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#“oh yeah Troy didn’t have to fall when it did and how it did like it was gonna fall but it could have been at other times
odyss-sea · 5 months
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Aeneid Book 8
Virgil: The shield was so awesome I can’t describe it
*Queue three page long description of the shield*
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derrick-riches · 3 months
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The God of Pizza
            “Expect the cold front to move over shortly after sunset. Overnight temps dropping down to near freezing.” The voice on the radio droned on. I paid it little attention. Troy listened with bemusement. “As for snowfall? We’re looking for a light dusting in the valleys with two to four inches accumulation in the mountains.”             “Bullshit!” Troy coughed. He laughed heartily. He always laughed heartily, as if there was simply no other way to laugh. I turned my car off the freeway and towards the canyon entrance.
            “Love it!” Troy continued. “Around midnight, a heavy, wet snow will start. The temp will drop. By dawn, all that fake shit they’ve been spraying on the slopes will be buried, and the powder will fall. It’ll be righteous! By this time tomorrow, eight feet at the tops and six down the runs. Powder as deep as your tits.”
            That godawful George Harrison song they played endlessly in ’88 came on the radio. My box of mixtapes sat on the backseat, blocked by Troy’s skies. They fit snuggly in my Honda hatchback, with the tips resting on my dashboard. Troy’s gloves covered the points so they wouldn’t bang against the windshield.
            “Oh, Man!” Troy boomed. “Stoked! First ski of the season and a righteous storm!” He lightly punched my shoulder. “Best Part?”
            “What?” I asked when the pause implied I was supposed to ask. I took the first bend at the canyon base.
            “No one knows but me. Runs are up, but they’ll have to close the canyon for avalanche control. First on the mountain, man!” Troy howled loud enough to make my ears ring for a minute.
            “How much in the valley?” I asked.
            “What! Um, yeah. Like twelve, maybe sixteen inches on campus.”
            “Good.” I smiled.
            Troy stared out the window, looking to the clear, blue sky and the peaks of the mountains.
            “What time?”
            “Time. Oh. Yeah. ‘Bout midnight when it starts.”
            “Good. I’ll be back at my apartment. This car’s shit in the snow.”
            “Yeah. You should get a four by. With a ski rack.”
            “I don’t ski.”
            “Yeah, but I do. I just can’t get a driver’s license.”
            There was debate about why Troy didn’t drive and had no ID. Of course, he just used charm to get into bars or through the line at the liquor store. Troy got around town without ever being seen on a bus. If he wanted to go someplace, he got a ride. Often from people who didn’t know him and weren’t going in his direction. But if you asked any of them, they would say that it just seemed like the thing to do at the moment.
            “But the roads will be shit tomorrow, right? I can skip out on Thanksgiving at my folks?”
            “Nah, man. The feasts the thing. Crash there tonight. Take it all in. Got to love Turkeyday, man!”
            “It’s not the food. It’s the company.”
            “That right? Yeah. I get you. I got a sister. All about horticulture. These harvest fests make her crazy. Cooks for days and then complains that no one helps.”
            “Thanks again for the ride, Thunder,” Troy delivered another punch to my shoulder. This one, harder than the last. The whole time, he never took his eyes off the sky.
            Troy was the God of Pizza. The off-campus Pie Pizzeria’s best cook. Every slice he pulled from the brick oven was perfect. The crusts, hearty and crisp. Toppings, flawless in quantity and distribution. The pile of cheese melted to the exact moment of pull, right before the oils begin to separate. No other pizza cook could do what he did. A single slice from the God of Pizza cured depression or the stress of finals. First dates became instant successes. Waning relationships would rekindle. For the four years he held court in that graffiti-covered joint, it was the best in the world.
            When his shift ended, Troy could willingly drag a group of complete strangers into a night of drinking, feasting, and festivities. He was known to show up at the apartment of an acquaintance, a tower of pizzas in hand, and spontaneously create a block party. He laughed. He drank. He partied. And he made pizza. Pizza worthy of the gods.
            I never knew if Troy was his real name. In fact, I doubted it. A woman who had spent a summer surfing with him in SoCal claimed she knew his real name and story, but no one actually believed her. Partly because running off with a pizza cook to spend a few months riding the waves was so out of character for someone who was prelaw.
            But The Pie always had a thing with names. They served beer, and state law said that any employee serving alcohol had to wear a tag with unique identification. The predominately female counter staff wore tags with a name and number. It was the number that identified them according to the law. Not the name. This explained why the staff included people named Ceres, Flora, Minerva, Aurora, and Vesta.
            Regular customers, similarly, would invariably end up with a nickname. On the day I went from random college kid to regular, I was wearing an X-rated Bambi t-shirt. I got the nickname “Thumper.” A few months later, it was misheard by new counter staff and became “Thunder.” After that, when my order would come up, Troy would shout out, “God of Thunder” over the PA. I liked it better than my usual nickname, Nick. As in short for nickname.
            But let’s be serious. I was no thunder god. Yes, streetlights would turn off occasionally when I passed under them. A phenomenon that occurred just enough to be noticed by close friends and served as a bit of a driving hazard. But I couldn’t predict snowfall with the level of precision that Troy could.
            As the car climbed above the s-curve where White and Jenkins had died in a stolen white Jeep on graduation night, Troy rolled down the window. He stuck his head out to smell the air. The sun was dipping towards the horizon and shone straight up the canyon. The air was getting crisp as we climbed above seven thousand feet.
            I thought about whether or not I had any choice, driving Troy fourteen miles up a winding canyon on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I had already done a four-hour shift at the museum, been to both classes held that day, and eaten a slice too many. But as I drove, I wasn’t tired or bored. I thought about Troy. In action at bars, the pizza joint, or on a street corner, he was irresistible. A force of jocularity greater than mere mortals. And yet, he was adamant about consent. He always asked. He always gave space to say no. And he always listened.
            In fact, he was a defender of consent. I had seen him send pitchers of beer to a table of frat boys with unhappy dates to ensure that they, the frat fucks, would be too drunk to fuck. While they puked in the alleyway, Troy would recruit a couple of trusted regulars to get young women home safely. Abusers, the violent, or the simply angry, always seemed to get foiled, sidetracked, or come to trouble around Troy. It was just a thing he did. The party that followed him wherever he went was always happy and safe
            Of course, whether I was coerced into spending my afternoon playing taxi driver for Troy didn’t really matter. After all, there are few things that will improve your college experience like having the God of Pizza in your debt.
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for-fucks-sake-h · 3 years
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At My Weakest - three
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rated: m, mature | word count: 4.4k | story page 
“I am summer... yearning for a drop of your rain.” 
   - Gemma Troy 
“Fucking finally,” Harry growled, his body shooting forward to press Gianna against the kitchen counter.
She was equally fervent, gripping into the collar of that god forsaken polka dot shirt like her life depended on it, tasting his kiss like it was her first meal after starving.
That’s what it felt like; like she was starving for him. For the sounds he made, for his skin under her palms, for that excruciating push of his cock inside her. Every single part of him only made her crave more.
“Thought she’d never leave,” Gianna gasped as her head fell back on her neck.
Harry’s mouth took no pause in finding its way to the soft skin of her throat, sucking kiss after kiss to her racing pulse.
He squeezed her hips tightly, pulling her even closer as his mouth trailed down her neck and chest. She felt like the most comfortable blanket, soft and pillowy in every way, every single curve of her body driving him mad.  
When she slipped out from his insistent crowding, and her fingers latched into the open buttons of his shirt, he followed her without thought. Let her lead him down the hall, fingers still gripping to her, mouth still attempting to find any piece of skin he could.
“This shirt is ridiculous,” Gianna flippantly commented on the oversized pink polka dots as they stumbled into his bedroom, Harry slamming the door closed behind them.
Her fingers moved at lightning speed to get every button open, pushing the pink fabric from his shoulders as soon as she could. She could pretend like she really thought it was ridiculous all she wanted, but she knew deep down that he could wear anything and make it look good.
That wasn’t something she either noticed or cared about before. It was unnerving the way she looked at him now, how the sliver of his chest caught her eye the moment she saw him, how it sent a blazing spike of heat down her spine just from a glimpse of his skin.  Maybe it was because she knew what it felt like beneath her fingers now, the feel of his skin overtop the supple yet firm expanse of his chest was now ingrained in her mind with nowhere to go, no outlet, no escape.  
Harry shook his arms loose from the fabric and no sooner did the shirt hit the floor did he have both hands gripping her - one on the smallest part of her soft waist and the other wrapped against her jaw, angling her face up to his.
“That why you were eyeing me up back there?” The words were spoken low in Harry’s throat, timbre deep as he looked down at her with blazing eyes.
It was amazing really, the way the green would change right before her eyes. She’d noticed it before. It was as if every time he looked at her for more than a few seconds, his irises would dilate and the green and gold specks would illuminate so bright she had to look away.
Except for now. Now she bathed in it, silently begging for it to swallow her whole.
She didn’t bother with a response, instead leaned up slowly, eyes steady on his as she torturously closed every inch between them. Until her lips were encased in soft pink warmth and her body melted.
He wrapped her up in him, pulled her so close she felt like she could barely breathe, like she was suffocating from the scent of his shampoo and buttery softness of his lips. And she welcomed it. Adored it, longed for it, begged for more. She couldn't get close enough, and it felt like a sin to have to separate long enough for them to pull their clothes off. Her shirt, her pants, his pants, her bra, his boxers, all falling to the floor one after another until he was mercifully tugging her underwear down her thighs as his tongue slipped along her bottom lip.      
Gianna’s squeal of a giggle was rambunctious in comparison to the growl that escaped Harry’s throat when he practically tackled her onto his bed, immediately sinking into the mattress - sinking into eachother’s warmth and eagerness.  
Her hands raked through his hair when he kissed across her jaw, nipping softly on his way down her chest. She arched into him, back curving off the mattress in an attempt to get closer, until his mouth circled her nipple so delicately she felt like her skin could crawl off.  But when his warm tongue smoothed over her nipple, flicking the peak over and over again, she was all breathless moans and gripping hands.
And that was the thing about Harry, he loved it. Wanted more sounds slipping from her perfect lips, wanted her to tug on his hair harder, wanted her hips twitching off the mattress more than she could bear.  
He looked up at her, enamored with the way her chin was tilted back, her neck and jaw tight and on display, her breath visibly escaping her heaving chest when his hand slipped down her body to find its way between the hot skin of her thighs.  
Her moan was like a song he couldn’t stop playing, a melody he hummed to himself without even noticing, that’s how much it was intricately rooted in his brain.  He wanted to hear it as much as possible, over and over, louder and louder. He got inklings of it when he teased her, snippets when his mouth tormented her, and a smooth, keening noise fell from her lips when his middle finger slipped inside her.  A hook, a twist and a steady, slow pump had her hips moving with him, following every movement like a carefully choreographed dance.  
“You’re so fucking sexy,” Harry murmured against her chest, his tongue sweeping out over her nipple once more.  
Her nails scratched against his scalp in response, her moan sending another wave of fire across his skin.  He pushed himself up onto his forearm, eyes entranced with every curve of her body, flicking wildly from the blissful look on her face to the way her hips rolled against the mattress as he eased another finger inside her.  
“Please…” she breathed, one hand gripping to the bed sheet while the other squeezed tighter to a handful of his roots.  
Her back arched further, her hips stilling for a moment as he curled his fingers deeper and stopped, hooking them in a way that had her head going fuzzy.  He remained completely still, breath caught in his throat as she swirled her hips before angling down on his fingers further.  He was mesmerized, watching in awe as she practically grinded down on his fingers, her hips making patterns against his mattress.
“There you go,” he encouraged her softly, eyes trained on every move she made. “That’s it, love. Mhm, there you go.” His voice was so low he didn’t even recognize it. It was like he could barely get the words out but couldn’t stop from saying them.      
It was like something switched for him in that moment. He’d give this girl anything she wanted, fill any desire she had, if it meant keeping her there. He’d never had that before; to have someone in his bed and be thinking about how he could get her to stay within his sheets after the high had been chased.
A whine crawled up his throat at the thought, completely taking him off guard. He pressed his forehead into her sternum, somehow feeling her heart hammering through her skin. Maybe it was his imagination - his foggy, desire filled thoughts playing tricks on him.
Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe he could feel her heart beating for him in a way that was more than just lust, more than whatever pleasure he was giving her.
“Harry,” she breathed, her voice like honey whenever her lips caressed his name.
He pressed his forehead into her chest more, tongue languidly lapping out to taste her skin. He couldn’t stop from planting wet kisses against her trembling frame, his laps laying her heart for a moment, as if he could absorb her rhythmic heartbeat to match his own.
And then all he could do was slither down her body, catching the way her hips arched up to him to meet his greedy mouth, tongue licking fully through her wet folds with no preamble.
He moaned when she moaned, tasting her fully and breathless asking for more.
“Yeah, go on,” he mumbled against her clit, groaning harshly when her hands pulled tighter on his hair, her hips rolling on their own accord.
“Oh my,” she breathed, her words cutting off with a gasping moan.
Harry gripped Gianna’s hips in his hands, encouraging her to grind against his mouth more. “Fuck my face,” he demanded, his words coating her sensitive skin like a promise.
“God, fuck,” she cursed under her breath, shaking as he licked against her once more.
She lifted her head from the mattress in time to see him pulling away, a small whine emitting from her throat as he moved away.
“Come on. Do it right,” he spoke eagerly as he laid back, his hands grabbing at any part of her he could. “Fuck my face.”  
The devilish smile pulling at her lips did nothing but ignite the fire in the pit of Harry’s stomach, every inch of his skin tingling as he watched her pull up from the bed to crawl over him, legs straddling his waist for a moment as her face hovered over his.
“Who are you,” she murmured, obviously not really caring for a reply before her full lips were pressed against his in a slow kiss, her tongue sweeping against his only to taste herself.
Harry’s hands smoothed over her waist, trailing down her hips until he could grip the supple flesh of her thighs, his fingers digging in harder than ever.
Everything she did made him hotter than the moment before, his body blazing beneath her as he guided her up his chest until her knees planted on either side of his head.
He couldn’t take it, she was moving too slow; he needed her on his tongue again. So with a gentle squeeze and tug against her hips, her knees slid apart the inch needed for him to lift his head from the mattress and find her delicate skin, warm and wet and waiting for him.
Her gasp was all the encouragement he needed to pull her down fully on him, until every inch of his mouth and chin was covered in her desire. He gripped her hips tighter, lapping across her clit over and over as she moaned.
One hand pressed against the small of her back, the other splaying out across the soft skin of her lower stomach until his thumb could find her clit and his tongue could press into her fully.
“Shit,” Gianna gasped, one of her hands pushing roughly through the top of his hair as the other gripped at one of his wrists.
“Mhm,” Harry hummed against her core as she found her perfect rhythm - until she was rolling her hips without any second thought, grinding against his mouth and chin, chasing her high.
Maybe this is what real bliss was, he thought.  A woman doing exactly what she wants with you.
He could tell when her high took over, ripping through her body until she was trembling over him, legs twitching and shaking as she pressed him further into the mattress by his hair, the sounds slipping from her throat paired with her orgasm coating his tongue only making him throb harder.
She practically collapsed over him, one of her hands still in his hair as her other caught her upper half from falling completely. She eased onto the bed beside him, and like a moth to a flame, he followed, rolling onto his side, his face in line with her stomach.
“Fuck,” she breathed as he pressed his lips just below her belly button, sucking kisses being planted on her overly warm skin - her hip, her waist, her breast, her neck - making his way up her body until he reached her face.
She kissed him when his lips found hers, sucking his plush bottom lip into her mouth easily as her hand cupped the side of his neck.
“Your mouth is…” she started as her fingers trailed down his body, leaving goosebumps in their wake. And she may have finished her sentence, but Harry couldn’t be sure with the ringing in his ears just as her hand found his length.
He may have been embarrassed by the noise that escaped his throat when she wrapped her fingers around him if he was in any stable state of mind. But he wasn’t. All of his thoughts were of her and the pleasure coursing through his body.
He couldn’t get enough, and he couldn’t keep up with her - completely overwhelmed.
No sooner was she kissing his mouth before she was kissing his tip, a groan pulling from deep in his chest as his back met the mattress and her warm mouth encased him.
“G,” he breathed, his fingers fisting through his own hair once and twice as she bobbed on him. “Love,” he moaned as she sucked, one of his hands finding the back of her head weakly, fingers scratching against her scalp to pull her attention back to him.
She pulled off his length with a gentle pop, looking up at him with swollen, overly bitten lips and dazed eyes.
“You’re gonna make me explode,” he chuckled weakly, begging his eyes to stay open and on her. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and somehow she was in his bed, giving him more pleasure than he deserved.
Her lips curled into a self assured smile as she crawled up his body. “That’s the point,” she whispered as her lips found his once more, her core lining up with his length perfectly.
He kissed her back with a moan, heat prickling his skin everywhere she touched. Her wet core brushed his length over and over again as her lips smoothed over his, until he couldn’t take it anymore, reaching down to guide himself into her when she pressed back into him again.
It was slow, the way their bodies connected fully as they moaned into each other’s mouths. They both ached for that feeling in the same way, gripping hands and contented sighs falling from their lips as they melted into each other with ease.
“I’ll never get enough of you,” Harry whispered against her mouth, the words spilling from his lips without thought.
Gianna moved over him with a lazy roll of her hips, wanting nothing more than to let herself infinitely mold to him.
“Good...” she moaned as she pushed herself up, her hands planting themselves on the strongest part of his chest, her hair curtaining around her face as she rode him harder, “don’t.”  
Her words were simple, but they didn’t need to be any more than that. Harry could hear it in her tone; he knew that she was guarded and working against it. And how could she not be. He understood. But when they were like this, she didn’t feel closed off. It was like she couldn't stop herself, like her ribcage opened, exposing her vulnerable, overly beating heart.  
“Fuck,” he groaned, gripping her sides, her hips, the fullness of her ass, eyes traveling over her in awe. He reached up quickly, grabbing the back of her neck to pull her down to him and meet her mouth with needy lips.  
She kissed him feverishly, moaning into his mouth with every thrust of her hips. Her hands found his throat, cupping each side lightly at first, before her grip tightened a bit, and then a bit more, and then a tiny bit more than that.  
He gasped around a groan as his eyes rolled closed, his hips helplessly meeting hers as he came, a sound similar to a muffled shout slipping past his lips.  She watched him ride out his high, his face relaxing from crinkled brows to a lazy, blissed out smile.
He was gorgeous.    
She smothered him completely, his arms instantly wrapping around her waist to keep her close.  
“You’re fucking amazing,” he murmured into the skin of her neck, the scent of her shampoo making him feel like he was high. Maybe he was... completely and totally high on her.  
She hummed as she raked her fingers through the side of his sweaty hair, the contentness of his arms around her that tightly doing more than she knew it could.  
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When Gianna cuddled further into the soft sheets that surrounded her, she expected a warm body to also be encasing her.  
Instead, the sheets were crinkled beside her, empty, the room still dark from the night.  She could hear muffled voices coming from the apartment. Harry’s bedroom door was cracked open, the light from the kitchen visible.  
She creeped out of his bed, tip-toeing across the room to stand by the door and peek through the opening.  
He was arguing, she could tell by his rushed words without being able to make out what he was saying.
“Don’t be stupid, Harry.”
That was Gemma, and for whatever reason, her words made Gianna’s heart plummet. She knew they were talking about her, how could they not be.
Gianna never slept in his room, for the weeks that their thing was going on, she always snuck out of his room at some point. And for this exact reason.
“Okay, Gem,” he said sarcastically. “Gonna go to bed now, if that’s alright.”  
Gianna moved away from the door, rushing back into his bed, purposely facing away from his side of the bed when she laid down.
He crept in moments later, a sigh escaping his lips once his door was pushed closed. Gianna tried to even her breathing despite her racing heart, listening as he walked over to the bed, a couple of beats passing before he was sliding in beside her. He released another sigh once he was laying down, the bed moving as he presumably turned onto his side.
It was quiet then, Gianna keeping perfectly still as she breathed softly, her thoughts racing still even as her heart slowed. She didn’t need to know the whole conversation to know Gemma didn’t like what was going on between them. She assumed the protective sister in her came out, and Gianna couldn’t really blame her. She had baggage, and a lot of it. Nothing good could come from this, whatever it was.    
But even though Gianna knew she was playing with fire, she wanted to be burned.  
And then Harry’s arm wrapped around her waist to pull her into his waiting chest, as if he could hear her thoughts.  
“Sorry, sorry,” Harry eased when she startled at his touch. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered as she settled against him, his knee finding its way between her legs as he held her close, his body easily melting against hers once more.
Harry fell asleep almost instantly. Gianna took quite a bit longer before her drowsiness finally pulled her under.  
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“Friday?” Gemma asked with wide eyes. “That’s so soon, babe.”  
Gianna nodded from where she leaned over the kitchen counter, finishing a piece of pizza over the open box, still in her work clothes sans heels.  
“I know, but it was available now so I figured I should jump on it before someone else did.”
After the night she overheard Harry and Gemma arguing, Gianna couldn’t find her own place fast enough. It was time - she had overstayed her welcome on Harry and Gemma’s couch.
If anything, she thought maybe she overstayed her welcome in Harry’s bed, too. 
As an easy fix, she went on the hunt for her own place and luckily enough, found something she liked that she could afford on her own and could move into in less than a week.  
She didn’t want things to get weird between her and Harry, or her and Gemma.  Gianna had known them for a long time, and they were there for her through everything with Steve - took her in with no questions.  She would be lucky to sneak out of all this with no damage.  
So she signed a lease and would be moving out of their place in two days. She knew it was fast, but truly thought it was for the best.
“Did you tell Harry?”  
Gianna internally winced, careful not to show a reaction as she brushed her hands together over the pizza box before turning her back to Gemma to wash her hands.  
“Not yet, I haven’t seen him the last couple days. Work’s been crazy busy.”  
The truth was, Gianna was actively working late to avoid him. By the time she got home the last few nights, she would be so tired that she passed out on the couch. It was effective - Harry usually went to bed early and was up way before her in the mornings - making their paths uncrossable.
“Well, you should let him know soon.”
Gemma’s features were soft when Gianna turned back to her. There was something behind Gemma’s eyes, like she had a secret, but she didn’t expand any further.
And Gianna thought about the look on her face for the rest of the evening. While she cleaned up the kitchen, while she showered, while she got herself situated on the couch at nearly 1AM.  
Harry’s bedroom door hadn’t even cracked open, not even a sound coming from the room since Gianna had gotten home. She contemplated going in there, sneaking in and just slipping into his bed and his warm embrace. But she stopped herself. Soon enough she wouldn’t have that luxury anyway so she might as well just get used to it.  
The truth was, and she wasn’t sure why, but she was afraid to tell Harry she was leaving. Maybe because she knew their little arrangement was coming to an end and she wasn’t ready for that to be a reality yet. Maybe deep down she knew she had let herself get too deep in it and now had to climb her way out. She liked Harry, she liked him too much.  
That was the thing about secrets, wasn’t it? They always found a way out.  
So two days later, after still having not told Harry that she was moving, Gianna felt like her stomach could fall right out of her body at the sight of him in the doorway of his room, quietly watching her collect the few random things that had found a home amongst his.
She was completely unaware that he had stood there for more minutes than he was even sure, watching her attach a hair clip to the bottom of her shirt, picking up her current read from the nightstand she had wordlessly taken over, a chapstick that she hadn’t minded sharing. He watched as her fingers slowly drifted over a stray tee shirt that hung from the back of his desk chair, seemingly lost in thought, before she decidedly plucked it from its place to claim it as her own.
She had claimed a lot of things hers in the time she spent hidden away in his bedroom.
Her small gasp seemed genuine, somehow not sensing his presence. That alone had Harry holding back a cryptic laugh, because he could feel her even when she was in a different room.
“You scared me,” she breathed with a hand over her chest.
“Sorry.”  
They wordlessly stared for a moment, eyes attempting to say things that neither of them had the courage to utter.
“Going somewhere?” Harry finally spoke, his tone cooler than ever.
And she hated that it effectively caused a chill to roll down her spine.
“I found a place.”  
Silence again, a small nod of understanding from Harry. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans before casually leaning against the door frame.
“Cool. Do you like it?”
He looked completely indifferent, making conversation like any other day. Except that they didn’t make small talk like this anymore. Many conversations had been held in his bedroom, some funny, some serious, some sexy, some dreamlike, and some so open that they practically hurt.
“Yeah, it’s nice.”  Gianna fiddled with the sleeve of her blouse, subconsciously pulling at the loose thread that hung from the seam.
“When do you move in?”
Gianna tried not to outwardly cringe. “Tonight.”  
She wasn’t sure what she was expecting… resistance? She couldn’t even explain why she should expect that from him other than simply wanting it. There was a part of her that just wanted him to want her to stay.
“That’s great, G. Congrats.”  
The resistance was surely nowhere in sight. Emotion, yearning, pensiveness - also nonexistent.
Gianna knew it wasn’t fair to want a reaction from Harry, but his passiveness was a stark difference from what she had seen from him as of late. But they did what they did, and now it was over. It wasn’t something that could have lasted forever, and that was never the intention anyway.
But as much as it was the right time for Gianna to move forward, she couldn’t help feeling like she was leaving him behind, regardless of him being okay with being left. He helped her in more ways than she could have explained, and for that fact alone, she’d miss their time together.
That wasn’t the only reason.
“Well, thanks for… everything.” Gianna watched every minute movement he made.
“Come on, I didn’t do anything,” Harry countered with a wave of his hand, eyes trailing across her face.
Gianna forced a small smile before choosing that moment to walk towards him and his bedroom door. Harry stood up straight in the doorway - that was as far as he could will his body to move. He wanted to give her a hug at least, he wanted to tell her that he would miss her, but all he did was stand there.
When Gianna leaned up to press the softest kiss to the corner of his mouth, lips like a flower brushing his skin, Harry’s breath caught in his throat, his heart beating so roughly that he was sure she could hear it.
“I’ll see ya around,” she murmured, her perfume caressing him the way her skin once had.
Harry moved into his room, silently sitting on the edge of his bed with a lump in his throat as he listened to the jingle of her keys lifting from the entry table bowl, his head hanging and his eyes drifting shut by the time the heavy door closed behind her.
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a/n: Welcome back! I should be saying that to myself, I know lol. I’m honestly so happy I could get something out of my head. I really hope you enjoyed it. The literal biggest thanks to my girls @oh-honey-styles​ @andwhenshesays​ for inspiring me daily and giving me their unconditional support I love you both so much. Clink clink! Thank you to anyone that reads, it’s greatly appreciated. I would love to hear your thoughts!  
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"you were missed, you know.” the voice is light, balancing on the edge of airy like a coin on its rim, in a way only careful practice yielded. so jason whirls around, faster than he normally would in a neatly-pressed suit and loose dress shoes. 
there’s a woman, close cropped red hair swinging into her face and pulling at the corners of her mouth until her expression is as severe as her form. there’s a scar on her jaw and, oh, the memory tumbles into his head as if pushed. kate kane, proof that vigilantism is genetic, once tugged jason into into her side and pulled him away from a particularly leering investor at function. the bite of her nails on his skin was a thousand times sweeter than the man’s smile.
she smirks. “hi.”
“haven’t seen you in a while,” jason responds, attempting casual and instead tripping, falling into his crime lord persona, since he doesn’t know how else to interact with people when he’s jason peter todd-wayne. 
“not since you died,” kate remarks and damn, right for the gullet. “you’ve grown up.”
jason shrugs, suddenly feeling thirteen years old again, suddenly feeling all of four feet, eight inches in the face of her candidness. “time’s funny like that.”
she eyes him carefully, trying to fish for the truth in what she believes is a lie wrapped in a careful quip. jason doesn’t blame her: he’s cultivated quite a reputation for himself. but he stripped the sarcasm from his words before he spoke them, and their rawness is shrouded in the bubbling champagne and crystal chandelier around them, but it’s no less present for anyone who knows how to peel the veil back.
“you were missed,” she repeats, satisfied with his answer. “not sure anyone’s told you that since you’ve come back. your family’s a stubborn bunch. i just wanted to make sure.”
“make sure i knew i was missed?” jason clarifies, feeling a little foolish, because dick wouldn’t beg to save his life but there were a few times that his words came close to pleas, and tim had made it clear how much he’d upheld the pedestal he’d put jason on, and alfred had actually told him that to his face. 
but this was the first time he found himself truly believing those familiar words. he hadn’t known kate, not at all. and yet, she nodded, clapped him on the shoulder once, twice, then left, completely unaware of the pit of resentment she’d carved out of jason’s stomach and thrown on the ground until jason felt like he’d slip on it if he moved, if he breathed.
she didn’t look back, but jason’s eyes didn’t stop following her until she was out of sight.
