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pterodactylterrace · 3 years

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Guys Like You Chapter 14

Title: Guys Like You

Chapter: 14

Chapter Summary: Settling into family life.

Rating: 18+

Warnings: It’s so much tooth rotting fluff. Like... I went overboard with the fluff, I couldn’t help myself.

{Prologue} {Chapter 1} {Chapter 2} {Chapter 3} {Chapter 4} {Chapter 5} {Chapter 6} {Chapter 7} {Chapter 8} {Chapter 9} {Chapter 10} {Chapter 11} {Chapter 12} {Chapter 13}

"Briar." Henry whispered, popping his head into the room where the little girl was playing.

"What?"

"Mama's resting up for tonight, how about you and me go check out that park down the street?" Henry suggested, hushing the girl when she squealed excitedly. Overall, finding a place to move in together hadn't been too much of an effort. Henry found Faye wasn't too picky when it came to homes. She had been impressed by every one they had seen. They had decided on one that was on a nice quiet street, not too far from town, had a big fenced in yard for Kal, enough rooms for everyone plus a park just down the street. Briar had been begging Faye to take her since they had moved in last week, but they found it hard to find time for an adventure while also trying to settle in.

If Henry had to venture a guess, he'd say they were about 3/4 of the way there. The kitchen and the bedrooms had been sorted. Henry's office/gaming room was still mostly in boxes, as well as most of the living room furniture. So far, the only thing not boxed in the living room was the couch, which Faye was currently passed out on. They had intended to unpack more, but Henry could tell she wasn't feeling right. Faye told him it was just a headache, but Henry insisted she lay down anyway.

Now was their chance to sneak out and procrastinate on actually working on the house. Henry made sure her jacket was zipped up and her hat was secure before taking her little mitten clad hand in his, leading the giddy girl down the street to the park. Her eyes lit up when she saw all the different things to play with, from slides to swings to monkey bars, all just waiting for her to climb all over them. Her hand was free from Henry's the second her little sneakered feet touched the grass, darting off to go and play on as many different things as she could.

Henry followed after the little girl, lifting her into the toddler swing at her request and setting her in motion, unable to keep the smile from his face at her elated giggles. He had intended to keep her low, not wanting to scare the little girl, but was soon reminded of her love of baby adrenaline when she started demanding to go higher and higher. He finally reached the point where she was swinging near his face, squealing in laughter the entire time, her little mitten clad hands holding the chains as her feet kicked gleefully.

"Catch, catch!" Briar laughed, twisting around to plant a kiss to Henry's jaw when he caught the seat. "Again!"

Henry was more than happy to comply, releasing the seat and letting her swing again, stepping back and giving another small push. He had half a mind to record her time on the swings; this was the type of moment that the best memories are made of. She was so happy, soaring through the air without a care in the world. He hadn't known her for very long, but he already could tell she was growing up more. She was turning into her own little person, with her own thoughts and ideas. So stubborn, unafraid to take risks and she had him wrapped around her little finger. Just like her mother. He somehow felt bad for missing out on the first years of her life, even though he didn't know her then. She deserved to have a father figure to spoil her. She needed someone in her life to show her how a woman should be treated so she wouldn't settle with someone that wasn't right for her.

How her own father could want nothing to do with her was baffling to him. She was the sweetest little girl. She would constantly pop out of nowhere to squeeze his leg in a hug and scurry off again. Every time he picked her up, she would kiss his cheek and throw her little arms around his neck. She cuddled close for bedtime stories, always reacting like it was the first time whenever he would read one to her. How anyone could decide not to be a part of her life was beyond him, but at the same time he was glad. If her biological father hadn't been a complete douchebag, he wouldn't be where he was now, living with the woman he had fallen with so hard, so fast. He wouldn't have a house to fill with their own memories together. He wouldn't have someone special with him at the premiere tonight. He wouldn't have taken the little girl with him on a sneaky adventure to the park while the woman he loved was napping on the couch. He wouldn't have his own little family so for that, he was grateful.

"Down!" Briar decided when she swung back to him, her eyes locking on the slides and large play structure not too far away. Of course, she would want to climb on something while she was there. Henry stopped the swing's motion and unfastened the little girl, her feet barely touching the ground before she was sprinting off again toward the slides.

Henry chuckled to himself at the little girl's excitement, sitting down on a nearby bench to keep watch as she played. She was a little ball of energy, climbing the ladder to the slide and going down head first, giggling the entire time. She zipped across the play yard, climbing the large structure in the middle and going down the curly slide on one side. Henry settled back into his seat as he observed, silently patting himself on the back. She would be too worn out to throw up a fuss for the babysitter when they had to leave later. He just hoped Faye was feeling better by then. He would hate to drag her out for something this important when she felt unwell.

Her stunning dress had been delivered just two days ago, her face lighting up when she caught her first glimpse of it. Henry knew she would look beautiful in it. He also had the feeling she would look even better when he took it off later that evening. The couple had wasted no time in christening every surface they possibly could. Their bed, the bedroom wall, the shower, the vanity, the couch, the kitchen counter, the table. Everywhere they could possibly get to and not wake the baby was fair game.

Between moving, and the premiere, he also had his mother's birthday coming up. That was something he needed to remember to tell Faye about. It had somehow slipped his mind with everything else going on. He had told his mother they would all try to make it out to see her for her birthday, but he had somehow forgotten to bring it up to Faye. Hopefully she didn't have anything else planned. His mother was really looking forward to meeting her.

Henry slowly scanned around the play area of the park, taking note of everyone else around. It quickly became apparent that all the other adults were women. Most of which were currently staring at him, quite possibly recognizing who he was. He really should have worn a hat to hide behind. Would that look weirder though? A random guy sitting on a park bench, hiding his face behind a hat, watching children play? Why weren't there more fathers out with their children? Sure, his own father worked a lot when he was growing up, but he always had weekends off, and he made sure to make time for his family on those days. This was a Saturday afternoon, shouldn't there be at least one or two other men around? His overthinking was making him more and more uncomfortable the longer he dwelled on it.

"PAPA!" Henry jumped up without thinking, his current train of thought instantly cut off at the child's scream. His eyes locked on her in a second and he dashed across the playground in four quick strides to kneel down next to the little girl on the ground who was holding her knee and crying. He was suddenly grateful no other men were around. It would have been really awkward for him to go running up to someone else's kid like that.

"Hey, hey, it's ok." Henry soothed, picking her up and letting her cry into his neck. "What happened, princess?"

"I... I fell do-down." Briar sobbed, clinging to him as he rubbed her back.

"It's ok. You're ok." Henry assured, deciding then was the best time to take their leave as many sets of motherly eyes had already locked on him, now hyper aware of his presence. This seemed to be quickly going from a fun bonding experience to Henry being turned into eye candy as he tried to soothe a crying child.

Briar had calmed down considerably by the time he had gotten them home, though he decided to continue carrying her anyway. If he had to guess, she wasn't exactly in the mood for walking. He tried to be quiet when he came back inside, hoping not to wake Faye and alert her to their sneaky adventure; it didn't matter how quiet his entrance was however, as Faye was already waiting by the door when he came in.

"Is she ok?" Faye asked softly, looking at the girl still clinging to him as though her life depended on it.

"I fell down." Briar sniffed, slowly reaching to her mother for more coddling.

"I bet that was scary." Faye soothed, taking the child in her arms and kissing her head softly. "Did you fall off of something at the playground or did you just trip?"

"Just trip." Briar mumbled, cuddling close to her mother.

"How did you know where we went?" Henry asked suspiciously, raising a brow as he began taking his coat off.

"Oh please, it's not rocket science. She's been begging to go since we moved here, you'll do anything she asks and the playground is in the direction I saw you two coming from. Busted, mister." Faye explained as she helped the little girl out of her coat and mittens.

"It wasn't sweeties before dinner this time." Henry defended himself, stealing a kiss as he reached beside her to hang up his coat, taking Briar's and hanging it up as well.

"You should have woken me up, I would have loved to have gone too." Faye pouted, slowly letting the squirming child down.

"You weren't feeling well, and tonight is an important night." Henry reasoned, resting his hands on her hips and pulling her closer.

"So you really want the babysitter coming here with everything still in boxes?"

"If I hurry, I can probably make the living room look livable. At least mount the TV or something. Possibly just set the iPad up on the coffee table and pretend that's what we use as a TV."

"Yes, because I'm sure they will believe that a giant geek ass dork nerd like you would have such a tiiiiiny little screen to watch his nerd shows on."

"Well I did find myself a small woman. Maybe I just really like little things." Henry teased, kissing the top of her head.

"Who do you think you're calling small?"

"You." Henry shrugged, kissing the top of her head again.

"I will have you know, I am not small. Everything else is just big."

"That's what you always tell me that every time we - ouch!" Henry chuckled, rubbing his ribs where Faye had poked him.

"That did not hurt."

"Well it didn't feel nice either!"

"We need to get the living room unpacked, come on." Faye insisted, quickly poking his ribs again and dashing off to the living room, Briar poking Henry's hip and racing off after her mother.

"Woman! You are teaching the baby bad habits!" Henry chastised, pursuing after both of them.

"I am doing no such thing! She needs to learn your weaknesses." Faye taunted, keeping the couch between her and her boyfriend.

"I already do whatever she asks, why does she need a weakness?" Henry laughed, slowly circling around one side, both girls skittering around to the other.

"One day you may say no." Faye shrugged, squealing when Henry reached over the back of the couch, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to him.

"Now why would I ever say no to either of my girls?" Henry asked, cupping her jaw and kissing her softly.

"There might be an occasion." Faye reasoned, bumping her forehead against his, her other hand sneaking up to tickle his ribs again.

"Would you stop?" Henry grumbled, dragging her over the back of the couch and wrapping his arms around her tightly.

"I will never stop."

"Papa, no!" Briar gasped, running around to the back of the couch and grabbing her mother's hand. "Mama, come on!" She urged, trying to pull her free.

"Oh what, now you're on her side? I thought you were on team me!" Henry gasped, letting Faye be pulled from his arms.

"Gonna get you!" Briar giggled, attempting to tickle at his leg.

"Ok, now this is not fair!" Henry grouched, letting Faye go to snatch Briar up instead. "Two on one, really?"

"Papa, down!" Briar squealed, wiggling when he started to tickle her sides.

"Down? Now why would I put you down?" Henry laughed, jumping and barely suppressing a swear when Faye snatched his ribs again.

"Briar, I'll make you a deal. I'll let you go if you help me get Mama." Henry stage whispered to the child, setting her down and chasing after her mother when she darted off down the hall.

"Mama!" Briar cheered, chasing after the two, Kal now following the rest of the family to the kitchen.

"I know what you're planning, and it's not a good idea." Faye warned, slowly backing up to the counter.

"Oh, and why is that?" Henry asked, pressing up close to her, pinning her between his body and the counter.

"I'll tell on you."

"And who are you gonna tell? Briar? She's on my side now, remember?"

"Uhh... how about your mother? Would she side with me?"

"Oh!" Henry lit up, his mind jumping to another subject while he still had her trapped by his body. "That reminds me. My mum's birthday is next week, she's wanting us to come."

"That's a bit of a distance, isn't it? You have to factor in a toddler sized bladder into all travel plans now, my love."

"That is true. We also have to worry about Briar having to stop for restroom breaks."

"Oh, Mr. Somebody over here thinks he has jokes." Faye scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"We can fly there, it won't be as bad." Henry reasoned, kissing the top of her head. "She's really wanting to meet you two."

"Wait, she knows about us?"

"Faye, do you really think my mother wouldn't know about the woman I've been dating for the last ten months? We've moved in together, I think the people close to us are starting to suspect something."

"But I mean... does she know about us?" Faye asked, her eyes flicking down to the little girl trying to climb Henry's leg.

"She's excited to have another little girl to spoil. For some reason, us Cavill's just don't have very many girls."

"And she's ok with that?" Faye asked, fiddling with the hem of her shirt nervously.

"Why wouldn't she be?"

"I don't know. It's... a lot. It was a lot having you step in and step up like you did. It just doesn't seem like something a mother would want for her baby boy."

"I'm in my thirties." Henry snorted.

"Yes. You are over six feet tall, over two hundred pounds and over thirty years old. You are also her little baby boy."

"Briar, am I a baby?" Henry asked, reaching down to scoop her up.

"No, you Papa Bear!" Briar giggled, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"And there's also that. Since when does she call you Papa?"

"She just yelled it a the park." Henry shrugged. "Is it something we need to discuss?"

"Well I mean... if the shoe fits." Faye mumbled. "I just don't want her to freak you out."

"I've been acting the part for a while now, if it bothered me, I would have said something. We're a family now, Faye. You're stuck with me."

"Oh am I?"

"Yes you are. If you leave, I'm going with you. Right Kal?" Henry asked, looking down at the canine, his tail swooshing across the floor in excitement at being included in whatever was going on.

"So now I have three children to worry about?" Faye groaned, her head falling back in mock annoyance.

"It would seem that way, yes. One is very easy to care for, however. He can let himself outside and his food is on an automatic timer."

"I don't know if you mean you, or Kal."

"Alright, two of us then."

"Enough with the distractions now, Mister Sir. We have more work to do around here." Faye reminded, reaching up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek and taking Briar from his arms.

"So, I'm going to unpack the living room and you two are...?" Henry fished, reluctantly releasing Faye from her prison.

"I'm gonna help Briar get her room the way she likes it."

"Her room was the first thing we did." Henry pointed out suspiciously, his eyes narrowing as Faye skittered around him. "Oh no, you get back here, Woman!" He called, taking off after them again, mother and daughter both laughing as Faye hurried to Briar's room. He caught up with the two of them just as Faye was setting her daughter down, quickly snatching his girlfriend up and playfully biting at her neck. "You are not getting away that easy!"

