through the hourglass 96. brb x oc
a/n: aaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa anyway. good chapter.much fluff.
pairing: plus size!oc x rooster
warnings: fluff, rooster being the protective husband.
goodness gracious (pls read this one to know more what this fic is about!!)
chapter
1/
50/51/52/53/54/55/56/57/58/59/60/61/62/63/64/65/66/67/68/69/70/71/72/73/74/75/76/77/78/79/80/81/82/83/84/85/86/87/88
/89/90/91/92/93/94/95
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She’s still holding his hand when they get into the party, a mix of fear and excitement pumping in her veins as she looks around. Part of her feels so out of place, the fight or flight response begging her to run away but she held her ground. Her husband’s tall frame towered over pretty much every single one of her former classmates, and added that to his colorful shirt, it made the two of them stick out like a sore thumb.
Hannah, bless her, was hovering around and gently telling Beatrice where the things were and so the brunette knew how to navigate this sea of people. The redhead had to leave for a few minutes to go to the bathroom,leaving Beatrice and Rooster alone.
Beatrice also noticed that people were keeping a certain distance from them. She blinked before looking up at her husband and seeing that his eyebrows were low and his jaw clenched tight, “Roos.” she whispers softly, gently touching his chest, ‘Roos,honey, you look like you want to murder people.”
“I just might.” he grumbles, “You said most of these people bullied you right?”
Beatrice licked her lips, fearfully looking back to the people around them and immediately being hit by flashbacks of…things that happened. She saw Aaron and Joe, two of the nerds that just wanted to be part of the popular kids and managed to print those posters about her in high school.
And then her former friends.
And Hannah’s former friends.
And the football team.
Sometimes Beatrice wondered how she managed to survive to her thirties after everything. She clenches her eyes and shakes her head quietly, shaking those thoughts away, “Yes, but…well,don’t get angry like that Roos.”
“You are my wife.”
“I know,” her gaze softens, “I know,Roos. And I love that you want to protect me…it’s just…you are kind of intimidating.”
“Am I?” she nods, “Good.”
She should’ve expected that answer. Beatrice lets out a soft laugh, looking around for a bit, “Maybe we should drink something, mingle.” he grunted, clearly not desiring to mingle but accepting the drink. He let Beatrice guide him through the crowd to where the cooler was with bottles of beer sticking out of the ice.
Beatrice looks up to see that there’s a couple of guys standing close to the drinks and she tries not to freeze because they are standing right in front of the cooler. They were clearly in deep conversation and only moved when the huge shadow of Bradley Nicholas Bradshaw prevented the sunlight from hitting their skins.
Rooster just rolled his tongue inside his mouth, the two guys looking from him to Beatrice, “Oh,shit.” One of them said, “Bea,hi. We um,we were just talking, sorry about that guys. You two can enjoy the cooler.”
“Thanks.” Beatrice’s response was quiet because her brain connected the dots on their faces. Brian and…Jerry? Jeremy? Something with a J that she couldn’t really identify. There were parts of her mind that were blank, this was even more than the first time at the reunion, more parts of her memory were confused and trying to find ways to fill the void.
Rooster’s hand was a constant presence on her waist, his body partially hiding her from view as he looked around. Being so tall gave him the advantage to check if there was anyone looking weirdly at them, “Do you want some beer or soda,Roos?”
“Beer is fine.I can drink one.”
“Okay.”
He looks down when she bends a little just to grab the amber bottle, shaking a bit to get rid of the water drops clinging to its surface - even wiping some off with her jacket’s sleeve - before handing it over to him. Rooster’s eyebrows relaxed when he felt her knuckles touching his own, the cold of the bottle hovering on his skin, when he looked down he just couldn’t help the smile on his face, “Thank you,gorgeous.” he whispers, kissing her forehead.
Beatrice was so happy Rooster wasn’t shy when it came to showing affection, smiling to herself when he pulled back and popped the bottle open with the inside of his arm. His bicep was just that powerful and Beatrice couldn’t help but stare. “Oh…I didn’t know you could do that.” he arches his brow at her after wiping some of the droplets away, “With…with your arm.”
“Really?” and there it is, the boyish smirk that made her weak, “I never showed you?” she shakes her head negatively, “Old college trick, gorgeous. You don’t always have a bottle opener handy.”
“Yeah…” she didn’t want to ogle her husband while surrounded by her former classmates, but she did follow the vein that went down his bicep, “Y-Yeah,I get that.”
“You oglin’ me?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?” he smirks, bringing the bottle to his lips to take a long swig, “Are you going to drink anything?”
Beatrice looks back at the cooler then at the arrangement of drinks - orange juice, non-alcoholic sangria and even some lemonade - “Not yet.” she murmurs, holding his hand, “I’m not that thirsty.”
Maybe she just wanted to remain sober for a while longer while surrounded by those people. Beatrice chews her lower lip gently, still glued to Rooster’s side like his shadow and her husband didn’t seem to mind.
In fact, he preferred it.