*
"you were missed, you know.” jason doesn’t startle, his training is etched into every scar decorating his skin, and there are times that he grips and holds onto those scars like a lifeline. he’s far too practiced to flinch, but he’d be lying to himself if his heart didn’t skip a beat.
he forgave himself in the next second, though. cassandra cain could make men much more experienced than him recoil. she appeared soundlessly, and folded down beside him with a grace that jason hadn’t seen anywhere outside his family. the amount of space she left between them, the relaxed posture that left visible tension cording through her arms like pulling steel taffy, the tilt to her body that made jason automatically want to open his mouth and let his tumultuous thoughts come out as an oil spill: right now, cass had dick grayson’s brushtrokes all over her.
“dick put you up to this?” 
cass shook her head, then bit her lip in a considering movement. jason wondered if he’d practiced, because bruce had long since broken that dangerous habit out of his children. 
“i am still working on comfort. assurance,”  she said, rifling through the words like flash cards, picking the most accurate ones. “i thought i’d practice.”
“oh? and why exactly do you think i need comfort.”
“i overheard your argument,” she admitted, “with bruce.”
“i didn’t think anyone was there.”
“i didn’t mean to,” she said. “sorry. but i heard what you said.”
jason scoffed. “prove me wrong. one step forward, two steps back with that dense motherfucker.”
“sign of protection,” cass said. “not distrust.”
out of everyone to say that to him, cass was probably the least likely. jason had thought she, of all people, would be on his side after he found the microchip in his helmet. she, of all people, would value independence after being owned for so long.
“by the time he found you, you were dead. and he missed you more than anything. he will never let that happen again.”
“oh yeah? privacy mean nothing to him? i know he’s crazy about this stuff but come on. there’s a limit.”
“you are not relying on him because of this.” cass stood up, stretching her back, though jason was sure she really didn’t have to. “he is relying on you. let him.”
*
“you were missed, you know.” 
“what, speaking from personal experience? i ain’t you, west.” jason could feel the gentle thrum of electricity behind him, making his hair stand on edge. two steps backward, and he’d be pulled into that void, that black hole of energy, that swirling vortex of pure power condensed into something human-shaped.
except he wouldn’t. it was just wally. just dick’s best friend joining him outside on the balcony. jason didn’t know how dick and tim could stand to be around speedsters willingly, for fun.
“i mean, sort of,” wally shrugged. “but me and you had very different experiences.”
“yeah, west, i’m not sure who else has been stuck in the fucking speedforce.”
wally snorted, an if only you knew hidden in plain sight. jason decided he really didn’t want to know. “i mean there’s that,” the speedster concedes, “but also, everyone forgot i existed. that didn’t happen with you.”
“you sure about that?” 
“hey,” wally eyed him, his eyes suddenly sharp. “don’t start that shit. i was erased from the memories of everyone i loved. you did nothing but stay in the memories of your family.”
“now i know we’re talking about two different things.”
“jason,” wally sighed, and the sheer exasperation pouring off him made jason want curl his fingers, bring them up for a swing, taste the bite of pain that would prick at his knuckles, nevermind the fact that wally would dodge anyway. “don’t do that.”
he turned to face the speedster, arms crossed deliberately over his chest. “where the hell do you get off acting like dick?”
“you’re more like dick than you realize,” wally said, “and i spent half my childhood dealing with his moods. actually, i still do.”
“do you have a point?” jason snapped, starting to get irritated. he wasn’t sure why. he’d spent his entire life one one end of a scale, dick grayson on the other. he’d always tipped his end down. this was the first time someone was telling him the scale was even.
“just because your family didn’t mourn the way you wanted them to,” wally said, “doesn’t mean they didn’t mourn you.”
“fuck you.”
“they loved you. and they missed you,” wally continues, steamrolling right over jason in a way most speedsters were prone to do. “there’s no minimum requirement for loss. no ‘if you didn’t do this, then you didn’t grieve me.’ that’s not even a situation, ever.”
“so that makes everything bruce did okay?” jason sputtered
“not at all. god knows i disagree with bruce on more things than i tolerate. but this is one thing you can’t fault him on.”
it wasn’t that easy, though. jason wanted to scream it at wally’s face, it wasn’t that easy. it wasn’t about whether bruce loved him enough,,,,except maybe it was. jason wanted bruce to have loved him enough to make a difference in gotham. jason wanted bruce to have missed him enough to change things, because change meant that bruce had been so hurt by his death that he refused to let it happen to anyone else again.
bruce had made a vow after his parents died. the fifteen year old inside jason was begging bruce why he hadn’t been afforded the same devotion. jason was his son.
“just something to think about,” wally said, then stepped backward, making to go inside where dick was calling him. “you were afforded the luxury of coming back with a place left empty in your family for you. you didn’t have to make it, like i did.”
“being dead, then coming back wrong isn’t a fucking luxury,” jason snarled.
with a shrug, wally turned, a little faster than the average human, lightning sparking at his heels as he left jason alone on the balcony. “depends on your definition of wrong.”
jason get therapy. please. also happy deathday
honestly i couldn’t decide whose side of the argument i was on, jason’s or wally’s.
tag list: @woahjaybird @birdy-bat-writes @anothertimdrakestan @screennamealreadyused @subtleappreciation @pricetagofficial @catxsnow @bikoncon @bonkybearjpeg @maplumebleue-blog-blog @sundownridge @thatsthewhump @xatanna-troy @red-hood-redemption
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shijjii · 3 years
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5 alarms that woke Chad up and 1 that didn't
Pretty self explanatory, noh?
(also, Chad has three siblings, two siblings that are two years older than him (twins, Fynn and Esi) and a sister younger than him by one year only (Adia), and he has two mothers Brianna Johnsons and Aimee Danforth (Fynn, Esi and Adia are Brianna's children) wow this is a long explanation I'm so sorry, please enjoy this thing)
One; cookies and lavenders
Sophomore year was something that he was supposed to enjoy, or at least, that's what his older siblings had told him.
Chad groaned as he sat by the window and waited for someone to sit beside him. Troy was somewhere near his dad, it was Mrs. Bolton's request that her baby boy not be separated from his father while travelling, so Chad was left to his own device, sitting by himself in the bus, looking outside the window as if he's in a movie
The others were already paired off when Troy told him his mother's request, making Chad unable to ask anyone else to sit with him
"you okay there, man?" he looks up to see Zeke standing from behind him. He was paired with Jason, who was already catching his sleep. It was way too early in the morning to even be awake but he did not complain as he knew how long the trip would be
"yeah, man. Just a little bummed, I guess?" Zeke hummed, disappearing into his seat for a moment and popped up once more with a Tupperware in hand "here, help yourself with these. I-Mom made it last night for me" Chad stared at it and took the container from his teammate's hand, thanking him before settling down as the bus started to move
He was too focused eating the cookies that he didn't notice someone sitting beside him until someone elbowed him due to the fact that the person beside him was almost tangled up with his bag
"oh, sorry" Chad looks up to see Ryan Evans, adjusting his lavender newsboy cap
"ish okay" he replies, mouth filled with cookies, Ryan was almost out of the bag's grip on him but he made one mistake and all of a sudden, it seemed like he was back to square one, making him click his tongue in annoyance. Chad settled the cookies in his lap and helped the boy out of his misery
"thanks" once the bag was now on the floor, Ryan thanked him and Chad just quietly hummed as he stared at Ryan and his lavender cap and lavender pants. He looked at the container in his hands before offering some to Ryan, who smiled and took one. He thanked Chad once more before Chad decided he had enough of the cookies and rest his head on the window to catch some sleep
He woke up when something was ringing and vibrating underneath his butt, groggily looking for whatever that was, he finds a phone that was definitely not his, he turns off the alarm and looks at Ryan who was asleep, with his arms crossed and head facing up the ceiling as his newsboy cap covered his face
Chad also noticed that he was shivering slightly and took off his jacket to put it on the boy, adjusting it a couple of times so that it won't fall off, he had to tuck in some of thr fabric and smiled to himself once he was satisfied with it
looking at the phone that was in his hand, he wasn't sure where he'll put it so he puts it inside the pocket of his jacket, hoping that Ryan will notice the phone once he wakes up
Two; illegal
Chad was waiting for Taylor to finish her daily 'light' reading in the library, he didn't really have anything else to do since Troy was off canoodling with his girlfriend
he made an impatient noise once more, making Taylor put her book down "if you don't want to read then just sleep" he looks at her for some time before deciding that she was right. He can just take a nap, so he made himself comfortable and crossed his arms, tilting his head down and closing his eyes. Tuning out the quiet chatter of some students who were discussing the theory of general relativity
He was startled awake as he hears a loud ring from somewhere inside the library, Taylor was almost finished with her reading when she too, was startled by the loud ring
"what the heck" she mumbles under her breath as she looks at the source of the noise, only to see Ryan scrambling to look for his phone to turn off the alarm
He was hatless and one side of his face was red, there were outlines on that side making chad presume that the boy had fallen asleep with his head on the table
The way Ryan rubbed the sleep away from his eyes and look for his fedora that fell on the floor when he was woken up by the alarm was doing things to Chad, and he didn't mind being suddenly woken up if the view was like that
"keep staring and he might melt" Taylor smirked at Chad as she closed her book, he huffs out in annoyance "let him melt then, it's illegal to look that good when you've just woken up" Taylor lets out a breathy laugh and stand up "come on, lover boy. Gabriella just texted me, saying that Troy's looking for you"
They both make their way out of the library, completely unaware of the eyes that trailed after Chad's back
Three; dreams don't count, but if it feels real...
The face Ryan had after he saw the enormous amount of collection of DVDs in their living room was amusing and cute, he had invited the boy over to watch some recorded musicals and Ryan said he'll bring some over, not expecting to see tons of playbills and DVDs. Chad explained to him that his mothers, Aimee and Brianna were quite the theater nerds themselves
The musical that they were watching was long finished and Chad had said something about Troy that just made the blonde burst out laughing, holding his stomach with his hands as he bent over. Chad laughed along with him, but he did not let this opportunity to look at Ryan go to waste. He just stared at Ryan, laughing with him, in hopes to not get caught. The way that the sun shine on him through the window made him look like an angel
After Ryan had calmed down, Chad only noticed how close they were together. He looked at the bright cerulean eyes that seemed to shimmer as the setting sun disappeared into the horizon through the open window
Chad doesn't know who leaned in first but the next thing he knew was that Ryan's lips were on his-
RING RING RING
Chad groaned and opened his eyes. He was just having a good dream when his alarm blared out through his room
"fucking-" he sat up and annoyingly stopped the alarm on his phone. As he sat on his bed in the quiet room, he thought back to his dream and smiled as he remembers the last part before he was rudely woken up by his alarm
"Chad!" snapping out of his trance, he hears Brianna call for him for breakfast
"coming, ma!" he shouted, finally getting up and fixing his bed quickly before making his way downstairs where he hears his mothers and sistsr, singing along with a song that he knows Ryan had sung once under his breath
sitting down on the table, ignoring his family's singing, he had a smile on his lips while his thoughts were filled of Ryan's face and laugh. Ever since the baseball game, Ryan would invade Chad's head at any point in time and it would sometimes get annoying because he can't focus but honestly, it was better than anything else
"mooom, Chad is smiling creepily at the table" Chad snapped out of his trance and kicked his younger sister under the table
"mom, ma, Adia is being offensive" Adia lets out a dramatic gasp and sets her spoon down with a slight thump "what?! I'm not offensive!"
"your face is offensive!"
"alright children, settle down" Aimee said with a snort and put down the food on the table, then they discussed that next week both mothers will have to travel to Chicago to visit their older siblings
Four; let the nightmare pass
Chad asked Mrs. Darbus for a quick break time as he was tired, he was surprised that she allowed an hour of break time. He had not slept very well yesterday night as his mothers got into a car crash. They were lucky that Brianna did not have any major injury but Aimee was the unfortunate between the two mothers as she has a broken arm and a couple broken ribs
the jock lays down in between the seats at the back, not even caring if someone sees him there, he just wanted to sleep somewhere quiet and far away from people. He set a quick alarm on his phone and laid there quietly
with his eyes closed, he thought how were his mothers doing? Were his mom doing okay? Did they eat? And if so, did they eat enough? Was Adia doing okay? He was sure that she was just as sleepy as he was feeling right now but how was she feeling? Was she scared? Of course she's scared, it's their mothers
and before Chad could even worry more, his mind and body has shut down
Ryan was tasked to search for Chad as they were going to start their rehearsal again, he searched every part of the theater for him, only to see the jock laying down at the very back, in between the seats and it was pretty obvious that he was having a nightmare, with the way he was twitching, the way his face would scrunch up and the occasional whimpers that he'd let out
Chad looked very vulnerable to Ryan at that time, he heard from his mother that they shouldn't wake up a person who's having nightmares, you have to let it pass. So he gently raises Chad's head and puts him on his lap, softly pushing his curls away from his forehead and with his other hand, he held Chad's, hoping that the nightmare will go away with the soothing actions that he was doing, not even noticing that he himself was falling asleep
They were both woken up with the alarm that Chad had set, Chad felt something quickly raise his head, a small thud and a sharp intake of breath
He opened his eyes to see Ryan's eyes tightly shut, holding the back of his head with one hand, he had his lips pursed. Quickly turning off the alarm, he then focused on Ryan
"what happened?" Chad rasped out, slowly sitting up and noticed that they were holding hands. He gently squeezed it to get Ryan's attention "I was so startled by the alarm that I hit the back of my head on the chair" Chad snorted and used his free hand to gently caress the back of his head as if it will relieve the pain
Ryan subconsciously leans into Chad's hand and softly smiled at his attempt, he feels Chad's hand carefully move from the back of his head to his cheek and he finally opened his eyes to scan the jock's face "you still look tired" Chad slightly opened his mouth to say that he was fine but closed it when he realized he didn't have to hide anything from Ryan
He smiled and put his forehead on Ryan's, closing his eyes "I am. Stay here for a little while, so I can recharge and everything will be okay again" he hears the blonde hum and lay his hand on top of Chad's, sitting there in the comfortable silence between them.
Five; apologies for the intrusion
Chad slowly opens his eyes as he reached out to his phone that was ringing, he looks at the time and sees that it was nearing the time to attend the last graduation party. They've already graduated and Troy was hosting one last party for their batch before they all go their own ways
Before Chad could even think of sleeping more, a message from Troy came in then suddenly his phone rang with Ryan's name
he dismissed the text message and quickly answered the call "what's up?"
"I had a feeling that you're going to sleep more so I've taken the liberty to come to your house right now and give you a ride to the Bolton's"
"what?" Chad sat up and made his way to his door but then he hears Ryan knock the same time someone knocked on their door
"Coming!" he hears his ma, Brianna, shout and walk to the front door
"wait, ma!-" too late, Brianna had already opened the door, looking at Ryan who was smiling brightly at her, phone still up to his ear
"oh!" Ryan's smile turned into a grin, he did a curtsy and said in his most posh accent
"Apologies for the intrusion, Madame. I'm Ryan Evans, I'm here to take lord Chad to lord Troy's party" Chad groaned as he ended the call and made his way down, he sees Ryan's amused expression, he was assuming that his hair was a mess and he did not care one bit that Ryan saw him like this if he get to see that amused cheshire smile on the blonde's face
"so this is Ryan Evans?" Brianna asked, smiling at the blonde who was standing by the door
"yes, ma. This is Ryan" Brianna opened her arms and hugged the boy, thoroughly surprising him "I've heard so much about you! Come in, come in" she ushers the blonde inside their home, Ryan regained his composure and followed Brianna inside
"Aimee can't greet you since she's resting right now"
"that is completely fine by me, I'm the guest and unannounced too, you don't have to inconvenience yourself because of me" Brianna chuckles "I like him" she points at Ryan and grins at Chad who was rubbing his face
"alright, you two go and get to know each other. I'll just get ready" he mumbles under his breath, waving his hand and not even looking at the two who was beaming at him as he make his way back upstairs
As he goes back downstairs, fresh out of the shower with a new set of clothes, he sees Ryan and Brianna talking about musicals and theater, quietly leaning on the wall as he observed the two talk in a quick manner. Chad just can never get enough of Ryan
Ryan finally notices him and stopped, smiling at Chad "you ready?" Chad nodded, giving his mother a kiss on the cheek and bid her goodbye
"take care of my son" Brianna says and waves them goodbye as Chad and Ryan get into the blue convertible
"so what did you two talk about?" Ryan chuckled under his breath, as he put up the hood of the car and closed the windows as it looked like it was about to rain "you ask as if you didn't listen in our conversation"
"yeah, but I wanna hear you talk. More so, I want to hear you talk about it because I know you two talked about musicals and that makes you excited" he sees as the tips of Ryan's ears turn red and started to talk about what he and Brianna discussed. He liked making Ryan blush, he liked it more when he sees him excited over something and happy
Ryan finally parked near by the Boltons and looked at Chad who was staring at him with love and adoration, there was a soft smile on his lips as he raise an eyebrow at the thespian
"nothing" Ryan said as he shook his head, answering the unspoken question
"sure?" Chad asked, Ryan hummed in response, there was a long comfortable silence between them, they were just staring at each other as if it was a competition but then Ryan made the mistake of looking at Chad's lips, and all of a sudden he leaned it. When he realized midway that he was going in for a kiss that may or may not destroy his friendship with someone he really got along so well, he decided to kiss Chad on the cheek
"you missed" the jock said, he managed to sound teasingly and breathless at the same time and that did things to Ryan
"did I? Where should I have kissed you?" he smirked at him, both eyes were challenging each other
"here" Chad whispered and leaned in, giving Ryan a kiss on the lips. They both sigh in relief, Ryan's hands snake up to Chad's arm, gently squeezing it, slightly opening his mouth, kissing Chad Danforth was not something he expected to be doing but his whole body felt like it was on fire and Ryan deepened their kiss more, making Chad groan
Before they can even do anything else, someone knocks on the window of the car making the two slightly part away from each other and Ryan click his tongue in annoyance
"later?" Chad asked, not really letting go of Ryan
"later" Ryan smiled and gave him a quick kiss before they made their way out of the car to greet Sharpay (she's the one who knocked on the window) and Zeke
+One; my knight
there was a ringing in the room, making him sigh and quickly turn off the alarm. Finally opening his eyes, he scanned the room that he has been sleeping in for the past six years. His eyes landed on the body that laid beside him, breathing slowed and relaxed, lips slightly agape and both their hands were intertwined. The two golden bands on their ring fingers glinted in the morning sun that was peaking through their curtains
Ryan smiled as he caressed Chad's cheek and sat up so he can become more awake. He remembers the day that Chad gave him a promise ring back in 2012, doing a wedding vow because they knew it wasn't legal to get married yet, and when they both proposed to each other back in 2015 when same sex marriage was finally legalized then got married in 2016, Ryan thought that getting into Juilliard was a happiness that cannot be replaced by any other, but now, with his memories with Chad, waking up beside him, were memories that Ryan will never get tired of.
Chad groans and snuggles closer to Ryan's body warmth, he can't believe that this man has stayed with him for thirteen years and that they're married for six years now.
the door of their room slowly opens and two children popped their heads in, Amara and Aidan Danforth-Evans blinked at Ryan in surprise. Clearly not expecting for their father to be already awake
Ryan smiled at them and motioned for them to come into the bed with him and Chad
Aidan quietly moved but Amara had different plans as she ran and jumped on Chad's sleeping figure, making both Aidan and Ryan snort
Chad made a sound as if he was dying "oh nooo, the horrible horrible monster has me! My knight, save me" Chad rasped, reaching out to Ryan
"you can save yourself"
"hey!" they all laugh at their antics, Chad maneuvers himself and had Amara up on his shoulder as he stood up from the bed
Aidan was now trying to save his twin sister from the horrible dragon as Ryan just watched them from the bed. If someone asked him thirteen years ago where he sees himself in the future, he'll probably say that he'll be alone and happy, dedicating his time and life to work
If someone told him that he'd get to marry his long time crush, Chad Danforth and get to take care of two adorable little monkeys, he'd probably laugh at them and tell them they were crazy
But looking at the scene that was unfolding in front of him, the way Chad slowly went down to the ground with equal amounts of drama, and the twins laughing at him, Ryan would not trade this for anything in the world. It was not something he had foreseen in his teenage years but it was definitely better than anything
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royallyjoon · 3 years
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nephilim (trois)
Tumblr media
you know where the cred goes 💙
cult au, supernatural au
yandere! ot7 x f! reader
warnings: yandere themes, violent behavior
life away from the kims resumed as normal and you warily readjusted to the boys’ presence in your life. although you gained their company, you also gained a new enemy. you should take extra care not to forget your place, as internal and external forces are constantly at work. the question is: do they work in or against your favor? the hours wind on, and strange occurrences only get stranger. after all, ichabod is most awake in the dark.
-----------------------------------------—————
In your dream, you saw Jimin, but he was not the same person that you had met earlier that day. 
He stood atop Ichabod Chapel, combing through his black hair with his hand and looking down at you with brown eyes. But rather than the warm, twinkling eyes you recognized, his glistened in the moonlight, cold and hardened like topaz. 
Despite the distance, you somehow managed to see him clearly. You could see his smile, warm and affectionate, completely unlike the gaze in his eyes. He looked as though he couldn’t care less about what was happening around him--his sole focus was on you.
He was dressed in pitch black clothes from head to toe, which were soaked in some foreign substance.
 The clothes clung to him in a way that should have been uncomfortable, but he looked as though he couldn’t be bothered to change. In fact, he looked as though he relished in the substance.
Strangest of all were the magnificent black wings that rested on his back, curving their way through the shadows to reach up toward the night sky.
You eyes shot open as you woke with a start. It was still early, early enough that you could have gotten an extra hour or so of sleep, but you decided to just stay awake. Your dream had been much too unsettling...
You played around on your phone, internally debating your response to Jimin before typing something and sending it.
That’s so kind of you. I’m glad we met as well :)
You heard your mother’s knock on the door some time later. With a sigh, you lifted yourself from the warmth and safety of your sheets, getting prepared to brave the day.
--------------------------------------———————
The moment you entered the upperclassmen building, you were yanked to the side and pulled into an empty classroom. You looked up in alarm but relaxed when you saw who it was.
Mana gripped you with something akin to fear, glancing around suspiciously to make sure the coast was clear. Once they were satisfied, they closed the door and hugged you tightly. “(Y/N), you whore! You have no idea how worried I was. How dare you not text me last night? How long did you spend over there? What happened?”
You smiled at your best friend’s antics, their overprotectiveness chipping away at your lingering unease from this morning. 
You recounted your experience at the Kim household, telling them about the beautiful, secluded home in the woods, the brothers’ actions, their graceful talent of a mother, and the demanding presence of their father.
“Honestly, I was a little scared.” you recounted, sliding your bag off your shoulder. “There were so many things to be wary of, but I just spent the whole evening being as polite as possible.” 
They nodded along, engrossed in your story.
“Mayor Kim is seriously intimidating, and Mrs. Kim read my fortune—said something about power and being careful of the people around me--and the library, Mana, you would have loved it-”
“Hold on, girl! Back up.” Mana interrupted. “The mayor’s wife said what?”
“Oh,” you slowed down. “Mrs. Kim touched my palm and said I held a lot of wisdom and power, I guess within me, and that I should be wary of those around me because they may try to take it.”
They gave you a pointed look. “I knew it. The second I saw Jimin look at the empty seat next to you from the front of the classroom, I got a bad feeling. To think the warning would come from his own mother...”
“What does that mean?” You asked, furrowing your brows.
“I think you should just continue to be wary of the Kims...” Mana murmured, crossing their arms. “I know we always play it safe, but the closer to them you get, the more peril you’ll be in.”
You sat down in an empty chair. The possibilities for being hurt in this town were certainly far from rare, after all. But for them to claim the brothers would try to hurt you, even though you did nothing to provoke them...?
“Mana, do you think they might try to do something to me?”
They shrugged. “I’ve said what I felt I needed to say.”
“But steal my ‘power’?” You held up two fingers and scrunched them for air quotations. “What could the most influential people in town possibly want with me or my supposed power? What would they even do with it?”
What power do I have?
Mana looked at you concernedly while you pondered your own question.
Power? To you, it was overrated. Power was nothing but an elite show of force, all over the world but especially in this town. It was used and lorded over others, and ripped families apart. You did not consider yourself very powerful. 
You remembered your obedience toward Mr. Kim in spite of your fear and suspicion, and the way you had to rub your mother’s back as she heaved up everything she ate on the side of the road after leaving their house.
Yeah...power was currently far from your grasp.
You shrugged. You were going to follow Mrs. Kim’s warning either way; after all, nothing good came of being too expressive or open in this town.
Mana turned away from you as you both heard the bell ring for the fifteen minute warning. You picked up your bag as they led the way out the door and up the stairs toward your classroom.
When you stepped into the door, you glimpsed Jimin sitting at his desk with a disturbed frown on his face. The moment he met eyes with you, however, he was all smiles.
“(Y/N)!”
You walked down the other side of the aisle and sat in your seat, turning toward him with a smile. “Morning, Jimin.”
“Good morning! Thanks for replying to my text! How was your rest? I hope you got much more sleep than yesterday night.” His eyes wouldn’t move away from yours, all big and awestruck like a puppy’s.
You nodded. “Of course! Thanks for worrying, though. You didn’t have to.”
“Of course I did. I’ll always be concerned for your safety and well-being, (Y/N). If you feel like you ever need somewhere to go or someone to confide in, feel free to reach out to me, okay?” 
His tone turned strangely serious in comparison to how he greeted you moments before, you thought. Still, you gave him a small smile. 
“Sure, Jimin. I really appreciate your concern and the offer...”
He beamed and nodded, turning to give his greetings to Mana, who seemed surprise that they were being spoken to at all. As they conversed, you reached into your bag and pulled out your materials for the morning lesson.
“Did you end up choosing a mythological creature for your project yet?” Jimin asked.
Their mouth twitched upward. “My partner and I decided to research nymphs...I don’t know too much about them, he pretty much chose our project topic.”
They reached over and ruffled your hair. “You lucked out with (Y/N) here, she really knows her stuff.”
You scoffed and swatted their hand away from your head. “You mean I lucked out by not being partnered with your lazy self? You’re absolutely right.”
Jimin watched the two of you bicker back and forth, fighting the urge to smile.
The teacher entered the room, placing her materials on her desk. You and your peers silenced as you prepared yourself for the long day of classes.
Right here, surrounded by your community, your classmates, and your best friend...yes, this was the time where you felt the most normal. 
Deep down, you knew you wanted to leave Ichabod--without a doubt. But you feared the outside world all the same. 
The people outside wouldn’t be able to understand the things you had went through. They would giggle away your paranoia and reassure you of your safety, having no perception of the actual dangers you faced. 
They didn’t know the things that could set you off, the things that the people around you could understand with the simple exchange of a glance.
But you quieted the thoughts of your precarious future as the teacher began her lesson, falling into the routine once more.
----------------------------------------——————
Before the Kims even stepped foot into town, it was the Augustuses who ruled Ichabod with an iron fist. Their family came from old money. They had lived here for generations upon generations, their stature being crucial to the survival of the town. They oversaw the law enforcement of Ichabod. 
Nearly thirty years ago, when the town was still overrun with violence, miscreants, and chaos, the Augustuses did nothing to keep the peace. They sat from their high horse with other prominent families and watched the middle and lower classes struggle.
The then-head of the family, Rufus Augustus, was especially known for ignoring his duties.
Then Kim Moonsik stepped into town and established his position as mayor and, more importantly, as a servant of the divine Wylynne.
Once he saw how poorly Rufus acted, he fought to remove him from his position.
The man was too proud, too unwilling to give his position and title up to this “holy”, foreign newcomer. 
Mayor Kim had wanted to execute Rufus. It was his son, Aloysius, who had gotten down on both knees and begged for his safety. 
Two months later, both Rufus and his wife were sent to Wylynne as divine warriors, leaving the new head and his family to take his place.
The Augustus family were now the Kims’ right hand men: their enforcers and watchful guards within the walls of their kingdom.
The current head, Aloysius, was the chief of police, his wife, Domitia, a commander of her own squad.
Their daughter was Kim Namjoon’s aide, the vice president of the student body.
While the majority of the citizens of Ichabod feared the Kims, there were those select few who would cross the line between fear and respect. These subjects knew well enough to keep their distance away from that dangerous family, but revered them with an eery obsession.
