#unintentionally shutting themselves off from the world around them + how her.. Thing (what do you even call that beyond face/chinguard lol)

[msweebyness]

Theater Kids At Pride

And here it is! The last part of the saga! Enjoy, the theater kids are ready for Pride! @artzychic27 @imsparky2002

Recess

Science

Akuma

Missy: The ACE Shark Warrior🦈

She/Her, AroAce

Proudly showing off her shark teeth to the world, uses them to freak out protestors

Cosplays as Sharkboy and has learned the entire “Dream Dance”

Shark buddies with Austin Q, and they geek out together

Takes the time to patch up people who get hurt dealing with protestors. She has bandages and wraps in the colors of various Pride Flags

Everyone calls her “The Battle Nurse”

She’s beaten up too many attempted drink-druggers to count, she can see the signs from a mile away

Wears her ACE flag around her head like a bandana

Has led ‘raids’ on protestor groups

Jesse: Protect The Baby at All Costs!👶🏽

He/Him, Bisexual

This precious shy boy comes out of his shell during Pride, and it’s glorious

He lets Eri do his makeup and he looks absolutely gorgeous, has everybody simping. He always paints Bi Flag Hearts on his cheeks

Is Adrien’s brother in constantly getting distracted by things and wandering off. It sends the other 2/3 of the Broadway Baby Trio into a panic every time

Mylene: HE WAS JUST NEXT TO ME! WHERE THE HELL DID HE GO?!/Jean: I TOLD YOU NOT TO LOOK AWAY FROM HIM AROUND THE SPARKLY STUFF! HE HAS NO IMPULSE CONTROL!

Will get up on stage and belt a Broadway tune on a moment’s notice. People are shook by how powerful this boy’s voice is

Will occasionally cosplay as his favorite characters, he stunned everyone with an amazing Fizzarolli cosplay. (He even sang 2 Minutes Notice!)

Can occasionally convince Anthony to sing with him, and it’s amazing

Ayesha: The Pansexual Sunbeam☀️

She/Her, Pansexual

Dresses like a walking Pan flag, Marinette made her a bedazzled cape

She carries around WAY too much glitter, she becomes a walking disco ball

Her anthems are “The Smile Song” and “Raining Sunshine”

Endless hugs for the kids who had to sneak out of their houses, she’s adopted 12 at this point

Always leaves the parade with at least three dates lined up, people just can’t resist her

Eating ALL the Skittles. They’re the gayest candy.

Makes Chibi animatics of all her friends at Pride, they’re adorable

Everybody is hot, so she’s constantly simping

Dot: I Made the Schedule, and We Will (Maybe) Follow It!⏱️

She/Her, Demiromantic Bisexual

Wears a Bisexual pin on her lapel, and ties her hair back with a demiromantic flag. She keeps it professional

This girl can rock a brightly colored pantsuit

Promoted to parent friend since Candace and Soo-Yeon are off duty. Everyone has their GPS on!

This close to buying one of those rope-handhold chains for kindergartners

Unintentionally making all the girls simp because she’s so tall and gorgeous

Has bags full of healthy snacks that she knows each of her classmates like. They still need to keep up their nutrition

Somehow knows what everyone is up to and keeps them from getting in trouble

Petra: Let’s Paint The Town Gay🎨

She/They, Demigirl, Aromantic Pansexual

How can one human being wear so many colors?

Does a caricature booth every year, and is insanely popular

Occasionally helps Nath at his facepainting booth

Gives out rainbow bead necklaces and bracelets because they have an endless supply

Has been going to Pride with her dads since birth, and fell in love with it

Paints Pride murals for various businesses throughout the month

Will throw glitter paint at protesters if they won’t shut up

Is an absolutely amazing wingwoman and can get you a date in minutes

Anais: The Mad ScientACE🧪

She/They/It, Demigirlflux, AroAce

Makes smoke bombs that explode in the colors of different Pride flags

Hair died in AroAce colors, sticking out in all directions

Cosplays as Mad Scientists from various forms of media, especially anime. Dr. Franken Stein was a favorite!

Goes completely nuts, this is the one time of the year they don’t burden themselves with what her mom thinks

Supplies all the energy drinks, no one knows where it found ones with THAT much caffeine

Will go full LGBTQIA scientist on any ignorant protesters who are stupid enough to approach her

Roxie: The Asskicking Theyby We Should All Fear👊🏼

They/Them, Pansexual

Has knuckledusters in the colors of the pansexual and nonbinary flags and is not afraid to use them

Gets into fistfights with violent protesters daily, and sends them running away with their asses thoroughly kicked

Gets so flustered whenever someone flirts with them, because why does this happen so often?

Has too many shirts that threaten TERFs to count. Some people say they can turn one to stone with a glare

Can and will benchpress anything

Once vandalized a protester’s car after they tried to assault a trans boy, nobody ever figured out it was them

Has been adopted by the Dykes on Bikes

Anthony: The Shadow of Gayness🌑

He/Him, Gay, Demon of the shadows

Scaring the everloving shit out of protesters with a single stare

Still decked out in black, but he’ll add a rainbow scarf, and some colorful makeup

Simps so hard over his boyfriend singing

Will deck anyone who looks at Jesse the wrong way

When protesters accuse him of being a ‘Satanist’, he responds “Yes, and?”

Will carry his boyfriend at any opportunity

His anthem is anything Evanescence

Writes super morbid and gay poetry, the goth drag queens have claimed him as their own

Eri: The Witch You Could Not Burn🔥

She/Her Polyromantic Pansexual, Witch

Decked out in a full gothic ballgown accented by Pan flags wherever possible, including a full on velvet cloak of one

Does the class’ makeup, and everyone absolutely slays

Reenacts famous scenes from gothic theater, the Drag Queens adore this girl

Has called down hexes on protesters, who swore they actually heard thunder…and some of their houseplants died

Fog also appears around her out of nowhere, as do cats. She might actually be a witch

Adopting all the lil goth pride kids, she has an army now

Every once in a while, she’ll pull a Shining twins act with Anthony to scare some people

Knows any and all Hex Girls songs by heart and will sing them if she so pleases

She’s cosplayed as each member

Candace: Mom-Friend off Duty, return all kids to Dad-Friend📣

She/Her, Heteroromantic Asexual

The one time of the year she’s not the responsible one, and she’s making it everyone’s problem.

Has pompoms, hair ribbons, and face paint in the ACE flag colors.

Death drops and round-offs are ✨flawless✨

Brings a megaphone and makes up cheers to taunt protesters

Candace: 2, 4, 6, 8, only pricks and douchebags hate! 4, 3, 2, 1! Your wife is here, she’s having fun! GOOOOO, fuck yourselves!

The Drag Queens have unofficially adopted her

She will buy you a binder no matter the cost. She’ll buy anything within reason for you, really.

Eats WAY too much cake and drinks WAY too much soda

Soo-Yeon: Nope, Dad on break, too. Kids, go find the babysitter!🏀

He/Him, Biromantic Asexual

Proudly wearing a Jason Collins jersey, signed by the man himself

Victoria is willing to pay him for just the opportunity to touch it

Has a basketball in ACE flag colors, and has a TikTok account of him doing trick shots

He has over 3k followers

Drinking all the OJ, he loves that shit

Looming ominously over protesters

Will carry you on his shoulders so you can see the floats

Has cussed out a TERF in furious Korean, and thrown a perfectly aimed basketball at their head

Margo: There’s Enough Love for Everybody!💞

She/Her, Lesbian, Polyamorous

WILL wear her lesbian flag sweater no matter how hot it is

Passes out hand-knitted scarves in the colors of various Pride flags

Can hold multiple people on her shoulders at once, Reshma and Lacey both simp

Part of the Disney Princess Cosplay Squad, she blew everyone away with Elsa

Can throw a protester out the club while never losing the same happy smile

Has a DIY crafts channel where she makes Pride accessories, she has over 5k followers.

Gives possibly the warmest hugs in the entire world, open to anyone who asks

Staci: The Sane One…Until Caffeine😈

She/Her, Trans Girl, AroAce

Relatively calm and stable…until she downs about four of Anais’ energy drinks

She becomes Ismael’s sister in the Trans forces of chaos

She sneaks onto at least five floats, and pelts protesters with water balloons from a high vantage point

An absolute menace in the glitter wars, no one is safe

Has stolen TERFs’ car keys and will do it again if she feels like it

Hugging all the trans kids that had to sneak out. She’s TP’d a few homophobic parents’ houses

Parker: Troops, We March At Dawn!🪖

She/Her, Demiromantic and Demisexual

Whipping out all her self-defense and combat training on unruly protesters. She is now universally feared

Demi Flag colored camo all day every day

Brings her three massive dogs, Chief, Sarge and Boone, with Pride flag camo bandanas, and everyone fusses over them

No one on the planet can beat her in a push-up contest. No one

Teaches self defense to the kids at Pride. Everyone should know how to fight back

Mini glitter grenades. Don’t ask where she got them

Brecken: The Queerest Cowboy in the West🤠

He/Him, Bisexual

Making an impossible number of people simp with his accent

His cowboy hat is the colors of the bisexual flag, as are his cowboy boots and oversized belt buckle

Has lassoed some asshole protestors before and will do it again

Also has everybody simping over his muscles, he tears his sleeves every year

Will carry (or benchpress) anyone if they ask

Simping so hard over his GF, tells anyone and everyone he’s dating her

Has done drag, absolutely slayed

Has also been coming to Pride since birth, with his moms

Nearly died of happiness when someone brought a mechanical bull

Hugs for everybody, all you need to do is ask

Aggie: Lesbian William Wallace⚔️

She/Her, Sword/any weapon really Lesbian

Aggie: They may take my life…BUT THEY WILL NEVER TAKE MY LOVE FOR WOMEN!

Paints her face Highland Warrior style with the colors of the lesbian flag

Cusses out protestors in Gaelic and chases them with her club (Don’t ask where she got an actual club)

Wowing crowds and making people simp with skateboard stunts that defy the laws of physics

Gets into a parkour competition with at least four other people

Once brought a picture of her uncle and brought home at least twelve new numbers for him. It’s actually how Rohan met his boyfriend.

Also making people simp with her accent

Merida is her queen and you know she’s done the cosplay, complete with a giant stuffed bear

Simps every time a tall and pretty girl walks by

Mona: The Knight Who Says “Gaaaay!”🛡️

She/They, Demigirl, Pansexual

Lets her closet medieval obsession come out full force

Comes out in a full suit of armor with a Pan flag cape, and chases protestors in their wheelchair with a lance

Dropping Monty Python quotes left and right

Makes video compilations of all her friends at Pride every year

‘Accidentally’ running over TERF’s feet with her wheels

Thinks it’s the cutest when little kids ask them questions about the chair

Constantly getting lost because she zoned out or was busy daydreaming

Cosplaying as gay movie icons

Evie: The Bisexual Siren We All Want but Can’t Have🎤

She/Her, Bisexual

Belting out gay power ballads with the voice of an angel and the confidence of Lady Gaga

People seriously cry when this girl sings and she’s been offered and asked to do countless gigs and shows

Every year she wears a bejeweled Jalisco dress in the colors of the Bi flag, of course with a matching parasol, which she uses to fend off protestors

When she’s not slapping them with her gloves

No one messes with her man. If anyone tries to hit on Brecken, she will walk right up and kiss him. And won’t stop until they leave

Cusses out protesters in the calmest but most vicious Spanish ever, never once losing her composure no matter how pissed she is

Can flamenco in six inch heels, like an absolute queen

Turning people down left and right, but really nice about it…provided they’re respectful

Eloise: It All Adds Up to Queer🧮

She/Her, Biromantic Asexual

Whipping out statistics on idiot protesters like it’s no one’s business

Gets into a fierce Just Dance competition every year, and always wins

Cosplays as video game characters, especially anything from Kingdom Hearts

Usually has a bag full of gaming consoles, in case she gets overwhelmed

Always wearing a shirt with an LGBTQIA math pun, she owns more than she probably should

Is shockingly savage with people who get on her nerves

Makes sure her friends don’t go over budget

BONUS!!! Ondine: Your Buff Bisexual Mermaid Dream Come True🧜🏼‍♀️

She/Her, Bisexual

Winner of too many muscle flexing competitions to count

Woe to anyone who tries to arm wrestle this girl

Constantly making girls swoon by lifting heavy stuff

Will carry anyone if it looks like they’re tired

Slaying on the arms of her boyfriend and Queer Platonic Partner. (She and Kim take turns carrying Max bridal style)

Once cosplayed as Ariel, and six people fainted

The Cult of the Buff Mermaid Goddess may or may not exist

If any protester tries to touch her, they get thrown across the road

Has an amazing voice, and will belt out a Disney song if she so chooses

People would die just to be hugged by her

Hope you enjoyed the wonderful gayness! Leave your thoughts in the comments and reblogs!

[poptartmochi]

ykw on account of becoming a metaphysical anchor for the planet and thus becoming basically a ghost... I Think the tears/tear tracks can be a permanent fixture on her face 😈😈

[steddieassheg0es]

Steve is used to being appreciated for superficial details. The things that have nothing to do with him really.

He doesn’t think he’s ever been liked for anything that makes him him. Even Nancy, for all that they care for each other now, had only really wanted to rebel in the way that only cool, well off kids can. She wanted the hot boyfriend who she could drink with and have sex with and feel a little less like the girl from the cul-de-sac. Steve was just the body attached to that goal.

Tommy just wanted his status. The right hand man to the King. Never mind that none of the people who fawned over him knew the first thing about him. All that mattered was Tommy was cool by association.

His father…well his father wanted Steven Harrington III. The trust fund kid, Stanford legacy, heir to his prestigious business. The man who would marry the perfect trophy wife and have the perfect life. When that all went up in flames, he wanted Steve to shut up and stay out of the way. Try not to be an even bigger disgrace to the family name.

His mother was too drunk to remember he existed half the time. He preferred that to the cold indifference when she was sober.

The kids might actually like him by now. He’s not really sure. He knows he loves them all dearly. He’d give his life for any of them, nearly has a few times. But mostly to them he feels like a human shield. Good to take the hits and keep on taking them. Maybe a bit of comedic relief. You can always count on Steve to say something dumb and lighten the mood. 

(When he’s being less self pitying, he knows that’s not exactly fair. He remembers the surprisingly heartfelt “If you die, I die” from Dustin in the Russian elevator. Though he also remembers the unintentionally overheard “No one is around. Why do you think I’m with Steve Harrington?” from the same kid just the year before. So maybe they do like him now, but being freshly graduated from highschool and entering the adult world to have the only people who even remotely like you as a person be a group of children is a bit depressing. The thought that they’ll grow up and learn better, move on and leave him behind…)

It’s not until Robin that he feels really seen. It’s an unexpected friendship born from a silly little crush. Though when he really thinks back he’s not sure he ever actually had a crush on her. The truth is far more pathetic. He just hadn’t realized friendship could be like this. The only love he’d known before was romantic or almost fatherly and protective. A grown man who didn’t know friends could actually care for each other.

He’ll forever be thankful to have Robin, treasures their platonic love more than he can say. He knows deep down though that once she graduates she’ll move on to bigger and better things.

No one stays around for Steve Harrington. No one loves Steve Harrington. Steve Harrington is bullshit.

Even more pathetically, Steve is still a romantic at heart. Desperately needy. He longs to be loved, to be desired for more than his body.

Not that he doesn’t like sex. It’s just that he’s had enough shallow flings to last two life times. A few moments of pleasure followed by days of feeling hollow. Women who want to see if the rumors of his skills in bed are true, who want to claim a night with King Steve, who want to be seen with someone sexy on their arm. Want to tick him off their checklist and never look back.

They don’t listen to him. They couldn’t care less about his likes or dislikes, his dreams, his fears. Mostly they chat about themselves or if they’re a bit more polite they might ask him about his former glory days. Spend enough time in public to be sure they’ve been seen with him then take him home. Rinse and repeat.

So he gives up. He’s tired of shallow and can’t seem to find anything else, so what’s the point?

When the world doesn’t end for the 4th and 5th time Steve figures it’s the final nail in that coffin. How can he ever hope to find someone who will look past the noose-like scar around his neck or the chunks of flesh missing from his abdomen? It’s not like he can tell anyone. NDA’s aside, who would believe him?

At least his circle of age appropriate friends has grown. It’s not how he’d have liked to meet Eddie or Argyle, or get closer to Nancy and Jonathan, but he’ll take what he can get for as long as he can get it.

There was a moment where he thought maybe Nancy finally did love him. But once the adrenaline faded, so did the hope. Both because he could see she was only reaching out to him as something safe and comfortable, but also because he was doing the same. He’ll always have a deep love for her, but there’s truly no romantic feelings left there.

Nor are there between her and Jonathan it seems. Which becomes a weird bond for the two men, their once love for Nancy Wheeler. They understand each other better now, and adding in Argyle and his zen like energy and never ending weed supply they provide the most laid back company he’s ever had.

Eddie…he’s not sure what to think of Eddie Munson at first. He's known of him by reputation for a while (and he flinches at the thought that that goes both ways), but gossip does him little justice.

Eddie is vibrant. Steve never really understood when people would say someone could light up a room until now, because Eddie does. He’s so kind despite everything this town has done that by all rights should have snuffed that out. He’s funny, incredibly smart, and beautiful. Not just physically, though he is, but he has the most beautiful soul.

So really, it’s no surprise that Steve falls head over heels for him.

—

The day Eddie kisses him, his heart breaks.

He’s too needy to say no to this, to anything Eddie’s willing to give him. It just hurts to know that Steve’s done it again somehow, lured someone in close with his looks. Like the light of an angler fish, shiny and pretty and distracting from the grotesque thing behind it all.

He’d thought maybe they could be real friends. No one loves Steve but maybe Eddie could like him.

“Stevie?”

He blinks back into reality. “Hm?”

“You wanna say something? I just kissed you and you haven’t said or done anything and I’m kind of freaking out here.”

“Oh. Uh…right. Sorry. You just caught me off guard.” He smiles, because he’s desperate enough to soak up any bit of affection he can get, even if it’s empty. “You should try that again, I’ll get it right this time.”

His smile widens, more genuine, at the sound of Eddie’s laughter as he does what he’s told. Feels it against his grinning mouth. Wonders if he can swallow that sound, keep it with him forever. Something to hold onto when Eddie inevitably grows bored with him.

He waits for the escalation…and waits…and waits. But while Eddie does pull Steve into his lap, his grip stays firm and still on his waist. Never pulling Steve into motion, never wandering to touch. He gently sweeps his tongue across Steve’s lips, waits for permission to enter, then seems content to continue making out.

Not that Steve’s complaining. Actually there’s nothing that he loves more than kissing. He’s just…confused. Everyone he’s ever been with has always seemed to view kissing as a necessary part of dating or the unavoidable first step to a hookup. Never something to enjoy just for the sake of it. They always pull away first.

He considers moving things along himself, but hesitates. If he thinks about it, it’s possible this is Eddie’s first kiss. Small town Indiana probably doesn’t provide much opportunity for gay hookups. Maybe he’s just not quite ready yet. It’s not like Steve wants to rush things along. The sooner Eddie gets it out of his system, the sooner he moves on. And the last thing Steve wants to do is push him. Steve can wait. He’s very good at being patient. And if he’s Eddie’s first, well, he wants to make it special. 

He refuses to let himself think too hard about that. His first time was hardly anything noteworthy, he hardly remembers the girl. Eddie’s more cautious than he was, especially with being gay, but that just means he trusts Steve to keep a secret. It doesn’t mean he’s special.

No one loves Steve Harrington.

—

Steve just gets more confused as time goes on.

Things have changed between them, just not in the way he was expecting. Eddie is unbearably sweet to him. Not that he wasn’t before, but it’s different now. He calls him “sweetheart” and “baby” and “angel”. Holds his hand any time they’re alone. His kisses, while they do occasionally have some heat behind them, are most often soft and gentle. When they watch movies on his couch he pulls Steve against his chest, sometimes lays them down and curls himself around Steve, always holds him close.

He doesn’t even pull away when his uncle walks in the door, tightens his grip when Steve tries to the first time. Mr. Munson (‘It’s Wayne, boy. Mr. Munson was my father an’ he was a mean son of a bitch.’) just smiles at them fondly. Like he’s happy to see his nephew wrapped around another boy, wrapped around Steve.

More confusing than anything is that after weeks, he still hasn’t pushed for more than kissing. Steve’s felt him hard against his thigh when they’re pressed in close, but Eddie just politely shifts his hips away. Says nothing, does nothing about it.

Doubt begins to swirl in Steve’s mind, poisonous. If sex is the one thing he’s good for and Eddie doesn’t want it, what does that mean?

Is Eddie just too nice to tell him the truth?

He wouldn’t be surprised. Steve may not be anything special, but that wouldn’t matter to Eddie. Eddie is good, and kind, and wonderful. He would hate to hurt anyone.

The question is, is Steve deplorable enough to take advantage of that? To take and take until even Eddie has nothing left to give?

He’s really not sure.

—

The day it all comes to a head is really nothing more worthy.

It started like most days this summer have. The Party is gathered at his house, most of them enjoying the pool. Only he and Nancy refuse to go in, choosing instead to watch from their lounge chairs side-by-side. Nancy seems to be watching Robin in particular, which is interesting.

Steve of course only has eyes for Eddie. Who seems pleased by it, preening under the attention and showing off.

Eventually he drags himself up out the pool (and if Steve appreciates the flex of his arms and chest that is his business), and he surprises Steve by flopping down in front of him, Steve’s legs bracketing Eddie’s.

Steve laughs and shoves him, complaining about getting wet, but his mind is racing. They haven’t exactly told anyone besides Wayne about whatever it is they’re doing. All intimate touching behind closed doors. Eddie’s a tactile guy though, and no one bats an eye at him sprawled across Steve while he chats with Nancy.

He’s so lost in thought he doesn’t notice when Nancy leaves to sit by the pool and dip her legs in while she flirts with Robin. Doesn’t notice Eddie looking over his shoulder observing him. Stays unfocused until Eddie shifts, pressing his back to Steve’s chest and resting his head on his shoulder.

“Penny for your thoughts pretty boy? You look so serious.”

“Hm? Oh, no it’s nothing. You know me, not much going on in my head.”

Eddie frowns instead of joining in his laughter like he expected. Like everyone else does.

“Don’t do that, I hate that you let everyone joke about you like that. Because I think you genuinely believe it. You’re not stupid, Stevie. If you don’t wanna talk about whatever you’re thinking about that’s fine but don’t say that it’s nothing or that you’re dumb.”

“I am, though. It’s ok Eddie. I know I’m not…you don’t have to pity me so if that’s what this has all been about it’s not necessary.”

“Pity? I don’t…what what is all-“

Eddie’s cut off by Dustin excitedly bounding up to them, eager to share an idea he had for their next campaign. He gives Steve a significant look that tells him this conversation isn’t over before he indulges their favorite gremlin.

Steve wasn’t sure he wanted to pick this up later though. On the one hand he didn’t want to be the reason Eddie was miserable, feeling stuck with him. It’s just…he thought he had a little more time.

So he does his best to drag the day out as long as possible. With the kids being out of school it’s easier, he’s charmed all of their parents enough that they don’t have a curfew when they’re with him.

As the afternoon sun dips lower towards the horizon he wrangles them all out of the pool to eat. Dustin unwittingly kept Eddie engaged while he manned the grill so he didn’t get a chance to corner Steve while he was away from the group.

Now Eddie sits beside him, lets his hand rest on Steve’s knee as the kids thank him and dig in. He allows himself this moment of happiness. Everyone he loves together (almost, Joyce and Hop are taking advantage of some alone time), filling their bellies with food he’s prepared. The ever present protective anxiety in him settles.

He glances over to see Eddie watching him with the softest smile.

“What?”

“Nothing, just…you. Proud mama hen.”

He can feel his cheeks heat, which only makes Eddie’s smile widen. “Shut up.” 

Once everyone is stuffed to the gills they all change into their pjs and descend to the basement for a movie. They sprawl about on the couches and nest of blankets on the floor. Once Steve gets the movie set up and makes sure no one wants anything, Eddie shoves Mike to the floor and pats the seat next to him, ignoring the younger Wheeler’s protests.

As soon as he sits Eddie quickly tugs his legs into his own lap. When he tries to pull them back, Eddie holds him still by the ankles.

“Nuh-uh. You’re staying right there, big boy. You’ve been playing host all night, and you’ve done a wonderful job. But now you’re going to relax. If anyone needs anything they can help themselves.”

The kids all shush them as the movie starts so he just lays back and accepts it. Might as well soak up this last bit of affection while he can.

—

Of course, he can’t make the night last forever.

Eventually the movie ends and everyone starts filtering out. Nancy and Argyle divvy up the kids to chauffeur then everyone says their goodbyes.

Robin hesitates at the door, her gaze searching. He can feel Eddie’s presence behind him as he conspicuously lingers, clearly not intending on leaving with everyone else. Steve’s not sure what his face is doing but it’s enough for Robin to be concerned.

“You good, dingus? You want to do one of our parties tonight?”

He wants so badly to say yes. To use her as a shield to protect his heart. But he knows he can’t delay the inevitable much longer.

“Nah, I’m all good. You can go hit on my ex to your heart’s content.” He grins as she sputters before stomping off.

He takes a deep breath to steel himself before he turns to face the music.

“So…”

“What did you mean, earlier? When you said ‘if all of this is pity’?”

Well then, they’re jumping right into this it seems.

“Look, I…I get it, ok? I know I’m not the person people love. I’m the one night stand or maybe a fling. What I don’t understand is you apparently don’t even wanna fuck me. So just because everyone else is gonna leave me, you don’t have to stick around. It’s not your responsibility. I’ll be fine. I’m always fine.”

“Oh sweetheart…there’s so much to unpack about what you just said, I don’t even know where to start.” He looks like he’s in physical pain, Steve wants to reach out and soothe. Before he can, Eddie is invading his space, reaching out to hold his face. “Baby…how can you not know that I love you? Fuck. You’re everything.”

“You…what?”

“There aren’t enough words to describe how I feel about you. I could write a million songs and it would barely scratch the surface. And I’m not even close to the only person who loves you. Every person that just left this house adores you. Why would you ever think they don’t?”

“I’m not-I don’t…my own parents don’t love me. No one loves me. People always leave me behind.”

“Fuck your parents. Fuck every idiot you knew in high school. And I love her, truly, but fuck Nancy Wheeler. Listen to me, we all love you and none of us are ever going to leave you. Even if they move for college or jobs or whatever they’re not leaving you. And I’m not going anywhere without you. If you don’t love me…or if you stop wanting to be with me, you’re never getting rid of me. Understand?”