"It was worth a shot." Faye sighed, letting him drag her back to the living room where he promptly sat on the couch, settling her in his lap and resting his head on her shoulder. "This doesn't seem like unpacking." She teased, resting her head against his.

"Of course it is. We are visualizing how we want it to look." Henry chuckled, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. "What are you thinking?"

"Hmm... TV over the fireplace?"

"A solid choice."

"Coffee table in front of the couch. Side table over there. Briar's little table and chair over there. Probably put Kal's bed next to it."

"He'll lay next to her whether we put the bed there or not." Henry pointed out.

"True. How good are you at putting together IKEA furniture?"

"It is definitely going to be a job for another day." Henry decided, eying the few new pieces they had gotten for the larger living room.

"The toys should probably be near Briar's table so she's not tracking them everywhere. Kal's toy basket can go by his bed. We'll find a place for the pictures once we have the big stuff figured out."

"Sounds perfect." Henry agreed, holding her a little tighter when she tried to stand up. "Just a few more minutes of visualization."

"If you keep putting it off, it'll never get done."

"I'm not putting it off. I'm prioritizing physical contact with my lady right now."

"You just don't want to mount the TV."

"It's a pain in the ass to mount that thing." Henry groaned, looking at the still heavily wrapped TV leaned against the wall.

"It's your TV."

"And I did the sensible thing and paid extra for someone else to fight with it the second time I moved."

"We should have done that with all the furniture."

"Feels less personal, though."

"That's true. Now come on, big guy. We've got stuff to move around." Faye sighed, sliding from his lap and offering her hand to him to help him off the couch, not that he needed it. She would take any excuse she could to touch him, however.

The pair got to work, Henry doing the literal heavy lifting despite Faye's protest that she could move things on her own. They managed to get the furniture - minus the TV - in place; Briar occasionally popping in with a new snack every time, offering each a bite before scampering off again. Faye was putting Briar's toys in her toy chest while Henry went through the boxes, looking for any others containing toys.

"Oh, I found the bath toys!" Henry announced, holding the box up proudly.

"Oh, great. Briar's going to be thrilled when she takes her next bath." Faye sighed in relief. To say the little girl had been less than thrilled to have a plain no-toys-or-bubbles bath was an understatement. As it turns out, no more tears shampoo does not apply when the cause of the tears is from lack of toys.

Henry was putting the toys in the cabinet, down low where Briar would be able to choose what she wanted for herself, when he first saw it. It was a blue and white box with one particular word that grabbed his attention without even trying.

"Faye?" He called, his heart in his throat as he picked up the box, raising a brow at her when she appeared in the doorway, unable to force himself to form words.

"I haven't taken it yet." Faye admitted, seeming to shrink in front of his eyes, the words on the box staring accusingly at her.

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Taglist: @Xxxkatxo @Weallhaveadestiny @lunedelorient @summersong69 @mis-lil-red @lharrietg @amberangel112 @mansaaay

#henry cavill #henry cavill x ofc #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill rpf #guys like you #guys like you fic

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kasienda · 3 years

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A Miraculous Reveal - New York

Ack! Apparently, I remembered to post this one to discord, but not to tumblr. I apologize to my tumblr followers if they only get stuff here. But here it is now! It’s a Ladynoir angst to happy ending reveal based on the New York Special. Please enjoy.

___

Adrien slipped into the silver limo and the door thudded closed behind him with a finality that made Marinette flinch. A moment later, the car pulled out onto the road. Watching the vehicle fade away into the grey haze of drizzly rain, two things were suddenly very clear to her.

She didn’t want Adrien to go. He was precious to her in a way that she could not define. He possessed an unending patience, he had the sweetest and softest smiles for her even when she was babbling or stuttering incoherently, and he was kind. She just didn’t know a lot of boys who were just so genuinely compassionate. She clearly had never really gotten over her crush on him despite her best efforts.

But in that moment as the car turned around a corner and completely out of sight, it was surprisingly easy to imagine her life without him. If Adrien disappeared she would grieve, but she would heal, and she would be okay.

No, the gaping hole in her chest had an entirely different source.

It was Chat Noir that she did not know how to live without.

Read on Ao3

Because it was Chat Noir who had her back every time hers was against a wall, Chat Noir who made her laugh when life seemed impossible to face, Chat Noir who offered her advice and insight whenever she asked even when it was about her feelings for someone else, and Chat Noir who built her up and encouraged her in her lowest moments.

And she was never going to see him again.

Marinette fell to her knees, barely noticing the unforgiving impact of the cement below or the cold water seeping up her pant legs from the ground. Hot tears slipped down her cheeks in contrast with the sky’s frigid rain drops. Her whole form trembled like a leaf in an autumn storm as her tears finally caught up to her.

She gripped his ring in her fist, its edges biting into her palm. It was wrong that she had it. It was his. But she couldn’t return it to him. She didn’t know his name. She didn’t know anything about him.

And now he was gone.

It wasn’t fair. Hadn’t she done everything right? She tried to be responsible, she always followed the rules, and she sacrificed so much of her normal life to make sure she could be the heroine that Paris needed. Why had everything blown up in her face so colossally?

Chat Noir was gone.

He had supported her through her worst mistakes. Had he not trusted her to do the same for him?

A warmth cuddled at her neck in contrast to the cold damp air around them. “Marinette?”

“I-I’m sorry, Tikki,” Marinette choked out, as she turned away from the red kwami on her shoulder. “I can’t do this anymore. Not… not without him.”

A black streak flew in front of her face. “Then why’d you yell at him?” Plagg demanded.

Her vision was too blurry with tears to make the kwami of destruction come into focus. “Because I was angry! I didn’t think he’d leave!” she countered sharply. “I had every right to be mad at him, Plagg. He promised me that he’d protect Paris in my absence. And then he didn’t.”

To her shock, the kwami wilted like a plant without water. “That… might have been my fault.”

“Plagg?” Tikki asked, a disapproval to her voice that Marinette rarely heard. “What did you do?!”

The miniature cat whirled to face his opposite. “You don’t understand! He never gets to have any fun! He’s always locked up! Every moment of almost every day is planned and scheduled. He’s not allowed to spend time on his hobbies if they are not pre-approved. He doesn’t get to just hang out with his friends! It’s amazing he manages to sneak away to become Chat Noir when he needs to!” He rose and fell in the damp air with a deep sigh.

“He’s my chosen, Tikki,” Plagg continued, his voice more subdued. “He deserves to have freedom.” He said it like a wish.

Salty tears flooded Marinette’s eyes all over again. Her partner didn’t have any freedom in his life? She hadn’t realized. He had always seemed so carefree. He seemed like such a goofball. But she had never asked.

How could she not have known? She should have known.

But they weren’t supposed to know anything about each other.

Another sob threatened to erupt from her throat. She fought it down.

Plagg continued. “A chance for a vacation popped up and he wasn’t going to go! He was all disgusting like, ‘I promised Ladybug I’d be here.’ I may have convinced him that the risk was really small, that he could watch the news constantly on the trip, and hurry back if anything happened.”

Tikki’s antennae vibrated back and forth in agitation.

“And it would have worked if there hadn’t also been villains here. How was I supposed to know that New York was infested with a cesspool of villains and subpar heroes?!” Plagg demanded with all the self righteousness of a wounded animal.

Marinette absorbed this new information stoically. The drizzling rain was starting to soak through her clothes and hair, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“He deserved the chance to go, too!” Plagg insisted childishly. “Why did your chosen get to go, and mine didn’t? And it’s not like you didn’t know he was here, Tikki! You’re so quick to point fingers after the fact.”

Tikki opened her mouth to argue, but Marinette put a hand up. “It doesn’t matter. He made his choice.” She honestly didn’t know if she was referring to his choice to go to New York, or to his choice to give up his miraculous. “And now, I have no way of finding him.”

And she dissolved into shaking sobs again. “It’s not fair,” she cried. “W-why did I have to realize that I loved him now? When it’s too late.”

She leaned back against a brick wall, the rain still falling down around her. Her pigtails were weeping with excess water. Her lined jacket faired a little better. The cold wet at least hadn’t seeped down to her skin yet.

Plagg zipped up to her face, his eyes searching her face. “You love him?” he whispered. “Chat Noir, him?”

Marinette just dissolved into a new round of wracking sobs.

The tiny catlike kwami patted her cheek. “It’s not too late!” he insisted. “I can help you find him. We’ll give him back the miraculous together.”

Marinette tried to stamp out the hope that sprouted in her chest at those words.

“She can’t know who he is!” Tikki objected.

Plagg whirled to face his counterpart. “Why not?” he asked seriously. “The old man’s gone. She’s the Guardian now.”

Marinette buried her head into her sopping wet knees. Her throat closed off again, making words impossible.

Tikki had no trouble forming words, however. “It’s still a risk. She’s been akumatized, Plagg! She almost handed her earrings right over. And if Chat Noir were akumatized she would be the only defense against unlimited destruction!”

Plagg hissed in displeasure. “Did it ever occur to you that they might be less vulnerable to akumas if they knew each other?!”

“Please stop arguing,” Marinette begged.

Both kwamis instantly stilled.

“I don’t know if I should know who he is yet. But I do know that I can’t be Ladybug without him.”

“But Marinette!” Tikki objected.

Marinette held up her hand. “I don’t want to stop being Ladybug, Tikki. So we need to get Chat back somehow.”

Plagg spun in a happy circle. “I always knew I liked you, Pigtails.”

“Do you have any ideas, Plagg?” Marinette asked, finally letting the sapling of hope in her chest grow unfettered. “Do you know where he’s headed? Is he close enough that you could go directly to him?”

“I don’t think I could get to the airport before he gets on a plane. But it doesn’t matter because I don’t think he’ll take me back. Even if I bring the ring with me. As long as he thinks you’re still mad at him he’s going to reject me.”

“Oh! I am furious with him!” she growled. “But I don’t want him to quit!” And then her face lit up. “That’s it!”

“What’s your plan?” Tikki asked excitedly, spinning around in anticipation.

She turned to her friend and confidant. “You know where he’s going, too, right?”

“The airport. But Marinette, Plagg is right. I likely can’t get to him before the plane takes off, and what if the earrings fell into the wrong hands along the way?!”

“So, you’re saying that I can only go to him once we get home?” Marinette asked, her voice heavy with disappointment. “But…”

“Ladybug?” A warm synthetic voice chimed in. “I need your help.”

Marinette started, whirling toward the mechanical voice behind her. “Uncanny Valley?”

“The akuma is back and it’s gotten worse. I need your help,” the other hero told her without preamble.

Marinette’s chest tightened in panic. She couldn’t face an akuma. Not right now.

Not without her partner.

“I… I want to help,” Marinette confided. “But… I can’t… Not without him.”

Uncanny Valley smiled. “I can help with that.”

…

Adrien leaned forward in the padded seat on his father’s private chartered plane, his head tucked between his knees as he silently berated himself for every decision he had made over the last three days.

What had he been thinking? He had known Ladybug was out of town and that Paris was undefended. And he had gone anyway.

And Paris had paid the price.

Just so he could have a few days in New York with his friends. How ridiculously irresponsible and childish of him.

The resulting damage to Paris could not be undone.

He buried his fists into his hair, tugging at the golden strands in self-loathing frustration.

And then, once in New York, he had almost failed in the worst way possible. He had almost killed Ladybug. His partner!

The woman he still loved despite trying to move on.

And if he had, he’s not sure how he ever would have recovered. If it hadn’t been for Uncanny Valley absorbing his cataclysm, everything would have been lost.

Everything.

And that was on him.

Uncanny Valley had died to save everyone.

He had killed her. He hadn’t meant to. But he had still taken a life with his own power. Even if it was an accident. He had killed someone. Chat Noir was supposed to be a good guy, a hero, and he had killed someone. And not just anyone.

Aeon.

The bright and precious girl that had been following Jess around the whole trip. Ladybug’s charm may have brought the girl back, but it could never erase the moment when the dark haired girl had lain in her mother’s arms, unmoving, from his mind’s eye.

Frustrated tears leaked from his eyes, and his form shook silently.

He knew he wasn’t worthy of being Chat Noir.

Not anymore. His selfish choice to go on a school field trip had ruined everything.

His father was right about him.

Dear god, he didn’t want to face his father.

He dreaded arriving home. He knew that his life was different now. He had no way to escape his hollow and empty room at any time of day or night, no Plagg to keep him company, and he would no longer be able to hang out with or help his lady.

He knew would see her. It would be impossible not to. She still lived in Paris, and Hawkmoth was still at large. But it would be from a distance, and even if they happened to be in the same place at the same time, she wouldn’t know that it was him.

But he couldn’t bring himself to grieve those pieces yet. Because that was only being selfish. And being selfish is what caused the whole disaster in the first place.

A loud pop interrupted his internal self loathing. The air around him was suddenly roaring with the change in pressure. It lasted only for a moment, before everything went still again.

He turned around. Uncanny Valley stood before him with a bright metallic smile.

He smiled back, tears burning at the edges of his green eyes at seeing her unharmed once again.

She stared at him for a moment without saying anything before holding out a familiar octagonal black box.

“Your services are needed, Chat Noir.”

He stiffened at the address. She knew. Knew that he was the one that had killed her and she had come to him anyway.

Adrien held up his hands defensively and took a step back. “No, I am not worthy of the ring.”

She should know that better than anyone.

Her silver smile never faltered. “Good thing I didn’t bring a ring, then.”

She held out the miraculous box again.

His curiosity got the better of him, and he opened the box despite his reservations, only to drop it to the ground immediately at sight of the spotted earrings.

