#valdaya fanfiction

[skylarri-fanfics1991]

In Another Life. Finale. Part I.

Author’s Note: 

Hi...so yeah, Valdaya is well and truly a concept of the past now. I understand that and am happy for the real life Val and Zendaya who have found love in their real lives. 

But that doesn’t mean I stopped enjoying creating stories for these two. This whole series-started many years ago in college-was the most fun I’ve had writing any sort of fiction, and I’ve gone back many a time to re-read and try to wrap it up properly. (I seem to not have the attention span to finish any story unless it’s a one-shot.) 

So, here I am, once again, going down the rabbit hole that is this ship and adding fuel to a dead fire. 

But if you want to be nostalgic with me, I’m going to really try to finish thing...and fix some mistakes I’ve found in the other parts. 

This piece is a continuation of the incomplete piece I posted in 2017. 

Enjoy xx

There’s a quick knock on the door to let her know someone’s coming in, and then Peta is there, and she’s dragging Val by the arm in behind her. 

Zendaya sucks in a sharp breath, her eyes raking over the man she hadn’t seen in person in almost seven years. Nerves shoot through her, and she balls her fists and crosses her arms over her chest in attempt to smooth them. 

“..-getting sick of your behavior,” Peta hisses at Val, and Zendaya gulps at the turbulent expression on his face as he looks at his sister-in-law. “I didn’t invite Zendaya here just for you to give her the cold-shoulder the entire night. You’re going to listen to her and you both,” Peta looks across at Zendaya, “are going to talk things out. Are we clear?” 

Val shakes Peta’s hand off his arm. “Crystal,” he practically spits, walking away from the two women to the other side of the room. 

Zendaya watches him, pulling her bottom lip into her mouth. He still hadn’t spared her even a glance. She hadn’t expected anything less but that didn’t mean it didn’t still hurt. 

A gentle hand suddenly covers one of her balled-up fists and she looks quickly up at Peta. 

She squeezes her hand in silent encouragement. “Be strong,” she whispers with a nod. After looking once more at Val, a tired sigh escaping her lips, she turns and exits the room. 

And she’s left alone, without the support of Peta or the safety net of blending into the background of other people, and she takes in a ragged breath, her palms beginning to sweat. 

Val looks out one of the large windows, his hands in his pockets as he stares out at the heavy downpour over the estate. 

He’s changed so much. Yet he hasn’t at all. 

Of course time aged him to the 33 year old man he is now. There might be a few more lines on his forehead and around his mouth, but otherwise, he looks the same as the last time she spoke with him. 

It’s the way he holds himself now. Watching him interact with other people all night, and...and with Jenna, it was so noticeable to her. He was more subdued, more guarded. Whereas before-...before everything...he would’ve been more emotive in such a situation with family and friends. Now... 

She hugs her arms around her middle, her heart feeling heavy. The person across the room from her was a consequence of the actions she’d taken all those years ago. This coldness? She knows that it’s of her doing. 

 “So are you just going to stare at me all night, or are you actually going to get the courage to say something?”

His question jolts her out of her thoughts abruptly, and she stares stupidly at him, figuring that she would be the first one to speak. 

“I-I-...” she trails off, mouth opening and closing. 

He turns his head and she’s skewered to the spot when those green eyes pin hers suddenly. The level of indifference, of contempt even, she notices in them are like bullets through her gut. She can only gape like a fish while he then takes quick inspection of her, as if cataloguing how she had changed over the years.

Then he looks back at her and arches an expectant brow. Realizing that he was actually wanting an answer, her cheeks flush in humiliation and she looks at her feet. 

“I-um...congratulations,” she offers lamely, glancing up beneath her lashes. 

“Thanks,” he sneers. “If that’s all, I’ll return to the party now,” and then he’s moving towards the door and Zendaya panics and races forward.

“No, wait!” she grabs his arm and they both freeze at the contact. 

Sparks shoot up her arm from her hand where it grips his bicep. Underneath her palm, his muscles are coiled like a spring, and her eyes shoot to his face, catching that tell-tale jaw clench she knows all too well. 

“Val,” she whispers, and her saying his name seems to make him even more angry. 

“Don’t touch me,” he seethes, ripping his arm out of her grasp. His eyes catch hers and he levels her with a glare that tears into her enough she takes a small step back. 

“I don’t know why you came tonight, after all these years of blocking me out of your life,” he begins, and her heart skips a beat. Here it goes. “-and to be honest, I don’t give a fuck. All I want to do is go back to my engagement party and try to forget that my sister-in-law thought it would be a great idea to bring you here. So if you could just kindly get the fuck away from me and my family-go back to whatever the hell it was that you were doing before- that would be great.” 

His viciousness hurts her, yet she’s not going to let him get away that easily. 

“Just wait! Please,” she begs, her nervousness and fear of facing him again slowly disappearing. She can’t pussy-foot around about this. If she wanted to make any lee-way she needed to have courage. Be strong. With Peta’s words encouraging her, she squares her shoulders. 

He stops at the door, but doesn’t turn around. 

“I know that this is probably the worst time to be doing this-to be having this conversation, considering everything,” she takes in a shaky breath, “-but...god, I don’t even know where to begin.”

Val turns, eyes slowly meeting hers. His expression is carefully blank, but the fact that he’s giving her his attention is as much clue as any that he’s going to let her have this chance to talk. 

“How about you start with why,” he suggests, voice giving away nothing. “Why you erased me-and my family-from your life.” 

Tears well up in her eyes, and she can’t even be upset that she’d caved so quickly. “Right. I-okay..” she nods, biting her bottom lip. “I-Val I wish I could give you a good reason, but I just-I don’t have one,” she stares down at the floor in shame. Here we go. 

“When you broke things off that night...I was so hurt and betrayed. I wanted you to fight for us to be together still, not cave to my dad.” His eyes go glassy as his mind no doubt goes back to their last moments together. “I realized later, of course, that you and my dad did the right thing. But in the moment? Right after?” she shakes her head, “I wanted to lash out.”

His jaw ticks and she laughs hollowly. “You told me I should be sixteen so I became the most childish sixteen year old I could be. I got petty because I was so hurt and I wanted you to feel as hurt as I did at the time and I abandoned you-...like I felt you were doing to me.” Her vision blurs as a solitary tear escapes. His face still remains impassive, giving away nothing. The only sign she gets that he’s even listening at all are his hands clenching tighter at his sides.

“And I am so sorry for that-” she cries, voice warbling, “I’m so sorry for ignoring you-for growing up and not doing anything when I knew better. For not just hurting you, but your family-one that I grew up calling my own. I-” her arms cross over her chest as she begins to shake. “-and I hate myself for knowing that without Peta demanding that Maks call me...I could have very well gone on doing the same thing for the rest of my life. Pretending that you don’t exist.”

