#though it might have helped that i went for like a 2 hour walk today ? which is why im drawing / posting so late

[moeblob]

I think we should all disregard that these requests were from April C:

@sun-marie @kirikitsune

[redflagshipwriter]

Hot Ghouls in Your Area 8

Chapter 8

Masterpost

“You're just now going to campus?” Jazz said. Danny scowled ahead at the sidewalk. Her tone wasn't judgmental so much as mildly surprised. He still hated it. “That's a lot later than usual. Is everything alright?” Danny hunched his shoulders up and consciously reminded himself not to get defensive. He wasn't slacking. He'd gotten home after his class and slept 13 hours. He still felt wiped out.

“Ghost stuff,” he said cryptically. “Ruined my night.” He dodged someone on the sidewalk without thinking about it, used to the crowds by now.

Jazz inhaled sharply into his ear. “They're supposed to leave you alone to focus on your education,” she hissed. “Just so you know, I do have the venomous Fenton electric creep stick-”

“Yeah, I know,” Danny cut her off. She was probably holding it up right now, thumb on the trigger. He couldn't fight off the rueful smile. She had his back, didn't she? Always did. With that in mind… “I think I need help,” he admitted. Oof. Felt bad. Not as bad as failing his classes, though, which was the danger if he got pulled too deep into more Ghost bull honkey.

“Of course!” Jazz enthused. He stepped off the curb and then quick-stepped backwards to avoid getting hit by some asshole running the red light. Danny lifted up his free hand to flip them off as he hung on his heels on the edge of the pavement drop. He dropped lightly back onto the balls of his feet and jogged across the street.

Jazz was still talking, voice clear over the morning meld of honking and running engines. “How about you come over to my place after your classes tonight? My roommate is out for a conference.”

“You just don't want to come to Crime Alley,” Danny accused her. “Even for me, your beloved baby brother.” He dodged a car that was parked on the cross walk and made an ugly face at the driver. “Despite your professed love for crime, when it counts, it's all talk.”

“I don't love crime,” Jazz reiterated with her inhuman patience. She didn't take the bait of his deliberate mischaracterization of her career plans. “But I am exquisitely stabbable." Her tone went lofty with the brag. "So yes, I avoid Crime Alley.”

Danny blew an unimpressed raspberry to show what he thought of that.

He hadn't met anyone in Gotham yet who he thought would really throw Jazz for a loop. She was a 6ft 2 judo black belt, and she was liminally spooky as fuck. “No one would stab you,” he said, making it sound like an insult. His janky ass was more likely to get held up. "But fine, I'll haul my poor broken corpse all the way over there to do you a favor-”

“So I can do you a favor,” Jazz corrected wryly.

“My poor broken corpse,” Danny cut back in, because that was a really relevant factor to him. He put the back of his hand to his forehead and swooned a little. He felt like he'd been in a tumble dryer. Missing a full night of sleep was an insufferable insult to his desperate shoe-string construction of a healthy routine.

“I would so get robbed if I came there,” Jazz argued. “Maybe even kidnapped.” He could all but hear her flip her hair.

He snorted but let her keep her delicate feminine delusions about not being one of the scariest motherfuckers in the crime capital of the country. He wasn't actually worried about her interning at Arkham Asylum. Maybe he'd freaked out a little when she'd moved here, but that wasn't why he was here. No matter what anyone said.

“There's no immediate danger, right?” Jazz checked. “No reason I need to be concerned today?”

“Nah,” Danny reassured her, as the campus came into sight. He had about an hour before class to spend in the lab before his lecture. “It's not that kind of problem.” He felt his face arranged itself into a wry smile. “You might like this one.”

“Oh?” Jazz asked, intrigued. “Do tell.”

“Only after I've sworn you to perfect silence,” Danny shot back instantly. “I mean it, for real, you can't tell a soul living or dead or nonliving or-”

“I think I get it,” she cut him off. Jazz huffed. “As if I can't keep a secret. You think I can't keep secrets? I know the most incredible things that you could never dream up.”

“...Big if true,” Danny snarked, pretending that he wasn't extremely interested.

“You never knew what happened to the Robinsons,” Jazz said airily. “And you never will.”

“...that doesn't bother me at all,” Danny lied. He stopped walking.

“Ahuh,” Jazz said knowingly. “Hey, remember the neon cheese incident?”

Danny gritted his teeth. “Can't say I do,” he said. It was bullshit, and even he knew it wasn't convincing Jazz. He was dying to know the truth. It had been the talk of the town for weeks and was still occasionally featured on unsolved mystery podcasts. He'd gone far enough to ask the Dairy King, but even the dead wouldn't speak on it.

“Have a good day of classes, little brother,” Jazz said sweetly. She ended the call.

He rubbed at his temples. Ancients, she gave him a headache. She was fantastic. She was killing him and absolutely ruining his unlife. He couldn't even beg her for answers about the neon cheese, because if he managed to badger it out of her, it would prove she could be manipulated into telling secrets. That would be a loss anyway. It was more likely that either she didn't know anything or that she knew and her lips would stay sealed: Danny didn't have any to waste his breath.

He did a few calming rounds of breathing, now that he was thinking about it, and then went on with his day a bit invigorated by the familial aggravation.

Danny felt a little better about focusing on class now that he knew he could count on Jazz in his corner. She was the smartest person he knew. She could probably get him divorced by the end of the day. Hell, she probably already had a contingency plan for getting him a divorce. She was so ready for him to have a relationship so that he would have relationship problems to ask her about.

When he finished up on campus, Danny cut across town to pick up takeout food as an offering. He presented it to Jazz as soon as she opened the door, head bowed and food theatrically high.

“Oh, come in,” Jazz said, exasperated. She grabbed him by the back of his collar and bodily pulled him inside. “My neighbors are going to think I'm so weird, Danny!”

“My liege,” he intoned seriously. “I come bearing- ow! Stop hitting my- hey, my face!” Danny wrestled away from the horrible pinching grip his terrible sister had on his cheeks, scowling. “That hurt,” he complained. “Have you ever thought that you're getting caught up in the cycle of violence?”

“I don't lose sleep over it.” Jazz lowered herself delicately onto one of the weird puffs she had instead of chairs and made grabby hands at the takeout. “What did you get me?”

“Coal,” Danny snarked. But he handed over the bag without a fight and plopped himself onto the closest poof thing. He fully laid out and let his head flop past the edge to hang upside down.

“Inversion therapy, so chic,” Jazz said absently.

He considered flipping her off, but his balance was really off in this position and it would be hard to defend himself if she lunged at him. Hell, if she picked up his legs he'd probably tip over onto the floor. Danny dug his heels into the side of the poof in defensive preparation. He kept her in his peripheral vision.

“Oh, Malaysian,” Jazz enthused. “I wanted to have this!” She sounded a little too surprised.

He shot her a thumbs up. Two days ago, she'd sent him a screenshot of a text landing from someone else that had shown most of her screen was the active map app she was using to get to an appointment. The Malaysian restaurant had the star mark that she put on the places that she wanted to try.

He'd gambled that she hadn't gone yet because she hadn't had a late night at work. Jazz only got takeout with company or if she got home too late to cook.

“Cool,” Danny said, because he didn't want his rotten sister to think he cared about her interests. “It was on the way and it smelled good.”

Jazz hummed and put the food on the side table. “So I see.” She folded her fingers in front of her face and peered at him over the steeple. “What happened? What ghost do I need to soup with a fragrant combination of turmeric and saffron?”

“Please don't waste that, ghosts taste fine on their own,” Danny said.

Jazz grimaced. “Ew, Danny,” she enunciated carefully. She paused. “Ew.”

He shrugged and accidentally slipped a little closer to the floor. “Just saying. But actually, no one dead was involved, unless we count-”

“We don't count,” Jazz cut him off, serenely unbothered by his attempts to score empathy points off his death. She was a cold customer.

“Boo,” Danny said, because he knew his brand and respected ghost tradition. “Anyway, Jeremy Waters. Remember -”

“How could I forget,” Jazz muttered. She put her hands on her face.

“Hey,” Danny said, offended that Jeremy got that reaction and he got a big fat impassive nothing no matter how annoying he was.

“What’s Jeremy done?” Jazz sounded exhausted by the concept.

“Well… He uh.” Danny stared at the ceiling. He couldn't look at her directly. “Well. You know how he wants the good favor of the god of the underworld?”

“Yup.” Jazz hit the ‘p’ sound hard.

“He uh, hit the idea that uh. Maybe a Persephone of sorts was just the thing to suck up.”

He heard fabric rustle as Jazz sat up. “He did?”

Wow, she had one of the most fascinating ceilings in the world. Danny stared intently up at a splotch that looked vaguely malign. She ought to get that checked out by an expert before it possessed somebody. “Yeah, so he's been trying to vault people into the Ghost Zone as bridal sacrifices.”

“Ahuh.” Jazz sounded a little bit choked up. She wasn't laughing, so he couldn't complain.

“I had Dani get Vlad look into it-” because Dad or Mom would have been mortifying- “and apparently, he told her the odds of some hack wizard managing to send a living human to the ghost zone was laughable.”

He paused. He couldn't go on.

“And Vlad would know,” Jazz said leadingly.

Danny put a hand over his face. “Yeah, see, the thing is that I'm now very concerned that Vlad might not know.” His words came out muffled.

Jazz was so intent on him. He pretended even harder not to know she was leaning in towards him. “Does- does the ghost king have a bride, Danny?” She somehow managed in a professional tone.

He nodded miserably.

She promptly lost her shit laughing at his misfortune.

[sleepytoycollection]

One Way to Repair a Broken Doll Arm

Today I'll be walking you through how I repaired this Ever After High Lizzie Hearts doll's broken arm. While I wouldn't call this a fool-proof method, and I'm not sure that this repair would hold up to being played with, if you've got a beloved doll you want to repair, this should be just fine for a doll that's mostly going to be displayed.

The best part is, this will retain the articulation of the arm and/or knee (this method will technically also work for knee joints, though knees are harder than arms to work with). So let's jump in.

Tools required: Craft Knife, Jewelry pliers, Wire (gauge depends on size of joint), Super Glue, Hot Glue, Patience.

Let's start with our patient.

I thrifted this Lizzie doll a few days ago, along with a Venus McFlytrap, as shown in the above image. As soon as I saw the taped up arm, I knew the joint was broken, but hey, she was like 80c USD. I can apply some elbow grease for that cheap. Plus it gives me an excuse to finally make this tutorial.

They went a little overkill with that much tape, but whatever works?

I cut the tape off carefully with a craft knife. I didn't take a pic of that, but I think you can image what a broken doll arm looks like. Unless you have aphantasia I guess, but that's getting off topic.

First thing I did was use the craft knife to slice along the seam lines, then pried the upper arm open (slowly. seriously go slow.) with a pair of jewelry pliers. It will leave marks on the plastic, but I can buff those out later.

Why am I doing this if the arm's already broken? I want to remove what's left of the peg that's in there. You could also drill it out if you have a dremel, but I wanted to avoid this tutorial needing power tools.

So here's the arm, pried open, with the peg removed.

To close it back up, I used a tiny bit of acetone to melt the plastic at the seams, then held it together until it hardened enough to stay in place. Leave it for a few hours to make sure it's all fully cured, then you can sand the area smooth.

And here's the arm with the broken peg.

So what now? We need to remove the peg piece that's attached to the elbow. I couldn't get a photo of that since it's a delicate process and I only have 2 hands, but here's an artist rendering that would give you the idea.

Take a craft knife, and SLOWLY. CAREFULLY. cut into the ring that surrounds the elbow joint. YOU DO NOT WANT TO GO TOO DEEP, TOO QUICKLY. YOU DO NOT WANT TO ACCIDENTALLY CUT THROUGH THE ELBOW POST. Just go nice and slow. Just chip a little out at a time until you get to the center.

Use pliers as well to pull out the rest of the bits, though you might have to cut a good bit out before you can pull the rest out.

As for my doll, the operation went successfully.

This is what the elbow looks like with the joint peg removed.

Now we've gotten past the hard part, we'll cut off a few inches of wire and string that though the elbow joint. Once through, we'll twist it until it's reasonably tight to the joint. If that makes sense.

It should look like this. Give it a test fit and cut the wire shorter as needed so there's no gap in the joint.

My test fit. Yep, I recycled this for the top photo as well. The blue is just painter's tape.

If you find you can't get it tight enough, and it feels too loose, I'd add a drop a super glue in there. Just keep moving the joint as the glue dries, and it'll add some friction so your arm will hold a pose.

Speaking of glue, I also add a dab of hot glue to the top of our new peg. The coating will add thickness that will help it stay in the upper arm. Tape works too, but hot glue holds up better.

Here's our newly repaired arm back on the doll. Aside from a slight glimmer of silver, the repair is not very obvious I think.

Lizzie can now enjoy having two functional arms again. Whoo-hoo.

While not 100% a beginner repair, it's not particularly difficult either. Just takes some patience and a reasonably steady hand.

Before I go though, some disclaimers/notes: Some wires can rust overtime, so keep an eye on your doll to make sure the wire isn't degrading and discoloring them.

Also, if you do a repair like this, then sell the doll, do let the buyer know. I feel like I shouldn't have to say that, but don't be one of those sellers okay?

This same method can be used for knees, but thighs tend to be made of a harder plastic, and it can be more difficult to pry them open to take the old, broken peg out with out major damage to the upper leg.

Good luck with your repairs! Love y'all. c:

[marthawrites]

"don't shut me out. please"

I hope it is not too late for me to join the celebration ☺️ Congratulations! 💕👏🏼

Thank you sooososo much! You are such a gem and I appreciate all of your fandom love more than you know! I did my best to include a (one shot appropriate) slow burn, angst, and a happy ending. I hope you enjoy this ride MWAH!

Summer's End, Autumn's Beginning

Modern Aemond Targaryen x fem reader

Word Count: 6.3k+

About: A chance encounter with Aemond leads to a whirlwind of emotions. Over the next few months you both fail, in yourselves and in the relationship, and learn from the mistakes.

Includes: Chance encounter, age difference (references to Aemond x Alys) mentions of cheating, allusions to cheating, angst, second chance romance, and smut featuring vaginal fingering, possessive sex, and unprotected protected vaginal sex

Note: Hello lovely reader! This is the longest piece I've wrote in quite awhile - whew! I also feel like it's one of the more ambitious one-shot fics I've worked on/completed. Reader is non-descript. As always, please, enjoy!

read part 2 Between the Covers here

-

I.

There were two things tied for number one on your five-year goal list.

First, be out of your city apartment (preferably as a home owner and not a renter)

Second, have a dog. 

They went hand in hand. One couldn’t happen without the other. So, it was a hard tie and you weren’t willing to budge on either. Until then, to take the edge off your self-proclaimed animal loneliness, you volunteered at a local shelter two nights a week. Mondays and Wednesdays.

While your day job wasn’t a doctor, lawyer, or professional athlete – ones that your family pushed you to have while growing up – it still paid decently and had the potential for career advancement. And! You were able to live on your own. Not having a roommate was worth the dry job description. Besides, your boss was fair and most of your co-workers were friendly; a win win, really.

Tonight, Monday, you finished your shift, went home to change, then headed out to the shelter. Even though it was all volunteer hours you valued punctuality and did your best to get there around the same time each night.

“Hey! You made it!” Arryk called out to you when you stepped inside the building. Chaos sparked all around. He did a great job running and maintaining the schedule, and with the help of volunteers alongside regular staff, it was, more often than not, smooth sailing. Tonight, however, it appeared quite the opposite.

“Hey! Yeah, a few minutes later than usual, sorry!” You said as you walked over to him.

He waved a hand brushing off your apology. “No worries. We had a few people call in today. So, since being short staffed we’re definitely running behind. I know you normally help bathe the dogs with Baela tonight, but can I ask you to do something else instead?” He winced slightly with his question, unsure of your answer. He knew how much you loved Baela and cleaning the dogs!

You squinted at him suspiciously. “Why are you looking at me like that?” You asked, crossing your arms. “You know I won’t administer shots. If I could get over my fear of needles I’d be a veterinarian and not an office worker like I am!” You scrunched your brows before one, all on its own accord, arched up dubiously.

“Ha!” He laughed. “No no no, I know. We have six dogs that need walking tonight. And I don’t think Targaryen can handle all of ‘em.”

“Helaena? She’s back?” You asked, eyes bright with surprise.

“She’s still away for that college trip. It’s her younger brother, Aemond. Have you met him before?”

You’d heard Helaena talk about him, of course, but you’d never met him. Shaking your head, you peered around the shelter looking for anyone else with the Targaryen tell-tale silver-blonde hair. No one caught your eye. “I haven’t. But, I don’t mind.”

“You are a lifesaver!” He praised. “He’s down the west hall getting them ready. Depending on how long you're here afterward, there might be another couple who could use a second walk. Terriers. You know how they are.”

“Happy to help, Arryk!” He was a good guy. You’d always liked him.

“Aemond’s tall, towheaded as the rest of his family, and has an eyepatch. You can’t miss him.” And with that Cargyll switched tasks and got right back to work.

Turning and walking down the west hall, you were happy to say, chaos began to fizzle out. This hall had the larger dogs; no wonder Aemond wouldn’t be able to walk all six at once. Even with the slow turn of summer to autumn sunset wouldn’t be for another three hours. Assuming all went well you’d be able to walk the second batch of dogs, too. 

Down the aisle were five opened doors with each respective dog ready for their walk. Their leashes were hooked onto the door so they couldn’t run amuck. You patted and scratched them, earning yourself more wagging tails, a few happy barks, and some excited licks. Looking to the end of the hall you saw someone who you assumed was your evening walking partner. He was kneeling, talking soothingly to a great big senior hound, while clasping the final buckle of their harness. “Hello, uh-, Aemond?” You called out feeling slightly self-conscious. 

Still kneeling, he turned his head to look up at you. Any softness in his single eye quickly hardened to match the rest of his sharp features. “Hey,” he said, caught off guard by your presence; someone he’d never seen calling him out by name. “Is there something I can help you with?” Slowly, in a single fluid motion, he stood up and the aged dog kept his eyes on him the whole time, panting happily.

Whoa. He was tall. And, at first sight, incredibly good looking: dressed in casual black clothes, long silver hair tied into a braid, with a scar along the left side of his face that you had to tell yourself not to stare at. His mouth was a unique shape, too, and you weren’t sure if he was merely waiting for a response or if he was smirking the tiniest pout at you. “Hi,” you said again with a nervous laugh. You told him your name. “Arryk sent me. Said you could use some help with the walk tonight?” ‘Play it cool, dummy. He’s really handsome, so what? He could be a huge asshole. Play. It. Cool,’ your inner voice said.

Did he have a mechanical eye beneath his patch? The way he looked at you, then, made you feel like he read your thoughts. “Ah. I could certainly use the help,” he said smoothly with a small curve of lip, turning his attention to the three dogs at the front of the hallway. “Wanna take those three?” He asked, looping the big dog’s leash around his wrist. “I mean, you can have any of them as long as I get this guy. He’s my favorite.”

Your pulse raced a little too fast. Clearing your throat, you smiled in an attempt to ease the butterflies in your belly. “I don’t mind. Why is he your favorite?” You turned and began to unclasp leashes from their doors; happy tips and taps of claws growing louder at the pups’ excitement.

“Reminds me of my girl at home,” Aemond replied, adoration clear in his voice. “Big and old, a little stinky, a little slobbery. The best kind, really.”

“Aw, that’s very sweet. I don’t have any pets. I get my fix here,” you laughed. Holding all three dogs in one hand, you pulled the door open with the other. Except, it didn’t open. On instinct, you tried again hoping Aemond didn’t notice.

He strode up next to you with the rest of the dogs in tow, smirking at you for real this time, as he said, “it’s a push door.”

You knew it was a push door. Fuck. He gave you a knowing glance over his shoulder as he walked out, waiting for you to follow along.

II.

You didn’t see Aemond on Wednesday and you couldn’t deny your disappointment when you left for the night. Come to find out you two had been volunteering at the same place for months – only on different days. He tended to be there Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Monday had been a chance encounter. One you couldn’t shake out of your head. 

Before leaving tonight, however, you took a selfie with Aemond’s favorite old hound. You’d exchanged numbers but hadn’t an excuse to strike up a conversation. Yet. Now, with the selfie as an excuse, you opened a fresh text thread and sent him the photo along with:

Someone missed you tonight! 

While buckling up in your car and getting ready to reverse out of your parking spot, your phone dinged with an incoming message:

Very cute. Will you be there on Monday? Maybe Cargyll will assign up walking duties again.

Your belly flipped. Truthfully, you weren’t expecting him to message back – especially so quickly. Before you could stop yourself you sent back:

Yup! See you then?

And he sent:

I’ll find another excuse to be there. 

Feeling a little bold, you replied:

Excited to see you again! You have these adorable dimples when you smile. Maybe I’ll see those, too?

When nothing came through for a few minutes, you feared you might have gone too far. It was just a little innocent flirting, right? Nothing bad? And then:

Maybe so. See you Monday.

Smiling, you didn’t send anything back. It’d be your luck to say something dumb and rub him the wrong way. 

During your first walk, as soon as the ice broke, you both clicked really well. Hopefully – just maybe – things would flow like that again. The connection you felt, something akin to a liveware, couldn’t have been one-sided. He had to feel a spark of it, too; even if just a little.

You drove home, made dinner while facetiming one of your friends from uni, and when she asked about the spark in your eye you told her about your friend Helaena’s younger brother.

III.

“I seriously cannot believe you’ve never seen The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit trilogy was a little silly, but watchable. But you haven’t even seen that?” Aemond asked clearly aghast at your lack of understanding his reference.

Tonight, you both got walking duty again and neither of you complained. And, this time, he regarded you with a softer look in his eye than his original sharp glance. He was dressed in dark casuals again and you hated (loved?) how good he made them look. His hair was in a bun and his eyepatch stayed firmly in place. You wanted to ask him about it but weren’t sure if you should try it yet. Instead, you rolled your eyes and laughed. “You’re making it sound better and better the more you talk about it.”

“That’s because it’s the best.” The dogs pulled both of you along and you had to walk brisker than normal to keep up with them and Aemond’s longer legs. He seemed unaffected by it.

“So, you recommend I watch it?” You asked playfully.

“No,” he started, very serious. “I recommend you read it first and then watch the movies.”

If you had more breath in your lungs you’d have giggled – not laughed, but giggled. Something about the way he said it, and the totally serious look on his face, tickled you. “Will you watch them with me?”

The question appeared to catch Aemond off guard. He looked at you, lingering over your pinkened cheeks and smirking lips, before finally making it back to your eyes. Just when he opened his mouth to say something in reply, a completely unrelated thing stole his attention. Sometime during your bantering you’d made it back to the shelter, and a tall dark-haired woman called out, “there’s my sweet Aemond. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you and you haven’t been answering your phone.”

If you thought Aemond attractive, this woman made him look like any regular ol' Joe. She was elegant, warmed by a late summer tan, and had raven dark hair cascading down her back; truly a vision of enchantment. When she sauntered to him and pressed her body to his, you felt like a voyeur watching the embrace.

“Alys,” Aemond breathed quietly. “What do you want?”

