#when I was first coming up with the story idea I wanted it to be a video game

[jungwnies]

the dad who stepped up | carlos sainz (cs55)

୨ৎ : featuring : carlos sainz x fem!reader/singlemom!reader ୨ৎ : synopsis (requested by anon) : not the biological father, but rather the father who stepped up!

୨ৎ : genre : romance & fluff ୨ৎ : word count : 947

୨ৎ masterlist ୨ৎ

ᡣ𐭩 a/n : this was such a cute little story, i can only imagine the spanglish going crazy in this household <3 psa... intentionally all lowercase

carlos never thought about being a dad so soon. sure, he wanted kids someday, but he always figured it would come later, after racing, after settling down. what he didn’t expect was for you to walk into his life, a single mom with a baby boy who barely knew how to say papa yet.

he met you when your son, nico, was only eight months old. you had been hesitant at first, not wanting to bring someone into your child’s life unless you were sure. but carlos? carlos was patient. he never rushed you, never forced his way in. he just showed up.

at first, it was small things; holding nico when your arms were full, rocking him to sleep when he got fussy, making faces at him across the dinner table just to see him giggle. then, before either of you knew it, nico wasn’t just some baby carlos happened to know. he was his boy.

now, four years later, carlos can’t imagine life any other way.

—

"okay, buddy, one more time, but this time big swings," carlos calls from the backyard, watching as nico grips his tiny golf club, determination all over his little face.

you stand nearby, sipping on a lemonade, watching your two favorite people as the warm breeze rustles through the trees.

nico, tongue sticking out in concentration, takes a swing, too hard, and the plastic ball rolls about a foot away.

"that was amazing!" carlos exclaims, throwing his hands up as if nico just hit a hole-in-one at augusta.

"it barely moved!" nico whines, stomping his foot.

carlos kneels beside him, adjusting his grip. "the trick isn’t power, campeón (champion), it’s control. even papá sainz had to learn that."

you smile, shaking your head as you watch them. “carlos, if you turn him into a golf snob before he even learns how to ride a bike, we’re gonna have a problem.”

carlos grins over his shoulder at you. “you say that now, but when he’s winning the masters, you’ll be thanking me.”

nico nods along, even though he has absolutely no idea what the masters is. “sí, mami! (yes, mommy!)”

your heart melts every time nico switches between english and spanish so naturally, something carlos had made sure to teach him from the moment he could talk.

—

later that evening, after dinner, you’re curled up on the couch together, nico snuggled in between you and carlos with his favorite book in hand.

“papá, can you read the book en español? (papa, can you read the book in spanish?)” nico asks, eyes wide with excitement.

carlos raises an eyebrow, clearly pleased. “sí, pero solo un poquito, eh? (yes, but just a little, okay?) i don’t want you getting confused.”

you smile, resting your head against carlos’s shoulder as he begins reading, seamlessly switching between english and spanish.

"the little dog ran through the…el bosque (the forest)…looking for his friend… pero no lo encontró (but he didn’t find him). so he kept running and running…hasta que… (until…)"

nico listens intently, repeating some of the words in his tiny voice.

“bosque!” he says proudly.

carlos grins, tapping his nose gently. “eso! muy bien, campeón. (that’s it! very good, champion.)”

you watch as carlos pauses and turns to nico. “and what’s a bosque?”

nico scrunches his little face, thinking hard before answering, “umm�� a forest?”

carlos nods approvingly. “exacto! (exactly!)”

you laugh, shaking your head. “i swear, this kid is gonna be fluent before i am.”

carlos smirks, leaning in to kiss your forehead. “well, mamá, looks like you need some spanish lessons too.”

you playfully elbow him, making him chuckle.

just as you think nico is starting to doze off, his tiny voice pipes up.

“papá, i’m sleepy… pero i want uno más cuento. (papa, i’m sleepy… but i want one more story.)”

carlos lets out an exaggerated sigh, feigning exhaustion. “one more? vale, uno más. (okay, one more.)”

he flips the page, his voice soft as he continues reading. you feel nico’s breathing slow, his tiny body relaxing between the two of you.

you glance up at carlos, who is watching nico with that same gentle, loving look he always has. he catches you staring and gives you a small smile, his fingers reaching out to brush over your hand.

“you know,” you whisper, “you never had to do any of this.”

carlos furrows his brows. “what do you mean?”

you swallow the lump in your throat. “i mean… you didn’t have to be his dad. you could’ve just dated me and kept your distance. but instead, you’re his person. and i just… i don’t know. i hope you know how much i love you for that.”

carlos studies you for a moment before shaking his head, as if the thought of not stepping up for nico is ridiculous. he lifts your intertwined fingers, pressing a soft kiss to the back of your hand.

“i didn’t have to, amor,” he murmurs. “i wanted to. i chose this. i chose you. i chose him. and i’d do it again a thousand times over.”

tears prick your eyes, but before you can say anything, carlos leans down and places a gentle kiss on nico’s forehead.

“buenas noches, mi pequeño campeón. (good night, my little champion.)”

nico barely stirs, already deep in sleep.

carlos turns back to you, smiling softly. “now come on, mamá, let’s go watch bad reality tv and pretend we don’t have to wake up early tomorrow.”

you laugh, shaking your head as you follow him to the couch, where his arm instinctively wraps around you.

carlos sainz wasn’t the father by blood.

but he was the father who stepped up.

2021-2025 © jungwnies | All rights reserved. Do not repost, plagiarize, or translate

[whos-the-seme]

okay but I kinda need read a fic where Shen Yuan is wife plotted (AGAIN) by some random papapa plant (dammit Airplane--) and he basically falls into a floating coma or something. on a hunt for some rare herbs with liu qingge, he's lured by the sound of his Binghe's (his lost little lamb) voice and ends up ensnared.

okay, imagine that he's being held high in the air by these vines, just asleep, and nothing can wake him, even after liu qingge cuts the monster plant down to get him. he's just sleeping, rosy-cheeked, unwakeable.

peak lords panic, and start trying to figure it out what this rare plant is. sqh wracks his brain somewhat and somewhat remembers this plot line.

they come to the conclusion that its the everlasting dreams flower or some shit. basically traps the victim in their dreams while it sucks out their qi until the person dies of dehydration/starvation or qi loss, whichever kills them first (sometimes, its not the latter, and if the person is a cultivator, they can last a while before their qi is fully drained enough that they can no longer practice inedia but also haven't died yet). meanwhile, the person won't even care because their dreams are so sweet, that they don't want to leave.

the only way to cure it? true love's song. someone who truly knows and loves the sleeper needs to sing something from the heart, and if it's pure enough or something, it can pierce through the pleasant dreams of the person and wake them up. yqy and lqg instantly become flustered, but both of them can't help but secretly wonder how it would feel to have Xiao jiu/shen-shixiong wake up at their song.

they confer with the rest of the peak lords a little outside of shen yuan's resting rooms on the Qian Cao peak, and yqy decides to sing a little lullaby he used to sing to Xiao jiu when they were still on the streets. he goes in, his voice is a steady but a bit nervous, but he croons that shit out. airplane can't believe his fucking ears. yqy could honestly be an idol its not fair wtf-- only, sqh knows he can't dance to save his fucking life, so.

when yqy finishes, he waits, but his heart sinks when Xiao jiu doesn't so much as stir. he hurries out of the room but sqh notices how the tips of his ears are red in embarrassment. of course, even when he still had his memory, Xiao jiu wanted nothing to do with him, why did he think it would change now, he just--

lqj goes in next. he murmurs a song that he constantly hears sqq sometimes strumming on his guqin, thinking that means sqq must love the song. he's not sure what else he can do, he doesn't know how to sing from the heart, but the feelings he has for his shixiong... he has to at least try to wake him.

he doesn't wake. lqj walks out in defeat.

airplane who has been wracking his brain all this time because he was trying to think of requirements for awakening so he wasn't paying attention suddenly jumps up. he doesn't mind the startled glances that the other peak lords give him.

he just remembered!

the song didn't have to be a romantic song or anything. the love for the sleeper didn't have to be romantic love, at all! he remembered this plot line that he added about binghe trying to wake one of his wives, but it was one of the wives' sisters that woke her, because she truly loved her sister deeply. causing binghe to realize that his love was becoming shallow, in that it wasn't enough anymore or blah blah blah. he scrapped that plot line and that plant after he got a ton of bad reviews for even suggestion that lbh's love (pillar) wasn't big enough and so he had lbh fix it with papapa, but whatever!

he shivered.

anyway, the story has been so warped over time that its only told that it has to be a romantic lover. but it didn't have to be.

he had an idea. he loved Shen Yuan! despite the rocky start, their shared transmigration and experiences led them to form a closer relationship, and Shen Yuan was his best friend. he knew him wholly, both in his bitchiness of Cucumber-bro of their old lives, and in the snarky-masquerading-as-pretentious SQQ he was in their new lives. He knew him as a whole of Shen Yuan, not as Xiao Jiu, or as the original goods.

and also, both he and Shen Yuan had discovered they both liked some similar songs during one of their weekly private meetings a few weeks ago, while Shen Yuan was there under the guise of planning their eventual escapes, but was actually just drinking up all his wine and ransacking his snacks.

he's got this! (he hopes.) (he would quite not like his bro to die from an unwakeable coma.)

confidently, with incredulous stares following him, he walks into the room and sits at shen yuan's bedside. and proceeded to sing, as smoothly as he could, a vocaloid love song. if nothing else, it might shock Shen Yuan awake to hear a random ass vocaloid song in his dreams. the lyrics are actually pretty sweet and soft, but he can't stop imagining the music behind it, making it funnier than it should be to sing it.

[Shen Yuan, whose dreamscape has become completely synchronized to his current living conditions and so he dreams of the serene bamboo hut: *sitting at his table with binghe pouring him more tea* *sudden hatsune fucking miku disturbing the atmosphere*

Shen Yuan: 👁️👄👁️]

while he tries not to giggle as the song comes to an end, the stares of the other peak lords boring into his back from the doorway (he can just hear them thinking, "yqy and lqg couldn't wake him up but you think you can?" but maybe that's just his imagination. or maybe they think the song is shitty, what does he know--), shen yuan's eyes flutter open.

airplane, who didn't think this would actually actually work (though he hoped), gapes at him. Shen Yuan, eyes half lidded from sleep, gazes back.

"uh..."

"The everlasting dreams flower, really? That was a really good plot line, can't believe you, ah," Shen Yuan yawns, "dropped it in favor of more papapa as always, you shitty author." He can't catch a break. Why did he wake this guy up again?

"he's awake!?" multiple voices cry out.

THUMP. yqy has fainted.

they both have forgotten their audience. liu qingge has goes outside to punch a tree. the other peak lords are in various states of disarray, disbelief, and discomfort. liu minyan has appeared out of nowhere to take notes. mu qingfāng rolls his eyes and comes in to check shen-shenanigans's meridians.

"Can't believed that shit worked, honestly," Shen Yuan says, eyeing one of the older disciples try to drag YQY to a cot. he is starting to rouse. "hatsune miku, really?"

"aw! well now you know how deeply and purely I love you, shixiong!"

THUMP. YQY has fainted again.

more sounds of breaking trees from outside. mu qingfāng warily calls out a warning to avoid his good medicinal trees, thanks.

after a while of conversation, with eyes closing a bit once more, from exhaustion, rather than the plant poison, Shen Yuan gives Shang Qinghua a small smile. As his eyes flutter shut again, he says, "I love you too, bro."

[lifeasadorkwithnolife]

Monster (Azriel X Reader)

Word Count: 4700

Summary: Everyone thinks that Y/N is a horrible person for what she did under the mountain, and she agrees, but Azriel realizes that things aren't what they seem.

I have not wrote any fanfiction in 5 years, which is absolutely crazy. I've been talking to my boyfriend a lot about story ideas and he asked me, why don't you just write it down? So here it is, it's not exactly what I used to write.

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

You had hoped you would die under the caldron-forsaken mountain. The 49 years have cost you everything: your family, your court and your humanity. Amarantha had chosen you to be her right hand, you had no one to lose and everything to gain. You became known as Amarantha’s bitch, arguably a worse title than Rhysand’s. Your job was to keep discipline under the mountain and frequently had to whip and grant Amarantha’s wishes of public torture sessions when the Attor was not around.

Your reputation had made it outside of the mountain and throughout the courts, you were known to be ruthless and would kill without hesitation. You were an absolute monster.

Before Feyre had come along and saved you all from the mountain, the only one who understood your pain was Rhysand. For the first few years of your position, Rhysand would look at you with hatred in his eyes. He tortured people too, but you knew he didn’t enjoy it in the same way you pretended to. Every time you tortured the poor soul who got on Amarantha’s nerves, you would go up to them after the fact and hold their hand and ask if they had learned their lesson.

You had a gift and a curse, your gift was the ability to absorb pain from someone else, but the curse was that pain demanded to be felt eventually. Every whipping, every burn, or every cut that you performed, you took it from them to feel later. You kept this secret to yourself originally, but it’s quite hard to hide things from Rhysand.

On one unfortunate night, he entered your chambers under the mountain and witnessed the blood beginning to pool on your back. “Someone give you a taste of your own medicine?” He smirked, leaning against the door frame.

“Get the fuck out, Rhysand.” You croaked, mouth dry as you felt another blow to your back from the whipping earlier. “If I wanted to sleep with someone, it wouldn’t be Amarantha’s seconds.” You could feel the walls you built to protect yourself from Rhysand crumbling, like they were nothing but paper, and his eyes grew in realization.

He walked over to you and placed your face in his hands, his eyes growing wide with understanding. “You don’t have to bear their pain alone, Y/N.” He whispered, but you shook your head.

“Please go away.” You whispered, tears filling your eyes. Nobody had ever seen you like this under the mountain, “I can handle it, really.”

You felt the next blow and cried out, Rhysand caught you in his arms and held you. You felt him in your mind, and then your physical pain was gone, and it was just you both in your head. He was right there, in front of you, and all you could do was sigh. “I can explain.”

“Are you…. Are you taking their pain?” He whispered, and you nodded. “Why?”

“We’re all trapped here.” You replied, your voice echoing across the black void. “Someone will hurt them either way, at least if I hurt them… I can take their pain away and they can pass peacefully.”

“How long have you been doing this?” Rhys asked, and you shrugged. “I could have helped you, we’re on the same side.”

“It’s my pain to bear, I wouldn’t have agreed to this job if I couldn’t take their pain away.” You whispered back, he nodded in understanding.

From then on, you had one friend under the mountain, and when Feyre became part of the picture, you had two.

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

               When Feyre won the trials and you were released from the mountain, you realized that you had nowhere to go. Your court has disowned you and your family was…gone. Rhysand invited you back to Velaris to the dismay of his inner circle, and he agreed that your gift would remain a secret until you were ready.

               You trained as hard as you could and tried your best time and time again to win over the inner circle. You promised yourself you would tell them about your gift eventually but couldn’t bring yourself to do it, feeling like you would be using it as an “excuse” to torture others and end all the lives you did, when it was really inexcusable.

               The member of the inner circle that hated you the most was Azriel, he would immediately leave any room you entered, refuse to go on missions with you and would even stop training as soon as you were in earshot. You could sense him staring at you from afar sometimes, and whenever you would look it would be anger, hatred and maybe a little confusion in his eyes.

               You tried your best to make friends with everyone, but it’s hard to be friends with a sadistic murderer who laughed as they were killing the weak and defenseless. The only people who gave you a chance were Cassian and Feyre, and you couldn’t be more appreciative.

               One night, during one of your nightmares, you awoke to large hands shaking you awake and came face to face with Cassian. He looked at you in concern and placed a hand around your head in a brotherly, comforting way. Tears flowed down your face. “You were shouting your own name, what were you dreaming about?”

               “Cassian, do you think I can be forgiven for what I’ve done?” You whispered, looking up at him. He hesitated, then nodded slowly. “I need to tell you the truth.”

               Cassian was the first person you willingly told your story to, and he looked absolutely horrified. You showed him the scars on your back and told him about the worst things you have ever done. He comforted you for hours, and in return told you his stories about how he’s killed and how guilty he feels about it sometimes.

               It was nice having Cassian after that point, you two would spar, but you still couldn’t bring yourself to throw a punch when he was open. His laughter was a wonderful sound, and he would often catch you staring at Azriel- longing for his forgiveness but knowing that would most likely never happen. You knew he didn’t trust you, and you don’t think he ever would.

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

                “I need you two to go on a mission together.” Rhys explains, looking between you and Azriel. “I don’t care about how much you don’t like each other; this needs to be done. The attor was sighted on our border, and I need him found.”

               You took a quick look at Azriel before turning away, his hands were clenched into fists, and his shadows were swarming around angrily. “I can go by myself just fine.” Azriel snapped, “She’ll just slow me down and you know it.”

               “I need you BOTH to go, which is why Y/N is here.” Rhysand clasped his hands together, looking at you expectantly. “I think she will be helpful in this mission, since the attor is involved.”

               “I am familiar with the attor.” You sighed, peeking over at Azriel. “I may be able to lure him out.”

               “I bet he’s very fond of you,” Azriel turned to look at you, “I bet you killed more people than he did, did you guys keep count like a competition?”

               You stepped back, you had barely spoken to Azriel, but these were his first words with you. Every reassurance that Cassian, Feyre and Rhys had ever provided seemed to disappear.

               “I just don’t understand Rhys, why is she here? The rest of us have killed, sure, but for good reason. She is a monster.” Azriel’s shadows circled the room, and you could feel the hatred coming off him in waves.

               ‘You’re not going to defend yourself?’ Rhys asked you, and you gave your head a slight shake.

               “This is the last I’m hearing of it, Azriel, you better bring her back here in one piece or so help me.”

               After 3 cold days of searching for the Attor, he was nowhere to be found, and Azriel’s snide comments were getting on your nerves. The flight back to Velaris was cold and silent.

               “Hey, I’m sorry that we came all this way and didn’t catch him.” You whispered, staring down at the darkening landscape.

               “I just hoped that you would be useful for something.” He replied, not even looking in your direction. You sighed, your heart plummeting to your stomach. You had hoped, on some deluded level, that this trip would allow you to talk to him and explain yourself and maybe- just maybe- he wouldn’t hate you so much anymore.

               “I just wanted to say sorry- not just for the attor but for everything.” He looked down at you, and you couldn’t tell what expression was on his face. “I’m just- I’m trying to be better than I was under the mountain, the person I was then is not me. I hope you can believe that.”

               He nodded, looking back up at the setting sun. “I believe that you want to be better.” He said solemnly, “But if what everyone is saying is true, then there is no hope for you. You will never change, even if Rhysand and Cassian don’t see it yet.”  

               You couldn’t even bring yourself to nod, you felt the cold tears sting your eyes but tried to blink them away before they could fall. Azriel saw you for who you really were, the murderer. At least he won’t lie to you like everyone else has.

               The silence ticked by when all the sudden, an arrow flew by your head and hit Azriels wing with a sharp crack. He grunted in pain and dropped a couple feet; another 2 arrows swished by and tore through his other wing. “Azriel- land!” You shouted, searching the darkened forest floor for any sign of the attackers.

               “No shit Y/N.” Azriel shouted, his wings pumping as the ground came in closer. You felt Azriel turn to the side as another arrow whizzed towards your head, but he took another arrow to the wing. Did he just…protect you? You two landed on the ground in a heap, but you stood up quickly, knife in hand as you searched the darkness for your attackers.

               You feel a presence behind you, and turn around, quickly taking the archer to the ground and holding your knife to his neck. He was older, with pointed ears and white hair. He barred his teeth angrily, but with your knees holding down his arms and knife against his neck, he was stuck.

               “Why are you attacking us?” You seethed, your knife getting dangerously close to his neck. He struggled.

               “They told us you would be passing through- you killed my whole family you bitch!” he shouted, you froze, “Just kill me! Like you did to all of them!” You stood there in silence, hesitating, trying to remember who it was that you killed. You couldn’t kill this man too, you promised you would never hurt anyone again.

               Suddenly you were under him, his knife starting to slide across your neck. You didn’t even raise your hands to defend yourself, you could see the pain of his loss clearly on his face. You nodded, closing your eyes as you waited for him to finish. You remembered Azriel’s words from earlier, he was right after all, there would be no redemption either way.

               You felt the weight lift from your throat and took a deep breath, opening your eyes and seeing Azriel’s angry from holding up the man. Azriel looked absolutely terrifying in that moment. “No, don’t hurt him- “You started, but Azriel had his knife out and slashed his neck, throwing his body to the ground. You cried out, crawling over to the males bloodied form. His eyes frantically looked around, and you grabbed his hand, but there was no usual tug, no usual surge of power as you took his pain, you looked up again and met with lifeless eyes. The male was already gone.

               “Did you…did you know him?” Azriel spat out, grabbing you angrily by your arm and pulling you up. “He shot me out of the sky and just had a knife to your neck, and now you’re crying over him?”

               “of course I didn’t know him!” You pushed back at Azriel, looking down at the male who was dead. “I just…. I just….” You felt a wave of nausea roll through you and turned so you could dry heave. Another death, because of you, again.

               “You just what Y/N?” Azriel barked, and you flinched from him. “Tell me what is going on.”

               “He’s dead!” You whispered. Azriel looked astounded, looking at the man then at you. He then laughed. “Why are you laughing?”

               “Give me a fucking break, Y/N. Lets go.” He grabbed your arm, pulling you with him.

               You two wandered until you found a cabin, the candles were still burning when you arrived and there was a fire going in the fireplace. You were becoming more worried about Azriel by the minute, his skin was losing it’s color and he was almost limping as he walked. As soon as you both entered the cabin, he sat down in a chair and started removing his leathers.

               “Azriel- are you alright?”

               “I’m fine, I just need to get this arrow out of my wing.” He muttered, looking at you.  You watched him as he reached behind him, failing to get a good grip on it. “Would you mind?”

               “I can help.” You whispered, coming up behind him and looking at his wing. His wings were beautiful, dark and somewhat translucent, you had never been this close to him before. You could see an oddish green color seeping from one of the wounds and your heart dropped, poison.

               You slowly touched the area around the protruding arrow, he tensed up. Your fingers lightly traced the area around it, trying to figure out if pulling it out was the best option or if keeping it in to stop the blood flow would be better. Removing it would probably be best, since it was poisoned.

               “Azriel, I’m going to remove it now, okay?” You said quietly, bracing your hands on the arrow. This would hurt like a bitch, but only for a second. You pulled, wincing as the wing membrane tore open a little more. Azriel grunted. “I’m so sorry, but it should start to feel better now, okay? Let me go outside so we can ice it.”

               “No- don’t go.” Azriel looked back at you, his expression a little less guarded. “There could be more of them out there- it’s unsafe.”

               “I’ll be okay, we really need to keep an eye on this for a little bit.” You reassured him and walked out of the warm cabin and into the harsh cold. You grabbed as much snow as you could fit in your sack and came back in just a few minutes later, as soon as you walked in Azriel seemed to slump in relief.

               “How are you feeling?” You asked him, noting that his complexion had looked possibly worse than before.

               “I’m feeling okay.” He looked at you, his eyebrows scrunching, then a small smile came to his lips. You stopped in your tracks, if Azriel was smiling at you, there definitely was something wrong. “I feel a little funny….I think there was something in those arrows.”

               You nodded, coming over and handing the cold pack to him. He nodded and placed it against his wing, wincing at the cold. “You really confuse me, Y/N.” He admitted, his shadows seemed as lethargic as him as they swirled around you. “I can’t figure out who you are- I just see so many different things and it’s not adding up.

               “Who do you see?” You whispered, and he shook his head, somewhat confused. “You can tell me.”

               “You act like you are kind, and at first I thought it was for show, but you seem to be kind even when nobody knows it’s you.” He explains, his voice somewhat slurring. “You pay attention, you leave out books you know Feyre will like, you leave out Mor’s favorite snacks when she doesn’t even like you.”

               “And I’ve watched you train with Cassian; you refuse to throw a punch even when he’s wide open. Even- even with that guy outside who was going to kill you- you refused to hurt him, and you cried when he died.” Azriel looked at you, without hatred, for the first time. “How can someone who killed so many people, who tortured others and laughed as their families mourn, cry over a stranger? There is something you’re not telling me. Rhys and Cassian can see it, what are you not telling me? I want so badly to be on your side, please, tell me, who are you? ”

               You felt tears fall down your face, because he’s only saying this because he was drugged. “Azriel, I don’t want to hurt anyone ever again.” You whispered, “I’m different than I was under the mountain.”

               Azriel nodded, head leaning back as he winced in pain. You grabbed his hand, not asking for permission, and pulled away his pain. You thought of your family, your last memories with them. Your mother, father and two brothers sitting at the table. Your brothers throwing food at each other whenever your parents weren’t looking, trying to get it into each other’s mouths, and trying to hide your laughter so your parents wouldn’t notice. You could feel him sigh in relief and fall unconscious. You sighed in relief, playing the memory again in your head, missing who you were 50 years ago.

               You woke up with a gasp, the pain from Azriel’s injuries tearing through your back. How did he deal with this much pain without even showing it? You snuck outside past Azriel’s sleeping form, and grabbed some snow into the pack that you had used for Azriel, hoping the cold would help your back.

               After shoveling some of the snow into the pack, you felt a presence behind you and looked up, seeing Azriel in the doorway. “Are you feeling bet-“

               “What did you do to me?” Azriel growled, walking down the three steps to confront you in the snow. “Who were those people? What did you do?”

               “You were poisoned Azriel, I just…I gave you some snow to cool you down and tried to get rid of the infection.” You looked up at him, trying to find the man who you had spoken to so truthfully a few hours before. “You were a little confused, which is expected.”

               He shook his head, “who was that family? Is that another family you killed?” he spat, and you froze in place. You didn’t realize that you had shown him that. “Forgot I asked. Don’t ever touch me again. Get back in here so I don’t have to protect your ass if someone else comes around to kill us.”

               You nodded, leaving the pack in the snow and making your way back up to the cabin. You could feel the chills start but could feel how physically hot your body felt. You laid down on the floor, where you were previously right next to the fire. Azriel stood next to the door, watching you intently like you might try to run away.  

