#yes they let us buy lunch on credit as teenagers

[hazelhymns]

imagine explaining to a non American that i almost didn’t graduate high school bc my “lunch credit debt” didn’t get paid back

[nataliedanovelist]

GF & MvsM - Wanna Talk About Dinos?

This crossover was inevitable. It just works too well. Maybe one day i’ll write a fic about how the folks at Gravity Falls handled the robot-apocalypse. Probably shrugged it off. “Eh. We’ve had worse.” Haha! What if Stan and Ford, cuz they were out sailing, had no clue what happened and when they came back they were like, “Wait, what?”

For now, please enjoy this fic of Aaron making a new friend...

(credit goes to @stephreynaart for her OC Jacob) ~~~~~~~~~~ “Hi, would you like to talk to me about dinosaurs?”

Aaron asked this question more times than he could keep track of, but that wasn’t going to stop him from asking it. It started as a dare from his big sister two years ago, but now it’s a fun hobby. When fifth grade isn’t overwhelming him, scaring him with mountains of homework and horror stories about how hard middle school is going to be, and when he’s run out of YouTube videos to catch up on, he is on the hunt for fellow giant-lizard-lovers like a hungry Ceratosaurus.

“No, okay bye.” But it did get a little tiring to always cross out names and phone-numbers on the phone book with red ink. Hey, a dinosaur of a way to find phone-numbers was appropriate. He read the next number, dialed it, and after a ring or two he asked, “How would you like to talk with me about dinosaurs? No, okay thank you.”

Aaron crossed out another name and sighed, taking a break since he reached the end of a line of numbers. Maybe he should just be grateful for Abbey and accept that no one else wants to talk about the Jurassic Period. Or the Cretaceous Period. Or the Triassic Period. But then a big, old, gray-tinted ad distracted him. He grinned, thinking it would at least be fun to give them a call, and he dialed the number.

Private home phone-numbers were fun, but businesses were also fun! Poor, bored workers would gladly talk to him rather than crabby Karens, and they got paid for it! So Aaron smiled as the phone rang, and he grinned when someone picked up.

“Thanks for calling the Mystery Shack, you’re talking to Mr. Mystery himself! How may I befuddle or bewilder you?”

“Hi! How would you like to talk with me about dinosaurs?”

“Oh, dude! I’d love to, but I’m scheduled for a tour of the Oddity Museum in three minutes.” The man said, and Aaron grinned continuously, because it sounded like Mr. Mystery really wanted to talk with him about dinosaurs. “But hey! Can you hold on for one minute, I think I know a guy!”

“Yeah, sure mister!” And Aaron was greeted by the sound of a catchy jingle about buying t-shirts and mugs and snowglobes. He smiled and wiggled his feet along to the music as he looked outside at the beautiful late-fall afternoon, entertained while he waited.

~~~~~~~~~~

Soos was on the hunt. He planned out the house in his head. Abuelita was taking a nap upstairs, Melody was organizing the upcoming tour, and Stan took Jacob out for ice cream, so he might be…

The owner of the Shack grinned when he stopped at the doorway and saw the man he was looking for, sitting in Stan’s chair, reading a book.

“Uncle Ford!”

The old sailor smiled up at the young man. “Yes, wh-...”

“Do you think you could answer the phone for me? I have a tour and I think this customer’s request is right up your alley.”

“Uh… sure, but w-...”

“Thanks, you’re the best!” And Soos was gone before he could address Ford’s confusion.

Ford was a bit lost, having little to no business with business, but he had learned at this point to trust Soos, so he picked up the phone beside him and was immediately greeted with a sweet, “How would you like to talk with me about dinosaurs?”

Ford grinned and closed his book. “I would love to! All three periods are equally as fascinating to study, but the Triassic contains some of my favorite dinosaurs!”

A young voice gasped on the other line. “Mine, too! Everyone thinks the Jurassic period is so great, and it’s pretty cool, but the Triassic gave us Plateosaurus and the Brachiosaurus!”

“That’s very true! You know, it’s very interesting, maybe depictions don’t include feathers at all, which is a bit frustrating, but perhaps after the news has spread they will incorporate more feathers on merchandise and textbooks.”

“YES! That’s what I wanna do when I grow up, help draw better-accurate dinosaurs!”

~~~~~~~~~~

The phone rang on Sunday. The Shack was closed today, so Stan lazily answered it and was greeted with, “Wanna talk about dinosaurs?”

“Sixer, phone for you!”

Ford ran into the living room, elbowed his twin out of the chair, and took the phone. “Hello again, Aaron! Now, where were we? Right, so Australopithecus. … No, I don’t think… Oh! No, homo habilis was erect, Australopithecus was never fully erect.”

“Maybe he was nervous.” Stan groaned, getting to his feet.