Adrien was already shaking his head when the swirl of pink sparkles diminished revealing the red kwami he had met only once before.

“She can’t give me her miraculous!” he screamed. “Tikki! What is she thinking?! She knows that I’m irresponsible and can’t be trusted! I proved that today!”

“Adrien,” Tikki soothed, holding her tiny hands out in a placating gesture. “I need you to calm down.”

“You want me to be calm?!” He was shaking like a jet engine. “Tikki, I almost killed her today. Me,” he stabbed his own thumb into his chest. “I did that. It was only because of her,” he gestured wildly toward Uncanny Valley, “that I didn’t.”

“It was an accident, and it turned out okay,” Tikki reassured.

“It almost didn’t,” he repeated stubbornly, letting himself fall back into his seat with his hands clenched into fists.

“Who are you talking to?” Uncanny Valley asked him, her head cocked to the side in confusion.

His green eyes darted towards the other hero for a second, and then back to the red kwami. “Tikkis is the kwami that is bonded with the creation miraculous?”

“What is a kwami? I’m unfamiliar with this classification.”

“She can’t perceive me because we are invisible to cameras,” Tikki explained impatiently.

“Kwamis are like spirits or gods of an idea. Every miraculous has one. They embody the jewelry with their powers,” Adrien explained.

“Fascinating,” Uncanny commented. “What does this creature look like?”

“We don’t have time for this,” Tikki interjected. “Can you please tell her to just playback Ladybug’s message?”

“Ladybug left me a message?” he prompted.

“Yes, of course!” Uncanny held her mouth open, but it was Ladybug’s voice that filled up the room.

“Chaton, I…” her voice trembled, and he knew she was barely holding back tears. “I don’t know what to say to you. I just… I need you to come back. I don’t know how to do this without you…” she trailed off, breaking into a sob.

His throat dropped painfully into his chest. He had made his lady cry. Even after everything, it was her voice that could break him.

She managed to recover, and continued, her voice harder. “I was angry with you for leaving Paris when you said you would be there,” she paused for a second. He could picture her glaring holes through his mask too easily. “But I am more angry that you left me today. How could you do that?” she raged. “When things get hard, when we make mistakes, I need you more! I need you to step up! Not run away.”

“I can’t do this without you,” and here her tone had shifted once again. Now, she was all business, all confident Ladybug with a convoluted plan that would bring everything together. He couldn’t suppress the fond smile that sprouted across his face. “So, I’ve decided that I’m not going to.

“I quit,” she said firmly and decisively.

Wait! What?! But she couldn’t do that! Paris needed her! No one could replace Ladybug.

“Now there’s no one to protect Paris or New York except you. Good luck!”

Uncanny Valley closed her mouth, the recording finished, and looked at him expectantly.

He knew Ladybug was manipulating him, but god damn it, he was never not going to do what she wanted.

He wiped tears from his face that he hadn’t realized he had cried. “She can’t give up, Tikki,” he sobbed. “I’ll go today if she needs me. I will go and return her earrings, but she needs to find a new partner. I definitely don’t deserve any miraculous.”

Tikki shot up to his face. “Adrien! This isn’t about what you deserve or don’t! This is about what she needs! And she needs you! You are her opposite and her partner. You cannot just be replaced. That’s not how this works!”

“She deserves better,” he insisted again, like a broken record.

“Do you not want to be Chat Noir anymore?” the tiny bug asked softly.

He sighed. “Of course I want to be Chat Noir, but there’s a difference between what I want and what is best for everyone! I proved over the last few days that I can’t be trusted not to make selfish choices!”

“That right there is proof you can be trusted!”

Adrien’s eyebrows furrowed together in genuine confusion. “What do you mean?”

“You’re willing to step down and pass on your position to another, even though you don’t really want to because you think that’s what’s best. That’s the opposite of selfish, Adrien.”

“But how can she trust me anymore? I let her down,” he whispered.

Tikki spiraled in the air in clear agitation. “Do you think you’re the first miraculous holder to make a huge mistake? Ladybug screwed up just last month and Master Fu’s identity and safety was compromised! And as a result, every temporary hero’s identity was revealed!”

“But that was an accident!” he growled back.

The kwami whipped up to his face.

“Exactly! It was an accident!”

He felt like she had just punched him.

“And Master Fu responded to her mistake by making her the Guardian!”

The kwami pulled herself back with a sigh, her tone once again soft and patient. “Because he was wise enough to know that the biggest mistakes often result in the greatest learning! And that Ladybug is not defined by her mistakes.

“And you aren’t either, Adrien. Ladybug can trust you more after you’ve made this mistake and learned from it, than she could before you ever made it.”

She paused for a moment as if searching for words. Then she darted right back into his personal space. “Never making mistakes does not make you worthy of your miraculous. Learning from your inevitable mistakes and taking responsibility for them is what makes you the perfect holder of the black cat.”

He hung his head. He wanted to believe Tikki. He did. Then everything could go back to normal.

“Do you believe in her or not?” Tikki asked into the silence.

“More than anything on this earth.” The words left him in a whisper.

“Well then!” Tikki continued passionately. “Believe that she’s right when she says that you are needed.”

Adrien wanted to argue. He feared Ladybug was wrong about him, and he was positively terrified of disappointing her all over again.

But if her message was to be believed it was his leaving that disappointed her the most.

He sighed, feeling emotionally exhausted and battered, but he couldn’t argue anymore. Tikki has definitely given him a lot more to think about. “And here I was thinking you would be nicer than Plagg.”

“What?!” Tikki screeched indignantly, shooting up another foot into the air. “I’m definitely the nice one!”

He shook his head in disagreement even as he smiled, enjoying the rare chance to rib a kwami even if it wasn’t the one who gave him a hard time constantly.

“So, how do I find her?” he asked.

“It won’t be hard,” Uncanny Valley interjected. “You just need to go where the akuma is.”

He launched himself to his feet. “There’s an akuma?! Why didn’t either of you lead with that?!” he demanded even as he rapidly thrust the earring posts into his ears.

“Tikki! Spots on!” The creative energies crackled over his form, feeling somehow warm and soft, so unlike his normal destructive power. He stuffed down all his doubts and self-loathing. That could all wait.

There was an akuma to fight.

And his lady needed him.

…

“Watch out!”

Lady Noire dropped to the concrete, cursing the non specificity of the warning. Chat would have told her left or right, up or down in the same number of words. The blast of power rushed over her head and missed her, if only just, so she supposed she couldn’t complain. At least she had an ally in Sparrow. It was better than facing this akuma alone.

Because this akuma - she was blanking on his name. Techno something? But didn’t it also have something to do with the Miraculous? It didn’t matter! Lady Noire couldn’t keep it all straight! That’s what Chat and his love of comics and manga was for! The point was, whatever his name, this akuma sucked!

She vaulted upwards, launching herself from the ground to a street lamp, to one of the lower buildings in the forest of skyscrapers.

Remaining at street level was dangerous. There were too many alleyways and blocked sight lines. But leaping from rooftop to rooftop was almost as bad because it left no places to hide, no options for cover even if she could see all her adversaries coming. And she had to fend off Majestia, Knight Owl, and the akuma on miraculous steroids simultaneously.

At least she was in the clear for the moment. There was no sign of any of them. A distant crash thundered. Lady Noire sighed. Majestia was probably destroying more buildings trying to flush them out.

“Hey, Lady Cat!” Sparrow called. “Follow me!” Then she ducked through an open window a dozens of stories off the ground into a conference room of some sort.

And with another sigh, Lady Noire did just that. She and Sparrow huddled with their heads together out of sight, crafting a new strategy. And again, with Chat, the conversation would have been unnecessary. He could glean her plans from a gesture or three words of explanation.

But she and Sparrow didn’t have that level of intuitive communication. Lady Noire liked Sparrow. The Parisian hero related to the other girl’s desire to prove herself, and she knew the other girl's heart was in the right place. But they didn’t have any experience with each other.

So it took thirty seconds of rapidly exchanged words before they were on the same page and back in the air fighting. It had only been thirty seconds, but how many buildings had Majestia managed to demolish in that time?

Lady Noire honestly didn’t have time to count, as she ducked under yet another projectile - this one launched at her by Knight Owl.

The time delay had been worth it though. She and Sparrow were tag teaming better, grabbing the brainwashed heroes’ attention before they could take out their compromised morals on the city too badly, and covering each other’s back when their three adversaries converged on one of them.

But every move was defensive. They had no plan for an offensive strike. It was all they could do to not get hit by the akuma’s beam.

She wished Chat Noir was there.

She was certain he would come back. He would never leave her hanging. She had absolutely no doubt.

But would he make it back in time? Before her luck ran out completely?

She pounced out of the way of another strike, only to dodge into the blow of another. She had time to curse her mistake, but no time to course correct.

Just when she thought it was over, a flash of red body-slammed her into a third direction.

Relief flooded through her at the familiar sensation of his form pressed against her own. They both readily rolled to their feet, and slid into fighting stances side by side.

“You okay?” he called.

She flashed him a huge grin. “Never better, bugaboy!” Now that he was here.

And unlike the first time they had swapped kwamis, they were perfectly in sync. Even for them, it was impressive. It felt like she could read his mind and he hers.

Or maybe, it was just the contrast of working with Sparrow. Or was her name Eagle now?

Whatever the case, she could feel the difference. Chat Noir was her partner, her other half. He had stolen her heart somewhere along the way, and she couldn’t wait to tell him, even if she would never hear the end of it.

He called for a lucky charm, and she jutted her chin towards a parked taxi cab. He flashed her a grin, and dove into action. And that’s what she meant. He just understood.

“Sorry, Miraclonizer,” Mr. Bug called to the akuma an instant before Lady Noire shot out of the cab and cataclysmed his object. “Third time was not your charm.”

Majestia and Knight Owl cornered the healed villain within seconds of Mr. Bug purifying the butterfly and healing the city.

But Lady Noire paid none of them any mind. She launched herself into her partner’s arms the second it was safe to do so. He caught her as if she weighed nothing, absorbing her momentum with a twirl before pulling her against him.

She had never felt safer.

“Don’t ever do that to me again,” she told him, her voice hard. It was the only defense she had against immediately dissolving into a puddle of tears at his feet.

“I wouldn’t dream of it m’lady,” he breathed into her braid. “Shall we go somewhere to talk?”

She nodded into his shoulder. “Go, recharge Tikki. And then we’ll meet up on the Statue of Liberty?”

She bounded away without a word to the American heroes, before ducking into a secluded alleyway three blocks away and letting her transformation shimmer away.

“I don’t have any cheese,” she reported solemnly as she offered one of Tikki’s cookies to the limp kwami that had just fallen into her hands.

“I’ll live,” he replied gruffly, eying the proffered pink macaron suspiciously as if she were offering him poison. He took it, flipped it over and inspected it, before taking the smallest of nibbles.

She sighed. “I’ve seen you inhale cheese, Plagg. I don’t suppose I could bribe you with a promise of a wheel of Camembert later to just hold your nose and inhale that, now?”

“What’s your rush, Pigtails?” he asked, taking another infinitesimally small bite. “The akuma has been defeated already. Your job is done.”

“I just…” she looked away. “I don’t want him to spook.”

Which was a lie. She knew he’d be there. But she… she had lost him today. He walked away once. He might do it again. She wouldn’t feel secure until she had seen him, until he had promised with more than words that he wasn’t going anywhere.

He eyed her. “You can trust him, you know. He’ll wait for you.”

“Like I could trust him to protect Paris in my absence?” she bit back.

Plagg said nothing. Just took another tiny bite if one could call it that.

She sighed, idly running her fingernail along the alley brick wall. “I’m sorry. I’m trying not to be angry. I don’t want him to run again.”

“You don’t have to be what others expect you to be, you know.”

Her eyes whipped to the kwami floating in the dim light of a flickering street lamp. “What do you mean?”

He darted around in an animated circle. “You don’t have to be the bigger person. You can be angry. He can take it. He has lots of practice.”

She hissed at those words, hating that any piece of them could be true, and that she still didn’t know enough about his civilian life to refute or understand them.

“But this isn’t about him, or your feelings for him,” Plagg continued. “This has nothing to do with him at all. This has to do with you being the Guardian.”

She frowned. “I’m not following.”

“You don’t have to be what Paris expects you to be. Or what Chat Noir expects you to be. You don’t have to be what Master Fu expected you to be either.”

Her eyes watered unexpectedly at the mention of her old mentor.

“You just have to be you,” Plagg concluded.

Her knuckles buried themselves into her eyes, as she tried to fight back tears. “But I keep messing up.”

“That’s because you’re trying to follow the rules instead of following your instincts!”

“A hero thinks with her brain, not her heart!” she countered hotly.

“No! You need to think with your gut! Your brain is not what helps you decipher Tikki’s charms. I love her, but that girl can be obtuse! No, you have to follow your intuition, and trust that even if you don’t know what the final piece is when you’re halfway through some convoluted plan, you’ll recognize it when you see it.”

She bit her lip, considering his words. His description of unraveling the mystery of a lucky charm wasn’t wrong.

“Like, why didn’t you bring the horse miraculous on this trip? I know you thought about it!”

Her eyes narrowed at his tone.“Because Master Fu said that having too many miraculouses out and active was too risky!” she began defensively.

“You already proved that your determination, creativity, and your faith in your partner was more effective than that old man’s paranoia when you defeated Feast.”

The miniature floating cat took another crumb off Tikki’s cookie. “The old man is gone! You need to figure out your own way of doing things. His ways won’t work for you because you’re not him.”

“But… I’m just a teenager. I don’t know what I’m doing. He had so much more experience. He kept you all safe for centuries. Who am I to say that his methods were wrong?”

