#well it’s Monday and I haven’t heard anything

[talentedtrait]

life is ruff

[chekhovstrap]

If I don’t land a spot in this carpentry program I might just do something drastic.

[kittenlittle24]

Picture this

Request by anon (hope this reaches you!): a house fic where there is an age gap between them but they have a lot in common like taste in music stuff and Can you possibly make the reader an artist in her free time.

Gifs never mine, likes, comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated.

Masterlist

Diagnostic Department. It was the last department in your rotation. All you needed to do was to survive a week under Dr. House and get him to sign off your hours.

You were standing in the entrance to the patient room, stethoscope around your neck and the case file in your hands as you watched House played the opening bars from "I Don't Like Mondays". You tilted your head as the patient copied him perfectly. He has perfect pitch.

The patient seemed to be in excellent health, but House wants him to stay. House starts playing a piece he once started to compose, and the patient finishes it.

“Try Baba O’riley next.” You suggested which made House turn sharply to look at you.

“Intern, go be useful in the clinic. Use my name on anything you sign.”

With a sigh and an eye roll you turned and left to follow his orders.

Somehow you were surprised Dr Cuddy didn’t see you working in the clinic instead of being with the rest of the diagnostic team. Or possibly you were certain you’d get caught covering for the department head.

Four exhaustingly, boring hours and too many hysterical patients later, you were finally in front of your locker in the doctors lounge, gathering you belongings to go home. You opened the locker to grab your coat.

“Heard Wilson purchased one of your paintings.”

You jumped slightly upon hearing his voice, but continued as you were, only humming in answer. You lifted your hair from inside your coat. Opening your purse you fished your hours paper and held it out to House.

“Could you do us both a favor and sign this?”

Looking at the paper, he tilted his head and pursed his lips, “How is signing your departure good for me?”

Your mouth dropped open and your eyes went wide, “You been treating me like crap, you didn’t let me sit in on a single case, just used me as your personal assistant.”

Moving to lean against the counter behind him, he chuckled, “I also let you cover my hours in the clinic.”

Shoving the paper against his chest, “Sign this so I won’t have to come back here Monday.”

Taking the paper, “I’ll sign this if you agree to go out with me.”

With a sigh you agreed.

That was a year ago, since then you finished your internship and started your residency in cardiology as well as moved to live with Dr Gregory House.

You woke up to an empty bed, frowning you rubbed your face before leaving the warm space. You walked into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee and saw your boyfriend naked in front of the fridge.

“Is there coffee?” You asked.

He looked at you, slightly confused, “You’re not surprised I’m naked?”

Taking his half filled mug from where it was sitting on the counter, you took a sip and shook your head, “Nothing I haven’t seen before. Please get dressed or at least put underwear on before Cameron arrives.”

Leaning to kiss his cheek before you placed the mug in the sink and went to get ready.

He quickly followed you back to the bedroom, “Why is Cameron coming?”

Picking clothes and setting them on the bed, “She saw my painting in Wilson’s office, she asked if she can buy one herself, she’s stopping before work to pick it up.”

“And you told her to come here? To my apartment?”

Looking up at him, you tossed him a pair of boxers, “Ours, yes.”

He sat down on the bed to put his underwear on, “Does she know we both living here?”

You paused your actions and came to kneel between his legs, “Are you worried that she might comment on your relationship?”

“Having a hard time concentrating on your words when you’re down there.”

Placing your hands on his cheeks, “Greg, she’s younger than you and didn’t have any problem trying to pursue you, I do-“

“And you are younger than her and on that she’ll have plenty to say.”

Your thumbs stroked back and forth on the apple of his cheek before you rose just enough to kiss him deeply.

“I don’t care if or what anyone that isn’t you says on our relationship. Frankly, I’m surprised you do, it’s kind of a big reason why I’m into you.”

“So me being a jerk turns you on?“

Laughing , you kissed him again, “Don’t push it old man.”

He grabbed you by the waist and pulled you to lie down on top of him before flipping you to be underneath you, “I’ll show you, old man.”

[illbegottenfaith]

handwritten - theo nott x reader

yours and theo’s story as told through notes passed in class

Part 1 | Part 2

a/n - came up with this quick idea to release some pent up creative energy while mulling over lucky pt 3. will prob make this an ongoing series for small ideas I can’t get fully fledged fics out of. easy to write, easy to read, enjoy!

tropes/warnings - fluff, a minor hinting at angst, newstudent!theo, estranged friends to lovers

word count - 1.5k

Monday, 10.07 am, Charms

Hey. You might want to pull your nose out of that disgusting textbook for once.

We’ve been over this. Just because you don’t understand something it doesn’t mean it’s disgusting. It’s very disrespectful.

What is disrespectful is you not paying attention to our year’s hottest new commodity - emphasis on the hot. I must say, he fills out that uniform quite nicely.

I’m sure he does.

C’mon, you’re not even a little bit curious? Just a peek?

Y/N? Hellooooooo? 

Oh my god. I know the guy.

???

What is he doing here? Last I heard he was being homeschooled.

Know him how??

We went to the same primary school. We were…friends.

Riiiight.

Don’t get any ideas. I haven’t seen him since I was ten. And he looked very, very different back then. Had a ratty sort of face. I can still kind of see it, actually.

Oh, Y/N, how could you say such awful things about his beautiful face! Oh dear, that bone structure…

Quiet, you. He’s really…grown. He’s so much taller now.

You know what you should do? You should offer to help him catch up.

On five years of school?

Oh, please, he was homeschooled. He had to have learnt some things. Who is he, anyway?

Theodore Nott.

Now that’s an Old Money name if I ever heard one.

Ivy. Be nice.

So? Is he? Old money, that is.

I…suppose so.

Are you sure you two were friends?

Yes. It’s been a while, that’s all. I just…wow. I can’t believe he’s here. Like, right there. I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again.

What happened?

He moved. I was starting at Hogwarts. We lost touch, it happens.

But now he’s back! Yay! Did you see those sinfully blue eyes of his?

Ivy, you have a boyfriend.

I know. Ivan agrees, by the way.

That he’s hot?

Yes.

He’s sitting on the other side of the room. When did you have time to discuss this??

Just now. Right in front of you. What did you think all that eyebrow-waggling was about?

I thought you were having a stroke. Merlin, the two of you are perfect for each other.

Don’t change the subject. He’s not gay, is he? Your friend? All the hot ones usually are.

I wouldn’t know, now, would I? I haven’t heard anything about him in years. Ivy, leave him alone. Please don’t harass the poor guy, sexually or otherwise. And quit it with the notes. He’ll notice.

How??? Has he got eyes on the back of his very nicely shaped head? He’s busy with Flitwick anyway.

Trust me, he’ll see. Nothing gets past Theodore Nott.

Monday, 2.15 pm, Potions

Well?????

Well, what?

The chat!!! Your chat!!!!!! With Mr. Theodore Nott!!!!!!!!

You have to quit it with the caffeine. You’re far too excitable after lunch.

The chat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was fine. It was…nice.

Uh-huh.

He goes by Theo now.

Okay. I’ll pretend I care about that.

It was all very casual, very superficial. It was really just us exchanging pleasantries. Oh, right. He asked me to accompany him to Quidditch tryouts.

You??? But you hate Quidditch.

I know.

Please tell me you didn’t say that.

I didn't. I just said I didn’t know much about it.

And?

He said that didn’t matter. He just wanted me there for moral support.

Then what was with all the turning red halfway through? You looked like you were going to combust.

Was it that obvious?

Ivan had some pumpkin juice ready, just in case.

It was nothing. I just wasn’t expecting it, that’s all. He called me his good luck charm.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You’re going to rip a hole through the parchment.

AWWWWW

So?? Did you say yes??

I said I’d think about it.

BOOOOOOOO

Come on, Vee. He’s been flying since before he could walk. He always talked about joining the big leagues, you know. He knows everything there is to know about Quidditch, so of course he’ll make the team. And it’ll have nothing to do with me.

But he doesn’t even have any friends yet :(

That’s because he hasn’t talked to anyone yet.

Y’know, Romilda Vane wanted to know why he was talking to you of all people.

What’s that supposed to mean??

Eh, you know. You can be a little…snippy.

I am NOT snippy.

There it is. The snippiness.

Whatever. It’s all so pointless. Come Thursday evening, he’ll have joined the Quidditch team and he’ll be hanging out with, y’know, those people, and we’ll be ancient history. He’ll make plenty of friends. He just doesn’t know it yet.

Okay. If you say so. Also, at lunch, I finally tried that thing you’re always talking about, “applying myself,” and I found this article on his dad in the library. From 6 years ago.

Don’t you want to know what the article said?

You could have mentioned he was a death eater, you know.

I don’t care about that, by the way. You used to be friends and that’s good enough for me. But, Y/N, he was arrested six years ago. And you haven’t talked to Theo in six years. But there isn’t any kind of connection between those, is there?

Y/N?

Do not make me throw this at you. I know how you feel about paper cuts.

Tuesday, 3.03 pm, Defence Against the Dark Arts

Where’s your friend?

?

You know. Who you’re always passing notes with in class?

You noticed?

Hard not to. It makes you all fidgety and annoyed.

Yeah, well, Ivy’s an annoying person.

I’ll take your word for it. What do you have after this?

Transfiguration.

Wow. That’s one of the harder ones, isn’t it?

Er, depends on who you ask, I think.

Still brilliant as ever, then.

Shut up. I’m not half the swot I was in primary school. 

I never thought you were a swot. You were just…enthusiastic.

That’s sweet of you to say, Theo.

Huh. I thought I’d always be Teddy to you.

We’re not ten anymore, Theo. I can say your name perfectly now.

That’s good. So, have you thought about it?

Thought about what?

The Quidditch tryouts. You’re the only person I know here so you have to say yes.

I don’t know. Some of the girls look pretty interested in getting to know you.

What?

Nothing. I guess I could swing by for a short while.

That’s my girl.

Thursday, 8.37 pm, Common Room

SO?????

He got in. Obviously. Was there ever any doubt?

Did he run up to you? Did he hug you? Did he pick you up and spin you around???

Witch Weekly is a bad influence on you.

Details, please.

He hugged me. Kind of. Nearly tackled me, he was so excited.

you are SO his good luck charm!!!!!!

Friday, 11.17 am, Defence Against the Dark Arts

Witch Weekly?

It’s not mine. I’m holding it for a friend.

Right.

Really, I am. Ivy’s a fiend for these but she has this Charms test coming up that she absolutely cannot fail.

I believe you. ‘Top 6 Magical Contraceptives for the Modern Witch’ doesn’t sound like your kind of reading material.

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I was only having a little fun.

I’m not embarrassed. Are you embarrassed?

Erm, no, but you’re very red. Do you need to see the Healer?

I’m fine. It’s just hot. And no one calls Madam Pomfrey ‘the Healer,’ by the way.

Ah. I see.

Is there a point to all this? Did you need to ask something?

Oh, right. What are you up to on Saturday night?

Saturday? Dunno…wanted to take a crack at that Transfiguration essay.

Excellent. I’ll pick you up at 8.

Oh?

It’s nothing. A couple of the guys on the team wanted to celebrate with drinks at Hogsmeade. Everyone’s bringing someone, and I thought it would be nice if you came. Being my good luck charm, and all.

Oh, Theo, you probably don’t know this since you’re new and all, but going down to Hogsmeade is only permissible on certain weekends. And only start a couple of weeks into the term, so not yet.

Did you just -? Oh my god, you did. You laughed at me. You laughed at my note. Out loud. You’re lucky you’re in Slytherin, you know. Snape usually goes absolutely ballistic if anyone interrupts his lesson.

I’m sorry, I forgot what a stickler you were. I just - I didn’t think I’d miss it.

Please, Theo, forget the drinks. I cannot in good conscience stand by and let you break so many rules. You’ve been here less than a week!

Guess you’ll have to keep an eye on me. Make sure I stay out of trouble.

Exactly.

Great. See you Saturday at 8.

Part 2

[babysukiii]

fallingforyou (4)

(i changed my username, i used to be @fckoffjakegyllenhaal grraaaa🍘🍘)

// lottie matthew’s does not like you. you’re annoying, preppy, and way too nice. lottie doesn’t fail to show you time after time just how much she hates you. you finally get the message and steer clear of her, until senior year, when you both get paired up for a science project. //

warnings: asshole!lottie, sweet!reader, pining, mutual pining, oblivious!reader, lottie is an actual idiot but she’s the cutest idiot <3

DISCLAIMER: english is not my first language, i usually edit my works well but haven’t had time. please excuse any mistakes i made here

don’t you see me?

on monday morning lottie is in a much better mood than she usually is. all of her friends notice right away, especially laura lee. though nobody is really sure why; she wasn’t at becky martin’s bonfire, and she hadn’t gone to the mall with the girls on saturday. though, it didn’t take natalie long to put the pieces together and figure out why lottie was in such a particularly flavorful mood. as soon as the blonde spoke to you, and heard about your friday night with lottie and elise, natalie knows you’re the reason behind everything.

and as soon as soccer practice rolls around, natalie has a shit eating grin on her face. she sees lottie pulling her practice jersey over her head, and doesn’t hesitate to taunt the noirette the moment she sees her. “a little birdy told me you spent the weekend with y/n.” natalie’s smug voice causes lottie’s carefree expression to sour. the taller girl scowls, “was that little birdy y/n?” she questions, and natalie lets out a loud bark of a laugh. “holy shit it’s true! you seriously went out with y/n and elise!” natalie sounds like a child who just discovered something new and crazy. it causes lottie to send a glower natalie’s way, “it was just a stupid party. besides, it’s a good thing i was there; elise practically ditched y/n when they got there! all night!” lottie appears to be genuinely upset by this.

the blonde quirks a brow at the taller girl, “huh, it actually sounds like you gave a shit about y/n’s wellbeing.” natalie mockingly states, earning a dirty look from the raven haired girl. “don’t look at me like that! just two weeks ago you were going on and on about how annoying she was. now you’re at her place every day after school.” natalie casually calls her out as she opens her locker. “i still think she’s annoying.” lottie doesn’t even sound convincing to herself as she says this, and natalie shoots her an “are you serious” look.

“you don’t even believe that!” natalie laughs at the taller girl, and lottie frowns before closing her locker. “what do you want me to say?? that i actually like spending time with her? it doesn’t matter anyways because after the projects over she isn’t going to have a reason to talk to me anymore.” lottie deadpans, and natalie can see how bothered lottie seems by this revelation. “you do realize y/n is like the sweetest person ever, right? she’s not just gonna stop hanging out with you because the projects over.” natalie assures her, and lottie stares at her seriously, “she is after the way i treated her for the last few years.” she lowly murmurs, almost quiet enough for natalie not to hear, but she does.

before the blonde can say anything else, coach is blowing his whistle from outside the locker room, signaling for the girls to get on the field. their conversation is cut short, even though natalie has more to say. the blonde knows you better than to know you’d just stop talking to lottie abruptly, after forming a friendship with her. you talk about lottie nonstop whenever you’re with natalie, and though lottie may be too oblivious to notice, natalie can tell you both are pining for one another.

natalie is well aware that lottie is stubborn; it’s one of the many things they have in common. if natalie actually wants to show her best friend that you’re both obviously interested in each other, she’s going to have to convince you first. the next day at school, natalie finds you at your locker. you’re smiling softly as you rummage around for your the book you’re reading in your english class. “hey y/n/n.” she greets you casually, and your smile only widens at the sound of your friends voice. “hey nat! look what i got!” you shrug your backpack off and natalie watches in amusement as you pull out a new metallica cd.

the taller girls orbs widen at the sight, and she reaches out to take the cd. “holy shit! this thing hit the store yesterday, how did you get this?” natalie inquires and you grin, “i made elise stand in line to get it. she owed me. that one’s for you, i got one too and i got lottie a pixies cd.” you aimlessly go on as you shut your backpack, looking up at natalie as you slink it over your shoulder. once you notice the smirk on your friends face, your smile vacillates as you flash natalie a suspecting look. “what?” you ask question uncertainly.

natalie shrugs, “you and lottie are getting pretty close if you know what kind of music she listens to. she never talks about herself too much; it took me two years just to learn her favorite color.” natalie admits, and your cheeks turn a shade of pink at the statement. “lottie’s just a little prickly on the outside, but she’s a bit nice on the inside.” you admit, and natalie’s complacent grin causes you to grow a bit confused. “w-why does it matter? aren’t you the one who was hoping lottie would warm up to me?” you inquire incredulously.

“well yeah, but i think lottie ended up warming up to you a little too much.” the blonde’s tone is suggestive, and causes your insides to feel hot. “what are you talking about, nat?” you demand, getting more and more embarrassed by the second. judging by how flushed your cheeks are, natalie can see you know exactly what she’s talking about. “oh come on, y/n. you know lottie’s been different since she started hanging out with you; everyone’s noticed!” she declares, doing nothing to ease the ferocious blush on your face. “everyone’s noticed?” your voice is now full of insecurity and natalie rolls her eyes.

“yes. everyone on the team knows. van and tai even have a bet going to see who’ll profess their undying love for each other first; you or lottie.” natalie’s revelation causes your eyes to widen in clear shock. “what!? but— but lottie hates me!” you whisper yell, making natalie flash you a skeptical look. “you seriously still think lottie hates you?” she inquires, a bit unsure. you shrug, “i’m pretty sure she’s only hanging at my house so much cause she doesn’t want to go home. i don’t know why she doesn’t want to go home, but i don’t question it.” you answer, and natalie searches your face for any signs of dishonesty.

“look, i admit lottie hates her house… but i don’t think she’s been at your place every day after school just because of it. you’re not that dense, i know you can see how different she’s been lately. that’s because of you.” natalie sentimentally adds, and you look down at your hands; playing with your fingers nervously. “what if you’re wrong? what if lottie still hates me and after the project is over, she’s never gonna talk to me again? or worse, she’ll go back to being a jerk to me.” natalie notices the timorous silence that follows, and she sighs.

“you guys are both very oblivious. just talk to her about it.” natalie emphasizes the word “talk”, while you gnaw on your bottom lip nervously. throughout the day you think about lottie, and how much has changed between you two. she went from not being able to stand you, to not being able to be away from you. you enjoyed being with lottie; all the time you two spend together, you’re happy. though you’re afraid she might just be acting so differently just because you two are paired up together.

“hey y/n, i know we’re supposed to go to yours after school, but did you wanna stop by that new pretzel place down the street?” lottie asks, sounding nervous as ever. she’s standing alone in the girls restroom, staring at her reflection. she groans, “that was awful.” she murmurs, and she hears a snicker from one of the stalls, causing her to tense up. lottie’s dread turns to annoyance when she sees mari coming out of the handicapped stall.