               “Are you alright? You’re shaking.” Azriel stated, and you nodded. He walked over to you, hesitating then placing his hand on your forehead for a brief second. “Y/N, you’re burning up. We need to take off some of these layers.”

               You couldn’t find it in yourself to argue as Azriel ripped off your leathers, freezing at what he saw. He turned you over, but you were pale and nearly unconscious. You could hazily see a hint of worry on his face as you passed out.

The flight back was torturous, the pain had started shortly after you woke up, and with each pound of Azriel’s wings another wave of pain went through you. You noticed that for the first time, you were warm and Azriel kept you close to his chest. You could feel how slow your heart rate was, and the growing pain made your realize that maybe this trip would be the end for you.

“Hey Azzie” You whispered, looking up at him. He was truly so beautiful, especially with he early morning sunrise reflecting off his features and the small beads of sweat. “Are you hurting at all?”

“No Y/N, I’m fine.” He stated, looking down at you confused. “Azzie? Where is this coming from?”

“I think Azzie would be a fun nickname.” You laughed before groaning in pain. “I just wanted to tell you something really important.”

“And what is that?” He looked down at you, if you looked like how you felt, then you could understand the growing concern in your eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt? We could have left last night.”

“I don’t want to argue, please.” You whispered, trying to get closer to him. You felt cold and hot at the same time. “Those people I showed you- I did kill them in a way.” His arms stiffened but you continued. “That was my last good memory before I…. became a murderer. I didn’t protect them, I left and they came and attacked and I was the only one brought under the mountain.” The pain in your chest matched the pain in your back. “I couldn’t take away their pain, I couldn’t hold them as they died, I will never forgive myself.”

“You can’t save everyone,” Azriel whispered, you sighed and closed your eyes again, listening to the thumping of his wings. “Why didn’t you just use the antidote on yourself too, I could have handled it.”

“I can’t use it on me.” You whispered, before falling back unconscious.    

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

               “I need help in here!” Azriel’s voice boomed, causing you to stir and groan from your position in his arms. “Rhysand!”

               You heard thumping and were placed on a soft surface; you felt a warm hand against your cheek and found yourself leaning into it. Then the pain started, and you felt yourself writhe as the poison worked its way through your back.

               “I’m not sure what happened, one minute she was fine.” You heard Azriel say in a panicked voice, “then she’s shaking from the cold, no matter how hot I turned up the fire. She has a fever, and her skin is cold to the touch. She has been delirious for the past two hours of the flight, talking about forgiveness and you and Cassian knowing the truth. What is going on Rhys?”

               You could feel a set of hands on your back and you screamed in pain as they tried to flip you over. “Don’t do that! You’re hurting her!” You heard a voice yell, and you tried to keep your mouth shut to prevent any more noises from escaping.             

               “High lord, I’m going to need to him out of here if he can’t control himself.” You heard the women say, you recognized her voice, was that the healer?

               “Azriel, what else happened?” Rhys voice asked, you realized that you couldn’t open your eyes, but you weren’t in as much pain, Rhys must be doing something to you.  

               “We were attacked on the way back; I took three arrows to the wing but she didn’t say anything. Hell, I didn’t even see an arrow go towards her.” You could hear, maybe it was worry, in his voice. “Then she healed me somehow, but she didn’t heal herself. She couldn’t tell me why.” You felt a hand grab yours, and from the ridges of skin there could tell it was Azriel.

               “Please, help her.” You heard him whisper.

               “Madja, Y/N an absorber healer, she’s been poisoned.” Rhys instructs; you hear a gasp from the healer.

               “By the cauldrons, I have never met one before, they are so rare.” You hear her say.

               Despite Rhys’s efforts, you feel another wave of pain shoot down your back, but you keep your mouth closed to avoid screaming. “Azriel- get out.” Rhys shouted, and you tried to shake your head in objection. You need Azriel, you gripped his hand tighter, or tried to in your half-conscious state.

               You felt your shirt rip open, and then your hand was released, and steps were taken away from you. “Rhys- what are those- why does she have all those scars on her back?”

               “She can explain when she wakes up.”

               You woke up with a start, a scream on your lips. “Y/N, you’re okay.” A voice said, and you felt two hands rest on your shoulders. You snapped your head to see, Azriel? You looked around, you were in your room, but a chair had been pulled up next to the bed.

               “How long…”

               “3 days.” Azriel stated, settling back down into the chair.

               You nodded, “and…why are you in my room?” You looked around, cautiously looking back at him. He looked…incredulous.

               “Oh I don’t know, maybe I’m just making sure you wake up.” Azriel cocked his head to the side, anger filling his eyes. “Why would you do that Y/N? I would have been perfectly fine, but you almost got yourself killed, you had no right to do that to yourself on my behalf!”

               “It’s not like I can help it!” Your voice was hoarse, and you winced at the scratchiness In your throat. He grabbed a cup of water for you on the nightstand, and you drank almost the whole thing. “Azriel- can I be honest?”

               “Please do, I need a good explanation.” He retorted, sarcasm lacing his tone. His shadows were surrounding you, but seemed almost- relieved.

               “I can’t watch people in pain.” You whispered, “Watching you in pain killed me inside, and even though you hate and can’t stand to be around me, I couldn’t just watch you go through that.”

               “I did hate you.” Azriel says, grabbing your hand. “How else was I supposed to feel? You had killed people I knew, people with families, tortured for fun and acted like you enjoyed it. Hell- I think the whole court hated you.”

               You looked down, nodding, tears in your eyes. “I’m sorry.”

               “You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Y/n.” You looked up, locking eyes with Azriel, “I was such an idiot, the signs were there, and you’re a terrible liar. When I saw the scars on your back, I – I lost my shit. Literally. I don’t Madja is going to let me anywhere near the healing quarters anytime soon.”

               “I was just trying to help people the only way I knew how.” You whispered, a tear spilling. He nodded, reaching up and cupping your face.

               “I feel like a monster too, I’ve killed and tortured, but I’ve always done it in the name of our court.” He exhaled shakily, giving you a small smile. “But you are kind, and I have just been so frustrated over the past couple of months because I wanted to hate you so much- but couldn’t bring myself to. Watching you laugh with Cassian and Feyre, I felt so helpless like you could never open up to me like that. I literally couldn’t even be in the same room as you, because I felt so…jealous for no reason.”

               “Rhys- when he told me about us going together, I was angry. Angry that he would put you in danger just for the sake of getting us to get along.” You watched anger fill his eyes, “and he almost got you killed.”

               “I’m okay.” You reassured, smiling through the tears that were still falling.

               “just make me a promise, okay?” Azriel released the grip on your face and grabbed your hand, fiercely. “I never want you to take my pain again, or anyones for that matter, okay? My pain is mine to bear, alone.”

               You nodded, feeling some relief. “Thank you Azriel, I…this means a lot to me. I’ve been wanting to tell you everything for so long.”

               “I want to hear everything,” he squeezed your hand again, and you could feel your heart flutter. “I will never let you get hurt again, and honestly…Azriel is so formal. I’m okay with Azzie….as long as its between us.”

[cosmosluckycharms]

Show☆Time

this night has opened my eyes

After a while of you sobbing quietly on the floor of your room, you finally got up and locked in.

First off, you changed out of your performer costume into a more casual outfit.

Your performer costume was soaked from the water, so you hung it up to dry and clean later.

You needed a plan

so you started a plan.

You had lots of ideas planned out. All of which were very elaborate.

Different ways to get them all together to make amends, different ways for them to talk, plans to make everyone apologize and get together to become a troop.

You get out your comically large whiteboard and regular-sized markers and start planning on what to do.

You spend a couple of hours finding ideas, only for you to keep running into problems.

You didn't know what to do.

You were stuck.

You decided to just walk to the park to tell Tsukasa you would have to quit, it was nearby anyway.

Walking out of the manor wasn't hard, they wouldn't notice you walking out. They were away at whatever rich people jobs they had.

You never saw them at night, and you never understood why.

As you made your way to the theme park, you tried to make yourself as small as possible to not get seen by anyone bad.

You tried to calm your nerves by thinking of memories to keep your mind off the whole situation.

You think about how one time when you were younger, around 10 years old, while getting up to get water you saw Nightwing in costume in the kitchen.

You saw as he froze like he was shocked to see you walk in.

You smiled at him and waved, you were half asleep and assumed he was a hallucination.

He waved and smiled back to you and you just walked back to your room.

For a while, you assumed that either Nightwing was coming into the manor to steal something, or he was just visiting.

Either that or you were dreaming.

You assumed you were dreaming.

You smiled at the memory. Nightwing has been one of your favorite vigilantes since you were younger.

You liked how his smile seemed to light up the room.

You liked how his smile reminded you of your older brother, Dick's smile.

You wanted to smile like Nightwing and Dick.

You were close to the park when you saw a red hood on a rooftop.

You saw him watching you, somewhat menacingly.

You get scared for a moment, You've heard stories about the crime lord and the people he's killed.

Sure, they were bad people and you had never done anything bad, but you could never be too sure!

You smiled and waved to him, which caught him slightly by surprise. Usually, people didn't smile and wave at someone they were scared of.

You walked a little faster, you needed to hurry before it was too late at night.

The park closes at 9, and it was now 8:26 pm.

You didn't notice how Red Hood kept watching you.

You didn't notice how he started coming towards you.

As soon as he got within 7 feet behind you, you could sense him.

You spun around dramatically to look at him.

You waved to him, again. "Hii!" You said excitedly, hoping this interaction will take your mind off everything. You realized you did not sound as excited as you usually did, probably from the sadness you felt.

"You look happy," He said walking towards you.

He didn't know why he felt the need to talk to you. He had never even had a conversation with you.

"Not really." You looked down at your feet, slightly sad.

You see him sitting down on a bench nearby and patting the seat next to him.

"Well, what's up?" He asks as you sit down next to him.

"What do you mean?" you asked, your leg shaking from nervousness.

Were you in trouble? Had you done something wrong? Why was he stopping you? Didnt he have people to fight?

"I mean, you look upset," He said, pointing out the obvious.

You started explaining everything to him.

About how you started a group and how it fell apart.

"I don't know what to do. I was just on my way to tell my friend I was gonna quit. It's no use to keep trying." You said while having your head in your hands and trying not to cry.

Jason didn't understand.

You usually weren't like this.

You usually wouldn't quit.

You were the type of person to keep going no matter what.

He's seen you fall down and get up likr it was nothing!

He leaned up against the railing of the bench. "Well, why would you quit?"

"What do you mean?" You asked as you lifted your head from your hands.

"I mean, why quit when you're almost there? All you have to do is go to the park, find them, and tell them to keep going. encourage them like you encouraged others." You watched as he stretched a little.

You thought about it for a minute.

"Plus, wouldn't you want to keep going for your grandfather? he would want you to keep going, right?"

He was right.

You had to keep going.

You had to go ahead and convince Tsukasa to apologize to Nene and Rui.

You had to convince them all to stay together.

You got up from the bench.

"Thank you for everything, Mr. Red Hood!" you waved bye to him and started running towards the theme park.

You checked the time on your phone.

8:47 PM

If you ran fast enough, you could probably make it in time to find Tsukasa and make him apologize!

So you ran.

You ran and ran like there was no tomorrow.

When you finally got to the park, you stopped for a second to try and find Tsukasa.

You find him packing his stuff up on the stage, and he has also already taken off his performer costume.

You grabbed him by the shoulders and practically yelled to him "TSUKASA- WENEEDTOGETTHEGROUPBACKTOGETETHERANDANDAND-!" You talked too fast. You made no sense. You were scared and nervous.

"Y-Y/N! Slow down! I can't understand you!" Tsukasa said, his head feeling like it was spinning.

You took a deep breath and started yelling again, this time you accidentally shook him violently. "WE NEED THE GROUP BACK TOGETHER! We need to create smiles! Us breaking up was a dumb idea!" Your eyes were slightly teary, you were passionate about this.

It took a couple of minutes of you convincing Tsukasa (and apologizing for shaking him and leaving him dizzy) before you guys went to look for Nene and Rui.

When you guys finally found them, the park was about to close for the night. You guys had to hurry.

Nene and Tsukasa apologized to each other, Nene for ruining the show and Tsukasa for yelling at her.

Rui was holding a slight grudge, which makes sense, but you were sad about it.

It took all 3 of you to convince him to come back to the stage and forgive Tsukasa, and it worked!

You all got kicked out of the park for the day because technically you guys were trespassing, so you 3 parted ways and went home.

While walking home, you started thinking about your day.

You liked thinking about it, it made you feel like you were living through it again.

You realized you had never told Mr.Red Hood about your grandpa.

How did he know about that?

oh god rhis was so short sorry

PLEASE why do i keep accidentally neglecting emu reader hi guys

also jasons prolly ooc sorru

taglist:@shirp-collector-of-fixations @maybeethan69 @iluvcatzz @tacendxx @ninihrtss @tsxukikami @d3sperate-enuf @staarflowerr @chaoticmoontimetravel @crazycaoticsimp @sugarrush-blush @kaitense1 @ryuushou

[un-fwuit-un-fwog]

HELLOOO👋🏻

Since your requests were open could you do a Leona x fem!reader??

Where the reader is initially wary of men due to past experiences back in her world. So when she's in twst world (more specifically in NRC) she's cautious around boys, but Leona notices and tries to gain her trust. Alot of people misunderstood him being a player, womanizer, mean cruel man etc when he's actually not like that. I guess you're my only hope for a Leona x reader request lololol 😭

Hope you have time to do this req!

Thank you for the request! I've been itching to write more Leona content, and you gave me an excuse to take a moment away from my The Rain series to do so! (I've had a somewhat similar idea rolling around in my head for months, but I'll save that for another fic ;))

I tried not to let the story or its themes veer too far off into. . .unsavory directions/topics, but some things have to be at least acknowledged in a vague way when discussing this topic. I tried to do so as respectfully as possible, but if I failed, please tell me so I can do better!

Synopsis: Fem! Reader who is wary of men grows to trust Leona.

TW: mentions of the reader having previous bad experiences with men, but I tried to keep it rather vague; reader has anxiety about being in a school full of men as well as having to stay with them in the events of book 3; reader gets chased by a guy that wants to beat her up near the end, but Leona steps in (I tried not to make it a princess in distress situation, but tell me if it comes off too much that way)

Being thrown into an unfamiliar world is awful. Being thrown into an unfamiliar world and being stuck in an all male school there? You had to question what kind atrocities you committed in your past life to deserve this fate.

It took you a while, but you managed to make. . .friends here. However, even those bonds were rather unsteady and fragile.

It's not that you hated men. You were simply wary of them. You had had past experiences that were. . .unsavory: being catcalled, the uncomfortable conversations with men who approached you in scarcely populated gas stations at night, the jokes no woman in her right mind would find funny, and even some experiences that to this day keep you up at night wondering what your fate would have been if you had done even the slightest thing differently.

You tried to trust the clearly good-hearted people who you logically knew had no ulterior motives hidden behind their kindness, but it was hard. Traumas are not easily forgotten or healed.

That's why, when the events with Octavinelle went down, you were on the verge of hyperventilating. You were friends with Ace and Deuce, and you trusted them as much as you could muster yourself to allow, but that was them. You didn't know, and certainly didn't trust, everyone who resided in Heartslabyul.

Jack's offer didn't seem much better to you, but when it came down to it, you didn't exactly have any other options.

The arrangement ended up being that you would stay with Leona in his room. You weren't sure if you'd prefer this over staying in a packed room with more people.

He barely acknowledged you, or, at least, it seemed that way at first. As your short time staying with him passed, you noticed some things. For one, Ruggie always complained that when he was waking up Leona, the lion wouldn't even wait for Ruggie to get out of the room to begin getting dressed, but Leona had always changed in the bathroom connected to his room for as long as you had stayed there. He also never got too close to you; and when anyone else did, he'd come up with a conveniently timed task for them to do. He didn't use his bathroom for anything other than changing while you were there, and instead used the dorm showers, leaving you his bathroom to yourself.

Don't get me wrong, he didn't go easy on you. He simply respected you and your right to space and privacy. You aren't sure if this was simply how he was raised, if he had noticed your wariness and acted so as not to worsen it, or if it was a mix of both.

By the end of your stay in Savanaclaw, you had somehow managed to find a sense of security in being there with the lion.

As time passed after your stay at Savanaclaw, you found yourself continuing to sit in the botanical garden during lunch. When Crowley decided you would be required to join a club, you joined the Spelldrive Club as a manager. On the rare occasion you had joint alchemy classes with Leona's class, he was unexpectedly present to class and would always 'begrudgingly' agree to be your partner.

However, what really cemented him in your mind as someone who could be trusted was the incident.

You had to stay after school as Grim had caused trouble again and gotten the two of you into detention. You were allowed to leave a bit early as you hadn't caused as much trouble, and you did because you had errands you had some items you needed to pick up from Sam's shop before it closed for the night.

As you walked through the hallways, you were distracted making a mental grocery list. In your somewhat spacey state, you bumped into another student.

He accused you of bumping into him purposefully and it soon became clear he wasn't planning to let you go unscathed. He was massive compared to you, so you knew that if things were to get physical you wouldn't have a great chance of coming out of things on top, so, you did the only thing you could do at the time and ran.

The other student shouted after you and took chase. You ran for what felt like an eternity. Your legs burned so bad you were astonished you were still managing to take steps, and your lungs felt as though they were on the verge of imploding. You weren't consciously thinking of where you were going as you ran, but you found yourself approaching the botanical garden with the other student hot on your heels.

Telling yourself that if you just gained a little more distance you'd be able to find a spot in the plants to hide without him noticing, you urged your legs to pick up the pace.

However, luck wasn't on your side, and, when you got into the garden, you tripped over an uneven brick on the path and toppled face first into the unforgiving stone. You skidded painfully across the bricks, your knees and palms being skinned in the process.

You did your best to scramble to your feet, but your legs had finally given out.

"Gotcha."

You heard a sickening voice not that far away as footsteps approached you at far too fast a rate for you to crawl into a bush before he reached you.

It was when you were searching the foliage on the sides of the path that you noticed what you had at first mistaken as a stick laying in the path, but upon further inspection you realized to be a tail.

You took in a deep breath before screaming "LEONA!" and praying it would be enough to wake the lion.

"The hell are you babbling about!" The voice of the other student snarled before you felt a harsh grip on your collar yank you up. "I was originally just gonna make you pay up for bumping into me so rudely, but after that chase you put me through, I think my fists have some anger pent up."

You ducked your head and braced for impact, but it never came. What did come was a soft warmth that caught you and held you up once the student's hand had finally released its grip on you. When you opened your eyes, you saw a clearly ticked off Lion.

He had one arm snaked under your shoulder and around your stomach to keep you up, and his other had a firm grip on the guy's wrist.

You were too dazed and hyped up on adrenaline to take in the words the two exchanged, but you swore you heard a crack moments before Leona let go of his wrist. The guy fled and were sure that if he were a beastman he'd have his tail between his legs.

You were torn out of your daze by an uncharacteristically soft, but still gruff voice: "Can you walk?"

It took you a moment to form words, but you eventually managed to reply: "I'm not hurt, but-"

Before you could finish your sentence, your legs were swept out from under you. A brief "'scuse me" left Leona's lips as he picked you up, and an unfamiliar feeling blossomed in your chest.

Seeing the shift in your expression, Leona sighed "Look, I know you like your personal space, but you can't walk and I'd feel like crap if I left ya out here, so I gotta carry you to the infirmary. I woulda asked, but it's not like I could get ya there any other way. You can punch me later if ya want."

The trip to the infirmary was silent. Thoughts raced through your head, but one of the most prominent was: "I called out for him."

You had no other choice but to come to terms with the terrifying realization that you trusted this man. For better or for worse, you trusted him. . .and while it scared you, it also bloomed this warm feeling in your chest.

You let your head fall against his chest as he carried you, and if he took note of that, he didn't let it show.

After you got checked out at the infirmary and reported the incident to Professor Crewel (because we all know Crowley is too incompetent at his job to do anything), Leona walked you back to your dorm.

The two of you never verbally acknowledged the events of that day again, nor did you talk about the feelings that came with them.

He was never not there after that, and you didn't mind the company.

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[gb-patch]

Structure Poll Results

Hello again everyone, GB here!

The release structure poll for Our Life: Now & Forever has closed. Nearly 10,000 people voted, and we got hundreds and hundreds of thoughts people left about the idea. I want to say thank you so much for the supportive and understanding messages. It made me pretty emotional to see how much people loved the game and cared about the team 😭 💖

To restate how this worked, players could vote for or against the idea of OL: N&F releasing Step by Step. We would change our original plan to launch the first three Steps together if people wanted us to. But we wouldn’t do such a major shift if people weren’t interested or there was more of a split in the community. With that said, this is the poll-

Yeah, it’s almost exactly 50/50 between people who want the episodic release and those who don’t actively want it! That could have made this complicated, but after thinking about it and reading the reasons for and against the options, I do think the decision we’re going with will be for the best.

Our Life: Now & Forever will not release episodically. However, there’s going to be truly massive updates to the demo this year.

And this is why: a true early access release with DLC content becoming available would impact things in ways that might not be worth it. Us as a company would have to promote an episodic release the same way we would the entire game launching, and then we’d have do that again when the next Step came out. We’d have to be concerned with sales numbers and such before the base game was even done. Also, the game would be releasing for the entire world, not just for our current players. That isn’t the type of work we want to jump into ASAP unless it was what a majority of players really wanted. The point of this was always meant to be something good for the people most excited about the project.

If we keep OL:NF as a demo and focus on putting out a ton of the free-to-play parts of the story, we can make this all about our fanbase and that’s it. We could drop a 100,000 word demo update and move on with our day like it’s nothing ‘cause it’s not a proper launch. A lot of the best content has been left out of the demo, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. We could make the demo a more fulfilling experience without impacting anything behind the scenes or putting anything up for sale.

Not only that, but those who don’t want to see too much of the game before it’s fully launched will then be able to avoid the extra content more easily since it’s hidden away as a demo instead of getting the full marketing treatment. Sure, it might confuse newcomers who try the demo and find out it’s absurdly long for a demo, however that’s not the end of the world.

Since there is this clear divide, I think a compromise that tries to avoid the main things people were worried about while keeping as many of the benefits as we can is better than simply choosing one side or the other.

I hope that sounds like a positive development. Look forward to future announcements about the mega-sized demo expansions that will be on the way in coming months! And thank you again for following along with the development of Our Life: Now & Forever 🥰️

[reflectionsofacreator]

[takes a long drink from my Arizona iced tea] so like one of the central themes for FFXV is like, growing up, sure. You know that, I know that, whatever. Coming of age, coming into your own, taking the mantle of king, whatever you wanna call it. Cool, awesome, we love a good coming of age story!

But I find the sub theme of that one to be probably the most fascinating? By and large, all the chocobros have to deal with the fallout of being lied to by the adult figures in their lives, and it's the most prevalent with Noctis and Gladio. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of it in Ignis and Prompto too, but the particularly insidious way that Noctis and especially Gladio were lied to sometimes gets me.

See I don't even really think it was actually all that intentional. Not really a conscious act by Regis and Clarus, or the society around them? More like... I dunno, the lies that you get told by your parents as a little kid and you grow up to realize that the world is a lot different than you thought.

That being said, Noctis was absolutely lied to by his father; both about the nature of the King of Light and the idea that he'd succeed Regis as reigning monarch. Regis did it out of love, knowing that Noctis would die young, and reasoned that Noctis should get to have a relatively normal life, but it was still a lie. Gladio, likewise, was lied to by his father and Regis, told that he would be the next monarch's Shield, that he would fulfill a role that's got a pretty set expectation in their society.

See, Gladio expects Noctis to act a certain way, to act as King, and he gets increasingly frustrated when Noctis doesn't, or can't live up to that. He's not precisely wrong to expect it either, given their roles and their statues, and knowing that they're taking the throne during a full blown war. The problem is that Noctis was never taught how to be the thing that Gladio was told Noctis was going to be? And that's what causes friction with them all the time. It's fascinating, watching it play out and realizing the underlying issues with their relationships actually have very little to do with them as people and instead because of what they were told to expect from each other.

Gladio is also his own kettle of fish that I don't think the narrative is quite self aware enough to articulate properly, or even get into. Gladio falls into the trap of toxic masculinity very often -- struggling to articulate his feelings, expressing most of his feelings as anger, picking fights rather than talking about what's going on, using his strength as both a character aspect and bonus, etc. The list goes on. There's also the fact that he's sort of portrayed as a bit of a womanizer and the masculine ideal; tall, rugged, strong, etc which plays into all of that. XV plays him very straight (and straight) with these concepts, and just sort of ... expects it to be fine? Which is at odds with how the other three bros interact and are more emotionally available towards each other, leaving Gladio as one of the weaker bros in canon.

It kind of sucks too, because like, there's so much to unpack with him? His DLC is about wanting to have the strength to protect Noctis on the surface, but really when you look at it... you could also argue that the DLC is about Gladio's fears that he'll end up as dead as his dad did (ha, try that for alliteration) and the crushing weight of failure. Gladio has every right to fear his mortality, fear the fact that he is, nominally, the first in line on the battlefield and the the last defense for Noctis. If Noctis is to die, they will go through him first, and that's! Scary! But the game doesn't really get into that, hardly at all, and it makes picking up the pieces for Gladio kind of frustrating. Out of all the bros, he's the one I have to dig the most to find any kind of depth despite being prime real estate for it.

Anyways Gladio and Noctis' dynamic is fascinating if you actually start to unpack it, especially because it's built on the lies that their fathers fed them as children (that they themselves also bought into). I'd go so far to argue that between the two pairs, Noct/Gladio is in much more of a dire need to sit down and actually hash out what they are to each other, outside of their king/shield dynamic. Noct/Iggy certainly has shades of that, but Ignis has decided that they are friends and that he will defy fate if he must, let the world burn if he must, to save Noct's life. That has some depth beyond king/retainer that they're presented as. Noct/Gladio are sort of just... falling into the king/shield dynamic because they're expected to, and it sort of hampers their relationship and their communication.