Ford shot him a look as thankfully the young boy on the other end didn’t catch that and happily shared some more fun-facts about homo habilis.

~~~~~~~~~~

While most college students were excited for Spring Break so they could get drunk or lose their virginity, Katie was excited because her family had planned a special secret roadtrip. She was careful to keep up with her family and talk to her parents and brother frequently, but Aaron had a hobby he wasn’t talking about that his parents found out and were thrilled about. Aaron had made another friend.

Rick and Katie did some research and the tourist attraction sounded right up their alley! In the middle of the woods, tons of weird stuff, and a fun roadtrip filled with diners and attractions. They decided to surprise Aaron, and they made up a lie that they would spend Spring Break in California with Katie so she could show her family around San Francisco, when in actuality they would be traveling up the state to the Redwood Highway and see the oddity place, and maybe even allow Aaron to meet his new pen-pal. Or, um, phone-pal.

So after bombarding Katie with hugs the Mitchells threw her luggage into the car and drove off. Aaron turned to Katie and excitingly asked, “So where are we going first? Can we go fix the Golden Gate bridge by painting it gold?”

Katie laughed and ruffled his hair. “Maybe later, right now I wanna show you guys this fun store right outside of town. Here, check out the videos I made for my classes!” And she pulled out some airpods and gave one to Aaron.

“Cool!”

Rick and Linda smirked at each other as they drove north. By the time they reached a little diner in Redding, CA, it was very clear to Aaron that they weren’t in San Francisco anymore. “Come on, just tell me where we’re going!” The boy begged as he fed Monchi a fry.

“The best kind of prizes are the surprises.” Linda quoted.

“Eric, Deborahbot5000, where are we going?”

“Sorry, Aaron, we cannot give that information.” Eric said, he and the other robot sitting politely in their seats, happy to be a part of the social interaction.

“Yes, Mother will bury us if we disobey.” Deborahbot said matter-of-factly.

“What?! No I won’t, sweeties.”

“Won’t you ground us?”

The family laughed and Aaron let the topic go; if he was honest, he loved a good surprise. The big family stopped in a motel just at the California-Oregon border, and the next morning after muffins and coffee and orange juice they were on the road again, passing dozens of trees that made Rick feel at home. Katie happily recorded the trip, trusted to be the documenter for another fun roadtrip, with hopefully not as much mortal peril.

Aaron watched as they left the highway for a simple road, and they passed a big sign. The boy gasped and caught what was happening. “No WAY! Really?!”

“You know, I hear this Mystery Shack even has a Sasquatch.” Rick commented while Linda pulled out a pamphlet from the glove box.

“It says here it’s full of odd things you’ll never see anywhere else, even a dinosaur footprint…”

“Wasn’t there a rumor of there being a Bottomless Pit?” Katie asked, pointing her camera at Aaron to get his reaction.

“Thank you thank you THANK YOU!!!” Aaron cheered, hugging his Dad’s neck and kissing his Mom’s cheek.

“Hey, no worries, buddy.” Rick eased, fixing his shewed glasses. “We wanted to see this place, too!”

“Why don’t we eat a quick lunch and then we’ll take the backroad for the attraction? There’s a coupon in here for a diner made from a giant log!”

And so after being served by a pretty blonde teenager at Greasy’s, they drove through town to get to the backroad. Signs made them confident that they were going the correct way, as well as Eric and Deborahbot5000’s GPS. Then as they turned a corner, a big triangle-shaped building came into view. Aaron grinned at the giant sign with a missing letter. People were already leaving, arms full of souvenirs and one or two already wearing their new hats or t-shirts. Once Rick parked in the Free Parking Lot, Aaron spilled out of the car and ran for the shack, but he stopped.

Katie caught up to him and patted his back. “You cool, man?”

Aaron shrugged, holding his hands in front of him and his shoulders up to hide his face a bit. “I-I dunno… What if… What if he doesn’t like me?”

“Hey, I get it.” Katie admitted. “When I first met my friends I was really nervous. I had talked to them online for weeks and I was worried it wasn’t gonna be what it was all cracked up to be, but it was. Your system worked! You found another dino-lover! You earned this moment. Just take in a deep breath and be yourself, cuz you’re a pretty cool dude.”

Aaron smiled up at his big sister. “Thanks.”

Trusting Eric and Deborahbot5000 to watch Monchi and make sure he used the bathroom, the Mitchells went inside the shack. On the porch there was an ice cooler, a sign reading schedule times for tours of the Oddity Museum, a Help Wanted sign, and two rocking chairs with a game of checkers between them.

Inside the store a few customers filled up the gift shop, alongside t-shirts, snowglobes, a vending machine, a door beside ti that read Employees Only, a bookshelf full of comic on one side and old newspapers claiming alien sightings on the other, a fish tank holding a monkey-mermaid, and barrels full of spaceship keychains and dino claws. A new section called Camping Stuff caught Rick’s eye, selling backpacks, lanterns, flashlights, batteries, canteens, and compasses. Katie opened a comic called Lil’Stanley and laughed at the swears, taking a pic and sending it to her friends’ group chat. Linda looked into the barrel full of patches and grinned at all the fun designs, while Aaron stared happily at the mer-monkey.

The Employees Only door opened and closed and Rick watched as a man in a suit, fez, and eyepatch walked up to the lady at the register and kissed her cheek. The woman smiled lovingly and left while the guy who resembled a gopher checked a customer out. Rick waited until the buyer left to approach the register, leaning an arm on the counter.

“Welcome to the Mystery Shack, dude!”

“Thanks! So, this is gonna sound weird, but my son Aaron talks to a guy here about dinosaurs…”

“No way!” The owner interrupted excitedly. “Good to see you, dudes! I’m Mr. Mystery! Wow, you guys came a long way, huh?”

“Nah, only from California. My daughter is attending art school there.”

While the men chit-chatted and Linda joined them, Katie noticed a guy walking up to Aaron and looking at the mer-monkey. She smiled and tried to read the comic without being too nosy, but she kept her senses on her brother.

“Hm, quite fascinating, isn’t it?” The man in the blue hoodie said. “But I think my favorite is the fossilized footprint. Could be Nanuqsaurus hoglundi.”

“The Polar Bear Lizard?” Aaron clarified, touching his chin as he looked at the dino-print, his back to the man he was talking to. “Maybe, but they’re from Alaska. It’s possible plate tectonics did cause some fossils to be relocated here, but it could also be a Nanotyrannosaurus lancensis footprint.”

“The Dwarf Tyrant? Could very well be. Would you like to talk about dinosaurs after your tour?”

Aaron’s eyes widened as the voice was finally familiar to him. He turned and looked up to find an old man smiling up at him. He had fluffy gray hair with a white stripe running around his scalp, wrinkles by his eyes due to smiling, a cleft chin, glasses, and wore a blue hoodie with a maroon sweater underneath. His hands were behind his back and he smiled down at Aaron warmly, while the boy was jittery and overly-excited. He took in a sharp breath and had to fight every muscle to keep from leaping through the screen door. 

“H-H-Hi…” He peeped. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Y-Yeah, sure! I’d love to! I’m Aaron! Er, wait, you already knew that.” And he held out a hand to shake.

His phone-pal, Ford, chuckled and got on one knee to be eye-level. “Greeting, Aaron! It’s nice to formally meet you.”

Aaron shook his hand and noticed something. He had six fingers on his right hand. A quick glance told Aaron he also had six fingers on his left hand. Aaron grinned with sparkling eyes at his new friend, while the old sailor smiled warmly at the boy that reminds him of his niece and nephew when they were young.

[thr-333]

Drastic Measures- Part 5

@daminette-december2019-2020

~Sweater~

Shoves romance to the side and shoves friendship in your face!!!

Ao3

First< Previous > Next

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“Marinette,” Adrien whines as she opens the curtain the second they get back, “Sleep,”

“Just a minute, I want to design Damian something,” Marinette takes up residence at the desk, throwing open her sketchbook, “I will be friends with him!”

“Wasn't he kind of a jerk to you?” Adrien flops onto the bed, Plagg rig after him, "I think we should go back to that point, maybe sleep on it,"

“You were a jerk too~” Marinette sing-songs finishing up a rough sketch of a sweater.

“I was trying to get the gum off your seat!” Adrien slams his hands down.

“Sure you were~”

“Mariiiiiii,” Adrien collapses back into the bed covers, muffling his whining.

“Come on you,” Marinette collects her sketchbook, “Come get material with me,”

“No, it’s time to sleep,”

“It’s midday,”

“Your point?”

"Ok, Plagg 2.0 should I get you some camembert while I'm out too?"

"I'm up!" Adrien sits bolt upright, "Never call me that again,"

Marinette ends up dragging Adrien out of the mansion he pouts as Alfred delivers them into the city she thanks him profusely.

“We were just in the city why didn’t you pick up fabric then?” Adrien walks by her side down the street.

“Because I’m stuck between 2 concepts and I need to see the fabric before going forward,” Marinette bounces along looking through the windows there are quite a few craft shops in the area which suits her just fine.

“Please don’t run off,” Adrien gently holds her sleeve, “Marinette this city…”

“It’s filled with a dark energy,” Marinette agrees, even in this nicer area had something ominous hanging over it, “It’s like it’s seeped into the city’s very bones,”

“And the Akuma aren’t helping things,” A child across the street starts crying and they both instinctively lookout.

“On the plus side at least hawkmoth doesn't send Akuma after every little thing,” Marinette forces herself to relax, moving on as the kids parents comfort them.

“On the downside, he sends them after emotions that are a lot worse,” Adrien follows along into a store as Marinette filters through the shelves.

“Maybe but we can handle this,” Marinette absent-mindedly raises her fist, meeting Adreins, “Do you think I should make something for everyone, you know as a thank you?”

“I haven't gotten them anything,” Adrien takes the armful of fabric Marinette passes him as she brings out her sketchbook to select old designs.

“I’ll handle the making,” Marinette ticks off a vest she thinks with be perfect for Bruce, “And you handle the finances,”

“I stole my father's credit card,” Adrien says with a grin, “He’ll probably find out where I am soon anyway so might as well start using it,”

“In that case,” Marinette pulls out a roll of incredibly expensive fabric, “We also need new phones,”

“And we should go out for lunch,”

“Get our hair done?” Marinette adds, looking at her half hacked off hair “I still need to fix mine from this,”

“I was thinking our room could use a chair?”

“And the bookshelf is looking a bit empty,”

“A nice expensive rug would really liven up the room,”

“Would it be completely inappropriate to get a motorcycle?”

“Yes,” Adrien agrees, “Let's do it,”

They stop to get new phones first, having destroyed their old ones when they ran away. Adrien finds the most expensive restaurant in town, but it's on the far end so they stop to get a motorcycle first.

“I didn’t know you could ride,” Adrien gestures for the waiter in their private room, “Yes can I please have the duck?”

“My Nona taught me,” Marinette sips at the most expensive drink she can legally buy, “I thought you hated duck?”

“Oh I do,” Adrien grins, which drops when his phone starts ringing, “How did he even get this number?”

Marinette looks over his shoulder to see Gabriel trying to call. Adrien purposefully hangs up rolling his eyes.

“We should go do our hair next,” Adrien leans over the table with a manic grin, ”I was thinking of dying it hot pink,”

“Love the concept,” Marinette cringes at the very thought, “But the execution is flawed, you need to dye it a color you actually like not one just to spite your father otherwise he's still just controlling your life, just in a different way,”

“You're right,” Adrien sighs leaning back examining his blonde locks, “What do you think?”

“A nice pastel or cherry blossom pink would look amazing,” Adrien perks up at the suggestion he can still keep the pink, “Actually I might do that too- oh wait! Will that affect our transformation?”

“Not unless you really want to deep down,” Tikki explains, her and Plagg gorging themselves on expensive cheese and treats.

“Well deep down I really don't want to give away our identities like this,”

“It’s a plan then,” Adrien smiles, “Now do you want to order anything else?”

“Thanks but I’m full,”

“What's that got to do with anything?”

 ---

 “Looks great Nette,” Adrien gives her a side hug, the hairdresser shooing him away while he does the final touch-ups.

“Are you talking to me or yourself?” Marinette smiles at the new and improved shock of pink hair.

“Well obviously I look fabulous, but you look great too,” Marinette rolls her eyes at him looking back in the mirror. Instead of evening out her hair, they had made it look like her little episode was actually intentional giving it nice layers and even doing an undercut on the other side. Unlike Adrien, she didn't go all pink, instead the tips being white ombre up to pink and then her natural hair color.

“Thanks, you have to send a picture of your hair to Nino he's more invested in your teenage rebellion than you are, he’s probably also hurt you left him out of the running away part,”

“He has suggested, more than once, running away together,”

“Why what's wrong with Nino's family?”

“Nothing at all,” Adrien quickly covers, “I think he just really wanted me to run away, his mum offered to pack us lunches,”

“Well, maybe we could have used the turtle,” Marinette sighs, “But I could do that to Nino, you already had to leave Kagami behind, have you given her a call yet?”

“Oh um, about that-" Adrien points at her tapping his chin thoughtfully, "Never mention it again,”

“Adrien,” Marinette scowls, “Call your girlfriend,”

“She’ll kill me,” Adrien hides partly behind a seat looking meek, “Also you don't get to lecture me, you haven't called your parents,”

“That's different,” Marinette groans sinking into the seat, only to get told off for moving, “They’ll want me to come home, how am I supposed to explain that I can’t,”

“They’re your parents,” Adrien stresses, “I’m sure they’ll be happy enough to know your ok,”

“Maybe,” Marinette hums, the cloth being removed from her shoulders letting her get up, “I just feel so bad for putting them through this,”

“Maybe one day they’ll understand,” Adrien walks with her to the front to pay.

“Maybe,” Marinette looks down at the bill, “Wow this is a lot more expensive than the usual dye job,”

Made sense because they were in the higher income distinct of the city.

“Why Marinette,” Adrien grins swiping the card, “That's the point,”

Ten minutes later they were laughing as calls kept pouring in one after the other. They are only interrupted when they get the distinct feeling of an Akuma.

“Duty calls,” Adrien sighs putting his phone on silent.

“Seems so, at least we can call out skills multiple times," Marinette walks casually into an alley with him, “What are you up to?”

“About three,” Adrien shrugs transforming, “It takes about double the time for the transformation to drop now,”

“Same, wish I could say that gives us the edge but really it only keeps us from falling off the cliff,” Marinette also transforms, her new costume bringing a smile to her face.

“How eloquent my lady,” Marinette playfully pushes him, Chat catches himself catapulting over the building, she quickly follows behind.

The Akuma is standard, Marinette guesses the akumatized item is the wrist watch. The problem comes with their recurring thorn in her side.

“Ladybug-”

“Get out of the city,” She cuts Batman off, “Yeah, yeah let us handle this first,”

Marinette throws her yoyo out just in time to deflect an attack headed at Chat.

“Do you need any help?” Robin asks, Marinette smiles, partly at the aghast face Batman makes.

“Do you think you could tag-team it with me?” She asks formulating a plan, with the extra help she might not need the lucky charm, “Make your attacks big and draw his attention, grab the wristwatch if you can,”

“On it,” Robin gives her a nod jumping into the fray, Ladybug doesn't give batman a chance to object running after.

Robin does a good job they work in perfect sync falling back when the other moves to make an attack. When the Akuma focuses on them too much Chat swoops in and gets their attention giving them the chance to swipe at the wristwatch. It goes on she sees Robin get thrown back after another failed swipe at the wristwatch. Ladybug takes the chance to move forward grabbing for the wrist, she isn't watching out for the other arm, the impact hitting and sending her flying back.

“I got you,” Her momentum is stopped by a hand bracing at her back, saving her from crashing into the adjacent building.

“Thanks, Robin,” He helps steady her as she finds her footing again, “I’ll move in you follow me up,”

“No need,” He smirks brandishing the watch.

“You did it,” Ladybug beams, taking the watch and smashing it to the ground, “Great job!”

“Ah, thanks,” Ladybug doesn't pay attention to how Robin brushes, focusing on purifying the Akuma and fixing the damage.

“We made a pretty good team,” Ladybug turns to Robin when everything is settled, “Pound it,”

Robin meets her fist with some hesitance, which disappears when she smiles at him again.

“Ladybug!” Batman yells heading their way.

“Ops sorry,” Ladybug cringes, “Sorry! Cant stop gotta go, bye bye!”

They run from the scene faster than Batman can hope to catch them. They end up back at her newly brought bike stacked with fabric and protected by a bit of luck. Marinette races home to make everyone's gifts, knowing just who she wanted to start with.

 ---

 “There you are!” Marinette exclaims, having spent the past half hour searching the manor for him.

“What do you want?” Damian snaps as if he wasn't just playing with the cat on the floor half a second ago.

“Nothing, I made something for you~” He continues to scowl but Marinette doesn't let it discourage her, “Here, I didn’t know your size so I made a baggier style, do you like it?”

Damian takes the sweater holding it up to where she put it on him looking down a little shocked. Marinette almost wants to laugh at the expressions trying to shift back from awe to disinterest, it’s cute. She smiles wondering what his face would look like if she made a matching one for the cat, and maybe Titus too.

“.... It’s well made,” Damian eventually allows, folding it over his arm, Marinette notices how his fingers linger on the soft fabric.

“Good to know,” She smiles, bidding him goodbye before the moment can be ruined. She bounces down the hall humming to herself.

“Someone's happy,” Tikki flies out of her bag.

“He liked it, why wouldn't I be happy?”

“Someones really happy,”

“Stop it Tikki,” Marinette giggles, making the kwami laugh in turn.

“Just like adrien~” Tikki sing songs floating down the hall ahead of her.

“Well then, keep Kagami far away from this one,”

“Don’t turn into a stuttering mess and we have a deal,” Tikki agrees.

“Please Tikki I’m not thirteen anymore,” Marinette brushes her off, ready to go make the others gifts, if she spent the whole time humming to herself Tikki wasn't going to explain why to Adrien.

---------

Taglist? nope don’t have one, horrible at keeping track of them sorry~

[threeeyesslitthroat]

So I watched Chaos Walking(2021)

Yeah, lucky for me, my local theater was open and showing(side note, I love my local theater so much. Like, not to brag but seven dollars for a movie and a snack is so great)

Anyhow, I watched Chaos walking. This is sort of my review. 

First off, I read The Knife of Never Letting Go and one third of The Ask and Answer, almost two years ago. When they finally dropped the release date and the trailer, i made the choice not to go reread the first book because i wanted to give the movie a chance and make an exercise of managing my expectations(in preparation for Disney’s Percy Jackson adaptation). Which means not only do I not have a complete understanding of the source material, but I also have a shit memory, so I don’t have a great shot at analyzing this films in adaptation terms, but i’m gonna try anyhow.

So first off, The Noise.

I found it a bit sketchy that they decided to make the make Noise have visual elements alongside audio but I decided it was fine, since it be pretty hard to bring this to life with only just audio and not make general audiences confused.

But they did try and do a solid job. Minus not letting us hear the Noise of animals, which sucks. we do see the Noise of a Spackle, but briefly.

The part that really pisses me off is the final confrontation, when the Noise is treated like a Super Power. we see this when Todd scares Davy’s horse by conjuring up an image of big snake, when Mayor Prentiss tricks Viola into a false trap, when  Ben tricks everyone by pretending to give Viola up when in fact he’s buying Todd and the real Viola time to get away, and in the final, Todd distracts Prentiss by conjuring up the image of his mother(complete with bloody wounds) and the various women that died when he was a baby, which caused Prentiss to fall to his death.

I don’t know how the Noise is depicted in the later books, if it was anywhere remotely like this, but i know for sure it doesn’t happen in the first book, which the film is based on.

(Also, how the fuck does Todd know what his mum looks like, or any of the other women and how is he able to bring up their images so perfectly how is ANYONE ABLE REMEMBER SOMEONE WITH THAT MUCH DETAIL That goes beyond photographic memory)

Second bit, the Spackle.

 The design is boring. Its clearly an alien, buts its dark grey, tall, holds its own when Todd attacks it in the film, has zero impact on the film as a whole and pretty boring. I do recall reading the book and imagining them to have faces similar to real world lemurs or Sloths, with big expressive eyes and such, but the CGI monster doesn’t emote for shit in this film. Todd comes at with a knife with every intention of killing it and it shrugs him off and walks away like it wasn’t fucking attacked my gods.

But in short, they only brought up the Spackle because they’re a thing in the world and it teased the bigger concepts of the next books with like, one measly exchange between Todd and Viola. (it went something like this)

Viola:We’re the aliens, though. They’re the natives.

Todd: huh.

Third bit, New World itself. Not a big deal, It looked like how i originally imagined it, no mention of swamp apples, though we see Todd Hewitt use a knife to stab a big ass bug thing for food. i hear some critics consider it lame that the planet isn’t actually alien but eh, whatever, Didn’t really feel an alien vibe reading the book so it doesn’t matter. 

Now there’s one bit i have to acknowledge in passing. At one point Todd decides to go get lunch by going into the water with his knife and wrestles with some big ass thing with tentacles. Which is fine, just have a couple of questions.

A: is this in reference to the books? Where there big ass tentacle creatures in the novel that are hunted for lunch?

B:if not, was this the film makers deciding to remind the viewers that yes, they are not on planet earth and to make Todd look cooler and justify why he’s useful for the quest and show how much Viola doesn’t know?

I kinda have to acknowledge the thing.  In that scene, Todd and Viola take a break, and Todd removes his clothes (all of them) and decides to go hunting in the water naked as the day he was born. You may have noticed that the Tom Holland stans are all over this scene because One) the camera focuses on Tom Hollands muscles when he takes his top off and Two) one can see his bare ass in the distance. 

Not a big fan off this, just find it interesting because its the most recent example of a Male being objectified by the camera when this never happens once to any of the female characters in the film, including Viola. Also, a touch of weird character detailing because haha, get it? Boy’s never seen a girl before in his life and doesn’t know what modesty means.

Also, very weird because Todd Hewitt in the book was so fucking self conscious that he would never have done that. 

Now I gotta talk about the characters.

( i understand why they aged them up, i truly do, better to get established actors instead of child actors that could more easily break to movie than sell it. its easier to make movies with legal adults instead of working with child labor laws. but damn it you lose so much of the fucking nuance of the novel when you age them up. There’s so much shit that makes an impact because of how young they are. Around the ages of eleven and twelve is when ones understanding of good and evil has its foundation, to me it was like the story was grappling with Todd Hewitt’s very soul and you lose so much of that when you change it to them being older because instead of being just kids in fucked up situations its younger adults in messed up situations. Like ugh. and aging them up leads to even more problems but we’ll fucking get to that)

Tom Holland’s Todd Hewitt is not the Todd Hewitt of the novel. He just ain’t. There is nothing there that reminds of the boy. The acting is solid, don’t get me wrong, but it just ain’t the Todd Hewitt i remember. Neither is Daisy Ridley’s Viola Eade.

(excuse me while i get Percy Jackson flashbacks)

Now, I have to acknowledge the fact that neither actor(actually none of the actors in this film) slouch on the job. They bring solid and at times very good acting.(If Tom Holland is in the film, its not going to be complete waste of time. He brings quality.)

Honestly, respect to Mr Holland because he was basically the main character, not only acting but also doing voice  and various stunts(also huge credit to the stunt coordinators and stuntmen) and I heard that filming wasn’t that great and bloody broke his nose how many times like damn boy, hats off to you.

But here’s the thing. I don’t want to say that Holland was playing himself or just a version of peter Parker, because i really don’t think he wasn’t but it just. Didn’t feel like a legit character? Especially when compared to the novel. Like Todd Hewitt in the novel is such a raw force of emotion and such a smartass and i was so looking forward for Holland to own this role but in the movie he just? Awkward dude going through some stuff?

but yeah, Holland works his ass off and there are some scenes and moments in the movie that work just because this fellow is just that charming, so (shrug emoji) like i said, He doesn’t waste your time at least.

Ridley....sigh. i know this woman can act. But next to the character who’s thoughts are heard constantly she’s very boring. And it hurts so much because Viola has an actual personality in the novel like; I’m ninety percent sure that Viola hits Todd with a big stick and I do remember that there were multiple moments where she lets Todd know when he’s being a dumbass.(seriously, i may have a shit memory of the book, but i do remember that they play off each other well and hugely entertaining seeing two twelve-year-olds handle the shit getting thrown at them)

Like, Viola in the film doesn’t really have much going on. We see the crash, we hear about the graves she dug herself, we see her be sad, we see her look at Todd like weirdo, we see her look horrified or shocked. (its so sad that I only remember the facial expressions more clearly than the actual dialogue) We really have no idea what the hell is going on with Viola Eade. I don’t think we can blame Ridley, only the film makers, because how can you see Viola Eade in the novel and then turn her into that????

i do have to talk about the relationship between Tom Holland’s Todd Hewitt and Daisy Ridley’s Viola Eade, even though its painful. In the novel, them is just two kids on a really tough adventure.  Because they aged them up, its not two kids old enough to run for the playground when recess starts. Its Teenagers. 

First question, HOW OLD ARE THEY??? Is Todd sixteen? Eighteen? Seventeen? He sure as hell ain’t Thirteen in this. What about Viola? I mean, big shout out to the hair and makeup team for making 28-year-old Daisy Ridley look so much younger but how. OLD. IS.SHE? Nineteen? Twenty? Twenty-one? Pretty sure she’s older than him in this? I ask because it MATTERS.

The way they play off each other has a vastly different energy to the novel because they are aged up. Its pretty obvious pretty fast that Todd’s feelings are basically a big crush, though not all of it is superficial as the film progresses. And Viola is clearly not receptive to that in the film. (honestly i cringed so hard at the “daydream kiss’ and whatever the hell that was in the Farbranch mayor’s house)

The relationship in the film just doesn’t have the nuance or the energy that the novel had in depicting their relationship which is depressing for all the Todd x Viola fans i’m sure. There’s some adorable bits though, like Viola seeing Todd’s dream of her playing with Manchee, and not so adorable canon bits like when Viola read the diary to Todd.

I’m just grateful that the film at least ended with them being friends instead of trying to force the romantic relationship. That right there is why I like the movie. It’s a crush, its used for a couple laughs, they’re friends, its fine. Even if you didn’t read the novel that’s really great for a movie in this day and age to not end with forcing two opposite sex characters into a relationship. To be honest, I like the idea that the film leaves us thinking that yeah, maybe these two could be real friends one day.

I just want to touch on Manchee real quick.

Manchee’s Noise is not seen or heard in the film. It is briefly acknowledged by Todd ins their first scene but other than that? Nada. Which is a low blow in comparison to the novel because Manchee was a character in his own right, which is why the death hit so hard. 

Todd?” he barks, confused and scared and watching me leave him behind. “Todd?” “Manchee!” I scream. Aaron brings his free hand towards my dog. “MANCHEE!” “Todd?” And Aaron wrenches his arms and there’s a CRACK and a scream and a cut-off yelp that tears my heart in two forever and forever. And the pain is too much it’s too much it’s too much and my hands are on my head and I’m rearing back and my mouth is open in a never-ending wordless wail of all the blackness that’s inside of me.”

in the film, it takes place in white rapids, So its chaotic, its awful, the veiwer’s all stressed out because Viola can’t swim, everyone's getting separated and Aaron’s there and he is seen drowning Manchee. 

Dude, its brief, but not pretty. Because you can see Manchee’s legs trashing above the water, struggling to get free. Aaron is drowning a dog, letting its lungs fill with water. For the folks that don’t like watching dogs die in graphic detail on screen, this isn’t great. 

Personally, I love this scene in the novel. Its the first time i had to put the book down and take a moment. It hit really close to home for me, because i watched my own dog die in real life. It was emotional and horrifying and had such a fucking impact because we could hear his thoughts. Todd had to make the choice to leave him behind to keep Viola safe. To be honest, i think the death is better in the novel, since Manchee basically dies instantly instead of drowning, which takes time(I’ve always assumed that his neck was snapped but I’ve heard others say it was the psine but whatever) it would have been easy and necessary for them to not show that on screen. I personally just think that in terms of depicting a violent death, the novel did a lot better.

Anyway, on to the other characters

(I had to choose the one with the big orange fluffy coat, and i couldn’t find a good pic og Ben and Cillian on google images.)

As for Mayor Prentiss, he’s played by Mads Mikkelsen, and he delivers. But for the most part, we don’t really know why he’s the bad guy, he just wants to get Viola because “she’s the key” which isn’t really explained, and at the end he tries his hardest to kill Todd. 

Because i only read the first book, I don’t know what exactly his character arc is. And since its been a really long while, I don’t remember what he’s like in the novel regardless, other than the cliffhanger ending.

I did take a quick crashcourse  through the wiki and it turns out that Todd and Prentiss have a relationship in the later books, which the film sort of touches on, because Todd looks up to Prentiss in the film from the get go. 

To be honest, I knew that the trilogy was a lot more complex, and even though I didn’t read the whole thing I knew it would be really disappointing for the fans to see the mayor be hollowed out to almost unrecognizable and not getting to see the whole picture on screen.

As for Davy Prentiss Jr., he was an asshole and stayed an asshole. I know he improves and gets killed off in the novels, so yeah, exhibit B of character foundations not being laid down because there isn’t gonna be a movie after this. Also, why is he played by Nick Jonas? Did they actually have more in mind for him when they decided to go with a Jonas brother or was it just star power? 

As for Aaron...don’t have much to say about him, other than just being pretty weird fit to the film. I think he’s after Viola because he’s just that full of delusions but other than that, his character is just flat and useless. (I wish to the gods that writers would actually think instead of going with “religious delusion” to explain insanity) He only brought tension in a few scenes for the most part. I’m pretty sure that in the novel Todd and Aaron have a confrontation, like the final fight of the novel, and I’m 90% sure that its where the Novel gets the Knife of never Letting Go as its title, because the knife is big deal at that point. But I guess they wanted Viola to have a quick boss battle for the ending and set him on fire. 

Ben and Cillian were fine. They did a good job, the actors were pretty great, I liked Cillian, and i like how they acknowledged that these dudes were family(i know that they’re gay and a couple but the film doesn’t say it outloud beyond letting them sleep in the same bed, be Todd’s parents, and having Ben hold Cillian in his arms) I get a kick out of the fact that the official reviews by Movie Critics are openly curious about why the film doesn’t make it more obvious that they’re gay, but whatever.

As for the overall plot, this is a fine example of mashing three books into one film and not having good results. Instead of going to Haven, the movie decided to shortcut the ending and go to the original ship that somehow has working tech but whatever, Viola needs to communicate to her ship. So not only do we not get the great relationship between Todd and Viola, not only do we not get the Spackle, Not only do we not get to see the noise of Manchee, not only do we have poor character adaptation, we also don’t get to have a plot that matches THE ONE BOOK THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO ADAPT. THEY HAD ONE FUCKING JOB AND THEY COULDN'T ADAPT THE ONE BOOK-

Its only so sad that they decided that this was going to be a one-shot deal because they didn’t have faith in the film and chose to have all the threads tied up. I mean, its so sad for the fans because the movie makes it very clear that we are not going to have anymore movies. sigh. 

slight respect towards the film makers for tying up all the story threads instead of leaving them hanging. they did a neat job, even if it wasn’t a great one.

Anyway, maybe later on when google images has more than the promotional material I’ll do a review of only the good stuff this movie did, even if its a sad pathetic failure of an adaptation. Anyway this review is a bit of a mess and already so long so i’ll stop now. 

May the gods give us strength against all the Tom Holland stans that will inevitably clog up the Chaos Walking tag with their Todd Hewitt x reader fanfics.

[theangriestpea]

The Killing Type | Six

Summary: Just when Lavender thought things were going great with Sweet Pea, a new girl comes back to turn to turn their entire relationship upside down. Now they have to navigate a world of drug dealers, rival gangs, and co-parenting. Sequel to Mercy Killing. <masterlist><playlist> 

Rating: Mature // Explicit

Pairings: Sweet Pea x OC // eventual Jughead Jones x OC

Warnings: Plan-b usage, mentions of abortion/pregnancy termination, mentions of cheating

Word Count: 5.0k+

A/N:  It's finally here! There's not a whole lot of Sweet Pea in the chapter (only towards the end), sorry about that. But it was kind of necessary filler lol. I hope everyone enjoys!

Chapter Six : Two Hearts, Unstable

When Lavender awoke the next morning, Sweet Pea was absent from her bed. She assumed that he had gone to work on a job or check up on Daisy. While her being alone did hurt at first, she understood that he had other priorities he had to tend to too. She let out a groggy sigh as she rubbed the grains of sleep from her eyes. Did last night really happen? She found herself wondering and realizing that she was still naked hammered it in that it did.