“Who are you?” Plagg repeated indignantly. “You are Ladybug! You have never lost. You are now the Guardian. You are Marienette Dupain-Cheng who is quite accomplished in her own right!”

Her eyes burned at the praise. And coming from Plagg who pretended he didn’t care about anything? Well, that meant a lot to her. Especially today when she was feeling so raw and like she had screwed up just for coming on this trip at all.

“And just so you know, Master Fu took on the role of the Guardian when he was twelve. He didn’t know what he was doing either. He made tons of mistakes. You will too, but they don’t have to be the same ones.”

Marinette leaned up against the wall behind her, carefully considering every word. “Why are you telling me all this?” she whispered.

He flipped the cookie over on its end and nibbled into the untouched end. Really, the whole cookie looked unmarred. They were going to be here all night.

“You brought my kid back. You didn’t let him go. I figure I owe you a favor.”

She smiled softly. “You seem to care about him a lot.”

He frowned. “He gives me only the finest of camembert!” he gushed. “Not every holder can pull that off, you know.”

Marinette reached out and scratched the little cat behind his ear, and to her delight he leaned into the caress and purred. She suspected Chat Noir meant far more to the kwami than cheese, but she wasn’t going to call him out on it.

“Tikki says you can’t ever take anything seriously.”

He looked affronted. “I can be serious!” he argued. “When it’s important!”

She giggled. “I can see that,” she conceded. “Thanks, Plagg! I think I needed to hear this.”

“Like I said, I owed you a favor. It’s nothing more than that.”

“Oh, of course,” she agreed readily, an amused smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

He popped the rest of the cookie in his mouth, and gulped it down in one swallow.

“So are we going to go meet my kid or what?” Plagg asked. “We shouldn’t keep him waiting all night! He’s going to think you’re still mad at him or something.”

“Are you serious right now?” she screeched, staring at the stoic kwami in complete disbelief. “You were just pretending you had to eat that cookie so slowly?”

He did the kwami equivalent of a shrug. “You asked me to hurry it up. And I did! Don’t know what you’re complaining about.”

“Oh my god! You’re impossible!”

“Still waiting on you, Pigtails,” he countered smugly.

“Plagg, claws out!” she growled out, his laughter echoing in the humid frigid air around her even after he was sucked into the ring.

Dark crackling energy enveloped her body from head to toe, thrumming with raw power and energy. Her normal transformation felt warm and comforting. And the black cat wasn’t cold - it was more like lightning. And once her transformation was complete she just needed to move, to run, to pounce, to be free.

She vaulted from the ground, shooting off towards the monument of liberty that she could see clearly now that it had stopped raining, eager and excited to speak with her partner.

As she approached, she could see he was already there - a spot of red that stood out against the green of the statue’s oxidized copper. He was sitting under that railing of Lady Liberty’s torch, his legs dangling playfully over the edge.

She vaulted up and landed next to him in a feline crouch.

“M’lady!” he greeted brightly as if they hadn’t planned on meeting not twenty minutes prior. “I was starting to get worried. What happened?”

“Plagg happened,” she growled. “Apparently, he eats cookies really really really slowly.”

He laughed. And god, it was a gorgeous sound. One that she would never take for granted again. “Yeah, he’s pretty annoying when it comes to food.”

She sat down next to him, closer than she normally would have, wanting to have him close. She crossed her legs at the ankles and they stayed relatively calm compared to his active swinging. Neither of them spoke for a minute, they were just staring over the city of lights. The city that was not their own, but they had just saved.

“Thank you,” she whispered into the silence.

His spring-green eyes snapped to her in surprise. “For?”

“For coming back,” she told him simply, still not daring to look at him. If she looked at him she was fairly certain she would cry. And while tears were likely inevitable this evening, she didn’t want to start off with them.

“I’m sorry for ever leaving,” he told her solemnly.

“It’s…” she broke off. She was going to say that it was okay, but it wasn’t. “Thank you for saying that,” she said instead. “Can you promise me something?”

“Anything,” he said immediately. Her eyes jumped towards his face, surprised at his total lack of hesitation. He gazed back at her, his face calm and serene as the breeze that swept across their cheeks.

“You don’t want to know what it is first?” she asked.

He shook his head with a soft smile. The expression almost seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place it. “I already know I would do almost anything for you, M’lady. I thought you would have known that by now. And the one or two things I wouldn’t be able to do, you would never ask.”

Heat bloomed across her cheeks at his raw faith in her. She was never certain how she had earned it.

“What did you want to ask?” he prompted when she still didn’t explain.

“Just that… next time, if there’s a next time, which I hope there won’t be,” she rambled. “But if there is a next time, can you please talk to me first? Before you make your decision?”

He stared at her for a second. “Next time for what?” he finally asked.

She glanced at him, then looked back down to her knees. “A next time you want to quit…”

“Oh…”

And then he said nothing. And she couldn’t stand it. Her gloved fingers writhed in her lap.

“It’s just… you left without letting me say goodbye,” she confessed, her voice softer than the cold breeze. But she knew he could hear her. She looked back at him again, gauging his face for a reaction, but for once she couldn’t read him. “I…” she bit her lower lip in thought, and looked back down. “I don’t want you to be trapped in this. You’re never obligated to continue, but…”

His hand, gloved in red and black, reached out to hers soothingly. “But?”

Emerald green eyes blinked at her from behind a spotted mask, and she found herself missing the vertical pupils that came from wearing the black cat miraculous. When had his eyes stopped looking alien and strange to her? When had they become a source of comfort?

“If you ever want to stop doing this, please… just let me say… goodbye,” she choked out over the massive rock that had just lodged itself in her throat. Hot tears fell from her eyes, over her mask. She hated crying in the mask.

He pulled her against him, she felt safe and warm in his arms. Her body responded by convulsing harder with wracking sobs. He rubbed her back soothingly, and rocked her back and forth.

“Oh bug, I’m so sorry,” he said softly, and then he kissed the crown of her head. “Of course I promise.”

“The last thing I said to you was out of anger,” she sobbed into his chest.

“Shhh… it’s okay. I’m right here. And I know you,” and she could hear the smile in his voice. “You were never going to let that be our last conversation. I’m apparently really bad at staying away even when I think it’s for the best.”

She stilled at his words, at the self deprecation in his tone. “Do you…?” she hesitated, carefully keeping her head down and not looking at his face. “Do you still... think it would be best for you to give up the miraculous?”

He didn’t say anything.

And suddenly, despite his arm around her shoulders, the night was freezing once again, overcast, dark, and grey.

“Chaton?” she prompted. She was terrified of what he might say, but she had to know. She had to know if she could rely on him.

His head dropped, his forehead rested against the top of her braid. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “In the moment that I renounced Plagg, I did it because I just didn’t see any path back for me. I just kept making mistake after mistake. I didn’t want to keep letting you down.”

“You didn’t let me down,” she objected automatically.

Her partner laughed, but there was no amusement here. It was not the bright, rich laugh that came from his belly that she coveted and cherished. This laugh was bitter and dark.

She huffed out a sigh. “Okay! Fine, you let me down, but not in some irreparable sense that you seem to be thinking.”

His arms tightened around her. “I almost killed you today,” he whispered so softly she almost didn’t hear him.

She sat up then, and traced the sides of his downturned face in both of her hands. She urged his gaze up to hers and waited until he was looking at her before speaking. “But you didn’t.” Her voice didn’t waiver.

His lower lip trembled and soon his whole body was quaking. She jerked him into her arms, and his head came to rest on her bony shoulder.

“I… I don’t know… w-what I would do… if I lost you,” he gasped out between sobs.

“You’re the one that was going to leave,” she couldn’t help but point out dryly.

His nose burrowed deeper into her shoulder. “Only because I am afraid that at some point I will screw up so badly, but instead of me… you’ll be the one to pay the price. I don’t want to be your partner if I am not the best one to protect you. You’re too important to me to let my ego or selfish tendencies get in the way.”

Her arms tightened around him.

He looked up at her then. His eyes were glassy and as green as new spring grass. “But then Tikki said some things that made me think about it differently. That maybe coming back was more important?”

He said it like it was a question. That he needed her confirmation more than anything.

“Kitty, I don’t know how to convince you. I know you won’t be perfect. I won’t be perfect either. I know our mistakes have very real consequences for more than just us. And I would definitely appreciate it in the future, if anything that affects our responsibility changes, you would tell me rather than pretend like everything was taken care of.”

He nodded in agreement.

“But you are it for me! I cannot do this with anyone else because you are the only person who was here with me through this whole crazy thing, the only person who has believed in me even before I believed in myself! You are the person that I trust the most. The only person that can really understand my life. That’s why today was so hard. I…” She broke off into tears.

She started sobbing uncontrollably, harder than either time before. Her throat was tight, and she felt like there was no air. She couldn’t talk, but she desperately needed him to hear these ones.

“I… thought I was… n-never going to see you again,” she choked out.

His hands traced her jaw as his thumbs brushed away her tears. “Do you want to know who I am?” he asked, his eyes serious.

She laughed hysterically through her tears. Of course she wanted to know; she had always wanted to know. But she was still scared. Plagg’s advice about being in her own kind of Guardian warred with every word of caution Master Fu and Tikki had ever given her. Because learning who he was wasn’t something they could take back.

She needed to think about this very carefully. But she wanted to just know. And she wanted to tell him.

“I’m serious,” he told her. “I will tell you right now. You don’t even have to reciprocate.”

She sucked in a breath, trying to calm her racing heart, and smiled brightly at him. She wanted to give into his offer with every fiber of his being. But even if she wasn’t scared to know anymore, it was still probably wise to give it careful consideration before rushing into anything.

“I know who you are,” she told him.

He started. “Y-you do? What gave me away?”

Her smile grew, and her fingertips traced the side of his face. “No, that’s not what I mean. I don’t know your identity. But I do know you. You’re my partner. And my best friend. The boy I trust more than anyone else on this planet. And the most important person in my life. I know your heart.” She placed her other hand on his chest. His heart was racing, too. “I know you.”

She leaned forward before she could think about it too much. He met her halfway.

His lips were chapped, and his breath tasted of mint. His fingers found a home in the small of her back while hers became tangled in his golden locks. Everything about their contact was warm, sweet, and soft.

She didn’t want the moment to end.

It was perfect.

So when he started to pull away, her hands held him in place. And she could feel him smile against her lips.

She finally pulled away with a gasp, and only because she had to breathe at some point, and she was rewarded with a dopey grin on his face with his masked eyes still slitted closed.

She watched him fondly for a few seconds, her giddy smile likely echoing his own. But when he didn’t move, and he didn’t open his eyes, she grew impatient.

“Chaton? You still there?” she teased lightly.

“Yes, m’lady!” he answered brightly. But his eyes remained stubbornly closed.

She poked him in the shoulder. “Why are your eyes still closed?”

He sighed happily. “Because I’m trying to memorize the best moment in my life so I can replay it later when I need it.”

She snorted. “I can’t believe I fell in love with such a dork.”

His green eyes snapped open. “You love me?” he breathed out as if he could scarcely believe it.

She curled her hands around his again. “Where the hell have you been?” she demanded. “Did Uncanny Valley not play you my message?”

“She did, but…”

“And you were here for that confession and kiss, right? You remember it? You weren’t under some akuma’s control or anything?”

He shook his head, even as his fingers tightened around hers. “No, but you didn’t say love,” he objected.

She turned towards him again. “Chaton, the boy I told you about, the one I told you I loved?”

He went rigid, his expression suddenly carefully neutral. “What about him?” he asked casually.

“He came on this trip with me,” she explained. “But today he left. I watched him drive away and it felt like he was leaving me. And it was hard. But it barely registered in comparison to the devastation I felt listening to your echoing footsteps fade away after you left your miraculous behind.”

His gaze dropped to their joined hands. “I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “I’m not trying to make you feel more guilty. I just… that’s how I knew.”

She turned and kneeled before him, still not letting go of his hands. “I had to let go of both of you today,” she told him. “But you were the one where that did not feel possible. I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the lines you snuck into my heart, made it your own, and I don’t want you to leave.

“Because I love you,” she whispered.

His eyes turned glassy, but he was smiling. “I love you, too.”

She couldn’t stand to see him crying even if they were tears of joy. So she leaned forwards and kissed him again. And then again and again until she lost count and they were both giggling like children.

“What does this mean?” he asked her later, when they were giggled out, and her head rested against his shoulder once again.

She sighed. What she wouldn’t give to just be! Be here and now, and not have to worry about Paris or New York or decisions that she didn’t want to be the one to make! “I don’t know. I want us to be together, I think. But this is dangerous. But… Plagg said I needed to make my own rules.”

He started. “Plagg said what?”

She ignored his interjection. “And he was right! I… I’ve been trying to emulate Master Fu because he is the only example I have.”

“Plagg gave you advice…? Like useful advice?” Chat objected again.

She frowned up at him. “You’re getting distracted, kitty.”

“Sorry.” He rubbed the back of his neck with his free arm. “Go on.”

“I just worry that if Hawkmoth knows we’re in love, he’ll find a way to use it against us. Love makes us strong in so many ways, but it also makes us vulnerable.”

He threaded his fingers with hers. And she had never thought she would enjoy holding hands with someone as much as she did.

“Do you really think he couldn’t have already done that before when assuming we were just friends?”

She pursed her lips, considering. She supposed he had a point. She kept her identity a secret so that Hawkmoth couldn’t get at her through her family or friends. But Chat Noir had always been a friend she couldn’t hide.

“It’s just more pronounced, I think,” she concluded.

“Would you want to keep it a secret then?” he asked, his expression betraying nothing about how he felt about that idea. But she knew that was his way of being supportive by letting her take the lead.