“you were listening the whole time?” lottie skeptically asks, and mari nods. “yup, i hid when i saw you come in here. you never use the bathroom at school, so i though i’d get to hear you breakdown or something.” mari shrugs, and lottie glares at the shorter girl. “what? got nothing better to do than wait around for some gossip?” lottie retorts with a glower, and mari chuckles. “maybe. it’s my free period, and i have that class with laura lee. if i have to sit next to her again and hear her “babble” to god every time she gets stuck on a difficult question…” mari trails off, and lottie shakes her head in dismay.

“so you’re practicing to ask y/n out? to a pretzel place?” mari questions incredulously, lottie shifts, suddenly remembering her insecurities from a moment ago. “uh, yeah. something like that.” lottie responds, and mari nods. “you should take her to that milkshake place instead. she likes sweet stuff.” the latina points out, and lottie raises a brow. “and how do you know that?” the taller girl inquires skeptically.

“because she’s always making sweet stuff during home ec. her cupcakes come out really good. hey, if she becomes your girlfriend, you should convince her to bake us celebration cupcakes.” mari’s eyes glint with excitement as she loses track of what she was talking about. lottie shakes her head, “i can’t even ask her in a date without sounding like an idiot. so i think her being my girlfriend is clearly out of the question.” she mumbles, and mari rolls her eyes in clear annoyance.

“your self depreciating bull shit is so boring. you’re on the soccer team, you’re popular, you’re rich; y/n is gonna say yes. any girl with half a brain would.” mari points out, and lottie flashes her a look. “y/n isn’t like you or any girl who thinks like that. she’s nice.” lottie says, and the thought of you causes her to get this love struck look in her eyes. mari laughs, “jesus, you’re like so in love with her it’s hilarious. didn’t you say the girl talks way too much, she’s annoying, can’t take a hint—“ lottie cuts mari off with a threatening glare.

“i know what i said.” the yellowjackets sweeper says angrily, and mari has this shit eating grin on her face. “insufferable. that’s what you also said.” the latina declares, causing lottie to shoot daggers at her with her eyes. “what changed? did you guys hookup?” mari asks with a glimmer of mischief in her dark orbs. lottie’s eyes widen, her ears burning at thought of hooking up with you. “no! that’s not— we didn’t—“ lottie begins to fumble over her words, making mari giggle annoyingly. “relax. you can’t even ask her out, i doubt you’d even know how to initiate a hookup.” mari shakes her head.

“like i said, just ask her to the milkshake place.” mari concludes, “later, matthews, we’re hanging out at the mall tomorrow after practice. bring your girlfriend if you want.” the shorter girl sniggers as she makes her way out of the girls restroom. lottie is left alone with her thoughts, and doubts. mari might have a point about the milkshake place, but she also had a point when she reminded lottie about all the stuff she had said about you. suddenly there was this antagonizing feeling of guilt that flooded over her.

when lottie sees you waiting for her in the parking lot after school, with that cute smile of yours, the guilt returns. “hey, wanna get a milkshake before we go to your place?” lottie tries to sound nonchalant, but your eyes light up in the most adorable way. her heart clenches in her chest, “yes! i’ve been craving one of the peanut butter milkshakes with chocolate.” you admit as you both walk towards the car where her driver is already holding the door open. “we’re stopping at the diner down the street.” lottie tells him, as you get into the car.

the entire ride there lottie is quiet, and deep in thought. you try not to worry, considering she’s being nice and offering to take you to get a milkshake. though when you both order and you pay, lottie’s mood shifts entirely. she’s quiet for a minute after sitting down at a booth, “why did you pay?” lottie asks, unable to stop herself from asking. you flash her a look, “cause i wanted to.” you respond simply, and lottie frowns.

you’re about to say something else, but lottie beats you to it. “i was a dick to you.” the jock states in this inscrutable tone, staring at you with those sad brown eyes that always make you weak. you shake your head, about to protest, but lottie continues, “i called you annoying, made fun of you, and if you knew half of the things i said about you—“ you cut lottie off, “i do.” you cut in, “i do know what you said about me. up until we started working together on the project, jackie used to tell me all of the rude things you’d say about me in the locker room…” you start, and lottie clenches her jaw, there’s that self-condemnation again. she’s never been so mean to someone before, and now she’s never regretted anything more.

“… why do you think i practically begged ms. weinstein to switch my partner after i found out it was you?” you ask her pointedly, and she shuts her eyes for a moment. “one peanut butter chocolate milkshake, and one strawberry vanilla milkshake.” the waitress places your milkshakes on the table, before walking off. you look at lottie who still looks like a guilty puppy. you giggle, “lottie, relax. i’m not upset about any of that.” you assure her, and she looks at you with a shocked expression. “you should be!” she declares, and you tilt your head at her, flashing her a soft yet stern look.

“well, i’m not.” you respond, as you take a sip of your milkshake. “if you’re really bothered by me paying, you can pay next time.” you add, flashing her an impish smile. her eyebrows nearly meet her hairline as her eyes widen slightly at the fact that you’re making it clear you want to hang out with her again. “even after the project is over?” she suddenly sounds a bit insecure, and you can’t help but grin. “yes, even after the project is over. as long as that’s okay with you, lot.” you tell her sincerely, and something in her belly flutters.

she can’t stop herself from smiling before she takes a sip of her milkshake. “that’s more than okay with me, y/n.” she admits, a light flush coating her cheeks. you quickly follow suit, your cheeks turning the cutest shake of pink lottie has ever seen. maybe she owes mari a thank you for the milkshake tip, but she won’t give the latina the satisfaction of it.

[tothosewholisten]

Forever Healed | TUA insert

Chapter: 00

next chapter>>

Masterlist

…

On the 12th hour of the first day of October 1989. 43 women around the world gave birth. This was unusual in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began.

Sir Reginald Hargeeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer, resolved to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible.

He got seven of them, yes seven.

..

MARCH 21, 2019

I have to be at least somewhat proud of myself for lasting this long. I thought as I sat on the bus, not everyday you are born with magical powers and are destined to save the world from evil. Yes, hearing myself think that sounds crazy. But that's normal in my life.

I had reached my stop after a half an hour of sitting with my earbuds in, listening to nothing at all. I just wanted to seem unapproachable on the sketchy city bus.

My destination was a terribly designed office building, the space was so crammed and ugly it made me want to turn right back around and get on that bus again. But I didn't because I was trying to convince myself that this would be good for me, but I didn't believe my words.

I was about to have a therapy session with some middle-aged white lady who has glasses and tell her all of my life issues, starting every week at 5pm..

It's not like I had anything else going on, I haven't had work for days now. So I thought I'd give it a shot.

The waiting process made me anxious as hell, I finally got the courage to walk up to the front desk and gave the man who sat there my name. And now I have to wait for this lady to get done with some other patient.

I sat on a chair and frowned, like she is really going to be focused on "my" problems and not the 30 other people she sees today.

I swear it was only a second into me zoning out when I heard my name yelled. "Y/n L/n? It's so nice to meet you!" A woman said, when i looked up at her i saw the exact lady i was describing earlier to the closest details.

I let her lead me to a smaller room that looked way better than the lobby. It had two chairs, a water machine, some fidget items and a large window view of the city. Gloria, I learn to be the name of my therapist, asks me to sit with her.

She clears her throat, "I know this is our first session so you may not be the most comfortable sharing details. But I'd like to know a little bit about you if you're okay sharing."

“Well, I’m 29 years old and a home care nurse.” I say slowly. Hearing the words leave my mouth I knew I haven’t amounted to a lot in my years.

"Oh wow, 29? I would've never guessed that Y/n, you don't look a day over 21" Gloria complimented me i give her a tiny smile in return.

I'm not sure why that is, I get that a lot in my working field. Older women saying that they wished they looked as young as me.

"That's a great start for today's session." She smiles, "A little bit me is, you know my name already but I'm 56 years old since Monday. I have 3 children and a cat named Mr. Furball."

I regret what i said earlier because I think I already like Gloria and not just because of Mr. Furball. But the fact that she has a calming sense about her. I find myself listening to what she's saying, and I rarely do that with people nowadays.

"But I would like to hear more about your upbringing, how’d you become the fine young lady you are today?" She says.

Oh, she wants to hear about my childhood. I mean I knew she would ask but so soon, I'm worried about saying anything. So I told her that.

"I'm worried about opening up to someone about my past cause well I've never done it before." I said.

She hands me a cup of water. "That's okay Y/n, we can take it at your pace."

“I grew up in a small house with my mom and dad until I was twelve. When I was scouted by Reginald Hargreeves because of my unique abilities. And I've been there ever since I was 18 when I moved out to live on my own.” I waited for the burst of confusion I was about to get from Gloria. Not everyday one of the Umbrella Academy walks into your office.

“Oh wow…” she says, eyes wide. “You're one of those superheroes? That’s amazing wow.” She nervously chuckles “I’m sorry I’m normally not this shocked about things, and I hear a lot on the daily.”

“It’s okay” I say, staring at my hands.

She clears her throat. “I'm sure being apart of the Umbrella Academy was big but could you tell me about your life before that?”

I closed my eyes for a couple of seconds, pictured my childhood in my brain and opened my mouth.

"Well, I'm sure to this day my father still thinks that my mother cheated on him, due to his "daughter's" virgin Mary-like creation since they were just newlyweds. He held it against my mother all of her life." I took a sip of water and continued.

"I'm not sure why he turned to alcohol. But that turned out as you could expect. He turned on everyone around him and acted like a beast. He regularly attacked my mom for anything she did wrong. But what made him more angry was that his freak of a daughter could heal her mother, after every beating."

"My mom told me before I left I had made her so much happier and in her words. She didn't even question these strange occurrences; she knew her baby was special." I smiled a bit.

I could tell that Gloria was painting a picture in her head of what I was describing too.

"And by the age of 8, I was standing up to my father, even if it didn't end so well. I'd get the beating instead but by the next day, my bloody body would be as good as new. On the surface at least, I had lots of internal issues from that time. But none of that stopped my father from trying to get equal with me.." I stopped talking after that.

My eyes could only focus on my right hand as it was picking at my left hand's skin. It was a habit I picked up as soon as I started to use my powers because I knew my skin would be right back to normal in the next few minutes.

"That's awful y/n I'm so sorry." She frowned. "Would you be okay with continuing?"

I blink up at her. “Yes, that would be okay,” I said. “Then there was this one day..”

..

17 YEARS AGO

“In five, four, three, two. This is Jim Hellerman, reporting live for channel 2 News outside of the Capital West Bank at Main and Sixth. A group of heavily armed men stormed the bank not three hours ago and took an unknown number of hostages.”

That was the big news update of September 2002, I remember. Well I don’t really have to think about it much because I was there with my mom at the bank. She planned on making some deposit when we were screamed at, not to leave by a man who had his gun pointed at us along with so many other civilians. He taped us up and told us to stand in a corner.

That was the first and only time I feared for my life. Police didn’t want them to start shooting, so they didn’t come into the building. Meaning that we were on our own and could die at anytime

One of the armed men walks into the scene unfolding. Sirens blaring, people getting shoved around and threats being made to the innocent.

“Now you’ve put me in a position where I gotta do something I don't want to do. Hmm?” He said talking to another person on his walkie talkie.

My mom brought me closer to her trying to use her body as a shield if things went south. And to us we thought they were about to be.

But strangely, a girl walked up to the man. She’d looked to be around my age in a school uniform and cartoon mask. Her loose curls bounced in the wind as she skipped up to him.

“Shit!” He screams putting his device down. Not noticing the girl until a few seconds after his outburst. “Hey, get back with the others.” He told her, trying to sound intimidating but she didn’t seem to fear him at all.

“I heard a rumor.” She spoke out.

He bent a little to reach her height and get in her face. “What? What did you say?”

She leaned in and cupped her hand to mimic whispering in his ear but loud enough for all of us to hear. “I heard a rumor that you shot your friend in the foot.”

Without any hesitation he did what she commanded and shot the nearest armed man who happened to be trying to rough up my mom. We screamed as he kept shooting.

“We just heard shots from inside the bank. It’s uncertain if any hostages have been harmed in that.”

“There’s some movement on the roof. Possibly law enforcement.”

A loud crash and a boy landed down from the roof. It was crazy he wasn’t harmed at all from that high distance. He was also wearing the same mask and uniform as the girl but he had blond hair. From where he landed he jumped on one of the robbers and started beating him to a pulp, and then throwing him out a glass window.

“Looks like one of the armed robbers had been thrown from the bank.”

Another boy with brown hair runs in from the opposite doors as the girl and yells. “Guns are for sissies. Real men throw knives.” He then threw one of his knives and it curved in the air hitting a robber no where close to where the knife had originally been heading. It was incredible.

“I've been in many hostage situations like this, and it can escalate very quickly.”

The original man hops on a table pointing his gun out at the two of the before seen children plus another one. “Get back you freaks” he says walking back and forth in fear.

“Hey, be careful up there, buddy.” The knife boy calls out.

“Get back now!” The man screams.

“Yeah, I wouldn't want you to get hurt.” The girls mocking voice says.

Right before my eyes another boy teleports behind the man, sitting criss-cross on the table. “Or what?” He said calmly.

The man turns around and shoots at him but before the bullets could hit he teleports again. This time standing up with his arms crossed, clearly not impressed. But the man tries to shoot again.

“Ooh! That’s one badass stapler!” The boy laughs. The man no longer had a gun anymore but a stapler placed in his hand by the kid instead. The boy shoves the stapler into his face and the big man falls back, head hitting the floor before his body does.

“Although there’s been no activity for a few minutes, we’re gonna stay live on location to make sure we don’t miss a thing. In this hostage situation at the Capital West bank.”

The five already counted for children make way for the last and shortest one to make his move. “Do we really need to do this?” He talks quietly.

The blonde one replies to him. “Come on, Ben. There’s more guys in the vault.” So his name was Ben huh?

Ben sighs, “I didn't sign up for this.” Before walking into the room with more people. Large black tendrils illuminated the room as men screaming could be heard behind the door. And a beast roars but then the sound stops and Ben walks out again, this time covered in blood and guts.

He breathes heavily. “Can we go home now?” I felt bad for him.

The kids untied our hands and told us to run. And once it was clear to go my mom started to run out of the doors thinking I was right behind her.

“Now we see the hostages. They— They’re free. They’re scared clearly but they do seem to be unharmed.”

But I was behind her trying to help this older woman who’d slipped on the floor. As I was helping her, the kids walked out too.

“People are coming out now. It’s not the armed robbers. These are schoolchildren in uniforms with masks on. Jim Hellerman, Channel 2 News.”

But there was one not accounted for robber, the one from earlier who had been shot in the foot. I started to run out and call out to my mom who was outside. When the man got up from the floor, cocked his gun and shot at the kids.

Fortunately, he missed them but the bullet hit me.

Questions being asked to the children stopped when they saw my body flail onto the floor outside of the bank doors. I was shot right in the chest. There was blood everywhere and it started to leak over to where the kids were standing. They turned around to see where it was coming from..

Everyone looked horrified and there was a bunch of screaming. Mainly from my mother who was wailing as she ran over to hold me to her chest screaming for me to wake up. And that will be engraved in my memory forever after this day, I never wanted to hear her like this ever again.

Police started to rush over but in a matter of minutes, a miracle seemed to happen. At least to the city that is. There was a yellowish glow around my chest and the blood seemed to have reversed back into my body. Even the stains on my blue dress were gone. The bullet even spit out of my chest; it was truly witchcraft.

My eyes then shot open as I started to breathe in and out.

I don't exactly remember what I felt during those moments but I'm sure I left those people around me stunned. After all this was their first look at powers.

I couldn't care what the paramedics were talking about above my body. I was focused on the 6 children looking at me bewildered as well as the old-looking man with them and whatever my mom was saying at the time.

I was put on a stretcher and rushed to a hospital for evaluations after the pandemics came but they never found anything. It was like everything was perfectly reattached.

But as I was leaving I could see the news reporters zeroing in on the kids trying to get the details on how these children saved the bank from thievery.

“Our world is changing.” The man spoke to the crowd. “Has changed. There are some among us gifted with abilities far beyond the ordinary.” He said looking back at the children. But they weren’t paying attention, some were staring at my ambulance and some eyes were on the ground.

“I have adopted seven such children. I give you the inaugural class of the Umbrella Academy.”

I now realize thinking back, the seventh person he was talking about was me..

..

PRESENT DAY

My mouth felt like it was moving faster than my brain so I took a pause and chugged the rest of my water cup.

Once again Glorias eyes were wide open. As she took some notes down in a notebook I never noticed beyond this point.

"Uh once I got home I remember the house phone noise filled my house with its nonstop ring, the other person on the phone would change my life forever when he came in.”

“And who was that person?" Gloria asked.

"Reginald Hargeeves, eccentric billionaire and caring father from what the public knew.." I rolled my eyes.

"So I'm guessing it wasn't really like that" she asked carefully.

"He was never a father really, more like a hard state-national basketball coach." She wrote that down.

"I guess it was a hard decision for my parents to make well, my mother. My father was ready to give me up as soon as Reginald stepped foot in my small house."

"And I'm sure they thought there was nothing bad about the offer they were given, he promised I'd be raised in a steady environment with the best schooling and my powers would be used for the greater good. And in exchange, my parents would get a large sum of money for my absence."

"What were you doing during this?" Gloria worried.

"I think I was just sitting right there next to my mom actually. I definitely didn't understand at that point what was happening to me. Still thinking about the events of that day.”

"And then I was being taken out of my only home in the blink of an eye. I resisted the people taking me, starting with screaming and then kicking and then running. Back to my mom's arms, Reginald himself had to pull me away from her. The deal had already been struck and there was no taking me back."

Now looking back at my hands I could only see small teardrops on my palms. Gloria reached for a tissue from the other side of the room. "Thank you," I said as I wiped my eyes.

"I like to think that my mom was upset that day but the memory has already started to fade as I reached adulthood.

You know after that day I was no longer 'Y/n L/n' no, I was known by my new name.. Zero Hargeeves."

..

I decided that was the end of my story, at least for now because I couldn't place the pieces together anymore. I was full-on sobbing at that point.

Gloria decided to bring up something more light to talk about next but I don't remember what it was because I'd zoned out and thought about the cat she'd told me about earlier.

The two hours seemed to fly by because the last thing I heard her say was if I didn't have anything else to talk about then that would be the end of the session. My legs seemed to move on their own as I walked out of that building. I would come back at the same time next week and honestly, I think therapy was for the best. I forgot about how I felt about all these things for the longest time.

I started the journey back to the bus stop, stopping to look in the windows of shops.

Shops like bakeries and bookstores and other things like that. Until I came to a stop in front of a store with a TV sticking out in the window.

My eyes scanned the screen and they went wide. The lady on the news had a somber expression as someone died. I was feeling sad for the person's family, but then I read the red-blaring headline.

The person who died was Reginald Hargeeves...

...

Aug 14 update:

If you'd like to be added to the tag list for rest of the series (starts at chapter 10) say taglist in the comments!