“You know what I want,” she answered as she trailed manicured fingers across the front of his chest.

She had a timeless look to her, the kind that concealed her age. She could have been anywhere from twenty-five to fifty, you thought. You really hadn’t a clue. All you knew, now, is that you should finish your task alone.

Aemond’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. Posture tense. “I told you I was busy tonight–”

Before you could stop yourself you cut him off with an awkward wave. “See you later, Aemond.” And, with that, you walked inside before you overheard anything else they might be saying to each other. Turning to glance over your shoulder one last time, you were met with a look of deliberate triumph from Alys; she had the greenest eye you’d ever seen. 

It was haunting.

Driving home, you felt stupid. Aemond was just a guy you just met. It was silly to think someone like him would be single and even sillier to think your innocent flirtations would be working on him. You had half a mind to delete his number. Or, at the very least to delete the short message thread of your texts.

Instead of making dinner like you normally did, you called in delivery and facetimed with your friend as you waited. She immediately knew something was off and you were quick to tell her everything that happened.

Twenty minutes passed and you were starting to feel better. It’s not like you two hooked up or even kissed. It was just a chance meeting with playful banter. Nothing to get shook up about. “Food’s here. Thanks for listening to me. I’ll talk to you later. Love you!” You said as you got up to answer the door. 

When all else failed, your favorite food could always make you feel better.

Turning the tv on and sitting down amongst your couch pillows and blankets, you were getting ready to dig in when your phone rang. 

Aemond. 

Your insides did a weird flip and hunger disappeared entirely from your mind and belly. Should you answer? Let it go to voicemail? Turn the stupid thing off and completely ignore him? Right before the final ring, you decided. “Hello?”

“Hey,” he said, immediately sounding relieved. “I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t yet ready to call it a night with you.”

“It’s no biggie,” you replied. Lying. “I didn’t want to interrupt anything–,” you paused, searching for something else to say to soften the edge of your voice, “–the dogs were getting tired anyway.” God. It sounded stupid even to your own ears.

Aemond sighed through the phone. You wondered if he slid his hand down his face or through his hair. It sounded like he did. “No. Alys is… it’s complicated. She’s my ex and–”

“ –you don’t have to explain anything to me,” you said, cutting him off. “Really. It’s fine.” Despite it being a phone call, you tried to smile as if it would blunt the dismissal of your tone.

“I mean it,” he said. “I really wasn’t ready to say bye yet. What do you say you skip your regular Wednesday night plans and grab a milkshake or something with me?”

Your insides flipped again but for an entirely different reason this time. You knew it: the sparks definitely weren’t one sided. The firm set of Aemond’s jaw and the rigidness of his shoulders flashed once more in your mind’s eye. Since your break up with your long-term boyfriend you’d been on a few dates, but none of them lead to anything worthwhile. With how you and Aemond clicked, however? This date might lead to something more than a hook-up (or, attempt at a hook-up. Some men truly had no game). “Are you sure…?” You asked after a moment. “You and Alys looked pretty comfortable–,”

“ –I’m sure,” it was his turn to cut you off.

“Alright then. Let’s do it.”

IV.

It'd been two months since your first milkshake date with Aemond – the first of many dates. It was a guilty pleasure of yours and apparently one of his, too!

Your first kiss, first time meeting his elder dog, Vhagar, and first time meeting his family were all memories you cherished. 

The more you learned about Aemond’s relationship with Alys, the more you understood it "complicated". Including Targaryen drama, Targaryen business, and a list of other things you had a hard time following. It didn’t matter anymore, though, Aemond reassured you. Things were done between them and he only wanted you; proving it to you with fingers and mouth until you begged for a break.

A lesson you learned from your last relationship – one Aemond learned from his, too – was to be careful with love. As much as you genuinely enjoyed him and his company, a barrier stood between you that neither dared yet to cross.

Love.

Each day you fell for him a little more; you were scared to admit it. The scar of heartbreak healed slowly. Could you truly trust Aemond with that part of yourself? With the very essence of your heart? It’d been two months and you still weren’t entirely sure.

If he felt the same he’d say something, right?

Autumn blanketed the lands with brisk air, rainy days, and rolling fog. As days grew short and nights long, you and Aemond spent more time at your apartment or his quarter at the Targaryen estate. Your apartment was the clear favorite. Living alone had its perks: never having to worry about nosy family or friends who showed up unannounced.

And thank God you didn’t live with anyone else. 

"Mmh… fuck, baby, I've been thinking about this all day. I can't get enough of you. Let me make my girl feel good," he said against your mouth as one of his hands moved up the inside of your thigh. "Are you wet already? I bet you are," he chuckled, fingertips tracing your slit. "Mmm… I knew it. Your clit is sooo needy, isn't it?" 

Shit. Those hushed words, the glint in his eye, his rasped tone… you happily indulged him in whatever way he wanted. And him, you. Fingers, mouth, cock, he quickly learned what tricks made you melt. 

As much as he loved having you ride him, or bending you over, his absolute favorite was fucking you into the mattress. You sprawled out beneath him, hair messy and fanned out around your head, legs wrapped tight around his waist, fingernails on his body… he could never get enough of your blushed face beneath him, trembling and arching as he pushed you to peak after peak.

Your sheets had never been cleaned so often in your entire life.

It was particularly rainy today and you were both finished with everything on your to-do list. Aemond sat on the floor in front of you as you lounged in your overstuffed chair. You told him you'd read the Lord of the Rings as long as he read it to you. He didn't even pretend to be annoyed by your bargain. He read to you from his own collection, claiming he liked the worn feeling of the pages better than a new book's pages. 

Like any proper reader Aemond started with The Hobbit. You enjoyed it more than you thought you would. More so than the story, however, you enjoyed him reading aloud to you – he had the loveliest voice. You were about half way through The Fellowship of the Ring and the story continued to get better.

But, all afternoon, Aemond's phone never stopped going off. It seemed like every few minutes it would ping with some kind of notification. "Who's blowing you up?" You asked, annoyance creeping into your tone.

Stopping mid sentence, he looked. "Alys," he sighed as he scrolled through the various messages. 

You tried to not look over his shoulder to the texts. You really did. But there was something about Aemond's shift in posture, and the air around him, that made you suspicious. "What's going on?" You asked in your best nonchalant manner.

"She's asking if I have some of her clothes at my place still," he answered and you swore you saw pink spread atop his cheeks.

That caught you off guard. "Why would she have clothes–"

And whatever else you were going to say was abruptly cut off.

There, in a new string of messages, was the single text line, "I miss you, baby boy," followed by at least three photographs of Alys in lingerie and various stages of undress. 

"What the fuck Aemond!?" You asked, anger and hurt instantly warming your blood. "What the hell were those? Are you fucking joking?"

"I have no idea why she sent–"

" –is that why she left clothes at your place? Couldn't let her go for real? Jesus Christ I can't believe you." Anger flushed your face and bittered your words.

"Listen, please. Hear me out, bab–"

" –oh fuck off, Aemond, you don't get to 'babe' me around anymore. In fact, just leave."

He looked as hurt as you. And shocked. A hundred emotions played across his chiseled features. "No, really. Let me explain," he pleaded with eye and tone.

You weren't having it. You were cheated on before and he knew it. It made your own hurt cleave even deeper. You really fucking liked him. Maybe even loved him. And this whole time he had you and Alys? "I'm seriously about to get really fucking angry. Leave. Now."

He stood and left. Silent fury screamed around him like a whirlwind. He didn't even give you one final look over his shoulder.

He shut your door with a deliberate click.

You curled up in your blanket alone as fat ugly tears streamed down your face. You couldn't be bothered to grab a tissue for your snotty nose. 

Aemond's leather jacket was still draped over the back of your couch and his book still lay on the floor. Your crying somehow turned uglier at the realization.

Eventually you dozed off. With Aemond, you always had your phone on silent so you didn't hear all his missed calls and texts.

V.

The following month went by in a blur; you drowned yourself in work. You also stopped volunteering because you didn't want to give Aemond the opportunity to meet you there. By some feat of strength you ignored all his attempts at talking – and by proxy, apologizing.

The only thing you said to him was a single text:

I need time. Please understand

Part of you wondered how it affected him. His calls and texts became sparse until they eventually stopped.

Helaena asked where you'd been and you felt horrible lying to her. So, you didn't. After telling her the story she sighed and asked if you'd want to grab tea. You agreed. Meeting her at a local cafe allowed you to air out your feelings; laughs and tears alike. She was kind, and sweet, and supportive without being passive. She loved her brother but knew he had many of his own issues. You'd been friends for over a year and this was the first true heart to heart you shared.

Upon returning home you picked up the Fellowship and tried to read from where Aemond left off. But, it wasn’t the same without him and it only made you cry. Again.

VI.

The following morning, despite your car's newer model, it barely wanted to start for your drive to work. By a stroke of luck you made it there fine. And, made it back home that evening, too. But that was the end of your luck. It needed to be picked up and taken to a shop until a mechanic could see it.

Carless, you had to rely on Uber or public transportation. Yuck.

A few days of stress passed and now you were done for the week. Thank God for weekends. Unfortunately your groceries were extremely low and you would need to make a trip in the morning. You sighed and used it as an excuse to order pizza.

After waking up and a breakfast of (the last, and past its sell-by date) packet oatmeal you got around to make the walk to the nearest grocery store. Knowing you'd be walking home, too, the list was small. Carrying bags up two flights of stairs was hard enough, much less carrying them home a mile!

On the way back it started sprinkling. Great. Just great. You started walking faster with hopes of making quicker time than your leisurely stroll to the store. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, you heard your name called. Was that…? Stopping in your tracks you looked across your shoulder to the side of the road and saw none other than Aemond. You knew his car and voice anywhere. You didn't have to see yourself to know a dozen emotions played across your face.

"Hey," he said gently, his own features a mirror of yours.

"Hi," you said.

"Why are you walking in the rain with groceries?"

Slumping your unintentionally scrunched up shoulders, you sighed. "Stupid car died on me and it's been with the mechanic for almost a week."

He smiled softly. So soft. The outside of his seeing eye crinkled and emotion rushed to your chest. Your gut. "You're way too good to be walking alone. Let me drive you home at least?" 

You didn't resist. How could you? "Alright. Sure. Just dropping me off though, okay?" Guilt panged your chest. Did he feel it too? Could he read it on your face he knew so well?

"Alright," he answered, expression falling just slight. You might as well have stomped on his foot with how it affected you.

I miss you. I love you. I'm sorry. Can we try it again? Can I hold your hand? God I love your hair in a ponytail. You smell good. Did you see the trailer for that new horror movie? I miss you. I love you. I'm sorry. It all turned around your head like a fucking rotisserie chicken. It shouldn't be so hard to say any of those things to him. But it was.

You didn't say anything on the short ride home. Neither did he. His right hand flexed a few times and you wondered if he was having a hard time, too.

"Can you get it all upstairs?" He asked as he pulled into an empty spot and parked, looking across to you with horribly concealed emotion.

"Yes, but…," you trailed off momentarily, trying to read his face. "I still have your book and jacket. Wanna come up and grab them?" You asked hopefully.

He killed the engine faster than you could blink. "Yes! So that's where they've been. You could have mentioned it sooner," he said slightly accusingly, grinning at you with a spark of playfulness.

Leading the way upstairs to your apartment, you unlocked the door and disappeared inside. After placing your items down and grabbing Aemond's, you turned to look at him standing in the doorway. He leaned against it. Waiting. Quiet. He glanced around with a wistfulness that made your throat tight. You watched him watching you and your home until the air became awkward – was it half a second, a few seconds, longer? You weren't sure. 

Slowly you walked over to him. Your gaze flickered up at him as you handed his things back. "Were you ever going to tell me the truth?" You asked. "Did you think I really wouldn't find out? Why did you stick around if I wasn't good enough?"

He blinked. Taken back. "You never even gave me the chance to explain." His jaw feathered before it tightened. His eye hardened.

You grabbed the door, fixing to close it on him. Now that you started talking – unloading pent up questions which kept you tossing and turning at night – you couldn't decide if you wanted to slam it on his face or yell. "I told you how I was cheated on! And you did it anyway! I trusted you, Aemond." Your voice thinned, sounding shrill even to your own ears.

One of his hands braced on the door so you couldn't close it on him. "So this is your revenge then, huh? Punishing both of us? Why don't you trust me?" Hurt and fury simmered in the lovely hue of his eye. A storm. No, a hurricane. "Alys and I have been done for months. Months. Even before you and I met. I'm sorry for what she did but I can’t control what she does. She was playing her wicked games trying to sabotage us– you and me. Don't shut me out. Please." 

He pleaded, every pore and line of his face begging for forgiveness. As each word came off his tongue they clicked into place in your head. He meant it. He was telling the truth. Before you could stop yourself your fists balled into the front of his shirt, pulling him down so your mouth crashed up to his. "You mean it?" You asked through the kiss.

Instantly he leaned down into you, and instantly he held onto your waist pulling you deeper against him. His other hand cradled the side of your face daring to curve along the shape of your skull. "I mean it. Yes I fucking mean it," he answered against the kiss; breath stealing yours away until it left you in a little moan.

You pulled him inside and shut the door, locking it. You moaned as he nipped and bit at your neck. Your heart thumped wildly. He sucked at the sensitive skin, again and again, pulling away just before leaving a mark. "God, Aem,” you whimpered. Goosebumps covered your body. The only thing on your mind was him.

"Fuck, I missed you. I missed you so much." His hands were somehow all over you all at once. His mouth trailed, and dragged, and kissed over any exposed portion of your skin. He happily pulled off layers of your clothing to expose more and more of your soft, warm, saccharine flesh; intoxicating him. After weeks of your separation the last thing he wanted to do was to push too far too fast.  “Can I take this off?” He asked before taking your shirt off.

“Yes,” you replied breathily. “Fuck it. Take all of it off. I missed you too. So much,” you said as you helped pull his clothes off, too. He pushed you against a wall. You kissed. Heavier, and hotter, and hungrier. You pushed him against a wall. 

He gasped as he smirked. “I love when you act all tough when we both know I can have you squirming under me in minutes,” he growled, pupil swelling. The dimples at the very corners of his mouth betrayed his amusement, however, as he once again pushed you against the wall. You were both only in your underwear, now, and his lean body on yours had you aching. “My tough girl… how quickly do you think it’ll last when my fingers are in you?”

“Why don’t we find out?” You asked defiantly, knowing damn well it wouldn’t last long at all. By now you were both down the hallway and your bedroom was only a couple feet away. You needed him. Now. And judging by how fucking hard he was he needed you too.

The next moment went by in a blur and before you could catch yourself you were sprawled out on your back atop your bed. Aemond made quick work of moving you both inside, and made quicker work of pulling your panties down. He groaned as your thighs immediately spilled open for him. He dragged two fingers up your slit and circled your clit with your arousal. “Shit–,” he hissed. “Never make me wait so long to have this pussy again. Do you understand me? Never,” he said as he worked your already swollen clit. He played with it just how he knew you liked it and your cunt’s tiny wet sounds sent his cock throbbing. “Answer me.”

Tension built in the low muscles of your belly. Your legs began to tighten already – one of the tell-tale signs of your approaching climax. How the hell could he push you there so quickly? “N-never! Ahh-h never again!” You replied, voice light, and sweet, and tantalizing as any sin Aemond ever knew. “Please, Aemond, I want to cum…!”

He shoved those same two fingers into you. “Good girl,” he said as he curled those fingers. “This pussy is mine. All fucking mine. Give it to me,” he said huskily as he worked them in and out of you. It was sloppy and wet. Borderline obscene. Each time he slammed his hand against you he was mindful to press the heel of his palm against your clit and your mound, knowing how the extra pressure sent your pretty toes curling.

You cried out his name as your eyes clenched shut. The tension in your belly snapped and a wave of glorious bliss washed over you. Sweat sheened between your breasts and along your lip. You arched, quivered, shuddering in the aftermath of his intensity. 

Aemond’s mouth crashed to yours and you threaded your fingers through the roots of his hair. It was still in a ponytail and you had no mind to take it out, you just had to pull him deeper into the kiss. He tasted the salt of your sweat and groaned. “Relax your pussy, baby, you’re clenching me really hard. It feels amazing but I don’t wanna hurt you pulling out,” he said tenderly, nuzzling his nose into the crook of your neck.

“Sorry,” you giggled. “Just feels too good.” You tried to steady your breath and relax as he laid beside you, continuing to kiss your neck and shoulders. When your spongy walls finally eased around him you were sad to feel him withdraw. Stress melted away from your subconscious and you wanted to thank him for the pleasure. You wondered if your eyes said it while he looked at you.

Leaning up, he discarded the final piece of his clothing and sighed in relief as his cock sprang free. He got between your thighs and looked down at you hungerily. “Look at you all doe eyed already. See? I knew you couldn’t stay tough for long,” he said, smug, as he lined up with your drenched cunt. He held one of your legs up against him, and you pressed the other against his side. 

When you left for the store this morning you had no idea your afternoon would go in this direction.

He pushed into you. Inch by inch he sunk into you and soon he was as deep as he could be. A moan escaped both of you, and a throatier one left him when his free hand tugged at your bra. It was one that clipped in the front. He popped it open and rocked into you as soon as your tits spilled free. "You're so sexy like this."

With your body already sensitive from your first orgasm, and now with Aemond building a rhythm between your thighs, you weren't going to last long. "You feel so good," you purred, eyelids heavy. "Fuck I missed you."

Another sound left his chest and when you wrapped your legs around his slim waist you swore you felt goosebumps pebble all along his skin. Or, maybe those were your goosebumps on your legs. Whatever the case, Aemond leaned forward and kissed you again. "I missed you too," he rumbled. "Gonna let me fill this pretty pussy with my cum again?"

You two made good use of your birth control and you weren't about to deny him – or yourself – the pleasure of being thoroughly fucked and stuffed. "Y-yeah," you stammered, smiling.

Aemond mumbled something incoherent into your neck, and if your brain wasn't foggy from his perfect fucking cock you might have caught what he said. 

He leaned up and supported himself on his forearms, pressing his forehead to yours. "You're my girl. You're my fucking girl. You're my fucking girl," he repeated again and again until the pace of his thrusts grew sloppy. Somehow the sloppiness of it, the neediness and urgency of his voice, sent emotion swelling in all of you.

Heat collected and grew out from your spine, webbing throughout your entire body. You clung to him desperately. You rolled your hips up into him and shamelessly grinded your clit against his pelvis as he drove in and out of you. It was all too much. You crumbled beneath him and let orgasm take control of you. The depths of your body squeezed and convulsed around him, holding him tight and soaking the fullness of his length with your slick. He never stopped or paused his thrusts. 

His own peak followed. Once he was as deep as he could be he released everything he had into you. He stayed there, both of you panting through little moans, until he no longer twitched between your stretched walls. Slowly, he pulled out, and slowly, his seed dribbled out of you. Grinning, he rolled onto his back and scooped you against him.

"Let's stay here like this all day," you mumbled happily, fingertips trailing up and down his abdomen and chest.

"You'll get no argument from me," he said.

Quiet minutes passed and the sound of his heart nearly put you into a trance. "I'm sorry for how I acted," you finally admitted.

All the while he'd been petting and trailing his fingers through your hair. He didn't stop as he answered, "and I'm sorry for not trying harder." He kissed your forehead and held you tighter.

"Let's try it again. For real this time. With the titles and commitment and everything."

"Are you asking or telling me to be your boyfriend?"

You smirked. "I'm suggesting."

Returning your smirk, he pulled you atop him so you could straddle him. "You're all mine," he said with a dark eye. "My perfect girl." 

Leaning down, you kissed and nipped his bottom lip. "Are you already hard again, Aemond Targaryen?"

A chuckle rumbled somewhere in his chest as his touch dented into your hips to hold you at just the right angle. With a roll of his hips he pushed himself up inside you again. "Whose cock is this?"

You gasped, eyes darkening with another round of lust. "Mine."

"That's right. Yours. Not anyone else's. It's fucking yours."

You rode him until your tits were covered in fresh hickies and you were filled with another load of him.

Yours. His. The second chance you both needed.

-

Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed, please consider a follow, and/or reblog, and/or letting me know as it all makes me vvvery happy! ♥

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Masterlist

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[uniquesoulwinner]

My Queen

Leah Williamson x reader 

Idea that came to me after seeing Leah get her OBE today of a little surprise celebration with her girl who she didn’t think was even in the country! 

Hope you enjoy its not very good and the format isn’t working right so it might read funny but well it’s something 

Let me know what you think 

***********************

Y/n pov

Getting off the plane in London brings nothing but butterflies to your stomach at the thought of the day ahead. You see given that I’ve been in New York for work for the past 9 long weeks I was not meant to be here today well at least that’s what Leah thinks, I however always knew I would be here! 

As soon as we got the date for Leah to get her long awaited OBE medal I was on the phone to Amanda to plan exactly what was going to happen today, this has lead to a lot of sneaky phone calls between me and my girlfriends mother, who I’m nearly sure is more excited about me being there to surprise Leah than I am.

Finding out that I was going to have to be in New York for 16 weeks for work was never part of the plan, being away from Leah for that long was a thought that made my whole body hurt before I even went, which is why I I have worked my ass off over the last 9 weeks so complete everything I needed to do to get home to my girlfriend of 4 years early which brings me back to walking though Heathrow Airport at 7:45am on a Wednesday morning counting down the minutes until I have her in my arms again. 

Just as I was getting into the taxi to take me to the hotel I had booked for myself and Leah for that night my phone rang and my smile got even bigger seeing it was Amanda!

Y/n: Hey perfect timing I’m just in the taxi

Amanda: ahh perfect I’m so excited, she’s getting ready already! I swear she takes forever.

Y/n: Worth every minute though; you find yourself say thing that out loud without ever realising until you hear Amanda aww on the other end of the phone which made you blush no end! Anyway how are we looking for timeline I’m just heading to the hotel now to get showered and ready! 

Amanda: so we should be wrapped up in Windsor by around 13:30pm at the latest and then she thinks we are just going for dinner and meeting holly and all that couldn’t come to the ceremony there. You can hear the excited little giggle coming from Amanda like she is on a secret spy mission which makes you laugh  

Y/n: ok good and she definitely doesn’t suspect a thing right you ask already knowing that she doesn’t considering you spent 2 hours in the phone to her last night with her upset and missing you as well as telling you how much she wished you where going to be there today which yes broke your heart in two , the only thing that you hoped was seeing her face today would make up for everything!

Amanda: nope not a thing, she is completely oblivious you hear that cheeky giggle again she is going to be so happy y/n, she has missed you so much you you 

Y/n: yeh I know I’ve missed her too more than words but not long now, god I’m nervous you laugh at the Ridiculousness of getting nervous over seeing the woman that has been the centre of your world for 4 years now 

Amanda: oh sweetie you no need to be nervous, the second that girl sees you everything will be worth it, you know … Amanda suddenly stops talking only thing you can hear is some rustling and foot steps which your hoping isn’t Leah catching you both out 

Ok I gotta go she is wandering around now looking for her socks so I better help I’ll see you later ok text me when your there , ok bye bye bye and the phones goes dead leaving you laughing at the thought of your girl running around looking for socks which you know she will be treating like a Military mission in that room ! 