He noticed a lot of her former classmates looking over, some even in fear - he tried to hold back the pleased grin when he thought about it - when they noticed the two. “We should mingle,Roos.” she repeats, quietly, “Maybe I can…I don’t know,talk to my old teachers.”
Her husband’s eyes flick downwards, then back up, searching for the people she suggested, “Okay, who was your favorite?”
“...Mrs.Zhao.” she muttered, looking around just like he did, “She was my history teacher, but I’m not seeing her here.”
“Anyone else?”
“Ummm…” she shrugs with a soft laugh, “Mr.Thorpe who was my arts teacher and maybe Mrs.Gauille…but I don’t see them either.” oh joy, her luck is never ending. Beatrice felt safe because she was with Rooster, but if there was one thing she desired was seeing at least one of her favorite teachers there. She’d never really dislike the staff from the school, but she didn’t…remember much of what they did.
She looked around for a while longer, finally stopping when she sees Lydia and Thomas…and her eyes widen when she notices who Lydia is talking to. Her former bullies…but that didn’t mean anything,right? It was just…maybe she hadn’t seen them in a while and was just trying to-
“Beatrice?”
Both Beatrice and Rooster slowly turned around to face whoever was that spoke to the brunette. She shouldn’t be surprised when she noticed it was Rooney and her husband, a guy who looked like he should make Silicon Valley his own personal resort, with the open beige suit and overly tight pants, not even looking up from his phone when Rooney was there. “Oh…hi Rooney.” she mumbled, giving her a small smile, still remembering the last time they talked wasn’t…the greatest.
“Hi,um,” the other woman looked up at Rooster, to his very unimpressed face, “Is this your boyfriend?”
“Husband.” he corrects her, holding his ring finger up and making sure she saw it, “Actually.”
“Oh, you got married?”
“I did, yeah, last year.” Beatrice murmured, already seeing in the other woman’s eyes the confusion as to why she wasn’t invited to the wedding. She couldn’t see the other two close by, but they were there. She knew they were.
“Oh, and um, you are a pilot,right?” That made her husband look from his phone, finally, and almost jump back when she noticed the wall of solid muscle in front of him, gulping quietly.
“Yep, that’s me.” Rooster’s hand on her waist only tightened its hold, bringing her closer to his side so she’d feel comfortable. From what he remembered Beatrice telling him, she was the one who asked about anyone who’d be up for an open relationship of some sort, one of the guys only for Bea to shut her down quickly saying that no one would be interested.
It shouldn’t be so funny and yet it was.
“Oh, how cool, my husband is an entrepreneur.” Both him and Bea expected her to add something else to the title but…that was it. Beatrice smiles awkwardly looking over at the man who just kept pulling out his phone and appearing busy…but Rooster’s height gave him the advantage to see that he was just messing with his title screen and not really talking to anyone else.
Yikes.
“That’s nice.” Bea says quietly, “And…he’s really busy I take it.” Rooster clears his throat quietly while drinking the beer, looking towards the opposite side of the area where the barbecue was going on because he was trying so hard not to spill the beans yet.
“Oh yes, he’s very busy- oh, you know what we should do?” Rooney’s hand on Beatrice’s arm made the other woman flinch and Rooster’s head immediately snapped towards the touch, “We should all hang out sometime! Like in the old days!”
“Oh,ah, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. We have a baby now so-”
“Wait a baby?” it was Megan’s voice that gasped it, with her hand on her heart, “Oh my goodness! Where is it? Did you bring the baby?”
“Um,no, she’s with Bradley’s great-uncle.” Beatrice says, “...I don’t think bringing her over was a good idea.”
“Oh,how old is she?”
“She just turned five months old.” and Beatrice didn’t expect the two women to look up and down her body, almost analyzing it too much for their liking. Beatrice tried to not appear uncomfortable, but she did step closer to Rooster who in turn just brushed his thumb on her ribs to ease her anxiety.
“You look…amazing for someone who just had a baby.” Megan said, “I mean, when I had my baby?I thought Phil was going to divorce me! Did you had any diets? Any surgeries done?”
“...no?”
“Oh, no way.” Rooney laughs, “You are saying you lost it by yourself?”
“...yes?”
Both women blinked towards their former friend, a mix of…something in their eyes that only made Beatrice look at them in confusion. Were they…jealous? No,right? No, there was no way, “...I mean you look amazing.” Megan added after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, “You still look the same.” Beatrice furrows her brows, “I mean, from the last time we saw you. But hey, kids do add that to you right? But anyway, is she a noisy baby? I know mine is.”
“Um,no Nicole is actually really calm.” she looks over at Rooster with a smile, “Rarely cries at night, sleeps like a dream, she gives us absolutely no trouble.” and now Beatrice could see that the mix of things in their eyes were jealousy and astonishment.
Megan inhaled sharply, her smile not reaching her eyes, “Oh but it must be hard for you two to have alone time, no? With such a young baby. I know it was hard for me and Phil.”
And it was Bradley who replies, “Nah.” he smirks, “We make do, don’t we gorgeous?” she heard Rooney turn to her husband and whisper ‘you never call me gorgeous, Frank’ and her husband just ignored her. Beatrice felt a bit bad that she had no other reaction to her former friends’ commentary, they were throwing jabs at her and maybe even trying to see if something would make her crack but Beatrice was happy to hold her ground.