I'm gonna scramble them both like eggs, probably into an omelette. They make me Think you know

[keeryhours]

nothing’s gonna hurt you, baby - chapter one

DBF!older!Eddie Munson x female! Harrington! reader

Main Masterlist

Eddie Munson Masterlist

Summary:

You’re new to Hawkins, and your dad’s best friend helps you move in. You have…complicated feelings about each other right away.

Warnings:

(18+), masturbation (male and female) and smutty fantasies, perv!Eddie, this is just really horny tbh, pining, age gap (reader is 19 Eddie is 45), dad’s best friend trope

Word Count: 3.2k

A/N:

I know, I know, another series. But this one popped in my head and had to be written down! Thank you @punkrockmlchael for my banner and for being amazing, @the-witty-pen-name for reading over it for me, and @fizzing-imagines for pretty much talking through this whole series with me. Dividers by @/sisterlucifergraphics

Your parents divorce hadn’t exactly come as a surprise to you.

There were a lot of fights near the end. Endless screaming match fights, mom coming home late, dad demanding to know where she’d been, even though deep down he already knew. When they had sat you down and told you about the divorce, it had been a relief.

You wanted to stay with your dad. You were 19 and had taken a gap year to try to figure out what you wanted to do with your life - which you still had no idea. But this involved living at home while you worked at a local bookstore.

The worst part of the divorce was when your dad sat you down and told you you were moving - from beautiful Colorado, to…Hawkins, Indiana? Your dad’s hometown, which you’d never visited. A town where nothing much seemed to happen, just farmland and small town life. You were not thrilled.

You still weren’t thrilled as you packed up the last of your stuff into the moving truck and began the nearly 20 hour drive. Your dad tried to keep you in high spirits, telling you all about his good memories in Hawkins, and you appreciated the effort, but it didn’t help.

You stopped along the way to spend the night in a hotel. Your dad was trying his best, but he couldn’t drive that long without a rest. And you were ready to get out of the truck and stretch anyway, sending texts to your friends about how bummed you were to be leaving.

The next day you finished the drive, finally passing the small Welcome to Hawkins sign. Your new home.

“Here we are, sweetheart,” your dad said, looking at you with feigned enthusiasm. You smiled softly back at him.

“Yeah, it…it looks great,” you managed.

Your dad’s smile faltered, and he reached a hand over to squeeze your knee. “It’s going to be alright, honey. I know you’ll get used to it here. I know it’s not home, but it’s not all bad. And I’m sure you’ll make lots of friends at college.”

You wanted your old friends. You wanted to go to the same college together, the way you’d planned. You wanted to make the most out of things, find something to love about Hawkins, but it was hard when you were mourning the life you left behind.

As you reached the part of town where your new house was, your dad pulled out his phone. “Hey, Munson! We’re just down the road.”

Eddie Munson - your dad’s best friend. They had met in high school here at Hawkins, and had remained best friends all these years, even with the distance. They talked on the phone regularly. You’d never met or even seen the guy, but he was coming over to help you move in.

Your dad finished his phone call just as you pulled up to the single story white house, cute but much smaller than the one you’d lived in before. You hopped out of the truck the second it stopped, stretching your stiff limbs. Your crop top raised higher with your arms in the air, your tiny shorts not covering much but keeping you cool from the end of summer heat.

“Munson!” You heard your dad yell from behind you, sounding much happier than you’d heard him in months.

You turned in time to see the hottest guy you’d ever seen walking your way.

The first thing you noticed was his long, wild curly hair hanging down past his shoulders. He was dressed in a tight pair of jeans with a chain hanging from them and an Iron Maiden tee - his style nothing the way you’d imagined him with being your dad’s best friend. You were thinking more…boring, polo shirts and khakis. But no, the man in front of you was hot. He had a little facial hair, a strong nose, and big chocolate brown eyes that had lingered on your frame before snapping towards your father.

“Harrington!” He greeted him, and they pulled each other into a tight hug. “What’s up, man? Haven’t seen you in 20 years.”

“I know, I know,” your dad said with a laugh as they pulled away. “It’s good to be back in town. Oh!” He turned behind him, reaching for you. You moved to stand next to him, seeing Eddie up close for the first time. “Ed, this is my daughter,” he said, introducing you by name.

The second those big brown eyes met yours, you were doomed.

He gave you a suave smile, holding out a large hand adorned with multiple silver rings. “Hi. I’m Eddie.”

You took his hand in yours, feeling the rush of electricity up your arm so intense you almost dropped it. You told him your name and he repeated it back, his other hand coming to rest on top of yours. You had never heard your name sound so beautiful, as seductive, as it had when it came from Eddie’s lips.

Oh, you were fucked.

“Let’s get started, yeah?” Your dad said, already opening the back of the moving truck. “I’d like to sleep in my own bed tonight.”

The three of you stayed busy moving furniture and boxes all day, until it got dark and your dad sat down on the couch with a groan. “Okay, I think that’s good for today. Pizza and beers, anyone?” He asked, before turning to point a finger at you - “Soda for you, little lady.” You rolled your eyes, but couldn’t help a smile.

“Sounds great,” Eddie said, taking a seat on the recliner.

Your dad ordered the pizzas, and before long you were relaxing as you ate, your dad and Eddie buzzing a little from the beers they’d had. You listened to them reminiscing on their years in Hawkins, updates on all their old friends, talking about their current life.

“How’s the shop?” Your dad asked, taking another swig of his beer.

“Oh, it’s going great,” Eddie said, a smile on his face as he relaxed in the chair with his drink. “I’m about ready to hire someone to help out part time.”

Your dad immediately turned to look at you.

“What?” You asked. “Me?”

“You’d love it,” he said. “Ed owns…basically a nerd store. Music, books, D&D stuff…”

Eddie huffed a short laugh. “Yeah, my nerd store.”

“But seriously. You would love it.” Your dad gave you a hopeful look. “What do you say?”

“Um…sure,” you agreed, to which your dad looked victorious.

“Cool,” Eddie said, relaxed and casual. “You can start Monday.”

After eating, Eddie helped you unpack some of the boxes. Your dad waved him off - “I’ve got it, go help her in her room.” So, Eddie followed you to your brand new bedroom, your heart thumping in your chest.

“Um, just pick any box, I guess,” you said, grabbing one of your boxes of books and opening it. You began unpacking the books and placing them on your shelves. You heard Eddie working behind you, until you heard a surprised little “Oh!”

You turned to see Eddie had opened a box of your clothes, with all of your underwear right on top - oh yeah, and your vibrator. You blushed furiously, grabbing the box from him and shoving it into the closet. “Sorry. I’m sorry.”

Eddie chuckled. “Hey, it’s okay.” But you couldn’t even look at him, your cheeks heated like flames kissing your skin. Of course he had to open that one box.

“You have good taste in music,” he said as he moved on to another containing your record collection. He flipped through the different artists - Bowie, Metallica, The Beatles, Iron Maiden. “I didn’t know you were into records.”

“Oh, yeah,” you smiled. “Dad gave me his old collection, and then I just started collecting them myself.”

“Cool,” Eddie said again, a small smirk on his lips. “You’ll get a discount at the shop. On records, books, whatever.”

That was excellent news. Records weren’t exactly cheap, and you loved to read, too. Working at this shop wasn’t going to be so bad.

When you’d all finished for the night, Steve gave Eddie a hug at the door. “Thanks for coming, man. You coming over tomorrow, too?”

“Yeah,” Eddie agreed. “I’ll see you guys then.”

He gave you a lingering look as he left, one you weren’t sure if you imagined or not. Maybe you just wanted him to look at you in that way.

That night, Eddie drove himself home, fingers white knuckled on the steering wheel. Fuck, this was bad. There was no denying he was attracted to you. He wanted you bad. But he could never act on it, and he knew this. You were completely off-limits. Forever.

But god, your body. When he had walked up and saw you stretching, those tiny little jean shorts, the expanse of the skin of your back as your shirt rode up - that little crop top that already did very little to hide anything - he prayed that you weren’t Steve’s daughter. He prayed that you were some neighbor, some girl he could flirt with and bring home - but of course not.

Eddie was still thinking about you when he pulled up at his own trailer. He thought of you as he walked up to the front door and unlocked it, thinking of pushing you up against it and kissing you frantically as he attempted to open the door. He walked inside and thought about having you on his lap on the couch, feeling you grinding down on his hard cock, letting him get his mouth all over your tits.

He walked into the bathroom and was still thinking of you as he started the shower and slipped out of his clothes. He was rock hard from the thought, just thinking about you in any way had his cock aching. As he climbed into the shower, he thought of the box of your sexy little panties and bras, the vibrator sitting right on top. He thought you must use it pretty often to want to keep it so accessible - maybe you were using it right now.

He thought about you turning it on, rubbing it around your hard nipples to tease yourself just like he would before moving it farther down your body. He wrapped his hand around his cock as he thought about you teasing your clit with it, the pretty little moans that would be spilling from your lips as you pleasured yourself. He began stroking his cock to the thought, hand moving slowly at first as he pictured you just barely teasing yourself, then speeding up as he thought of you bucking your hips up, desperate for more pleasure as you neared your orgasm.

Eddie placed a hand on the shower wall to brace himself, his right hand vigorously pumping his cock, legs beginning to tremble as he thought about you slipping your other hand down your body and pushing two fingers into your needy little cunt. You’d be thinking of him, thinking of how he’d fill you. Your hands wouldn’t even compare to the way he’d stretch you out with his cock.

He ran his thumb over his tip, collecting the precum there and rubbing it down the rest of his shaft. He squeezed the base of his cock, absolutely throbbing in his hand, so desperate for you. God, what if he came over and snuck through your window, found you pleasuring yourself to the thought of him, slipped inside to crawl between your legs and lick at your soaking wet pussy, tasting you-

Eddie cried out as he came unexpectedly, ropes of cum shooting out and covering the shower wall as he moaned your name. He continued pumping his cock until every drop had been spent - completely drained, he had cum harder than he had in years. All to the thought of you

He was fucked.

In your room that night, alone, you thought of Eddie. You flicked your vibrator on, thinking of how hot he had looked, the way he looked at you, what you wish he’d do to you. You made yourself cum over and over to the thought of him between your legs, pleasuring you, being the one to make you feel so good.

The next morning, you felt a little awkward facing your dad.

He made breakfast for the two of you and you sat at the small table together, digging into your eggs and bacon.

“How are you settling in?” Your dad asked. “Your room comfy enough?”

“Yeah,” you answered casually. You had been plenty comfortable last night. “So, uh…Eddie’s coming back over today?”

“Yep,” he answered. “Should be over after breakfast.”

You thought for a moment. There was much you wanted to know about Eddie, but you had to ask without raising suspicion. “How did you guys meet?”

Your dad smiled as he took a bite of bacon. “Spring break ‘86. Aunt Robin introduced us. Speaking of Robs, she’ll be over today, too.”

You smiled at the mention of your aunt, who was your dad’s other best friend. “Is he…married?”

Steve laughed lightly. “Ed? No, never got married. Did date one girl pretty seriously for a while, but never married. Single now. He needs somebody.” Your dad looked lost in thought. “Maybe I can set him up with someone.”

You wanted to say no to that, but held your tongue. “Does he have any kids?” Your dad gave a strange look to that question, so you quickly added, “You know, that I could hang out with?”

“No kids,” he said. “But you and Eddie have a lot in common. I’m sure you’ll get along working at the store.”

After breakfast, you hurried back to your room, looking for something to wear that might catch Eddie’s attention. You knew it was silly, like a crush on a teacher. It was forbidden and you knew he would never look at you in the way you wanted him to. But still…

You dressed in a sundress this time, the top low cut and the skirt showing most of your thighs. The kind of dress you couldn’t bend over in. When you walked out of your room and down the hall where you could hear voices, you stood up straight, fixed your hair, and walked into the room.

His gaze went to you immediately. Within a matter of seconds his eyes trailed over your frame, taking in your cleavage, the way the dress hugged your curves, your thighs disappearing beneath the short skirt. He wanted to bend you over and lift that skirt, push your panties to the side and-

“She’s finally here!” Your dad exclaimed dramatically, as if you hadn’t just gone to get ready. “Ready to get started?”

Your dad and Robin worked in the living room while he sent you and Eddie back to your room to unpack. You had made sure there were no more embarrassing boxes for him to uncover.

The way you’d bend over in front of him did not go unnoticed by Eddie. The slightest flash of your white lace panties, the swell of your perfect ass. He wanted to dive in, to taste that pretty little pussy. I bet it tastes so sweet, he thought to himself, practically drooling at the sight. I bet it would be so tight around my cock.

You weren’t sure if your little show was working, but you hoped it was. You wanted Eddie to notice you, badly. You wanted to know how he tasted, how he fucked. If he could make you feel like a real woman.

So you and Eddie unpacked your room together, both pretending like you didn’t want to rip the others’ clothes off right then and there. You weren’t a virgin, but you’d never been with a guy so much older before. The thought thrilled you, made you impossibly wet as you thought of Eddie and all the things he could do to you, the things he could show you.

When you were done unpacking for the day, your dad ordered out for everyone again. As Eddie left your room behind you, he spotted a pair of light pink panties on the floor by the door. He looked around, making sure no one was paying attention - then swiped them, stuffing them in the back pocket of his jeans. Something to hold onto.

Back in the kitchen, you watched your dad and Robin filling their plates at the counter as you stood back, waiting for them to be done.

“Excuse me, princess,” a low voice sounded right in your ear, making you shudder as Eddie’s hand sat right on your hip, slid around to cup your ass for only a moment before he was letting go and slipping past you. You weren’t even sure if you’d imagined it or if he’d really touched you like that. Maybe it was an accident? Your mind was swimming.

Your dad and Robin went back into the living room, bickering over the living room paint color as you moved towards the food. Eddie gave you one last knowing smirk before he grabbed his plate and beer, winking at you as he left.

After dinner, you said your goodbyes for the night. Your mind was still swimming with thoughts of Eddie as you took your shower, fingers dipping between your folds as you thought of how hot he’d looked today, the way he’d looked at your body, the way he touched you. His name was on your lips as you came.

At Eddie’s house, he pulled the panties out of his back pocket as soon as he got home. He went into his bedroom, stripped his clothes off, pushing his boxers down to release his aching cock. He laid back on his bed, wrapping the panties around his shaft as he stroked himself, thinking of you, thinking of your pussy. How badly he wished you were sitting on his face, letting him drink his fill of you, making you cum over and over again on his tongue. He thought of how you’d worn these panties, how they’d look on you - how he caught the slightest glimpse of your panties today, how he needed to see more.

Eddie jerked himself off faster, the soft material of the panties providing delicious friction against his dick. It was throbbing in his hand, he had just cum the night before to the thought of you and now he was aching to do it again. He felt like a fucking teenager again, so desperate for you, so desperate for relief. He hadn’t felt so desperate for a woman in years. Maybe ever.

He had it bad for you. And of course you had to be a Harrington - Steve’s daughter, even - you were totally off limits. All he could do was imagine the way he’d fuck you, the way tears would stream from your eyes as he fucked his thick cock into you for the first time, telling you you can take it, just a little more -

Eddie’s release spilled over his hand and all over the cute little panties, tainting them. Afterwards he felt guilty, like a real fucking creep.

Eddie was in trouble.

tag list

@ali-r3n

[amethystarachnid]

hey! i JUST saw your love is in the air game (and im so happy im online right now)

could i request trope 1. baker with logan howlett and fem!reader? thanks! surprise me with the plot, i love reading your ideas and writing 🤍 (like seriously, you’re a magician) my only plot-wise detail is fluff fluff and more fluff 🥹

thank you so much!!!

SUGAR & FLOUR

⤷ JAMES LOGAN HOWLETT

ᯓ★ Pairing: James Logan Howlett x fem!reader

ᯓ★ Genre: fluff, romance

ᯓ★ Story type: short story

ᯓ★ Word count: 5.4k

ᯓ★ Summary: Logan keeps telling himself that the reason he keeps coming back at your bakery is because your food is good, defitnely not because you're the most beautiful woman he has ever seen

ᯓ★ TW(s): some spicy scenes, nothing too explicit

ᯓ★ Timeline: modern days

ᯓ★ omg your words are so sweet, I'm so happy that you like my works <3

ᯓ★ From: MARVEL Love is in the air - Valentine's Day special game

ᯓ★ Comment if you want to be added to the taglist (specify if you want the everything taglist or for a specific character)

ᯓ★ Songs & Superheroes tales - The Game (to make a request, follow the rules on the link!)

ᯓ★ MARVEL Multiverse - choose an AU, pair it with your favorite character and make a request!

ᯓ★ MARVEL Bingo (requests open)

ᯓ★ My Masterlist

ᯓ★ If you are a Charles Xavier lover click on this link!

ᯓ★ English isn't my first language and this isn’t proof read

It starts with a craving. Not for violence, for once. Not for a beer, though that's a close second. Just a simple, nagging, stubborn craving for something sweet. Something good.

Logan doesn't know why. Maybe it's because dinner at the mansion sucked tonight—something suspiciously green that even Hank avoided. Maybe it’s because it’s been a long week filled with headaches, Charles’s lectures, and Scott being Scott. Or maybe it’s just the damn cold creeping into his bones, the way winter in Westchester always does, no matter how many years he’s been here.

Either way, he’s out, walking through the quieter part of town, hands shoved in his jacket pockets, when the scent hits him. Warm sugar, butter, cinnamon. Vanilla, maybe. It curls in the air, thick and golden, like something out of an old memory he can’t quite place. His stomach tightens in response, and his feet follow before his brain fully catches up.

The bakery is small, tucked between a bookstore and a flower shop, the kind of place you don’t notice unless you’re looking for it. A little bell jingles when he pushes the door open, and the warmth inside immediately wraps around him, chasing away the winter chill. Soft light, wooden shelves lined with pastries, and a glass display case filled with enough sugar to put someone in a coma. But none of that is what makes him pause.

It’s you.

You stand behind the counter, apron dusted with flour, a smudge of chocolate on your cheek, completely oblivious to the way you just knocked the air out of his lungs. You’re talking to an older woman, smiling as you tuck a small box into a bag, laughing at something she says. It’s a good laugh. A real one. Logan tells himself that’s not why he lingers.

He clears his throat.

You look over, and damn if it doesn’t hit him again, something warm and strange settling in his chest. You blink, surprised—maybe because he looks like he just walked in from the woods (which, to be fair, he kind of did). But then your expression softens into something friendly, open.

“Hey there,” you greet, wiping your hands on your apron as you step closer. “Welcome in. What can I get you?”

Logan glances at the display case, like he didn’t just come in here because his gut told him to. There are cookies, muffins, little cakes. Delicate pastries that look too pretty to eat. A basket of croissants that reminds him of—

He shakes his head, clearing that thought before it forms.

“What’s good?” he asks gruffly.

Your lips twitch, like you’re holding back a smile. “Everything,” you answer easily. “But if you want my personal recommendation… the cinnamon rolls just came out of the oven.”

Logan considers. He likes cinnamon rolls well enough. But mostly, he likes the way your eyes brighten when you talk about them.

“Yeah,” he says. “Alright. Gimme one of those.”

“One?” you tease, already reaching for a paper bag. “You sure?”

His lips twitch before he catches himself. “Fine. Two.”

You flash him a smile as you bag them up, and Logan tells himself the warmth in his chest is just from the damn oven.

That should be the end of it.

Logan has his cinnamon rolls. They’re good—better than good, actually—but he’s not the kind of guy who goes out of his way for pastries. He eats, he leaves, he doesn’t think about it again.

Except… he does.

Because two days later, he’s back.

This time, it’s for the muffins. Blueberry, fresh out of the oven. The way you light up when you see him walk in? That’s not why he comes back.

And then it’s three days later, for the croissants. Then again for something called a bear claw (which he orders just to make a joke, but you smile and say, “Good choice,” like you mean it, and he forgets whatever smartass comment he was about to make).

And, well. He’s not a complete idiot. He knows exactly what’s happening.

So does everyone else.

Because when he shows up at the mansion carrying a box filled with sweets for the third time in a week, he barely makes it two steps inside before—

“Well, well,” Scott drawls from the staircase. “Look who’s got a sweet tooth.”

Logan grunts. “Back off, One-Eye.”

Scott smirks. “I’m just saying, you’re bringing home a lot of pastries lately. Like… a lot.”

Jean walks by, peeking into the box in his hands before glancing up with knowing amusement. “Oh, those are from Sugar & Flour downtown, right?”

Logan frowns. “You been there?”

“Of course. It’s amazing. Their cinnamon rolls are the best thing ever.” Then she pauses, raising a brow. “Wait. How did you find that place?”

“Luck,” Logan mutters.

At that moment, Charles wheels into the hallway, glancing between Logan and the box like he’s already reading way too much into this. “Ah,” he says, amused. “I see we have another delivery from Logan’s bakery of choice.”

“I don’t have a bakery of choice,” Logan grumbles.

“Strange, considering how often you return.”

Logan scowls. “You want a damn pastry or not?”

Charles chuckles. “I wouldn’t mind a croissant.”

With a sigh, Logan drops the box onto the nearest table and stalks off before they can get any more ideas.

You’re wiping down the counter when the bell chimes again, and there he is. The gruff, broad-shouldered, flannel-wearing mystery man who keeps coming back.

Not that you’re complaining.

He’s got that same look—like he’s not quite sure why he’s here, like his feet brought him inside before his brain caught up. You like that look. It makes you want to smile.

“Back again?” you tease, setting down your rag.

He huffs, like he wants to be annoyed but can’t quite manage it. “Yeah, well. That last batch of muffins was pretty good.”

“Uh-huh.” You prop your elbows on the counter. “And what’s the excuse this time?”

He hesitates, like he’s debating how much to say. Then, finally:

“Needed to clear my head.”

Your expression softens. “Long day?”

Something flickers in his eyes. He doesn’t say much, just nods.

You nod back, understanding. “Then you’re in the right place. Because if there’s one thing I know, it’s that good food makes everything better.”

That earns a quiet huff of laughter. “That so?”

“Absolutely.” You grin. “So, what’ll it be?”

He hesitates again, glancing at the case like he’s searching for something. Then, finally, he looks back at you.

“What do you recommend?”

The words are simple. Casual. But there’s something else in his expression—something warm, something fond. Like he’s not really asking about the pastries at all.

Your stomach does a little flip, and you smile.

“Well,” you say. “I just pulled a fresh batch of cinnamon rolls out of the oven.”

Logan’s mouth twitches, like he’s fighting a smile. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

And when he says, “Alright. Gimme two,” you swear you hear something unspoken in the words.

Something you really, really hope is real.

Logan becomes a regular before he even realizes it.

At first, it’s just every couple of days. Then it’s every other day. And then, somehow, it’s every damn morning.

Not that he’s counting.

And sure, maybe at first he convinced himself it was just the food. Because the food is good—ridiculously so. But if that were the only reason, he wouldn’t take the extra five minutes just to make sure his flannel doesn’t smell like cigars before stepping inside. He wouldn’t always wait an extra second after ordering just to hear you talk. He wouldn’t leave the bakery feeling a little lighter, like the weight of the world isn’t quite so heavy.

The fact that you always smile when you see him? Yeah, that’s got nothing to do with it.

Of course, the X-Men don’t let him live it down.

“Tell me, Logan,” Charles says one evening as Logan walks in with yet another bakery box. “Are you purchasing shares in this establishment? Or is there another reason for your continued patronage?”

Logan glares. “I hate you.”

“I highly doubt that.”

Jean, seated at the table, hides a smile behind her hand. “So, what’s today’s selection?”

“Apple turnovers,” Logan grumbles, dropping the box down. “They looked good.”

Scott snickers. “Or someone looked good.”

Logan grabs a pastry and shoves it into Scott’s hand—maybe a little harder than necessary. “Eat your damn turnover, Summers.”

But despite the teasing, Logan doesn’t stop going.

And the more he shows up, the more you two start talking.

At first, it’s just light chatter. You ask him about his day, and he shrugs it off. He asks how business is going, and you smile and tell him about the customers, the new recipes you’re testing, the early mornings that come with the job. Sometimes he just listens, watching the way your hands move as you talk, the way your eyes brighten when you describe the perfect rise on a loaf of bread.

And then, somewhere along the way, the conversations change.

One morning, after he complains about the cold, you tell him how you grew up in a place where it never snowed, and winter still feels like a novelty. Another time, after you mention being up before dawn, he tells you about the long nights on the road, the places he’s been, the years that blur together.

It’s easy.

Easier than it should be.

And Logan? He’s not used to that.

Then February rolls around.

The first time he walks in and sees pink and red creeping into the bakery—heart-shaped cookie cutters on the counter, little pastel sprinkles in glass jars—he almost turns around.

But then you spot him and smile, and, well. There’s no walking away from that.

“Morning, Logan.” You set down a tray of what looks like strawberry muffins. “What do you think?”

He blinks. “About what?”

You gesture around the bakery. “The decorations! I’m getting everything ready for Valentine’s Day.”

Logan eyes the little paper hearts now pinned to the walls. “Huh.”

You tilt your head. “That’s it? Huh?”

Logan shrugs. “Never been my thing.”

You gasp, clutching your apron dramatically. “How dare you. Valentine’s Day is great.”

“Yeah?” He raises a brow. “What’s so great about it?”

“Oh, come on.” You lean against the counter. “It’s a whole day dedicated to love and affection and just… happiness. Even if you’re not in a relationship, it’s nice seeing people make an effort for each other.”

Logan watches you for a moment. You’re serious. You really believe that.

“Huh,” he says again, but this time, it’s thoughtful.

Then you grin. “And also, it’s an amazing day for bakeries.”

That makes him chuckle. “Yeah, I bet.”

You nod, excited. “I’m thinking of doing a special menu for the holiday. Heart-shaped cookies, pink velvet cupcakes, maybe even some fancy chocolates. What do you think?”

Logan exhales through his nose, shaking his head. “Dunno if I’m the guy to ask about that.”

“Come on,” you tease. “You’ve basically tried half my menu by now. You’ve got opinions.”