“Keeping our vulnerabilities secret does offer some protection. That’s the way Master Fu did it. He always stayed in the shadows and was secretive and he was able to protect the kwamis and to stay hidden for almost two centuries!”

“But?” he prompted when she stopped.

And she smiled, pleased that he could read her so well. “But we’re on the front lines. We don’t have the luxury of staying in the shadows. It’s harder to build an impenetrable wall of secrets when you have to be out in public all the time fighting monsters. When you have to balance a double life without anyone noticing. When you struggle with so much, and can’t confide in anyone, or ask anyone for support…”

And suddenly, now that she was really thinking about it, she was angry. Livid that she had been put in this situation where she was almost alone in keeping an entire city safe, and told that she could share that with no one. How long would it be before she broke? How long before she was akumatized?

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

She shook herself out of her thoughts. “Yeah, I just… I didn’t realize that I was so angry. Master Fu dumped a lot of responsibility on me without leaving any avenues of support,” and she immediately tensed realizing how her words can be misconstrued. Her eyes jerked upwards to his. “I didn’t mean you,” she told him.

He smiled. “No, I totally understand what you meant,” he assured immediately. And then his smile faded and his gaze turned distant.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Do you want to give up your miraculous?” He asked softly, clearly afraid of her answer.

She jerked back violently. “What?! No!! I can’t give it up!” Even she was startled at how visceral her reaction was. “No,” she said again, her tone more calm. “It’s hard, yes. And definitely unfair. But it would just as unfair to put this burden on someone else.”

“But do you want to be Ladybug?” he asked again, this time his green eyes were intense and insistent, rather than worried.

“I love being Ladybug,” she whispered back. “I love knowing that I have helped someone. I love being able to protect the people I care about. And well, even the challenge of figuring out how to defeat an akuma or interpret a lucky charm… It's empowering,” her voice grew louder the more she talked. “Just knowing that when the chips are down, I’m capable of thinking stuff out like that. Most people have to run when an akuma strikes, but not me. I have agency. I can do something. And I’m good at it!”

“Damn good at it!” he agreed with a huge smile.

She smirked. “And I suppose flying over the city by yoyo is pretty cool too,” she tacked on.

“I had to ask,” he told her. “I want you to know you have an out, too.”

“Thank you kitty. I appreciate that.”

“So if you’re committed to sticking it out, what do you want to do differently than Master Fu as the new Guardian?” he asked. “And whatever you decide, know that I will always support you.”

Her eyes locked onto his. “I want to trust. I want to trust you completely. Maybe others too, but I want to start with you. I don’t want there to be secrets between us.”

She felt him freeze underneath her.

“So… does that mean…” he fidgeted nervously. “Tell me if I’m jumping the gun again, but may I tell you my name?”

The question hit her like a lightning bolt, sending both her heart racing and her gut fluttering. Even though he had mentioned it earlier, this time felt different. Now, she felt ready. But she was still nervous. But not in the way that she used to be. She wasn’t worried for her friends and family because this was Chat! Her partner. He would give his life for her, she already knew. The idea even brought a sense of relief.

No, the butterflies in her stomach were more a giddy nervousness. She tried to calm herself by breathing deeply. Knowing his name wouldn’t change how she felt about him. And she had to believe that his knowing hers wouldn’t change the way he felt either.

“Only if you want to,” she said. God, she wanted him to tell her so bad, but she didn’t feel she had the right to demand anything after she had already put him off so many times.

He grinned. “I’ve always wanted to. It works out for you, too, in this case because you’ll always be able to track me down when you need to yell at me for something without having to send a third party or worry that it will be our last conversation.”

She laughed. “You sure you don’t want to wait like two weeks when we’re not so emotionally raw? When our heads are on straight?” It was the more pragmatic choice. There was no rush. They didn’t really have to burn through all the secrets between them in one evening.

He barked out a laugh of his own. “Two weeks for you to come up with a million and three reasons about how bad of an idea it is?” He shook his head, even as he chuckled. “No, I don’t really want to wait for that.”

“I’m not that bad!” she objected.

“Oh, yes, you are,” he grinned, darting in with a quick kiss to her nose, which she scrunched up in response. “It’s one of the many things I love about you.”

“Yeah, well! You’re so impulsive!” she countered, even as she grinned.

“And you love me anyway,” he countered, cheekily.

Heat flooded her neck and face; even her ears felt hot in the cold air. “Yeah, yeah, I do.”

“I love you, too.” His voice was so soft, like velvet, and his eyes were even softer. Love poured from them. It was so intense it was hard to maintain eye contact. She had never felt more exposed or vulnerable. He had all of her heart. He had stolen it.

But he didn’t say anything more, and it was driving her mad.

“So…” she prompted, “What’s your name?”

He started, and then grinned again. “R-right!” He cleared his throat dramatically. “Adrien.”

She reeled backwards as if burned. “W-what?!” she exclaimed. She thought she had been prepared for anything! She thought his name wouldn’t change anything.

She had been wrong.

“My name… it’s Adrien,” he repeated.

Her eyes were bugged out of her head, and her jaw was on the balcony floor. But she didn’t know what to say. It couldn’t be him, could it? That would be too simple. And too unfair all at once! The universe was clearly laughing at her. It had been laughing at her for years!

He frowned. “Is that bad?”

She could hear the tremor in his voice. God, he was freaking out. She had to fix that.

“N-no…?” she stammered. Crap! She was stammering. He was totally going to see straight through her.

Would that be so bad?

“Just… unexpected,” she said lamely.

“Were you expecting a Louis, or an Antoine?” he asked jokingly, clearly trying to bury his vulnerability in silliness, but she could see through him. He was terrified. “What name did you give me in your head?”

“Chaton,” she whispered, squeezing his head, managing to look right into his anxious eyes.

His whole form relaxed and his jokester face melted into the softest smile at her admission. And oh god, it was totally him. How had she never seen it before? She was such an idiot.

“Okay seriously,” he laughed. “What is wrong with the name Adrien?”

“Nothing!” she insisted.

He kissed the knuckles of each of her gloved hands. “Then why are you freaking out?”

So many panicked thoughts swirled through her brain just like it always did when she was trying to talk to Adrien. But this wasn’t just Adrien anymore, she reminded herself. This was her partner, her best friend, her love, and her Chaton. She had just said she wanted no more secrets between them not five minutes prior.

She took a deep breath and prayed for courage. “Adrien might be the name of the boy I had a crush on,” she admitted. Somehow, it was easier to be indirect about it even though she already knew that it was him.

“What were the chances that I have the same name as…?” And then his whole body stilled and his eyes widened. “Unless… No! I cannot be that lucky,” he mumbled more to himself than her. “But… you said…” His eyes searched hers. “You said… your crush walked away from you today. If that was me…”

And suddenly his eyes watered and he was crying again. Only this time, she had no idea what was wrong.

He couldn’t be that disappointed it was her, could he? The possibility had never occurred to her.

“Chaton? What’s wrong?”

He yanked her to him, his arms wrapped around her petite frame from both sides and he cried onto her shoulder.

“Marinette, I’m so sorry!” he sobbed.

And she shivered at her name on his lips, laden with such emotion. She felt her panic begin to fade. He definitely wasn’t disappointed.

“For?” she asked.

“I walked away from you twice today.”

And with those words the last of her fear faded away. She rubbed circles on his back. She hoped he found them soothing.

“Chaton, it’s okay,” she reassured, feeling remarkably free herself. She had managed to confess to both of the boys she loved in one go! And she was feeling much better about this whole Guardian business just as a bonus. “This makes things surprisingly simple,” she said, framing both sides of his face in her gloved hands.

He shook his head and nuzzled his cheek into one of her hands. “I don’t deserve you,” he croaked out.

She shook her head. “I think you deserve the world, Chaton. That’s why I fought so hard for you to be able to come on this trip. I just didn’t realize you were also the person that I needed to stay behind.”

He laughed through his tears. “You’re so amazing, Buginette. I have thought so this whole trip. Until I screwed up royally, I was thinking about asking you out when we got back to Paris. Marinette you, I mean.”

“R-really?!” she squeaked.

“Really!”

“What changed?” She asked. “If I recall, Chat Noir already rejected Marinette.”

“I don’t know that anything did. It’s like you said… I think you snuck in a long time ago and I just didn’t realize it because I was so focused on Ladybug.”

“Ladybug is pretty great, I guess,” she grudgingly admitted.

“Ladybug is definitely amazing! I’ve looked up to her for a long time, but Marinette… she is so much more because she fights for justice without the benefit of a mask. She always stands up when it matters. She goes out of her way to include everyone, she gives people second chances. She gave me a second chance.”

Her eyes watered with his sweet, sweet words.

“She was the first friend I really made on my own, and I think it’s one of the best things I have ever done, and I save Paris on a weekly basis!”

A laugh tore through her tears, and he smiled back.

She tilted her head up and kissed him, trying to convey how much his words meant to her. Because she could not put it into words.

“I love you,” he finished when they pulled away.

She grinned even though she was still crying. “I love you!”

She studied his face, his eyes sparkled and his mouth couldn’t stop smiling. Happiness suited him. She realized that she had never seen her partner completely one hundred percent joyful. She had never understood before that half his jokes and tendency to want to play around was one part outlet and another part defense mechanism, but now, he made so much more sense to her. And she loved him more.

She hadn’t realized that was possible.

“It makes sense now,” she confided.

“What does?”

“Your attitude and personality as Chat Noir. You barely ever are allowed anything, so of course you go a little overboard when the opportunity presents itself. Ladybug has always primarily been a duty for me. Chat Noir is freedom for you. And well, if my miraculous was the only way I got to be free, I wouldn’t listen to my kwami either.”

He laughed. “Plagg actively encourages my rebellious moments,” he said, his eyes still gleaming.

“Really?!” she scoffed. “No fair! Why did you get the fun kwami?”

“He’s not that fun,” Adrien immediately disagreed. “Quite annoying really. He goes through so much expensive cheese you wouldn’t believe it. Nathalie still asks me questions about how much cheese I buy. And he makes a point of leaving cheese crumbs everywhere, which makes everything smell weird.”

She ate up every word like a child on Christmas morning. It was so mundane, but they got to do this now! They got to share every bit of how their civilian and hero lives clashed.

“But he’s definitely the nice one,” her partner concluded.

“What?!” she screeched in mock outrage. “Blasphemy! Tikki is the sweetest!”

He grinned. “She is definitely the mean one.”

“Whatever! I guess you should give her back to me then, since you clearly don’t appreciate her!” she bantered back.

She hadn’t expected the immediate flash of pink light.

Tikki materialized a split second later, but Marinette spared no attention to her constant companion. She was looking at her unmasked partner. He stood before her, unfairly tall. His blond unstyled hair looked more like Chat’s than Adrien’s and she loved it. His cheeks were slightly pink, but his eyes…. It was like she had never seen them before, which was ridiculous because he was Adrien. She had seen them thousands of times before. But she had never seen them knowing he was her partner. They were emerald-green, and they were shining with complete trust and love, and she was lost in their depths.

She traced the curve of his jawline with a gloved hand, but her eyes never left his even when she started tearing up all over again.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

His golden eyebrows furrowed in genuine confusion. “For?”

“For making you wait so long for this moment,” she confessed. She was so mad at herself for costing them so much time when they could have been supporting each other completely in both parts of their lives.

He smiled. And she could see her kitty in his face and it was amazing!

He turned his head into the hand on his face and kissed her palm. “You had to be ready. I know I was less patient on some days, but I’m glad that we waited until we both were ready.”

Maybe he was right. It was better this way because if it had happened sooner she might have combusted realizing it was Adrien and been unable to talk to him. Or she might have been angry if he had shared before she thought it was okay. And this… this was better.

She dissolved her own transformation in a flash of green. Plagg was there immediately, glanced between them in their civilian forms, and he smirked.

“Oh thank god!” he exclaimed. That was as far as he got before Tikki swooped in, and wrestled him out of sight.

Adrien carefully took out his earrings, and they reverted to their red and black form in his hands. He held them up, gesturing to the side of her head. “May I?” he asked.

A blush bloomed across her face at the question. She nodded, not trusting herself to form words.

His bare hands gently pushed a few errant strands of her hair behind her ear, before he carefully slipped one earring into her right ear. “Thank you for making me come back and thank you for trusting me with… yourself and everything else.”

He moved to the other side of her head and slipped in the second earring just as gently. “I promise to do everything I can to live up to your trust in me.”

Then he kissed her forehead before pulling slightly away, but she captured his hand before he could escape entirely.

She caressed each finger one by one, and then took off his miraculous, which was a rose gold on her hand, but instantly turned black when it was free of her finger. She watched in fascination as it turned silver when she placed it on his finger.

“I want to thank you for always supporting me, for being patient,” she started.

“Mostly patient,” he interjected, his voice light with teasing. She pushed a finger to his lips.

“Hush! It’s your turn to listen.

He nodded, his eyes sparkling with mischief. It was such a Chat expression on Adrien’s face. And that made her smile.

“I want to thank you,” she began again. “For always being there when no one else was, for picking me up in my lowest moments, for giving me advice, for being a bright spot in the darkness.”

“Can I get a do over?” He asked, his voice cracking.

“Nope!” She snapped back playfully. She had loved what he had said. “And I promise to be transparent with you as the Guardian the way Fu never was.”

She kissed his hand. Then he pulled her up and his lips met hers again. He was so warm. And he was sending tingles down to her toes.

Would she ever get used to his kisses?

She hoped not.

He pulled away just slightly and her vision was filled with his green eyes. “It feels like we just got married,” he told her.