He doesn’t realize he’s crying until he feels Eddie’s thumbs stroking the wetness away.

“You really love me? You’re sure?”

“So fucking sure, sweet thing. God I’ve been infatuated with you since the day you verbally eviscerated Tommy Hagan in the cafeteria. But I was gone for you the moment I opened my eyes in the hospital and saw you there. I’d have told you right then but I didn’t want to scare you away. I couldn’t believe it when you kissed me back. Never thought I’d be so lucky, I just couldn’t hold it in anymore.”

Steve feels a sob tear out of his throat as he shoves himself into Eddie’s arms, burying his face in the curls against his neck.

“I love you, Eddie, so much. God I love you, I love you, I love you..”

Eddie shushes him, holding him close and stroking his back in big soothing circles. He cries like a summer storm, intense but brief, then sags once it’s all out of him. He’s suddenly exhausted. Somehow Eddie seems to sense it.

“C’mon princess, let’s get you to bed, hm?”

They make their way upstairs, both of them brushing their teeth and stripping down to their boxers. When they crawl into bed, Steve nestles himself into Eddie’s side and wraps himself around him. He can feel his doubts trying to claw their way to the surface but tries his best to shove them down. He may not understand it, but he trusts Eddie not to lie to him.

“You still awake baby?”

Barely. “Mhm.”

“There’s something else you said…about me not even wanting to fuck you?”

“Oh…it’s ok if you don’t. It’s just usually all people want from me so when you didn’t go for it...”

“Seriously, fuck those people. But that’s not…of course I want you, pretty boy. I just didn’t want to rush you. I know you’re not exactly inexperienced, but I’m pretty sure I’m the first guy? Even if I’m not…baby, I want you so bad it makes me dizzy, but I could spend the rest of my life kissing you and die happy.”

“Yeah? So if I said I never want to…”

“Then we never will. I’d never pressure you.”

“Well I do. Want to.” He hides his burning face in Eddie’s chest. “You’re so fucking hot, shit. You are the first guy though. Not the first I’ve ever noticed but I’ve never been interested enough to go for it. So taking it slow might be a good idea. And I…I really like kissing you.”

“I really like kissing you too, Stevie. Can’t get enough of that pretty pink mouth of yours.” His reply is cut off by a jaw cracking yawn. “Alright sweetheart, time for all the pretty boys to get their rest. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

Realistically he knows it’s going to take a long time for his insecurities to fade, but as he drifts off to sleep he lets those words sink in to his heart and for the first time in his life he feels loved.

Shout out to my beta reader @conversationswithamillennial ❤️❤️❤️ You’re amazing.

[cosmiclove-heavenstruck]

Midnight Quidditch Games | Harry Potter

Pairing: Harry Potter x Gryffindor!Reader (written with a female reader in mind, though the gender is not stated)

Wordcount: 3800 words

Warnings: none, just fluff and friends-to-lovers

Summary: Fred and George come up with the idea of hosting illegal Quidditch Games for all four houses every Friday night. Harry convinces Reader to play with him and they end up on the same broom.

a/n: No Voldemort Au, set in Harry's fifth year. English is not my native language, so there might be spelling/grammar mistakes. (Based on a headcanon by @/ murphcooper on tumblr)

Friday was my favourite day of the week, and there were two reasons for that: One, it was the start of the weekend, and two, we played Quidditch.

Up until fifth year, the most I had to do with the popular wizarding sport was cheering at the official school games for the Gryffindor team and attending the Quidditch World Cup in 1994. Then Fred and George came up with a very illegal, yet very exciting and fun idea, which was to host unofficial Quidditch games in the middle of the night that any student could attend. Whether it were First Years who could barely fly, or simple people that never made it onto their house's team, anyone was welcome.

The twins had planned it the first two months of their sixth year together with Quidditch fans from the other houses and had created lists for every common room, which wouldn't be readable by the teachers or Filch.

“It's illegal! What if something happens? What if someone gets hurt, how do you want to explain that to Dumbledore, or worse, to Professor McGonagall,” Hermione argued as soon as Fred and George had prompted their idea to us one Sunday evening.

“I'm disappointed. Do you really think we would work that sloppy?”, Fred asked.

“The house elves are in,” George explained. “Which means free food and free healthcare, all in one!”

“Awesome,” Ron said, and he should be proven right.

The only rules to attend were the duty to remain silent and to come in your pyjamas, just for the sake of it. Gryffindors and Ravenclaws would be playing against Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, Lee Jordan would be commenting as always and because Madam Hooch wasn't available, Hermione would be our judge. This was decided unanimously.

The first two games had occurred at the end of November, and they had been a complete mess. We had to raise the number of players on each team so everyone who wanted to play fit in, which led to three Keepers, six Chasers, four Beaters and two Seekers for each house. Furthermore, there had been a dozen of first years who couldn't fly yet and who had to be taught by voluntaries.

Those first two Friday nights I had spent with Lee, Hermione, Luna and Dobby on the commentary stand, cheering and eating chocolate biscuits. Once in a while, I had thrown a biscuit in the air for Harry to catch.

Because of the bone-chilling cold and pitch-black darkness brought by the Scottish winter, Fred and George had invented glass bulbs which carried bright orange, warm fire and hovered over the Quidditch pitch.

With the first Friday of December approaching, the excitement grew bigger and it was basically the only topic during every meal. Now that the rules and positions had set and the First Years could fly, we were awaiting the first serious game – as serious as playing Quidditch in pyjamas with Hermione as a judge could be.

“You have to play, too,” Harry said to me during lunch on Friday. My friends had tried all week to persuade me to play instead of only keeping Hermione company, while I had constantly declined.

“Yes, come on,” Ron agreed. “We know you can fly, you played with us this summer.”

“No, no way.” I shook my head and pulled the pumpkin juice jug closer.

“Why not?”, Harry asked, covering my glass with his hand. I raised my eyebrows, but he only grinned, which made my stomach tingle. But I glossed over the unwanted feeling and shoved his hand away.

“Because all positions are filled. And besides that, I would be a terrible Chaser,” I answered. “Or a terrible anything, really.”

“You could play as a Seeker,” Hermione suggested and poured herself a drink. “You're good at noticing details.”

“But Harry and that boy from third year are playing as Gryffindor Seeker,” I reminded her, cutting my toast in half.

“You could fly with Harry,” She said plainly. I stared at her with wide eyes. I should had known the moment I had told Hermione about my not-so-tiny crush on Harry that it had been a bad idea. Now she did what I should had expected: Trying to set me up with him.

“No, I – no.”

“But I wouldn’t mind,” Harry said. “And if you don't like it, I can drop you off at the stands again. Come on Y/N, say yes.” He nudged my shoulder, looking at me with sweetest puppy eyes. I couldn't say no to him, he knew that. I sighed.

“Fine.”

A content smile lit up on his face. “Brilliant.”

Around half past nine, we made our way out of the castle and down to the Quidditch pitch. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George, as well as a dozen other Gryffindor students had their brooms shouldered, following me and Hermione through the dimly lit corridors.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,” I whispered, tapping the Marauders Map, which soon revealed Hogwarts’ grounds, ink lines flowing over the parchment. Filch was strolling around in his office, and so was Snape. McGonagall’s ink dot hovered in the East tower of the Fourth Floor. “Everything’s clear, but keep quiet,” I informed the others.

Hermione linked her arms with me.

“How are you?”, She asked, a knowing smile on her lips.

“Shut up. What was that at lunch?”

“Oh, come on, I just said what you were thinking. Everybody knows you have a thing for each other,” She said, and I quickly turned to make sure Harry was still talking to Dean and Ginny. Hermione chuckled. “I made a bet with Ginny that you will kiss after catching the Snitch together,” She added.

I swirled back around. “You what?”

“But Ginny thinks you'll snog in a broom closet afterwards.”

Before I could reply anything, Harry had caught up with us.

“What are you two whispering about?”, He asked, leaning closer so I could smell his deodorant.

“Nothing,” I said and was glad that the darkness hid my tinted cheeks. Hermione let herself fall back, leaving Harry and me alone at the front of the group.

“You're a terrible liar,” He said.

“Says you. Remember last year when we had detention with Snape –”

Harry wrapped his left arm around my shoulders, pulling me unintentionally closer, and placed his hand over my mouth to stop me from talking any further.

“You promised you'd take that to the grave.”

I grinned and pulled his hand away, though his arm stayed around me.

We made it out of the castle without any inconveniences, thanks to Peeves, who – on orders from the twins – created some chaos in the trophy room and distracted McGonagall.

We were the first to reach the pitch, and Harry unlocked the door under the stands with the key on the necklace around his neck, which led to the changing rooms and the spare brooms. Fred and George had stored the fire bulbs under a loose floorboard and were now freeing them so they could fly over the pitch. Hermione directed her wand towards the sky, sending out a Muffliato Charm, then winked at me and climbed up to the commentary stand with Lee.

In the meantime, the other houses arrived; the Hufflepuffs were followed by a tiny body of house elves carrying fast food on tablets over their heads. They spread over the stands, consorting with the students watching the game and providing them with hot meals and drinks.

“Welcome back everyone!”, Lee's voice echoed over the pitch and the crowd cheered. “And also welcome to everyone new here who wants to play or just likes to break the rules.”

“Hello from me too. We have some new players I want to introduce,” Hermione continued. “Marina Florence playing Keeper for Slytherpuff, Arthur Mitchell deputizing for Gryffinclaw’s Chaser Demelza Robbins, who is currently stationed in the hospital wing, and Y/N playing Seeker for Gryffinclaw together with Harry Potter.”

“That's ridiculous! Since when are we playing in pairs?!”, Draco yelled out of the crowd of Slytherin players.

“Since I'm making the rules, you daft idiot!”, Hermione called back, and laughing echoed over the field. Ron's language was clearly leaving a mark on her. “Now get on your brooms, everyone!”

“Make sure you don't slip off your broom in those silk pyjamas, Malfoy, ” Fred snickered loudly, and Draco held up his middle finger.

Slowly, the huge crowd of players on the pitch flew up into the air, positioning themselves on the right spots. I turned to Harry, who climbed on his broom. That was the part I had avoided to think about all afternoon: How would we fly on that thing together?

My heart drummed so loudly against my ribcage it was a miracle he couldn't hear it. We were friends, I reminded myself. And I would not ruin this friendship for the sake of some stupid feelings.

“Come on, Y/N,” Harry said, stretching out his hand. I grabbed it, and he helped me to climb onto his Firebolt, so that I was sitting in front of him. His fingers gripped around the broom stick, not very far from where I had placed my hands.

“You alright?”, He asked and I nodded.

“Brilliant,” I said, and he chuckled. He then wrapped his left arm around my waist before he kicked us off the ground and the Firebolt shot through the cold night air. My back got pressed against his chest, his knees squeezing my thighs, and out of shock, I held onto his arm around me.

I hadn't flown since last summer, and even then it had only been on Ron's old broomstick a few feet above the earth. This here was the complete opposite: Harry's Firebolt was a hundred times faster, and it barely took us three seconds to be the ones flying the highest over the stadium.

“I got you, everything's fine,” Harry said somewhere close to my ear as he had noticed my hand clenched around his arm, and a warm shiver ran down my spin. I looked down on the Quidditch pitch.

“It never looks that high when I’m down there,” I said.

“Are you afraid of heights?”, He asked, but I shook my head.

“No.” Not with you. I could feel his heart beating against my back and absently stroked over his hand on my waist, until Hermione's voice ripped me out of my thoughts.

“Okay, I want a fair game and no injuries, is that clear? And show some respect to the youngest players! Now ready, steady, GO!” With a wave of her wand, the trunk with the Quidditch balls snapped open and the Quaffle flew high into the air, followed by two Bludgers. For a short moment, I saw the Golden Snitch, then it rushed off into the darkness.

“So, what do we do now? Any secret strategies?”, I asked.

“No,” Harry answered, placing his chin on my shoulder. “We just wait and watch.”

A tingling warmth spread through my body at the subtle touch. Gently, Harry steered the broom around the pitch, while the others beneath us played.

“Katie wins the Quaffle – passes to Montgomery – Rick close to score, come on – YES, Gryffinclaw scores 10 points!”, Lee bellowed and loud applause erupted. “And Slytherpuff in possession – Blaise with the Quaffle – Josephine Gordon from Hufflepuff takes over, excellent Chaser that girl, and rather attractive – OW, I'm just stating facts!”

Hermione had smacked Lee on the back of his head.

“Anyways, Blaise in possession once again – now First Year Conan Ivory – Smith overtakes – and he scores. Ron, look at the Quaffle, not at Hermione – OW! – But Gryffinclaw still leads – Ginny overtakes – fights off some Slytherins – hey, careful Harry, Bludger coming your way –”

Harry quickly leaned over me and the Firebolt dropped a few meters, dodging the Bludger rushing over our heads. George (or Fred?) darted after the ball, calling a quick “Watch it, lovebirds!” at us, and hit the Bludger towards a Slytherin Chaser.

The other twin was close behind, shouting “Less snogging, more seeking!”

“Shut it!”, I yelled. For Merlin's sake, did everyone knew about my crush? Was it really that obvious for everyone except Harry? Not that I wanted him to find out – he would be embarrassed, he didn't think of us as anything other than friends.

Harry's arm slipped from my waist and he cleared his throat, but a broomstick did not provide much space, wherefore his chest was still pressed against my back and I could feel his rather fast heartbeat.

“Do you, uhm... want me to drop you off?”, He asked.

“Oh. Uh, no,” I said, trying to turn so I could face him, “I like it, but if you want to –”

“No! No, I just thought...” Harry’s eyes danced over my face like they had never before and we were quite close.

“ – Applebee has the Quaffle - and that's a score! Sixty to sixty!”, Lee called, and Hermione blew her silver whistle. I ripped my eyes off of Harry and looked down to the commentary stand. “Now, we’re gonna have a short break, because Dobby thinks you're gonna starve otherwise. All the first and second years are asked to go back to their dorms, because it's almost midnight – don't complain to me –”

Harry carefully steered his Firebolt back to the ground where he landed near Ron and Ginny. I climbed off and was glad to be spared an awkward conversation, because Ginny grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side of the pitch. The sudden loss of Harry's warm chest made me shiver.

“Now, have you ever thought about making out in a broom closet?”, She asked, a mischievous grin on her reddened face. I rolled my eyes at her.

“Hermione told me about the bet, so don't even try! No one's gonna make out in a broom closet,” I said.

“Except you and Harry,” Ginny replied. I opened my mouth to talk back, but was interrupted.

“What’s going on with you and Harry?” Cho had caught up to us, snatching a plate with fish and chips from a tablet an house elf carried through the crowd. “I have watched you, it's adorable, honestly.”

“First off, there's nothing to be adorable,” I said and stole a fry from her plate, “and second, you are supposed to watch the Snitch, not us.”

“So is Harry, but he only has eyes for you.” Cho smiled and tapped my nose with her finger. Ginny giggled and ate a piece of fried fish. In the same moment, Hermione breathlessly jogged up to us.

“What – were – you – waiting – for?”, She panted. I furrowed my brows.

“Huh?” Hermione sighed and shook her head.

“You were this close to kiss him, why didn't you do anything?”

“Is my love life this much more interesting the Quidditch game?!”

All three girls answered “Yes” in union.

“But he doesn't feel the same way for me!”, I argued. “We are friends –”

Ginny grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around. “Do friends look at each other that way? I don’t think so.”

Harry stood a few feet away with Ron, Seamus and Dean, though he seemed not to listen to their conversations and instead stared over at us. At me. When he realised he had been caught, he waved shyly and almost spilled his pumpkin juice. I waved back at him before turning to the girls again, all of whom were looking temporising at me.

“Oh, I – I don't know. Even if you're right, I can't just kiss him out of nowhere on his broom.”

“No, you gotta snog him in a broom closet so I get my Galleon,” Ginny said smugly, and Hermione nudged her with her elbow and looked at her watch, before blowing her whistle again.

“Everyone back on their positions, break's over!” Then Hermione shot me a serious look. “Get the boy, we're all done of you pining over one another. Ron can get the other boys to crash somewhere else, if you need the dorm.”

“Hermione!”, I gasped, but she was already rushing back to the commentary stand.

“Good luck,” Cho said, and Ginny winked. I glared at them before making my way over to where the Gryffindor boys stood. I saw how Ron said something to Harry, patted his shoulder and flew off.

Harry turned to me, smiling. His hair was even messier than usual due to the wind, and he had put on a black hoodie over his pyjamas. He looked cute and hot at the same time, and I couldn't quite believe that he was supposed to like me back.

“Do you want to – or?”, He asked.

“Yeah,” I smiled and he got on his Firebolt, making space in front of him for me.

“Good. I mean –” He cleared his throat as I climbed on his broom. The next second, we were high up in the air, his chest against my back again.

“Okay, guys, game's on again! Go!”, Hermione shouted and waved her wand at the Quaffle, which flew upwards and was caught by Ginny instantly.

“And we're back – Katie passes the Quaffle to Valentina – She flawlessly dodges a Bludger – Back to Peters, almost made it onto the Ravenclaw team – and he scores! SEVENTY TO SIXTY.”

I took a deep breath and leaned back against Harry, watching the game unfold. He propped his chin back onto my right shoulder, like an unspoken routine.

“I think I'm gonna play again next Friday,” I said out of the blue.

“Really?”, He asked, sounding surprised. I smiled. The crowd underneath us cheered.

“Yes. If you save me a place on your broomstick.” I turned to look at him, and he smiled brightly at me. We were as close as earlier, maybe even closer. I held my breath, until I noticed something small and golden buzzing through the air behind Harry, illuminated by one of the fire bulbs.

“There!” I pointed at the Golden Snitch, and Harry's head spun around to assure himself.

“Do you trust me?”, He asked.

“Of course,” I replied. Instantly, his hand was back around my waist and he yanked the Firebolt around.

“ – Seamus throws the Quaffle to Dean – Dean passes Nott – and he scores! NINTHY TO EIGHTY FOR GRYFFINCLAW! And Potter seems to have spotted the Snitch, Draco, Cedric and Cho close behind – Come on, show them what that Firebolt can do!”, Lee's voice roared from somewhere deep down, but my eyes were glued onto the Snitch: It whirred through the ice cold December air and up to the left ring of the Slytherpuff team.

Malfoy had almost caught up to us; even though the Firebolt was the fastest broomstick on the market, it was obviously slower when carrying two people instead of one.

The Snitch twirled around the pole, then dropped down and headed for the floor. Harry followed, and now we where almost vertically flying downwards. Because of the sudden shift of direction, I swore loudly and clenched my hands tighter around the broom.

“I won't let you fall, I promise,” Harry called over air rushing past us.

“I know, but a warning would have been nice!”, I yelled back, and he chuckled.

The weight of two people on one broomstick also meant that we got dragged downwards way faster, which meant we were outdistancing Malfoy. The Golden Snitch took a sharp right turn and now buzzed two meters above the ground to the other side of the pitch.

“You have to catch it!”, Harry yelled.

“WHAT? No, I can't –”

“Yes, you can! I have to steer!” And hold you. But he did not say that. I swore under my breath and carefully loosened one hand from the broomstick, stretching it forward. The Snitch was inches away from my fingertips and I pushed myself up, Harry's grip around my mid tightening. The silver wings touched my fingers, I stretched my arm further and in the same moment my hands clasped around the tiny, golden ball, we fell forward.

“ – And that doesn't look – Oh, Potter and Y/L/N are on the ground. I can't really see, if someone caught the Snitch –”

As one tangled mess, we landed on the frozen lawn, rolling over one another and stopping with Harry half on top of me. My whole body ached and I would definitely get bruises from the fall, but that was something I could worry about later. I caught the Snitch!

“Shit, sorry, fuck. Y/N, are you alright?” Harry's face hovered over me, a bloody scratch on his cheek. I grinned happily and held up the golden ball.

“Yeah, more than alright.”

“Y/N caught the Snitch! TWOHUNDRED AND FORTY TO EIGHTY! Gryffinclaw wins!”, Lee bellowed and the crowd cheered and applauded loudly. Harry held out one hand to help me up, and I took it.

“I'm sorry, I know I promised, but I couldn't hold you any longer and –”

“Shut up.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips. My hands found their way into his raven hair, and he hugged my waist, pulling me so tightly his fingers almost touched his own rips with the opposite hand. I kissed him, and he was kissing me back; it felt like someone had lit a firework in my heart, and for one marvellous moment, we were the only two people in the whole wide world.

Then the other players landed on the field, and we broke apart, catching our breaths. We were both grinning, and I felt drunk from the cold night and catching the Snitch and kissing Harry.

The raven haired boy bent down to kiss me once more, this time softer, and he intertwined our fingers before leading us over to our friends, where Ginny flicked a Galleon into Hermione's open hand.

“Took you long enough,” Ron said, who had both his and Harry's broomstick shouldered.

“Well, they got around in the end,” Cho added, leaning against Cedric, his chin propped on her head. “Sleepover at the Ravenclaw dorm?”, She added, and we all nodded in agreement.

While Fred, George and Lee collected the fire bulbs and Quidditch balls, and the house elves cleaned up the dirt with a snap of their fingers, we made our way back to the Hogwarts castle:

Ron alongside Hermione, followed by Seamus and Dean arm-in-arm, Cho with Cedric, one arm around her waist, Ginny carrying a tired Luna on her back, and lastly, Harry and me, holding hands.

“You know, I'm glad I agreed to play with you,” I said. Harry smiled.

“Yeah, me too.” He pressed a kiss on my cheek. In spite of the shivering cold, I had never felt more warm and comfortable than in this moment.

[cartierbin]

10 with hard dom minho. thanks!

no problem, thanks for requesting sweetheart

『 10. “I’m going to fucking wreck you” 💦

pairing —- hard!dom minho x reader

genre — smut, hate sex, against the door + basically minho being a toxic ex husband

word count —- 1.326k 』

smut under the cut !

“what is that?”. minho points to the yellow blanket you laid over your daughter while she was sleeping. it was minho’s weekend with her and you were dropping her off. but of course you could never leave his house without being bombarded with unreasonable questions. “It’s her blanket”. you answer with a tone that insinuated that you were stating the obvious. “I know what it is I mean where did it come from?”. you rolled your eyes. “evan bought it for her. she loves it”.

“and whose evan?”. you breathe. “my boyfriend”. minho knitted his eyebrows at your reply with envy wavering through his chest. the both of you divorced only a couple of years ago and he found himself still wanting you. he hated the thought of you already having someone else especially when he didn’t. “I don’t want another man buying my daughter stuff. she already has blankets”. you roll your eyes, grabbing your purse off the floor so you could get ready to go. “don’t start this minho. It’s just a damn blanket”. you made your way to your daughter’s bedroom door just before he stops you in your tracks. “I’m not playing. I don’t know who that guy is and I don’t want him buying my daughter stuff”. you cross your arms. “it’s not even that serious can you stop acting like that? plus you’re being too loud she’s asleep”.

“no because if the tables were turned you’d have a problem if some random woman I had was getting a little close to her without you even meeting her yet”. you stared him in his gorgeous face in utter disbelief with the root of his anger. yes, gorgeous. you thought that word suited minho just right. no matter if you were together or not minho was always gorgeous to you. his attitude is what you hated most. “listen just stop. stop all of the bullshit because that’s not even what you’re mad about. you’re mad because I have a new boyfriend. and now you’re looking for an argument to start about it”. minho clenches his jaw sneaking double glances at his sleeping daughter before he started speaking to you again. “no one is mad about that. we’ve done our separation paperwork years ago we’re through. I want to meet whoever this evan guy is so I can make sure my daughter is safe at all times”. you glare at him in disbelief once again before pushing past him to go downstairs to the front door. he was a compulsive liar and you weren’t going to be falling for any of his shit today.

“you know what how come every time you make a rule about this co-parenting situation it’s all set in stone and then every time I make one suggestion you get an attitude like I don’t know what I’m talking about”. you seared your eyes at him. “because you don’t. evan has been around for god knows how long and you’re just now concerned about meeting him because he bought your daughter a blanket? I’m not doing this today with you”. you scold just prior to clutching the door handle, to which Minho slammed the door back closed while it was still in your grip. “I’m fucking sick of you. I’m sick of this”. he growled. you swallow under the heat of his gaze. “and what the hell are you going to do about it?”. you answer. quite frankly giving minho the answer that he was waiting for.

he snagged your chin with his hand, forcing you to feast your eyes on him which scared you half to death. he had that same look in his eyes. the same look he gave you whenever he wanted to just snatch your panties off you right then and there. your legs tremor at the sinful thoughts you tried to push out of your mind. that was years ago damn it. it was years ago. you had a boyfriend now. but you couldn’t figure out why in the world you wanted your ex husband so desperately bad, at this very moment. “kiss me”. he demanded with his lips only centimeters from your own. he licks them, just waiting to taste your lips again. it’s been so long since he’s felt you. his hands were aching to touch you again. even if it was just this once. he leans just a bit closer, if that was even possible. “kiss me”.

falling victim to the hypnotics of his gaze you eagerly press your lips against his and ring your arms around his neck. minho’s heart fluttered when you did it, your lips was a feeling that he loved. a feeling that he longed for and he’d been harboring so much hate in his heart for you he didn’t know it would all come out in this way. in swift unbalanced breaths minho enforced full control over your body, lifting the back of your thighs so that your legs was wrapped around his waist while your back sat against the front door. your adrenaline ran marathons through your veins while his tongue kissed the curvature of your neck before he nips at your shoulder blades with his teeth. your mouth maintained an oval shape with paltry sighs of relief. your eyes were closed in a daze, the moment becoming absolutely dreamy because minho was the only person that knew just how to handle your body. he knew just how to touch you, how to fuck you, you missed it more than you thought.

you felt the moisture collect in your panties and you cant your hips against his growing bulge trying to relieve yourself a bit while he was still biting and sucking purpling hickies into your skin. minho’s dark groans vibrated against you, the way you unintentionally massaged his clothed dick with your ministrations aroused him even more. he lifts you higher with a strength that you didn’t even know he had. he adjusts your legs, rocking his hips against your moistening pussy all while removing your panties within the same breath. everything was happening so fast and the room became unbearably hot all of a sudden. he crushes you into another desperate, chaste kiss and unzips his pants in determination. “oh yes— please fuck me”. you plead shamelessly. minho smirks, “I’m going to fucking wreck you”. he snarls and parts your pussy lips with his unbelievably lengthy cock, igniting a full and dangerously sinful gaspy noise escaping your throat.

minho wasted no time jackhammering his hips against yours at an aggressive pace with a tight grip on your thick thighs. he was relentless and his lips wouldn’t leave any part of your upper half untouched. “fuck I know you miss me fucking you like this”. he breathed heavily. the way your slick sheathed his dick forced another groan out of him. you were too entrapped in the way his dick curved you into sets of fireworks when it touched the perfect spot inside of you. “I hate you so fucking much”. you whine against his neck in so much need. this was another toxic thing about him. he could fuck so good it would make you forget his problematic characteristics. his breathing became ragged and beads of sweat cascaded down his forehead while he maintained his pace, getting completely lost in the scent of sex and the warmth of your pussy. “I hate you too you piss me off more than anyone I know”. he grunted into your ear and you shuddered which was a favorable reaction of his. your body clashed against the door and over again completely helpless. your breathless sobs made themselves at home in the air surrounding the both of you. “you fuck me so good”, you cry out of bliss. minho throws his head back enjoying the pleasure of it all just as much as you were.