Logan smirks. “That so?”

“Absolutely.”

And, well. He figures there are worse things than helping you brainstorm ideas for heart-shaped baked goods.

So he does.

He listens while you bounce ideas off him, tells you which pastries sound best, even reaches up to help pin some of the paper hearts a little higher when you struggle to reach. He doesn’t let himself think about how domestic it feels—just you and him, alone in the quiet morning, talking about something as simple as sugar cookies.

He definitely doesn’t think about how good it feels.

Then February 14th arrives.

Logan wakes up that morning already annoyed with himself.

Because for the past week, he hasn’t been able to get you out of his head. The way you lit up when you talked about Valentine’s Day. The way you stood on your tiptoes to hang decorations, laughing when he grabbed the tape out of your hands and did it for you.

The way he almost—almost—let himself imagine what it would be like if he had someone like you.

Which is stupid.

He’s never been the flowers-and-romance kind of guy. He doesn’t do relationships, doesn’t do soft, doesn’t do happy endings.

Except.

When he walks into town that morning, his feet don’t take him straight to the bakery.

They take him to the flower shop next door.

The bell jingles as he steps inside, and an older woman behind the counter looks up with a bright smile. “Good morning! What can I—”

Then she pauses, eyes flicking over his flannel, his scowl, the whole him of it all.

“Let me guess,” she says knowingly. “Valentine’s Day surprise?”

Logan grunts. “Somethin’ like that.”

She hums, eyeing him thoughtfully. “Roses? Or maybe something softer… tulips? Peonies?”

Logan hesitates, then exhales sharply. “I dunno. Just… something nice.”

Her smile turns warm. “I’ve got just the thing.”

By the time Logan walks into the bakery, there’s a bouquet of fresh flowers in his hand. Nothing over-the-top. Just a mix of soft colors, something simple. Something nice.

You’re at the counter, already busy with the morning rush, but when the bell chimes, you glance up—and freeze.

Logan shifts awkwardly, clearing his throat. “Uh. Hey.”

Your eyes flick from him to the flowers.

Then back to him.

Then back to the flowers.

And when you look back up, your expression is—

Oh.

Something in Logan’s chest tightens.

Because you’re looking at him like he just handed you the world.

“Are those…?” Your voice is softer than usual, like you’re afraid to break whatever this moment is.

Logan grunts. “Yeah. They’re for you.”

You stare at him, wide-eyed, lips parting like you’re about to say something. Then, suddenly, a customer calls your name, and you blink, snapping back to reality.

“One sec!” you tell them before turning back to Logan, flustered. “I—um. Let me just—”

You reach for the flowers, hands brushing his, and damn it, why is his heart beating faster?

“They’re beautiful,” you say softly.

Logan swallows. “Yeah, well.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Seemed like the kinda day for it.”

Your smile turns shy, and Logan tells himself he’s not melting.

Then he exhales, shifting his weight. “Listen. You, uh… got plans tonight?”

Your breath catches. “Tonight?”

He nods, trying not to look as damn awkward as he feels. “Yeah. Figured… maybe I could take you to dinner. If you want.”

For a second, you just stare. Then—

“Yes.”

It’s immediate. No hesitation.

Logan blinks. “Yeah?”

You laugh, still holding the flowers close. “Yeah. Of course.”

And, well.

Logan might not be the flowers-and-romance kind of guy.

But as you smile at him—bright and happy, like he just gave you the best gift in the world—he thinks that maybe, just maybe, he could be.

For you.

You don’t consider yourself a nervous person.

You run a business. You wake up before the sun, manage suppliers, handle customers with difficult requests. You can face a crowd and talk about your pastries with confidence, even when the pressure is on.

But as you stand in front of your mirror, smoothing down your dress for the fourth time, you feel nervous in a way that’s completely unfamiliar.

Because this isn’t just a date. It’s a date with Logan.

The gruff, flannel-wearing, cinnamon roll-loving man who somehow wormed his way into your daily routine—and, if you’re being honest, your thoughts, too.

You take a slow breath, stepping back to look at yourself.

The dress isn’t anything over-the-top—simple, flattering, something soft and flowy in a color that makes your skin glow just right. You’d debated going more casual, but… something told you Logan deserved the effort. And judging by how he showed up earlier with flowers, he might be making an effort too.

That thought alone makes your stomach flip.

Then the sound of an engine outside draws your attention.

Not the deep, familiar rumble of a motorcycle.

A car.

You peek through the window, and sure enough, there’s a sleek black car parked outside.

And standing next to it, looking more put-together than you’ve ever seen him, is Logan.

You blink.

Because—okay. He still looks like Logan. But the usual flannel has been swapped for a dark button-up, the sleeves rolled to his forearms, and his hair looks… good. Like he actually ran a hand through it with intention. And he’s standing there, leaning against the car like he’s trying so hard to look casual but can’t quite pull it off.

You grab your coat and step outside, feeling the winter air nip at your bare skin.

Logan straightens the second he sees you.

His eyes sweep over you—down, then up again, slower this time. And for a moment, he just looks.

Then he clears his throat. “You look… good.”

You smile, warmth blooming in your chest. “Thanks.”

Then you glance at the car. “So, what’s this?”

Logan exhales through his nose, running a hand over the back of his neck. “Charles’ idea.”

Your brows lift. “Charles told you to get a car?”

“He suggested it.” Logan scowls slightly. “Said if you were gonna wear a dress, showin’ up with the bike was a dumbass move.”

Your lips twitch. “I mean, he’s got a point.”

Logan sighs. “Yeah, yeah.” Then, hesitantly, he gestures toward the car. “You ready?”

You nod, and he opens the door for you.

It’s a small thing, but something about it makes your heart do another little flip.

Dinner is, unsurprisingly, very Valentine’s Day-themed.

Which means that when you walk in, you’re immediately hit with dim candlelight, soft music, and an overwhelming number of couples sharing desserts with tiny forks.

Logan pauses just inside the door, scanning the restaurant like he’s sizing up a fight.

You bite back a laugh. “Regretting this already?”

He grunts. “Didn’t think it’d be this… pink.”

You grin. “What, no love for the holiday spirit?”

Logan just gives you a look, and you laugh as the host leads you to a table.

Despite the overly romantic setting, the dinner itself is nice.

Logan is awkward at first—not in a bad way, just in a Logan way. He doesn’t do small talk, and you can tell he’s still getting used to this whole… thing.

But then, as the evening goes on, the tension in his shoulders eases.

You start talking—really talking—and he starts listening.

You tell him about how you fell in love with baking. How, as a kid, you’d sit in your grandmother’s kitchen, watching her mix ingredients with practiced hands. How you saved every penny to open your own shop, how you still wake up every morning excited to do what you love.

And to your surprise, Logan opens up, too.

It’s not much—not at first. Just little pieces of himself, scattered through the conversation. How he’s been all over, seen more than most. How he likes Westchester more than he lets on. How, lately, he’s been feeling a little less like a drifter and a little more like he belongs.

The words are simple. But they settle warm in your chest.

Then dessert arrives—because, obviously, you can’t not have dessert.

It’s a shared plate of something rich and chocolatey, and Logan looks at it like it’s some kind of challenge.

“You don’t have to share,” you tease.

He raises a brow. “Oh, I know.”

But despite his gruffness, you do share—just passing bites back and forth, talking between mouthfuls, laughing when Logan grumbles about the tiny forks.

And somewhere in the middle of it all, you realize—

You’re having fun.

Not just the surface-level kind, but the real, deep kind. The kind that makes your heart feel full.

Then, after you both finish off the last bite of chocolate, Logan shifts in his seat.

He looks like he’s debating something.

Then, finally, he exhales.

“So… this was good.” His voice is rough, but his eyes are softer than usual. “The whole thing. You and me.”

Your heart does a little flip. “Yeah,” you say. “It was.”

Logan nods once, like he’s locking that truth into place. Then he clears his throat. “So, uh… maybe we do this again sometime?”

You smile.

Because of course you do.

“Yeah,” you say softly. “I’d like that.”

And the look Logan gives you in return?

It’s the kind that makes you think this is the start of something good.

Dating Logan is easier than you expect.

Not in the sense that he suddenly turns into some smooth, lovesick romantic—God, no. He’s still gruff, still stubborn, still awkward as hell when it comes to some things.

But there’s something honest about him.

He doesn’t play games, doesn’t beat around the bush. If he wants to see you, he shows up. If he likes something you made, he tells you. If he’s had a rough day, he lets you see the tiredness in his eyes instead of covering it up with grumbles and sarcasm.

And as the weeks pass, “seeing Logan” becomes less about dates at fancy restaurants and more about something real.

Some nights, it’s dinner at a cozy little place in town, where he glares at overly complicated menus before ordering the simplest thing available.

Other nights, it’s takeout at your apartment above the bakery, curled up on the couch while you argue over what movie to watch.

Sometimes, he even helps you close up the bakery—wiping down tables (grumbling the whole time), locking up after your last customer, staying with you until the lights are off and the doors are locked.

And then, one evening, after he walks you upstairs, it happens.

The first kiss.

It’s not some grand, dramatic moment.

It’s just the two of you standing in your doorway, close enough that you can feel the warmth of him. The night is quiet, the street below nearly empty. And when he looks at you—his expression just a little softer than usual—you realize you’re standing on the edge of something big.

Logan hesitates for half a second. Then—

He kisses you.

Slow, warm, deliberate.

And just like everything about him, it’s honest.

You’re not sure how long you stand there, pressed close, trading soft, lingering kisses between unspoken words. But eventually, when you pull back, Logan looks at you like he’s never letting this go.

And the best part?

Neither are you.

From that moment on, Logan starts spending more and more nights at your place.

It’s not planned—it just happens.

Some nights, he falls asleep on your couch, arms crossed, head tipped back, snoring softly. Other nights, you fall asleep on him, curled up against his side while the TV hums in the background.

And then, eventually, it stops being falling asleep by accident and starts being something else entirely.

You wake up together.

In the mornings, you find yourself wrapped in Logan’s warmth, tangled in soft sheets, your face pressed into the crook of his neck.

And Logan? For all his gruffness, he’s a cuddler.

You’d never say it to his face (not unless you want a grumbled response and an exaggerated eye roll), but once he’s asleep, he melts into you. A heavy arm slung around your waist, his fingers tracing slow, absentminded patterns on your back.

And when you wake up and start moving, trying to slip away for the early bakery shift?

He grumbles, tightens his grip, and refuses to let you go.

Which is how, one morning, you end up exactly where you are now—trapped under Logan’s arm, pressed against his solid chest, while he pretends to still be asleep.

“Logan,” you murmur, shifting slightly. “I have to get up.”

He makes a low, half-asleep noise. “Mm. No, you don’t.”

You laugh softly. “Yes, I do. My customers want breakfast.”

“They can wait,” he grumbles.

You roll your eyes. “You are one of my customers.”

“Exactly. Tell ‘em all you’re busy with your best one.”

You laugh again, shaking your head. “You are so dramatic.”

Logan smirks slightly but keeps his eyes closed.

You sigh, relaxing back into the warmth of him for just a few more moments.

Then, out of nowhere—

“Y’know,” you say idly, tracing a finger over his chest, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you bake anything.”

Logan snorts. “That’s ‘cause I haven’t.”

You blink. “Wait. Ever?”

He huffs. “Nope.”

“Like, not even as a kid? Not even boxed brownies?”

“Darlin’, I burn toast.”

You gasp dramatically, sitting up. “This is a travesty.”

Logan groans, throwing an arm over his face. “Here we go.”

“I have to fix this,” you declare. “We’re going downstairs right now.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Absolutely yes.”

And before Logan can argue any further, you grab his arm and drag him out of bed.

Ten minutes later, Logan is standing in your bakery kitchen, looking as out of place as a grizzly bear in a flower shop.

“This is a bad idea,” he says as you gather ingredients.

“This is a great idea,” you correct. “We’re keeping it simple. Sugar cookies.”

Logan exhales sharply. “You say simple, but I know how this ends.”

You smirk. “With delicious cookies?”

“With me screwin’ up so bad the oven catches fire.”

You laugh and hand him a mixing bowl. “I’ll make sure the fire extinguisher is close by.”

Logan groans but takes the bowl.

And, well… you were right.

Sort of.

The cookies don’t catch fire. But everything else is a disaster.

Logan somehow manages to spill flour everywhere. The egg doesn’t crack right. The dough is lumpy, and he absolutely refuses to use the heart-shaped cookie cutters.

“This is ridiculous,” he grumbles, using a knife to chop the dough into rough squares instead.

“You’re ridiculous,” you tease, nudging flour at him with your fingertip.

He huffs. “Why’s bakin’ so much harder than cookin’?”

“Because baking is a science.” You grab his hand, guiding it as he presses the dough onto a tray. “You have to follow directions.”

Logan raises a brow. “You tryin’ to teach me how to follow orders?”

You grin. “Maybe.”

He rolls his eyes but doesn’t pull away.

By the time the cookies are in the oven, you’re both covered in flour. There’s dough on the counter, sugar on the floor, and Logan has somehow managed to get butter on his shirt.

It’s a mess.

But it’s also… fun.

Then, as you’re cleaning up, Logan suddenly reaches over—

And swipes flour across your cheek.

You gasp. “Logan.”

He smirks. “What?”

“You did not just—”

Before you can finish, you grab a handful of flour and smack it onto his chest.

His smirk drops.

You blink.

Silence.

Then—

Logan grabs an entire handful of flour and pats it onto the top of your head.

You shriek, laughing as he dodges your next attack, grabbing your wrists to stop you.

“You play dirty,” you accuse, breathless.

Logan grins. “Always.”

And then—before you can even think—he kisses you.

Flour-covered and laughing, lips brushing yours in a warm, lingering kiss.

You melt into it, into him, fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt.

By the time you pull away, you’re breathless.

And Logan?

He just smirks. “Guess bakin’ ain’t so bad.”

You shake your head, smiling.

The cookies might be a disaster.

But this?

This is perfect.

Logan’s kiss is slow at first. Lazy. Like he’s savoring the moment.

But then you shift closer—pressing against him, your fingers gripping his shirt, the warmth of his body seeping into yours—

And that’s when things start to change.

Logan makes a low sound, something deep and satisfied, and suddenly his hands are at your waist, fingers flexing, pulling you in like he’s starving for you.

Your heart pounds as you kiss him back, heat curling in your stomach.

It doesn’t matter that you’re covered in flour. It doesn’t matter that the bakery kitchen is an absolute disaster.

All that matters is Logan—warm, solid, real.

You feel his hands slide up your back, fingertips pressing against your spine, and it sends a thrill through you. Your breath hitches as he tilts his head, deepening the kiss, his lips brushing yours in a way that makes your knees weak.

You don’t even realize you’re moving until your back bumps against the counter.

Logan doesn’t break the kiss. If anything, it just spurs him on—his hands gripping the edge of the counter on either side of you, effectively trapping you between his body and the flour-dusted surface.

And God, you don’t mind.

You gasp softly as his lips trail down to your jaw, then your neck, the warmth of his breath sending shivers down your spine.

“Logan,” you murmur, tilting your head to give him more room.

He hums against your skin, his grip tightening ever so slightly.

Your fingers find their way into his hair, tugging just enough to make him growl—a low, rumbling sound that you feelmore than hear.

And you swear, if he keeps kissing you like this, you’re going to—

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

You jolt.

Logan stills.

And for a full second, neither of you move—breathless, flushed, frozen in place as the loud, sharp beeping of the kitchen timer cuts through the moment.

Then, reality slams into you like a brick to the face.

“The cookies!”

You shove Logan away—not forcefully, but urgently—and scramble toward the oven.

Logan blinks, still catching up. “Wait—what?”

You don’t have time to answer. You grab an oven mitt, fling open the oven door, and—

A thick puff of smoke billows out.

Your stomach drops.

“Oh no,” you breathe.

Logan steps up behind you, peering over your shoulder. “That ain’t good.”

You groan, reaching in to pull out the tray. The cookies—if you can even call them that—are dark, charred, and completely ruined.

You set the tray down with a defeated sigh.

Logan crosses his arms, inspecting the damage. “Y’know… I don’t think that’s what they’re supposed to look like.”

You turn to him, exasperated. “Really? I never would have guessed.”

His lips twitch like he’s trying so hard not to laugh.

You narrow your eyes. “Don’t you dare.”

Logan smirks. “I told you I was bad at this.”

You sigh dramatically. “It wasn’t just you! I got distracted.”

Logan raises a brow. “Did you, now?”

You cross your arms, giving him a look. “You know I did.”

Logan just grins.

And God help you, that grin—all smug and teasing and unfairly attractive—makes your stomach flip again.

You scowl, jabbing a finger at his chest. “This is your fault.”

Logan chuckles. “Oh, mine?”

“Yes.” You poke him again. “You and your stupid, distracting—”

Before you can finish, Logan grabs your wrist, tugs you forward, and kisses you again.

It’s fast, playful, over before you can even react—

But when he pulls back, the smirk on his face is even worse than before.

You huff. “You are impossible.”

He shrugs. “Yeah, but you like me anyway.”

You roll your eyes, but you can’t help but smile.

Then you glance at the ruined cookies and sigh. “Well… at least we tried.”

Logan snorts. “Pretty sure we failed.”

You groan. “What am I supposed to do with these?”

Logan eyes them. Then, slowly, he reaches for one.

You watch in horror as he takes a bite.

There’s a long pause.

Then he chews.

Then he grimaces.

And finally—

He spits it out into the trash.

You burst into laughter.

“I told you they were ruined!” you say between giggles.

Logan wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, scowling. “That was awful.”

You’re laughing so hard you can barely breathe. “I cannot believe you actually tried it.”

Logan mutters something under his breath, but his lips are twitching like he’s trying not to laugh, too.

Then, suddenly—before you can react—he dips his fingers into the leftover flour and flicks some at you.

You gasp. “Logan!”

He smirks. “Payback.”

“Oh, you’re dead.”

And just like that, you’re both at it again—flour flying, laughter echoing through the kitchen, ruined cookies forgotten.

Eventually, when you’re both completely covered in flour and thoroughly exhausted, you collapse against the counter, panting.

Logan glances at you, brushing a bit of flour from your cheek with his thumb.

His touch lingers.

Your heart stutters.

Then he tilts his head slightly, voice lower now—soft, warm. “Y’know… I wouldn’t mind tryin’ again.”

You blink. “What? Baking?”

He nods. “If it means spendin’ more time with you? Yeah.”

And God help you, your heart does another stupid little flip.

You smile. “You’re gonna regret saying that.”

Logan smirks. “We’ll see.”

And then he kisses you again—flour-covered, cookie-failed, and absolutely perfect.

[abbottfansstuff]

“Seduced by the Game"

Author's Note: I had the idea of this prompt in my head. I was thinking of adding this to "Something Real," but it just did not belong. It turned into a story of its own.

The teacher’s lounge at Abbott Elementary was filled with the usual clink of coffee mugs, the hum of gossip, and the sporadic laughter of faculty bonding over shared chaos. You sat at your usual corner, sipping coffee, content in your little bubble of peace. However, today, something felt a little different.

“Alright, alright,” Ava said loudly, her voice cutting through the chatter. She leaned against the counter, gesturing for attention. “We’re doing this. Who is undoubtedly the best seducer in this room?”

Without hesitation, Mr. Johnson cleared his throat. “Melissa, obviously. There’s no contest.”

A chorus of agreement rippled through the room, from Janine to Barbara. You raised an eyebrow but remained silent, enjoying the spectacle. Melissa sat back, her typical confident smirk playing on her lips.

"Y'know, I am quite the charmer," Melissa said with a wink. "I could get anyone to bend to my will."

“Everyone but Y/N, apparently,” Ava chimed in with a knowing smile.

The table fell quiet, and all eyes turned to you. You just shrugged, your expression cool and unaffected. “I’m just not easily impressed.”

There was a beat of silence, and then a slow grin spread across Melissa’s face. “Really? Not easily impressed, huh?” she mused.

Ava practically jumped in her seat. “Ooooh!” She pulled up a chair, ready for the show to begin. “This is gonna be good.”

You couldn’t help the small smirk that tugged at the corners of your lips. “Schemmenti, I think you’ve been overhyped. But, by all means, do try to impress me.”

----------

A few days after that conversation, Melissa decided to make her first real move. It was lunchtime, and you had just finished organizing some worksheets in your classroom when she strolled in unannounced, leaning casually against the doorframe like she had all the time in the world.

"Hey there, teach," she drawled, her voice smooth like honey.

You glanced up, unimpressed. "Melissa."

She stepped further inside, her eyes scanning the room before landing on you. "You ever had a real Philly cheesesteak? I mean a real one—not that sad excuse they sell to tourists."

You arched an eyebrow, mildly amused. "And let me guess, you're offering to introduce me to the best one in town?"

Melissa grinned, pushing off the doorframe and taking a slow step closer. "You got it. Best steak, best company—what more could you want?"

You leaned back in your chair, folding your arms. "Melissa, are you seriously using food as a seduction tactic?"

"Hey, don’t knock it till you try it." She smirked, cocking her head slightly. "I’m a woman of many talents, but feeding people? That’s my love language."

You pretended to consider it for a moment before shaking your head. "Tempting, but no. You'll have to try harder than that."

Melissa let out a scoff, clearly not used to being turned down so easily. She narrowed her eyes at you, lips curving into a new kind of smirk—one that promised she wasn’t giving up anytime soon.

---------

A few days later, Melissa tried a different approach. The two of you were the last ones left in the teacher's lounge after a long day. You were flipping through some student reports when she casually sat on the couch across from you, stretching out her legs in a way that conveniently brushed against yours.

You barely reacted.

Melissa, undeterred, leaned in slightly, resting her chin on her hand. "You work too hard."

You hummed, still reading. "Comes with the job."

"Yeah, but you gotta relax sometime," she mused, then, as if it were an afterthought, reached out and gently trailed her fingers along your forearm. "You know, let someone else take care of you for a change. A little massage.. something," she said while touching your leg with hers.

You finally looked up, and for a brief second, you saw the flicker of confidence in her green eyes. She thought she had you.

Instead, you smirked. "Melissa, was that supposed to be a move?"

Melissa blinked, clearly not expecting that reaction. "What? No, I was just—"

"Because if it was, I've gotta say…I've seen better," you teased, leaning back in your chair.

Melissa opened and closed her mouth, momentarily speechless, before she let out a gruff chuckle, shaking her head. "You are unbelievable."

You simply shrugged. "Told you I’m not easily impressed."

You grinned, enjoying this game far more than you should. "Better luck next time, Schemmenti."

---------

It was a Thursday morning, and the Abbott Elementary hallways were buzzing with students dragging their feet to class and teachers clutching their coffee like lifelines. You were at your desk, grading papers before the first bell when an unexpected silence rippled through the hallway.

You looked up just as Janine practically tripped into your classroom.

“Have you seen Melissa today?” she whispered as if saying it too loud would set off some sort of explosion.

You blinked. “Uh… no?”

Janine let out a breath and shook her head, “Just… brace yourself.”

Not even a second later, Melissa strutted in—except this wasn’t the usual button-down-and-blazer Melissa. This was something else entirely.

She was wearing a deep emerald green dress that was form-fitting and stylish. The neckline was just enough to make a statement but not enough to violate the dress code. Her hair was styled to perfection, with red waves cascading over one shoulder. Her makeup was subtly done, but the bold red lipstick was the finishing touch.

She knew exactly what she was doing.

“Morning,” she said smoothly, leaning against your desk like she had all the time in the world.

You raised an eyebrow, doing your best not to react. “Morning, Melissa.”

She tilted her head, clearly expecting more. “No comment?”

You set your pen down, finally looking at her. “On what?”

Melissa’s green eyes narrowed slightly. “Don’t play dumb, sweetheart. I put in extra effort today.”

You took a deliberately slow sip of your coffee, then met her gaze with a perfectly neutral expression. “Did you?”

Melissa scoffed, placing a hand on her hip. “Don’t tell me all of this was wasted on you,” she gestured vaguely down at herself. “This dress? The lipstick? The legs?”

You tilted your head, pretending to consider it. “It’s nice.”

Melissa blinked. “Nice?”

You nodded. “Yeah. Very professional.”

Melissa looked absolutely dumbfounded. “Professional? That’s all you’ve got?”

She stared at you, lips parting slightly as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. For the first time, Melissa Schemmenti looked visibly thrown off her game.

You leaned forward slightly, dropping your voice just enough so only she could hear. “You were expecting something else, weren’t you?”

Melissa’s jaw clenched for a fraction of a second before she let out a low chuckle, shaking her head. “Unbelievable,” she muttered.

You just shrugged, smirking to yourself as you returned to your papers. “Better luck next time.”

Melissa lingered for a moment longer before sighing dramatically and pushing off your desk. “This isn’t over,” she warned, pointing at you as she turned to leave.

Janine, still standing there with her mouth open, finally snapped out of it as Melissa strutted out. The second she was gone, Janine whirled on you. “Are you kidding me?!”

You just smiled, taking another sip of coffee. “What?”

Janine groaned. “She was gorgeous! And you just—nothing?!”

You chuckled. “I never said she wasn’t gorgeous.”

Janine gasped. “Oh my god. You’re playing her.”

You simply smiled. “Maybe.”

And with that, you turned back to your papers, already anticipating Melissa’s next attempt.

Little did you know, she was already planning it.

----------

It was Barbara’s birthday, and the Abbott crew decided to hit up a local bar to celebrate. Everyone was there: Ava, Janine, Melissa, Mr. Johnson, Barbara, and, of course, Y/N. The lights were dimmed, the music was blasting, and the entire crew was in high spirits, ready to blow off some steam after a long week of teaching.

You were sitting with Barbara, nursing a drink, as the others mingled and chatted. Ava was being her usual, chaotic self, practically leading the charge to the dance floor, while Janine tried to convince everyone to take a group photo. It was a typical Friday night, filled with the quirky energy only a group of teachers could bring.