************************

Later on that day after checking in to the hotel and getting yourself ready , wearing a tight green dress that you knew drive Leah crazy with your hair down and curled and black heals, you where standing that the bar of the restaurant that had been booked out for today with holly catching up on every bit of gossip you had missed being away which was lot it seemed! 

Although after the 7th time checking the door you did catch holly giving you a very knowing smirk which made you laugh purely because you didn’t care how obvious you where being, ever since Amanda text to say they where 20 minutes away you could help but look out for them ! You wanted your girl and weren’t even sorry about it ! 

The restaurant was full of Leah’s close family and friends most of which were now laughing at the twitter comments over Leah being the queen of England now ! Lol 

You only snapped out of staring at the door when you heard Jen Leah’s teammate call you 

Jen: y/n how does it feel to have bagged England’s new queen  all you heard was laughter which then turned to cooing and awe’s when you replied saying y/n: she has always been my queen 

And right as you said that you seen her your queen walk past the window towards the door looking out of this world and every bit worthily of the title queen in your opinion but it was to time and time for you to hide in the crowd who had all turned to face the door waiting for her to come in, to which when she did come in she was meant by just noise of chatting and clapping but all you could hear was her laugh that beautiful laugh while she made her way around people still not spotting you ! 

Amanda however snuck around to hug you whispering how she couldn’t wait to see Leah’s face ! 

After around 5 minutes of her still not spotting you , you had enough of waiting so grabbed a glass of champagne and made your way up behind her as she spoke to Alex Scott and Kim little both of who started smiling the second they seen you approach! 

Y/n: would the new queen like a drink you said standing behind her and while you couldn’t see her face you could see her body freeze as she heard your voice which made your heart burst. Y/n you heard her whisper still not turning around which made you giggle given that all you wanted right now was to kiss her still though you stepped forward so you where right behind her meaning you could whisper in her ear hello baby, any chance I could get a hug now?  You didn’t even have a split second to react when her arms where around your neck with such force that if ever the sensible kimmy hadn’t if grabbed the champagne out if your hands it would have been all down the back of Leah’s very expensive looking suit ! 

Suddenly all the people in the room weren’t there anymore the only thing that you noticed was your girl finally in your arms after way to long and while pulling her impossibly closer to you , you just breathed her in every part of you and missed every part of her and now here you could never imagine being away from her again which made what you were about to do even more clear in your head, so while holding her as close as possible with one arm your eyes met Leah’s grandmas giving her a nod and hold out your hand , you watched as the whole room tried to contain themselves as she placed the black velvet box in your hand giving your hand a small squeeze as she did !

Focusing back on Leah who’s head was still buried in your neck, pulling back slightly so you could see her with a massive smile on your face that was thankfully matched by her, finally gave you the chance to look into those eyes that have had you weak for years. It’s only when you see her eyes flick down to your lips that you pull her in making sure she can’t feel the box behind her back, although all sense leaves your body the second her lips meet yours for the first time in over 2 months. Finally it feels like I’m home you think, kissing her is home , she is home and with that thought you remember what you have hidden behind her back so with one final kiss you pull back to be met with a pout from her. 

Leah: your here, your actually here 

Y/n: I’m here baby I would never miss this looking at the smile on her face makes all the sneaking around worth it 

Leah: please tell me I have you for more than one night baby before you go back the pout comes back to her face again as she speaks Giggling at her you step back completely! Here goes nothing you think as you look into her eyes again how about forever you whisper never breaking eye contact, seeing the confusion on her have made you smile as you looked down at the box in your hands which was now between you and Leah, flicking your eyes back up seeing that hers where now fixed on the box in your hands as well it was go time so slowly you lower down onto one knee and open the box , hearing the gasp come from her  gave you the confirmation that the band you had chosen was the right choice! 

Y/n : le there is nothing I could say right now that would be any different to anything I have told you every day for the past 4 years but what I will say is how proud I am to be yours baby, every day with you is the best day of my life letting out a shaky breath as you see the tears in her eyes before you carry on and I want that for the rest of our lives, so Leah Williamson OBE you give her a cheeky smirk as the room fills with laughter , will you do me the honour of marrying me? Holding your breath for the whole 0.2 of a second it takes before you hear her say yes yes a million times yes , smiling with the tears running down both your faces you pull the ring from the box and finally put it on her finger as she pulls you up into a bruising kiss. 

You hear the cheers in the room, the clapping and banging on tables but all you feel is her , your finance , your Leah , your home! It’s just you two in the bubble of whispered words between the two of you consisting of i love yous, don’t ever leave again and I can’t wait to make you my wife , everything in that moment is just perfect! 

**************************

Hours later after food , champagne, a lot of laughter and more love than you could imagine, you are standing back beside your finance at the side of the room arms wrapped around each other just watching your friends and family around you. Turning to Leah you decide to take the teasing that’s been going on between the two of you for over an hour now to the next level,

Y/n: I booked us into a hotel for the next 2 nights so I hope you have no plans for tomorrow you say while looking her up and down because I have no plans on leaving that hotel room tomorrow. Watching as her eyes darken on front of you you step a little closer to her so you can whisper in her ear and just so you know earlier wasn’t the only time I plan on dropping to my knees for you my queen 

And with that Leah walked away and started saying goodbye to everyone you giggling behind her especially with the knowing looks you got from some people in the room but to hell with it you hadn’t had your girl in 9 weeks so you where going to make the most of every minute if that night and every night for the rest of your life with your queen ! 

[ryomku]

yellow flowers - kamo choso

synopsis: “when a person gives you yellow flowers it means they want to stop wasting time and spend their lives together with you”.

tags: choso x reader, fem! reader, fluff, aged up characters, college au!, no curses au!, use of y/n

a/n: i know nothing of nursing nor am i a nurse student or stuff like that so there might be some mistakes on choso´s career, idk it's like 1am and i'm crying

a/n 2: i’m mostly doing this after the leaks of chapter 259 cause i'm still crying and i need something soft in my life right now, this is based on a real experience, sorry if there's any typos english is not my first language

As someone who has never received flowers their whole life you don't get the appeal of such displays of affection, dads giving flowers to moms, boyfriends giving chocolate to their girlfriends, you just didn't see the need for such things.

In your eyes this was something unnecessary and silly, your parents never showed affection towards each other, in reality the only interactions they had were arguments which always occurred very early in the morning, at the hours where everyone is meant to be asleep and that you couldn't help but overhear.

Since they always talked about you and your problems that don't really exist, they were just looking for an excuse to say what they really think about each other.

As time went by you just didn't pay attention to any of those things, you had a very neutral opinion about flower giving, yet there were people who said, “You're a pretty girl. How come you've never received flowers before?” Genuinely you didn't know what to answer since you don't have low self-esteem and you love yourself the way you are because there's nothing wrong with the way you look or feel, so it was something that could not be answered.

Yet on valentine's day one of your friends gave you and your girl friends some plastic roses as a token of appreciation and it genuinely surprised you because for many years (or your entire life) you've never received gifts on valentine's, it was a nice gesture you though you thought it might be the last time you get a flower.

You were proven wrong.

On September of last year you met Choso Kamo on the bus you took on the way to college he was a nursing student, more specifically a phlebotomy technician, in your life have you ever seen someone so passionate about their career, the way in which he spoke about every detail regarding his classes it was hypnotizing it drew you in, suddenly you became friends and later one he introduced you to his friend group.

Soon enough it was a new year full of new classes, new teachers and the same friend group that had your back.

Time flies fast they say and suddenly it's March 21st and somehow the entire campus is covered in yellow. Wherever you walked there was people selling bouquets of sunflowers and daisies, girls all dolled up in pretty dresses, guys wasting ridiculous amounts of money on flower bouquets or in plushies it was weird something wasn't adding up.

What festivity happens today? The thought flooded your mind, you felt and looked clueless about the things that were happening around, still there's no time to waste cuz classes start soon.

10:00 am

Luckily the philosophy of education class was a free hour since the teacher didn't show up, there were so many things you can do in a free hour like eating, sleeping or just hanging out with friends and forcefully you had to choose the last one, against your own will.

“Heh Y/N could you come real quick to the cafeteria near the med students building?” Was the message that Yuki sent you a couple minutes ago.

In your way to said building more couples hugging and kissing surrounded the entire campus, it was getting too uncomfortable with how intense some of them were kissing in public.

Upon arriving at the cafeteria you spotted your friends quickly noticing two flower bouquets in front of Choso.

“Those flowers must be for his siblings. Didn't know Yuuji liked flowers so much.”

That's what anyone would think because since you met Choso he always spoke highly and dearly of his brothers, they were his entire life and his reason for becoming a nurse aside from his interest in the career.

Seeing how Choso cares about his siblings is another thing added to the mental list of things you like about him. Is there someone out there who doesn't have a crush on him? Cuz you find that hard to believe, just by feeling the way you felt nervous and the butterflies in your belly would be going crazy every time he talks to you.

Liking Choso was inevitable, like a storm or a hurricane, it was just meant to happen.

Liking Choso was something that involuntarily at this point in your head was always his face, his voice and even the small hugs he gave you every morning upon arriving at college.

Liking Choso was unexpected, you always thought that you might never have someone to like in your life since you didn't want to end up like your parents, living in an unhappy marriage full of arguments and sadness.

Liking Choso makes you feel human.

‘’Hi Y/N! What took you so long?’’ said Yuki as she moved her backpack to give you space to sit down next to her.

‘’Stupid philosophy teacher didn’t even send a message in time and had us waiting like idiots outside of his classroom.’’ You said as you sat down beside your blonde friend.

‘’Y/N here you go.’’ Gojo (your other friend) handed you a package of cookies.

‘’Why are you giving me cookies?’’ As you ask you gave him and Geto (who was handing you a bag of candies) a pointed look.

‘’Just cuz we want to and because you’re a good friend and we appreciate you.’’ Weirded out you accepted the gifts.

As you turned to put the gifts in your bag they drifted off to a conversation with Shoko, Nanami and Haibara though your attention was caught by the flowers displayed on the tablet in front of Choso the curiosity was eating you up.

Somehow Choso was a lot quieter than usual, which is fair enough he is really quiet and only gives his opinion or joins the conversation when he feels like it yet today not only was he quiet, he seemed uncomfortable and it was very clear, his facial expressions gave it away.

Suddenly Yuki stands up and walks behind Choso grabbing his wrist and guiding his hand towards one of the flower bouquets, in unison the rest of your friend group starts laughing while Gojo being the menace he is, starts recording everything.

‘’Come on man we all know you are a coward and if we don’t help you’re never gonna give her the flowers.’’ Said Yuki while laughing and giving you a smirk.

‘’Hold o-on Yuki! I don’t wanna do it with a-all of you here!!’’ Choso started to pull his hand away from the flowers all while his face gained a red hue and stuttered.

You gave all of them a questioning look. Choso was gonna give someone flowers? Did he like someone? If so, who was it? Was it a friend of yours? Or was it someone you don’t know of?

Questions filled your head as a sudden feeling of uneasiness gained a hold of your heart, it was kinda stupid that you thought someone like Choso might like you back, you hated the attitude you had with people, sometimes you would come off as rude or at worst having a potty mouth which you only spoke like that with close friend, Choso being one of them, probably your carefree attitude and shity mouth drove him away or he generally just didn’t like you as a person.

Maybe he never noticed you at all.

It only hurts because you thought he might like you due to the shyness he had around you which you liked a lot, even your friends would tease you both, while it made you giddy inside you never really knew if Choso felt the same way.

Now that you think about it the teasing started with Geto and Haibara saying Choso wanted to take you out to the movies, that never happened, the only reaction you both had was pure laughter.

You were so out of it drowning in your thoughts that you didn’t notice Choso grabbing the flowers and standing in front of you, flowers in hand and a blush on his tattooed face while he handed you the flowers.

‘’These are for you Y/N I hope you like them.’’ He gave you the flowers while looking away.

That made you snap out of it.

Choso, he gave you yellow flowers.

HE GAVE YOU FLOWERS!!

Choso’s face was a poem, truely. You looked so shocked, that he started to question if buying you flowers was a good idea.

Did you not like them?

Were the flowers too simple?

The thought of you rejecting him crossed his head. What was he going to do if you rejected him? It was going to be so embarrassing, he was gonna be rejected in front of the whole cafeteria, that only increased his anxiety.

Suddenly his ears were blessed with your soft laughter, his heart fluttered.

Your beautiful smile, the soft laughter and the cute blush in your cheeks made the anxiety go away, then he saw the most in love look in your eyes. Oh, how he loved your eyes, he could get lost in them for hours.

He felt a pair of arms around his neck in a warm embrace, all he could hear was a soft whisper.

‘’Thank you, Choso.’’

His arms circled around your waist holding you in a gentle hug, his warm hands rubbing circles, he didn’t even notice that he no longer had the flowers in his hands.

‘’Y/N I like you.’’ His smooth and deep voice whispered in your ear, the warmth in your cheeks increased.

‘’I like you too Choso.’’

They say that when a person gives you yellow flowers it means they want to stop wasting time and spend their lives together with you, and Choso knew since the moment he saw you that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you.

[nothing-tolose]

All Because I Liked A Girl.

Part 3

A/N: lol i found this a bit nonsense whsgajdhe *wheezing* AND AND AND IM SORRY IF THIS WASNT GOOD AS PART 2. anyway i love u guys sm xoxo

if you have criticism and suggestions to me, you can just knock my dm or send it to inbox <3

��🇸 daily click

part 1. part 2.

Those messages still showed up several times with some different accounts.

You decided to turn on the do not disturb mode so those hateful messages won't bother you for a while before you switched app to reply Ellie's message.

You

yeah

i guess..

You took a deep breath, fingers were typing over the keyboard with hesitation.

You

no

i'm not, actually

can you come over, els?

i need u here

please

delivered

You let out a slight sigh, and you put down your phone to the kitchen table. You buried your face in between your arms, eyes were red and tears stain on your cheeks.

You were actually don't want to give a fuck about Anne's post, but the way people insulting you and the way she reacted to them, you couldn't even understand. How on earth you don't give a fuck with that when some people were saying they'll be waiting your funeral? They might really do something if they have a guts and you were unaware.

And someone was just mentioned your initial there, Anne reacted with 'shh'. What kind of reaction was that?

You scared, terrified even. It feels like you're going to isolating yourself in your home until they forget about the post. Sadly you'll never do that, and you won't and you can't do that because you're not even graduate yet!

You left your phone there, and tried walking to living room even though your feet still feeling a bit limp, you were resting your body on the couch with blank stare to ceiling. Your mind started to thinking about those comments, from the first you saw it to the last you saw it on blog. It scares you, so much. Your tears coming down from your eyes for the second time, your chest were going up and down. You were sobbing so hard. Terrified, confused, all your feelings mixed in one.

Morning felt so long. Now it's 1PM, and you still on the same position with cushion that you hugged for the past few hours. You can hear nothing but your sobs and the sound of cars passing by on the street. Still not feeling any better.

The next second, you heard a knock from your door, followed by sound of door opened. You could tell it was Lauren who just opened the door, sound of hurried footsteps filled the room, "There you are!"

Lauren runs over you, crouches on the floor so that she's at eye-level with you. Her eyebrows furrowed, she obviously worried about you. She tapped your shoulder two times, "Would you sit?" She asked.

You just nod and get up slowly, leaning on the backrest while Lauren put down the cushion on your lap.

"Where's your phone?"

You turn your head and looking at the kitchen table where you left your phone morning earlier, "There," You said, almost not making a sound.

"Okay."

She walk towards the kitchen, her hand picked up your phone without a glance and put it in her coat pocket. You didn't paying attention to Lauren and staring to the front of your sight as you still got your panic attack, but you really really tried to make yourself calm down. Oh, but it didn't help you at all.

Lauren went back with a glass of water on her hand, she sits next to you, "Drink it, and try to breath slowly," You just do what she said.

She put it down the glass on the coffee table after you drank. You feel her thumbs wipes your tears slowly along with her little chuckle. You swore you have no idea if Lauren weren't here, you might be drowning in your tears or maybe crying blood when your tears already gone. Or the worst part, you might be dead alone here. She was like your own sister, who always stay on your side when you're down and when you're happy.

Lauren smiled at you before she hugged you so tightly, her hands running through your hair, "You don't deserve this."

"It'll pass. They'll forget about everything what happened today in no time, okay? You didn't stole Ellie," She keeps saying some words to make you feel better, and apparently it does. You fell asleep with your head on Lauren's lap.

Lauren took your phone out, and she stared at the lockscreen. There's still a bunch of messages request from people who still trying to get you down. Her eyebrows furrowed, anger almost taking over herself.

'All these fucking unnecessary messages, and Ellie doesn't texting her at all while the problem was involved with her? What kind of girlfriend is she?'

Lauren decided to changed the setting to disable the notifications from any social media except messages, at least you wouldn't see those fuckers from your lockscreen notification center.

She turned off your phone and took a glance at your face, she sighed.

'Does she really care about you right now? When everyone were talking shit about you because they thought you stole Ellie from Anne?'

Woke up on the same couch, the first thing you noticed was Lauren wasn't here. You were all alone, lights turned on, it's already dark out there.

"Shit, how long I've been asleep?" You get up, looked up to the clock and it's already 8PM. You grabbed your phone from the coffee tables in front of you, seeing if there's any messages you can reply.

messages from lauren

idk how long you've been asleep but i rlly have to go so sorry for leaving u aloneee;((

i bought some foods u can heat it up, AND dont skip your dinner bcs i assumed you haven't eaten today

dont be so curious to open ur social media, kay? i dont want u get your panic attack again

i love uuuuuu 💋💋💋💋❤️❤️❤️

You laughed for a second, then you scrolled the notification center searching if there's more messages. Your smile disappeared when you didn't see any messages from Ellie.

I mean, she always tried to reply your message asap after you sent the texts even when she's busy, she would tell you that she can't reply all your messages right now and will reply it soon as possible. The texts you sent to her this morning were still delivered. There's even no calls from her, does she even read your messages through the notifications? You needed her so much, and where is she now?

You don't want to overthink it. Maybe she's been too busy, but today is fucking Sunday, how the hell a student got really really busy on Sunday?

You bit your nails, suddenly thinking about your biggest fear.

What if she meet Anne in somewhere?

Your mind straight up thinking about her and Anne. All those what-ifs filling up your head, even you whispered to yourself to not assuming everything in negative way. But you couldn't help it. You really hate it when you can't help to stop assuming things.

You huffed, resting yourself on the backrest. You staring at the wall, imagining if Ellie were here right by your side like Lauren did and at the same time you still thinking if she were with Anne today.

You almost fell asleep again when you heard Ellie's voice calling your name along with knocking on the door. You stood up quickly and ran into the door.

Once you opened it, she grabbed both of your forearms. Her face looked so worried, worried than Lauren. She panted, sweating all over her face, and messy hair strands on the side of her face.

Your hands on her shoulders, "Where have you been?"

She didn't answer your question, all she said was, "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." And asking you if you were okay, then she hugged you tightly like you were about to leave her.

You ended up on your bed, laying down with your head resting on her arm. After she said sorry five times, you took her to the bedroom. You really wanted to ask her, where the hell was she this entire day? Why did she texted you and just disappeared, and then showed up looking so worried like she was almost dead?

But here you are, with her. None of you broke the silence. She caressed your cheeks so gently, kissing your forehead several times, and humming.

You looked up to her, staring at her green emerald eyes. Your mouth was opened, almost asking her the same question that you've asked before.

"Sorry, I had an emergency." Right before you could ask her, she spoke.

"What emergency?"

Ellie went silent, she bite her lower lip and glancing aside, avoiding eye contact with you.

"Ellie, what emergency?"

She sighed heavily, her eyes now looking at you, "Sorry, you got dragged into this mess because of me. I shouldn't be disappeared for an entire day after texting you," She closed her eyes and looked away, "I'm really sorry."

You sitting up there and shook your head in desperation, "You did answer my question earlier, but you didn't answer the last question, Ellie. What emergency?"

There's no reply from her. You scoffed, "Ellie, what emergency that made you didn't reply to my texts?"

Ellie turned her head, "You texted me?"

"What?"

Oh.. Wait, what?

taglist: @cherryimaa @kimaellie @backedbeansh @bunnyrose01 @bready101

[mskenway97]

I've been wanting to write this for a long time and with the skills this character has, I've been itching to write this.

ROTB Mirage x Fem!human!reader

Cap 2

Curious cat

Words: 1.506

Summary: You started noticing something strange in your neighborhood, while you were watching something weird. You decided to investigate it to find some surprise.

Warning: g/t content, g/t fearplay

You've been saving money for a long time, working hard… Living in New York was expensive, but it was your dream since you were a little girl, the city of opportunity. For now you had started in a waitressing job, the hours were horrible, the bosses didn't treat you the way you wanted but it was the best you could do until one of the interviews gave you the job you wanted. You came home late, the nights were pretty quiet and you had to be alert for anything. You were always taught to be cautious, to say that living alone had a risk but you thought it was better to take a chance, you never knew what you might find along the way. You had heard all the time of urban legends: monsters, shadows that took you away. "Nonsense" you thought every time they mentioned it, you may be from the village but it doesn't mean that because you are from the village you believe in those unfounded legends. Although today while you were working, you had heard a couple of customers talking about a ghost car, you laughed when you heard it and tried to dissimulate. "People should focus on real problems not urban legends" you thought as you packed up to go home. The way though you kept thinking about what the customers talked about. A ghost car… You couldn't get that legend out of your mind even as you went to sleep, I'm sure you'd get over that thought tomorrow. But it didn't happen that way, every time you heard more and more about that car, something that made you more and more curious, you had a big defect, when in your mind there was an idea that didn't disappear until you found out what was going on.

Until one day you decided to investigate all the rumors that were going around: you had gathered that it appeared only at night (as in all legends or horror stories), it was always found in abandoned parking lots, it was a gray car with blue racing stripes… "I lack more information there is something that does not fit me in all this …. And the people who have found it? Or something else?" you thought while looking at the notebook of notes about what could be that mysterious vehicle. The following days were spent asking the supposed "people" who had seen that car… All the words they said were not credible: that it disappeared in front of their noses, suddenly they saw three cars instead of one… others said they saw a giant figure… This last one already seemed ridiculous to you from everything you had heard, what was going to be next, an alien? Absurd. Although if I found a good story I could give you some more credibility and help anything or maybe you were fixated on an idea that was impossible… Here's to making your life a little more dynamic. The bad thing is that you would never know where that car was, it did not keep a fixed position, so in order to find it you decided to ask someone who would surely know about the car. Reek was a man who knew more about robberies than anything else, but if there was any information about that car he would surely know something about it. So you met up with him in a neighborhood in Brooklyn while he came in smiling:

The man was always walking around with a licorice in his mouth, he was more cooperative after I told him you would give him some dough.

-Girl, are you sure about what you're going to do? Some of my colleagues were looking for that "ghost car" - said Reek while showing a picture of the car.

You took a better look at the picture and it matched the descriptions that everyone you had asked matched. You were more interested in the make of the car? You had wanted a car like this since you were a child, in fact you were saving up to buy one for yourself.