Then the realization hit her and she was suddenly overcome with intense dread. They hadn’t used a condom, and while she didn’t keep detailed track of her period, it had been a few weeks since her last cycle meaning she was either ovulating or close to it. She wasn’t on birth control because it interacted with her antidepressants too much so her only options were condoms or the risky pull-out method.

She knew that she couldn’t handle a child right now, nor could Sweet Pea handle a second child. It was an easy decision to make, to go to the pharmacy and pick up a plan-b pill. The thought of going alone though made her incredibly nervous, especially after her run in with the Ghoulie last night.

At first she called Toni and Cheryl, but neither picked up. She really didn’t want to ask Jug or Fangs, because they’d probably tattle to Sweet Pea. Her only option then was...Lily.

Lavender swallowed hard as she got out of the shower and got dressed. She had no issues with Lily but she found their relationship rocky at best. They had had a little heart to heart last night, but before that then their conversations had often been argumentative in nature. Though, she figured if anyone would understand, then it would be Lily. Seeing as she herself had a child with Sweet Pea.

She figured just going over there would be better than calling, and for that she was thankful that it was a Saturday. Once she was finished getting ready, she made her way to Sweet Pea’s trailer. Luckily his bike wasn’t out front, so she assumed he was off with Fangs somewhere or working a job for Jughead.

With a little hesitation, she knocked on the front door despite still having a key. It felt weird going in there without knocking first now that it wasn’t just Sweet Pea (and occasionally his father, though that was a rarity). She heard a faint “in a second” before waiting a few minutes. Eventually the door opened to see an exasperated Lily with a giggling Daisy in her arms.

Lav smiled weakly, suddenly feeling incredibly embarrassed. “Can I ask you a favor? You don’t have to say yes but...if you do then I’ll buy you and Daze some lunch in return.”

Lily thanked god above that her stomach did not growl then and there. “Sure, what is it?” She asked, while before she hadn’t been too sure of Lav’s intentions with Sweet Pea, she knew now that the purple haired girl meant no harm. She was just as vulnerable as her ex was and they both pretended not to be simultaneously.

“I need to go get some plan-b.” She said, looking utterly embarrassed that she had gotten too caught up in the moment to make Sweet Pea wear a condom. She was sure Lily was going to lecture her about it, tell her that she was a total idiot. But, she was wrong. Lily just nodded and moved aside so Lav could come in.

“Can you hold her while I get ready?” Lily asked, not even missing a beat. “It’ll only take like ten minutes.” She passed the happy baby off to Lavender who sat down on the couch with her. She was unable to look at Lily directly, still feeling incredibly ashamed.

Almost exactly ten minutes later, Lily returned with her keys. “So, I take it you guys finally said it?” She asked, trying to lighten the mood. Lavender forced a smile as she stood up with Daisy still in her arms.

“Yeah, we did...and uh, I just got so caught up in the moment I forgot to make him wrap it up.” She said, nearly choking out the words.

Lily just laughed, knowing all too well how bad Sweet Pea was at wearing a condom. “Don’t worry about it too much, since it was just last night the plan-b should work fine. Do you need money? Jug might can get some for you if-”

Lav shook her head, “No, I’m fine. My dad left me a lot when he died. I just want to get it over with. I really don’t think any one of us could handle two baby snakes at this time.”

Though she wouldn’t say it, Lily was grateful that Lavender was doing the smart thing. She recalled when she went in for her abortion and was unable to carry through after hearing the heartbeat. While she loved her daughter more than anything in the entire world, she couldn’t deny that life would have been so much easier if she had simply taken a pill the day after risky sex. Though she was certain that cost would add up to be a small fortune very quickly.

The two teens went to Lily’s car. Lav placed Daisy in her car seat and strapped her in, making sure she was secure before getting into the passenger’s seat. Lily hopped in behind the wheel and started the car before driving to the nearest pharmacy on the southside, the only one she knew of that wouldn’t give them any trouble for asking for a pill. Any northside place would just lecture them and try to force them to have a parent buy it for them. That clearly wasn’t an option for either of them.

The car ride was relatively quiet. The only sounds were punk music from the radio and Daisy babbling in the back seat. Lav was unsure of what she should say, if she should say anything. “After, want to go to Pop’s?” She asked, “My treat for not making me go by myself.”

That time Lily’s stomach did growl. A sheepish look crossed her face, “Yeah, sure. That sounds great.” She parked the car and the two got out. Lily walked around and grabbed Daisy before going inside.

Once inside the tiny store, they walked through the convenience aisles to get to the back part where the actual pharmacy was. “I have to ask someone, don’t I?” She whispered to Lily. She had never done this before and wasn’t entirely sure how it would go.

“Yeah, the pharmacist will give it to you after telling you the side effects. Don’t worry, I can ask. I’m used to the judgmental looks people give me.” Lily said back, keeping her voice just as low. Lavender nodded, feeling even more grateful now.

Once at the counter, Lily told the pharmacy tech what they needed. The young man looked between Lily and Lav, wheels obviously turning in hi head about why teenagers would need an emergency contraceptive. Lav was biting her lip nervously, looking down at the counter while Lily just stared him head on, clearly not one to play games.

The tech nodded and went to get the pharmacist to help them. Lily nudged Lav with her elbow as a silent encouragement. Lav let out a shaky breath as an older woman came with the small box that she needed. She asked who it was for and Lily said it was for her, again the look on her face was daring the pharmacist to say anything negative to her. Daisy was giggling, clearly having no understanding of what was going on.

The woman simply nodded, not about to put up a fight with a couple of teenage gangbangers. Everyone knew who the Southside Serpents were in these parts. The top of Lav’s tattoo was visible over the upper edge of the tank top she was wearing. Lily was wearing her jacket and even Daisy at a tiny denim vest with the double headed snake. The top rocker said “baby” and bottom rocker said “serpent”. Jug had it custom made a week ago.

The pharmacist went over the risks and what would happen after taking the pill. She rang them up and Lav paid with her credit card. She put the package with the pill as well as an information pamphlet into a plastic bag and handed it to Lavender since Lily was carrying Daisy. “Have a good day, stay safe.” She said, not sounding judgmental in the slightest.

Lily thanked her before turning with Lav and walking out, her head held high and never looking down. Once outside Lav let out a huge breath of relief. “Thank you, I don’t know why I care so much about what other people think. Probably something to do with Reggie calling me a slut any chance he fucking gets.”

“You’re half Northsider, that’s why.” Lily said, somewhat jokingly. “All Northsiders care about what people think about them. That’s just how they are. I doubt it’ll always be that way for you. Just give Sweet Pea a little more time to corrupt you.”

Lav made a face as she opened the back door for Lily so that she could put Daisy in the car seat. “How long until I’ll be known as just a Southsider?” She asked, a little irritated.

“However long it takes for your bank account to lose a few zeroes.” Lily replied playfully. “Why does it matter so much to you anyway?”

She sighed, “Because as of now I don’t fit it anywhere. Not with the Northsiders, not with the Southsiders, and not with the gang. No one will give me a chance. Jughead thinks I still need more time, but I’m ready! I can do jobs just like everyone else! I’m tired of being looked at like some dumb, fragile princess that can’t do anything for herself. Christ, I get enough of that from Sweet Pea alone. I don’t need it from everyone else.”

Lily smiled as they both got into the car. “I’ll ask Jug to let you come with me on some of my next jobs. As training. That way you’ll be contributing. How does that sound?”

Lav was quiet for a few moments as she drove them to Pop’s. She was grateful for all that Lily had done in the span of half an hour. “That sounds good...Thanks.”

“Cheer up! You finally got laid last night!” Lily said, laughing, “And you two finally admitted your feelings! Please promise me that it's not a one time thing or I will lock you both in a closet until it's not.”

“He said it first.” Lavender said, cheering up instantly at the memory. “And of course I said it back. It was perfect….even if it was a struggle to get out.”

Lily shook her head, “it’ll get easier. Or I think it does. It seems to, from what I’ve seen at least. Whenever Sweet Pea and I said it to one another it was more like...platonic love. Not romantic love. Does that make sense?”

Lav nodded her head, unsure of what exactly to say. She figured it was the same in how she told Fangs, Toni, or even Jughead that she loved them. She wasn’t saying she was in love. Just that she cared for them all deeply. It finally seemed to click in her head that that’s how Sweet Pea and Lily were.

A few minutes later, after crossing the railroad tracks, Lily pulled into Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe. They got out, Lav grabbing Daisy this time, and went inside. There weren’t very many others there; an elderly couple in one booth and a businessman at the bar, that was it. It was a little odd considering it was a Saturday, but it was whatever.

Lily chose a booth at the end of the row where they could be as far away from the few other customers as possible. Lav handed Daisy to her and sat down. A moment later a waitress came over and took their drink orders while Lav looked over the menu. She was still chewing on her lip nervously, the pill in her pocket waiting to be taken. She knew that the side effects were going to mimic a period and she just wasn’t in the mood for that at the moment, not with how painful hers had been the past few months.

“You should take it as soon as possible.” Lily said, in a tone that was almost motherly. Lav sighed with frustration and nodded.

“I’m just waiting on my milkshake. I don’t do well with pills unless I have something to wash it down..” She muttered.

Lily reached out and put a hand over hers, “it’ll be okay. If for some reason it doesn’t work, then we’ll figure it out. But, I don’t think you should be thinking about the worst case scenario right now.”

Lav shook her head, “I know. It’s just hard not to. Just the thought of getting pregnant makes me want to throw up.”

Lily couldn’t help but laugh, though she was sympathetic. “Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s rough going to high school and being knocked up. I don’t know how I survived it some days…but she was worth it. Even if I am exhausted all the time.”

“You’re a lot stronger than I am.” Lav admitted. “I couldn’t even take going back to school after my attack. Everyone was talking about me, whispering behind my back, all the rumors that flew around about what happened. And spoiler alert, in none of those rumors was I a victim. I was a willing participant. I swear the bulldogs try to remind me of it every chance they get. I lost count how many times Sweet Pea had to go up to bat for me. The first few weeks were the worst. No one really talks about it now unless they’re trying to get under my skin.”

The waitress came back with their milkshakes and took their food orders before flitting away again. Lily was looking at Lav with a serious expression. “I wouldn’t say I’m stronger than you, Lavie. You went through hell and back. You went through something a lot worse than a teenage pregnancy. Don’t discredit yourself.”

Desperately wanting to change the subject, Lav looked up at Lily, “I know about you and Jughead.” She said plainly, nearly giving Lily whiplash in the process.

“W-What?” Lily sputtered, not entirely sure what exactly she was talking about. “What do you-”

“You’ve had sex before.” Lav clarified after taking a long swig of her strawberry chocolate shake. “He took your virginity, right? Or at least, that’s what he told me.”

“He told you that?!” Lily snapped, heart racing with a panic. “It was supposed to be a secret!”

Lav smiled at her, “it is. He was just really drunk the other night and I pulled it out of him. I asked him what was going on between you two and he just emotionally vomited all over me. It was kinda cute.”

Lily was quiet, taking a deep breath. “That was before Sweet Pea and I were together….Sweet Pea thinks he took it. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I had slept with Jug. They practically hated each other back then.”

“I think it’s hilarious.” Lav said with a gentle smile. “I had a good laugh at least. Jughead really cares about you. He always has, I think. He and Betty were never quite right. I think she was just convenient. I was glad when they broke up. Let Archie and her bang it out or whatever. Jug didn’t need to be hurt by her over and over again. Especially when he caught her cheating.”

She frowned at Lav babbled on, “Betty cheated on him?”

Lav paused and nodded, “Yeah, he caught her and Archie kissing one day. He was a wreck. I think that’s why he ultimately called it quits with her. Thank god too, he didn’t deserve that bullshit.”

“He never said anything to me about that.” Lily mumbled, “he would only say that it was a mutual decision between the two of them.”

Lav scoffed, “no way. Betty wants her cake and to eat it too. Cake being Jughead’s heart in this case. She’d do anything to manipulate him back into her life. God, I can’t believe he actually let her play serpent queen! Thank god no one actually took her seriously as a Serpent. Can you imagine? I’m more of a serpent than some Northside barbie.”

Lily tried not to giggle, seeing as Lav was pretty much a barbie in her own right. Clearly it wasn’t the right time to point that out. If Betty and Veronica were the dolls of the Northside, then Lav was definitely the pin up girl of the Southside. Though she would viciously deny it any time someone pointed it out.

The only difference between them and her, was that Lav actually used her money to do a lot of good for the Serpents. Jug had told her about how much she had donated to the gang’s projects or to Serpents who needed the extra financial help. Apparently her father left her more than she was willing to talk about. She wouldn’t even take credit for it, making Jug swear to secrecy every time.

“Hopefully he won’t give her another chance.” Lily said as Lav eyed her suspiciously.

“You have a thing for him still, don’t you?” Lav asked, hoping that Lily would spill her heart out. By the red tint Lily’s face suddenly took on, Lav knew she was right.

“Jughead doesn’t want a teen mom, Lav. There’s no point.” Lily said as their food came.

Lav took a fry and dipped it into her milkshake before eating it. Lily gave some fries to Daisy who began to happily gnaw on them. “I think you should let Jug make that decision instead of making it for him.” Lav said finally after swallowing the food she had put into her mouth. “It’s not fair to just assume he won’t.”

“Are you of all people giving me relationship advice?” Lily asked, though she was clearly joking. The other girl took no offense and instead rolled her eyes back at her. “Take your pill.”

“Oh, right…” Lav reached into her pocket and popped the white pill out of the plastic packaging. She placed it on her tongue before taking a large gulp of milkshake to get it down. “How long until it kicks in and I ruin my underwear?”

“I’d give in thirty minutes. Do you need a pad or anything?” Lily asked.

Lav shook her head, “No, I put one on before I left just in case. I should be fine. I just hope I’m not in too much pain.”

“Well, if you are, then I’ll make Sweet Pea take care of you. Hopefully I won’t need to work tonight.” Lily said.

A comfortable silence fell as they both ate their food, the only sound was Daisy babbling every once in a while in Lily’s lap. Once they were done, Lav paid the bill and left a tip before getting up. It had only been about twenty minutes or so, so she wasn’t feeling anything yet. “I better get home before the cramping starts. I have a feeling I’m not going to hold out much longer.”

Lily smiled, secretly grateful Lav didn’t bring up her drug dealing for the time being. She really didn’t want to talk about it right now anyway. Not when they were in such a public setting. “Let’s get you home then.”

“Thanks for coming with me.” Lav said softly, “And for not being upset…”

“I know Sweet Pea is a total idiot and hates condoms. If he truly cares about someone then he will conveniently forget that condoms even exist. I swear he only wears them for one night stands.” Lily grumbled. “He’s such a dumbass sometimes.”

“All boys are, honestly.” Lav said with a small snort. “I was too caught up in the moment to make him.”

Lily offered her a smile, “it’ll be okay, try not to stress over it too much.”

Lav nodded as she got into the car after helping Lily put Daisy in the car seat. They drove back to the southside where Lily dropped Lavender off outside of her trailer. Lav waved goodbye, already feeling the slight twinge of pain in her lower abdomen, before retreating back into the safety of the inside.

A few hours later, Lavender was curled up into a tight ball on the couch clutching her stomach. When Sweet Pea walked in, he hadn’t expected to find her there. Actually, he thought she’d be at the Wyrm with Toni, Cheryl, and Fangs.

“Babe?” He asked as he realized he hadn’t talked to her at all that day. It wasn’t that odd as sometimes they were both busy with either school or side jobs. Luckily Lavender wasn’t the type to freak out when he didn’t text back right away. She trusted him, though he would admit that he didn’t necessarily deserve it given his track record.

“Pea,” She whined pathetically, “can you get me my heating pad?”

A confused look crossed his face as he went to the closet to get it. “Your period? I thought we had another two weeks.” The fact that he knew that was a little endearing, though she was in too much pain to really appreciate it.

“I had to take a plan-b pill just in case. We didn’t use a condom last night and I feel like I’m dying.” She said back with a dramatic groan. Sweet Pea plugged in the heating pad she typically only used when her cramps were really bad and handed it to her. She uncurled enough to press it into her abdomen before curling back up.

The events of last night flashed before his mind and he remembered not bothering to put on a condom, “oh...yeah, sorry. I guess we got carried away.”

She smiled softly, although it was clearly pained. “This is your fault.”

He brushed her hair back before kissing her forehead, “what can I do to make it feel better?”

“Never forget to wrap it up ever again.” She said, mostly joking. “Just sit with me.”

He nodded, “let me go get cleaned up first, okay? I’ll be right back.”

Lavender waited as he went into her bedroom and changed into a pair of gym shorts and tank top. He wiped some of the dirt off his face and hands with a warm washcloth before hanging it up and coming back into the living room.

“Sit up,” He instructed gently as she did her best to sit up so he could sit down. Once he was situated, she laid back down with her hand on his lap.

Sweet Pea began to play with her hair as he cut on the TV to find something for them to watch together. Though he already knew what she wanted to watch. Anytime she didn’t feel well, she always had him put on her favorite movie. She was pretty predictable sometimes.

He cut on Jim Henson’s The Labyrinth before settling back down into the couch cushions. Lavender let out a small content sigh, still holding the heating pad tightly to her abdomen. It was finally warmed up enough to help relieve some of her pain.

“I’m sorry, I know you hate this movie.” She mumbled as she watched the screen. Sweet Pea let out a soft chuckle, because he did in fact find the movie really creepy and somewhat disturbing. But, if watching it made her happy then he’d sit through it a million times or more.

“It’s fine.” He said, brush her hair back as he began to play with it mindlessly. “I don’t care if it makes you feel better.”

Lav smiled softly and in turn, made Sweet Pea smile as well. He wasn’t watching the movie anyway, he was too captivated by her instead. She was much more fun to watch anyway. “I love you.” She said airily, not taking her eyes off of Bowie on the screen. It seemed so much easier to say it now that they weren’t at odds with each other.

Sweet Pea stiffened against the couch for a moment, the feeling of her saying it without prompting made him feel uncomfortably warm. He still wasn’t used to this whole love thing. It didn’t make much sense to him. He had thought he had been in love with Lily after all, but it wasn’t at all like how he felt with Lavender. He just wished he understood it more.

“I love you too, princess.” He said, almost inaudibly as a blush crept up his neck and to his ears, setting them on fire. He wished he could take her into the bedroom and prove it all over again, but he knew she was in much too much pain for that.

They sat in silence, Lavender drifting in and out of sleep in his lap as he scrolled through his phone with his free hand. He had messaged Lily telling her that Lav wasn’t feeling well so he would probably be spending the night again over here. He was surprised when she responded that it was okay. He half expected her to harangue him for not helping out with Daisy for two days in a row.

A few minutes later she sent him another text, saying she may need to work tonight so she would bring Daisy over in a few hours. Sweet Pea sighed, unsure how he would be able to take care of both of his girls at the same time. Maybe Lav would be feeling better by then? He doubted it. She seemed pretty miserable. Normally she didn’t take naps like this unless she was really sick. He had only seen her do it once before when she had the flu. That had been miserable for both of them as anytime she threw up, he would join her.

Hopefully she’d be able to rest without his full attention. He did feel bad that he had to divide his time between her and Daisy, but it really couldn’t be helped. He was just thankful that she had been so accepting of his daughter after the initial rough patch between her and Lily.

Lavender woke back up when he shifted his legs. He mumbled an apology before stroking her hair again to coax her back to sleep. “Daisy is coming over later.” He warned her. “I guess Lily has to go sell some more drugs or whatever. I don’t see why Jones hasn’t punished her yet. It’s ridiculous. Anyone else would be kicked out on their ass.”

“Pea, why do you want Lily kicked so badly?” Lav asked, trying not to get too aggravated with him, “She told me she doesn’t have a choice. Did you even try to talk to her about it without accusing her of something?”

He made a disgruntled face down at her. “What? No, I was busy today and you needed me last night. Jones knows now though and he didn’t do anything.”

Lavender turned onto her back so she could look up to him, “You’re so dense. Jughead is totally in love with Lily, that’s why he can’t do it.”

“What?! No he’s not!” Sweet Pea snapped, somehow feeling offended that his girlfriend would even suggest such a thing. “Why would you say that?” \

“Juggie is one of my best friends, Pea. I know when he has a crush on someone. The way he looks at her and the way he talks about her to me. I mean, it’s obvious. Plus they have a history.” Lavender said, hoping he wouldn’t try to argue with her when she felt like shit.

His face seemed to fall a little and she didn’t understand why he was so upset. Him and Lily hadn’t been together in a long time, not really. Lily wouldn’t even take him back a few weeks ago. “They have a history? When?”

“That’s not really my place to tell you, Pea.” She said, hoping he’d understand. “I don’t understand why you care? You’re not with Lily anymore. You’re with me.” She reminded him, her annoyance showing this time.

Sweet Pea just huffed, “I know that, brat. You brought it up, I don’t see why you can’t tell me. Did she cheat on me with him or something? After all the time she spent lecturing me about-”

“No, it was before you.” Lavender quickly corrected. “Lily never cheated on you to my knowledge.”

Now he really was hurt. Lily was his best friend and she had never told him. He felt betrayed, left out, and lied to. It had nothing to do with their past romantic relationship. It was strictly their platonic one that felt threatened. Lav could tell by the look on his face that he was upset. She reached up and cupped his face in her hands. “Hey, calm down. She didn’t tell me either, I just found out through Jug. Don’t make me say it.”

His face screwed up into disgust, “don’t say it.”

“I’m going to if you don’t smile.” She threatened and he rolled his eyes.

“Sweet Pea” She said sternly but he was pouting now.

Lav sat up and turned to face him, “come on, let’s get some cheer-up for your pancakes.”

He groaned loudly at the stupid pun she told him every time he was down about something. It drove him crazy because it always did make him smile, despite wanting to do anything but. He couldn’t stop the tiniest of laughs that came from him. “I hate you.”

“You love me, now make me some food. I’m hungry.” She flashed him a set of large hazel eyes full of hope that he’d cook for her. A look he could not resist in a million years.

He stood up from the couch and shook his head. “Fine, if I don’t you’ll just eat junk anyway. I swear you’re such a child.”

“I am not!”

Tag List: @the-gargoyle-queen, @alexa-playafricabytoto, just ask to join Enjoy my work? Like, Reblog, Follow, or Leave a Tip on my ko-fi (link now on blog description)! All works are cross-posted to ao3. 

[ladyreapermc]

Fic: Treat me like your boyfriend (Matt x fem!Reader)

Summary: when Matt asked you to tutor him, you weren’t aware of the mess you were about to step in.

Author’s notes: Dear anon, I’m sorry it took me so long, but your request is finally here and I hope you enjoy it. I was very rusty on writing teenagers and I definitely struggled with the love triangle aspect. 

Wordcount: 6430 (yeah, it took a life of its own)

Warnings: a bit of teenage angst, mentions of drugs, bad language, but that’s it

The last thing you were expecting to see when you got out of cheerleading practice was Matt leaning on the hood of your car like he belonged there, arms crossed behind his head, face tilted up, almost as if to soak up the last warm sun rays of that October morning.

You didn’t even remember the last time you actually saw Matt, let along talked to him. Yes, you went to the same school but traveled in completely different circles and he wasn’t all the good with attendance, especially not after what happened last year with Samson and Jamie.

Once upon a time however, the two of you had been great friends. All through elementary school and a considerable part of middle school, the two of you had been inseparable, but then his father left and his family life deteriorated and he became angry and closed off and the two of you drifted apart. Now here he was, and you had no idea why.

“That’s my car,” you said, making him crack one eye open to look at you.

“I’m aware,” he replied but didn’t move an inch and you sighed.

“What do you want, Matt?”

“Oh, so you actually remember who I am. That’s nice.” This time at least he sat up on the hood, looking you up and down with a smirk tucked on his lips.

“What. Do. You. Want?” you repeated with a glare, crossing your arms over your chest and you noticed Matt’s gaze shift, the tough guy mask slipping a bit and you could almost see the boy you used to know.

“I’m failing history,” Matt admitted in a low voice, eyes downcast. “I’m on probation. I can’t fail. I need you to tutor me.”

“No,” you said, pulling the passenger door of your car open so you could put your backpack away. “I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?” he asked, giving you a look. “Afraid of what your popular friends will think if they see you hanging out with someone like me?”

There was a barely disguised disdain in his tone and it made you feel guilty. Even if you didn’t like to admit it, it was one of the reasons but there was also the fact that between school, practice and your part-time job, free time was almost inexistent for you. Even your boyfriend Derek had been complaining about not seeing you enough.

“I really can’t. I’m sorry,” you sighed.

“Please, Skittles,” he said, and you snorted at the old and ridiculous nickname after your favorite candy. “You’re my only hope.”

“Fine!” You huffed, taking a second to think through your schedule. “Tomorrow at 4. Joe’s diner. Do you know?”

“Yeah.” Matt flashed you a gorgeous smile as he jumped off the hood of your car and your lips twitched up too. “Thank you! You’re really saving my life here.”

“I know. So, don’t be late or I won’t do it.”

---

As you cleared the tables at the restaurant, you couldn’t help but glance at the clock on the wall and heave a sigh. It was fifteen past four and Matt had yet to show up for his lesson. You should’ve known he would flake out. He barely showed up to school as it was, why would he bother to come for a tutoring lesson?

You rolled your eyes at your own stupidity. You had to rearrange your whole work schedule, changing shifts with one of your coworkers so you could tutor Matt here while Derek was at football practice.

It wasn’t as if you thought you were doing something wrong by seeing Matt or anything stupid like that, but you knew Derek would freak if he found out you were hanging out with the other boy. Your boyfriend was a little overprotective sometimes and he always thought Matt and his entire clique were delinquents. You just wanted to avoid the hassle, so you kept the entire thing from him. Not that there would be anything to tell since Matt stood you up.

The small bell above the entry door of the diner rang and you looked up to see Matt stepping inside, sweaty and out of breath as he looked around. His expression drew into that gorgeous smile when his gaze landed on you.

He had changed quite a lot from the lanky boy you had known back in middle school. For one, he had gotten considerably taller and muscles had filled him out quite nicely. He had grown out his hair and it framed his face in messy waves, but it really suited him.

“Hey! Sorry, I’m late. Bus took forever,” he explained and you couldn’t bring yourself to tell him to turn around and leave.

“That’s ok. Just grab a booth and I’ll be right with you,” you said, hands busy with a tray of steaming plates.

He grinned and obeyed, ignoring the stink eye he was getting from some of the customers. His outfit screamed outcast and he stuck out like a sore thumb in the traditional diner.

You moved to the table to deliver the orders, sending a silent prayer that there wasn’t anyone you knew in the diner before calling out that you’d be taking your break and sliding on the seat across from Matt.

“So where are you having trouble? Classic? Medieval? Modern?”

“Everything.” Matt took out a crumpled paper from his backpack, handing it to you. It was one of his tests and the bright red F made you wince.

“Ok,” you sighed, returning the paper to him. “Then I guess we start at the beginning,” you took hold of his textbook and opened in the first chapter. “Take notes. I’m not gonna repeat myself and there will be pop quizzes.”

“Alright,” he said combing his hair away from his eyes. He pulled out a notebook that was falling apart and a pen that seemed to be completed chewed out. “Oh! I almost forgot…” he dug through his backpack until he came out with a package of skittles, pushing towards you with a smile. “As a thank you for helping me.”

You smiled too as you ripped the package open popping a couple of candies on your mouth before shaking a few on his waiting hand.

“Let’s begin.”

----

“I can’t believe you’re skipping Shelley’s party! It’s like the event of the year!” Dana exclaimed, pulling a face at you and you rolled her eyes. To your friend and head of the cheerleader squad, every party was the event of the year.

“It’s not like I’m skipping on purpose,” you replied, trying to find a better position against Derek, who had his arm around your shoulders. You usually loved to be cuddled up like this. But when you were in the middle of the cafeteria trying to have lunch using only one hand it was kind of hindrance. “I have to work.”

Unlike Dana and Derek who’s parents paid for everything they could possibly want, your father was a police officer that worked his ass off to keep your house functioning so you had to work to buy the things that you needed that weren’t his priorities. Your car needed repairs and you had your eye on a dress for homecoming dance that would cost you almost a month’s salary.

“Can’t you change shifts or something?” Derek asked with a pout and you had to fight a grimace. The only reason you had to work at the time of Shelley’s party was that you had changed your hours so you could tutor Matt.

“I’ll just go to the next one,” you replied with a small, apologetic smile, but it wasn’t enough to soothe Derek if his sour expression was anything to go by.

“Fine!” Dana huffed, throwing her long hair over her shoulder, her eyes shifting to a point beyond your shoulder, her expression shifting into one of distaste. “The creeper is staring at you again.”  

You glanced back to see Matt sitting alone a couple of tables over. As soon as he noticed you looking, he quickly lowered his gaze back to the book in front of him his hair falling over his eyes, so he had to comb it back with his fingers.

“Someone’s got an admirer,” Dana teased with an evil smirk. “A killer admirer.”

“He didn’t kill anyone, Dana,” you replied in autopilot.

You had been spending at least three afternoons a week with Matt for the past month and the two of you had grown closer again. It was almost as if the time you two hadn’t spoken for didn’t even exist.

Matt was still an angry guy. You could see in the bursts of irritation he sometimes would get when he messed up an answer or when people were being deliberately judgy of him at the diner or when talking about the crappy deal he got in life and with his family. Other than that, he was as sweet as you remembered. Also funny and kind and you loved spending time with him. Around him, you could be as nerdy and weird as you wanted because he never judged you. It was liberating really.

“And how would you know?” Derek asked with a frown of confusion.

You knew because your dad had been one of the officers involved in the case, but also because Matt told you how the entire thing had gone down.

“My dad worked the case,” you said with a shrug. “And besides, I don’t think they would let him be here if he had actually killed anyone.”

“Still, I don’t like the idea of him watching you,” he said, glaring over his shoulder. “If he comes anywhere near you…”

“He won’t, Der. Don’t worry,” you assured, distracting him with a kiss, before getting up. “I gotta go. I have to deliver an essay to Mr. Sheppard for extra credit.”

You managed to get to the hallway outside the cafeteria before Derek caught up, pulling you back into his arms.

“Baby, you have enough extra credit to buy an entire university at this point,” Derek said with a pout and you chuckled. “I barely get to see you anymore.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry,” you said, pecking him on the lips. “Tonight. After my shift. Swing by? My dad won’t be home until later.”

“Ok.” he smiled happily and just as you were about to step away he pulled you back once more, catching you into a longer, deeper kiss that had your knees weak and you grinning against his lips. “I see you tonight.”

You were still smiling as you headed off, not towards Mr. Sheppard’s office, but to the football field, where you met Matt by the bleachers. He has a forlorn look on his face and that was enough to make your good mood flight right out of you.

“How was it?” you asked, and he sighed, digging through his backpack.

It was his first test since you two started the tutoring lessons. You hoped they had been enough to make him improve because you could tell Matt was getting frustrated with everyone pounding on him about his grades and probation.

He handed you the folded paper and it made your heart thunder in your heart just as much as getting the results of your own tests did.

“Look, Matt, it is just the first test,” you started before even looking at the grade. “It’s ok if it isn’t a good one just yet. We’ll keep working on it and you’ll see…” you trailed off as you finally looked at the test, the C+ staring back at you and when you looked up at him, Matt had a cheeky little grin in his face.

“You jerk!” You exclaimed punching him on the shoulder as he laughed. “You really made me think…”