But as you glanced across the room, your eyes locked with Melissa. She was standing by the bar, her presence magnetic. She was wearing a black, figure-hugging dress that stopped just above her knees, her lips painted with a bold red, and her dark hair cascading in loose waves over her shoulders. She caught your gaze, offering you a slow, teasing smile, and something in her eyes seemed to spark.

“You coming to dance?” she called out over the music, her voice smooth and seductive.

You raised an eyebrow, not quite sure whether she was serious. “Dance? I’m good here,” you said, swirling your drink.

She cocked her head as if considering you. Then, in a flash, she was at your side, standing way too close for comfort, her hand on your chair. “C’mon,” she purred, her tone dripping with mischief. “You might surprise yourself.”

Without waiting for a response, she took your hand, gently pulling you up from your seat. You couldn’t deny the spark of curiosity that flared inside you, but you weren’t going to make it easy for her.

As you followed Melissa to the dance floor, Ava caught your eye from across the room and gave you a knowing look. Barbara waved from the sidelines as if encouraging the playful banter to unfold. It felt like everyone was watching the two of you now.

Melissa led you onto the dance floor, moving to the rhythm of the music with an effortless grace. Her hips swayed with every beat, and she was all confident—exactly what you'd expect from her.

With a teasing grin, she turned to face you, sliding closer, her body just a breath away. “I’ll be honest,” she whispered, her lips dangerously close to your ear. “I was hoping this would work on you.” She pulled back slightly, her eyes sparkling. “But I guess I’ll just have to try harder.”

You weren’t sure what exactly she meant by that, but the way she looked at you made your pulse quicken. You stood there for a moment, feeling that tug of chemistry building between you.

Then, before you knew it, Melissa grabbed your hand again and placed it gently on her waist, her fingers brushing the small of your back. She moved her body closer to yours, her lips curling into a playful smile.

“Oh no, you’re not getting off that easy,” she teased, swaying her hips to the beat.

You swallowed, finding it difficult to maintain your cool. The way she danced—how she kept teasing you with every move—was starting to work. And as much as you tried to hold out, you felt your resistance slipping away.

Her red lipstick was so close now, brushing against your cheek as she leaned in again, whispering, “I know you’re enjoying this.”

You fought to keep a straight face, but it was hard when Melissa looked at you like she could read every thought you had. The tension between the two of you was palpable, everyone else fading into the background as you were lost in the moment.

You took a deep breath, finally setting down your drink. “You think you’ve got me figured out, don’t you?” You pulled away slightly, your hand still on her waist but more deliberate now, your eyes locking with hers.

Melissa’s lips curved into a knowing smile. “I always do,” she said, moving a little closer.

You didn’t back down. In fact, you stepped forward, brushing your lips dangerously close to Melissa’s ear. “Well, then, let me show you something.”

Without warning, you slid their hands from Melissa’s waist to the back of her neck, pulling her in close. Your bodies were pressed together now, the heat between you undeniable. Melissa’s breath caught, a surprised, almost delighted look crossing her face. But you didn’t let up—you were in control now.

“You’ve been playing me all night, Melissa,” you whispered, voice low and seductive. “But now it’s my turn.”

Melissa’s eyes darkened with a mix of surprise and desire. She was speechless for a moment, her body frozen in place. But then, a slow grin spread across her face as she looked down at you. “Well, damn,” she said softly, her voice thick with amusement and something else, something much more sincere. “You’re good at this.”

“I learned from the best,” you teased, sliding a hand through Melissa’s hair, tugging her closer until your lips were almost touching.

Melissa couldn’t resist anymore. She closed the distance between them, her lips capturing yours in a kiss that was far more than just playful—this was the moment where everything shifted. The crowd around them didn’t matter anymore.

They had both won.

----

The following Monday at school, everything felt different. You and Melissa shared knowing looks whenever you crossed paths in the hallways, but the playful tension from the night out was gone. You were both comfortable, finally realizing that you had been circling around each other for too long.

In the teacher’s lounge, Ava leaned over to you, raising an eyebrow. “So… did you two finally break the ice?”

You smirked, your gaze finding Melissa across the room. “You could say that.”

Melissa caught your eye and winked, sending your heart fluttering. She walked over casually, not skipping a beat, as she joined the conversation, completely at ease.

“Break the ice?” Melissa repeated, glancing between you and Ava. “I think we just set it on fire.”

And just like that, you and Melissa knew your playful dance was only the beginning. 

There was still so much more to explore.

[flawseer]

Hey Flawseer, love your art. I wanted to ask if you have any headcanons for some of the supporting characters who aren't really tied to the school, like Chameleon, Icicle, Hailstorm, etc.

Headcanons for specifically those characters? Hm...

This isn't really a headcanon, more of a "this is implied but not outright stated" kind of thing, but Chameleon's childhood was the stuff of nightmares. He hatched with a physical deformity that prevented him from sleeping more than an hour at a time. Think about what that would be like, to never be able to rest, to be tired and exhausted every day.

Child Chameleon is also an interesting window into the darker aspects of Rainwing society. The books often portray their society as idyllic, something pure and optimistic, something to aspire to. But then they had this kid who was suffering in his body, who didn't develop the expected Rainwing traits properly, and they shunned him. Even sweet, lovable, couldn't-hurt-anyone Jambu calls him weird and off-putting for not being able to change colors. We don't know why Chameleon ended up exiled; maybe it was a malicious act or maybe Chameleon lashed out and had to be removed for being dangerous. But it definitely makes you wonder if there are any other skeletons in the Rainwings' closet.

None of this excuses any of the stunts he pulled later as an adult, especially not the emotional manipulation of his daughter. But thinking about his crappy childhood may help you understand how he ended up the way he did. I hope he can find some help.

Here's a picture of him I drew once. He probably has an official design by now, I don't know.

As for headcanons about Chameleon... I think he eats meat. His biology isn't really wired for it, so it tastes absolutely disgusting to him. But he does it anyway, because while he hates the taste of meat so much, he hates the idea of being a Rainwing several times more. So he puts up with it because he knows it is the least Rainwing-like thing you can do. In a strange way, it helps him cope.

For Icicle, I think it is interesting to note that we technically never see her under normal circumstances. She appears in Jade Mountain in book 6 and certainly leaves an impression, but it's easy to forget that everything she does, she does with the awareness that Scarlet currently has a proverbial knife to her brother's throat. Thus, we never get to see what present day Icicle is like when she is able to relax.

Headcanons... The books aren't clear on how or when Scarlet made first contact with her. It could have been in school, as Moonwatcher overhears. Personally, I think Scarlet actually contacted Icicle months prior to the school opening, and instructed Icicle to insert herself as a sleeper agent. I have trouble believing that immaculate Icicle would WANT to be cooped up underground in a dirty cave with a bunch of strangers several miles from home. I think Scarlet made her do it, and she then begged Queen Glacier to send her there, knowing full well she was gonna hate it. Winter then overheard her begging and begged to come along too.

This lends weight to the scene where Icicle finally breaks down in front of Winter. The part where she's her authentic self for the first time, crying and begging Winter not to let her fall asleep so the woman who has been tormenting her inside her own head for months can't tell her that she failed and that her brother is dead.

In the end, her brother is alive. But in trying to get him free, Icicle ruined her own life.

This one might be controversial, I don't know. While I do think Icicle served in the war, and she did definitely kill Mudwings while doing so, I don't think Icicle is the one who killed Crane. Sora insists it was her, but Umber and Marsh do not recognize her, and Mudwing siblings usually fight together, so they would have both been present during her death too.

I think the story becomes more meaningful if the trauma of war just ruined Sora to such an extent that she sees her sister's killer in every somewhat outspoken female Icewing. Then she ran into the library and confirmation-biased herself into believing her hunch by reading unverified essays on Icewing genetics. You know, the same library whose references on Mudwing physiology consist entirely of The Slug-like Qualities of the Mudwings. If Wisemind penned an examination of Icewing physiology too, one can probably imagine how reliable that one would be.

This kind of turns Sora and Icicle into tragic parallels. They are both children born into a war that took their innocence from them, and in the end it ruined them both.

For Hailstorm, I believe after the battle of Jade Mountain ended and Winter got banished, Hailstorm went back to the Ice Kingdom and lived with his mother Tundra for a while. Tundra took the death of her mate very badly and became embittered. She blamed everything bad that happened to their family on Winter, insisted that Winter caused the family to rot. Winter killed the Queen, Winter killed Narwhal, Winter, Winter, Winter, she should have smashed his egg when she had the chance. Hailstorm tried to get her out of the house, to stop talking and thinking about Winter, but nothing worked. She just had her mind set on hating this kid she'd been abusing since his hatching, insisting she gave him the world and he was ungrateful.

Eventually, Hailstorm just couldn't take this constant bleakness and hatred anymore. A few months ago Icewing tradition almost made him kill his little brother and he is just done with the Ice Kingdom. Completely disillusioned. Leave it all behind.

So he goes to Winter, and he starts to ask odd questions, like "If you had never found a way to turn me back from being Pyrite, would you still have loved me", and "If I was a Skywing, would you disown me?" Winter assures him that he will always love him, but starts to get worried about the questions.

Eventually, Hailstorm just flat-out states that he was actually kind of happy with himself as a female Skywing, not having to think about their messed up family and the stupid rankings all the time. He kept thinking about it through their mother's ramblings, how he felt in that body. He's figured out that he wants to go back to being Pyrite, just obviously without the brainwash-y parts. Winter doesn't entirely understand, but wants his brother/sister to be happy, and gives him/her his blessing.

And I guess there you have it. Some of my headcanons. Chameleon the meat eater, the absolute train-wreck that is Icicle's life with a side of Sora, and Hailstorm finds self-affirmation in exploring their gender identity after cutting their toxic mom out of their life.

[watching-sam-and-dean-again]

Confession Time!

A lot of people say they wouldn't have a problem with destiel if it wasn’t for how terribly the hellers (not the regular, unproblematic Destiel shippers) behave. I agree on the fact that the death-threat hurling, actor harassing, fandom toxifying, gaslighting asses make me actively hate the ship, too. But, even if all of its shippers were calm and lovely, I would STILL hate the idea of destiel. This is going to about the ship itself and why I don’t like it, not about criticizing the people who ship it (reasonably).

If anyone stumbles across this and wants to claim it’s because I’m homophoic or some dumb shit, feel free to show yourself out. And grow up. If you agree or are just curious as to why, feel free to read on.

The first reason I can’t get on board with destiel is Castiel himself:

I hate the ship because, if you look at it as Castiel having feeling for Dean from early on, he comes off as an even bigger creep than he already is to me. First, how many times has he invaded Dean's personal space or stared at him while he slept, even though Dean has told him not to and indicated it made him uncomfortable? I can think of at least 4 off the top of my head, but I’m sure there are more. These moment are written as jokes, and to show Cas is a derpy weirdo, but if you want to read them as a biproduct of Castiel having feeling for Dean, it makes him a creepy stalker.

Second, Castiel only caring about other people, including Sam and Jack, because of Dean makes him a s selfish and kind of shitty character to me. I like the idea of Castiel being a defective amgel, coming off the assembly line with a "crack in his classy," meaning he was always inclined to question things too much, maybe have an natural affinity for humans, to rebel. The idea that our show's version of Sam, Dean and even Castiel were special because they always defied the story that was written for them is the ultimate demonstration of free will winning out, and it speaks to the uniqueness of "our versions" of their characters. But, when it’s framed as Castiel only rebelling because he has a boner for Dean (like the "confession" scene seems to retroactively suggest), only ever questioned anything because he had a boner for Dean, only went against his fellow angels because he was hot for Dean and not becuae Dean inspired him to do the right thing, and only cared about people he says he loves and calls family because of Dean … that makes Dean special, not Castiel. In fact, it makes Castiel a simp who can’t think for himself, and is anything but genuine in his claim of caring about anyone but Dean. It makes him bereft of his own agency.

Finally, I hate the idea of Dean and Castiel ever being in a romantic relationship because of the seriously wrong things he has done to people. Castiel essentially forced Jimmy Novak to become his vessel again by possessing his daughter and basically holding her ransom until he consented to be Castiel's vessel again, and he still thinks he did the right thing into late seasons, Even when he finds Claire to sort of, kind of try make up for taking her dad away, he makes a feeble effort at best, and then basically just wonders off and forgets about her again after his momentary attack of conscious. For Dean, a character who fights to have free will, to shack-up with someone who took over a man's body and when he died (because Castiel took his boy into battle), he just sort of took over the body for himself and called it his, like a crab … is a huge smack in the face to Dean being heroic. Hello, even Sam wouldn’t bang Ruby until she found a braindead vessel, whose soul had likely departed already (and he’s the monster fucker). Castiel also broke Sam's hell wall leading to him going insane and nearly dying of insomnia, and he did it purposely to hurt and worry Dean, and to distract him from his plan to play god. This is inexcusable, and that fact that Dean even stays his friend feels like a betrayal to Sam, as well as out of character frankly, never mind going on to have a relationship with him. Finally, Castiel has threatened and beaten Dean when he doesn’t do what he wants more than once, and despite what hellers think, I don’t find abuse sexy.

The next reason I can’t get onboard with Destiel is Dean:

Dean laterally implies, out right says, and demonstrates multiple times throughout the show that he is straight. Thus, with the version of Castiel that Dean knows being in a male vessel, Dean just isn’t going to be interested in him that way. I’ve seen shippers srgue that people sometimes fall in love with someone of the same sex despite identifying as straight, but come on, that is going to be a relatively small percentage of of people. But more than that, Dean isn’t a real person, he’s a character. If the writers were going to make his character have a change of sexuality, or make an exception for Castiel, they would have had to explicitly show it on screen, through words and actions, and not just drop "subtext hints" that never go anywhere, and are largely stupid or hinged on stereotypes. They never did, so Dean remained hero sexual to the end.

Even if his sexuality were not a barrier, Dean does not knowingly peruse monsters. Castiel despite how depowered an essentially useless he becomes over time, is not a human. Angels are essentially just another flavor of monster on Supernatural, thus Dean is not be interested in dating Castiel even if he were in a female vessel, despite what some shippers like to claim. The only times Dean has knowingly hooked up with a monster was with Anna, and that was before she got her grace back and was a true angel again. The other monster he slept with was the Amazon, or whatever she was, before she had a kid with him without his consent, and Dean didn’t know that she was a monster. He frequently criticized Sam for having been with monsters, and that criticism makes it pretty clear that he wouldn’t want to be with any himself. Finally, this is a bit of a side note, any many may not agree with me, but I don't think Dean sees any supernatural creatures as quite equal to humans, and that includes Castiel, Jack and Benny. If it weren’t enough that Dean isn’t into males, the fact that he also isn’t into monsters, pretty much makes the destiel ship dead in the water for me.

Finally, the way Dean treats Castiel is not conducive friendship at times, never mind me shipping them. Dean pretty frequently belittles Castiel, calling him essentially uselesess when he doesn’t have powers (baby in a trench coat), and he makes fun of Castiel working at the Gas 'n Sip to try sustain himself, after Dean kicked him out of the bunker powerless and penniless. If Dean loves Castiel, mocking him for working whatever job he can after he turned him away, is an interesting way to show it. He also lashes out at Castiel pretty harshly (I though often deservedly). He tells Castiel that "nobody cares that he’s broken," and he says "everything that goes wrong" seems to be because of Castiel, and he told him that if anything happened to his mother after Castiel failed to warn them about Jack' behavior, Castiel would be "dead" to him. Even when the show reminds us of Castiel's existence when he’s not in an episode by having Dean claim he’s worried about him, or having Sam reassure him they’ll find/help Castiel, when Castiel actually is back, Dean essentially goes back to ignoreimg him. Dean only seems to care about Castiel when he’s missing or when he can help them fight something. In down time, he’s usually pretty happy just to chill with Sam.

Finally, I can’t ship destiel because of Sam, or more specially, Sam & Dean:

Sam and Dean have such a twisted-up, enmeshed, and all-consuming relationship with each other, that shipping either of them with characters outside of their relationship just isn’t interesting to me. I personally don’t ship them together, either. What they have goes beyind relationship categorization (brothers, friends, adversaries, parent/child, life partners, etc.), and I honesty think if the show had defied network parameters and actually had them hook up sexually, the relationship would have lost something. Sam and Dean are so unique and compelling in that their big love is a sibling and not a romantic parnptner, or even a parent/child relationship, that even as a fan of a good romantic pairing normally, I love that them exactly as they are. And their relationship is more meaningful to me than almost any other fictional one I’ve encountered. So frankly, shipping either with anyone long-term (I wouldn’t have hated seeing both of them have one more short romantic relationship in there somewhere) just feels pointless to me, and would just pale in comparison to what Sam and Dean are with to each other.

[thecheshireprincess]

Because all of two people said they wanted to read my newest story obsession, here's a sneak peek at my favorite chapter I've written . . .

Let me introduce you to:

The Game Itself

A Chishiya x childhood best friend reader (Niragi's sister!) fic

Content Warning: Mentions of an abusive father, mentions of reader trending toward a panic attack, canon-typical violence, curse words, Niragi is in here and is a menace

A/N: This chapter takes place well into the story, having already introduced many of the main characters and some important plot points. None of my own twists are spoiled by reading this chapter first, and I think it's the best representation for how this story will be 😘 I hope you love it 💕

You lean back with a sigh, relaxing into the plastic beach chair set in front of the glittering pool packed with bodies. The sun is high in the sky, and the citizens of The Beach are happily drinking it in. That's not the only thing they're drinking in, mind you - it's mid-afternoon, and the party is absolutely raging. The music is bumping, the drinks are flowing, and the people are doing what people at The Beach do best - celebrating life. It may seem macabre, to party the days away when you're forced to face deadly games by night, but honestly it feels kind of right when you aren't really sure how much longer you have left to live.

Chishiya sits at your feet, one arm draped lazily over your bare calves and the other holding him upright on the chair. As usual, his face is devoid of any emotion, but you know he is enjoying the opportunity to people watch and get some sun. Even he isn't a vampire, after all.

You spend a few moments studying the people yourself - many splashing around drunkenly in the refreshing pool water and others dancing uninhibited around its edges, everyone looking free as can be. How must it feel to not have to worry about anyone in the Borderlands but yourself? How easy it must be to not have the two most important people in your life stuck here with you, wondering if today is the day they're going to die.

You feel the familiar tight feeling in your chest start to build, and force yourself to shake away those suffocating thoughts - you simply cannot afford to panic here.

You turn your attention instead to playing with the beads adorning the straps of your emerald green crochet bikini. The suit was new, wearing it outside of your room for the first time today. It was special to you - Kuina had found it while she was out for a game last week, saying it had reminded her of your sparkling eyes. The gift made you feel loved, and the suit made you feel sexy.

Rolling the wooden beads between your fingers seemed to help settle your nerves. When your breathing finally returned to normal and the simple anxious task was no longer needed, you sigh loudly, covering your face with your arms and flopping further back into the chair. Bored.

Chishiya smirks, raising an eyebrow. The man very nearly laughs at the dramatic habit that was very you. "Bored already, hm?" He hums, "Coming down here was your idea after all."

"Yes, but I thought there would be more excitement" you whined, flailing your arms widely to accentuate your point. Chishiya sweeps his eyes over your form, looking at you with amusement.

He's about to say something more when he's interrupted by the arrival of two familiar figures - a nervous looking guy with shaggy black hair, and a fit, muscular girl with a cute bob cut. Chishiya squeezes your calf to get your attention, flicking his eyes toward them as they sit down apprehensively on two beach chairs across the pool from you. It was the two newcomers from the most recent executive meeting, and before that, your 5 of Spades game. Arisu and Usagi.

"So they decided to stay after all," you muse, sitting up in interest and folding your legs underneath you. You scoot your body closer to your friend, your thigh brushing against his, as you continue to observe the couple. You briefly wonder what had happened to his blonde friend, and the one they'd been trying to get medical help for. In a place like this, it's probably best not to ask.

The blonde turns his head to study your face, brushing a piece of hair behind your ear as he does, "I can't imagine that it would have gone over well had they declined Hatter's offer." You feel a slight shiver run down your spine at Chishiya's intimate touch. That's new, you note. He had brushed your hair behind your ear like that many times in your life, and only now does it take your breath away. You hum distractedly, still staring at the pair but suddenly feeling very far away from the events taking place around you.

You grin brightly, then, having noticed Kuina skipping over to them. She plops, likely uninvited, down on the chair beside Arisu, her unlit cigarette hanging characteristically in her mouth. There is no doubt in your mind that she was already teasing them about the relationship between them, despite having just introduced herself.

Kuina was confident like that, and you loved that about her. Well, except for when she was teasing you and Chishiya. You blushed slightly just thinking about it, wondering when you had started becoming so flustered about your best friend. You duck your head at these thoughts and pretend to study the sparkly manicure Kuina had given you last night.

You and Chishiya were still just best friends, right?

Within a minute or two, the air had turned from relaxed to tense, and your neck snapped up to find out why. Your discerning eyes land on the militants, of course, you really should have guessed. The hostile and generally power hungry group of The Beach's "personal protection unit" were filing into the party, sure to flash their weapons at anyone looking. The smart people were avoiding their gaze entirely, and the stupid (drunk?) people were openly gawking. You rolled your eyes, how typical.

Leading the charge onto the pool deck was Aguni, looking cold and calculating as usual, with your brother following close behind. Your eyes narrowed, having not seen him for a few days.

"Looks like you're about to get your excitement after all," Chishiya whispered, his breath tickling your ear. You took in a sharp breath in anticipation; the full militant corp was standing at arms looking ready to fight, at the pool. Could this mean the fall of The Beach could be coming sooner than you previously expected? Anxiety swirled heavily in your stomach, fingers subconsciously finding the wooden beads again.

You look to Niragi, the one person who would normally soothe your frayed nerves with just a glance, but feel even worse seeing the wild look in his darkened eyes. Had your relationship truly deteriorated so much in a matter of weeks?

Being all the way on the other side of the pool from them, you're unable to hear Aguni's request, but Niragi was quick to obey. He moved towards Usagi, pulling her roughly up to her feet.

You watch with widened eyes - had Aguni asked for Usagi? What would he even want her for? Nothing good, certainly. Maybe you overestimated his kindness and empathy the day he saved you in the 9 of Hearts game. Or maybe this place really does create monsters out of men - you could certainly see that in the long-haired man across the pool from you, once soft and caring, now swinging a gun around without a care in the world and physically threatening a girl not much older than you. Hell, you see it even in yourself, having been happy enough to let everyone but Chishiya die from the second you landed in this wretched place and started playing.

You're shaken from your reverie when Arisu springs up from his place beside Kuina to help Usagi. You groan in despair, knowing full well that your brother would only be further provoked; Borderlands-version Niragi has an extremely short fuse. Kuina also looks displeased, as though she'd literally just told them not to mess with them, which she probably had.

The people of the party are now definitely watching, but openly pretending not to be. If you didn't feel so anxious at the situation, you'd probably laugh at how nosy and indiscretion drunk people truly are.

You find yourself standing instead, ready to close the distance between your perch and where Niragi has now thrown Arisu to the ground, kicking him repeatedly in the stomach. You felt like throwing up watching the display. Memories flooded your mind of watching your father do the exact same thing to the tall man who was now delivering the blows. It was taking everything in you to not curl up in a ball crying like you always had when the two men in your family were fighting. No, this time you had to put an end to it. This time you would be brave and fight.

"You're going to try to save them, aren't you?" Chishiya mumbles in concern, knowing this scene was likely triggering to you. You knew he wanted you to stay out of it, but you just couldn't help yourself.

"I can't sit back and play victim anymore, Shiya," you whisper. You move swiftly around the pool, before you could lose your nerve or Chishiya could stop you.

"Niragi, please. They're my friends," you plead with the violent man, grabbing onto his forearm as he delivers another crushing blow to Arisu's ribcage. The people of The Beach were now actively watching the scene, fully invested in your family drama. You're unsure of why you called the couple your friends, when you just barely know their names. All you know is that you don't want to watch your brother kill the poor guy, and you definitely don't want to find out what Aguni had planned for Usagi. Or was it that you couldn't stand to see your sweet brother hurt someone the same way he had been hurt so many times in his life?

Niragi ceases his assault on the boy and rips his arm from your grasp. He gives you a full once over in the process, his cold eyes meeting yours for the first time in days. You feel real, raw fear filling your system, something you haven't felt since leaving your father's house for the last time 8 years ago. You'd never felt smaller in your life than you did now, shrinking under Niragi's brutal gaze.

Taking a shaky breath, you muster the shiniest, prettiest puppy dog eyes you can, peering up at Niragi through long eyelashes. "You won't hurt them, right? I'm friends with them."

Niragi continues glaring intimidatingly down at you, in what you realize is disgust. He doesn't address your concerns, but instead has something else to say.

"Put some fucking clothes on, you look like a slut" he spits fiercely, his pierced face now just centimeters from yours. The tight feeling in your chest had returned in full force, threatening to suffocate you.

You stumbled back as if he'd struck you - Niragi had never spoken to you like that. Your stomach dropped, and it took all of your willpower to maintain your composure. You obviously couldn't cry in front of all these Beach idiots, gaping at the two of you like you were the best soap opera in the Borderlands. You turn your head to escape his intense gaze, and put your tongue in your cheek to keep the tears from spilling over. You want soap opera? I'll give you soap opera.

Looking back up at your brother, you cross your arms over your chest. "What are you going to do, make me?" you implore him brattily. Niragi seethed, pierced eyebrow arching, looking like he was seriously considering slapping the attitude right out of you. You stand your ground, the way you should have every other time you've faced a monster like this.

As you and Niragi stare each other down, the initial cause for your dispute long forgotten, Aguni and the others have become distracted by Hatter's arrival. One side demanding peace, and the release of the newest members of the beach; the other begging silently for chaos to ensue. The tense atmosphere surrounding you indicates the balance of power between the two leaders was indeed in jeopardy.

After what feels like hours of strained silence, Aguni ultimately yields to Hatter. The Beach seems to collectively release their held breaths as Aguni and the militant corp flock away to another part of the resort. Usagi quickly tends to Arisu, leading him back into the building to treat his wounds and get to safety. Meanwhile, you have your own struggle for power going on.