[anotherjheastan]

Another Complicated Love Story

A Jey Uso x Rhea Ripley FanFic

Chapter 2 Part 1 | Masterlist

CW suggestive, fade to black, post coitus, mentions of sex, fluff

Chapter 2: Let it Burn Part 2

And baby, I’m caught in the light and I ain’t gonna fight it

There’s no use in tryin’, I’m yours

And I want you to want me the way that I want you and more

- Let it Burn by Jazmine Sullivan

Rhea and Jey strolled into the restaurant hand in hand. Rhea was surprised by how many heads turned. It seemed to be a mix of fans and folks checking them out. Jey dropped her hand to put his arm around her waist as they headed to the semi-private booths in the back.

Jey made a point to sit by her where he could rest his hand on the thigh where the dress split. He had gotten comfortable doing that on the ride over.

While looking at their menus, Jey was making small circles on her thigh with his finger. She looked at him. His hair in the front was starting to get curly, which meant it was getting long. He would probably get a trim soon. But she liked it curly. She gently touched it, not wanting to mess it up. She remembered Damian’s comment about her and guys with mullets and grinned.

“You’re supposed to be looking at the menu,” Jey said, glancing at her. He smiled.

“Yeah, well someone is drawing circles on my thigh. It’s a little hard to concentrate,” Rhea said. She moved her hand and went back to the menu.

“Sorry,” he said, giving her thigh a squeeze.

“You don’t have to stop,” Rhea said.

They looked at each other, heat passing between them. Rhea bit her lip and went back to her menu. Jey started making circles again.

They ordered appetizers and entrees and stuck with water to drink for now.

“You ready for your fight with Raquel?” Jey asked.

“Yeah that’s easy work,” Rhea said.

“It’s been a while since you had an official match on Raw,” Jey said.

“I haven’t had an official match, but you know I’ve been fighting. It seems like I’ll need to help you when you get back. I still can’t believe it was Drew.”

“Yeah, we can’t really talk about it until Monday though,” Jey said.

“It’s okay. I can drop him for you. Nobody touches Jey Uso.”

Jey laughed. “Thanks, boo.”

The food arrived and they talked about wrestling and holiday plans. They would both be on the holiday tour in a few weeks. They were looking forward to spending time together.

“Wait. With this transfer window, you don’t think you’ll be moved to Smackdown, do you?” Rhea asked.

“Naw, I don’t think so,” Jey said.

“Better not be,” Rhea mumbled, finishing the last of her food.

“What was that?” Jey asked.

Rhea grinned. “Nothing.”

“You said I better not be?”

“So you did hear me?” Rhea said, rolling her eyes.

Jey wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him.

“Naw they know you’ll miss me too much,” Jey said, grinning.

Rhea rolled her eyes, trying not to smile, but failing. “Whatever. You’d miss me too.”

“I would,” he said gently.

He licked his lips and Rhea’s eyes shifted to them. She looked up at his eyes.

The word love slipped into Rhea’s mind, but she didn’t say it. In August, all she could think about was revenge. She had never thought she would be this happy so soon, let alone this happy with someone.

Rhea pushed her rising emotions down before her eyes started to water. She touched his face, glancing between his eyes and lips.

“Why you looking at me like that?” Jey asked, his voice low.

“Like what?” Rhea said, quiet now too.

“Like you wanna get outta here,” he said, looking between her eyes and lips too.

Rhea smirked and kissed him. She was tired of talking. And worried she would say something she shouldn’t. She kissed him deeply, not holding anything back. And he returned the kiss with the same fervor.

They heard the waitress say oh sorry before shuffling away, but didn’t stop. She felt Jey’s hand drift down to the slit in her dress and travel further up her thigh. She felt his thumb searching for a certain spot and grabbed his hand just before he found it. She broke their kiss and they stared at each other breathless.

“Let’s get the check,” Rhea said.

Jey nodded. He sipped his water and stood up to look for the waitress.

*****

Rhea sighed, her dazed eyes coming into focus. She was looking at the ceiling. Jey roughly grabbed her chin and turned it toward him. He kissed her and she moaned. A shiver went through her body. He pulled her toward him and she rested her head on his chest. The sheets were a tangled mess beneath them. The comforter had fallen and disappeared on the floor.

“We shoulda did that ages ago,” Rhea said, rubbing his chest.

“Hell yeah,” Jey sighed.

They caught each other’s eye and grinned.

“It was worth the wait though,” Rhea said.

Jey nodded. He blinked slowly, sleep threatening to take over. As blissed out as Rhea was, she felt a wave of sleepiness wash over her too.

“Is this okay?” Jey asked, giving her a squeeze. “Or do you want some space?”

“No, this is good,” Rhea said, smiling. He had been so good about asking if she liked this or if that felt good. She shook her head. It was too early for flashbacks.

“Good. I know I can be very touchy-feely,” he said. “It can be a lot for some people.”

Rhea stretched her arm out across his chest and snuggled closer to him.

“I like it. I’ll probably stretch out after we fall asleep,” Rhea said, quietly.

He was so warm and he smelled so good. She closed her eyes.

“Sounds good,” Jey said.

Rhea didn’t have to look to know his eyes were closed too. After a while, Rhea felt herself starting to drift off when Jey started snoring. Soft snores fortunately. Nothing too loud. Rhea smiled and looked at him. He looked relaxed, but the arm wrapped around her held her tightly. She touched his face and said her scary thoughts out loud.

“I think I’m falling in love with you, Jey. Don’t ruin it.”

[thepersonnamedsam]

hello I hope you’re doing well 🥰

A very specific scenario I have is coming home to a sleeping Carlos after being away for a few days and he wakes up to the sound of the bedroom door and it’s just very soft warm fluff both are so affectionate and cuddly Carlos is still sleepy and giving each other long hugs and neck kisses as they missed each other, thank you very much just thinking about this helps me sleep at night it would be incredible to read it

the love i feel for you - cs55

pairing: carlos sainz x fem!reader

summary: carlos came home from austria before you, you find him sleeping slightly and enjoy his sleepiness

word count: 1.6k

warnings: tooth rotting fluff

note: thank you so much for your request, one of my absolute favs to this day!! hope you enjoy reading it and you can sleep better at night :)

masterlist / taglist

You were a nurse, working late was your standard. You knew Carlos came home today. You had watched the race on Sunday before you went to work. Happy and sad at the same time. The time penalty didn’t help the case. But you had to focus on work.

You knew he would be home before you. Asking yourself if he‘d stay awake or was already in bed. You car was loud when you parked it. Cursing it, you killed the engine and stepped out onto the parking lot. Feet heavy, they dragged against the concrete. You were tired and just wanted to feel Carlos‘ arms against your body.

He was gone since the last Monday, you haven’t seen him in a week. Your heart clenched for the man. You knew what you were getting yourself into when you started dating Carlos. But you didn’t think it would be this hard.

You tried to be as silent as possible, but the door didn’t play your game. The loud creak made you still your movements.

You knew Carlos was asleep by the dark apartment. Everything seemed lifeless and still. Your heart was beating like crazy in your chest. You just hoped that Carlos didn’t hear the bloody door.

Carlos heard the door squeak. His body stirred and the pillows didn’t seem right anymore. He sat up, rubbing at his eyes and wondered if he’d only imagined the sound, as he didn’t hear anything else.

His feet hit the floor, the cold wooden tiles sent shocks up his legs. He needed a moment to collect himself, before he could trust his body to stand up without falling down again. He was exhausted. The race robbed his last nerve and his body ached.

It took him five steps to grip the door handle and push the door open. Your eyes scanned the room and saw your bedroom door opening. You cursed yourself out - you did wake him. You rushed to take your shoes off and hang your jacket on the wall.

A slouchy Carlos entered the room and his eyes were searching for you. Head heavy and and eyes tired, he saw you standing in the entrance. He sighed, a sigh that signaled you, that he was glad you were finally home. He dragged his body through the corridor, where he finally met you.

Your arms snaked around your body, scratching his naked torso on the way. Your head hit his shoulders and he felt your breath on his collarbone, tickling it. His chin found its way to your shoulder and laid there. His scruff grazing your cheek.

You felt him tightening his grip on you and pulling you closer to him. You held him close, until your heartbeats raced in sync. Both hearts on P1.

You wanted to say something, even opened your mouth, but closed it again; you didn’t want to ruin the moment. You guided him towards the bedroom, you were so tired. He followed you, hand in hand.

You felt him lift your arm, warm and dry lips mer your hand. One, two, three, ten kisses were placed on your soft skin. His eyes closed, he felt the goosebumps on your skin. You shuddered.

You turned around and embraced the love of your life. His warm body pressed against yours. His hand stroking up and down your back. You sighed. Suddenly your clothes felt too much and you had to take them off. He helped you out of your pants and your shirt.

Underwear long gone you grabbed under your pillow to find your night gown - an old shirt of Carlos. It felt cool against your skin and Carlos‘ look made you shudder even more. You sat down on your side of the bed and Carlos scooted over towards you. His hands laid on your shoulders, massaging them lightly. No words were spoken, but you didn’t have to, you understood each other perfectly without them.

You took a deep breath, the tension leaving your body with every touch of your man. He came closer, his torso now against your backside. Hardness reached softness. He slowly guided you to lay down. Your back now against his chest. His hands on your hair, grabbing and twisting at loose strands. Your hands roamed his thighs up and down. Nails scratching the surface, you felt his hair standing.

Both of your eyes were closed, content with the contact. You missed him dearly. You had to look at him. You turned around to take a good glance at the Spaniard. His face relaxed, no trace of worry in sight. His long eyelashes covering his closed eyes. His nose only barley moving with his every breath - you wouldn’t notice it if you weren’t staring. His big and kissable lips just looking at you. You pressed your lips together. Putting your hands down onto the mattress, you lifted yourself up, just so much you could reach his face with your face.

He didn’t open his eyes, but his mouth ever so lightly twitched. He knew what you were going to do. You blew onto his face, something he didn’t expect - his face scrunched up and opened one eye. Your amused face greeted his sight. He loved your smile, even though you only smiled at him, because you were teasing him. He didn’t care.

You leaned your face closer to his, until your lips met. Slow and soft. The kiss was dry and warm. It felt almost too dry. Slowly you let your tongue swipe over his lower lip. He smiled and let you pass. The kiss turned into a slow burn make out session. Passionate and loving. Tongues touching and lips parting.

Your hands were placed on the side of his face, your whole body weight put on his - he didn’t mind. His hands were on your back, stroking up and down. You had to part some time, gasping for air he only smiled at you. He could still make you breathless - after all these years.

You weren’t laying in bed right, heads on the side, rather than on top. Your pillows were to your left. Carlos rearranged you two until you laid in bed like normal people. Your hand searched for his, when you found it he immediately took it into his big and calloused hand. It felt right, like your hands were made for each other.

You turned your body towards him, pecking his lips softly. But for him, it wasn’t enough. It began to get hot, his body heat and yours mixing together and creating a hotness you never experienced before. It felt like your body was on fire - but it felt good. His lips met your again for the fourth time that evening. Not dry anymore, but wet with your own salvia. It was more a smooch than a kiss. The plopping sound loud in the quiet and dark room. Your right hand on his bare waist, the left still in his.

You knew he was ticklish, that’s why you tried to be as soft and light as possible. You embraced him, your nails leaving half lion imprints on his skin at one point. You kissed his shoulder, moving up to his neck. You felt his stubble against your lips. It felt like some sort of massage. His breath hitched as you reached his most sensitive part. Sucking on it he almost moaned. You felt his hot breath on your neck. Soon it was replaced with his hot kisses. He did the same to you - he found your sensitive spot and started sucking.

You were sure you needed quite some make up to cover it up tomorrow. But at that moment, life was good and you didn’t think about anything after right this second. His tongue met your hot skin, it almost made a sizzling sound, so hot was your neck. He licked a stripe up to your ear, took your earlobe between his teeth and pulled on it.

You smiled. It was your favourite thing - laying in bed with Carlos and feeling him everywhere. Suddenly he turned on his back, took you with him. This position was familiar, the same you had earlier. Your head on his hairy chest, you felt him kiss your head multiple times. You closed your eyes again, ready to sleep.

It didn’t take long for you to fall asleep and Carlos enjoyed just holding you and looking at you - all relaxed and safe and sound.

Bonus scene:

The next morning Carlos was up early. When you woke up you tried to feel for his body but only met an empty and cool bed side. But you did smell coffee. Your feet hit the ground and carried you to the kitchen. Two mugs with steaming coffee stood on the table. Next to it a little note.

Will be back soon, love you xx

As soon as you read it, the front door opened and the smell of fresh croissants filled your nose. You heard his shoes hit the floor and the keys dangle from the keyhole. When he entered the kitchen he smiled at you. His head leaned down and reached your lips. They tasted like mint, that means he already brushed his teeth. You kissed him back with poor mouth breath. He didn’t care.

You two sat down and had breakfast. It was lovely and as you got up to bring the dishes into the kitchen and clean the table, he grabbed your arm and pulled you into his lap. His face buried deep into your hole between your neck and shoulders. His nose nuzzled against the bare skins showing. You closed your eyes and tried to savour this moment, tried to save it and put it into your brain, so you’d never forget it.

°°°

taglist: @ironmaiden1313 , @topguncultleader , @biglittlesecret , @gulabjamooon , @lovelyy-moonlight , @peachyplumsss , @mistrose23 , @copper-boom , @love4lando , @champomiel , @serenityleah , @iloveyou3000morgan , @angelwithoutmywings , @elleeeee21 , @youkissedareaderinthedark , @mikauraur , @thybulleric , @lpab , @fdl305 , @mellowarcadefun

[milfjuulpod]

Seeing You

request: yes

r losses their glasses (or maybe someone takes them) during first period. you kinda need them to see and without them you struggle (can’t find way around school, headache from straining eyes etc) mel goes into her usual protective mel mode

A/N: hellooo back again, sorry i haven’t written in a while and if melissa is OOC i apologize for that as well 😭 trying to get back in the swing of things. thank u sm anon for sending this in! mwah

The morning was off to a good start. Coffee was delicious, you arrived with enough time to prepare for the students, a decent Monday morning. With the ring of the bell, you walked to your door and greeted each and every student that came in. Across the hall, you saw Melissa. She looked up at you at the same time, and the two of you shared a smile. Melissa had a special place in your heart, and you had made a place in hers. 

       Once everyone had filed in, you returned to your classroom. “Good morning my angels, are we excited to start the day?” You asked the group. In response there was a mix of ‘yes’s’ and cheers from the kids, you always tried to get them excited at the beginning of the day. Better to be off to a good start, you always thought. Grabbing a stack of papers from your desk, you went to pass them out. “My shoe is untied!” One of your students shouted from the other side. “Well why don’t I help you tie it? I’ll show you, it’s easy.” You bent down and showed your student how to tie a knot, and then undid it for him to try on his own. When he succeeded, you gave him a high five and went to stand back up. Unfortunately, you hit your head on the desk, causing your glasses to fall off and give you a painful headache. Thanks to the swinging feet of many, many kids, your glasses were nowhere to be found. 

       Shit. You couldn’t see all too well without them, and the spare pair you kept at work was actually at Melissa’s house from a few nights before. With the lack of direction, your classroom began to get rowdy and it was time to prioritize. Get through this period, and then look for them. That turned into second period, and third, and then it was lunch time. When the bell rang, you led your students to the cafeteria, holding hands with the line leader. Definitely for their sake, not because you couldn’t see and had no idea where you were going. All of the kids shuffled in, excited to get some food in their bellies, and you were left alone to find your way back. Taking a few steps, you squinted and looked around for anything that might help. 

      “Hon?” A familiar, sweet voice was heard from behind you. Whipping around, all you could see was black clothes and red hair, enough to know it was Melissa. “You get lost or somethin?” She asked, taking your hand in hers. “Actually, yeah. I lost my glasses this morning and to be quite honest, I have no idea where I’m standing right now,” You joked with your girlfriend, but she felt you squeeze her hand tighter. “Well c’mon sweetheart, let’s go find them.” Melissa led you back to your classroom, never letting go of your hand. It made you nervous, being at school and showing affection. Only a select few at Abbott were aware of the blooming relationship, but that seemed to be the last thing on the redhead’s mind as she swung your hands together and rubbed her thumb across your skin. 

       Back to your room, Melissa let you unlock the door, and immediately started looking for them. “Where did you lose them?” She asked, scanning the room. “I was helping a student at that desk,” you pointed to where you hit your head earlier. Remembering the incident reminded you of the throbbing pain, and you rubbed the back of your head trying to soothe it. Of course, Melissa noticed. She noticed everything you did. Instead of looking, the other teacher walked over to you and lightly pushed on your shoulder to get you to sit at your own desk. She took your chin in her hand and gently stroked your cheek with her thumb. “Baby did you hit your head? Or are you squinting too much?” She asked quietly. “What gave it away?” You asked shyly, embarrassed at how quickly this snowballed. 

      “You winced when the bell rang, you rubbed your head when you talked about the desk, it’s not rocket science hon,” She teased. Before you could answer, she opened up one of your desk drawers and pulled out some pain reliever for you. You silently wondered how she knew you kept it there. She passed you her drink as well, and motioned for you to take it. “Good, you have to take care of yourself, even when you’re at work.” Melissa reminded you. She went back to the desk you had pointed to, and began searching. 

       “I don’t know what happened, they fell off and then they disappeared like the floor ate them.” You told her. You squinted to try and see what she was doing, but Melissa quickly told you to knock it off before you made the headache worse. After a few minutes, she returned to your side. “I think I know what happened,” Melissa said, and set down a pair of broken glasses in front of you, complete with a shoe print on the lenses. She leaned down to kiss your forehead and started stroking your hair. 

      “I’ll run home and get your extra pair for you, and have Jacob grab the kids. Can I trust you to stay here and not blindly injure yourself again?” She teased. When you nodded, she gave you another kiss and left to get your things. The peaceful silence didn’t last long, after a few minutes your door was open again and your students, as well as Jacob, came running in. “Here they are! Sorry we’re a bit late, I had to get Melissa’s kids too.” He said, skipping up to your desk. “Thank you, I owe ya one,” you said to him. 

       “I think you owe Melissa one. You’re lucky she’s so kind and attentive to you. I’ve only known her for a few years but I've never seen her so happy with someone before,” Jacob said honestly. His words sank in, he knew. As if he could read your mind, he started talking again. “I won’t say anything, but I doubt it’ll be a secret for long. Schemmenti is only this soft for you,” With that Jacob left, leaving you with pink cheeks at the realization of just how sweet and caring Melissa was with you. Every time you entered the room, her tough exterior melted away, and only for you. 

      You settled your students back into their seats, having them come meet you at your desk if they needed anything. Before long, your door was open again, and there she was. Melissa waved to your students as she was greeted with tiny “Hello Ms. Schemmenti!’s” 

       Coming to you, she set your extra pair of glasses down in front of you and leaned against the edge of your desk. “Here honey, is your head feeling better?” She asked. Although you couldn’t see, you knew her face was full of concern. “Yeah, a lot better.” You put your glasses back on and let your vision adjust for a moment. “Thank you, Mel. For helping and taking care of me.” You gently wrapped your pinky around hers, but she wanted more, and held your hand behind the desk up against her leg. “I’ll always take care of you,” Melissa smiled. You sat there for a moment, taking in all of her beauty. It was a simple thing really, but you felt so special today because of her. 