“shut up. you’re going to make me fuck my cum back into you”

[kingfritzhater]

If they lived...

AOT headcanons of how different ships would live if they were still alive.

Manga Spoilers!!!

Eruri:

They move outside of Paradis, Erwin always wanted to know if there were humans outside the walls and now he wants to know how different their lives are from what he knows.

Once they settle down and Levi opens his teashop, Erwin offers to help but Levi won’t allow him as he thinks the tea he makes is horrendous, in the end, Erwin manages the money and Levi takes care of the rest. 

They still spend a lot of time with Gabi and Falco, Gabi always insists in moving Levi’s wheelchair (since Erwin is still missing an arm), and Falco adores listening to Erwin’s stories about the survey corps and life inside the walls.

Eremika:

They live hidden in Paradis, they built a little cottage in one of the giant tree forests outside of where the walls were and are very careful to stay hidden, Eren feels guilty that Mikasa has to live hiding like she was when her family was prosecuted by the government, but she doesn’t care, she still has him and their friends.

The remaining members of the alliance visit them pretty often, bringing them gifts from all around the world, Armin sends them books and pictures of the places they visit by mail every time he can. 

Many years go by, and Eren still can’t believe that this is his life, the day he notices some grey hairs and wrinkles in Mikasa’s face he starts crying from just the realisation of how happy he is to grow old together.

Levihan:

Hange is pretty sad when titans stop existing, so to make them happy Levi helps them get their hands on any scientific information that the outside world has developed, no matter how much it costs.

Hange switched their passion for titans to the works of the human body (and they almost fainted once they found out about germ theory), so Levi became their test subject for any time she wanted to test something that they read in some book.

Hange makes it their life purpose to find a way to make Levi be able to walk again, and after coming up with a pretty good prototipe some previous members of the military come asking for help for their missing limbs, so now they make prosthesis for free to anyone who needs it.

Nicosasha:

They open a restaurant in the countryside, Sasha plants a garden to get fruits and vegetables and hunts for the meat and Niccolo does the cooking.

When Niccolo decided to propose, he asked her father for his approval, what he did not expect was having to get the approval of Jean, Connie, Mikasa, Historia and Levi, the old captain was just as terrifying in a wheelchair as he was before.

They usually babysit Historia’s child since they live pretty close and they get along pretty well, the first name she learned how to say was hers, though it sounded more like “asha”, Sasha will always brag that she is the best aunt in the world.

Yumihisu/Yumikuri:

The baby still exists, but the farmer is just a way to keep Historia safe, yet Ymir still finds similarities between them and jokes about if Historia isn’t sure that she isn’t hers.

Ymir always remembers how she didn’t even have a name as a child, so now every achievement of their daughter is recorded, in fact, she asked Historia to get her a camera from the outside world to be more efficient in this task.

They both are the kind of parent that likes to show off their child to anyone who will listen, no matter how ashamed she gets.

Mobuhan:

They never settle down, both travel the world discovering new places and wonders, it started when Onyankopon invited them to his homeland and now they can’t stop, unintentionally they’ve done more for Paradis’s international relationships than anyone else just by making friends wherever they go.

Moblit proposes out of the blue, even taking Hange by surprise, they were visiting some place and Hange looked the happiest they’ve ever been and with the excuse of looking for something he left, Moblit ran to the nearest jewelry store and bought a ring, asking the question that night, Hange said yes in tears.

Their wedding is the biggest event Paradis has seen in recent years, even when the current military does not like them they can’t do anything without risking a major international conflict, specially with so many important figures present.

Reibert:

They move away from Libero, Bertholdt’s father had died, and Reiner’s mother being there hurt him too much, so they go back to Paradis, enjoying their lives away from the city.

As a way to silently pay back to the people of the island, and also due to Reiner’s love for children, they often volunteer in orphanages or help local schools and families, it does not take them long to adopt a boy and a girl.

Gabi and Falco visit them constantly, Gabi is the only way Reiner keeps contact with the rest of his family and she adores their children, Falco almost fainted when one of them called him uncle.

Jeanmarco:

Marco lost an eye in Trost, even then, they both join the survey corps as a way to honor their lost comrades, any time he sees Marco during a mission Jean worries that he won’t be as lucky this time, and that Marco might die that day.

They were horrified when he discovered how deep the corruption in the military police went, more Marco than Jean, so once Historia becomes the queen they offer all the advice they can give about reforms to the military.

Post rumbling, they both settle down in a nice house where once was wall Sina, now tired from the battle, the only missions they do are negotiations between Paradis and the rest of the world, they are the first to retire.

Kenuri:

Uri punches Kenny in the face when he discovered that he hid the fact that he had a nephew and abandoned him, it took a week of Kenny begging for Uri to talk to him again, now he adores Levi and finds it amusing how similar he is to Kenny.

They both love Historia and try to help her in any way they can with her labours as queen, Uri gives her advice and helps her to gain the trust of many important figures in Paradis and Kenny takes a more aggressive approach, threatening to kill anyone who questions her authority.

When Historia’s baby is born they go in full grandfather mode, once they met her they could not stop crying and at one point Uri had to try to take her away from Kennys arms, a pretty difficult task due to their height difference

Petruo/Auretra:

They've been together for years, but only told their families after the female titan arc, Petra’s father felt pretty embarrassed about his earlier conversation with Levi, but didn’t tell their comrades as they felt pretty shy about it.

After the battle of Shiganshina Auruo proposed to her in front of everyone, holding a ring that belonged to his mother and had been holding on to for months now, the only one that wasn’t surprised with this was Levi.

Petra asked Levi to make a small speech at their wedding, which he surprisingly agreed to do, when he did he talked about how he knew Auruo liked Petra from the moment he saw them and how jealous he would get, and would intentionally assign them to the same tasks together by themselves so one of them finally dared to confess, by the time he returned to his table, both of their faces were completely red.

Mikenana:

While Mike managed to hide from the best titan and come out unscarred, Nanaba was not so lucky, losing one of her legs at Utgard Castle and having to retire from the military.

During the uprising arc, Mike joined the new Levi squad and went into hiding, Nanaba became essential to collecting information behind the scenes, as she could easily go under the radar, so she stayed with Hange and Moblit.

When Mike returned from the battle of Shiganshina, Nanaba ran to him in her crutches and jumped into his arms as soon as she was close enough, and didn’t let go until she could convince herself that he really survived.

Hilow/Hitchmaru:

Seeing as her efforts to convince him to not join the survey corps were failing, Hitch just directly confessed her feelings to him as a last effort to save him, Marlowe told her he felt the same way, but he knew his destiny was with the scouts.

Both Marlowe and Floch survived the battle of Shiganshina, when Floch starts talking very sharply to the families of the deceased Marlowe shuts him up, when Hitch asks him why he is so determined to stop him he says “Imagine if I died and he said those things to you”.

Marlowe is captured by the jaegerists and couldn’t join the alliance, once Hitch manages to free him he expresses his frustration with not being able to go to battle, yet he is still happy that he does not have to leave Hitch one more time.

[mbti-notes]

Anon wrote: Hi. I hope you had/are having a great summer break. I (INTP) am hoping for some perspective about an issue. Recently, my mother, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, became incredibly frustrated that I corrected her with an alleged “I know everything” attitude.

It’s an issue of concern because she revealed that I always do this. I guess this was the straw that broke it, especially given that what we were discussing was very trivial. (Maybe the frivolousness of the subject is precisely what made my correction seem more pedantic, unnecessary, arrogant.) She says that my attitude disregards her long life experience, and that if she were a stranger, she would think of me as a “snot-nosed brat who knows nothing about life” instead of as a “wise young person”, which is the viable alternative. She said that I am closed-minded and that I shoot everything down. (The problem of small-mindedness is what you addressed the only other time I wrote to you.)

I don’t know why I come off as arrogant. I’m sure that I’m not. I asked my mother what it was that made her think that, which she thought was a silly question because what she sensed was a general demeanor rather than specific behaviors. In the end we were only able to establish that my lack of eye contact was one of those factors. I can work on that, but surely that’s not determinant. What makes people think of others as arrogant? Should I stop correcting people? I don’t correct others in order to feel superior to them. I do it because I like to debate, in order to keep my thinking sharp, and because there is something painful about friends/family having false notions. I think it’s fair to say that my intention isn’t rooted in arrogant soils.

Granted, my suggestion of stopping correcting people is black-and-white, given that there is the grey option of changing the *way* I correct people. I’m just wondering if it’s an unhealthy habit in the first place. But given how prevalent a thought process it is (i.e. questioning people’s statements and finding faults), the process of getting rid of it may be akin to self-directed psychological violence. I mean, this is the same mode of being that makes me good at what I’m good at. (There’s also the option of keeping the thought process, but not correcting people aloud, but I don’t know what else there is to talk about other than analyzing ideas and their faults. Maybe I should analyze ideas for their strengths too, and express that side more than the faults.)

So anyway, let’s go with grey: So far I’ve tried thinking of an arrogant person that I know in order to understand my behavior, but I can’t think of anyone. Also, no matter how hard I try to put myself in someone else’s shoes in order to simulate an interaction with myself, it doesn’t really work, and I can’t see the arrogance, except if I were to just tell someone “that’s wrong” without any explanation. (I wonder if that’s what went wrong in the conversation with my mother.) Either way, this whole issue boils down to the fact that I’m not arrogant by any reasonable criteria that I found online, but that I come off as such. This was longer than intended. Thanks for your kindness and help.

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

Here are some questions for you to reflect on. They are meant to increase awareness of your underlying assumptions, beliefs, and values. Answer honestly:

Do you care about your mom? Do you care about how she's faring, what she's experiencing, what she's thinking or feeling, what she needs and desires, what she hopes for or aspires to, etc?

If you care, how do you SHOW your care to her?

If you don't care, how does that affect your behavior toward her?

Do you believe that the mother-child relationship only goes one-way? (Is it the mom's job to do for you but you owe her nothing?)

You say you like to debate to sharpen your mind. Innocent enough. I like to roller skate to keep myself physically fit. In an ideal world, I would never take my skates off. Does my enthusiasm for roller skating mean that I slap my skates on anywhere, any time? No. Surely it is inappropriate to skate around a hospital or the supermarket. Not only could I seriously harm myself, I would also be exhibiting flagrant disregard for the safety and well-being of others.

What you like to do for yourself sometimes comes into conflict with other people. If you care about people and hope to have healthy and happy relationships with them, you have to take their needs and wants into consideration in every interaction. You have to abide by ethical rules and principles that allow your needs to be met without neglecting the needs of others or interfering with their ability to get their needs met. Without ethics, society wouldn't be able to function, because it would just be a free-for-all.

You mention small-mindedness. It is quite small-minded to walk around the world only thinking about what you need/want. In the best case scenario, you are completely oblivious to others, and they will perceive you as clueless or self-absorbed. In the worst case scenario, you only interact with people for your own personal gain, and that would make you an exploitative or even abusive person. Is that the kind of person you want to be?

Do you basically treat people as though their sole purpose on earth is to debate you and help you sharpen your mind - to serve you? Do you launch into debates with people without asking for consent or checking to see if they want to be corrected? If you do, they will call you arrogant, not because you've put yourself on a pedestal and call yourself superior like an evil cartoon character, but because you are communicating to them that your needs/wants are most important AND you don't give a damn about theirs.

Webster's definition of arrogance: "an insulting way of thinking or behaving that comes from believing that you are better, smarter, or more important than other people". You believe that you know better, otherwise, you wouldn't grant yourself the social authority to intrude on people's boundaries, invalidate their experience, and correct them uninvited. You believe that you are smarter, otherwise, you wouldn't automatically assume the dominant social role of corrector. You behave as though you are the more important member of the relationship because your main priority is YOUR need to feel better (about your skills or about what others believe) while overlooking the other person's needs. Seems like you fit the definition quite well.

Despite that, I wouldn't call you arrogant because I understand that small-mindedness is a difficult problem to overcome. I see the effort that you're putting in to understand it. I'm charitable because I'm not the one who was hurt by your behavior. When people feel hurt, they often have difficulty expressing it. Maybe it comes out clumsily or they aren't able to explain their hurt without hurting you in return. Expressing one's true feelings is to make oneself vulnerable. If someone doesn't trust you to understand and validate their feelings or, worse, they believe that you will attack them for their feelings, they will not be completely honest with you. Your mom is trying her best to give you the benefit of the doubt by saying "if you were a stranger...", but she doesn't feel comfortable enough with you to express her hurt fully and explicitly as it happens. Why? Because the very reason she is hurt in the first place is that you have shown very little regard for her feelings. Following from the previous post of yours, the root of the problem is that you have such a poor understanding of feelings to begin with that you view them as inconsequential in yourself and others (very immature Fe).

I believe you have no ill-intent. I have said before that the typical Ti dom never sets out to hurt people on purpose. Rather, they hurt people unintentionally because their perspective is too small: 1) they don't grasp that other people's needs may be very different from their own and thereby fail to consider them, 2) they don't know how to empathize with different perspectives and validate them, and/or 3) they don't understand that SHOWING love and care is necessary for people to justify continued investment in the relationship.

In other words, Ti doms tend to hurt people out of negligence or acts of omission. Some of them get frustrated at not being able to solve their relationship problems. They might try to convince themselves that doing nothing means that no harm can be done, so they adopt a passive stance in the relationship and perhaps even train themselves to keep their mouth shut (self-violence). They fail to understand that there's more than one way to cause hurt. Instead of learning better relationship skills, they check out mentally and emotionally. Being checked out only makes it worse because you hurt yourself and you keep hurting others by being even less attentive to their needs.

The foundation of meaningful relationships is showing care. In a healthy relationship, people trust you to care for their emotional needs and not violate their personal boundaries. If you only attend to your own needs/wants in social interaction, you are signalling that you don't really care about the other person. This problem with your mom shows that you give little to no consideration for emotional needs and personal boundaries. If you don't want friends, it's entirely your choice to be alone for the rest of your life, pretending that you never leave any footprints behind you. If you want friends, you'll have to put out more effort to be a better friend, by paying more attention to the consequences of your behavior.

Doing things that violate trust and boundaries, even if unintentional, causes hurt. When people feel hurt and don't feel safe to express the hurt, they are liable to say/do negative things. To have good emotional intelligence is to see past the surface of their negative words/behavior and grasp the underlying emotional needs that were unmet and/or the personal boundaries that were violated. Only then can you be a morally responsible member of a relationship, in terms of owning all the ways that you impact people, both positively and negatively.

Arrogant people don't care about the social impact they produce. As long as they get what they want and don't lose anything, the existence of others is of little importance to them. If your mom is important to you, then learn how to show it better by listening to her when she tells you about her needs/wants. You hyperfocus on the literal meaning of the word "arrogant" and whether it is true/false of you, as though proving it false means that there's nothing wrong. You need to listen to the people you have hurt, if you want to understand why your behavior is hurtful. Alternatively, you need to educate yourself about emotional needs, interpersonal boundaries, and what constitutes un/ethical behavior and why.

[dramioneasks]

HP FESTS: Dramione RomCom Fest (Part 1)

Dramione RomCom Fest 2020:

12 Years and 3 Months by pixiedustandbluebutterflies - T, one-shot - As news of their engagement takes Wizarding England by storm, elusive power couple Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger are finally sharing their love story in this Witch Weekly interview!

50 (First) Dates with Hermione Granger by HufflepuffMommy - G, WIP - Draco Malfoy sets his heart on romancing Hermione Granger, but she has short-term memory loss; she can't remember anything that happened the day before. So every morning, Draco has to woo her again. Her friends are very protective, and Draco must convince them that he's in it for love. Plot (andsummary) taken from the movie "50 First Dates" for the Dramione RomCom fest!

About Time by WordsmithMusings - E, WIP - When Draco's Father reveals to him that the men in their family have the ability to travel back in time, he uses his newfound gift to do many things - save a life, be a better friend, reconnect with a witch, and fall in love.

All's well that ends well (to end up with you) by weestarmeggie - M, one-shot - Hermione Granger is all set to be the maid of honor at her best friends wedding. She is taken back when she finds out that the best man is none other than her ex-fiance.

Away by In_Dreams - E, WIP - Desperate for a change of pace, Hermione unknowingly commits to a home exchange with Pansy Parkinson and finds herself swept up in the chaos of New York City and into the arms of Draco Malfoy. Dramione/Hansy. Loosely inspired by The Holiday.

Bells on a Hill by HeyJude19 - T, WIP - Left by his fiancée a month before the ceremony, Draco never got his dream wedding, so agreeing to assist Granger with her own wedding planning to distract himself from his broken engagement seems like a great idea—though Draco probably shouldn't fall in love with the bride-to-be. Based very (very) loosely on The Wedding Singer.

Chasing the Future by Rdlentz8 - T, WIP - An unusual and anonymous Patronus finds a frustrated Hermione alone in the library and talks to her about being lonely. Could this be the push she's needed to change her fate? Inspired by A Cinderella Story. There are direct quotes from A Cinderella Story.

Domino Effect by KoraKwidditch - M, WIP - Resolved to live her life in Muggle London, Hermione Granger finally felt free. Free from the Ministry, free from her celebrity status and everything that entailed. But who knew that one cataclysmal incident would lead her straight into the Malfoy's den and down a series of unfortunate events? At least they think she's a Muggle.**A Dramione retelling of While You Were Sleeping**

Fairytales and Wishes by Charlie9646 - T, one-shot - All Scorpius wants is for Hermione to be a nice step mother, but somehow that sort of gets lost in translation with his accidental magic.

Flipping Through the Pages by DarkAngelOfSorrowReturns - T, WIP - Draco Malfoy had a fascination with a popular book series and its writer. His life changes when he meets her.

The Hate List by bethelson - T, WIP - While chaperoning the post graduation trip, Hermione and Draco find themselves wandering the streets of Paris in the middle of the night, fruitlessly searching for the seventh years they were supposed to be in charge of. What Hermione doesn’t know, is that those seventh years struck a bargain with Draco to keep her occupied so they could sneak out for a last hurrah before they all head back to London. So in his efforts to derail her search, he convinces her to join him in their own night of frivolity. As they paint the city red, they slowly learn to let their guards down, and find that putting the past behind them allows them to finally focus on the present. ___ My contribution to the Dramione RomCom Fest!

Hollywood & Vine by dreamsofdramione (Bugggghead), msmerlin - M, WIP - As the manager of an occult bookstore currently renting a room from an old friend and living paycheck to paycheck, Hermione wasn’t exactly living the Hollywood dream. But her life is turned upside down when a chance encounter with Tinseltown’s current heartthrob, Draco Malfoy, leaves her questioning everything she thought she knew about life and love. or the one in which Hermione unintentionally falls in love with a movie star.

Home is Where the Heart Is by lrs002 - T, one-shot - A rewrite and Draco/Hermione look at basically the last scenes of the movie Sweet Home AlabamaOr in the other words: The Wedding and the Kiss

How to Lose a Wizard in 10 Days by GracefulLioness - E, WIP - Hermione will do anything to prove to her boss at Witch Weekly that she's ready to take on more serious topics, including dating a man just to drive him away for the sake of her next column, How to Lose a Wizard in 10 Days. But pushing Draco Malfoy away proves to be a challenging task, perhaps because he's got ten days to make her fall in love with him. Inspired by How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

It Happened One Knight by Klawdee - T, WIP - “A spoiled heir running away from his family is helped by an old classmate, who is actually a journalist in need of a story.” Based off of the 1934 film, It Happened One Night

It's All In The Malfoy Family by TwilightToMidnight - M, one-shot - Over a decade of longing and desire comes to fruition one night. Not quite the way Hermione expected but definitely with a bang. Everyone and their dog seem to be working against her. For the 2020 Dramione RomCom Fest. Loosely based off Sabrina (1954 - with Audrey Hepburn).

Love, Actually in Dramione by Blessedindeed - G, one-shot - I absolutely love the movie "Love, Actually" and was so excited to make some art pieces from a few of the more memorable scenes! Many thanks and kudos to QuinTalon & NuclearNik for hosting and being such amazing encouragers to everyone! I cannot wait to dive into all these fun pieces!!

Love, Hermione by pandora_rose_xo - G, WIP - When Hermione leaves some personal letters lying around in a sleepy haze, Dobby comes across them, and trying to be helpful delivers them to their recipients. Who were never supposed to see them.

Metamorphosis by persephone_stone - T, WIP - Draco Malfoy is king of Hogwarts High—student body president, captain of both the water polo and basketball teams, and boyfriend of Astoria Greengrass, the hottest girl in school. That is, until said girlfriend returns from Spring Break with some unexpected news: she’s dumping him for a college boy. Now, Draco is on a mission to win her back. And who better to help him turn into a more intellectual, cultured version of himself than Hermione Granger, the smartest girl in school? As he and Hermione spend time together, will Draco learn how to be the right type of boyfriend for Astoria? Or will he instead learn that maybe Astoria is not the right type of girl for him? Written for the Dramione RomCom Fest, based on the 90’s teen romcom She’s All That.

Midnight in Paris by Aneiria - E, one-shot - ‘Granger,’ Draco replied, casting a quick wandless charm to clean his own clothes. ‘Want to watch the magic you’re casting next time? Whatever spell that was, it nearly took both of us out.’ Hermione’s face settled into a frown of confusion. ‘I thought that was you,’ she said, hesitantly. ‘I wasn’t using magic.’ They both looked away at the same time, taking in their surroundings. ‘Where are we?’ Hermione wondered out loud, as she spun on the spot and took in the sights. It was the wrong question, really.

My Big Fat Muggle Wedding by BiscuitsForPotter - G, one-shot - Draco's gotten more used to having Muggles as future-in-laws, but what about his parents?

No More Waiting by anchoredto717 - T, one-shot - The end of Hogwarts, an impending Mastery, and confirmation that Hermione is well and truly over Ronald Weasley: three factors that push Draco into a place he never imagined. Is he really going to Harry Potter’s house party? A one shot heavily inspired by the 90s teen classic, Can’t Hardly Wait.

Off the Rails by RoseHarperMaxwell - E, WIP - For the Dramione RomCom Fest 💚 My adaptation of the movie Trainwreck (Amy Schumer/Bill Hader), featuring Draco in Amy's role. “Pans.” Draco’s head falls back petulantly. “I can't interview Granger, especially not about how she's healing Potter. Neither of them are going to want to talk to me. Make Creevey do it.” “No, you'll do it. And don't sulk at me, Draco.” Pansy shuts him down immediately, not that he expected to talk her out of it. She gives assignments, not suggestions. “Old Quidditch rivalries. Gryffindor Princess confiding in the Prince of Slytherin, with a side of The Boy Who Lived. You’re the only one for it.” She drops her pen on her notepad with finality. “She’s also fit as hell now. I’d even fuck her, so our readers will be drooling over her. This is easy, Draco. Don’t fuck it up.”

One Thing We've Got by IrisCalasse - M, WIP - Over a decade after the Second Wizarding War, Draco Malfoy is a broke socialite straddling the Muggle and magical worlds. One day a new neighbour moves in his residential complex. What has happened to Hermione Granger to make her hide from Ronald Weasley? If Cormac McLaggen is gay, why is he hanging around Granger so much? And why does her cat seem to know way too much about everything? Based on the plot of Breakfast at Tiffany's, but set in 2012 London with a magical twist. Updates every 16th of the month.

Pin down your heart by hiyas - G, one-shot - Hermione Granger contemplates a door when Destiny comes knocking.

Playing Cupid by tygermine - T, one-shot - Set It Up AU.

Pretty Witch by TakingFlight48 - E, WIP - When confronted with the opportunity to take on an alter ego - Hermione Granger, Potion's Mistress and the Wizarding World's Golden Girl became Vivian Roberts - London's weekend escort. For three years she lived in this duality until Draco Malfoy, lost in Soho and driving a precious DB6, wound up uncovering her secret. This is the tale of Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy finding a balance between work and love through the guise of fake dating, unacknowledged feelings, and Hermione not wanting to let go of a part of herself that is no longer serving her.

Promises, Promises by Musyc - T, one-shot - Lawyer and social work advocate Hermione Granger is one signature away from fulfilling her dream to have a house-elf education program. All she needs is to seal the deal, and Draco Malfoy has promised the full support of Malfoy and Son Developments. But the owner of the property is balking, there's a new buyer in the mix, and a promise isn't a contract.

The Proposal by FaeOrabel - M, WIP - When Head of Creatures Division of the DMLE, Hermione Granger, is pushed into a corner regarding a new marriage law she doesn't want to comply with, she gets the brilliant idea to stage an engagement with her long time, loyal assistant, Draco Malfoy. Draco goes along with the charade on the condition she gets him promoted to a new position. A deal set, they prepare to fool not only the Minister of Magic, but Hermione's best friend, and Draco's entire family. What could go wrong? Just the threat of Azkaban should they fail.

PS I love you by emotionalsupporthufflepuff - M, WIP - After a tragic accident, Hermione must reintroduce Draco to a life they've built far away from home. She recieves unexpected help in a series of letter written by Draco himself before the accident...

Regrets Only by nztina - T, WIP - Draco and Hermione are the best of friends - until Hermione goes off to teach at Hogwarts and Draco realises that he doesn’t just miss her. Upon her return to London, he intends to reveal his feelings, but she has a surprise of her own, one that will definitely put a damper on Draco’s plans. Draco. Hermione. And...Hermione’s fiancé?

Restless in Ripon by QuinTalon - T, WIP - Scorpius Malfoy wants his father to be happy again and as his grandfather often told him, a Malfoy always gets what he wants. A nosy radio host, well-meaning friends, and fate will help bring two lonely souls together. Well, that and one tenacious eight-year-old.