She sucks in a sharp, stuttering breath as she finishes her speech, eyes searching for any sign that she’s reaching through to him. 

He stares at the ground with half-shuttered lids, pulling the corner of his mouth in by his teeth in that familiar way that has her chest aching at the sight. 

After what feels like an eternity, he begins to move towards her in the same slow manner, his gait like a burning fuse getting closer and closer to the dynamite about to blow. 

Her breath hitches when he stops close enough that she can smell his cologne, and she criss-crosses her fingers in front of her. 

“Thank you...for your honesty,” he begins, still looking at the ground somewhere to her right. “No matter how much I might have detested your presence here tonight, I am thankful that I’ve finally gotten the closure I needed from all of this.”

Her heart drops as those emotionless eyes finally meet hers, and he stares at her for a long moment. 

“But even with your explanation I’m still left feeling....confused. Because what you said...it’s something the girl I knew would never have done.” His voice becomes more vehement as that deep-rooted anger begins to show itself and Zendaya backs up instinctively. 

He follows, cornering her into the wall by the door. 

“The girl I knew, the girl I loved-” he spits, “-would never have done something so inconceivably childish and hurtful. She never would have shunned an entire second family that’s known her since she was born, she never-” his fist suddenly slams against the side of her head and she gasps, frightened. Her heart tells her that no matter what, Val would never lay a hand on her but now? It hurt that she couldn’t be so sure anymore. 

She breathes fast as her heart pounds in her chest, staying very still. Val’s whole body was trembling. It was like he was trying to keep himself in check. 

It’s deadly silent between them. Zendaya’s stomach flips as the realization that they’ve come to this point hits her. This place of such deep hurt and resentment and regret. 

Then the most heartbreaking sound in the world comes out of Val and her eyes snap to his. She watches unbelievingly as tears well up in his eyes and then it’s like a dam breaking from within him. 

His head drops heavily on the wall over her shoulder, his hand sliding lower on the other side of her. He’s not touching her but the incredibly close proximity is overwhelming. 

“I never wanted you to leave,” he croaks out, shaking his head slowly against the wall. Her eyes widen at his broken admission. “I didn’t want to leave you. You were supposed to understand. You were supposed to-to know what I meant when I said we couldn’t be together that night. You weren’t supposed to leave me. Why, Zendaya? Why did you leave me?”

He pulls back and the breath leaves her at the devastation in his eyes and she can only gape in horror at the raw display of emotion. Obviously something he’d buried for a long time just now being released. 

“I-I-” she stutters, hiccuping as sobs crawl up her throat anew. “I was hurt and I didn’t understand at the time-” she cries, eyes darting between his, “I’m so sorry. Val, I’m sorry-” she reaches up hesitantly to place her hands on either side of his face. 

The touch burns both of them, and he grabs her wrists tightly, pushing them forcefully back and against the wall on either side of her. 

“No. Don’t-just don’t,” he bites out, still holding her arms back. 

She nods, sucking back a sharp breath in an attempt to slow down her erratic heart. 

His eyebrows pinch as he turns his head towards the side, staring almost curiously at his hand squeezing her wrist. Carefully, like he’s dealing with a wild animal, he loosens his harsh grip. He curves his hand around the back of hers, his thumb sliding up the inside of her hand in an agonizingly slow manner. 

With a jolt, it hits her what he’s doing and she sinks into herself, staying as still as possible as he explores her lost touch. 

His right thumb reaches up, so slowly, to trace the lines of her palm. Her breath stutters unevenly at the touch, electric shocks zinging from the inside of her hand straight to her heart. 

Too many days, months, years without seeing him in person, without knowing his touch-

It’s too much and not even close to being enough. 

She feels her body begin to tremble from where he has her pinned to the wall, but she dares not breathe a word. Wide eyed, she can only stare at him with barely concealed restraint as he frowns in concentration. His gaze stays fastened on their hands. 

She greedily drinks in the sight of him while he’s distracted-the way his face has hardened, his jawline more pronounced, his elegant nose, the hooded shape of his eyes, the green irises just barely visible in the low light of the room-

Her gaze falls to his mouth and oh, how she remembers

..faces slick with tears, pressed so close together in mutual despair…

…his trembling mouth against hers and ‘You have always had my heart, and it will always be yours’...

Without meaning to, she finds herself leaning forward as if chasing the memory. 

“Don’t.” 

She’s brought back to the present at his firm command. She gulps when she looks up and sees his turbulent expression, and the hand that had been exploring hers suddenly grips it like a vice. 

“I’m sorry,” she says, voice barely above a whisper. For so many things..

 Like coming out of an unwanted trance, he takes quick steps away from her, turning and running a hand over his hair. It’s one of the gestures she knows from years of experience to mean he’s shaken. 

She doesn’t move an inch from the wall. Her hands go behind her back and she leans hard on them before she does something more stupid like reach out to comfort him. 

“You shouldn’t be here,” he growls, still facing away from her as he shakes his head. “Out of all the fucking times to try and make things right-” he lets out a bitter laugh, but doesn’t continue. His fists clench at his sides. 

She hangs her head, shame twisting her gut into knots. 

The space between them, no more than a couple of paces, seems suddenly tremendous and insurmountable. The loss of what they once had cuts her to the core and she feels her vision swims with tears she tries valiantly to hold back. 

“Why are you here?” he asks again, sounding both angry and incredulous. “Why are you here now?”

Her chest lurches. She has a feeling he knows the answer already, and she hates that he’s going to make her spell it out. She finds that she really doesn’t want to because she knows it’s hopeless. This whole situation was hopeless. How could she have ever thought that doing this was going to solve anything between them?

When he turns around at her lack of sudden response, she can only stare at the ground, her teeth digging into her bottom lip. Impossibly, she hunches back further into the wall. 

“What, you don’t want to talk now?” he sneers. She flinches. “Isn’t that what you came all the way across the country for? To talk?” 

“Y-yes,” her voice cracks, and she suppresses a wince. Peta would be shaking her head if she could see her right now. So much for being strong. 

There’s a long silence. 

And then, “Ah, I see. You heard from Peta that I was getting married, that I’d finally moved on, that I finally found happiness, and you came here to take that all away because you’re selfish-”

“No,” she denies vehemently, finally looking up. The move cost a little bit of her dignity as the tears she’d been trying to keep at bay are finally set free. 

“Don’t lie to me!” He roars, and then he’s getting in her face again. “You’re selfish, Zendaya! This is selfish,” he seethes and she shakes her head defiantly even as a broken sob escapes her throat, “Don’t even try to tell me this whole fucking thing isn’t you trying to recover what little control you thought you still had over me.”