-Just give me a location, Reek, and I'll give you the dough. I'm sure it's nothing. Plus you know how to avoid the cameras, right? - you said as you were pulling out some bills Reek rubbed his hands together.Well if you give me a little extra I'll even deactivate them…

-Just this or I'll tell everyone you're stealing cable TV… Reek was a little offended to hear it and rectified what he said to you. He gave you everything you needed. This time it was in a parking lot not far from the residential area, but the neighborhood was not very well known… That's why it was guarded. The idea was that Reek would create a blackout while you went inside. It seemed like a perfect idea and the sooner you figured out what that car was, the calmer it would put your mind at ease. Finally the night you were waiting for came, Reek had left you a place where you could turn off the power, it didn't seem too difficult, you just had to lower some switches but when you arrived you saw that they were already down.

But instead of running away you decided to enter, seeing that the doors were open, the parking lot was in a closed place that did not even have a guard, only people took advantage of it to leave their vehicles "for free". You approached carefully, you hid among the cars to see a group of thieves approaching the car. Everything seemed normal until you saw that it had disappeared in front of them, not only that the lights had gone out around it, to show the same car several times and repeated all this all the time until the thieves ran away. If you didn't see it you wouldn't believe it, it was really happening as all those people were saying. You stayed in your position while you stood up and heard a voice in your ear:

-You thought I didn't see you? You jumped back to see that the car you were leaning against was the grey car you were all looking for, you quickly ran to another part of the parking lot that seemed to be more isolated while breathing heavily.-You're making it too easy for me, girl…. You jumped again to see the same car next to you, your face went blank as you saw that gray car. You were trying to react, you ran away from it.

-Come on, I'm not that scary… Come here little girl - said the giant gray being. You were thinking it was a dumbbell as you were hiding under a car. Suddenly you heard silence all around you, except for the watch you were wearing.

Tick,Tick No matter how hard you ran… You felt its presence all the time, playing with your mind… You had only one word in your mind: run away…

But running away to where your mind was racing, your heart felt like it was going to burst then you heard some big footsteps around you.

-Come out wherever you are, girl? No matter where you hide… I'm going to find you - said that giant robot while you saw him walking away from you to another floor of the parking lot. You didn't think about it and picked up your cell phone to see that the car where you were hiding was lifted as if nothing by that gray robot, you tried to run again to stumble and find three of them. You were completely surrounded, while one of them picked you up and made the rest of them disappear, you tried to move but he was holding you in his servo as if nothing. You were completely terrified trembling… completely at their mercy. The giant gray robot pinched you on the cheek.

I have to say, of all the humans I've seen… I found you the most curious. At least you didn't faint or run away. You've got some guts. You were trying to get away from his touch but he had too much strength to dodge it, you're literally like a doll in his hands.

-Let me go! Possessed car! - you said as the robot laughed at the sound.

-Possessed car? Come on, my name is Mirage… I don't want to let you go yet," he said as he transformed into a car while leaving you on the seat.

-Let go of me! Let go of me! - you said as you kicked everything you could.

I'm sorry, curious kitty… I can't see if Optimus will let me stay with you. I'll take good care of you," said the car as it pulled away to a location.

You tried to kick more but it was impossible, your curiosity had led you to a moment you never expected. To the mercy of a giant being that saw you as its kitten. Curiosity caught the cat.

[moody-alcoholic]

Scapegoat

AN: I hit 200 followers which actually blows my mind the people like my work so I'm uploading 2 chapters as a thank you <3. ALSO there is more smut to come the next few chapters is a lot of angst and hurt/comfort, a lot of bad people doing bad things... The next 2-3ish chapters are the ones I'm worried about posting the most since things take a sharp turn downhill. I will say though, this story does have a happy ending, just got to get through some hurt first.

Summary: Ghoap x Reader, throuple. Slow burn (sorry but not sorry). 2.7k words. Reader is female (she/her), army nurse, non descript physical features, names used: Ashe. CW: Medical stuff, medical inaccuracy, descriptions of CPR, CPR.

Previous parts - masterlist - next part

Enjoy <3

You’re on the ward today, it’s almost empty most of the people who were here yesterday seeking treatment have been discharged. 

“Quiet?” You look up to see the doctor reaching down for a medical file on the desk you’re sat at.

“Don’t say that word, you’ll curse us.” You protest reaching over to hand him the file. 

“Don’t be silly that’s just a myth, the only reason you think it get’s busier is because you’re paying more attention to the passage of time.” He says opening the file, then signing something in it. 

“Well if that’s the case I will go for my break, and I’m sure it won’t get busy.” You get up taking the file from him and putting it back in it’s spot. 

“You have your pager?” You show him the device on your hip as you walk out the ward to the canteen. You’re still actively trying to avoid Jack and thankfully since the little incident yesterday you have not seen him. Guess running this place is keeping him busy. You shove some food down your throat, you’re not really hungry but you haven’t eaten anything all day and the last thing you want is to be passing out in this heat.

You take your time almost on purpose you check your phone. Nothing, other then the one attempted call you let ring out. You had been becoming more and more paranoid since the ‘chat’ with Jack and you don’t know why. You just hope Johnny and Simon are okay, you knew they would be they’re soldiers, SAS soldiers they are more then capable of taking care of themselves. You leave the canteen when it starts getting busier heading back to the ward. 

“See, not a single person.” The doctor says sitting in the same chair you were in. 

“Well I stand corrected.” You say throwing your hands up. He chuckles getting up to let you sit down. You walk round the desk as he wobbles. You put your hands out to steady him.

“You feeling okay?” You ask as he braces himself on the desk. 

“Yeah just tired, I think I need a lie down.” He says standing up straight, he looks clammy. 

“Why don’t you lie down in the ward, it’s cool in there and you won’t have to go far.” You say, you manged to feel his forehead he’s not warm but he does seem a bit out of it. 

“Okay,” He says walking into the ward, you help him in the bed and grab him a glass of water. 

“Ring the bell if you need anything, I’ll come check on you in an hour or so.” You say pulling the curtain round. That was weird, you head back to the desk when the phone rings. 

“Medical.” You say picking the phone up. 

“Hey we’ve got a guy here who might have broke his ankle can you get to the supply depot intake?” A voice on the other end says.

“Yeah I’m on my way.” You reply hanging up and typing in another number. 

“Hey, I need to go deal with a suspected broken ankle can you come watch the bay?” you say to which ever nurse just picked up. She’s says she’s on her way and you wait, when she arrives you see it’s the same nurse who unknowingly saved you from Jack yesterday. 

“The doctor wasn’t feeling well he went to lie down in the ward.” You say as you grab the med bag off it’s hook. 

“Is he okay?” She asks. 

“Yeah just the heat I think, check on him in like 20 minutes if I’m not back.” She nods and you head out to the supply intake. Even though the base is small the supply depots are massive, filled to the brim with all sorts of supplies you make your way down seeing soldiers circled round someone on the floor. 

“See this is why you have to look where you’re going.” Someone says as you push your way through. 

“See we’ve even got the cute nurse for you.” Another says, you roll your eyes.

“Alright settle down, get back to work.” You look up and see an officer standing above you, he explains what happened, he fell off the loading dock landed on his ankle. It didn’t look too swollen from what you could tell. 

“You can sit with it elevated and I’ll give you an ice pack. If the swelling doesn't go down you might need to go to Damascus for an x-ray.” You say handing him a cool pack from the bag. He nods and you help him on his feet to a chair.

“Want any pain relief?” You ask, he shakes his head, the officer says he’ll keep and eye on him and thanks you for your help. You nod deciding for whatever reason to take the long way back to the ward. You’re enjoying the walk in the sun, it takes your mind off of missing Johnny and Simon, you’re in a world of your own remembering the last few days together how nice it was that you almost miss the beeping of your pager. 911, medbay. You rush inside heading straight in dumping the bag at the nurses station as you see the nurse doing CPR on the doctor in bed. 

“What happened!” You ask rushing over and pulling gloves on. 

“I don’t know I went to check on him and he wasn’t breathing.” She says between breaths.

“Let me take over.” You say switching with her so she can get a break. You hear more medical staff run in the room, the alarm would have gone out to all medical staff. And Jack.  One of the nurses comes over to try and get a IV in and a medic takes over control of the situation. 

“Okay once we’ve got a line in lets push epi right away, someone get him on a monitor when was the last pulse check?” He asks. The nurse replies and he orders you to stop CPR so we can check. No pulse. You switch with someone else doing CPR as you stand to the side waiting until you will take over for them. What happened? He seemed fine? Is it an underling condition? Heart attacks don’t just happen. All of a sudden you feel guilty, he has a kid and wife at home. We’re doing everything we can. You remind yourself. There’s a shock, a pulse check, no change. You take over CPR letting the other person rest. It’s not looking good you look over at the medic, he looks lost, the only doctor on the base is down. Another round of adrenaline, another shock another rhythm check. Nothing, asystole, we all look at the medic. There is nothing we can do, he asks if we all think we should stop. There are some murmurs, some nods, the medic looks round one more time and sighs.  

“I can’t call it we need a doctor.” He says. You step back.

“I’ll call it in.” You say leaving the room going over to the nurses station. You slump down in the chair looking at the phone. The nurses in the room have started leaving, it’s only the medic and the nurse from earlier now. You pick up the phone opening a book and finding the number for the main Damascus base. The doors to the med bay open as the call rings through. You hold your breath as Jack walks in he goes into the ward talking to the medic. When someone picks up on the other end of the phone you explain the situation, it’s like your body is running on auto-pilot. 

“They’ll be someone over within the next 2 hours to processes the body.” They say. You don’t even say thank you you don’t even remember saying goodbye. You just remember putting the phone down looking over at the doctors body on the bed. Michael, his name was Michael, he has a 3 year old son called Harry, after Price Harry. A wife called Alice, who loves to paint. Now he was dead. 

“I can take watch if you want to get some rest.” You hear a voice beside you. It’s the nurse, you don’t even know her name.

“Call me when they get here, they said they would be here within the next 2 hours.” She nods and you head to the dorms. They’re empty you flop down on your bed. You remember seeing Jacks eyes follow you as you left the ward. You close your eyes, trying not to cry. You can’t help but think about his wife, a widow now. His son will grow up without a dad. You feel guilty, you roll over closing your eyes.   ——————————  You wake to your pager beeping you back to the ward. You look round the room it’s still empty, it’s only been half an hour if that. They can’t be here already, the drive from Damascus takes at least an hour. You get up anyway heading to the ward. When you walk in you almost pass out. There is Johnny, Simon, Price and a man you’ve never met before who must be Gaz. You look over into the ward, his body has been zipped up in a body bag and the curtains almost all the way drawn, you swallow hard getting rid of the lump in your throat. 

“Well I’ll tell ye what lass, give us her bunk and we’ll find her ourselves.” You hear Johnny say as he’s bent over the counter of the nurses station. You walk up to the desk not quite believing it.

“There she is!” Johnny shouts as he sees you. 

“You’re not here for the body are you?” You ask them.

“The body?” Price asks. You press your lips together, your eyes wonder to Simon, although you can’t see his face under his mask. His eyes still look soft though, kind. Johnny is looking at you with that cheeky grin on his face. You just want to jump in his arms, you want to just blurt everything out, you just want to feel them holding you again.

“The Major is on his way.” The nurse says.

“Of course he is.” You sigh as she gets up and you take her seat. She waves goodbye and tells you she’ll see you later. 

“What are you doing here?” You ask quietly. 

“We were invited.” Johnny says. You look confused but you don’t have time to question it as Jack walks through the double doors. 

“Good to see you again captain.” Jack says extending his hand out so John could shake it. You felt sick sitting up straighter in your chair as Jack makes friendly with everyone. 

“Come through to my office, we have a lot to discuss.” He says gesturing them to the exit.

“You’ll let me know when the doctor from Damascus gets here?” Jack says looking over at you. 

“Course sir.” You reply, he smiles back at you it makes you feel sick. What the hell did he want? What was the play here? Yesterday he was threatening you to get information from them now they’re here. A part of you hoped they were here for you. Hoped the cryptic message you sent to Johnny was enough to get alarm bells ringing. You shook the thought away, they weren't here for you, besides Jack hasn’t done anything since, maybe he was just having a bad day. Right now all you needed to focus on was Michael, and getting his body secure so he can go home.

You spend the next few hours doing nothing at all, no calls, no one comes in for help. They come for the body about half an hour after 141 arrived, you call Jack but he doesn't come. They take a statement from you and then he’s gone. Your shift is supposed to be over soon, you flick through a random medical journal as you wait for your replacement. It’s the medic from earlier. 

“They took the body then?” He asks as you get up. You nod. 

“Did he have a family.” 

“A wife and kid.” You say. 

“That sucks.” He replies. You nod again heading for the door. You’re not hungry you just want to sleep get away from today.

“Hey!” The medic shouts back just as you’re about to go through the doors. You crane your head back to look at him.

“The major want’s you in his office.” You feel sick but nod at him. You feel like you can smell the death in the air, no it’s just your imagination. There is no such thing as the smell of death, just the smell of decomposing bodies. You make it to Jacks office and knock on the door.

“Come in.” You open the door and walk in.  

“Sit.” Jack says. 

“I would prefer to stand sir.” You say. He sighs. There is another knock at the door. 

“Come in!” Jack shouts, two soldiers walk in you look at them then back to Jack confused. 

“So we got the results back from the autopsy.” You look at him shocked.

“That was quick.” You say. He nods.

“It was rushed through given the circumstances of the situation.” He says, you can’t help but feel like you’re about to get told off again, like you’re a kid in the headmasters office. 

“Turns out the doctor had lethal amounts of insulin in his system.” Jack says, you look at him confused and scoff.

“He wasn’t diabetic.” You say. Jack nods, he spins the computer monitor around so you can see. 

“This is your ID card withdrawing a very large amount of insulin,” he says standing up his hands flat on the desk table. 

“I didn’t do that, it must be a mistake.” You scoff. He looks serious.

“I’m sorry what are you accusing me of?” You ask suddenly nervous. 

“Look I can make this easy for you, just confess to what you did and we can skip the court-marshal, you’ll be back on a flight to the UK tonight.” Jack says, you look around at the two soldiers behind you who you can almost feel pressing up against you.

“You’re crazy.” You laugh. He sighs hanging his head, for a second you think you see genuine sympathy. 

“I tried to give you a chance.” He says shrugging then he gestures to the soldiers behind you who grab your arms. You hear the clicking of cuffs before you can react. What were you going to do anyway? They’re way bigger then you, stronger. 

“What is going on!” You shout, almost not believing what is happening. Your mind turns to Simon and Johnny were they still here? You were going to look for them when your shift had finished, now you’re in cuffs being accused of murder. Jack comes round the desk to look you in your eyes, he leans in to whisper in your ear, you pull your head back as far as it will go.

“I told you I could make your life very difficult.” You feel his breath on your neck you feel sick, you can’t believe what is happening. 

“Take her to the cells, as of right now she’s to be treated as an enemy of the state.” 

“What the actual fuck! Asshole!” Is all you manage to shout as you’re dragged through the doors. You don’t know what to say, what to do. Johnny and Simon can’t help you. Maybe this was his plan all along? You get to the tiny detention wing of the base. You don’t think this has ever been used, the whole place seems to be covered in a layer of sand and dust, and it’s hot.

You’re pressed up against a wall and patted down, your phone, pager, radio, everything is taken off you. You’re stripped down to your shirt and pants, they take your boot’s and belt. You look at them in the eyes your two guards, you don’t recognise them maybe they came from Damascus. They don’t say anything, they won’t meet your eye line. You're still too shocked to say anything, to confused to attempt to fight. They take the cuffs off and you’re thrown into a room the door bolted behind you. You look over at the padded bed, the florescent lights and the cold concrete walls. You pull your legs up to your chest burring your head in your knees. What the hell just happened. 

Next part

[desideriumwriter]

Anyone But You | Chapter 2 | F.W. x Fem!Reader

Chapter Summary - An introduction to your bestfriend, you're forced to go to a dinner party at the Weasleys over the holiday break, the twins give you a small gift you're absolutely not going to open.

Pairing - Fred Weasley x Fem!Gryffindor!Reader

Category - enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort, angst, fluff, slowburn

Content Warnings -cursing

Word Count - 3.8k

Series Masterlist | F.W Masterlist | Previous | Next | Navigation | 

Even though you were seen as rude and snippy in the twins' eyes, you had friends, people you actually enjoyed being around, people who didn’t attempt to get on your nerves every five seconds. Cedric Diggory was one of them. He was your bestfriend.

Despite being put in different houses, you and Cedric became great friends, you’ve gotten along better than anyone else. You met him on the train to Hogwarts your first year, and you two connected like puzzle pieces. He’s definitely someone who isn’t unbearable to be around.

Of course, there was the occasional rumor or gossiping that would spread around annually about you and Cedric secretly being together, or that you two had something going on at least. Those were just rumors though. Cedric feels like a brother to you, he had eyes for other girls and you had no interest in a relationship. You had no interest in each other. You loved him, but only in a sibling way. He was treated like a brother. 

You had other friends rather than Cedric, but you were closest to Ced. He was the only friend you would actually keep in contact with and write letters to outside of school.

✦✦✦

You carried your owl's cage and dragged your large leather suitcase down the stairs as Cedric boasted about his most recent win.

“And who did Gryfinndor get their arses whooped by last week?” He brought his hand up behind his ear, waiting for you to admit your house's loss, you simply shook your head in refusal.

“Hufflepuff!” He sang, “Who caught the snitch? Number seven, Cedric Diggory!” He cheered to himself, you rolled your eyes playfully.

“Whatever, Gryffindor only lost because Fred couldn’t keep his eyes off Angelina.” 

“Ah yes, Fred is to blame. Always to blame. Another chance for you to hate him!” Cedric teased, he knew all about your hatred for the twins. Of course he has, he’s your bestfriend for Godric's sake. You’ve complained multiple times about them to him, gone on hour-long rants over whatever prank they pulled.

“Yep!  Anyways, what do you have planned over the break?” You stopped at the landing of the staircases, setting down your owl and suitcase, leaning back on the stone railing, letting crowds of students pass you.

“Absolutely nothing. My dad might make me help him at work.”

“What? Wouldn’t that be cool? You’ll get to see cool creatures, right?” He scoffed at your upbeat reaction.

“I’ll get to see boring paperwork. I’ll get to organize boring folders. I’ll get to do the boring work.” He said flatly as he shrugged. “I got to see a hippogriff once though.”

“Really? How’d it go?” You 

“Nearly bit off my arm.” 

“Oh.” The excitement in your voice lowered. “Well, I won’t be doing anything either besides sleeping.” You teased as you grabbed your things and began to walk down the staircases again.

✦✦✦

Winter break had been going nicely. Your friends had sent letters and early Christmas gifts, small and light enough for your owl to carry, you did the same for them. You were able to sleep in, you didn’t have to worry about your things being messed with, you didn’t have to be woken up by loud and annoying voices early in the morning, and you didn’t have to deal with those bloody twins.

You woke up early today, you chose to not sleep in and went into the kitchen for breakfast. While searching the cupboards for your favorite cereal your mother walked in, an empty mug and plate in her hands. 

“Good morning, sweetheart!” She said as she placed the dishes in the sink, watching a scrubber begin to float and clean the dishes by itself.

“Morning, mum. Have any letters come today?” You asked as you took the cereal and poured it into your bowl, followed by some milk.

Before your mum could open her mouth, a strong screech came from outside, followed by a loud hit into the open cupboard door next to you, both of you jumped at the sudden entrance.

You knew that old owl from anywhere. It was Errol, one of the Weasley family’s owls. He laid on the kitchen floor for a second, then stood up straight, shaking himself off and fluttering onto a chair near your mother, handing her a nicely sealed envelope. Your mum sent the owl off without giving him anything to deliver back.

“That poor bird is on its last leg.” She muttered under her breath, shaking her head as she opened the envelope. Her unamused face changed into delight as her eyes moved through the letter.

“Oh, would you look at this! The Weasleys invited us over for a dinner party!” She grinned at you, showing you the paper.

“What?” You dropped your spoon into your bowl when you heard the news, droplets of milk hitting your shirt.

“The Weasleys invited us, Molly and Arthur are hosting a dinner party for their anniversary. How sweet is that?” You grabbed the letter from her a bit too aggressively, staring at the invitation intently.

“Very kind! Do I have to go?” You got straight to the point once you asked hesitantly, looking up, you already knew what your mother's answer would be.

“What?- Yes you have to go! Don’t be ridiculous.” Your mother scoffed, slightly shocked at your response to the invitation, taking the letter back from you.

“Please, mum! You know I will not be able to handle being there for more than five minutes.” You pleaded.

“What are you talking about? The Weasleys are very good people, y/n. You know that. You should be appreciative that they invited us.” She said sternly, a slight scowl forming on her face.

“I’m not talking about the Weasley family, I’m talking about Fred and George! The twins! They’re horrible! Please, just let me stay home, mum. You can tell them I’m sick or already on a trip with friends!” There was pure determination in your words, you were not going to spend any amount of time around Fred and George Weasley during your break.

“No, Y/N. They invited us, which means you too. It’ll only be for a single afternoon, you can deal with it.” Your mother shut down your begging, “Make sure you have a dress or…just find some nice clothes to wear, the dinner is tomorrow.” She began to leave the kitchen, turning around to ask you one last thing. 

“Also, could you send a letter back? Saying that we will be there? Thanks, darling.” She walked out of the room before you could protest anymore. You groaned, placing your head in your hands.

✦✦✦

This wasn’t the first time you were invited to the Weasley's house. There was one or two times where they invited you, you would’ve gone if Fred and George didn’t live there, so you faked being sick. 

Of course, your mother wouldn’t fall for it this time. So, you slipped on a nice pair of jeans and a comfortably warm sweater. 

While checking yourself out in the mirror, making sure nothing looked weird on you, an owl flew onto your windowsill, holding a bright purple envelope sealed with orange wax in between its beak. You were hesitant to take the envelope from it. You’ve never seen this bird before.

You nervously took the envelope from the bird and it flew away without any problem. Being more confused than ever, you flipped the envelope to the back, maybe it had been delivered to the wrong person?

However, your address was issued underneath it, it even stated where your bedroom was. Your stomach tensed, this was creepy. A bird you’ve never seen before shows up at your window with a tacky envelope that has direct instructions to your bedroom.

You opened it cautiously, not knowing what would be inside, as soon as it was halfway open, confetti and a few miniature fireworks popped out.

A little birdy (no pun intended) told us you were coming over tonight! Can’t wait to see you, we miss seeing your scowls and hearing your mean voice!    - F & G

Of course, the twins. How the hell did they know the exact location of your room? While trying to figure that out, you nearly missed the small writing at the bottom of the card.

p.s. we have a gift for you, hopefully, you’ll like it :)

You furiously crumbled it up, practically slamming it into your trash bin. Stomping back to your mirror, you picked out all the bits of confetti that had got caught in your hair and the few pieces on your sweater and floor until your mum told you it was time to leave.

Merlin, have mercy on me. You thought to yourself.

✦✦✦

The dinner party wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be. The first thing you noticed was how Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were the most welcoming and kindest people you met. You wondered how Mrs. Weasley especially dealt with the twins and their mischief for fifteen years of her life. 