Niragi still stands towering above you, obviously not in the mood for your games. He unbuttons his black and white collared shirt, draping it over your shoulders, "Go. Change. Not a request." His fingers wrap tightly around your forearm, aggressively yanking you towards the entrance to the hotel. The force that Niragi had exerted on you nearly sent you careening into the pool still glistening mockingly at your feet, but luckily Chishiya had appeared in just the right position to catch you. Unbeknownst to you, the two exchange a brief look before Niragi skulks off to find Aguni and his other lunatic friends.

The panic within you threatened once more to boil over and your brain simply shuts down - this day had been too fucking much. In your daze, you barely register Chishiya dragging you inside, away from the curious and scrutinizing glances of The Beach citizens. You were embarrassed, confused, and fucking mad.

Just as you passed through the swinging double doors and into the air-conditioned building, Kuina fell in step with you two. She let a reassuring hand fall on your shoulder, squeezing it for comfort. At her kind touch, you feel your carefully crafted resolve finally crumble to the floor. Chishiya knew immediately that you were done for, lifting you easily into his arms and allowing you to ground yourself in him. He carried you protectively the rest of the way to his room as your thoughts thundered around in your head like a wild storm.

You had been lying to yourself your whole life, Niragi had been lying to you your whole life. He promised that your family wasn't broken, that you weren't broken. You guessed it was too much to ask for you to remain untouched by your father's special brand of cruelty. That one day, you'd likely both become just like him.

And now Niragi had. He called you a slut, degrading an outfit that had made you feel beautiful. He embarrassed you in front of an audience. He grabbed you so hard you could see his fingerprints etched in your skin. He was just like him and this time you knew you wouldn't escape.

It was then that you knew - this game that you were playing was much more dangerous than you had initially realized.

♤ ♡ ◇ ♧

OKAY so I got a little carried away 😅 Yes this was supposed to be a sneak peek, but believe it or not it's not even the entire chapter 🤭

Who's ready for the whole story?

[kiera-raelyn]

Re: JK consistency - 💯 That's why I mentioned her dropping the ball again, because she's just not great at keeping track of details. I discovered this myself when I went to do a fic and decided I needed to comb through all of the books for as much info as I could and found such things as the hospital wing is not in the same place from book to book, nor are the house tables in the Great Hall. It's a frustrating thing to deal with as a fic writer that wants a strong basis in canon.

I can see what you mean about Draco. I don't necessarily agree, but I can see it. I think in this case, it makes me happier to just write it off as another one of JK's inconsistencies than to try to come up with and accept an in-universe explanation for it.

Ohh, yeah, no, I do not believe for a moment she wrote him autistic on purpose. As you said, that would've been... So cringe.

Honestly, for some reason, this exchange is the first time I've verbalized the idea that Percy might be autistic. I don't think I've ever put a whole lot of thought into it, but for some reason it just clicked all at once. I guess I've been percolating it for a while. Anyway. It's a soft headcanon for me. I don't know if I'll use it in any of my stories or not. Honestly, I should do a Percy post. My understanding of his character was revolutionized by Aduro's The Code series, but I don't think I've ever detailed it all on in one place...

No problem! I'm a constant enabler when it comes to fandom. I'm glad my post didn't come off in ways I didn't intend. :)

One thing I noticed only recently is that the way Percy calls his father and how it's an indication of his storyline's progress throughout the books. Percy's whole character arc is about how he's doing ambition wrong; there's this undercurrent of judgement towards Percy's desire to be an accomplished professional and i think his language reflects that.

Percy has had a very formal way of speaking since the very first book, it's one of the main indicators that we're supposed to read him as a pompous party pooper, but we don't see him address his father until book 3, when jkr starts setting up the ministry plot:

(from PoA: Percy enjoys the treatment Arthur is getting from the ministry, foreshadowing his interest in climbing up the ministerial ladder)

I find the use of the word "Father" interesting: the most notable person we see use the term in the books is Draco, who is very much posh-coded.

(from PS, one of the very first things we come to know about Draco is how he addresses his father: this is a scene from Harry and Draco's first meeting)

A not insignificant facet Draco's personality comes from how his elevated status in society has shaped him to be arrogant and dismissive of other people. Draco speaks like a Fancy Boy, with his "Father"s (always capitalised) and his insistence on calling most people (even his friends and housemates) by their last name.

Seeing Percy start to use the type of language we've been accustomed to see from posh boy extraordinaire Draco is jarring, and it primes us to start disliking him. As Percy's brief foray into the Evil side begins (basically From GoF onwards) Percy starts ramping up in his use of "Father":

and

and

but, at the culmination of his story arc, when Percy is reunited with his family during the battle of Hogwarts, Percy switches to "dad":

This, again, mirrors Draco in that he also changes the way he addresses his father when he's at his most emotional

and I find this very interesting.

[fancyfeathers]

Hello Fancy!

This is my first time requesting something and tour work is so amazing! I saw that you were still taking requests for the Villian AU and I had a few things I was wondering if you could do/anwser.

The first one is how or what would happen to Dick's darling if Dick were to escape from Arkham Asylum? Would he be able to get his darling back and keep them from Bruce forever? I was wondering how that situation would go down.

The second is basically the same as the first, but with Damian's darling. How would he react if his darling was not only was able to get away from him, the heir to the League of Assassins, but goes straight back into being Robin (or working with Barbara in the paralyzed case)? If he were to get his darling back, just how crazy and possibly violent would he get with his threats and actions after the running away?

The last one is say Bruce died or didn't, but how would life for each of the darlings look like in the future? Kids? Married? No legs to run away with?

I loved the Pomegranate story for Damian. It was written so well and don't worry about the content being different then normal, I think it added to the story in that case.

So sorry that this is so much, but as I said above, your writing is literally so amazing! ❤️

Yandere!Batboys as Villains with Robin!Darlings AU

Honestly it is not a matter if Dick would escape from Arkham it is when he escapes from Arkham Asylum, when he does it is a whole mess, half of the patients dead because Dick knew what they have done and deemed them not worthy of simply living, they gave up their chance for life.

But the answer is no, maybe he manages to kidnap her for a few days and he has come close to killing Bruce once or twice over the years and getting to keep her, but either time one of her sisters were there to save them.

But after a while he would really succeed when he got Tim’s help, because the circus Dick took over is known to have worked with the Court of Owls in the past. I imagine that in this AU his darling’s day job would be something like a ballerina since her persona of Dove is the equivalent of Nightwing in this universe.

So with the help of Tim there would be a silent purchase and chance of management at the theater she works at and after months of no one meeting or even seeing the new owner she gets suspicious. So after a late rehearsal one night and she is about to go to her locker where she has her suit in her duffle bag, she finds that it is gone…

“Looking for something, baby?”

She turns around and sees Dick standing there holding her suit in one hand and the tracker that Bruce had on it in the other. She isn’t so strong without her gear, not when the playing ground isn’t in her favor. It really doesn’t take that long for him to subdue her and knock her out along with throwing the tracker into the river so it would at least slow Batman down if not loose his only lead. He keeps her in the attic of the theater and for those who have never worked in a really old theater, those things are so hard to access and so hard to get out of, you could scream at the top of your lungs and no one would hear you. So when she’s locked up and high on drugs to keep her not fully aware it’s impossible to get out, but then again she is nice and safe up there, away from anyone who would want to hurt her…

She most I could see her up there is maybe a year, a year and a half, because in the Arkham Knight game, Bruce couldn’t find Jason at all for the two years he was tortured. So by the time Bruce finds her, she just starts crying, because while for a captive, she was treated incredibly well, she hadn’t seen anyone besides Dick for over a year and even then she wasn’t even lucid enough most of the time to know what was happening.

(I also love the idea of in her vigilante costume, Dick’s darling wears ballet shoes, kinda like Spidergwen)

Now with Damian, he is absolutely enraged because the moment he turns his back, one of her sisters and or Batman shows up and rescues his darling, so he just comes back to a compound of unconscious assassins and hearing that his darling has been spotted back in Gotham again.

Now if his darling goes back to being Robin then he decides just to grab her while she is still getting back on her feet, but little does he know that she is a visual learner, so all the training he did with the League of Assassins that she saw, she knows, so she actually manages to hold him off until Batwoman, Kate Kane, comes to rescue her. So he is absolutely pissed off, so when he gets his hands on her again he is far from gentle, achilles tendons are slashed and he makes good on his first promise to her, cutting out her tongue. So when she is taken back by him, she is completely reliant on him to survive, if she needs something she just has to wait for him to give it to her, if she wants something then oh well, she lost the right to what she wants when she ran away.

Now after awhile, and I mean around a few months of good behavior, he may find it in his heart to lay his darling in a Lazarus Pit so her injuries will completely heal, but that’s only because he misses the sound of her voice and he has deemed that her punishment has gone on long enough…

Well he says that, but the truth is he was lonely without the person she once was.

“Don’t pretend that you were actually useful to them, I have seen the way he looks at you after you messed up, but that is one thing we both have in common, we are the Batman’s biggest mistakes.”

Now if his darling is paralyzed from the waist down, he is far more forgiving if you can call it that. At least she is not pretending to be a hero and like she is actually useful, Damian just knocks out Barbara when they are in the clocktower one night before knocking her out and wrapping his darling up in a blanket he brought like a little baby, then when she wakes up she is back at square one.

Now I don’t know exactly where each darling will end up, but I do think that if Bruce died then Batwoman, Huntress, Spoiler, Orphan, Signal, and all the other vigilantes on Gotham would look after the girls a bit more…

Like I imagine that Dick’s darling is very good friends with the Huntress, so those two team up together more and Helena is always looking over the first Robin. Dick’s darling may get more reckless without Bruce and that will probably end up with her getting kidnapped and no one hearing from her again and without Batman they can’t find her…

Jason’s darling would decide to put up the suit for good and just focus on school and she would almost graduate, but being in the wrong place at the same time has sort of become her thing and she gets kidnapped with the intention of being organ trafficked if it wasn’t Jason recognizing her unconscious body. It’s really a shame, she would have made such a good lawyer.

Tim’s darling is able to go on as normal for a while, after all it is what Bruce would have wanted, but then one day she literally just vanishes into thin air, she was sitting in her room at the manor, working on an art piece and Alfred checked up on her one minute and when he went back she was gone and the window was left open. Everyone searched for her all over the city, but no one could find her, little do they know that she is stuck wandering the Court of Owl’s labyrinth until her mind gives out and she is left broken and ready for Tim to piece back together how ever he would like.

Damian’s darling is the one I probably thought about the most, when Bruce dies, she goes and becomes Batgirl and becomes the sidekick of Kate Kane. Then if by some miracle she manages to avoid the League of Assassins with what she learned then one day, Kate sits her down and hands her a box with the Batwoman suit inside. She is now the new Batwoman.

I imagine with that she not only picks up the mantle of Batwoman but the empty space Bruce left behind in Gotham, becoming the city’s main protector. With all of her sisters missing she is alone and more closed off than when she was younger.

But she never did cut off the head of her own snake.

Her conflicts with Damian on grow more and more when he takes his grandfather’s place as the leader of the League of Assassins. She wasn’t as strong as Bruce was and she knows that, so even though she is able to hold her own in against against Damian, she never will be able to win…

Someone would be surprised how little pressure it takes to break someone’s spine.

[wardenparker]

The Unbearable Weight of Perfection, ch 2

Javi Gutierrez x female reader Co-written with @absurdthirst

When an accident of fate throws Javi G into the path of his soulmate, his instinct is to dive in head first. Adjusting to life as the fated partner of someone you barely know is going to be harder than either of you suspect, but anything worth having is worth working for. Isn't it?

(This story is heavily inspired by the lovely house museums that I work in every day and the fantastic few months that HBO was using our houses to film a TV show in fall! I spent each day on that set in wonder and I can't wait to share the experience with all of you through this story.)

Rating: M for Mature but this blog is always 18+ Word Count: 14.9k Warnings: *Blanket warnings for this story include: Cursing, alcohol, food, references to abusive family members -- i.e. Lucas.* More fluff and sweetness. Adorable and awkward flirting. Workplace romance, technically? Clothing/trying on clothing. Summary: The first day of the movie crew's work is here, and no one is prepared for the whirlwind that this day will bring -- not even you and Javi. Notes: We started off strong with a big ol' error last week guys! Sorry about that. But thank you to those folx who brought it to my attention, you're simply the best readers out there. The start date of ch1 is now fixed and dates are fixed across the board. 🧡 This week enjoy a photo of the music room at The Breakers -- the house that inspired or fictional Hazelwood House.

Friday, April 4, 2025

“Javi, you don’t want to meet with the cast?”

He pauses, looking out of the front window of the little cottage at the wooden stakes marked off in the barren ground. Cleared and ready to be built and now lying abandoned. There didn’t seem to be much need to continue building a house when the woman who he was building it for had left. “They don’t need me at the read through.” He tells his agent, knowing that she had pushed for him to be on set and involved in every aspect of the filming, giving him more creative control. He appreciated it, but he was more excited about where the movie was being filmed than who was in it.

The thing is, Sherry knows him. She knows that there has to be a reason he pushed for the specific shooting location that inspired the script. She knows there's some girl there that he won't talk about – he'd showed up moon eyed to a meeting one day after working on the script and there had been something about it that screamed infatuation. Which is why she has no problem at all pulling the ace out from her proverbial sleeve.

"I would have thought you would want to see the house again." She hums. "Oh well. I'll let them know you're not coming and I'll cancel the car from the studio."

“The meeting is at the house?” He had assumed it was the studio read through. Not at the house. She hums and he starts to panic. “No! No, um, on second thought, I should see who is going to be playing my characters.”

Ever the professional, Sherry keeps her smile polite and betrays no hint of victory, despite the fact that she barely had to fight at all. "The director wanted the cast to be able to look around the house and grounds before the furniture gets swapped out for set pieces." She explains easily.

“Is the staff going to be there?” He asks eagerly. “To answer any questions for the cast? I don’t know a lot about the history, I mean. It would be good, you know, to have them there.” The idea of seeing you again has him already walking into his bathroom to get ready, needing a shower.

"As I understand it, a few of the docents will be there today." So that's what it is. One of the girls from the museum staff. "You have half an hour until the car gets here, Javi," she calls after him, grinning as he immediately hops into high gear.

Javi grins as he starts to rush through his shower. It’s ridiculous how excited he is by the idea of just seeing you again. Especially since he can’t recall ever seeing or hearing your name. He just knows that his entire mood brightens when he thinks about the few times that he’s interacted with you.

She hums again, pleased this time, and sits down in the living room of Javi's little house to wait. She has work she can do on her laptop in the meantime and sends a text off to the production assistant in charge of corralling the creative team for the movie, confirming that Javi will be there. Now she just needs to find out who this girl is.

Towel wrapped around his waist; he hurries into the bedroom closet to pick out an outfit. Wanting to strike the right chord and look good when he arrives.

Sherry only has to hurry him along once, and he's tucked into the studio car right on time and sent off to Santa Barbara. She doesn't have to babysit him there, she knows he'll do his work, but it's good that she stayed long enough to get him in the car. A day of work and whatever girl is in that house will do Javi a world of good.

In the car, Javi fiddles with his phone, triple checking the time and discreetly turning on the camera to check his appearance. He had made sure not to put on too much cologne, but he had completely forgot to check his hair. Even if it is shorter than he had worn it before.

He fidgets all the way to the museum, and the anticipation settles over him like the buzz of electricity threatening to shock him at any moment. The first thing he does when he walks in the front door is look to the front desk, but it isn't who he's looking for. He vaguely recognizes the young woman though, and flounders for a moment to remember her name. It's the girl who had been with you that night just before Christmas. The one who suggested you take your break with him.

“Hi.” He flashes smile at the woman. “I’m—”

“I’m so sorry sir.” Moira hates that the mystery man who managed to make you float on air arrived today of all days. “The house is closed for a private event.” She tilts her head sympathetically and walks around the desk to usher him outside.

“No, I just wished to see—”

“We will we be closed for the next four months.” She has dealt with difficult people all day. Insisting their little tour wouldn’t interrupt anything and she doesn’t want to have to tell you this guy ended up being a jackass.

“No, you don’t understand—”

“Javi!” He spins around when his name is called from deeper inside the house, turning to see the producer of the film, smiling broadly as he rushes forward.

“Scott.” He’s grateful that the other man had shown up when he did, about to be booted out on his ass by the girl.

"Javi?" Moira quickly moves back to the desk to look at the clipboard that she was given by the producer now striding into the foyer. Glancing down and down it, her jaw drops open a little before she lights up with glee. "Javier Gutierrez?" She asks, looking up at the producer.

"Our writer." Scott affirms. "We almost started without you, Jav. C'mon in. We're all in the ballroom."

“Sorry.” He ducks his head in apology and his eyes shift over to Moira. He nods quickly, not wanting her to think he was upset with her before he follows Scott. “The traffic was heavier than the driver anticipated.” He explains as they walk down the hall.

"Not to worry. But it's good you're here. You know how changes go." Scott hustles them along a hallway and through the open pocket doors into a ballroom that would fit an entire Olympic swimming pool. There are tables set up on one end so the cast can all face each other during the read, with extra seats for key members of the production team. On the other end of the ballroom, two production assistants are setting up a makeshift catering table with someone sitting in a chair at the far end.

He doesn’t feel nervous when he sees the famous faces that will be bringing the script to life. He smiles and waves to each one of them, happy that such a talented group has been chosen by the production team and the director. It’s going to be amazing, he can feel it. No, he gets nervous when he sees you sitting in a chair away from the tables, looking just as shocked to see him. Freezing for a second before he gives the most awkward wave of his life and wants to kick himself for being so ridiculous.

OhmygodOhmygodOhmygodOhmygod—

You almost short circuit, sitting there in that chair with your legs crossed and a book in your lap. Your jaw drops open in surprise while the rest of you lights up, returning his sweet, shy wave with a little one of your own.

Somehow you hadn’t even considered the possibility that a writer would be on set for the filming of their movie, although in retrospect of course they would. You’re just so stunned that it’s him that you can barely think.

She’s here. That’s the thought that flutters through his mind until Scott touches his arm and breaks the spell that seems to have possessed him. Pointing him to a chair and he sits down, twisting his head to look back at you one more time to confirm that it’s you and not his overactive imagination playing tricks on him.

He catches you looking and you don’t even have the presence of mind to do anything but be mildly embarrassed and giddy that he’s actually here. That for the next four months, the chances of seeing him aren’t just increased but high. Is it a silly crush? Absolutely. But there’s nothing wrong with that in the least.

Javi tries to focus, but he catches himself wondering if you are listening. If you are happy that he will be here for the next four months.

He barely manages to mark comments during the read. His mind is forty feet in back of him sitting next to that folding table. It’s wrapped up in the navy blue dress and brown leather riding-style boots you have on today. He is utterly distracted beyond repair.

When the reading is finished with there is chatter at the table, a speech from the director, another from a different producer, and then one from the museum’s head curator.

You manage to hear most of what your boss says, straining a little only at times because of the size of the room, but the acoustics are good enough. She’s telling the cast and production crew that they’re going to be split into three groups to be led around the house by herself and the two docents here today. And then she excuses herself to bring Moira in while the whole cast breaks for something to eat before their tours.

Immediately Javi turns towards you and makes a beeline towards the chair where you are sitting. Or were sitting, now standing up and brushing down the front of your dress in an adorably nervous way. “Hi.” He rushes out when he gets within three feet of you.

“Hi.” The answering chirp is just as bright and excited as his is. You can’t help it. “I—I had no idea you’d be here.”

“I- I wrote the movie.” He’s not bragging, not really. He’s just stumbling for something to say without sounding like an idiot. “My agent, she insists that I be involved with the production. So that I can keep creative influence over the final product.” The success of the three movies he’s written so far has all but guaranteed that he gets what he asks for and she makes sure he does.

“You wrote a movie that takes place here?” Obviously he did, but you’re still stunned enough to be fumbled to connect all of the dots necessary to sound like an intelligent person. “Is that…I mean…it has to be, doesn’t it? Why you came back to visit the house? It really spoke to you.”

“That’s part of it.” Not all of it of course. The house is beautiful and did spark his interests, but that’s not the entire reason he kept coming back.

“Only part?” You can’t help feel yourself hoping. That dangerous, seductive, riotous feeling that takes wing in the hollow of your chest. That part of you dreams he’s thought about you a mere fraction as much as you’ve thought about him.

“I came back several other times.” He admits bashfully. “You were not here, I must assume you were off.”

“You…looked for me?” And just like that, hope’s wings unfurl into something so bold and beautiful that you almost erupt into disbelieving, giddy giggles.

“I liked our conversations.” He’s worried that it might have been improper until you start beaming at him. Making him smile in response.

“I did too.” It’s a terrible understatement, but it’s true.

“You did?” He brightens slightly, licking his bottom lip nervously. “I was worried that I was bothering you.” He admits with a laugh.

“Not at all.” In fact, the warmth in your cheeks at that simple confession runs all the way down your neck and blossoms in your chest. “I was afraid that I was bothering you.”

“Not at all.” He shakes his head vigorously. “I was disappointed to learn I couldn’t have a one-on-one tour.” He admits. “I asked once, when you were off, hoping to get you and you weren’t there anyway.” He can’t help but laugh at himself for that and shrugs.

“I’m certain we could manage one during filming, though things will be moved around. Our furniture and collections items are going into storage starting tomorrow.” It will be a very busy work day for your conservation and collections staff along with the moving company that has been hired, but the docents have the weekend off. You’ve planned a very busy weekend of sitting around and doing nothing at all.

He moves towards the tables that are ladened down with food and picks up a plate to hand to you. “I know, but the furniture will be replicas of the original furniture.” He had been specific about certain pieces in the script. “The set designer loved the originals.”

“Really?” Surely that must have cost a fortune, and it shocks you that he would have gone through so much work. “Is that why they want the cast and crew to see the set up of the house today?”

“Yes.” He nods. “I gave a specific tone for this movie.” He admits, smiling as he reaches for a mini croissant chicken salad. “Do you like these?” He offers, holding it out to you. “Craft services is really good.”

“I love chicken salad. Thank you.” Not to mention you’ll try just about anything once, but he’s hit on a favorite immediately. He sets two of the small sandwiches on your plate beside the scone you had already selected. “So you…write the film after visiting? Or did the house happen to fit the story that you wanted to tell?”

“I was starting the script.” He admits. “I was stuck on how I wanted it to be set and the house was mentioned. So I decided to come see it.” He chooses a little egg tart and hums. “That first visit is where you talked about the mosaic tiles. I knew then I wanted the movie set here.”

“Because of the tiles?” You ask, amused at the thought. He had been so entranced by the detail that you almost aren’t surprised.

“It’s is so specific.” He defends. “That had to be a decision that was made by the owners, the designers. I can’t imagine the builder caring if the tiles were the same marble.”

“You’re preaching to the choir,” you remind him with a gentle laugh. “I wish the family had kept more records about the design choices, but how could Mrs. Hollingsworth have known her house would become a museum?”

“It would be interesting to see.” He agrees, scooping some of the seafood salad onto his plate.

“The great-grandchildren, the ones that are still living, are notoriously hands off.” You explain as you go down the line together, filling your plates with all of the delicious looking offerings that catering has provided. “And their children have no connection to the house whatsoever. So whatever information we’re ever going to have…we pretty much already have it.”

“That’s sad.” He frowns slightly, remember his own big beautiful house that would be forgotten. It had been seized by the police when Lucas has been arrested.

“Perhaps we’ll do some digging in the archives one day or find something new in a trap door of the attic.” You hope you will, anyway. The more information the better. “Who knows?”

The two of you make your way through the line to the drinks and he picks up a strawberry lime soda. “Do you want to talk while we eat?” He asks. “Or do you have to meet with your boss?”

“No, I—I’d rather stay and talk to you.” It seems like a very forward thing to say, but you pick out a can of sparkling lemonade from the cooler and practically beam. “My boss will let me know who is in my tour group after lunch.”

“Then we should sit down.” He guides you over to table to sit, finding the leads of the film already sitting.

Sitting down to a casual lunch with movie stars was not something you had on your Bingo card for your life. Not really. Living in Southern California didn’t guarantee a damn thing and you certainly haven’t done any kind of acting since high school drama club. The best you can do is a polite if awkward smile as you sit down in the chair that is being held out for you and hope that small talk trends toward the house. That you can talk about.

“Javi, I am sooooo thrilled to work on this.” The lead actress, Tamara Wilson, has an impressive range from what he has seen in the audition clips. “The script is amazing.”

He sits down and ducks his head slightly. “Thank you.”

“It’s such character-focused story telling.” The younger of the two male leads, Jason Grant, is a relative newcomer but fought to get this role and he’s excited for it. “The research you did is incredible.”

He chuckles. “It was interesting.” He shoots you a glance. “The house is part of the focus of the film.” He explains since you haven’t read the script. “A character on her own.”

“She’s a very worthy to house to include.” A glowing part of you warms from the toes up at the idea that any of this might be because you talked to him about the house, and you don’t mind admitting that to yourself at all. “I’ll do my very best, we all will, to answer any question you all have about the house and the family here. I know the family in your movie will be different, but we’ll do so glad to answer any questions we possibly can.”

“Are there any secret passages?” Tamara asks, leaning in with the gleam of excitement in her eyes.

“Several.” You assure her with a grin. “I’ll show you when we walk around. The staff made their way through the house invisibly to make it like the place operated by magic alone.”

“That is amazing.” She gushes, looking around to try to figure out where an opening would be in this room. “Imagine the secrets they must have overheard.”

"Any time someone in a costume drama jokes that 'the maids know everything', it's not really a joke." Eating as you chat makes it feel slightly less daunting, especially with Javier sitting beside you looking like he's hanging on your every word. "Domestic staff knew everything about the people they worked for. And were usually privy to secrets that the family were keeping from each other, on top of it all."

“So you would want to make sure your staff was loyal to you.” She nods seriously and looks over past Jason to Alexander as he joins the four of you at the table. “Or in this case - you.” She snorts and rolls her eyes playfully.

"Me?" Alex points to himself, eyebrows raised, and sets his plate down beside the binder holding his script. "What did I do?"