A vein bulges from his temple as he raises his voice angrily at her, his expression reddening. In all of her 22 years of knowing him, 16 of which intimately, he has never yelled at her. She can’t remember ever seeing him this spitting mad, and the fact that it's all directed at her tears her apart. Her hands cover her mouth to muffle the terrified whimpers as his control snaps. 

This is so different than five minutes ago when he was the one almost brokenly crying onto her shoulder. Now, he seemed to be lashing out at her, trying to erase the vulnerability he had so briefly allowed her to see. 

“You fucking left me!” he shouts in her face, “You left all of us! Maks, Pops, Mama-everyone! You threw us out of your life like garbage for six and half years and you do not get to strut back into my life and try to deny that-”

“I’m not denying it, I’m sorry, Val!” she sobs, body shaking visibly. “I’m so, so sorry!” Her arms wrap around her middle in a feeble attempt to hold herself together. His rage cuts at her viciously. 

For a moment, he looks as if he’s about to go off on another tirade, but then he shakes his head, squeezing his eyes shut as he lets loose a frustrated shout, hands going behind his head as he paces in front of her. 

She sinks to the floor, the dark green silk of her dress bunching around her knees. She cries in earnest now, her keening wails the only sound in the room. 

This was all so fucked up. 

Honestly, though, she shouldn’t have expected anything less. 

All she knows is that as soon as the words ‘Val’ and ‘engaged’ had been said, she’d been reacting on impulse, rushing to see a man she’d actively tried to erase from her life for breaking her teenage heart. When she was finally old enough to look back and know the reasons and the logic behind all that went down, it was too late. She had been too ashamed to attempt reconciliation in the aftermath and too chicken shit to face any negative confrontation with him. Obviously, with good reason, as this whole present situation proved. 

Besides all of that, she had been beyond overloaded with her work. K.C. Undercover had wrapped and immediately she had been cast into the Spider-Man Franchise, then The Greatest Showman, then Euphoria, and soon Dune and time just slipped through her fingers and it got easier to ignore the guilty panic whenever she thought about him- them, because she was so fucking busy. 

But these were all excuses. Weak ones, at that. 

And Val knew it. 

He was furious with her for it, even after all this time.

Her shame swallows her whole, and she sobs anew, drawing her knees to her chest and hiding her face in the space between them. Her red tinted hair falls like a curtain over her face and she’s secretly grateful for the small protection of not having to see her one-time soulmate so angry with her. 

“Z-please stop crying,” the man across from her says after a while of her pain being the only sound in the room. “I can’t-Just stop, please,” he mutters, his tone holding the slightest hint of begging. 

She sniffs bitterly, peeking at him over her forearms where she had them folded over her knees. He’s not facing away from her anymore, but he’s not looking at her either. Instead, it looks as if he had turned towards her but stopped midway. His hands are balled into fists again at his sides and his body is tensed and coiled like a spring. 

Well, it was good to know he cared enough still to not want to see her cry, she thinks with a grimace. 

“I’d apologize, but I think I'm sick of saying sorry for the night,” she quips, resting her cheek sideways on her arm as she gazes sadly at him. 

His only response is a sideways glance, his fists diving into his pockets. 

She breathes out a forlorn sigh. “You’re right, by the way. It was stupid of me to come here.”

She notes his jaw clenching as he stares down at the stone floor. 

“I just-when Maks called me to tell me the news,” she sniffs, “I-I was on the plane before I even really knew what I was actually doing. I think I went into shock,” she let out a bitter laugh, “and just moved on auto-pilot. If Peta hadn’t tracked my location after not picking up any of her calls, I think I’d still be sitting at LaGuardia like a homeless person.”

His guarded reaction is just a slight movement of his head in her direction. His eyes look at the space a couple of inches from her feet. His expression is shuttered, but she does see the corners of his mouth pull down in a frown at her words. 

“I didn’t come here trying to ruin your…,” she bites her lip, “engagement party.” She barely refrains from choking out the two words. She was going to have to get used to this stab of pain to her chest any time she was forced to face the reality of it, now. “I-I just…I realized how much time I lost with you, you know what I mean? I’d been doing so good at compartmentalizing you and the fam away in my mind that when Maks called, it-it me hard. Finally, right?” she rolls her eyes at herself in self-reproach. “I just can’t believe…”

She trails off without finishing the sentence and sits up straighter, pulling her head up to rest her chin on her arms instead of her cheek. She sniffs back snot, the hard sobbing had really taken a toll on her, physically. 

“Z,” he starts, voice quiet. “I really don’t think you should be here.” 

She freezes at his softly whispered words. When he turns to face her full on, their gazes clash and she recoils from the hint of pity she sees there. 

“I have to try and make up for everything, though,” she gets to her feet, wobbling slightly on her heeled shoes. “I realize that now, Val. I want to make up for lost time-”

“I don’t.”

Silence. 

His gaze is unflinching on her as he says this-so steadily-and her arms go around her middle again. Jesus, would this night ever stop finding ways to rip her heart out?

“It’s too late,” he continues, and his gaze turns sad, “I moved on. I found Jenna and….she’s amazing,” she sucks in a sharp breath at hearing his fiancee’s name for the first time, “She understands me, she was there to pick up all my broken pieces and try to put me back together again when I realized you were never coming back.”

She can’t look at him when he says this, and she turns her head sharply to the side, pulling her bottom lip into her mouth. She can feel another lump rising in her throat. Great.

“You have to understand,” he inches closer to her, his hands falling out of his pockets to be placed out in front of him tentatively. “Your abandonment destroyed me, Z. It fucking wrecked me. You were my best friend, and if I believed in it, I’d even say you were my soulmate,” he gets close enough to her and his hands come up to gently cup her elbows where his thumbs trace calming circles on her arms. It’s such an old Val and Zendaya gesture that she involuntarily cries out in longing. 

His grip tightens, warningly. “This is why you can’t be here,” he concludes firmly. “Because I don’t think I can trust that you’re just here to make up for what happened. I think you may still have…unresolved feelings,” he ignores her indignant sputter, “And I cannot have that kind of distraction two months away from my wedding.” He shakes her, not hard, but enough that she meets his beseeching gaze. “You have too strong a hold over me,” he admits in a rush, “you always have and I promised-I promised myself a long time ago that I’d never let myself love like that again….the way I loved you.”

Zendaya gasps, her eyes darting between his. 

She opens and closes her mouth, trying in vain to find the right words, any words to respond to such a statement. 

A loud banging on the door causes them to jump apart. When a familiar blonde head peaks around the door to check on the inhabitants, the tension eases somewhat. 

“You guys need to wrap it up and get back out here,” she tuts, stepping fully into the room and closing the door almost all the way behind her. Outside the room, the party rages, laughter and loud conversation filling in the silence.