When you sat down at the table with everyone else, you were disappointed in Harry and Hermione's absences, you expected at least one of them to be there. However, Hermione was traveling with her parents and Harry wasn’t allowed to leave the Dursleys home.

You kept your distance from the twins, choosing the seat that was farthest from them at the table, sticking by Ginny's side and making conversation with her. Yet, the twins still took any chance they could get to mess with you.

They stole food off your plate when you weren’t looking, taking whatever bowl of food you were reaching for first, even putting whatever potion they made to cause your roasted ham to turn into a green color.

“Hey, it’s like that one muggle book, with the guy who rhymes!” Fred pointed out.

“What was his name? Dr.Sauce?” Fred quipped, Ginny let out a small giggle at the name.

“Dr.Seuss, Fred.” Mr. Weasley corrected, “I’ve actually had to take in a few of his books at work. One bloke was trying to figure out why the drawings weren’t moving.” Their dad chuckled and nudged you playfully with his elbow.

Anyway, you tried to stay as positive and nice as you could at the table, but you had to refrain from rolling your eyes anytime Fred or George opened their mouths. Any slight expression of annoyance would earn you a small kick under the table and a stern stare from your mum, your dad would clear his throat or raise his eyebrows at you, these were their ways of saying “Behave, be nice, I’m warning you.”

You were still upset that you had to deal with the one thing- two things you were glad to stay away from, that you expected to stay away from during your winter break. You only had one unwanted big interaction with them, the others were small.

All the adults were in the front yard drinking and having their “alone time from you kids” as Mr. Weasley jokingly said to you. Ginny and Ron were arguing over the TV remote, constantly stealing it from each other and changing the channel to what one of them wanted.

You made your escape by excusing yourself to the kitchen, going to the sink, and refilling your glass with water.

While taking a drink from your glass, you weren’t paying attention to the sneaky and slow footsteps coming behind you. The next thing you felt was two sets of hands on each of your upper arms and you heard two loud troll-like screams.

You jumped and choked on your water, coughing violently as you put down your glass and turned around, shoving both of the twins away as they chuckled.

“What the hell was that for?” You fumed through hard coughs.

“We missed you! We haven’t been able to tease you in months!” George chuckled.

“It feels like we’ve been going through withdrawals.” Fred dramatically said, putting a hand over his heart.

“It’s not teasing, it’s annoying and rude. Now I'd like for both of you to get away from me.” You shoved yourself through both of them, splitting them apart from each other.

✦✦✦

The biggest sigh of relief left your body when you finally got back home. You traveled by floo powder and while getting ready to throw the dust down, you heard those two annoying voices call your name.

“Y/N! Y/N! We haven’t given you your gift yet!” You smiled mockingly as you said your address out loud, throwing the powder down and letting the green flames engulf you and send you back to the fireplace at your home.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, wasn’t it?” Your father teased as you brushed the floo powder off your clothes. “I know those boys irritate you but you’re going to have to learn how to deal with it unfortunately. I don’t believe that won’t be the only visit we make to the Weasley's burrow. You know your mum will want to invite them over too now.” He patted your shoulder and left the room.

You slipped off your shoes and headed upstairs, by the time you opened your door, there was an owl sitting at your windowsill once again. The same owl from before you left with the same tacky envelope.

You took it and opened it clumsily. You breathed out and began to read the messy handwriting.

It was very nice to see your face again! We missed you! 

They didn’t miss you, they missed playing pranks on you. 

So sweet for you to come over and see us! Can’t wait until we get back to school, we have a few surprises up our sleeves. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the dinner!

                                                Love, Gred and Forge

p.s. you forgot your gift! :(

You rolled your eyes as you tossed the card into the trash, walking up to the owl, you hadn’t noticed the small box in its claws, the owl dropped it in your hand, and you stared at it intently.

A small purple box, wrapped with an orange ribbon and tie on top. What’s with them and the colors purple and orange?

You noticed the owl was still sitting at your window as if it was waiting for you to give a letter back.

“Go on, shoo! I’m not sending anything back!” You waved the feathery bird off, lying back down on your bed, going back to analyzing the little box. You didn’t open it, you knew there was most likely some trick to it, maybe like a bunch of glitter would shoot out, or a million tiny fireworks. They wouldn’t give you a plain present, there always had to be something mischievous added to it.

You set it down on your nightstand by your bed. Maybe you’d open it. But not now, you’ll deal with whatever happens when you open it later.

✦✦✦

Maybe about two hours later that bloody owl had come back. You snatched the letter and tore it open, there was no more care in you to be neat with the envelopes.

It’s a bit rude to receive our letter and not respond, I thought you’d said before that you were the one with manners, Ms. Y/L/N. How’d you like your gift? Don’t leave us waiting and wondering! 

One of them had drawn a stick figure with a sad face, with tiny rows of tears falling from its eyes. You smiled at it, then stopped, going back to a straight face once you remembered who this drawing was from. You did not find the twins funny, you never will.

You stomped over to your desk, grabbing a piece of paper, a bottle of ink, and your quill, writing the only letter you would ever send them willingly.

The dinner was very nice, I’m grateful and appreciative that your mother let us come over. I thank her for that. I’m not trusting that box you gave me. I’m not sending any more letters to you two dimwits. Now, shut up and leave me alone you CREEPS!

You wrote the last word in red ink with multiple underlines, hoping they would get your message and finally leave you alone, you knew they wouldn’t, but you tried anyway. You signed your name off nicely, unbothered to put it in an envelope, you weren’t going to put a single bit of effort into anything that was for Fred and George. You gave your paper to your owl this time instead of theirs, giving her sweet words of appreciation and asking her for one extra favor.

“Bite Fred for me, or whichever twin is closer.” You smiled, sending your owl out your window and off into the air.

Only thirty minutes later your owl had returned with a letter, the same one you had sent to them, the only difference was that it had different writing on the back.

We’ll see about that. You let out an angry sigh, crumpling it up and throwing it into the bin, along with the various other purple envelopes. 

You closed and locked your window, putting your owl in her cage and letting her go to bed, covering her cage with a sheet so she wouldn’t be woken up by any light. Then, you decided to go to bed as well, hoping you would sleep through any other attempts of the boys trying to piss you off by sending you letters. 

Fortunately, after that it was silent. Unfortunately, your own thoughts were too loud, they were keeping you awake.

There was a small interaction you had with Fred, it lasted probably for only a minute. 

You were standing in the corner of the kitchen as everyone was conversing in their own separate groups. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking to your parents, Ginny and Hermione both complaining about Ron, Ron and Harry were debating about something Quidditch related with the twins.

All the social interaction had drained you, and you really needed to be alone. You excused yourself once again to the bathroom, which was on the third floor. You stood around for a little while in the bathroom, with how talkative your parents were, you knew you wouldn’t be leaving for the next few hours. 

You wondered how long you could be there, how long it would take for anybody to notice that you've been gone for an abnormally large amount of time. You realized you couldn’t hide in the bathroom forever so you left.

You reached the first floor when you realized you weren't ready to go back down where everyone was, you decided to wander down the hallway. Walking slowly and taking small steps, taking a look at each room with an open door. The rooms were a bit small but still nice, at least Ginny’s was still nice.

Her bed was neatly made, there was a wooden desk that had little trinkets lined up across it, a quill and ink sat carefully on top of some papers. Her wall had various Hogwarts and Gryffindor-related things stuck to it.

The next room was above hers, on the second floor. This one was a bit more spacious than the others. Two beds on opposite sides of the room, and another large wooden desk, the same as Ginny’s placed right in front of a window. Except this desk was messy, the whole room was messy.

Beds unmade, socks sprawled across the floor, clothes shoved poorly into their dresser drawer, some popular rock wizard bands posters terribly taped and quidditch medals pinned to the wall. Their desk had multiple crumpled-up balls of paper on it and around it, envelopes, drops, and splatters of black ink staining the glossy wood, candy wrappers, an open textbook nearly about to fall off the edge, and papers with sketches and such bad handwriting it looked like scribbles. 

You fully walked into the room and went over to the desk, picking up one of the parchments that had the most eligible writing. It was a list of sweets, apparently. You’ve never heard of these before.

- CANARY CREAM

- SCREAMING YO-YO

- FEVER FUDGE

- PUKING PASTILLE

- GLOW IN THE DARK GUM

- WEATHER IN A BOTTLE

“Hasn’t your mother told you not to snoop around?” A voice asked from behind you. You jumped and turned around quickly, only to see a tall, redheaded, smirking boy leaning against the doorway. 

Fred, you could tell it was him. He and George are easy to tell apart, for you at least. The way Fred carries himself, how he stands, how he looks, how he annoys you.

“Hasn’t yours told you not to sneak up on people?” You bit back. He shrugged and pushed himself away from the doorway, slowly walking towards you.

“Ah! You’ve found me and George's great ideas!” He nodded at the paper that was still in your hand. The paper that had their “great” ideas, sure.

“How are these great? Fever fudge? Puking pastille? Who would even want these? It’s sick!” You said disgustedly.

“They are sick. Literally.” He chuckled, only to get a grimace from you. “Anyways, kids who want to get out of class want these. But, we’re still working on them. Some of them haven’t worked out the way we wanted them to.” He trailed off.

“Yeah, like the canary cream.” You let out a small scoff.

“Listen, it was an accident!” Fred cried out, taking the paper from you.

“An accident you thought was hilarious.” You spat. Fred’s eyes wandered until they got stuck on a shiny piece of something in your hair. Confetti.

“Uh, you’ve got some confetti in your hair.” He pointed out. Your eyes grew wide in embarrassment, you’d been here the entire time with confetti still stuck in your hair and no one informed you about it. You took your fingers and immediately started combing through your hair.

“Did I get it?” You asked anxiously, Fred only shook his head from side to side. You repeated your actions and asked again, he repeated his again in response. 

“You know what, let me just…” He mumbled, his hand reaching out to your head, plucking out the piece with caution to not pluck out a strand of your hair as well, you didn’t stop him. “There. It’s out.” He gave you a tight-lipped smile.

There was a pause between you two. Time felt like it slowed down as he removed his hand from your hair. There was a twinkle in his eye, his face glowed in the moonlight which was the only source of light in the room. 

“Well, no thanks to you. You’re the one who caused it to get stuck there in the first place.” You shoved past him once again. Heading back downstairs.

Tossing, turning, constantly changing your position, removing blankets, flipping your pillows. Nothing seemed to help you get comfortable. You even tried the classic counting sheep. Nothing.

The moonlight peeked through your windows, and a large stripe of light shined on that stupid little box. You couldn’t take your eyes off it.

[lycandrophile]

i’m getting my drains out tomorrow and i’m sure things will be different after they’re gone, so here’s my observations about top surgery recovery as of 6 days post-op!

(click here for my first post, from 3 days after)

something i forgot to mention in my last post is that if they tell you a medication has to be taken with food, do not fuck with that. absolutely do not. my antibiotic had to be taken with food and on day 2, i thought “well, i just had breakfast not too long ago, surely that’s close enough and i’ll be fine” and my parents agreed, but guess what? i spent the next hour in hell. the meds made me nauseous so i had to eat, but eating still hurt a lot because of the sore throat from being intubated, so trying to make it better just caused me more pain. and both the sore throat and the nausea (which i guess was as much a heartburn sort of situation as it was nausea) were both very chest-adjacent feelings, so that on top of the usual pain and discomfort from surgery was just a perfect storm of horrible things all centralized to one part of my body. it was awful, and i will never fuck around with something like that again. that being said, if you do find yourself in that situation or are just looking for something light that will still do the job because you’re not that hungry, 10/10 would recommend oatmeal and apple sauce. apple sauce is what finally got my body to stop rioting against me and my bad decisions, and after that i started always taking it halfway through a bowl of oatmeal and that worked perfectly.

on day 4, i was able to sit up and get out of bed by myself for the first time! i still can’t do it just by using my core muscles, but if i hold onto my legs and lower them, i can sort of roll myself up into a sitting position without using any of the affected muscles too much.

on day 5, the sore throat from hell that being intubated gave me finally went away! cheers to not gripping my pillow in pain every two seconds while i swallow my spit anymore. it lasted a while, but it honestly went away pretty fast — on day 4 it was a bit better than it had been, and then the next day it was just gone.

also on day 5, i really started to feel the bandages digging into my armpits. i’m not sure if it’s because the bandage has been slipping up over time, if my armpits have some extra swelling now, or if it’s just been wearing my body down over time, but it feels like it’s starting to cut off circulation at a certain point and it makes my arms ache sometimes. that’s probably not great, but the surgeon will be redoing everything at my post-op anyway so i’ve just been riding it out until then. in the meantime, i can tell it’s definitely worse when i’m sitting back and kind of slouched (because that position pushes it up more), so i try to sit up or walk around when i feel it. having pillows on either side of me to put my elbows up on definitely also helps a lot — that’s how i’ve been sleeping, but it would be good for just sitting too.

also also on day 5, i started getting this weird fluttery feeling in the spot where the left side of my chest and the meat of my left armpit connect. it feels like it’s probably some sort of muscle spasm. it’s not painful at all, but i honestly wish it was because it’s just super weird and uncomfortable instead and i hate it. it genuinely might be my least favorite out of any pains or sensations i’ve had so far. luckily, though, it seems like it’s already died down and only happened a couple times today.

my energy has been all over the place. i’m at the point now where mentally i’m much closer to my normal state so i’m once again having the adhd urge to constantly do stuff, but my body’s ability to keep up is far less consistent. sometimes i get restless and can just get up and pace around for a while, but other times i try to do that and get really quickly exhausted. i’m definitely more able to have conversations and feel more like myself now though, even when my body is tired out.

i’ve been thirsty as all hell the past few days. i feel like i’m constantly asking my boyfriend to refill my water for me because i drain it so fast. it’s a very specific kind of thirst, too — like it never quite goes away even when i’m definitely very thoroughly hydrated, and like anything but water can’t even touch it. it’s not a bad thing, getting lots of fluids after surgery is important and i wouldn’t be surprised if that’s exactly why my body is doing it, but it is a bit frustrating to just be incessantly thirsty for days at a time.

my walking posture is getting straighter every day. i still have to hold my chest to walk because of the bandage feeling like it drags things down, but if i’m walking with my mastectomy pillow, it mostly just looks like a typical slouch and not the deep hunch i started with.

at this point, my chest is super sensitive to any kind of movement, and that’s the other thing the pillow has been really good for at this stage. if the bandage shifts at all, if my body moves at all, basically anything — i feel it all in my chest really intensely. it’s not always painful, but it isn’t comfortable either. holding the pillow to my chest helps stabilize things so the movement doesn’t reach the sensitive parts as much, which is really great.

walking up stairs is easier than walking down stairs, which is the exact opposite of what i would’ve guessed. from what i can tell just from moving around, i think it’s because bending your legs up to a higher step pretty solidly relies on your legs and lower core muscles to make it happen, while reaching your legs down to a lower step requires stretching your body out (which is famously not your body’s favorite thing to do after top surgery). it often feels like i almost can’t reach the step below and have to just barely catch it with the balls of my feet. it’s also just generally been good to take the stairs super slow going up or down because you really can’t use the railing — putting enough weight on it to really rely on it at all requires using chest muscles, so the best i’ve been able to do is just rest my hand on it in case of emergency (because i’d rather hurt my chest than crack my head open if it comes to that).

one of the things that makes the stairs hard is that my center of balance is off from hunching, and that definitely affects my walking too. it’s less pronounced now that i’m in the habit of using the pillow to walk straighter, but i have to take shorter strides and sort of shuffle around because longer strides need better balance, and even with the shuffle i’m stumbling more than usual. i already have some balance problems so i’m pretty used to the feeling of it, but it has freaked my parents out a couple times to see me start listing to one side before i catch myself.

fuck reflexes. reflexes are the actual worst. something i didn’t anticipate is that no matter how careful you are to not reach your arms too far or move them too fast, you can never totally account for what you do if something starts falling. a few times now, i’ve definitely reached too far or fast before stopping myself because i saw something about to go down and my brain instinctively told my hands to catch it. i’m not sure if there’s anything you can really do about that, but it’s worth being aware of because it caught me by surprise the first time i did it.

one side of my chest has been consistently more swollen than the other. that side has also consistently drained less, and the fluid it does drain is darker and redder. we asked my surgeon if that was normal and she said there’s almost always one side that drains more than the other, but it’s still something we’ve been keeping an eye on. hopefully i’ll be able to get a more concrete answer at my post-op, once she can see the swelling up close and look at the drainage numbers from the past week.

as i’ve been getting some use of my body back, the pain in my chest has gotten a bit more obvious. it’s milder pain, and when i’m not doing anything it’s mostly painless to the point where i’m going a lot longer between tylenol doses, but when i’m using my body, i can definitely feel it. the fact that i’m not avoiding physical activity like the plague as much means i’m noticing more pain even though objectively my pain levels have gone down — the things that hurt now didn’t hurt less before, i just didn’t even attempt them before because i knew they would hurt so much. now that the pain is down, i can try more things, which means i’m more likely to try something that ends up hurting. of course, you should always try to follow the if-it-hurts-then-stop rule, but you can’t avoid the pain altogether as you learn your body’s boundaries, so i ended up getting to a point where getting better feels like getting worse.

on that note, i’ve also learned that there’s a pretty distinct difference between milder “i should proceed with caution” pain and intense “stop what you’re doing right now” pain. as much as avoiding things that hurt is ideal, it’s not always realistic, but my body has definitely been very clear in telling me what i can and can’t compromise on. in the beginning i was really paranoid about doing anything that caused any pain at all, but now i’m more familiar with where i can push a bit further if needed and where i really need to hold off.

i’ve been getting chills much more easily lately, and they’ve also been SUPER strong. i’ll be watching a show or listening to music and something will give me chills, and it’s a really intense feeling all across my ribs, and even thinking about the thing that caused it brings on a whole new wave. i’m super curious to see if it’s just a temporary result of my nerves doing their thing or if it’ll stick around long-term. it’s not unpleasant at all, i honestly really like it.

i got some food for myself for the first time today (day 6) and it just involved slicing some pretty soft cheese, but wow, it was a workout for my shoulder. i’m guessing it’s because i haven’t really used my muscles in that way for a week, and because not being able to use my chest muscles means i was relying on my shoulder a lot more to do all the work of moving my arm. by the time i was done, just holding the block of cheese to put it back in the fridge felt like lifting weights.

i didn’t change my shirt the first few days but i’ve changed a few times now, and we’ve perfected the art of getting a button up shirt on me without overreaching my arms at all. basically, you want to put both arms into the sleeves before you lift the shirt up onto your shoulders, because once the shirt is on one shoulder, you have to reach back a lot farther to get to the other sleeve. once you have both arms in, you can lift it onto your shoulders and button it. ideally, whoever’s helping you should do most of the work to pull the sleeves over your arms so you don’t have to stretch your arm out to get them on. i’m sure that’ll be overkill once i have a bit more mobility, but for now, it works great. it definitely would be tough if the shirt was fitted though, so i’m glad i went up a size.

i hope my posts like this have been helpful, or at least interesting to read! i’ll definitely keep updating as time goes on and things change, and i’m also going to work on a breakdown of my experience at the hospital pre- and post-op, as well as my post-op appointment experience once that happens tomorrow.

y’all are getting the good, the bad, and the ugly of my recovery experience. i know a lot of this has been very focused on the bad and the ugly so far because surgery is generally rough, but i’m going to see my chest again tomorrow so stay tuned for some good!

[gravity-falls-fanatic89]

November's Naughty and Nice Stories

Day 7: Coffee Date

Stan x Reader fluff

Some language!

It was chilly and overcast as Stan drove the car into Gravity Falls, wanting to take you out, and show you off, enjoying your company.

He parked the car, and you two walked in and out of the little shops on the main street, him with his arm around you while you rested your head on his chest as you browsed together. He was all dressed up, wearing his tan suit and red dress shirt just so. He didn't have his fez today, and you couldn't help but keep admiring him, all while he was doing so in turn to you.

"Stan, could we go look in the book store? I wanted to see if they had anything new I could pick up...I just finished the last one Ford suggested on urban legends," and you laughed a little. "He said it should have honestly been in the non-fiction section, but people never learn."

"You can go ahead, babe...I was goin' to go down to the dry cleaners and see if they got my shirts done....Don't tell Ford, but I snuck a bunch of his sweaters in because they were reekin'," and he gave you a peck on the head, and then a longer kiss before you parted.

"I'll meet you back here in a half hour, hon. Love you."

"Love you too....And take your time. I'll be around. I know how ya get in there. I might just end up sleeping in the car waitin'!" And he walked down the street, as you stepped in the shop.

It was mostly books, but it had other things, like DVDs, CDs, and other media stuff, but you knew what you were getting. You ordered it months ago, and it finally showed up for you. But, you took some time, and browsed for a bit, picking up a couple books, some postcards for Stan's great nephew and great niece, and finally, your order.

You stepped outside, and looked around, noticing Stan on one of the benches nearby, and you snuck up on him, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Hey gorgeous," he said, smiling, and then pulling his arm around to you. There were two dozens roses greeting you in turn.

"Stanley! You didn't need to get those! Oh, they're beautiful! Wait, you didn't steal them, did you?" and you gave him an eyebrow look.

"No, I didn't, but I shoulda! The florist are the real thieves in this town!" he retorted. "But ya like 'em?"

"Yes, yes I do. Thank you, and I love you."

"Love ya too, babe. Now let's go get some coffee. It looks like the sky is going to open up on us."

You booked it to the coffee shop before the ominous sky opened up, and picked a quiet little corner booth near the window, sipping coffee together, avoiding the gawkers. People still weren't used to seeing Stan Pines, the miser in the Shack, married to someone that apparently "was out of his league" and "too nice for him", even if it had been over 2 years. But you just didn't care. You were in your mid 40s, and him in his early 60s. You've done nothing wrong.

"This is nice just kinda being away from everyone...Sorry these assholes still give ya looks about me," Stan said apologetically.

"Stanley Pines, you know I don't give a shit what they all think...You make me happy, and I hope I make you happy."

He smiled a small grin, but you could read his face still felt bad. He went into these bouts where he still had lingering thoughts you shouldn't be together. He didn't talk much about it, but at the same time, you knew he felt like you could do better. You couldn't see that though. You nuzzled deep into his jacket, and looked up at him, kissing his neck in a gentle manner.

"I love the roses. They are gorgeous. I love who you are. And I love this life with you," you whispered into his ear.

"Christ, hon," he rubbed his eyes. "There's a ton of dust in here....And I love ya too. More than you'll ever know. Thanks for stickin' it out with me. I ain't much, but I'm more with ya in my life."

You squeezed him, and remembered. "Hey, actually, I was in the bookstore, and got you something!"

"Huh, I don't read much, sweetheart, you know that. That's more of Ford's nerd thing."

"Just take it."

It was a little wrapped package that he opened, and when he pulled it from the paper, his mouth dropped.

"Y/N, you....How did you know? I mean, shit, I...uh..."

He held up the copy of The Duchess Approves, the Golden Edition, and you saw tears slowly come out from his eyes. "Thank you." He whispered into your forehead, kissing it hard.

