is going to be running away anytime soon.”

He gives a dry laugh and sends a deadpan look her way, where she’s smirking around her straw. “Don’t know how you drink those things.” He nods toward her. “They sound toxic, pure sugar,” he says loftily, nose pointing in the air.

“Oh please, don’t act like you didn’t only stop ordering them because you always get a major brain freeze.”

He pouts at that for a minute before biting enthusiastically into his burger. After swallowing his bite and taking a large gulp of his Coke he says, “Do you know what night your play will open? I wanna make sure I let Tobho know in advance I’ll be needing to leave work early that day.” Gendry’s boss often has him stay later in the spring, when daylight is easier to come by. Opening night is bound to be on a Friday, and while Gendry always come to see her performances at some point during their run, she doesn’t want him missing out on work opportunities because of it.

“Oh no,” she says quickly, “you can just go on the weekend or something, I don’t want you missing work because of me. Besides, I might not even get a part.”

He chews thoughtfully on his corndog for a moment. “But if you don’t, you’ll still be doing tech, right?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Then I’ll be there opening night. Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Okay,” she says, ducking her head to hide her small smile, under the pretense of trying to drink her slushie.

Their conversation moves onto other topics—Gendry’s coworker, Harmon, who’d just been fired; a new scone recipe that Hot Pie had been using them as taste-testing guinea pigs for; the new single from that terrible alt-rock band, The Brotherhood, that Gendry likes. Before she knows it, Arya’s reaching for her slushie again, only to be met with the sound of her straw sucking up air. Eyebrows furrowing, she looks at the stretch of seat between them only to see that Gendry’s managed to finish all of his food.

He has a hand rubbing the back of his neck and is looking at the clock on the dash that says they’ve been parked for at least an hour and a half. “Guess we’ve been here a little while, huh?” It’s really not all that late for a Friday night, but she knows her parents will be getting home from their night out soon and she’s not ready to have a conversation about her and Gendry with her mother just yet. Or her father.

“Yeah, I probably need to get back soon,” she reluctantly replies.

“Yeah of course.” He gathers up the wrappers and trash littering the seat (and really, it’s an awful lot) along with Arya’s empty slushie cup and hops out to toss it all in the trash can.

Buckling up, she starts thinking about how the night had gone. Things had definitely been flirty, but that had been happening more and more lately. Really it hadn’t been any different than any other time they’d hung out. But did that just mean that they were comfortable around each other or had this not actually ended up being a date? Going to Sonic wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary for them, so what if, by suggesting they go there, he thought that she didn’t think this was a date? By the time he’s made the short walk back to the truck, Arya’s head is swimming.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah,” she chokes out, a strained smile on her face. He gives her a quizzical look and, sensing his confusion, she attempts to make it more genuine. It seems to work because his eyes only linger on her for a second longer before he starts to back out.

Luckily for her, Gendry’s chosen the drive home to vent about his mom’s newest boyfriend, which requires little response on her part.

“And he’s just so boring, you know? He’s always trying to talk to me about golf, as if I’ve ever golfed in my life. Oh, and don’t even getting me started on how often I’ve caught them making out on the couch—my couch! The one I slept on the whole time I lived there—”

Oh shit. All of a sudden it’s no longer Gendry’s diatribe she’s hearing, but her sister’s high pitched, fourteen year old voice as she reads, “And at the end of the date, a gentleman will walk a lady to her door and, should the date have gone well and she seem receptive, give her a chaste kiss on the lips.” While Arya is sure she said something snarky at the time about the magazine being shit, even she knows that people usually kiss at the end of dates. And while she’s certainly been thinking about kissing Gendry (a lot), thinking about it and actually being in a situation where she can, are two totally different things.

Wanting to steer clear of this train of thought, she decides to jump into Gendry’s rant before he gives himself an ulcer. “But she really likes him, right?”

He stops his sentence short. “Well, yeah, but she’s liked all of the other guys too, and you know how those all turned out.” While Arya wouldn’t categorize Ms. Waters as a serial dater, Gendry is right in saying that the past few men she’s dated haven’t had the winningest personalities.  

“Didn’t you say he had a steady job though? Something in an office with a salary?”

He hesitates. “Yeah. But he just seems…like he’s trying too hard.”

“Better to try too hard than to not try at all, right? Maybe you should give this one a chance. I’m not saying don’t be cautious, especially with how a lot of the last guys turned out. But she’s an adult and she’ll want you to trust her judgement. And it won’t do her any good if she thinks you already don’t like this guy right away.”

He lets out a heavy sigh. “I guess you’re right, I should at least try.” There’s a brief silence before he starts again. “And maybe,” he pauses, sending her a sly, sideways glance “you could teach me a little about golf?”

“Wait, what? I don’t know anything about golf.”

“Then Bran was lying when he said your mother sent you and him to some fancy golf summer camp when you were kids?” he asks.

Her face is heating up furiously. “How long have you known about that?”

He shrugs. “Awhile now. I’ve been waiting for the opportune time to bring it up.”

He’s laughing at the scowl on her face, managing to get her to crack a smile, when they pull into her driveway. When the truck is in park, they both sit in their seats, hesitating. She’s scrambling for something to say, but he saves her when he quickly jumps out and jogs around to her side of the truck, opening up the door.

Suddenly nervous again, all she can manage is a mumbled thanks as she trails alongside him to her front door. They stop on her stoop.

This is it. The moment of truth. Only he’s just standing there, staring at her, his face looking a bit washed out under the harsh porch light.

“Are you alright Gendry? You’re looking a bit queasy. Few too many onion rings?” She jokes. He lets out a small chuckle with her, tentative smile on his face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just wanted to say umm,” he clears his throat, “I had a good time tonight. With you. I mean, I always have a good time with you. Hanging out. But a date is a bit more than hanging out, isn’t it? I mean, it felt like hanging out though. Which is good. That is good, isn’t it? God, I’m shit at this.” He rushes this all out, shaking his head when he’s finished, and Arya honestly doesn’t think she’s ever heard him this tongue-tied and nervous before. She’s trying not to let a laugh slip out, what with how distressed he looks, when it hits her that he finally called this a date again. And that’s all she needed.

If anyone were to ask her later, she would definitely deny that she ever had any doubts that this was a date. And how could she have? She and Gendry just worked, of course they would end up dating. She would, however, agree that she had broken the cardinal rule in Sansa’s teen magazines and initiated their first kiss. And it was anything but chaste.

Gendry’s hands have managed to wander to her hips, holding her flush against him, her left hand has found itself tangled in his hair while her right is pressed against his chest. As he slips his tongue in between her lips, brushing it against hers, all she can think of is how she was completely right that kissing Gendry and thinking about kissing Gendry are two totally different things—actually doing it is way better.

They break apart for air, both smiling breathlessly at each other, when they hear footsteps approaching the other side of the door. She takes a step back from Gendry while his hands drop from her waist immediately.

When the door opens, Rickon is standing in front of them, eyes narrowed in suspicion. After staring at them for a moment, “Did you guys get my slushie?”

“They were all out of uh, Red Bull,” Gendry lies.

He stares at them a moment longer, eyes shifting between them both as if ready to call them out on the lie, before his face relaxes.

“Alright. Well we ordered a lot of extra pizza incase you guys were both still hungry.” The idea of Gendry still being hungry almost makes her laugh. “You coming in Gendry?”

He glances over at Arya, as if silently communicating with her that he agrees that they’d be grilled by Sansa and have to deal with Bran sneaking little jokes about them into conversation, and says, “Thanks Rickon, but I ate a lot actually.” Then, turning towards Arya, looking significantly less apprehensive than before they kissed, “I’ll see you Monday?”

“Of course. I’ll text you.” She’ll have to remember to bring up the door opening thing.

He moves forward, as if to give her one last kiss goodbye, before realizing their audience. Playing it off with a quick squeeze to her arm, he gives her and Rickon a nod and a goodnight before walking back to his truck.

She watches him start his truck and pull out, feeling Rickon’s gaze on her neck. She sighs heavily, already knowing he’s figured it out, and turns around.

“So, you and Gendry huh?” He looks curious, less smug than she’d expected.  

“Yes,” she answers, no hesitation.

He nods thoughtfully for a second. “Tell you what. You get me my slushie next time you’re out, and I’ll tell Sansa and Mom that Gendry just dropped you off like usual if they ask. Deal?”

She cracks a smile. “Deal.”

[sunsetscurving]

Oh, Cruel Fate (enemies to lovers AU)

Ch. 1 

Okay this is the first chapter for my enemies to lovers fanfiction and I really hope you guys enjoy it!! note: english is not my first language, so I’m sorry for any mistakes!

The Demaurys and the Lallemants had been enemies for over one hundred years. And when Lucas first meets Eliott, he hates him with his whole heart even without knowing him, blaming him and his family for his life which is slowly falling apart. But when they are forced to live alongside in the same surrounding, something is changing between them. And this scares Lucas more than anything else.

Wikipedia

Demaury-Lallemant feud

The Demaury-Lallemant feud started in 1900 in Paris and was one of the biggest family feuds of the 20th century. Till this day, it is still unknown what the fight between the two families triggered and why there was this sudden rivalry. Sources say that the question of money or ground property was in the center of this fight. Since the Demaurys and Lallemants are still important and highly respected in the Parisian society, the feud is still present in these days, now already going into the third generation.

Feud

Media

Demaury genealogy

Lallemant genealogy

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Lucas sighed deeply and leaned back against in the seat of the bus, shutting his phone down and putting it into his jacket. Some would say that it was a life goal to have a Wikipedia article about yourself and your family but for Lucas, it was only another reason why he would love to have another surname. But he was what he was: Lucas Lallemant – youngest son of Madeline and Jack Lallemant, heir to his name and the business of his family. Lucas mouth tucked into a smile. In his head, this sounded like some cringey romance history movie where he was the hero and would save the princess, the country and the world in general. But the reality was different. Very, very different.

The bus stopped and Lucas got out of it, standing in front of a big school which was guarded to the teeth. People were streaming in and out of his, greeting Lucas as if he were his best friend.

Fake. All of them. No one even knew his favorite color. They only knew that he was “fame” and had a lot of money – that was enough for most of the people in this time. There was never be a doubt that his parents would send Lucas to this school – the best and most elite school in whole Paris. Only the upper-class and the most respected families got a place on this school. This way, their son would get more education than the Demaurys could even effort. All of this, his whole life, was based on the fact to let the Demaurys suffer.

And if he wouldn’t have been raised to hate ever member of the Demaurys, he would hate them alone for that, for the control they had over his life.

It was the first day after the summer holidays and although Lucas had enough time to relax, he felt not relaxed at all. Maybe it was the fact that he was out drinking and dancing and hooking up with boys the whole summer, his friends always dragging him to the best and most illustrious parties.

The guard opened the door for him, greeting him with his name and even an indicated bow. As if Lucas was some kind of prince. He rolled his eyes lightly as he passed the guard and entered the courtyard.

It had never been a secret that a Lallemant visited this school. Lucas’ brothers were members of this school before and so it was no surprise that Lucas changed to this school two years ago.He has always been proud to be a member of this highly respected family. But in the last years, things went bad. Really bad. For his family and himself. Things happened which made him realize, that this feud between the Lallemants and Demaurys was justified. Things happened that Lucas could never forgive. And although the feud was never fought out in the inner circle of their families, the public knew not half of the things that happened. They would never knew what the Demaurys did to Lucas’ mum and that the Lallemant family slowly grew apart although they should stick together now more than ever and that Lucas often wished for a different life.  A life, where the Demaurys didn’t exist.

“Luuuuuuuucaaaaaaaaaaas!”

Lucas was distracted in his thoughts when a loud voice was calling his name over the courtyard. He looked up and a smile was forming on his lips as his best friends came over to him.

“Long time no seen”, said Yann and greeted his best friend with a handshake. Lucas laughed lightly and shook his head.

“Only like 25 hours, non?”

Yann was now beaming with a grin.

“Aww, honey, you count the hours were I’m not with you.” Lucas opened his mouth, ready to protest, as Yann bumped his elbow into Basile’s rips.

“He’s in love with me. He always has been”, Yann said to Basile and wiggled with his eyebrows. The protest died on Lucas’ lips because of a laugh fighting its way out of Lucas’ mouth. Lucas went over to Yann and threw his arms around his neck, looking into this longingly as if he was his lover.

“Oh, Yann. You’re so right. You’re the love of my life.”

All of them laughed and Arthur laid an arm around Lucas’ shoulder, pulling him from Yann away, as they went inside together. Lucas was into men as long as he could think – it was never a problem for anyone and those who had a problem with that were kicked out of Lucas’ life. Since he was someone who was always in the spotlight of the problems from his family, his social media accounts were overflowing with followers and messages. When he first started to go to this school, things went really badly and he got a lot of hate on social media and in real life regarding his sexuality and his family in general. Teenagers can be crueler than any adult because they feel stronger while putting down someone else, projecting their own problems on the life of a public figure. But all of this only made him stronger – he learned to ignore hate messages, he learned to be in line with his sexuality and the feelings towards men. And his friends supported him in every decision he made and got his back when someone crazy thought to put someone like Lucas Lallemant down.

“I don’t think you’re Lucas’ type, Yann. All the boys Lucas hooked up with were a lot taller and had messy hair. Not like you. I’m more of his type.”

Lucas rolled his eyes for the second time today and shrugged out of Arthurs’ grip.

“So, now we analyze the men I hook up with? Why don’t we analyze the girls you made out with, Arthur?”

Arthur lifted his eyebrows and a smugly smile appeared on Lucas’ lips.

“Oh, I forgot: You haven’t hooked up with anyone lately, right?”

“OOOOOHHHHH” Yann and Basile laughed and Arthur couldn’t stay serious for even one second, although he really tried.

“Sorry Arthur, but he gotcha.”

Lucas laughed and felt his mood lifting up immediately whenever he was with these dorks. Whenever he was with his real friends. When you were a member of the Lallemants or Demaurys, you had a lot of people admiring you. Wanting to be your friends. Wanting to be part of the fame that goes alongside with the family name. Lucas stopped to read his DM’s on Instagram, most of the time it were people asking him to take them with him to that party or this event. To an event where Lucas himself would gladly stay at home with his friends, playing video games or getting drunk while eating some Pizza. But these nights were rare. Even rarer with Lucas getting older and more responsible for the name of his family.

Suddenly, the mood seemed to shift. Lucas could nearly feel as the air changed. His friends seemed to realize it too, their steps getting slower. He frowned and stopped, looking around.

People were whispering, their eyes bright with some new, exciting news. Lucas was used to people speaking behind his back, sharing gossip he couldn’t give less a fuck about. But today was different. There was not a giggle, no chuckle in these whispers. Only pure seriousness. Excitement. Confusion. And maybe even… Fear?

“What is happening here, putain?”

The usual loud hallway was quiet, people whispering, not allowing themselves to be louder as they spread some rumors. Rumors which affected Lucas because every gaze of every person was fixed on him, as he passed them.

“Let’s just go to class”, Lucas murmured and pulled the boys with him. He sat down in the back, next to Yann and chatted with him, trying to ignore all the stares which were even heavier than usual.

“Something is about to happen, Lulu”, Yann suddenly said and Lucas frowned.

“You watched too many Netflix shows, Yann. This is just the usual gossip. Maybe someone heard that I will leave my family and my name behind and become a monk in Germany. Or something like that. I actually don’t care at all.”

“But this is something different. As if we are all waiting for something to happen.”

“Yeah, I’m waiting for this day to be over so I can go back to my bed and get some sleep.”

“Dear Students.”

Lucas and Yann stopped their talk and turned around as the teacher came into class. And suddenly, Lucas was excited too. As if something was really about to happen. Yann and his stupid ideas – in the end it would only be an announcement for a new lunch menu.

“Welcome to the new school year. I hope you had some great holidays. We got a new student here today and I want to introduce him properly to you all.”

Lucas eyes narrowed and he suddenly got a bad feeling.

His eyes shifted to the door, as someone entered. He was tall, messy hair, bright eyes, a backpack slung over one shoulder. He was not smiling but Lucas could feel that his smile would light up the whole room. All in all, he was one of the most attractive man Lucas ever saw. He unconsciously leaned forward, a hand going through his own messy hair, a little smile forming on his lips. In the corner of his eyes, he found Yann watching him as if he knew how Lucas would react to that new boy. Suddenly, the eyes of the new boy were on him and his heart skipped a beat, catching Lucas off guard. His eyes held worlds in them.

“Would you like to introduce yourself?”, The Teacher asked with a sweet smile and the boy nodded shortly. He took one step forward, hands lazily in his pockets as if new days at elite schools were nothing new to him. The eyes of the boys found Lucas’ again and he could feel how the whole class seemed to hold their breaths.

“Hey. This is my first day at school after having a break for one year. I’m 22 years old and my name is Eliott Demaury.”

A gasp went through the class and he could feel how Yann went rigid next to Lucas. And Lucas could do nothing and watch as his world suddenly turned upside down within one tiny second, with the name of one man.

[lilacmoon83]

Finding You Always

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 206: The Brightest Star in the Sky

The young man sighed, as he trekked after his determined cousin. They were about the same age, but decidedly had very different interests. As always though, he tagged along to make sure she didn't get into too much trouble at these conventions.

His cousin Nora loved anything considered weird, paranormal, or of a conspiracy nature. So seven years ago, when that crazy storm had happened in Seattle, his cousin had been enthralled from that moment and ever since she had been exploring every single aspect of that day.

She did have a point. Even he, like most, suspected that the official story the Feds fed the public about that day was garbage. But he, like most, didn't really know what to do about it so they moved on with their lives. But not Nora and she had gotten into some trouble early on in her days of spelunking in the woods of Maine and into fights at the conventions. So here he was again, tagging along to another conspiracy convention in Misty Falls, Maine and bored out of his mind.