Aemilia Augustus was one of those select few.
She was raised in luxury and privilege. The luxury of complete ease in her environment and the privilege of knowing that, no matter what she did, no normal citizen in this town was powerful enough to go against her or her parents. 
She grew up adhering to the law. The laws of Ichabod specifically, as they would apply to no other.
Aemilia thought of herself as town royalty. She essentially was, considering her family was only a step down the hierarchy from the Kims. 
Her parents were, in short, bootlickers. They trembled underneath their cloaks every monthly meeting, clutching the sophomore’s arms with grips strong enough to rival coconut crabs as they waited to see which poor, unfortunate soul Mayor Kim would call out next.
But when he called them in the middle of the night, ordering them to dispatch officers to “discipline” yet another citizen, they readily responded as if they were family friends carrying out an old grudge on behalf of the other.
Yet another reason why Aemilia found her parents’ subservience so utterly pathetic. They were subjugated to become nothing more than mindless, fearful followers.
She found her grandfather’s actions absolutely foolish. The opportunity for power and reform was well within his grasp, but his narrow mindedness prevented him from making the proper preparations. 
She did not want her parents’ life for herself, nor did she see it anywhere in her future. 
Aemilia wanted to rule rather than be ruled. She had no intention of leaving Ichabod--rather, she saw herself marrying one of Mayor Kim’s sons, the best son, and ruling beside him as his queen.
All of the students at Ichabod Academy knew her name and prestige. She felt that she had the entire school underneath her beck and call. 
She never had to explicitly say what she wanted, because everyone else was already prepared to grant her wish. After all, who was brave, or stupid, enough to go against her? 
Imagine her surprise when she walked into the cafeteria the next day and spotted you, seated with Kim Jimin, Kim Taehyung, and Kim Jungkook, smiling up a storm.
A little nobody doing something no one, not even she, had ever gotten to--she’d never heard your name before, she thought to herself, whispering to one of her friend’s to tell her who you were.
You were driving a nail into her carefully crafted plans.
And if you thought you would get away with it, you clearly had another thing coming.
-------------------------------------———————
Your cheeks were starting to hurt.
All you had wanted to do was go get lunch with Mana and Jimin. You skipped breakfast this morning, as usual, and your stomach was growling throughout the majority of morning classes.
When you had jumped up to run off to the cafeteria, you slammed into Taehyung, who had been waiting for you by the door. He in turn backed up into Jungkook, who was standing silently behind him. 
The long, black haired boy caught his older brother with one hand and prevented you both from falling. 
Apologies spilled out of your mouth and Taehyung grinned his boxy grin, apologizing for scaring you. He pounced on Jimin soon after, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
“Jimin told me about you guys going to the cafeteria for lunch! I really miss the three of us eating together, and getting to know you yesterday was so much fun, (Y/N)! Would you mind if we joined you...?”
He turned those puppy eyes on you and you found yourself with no reason to refuse. You nodded yes, despite feeling Mana’s laser vision tearing into the back of your skull.
Thus, here you are.
If entering the cafeteria with one Kim yesterday caused some whispers, you knew today would cause full on conversations.
You smiled awkwardly at the brothers with your lunch tray in front of you, suddenly having lost your appetite. Then you clapped your hands together.
“Ah! How rude of me--Taehyung, Jungkook, please meet Mana. They’ve been my best friend since childhood. Mana, this is Jungkook and Taehyung.”
Mana waved in a good natured manner at the boys. You tensed as you watched the interaction. 
Taehyung eyed them suspiciously, and you surmised that he was giving them the same “test” that you received yesterday afternoon. Thankfully, his lips split into that broad grin once more as he leapt across the table to pull them into a hug. 
“It’s a pleasure to meet you!” He cheered.
They grunted, sending you a look of bewilderment over his shoulder. “Yeah, you too...?”
Jungkook mumbled out his greetings soon after.
After Jimin finished scolding Taehyung and he calmed down, the conversation took off. It was hard not to feel relaxed around Jimin and Taehyung together, for their exuberant natures made for fun conversations. You even felt Mana lowering their guard a bit, cracking some jokes that had the four of you disappearing underneath the tables in giggles.
Once again, you were almost able to forget what life was like in this town. You slipped into a comfortable sense of normalcy, picturing yourself as five school friends who had recently met.
Nevertheless, you never should have let your guard down. You never should have forgotten your place.
And by the time you did remember, it was far too late.
A cold substance spilling over you shocked you into reality, your vision obscured by a bubbly, brown trail dripping down your back, over your hair, and landing in your lap, staining your skirt.
The cafeteria, once boisterous, went completely silent. 
You heard a stifled snicker from behind you just as someone else began to speak.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry. Are you alright?”
You turned around and spotted none other than Aemilia Augustus, standing there with her spotless uniform and lunch tray held firmly in her hands.
 Behind her were her two best friends, Brooklyn and Constance...one of whom did not have a lunch tray.
It appeared to be on the floor directly behind you, half of its contents spilled over your back and the other half over your head.
“My dear friend wasn’t watching where she was going and ended up tripping.” Aemilia continued, turning around to face one of them. “Constance, why aren’t you apologizing?”
The blonde had one hand over her mouth and another behind her back. She removed her hand from her mouth, which you presumed was meant to hide her smile, and stepped forward. 
She bowed a little. “I’m so sorry. I can get someone to pay for your laundry bill, or I could buy you lunch next time?”
You felt Mana's eyes on you, but surprisingly, the first person you looked at was not Mana or Constance, nor was it Aemilia. 
You met eyes with Jungkook across the table. His dark eyes glinted dangerously, glued onto Constance and her every action. Taehyung and Jimin shared his look, glaring at the blonde. Taehyung’s hand clenched into a fist on the table, crushing the soda can he held in his hand.
The brothers met your gaze, waiting to see what you would do next.
You blinked the brown liquid out of your eyes and turned to her with a politically polite smile. “It’s fine, everyone makes mistakes. I’m pretty clumsy myself. There’s no need to pay for anything, I can just wash my uniform when I get back home. All is forgiven.” 
How extremely like you, the brothers thought. How extremely like you to not draw attention to yourself at the behest of these hags.
The whispers picked back up in the cafeteria and Aemilia sent you a smile right back. She walked over to the table, stepping into the space between you and Jimin. 
She gently set her tray onto the table, picked up the napkins on your tray, and proceeded to wipe some of it off your face.
“I’m glad you forgave Constance for her mistake, but still, sitting in a dirty uniform all day probably won’t be comfortable.” She spoke placatingly. 
You were momentarily frozen, mystified by her treating you like a child. At least you could see clearly again.
She put the napkin down. “Why don’t you come with me to the student council office for now? We can get you a new uniform there.”
“Oh, you don’t have to go that far-”
“She’s right, you don’t want to have to sit in sticky food for the rest of the day. I’ll come with you,” Mana interrupted with a tone that left no room for permission. 
Mana stood, pulling you up with them. They picked up both your bags, kicked the tray back in the blonde’s direction, and followed Aemilia’s lead out the cafeteria and away from the callous whispers.
As you walked out, Constance smirked, squeezing the Pepsi can hidden behind her back. 
After the three of you left, Jimin slowly lifted his gaze, casting it onto Aemilia’s friends.
They scrambled to clean up the mess, bowing multiple times. 
Before Brooklyn and Constance could scurry away, however, Taehyung lifted a hand, pointing his finger at the blonde. He bent it in a “come here” gesture. She inched over, trying and failing to hide her giddy expression. 
She clutched the tray of trash in her hands, her heart pounding in her ears as the younger sophomore leaned toward her. 
He whispered something in her ear, a malicious smile creeping its way onto his face. 
Constance paled and she stilled. The tray she was holding went crashing to the floor. 
Jimin smirked as he looked at the filth, living and non-living, and picked his bag up, swinging it over his shoulder. Jungkook scoffed and glared at them, prompting them to finally leave. 
Brooklyn picked up Aemilia’s tray and pulled at Constance. The blonde managed to unfreeze herself and walked away trembling. What she was trembling from--fear or admiration--no one could tell. 
The brothers looked at each other and nodded. They stood in unison and left the cafeteria.
-----------------------------------------—————
You had thought yesterday was going to be the most eventful day of your life, but clearly, Wylynne had more in store for you than you could ever imagine.
Not only was your uniform left a mess, but your stomach was growling louder than ever, considering you had been too shocked to eat your meal.
You traipsed down the hallway, cringing as you felt the stickiness of the soda travel from your thighs to your socks.
Now that you were no longer in the heat of the moment, you re-examined your response. You seriously doubted just how clean you’d be able to get in the bathroom. You were honestly thankful for Aemilia’s offer and for Mana insisting you take it.
Of course, you could have gone the rest of the day in your soda soaked mess of a uniform out of sheer pride, but now you wouldn’t have to.
Mana kept you right beside them as Aemilia walked ahead, her strawberry blonde pony tail swinging gently with each step she took.
Aemilia Augustus reeked of luxury and privilege. She did so in a way that few could ever come after her for it, you observed.
She exuded grace like Mrs. Kim did, but hers was different. She looked as though she felt she earned everything she got. 
Rather than Mrs. Kim’s gentle elegance, Aemilia was righteous and indifferent. She knew her place, and reveled in it.
“That witch has something to do with this,” Mana harshly and quickly whispered in your ear. “Now you’ve done it. You’ve incurred the wrath of Strawberry Shortcake and her she-devils.”
“It’s fine,” you whispered back. “We know she didn’t do it, and she’s offering to give me a new uniform before class starts. It’s fine.”
You cut Mana off with a look, internally suppressing a rising negative attitude. There were too many eyes on you, too many ears around you.
Aemilia led the two of you to the third floor, walking until she reached a room at the end of the hall. 
She pulled out a key and put it in the door, unlocking it. “Usually, we aren’t supposed to be in here during school hours to ensure that we’re working diligently in classes, but as the student body vice president, I have a key.” She winked and swung open the door.
“Now about that-oh!”
Aemilia stopped short and you walked behind her, peering over her shoulder. 
Several windows lined the room, lighting it up with the midday sun. It was moderately sized, like that of a classroom. A wooden table set up in the middle with black, rolling chairs pushed up against the edge of the table. 
Kim Namjoon sat at the head of the table, several papers spread out around him and glasses perched on his nose. He looked up, peeved at the intrusion.
“Aemilia...to what do I owe the pleasure?”
The strawberry blonde smiled. “Good afternoon, Mr. President. I have a student here who went through a bit of an accident at lunch. We’re just coming to get her a change of clothes.”
Namjoon made no reaction when he spotted you behind Aemilia. He nodded at her, gave his greetings to you and Mana with a small smile, and turned back to the paperwork.
Aemilia waved, implying the two of you could follow her in. The floor was made of a royal blue, lush carpet, and you winced as you dirtied it with your wet shoes. “What are your sizes, (Y/N)?” She questioned.
“I’m a (size) for the shirt and (size) for the skirt.” You quietly stated.
She nodded and walked to the back of the room and disappeared around a corner into what you presumed was an atrium of sorts. You heard a door open and the shuffling of clothes.
Mana entered, sitting on one of the seats lined up against the wall. You stood by one of the walls and peered out of the nearest window.
In the distance, you could see the dark leaves of the forest trees peeking over the tops of buildings and homes. Different students were making their way across the quad, heading back to afternoon classes. You sighed and placed a hand over your stomach.
“Here you are!” Aemilia returned with a uniform shirt and skirt in your size as well as a brand new pack of socks on a hanger. “Usually, the emergency uniforms cost students some additional funds, but you won’t have to worry about paying for it. This one’s on the house.”
You took the hanger gingerly. “Please, you’ve already done so much. The least I can do is pay. I’ll be making it out to the student council?”
Aemilia shook her head. “You really don’t have to, it was Constance’s fault. I’ll do you this favor for her.”
You smiled. “I insist. Please tell me how much is it.”
Aemilia leered at you, her eyes searching for whatever you possessed that made you think you even had the right to challenge her.
This bitch.
“If you insist! It’ll be $30. You can make it out via cash or check to the student council. It’s due by the end of the week.” 
You nodded and gave both students a bow. “I’m so sorry to have disturbed your day. I’ll be going off to class now.”
Aemilia returned your courtesy and Namjoon gave you a small wave.
You locked arms with Mana, left the student council room and headed to the bathroom. 
-----------------------------------------—————
“I’m telling you! There’s something so messed up about that girl!” Mana complained loudly as you stood in the bathroom. You unbuttoned your shirt and proceeded to clean soda residue off your chest, arms, and legs.
Ichabod Academy consisted of three types of bathrooms: men’s restrooms, women’s restrooms, and a gender neutral restroom. There was only one and it was jammed into the basement, and it was your and Mana’s safe space because hardly anyone else ever came down here.
“Even if there is, what am I going to do, call her out on it?” You muttered as you took off your socks, wiping as much of the stickiness as possible off with a warm, wet napkin.
You dried your arms and threw the rest of the napkins away, then went into a stall and took your clothes off completely, changing into the new uniform. “I don’t have the mental energy required to play her mind games today. How much time do I have left?”
“Fifteen minutes.” They said, unlocking and locking their phone. “No, but you seriously haven’t heard of her? Of what she does to people who get too close to the Kims?”
“There’s been someone else getting close to the Kims?” You questioned dryly, pulling the socks on.
“Got, as in past tense, love. Anyone who associates with the Kims excessively, according to her, in any form or fashion has died by her hand.” Mana said. “She practically worships the ground they walk on.”
“She wouldn’t be the only one,” you replied nonchalantly.
“You remember Grace Ster?”
“The girl from our freshman class who left to be homeschooled?” You frowned, buttoning up your shirt.
“Yes! The only reason why she was sent home is because Aemilia blew a fit and ended up tormenting the poor thing until she didn’t want to show up anymore!” Mana said. 
“All Grace did was hold hands with Kim Taehyung. In drama class. For a skit!” You could see them throwing their arms up in disbelief through the crack of the stall door. “That’s why I had you go along with her. If you kept being so stubborn, she might have publicly humiliated you even more in the cafeteria. I wanted to make sure she didn’t get the chance.” 
“Oh...thanks, Mana.” You smiled slightly. 
You walked out the stall and folded your dirty uniform, placing it inside your book bag. You didn’t really have a response, not necessarily shocked by Aemilia’s nature. Something had told you she was different than the persona she made an effort to display.
You washed your hands and slung your bag over your shoulder. “We should just get back before we’re late.”
Mana patted you on the back as you dejectedly walked back to class.
-----------------------------------------—————
When you stepped into the classroom, you got a number of looks and comments, people whispering under their breath about how you dared to anger the queen bee. 
Jimin had, once more, been waiting for you. “(Y/N)! Are you alright?” 
“I’m fine.” You said. “Aemilia gave me a new uniform to change into.”
As you sat down, your stomach growled loudly. 
Jimin’s eyes snapped back up to meet yours. “You didn’t get to eat, did you? She dragged you out before you could even touch your food.”
You shrugged. “I’ll just eat after school. It’s not the first time I’ve gone without eating and I’m sure it won’t be the last.”
Jimin eyed you worriedly as Mrs. Hargrove burst into the room, full of nervous energy as usual. “Good afternoon, students!”
You and your classmates chorused greetings in return. You internally sighed at how long of a day this was turning out to be. 
Jimin continued to fret over you throughout the rest of afternoon classes. You kept reassuring him that you were fine. No, you didn’t need anything from the vending machine, yes you would tell him if you got too hungry.
You reminded yourself that he wasn’t Mana or one of your other classmates--you wouldn’t be able to tell him off, even if you kind of wanted to.
The end of the school day finally arrived and you walked out the double doors between Mana and Jimin.
Jimin pulled you toward him. His brothers stood several feet away from the rest of the student body, watching as Driver Bin pulled up to the corner.
“(Y/N).” Jimin smiled at you, but the look in his eyes was serious. “Remember, you’re much, much stronger than you think you are.” 
He reached his hand down to gently squeeze at yours, and held onto your hand for a bit more before letting it go. “Those petty people are nothing compared to you.”
He let go of your hand and walked toward his four brothers, who began climbing into the vehicle. Hoseok and Taehyung lifted their arms to wave goodbye, and you lifted yours in a half-hearted wave as they pulled away.
You stepped to the side and on one of the benches outside of the school. Mana stood next to you, leaning against a pillar.
You eyed students warily as they linked arms to walk home together in bunches or ran to the curve of the street in front of the school to hop into their parent’s cars. 
A glossy, strawberry blonde ponytail soon caught your attention as it hit the light of the afternoon sun. 
You watched Aemilia walk toward a gray car resting beside the curb, her hair perfect as usual. She waved farewell to her friends and made eye contact with you over their shoulders.
The girl glanced at you. Her eyes were teeming with disgust, but all she did was smile at you as she bent down to sit in the car.
Should I be scared? You thought to yourself as her driver closed the door. They drove away, heading toward the Augustus residence at the center of the city.
Mana popped a bubble of their chewing gum. “(Y/N), your mom’s here.”
You lifted your head and spotted your mother’s familiar car making its way down the pickup line. 
You stood up, brushing off the back of your skit and walked with Mana to the car. When Mana entered the backseat, your mother scoffed with a smile. “What’s this?”
They beamed and blinked rapidly at your mother. “Oh please, Aunty (M/N), won’t you take this poor child home?”
You giggled as your mom rolled her eyes. “Just put your seatbelt on, Manareyyn.”
Mana gasped and hushed her. “Not the full name, Aunty! Am I a complete stranger to you?”
You laughed, feeling relaxed in the presence of your loved ones.
When you got home, you had the interesting combination of leftover takeout and your mother’s cooking for a meal. 
You put both school uniforms in the wash and informed your mother of what happened at school. She prepared the funds for the council and handed the check to you. 
You went upstairs and took a shower, washed your hair, and completed some homework assignments.
Soon enough, you both turned in for the night.
-----------------------------------------—————
Later that evening at the Kim residence, Namjoon stood outside of Jimin’s room. The younger boy had summoned him and the rest of their siblings for some kind of conference, but he wasn’t keen on staying too long.
He sighed and knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Jimin’s voice sounded from the other side. Namjoon twisted the doorknob and pushed it open.
The rest of the brothers were already in the room, he noted, seated on Jimin’s king sized bed.  
He shrugged in response to their irritated gazes and climbed onto the mattress.
“Now that everyone’s here,” Taehyung stated, side-eyeing Namjoon, “we can properly begin our discussion.”
“How long is this going to take?” Hoseok interrupted. “I have several assignments that need to be completed, and dances to choreograph.”
“Yes, and I have stacks of paperwork I need to finish for student council.” Namjoon sighed.
Jimin leaned back. “You don’t necessarily have to be here-”
Hoseok leapt up, walking over to the door. 
“-unless, of course, you wish to know how to help our angel.”
The senior stopped in his tracks and looked over at Jimin, gaze darkening.
“I thought we agreed that we wouldn’t help (Y/N),” Jungkook said, playing a game on his phone. “Namjoon hyung said that she needed to come to us on her own.”
“I still stand by that statement. The more we pressure her, the more she’ll back away.” Namjoon coolly replied. “She’ll come find us, of her own volition, eventually.” 
“Then what are you talking about?” Hoseok asked.
“It appears that people at school are mistaken about who deserves the most respect from them,” Taehyung said. 
“Your subordinate stepped out of line today, Namjoon hyung.” Jimin followed.
The older boy shifted his gaze onto his younger brothers. He thought back to today’s lunch period when (Y/N) and her friend entered the student council room. The girl had shifted uncomfortably where she stood, and he thought he’d heard the faint sound of a stomach growling.
Hoseok scoffed at his silence and turned to look at him. “Don’t tell me it was the Augustus bitch. I told you to throw her away ages ago.”
“No, it was one of her underlings,” Namjoon stated, recalling the girls’ conversation. “The blonde airhead in love with Taehyung, Constance. She must have ‘accidentally’ spilled her lunch all over (Y/N), no doubt directed by Aemilia herself.”
Taehyung glowered at the reminder. When he leaned over to whisper into Constance’s ear, the idiot was smiling as if it was the best day of her life. The acrid smell of her perfume made him gag. It nearly suffocated him. 
It was nothing like (Y/N)’s. Her scent caressed him from afar and washed over him when they were close, promising warmth and consolation.
Her scent was probably ruined by the stunt that scum pulled in the cafeteria.
When he saw Constance holding the soda can, he’d wanted to reach his hand around her neck and-
“Ah, I see.” Namjoon smiled, his realization coming full force. “So, you want to prepare a lesson of sorts.”
Jimin nodded. “People need to be well aware of how to treat (Y/N) before and especially after she takes her place by our side. This can a good teaching moment.”
“Okay,” Hoseok hummed. “And how are you going to go about doing that?”
“Like Namjoon hyung said, we can’t directly interfere without it being too obvious.” Taehyung said. “But-”
“-there’s no reason as to why we can’t distribute due punishment.” Jungkook finished, his lips twitching into a smile.
Namjoon grinned, nodding. “How about the three of you tell me everything you saw in the cafeteria this afternoon...spare no details.”
-----------------------------------------—————
Chance Pierre was a quiet kid. He never bothered anybody and preferred to focus on his studies.
Students often found him tutoring a classmate in between classes or reading in the library, and they nicknamed him the freshmen class’ Kim Namjoon. Not that they could say it so loudly around the guy’s younger brother, Kim Jungkook.
Chance Pierre dreamed of becoming rich and influential enough to come back to the town, save the people inside, and burn the Kims to the ground.
He wanted to find a way out of Ichabod using his intellect. He would appeal to Mayor Kim, explain how he hoped to bring excellence to the town by pursuing his academic career and spreading the word about Wylynne and all of the moon’s grace.
Surely, the mayor would let him take his intellectual influence outside. And he would be able to escape the hellish nightmare that was this town.
Thankfully, he and Jungkook were not in the same class. Even though Chance was at the top of his specific class, if he wanted to place first in the entire freshman class, he would eventually have to confront the youngest of the Kims. A conflict he’d been readily avoiding.
Still, despite his academic prestige, he was still what high schoolers would call a “nerd”. He was bullied by his peers, the same peers that he wanted to spare. They mocked him for his financial status, for his intellect. The goddess forbid he ever share his dream of leaving Ichabod, for they would mock him for that as well.
Chance entered his home and it was quiet, as usual. His parents worked late hours and he often had no one to talk to. The spirits in the walls were his friends, he liked to joke.
He took his shoes off and just as he was about to turn to go upstairs, something was thrown over his head. 
His vision went dark and he immediately began to struggle. He kicked and fought, his breaths rapidly increasing. The inside of the material was coated in what smelled like bleach and alcohol.
Chloroform.
Chance tried to hold his breath, cursing himself for struggling earlier, but he only delayed the inevitable. The boy’s movements slowed and his assailant pulled the bag around his head tighter and tighter until he blacked out.
Hours later, the police station was visited by his mother in the early morning, the woman hysterically crying and clutching onto Chance’s discarded book bag as she reported her son’s abduction.
-----------------------------------------—————
You were awoken by your mother entering your room. You looked up at her inquisitively, trying to blink the sleep out of your eyes. 
You both had several hours of rest left, so why...?
She wordlessly approached your bed and lifted the covers, and you scooted backward to give her space. She lay down next to you, slipping her arm under your head.
You felt her press a kiss to your forehead. She started playing with your hair and humming a little, like she used to do when you were little. You drifted back to sleep in the comfort of her arms.
Yet in the morning, she was gone again, off to work an early shift at the hospital. 
It was a gray, rainy day today. 
Mana’s dad had been the one to take you to school that morning, and both he and his child chuckled as they saw you running out the door with a clothing bag and your book bag in the rain. You had entered the car squealing from the cold water droplets.
When you walked into the building, you had almost expected another horrible, suspicious “accident”.
If only that had been the case.
You and Mana entered the lobby to find your classmates gathering around the school bulletin board, where another missing poster had been put up.
A freshman. He’d been taken sometime last night, you gathered from the horde of students in front of you. 
The boy looked slightly familiar to you; he was probably someone you were accustomed to passing in the halls.
You sighed, your heart falling in your chest. That was probably why your mother was clinging to you in your sleep this morning...
You met eyes with Mana’s, whose own flashed with sadness and anger. 
There was no telling where this kid was going to show up again. If he was lucky, he would make it back to his family in one piece. If not...
The double doors opened again, bringing in an icy breeze with them, and the halls instantly silenced. You turned away from the crowd and watched as the Kim brothers walked in. 
Jungkook strolled along with his head held high and headphones in his ears, indifferent to all the stares. 
Namjoon walked through the students, smirking as they parted for him with Hoseok, calm as can be, a couple of feet behind him. 
Contrary to yesterday’s kind and bubbly energy, Taehyung had a dangerous glower on his face. Jimin was expressionless, his eyes glued forward as the brothers made their way to their respective buildings.
If they noted the amount of students surrounding the bulletin board, they certainly did not show it. There was no sign of concern, or pain anywhere in their expression.
This was why the Kims, while so close, felt so distant from the rest of the student body. 
It’s one thing to live in a town like Ichabod and experience the horrible things that happen here. It’s another thing to refuse to look deeper and question everything around you.
It’s another thing to live here and think that these types of occurrences are alright. 
You shivered. Yes, you remind yourself. This is the atmosphere. This is the place I am in.
You were not in a normal high school or a normal town. The law of your land simply could not compare with that of anywhere else.
Never far behind them, Aemilia Augustus entered, her posse at her back. She followed the Kims, a serene, pleased smile on her face. 
No doubt she had knowledge of what had happened to that freshman, but she would never tell.
She passed by you and Mana, looking you up and down.
That one glance told you more than anything you had gathered in your conversation yesterday.
This is the difference between us, it proclaimed. I am safe on the inside, while you are disposable on the outside. 
You are nothing. 
Aemilia walked past the two of you, continuing on her way to class. Brooklyn and Constance followed behind her, staring dead ahead. 
The blonde was far from her usual picture perfect attire--her uniform was wrinkled, she was dragging her feet, and her eyes were red and puffy. She made no move to look at you or Mana, seemingly caught up in her thoughts.
Soon after they left, movement in the halls returned to normal as students walked to their classes. At some point, you finally forced yourself to move. 
The chill from the rain and wind settled in your bones and you shivered on your way to class.
The teacher had not arrived yet, as usual. Your classmates didn’t even have the heart to discuss rumors or joke around. Every movement seemed to break the silence.
You walked down the aisle and sat next to Jimin, waving at him in greeting. He gave you a small smile in return. You silently took your books out your bag, not wanting to bother him anymore after this morning’s display.
The cold couldn’t seem to leave you alone. Your shivers persisted and within a few moments, you were shaking so badly you couldn’t hold your pencil straight.
Mana sent you a concerned look but you waved them off, circling your finger to tell them to turn back around.
You put your writing utensil down and tried to hold your own hand still when you felt Jimin shift next to you.
He caught sight of your trembling fingers and he removed his school cardigan, handing it to you. 
You tried to refuse his offer, pushing the fabric back into his hold, but he spread it out, draped it over your shoulder, and lifted your hand to slip one of your arms through.
What is it with people thinking I don’t know how to take care of myself? You thought as you gently pulled your arms from his hand, slipping them into the cardigan and pulled it closed. 
He watched with a satisfied smile as it draped down your sides and shifted in his seat to resume his staring ahead.
You thought back to the other night. 
His gaze was just as caring, just as frigid as the one from your dream. 
You shivered again, hiding it by shifting in your seat. The class sat in silence until your first period teacher walked in. Without another word, she quickly began her lesson.
------------------------------------------------------
During lunch, Mana had to go to a meeting with one of the teachers, and Jimin and his brothers were nowhere to be found (not that you were dying to sit with them), so you took the opportunity to clear your debt with the student council.
You walked up to the third floor and went to the end of the hallway, fiddling with the paper and clothing bag in your hands. As you approached the door, you tentatively turned the knob and found that it was still locked.
You were contemplating sliding the envelope under the door when a voice sounded out from behind you. 
“What have we here?”
You turned and found Kim Namjoon leaning against the wall behind you. He didn’t have his glasses on today, but wore a playful and righteous look on his face. 
“(Y/N) ah, it’s wonderful to see you. I see Jiminie is still making sure to take good care of you.” He smiled in a good natured manner and you flushed, remembering the sweater your classmate practically dressed you in himself.
“Yeah...it’s been really chilly,” you muttered. You bowed slightly in greeting. “Good morning.”
“How have you been?”
“I’m alright. I didn’t want to bother, I just have the uniform I borrowed yesterday and the money I owe the council.”
Namjoon put his leg down, gently kicking off the wall and approached you. He flicked his hand toward the door. “Oh, is that so? Why didn’t you come in?”