"It's the "Super Boring Extended Edition" too! It's got behind the scenes of that one guy that plays Count Lionel giving his last interview at the hospital before his hair replacement surgery botched....And a mini documentary on the costumes...And..."

"I love it, hon. I didn't know you knew nothin' about my, uh, 'guilty pleasure'."

"Eh, Ford told me about it, and I've been searching for months since it was out of print. But, I'd love to watch it with you, if you would like me to."

Stan looked outside, and you both hadn't realized it had become a torrential downpour, and most everyone had left.

"We can later...For now, I just wanna sit with the most wonderful wife in the world," and you kissed each other deep, and watched the rain fall peacefully.

[suljaffs]

“S e c o n d c h a n c e s”

Synopsis: You and Katsuki are past lovers who didn’t have the best relationship nor mental stability for a relationship. When you come cross eachother at his family owned coffee shop, you both take the chance to reconnect.

Warnings: This is not nsfw!! It is Angst!!

Tags: GN!Reader, facialhair bakugou 🫦🫦🫦🫦🫦🫦🫦, breakup, adult!Bakugo adult!reader

The clock struck 5:00 and despite all the workload and stress that you felt you should be focusing on, the only thing you craved was a cup of coffee. Naturally so, you decided to pause your 3 hour work bender and take a walk down to the coffee shop for not only your desired coffee but also a nice fresh of air. I mean, It was 5 in the morning, who was going to be out this early?

Five, ten, twelve, and so on. You always counted the murals around town on your walk because it helped pass time quicker. After all, there’s only so many things to keep you entertained when you’ve decided to sacrifice paying your phone bill. Times are getting hard but you manage, somehow. With the shop that you were going to, you frequented there since middle school, being a close customer to the Bakugo family, the family who owned the shop. Every time you went, it was a wonderful experience of laughing and sweet conversations about life that never seemed to get awkward. When you first began to go back to the shop around three years ago, 2 years after the breakup, you always had a thought in the back of your mind that you would run into your ex, Katsuki. Sooner or later, that feeling subsided as each day you made your way into the shop and was only introduced by Mitsubishi and Masaru Bakugo. Some days, it was other employees they hired, fired, and replaced over time. It wasn’t something that made you sad. In fact, it was bittersweet. You didn’t have to worry about awkward interactions with a boy you once cried for because he was off pursuing his dreams of being a Hero.

As you made your way into the coffee shop, the chime of the bell signaling your arrival, you noticed it to be a few other people in the coffee shop. The look on some were exhausted, tired, and worn out. On others, it was smiles and laughs among a small group. You stepped up to the counter after the person in front of you was done, your head down, preparing to pull out a couple dollars, the amount u always spend. “Didn’t expect for it to be anyone but me.” A small laugh following your statement. A raspy, almost familiar voice rang out. “Yea, not sure, might be some kind of special day.” Even though the voice sounded assuring, you couldn’t bring your eyes up from your hands, scared it was indeed the face you associated with that voice. “What can I get for you today?” “Iced coffee, oat milk please.” Your tone was stern and though the people in the shop were still laughing, working, and living, the ambiance in the room shifted, everything felt awkward. “…..$5.00” you slid him the money, ignoring his tone which almost sounded reminiscent, and standing off to the side of the counter.

As you stood off to the side, you couldn’t help but watch him make your drink. It had indeed been him. Even though his hair was slick backed and he no longer had that look on his face that made him look like he never was content with life, he still had those same beautiful eyes you fell in love with. You couldn’t help but think that his new look was actually a step up from the last time you seen him: The way his rolled up sleeves accentuated his muscles, the conspicuous goatee that you can tell he takes prestige care of, and his sculpted eyebrows which you always had to fight with him to trim. It was all things that were oh so subtle but just so important and prominent to you. All things you tried to deny you missed.

“Here you are.” He handed you your drink. You decided to finally look at his face, taking the cup from his hand. However, he wasn’t looking at you, he was looking down. Just like you were. “Thanks.”

You decided to drink at one of the outside tables, needing time to come to terms with your emotions before you decide an appropriate approach. “Should I approach him?” “What if he doesn’t miss me like I do?” “Bullshit, he obviously does.” “But what if he doesn’t?” Too many thoughts at once, which you knew could only be soothed with a distraction. Work. “I’ll just go home and finish up that essay, worrying about this won’t do much.” You thought to yourself. It had been a prominent trait for you to avoid things unless it was psychically productful no matter how much your feelings yearned for otherwise. You got up with a sigh and made your way back down the street. You were a good distance from the cafe before you heard a calling: “Y/n.” That voice…

You hesitantly turned around to the sight of Katsuki only a couple feet behind you, breathing rapidly in an attempt to collect himself. Was this real life? “I just.. I had to say something, Y/n… I don’t want to act like I don’t know you.” His anxious tone provoked something in you. You wanted to say something back, anything, but your mind couldn’t come to a conclusion as fast as you could open your mouth. “I know I was the worse but I just want you to know I’ve never stopped thinking about you. Never” He paused. Almost looking as if he regretted what he said. “I know it doesn’t mean much to you because we’re adults now and you probably hate me, but every time I’ve been on the brink of death,” he swallowed “And even now… i think of you.” You smiled at his speech, it was a bittersweet feel. The boy who u cried over for not communicating enough was now a grown man who was admitting to you his feelings. You couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, wondering where he’d learned that.

“What an approach… but I like the new look you got going on.” A soft smile creeped its way onto your face. It wasn’t that you dismissed what he said but you knew you couldn’t handle a conversation like that. Not so sudden, not now. “Oh this… yea, you know, I’ve changed… a lot.” His tone was soft, but just loud enough for you to hear. “Yea the hair changed drastically!” “Hey! It’s just to look presentable for my parents.” You both giggled like you were little teenagers again, sitting at the playground together because with you both going to two separate high schools, it was the only time you two met. Once the laughing segment was over, Katsuki had that look again, that sad look. “Y/n, please. I need to know, do you think about me too? Just as much as I think about you?” He paused, his jaw seemingly locking up. “Y/n.. do you hate me?” His voice trembled more and more. “Slow down..” you hushed him with a reassuring laugh. “Katsuki, I could never hate you.” You took a couple steps closer to him, hesitation in every step. “I’ve thought about you too. All those days walking home, stopping at that shop after school just to see you.. free coffee as well but also yk, the days where you cried in my arms about how tired you were of UA…” you took a deep breath to keep the tears from flowing. “We were kids, Katsuki.” You couldn’t resist the urge to take his hand, your hot hand grabbing his, cold. You fondled with his fingers whilst the sun rose, peaking through the clouds. “Tell me, y/n. Can we do It again?” His eyes closed, his head resting on top of yours. A big part of you wanted to say yes, do it over again and do it right. But the other half of you knows that it won’t be the same. The days where you stood outside his house, waiting for him to come outside just for him to text you saying he forgot about the plans and went out with friends instead. It won’t be the same, for the better. But is that a chance you’re willing to take? “I’m not sure, Katsuki.” Your tone was sniffled though you weren’t crying… yet. He intertwined his fingers with yours, taking your hand to his mouth. “I’m sorry.” He said with a whisper as he planted a deep kiss on your hand. “I was dumb and stupid.” He placed another. “But if it’s not what you want, I won’t force it. Just know that I love you y/n. Always will. And I feel like a fool but I miss you so so so much. if I had a chance to get back that pure love you gave me, I would take it without hesitation.” “Me too… me too.” You closed your eyes too, leaning into him whilst taking in the moment for what it’s worth because you both understood sooner or later, you had to let go.

“Bye.” His words struck you as he untwined his fingers, retreating himself from you. As you watched him walk the opposite way, you could feel the tears in your eyes start to form. There was so much more you wanted to say but it would amount to nothing, so much you wanted to tell him. You shrugged it off and turned away from him, continuing your walk back home against your will. Five, ten, twelve, and so on. But one thing that struck you on your walk now was that he wasn’t by your side. After all, before it was just you waking alone, it was him teaching you how to use the murals as direction, and in the back of your mind you sometimes feel 16 again, with him counting by your side.

[whoisneo404]

If you have the chance could you possibly continue Proud of you, buddy . Maybe it could be him asking the boy out and calling nick to tell him or him coming out to the family and nick just there supporting him through it ( also wanted to tell you that i love your stories )

Proud of you, buddy. Part 2.

Summary: after talking with Nick, you stayed up all night thinking about confessing your feelings to Jackson, you decided that tomorrow (Friday) will be the best day to do it, since it will be the start of your summer break.

Tw: cursing.

I wanted this to be perfect. Last night I couldn’t sleep, so I made it Nicks problem.

‘’You know I am bad at crafts.’’ He said while folding the color papers I gave him.

‘’I know, but I need help. This paper bouquet won’t do itself.’’ Nick rolls his eyes.

‘’What are you doing anyways that you don’t do the bouquet for your boyfriend.’’

‘’He’s not my boyfriend, shut up. I’m writing him a letter.’’ I blush and look down at the empty piece of paper infront of me.

‘’Oh boy, teenage love is so cute, I feel like a grandpa right now.’’

‘’Yeah, ‘cus you are old.’’ I laugh and he scoffs.

‘’I won’t help you anymore, then. My hands are too old to be folding these tiny papers’’

‘’NO, it was a joke, you are as young as a baby.’’ he laughs and keeps folding the papers.

‘’Hey, I know it can be scary, just write what you feel, yeah?’’ I nod and let out a sigh. Starting to write on the paper.

We talked until it was too late, we laughed and he shared his experiences declaring to boys and things like that. I knew I was close with my older brother, but I feel like this brought us even closer. I ended up sleeping 3 and a half hours, the next morning I was looking rough, Nick woke up early to help me pick an outfit and to drop me off to school with dad.

‘’Remember buddy, breath and say what you feel.’’ I nod and he pats my shoulder. I walk into my first period which was chemistry, I have to wait until 4th period to talk to Jackson.

I talk with my friends; I laugh with them. But I can’t shake away the though of Jackson and what he might say. I take deep breathes on the halls as I change classrooms, 3rd period ends and I’m walking into my english literature class, I feel some arms wrap around me, I look besides me and see Jackson smiling at me.

‘’Hi, why didn’t you wait for me?’’ he asks me.

‘’Oh, shit. I forgot.’’

‘’You forgot about me? AUCH. My heart, I am dying.’’ He grabs his chest dramatically and puts most of the weight of his body on me. ‘’Carry me, I am bleeding out.’’

‘’I didn’t forget about you, I forgot to wait. I didn’t wanted to be late again.’’

‘’Again? We are late to english literature like… 4 times a week?’’

‘’Yes, and we have it 4 times a week, you dumbass.’’ He stands straight, one arm still around my shoulder.

‘’Right, I forget. What would I do without you?’’

‘’Probably die.’’ He laughs

‘’True. You are my savior.’’ We enter the classroom and sit on out places, which are next to each other, we share table because the teacher says Jackson pays more attention and gets better grades when he’s with me, I think it’s because he just copies everything I do.

‘’Good morning class.’’ The teacher enters the classroom with a mug of coffee on her hand and starts talking about what we will do today.

‘’Hey, Jack.’’ I whisper and punch him softly.

‘’Hm?’’

‘’Can we talk at the end of the day?’’ I ask trying to not sound nervous.

‘’Yeah. Why not now?’’

‘’You’ll see. Just pay attention to what she’s saying.’’

‘’All right, Mr. Favorite Student.’’

The rest of the day went smoothly, Jackson and I lunched together as always. I wrote to Nick on the bathroom because I was panicking. At the end of the day Nick told me he will be waiting for me with a giant ice cream container, to celebrate or just in case.

I was outside the building, on the quiet part, where people didn’t hang around as much. I looked at Jackson approaching with a wide smile on his face.

‘’Heyo! What is it that you wanted to talk about?’’

‘’It’s a bit complicated.’’ His smile fades and nods.

‘’It’s all right dude, whatever you need I’m here to listen.’’ He pats my shoulder and sits on the ground, his back against the school bricks. I sit beside him.

‘’Well, there is something I’d like to give you.’’ His eyes widen and smiles again.

‘’Bring it out man.’’ I take a deep breath and take out of my backpack the card and the little paper bouquet. ‘’Aw, dude, that’s so cute. Thanks. Is it our anniversary or something? Why are you gifting me flowers honey?’’ he jokes, as he often does. I shrug my shoulders and point at the card. ‘’Yeah right, I should read it.’’ He reads it quietly, he bites his lip while doing so, a small smile on his face, I look down at my hands and try to not cry on stop. ‘’Shit, you are such a dork.’’ I feel his hand grabbing my face and turning my face to him, he kisses my lips. ‘’I like you too, dumbass. Can I be your boyfriend?’’

‘’What? Really.’’ My brain feels dizzy, I’m trying to process what jus happened. ‘’YES, yes.’’ After I can keep rambling, he kisses me again. We break the kiss because my phone is ringing.

‘’Where the fuck are you?’’ Matts voice sound on my ear.

‘’Shit, sorry. I lost track of time. I’m on my way.’’ I close the call and give Jackson a small kiss on the lips. ‘’Bye, see you at the dinner.’’

‘’Bye. I will be there, wait for me.’’

I rush to the car, a big smile on my face.

‘’Damn buddy, what got you so happy?’’

‘’Matt… I have a boyfriend!’’ Matt looks at me dead in the eyes and blinks twice.

‘’That’s amazing, I’m proud of you buddy.’’ He gives me a small hug and starts driving home. ‘’Is he a good guy?’’

‘’Yes, he’s really kind.’’

‘’Does he know you have 4 older brother that can beat him up?’’

‘’Yes, he knows. He’s cool Matt.’’

‘’He better be.’’

We arrive home and I swing the door open, Nick is sitting on the couch, already eating some of the ice cream.

‘’HE SAID YES!’’ Nick stands up from the couch, his eyes wide open.

‘’OH MY GOD, YEEES!!!’’ he hugs me and we jump happily.

‘’What am I missing?’’ Chris who was also eating the ice cream looks at us confused. ‘’Matt, who the fuck said yes?’’

‘’Don’t ask me, the news are as new to me as they are to you.’’ He messes up my hair as he passes by Nick and I.

‘’Chris. I have a boyfriend.’’

‘’A what?...’’ he stares at me for a few seconds. ‘’DAMN, THAT’S NICE, BUDDY. Come here, hug your older brother.’’ He walks over to me and Nick and hugs the both of us. ‘’Be who you aaaare.’’

‘’To soon, Chris.’’ Nick mutters.

‘’Oh shit, sorry.’’ He chuckles. ‘’Proud of you, buddy. When will we get to meet him?’’

‘’He’s coming for mom’s birthday.’’

‘’Oh, that’s cool.’’ Nick says.

‘’Yeah, I think I’ll tell mom, dad and Justin that day.’’

‘’Sounds like a plan.’’ Chris says. Then looks at Matt that was sitting on the couch. ‘’Don’t be a grumpy fuck Matt, come hug your brothers.’’ Matt smiles and gets up to hug us.

‘’Thank you guys, you are the best.’’

‘’We are.’’ Nick says.

[harrysmimi]

Harry dates the reader's best friend and after they break up, Harry and the reader start dating!!! lmao I want to see drama 😈😈😈

And also related to this and this request. I tried my best to incorporate it all.

I hope this met your expectations as I tried my best. I'm just not the best at writing angsty angsts.

Ps. There won't be a part 2 to this. This has an open ending.

Six Weeks

Synopsis: One where YN's love with Harry but she can't seem to confess her feelings

More of my work

YN had an hour left before she got off work, so she started on lunch as she skipped on her breakfast to get her work done early.

Working from home came with it's own perks, she could work whenever unless she got her 8 hours in. At the end of the day her work was done, just had an hour before she could log out and enjoy her weekend all by herself. Today she woke up super early and started on her work so she can have a relaxing afternoon and evening. Taking a break from her freelance work which she is busy with on weekends.

Just as she was midway sauteing some onions her door bell went off. Lowering the flame to her stove she headed to get the door.

"Harry?" She was surprised to see an unexpected visitor.

"Hello love!" He exclaimed.

"Hi, come in!" She stepped aside to let him in.

"Thank you." He slipped off his shoes bythe door before he walked in, shedding his coat and hanging it up on the coat hook by the door.

"I thought you weren't going to be in town for another week." YN said, shutting the door behind her. "Do you wanna join me in the kitchen? The stove is on."

He followed her to the kitchen. "What are you making?"

"Just some rice, I'm feeling lazy today."

"I was done with my fitting and all early so came back to spend some time with Mum and dad and Gemma, before I go back on tour again." He answer her questions she asked before he got distracted.

They both talked and caught up since they last saw each other which was more than six months ago.

Harry and YN met just after One Direction announced their hiatus and he was back in London. YN was a new student, happened to be living at his mother's as a paying guest. His mum offered a few students to stay in at her's only if they're willing to abid to her rules, which many didn't but YN certainly did.

Harry was surprised how she was so only focused on what brought her to London in the first place. Her only ever leaving the house to go to college or work (though her dad really helped her out as much as he could), gave her a lot of time to spend with her land lady, Anne.

Anne and YN really got along well from the get go. Especially since Anne was fine with her using the kitchen whenever she wanted the girls spend their free time cooking up something. YN was taught few of her baking recipes whilst Anne was introduced to her guest's native cousin.

Mundane and might be boring. But they had fun.

YN ended up staying for the entirety of her degree course at Anne's, and for another six months before she found studio flat to rent and be on her own with a stable job.

YN and Harry met over at Christmas time, a couple of meetings and he got to know sbe doesn't have any idea of his work life.

YN liked to call her the most boring person to ever walk on the planet earth not no reason!

He had long jair back then, he was visiting his mum and sister as they had a fun holiday planned whilst YN didn't. She had to stay back in London and work on her assignments as the new environment and degree course was kicking her arse for good.

For most of the time YN was locked up in her room, going at her assignments and projects. Learning to be a software engineer wasn't easy. Till this day she regrets not switching her career paths.

Though it took a long time for YN and Harry to become friends, it was the best friendship either of them have had. Given the fact that both of them are so much alike yet so different. Cliché but very fucking true. YN didn't needed any friends, in fact she only made friend's with just one girl from her class and that was it, after graduation they grew apart. Where as Harry made friends everywhere he went, even though he's as shy as her and as reserved as her.

Somewhere in those moments YN grew to harbour some (or more) feelings for him. He was kind, yet he found his way to annoy her in most adorable ways.

Just when she was about to tell him about her feelings, regardless of the possibilities of infinite outcomes popping up in her head Harry told her he was seeing someone. That someone was her only friend from College, Elodie.

Yeah, that felt like a punch in the gut.

Since then Harry and Elodie have been in an on and off relationship.

YN grew over her feelings somewhere in those years, Harry released his first album, started on with his solo tour. Her dad passed away so she has to take up the responsibility as the oldest child to look after her family back home. Her mum's a house and her siblings were all little when it all happened. That gave her another reason to just get over her heart break. Though her feelings for him manages to revisit her whenever he's being himself around her. Which is all the time.

But YN's been there for Harry through it all and his highs and lows with Elodie. Especially with his lows. She listened to him rant about things he couldn't stand about his girlfriend anymore. Even when she cheated on him and he cheated on her.

YN didn't liked that. It was all against her morals but she respected him enough to not judge him.

Now him visiting her gave her vibes that he was going to complain about his girlfriend. Surprisingly he didn't. Not until he started asking about her. They had sat down for dinner after YN forced him too join her.

"How have you been?" He asked, filling up his plate, "how's your mum?"

"She's doing great. Having fun picking out guys for me to marry." She chuckled.

"Never knew you were into arranged marriages." He looked at her, eyes wide, "is it still a thing?"

"I am certainly going to have an arranged marriage, unless I find a guy my mum approves of. Which have high likelihood, I won't, given I don't social much."

"Do you have someone in mind?"

"No, not really." She shrugged, continuing to stuff her face with food. "What about you and Elodie? Thought she didn't liked you coming over to visit me."

Of fuck! She shouldn't have asked that.

"Uhh, it's complicated." He hesitated, "she broke up with me for good last week over text."

"What the fu-" YN interrupted herself in time but the sentiments traveled through, "over text? Why?"

"She thought I was cheating on her again just because Kendall came to my show in LA." He explained, "I don't think I wanna do this anymore."

YN kept to herself. They've been through it. She had tried to talk some sense into him but he doesn't like to take advices because he's a grown man.

More like a man child.

YN had a lot of shit on her plate so she didn't found it worth to talk to him about it and them ending up getting into arguments. It put a lot of strain on their own relationship with one another which YN hates so much. So she just settled on humming in acknowledgement to what he shared.

"Hmm."

"Hmm? That's all?"

"What do you want me to say?" She shrugged, "we end up arguing when I'm telling you something which you're not going to agree upon on. I don't find it worth putting out friendship through it all."

"I thought you'd atleast... Never mind." He sighed.

YN tried her best not to roll her eyes at him and have her meal in peace. She put on TV with her favourite show. All for next twenty minutes she heard Harry sighing and being gloomy, which annoyed her. For many different reasons but one reason which had priority was that he's visiting her after a long time. They can be happy for once and not talk about person she has now grown to despise.

"Harry can you not?"

"What?"

"Can you not be gloomy for once?" She decided to cut to it, "we see each other once or twice a year that's mostly when I reach out to you, or when you have problems with your girlfriend who keeps on cheating on you! I can't take this anymore! For once be a good friend you used to be." With that she picked up the empty dishes and walked in the kitchen.

"Okay, I'm sorry for wanting to confine in person I feel safe around." His voice sounded much louder.

"You do this all the time!" She raised her voice to match his too, "all you talk about is what she when you don't listen to me, so now don't even tell me a thing about her. I don't want to hear it."

"Fine I'll leave then!" He grabbed his phone.

"Please, don't be my guest!" She gestured at the door.

Harry grabbed his coat and he was out the door. Did he regret lashing out on her? Of course, he did. But was he going to go back and apologise? No, not tonight.

YN on the other hand felt awful. She had never once asked anyone to leave her house under any circumstances.

She tried her best to be friends with Elodie. Her feelings wasn't a secret from her friend, that she liked Harry. Yet her friend proceeded to go on and date him.

Was it wrong that she said nothing about it? Maybe it was.

Harry seemed happy throughout the initial stage of his relationship with his girlfriend. That she didn't wanted to ruin. But she did warned him around the first time when Elodie was first cheating on him. He didn't believe her.

Then when he found out, he came crying to her after the first breakup. Then it kept happening, over and over and over again. It made harder for her to get over her feelings for him, it gave her false hopes of her chance with him. At least she wanted to tell him how she feels and get it off her chest there. Now when she chose to not talk about it for her own sake she did not expected him to lash out like that.

......................................................................

It was official that YN was moving back home.

It has been a good three months and life has been going on the same as it has been. Her mum has finally found a good match for her (according her it was). Being brown comes with it's own perks of skipping the whole dating option.

It was good she thought. The guy her mum told her about seemed nice. Vihaan was his name. Apparently he graduated from the same college as YN in the same year with a law degree. But he's planning to move back home as well.

Perfect! - is what her mum said.

YN had managed to squeeze in a few dates with him in her busy schedule. Now it something entirely new for her and she hasn't been on any dates really.