"If you don't want to be here, JJ...then you can leave. I'll be fine," Nora told him. He rolled his eyes.

"It's just...some of these guys are in this for the cash grab now. I mean...what new or real information have they come up with in the last seven years?" JJ questioned. She sighed.

"You don't get it...there are no definitive answers, because the government is hiding the whole thing. But you've heard the stories. Weird things happen in these woods," Nora said.

"Maybe that's because this convention brings the weirdos out of the woodwork," he quipped.

"So...are you still on the fairy tale kick or do you think it's aliens?" he asked.

"If you're going to make fun of me, you can take a hike," she answered. He sighed.

"I'm sorry...but you have to admit, most of the theories are pretty insane," he mentioned.

"You saw the videos...how do you explain all that?" she asked.

"I don't know...but fairy tales? Really?" he questioned.

"Whatever...you just wait until I prove you wrong," she insisted, as they arrived at the convention tables, where they were conducting a live podcast.

"And if you're just joining us, I have made contact with a source that has a possible lead on the man known as David Nolan. Now, if you remember, David Nolan is the detective from Seattle that curiously had his wife and son stolen from him by a man, who was known on the dark web as the Collector. His wife had amnesia and was diagnosed by a shady doctor with dissociative identity disorder. The woman had an alter and yes, you're remembering correctly. Her alter was none other than Snow White," the podcaster said.

"This couple was splashed all over the tabloids for weeks and their romance became an obsession; an obsession that the Internet still hasn't let go of. Especially when this same couple showed up on that fateful day in Seattle and things happened around them that can only be described as magic, no matter what the official government story tries to tell us," he continued.

"But then they disappeared, without a trace, like they never existed. But if the rumors on the dark web are anything to go by...then they are somewhere hidden in these very back woods of Maine, possibly in a hidden realm or maybe even beneath the surface of the earth if you believe the hallow earth theorists," he added.

"But no matter how much they try to dissuade us from seeking the truth, we will not stop until we expose what really happened that day and just who these mysterious people really are. Join us again tomorrow, as we make our annual hike into the woods of Maine in search for answers," he said, concluding his podcast. JJ rolled his eyes, as Nora got in line to get an autograph from the man who had made a living with podcasts and books on this subject.

"I'm gonna go check us in at the Inn and if it's booked again like last year, we're leaving, cause I'm not sleeping in a tent again," he complained, as he started off that way when screams from the diner nearby attracted all the attention. And if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would have never believed it.

The diner exploded in flames, with any of the poor people inside, obviously perishing instantly. He stood, fear stricken, as two flaming figures strode toward them.

"You…" one said, as the flames faded mostly.

"You will drive us to a place called Boston," Arthur demanded.

"Uh...here, take the car," JJ said, but Gawain growled and grabbed Nora by the arm.

"The King has requested that you drive us and you will do so unless you'd like me to melt the skin off her body," Gawain threatened. JJ nodded, as he led them back to his car. Suddenly, all the conspiracy had just gotten very real…

~*~

David stood behind his boss with a few other agents, as she made a statement to the press and delivered the profile, stating that they believed their perpetrator to be a highly educated professor with access to multiple Universities campuses.

"Major Donovan...are you really accusing someone in the educational community of perpetuating these crimes?" one reporter questioned.

"As uncomfortable as it is...I'm afraid so. The chemical compound alone suggests that this person is at least a scientist and someone highly intelligent. But the location of the crimes is very suspicious as well. Only an educator would have the kind of access that to the multiple institutions that these crimes occurred," Patricia answered.

"They're cannot be that many that fit your profile. Does that mean you've narrowed the suspect pool?" another asked.

"Yes...we are getting close and we are doing everything in our power to make sure the last victim is this person's final victim," the Major answered, as she stepped away, effectively ending the impromptu press conference. But one person, without a press pass, slipped through and ran up behind them.

"Agent Nolan is it?" he asked. David sighed and turned to him. He hated reporters.

"Make it quick...I really do want to catch this guy," he said impatiently.

"No one else has seemed to put it together, but rumors in the alternative community have suggested that you are the same person as the Detective Nolan from strange events that occurred seven years ago in Seattle," the man interjected.

"I'm sorry...what media outlet are you with?" Patricia asked.

"I'm an independent researcher for the people, Major," he answered.

"Ah...so one of those nuts on the Internet. Got it...if you'll excuse us, we have work to do," she said, dismissing him.

"I've done some digging. Your wife, Margaret Nolan, she's a teacher, right?" he called and David stopped in his tracks.

"Look...I don't know who you are, but I've never lived in Seattle and I'll let you go right now if you go without another word. But you mention my wife again or even think about going near her...then we'll arrest you for harassment," David warned. The man smirked.

"Fine...but pictures don't lie, detective. Oh, I'm sorry...it's agent now," he said, as he tossed the newspaper to him and walked away. David sighed and followed his boss back into their workplace. He was about to look at the paper out of curiosity, but tossed it on his desk when Agent Harding called them into the conference room.

"Hey...I think I might have narrowed it down now," she said, as they both went into the conference room.

"Really?" David asked.

"Well...we caught a break. Our perp has been careful up until now, but after the last student death at Boston University, they put even more cameras," Danielle replied.

"Wait...are you saying you got something on camera?" David asked.

"Well, nothing incriminating, but I went through and cross referenced everyone that was signed into the lab at Boston University on both nights of each murder that occurred there," she replied.

"Nice work...how many are we down to?" Patricia asked.

"Eight...so still not great, but way better than the thirty-two suspects we had it down to this morning," she replied.

"Okay...well eight is workable. Let's see them one by one," Patricia said, as she nodded to Trevor and he put the slide show up on the screen. And David's heart nearly stopped, as he recognized the photo of the sixth man on the screen. As the slide flipped to the seventh one, he called out.

"Hold it...go back!" he said, as he stared a the image of Dr. Ian Jenkins.

"David? Do you know him?" Patricia asked, as his mind was racing a mile a minute and he remembered what, at the time, had been a fairly innocuous conversation with his wife.

~*~

They had taken the kids out for pizza after the game so Bobby could eat with his teammates. They were so glad he finally seemed to be fitting in. Middle school had been an awkward time for him and he had always said he felt different than other kids and had trouble relating to them, but he was never really sure why. Snow and David were fond of telling him that it was because he was special, but they weren't sure that helped much. At his age, being special was definitely not easy. It wasn't easy to be normal at his age, so being extraordinary or special came with its own struggles. But his teammates really seemed to take to him. They both just hoped there was more to it than the fact that Bobby was winning games for them.

After pizza, they had stopped for ice cream and she was currently sharing a pint with her husband on the couch. In his lap no less, but that was nothing out of the ordinary for them.

"You're a little quiet...lost in the chocolate goodness?" he teased, as she looked him.

"No...it's kind of silly I think," she replied.

"Your feelings are never silly to me," he reminded, as she put her spoon in the ice cream and set it aside on the table.

"Well...my new boss, Dr. Jenkins...he's nice and all and I kind of feel bad for him. He's socially awkward...but I kind of got a weird vibe from him today," she said.

"Did he come onto you?" he asked.

"No...why would you think that?" she asked. He rolled his eyes.

"Because you're beautiful and I saw the way he was looking at you. I may have acted like I was absorbed in the game, but trust me, I always notice everything when it comes to you, especially when other men look at you," he replied. She caressed his face.

"You're the only man I want," she reminded him.

"I know...that's why I don't gouge their eyes out when I see one looking at you. That's serious self control...you should be proud," he joked, as she nudged him playfully.

"But seriously...was he making you uncomfortable?" he asked.

"No...not really. He just was weirdly insistent that I should enroll in his night classes and get my doctorate," she replied.

"Do you want to get your doctorate?" he asked.

"No...I'm happy where I am. Besides, spending my evenings away from you and the kids would only make me miserable," she replied.

"Then he should accept that and if he gets out of hand, I want you to let me know right away," he stressed. She shrugged.

"I don't think it's like that. I think he's just lonely and is trying to be a friend," she said.

"Maybe...but remember, I'm a cop. I see this kind of thing go bad way too often and it scares the hell out of me that you could be on the receiving end of someone that doesn't like to hear the word no," he lamented. But she stroked his face.

"I'll be fine. Like I said, he's just awkward and hasn't crossed any lines. I'll be friendly, but keep a professional distance," she promised, as she kissed him.

"Good...because I don't think I have to tell you what it would do to me if something happened to you," he said, as she caressed his face again.

"I know...it's the same for me when it comes to you. I love you," she said.

"I love you too," he replied, as their lips met again.

~*~

"David?" Patricia questioned, as she noticed his fear stricken face.

"I know him…" he uttered.

"How?" Danielle asked.

"He works at the same school Margaret and Bobby are at. He's the head of the science department," David answered, as Trevor pulled up his information.

"Dr. Ian Jenkins, five PHD's and moved to the United States from Great Britain a few years ago," Danielle said, as dread knotted in David's stomach and he ran out of the room and to the stairwell.

"Pull up everything you can get on him, from his time here and his home country. I have a feeling this is our guy," she said, as she followed him.

~*~

Mount Olympus practically shook apart to rubble, as Seth unleashed his rage at what was going on in the United Realms at the moment. There was a heavy ice storm plaguing several Kingdoms and a lightning storm over Storybrooke. If that wasn't enough, there were also several cyclones raging in the waterways, creating violent hurricane-like winds. He had told Mephisto not to bother returning unless it was with the Charmings in chains.

"I'm going to torture you all...and burn everything and everyone you love!" Seth raged, as his eyes bled yellow with evil and he glared down at the United Realms. In his mighty rage, he blasted Snow and David's castle in Misthaven and then Winter and Charming's near the toll bridge, torching them both. He knew they were likely empty by now, as these storms were clearly a distraction. He glared at the reserve and then the mysterious area near Bald Mountain. Even in all his immense power, he was unable to get through the shields protecting these areas and it made him livid in a way he had never been.

"I must find a way through…" he growled, as he disappeared and reappeared in Nephilim. He needed to consult Madam Mim's oldest spell books. There had to be something in one of them to combat the power of these truest loves. He had little faith in Mephisto's new charges and thus, he knew it was very likely that Winter and Charming's good halves would soon return. Which meant he needed a way to obliterate them and their entire bloodline…

~*~

Thanks to their abundance of beans, multiple portals opened with people pouring through them. Due to the nature of the barrier, created by the combined light and dark powers of Winter, Charming, and Rumpelstiltskin, it made the barrier around the Bald Mountain area nearly impenetrable, even by the mighty Seth. Another perk of the magic woven into the barrier was that anyone that walked into the refuge of the mountain through a portal had their real memories returned. Emotions were running high, especially, as many people were reunited with loved ones thought to be dead, including Abigail with her father.

"That should be mostly everyone that we could get," Leo said, as he arrived with Frankie and Joe, having retrieved them and most of the people of Storybrooke.

"Yes and it shouldn't be too crowded, thanks to the magical extensions," Regina agreed, as they arrived back from the Maritime Kingdom.

"Where is Eva...this is taking too long…" Charming said, as he paced a hole in the floor. Thankfully, a portal opened, as she and Paul arrived back from the Land Without Color and its people.

"I'm here Daddy…" she called, as he hugged her tightly and cradled her head.

"I'm okay, Daddy," she assured and then pulled back.

"I hope everyone is mostly here though. He destroyed your castle in Misthaven and the one by the Toll Bridge," she reported.

"We're safe...that's what matters most, sweetie," Winter said. He nodded.

"She's right, angel...we can rebuild when all this is over," Charming assured.

"So what now? As usual, you've built a resistance and led us all here. But Seth is worse than I ever was...so you two better have a plan," the Evil Queen asked said, as she stood beside her other half.

"Emma will bring our other halves back, along with Summer and Bobby. Until then...we ready ourselves for the battle to come," Winter declared.

"She's right...because this one is going to make the Final Battle look like a casual afternoon sparring match," Charming said.

"We've lost Fandral too...that was not a blow we needed," Elsa mentioned.

"We must hope that his friends got our message and were able to rescue them," Hermes implored and they could only hope she was right.

"Let's hope the barrier holds long enough, because Seth will do everything he can to get through that barrier," Winter whispered to her husband and he pulled her into his arms.

"It will...and Emma will be back soon," he promised.

~*~

"...and that was how we ended up in the All World River," Fandral said, as he got choked up again.

"And I almost lost the best thing that ever happened to me," he said, as he clutched her hand and Rose rested her head on his shoulder. She was cuddled against him in a large chair, as they had opted to share and no one bothered to tell them they could have their own. At the moment, he could bare to let her out of his sight or even let go of her. He was too afraid that she would disappear.

"By Odin's beard...there is really a serum that can separate a person from their good half and their bad half?" Lady Sif asked. They nodded.

"There is...it was originally created by Dr. Jekyll to separate himself from Hyde," Fandral asked.

"They are the ones in the story when you were cursed to be bear? This Jekyll is the one that tried to keep you apart, yes?" Thor asked. Rose nodded.

"He did...he separated from Hyde, but it turned out that he was the real monster all along and Hyde, though he has done some terrible things, he retained a goodness in him. He helped reunite us...despite his feelings for me," she explained.

"And your friends? Their dark halves...they don't seem all that dark," Valkyrie observed.

"They're not...they have done dark things in the name of revenge, but ultimately, like Snow and David, they still love each other and their family. They're just a little more willing to go to dark places to protect them, whereas Snow and David do so from a place of light," Fandral tried to explain.

"And your friends good halves are cursed again?" Sif asked, trying to understand.

"Yes...to protect their youngest. Seth fears his powers, which I have feeling he hasn't even begun to come into. But their eldest has gone after them in hopes of waking them up and bringing them home. The final battle with Seth draws near," Fandral answered.

"And I thought our lives were insane," Valkyrie quipped. Fandral sighed.

"We must get back to the children…" Fandral said.

"They are safe...I know our friends would make sure of that," Rose assured him. He nodded.

"If you are sure of that, perhaps it is wise to remain here until the right time to make your entrance," Thor suggested.

"That is a good idea. We just have no idea how to know when the right time will be," Fandral said. Thor exchanged a glance with Valkyrie and she rolled her eyes.

"If anyone has any kind of tech that can see across realms, it's probably one of them. It's one hell of a long shot though," she mentioned.

"We should try...I'll make the call," he said, as he stood up.

"So...he doesn't look so good. I feel badly for asking for his help," Fandral said, but Sif shook her head.

"No...this is exactly what he needs. It's been two years here too since the snap and he's been drowning himself in his own sorrows," Sif replied.

"She's right...you seem to be someone that's able to do what none of us can and that's pull him out of his misery. He feels he has no purpose now so do not feel bad about giving him one," Valkyrie admonished. Fandral nodded and Rose kissed his cheek.

"So...who is he calling?" Fandral asked curiously.

"Someone with a really big brain," Valkyrie answered.

~*~

Margaret arrived back in her classroom and started gathering her things to go home for the day. As she put things away in her bag, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and jumped when she saw Dr. Jenkins standing in the doorway.

"Oh...Dr. Jenkins, you startled me," she said, with a quiver in her voice. The way he was looking at her made her very uncomfortable and warning bells started going off in her head.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry...I don't mean to. I just wanted to thank you again for all your help. Today was quite successful, thanks to you. We made quite a team," he mentioned. She swallowed thickly and grabbed her bag in order to make a quick escape. Unfortunately, the contents of the bag went spilling to the floor instead.

"Oh dear...let me help you," he said, as he started picking her things up.

"That's okay…" she said, as she quickly stuffed things into her bag and stood up.

"I...I need to go. Bobby's waiting for me," she said, as she walked past him and fear seized her when he grabbed her arm.

"Margaret please...I think it is important that we talk," he said.

"Doctor…" she started to say.

"Margaret...please hear me out," he pleaded. He wasn't giving her much choice though, as he did not let go of her arm.

"I've never met anyone like you. Brilliant and beautiful, with a kind soul. I don't connect with many people, but I felt an instant connection with you. Can you not see that we belong together?" he asked.

"Doctor...I'm married. Happily married and very much in love with my husband. Please...let go," she pleaded, as she was now on the verge of tears. But that only made him squeeze her arm harder.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that...and you'll soon see that you belong with me," Jenkins he said in a matter of fact tone. She tore away from him, but he grabbed her and pulled her back.

"Help me!" she cried out, as he put a hand over her mouth. She bit his hand and he cried out. He backhanded her across the face and she went spilling to the floor.

"This is not how I wanted to do this, Margaret...but you leave me no choice," he said, as he pinned her on her back. She cried and screamed, but the school was mostly empty by now and those that were still around were in the gym.

"Shh...stop your struggle," he chided, as he put the scarf she was wearing around her neck between her teeth, as tears streamed down her face. She couldn't believe his strength. He didn't look all that strong, but his grip was like a vice and her struggling didn't faze him at all. She winced away in disgust, as he caressed her face.

"The moment I met you...I knew I had to have you," he leered and she tried kneeing him, but he held her knees down.

"You are so fiery...it's exhilarating, but this will help calm you," he said, as he pulled a syringe out of his jacket pocket.

"A simple muscle relaxer. You'll remain awake...but unable to fight me," he said. Her eyes widened and she continued to struggle. Just as she thought the worst was about to happen, she saw the doctor be literally peeled off her and thrown...across the room. Her son stood there, looking at his arm in surprise, wondering how he had even done such a thing, but decided that was a question for later, as he helped his mother up and into a chair.

"Mom…" he said, as he helped her pull the scarf away from her mouth and her arms flew around him.

"It's okay Mom…" he soothed, as he looked back at the doctor and put his hand up.

"You stay away...you stay the hell away from my mom!" Bobby hissed, as Jenkins started toward them.

"You won't stand in my way once I make a guinea pig out of you for my new drug. You're strong...maybe you'll be the first one to survive it. Either way, you won't be able to stop me from taking what I want," he said.