Heat rushed from her cheeks to the tips of her ears. “I don’t think I’m ready for that. But… maybe someday?” she suggested with a shy smile.

He grinned back. “I look forward to that day.”

She did, too.

…

#Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction #identity reveal #ladynoir #angst #with happy happy ending #tikki gives tough love #plagg gives advice #ladynoir talk things out #A Miraculous Reveal #My Own Content

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katedrakeohd · 3 years

Text

Once Upon a Merry Birthday

[Masterlist]

A 12 days of Fictmas story

Pairing: Drake Walker x (MC) Kate Walker

Books: TRR - TRH

Warnings: Swearing, Adult Themes, mentions Post Pardem Depression/Anxiety

Word count: 7000 +

Writer tags: : @texaskitten30 @emichelle @leelee10898 @zaffrenotes @alj4890 @burnsoslow @kat-tia801 @darley1101 @msjr0119 @annekebbphotography @god-save-the-keen @plumeriavibes

@ofpixelsandscribbles @camillemontespan @ao719 @cocomaxley @cordoniansgonewild @twinkleallnight @the-soot-sprite @cordoniantrash @axwalker @innerpostmentality @lucy-268 @janezillow

Reader tags:: @mom2000aggie @sfb123 @bbrandy2002 @debramcg1106 @desireepow-1986 @speedyoperarascalparty @hopefulmoonobject @fluffyfirewhiskey @jovialyouthmusic

Twas the week before Christmas, and throughout the manor at Duchy Valtoria, decorating was in full swing. Everyone was in high festive spirits, since the weather had brought a fresh blanket of white sparkly snow to the ground, and a crisp chill to the air. Well almost everyone was feeling festive. The Duchess was the exception. Over the course of the preceding months she had been too preoccupied with the care of her baby girl, Brooklyn, to even think about holidays. Apart from the occasional official statement to the press regarding how the new Mother and the Princess Royal Heir were doing, they had pretty much kept away from the public eye.

Kate felt so proud of her husband Drake for stepping up and shouldering the extra responsibility while she needed to take a step back. He had insisted it wasn't any trouble, since he’d had Hana, King Liam, and occasionally Bertrand to offer him advice or guidance. But Kate couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt when she would find him sound asleep at his desk after a long day of Zoom meetings and diplomacy. She knew he was forcing himself outside of his common man comfort zone for her sake, and for the good of the Duchy. He'd even changed his work wardrobe to include dress shirts instead of his usual denim, at least from the waist up anyway.

Even after all of that, Drake was determined to do something special for Kate's Birthday. Being born a week before Christmas shouldn't mean your day couldn't be just as grand.

After putting Brooklyn down for a nap, they’re in their bedroom packing for a short trip away. Kate doesn't know what to pack, since Drake was being secretive as to their destination. She was already feeling the beginnings of anxiety over leaving Brooklyn behind. Sitting in the middle of the bed in her comfy oversized sweater and sweatpants, she has the speaker of the baby monitor resting in her lap. She’s only half engaged in paying attention to Drake, her ears keenly listening for the slightest sound from the nursery.

Drake packs a pair of bluejeans into his suitcase, hiding the dress slacks and socks he had already packed. Kate hadn't even noticed him picking out formal wear and putting it into a garment bag. Her own suitcase only contained an old t-shirt that she wore with a pair of shorts as sleepwear. Drake cringed at the thought of seeing her wear that again. Her wardrobe over the past seven months had consisted mostly of his baggy old sweats and t-shirts, or just an old t-shirt and boxer shorts under a robe. Although she showered periodically, and changed into clean things, her sloppy look was proof she wasn't making herself a priority. Drake missed the beautiful, all put together, woman who he’d fallen in love with. She was in need of a break from just being Mom, and Drake knew just how to do it. Kate deserved to feel special again, and not just feel needed by someone.

Drake packed his last few things and zipped up his suitcase. When he notices that Kate is still distracted he pulls his case off the bed and sets it down on the floor with a loud thud. She jumps with fright and he finally gets her attention.

Sitting down on the bed, he pulls her over to him and she cuddles into his arms as they lay down together on the bed. Placing a kiss on the top of her head he sighs, "Look, I get it. You don't want to go anywhere. But I miss you, Kate."

"I'm right here, silly." she says, as she lays her head on his chest and he squeezes her tighter.

"We need a date night. Just the two of us. I know you've been an amazing mother to our little Beanie, and it shows in how big she's growing and how happy she is." He moved his hand down her back, smoothing out the bulky material of her clothes to appreciate the shape of her body underneath. When he lifts up the edge of her shirt, she stiffens when his warm hand touches the bare skin of her lower back. "I know you're physically still here, but I miss my wife."

Kate squeezes her eyes shut against her unexpected tears as she whispers, "She's missed you too."

Drake leans back when he hears the sob in her voice, wiping away the tears on her cheeks with his thumbs. "You don't need to hide under these bulky clothes, you're still beautiful to me Kate."

She chuckles, "Even if I've given up shaving, plucking and moisturizing?"

Drake raises his eyebrows, and then leans in to kiss her on the forehead. "Don't worry, we can work on minor things like that. I want you to feel good about yourself. Besides, Hana told me you've been doing pilates and yoga together again. So there's nothing for you to feel self conscious about."

"I don't fit into my clothes the way I used to."

Drake shrugs, "So we'll buy you some new clothes. And if we need to alter something from your closet, don't worry, Hana can arrange it."

Kate sighs with gratitude, "You're so wonderful to me Drake, I don't deserve you."

"Oh hush, you deserve all of me and the world Kate, never forget that. Now let's get you packed up for a romantic getaway."

"But Brooklyn.."

Drake gives Kate one more squeeze and a kiss on the cheek before rolling away from her and getting up from the bed.

"Don't worry about Brooklyn, she's in good hands with Hana. Plus we're only a phone call away if you want to check in."

Kate glances over at the speaker for the baby monitor, it's still quiet, and then she sits up on the edge of the bed. "So are you going to tell me more about this romantic getaway you have planned?"

Drake shakes his head, "I can't give away everything, or it will spoil the surprise."

Kate looks over at her suitcase, "Well at least help me figure out what to pack. Sweaters, jeans, warm socks? I need a hint."

Drake nods, "Those will do for a start. Oh and a comfortable pair of warm boots and a coat. We're going to be out in the snow."

Kate gets up from the bed, "So I guess we're not jetting off to some tropical paradise then."

Pulling her into a hug, Drake smiles and then leans in to give her a tender kiss. "Maybe next year."

Drake opened the back door of the SUV for Kate. She gives the manor one more uneasy glance and then climbs in. They had both given Brooklyn hugs and kisses before leaving, and a list of instructions to Hana, but still Kate felt guilty. As Drake opens the other rear door and climbs into the SUV, he finds Kate looking worriedly at her phone as she's texting someone. With a sigh he swipes her phone out of her hands and tucks it into the pocket inside his jacket.

"Wha..Hey!" She protests, "Give that back."

Drake swats away her hands when she tries to go into his jacket for it. "Nope."

"But you said I could check in."

Drake feels the vibration of Kate's phone against his chest. "Don't you trust Hana with Brooklyn?"

Kate gnaws at her bottom lip, "Yeah, but.."

"But nothing. Just take a deep breath and let it go already."

Kate huffs in a quick breath and then lets it out, "Happy? Can I please have my phone back now?"

Drake chuckles as Preston climbs into the front seat and starts the engine, "Only if you promise to turn it off and put it away for the car ride."

Kate folds her arms across her chest and scowls angrily at him. "Ok, fine. But only if you tell me where we're going."

Drake fishes her phone out of his pocket, "Do you remember last year when Max and I did the Father Christmas Parade?"

Kate's expression brightens a little as she relaxes her arms. "Yeah."

Drake sends a quick text to Hana, and then passes the phone over. "Well Max kept going on and on about how pretty the village was decorated for Christmas. And it occurred to me that you were missing out on seeing everything. So I figured we could do the touristy thing and spend the night at an Inn and…"

Kate leans over and covers his mouth with her fingers giggling, "Sssh, you had me at 'pretty village' .

Drake takes her hand and kisses it, "Good, because I want you to have the best Birthday ever."

...

As they travel further away from the manor Kate focuses on the beautiful wintry scenery, and Drake's comforting hand in hers and soon her anxiety fades. It was starting to snow so Preston turned on the wipers. Drake gives Kate's hand a squeeze and then leans forward to tap Preston on the shoulder.

"How do the roads look?"

"So far they're just damp, but we should be fine. We have all wheel drive and snow tires."

Drake sits back again with a nod. "Good to know."

Kate tucks her hand under Drake's arm and leans into his shoulder, he turns to kiss her on the forehead. Kate smiles as she catches the comforting smell of his cologne, "I thought you would have used this opportunity to drive us in your truck. I love sitting next to you in the front seat."

Drake shrugs, "I thought about it. But then I remembered that I needed to get my tires changed, and besides if I was driving…" Drake pauses to tilt her chin up and give her a tender kiss on the lips. "I wouldn't be able to do that, whenever I wanted to."

Kate sighs with happiness, as he wraps his arm around her shoulders and pulls her tighter against him. "I see your point. It's highly frowned upon to cuddle and drive. Or to do other things."

Drake catches Preston's eye in the rearview mirror when he looks back at them, he leans in to whisper in Kate's ear. "Seeing my point, along with doing other things, will have to wait until we don't have an audience."

Kate giggles as his lips move to her neck to plant gentle kisses. "How close are we to this Inn you were talking about?"

Preston shakes his head as he focuses on the road ahead, trying to ignore the sounds from the backseat.

….

An hour later Drake gently shakes Kate's shoulder to wake her. The warm interior of the car had lulled her to sleep and she had her head on his lap.

"Wakey wakey, Birthday Katie."

Kate moans sleepily and hugs him across the knees, "Five more minutes."

The rush of cold air on her face when Preston opens his door to get out jolts her awake and Drake laughs. "We're here, and I think you could use some fresh air to revive you."

Kate sits up and stretches, wiping the drool from the corner of her mouth, "Oh sorry, must have dozed off."

Drake looks past Kate to the building they're parked in front of, "That's ok, you're forgiven. There wasn't much to see during the drive anyway, just snow and trees and mountains. We've finally made it to civilization."

Kate steps out of the car and looks up at the towering stone facade of their hotel, "Wow, this place is beautiful."

While she takes her phone out of her pocket to take pictures, Preston signals for Drake's attention and then pulls him aside.

"The weather reports are forecasting nasty weather tomorrow afternoon, what time in the morning do you want to be picked up?"

Drake shakes his head with a frown,"Didn't you get the itinerary that I sent to your email? Along with the list of things I need you to do?"

"Yes, but under the circumstances I thought you might want to change your plans. For safety's sake."

"I booked us for two days, and I don't plan on leaving early."

"But there's a storm coming." Preston insists.

"And your point is?"

"You're likely to get snowed in, and it'll take most of the second day before the roads are cleared. Meaning it'll take longer for me to come get you."

"Yes, it will." Drake replies, patting Preston on the arm. "Just do as I've asked, and then help yourself to a nice dinner at the hotel. Charge it to my room, and then go home."

Kate glances over at them with a look of concern, "What're you two talking about?"

Preston smirks at Drake, "You've got this all planned don't you? You saw the weather report."

"I did. Now please stop fucking around and get our luggage." Drake mumbles and then walks over to Kate.

He wraps his arm around her shoulders with a smile, steering her toward the hotel. "Welcome to Ravenhurst Castle, Kate. Our romantic getaway awaits."

Looking up at the steep slate roof, stone masonry, and tower climbing the corner of the building, Kate could see why they called it a castle. "You didn't have to go through this much trouble for me, Drake. I would have been just as happy staying at a simple Bed and Breakfast."

Drake stops on the stone walkway to pull her into his arms, "You're special to me, Kate. I couldn't let you spend the night just anywhere."

"But.."

Drake grabs her hand and then leads her up to the front door, "Just roll with it."

Preston follows them through the hotel lobby carrying their luggage. The three of them turn heads as they make their way to the front desk. Even dressed casually in jeans and sweaters, the presence of someone carrying your stuff was a dead giveaway that you were important. Preston drops their bags by the counter and takes up a protective position to watch the room. His fierce stare makes all the onlookers hurry off and mind their own business.

The hotel clerk behind the counter is bubbling with excitement and greets them with a wide smile, "Oh my goodness, welcome to The Ravenhurst! It's an incredible honour to have the Duke and Duchess stay with us. I'll have our best -..."

Drake shakes his head and holds up his hand to interrupt, "We already have a reservation."

"You..you do?" The clerk grabs her computer mouse and starts scrolling away as she searches the hotel registry on her computer screen.

"So you're not here to promote the Father Christmas Festival?"

Drake leans his elbows on the counter and lowers his voice,"Not this time. I was hoping to keep our visit as an unofficial one. We're under a different name. Try a reservation under Jones."

The clerk gives him a knowing smile, whispering. "Why of course Mr. Jones. I see your booking right here on my screen." Her expression changes to a frown when she notices something, "Unfortunately your room isn't quite ready. If you're looking for immediate accommodations though I could upgrade you to a suite."

"That will be fine, we just don't want to be fussed over, no paparazzi, just a quiet visit. Could you manage that for us please?"

Kate leaves Drake at the counter and wanders over to take pictures of the giant lobby Christmas tree. Preston breathes a sigh of annoyance at having his attention divided, he moves to another place in the lobby where he can still keep an eye on both of them. Kate sees the bodyguard move out of the corner of her eye and decides to tease him a little. "Hey Preston, come on over and take a selfie with me over by the tree."

He checks to see that Drake is still in conversation with the clerk, and then after taking a quick visual sweep of the room for possible threats he nods, "Only because the position of the tree provides an optimal vantage point from which to survey the room."