Peta glances at Val. “Jenna’s starting to get worried. I told her the veal wasn’t agreeing with you but that was twenty minutes ago. She’s looking around all the public bathrooms on the floor now.”

Val gulps. Zendaya watches him straighten his back in front of her. He hesitates for one single moment, and she begins to hope that he might ignore Peta’s warning to stay and talk longer but…

“Excuse me,” he clears his throat, and walks out of the room without a backwards glance. Peta steps widely out of the way as he passes around the door, her searching gaze being stubbornly ignored. 

Then the blonde woman looks back at Zendaya. “Everything okay?”

The young actress stares miserably at the door he had just walked out of. 

“No,” she whines, “everything’s fucked up and I really kind of hate myself….like, a lot.”

The only thing she can cling to in the cesspool of misery that was tonight was-

‘I promised myself a long time ago that I’d never let myself love like that again….the way I loved you’

Well. She didn’t come all this way to just give up on the first try. 

She’d just have to keep trying, and she didn’t want to toot her own horn or anything but the handful of acting awards she’d won this year reminded her that when she wanted to be…she could be very convincing. 

To be continued….

[pink7184]

Love doing the hook

[its-ashley-95baybe]

Be careful girl. There is a whole GC on twitter that has been talking about reporting you to tumblr for ahwile and they have several thousand members. I got kicked because I said something that they made me realize I was an anti in disguise but they are not nice people. They are also trying to figure out where Kmichelle works and they have some of her fanfiction saved and trying to prove she is a danger to childern. They do not like former valdayas. It use to be fun to be one but they are on a withunt lately. Anyone who is an "anti" They got my twitter supsended and i barely had any tweets but they kept reporting me. Its not good. I just wanted to warn you.

See now this is a true risk of security. Thank you so much for letting us know. @kmichelletho is out here doing her things and I will not let some bored kids threaten her well being. Girl can we just live life and enjoy our time how we want? Like it ain’t that serious 🙄

[liveandlovevaldaya]

Helium

A/N: wrote this while listening to Helium by Sia... also read more won’t work OF COURSE. Accept my apologies. 🙏🏻

She went through a couple of years where she honestly and truly didn’t give a shit. Not about life- but about where they- the two of them- stood.

She was young, and busy, and making so many new friends. Unfurling her wings in new territory, soaring into adulthood with excitement and a sense of wonder.

All of the little things that she had dreamt about since she was 17 or so she could finally put into action, and she did, with gusto.

Bought a house, rented a New York loft, traveled with friends, kissed boys, cursed like a sailor.

She did all of it and she felt exhilarated and free and a million other things that were really good. Like she could finally breathe. Life felt technicolor and every sound, sight, smell, and taste hit her harder than it ever had before.

She stopped wearing skirts and heels so much, and went back to who she felt she really was- curly hair, chucks, wide leg jeans, t-shirts.

She came into herself.

But she fell out with him.

Not entirely on purpose- just a smidge.

But she finally had people around her her own age.

People who were intense, but not his intense.

People who laughed at stupid semi-immature things she did. He didn’t as often anymore.

The newness of it all had worn off. He had found other things to dote on over time. Other things, other hobbies... other women.

And instead of feeling sour and sad about it, it had been easier to adopt a “fuck it” attitude toward the little things.

Unanswered texts. Lots of them. This one really burned her. He always answered. She was the one who normally read and didn’t reply- and if she was being honest, it sucked to be the receiving end of the silence.

She’d scroll through her notifications, finding them both tagged in things by fans- and he wouldn’t re-post them or @ her.

One night, she’d called because their song was playing and she wanted to laugh with him and hear the smile on his face. He’d picked up, and asked if he could call her back. If that hadn’t stung enough, he never did return her call.

So now here she was. Pretty sure she was in the same city as he was. Pretty sure he knew they were separated only by tall towers of concrete and bustling traffic. Surrounded by silence. Wishing, praying he would text her. She checked her phone every five seconds, thought she heard it vibrating, only to find out she was delusional.

Looking out her window, conjuring up a hopelessly and totally out of character for her scenario where she’d see him on the sidewalk below, looking up at her, hands in his pockets, wanting to come up.

But he wasn’t there. There was the lady from two doors down walking her terrier, and three girls her age walking off toward the bistro a couple of blocks away. A street sweeper roared by, and the old man who wore the same cap to cover his balding head strolled by with the paper.

But he wasn’t there. Val didn’t come.

Her finger hovered over the “new message” icon on her phone, and her long fingers tried to start a text-any text- to him.

But she felt weird now. Awkward. Embarrassed. Angry that he’d let her slip away from him. Annoyed that he would rather sleep next to someone else at night then crash on her couch.

She told Darnell to fuck off when he pestered her over and over again over dinner about what was going on.

Stalked into her room and threw on a big, oversized sweatshirt that hadn’t been washed in a very long time and desperately tried to smell him on it.

Scrolled Instagram and mentally begged him to comment, repost, like- to do anything to let her know he was thinking of her.

Beat herself up mentally that she hadn’t ever cared that he was the one who put in more effort. That she tried to write off and direct attention away and delete and manage and damage control every little interaction of affection from their past.

She laughed and smiled and carried on most days just like normal- and she really was happy.

But the relationship she had taken for granted was gone, and she’d never envisioned that possible. Ever.

And especially now that she was an adult- she hated herself a little.

Now that they could have had ramen together in a cafe and she wouldn’t have given a shit about the news the next morning, now that she was ready to stroll down the street with a smoothie, see some type of top rated show in a sold out theater, hold his hand-if even platonically- at an event, and he wasn’t here... it made her chest feel heavy.

She wouldn’t let herself cry about it because she didn’t cry over things like that- but she had come close.

Laying in bed, in the dark, city lights streaming in from the big industrial windows, she steeled herself and opened the text box.

“Is it too late?”

She hit send before she could overthink things, immediately regretted it. Felt like she was definitely sending the wrong message, worried about how it would be interpreted.

She felt the phone vibrate not a minute later, and grimaced, looking at his reply.

“Too late for what?”

Everything, she wanted to reply. All of it. What we used to be. What I envisioned we might have evolved to now. Family dinners. The past. Anything.

“To meet up before we aren’t in the same spot again?”

She watched the bubbles pop up, and disappear for what seemed like hours.

“I’d love a friend to come with me to lunch tomorrow.”

It felt like a knife to her heart. She wanted that flowery verbiage she was used to. She wanted the words best friend, or baby... or zendayachka.

But she had helped create this rift. And she realized she would do anything to fix it.

“Tell me time and place and I will be there.”

I need you. I miss you. I love you.