"Drug?" Margaret asked, as she saw the syringe with a red liquid in it.

"You're...you're the one my husband is looking for. You...you killed all those students and homeless people," she realized. He smirked at her with admiration.

"As usual...you are stunningly brilliant, Margaret. Such is wasted on your muscle brained husband. He's supposed to be an FBI agent and you figured it out before he did," he said smugly.

"Don't be so sure...I know my dad and he's probably already onto you," Bobby warned, as he guarded his mother.

"You don't want to tangle with me, brat. I don't mean to harm your lovely mother...I just need to show her why she belongs with me," he said.

"You're really are psycho if you think I'll let you touch her or that she belongs with you, because trust me, she belongs with my dad," Bobby growled.

"We shall see…" Jenkins said, as he kept walking toward them, causing Bobby to charge the man and they went tumbling to the floor.

"BOBBY!" Margaret cried, as she looked for something to use as a weapon.

Jenkins managed to get his hands around the boy's throat and started choking him, until he felt the incredible pain of being beamed with a chair across his back and rolled off, howling in pain. Margaret quickly helped her son up and looked him over.

"How dare you try to hurt my son!" she growled, all traces of her usual kindness gone.

"You are making this very difficult on yourself, Margaret. I do not want to hurt your boy...but I will if you do not come with me right now," Jenkins said.

"Go to hell," Bobby growled.

"I'm already there, young one...I'm already there without her to complete me," he claimed.

"You are sick…" Margaret spat, as he got up and she had no idea how. She had hit him with a metal chair, after all. He started toward them and Bobby punched him, before taking his mother's hand and leading her to the door. They were startled when they opened it and found a blonde woman there with a few other people. The woman smiled at them, like she was relieved, and put her hands up.

"It's okay...I'm a cop," she assured and they sighed in relief. But Margaret cried out, as Jekyll grabbed her and put his arm around her neck in a headlock, before dragging her back.

"Don't move...or I strangle her," he warned, as she gasped for air.

"Stop it!" Bobby cried.

"If I cannot have you, sweet Margaret...then no one will…" he hissed in her ear, before sniffing her hair.

"Let us leave...and she'll keep breathing," he said.

"You have four guns aimed at you four-eyed psycho so you're not going anywhere with her," Emma growled. But he smirked and pulled her tightly against him.

"But none of you will risk firing on me as long as I have her...she too precious…" he hissed, as he looked at her with a lustful stare. Suddenly, one of the windows in the classroom shattered in surprise and Jenkind looked that way, only in time to see a fist connect with his face, busting his glasses. He stumbled to the floor and Margaret sighed in relief, as her husband caught her before she went crashing to the floor with him.

"Oh David…" she cried, as her arms flew around his neck.

"It's okay now, my darling…" he promised, as he held her tightly. Emma smiled at them. Thankfully, some things never changed and that one thing was the love between her parents. It still shined as passionately and brightly like the brightest star in the sky.

"Hands up where we can see them," Nick warned, as he leveled his gun at the doctor. Jenkins smirked and jabbed the needle into Bobby's leg.

"Oww…" he cried out, as time seemed to stop.

"What...what did you just do?" David cried. The evil doctor looked at him with a smug smile.

"You know what I have done, agent Nolan...the same that I have done to all my other test subjects. I doubt the boy has but a few moments to live," Jenkins said.

"You son of a bitch!" Emma cried, as she felt tears fill her eyes and she tackled him to the ground, before cuffing him.

"Bobby…" Margaret said, as their son began to convulse.

"Oh God...no...no...no...I can't lose our baby," she cried, as she fell apart and they held their son.

"This is agent Martinez, I need an ambulance at North Star High School immediately. We have a student that was injected unwillingly with a dangerous substance!" Angela said into her phone. Bobby convulsed, as his parents held him and cried over him. Suddenly, the ground beneath them all began to shake.

"An earthquake? In Massachusetts?" Nick asked in confusion. But Emma and Killian exchanged a glance.

"Yeah...not an earthquake," she told them and their eyes widened.

"Are you saying the kid is doing this?" Nick hissed.

"That drug...it might have just awakened his powers," Emma said.

"But there is no magic," Killian reminded her.

"Yes there is...my parents have half the chalice hidden in their rings," she reminded him.

"Then...he might survive this," Killian said hopefully.

"It's possible…" she said, as the rest of the windows shattered and wind whipped around all of them.

"If my brother doesn't kill us all with the elements first," Emma said, as the paramedics arrived and were unsure as to what they were seeing. Her brother's magic was fighting the drug and he had a better chance than anyone else of surviving. But if he destroyed everything around him in the process, it was going to be something they would have a hard time explaining…

~*~

Summer arrived home that evening and was surprised to find the house seemingly empty.

"Mom?" she called.

"Hmm...they must still be at school," she muttered, as she dropped her bag in her room and went to the kitchen for a bottle of water. It was strange that her mother hadn't texted her that they would be this late though and she opened the fridge to grab an apple. She heard the doorbell ring at that time and went to answer it, finding a package on the doorstep. It was a little strange since there didn't seem to be a delivery truck. She shrugged and took it inside, surprised that it was addressed to her and her brother.

"That's weird...we didn't order anything," she said, but shrugged again and opened the box. Inside was a large, leather bound book with the title emblazoned in gold.

"Once Upon a Time," she read.

"Fairy tales?" she wondered, as she opened the book and was suddenly seized with a river of memories running through her.

"Oh my God!" she cried out, as it all came back to her. She put the book down and dug through the box, extracting the Dark One dagger from it.

"I need to find Mom, Dad, and Bobby," she uttered, as she grabbed her bag. She stuffed the book into it, as she heard a noise.

"Hello?" she called, but received silence. A chill ran down her spine and she clutched the dagger.

"Daddy?" she called, but somehow knew he wasn't there.

"Afraid not, young one…" a voice said and she turned to find a man that she recognized as King Arthur.

"My my...you have grown up. You were so very small the last time I saw you," Arthur said.

"As fair as your mother," Gawain said.

"You stay away from me, jerk face," she growled.

"And with the same mouth too," he quipped.

"Believe it or not...I do not want to hurt you, little one. Just give me the dagger and we will be on our way," Arthur said, as she clutched it and backed away. She ran from them, as their arms became alive with fiery chains. She screamed, as Gawain sliced through the kitchen table and she ran out the backdoor, before colliding with a young man she didn't recognize.

"I'm sorry…" he said, as he helped her up.

"Who are you?" she asked, as Arthur and Gawain tore their way through the house.

"Uh...later," he said, as he led her back to his car. Just a few moments ago, he had the opportunity to run away, but something had told him not to and now he knew why.

~*~

A Few Moments Ago

"You're welcome crazies!" he called, as the two weirdos that had forced them to drive them four hours to Boston got out in front of a nice house in a very nice suburb.

"JJ...what are you waiting for? Floor it!" Nora urged. He snorted.

"So everything you've been going on about for seven years is probably true and now you want to run?" he asked.

"Away from those psychos...yeah!" she answered. But he heard a scream from inside the house and got out of the car.

"Someone is in trouble...stay here!" he told her, as he ran around the back of the house. He may have been dragged into this conspiracy stuff unwillingly, but now that the danger was real and people needed help, that's where he shined. He wanted to help real people from real danger and he wasn't about to run away from that, even if what the danger he was facing seemed wildly unreal.

JJ took the girl's hand and they ran to his car. Nora was still in the back seat and he opened the passenger door for her.

"Get in," he said, but Summer hesitated and looked back at the house.

"I need to find my parents," she replied.

"Fine, but it's not safe here and I assure you that we're better than those freaks," he said. She nodded and got in. He ran to the driver's side.

"Where to?" he asked.

"North Star High...I'll tell you how to get there, just go," she urged, as he peeled away, leaving Arthur and Gawain behind…

~*~

Training was in full swing at the refuge, as Leo sparred his Uncle James and his wife was firing icicles at Regina, who was using fire to extinguish them, just as Eva ran into the training room.

"Honey...what is it?" Winter asked.

"Something is happening in Boston...it's all over the news," she said, as Rumple magicked a television into the room and they turned to one of the national news stations.

"And if you're just joining us, Boston is experiencing a strange series of weather events. No one is sure how or why, but the source of the earthquake appears to be a local school, North Star High," the reporter droned on.

"North Star High?" Leo asked.

"We looked it up. Your Mom teaches there under the name Margaret Nolan and Bobby is a freshman there," Paul replied.

"But...that doesn't make any sense. Why would Bobby unleash his powers?" Elsa asked.

"And how even? They're in the Land Without Magic," Leo added.

"Mom and Dad have their half of chalice, even if they don't know it," she reminded him.

"Which means something must be happening and Bobby might not be able to control his powers. It's the only way he'd ever use them out there," Regina surmised.

"Exactly...but this could be the catalyst we need. Emma should be there by now and she'll bring them home," Rumple stated.

"Except that we know Seth sent Arthur and Gawain after them and if people see those two and what they can do? There is no putting this one back in the bottle," James said. Aphrodite nodded.

"Snow and David will know what to do...we have to have faith. I'm assuming that package has been delivered?" the Goddess asked the Dark One.

"Young Summer should have it by now and with any luck she's awake so it's only a matter of time until the rest are," he replied.

"Let's hope you're right, because Seth has access to every magic book in Rose Red's library and if he finds a way through our barrier prematurely...then it's over," the Evil Queen warned.

"Then I guess it's time for you to take a page from the Charming manual as I have, Your Majesty. We must have hope," he said. She looked at him in disgust.

"Hope...that damn word. It always comes down to hope and that insipid princess and her idiot husband," the Queen complained, receiving many glares, most notably from the twins.

"I'm sorry...I love you both, but your mother and father are a menace," she complained.

"No...they're heroes and they'll be back soon to help us fight. With the United Realms joining together, all our armies, all our magic...Seth will go down and we need to be ready," Regina said. Robin smiled at her and put his arms around her.

"And we will be, because we're all heroes, especially you now," he said, as she smiled back at him.

"And if we can't put this back in the bottle? Even if we do defeat Seth...what if the whole world becomes aware of our existence?" Leo asked.

"Yeah...because something tells me that Seth might decide he wants to rule more than just the United Realms," Eva added.

"I'm afraid you're right...Seth may decide he wants to conquer the world. But we'll save it and then we may have to face an entirely new world where we are no longer hidden," Aphrodite told them.

"As hard as it may be, it can be done. There was a time on the Earth in the realm where Fandral comes from that believed magic, Gods, and heroes were mere fantasy, very recently, in fact. But that is no longer the case there and may no longer be the case here much longer. But I am certain of one thing," Hermes said.

"What's that?" Leo asked. She and Aphrodite smiled.

"Your parents will lead us through it all. Your family is a beacon of hope to everyone in the United Realms and I know that the same will be true for the whole world if such comes to be," Aphrodite declared. The twins exchanged a glance and nodded. They weren't sure they liked the idea of their family being so exposed to the world, but they knew she was right. Their parents would somehow lead them through it all with their love shining like the brightest guiding star in the sky...

[spidermecc]

Unintentional love (Elu fake dating AU) Ch. 5 - Not so brave

Chapter 5 is up, it was an absolute bitch to write, but I actually think it turned out pretty good. I appreciate all the messages, feedback and comments I get, and it literally keeps me going and gives me motivation, so please feel free to send me some of that! Find it on AO3 here.

The next two days went by too slow. It was like time had decided to be a bitch and drag everything out as much as possible. Even the nights were slow. Sleeping was hard and all Lucas could do was stare at the ceiling or look through Instagram and Facebook for the hundredth time, going through the same boring posts from the same boring people.

All he wanted to do was talk to Eliott. There was something about the boy, who sat alone at the library drawing raccoons like an actual dork, that made Lucas’ heart flutter. He wasn’t like anyone he’d ever met. He was sweet and beautiful but also the but also the cheekiest guy Lucas had ever met. Just thinking of their conversations and their bantering back and forth, made him blush and bury his face in the covers. Fuck, when did he get so whipped for a guy he barely knew, and definitely didn’t stand a chance with?

It was just past 1am Tuesday night when he heard his phone buzz.

@curtisno1: Hey, remember me?

To be honest, Lucas didn’t remember much from Friday, but he remembered the basics. He’d screwed up by getting drunk and accidentally telling some stranger, Curtis, that his relationship with Eliott was fake. Lucas sighed as he typed in a reply.

@lucallemant: How could I forget, you almost poisoned me with all those shots!

If Lucas was being honest, he found it pretty weird that this guy was texting him in the middle of the night. But still, he was curious. As far as he remembered, the guy knew Idris and apparently Eliott as well. So what if Lucas wanted to get some intel on Eliott, after all, he was his pretend boyfriend, right?

@curtisno1: Haha, sorry about that, how was I supposed to know you’re such a lightweight?

Damn this guy had no chill huh? Lucas puffed, offended. He definitely wasn’t a lightweight, but beer, weed and shots were bound to be a really shitty combination, right?

@lucallemant: Rude..

@curtisno1: Sorry haha. So you’re still up for that date you promised me?

Shit, it all came back now. He’d said yes to a date with this guy. But to be fair, Lucas had been pretty sure that the guy was just fucking around, he hadn’t actually thought that he would follow up. What was he supposed to say now? He couldn’t just go on a date with some random guy, when everyone thought he was dating Eliott. Curtis was cute and all but, Lucas had no real interest in going out with him. He was too busy dreaming about Eliott twenty-four-seven.  

@lucallemant: Uhm, not sure, I mean everyone thinks I’m dating Eliott, so that would be pretty weird, you know?

Smooth Lucas, see? This way, he wasn’t flat out rejecting Curtis, and going back on their deal, but he was still finding a way to get out of it. He could be really smart when he wanted to. He almost patted himself on the shoulder, when his phone buzzed again.

@curtisno1: That’s cool, I’ll just wait until your little show is over, I don’t mind!  Just let me know, yeah?

Fuck, okay so maybe he wasn’t as smooth as he’d thought he was. And what was he supposed to answer, other than..

@lucallemant: Sure   __

“What are you guys doing later, wanna hang out and play some FIFA?” Yann asked, shoveling an obscure looking rice dish into his mouth.

It was finally Wednesday, and Lucas had been a shell of himself all day. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so excited, yet nervous, at the same time. He and Eliott had agreed to meet up at Eliott’s place around 4pm, giving Lucas time to go home and take a shower after school.

“I can’t today, I’m hanging out with Eliott” he said, poking his rice dish. The cafeteria food had always grossed him out. They always mixed the weirdest ingredients. Today’s dish was actually rice with pear, mint and cinnamon. Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to mix rice and cinnamon unless they were making rice pudding?

“Really?!” Arthur beamed, looking at Lucas like a proud mother hen. “You could invite him as well? It would give us a chance to get to know him better, we didn’t talk that much on Friday” he continued, looking expectantly at Lucas. Lucas looked over at Yann and Basile, who were both nodding their heads like crazy. Even though Lucas had been looking forward to spending time alone with Eliott, he couldn’t get himself to say no to them, he already felt terrible for lying, so his conscience got the better of him.

“Yeah sure, I’ll ask him” he said, trying not to sound as disappointed as he felt, while pulling out his phone.

Lucas: Hey, is it cool if we hang out with the boys later instead of going to yours? They’re really keen on getting to know you some more.

Eliott: Oh, yeah sure! Just text me the time and place.

Lucas sighed as he put his phone back in his pocket “he’s game. We’ll be there”.

“Cool” Yann exclaimed “meet up at my place at 4pm?”

“Sure” he answered, grabbing his tray, with his untouched lunch “see you then”. __

“Hey Eliott, Lucas never told us when you guys met” Arthur said out of the blue, looking curiously at both of them.

They’d arrived at Yann’s half an hour ago, playing video games and chatting, Eliott immediately getting comfortable with the guys, joking and talking, while collectively kicking their asses in FIFA, which made Lucas crack a secret smile. Yann was probably the worst loser Lucas knew, but he didn’t seem to mind that much when he was losing to Eliott. The Eliott effect, Lucas thought for the second time this week. He’d retrieved himself to the corner, mainly observing the guys and Eliott interacting, not having exchanged more than a quick greeting with him, which the boys hadn’t seemed to notice.

Shit, Lucas hadn’t thought of this. What was their cover story? He couldn’t tell them that they’d met at the foyer meeting, because as far as he remembered, he’d told that guys that he’d seen him a few times before that Friday. But Lucas didn’t have time to start spiraling and panicking for long, because Eliott answered quickly, without hesitation.

“I actually saw Lucas on the very first day of school” he said, locking eyes with a shook Lucas “I just didn’t have the guts to speak to him before a while ago”.

Okay so Lucas had already established that Eliott was a pretty good actor, but this? This was just too fast, too well-thought out, to be a lie right? Could it be true that Eliott had seen him on his first day? If so, that must mean that he’d noticed Lucas, really noticed him. Just like Lucas had noticed Eliott at that foyer meeting. His heart was racing, and he was pretty sure he was blushing down to his toes. The thought of Eliott seeing him on his first day, made him shiver. The belief that maybe, just maybe, Eliott had also felt what Lucas had felt when he first saw him, that undeniable attraction, unable to look away, made his heart race as well as scaring the shit out of him. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t get himself to look at Eliott’s. He was a coward, so what of it?

“Holy shit, really?” Arthur said, putting down his controller and focusing completely on Eliott now, “that’s so fucking romantic dude”.

Eliott shrugged, giving Arthur a shy smile.

“It’s what our Lulu deserves” Yann chimed in, looking fondly at Eliott, then Lucas, who was still looking anywhere but at Eliott.

“But Lucas, you didn’t see Eliott back then did you? You never mentioned anything?” Basile asked, looking utterly confused.

“No, I didn’t” Lucas muttered, scared that if attempted to say more, butterflies would start swarming from his stomach and out of his mouth.