“The door was locked-” You watched in surprise as Namjoon opened the door easily, without having pulled out a key. “...or not, I suppose.”
I must not have twisted the door hard enough because of all the stuff in my hands...
“Come on in.”
You entered the room cautiously. Namjoon took his place at the head of the table, placing his bag at his feet. “The uniforms go in the closet in the atrium, around that corner.”
You nodded and walked the same way Aemilia went yesterday. 
There didn’t appear to be much in the atrium--there were two restrooms, a vending machine, a place to hang coats and bags, and the supply closet. 
“Speaking of clothes, I apologize for not being able to assist you yesterday. I was terribly behind in some student council matters and worked all night to finish it all.” The student council president stated from behind the other section of the wall.
You hung the wardrobe up and walked back out, sliding the check in front of Namjoon on the table. “It’s completely fine, it wasn’t anything important.”
“I don’t think so,” He gestured for you to take a seat in the chair to his right. “Would you mind telling me what happened in the cafeteria?”
You hesitated, prepared to brush it all under the rug, but boy’s gaze sharpened and you found yourself taking a seat.
“It was an accident,” you began. “Someone tripped and spilled their food on me at lunch.”
Namjoon hummed. “Who was it?”
“A friend of Aemilia’s. I was sitting with Mana, Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook at lunch and we were talking, and then I felt something cold run down my face and back.” You looked down at your lap, folding and unfolding your fingers.
Namjoon rested his chin in his fist as he looked at you. “I take it that it was Constance, as Aemilia said yesterday, correct?” 
You nodded.
“So, Constance managed to trip and splatter her food all over you, and only you, as you sat at your lunch table, which is fairly out of the way of the center of the cafeteria. A table that had plenty of room for people to walk around.”
“How did you know where I was sitting?” You asked.
“Jimin informed me of the basic details, but I wanted to hear the story from your perspective.” He reasoned with a smile. “This...accident...also occurred well into the meal, when everyone else was already seated.”
You frowned. “It doesn’t sound like you think it was an accident.”
“It sounds as though she were targeting you, (Y/N).” Namjoon said, removing some papers and textbooks from his bag. “I’m simply speculating off of what I know. I’d advise you to be careful of Aemilia and her ‘acquaintances’.” He said, smiling a bit worriedly. 
You looked away, thoughts racing rapidly in your head.
You were already wary of the girl because of her status and the things you’d heard from Mana, but you found something incredibly unsettling about being warned about her from Kim Namjoon himself. 
He’s one to talk.
Namjoon asked you to spend the rest of the lunch hour with him, as he felt he needed some company to complete the rest of his documents. 
He offered to purchase snacks for the two of you, and after that you could hardly refuse. You pulled out some assignments of your own and worked in tandem.
Hazel eyes peered through a crack in the doorway of the student council room. They saw you and the student council president, sitting together as though you were the best of friends, discussing certain books or classes with an intermittent joke placed every now and then into the conversation.
Hazel eyes saw nothing but a repulsive wench taking what was supposed to be her place. Speaking to her future husband, her future king. The longer she gazed upon the heinous sight, the angrier it made her. 
She made a move to swing open the door and announce her presence, but dark brown eyes met hers through the crack and Aemilia stilled. 
She was not surprised that he had managed to sense and spot her, as she had been able to tell long ago that the president was a master of perception. Yet the usual polite warmth that she so loved was gone. It was replaced by unyielding anger. 
His eyes were alight with purple fire.
He was angry because she almost interrupted him being with you.
Aemilia let go of the handle to the student council room, letting the door click closed. She shoved past the shoulders of her minions friends, raging down the hallway until she reached an empty classroom. 
Once inside, she locked herself in there and began throwing around the desks, chairs, anything within her arms’ reach.
After she quelled her rage, she pressed her nails into her palm and decided:  no, she would not be going out like this. She would not allow that pretentious shrew to chip away and what she so carefully built, what she strove for.
(Y/N) (L/N) would soon experience hell on earth. Aemilia Augustus would make that happen. She swore it on her family name.
(Y/N) (L/N) would never return to the school in one piece, of body or of mind, as long as she could help it.
-----------------------------------------—————
~taglist~
@melaninkpops​ @loserwithapen​ @hellaspookystudent​ @ecillartto​ @omgsuperstarg​ @ace-angel-judas​ @jjamsbangtan​ @lovinggalaxies​ @lovesick-heart0​ @ksxmpoison​ @girlmeetsliv3​ @thedarkwinterrose​ @purpuravm​ @oneweirdbean​ @hopelessfountainjoonie​ @mazmaz30​ @enigmaticlove-03​ @uppiespuppy​ @queenceline22​ @kokofikats​ @taeyohonic​ @creatorspalace​
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allthingsfangirl101 · 3 years
Text
Broken Heart–Troy Bolton
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Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
I walked into school with Kelsie, my heart dropping into my stomach when I saw them together.
"Y/N," she sighed. "When are you going to stop torturing yourself?"
I shook my head as we quickly headed towards the choir room. "Do you think I want to be secretly in love with my neighbor/best friend, Kels? I hate it."
"I've said this before and I'll say it again," she sighed as I opened the classroom door for her. "You knew Troy way before Gabriella came to our school. You could've told him how you felt a long time ago."
"No, I couldn't have," I scoffed. She sent me a sad look–the kind of look that she gives me when she knows what I'm about to say and she knows she won't like it. "He's been the star basketball player since middle school."
"And you've been the choir star since middle school," Kelsie tried to jump in. I sent her a look before rolling my eyes and walking over to the piano. Without thinking, I started playing.
I've been playing piano since I could get on the stool by myself. Both of my parents were musical, so of course, I followed in their footsteps. I started by playing the piano and singing, then I learned how to play the violin, and I taught myself how to play the guitar. All of this before I graduated middle school.
Music was my escape. I could play a melody that transformed the room, taking the people around me on a journey. When I sang, I told stories and adventures.
With an instrument in my hands or music playing, nothing scared me. But when I didn't have an instrument in my hands or music wasn't playing, I was the biggest coward in East High.
I somehow made it through the morning without torturing myself too much. Until lunch. Then I was forced to sit across from Troy and Gabriella and watch them giggle and whisper all through lunch.
I looked over to see Kelsie sending me a sad look. I glanced over at Chad to see him looking at me the same way. When their apologetic looks got too much, I quickly grabbed my stuff.
"Whoa," Troy laughed. "Y/N, you okay?"
I didn't answer him. Instead, I turned on my heel and quickly left the lunchroom. I ran to the theater, finding my piano backstage. I plopped down onto the bench and struggled to hold back the sobs any longer.
I leaned my forehead on the edge of the piano, the tears falling onto the keys.
"Whoa, what happened to you?"
I quickly sat up and wiped the tears from my face. "Nothing," I cleared my throat, hoping to hide that I had just cried at school.
"Y/N," Ryan sighed as he walked over and sat next to me on the bench. "Talk to me."
"It's just. . . It's stupid."
"Try me," he chuckled. I looked up at him, nervously biting my lip. "Let me guess," he smirked playfully. "Does it have to do with a certain singing basketball player?"
My jaw dropped as I scooted a little bit away from him. "How did you. . ."
"Oh, honey," he sighed. "Everyone knows."
"Everyone?" I stuttered.
"Well, everyone except Troy and Gabriella," he shrugged.
"Great," I scoffed. "So all of our friends know how pathetic I am, pining over someone who will never love me back."
Ryan sighed as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side. He leaned his head on mine as he rubbed my arm.
"We don't think you're pathetic," he said softly. "We actually think Troy is stupid for not realizing it before and is being a total jerk for being oblivious to it."
We sat in silence, my mind all over the place. Ryan lifted his head and kissed my temple.
"Hey, you want to help me with something?" He asked, his voice soft.
"Sure," I shrugged as I sat up.
"I'm having a little trouble nailing my melody in A Night To Remember."
"Okay," I said as I grabbed the sheet music from my bag.
We spent the rest of lunch going through the melody. When the bell rang, we heard the cast coming into the theater. I looked over my shoulder to see Troy and Gabriella walking in with their hands intertwined.
When I turned back around, I saw Ryan watching me. I sighed as he pulled me into his chest.
"Talk to him," Ryan whispered as he leaned over and kissed my forehead. I smiled weakly as he stood up and walked away.
"What was that about?" Troy asked, his voice sounding weird. I shook that thought away as I stood up, beginning to gather my sheet music.
"We were rehearsing," I shrugged.
"Seemed like more," Troy mumbled.
We stared at each other for a minute, the tension thick. It snapped when we heard voices coming into the theater. Before he could walk away, I grabbed his hand.
"You okay?" He asked gently.
"After dinner tonight," I stuttered, "can we meet at our treehouse? There's something I really need to talk to you about."
"Of course," Troy said slowly. "Is it. . . I mean, are you okay?"
"Yeah," I stuttered. "I just need to talk to you."
Troy looked at me sadly as he squeezed my hand that he was still holding.
"I'll see you tonight?" He clarified.
"Yep," I said, clearing my throat. "I'll meet you at our treehouse at 7."
                             * * * * *
I took a shaky breath before finally leaving my house. When we were kids, Troy's dad built him a treehouse in their backyard, and when we became friends, that became our spot.
I walked into the Bolton's backyard, my hands shaking as bad as my nerves. I froze when I saw Troy standing on the small balcony of the treehouse. My heart sank when I noticed he wasn't alone.
Gabriella walked out of the treehouse and wrapped her arms around his waist. Tears blurred my vision but I could still see Troy switching their positions. My breath got stuck in my throat as he spun her around and pressed his lips to hers.
Seeing him in our treehouse with someone else felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest. My breathing picked up as they broke apart. Before they could see me, I turned on my heel and ran all the way back to my house.
I ran straight up to my room, slamming the door behind me. I leaned against it and slid my back down the door until my butt hit the floor. I pulled my knees into my chest as I let out all the sobs I've been holding back.
I jumped when my phone started ringing. I stood up, my hands shaking as I grabbed it out of my back pocket. The sob got stuck in my throat when I saw Troy was calling me. I stood in the middle of my room and watched my phone ring. As soon as it stopped, it started back up again.
I held my breath, tears building as I watched my phone ring and ring and ring. With shaking hands, I quickly turned it on silent. I hesitated to put it down. Once I finally had enough courage to put my phone on my nightstand, I walked away.
Part 2
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hockey-fics · 3 years
Note
I didn't know you already had a request with number 47! so maybe number 13 from the angsty prompt list with petey? please?
Thank you for the request! 
Prompt: “You did a wonderful job convincing people that you love me, I almost fell for it” with Elias Pettersson 
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Warning: insinuations of sex
Word Count: ~3,400
Moving to Vancouver was a big step for you. But the job was too good to turn down and the apartment you found was a little too perfect and all the pieces just fell into place too easily to not do it. 
The transition was difficult though. Your workplace was smaller than you expected and almost everyone who worked there was much older than you. Meeting people in the new city was hard. It was cold and rained all the time and you found navigating the larger city difficult, getting lost more time than you would care to admit. 
But then you met him. 
Elias. 
He had stepped through the apartment lobby doors, hesitating when he saw you struggling to drag a box that contained the pieces of a desk you had ordered online. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The desk would fit perfectly against the window in the den of your apartment, it was absolutely beautiful, and it was on sale. But now that you alternating between bouts of yanking or shoving it across the all too big lobby you were beginning to wish you hadn’t made that purchase. 
“Do you want some help?” Elias had asked. 
You had looked up at him, immediately caught off guard. His voice was soft, an accent that you couldn’t immediately place. He was tall and handsome with intriguing blue eyes and a reassuring smile. 
“I-,” you started, standing up straighter and glancing down at the box. You hated asking for help, even when someone was offering. Hated it even more when it was a stranger. But at the rate you were going that desk wasn’t even going to get into your apartment for a sizeable amount of time. 
Before you even have a chance to deny the help he was offering he had stepped closer, silently letting you know that it was okay for you to say yes. 
“Thank you,” you breathed out in relief as he leaned down to pick up the opposite end of the box. Together the two of you navigated the box into the elevator and up to your apartment. 
Elias had helped you bring the box into your apartment. You introduced yourself to him before he left and when you mentioned that you were new to the city Elias had given you his number, told you to call him if you needed anything at all. 
And for awhile you didn’t contact him. Not because you didn’t want to. Truth be told you would have loved to have called him because the city still felt so lonely and he truly seemed like such a nice guy. But every time you contemplated it the idea was outweighed by worry that you would be annoying him. 
But then a few weeks later you were having a truly catastrophic day. Like always you left for the skytrain, because it was just as quick as driving and you didn’t have to pay for parking at work. But you ended up being late, missing your train and being a few minutes late to work. Where you were immediately berated by your manager despite your apologies. And you tried to put that behind you but throughout the rest of the day you were slightly frazzled and nothing seemed to be going smoothly. By the time the work day ended it had started pouring, typical Vancouver rain that could be heard pounding off the roof of the building. Dumping the contents of your purse onto your desk before leaving you realize you had forgotten your umbrella at home. So you packed up your stuff and prepared yourself for the miserable walk to the skytrain station. By the time your commute was over and you had hustled back to your apartment you were freezing cold and soaking wet. And as if the day couldn’t get worse as you rifled through your purse you realized your keys were missing, mind flashing back to dumping your purse contents onto your desk at work. 
Groaning you stare at the locked lobby door of the apartment building. A few minutes of contemplating your options you pull your phone out, dialling Elias’ number. 
“Hi,” Elias answers after a couple rings. “How’s it going?”
“Could be better,” you admit, huddled under the awning outside the lobby door to protect yourself from the rain. “Are you home?”
“Yeah, I am. What’s up?”
“Can you let me in?” You ask, not knowing what you would do from there, the key to your actual apartment missing as well. “I think I forgot my keys at work.”
“Of course. I’ll be down in a minute,” Elias assures you. 
And true to his word he was opening the door a few minutes later, letting you into the warm lobby. Droplets of water drip off your jacket and onto the doormat as you wipe a combination of rainwater and tears from your cheeks. You hadn’t even realized you were crying till the situation had calmed down a bit, till you were away from the loud stormy weather. 
“Are you okay? You look cold. Do you have the keys to your apartment?”
Shaking your head you wrap your arms around your body. “No, I’ll have to call a locksmith or something, I don’t know.”
“Come on, you can wait in my apartment if you want,” Elias offers, stepping towards the elevator as you trail behind him, feeling cold, miserable, and deflated. 
You step into Elias’ apartment behind him you stand on the doormat, careful not to get water on the hardwood floor. But you’re not sure how to handle the situation so you stand in one spot, watching Elias kick his shoes off and step into the apartment. 
“You can come in,” Elias tells you, smiling gently. “I can get you some clothes, if you want to shower and warm up you can do that too.”
“You don’t have to do all this,” you tell him, pulling your jacket off and hanging it up over one of the hooks by the door, pushing your shoes off. 
“I’m not doing much,” Elias comments, nodding towards the hallway. Following after him Elias points out the bathroom, leaving you alone for a moment and returning with an armful of clothes. “Towels are in the cupboard there,” he tells you, gesturing towards the cupboard by the door. “I’ll be out in the kitchen, take your time.”
Something about how kind he was, how considerate he was left you feeling overwhelmed. He didn’t need to be this nice to you, you had never met anyone who was so kind so soon after meeting. After standing under the hot water in the shower while the chill dissipated from your bones, you get out and dry off, pulling on the large t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants that you had to fold over at the waist a number of times to be able to stay up. 
Folding up your wet clothes you shuffle out of the bathroom, finding Elias in the kitchen. He was standing in front of the stove, cooking dinner with his phone pressed to his ear. 
“An hour?” You hear Elias say into the phone. “Yeah, that’s fine.” He hangs up his phone, setting it down on the counter and glancing over at you. “Hey, I called the building manager, he said they have emergency access keys to all the apartments. If you have ID he’ll be able to let you into your apartment but he won’t be here for an hour. I was making dinner though, do you want some?”
You stare over at Elias in surprise, eyes welling with tears. “I…you didn’t have to deal with this for me, you’ve already helped me more than you need to.”
“It’s not a big deal,” he assures you, grabbing a couple plates from the cupboard. “I moved here not that long ago, I had all the guys on the team for support though. I can’t imagine not knowing anyone.” 
“Team?” You ask, sliding onto one of the barstools at his bar counter. 
“I play hockey, for the Canucks,” he explains, setting a plate of food in front of you before sitting down beside you with his own food. 
“Oh, wow, that’s amazing,” you tell him in surprise. Because truthfully you didn’t know much about him aside from his generosity towards you. And so you spent the rest of the hour getting to know each other till he came with you to meet the building manager, making sure you got back into your apartment before saying goodnight. 
And after that night you two began spending more and more time together till you were practically inseparable. He introduced you to some of his teammates and some of their wives and girlfriends. 
You would spend evenings curled up on his couch watching movies. Eventually sharing the couch turned to cuddling turned to falling asleep with your head on his chest. You would go grocery shopping together, while it made sense with both of you living in the same building, the truth was that you both just wanted to spend as much time together as possible. You would go for early morning walks, discussing all sorts of deep thoughts. Going for coffee or dinner together became a common occurrence. 
And you fell for Elias. Hard. But you were uncertain about his feelings. He had always been the friendly guy who lived on the floor below you. He never tried to flirt. When you cuddled on the couch his hands never wandered. You never caught him checking you out or staring just a little too long. 
It was a Saturday night eight months after you first started hanging out with Elias and Elias had invited you over to Brock and Troy’s place along with a few other people. You were reluctant at first, telling him you didn’t want to intrude. But Elias was persistent and you found yourself sitting beside him on their couch a few hours later. The night had gone by as expected, they discussed stuff about hockey that you didn’t fully understand, you got to hear about their personal lives, girlfriends and family issues. You were glad Elias had invited you, happy to get to be more involved in his life than you already were.
“I’m going to the washroom,” you tell Elias a few hours after you had gotten there.
“Okay,” he mutters and you don’t notice the way he watches you stand up, the way he watches you walk out of the room. But Brock does and he can’t just not say anything. 
“You’ve got it bad for her,” Brock chuckles, shaking his head. 
“What?” Elias asks, only half-aware of what Brock was talking about as he turns his attention to him. 
“Why don’t you just tell her how you feel?” Brock asks. 
“How I feel?”
Brock shakes his head again, sighing loudly. “Don’t pretend you don’t have feelings for her, man.”
“We’re just friends,” Elias defends, adjusting uncomfortably on the couch as he glances around the room, looking for any distractions. 
As you wander back from the bathroom you pause outside the living room entryway, frozen with the words you hear Brock say. “You’re in love with her, we all see it.”
“She just needs a friend right now,” Elias reiterates. 
“Just needs a friend? But you don’t want to be just a friend?”
“Just drop it, okay?” Elias snaps, unusually out of character for him. 
A few moments later you step into the room, trying your best to act like you hadn’t just heard everything you heard. Was Brock right? Elias hadn’t denied it. But that didn’t mean he was right either. No matter how hard you tried to remain unfazed by the comments you had overheard you simply couldn’t, catching yourself staring at Elias just a little too often and for a little too long. 
By the time you leave that night you can’t manage to keep your heart rate steady or your breathing even. Elias parks his car and you climb out, an uncomfortable silence filling the air around you two and you begin to wonder if he knows something is up. Stepping into the elevator you can’t handle the tension anymore but you’re not sure how to deal with it either. So you let your body take control, stepping in front of Elias, one hand on the back of his neck as you lean closer to him. “Kiss me,” you whisper in the silence of the elevator. 
“What?” Elias asks in shock, but he’s grabbing at your waist already, pulling you closer. And he doesn’t wait for you to say anything else before he’s kissing you, surprisingly fast and eager. When the doors of the elevator slide open you grab Elias’ hand, pulling him out onto your floor with you. There’s a nervous excitement as you both walk to your apartment. You barely have the door closed before Elias has his hands on your hips, pulling your back into him as he leans down, pressing his lips to your jaw, reaching up to brush your hair away as he moves his lips down to your neck. 
Gasping softly you push your body back into his, hand curling around Elias’ wrist. “Please,” you whimper, head tipping back to rest on his shoulder. You hadn’t so much as kissed a guy since moving to Vancouver. And maybe it was because you were too busy to worry about going out with guys, but maybe it was because there was only one guy you were interested in and he just happened to be right there behind you. 
“Are you sure about this?” Elias asks, turning you around in his arms as he holds you by your waist. 
“Yes,” you whisper, grabbing one of his hands and pulling him along with you into your bedroom. 
Waking up the next morning you roll over, finding the bed empty beside you. The way your heart sank was a feeling you had never felt before. You had slept with guys before and it meant nothing, had woken up the next morning alone or snuck out during the night. But this felt different. Because you really thought it meant something. But clearly you were wrong. 
Slowly you pull yourself out of bed, yanking on an oversized t-shirt and shuffling to the kitchen to make coffee. Because you needed to do something, anything, to keep your mind off the fact that you had slept with your one of your best friends and he left before you were even awake. Left without saying a single thing. And with each passing hour of the day where you hadn’t heard anything from Elias the worse you felt. 
Sure, you knew there was the chance that he really wasn’t in love with you. But when he kissed you back in the elevator you thought it had to have meant something. The last thing you would have expected was for him to just leave like that. 
‘Movie night?’
The text came early in the afternoon and normally you would have replied within seconds of seeing it. But today was so different, hesitation as your thumbs hovered over the keyboard on your phone. 
‘Sure. Your place or mine?’ You finally send. You couldn’t say no to Elias, no matter how hurt you were from earlier. 
‘Mine? 7 work?’
‘Sure’ you reply vaguely. Your conversations were never like this. You always said more, talked about what the other was doing, made jokes. You can’t remember a single one word text you had ever sent him, it always needed at the very least a smiley face. 
That evening you head up to Elias’ apartment, knocking on the door and staring down at the ground anxiously. Elias pulls the door open a minute later, stepping aside to let you walk inside. “Hey,” you whisper. 
“Hi,” Elias replies, closing the door behind you before pulling you into a hug. It’s warm and comforting and you want to stay there with him forever. But you know you can’t, not after the night before. Slowly pulling back you take a deep breath, preparing yourself to bring up what happened. “Do you want to order takeout or should we find something to make here?” Elias asks. 
You’re caught off guard by him brushing past everything that happened, not acknowledging the fact that less than 24 hours before you were moaning his name. “Uh,” you hum, prepared to talk about the implications of hooking up but not about dinner plans. “Takeout.”
Elias nods, pulling his phone out and opening DoorDash. “What do you want?”
“For you to stop ignoring what happened last night,” you blurt out, staring up at Elias with watery eyes. 
Elias lowers his phone staring at you in silence for a moment. “What do you want to talk about?”
“What?” You croak, shaking your head. “What do you mean? What do I want to talk about? The fact that we slept together last night. That you left before I was even awake the next morning. Any of that ring a bell?”
“What do you want me to say about it?”
You feel your chest tightening, throat aching with the threat of tears you were so desperately trying to hold back. “You know, you did a wonderful job convincing people that you love me, I almost fell for it.”
“What do you mean?” Elias asks, eyes softening as he steps closer, arms moving towards you before you step back. 
“I heard what Brock said, about you being in love with me,” you explain. “That’s why…that’s why I slept with you last night, Elias. Because I’m in love with you and I thought maybe, just maybe he was right. Or at the very least you would have the decency to not just fuck me if it didn’t mean anything.” Wiping at the tears streaming down your face you whirl around towards the door, trying to escape before you broke down any further. 
But Elias is grasping for your hand before you can get to the door, pulling you into his chest. “He’s right,” Elias whispers. “I am in love with you.”
“So why are you acting like such an asshole then?”
Elias pulls back, reaching over to wipe the tears off your cheeks. “Because I was scared. I didn’t think you felt the same way. I thought…I thought you just wanted a, uh, like, friends with benefits. But I know I can’t do that with you so I thought just going back to normal was the only option.”
You let out a shocked breath of laughter, clutching tight to Elias as if he might try to distance himself again if you let up even just a little. “You thought all of a sudden I would try to just turn this into a friends with benefit agreement? After all this time?”
“I didn’t think you could have feelings for me,” Elias mumbles into your hair, holding onto you with just as much intensity. “I mean, look at you. You’re perfect. And I can’t give you everything you deserve, I’m not even here all the time, so…”
“What are you talking about you?” You ask, interrupting Elias’ ramble with a quiet, surprised laugh, your hands moving to the back of his neck as you stare up into his eyes. “You already give me more than I deserve. You’re the person I call when I need anything. You come down to my apartment at two in the morning to kill spiders for me. You pick me up when I have to work late and it’s dark and you don’t want me taking the skytrain at night. You helped me repaint my kitchen on one of the very few days you actually have off. And you don’t have to do any of those things so when you’re not here to do them it’s okay, because it’s already more than I need. You’re more than I need, Elias, and I hate that you would think you aren’t.”
“I love you,” he whispers, saying it like it was a weight off his shoulders. “I love you so much,” he repeats, a smile growing on his face. 
“Should I spend the night here tonight? Or do you want me to sneak out after you fall asleep?” You joke, pressing your lips to his. 
Elias smiles against your lips, pulling back and shaking his head, clearly still feeling guilty. “Don’t leave…you don’t ever need to leave."
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volleychumps · 4 years
Note
HEY HEY HEY!! I just wanna say your writing is just amazingggg! If possible, can you do a Bokuto x reader where reader is dared to call her crush and calls bokuto and he's right next to her but hella confused? I feel like the clownery would be IMMENSE 😂😂
Hiii!! They yoinked my teethsies but I’m feeling better, thanks to everyone who asked I love youuuu guys so much!! 
Sober Realizations. -Bokuto Kotaro-
Word Count: 1548
Warning(s): cursing, suggestive content(nsfw),  alcohol (aged up) 
-------------------------------------------
“Talk about a pussy dare.” 
Kuroo winks at you as he downs the rest of the vodka bottle in one go, high-fiving Bokuto afterwards as you glare at Tsukishima, who had given the raven-haired captain the dull dare to begin with. The blonde simply shrugs, leaning back to pop open a can of cranberry beer as Kaori continues to burst out laughing at the turn of events. 
“So I have to strip my shirt off but Mr. I’m-too-good-for-girly-drinks gets to chug his favorite alcohol? I call bullshit.” 
“At least your bra is cute!” Kaori exclaims, cuddling you close as you roll your eyes, feeling Bokuto shift next to you as your breath catches in your throat. The shared dorm of the boys had you all sitting in a rather closely knit-circle, you and Kaori coming over for old times’ sake seeing you were all attending the same college as you ended up sidled comfortably up to your high school crush. Bokuto takes another swig of Smirnoff before offering the rest to you. 
Bokuto grins as you fight your blush when he reaches a hand out to tousle your hair as you shyly sip, his jacket loosely covering your frame yet still remaining unzipped to reveal your black bra underneath. Bokuto hadn’t even reacted when the bastard Nekoma captain dared you to strip, simply laughing and making you feel worse as a result-
especially considering the brother-like gesture of draping his team jacket across your shoulders. 
Tsukishima had to call Daichi- 
“D-Dad come pick me up, they’re drinking alcohol-” 
“Tsukishima, to put it nicely, what the fuck-”
Akaashi had to reenact High School Musical’s iconic Gotta Go My Own Way with Bokuto playing as Troy-
“Akaashi how do you mess this up?! It’s a simple one-two rhythm-!” 
“I will end you.”
And your personal favorite- 
Bokuto had to also strip his shirt off, due to Tsukishima’s bland-ass pick of the dares and his unwillingness to be creative. So that’s how you ended up, head leaning loosely on the broad shoulder of Bokuto, who (thank the gods) had his hair down from his previous shower, smelling of bath soap and a tinge of his cologne with his shirt discarded to the left of him. 
You bite back a sigh as your turn comes around again, Kaori grinning a tad wickedly at you as you arch a brow, wondering just where your friend would take this. 
“Truth or dare, Y/N~?” 
Your eyes narrow at her tone. “Truth.” 
“Who would you want to fuck the most in this room right now?” 
“Me, obviously-” 
“Bite my ass, Kuroo.” You snip at the smirking player, turning back to your suspicious friend. “Dare.” 
“Oho? I dare you to call your crush.” 
“What are we, seventh graders?” You challenge almost immediately, feeling your heart rate pick up as your fingers trace the rim of your drink, telepathically cursing Kaori with every colorful word you could come up with. 
“Well, I’d most definitely want to fuck Kei-” 
“wHAT?! Over me?!” 
“Sit your clown ass down, Kuroo, I’d want to fuck Kei over for picking shitty ass dares.” 