Rushing Back by floorcoaster - M, WIP - Draco Malfoy is thirty, surviving, and very much not thriving. He's near the utter end of himself when he experiences the worst of all possible bad days--a double betrayal that rocks him to his core. Unmoored, untethered, he winds up in a strange place, where he begins an adventure through time that will change the course of his life. A time travel fic with a twist on the movie "13 Going on 30."

Say Anything by MidnightValkyrie - G, 9 Chapters - To know Draco Malfoy is to love him. Hermione Granger is about to know Draco Malfoy. Written and created for the Dramione RomCom Fest, based on Say Anything.

She's the Snake by monsterleadmehome - E, WIP - In a universe where Voldemort never came back, Harry lives with Sirius, and Dumbledore isn't dying, the worst thing the Golden Trio has to contend with is their grades and Quidditch matches... oh, and the recent magical attacks on Muggles and Muggle-borns. Harry is sure Malfoy had something to do with it, and though Hermione doesn't agree, her sarcastic offer somehow turns into her latest nightmare: to go undercover as a boy in the Slytherin dorms and find out what's really going on. And maybe throw a Quidditch game or two. But there's one thing she hasn't prepared for: falling in love with the boy she's supposed to be spying on.

Signed and Sealed by niffizzle - M, WIP - She owns a children's bookstore. He runs a corporation buying significant shares of small businesses. Never in their lives have Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy gotten along — or so they think.

Timing is Everything by anne_ammons - M, 7 Chapters - Draco Malfoy is your average bachelor living an average bachelor's life, until he crosses paths with his former classmate, Hermione Granger. Strike that - when has Draco Malfoy ever been average? A retelling of the 1994 movie, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Dramione-style.

A Trip to Kouloura Beach by rennaissance_woman - one-shot - A day at the beach, what could happen?

The Truth About Kneazles and Crups by samkablam7 - T, WIP - When Draco Malfoy started hosting his wizarding radio show The Truth About Kneazles and Crups, he had no idea that it would bring Hermione Granger back into his life. He also didn't know that they would both be interested in each other. The only problem? She thinks that the radio host she's interested in is his best friend and Pro-Quidditch-player-wannabe, Blaise Zabini.

Untitled Marital Crisis Comedy by Darlingheart - G, one-shot - Draco is rich, handsome, and most importantly, excellent with the ladies. Harry Potter is not. Which is where Draco comes in. With Draco’s help Harry will learn there’s more to life than being a one-woman man. But what happens when Draco meets someone who changes his mind? And what does Hermione Granger have to do with it...

A Woman of Some Dignity by mcal - G, one-shot - That seemed to get his attention. “What are you—of course I respect you, you daft witch!”

“Your actions today show the opposite!” I answered. “And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m a woman of some dignity and I’d like to shower in peace. You’ll kindly wait half an hour before Apparating back to my flat.”  Hermione's not one for diaries, but it's been a week to say the least. It all started off with a confusing meeting with Draco Malfoy in her office, and... well, Hermione thought maybe recording her thoughts on the events would help her process. She isn't wrong.

You lost and lonely, You just like heaven by Wake_The_Dragon - T, WIP - Dramione Romcom Fest. Hermione Granger had needed something new and a change of scenery was a good start. What she hadn't counted on was renting a flat with an annoying (if handsome) ghost, who claims he isn't dead. Somehow, helping out a ghost and falling in love were two things she hadn't bargained for.

You Wish by Talonwillow (Ehollis303) - T, WIP - What makes a bad case of "Black Cat Flu" more tolerable? Young Perseus is learning that hearing about dueling, torture, revenge, giants, dementors, chases, true love, and miracles from his Grandfather Scorpius certainly makes things easier- If the man would finish the story that is. A story about love, where not even death can keep the beautiful feisty stable-girl and her sometimes irritating one true love apart. Together they must battle the evil Lord Voldemort through an adventure crossing the magical and fairy tale realm.

[theweasleywife]

Her Little Secret

Part 2 of ‘His Little Secret’

(George Weasley x Gryffindor Reader)

Where a young Gryffindor girl learns she’s caught the attention of a certain red-headed Weasley.

Thank you guys for your patience! I’m planning for one more part of this little mini-series ◡̈ Hope you all enjoy part 2! 🍁🧡

To be quite honest, Y/N had no idea the spell she cast on the people around her. She kept quiet and to herself, not wanting to be the center of attention ever. She was a bit of an outcast in her own eyes; though, if you’d ask anyone else she appeared a lone wolf. She was independent and unintentionally intimidating- her kindness shook everyone to their very bones.

Y/N was shy, probably too much for her own good. Often she’d find herself observing the world around her rather than being a part of it. It was entertaining to her to observe the first years tripping over their robes rushing to class, the Whomping Willow swatting flies that landed upon its branches, and the silent scurrying of the trouble-seeking cat, Mrs. Norris.

Neither a Quidditch player or a member of the Slug Club, Professors often got on her back for her lack of involvement. Snape, in particular, always encouraged the young Gryffindor girl to put herself out of her comfort zone. He’d taken her under his wing, seeing how she felt alone and he related to her situation. The moody professor had been there for her from the beginning- encouraging her to keep up on her studies, speak up during class, and to maintain her own backbone through her years at Hogwarts.

“You mustn’t let others tell you what to do, Y/N,” Snape would say to her in his signature monotone voice, his finger wagging in front of her face. Often, he’d ask her to stay after class so he could mentor the young girl. “Your actions are up to you, however, I’d encourage you to learn a little more of the world outside of your books, girl. Life doesn’t stand still- even for the best of us.”

Finally, in her fourth year at Hogwarts, she seemed to have found her footing. Her classmates were shocked to see her hand held high in class so much and even more shocked when they’d hear her ramble about why “exotic seaweed is such a product of its environment, Professor Sprout, and it’s so beautiful how something so delicate underwater can be so vile on land.” After years of observing the world around her, she’d finally felt that she belonged to it. She had gained the courage to make new friends and often found herself discussing philosophy with Luna Lovegood and laughing with Seamus Finnegan as he lit his eyebrows aflame during a spell gone wrong.

For the first time in four years, the young Gryffindor felt surrounded by the love she exuded. Her kindness was no longer just a one way street; her fellow classmates began to smile at her in the hallway and invite her to Quidditch matches, often forcing her to paint her face red and gold in the name of “Gryffindor pride.” First-years and second-years would ask the beautiful girl for tips on how to get on Snape’s good side and even Professor McGonagall marveled at how Y/N had bloomed.

***

It was during a tutoring session in the library with Hermione Granger, a Second-Year and possibly the brightest witch Y/N had ever met, that she was told about how she had caught a certain red-headed Weasley’s eye.

“You know, Y/N, it has come to my attention that George Weasley is absolutely mad about you,” tutted Hermione with her chin in the air, the paper her quill hovered over long forgotten.

Y/N blushed and pushed her hair behind her ear, “Shut it, Hermione. Gossip won’t pass your OWLs for you, will it?”

“Oh, you’re blushing- I knew it! I just knew it! You’re mad for him, too, aren’t you?”

“That’s none of your business!” Y/N said. “Though, he does look quite dashing today, doesn’t he?” Y/N gazed longingly over to where George sat with Fred and Angelina, not even three rows behind the two gossiping witches.

Y/N had harbored a crush on George Weasley since the second she stepped foot in the Great Hall for the first time. A bunch of bumbling baboons they were- the group of First Years making their way down the main aisle to take part in The Sorting. She had been so nervous. She didn’t care much for Slytherin and was indifferent towards Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. So badly, though, she wanted to be a part of Gryffindor- just as her mother and father were. She was nearly shaking the closer and closer her name got to being called. And finally, Minerva McGonnagall sang out the words she dreaded to hear, “Y/N Y/L/N, it is your time to be sorted. Please take a seat on the stool and place the Sorting Hat atop your head.”

From there it was a blur, she recalls the anxiety choking her as she sat facing the long tables in the Great Hall and how she had crossed her fingers so incredibly tightly in the hope that she would get her wish. What she remembers most vividly, though, is the reassuring smile of George Weasley. Having already been sorted into Gryffindor, he observed the trepidatious girl at the front of the Hall with his fingers crossed behind his back, hoping she might get the house he had been sorted into. Her nervousness made her look particularly pretty, he thought. Luckily for the pair, the Sorting Hat only took about ten seconds to decide her fate- Gryffindor. And so, on their first night at wizardry school, all of the new Gryffindor students sat with each other- their excitement boiling over in wicked smiles and booming laughter.

Y/N never forgot the small act of kindness the boy had shown her and, even though an outsider wouldn’t consider them friends, she always had a soft spot for the mischievous Weasley Twins. George had never paid much attention to her after their first night, though, and Y/N seriously wondered if Hermione knew what she was talking about.

“Well, you see Y/N, I feel it is my business as I am about to oblige you with some important information,” began the scheming girl. “Ron, George’s brother, told Harry who told Luna who told Cho who told me that George has liked you since we got back this year,” spilled Hermione without even taking a breath. “I believe it to be important that you know this since we all feel you and George are practically soulmates and, therefore, should fall madly in love with each other as soon as it is possible to do so.”

Taken aback by all the information that just spewed out of her student (and friend’s) mouth, Y/N sat in silent shock- her jaw dropped, a heavy blush on her cheeks, and a twinkle in her eyes. Hearing that George Weasley, the George Weasley, was keen on Y/N left her gobsmacked and speechless. She was overwhelmed and, as much as she wanted to jump out of her seat and scream happily from the top of her lungs, she found herself frozen.

“Hello- Earth to Y/N,” Hermione snapped her fingers in front of her completely still tutor. The astonished girl (whose face was as red as a beet) snapped back to reality.

“I’m sorry, Hermione, I have to go,” she began shoving all of the miscellaneous papers scattered across the table into her books, picking them up to hold tightly against her chest. “Thank you for telling me, by the way. I’ll see you at the game tonight, right?”

Hermione giggled at how flustered Y/N had become, “Yes, of course. Though, I’m not the only one you’ll be seeing during the game,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows. Y/N rushed away from the library leaving behind one very content and calculated Hermione Granger.

***

Y/N felt quite badly for leaving poor Hermione in the middle of their study session, but she felt so overwhelmed she wanted to be alone. That’s why when she and Luna made their way to the Quidditch Pitch that night, Y/N made sure to keep her eye out for Hermione. She wanted to apologize for leaving (but also thank her for telling her about George). She’d spent the afternoon wondering if Hermione was fibbing or if the truth had gotten lost in the game of telephone. She came to the conclusion that Hermione wasn’t the kind of person to share information like that unless she was certain it was true.

Making their way up the soaring stands, shoving through the masses of excited students and professors alike, Luna and Y/N made themselves comfortable next to Hermione and her friends, Harry and Ron. Smiling at the trio, the biting wind had them all huddling together for warmth.

“So, Y/N,” started Ron, who was smiling cheesily. “You here to see anyone special? Reckon I’ve never seen you willingly come to a game of Quidditch,” laughed out the younger Weasley.

“Shut it, Ron, this isn’t a laughing matter,” Harry excused his best friend.

Hermione pitched in, “Quite right, Harry, it’s love.” Y/N rolled her eyes, ignoring the younger kids and turning towards the pitch. The Ravenclaw and Gryffindor teams had already flown their broomsticks up towards the sky and Y/N could faintly see Oliver Wood flailing his hands about as if to say, “I don’t know why we have to play if we already know Gryffindor will win.”

Lee Jordan’s voice could be heard as the game came to fruition, “And we’re off!”

It was an intense match- probably the most hot-blooded Hogwarts had ever seen the students compete. It was absolutely hectic on the field and yet, through all of the chaos, Y/N always seemed to find George Weasley.  

***

As she lay in bed that night, she knew sleep wouldn’t dare take over her mind. Her thoughts were all over the place and rest was the last thing she wanted. If it was possible to do so, she wished that she could spend the rest of her life thinking about how handsome George was. He had everything that one could possibly ever want. With wicked humor and quick wit, he always kept everyone on their toes. The more Y/N thought about his wide shoulders, strong arms, and mischievous smile, the more she knew she was in trouble.

If what Hermione had told her ended up being true, she didn’t know how much more silence she could handle from him. She was tired of being the shy and quiet observer and more than anything yearned to gain the affections of her crush. She hadn’t known how to keep her little secret under wraps anymore and she knew that she couldn’t wait much longer for love. Snape was right- time didn’t stand still and Y/N was determined to make the best of it.

For now, though, she decided that this random boost of confidence would be best dealt with in the morning. As she lay resting, her mind drifting from dream to dream about the ginger jokester, she had no clue as to what the future held. But one thing was for certain.

She decided that night that he was the love of her life. He just didn’t know it yet.

[kbuggg3]

JC Caylen Imagine: “Don’t Be Sorry”

Today's has been a pretty eventful day to say the least. While my boyfriend JC was out with some old friends who came into town to visit him, me and my dad got into a fight... again.

But the thing that hurts the most is not only is this the 4th time in a row he's been caught, but I'm the one that keeps witnessed it. Your probably wonder "the 4th time? Why do you keep falling for his bullshit?"

Welp. He's my dad. I'm not just gonna give up on him completely. When we would catch him doing something he would let fake tears fall from his eyes as he was apologizing to us and we would forgive him.

And then we'd catch him again, he'd apologize, we'd forgive him. It was an endless cycle. But this time I knew I can't get my hopes up to high anymore.

My mom always told me it takes years to build trust and seconds to destroy it. I felt that. He didn't only ruin my trust with him, but my trust with everyone else. I let everything that happened get to my head and now I have major trust issues. With the exception of one person.

JC Caylen

Before i met JC my life was pretty miserable. I lived in Florida with my mom and my older sister. After my mom and dad got divorced, my family slowly started going down hill.

My dad was barely in the picture due to his constant sneaking around as he was hooking up with random people and getting drunk and being so lazy that he never even bothered covering his tracks, allowing us to discover his dirty little secrets for ourselves.

My poor brother was clueless. Had no idea what his own father was doing behind his back and we didn't bother telling him because 1.) he was a very sensitive boy at the time and 2.) he looked to my dad for everything. My dad was his role model.

After awhile of all of this, my sister was diagnosed with depression. Not too severe but even the smallest bit can make you feel like shit. And as for me, I struggled with self love. Because I didn't really have a good male figure on my life I looked to guys for verification.

But after i spent a week with him and the rest of the O2l house at Vidcon i felt like my life was finally picking up. Fast forward a couple years and my sisters depression is gone, my brother grew up to be an amazing dad of 2 kids, and as for me, i stopped looking for verification in guys and me and JC started dating.

We've been dating for 2 years now and he has been nothing but amazing. I love him so much and I know he loves me. Ever since we've started dating people have been telling me they've never seen me so happy before or they've never seen me smile or laugh that much before.

I just wished he was here to comfort me right now. I haven't told him what happened yet. I didn't wanna ruin his day. He was hanging out with some old friends of his who flew down to visit him.

I wasn't gonna burden him with my stupid family issues while he was out with his friends. I turned on a random disney movie and began to watch as I continued to cry at random times when the old memories would pop up in my mind.

I would squeeze my eyes shut and burry my head in my pillow trying to make them stop but they never went away, no matter how hard i tried. Eventually I decided enough was enough. I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to call JC. I grabbed the phone and went to his name in my contacts. I dried my tears and took a few deep breaths to stop myself from crying so he wouldn't notice and be too worried.

After attempting to recollect myself, i pressed call, holding the phone up to my ear as i heard it ring. A few seconds later the line picked up and i heard his sweet voice on the other end.

"What's up baby." JC said in a super deep voice cause you to giggle only slightly.

"Hey JC. Um, I was just wondering when you were gonna be home?"

"Is my girl missing me already?"

"What do mean already you've been gone for hourrrrsssss." She groaned causing him to chuckle.

"I know baby I'm sorry. I'll actually be home soon."

I sighed with relief before responding, "Thank god!"

"Is everything ok (y/n)?"

Shit. Don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry.

She sniffles a little and swallowed hard.

"Y-ya baby why do you ask?" My breath was uneven and he could tell.

"No no. Your not ok. I'm coming over right now."

Don't mess this up (y/n) he's having fun. Don't ruin his day.

"JC it's fine. I'm gonna be ok. Just go hang out with your friends. Have fun!"

"Gonna be?!"

I pulled back and cringed at my own words. Shouldn't have said that.

"Gonna be ok??? (y/n) what happened???" JC exclaimed again. She sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"JC I'm-"

Tell him your fine. He's with his friends. He doesn't need this right now.

Tell him what you tell everyone else in your life. Your fine.

"It's my dad again." I said with tears in my eyes.

What the fuck (y/n)! How could you?!

He can tell by my voice I was crying.

"Fuck. Baby I'm coming over right now." He side sternly. Was he mad?

"N-no JC it's ok really I-"

"No! (y/n) it's not ok! Baby he's put you through so much shit and I'm tired of it! You don't deserve that! You nor your family!" He began to shout a little and it caused her to cry harder. Not because I'm scared of him. But because he cared so much and that meant the world to her. He's the only one who gets it.

He did a deep sigh and you already knew he was running his hands through his hair and pacing, something he did when he was stressed, nervous, or in this case pissed off.

"I'm coming over. I'll be there in a few just hang on ok?"

At first no words were spoken. She didn't want to agree because she still felt bad about burdening him with it. But she was going to lose her fucking mind if he wasn't holding her ASAP so she finally spoke a barely audible "ok".

Immediately the phone call was ended. (y/n)'s phone slid out of her hand and onto the floor. She sat there curled up on her bed for awhile, staring blankly at the floor as her head was leaned on the head rest.

The thoughts and images filled her head again and she began to cry and cry and cry. "Go away." She whispered with quivering lips. "Go away!"

Not too long after the phone call she heard keys rattling as whoever was on the other side, who she assumed was JC, tried to open the door. She then heard footsteps quickly going up the stairs.

Her teary eyes slowly looked up to the door and saw the door knob slowly being turned, then the door opened revealing her boyfriend. In her mind she was smiling, finally being able to see him, but on the outside she unintentionally showed the opposite.

They made eye contact and (y/n) saw the sympathetic look on JC's face. She hated it when people would look at her like that and he knew it. He just couldn't help it. It makes her feel weak and helpless even tho those are the exact words that describe her in this moment.

When she saw the look on his face she quickly looked away, turning her head to the side and squeezed her eyes shut as more tears slipped down her cheeks, slightly embarrassed by her fragile appearance.

She felt the bed beside her dip down meaning JC was now sitting next to her on the bed.

"Baby..."

JC gently touched her chin and moved it to where her eyes had nowhere else to look but his.

"I... I am so sorry."

After looking into his beautiful brown eyes, (y/n) finally gave in and buried her face in his shoulder as she sat in his lap in a straddle like position.

Her arms were tightly wrapped around his neck and the more she cried the tighter she would hold on. In return JC would squeeze her back, both arms wrapped around her waist. He then began to run his hand through her hair and draw small circles on her back in a soothing motion.

JC continued to whisper little nothings in her ear as she gripped his shirt that was soaked with her tears.

"You don't deserve this."

"None of this is your fault."

"You're an amazing girl."

"You're my amazing girl."

After a few minutes or so of them sitting in silence, JC asked her if she wanted to lay down and cuddle while they watched a movie. (y/n) could only nod her head as they repositioned themselves to where she was laying on JC's stomach with her face still buried in his chest. He put on her favorite Disney movie "Finding Nemo" hoping it would encourage her to lift her head and hopefully help calm her.

When she heard the music play softly from the TV she slowly and hesitantly lifted her head from JC's chest as she positioned her head to where she could see the movie displayed on the large screen. JC smiled at her and kissed the top of her head. Occasionally throughout the movie he would rub her back soothingly, play with her hair, and give her kisses on the top of her head or forehead, causing (y/n) to smile slightly.

"Thank you... Seriously," (y/n) said quietly. He was surprised at first, judging by the fact that neither of them have said a word to each other for about an hour (not in a rude way of course but because there was no need for words. They just needed time to think and relax). "No problem, baby. I love you so so much."

(y/n) look up at him, resting her chin on his chest. He noticed how the red puffiness in her eyes went down and there was not a tear in sight, causing his heart to warm and a smile to make its way across his face. "I love you too." They shared a short but sweet kiss and went to sleep cuddled up in their bed as "Finding Nemo" continued to play and lull them into a deep and peaceful sleep.

ngl I hate writing sad stuff (unless y’all request it obvi) but I got this idea and couldn’t get it out of my head so you’re welcome. If you have any requests and/or feedback let me know plz! Love y'all💋                                                                                                                                 ~Kbug :)

[grokebaby]

Summary of the eldritch angel story

Terminology masterpost

Central Characters

Heaven:

Lamera

ZZZ

Grandefel (Persecutor)

J'aimekiel

Ngah (High angel)

Kxxxtr (High angel)

Combfa (Caretaker)

Samuel (Angel in training) (not my character)

God's throne

Hell:

Deirdre (Persecutor)

Delilah (High demon)

Xerxes (High demon)

Hart (High demon)

Devoul

Limbo:

Godwatcher

Story summary/walkthrough under the cut

Our story kicks off when Lamera, J'aimekiel, ZZZ and Grandefel are all wondering what hell is like, since none of them (except Grandefel, who's lying about it) have ever been there. ZZZ is extremely curious by nature and decides to just go there because why not. Grandefel tries to resist and ZZZ calls her a coward (You can read this first part here, but it's not great quality imo)

About a day passes without much happening, until everyone hears a distress call from ZZZ. Ngah who's the mother of Lamera and ZZZ, scoops them out, whereupon everyone sees the sorry state the angel is in. Something bad and violent had happened in hell (You can read this part here, content warning for nonhuman gore)

We come back to the story not long after, with our two persecutors, Grandefel and Deirdre meeting secretly in limbo. Deirdre has news she's worried about but loses her chance to tell them when Ngah bursts into the scene, foaming at the mouth, demanding retribution for how ZZZ was treated down in hell. Grandefel is forced to leave and Ngah makes Deirdre escort her to speak to hells manager high judgement. Apparently ZZZ violated several rules upon entering hell and was generally very rude, driving some of Deirdre's friends to attack them on her behalf. Deirdre stayed compliant because she hasn't been feeling well lately and isn't fond of angels in general (except Grandefel). The explanation and lukewarm apology for what happened doesn't please Ngah and she decides to call on a high court case, aka essentially suing them. Hells high judgement has no option but to attend the case (You can read this part here)

After about an hour, hells high judgement along with Deirdre and a few punishers make their appearance in heaven, but not before J'aimekiel can wonder outloud about how empty heaven is. She tries to ask Lamera about why there's barely any angels but the high court case starts. Deirdre gets her apology in, but before it can be accepted properly by all high angels, Ngah directs the conversation elsewhere. She accuses Grandefel of "using her time unprofessionally", and starts trying to squeeze out something from both Persecutors. Delilah, Deirdre's sister, intervenes so the court won't dissolve to off topic accusations but Xerxes wants to hear what Ngah has to say. (You can read all that in more detail here)

After dancing around the topic with increasing frustration, Grandefel reveals that she and Deirdre are in a relationship. Ngah not-so-subtly expresses her disgust with this and makes a direct jab at Deirdre, revealing to everyone that she's pregnant. Since it's a surprise to everyone but Deirdre herself, the revelation is met with backlash. Ngah knows this because as a high angel she can sense angelic life, and because she has a habit of stalking keeping a very close eye on everyone around her. Now that everything has finally been outed, the court dissolves into arguing.

Most angels aside from Ngah and maybe Kxxxtr are actually pretty fine with this kind of crossover happening and Lamera would gladly step in to Grandefels defense but is held back in fear of Ngah's rage. J'aimekiel however isn't, and raises her voice from the crowd. She calls out Ngah for her hateful remarks and reminds everyone that she was born a demon but became an angel after, and if that is fine, this should also be fine, right? Ngah starkly disagrees and in vague terms makes it clear that J'aimekiels existence is only tolerated, and might be because they quote on quote don't have better options right now. J'aimekiel is quite distraught by this and Lamera tries to come to her defense but is shut down by Ngah.

After a painful few hours the court case finally draws to a close with some new rules put in place going forward. One of them being that only the persecutors can make cross visits regularly, since it's required for their job. If any high judgements want to make cross visits it needs to be agreed upon beforehand. This is to avoid all possible conflict. Ngah also makes it clear that, "if they ever survive birth", Grandefel and Deirdre's children must pick a side and that "it would be for the best" if they never knew what they really were, or who their parents were. Despite the backlash, she gets everyone to comply thanks to everyone still being a little confused about the whole ordeal, and Ngah promising to be their personal problem if the children act out of line.

Case closed, everyone goes home. Deirdre feels extremely isolated from everyone now. Grandefel is kept busy by being given alot of heaven-centric work. While not explicitly getting in trouble for it, it's heavily implied that Grandefel really shouldn't be seen with Deirdre again outside of work related situations. J'aimekiel also feels isolated from everyone now.

A few dreadful months later the children are born in hell with Delilah supporting her sister. There's three. One is confirmed an angel via her halo. When Grandefel hears about their birth she can't keep herself away from them anymore, and with her help the children are named. The oldest is Mihail, middle one Meredith and youngest Gabriel. They also make the difficult decision of who gets to live with who. Despite all Grandefel doesn't take the angel child with her, instead taking Gabriel who she thinks would fit in due to how he looks. The children are raised apart like this and don't get to meet their other parent, despite being aware of their existence.

Somewhere along the line, one of Lameras halos gets a crack, something that's painful and quite a big deal for an angel. It's on the collar halo. The crack is small enough that he manages to hide it from everyone, especially since his beard covers most of his neck from view anyway

About a year later things have mostly calmed back down again. Although there's now alot more people who hate Ngah. A certain rather ordinary demon named Devoul makes the news in hell, thanks to Lamera hearing about him from a mortal. The thing is that Devoul has been tricking mortals into working for him in exchange for superpowers and getting something they desperately want. He's been doing this under the guise of being "The Devil" who rules in hell. This is obviously unture and a trial ensues, but it's only kept to hell because nobody wants to involve heaven after last year's occurrence. It goes surprisingly smoothly, and a portion of the souls are reborn and the rest decide to continue on with their lives. One of them, Samuel, inspired to make up for his bad deeds, becomes an angel in training. Devoul is sentenced to 800+ years of tedious physical labor, case closed.

We resume to the story when in limbo, by pure happenstance, Devoul and Lamera bump into each other. They have a moment of "YOU" where Devoul manages to hit Lamera right in the mommy issues, making him drop all attempts at being nice. Devoul is taken aback by how much he unintentionally managed to rile up Lamera, knowing him to be one of the good™ angels. Devoul notices the crack in his halo and becomes curious, whilst also trying to pull up any shreds of decency he has. Lamera tries to deflect most of it and finds out Devoul is here to look for Godwatcher to ask some questions.