“But I saw him.. I only saw him actually” Eliott finished, still not taking his eyes off Lucas, whose continuous blush hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“Putain, I hope I meet someone like you some day” Arthur said, looking absolutely in awe of Eliott.

Be brave, Lucas thought to himself as he forced his gaze to catch Eliott’s, and what he met almost gave him a heart attack. Eliott’s eyes had darkened, he was staring so intensely at Lucas, that he was scared he might disappear underneath his gaze. He wasn’t sure what his eyes were trying to convey; lust, admiration, love?... Okay he really needed to snap out of it, this wasn’t happening, Eliott was just making up some shit to help out Lucas, yet again, just like he had done at that bus stop. Eliott was quick on his feet, that’s all it was.

“Anyways, are you ready for me to kick your ass Arthur” Lucas said reaching for the controller, desperate to get away from Eliott’s haunting gaze. ____

“Okay Eliott, hear me out here” Basile said suddenly, forcing Eliott out of his staring competition with Lucas. It was like they had a silent agreement to stare at each other all night, without ever talking. Not that they got the chance, with the boys constantly asking him personal questions from what his favorite color was (which was blue, Lucas noted) to what kind of hair products he used. They’d been eating pizza and playing videogames for almost two hours now. Lucas didn’t understand how none of them seemed to get tired of playing the same game over and over again, they were all, Eliott included, like fucking machines, taking turns at playing, only stopping to take a bite of their slices.

“Mhm” Eliott said absently, still locking eyes with Lucas.

“What if, I told people that you and I used to date? Like, that we got real freaky, you know? That would score me so many points with the ladies, I’m fucking sure of it” Basile continued, looking very pleased with his newly found idea.

Lucas snapped his head up. That sounded dangerously close to what he was currently doing, lying about being with Eliott.

“Don’t be a fucking dumbass Basile, just each your pizza and shut up” he said, trying to end this conversation before Basile began escalating, as he usually did when he had a dumb idea.

Eliott chuckled as he took another bite of his pizza, finally tearing his eyes away from Lucas, “you know I’d totally let you man, but then you’d have to explain how Lucas stole your ex-boyfriend, and I think it would get pretty messy, yeah?”

“Shit you’re right, I didn’t think of that. You’re so smart man” he replied, patting Eliott on the head as if he was a small child.

“Basile stop touching his fucking hair with your greasy fingers” Lucas all but yelled at Basile, getting riled up. This wasn’t how this night was supposed to go. He was supposed to be alone with Eliott, he was supposed to be the one asking him what his favorite colour was.

Lucas couldn’t wait to leave. Being in Yann’s apartment with his best friends and his fake boyfriend was proving to be too much for him. One minute he wanted to come clean and tell the guys that it was all fake and how sorry he was, the next he wanted to kiss Eliott, you know, just to make it more believable, nothing else. Also he desperately needed to go home and process what Eliott had said earlier, his last two brain cells were really working on overdrive here.

“Geez, calm down pissy pants. I won’t steal your man, don’t worry” Basile cried out, pulling his hand away from Eliott, who didn’t seem to mind, but was now watching Lucas closely, having noticed the shift in Lucas’ mood. Eliott wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.

“As if that would ever happen Basile, keep dreaming” Yann said, trying to lighten the mood. “Hey Lucas, we’re out of beers, maybe you and Eliott could go down to the supermarket to buy some?” he said, trying, and succeeding in being a fucking amazing friend as usual. He must have thought that Lucas was on edge because he wanted to be alone with Eliott, which, yeah he did, but that wasn’t the only reason.

“Oh could you get me one of those dark root beers, please” Arthur looked at Lucas with his adorable puppy eyes, which he knew Lucas wouldn’t be able to resist.

“They’re so fucking expensive, why have you got to be so extra” Lucas said, as he got up, and winked at Arthur whom returned the wink with his signature smile, which meant he knew he’d already persuaded him. ___

As Eliott and Lucas walked towards the supermarket, Lucas finally said “so the guys seem to like you.. a lot”, trying not to sound bitter.

He was really happy that Eliott got along with the guys, they were practically like family to him. But he didn’t quite know how to deal with it when they inevitably found out the truth, that not only Lucas, but Eliott as well, had been lying to them. It would break their hearts; they had really taken a liking to Eliott.

“Yeah they’re really great” Eliott said, not sounding all that excited as he pulled a leaf from a near-by bush and began to tear it apart, scattering the pieces on the ground.

“I think they’re having fun, how about you?” Lucas continued, not sure of what to say.

“Yeah it’s fine” Eliott answered, focusing very hard on the leaf in his hand.

“You don’t like the boys?” Lucas asked nervously. Was he starting to have second thoughts about their arrangement? Was the lying getting to him as well? Lucas was spiraling again, but not for long, as Eliott reigned him back in.

“No no! It’s not that! They’re great” he answered frantically.

“Then what?”

“Honestly?” he asked, looking at Lucas for the first time since they’d left the apartment.

“Yeah, honestly”

“I was uh- I was just.. you know-  looking forward to spending time with you… alone” he trailed off, not leaving Lucas’ gaze.

Lucas was pretty sure his heart had stopped beating a while ago, and he had died and gone to heaven. Eliott wanting to spend time with him alone? Sounded fake, but okay. Was that really why he’d been so weird with Lucas all day? Because he was disappointed that they weren’t spending time alone? Lucas felt like tap dancing, singing and burying himself underground at the same time, all of his emotions rushing to the surface, threatening to overflow. Not knowing what to say, scared that he might say or do something he’d regret if he kept looking at Eliott, he turned around on his heels and started walking in the other direction.

“Where are you going?” Eliott asked confused “the supermarket is that way” he said pointing at the opposite direction of where Lucas was heading.  

“I know where the supermarket is” he said rolling his eyes “but we’re not going there” a smile forming on his lips.

Eliott’s lips curled into a smile as he started following Lucas.

After walking for fifteen minutes they arrived at a park. Lucas sat down on one of the swings, gesturing Eliott to sit down on the other one. He knew this park like the back of his hand. How many times had he sat on this exact swing? There was no use in trying to count it, it had been his refugee for years, as long as he could remember.

“This is my favorite place in the city you know?” Lucas said, a smile forming on his lips.

“Yeah?” the taller one answered, willing Lucas to continue.

“Yeah.. I used to come here when I was younger. Whenever my parents were arguing, which was a lot towards the end, I’d come here, sit on this swing and imagine what the Lucas’ in parallel universes were doing in that exact moment. I’d make up so many stories in my head”. He started blushing. He’d never told anyone that before, he’d never brought anyone to this place, his safe place, before. But something about Eliott, his honesty and genuineness made Lucas want to share this place, share a piece of himself with him.

“Parallel universes?” Eliott asked, lifting his eyebrow with a coy smile.

“Yeah” Lucas said, a blush beginning to spread “whenever I have a choice to make, I always imagine that the other Lucas’ in parallel universes made other choices” he continues, looking at Eliott, who nods as an encouragement for Lucas to proceed. “That way, I get less anxious of whether or not I’ve made the right choice, because even if I didn’t make the right choice, there are other Lucas’ that did.”

They sat in silence for what might have been seconds, minutes or hours, Lucas wasn’t quite sure. Eliott looked lost deep in thought, and it felt like Lucas was intruding on a very private moment, when he finally said “what do you think?” desperate to know what Eliott thought of his theory.

The parallel universes had been a part of Lucas’ life ever since he could remember, he never shared it with anyone, afraid they might laugh or brush it off, but something about the earnesty of Eliott made him say things he’d never thought he’d share with anyone.

“So, do you think that there are any of the Lucas’ and Eliotts in the parallel universe, that are in a real relationship right now?” Eliott asked with a curious look, as if he hadn’t just stopped Lucas’ heart mid-sentence.

“I-uhm.. uh- maybe” Lucas stammered, shook by Eliott’s blunt question. Eliott chuckled at Lucas obvious discomfort, as he got up and positioned behind him, gently nudging the swing Lucas was sat on.

Lucas had probably sat in this exact spot a hundred times. Sometimes he would just sit there for hours, not moving, other times he’d swing a little bit and try to enjoy it. But in all honestly he felt more alone when he was actually swinging, than when he just sat there, not moving. There was something too miserable about swinging on your own in an empty park.

Eliott started to pick up the pace and was now full on pushing Lucas’ swing, making him go higher and higher, the wind catching his hair, and a giant smile forming on his lips. It felt so intimate.. So natural. Lucas started laughing for real now, as Eliott was pushing him, making the swing go really high “I hope you’re not afraid of heights” the taller one almost yelled, the laugh evident in his voice.

Lucas turned his head and yelled back, mid-air, “Me afraid? Pas peur”.  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so alive, so free. No worries, no nothing, just the wind in his hair and Eliott, it was absolute bliss.

Finally, Eliott grabbed the handles of the swing and brought it to a holt, still hovering over Lucas, pressing his chest to the shorter boy’s back. “Pas peur?” Eliott whispered, he was so close to Lucas right now. He was painfully aware of Eliott’s heartbeat, thudding on his back, and it felt like his entire body was about to catch fire.

“Pas peur” Lucas whispered, closing his eyes, glad that Eliott couldn’t see his face.

Eliott chuckled, still holding the handles, still standing behind Lucas. Even though Lucas couldn’t actually see Eliott’s face, his smile had burned itself into his memory, he imagined what Eliott looked like right now, beautiful as always, he thought to himself.

Pas peur, Lucas thought to himself as he mustered up the courage to ask the question he’d been dying to ask all night.

“Did you mean what you said earlier” he finally asked nervously, fiddling with the sleeve of his jacket, thanking the Gods that he had his back to Eliott.

“What did I say?” Eliott answered, well-aware of what Lucas was talking about, but unable to stop himself from torturing Lucas a little bit.

“About uhm- seeing me.. on the first day?” he could still feel Eliott’s presence behind him and instead of making his head spin as it had been doing up until now, it made him feel weirdly grounded, like his simple presence and touch was all it took for Lucas to be brave.

“You don’t get it, do you Lucas?” Eliott sighed, the frustration in his voice painfully evident.

“Get what?” he asked genuinely puzzled.

Eliott didn’t answer him right away. He slowly started pulling Lucas closer by the handles of the swing, Lucas hadn’t thought it was possible to get closer than they already were. Suddenly he felt the taller boy’s chin resting on top of his head. Lucas was pretty sure that if Eliott hadn’t been standing behind him, he’d have fallen off the swing, given that his entire body felt like jell-o at the moment. He could feel the boy’s breath on his head, causing his hair to move slightly every time Eliott exhaled.

But he was brave, Eliott made him brave. So he slowly, but surely tipped his head backwards until it was resting on Eliott’s chest. To any outsider they must have looked like two people madly in love. He felt Eliott’s body starting to relax, digging his chin deeper into Lucas’ scalp. Their bodies were melting together, they weren’t Eliott and Lucas anymore, they were one.

Lucas could feel Eliott’s heartbeat racing. He was glad that he wasn’t the only one whose heart had decided to say fuck it at just go rouge. The moment was so tender, like nothing Lucas had ever experienced before. For a moment, he let himself believe that his feelings, which he couldn’t deny anymore, were reciprocated. This thing with Eliott didn’t feel platonic anymore. This position they were in right now, wasn’t just two boys helping each other out, right? He couldn’t be imagining all of this could he? Gosh, his brain was going a hundred miles per hour, one thought replaced by a new one, every second, waiting for Eliott to say something.

“I don’t want-“ Eliott finally began, as he was interrupted by Lucas phone ringing. The volume was turned up so high that it startled both of them, making Lucas jump and crash his head up, smashing Eliott’s jaw shut. The sound was inhuman, and Lucas momentarily thought he’d actually fucking broken the boy’s jaw. He got up quickly and turned around, facing him.

“Shit, are you okay? Fuck I didn’t mean to do that” he said frantically, searching Eliott’s eyes for any indication of how badly he was injured. His head hurt a bit from the collision with Eliott’s chin, but he didn’t care.

Eliott simply stroked his chin a bit and grinned “it’s fine Lucas, I’m fine”, but by the looks of his face he wasn’t completely fine, Lucas thought.

“You should probably get that” he gestured towards the phone in Lucas’ pocket where the Peaky Blinders theme song, which he’d thought was a great idea to have as a ringtone at the time, was still playing. Now that song would forever be ruined for him, damn, thanks universe.  

“Right” he muttered as he dug out his phone from his pocket.

“Dude where the fuck are you? It’s like Sahara here, we need fluids, and by fluids I mean beer” Basile was crying into the phone.

Fuck, Lucas had completely forgotten that they were supposed to go to the supermarket. He noticed that the sun was beginning to set. How long had they been at the park? It had only felt like minutes, but he was pretty sure it had been a lot longer than that, judging from Basile’s tone.

“Yeah uhm, the supermarket next to Yann was closed so we had to go to the next one” he said, surprised by his ability to make that up on the spot, “we’ll be back in twenty minutes” he finished as he hung up and looked up at Eliott, who was still standing in the same spot as before.

“So.. uh- we should- uhm, we should probably go” Lucas said unwillingly, hoping that his disappointment wasn’t too evident.

“Right” Eliott said, a tiny smile playing on his lips, as he started walking, motioning for Lucas to join him.

Lucas was itching to hear what Eliott had been about to say before they were interrupted by Basile, but the moment had passed, and he wasn’t that brave, that he was going to ask again. Pas peur my ass, he thought as he followed Eliott out of the park.

[prince-claremont-diaz]

Whatever We Become

Summary: In Lucas’ final year of high school before he has to face the real world, he comes across the new identical twins, Eliott and Leo. Needless to say, Lucas falls head over heels for both of them. 

Or The twin au absolutely no one asked for

Word Count: 3.4k (I couldn’t bring myself to split it into two chapters, so. Enjoy the ride) 

Ao3 version

Chapter Eight: Brave

“So he just stormed out like that?” Arthur was saying the next morning while Lucas recounted the events of the previous day. Arthur, Lucas and Yann were currently standing out in the courtyard by one of the benches, awaiting Basile's arrival.

Lucas nodded, ruffling up his hair with stress. He barely slept last night and he supposed that definitely wasn't helping his nerves. “Yup. I had to take his stuff to the school nurse's office after class so he could find it,” Lucas explained, looking around the courtyard for any signs of Eliott.

As if finally summoned, both Demaury twins suddenly walked into the courtyard together. Both looking grim and exhausted. Eliott was dressed all in black with his hood up and his head down, clutching the straps of his bag like a vice. His steps were slow and careful, missing their usual bounce, dragging his feet slowly across the pavement. Meanwhile, Leo was oddly hunched over, prominent grey bags forming under his eyes and looking around the courtyard with apprehension. Lucas stood frozen as he watched their entrance, swallowing something hard in the back of his throat and waiting for one of the twins to look his way.

When Leo caught Lucas’ eye, Lucas half wanted to run away and hide. Until the other boy's steely face seemed to soften slightly and both boys started to make their way over to the group.

“Hey, Lucas? Can I talk to you during lunch?” Leo asked, stopping right in front of him, a sheepish smile playing on his lips.

Lucas nodded dumbly and before he could say anything else, Leo was wandering off to find his own friends. Lucas watched him walk away almost wistfully, watching him disappear inside the building.

At the same time, a whole chorus of questions was coming from Yann and Arthur as they greeted Eliott enthusiastically, yet with an air of concern. It was almost amusing.

Until Lucas saw Eliott's face. He looked haggard and exhausted and upon his friends’ many questions, a barely flickering light in his eyes seemed to die out completely. Over Eliott's shoulder, Lucas finally saw Basile walking over, followed by none other than Daphné.

In a desperate bid to save Eliott from answering questions he clearly didn't want to answer, Lucas blurted out, “Basile! There he is with Daphné!” He pointed over towards their friend and instantly, Yann and Arthur's attention was stolen away in favour of asking their friend about his late arrival.

Lucas caught Eliott's eye just as he sighed with obvious relief. His eyes seemed to shine once again in a silent thank you and he moved closer to Lucas to allow Basile to join the group. Standing almost shoulder to shoulder, Eliott lightly bumped his hand against Lucas’ and grinned down at him. Lucas could do nothing more than shrug and bump his hand right back.

◇

Lucas was standing out in the courtyard once again that lunch time, bouncing back and forth anxiously on his heels. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets as he looked around at the many students coming in and out of the building on their break. Lucas’ stomach growled and he was reminded at how little time he had left of the lunch period before he next had Biology and would be unable to eat during class. If only it was something like French where his teacher didn’t care if he ate.

Finally, after almost 45 minutes standing out in the biting autumn air, Leo walked out into the courtyard carrying something in a brown paper bag. He quickly made his way over, stopping just a foot or two away from Lucas. He held out the paper bag for Lucas.

“Here. Your friends said you were missing lunch for this, so I, uh, brought you a sandwich. I hope you like brie because I think that's involved somewhere,” he rambled as Lucas tentatively took the bag from his loose grip. Lucas looked down into the bag and sure enough, a boxed up sandwich and a juice box were sitting at the bottom of the bag. “Oh yeah. And an apple juice thing,” Leo added with a light blush.

Lucas looked up from the bag, a smile splitting his face. “Fuck. You didn't have to do that. Thank you,” he choked out, pulling the triangular half of the sandwich. Settling onto a nearby bench and taking a small bite of the sandwich, Lucas turned towards Leo once again. “What did you need to talk about?”

Leo sighed, falling onto the bench beside him. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and putting his face in his hands. “I wanted to apologise for yesterday,” he said finally, sitting up and making eye contact once again. Lucas nearly choked on his sandwich, blinking in surprise.

“You don't have to. I know you were—”

Leo cut him off, holding up a single slender finger. “No, I do. I was dismissive and passive and them I just snapped at you and that wasn't fair of me,” Leo stated, “It's not my story at all to tell, but I was stressed about Eli yesterday and it all boiled over that class period and I took it out on you. I know that's not an excuse, but I'm really sorry about doing that.”