“I’m sorry!” he said between giggles, trying to dodge your hands. “You’re just so damn easy, Skittles!” Matt looked so good like this. Bright and happy and playful. It made your heart jump.

“I’m really proud of you,” you said pulling him for a hug, your face coming to the crook of his neck due to the height difference and you breathed deep into his scent without meaning to.

“Thanks,” he replied with a soft smile when you pulled back. “Can you help me with Math too?”

“Absolutely!”

---

Even though it was your day off, here you were at Joe’s diner, in the booth it was quickly becoming yours and Matt’s regular seats. Instead of sitting across from him, you were at his side, studying his profile as he frowned over the math problem you had presented him.

You watched as his untamable hair fell over his face and you resisted the urge to push back so you could better look at him, watch the way his brows knitted together in concentration and how he squinted his soft brown eyes at the page, nose crinkling slightly in displeasure as he tapped the pen against his lips, which were framed by a shadow of stubble, just like his sharp jawline… Shifting in your seat, you forced your gaze away, taking a drink of water.

After two months all employees and regular clients at the diner got used to Matt’s presence and no one even gave the two of you a second glance anymore, which was a small blessing. You finally managed to relax around him when Matt came around, which meant you caught yourself staring at him way too often while he worked, your mind wondering dangerous things, like if his hair was as soft as it looked or how Matt’s lips would feel against yours.

Those thoughts always filled you with guilt because you had a boyfriend. A nice, kind and sweet boyfriend that you loved, and you shouldn’t be thinking such things about Matt when he was your friend and you were in a relationship and…

“Got it!”

His excited tone startled you back to the present and you watched as he scribbled down on the page before he turned it to you with a bright, hopeful smile and your heart leaped in your chest as you got caught in those brown eyes for a second too long.

Clearing your throat and feeling your cheeks warm, you looked down at the notebook to check his answer, your lips twitching into a proud smile.

“That’s exactly it,” you declared, looking up at Matt again and his lips now showed a wide grin as he cheered and threw an arm around your shoulders, pulling you into a sideways hug.

“You owe me fries and a milkshake,” Matt said, still grinning and you snorted.

“If I’d known that was all it took for you to learn math, I’d have done it weeks ago,” you joked waving at one of the waitresses to place your order, trying to pretend you weren’t acutely aware of the fact the Matt hadn’t taken his arm away from your shoulders and you really didn’t want him too.

“So, there’s a movie with that guy from that sci-fi movie you like in the theaters,” Matt said, his tone a little hesitant as the two of you sipped milkshakes and shared fries.

“That’s specific,” you chuckled, noticing how he seemed to blush a little. “Fortunately, I do know which one you’re talking about. I’m dying to see it.”

“Yeah?” Matt looked up; eyes bright with excitement. “Maybe we could go? Together, I mean.”

For a moment, all you could do was stare at Matt in stunned silence. Was he asking you out on a date? And why on Earth did you want to say yes so bad?

“As friends, of course,” he quickly added, and you could barely hide your disappointment. His own words and the way he avoided your eyes showed his chagrin.

“Maybe, but…” you sighed, looking away, the words stuck to your throat.

“I get it, Skittles,” Matt said, at last, gathering his things, head ducked as he stood up. “Thanks for the lesson.”

He was off and away from the diner before you even process what happened. Your eyes burned and you could taste bile and guilt on the back of your throat as you swallowed around the painful lump, before picking up your bag and standing up.

Suddenly being in the diner without Matt felt unbearable.  

----

Derek’s lips traveled down your neck, his weight pressing you down on the bed as his hand squeezed your thigh, inching dangerously close to the hem of your skirt. This was hardly the first time you’ve done this, touch each other like this and he was doing everything you loved but it just felt awkward and uncomfortable.

You couldn’t bring yourself to relax and your mind kept wandering to all the wrong places. You couldn’t help but picture a slender frame on top of you, instead of broad chest chiseled by years of football practice. Dark brown hair instead of light, almost blonde hair. Scratchy stubble instead of a smooth cheek. Deep chocolate eyes, instead of hazel…

“Wait, wait,” you asked, pushing at Derek's chest and he sighed, lifting his head to look at you.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” You looked away, afraid of giving yourself away. “I just… I don’t feel like it tonight.”

“Ok.”

Derek sat up on the bed, running his hand through his hair, another heavy sigh escaping his lips and you could see frustration shining in his eyes. Not because you said no, but because he had been picking up the change in your mood for days now and he could figure out what was wrong and you couldn’t exactly come forward and explain it either.

“Do you wanna go downstairs and watch a movie or something?”

 You shrugged and your gaze darted around your room because you couldn’t bear to look at Derek. It landed on an unopen bag of skittles.

Matt always brought you some whenever you were tutoring him so there was always one around and you felt like the most horrible person in the world. Here you were with such a sweetheart for a boyfriend, but your mind kept shifting over for the last person you should get involved with.

“I have homework to finish,” you said instead, guilt gnawing your gut.

You knew Derek knew you were lying, but he still got up, picking up his leatherman jacket as he headed out of your room without another word. No goodbye, no kiss or hug. Just silence that felt heavy and awful and made you flop on your bed, tears welling in your eyes.

What was wrong with you? Why were you ruining life that you had spent most of your high school years building because of a guy? Who you didn’t even know liked you back?

----

You were fresh from your shower after cheerleader practice, hair still wet and hanging loose over your shoulders when you walked up to your locker to grab your chemistry book and found the note.

With a smile, you didn’t even bother to look it over, knowing what it said. Instead, you just shoved inside your pocket, while you pushed your book into your backpack, before rushing off. You had only fifteen minutes before class and the bleachers were on the other side of the school.

As expected, Matt was waiting in the familiar hiding spot, puffing on a cigarette that he put out as soon as he saw you, since he knew you hated the smoke. His smile was wide and bright and enough to make you grin because he was holding a sheet of paper and you knew exactly what that was.

“An A!” he announced, showing you his latest history test. “I got a fucking A!”

“That’s amazing, Matt! Congratulations!” you cheered all but jumping in his arms for a hug and he caught you easily. Tucking you closer to his chest.

“I haven’t gotten an A since middle school,” he commented with a grin, looking down at you. “Thank you so much, Skittles.”

“Don’t thank me. It was all you,” you said, meeting his eyes.

You were still wrapped in his arms, your gaze locked with his and there was something there that made your breath catch in your throat and your heart speed in your chest. You saw the way Matt’s gaze felt to your lips, before coming up to your eyes again and all you wanted was for him to close the distance, press his lips against yours. You actually thought he was going to do it until you hear someone clearing their throat behind you and jumped back and away from Matt.

When you turned around to look, Dana stood there, hands on her hips, green eyes narrowed as she glared at you, lips pressed in a tight, displeased line. Panic flooded your chest because there was no way to explain what was happening except with the truth and you knew how Dana felt about cheating.

There was no other way to spin it, was there? You were cheating on Derek. Or at least you were about to if Dana hadn’t walked in when she did.

You looked back at Matt and he looked pale and worried as his gaze darted from you to your best friend. Lying a gentle hand on his shoulder, his eyes meet yours. When did the two of you become so good at communicating with just one look, you didn’t know, but Matt just nodded, grabbed his things and walked away.

“Of all the guys in this school, you’re doing this with psycho stoner Matt?” Dana exclaimed and you winced, not sure what was worse: the shrill tone of her voice or her words.

“He’s not a psycho!” you defended almost on autopilot. If anyone was being the asshole in this whole situation, it was you and Matt didn’t deserve to be treated that way. “It’s just happened. I never meant…”

You rubbed your eyes, fighting against the wave of tears. All the confusion and doubt and guilt bubbling to the forefront and words poured out of you as you told Dana everything, how it started, how your feelings began to change, until the scene she witnessed today.

“Do you love Derek?” she asked, her expression softening, becoming understanding. This was why Dana was your best friend. No matter her shortcomings, she was a good person.

“I, uh, yeah?” you replied with hesitation, tone uncertain. You did love Derek right? You’ve been together since freshman year and he was such a great guy.

“It’s fine if you don’t,” Dana said, but her expression was a little sad. Derek was her brother after all. “People fall out of love. And I will never understand what you see in Matt of all people, but you can’t lead them on. Either cut Matt lose or break up with Derek.”

“I know,” you sighed, drying your cheeks because you did know and that’s why this was so hard for you. “I just need time to think. Make a decision.”

“One week,” Dana said, crossing her arms over her chest, her expression turning stormy. “After that, I’m telling Derek.”

All you managed was a nod.

----

Sitting on your usual booth at Joe’s diner, you drummed your fingers on the wooden table, your knee bouncing trying to work out some of the restless nervous energy thrumming through you as you waited for him.

A week had passed since your conversation with Dana and you finally made your decision. Surprisingly it took a conversation with your father to clear the air for you. It had been just the two of you since your mom died and even if he didn’t exactly know how to talk to you since you entered adolescence, he always tried.

So when he came back from his shift one night and found you bawling your eyes out, he sat you down on the couch and made you tell him everything that was going on. He had noticed you hadn’t been quite yourself lately and that night was the moment he figured he had given you enough space and it was time to be there.

You told him everything, just like you had done with Dana. Your dad was less than thrilled to know that you had been spending so much time with Matt without him knowing, but at the same time, he had worked the case, he knew Matt had been the only one in that group with a tiny shred of decency. He was, after all, the one who called the cops once he learned about Jamie.

“Sweetheart,” your father started, brushing away the tears from your face. “I won’t tell you what to do, but…”

“But what?” you sniffled, looking at him, vision blurry.

“The fact that you even fell in love with Matt while dating Derek says a lot, don’t you think?” he said in a low tone, his words making your heart ache.

“You’re right,” you whispered, letting out a shaky breath. “Thanks, dad.”

“I’m always here for you, sweetie,” he replied, kissing you on the forehead before letting you go.

That had been last night. After you washed your face and recomposed yourself more or less, you went to Derek’s. It was an awful conversation to have and you felt horrible for breaking his heart like that, but it wasn’t fair to him or you continue the way you were.

You barely slept and the first thing you did when you got to school was put a note on Matt’s locker, asking him to meet you at the diner after school. You had no idea if he was going to come. You had avoided him for an entire week, ignoring his notes and worried looked he threw your way in the halls and the cafeteria. He had all the right to ignore your request, but you prayed he wouldn’t.

The bell about the front door jiggled and your head snapped up, heart leaping to your throat when you saw Matt walking in, hand on his pockets, expression closed off. He made a beeline to your booth and you tried a smile which he didn’t return.

“So, you’re talking to me again?” his tone acid and cold and you flinched, forcing yourself not to look away.

“Look, after everything, I know I don’t deserve even a second of your time, but can we talk, please?”

With a sigh, Matt begrudgingly took a seat in front of you, his expression never wavering, his brown eyes staring you down, making you shift uncomfortably on your seat. Movies always made this seem so easy, but you were terrified.

“I broke up with Derek,” you said at last, once the silence between you two stretched to the point of painful. Matt’s eyes widened slightly at your words.

“Why?” he asked and once again the words seemed stuck in your throat.

“You know why,” you croaked, looking away.

“Do I? you’ve spent months treating me like a dirty little secret.” Matt all but spat, his eyes shining with hurt and your heart ached. “And then when the secret was out, you just ignored me like I was nothing!”

“You’re right and I was awful in this whole thing. To Derek and you,” you said with a sigh. “And I understand if you never want to see me again, but I like you, Matt. A lot. I love the way you frown when you’re thinking hard about something or how you smile when you’re right. I love how you look all tough and mean, but you’re actually really sweet when you let people in. I love how you let me in and I know I don’t deserve a second chance, but if you would let me try, I promise I will do my best to never hurt you like that again.”

“What about your reputation?” Matt asked, there was still hesitation in his tone, but mostly hope or so you thought. “Everyone thinks I’m a murderer.”

“I know the truth so fuck what everyone else thinks,” you declared, reaching for his hand, relieved that he didn’t pull it away. “Can we give it a try, Matt?”

“No,” he shook his head, taking his hand from under yours and standing up and you felt tears welling up in your eyes again as you watched him walking away.

---

When you walked into school the next Monday you could practically feel all eyes on you. It wasn’t such a big place so word about your breakup with Derek had spread like a wildfire exactly like you expected it would, making you wonder how much they knew.

You knew more than a few girls would be extremely happy about it. Derek was the quarterback of the football team, one of the most popular guys in the school they would most likely be lining up to replace you in his affections, especially with homecoming dance right around the corner.

Moving to your locker you let out a heavy sigh, trying to ignore all the stares, but at the same time, avoid thinking about the dress you bought for the dance that nearly cost you a month’s salary and apparently would go to waste because you had no one to go to the dance with.

Maybe it was a silly thing to worry about, but you did love school dances and all the silly rituals of passages they involved. You always felt like high school experience wouldn’t be complete unless you had a chance to go through these kinds of things.

With your biology book in hand, you close your locker door, turning around and running smack on Matt’s chest with enough force that you stumbled and he has to steady you with a hand on your elbow, his palm feeling large and warm against you skin.

“Hi!” you greeted, eyes wide in surprise. You didn’t expect him to ever talk to you again after yesterday and hope busted in your chest.

“You have my math notebook,” he said instead of a greeting, voice detached and hollow, successfully smothering the feeling.

“Right,” you nodded, trying to balance the book and dig through your backpack at the same time. It took a while, but you finally pulled out the notebook. “Listen, I still up for tutoring if you want. I know a lot has happened…”

“I got it,” Matt declared, cutting you off as he took the notebook from your hand. “Thanks.”

The last word was said in a dry tone as he walked away from you without a second look and you felt once again tears rising, your lungs constricting, but you forced yourself to take a deep breath. You’ve cried enough for boys in the last couple of weeks. You refused to cry even more. Once you felt you were in control again, you headed to class pretending not to notice the whispers.

If people didn’t know the reason why you and Derek broke up when the day started, they definitely guessed after this entire exchange. And by the time lunch rolled around, you already heard ten different and outrageous versions of the entire thing. It was getting hard and harder to ignore the whispers, but you were determinate to keep your head high because it wasn’t anyone’s business who you dated or not or why.

You got your tray and turned to your usual table where you could see the rest of the cheerleader team gathered, but before you could take a step towards it, Dana moved in your way, face drawn into a grimace and you knew exactly where this was going.

“So much for being my friend, huh?” You said with a snort and a head shake.

“He’s my brother. What you expected me to do?” Dana said with a shrug and you could see she was apologetic, but anger bubbled in your chest. “Just hand over your uniform at the end of the day.”

“Why wait?” you spat, dropping your tray with a little more force than necessary on a nearby table before you dug out the cheerleader uniform from your backpack and shoved in Dana’s chest. “There! Good luck making regionals without me.”

Suddenly without appetite, you turned on your heels and walked out of the cafeteria.

---

Two weeks later, you were hanging out at the bleachers, catching on your reading while you sat through the cheerleader team practice, taking great pleasure in seeing Bianca, your substitute messing up all the movements that came like breathing to you. Was it petty? Yes. But after everything you’ve been through these last feel days, you didn’t feel bad for your pettiness.

You snorted when she once against moved the wrong direction, making Dana stop the entire routine to chide her, but not before sending a glare your way like she knew you were mocking, which you definitely were. You only looked away from the scene unfolding in front of you at the sound of your name being called. Tilting your head up and shielding your eyes against the pale winter sun, you turned your attention to the sniggering football player hovering over you.

“I heard you like tutoring guys…” he started with a suggestive smirk and you rolled your eyes.

“50 bucks an hour,” you declared, gaze shifting back to your book.

“Is that what you charged psycho Matt?” the player asked, his voice dripping innuendo.

“No, I’m giving you the moron discount,” you replied with a little sarcastic grin and his expression shifted to anger as he took a step towards you.

“Hank!” Derek’s voice all but boomed and the guy stood to attention, looking a little guilty at the other boy. “Coach wants to see you.”

Tension made you sat straighter, fingers tightening over your book as you hurried to put your things away. You hadn’t seen or talked to Derek since the day you broke up and you preferred to keep that way for as long as possible. Apparently, Derek wasn’t having it because he followed you like a shadow.

“Can we talk?” he asked, voice so small you couldn’t bring yourself to say no. You’ve slowed your steps but couldn’t really bring yourself to look at him. “How have you been?”

“All of my friends refuse to talk to me; people keep whispering behind my back or calling me names to my face; guys keep propositioning because they think if I fucked Matt, will fuck anyone…” your tone is bitter, but after everything, how else could you deal with this? “I didn’t by the way. Sleep with Matt. We didn’t even kiss.”

“I know,” Derek sighed, coming to stand before you. “I believe you and I’m sorry this is happening.”

“It’s not your fault, Derek,” you sighed too, hands in your pockets. “Of everyone, you’re the only one completely blame-free in this entire mess and I hope one day we can be friends again.”

You pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, before you made your way back inside the school, completely unaware of the pair of brown eyes watching the entire exchange. Not until the end of the day when you made your way to your car and found Matt there, much like when this whole thing began a few months ago.

You had tried to talk to him more than once during the last couple of weeks, but he either ignored you completely. He was once again hanging out with the worst people in school, jeopardizing his probation and you wished you could just walk up to Matt and talk some sense into him, but you knew you couldn’t. So, finding him here seemingly waiting for you, smoking a joint surprised and annoyed you to no end.

“What you are doing here, Matt?” you asked, putting your stuff onto the passenger seat before you glanced back at him.

“I’m here to congratulate you,” he said, jumping off the hood of your car. “You almost had me going with that bullshit speech at the diner, but here you are, two weeks later already all chummy with Derek again.”

It took you a second to realize what he meant and all you managed was to shake your head and snort.

“I don’t know what you think you saw, but I don’t own you an explanation,” you said, sidestepping him so you could reach the car door, but as soon as you pulled open, Matt pushed it close again. “What the hell you want from me, Matt!? You won’t forgive me, you treat me like shit and now you want me to explain myself for talking to the only person in this school who isn’t treating me badly? Fuck you!”

You shoved at his chest, all the words stuck in your chest for the past month suddenly finding its way out, spilling from your mouth.

“My life was perfectly fine before you waltzed back in! I had friends, I had a loving boyfriend who I loved or at least I thought I did.” You could feel the tears welling up in your eyes as your tone lost its anger, leaving only sadness. “But then you came along all brooding and rebellious, but so sweet and gentle and I remembered what was like to really be in love with someone…”

Your words were cut off when Matt brought you closer, his lips finding yours in an urgent kiss that had you too stunned to move; your hands caught against his chest; your eyes wide open. Matt was kissing you. You could feel his stubble scraping your jaw and the taste of pot in his lips.

It took a moment for the shock to wear off. For you to start kissing him back because it was the only thing you’ve been wishing for this last month.

“Why?” you gasped once he let your lips go and rested his forehead against yours, breathing hard, his hands rubbing gentle circles on your back.

“Because I couldn’t get you off my head? Everywhere I went, everything I did, reminded of you and how much I missed you and I didn’t know what else to do. I’m not good at this.”

You knew what he meant. You were learning you weren’t all that good with this, with feelings, either.

“Maybe we can work it out together?” you asked, brushing some hair away from his face, watching as his expression opened in a small, hesitant smile, that was still so bright and one of the best things you’ve ever seen.

“Yeah,” Matt nodded and this time, the kiss didn’t take you by surprise. “I’d like that.”

xxx

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[cherryrogers]

Falling For You.

— Chapter 12

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

(Modern High School AU)

Warnings: lowkey angst?? mostly fluff.

Synopsis: Unlike most teenagers, you had your life completely mapped out. You’d graduate high school, go off to the university of your dreams, and live the life that your parents always wanted you to. That was always the plan. Falling for Bucky Barnes, however, was never part of the plan.

A/N: it’s been a month since i’ve updated this omf, i’m sorry i’m the slowest writer ever🤧 we are gradually coming to an end w this fic guys,,, i think there’ll be maybe 3 or 4 more and their story will more or less be complete :) thank you to everyone that has been reading this fic so far!!💓

Series Masterlist

It wasn’t long before the university application deadline came around. When you were younger, you’d pictured yourself applying in junior year and having a complete map out of which college you’d go to, what you’d major in, all the extra-curricular you’d take part in - you were sure that you were ready for college. Completely sure.

But since then, things had changed drastically.

Your ‘no dating until college graduation’ rule had gone straight out of the window, your parents were planning to disown you if you didn’t follow the life plan they made for you, and while you wanted to remain in New York and let your parents cut you off if that’s really what they wanted, you just weren’t sure that you’d be okay if they did.

Because they were your parents. Maybe they had it all wrong, and maybe they were being completely unreasonable. But they weren’t doing it to be mean or spiteful; they wanted you to succeed. They didn’t want to see you fail, failing was never going to be an option for you in their eyes.

You felt terrible, in all honesty. You felt terrible when your mother hung up on you and you let yourself cry it out as soon as you got home. You felt terrible for telling Bucky that everything was fine with your parents, not wanting to tell him the truth because you could barely accept it yourself.

And you felt terrible when you sent your application off on the day of the application deadline to not only Colombia, but Harvard too.

Three days later and it was still consuming your every thought. You had a while before you found out if you were even accepted, but there was still a chance that you could possibly be leaving to be a student at Harvard in the upcoming month of September. A chance that you could be leaving your friends, Brooklyn, Bucky.

He needed to know that you were considering it, he deserved at least that. Perhaps he’d hate you for it, for giving in to your parents’ desires of having you live a life you didn’t necessarily want to live.

Soon, you’d tell him soon. Not when you were in the school cafeteria, watching as the boy paced over to your table where you were sat with Wanda, a slight bounce in his step. Well, at least someone was having a good day.

It wasn’t often you even saw Bucky during lunch; he usually hung around the bleachers outside with Steve and Sam, eating a Snickers bar with a bottle of Pepsi and calling it an adequate meal.

Wanda was too occupied with her phone to notice Bucky striding over the table, but didn’t miss how close the boy sat next to you.

“Hey, Buck. What-”

Before you could even ask why he wasn’t with his usual group of friends, he’d already opened his backpack and pulled out a sheet of paper, placing it in front of you on the table.

You crinkled your brows for a moment, skimming your eyes over the paper, noticing that it was the chemistry test you’d taken before Christmas. Bucky hadn’t passed it originally, so Mr. Pym had offered him to retake it once the new term started.

At the top of the page, C+ was scribbled in red pen.

“I passed a chemistry test!” Bucky stated proudly. “A C fucking plus, sweets. I didn’t think it was even possible.”

His joy was infectious; you couldn’t help your own smile forming on your lips. “Of course it was possible, you don’t give yourself enough credit, Bucky. Plus, you had a pretty awesome tutor.”

“Hm, I guess I did.” He smirked, leaning over to press a gentle kiss to your cheek.

“Oh... my god.” Wanda almost choked, eyes darting between you and Bucky. “Did I just- did you just- you guys are-”

You ignored the heat rushing to your cheeks as you turned to your friend. “Yes, Wanda, we’re... together.”

Her blue eyes wide, she remained speechless for a second or two, While she was your best friend, you had been hesitant to let her know about your new relationship with Bucky, considering Pietro still hadn’t spoken to you since New Years.

However, a weight suddenly lifted from your shoulders as a warm grin spread across her lips. “I just... I can’t believe it finally happened. Obviously, it was bound to happen eventually, but at the rate you two were going, I thought it would be when you were grey and old...”

You scoffed, though you couldn’t exactly tell her she was being ridiculous, because if you had a dollar for every time you told Wanda that you and Bucky were never going to happen... well, you could probably buy the house back before you parents sold it off in the summer.

And now that issue was back in your head. Not to be dramatic, but it would be really fucking nice if the universe could let you catch a break, just for a moment. First, it was your parents, then it was your feelings for Bucky, then it was school, and your current problem involved all damn three of them.

“This can’t become a regular thing, by the way.” The girl pointed at the two of you sitting opposite her. “Vis is using lunch hours to tutor some kids in his classes, and I can’t look like a third wheel every day.”

“Wanda, I’ve been third-wheeling you and Vis for the past two years.” You chuckled, pushing college out of your mind for the time being.

“Well, where’s Pietro? He usually...” Her words trailed off as she realized a little too late what she was saying.

You shook your head, however, plastering a tight smile on your lips. “He still won’t talk to me.”

“He will, I know he will.” Wanda gave you a sympathetic smile, before flicking her eyes over to Bucky hesitantly. “I don’t know how he’ll feel about you two, though.”

Speaking of...

Your eyes were drawn to a figure standing not so far from your lunch table, signature white hoodie fitting his muscular form snugly, hands clasping the straps of his bag tight enough to make his knuckles go white. Oh, for fuck’s sake.

Pietro Maximoff clearly wasn’t listening to a word Clint was uttering to him as his bright eyes trained on you, and Bucky’s arm which had snaked around your waist. He didn’t miss how the boy’s eyes gleamed when he looked at you, how his side was pressed right against yours, how you leaned into him so comfortably. Nobody had to tell him that you and Bucky were no longer just friends; it was pretty obvious to him.

When you caught his gaze for only a short moment, he snatched it away, motioning for Clint to follow him out of the lunch hall.

Both Wanda and Bucky followed your eyes to Pietro, feeling the guilt practically seeping from your skin.

“Well,” You sighed, mouth curling into a small frown. “I guess we do now.”

You hated feeling like this. Like you were causing problems left and right. Pietro was mad at you still, your parents were mad, Bucky would probably be mad once you told him about applying to Harvard; all you wanted to do was the right thing and make everyone else happy, yet every choice you could make regarding your future would end in someone being upset at you.

That was exactly what you were afraid of. That’s why you ignored your feelings for Bucky for so long, because you knew you’d inevitably hurt him. It was the last thing you wanted to do; you don’t think you’d ever forgive yourself for being the cause of a deep frown on his lips. But everything was just so confusing, and it was happening so fast that you didn’t have time to simply breathe.

Wanda must’ve noticed you getting lost in your head, as she gently knocked her foot against yours under the table and called your name to bring you back to reality. “Please don’t worry about my brother. He’ll talk to you when he’s ready, I promise.”

You forced a smile, wishing that you hadn’t had several other things on your plate to deal with as well as amending your friendship with Pietro. Wasn’t senior year supposed to be the year? Maybe watching too many corny high school movies when you were younger shaped your perception of senior year a lot different to how it was in reality, but it was your final year of high school. Wasn’t it supposed to be a year you’d cherish in the future?

In some ways, it was. It was the year you fought the urge to push Bucky away and let yourself give into him. He became more than just your best friend and you couldn’t be happier with that. But now, it seemed like that moment was the peak of the mountain, and everything else was just going down from there.

* * *

Winifred Barnes was practically the mother you never had.

The sweet scent of rich chocolate filled your nose as soon as you stepped through the front door of the Barnes residence. His house was considerably smaller than yours, but the homely, warm feeling of the place alone proved it to be more valuable than the house you lived in alone would ever be. It was a true family home, built for a loving family like the Barnes’ - one you couldn’t help but envy.

The small number of times you’d met her, she’d never failed to make you feel at home. A pastel blue apron always wrapped around her frame, in the midst of baking something that was bound to be delicious. Nothing like your own mother, and it was frankly mad to you that parents could be so... caring. When you first met the woman and she enveloped you into a tight hug, it almost brought tears to your eyes. As sad as it was, you couldn’t remember the last time your parents even touched you.

You didn’t often go to Bucky’s house. The two of you almost always hung out at yours since there almost never anyone home. Well, except for the one unfortunate time he encountered your mother - you tried to keep that memory as far back in your mind as possible.

Stepping into the cozy kitchen, you couldn’t help but smile as you saw Winifred stood at the counter, brows crinkled, tongue caught between her teeth as she carefully applied white icing to the freshly baked chocolate cake in front of her. Bucky could tell at school that you’d been thrown off by your conversation Wanda at lunch. Whether you were only upset about Pietro or if there was something else going on, the boy knew that his mother had a way of drawing a smile out of anyone. So when he invited you to go round to his after school, you couldn’t help but feel a little excited.

As soon as her kind eyes fell on you, the woman abandoned her cake, pacing straight past her own son and coming to throw her arms around you, nearly knocking you off your feet. “(Y/N), darlin’, it’s been too long!”

Her slim hands placed themselves gently on the sides of your face. “Oh my, you just keep gettin’ more beautiful with each time I see you.”

Your face grew hot, and you resisted the urge to roll your eyes, hearing Bucky chuckling as he kicked off his shoes at the front door. “It’s good to see you too, Mrs. Barnes.”

She waved you off, finally letting you go as she turned to tend to her cake again. “Always so formal, one of these days you’ll just call me Winnie.”

Letting out a laugh, you sat down on a wooden stool at the counter opposite her. “So, how are you, honey? How’re your parents?”

Winifred knew your parents were barely ever around, though she wasn’t aware of everything that’d happened recently. You internally thanked Bucky for keeping it to himself, because if his mother found out, she’d probably never let you go back home again. She worried about you as if you were her own, and if your own mother wasn’t going to do that for you, at least Bucky’s could.

“We’re doing okay.” You answered vaguely, considering neither you or your parents were remotely okay. “How about you? How’re you and Mr. Barnes?”

She tutted at the formality, still working on the last bit of icing on the cake. “We’re good; George can’t wait for our boy to finally get outta school. When James can work full-time at the shop, it’ll really help him out.”

You nodded fondly, thinking about Bucky working properly at the auto-shop. Working in an undershirt and his classic black jeans, sweat glistening above his brow, jaw locked as he narrowed his eyes in concentration... his mother was right in front of you, stop.

“And you,” She pointed towards you, icing bag in hand. “I’m assuming you’re off to college after graduation? James says you’re super smart, always have been.”

It’s like the universe was taunting you, having someone bring up the topic of college at every opportunity. However, before you could begin to struggle to come up with an answer, Bucky came striding back into the kitchen, eyes set on the now-competed cake.

His mother was quick to shoot him a warning look. “Don’t even think about it, son. You can have a slice after dinner.”

“But Ma,” He groaned, plopping down on the seat next to you. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. “You know, I got a C plus on my chemistry test. Doesn’t that deserve a slice now?”

“He did work really hard for it, Mrs. Barnes.” You nudged the boy’s elbow with yours.

Winifred looked between her son’s pleading expression and your hopeful grin and eventually sighed. “One slice, alright? And cut your girl a slice too, James.”

The dark-haired woman turned around, beginning to put away the ingredients scattering the counters, before excusing herself to get some washing up liquid from the closet in the hall. You looked up at Bucky, who was busy cutting two slices out of the chocolate sponge.