Blocks away, he ran a hand through his hair, rolled over on his side, heaved a sigh, and tapped into his instagram app. Scrolled his notifications, and reposted a fan tag to his story. Smiled thinking about wrapping his arms around that lithe figure he’d ached missing for months now.

She caught the tag, and felt like her heart would explode.

Everything would be ok. They’d make it ok. They had to.

[summerlove13me]

I feel like writing tonight

[ritebeforeyoureyes]

What If

This was a little, slight angst but not complete angst piece that I wrote during my break from writing an endless amount of essays. I hope you guys like it x 

What If 

“What if you woke up one morning and I wasn’t here?” Zendaya asked abruptly, making Val’s head turn. 

They were going about their nightly routine, Zendaya perched on her bed with her phone and Val stood by the bathroom vanity, brushing his teeth. With a quick swipe of his mouth, Val strode towards his girlfriend, his eyes piercing through hers intently. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Val’s body surged with negative thoughts, his heart sinking painfully into his lungs. 

“I mean ... what if, one day, I’m not here-” Zendaya was cut off as soon as she started speaking, Val’s hands moving forward to grasp hers. 

“Z, you’re scaring me. Why this talk about-” Val paused suddenly, his hands letting go of Zendaya’s as if she had shocked him with an electric current. “Are you ending things between us?” 

Val and Zendaya had been together for two years now and Val had presumed she was happy; ecstatically so. But, was that him just imagining things? It had been a doubt in his mind before the couple had gotten together; the doubt that she would always want more. She was young and she had so much of the world to conquer, Val had always thought he’d hold her back. It was why it had taken Val so long to confess his feelings towards Zendaya, he didn’t want her to feel tied down to anything serious, especially after her scumbag ex-boyfriend had cheated on her. 

“What?” No!” Zendaya reached for Val this time, her body practically sliding onto his lap. As soon as she was near him and her words registered in his head, Val let out a breathe that he didn’t know he had been holding. 

“Baby,” Val nuzzled her neck softly, his nose running the length of it leisurely. The subtly of her lavender perfume wafted through his senses and Val inhaled and exhaled deeply; he would never get used to having her so close. “Are you sick?” 

“What if I was?” Zendaya said in the faintest of whispers. 

“Baby.” Val lifted his head, his eyebrow quipped as worry enveloped every fiber of his being. “Are you? Sick?” Zendaya sat quietly, her gaze flickering down to the floor. “Come on, talk to me.” 

“I ... I don’t know.” After a pregnant pause, Zendaya finally spoke up. “The doctor’s think they may have found something and I’m ... I’m scared.” Her lip quivered and a singular tear rolled down her cheek, a tear that Val caught speedily with his thumb. 

“Hey, hey, don’t cry.” Val failed to believe that his beautiful, strong youthful girl had anything wrong with her; she just couldn’t. His heart was beating erratically, his head thumping heavily with questions. However, the most important thing - the only important thing - was sitting in front off him. Her tall frame had closed in on its self and Val knew, his only priority was to reassure and calm her until they had definitive answers. “There’s nothing to be scared about. I’ll be here, with you, no matter what happens, okay?” 

“That’s what I’m scared about!” Zendaya’s tone raised and the tears were an ongoing stream now. “I’m scared of putting you through this ... I’m scared you’ll have to sit by and watch me die-” 

“Don’t.” Val grabbed Zendaya’s face forcefully with his hands. “Don’t you dare. I love you and whatever happens, I’ll always love you. But please, no jumping to drastic conclusions until we’ve seen a doctor, okay?” 

And just like he’d promised, Val had been there ... every step of the way; thirty years and counting. 

[valdayayaknow-blog]

Val’s Worst Mistake

This is my first ever fic 😬

————————————

Zendaya was laying on her couch after a long day with noon when she heard her phone ringing.

MAKS CHMERKOVSKIY CALLING...

Zendaya frowned in confusion. Must be something important if Maks is calling so late at night.

“Hey Maks, wassap?" Zendaya greeted.

“Hey Z, I didn’t wake you did I?" Said Maks.

“No..no you didn’t, I was just chilling out with noon on the couch, is everything ok? Are Peta and the baby ok? Is it Val?” Zendaya said with a hint of worry.

“Yeah, no everything’s alright here, but Z I have to tell you something”.

Zendaya could hear the hesitation in his voice.

“What is it? Your starting to worry me Maks” said Zendaya adding a light chuckle.

“Look, I think you need to know before anyone else does...” said Maks.

There was a long pause as Maks thought about how he was going to say the next couple of words to his ‘little sister’.

“Val proposed to Jenna earlier this evening”.

Silence.

Maks could hear the silent breaking of Zendaya’s heart even over the phone. He had known how much the 21 year old was in love with his brother. He could tell from day one. Zendaya had never actually told him of her feelings, they were unspoken, but he could see it in her eyes. She looked at Val the same way he looked at Peta.

***

Zendaya sat on her couch motionless. Holding the phone up to her ear completely paralysed. A small tear appeared in the corner of her eye. Determined not to show how much pain she felt, she finally gathered herself to respond.

“um... yeah thanks for telling me... I...uh, I gotta go”. Zendaya hung up almost immediately.

Darnell had heard Zendaya talking on the phone and entered the living room to see what was going on. Without even a chance to ask, Zendaya had risen off the couch and was briskly walking towards her bedroom. Darnell heard her door slam shut behind her.

Zendaya slid down the door finally letting the tears escape. The only guy she had ever loved or had true feelings for really belonged to someone else. She always knew at one stage Val would be ready to settle down but part of her thought that could be with her. She hated herself for not telling him how she felt sooner.

***

Maks heard the phone-line go dead before he had the chance to say bye. He wasn’t offended at her abrupt goodbye. He understood why.

Maks felt a presence behind him and turned around to see peta.

“Did you tell her?” Peta said softly as she wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder.

Maks sighed.

“Yeah...” Maks whispered with sadness. He hated his brother for being so oblivious.

“Jesus Peta, we need to stop Val from making the worst mistake of his life”.

***

And that is exactly what they did.

[loveofvaldaya]

😣why are there so many unfinished valdaya fanfic.

This is so stressful like they are so good😍 but unfinshed. I want more.😣

[let-this-ship-sink-already]

The true tea about channel blue is that she used to be a huge valdaya shipper (yes the shop between a 16 year old Zendaya and her 27 year old dwts partner) and was all about how they were together and fanfiction and all that shit. Like you know when Zendayas own dad has to call you out for being sick fucks that you have gone way to far.

I‘d die from secondhand embarrassment, delete my account, change my e-mail and never interact with anyone on the Internet ever again!