“I'm sorry too. I should have stopped prying when I saw how uptight and upset you looked,” Lucas said, putting down his sandwich on his knee, “You obviously had your reasons for being stressed and I simply made it worse. I'm the one that should be sorry, not you.”

“Lucas, you've been nothing but nice to both me and my brother. Especially for the latter, I'm enormously happy for that,” Leo continued, putting a hand on Lucas' shoulder. His eyes were soft and fond, a much clearer blue than yesterday. “You were obviously stressed about your friend and so I can't blame you for asking his brother about it. But once again, I'm sorry for snapping at you. That's not what friends do to each other.”

Lucas smiled tearfully at Leo, nodding. He didn't know what to say to that. But Leo didn't seem to care as he simply tugged Lucas into a hug, wrapping his arms around his neck. Lucas bit on his lip to keep from crying, instead wrapping his arms around the other boy's torso and burying his face in his hood. Leo smelled of cologne and something earthy like a field of grass or a deep forest.

Lucas pulled away after a few seconds, looking down at his feet. Unfortunately, in the hug, one half of his sandwich had fallen onto the ground in a sad heap of soggy bread and cheese and what looked like ham. Oh well.

The bell for next period sounded and the two boys got up from the bench, saying their goodbyes and heading off in separate directions. Apparently Leo didn't have any more classes that afternoon, so he was heading home early.

Meanwhile Lucas had to stuff as much of the terrible sandwich in his mouth before he reached the biology labs.

◇

Lucas was just about to plug his headphones in as he made his way towards the bus stop when he heard his name being called from behind him. Stopping, Lucas turned on his heel and immediately felt a grin on his face as he saw Eliott jogging up to him. He was smiling as bright as a spotlight, eyes half shut in mirth as he came to a stop just in front of him. “Hey,” he said with a nod, holding onto the straps of his bag.

"Hey,” Lucas breathed, looking up at the boy in front of him. He looked even more exhausted than that morning, purple bruises under slightly bloodshot grey eyes, but with a newfound happiness as he continued to beam down at Lucas. It was startling how much Eliott could affect Lucas, even with clear exhaustion written on his face.

“What are you up to?” Eliott asked, gesturing with his chin towards the bus stop.

Lucas looked over his shoulder and shrugged, looking back. “I was just on my way home since there's not much else to do tonight,” he explained casually, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Do you want to go out somewhere? I know there's a bar around here or a few places we can get something to eat,” Eliott suggested, raising his eyebrows. Lucas stepped back, blinking rapidly in surprise, eyebrows knitting together. “Don't look so excited, why don't you,” Eliott laughed.

Lucas rolled his eyes, though his annoyed front was meager at best with the grin still prominent. “I'm just surprised. You look tired. Are you sure you don't just want some alone time or something?” Lucas asked, silently praying Eliott disagreed.

“I've spent the last five days all alone. I want to do something,” Eliott whined, eyelashes fluttering, “Besides, I missed hanging out with you.”

Lucas couldn't keep his jaw from dropping, knees weak as he stared up in shock at what Eliott had just said. He had missed him? Surely not. Nobody ever missed Lucas.

Trying to keep up his composure, Lucas cleared his throat and straightened up, shaking himself off. “Then where shall we go, Demaury?” He arched an eyebrow daringly, pushing his hands into the front pockets on his jacket.

Eliott grinned impossibly wider and grabbed Lucas's wrist, pulling it out of his jacket. “I know just the place,” he said, taking off at a sprint down the pavement, holding a steady grip of Lucas’ wrist the whole time. A laugh bubbled out of Lucas' mouth as he struggled to keep up with Eliott's long stride, having to run twice as fast to stay in the taller boy's strong grasp.

Finally, both puffing and out of breath, chests heaving rapidly, Eliott let go of Lucas and they stopped outside of a dimly lit pizza place. Gasping for breath, Eliott wheezed, presenting the entrance to the restaurant, “After you, my good sir.” Lucas giggled breathlessly and stepped into the mildly crowded restaurant.

A friendly dark haired man dressed in black jeans and a white button down appeared at once, grinning at the two people entering. “Welcome! Table for two?” he exclaimed, already reaching behind him for a couple of menus. Eliott nodded, still huffing and puffing. “Lovely! Please follow me.”

As they followed the host's quick march towards a free table, Lucas felt Eliott's hand on his back, helping guide him through the maze of tables and chairs. Lucas’ breath hitched in realisation, eyes impossibly wide.

They reached an empty booth near a window facing the street and reluctantly, Lucas pulled away from Eliott to slide into one of the booths across from him. They thanked the host for their menus and began reading through it in silence.

As usual, it was easy being with Eliott. They had a natural chemistry, bouncing jokes and comments and questions off of each other easily. They decided to share a pizza, ordering drinks and continuing their conversation. Talking to Eliott felt right somehow, as if Lucas had been waiting his entire life for that kind of comfort and ease while talking to someone.

Of course, it was easy and comfortable with Yann, but Lucas had known Yann since they were children. It was a whole other kind of chemistry between him and Yann, one that did not involve a foot pressing teasingly against his shin or intense staring that made Lucas squirm from head to toe.

As they ordered ice cream for dessert, both falling into an amicable silence after laughing about something Lucas had said, Lucas realised he had never felt this way before. Sure, he'd had crushes in the past and had even dated people before, but none of that added up to the safety and comfort he felt with Eliott. And yet, he had never felt so electric, alive, ignited from inside out. He was a home on fire, alighted from the hearth in a gorgeous glow that consumed his every thoughts and made his whole body pleasantly warm.

“So, have you decided how you'd draw me yet?” Lucas asked, leaning over the table, eyes fluttering.

Eliott smiled, leaning forward as well until they were only a few inches apart. Instantly, Lucas was brought back to almost a week ago, back in Eliott's room, spine pressing against the wall and heart hammering in his chest. He swallowed.

“Not yet. There’s so much to you, I can't figure it out yet.” Lucas had almost forgotten what he had asked just a few moments ago.

Behind him Lucas heard the bell over the restaurant's door tinkling, ignoring it. “Not even an idea?” he teased, wiggling his eyebrows.

Eliott looked away from Lucas for once, looking at something over Lucas’ shoulder. His smile fell, eyes flashing for just a second with what looked almost like pain. Lucas frowned, turning around in his seat to find what Eliott was looking at. Two boys had clearly just entered the restaurant and were greeting the same cheerful host from earlier. One of the boys had dark curly hair and olive skin, a warm smile as he said something to the host. The other boy looked scarily familiar, going to follow the host on his way to another empty table.

“Uh, excuse me, can we actually cancel that dessert order and just get the bill, please?” Lucas spun in his seat, eyes widening as he watched Eliott speaking with a server, darkened eyes still looking across the restaurant.

“Wait, what?” Lucas blurted, eyebrows knitted together.

Eliott shook his head dismissively. “Leave it. Don't worry about it.” As if he could tell how Lucas wasn't happy with this reply, his face softened and he reached across the table, taking both of Lucas’ hands and almost pleading, “Please?” His blue eyes shined with desperation and new tears, begging Lucas to drop the subject. How could Lucas say no to that?

A few minutes later, they were back out in the street, under the glow of the street lamps and the car headlights. It was beginning to drizzle a tiny bit and Lucas looked up at the sky, feeling the droplets hitting his face. The sky was significantly darker than when they went inside earlier, now an inky grey as it released the thousand tiny pellets of water.

Eliott's hand circled around his wrist once again, pulling Lucas’ attention from the sky and back to an even prettier shade of grey. He was smiling broadly again, back to his usual bright self after leaving the restaurant. “Come on, I know somewhere we can get dry.” His voice was barely a whisper, firm hand tugging gently on Lucas’ wrist. Lucas nodded and then they were jogging down the street again.

The rain grew heavier and heavier every minute, drenching them both, making Lucas’ hair stick to his face. Their feet slapped against the concrete ground, splashing puddles at their heels which mingled with the onslaught of rain and giggles. They narrowly dodged a couple holding hands, a man with a huge black umbrella and a trio of girls scuttling past with their jumpers over their heads to keep from getting soaked. Lucas was panting as he struggled to sprint after the boy holding his wrist, grinning from ear to ear, laughs tumbling out.

They finally stopped a few minutes later, soaked to the skin and out of breath. Eliott let go of Lucas’, putting his hands on his knees while trying to steady his breaths. They were standing in a deserted courtyard, lit only by a single flickering street light that washed them in a warm orange glow. One of the buildings surrounding them looked abandoned, covered in graffiti and most of its windows smashed or boarded up. Lucas had no idea where they were.

“Where are we?” he asked breathlessly, pushing his wet hair back out of his face.

Eliott huffed a laugh, eyes twinkling as he gazed up at Lucas from where he still leaned on his knees. Straightening up, Eliott looked around the desolate street, running his fingers through his hair. “No idea, actually,” he breathed.

“What? But I thought you said…”

Eliott laughed, taking a step towards him. They were standing a metre away from each other for whatever reason, staring at each other. Eliott was barely more than a silhouette as he stood on the edge of the orange light, bright smile barely noticeable on his face. Lucas however, was completely in darkness now, having just moved out of the luminescence of the overhead lantern.

“I come to this place a lot when I want to be alone, but I don't actually know anywhere around here except that pizza place,” Eliott explained, taking another tentative step forwards. Lucas took a step of his own, heart racing for another reason than sprinting for ten minutes.

He wheezed a laughed, shaking his head incredulously though he grinned. “So why’d you take me here if there’s nothing here?” Lucas asked, gesturing around the empty street.

Eliott shrugged, droplets of rain splashing out as his hair moved. “I was biding my time for another idea, but this is all I’ve got. Like I said, I come here when I want to be alone with my thoughts because nobody seems to come this way.”

“And you took me here? To the place you want to be alone?”

“Yes. Because I don’t mind being alone with you.”

Lucas had no reply for that. He had nothing to the intensity of the other boy’s stare. Lucas bit his lip, looking back at the other boy with as much intensity.

Eliott took another step forwards. “Are you afraid of the dark or something? Of getting your clothes soaked?” he teased, head tilted to the side.

Lucas gasped offendedly, shaking his head insistently. “I am not afraid of the dark. I just can't see a thing,” he insisted, pouting childishly.

“So you're not afraid of the dark?”

“Nope. Not afraid of the dark.”

Eliott took another step forward, leaving only a few feet between them. He was out of the light now, only a tiny halo of light surrounding his back, giving him the effect of glowing like he was stepping right out of heaven. Lucas shook his head. “Not afraid.”

Eliott laughed. “Yes you are.”

“Nope. No, I'm not.”

“Oh, but you are.”

“This is getting ridiculous, Eliott. We're just going in circles now,” Lucas groaned, exasperated.

“Okay, if you're so brave, come here,” Eliott challenged, only a couple steps away.

“Wha–?” Lucas began before feeling Eliott grasping his wrist yet again and yanking him forwards. He stumbled over his feet, running into Eliott with a yelp. Eliott grinned, hand on the back of Lucas’ neck and pulling him into a kiss. Lucas' eyes widened for a split second in surprise and then he had his arms wrapped loosely, desperately around Eliott's neck, stumbling into the light of the street lamp.

Every nerve ending in Lucas’ body lit up like a fireplace, engulfing him as he desperately grabbed at Eliott everywhere. His hands mapped over his shoulders and down his back and into his hair, fingers searching and scratching everything in reach. Lucas felt his heart soar, grinning into the kiss, tangling his fingers in Eliott's hair. Flames licked at his skin, warming him despite the autumn rain on his skin.

Eliott grinned against his lips, cupping Lucas’ face with his hands. Their teeth clashed as they kissed, though neither minded, pushing and pulling insistently like the kiss was what they needed their whole lives.

After a good decade or so, they finally pulled apart for breath. Their chests were heaving and Eliott's hair was plastered to his face along with a goofy smile. With a sigh of mirth and relief, Lucas fell into Eliott's arms again, tucking his face into his jacket hood and holding him tightly by the torso. Eliott laughed, wrapping his arms delicately around his neck, pulling him even closer to his chest.

Lucas had never felt more bright and alive than now.

[vitanes]

say it’s okay when it’s not

chapter 5: i miss my mom

Lucas and Eliott hang out together more than once, there are deep talks and a birthday party. One would not believe what happens during that party.

(a/n: internalised homophobia tw)

Sleeping on the couch might have initially seemed like a good idea. In a wasted Lucas’ mind. Now, as his eyes flutter open just to be met with the blinding sunlight and the pain in his neck registers, Lucas has many regrets. He clicks his tongue and God, is his mouth dry. He needs some water as soon as possible or he will die. Surely.

He turns his head to the left and groans. He’s really ended up in an uncomfortable position. His legs are partly hanging off the couch, he’s weirdly bent in the middle and one of his arms has gone numb from having supported his weight for God knows how long.

Lucas sighs and tries to move around and stop damaging his back even further. It’s then that he notices something else. Or rather someone. Curled up to make himself tiny, on the other end of the couch is Eliott. His knees are drawn up against his chest and his arms are hugging them. His lips are parted, hair tousled and his expression calm. He looks soft and despite knowing better, Lucas would even say he seems cosy.

He moves a little in his sleep and Lucas panics. It’d be weird if Eliott opened his eyes and found Lucas watching him. Fucking awkward even. Like, yes, they are known for having those weird staring matches, but that would be too much for Lucas’ standards.

Thankfully, there’s no need to worry since Eliott is still safe and sound. Lucas breathes out and looks away, oddly aware of how he was actually observing someone in their sleep. His mind is hazy from having only woken up. And he smoked a lot the day prior. That would explain this whole thing.

Hell, sometimes he really acts like a total weirdo.

“Hey.” He hears after a couple of minutes pass and his eyes land back on Eliott, who is blinking sleepily.

“Hello,” Lucas croaks out and coughs. Water, he needs some water.

Eliott closes his eyes and smirks. “You sound like you’ve been sucking dick for a few hours straight,” he mumbles, his limbs stretching out up until there’s a loud crack.

Lucas’ eyes do not rest on the stripe of skin where Eliott’s shirt rides up. He’s too busy being appalled by Eliott’s comment.

“Fuck off,” he says. “I feel like I haven’t had anything wet in my mouth for years.” Lucas scowls, his eyes searching for anything to drink that isn’t alcohol.

He feels Eliott looking at him for the longest moment before Eliott says, “That means there was no dick sucking.”

Lucas turns towards him, feeling pretty much done. “Where’s the Eliott who makes movies and is into classical music or something?”

“If I remember well from our piano concert, you’re the one who knows more about classical music, not me. I’m a dubstep kind of guy.” He winks at Lucas and it’s just so–

So ridiculous and surreal, that they are teasing each other like old friends. Twenty-four hours ago Lucas hated Eliott’s guts and was dreading coming to his flat and now? Now he’s content, he wants to hang out with Eliott. Lucas has learned that Eliott isn’t some kind of a god; Adonis or the perfect guy. He likes bad music, makes dick jokes and if Lucas wanted, he’d probably find dirty clothes scattered around his bedroom. No wonder his friends like him this much, he fits. It’s like Yann said, Lucas just hasn’t given him a chance before.

Oh, how much can change overnight. And all the weeks of Lucas’ hostility towards Eliott seem so silly to him. They just had to spend a few hours together to get along.

“Wanna eat something?” Eliott asks, sitting up and it takes a second for Lucas to realise the question is directed at him. When he does so, though, he nods and gets a wide grin in return.

Eliott nods towards the kitchen and gets up. Lucas follows him closely.

Once inside, Lucas literally attacks the sink and turns the water on. He takes big gulps, killing the thirst and feeling refreshed.

“You know there is water here,” Eliott says, his tone tinged with joy and Lucas glances at him to see him pointing towards a bottle standing on the counter next to the sink. Lucas turns the tap off and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Maybe I like tap water,” he retorts, leaning against the side of the sink.

Eliott snorts and turns towards the fridge. He opens it and lets out a thoughtful hum.

“I can’t say I have anything nutritious. Can’t say that,” he mutters, threading his fingers through his hair. It still looks good despite the whole night on the couch and being ruffled. Lucas wonders how it’s possible. He must have a bird nest on his head by now.

He steps behind Eliott to get a peek on what’s inside the fridge and yeah, it sure is empty. There’s some cheese, a bottle of ketchup and yoghurt.

He looks up at Eliott, scowling and Eliott bites down on his lower lip.

“Haven’t gone grocery shopping?” he says meekly, stepping from one foot to another and it’s then that Lucas realises Eliott is nervous. They can’t have that. Lucas isn’t here to be impressed or some other shit.

“It’s fine. Do you have bread? We could make some cheese toast,” he suggests, eyeing the cheese and hoping it’s still good. Eliott gasps and goes over to a cupboard above the sink. He opens it and looks inside, but very quickly his expression falls.

“Dude, how do you manage to survive?” says Lucas, the last person who should be judging Eliott in this case, if his own empty shelf in the fridge is anything to go by.

(But what Eliott doesn’t know won’t hurt him.)

“Like I said, I haven’t gone grocery shopping this week,” Eliott replies and turns around to face Lucas. They stare at each other for a long moment until it gets too uncomfortable and Lucas chuckles. Eliott huffs and shakes his head. “I’ll order us pizza.”

Lucas isn’t exactly in the place to allow himself to have a takeout. See he has got some financial problems lately. “I… um didn’t bring much money with me,” he mutters, shrugging. Eliott waves him off.

“It’s whatever. You’re my guest and I should provide you with food, don’t worry.”

Lucas swallows and a part of him wants to fight, wants to disagree. He doesn’t want pity, doesn’t want to leech off someone else. But Eliott doesn’t seem like he’s taking some mercy on poor Lucas. So Lucas doesn’t say anything and lets Eliott order the food and pay for it.