“We do,Roos.” she smiles with hearts in her eyes.
“Wow…um…” Megan blinks, “You two are…how long have you been together?”
“Well, adding to the time we dated about…four years now?” he nods, “Yeah, four years. It’s been great. He’s wonderful.” he chuckles, rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses, “Yes you are, don’t deny it.”
“I’m not denying it,pretty girl.” she knew Rooster threw the compliments at her any time of the day but there was something in his voice that only made her smile more, like he wanted her former classmates to know that he felt like that towards her. And it was working considering her former friends were just staring wide eyed and slack jawed.
High School Beatrice clearly appreciated that, she needed that relief from him. “Well,it’s been a wonderful ride. I couldn’t have asked for anyone else…but um, yeah, it’s been great. Motherhood was a bit hard but there was nothing we couldn’t handle.”
“So you are military.” Rooney’s husband suddenly speaks, gesturing to Rooster with his phone.
The pilot just arched his brow, “Navy, yeah.”
“So,” the other man tents his hands in front of his lips, “So you see a lot of shit,right? You know,I was a recruit in the Navy many moons ago but I never joined because I guess it wasn’t my calling.” something about the way this man spoke felt like a scammer “But how do you guys do it? I mean you leave the country,right? How does it work?”
“How what works?” Rooster asks, holding the half empty beer bottle in his hand.
“Well,everything, listen I am an entrepreneur and-” honestly Rooster dissociated the second this man opened his mouth,something about crypto and how veterans needed more help and…something about personal life that Rooster didn’t care about. In fact he just blinked, with Beatrice looking from him to Rooney’s husband to her own, furrowing her brows because she could see Rooster’s eyes behind the sunglasses were just blank.
And she bit her lips hard to hold back her laughter.
“Anyway, “ the short man smirks, “What do you think?”
Rooster thinks about it for a moment, then shrugs, ‘I dunno, if it works for you that’s fine.” Beatrice coughed to hide her laughter, looking back around the area to hopefully hold back her snickers even if her husband was smirking himself, “Not my thing though.” and Rooney’s husband deflated, even opening his mouth to continue but Rooster didn’t seem interested.
In fact,he turned to look down at Beatrice, “Hungry?”
“A little.” she smiles, looking back at the person on the barbecue, it was Thomas, “Do you want to snack on something?”
His pupils dilated behind his shades, even if she couldn’t see it, the corner of his mouth lifting just enough, “I do.” he purrs, ‘But I want to eat something first.”
And that bold flirting made her blush and the two women in front of her stare wide eyed. Beatrice breathes out a soft laugh, looking at her hands, “I..I’m going to the bathroom real quick, so um-”
“I can get you something, don’t worry, gorgeous.”
Beatrice smiles, leaning up to kiss his lips sweetly before she walks around her former friends towards the bathroom…trying her hardest to not skip her way over. She bites her lower lip with a smile, shuffling towards the inside of the house - greeting those she hadn’t before - with her cheeks so red they looked like ripe tomatoes.
Once she closed herself in the bathroom she cupped her hands around her mouth and squealed happily, even crouching next to the sink with a sudden fit of happy giggles. She was so happy, “God, thank you,thank you for giving me Rooster.” she whispered to the ceiling, “Thank you,thank you,thank you,thank you!”
High school Beatrice was tending her wounds finally and she was doing it with a smile.
Meanwhile,Rooster made his way over to Thomas who just smiles at him, “Rooster.”
“Anaheim.” the two pilots shake hands and the sandy haired man looks down at the grill, “What do we get so far?”
“Burgers, some steaks, chicken. What tickles your fancy? We even have some shrimp and fish if you want.”
Bradley purses his lips in thought, then rubs his chin, “My wife likes chicken and shrimp, so you can get me some of those.” he says,looking back to where he left Beatrice’s ‘friends’ standing. He was honestly glad to have this break because those people were - for the lack of better word - rough. Maybe it was because of what Beatrice told him, but he really didn’t like them, at all.
“Ah,Beatrice,right?” Anaheim asks as he plates everything for him, “Her and Lydia were classmates.”
“Yea?”
“Lydia really holds Bea in a high regard.” Rooster blinks, tilting his head a bit, ‘I don’t think your wife even remembers how much she helped Lydia.”
Oh.
Oh she really didn’t because Beatrice had no idea who Lydia was until they talked weeks ago. He tried to cover up his surprise by chewing his lower lip and furrowing his brows, “Really?” Anaheim nods, “How so?”
“Ah…well,I don’t think it’s my place.” he chuckles, “I mean, Lily wants to talk to Beatrice about it, but…what I can say is that if it wasn’t for your wife,” he hands him the plate, “I’d never meet mine.”
And Rooster just looked at Anaheim with a confused tilt of his head, opening his mouth only to close it soon after. He…had no idea about something like that, Beatrice never mentioned it…and now he had to wait for her return to ask her about it.
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