      “What? I got somethin’ on my face?” She asked. You giggled at her and shook your head. “No, no. I just haven’t seen you today and I missed it.” You answered and flicked your glasses for emphasis. When the two of you heard little voices whispering you were reminded that you were at work, and the tooth-rotting romance would have to wait until you were back home. 

[sebsxphia]

hey Seb!

i was wondering if you were taking requests, i was thinking Rhett and little reader, where little reader gets really sick from a bug at work, comes home all in little space, all groggy and cranky and Rhett takes care of them?

-Flames x

￫ authors notes: after not writing anything in so long, this definitely got me out of the block for a little bit 🥹 this was absolutely how i felt the other week when i was sick! i hope you enjoy <3

￫ warnings: age regression, feeling unwell and fluff, fluff, fluff.

rhett called you from your ranch as you were driving home. he knew the exact time that you would be on the road back home and he also had an inkling that you weren’t feeling well.

you woke up with a minor complaint about your head throbbing and your muscles aching. you put it down to the yard work you’d done the day before, on sunday.

your text messages to rhett throughout the day were slower than normal and barely contained any words at all.

“you okay, lil’ darlin’?”

rhett’s voice was a warm relief to your ears, as it thrummed through the trucks speakers.

“m’ sorry i haven’t properly messaged you today, baby. my eyes have been hurtin’. i could barely look at the screen.”

he chuckled softly on the other end of the phone and disregarded your need to apologize.

“i don’t think y’ feelin’ too well, are you? you said this mornin’ and y’ were heatin’ up in a pool of sweat in bed last night.”

you winced in the truck from annoyance at rhett’s undeniable fact that you were ill. it was only monday. you were adamant to avoid this and you were fighting the little itch in your head.

“nah, i think i was heatin’ up because of you, cowboy.”

rhett laughed again on the other end of the phone and you could hear him shaking his head.

“come home, let me take care of you. please, lil’ darlin’.”

you felt your bottom lip begin to wobble at his sweet name for you. you chewed at your bottom lip to avoid the murmur and didn’t say a word.

“baby? you okay?”

concern laced his voice.

“m’ just so tired, daddy.” you groaned in defeat.

the name for rhett and the tone in your voice made him switch up his posture, his voice, his own mindset, in an instant. he knew what you needed.

“i know, lil’ one. i know. how far away are you now, hm? y’ can’t be far. keep drivin’ lil’ one and daddy will be here when y’ get home. i promise, bambi.”

he stayed on the phone with you for the next ten minutes and guided you home safely. he was frighteningly aware that driving in your current headspace could pose as a danger. he himself was on edge, with his knee bouncing vigorously, until he heard his sweetheart pull into the drive way.

the gravel crunched under rhett’s heavy boots as he paced towards the passenger door of your truck. he saw your tender face wince in pain as he opened the door for you. your eyes were already watering and a look of desperation was etched over your features.

“oh, my little one. c’ere.” his strong and comforting arms reached out to haul you out of the truck and into his warm hold. he made a mental note to grab your belongings later when you were settled.

he gently helped you shed your clothes from the day and dress you in a larger t-shirt of his. when being this little, you would opt for one of your little rompers decorated in illustrations of cowboys, but your sticky and warm body couldn’t handle something so restrictive.

you continually let out small, cranky groans in discomfort. occasionally you babbled and grumbled about how much you ached, or how hard your head was throbbing. rhett consoled each of your protests with a reassuring kiss to your warm forehead and a gentle hum of words.

“i know, bambi. i know. daddy’s here now. gonna get y’ comfortable, get y’ somethin’ to eat and drink, ‘n daddy will cuddle ‘n smother you, all night.”

he clipped on your pacifier clip to his t-shirt and slipped it between your lips, before giving you a fleeting kiss to your nose. a small smile cracked at the corners of your lips, before returning to a frown of discomfort.

“hurt, dada.”

you pointed at your forehead and he pressed the back of his hand to your burning flesh.

“you’re burin’ up, bambi. like a lil’ firefly. y’ know what fireflies need?”

you frowned again and shook your head with a small pout.

“a lil’ bit of milk in y’ favourite bottle, light from the television ‘nd a cuddle from daddy! you’ll feel better in no time, bambi.”

rhett put on his most enthusiastic voice to try and convey that his little one would be okay and that they wouldn’t hurt for much longer. his heart ached to see you in so much pain.

rhett knew that the next two days would be the worst for you. but as always, he kept his promise until his little bambi was giggling and squealing constantly at his light tickles.

[littlenahsstuff]

When will my life begin- Pt2

Chloe Charming x Red x F!reader

Synopsis: you are adjusting to school life with your favorite roomies and unknown feelings quickly pop up. Castlecoming is around the corner and you aren’t sure what’s happening with it.

Warnings: still a little angst but really cute. Not proofread. I think that’s it. We’re learning guys!

Word count: 3.4k

Pt 1.

“Y/n please, sit down, dinner will be brought shortly,” Rapunzel-you mean, your Mom says. She glances at your fingers nervously tapping the chair.

“Yes, of course.” You sit down at the long table. At least two feet to your left sits your new brother. He’s pretty young still. Your parents told you he was ten but he was decently tall for his age.

“Hey Y/n, I know you are still adjusting like mom says but do you think you could come to my tourney game tomorrow?” He exclaims. Your mom looks nervous at the mention but quickly smiles. You are too. Your younger brother William is surprisingly very sweet already.

When you first met he seemed impartial to you but quickly found out your shared love for birds. It was one of the only books you had. You have no idea what tourney is though.

“I would like that very much,” you respond. He grins but doesn’t say anything else as the best looking meal you’ve ever seen comes out.

You wait before taking anything, trying to gauge what is an acceptable portion. Even then you avoid the deserts. Once you got a cupcake for successfully getting your powers to work. You had only a bite before it was snatched out of your hands when you failed but it was the best thing you’ve ever eaten until now.

During dinner it was nearly quiet save for the occasional question about you.

“Y/n, what do you enjoy doing?” Your Father asked.

“Uh… I like reading and drawing. I’ve always wanted to work with paint but um…. she said it was too messy,” you swallowed the lump in your throat. Your mother gave you a bittersweet look before an idea popped into her head.

“I too like those things, in fact painting is my favorite hobby. We should try it together sometime!” She suggests it and you think you’re life couldn’t get any bet-

“Your majesty, I apologize for the interruption but I have two letters. Both are for Princess Y/n, one from Auredon Prep,” some footmen says.

“Very well,” the queen says. He walks over and hands you the two letters. Your father raises an eyebrow.

You open it and read,

“Dear Princess Y/n,

Auredon prep must notify you that, due to extremely limited space, you must either start your school year this following Monday or be forced to stay behind.

We understand your particular circumstances and will offer free tutoring, exemption for all assignments during the two weeks you have missed, as well as counseling. We hope we see you early.

In addition to the limited space you will end up rooming with two students who have requested you. Red of Hearts and Chloe Charming.

Thank you,

Auredon Prep Staff.”

“Oh dear,” your mother says. “It’s up to you sweetie.”

You think about it, while you’ve had zero to none experience with the real world the offer of school and rooming with your two saviors is tempting. You don’t know what to do.

“If it’s alright I think I need the night to think on it?” You ask.

“Of course,” your Dad responds immediately.

Your mother nods too.

****

You get to your room, a stunning and very spacious purple room, and flop on your bed with the other letter in your hand. There is no address or name besides your name.

You tear it open.

“Hi Y/n, Sup,

We wanted to write to see how things are going. OH it’s Chloe, and Red!

We hope it’s okay but we heard you might be coming to Auredon prep and wanted to see if we could room with you.

You haven’t missed too much here. The classes are wonderfully boring. Not all of them! And if you are worried I can totally help you out.

This school is actually interesting on occasion, apparently they brought back some elective magic classes to “better teach the students control and the dangers of it all” but sometimes it kicks. I managed to make the teacher breakdance. It was cool.

That and the food here is not bad.

Anyways we respect your decision very much, but we would totally want you to be our roomie. Yup!

Chloe, and Red.”

The letter makes you giggle and your feet are kicking in the air weirdly. It seems like you’re excited about it now. It’s decided, you’ll go.

***

It’s your first day at Auredon. You were amazed by how magical everything looked. Your suitcase was heavy from your books but you lugged it in fairly easily, the stairs were a bit much.

When you opened the door Chloe immediately jumped up and squealed.

“Y/n you’re here! Come in, come in!” She drags you to what you presume will be your bed and sets the suitcase next to it.

“Good to see you,” Red softly smiles and sits on her bed across from yours.

“I’m glad I’m rooming with you too, thank you!” You reply cheerfully.

“Oh it’s no problem, we did promise we’d be there for you and besides I get how hard this whole, new world thing, can be. We got your backs Y/n” Red says. Her sincerity makes you blush a bit internally.

“Yes, and if it makes you feel better, we all are still new to the school. I’m sure barely anyone will notice you” Chloe adds.

***

She was in fact very wrong.

School was hard; as expected when you don’t know anything, but what was harder was the rumors that got worse by the day. You were this celebrated princess when you were missing apparently. You had a festival that took place on your birthday and everything! But when you turned out to be not that smart and without anything that set you apart in a good way, you were talked about a lot. Loudly too. It’s not even that you’re an idiot, you just legitimately do not know basic algebra or history.

Today was bad. The daughter of Mirabel Madrigal was a massive gossip and she did not inherent her quiet aunts nature. She saw you get an D minus on your first test and was in your history class when you were called upon and completely forgot the name of the school. Mariposa wasn’t a complete jerk about it, in fact the worst part was you can’t get too mad because she sounded worried when she told the entire school.

Chloe was the first to find out, Red didn’t have too many other friends unlike Chloe who was the best in Fencing club. Chloe didn’t exactly know what to do but it’s now she realized she should make good on her promise and help you out. Red was supposed to get help from her too. She felt a little ashamed. So she decided to remedy it the next night.

“Hey Red, Y/n?” You were so lost in the equation muttering to yourself about the different variables and how the heck some pig would need 18 pieces of coal per day for a random project.

“Uh… Y/n?” Red asks too, she gave up on the same problem a minute ago and was doing all the easier ones first. You now look up at them.

“Oh, did you say something? I’m sorry it’s just, I’m having a bit difficultly with some of the language here. What even is a square root? Pigs are mammals not plants and if I remember correctly, neither is this coal stuff!” You groan, flopping back onto your back.

“Want a little help guys? That problem does look difficult but I am fairly confident I can explain it better than the two year one math teachers. They aren’t very thorough. Don’t feel bad.” Chloe’s offer has you sitting up again and Red flips back to the question.

“Yes please,” you whisper, grateful Chloe is able and willing to help.

“And for the record….” She starts, “failing a test does not mean you’re dumb. Bookish intelligence is only one trait amongst thousands that can make a person good.” Now you know she knows which embarrasses you, but does Red? There’s no way she doesn’t.

“You’ll find what makes you tick tock tick,” red adds. She definitely knows too. “For me it was dance and art.” You sigh.

“Thanks, a lot truly. Anyways, please oh wise Chloe show me your brainy ways.” You say, causing all of you to giggle.

“Wish pleasure!” You weren’t perfect still but at least by the end of the night you found out what a square root was and even worked through the hardest problem. The teachers at the school are actually really bad because, while it wasn’t immediate, you could understand what Chloe was explaining. Red could too!

***

You start feeling like a third wheel by fifth week. You couldn’t understand the burning ache came from everytime they talked about castle coming. They were secretive beyond belief about it. They talked about it incessantly but you only caught bits and pieces. You yearned to know why they weren’t excited outwardly while talking about it. You couldn’t tell why it hurt so much and you felt bad about it. Whatever it was didn’t seem so healthy and you hadn’t felt like it since your time locked up.

You often shamefully stared at them while they were interacting. It was interesting to see such affection and how they felt a little more comfortable with you being there.

At the moment you were listening to them talk about dresses for castlecoming. Over the few weeks that and dance proposals was all anyone could talk about. You were told everyone could go but you didn’t want to be alone. You also didn’t want to ask to get a fancy dress. Your parents paying for your school supplies alone felt like a massive gift.

You didn’t want to see them have fun without you and it made you feel guilty as heck.

You stayed awake the majority of the fifth night from castlecoming. The next morning you looked like a zombie. Chloe had to go into practice early but when you awoke with a groan before realizing you had roommates again, Red looked at you funny.

“Y/n you don’t sound so good, and pardon me if it’s blunt but you look dead. Are you okay?” Red comes over to you. You sit up.

“Oh yeah I’m fine, it was just a weird night. Anyways um, so. Can you tell me more about your hobby’s? Chloe told me all about hers and it sounded cool but not something I would enjoy. Other than her gardening club. I might join that one.” You rub your eyes and yawn. Red sits on the edge of your bed.

“Of course. I like to work with spray paint the most, but it typically requires more room so I stick with regular paint nowadays. There’s actually an art club here, I joined it. The people there are pretty quiet and it’s relaxing. But when we show each other our work everyone is really supportive. The club ranges from people who don’t have any experience to those who are really good. I like to think I’m on that side.” She says wiggling her brows. You smile, it sounds like it’s right up your alley.

You shuffle a little. “Could I maybe join you sometime? I don’t want to intrude, but I do love art,” you admit. She nods enthusiastically.

“Yes! That would be so fun! I got to admit I was feeling a little jealous over you and Chloe spending some time together at a club. I wanna hang with you too!” She says but you’re confused again.

“If this sounds stupid, forget about it. What… what is jealousy?” You softly ask. She looks a little surprised but not completely aghast.

“Oh uh… it’s like an icky feeling within your soul. Like you want something and because others have it you get a little sad? Chloe could probs tell you better than me. Jealousy is normal but in some cases it could complicate things and if you let it get the best of you it could hurt your relationships. But again, it’s completely normal!” She finishes, sure of her explanation. It made her feel good that she could answer one of your questions and not just Chloe for once. You kinda are frozen now.

“Oh, I get it now. Thank you,” You say. Red doesn’t want to make you feel stupid and you already look uncomfortable, so she decides to drop it. Something she later realizes, she shouldn’t have done.

***

The weekend finally came and your roommates worried about something. What you didn’t know was they wanted to ask you to go with them to the dance. As far as you were concerned, however, couples went only with each other. You were avoiding them and the dance was this Sunday. Friday night they had to ask you to give you enough time.

Despite everything that happened during the original castle-coming at Merlin Academy, Auredon Prep would be much better. They knew that. They were still nervous about it and could tell you wanted to know why they were talking about it so quiet but they couldn’t tell you what happened yet. They also couldn’t agree on how to ask you to go. There was no time now, they needed to just get it over with and ask you to not only go to the dance as friends but as their third.

It was wild for both when they figured out they both liked you a lot. They think you are sweet, kind, funny, and the hardest worker they’ve ever seen. Your refreshing take on life reminded them of young Bridget and Ella at the same time and while they didn’t want to think how weird it sounded, they loved those traits.

After you got back to the room, as soon as curfew hit they were a little worried. As far as they know you only did two clubs and had two besties so far. You walked into the room and saw them staring at you.

“Hi guys!” You switch up. You know they know you’ve been avoiding them at this point. It will be okay because everything will go back to normal after the dance…. You hope.

“Hi Y/n” they both say In sync. You smile but it’s whiped away after Chloe says,

“Could you sit down for a sec? It’s nothing bad, we just wanna ask you a few questions.” You tense a little but comply.

“Are you going to the dance?” Red starts off. You shake your head no. Both Chloe and her look at each other with slight frowns.

“Why?” Chloe questions. You fiddle with your hands.

“Well, aren’t you not supposed to go if you don’t have anyone ask you or friends that aren’t going single. Nobody told me the rules but so far that’s what I’ve observed. And also, I don’t have anything fancy to wear. I don’t want to ask the king and- I mean my parents. I don’t know, I’ll go if you want me there but just… I don’t want to be left alone.” You admit and their eyes widen.

“No we really do want you there and you can go or not, any student can go. About the dress thing, Chloe has hers but I’m an insane last minute shopper. We were gonna pick it up tomorrow. You can pick yours out too!” Red says frantically.

“Yeah and you haven’t been here all day but your parents sent you an envelope with what seems like a pretty fat stack of cash in it and a letter. I’m assuming that it’s for the dress anyways.” Chloe adds, you are a little shocked. You are so close to saying you’ll go but then they grab each others hands and your heart drops.

The real reason you’ve been avoiding them was so you don’t show them you’re jealous of the both of them. You don’t know why but you assume it means wanting both of them. Why you have no idea. They’re awesome but it’s not like you know what love is when it comes to you experiencing it.

“Hey, what’s wrong? You zoned out a little, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to that bad.” Chloe offers.

“I don’t want to lose you,” you start sobbing and both of them look very confused from what little you can see through your bleary eyes.

“Hey, hey you aren’t what’s wrong?” Chloe rubs your shoulder. You sniffle. Red looks a little frozen now. Unsure of what to do with herself.

“I think I’m jealous but I don’t know why and I really don’t want to lose you. I’m sorry for avoiding you but I didn’t want you to know about it and now you know anyways! I don’t even know what I’m feeling but I really like you both and-“ Chloe comes over to you and kisses you on the cheek. You freeze. Thinking that Red was gonna get really angry. Chloe kissed you to make you feel better and now it’s such a mess and it’s all your fault.

“Shh, Y/n. Deep breaths. We aren’t going to leave you, we like you way too much!” Chloe soothes.

“The both of us do.” Red adds with a nod and she leans closer to you.

“I do have to apologize though, I may have been a little hard when explaining jealousy to you. It’s not that big of a deal unless you were screaming angry about us and sometimes it can be justified.” She pauses, your sniffling has lessened. “I am gonna try to be more careful when I say this but… I think you like-like us Y/n. And thats okay! I mean it’s like really obvious but we understand you don’t even know the signs yourself. I get it’s a lot, I had to have this conversation with Chloe around a month ago myself. But Chloe and I have talked and-“

Chloe interrupts Red, “We like you too. So much! We can take things slow but tonight we were gonna ask if you wanted to be our date to castle-coming romantically. Do you?” Everyone is frozen now with bated breath. Your brain is on overload now and even though this is everything you could have wanted it’s so much.

Red tries to break the tension, “No presh.”

It snaps you out of it.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes! I would love to!” You cheer and hug Chloe tightly before jumping up and hugging Red. She flinched but seems to melt right into it before you notice.

“Wait…” you stop, “does this… how does this work am I like your girlfriend or is this just me hanging with you more than platonically or- do we kiss for real? Do three person couples exist. I’ve heard of the seven dwarves but that’s it…” you trail and they giggle.

“It means that yes we kiss, and yes you are our girlfriends if you want to be” Chloe answers.