[destinyc1020]

Valdaya was the creepiest ship ever, literally her dad had to tweet to tell them to stop and that they were creeps! Writing explict fanfiction about a minor and a man 10 years her senior! Disgusting

Bleh!  Yea, it’s disgusting....  🤢

I will never understand the “Valdaya” era, because it just doesn’t make sense. Z’s father is pretty strict and used to even chaperone her dates with Trevor at times lol.  Not only that, but she wasn’t even allowed to date until what... 16 y/o?? Why would anyone think that her father would be comfortable with her (a minor) dating a man 10 years her SENIOR??  Not to mention, Trevor would sometimes accompany her to her DWTS practice sessions!  

Common sense people.... 😏

[entireoranges]

Whats your take in this Val remixed relationship, im curious. I feel like you've been mum on the topic. Also what's your hubbys perspective? I miss having a male perspective in this tag.

I have been considering commenting on this for awhile and this seems like the go ahead to do so :-) Let me begin when it comes to real life shipping especially the fanfiction aspect I honestly think I am through. Of course if I fall for one again and write something don't throw this in my face; I am human after all LOL.

Anyways the drama, antis of the ship(s), and the heart ache when it doesn't work as you imagined in your head isn't worth the frustration. I don't know any of these people. Even with my likely over a 100 fics of Valdaya I don't know Val or Zendaya they are these basically became fictional characters based upon real people. If I don't know them I certainly don't know Jenna. I have and will continue to make assumptions on all of them on what I think they are thinking, filling in blanks, and coming up reasons as to why A happened and B didn't. Again it's all assumptions and speculations. And apart or rather a lot of me no longer wants my self assumptions on these people cloudy the universe and that's why I don't really post about it much any longer. 

However with that said the Val and Jenna thing makes me uneasy. I know there are shippers are gonna get pissy and claim it's jealousy Valdaya didn't work. Trust me that is not it. It just seems odd how the two of the dated two or was it three times prior to this; yes this includes times I had blinders on and refused to acknowledge it and neither mentioned it. In fact I am sorry to say he treated her pretty cruddy. Almost as if she wasn't good enough for him. Nothing can convince me it wasn't Val that Jenna was gonna speak about on her blog on a promised entry of a troublesome ping-pong type relationship and being used. But suddenly there is no mention of it and a few months after that they go public? I can't help but wonder what did he say to her to get to take him back again and what she said to make him willing to keep it out of the shadows?

I mean and it's also the fact even now neither are like "we tried before but didn't work however we are better places...." they can deny their past all they want but unless they face it I feel history will repeat itself. Sure perhaps it was discussed in private but Jenna made it public when she mentioned this ping-pong emotional relationship.

I think Val is ready to be a dad. Jenna is crazy for him and will ignore the past mistakes and be his baby-mama and Val knows that. As I said before this is assumption on my part and all it could be wrong. I am not telling others to believe it. To each their own.

I do miss the tag even if just Valdaya friendship or remembering the past with them and fellow fans but sorry to say the antis and pro the other ship who throw it in our faces ruined it. Which makes me sad. Hopefully Jason will see this and he can reply with his unique thoughts.

[skylarri-fanfics1991]

In Another Life. The Finale: Part I.

Summary: The effects of that fateful night ripple through them for years after. And no matter how far they try to run or hide from it, a part of them will never be able to completely let it go. 

Author’s Note: Alright. So yeah. This is it. I’m wrapping this story up. I don’t know how many parts are going to be in the finale of this fic. No more than 3-5 tops. I do want to note that I enjoyed writing this story immensely guys, just...the aspect of creating an entire new world for Val and Zendaya. A ‘what if’ kind of alternate universe. I know things have changed in the real world since I last updated this fic, and you will see that reflected in these final installments. But when all's said and done, I can still appreciate the special connection between these two people-especially the one I created in this fic. So without further ado, here we go....

--Much love, 

Sky.

The remaining month and a half of the show is the hardest thing either of them have ever had to do in their life. And in true Zendaya fashion, she pushes aside her feelings in order to focus completely on winning. And Val-after finally giving up on trying to reconnect with her to at least the friendship they had before-follows her lead and makes it his mission to get her that trophy as the only remaining thing he could do to make her happy again...

.....Which makes it all that much harder when the show gives it to Kelly and Derek instead. 

And once there’s nothing contractually obligating Zendaya to be in the same room as Val anymore, she cuts him out of her life completely. Like they say: out of sight, out of mind. Besides, she’s got her career to worry about now. 

It’s what he wanted, right?

What follows is truly heartbreaking indeed in its irony. Zendaya does go on to do bigger and better things like he knew she would. He just wishes he didn’t have to watch it all happen behind a computer screen. He wishes he could celebrate her success with her, instead of through social media. But since the end of their season, she had made it abundantly clear that she didn’t want anything to do with him anymore. Which had both broken his heart and infuriated him at the childishness. If this was how she wanted to deal with it and move on then fine-let it be this way. He’d learn to erase her from his life too. 

Eventually. 

.

Zendaya pours her heart and soul into her career after the end of her season on Dancing with the Stars. She makes it a point to never not be busy and have extra time to think. Because when she has time to think for extended periods of time, her thoughts undoubtedly always lead back to him. She isn’t a fool. She knows that she had basically run out on him after GMA and dropped him from her life. She gets that it was the most immature thing she could ever do, but as the months went by, it became her new normal, and she’s stuck with it ever since. It just got easier worrying about herself and her future than worrying about trying to repair what had broken between them. 

Also one of her biggest mistakes.

January 2020

Los Angeles

She’s sitting on a stool in her kitchen when she gets the call. Looking at the caller ID she almost drops her coffee mug. 

It’s Maks. 

Maks, the brother who was so betrayed by her actions seven years ago that he’d refused to ever speak to her again. Who’d returned her gifts and congratulation letters unopened when he had married Peta, and consequently had little Shai. 

That Maks. 

She stares dumbly at her phone as it continues to ring, her thumb hovering over the answer button. Swallowing her nervousness, she presses the green button before his call can go to voicemail. 

“Hello? Maks?” she greets carefully. Something important must have happened. It’d be the only reason he’d reach out to her now, after all she had done. 

“Zendaya,” he says, his tone straight forward. She can hear the frown in his voice, almost like he’d been put up to the call. 

“H-hi,” she stutters, blinking. “Um. H-how are you?”

“I’m fine. Listen-” he begins, voice rushed. She flinches at his dismissal of small talk. She’d really done a number on this family. “Peta is making me do this-I don’t know why, but she is. She wanted Val to tell you,” Zendaya’s breath hitches at his name, “-which is ridiculous because he doesn’t owe you anything-”

It’s already too much for her. Her hands shake at the harshness of her former brother’s voice. This was why she never looked back. Cowardly? Yes. It was a shame she lived with every day of her life now. 