Preston stands next to the tree, unsmiling and on alert. Kate tries to stand close enough to him so that he fits into the frame of her phone camera, but can't get a good angle because he's so tall. "You don't smile much do you?"

Preston keeps his eyes trained on the room and mumbles. "I'm on duty, Your Grace."

Kate makes a funny face at her phone screen, trying to crack Preston's facade and get him to smile. "I've seen you talk to Drake and be more relaxed. Are you scared of little ole me?"

Preston doesn't answer at first, hazarding a glance her way and then looking away when their eyes meet on her phone screen. "It's not you I'm afraid of."

Across the room Drake steps away from the check-in counter and then walks over with a smirk on his face.

"Is she misbehaving, Preston?"

Preston gives a slight nod and then steps aside to give Drake room to slip his arm around Kate, "Our room isn't quite ready. But I may have arranged for some special hotel extras during our stay."

Kate snuggles into his warmth, feeling that familiar flutter that ripples through her every time she gets lost in his eyes, or he lights her up with his smile. "Oh? What sort of special extras?"

"Ravenhurst has a spa and salon onsite, two restaurants, and their own winery."

"Ooh, fancy. But didn't you promise me a tour of a pretty little town decorated for Christmas?"

Drake grins, "I did, and it would be a nice way to kill some time while they get our room ready. Besides, after being cooped up in the car for so long I could use a walk to stretch my legs."

Kate looks over at Preston, "Is Mr.Tall Broad shouldered and Serious coming with us?"

Drake notices Preston clenching his jaw trying not to react to her question, "No, he has other things to do. Then he's going home."

"But, Your Grace.." Preston argues.

After taking a quick look around to make sure they weren't causing a scene in the lobby, Drake answers quietly, "But nothing, just see to it that our luggage is safely taken up to our room when it's ready. Grab a meal on us, and then you're free to go. Don't worry about us, Preston, we'll be fine."

…

Drake and Kate leave Preston behind at the hotel to walk arm in arm to the village. Glancing back over her shoulder at the hotel, Kate asks, “Do you really think Preston can turn off Guard Duty mode long enough for us to have a private stroll?”

“I’m betting he’ll give us a five minute head start at least before he starts tracking us in the SUV.”

Kate giggles as the snowflakes tickle her cheeks and eyelashes, “Thanks for doing this for me. I really did need to get out of the house for a bit.”

Drake pulls his winter hat down further over his ears, his warm breath floating away in the chilly air, “You’re welcome. We both needed this. There’s nothing like taking a walk through a winter wonderland to lift your spirits.”

The tiny village of Raven’s Rest loves to decorate for Christmas. Every railing, light pole, and window was either trimmed with greenery and twinkling lights or wore a sparkling red bow or festive ornaments. With the fresh snow on the roofs and joyful music spilling out from every other opened shop door, it felt and looked like Christmas spirit came to life. The scents of cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate wafted from a bakery café as Drake and Kate passed under its

striped red and white awning. Drake pulled in a deep breath and smiled as he pointed at the frosted gingerbread house displayed in the window.

“This looks like a perfect place to stop for a hot chocolate and a treat. What do you say Kate?”

Kate felt her stomach growl, “I say lead the way Mr. Jones.”

After ordering hot chocolates topped with whipped cream and candy cane sprinkles, and a plate of decorated cookies to share, they’re seated at a table for two by the window. Drake picks up a gingerbread star and bites off a corner. He looks at the decadent drink sitting in front of him and wonders if there was a possible way to not get it all over his face when he attempted to taste it.

Kate can see the confusion on his face as he chews his cookie, she giggles as she stirs the whipped cream on the top of her cup with a candy cane. “You look scared. Don’t worry it won’t bite. And no there isn't any way to avoid the whipped topping to get at the drink underneath. A little cream on your face is all part of the fun.”

She demonstrates by lifting her cup and delicately sipping at the candied rim, a smear of cream clings to her upper lip when she sets it back down. “See? Think of it just like your Santa beard from last year.”

Drake mumbles as he scrubs at the light stubble on his cheek, “Don't remind me.”

His beard had been much further along the year before, and he had used white stage makeup to whiten his whiskers. Unfortunately the makeup had made his skin itch. This year he was grateful that Maxwell was volunteering to be Santa for the parade.

Drake nearly chokes on his cookie as he watches Kate lick the cream off her lip. He coughs into his fist and then picks up his drink to wash down the crumbs. He gets cream on his nose and lips, and then wipes it off with a napkin, “It's much more fun to watch you drink it.”

Kate noisily slurps the whipped cream on the top of her hot chocolate, while Drake grabs a sugar cookie and uses it to scoop the froth off of his. “Ooh Drake, that's a good idea.”

The café is nearly empty of patrons and Kate is grateful not to have onlookers taking their picture, especially with the way Drake was devouring his cookie and getting cream all over his mouth and chin. She giggles and hands him another napkin, "You, uh have a little something on your face there honey."

Drake grunts, "Thanks."

He's annoyed at how sticky his face feels as he wipes off the cream, "Drinks don't need all this extra crap on them. That's why I prefer my coffee basic and black. And my hot chocolate tasting like chocolate."

"Oh bah humbug Mr. Scrooge, I figured a guy so into s'mores and marshmallows would enjoy something like this."

Drake wipes the cookie crumbs off of his jacket, "Hey don't get me wrong, I love a decorated cookie or dessert. But I prefer my drinks a little less childish and messy."

Kate shrugs, "I guess I see your point. But never tell Hana she can't put marshmallows in your hot chocolate, it would break her heart."

He nods, glancing at Kate's phone on the table. "If you want to check in with her, I won't stop you. I'm curious myself how our little Beanie is doing."

Kate wipes her hands on a napkin and then picks up her phone, "You don't mind? I'm dying to send her pictures of the hotel Christmas tree and tell her where we are."

Drake smiles and then lifts his hot chocolate to his lips. He doesn't dare tell Kate that he and Hana had been planning this birthday trip for weeks.

While Kate happily texts away to Hana, Drake watches the snow falling outside the window. The grey sky was darkening as the flakes got heavier. They soon needed to head back to the hotel. The pedestrian traffic was much lighter than when they entered the café, and the street lamps were coming on. He can see the dark shape of an SUV creeping along the street in the distance. No doubt it was Preston.

Drake is in mid-sip when his phone rings in his pocket, making him jump and spill the hot chocolate all over himself and the table. "Gah! Son of a - …"

Kate gasps in surprise and jumps out of her seat. "Oh my goodness, Drake."

She grabs the remaining napkins from the table and dabs at the front of his jacket as he puts down his cup and pushes his chair back. He swats her hands away when she tries to wipe his lap, "It's ok, it's ok! Let me do that."

Kate chews on her lip as she watches an employee approach with a roll of paper towels.

"I'm so sorry. We'll clean this up. Could you bring us a bag so we can take our cookies to go?"

Drake sighs as he unzips his jacket and takes out his phone when the ringing stops, "Preston, you Prick."

The car pulls up outside and parks, waiting, the wipers swiping away the snow. Drake sends Preston a quick message, I told you to go home.

Preston answers back, Need a lift?

Drake and Kate pile into the backseat of the SUV, brushing the snow off of themselves. In the clean, warm interior of the vehicle the scent of the spilled hot chocolate on Drake's clothes is very noticeable, adding to his discomfort at having wet pants.

Drake takes off his jacket and then folds it up and puts it down on the floor. He inspects his sweater and shirt for chocolate stains.

"Thanks for picking us up, Preston. If we'd tried to walk back to the hotel we would have been soaked and frozen before we got there," Kate says, smiling at the security guard."

"I'm already soaked," Drake mutters, looking down at the dark wet stain on his lap.

Kate pats him on the arm, "I meant from the snow, Dear."

Preston checks their surroundings and then does a u-turn in the road to take them back to the hotel.

"How did he find us anyway?"

Drake answers, "Most likely tracked my phone with the GPS."

Kate looks at him with surprise, "He can track our phones? Is that even legal?"

Drake nods, "After Anton kidnapped us from our own wedding, it was discussed among the council that the security team needed extra help in case it ever happened again. Liam approved it."

"I guess that makes sense. But then all we would have needed to do to escape would leave our phones behind."

Preston speaks up, "It's not a foolproof plan, Your Grace, but it still gives us a place to start if one of you suddenly went missing."

It doesn't take long to return to the hotel, but thanks to the heavy clouds it was already getting dark. When Preston parks the SUV Drake asks, "So did you deliver all of our bagage to our room and do a security check to make sure it was safe?"

"Of course, Sir."

"Did you get yourself a room, Preston? It's too late for you to head home now."

Drake looks at Kate with a frown, "Don't encourage him to babysit us."

"It's his job to keep us safe, Drake, so let him do it."

…

After collecting their room keys the three of them head up to their rooms. Preston has conveniently booked the room next to Drake and Kate.

"Consider yourself off duty for the rest of the evening, Preston. Relax and enjoy yourself." Kate says, smiling.

"If that's at all possible." Drake mutters as he unlocks the door to their room.

As soon as Drake enters the room he starts stripping off his clothes. Kate can't help but laugh. "Woah there cowboy, at least warm me up with some foreplay before we jump right into it."

Drake grumbles as he kicks off his boots and then unzips his jeans, "Ha ha, so not funny. At least you don't smell and feel like a walking candy bar."

Kate leans against the corner of the antique four poster bed as she watches Drake fuss around half naked, digging around in his luggage for his bath supplies. "I dunno, I kind of like the smell of chocolate on you. Gives me a reason to seek out all the parts of you that taste the sweetest."

Drake can't help but grin, as he leans in to kiss her cheek. Kate frowns when she realizes how sticky his face is. "Still like it?"

Kate makes a face and then wipes at her cheek. "Ok, I get it. Go get a shower and a shave."

As he wanders across the room naked, Drake points at the Welcome Basket on the table by the window.

"I asked the hotel if they could throw in some complimentary spa treatments as a Birthday gift. Why don't you check some of them out and then we could go to the restaurant for dinner. Go get yourself all pampered and feeling gorgeous for our date night."

Before Kate can protest that she had nothing fancy to wear to dinner, Drake disappears into the bathroom. With a shrug she picks up the spa brochure and then sits down on the bed while she nibbles on the cookies from the bakery.

"Oooh, they have a special brown sugar body scrub treatment. That would feel so nice, and I would smell delicious afterward." Kate mumbles around her mouthful of cookie. "And I could get my hair and nails done, perfect."

After looking through the envelope of coupons for the free treatments she wanted, Kate walks over to the bathroom door and knocks. "Thanks so much for the spa coupons, I'm going to take advantage of some of these and then see you later."

Drake rinses his razor in the sink and then pauses his shaving to answer, "Good for you. Text me when you're all finished and I'll meet you here to get ready. I'm going to explore the hotel a little bit myself."

Kate kisses her fingertips and then presses them to the door, "Love you, Drake."

Drake smiles, "I love you too."

After finishing his shave and shower, Drake finds the phone number on the brochure and calls down to the Spa.

When his call is answered there's a women's voice on the line, "Bella Salon and Spa, how may I help you?"

Drake runs his hand back through his wet hair, "Hi, do you have a customer there booked in under the name Jones or Walker?"

"I'm sorry, sir, in order to respect the privacy of our clients we cannot disclose that information."

"Oh, Ok. I understand. My wife is there and I want to book a haircut without her seeing me. I want to surprise her later during our dinner date."

"Our salon closes within the hour, but if you're in need of a clipper cut I can squeeze you in right away. What name should I put next to your reservation?"

Drake thinks for a moment, "Davis, Preston Davis."

…

Kate sits in the makeup chair at the Salon in one of their plush robes. She felt like she had just received the royal treatment after the body scrub and facial. Next they were doing the finishing touches to her makeup application and hair styling, followed by a manicure and pedicure. On the other side of the partition wall she can hear the sound of a pair of clippers buzzing on and off and occasionally a man's voice in conversation with the stylist.

She couldn't be sure because of the way the sounds echoed off of the hard surfaces in the salon, but it sounded like Drake. She felt like a bride on her wedding day trying to hide away from the groom until she was ready. It made her tingle with excitement inside over meeting him for dinner. In her mind she was mulling over what blouse and pair of jeans to wear, wishing she had packed something more feminine. But knowing that Drake would probably be dressed casually as well helped.

…

Drake sat at the bar in his black dress shirt, jacket and slacks. He had to resist the urge to smooth his hand over his freshly trimmed hair, hoping that Kate would like it. Any minute now she'd be returning to their room to dress for dinner. He picked at the bowl of mixed nuts and pretzels on the bar, and singled out all the peanuts to munch on as he waited.

An attractive female bartender smiles as she notices him sitting all by himself and walks over, "Good evening sir, could I interest you in a drink? Or are you more interested in grazing from the snack bowl."

"I'll take a whiskey on the rocks, for now." Drake answers, trying to maintain his composure as her hungry gaze makes him feel like he's the snack.

"For now? Are you anticipating ordering more later?"

He smiles as she prepares his drink, "I'm expecting someone."

She nods as she slides the glass of whiskey back across the bar to him, "Well, when your date arrives let me know. I'll get her something special. My name is Amanda by the way."

Drake picks up his glass and gives the whiskey an appreciative sniff and then a sip, he nods toward Amanda lifting his glass in a salute, "Drake."

His phone buzzes in his pocket as he sets the glass down again.

…

Kate lets herself back into her room after her time at the spa. The soft coziness of the robe wrapped around her felt so nice, and she hated to take it off to put on her casual denim again.

She's surprised to find herself alone in the room and sends Drake a quick text. Spa appt all done, feeling fantastic. Where are you?