“Don’t make me come over there, woman.” 
“Not the truth, Y/N~, you know what that means~” Kaori sings as you think it over for a moment. Although your immediate reaction had been to deny deny, and deny, you couldn’t help but wonder if doing this childish action would bring you the closure you needed. Your petty crush on Bokuto had started in high school, but he had never acted as anything more than your older brother and best friend. However, you had never directly stated to him after all these years what you really felt for him, the boy who had been there through countless breakups and heartbreaks. 
Before you can talk yourself out of it, you throw your drink back as your other hand fiddles with your phone, tapping quickly before you can stop yourself. 
“Five bucks she calls Lev.” 
“Lev’s like, my child, how dare you say that.” 
After your pointed glare towards an amused Kuroo, the silence that settles around the room when you hit call makes you want to turn off your phone and end it-
but it was far far too late for that.
You keep your eyes downcast as Bokuto’s phone lights up with your name, heart emojis and all. 
Akaashi and Tsukishima exchange quiet, knowing glances as Kaori and Kuroo’s eyes widen at the fact that you had actually done it-
“Huh?” The golden-eyed boy seemed to be immersed in confusion for a good second as he looks down at the caller. You hold your breath- 
“Heyooo Y/N!” Bokuto picks up the phone from next to you as you sweat drop. 
“You were supposed to call your crush, but you called me! Do you need a do-over?” 
Akaashi and Tsukishima both hang their heads gloomily in disbelief as Kuroo cackles, Kaori putting both hands to the sides of her temple to massage the sides. You swallow the lump of dissapointment in your throat as Bokuto continues to hold his phone up to his ear, grinning that same cheeky grin you were still in love with. 
“What? Why is everyone being weirder than usual?” Golden eyes blink in innocent confusion as you forget just how much of a dumbass the talented ace was at times. 
“...Yeah. Maybe I do need a do-over.” Your smile is wobbly as you finish off your drink, standing all of a sudden to excuse yourself to go to the bathroom. In the minute of silence after your leave, Bokuto seemed to be concentrating really hard with furrowed brows, wondering why the sudden change of atmosphere had occurred as Akaashi begins to reach a hand out-
“Bokuto-san-” 
“Sh. He’s almost there.” Kuroo stops him with a knowing grin. 
“Kuroo, his brain might explode from thinking too hard-” 
“Let it.” 
“That’s awful, Kei!” Kaori swats the blonde. 
Amidst the conversation, Bokuto stands all of a sudden, eyes widened with a weak finger ponting at himself as he looks each of his friends in the eye. 
“Wait, don’t tell me-” 
“I was this close to playing jeapordy music, too.”
“Tsukki, go to your room.” 
Ignoring the flicked off finger in the direction of Kuroo from the blonde, Akaashi groans to himself when Bokuto makes a mad dash to his bedroom, the room that had the bathroom you excused yourself to as the setter rolls his eyes. 
“Four years to get together and they have to do it in my dorm bathroom?” 
“Just drink your wine, old man, we’ll put him on clean-up duty.” 
Tap. 
“Can I come in?” 
“O-One second!” Your voice attempts to chirp, only to crack. Upon hearing that, Bokuto lets himself in anyway to see you supporting yourself up with both arms on Akaashi’s sink, head hung over the drain as you straighten all of a sudden, startled at his entry as palms swipe at the moisture falling down your flushed cheeks. The loose sleeves of his jacket and the exposure of your undergarment-
had Bokuto’s mouth drier than he remembered it, the sudden urge to touch you overwhelming him. 
“Sorry, I might’ve had too much to drink, I don’t know what’s with me...” You trail off in a slight slur, prompting Bokuto to shut the door tightly as he lessens the distance between the two of you in the already small bathroom. You bite your lip at his shirtless form and you’re practically matching one as your thoughts remain sober, wondering if you could play it off with you being too drunk. 
“Y/N-chan...Did you mean to call me?” Bokuto’s voice is scarily soft as his grey-black locks fell over his goregous golden eyes, and you find yourself at a loss for words when a hand reaches out to grab the sink, leaning over you and sealing off your escape. You gulp at the proximity, looking away bashfully. 
“No. I didn’t.” 
“Don’t lie, Y/N-chan, we promised we wouldn’t do that!”
You flinch at the feel of Bokuto’s lips ghosting over your neck, feeling hot all of a sudden as Bokuto pulls back slightly, gold eyes deadly serious, something you only had seen in his matches. 
“How long?” 
Your lips pout as you look away again, refusing to answer, prompting the gray haired boy to use his thumb and forefinger to turn your chin back in his direction, gold eyes desperate for an answer. 
“S-Since our second year.” 
His warm hands dip through his jacket to stroke your waist, causing you to whimper a little as Bokuto releases a breathy sigh, using the sides of his jacket to pull you closer to him so he can sit you on Akaashi’s sink. He smiles as you try to process what’s happening as he moves to stand between your thighs. 
“Then I have...what, four years to make up?” Your alcoholic breaths mingle as your fingers find themselves woven throughout his hair, your other hand moving to rest on the back of his neck as you shyly meet Bokuto’s loving gaze.
“O-Only if you want to...” 
“Oh trust me.” You flinch when he pulls the jacket off your shoulders, the material falling to the floor as his hand moves to turn the lock. 
“I want to.”
974 notes · View notes
karlajoyner · 4 years
Note
Can I request a Charlie Gillespie x reader , where Charlie Gillespie is the reader’s boyfriend who dress as a clown for Madison Reys’s halloween party while they were in Canada and where Jeremy and Owen dress as clowns too to scare to Charlie’s girlfriend who is the reader but she hates getting scared.
It’s Stupid (Charlie Gillespie x Reader)
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A/n: Hey guys so I hope you enjoy this one. I don't know if I'm gonna post the sunset curve one next yet because I have so much to work on for it. So I might post the one after unless you guys are willing to wait! Let me know if you are if you'd just prefer I post the next one!
Requested by: @fantomlovesjuke4ever (Tumblr)
Warnings: None
————
I placed the orange beanie over my head. Finally finishing off my final look.
Giggling to myself I walked out into the living room to see Savannah there in her Kim Possible outfit.
"How do I look?"
"Oh my god Charlie's gonna die!" She laughed throwing her head back.
"You look great"
"Are you sure it's not too....booby" I said moving the muscle tee away from my body to show my black bra. The muscle tee being directly from the show itself courtesy of the wardrobe department.
"It's Madison's Halloween party. I don't wanna show up looking like a slut"
"It's not too booby. You look great plus no ones gonna get to look under there except Charlie" She teased.
I playfully rolled my eyes grabbing a large oversized jacket to cover my costume.
"Where'd Tori go?"
"She went to go check on the boys to see if they were almost ready"
"Oh sounds good. Hey thanks again for letting me room with you two"
"Of course you know you're always welcome when your here. Plus I know Kenny always appreciates that you choose not to room with your boyfriend when you visit us"
"Kenny and apparently Owen too" I said earning a giggle from the girl.
"Tori just texted said the boys are ready and scary"
"Really?"
"Yeah. What's Charlie gonna be this year?" She asked as I grabbed my phone off the kitchen countertop.
"Beats me. He said it was top secret"
"Same for Owen and Jer" She spoke as I received a message from my boyfriend himself.
"Oh" I muttered.
"What's up?"
"Charlie just texted they'll meet us there. Something about needing the makeup department"
"Oh my"
"I just hope it's not anything too scary. I hate anything terrifying. I don't even watch scary movies at night due to the fact that I'm a complete wimp"
"Does Charlie know that?" Savannah bit her lip.
"Of course we've been dating for 6 months. If he didn't I'd be worried" I said walking out the front door.
I sighed stepping out of the Uber taking in the freezing cold air. Nothing too bad.
"How are you not freezing your socks off?" Tori asked.
"Toro you forget I've lived in Canada my whole life. You Californians cannot take the cold"
"Your the female version of Charlie. It's actually crazy" The girl said as she looped her arm through my own.
"Yeah he kinda rubbed off on me" I smiled walking into the warehouse with my two temporary roommates.
Immediately we spotted Madison, Sacha and Jadah.
"Y/n!" Madison and Jadah shouted running up to me.
"There's my angel. And my devils" I grinned at my boyfriends cast mates. Taking in the warmth's of the new surrounding.
"Okay let's see it. I've been waiting in anticipation to see your take on Luke Patterson" I giggled opening up the jacket to reveal the rest of my costume.
"You look great!"
"I think you look better than Charlie"
"Yeah my guns look great too don't they?" I asked flexing my arms causing laughter to erupt from the group.
"Okay seriously though where's my boyfriend and his posse"
"We have no idea"
"I do" Sacha stated smirking at me.
"Are you going to tell me?" I asked.
"Nope" As soon as the word left his lips my phone dinged.
"It's Charlie. He's asking me to meet him in the makeup. Where's that?"
"I'll walk you" Sav said taking my hand. We made it to a large door with windows to peer in.
"It's dark" I stated jiggling the knob to find it locked.
"Well that's weird" Sav said knocked. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as the door opened slowly.
"Take my hand"
"Okay Troy Bolton" Savannah said making me giggle. We walked forward slowly my heart dropping feeling a pair of arms grab my waist. I screamed in fear as the lights turned on. The three faces in front of me smiling widely.
"Ahhh" I shut my eyes hugging Savannah tightly. Who seem to have had a similar reaction because she didn't hesitate to pull me close either. My heart beating out of my chest wanting nothing more than to curl up in a ball and cry all my anxiety out. We gripped onto each other for dear life as......laughter erupted?
I slowly peeled my eyes open to see Charlie laughing loudly clutching his stomach along with Owen and Jeremy. A frown fell upon my face as I let the light haired girl go.
"Charlie" I whispered a small tear escaping my eyes.
The laughter quickly died down. Charlie's face now expressing concern.
"Y/n baby what's wrong?"
I scoffed walking past Savannah to be anywhere but here.
Flashback
"Come on babe"
"Charlie I'm serious. I hate scary movies and I hate being scared. It sends me into this weird panic mode and I get anxious" I ranted watching him turn the tv off.
"You probably think I'm some sort of freak who can't take a joke. If you don't wanna date me anymore that's fine but just don't make me watch that movie especially right now" I spoke looking out the window into the darkness of the dimly lit street.
"Why would you ever think I wouldn't want to date you because of this?" He asked hurt flashing his eyes.
"I don't know. It's just my past boyfriends have called me lame for not wanting to go out to a scary movie with them at night. Or not wanting to dress up as some sort of badass scary character for Halloween. It just sucks to be left out because of some stupid irrational fear"
"It's anything but irrational. So you got a fear of something. We all do. Hey I'm insanely afraid of spiders"
"Really?" I asked biting my lips.
"Yeah baby. It's a stupid fear I know but something about their long legs makes me just ugh" He said getting the chills.
"It's not stupid. Thanks Charlie" I smiled.
"Anytime y/n. Now come on" He spoke sticking his hand out to me.
"What about the movie?"
"We're still watching a movie. Frozen to be exact. Upstairs in my room, cuddling up in a pillow fort. Sound good?"
"Sounds amazing" I grinned taking it. I sighed contently as he pulled my into a hug.
"I promise I won't scare you or take any of your fears with a pinch of salt"
"I promise to do the same" I said looking up at the boy in front of me. Looking up at the face that I was slowly but surely falling in love with.
I made my way back towards the party immediately spotting Madi and Tori talking. Their eyes landed on me quickly sensing something wrong.
I made my way over to them wiping away the strayed water droplets under my eyes.
"Hey what's wrong?"
"The guys are assholes" I spoke bitterly.
"Did they scare you too?" Madison asked as I nodded. The two understanding me immediately.
"Yeah..... Its just when Charlie and I started dating I specifically explained to him why I don't like being scared and he promised he'd never take that one specific fear and use it against me. And he just scared the living crap out of me and Savannah. Which I'm glad I did figure out it was him and the boys before I passed out or puked. I'd expect it from Owen and Jer but my own boyfriend. I know it's stupid and I probably over reacted but I just- I've always made sure to kill every damn spider in our damn apartment so he wouldn't have to do it. And he does this to me"
"I don't think you overreacted. You have the right to be mad"
"You think?"
"Yeah but I also know Charlie's an idiot and needs to be reminded of things from time to time"
"You're right" I sighed.
"Look he's obviously gonna apologize. Just don't be too hard on him. His memories almost as bad as his handwriting" Madison joked making me let out a strangled chuckle hearing my name being called.
"Y/n! Y/n! Where is she?" Charlie shouted running into the room. The music coming to a halt.
All eyes landed on me as Charlie ran up to me.
"Please continue" I awkwardly chuckled pulling the brunette off into a random hallway.
The loud music blaring through the speakers once more.
"What is it Charles?" I spoke sternly turning around to face the boy who's makeup was much worse than before.
"Y/n baby I'm so sorry we pranked you. The boys convinced me that it'd be funny to get as many people as we could today. I didn't know you'd get so upset. I'll go take off this stupid costume right now if you want me to but please don't be mad at me baby. I love you" He finished nearly out of breath. I took in a deep breath hearing the sadness in his voiced as he had ranted like any other time he screwed up which wasn't very often. But still.
"Do you remember the night we watched frozen in your room?" I questioned nervously playing with the rings on my fingers. Another prop from Luke's character that tied my costume together.
"Of course it was amazing. We made a pillow fort and ate popcorn and afterwards we did stuff that was definitely not pg 13" He smirked making me roll my eyes.
"Do you remember why we watched frozen?" I spoke once more hoping he would get where I was going with my questions.
"Yeah we watched it because- oh. Y/n I'm so sorry. I'm such an idiot I can't believe I forgot about that"
"Yeah......Listen I'm not mad that your a clown which by the way I do happen to also be afraid of too but it's not gonna kill me. And I'm certainly not mad at Owen and Jeremy because they wanted to have a little fun tonight. But they didn't know about my anxiety that I get whenever I get scared. You did Charlie"
"I know I did" He groaned throwing his head back.
"And if my memory wasn't so damn bad I wouldn't have even thought about doing it baby. I hope you know that. And I'll do literally anything to get you to forgive me starting with never putting you through that again when your with me" He spoke taking my hands in his.
I sighed intertwining our fingers pulling him close to me.
"I know you won't. I also might have overreacted a bit" I said nuzzling my face into his chest.
His arms immediately wrapping around me completely.
"You didn't overreact. Overreacting is me when I see a spider. In all seriousness I love you and I'm really sorry for doing that"
"It's fine Charlie. I'll get my revenge on you guys" I spoke kissing his cheek before skipping away back to the party.
"Y-you're what? Wait baby your what? Y/n!" I heard him call after me as I laughed.
————
Up Next: Sunset Curve x Reader (Maybe)
Carrie Wilson x Reader
Owen Patrick Joyner x Reader
Charlie Gillespie x Reader
Alex x Male Reader
————
@lolychu @headheartbellarke @bookish0918 @kcd15 @ifilwtmfc @moviesbooksandfandoms @lovesanimals @lavender-writer @kaitieskidmore1 @morganayennefertyrell @iloveteenwolf @ghostofmgg
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coffeecakefanfics · 3 years
Text
In the middle | Midsize!FemReader x B.B
A/n: This is for my midsize girls but tbh anyone can read it <3 also requests are open
Warnings: Mentions of Ass throwing, Drinking, Mentions of body insecurities, Mentions of cuts and bruises,18+ themes
Being Midsized is weird. You’re too fat to be skinny but too skinny to be fat, you’re in this weird middle ground where you feel uncomfortable yet sexy at the same time.  You LOVE your big thighs and ass but HATE your tummy, it’s awkward
Y/n suffered from this problem, she had a great set of tits and a decent ass and the CUTEST tummy ever!  The problem though? Finding and outfit for parties, parties like the pool party and hangout that Tony made mandatory for the Avengers.  The sound of laughter shook through the compound as Y/n walked into the indoor pool and hot tub, music was playing and drinks were in hand. 
“There she is!” Nat yelled and held her drink up. A couple people cheered and Y/n bowed playfully. A laugh tumbled from her lips as she grabbed a bottle of a mikes hard, something sweet.  
“Come on get in,” Nat motioned for the girl to get into the hot tub. Y/n swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. 
“Come on, take it off!” Sam teased. 
“Shut up, I’m getting in” she laughed and tugged at the ties of black cover up. 
“Take it off, take it off!” A couple more people joined in.  The girl laughed and turned with her back to them and let the cover up drop to her waist, playful cheers filled the room now as she dropped the cover up. 
“Daamn mama,” Wanda whistled.
“I know I know,” Y/n played back. It wasn’t Bucky’s fault, he’d blame it on the way that the highwisted black suit cupped her ass, the way her thighs jiggled when she walked, how incredible the view of her breasts were sitting in the top that he let his mind wander to how gorgeous she’d look under him. 
“Bucky?” she voice pulled his mind back
“I think pretty boy might like the view,” Tony chirpped. 
“Tony shut up, leave the kid alone,” Y/n rolled her eyes at the older man. 
“What were you saying?” Bucky felt his cheeks dust
“I was asking if you were going on the mission tomorrow?” her eyes were soft, and innocent, glints of happiness shook through them.
“Yeah, Me, you and Steve are running this one,” he bit his lip.  The night continued on, drinking, laughing, it was almost. . . peaceful, that was until the sex talk started. 
“Come on Y/n how many?” Thor was the one poking now. 
“Ew no i’m not here to get slut shamed,” she laughed and sipped her drink, Bucky’s eyes drifted to how her lips sat so perfectly against the bottle. 
“Don’t be a baby,” He continued pushing. 
“Fine but you can’t laugh,” she shot him a look and he held his hands up in defence, “My body count is 3,” she shrugged and took another sip. 
“You’re lying,” Sam scoffed playfully and sipped his own drink.
“I’m serious, My first was a kid named Damien Salazar in 11th grad, then there was Troy Cash my second year of college and then I had a guy after we broke up that was so bad that I forgot his name,” she shrugged. 
“I really was expecting more,” Thor shrugged himself. 
“That’s hurtful,” she teased, “Even if it was more I wouldn’t be less of a woman for it, no one is,” she spoke stern. 
“No that’s not why we’re curious, you just never talk to us about this stuff,” Wanda noted.
“I mean you club with us and throw ass all the time but we never get to the personal stuff like that, you’re the only one we didn’t know,” Nat slung an arm around the girl, who laid her head on her.
“That’s a fair point,” The girl laughed.
“Question,” Bucky spoke up, “What the fuck is throwing ass?” The laughter after was deafening.
“Oh poor sweet baby Buck,” Sam patted his back before giving a pointed look to the girl across from them.
“Sam Wilson I know damn well you do not expect me to corrupt that poor man,” she shot up from Nats shoulder
“Come on, the man is 106 years old and hasn’t been twerked on, do him a solid. 
“I can’t and won’t have this conversation,” she rolled her eyes and took the last sip of her drink. “I am off to bed, See you two freaks in the morning,” she waved and wrapped a towel around her body. 
The mission went smooth, well except for a few bumps and bruises and a gash to Y/n’s suit, but it went smoothly.  Back at the compound she found herself restless, tossing and turning in bed led her to the kitchen, standing over a pot of coffee waiting for it to brew. 
“Can’t sleep?” The voice made her jump, spinning around to find Bucky standing by the table.
“Jesus Buck, A warning,” she smiled at him.
“Want a cup?” she pointed to the pot behind her.  Bucky simply nodded. 
“Nightmares?” she asked and slid a blue cup across the table to him.
“I don’t have nightmares,” he spoke, taking a sip.
“Okay Bucky,” she dropped it, holding the warm cup in her hands.   It wasn’t nightmares him up it was a feeling of, hate? no that’s not the word, discomfort in his body.  Something he never spoke of was the insecurity of his arm, he hated how the metal felt.  It kept him up sometimes, there was a point in time where he would try to claw it off, the scars are faintly there.
“What’s got you up?” he asked, carefully.
“Personal shit, I don’t need to make it your problem, her words were flat, nothing like how she normally spoke to him. 
“I’m here you know, to talk” his words tumbled, he never knew or was good at opening up.
“You too buck,” She smiled and took a sip.  Bucky studied how she leant against the counter, her her shirt draped her body, loose and hiding her figure, how her shorts were slightly risen up.  He loved her body, he loved how she looked in her suit, it hugged her ass and tits perfectly and outlined her figure, Bucky loved her tummy when he could see it, like when they sparred.
“Earth to Buck,” she was grinning at him. 
“Sorry,” he mumbled and felt a blush creep up his face.
“What’s on your mind?” she had finished her drink and sat the cup in the sink.
“it’s uh- nothing,” he sipped the coffee.
“it’s not nothing because you drifted off, so spill” Bucky felt his head spinning, he couldn’t ask her that, he had too much respect for her.
“My door is open if you need it,” she smiled and let her fingers dance across his shoulder on the way out.  Bucky let out his breath and hung his head. He was so down bad. 
Once every three months shield brings their agents in to spar with the avengers, test them on hand to hand combat.  Y/n was slowly walking around the ring with her hands in defense, everyone stood around watching her and then new initiate.
“Go!” Fury yelled, the initiate jumped at the girl who dodged, tripping her up.  The initiate growled and lunged at Y/n again tossing punch after punch and throwing kicks. Y/n caught the girls foot and used it to pull her down.
“Time!” Fury called again.  Y/n locked eyes with Bucky who smirked at her. Y/n held her hand out to the initiate, the girl took it and smiled at Y/n. 
“Hey you did great, work on your defense a little more and you’ll be perfect” 
“Thank you” the girl smiled and left the ring. 
“Maybe if you lost some weight you’d be too,” a males voice spoke, accidentally too loud.  Y/n’s stomach dropped, feeling sick.  Her shoulders slumped for a second before a fire lit behind her eyes. 
“In the ring now!” she barked.
“Oh shit,” Sam cleared his throat.
“Here we go,” Tony took a deep breath and shook his head.  The young man scoffed and set foot into the ring.
“Go!” Fury called.  The man lunged, prematurely and ended up getting a shoulder to the stomach as Y/n took him down. He hit the ground with a huff.
“Again” he demanded. Y/n cracked her fingers, and held her defense.  The man was agitated, he was bouncing on his feet, rookie mistake.  He threw a couple punches that landed but when his strategy didn’t change Y/n saw the opportunity and sprung loose.  She blocked his punch with her forearm before kicking the back of his knee causing him to tumble, she set her foot on his throat, not putting any pressure, just to freak the kid out. 
“Listen up, I worked my fucking ass off to be in the place that I am in today, you’re all here to do the same, every one of you was seen as better than your peers.  With that being said does anyone else have any more dumb shit to say?” Her voice was sharp, thick, heavy.  The initiates eyes were trained on the ground, some were shifting, the energy in the room shifted and was uncomfortable.  Y/n jumped out of the ring and grabbed her bag, letting the gym door slam behind her. The team looked at each other with almost pity for the girl. 
“Nat, you’re in” Tony spoke calmly, trying to return the air.
“You fucked up kid,” He half sneered at the initiate who fumbled down the steps.
“I’ll go check on her,” Bucky mumbled to Sam.
“Let her cool off a bit man, she’s hurt,” Sam offered.  Bucky shook his head and left the gym. 
The door to her room was in fact unlocked, but Bucky still knocked before entering, waiting for her voice to speak.
“Come in” She had her back to him, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
“I just wanted to check on you, I’m sorry I’ll-”
“No, no it’s okay. Thank you, it means a lot,” she smiled at him sadly.  His heart broke at the sight of her. 
“Look about what that kid said, he doesn’t know shit,” Bucky spoke carefully, he was trying to tread lightly.  She sat on the edge of her bed and let her head fall into her hands. 
“He’s right, I mean i’m in the gym 6 days a week and i’m lifting weights for 5.  But no matter what I do i’m still in this awful middle ground of being too fat but also ‘skinny’ and I fucking hate it. I hate my body and how it looks and I constantly feel like I stick out on the team,” the tears had started again.  Bucky sat on his knees infront of her. 
“Well fuck them,” he tilted her chin up.
“So what if you’re not tiny? You are still stronger than hell, you have such an amazing body, I mean you have the prettiest thighs i’ve ever seen, you have a nice rack and you have the best stomach,” Bucky smiled at her. She shook her head and wound her arms around yourself. 
“You are fucking beautiful, every inch of you.  Your acne, your stretch marks, your freckles, everything you hate about yourself I find, and this is going to make me sound gross but I find it sexy Y/n.  You’re not going to be everybodys type but sure as shit you’re mine” Y/n bit back the smile that was threatening to break through.
“Even my tummy?” she tried, playful
“Especially your tummy, you kidding?” he grinned and pushed her hair back, holding her cheek. “You are beautiful,” he spoke, barely above a whisper before connecting their lips. Y/n froze at first, unsure of if he was sincere or messing with her. He pulled away
“I’m sorry I should have asked,” he stammered and started to move away.
“No, I liked it” Y/n nodded and kissed him. 
47 notes · View notes
ghosttotheparty · 3 years
Text
late night peculiarity
“Tro-o-oy!” Jeff calls from the backseat. “I have... a birthday gift for you.” His words make a alcoholic vapor fill the car, and Britta groans and she rolls her head to rest on Abed’s.
“Yeah?” Troy says dryly, his grip on the steering wheel shifting. “What’s that?”
“You can keep my car.”
Troy rolls his eyes, shaking his head, waiting.
“...Until Monday,” Jeff adds, lifting a hand and pointing at Troy. “But don’t crash it, ok–“
“Crash it, Troy!” Britta interrupts. “Crash his car!”
“Don’t crash it!” Jeff calls, raising his voice. “You can keep it... until Monday.”
“Thanks, Jeff.”
“No! Sunday. I have school on Monday.”
“We all have school on Monday,” Abed says, and Troy glances into the rear view mirror at him. Their eyes lock for a second until Troy looks away, back to the road.
“God,” Jeff slurs. “Sound like a fuckin’ high schooler.”
“Jeff, should I drop you off first?” Troy says before Britta can say anything.
“Yeah.”
Troy looks up into the mirror again, catching Abed’s eye, before gripping the wheel and turning around a corner.
“Abed, make sure Britta doesn’t do anything stupid,” Troy says as the car pulls to a stop.
“Will do,” Abed says, turning his face into Britta’s shoulder. “Britta, don’t move.”
She groans in response.
“Jeff, come on, I’m walking you up,” Troy says as he unbuckles, turning to see Jeff trying to find his buckle under Britta’s hip.
“Leave me alone,” she moans, snuggling closer to Abed.
“I’m trying to get away from you, dumbass.”
“You’re a dumbass, dumbass.”
“Jeff,” Troy says sharply.
“I’m coming, Dad.”
Jeff walks with his arm around Troy’s neck up the stairs to his apartment building and all the way through the halls and in the elevator.
“You know...You know what we’re gonna do?” Jeff says loudly as they stumble down the hall to his apartment.
“What are you gonna do?” Troy says, quieter, placing a hand on Jeff’s back to catch him as he trips over himself.
“We’re gonna have a real party for you. Like, an actual party, at a good bar that Shirley doesn’t hate.”
“That sounds good.”
“We can do it next weekend.” Jeff lets go of Troy’s neck and falls against the wall, going to twist the knob before stopping and saying “Oh,” and reaching into his pocket, pulling out nothing.
“Jeff,” Troy says, holding out Jeff’s keys.
“Oh, thanks, man.”
“Troy,” Jeff says, falling against the doorframe when the door is open.
“Yeah, Jeff?”
“Don’t be mad, okay?”
“I’m not mad,” Troy sighs, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I’m just...” He shrugs, looking away. “Disappointed.”
“See?” Jeff says, tilting his head forward and looking at Troy from under his brows. “Now you’re really acting like my dad. I’m supposed to be the dad of the group.”
“I’m not your dad, Jeff. I...” Troy bites his lip.
Fuck it. Jeff won’t remember this in the morning.
“This was my first birthday party, you know? And a big one, I’m twenty-one. I’m supposed to be a man, but I wanted that man thing to mean getting a seven-and-seven legally and finally hanging out with you without feeling like a kid. But I ended up being in charge and responsible and I don’t know if I’m gonna get to go back and be a kid. I’m scared that I’ll be stuck like this. As a... grown up.”
“Troy,” Jeff groans, rolling his eyes theatrically. “You’re not magically a grown up just because you’re twenty one. You’re still Troy.”
“Yeah,” Troy sighs, ready to put Jeff to bed.
“And I’m pretty sure Abed is older than you and he’s still Abed. And you’re still gonna be best friends with him, right?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Don’t stress,” Jeff mumbles, and his head falls against the doorframe. There’s a moment of silence before Jeff inhales loudly, and Troy scoffs.