“-but apparently I have no say in this.” he coughs once, to clear his throat. “Val’s getting married. He proposed to Jenna last weekend. But Peta, for some reason, believes you to still be family and is extending an invitation to the engagement party she’s planning for the two at the end of the month. She’ll text you the details later. I don’t care. If you show up-whatever. If you don’t-what’s new?” 

Ouch. Zendaya swallows down the rising lump in her throat. 

“Just letting you know. Got it?”

“Y-yes,” she answers, shutting her eyes in embarrassment at the wobble in her voice. Wait until he hangs up to get emotional, dammit. 

“Alright. Bye.” The phone clicks with two low beeps and then the line’s dead. 

Zendaya sits ramrod straight on her stool, that lump she had swallowed coming back up her throat with a vengeance as the reality of the phone call sinks in. 

Val’s getting married. He proposed to Jenna last weekend. 

Val’s getting married. Val. 

Her Val. 

No, she mentally slaps herself. 

Out of all the things to feel first, jealousy was not one she should’ve been allowed to feel. Feeling bittersweet would have been more logical. Especially considering she had no right-

‘-he doesn’t owe you anything-’ Maks had said, the disgust clear in his voice. 

He was right. Val didn’t owe her shit, after the crap she pulled. The kicker being that she could’ve made up for all of this if she had just gone back all those years ago. 

But she hadn’t. 

Instead, she had wrapped herself up into a protective bubble, refusing to allow herself to go back to him-to be vulnerable again, or to even just go back to return things to how they were before they pushed their relationship into romance. She had been too scared of facing him, too scared to face her emotions. Too young to deal with such things. 

She’d taken his advice a bit too literally. He’d wanted her to be sixteen and act sixteen? So she did-avoiding all of her problems, intentionally being naive when she knew better. She knew the consequences of her actions and yet she still did them. 

Ashamed, she covers her mouth as she lets out a small cry, stepping down off the kitchen bar stool and moving to sit on one of her lounge chairs. 

But what was her excuse for not going back when she had grown up? Gotten older and wise enough to know she should fix her immature mistakes? What had she done?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. 

Maks’ call had popped the bubble she’d put herself in, and the crushing reality of it socks her in the gut. 

She hadn’t gone back. She’d done absolutely nothing about it except for doing the exact same thing--make it worse and worse by continuing to ignore Val’s existence, and subsequently, the existence of the second family that had raised her. 

Why? Why had she let it get to this point? What was the point? 

All the damage she’d caused, all the bad blood-it wasn’t worth it. To ignore confrontation-to live in denial. It wasn’t worth it. She was so selfish. 

She knew that this call-this invitation...it was her last chance to even attempt to make things right. And she thanked Peta a thousand times in her head for the opportunity. 

Footsteps sounded down the staircase then, and her older sister rushed to her. 

“Z! What happened?” she falls to her knees in front of her and Zendaya grabs her outstretched hands, squeezing them and looking at her older blood sibling through her tears. 

“A wake-up call,” she responds, nodding her head as if to herself. “A very, very important wake-up call.”

New York

Across the country, Val stands in front of his balcony window in his and Jenna’s Manhattan apartment. 

Maks had just informed him that he’d called her. That he had told her the news about his engagement and the invitation Peta had extended. 

His shoves his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. 

Zendaya. 

The girl who’d ran and never looked back. The person he had once considered his other half, his soulmate. The girl who he saw living the rest of his entire life with. 

He shakes his head-a twisted, ironic smile forming on his lips. 

Things change. Actions have consequences. Whatever they had before? They could never go back. She’d made sure of that. 

This was her fault. This festering resentment? This unresolved tension in his heart? 

Her. Fault.

And he’d be damned if he allowed her to ruin the one good thing he’d managed to find with Jenna after all these years. 

Just let her come. Let her see how much has changed. Let her feel the pain he’s felt since she never looked back. 

Let her face that.

His jaw tightens. 

A pair of slender arms wrap around his middle from behind and one of his hands drop down to cover the smaller one over his heart. 

“You’re thinking about her again,” Jenna states softly without judgement, her warm breath puffing against his back. “You’ve been doing this a lot lately.”

He grips her hand, holds it to his chest while he looks out over the city. 

“You still care for her, Val, no matter how much you try to deny it to make me feel better,” she whispers. He clenches his teeth, denial on the tip of his tongue but he holds his breath. Anything he says in response she’d think was a lie. 

“I hate her,” he corrects, trying anyway. 

“No you don’t,” Jenna refutes, sympathy lacing her voice. “You just hate that you can’t remove her from your heart completely.”

He turns and cups Jenna’s face, looking into her eyes. She smiles bittersweetly at him. 

“I love you,” he whispers.

Her eyes close. “But do you love me more than you pretend to hate her?”

He can’t answer that. They’ve been through this argument before. She believes he’s living in denial about his true feelings and he tries failingly to convince her there’s no love lost between him and Zendaya. 

She always wins that argument.

“Believe it or not, but Peta inviting her to the engagement party is a good thing, Val,” Jenna says with a sigh, curling her hands around his wrists and pulling them away from her face. “You need closure. And once you have that, you can move on. We can move on.”

She reaches up and presses her lips to his. He kisses her back, trying to prove to her-and himself, that she was enough, that she was more than enough. 

He just wished his heart would catch up with his head and believe it.

.

.

.

[tomdayaaremybabies]

All this arguing and I'm just here waiting on fanfictions from both Tomdaya and Valdaya. What? I'll actually have to write my own to get a fanfic outta these ships?

[liveandlovevaldaya]

Every six months or so I get in a real mood to write #valdaya fan fiction. Like yep, here I am... nope, I will not acknowledge reality.

[summerlove13me]

Hope// Oneshot

She understands now that at the time that they tried to have a relationship it wasn’t meant to be, and to be honest she knew that to be true back then as well but she wasn’t ready to admit that to herself or anyone else at the time. Zendaya decided a few weeks back now that she wasn’t going to let what happened between them almost a year and a half ago consume her thoughts with what if’s and could have been’s anymore. She understands that there are certain things that she has to experience before settling down and the same goes for Val, so she watches him from a safer distance and even though she doesn’t necessarily enjoy seeing his relationship with her plastered all over Instagram, she knows that whatever will be will be because as someone once said love is friendship set on fire and everyone knows they’ve had that since the first day in the dance studio.

Should this be a multi chapter instead of a one shot guys?

[ritebeforeyoureyes]

Favourite Star Season

There was unanimous agreement that this should be the multi-chapter fic that I should continue so, here it is. The previous seven chapters are available here:

ritebeforeyoureyes.tumblr.com/fanfiction

Apologies, I know after so long this is probably a short-ish chapter but I didn’t really know where I was going with it so thought fluff couldn’t hurt.