Today though, he had asked her to go meet his parents. It's not too early for it being an arranged marriage. But YN had some stuff she had to get rid off, like some pots and pans. A few things she had borrowed from Anne which were long forgotten and buried deep somewhere in the storage.

YN also happened to find a few blazers she borrowed for Harry when she was interviewing for new job (well be forced to wear those to make a good first impression). She never got to give those back to him because he was busy when she was free and vice versa. It was a hassle. So she packed the stuff to return to Anne and make a run to her place before she headed to meet her future in-laws who were in town. She also took the blazers with her to Anne's so she return them to her son who's constantly visiting her.

"Hello darling." Anne greeted YN by the door, "what all of this?" She was surprised to look at the box in YN's hands and blazer covers.

"Just some stuff I borrowed from you ages ago." YN said, slipped her shoes off by the door before she walked in, "like the baking pans for cakes and stuff. I never got to use them by the way."

Anne chuckled, "that's alright, you didn't had to bring these back, dove. What's with the impulsive cleaning?"

"Oh no, I'm sorry I forgot to tell you." She waddled in managing to carry a big box because she couldn't find any smaller ones with her puffer jacket on. "Can I put this on the counter?"

"Yeah, I'll help you with that." Anne gave her a hand.

"I am moving back to India." YN got back to answering her question, "I might be getting married soon, don't worry I'll send you the invitation. And yeah, that's pretty much the reason for me moving back home."

"Awh, YN that's so lovely!" Anne cooed, "who's the lucky guy?"

"He's from my city but he was a student in my college, I didn't know that. His name is Vihaan, he's a lawyer." YN shared, and involuntarily blood rush creeped up to her cheeks.

"Did you mum chose him for you?" Anne was already onto making tea for both of them.

"Yeah, she did." YN nodded as she shrugged off her jacket. "Also can't wait to get out of cold already."

"Yeah? It isn't this cold in your city, is it?"

"No, not really."

"And how long have you known Vihaan?" The green eyes lady asked.

"About three months. I've grown to quite like him." YN shared, "he's sweet."

"And when are you moving back? Got to through you a little dinner." Anne enquired.

"In about six weeks. But you don't have to. In fact why don't you and Gemma and even Michal come over to mine for dinner?" YN said, "you can also meet Vihaan then!"

"Now that sounds fun, will surely come over one weekend." Anne rested the mug of tea in front of her and YN mumbled her thank you, "and what are these?"

"Oh these are blazers which Harry lend to me. Can you give these back to him for me, please?"

"Why don't you do that yourself? He's coming over to visit with his girlfriend in about..." She looked at her phone for time, "five-seven minutes."

The door bell went off.

"There he is." Anne did her little excited walk to the front door to welcome her son.

YN did not wanted to see him actually, especially after the argument that day. Plus he was back with Elodie with new pap pictures all over the internet which Anne's confirmation to hammer the nail to the rumours, it broke her heart all over again. She has been doing great without seeing him and without talking to him all together. She has been able to slowly move on.

Also her moving back home wasn't for anyone but her mum who was all alone. YN get's to still keep her job and be transferred to the branch in her city and she can still work from home.

"YN do you want to stay over for lunch, I made my roast and there is cheesecake for dessert?" Anne suggested.

"I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to pass this time. I'm going to have lunch with Vihaan and his parents." YN shared, "I'll be heading out after my tea."

"Hold on, who is Vihaan?" Elodie asked, excited for some reason considering the fact that her and YN are no longer friends, which everyone is aware of.

"My future Fiancé." YN answered.

"As in your boyfriend?"

"Nope."

"YN, you're already getting married?" Harry butted in, "you told me about this, what? Like, a month ago?"

"Three months ago, Harry." YN corrected him.

"Am I invited?" Elodie clapped her hands like an excited toddler, her dyed hay-like blonde hair moving on her shoulders. "Come with me, whilst Harry helps his mum with something he got her!" She grabbed YN's hand and dragged her to the living room.

YN somehow managed to not spill her hot tea anywhere and sat down on Anne's sofa. The kitties are lounging next tk the fire place under their little blankets. Anne has still got the blanket YN crocheted (which took her about a year to finish with her schedule) for the kittens.

"Tell me about him?" Elodie asked grabbing a throw pillow to keep on her lap, looking behind her to see Harry following his mum to her garden with a pot with got for her as a just-because present. "Hmm, now you can just stay away from my boyfriend, can't you? How fun!"

"What the- what do you even mean?" YN was taken back.

"He's always with you when he's in town. Which he rarely comes back to London. He's always vacationing or touring or filming a movie or recording yet another Album." She complained. "And when he is in London he goes straight to see you!"

"What's the matter with that? He's working. And no we don't see each other every time he's in London so don't sit there and say that."

"Why not? He cheated on me. Wasn't that girl you?" The blonde finally confessed.

Harry confessed to her that he cheated on her ages ago. But he have seemed to leave out the details of with whom. It certainly wasn't her. Hell, YN haven't even thought about even kissing him after he told her he was seeing Elodie. It wasn't like her all.

"What the fuck are you talking about? He didn't cheat on you with me!" YN has had it.

It might not seem alot but her feelings have been bottled up little by little over the last few years.

"Yeah, you always manage to come in between us." Elodie shrugged simply accusing her, "didn't you tell me you like him. No in fact you said you loved him! I'm finally confessing it to you because you're getting married soon, so I don't care!"

"Then why did you went on and date him, didn't I tell you I have feelings for him and I was going to tell him?" YN's eyes welled up with tears this time. "You were my best friend and I trusted you."

If she were a cartoon her face would have been blood red with smoke coming out of her ears. But she's a pro at keeping her anger in check.

She watched the blonde's expressions change, looking over her head her behind her. She found Harry looking right at her. Now how much did he hear?

YN decided it was better to leave now to create any drama at Anne's house.

"Anne, umm, I'm gonna go now." YN grabbed her jacket and coat. "I'll call you later this week? To plan out dinner at mine."

"Sure love." Anne nodded in agreement. She could sense the awkward and heavy vibes clouding her lovely home right now.

YN could feel her heart trying it's best to burst out of her chest raw. As her

......................................................................

YN drove to Vihaan's place and from there he was going to take her to the restaurant they were going to meet up his parents at. Now it was something YN was very hesitant about. Meeting his parents without anyone with her. Yeah it is common tradition to take your parents to see your future spouse's parents. And it was too early.

YN got bad vibes from Vihaan's mum, her future mother-in-law. He had told her he didn't wanted live alone even after they got married as he's the only son and he wished to take care of his parents, which she was fine with. It is a thing in Asia that the older son takes care of the parents, which she doesn't mind as she grew up with those practices and traditions. But his mum gave her weird vibes even though she had talked to the lady a just twice over a video call and text. That's all.

Mother-in-law's have this very bad reputation of being controlling and manipulative, which so far Vihaan's mum fit checks every category off. It started off with talking about her reconsidering her continuing her job after marriage. Be a housewife instead.

Which haven't yet to tell her mother about or else she would have handled it herself. Her mum was very supportive of her focusing on her career and she would have still wanted to focus on her career. Her own mum gave up her career when she married her dad, whilst her dad was a good husband and a father, she struggled to take care of her kids when he passed. Now that was something she didn't want for YN.

YN actually liked this guy. He checked all the bare minimum boxes for her. He was respectful, and respected her decisions so far. She was starting to like him as well. But he ignored her when she brought up his mum wanting her to quit her job by diverting the topic to something else.

Well, she haven't been strong into dating game, having been gone on just couple of dates. Never passed the second date phase with anyone she went out with. It was a very obvious red flag for her. But she's still got a time to be firm and talk about it. At least to her mum first.

She still went on with it. "What's wrong?" Vihaan asked on the drive to the restaurant. She stopped at a red light.

"It's nothing, just had a rough day." She explained. "I wanted to tell you something."

"Hmm?"

"You mum asked me to reconsider keeping my job if we were to get married." She brought up the topic which he managed to divert before.

"She did?"

"Mhmm, she did." YN nodded and started driving again once the light turned green again.

"Well, what is your decision then?"

"You know it." YN shrugged, "I just don't want your mum telling me what to do and what not to, that's all."

"What? She's going to be your mother-in-law, basically she's like your mother." He chuckled, nervousness evident in his voice.

"But she is not my mother." YN pointed out, "even my own mother never told me to consider keeping my job. Like ever!"

"I respect her for that." He nodded, "we'll talk about it later, okay?"

"Why not now? You can tell you mum to not interfere, if we are to get married. We need to talk about it now, or else I would not want to live with your parents."

"So you want me to leave my parents?"

"Well, I'm leaving my mother too. It's only fair." YN tried to keep it cool. She haven't talked this much in a long time and her jaw hurt already. She prefered texting over talking over phone calls.

She's the silent kind of person.

"She have your brother to take of her, and he is now that he's got a stable career."

"You know he just started like two months ago, he's a fresher," YN reminded him. A heavy sigh left her chest as she tried her best to be calm. Or else she was going to run iver someone or run into a pole or a building.

"I am never say you can't. My mum just asked you to reconsider it, not actually quit your job!" He started getting defensive about it, his voice going up an octave.

"Don't yell at me, I'm just trying to have a conversation. Please!" She sighed again.

She was feeling the same heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach she felt every time Harry told her he's got a girlfriend. It felt so bad, and she couldn't pin point what she was feeling. But it was something negative. But she stopped her car on a side.

"You know what? Get out, please." She said.

"What? Why?"

"I don't want to do this anymore." She announced, "go tell you mum I said I do not want to get married her boy."

"Where is this coming from, YN? I told you we can talk about it. Later. Okay?" He said, trying to talk to her like she's a toddler.

"Don't talk to me. Like that. Okay?" She mocked his tone. "Please!" She gestured to the way out of her car. And he stepped out of car as she said so.

It wasn't an over reaction, was it? She knew how it was going to be. Her in-laws are going to manipulate her into quitting her job. That's how it is. Even if they agreed to her (whish they don't het to have an opinion on) keeping her job now, they would guilt trip her into doing it anyway.

Just like her own grandparents did with her mother. Whilst her mum doesn't regret quitting her job for her kids, YN was sure she would.

Growing up her dad always made her life easy. Hell, she didn't even needed to keep a side job as she studied abroad. He even paid for her rent and other expenses along with her tuition fees the best he could, she kept a job just so she could live more comfortably and not trouble her father much more.

It was very hard on her, in every way after her dad passed. Because she had no one to rely on anymore. People looked at her with pity because she's not a fatherless child. It gets to her but she tried her best to not pay any mind to it. She's got her mum for her.

She called her mum the first thing when she got home. Luckily she didn't got her lease signed off, or sold any of her things yet like she planned on. She was going to reconsider other things now!

......................................................................

Harry was furious.

As he stood there on his place watching YN walk out of the door. She didn't even pit on her puffer she was in that hurry to leave. He knew YN wasn't the type to stay and argue, she prefers to take herself out of the situation until it's all cooled down enough to talk about it. He doubts she's even going to talk about it. Or to him at all after this.

Now he knew why YN stopped being friends with Elodie.

He felt like a biggest dickhead and dumbass to ever exist that he never saw that she liked him since the very beginning like he did.

Harry had grown to be infatuated by YN the first time he saw her. That grew into a small crush and he started liking her. Hell and heavens, there was a time where both of would text about hours and hours talking about literally nothing, sending each other funny posts to keep a conversation going. Fuck, how he missed those days!

And to hear YN say that she was going to tell him how he felt but he beat her to telling her her that he was seeing her other best friend from college. He thought she didn't like him that way.

Honestly, he was feeling lonely but his feelings grew for Elodie. He wouldn't lie there but everything died soon when she first cheated on him. He didn't know why he got back together with her.

Maybe because he found out YN was going on a date with this guy she met at work. Though it didn't work out after the second date. He felt even more awful.

God, even his mum knew about how YN felt about him. She never told him either. Well, why should she? They were both grown up adults and it was their personal matter.

If it were him in place of Elodie he wouldn't even consider going out with someone their best friend admitted to like. Well, he did went out with YN's best friend, he ain't a saint himself. But he wouldn't betray his best friend like that.

All Elodie did was feed of off him. The clout, the career boost. And he didn't even saw it until his mum pointed it out to him after he told Elodie to leave. She was bug face in modeling industry all of a sudden, she was getting bigger and bigger campaigns, even big magazine covers. All because Harry did not care if she talked about him because there was nothing to hide. He didn't realise she was using him. Even after she cheated on him twice. Made a huge fuss about it, even in media about him doing the same. He wasn't petty to tell after her. He would never do that. Even to his worse enemy.

He knew what is it to be under media and public scrutiny, 24 by 7, every day of the hear.

YN was probably his only friend who wasn't the part of the entertainment industry in anyway who managed to keep him on his toes. She didn't worked for any celebrity, she didn't even bother to be friends with other of his industry friends. Even his manager. She hates him in fact.

He betrayed her. In a worse way he could only imagine. This has never happened to him.

He went into his head space of thinking about if he would have been patient enough how things would have turned out. With a mug of tea in his hands as he sat on his make shift bed of the sofa at his mum's, Skye and Dotty fast asleep on his legs over the blanket on his lower body.

All he could think about was the stupid fit Elodie threw at his mum's house, like a fucking toddler. Luckily his mum was nice enough to not kick her and him out of her house, he was embarrassed. Yeah, Anne is his mum but it was still embarassing.

"Wasn't it her?" Elodie asked, furious of Harry when he brought up her recent cheating incident.

"It was never her!" Harry exclaimed, "it was never her, now if you're done Elodie please leave. This is my mum's house."

"I know who's house this is!" She hissed at him, "she made you cheat on me because she wanted to take revenge. She told me she's in fucking love with you! But I love you as well! It's not fucking fair!"

"Then why the fuck would you go on and cheat on someone you love?" He pointed out, but he doesn't want a answer, "you on what? I don't want any answers from you, we're done and through. Don't reach out to me again, just leave please!" He walked her to the door grabbing all his stuff. Shut the door behind him taking a few minutes to relax himself there.

His mum saw everything. She didn't know he ever cheated on any of his partners. But he did. He never wanted to tell him mum, because she raised him to be a better person. But she heard everything. And there was no way his mum didn't knew, it was public affair that he had a hook up. Elodie made sure to make it a public affair. But he knew his mum chose not to believe those.

"Hey, it's alright." Anne still approached him with a hug.

"I'm sorry, I didn't wanted you to know!" His face was smooshed in her neck, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." He kept chanting as he sobbed and sobbed.

"It's alright!" Anne assured him, letting him get it all out. After he calmed down he did talked about it to his mum.

He did hooked up with this random person, he doesn't remember their name, he was drunk and high. It was after he had an yet another huge argument with Elodie. He ended up taking that person his place he shared with her when she was on a trip for her runway show.

Confessing it and getting it all out was something which put him at ease there. He had one less thing weighing on his shoulders.

His mum convinced him to stay the night, so he made the sofa his home where Anne's cats usually sleep at night. But none of them were asleep really, running around like they're in a forest. Well half them were asleep on him though, so he couldn't move much.

He remembered, YN adores Anne's cats so much! And the feeling are mutually from the felines as well. They're not as kind to him as they're being now, maybe they can sense he's sad and feeling low. With Skye and Dotty both purring loudly on him, he didn't mind the smuggles. He needed that.

He was really sad. Not because he broke up with with his girlfriend. God, no! He wasn't. He couldn't bring himself to love Elodie again after this second time she cheated on him. They were through it, talked it out, but he saw that still coming through.

He was sad because YN was there the whole time. If he had waited for some time. Only if...

He feels bad being an asshole to her that day. She was still being nice to him, made extra food because he was over just in time. They were sat in her living like usual, not having to talk much and just enjoy one another's company there. He fucked it up.

YN was probably tired of his shit that she refused to talk about it. He gets it now. She probably still feels hurt though he doesn't want to assume, she was seeing someone else now.

But that doesn't mean he can't talk it out. So he tried to reach for his phone and immediately called YN to check in on her. She seemed so hurt when she walked out. But her line was busy. He felt even more horrible.

......................................................................

It has been a month, and YN was still miserable. She just had two weeks until she could finally go home for a while.

Everything started to feel overwhelming to her. Even working from home. She ordered groceries online to not having to leave her flat. Her car was probably going to hate her. So was her body when she eventually has to leave her flat for something or the other.

But she lost it and called her mum to tell her everything. Better share it with anyone than bottle it up. She was in her bed crying her heart out talking to her mum on the call. This is something she would go to Harry to talk about. But he's the reason she's crying now. And maybe that asshole Vihaan.

She liked him. The feelings were real. Her intuitions were never wrong. Well, maybe they were wrong with Elodie but with Vihaan they were not.

Apparently there was a huge scandal made of this issue back home, she had not energy to deal with whatsoever. Typical brown people behaviour it was. All she needed to know was that the marriage was going to be a total scam for her.

"Mumma, I really don't know what to do!" She sobbed into her pillow.

"I know it's going to be hard. Why didn't you tell him that you like him? You have." Her mum tried to console YN the best she could over a phone call.

"Because he was dating my best friend. Or he is, I don't know. I don't want to get in between my best friend and her boyfriend. That's not me!"

"And she did the same to you, did you tell her that you like this guy?" Her mum pointed out.

"Hmm."

"Now, we'll keep everything aside, okay? Come to see us for a week." Her mum suggested, "it'll help clear up your mind, hmm?"

"Okay." YN agreed, sniffling, "I love you Mumma."

"Hmm. Now go to sleep." Her mum scolded her, "and I love you too."

"Mm bye." YN hung up her call and put her phone back on the night stand.

It was early morning for her mum. She felt bad for starting off her day with whining and crying and complaining. But she has been crying non-stop since midnight and it's now half past three in the morning for her. Her head was throbbing as her eyes burn from dried up tears. There is so much of crying one can do.

She didn't even know why she was crying, that was making her cry even more. Her whole body ached which just added to her misery.

Yeah, YN you're probably overreacting, just go to fucking sleep! - she scolded herself.

Just as she was about to go back to sleep, sinking deep into her fluffy blankets with her hood on, her phone started ringing. It was from Harry she noticed from the red heart emojis which were on either of his initial letter. She turned her phone to silent.

It was nine in the morning. She hadn't slept a blink. But when she finally was going to sleep, there was a knock on her door.

Contemplating she gave up just ignoring him for many reasons, he might make more noise and her neighbours would be mad, or he might sit there entire day and night, talk to her through the door because she lives in a studio flat and her bedroom is literally in her living room, he'd do anything but leave.

"Hey, YN it's me, Harry." She heard him through the door before his knuckles met the hardwood again.

Harry on the other side of the door, tried to knock on her door, hitting his knuckles again on the door.

YN somehow managed to pull herself put of her bed. All she wanted to do was be miserable on her weekend before she could continue to be miserable back home for a couple of weeks. But here Harry was, knocking her door. Wrapping her fluffy blanket around her, she went to check on the door.

"Hi," Harry sighed in relief seeing her finally. "I, I wanna talk to you, cam I come in please?"

She just stepped aside to let her in. Right away he noticed her flat was pitch dark, with the light blocking curtains still closed up. He also noticed how red, puffy and swollen her eyes her, eyelashes still wet from tears.

YN just wanted to sleep in compensation of what she missed at night. That's all.

"YN-"

"Did I left out something to return?" She was already ready to sift through her boxes which were meant to shipped back home but she never got to take of those, so now half of them shoved into her closet and piled up in a corner.

"No, no— what, what are these boxes for?" Harry stuttered seeing all the boxes. She just shrugged for his dismay. "Came over to check up on you. You alright?"

Does her puffy, red eyes, runny nose and rosy cheeks look look alright to you, Harry? He thought to himself. He also noticed a big pile of laundry eating up her laundry basket by the bathroom door. She did not liked to leave dirty clothes piled up like that, whenever he was over, her washer in the kitchen was always running with something or other. Her electricity bill was mostly from running her washer, he wondered.

"YN!" He sighed and grabbed her hand to drag her to the bed, he made her sit there and found a place for himself on the floor in front of her. "YN, I'm so, so, so sorry, my love!" He proceeded to lace his fingers through hers because she let him as she stared right back at him. "I can't tell you how sorry I am for not seeing through it all. Everyone knew, even Dotty knew and I didn't. I'm so fucking sorry!"

He was referring to the conversation he heard of YN and Elodie. His ex took advantage of everyone. It wasn't fair.

Only if, he wasn't stupid and dumb and blind and dickhead it would have all been so fucking different! Only if!

"It took me six long weeks to come and apologise. I don't want to ruin anything between us. I don't want to loose you as my bestest friend!" He sniffled, "I know I've already ruined everything but please consider giving me another chance, please!" He looked up ather with his puppy eyes brimmed up with tears threatening to escape.

YN hasn't said a word since she opened the door for him. There is no use in ruining her friendship with him. Yeah, he went on and dated the person once she called her best friend — well, it was her fault to even consider a shitty person like Elodie a best friend — but he was her only friend. She have gone through being only his friend but was it worth it?

Was it worth it? Of course there were many different factors contributing to her low time now which is making her depressed. It was winter, her seasonal dipression was already kicking in, although she wouldn't say she's depressed. She's just sad.

She wants to be sad.

No one qas letting her be sad in peace. Not her mum. Not her brother. Not her Boss. No even herself.

"I don't know what to say." Is all she said. And that made him fall in silence as well. His shoulders slumped as a puff of air sighed through his nose.

Harry didn't know how he felt, truly. He had been worse. He had just managed to pull himself back from falling into his drinking habits. He had managed to keep his hands away from his favourite vodka for a week, to clear his mind and think straight. All he did was sleep all day if he was not being asked to work.

Right, asked to work. He had no motivation to work. His head was empty.

"I'm so sorry for what she did." He broke the silence. "I'm so sorry for not listening to you."

"Hmm." She sounded, accepting his apology.

Well, it felt so good to accept an apology for what it is rather than just waving it off and giving it a label of "it's okay".

The room fell into deep silence again. An awkward one this time. Before Harry spoke again here. "So, am I invited to the wedding?"

Give him a break please. He's been suffering too!

Whilst he knew thay was probably not the right time to invite himself to her alleged wedding, he was just trying to snip the thread of awkwardness in the air which was coming to his throat.

"I'm, I'm not... getting married." She shrugged taking in a long break.

"What, what are these boxes for then? Thought you were going back..." He stopped there. He was falling straight into his typical behaviour with her, he knows he needs to earn for his apology to be truly accepted.

"Yeah. I am. I am going back." She admitted.

Well, she'll be back after her vacation is over, which is for less than a six week. But still she would be working from home back home. She just hadn't had the energy to unpack her clothes from the boxes, and her pots and pans were laying homeless all around the kitchen.

A part of her didn't wanted to tell Harry about it though. Not at least until he's all riled up in anxiousness and panicking.

Cruel. Yeah, she knew.

"What? Why?"

And like she expected he panicked, so she just shrugged.

"YN!" He sighed, "why? You said you're bever going back."

She was partially joking all the times she have told him that. YN decided to stay quiet again there.

"Okay." He nodded. "I'm really sorry. Really very sorry."

"I know."

"Okay." He nodded again, keeping his head down. "Do you want me to make you breakfast?"

"No."

"Okay." He sighed again.

"You know Harry?"