On their way to find them, the two talk over a few things and find themselves understanding each other better. Lamera still feels iffy about Devoul though, despite him trying to explain himself

They find Godwatcher together and ask some general questions about morality and the nature of angelhood. Godwatcher can't really give them any one correct answer, rather than "What you think is good or bad depends on what you value in this world. No angel is born being better and no demon is born being worse". The two mull over some of the things they've heard and talk about ""God"". Devoul keeps asking Lamera increasingly difficult questions that cause him to doubt his own worldview and dig into the fact that Ngah is absolutely not a good angel. This causes Lameras halo to crack all the way through, causing him pain and distress. He's deeply afraid of Ngah's reaction if she were to see him like this, and feels like he'll be in trouble. Devoul, having gained sympathy for Lamera, feels guilty that he caused this and tries to offer various ways to help, none of which end up helpful. Figuring that he'll have the next 800ish years of being punished anyway, he decides to dig his grave deeper by pretending to attact Lamera. As a cover up for what broke the halo, so Lamera himself won't be blamed since it obviously broke in conjunction with his trust in his mother.

Speak of which, Ngah hears them and scoops up both. Right on time too, since Deirdre was just about to retrieve Devoul to do his work. Up in heaven, Ngah Is "Dissapointed but not surprised" that Lameras halo broke. She lifts him up by it, intending to fix it, but being manhandled by his mother, through an injured body part, distresses Lamera alot. It doesn't sit right with Devoul and he tries talking to Ngah, who dismisses him as a speck of dust not worth listening to, and they dissolve into arguing. The stress of it all causes Lameras collar halo to finally shatter and fall off completely. He deflects any further attempts to fix it, and tries to confront Ngah about her behavior. This infuriates Ngah who then accuses Devoul of corrupting her child. More arguing ensues, during which Devoul uses his special power of reading people's memories to briefly look at Ngah. He sees her attempted murder and banishing of their third high angel who hasn't been seen in a long time. Apparently heaven had a big inner conflict some time back, which Ngah resolved this way. Their current low number of staff is due to a huge chunk of the angels leaving since they supported Ezekiels cause more.

Ngah, despite wanting to sweep it under the rug, doesn't deny that she did all this, which upsets Lamera even more. He and Ngah argue. Lamera hits her where it hurts (insulting her divinity) and she's about to possibly get violent, when Devoul casts a spell that paralyses her physically. As she's a powerful high angel it won't hold her for long, and the duo flee heaven

Devoul and Lamera hide out and rest at the foot of a mountain on earth. They go over everything and get to know each other better. Lamera is surprised that Devoul would care this much about what's happening upstairs to which he replies "Hey I still have morals" - "Except for that one time". Their bonding is interrupted by Deirdre who caught up to them finally, intending to take Devoul back. Lamera resists, to her surprise, and they explain the situation. Deirdre sympathises with them heavily but is unsure if they can do much. She promises to speak to the high judgements about this all anyway, as a start. Lamera decides to try talking things out with the high angels. Devoul makes a spell that allows him and Lamera to call and talk to each other just in case. The duo separate after sleeping through the night at that mountain.

Heaven: Lamera goes to talk to Kxxxtr about everything he's found out. Kxxxtr expresses regret over letting everything go on like this, especially since she doesn't necessarily agree with how Ngah works things around here. Witnessing the murder attempt has been traumatic for them, hence they stayed compliant out of fear. Kxxxtr does also make clear that whatever Lamera tries to do to change things in heaven, he'll have their support. Ngah who's been listening in on them, bursts in angrily, accusing them of conspiring against her. Kxxxtr tries to get past their fear and stand against Ngah, who proceeds to purposefully trigger them in order to get them to stand down. Instead of backing out, Kxxxtr strikes Ngah in a bout of rage. Regretting the move immediately, they send Lamera up to the higher heavens to safety, and so he could talk to the highest power: God's throne.

Hell: Devoul goes to his house to look at his spellbook in case there'd be anything useful, while Deirdre proceeds to talk to the high judgements. Before he can really find anything, Lamera calls him to tell that Ngah and Kxxxtr are at each other's throats and he's afraid and not sure what to do. Devoul helps him calm down and barely gets to explain what he's doing before the call forcefully disconnects with Lamera notifying how beautiful God's throne is (using both he and it pronouns). Devoul has just enough time to find a spell that will take away a big chunk of power from a powerful individual, before Deirdre comes to him in a rush. One of the high judgements, Xerxes, takes things related to Ngah very seriously and has decided to go fight her. It's not entirely clear if there's ulterior motives, other than wanting to fight her. Deirdre and Devoul head to an opening where they find the three: Delilah chewing out Xerxes for throwing his staff at the heavens, and Hart snickering in the background.

While waiting for the staff to hopefully return, Devoul decides to call Lamera back just in case. At first it feels like the call is forcefully blocked and directed away but eventually he responds. His answers are cryptic and he sounds overall very out of it. At one point, he starts talking entirely differently, way louder and with a completely different voice, asking Devoul if the staff should hit something. He makes it clear that it should definitely not hit anyone or anything and the staff gracefully floats back into Xerxes' hand. The call disconnects. Devoul is worried and decides he really needs to get up there. Luckily for him, despite Delilah's efforts to stop him, Xerxes is about to throw again. Impressed by Devouls determination, he puts the little demon onto the staff and throws it. This time the throw is alot less coordinated due to Delilah physically restraining his hand. Devoul however makes it to where Ngah has currently dropped Kxxxtr down from the cloud. They have a brief confrontation before Devoul uses the powersucking spell on her, causing her to also fall off the cloud. The spell takes a physical toll on him, partially by causing him to feel extremely hungry. All of Ngah's now removed power manifests as an orb. He hopes Lamera is okay and tries to look for him, and is suddenly lifted up to where he is, as if on command.

He enters the throne room where Lamera looks.. Off. He's extremely swollen, like a balloon blown to it's limits, and his entire face is engulfed in flames. He doesn't respond to Devoul trying to make sure he's okay. He only speaks in that different voice that's clearly not suited to his vocal chords. In the background Devoul sees God's throne, mouth moving slowly. He has a hard time really registering the Throne's physical form into something he can comprehend. There's separate elements (Crystals and gems, large mouth and eyes, galactic matter streaming in and out of it) but his brain can't bring them together in his head. Despite this he addresses the Throne With "What the fuck did you do him? (Lamera)". The throne proceeds to ignore his questions and attempts to take the orb from him through Lameras body, since the entity itself can't move much at all. Devoul is unwilling to hand it over until God's throne explains that now, since Kxxxtr is heavily injured, and Ngah technically not a high angel (in terms of strength), they need a new one. He exposits how He was just going to make Lamera into a high angel instead but having Devoul enter with the orb brought another option to the table. Devoul hands over the orb, which God's throne takes into it's mouth and Lamera falls limp, now presumably free from it's control. After both making sure they're okay, they exit the throne room and take a moment to collect themselves and pass out from the exhaustion.

Meanwhile Kxxxtr fell down to limbo, bleeding, where they're still laying, unable to move. Xerxes, who partially went to look for his staff, and partially to punt Ngah in the gut, discovers her. Kxxxtr is terrified at first but Xerxes offers her his armor, to cover for her leaking insides. She's taken aback by the kind gesture and they just sorta awkwardly hang out there while Kxxxtr explains what happens. Xerxes escorts her back later. Ngah has turned into a giant three headed serpent, and is having an episode somewhere, enraged and miserable at being demoted. Samuel and J'aimekiel are shook by the commotion and are trying to figure out what's going on. Xerxes finds Ngah on his way back and they start fighting (he still hasn't gotten his staff back).

Upon waking up, Devoul and Lamera lament over the whole mess. Samuel and J'aimekiel find the two and want an explanation. Devoul and Samuel aren't thrilled at seeing each other again. After a thoroughly uncomfortable interaction they part ways, Lamera leaving to clean up things upstairs and Devoul returning to his punishment work downstairs, dreading all the more trouble he might be in now. He stumbles upon Xerxes with Ngah in a chokehold, and doesn't even recognize her. Ngah is now even more pissed at him, but with some help he realizes who she is. Xerxes seems intent on killing her but Devoul tries to stop him, knowing Lamera would be destroyed by something like that happening. They heavily discuss it before concluding that Ngah really should answer for her crimes instead of getting the easy way out. She's locked up in the Void District until she can play nice again (and until they can figure out a proper punishment for her). Xerxes and Devoul chat on their way back, and Xerxes, still very impressed by the little demon's spirit, offers to recruit him. Devoul, although surprised, accepts the offer. He still has alot of punishment work left but at least he'd get to do it in consistent company.

About a day passes and everyone is almost getting to settle in, when something strange captures the attention of all the angels. God's throne is now finished making them a new High angel - how exciting! The new angel, instructed by the Throne, fetches and throws Xerxes' staff right back to him. They then backflip out of the high heavens to meet everyone, making a thoroughly.. Interesting first impression, to say the least.. The angels have a hard time swallowing that a demon - Devoul specifically, kickstarted the creation of their new High angel. Samuel nopes out, Grandefel heavily considers asking for a refund, and the new angel, not seeing anything wrong with any of this, hops down to hell to meet their "Daddy". Devoul is taken aback by the news but welcomes his "child" with open arms. He with Lameras help, proceed to name them Terjey, since God's throne didn't give them a name (which is very unusual). Heaven returns to cleaning up the mess and dealing with the staff shortage and Devoul returns to his work.

And that was everything that happened up to this point, the present day.

The end - for now!

[ghostadventuresstuff]

Jay Wasley x Reader

Y/N

It had taken longer than you would have liked, but you’d finally found your dream apartment in Vegas. After spending the last two years travelling around Europe never staying in a place longer than two weeks it would be nice not living out of a suitcase and finally being able to call a place home. You’d told your work that you’d like to be located more stateside and they agreed because of how much hard work you put into assignments.

You were a paranormal photographer for a paranormal magazine, who travelled to haunted locations around the world, took photos and learnt the history of the location and hauntings which were then put into the articles within the magazine that potential investigators could look at and decide if they wanted to check the place out. It was great being able to put your degree to good use, being a history graduate meant your articles were more accurate and interesting than others. The job also allowed you to pursue your love of photography, not many people got their dream job.

The first couple of weeks in the apartment felt fine, little things happened but you put it down to that fact this was the longest you’d stayed somewhere so your body and mind were adjusting to the change. It was an old building so there was going to be the odd draft and cold spot the heating didn’t quite reach, but Vegas was going through a heatwave and certain areas of your apartment felt like you were walking into a freezer when you should have been sweating. Most people who thought they might be haunted would have been more concerned, but you had enough practice to know how to keep calm. So you go out and buy some cameras which you place around your apartment hoping to catch anything, and if the results came back negative you were overthinking cold spots.

A job in Texas took you out of Vegas for a week, and even though you could monitor the cameras from your tablet, work was a lot to handle so you put your apartment to the back of your mind. However upon returning the atmosphere in the apartment felt wrong from the second you stepped over the threshold, maybe being in a haunted building in Texas had heightened your senses. You walk into your makeshift office and log into the security system and sit back in your desk chair not quite sure what you were going to capture.

‘What the hell?’ you gasp loudly, sitting forward in the chair, staring wide-eyed at the screen.

You were checking out the camera in the hallway and after some rewinding, there was a very clear apparition floating up and down the hallway, however, you couldn’t see any facial features or clothes like most people assumed you could when seeing an apparition. This was only the first camera and the volume wasn’t even turned on. You needed to reach out to an old friend and hope he could help.

JAY

I’d just gotten back from a draining investigation when my phone pings with a message from an old friend. y/n and I went back years, their work actually helped Ghost Adventures choose a few locations to investigate where we got our best activity. We’d met at an event and hit it off, but I hadn’t seen them since they moved to Vegas due to both our jobs getting in the way. I open the message.

Y/N: Hi Jay, I need your help. My new apartment is haunted, I caught this on one of my cameras.

Attached to the message was a video, and when I squinted at the phone screen my eyes widen seeing an apparition floating down a hallway I assumed was in y/n’s apartment. Only y/n would go and get themselves a haunted home.

JAY: I’ll bring over some equipment, send me your address...this is one way to catch up

Y/N: Thanks Jay, I’ll buy you a coffee or two when it’s all over.

y/n also sends me their address and I grab my laptop which had a program I could check out any audio on, along with some equipment I needed to return to Zak but y/n was more important right now. I guess I could sleep once I knew y/n was okay.

TIMESKIP

I buzz y/n’s apartment number and the front door opens, the fact that y/n didn’t greet me or even ask who it was concerned me. I take the lift up to the second floor and quickly find y/n’s apartment which was in the corner of the building. I try the front door and it opens, this really wasn’t a good sign.

‘Err y/n, It’s Jay,’ I call out, entering the apartment.

Vegas was in a heatwave but y/n’s apartment was ice cold.

‘Jay,’ y/n says to my right, making me jump.

I hold my heart, ‘at least wait until I check out your footage before giving me a heart attack.’

y/n smiles and motions for me to follow them, ‘sorry, I’m too engrossed in the footage. There is something on each camera Jay, I think it’s the same apparition as the height matches, one spirit I can handle.’

I shake my head and follow y/n into an office. y/n points at her own computer, ‘feel free to do your thing, Jay. Can I get you a coffee?’

I nod, ‘a coffee would be great.’

y/n leaves the office and I get set up, putting my laptop down on the desk and fire it up so I can access my audio program, ‘y/n, do you know the history of this place?’ I shout.

‘Give me a second Jay,’ y/n shouts back, ‘it’s very interesting.’

I roll my eyes at how calm y/n was being. Then again with what they did for a living y/n had learnt to toughen up. I isolate the audio from the cameras and send it over to my laptop just as y/n returns holding two cups of coffee.

‘This place was built to help with the Influenza pandemic from 1918 to 1919, a lot of people died here. It then was empty for eleven years before being transformed into an asylum that didn’t have the cleanest bill of health when it came to looking after patients. It shut down before opening as an orphanage between 1940 and 1965, a handful of child deaths were reported but a lot of abuse took place here. It was then empty for fifteen years before being transitioned into a retirement home until 1990, no deaths recorded but doctors and residents didn’t feel comfortable being in the building. And then finally after binge empty for twenty-five years, it opened as apartments in 2015, and now you’re up to date Jay.’

I chuckle, ‘there really is no stopping you y/n, you like the details. I’m running the audio from the hallway camera, my program should be able to isolate anything.’

y/n comes to stand next to me and I take the coffee they offer, ‘a place with that much history of disease, death and abuse is bound to trap spirits and probably not the friendliest.’

I had to agree with y/n. Then my program tells me it’s done running analysis and y/n crouches down to be closer to the laptop so I press play and turn the volume up as loud as it would go. There is nothing for a good few minutes, then a raspy male voice comes through muttering y/n’s name before going silent once more. y/n was so engrossed in the recording when most people would freak out at such clear audio evidence. We continue to listen when after a couple of minutes the raspy voice starts muttering ‘die’, before adding y/n’s name into the mix pretty much repeating ‘die y/n’ over and over again.

y/n clicks their tongue, ‘well that’s new Jay.’

I stop the recording and clear my throat, ‘I’m going, to be honest with you y/n, that doesn’t sound friendly, especially telling you to die in your own apartment.’

y/n looks up at me and shakes their head, ‘I’m not going anywhere this place is a dream and the rents are cheap. I have you to help me right Jay? You’ll help me out with this.’

I run my fingers through my hair and sigh loudly, ‘I forgot how stubborn you are y/n. Fine, I’ll help, but I’d like to get the others in on this, that way we can communicate with the spirit better. Do you agree?’

y/n stands up and claps their hands together, ‘yay, call them Jay. Now I’m going to order us some food because I want all this footage checked out.’

Once y/n had their heart set on something there was no changing their mind. Maybe, Zak, Aaron and Billy could convince her that this apartment might not be safe. But for now, it looked like I wasn’t going anywhere, and I felt better being able to keep an eye on y/n in case they did something impulsive that annoyed the spirit unintentionally. The guys made fun of me because I had a small crush on y/n and hadn’t acted on it despite us both being single and cool around one another. Maybe this spirit could bring us closer, maybe I could man up and confess my feelings one day.

[cutieodonoghue]

the edge of hope (6/9)

summary: canon divergent au; when Din left Sorgan to protect the Child, he left the woman he’d fallen in love with, not knowing he’d also left behind something else. Or, Omera and Winta join Mando and Grogu on their season 2 adventures. Mandomera!

Catch up here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Sixth chapter below the cut or on AO3!

The Jedi

The journey to Corvus took a while, which meant there was enough time for the crew aboard the Razor Crest to spend time together in the hold of the ship. 

While Winta and the Child played together on the floor, giggling loud enough that it could be heard from the cockpit, Omera spent her time working on a sewing project for the baby. It would be a pair of socks, eventually, mended together with fabric she’d brought along from the village.

Din had decided to stay up above by himself. She had to wonder if it was because he was upset about having to say goodbye to his boy once they found a Jedi. Hopefully, they wouldn’t find themselves following yet another clue to find the Jedi that Bo-Katan had vouched for.

As Omera sewed together the small sock for her unborn child, she couldn’t ignore the guilt that sat within her. She should’ve told Din when she had the opportunity. She should’ve found the words, as hard as they would’ve come. But instead, she’d allowed herself to get caught up in it all over again.

There was no such thing as perfect timing. She knew that now. The children would always be a priority in their travels, and so would the mission at hand. 

As if he knew she was thinking of him, the Mandalorian dropped down from the upper level, landing with a thud that startled the children. They each turned to look at him for a moment, and when he had nothing to say, they returned to what they were doing.

He came to stand near Omera, though he didn’t come as close as he usually did. She sat within the opened sleeping nook, on the edge so that she could watch the children play.

“Are we getting close?”

Din turned his attention onto her, looking away from the kids. “Still a while to go.”

Omera nodded in understanding. 

She watched Winta roll a ball across the floor, gesturing for the Child to go grab it for himself. He seemed less interested in play time, instead flopping down to sit. Winta did the same. 

“When we were on Nevarro…” Din spoke carefully, just low enough that it was only for her to hear. Omera looked up at him patiently. “Cara and Greef said some things…”

She couldn’t help but smile. “They implied some things…”

He nodded. “I… just want you to know that I would’ve gone back to Sorgan. Even if you hadn’t come with us. You’re… important. To me.”

Her heart fluttered. She knew he wanted them to be together, that he may have even had feelings for her that were strong, but to hear him say so aloud felt like a gift.

“I would’ve been there waiting.”

The Mandalorian was quiet while his focus changed, shifting instead to his toddling boy with a happy grin on his face. At his side, Winta had discovered the Mandalorian armor that Cobb Vanth had worn on Tatooine. She slid the helmet over her head and giggled. Then, she pulled it off and showed it to the Child.

It surprised her a little that Din didn’t chastise the children for playing with it. He’d felt so strongly about protecting the armor and bringing it back to his people.

“Before him, I provided for my people on Nevarro. The covert is gone now. Scattered. After we find his kind, I won’t have a path I’m sworn to.”

Din folded his arms against his chest and turned his attention onto her again.

“I thought… maybe my next path would reveal itself to me on this journey. Maybe I’d find the members of my covert who scattered. But instead, we’ve just run around in circles, and Gideon’s back.”

She’d felt so excited at the idea of being together when this mission was over that she hadn’t considered what Din wanted to do next. Her only concern had been the relief of knowing he wanted to be together. 

Would he still want that when he learned of their child? And what about his future? Was it fair to him to stay together somewhere, raising a family, when he could help so many with his skills and talents?

Her stomach flipped and she averted her gaze, looking at the baby sock in her hand.

“Well, maybe your next steps will be revealed to you soon,” Omera told the Mandalorian. She refused to look at him, feeling too ashamed of herself.

Din was silent for a few seconds. “Maybe.”

Before Omera had the chance to say anything, to offer him hope, he walked away, retreating back toward the cockpit again. She shut her eyes, sighing softly through her nose.

How could they ever be together? It felt like a dream that would never be realized, so distant that it felt foolish to continue running after it.

At her feet, she felt the sudden warm embrace of small hands around her calf. Looking down, she saw the Child, whose smile was gentle and innocent.

“Hi, little one.”

Omera leaned down to pull him up into her lap. With her arm around his belly, he wrapped his fingers around hers.

“What do you think?” She held up the sock. “It’s not finished yet… but I think it will work.”

The Child tilted his head and cooed. He reached out with one hand to take it and she laughed.

“It isn’t for you.” Omera kissed the top of his head before whispering, “It’s for your little brother or sister.”

The Child’s smile spread happily. Her heart felt warm. She could only imagine what it would feel like to finally tell Din.

-

“Din.” Winta sighed his name heavily from her seat behind him. “I miss home.”

They had been on their way to Corvus for a considerable length of time, so Winta’s complaint wasn’t without its reason, but it still hurt to hear. They were a traveling crew, one he was quite fond of. Winta in particular was just one way this journey had become so much brighter, in more ways than one.

Omera had excused herself to use the privy a few minutes ago and still hadn’t returned, so Din knew he had no choice but to turn and answer the angst-ridden child.

“I know you’re uncomfortable. I think we’re all getting a little cabin fever.”

Winta threw her head back and huffed a dramatic sigh. “I wish we could just be there already.”

Din sighed. He took a peek out the window of the cockpit and pointed to the nearby planet.

“Look. That’s Corvus. If you can just sit tight for a few more minutes, we’ll start the landing cycle, and we’ll be back on solid ground soon enough.”

The door to the cockpit opened and Omera entered. She sat without saying anything, but he still glanced back at her anyway. 

The journey had been unintentionally tense between them for no other reason than his knowing that she had something to tell him, and her insistence that she wait until they finally found the Jedi.

If she wanted to tell him her feelings, he had an inclination that he knew what they were already. At least, he hoped he knew. After everything that they’d shared, everything spoken and unspoken, the direction she seemed to lean was in the very same direction he did.

It was hard to admit it to himself, after a lifetime of perfecting a tough outer shell. The feeling had only intensified with her closeness to him these past few weeks. 

Din was in love, and it wasn’t just with Omera. He’d fallen for Winta too, the adorable girl with dimples and a penchant for making up songs.

They would be together, once this journey was finished, and it made his chest tight with longing each time the thought came to his mind, even if it terrified him. He didn’t know what it would look like, or how they would make it work. They’d figure it out. They’d have to.

“We’re almost there,” Din told Omera. He looked at the Child, seated on the console to his right. “You better get back in your seat, kid.”

The Child cooed, but didn’t move. For a second, he looked at the ball tightened on the lever - his favorite toy to hold. 

“Hey,” Din said, trying to force his attention back on him. “What did I tell you? Back in your seat.”

After one more coo, the Child finally used his feet to move, climbing up onto Omera’s lap with a little contented sigh from the boy.

With the Empire likely on their tail and the Jedi not too far ahead, Din had to wonder what would come next. Would Moff Gideon lay off if the Child was returned to his kind? Would the Jedi even want to take him?

It was enough to keep Din’s mind busy considering every possible outcome of this stop on Corvus- a place, they soon discovered, that had been devastated by something, or someone. Trees sat dying on the barren forest floors, and a sleepy town sat behind tall brick walls.

It seemed desolate and empty. Why would a Jedi come here?

After settling the Razor Crest onto the ground near the town with tall brick walls, Din turned to his crew in the cockpit.

“Well, Corvus awaits.”

Winta slouched off of her chair, the earlier angst having melted into some sort of fresh tiredness mixed with it. Omera shook her head at the girl.

“You’ll feel better once we get outside,” Omera said as she ushered her child up out of her chair. “Let’s go.”

As they stepped off of the Crest, Din focused on the world around them. It was quiet. A few creatures moaned in the distance, but the land seemed peaceful. Although, the dead trees standing all around the ship seemed to be a bad omen for things to come.

Behind him, the Child sat down on the ramp. Din turned, frowning when he saw that he’d pulled the ball off of the lever.

“What did I say about that?” He leaned down, scooping the Child into his arms. He pulled the ball away from him. “This needs to stay in the ship.”

“Mama, what happened to this land? It’s so… sad.”

Omera shook her head. “I don’t know. It certainly hasn't been cared for, has it?”

“No.”

Din approached the pair who stood just ahead of him. 

“Let’s head into town. See if we can pick up a lead. I’ve never had dealings with a Jedi before, so… not sure where to start.”

“That seems as good a place as any to try,” Omera agreed. 

The walls of the town were higher than they’d seemed before, towering high above them as they approached the main gate. A handful of officers stood watch above them. Thoughtfully, he hid the Child within the fabric sling at his side in an attempt at keeping his identity secure.

After a short inquiry by the gate officers, they were permitted to enter through the gates, and once they stepped inside, Din knew right away that this mission was about to be difficult. Very few of the people within the gates seemed eager to linger, much less look in their direction.

“Pardon me, vendor, have you heard of anyone…”

The vendor turned away from him, heading away from her goods and inside the building just behind her. Frowning, Din sighed. He looked at Omera, who lingered behind him. She stared into an alleyway, at an older man who tended to two children.

“Excuse me,” Omera kept her voice low and kind. “Can you help us?”

The older man shooed the children away and then approached them. “Please, do not speak to them, or to any of us.”

Frowning, Omera shook her head. “We just need help finding someone. Please-”

Before she could make any headway with the villager, a pair of fully armed and threatening guards approached them and addressed him directly. 

“The Magistrate wants to see you.”

He met Omera’s gaze. She instantly held Winta closer. With a nod toward the guards, he allowed them to guide them toward their Magistrate. 

“Stay close.”

Omera nodded silently. 

They were led toward another large gate within the town: a strange centerpiece to an already strange place.

Worried, he kept Omera and Winta in his sights at his side. He was always committed to protecting them, but with the hope of staying together once this journey was finished, he felt extra protective.

As they approached the second gate, Omera protected her daughter from the sight of three prisoners being tortured for all to see. He tried to shield Winta from it as well and stepped in front of her strategically.

“Help us.” He was electrocuted for his words and released a scream so bloodcurdling that Din couldn’t help but feel contempt for the one who was doing this to them.

Beyond the gates, there was a calm and peaceful garden. A bridge covered a pond full of fish, and that’s where the Magistrate stood, feeding her pets while three lives were tortured to the brink of death just feet away.

He led his crew just beyond the gates and stopped.

“Come forward.” It was clear to him that this woman was the cause of the troubles of this town. While she lived in comfort, her people were tightly controlled and fearful for their lives. Even still, he stepped toward her with Omera and Winta just behind him. “You are a Mandalorian?”