Alex is objectively beautiful, even Javier can admit that as he glances over at the man that magazines call a ‘heartthrob’. It is rumored that he will be the next year’s Sexiest Man Alive and better yet, he’s a beautiful soul. Jason chuckles. “You have to make sure all the staff are loyal to you.” He explains and points at you. “Starting with her.”

"Oh," you fluster, clearing your throat gently and looking unintentionally bashful. "I'm afraid my loyalties are already spoken for. No hard feelings, gentlemen." It's a ludicrous thing to say to one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood and a tv actor you've swooned over with Moira, but...it's true. And there's just no way to deny it.

“Well, damn.” Even though he’s just now getting involved with the conversation, Alex is nothing if not willing to tease and joke around with his casemates. “Way to break a man’s heart before introductions.” He reaches out his hand. “Alex Powell.” He introduces himself, giving that characteristic smile that has ladies normally swooning. “Sure I can’t change your mind?”

"As much as I appreciate the offer, Mr. Powell -- and it's very nice to meet you by the way -- I'm afraid not." You can think of at least a half dozen friends off the top of your head who would be screaming to shake Alexander Powell's hand right now, but you find yourself oddly impartial to him in this moment. Obviously he's handsome, but the man sitting to your right, with his gorgeous curls and bright brown eyes, has already laid every possible claim over your affections.

“Damn.” His eyes slide to your side and he notices the way Javi Gutierrez, the entire reason he signed on to the project, looks downright relieved at your answer. “Then you and I are going to be friends.” He decides, sending you a wink.

******

When the lunch break finishes, everyone clears away their dishes into the bins provided by the catering staff, and the museum's head curator steps up to the front of the group. "We'll split into three tour groups," she announces pleasantly, her characteristic smile broad across her face. "Group A will be the technical crew and production assistants. Group B will be the costumers, hair and make-up department, and Second Team actors. Group C will be First Team actors and production crew."

She looks out on the sea of assembled people, as the crew that were not on site for the read through all arrived during lunch time. "Group A will be with me, Group B with our docent Moira," she points to the north side of the ballroom and Moira waves. And then Leslie points in your direction, telling Group C that they will be taking their tour with you.

Javi lights up, hoping that he would be put with you, although he never would have protested. Whatever is happening between you both is fragile and this is your job. Calling attention to your boss is never a good thing, at least he would never willingly admit anything to Lucas before. Protecting that glowing feeling in his chest as he steps towards you.

"We keep getting lucky," you murmur, barely loud enough for him to hear as you smother a smile.

“I wonder if your boss decided to do that on purpose.” Biting his lip, he glances over at the older woman. “She is the one I spoke to about a private tour.”

“Maybe.” But you can’t say you mind. Not even a little bit. “Leslie is incredibly sweet. I can see her doing that. She’ll always do what she can to make people happy.”

“It won’t make you uncomfortable for me to be on the tour?” He doesn’t think that it will make you feel that way, but he wants to be sure. He knows he can be a little….intense at times.

“Why would I be uncomfortable with that?” If you’re being honest with yourself, you’d be a little jealous if he went on someone else’s tour. It’s just the crush talking, surely, but you feel connected to him. Like he would just wander away carrying a piece of you if he went with anyone else.

“I don’t know.” He shrugs and grins as he shoves his hands in his pockets. “Maybe I am being too bold?” He offers. “I can be over eager sometimes.”

"To be fair..." Having him talk of being bold makes you feel the same way. "You haven't actually said anything forward at all."

He realizes that you are right, but the way you say it makes his smile widen, reaching his eyes. “Perhaps you would like me to?” He asks, only to have Scott come up and clap him on the back.

“Tour time!” He grunts happily. “Javi, make sure to point out to Alex and Tamara where their clandestine scenes will be.”

You don't know the man from a hole in the wall but you are instantly frustrated with this producer. His timing was perfectly horrible and you nearly deflate at not being able to answer Javier right away. The best you can do right now is catch his eye as the group starts to assemble around you and mouth, 'Yes' with a nod of your head. Yes, you absolutely do want him to be bold. To make a move. To actually like you as much as you like him.

Javi tucks his hands deeper into his pockets and hangs back slightly so he can have a moment to celebrate. He hurries to catch up and is eager to hear everything you have to say.

All three tours start in different areas of the house. You walk the cast and main production crew through each room, talking to them about the architecture of the house, the use of each room, and the family that lived here. You show them the servant’s passages and answer as many questions as they have about the everyday workings of big houses and upper class families and large domestic staffs of the Gilded Age.

At one point, Tamara laughs in disbelief at the sheer breadth of the knowledge you have accumulated. “How did you get to be such an expert?” She asks, genuinely interested as she pokes around the dressing room attached to Mrs. Hollingworth’s bedroom on the second floor.

“They say it takes ten thousand hours to be an expert in something,” you shrug your shoulders. “I ended up studying history in college, put my focus on domestic history and the culture of families in the Victorian and Gilded eras, and then I’ve worked in house museums. So…maybe five years ago? Would be when those ten thousand hours were fulfilled?”

“Wow.” Javi is suitably impressed. “That is amazing. I think that I have only become an expert in movies.” He snorts. “Watching them, not making them. Not yet.”

“Do we have an on set historical consultant?” Alex asks Scott, turning to the producer with a flourish of his hands in your direction. “I mean we have one, but can we make her official?”

Javi nods in agreement when Scott glances towards him. “It would be good to have her on set. Help them with any needed facts and I could use her for potential re-writes.”

“Oh, I couldn’t— I—”

“Done.” Scott nods. “Save me having to hunt down resources for you, so I’m all for it.” He gives you the same too-pleased smirk and insincere wink that you’ve seen him give nearly everyone else. “Welcome to Hollywood, kid.”

Alex chuckles, moving over to you and slinging his arm around your shoulder. "Buckle up." He warns, jostling you playfully. "We will pick your brain clean. I want to make sure we get this on the radar for awards."

“Oh, but that…that’s down to all of you. Not to me.” Your mind is spinning but not at all in a bad way. It all feels like the most fantastic dream. “You’re going to help.” Tamara promises, confident and bubbling over with excitement. “And when we get those red carpet invitations, one of us will bring you as our date. You’ll have a blast.”

Javi's eyes widen, surprised by the idea coming from the lead actress but he doesn't deny that. Hoping that he wouldn't have to watch you walk the carpet with someone else. That would be his luck.

“That’s a very generous offer.” One that flusters you immeasurably, and you shuffle your booted feet in place. “I’m very excited to help, just nervous. That’s all.”

“Don’t be nervous.” Jason huffs, smiling at you and tugging Tamara close to his side. They have previous worked together on a small project and are happy to be reunited again. “We are just as normal as you are. We just have a job that is….public.” He chuckles.

“Let’s take a little break before we talk about Monday’s scenes.” Always working, Scott wipes his hands on each other and looks around. “Coffee.” He decides, heading off toward the catering table.

"Javier, I have a few questions about the script." Tamara poses, tilting her head as she looks towards Javi. "Would you mind chatting about it for a few minutes?"

His eyes float to you hesitantly, but you just smile. “I need to check in with my boss and let her know about the…the very generous consultant offer. Come and find me when you’re done?”

"I will." He nods, not even noticing the raised brows and shared smiles the actors share. Both of you are laying claim to each other and it's honestly interesting to watch.

Your heart is pounding as you make your way back over to Leslie and Moira, feeling like you're about to deliver terrible news when it probably won't change much of anything. Several of the other docents had taken the spring off rather than work on the movie set, and the ones who did want to be there for the film had had to fight for shifts.

"So how did your tour go?" Leslie asks, a small smirking smacks of smugness on her face. She had wondered if the writer of the script had a little crush on you when she finally put two and two together today. He was the same man who had been obviously looking for you when he asked about a personalized tour, describing you to a T.

"It was good." If you were glowing any more, you would be a lamppost. You're sure of that. But you can't help it in the least. "It was really great. Everyone is super nice."

"Especially your writer?" Moira asks with the biggest shit-eating grin on her face.

"What is his name?" Leslie asks, wondering if the two of you had actually had a conversation that is more than just longing glances and flirtatious banter. Both of you seem smitten, almost like you are soulmates.

"Javier." Even saying his name lights you up a little more, but you correct yourself a moment later. "Javi."

"Javi." She hums, nodding. "He looks like a Javi." She admits with a grin. "I didn't know if you had a stalker when he came in a few months ago and asked for you. Didn't know your name, but described you."

"We hadn't gone so far as to exchange names until today," you admit, practically biting your lip to keep your grin from growing even wider. "We had met twice before. He came in several times when he was writing the film, apparently."

"I knew that he had come in several times. I remember seeing him. Honestly? I was hoping he wasn't creepy, especially when I thought he kept coming back to look for you. I didn't let you know in case. I didn't let him know your schedule." In hindsight, she should have told you, but she is kind of a momma bear towards her docents. Protective.

"We appreciate that you take care of us, believe me." From time to time there are creepy guests who make the docents and other staff uncomfortable, so it's good that Leslie always keeps an eye out. The well-dressed Midwestern blonde looks unassuming but packs a wallop when she's displeased. "But Javi is very sweet. He's..." A dreamy sigh settles in your chest and you break out laughing. "I'm horribly smitten, guys. I'm sorry. I can't even pretend otherwise."

Moira's brows shoot up. "I knew you had a crush, but this— giirrrrrrl." She tilts her head. "You're acting like that man is your soulmate."

"Oh no." Another laugh escapes you, but this one isn't as big or full. "I don't think I could get that lucky."

“You don’t?” She scoffs doubtfully but she doesn’t press. Even if you don’t have shared scars with this man, it’s the most interested you’ve been with anyone in a long time. “Although I’m really fucking jealous that you got to breathe the same air as Alex Powell.”

"Actually, um...come to that." Looking apologetically between Moira and Leslie, you face your boss with the bravest and most simultaneously plaintive expression you can muster. "The production team has...invited me to fill a position." One which you can't understand why Leslie herself isn't filling, but maybe they asked her and she had to say no to...you know...run the museum. "They've asked me to be their on set historical consultant."

Leslie bites her lip, honestly amused that you are looking surprised by that offer. You are one of the most knowledgeable docents she has, probably that she’s ever had. “What do you think about that?” She asks seriously. “That could mean wildly different working hours.” She reminds you. “There’s going to be a lot of night filming.”

"I don't mind a change of hours. I mean...when am I ever going to get another chance to be on a movie set?" Still, you're twisting your fingers around each other nervously and wringing your hands. "I'd like to accept, if it's alright with you? I mean, you're my boss and in no way do I want to leave the museum. Tours are on hiatus until filming is finished anyhow, and if I take a leave of absence then you could give more docents hours being set supervisors." It was the job of the docents on set to watch over the house and protect it during filming. To basically be bodyguards for the house and always keep a watchful eye on things.

“I think that you would still be able to keep your hours here.” She says after a moment. “But it wouldn’t include overtime. Just your normal work week.” She shrugs. “Have they discussed pay?”

"Not yet. I assume I'll have to meet with someone from the studio and sign whatever contract they use for consultants." Not that you have any idea what any of that will mean, but you're eager to find out.

Moira, for her part, grins and hugs you to her side. "Fancy job and a fancy guy. Look at you!"

“That means that I will need you to step up as head docent.” Leslie reminds Moira with a smile. “Do you have any problem with that?”

“I will do my best to live up to it.” Moira agrees, though she knows she doesn’t have as much experience as you. Though she has worked at Hazelwood longer, you’ve been in museum work in general for more time and have a stronger academic background than she does. But she also knows that if Leslie thinks she can do it, then she shouldn’t be second guessing her own abilities.

"You will do wonderfully." She has faith in that, although she knows that she will also be around. She's protective of the house and interested in the movie that is being filmed here.

“It sounds like we’re all going to have a hell of a spring and summer on our hands.” You observe, eliciting laughs from the other two women.

Javi is discussing the script with Tamara and Scott when you walk back over. Listening to the actress seriously and contemplating her ideas. “Why don’t I write the pages, and you can see if it fits the character?” He asks, willing to take the changes and see. “Run through both and see which one you like better?” That is directed towards Scott, who knows what the director is looking for.

“If we can get it done over the weekend, we’ll test it.” Scott agrees. “Sally will be in tomorrow, she had one more producers she was meeting with today.” He checks his watch, checks his phone, and in the process of moving around spots you. “Do I need to talk to your boss for you?” He asks, seeing that you look nervous.

“Oh! No. It’s all set. Whatever contract you need me to sign, I’ll look over when it’s ready. But Leslie has no problem with the arrangement.”

“Good.” Javi knows the production will be fair. One of the reasons he was excited to work with this studio is because they have a good reputation.

“Good.” Scott agrees, clapping you in the shoulder and going off in the opposite direction.

Javi sees the confusion on your face and laughs. "Don't worry." He assures you. "There will be a contract brought around to you. It will be fair."

Javi is sitting beside Tamara, one leg crossed over the other and looking like the most relaxed and picturesque god of a man you’ve ever seen in your life. It’s not the contract that has you confused in this moment, it’s wondering how you got so lucky that he could actually be interested in you.

“I’ll let you two talk.” Tamara offers, flashing you a wink and a grin as she gets up to scoot away.

Javi smiles happily as you slide into the seat that Tamara vacates. Happy that you are going to be on set for the duration. He knows that he will be here too, already asking if he could have a space to set up his equipment instead of working from home like he had originally anticipated. "Are you happy to be asked to work on the movie?" He asks curiously. "You will be listed in the credits."

“It’s all a little surreal,” you admit, perched on the edge of the chair like you’re afraid it might get swept out from under you at any second. “I always dreamed about working in Hollywood. I mean who doesn’t at some point? But I never thought it would actually happen.”

“Honestly? Same.” He laughs quietly. “I had dreams, but with my family….” He frowns slightly and shrugs it off. “It was not possible until a few years ago. I was just obsessed with film. Movies. The magic and wonder of it all.”

“I’m sorry your family wasn’t supportive.” You shift in your seat to face him better and feel your heart leap up into your throat almost instantly. You could have sworn you saw the flicker of something above the line of his loafer but it can’t be.

He’s always uncomfortable when talking about his family. Shifting slightly in his seat and moving his ankle to rest on his knee. “That is the past.” He offers with a small smile. “I look towards the future.”

“I—I’m—I’m really sorry, but…” With your pulse pounding blood so loudly in your ears that it has drowned out your thoughts. “Your ankle—?” Clear as day now, the vertical scar on the inside of his ankle that curves ever so slightly at the top like a Shepard’s crook is exposed for anyone to see.

It can’t be. Can it?

He frowns for a second before he follows your eyes to his leg and he nods. “Oh.” It’s an old scar, not red or angry. Just a silvery distortion of his skin. “Old injury.” He explains. “I fell out of an olive tree when I was younger.” He was pushed out, by Lucas, but he doesn’t talk about that. “The old iron fencing around the base wasn’t kind.” He adds, lifting his pant leg so you can see it properly.

The strangled sort of hiccupping sound you make is barely smothered by your hand flying to your lips, but the water rising up in your eyes can't be disguised. "A-and...and...how long ago was that?" It's impossible, and yet here it is right in front of you. A mark you know as well as you know any other shape in the world.

Javi told his head curiously, surprised by your reaction to his scar. “About twenty years ago.” He murmurs cautiously. “I was old enough to know better. Why?”

"I—" You could explain. You could. But words have utterly failed you in this moment. This moment that has you reaching to unzip your right boot and pull your sock away from your ankle to expose the very same shepherd’s crook scar on your own skin.

Javi’s confused smile quickly slides into a frown. Tugging his lips down as his eyes widen. Shock making his mouth hang open and he slides out of his seat to his knees in front of your leg. Looking up at you for a moment to confirm you aren’t playing a prank on him. Then looking down and slowly reaching for your ankle to rub his thumb over the scar that matches his. He doesn’t care about the short, stubbly leg hair where you obviously haven’t shaved in a few days. Too entranced by the rippled skin that is smoother than his own since your skin wasn’t ripped open but matches his in every way. “You-“ His eyes light up and he exhales roughly. “You are my soulmate.”

"Do you..." Dry sobs stick in your throat, but the ecstatic warmth of his touch to your skin is its own answer. "Do you...have a tattoo of a blue morpho butterfly on your ribcage?"

He lets go of your ankle and starts to pull his button up shirt out of the waistband of his pants. Pulling it up to expose his right side. The perfect little butterfly at the top of his ribcage showing against his skin.

The whole rest of the room has gone silent around you, but neither you or Javi has noticed in the least. The whole rest of the world might have ceased to exist and you would never have known the difference. "This is unbelievable..." you breathe, reaching out to touch his skin with the same reverence and gentle care than he caressed your ankle.

“You- you - when did you get this?” He asks seriously, voice barely above a whisper.

"Eight years ago." Please let it be true, please let it be true...

He nods, his smile starting to stretch his face. “May, right?”

"Right." All at once the water spills over, two tears streaking down your cheeks. "Oh my god..."

“I cannot believe it.” He gasps, reaching for your cheek and wiping away your tears before he frowns. “Unless….you don’t like that?” He asks, wondering why you are crying.

"Like it?" A disbelieving laugh blows the entire thought away and you take his hand in yours. "I'm overjoyed."

“Fantastic.” He allows himself to be happy. To show it on his face and he beams. “That’s fantastic.”

“Can I…” It all sort of washes over you in a wave of too many things to parcel them all out from each other. “Can I…Give you a hug or something? I don’t even know what comes next. I just…I can’t believe it.”

“I want to kiss you.” He confesses. Now understanding why he was so drawn to you. You were like the flame to his moth. He couldn’t resist your pull.

"Thank god," you almost burst out laughing, barely containing the sound. "I wasn't sure if that was too much to ask for."

It’s like a scene in a movie, you are still laughing as he cups your head in his hands and lunges forward. Kissing you with joy and elation, groaning immediately when your lips touch his.

It isn't as though you've never been kissed. Kissed well, even. But this leaves every other good kiss so far behind that the trail of dust would stretch for miles. The warmth and welcome of him is all consuming, to the point that you nearly slide out of your seat just to get closer to him and sink farther into the kiss.

He loses all concept of time, of space, as he kisses you. Everything has faded into the background or completely disappears. Wondering at how right this feels.

It’s only when you come out of it — breaking the kiss for air and barely open your eyes to be able to look your soulmate in the face again — that you realize that everyone else in the room has erupted into whistles, cheers, and applause.

Javi starts to blush, looking around the room sheepishly and then back at you. Starting to giggle and he leans in to kiss you again. “My soulmate.”

"My soulmate." The word sounds so incredible breathed against his lips.

“Let’s get married.” Javi blurts out impulsively, grinning at you.

The rush of your heartbeat rockets through the roof, but you cling to him and some sort of ecstatic, nearly crazed laugh crosses your lips. "Yes." No hesitation. No worries. No second guessing. Just the absolute certainty that this is meant to be.

“Yes?” He is almost in disbelief and then you nod, cupping his face and kissing him back. “Yes!” He shouts and leaps up to drag you up and spin you around the room. “We are getting married!”

Gasps and more applause are the least of it, as it seems that everyone in the ballroom crushes in around the both of you in a flurry of excitement. Questions come from all angles, but you can barely hear them. can barely process any of it. It's a whole world just swirling around you when all that matters is him.

It’s only the sound of others cheering that brings him back down to reality. Making him turn and look at the cast, crew and production team clapping and grinning. He gives an embarrassed chuckle and turns back to you, his forehead pressed against yours. “We have made a scene.” He hums, smiling.

“I don’t mind,” you tell him, still giggling softly in his arms. “Not at all.”

“You don’t?” That makes him chuckle happily. “That’s good.”

Moira and Leslie are practically in giggling tears to your left, ready to swoop in and hug you into oblivion and Tamara looks like she’s ready to cry too.

“What?” She huffs when Jason prods her. “It’s so romantic!”

“Romantic, yes.” He rolls his eyes, “but what are we going to doooooo about it?” He’s secretly a big softie. “That means the walk through is done for the day. They are going to go get married.”

“So? I don’t mind ending early so soulmates can go get married.” In fact she’s positively gooey over the idea for about three seconds until she remembers herself. “Oh! Oh!! I can marry you!” Tamara crows, all but clapping with joy. “If you want me to, I mean! I got certified last year for my cousin.”

“Now that is an idea.” Leslie agrees with a growing smile. “We have almost everything we need right here.”

Javi knows that he would give you anything when you turn those wide, hopeful eyes on him. “Do you want to get married here?” He asks. “I don’t mind.”

“Is that okay with you?” If you’re being honest, you’ve dreamt of having your wedding here for just as long as you’ve worked at Hazelwood, but you would understand if he had something else in mind. “It’s fitting, really, isn’t it? Since we met here.”

"It is perfect." He would do anything to keep that look of absolute happiness on your face. "It will be part of our story, woven into the fabric of our lives."

“Do you really want to do it now?” The idea is so wonderfully romantic that you almost sigh. “Like tonight?”

His eyes shift back towards Leslie. "Can we make it happen?" He asks her. "Small, beautiful. Involving anyone and everyone who wants to participate?" He knows he doesn't have family and you've not mentioned any, so it is almost fitting that your friends and work family be involved. The cast and crew almost look giddy at the idea of contributing.

“Absolutely.” She kinds around at all the eager faces. “We have plenty of hands to help. You two go and get yourselves ready. Whatever you two need personally. We’ll take care of food, music, decorations, and everything else.” Your boss glances at her watch and flashes you a smile. It’s just the middle of the afternoon now, giving everyone plenty of time. “How does a seven o’clock wedding sound?”

“Does that work?” He asks you, not sure what you would want to happen before this wedding. “I will need to get you rings.”

“You need a ring too,” you remind him, with that glowing smile still in tact on your face. “We would need to find a boutique, I guess? It’s not like I have a wedding dress hanging around in my closet.” Some girls do. Dresses passed down from generation to generation. You’re not that lucky, unfortunately, and even if you were in better terms with your family…they’re all on the east coast anyway.

“A dress, yes, yes.” He nods enthusiastically and then he frowns. “I- the studio car brought me.” He looks over at Scott, who grins. “I think we can make some arrangements.” He offers, walking over with the director. “What do you think about filming some of this? Obviously we wouldn’t announce it now, but think of the press when the film is being released!” He practically has hearts in his eyes over the prospect.

The thought almost stuns you, but within seconds you’re shrugging your shoulders and looking up at Javi. “I don’t mind, if you don’t. It would be nice to have footage of the wedding.” Of marrying your soulmate.

“Javi?” His brows raise as he looks over at him. “Imagine the press junket. The curiosity ticket sales. People will flock to watch a movie that brought soulmates together.” Javi chuckles and nods. “Fine, but we get a copy of all of the film and we approve when it’s released and what is shown.”

“Deal.” Scott offers his hand to seal it, and is practically giddy when Javi shakes it.

“Do you have anyone you want to call?” You ask him quietly. “A friend you would want to stand up for you? Or family nearby?”

“I do have some friends.” He admits with a grin. “What about you?”

“She’s already here.” And standing maybe four feet away, at that. You look over to Moira with a grin. “You’re up for being a whirlwind maid of honor, right?”

“Of course!” Moira squeals and Alex grins as he slides up beside you.

“Why don’t you let me walk you down the aisle?” His eyes are serious, even when his tone and grin are silly. “It would be an honor to serve.”

Matching his playfully nonchalant expression, you shrug your shoulders as if you’re not sure. “I dunno, my man. That’s a big ask. I’m gonna expect you to have my back and be ready to step up when shit hits the fan. That sound doable?” The fact is, you don’t really know how your Mom would feel if she were here, or your brother, and your father died when you were just a teenager. So an offer from a new friend is as good as any other you’re going to get.

His brows pull together and he purses his lips seriously. “Absolutely.” He huffs, nodding. “I’m here for at the fan hitting shit.”

“Then I guess we’re gonna go for a walk together tonight.” It’s just about the most casual way you could ever decide such an important thing, but there is something almost brotherly about the way he’s warmed up to you. Once he knew you weren’t going to fall at his feet, he seemed to instantly decide you are his friend.

“Awesome.” He perks up and throws his arm around you. “I’ve got a suit in my car.” He winks at Javi playfully. “Never know when I’m going to meet my soulmate.” He jokes, knowing full well it’s just that he had picked up his dry cleaning and his agent always wants him to have dress clothes on hand in case. Just in case.

“For your sake, I hope they turn out to be a very energetic person,” you tease, but being your attention back to Javi quickly. “We have a lot to do in just as couple of hours.”

“You two go, get all the stuff you need and we will be waiting.” Alex unwraps his arm from around you as Jason comes up and shrugs. “While I can’t do much – what’s your favorite flowers?” He asks.

Flowers sounds like a hell of a lot to you, and you look to Javi for confirmation. "I don't mind what they are, but I think they should be white. Right?"

“Whatever color you want.” Javi tells you indulgently. “It doesn’t have to be white.”

"Really?" That surprises you, and you feel like you have to check with him before you actually give a real answer.

“Do you want the flowers to be white?” He asks, frowning slightly as he wonders if he has misspoken. “It is beautiful. But colors are beautiful as well if you want a bright arrangement.”

"I actually really like Gerber Daisies..." A flower you were always told was childish and unserious. How can a flower have a maturity level? "The big, colorful ones? I think they're beautiful."

“Then you should have Gerber Daisies.” He can’t call them to mind right away, but he is sure they are stunning. “Jason?” He looks over to him. “Can you find her the most beautiful Gerber daisies?”

"On it." He promises. It's not a well-known fact, since little about him is well known at all, but he grew up in and around his parents' florist business. He can definitely do a daisy wedding bouquet. "It'll be beautiful."

“Does that work for you?” Javi asks as he looks back at you in complete adoration.

"Absolutely." Honestly, the fact that everyone is pitching in so quickly and willingly is magical on its own. Everything else is a beautiful bonus.

“Good.” He grasps your hands and brings them up to his lips to kiss the back of them. “Shall we go? Get what we need?”