“Did you tell her that I’m your girl?” You asked quietly, pretending that words didn’t erupt butterflies in your stomach.

Bucky smirked as he handed you a dessert fork, along with a small china plate with a piece of cake on it. “Honestly, I think she thinks we’ve been dating this whole time.”

You paused your movements, the cake on the edge of your fork just hitting your lips. “And you didn’t think to tell her that we weren’t?”

“I tried to, I swear. She was convinced I was lying, though.” He spoke amusedly. “The first time you came over, she said ‘James, you’ve got yourself a real lovely girl’, then I told her we were only friends, and she laughed in my face.”

Well, that was understandable, since anyone you’d ever told that you and Bucky were just friends had the exact same reaction.

Slowly, his expression fell, an unsure look in his blue eyes. “Uh, do your... do your parents know about us?”

The mention of your parents made your eyes snap up to his. It was a reasonable question. Though your relationship with your parents was... rocky at the moment, shouldn’t they know that you’d gotten into your first relationship? There was a part of you that wanted them to know, because they were your parents, for crying out loud, you should’ve been able to tell them things like that. However, you were already on thin ice with them over your future, and if they knew you were balancing a relationship along with college? They’d have your head on a stick for certain.

Shaking your head, you poked at your slice of cake with your fork. “I don’t know how they’d react, Buck. In an ideal world, they’d want to get to know you and... and they’d treat you the way that your parents treat me.”

“But they won’t?” Bucky shot you a sad smile.

“They’d sooner come back to Brooklyn and lock my ass in my room until I turn thirty.” You let out a laugh, though there wasn’t much humour in your voice.

Bucky didn’t laugh, however. He’d always known your parents were... the way that they were. Strict, stubborn, even selfish. But he felt terrible, because it hadn’t truly occurred to him until now how distant they actually were. The boy talked to his parents every day. When he got home from school, his mother already had dinner in the oven, and was asking about his day as she laid out the dinner table to eat along with his father, as a family. Bucky was sure there wasn’t a day when you didn’t come up in a conversation with his mom, and she didn’t mind in the slightest when he’d fondly ramble about how smart you were or how you’d ridden on his bike with him again despite claiming to hate it so much.

But here you were, nervous to even consider telling your own parents about him because you’re certain that they won’t support you. It hurt Bucky to even think about his parents being that way, and it possibly hurt him more that it was your reality.

It wasn’t hard to notice the sympathy washing over his features, so you sighed and grabbed one of his hands. “Please don’t feel bad, Buck. It’s just how they are, and I’ve gotten pretty used to it.”

“You deserve more, though.”

The words made your heart stop momentarily. “You think?”

Bucky smiled softly, playing with your hand that was in his grasp. “Sweets, you’re like... the best fuckin’ person I’ve ever known. You deserve, well, the best.”

Though the boy didn’t necessarily have a way with words, you couldn’t help but try to bite back wide grin. You’d never known any other way of how parents should be growing up, only the way that your parents acted. If the universe thought you deserved better, then you thought it’d make your parents nicer, less bitter. But maybe instead of changing your parents, the universe gave you Bucky.

Without a second thought, you leaned forward and pressed your lips to his, intertwining his and your fingers together. Bucky reacted immediately, kissing you back with slight immediacy, and the same sense of warmth washed over you as it did every time he kissed you. Suddenly, the fact you were sat in his mother’s kitchen was forgotten, as he ran his tongue along your bottom lip-

“Goodness, I’m gone for less than five minutes and you’re already lockin’ lips.” Winifred shook her head in fake disappointment, causing the two of you to pull back, Bucky’s cheeks flushing instantly.

“Sorry, Ma.” He apologized sheepishly, giving your hand a squeeze as you chuckled lightly.

His mother didn’t need an apology, however. Her son being happy was something she’d never want an apology for.

Winifred had seen it initially over two years ago, when Bucky introduced her to his first ever girlfriend, Natasha. She’d liked the redhead, though, was it even possible for anyone to not like her? Natasha was gorgeous, obviously. Clever, outgoing, could make anyone laugh within minutes of her meeting them. Bucky was clearly happy with her after first getting into the relationship, and for a while, Winifred thought that she was it for her son. That was until she’d be downstairs in the living room, and the woman could hear Bucky on the phone, arguing with the girl over who knows what. Natasha began coming over less and less, and when his mother would ask him about it, Bucky would only shrug and head up to his room for the night.

When it came to them breaking up, Winifred worries for Bucky. While she was glad he’d gotten out of what was becoming an unhealthy relationship, she wasn’t blind to the toll it’d taken on him. Natasha was his first girlfriend, perhaps even his first love - the break up was going to hit him hard, which it did, and she was concerned that he’d shut himself off to anything in the future because of what happened with her.

She wasn’t going to compare you to Natasha; you were both wonderful in your own ways, and she still cared for the girl entirely despite her son being heartbroken for a little while. But after meeting you and observing how you interacted with Bucky, she just knew that you’d be sticking with him for the long run. There was no way that you could make him smile so adoringly and genuinely and not want to make him that happy for maybe the rest of your life.

Once you’d finished your cake, you thanked Winifred and offered to do the rest of the washing up in return, but judging by the longing in her son’s eyes for you two to have some alone time, the woman dismissed your offer, shaking her head as Bucky clasped your hand and began tugging you up to his bedroom.

“No funny business, you two! You hear me?” She called from the kitchen, causing Bucky to reply with a ‘course not, Ma’ and an eye roll.

Bucky’s bedroom was rather different to yours. For one, he didn’t have revision covering every inch of his walls. But it was also a lot neater, more organized. Not like a stereotypical teenage boy’ room at all. It brought you a sense of calmness in a way. When there are too many things going on at once, everything just gets foggy. The simplicity of his cream painted walls and dark brown furniture caused your lips to curl up slightly.

What caught your eye though, was the corkboard placed on the wall above his set of drawers. While it wasn’t that big, it managed to fit a pretty large collection of messily pinned photos. Some of them were recent; one of him and Natasha all dressed up before heading of to the Winter Formal, one of Sam and him wearing thick black sunglasses, posing dramatically on his then-new motorcycle, even one of him photobombing what was meant to be a cute couples photo of Steve and Peggy.

And when your eyes raked over the photographs from the summer before the start of senior year, you felt your heart clench, because the majority of them included you.

You and Bucky in the photo booth before going on every single ride at Coney Island. You and Bucky attempting to replicate one Winifred’s specialty muffin recipes in your kitchen, though failing miserably. You and Sam posing outside of the Empire Hotel when you spent the day roaming Manhattan, laughing at Bucky taking the picture as he couldn’t understand why the hotel was so important, which lead to Sam claiming that Bucky was uncultured for never watching an episode of Gossip Girl in his life.

Come to think of it, he shared an eerily strong resemblance with Carter Baizen, who you admittedly did have a bit of a crush on.

Your eyes lingered on one photo in particular, however. This one wasn’t from the summer, but from the night of your junior prom. The set up of the school gym was similar to that of the Winter Formal, but with warmer tones of lighting and decor. Wanda had yet again came through and applied your makeup to perfection, gold glitter shimmering in the light on your eyelids, contrasting to your dark lashes. Highlight glimmering on your cheekbones, your skin looking almost airbrushed. The makeup coordinated with your dress, a long, golden gown that accentuated your figure beautifully.

In the photograph, you’re looking straight ahead at the camera, smiling as if you’d never been happier. And Bucky, as cheesy as it was, only had his eyes on you. You remember the photo being taken, you remembered getting goosebumps as Bucky’s arm wrapped around your waist. But you’d never seen it, not until now.

“That’s my favourite one.” The boy suddenly spoke, eyeing the photo you’d been staring at. “Other than the one of Steve at Coney Island just before he threw up, obviously.”

“Right, obviously,” You responded, a soft smile gracing your lips. “I didn’t realize that you were looking at me, you know, when that photo was taken.”

Bucky laughed lightly, cheeks tinting pink. “I mean, I was lookin’ at you the whole night. How could I not when you looked so... wow.”

It was still a weird thought to you, that after all of this time, Bucky still had feelings for you. You thought they were long gone, fading after you stupidly rejected him last year.

He could tell something was on your mind. “What is it, sweets?”

Your eyes flickered up to his. “Just... thank you.”

“Uh, you’re welcome? For what exactly?” Bucky furrowed his brows, making you chuckle.

“For, I don’t know... staying with me. You still wanted to be my friend last year, and you still want to be with me now. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you have a bit of a crush on me.”

Scoffing, the boy elbowed your arm gently. “Christ, I thought we were havin’ a moment there.”

“Sorry, couldn’t resist.” You shrugged, smirking as you slowly wrapped your arms around his middle, your sight falling back to the prom photo that made you heart melt. “Seriously though, I...” Love you. “I’m glad I have you.”

You hoped he couldn’t feel your heart pounding against your ribs as he ran a hand through your hair, pressing a lingering kiss to the crown of your head. “Good, cause I think you’re gonna be stuck with me for a while.”

Though his tone was laced with humour, you still exhaled contently, speaking quietly against his chest. “That’s alright, Buck. More than alright.”

You wondered if he’d still be saying that if he knew you’d applied to Harvard, if he knew there was a chance of you willingly leaving him next year. He needed to know, he deserved that honesty from you. But... you loved him. You loved him and that was stopping you from telling the truth, because you didn’t want to be the one to hurt him.

Your mind was taken back to when you met Bucky at Carter’s. When he admitted his feelings for you, when you denied yours for him.

“We’re both just gonna get hurt in the end, and I care about you too much to do that to you.”

That was the reason you gave for not wanting to be with him, yet here you were, arms around his waist and your head against his chest because you could do that now; because you were with him. But maybe you should’ve listened to yourself back then, because looking forward, you couldn’t picture an ending to your final year of high school where everything was going to work out.

Perhaps it was selfish to let him get so close to you. You’d grown up with parents hadn’t ever uttered the word love around you, with ‘friends’ in middle school that didn’t know you well enough to say it in a friendly way. Wanda has said it to you a number of times, but the way she said it to Vis was different, unmatched. How could you claim to love Bucky when you didn’t even know what love was? What if you didn’t know how to love someone?

By loving him, you were only hurting him. He’d had his heart broken before, how could you possibly let him go through that a second time? If you left Brooklyn, you’d be breaking his heart all over again. If you stayed, the burden of your parent's disappointment would be weighing too heavy on your shoulders to even try to love him how he deserved.

You were right, and you wished you known it then how right you were; the two of you were only going to get hurt in the end. Maybe now, your only choice now was to enjoy what you had while it lasted.

* * *

Taglist:

@americas-ass-assins @itz-kira @broco8 @bxrnsfeyson @peterparkerbabyyy @stevieboyharrington @lovvliies @irespostthingsiwanttoseelater

[im-a-star-boy]

Harry Osborn, 13, 1, 16 for the drabble game, please and thank you~

Ah yes, it’s taken ridiculously long for me to make this, but IT’S FINALLY HERE!!! Just so you know, in this fic, being soulmates doesn’t exactly mean being in a relationship, so yeah. Here it is!

.oOo.oOo.oOo.

A loud blaring noise filled the dark, barren room, startling Harry awake. He coughed slightly, the red string tied around his finger wrapped around his throat and choking him slightly. He unwrapped himself and yawned, stretching his sore muscles out. He glanced at the clock. 5:00 flashed in bright red, blocky numbers, as the windows slowly opened to reveal the still-dark purple skyline of a New York City morning. He stood up and began making his way towards the closet, before tripping over the soft red string. He cursed loudly as he fell face-first onto the blue-grey plush rug. He rolled over and glared at the string. "You're just gonna cause all types of problems for me today, aren't you?" He muttered aloud, tugging it playfully.

He got up again and made his way to the closet, feeling drained as he opened the doors. Even when looking past tripping on the string, he could tell today was going to be a very, very long day. He pulled his pajama shirt off as he picked out a comfortable long-sleeved white shirt. He had repeats of several shirts, most of them were different fabrics, however, and he pulled it over his head. He pulled out a separate sweater, a dark blue one, and pulled on black jeans. He looked through his closet, debating on whether to wear casual tennis shoes or his dress shoes. He decided to wear the dress shoes, knowing that his father would have him switch the shoes even if he did decide to wear tennis shoes.

He pulled out his collar and strode towards the bathroom, styling his hair back as usual. He brushed his teeth and washed his face, preparing for the rest of the day. He spent a moment, admiring the red string on his finger, before turning and beginning to leave, tripping over the string again. He screeched, catching himself before he hit the ground, and struggled to his feet again. "Wow okay you're just really gonna be a bitch today, aren't you?"

He made his way out of the room, keeping the red string's trail in his gaze. He made his way to the kitchen and made himself a bowl of cereal. The penthouse was unsettlingly quiet as he ate while leaning against the counter, refusing to sit. After he finished, he rinsed out the bowl in the sink and washed it, placing it in the dishwasher, before washing his hands and gathering his-over-the-shoulder bag. He glanced at the clock and startled as he realized he only had a few minutes to get out.

He quickly grabbed a few items he needed, before making his way to the elevator and descending to the first floor to meet his driver, Bernie. He sat down, making himself comfortable as he looked through each of his folders, making sure he had everything. As he checked over his completed homework, he cringed at how difficult it was to hold the paper. He returned the paper to the folder and began searching his bag for his hand lotion. When he couldn't find it in the usual pocket, he began frantically searching through other pockets. When he couldn't it, he groaned loudly. Bernie glanced into the mirror. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

Harry shook his head. "I just forgot my hand lotion and my hands are really dry today."

"Do you want me to turn around?"

"No, it's not the end of the world." He replied, shaking his head.

After a moment, Bernie nodded. He continued the long, tedious drive to Midtown, and when he pulled up, Harry had to convince himself to leave the car and begin the day. After a few moments, he pulled himself out of the car, closing the door. He let out a long sigh as he approached the gates to hell. Oh, my bad, school. He could feel people's prolonged gazes on him as he stepped down the halls, mentally preparing himself for the day.

The first periods passed without a hitch, they were long though. Too long for Harry's enjoyment. As lunch rolled around, he was quick to make his way out of the school to Joe's.

As he strolled down the street, he heard a loud curse from somewhere behind him, before feeling his foot catch on the red string. He screamed as he fell face-first for the third time that day. He quickly rolled over, untying himself, before feeling it tug. He glanced up to see an unfamiliar boy doing something similar, sitting down on the ground and untying a red string from around his legs. He felt his breath hitch as he tugged it lightly. The boy stopped and looked up and the two met each others' eyes for a moment.

Harry felt his heart skip a beat as the boys' shining green eyes met his blue-grey ones. The boy seemed to have the same realization as him as he looked down at the string, then at him again, before gasping loudly. "SOULMATE?!" He shrieked.

Harry laughed ridiculously. "UM?! HI?" He choked out through his laughter.

The boy was quick to untangle himself before quickly standing up and assisting Harry to his feet. "I- uh, hello? My name... I'm Peter?" He managed to say.

Harry rubbed the back of his neck, feeling his face flush. "Uh- yes, hello, I-I'm, my name is Harry." He stuttered out.

The two stood there for a moment, not entirely sure what to do. Finally, Harry took a breath. "Uh, I'm on lunch break, wanna umm... wanna go with me? To Joe's?" He offered.

His soulmate, Peter, swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, uh yeah okay. L-lead the way."

Harry motioned him to follow and began towards Joe's, thankful that the small coffee shop was close by. After a long, silent walk, the two arrived at the lounge. He held the door for Peter, smiling awkwardly. Peter nodded and thanked him, before closing the door behind them. He watched Peter approach the barstools and slide onto the one nearest the door. Harry stopped beside him. "Wh-what drink do you want? And what do you want to eat?" He asked.

Peter smiled awkwardly. "What do they serve?"

Harry pointed to the menu above the cash register. Peter facepalmed lightly. "Of course they have a menu- I'm sorry, I'm not usually this stupid..." He trailed off.

Harry felt a pang in his chest. "Hey, no it's not stupidity, you've never been here before." He mumbled, still unsure how to respond to everything.

Another awkward silence overcame them as Peter glanced at the menu. "I-I'll umm... I'll just get a sandwich, chicken, and mayo I guess..."

Harry nodded. "What do you want to drink?"

Peter hummed. "Soda I guess."

In an effort to shake the awkward silence, Harry grinned. "Milkshake it is."

Peter turned to him, his eyes flashing with curiosity. "They have milkshakes?"

Before Harry could finish nodding, Peter continued. "What kind? Do they have strawberry?"

Harry laughed. "I'll go get you one, I'll be right back."

Peter nodded eagerly as Harry approached the counter. He waited for a moment before Joe appeared around the corner. "Hey, Osborn. What's up, you look flustered."

He rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "I found my soulmate and I brought him here, and things got really awkward, but I think I managed to break the ice." He replied.

Joe slapped his shoulder affectionately. "Congrats kid, God knows you've been lookin' for him."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, thanks. Okay, so I'm buying lunch for us. I'll get a strawberry and blueberry milkshake, a chicken and mayo sandwich, a burger, and a boat of fries please."

Joe nodded. "I'll have it out in five, cash or credit?"

"Cash," Harry replied, pulling out his wallet and handing over a 20.

Joe nodded, putting it in the register and pulling out $2.23 in change, handing it back over.

"Thanks, Joe."

"Go on, I got more customers." He snapped playfully.

Harry chuckled and quickly returned to Peter's side. "He'll bring out the food in a second." He said, sliding into a seat beside Peter.

The brunet jumped slightly, before looking up and nodding. "Alright, this is a nice place. How'd you find it?"

Harry shrugged. "School food sucked and I couldn't be bothered to pack a lunch, so I looked for a place nearby and voilà, here I am." He replied cheerfully, motioning to the building around. "It's a great place to calm down at, I come here to study a lot."

Peter nodded curiously. "Well, maybe I should join you. What're you studying?"

"A few different things mostly notes for class and finishing homework. What about you?"

Peter shrugged. "I'm ahead of most of my class so I've kinda just gone along with it until I get to something I don't understand. I mostly just have trouble with my other language classes."

Harry straightened. "Maybe I can help?" He offered.

Peter flushed for a moment, before nodding with a smile. "Sure, it gets boring sometimes."

Harry laughed, the last of his tension fading away. "You can say that again."

Peter smirked. "It gets boring sometimes."

Joe delivered their food before Harry could reply. Peter thanked him and sipped the milkshake excitedly. As he sipped, his face lit up and he pulled away, looking at the cup. "Oh my god, this is amazing." He moaned, before taking another long sip.

Harry laughed. "As I said, the milkshakes here are absolute heaven."

He took a moment to admire Peter's figure. He was slim, attractive, and somehow, he hadn't recognized him. He silently wondered how long he could keep up the facade of being a normal teenage boy, and not the son of the ever famous billionaire, Norman Osborn. He shook his head clear of the thought, before smiling and beginning to eat. He nudged the fries towards Peter, who had begun to dig into his sandwich eagerly. "You can have the fries." He said.

Peter looked up and took a fry, dropping it into his mouth. "You're getting some too, right?"

Harry hummed, swallowing a mouthful of cheeseburger. "Maybe, depends if I'm still hungry after I finish this."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'm not gonna eat them if you aren't."

Harry stopped and stared at him, before taking a fry and eating it quietly. "There, I ate one, now you can have the rest."

Peter rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we'll see about that."

The two finished eating, occasionally trading playful banter and small talk. In the time he managed to learn that Peter's name was Peter Parker, his favorite color was red, he was 13, his age, and he was, almost alarmingly smart. His intellect definitely rivaled Harry's and he wasn't quite sure how to feel about it. He's so used to being the smartest one in the room, and now he wasn't, and it was almost thrilling. He felt vibrations go off in his back pocket and he pulled out his phone, cursing softly. "I gotta go, class is starting soon for me."

Peter looked up, looking at the clock on the wall, before nodding. "Same here, we came from the same direction, right? Let's walk together." He offered, throwing the trash into the trash bin.

Harry nodded mutely, doing the same, and following Peter out of the comfortable building. The two walked side by side towards where they had first met, tripping over their strings. Harry laughed softly when they continued going in the same direction. "Where do you go to school?"

"Midtown High,"

He nearly dropped his half-finished milkshake as he sputtered and coughed. Peter glanced up at him. "Are you okay?"

"Oh my God! I go to Midtown too!"

Peter came to a stop. "What?! We've been going to the same school and we've never met?!" He cried out in alarm. "How?!"

"Okay, wait wait wait, okay..." Harry trailed off for a moment, before bursting into laughter. "Well this changes things, we should hang out after school."

Peter hesitated, before nodding. "Y-yeah, that sounds great!"

Harry nodded. "Okay, where do you wanna go?"

Peter hummed for a moment. "I know this little skate park that's usually empty that we can go to, do you know how to skate?"

Harry shook his head. "No,"

Peter grinned. "Looks like I'll have to teach you then, come on, let's get to class. Don't wanna be late." Harry flushed and nodded, a small smile crossing

The walk was quiet and uneventful as they arrived at Midtown High. The two cast each other small glances as the passed through the busying hallways quietly, before reaching a turn. The two stopped and looked at each other, as Peter laughed softly. "I'll, uhh... I'll see you later, I guess, meet me by the statue out front?"

Harry nodded. "I'll see you then, Peter." Harry agreed, a smile crossing his face.

.oOo.oOo.oOo.

3 Years Later

.oOo.oOo.oOo.

Harry stared at the window quietly. The lotion he used to use constantly remained where it had been the day he had forgotten to bring it to school, the day he had met Peter.

It's been a long year, what with everything that's happened, and horrifying memories remain ever-present in his mind. Especially with learning that the red-and-blue clad vigilante that performed epic stunts and deadly heroism was his small soulmate. He still remembered it like it was yesterday, the Horizon High scholarship program, the one he desperately wanted Peter to take part in so they could continue schooling together, the one that was crashed by the Vulture. He can still remember his exact thought process when had Peter disappeared and when Spider-Man had taken the stage, the crimson string still wrapped around his hand, leading straight to Harry. Initially, Harry had thought that he had two soulmates. There was absolutely no way that this stunt-performing beetleboy was his glasses-wearing asthmatic soulmate.

But only one string remained on his hand, and it led to him.

The argument that had ensued had resulted in a less-than-pleasant separation of the two, one that they had long gotten over at this point, but tension still remained between them. Tension that was finally beginning to drift.

Harry sat on the barstool, sipping his blueberry milkshake quietly, the strawberry milkshake sitting beside him, still full. Peter had arrived and nearly sprinted into the bathroom before Harry could even greet him. He watched the bathroom door in amusement, and after a few moments, Peter emerged, looking thoroughly relieved. He scanned the room for a brief moment, before locking eyes with Harry, his face lighting up happily as he began a quick stride to the seat. He slid up beside Harry, a smile on his face. "Hey, Harry."

"Hey, Pete, you're late, again." He teased.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Blame the bus, they were late and made me miss my train so I had to jog to the next stop to catch the next one."

Harry snorted. "You ran a mile and beat the train to its next stop?" He questioned.

Peter nodded enthusiastically, causing Harry to chuckle lightly. "Okay then, well I got you your usual milkshake." He said, motioning to the glass.

He eagerly sipped the drink. "So, what's up? Usually, we wait until after school to hang out," Peter hummed curiously.

Harry felt his heart rate immediately spike. He had called Peter because he was planning on confessing his feelings to him. However, now he was having second thoughts. His face was bright red as he attempted to gather his thoughts. He swallowed thickly before taking a deep breath. "U-umm... I just wanted to..."

Peter seemed to notice his discomfort as he set down his milkshake. "Are you okay, Harry?" He asked worriedly.

Harry felt his face darken as he immediately looked away, his heart pounding heavily in his chest. "I-I- umm- I was wondering..." He trailed off as he tried to figure out how to ask Peter.

Finally, he set down his drink and grabbed Peter's hand, suddenly feeling self-conscious about how dry his hands were. "I- uh, I'm sorry, my hands are really dry..." He murmured, pulling his hands away quickly.

Peter reached out and grabbed them. "No, it's okay, what's wrong?" He asked softly, squeezing both of Harry's hands lightly.

Harry looked to his lap, suddenly feeling his chest swell. "I wanted to- I was hoping- do you...  want to- you know... maybe go on a date with me.?" He finally managed out, becoming very quiet at the end.

His silence didn't do much, as Peter's enhanced hearing picked up on it easily. His face turned bright red suddenly and his breath hitched as he released his hands. Harry squeezed his eyes shut. "I-I'm sorry- I shouldn't have-" He began.

Before he could finish, he felt two cold hands grab his cheeks, forcing his head up, then a pair of lips pressed against his. He felt his heart rate suddenly spike as he opened his eyes in alarm, seeing Peter's face close to his. After a few moments, he began kissing back, feeling his entire body practically melt as he rested his hands on Peter's sides. After a long minute, Peter pulled away, taking deep breaths, meeting Harry's flushed expression. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to ask that."

Harry felt a sense of relief overcome him. "You have no idea I've been waiting for me to ask that..." He chuckled lightly. "So, do you want to go on a date?"

Peter shook his head as he laughed. "Was I not clear? Of course, Harry."

Harry leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to Peter's lips again. He could get used to this.

[mcheang]

Pre-Chat Blanc dates - ice cream

This is my third and possibly last fic of the series. I plan to write other Chat Blanc fics before I decide if I want to do a premiere date

They were finally going to Andre’s ice cream cart together.

After seeing the ice cream cone André had given him, Adrien was convinced that the rumors about the ice cream being magical were true. And he really, really wanted to go there with his princess/lady.

Granted he could have gone with her before but then he had to be an idiot and decide to stand up Ladybug’s civilian form to woo Ladybug, who showed up very late, and after a giant ice cream man targeted her civilian form.

But that was the past. This was the now.

Adrien and Marinette were just walking through the park, enjoying the late afternoon breeze and just being in the present.

Adrien had planned this date very carefully. He had taken a lot of secret cooking classes from Alya but the results had been worth it. All that was left to do was to build the romantic mood, which shouldn’t be too hard.

He squeezed Marinette’s hand, “Why don’t we walk over to Pont des Arts? We can watch the sunset from there before we head over to dinner.”

Marinette smiled, her cheeks turning rosy. “That sounds wonderful. But I really wish you would tell me where we’re eating. The suspense has been killing me.” More like her imagination went into overdrive and she had panicked over her wardrobe choice and lunch menu.

Adrien let a sly smile slip onto his face, a smile that belonged to Chat. “I’ll never tell,” he purred.

Marinette rolled her eyes and tugged his hand forward. “Well, come on, if you want to make it to the bridge before sunset, you’d better hurry.”

“Me! I’m not the one who keeps tripping over when running.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve never seen you complain before.” Especially when those trips usually landed her in his arms and was followed by a snuggling embrace.

“Touché.”

They ran to the bridge. And yes, Marinette tripped a couple of times but Adrien’s hand kept her steady and they just raced, adrenaline in their system and wild smiles on their faces.

Ignoring their destination for the moment, they were just two teenagers crazy in love and right now racing through Paris hand in hand.

Marinette came to a stop first, her mouth open in surprise.

Standing at the foot of the bridge was André, humming his tune as he looked at the approaching sunset.

Marinette turned to Adrien, who looked so proud of himself. “You planned this, didn’t you?”

Adrien shrugged modestly. “I can’t take all the credit. I had Markov calculate the day when Andre would be here. This is one of his preferred spots to sell ice cream.”

“Impressive, my prince. But I do hope your royal highness doesn’t plan on ice cream being our dinner.”

“Much as I would love to eat nothing but dessert for dinner, no, my princess.”

The couple walked over to Andre who beamed at the sight of them, especially the once heartbroken Marinette.

“Ah, Marinette, so good to see you. And you’ve brought along someone to eat with, too. Young Adrien! I’m happy to see you out and about again. The last time I saw you, you were posing in the rain. No time for ice cream then, but time is now or else when!”

Adrien and Marinette smiled. Marinette cuddled closer to Adrien, linking their arms at the elbows now. “Yes, Andre. What do you have for us?”

Andre almost squealed at the sight. “Let me see. I believe peppermint and blackberry should do the trick. An explosive mix, that’s a fact. But sometimes it’s the opposites that attract.”

Adrien’s beam was so wide, but can you blame him. Of course Marinette and him were opposites. Not just because they come from different backgrounds and had different interests, but because she was Ladybug, a creative planner, and he was Chat Noir, a destructive fighter.

“Thank you, Andre,” they chimed in unison before smiling softly at each other.

Adrien took the ice cream and led the way to a bench. The timing was perfect. The sun had started to set.

Adrien took a first scoop of the ice cream with his spoon and offered it to Marinette. “Princesses eat first.”

Marinette giggled and took a bite. “Mmm....fruity but cooling. I mean! How else would you describe peppermint?”

Adrien chuckled and took another spoonful to try for himself. He hummed pleasantly to himself as the flavours melted over his tongue. “How about refreshing? But that can be applied for the whole cone.”

“Did you know I once asked Andre to make me a Banana Noir cone?”

Adrien’s eyebrows rose delightedly. He had to hear this. “Really?”

Marinette’s cheeks flushed once more. There was a golden tint there too, thanks to the sunset. “Yup. Remember when my dad got akumatized?”

Yeah, he would never forget the beating of a lifetime. “I am sorry about that.”

Marinette shook her head. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault, not even Chat Noir’s. I shouldn’t have overreacted. But that’s not the point. Do you also remember when Chat Noir went around Paris in a banana suit on a scooter?”

Adrien winced. He really needed to buy a biker suit and helmet. “I doubt anyone would forget that news.”

Marinette looked up, “Well, it made me realize that even though I had gotten over Chat Noir, he was still my favourite superhero of Paris.” Adrien puffed out his chest at that statement. “So I asked Andre to give me a specific flavour combination. Dark chocolate and mint, with banana slices for eyes and biscuits for ears.”

Adrien really wanted to try that combo now, but that will have to wait. He promised himself to come back here next week. “Sounds amazing,” he smiled. “Speaking of superhero crushes, did I ever tell you I once had a superhero crush on Ladybug.”

Marinette choked on her ice cream. Adrien had a crush on her? Well, Ladybug, who was also her! “You did?”

“Yeah,” Adrien stared into the horizon. “Andre gave me a scoop of strawberry ice cream and chocolate chips.”

Marinette’s face was redder than that.

“But you know what?” Adrien turned to face her, emerald eyes glimmering. “I think I have a type.”

“Oh,” Marinette gasped.

“Yup. For girls with blackberry hair and blueberry eyes, girls who always help others. You don’t need to be a superhero, princess. I never liked Ladybug for her powers, I liked her for her bravery and intelligence. And that’s why I like you, too. But it’s more than that because I know you.” In more ways than one.

Marinette smiled, but her cheeks were still red. “I guess I must have a type too. For blond boys with mint eyes and peach lips. Boys who show me their sensitive side. That’s why I fell for you, you know. That day in the rain, you offered me your umbrella even after I had accused you. That’s when I fell.”

Adrien gave Marinette the soft look he reserved only for her. Then putting down the ice cream cone, he leaned forward and kissed her softly. Her mouth tasted of blackberry and peppermint, and the usual sugary taste of Marinette’s lips.

Eventually, Adrien pulled back. Marinette gave him such a smouldering look, he wanted to kiss her again, but time was short. There would be time for kissing later. He hoped.

So Adrien lifted the cone up again with Marinette’s help and they continued eating the ice cream. They never even looked at the sunset. They just kept their eyes on each other, both in a golden aura from the setting sun, and murmuring trivialities together.

Eventually the ice cream was finished and Adrien ate the whole cone. Marinette gave him a weird look for it. He thought it was because it was so unlike the polite model to eat so greedily. Actually, it was because he ate so much like Chat Noir that Marinette felt suspicious for a moment before she remembered Gorizilla and relaxed.