“Yes.”

“I have a proposition that may interest you.”

Din held his head high, glancing out of the corner of his vision at Omera. She held Winta close, protecting her even though they’d already seen the worst that this town had to offer.

“My price is high.”

The Magistrate took a few steps toward him. “A Jedi plagues me. I want you to kill her.”

He felt the Child stir a little at his side and was reminded of his true purpose for being on this planet. He needed to find the Jedi, not kill her.

“That’s a difficult task.”

The Magistrate offered a small smile. “One that you are well-suited for. The Jedi are the ancient enemy of Mandalore.”

“As I said, my price is high.” 

He was unwilling to pledge that he’d kill one of the Child’s kind. It was wrong to even consider such a thing, but he didn’t want to put their lives in danger by denying the Magistrate’s offer. It seemed to him that she might know where the Jedi was, and that was all he needed.

The Magistrate quietly summoned a guard droid forward, one holding a spear in hand. 

“What do you make of this?”

The Magistrate spun the dull end of the spear toward him and then held it outward in both hands as an offering. Carefully, he stepped toward her to take it. When he took it into his hands, he studied it carefully. It seemed like beskar in feel, and when he tested it against his arm gauntlet, he was proven right. Rang out clean.

“Beskar.”

“Pure beskar… like your armor. Kill the Jedi and it’s yours.”

“Where do I find this Jedi?”

-

Walking around on a dying, unfamiliar planet with two children was not his brightest idea, especially considering the risks surrounding them, but they really had no choice. If they wanted to find the Jedi, they needed to keep moving.

Omera walked at his side while Winta ran ahead. She used the angst she’d built up on the ship in the quickness of her strides. It was only the smallest step above the complaining she’d done when they began the walk in terms of anxiety-inducing behaviors.

“Winta!” Omera called after her. “Winta, you can’t keep running ahead.”

Winta stopped, throwing her head back to groan. “Mama…”

“This is a planet none of us know,” Omera scolded. “We don’t know what’s out there. We can’t protect you if you get too far ahead.”

An idea came to him when he heard the Child make a noise. He gestured for Winta. “Come here. You can hold the Child.”

Winta came back toward them and waited patiently for him to grab the boy from the sling at his side. When he settled him into Winta’s arms, the Child cooed happily.

“There,” Din said, nodding toward them. “We’re getting close to the coordinates. We stay together. Understood?”

Winta nodded. “Yes, Din.”

He looked at Omera, whose usual brightness seemed to have dampened. “Okay?”

She took a breath of the thick Corvus air and smiled slightly. “I think all of the adventure is finally catching up with me. Traveling with two young ones isn’t easy, is it?”

Din shook his head. “No, but at least we’re together.”

Her expression softened a little and she nodded her head. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Maybe I’m just overwhelmed thinking about what will happen when we find the Jedi. Will he go with them? Will he be okay with the Empire after him? Will we?”

They were all questions that had been plaguing him since learning of Gideon’s survival on Nevarro. It was comforting to know he had Omera to lean on as she worried about the same uncertainties. 

Sighing, Din stared at the Child in Winta’s arms. “I don’t know.”

A twig snapped behind them and Din turned quickly, pulling his blaster from his side as he moved. Ahead of him, an unfamiliar figure stood with a pair of light sticks in her hands. She wore a soft smile on her lips and a quirk in her brow.

“Aren’t bounty hunters supposed to travel lightly?”

Din narrowed his eyes slightly. “Are you Ahsoka Tano?” The woman said nothing indicating if she was or not, so he held hope that she was. “Bo-Katan sent me. We need to talk.”

Pleasantly, she stepped closer to them. For a moment, he thought about how he’d attack should she decide to try something, but she saw past him and Omera, her gaze settling on the Child in Winta’s arms instead.

“I hope it’s about him.”

-

The Jedi sat opposite the Child, both planted firmly on fallen trees, for hours. The light of the day gave easily to night, and Din was unable to stay in one place for longer than a second.

He paced around in wandering circles, waiting helplessly as Ahsoka seemed to commune with the Child in silence. 

He knew nothing of how the Jedi worked, or if talking silently was how the Child was meant to communicate, but he found some comfort in the way Ahsoka Tano carried herself. She would have answers for him.

Leaning against a nearby tree, Omera held a snoozing Winta in her arms. Her nervous gaze was set only on him every time he even cast a glance in her direction. His stomach flipped at the contact and his heart clenched warmly within his chest.

He found comfort in the fact that he wasn’t in this alone. They’d found the Jedi together.

From their perch just ahead of him, Ahsoka nodded at the Child, whose arms were held out as if he wished to be carried. She scooped him into her arms and grabbed her lantern, then slowly made her way towards him. 

Feeling nothing short of anxious, Din met her halfway. The Jedi settled the Child upon a rock and sat next to him. The kid babbled at her and she smiled fondly.

“Is he speaking?” Din asked. “Do you understand him?”

“In a way,” Ahsoka replied, meeting his gaze. “Grogu and I can feel each other’s thoughts.”

“Grogu?” Din asked. It earned him an excited chirp from the Child as he craned his head to the side to look up at him.

“Yes.” Din stared at the Child. The Child stared back. Something had changed in the kid. Maybe it was because he was understood by someone. “That’s his name.”

“Grogu.”

This time, the Child’s eyes were wider and his ears perked up. There was a happy look on his face accompanying the noise he made. It must’ve been true: his name was Grogu.

“He was raised at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Many Masters trained him over the years. At the end of the Clone Wars when the Empire rose to power, he was hidden.” As Ahsoka spoke, Din sat on a fallen tree stump opposite the Jedi to listen to her story. “Someone took him from the Temple. Then his memory becomes… dark. He seemed lost. Alone.”

She paused and looked thoughtfully at the kid- Grogu. He seemed tired. His eyes squinted and his head fell. His ears flopped around as he tried to keep awake. “I’ve only known one other being like this. A wise Jedi Master named Yoda.”

As if affirming her words, Grogu made a noise. Din wasn’t sure what to think, but he appreciated learning about his history. As tragic as it sounded, he could relate to it. They were both foundlings. They had both been lost. 

“Can he still wield the Force?” she asked.

Din shook his head. The word meant absolutely nothing to him. “You mean his powers?”

“The Force is what gives him his powers. It is an energy field created by all living things. To wield it takes a great deal of training and discipline.”

He thought back over every extraordinary thing, big and small, that he’d seen the kid do. There was so much power inside of him that Din could never explain or make peace with. The Mudhorn. Healing Karga. What he did on Nevarro with the fire. Moving things… choking people.

“I’ve seen him do things I can’t explain.” On the rock to his left, Grogu had closed his eyes, tired, and sighed as sleep overwhelmed him. “My task was to bring him to a Jedi.”

Sorrowfully, Ahsoka’s gaze fell dark. She frowned. “The Jedi Order fell a long time ago.”

It seemed like she didn’t want to help him. She had to know the dangers that the kid faced. He was special and wanted because of it. 

“So did the Empire, yet it still hunts him. He needs your help.”

The Jedi contemplated this. He could tell that it wasn't something she took lightly. On either side of Grogu's path, there was the threat of the Empire. 

“Let him sleep,” the Jedi said. “I’ll test him in the morning.”

Gently, she stood up, but she didn't walk away. Din followed her action and lifted the Child into his arms, cradling him as he typically did. Glancing past him, Ahsoka stared at Omera and Winta, not for the first time since their meeting. She looked back again.

“Grogu is attached to all of you,” she shared. She kept her voice low on behalf of the kid. “He told me she was special to you, too.”

Din smiled to himself, unable to help it. “Her name is Omera. She is… very special to me, yes.”

Ahsoka smiled amiably at his words. “It worries me- how attached Grogu is. It will make it difficult to train him.” Pausing, she took a half step backward. “But we’ll see how he is in the morning.”

“Right.” 

He looked down at the boy sleeping in his arms for only a moment, but when he looked back up again, the Jedi had disappeared.

On a sigh, he made his way over to Omera. She was still awake where she rested, waiting for him to share what he’d learned from the Jedi. He sat down with his back pressed to the same tree. Their shoulders pressed together, but he couldn’t see her.

“What did she say?” Omera asked quietly.

Din’s chest ached as he lowered his hand to the Child’s belly. 

Finally, he knew who this special child was, and it would only be a matter of time before they were no longer together. Ahsoka would undoubtedly see potential in Grogu and want to train him. It was something he hadn’t thought about, not wanting to deal with the realization that he had grown so attached to the kid.

Now that the time had finally come, the reality weighed heavy in his heart.

“She said his name is Grogu. She’s going to test his abilities in the morning.”

“Grogu,” Omera repeated. She laughed under her breath. “It’s nice to hear that he has a name.”

Din nodded in agreement. “It is.”

Silence between them grew like a vine on a wall for a long time, until Omera shifted and put her hand on his arm.

“I’m sorry we’ve made this part of the journey so difficult. Winta wants to go home… I’ve been distant...”

“You don’t need to apologize.”

“I do. I want you to know that I’m here to support you. And Grogu. I want to be here with you both.”

Hearing Omera say that she wanted to be with him wasn’t a surprise. They’d made an agreement that they would find a path forward together once Grogu was with the Jedi. Even still, he felt his heart rate double at her words.

Omera wanted him in a way no other had before. She wanted a life with him, and he wanted it in kind. It surprised him how much he did.

Din shut his eyes. He pressed his head against the tree. 

“When this is over…” he paused thoughtfully. “Maybe we could go to Nevarro. Winta can go to school. I can get work with Cara or Greef. We can have a home there.”

For a few seconds, she was quiet. He began to doubt that she felt comfortable with the idea of a life like that with him. Maybe she wanted something different. Maybe she wanted a life on Sorgan. But could he settle down there?

“That sounds nice,” Omera finally replied. Her voice was warm and gentle. “Maybe I would become a Mandalorian, too.”

The thought of Omera becoming Mandalorian was enough for him to forget to breathe. 

“You would do that?”

“Yes.” Omera’s responding whisper brought an unbreakable smile to his face. “I’m kind of jealous of your armor, if I’m honest.”

He laughed, a noise that came from his belly, and Omera joined him. Her fingers found his on the forest floor, gentle when they slid against his gloved hand. 

How had he found her? How had he been so lucky?

“What about Sorgan?” Din asked. “Your people would miss you. Winta would miss it too.”

She sighed. “I know. I think we would make it work. She could find new friends. And we would be together. I don’t want you to have to settle for something like a life on Sorgan if it isn’t what you want.” 

“You shouldn’t have to settle, either.”

She was quiet while she thought about it. “We could visit the village. It’s a compromise I’m willing to make for our future together.”

With his eyes closed, he could see it: a home in Nevarro. Winta’s giggles echoing off the walls. A bed he and Omera could share alone. Doing odd jobs for Greef and Cara. Bringing Winta home a gift from wherever he found himself in his travels. 

If he extended his reach enough, he could just feel it in the palm of his hand.

-

In the morning, once Grogu finally awoke, Ahsoka Tano began testing his abilities. 

She started with a rock in her hand, one she pushed toward him as a demonstration of what she wanted him to do. Once he held the rock in his hand, she asked him to push it back by using the Force.

Din watched from the side, sensing that Grogu’s stubborn streak didn’t only include not listening to him. Apparently, he struggled to listen to everyone. When Grogu failed to send the rock back to Ahsoka, the Jedi sighed.

Thoughtful, she took a step to the side. “Let’s try something else. Come over here.”

Din looked to the Child and tilted his head toward Ahsoka to try and get him to move. He didn’t.

“He’s stubborn.”

“Not him. You. I want to see if he’ll listen to you.”

He glanced over at Omera, who sat nearby with Winta, brushing back her daughter’s hair as they watched Grogu’s test in silence. They didn’t want to cause distraction for the kid.

“That would be a first,” Din remarked, lifting his brow in exasperation.

“I like firsts,” Ahsoka said with a wry smile. “Good or bad, they’re always memorable.” She handed him a fresh stone, wanting to start over. “Now, hold the stone out in the palm of your hand. Tell him to lift it up.”

He did as he was told, the rock placed delicately between his thumb and forefinger. “All right, kid. Lift the stone.”

The Child stared back at him, blinking. Apparently, he didn’t want to listen to him either.

“Grogu,” Ahsoka reminded him.

“Grogu…” Din repeated.

This time, Grogu’s ears perked up. It was clear he enjoyed hearing Din say his name. Might have to keep that in mind for later.

“Come on, take the stone.”

Din could tell that Grogu gave it an effort, but it was nothing compared to what he’d seen him do before. 

“You see?” He turned to face the Jedi and chucked the rock backward onto the ground again. It was useless. The kid didn't want to do it. “I told you, he’s stubborn.”

“Try to connect with him.”

Connect with him… how? A thought occurred to him, one that made him smile slightly. The ball from the lever on the Crest seemed to get him to do what he wanted. Just like Omera had suggested: award him with something he wanted to earn his responsiveness.

Din reached into his belt to find the ball. He lifted it into his palm and then slid it between his thumb and forefinger. 

“Grogu.” He waited to get the kid’s attention locked on him. He gestured to the ball with a nod. “Do you want this?” His ears perked. “Well, go ahead.”

The Child concentrated on pulling the ball from him. He could feel it. Something was happening. He was about to do this, wasn’t he? He could prove to them all that he could use the Force.

“That’s right, take it. Come on.” Din couldn’t help from smiling from beneath his helmet. He had faith in the kid. He’d seen him do so much… if Ahsoka only knew. “You can have it. Come on.”

In an instant, the ball soared through the air between them, landing directly in Grogu’s waiting palm. He couldn’t help the swell of pride within him. He nodded, moving toward the Child.

“Good job!” He felt the grin on his face spread. “Good job, kid. You see that? That’s right.”

Din caught Omera staring at him. She smiled in kind, just as proud of Grogu as he was.

The Child cooed, looking at him as if he was more excited about the affirmation than he was about having his ball in his hands again. When he approached Grogu on his perch, he knelt down. He offered Din the ball and he took it, unable to look away from him. He was always amazed when he saw the kid do his thing. There was no doubt that he had gifts.

“I knew you could do it. Very good.”

From behind them, the Jedi spoke, “It’s like I thought. He’s formed a strong attachment to you. I cannot train him.”

He knitted his brow, instantly upset, and whirled around. “What? Why not? You’ve seen what he can do.”

Ahsoka stared at the Child for a moment and then turned her attention up to him. “His attachment to you makes him vulnerable to his fears. His anger.”

“All the more reason to train him.”

The Jedi took a step towards him. “No. I’ve seen what such feelings can do to a fully trained Jedi Knight. To the best of us. I will not start this child down that path. Better to let his abilities fade.” Ahsoka glanced toward Omera and Winta briefly. Then, she took a step backward as if she were prepared to leave. “I’ve delayed too long. I must get back to the village.”

The Jedi began on her path away from them, but Din knew he couldn’t let her go.

“The Magistrate sent me to kill you.” The Jedi pivoted on her heel to face him once more. “I didn’t agree to anything. And I’ll help you with your problem, if you see to it that Grogu is properly trained.”

Ahsoka took a deep breath as she considered the agreement. Together, they would make quite the team- one their enemies would never see coming. 

Having made up her mind, she nodded. “Then we should get moving.”

-

After an afternoon spent trudging through the dying forests of Corvus, Omera felt as if every ounce of energy she had was absolutely depleted. As they approached the Razor Crest, all at once, all she wanted was to curl up in a corner somewhere and sleep.

Din and Ahsoka had come up with a plan to solve the Jedi’s problem, but they would wait for morning before they would begin their siege. Until then, their group returned to the Crest in silence, listening to the sounds of their feet against the forest floor and a couple of creatures moaning in the distance.

“He’s worn out,” Din murmured as he adjusted his son in his arm.

Omera hummed. “Using the Force must tire him.”

The Mandalorian nodded in agreement. He was the first up the Razor Crest’s extended ramp. As he walked, he soothed Grogu with his palm over his belly. Omera couldn’t help but see the action as a vision from the future, where he carried their newborn in the very same way. The thought made her heart ache with longing.

Winta followed after the Mandalorian, but Omera lingered at the base of the ramp. She turned when she felt a set of eyes on her. Ahsoka studied her from nearby with a soft, unassuming smile on her face. 

She hadn’t realized that Ahsoka had followed them, but wasn’t surprised to see her. They’d spent the better part of the day together.

The Jedi approached, only slowing to a stop when they were close enough that their conversation would be kept private.

“I can feel your child,” Ahsoka said. She looked downward, a silent gesture to her middle. “It’s a boy. He’s strong. Healthy. Congratulations.”

Her heart raced wildly. How could she know? Was it the same way that Grogu knew?

“Thank you. But how do you…?”

Briefly, Ahsoka glanced up the ramp toward the inside of the Razor Crest. The Jedi was calm. Patient. 

“The Force is in all things.” With a small smile, she added, “Grogu sensed him too.”

Omera thought back to the experiences she’d shared with the boy, where he’d seemingly been able to sense the unborn without needing any prompting at all.

“I had a feeling.”

The Jedi took half a step backwards. “I’ll be back for the Mandalorian before dawn like we agreed. You should rest.”

Before she could respond, Ahsoka turned away. Omera shifted her focus upward to seek out her family within the Razor Crest. 

If what Ahsoka said was to be believed, she carried within her a boy. It was good to know that he was strong and healthy. Any worries she’d had about that could be put away. 

Absentmindedly, her palm fell over her middle and she gave the small bump a gentle caress. Joy filled her as she considered her unborn child. What would he look like? In what ways would he be like Din? The thoughts gave her heart a lot to ponder.

Inside the ship, she saw Din with Grogu at the sleeping nook while Winta watched on from a slight distance.

The Mandalorian lingered, hovering with his son as if he could make time freeze, and Omera looked to Winta again, whose sorrowful focus sat on Din. 

Winta knew they would have to say goodbye to the young Jedi soon. It wouldn’t be easy for any of them to let go of Grogu and see him step into his future, but there was hope in it. Grogu would one day be able to master his skills and return to them stronger than before. It wouldn’t last forever.

“Why don’t you set up our bed out here tonight, my love?” Omera asked her daughter with a gentle hand pressed to her arm.

Winta rubbed her eyes tiredly and nodded. “Okay.”

Their bed wasn’t much: a series of blankets and a single pillow they shared, but it was enough to make do. It was at least better than sleeping sitting up in the cockpit, even if the ground made her muscles ache just the same.

Omera went to Din and put her hand over his forearm, drawing his attention to her. “He isn’t going anywhere. Let him rest.”

“I never gave any thought to him leaving,” Din admitted in a quiet voice. “I always thought there would be more time.”

She nodded. “I know.”

Din sighed heavily. He finally pulled away from the hole in the wall. Their fingers tangled between them and she knew then that he was more vulnerable than he’d ever been with her.

This was difficult for him. She’d never seen him so conflicted about doing what was right before.

“Let’s try to get a few hours of sleep.”

Once the makeshift bed on the floor of the Razor Crest was completed, they pulled the ramp back up for protection from the creatures of the forest planet, and Omera settled in beside her daughter beneath a single blanket.

The Mandalorian lay out on his back beside them. The position made Omera feel tired in the most bone-aching way, but she turned to him anyway, and saw that he stared back at her.

He pulled his glove from his hand and she smiled when he sought out hers. This time, he traced lines into it, drawing over the creases and grooves of her palm like he could memorize her. 

Desperation filled her. She wished that they were alone so that she could tell him how she felt about him. That she loved him. That she was carrying his child- a boy. That the future they’d discussed just a night ago was more possible than they could even dream.

“Are you okay?” Omera asked in a whisper.

Din stopped his movements on her hand briefly at the question she posed and then continued, whispering in response, “I can’t teach him what he needs to know. This is the best path for him.”

His selflessness was one of the strongest parts of him, but she knew it didn’t sit as easily as he made it sound. This was hard. He and Grogu were a clan of two. They’d formed an unbreakable bond.

“But are you okay?” Omera asked again.

The Mandalorian hesitated.

“I’ve grown to care for him as my own.” Din’s voice was quieter than before; timid. “He’s… my son.” 

His words brought tears to her eyes. She forced him to stop tracing lines into her skin and reached up to take his hand in hers instead.

“One day, you will look back on this moment and remember the hurt, but then see the good that came from it and realize that it was well worth it all.” She smiled a little. “My mother told me that years and years ago.”

Din’s fingers tightened around hers, but he said nothing. 

“She was so… wonderful. She would’ve loved you.” Omera smiled at the thought of her mother meeting the Mandalorian. She’d probably laugh that bright laugh of hers and challenge every word that he spoke. “She always told me I would find a man one day with stars in his eyes to match all of my ambitions.”

“Did you?”

She stared at Din for a moment. Her heart skipped a beat, frantic even though she knew the answer without needing even a second to think. Although she had never seen his face, she knew that she had indeed found a man with stars in his eyes.

“Yes. I found you.”

He released a soft breath- almost a gasp of surprise, like he couldn’t believe she felt this way for him.

“Every hardship that’s happened in my life led me straight to you,” Omera continued. “And I don’t regret any of it because meeting you… being with you…” She smiled more, admiring the Mandalorian in the darkness. “It’s made me so much stronger. I’m sure Grogu feels the same.”

When he spoke, his voice sounded fragile, “You’ve made me stronger, too.”

-

His mission with Ahsoka was a rousing success. 

The townspeople were freed of their oppressive government, Ahsoka was free to do as she pleased, and to top it all off, he now had a spear of full beskar to add to his assortment of weapons on board the Crest.

But, it was the end. The Jedi wanted to see the Child, and she would take him to train him in the ways of their kind. 

Slowly, Din climbed the ramp up to check on the sleeping boy. Once he stood in the cargo hold, he discovered that Omera and Winta sat out waiting for his return.

Omera had a sorrowful look in her eyes that Winta mirrored. 

“Is it done?” Omera asked.

He nodded his head once. “I need to bring him to her now.”

His stomach twisted sourly. If this was goodbye, he needed to make it quick. They’d both get over this, in time.

“Winta, let’s go sit in the cockpit,” Omera suggested quietly. She seemed so aware of what he needed: time alone with the kid.

Without needing any other push, Winta and Omera went up the ladder to the cockpit, leaving him with nothing but his thoughts and the child he’d fought to protect time and time again.

Din approached the hammock and realized he couldn’t be upset when he found that he was still asleep. He nudged the hammock, trying to wake him peacefully. 

“Wake up, buddy,” he murmured. “It’s time to say goodbye.”

Grogu stirred, his eyes opening briefly, but sleep found him again, and Din sighed softly with a smile on his lips. 

Eventually, Grogu whined and Din took the opportunity to lift him into his arms. Leaning back against the nook, he stared down at his son. Grogu took his finger and held it. His eyes opened a little bit more this time.

“Hey, Grogu.” Din grinned when Grogu’s ears perked at the sound of his name. “Hey, kid.”

Grogu hummed and his eyes slid shut, but Din didn’t begrudge him for wanting more rest. Instead, he held his son tighter and wished that the moment could last longer.

After a couple of minutes that stretched into dozens more, Grogu finally flexed his fingers into his palms and opened his eyes once more. 

“You ready now, buddy?” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I promised I’d take you to a Jedi… so, that’s what I’m gonna do. Okay?”

The Child stared at him blankly.

“You don’t belong with me. You belong with your kind.” It felt like a lie. “It’s time to go.”

He brought the Child away from the sleeping nook slowly. Stopping at a nearby crate, he prepared him for the small journey to town. Fussing over him seemed to come naturally, he mused, and he began to wonder if it was instinct.

Just as he was about ready to take Grogu back to Ahsoka, he turned at the sound of approaching footsteps. It seemed he didn’t need to go back to town after all.

Din lifted the Child into his arm again and allowed him to hold onto two of his fingers as he descended the ramp to get closer to the Jedi. 

“You’re like a father to him,” Ahsoka said gently. With a deep, steadying breath, she looked from Grogu and back up at Din. “I cannot train him.”

He hadn’t come all this way to hear such a thing, but there was hope that beat idly within him anyway. Maybe, if she just saw the kid do one more Jedi thing. Maybe if he could show her what he did to the Mudhorn...

“You made me a promise, and I held up my end.”

Ahsoka’s gaze shifted to Grogu and she took a few steps forward as she thought about something. She reached out to rub a finger over the Child's.

“There is one possibility. Go to the planet Tython.” She looked up at Din. “There you will find the ancient ruins of a temple that has a strong connection to the Force. Place Grogu on the seeing stone at the top of the mountain.”

“Then what?”

“Then Grogu may choose his path. If he reaches out through the Force, there’s a chance a Jedi may sense his presence and come searching for him.” The Jedi folded her arms against her chest. “Then again, there aren’t many Jedi left.”

Grogu babbled sadly. 

She looked up at Din again, as if she could sense something. Her gaze shifted once more, to the ship just beyond him. Turning, he saw Omera standing at the top of the ramp on her own, watching the exchange. 

“Thank you.”

Ahsoka took a step backwards, away from the Crest, and lifted a hand. “May the Force be with you.”

Din held Grogu just a little bit tighter as he turned away from Corvus and the Jedi on the ground. Omera gave him a tender smile and reached out to touch his arm as the door sealed itself shut.

“Guess there’s still at least one more stop. Tython.”

She nodded. “I heard.”

Together, he and Omera made their way back up to the cockpit of the Razor Crest. In silence and with a comfortable ease, he settled Grogu into Winta’s open arms and climbed into the pilot’s chair to begin preparations for takeoff. 

They would have one more stop on this journey. It almost seemed like it would never end, but part of him was glad that they had more time. 

Fear of the unknown path ahead of him could be pushed aside for a few more days, until the Jedi came for the kid. Then, Din would have to decide where the path was and what he would do next. 

Once they broke the atmosphere into space, he heard Omera shift. Her chair squeaked just a little as it pivoted.

“Winta, would you please take Grogu with you down below? I need to talk to Din.”

His heart leapt. She wanted to speak with him alone? What for?

He turned around to face his passengers. Omera nodded gently to her daughter, silently asking her to leave. The girl stood to her feet with Grogu tucked beneath her arms and stepped out of the cockpit.

Once the door slid closed behind the children, Din focused on Omera.

“What’s going on?”

In her eyes, he saw something he’d seen a few times before: her secret. 

She was interrupted by Winta the last time she almost told him. Now, they wouldn’t have any interruptions. 

“I said I would tell you something when we found the Jedi. Can I tell you now?”

He swallowed the freshly formed lump in his throat and nodded just barely enough to be registered. 

“Yes.”