They eat, talk between the bites. After they are full, Eliott lends Lucas a spare toothbrush. Lucas doesn’t dwell on the why Eliott has spare toothbrushes and explains it with it being a precaution for situations like this one. Not for some wild hook-ups.

“Do you want to play some games?” Eliott asks when they are both fed and have freshened up.

Lucas has no places to go, no responsibilities, so he says yes and stays till the sun sets.

 ***

 Monday is weird for various reasons. Firstly, Lucas doesn’t come to school filled with anxiety upon having to spend time around Eliott for the first time in weeks. On the contrary, he’s actually quite excited to meet him. There’s also some shift in the dynamics since, sure, Lucas and Eliott spent Friday evening and most of the Saturday together and then were texting each other through Sunday, but it’s been only the two of them then. Arthur, Yann, and Basile are used to Lucas acting like Eliott doesn’t exist at best and being mean to him at worst. So seeing their expressions when Eliott comes up to them, greets them and exchanges a high five with Lucas, is a sight.

Lucas barely stops himself from laughing at how confused and shocked they are. Eliott catches on it very soon and grins at Lucas, amused. Lucas smiles back, feeling giddy because of how in tune they are.

“What happened?” Basile asks, completely baffled and Arthur nudges him in the side.

“Don’t ask questions, just smile and hope it stays that way,” he says through gritted teeth and Lucas rolls his eyes.

“That’s what happens when your friends are traitors. You find other allies.”

“Yeah, we are a team now,” Eliott says, playfully bumping his shoulder against Lucas’.

“Oh, so it worked?” Arthur asks and Lucas scrunches his nose up in a scowl.

“What worked?”

“We were hoping that if you two spent some time together, this whole Lucas hates Eliott would stop,” Arthur explains.

Lucas doesn’t know how to feel about it, but his skin is crawling. His friends ditched him with someone they knew he was uncomfortable around for their own benefit? Things have changed, yeah, but facts still stand. And it sort of stings. Lucas also remembers how hopeful to hang out with all of them Eliott was and his disappointment when they cancelled. He was genuinely upset. It’s not cool. He’s angry on the behalf of the two of them and inches closer towards Eliott.

“Let me get this straight, you bailed on us in hopes that we could possibly become friends? Ignoring how it’d make us feel?” he asks, his voice pretty composed considering the situation. He briefly glances at Eliott and sees him connecting the dots. He doesn’t seem pleased as well.

“No, it’s not like that,” Yann says and looks grimly at Arthur before turning his attention to Lucas and Eliott. “Coincidentally, we did all have unexpected plans then. What Arthur means is that we had decided to let you guys know we weren’t coming when we knew you would be at Eliott’s already. To be fair, Arthur proposed that. I wasn’t sure but thought fine, let’s try it.” Yann gives them both apologetic looks and Lucas deflates. He really must have been difficult if they went with that.

“Hey, dude, putting all of the blame on me? Not cool.” Arthur crosses his arms over his chest and pouts. “I just wanted everyone to get along. And it fucking worked. No need to thank me.”

They’re all awkwardly quiet for a moment. Well, Lucas thinks, that in some twisted way it does make sense. Especially the fact that Arthur came up with the idea. He’s friends with Lucas and may have a crush on Eliott. It’s obvious, Lucas would like his close friends to get on with someone he had a crush on as well.

He sighs. “Okay, maybe next time don’t do that, but whatever. It doesn’t matter anymore,” he says, defeated.

“There won’t be next time,” Arthur says, his voice confident. “Just don’t be so stubborn,” he adds and punches Lucas in the shoulder.

Lucas opens his mouth to reply, but gets stopped by the bell ringing.

“God, I can’t wait to be done with school,” Basile mutters as they all drag themselves into the building.

 ***

 Lucas is focused on the lesson, making notes and gathering all the important facts for them to make sense later. He writes down the last sentence that the teacher said, briefly pausing halfway through before he remembers the rest of it. He’s writing the last word when his arm is poked and he smudges the last few letters.

“Why didn’t you tell me Manon was back?” Imane whispers into his ear. She looks at Lucas meaningfully and he gulps.

“She asked me not to,” he says, glancing towards the teacher to make sure she isn’t looking in their direction. “Wait, how do you know?”

She grimaces. “She posted something on Instagram and the location said Paris. Doesn’t take a genius to know what it means,” she explains, pressing her pen harshly against the page of her notebook. “We confronted her and she said she’s been back.”

“I see.” Lucas isn’t sure what more he could answer. Is that an accusation? A small talk? A friend talk? Is that what they’re doing now? Being friends, chatting and stuff?

“She hasn’t told us what happened, though,” Imane continues, her expression full of concern. “Do you know anything?”

So not a friend talk. A business talk. Fishing for information.

“Listen, Manon hasn’t told us anything more. I don’t think she wants to talk about what went down in London yet. Give her some time, I’m sure she’ll come around.” He tries to smile reassuringly and gets a weak nod in return.

“I’m just worried, that’s all.” She shrugs and looks down on her notes. “What about you?”

Huh?

“What about me?” he asks dumbly.

“How are you? I know you haven’t been well lately. Just asking.”

How is he? It’s a tricky question. One he doesn’t know a correct answer to. He can’t sleep well at night, misses his mom and hates his dad. He doesn’t dislike Eliott anymore but despises himself. He’s nearly out of money and still hasn’t paid this month’s rent. His grades haven’t dropped yet, but he doesn’t have much will to study nowadays. As long as he’s paying, the blackmailer doesn’t keep in touch with him, and he tries not to think about what’s going to happen when he can’t pay any longer. There’s a mess in his head, but it’s relatively stable as of now. Mostly because he sweeps everything under the rug. He can’t fool Imane with a simple I’m fine, although he’s got no idea what else he can offer to her.

“I’m lost,” he says eventually, in a moment of vulnerability. It’s the truth and the most he’s actually shared with anyone. He’s wandering around, blindfolded and scared, hoping for someone to guide him home.

Imane reaches out her hand towards his and squeezes around his fingers. “If there’s something, anything, I could help you with, tell me, okay?”

Lucas smiles and nods. “Right back at you.”

 ***

 They are standing in the line to order food and Lucas isn’t sure he’s got enough money for more than an apple. The food at his school is tasty, as far as school meals can go. But good quality means they aren’t exactly the cheapest. Not when you’ve only got a few stray coins inside of your wallet. And fuck, not to sound depressing but lunch at the cafeteria was the only warm and filling meal Lucas could afford lately. He mostly lives off sandwiches and similar things at the flat and he’s been looking forward to eating at school. He’s been paying for it with the money he classified as the one for food and apparently, he’s pretty much run out of it.

Lucas isn’t going to touch what he’s got on his card – this money is for the blackmailer and he still needs to figure out how to pay his part of the rent. So, bye-bye normal lunches at the cafeteria.

He sighs, hides his wallet and steps out of the line. Lucas ignores questioning looks his friends send his way and avoids glancing towards the displayed food. Maybe he’ll have enough coins to get a chocolate bar from a vending machine.

In the meantime, he leans against the wall, away from the line and waits for the guys to get their food. He hopes they won’t say anything.

Once they all have their meals and come up to Lucas, they move towards the cafeteria and sit down at their usual table. Everyone, except Lucas, starts eating and Lucas pulls his phone out to busy himself.

It’s not weird if he doesn’t make it weird.

His mom texted him again, a passage from the Bible. She never asks about how he’s doing, how’s school or whatever. As if all the motherly love could be found in these few lines from a book people excuse their hatred towards someone like Lucas with.

“Dude, why aren’t you eating?” Basile asks with his mouth full and it takes a second for Lucas to realise he’s asking him. He looks up and notices how all of the guys are acting like they’re more interested in their food than the answer to the question, but their eyes jump over to him anyway.

He isn’t delicate, they don’t need to do that. It’s an embarrassing situation, yeah, but Lucas can handle it.

“Didn’t withdraw money.” Somewhat. He can manage it somewhat.

“I could lend you some?” Arthur offers. Yeah, no, Lucas already has enough people to pay off.

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” he says and knows that this will surely make them worry. Yann is already frowning. Lucas glances towards Eliott, hoping for some rescue. It’s stupid to do that, to cling onto someone Lucas feels at peace with to jump in and solve his problem. But Lucas is stupid.

Eliott looks back at him, turns towards Arthur and says, “Hey, you said you wanted to discuss something during lunch.”

Lucas wants to thank Eliott, but knows he’d draw unwanted attention. Nevertheless, he sends a tiny, grateful smile Eliott’s way when he catches his eye again.

“Oh, yeah. Basically, Baz had his birthday. We didn’t do anything for the occasion and we should throw a party. I was thinking this Friday.” Arthur gazes at them expectantly.

“You’re just looking for an excuse to party,” Lucas deadpans.

Arthur gasps and puts a palm over his heart. “How dare you accuse me of something like that? I want to celebrate the existence of our dear friend,” he declares solemnly. “Are we on board?”

They all nod and Yann replies, “Sure, but where?”

“I have a flat,” Eliott offers.

“Eliott has a flat,” Arthur chimes in with a wide grin, pointing at Eliott. Are they on their way to being a couple? Because for Lucas it feels like it. “Lucas and I can take care of decorations, Yann could invite people.”

“What about me?” Basile asks.

“You act like you’re surprised,” Lucas says, patting him on the back.

“By the way,” Yann kicks Lucas under the table to catch his attention. “Have you and that girl talked recently?”

Lucas squints his eyes in confusion. He thinks hard about who Yann is talking about. The only girls he talked with recently were Manon this morning, asking her whether he could borrow some of her milk, and Imane yesterday. But the look on Yann’s face tells Lucas he doesn’t mean either of them.

Oh, Chloé. He’s talking about Chloé.

“The one from the party?” Yann hums. “No.” He completely forgot she existed, to be quite honest.

“Why not? She was so into you,” Basile says, pouting. Lucas rolls his eyes and involuntarily glances at Eliott. He seems rather indifferent, unlike the rest of the guys. The only one who doesn’t care about Lucas hooking up with some random girl. Lucas really gets why everyone liked him from the beginning, he may become his favourite pretty quickly, too.

“It was just a kiss.”

“You should invite her to the party,” Yann says and Arthur nods encouragingly. It’s then that Lucas realises it’s expected of him and to keep up his act, not to disappoint his friends, he should do that.  He can’t let them down, can he?

Lucas sighs deeply and unlocks his phone, taps on the Instagram app and finds the girl. Chloé has followed him recently, but he didn’t really care. He hasn’t even followed her back. He decides it’d be appropriate before sending her a message. He does so and right after that types out a short do you wanna come to the party on Friday? He doesn’t have to wait too long for a reply and soon enough he gets a positive reply. He sends back the details and locks the screen, already fucking spent.

“Done, happy?” he asks, sending them a tight smile.

“Dude, how are you so brave? No hesitation, no nerves. Wow,” Basile mumbles in amazement.

Well, the answer to this question is simple. Girls don’t make him nervous.

 ***

 If two weeks ago someone had told Lucas he’d be skipping classes with Eliott, he’d surely look at them weirdly and tell them to fuck off. Now, however, they are squeezed together in a tiny toilet stall. Eliott is doodling all over the wall with a sharpie and Lucas is sitting on the toilet lid, hugging his knees to his chest and watching Eliott work.

Lucas wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he’s been actually looking forward to spending some time with Eliott without the guys. No offense, he loves them but they can be a bit too much at times. Eliot, on the other hand, brings peacefulness with himself. It’s hard to explain, at least for Lucas, but they get each other and it’s nice to escape once in a while without completely isolating himself.

And all it took for this to happen was Lucas offhandedly mentioning in texts that he may not go to his next class. Eliott was all too eager to skip with Lucas and now every time someone walks into the bathroom, they have to pretend there’s no one in there. Or, that there aren’t two people hence Lucas’ legs are up.

“Are you excited about tomorrow’s party?” Eliott asks and Lucas perks up.

“Are you? You will have a lot to clean up.” Lucas is just thrilled to go there, get wasted to forget about everything and most likely put on a show for his friends once again. Yay. So much fun. He hopes that at least the booze will be worth it.

“Well, I’m counting on you guys to help me with that,” Eliott says and glances over his shoulder before getting back to his masterpiece.

Lucas tries to sneak a peek but to no avail. Eliott is too fucking broad.

“You will have to secure your bedroom if you don’t want anyone fucking in there.”

“Yeah, I know. I feel like if someone wants to have sex, they’ll find a way no matter what I do, though.”

“Your flat will lose its virginity,” Lucas says, scrolling down his phone.

“You think it hasn’t already?” Eliott teases and Lucas’ thumb stops scrolling. Right, Eliott had a girlfriend. And he could have brought someone else home as well.

“I was just joking,” Lucas says as the phone buzzes in his hand. He hears Eliott snorting in response when he opens the message and it’s his mom again. He sighs, tilts his head back against the wall and closes his eyes.

“Everything okay?” Eliott asks.

“Yeah, just my mom.” He shrugs. In all honesty, it’s only the tip of the iceberg but surely gives him a headache.

“What about her? If it’s okay to ask.” Eliott sounds gentle, trustworthy.

“She’s ill. Like, mentally ill. And I love her, I know it’s not her fault but I miss having a mom, you know?”

“But…” Eliott hesitates. “She’s still there. Just because she’s mentally ill, it doesn’t mean you don’t have a mom.”

“I know, but… I’m sixteen, living without any parent and all I get are passages from the Bible. I miss a mom who would ask me if something hurt when I fell down.” He rubs the back of his hand over his eyes to stop the tears from welling up. “I don’t blame her, but sometimes I think my life could have been normal if my dad hadn’t left and mom wasn’t put in the clinic. Sometimes I just want a hug and an it’ll be alright, but I have neither. I try my best not to be bitter or, fuck, angry at her. The only person I can be angry at is my father. But I still wish some things were different and I still had a home.” Lucas doesn’t realise his voice is shaky up until he’s finished talking. He doesn’t know what prompted all of it spilling out of him. He’s only talked about his family issues in more depth with Yann. Only because they’ve been best friends for so long he knew he wouldn’t be judged. And now, there he is, sharing his secrets with someone he hated less than a week ago.

Someone who could turn his back on Lucas if he misunderstood him.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Lucas opens his eyes to find Eliott crouching in front of him and staring at him. “What’s important is that you love her and know it’s not her fault. It’s okay to want things to be better. You just need to find the middle ground with your mom. She’s mentally ill and not braindead, I’m sure if you told her some of the things you’ve just told me, she’d understand. Maybe she doesn’t handle things well but still wants to be there for you and the only good way she finds are the Bible fragments? I’m glad you’re still in contact. And believe me, if she reaches out to you like that it’s better than you think. Have you talked with her in person lately?”

Lucas shakes his head, ashamed. He couldn’t bring himself to go to her after she was admitted to the clinic and he moved out. He feels like he abandoned her just like his father. For the longest time, he thought she might hate him.

“You try that. It’ll do good to the both of you.” Eliott smiles at him reassuringly and stands up. “Do you want to see my masterpiece?” he asks, one of his eyebrows raised.

Lucas notices some distress in Eliott’s eyes, despite him smirking expectantly at Lucas. His voice was different when he was speaking, strained. Only now does Lucas realise that Eliott may be changing the topic for the sake of the both of them.

Some things are better left untold and unfinished after all.

Lucas nods and his eyes land on a mini-comic drawn on the wall.

“It’s inspired by your parallel universe theory,” Eliott whispers excitedly.

There are two panels. Both are showing cartoonish versions of a raccoon and a hedgehog. In the first one, the raccoon extends its paw towards the hedgehog but gets rejected and its ears are downturned. In the second, they are in a similar setting, but the raccoon is smiling at the hedgehog that has speech bubbles filled with small images of a piano and the stars drawn around it. The first panel is captioned This universe while the second has a The universe no. 874386 undearneath it.

“Is that us?” Lucas asks, reaching his hand out in amazement and tracing his finger over the drawings.

“Yeah. I’ve been identifying with a raccoon for a long time, but I couldn’t figure out what would suit you for a while. Until last weekend. Then that hedgehog hit me.”

“This is so cool,” Lucas says softly, his eyes still glued to the cartoonish versions of them.  That way he can’t see Eliott watching him with interest from the side, a blush blooming over his cheeks.

 ***

Arthur is standing on a stool, trying to hang on a Happy Birthday all the while Lucas is monitoring him from behind. They’ve decorated most of the flat by now and are nearly done. There’s only an hour left before the party starts, Eliott has gone to bring Basile for the surprise and Yann is supposed to be on his way, carrying the alcohol. Things are looking pretty good.

And that’s why Lucas chooses that moment to ruin the nice atmosphere. Or, perhaps he’s exaggerating. He just thinks that he’d consider something like that irritating, but maybe Arthur won’t. Nevertheless, he has to ask this question or he’ll explode.

“I was wondering. Why didn’t you tell us you were bi sooner?” It’s been gnawing at Lucas ever since Arthur came out. Considering how much he’s struggling with his own sexuality, he can’t help but be curious.

Arthur stops for a second before he taps the decoration in a random place and steps down from the stool. He turns towards Lucas, a calm smile tugging at his lips.

“I’m surprised none of you asked me that earlier, actually. Well, it’s that… what good would it do?” he asks, waving his hand dismissively. Lucas thinks that having a friend who isn’t straight and knowing so would give him some sort of comfort. But what does he know? Besides, Arthur has no idea about him. “I wanted to tell you, but I thought to myself how things could change. I know you aren’t homophobic, but straight dudes just get weird about bi and gay guys most of the time. I’d have to watch myself, my every move and word. And you wouldn’t even understand. Then why would I come out? No need to complicate things.”

“Then why did you now?”

“Well, I found another guy who’s like me that I’m friends with. We can relate to each other, we can support each other. I couldn’t just have him thinking he was alone. I don’t know, it’s different when there’s another person like you. There’s a sense of community I don’t have with you, guys.” That fucking stings like a motherfucker. “And having Eliott there made me feel safer and braver. I don’t know how to explain that.” He doesn’t have to. Lucas understands, in a way. Maybe if he wasn’t so ashamed and hateful towards himself, instead of bitterness, he’d feel comfort as well.