“So, do I finally know where we are eating for dinner?”

Adrien brought out a blindfold. “Do you trust me?”

Marinette’s eyes twinkled. “Always,” she murmured, putting the blindfold on.

Adrien held her hand and led her gently over to the opposite end of the bridge where the trishaw was waiting.

The driver winked at Adrien as he helped Marinette get on board, then he started cycling, leading them back to the park.

Marinette did wish she could open her eyes to see the sights, but holding Adrien’s hand felt nice too. She probably would have spent the whole ride looking at Adrien anyway. Alya complained that since they started dating, they barely noticed their surroundings anymore because they were too busy staring at each other and cuddling.

When the trishaw stopped, Marinette was carefully led down and Adrien continued to be her gentle, constant guide.

When they stopped, Adrien placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her. Then he removed the blindfold and Marinette gasped.

It was a candlelight picnic. How romantic!

Marinette was so absorbed by the sight that she failed to notice Nino and Alya heading towards the trishaw themselves. Nino gave them a thumbs up and Alya winked. Adrien mouthed “Merci,” to them before turning his attention back to Marinette.

“This is incredible. Did you make all of this?” Marinette asked, finally noticing the spaghetti plates.

Adrien rubbed his neck and said humbly, “I owe it all to Alya and Nino really. Alya taught me how to cook spaghetti and Nino was willing to be my taste tester.”

“Well, I can’t wait to taste this.” Marinette kneeled down and held out her hand for Adrien to join her.

Adrien’s breath caught. In the candlelight, his princess asking him to sit down with her to a romantic dinner...yes, it was his plan, but it still felt like a dream come true.

He sat down.

Marinette took the first bite again and Adrien waited apprehensively for her verdict.

Marinette’s face lit up. “This is the best spaghetti I have ever had.” Sorry, dad.

Adrien looked relieved and elated. He joined her at last, both enjoying his cooking. Adrien kind of regretted he never put their spaghetti on one plate so they could share a Lady and the Tramp moment, but Alya and Nino put their foot down at the cheesiness of it all.

“So what’s for dessert? Have you been taking lessons from my dad without my knowing?”

Adrien smile was bashful. While he had helped at the bakery sometimes, he never really learned the recipes. “Sorry. But I thought we could have a non-baked dessert since we both know I can’t outbake your parents.”

“Smart boy.” Adrien wanted to preen so badly, but he digressed.

Dessert came out of the picnic basket in the form of bowls of fruit salad.

Marinette laughed. “How could I forget? My prince has an addiction to fruits.”

“Well, who likes vegetables?”

“Hamsters!”

They both smiled. It was a common thing to bring up. Their dreams combining so that when they pictured their future together, they would be living in a beach house with children of their own, eating fruits every day, and feeding the family hamster.

When Adrien brought Marinette home, her parents hiding behind the door, she told Adrien with such a soft smile and glimmering eyes that “Today was perfect, my prince.”

And she kissed him again.

Adrien melted against her. But their kiss was cut short when Tom coughed behind the door and then yelped when his Wife jabbed him in the ribs.

Marinette turned to look at her parents in exasperation and mortification. She turned back to Adrien and smiled, “See you tomorrow.”

Adrien bowed, “I can’t wait, Princess. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

Marinette started to head inside, but then she ran back to Adrien and gave him one last peck. “See you,” she giggled then ran back inside.

Adrien stood there with his silly grin before he realized the Gorilla was waiting. As he entered the car, Adrien ignored the Gorilla’s amused stare and just sighed dreamily into space.

Life was perfect right now. Past mistakes could be forgotten. The future was not worried over. Right now, the cat and the ladybug were winning against the butterfly. Right now, the prince and princess had the best date ever. And the next one would be just as good, Adrien knew it.

[sprnklersplashes]

not beyond repair (18/20)

AO3

“So my mom made a proposal,” Veronica announces. She’s leaning against JD’s chest, the two of them half-lying on the grass outside their school and their hands joined and his arm around her shoulders. His cheek rubs against her hair gently, and her thumb strokes the back of his hand. The weather is as close to perfect as Sherwood, Ohio ever gets; the sky is as blue as the blazer she’s sitting on and the grass is so perfect it looks like it’s out of a cartoon. There’s a warm buzz in the air that’s practically tangible, weaving its way into Westerberg High life and turning what were sad-eyed, sullen and slow walking teenagers into bouncing, giggling little messes. The sweetness of summer and freedom is so close they can almost touch it, and for the seniors, that means graduation is closer than ever, something they wouldn’t be able to forget even without the constant announcements of caps and gowns, extra credits and practice ceremonies.

Veronica’s still not sure how she feels about it.

“What?” Martha asks, Heather’s head in her lap and her fingers running through the other girl’s hair.

“It’s this graduation party at my house,” she explains. “My parents had it planned for months and it was just going to be my family.” Martha nods, having already known about it. It would go without saying that family includes her. “But my mom asked last night if you guys wanted to come.” She nudges JD gently in the ribs and nods over at Macnamara, pulling some blades of grass out of the ground. “And your parents can come too if they want. What do you say?”

“I say ‘hell yeah’!” Heather squeaks apparently rejuvenated after being half asleep for most of their lunch hour. “I mean, I don’t know for sure if my parents can come, but I’m definitely going.” Martha kisses her finger and taps Heather’s nose with it, making her scrunch up her face in a way that makes Veronica want to reach over and squish her cheeks. It’s getting harder and harder to make the connection between Heather Macnamara-head-cheerleader-whose-dad-is-loaded-and-who-would-ace-blackmail-if-it-were-a-class and Heather Macnamara-her-best-friend’s-girlfriend-who-doodles-flowers-in-notebooks-and-helps-colour-code-her-flashcards. Back in the day, Heather was definitely the one of the group she got along the most with and was the closest to what she would call a real friend, but even then it felt like there was a sheet of plastic between the two of them and stopping any real bonding. But now, Veronica’s squeezing her hand and shooting little finger guns at her like they’ve been doing it all their lives.

“J?” she asks, pulling his hand into his lap to play with his fingers. “Are you in?”

“Of course I’m in,” he replies, kissing the top of her head and hugging her tighter. The corners of her mouth turn up as he nuzzles into her. “I wouldn’t miss it.” She hums contentedly and continues idly playing with his hand. “So your entire family?”

“More or less,” she sighs. “Perks of being an only child, your parents decide to put all the effort into you.” She squeezes his hand and leans back into his embrace. “That’s why I need you guys there. So I don’t go insane with my extended family.”

“And there I was thinking you actually liked our company,” JD jokes.

“Eh, you’re okay,” she answers teasingly before tilting her head back and planting a kiss on his jaw. She checks the time with a pained groan, bumping her head against JD’s chest before wriggling out of his hold, which isn’t easy considering how he’s tangled himself around her. “Come on. I still have to go to my locker.”

“Me too,” Martha agrees, gently shaking Heather awake. The other girl pouts as she follows Martha to her feet, even if it lessens a little when Martha presses a whispered kiss to her cheek. She rests her cheek on her shoulder as they walk back into school, their bodies pressed close together and their hands clasped. If anyone notices, they think nothing of it.

Inside, kids are sitting on window ledges or cross legged against the walls, jackets off and the freshman girls with their sleeves rolled up to compare tans. It’s Ohio, after all, the first spot of sunshine does insane things to one’s mind. Especially since the weatherman and the growing clouds promise it won’t last.

“Oh, nice,” Veronica sighs, coming to her locker. Someone from prom committee stuck a flyer on it, reminding them of the upcoming event. At least it’s a poster and not an insult, she tells herself as she opens her locker and starts exchanging books.

“Well that’s one way to show school spirit,” JD remarks, taking the flyer off the door and examining it. “If a little tacky.”

“You think prom is tacky?” Veronica asks, ducking her head so he won’t see her face fall.

“Not prom,” he replies. “The amount of glitter on this poster.” She brightens at that, her calm restoring as she closes the locker and takes his hand to pull his arm around her. “I guess the freshman art club lent a hand.”

“Oh, that reminds me, Martha what colour’s your dress going to be?” Heather asks, swinging their hands together. “Because I don’t want us to clash, but I’ve already got my eye on a few.”

“Oh… I don’t know,” Martha replies, scratching behind her ear. “I guess I haven’t looked at any yet. But you should wear what you want.”

“But since you’re my date, I don’t want to wear the same colour as you,” she sighs, her chin leaning on her fist and her mouth screwed the way it normally is when she’s thinking hard.

“Well, why don’t you show me what you’re choosing from when I’m at your house on Friday,” she suggests, rolling her eyes just enough for Veronica alone to notice. “That way I cane make sure I don’t clash with you.”

“Okay!” she beams, her worries flying out of her head. She shares a gentle smile with Martha and their hands brush against each other’s.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Martha says, turning to JD and Veronica as they come to the bottom of the stairs.

“See you later kids,” Veronica replies.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” JD adds, earning him another poke in the chest from Veronica. It can’t have been more than slight pressure, but he lets out a squeak and rubs his ribcage with a pout.

“I should fear for my safety around you and your elbows,” he remarks, twirling her under his arm as they start in the direction of their class. He swings their joined hands slowly, a slight frown on his face. “So… about the prom… do I need to know what colour your dress is? Or am I not allowed to know anything about it until the big night?”

“I think you’re confusing it with a wedding, J,” she says. “I guess not. Why would you need to know?”

“Well if you’re my date, don’t I need to buy you a matching corsage?”

“You don’t have to.”

“Okay, let me try this,” he begins. “Since you are my wonderful girlfriend, who I love and to whom I want to give the most amazing prom experience she could ever wish for, shouldn’t I need to buy you a corsage?”

“You’re sweet,” she giggles. Sweet is an understatement really. “You don’t need to.” She looks up just in time to see his smile faltering, so slight and changed so suddenly anyone who didn’t know him like she did would think they imagined it. So she squeezes his hand, losing this battle with no qualms. “But if you want to… I might go with something blue.” She tugs on her blazer. “My lucky colour, I guess.”

“You always look beautiful in blue,” he tells her warmly. She leans her pink cheek against his shoulder, slightly conscious of the eyes of passers-by, even though Fleming isn’t around and hardly anyone from their grade is either.

“I didn’t think you were into prom,” she remarks.

“You didn’t?”

“Just, you never mentioned it,” she replies, slightly regretting it now, even if his amused grin should put her at ease. “We never talked about it.”

“I just…” He trails off and after a moment’s hesitation, pulls her over to the window ledge, sitting up with one leg curled underneath him. He takes her hand as she sits beside him, running his thumb over her knuckles and his face creased in gentle confusion. “I just assumed we were going together.”

“Yeah,” she says, shaking her head. “It’s stupid.”

“Ronnie-”

“Well, I just don’t really know how all this works,” she says. “Even now. You’re my first boyfriend and this is my first time going to a dance with a boyfriend.” She shrugs, toying with the chain of her necklace. “My only reference is romance movies and I don’t think they’re entirely realistic.”

“Aw.” He tickles her cheek and under her chin, making squirm and swipe her hands at him.

“Don’t aww me,” she tells him, shaking her head fondly.

“So… were you expecting me to ask you to prom?” he asks with a grin.

“A bit redundant now.”

“Not the question.” She rolls her eyes, looking over at him. Her JD, his hair pushed back, his eyes sparkling as he waits for her to answer. He almost looks excited, her dork of a boyfriend asking permission to ask her to prom.

It’s moments like this that remind her what being in love is.

“Yes, then.” Although she begins to regret her decision, when he gets up, swirling around in a grand fashion and making the sophomore girls across the hall from them look up from the homework they’re working on last minute.

“J-”

“Sh,” he commands, holding his hand up. She leans back against the window, laughter breaking through her falsely unamused exterior. JD clears his throats and takes in a deep breath, beginning with a straight back and a facial expression to rival Mr Darcy. “Miss Veronica Sawyer. Since the day I laid eyes on you in seventh grade, I knew you were the one for me. You captivated me with your mismatched scarf and your jean jacket, and I knew I wanted to stare into your… into the endless pools of your eyes forever.” She buries her face in her hands, her face red from embarrassment and from holding back her laughter. “And now that we have found each other again, I must ask you a most serious question.”

“Okay what are you and Claire watching?” she asks him between laughs, shaking her head fondly.

When he gets down on one knee, she loses control entirely, barely managing to prop herself up on her elbow all while looking at his completely too serious expression.

“Veronica Sawyer, will you be my date to the prom?” he asks with shining eyes, struggling to keep himself composed as well.

“Oh my God.” She buries her face in her hand, trying to catch her breath and pull herself upright. Every time she’s close to it, she falls again as her cackle continues to echo down the hall. There’s an ache in her chest and God does she love it. “You’re such a dick.”

“I might be a dick, but I’m a dick who is on my knee here,” he reminds her. “And this position is not comfortable, so…”

“Yes,” she interrupts, taking his hand and pulling him up. “Yes, I will go to prom with you.” He pulls her up against him, rubbing their noses together. Her toes tingle as she curls her fingers into his jacket, giggling against him. “You’re such a loser.”

“Oh really?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. She presses her finger lightly against the dimple in his cheek.

“Yep,” she replies, running her fingers through his hair. “Big, dumb, sappy romantic loser.” She presses a short and sweet kiss to his lips. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t stop smiling, nor could she chase away that giddy warmth in her chest. “That I am very lucky to have.”

                                                                                               *****

Veronica has thought about her dream prom dress more times than she would care to admit. Less now, of course, but in her preteen and early high school days, most of her daydreams involved finding her perfect dress, having her hair done and coming down the stairs looking like a princess, preferably with a wide-eyed boy at the bottom of the stairs. That fantasy was discarded as she grew older and wiser and her classmates became beasts that even she couldn’t ignore. But for a year or two, the idea of her perfect prom had kept her young imagination entertained and active for hours.

So when she walks into the dress store for the first time, she doesn’t mind the flurry of excitement in her chest. She almost feels like her twelve year old self is beside her, holding her hand and jumping up and down as they enter. With its spotless white carpet, sky-blue walls and the silver lights twisted into intricate and enchanting patterns, her own little hometown seems a world away.  

“So Heather said she’s either going to wear yellow or white,” Martha says, running her hand along the rack of dresses, pulling at the ones that catch her eye. “So I can’t wear anything that clashes with that.”

“I’ll place bets on her wearing yellow.” Veronica pulls one off the rack, pale pink and thin straps, the top covered in tiny flowers. Holding it up, the lights shine through the net skirt and the flower petals impossibly soft between her fingers.

“That’s pretty.”

“Yeah, it is. Go try it on.” She takes it off the rack and presses it into her best friend’s arms, chuckling somewhat proudly at the confused expression on her face.

“You’re not getting it?” she asks.

“Nope,” she replies, shaking her head. “Pink doesn’t really work for me. Works for you though.” She winks, pulling her into the changing rooms and falls back into one of the white wicker chairs, her long legs dangling over the edge. “Now go. Be pretty.”

She does look pretty in that dress, even as she crosses her arms over her chest and pulls herself inwards, her eyes wide and anxious and silently pleading as she looks over at Veronica.

There’s a strange mixture of anger and compassion in Veronica’s heart. She thought that at this point, maybe she’d gotten over it, but she still finds herself clenching her fist when she’s reminded of how Martha views herself, and who exactly is responsible for it.

And then there’s guilt. A little punch of guilt that comes in, right in the middle of everything. The price of popularity, however temporary, she thinks.

“You look amazing,” she tells her, standing up and taking her hands. Sincerity creeps into Martha’s smile and hope into her eyes as Veronica admires her on her own before twirling her around to face her reflection in the full length mirror. The Veronica in the mirror rests her chin on her Martha’s shoulder, her arms coming around her waist and squeezing tightly. “So…”

“I…” Martha toys with the straps, shifting nervously on her feet. “I don’t know.” She runs her hand down the skirt with a shrug and squeezes her waist. “I mean, it’s pretty. I just don’t know if it’s for me.”

“Okay.” She takes hold of Martha’s hand. She looks stunning in it, but she doesn’t want to press. If it’s not for her, it’s not for her, she reasons. “There’s still a shot load of dresses out there to choose from.”

“For you too,” Martha reminds her with a poke in the chest. “You’re not getting out of this.”

“Wouldn’t ever dream of it,” she replies, giggling, the twelve year old taking over with almost no resistance from her. She follows Martha out of the changing room with bouncy little steps and a light tingle in her chest. Her cheeks start to hurt as she tries to school her features and give a calm front in front of the other patrons, but by the time Martha starts lifting dresses and raising her eyebrows suggestively at her, they can think she’s mad for all she cares. Together, they twirl around and get lost in the world of glittering skirts and spaghetti straps, playing at being princesses in the mirror and matching dresses to shoes to bags. If she closed her eyes, Veronica might be able to think she was back in her bedroom, adjusting a tiara on Martha’s head and tripping over a too-long skirt.

“Hey, this would look really good on you,” Martha suggests, lifting a dark blue one off the rack and holding it up against her, tilting Veronica’s chin up to get a better look of it. “Are you going to wear that necklace to prom?”

“What, this one?” she asks, touching the ever-present butterfly at the case of her throat. “I… don’t know. Maybe. I never really thought about it. Sometimes I sort of forget I even have it on.”

“You should,” Martha tells her. “It’s pretty. And it would look really pretty with this dress.”

“You know, I sort of feel like you’re pushing me in the direction of this dress,” she remarks, taking it off her. It is lovely, a shade or two darker than her necklace and silver sequins clustered around the waist. She finds that the more she looks at it, the more she likes it, with minute details calling out to her, one being the impossibly soft material of the skirt beneath her fingers and the pattern weaved by the little diamonds along the single strap.

In fact, she’s so busy being captivated by it that she doesn’t even register the bell ringing as the door opens, nor does she pick up on the new customers until she catches a flash of a red blazer approaching her.

Yet strangely, she doesn’t crumple in on herself the way she used to, nor is she overcome by a desire to impress. She definitely doesn’t look at them with a wistful awe like she did in her pre-Heathers days. Instead, she merely smiles in Heather’s direction, even as Martha stiffens a little beside her.

“Are you… getting that?” Chandler asks. It’s only when Veronica looks up she sees Duke behind her, holding plastic-covered dress close to her chest, her lips rolled into a thin line and her eyes trained on the floor. She’s seen Duke looking like that before, in the privacy of a bathroom cubicle, where she thinks Veronica can’t see her.

“Yeah… probably,” she answers, looking down at it again. She reaches out and taps the back of Martha’s hand gently, brushing her fingers against hers.

“Well…” Here we go. “You should. It’s pretty.”

Wait, what?

When she looks up again, she doesn’t find the poison-laced smile and raised eyebrows she’s come to associate with compliments from Heather Chandler. Instead, she offers an offhand shrug, her face halfway to a smile. A real one too, even if it look false on her face.

“Thanks,” Veronica says. Heather nods, drumming her fingertips on her arms. Behind her, Duke takes a deep breath, her face softer than Veronica’s ever seen it, before tugging on Chandler’s elbow.

“Mac isn’t with you?” Duke asks just as they’re turning to leave. It comes out so quickly and haphazardly that it all sounds like one word and Veronica takes a moment to sort through and separate it into something coherent. Even Chandler seems surprised at what she said.

“She didn’t want to see what I was wearing,” Martha answers. “She wants to be surprised.”

“Oh,” is all she says, nodding quickly and holding her own dress tighter.

Thankfully, they take the tight, tense air with them as they leave, their heels hitting the floor in a confident rhythm that doesn’t match their fidgeting fingers and unsure faces.

“Are you okay?” Veronica asks, noticing Martha’s eyes following the two of them out the door.

“Yeah,” she says, turning back to the rack with an unfamiliar determination and picking one off, one she had hastily dismissed mere minutes earlier with a wistful look down at herself. Now she holds it up in front of her, taking in a long, deep breath, her jaw set. “I’m going to try this one on.”

“Really?” she asks, breaking into a smile. Martha nods, a spark in her eye that Veronica hadn’t realised she had missed until now. “Good.”

She’s just pulled the single strap of the dress over her shoulder when Martha knocks on the door, quick and apprehensive and tinged with impatience. Despite the door between them, she can almost see her beaming smile and wringing hands, see her biting her lip like she’s trying to hold herself together.

“Come on. I don’t want to look in the mirror without you.”

“Okay, I’m coming,” she laughs, shaking her head a little and running her hand down the skirt. From her perspective, it’s pretty perfect, but she’s looking from the neck down. She tucks the label in, pulls it down one last time and steps out, met with a sight that makes her catch her breath.

“Woah,” they say at the same time. If it was the Heathers’ arrival that made Martha pick that dress, then thank God for them, because it’s amazing. Pink and purple flowers are weaved onto the white fabric, her hair falling over her bare shoulders, a deep purple ribbon around her waist and a full, flowing skirt. It’s uniquely Martha, she thinks, like God hand-picked that dress for her.

“You look amazing,” Veronica breathes, gently taking her arm and moving it away so she can look at it properly. Martha looks down, half hiding her smile.

“You should see yourself,” She responds, taking Veronica’s hand and turning her around to face the full-length mirror.

The girl in her reflection looks everything and nothing like her. Same long limbs and pale skin, big brown eyes and dark hair she can never truly get under control. Everything is the same as when she left the house that morning, except for the fact that she’s in the most lovely thing she’s ever worn and might ever wear in her life. Everything she loved about it on the hanger comes alive on her, the diamonds on the top winking at her every time she moves, the ruffles on the skirt move like ripples on a lake and when she turns it spins around her, floating on the air and pulsing like butterfly wings.

She lets herself be arrogant for a moment and appreciate the colour against her skin, how the skirt hugs her waist before flowing outwards. She lets herself think ‘damn’ and turn around a little to look at the back, lets herself be in love with the way it shimmers under the overhead lights. She lets herself smile and gasp and be excited for herself. She lets herself believe she looks beautiful, and she won’t feel bad for it.

“Told you,” Martha says, brushing her hair off her shoulder. “You think this is it?” Veronica takes her hand and wraps her other arm around Martha’s shoulder, smiling back at their reflections.

“Yeah, I think it is.” She squeezes her best friend’s shoulders tightly, rocking them a little. “As long as you’re getting that one too.”

“I think I am,” she says, pulling at the skirt again, half-gasping and half-laughing. Martha’s never been one to hide her feelings, but she probably couldn’t now even if she wanted to. Neither could Veronica. They exit the store with broad grins and borderline infectious giggles, their dresses neatly folded in white paper bags, throwing suggestions for shoes and accessories like they’re frivolous pieces of paper as they bounce along the streets.

The twinge of sadness kindly doesn’t make itself known until she returns home. But when it does, she feels it.

Dear diary, Veronica writes that night, retreating to the best source of comfort she knows. She looks over at her wardrobe, where her prom dress sits in wait, a plastic sheet protecting it from any dirt or dust that might dare to spoil it. She clicks her pen in and out again. I’ve spent my entire life waiting for the day I leave. I started researching colleges when I was fifteen. I knew where I wanted to go when I was sixteen. I threw all that work into getting out when I was seventeen. And now I’m eighteen and all I want to do now is stay.

She turns her head, not sure why until she catches sight of two of the photos on her nightstand. One of her and Martha eating ice cream cones on the beach in the era of braces and bad hair, one of her and JD, her sitting behind him and kissing his head while he laughs at something. She turns the photos over in her hands, both memories just about clear in her head, and takes a deep breath.

I changed this year, she writes. More than I thought I could. Everyone did. The Heathers leave us alone for one. Martha has a girlfriend now and I’m in love with JD, and I’m happy. I never wasn’t, but it’s a new kind of happy. I guess I didn’t realise it existed until I had it. She chews on the edge of her pen, breathing through the heavy weight sitting in her chest. She doesn’t feel like crying, not exactly, but when she looks up on her calendar and sees the days marked until graduation, there’s a flash of panic inside her, followed by a little melancholic kick. She looks out at the town she grew up in, one that for better or worse has marked her soul. A car ride away is the girl who’s held her hand since before she could walk and the boy who now holds her heart. And while she doesn’t regret applying to college, she starts to wish that it wasn’t so soon. And I don’t want it all to end yet.

[justanoutlawfic]

Coming Home: Chapt. 2

Summary: A look back on happier times for the Nolan family. In the present, Mary Margaret tries to get Emma to talk to her.

Also on AO3/FF

January 3rd, 1989

 Fostering had been Mary Margaret’s idea. Something she would remember when things went wrong. But in the meantime, she and David had thought of the many ways to expand their family. For as long as she could remember, they had been trying to have a baby but nothing worked. They had debated IVF but it was so expensive. They were a sheriff and school teacher. One round of that could pay for renovations on their home, to qualify them to be able to adopt. Domestic and international adoption had been something else they had looked into but for some reason that didn’t call to them.

 Mary Margaret was a teacher. She worked with older kids and knew the importance of shaping their minds. She realized that maybe they didn’t need a baby. Maybe instead, they could help a child that had already been through the system, that needed a second chance. David had agreed to it quicker than Mary Margaret had expected. So, they went through the paperwork and got the home study done.

 Their first placement had been a 11-year-old boy named August. He was only with them for 3 weeks and didn’t spend a lot of time in their home. Despite Mary Margaret and David doing everything they could to bond with the pre-teen, he wanted to spend most of his time exploring. They tried to be patient, not wanting to be too overbearing. There was never that connection, though. No matter how hard they tried, August just didn’t want to get to know them. And after those 3 weeks, he told his social worker that he didn’t want to be with them anymore. It hurt the day August left, but they wanted whatever was best for him. If they weren’t it, than they had to respect that.

 They waited six months for their next placement. Sure, they’d get several calls for kids that needed homes and they said “yes” each time. Sibling groups that the system didn’t want to split up would work out great in their four-bedroom home. The teenager needing just a weekend placement was something they were interested in. There had even been a call for a 3-day old baby that David had rushed out to get a bassinet for, only to get a call a bit later that they didn’t need them to take her in anymore. Foster children needed placements, but Mary Margaret and David weren’t getting any.

 Then one day, they got the call. A 5-year-old little girl by the name of Emma Smith. She had been in the system since birth, having been with one family until age 3. It wasn’t exactly known what happened but they couldn’t care for her any longer. She had been in and out of group homes since then, trying to find her a new family but nothing stuck. The social worker hoped that Mary Margaret and David could be it.

 They redecorated one of the spare rooms in the course of a night. The yellow room got hints of white. Mary Margaret purchased new bright yellow bedding after hearing it was Emma’s favorite color. David had purchased a few new stuffed animals, placing them throughout the room. Their hands grasped through one another, smiling.

 “Do you think she’ll like it?” Mary Margaret asked.

David nodded. “Even if she doesn’t, we could always change it.”

“It just sounds like she’s been through so much in those short five years.”

“Well, hopefully this is the end of the line for her.”

“There’s no reason why there shouldn’t be. According to Helen, she was abandoned on the side of the road when she was an infant.” Mary Margaret frowned. “I can’t imagine what someone would have to go through, in order to do that.”

 The following morning, there was a knock on their door. Helen stood on the doorstep, a small 5-year old standing beside her. She had a mass of wild blonde curls with big green eyes. She wore a beat-up jean jacket over a black and white striped shirt. Her jeans had a few holes in them and her shoes had definitely seen better days. It was January, in Maine. David wondered where this little girl’s winter coat was. The only possession she seemed to have was a red backpack which was swung over her shoulder.

 “Come in, come in,” he said instantly, stepping to the side. Helen lead the little girl inside and he shut the door. “I’m David, and this is my wife, Mary Margaret.”

“David, Mary Margaret,” Helen said. “This is Emma.”

 Mary Margaret was staring at Emma, almost as if she was looking at a ghost. David took in the little girl some more, trying to figure out where he had seen her before. She did indeed look a bit familiar. Maybe she just had one of those faces.

 “Emma,” Helen continued. “Say hello.”

Emma’s pouty lips didn’t move up into a smile. “Hi,” she mumbled.

“We’re so happy you’re here, Emma,” Mary Margaret said, cheerily. “We’ve got your room all set up.”

“How many other kids are in it?”

“None. You’re our only foster kid at the moment.”

Emma tilted her head. “Really?”

“Yup.”

“Are you hungry?” David asked. “We were waiting to have lunch with you.”

 Emma looked a bit skeptical but nodded. The four of them walked into the kitchen. Emma sat at the table while Mary Margaret and David filled out the paperwork that Helen had brought.

 “Emma is probably going to be a bit easier than your last case,” Helen said. “But she’s still a challenge.”

David looked over his shoulder. Emma was sitting right there and Helen was saying all of this. “It’s nothing we can’t handle.”

“Just know you have my number and you can call me at any time.”

“That’s it?” Mary Margaret asked. Helen had stayed a bit longer when she dropped August off. “You don’t want to see her new room or anything?”

“You’ve been approved, I trust it’s up to code.” Helen walked over to Emma and knelt down to her height. “I’m going to head off now. I’ll be in touch with Mr. and Mrs. Nolan over the next few weeks. Please try here, Emma.”

 Emma didn’t say anything, she just nodded. Helen sighed and gave her shoulder a squeeze. David walked her out and watched her drive away before heading back into the kitchen. Emma sat there, kicking her tiny legs and staring into space. The two adults shared a look, unsure of what to do at first. Finally, David swooped into the seat next to Emma.

“So, what’s your favorite food?” He asked. Emma didn’t say anything. “Mine is stew.”

Emma looked up at that, wrinkling her nose. “Stew?”

“My mom had a good recipe for it.”

“I like chicken noodle soup, but it’s not my favorite.”

“Well what is your favorite?” Emma bit her lip. “Emma, it’s okay to ask for something. If we don’t have it, we can go to the diner and have lunch there.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. So, tell me, if you could have anything to eat for lunch right now, what would you pick>”

Emma pondered his question for a few minutes before speaking. “Grilled cheese.”

David grinned. “Well as luck would have it, we have cheese, we have bread and we have a stove. I think I could accommodate that.”

 Emma’s pout slowly rose to a bit of a smile. David got up from the table and started searching for the ingredients. Mary Margaret reached over to stroke his back and whisper “Thank you”.

 October 24th, 2011

 Emma was ready to leave this damn town. How had it not stuck out to her when Henry mentioned it? Storybrooke, of course. Emma had lived in a lot of places throughout her life, but this had been the strangest name. It had been one of the few places she lived in Maine before she had been moved to a home in Boston. In fact, the Nolans had been her last home in Maine.

 She could hear the flurry of ballet flats behind her as she stormed down the hall. “Emma! Emma, wait!”

“I’m walking away, you should recognize the gesture.”

“Please, you have to just listen to me. We need to talk!”

“I don’t owe you anything.” And yet, she found herself stopping and flinging herself around. “This makes no sense! You don’t look a day older, that was like 20 years ago!”

“I…I don’t know. Things in this town…they’re weird.”

“You could say that.” Emma folded her arms over her chest. “Why the hell did you give Henry your credit card?”

“I didn’t! He must have stolen it.” She sighed. “He’s such a clever little boy. What I don’t understand is why he went to find you.”

“I’m his biological mother.”

Mary Margaret’s doe eyes softened even more. “You had a baby.”

“Yes, I had a child and I gave him up for adoption because I didn’t know how to be a mother. Maybe because the only examples in my life have only let me down.”

Mary Margaret looked like she had been smacked. “Emma, there’s so many things that I’ve wanted to tell you, so many things that I’ve wanted to say.” She reached out to touch her cheek. “Look at you, you’re all grown up.”

Emma pushed her hand away. “No! Don’t touch me!” She shook her head. “This is insane. You being so young, you pretending that you actually give a shit.”

“I always cared about you.”

“Bullshit! You let me go!”

“I didn’t have a choice! They took you away from us! We tried to fight but…”