“Jeff,” he says firmly, and Jeff startles, snorting. “Go to bed, man.”
“‘M going to bed...” Jeff turns around, holding the doorframe with both hands. “‘M going...”
“Good night, Jeff.”
“Night,” Jeff says quietly, and Troy almost misses it as he turns to go back down the hall. “Love you, Troy.”
Troy pauses, looking back to see Jeff’s door shut.
“...Love you too.”
When Troy gets back in the car, Britta is snoring and Abed is laying on her shoulder, staring and blinking and staring and blinking.
“Abed, is it cool if I drop Britta off before you?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
“Okay.”
- - -
“Britta, talk to me so I know you’re alive,” Troy says, his arm around Britta’s waist, holding her up as she stumbles over her own feet.
“‘M alive,” she says loudly. “I feel so alive, Troy!”
“You need to go to bed, Britta.”
“I will,” she mumbles. “I’m gonna go to bed, and I’m gonna sleep for...” She takes a deep breath, huffing the chilly night air. “For as long as I can.”
“Tomorrow’s Saturday, so that’s fine.”
She groans, throwing her arm around Troy’s neck.
She tugs him into her apartment when she finally, after much effort, gets it open, leading him to her room. Troy’s heart pace picks up, stammering out, “Brit–Britta, stop. Britta, don’t, s–“ as he tries to unlock her grip on his shirt.
“It’s fine, Troy...” she mumbles, stumbling into her room as he trips over her feet. “‘M just...”
She finally lets go of him and he steps back, to the door of her room, watching as Britta collapses into her bed, her hair covering her face like a blonde cobweb.
“I’ll text you tomorrow, Britta,” Troy says softly.
She groans in response.
“Okay,” Troy mutters before he leaves.
- - -
Abed is in the front seat when Troy gets back.
“Hi,” he says lightly, looking over as Troy slides into the front seat and slams the door shut, laying over the steering wheel and covering his face. He feels Abed’s hand lightly rub his shoulder.
“Hey,” he huffs when he sits up.
“So tonight was weird, right?” Abed says as Troy turns the car on and pulls out of the parking lot.
“Yeah. I don’t... really know how to react to it.”
“I don’t really know how to react to most things,” Abed says. “So I understand.”
The corners of Troy’s mouth quirk into a smile.
“Good to know.”
- - -
“Do you want me to walk you in?” Troy asks Abed as they pull into the student parking lot outside the accommodations.
Abed hums, twisting his mouth and looking out the window.
“Yes. But I don’t think you’ll have to hold me up.”
Troy chuckles, unbuckling and opening the car door.
“So where did you disappear to?” Troy asks, and he ignores the fact that they’re nothing walking much slower than they usually do, their feet shuffling over the asphalt of the parking lot.
“They had Asteroids.”
“Right.”
Troy shoves his hands in his pockets, looking up at the building they’re approaching, looking up at the dark windows, and the few, scattered, bright ones. One is open, and leaking out of it is faint dubstep music.
He feels awkward, for the first time with Abed, wanting to ask about that guy he saw talking to Abed, that guy that seemed entranced by Abed. (Of course, who wouldn’t be entranced by Abed? It’s like he’s made of magic.)
And why isn’t Abed saying anything about him? Why does he only mention Asteroids, and noting about the guy with the stupid moustache and the beer? The guy that bought Abed a beer?
Troy’s nostrils flare and he clenches his fists.
But then he looks up at Abed, and Abed’s looking at him. And Abed smiles.
At him.
Not the moustache guy.
And so Troy smiles back.
It’s not awkward.
Troy holds the door open for Abed, watching him as Abed steps past him (his shoulder brushes Troy’s chest).
“Thank you.”
“Mmhmm.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t stay with you tonight,” Abed says abruptly, turning to face Troy as the door shuts.
Troy shrugs nonchalantly, shaking his head.
“Don’t worry about it, buddy.”
“No, let me do this.”
“Okay.”
“I shouldn’t have stayed with you,” Abed says, turning to walk down the hall, and Troy follows. “I shouldn’t have just left you for a video game. It was your birthday.”
“Technically it wasn’t my birthday.”
Abed pauses, his finger hovering over the up button of the elevator.
“Right,” he says softly, his brows furrowing before he presses it. “Anyway. I shouldn’t have ditched you.”
“It’s okay, Abed.” Troy hesitates, following Abed into the elevator and watching him as he presses the button for floor three.
“Hey, uhm...” Troy finally says, shifting on his feet as the elevator lurches into motion. “Who was that guy you were talking to?”
“Oh,” Abed says, his brows furrowing for a short second. “R– Richard? Roger?”
“You don’t... know?”
“I didn’t really get to know him, I just talked about Farscape.”
“And he just listened?”
“Yeah, for the most part.” Abed glances at Troy. “He was actually hitting on me but I didn’t pick up on it until I was already on a roll so I ignored it.”
The elevator comes to a stop and Abed steps out when the doors slide open. Troy feels stuck, frozen in place.
Hitting on him?
He follows Abed out before the doors can slide shut.
“He was hitting on you?” he asks when he catches up, trying his hardest to keep his voice level.
“Yeah.”
“How... was that?”
Abed looks at him as they move down the hall.
“He’s not really my type.”
“And what is your type?”
Abed looks at him again, his eyes skimming over his face slowly. Troy feels himself burn up under his gaze.
“Not him,” Abed says after a few quiet, strained seconds. “I don’t really like moustaches.”
Troy scoffs, the corners of his mouth curving into a smile.
“He got mad at me,” Abed adds like its an afterthought, and Troy looks at him curiously. “When I told him I knew he wanted to have sex with me and that I chose to ignore it, he tossed his drink in my face.”
“What?”
Troy freezes, reaching out and catching Abed’s shirt with a hand. Abed turns to face him, and under the dim hallway lights, Troy finally notices that the front of his shirt is wet.
“What an asshole,” Troy mutters, looking at his shirt. His face is burning, and his hands are shaking lightly, by Abed seems indifferent.
“I understand why he was frustrated.”
“No reason to be such a douche.”
“...Yeah.”
Troy looks up into his eyes, away from his shirt, and Abed smile softly.
“I’m okay,” he reassures Troy.
“I know,” Troy says, and he smiles when Abed gives him a thumbs up.
They stop outside Abed’s door, and Troy’s smile is still there. Abed sees it, and Troy knows he does.
“Oh!” Abed says, turning to face Troy after unlocking his door. His eyes are wide.
“What’s wrong?”
“I had something for you. A birthday gift.” Abed huffs, looking down the hall, and he doesn’t see Troy’s eyebrows quirk up in surprise. “I forgot it in the study room. I was gonna give it to after the party but the... the plans changed and it slipped my mind.”
“That’s fine,” Troy says, nodding reassuringly. “You can give it to me on Monday.”
“Yeah,” Abed sighs, and his mouth twists the way it always does when he’s thinking. So Troy waits.
“I–“ Abed swallows, tilting his head and looking into Troy’s eyes. Troy hopes Abed can’t see his face flush in the dimness of the hall. “I do have something I could give you right now.”
“Oh.” Troy shifts on his feet, noticing Abed’s fingers tangled in front of himself nervously, not making a move to open his door. “Okay.”
“Close you eyes,” Abed says after taking a sharp breath, and Troy shuts his eyes promptly.
He waits patiently, for Abed’s door to open, for Abed to take his hands and place something in them, for... anything. But nothing happens.
Then something warm brushes his cheek, and it’s soft and gentle and comforting and Troy leans into it subconsciously, his eyes just beginning to flutter open before something presses against his mouth.
Troy hmphs lightly, his eyes flying open, and Abed is kissing him.
Kissing him.
Abed is kissing him .
Troy shuts his eyes again, lifting his hands and going to slide them over Abed’s neck, but Abed pulls away, and Troy leans in, following his face and gasping, blinking and blinking and taking a deep breath. And Abed’s eyes are on him, shining and dark and blinking.
“Is this...” Troy starts, his stomach and heart and hands dropping. “Is this a bit? Is this from... a movie, or...”
Abed’s fingers brush over his cheek again, over his jaw, lightly touching the side of his neck like feathers.
“No,” he says softly. “Its a cliché, but I’ve wanted to do it for a long time.”
Troy looks at Abed’s mouth, watches his lips as he says it.
“Really?” he asks softly, just breathing it, his voice higher than he’d usually like it to be, but right now he doesn’t care.
“Yes.” Abed’s mouth twists again, his fingers brushing over Troy’s neck before sliding around to the nape, holding him lightly. “I really like you. In like, a gay way.”
“I really like you, too,” Troy whispers.
“Can I...” Abed’s eyes flick to Troy’s mouth. “Can I do it again?”
“Yes please,” he breathes.
So Abed does it again.
His lips capture Troy’s lower lip and Troy squeezes his eyes shut, sliding his hands over Abed’s neck and pulling him so Abed leans down.
The hallway is so quiet, and the noises of their lips and their breathing sounds like it’s echoing, vibrating through them and the walls.
“Cool,” Abed murmurs when Troy pulls away for a gasp, and Troy grins before kissing him again, the butterflies in his stomach that are perpetually fluttering finally bursting free.
Abed’s hands slip over his neck, skimming over his throat as Troy hums quietly, and down his chest, and around his waist, pulling him in until their chests are flush against each other, and Troy is sure Abed can feel his heart pounding against him.
Troy steps forward when he feels Abed’s teeth on his lip, pushing Abed against his door, and Abed lets out this noise, this tiny, quiet, soft, vulnerable noise, this noise that escapes his throat and falls right into Troy’s mouth, and Troy’s hands tighten in on him, his nails digging into his skin.
Troy finally pulls away after an unknown amount of time (time always escapes him when he’s with Abed), and his lip is throbbing from Abed sucking on it and he can feel the trails that follow Abed’s fingertips over his waist like they’re glowing, like Abed’s fingers are covered in fairy dust.
“Oh,” Troy breathes, tracing his fingertips over Abed’s cheekbones, over the bridge of his nice and his eyebrows and his eyelids.
Abed smiles.
And his arms wrap around Troy’s waist, pulling him into a hug as Troy buries his face in Abed’s neck, winding his fingers in Abed’s hair.
“Do you wanna sleep over tonight?” Abed whispers.
“Yeah, that would be nice.”
“Okay, come on.”
“Okay.”
Abed lets go of Troy to turn and open his door, and Troy almost whimpers at the loss of his arms around him.
When the door is open, Troy puts his hand on Abed’s back, gently pushing him inside, and he hears Abed give his precious “Hmmm,” giggle.
Troy shuts the door behind himself and pulls Abed back in, and somehow it’s even better in the privacy of Abed’s room, without the possibility of someone coming out of their own room and spotting them, seeing them and knowing just what they’re feeling, knowing just how their hearts are beating like they share arteries, because there’s no way they can hide it now.
Because now Troy can slide his hand over Abed’s waist and he can catch the fabric of his shirt, lifting it up and hearing what sounds like a sigh of relief come from Abed. And now he can slide his tongue across the seam of Abed’s lips, and Abed can let his mouth drop open and let his hands clutch at Troy’s neck desperately.
“That’s nice,” Abed sighs when Troy pulls away, and Troy nods in agreement, dropping his face into Abed’s neck again.
“I really, really like you,” he mumbles against Abed’s skin, and Abed’s fingertips finally slip under his shirt, over the warm skin of his hips and waist.
“I love you, Troy,” Abed says lightly, matter-of-factly, like it’s not the biggest deal in the whole world, in the whole fucking universe, like it doesn’t make Troy’s mind and heart explode in some pink, shimmery, glittery, dust.
“God, I love you too, I love you so much,” Troy whispers, because he finally can, his hands shaking as he holds the back of Abed’s neck and as Abed presses soft kisses to his cheeks and lips.
“Do you wanna go to bed?” Abed asks. “The earlier we wake up, the longer we’ll have to celebrate your birthday.”
“I don’t know how early we’re gonna wake up. Or if I’ll even want to get out of bed, honestly.”
“Understandable. I’d like to cuddle with you for a while.”
“Yes, please,” Troy says softly.
They fall asleep under two blankets in their boxers because they can’t be bothered to find pyjama pants, Troy’s face in Abed’s neck, leaving soft kisses as Abed’s fingers trail over Troy’s neck and hair.
Troy’s fingers trail over Abed’s chest and stomach and shoulders (he tugged Abed’s shirt over his head, telling him he didn’t want him to catch a cold; Abed most likely knew it isn’t likely that he’s going to catch a cold from a damp shirt, but he let Troy have it, let him press soft soft soft kisses all over him) and he feels Abed shiver under his fingertips as he scratches him faintly. It’s so quiet, and when Troy moves, lowers his head to Abed’s chest, he can hear his heartbeat, slow and steady and real.
Just as Troy is drifting off, he feels Abed shift, just slightly, and leave a kiss on his forehead.
Everything is different. Different, and strange, and weird, and peculiar, and completely, totally, absolutely fucking perfect.
46 notes · View notes
destiniesfic · 3 years
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132 Hours, Chapter 11
“Don’t speak for me, Duarte,” Cardan says.
“Don’t boss me around.”
Previous
Read chapter 11 on AO3 or read below:
“But, just, if I had the choice,” I say, “I would rather be apart from society.”
We’ve gone around and around a few different points by now. The latest one is the Ghost reminding me that, since betas are one in a thousand, there are only three hundred thousand in the United States, which is less than the population of Wyoming, and I don’t know anyone from Wyoming. They can and do seek each other out, but in a lot of ways, chemical and social, they’re separated from everyone else.
“Would you?” asks the Ghost.
“Well…” I trail off, thinking of the Bomb and the Roach and how they, very possibly, endured de-designation one way or another. I don’t think that’s something I want for myself, not seriously. Sure, I could do without all the complications of heat, but would I like to go through life with dulled senses, knowing most of the population was experiencing something I never would?
The problem isn’t really that I hate being an omega, it’s that I spent my whole life watching alphas, surviving alphas. Wishing I had what they had.
I look at Cardan, who’s been preoccupied with picking at dirt under his fingernails this entire time. He wears a mask of boredom. I know he’s listening, though. He’s good at playing dumb.
“I want to be like them,” I hear myself say. “No, I want to be better than them. That’s all. That’s what it is. And how am I supposed to be better when I’m—” I gesture at myself. I know I look better now than I did before, but I am far from my peak.
Regarding me steadily, the Ghost says, “There’s power in what you are right now, you know. There’s power in driving people crazy for you. A well-placed omega can ruin a political negotiation, a business merger, a marriage. Start wars.”
“Helen of Troy,” I interject. We all know how that went. “That’s soft power. But I don’t want—want…”
I shiver in my chair and hug my arms to my chest. Cardan’s voice is dark and low when he says, “I don’t think she’s up for this discussion.”
The Ghost gives him an odd look, and I say, “No, I’m fine. It’s fine.” I quash down panic; the meds shouldn’t be wearing off this soon, but there’s nothing I can do about it. “I don’t want soft power. I want to be taken seriously.”
“Well, you got us to take you pretty seriously,” the Ghost replies. “Cardan takes you seriously.”
I snort. “No, he doesn’t.”
“Don’t speak for me, Duarte,” Cardan says.
“Don’t boss me around.”
“I think that when you get to college, or at least out into the real world, you’ll find it’s very different,” the Ghost continues.
“I live in the real world,” I retort.
“No, you live in a bubble. A rich person bubble. When there aren’t as many expectations—when there are just normal people—alphas and omegas don’t have as much trouble with each other.”
I press my lips together so I can’t remind him that my mom married an alpha and it didn’t exactly end well. “But systems of oppression still exist. How many omega presidents have we had?”
The Ghost holds up a hand. “We’ve been over this. I’m not saying they don’t.” He pauses. “It wasn’t a kind thing Madoc did, sending you to Insmire.”
I blink at him. “How did you know—”
“Well, we did have to do our research on you.” He presses his lips together. “Cardan said you went to school together.”
“Oh, right.” I feel foolish, and also defensive. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cardan pick up his head. “Well, Madoc isn’t kind. I mean, he can be, but—he isn’t.”
“No,” the Ghost agrees. “If he was kind, he would have sent you to the best multi-designation or omega prep school there was. But he didn’t let you have it easy. From what I know of him, he wanted to teach you to fight, on all fronts. And from where I’m sitting, it worked. I bet your sister isn’t a pushover either. Your twin?”
I almost laugh, thinking about Taryn fistfighting anyone. But I guess we did both learn to lie pretty well. I shrug my shoulders.
“You’ve had the worst of it in high school with entitled rich kids. The real world is more balanced, and you’re more than ready for it.” He pauses. “And there is one more thing, but I don’t think you’ll appreciate me saying it.”
“Go on.”
“Mating.”
Cardan makes a choked sound.
“I don’t mean sex,” the Ghost says, with a glance at him. “I mean finding a mate. It’s something I’ve thought about, as someone who can’t have it. Sure, betas get to fall in love like everyone else, but we don’t get to have that… connection. That belonging.”
Neither Cardan nor I speak for a moment. We are both too busy looking at the ground. “It’s a lot of pressure,” I say slowly. “What if you pick the wrong person? How do you know?”
“You might.” The Ghost sits back in his chair, seeming to retreat back into himself. I have the feeling this is the most he’s spoken in one go for a long time. Then he says, “But what if you pick the right one?”
I open my mouth to reply when I am hit by another full-body shiver, and then my cramps return with a vengeance. I whimper and wrap my arms around my abdomen. “Ow.”
“She’s getting worse.” It’s Cardan who says it. He sounds newly panicked. “You have to help her. I can’t do it.”
The Ghost raises his eyebrows. “It’s okay for me to help her now?”
“Yeah, well, you were doing alright, keeping her distracted, so I guess you’re ready for more responsibility.”
I blink up at the Ghost, who’s already standing from his chair. “You were distracting me? How long has it been?”
“A good couple of hours. You like to argue.” He helps me out of my seat. “He’s not as stupid as he looks, is he?”
“No,” I say through gritted teeth. “No, he isn’t.” Standing takes most of my concentration, but I look back over my shoulder at Cardan, who’s rigid like he’s grown roots. His hands have a white-knuckled grip on the side of the chair. He nods at me, and I nod back at him and let the Ghost lead me away.
The door to our cell-room had been left open while we were talking around the table, so it’s no longer as stuffy. I let out a groan of relief when I sink down onto the mattress. My gross, terrible mattress. My itchy blankets. I am so happy to be back in a visceral way that I don’t quite understand. Because it’s my “nest,” I guess. I want to wrap myself up in the blankets and curl up in a little ball, but the Ghost is still standing here.
“We have to lock Cardan in with you at night,” he says quietly. He sounds apologetic. “Especially if it’s only me on watch. There won’t always be eyes on him.”
I shrug. “He hates me. I’ll be fine.”
The Ghost’s mouth presses into a thin line.
“Oh, what?” I scoff. “You’re taking your eyes off him right now.”
“Yeah, because I can feel his eyes boring holes in my shirt.”
I snicker. I have decided that as far as people who’ve shot me go, the Ghost really isn’t so bad. “Hey,” I begin, wincing through another cramp, determined to keep distracting myself. “Why are you doing this? The Bomb said she’s sticking with whoever you work for because she owes them. Same for you?”
“No,” he says flatly. “I’m too far in to get out.”
“That can’t be true. I mean, if you go to the police, bargain for immunity in exchange for testimony…”
He gives me a dour look that says I’m being incredibly naive. “Ask me whose house this was.”
I blink at him, wondering if the connection should be obvious and the fever is slowing down my brain. “Whose house… was it?”
“It was being built as a weekend home for someone’s mistress. It was never finished.”
“Why? What happened to her?”
He looks me over, withdrawing further into himself. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll get you more medicine. You should rest. The second half is going to be harder than the first.”
“It is?” I ask, my voice sounding small and pathetic, but he has already left.
---
I don’t remember much about the next twenty-four hours. Just flashes, impressions, snippets of conversation. People are in and out of the room, making sure my water bottle is full, replacing it if it isn’t, giving me pills, for all the good they do. At first it’s the Ghost, but eventually it’s the Bomb, which means she’s come back. My ears, straining to pick out Cardan’s voice through the closed door, hear the Roach’s laugh, so he’s returned too.
It’s a bad day. It doesn’t take me long to sweat right through my dress, and it takes even less time for my shorts to soak through. The medicine can’t keep my temperature in check anymore, only drive it down to a balmy one hundred. I am miserable, and I am bored. There is nothing for me to do but stare at the wall, and even if there were, I probably couldn’t focus on it. My head feels like it’s being weighed down by a bag of rocks. The only thing that seems fully awake and alive is my libido, spiky and insistent. I didn’t know it was possible to feel this sick and this aroused. Masturbation doesn’t help. Nothing helps.
I am aware of Cardan coming back into the room, hours later. I am aware of his footsteps on the floor, the sound of him sitting heavily on the floor. I get a fresh waft of lavender; he showered again before coming in. Even though I had been dozing and wish again to be unconscious, I do pick up my head to look at him.
“Hi,” I say.
He raises one hand in greeting. “Hey.” He looks less like himself than ever, pale and drawn and wilting, and his brows are drawn. But he’s still handsome. Even the paleness benefits him, setting off his dark hair. Like a vampire. I have the urge to press my mouth to the column of his neck again.
Instead, I ask, “What’s wrong?”
“Aside from everything?” Cardan sighs. “I don’t know. The Bomb and the Roach came back, but something is weird. They wouldn’t talk about it in front of me.”
“Oh,” I say. That should mean something to me, but it doesn’t right now. I can’t fit the pieces together.
He sighs again, a longer sigh this time. “And I’m feeling like a pretty shitty alpha,” he says.
“Why?” I ask, drawing my knees in tighter to my chest. “Because you haven’t boned me yet?”
Another strangled noise escapes him. I’m getting used to those little squawks. “One, never say ‘boned’ again. And two, no.” He sounds sullen. He rakes his hand through his hair. “Because I’m not taking care of you.”
My brain short-circuits. “What?”
“I talked to the Roach about it.” He pauses. “I mean… if we were paired up, if we were doing this on purpose, it should be me. I should be helping you. Instead I have to let other people do it.”
“But we’re not paired up, and that is taking care of me. In these circumstances…”
I trail off, and he shrugs. “Yeah, I guess.”
“It sucks,” I say, as if agreeing with him. “And it’s—I’m just scared.”
He tsks, tossing his hair out of his face. “Nothing scares you.”
I pull the blankets tighter around my shoulders. “That’s not true. I’m scared all the time. It’s why I’m so angry at everything, everyone. At myself.”
Cardan is quiet for a moment, then says, “I guess I get that.”
I wonder if he does. There is a lot I still don’t know about Cardan. “If the last year has shown me anything, it’s that I can’t control anybody else’s behavior. Locke. Taryn. Valerian.” I shift. “Just me. It’s just me. I’m the only thing in my control.”
He smiles, weakly. “Slow down, Hamilton.”
“It’s Burr. And that’s not the lyric.”
“Whatever. Nerd.”
My own smile is transient. “Anyway, now I’m not even in my control. Now I have to be afraid of myself. So that… it just sucks.”
“Yeah.” After another stretch of silence, Cardan asks, “Are you afraid of me?”
I don’t answer him right away. Because the answer, of course, is yes. Yes, I have been afraid of him for such a long time. Yes, I am afraid of what he represents, the power and the system set against me. Yes, I am afraid of the way he affects me, the things I want to do, the vulnerability in me.
But the answer, in some strange way, as we have languished in our cell, has also become no.
“I,” I begin, but then there is another urgent cramp, another painful jolt of arousal on its heels, and I groan. “Oh, god.”
Cardan’s eyes widen in alarm. “You don’t have to answer that,” he says quickly. “Just… just relax. Just chill. I’ll stay over here.”
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” I manage through gritted teeth, clutching my stomach. It is, of course, worse.
Trying to get comfortable, I toss and turn for ages, but I must fall asleep through the pain because the next thing I know, Cardan is gone again, and I am holding a scrap of soft cloth in my arms. On instinct, I bring it to my nose. It smells like Cardan, that musky smell he’s taken on in the last couple of days. Warmth bursts in my chests like a firework. It’s his shirt. He left his shirt with me. What is he wearing now?
It doesn’t matter. I don’t care. I nuzzle the fabric. It is not exactly soft, a little grimy from lack of washing, but saturated with his scent. I am amazed at how my brain calms just from this one, simple thing. My horniness problem is not solved, though, so I slide my hand into my shorts to take care of it, my face still pressed to Cardan’s shirt. It muffles my cries when I come, but I’m honestly too far gone to care if I am heard. After I am finished, I wriggle out of my dress, pull the shirt over my head, and promptly fall back asleep.
I doze fitfully. Someone comes to replace the water bottle, which briefly wakes me long enough that I roll around for a few minutes before I’m out again. I don’t mind that the mattress is lumpy or that the blankets scratch my skin; whenever something begins to bother me too much, I stick my nose in the collar of Cardan’s shirt and breathe in, which is usually enough to soothe me.
I’m not sure whether I’m dreaming or awake when I feel someone press the bottle to my lips and say, “Drink, Jude.” It sounds like the Roach, or maybe Madoc. I open my mouth and manage a couple of swallows of water before putting my head back down and dragging the blankets up over my shoulders.
“Is she still asleep?” I hear Cardan ask. His voice is hushed. The smell of him doesn’t bother me so much now that I have his shirt, but I do scent him and groan softly, pressing my face into the pillow.
“Mostly,” says probably-the-Roach.
There’s a pause, then Cardan asks, “Can I do it?”
“You shouldn’t.”
“I know, but I want to help.” Something shuffles, like he’s kicked at the floor. “She’s only like this because of me.”
The Roach sighs, then says, “All right. Come over, but be careful.”
I hear Cardan’s footsteps on the floor, and then a hand pushes some of my hair off of my sweaty face, dragging down to skim my cheek. I lean into his hand. It feels so good to be touched.
“Jude, hey,” he says quietly. “Can you pick your head up a little higher for me?”
There’s something beneath his voice, a dark undertow that pulls me down. I find that I want to do what he says, which isn’t a remotely comforting thought. But I pick up my head, and he keeps one hand against my jaw as he tips the jug against my mouth. A little water trickles down my neck, wetting the shirt he lent me, but I swallow most of it down.
“That’s good.” He takes the jug away and sets it back down on the floor. I can hear the strain in his words, like he’s fighting with himself. “Really good.”
His hand finds my hair again, and I would do anything for him to just keep running his fingers through it, but then the Roach says, “I think that’s enough.”
Cardan disentangles his fingers from my hair and stands; I hear him step back. “It’s just so weird,” he says. “It’s weird to see her like this. She hates—she never asks for help. I’ve never seen her vulnerable.”
“Well, her body’s treating it like a sickness,” the Roach says. “But we’re looking out for her. Another, what, day or so? Less than a day? And she should be free and clear. And hopefully by then this will all be over and we can let you guys out.”
“Yeah.” There’s a pause, and then, “Thanks.”
The Roach chuckles. “Don’t thank me, kid. We kidnapped you.”
“I know, but.” Cardan hesitates. “Is it weird that in some ways I’d rather be here than home?”
“Pretty weird, yeah.”
“Yeah.” Then, lowering his voice to a whisper, he asks, “Jude?”
I say nothing, do nothing. I want to keep eavesdropping. He wouldn’t be saying half of this if he thought I was awake. So I keep my breathing low and even, and let him say what he wants.
But he says nothing, and for a second I think he’s getting ready to leave me alone again. Then I hear him take a step—toward me—and his hand is briefly back in my hair. I feel warm lips against my forehead, soft and fleeting like the brush of a butterfly’s wings. I have to fight my every instinct not to lean up into the kiss and give myself away, but then his hand and lips are both gone. I hear the quick retreat of his footsteps, the closing of the door.
“It’s not fair,” I whisper to the empty cell. “You can’t just leave me with that.”
But he can, and he did, because he assumed I was asleep. He left me with the memory of a forehead kiss, with a whispered conversation to dissect, and a tingling feeling throughout my entire body.
“I hate you so much,” I say, curling closer around his shirt. There is no answer but my erratic heartbeat, drumming out a truth I am almost, but not quite, ready to hear.
Next
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tonymystarks · 4 years
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You’re the Piano Man
Steve/Tony one-shot inspired by that video of CEvans playing the piano. I wanted the fic, so I wrote the fic. 
*
Steve didn’t spend a lot of time in Tony’s penthouse. 
They spent a lot of time on the common floor, with the rest of the Avengers, in the workshop or on Steve's floor. Tony said that was because it felt more home-y than his own floor. So when it was just the two of them, they would go to Steve’s floor. They slept there and ate there, and Steve almost forgot that the penthouse existed. 