“Do you have a crush on Eliott?” Lucas blurts out. It sort of escapes his mouth. It’s been something he’s been sure but hasn’t had a confirmation of. And since they’re already talking and one thing leads to another, his brain must have thought it was appropriate after hearing Arthur’s speech.

Arthur tilts his head to the side, his eyes widening. He looks confused. “What? No. We’re just friends. I mean, he’s sweet and hot, but I’m already into someone else,” he says.

“Who?”

Arthur blushes. “Ugh, there was a student exchange last year and I was teaching some guy French. We hit it off and became friends. I kind of fell for him, but then he left. He’s got a boyfriend back home. And I’m hopelessly pining.” He smiles sadly and scratches the side of his neck.

So much has happened in Arthur’s life and they had no idea.

“I’m sorry,” Lucas says, suddenly filled with sadness. He’s more sorry for not being able to be there for Arthur through his heartbreak and something tells him Arthur knows because there’s understanding in his eyes.

“It’s okay,” he replies, his voice soft. “It happens.”

 ***

 Three hours later and the party is in its full swing. Basile really played his part at acting surprised, there was a birthday cake that Manon has apparently been asked to prepare by Yann through Emma. There are a lot of people and with each hour the crowd only grows. At some point, Lucas wonders how Eliott’s flat is going to fit all these people inside but so far there haven’t been any issues.

Lucas has been drinking, dancing with his friends, laughing and talking. He’s having fun to the point he lets his guard down and completely stops in his tracks when he sees a face he thought his mind has erased from its memory.

He becomes very aware at once, looks around to check if no one is watching him. It’s paranoid, he knows, but if the blackmailer is there and they are watching Lucas? Fuck, he’s doomed.

The person he’s noticed is the guy he was caught kissing. What the fuck is he doing at this party? Yann was responsible for inviting the people. He could know him. He could know about them kissing and that’s why he’s been pushing Lucas to hook-up with that girl and–

No. Yann doesn’t know and if he knew he wouldn’t be a jerk about it. He wouldn’t be.

From the moment Lucas notices him to the one he’s seen back, around thirty minutes pass. He’s been trying his best to become invisible, but one look too many in the guy’s direction and he catches Lucas’ eye and then takes a double take when the recognition falls over his face.

Lucas was hoping the guy wouldn’t remember him.

He steps off the dancefloor, begging the universe for the boy not to approach him. Why would he? They only kissed and that kiss has been causing Lucas stress and lack of money ever since. But as far as he knows, it was only a drunken hook-up for this boy.

The universe is a bitch, Lucas realises, when the guy finds him and leans against the wall next to him. He sends him a lazy smirk and Lucas looks around to see if no one is watching them. He doesn’t see anyone, but last time he didn’t either.

“Fancy seeing you here,” the guy says, moving closer.

The best way to avoid this situation? Act dumb. Lucas is great at that.

He chuckles. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“If you don’t remember I can refresh your memory,” the boy says and reaches his hand out to touch Lucas, but Lucas flinches away. The guy looks over the crowd, then back at Lucas, frowning.

“Please, leave me alone. I can’t have people see us,” Lucas says under his breath, hoping he can be heard over the music. He doesn’t look at the guy. He’s drunk, he does dumb things when he’s drunk. And it’s been long since he experienced some tenderness. He can’t let the guy know how much he wishes he was allowed to want him.

The guys tsks. “Whatever, I’m not going to waste my time on another closet case. Bye,” he mumbles and leaves.

Lucas breathes out, his heart beating fast and his palms sweaty. He’s trembling and he needs a drink.

 ***

 He has drunk more, he’s lost the sight of his friends. Lucas has been wandering around sadly ever since the encounter with the guy. He’s caught him looking a couple of times, probably thinking how pathetic he is, but that was it.

Fine, he’s fucking pathetic and gay and the only thing that gets him through this party is putting as much booze as possible into his system. He hates it. He hates himself for not being normal. He hates other people for being free.

He wants to forget.

Lucas turns around and the beer in his bottles slushes over his fingers.

He sees Arthur and Eliott kissing. The whole world slows down and he doesn’t see the rest of the crowd anymore, his vision closing on their silhouettes meddled into one. On the way Arthur is arching his back against Eliott and Eliott’s fingers are tugging on Arthur’s hair. Arthur is pressing Eliott against the wall, desperately sucking on his bottom lip and Eliott kisses him back with just as much intensity.

Something sinks down in Lucas’ stomach. He knew. He knew it’d end up like that. Two great, attractive guys would end up making out with each other. Because they can.

It’s only Lucas who can’t kiss boys even if he wants to.

His eyes sting with unshed tears, but he simply can’t look away from how they are consuming each other with their lips. It’s intoxicating in a way. Much more than all of the alcohol he’s got into himself.

Someone bumps into him, snapping him out of his daze. He blinks and looks away from Eliott and Arthur. Turns around and sees Chloé smiling up at him.

It must be a sign.

He wants to cry when he starts kissing her, caressing her, squeezing her body. They kiss until their lips are sore; until Lucas can’t feel anything.

“I know a place close by we could have some privacy in. Do you want to,” she whispers hotly into his ear and tugs on his lobe with her teeth.

Lucas nods and lets her drag him out of the party.

 ***

 There’s a piercing pain shooting through Lucas’ scalp when he moves and he hisses when he opens his eyes. He feels hot, sticky and uncomfortable. He’s hangover and the curtains aren’t closed, letting the morning light in. His mouth tastes like death and there’s something lying across his chest making it hard to breathe.

He blinks a couple of times and looks down.

The sight makes his gut churn.

Chloé is naked, he is naked and she’s cuddled up to his side.

What the fuck did he do?

[mascaracoffee]

Lil Minnow (Arthur Curry/ Aquaman Imagine)

I have not been able to go see Aquaman due to studying for boards so keep that in mind if something is off-script. Let me know what you think I have a part 2 in mind if yall like it.

No warnings- slight cursing

A gasp scratched past my parched lips, resting eyes flying open frantically scanning my surroundings as my chest ached, eager for my heart to return to normal rhythm versus its current erratic state in my throat. Light split the dark sky outside my window drawing my attention to the thunder rumbling amongst the ominous clouds that raged with the firepower of rain. The Atlantic an eerie, swirling mass of dark ink highlighted with harsh, angry waves tipped in foams of white as the wind danced along its surface.

’11:15’                                                                                          

Glowed back at me from my desk across the room, reminding me I had only fallen asleep half an hour ago before being jolted awake by the thunder I assume.  Begrudgingly I kicked the blankets off my bare legs and sat straight, grounding my palms into my eyes in annoyance.

Thud.

I peaked over my fingers to my closed door as the sound vibrated through the house.  My foggy, sleep brain was slow processing the possibilities, maybe the wind?

Thud. Thud.

I stood from my bed and softly opened the door. The cabin was dark, soft shadows dancing through the windows creating softer grey shapes amongst the walls as the danced with the storm outside. My bare feet took the steps one by one, being careful to skip over the one that creaked obnoxiously, number 14 on my ‘at home to do list’ that seemed to be ever growing.

Once I reached the landing I peeked around the corner into my kitchen, all seemed to be in place.

THUD

My body jumped at the much louder disturbance just to the right of me.  Stepping into the dining room I released a sigh at the root of my problem; swaying back and forth on their hinges, my French doors stood agape, rain and wind spluttering inside from the gaping opening to the outside.  I skidded against the wet wood floors and managed to latch the doors shut before I glared down at the mess at my feet.

After drenching three towels, I tossed the laundry into the bin and trudged back up the stairs to my room stretching my neck of the stress settling in my bones.

“bout time”

My body jolted and a scream left my lips as my body registered the tall, muscled frame standing before my window.

“Easy lil bit”

The voice chuckled catching my small fist as it swung through the air aimed at the perp. They stepped forward a chuckle falling past their smirk and a beer, no doubt from my fridge, in their hand.

“Jesus Arthur” I sighed releasing the tension in my body as I fell into his bare chest “you scared me to hell and back.”

“Sorry doll” he mumbled using his much larger hand to guide my face up to his. His lips were tart with salt and his hair held the grit of the ocean as I explored him, desperate to get reacquainted with the man I missed so much.

Arthur set his beer bottle aside, now devoting both his hands to my body slipping beneath my sleep shirt. A whine escaped my lips as he jostled us, pulling me up his frame to wrap my legs around his trim, tattooed waist, a hand moving back to caress my head the other firm around my waist .

I got lost in his kiss, savoring the taste of sea salt and beer that embodied Arthur’s persona so perfectly. His lips left mine to pepper kisses along my neck, his beard tickling the sensitive skin creating goosebumps in their wake.  Suddenly, I was dropped onto my bed, Arthur’s body still entwined with mine, his bulging biceps straining as they caught his weight as to not crush me.

“You left the door open downstairs” I gasped, tangling my fingers into his thick, mane as he latched onto my throat. “bout broke my damn neck on the wet floor.”  Arthur lightly bit my flesh in response.

“You really want to talk right now” Arthur growled, grounding his core between my legs.

I pulled his lips back to mine in response the kiss rough and desperate as we both shed our remaining clothes.

Arthur’s arm was tight around my waist as his free hand swirled affectionately against my ribs, my nose tucked into the junction of his neck and shoulder.

“So how are things down below?”  I mumbled, running my leg along his beneath the covers.

“Good” Arthur nodded, the tone in his voice coated with hope “Finally getting things in order.”

“But still bad enough to have to keep me a secret?” I whispered, focusing my gaze on a particular pattern in Arthur’s tattoo.

Arthur’s chest rose and fell with the heavy breath he released.

“Its complicated” Arthur began with a shake of his head, raking a hand through is hair  “Even now there are some that still think like Orm did, hate the surface world and everyone in it. I don’t want to-“

“Put you in danger” our voices echoed together, having heard this time and time again since Arthur’s return to Atlantis. I blinked back the tears that burned my vision “I know, I just miss you is all.”

Arthur sighed sadly “I miss you too sweetheart” he pressed a kiss into my hair “more than you can imagine.

I bite my lip and sat up out of Arthur’s embrace as the tears began to slip down my cheeks, the tightness in my throat constricting my air.

I stood, yanking on a t-shirt and loose shorts prepared to escape downstairs when Arthur’s arms trapped me to him.

“Hey, hey” he soothed tucking my hair behind my ear “What’s going on?”

I shook my head, my hand covering my mouth to keep my tears at bay.

“Hey look at me” Arthur ordered in a soft but stern voice. Our eyes met. “Talk to me, what wrong?”

“Atlantis” I spat out, the city’s name tasting like vinegar in my mouth. “After all you’ve done, how much you’ve proved yourself worthy of being king and there’re still those that are blinded by hatred. That they would hate me, they would hate-“

I turned away cupping my mouth to keep a sob, or bile, at bay.

“Babe,” he said softly pulling me to his chest. “Where’s this coming from?”

I steadied my breathing, my eyes tracing over the intricate pattern adorning his abdomen, taking my time to focus on the ink work and steady my breathing before I reached his eyes.

“I’m pregnant”

Moments passed, Arthur’s eyes grew in size as he stared at me. I could almost see the wheels turning in his brain.

“Please” I begged my voice breaking as I reached for one of his hands in hope for a response “Please say something.”

“Say it again.”

I blinked up at him in confusion as he squeezed my hand in return, prompting me once more.

“Say it again?”

I reached for both his hands, placing them on my lower abdomen on the firm bulge that could have passed as the result of an all you can eat taco bar.

“I’m pregnant, Arthur.”

I had to blink rapidly, blinded by the large, white smile that broke out over Arthur’s tan face.

“Pregnant! When did you find out? How far are you? Oh my God, you’re pregnant!” he spluttered out questions one after another as he fell to his knees, face level with my stomach.

“I found out about a month ago, after your last visit. I’m about 10 weeks.”

His grin looked as if it would split his face in two, his eyes shining through slithers as his cheeks crinkled around his eyes. He gently pulled up my tshirt and lowered the waistband of the shortss, he took a moment and just gazed at my belly. Gently, he pressed his lips to my navel repeatedly before he looked back at me and stood straight, his hands remaining on my stomach.

“I love you” he beamed pressing his lips to mine feverishly. “I love you, I love you!”

Arthur tightened his arms around my waist before lifting me from the floor and spinning me his laugh booming off the walls in joy. 

“We’re gonna be parents!” my feet found the floor again “Baby you’re gonna be a mama and I’m gonna be a dad, I mean a cool dad, not an embarrising-”

 He studied my face his expression falling slightly at my lack of excitement.

“Why aren’t you thrilled about this?” Arthur chuckled awkwardly “Baby you’re pregnant! We’re gonna have a baby! You and me!”

“That’s what I’m scared about” I admitted pulling away from his grasp “Atlantis will hate our baby, just because they came from me! Think of how they saw you and you’re half Atlantian. They basically exiled you, your own people because you were different! What will they do when they find out your heir is only a quarter Atlantian? You said so yourself the council was pushing for you to marry, Atlantis is gonna want a full blood as their leader, not my baby! “

My face served as the battleground of my emotion, tear-stained and flushed with a trembling bottom lip. My arms ghosting around my abdomen protectively as my gut twisted sickeningly at the thought of anyone hurting my child emotionally or physically, especially my child’s own people.

���Sweetheart,” Arthur said softly stepping toward me, his expression torn and dejected. He hated seeing my cry, he always voiced it when I cried over The Notebook, in that situation Arthur knew what to do; cuddle me with beer and pizza before we ended the night in the bedroom. But this? Arthur woulnd’t have a clue how to fix this.

I stepped into his open embrace, allowing what was left of my guard to crumble. I cried softly into his chest as he held me tight, his fingers running along my spine soothingly. The tips of my fingers curved into the cords of muscle in his back, desperatly clinging to him. Once I wept the last of my tears, Arthur pulled me back to lock eyes.THe swirls of blue and gold were lit with emotion; determination and devotion.

“Do you trust me?”

I nodded dumbly, afraid to speak in fear that my voice would break. And I did. I had known Arthur for most of my life. We grew up together on the water, his father a lighthouse keeper mine a fisherman. When the rest of our classmates pointed and made fun of us, Arthur especially, we would reciprocate by spending our time swimming with dolphins and playing tag with fish, I trust him and his gift with my life. When Arthur took his throne, I trusted he would come back for me and forsake all others in my absence, he did that.

“Then trust that I will do everything in my power to protect you, both of you.” He ended the comment pressing his palm to the small swell of my belly.  “Atlantis has changed and for the better, they will be more welcoming of my heir than you would think.” Arthur smiled affectionately.  “They will love you both, how could they not?”

“Arthur” I shook my head “Atlantis doesn’t even know about me! The council told you to keep me a secret because they were afraid of how the people would react for this very reason, I don’t think Atlantis would be ready for a ruler with any less Atlantian blood. How are they gonna handle the news their now beloved king is sneaking out at night to warm the bed of a land walker” I sniffed “And besides you said so yourself, there’s still those that openly hate the surface. What do you think they would do to our child?”

Arthur’s face fell at my question as if he had forgotten about the rotten apples poisoning his tree. From the stories I had heard, I had no doubt those with ill intent toward the surface would have no moral dilemma in ridding Atlantis of anyone with surface blood.

“Not a damn thing that’s what. All the more reason for me to beat their asses out of Atlantis”  Arthur growled, pulling me back towards the bed. “I don’t want you thinking about any of that. Its not good for the baby.”

“Oh so now you’re an expert Mr. ‘I’ve known I’ll be a dad all of five minutes.’?”

I smiled adoringly up at him.

“Details, details” Arthur scoffed pulling my body to his under the covers.

We lay side by side, legs intertwined, his hand on my belly as he tucked my head under his chin. With Arthur wrapped around me I felt all my earlier worries melt away, I knew Arthur would do everything in his power to ensure our safety. God, how I wish he could stay above water a little longer.

“I don’t want you to worry sweetheart” Arthur’s voice rumbled through his chest “I’m gonna have someone keeping an eye on you all the time. No one is gonna touch you or our lil minnow.”

I chuckled at the nickname as we casually talked about our baby. What would they look like? What would we name them?  Who would they grow up to be?

When I opened my eyes the darkness of night was kissing the warm oranges and yellows of the morning as the sun and moon shared the sky for the briefest moment. I stretched my arms out only to be met with a cool bed. My eyes snapped out the window toward the ocean to see the lone figure walking along the beach toward the water. His broad shoulders stark against the rising sun, as he reached the lapping water he paused and seemed to turn his head and look directly at me. After a sorrowful moment, the body turned back toward the water and began to descend into the depths and within a blink of an eye, his body had disappeared from view and back to the world below like so many times before. Another night hid away between us.

I sighed heavily already missing Arthur. As I fell back into the bed I felt crumpling beneath my head. I retrieved the crumpled note with scratchy handwriting.

‘I’ll be back soon. Take care of yourself lil mama and the minnow. Love you both so much.

-Arthur

I gently reached down and cupped the small bump, rubbing my thumb along it soothingly.

“I guess its just you and me for a little while minnow.”

Let me know what you think! Part 2, maybe?

[but-iamabidisaster-blog]

Truth or Dare

Thank you again for the 1000 followers~

I am a bit late but whatever at this point

This takes place in a modern AU.

Meliodas' POV

"Ok everybody, I think you wonder why I called you all here tonight"

"Yeah, I was planning to do a movie marathon with Diane tonight" King said with clear boredom in his voice.

"More like Netflix and chill with you two~" Ban teased them while making some dirty gestures with his hands.

"If you guys ended the conversation about King's sex life can I continue explaining?" Since no one was making a sound I countinued "I brought you all here tonight to play a game of Truth or Dare!"