Omera sat forward in her seat with her hands clasped together in her lap. She seemed confident, but at the same time, he saw nervousness in the way she breathed. She silently debated what to say before speaking, and when she did, she kept her focus on him.

“I’ve wanted to tell you since you came to Sorgan, but I keep getting tongue tied.” A soft, tender look filled her features. “I’m expecting a baby.”

His heart leapt and his stomach lurched. “You’re…”

She straightened out in her seat and settled her hand against her midsection, revealing to him a gentle swell of her belly.

How had he not noticed? How had he not noticed?

Looking away from her hand over her body, Omera met his gaze once more. 

“Ahsoka told me that she could feel him in the Force.” An excited smile spread wide, crinkling beside her eyes with the purest form of joy. “She said it’s a boy. He’s healthy and strong.” 

A baby. A boy. Omera was pregnant. 

How had he not noticed?

Din felt almost lightheaded as the brunt of the reality of it hit him with full force. She had been with him for a few weeks and hadn’t uttered a word about it to him. 

Should he be offended? Concerned? Angry? Happy?

How the hell had he not noticed?

Moments from their time traveling together flashed through his mind one after the next. Near-death experience after near-death experience. Danger after danger. Fight after fight. 

Guilt cascaded over him in a hard wave. 

Omera’s smile faded as time ticked on. “I know it must be surprising for you to learn. I was surprised when I found out, too. I didn’t think I’d get the opportunity to have another child. He’s already changed my life so much.”

As much as he wanted to be happy for Omera as her friend, there were so many darker thoughts in the way of that. He was angry that he’d put her into situations that were so risky. Angry that she hadn’t told him the truth beforehand. 

Angry at the betrayal he felt for loving someone who didn’t feel the same. There wasn’t any chance that he had anything to do with her child after only one night with her. There must have been someone else. Right? 

He closed his eyes and his head fell. He didn’t know how to ask her if she was committed to another without breaking his own heart.

“Is…” He paused, hating the way his voice cracked. “Is it... mine?”

“Oh,” she gasped out of surprise, “Din, yes, of course.” Her voice was breathless, weighed down with a sense of relief. “How could I have been with someone else?”

His heart rate doubled at her admission. She hadn’t been with another. He was the one Winta had told him about on Trask: the one her heart chose. It wasn’t a surprise to him, but it did fill in some of the uncertainties he felt. 

“Omera, you could’ve been hurt. You could’ve…” 

His chest began to heave. The thought of losing Omera hurt more than even the thought of losing Grogu.

“I knew what I was getting into coming with you, Din.”

“I know, but I didn’t know that you were-” Din cut himself off when he realized his voice was raised. He sighed heavily. “I put you in danger.”

She shook her head swiftly. “I don’t blame you for any of it. We’re all okay.”

He couldn't shake the anger off of him for putting her in danger. It had been part of the agreement when she came along, but she hadn't told him ahead of time about her child. He could've done more to keep her safe.

“When we were still on Sorgan, you could have told me.”

Omera's focus went to her lap for a moment. “I didn’t know if telling you would’ve made you want to stay. I didn’t want it to force you to. You are on a path with Grogu to find his kind. A path I wasn’t on until you asked me to come with you.”

His chest began to ache when he realized just how much she cared for him. Without knowing how he felt for her, he imagined it would have been difficult to admit her secret to him. Allowing him to continue on his path for the Jedi had been a selfless act, even if it may have been a shortsighted one.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” There was a worried frown on her lips and her eyes were filled with sorrow and regret, but she didn’t beg or plead. “If this changes how you feel about me, about our future… I understand. I haven’t been honest with you.”

Suddenly, she stood up in front of him. She took one of his hands into hers and settled it over her middle. He could feel the curve of her body. It was so very real.

His breath caught in his throat. He felt hot, as if the armor he wore was suffocating him, but it was the only thing keeping him from absolutely breaking down.

“This child is yours. If you want him.”

At her words, the weight of the day came crashing down on him. He’d almost had to let go of the kid, and now he had so much more than he thought he’d ever be given. 

Somehow, he’d been given Omera. Beautiful, kind, gentle, Omera. And after just one night together, he’d been given a child. His own flesh and blood. A boy, if the Jedi was right. His son.

“If not…” Omera managed a weak smile and lifted a shoulder. “That’s okay. Winta and I can return to Sorgan. I’ll keep the baby safe and he’ll be loved. You can visit if you want to.”

Din stared at her from behind the haze of his visor and suddenly, it felt like he was playing a game. Wearing his armor in front of Omera felt like a child’s game. What purpose did it serve him to cover his face from her?

She was his equal. The one his heart belonged to. The one who carried his child. 

If there were Mandalorians who didn’t need to wear their helmets in order to stay faithful to the creed, he could bend the rules and step across the line for Omera. Of everyone in the universe, she deserved to know him wholly.

He pulled his hand away from her body and decisively stood so that they were on equal footing. She stared up at him with an edge of uncertainty in the depths of her eyes.

The last thing he wanted was for her to be unsure about how he felt about her, or about their future. 

Din settled both hands on either side of his helmet. Slowly, he lifted it from his head and lowered it to rest on the console beside him. 

With the helmet removed, he could breathe freely. Cool air entered his lungs through his nose in deep, steady breaths that he forced himself to take. 

All at once, he felt just as terrifyingly bare and exposed as he had on Nevarro with the IG unit. Anxious and self-conscious thoughts flooded his mind, but he quieted them when his focus settled on her.

Somehow, she was more beautiful to him, seen without obstruction. He could see more clearly the roundness of her belly, a sign of his child growing within her, and cursed himself again for not seeing it any sooner.

Omera seemed overwhelmed by his choice to remove his helmet- just as much as he was. Unshed tears gathered in her eyes and the softest gasp escaped her parted lips.

“I love you, Omera.” His voice was barely a whisper. It embarrassed him, how fragile he sounded, but she could see him as he was, truly, and it was everything all at once.

Hesitantly, she reached out for him with one hand. Her fingers were cool when they ever so softly grazed his cheek and his eyes shut instantly at the feeling. Invisible sparks lit up on his skin like fireworks that made his heart jump in surprise.

Slowly, her fingers slid upwards, until her palm rested over his cheek, and he leaned his weight into her hand. He opened his eyes again to meet her gaze. 

Omera tilted her head and offered him a tender smile, just as fragile as he felt. “I love you too, Din.”

As if she knew it was too much to handle all at once, she lowered her hand away from his face and settled it against her middle instead.

Everything felt different. Everything felt new. Changed. The world he’d made for himself had been shattered in the best, most terrifying way. He and Omera were going to have a baby. They were going to be a family.

He took a moment to admire her, each pretty eyelash, every freckle, each breath she took that lifted her chest. It was different, in a good way, seeing her so freely. 

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Do you need anything? Do you feel sick?”

Omera laughed out of surprise. “No, I’m fine.” She soothed a hand over her bump. “The worst of the sickness is over.” With a soft sigh, she added, “I feel so much better now that you know, too.”

There would be so much that they’d have to decide. Where they would go. What they would do next. How they would raise the kids. But all he could think about was her, and how he wished he could give her the entire universe.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

He shook his head, unsure what she meant. “About what?”

“This is a lot all at once… I would understand if you were overwhelmed.” She drew in a breath and averted her gaze, looking instead at the floor. “The day you left Sorgan, I thought it might have been partly because of me… because you weren’t sure what to do-”

He settled his hands over her hips and Omera timidly peered up at him.

“It is the Way to have a family,” Din told her. “Children are important. I didn’t think I’d ever have any of my own, though. It’s easier to travel alone.”

She nodded in understanding. Hope shined in her eyes brighter than it had before. “It was meant to be.” Her smile spread. “I’m so excited to meet him. I think he’ll be a lot like you.”

He felt his eyes grow wide with even the thought. It was hard to wrap his mind around the idea of what their child would look like, or act like. It was different for Omera. She’d had the experience with Winta and knew what to expect. 

“I hope he’s more like you. Not me.”

Omera tilted her head with an affectionate smile. “We’ll see soon enough.”

His hands shifted on her hips and he squeezed as his thoughts shifted to the path that laid ahead of them. The Jedi had told him to take Grogu to Tython. Could he do that now? Did Omera want to do that now?

“Should we go back to Sorgan?” he asked. “If Gideon’s after the kid, it’s dangerous traveling with me.”

Omera frowned. She pressed both hands against his heart and he reached up to hold each hand, almost instinctively. 

“We found the Jedi, but the journey isn’t over.”

“No.” He searched her eyes and thought about the way Grogu had so easily accepted Omera into his life. “You’re like a mother to him.”

“I know. I’ve felt it too.” Omera softened some. “If you want to take us to Sorgan, we’ll be alright waiting for you to come home to us.”

Home. He’d had to find his home on the Razor Crest the past few months, with the kid. Now, he’d have to figure out what home looked like with Omera, Winta, and, eventually, a newborn.

Overwhelmed, he lowered the crown of his head to hers and shut his eyes. She reached up to the back of his head and threaded her fingers through his hair, her fingernails scraping lightly against his scalp as she went.

As he considered next steps, he knew that he needed to be careful, but Omera had proven herself capable in dangerous situations. She’d been an active participant in several fights, eager to help in whatever way she could, all while secretly pregnant. He’d become stronger because of her help. Together, they were a powerful team.

If what Ahsoka told him was the final step in finding a Jedi that could train Grogu, there wouldn’t be much left to their journey. And if Gideon was out there, they could work together to protect what was theirs.

“You should come with us,” he told her. “Grogu would like that.”

“And when it’s over, what will we do?”

He shook his head. “We’ll… figure it out. We’ll be a family. All of us. If that’s what you want.”

Din pulled back from her just enough to meet her eyes. She lowered her palm to his face again and caressed his cheek with her thumb.

“I want that very much.”

It filled him with so much hope knowing that she loved him.

“Me too.”

A happy smile found her lips. “I'm glad.”

Their eyes locked in a way that they hadn’t since that night on Sorgan, with a silent fire burning within each of them. He couldn’t help the thought that came to him next: he could kiss her if he wanted to.

He had never kissed anyone in his life, but something about the moment made it feel right. He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. 

It almost felt like time itself slowed to a stop. Maybe it did. Just for them. 

Pulling back, he kept his eyes shut and put his forehead against hers. Omera’s hand gently found his neck. 

“You have given me so much,” she murmured with regret in her tone. “I don’t want you to sacrifice your creed as well. I never saw your face. Put your helmet back on.”

Din shook his head. He pulled away so their eyes could meet. “I want you to know me like this.”

Omera still seemed hesitant. Her fingers caressed his face, running over the curves and lines of him as if she wanted to memorize what he looked like. Each touch felt like a reviving spark that lit his heart up with the brightest light.

She pulled her hand from his face when she was done.

“There was a time I believed I would have been content never seeing your face.” Her dimples popped when she smiled at him. “But I’ll admit that I’m thankful I know who you are beneath.”

His heart leapt. “Does it give you hope that our child won’t be a monster?”

Omera’s gaze fell to her middle and the smile on her face spread. She laughed and it was one of the sweetest sounds he'd ever heard.

“I wasn’t worried, but… yes.”

Din admired Omera again. She was everything to him. 

When he lifted his helmet into his hands, it felt strangely heavy. He hesitated with it, studying Omera one last time unobstructed by the visor’s haze.

“I love you.” 

“I love you too.”

Having heard her voice once more, saying those precious words, he resolved that it was time to put the helmet back on, so he did. 

He didn’t know what the future held for him other than what stood before him. The idea had scared him before, the uncertainty of what he’d do once the Child was safe with his kind, but now, a different fear found him.

Would he be able to live as a Mandalorian within this newfound family? Could he provide for them? Keep them safe? 

No matter where he would find his path leading him, he could only hope that he would be enough for Omera. For Winta. For his child.

[fandom-necromancer]

A fresh Start

This was prompted by a wonderful anon! I really enjoyed this! I hope you do too!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 (Warnings: repressed childhood trauma, self harm (description of scars and mention of cutting oneself))

‘Phck you, you phcking tin-can!’ It wasn’t the first time Gavin shouted at Nines in the bullpen, but it was the first time their argument held on for so long. The Detective had come down from Fowler’s office just to stop in front of Nines who was still seated at his table. Gavin had begun screaming curse words at him causing Nines to rise to his feet. But the added height and the fact that he stood in front of an android build for war failed to intimidate the man. If anything, it made him even angrier. ‘How could I ever trust you?’, Gavin screamed, subconsciously taking position to evade a coming blow from Nines. ‘How? If you pull something like this without even phcking preparing me?’ ‘Gavin, I don’t even know what you mean, I-‘ ‘No! Don’t you even dare go down this road! Don’t pretend you didn’t mean it. Don’t dare pretending this wasn’t exactly what you wanted! As if anyone in this damn precinct wouldn’t be happy about me being gone. You don’t want me to die on the job, yeah, no one dares to voice that and it isn’t decent to think about that, am I right?’ ‘Gavin-‘ ‘Oh, but if I conveniently disappeared, that wouldn’t be so bad. You don’t care if I take a vacation, or if I’m sick, or suspended. You wouldn’t care if I got fired! You would like that, wouldn’t you? Finally getting rid of that annoying brat that never was good for anything than causing trouble. Would be a nice life, wouldn’t it?’ ‘Gavin!’

The Detective’s head spun around, and he focussed back on Nines who looked far more offended by that than from any curse thrown his way before. But Gavin didn’t back down. He pointed at his collarbone, stopping only centimetres away from actually touching him. ‘Phck off, tin-can! Phck. Off. You all get what you phcking wished for. See you assholes next week!’

Gavin stomped away, determined on getting home while his head was already in his liquor cabinet in his kitchen. But Nines had grabbed his arm to hold him back and an unstoppable force met an immovable object. He felt his leather jacket being pulled from his shoulder halfway down his arm. Then Nines’ grip fastened, realising he wouldn’t stop Gavin this way. Then he heard the fabric of his old hoodie tear apart. In a panic, he tried to pull himself free, but only managed to lose the sleeve of his jacket completely and rip his hoodie the entire length from amidst his upper arm down to the seam.

Time stopped. Mortified, Gavin looked up at the android who held the piece of fabric from the hoodie in his hand and stared at it quizzically. Both seemed to realise Gavin’s arm lay bare for everyone to see that very second and Nines’ eyes widened. Too frozen by totally irrational fear, Gavin didn’t move when the android gently held his wrist to get a better look at the white lines criss-crossing all over his arm in no discernible pattern. When he started using his other hand to trace them though, it all got too much. Gavin pulled his arm to his chest and struggled to catch the side of his jacket to pull it back over his shoulder and hide the arm. He looked back at Nines once with an unintentionally hurt and fearful expression on his face, before finally bolting. He had to get out, just get out of there and get home. He was safe there. He didn’t have to play a role or be the strong guy anymore. He had to get home. Now.

-

Nines had watched Gavin run away from him. He had been aware of the faces of his co-workers watching him. He did the only logical thing and went back to his desk to continue working. But he couldn’t concentrate. He had folded the ripped piece of fabric and laid it next to his terminal hoping to look busy, so the rest of the force went back to their work. In truth he continued thinking about what just happened. The Detective had screamed at him frequently. He had screamed at everyone on a daily basis and was quite renown to be a huge asshole. Nines could work with him and the Detective’s outbursts were always quick to be over. But not this time. This time he just knew he had overstepped a boundary. But he didn’t know what action of his had led to this. And then there was this new discovery about the man. These… scars. These white lines he had covered up. Since when? Nines could not remember a day Gavin hadn’t worn long sleeves, now that he thought about it. He had put it on poor circulation resulting in a permanent feeling of cold in the Detective. But now… Maybe there was more to it.

And Nines needed to know. He had to know how these scars had come to exist and what he had done to receive such a reaction from the man. If only so it wouldn’t happen again. He made a decision. Once his shift was over, he would drive over to his house and talk with him before getting back home himself. If the man was even willing to talk. If Gavin would even open the door.

Even though he had doubts, he still had to at least attempt on getting some information. He thought about the right words to get the Detective’s attention and convince him not to just slam the door in his face while he sat in a bus heading his direction. When he finally stood in front of said door and had rung the doorbell, he clearly hadn’t expected he didn’t even need these words. A tired looking Gavin opened the door and stared at him out of red swollen eyes. His eyes didn’t allow any question, as he just stared up at the android from the gap between door and frame. Then he sighed and opened the door completely. ‘Come on in.’

Surprised, Nines followed the invitation and scanned the room. His eyes managed to fall on the kitchen table that supported a first aid kit. The android turned to the human. ‘Gavin what-‘ He stopped as his eyes fell on the man’s bloody arm, but Gavin would have interrupted him that moment anyways: ‘Shut up, tin-can. Let me take care of this first and then we can talk.’ ‘Why do you agree on talking about it?’, Nines asked nonetheless. This behaviour was entirely atypical for the human. ‘You wouldn’t have accepted that and went home regardless of my answer, right?’ Nines hummed. ‘I would have for today. Although I doubt, I would have let the topic fall.’ ‘See? Better to get it out of the world before you confront me at work and everyone knows about it.’

Nines followed Gavin to the table and sat down opposite of the man, watching how he dabbed a wet cloth over his arm to wash the blood away. Nines saw several clean cuts, not deep enough to be of any real danger. Most had already stopped bleeding by themselves. Afterwards, Gavin covered them with a light bandage and pulled the torn sleeve from his hoodie over it. He had experience in cleaning these kinds of wounds. Nines didn’t want to think about why he had it.

Gavin put his tools away, threw the razor blade he had cut himself with away and closed the lid of the first aid kit. Apparently, that was the sign conversation was allowed to start. ‘Before you say anything, I know it is a bad habit and that I should stop but I can’t, so don’t even try.’ Nines nodded. Didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to convince him later though. For now, he only asked: ‘Why?’ Gavin blew air through his teeth while reclining on his chair. ‘To have a reason to cry? To focus on something? To destress?’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because my dad’s an asshole?’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because I wasn’t good enough?’

Nines sighed in frustration. ‘Gavin, either don’t tell me anything or explain it to me, but please, make a decision.’ ‘Alright. Men aren’t supposed to cry, right? If a child cries, it’s because that’s what children do. If a teenager cries, it’s because of idiotic crushes and hormones. If an adult cries, it’s because they aren’t manly enough or weak or some bullshit. No one ever asks why they cry. But if you are hurt you are allowed to cry because that is pain and bodily responses and no one can control that.’ He looked up at Nines, who just nodded encouragingly. ‘My dad favoured my brother. Nothing unusual, I mean many people have that problem growing up. And with Eli that was reasonable. I mean, I would have favoured him too. It’s just the same as buying something new instead of second hand. I’m not angry about Eli getting all the attention, I can live with that. I was…’ He swallowed and covered the piece of bandage visible through the tear in his sleeve with his hand as if that could hide it away from Nines’ memories. ‘I had problems being told I wasn’t enough. Didn’t matter what I did, I was always told I wouldn’t be as good as Eli. It was true, I knew I would never be. But I didn’t need to hear that. They could have told me what I did was bad or not worth the effort, but they told me I could never improve. And if you hear that shit long enough from people you look up to, you start to believe it.’ He stayed quiet for a while, before cursing. ‘Phck, I need a drink for this.’

He stood up and came back a few minutes later with a bottle of wine and two glasses, realising too late that, shit, android. He shrugged and placed them anyways, filling only his. ‘I cried a lot. Whenever I thought about how useless it was to put any effort in anything because I would never be good, I asked myself why even continuing. But I liked what I did, I enjoyed school, even though I never got good grades. So I continued and cried when I needed to. My mom always was concerned when I did, coming to my room and trying to comfort me. She meant well I guess, but it didn’t really help. Because every time she tried to speak to my dad, he would come to talk with me, scolding him for not having the guts to talk with him when I had a problem. So in trying to help she made it worse, so I told her to stop. She did. Don’t know if it made it better or worse though.’ He took a long sip from his glass.

‘Well, I started cutting myself then. It helped focussing on something real too. I moved out the moment I finished school and a friend of mine, Tina, applied at the police academy. So I thought to do that too. Didn’t really knew what to do anyways. And life got better. I had nothing else in my life, so I put my everything into this. And I was good. I was praised for my good grades and exceptional performance. Likely was the first time anyone did that. When I started working at the precinct Fowler was far more of a dad for me than my real father could ever be. Made it Detective in no time, could have been Lieutenant by now, I guess. But… Well, I’m still an asshole. Can’t take criticism without immediately lashing out. I get easily riled up in tough situations and having mental problems recognised in your patient’s file doesn’t help either.’

Gavin closed his eyes and concentrated on just breathing for a moment. ‘My work is all I have. All I’ll be ever good at and I like it. I’m happy when I can be there. I enjoy being a detective. I don’t need to make it big. I can afford a home and what I need to live and can go on vacation.’

This time Gavin kept quiet and didn’t make any move to break the silence between them. ‘Why are you telling me this now?’, Nines dared to ask. ‘Why have you never spoken about this before?’ ‘Because I’ll quit’, Gavin answered, his voice wavery again. ‘Or ask for a transfer. Or try and get a grip in the PI business. I don’t know yet. But I need a fresh start, I need a second chance somewhere where no one knows me yet. I need to try to be better.’ ‘What did I do wrong, Gavin? You clearly made that decision after leaving Fowler’s office and you were angry with me before your feelings overwhelmed you. What did I do wrong?’ Gavin watched him for a long time, maybe trying to see whether he was joking or not. ‘You did nothing wrong, tin-can. You just wrote a report that got me suspended, but it were my actions that lead to that. I can’t punch a suspect in the interrogation room. I know that. And I still did it.’ ‘He provoked you.’ Gavin grumbled something unintelligible. ‘Well yes, but I shouldn’t have done it still.’

Nines thought about what the human had said. It was Gavin’s fault, but still Nines couldn’t shake the feeling that he could have done something to intervene and stop it from happening. If he had known Gavin better back then in the interrogation room, maybe he would have recognised what the suspect had been trying to do when speaking to the Detective. He was quite certain he knew Gavin’s weakness now. He could try and protect that spot that would hurt most when struck.

‘Why not stay?’, Nines asked. ‘With what I told you just now? Never. You’ll just laugh at me and tell the others.’ ‘Have I laughed at you once since you told me what bothers you?’, Nines defended himself. ‘I value the trust you put in me by telling me, Gavin. Your secret is safe with me. I am your partner and I will support you if you want me to. I won’t tell anyone.’ ‘Huh’, Gavin huffed unfazed. ‘As if.’ ‘I promise you I will never tell anyone until I am no longer functioning. And if I do you have the explicit permission to put a bullet through my central processor.’

That made the man lift his brows. ‘Alright. Still, even if you kept your mouth shut. Why should I suddenly change who I am?’ ‘I could keep you from sabotaging yourself. You just told me what could trigger you to lose control and I can look out for them. We could try to be a… a real team instead of just co-workers. If you allow me, of course.’ Gavin sat up and smirked at him. ‘A real team, huh?’ He tapped his fingers on the table and bopped his head a few times, mulling it over. ‘Could work. Don’t know why you’d offer that to the precinct’s asshole who continuously screams at you, but I’ll take it.’ Nines smiled, feeling his stress levels settle a bit. ‘Then consider this at least our fresh start as co-workers.’ Gavin chuckled and took the bottle to fill his glass anew.

‘As partners, dumbass.’

[marueonmain]

WINDFLOWER

part ten ~ does that ruin this? ~

(part one) (part two) (part three) (part four) (part five) (part six) (part seven) (part eight) (part nine) (part ten)

A/N: I do not write revisions as to be confusing; I write revisions to prove to myself I can do better. I am open to listen to your comments and suggestions always. Messages/Asks made this update possible.

IMPORTANT: this part includes a revision of a deleted part so if you start reading and it sounds familiar, do not click off.

Summary: Alex and George are untruthful with each other. Alex clarifies a situation and hopes it does not make Y/N feel differently about him.

Pairing: imallexx x reader

Warning: Minor Language. Small Reference to Disordered Eating Habits. Minor Non-Graphic Injury. Fluff. 

Word Count: 3.5k

“Ok. I’ll walk with you.”

Y/N removed her hand from atop his – resting on her knee – and pulled herself up to stand. She offered him her hand again once firm on her bare feet. Alex took it and felt Y/N actually pulling at him as he stood; it was not just a polite gesture, she genuinely wanted to help him in that small way.

Despite there being an entire square meter of landing to stand, Alex and Y/N were almost on top of one another. Alex felt her dipping her toes in the water, swimming in his pacific blue eyes. All the while, he searched for the sparks of stars in her pupils – lights in the otherwise dark nights.

“What is it?” asked Alex.

“Do you ever wonder—?” Y/N stopped.

Her eyes closed in resignation, unintentionally showing her hand: she had the words in her head, but she decided she could not share that particular thought. At least not with him. Y/N gently took her hand back and started down the stairs.

Their footfalls echoed around the stairwell.

At the next landing, Y/N started over, “I know Sam probably sent you after me, but thank you. You’re more patient than you should be. I know I can be a lot sometimes. Too much.”

“You’re not too much, Red. Not for me.” Never for me. Even if she was trouble to him, Alex was trouble to everyone, it all balanced out.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t have to keep thanking me. I’m here because I want to be.”

Y/N opened her mouth, tongue already pressed against her top teeth to make the “th” sound, when she resigned from those words as well. And her smile returned as a soft simper.

Lovely. She was lovely despite the red painted across her cheekbones and nose. Despite the guilt, she so clearly expressed for taking his time. Alex thought Y/N was lovely.

When Y/N smiled for him, did Sammy think that too? When she spoke his name, did Sammy feel he was that much closer to going mad? Did his face heat up whenever she touched his skin?

Maybe Alex was overstepping some boundaries. Maybe he should take that moment in the stairwell of comfort and companionship as all he would get.

Fair enough. Alex could live the rest of his life with just having ever had THAT moment with her. Like how he could forever understand the concept of vanilla even if he never tasted it again.

Alex did not want that.

He liked vanilla whip cream. Its extract in his pancake batter. Vanilla lattes and cappuccinos and to get wasted on shots of vanilla bourbon. To feel cradled in the aroma of vanilla-marshmallow scented candles. And reveal fresh skin after vanilla cream facemasks. He wanted vanilla.

He did not need it to live. Nor thrive. Nonetheless, he wondered how much better his happy days would feel – how less complicated his stressful days would be – if vanilla were a part of them.

“You could be with me.” Alex cleared his throat. “No-uh…what I mean is that you could come to mine and hang out for a bit if you wanted to—to wait out more of the storm with Sammy.”