“And don’t worry they exist, especially in Wonderland!” Red says. “Maddox my old tutor was once in one.”

“Oh, girlfriend. I really really like the sound of that.” You say it softly as if it’s a promise. You’re stomach is replaced with fluttery sensations and instead of your heart hurting it feels as if it would burst into giggles.

“Can we maybe, kiss you?” Red asks, face flushed. Chloe nods too.

“Please-“ you make out before reds soft plump lips are on yours and it’s the best sensation ever. It’s hard and impactful. It gets replaced by an equally as awesome feeling when Chloe kisses you, it’s still strong but soft too in a way that tickles. They kiss each other and it’s not long before you are all covered in Red’s signature lip color. You giggle.

“So this is love,” you say dazed and they both burst into full on cackles. “Wait- what did I say?” They both just kiss you on the cheek and continue making out until you somehow manage to fall asleep all in your bed. Thankfully it’s fit for royalty. You are left excited for whats to come, especially getting to dance with your new girlfriends.

[runningincircl3s]

Nothing Ever After

Noah Sebastian x Reader x Vinny Mauro

Chapter Eighteen

chapter warnings: none?

masterlist

happy monday bffs!! editing and posting this rn with vin's drum stream in the background :) i've written up to chapter 24 now so i'm thinking about posting another chapter on friday again! i'm getting closer and closer to the end of this fic which i’m pretty sad about HOWEVER i’ve started to plan what’s going to come next🤭

Hey, I’m sorry for how I acted towards you today, I just didn't want Rick finding out. I hope I haven’t… Unlock to view more. 

Noah scrunched his face up as he read the message over again, wondering what on earth that could’ve been about. However, he knew better than to intervene in your life where it’s not needed, so he put your phone back down and let himself out of your room. As he was about to leave, your phone buzzed again, but he fought against what his mind was telling him and left before he did something he may regret.

He would be lying if he said he didn't think about unlocking your phone and seeing what that was all about, and what Ricky could've possibly found out about. Maybe five years ago that would've been the sort of thing he'd do, but not anymore. He put his trust in you, and let it go.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

You were rudely awoken the next morning to the sound of knocking at your door. Struggling to open your eyes, you kicked the sheets off with a groan and rushed to answer the door.

"What do you want?" You mumbled, still half asleep as you rubbed your eyes.

“Good morning to you too!” Bryan laughed, handing you a small brown paper bag, “I thought I’d bring you some breakfast and check in on you after last night...” 

“I can’t even remember half of last night,” with a yawn, you stepped to the side to let him in, “I didn’t do anything embarrassing did I? The last thing I want to do is ruin your guys' cool and mysterious reputation.”

“Our reputation's untouched but yours...” he smirked, “Noah had to drag you out when you started to sing just pretend.”

“Oh shit,” you laughed, “I better apologise to him later. What time do we need to be on the bus?”

“About nine, we still have an hour before we've got to be on the road.” 

“Okay cool.” You said, sitting back down on your bed.

There was a brief silence before Bryan spoke again, his tone shifting slightly.

“So… I wanted to check up on you, not just after last night but in general,” he said, his eyes softening. “We’re halfway through the tour now, and I haven’t really asked you how you’re doing. You holding up okay?”

You smiled at him.

“Yeah... I think I’m doing alright. I've had my ups and downs and sometimes I still think this is all a dream, but yeah... Overall, I'm good.” You nodded.

“Well I’m glad to hear that,” he says, “Oh and before I forget, Chris has asked if you can fill in for them again tonight. I’ve heard their photographer keeps having issues with the travel side of things and he keeps missing dates.”

“Yeah... That's cool.” 

“You don’t sound too excited about that,” he chuckles, “Are you sure everything's okay?”

“Yeah,” you smiled weakly, “I think I’m just tired… and hungry.” 

“Well, I’ve got you a bagel,” Bryan said, gesturing to the brown paper bag. “Anyway I can't stay for too long, I need to find Matt, but I’ll catch up with you again later.”

“That's okay. Thank you, Bry.” You said, giving him a genuine smile as he left your room. 

As you began to eat, you reached for your phone, feeling slightly surprised when you saw you had a couple texts from Vinny.

 Hey look I’m sorry for how I acted towards you today, I just didn't want Rick finding out. I hope I haven’t upset you

But I've been thinking a lot about us and I really think we could make something work if you’re happy to. I'm gonna be totally honest, I can’t ignore the way I feel about you anymore y/n, and I know even if you won’t admit it that you feel the same. We should probably talk about this in person tomorrow, but until then I hope you’re okay. Good night x

You read the text over again, slightly taken back at the confession, before replying

Morning :) You didn’t upset me, I guess I was just surprised at how you reacted. But I’m happy to talk later if you are.

Btw I’m with you guys tonight so I might see if I can sneak on your bus with you this morning x

It didn’t take long for him to reply, you barely had a chance to take another bite of your bagel before you had a message back.

Wow I don’t even remember texting you last night lmao

You better hurry your ass up then, we’re leaving in about 10 minutes. I’ll come by your room and get you :) x

You cursed, nearly tripping over your own feet as you scrambled to pack your suitcase, brush your teeth, and fix your hair, your bagel long forgotten. Before you could even get dressed for the day, there was a knock on your door.

“Do I have time to get changed?” You asked, opening the door to find Ricky and Vinny standing there.

“All the guys are already down there... can you do that on the bus?” Rick asked, pressing buttons on his camera before holding it up to face him.

“I guess.” You sighed, slipping your shoes on and grabbing your bag and suitcase.

“Good morning guys... It's out first night on tour after our week off, we just came to get y/n,” Rick says as you shut the door behind you and wave to the camera, “We’re about to go and check out of the hotel, I’ll see you when we’re on the bus!”

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

“Update, I’m tired! This tour never seems to be ending,” Justin groaned, pointing at the camera, ignoring Ryan as he reminds him everybody's just taken a week off, “Uh.. We’re on our way to tonight's venue- And hey, look, y/n’s with us today! Rick has an extra person to annoy… So he can leave me alone now! Please! Thank you!” He pointed at you with a smirk as he backed away. 

“Fuck you!” You called out, laughing as Ricky panned the camera toward you, waiting for you to say something.

You were sitting beside Vinny, who had his head resting on your shoulder as he watched you play a game. He was acting like nothing happened yesterday, like nothing happened over the weekend, which you wouldn't complain about- it saved all the awkwardness and questions. You were waiting for a moment alone with him where you could talk about yesterday, and what he really meant in his message last night. However, with Rick's camera in your face, you worried you wouldn't get a chance.

“Update,” you sighed, faking a smile, “I’m playing animal crossing and procrastinating. I have photos to edit but I don’t want to do it yet because my laptop is fucked, I'm scared it's actually going to blow up, so I’m waiting until I can steal Bryan’s when we get to the venue-"

“Oh is that a fish?” Vinny pointed at the screen, “Can I catch it?”

“You can borrow my laptop.” Ricky offered, putting his camera down, “I don’t know what you usually use to edit but I have a few different apps and software's downloaded on it, you could play about with them and see if they're any good.”

“Really?” You looked up at him in surprise. “I’d really appreciate that, Rick. Thanks.”

“Of course! I’ll go and get it.” 

“Vin, I am trusting you with my island, don't cause any trouble or spend all my bells... She's in your hands.” You say, passing him your switch before getting up to follow Ricky. 

“I feel honoured.” He smiled. "I'll take good care of it."

As you followed Rick back to the bunks, you noticed he was on a call, and you didn’t want to interrupt. You awkwardly stood there as he spoke, keeping your eye on Vinny as you tried your best not to listen in, but you couldn't help it.

“Should I tell him?” Ricky tried to keep his voice low. “Or do you want to keep it a surprise?... Yeah? Okay… Well, that’s great. Sure, I'll let you know, thank you! Bye.”

He hung up, turning to find you standing awkwardly in the hallway.

“Sorry, that was Vin’s dad,” Ricky explained, gesturing to his phone in his hand. “Don’t tell him, but his parents are coming to surprise him at our next show. They just wanted to double-check the details.”

Your heart sank, panic blooming in your chest. Vinny’s parents were coming?

“What?” Your mouth went dry, shaking your head. “No, I won’t say a word…”

“Thanks,” he smiled, “Anyway, here's my laptop, the password is Ryan's birthday."

You spent the entire journey to the next venue wondering how the hell you would go about the next show. Surely if you stayed with the Bad Omens guys then you wouldn’t cross paths with his parents, but then they’d be asking questions and if any of the others caught wind of the situation after this weekend you’d both have a ton of explaining to do.

Once you were at the next venue all the guys began setting up as you sat with Ryan, who had hurt his back the night before so was excused from any heavy lifting. You had gotten a few pictures of the guys throughout the morning so you could edit them with Rick’s laptop, playing about with the different editing apps he had installed.

“So how are you finding the tour?” Ryan asked, looking up from his phone. The two of you were sat outside the bus with a couple chairs you stole from the venue, the morning sun shining down bright onto the both of you.

“It’s nothing like I expected,” you admitted, “But it’s been fun. I’ve loved getting to know you guys... some more than others.”

“Oh yeah?” He smirked, looking over at Rick, wiggling his eyebrows

“What?”

“I saw you and Rick earlier,” he teased, “Isn’t Noah going to be upset?”

“Ricky?!” You burst out laughing, “No! Hasn’t he got a girlfriend?”

“I don’t know, does he?” Ryan furrowed his eyebrows, “If he does then I haven't met her. He’s quite a private guy, I guess.”

“Guess who…” A voice from behind you made you jump as you felt a pair of hands cover your eyes. 

“An angel?” 

“Close enough.” Angela smiled down at you, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “Noah was asking about you by the way, I don’t think he realised I’ve literally just got here.”

“He is? Where is he?” You asked, and she pointed to the door that led inside. 

“He’s setting something up by the stage with Matt, he also asked if you were hungover but you don’t look it, what happened last night?” She chuckled. 

“Shit I forgot about last night.” You shook your head, watching Ryan smile as a curious look spread across Ang’s face. “There was a karaoke night at a bar by our hotel, long story short... Noah had to walk me back after a couple hours.”

“And you didn’t invite us!” Ryan gasped dramatically.

“I had to spend all weekend with Vin, I needed a break from you guys! Anyway, I guess I’ll go and look for Noah. I need to thank him for getting me back safe.” You said, getting up from the fold up chair and giving Angela a hug before you made your way into the venue. 

After a few minutes of wandering, you eventually found the guys and gave them a wave as you approached them. 

“How are you feeling?” Noah asked, laughing as he handed Matt something to plug into their sound equipment. 

“Not too bad,” you smiled, “Thanks for getting me to bed last night. I don’t remember too much of it if I'm being honest.” 

“I think that’s for the best,” Matt laughed, “Me and Bryan said you should go up there and sing just pretend tonight- give you a chance to finish what you started last night!"

“Give me a mic and I’ll do it.” You grinned as Noah shook his head. 

“I just wanted to make sure you’re alright, I asked Angela when she came through just now but she said she hadn't seen you."

“Yeah she sent me to you,” you smile, “Need any help with anything?” You felt quite helpless as you watched them all stress over whether the cables were plugged into the right places and try to figure out which one was loose.

"No, I think we're good." Noah slowly nodded his head, carefully watching Matt take his hat off to scratch his head.

He wondered whether he should bring up the message from Vinny last night, but he didn't want you to think he was snooping on your phone. Despite his curiosity, he chose not to bring it up, but he'd keep his eye on you today instead, maybe he could piece things together. He thought perhaps he could start by asking you one simple question...

Y/n," Noah begun, but was interrupted by Chris.

“You could go and get some pictures of Rick over there,” Chris laughed from behind you, and as you turned you spotted Ricky standing with his guitar on him with his phone in his hand, “Catch his ass slacking!” He grinned. 

However, you were quickly distracted by Vinny at the drums. Shirtless at the drums. Sure, it was hot in this venue, but everybody else managed to stay fully dressed. 

“I... uh, left my camera by the bus,” you say, “I’ll get it and I’ll be right back.” 

As you left, you could see Vinny glancing at you. You tried not to blush as you pushed the doors open and made your way back to the bus. You desperately wanted to tell him about the news you received from Ricky, to put a plan in place to stop them from saying anything to the others, but you also wanted his parents visiting to be a nice surprise for him. 

However, there was one thing that was for sure- you needed to talk to Angela. 

“Back so soon?” Angela gave you a smile as you sat back at the table, you had passed Ryan on the way out, leaving the two of you alone. "Everything good?"

“I forgot my camera.” You said, sighing as you sat back in the chair, “Ang, we have a problem.” 

“What is it?” She asked, putting her phone down on the table and taking off her sunglasses.

“Vin’s parents are coming to the next show to surprise him, but if you remember Vinny told them that I'm his-”

“Angela?” You heard Chris call out, spotting the two of you and smiling, “Do you want to get yourself set up?”

“Of course.” She nodded, watching as Chris put his thumbs up and walked back into the building. “Look, we’re not too far from my apartment for the next couple shows, why don’t you stay over tonight? I’ve got ice cream, wine,” she smiled, getting up from her chair, “We can have a catch up if you want?”

“I’d love that!” You grin, “Thank you.” 

“Any time!” She said, pulling you into a hug. 

As she left, you spotted your camera and picked it up, expecting to see some candid pictures of the guys when upload them onto the laptop, as it wasn’t in the place you had left it. 

As you made your way back into the venue, your camera in hand, you spotted Rick standing by the side, still absorbed in his phone. You grinned, ready to take the shot, but then you caught a glimpse of Vinny across the room. He was deep in conversation with the rest of the band, but his eyes kept flicking toward you, but you tried to ignore this.

You snapped a couple shots of Rick, chuckling to yourself as he didn't even seem to notice you were taking his picture. You glanced back over at Vinny, who began walking away from the group, heading backstage. He gave you a nod of his head, basically saying 'follow me'.

You left your camera by Nicholas, asking him to keep his eye on it as you followed Vin, trying to keep up with him.

“Hey.” He greeted you softly as you followed him into the room, he reached into the mini fridge, grabbing a couple bottles of water, holding one out to you.

"Hi," you smiled nervously. "So... I think we need to talk."

Vinny nodded.

"Yeah, I..." He paused, thinking of how to word his next sentence. "I'm sorry for snapping at you yesterday, you didn’t deserve that. I’ve just been so stressed lately with the tour, my parents, my roommate’s broken our tv…” He sighs, “And then I’ve been thinking about everything... About us, about you."

There was a vulnerability in the way he spoke that you had never heard before. Vinny was usually the most unserious guy in the room, always making people laugh and having fun, seeing him open up like this felt like you were seeing a whole new side of him.

"What do you mean?" You asked, meeting his gaze.

"That night at the hotel... That felt like more than just a fuck to me." He chuckled, "We weren't just releasing tension, were we? It felt… I dunno. I don't know how to explain it, y/n, but I know you felt it too."

You felt your chest tighten, and there was a lump in your throat as you nodded your head.

"I know... I did, I felt it too," you confess, "But we've talked about this before, Vin. There's Noah, and there's our friendship- I don't want to risk losing that if I hurt you again."

"You won't," he assures you, a soft smile on his face as he speaks, "I know your situation with Noah, and I'm telling you right now that if you're down for it then so am I."

"What exactly are you down for...?" You furrowed your eyebrows.

"You," he smirked, "Can we just give it a try maybe? I'm not asking for a relationship, I'm not asking for you to drop Noah but... Y'know, if you two still aren't exclusive then... Could we…?" He couldn’t bring himself to say the words.

"Last month you told me you can't do this," you frowned, "You told me you’ve been in an arrangement like this before and you can’t do it again. You're totally sure this is okay? You know we'll have to keep everything a secret, right? Folio, Matt and Angela know about us, Ricky’s bound to find out at some point, but it can’t go any further, okay?"

Vin was silent as he nodded his head.

"I know," he sighed, "It's taken some time but I've realised that's what I want. The thrill of it, the risk, I'm willing to give it a try if you are."

You exhaled slowly, a hesitant smile tugging at your lips.

"Okay… If you're sure you really want this. But if anyone, especially Noah, starts asking questions…" you added, "We're just friends."

"Of course," he nods, "But I need to know something, I've been wondering for a while now and I apologise if it's too invasive...”

“Okay…”

“When we were talking about that feeling we felt back in the hotel this weekend, do you feel that when you're with Noah?"

You thought for a moment. Sure, you felt many things when you are with Noah, some things you don't feel around Vinny, but have you ever felt that?

When you’re with Noah you feel nothing but pure pleasure, and you know that’s his aim. He doesn’t care about himself when he’s with you, he prides himself in being a giver rather than a receiver. When you’re with Vinny, however, you feel like you’re both in the moment, you’re connected- dare you even say it, you feel love.

Was that what that feeling was?

Before you could even open your mouth to answer, the sound of footsteps echoed from the hallway, and you both turned to see Noah walking in, phone in his hand.

"Everything okay?" Noah asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked between you and Vinny.

You nodded quickly, trying to think of something to say.

"Yeah, uh, are you ready for tonight?"

"Our biggest crowd so far? Yeah, I'd say so." He smiled, bending down to plug his charger into his phone. “How are you feeling?”

“Kinda nervous,” you confess, “Vin was giving me a pep talk, right?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, "Anyway I'd better, uh... Get back to the others." Vinny said, giving you a soft smile before leaving the room.

There was quite a silence between you and Noah as you both stood there, opposite sides of the room. He was the one to break the silence first, taking a breath as he crossed his arms before he asked.

"So... What did Vinny not want Rick to find out about?"

You scoffed, screwing your face in confusion.

"What?"

"I saw he texted you last night, I didn't mean to look but your phone was right in front of me and I saw the message. Then, I come in here to charge my phone and it's like I walked in on something, you both had the same look in your eyes as if to say 'oh shit!' when you saw me. Is there something going on between you two?"

"No, Noah..." You chuckled, trying your best to be as convincing as possible as you lie straight to his face, "He didn't want Ricky to find out about the birthday present he bought in New York!" You were shocked as the words left your lips, how you covered your back so quickly, "I accidently said something about it without realising he was there, Vin was pissed and... Yeah." You pressed your lips together as you nodded your head.

You couldn't tell if Noah bought your story or not, but he didn't question anything.

Surely that was a good sign, right?

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

@rumoured-whispers @collisionofyourkissmakesitsohard @lma1986 @thisbicc @dominuslunae @miss570 @miamore0570 @jilliemiw86 @itsyaboinoah @kait16xo @discocowgirly @rainy-darling

[orangeinecstasy]

cherry cola, pt. one ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟcalum hood

paring: calum hood x clifford sister reader (fem implication)

summary: it's once again time for the yearly clifford beach house stay, but things are different. working on their new album the rest of the guys join, hoping the change in scenery will spark some inspiration. will the work get done? or will a forbidden romance blossom?

an: hey everyone! i wanted to try and do a series so here's the first part of seven. i'm up for taking requests for things you guys would want to see in it. lmk your thoughts! much love

cw: smoking, drinking, cursing, age gap, smut

wc: 750

Monday

The sun pours down on your skin as you pluck the cherry, garnishing your soda. Separating the firm sweet fruit from the stem. Biting into its flesh as you work the pit from its center. You always loved summer days like this. Lounging in a beach chair as freshly mixed cherry cola clouded your mind. Your summer bliss was quickly interrupted by your mother calling out your name. Dissipating your sickly sweet fog as you took your earbuds out. “What?” 