"Really? Truth or Dare? You called all of us here for a game like that?!" Jericho screamed at me.

"First of all, calm your titts. Second of all yes, we are going to play this childish game....but with a twist" When they heard the last part all of them started to look weirdly at me."The twist is that you can avoid to tell a truth or to do a dare by doing something else"

Silence fell over the room until Elizabeth spoke "Something like what, Meliodas?"

"Thank you for asking"I winked making her blush. "You can avoid truth by taking two shots of vodka and you can avoid a dare by taking an item of clothing off of you."

After I finished explaining the twist Merlin imediately turned to face Arthur."I want you to go home now! You are too young for something like this."

"Wait what?! Merlin please let me stay here! Meliodas, can you change the rules a bit for me so that I can stay?" Arthur was making the biggest puppy eyes I've ever seen. I swear to God if this boy tries he can rule the world with his puppy eyes.

"Well...you can do ten push-ups to avoid a dare and drink milk mixed with salt or something like that to avoid the truth." After I finnished with explaining the rules for Arthur I turned to face Merlin "Are these conditions good enough for Arthur to stay?" Merlin just nodded to show that she approved of the new conditions. "Everyone please form a circle in the middle of the room so that we can go clockwise for the game."

"It feels like we are going to summon the devil" Elaine muttered.

"Why would we call my dad?"

"Speaking of your family...where are they at the moment?" Elaine asked.

"The Devi-I mean my dad is out of the town for the next three days while Zeldris is at his girlfriend's house. I hope we won't have any kind of surprises for the next nine months...and Estarossa...I seriously don't know"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's start the game!"Diane shouted.

"I go first since I am the one that came up with the idea. Elizabeth I dare you-" I didn't got to finnish talking before Diane interupted my.

"MELIODAS, THAT'S NOT FAIR! You have to ask if her if she wants truth or dare!"

"It's ok ,Diane, I am not bothered by this...Meliodas you can continue with your dare." Elizabeth said in a calm tone.

"As I was saying...Elizabeth I dare you to take your shirt off" When I looked at her she was red like a tomatoe making her look even more cute than usual.

"I see that you are going strong from the start~" Ban smirked while looking at the vodka...I hope he won't get drunk after just two shots.

"My-my shirt?!" Her face turned even more red if that was possible.

"Yup, your shirt or if you want you can take off another item of clothing of your choice"

"I am sorry ,Meliodas, but I will have to decline this dare" Still red in the face from embarrassmet she took off one of her socks. Smart move.

Gowther's POV

"My turn! Ban what do you chose?"

"Dare seems like the fun choice~"

"I dare you to eat Meliodas' food!" I said while posing. No one knows when someone will take a photo so I have to always look good.

"HELL NO! I want to live! I refuse the dare, I will take off my shirt or something!" Ban screamed. When I looked at Meliodas a hurt expresion could be seen on his face.

"Ban, that was rude and now I am hurt. Elizabeth, please hug the pain away" While he was doing his over dramatic role he launched right between Elizabeth's boobs.

"There, there..." Elizabeth was petting Meliodas' head.

"Hey everybody! Pay close attention to this show because I will not do it again~" And with that said Ban started to take off his shirt slowly. At the sight of his godly abs Elaine went red in the face and fainted while Jericho had a nosebleed so powerfull to the point where she passed out. Both Elaine and Jericho were out of the game.(Rest In Peace Jericho and Elaine, may the Godly Abs look over both of you in Heaven).

"I-I think I am the next person." Escanor stuttered.

Escanor's POV

"Diane, truth or dare?" I asked her.

"Truth please!" Diane giggled.

"Is it true that-that you were going to-to Netflix and Chill with King?" I stutrered again. Her face started to take become red...did I make her angry?

Diane's POV

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck I don't know. Me ads King were planning to have a movie marathon but I am not sure of it would have lead to that! But If I say no and King was planning to Netflix and Chill.....uumm..."Give me that vodka" I took the two shots of vodka as fast as I could "Elizabeth is the next one!" I yelled to get everyone's attention to her.

Elizabeth's POV

"Umm...Arthur, truth or dare?"

"I want dare, Elizabeth!" Arthur shouted. This boy really has a lot of energy.

"I dare you to...to run around the house for 30 minutes and scream as many memes and vines referances as you can." This seemed like a good dare.

"Sure thing!" Arthur bolted out the door to start his dare. "Two bros chillin in the hot tub 5 feet apart cuz they're not gay!" Was heard from outside.

•• 30 minutes timeskip••

"My throat hurts a little" Arthur mumbled.

"Oh my god I am so sorry! I shouldn't have made you do that!" I apologised to him.

"NO! It's fine! I accepted this and it was fun." He tried to resure me.

Arthur's POV

"Escanor! Truth or dare?" I shouted....I don't think I shoul have, Escanor looks kind of scared now.

"Truth..."

"Ok, I heard that you write poetry, is it true that you have some poems dedicated to Merlin?" Escanor seemed to freeze when I told him this, did I ask something wrong?

"Yes I have some poems but-but they are not for-for Merlin! Not like I hate Merlin or something she is more beautiful than the stars and shines brighter than the sun itself...I think I should probably stop talking..."

"Thank you, Escanor, for your answear." I said trying to calm him down.

Ban's POV

"Now it's my turn~" I looked around the room to decide who will be my victim. "I choose King~"

"ME!" He screamed.

"Yeah, now choose, truth or dare?~" I chuckled.

"Truth, it's far more simple and safe" King whisperd the last part but I still heard it.

"Well, King, is it true that you want to make out with Diane?~" The poor boy freezed when I told him this. Perfect.

"Did I say truth? I meant dare!" King tried to save his ass from that question.

"Sounds fake but whatever, I dare you to make out with Diane right here, right now~"

King look at me right im the eyes before shouting "Never have I ever-"

"That's not the fucking game, King!"

"King!" said Meliodas "For breaking the rules and being a chicken you need a punishment."

King's face went pale just hearing the word punishment "What do you mean by that, Meliodas?"

"Guys, can you move on faster? You make this whole situation sound like some porn video." Merlin said

"How do you know that?~" I started to laugh

"It isn't important now, but I told you this for your own good."

"This became really awkward...King you have to take four shots of vodka and your shirt off" Meliodas said trying to move on from this whole conversation.

While King was taking his shirt off Diane was cheking him out "Diane, when you stop looking at King you should take your turn at the game~.

Diane's POV

"Meliodas, truth or dare" I asked him

"I want a dare!" Meliodas chuckled

"I dare you to stand at three meters distance away from Elizabeth for the rest of the game"

Meliodas started to take off his shirt "Yeah..I will not do that" He goes and puts himself on Elizabeth's lap and places his head on her boobs "Being close to Elizabeth feels nice"

King's POV

"I guess it's my turn now..Merlin, truth or dare?" The room has been spinning a little since I took those four shots of vodka.

"I might as well choose dare, but be careful about what you put me to do." Merlin sighed.

"Sure *hic* thing. I dare you to buy me my *hic* favourite pizza"

"Sounds easy enough, I will do it" She took out her phone to order the pizza.

"While the pizza is *hic* coming I will go to the bathroom cause I don't feel so good *hic*"

I somehow managed to get to the bathroom when I heard Ban screaming "Don't turn into dust in there buddy!~"

"FUCK *hic* YOU BAN!!" I screamed at him making him laugh. I shouldn't have watched Infinity War with him.

••• 3 hours later•••

Zeldris' POV

I was coming home from Gelda's house when I saw the lights on. When I entered the front door I was welcomed by the sight of Meliodas and his friends being either naked , to drunk to function or both. With the exeption of Arthur was sleeping on the couch with his clothes on. After I stared at them for five minutes I took a picture and left the house. I'm sure Gelda is going to welcome me back.

[astralastrid]

I'll Be Home For Christmas

Hi @snowfairy909 ! I was your @usuknetwork holiday exchange Secret Santa! Happy holidays and enjoy!

Title: I'll Be Home For Christmas Prompt: Arthur coming over to London to surprise Alfred for Christmas Summary: Separated by distance, both Alfred and Arthur long for each other. Rating: general audiences Warnings: n/a Holidays were always a magical time for Alfred. He loved them as a child, and loved them still. He loved the certain feeling everything would get, the quiet serenity that came with snow, the holiday songs, the food, exchanging gifts, and the warm atmosphere of family. And even as everyone got older and went their separate ways, he still enjoyed calling everybody and seeing what they were up to. Unfortunately, this year, Alfred found himself spending these special days alone. 

His brother, Matthew, lived in Canada and couldn't make the trip, and he rather not bother his parents, even if he knew they'd always welcome him with open arms.

But mostly Alfred found himself longing for his boyfriend, Arthur. Alfred had met Arthur in a café, and the two had kept running into each other, which had sparked a friendship. The two texted back and forth, and even started to hang out, sometimes at the very café where they had first met.The two would discuss all sorts of things, often complaining about work. And while Alfred's own work stories were subpar, Arthur's, on the other hand, were extremely entertaining, and Alfred always looked forward to Arthur's latest tirade about his French co-worker. Over time, Alfred and Arthur became close, and friendship soon turned into love. 

 Unfortunately, Arthur had been working in London for the past year, and because of this, the two had rarely seen each other in person, Arthur visiting only when he could get the vacation time, and often he would just stay in England. Alfred dearly missed the sound of his angelic laugh, his rare, small smile, his doting yet brash personality, and especially his embrace. Webcam could only capture so much. 

Alfred decided to call Arthur. The phone rang and rang, but there was no response. His boyfriend's voice usually brought him joy, but this time, Arthur's familiar voicemail only added to the pang of loneliness he felt.

Alfred sighed, deciding to call his brother instead, who thankfully picked up. "Hey Al, everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, just relaxing you know? Anyway what's up bro? Have you put up your decorations?" Alfred looked around at his house, all decked out in holiday garb. His eyes lingered on the tree, and he felt a new wave of sadness come over him. Decorating was one of his favorite things to do with Arthur, and it was the first year in a while that they hadn't done it together.

"Well actually we're doing that now." The sound of a grunt came over the line as Matthew probably picked up something heavy. 

"Oh" Alfred said dejectedly. "Is now a bad time to call?" 

"No, no it's fine! It's always nice to hear from you, especially since I know you're busy this time of year." Matthew was too polite for his own good, and wouldn't admit that it was probably a hassle to balance the phone on top of putting things up. 

"No Mattie it's fine, I can call you back." There was a pause, and Alfred could almost see the worried expression on his sibling's face. 

"Alfred, I know you miss Arthur, but try not to let it take over your life eh? Order some pizza and watch a Hallmark movie or something. You love the holidays. Don't let this ruin it." 

alfred tried to smile. "Your right Matt, thanks. Love you."  

"Love you too. Talk to you later." Matthew had a point. Holidays were supposed to be fun! And by god, he was going to enjoy them! Alfred ordered a pizza, putting on "Elf," one of his favorite Christmas movies, and watching the snow fall. Maybe he'd make a snowman later... 

Over the next few days, Alfred tried to not think about Arthur too much, but it was hard when they did almost everything together during the season. It was strange to not smell burnt food coming from the oven or hear scathing remarks on the "cheesiness of American movies," (even if Arthur secretly enjoyed them.) Everything reminded Alfred of Arthur, and the holidays were going to be hard without the other half of his heart. 

                                                       *** 

 Arthur Kirkland had mixed feelings about holidays. He despised the commercialism of it all, the same bloody songs playing over and over, and above all, the crowds. And yet, he did enjoy the general giving spirit mankind was prone to at this time of year. Everyone and everything seemed a little brighter and a little kinder. Even his brothers seemed to tease him less during the holiday season. 

But this year, Christmas was turning out to be a little different. His job has asked him to work abroad for a year, and Arthur had happily accepted, eager to return to his homeland after years of being away from it. The experience was incredible: so much was the same, yet everything was a little bit different. So many of the shops he had known as a child were still there, but unfortunately a few had been closed down or demolished. Despite being busy with his work, Arthur had taken the time to "sightsee," refamiliarizing himself with the joys of his younger years, even taking the time to see his parents and catch up with them.

However, while it was great to see it all again, he found himself missing Alfred a lot, and the conversation he had with his parents didn't help. They were overjoyed to see him "across the pond," so to speak, and Arthur was thankful that they were so supportive of his relationship with Alfred, but it soon because all that they wanted to talk about: 'How was Alfred?' 'When was the last time you saw him?' 'Have you called him recently?' 'Don't you miss him?' 

 And yes, Arthur missed him dearly. London seemed much more gloomy and quiet than he remembered. He used to enjoy that aspect of London, but after meeting Alfred it was strange to go back to a less boisterous life. Everything seemed colder and lonelier without Alfred's warm touch, his larger-than-life laugh, his brighter-than-the-sun smile, and his overall sunny personality that filled whatever room he was in. Alfred had become a bigger part of Arthur's life than he realized, and he cursed the fact he couldn't always afford the plane ticket to see him. 

 Admittedly, Arthur had been so busy with work lately that he had missed numerous calls from Alfred, forgetting to call him back and mostly replying to him via text. It was all going to be worth it, but he still felt immensely guilty and decided to give Alfred a ring. 

 "Hello? Alfred?" 

 "Artie!" He could clearly picture the smile on his boyfriend's face. "Is everything ok? You hadn't called in a while..." His words were like a stab in the gut. 

 Arthur coughed awkwardly. "Yes, sorry about that love. I've been busier than I anticipated. But I'm fine I promise. Anything ah, new over there?" 

 "Nope! Just the usual: ice, snow, hot coco, and the "overly cliché" movies you love to hate. Oh and the oven isn't on fire for once." 

 Arthur reddened. "You leave me and my perfectly fine cooking skills alone!" 

Alfred laughed. "Whatever you say." There was a pause. "Hey Arthur?" 

 "Yes love?"

"It's really good to hear your voice. I really miss you." 

 Arthur smiled. "I miss you too poppet." They said their goodbyes and it was really hard for Arthur not to tell Alfred that he'd see him soon. See, the reason that Arthur had been so busy is that he had been working hard so that when he requested to go home for the holidays, it would seem like a reasonable request. It had taken a bit of wheedling on Arthur's part, but his boss had agreed to let him go. Arthur was scheduled to arrive on Christmas Eve, and he couldn't wait to surprise his boyfriend.

                                                       ***

Alfred had been watching "The Polar Express" and eating ice-cream when there was a knock on the door. Strange, he hadn't been expecting anyone... He paused the movie and put the ice-cream down, opening the door carefully. Seeing who it was, he swung the door wide open and crushed his boyfriend in a bear-hug. "Artie!" Arthur, while a little irritated at the lack of a warning, hugged back tightly. "I missed you so much it hurt Arthur!"  

"Merry Christmas Alfred. I missed you too. Now can we please go inside before we catch out deaths out here?" Alfred laughed, quickly letting him go and helping him with his belongings. 

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming home? I would've prepared something special!" And wouldn't have left the place in such a mess, Alfred added silently in his head. 

"I wanted to surprise you. Plus I knew you'd be all overly extravagant about it, and while I appreciate it, I rather just spend a few relaxing evenings with you." 

Alfred nodded. "I understand, but promise you'll let me take you out for New Year's! If you're staying that long. When are you going back? Are you here for good?" Alfred became frantic. "Or are they making you stay in London for good? Please don't tell me it's true Arthur! This year has been hard enough already! Another second without you and I'd die!" 

 Arthur scoffed. "Stop being so overdramatic." He gestured to the various trash scattered about. "You seem just fine. You sure you'd missed me?" At Alfred's indignant look, Arthur waved his hand dismissively. "I'm just joking. I'm home until after New Year's and then I have to return. But after that I should be wrapping up everything and returning for good before the month is out, promise." He went over and kissed him on the cheek. "But we can worry about that later. It's Christmas Eve! Let's just relax." 

 Alfred beamed. "You don't have to tell me twice!" Alfred made popcorn while Arthur brewed his tea, and the two soon returned to the couch, continuing to watch movies and cuddling up to each other. It didn't take long for them to fall asleep in the other's embrace. 

The next morning, Alfred shook Arthur excitedly. "Wake up Artie! It's Christmas!" Arthur groaned, trying to go back to sleep, but Alfred insisted, pulling the blankets off. 

 "Fine, fine, I'm up!" Arthur grumbled. 

 Alfred was smiling sheepishly as he handed him breakfast."I'm sorry I couldn't get you a proper gift this year. I wasn't expecting you to be home and frankly, I didn't know what to get you regardless. You have plenty of mugs and tea, and all your knitting stuff is in working condition-" 

 "Oh hush." Arthur interrupted. "It's okay love. Being with you is already the perfect gift." 

 Alfred smirked. "I thought you hated cheesy lines like that." Arthur scoffed and hit him playfully. "Seriously though. I'll make it up to you."

 Arthur smiled. "It's fine, don't worry. And don't you want to know what I got you?" He went over to his suitcase and brought out two wrapped presents. "I know how much you love Harry Potter, so I got you a robe, a wand, chocolate frogs, and Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans." He explained as Alfred opened the presents.

 Alfred hugged him tightly. "Oh I love this! Thank you thank you!" Alfred put them out of harm's way. "So what now?" 

 "I just want to spend the day with you dearest." And that they did. They baked and cooked together, (Alfred being careful to watch Arthur's every move,) ate together, and Alfred even convinced Arthur to have a snowball fight with him. After that, they warmed back up with hot drinks and spent the rest of the evening snuggled up, watching whatever was on tv. 

 And later, Alfred did fulfill his promise to make it up to Arthur, taking him out on New Year's Eve and buying whatever he wanted from the stores that weren't closed, (despite Arthur's protests.) They went ice skating, and walked around town eating ice-cream. At night, they toasted to each other, sharing a kiss at midnight. And staring into each other's eyes lovingly, they both knew that their holidays would always be complete, so long as they had the other at their side.