"What?" He lifted his head to look at her, found her getting comfy in her bed by the missing head board on her single bed.

"I'm so glad you came to terms with everything with Elodie and now you know why I'm no longer friends with her." She spoke, her voice was dry, nasally and hoarse from crying so much. "I've always had bad luck with friends I guess and I continue to do so. Thought you'd not be like everyone else. I was proven wrong the moment you told me you're seeing my best friend. Well, best friend back then. While all the time I have been very obvious about my own feelings towards you being more. Still, letting it go was the best thing I could do, but I'll admit it that I always felt happy each and every time you came to me and told me you're done with her. I'd gather up everything in me to finally, finally go upto you and tell you everything but I just couldn't. And it hurt so fucking much, hearing you be so freaking heartbroken pouring your heart out to me for you to just to get back with her. I'm do not want to sit here and hear another break down just for you to go and dump everything in gutter. And for you to tell me you reciprocated the same feelings for me. I can't bring myself to trust you on this."

Platonic heartbreaks hurt like a bitch if not more than a romantic break up. And YN couldn't bring herself to tell him everything just because Elodie qas once her friend. Doesn't matter they were no longer friends. It all went against her morals. And he never trusted her as a friend when she told him about his now-ex cheating on him shamelessly, without any remorse.

"I don't know if I just want to take your sorry and tell you it's okay, because it's not. To me it's not. It still hurts. I forgive you but it's not okay." She concluded her little confession. All Harry could do was sit there and process everything she said to him.

"I know. I know it's not okay, YN. I just... don't want to ruin it with you. I know I should have said that, not atleast now. But you're my best friend. My only best friend!" Now he could see his vision getting blurry with tears brimming up in his eyes, as he choked and stumbled on his words. "I swear I'll never talk about yet another break down of mine. I just don't want to loose you as a friend, YN. You're my rock!"

"Don't you think it's going be harder to stay friends after all of this?" YN asked. She felt a sting in her heart seeing his teary eyes. She barely falling for it though.

"And don't you think it's going to be better to be friends especially when we know how we feel about each other?" He counter questioned her, just to to get a dry and blunt answer from her.

"Nope." She shook her head, "I can't trust you or anyone for the matter of fact." And Harry's head dropped again as a few tears fell onto the fabric of his grey sweats on his thighs. "I need time."

"You promise we'll reconciliate?" He asked. "As only friends."

"I don't know."

"Please."

YN truly needed time to think about everything, get herself together. That's why she was going to take a break.

"I'm not going to promise anything to you, Harry. Really. I'm going back home for six weeks and we'll talk about it after—"

"Alright." He agreed in a heartbeat cutting YN midway.

"Alright."

"Can I hug you?"

"Mhmm." She agreed. Least to say he was just way too eager to hug her finally, nuzzled his face in her neck.

......................................................................

N O T E :

Hope y'all liked it, this was requested on Tumblr ages ago.

There won't e a part two to this one, hence why I left an open ending.

Ik the character of Vihaan should be explored more here but quite frankly I didn't know where to take that character so I left it there.

Please, please leave a comment about how you liked it and what you think about my writing. Reviews are great encouragement to write more. <3

Tag list:

@vrittivsanghavi @buckymydarlingangel @sweetwritingfanficfriend @theroosterswife24 @sleutherclaw @melllinaa @michellekstyles @sunshinemoonsposts @marialikescherries @japanchrry @onlyangelrain @originalsoulcollector @harrysgirl-1d

Lemme know if you want to added to the tag list

[runnning-outof-time]

Birmingham | Tommy Shelby x Reader (Part 20)

Previous Part

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x reader

Summary: Plans of taking over the tracks get thwarted quickly for the Shelbys as trouble makes its way into Birmingham. Tommy tells (Y/N) to stay away, but of course she can't for too long. Everything gets laid out on the table after a scary experience shakes the both of them.

Warnings: drinking, series typical violence, canon death, injury, blood

Word Count: 4426

A/N: here it is everyone…the final chapter of Birmimgham! Thank you so much to those of you who have stuck with this story…through the break and the drawn out postings. I finished it for you. I’d love to know what you think of how it ended (since I went with the winner of the poll; which was giving a ending that felt finished). Enjoy! :)

A/N 2: the italicized dialogue is taken from the show. I’d also like to give a special thanks to @alicent-targaryen for making the amazing gifsets that helped me write this chapter so quickly — they gave me so much inspiration! :) also if you’d ever like to know what the original ending for this was…feel free to reach out to me…if I get enough interest, I may just write it as a short.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

The story is finished! — I hope you enjoyed!

"Is Tommy here, or has he left already?" (Y/N) asked Polly after she entered the Watery Lane home. She found the older woman working on cleaning the mantle in the living room, and she couldn't stop herself from blurting the question out.

"He should still be upstairs," Polly answered, not even bothering to turn and properly greet (Y/N). It seemed as though she was deep into working on something.

"Can I go up?" (Y/N) asked hesitantly, not wanting to cross any lines.

Her question made Polly turn and look at her. The older woman quirked an eyebrow, probably wondering why the question was even being asked. "If you wish to. His door is at the end of the hall," she answered (Y/N)'s question. (Y/N) nodded, saying a quick thank you before she made her way to the stairs of the home.

She walked down the hall, stopping at the last door and taking a pause before she knocked on it. "Come," his voice came from inside the room, making her twist the knob and open the door. She saw him standing at the dresser, finishing up shaving.

"Hi, Tommy," she said softly, making him stop what he was doing and turn to face her.

"It's early, (Y/N)," he commented, surprised by her presence.

"I know, but I was unable to stay away...ever since you told me today would be the day; my mind won't stop," she explained her reason for being there. She'd been worried about everything that would happen today and couldn't stop herself from going to see Tommy before he left for the races.

Tommy finished up what he was doing, grabbing a rag so that he could wipe his face off before he then gave his attention to (Y/N). He could see the slight bit of worry behind her eyes, and he hated that it was there. For a moment he felt bad that he'd been the one to create it, but worry or not, he knew that she understood what had to be done.

"When will you go?" she asked him, breaking the silence that had fallen in the room.

"In a few hours," he gave a vague estimation, "I need to touch base with my brothers. There'll be a family meeting at half ten; there we'll discuss what will be done. I'd say that we'll be leaving shortly after that," he explained what had been on his list to accomplish. "You can come to the meeting, if you'd like," he then extended an invitation.

"I'll come," (Y/N) nodded, making her decision rather quickly. She figured that hearing his plan in full might serve to give her some solace.

"Good," Tommy nodded, a ghost of a smile teetering on his lips, "we'll be set after this, (Y/N)," he said to her then, his words riddled with confidence. (Y/N) smiled upon hearing it. She loved how self-assured he was; it was almost contagious.

"I'm worried," she said then, retreating back to her own way of thinking. She was itching to reach out and take hold of him from the second she'd walked in, but she didn't know if that would be received well or not. The last thing she wanted was him upset with her as he embarked on this big scheme.

"You shouldn't be," he assured her, "we've got the Lees on our side thanks to John and Esme, and Kimber will think that we're going to fight that family instead of taking to the pitches. He won't expect what'll actually happen," he gave her the rundown of his plan, still holding a great deal of confidence in it. Things were going to go his way today; he could already feel it.

"Ok," (Y/N) nodded along, trying to switch her thinking for his, "and I'll stay here...with Pol to make sure everything runs well on this end," she addressed her part in the plan.

"Good," Tommy nodded. He paused then, pulling his timepiece out so that he could check it. "Love, I should go now," he said as he slipped the watch back into its pocket.

"Ok," she repeated what she'd just said, "I just wanted to see you before you left."

"Come to the meeting," he said to her, a slight smile on his face.

"I will," she assured him, smiling also as she nodded her head.

"Come on," he said then, moving forward and placing his hand to the small of her back as he led her out of the bedroom and over to the stairs. She descended them first with him following behind. "I'll see you at half ten," he told her, walking to the door as she decided she'd stay back and see if Polly needed any help before then. It wouldn't be long until the time for the meeting came anyway; she might as well stick around.

Polly did in fact need help with minor things, and the women quickly got busy with them, passing the time between the meeting like (Y/N) hoped they would. It wasn't long until everyone was gathered in the empty betting shop; all eyes focused on Tommy as he explained the plan (Y/N) had got a preview of in full detail.

"Any other questions?" Tommy asked once he was finished explaining the plans. He looked around the room, waiting for anyone to speak up.

"Yes," it was Polly who answered as she made her way to the door that separated the betting floor from the home, "does anyone object if I bring a newcomer to the meeting?" she asked, looking around the room. Silence came in response, making her move over to the door so that she could open it slightly and whisper "come on," to whoever it was on the other side. She then opened the door wider to show Ada, who had Karl in her arms. "I'd like to introduce the newest member of the Shelby clan," she announced, a smile on her face.

(Y/N)'s cheeks were hurting from the wideness of her smile as her friend took a step further into the room. It was so good to see her back with her family again. Arthur was the one to start the clapping, and soon the room was filled with applause as Ada walked into the room. She stopped where (Y/N) was standing and gave her a smile, to which (Y/N) sent one of her own back.

"Welcome home, Ada," Tommy said to his sister, a smile forming on his lips. It warmed (Y/N)'s heart to see the progress being made.

She then explained the baby's name, earning some laughs from the group that was gathered around her. Arthur then went over to see the baby, taking him from Ada's arms and placing his peaked cap on top of his head. (Y/N) laughed along with the rest of the group as John poked fun at his older brother. Ada sent (Y/N) a smile before Tommy addressed her, asking if he was forgiven. (Y/N) stayed behind and watched Ada move over to him, telling him he was. She felt her heart swell as they shared a hug.

"It's so good to see you back with your family," (Y/N) said to Ada once she'd come back to her side. Tommy and the other men had gotten together to talk finer details of what would be going down. (Y/N) decided to stay with the women instead of learning more of the plan, feeling more comfortable watching Esme make exaggerated faces at the baby than hearing about how they were going to take over the races.

—

After things were finished at the shop, Tommy and the men decided to go to the Garrison to have a drink before they hit the road for the races. (Y/N) offered to join and help out, knowing that things would go smoother if there was another set of hands - hands that knew what they were doing - behind the bar pouring drinks.

Things were going well. (Y/N) was pouring with Tommy and the two had slipped into a comfortable routine. She wasn't going to lie, she quite enjoyed working in these close quarters with him. All was well...until it wasn't.

Arthur entered the Garrison with Jeremiah trailing close behind him. Both men were walking like they were on a mission. "Tommy," Arthur called for his brother, his gruff voice making just about all of the celebrations stop. "I need to talk to you," he said, his seriousness holding as he nodded his head to the stockroom that was behind the bar. Tommy glanced at (Y/N), who was becoming more confused by the second, before he followed his brother and friend into the room.

They were only gone for a matter of seconds before coming back out. "(Y/N)..." he started, coming right over to her, a sense of urgency in his movements and vocal tone. "(Y/N), I need you to leave now, ok?" he said to her, his eyes wide as he spoke; a tell-tale sign that he was now under pressure and needed things to be done timely and in a certain way.

"Wha...why?" she asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Billy Kimber and his men are coming this way," he told her, "I need you to stay clear of here, you understand me?" he searched her eyes then, his hands blindly searching for hers. It didn't take much to find them, and when he did, he squeezed them for added effect, "stay away from here," he told her again.

"Ok. Ok, I will," she nodded her head, sensing his urgency and falling in line with it, "I'll go and be with Pol and Ada, and I'll wait there for you," she then told him where he could find her.

"Good," Tommy nodded lightly, feeling relieved that she wasn't going to be mixed up in the middle of this developing plan. He was going to need to fight Kimber on his own turf now. It was something he could do, but he wanted to make sure that the people he cared for the most were out of harm's way. "Go on," he said then, dropping her hands so that he could let her leave.

(Y/N)'s heart dropped slightly at the abrupt loss of warmth his hands were giving her, but she didn't have much time to dwell on it as she was following his orders, exiting the Garrison at a hasty speed so that she could get to Watery Lane before all hell broke loose.

Tommy watched her as she went, keeping his eyes on her until she was out of his sight before he focused on the men that had gathered in front of him, waiting for their leader to give them direction.

—

(Y/N) was out of breath when she finally got to Watery Lane. She entered the house promptly, hoping that either one, or both, of the women that she was looking for would be present. To her relief, they both were sitting in the living room.

"Where have you run from?" Polly questioned her, a look of confusion forming on her face.

"I...I just came...Tommy told me to..." she stammered out, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath, hoping that doing so would allow her to get out a complete sentence.

"Come, sit down, love," Polly coaxed her over to the open chair and (Y/N) listened, moving over to sit and take a few more calming breaths. "Tell us when you're ready," she said to the younger woman, both her and Ada waiting intently for the news it seemed she had.

"I ran from the Garrison. The plans have changed...Billy Kimber's on his way here to make a stand. Tommy told me to stay away from the tavern. He thinks that it's going to happen there," (Y/N) explained once her breathing was normal again.

"Bloody hell," Polly hissed, exhaling a sigh as she heard the news, "they're going to get themselves killed."

"I don't know any of the finer details...I just know that they're going to fight them here now," (Y/N) stated, trying to push down the worry that was bubbling up inside of her.

"I've got to go," Ada finally spoke in the midst of her rushing to stand from the couch.

(Y/N)'s brows furrowed as she watched her friend move around the room, grabbing the carriage she'd brought with her so that she could transfer a sleeping Karl into it. "Ada, wait...what are you doing?" she asked, confusion present in her tone.

"I'm going to go make these bloody men see sense," Ada spoke through gritted teeth, making it apparent that anger and frustration were coursing through her. She moved over to the archway that led to the door before stopping and looking at the women, "because I know the finer details of the day, and I refuse to stand by and let this happen," she didn't wait for a response to her pointed statement after uttering it, instead turning and walking through the archway and out the door.

"What does she mean?" (Y/N) asked Polly as soon as the door shut. She was so confused right now. Polly just looked defeated.

"Freddie was to be broken out of his transport earlier today...he was going to come home and help with the effort at the races, and this was all to be done in accordance to Tommy's plan," Polly filled (Y/N) in on what Ada was getting at.

(Y/N) sighed as she heard what the older woman had to say. "She's going to go and confront them, isn't she?" she asked in a blank tone.

"She very well may," Polly didn't give a straightforward answer. Ada was a Shelby after all...Shelbys did what they wanted and rarely cared about the dangers that stood in their way.

(Y/N) knew this all too well. Ada was going to go and confront these two gangs of men. She stood from the chair with an exasperated sigh. Tommy's voice echoed in her mind as she stood; warning her not to go anywhere near the Garrison. She pushed it back, knowing that that was exactly where her friend was going. "I'm going to go and try to stop her, Pol," she informed the other woman as she walked towards the archway.

"Be careful, (Y/N)," Polly offered some words of advice, making (Y/N) nod before she walked through the archway and out of the Watery Lane home.

—

"I want you all to look at me!" (Y/N) heard Ada's voice echo through the empty streets as she ran as fast as she could to the Garrison. Upon turning the corner, she saw two lines of men, the groups facing each other. Ada was smack-dab in the middle, addressing both lines as they had their guns pointed at each other. She's going to get herself killed! (Y/N) thought to herself as she picked up her pace. "Who will be wearing black for you? Think about them. Think about them right now...and fight if you want to, but that baby ain't moving anywhere, and neither am I," she continued, her voice raw and full of emotion.

"Ada!" (Y/N) called to her friend as she made her way through the line of men whom she recognized to be the Peaky Blinders. "Ada, you can't be doing this!" she exclaimed, her eyes frantic as she rushed out into the middle of the standoff in hopes to get her friend to see some sense. "This isn't your war to get into the middle of. This isn't the place for you, or for your baby," she insisted, her eyes locked onto the other woman's as she tried to get her out of the middle of it all.

"I won't move, (Y/N)," Ada stayed persistent.

"If not for your own safety, do it for Karl," (Y/N) didn't back down, "this isn't your war to try to stop," she repeated her previous statement, trying to keep her voice steady as adrenaline started to fill her. She tried so hard not to think of what was standing on either side of her at the moment, putting her sole focus on her friend. "Come on...move for Karl," she said again, her voice softer now as she nodded to the carriage that was off to the side. They held each other's gaze before Ada just barely nodded her head. (Y/N) saw it though, and she moved Ada off to the side, hyper-aware of all of the eyes following her.

"She's right you know..." Billy Kimber was the first to speak up once the women were off to the side, "why should all you men die?" he asked the men surrounding him before looking forward, "it should just be them who've caused it," he accentuated his statement by brandishing his weapon and firing it twice.

(Y/N) squeezed her eyes shut and spun to shield both Ada and the carriage as best she could as pandemonium broke out in the street. Several men were screaming and Karl's cries had intensified before there was one more gunshot.

Tommy was the next person to speak. "Enough!" he yelled, causing everything to halt at once. (Y/N), even though her eyes were still closed, felt relieved that he was still speaking, because that meant he was still alive. "Kimber and me fought this battle one on one. It's over. Go home to your families!" he addressed the men standing across from him.

Nothing else was said as the sound of footsteps rang out, signaling to (Y/N) that people were walking away. She heard Tommy mumble something to someone, and more footsteps were heard then. She stayed by Ada and Karl, unable to really move as she took some steadying breaths.

"Ada..." a man's voice came from the women's left.

"Freddie," Ada breathed, moving from the carriage to go to the man who had approached them.

"Don't scare us like that," he said to her, allowing her to fall into his arms and cling to him. He closed his eyes and rested his chin on the top of her head as he held her tight against him.

(Y/N) smiled softly as she watched them reunite, feeling the emotion radiating off of them. She finally looked back at the street then, seeing that everyone else had cleared off of it. Worried about the rest of the men - especially one in particular - she left the couple's side and hurried to the doors of the Garrison.

She was met with agonizing screams as she opened the doors, and immediately realized that they were coming from Tommy. Hearing them made her heart drop to her stomach. Had he been shot? she wondered, worry immediately filling her body.

Arthur was the one to notice her presence amidst trying to help get the bullet out of his brother's shoulder, "go and wait in the stockroom, love, you don't want to be seein' this," he told her and she nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat and not asking any questions before she made a b-line to the stockroom behind the bar.

She waited there as time passed painstakingly slowly. Hearing Tommy scream out in pain was breaking her heart. She wished there was something, anything, she could do to help.

Then everything became quiet again. She heard some talking, but it was muffled by the door that she'd closed. She decided to stay in the room even though it seemed that the worst of it was over. A few more minutes passed before the door opened to reveal Tommy.

(Y/N) didn't wait for another second. She was walking over to him the second she saw him, her hands raising so that she could take his cheeks into them and bring his lips to hers. She kissed him passionately and with everything she had in her. Tommy's hands found the sides of her waist so that he could hold her against him, prolonging the kiss...as if she was going to pull away anyway.

"What was that for?" he breathed out once they'd pulled away.

"For scaring me," she answered him, an involuntary shudder coursing through her as she let her eyes drop to the bloody shirt that he was wearing. He's ok...he's standing in front of you, she told herself, her eyes finding his again.

Tommy chuckled at her statement, squeezing her waist slightly before he leaned in and kissed her again. (Y/N) happily accepted it, slipping her hands from his cheeks to the back of his neck as she reveled in the feeling of their lips moving together seamlessly. Nothing ever felt this good.

"And that was for?" she asked once she pulled away, breathless this time. She couldn't stop the smile from forming on her face as she looked at him again.

"An apology for scaring you," he told her, his words making her tip her head back slightly as she let out a laugh.

His eyes were still on her when she looked at him again. His gaze made butterflies dance around in her stomach, and she couldn't help but encircle her arms around his neck so that she could hug him; her head resting against the uninjured side of his chest as she did so. She brought one of her hands down from the back of his neck to gently lift his jacket where the blood was present on his shirt. She couldn't see much, but she still had to ask: "you're ok, are you?" Her voice was much softer now, worry creeping back after the excitement of the kisses faded.

"I'm fine, love," he answered her, his voice coming out in a similar tone. "Come on...have a drink with me," he said then, loosening his hold on her waist. She got the message, dropping her hands from his neck so that he could step away and lead her out of the stockroom and back into the bar area. "Under the bar should be a bottle of champagne..." he started off as he walked around to the opposite side of the bar so that he could stand across from her.

"Going for fancy today, are we?" (Y/N) couldn't help but grin as she grabbed the unopened bottle from one of the lower shelves.

"Figured we should...since we're celebrating," Tommy grinned right back at her, watching as she set the bottle on the bartop before going to grab two glasses. As she did that, he turned and rested his back against the bar, taking some of the weight off of his feet. He let out a sigh as he tipped his head back, reveling in a moment of peace after so much chaos.

"Is everything ok?" (Y/N) asked after she turned around and found him.

"Yeah," he breathed, pushing himself off of the bar and turning around to stand straight and face her again, nodding his head then for extra effect. (Y/N) nodded back at him before she uncorked the bottle and worked on pouring it into both of the cups. She tried her best not to mess up under his gaze. She smiled at him once she was finished, handing him a glass before she picked her own up and took a sip from it. "How is it?" he asked, his eyes not leaving hers.

"It's good," (Y/N) answered with a nod and a soft smile.

"You know..." he began then, pausing a moment before continuing, "someone I trust once told me, and I believe they told me here; in this very spot...that people fall for people that they know; people that they've been around and feel comfortable with..." he trailed off, and (Y/N) felt her throat go dry. Those words sounded all too familiar...like the words that she'd told him when he was grappling with Ada being with Freddie. He took a deep breath before continuing, "I want you to help me, (Y/N). With the business, the family, with the whole fucking thing. I want you, no, I need you in my life."

"Tommy this is, wow..." she couldn't finish her sentence, taken back by what he'd just proclaimed. All of the dancing around her feelings for him had led to this...the moment she'd been secretly hoping for for so long. But now that it was here, she was fumbling. "I'm not sure of what to say..." she blubbered out, her nervousness shining clear in her words. She'd never wanted something more in her life...why had she chosen this moment to be awkward?!

"Yes would be a good thing to say," he said, cracking a grin as he noticed her trying to fight back her nervousness, "it'd be a great thing to say, actually."

"Then yes," she breathed, a smile breaking onto her face.

"Then yes," he repeated what she'd said, smiling also as he leaned across the bar to kiss her. She caught his chin, holding him there and making the kiss longer than he intended...not that he was complaining.

"I think we'd ought to leave," (Y/N) said after they'd pulled away from each other, "we've had enough excitement for one day...you should get home," she suggested.

"And what will you do?" he asked her, wondering if they'd now be parting ways after all that just happened. He really didn't want that to be the case.

"I thought that maybe I'd come with you...someone's got to make sure that you keep clean bandages on your shoulder," she answered him, unable to stop the smile from creeping onto her lips.

Tommy caught that, knowing what else she could be thinking that would make such a smile form on her face. "I like the sound of that," he said to her, also grinning before she walked around the bar to come to his side.

The day had truly been won. Not only had Tommy defeated Billy Kimber, but he'd finally let (Y/N) know how he felt about her...and to his relief, she'd felt the same about him.

And for (Y/N)...she had a feeling that she wasn't leaving Birmingham any time soon. That was something she was perfectly ok with.

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