You and Javi head out of the museum – thanking Scott for the offer of a ride, but you have your car. This is something that you want to be able to do in private, and for you that means time that is only spent between you and your soulmate.

It might not be a flashy car, but she's gotten you through thick and thin, so when you climb in beside him you let out a contented little hum. "There's a soulmate boutique in downtown. They say they have everything a couple needs but...maybe you have someplace in mind that you would rather go? It's your call." Though it calls itself a boutique, the place is more like an emporium. Couples who want to get married quickly aren't looking to run all over the place to get what they need, so it's more or less a one-stop shop for wedding wear.

“Call.” His eyes widen and he pulls out his phone. “Yes, that’s fine. I need to make a call. See if they are in L.A.” He looks over at you and grins. “My good friend. I want him to come.”

"You do that, I'll drive," you laugh, turning the key in the ignition and heading out of the museum parking lot.

“Thank you.” He quickly pulls up his contacts and selects Nick’s number. “Hopefully he isn’t filming somewhere.”

The line rings three times before it connects, and Olivia Cage's smooth, musical voice comes over the line. "Hello Javi!"

“Olivia!” He lights up when he hears her voice and he shifts in the passenger seat. “Please tell me you and Nick are in L.A.?” He begs, immediately launching into the reason for his call.

"Javi! Javi! Slow down, sweetheart." She laughs when he immediately starts talking to quickly for her to keep up with. "Nick and Addy are just watching a movie in the living room, let me hand the phone over."

There is a little commotion on the other end of the line, but after a few seconds, Nick's voice comes over loud and clear. "Javi! We're at home tonight. Did you want to get together?"

“Could you be at Hazelwood Park in Santa Barbara by seven tonight?” Javi asks Nick, beaming through the phone. “I’m getting married.”

"You're get—you're getting married?!" Nick practically shouts on the other end of the line, and you laugh beside him with equal joy. "How?" Nick breathes. "Who? And of course we'll be there!"

“Well, I think the normal way.” He huffs out a laugh and almost looks like he will tear up for a second when he looks over at you as you drive. “My soulmate, Nick. I met my soulmate today. Not today. I’ve actually met her several times before but we— she has my scar. And I have her tattoo.” He rambles, knowing Nick will follow easily, they had spent far too much time together for him not to.

"The girl with the butterfly tattoo!" Nick howls with glee. He's seen that butterfly a hundred times -- whenever they go swimming – and knows how badly Javi has wanted to meet his soulmate. The instinct to love without restriction is at the heart of who Javi is. "Absolutely. Absolutely we'll be there. How can we help?"

“Just be there!” He laughs. “We are getting our rings and a dress for her now. The house should be set by the time we get back. They are filming my movie there.” He explains. “The cast and crew are going to be there too.”

"Do you need me to swing by your place and bring you a suit?" Nick offers, knowing Javi has a few particular pieces left in his wardrobe that he dearly loves.

Javi bites his lip and looks over at you. “Do you mind?” He asks you. “I have a suit that would be perfect.”

"Just tell me which one, buddy." Nick already has a key to Javi's house and knows his alarm code, so it's just a matter of swinging by. The place may technically be unfinished, but he's spent more time there than anyone besides Javi himself.

He looks over at you. “The royal blue Armani.” He decides. “Ferragamo loafers and the Givenchy cufflinks.”

It sounds extremely fancy and extremely expensive, and you hope that this boutique has something even half as spectacular for you so you can match him. Headed down the backroads into downtown, you reach for Javi's hand as you drive and give it a squeeze.

Nick assures him that he will get everything Javi needs and he’s quickly hanging up the phone. “That’s alright, right? Royal blue?” He asks, hoping he didn’t mess up.

"It sounds beautiful," you promise him.

“Shit.” He frowns. “I forgot to tell him to get a belt.”

"Don't worry," you urge him. "If that's the only thing we forget tonight, I think we'll be in excellent shape. But if it bothers you, I'm sure we can get one at the boutique. It won't be half as nice as the rest of your suit, but it will do the trick."

“You must pick out any dress you want.” His eyes light up happily. “So they have rings there? At this boutique?”

"Supposedly there is a jewelry department, a dress one, one for suits, all of it." You glance over at him while you drive, heart fluttering when you get a look at his perfect curls and sharp jaw. "One of the other docents went there when she met her soulmate last year."

“That is good.” Javi agrees easily, reaching for your hand and wishing it was your left. That one is firmly on the steering wheel. “If you do not like the rings there, we will find one you do like.” He promises. “I want you to love your rings.”

“I’m not picky,” you assure him, steering the car through the winding streets. “It’s more important to me that they come from you than what they are. So I’m sure we’ll be able to find something we both like.”

“You should be picky.” He frowns. “I hope you are wearing them for years. Until they are upgraded.”

“The only way I’m taking one of those rings off for more than a cleaning is if it’s getting passed on to our grandchild,” you tell him with absolute certainty. Your eyes flick back to the road as you move over a lane, the enormous boutique building is coming up on the right. “But I don’t think it will be hard to find something I love.”

“Grandchild.” He whispers the word, eyes bright at the mere mention of something so fantastical that he hadn’t been able to imagine it before now.

“Too soon?” You cringe slightly, wondering if talking about a family is the line that shouldn’t be crossed yet despite the fact that this is your soulmate and you’re on your way to buy things for your wedding.

“No.” He practically yelps the word and twists in his seat to vigorously shake his head. “I want kids.” He promises. “Lots of kids. I mean- as many as you want to have.” He amends and looks nervous, like you might shut down the idea completely if he doesn’t say what you want.

Carefully turning the car into the building’s lot and putting it in park, you take both of Javi’s hands and offer him the absolute softest smile you are capable of conjuring in this moment. Who hurt this poor, sweet puppy dog of a man that he looks so afraid to talk to you?

“I want a big family too,” you promise him. “But if we ever disagree on what we want, or I get too excited and jump ahead on something that you’re not comfortable with, I need you to tell me, okay handsome? And I’ll tell you, too.”

“Yes.” He agrees quickly, relaxing because of your soft touch. It’s already soothing to him. “I have to confess…” he bites his lip. “I have had relationships before.” He confesses, hoping that you will not judge him too harshly for that.

“I have too.” A lot of people don’t. Preferring to wait for their soulmate. But you had been worried on that point. “I…didn’t want to meet you one day and know nothing.”

Something dark flashes in Javi’s eyes. Desire and want, twisted with the kind of possessiveness that springs out of love. “That’s good.” He rasps out, his tongue wetting his bottom lip.

The change in his expression is fast enough that you miss it when you glance away for just a half a second to undo your seatbelt, but you lean back over again to kiss his cheek right after. “Let’s go inside?”

“Of course.” He smiles as he nods, squeezing your hand and hating to let it go when he has to unclip his own seatbelt and get out of the car. He will have to get you a new one, right away. Missing the garage that had been full of sporty, flashy cars for a moment, he waits for you to walk around to him since he is closer to the shop door.

Your hand slips into his again with ease, and the beat that your heart skips is made up for when you both hurry inside the building, eager to start getting ready for the night.

“I have never been in a soulmate boutique.” Javi confesses as he reaches forward to open the door for you. “You will have to show me where to go.”

“I can help with that.” A friendly woman with a blonde bob at the reception desk in the front of the store waves you both over. “My name is Cindy. How can I help you today?”

“Hello, Cindy.” Javi holds your hand proudly and guides you over to the desk. “This gorgeous creature is my soulmate and we are getting married today.”

"Well, congratulations." She smiles broadly, as though that isn't a sentence she hears once at day at bare minimum. "We can help with as much or as little as you need. Everything from rings to the dress to a suit, flowers, we can even book you in at the soulmate chapel in the Arts District."

"We have a venue and flowers," you tell her, feeling like you're vibrating beside Javi as you hold his hand. "And he has a suit. We'll both need rings and I need a dress."

"We can absolutely do that for you." Emerging from behind the desk, Cindy beckons for the two of you to follow her around a corner into the belly of the boutique. "Come right this way and we'll start with rings."

“Wait.” Javi pulls short, tugging on your arm. “When you pick your dress, should I see it?” He asks seriously. “I thought Americans believe it’s bad luck?”

"Some do." Though you shrug one shoulder. "I don't mind, though. If you don't."

He blinks in surprise and then smiles, lunging forwards to kiss your lips. “Yes. I want to see.” He admits with a grin. “I want to see all the dresses you could choose and see why you pick the one you do.”

"And I want your opinion," you tell him honestly. Every time he kisses you, you feel like you're melting, so the gooey smile on your face is pretty appropriate right now. "I want to know which one you like best, too."

“I would probably say buy them all.” He chuckles. “Wear one every year on our anniversary. Which will be today.” He beams again as he realizes that.

"Valentine's Day is the day we met." The reminder is sweet, soothing the ache of every lonely Valentine's past with the thought, and the two of you walk on together easily. The jewelry section of the store is immense, with a half dozen display cases full of beautifully glinting rings in all sizes, shapes, and styles.

“There are so many.” Javi chokes out, looking around the large, very brilliantly lit display cases. Every diamond sparkles and he knows you will find something you love. “We have a variety of options and price points.” She tells you both discreetly.

"My taste is fairly simple," you promise. He did offer to pay for everything, but you have no intention of going crazy. "And it doesn't have to be a diamond. There are plenty of beautiful stones."

He looks positively offended over that. “Did you know that diamonds are only the fifth most expensive gemstone per carat?” He asks you. “What is your favorite color?”

"It sounds silly." Another shrug, but at least you don't feel silly about this saleswoman seeing the two of you getting to know each other. She must certainly see couples getting married who have known each other far less. "But I like silver a lot."

“Silver.” He frowns slightly and tilts his head. “Would you like your setting to be silver?” He asks seriously.

"It doesn't have to be so serious, Javi," you assure him, smiling softly because this man just does that to you. You feel soft around him every second. "If you like yellow gold better, your ring doesn't have to match mine."

“I just want you to have exactly what you want.” Too often he had been accused of being too cheery and now you are telling him that he’s too serious. “I want to match your ring.”

"Is white gold, or silver, or what have you...is that okay with you?"

“Any of it.” He shrugs. His pinky ring is gold, but he will be fine with that. It’s on his right hand anyway.

"Then let's take a look." There are no shortage of choices, so who knows what you'll find. But you gravitate toward the nearest case with ease.

The two of you debate size, shape, gemstones. Laughing together as Javi points out one ring that is particularly hideous and at least you can both agree on that one to be marked off the list. Javi wishes for you to have something large and flashy and you want something more subdued.

It takes quite a bit of back and forth before you at least nail down a design. Three stone rings seem to be both of your favorite, and after a little more debating back and forth, Cindy disappears to another case on the other side of the jewelry section and comes back with a few options that have impressive center stones with dainty accents. It's the style of the design that you favor with slightly larger stones like Javi prefers. "They're not the biggest stones we have," she cautions, not wanting you to feel overwhelmed. "But they are stand out in terms of cut and quality. Very eye-catching."

“What do you think?” Javi wants you to love your rings, but he also wants to make sure that no one thinks that he is a pauper. It’s egotistical, but it’s the truth.

"They're still quite big." That isn't up for debate, but Javi seems to be quite certain that the cost is not an issue, and has barely looked at price tags so far. A conversation about his net worth is going to have to happen at some point because he's very clearly in a different tax bracket than you are, but that's for later. "The pear-shaped and the princess cut are the prettiest, I think...which do you like?"

“Whichever you want.” He would have chosen the emerald cut, but he would rather you have the choice. “I promise, I will not be upset.”

"Can I try on the pear?" Trying it on makes it seem to much more real, and Cindy hands you the ring carefully from its velvet stand.

"This will work with any band that you like, the setting is nicely elevated to compliment almost any choice." She tells you, but you barely hear it. it's like magic happens as that ring slides onto your finger, and you gasp quietly under your breath.

It’s perfect. Javi stares at the ring on your finger. The shape of the ring making your hand look even more elegant. The stone is not so overpowering that it looks like you are a child playing dress up with your mother’s rings. “Sweetheart?”

"I love it..." you breathe, hardly able to believe it's so perfect, and you look up at him with watery eyes. "The same way I love hearing you call me sweetheart."

He melts. His face softening into something akin to pure wonder as he looks down at the ring on your finger and he kneels down to one knee in front of you. “This is the one?” He asks softly, holding your hand and looking up at you. “Just like you are my one?”

“It’s perfect. Like you’re perfect.” Having a deeply romantic soulmate was always something you had wished for, but the way Javi seems to wear his heart of his sleeve is so much more than you ever could have hoped for.

He surges back to his feet to press his lips to yours. Ecstatic that this is happening. His soulmate.

Cindy only smiles, waiting for the moment to be enjoyed, before she begins to bring out bands for both of you. They rang from elaborate to simple, but she has a feeling this gentleman will prefer the elaborate.

“You should have this one.” Javi points to a band that is a solid circle of Princess cut diamonds to make up the surface. “Since you liked the princess cut solitaire too.”

"It's stunning." His flare for showy rings is very apparent, but in the moment you're so swept up that you forget to care. The gorgeous rings will be well loved and well cared for and that is what matters to you. "Do you want something ornate as well? Carved, or even with a diamond of your own?"

“What about this one?” He asks, pointing to a matching men’s ring. The circle of Princess cut diamonds is surrounded by the thick white gold band on either side.

The channel-set stones wink and shimmer in the bright store lighting, as if to say that completely agree with his choice. "A matching set," you agree with a nod.

It is a beautiful ring, but anything you choose he would be happy to wear. “Then I think that we have found our rings.” He picks it up and slides it on his finger to see how it fits and practically giggles with excitement when he sees a wedding band on his hand.

"I'll box these pieces up for you." Cindy offers, but pauses before gathering up the three-stone ring. "Unless you'd prefer to present your soulmate with her engagement ring now?" She offers, looking to Javi. She can easily just remove the tag and add it to the growing total. "I can retrieve the ring in her size from the case for you."

“Yes.” Javi decides instantly, beaming at you. “I want her to wear it out of the boutique.”

"Just one moment." She thought he might feel that way, and she disappears just only long enough to polish the ring and clip off the tag before bringing it back to him in its velvet box to be presented to you however he chooses. "I'll go and let the dress department know to expect you. Just move into the next room when you're ready," she tells you both with a sunny smile.

“I wish that there was something more romantic about this.” Javi confesses. “Imagine you are at your bench, sweetheart.” He decides, grinning at you. “Waves crashing all around you and the smell of the ocean hovering.”

"It's our bench now." It had been, to you, since that day before Christmas. You had spent too much time sitting there and thinking of him. Thinking of that day. Wondering if you would ever see him again.

“Our bench.” He agrees, beaming at you again as he guides you over to a bench that is not your bench, but it will substitute just fine. “Close your eyes.” He begs when he has you sat down.

You comply without hesitation, sitting up straight on the small bench with your hands on your knees. Life with Javi seems like it will have a certain flair for the dramatic – or at least special occasions will.

He’s sinking down to a knee again. This time with tears starting to form in his own eyes. This isn’t a movie. This is real life and it seems like he is finally getting his happily ever after. Murmuring your name softly, he smiles. “You are my soulmate.” He whispers. “The other half of my very existence. I have waited and wondered and dreamed about you my entire life and now you are here.” He swallows harshly as your eyes twitch. He opens the ring box and takes your hand. “I can’t live another day without you being my wife. Marry me. Marry me and make me complete.”

His voice is slightly choked, filled with emotion, and the tears that press against the back of your own eyes just from hearing it would surely be spilling over if your eyes were opening now. But since you've been instructed to keep them shut, you lean forward with your hands out and find his broad shoulders -- the pathway that bring your hands up to cup his cheeks. "The sooner the better," you promise him, with such a broad smile that even your soft promise comes out on a giddy giggle. "Now can I open my eyes to kiss you or are you going to come to me?"

“Oh, uh, yeah.” He had halfway expected you to open them when he asked the question, not expecting you to wait for his cue. “Open your eyes sweetheart.”

They are only open for a half second. Just long enough to lean all the way over to kiss him. But it's enough. It's all you need. It's all you need to be able to embrace this moment fully (and tearfully) with your soulmate as he slides your new engagement ring onto your finger just hours before you plan on marrying.

Javi sinks into the kiss, gathering you close and sighing against your lips happily until a discreet cough breaks through the fuzzy haze of love. “Pardon me.” Cindy smiles when he looks over at him. “The girls are pulling a number of dresses for you to try on.” She tells you.

“Thank you.” You’re not going to be embarrassed at all about the kiss. Not when you feel like you’ve waited three lifetimes to find this kind of joy and anticipation for the future.

Javi rubs his thumb over the ring happily and stands, pulling you up gently. “Time to pick out your dress.”

The girls as Cindy calls them, are two very sweet young women just a touch younger than you that run the dress department in this store. One blonde and one redhead, they are surrounded by a seeming sea of plush fabrics when you and Javi walk over together.

Javi’s eyes widen and he looks around in shock at all the styles, materials, laces. It’s so much that he wouldn’t have a clue where to begin.

"I think we're both a little spoiled for choice," you tell them, feeling very much like you agree with the awestruck and overwhelmed look on Javi's face. "Where would you recommend that we start?"

The girls are quick to start bringing out dresses to get a a sense of your style and preferences so they can match you up with the perfect dress.

Several are too revealing for you taste, and some are far too complicated in their designs. You're not looking to wear architecture on your wedding night, you want to be able to move. "Is there a such thing as a traditional dress without a train?" You ask, instantly feeling like you must be the pickiest person in the world for even asking. "I—I like to dance, that's all. And trains always look silly to me when they're bustled."

“No train.” Javi can agree with that and when you give him a questioning look, he nods in agreement. “I want you to have exactly what you want.”

"Does 'traditional' mean you're looking for a larger dress?" The chipper blonde asks, looking between both you and Javi. It's clear you're making the decision together. "Like a ballgown? Something with that princess feel?"

“She is a princess.” Javi immediately jumps into the idea feet first. “Better than any Disney character mister Walt Disney could think of himself.”

He loves it so much that you don't even consider not trying one on. "Let's see what a ballgown looks like." You agree, indicating one with a sweetheart neckline and lots of intricate lace that is hanging on the back of a dressing room door.

“You don’t have to pick something you think I will like.” He promises as they start to take dresses away and rush off to pull more. “This is your dress. I want you to feel as beautiful as you are.”

"I've never worn a ballgown." You bend down to lay a kiss on his lips before getting up to go into the dressing room. "It can't hurt to find out."

“You might hate it.” He snorts in amusement. “But it does fit the theme of the house.”

"I guess we're about to find out." Flashing him a broad smile, you disappear into the dressing room to tackle that great big, beautiful dress and see how it feels. It takes several minutes of finesse and manuevering with the help of one of the girls, but when you emerge you carefully school your reaction so you can see what Javi thinks first. The big bell of the gown's skirt is lighter than you expected but it has a seriously satisfying swish and you really do feel like fairy tale royalty.

“Magnificent.” Javi murmurs in awe, freezing mid turn as he stares at you. “You look- like a princess.”

“It’s huge.” Barely able to contain a giggle as your eyes widen, the mirror in front of you contains an image you barely recognize…but in the best way possible. It’s the version of you that you used to dream about. Fairy tales and all. So when you turn to look at Javi again, you’re almost as awestruck as he is. “It’s almost perfect.”

“Almost?” He tilts his head to the side and frowns as he looks over the dress again. “What is it missing?”

“It’s…a bit large.” You laugh, swinging your hips a little so the skirt imitates a large bell. “I feel a bit like I ought to be hung in a church in this thing.”

“So a smaller version of the skirt?” He asks. “Or do you want a form fitting dress?”

“Just a small ballgown, I think?” The question really goes to the two women helping you, but they are already moving to sort through what they have brought out. One has a halter and too-low neckline. One is encrusted with beading and jewels. One has large, poofy, sheer sleeves. None of them are quite right, but you try on a simple taffeta version of the silhouette. Just plain and simple. And that is nearly perfect.

Simple is generally how you like things, and this excursion into wedding dresses seems to prove it to you, but when you go out to show Javi, you can tell right away that he feels the same way you do. There is something missing.

“What about ivory?” The dresses have been separated by color and none of the ivory dresses have been chosen. “Or do you want pure white?” He wonders if it is a faux pas or if it’s just preference.

“Ivory could be good.” For that matter, it doesn’t have to be white for you to love it. But that is the easiest option.

“I have just the one.” The round-faced redhead promises, ushering you back into the dressing room. “Not too poofy, no train, fit for a queen.”

Javi stares at the display of accessories, biting his lip as he sees a tiara and he knows he wants you to wear one. It would be perfect. His princess.

There is a great deal of rustling and laughter and excited chatter coming from the dressing room, and when you emerge you’re wearing possibly the single most beautiful dress you’ve ever seen in real life — let alone most beautiful thing you have ever worn.

The silk jacquard fabric is luxurious and detailed without being extravagant or ostentatious. The simple corset bodice and Basque waist make you look as elegant as royalty. It has a full skirt for that princess affect but it isn’t so big that it makes it difficult to move, and best of all it feels right.

“What do you think?” You ask Javi, but frankly you’re dabbing away tears and it’s obvious how much you love the dress. This is your wedding dress.

The moment he sees the softness in your eyes, he knows you’ve fallen in love with it. You look like a scene from a movie. The big reveal of the princess at the top of the stairs where everyone turns and gaps in amazement and the prince at the bottom thanks his lucky stars that you are his. Which is what Javi is doing right now. The tiara in his hand, carefully removed from the display case, seems to perfectly match and he smiles. “It’s only missing this, princesa.”

The headpiece is made up of stars like something out of a painting you once saw in a history book, and it feels like such a silly thing to bend your head so he can set it in your hair (thank goodness you’re having a good hair day!) but it feels perfect. It feels extraordinary. And standing next to him is the first time you’ve truly felt extraordinary in your entire life.

You steal his breath when he steps back and looks at you. Tears instantly forming in his eyes and his chin trembles because he is so overwhelmed that this beautiful creature is his soulmate. It’s such a pure moment that not even his anxiety or self doubt could break through the euphoria.

“I hope those are good tears,” you half-chuckle through your own.

“The best.” He manages to choke out before reaching for your hands. “This is it, no? This is the one?” He turns you so you can look in the mirror at your reflection with the tiara on.

“I think this is it.” It’s so much more than you would have thought you wanted. It’s eye-catching and irrevocably meant to be the center of attention. But with him, you somehow don’t mind so much. As if having Javi there at your side was the piece you needed to keep you grounded and safe all along

"It is perfect." He promises, honestly believing that he will look underdressed beside you. "You are perfect." He amends with an indulgent smile before he nods. "We will take it." He announces to the sales girls. "But you need shoes underneath." His eyes light up mischievously. "What about those wedding sneakers I always see in movies?"

“Sneakers?” After all the bling and excess he’s picked out, your eyebrows raise in surprise. “Like…tennis shoes?”

He laughs at your surprise. "High heels hurt, no?" He asks. "Tiaras and tennis shoes, you could start a trend!"

The easy, joyous laugh you share is so sweet and so unrestrained that it has to be punctuated with another kiss. “Would you find it odd if I said I like high heels?” You ask after. “I’ve been wearing them for work and things for a long time and I don’t mind them too much anymore. And they always look so beautiful.”

"Then you must find the most beautiful high heels to go with your dress." He insists indulgently. "Do you have a favorite brand? Louboutin? Manolo Blahnik? Bottega Veneta?"

Ahha. There it is. You think, as he starts listing off designers you could never afford in your wildest dreams. “I just…get the most comfortable heels off the clearance rack at DSW.”

"Comfortable." He understands that but he huffs slightly. "Get whatever shoes you love best." He urges you. "The price doesn't matter."

“I wouldn’t even know where to start.” The best you can do is appeal to the two girls, and to Cindy, who has walked up to check on you in the meantime. “The only thing is…I always thought…you know how some brides wear blue shoes as their something blue? I always liked that idea.”

“Then I have the perfect pair.” Cindy gushes. “They are a pair I have lusted after forever.”

You give her your shoe size and she disappears into the shoe department to dig up her dream heel. In just a few minutes she returns to the pair of you with two boxes in hand. “They’re a little bit iconic,” she says sheepishly, opening up the top box. “These are the Carrie Bradshaw heels. Gorgeous even without the Sex and the City reference, but that sort of makes it fun in my opinion. They come in a royal blue and a light shade of sky.”

Javi recognizes the brand and he tilts his head as she opens them up. They are both gorgeous and he wonders if you will go for the bolder blue or keep it subtle under your dress. You might not even like the shoes at all.

"They're...gorgeous." The awestruck look on your face doesn't quite match your reaction to your dress, but it certainly is one that is both impressed and surprised. "Is this sort of what you had in mind?" You ask him, looking between the two shades of blue and the soft, wide brown eyes of your soulmate.

"This is deep blue, like the ocean when you look out over the cliffs." He muses as he touches on of the edge of one of the shoes. "This one..." he moves over to the light blue one. "It looks like a – a – I don't know..." He admits with a smile, looking back at you. "Which one do you like?"

"Well, when you put it like that." You touch the edge of the box holding the deeper blue shoes with your fingertips. "It has to be the ocean, doesn't it?"

“I think so, but….” He shrugs. “I don’t want you to just choose what you think I want.”

In the end, you try both pairs and decide on the lighter blue as a compliment to the inviting ivory of the dress. Star earrings are found that compliment the tiara Javi picked out, and it is all carefully packed up to be piled up in the trunk of you car and driven back to Hazelwood.

"Is there anything else you need?" You ask him when you climb back into the car together. There cant possibly be a single thing left you need, but you don't know what he could be missing aside from the suit that his friend is bringing for him.

“I think that we have everything.” He chews his lip and smiles at you. “Since it’s last minute, I asked if craft services could cater again.” He tells you, having looped the production team in on the text messages and Scott had talked to them and reported back that they had happily agreed. “It’s going to be mostly finger foods? Is that okay?”

"It could be nothing at all in a little soulmate chapel in the middle of nowhere and it would still be perfect," you promise him. "I only care that it's you."

“Then let’s go get married, sweetheart.” Javi beams as you start the car, ready to do just that.

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