“Your brother and his friends are here,” she repeated, irritation lacing her voice. 

You bit back a smirk as you gathered your things, slipped on the t-shirt you used as a coverup, and making your way back to the house.

Every summer, your mom dragged you and your brother, Micheal, to the family beach house. Even when he had gone off to be in a band, she would always remind him to try and come back for our yearly trip. She wanted you to give you the chance to having a bonding experience despite him being eight years your senior.

Now you were nineteen, and the tradition continued. But, this time, it was different. His bandmates decided to tag along on the trip, saying that maybe the change of scenery would help them write the album they’d been working on for the past couple of months. Your mother easily folded into the idea. “Anything to help my boys!” as she would always say. 

When your mom told you the situation, you couldn’t help but smile, biting your cheek, trying to hide your reaction as your stomach twisted in on itself. That means you got to see him. Calum.

You’d known him your whole life, so many memories littered with him. When he would come over, strumming a guitar and mumbling lyrics to himself. Late nights spent talking when he would come home from tour, legs grazing each other innocently. Each time, causing a spark to shoot up your body and your cheeks to flush. As you’d gotten older, your attraction to him had only grown stronger. But you never pushed. You were young and in college, an average nobody. And well, he wasn’t. 

The bright pastel purple color that was so vibrant in your young memory was now faded, standing, and storms slowly eroding it from the wood. You mourned the color sightly as you made your way up the steps. Sliding the glass door open, you’re met with cool air and laughter as you enter the house. “Look who decided to join us,” your mom says, causing embarrassment to waft over you as everyone turns to look at you. 

Your eyes lock with his. His skin was tanner then you remember, eyes crinkling as he smiled. His buzzcut has grown out messily, but it’s cute, childlike almost. “Hey,” you wave shyly as if you haven’t known these people your whole life. 

“S’up, kiddo,” Micheal asks, ruffling your hair. You quickly smooth it back down, letting out a small groan of annoyance. “Nothing,” you mumble half-heartedly. You quickly greet the others with a soft hello and a smile before rutting through the fridge and finding another cherry coke. 

Everyone slowly departs from the kitchen, scattering to various concerns of the house. All but Calum. He lingers, hip leaning against the counter as his eyes rake up your legs, the shirt you were wearing barely covering anything. He would be lying to himself if he said he didn’t like it. 

His tongue darted between his lips before he spoke. “So this is the famous beach house I always heard about,” his arms are crossed over his chest, t-shirt straining against his chest and biceps. “Mhm, that it is.” You nod, opening your soda with a crack as you hop onto the counter. Cold granite sends a shiver up your spine. 

“You, uh,” you can hear the gears in his head turning as he selects the appropriate word. “You look good,” words are silky, but his body is so ridge, so scared to give in. His Adam’s apple bob as he swallows hard, regretting his words as soon as he said them.

You bite your cheek to hide your smile, a metallic taste melting onto your tastebuds as you bite down harder. “Thanks, you don’t look too bad yourself,” he chuckles, relaxing at your words.

There he is— peeling away his skin and bones and opening the deepest part of himself to dip back into the sticky sweetness he missed so desperately.

[s7-evermore]

Ch. 4 - Tender Performance

Sorry this took a while to get out. I was busy af with college and everything lol. I haven’t edited this one yet, so I’m sorry in advance for the mistakes. I just wanted to get this one out of the way before finals take over my body and kill me—

The Boyfriend Contract Masterlist

Ch. 3 | Next Chapter

The Tender Performance of a contract means to offer or attempt to perform the agreement… and damn did he deliver.

It was fake-breakfast-date Tuesday. But Yuu’s nervousness was anything but fake.

She didn’t want to leave Grim behind on his own, so she made sure to text Azul ahead of time if it would be alright to bring him along.

“But of course,” he replied. You know, in the most unshady way he can via text.

“This better be worth it, Yuu,” Grim deadpanned as he slumped over her shoulder, “Seriously? You’re actually dating this guy?”

“Didn’t Ace and Deuce already tell you?”

“They did! And I thought they were messing with me!” He exclaimed with a prominent frown.

“And what would they gain from lying about this?” It was another stupid question from her, given that Ace would probably pull this type of prank on Grim.

“Because this is absurd!! It sounds like a lie! It sounds fake!!” He exclaimed louder, practically yelling into her ear. “Azul?! Seriously?! You’re dating him?? You agreed to date him?!”

She sighed, “Grim…”

“No— not even that! I can’t believe I had to hear this from Ace and Deuce first! We literally live together! How come I never heard about it?”

She felt guilty, but Grim was Grim. He’ll come around eventually.

“We tried to be discrete,” she simply replied.

“Man…” he sighed, “whatever, it’s probably none of my business who you date. Wish it was a better person though.”

“What’s wrong with Azul?”

“That’s such a stupid question,” he rolled his eyes, “like you weren’t there when he scammed us, or when he overblotted.”

Despite how he normally was, Grim knew Yuu well. They both knew each other well. Which was why she didn’t know whether to reveal to him her contract with Azul. However…

One of the terms stated in her contract with Azul was that only the two of them were to know the complete and clear details of their contract, and under no circumstances are they to tell anyone else.

The Leech twins probably already knew. While she knew that Azul wouldn’t tell them due to their contract’s terms, the twins were smart enough to know what had conspired between them. They didn’t need details to know everything when they were involved behind the scenes.

It took the whole night for her to process the fact that she would be fake-dating Azul for a while. It was Monday yesterday, and she was now on her way (with Grim) to one of her breakfast dates with Azul. One out of…well, many. Maybe.

She didn’t exactly discuss an expiration date, but Yuu had a feeling that things would calm down a bit when Azul’s end of the contract would be fulfilled.

That being said, she didn’t exactly have enough time to psychologically prepare for the experience of having breakfast with Azul as his…partner. Will the Leech twins be there as bodyguards? Will it just be the two of them with Grim third wheeling???

She hoped she was keeping a good exterior, because her mind was a train wreck.

Yuu didn’t expect much from the breakfast date aside from the subtle awkwardness between them. But for some reason, she didn’t expect him to be early…

Really early. He looked like he had been there for a good several minutes before she arrived.

“He’s early,” Grim said, speaking exactly what was on her mind.

She approached the Octavinelle Housewarden, who was seated at one of the empty tables. He was looking at his watch when she tapped his shoulder.

“Hey,” she greeted him with a small smile, “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Yuu,” he stood up from his seat with a polite smile before turning to the cat-like monster on her shoulder, “To you as well, Grim. Good morning.”

“Yeah yeah mornin’,” Grim said rather dismissively. “Didn’t think you’d actually be here.”

“Who do you think I am?” Azul frowned, dismayed by Grim’s remark, “I’m not one to ditch on dates, you know?”

“Don’t go thinkin’ you can drag my hench-human around just ‘cuz she agreed to go out with you!”

“Why, I would never think of doing such a thing!” Azul exclaimed, “Courtship is a consensual agreement. I asked for her consent and she agreed.”

Yuu sighed and looked down at Grim, “Come on now, Grim. Enough of that, didn’t you say you were hungry?”

“We should get some breakfast now,” Azul looked over at the buffet. “It’s still early, but the cafeteria will get filled up by students soon, so we should hurry up.”

“Sounds good to me!” Grim suddenly cheered, his mood lifting up at the sound of food.

She noticed the small quirk of Azul’s lips as they ordered their food.

“What will you two be having?” Asked one of the chefs.

“I’ll have two pieces of buttered toast and black coffee,” Azul replied.

Her eyes scanned the food at the cafeteria concessionaire before adding, “I’ll just have some Omurice, a glass of water, and a carton of chocolate milk.”

“I’ll have this, and this, and that grilled fish over there, and—“ Grim got off her shoulder and suddenly started pointing at a bunch of dishes.

“Hey! Calm down that’s too much!” Yuu scolded him, “Just limit it to two dishes!”

“We’re gonna have a full day today! I gotta make sure I don’t go hungry in between you know!”

“We still have lunch, you’ll be fine!” She stressed. “Ugh… seriously.”

“Why do you have to worry? Isn’t Azul paying for all this?” Grim asked, looking genuinely confused.

What?

“Huh?” She gaped at him, “What?! No! That’s not how it works!”

She looked over at Azul, only to find him already pulling out enough thaumarks from his wallet to pay for their meals.

“Woah—“ she placed a hand on his and stopped him, “what are you doing? You can’t pay for my stuff.”

“I can’t?” He blinked, looking just as confused as Grim.

“No!” She retaliated, “just ‘cause you’re a dude it doesn’t mean you have to pay for my meal.”

“And why not?” Azul asked.

“Well… it’s just… you don’t have to, okay?” She then leaned closer to him to whisper, “that’s not the kind of fake-dating relationship that I want.”

“Yuu,” he said, rather seriously, “this isn’t about me being a… ‘dude’—“ he cringed slightly at the word, “—you’re saving money aren’t you? It’s also part of our contract’s terms.”

“But you don’t have to pay for everything,” she said with a groan. It’s precisely because of this kind of thing that I’m saving money.”

“What do you mean?”

“Listen, just…don’t, okay?” She fiddled at her own sleeve, “it’s just, I don’t like relying on people when it comes to simple things like this. I definitely don’t want to become indebted to you more than I already have…”

Azul stared at her for a moment, making her more nervous. She hoped that she wasn’t breaching anything in their contract.

Yuu found it hard to rely on others, even when it comes to things as simple as paying for her food. She didn’t want to come off as helpless, or as someone who couldn’t provide for herself. Even before she came to NRC, she was used to getting by on her own, and she didn’t really need anyone’s help. She’d rather be the helper than the helpee… y’know?

“Then… just think of it as proof.”

“Huh?”

“Grim doesn’t seem to believe that we’re together. A lot of your friends don’t seem to believe us either,” he explained, “If I do this for you, then they won’t question the credibility of our relationship.”

“But—“ she paused for a moment, realizing that she hadn’t exactly told most of her friends the “status” of her relationship with Azul. Most of them (like Leona, Vil, and Riddle, for example) probably wouldn’t believe them, they knew Azul well enough after all.

They weren’t close, but they knew Azul and his tendencies.

I wouldn’t peg Azul for the type to blackmail a girl into being in a fake-relationship though… she thought.

“Do— do you think they’ll believe it?” she hesitantly asked.

He moved…closer, his breath tickling her cheek, “Do you think I would give just anyone anything without a price?”

Right. They don’t know their act. If they simply see Azul being generous to her, like a boyfriend would be, it would be believable enough. He wasn’t that kind after all.

He’s a little complicated, though.

“I wouldn’t be a good boyfriend if I didn’t at least try to pay for our meal,” he said, louder this time, enough for Grim and anyone nearby to hear.

“Come on, Yuu!” Grim encouraged her with a mischievous smile as he stood on the concessionaire counter. “Just let your boyfriend treat ya!”

She bit her lip, still uncertain. Even back when she was in a relationship— a real relationship, she didn’t like leaving this kind of thing to her partner. Even more so with a guy she’s fake-dating now.

“Is there a catch though?” She asked him quietly.

“None,” he replied, leaning down to whisper again, “this is just to honor our contract. We must look convincing enough, especially to your dorm mate.”

She bit her lip and hesitated. Grim ate a lot, and just while they were talking, he not-so-secretly added a cookie and a piece of coffee bread to Azul’s tray.

“…alright,” she finally relented before nodding over to Grim, who cheered.

After that whole back and forth (and the whispers), they sat at an empty table, Azul sliding next to Yuu, while Grim ate happily across them.

“Eat slowly, you’ll choke,” she warned him.

“Yeah yeah,” she lost him. He was too busy munching on his free meal to pay attention to whatever she was saying.

“Watching him eat all this gives me heartburn,” Azul said with a sigh, picking on his own food.

She shook her head before turning to him, “Grim tunes out the whole world when he’s this hungry.”

“I can only imagine how much you go through to feed this…creature.”

She shrugged, “I’m used to it. Anyway…” she leaned in closer to him, letting Grim wander off into his own world as she said in a low voice, “So, where were you born? Did you live in the Coral Sea your whole life or…?”

He raised a brow after taking a sip of his drink, “Is this one of your green-card marriage interview questions?”

His lips quirk up when she giggled, seemingly pleased with himself for making her laugh.

“I’ve lived in the Coral sea my whole life,” he replied, “The Atlantica Memorial Museum is but only a quarter of the whole area. There’s much to see there, but I’m not sure if it’s something you’ll enjoy.”

“Why not? I happen to like the sea.”

“I recall you saying that the sea is scary.”

“But it’s interesting,” she shifted on her seat to get comfortable. “Back in my world, more than 80% of the ocean has never been explored, mapped, or even seen by humans. Literally a great number of stars and planets has been explored more than the ocean floor! Isn’t that insane?”

“Hard to imagine, as a merfolk, that is,” he said. “If you’re so interested, then perhaps I should take you on a date somewhere in the Coral Sea someday…”

With the way he spoke, Yuu almost thought he was serious. But Grim was right next to them, and, with the cafeteria slowly filling up, who knows who could be listening in on them.

“That would be nice,” she said softly, feeling kind of shy all of a sudden.

He smirked, sensing her shyness, “Perhaps I can take you to my mother’s restaurant.”

Okay, now she was sure he was teasing her. Yuu didn’t want to go as far as to meet his mother. This was only a one-time fake-dating thing, and the last thing she wants is to extend the lie to Azul’s parents.

She rolled her eyes before saying, “I did hear from Jade that your mother runs a restaurant in the Coral Sea…”

“Yes, it’s a very popular restaurant. If you ask any local for directions, they would probably take you there themselves,” he spoke with a hint of pride.

She giggled, “I see where you get your business side from. Does your mother know you’re running mostro lounge here at school?”

“She invested in it,” he smiled, “and of course, every time I visit I show her documents of our profit— to show her its success.”

Wow. It was kind of weird to imagine that he had— or has, she’s clearly still alive— a mother. A family. You know… all those warm homey stuff before he became a tall, (handsome) intimidating, infamous cafe manager.

“She must be really proud of you,” she said.

“Naturally.”

“And your father?”

“Which one?”

She blinked, “Shit, you have two?”

“My biological father and my stepfather,” he answered, “both of my biological parents got divorced when I was young, and my stepfather was my mom’s divorce lawyer. Well… you can imagine what happens next.”

“Huh… I actually didn’t expect that,” she muttered, “Did you learn contracts and stuff from your stepfather then?”

“You’re smart. Yes, he taught me all about them,” he replied.

“I don’t know if I should thank him or not,” she sighed, “do you see your biological father often?”

“He calls every now and then to see how I’m doing, but other than that, very rarely,” he replied. Yuu wondered if it was a sensitive topic, but Azul didn’t seem bothered by it at all.

She looked over at Grim, who was now chugging on a mug of water. He inhaled his food like it was nothing.

“Well that was fun,” she said when she finished the last of her food.

“Does breakfast end here?” Azul asked as he watched her clean up her plate.

“Well I wouldn’t want to be late, and Grim might insist on more food if we don’t leave soon.”

Azul checked his watch, “We still have lots of time.”

She stabbed her straw into the carton of milk before taking a small sip, “Yeah but our classrooms—“

“Where were you born?”

She blinked at him. Oh, did he want to get to know her too?

Knowing Azul, it was likely for the sake of getting information about her, but truthfully, she would have to disappoint him. There was nothing remarkable about her, after all.

“In another world.”

He rolled his eyes, “I knew that, but where?”

“You wouldn’t know either way.”

“It would still be nice to know,” He insisted.

She pursed her lips, “Yokohama, Japan. I moved to Tokyo for college though.”

“Tokyo? Is it another city?”

“It’s the capital of Japan, my home country,” she replied.

“And why Tokyo?”

“My dream college is in Tokyo. It’s a little difficult to get in it, but I got a scholarship in the end, so all is good.”

His eyes widened slightly, “A scholarship? You must have worked really hard.”

“Not having a social life helps sometimes.”

He chuckled, “And what were you going to take?”

“Visual Communication,” she said, “there’s a master’s degree program too, so if I do exceptionally well in my undergraduate degree then I’ll hopefully be chosen for another scholarship for the masters program. Which I REALLY hope I get.”

She internally groaned at the thought of all those sleepless nights in high school, trying to keep her grades up while balancing odd jobs. She knew she would have to work twice as hard in college, given that college means more work, more brain power, and more money. Next time she would have to work night shifts more often.

“Your parents must be quite proud of you for getting that far, right?”

Yuu froze for a moment before giving him a stiff smile, she didn’t really want to think about it too deeply. It had already been years, after all. No use on dwelling in the past.

“Speaking of, what are your parents like?”

“Dead.”

Azul nearly choked on his black coffee. “I’m—“ he coughed a couple of times and composed himself, “I’m sorry—“

She smiled and shook her head, “It’s fine.”

It wasn’t that much of a sensitive topic to her anymore, honestly. In fact, the way she responded to him so bluntly was kind of funny. Like an incorrect tumblr meme or something.

“I…I see,” his face was in its neutral expression— the kind that often made her nervous. It wasn’t that he looked scary or anything, he actually looked somewhat professional.

He really is handsome… she thought shamelessly. Honestly, he looks like one of those serious-looking CEOs from one of those K-dramas or manhwas.

She studied his face as he silently stared at her. It made her a little uncomfortable, both his silence and the fact that he looked so focused on her face as if he was trying to unearth every single little secret of hers.

“Prefect?”

She flinched at the sudden voice as she looked away from Azul.

“Riddle!”

Standing before their table was the Heartslabyul Housewarden, accompanied by his usual retinue, that being Trey, Cater, Ace, and Deuce.

“Woah! So the rumors were true!” Cater beamed at the sight of the unexpected couple, “You guys really are dating.”

“Why do you sound so surprised?” She asked him, “Weren’t you the one who took a photo of us?”

Cater raised both his hands in mock surrender, “Hey now, don’t get mad at me! How could I not when it was the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen that day?”

Ace made a disgusted look, “Ugh, seeing you two make those googly eyes at each other is so cringey. Glad I’m not Grim.”

“Hey, don’t be mean!” Deuce elbowed Ace before smiling down at the Prefect. “But…Ace is kind of right though. You guys look really close.”

“It’s only natural,” Azul spoke up first as he pushed his glasses up, “She’s my girlfriend after all.”

Riddle made a funny face at the word “girlfriend”, and yet he remained strangely quiet.

“Wow, I really didn’t expect this from you, Azul,” Trey chuckled, albeit rather awkwardly, “Then again, you’re always ambitious— I guess it’s no different when it comes to love, huh?”