So when Steve asked Jarvis where Tony was, and Jarvis said the penthouse, Steve was surprised. 
“Sir is just gathering a few items from his bedroom; I am sure that he would not mind if you met him there,” Jarvis told Steve.
“Ok, that works. Thank you, Jarvis.” Steve stepped into the elevator and heard it whir to life.
“Of course, Captain Rogers.” 
Steve thought about what Tony could be grabbing. Most of his clothes have migrated into Steve’s bedroom, and most other things were always kept in the workshop. Steve’s pondering was cut short when the doors to the elevator opened.
As Steve wandered into the penthouse, he realized that he had never really looked around before. The few times he had been there, he had been… preoccupied or something of the sort. So he decided to take his time before making his way to Tony. 
The first thing he noticed was the modern design. It was all clean lines and metal; it looked like a museum. Steve saw no personal artifacts anywhere in the living room or hallways. It was quite the juxtaposition to Steve’s warm and full living room. He could understand why Tony wanted to spend his time on Steve’s floor.
The second, more surprising, thing Steve saw was a big object shoved in the corner, in front of the floor to ceiling windows. Steve walked over to it and pulled the cover back. 
In front of him sat a beautiful grand piano.
Steve ran his hand along the top of the piano, admiring the shine and quality of it. He went to lift the lid off of the keys and was happy to find that it wasn’t locked. He pressed down on middle C, listening to the resonances of the note. It sounded as if the piano had hardly been used, which doesn’t surprise him. Tony doesn’t strike him as the type to have enough time to sit down and break in a piano. 
Steve pulled the bench away from the keys and sat down. He sat his hand on top of the keys and hit foot over the pedal, and began to play. 
His fingers flowed over the keys like it hadn’t been years since he had played. The muscle memory was taking over and guiding his hands in a way that surprises him. The soft, muted melody flowed out of the piano, and he closed his eyes and let the music wash over him.
Before long, he stopped, realizing he doesn’t remember what comes next. It's been too long to remember it all. 
 “I didn’t know that you played.” Steve startled at the voice coming from behind him,
Tony must have snuck in when he was playing, and Steve didn’t hear him. He was sitting on the couch in one of Steve’s sweaters, which was even oversized on him, and a pair of sweatpants. He looked so comfy, which stood out against the modern backdrop. 
“Yeah, uh, I learned on this beat-up old piano when I was a kid. I couldn’t do a lot because of the asthma, but I could play the piano. This is so much better than the one I had, though. It’s beautiful,” Steve tried to move on from the topic of his childhood. It wasn’t something that he likes to think about often. 
“Well, it is a top of the line Steinway piano.” Tony walked over and sat on the bench next to him.
“Do you play?” Steve questioned as Tony ran his hands over the keys.
“Nah, I could never get into it. My mom would always play for me as a kid; wanted me to be cultured and everything. I liked it when she would play for me, but I couldn’t be bothered to learn it myself. I don’t have the ear to really feel the music, as she liked to say.” Tony sounded a little lost in his memory as he spoke.
“Oh yeah? What did she play for you?”
Tony shot up and walked over to a semi-hidden bookcase. He pulled out a folder and walked back over to Steve. 
“This was my favourite piece that she played. Rue des Trois Frères by Fabrizio Paterlini. It was something that she played when my brain wouldn’t slow down.” Tony was holding the sheet music to the song.
“Let me see. I’m not the best at sight-reading, but I’ll see if I can get it.”
“Really? You don’t have to.” Tony looked somewhat shy, sharing this part of his past.
“I would love to.”  Steve looked at Tony and smiled; he would do anything to make this man happy.
Tony didn’t say anything and just placed the sheet music down, spreading it out so that Steve was able to see all of it. Steve took a few moments to get himself oriented and looked it over. The music itself wasn’t too complicated, so Steve took a deep breath and began to play.
The melody was sweet and sad at the same time. Steve found himself getting lost in the music as he played. The timbre of the piano and ease of the harmony fit so well together that Steve felt transported. 
He could imagine a young Tony sitting at his mother’s side, just as he was sitting at Steve’s, feeling weary from the weight of the world. He could see young Tony taking comfort in this song that his mother played and letting himself forget where he was for a moment. Tony had said that he could never feel the music, but Steve was sure young Tony would feel the music played by his mother’s hands. Steve finds himself lost to that reality as the music continues through him.
The piece is only about two minutes long, and as it draws closer to the end, Steve is brought back to the world. 
When he plays the last chord written on the sheet music, Steve looks over at Tony. He finds Tony sitting quite still, eyes closed, with a small smile gracing his face and a single tear rolling down his cheek. They sit in silence for a few moments, neither one wanting to break the magic that has been created. However, after a while, Tony clears his throat. 
“Thank you,” is all that Tony says, voice steady but quiet. 
“Anytime, sweetheart.” Steve turned so that he was facing Tony.
Steve placed a finger under Tony’s chin and tilted his face up. He caught Tony’s eyes and tried to communicate how much he loved him before leaning in to kiss him. The kiss wasn’t heated or full of fire, just every ounce of unconditional love and support they had for each other.  
They drew each other in, twisting together like two polyphonic lines of music that form the most beautiful harmony when joined together. 
When Steve pulled away and was able to take a deep breath, he remembered why he had come to the penthouse in the first place. 
“So doll, what were you doing up here anyway?” Steve asked while a blush formed on Tony’s face. 
“Oh, um, right. Ok, don’t make fun of me, but…” Tony stuttered as he walked over the spot on the couch that he had vacated and grabbed a box that Steve hadn’t noticed. 
“I’ll try my very hardest.” Steve chuckled a little as he walked over to meet Tony.
“I’m sure you will,” and when Tony opened the box, Steve understands why tony had come up here to collect things.
Inside the box was a pair of what looked to be old birthday cards and other photos. It looked like some from Tony’s childhood and some more recent of the team. He can see that they all hold sentimental value, and Tony probably likes them close, in his home, and this floor is no longer his home. Home was with Steve. 
However, one photo did make him try his very hardest.
What caught Steve’s eye and made him want to laugh was a photo of Young Tony, dressed in a Captain America costume, looking happy as can be. Steve reached into the box and pulled it out and couldn’t contain himself.
“You look so cute, sweetheart.” Steve laughed, looking at the face of his disgruntled boyfriend. 
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I always looked cute. Come on, get it all out.”
“No, I’m serious; you look adorable. It’s like you knew we were destined to be together.” Steve watched Tony’s face soften as he spoke. 
“Maybe I did. I mean, maybe not the whole, dating-falling in love- mind blowing sex- thing.” 
“Tony-”
“But I guess I figured that the most amazing genius and the world's best captain had something in common. The universe couldn’t keep that awesome apart, know could it? That would go against the laws of everything good.” Tony had a joking tone to his voice, but Steve knew that words were sincere.
“A true crime against humanity.” Steve pulled Tony into a hug and felt him melt into it.
He felt, more than heard, Tony’s muffled whisper of I love you into his chest, and Steve kisses the crown of his head. 
“I love you too, sweetheart. So much even the universe knows it,” and then it was Tony’s turn to laugh. 
They continued just to hold each other for a while until Tony decided he had something else on his mind.
“Alright, enough of this sappy stuff. I want to see what else you can do, piano man.” Tony was pulling Steve back over to the piano, while Steve raised his eye at the nickname. “Right, you don’t know that song yet. We will put it on the list.” 
Tony pushed Steve down on the piano bench and sat down next to him once again.
“Any request?” Steve asked.
“Anything. Something that will make me continue to fall wildly in love with you.” Tony batted his eyelashes while Steve rolled his eyes.
“Let me see what I can do.”
And with that, Steve began to play.
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allthingsfangirl101 · 3 years
Text
Broken Heart Part 2–Troy Bolton
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Part 1, Part 3, Part 4
Troy's POV
I sighed when it went to voicemail again. I took a shaky breath as I left my message.
"Hey, Y/N," I said shakily. "It's. . . It's me. Again. Yesterday, you said that you had something to tell me but you never showed up. At least, I don't think you ever showed up. . . I thought I saw you. . . Y/N, were you there? I could've sworn. . ."
I sighed as I pulled my phone away but didn't hang up. I took a shaky breath before putting my phone back to my ear.
"Y/N, at least let me know you're okay. Please? You ran out at lunch, I didn't see you the rest of the day, and now you're ignoring my calls. . . I miss you. Call me back."
I hung up the phone and angrily tossed it onto my bed. Over the past couple of weeks, it's felt like Y/N has started pulling away from me. I spent the next hour trying to figure out why my best friend would be pulling away. When I couldn't figure it out, I called Chad.
"Random question for you," I said as soon as he answered.
"Okay," he laughed.
"Is there any reason that Y/N would be mad at me?"
My curiosity went crazy the longer it took for him to answer. "Did I do something?" I asked, breaking the silence. "It wasn't the team, right? I know Jeremy used to try and ask her out but you and I shut that down. At least I thought we did. Is he bugging her again?"
"I don't think it's Jeremy," Chad sighed.
"Then what is it?"
"I don't know, man."
"You sure?"
"Of course I'm sure," he chuckled awkwardly. "Out of the two of us, you'd be the one to know what's going on in Y/N's head. Not me."
"That's the thing," I mumbled. "I don't know."
                              * * * * *
I was helping my mom clean up dinner when my phone rang. My mom watched as I pulled it out of my pocket, my breath getting caught in my throat.
"Everything okay?" She asked.
"Y/N's finally calling me back," I said as I ran out of the room. I closed my door and answered my phone as quickly as I could.
"Hi," I answered, out of breath from running upstairs.
"You okay?" Y/N asked, chuckling slightly.
"Yeah," I said, clearing my throat. "When I saw it was you calling, I ran upstairs so. . ."
"Oh, okay."
I listened to her breathing, neither one of us saying anything. The worry I felt earlier intensified when she didn't start talking.
"I'm really glad you called me back," I said, my voice soft. "I've been freaking out all weekend."
"Why?"
"Because you haven't called me back," I stuttered. "You ran out of lunch on Friday. You basically disappeared after rehearsal. Then you didn't show up at our treehouse and I haven't heard anything from you since. I tried calling you last night and. . . I was worried."
"I'm sorry," she said.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she tried to dismiss. "I should go. Bye, Troy."
"Wait!" I said louder than I meant to. I knew that if I hung up, I most likely wouldn't be able to get her to answer another call.
"Y/N?" I said tentatively. "Please talk to me. I know something's going on. I just don't know what it is. Why won't you talk to me?"
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Well," I awkwardly cleared my throat. "Why did you leave so suddenly during lunch? Then, I didn't even see you after rehearsal. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said again.
"Y/N," I sighed. "Those two words, from you, mean you're holding something back. What's really going on, Y/N?"
"It's nothing," I stuttered. "I have to go. Bye, Troy."
"If it's nothing, then tell me," I said quickly.
I heard her sigh, as she started to explain, "I wasn't feeling that well on Friday. At lunch, I thought I was going to throw up. It got worse the rest of the day. During rehearsal, I felt like I was going to pass out, so I headed home as soon as we were done."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, my voice soft. "I could've taken you home."
"I'm sorry," she sighed.
"It's okay," I said, trying to lighten the mood. "Next time tell me. I want to help you."
She didn't say anything else. I tried to start a conversation, but couldn't think of anything to say. My stomach felt weird when I realized this wasn't us. We usually never struggled to find something to talk about.
"Y/N," I started to say.
"I gotta go," she rushed. "Bye, Troy."
"Why do you keep saying goodbye?"
"Because I can't do this anymore, Troy," she sighed.
"Do what?" I stuttered. I waited but the line was quiet. "Y/N, what's going on?"
I could hear her heavy breathing, struggling to hold back tears. I tried racking my brain for a reason she would be crying, but I came up empty. She always tells me what's going on, so why was she holding back on me now?
"Y/N," I said, harsher this time when she still refused to talk to me. "Please tell me what's going on."
"I'm in love with you."
I was frozen. Her words echoed as I struggled to wrap my head around what she meant.
"Y/N. . . I just. . . I didn't think. . . Oh. . ."
I heard Y/N let out a shaky breath as I struggled to find an appropriate response to her confession. My heart sank as she finally found her voice.
"I'm sorry, Troy," she said as she quickly hung up on me.
                              * * * * *
Reader's POV
Monday I was able to avoid Troy at school. We didn't have many classes together and the few that we did, he was on the other side of the room. I spent lunch in the theater, practicing our numbers. After school rehearsal was the only time I wouldn't be able to avoid him.
I had no idea how Troy would act around me now that I've told him how I feel. I subconsciously tightened my grip on my backpack as I walked into the theater.
"Hey, Y/N," Ryan greeted.
"Hi," I said quietly. Before I could walk past him, he stopped me.
"What's going on?"
I opened and closed my mouth, tears building. His eyes softened as he gently grabbed my shoulders, squeezing them reassuringly.
"Y/N," he whispered. "What's wrong?"
"I did something stupid," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
"What?" Ryan asked gently.
"I told Troy I was in love with him last night," I blurted out. His eyes sank as he sighed and pulled me into his chest.
"I'm guessing he didn't say it back."
The tears officially started to fall as I buried my face more into Ryan's chest. He sighed as he tightened his arms around me.
"I'm sorry, sweetie," he whispered. "He doesn't deserve you."
We jumped apart when we heard the door open. While Ryan turned towards everyone walking in, I walked straight to the piano. I could feel Troy watching me as I got out the piano music. My heart sank when I noticed the song we were rehearsing today was the duet Troy and Gabriella were singing in the show.
"Alright," Mrs. Darbus said as she clapped her hands. "I've got my singers. Y/N, are you ready?"
"Yes, ma'am." I nodded.
Without looking up, I started playing the song. I ignored the knot in my stomach and the lump in my throat as Troy and Gabriella started singing.
I got a lot of things I have to do. All these distractions Our future's coming soon. We're being pulled A hundred different directions, But whatever happens I know I've got you.
You're on my mind. You're in my heart. It doesn't matter where we are. We'll be alright, Even if we're miles apart.
All I wanna do Is be with you, be with you. There's nothing we can't do. I just wanna be with you, only you. No matter where life takes us, Nothing can break us apart. You know it's true. I just wanna be with you.
Oh yeah Just be with you Oh yeah, yeah
You know how life can be,
It changes over night. It's sunny then raining, But it's alright. A friend like you, Always make it easy. I know that you get me. Every time.
Through every up, Through every down, You know I'll always be around. Through anything, you can count on me.
All I wanna do Is be with you, be with you. There's nothing we can't do. I just wanna be with you, only you. No matter where life takes us, Nothing can't break us apart. You know it's true. I just wanna be with you.
I just wanna be with you.
I made the mistake of looking up as Troy kissed Gabriella. I glanced over to see Ryan, Kelsie, and Chad looking at me with sad eyes. I couldn't take the apologetic looks from everyone anymore.
I quickly stood up, the piano bench scraping against the floor. Kelsie and Ryan tried to get my attention, but I brushed past them. Troy just watched as I walked out of the theater.
Part 3
116 notes · View notes
Text
Title: Sin In The City***
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Nalani x Lewis x Lynix Mini Series
Warning: Cursing, Plot Heavy, NSFW AT ALL, SMUUUUT, FILTH, PLENTY OF WORDS
Words: 3k {8.7k, LMAO for thinking it would be anything else} 🤣🤣
Summary: Nalani and Lynix have been friends since they first grew hips and tits. They do everything together. When Lewis tells Nalani that he’s in Vegas for the weekend and invites her to come out, she jumps at the chance, especially when Lewis says the more, the merrier to bringing Nix along. The long weekend goes from a fun time to putting the “sin” in Sin City thanks to a secret plot Nalani concocts.
Note: As you know @munteanhorewrites​ and I are HUUUUGE Lewis Tan fans. The man is just absolute deliciousness and the whole entire package. So, Ru and I got to talking about him currently being in Vegas for the long weekend, and we thought, why not treat you guys while indulging ourselves. This is going to be a four-shot miniseries where Ru and I will each write two chapters for the four-day weekend of sheer debauchery. Thank you @munteanhorewrites​ for suggesting we combine our evil powers. Mwhahahaha! 😈😈
We hope you enjoy this. As always, thank you guys so much for reading. ❤️❤️
If you enjoyed this, please, LIKE, COMMENT, REBLOG. 
Chapter Legend:
-Chapter One: @royallyprincesslilly​
-Chapter Two: @munteanhorewrites​
Chapter Three: @royallyprincesslilly​
Chapter Four: @munteanhorewrites​
***Loosely Edited/Proofread***
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Chapter One: Set The Stage
-Nalani-
 “My God, everybody is gonna be in town this weekend, especially since it’s a long one,” Lynix said as she plopped onto the oversized bean bag that was in the corner of my room.
 I remembered the day we’d walked into Z Gallerie just to look around. Neither of us expected something like that to be in the high-end store. It didn’t take long to instantly fall in love with it, and thankfully the store had two left in stock. They were both the same color but completely different fabrics. Lynix preferred the fur one, but I needed the leather one in my life. That’s how it always was with us, we liked different finishes, but we had the same luxurious tastes.
 “I know. I was trying to come up with a plan. Beach, and shopping tomorrow, then spa Saturday?”
 Lynix scrunched her face. I knew she loved both, but right now, I needed her to make a damn choice. She’d always been the indecisive one, especially when it came to two things she enjoyed equally. When Nix shrugged, you knew she’d come to a decision.  
 “Eh—doesn’t matter, although I think we should shop first. I’ve wanted to get a few new suits.”
 The amount of excitement that surged through me was too much for me to contain. When I screeched, Nix’s head snapped to me. As I clapped my hands excitedly, a huge smile plastered across my face. “Yeees, then I can pick up that new brow kit that Jackie just dropped. Uugh, I am so ready for it. I have so many ideas for content.”
 By looking at Nix’s face, I could tell she was also looking forward to the day’s activities. What girl didn’t like shopping for new things such as clothes and makeup. Usually, when we went shopping, we would go early and not leave the mall until it was closing, and both of us would have so many bags that were filled with things neither of us needed.
 “So, it’s a plan, I confirmed.
 Nix nodded and continued to scroll through her phone for a few moments before she stood and walked out to get ready. Living in Miami, there were tons of pros. The weather was a major one. For the majority of the year, the weather remained calm, beautiful, and sunny. That meant that I could dress however the hell I wanted. After rummaging through my closet for the perfect thing to wear, I decided on a pair of dark denim jeans, a white scoop neck tee with two slits at the sides that carried all the way up my ribcage.
 When I sat down to beat my face, I had Saweetie blasting.
 “Can’t stop, won’t stop get guap. Ten white toes in them Troy flip flops. Manicures and pedicures I’m tip-top. When they say I’m not hot, all these lies need to stop. Cause I’m icy, wifey, haters wanna fight me.”
 Feeling the music, I stood and did my best hot gyal Meg moves. Within a few seconds, I heard Nix’s telltale “ayyyyyy.” Turning, I saw her standing in the doorway, using the doorjamb behind her as a twerk partner.
 “Get it!”
 She stood and rapped the next verse. “My team is trying to eat, so we grinding til’ out mental bleed. You tryna get a bag of weed? I’m tryna get a bag a week. Put it in my savings and invest in the right companies. My dream is like a child, and I’m taking all the custody.”
 That was when I joined in too. We were rapping, twerking, and acting a fool for the next minute or two. I watched Nix drop to the floor and pop her ass from left to right. Not being the one to be outdone, I bent forward and made mine clap. When I felt her drop a heavy-handed slap to my ass, I dropped and brought her with me. We laid on the floor, laughing together for a full minute.
 “You play too much. You can’t let me be great! You and your knees like Meg head ass,” I teased. She snorted loudly.
 “I got Meg’s knees, and you got her ass!”
 “Okuuuur!
 Nix stood and straightened the ruffles of her off the shoulder white crop top at the same time my phone rang. When I picked it up off of the wireless charging port, I screeched out.
 “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
 I showed her the phone so she could see who was calling. Her smile was broad but not as wide as yours. After three rings, you picked up the facetime call. Lewis’ gorgeous face filled the screen, and your belly fluttered. His groomed mustache chin beard decorated his face in a way that was just so pleasing to the eye. It complimented his facial structure so well. The man was too damn fine for his own good, and the worst part—he knew it.
 “Hey, handsome,” I answered in my sugary seductive voice.
 “There she is Lani, Lani. How are you, beautiful?” Lewis’s smile was soft, but it still gave way to his dimples to take center stage.
 “I’m good.”
 “That’s good. Wooo, you look good as hell,” Lewis complimented in his smooth voice. It was the voice he used when he wanted something, and the voice always got him anything he wanted. I bit my bottom lip and plopped onto my bed.
 “Did you just wake up? You look like you’re in bed still.”
 “I kind of did. I caught an early flight, and once I got in and did some training, I crashed.”
 My eyes dropped to his bare chest, and I found myself wondering if he was naked. Usually, that is how he slept. The memories flooded me, and like the wind, I was gone, lost in my lascivious thoughts.
 “Lani!”
 “Sorry, babe, what’d you say?”
 “What’re you up to?”
 “Nothing much. Was just kicking it about to do some shopping.”
 From the corner of my eyes, I saw Nix trying to get a look at him. I slanted the screen so she could see without him knowing she was there. She gave me a look to say, “excuse me.” Pressing my lips together, I tried to stifle the laugh that wanted freedom.
 “I had an idea. I’m in Vegas for the weekend. You should come through.”
 Nix’s eyes bugged.
 “Vegas?”
 “Yeah. This is one of my last weekends of freedom before press, and all that starts. So, I thought, why not have some fun. You down?”
 I looked to Nix, who was now standing behind my phone with her back to my balcony's sliding door. She nodded her head excitedly while motioning for me to say something.
 “Uh—well, I don’t know, babe. This weekend? Lew, that’s like—tomorrow.”
 Nix gave you a look asking if you were crazy. I had every intention of accepting the offer, but there was no way in hell that I was going to make him think he had it like that. A girl had to have some mystery about her no matter how fine the man or how good his stroke game was.
 “I know it’s short notice but come on Lani, it’s Vegas!”
 Lewis began moving, and it gave you the answer you needed; he wasn’t naked. His black boxer briefs clung to his hips, making my fingers itch to hook in the waistband. The visual swirled, almost giving you motion sickness before his face came back into focus with all the sights of Vegas behind him. I made out a few landmarks, mainly their replica of the Eiffel Tower and the strip's blinding lights. A smile spread across your face before you rolled your eyes.
 “Okay.”
 “Yeah?”
 He was so damn adorable. He actually looked surprised as if he really was surprised you’d accepted.
 “Yeah. Why not? I’m sure you can find some way to entertain me.”
 Lewis smiled, but this was no regular smile. It was one that spoke of so much. We’d been dealing with each other on and off for the last two months or so after meeting at a music event. I’d gone to cut loose and ended up catching the eye of some rapper who had a really grandiose ideal of himself. He thought I’d leave with him and turn into another notch on his bedpost, but once Lewis and I got to talking, there was no way. He was categorically more interesting.  After two or three dates, the inevitable happened, and he dispelled all negative stereotypes about Asian men.
 “I have a favor, though, babe,” I began with a sweet as honey smile.
 “Name it.”
 “I want to bring my friend.”
 Nix’s eyes again bugged; she wasn’t expecting that. As she flailed her hands around telling me to cease and desist, I ignored her.
 “A friend you say?”
 “Yep, my bestie, Lynix.”
 “Oh, thee Lynix? Say no more. The more, the merrier,” Lewis answered.
 “Really?”
 “Yeah. I’m looking forward to finally meeting her. I’ll make the arrangements and text you the info.”
 “Okay, babe. I’ll see you soon.”
 I puckered up and blew him a kiss. Before I ended the call, I watched him lick his lips, and even more excitement filled you.
 “What the hell was that? Who said I wanted to go to Vegas and be the third wheel to your sexcation?”
 “Nix, come on. What would you do? Stay here? Call dickhead and fall back into a situation with the only benefit being mediocre dick?”
 Nix’s jaw dropped. “Wow, the call out wasn’t necessary, Lani.”
 “I don’t’ sugar coat. You’ll have more fun with me in Vegas. Plus, it’s not a sexcation.”
 They were words I didn’t even fully believe. It was just a matter of time. Nix paced the floor as she contemplated the offer. “I don’t want to be a third wheel,” she protested.
 “You won’t be. Lew is cool. It’ll be fun.”
 She didn’t look convinced, but she looked more inclined to being easy about it than continuing her protest. The moment I saw her acceptance, I sprang to my feet and hugged her.
 “It’s going to be a great weekend.”
 After a few moments of embracing, Nix was the one to speak first. “Come on! Hurry that ass up. I’m hungry!”
 She always got hangry quicker than anyone I’d ever known. After another fifteen minutes or so of primping, we left determined to catch our favorite restaurant for lunch. In Miami, everywhere anyone turned, they were met with skin, suntan lotion, muscles, and food. To some, that meant that they had to remain on point or else someone would catch them slipping, and no one wanted that. In Miami, if someone caught you slipping, you lost your man, job, or even worse your lifestyle.
 Nix and I didn’t have to worry about that. We were secure in our careers. Lynix was able to make surprisingly good money as a top food and luxury goods blogger, while I’d found my place in the fashion and makeup influencer world. Where every influencer was a copy and paste option, I worked hard to set myself apart from them. My ideas were fresh, and my content always showed that I thought outside the box. Since our bags were secured, our lifestyle was safe.
 However, when it came to men, both Nix and I liked to keep our options open. Life was meant for living. These days, a lot of men acted like they wanted to live but truly only brought headaches. Who could be bothered? That didn’t mean we were in no man’s land. Whenever the need arose to be wined and dined, we went out and entertained whoever we chose. A girl might not want headaches, but she does want to be spoiled and made to feel pretty. Lewis brought no headaches, he treated me well, and the handful of times we’d gotten it in, it showed that he had far superior bedroom manners than anyone she’s dealt with.
 At lunch, we ironed out the plan for the day now that the weekend plan had significantly changed. Bathing suits and makeup were not the only things we planned on picking up at the mall now. There was a whole new list.
 “Nix, I thought I heard you up on the phone last night. Was it Caesar?”
 Lynix rolled her eyes as she took up her burger and took a hearty bite. As she chewed, she moaned and motioned to her plate. The burger was nearly bigger than her mouth, but she made it work.
 “This is so good, Lani.”
 I leaned over the table toward the burger. She knew what I wanted and held out the burger for me to take a bite. Moaning, I relished the flavors that burst over my tastebuds. It was rare for restaurants to season their food with more than a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper, but I could taste much more than the two.  
 “You’re right. The avocado is a great addition.”
 Nix took another bite as I stirred my pasta dish before I began eating.
 “Is he bugging you to get back together again?”
 Nix rolled her eyes again, but she nodded, “You know it. I don’t get it. It’s like he thinks the third time will be the charm.”
 I loudly kissed my teeth. Men like that were annoying as hell. For starters, I didn’t think the second round was a good idea, and I sure as hell didn’t think third time was going to be the charm, but I kept that to myself this time. “What do you think?”
 “Hell no!”
 We busted out laughing at the same time, not caring how loud we were. I noticed the eyes that slid to us from nearby tables. It was clear they were curious about what was so funny.
 “I told you, you need to try something new,” I said while wiggling my eyebrows. “It’s a good thing we’re doing Vegas this weekend. I think you’ll find that something new.”
 She rolled her eyes. “Don’t make no plans for me, Lani. You always wanna play matchmaker.”
 “I didn’t have matchmaking in mind—well not in the way you think,” I gibed.
 Her jaw dropped, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Yeah, Vegas would be a damn good time all right, I thought, as we finished our meal.
 By the time we got to the mall, Lewis had texted the info for the first-class flight he’d booked for the two of us. He made sure to add the message, “Making sure two queens travel the way they deserve.” When I showed Nix, she rolled her eyes, but I could tell she was just as in awe as I was from the smile on her face.
 Take-off was eight in the morning, which meant the rest of the day would be jamb packed to ensure everything got done. We flitted from store to store and spent money like we meant it. What was supposed to be a two maybe three store stop turned into four hours of complete indulgence. With the intent to pick up something nice for Lewis, we found ourselves in Agent Provocateur.
 After trying on a few pieces, I suckered Nix into trying some things on too. She didn’t protest with this. She liked lingerie, no matter the reason.  She thought it would be just for her pleasure, but I was beginning to formulate an alternate plan, one she had no idea about, but she would—in time.
 When we were both dressed in our final selections, Nix snapped a picture of me in a yellow number and sent it to Lewis.