“No, what I remember is you two promising me forever and then me being hauled off in the back of Helen’s station wagon.”

“It was way more complicated than that, sweets. You have to believe me.”

 Sweets. That nickname burned a hole into her heart. It was exactly what Mary Margaret had called her when she was 5 years old. There had been a ton of nicknames. They made her feel loved, secured.

 Now they just made her blood boil.

 “Do you know where Henry is or not?”

“Emma…”

“This is all I care about right now. I want to find this kid, bring him back to his mom and get the hell out of this town before I lose my mind.”

Mary Margaret sighed. “Try his castle.”

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

David couldn’t remember why he wanted to be a sheriff. Some days, it seemed like a dream job. Others, he wished he could do something outside, in the open fields. He found himself driving past the abandoned farm that he and Mary Margaret had once talked about buying when he retired. If they hadn’t wanted kids, he would’ve bough it outright. For the sake of their family, he became a cop. He raised through the ranks and became sheriff.

 Now, the station was pretty much his home. He paid rent on a house but he was only ever there to sleep. Once the man that cooked grand meals for his wife and foster daughter, now he got takeout from Granny’s or the Chinese place. Cooking for one wasn’t as fun. Occasionally he made baked goods for the department but he barely had the time anymore. Graham said he was a workaholic but it wasn’t like he had anything else going for him.

 Speak of the devil, his deputy walked in front of his desk. “David, Mary Margaret’s here.”

 He almost barked at his longtime friend not to make jokes but then he smelt his ex’s perfume. The mix of flowers was so intoxicating and reminded him why he avoided her in the first place. Every time David stepped within five feet of her he was reminded of one simple truth: he had never stopped loving her.

 David got up from his desk and turned around, finding himself face to face with her. Mary Margaret was beautiful. Dark hair that complimented her pale skin and rosy cheeks. Her green eyes always popped up her subtle makeup. She typically dressed in cardigans and pleated skirts, and that day was no exception. The cardigan still hugged her curves and he was reminded of every time she had been in his arms…

 But that was simply in the past.

 They had been divorced for longer than he could remember. One minute, they had been blissfully married with a child they intended on adopting. The next, he was signing paperwork with a bottle of scotch beside him.

 There was a lot of David’s past that he couldn’t remember, but the fighting was clear. Mary Margaret screaming at him for the smallest things. David sitting in his truck because for the life of him, he just didn’t want to come home. The day they sold that beautiful house that they had renovated and built love in together.

 Why were those things so vibrant, while the good times so buried?

 “What are you doing here?”

 He doesn’t mean it to be harsh, but they both know that they avoid each other like the plague. They take turns going to Granny’s and the different stores. She rented a loft on Main Street while he had a house more in the suburbs. Two people that were once teased for being inseparable, now went out of their way to make sure they never saw one another.

 “She’s come home, David,” Mary Margaret whispered.

David tilted his head. “Huh?”

“Emma. She’s come back to Storybrooke.”

David didn’t believe her. Not at first. Mary Margaret wouldn’t lie, but there was a period when every little girl with blonde hair had been Emma. “That’s impossible.”

“It’s not. She’s here…she’s grown up…”

“Grown up?”

“Mid to late 20s, I think.”

 Had they been separated that long? Had time flown by without him knowing it?

 “This makes no sense,” David said.

“I don’t know how it’s possible, but she’s here, David. She’s Henry’s biological mother.”

 The mayor’s son. It was an unhidden secret that the young boy was adopted. Regina had never been married and she had just returned to town one day with a tiny baby boy. David saw them around town together over the years. He was probably the only thing that humanized the mayor.

 And he was the son of his former foster daughter.

 “This can’t be real,” he whispered. “She was gone for good.”

“That’s what I thought too but I saw her today. She came into my classroom with Regina looking for Henry. I guess he went looking for her and there’s been a lot of drama.”

“You saw her?” David’s heartbeat quickened. “Is she…”

“She seems healthy, but she was angry when she saw me. I think she’s going to try to leave town the first chance she gets.”

 Mary Margaret took a step forward.

 “I know a lot has changed between us David, but the one thing we still have in common is that we love her.” She bit her lip. “You have to help me keep her here. I can’t lose her again.”

 David thought of the little girl he gave piggy back rides to. The one he watched football games with and played tea parties. The little girl that called him “Daddy” and lit up his heart.

 She was back and he had probably almost seen her a dozen times. He couldn’t miss out on that again.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked.

[spooderson]

Tony’s birthday fic

For Tony’s birthday today, I decided to write a fluffy fic where Peter searches for the perfect gift for Tony and Pepper gifts him some amazing news. It’s just a lot of family fluff

Read on ao3

Tony’s birthday gifts

Tony’s birthday was coming up and Peter had a problem. He didn’t have any idea what to give to the man. He had asked Pepper for help, but she had just shrugged and told him that she’s sure he’ll figure something out. That wasn’t helpful to him at all. So here he was, three days until dad’s birthday, with nothing to give to the man who gave him so much.

He knew that Pepper had already planned something, but she said that he’ll find out at the same time as Tony and that it wasn’t something he could just say he helped with.

Currently, Peter was walking around the mall with Ned, going from one store to the other, searching for something the man might like. But, every thing they found they immediately dismissed, because it wasn’t personal enough or it wasn’t special enough. Eventually they ended up at an arts supply store.

“I think you should just make him a card, Peter. We went through literally the whole mall, and we found nothing to buy for him.”

“Ned, I can’t just give him a card and that’s it. He deserves more than a card!!!”

“Okay okay, don’t scream at me in the middle of the store. Then we can get him one of those silly shirts with those “best dad” prints on them, or like a science pun shirt, so that you can match-“

“He wouldn’t like them. He always laughs at my shirts! I don’t think he’d wear a science pun t-shirt, Ned”

“But consider this, he would wear it because he loves you and that shirt would be a present from you?”

“Maybe so...”

After this, Peter and Ned went to Target to buy a shirt that had a diagram with one axis saying bird and the other rabbit.

Of course, as one would, they got very distracted at Target and eventually stumbled into the aisle with all of the photo frames.

“Look, that one is Iron man themed! Peter, get it for him!”

“I can’t just give him an empty photo frame” screeched Peter

“Just put one of the pictures you’ve taken of him in it? You have millions of them on your phone and some of them are actually really good. Heck, most of your photography is very good. Or you could get a picture from FRIDAY with the both of you in it and put that in there. I bet Mr. Stark would love it.”

“Why are you coming up with all of the good ideas?”

“It’s because I’m your guy in the chair. That’s just how it is. Now will you listen to me or...”

“I am listening” with that Peter took the Iron man photo frame and went to the cash register.

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It was a day until Mr. Stark’s birthday and although Peter had the shirt wrapped and ready, he had no idea what kind of picture to put into the frame. At first, he wanted to put in a photo of just Tony, but then he started thinking it would be weird to gift the man a photo of himself, so he had scratched that particular idea. Then he had thought that he could give him a photo of the whole family, but none of the photos that he had of himself, Pepper and Tony were up to his standard and he didn’t have enough time to take a photo of them and get it printed and framed. Plus, Pepper was in LA and would only be getting home early on dad’s birthday. That left him with only one option – to frame a picture of him and dad. He had already selected a few contenders, but then he saw a picture on Tumblr, and it was everything he never knew he needed.

The picture was of Iron man and Spider-man. Traveling together, if you could call it that. In reality, you could clearly see, that Iron man was holding spider-man wrapped in his arms, and they were flying toward the tower that could be seen in the distance. Peter’s legs were dangling in the air and he looked like a petulant child, but the picture was cute and made Peter feel warm and fuzzy, also, Peter was sure that Tony will love it.

“Ned, hey, Ned. Look at this” Peter nudged Ned who was sleeping on the desk next to him.

“Whoa, what?” asked a disoriented Ned, before his eyes settled on Peter’s computer screen” You know were supposed to be learning about American history right now, not searching the internet for pictures of Iron man and Spider-man? Right?”

“Then why were you sleeping? Anyways, that’s not it. What do you think of the photo? I think this is it, I’m going to get this framed and give it to him as a present”

“Ugh, that was soo rude, Peter. I think this photo is great, the Iron man armor looks hella good in this” whispered Ned.

“That photo is good, I think Iron man would like any relatively embarrassing photo of Spider-man, to be fair.” piped in MJ.

“You know it’s creepy when you just randomly pop in to conversations, MJ?” said Peter while turning back to look at MJ who was sitting to his left one desk behind him.

“Whatever, losers” and with that MJ went back to drawing in her notebook.

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“See you Monday, Ned” Peter said after doing their handshake and went to get into Happy’s car before the man started grumbling about teenagers.

“Hey Happy!”

“Hey kid. How was school today?” asked Happy

“It was boring, like always, but me and Ned finally decided on what I’m giving Mr. Stark for his birthday tomorrow, so that’s good. I really think he’ll like it” Peter started to ramble.

“I think he would like anything you gave him, kid.” said Happy before sliding the divider up.

Once Happy released him in the garage below the Tower, Peter got into the elevator and went up to his floor.

“Friday, do you know if we have a photo printer in the Tower?”

“I believe a printer that suits your requirements is located on the 34th floor”

“Thank you, Friday. Also, is Tony home?”

“Boss is in the kitchen attempting to make lunch”

“That sounds dreadful” said Peter to no one in particular and then he was stepping out of the elevator and after discarding his backpack near the elevator went to the kitchen “Hey dad! Whatcha making?”

“Pete! How was school? Good? I’m making pasta, want some?” asked Tony while stirring the pot.

“Ugh, school was boring. And what kind of question is this? I’m always hungry, of course I want it. Unless you overcooked it, then I don’t want it at all”

“You know, my cooking has improved significantly since you started living with us. Plus, I’m following my mom’s recipe and she was an amazing cook, so I don’t think I could mess it up.”

“We’ll see” murmured Peter

Tony half sighed half laughed and went on stirring the pot. After a few minutes the pasta was drained and ready to be eaten. Peter and Tony sat at the barstools by the kitchen island and were discussing the newest upgrade to the spider-man suit, when Tony got a call from Pepper, saying that they needed to have a conference call with the people managing the SI tower in Tokyo.

“Well, bye kiddo. Don’t stay up too late if I’m still in the conference call by your bedtime, okay? And before you ask, no, you cannot stay up waiting for me. And if you go out to patrol please be careful”

“Okay, love you, dad”

“Love you too, Petey”

After Peter ate the rest of his lunch, he went to do his homework and then, instead of patrolling like he usually does, he asked Friday if the printer was being used and went down to the 34th floor to print, frame and wrap the photo he had found earlier that day. He spent a few minutes trying to figure out where to put the photo paper and which buttons to press, but not ten minutes later, he was sitting on the floor by the printer, putting the newly printed photo into the frame and fighting the wrapping paper that just wouldn’t stay in place when he tried to tape it.

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On Mr. Stark’s birthday, Peter was woken up unusually early by Pepper, who told him that she thought that they could make Tony breakfast and then they could give him their presents. Peter agreed, and after quickly taking a shower and getting dressed into the shirt that he was also gifting to Tony, he went into the kitchen.

There, he found Pepper in the middle of making a cake.

“Here you are, I was beginning to worry that you fell back asleep” laughed Pepper.

“And let you take all of the credit for the breakfast? On a Saturday?”

“I’ll give you twelve percent” smirked Pepper and started pouring the batter into the pans before putting them in the oven.

“Can I help with the frosting? Pretty please, I promise I won’t eat it all”

“Well, since you promise, I’ll allow it. Come, were making vanilla frosting”

“Yay!”

The rest of the time up to 8am, when Tony strolled into the kitchen was spent frosting the cake and trying to write “Happy birthday Tony” in readable letters on the cake. When Tony walked in, he found Pepper finishing cooking the chocolate chip pancakes and Peter setting up the dinning table.

“Hey, why are you both up so early?” questioned Tony

Peter and Pepper shared a look, and then “ HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” both of them shouted at the same time, making the man jump a little.

“Is that why you’re both up so early? You didn’t have to do anything for my birthday, it would have been fine...”

“Daad, it’s your birthday, we wanted to do something special for you. Now come, we’ll eat breakfast and then you can open your presents from me and mom and later on uncle Rhodey is going to come over and it’s gonna be fun. Come”

Tony went and sat down to eat, but not before receiving a peck on the cheek from Pepper.

“Wait, you said there are presents?”

“Yes, but first, I think you should eat some breakfast” smiled Pepper.

With that, they all loaded their plates and began to eat. After all the pancakes were destroyed, Pepper and Peter went to the kitchen and came out holding a cake with almost illegible letters spelling the “happy birthday Tony”.

“Did you make that? It looks delicious. I love you two, you both know it, right?”

“Stop crying and blow the candles, Tony” laughed Pepper.

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“Ok, you ready?”

“It’s presents, Pep, how could someone not be ready for presents?” asked Tony, but it was obvious that he was nervous.

“Well then, Peter, I think you should go first”

“Oh, okay... Um... So, this isn’t much, but, I hope you like this... If you don’t that’s okay too...”

“Kiddo, you could give me a jar of dirt and I’d love it. Now give it.”

With that, Peter quickly gave his present to Tony and retreated to hide behind a pillow on the sofa, peeking through to look at Tony’s reaction.

Tony looked at the carefully wrapped gift, then he opened and read the card that was attached to it and his eyes seemed to get watery.

“Thank you so much, Petey. I love you too”

With that, Tony started to carefully unwrap the present. The first thing he uncovered was the t-shirt, the same that Peter was currently wearing and after staring at it for a few seconds he laughed.

“Now we’ll be matching, we need to get one for Pepper too” he got out.

” I’m glad you like it, dad. Now open the other one.” said Peter while getting out of his hiding place, meanwhile Pepper just smiled and clutched a small box that looked like it was the present for Tony.

“Ok, here we go.” said Tony and ripped the packaging off to reveal the back of the photo frame. He carefully turned it around to reveal a photo of him as Iron man flying an angry looking Spider-man home to the Tower.” I love this. Where did you find this? I’m going to put it in the entrance so that anyone who comes here sees it.”

“Do it if you want, it’s yours after all.” smiled Peter. Then “Now you have to open mom’s present. She didn’t even tell me what it is”

Pepper just smiled and quietly passed the small box to Tony, who untied the ribbon with shaking fingers.

“Is this what I think it is?” asked Tony, staring at the box.

“What, do you know what it is? Show me, I want to know too. Moom, daaad...” whined Peter.

Pepper just smiled, not answering any of their questions but silently urging Tony to finally open the box. He did, after a few more moments of searching her face for any clues. And then he dropped the box and was up on his feet pulling Pepper into a hug and crying.

“Is this real?” he asked. “Yes” smiled Pepper and then pulled a clueless Peter into the hug.

“Is someone going to explain to me what’s happening? Why are we crying?”

“Oh, Petey-pie. You’re going to be a brother” Tony got out.

“Wh-AT? Peppers pregnant?!”

“Yes, Pete” said Pepper before kissing the top of his head.

[mosylufanfic]

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Yay! Killervibe week is upon us! Here’s my story for fake dating

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

As they walked up to the museum's front doors, Cisco squinted at the people going in. "Is it me, or are there a lot of couples today?"

Caitlin looked up from her phone, where she was studying the museum's app, and looked around at the people going up the steps with them. All ages, races, and genders, but Cisco was right. There did seem to be a lot of couples in comparison with other kinds of groups. "Maybe they're here on dates."

He made a face. "To a museum? On a Saturday morning?"

She tapped around on her phone. "Don't be like that. I actually really like museums as a first date. You get to take your time and talk and stroll around and - Oh, this might be why."

"What?"

"It's a special for this weekend. Couples get in half-off."

"Two for one?" Cisco held the front door for Caitlin, and then an older lesbian couple behind her, who smiled at him before progressing through.

"Kind of."

"I didn't know museums did that."

"Well, the exhibition I want to see is romantic art pieces. Romantic with a small r, not a capital R. So -" She waved her hand. "I guess that's why. Publicity."

"Hunh." Cisco looked around the lobby at the hearts and lace, advertising the deal and the love-and-romance exhibition. Next to the stairs, he could see signs for the history of comics exhibition that was why he'd come here today. The plan had been for both of them to go see their things separately and then meet for lunch whenever they were done. "Hey, you know what - "

"What?" She saw the look on his face. "Cisco, no."

"Why? What's the harm? We're here together already."

"We're not a couple!"

He raised his brows at her. She didn't have to sound that vehement. "What's the problem if some docent or whoever thinks we are? Twofer admission is nothing to sneeze at."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "You're willing to pretend to be my date just to save fourteen-fifty?"

"In a heartbeat," he said, grabbing her hand. "Come on. All we have to do is pretend for like ten minutes that we're in love and then we're in."

"Mmmmm," she said, sliding her eyes sideways at the line. She frowned at an old couple with matching canes who were gently bickering about something that had happened in 1973, and the pair of teenage nerds with matching Harvard t-shirts, making out energetically just behind them.

"If you feel that bad about it, you can stick a ten in the donation box on your way out." He grinned at her. "What? You don't think anybody will believe I could snag a woman like you?"

"Of course I don't think that! I mean - " She was blushing. "It's just so silly."

"What's life without a little silliness?" He didn't ask her if she thought the inverse, that she wouldn't have been able to snag him. Obviously she could snag him. She could have him anytime she so much as crooked her finger . . . 

Huh. Where had that come from? 

"All right, fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "Since you're so determined."

"Excellent," he said, tugging her toward the line. 

She didn't drop his hand once they had taken their places. It was cool and soft in his, familiar. He glanced sideways at her, wondering if she was annoyed that he'd basically pressured her into a fake relationship for the next ten minutes, and she gave him a little smile and an eyeroll. 

All right. She was okay. What was the harm? Just a game of pretend, that was all.

"So, lambchop," he said. "What do you want to do after this? Where are we going for lunch?"

She rolled her eyes at him again for the silly pet name, but there was a smile playing around her lips. "How about that little place where we had our first date?"

"The bistro on the water?" He lowered his voice to a sexy purr. "You know I'm saving that for when I propose."

For a moment he thought that had knocked her off her game, but she rolled with it beautifully. "Sweetheart, not that I'm not looking forward to that, but can you not make a huge spectacle of it? You know I hate people staring at me."

"Come on, you're not even going to let me get a mariachi band?"

She shook her head in disbelief. "What about a mariachi band says subtle?"

  "Couple of guys with guitars?"

"I'll accept one person with a violin."

"Okaaaaaaaay," he said. "Fine. But the ring is gonna knock your socks off."

She beamed at him. "I would expect nothing less. Lambchop."

"God, you two, get a room," someone said from behind him.

"No," Cisco said, and kissed Caitlin's cheek. "I'm madly in love with this woman, and I don't care who knows it."

"Next," said the bored kid behind the counter, and they stepped up, leaving the love-Grinch rolling his eyes behind them.

"Two please," Cisco said, pulling out his credit card. "Obviously, we're a couple, so we'll need that discount."

"Uh-huh," the kid said, ringing them up and pushing the tickets over the counter. "Next!"

"Ha," Cisco said as they walked away from the line. "And we're in." 

"Your cunning plan worked," Caitlin said, amused. "What are you going to do with your ill-gotten riches?"

"Probably buy you lunch," he said cheerfully, and realized he was still holding her hand. He let go with more regret than he was prepared for. "So, what do you say? Meet back here in two hours?"

She glanced over her shoulder. "You know, the kid at the ticket kiosk is looking this way. Maybe you should come into the exhibit room with me?"

"Keep up the charade?" he said. "Really?"

She widened her eyes at him. "He might just decide to dispatch some hulking security goons after us for the fourteen-fifty. I don't know about you, but Killer Frost doesn't feel like working today."

It surprised a laugh out of him. Caitlin so often played the straight man to his goofiness that he forgot she could be silly, too. "Okay," he said, weaving his fingers through hers. "In the name of plausible deniability."

Cisco meant to hang with her for about a minute and then go off to his exhibition. Really, he did. But his attention was caught by one of the first paintings - a man walking along, holding a woman's hand while she floated above him like a balloon. They both had giant grins on their faces, beaming with almost childlike glee.

"That's the artist and his wife," Caitlin said, reading the plaque next to it. 

"That's kind of sweet," he said, tilting his head. 

"Right? They're just so happy to be together." 

They meandered through the first room, looking at the art and talking about it. Then the second. Somehow, he still had hold of her hand.

The way the museum was laid out, they had to cross the lobby to get to the rest of the rooms, and Cisco saw Caitlin glance up at the sign for the exhibit he'd wanted to see. She went pink. 

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just realized I made you spend an hour with me."

"I love spending time with you," he said. "And your thing is really cool and sweet."

"Yes, but it's not why you came here." She let go of his hand.  "You can go see your exhibit now. Meet me at noon?"

"Noon," he echoed. 

She shot him another smile and started to go toward the next room of the romance exhibit.

He yelled out, "Hey, Caitlin!" His voice echoed in the marble lobby, and people in line looked over.

She whipped around. "Yes?" 

"You, uh, you wanna come upstairs with me?"

She came back to him, walking up until they were less than a foot apart. "To see the history of comics?"

"Sure. I know it's not your thing, but - "

"Well, this wasn't your thing and you still came with me," she said. She smiled suddenly, and as sometimes happened, he thought, Holy shit, she's just really gorgeous. "Yes. Show me what you've been looking forward to."

They ended up spending most of the day at the art museum, wandering through the rooms, pausing for lunch at the cafe, talking about the art and about a million other topics. Although he'd spent countless days with her, this one felt different somehow.

Not just another day. Something new.

When the museum closed, the security guards herded them out like patient border collies. They found themselves on the steps, still talking, as the sun dropped toward the horizon.

When Cisco's stomach growled, he realized he was starving. The sandwiches at the museum's cafe had been good, but they'd probably trekked four or five miles around the building that day.

"Hungry?" Caitlin said, laughing. "We should go get something."

"Yeah, we should," Cisco said. "There actually is a pretty good bistro on the water that I know. My cousin's part-owner. If I text him, we can probably get the family rate."

She tilted her head at him, her eyes impish. "Just to be clear, is this the first date or the proposal?"

"Well," he said with complete seriousness. "I was thinking first date."

She looked as if she wanted to laugh for a minute, then stopped.

"I mean," he said, suddenly awkward. "If that's what you want to do. Or -" Oh. Oh boy. Oh shit. The Awkward had turned up, a vampire on their friendship, invited in by his sudden what-if moment.

"Yes!" she said. "Yes. That's what I want."

"Great," he said, a bubble of happiness expanding in his chest. "Shall we, then?" 

She took his hand, and he remembered the first painting they'd seen, the artist holding hands with his wife as she floated above his head. 

Cisco thought he knew how she felt.

FINIS

If you’re curious, this is the painting Cisco is referring to. Let’s all pretend that a midsize Midwestern city could get this on loan.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

So, I learned something recently...

Mary Kate Olsen (the top billed twin; I feel kinda bad for Ashley) is married to a man 17 years her senior, who also happens to be the half brother to the former President of France.

That sounds like the plot to one of their movies! Like, there’s a foreign exchange student at their school and they discover that he’s secretly foreign royalty.  I can picture the whole thing in my head, I’ve thought about this a lot:

It has a late 90s/early 2000s aesthetic; kinda grungey and “totally radical, dude!”

Twins Mary Jane and Kelsey are just your average upper middle class teenagers living in multi-million dollar beachfront property with their widower dad, a security guard with dreams of being a detective.  His firm just got a big contract to provide security for the visiting diplomats of the vaguely Eastern European kingdom of Slovotia (it’s generically foreign; funny accents, weird customs, offensive Slavic stereotypes, the works. The writers based it on Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Austria-Hungary, Ruritania, Backwardistan, etc)

At school, the girls are introduced to hunky Slovotian exchange student Nico.  He’s, like, SO cool, but he doesn’t flaunt it.  He’s quiet, tries not to make waves, and sneaks away at lunch to be by himself; the girls follow him and find him talking to a a burly bodyguard.  Turns out, he’s the Crown Prince of Slovotia!  His uncle, Count Bartok (who is clearly the antagonist but SHHH don’t tell anyone, we don’t know that yet) is visiting America as part of the Slovotian delegation; his brother, the King, wants to normalize relations with the west, but the Count doesn’t really like America.

Nico and his bodyguard Dolf (a hulking man of few words) ask the girls not to reveal his secret; he just wants to live a normal life, and be a normal teenager.  The girls decide to show him around town and introduce him to hip American concepts like the mall and beaches and fast food.

They buy a hot dog from a street vendor, and Nico looks appalled.  “My uncle, he say Americans, they are dogs, but I did not know they were to be eating them, yes?”

“They’re not really made out of dog, Nico!  Try it, you’ll like it.”

He takes one bite, and is enraptured.  “This is best thing I have ever to be eating!”  He walks over to the vendor and offers to buy him out.  “You there, meat monger. This dog that is hot, it is food fit for king!  I buy your shop, I pay ten million Slovotian Kronle, good price yes?”

“Sure thing, whatever you say boss!  Good price!  Great price!  My ticket’s finally come it, it’s easy street from here on out!”

They show him around “the city.”  It’s never specified which city that is though; they live on a beach and go surfing, so it might be LA, but there are hotdog vendors and people with Brooklyn accents, so it could just as well be New York.  Maybe there’s a shot in the middle of the film where the bad guys are looking at a satellite map of the USA, and the camera zooms into the center of the country, or there’s a blinking red dot somewhere on a random coast.  The point is that there is no definitive location; it’s just meant to represent whatever city is closest to the viewer’s hometown (the writers didn’t put that much effort into it because this is a no budget direct-to-VHS Mary Kate and Ashley movie.  What did you expect?)

Dolf follows them everywhere they go, and Nico complains that he wants to have some privacy.  “You do not be seeing other kids with bodyguards, yes?”  Wacky hijinks ensue as the trio try to evade him; there’s definitely a chase scene set to a punk rock song like SR-17′s ‘Right Now’ or something by Bowling For Soup.  They sit on a park bench reading newspapers as Dolf runs by, then hightail it in the opposite direction.  They casually steal hats and sunglasses from passersby to blend into the crowd.  They walk in line behind a couple buys carrying a sofa.  The chase ends with them hopping into a taxi and laughing with one another as we see Dolf give chase for a second before giving up in frustration.

Nico confides in the girls that life as a prince is not easy.  His father, King Vladimyr XVI, is always telling him how big a responsibility he has, how important he is to Slovotia’s future.  “My father, he tell me, Nico, you will one day be King, so you must to be acting like one, yes?”  It’s so hard to be royal, he can never just be himself, he has to act a certain way to make his parents happy.  The girls tell him that they know exactly what he means; high school isn’t all it’s cracked up to be either.  They have homework and chores, and they too have to act a certain way or the cool kids will think they’re a couple of losers with a capital L (Nico doesn’t understand what the word cool means, “what does temperature have to be doing with this?”)

Suddenly, the trio is attacked by some dude in a track suit and gold chains with a jersey accent; he tries to kidnap Nico, and just when all hope seems lost Dolf appears from nowhere and lifts the would-be abductor up by the collar.

They interrogate him; Dolf holds him by the ankles from a second story window.  “I ain’t sayins nothin, youse will never get a word outta me.”

Dolf says that if he doesn’t start talking he will disappear.  “Maybe you wake up in gulag, yes?”

He sings like a canary.  He was hired by Count Bartok to kidnap Nico.  Bartok hates America and thinks his older brother Vladimyr is foolish for trying to normalize relations with them.  He hoped that by having Nico kidnapped, he could blame the American government and end the diplomatic mission early.  If anything were to happen to the boy, Bartok would become next in line to be king!  He’s going to blame the girls’ father for Nico’s disappearance because he was supposed to be head of security.

“That’s everything I know. Hey, I’m sorry, okays?  I just needed the money, ya know? I ain’t a bad guy, I’m just in a bad sitchy-ation.”  The girls tell Dolf that he can let the kidnapper go, but he takes this literally and drops him out of the window (onto a bush! He’s fine)

They have to race to city hall to meet the Slovotian delegation and stop Bartok from doing anything drastic.  Mary Kate plays the edgy tomboy, so she teaches Nico and Dolf how to skateboard so they can get across town super fast.  This sequence is filmed with a fish eye lens so it looks “totally bodacious.” As the group barrels down the crowded sidewalk, pedestrians leap out of their way.

They make it just in time to be locked out of the ceremony.  Bartok is giving a big speech condemning the Americans for kidnapping his poor nephew, and the girls have to watch helplessly as their dad is taken away in handcuffs.  Dolf uses his espionage training to break into city hall and get the trio into the sound booth undetected.

“Hey Dolf, where’d you learn to do all this stuff?”

“I have many skills” (he is implied to be ex-KGB and it’s played for laughs)

The girls interrupt Bartok’s speech with video they took of the kidnapper revealing his entire plan.  Bartok denies it, but the girls’ dad pulls some as-yet-unseen sleuthing skills out of his ass to prove that Bartok is lying, finally living his dream of being a detective.  Nico bursts into the room and orders the Slovotian guards to arrest his uncle, but Bartok pulls a pistol and holds one of the twins hostage.  Nico uses some of the American skills he learned to free her (he kicks his skateboard towards Bartok’s feet, and he slips on it)

Bartok is taken away, screaming that he would have gotten away with it were it not for those meddling twins, and the girls break the fourth wall by making a Scooby-Doo joke to the camera.  Nico delivers a heartfelt speech to the gathered crowd at city hall about how much he has come to love America and how he’s proud to be representing Slovotia and normalizing relations with the west.  He wants to open malls and hot dog stands and skateboard parks in Slovotia, and he gets a standing ovation as the mayor awards him the key to the city.

The girls are so proud of their dad, and he is just as proud of them.  Just then, King Vladimyr and Queen Anastasia themselves make a live appearance, apparently having flown all the way from Slovotia (it’s never explained how they got there so fast).  They thank the girls for helping their son, and award their father their kingdom’s highest honor. They even offer him a job as Dolf’s second in command, but he declines, saying he’d rather remain at his humble career and raise his family in the states.

The girls encourage Nico to tell his father how he feels.  He knows he will be king someday, but that is very far off, and he would like some time to just be a kid instead of a prince all the time.  The King decrees that Nico may stay in the United States and have a normal high school experience, “you are to be having twelve bodyguards instead of twenty now, good compromise, yes?”  The girls roll their eyes and laugh; Nico’s dad still has a lot to learn!

Nico tells the girls that they are “very cold” (he meant “cool,” but it’s the thought that counts)  He and Mary Kate kiss, and Ashley jokingly asks if he has a brother.  As it turns out, there’s a nerdy kid at school who is played by the same actor as Nico who’s had a crush on her for years, so she gets with him instead (once he takes off his glasses)

Freeze frame

THE END

Roll credits

80 minute run time

Return the tape to Blockbuster and never watch it again

[roger1na]

careful ch1 - john deacon x reader

summary: you are a ballet student at the royal ballet academy. To pay for your tuition, you work part-time at the celebrity gossip magazine, Seven. One fateful day you’re sent to interview a band on the rise, Queen, post-concert. When you’ve got your material and the goofy band is set to leave, you learn that John Deacon may be the sweetest gentleman to ever grace this planet.

words: 2.5k+

warnings: swearing

author’s note: this is my entry for @bensroger 3k fic challenge! congrats <3. the promptline is bolded at the end. (and just as a little nod to me, the magazine Seven doesn’t exist in real life, at least i don’t think so. i took it from a horrible gossip magazine in finland, Seiska, who’s known for paying celebrities to get into scandals so they can write about it.)

[ch1] [ch2] [ch3] [ch4] [ch5] [ch6] [ch7] [ch8]

chapter one