Favourite Star Season [Valdaya]

Chapter Eight  

It turns out many were unhappy with Derek’s proclamation on national television. Without ABC’s permission, Derek had just decided that declaring Zendaya as his partner would force producers to make it a reality. However, Derek’s stupid presumptions had thrown many people under the bus and now the public was mad, very mad. Fans had already been mad about Zendaya losing out on the Mirrorball trophy in season sixteen because of technical difficulties and they weren’t handling this bullshit again. All social media platforms had exploded and the buzz regarding the new season was everywhere. Tabloids and fans alike were curious to see how the family show would unfold. On the other hand, anger was prevalent and in order to placate raging fans, ABC had come to one definite conclusion – they were going to have to pair Zendaya and Val together again; news which Val was ecstatic with. Derek, in contrast, was not so happy, which put Zendaya in a rather uncomfortable position. Two people she really cared about were pitted against each other and it didn’t help that Derek was currently getting some whiplash for his spontaneity at the Emmy’s.

“Val,” Zendaya chided as they walked into the dance studios for their first rehearsal. “Stop being so smug.” They had run into a few of the cast members in the parking lot and Val hadn’t stopped smirking at Derek. In fact, they’d walked into their own rehearsal space and he still couldn’t get the cocky grin of his face. “It’s rude.”

“What?” He raised his hands up in surrender sheepishly. “I’m just excited, I feel like the stars are aligned … properly, this season.” Val clasped Zendaya’s hand in his own, tingles resonating between the two of them. He knew Zendaya was still trying to get a hold on her feelings and he was respectful of that. He wasn’t here to push her; he knew she’d feel it eventually. She had kissed him back after all – that was a good sign, progress. So, for right now, Val was happy to see how things panned out.

“Look, Val,” Zendaya sighed heavily. She was the monkey in the middle and she found herself looking frantically left and right. She didn’t want to seem like she was taking sides. “Cut Derek some slack okay? He messed up and the rest of the world is reminding him of that, you don’t have to.”

“He shouldn’t have done what he did then.” Val muttered under his breathe. But things echo in a dance studio and Zendaya heard him clearly.

“Val!”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” Zendaya just looked at him with a glare, one that was trying to come across as stern but didn’t translate. Val didn’t look very sorry, in fact he was amused at Zendaya’s adorable attempt at a scowl.  “Look, I’ll try cooling it with the remarks but … don’t ask me to apologise for how things turned out.”

Val was glad he was getting to spend this time with Zendaya. Unlike season sixteen, Val was aware of his feelings and he was certain, deep down somewhere, so was Zendaya. Therefore, there was going to be a shift in their dynamic. Things were going to change and it was what Val wanted. He had wanted that extra time to stick by her, get to know her again, get to feed off her infectiously pleasant personality again.

“Let’s just see what dance we’ve got for first week.” Zendaya changed the topic after a pregnant pause. The couple had two weeks to prepare for their dance, just like in any season and Val was beyond ready. He had his game shoes on and he was ready to both spend time with Zendaya and consequently smash opening night with a killer routine. “Do the honours.” Zendaya handed him the dreaded envelope that had said contemporary two years ago. However, this year, Zendaya was legal and no longer a Disney star. So, she was certain that the show would throw some curve balls at her; one of them being sensuality. Zendaya was going to have to feel and connect in ways she’d never thought she’d have to with Val.

“We are doing-“ Val opened the envelope slowly, as if building tension for the cameras that weren’t even in the studio yet. Even after years of performing, this whole Dancing with The Stars experience made Zendaya nervous. She didn’t know what it was … it just made her heart pound. It really didn’t help that she was in a weird limbo stage with Val either because every time he came close to her, her heart sky rocketed. “The salsa.”

“Hmm.” Zendaya nodded, contemplating her previous experience with the salsa. She had never truly gotten to salsa; her only encounter being with both Gleb and Val during their trio dance. But, dancing with Gleb was different. The choreography had been more fun and relaxed. Outright, Zendaya knew this performance with Val would have to be sexy and sultry.

“Okay, I have some ideas.” And, just like that, Val stopped being playful, flirty Val and became teacher Val. He was stern yet instructive; the type that had tunnel vision with just visions of a perfect end result. “We need to work on your walk and your posture a little and then we can group for choreography.”

“Wait, group?” One thing Zendaya remembered vividly from her season on the show was that Val was the master mind behind the choreography. She usually suggested a song or a theme and Val ran with it, his mind conjuring up eccentric moves that the judges always seemed to love.

“I want this season for us to be different. I want more of you.” Val’s words held a double meaning and his piercing gaze made Zendaya blush profoundly. His stare just reminded her of the moments before he kissed her. They were so heated and heavy, she couldn’t help but let her insides heat up instantaneously. There was no denying it, she felt something. And in return, just like earlier, Val’s signature smirk had made a comeback. “I want your ideas, your visions.”

“Good.” And, just like Val, Zendaya was in her zone. “Because I think I have an idea.”

The two felt in their own separate element on the dance floor. Zendaya wasn’t a ballroom dancer but her skills had been polished whilst dancing with Derek and getting into the rhythm of things was surprisingly easy. She walked and swayed her hips to every click of Val’s teeth, every command he threw her way. It was evident, they made the perfect couple on the floor and it translated to the progress that they achieved in just one day of rehearsals. They still didn’t have a song but the basics of a dance was on its way.

“Proud, Dayachka.” The two had retired to sitting against the wall, their bodies heavy with sweat. Zendaya’s chest was heaving upwards and downwards as she inhaled and as Val came away from teacher Val, he couldn’t help but ogle. “You did good out there.”

“Th … thank you.” Zendaya gulped at a bottle of water and Val internally groaned. It was so easy for him to switch off and become the dance teacher, so easy that he’d forget exactly how beautiful – how sexy she was. And, now, he was getting the brunt of it. Everything Zendaya was currently doing just made him admire her. She sat before him with her hair up in a messy ponytail, her clothes casual and yet she was still the most beautiful creature he had set eyes upon. It was all most scary how greatly he thought of her in such a mundane outset.

“Zendaya?” Val nudged her gently with his elbow, her body rocking sideward lightly.

“Yeah?” She was absently scrolling through her phone now, her attention not diverting from her Instagram feed.

“Go on a date with me?” That got her attention - definitely. Her eyes flickered upwards suddenly and she took an audible gulp, her mouth suddenly dry. They sat in silence for a few moments and panic began to surge within Val. Did she think their kiss was a mistake? Was she having doubts? The thought made Val a little self-conscious and he soon began to ramble. “Just coffee? A movie, maybe? Ice cream? Whatever you want, I really don’t mind-“

“Yes.”