“Yeah?” Y/N risked a quick side-eye glance.

“I’m not doing anything. Are you…doing anything?”

“No, but I’m not sure if— Sam won’t—” Y/N stuttered and stopped. Features that were relaxed from the contortions of crying began to twist up again. Eyebrows sunk closer. Mouth pulled to one side.

“If you go back in now, won’t the fighting pick right back up?” Walking past the door and two more steps toward the lift, Alex offered an encouraging toss of the head. “Let’s just go, come on.”

A rabbit in the talons of a falcon – paralyzed – Y/N did not move. She stared unsure at Alex for a second then to the door to her apartment. It was still. quiet. Sammy was neither of those things. Y/N dug her teeth into her bottom lip as her gaze hit the floor. Not able to bring herself back to Alex.

“Red?”

“No, I shouldn’t. If we don’t apologize to each other now, things will just be worse later.” Voice hitching on the latter end of the sentence, Y/N paused. She took a deep breath and mustered up some composure. “Thank you for the invite, but I can’t.”

“Alright. Well, it’s an open invitation.”

“Than—Got it.”

It would be ridiculous for him to have been irritated. Completely and utterly ridiculous.

Alex was irritated; he was forced to pretend to be as content with watching her go as he would be having her following him. Though used to babbling in nervous situations, Alex did not feel he could speak more at that moment. 

What would be appropriate for him to say?

He left. While Y/N knocked on the door to her apartment without even bothering to try the handle, he mashed the call button incessantly enough to rub part of his fingerprint off his thumb. Within three meters of each other yet completely different headspaces – worlds and hearts apart.

DING of the sliding lift doors. Alex walked in and stood in the corner, leaning against the back wall and looking away until the doors closed again. He did not want to see Sammy and Y/N reunite. He went silent for his ride down. Unfortunately, there was no gentle music to fill the void.

Outside he was normal. Inside he was in a weird place: anxious thoughts built themselves up higher and higher until it was too much. Alex closed his eyes for a moment to block out all other stimuli.

Was it possible that George was right all along? When he said Alex would be a total knob to go after Y/N? When he told him it was better to get trashed and shag someone random than it was to keep dwelling? When he begged him to not. get. involved.?

Caught in his overthinking haze, Alex flew on autopilot as he walked along the hall to his flat and stopped. It was not until he was face-to-face with the number on the door that he recognized he had even left the lift. Alex blinked himself out of his head and into the present just to find a riptide of exhaustion dragging his limp body out to sea. It was too late to start paddling now.

Slinking inside, Alex was not greeted with – as he expected – his flatmate waiting to interrogate him. He anxiously tapped his fingers against his leg while peering around. Besides the usual mess of overturned sofa cushions and PS4 controllers strewn about in the living room, food wrappers on the counters, and the same pan and spatula used for breakfast still in the sink, there was not a sign of George. There was not even the sound of shouting (pre-recorded or otherwise) coming from the short hall to his room.  

Smiling and with a tad too much enthusiasm, Alex shut the door and sighed contented.

“You’re alive. Good.” George’s voice sounded from outside his bedroom, ringing in Alex’s ears far before the older stepped into view. George was wearing black jeans and had pulled on proper shoes to cover the thin, dirty white socks he normally trudged around the flat. His hands were buried together in the pouch of his hoodie. It was from the ‘I OWE £37,000 TO THE GOVERNMENT IN TAX FINES’ drop. Untamed hairs curled around his ears, and he wore an indistinct black hat.

“Woulda thought you’d be happy to get rid of me.”

“I’d take a decent trade. Five quid and a Tesco meal deal, maybe.” George’s otherwise stone-hard exterior failed to mask the anxious glint in his salty atlantic eyes. There was more he was not saying.

Moving into the kitchen, Alex leaned back against the countertop. Putting one foot in front of the other, touching heel to toe. He fished his keys from the pocket of his pajama bottoms and dumped them on the counter beside him. “Out with it.”

“Tell me you didn’t do anything daft.”

“‘Course not.” Alex shrugged. “Not sure where you’d get that from.”

“Could you, for once in your life, be straight with me.”

There was a joke to be made there as Alex was never for even one minute of his life straight. However, that felt an inappropriate comment to make amid his flatmate’s concern.

Alex hunched his shoulders closer to his chest subconsciously and murmured an unintelligible response.

“What?” asked George.

“I didn’t do anything, alright. Does that make you happy? I just told Sammy that he and Red will be evicted pretty fucking soon if they keep up the shouting.”

“Told Sammy. So, you didn’t speak to Red?”

“No. Didn’t get the chance; she’d already stormed off by the time I got there.” Alex was a liar and a shit one at that as he shifted his feet and dropped his focus from his flatmate.

George – with his hesitant if not outright suspicious gaze boring through the top of the younger’s skull – waited for Alex to return focus to him before speaking again. He cleared his throat.

“James wants to meet up earlier; get some shots in before hitting the pub.” George turned and took three steps toward his bedroom before stopping and coming back. “Well…go on and get dressed.”

“I’m not sure I feel well enough to go out tonight.” Alex hovered a hand over his stomach to emphasize the point. Not that his flatmate appeared to believe him on that front either.

“Have you been sick?”

“No.”

“You’re fine.” George took Alex’s wrist and pulled his hand from over his stomach. He snatched the keys off the counter and, uncurling Alex’s fingers, forced them into the younger’s hand.  

“I can’t.” said Alex. Both men ignored the voice crack on the last word as – while it was telling – it was also nothing terribly unusual in their flat.

“James will be gutted, you know. Are you sure?” George waited for a nod or shake of the head, he got neither. He groaned in frustration and moved to the front door, pulling it open with a bit of a huff, he said, “Don’t do something you’ll regret.”

“Likewise,” Alex called after him, and with that, he was alone.

It was his natural state, him being alone; at least Alex thought it must have been – surely. Or else he would not have been so often. So maddeningly alone. Alex also thought he deserved it. Whenever his friends rinsed him for being annoying, he knew it was not all a joke. He was aggravating, bothersome.

At least the others could escape it whereas he was always himself.

Humans are social creatures – not meant to be alone – which made the impending lockdown so frightening. Alex would not acknowledge his fear. Moving toward full quarantine was breaking him, but he had been in worse states, much worse, so he would not admit it.

It was another method (like restricting his eating and sleeping) for him to punish himself for just being.

BUZZ. BUZZ. His phone went off. It was a text from George calling him a massive loser for making him take the train by himself. Alex produced a humorous scoff but not a reply.

He spent the next forty-five minutes scrolling through twitter and instagram while preparing and eating a cup of sweet & sour pot noodle. Amidst liking and retweeting, he wondered – for the millionth time – if the posts he saw were perhaps not all putting up fake fronts. What if it was all real?

Maybe everyone was truly happy and beautiful all the time; he did not know.

knock. knock. There was a gentle tapping coming from the front door, muted enough that Alex was not sure if it were real or imagined. Either way, he did not move to stand from where he sat at the table, slurping up the last of the noodles. KNOCK. KNOCK.

Jumping at the second sound, Alex went to the front door. “Red?”

In the hall with her feet planted flat and firm (and now with socks and shoes), Y/N stood with a stern expression. Her features were all a bit pinched. There was a vertical line between her eyebrows. Previous blotchiness was gone, but her nose had newfound redness, and her eyes gleamed wet.

“Are you ok?” Alex was not sure what he saw being projected at him from those bright eyes of hers, but he felt his knees about to buckle. A familiar weakness overtook his limbs. Making him think if he were to roll up the leg of his pajama bottoms, it was sure to reveal hundreds of leeches draining him.

“Why did you come back?” Y/N asked, voice wavering slightly.

“I thought maybe—”

“Don’t bullshit me.” Her words bit the air hard enough to draw blood. “Why did you come back, really?”

“I couldn’t bear to see you upset.”

Their bodies connected as Y/N threw her arms around his neck, and Alex circled his arms around her middle, holding her flush to him. Knit of her jumper pressing into the wrinkles of his shirt from where she had previously balled up the fabric and held on.

She was her, and it was everything he needed. It was her warmth and her solidity and the pull of her bringing him evermore closer. It was all those separately and all those at once, at the same time.

It was an explosion of relief in his chest and of incoherent thoughts in his head. Knowing that what was happening was an undeserved blessing filling him with greater happiness than he could ever return.

Alex was in it: living it. He was not alone. Y/N awakened his heart and his desires and equally his suffering.

It was the mortifying ordeal. It was the tip of a foil bending into his chest. All to be known. All to be near her. And for all the times he joked for death, he wished tenfold for health – for life so that he could bear witness to her even if from the distance of friendship.

Y/N let slack her arms and pulled back a half-step from the embrace, allowing Alex to keep holding on.

Rearing with an amazed chuckle, he asked, “I don’t understand?”

“You said it was an open invitation, wasn’t it?”

Alex nodded.

“Good.” Y/N stepped out of his arms and walked fully into the flat, looking around with a pleasant contemplative smile stretched across her lovely lips. At the table where the empty pot noodle container sat tipped over with the metal fork in it, she grazed her fingers across the dark wood.

“I’ll be right back.” He waited for a nod of recognition and then headed to his bedroom. Alex squatted down – an action that created a horrific popping sound from his knees – and pulled open the bottom drawer of his side table. It was brimming over with miscellaneous wires and cables, scissors, tape, loose lego pieces as well as football pins. He stirred around the contents of the drawer.

Upon his return, he saw Y/N sitting in the middle of the sofa, resting her head back and looking at the ceiling. For how still she was and how soft her breathing, he might have thought she was asleep, that is if not for the open eyes with the distant gaze. Walking around to the coffee table, Alex picked up the remote and switched the television on, setting it to stream youtube.

“I thought we could watch a playlist I collected. If you wanted.” Alex tried to hide the assurance-seeking tone to his voice as he spoke. “I promise it’s actually funny and not like roblox playthroughs.”

Y/N brought her focus to him and pulled one leg up, hugging it close to herself. “Seems like an awfully lofty thing to promise. It’s not a compilation of your own videos, is it?”

“No. Not this one anyway.”

Alex sat down, and Y/N resituated herself to be half a cushion from him. It was a fair enough reaction though it did make him feel a bit shit, especially after their affectionate embrace, not ten minutes earlier.

He hit the start button on the playlist. Sitting next to Y/N, even half a cushion away, felt like lying on his balcony with the sun on his face. Not a blaring spotlight of sun. A comfortable softbox sun that warmed his neck and arms and soul. As the playlist went on, Alex found himself sneaking longer and longer glances at the woman beside him.

Y/N giggled throughout the first and second videos, mostly biting her lip to keep herself from being loud until a joke made at the start of the third video sent her over the edge. She could no longer hold out laughing as she tossed her head back and outright cackled. It might have been embarrassing for her, but to Alex, it was cute. It was passion, and he liked seeing her face light up like that: pure and uninhibited.

Moving next to Alex, Y/N rolled her head to the side and rested it on his shoulder. Their faces were incredibly close – she was breathtaking, and he was on the verge of losing consciousness.

“Is this ok?” Y/N gazed up at him.

Alex wanted her to look at him like that forever, even if he was scared to see it. That thing like hope in her eyes. It was distinct, softer than how anyone had ever looked at him. Asking more than her words did, asking for more than just his words return. “Yes.”

It was natural: her and him. Y/N weaved her arm around his and held it with both her hands as she lazily returned her focus to the television. Alex did not; he was focused on something else.

On her left forearm were five circular bruises: four in a line up the arm and the fifth alone on the other side. While the red discolouration was not painful looking, the purple undertones marked prominent against her skin. It reminded him.

“Red?”

“Hmm?” she hummed.

Alex stuck his hand in the pocket of his pajama bottoms and fished out the trinket he found in the drawer of his side table – simple beads on a stretchy string. A beautiful gradient of colour from white to pastel blue to royal blue to black. Tied off with a bow. He peeled one of Y/N’s hands from his arm and pulled the bracelet over, lying it carefully on her wrist.

“Wow,” Y/N pulled away from his side and held her hand out, beaming at the bracelet and then at him. “Did you make this?”

“No. A fan gifted it to me at VidCon a while back, but I wanted to give you something, and looking at it now, it made me think of you.” He smiled a hesitant half-smile. “It’s the thought that counts, right?”

“I really like it. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Red.” Alex saw how Y/N twisted up her face at his words, and he frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I like it. I do. It’s just, you don’t have to call me that. Red. No one really calls me that but Sam because he’s proud to have come up with it, I think. Could you—would you mind terribly, just using Y/N?”

Alex gave a slight nod. “That’s something I can do.”

Without another word, Y/N settled into him as, on-screen, the playlist continued. Emboldened with some unknown confidence, she lay her head on his chest. Alex was slow to react, but he eventually wrapped his arm around her and laced the fingers of his outermost hand with hers.

It was a release of all the tenderness and affection that he had been storing in his heart with no real outlet. And it felt like his ribcage was close to concaving into him. Alex had so much to give, yet all Y/N seemed to want was him, his company, his warm hand enclosing her own.

“I think I should tell you something.” He used his free hand to pick at a loose fuzz on his pajama bottoms. “I’m not gay. I know that’s how Sammy understands it, but I’m actually bisexual.”

Y/N blew out a long sigh through pursed lips and finished it with, “I know; I figured as much.”

“Does that ruin this?” Alex fought the urge to swipe the welling tears in his eyes.

“I don’t want it to.”

“Me neither.”

The playlist finished, and the screen idled, waiting for further action. Neither moved. Resting in the quiet of their gentle almost whispered conversation, Y/N nuzzled her cheek into the fabric of Alex’s shirt.

Voice laden with exhaustion, she said, “I know we haven’t known each other long, but I feel like you’re someone I’ve always been missing. I just didn’t know it. Thank you for coming back.”

Giving in, Y/N closed her eyes, and her breathing evened into an easy rhythm. Alex leaned in and placed a kiss to her hair, quick and chaste, and let her sleep. Wishing he would have come up with something, words like hers, to express it – what he knew all along.

Taglist: (message to join!) @angelbabyivy @eboysimp​ @trhtshonf @jaythegay92​

[somebodytolovesx]

I Don’t Wanna Live Forever - Bucky Barnes

Summary - Bucky Barnes and Y/N Y/L/N find themselves having a disagreement that worsens as the hours pass.

Warnings - Angsty

It had been a Tuesday evening at eight fifty-two when the argument had begun for Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes and James Buchanan Barnes. The argument was one like they had never had before in their year of marriage, it had struck a match and blew them both out...

It was after Bucky had come home from work and threw his suit jacket onto the back of the sofa, his suede shoes thrown regardlessly through the living room and the belt of his trousers on the kitchen countertop. He was just too tired to wait until he hit his bedroom. Work was coming down on Bucky Barnes like a ton of bricks; the paperwork, the meetings, the assignments, it was exhausting him at the end of the day and he just wanted to rest.

He dragged himself towards the bottom of the stairs where he would begin his ascent to his Y/N, he had thought of her fondly that day...about what she would be doing whilst he filled out paper after paper and if her parents had returned her call about the holiday they had planned for later on during that year. He had stepped onto the fifth step, holding onto the wooden bannister for support from his dazed state when he had heard the fridge door opening behind him.

Bucky leant his back against the bannister and let his head fall hard against the white-painted wall behind him, he saw his Y/N taking out a slim bottle of the white, Italian Asti from the cold shelf and place it gently onto the marble countertop. She looked beautiful but frustrated, restless; her satin, black robe fell off her shoulder and the belt was so loosely tied, her hair was tousled and ever so slightly frizzy but the eyeliner and dark lip she wore was neat, the black, florally lingerie she wore underneath her robe was elegant and classy. 

“You alright, sweetheart?” Bucky called out to her, his voice was concerned and low for his wife. Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes poured the sweet wine into a deep glass for herself and she filled it to just below the brim. 

“Yeah, are you?” Y/N asked, her voice was suppressing the true tone of anger that she was unintentionally feeling. She drunk from the glass, glancing down at the drink within it because, ‘out of sight, out of mind’ she thought to herself comically. 

“Yeah, what’s with the tone of your voice?” Bucky recoiled and sneered.

“Just a busy day, been housekeeping and dealing with business since seven this morning” Y/N sighed breathlessly, the wrinkles by her eyes appearing as she drunk the Asti.

“Come to bed with me then, I don’t go in till later tomorrow so we can stay in bed” Bucky raised his eyebrows sweetly at Y/N but she carried on looking down and away from him. 

“Let me just finish this then” She spoke somberly. Y/N ran a hand through her hair and pushed it away from her face, Bucky could see from where he stood her faded, dark eyeshadow and took notice of how it looked worn down. 

“Alright” Bucky sighed in defeat and pressed his lips thinly together, he started climbing the spiralling staircase once again. He knew when she drunk before bed it must have been a draining day or someone must have annoyed her but he would have appreciated if she prioritised the time with her husband and wanted to be in his arms as soon as she saw him.

“Maybe you could tidy up after yourself with that extra time off” Y/N mumbled under her breath, putting her empty glass in the sink. Now Bucky knew the had a tendency to get into his wife’s system fast but she had only had one drink.

“What?” Bucky turned around on his heels and looked at her inquisitively.

“Go to bed babe, I’ll be up in a minute” Y/N dismissed him like everything was fine. 

“You said something sweetheart” Bucky spoke.

“I just said I would like if you cleared up your clothes before going to bed instead of leaving them all over the place for me to clean up” Y/N spoke.

“I’ll clean them up in the morning before I go, It’s just been a busy day and I wanna sleep with you” Bucky’s voice was defensive and raised in pitch.

“You won’t though because you’ll not bother and then it’ll leave me to do it and I’ve got enough to do already” Y/N groaned, her face was held tightly in her hands and she was clearly frustrated, Bucky could tell that it wasn’t just a new frustration she had with him.

“I think I'm gonna clean the house that I pay for” Bucky stated matter of factly.

That fight had sparked and was beginning to ignite.  

“And do you need me to also rejig your memory of who pays for half of the bills, runs half of your business and cleans up after you since we’ve been married” Y/N argued back. Her temper had moved her from the counter and into the middle of between the living room and kitchen where Bucky could see her bare legs standing their ground.

“Well, it seems as of late all you’re doing is sitting around on the phone, in underwear that I brought you, drinking wine all-day” Bucky knew that stung her more than it stung him because he knew Y/N prided herself on being a woman of business and never wanted to be a housewife. 

“You never complained when I was just another girl in your bed every night but now that you have to be committed and be responsible to only me it’s all different isn’t it?” Y/N’s tone was furious.

“You are the worst person to argue with because you don’t even listen to what I’m actually saying, you just talk and talk and talk and I don’t want to listen right now” Bucky had shouted back at her.

There was silence after that, it was like there was a cold breeze through the fire. Bucky walked towards Y/N and grabbed his suit jacket off the back of the sofa, walked past her and snatched his belt from the kitchen counter, then trod heavily through the living room to pick up his shoes up from the floor. 

“We shouldn’t leave this” Y/N sighed exasperatedly, she lowered her head and scratched her forearm.

“You wouldn’t listen if I apologised tonight” Bucky’s strained, tired voice reached her ears and it made her feel like she had to take full responsibility for all of what had happened. 

“Might be the last chance you can for a long time” She said out of spite at his ignorance to her attempt to settle things down at least just for that night. 

“I’ll apologise then” Bucky turned to the stairs and began to take a slow, heavy step up them, his voice was left behind him as he disappeared behind the white, cylinder-shaped wall. Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes stood there and her eyebrows turned upwards as the tears filled her eyes, she ran both clenched hands through the front of her hair and gripped at the tangled lox. 

Her and her husband’s fights were always that explosive and were never solved until the next morning despite what might have been said in the heat of the moment. Y/N prayed that one day their fights would change and it would end in them tangled up in the bedsheets like other couples instead of walking away from each other...

Y/N’s black trenchcoat was pulled tight around her body and her ankle boots were pulled onto her feet lazily, the autumn weather would definitely chill her but she would be back indoors quick enough. She questioned if she should stay before going and if it was too dramatic of her to leave so late but Bucky was most likely asleep in their bed already or had already buried his frustrations with her in extra work. 

The young woman pulled their front door open and turned off the lights behind her, she was met with the heavy downpour of rain outside. The street lights illuminated the rain and made them look golden and the emptiness of the streets made her feel as if she had the whole world to herself like there was no Bucky. It was just her. 

Y/N shut the door behind her and stepped carefully down the small set of stairs, the rain began to dampen her coat and bare legs and her hair was returning to its natural waves as it dampened. She walked along the pavement as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and called for a taxi to come and pick her up from the corner of Henry Street, she was embarrassed by how many times she had thought of doing that and now she actually had.

At the other end of the street, Bucky Barnes was sat on the edge of his bed, his duvet was half strewn across the carpet, the lamp on his bedside table was on its side and the wardrobe door was recklessly pulled open. He had heard the front door open and close after their argument when he had thought that Y/N would either come to bed much later or stay downstairs that night. She had never done that and that was the moment he knew that he shouldn’t have been so unforgiving with her. He chugged down the glass of water he had gotten from the bathroom (The light of which was still on) and sat at the edge, accepting his thoughts were too wild and his dreams would be too real for him to crave the sleep he needed. She would be okay, he thought. 

Y/N stepped into the taxi and told the driver where she wanted him to take her, Hotel Le Bleu, it was a hotel that she had been to before when she and Bucky were first in talks of her moving to Brooklyn and in with him a month before they had gotten married. She knew it would have been better for her to go somewhere else for the night that didn’t have any connotation to the man she loved but it was the first place that came to mind and it slipped out of her mouth so easily. 

She leant her head against the rain-drizzled window and watched the different coloured lights blur past her through the traffic and stormy weather, the tears still tracked through her makeup but without vivid emotion, without the groaning or screaming, as she thought of her husband; when would he get tired of this? Not to say that she hoped he would.  

“Rough day, pretty lady?” The taxi driver asked respectfully. He had thin, grey hair, a grey handlebar moustache to accompany and wore thick, black-rimmed glasses. 

“I suppose” Y/N had replied back. She felt uncomfortable even acknowledging that after making such a huge commitment as a marriage that there would be bad days with the person she vowed to love for the rest of her life. 

“Sounds like possibly the worst” The senior man sympathised with her. 

“Perhaps” Y/N was short with her subtle agreement. 

“Look, we’re here pretty lady but I hope you have a good night and feel better” He wished her. Y/N read the money counter on the car’s dashboard and scanned her card onto the card reader that he held out to her. 

“You too” She hummed quietly and stepped out of the taxi, slamming the car door behind her. She turned around to face the steps up to the entrance of the hotel and was blinded by the fusillade of flashing, white lights surrounding her. They were so loud. The men holding the cameras were shouting inaudible things at her, blocking the steps. 

“Can I just get through, please?” Y/N shouted over them but her timid tone was overshadowed by their deep, loud voices and none of them moved. She was caught like a dear in the headlights, stumbling around trying to find a gap in between them to run through.

“I just need to get through, I’m sorry”, Y/N shoved her way through the blinding lights and scampered herself up the stairs rolled with a lavish, blue carpet. The tears streaming down her face were replaced with the aftermath - her bloodshot eyes, strained with exhaustion as she reached the silver door handle and heaved it open. It was warm inside and dry, the calm atmosphere away from the rain and cameras made her want to find the nearest bed and just sleep forever.  

“Miss, can I find you a room or take your coat?” A young lady came and asked Y/N.

“Uh, no but a room will do, just for the night please,” Y/N asked back. Her hands went to take off her coat then retracted when she remembered the clothes that she wore underneath.

“They’re always out there you know? Just waiting” The young lady shared a smile with her. 

It was still raining just as heavy, rattling against the full-body windows when Bucky Barnes had received a phone call from Steve Rogers, his heart had missed a beat considering the time and the quietness of Steve’s phone during working hours. He was reluctant to answer at first, he had only just been able to get comfortable laying down and regaining his need for sleep but it was Steve phoning against his usual routine or work ethic.

“Buck, I’m sorry it’s late but just a quick one, have you seen the news?” Steve kept his voice to a ‘hush-hush’ tone as if there must have been people around him.

“There always news Steve” Bucky stated ignorantly. 

“No, but it’s about Y/N” His best friend informed him.

“There isn’t a day where one of us isn’t in the news, what did they write?” Bucky wondered, his tired state evident. 

“’Y/N Y/L/N-Barnes, wife to James Barnes, arrives at ‘Hotel Le Bleu’ looking distressed and exhausted’ then there’s just a bunch of paparazzi photos of her” Steve read out loud over the phone.

“Alright, thanks Steve, I’ll see you tomorrow in the morning” Bucky spoke then ended the phone call and went to look at them, he couldn’t read through more than two with their assumptions and descriptions or because of how astray Y/N looked. He knew that she didn’t do well with paparazzi following them or the tabloids that they wrote afterwards so he just prayed that she was doing okay but he couldn’t deny the anger boiling inside of him at his and her actions from earlier on during the night. 

Bucky stopped his pacing and for a minute didn’t know what to do with himself, he didn’t know whether he should express his anger and make the room more of the mess than it already was, he knew Y/N would hate him for it if she was home, or to try and fall back into the rest he was beginning to find himself in. The one thing Bucky knew he couldn’t do was to chase after her, it would not do any better for the situation or for the both of them, he had to let her be on her own just for the night...

Y/N stood in front of the bed in the room she had been issued, it was dimly lit, warm and small but nice to be in; the royal blue bedsheets matched the curtains that were closed when she arrived, the bedside lamps radiated a golden hue and the wooden floors made it feel cosy. She invited the warmth and began to untie the belt holding her trenchcoat around her, it dropped to the floor beneath, leaving her in the robe and underwear she wore underneath. She let her back fall to the duvet on top of the bed, it was soft and comforting unlike many other things that happened that night and what she needed, her hands ran tenderly over her thighs and over her chest and then up through to her hair, imagining that they were her husband’s soft touches sending her to sleep and putting her mind at ease. 

It didn’t, as much as she could close her eyes and try to replicate his presence, her sub-conscience couldn’t be tricked enough into thinking it was real. They were still her hands, her body the only one there in a bed she had never slept in before. Y/N’s arms dropped to her sides in an expression of her frustrations and her back arched perfectly as she pulled her back off the bed, she couldn’t describe the emotions that had built inside of her over the last few hours but she worried that that was the last argument they would have, if that was the end of it all. She rested her elbows on her knees and glanced slowly around the room, maybe she didn’t want to be at home because it may be for the best but this wasn’t where she wanted to be either.

The light beside Bucky’s bed had been switched off and the dull gloom of the night was left to lighten their room, Bucky just wanted for her to call him and ask him to bring her back home because at least she was with him.