The venue was filled with people. Screaming girls and guys who wanted to play it cool in their leather jackets and long hair. Every atom in your body was begging you to leave, to not get caught and melded into these people, but you pressed on, earning dirty looks from some hardcore fans. You held on tightly to the camera your magazine, Seven, had lent you for the evening, adrenaline making your hands tremble ever so slightly.

You were almost at the front of the stage, unscrewing the lens cap slowly, painted nails shimmering in the show lights.

“Thank you all for coming out tonight, we really appreciate it darlings,” the booming voice of tonight’s band’s frontman echoed through the concert hall and was met with loud cheering. Freddie Mercury sure could handle a crowd. You peered at him through your camera, lights catching his eyes and shadows strengthening his jawline and snapped a picture.

Queen was worth every bit of praise ever given to them by fans and undeserving of the snobby critique from so called experts in music. And they could really put on a show. It was a real perk of part-time magazine work. Free (but, to be fair, very lousy) tickets to noisy concert halls and backstage passes and enough confidence and status to elbow your way to the front of the crowd.

You’d never seen Queen live before. Of course you knew their music, who didn’t, but their tickets were either costly or the shows were at bad times. Your training schedule didn’t allow too much time for late nights and parties. You only had one day off a week and even that was spent stretching and practicing, making sure your joints didn’t ruin themselves with the amount of ballet you danced. You began wondering if you should’ve come sooner. Everything was mesmerising.

When your favourite song of theirs, Liar, started playing the bassist moved very close to where you were standing. His brown curls bounced as he skillfully played his solo, occasionally bringing his index and middle finger to his lips and licking them to keep them running more smoothly on the strings.

You turned on your camera flash to catch the metallic glint of his bass strings and he saw the light in the corner of his eyes and turned to you, small smile playing on his lips. He locked eyes with you for what seemed like forever before turning back to his instrument, licking his lips slyly. A small blush tingled at your cheeks.

Disappointment washed over you as they finished the final note of their last song, Nevermore. “You’ve been a lovely crowd, London! Thank you very much!” Freddie bowed on the stage, absorbing the cheers of the crowd. Somebody in the crowd was crying. Each member had sweat glistening on their cheeks and they were breathing heavily but still managed to look perfectly put together.

They disappeared backstage and you had to rush to beat the crowd. With your backstage pass you slipped past security, waving your Seven worker ID and made your way quickly to the dressing rooms. Though you had tried you best to beat the groupies and one-time fans, the amount of people yelling and waving autographs and chattering excitedly was almost sickening. It was worse backstage. Your heart jumped to your throat and your chest tightened. “I fucking hate this job,” you mumbled.

You’d spent the day rehearsing as an understudy for the main role in Swan Lake, then you had to rush to the office to grab your camera and audio recorder before taking the tube to a small concert hall in east London. You were tired, anxious and now had to fight for an interview with the band.

A wave of dizziness and nausea cut through you and sent you walking funny, looking like a drunk. You set your hand against the wall to gain your balance, bile rising to your throat. The nausea came in waves, each one stronger than the last, sending you weak at the knees. When was the last time you ate? You skipped lunch to rehearse extra, then didn’t you have that meeting? You drank coffee? Black as usual. And then? It’d been hours. You steadied yourself, breathing slowly.

”It’s going to be ok,” you told yourself. ”Not going to make a fool of myself. Not today.”

And with the balance of a newborn calf you hobbled ahead in the crowd, using your elbows rather rudely to get to the front. Once you were faced with an underpaid security guard, you coughed to get his attention.

”Excuse me, I have a backstage pass, can I get through?”

His face scrunched as if to say I’m-totally-tough-and-qualified but his nervous nod told you he was just a buff college student.

”Thanks,” you say without looking him in the eyes and quickly slipping past.

The dressing room door was adorably adorned with a star with the band name Queen on it, just like in some movie. You supposed the movies must’ve gotten their inspiration somewhere. You knocked determinedly, hearing clamour inside as loud voices fought over who should answer.

”Listen, John, you’re closest to the door, it makes sense!” An annoyed voice ushered someone inside.

”Freddie, you’re the frontman, I don’t want a 16 year-old drooling here again, you can turn them away,” a quieter voice replied.

You had to roll your eyes, before replying. ”Listen, I’m not a drooling teenager. I’m here to interview you, Y/N Y/N/L, from Seven.”

A triumphant laugh was heard before the lock turned. A sheepish bassist gave you a soft smile, hiding mostly under his hair. You returned the smile, before stumbling in, legs still shaky. ”You okay?” He grabbed your arm to steady you.

”Yes,” you nodded. ”It’s just been a long day.” He looked wary to let you stand on your own.

The band in all their glory, looked like silly kids, with their brightly coloured dressing gowns and long hair and little snickers and inside jokes that ran around the room quickly, sometimes only through eye-contact.

”Y/L/N? Don’t think I’ve heard of you before,” Freddie spun around gleefully in his chair.

”Well, I don’t usually write the articles or get credit. I only work part-time, getting the material, then a more popular writer takes the credit so we get more buys of the paper,”

”Scandalous,” Freddie laughed, before gesturing to the grey and slightly dumpy sofa across from him. ”Sit, I want to get this over with while there’s still hours left of the night.”

Slowly, the rest of the band gathered around you. Brian May with his poodle hair and soft laugh, Roger Taylor with his high-pitched singing voice but incredibly scratchy speaking voice and the shy and quiet John Deacon, who was the most attentive, laughing at just the right moments.

You set your little audio recorder on the sofa before beginning. ”So, I had to fight my way through quite the crowd of- John, how’d you put it? Drooling teenagers. How’s that feel?”

The extrovert in you shined as you chatted with the band, each of them giving you half-assed but hilarious answers.

”Oh you know, it’s our scene. This is usual.” Freddie flicked his wrist bashfully.

”I have to battle fangirls when I step outside all the time,” John quipped back and you threw your head back laughing. Queen was making it big, but was yet to hit that sweet goldmine of number one songs. And they were yet to have too much of an international career.

The interview continued well but soon the boys grew tired of talking about themselves and were arguing about meaningless things together. With that you shut your little recorder and took one last photo which showed them deep in discussion before coughing loudly. ”I think that’s it, Queen. I got some good material. Thanks!”

”I’m up for a drink now. Talking so long parched me.” Taylor got up, fluffing his hair slightly. The band hummed in unison, getting up and dusting themselves off.

You flipped through the notes you’d taken to help the final writer get an idea of the scene as the dressing room emptied. John stayed behind, packing his bass carefully into the its case.

“Not the man for partying, are you?” You leaned closer to him on the couch.

“Ha, well not today. It was a long show.”

The voices of the band got further and further away. You stayed sitting for just a little longer, intently watching John in thought. You thought it wasn’t possible to look flattering in bright white lights but clearly he was here to prove you wrong. He glanced at you when he felt eyes on him and you both blushed before turning away.

“Right,” you snapped your notebook shut. “I’ll get going.” You maneuvered yourself off the couch and managed a few steps ahead before the world went black.

It was disorienting to find yourself on the floor with no memory of how you got there. Your ears were ringing and the light stung your eyes. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

He was leaning over you, long hair tickling your cheeks, eyes wide with concern.

“Mmwh happened?” You started to mumble, throat dry.

John sighed, relieved before helping you sit up against the couch. “You must’ve blacked out.”

“Lovely,” you said sarcastically, rubbing your head.

“Should I be concerned?” He whispered to you, sitting down awfully close. You felt your heart rate pick up. He smelt like a generic brand of after-shave mixed with something fruity, like a cocktail.

“Not at all,” you slowly rose to a more upright position. “I just haven’t eaten in a while,”

“That’s not very good.” He chuckled. “I’ll be a little concerned, just in case.”

You managed a feeble laugh and looked down at your hands. “I’ll be ok.”

“Yeah, once you’ve gotten home and eaten. You must be so overworked. I can drive you home.”

You set your face in your hands, embarrassed, and sighed. “God, y’know what I told myself today? That I wasn’t going to make a fool of myself. And here I am, not only being a fool but being a bother.”

“You’re no bother. I would’ve had to drive out of here anyway. Now I’ve got company.” He gently pried your hands away from your face.

“You’re too sweet.”

You were both very close, hands on top of each other on the floor. When he looked your way you could feel his short, shallow breaths on your face, as if he was afraid to break the moment. “It’s nothing.” And yet, in those few memorable seconds, it was everything.

“Right then,” he coughed and stood up. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah, thanks,” you bit your lip and tucked stray strands of hair behind your ear. He helped you stand and you leaned on him for support.

“I feel like a right idiot,” you started.

“Don’t fuss about it.”

Meekly, let him help you into the van, his long fingers wrapping entirely around your wrist. When you were safely strapped in, you looked up at him. He was leaning on the roof of the van and you felt his warm breath on your cheeks. ”Thank you,” you managed to breathe out.

He looked away, red spreading on his face. ”You’re welcome.”

He got into the driver’s seat swiftly, turning the keys in the ignition. The purr of the engine lulled you softly into a trance-like state of only taking notice of the cars passing you by. John kept stealing glances at you. You were so breathtaking. Even when you weren’t talking, he was sure you’d captivate a room with you clever eyes and the left corner of your mouth that twitched upward when you were suppressing a laugh.

“I never asked any questions about you,” he finally spoke up as he turned to you. “I spent all that interview talking about myself and never once wondered about you.”

“Well, that’s good. I wasn’t the one being interviewed.” You shrugged, a bit dazed but still paying attention.

“Can I ask about you now?”

You tried to not let a blush rise on your cheeks as you replied. “Sure.”

“You mentioned you only work part-time at Seven. Why’s that?”

“I’m a dancer student at the Royal Ballet Academy. But it’s costly and celebrity gossip pays surprisingly well.”

It was like talking to an old friend. Conversation flowed easily. He asked about your career and you talked about his music. John felt like he’d been quiet for forever and finally it was all spilling out. The fame he’d taken on after auditioning for fun as a student. The anxiety surrounding meeting fans who screamed his name.

You finally park on the corner of the street you lived on. A line of rusty cars and motorcycles with chipped paint made it very hard to park the van. You let yourself yawn, your mouth opening wide, like a lions. Not only had you been practically starved all day, it’d also been way too long since you slept. John helped you up out of the van.

“Are you tired?” He whispered. The world was so quiet at 1am in a dusty corner of London.

”A bit yeah,” you grinned. ”I think I’ll eat something and then crash. Boom, out like a light.” You stumbled a bit in your step.

He noticed your weak attempts at walking. ”Here,” suddenly he was leaning in front of you, as if trying to give you a piggyback ride. ”Hop on, I’ll carry you the rest of the way.”

”What?” You flushed.

”You heard me. I think you’re about two steps from collapsing again.”

With an embarrassed huff, you clambered onto his back, your skirt riding up your thighs as he hoisted you up. You buried your face into his hair as he slowly made his way over to the apartment. ”Sorry the parking’s so shitty and you have to drag me like this.” You whispered, very close to his ear.

”Don’t worry,”

”But seriously. Bet you, this isn’t how you saw the night going.”

”No, but this is better. You’re good company.”

”Shush,” you laughed.

At your front door he set you down and let you settle your skirt before turning around. His hair was ruffled and his cheeks flushed but he grinned like an idiot. ”We’re your castle, I suppose,”

You managed a small laugh before a yawn took over. “Tonight’s been great, thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

“Alright then.” You paused, wanting to stay with him for longer. “Goodnight, John.”

“Goodnight, Y/N. And good luck. With your dancing.”

“Thanks.”

You swallowed hard, and with a small wave you turned around and unlocked your door looking one final time at this strange bassist, with his bouncy curls and soft smile. You paused a bit before calling out.

“John?”

He looked up, eyes glinting in the orange glow of the streetlights. “Yes?”

“Will I see you again?”

He grinned. “I hope so,” he got into his car and rolled down the window. “It’s a small world, after all.”

You laughed, leaning against the doorframe. “Alright then, John Deacon. I guess I’ll be seeing you.”

And with that, he drove off, music playing down the street through his open window. You felt your heart skip as you closed the door to your apartment.

[sunflowerstrays]

return ➯ jjh

gif not mine, credit to owner.

jung jaehyun x reader.

words: 4.3k.

genre: fluff.

requested? yes.

warnings? mentions of hospital briefly.

---

“Amber!” You scream, as you see your old best friend pressed against the glass of SM’s main building. You risk your life in front of a taxi as you run cross two lanes of traffic. Naturally, Amber is laughing hard at you as you approach each other.

“Y/n!” She yells back, wrapping her arms around you tightly. During your trainee days you had worked alongside the f(x) girls, and had been close with them all. You were a dark horse for SM, a solo idol that would debut between the time of f(x) and Red Velvet. When and how you’d debut had never been made clear, but you were happy to be writing and performing music.

f(x) had debuted for over a year before you had to stop your training. Since their debut SM had questioned when to let you debut, and you had been growing impatient; your best friends had all debuted, and there were no other trainees your age. All the other trainees were barefaced teenage boys and girls that you never really saw yourself being close with.

When SM decided that you would debut in six months, you couldn’t have been happier. Following this was news of your sister being hospitalised after a major car crash, and you didn’t want to be away from your family at the time. After she finally recovered, your spirit for creativity had been broken. You hadn’t touched an instrument in years, and refused to sing if it could be possible. Eventually even SM stopped nagging you for a return.

You never thought you would return either. Your motivation and passion for writing had broken, but after having been forced to get a job in a company you hated, you figured you had to pull yourself together.

That was why you were standing in the heavily changed foyer of SM a solid few years after having left it in tears.

“You look so happy and healthy!” Amber loops her arm in yours as she drags you through the building.

“I don’t feel it,” you reply half heartedly, making Amber laugh lightly. Two months ago you had broken down to her on the phone about your life, and she had booked you a ticket back to Seoul to come see her and the girls again. She figured that, even if you just met with some of the people you used to work with, you’d feel infinitely better immediately.

That was your main goal for the month; you would meet your old manager and any fellow idols still in the company that you knew. You knew there were a lot of new faces you wouldn’t recognise; namely, those of NCT, who were an ever expanding group that your old manager now overlooks.

Amber runs you as up-to-date on years worth of missed news within the company whilst she walks you to your old manager.

“I think he is in a photo shoot with the boys, but if you call him aside, they won’t mind,” Amber says, before disappearing to find the girls so they can take you out for lunch. You face the door to the photography room, feeling as nervous now as you was when you were younger and eagerly waiting to debut.

The first thing that hits you is the overpowering smell of hairspray, then the presence of the boys stood in the middle of the room. They are all howling at something the tall brown haired boy had said, wiping the tears from their eyes and sending all of the stylists into a frantic panic as they threaten to wipe away their makeup.

“Y/n?” Your old manager asks, spotting you in the doorway. The laughter is cut and everyone is left staring at you.

“Hiya, Mr Lee,” you wave back timidly. He walks to you and wraps you in a tight hug, making you hesitate for a moment. You could sense how emotional he was feeling as he holds you.

“My gosh have I missed you a lot,” he steps back, straightening his tie and regaining his professionalism. “It has been a while.”

“It has indeed,” you reply, stuffing your hands into the pockets of your coat. You glance at the nine boys who look at you curiously. “I see they’ve worked out well for you though,” you add as an observation.

“My NCT boys,” Mr Lee smiles, motioning for you to walk closer to them. “A comeback in a few months, but today they are doing a photoshoot today for a new model deal they’ve made. Have you met them?”

“I met Johnny once, the others are all an entire generation younger than me though,” you laugh awkwardly. Behind your manager all the boys on the shoot look as awkward as you feel.

“Well, they’ve got another ten minutes of this shoot, then perhaps you could meet them?” He asks. Without being told they all return to their shining personalities. You stand at the edge of the room, wondering if you had pursued music, would your life be like this now?

Once the set has finished you are surrounded by the group of boys that you’ve never met before. Johnny is the only person you recognise, but even he has grown by a foot. He smiles, barely remembering you as well.

“Boys meet y/n. Y/n, the boys,” your manager says, before introducing them all separately. They all look so young, even though you aren’t much older than some of them. “Y/n used to be my idol, a long time ago.”

“What happened?” Taeyong asks curiously. Your manager shares your story without you even opening your mouth, making you cringe as he shares the details of your sister’s accident before you can stop him. “Oh, that’s sad. Are you returning to SM then?”

“I haven’t looked into music in a while, I highly doubt it,” you reply sadly. The boys all lose their smiles, thinking of how painful it must have been for you.

“But perhaps we will sway you back over,” your manager says, trying to lighten the atmosphere unsuccessfully. The NCT boys all laugh awkwardly, as if they felt compelled to, and you just give a weak smile that doesn’t even attempt to agree with him.

“Y/n!” Amber screams from the door, making you jump. Her timing was impeccable in getting you out of the situation. “The girls are all waiting in the car downstairs. Shall we?”

---

You’d been back in Seoul for two days now. Somehow you had ended up in many meetings, despite the trip being a holiday. You had spent more time inside of SM’s building than you had outside of it.

But this meant that you’d gotten to know people around the company a lot more. Now you knew that that EXO was three members smaller, Red Velvet were going very strong, Super Junior hadn’t stopped making music and NCT hadn’t stopped growing in group size.

You got on particularly well with the NCT members. Your manager would try and force you to interact with them at any opportunity. Something told you that he was desperate for your return, but you were feeling stressed about the thought of it.

When you asked NCT if he was always like this, they had all agreed with you. Johnny had even said that sometimes he gave them all so many different events that they were just overwhelmed.

For the first time since coming back to Seoul, you’d be doing something lively in the evening. Taeyong, Taeil and Johnny were going to sneak you in to a masquerade event that celebrities had been invited to, and some of the older members of NCT would be attending.

Taeyong was waiting in the hotel lobby for you, his face hidden behind a mask to keep his identity hidden. His silver hair is styled back, and you wonder how much hair spray and makeup went into his look today. The thought makes you giggle as you greet him politely.

The taxi outside had three more boys inside, and you squished between a masked Johnny and Taeil, both whom hugged you as you greeted them. Opposite you was Jaehyun, with his shock written clear across his face behind the mask he was wearing. You giggle at his expression, waiting for him to finally recover.

“When you said we were picking up a mystery guess, I wasn’t expecting this,” Jaehyun says, running a hand over his styled brown hair. Johnny chuckles, poking your cheek before looping his arm in yours.

“We couldn’t not bring y/n. I feel like she needed a pick me up, ya know?” Johnny grins, and the comment makes you smile. The whole situation is overwhelming; you were going to a celebrity party as a friend of the boys, and you had an inkling of an idea on how that would be covered in the media tomorrow. You didn’t want to go inititally, but after Taeil had pouted and Taeyong begged until you agreed to come, you were excited.

The hotel that the party is being held at is lavish, and the number of cameras outside are ridiculous. Fans of the various people invited to the party line up, all nervously waiting to glimpse even a flash of their favourite people. You hide behind Taeyong and Jaehyun, praying that the mask you had bought is enough to cover your face from the cameras.

“So plan for the night is to keep y/n occupied all night,” Taeyong says quietly as you pass the cameras. All the boys have a stern look on their face as they pass the flashing cameras, looking extremely attractive. It’s moments like this that you don’t regret dropping out of music, because the intense lights and non-stop lifestyle is something that you don’t think you’ll ever become accustomed to. “Jaehyun, you get first watch.”

“I do not need babysitting,” you say indignantly. Taeyong gives you a smirk before disappearing inside the foyer with Johnny and Taeil, saying he was looking for a friend.

“Hi,” you say sheepishly to Jaehyun, who looks as intimidating as a Greek god stood in front of you in a suit and mask like that. Jaehyun glances at you before softening up and leading you into the hotel.

The time you spend with him is actually very pleasant, and it turns out that despite the intimidating facade, he is actually a sweetheart. He doesn’t hesitate in buying you a drink and introducing you - as a friend - to lots of idols his age that he knows. But by the twelfth new person you come into contact with, you were exhausted from the sudden busy introductions.

Jaehyun notices this, and politely wishes a farewell to an old friend before taking you over to the hotel’s large garden space. There are only a few people quietly chatting, leaving the two of you in peace. Jaehyun and you begin wandering around, both of you seemingly grateful for the quiet.

“It’s really tiring, isn’t it?” Jaehyun confesses quietly, loosening the mask on his face. “Like, don’t get me wrong. I love it, and I wouldn’t change my career for anything in the world. But sometimes I just think, damn I’d really love to know these people outside of this setting. When every move I make isn’t going to be judged by millions. You know?”

“Yeah, I know,” you smile sadly. Jaehyun looks even better in the moonlight, and it’s awfully distracting. “I guess I’m grateful that I escaped it. I’m not sure if I’d ever get used to this lifestyle, actually.”

“I’ve been in SM for a long time now. Johnny mentioned that he had seen you a few times, but I’ve never seen you before the other day. And have only heard of you a few times - how come you were never promoted like the f(x) girls?” Jaehyun asks innocently. You are happy to indulge him in your story, and tell him all about the promotions SM had planned for you.

“But your family needed you,” Jaehyun says sadly. You nod your head, not really sure what to say. “Would you ever consider joining the company again?”

“Mr Lee didn’t set you up for this, did he?” You jokingly say, making Jaehyun smile with laughter in his eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’m currently working a nine till five job in an office I hate. Songwriting was always my passion and now I couldn’t be further from it if I tried.”

“So maybe?”

“I think I’m a bit old for the whole idol thing now,” you chuckle, making Jaehyun shake his head. He claims how some of the idols in the company are twice your age and still making music. “But that’s Choi Siwon for you.”

Jaehyun’s eyes light up in laughter again, crinkling slightly at the sides as he grins at you. “Maybe. But I’m serious, even if it’s just song-writing. You should stop by the studio one night, see what you’ve still got in you.”

“Don’t expect me to Cherrybomb my way through the doors. I haven’t physically danced, or done sports for that matter, in so long that I don’t think I could manage,” you say, making Jaehyun laugh even harder. His laughter becomes washed away with the sound of the hotel nearing again, and you want to cringe at the busyness inside of the building. But somehow, you feel a little bit better about your future, and you aren’t sure how Jaehyun has done that for you.

---

“Wow, you actually came,” Jaehyun sounds surprised as you join him in the studio. He had asked Amber to tell you he’d be there in the evening. Amber hadn’t hesitated to tease you all day and had walked you to the studios to send you off, and you could already imagine the questions she would ask you later on.

“Don’t sound so surprised, Jaehyun, I dropped out of the company but I’m not that much of a let down,” you joke, joining him at the computer. This wasn’t the studio you spent countless hours pouring over a notebook and keyboard in, but it was still just as nostalgic.

Jaehyun laughs hard at your comment before shifting over on the bench. All he wears now are grey joggers and a baby blue hoodie that makes him look incredibly soft. It’s hard to believe he was the same man you were with last night, who was chiselled out of pure stone and intimidated everybody he spoke with.

He is happy to show you the things that he had been working on, which included as OST that he would be singing for an upcoming drama that a friend of his was directing.

“They are beautiful words,” you say to Jaehyun, spotting his notebook on the desk in front of him. The words are scrawled messily across the page, reminding you of your old notebooks. Seeing it makes you smile.

“Thank you. It’s a lot more heartfelt than I’m used to, so I’m a bit nervous,” Jaehyun says, resting his hands in his lap and turning to you. “But this isn’t about me. This is about you, and finding your passion for songwriting again-”

“Jaehyun I haven’t thought about writing in such a long time,” you politely cut him off, picking up a pencil and twirling it in your fingers. It was a lie, because you had spent a long time dreaming about continuing your passion from a company somewhere else instead. “I don’t think I could write anything if I tried.”

“But you haven’t tried, y/n. So you don’t know,” his argument is too good for you to battle against, and so you give up the debate before it’s even really begun. The smirk Jaehyun gives you makes your body shiver.

The two of you begin debating about your writing ability, and Jaehyun is determined to get something out of you before the day has ended. Just to prove a point you take the head and write the first line of words that come to your mind.

“That’s a start,” Jaehyun smiles, admiring your messy handwriting. “If only Mr Lee could see you right now.”

“I’d already have four mini-albums released,” you roll your eyes, making him laugh again. The way he expresses his happiness makes you smile, especially when he throws his whole body back and rests his hands on his stomach. Even his fluffy hair joins in, bouncing back and forwards until he controls it with his hands again.

Despite the intimacy of being this close to Jaehyun, with his notebook open that exposes his deepest thoughts to you, you feel really comfortable with him. His personality is sweet and funny at the same time, and you find it easy to chat with him. You don't end up writing anything else, and the short line of words on the page feels pathetic, but you just enjoy spending time with him.

It isn't until Amber calls you at exactly eleven thirty that either of you realise how late it is. Jaehyun looks at the phone then at you, raising an eyebrow, and you just cringe at the phone call. You sit in silence until it rings off, not wanting to share this time with anyone but him.

“I guess I really ought to go now,” you say, stuffing your phone into your pockets and facing Jaehyun. He is slowly packing away his things as well, clearly planning to leave.

“Let me walk you home?”

---

“Johnny I need your help,” Jaehyun announces as he walks into the taller boy's bedroom. “You are the only one I trust. Well, that's a lie. I don't trust you. But anyway, help.”

“What's up? I'm assuming a lot given the dramatic entrance,” Johnny snorts, sitting up from his bed. It was almost midnight, and Johnny was struggling to sleep, instead opting to interact with some lively fans on social media instead.

“Y/n. I asked her out on a date and now I don't know what to do,” Jaehyun says exhaustedly, slumping to the floor. Johnny merely raises an eyebrow in response.

“You really- wow, you know you've known her like a week, right?” Johnny asks, humour in his eyes. Jaehyun runs his hands through his hair, sighing angrily to himself.

“Yes. Which is the problem. But after spending all of the party together, and then hanging out with her tonight-”

“You hung out with her tonight?” The boy's tone is incredulous, leaving Jaehyun rolling his eyes tiredly.

“Yes, shut up. Only at the studio so it wasn't anything intense. But I'd really like to hang out with her properly, and not when I'm sweaty from dance practise and feel like a wreck,” Jaehyun confesses, leaving Johnny stumped. “And she said yes, so I said I'd text her with an idea and now my mind has gone blank.”

Johnny throws his head back and laughs at his friend's hopelessness, making Jaehyun smack his legs in annoyance. Johnny begins listing off first date ideas, ranging from the very basics of a nice lunch or cinema showing, to more extreme ones of skydiving and swimming with dolphins.

“I don't want to be boring, but also don't want to kill her,” Jaehyun complains to Johnny about his lack of consistency with his suggestions. Johnny laughs hard again before searching on his phone a better list for Jaehyun to choose from.

“How about bowling? Amber said to me once she used to love going bowling with the girls. Perhaps that would be a good start?” Johnny asks, locking his phone and facing Jaehyun. Jaehyun thinks about for it for a brief moment before a smile breaks out on his face.

“Yes, actually, I'd love that. And I think she would too,” Jaehyun grins, jumping up from the floor and thanking Johnny. He disappears from the room to text you privately in the space of his room, Haechan already asleep on the bed sheets across the room.

Jaehyun assumes that you'll be asleep at this time, so takes his time with a shower and getting changed for bed. But when he finally crashes again, there's one unread message under your name and he can't stop the smile on his face.

You reply that you'd love to go bowling with him, already asking for a date and time. Jaehyun can't contain his excitement as he asks about Friday night, knowing about a quiet bowling alley downtown that the boys go to when wanting to blow off steam. Despite the late hour, your excitement gets the best of you when you reply back an enthusiastic yes. Fifteen minutes later and Jaehyun is switching off his phone, entire body buzzing for Friday night.

---

“If I win tonight, you owe me dinner,” Jaehyun smirks at you as you both finish tying up your shoes. You raise an eyebrow at him, telling him that the game was on. You knew you were going to have the best time with the brown haired boy; and it shocked you, and Amber, that you were going to be going on a date with somebody so soon since returning to Korea. You were only planning to be here a short while, and whilst that was nagging at the back of your mind, you didn’t want it to ruin tonight.

It was safe to say that you had a good time. In fact, spending time with Jaehyun was incredible; he made you forget about all the stress that your life was, and filled a hole in your chest that you didn’t realise needed filling.

But it also turns out that he is incredible at bowling. And beats you by an easy thirty points, including two strikes that you had no hope of getting. Despite your competitive nature, you were happy to see him win. The glow on his face for the rest of the evening was worth the knock to your dignity.

However, it did spark the first argument when the two of you rolled up to a tiny vendor selling street food just outside the bowling alley. Whilst you were busy ordering some finger food for you and Jaehyun, he had taken out his wallet and handed the seller the correct change without debate.

“That wasn’t part of the contract!” You complain once out of earshot of the foodcart, not wanting to embarrass yourself in front of him anymore. “You said if you won, I’d pay.”

“I knew I was going to win anyway. I just wanted to see if you were any good,” Jaehyun laughs at the disappointed look on your face as you make your way through a quiet nearby park. “Besides, there was no way I was letting you pay. So you might as well just shut up about it already.”

“I don’t know if I can put up with this for too long,” you tease, watching Jaehyun’s mouth fall open as he goes to take a bite of his food. He makes a comment back that has you in stitches, and that’s how the rest of the evening goes for the pair of you. This flirty banter that keeps the conversation light hearted, entertaining, and makes Jaehyun fit the mould of the perfect guy even more.

He even goes to the effort of walking you to your hotel after the date ends, not wanting you to walk alone in the dark. In the quiet foyer of the hotel you turn to face him, carefully studying the lines of his face to gauge whether he’d like to meet again or not.

“We should do this again sometime,” you say bravely, sticking your hands in your coat pocket and swaying on the balls of your feet. “You are pretty cool, Jaehyun.”

“You aren’t too bad yourself,” Jaehyun chuckles, a hint of shock in his eyes from your compliment. “But yeah. All jokes aside, I would love to hang out with you again. Now for the awkward bit; am I allowed to give you a hug?”

You lean forward and extend your arms, Jaehyun meeting you halfway. He presses his face into the top of your head, and you smile against his chest at the action. He was becoming so perfect that it was beginning to become painful. When he finally lets go you give him a small wave before leaving him.

When in bed, you text Jaehyun and remind him to let you know when he gets home safe. As you do this, you realise that you might just be a little more invested in this relationship than you initially thought; granted it was still early days, however it had been so long since someone had made you feel this special.

This keeps you awake as you text Jaehyun late into the night. He complains about the busy schedule that he has tomorrow, and is subliminally sulking that he can’t see you either. You keep winding him up but truthfully you are a little sad as well.

Falling asleep that night, you are happier than you’ve been in a long time. It makes you confused that one date and hanging out a few times with Jaehyun can make you this happy. But you didn’t want to question it in fear that something bad would happen to it.

Jaehyun sends you a final goodnight text just as it becomes painful to keep your eyes open. The message, a simple ‘Goodnight y/n. Thank you for the wonderful evening x’ makes your heart flutter in your chest. As you roll over and close your eyes, you fall asleep with the biggest smile on your face. At this rate, you were somewhat certain that things with Jaehyun were going to go really well.

---

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