 MSG: Decisions, Decisions.
 In less than a minute, his response came through.
 MSG Lew: Sold! Matter fact, get it in every color.
 Two hours later, with take-out in hand, we made it home. It was late, but instead of packing and getting some rest, we decided to binge-watch the newest season of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix. As you ate, you gossiped, laughed, and enjoyed the time together as you always did. There was a reason you’d moved in together; you genuinely liked each other and enjoyed hanging out together.
 ~~~~~~~~~~
 -Friday-
 The next day after two hours of chaos with last-minute packing, dancing, an impromptu fashion show, and taking turns doing each other’s makeup and hair, we finally were seated in first-class enjoying a glass of rosé.
 “Man, he sure knows how to charm a girl,” Nix joked.
 “You have no idea.”
 “Uh—I kinda do. You’ve literally told me everything about him,” she added.
 She was right. I had told her quite a bit about him. I’d also tried to get them to meet a few times, but each time one or both of them had other things they had to do. I wasn’t worried they wouldn’t like each other; I was sure once they spoke, they’d hit it off. I was counting on it for my plan to work.
 “So—Nix,” I began, again in my sweet as honey voice.”
 “Don’t try to use your charms on me, Lani. I know all your tricks,” she countered.
 Rolling my eyes, I pouted and decided to forge on. “What do you think of Lew?”
 “I told you, he’s cute.”
 “Yeah, but what else?”
 Nix looked at me as if she were trying to figure out my angle.
 “I don’t know him, Lani. From what I’ve seen, he seems like a cool guy, end of story.”
 It wasn’t a raving review, but I had to take it. Maybe her tune would be different after she got to see what he was about.
 “Just—know that you’re the only person I don’t mind sharing with,” I dropped before I popped my AirPods in. I could feel her eyes on me, but I pretended not to notice. I’d give her the flight to marinate on what I meant.
 After a three hour nonstop flight, we made it to baggage claim and got our belongings, then went in search of the driver that was supposed to be waiting for us as per Lewis’s text message from this morning. It didn’t take long to find him because he held up a sign with both your names on it.
 “That’s us.”
 “Great. Welcome to Vegas, I’m Drew. I’ll be your driver. Is this everything?”
 He nodded toward mine and Nix’s six total pieces of luggage. I nodded and allowed him to gather them before he walked ahead, leading us out of the busy airport. Once we made it outside, Drew ushered us into the waiting luminous pearl white Mercedes Maybach.
 “I don’t think that yellow number from Provocateur is gonna be enough,” Nix teased, making me giggle way too loudly.
 She was right though, mans was putting in all the stops. This wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, though. Lewis liked to enjoy life. He liked the finer things and didn’t see a reason not to indulge in moderation.
 The drive wasn’t obscenely long, but it was filled with quite a bit of traffic, especially considering it was just past eleven in the morning. Google said it was supposed to be a twenty-minute ride from the airport, but it turned out to be nearly thirty fives. Neither of us minded. We chatted, recorded a series of lives, and took several pictures to post to our respective socials.
 Once the car pulled up to the hotel, we walked inside, taking in every detail while I pulled out my phone. It was a beautiful hotel.
 MSG: Should I just give your name to the reception or something else?
 “No need. I gotchu.”
 I spun around, coming face to face with a dimpled and smiling Lewis.
 “Aah, babe!” Lewis came in for a hug, and once he wrapped his arms around me, I moaned. His arms felt so damn strong. He was not gimping on his workouts.  
 “How’d you know we were here?”
 “I got the alert from the driver and the company,” he responded as he kissed my cheek. He smelled so fucking good.
 “How are you, babe?”
 “Better now that you guys are here,” Lewis answered with a wide smile.
 I shook my head; the charm would be the death of me. Lewis’s eyes had already drifted to Lynix, who was standing back a few feet.
 “Finally, you two can meet. Lew, this is Lynix, my best friend in the entire world,” I declared with one hand holding Lewis’s and reaching out for Nix’s hand with my other.
 They both just stared at each other for a few moments without speaking.
 “Lynix,” Lewis began.
 “Nix,” she corrected. “The only people who call me Lynix are my parents and acquaintances.”
 Lewis smiled and nodded. “Glad to know I’m not an acquaintance.”
 Nix smirked and shrugged. “You’re a minuscule notch above it. I’d be careful, though.”
 Lewis’s laugh was loud as it echoed throughout the lobby. “Wow. Of course, she’d be just as witty as you,” he said, glancing across to me. I shrugged. I had told him we were pretty similar.
 “It’s nice to meet you,” Lewis added before I slipped his hand to hers, letting them both go.
 Both of them looked at me with a question in their eyes, but it quickly faded before they looked back to each other and shook hands.
 “Same here.”
 A few more seconds elapsed with both of them holding hands before Nix dropped his. I pinched my lips, sensing that everything was falling into place. From the look on Nix’s face, I could tell she thought he was more than cute.
 “Okay, let’s head up to the penthouse and get you two settled,” Lewis announced.
 The three of you, the bellhop, and a few other hotel guests, rode the elevator. Lewis asked questions about the flight and if everything was good with the drive over. I happily thanked him for everything he’d done thus far and took the chase to tease him with touches. The thing I loved about Lewis was he was equally as flirtatious as I was. He liked to tease as much as I did and did it with ease. Every touch I placed on his arm, chest, and cheek, he returned with his lips to my ear as he whispered to me, or his hand on my hip as he held me close, or even his words. He knew his appeal and always used it as a weapon.
 Once you made it to the penthouse level and walked inside, Lewis handled the bellhop and directed him to where the bags went while I dragged Nix to the balcony to marvel at the beauty that was Las Vegas. I looked over to Nix and bounced my hip against her.
 “See. I told you this was a good idea.”
 “Fine, this is gorgeous,” she finally admitted.
 I pulled my phone out, ready for another picture. As we posed and blew kisses to the camera, neither of us noticed Lewis approach the balcony doors. When I looked over, he wore a soft smile as he watched.
 “Babe, get in these pictures!”
 He held his hands up. “I don’t wanna barge in where I’m not wanted.”
 “Oh, you’re more than wanted, right, Nix.”
 She licked her lips and shrugged. “The more, the merrier.”
 Lewis scoffed and nodded as he came over to stand to the other side of me, leaving me in the middle. After two or three pictures, I moved him to the middle, so it was a proper sandwich.
 “That’s better. It’s more aesthetically pleasing,” I remarked. Both Nix and Lewis simply nodded.
 “Everyone say, Sin City!”
 We all shouted it as my phone did snap after snap. I liked to do the burst shots because I preferred natural-looking pictures, and out of the twenty in the burst, there was bound to be at least four that were gold. After about five minutes of posing for pictures with Lewis in the frame, he took over as the cameraman. It was over then. When you put us in front of a camera together with someone else taking the snaps, we turned into a whole different monster. It was like when the power rangers morphed together into that one super ranger.
 I turned my back to Lewis and looked over my shoulder. Nix leaned close, touching her cheek to mine while resting her hand on top of my ass. I peeped the way Lewis lowered the camera for a few seconds before he brought it back up to take the picture. When we changed poses for me to lift Nix’s leg to show off the skin of her thigh, Lewis again lowered the phone, this time I saw him lick his lips before he sucked his bottom one for a few moments. This was going swimmingly, I thought to myself.
 Lewis let us settle in while he took care of a little business, and that was when I saw he’d had my bags placed in his room. It felt good to know he was on the same page as you were about this Vegas trip. Sometimes it was hard to decipher what someone’s true thoughts and feelings were. With Lewis, sometimes it was plain as day.
 The knock at the door had me turning to see Nix leaning on the door looking around.
 “So, what’s the plan? I’m starving.”
 “You’re always hungry.”
 “Listen, don’t try to hunger shame me, just feed me,” she countered as she walked inside the room to plop down beside me.
 “Look.”
 Handing her my phone so she could see the comment under one of the pictures I’d posted from the balcony shoot. I watched her face closely, and when I saw her jaw drop, I snorted.
 “Your followers are freaks.”
 The two of you laughed together before Nix stretched out on the bed. As if not liking the position, she brought her legs under her to sit on her shins. The shorts she wore had ridden up her thigh.
 “I mean, he said it, not me,” I defended as I got more comfortable. Not realizing how close my phone was, I accidentally pushed it off the bed.
 “I’ll get it,” Nix offered, crawling to the right side of the bed to bend over the edge to get my phone.
 With Nix’s ass high in the air, that was the moment Lewis walked in. Almost instantly, his eyebrow shot up with his eyes glued to her ass. It couldn’t have gone better even if I had planned it. He liked what he saw.
 “I got it.” She handed me the phone.
 “Hey, babe.”
 In shock, Nix yelped and turned, looking at Lewis.
 “You guys look super comfortable in here,” Lewis answered. I laid down, placing my head in Nix’s lap.
 “It’s a nice bed, hard not to be comfortable.”
 Lewis loudly cleared his throat before he spoke. “So, what do you guys want to do?”
 “This one is begging to be fed,” I said, tapping Nix’s knee.
 “Okay, let’s go. I know the perfect restaurant.”
 “Great,” Nix replied, instantly moving off the bed. “I’ll meet you guys downstairs.” With that, she was gone.
 Lewis’s eyes roamed over my body before he crossed the room to stand at the foot of the bed, looking down at me.
 “How long’s it been?”
 “You tell me,” I countered. His smile was again one of the flirt.
 “A few weeks?”
 “Just about.”
 Lewis lowered his body on top of mine, but he didn’t touch me. I opened my legs, pressing them back to the mattress, reminding him just who he was fucking with. I watched him look down my body to my pressed back legs. He scoffed before he looked back to my eyes.
 “Ready for me, huh?”
 Bringing my foot to his crotch, I felt his hardening patch. “Maybe about as ready as you are for me.”
 Quickly Lewis dropped his lips to mine and kissed me. Wasting no time, he delved his tongue into my mouth, swirling his with mine. I moaned on his lips and wrapped my legs around his back. Finally, he pressed his muscled body to mine, teasing me with every hardened plane of his frame. He was absolute perfection.
 Lewis moaned once more before he pulled away. “Didn’t you want to eat?”
 “I could definitely eat,” I said, reaching for the buttons of his pants. He groaned and took a few steps back.
 “Good things come to those who wait, beautiful.”
 Lewis nudged his head, signaling for us to go. He was going to be the death of me, I thought.
 Twenty minutes later, the three of us found ourselves at a restaurant that served a mix of breakfast and lunch options. When we sat, Nix moved to sit on my right while keeping Lewis on my left, but after a subtle rearrangement, Lewis was in the middle with both of us on either side of him.  I could tell she had questions, but she kept them to herself. I knew I’d have to clue her in soon.
 “So Nix, anything in particular you want to do while here?”
 She looked at Lewis as she finished chewing. “Not really. I’m pretty easy.”
 “Oh, really?”
 She smirked and shook her head, “When it comes to fun,” Nix clarified. Lewis smiled and nodded.
 “Lani’s told me so much about you.”
 “Oh yeah? All bad, I’m sure. Don’t believe anything she’s told you.”
 I kissed my teeth and rolled my eyes.
 “Oh, so don’t believe that you’re funny as hell, really sweet, talented, a damn good cook, and that you’re a great person?”
 Nix looked at me and melted. She was easy.
 “Awww, Lani,” she began.
 “Shut up, don’t make it weird.”
 The three of us chuckled before Nix continued. “Those you can believe, but I’m not as sweet as she says.”
 “You look pretty sweet to me,” Lewis slid in.
 The way Nix looked at him said she was speechless. When she looked at me, I smiled and gave her a look to say, “told you.” The man was walking charm.
 “Looks can be deceiving.”
 “You’re sweeter than you look,” I added, leaning to Lewis’s cheek to place a soft kiss to it. “Trust me,” I whispered into his ear.
 A few moments later, my phone went off.
 MSG Nix: What are you doing?
MSG: Nothing. What do you mean?
MSG Nix: You’re being weird.
MSG: I’m not. I promise.
MSG Nix: What are you up to?
MSG: Nothing.
 The look she gave me was one that said she didn’t believe shit out my mouth. I didn’t blame her. I was utterly up to no good.
 After some lunch, Lewis took us around to show us the sights along the strip. The three of us quickly roamed through Vegas’s version of Ripley’s Believe or Not before making it to do a little retail therapy. I roamed around the store with my arm laced through Lewis’s picking up different things. That was when I got one of my best ideas. With my arms filled with clothes, I whispered to Lewis for him to sit back and enjoy the show.
 When I came out dressed in a skin-tight dress, Lewis’s eyes roamed my body, examining the way it hugged my curves.
 “Do you like it?”
 Lewis signaled me to spin, so I did. When I looked at him again, he looked pleased.
 “The color’s nice on you. Looks good.”
 “Your turn Nix. Come on.”
 “I don’t have to come out. I’m good.”
 Rolling my eyes, I went to the door of her dressing room, opened it, and pulled her out.
 “Lani!”
 “Wow, that looks incredible on you.”
 She traced her hands over her body before she turned to look in the mirror, turning her back to Lewis.
 “Yeah?”
 “Definitely, get it. Right, babe?”
 Nix didn’t turn, but I saw her looking at him through the mirror.
 “Yeah, get it,” Lewis answered before his eyes dropped back to his phone.
 That was not acceptable, I thought.
 On the second reveal, I wore a low cut white top and a pair of leather pants. Lewis had me come closer to touch on the pants. While he appreciated visuals, he appreciated the touch more.  When Nix came out, she had on a figure-hugging leather dress with a plunging neckline.
 “Wow,” Lewis exclaimed.
 Bingo, I thought. Nix turned to face him, but she looked at me. Nodding my encouragement, she looked at him.
 “Yeah? Is that a good wow?”
 “Uh—it’s, you look great,” Lewis added.
 “You can do better than that, babe,” I coaxed.
 Lewis licked his lips and slid his phone back into his pocket. “It looks good on you.”
 As I walked back into my dressing room, I heard him correct himself. “Really good.”
 I considered that a win.
 After trying on a few more items, we cashed out. Lewis being the gentleman he was offered to pay for the entire thing. Nix protested, but when she did, he insisted even more, so she conceded and accepted defeat.
When we made it to one of Vegas’s most popular attractions—the sky jump from the top of the STRAT hotel, Lewis went first and made it look like a breeze. He was so carefree about it too that it made me want to go next. Nix didn’t protest; she looked terrified.
 Once I jumped off the edge, it was the most exhilarating and terrifying feeling I’d ever felt. Everything zipped past my eyes. For a few seconds, I felt like I wasn’t attached to the rope and that I was plummeting to my death, but the minute the rope snagged and bounced me up, and down I relaxed. It was incredible. Vegas was beautiful.
 When it was Nix’s turn, she damn near freaked out. She tried several times to back out, but I wouldn’t let her. After several minutes of talking her into it and assuring her it would be the best thing ever, she approached the operator only to back away. That was when Lewis stepped in.
 “Look at me, if you really don’t want to do it, that’s cool but listen to my voice for a minute. Are you looking at me?”
 She nodded. Lewis placed his hands on his waist and held her in place.
 “The worst part is right here. Don’t think about it. You’re safe. This will be one of the things you’ll remember for the rest of your life. This is all we have in life, memories of experiences, and times we truly lived. After everything Lani’s told me about you, I’m sure you can do this.”
 Though she still looked as if she were half a heartbeat from passing out, she looked more confident. Nix nodded and turned back around. She stood there for almost a full minute before she shook her head no.
 “Would it be better if Lew did it with you?”
 Both sets of eyes landed on me. It was obvious they hadn’t thought about it.
 “He can go with her, right?”
 The three of us looked back to the operator who nodded.
 “See,” I added.
 “I don’t wanna make you. It would be weird,” Nix protested.
 “No, it wouldn’t be weird. It’s fine. Are you okay with it?”
 “Absolutely,” I assured.
 Lewis suited up again, and in less than a minute, he was ready to take another dive. As I watched the operator secure them both the harness, I had to hold the glee in to yet another situation I hadn’t planned that was working in my favor. I knew Nix, and in order for her to be at all receptive to what I was going to suggest, she had to be comfortable. When they were secured, Nix and Lewis were harnessed together fastened together at the chest. They looked like conjoined twins.
 Nix looked to me, and I gave her two thumbs up and a smile.
 “You got this bestie!” She rolled her eyes and looked like she wanted to kill me for getting her into this.
 “Ready?”
 “No.”
 Lewis chuckled before he nodded to the operator, and just like that, he jumped, taking them both over the edge. I could hear Nix’s scream the entire time. It was too funny not to laugh. There were a few moments of silence, but they didn’t last long. From the video attached to the contraption's overhead hood, I could see that her legs were now wrapped around his waist, and Lewis was securely holding her to him. His laugh was loud, as was her chastising him for laughing at her. They were already bantering like old friends. By the time the operator began pulling them back up, they were now staring at each other like not quite just friends. Maybe this would be easier than I thought, I theorized.
 We took in a few more sights before we stopped at the famous Bellagio fountains to take in the show. It was beautiful. I could tell why Vegas always mystified everyone. It was easy to become another person and get lost in the lights. Coming here, lines always became blurred. When we got back to the penthouse, the plan was to freshen up and get ready for dinner, then a club.
 After a shower, I stood in front of the window, trying to decide which dress to wear. That was when Lewis crept up behind him, wrapping his arms around my midsection.
 “There you are. Where’ve you been?”
 “I had a little meeting with my team. I’m sorry,” he whispered while kissing a trail from my shoulder up my neck until he got to my ear lobe. Moaning, I sank back onto him.
 “You smell incredible.”
 “I know.”
 Lewis’s hand slowly slid down my body until it dipped into my underwear. When I felt the soft brush of his fingers against my sex, I sharply gasped, dropping my head back onto his chest.
 “Mmm.”
 “Yeah, you’ve been craving this, haven’t you?”
 I nodded; there was no point in frontin’. He began slowly, lazily circling around my clit. His touch was so damn soft. It felt as If it was barely there. Within seconds I began wriggling, hoping he got the hint to pick up the pace. Lewis chuckled, clearly enjoying how he had you.
 “What do you want, babe?”
 “You know what I want, Lew.”
 “Use your words, princess.”
 I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction, but I also wanted my happy ending.
 “Make me come, daddy.”
 Lewis groaned loudly, sending the vibrations through my body. That was all it took for my body to blaze. Lewis pinched my clit then slapped it.
 “Fuck, babe.”
 “Are you wet for me, princess?”
 “So fucking wet.”
 He circled my clit again, this time giving you the amount of pressure and speed you needed. Sighing, you focused on the sensations that were coursing through you. His hands were a major turn-on for me. He looked like he used them often. Just as I was getting used to the way my body hummed from his fingers, he switched it up. When you felt him dip his middle finger inside of me, my knees buckled.
 Lewis’s strong arms held me steady as he backed us to the bed. He sat and placed me on his lap, leaving my legs wide for him. He retreated his finger only to add another digit to slip inside of me.
 “Mmm, fuck daddy.”
 “You are wet for me. You feel so fucking hot.”
 The slow way he sank and retreated his fingers inside of me only inched me closer and closer to madness. My pants echoed in the room and mingled with his deep, sultry moans. When he pulled them out to show you what a mess you’d made, he brought them to your lips.
 “Clean them off.”
 Not needing to be told twice, I lowered my lips over his fingers and sucked them clean, all the while showcasing just how deep my throat went. His moan became louder, but before you could take control of the moment, he pulled his fingers free and dipped three digits inside of you, stretching you—prepping you for his thickness.
 “Fuck!”
 His movements were no longer slow. He plunged in and out of me with a speed that had your back arching and your hand wrapping around the back of his neck where your nails sunk in.
 “You sure you wanna come?”
 “Yes.”
 “Yes, who?”
 “Yes, daddy. Please make me come.”
 Lewis added a twisting and rotating motion. It felt as if there was some sort of spiraling toy inside of me, and that was when I lost my shit.
 “Yes, yes, fuck! I’m coming!”
 It must have been music to his ears because, with his other hand, he pinched my nipple, sending me over the threshold and into a soft cloud pillow of ecstasy.
 “Such a good girl!”
 Lewis pulled his fingers free, and they were absolutely soaked. He gently tossed me onto the bed, then stood before me. I watched as he licked and sucked his fingers clean before he added a sly wink before he turned and walked into the bathroom.
 Dropping my head to the bed, I groaned out, “The fuck!”
  Dinner was delicious. Lewis picked one of the five-star restaurants that had given him an open invitation to come and see what they had to offer. When he walked in, all eyes were on the three of you. No doubt every woman wondering the same thing—how could they get a piece of him. all through dinner, the three of you laughed and told stories.
 Lewis told Nix and several stories from his set life and even dropped some fun facts about some of his costars or scenes we’d seen in some of his shows. When he asked about some of the shenanigans we got into, I didn’t hesitate telling him several stories that showcased Nix and my insanity. Every story had him laughing, and Nix cringing from all the tea I was dropping.
 “I can’t believe we did half of that,” Nix remarked.
 “Oh stop, don’t act like it was some other person. Your ass is just as crazy as me. It’s one of the reasons we get along so well. Plus, I know you always have my back,” I added.
 Lewis raised his glass. “To best friends then.”
 Nix and I raised our glasses, but before anyone took a drink, I spoke up. “To best friends and new friends.”
 The two of them looked at me, shrugged, then tapped glasses.
As the liquor burned its way down my throat, I shivered and flailed my hands. “Wooo, let’s get out of here. I’m ready to dance!”
  Within five minutes, the three of us were in the back of another chauffeured car on our way to one of the hottest clubs in Vegas.
 “So, is there a Mr. Vix?”
 “If there were, I wouldn’t be here.”
 “I doubt you’re the kind of woman who would allow a man to dictate what she could or couldn’t do,” Lewis countered.
 She has a soft smile on her lips, a sign of her conceding.
 “No, there’s no Mr. Nix.”
 “Is that by choice or circumstance?”
 “I choose my circumstances so--.”
 If there was one thing, Lewis liked it was mental sparring. I could tell he was intrigued by her. It made my plan easier.
 When we walked into the club, the music's loudness and the bright neon colors set the tone for the night. It was going to be a crazy, fun few hours. After situating in one of the VIP areas and downing a few drinks, I was up dancing with Nix while Lewis watched on and bopped to the music. As the alcohol began to take effect, we got into dancing and having a good time. Soon it became who could dance the most despite the number of drinks they’d had.
 After an hour or so, I pulled Lewis up to dance with us. I was in the middle with Lewis behind me and Nix in front. She twerked her ass onto me, while I did the same to Lewis. He held his own, but I wasn’t surprised. He looked like he knew how to dance. It was yet another turn-on. Lewis nipped my neck before he playfully rammed my ass with his crotch. Turning to him, I whispered I was going to get another drink.
 “Dance with Nix.” He met my eyes with a question in his.  Before he could open his mouth, I kissed him and walked off.
 It wasn’t a complete lie. I did want to get another drink, but I also wanted him to dance with Nix. After a few moments, Lewis approached her. She was at the railing, holding on with one hand while waving the other in the air. She was lost in her own world. I knew it was partly because of the alcohol. She turned and came face to face with him. both of them awkwardly laughed before Nix cheered along with everyone around when the DJ changed the song to Despacito.
 As she sang along, they both swayed to the beat. Every so often, Lewis leaned in and whispered something to her that had her giggling. Once the chorus started, she’d spun around and began winding her hips, adding in that Latin flare that Miami was known for, and that was also embedded in her DNA.
 Lewis dropped his eyes to her ass for so long. I didn’t think he’d make a move to dance with her, but when he stepped closer and placed his hand on Nix’s waist, I jumped as if I’d seen my own child score a touchdown. Soon their bodies synced, and they were dancing to the music but at a respectful distance. Lewis grabbed her hand and spun her back around, and the two did a mix of a salsa and bachata.
 From afar, they looked like they were having a good time. They sure as hell danced well together. Toward the middle of the song, he spun Nix back around. This time her back was pressed to his chest. That was when Nix rolled her body to dip to the floor. While bringing herself back up, she poked her ass out but not far enough that she touched him. Getting closer, I thought to myself before I made my way back over.
 By the end of the night, the three of you were tripping over your feet. Once we pushed through the penthouse's doors, it was Nix who had the idea to get into the pool. She wasted no time stripping down to her underwear and jumping in. Lewis and I were not far behind her. We swam and joked around with each other like drunken fools who had no cares in the world. After about an hour of swimming and acting like children with water games like Marco Polo and catch, we were leaned against the pool's wall enjoying another drink.
 “The two of you are a lot of fun,” Lewis sighed out before he knocked back another rum shot.
 “I tried to tell you. We know how to have a good time,” I reiterated.
 “As you can see by the one who has on no bra, she’s the one who has the most fun,” Nix teased.
 “You’re welcome to join the no bra club to take part in the fun,” I countered.
 There was no missing my meaning, and from the way she looked at me, I knew she got it. Nix looked like she was thinking about it, then her eyes shifted to Lewis who was watching the exchange. She made a move as if to unhook the front of her strapless bra, but as her hands made it to the front of her body, she lowered them and cleared her throat.
 “Ehm, I’m exhausted, probably jet-lagged. I think I’m gonna go pass out.”
 “Really?”
 “Yep.” She turned and swam to the steps of the pool before she climbed out of the water. “But by all means—you two enjoy the rest of the night.”
 Nix scooped up her dress off the floor and walked toward the sliding doors. “Oh, Lewis, thank you for the invitation this weekend.”
 “Don’t mention it.” Nix nodded, then disappeared inside.
 “Is she okay?”
 “Probably just drank too much.”
 I swam to him, took his glass, and finished it before placing it behind him. “What would you say if I didn’t trust myself to walk?”
 “Then, I’d carry you to bed.”
 Crashing my lips to his, my mouth stole his moan and made it my own. In seconds I was more than ready to be carried to bed and fucked to sleep. As if hearing my thoughts, Lewis pulled me to him and swam toward the steps. Forgetting our clothes, he walked inside, never taking his lips from mine. At the top of the steps in the hall, he pressed me to the wall giving me an idea of how much he wanted me. Scraping his back, I moaned loudly.
 “Fuck I’m so hard for you.”
 “I want you, Lew.”
 When be busted into the bedroom, he quickly dropped me back onto the bed and peeled off his boxer-briefs as I pulled off my underwear. When he pressed between your legs, you whispered to him to fuck you. Your self-control was gone, and you didn’t care if there was no foreplay. This entire day was foreplay enough.
 When Lewis thrust forward, connecting our bodies, I shrieked out and arched backward. Lewis pressed his hand to the center of my body as he rotated his hips, making my thighs hit the bed, giving him complete access to ruin you any way he saw fit.
 “Fuck, Lani!”
 His thrusts sped up and turned bruising. Each connection had your breasts swinging and your body shaking. Just when you were getting used to the pace, he set he changed the name of the game and slowed it down, making goosebumps prickle my skin. His lips found yours, and he took control of that too, the same way he was showing me owned my pussy tonight.
 “Whose pussy is this, Lani?”
 “Yours.”
 “Damn right, it’s mine!”
 As if shedding the gentleness, he kicked it up a notch with the way he plowed into me. With every dip, your body hugged him, making it next to impossible for him to retreat. With every snug squeeze, Lewis grunted loudly.
 “Fuck, right there, daddy.”
 When he pulled out and flipped me onto my belly, I knew what was coming. Within seconds, he slammed back inside of me, sending his dick so deep I saw stars. It was then I realized the blinds in the room were wide open.
 “Mm. I love how wet you are for me. Does this pussy love this dick?”
 “Yes, yes, yes!”
 Lewis grabbed the back of my neck and went to town. I could tell he was lost in his pleasure and the pursuit of his own release. It didn’t take long for your legs to shake and for you to drop onto the bed. With you splayed across the mattress, he only adjusted his angle and fed you every single thick inch he possessed. In seconds I’d come for the fourth time and gripped him as if he threatened to leave. His thrusts staggered and became sloppier and more desperate. He was close.
 “Fuck, I’m gonna come, Lani. Do you want it?”
 “Yes, daddy, give it to me.”
 After a few more thrusts, he slammed forward and shot stream after stream inside of me. Every few seconds, he grunted and tried to bury himself deeper and deeper though there was nowhere else for him to go. I was filled to the hilt. Thank god I were on birth control, you thought. That could have been the one to make him a real-life daddy.
 “Fuck, girl!”
 Lewis dropped a heavy slap to my ass before he collapsed beside me. Both of us laid there, trying to catch our breath before passing out from sheer exhaustion and satisfaction.
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Chapter Two will be on @munteanhorewrites page. 
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