“Speaking of, how long has this thing been goin’ on?” Cater asked. “It’s kind of sudden. I can’t tell if you guys are just that good at hiding it or you had to blackmail Grim to keep it under wraps.”

“Hey!” Grim pouted, “For the record, I didn’t know about it either until Ace and Deuce told me!”

“What?! For real?!” Cater looked quite appalled at the revelation. “Dang! No wonder we didn’t know about it… Grim isn’t exactly the best at keeping secrets, you know?”

Grim snarled at Cater’s remark.

“How long have you two been… seeing each other?” Riddle asked reluctantly as he eyed them.

Riddle always remained suspicious when it involved Azul and the twins, that was the only reason Yuu could come up with when she saw the scrutiny in his eyes as he looked at the two of them.

It made Yuu quite nervous. She had been friends with Riddle for quite some time now, and it made her feel just as guilty to lie to him like this. Aside from that, however, Riddle also had an acute sense of responsibility and justice. If he felt something was amiss, he would surely look into it, just as he did during the incident with Savanaclaw.

As though sensing her apprehension, Azul placed his hand on top of hers, and it was…weirdly warm. He was always warm, and it was comfortable…for some reason.

Damn, leave it to a touchstarved girl to feel warm about Azul.

“For a while,” Azul replied with an amiable smile as he held her hand on top of the table— a sign of their relationship. “But if you’re curious of the specifics, we’ve been seeing each other for over a month and a half.”

Azul gave her a look and a soft smile.

Right, okay. So that’s their story. A month and a half of “secretly dating”.

“I’m sorry we kept it from you guys…” She suddenly said, “We just… wanted a little privacy, you know?”

Riddle stared at their intertwined hands without a word.

“Why apologize?” Trey spoke up instead, “you guys did nothing wrong. Besides, it’s probably Cater’s fault that your peace was interrupted.”

“Hey!” Cater looked at Trey in horror, “how come I’m the only one to blame here?! You were there too!”

Azul chuckled, “It’s not a problem at all. In fact, I think it was a good thing, for the both of us. We don’t have to keep hiding it any longer.”

He turned to her, “Are you finished eating?”

“Huh?” She looked down at her now empty plate, “Uh, yeah…”

“It seems that Grim has finished as well,” He stood up and stretched his hand out in front of her.

“Shall I walk you to your classroom?”

She ignored the stares of disbelief from her friends as she took his hand, “Of course.“

“We’ll be off now,” Azul looked at the five Heartslabyul students with his signature smile, “I hope you have a good morning.”

“I’ll see you guys later!” She exclaimed, “let’s go, Grim!”

Her furry companion hopped off his seat and followed the couple as they walked hand-in-hand out of the cafeteria, leaving behind several stunned students in their wake.

[joezworld]

They re-laid the ballast and sleepers on Sunday, and by mid-day Monday, the last of the temporary rails were bolted together. It was, to quote a workman, a “hack job”, but it could be replaced after the busy winter hols. 

Douglas pulled an inspection train across the newly repaired section shortly after supper, and it was with great jubilation that the Fat Controller deemed the line “fit to re-open.” 

That night, Duck was the first to come back, running the last (and only) train of the day. He was ecstatic to be back in his own shed, and there was much merriment and joy as he shunted Alice and Mirabel into the empty carriage sheds. He whistled gaily to the engines on the small railway, who yelled at him to keep the noise down, didn’t he have any idea how late it was.

Then he turned to the yard, and his gaiety died down significantly. “Wha-what?” He stuttered, staring in confusion and slight horror. “What have you done?”

Bear rolled his eyes, having endured quite enough of Duck’s personality in the last ten minutes. “I needed trucks for the track work.”

“Yes I see that. Did you fetch them with your eyes shut?”

Bear growled. The yard was only a mess if you had been indoctrinated into the Great Western Shunting System - which, in fairness, he had been - but he’d been told that the first train would arrive in the morning, not tonight. “No, the work just finished early, is all. I’m fine, by the way.”

“That’s no excuse!” Duck ploughed on, getting into a proper strop. “You should’ve been cleaning as you went! Single Workings 3:7 clearly states-”

“I know what it says, and I don’t care.” Bear snapped. “If we’re going to get into this, what about Emergencies 12:5, hmmm? Shouting chapter and verse at me isn’t going to make the yard cleaner.”

Duck tripped over his own tongue while Bear smiled spitefully. “Now, I was going to offer to help you clean the yard while my driver is still on shift, but instead I think I’ll let you fix things to your exacting specifications.”

Bear’s driver, who had been performing an inspection on his engine, looked at Bear in surprise, Duck in shock, and decided to reverse Bear into the shed to end the confrontation. In a few minutes, snoring could be heard through the closed doors. 

“Well..!” Duck said, thoroughly surprised. “What got into him?”

“The fact that you haven’t figured it out is, quite frankly, appalling.” boomed a voice from across the goods yard. Duck glared, but the glare quickly turned to surprised suspicion when the trucks didn’t start laughing. They always laughed after someone got a one-liner in. 

Instead, a sea of surly faces stared back at him. “What are you looking at?” he asked, suddenly off-kilter. 

“That wasn’t very nice.” A flatbed scowled, backed up by a wave of agreeing murmurs.

Duck didn’t know whether to scowl or be frightened at the show of unity, and shunted the worryingly quiet trucks until the end of his driver’s shift. 

When he was backed in next to Bear, he thought about saying something, to see if the diesel was still awake, but in the end he went uneasily to sleep. 

-

The next morning, Bear woke up much later than he usually would. Duck was gone, the yard was organized, Oliver was receding into the distance, and there was a long line of trucks sitting by the goods shed. 

His driver came over, train orders in his hand. “Right-o, first we’ve got these to take, then we’ve got passenger trains with Truro for the rest of the day. Excited?” He wasn’t one of Bear’s usual drivers, and he completely missed the smile that hid a scowl. 

The trucks didn’t miss it. As he rolled past the train, the brake van - the SR Queen Mary, finally on his way back to whence he came - eyed him with sympathy. “Keep your guard up, once you’re with him.”

“Back to reality…” the low loader rumbled. 

The Fish Van didn’t say anything, but gave him a look of sombre understanding. 

A long line of hoppers, full of tunnel debris, were somewhat more cheerful. “You’ve got us, remember.” their leader whispered. 

Bear felt somewhat uplifted by this, but, as he waited for his driver to perform a brake test, his spirit began to wane. There was a crowd of passengers on the platform, already waiting for the next train. A large group of them were wearing shirts with the Great Western Railway logo stitched into them. They had cameras, of course, and were taking pictures every which way, except his. 

One pointed a lens his way, and was promptly shoved by several friends. “Don’t waste your film,” they said, “on that box on wheels.”

By the time the signal dropped, Bear felt deeply morose. He set off, leaving the station behind, each turn of his wheels bringing him closer to the big station, and City of Truro. 

-

The train halted at Haultraugh station. The inbound train was Duck’s, and as more passengers flowed in and out of the train, someone made a comment, loud enough to be heard over the hustle and bustle, that “this was straight out of the sixties.”

As the last passengers boarded, someone else replied, “yeah, the 18-60s.”

Bear stared at the GWR branding covering the station. There’s no place for me here.

Next to them, Duck was off in his own world. One of the porters had asked him how Truro was doing, and this had led to a lengthy and animated description of how bored and disrespected Truro felt in the yard at the big station. Gordon was the apparent ringleader, finding great fun in pushing Truro’s buttons. Bear’s engine note took on a notably staccato beat, and the trucks began grumbling to each other. The porter paid this no mind, but Duck began looking quizzically across the platform, trying to figure out what, if anything, was the matter. 

Meanwhile, Bear’s driver was looking up and down the platform. “What’s the holdup? Where’s the signal?” He scoffed, climbing out of the cab and knocking on the door of the signal box. 

Inside he found the signalman, looking quite aggrieved and holding a pair of flags. “Signal lever’s jammed. Points are good. Go out and I’ll wave you through.” He kicked the lever for good measure, a resounding clang emanating from the lever frame. “Piece of junk…”

 Bear’s driver exited the box, noting for the first time that anything seemed to be amiss with his engine. “You alright?” 

“Are we going?” Bear’s short, clipped tones could be mistaken for anticipation if you weren’t that bright. 

“Yeah! Yeah, hold your horses.” The driver jumped back into the cab, and set off the instant the annoyed looking signalman waved the green flag. 

Bear set off sluggishly. He didn’t care if he got there, or how long it took.

Behind him, the brake van could sense the disappointment and despair radiating down the brake line, all the way at the end of the train. Slowly, steadily, and stealthily enough to not alert the guard, he began slipping on his own brakes. 

The other trucks in the train felt this, and realized what was happening. Slowly but surely, the train began to get heavier and heavier as Bear kept going. 

-

The train made it halfway up the tunnel before grinding to a halt on the grade. There was no radio reception in the tunnel, and with Bear’s engine belching out more diesel exhaust every second, the driver made a quick determination to back down to Bulgy’s Bridge and try again. 

Slowly, with the brakes mostly released, the train rolled back into the clear air, slowly click-clacking over the new jointed rails as it rolled back towards Bulgy’s Bridge. The tunnel mouth was now a jagged hole in the side of the rock, scarred and pitted in spots where the decorative portal had been chiselled away.   

“So,” Bear addressed the train, taking care to not be heard by his driver. “Does anyone want to explain why we stalled out in the tunnel? Something that hasn’t happened with stone trains that are twice as heavy?”

There was a moment of guilty silence on the brake line, then: 

“We can’t let you go without a fight.”

“You shouldn’t go back to that.”

“We like you too much to subject you to the snake.”

Bear was struck absolutely dumb by that, and felt a warm and fuzzy sensation in his fuel tanks. As his driver brought the train to a halt by the bridge, he couldn’t help but feel incredibly… honored? Was that the correct word? Liked? He pondered on this for some time, and was finally brought back to reality by his driver banging on the control desk in the cab. “Wakey wakey! Time to do some work!” 

Bear chose not to dignify that with a response and instead allowed his engine to rev up to full power, to get the train moving up the hill and through the tunnel at a sufficient speed.

Then, nothing happened. 

Or rather, nothing seemed to happen. Bear was pulling against the train with quite a lot of force, but it just didn’t move. His engine revved, his wheels slipped, and the train went nowhere. 

It did not take a brain surgeon to figure out what was wrong: the trucks were quite serious about not letting Bear go back to Truro, and were doing everything in their power to stop him. 

“We’re not joking…” came a low voice up the brake line. 

Bear didn’t think they were, and was quite willing to sit out here for some time. It was a nice day compared to most of last week - the sun was out, and it was a few degrees above freezing - and if the railway had to send another engine to help him up the hill, then so be it. 

“Ah, for the love of pete!” Unfortunately, Bear’s driver was a dedicated sort, someone who had a lot of interest in doing his job to the best of his ability, and someone who had no interest in being labelled as “the one who stalled in the tunnel”. He was going to get this train to Tidmouth come hell or high water, and so he didn’t let off the throttle, much to Bear’s annoyance. 

“We’re not going anywhere like this. Call for a banker.”

“Absolutely not!” was the retort. What happened instead was that the train was put into reverse, and backed up even more to let the slack in. Bear knew what he was doing, and also knew that it wasn’t going to work. The trucks did too, and there was a bit of light laughter from most of the train. They even let him move the train a bit, rolling well beyond Bulgy’s Bridge without a fight.

The exception was the lead truck, who was looking at the coupling chain with worry. “That’s starting to stretch a little…”

Then, as has happened many times before, there was trouble. 

Bear’s driver released the brakes, set the reverser to “forward”, and then jammed the throttle as far forward as it would go. 

Bear set off with a great cloud of smoke and clag, his engine roaring like a wounded animal. The first five trucks on the train, realizing that something very bad could happen to them if they kept the brakes on, had let up. The slack went out of the train with a quintuple bang! as those trucks were yanked into motion. Then, the coupling to the rest of the train, who were not going to move under any circumstances, was pulled on. 

They did not move, and the train screeched to a halt, Bear’s wheels spun furiously, sparking on the rails. 

Then the coupling chain snapped. 

Bear shot forward, suddenly free of the rest of the train. Fortunately, the vacuum brake hose also separating meant that his brakes came on automatically, and he came to a shuddering and screeching stop less than a hundred feet away, atop Bulgy’s Bridge. 

“Now look at what’s happened!” He barked at his driver. “I told you to stop hammering on the throttle like a neanderthal!”

Then, things got worse.

When the rails had been re-laid after the derailment, the workers had done everything properly… except on Bulgy’s Bridge. The bridge, which still bore its scars from when Bulgy had gotten stuck underneath it almost twenty years ago, was known to be a fragile structure, and couldn’t withstand heavy or sustained vibrations. 

“Heavy or sustained vibrations” is exactly what would happen when a ballast tamper machine was brought over the line. It “tamped” ballast by extending vibrating rods into the gravel and shaking them until the ballast had become smooth and level. This wasn’t possible on Bulgy’s Bridge, and so the workers had smoothed everything down as well as they could by hand before re-opening the line to traffic. And, for the trains that had gone over it so far, it had been fine - mostly because it had been light engines like Duck and Oliver, who moved over it quickly. 

Bear, on the other hand, weighed as much as Duck and Oliver combined, and had just come to an abrupt stop directly on top of the mostly un-leveled ballast.

As Bear began to berate his driver for the problems that he had most certainly caused, the gravel underneath the sleepers began to shudder and shake.

Suddenly, and with distressingly little noise, the gravel on the right side of the line subsided, the sleepers and rails sagged as one, and Bear found himself tilted at an extremely worrying angle on top of Bulgy’s Bridge. 

His driver closed his eyes in horror, and didn’t open them again until everything in the cab had stopped moving. 

Bear, meanwhile, was so utterly overwhelmed with what was happening that he couldn’t even muster up a bit of shock. “Driver, this is your fault.”

-

Having already dealt with a calamitous derailment on the Little Western once this week, the railway was extremely quick in responding to the accident, and both a crane and the Fat Controller were there before lunch. 

“Bear,” he said seriously. “I mean this in as non-insulting a manner as possible, but the fact that this was not your fault astounds me.”

“Don’t worry sir, the others will find a way to blame me for it anyways.”

“I-” The Fat Controller didn’t know how to respond to that, and had to choose his next words carefully. “I see.” He paused again. “I would actually like to mention something, now that you’ve brought that up.”

“Sir?”

“Yes.” Again, he had to choose his words carefully. “Due to… recent circumstances, British Rail has agreed to let us trial City of Truro on his own merits.”

“Sir? Does that mean that I don’t have to run trains with him anymore?” Bear’s tone was suddenly ecstatic, which the Fat Controller unfortunately didn’t understand the full connotations of. 

“Indeed.” he said, eyes twinkling slightly. “Apparently his ability to be “more reliable than a diesel” was quite a point in his favor.” A pause. “Not that it is a mark against you in any way.” 

“Of course sir, thank you sir!” Bear looked like Christmas came early, which did not mesh well with the fact that he was perilously close to falling off of a bridge. 

“I’m glad you understand.” Charles Hatt smiled warmly. “And one more thing - I have been informed by the foreman that… removing you from this situation will involve damaging your paintwork in some way. Obviously, that cannot stand, and so I will have you sent to the works tomorrow or the day after for a temporary touch up. Once the holidays are over, you will receive a new coat of paint in any color you like. You’ve earned it.”

Bear’s smile was the biggest it had been in almost a month, and it stayed there throughout the cleanup process, even as the lifting chains gouged long silvery stripes all over his paintwork. 

-

It took until well past dinnertime for the tracks to be put right again, and once Bear was checked over by works staff (again), he was immediately put to work with the permanent way gang, who worked throughout the night. Finally, at one in the morning, the work was declared “done!”, to much celebration, and the workers went home to bed. 

Bear still had a job to do, though, and it wasn’t until two-thirty that he arrived at Tidmouth station with his now very contrite goods train, who didn’t say a word as he shunted them into the goods yard. 

The diesel shed was empty, and Bear was asleep before his driver could fully set the brakes. 

-

The next morning was cold but sunny, with still, crisp air soaking up the sun’s weak rays. 

Bear, who had been woken up at seven in the morning after less than five hours of sleep, quite frankly could not bring himself to care about that, and grumbled all the way to the fuel depot, the station, the goods yard, and then most of the way to Haultraugh. He only stopped grumbling once he was awake enough to remember, as he burst into the sunlight at the end of the tunnel, that he was finally free of this wretched branch line and could go to the works soon!

This massively improved his mood, and he almost forgot how tired he was, as he rolled across the temporary speed restriction at Bulgy’s bridge, and through Haultraugh station. As he rolled into Arlesburgh, he was almost smiling. 

“Well well well,” A stern voice immediately quelled any chances of enjoying the morning. “Look who shows his face around here!” Duck, a distinctly upset expression on his face, puffed into view. “You break my branch line, leave me stranded here all day - let’s not even get into what the passengers had to endure - and then just waltz off to the big station without so much as a by-your-leave? What sort of Western work ethic is that?” 

He was really getting into full flow now. “And this is after you leave my yard a complete and utter disaster for more than a week! Whatever do you have to say for yourself?”

Bear was a patient engine, he really was. He could understand Duck’s position, he really could. He was even willing to hear him out, and talk with him like an adult. After all, they were both what people would call “grown-ups”. For goodness’ sake, he was twenty years old - far older and more mature than most of the diesels on the mainland!

But then… he looked behind Duck. 

There, in the shed, was City of fucking Truro’s smug fucking face. He looked thrilled at what was happening. 

And something in Bear went snap.

“Duck.” He said firmly, cutting the steam engine off mid-word. “You can take your Great Western work ethic and you can shove it down your boiler tubes. I do not care any more.”

Duck’s face moved like he was trying to say something, but he seemed unable to process what was happening. 

“Furthermore,” Bear continued. “I didn’t break anything.” He glared daggers at Truro, who blinked in surprise. “The great green disaster over there is responsible for all of that. Unless you think that I shattered my gearbox out of a sense of whimsy.”

“I… I… I…” Duck couldn’t seem to put syllables together. 

“In a similar fashion, I didn’t derail the Siphon wagons - if we’re really going to hand out blame like Christmas presents, it was Donald’s fault for not checking anything before he set off down the line with a bunch of plain-bearing equipped vans like it was the 1930s. Although, to go even further back, it was that one’s fault for moving the Siphons across the yard for no clear reason other than that he felt like it!”

Truro could hear everything, and blinked like he was offended. Good. 

Duck looked like someone had smacked him across the face. 

“Of course, let’s just blame it on me, why don’t we?” Bear could feel the indignation coursing through his systems, and let it flow. “As I can do nothing right, and only bring about confusion and delay! Yes, of course I wanted to almost fall off of Bulgy’s Bridge yesterday; it was part of my larger plan to learn to drive on the roads like an automobile, leaving the rails to wither and die on the vine like Doctor Beeching!” 

“Bear, I-”

“Oh no! Don’t you “Bear” me! For all you know, that’s true! You’ve not taken your eyes off of Truro for a month now! “Truro” this and “Truro” that! If you like him so much, why don’t you give him the branch line and spend the rest of your life licking his buffers like the obsequious toady you seem intent on becoming! I thought you were my friend, but you can’t even notice something going on right in front of you!”

Truro was now glaring. The signalman had left his box, the trucks were silent, and Duck was so confused he was almost in tears. On the platform, the passengers started looking in their direction. 

“Bear-”

“No, no.” He snapped, fire blooming in his eyes. “Use my goddamned number. You don’t have the right to use my name!”

Duck looked horrified. Good.  

Bear pressed on, a month’s worth of frustration and aggravation spilling out uncontrollably. “So you know what, Montague? I’ve had it. That’s what this is. If you and Truro and Oliver want to play pretend in some fantasy recreation of a time that died a long time ago, be my guest! But I will have no part in it.”

The stationmaster appeared out of the station building and began making a beeline across the tracks. 

“You can take your Great Western Railway, and all its idiotic traditions, and you can shove it someplace unpleasant!” He roared, engine growling menacingly. “But I’m done!” “And before I go…” The stationmaster was getting closer, and Bear could tell that he was going to be silenced one way or the other. He tried to think if there was anything else he wanted to say, but all he could see was Truro, looking so unjustly offended on Duck’s behalf. “Oi, you! Domeless wonder! I wish that they’d kept Great Bear, and scrapped you!”

[xxvalkyriesxx]

The Joker and the Queen - Chapter One

For @emeriethevalkyriegirl 🩷 @acotargiftexchange it's less than 20 minutes until Monday, so it's basically Monday now

Masterlist // Prologue // Next Part AO3 // read below

Every year, the city of Velaris hosts a week long festival, the Carnival of Stars. It's the biggest event of the year, people from everywhere travel to Night Court County to partake in the special events. Every year, the festival ends on the Winter Solstice, with a performance by the Velaris Ballet Company. And every year they perform the holiday classic, The Nutcracker. However this year, the director of the company has decided to shift gears. This year, the ending performance will be, The Lady and the Fool. A show that follows a royal lady falling in love with a court jester, despite what society says. The director wants to bring a whole new experience to the show. And the twist is that the fool will not be played by a fellow dancer. So instead, they decide to cast a local Winter Solstice tree farmer. What could go wrong? OR Nesta Archeron is the principle ballerina of the Velaris Ballet Company, playing the lead role of The Lady and the Fool, with her counter part, Cassian Pine.

Seventeen weeks prior to Carnival of Stars starting.

“Eris, what the hell are you saying?” Nesta asked, sitting in her boss’s office. Her workout had ended early as Eris had called her into his office, wanting to discuss something with her.

The red head only grinned at her unamused expression. “As I’ve said, we’re not doing The Nutcracker for this year’s Carnival of Stars.” Eris added. “It’s gotten so boring and repetitive.”

“It’s a classic. Ballet classics never get boring!” Nesta argued, glaring at Eris. Most would be too nervous to debate with Eris once he’s made up his mind, however Nesta had known the director of the ballet company since they were young, learning dances together.

“I’m not arguing that. The Nutcracker is a holiday classic but it needs to be retired, at least for this year. I’ve wanted to do something different for a while, and Rhysand is finally letting me do so.”

Nesta resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the mention of her sister’s long-term boyfriend, who also was the mayor of Velaris and therefore was a part of every decision the carnival made. How Eris managed to convince Rhysand to remove his nosey self from the ballet performance, which would always end the week-long festival, Nesta didn’t want to know.

“So what are we doing instead then?” Nesta asked, bracing for something awful to come from Eris’ mouth.

Eris grinned. “I’m so glad you asked.” 

He slid a program across his desk towards Nesta. The magazine was from the Adriata Ballet Company, the edges decorated with sea shells and waves. The date was from earlier in the year when the southern city celebrated the Summer solstice. The cover was of a woman and a… What the fuck am I looking at? Nesta narrowed her eyes down at the cover before shooting her head back up, glaring at Eris.

“Eris, is that a clown?”

“Technically yes, but my version will have a court jester instead.”

Nesta peered back down at the magazine she held. The cover had a ballerina and clown dancing elegantly in a still shot. The ballerina smiled brightly as the clown wore a goofy smile. “The Lady and the Fool? Why haven’t I heard about this performance?”

“Well you know Adriata. They have so many different kinds of performances during the Summer Solstice, this one must have been drowned out by everything else going on.” He glanced at the cover. “But I was fortunate enough to have seen this. Tarquin did an amazing job directing.” Before Nesta could ask anything else, Eris sighed. “However, we have run into another issue, Nesta.” 

“Dear gods, what now?”

Her boss grimaced. “I was thinking…” 

Nesta sighed, bracing for whatever was about to come out of Eris’ mouth.

“I thought it would be interesting if we did have a real fool on stage. You know, have it be meta.” His auburn eyes glowed, finishing his sentence. 

“A real fool? As in someone from the fair or do you mean–” Nesta’s eyes widened as she figured what he was implying, her mouth dropping in horror. “Eris! Why are you thinking of bringing an unprofessional performer to be on stage?! We’re a highly respected dance company. Not to mention, the risks this would bring?!!”

“Well, the story calls for two fools, so we’ll just have one of them be someone from the outside. I want to highlight the difference between an average person and a dancer.” Then he added as her face fell. “And let’s face it, Velaris loves an underdog story.”

“And like I said, Rhysand gave me the go-ahead. We’ll be fine.”

Twelve weeks to the Carnival of Stars

The last week of September meant that it was Cassian’s last remaining bit of sanity before it would cease from the chaos of the winter season. The man sighed as he looked out the window of his Winter Solstice tree farm. The trees were getting more beautiful by the day, and come mid November, they’ll be ready to sell.

And personally, Cassian already had the decorations up for the solstice come November 1st. There was no use in waiting until after the last Thursday of the month. And with very little neighbors, no one could bother him about the solstice lights he turned on. 

Taking a sip of the peppermint flavored coffee, Cassian settled down at the kitchen table. A golden retriever with a sugar powdered face sat up from underneath the table, licking his knee through his jeans. Cassian shook his head, smiling at his companion.

“Hey, Holly girl.” His voice was hoarse from the early morning rise, when the sun was barely peeking through the forest that surrounded his quaint farm.

Holly pushed her dry nose into the palm of his hand. Another sign of her growing older by the day. Thirteen years she’s been by his side, through the thick and thin at Little Star Farm, the nickname from his childhood. The place hadn’t even been open for more than a year when Azriel and then his girlfriend (now wife), Gwyn Berdara, found a small litter of golden retriever puppies off the side of the road. Gwyn took one, Cassian took one, then the rest were given to friends and family members.

“Come on, let’s go check on the trees.” Cassian placed his mug down as he and Holly left the kitchen to the front yard where he parked his gator cart. The green on the front of the vehicle peeling and cracked. Holly made her to the passenger side. A little whine escaped her as she looked at Cassian, then to the seat, then back to Cassian. 

“Just a minute, Holly.” Cassian checked to make sure his usual equipment was in the cargo box before he bent to his knees, picking Holy up with ease. “Jeez dog, I gotta stop giving you so much bacon.”

Holly just huffed at his comment as he placed her in the seat. Wrapping around, he got into the driver’s seat and took off. The cart traveled through the fields of growing trees of variety. Cassian had wanted to give customers options to what they wanted to bring home every holiday season. His farm was still on the younger side at just fourteen years old, as some trees had been planted near the beginning and hopefully by this year will be ready to sell. Others had taken less time and were ready within six to seven years.

It had taken a while for the trees to reach maturity, so in the meantime, Cassian ran a small solstice shop that was connected to his house. He sold homemade items such as wreaths and small pine ornaments. There were also some items he sold from small businesses from downtown Velaris. Amren’s Crowns Candles held some of the best natural candles with wooden wicks, perfect for the holidays. Feyre painted holiday postcards that he sold at his shop too.

The grass was freshly mowed, the familiar scent still lingering along the ground as the air flowed. Cassian’s thighs were still sore from finishing the last bit of the field yesterday. It had taken almost three days to complete mowing the fields as he had to split his time between field work, store work, and making sure to take a break. Although taking a break meant just grabbing cheese and crackers, drinking water, and then going back to what he was doing.

Eventually Cassian stopped the car near some of his oldest trees. He smiled softly at some of his biggest accomplishments since he started the farm all those years ago. Some trees were ready by seven years, but others took longer. 

“What do you think, Holly? Think they’ll be ready by the holidays?”Holly barked in response as her long haired tail wagged. “Me too, Holly girl.”

Grabbing his journal, Cassian made notes of the trees in the particular area that were going to be ready for the holiday season. It was a leather bound journal that was roughly loved by the look of it. The leather was faded, the pages wrinkled with water and coffee stains. Cassian had a journal for every year on the farm. This one had seen the most damage due to a giant coffee spill from Azriel’s and Gwyn’s foster child, Ester, when the three visited last month. 

Being a detective in Velaris, Azriel had a pretty work busy schedule and with raising a teenanger, Cassian didn’t see his friends often. Azriel and him inseparable growing up, but after separating from the military, Cassian wanted to work on a passion project since he was young instead going for a typical career that most take after finishing their time with the military.

Solstice brought up a lot of tough times he had as a kid, as his mother died when he was a kid, right before solstice one year. His mother did everything she possibly could to keep them afloat, living in a very tiny, dingy apartment in Windhaven, a town not too far from Velaris. 

But every winter solstice, his mother made sure that Cassian had something special, and that was the solstice tree in their living space. Cassian grew fond of taking care of it. Decorating it with the few ornaments they had and some lights, it made Cassian’s year seeing the completed piece. He begged his mother if they could keep it up year long, but he quickly came to find out, at most it could make it to a week or two into the new year before the tree would die.

The farm, in a way, was a gift back to her, as some of the proceeds went to a local non-profit for survivors of domestic violence. The abuse was something that Cassian saw very little of, as his mother hid it from him as much as possible. However, it lingered in their home long after the violence faded away. Winter solstice was a time for happiness and cheer, so Cassian worked hard year around in order to bring the best trees.

Making his way back to the cart, Cassian put his journal away before he and Holly made their way back to the house. An hour or so had gone by upon Cassian’s return. He helped the golden get out of the cart before he ventured inside, warming up another cup of coffee. Holly made her way to the big old bed that Cassian bought her when she was so little. He caught her eyes immediately drifting off, the old dog falling asleep instantly.

Cassian settled into his lazy boy leather recliner when his phone buzzed. Pulling it out of his pocket, he withheld a heavy sigh that wanted to be released as he read the name across the screen.

Message from Rhys (aka pile of dicks)

The farmer rolled his eyes at the nickname that Ester must have made when Cassian was looking away. Opening the message, he took a look at what his friend had to say

Rhys (aka pile of dicks): Winter Solstice is upon us! Come downtown so we can discuss what’ll be needed this year.

It’s not even October…Cassian finally sighed, huffing and puffing.

But of course whatever the Mayor of Velaris wanted, he got.

Grabbing the coffee pot, he poured everything into a travel mug. Going back over, Cassian rubbed his hands on Holly’s belly, as she rolled over onto her back.

“Rhysie needs me, old girl. I’ll hopefully see your sisters while I’m there.” Holly sneezed in answer. “Yeah, I’ll tell them you said hi.” Holly shook her head as she sneezed again. Cassian rolled his eyes playfully. “I don’t think I need to be bragging to them how you got the best owner out of the liter.” 

He pointed at her. “Don’t tell Gwyn that, she takes your brother’s livelihood very very seriously.”

Getting up, and attempting to ignore the cracks his knees made, Cassian made his way with his coffee out the door and into his truck.

Cassian to Rhys (aka pile of dicks): On my way! And since you’re pulling me away from work, I would like my usual from the Devlon’s.

~*~

Cassian’s meeting with Rhys went longer than expected. Unfortunately, Mor was also there, so the two cousins kept yapping on unrelated topics until Cassian had to draw their focus back into the reason he was there. Rhys was ready to propose to his girlfriend, Feyre Archeron, and wanted this year to be an extra special edition of the Carnival of Stars.

“Decorated trees, snow, solstice carols. Everything that the carnival has, but times it by 1,000. Only the best for Feyre Darling.”

“As a reminder, the Carnival of Stars isn’t for Feyre. It’s been a tradition in the town since your great grandfather was mayor of the city. So it can’t just be about Feyre.” Cassian said.

Rhys waved his hand. “I know that, but I think we should just go all out, you know? Make Velaris, Solstice Town for a change.”

Cassian tilted his head. “Any reason why we’re going the extra mile?”

“I want to make this winter solstice the best one yet. It’s her birthday, but she deserves the world.”

As Rhys looked upon Cassian, he shrugged. “You’ll understand when you’re in love.”

Cassian rolled his eyes as he walked down the steps from Rhysand’s office. Rhys had no idea that Cassian was in love, for almost a straight year. Every day Cassian waited for a text to appear by the one he was dying to speak too.

Nesta Archeron.

The principal ballerina of the Carnival of Stars dance company, graduated from Velaris University, and was the eldest sister to Feyre. Cassian asked her about Nesta not long after solstice, but at most the art teacher shrugged and said her sister didn’t date. “She’s married to her career, Cass. I just don’t see it working.” So Cassian may have searched for her on the internet, but it was completely harmless. There was hardly anything on her. 

No social media accounts, no secret blogs, nothing. It was like she was just a figment of his imagination. Like clockwork, Cassian pulled out his phone, the nearby church bells rang at the hour. Maybe today will be the day she texts me.

There was absolutely nothing on his lock screen other than Holly in a solstice paper crown. He sighed before stuffing his phone back in his pocket. I have no time to think about this, I have to work on which trees to send out for the carnival this year.

As he made his way through the first floor to the exit, something stopped him in his tracks. Cassian couldn’t believe what he saw as he blinked several times to make sure he wasn’t seeing anything.

She was here. She was really here.

Well, it was a picture, but it was Nesta Archeron. She wore a long dress with a tiara as she stood en pointe alongside a court jester. Cassian approached the poster as the title of the ballet hung above the dancers.

The Lady and the Fool. The Carnival of Stars ending show featuring Nesta Archeron. Meet the cast throughout the week of the carnival before seeing their performance on Winter Solstice night. 

Cassian glanced down at the description of the ballet.

A wealthy lady, a poor jester, and a tale of society and love.

And right next to the poster was a sheet of paper that Cassian had to double take at.

Audition Call for The Lady and the Fool. No dancing experience required! Meet in the Auditorium this Thursday. 

This is stupid. Not only do I not know how to dance, I have a whole farm to run. Cassian thought as he let go of the paper before walking away. He had work to do…

Then by the grace of High Lord Solstice himself, the very angel he fell in love with last year, walked into the building. Her hair was in a bun as she carried a bag over her shoulder. A glimpse of white in her ears gave Cassian the note that she had air pods in. Then she made a turn to go down the steps, right where Cassian was. Quickly he leaned against the wall, taking out his phone. Act normal, she won't question anything.

So Cassian opened the Velaris Times Games app. He completed a few games of the day, but was still stuck on Connections. Who even comes up with these??

He kept his presence pretty quiet so he could blend in. Boots clicked against the tile floor as golden brown strands of hair caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Rolling his shoulders, Cassian kept his posture relaxed as best he could while a clean linen scent flowed on by.

His thumb shuffled through the cards on the screen. She’s probably gone by now. Taking a breath, Cassian lifted his head expecting an empty space in front of him. But what he didn’t expect was the same woman he just saw before, to be standing off to the side, looking directly at him. Cassian’s mouth dropped a little before he cleared his throat and waved at her.

This must have broken the spell. Nesta Archeron flushed before spinning around, marching off and heading to the dance studio most likely. Cassian could only watch her as she left him standing in the hallway. Glancing over at the audition call again, his stomach flipped.

Fuck it, I’m not wasting my shot.

Cassian practically tossed his phone out of sight, reaching over and ripping off the tear-off tabs of the advertisement. The small pieces of paper held the same information as the flyer. Quickly, Cassian shoved all the pieces of paper in his coat pocket before leaving the building. The ball was back in his court, and he would be damned if he missed his shot for a second time

~*~

“So let me get this straight, Cass. You’re going to audition for a ballet, all so you can impress the principal ballerina who you’ve barely even spoken to??”

“She has yet to see my skills! And I can dance well enough.” Cassian defended his stance. “Cassian, you can’t even stay on beat.” Azriel said with a deadpan look. “What’s the type of art Feyre does – oh abstract! I have some abstractness to my dancing.”

After visiting with Rhysand, Cassian made his way to Azriel’s house as it wasn’t far from City hall. His old red pickup truck was parked in front of their townhouse.

Azriel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Is it reasonable enough to ask you to stop while you’re ahead?”

Cassian opened his mouth to argue when a redhead woman walked through the threshold of the dining room, carrying coffees to the table.

“Az, give Cassian a chance. He’s in love. Let him try this.” Gwyn said as she placed coffees down on the table before sitting down, next to Azriel. She kissed him on the cheek before pouring coconut cream and sugar into her coffee, turning the dark drink into a lighter color. “Besides, you’re a love expert.” She winked at her husband who only rolled his eyes, before nudging her slightly.

For years Cassian was their third wheel to their relationship and while it didn’t bother him they were in love, there was an empty space always in his heart and next to him. 

Azriel shook his head. “You're ruining the taste of coffee.” He said as he also placed the coconut cream in his coffee, but with no sugar. Gwyn gave him a knowing look. “Mhmm, sure.” The man blushed as he rubbed his neck before taking a sip. Cassian mentally rolled his eyes, but silently agreed with his best friend.

“Thank you, Gwyn.” Cassian smiled sheepishly, drinking his coffee completely untouched.

“No problem, Cass. And for the record, I think it’s romantic what you’re doing.”

“It’s romantic until the ballerina says it’s stalking.” Azriel butted into their conversation.

Gwyn pursed her lips. “Well, dark romance is still a bestseller at the shop.”

Cassian watched Azriel fight the urge to sigh before he shook his head, taking another sip. Gwyn had opened a bookshop with her best friend, Emerie, in downtown Velaris. Cassian didn’t know the first thing about a romance book as he read more historical books or books on solstice trees.

“What’s considered dark romance?” Cassian asked, peering at Gwyn. Azriel dragged his hands down his face, a miserable expression slipping through. “Oh, now you’ve done it my friend.” Azriel mumbled.

Gwyn’s eyes sparkled with a devilish delight. “I’m so glad you stopped by, Cassian!” Almost like it was pulled out of thin air, books appeared in Gwyn’s hand from a nearby stack. “Class is now in session, and before you say anything, the kid is out with her friends. No need to be PG-13 anymore!”

Cassian paled, glancing at Azriel, who just shook his head and grabbed a nearby flask before pouring most of it into his coffee. The farmer gulped. What had he gotten himself into?