D: I'm down at the bar enjoying a whiskey. Can't wait to see you.

K: What should I wear? I didn't pack anything fancy.

D: There's a present for you under the bed.

K: Drake.

D: Just read the letter attached and humor me. Happy Birthday Kate.

…

Kate puts her phone down on the table and purses her lips with a frown, she was afraid of what might be in the box. After hiding under baggy clothes and bluejeans for months she was worried that whatever was in the box wouldn't fit.

Kneeling down on the floor she peeks under the bed. There's a large green rectangular box and a smaller white one that looked like a shoe box. She drags out the green box first and sets it on the bed. There's an envelope taped to the top. She should feel happy about Drake buying her a present but she just felt nervous instead. Sucking in a deep breath and then letting it out to help calm her nerves, Kate opens the envelope. There's a handwritten letter inside, and she can't help but feel a rush of emotion at the care it took for him to write it all by hand.

____

Dear Kate,

I'll never forget the night we met. We were all there for him, and then along came you. At the time you were just the waitress that was willing to show us a good time. I thought you were cute and all, but never figured I would stand a chance. You made an impression on a future King that night, and an impression on me.

I'm not sure when everything changed in my favor, maybe it was that night at Applewood or maybe it was when I jumped in front of that bullet, realizing I would rather die than live in a life without you. We've been through a lot to get where we are now, and despite the ups and downs you married me instead. You've shown me a life and love I never thought I'd have and for that I'll be eternally grateful.

Now between us we've created a new life in our little girl. Becoming a parent changes a person. You're no longer responsible for just your own life but for someone else's too. Some days this scares me to death, and then I see you holding Brooklyn in your arms and know that we're going to be alright.

I'm excited to discover my new life as a father, and to get to know the mother you are becoming. So tonight on your Birthday I want to meet you all over again for the first time. So what do you say Kate? Have you ever wanted to meet that mysterious stranger in a bar that only has eyes for you?

Love, Drake.

___

Kate plucked a tissue out of the box on the bedside table. She was glad that she had chosen the waterproof mascara, because now her eyes burned with tears. Drake was right, becoming a mom had changed her. At times she was scared too, but knowing that Drake was always going to be by her side to help raise Brooklyn made her heart feel more full. After dabbing at her eyes she delicately blew her nose, not wanting to smudge her makeup, and then lifted the cover on the box. Peeling back the tissue paper she gasps and then reaches for her phone.

….

Drake finished off his whiskey and then checked the time on his phone. He didn't want to call her in case she was busy getting dressed, but he was starting to worry that she wasn't going to show. Amanda raises her eyebrows and holds up the whiskey bottle to quietly ask if he wanted a refill. He shakes his head and then sticks his hand in the snack bowl again to grab a pretzel. Before he can eat it his phone rings. It's Kate.

"Hello?" He answers.

"I can't wear this."

"Sure you can."

"Because of the way the top is designed I can't wear a bra."

Drake shrugs, "So don't wear one."

"Hah! This mother of a 7 month old child needs a little more support thank you very much."

"Didn't you wear a dress similar to this to Max's birthday party last year?"

"Well, yes…"

"Just try it on. I promise you'll look beautiful in it."

"You're biased because you think I look good in anything."

"Yes, I do. I also think you look good in nothing at all. Now are you coming down to dinner?"

Kate is quiet on the other end for a few seconds, "Ok, fine. But I need pretty shoes to wear with a dress like this."

Drake smiles, "I'm guessing you haven't opened the other box yet. When you're ready, text Preston and ask him to escort you down to Edgar's Restaurant. I'll be waiting for you over by the bar."

Continue on here >>

#12 days of fictmas 2020 #12 days of fictmas #drake walker #drake x kate #choices

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hoodharlow · 4 years

Text

Firsts

AN: shout out to @calumhoodaf and @cherryxwildflower for letting me bounce around ideas with them. As always shout out to @d-oaks for editing. I love y'all.

Summary: Y'all Cal and Claudia get married well now get ready for their first date. As always these two don’t know how to so as always shit happens. But fortunately, they realize that all that matter is that their with each other.

Requested: yes, "6. “Please just kiss me already” & 12. “Am I your lockscreen? You weren’t supposed to see that.” From the fluff prompt list with Cal please? xxx"

Warnings: mentions of blood through menstruation, mentions of sex (somewhat dirty jokes???) some fluff and cuddling

Word Count: 3.4k words

Claudia pushed back her curls. She sighed in annoyance because her hair wasn't cooperating with the silk headband. A few minutes ago Calum texted her informing her that he was on his way. He was supposed to have picked her up an hour ago, but Duke decided to poop on a cushion from his white couch, so he had to clean up the mess first. Claudia was relieved because she had taken a nap and was barely out of the shower when he texted.

Claudia was scared shitless to be completely honest. This was nothing like going out to get lunch together or stopping by at his house with Roscoe’s to have a movie night. This was a date. On Monday afternoon when Calum dropped her off, he had made it clear that he was taking her out on a date this weekend.

Claudia looked at herself in the mirror again. The light khaki-like color made her brown skin glow, bringing a smile to her face. She loved wearing light shades because of that.

The dress was a spaghetti strapped with yellow flowers going along her body in neat columns. She had bought the dress at Tillys a few days ago after her Chicano literature class. She had driven to the outlet mall and it immediately caught her eye when she wandered into the RVCA section of the store.

From her window she spotted Calum’s Range Rover pull up to the front of her place. She grabbed her small bag and phone and went to the front door, stopping at the living room.

“Cal’s here.” She told Sara, who waved her off as she played with Ale’s hair. Claudia smiled at the girls; they were the cutest. Dulce was out on a dinner with her mentor to discuss an upcoming research convention, which sounded weird to Sara and Claudia because a few days ago she had mentioned she was all set. Still Claudia sent out a text that she was gonna be out with Calum.

Claudia was locking the door when she backed up into a muscular figure. Calum.

She almost missed the last step, but Calum was quick to hold on to her hips.

“Hi,” she said breathlessly when Calum turned her around.

“Hi,” He smiled and gently squeezed her hips before letting go. "We should get going."

She nodded and followed him back to his car. Calum cursed as he tried to unlock the passenger door. So he went around and tried opening it from his side. The door kept getting jammed. Eventually he reached over and opened the door from the inside.

The car ride was even more awkward. Calum had reached over for her hand, but Claudia wasn't paying attention. She was too distracted with trying to figure out where they were going, so he pretended to look for something in the center compartment.

Calum was nervous as fuck. He really didn't want to fuck this up. He knew that he only had one chance to impress someone like Claudia. At Coachella he didn't have a chance to show her the kind of guy he is.

He planned on taking her to the Griffith Observatory. The idea came to him a few weeks ago when he found her laying on a lawn chair by his pool. At first he thought she was asleep, but she was looking at the sky. She told him of the summers when she would climb on the roof of her house and lay there for hours watching the sky. At Long Beach it was rare for her to see all the stars at night.

***

Calum and Claudia could be the most oblivious and awkward pair to ever exist. They haven't really talked other than asking the other if they were ready to move on to the next exhibit.

Their hands brushed against each other as they made their way to the planetarium. Claudia reached over at the same time Calum slipped his hands in his pockets.

"It's a bit chilly, no?" She commented when they were on the outdoor walkway. She tucked her hands in her armpits in hopes to keep warm. "Should've brought a jacket" he said, oblivious to what Claudia was implying.

She furrowed her eyebrows and went inside. She was hoping he'd put his arm around her or at least keep her close to him.

As he followed her inside, Calum noticed a change in her demeanour. She looked pouty and slightly annoyed. He regretted bringing her here. She probably thought this was boring or a stupid idea for a date.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to the restroom." She mumbled. She walked away, not waiting for a reply.

Calum waited for about ten minutes before he pulled his phone out and texted Luke. He had given Luke a quick rundown of his date the night before.

This is a fucking mess.

😂😂😂 of course it is. What did you do? Luke replied.

Nothing. We have barely talked at all. She mentioned about it being cold here, and I told her she should've brought a jacket.

You fucking idiot. That was your cue to give her your jacket or to put an arm around her.

Fucking hell.

😂😂😂

Calum put his phone back when he noticed Claudia approach him. There was a black long sleeve tied at her hips. If she was cold, wouldn't she be wearing it? He thought to himself.

Then he noticed how her eyes were bloodshot like she had just been crying. "Can you take me home? My stomach hurts." she said quietly.

Claudia got her period. She had felt a sharp pain on her abdomen when they got to the observatory. She ignored it, thinking she still had a few more days for her period, but then she felt a dampness in her panties, followed by another stabbing pain. She covered herself with her bag as she made her way to the store. She got the first black long sleeve and bought it. Once in the bathroom she let out her tears. She had to go home. She couldn't walk around with a stain on her ass.

She didn't have the dress for a week and she had already ruined it. Luckily she had put her emergency kit in her bag and found a pad, so she was able to stop from staining her dress even more.

"Yeah." Calum nodded. He noticed her wince like she was in pain as they made their way to his car.

Once at his car, he saw her place her bag on the car seat before sitting on top of it. Again confused, he didn't say anything.

The drive back to her place was quiet. Every so often Calum would look over to Claudia, but she was staring off into the distance. She wiped some tears away and sniffled. She looked uncomfortable and annoyed. Calum was kicking himself for not knowing how to make her feel better.

When they arrived at her house, Claudia nearly jumped out of the car.

“Thank you for tonight.” Claudia said. She held onto the window of his car. "Could you text me when you get home? I wanna know you made it home safe."

"Yeah, of course. Bye, Claudia."

"Bye."

Claudia saw Calum drive off through the window of her door. She let out a sigh and went to the kitchen. She heard giggling and soft moans.

Claudia quickly covered her eyes. "Please don't be naked."

It wouldn't be the first time she's accidentally walked in on Sara while Ale was on her knees.

"We aren't...yet." Sara wiggled her eyebrows at Ale. She hopped off the counter. "Aren't you supposed to be on a date?"

"I got my period and asked Cal to bring me back." Claudia sighed.

"Aw baby, I'm sorry to hear that." Ale said. "Wanna hang out with us? We have some time before going to my brother's. His frat is having a party."

"I think I'm going to shower and just wallow in my room because I just ruined my chance with Cal." Claudia said softly. She grabbed her black Hydro Flask from the cabinet and filled it with water from the water dispenser.

"Well, you know where to find us if you change your mind." Ale smiled.

Claudia nodded and went to her room. She stripped off her clothes and hopped in the shower.

After her shower, she changed into sweats and her old Saint Teresa’s Academy girl’s soccer zip up hoodie. She put on fuzzy socks and made her way to the laundry room.

She grabbed her jabón Zote and used some to soak the stain on her dress. While she was at it, she did the load of laundry she had planned on doing tomorrow.

Her phone rang. "¿Bueno?"

"Hey, it's Calum. Just calling to let you know I got home. There was some traffic, that's why I'm barely calling." Calum said on the other side.

"Oh, I'm glad you're home." She said. She silently smacked her head on the door frame. This is even more awkward than her talking to her doctor.

"Hey, er, I wanted to apologize. I'm sorry if the date wasn't what you expected. I get if you don't want to ever go out with me."

"It's not your fault, Cal," Claudia said. She slid down the and backed against the washing machine. She took a deep breath. "I got my period, and I stained my dress."

"Oh… Oh. I'm sorry. I should've been more focused on you than on me being so fucking awkward."

"It's okay Cal. I was being an idiot, and—"

"Have you eaten?" Cal asked her.

"No. I was gonna make some maruchan and—"

"Can you wait forty minutes?"

"Yeah?"

"Okay, bye." With that he hung up.

Claudia called his name a few times to make sure, but he really did hang up.

***

Calum was finishing his order to San Miguel's, one of Claudia's favorite restaurants in Long Beach, when Duke jumped on the couch and laid on him. He snuggled on his chest and gave him puppy eyes.

"Seriously, man? I have to go." Calum said. He gently nudged him, but Duke wouldn't budge. So Calum quickly gave in. "Fucks sake. Fine, I'm taking you, but please behave."

Duke jumped off him and barked in agreement. Calum quickly ran up to his room to retrieve his wallet and keys from the pants he wore earlier. Duke was already at the door waiting for him.

Calum quickly packed some food for him. He also grabbed a few baggies and a training pad in case Duke made a mess. On their way out Calum spotted the 'Friends of Friends' merch box he got for Claudia. He placed all of Duke's things on top of the box, and he made his way to his car.

Duke took his designated place in the middle seat in the back and fell asleep once Calum was out of the neighborhood.

Calum got to Miguel's and quickly picked up his order. A group of girls recognised him while he was filling up drinks. He waved them off as he left, earning a squeal from the group.

Luckily the drive to Claudia's was quick. In less than ten minutes he was parking in the same spot from earlier.

When Calum got out of the car, he scratched his head unsure how he was going to carry everything he brought. He opened the back door and Duke jumped out of the car and sprinted to the porch. He barked and scratched at the front door.

"Hey, what did we agree on?" Calum hissed at him. Duke ran back to him only to run to the porch again. He happily barked. "Seriously, Duke, get over here." Calum said sternly. Duke’s ears drooped and walked back to him with his tail tucked between his legs.

He decided on leaving the box and first dropping off their food and Duke. In one hand he carried the drink tray while in the other he had their food and Duke’s leash. He knocked twice and waited for Claudia to answer. Nothing happened. He checked Snapchat and saw that she was still home, so he called her. After two rings she answered.

“Bueno?” She answered.

“Hey, it’s Cal. Could you open your front door?”

“Yeah.” She hung up.

The door opened shortly after, and Duke nearly knocked down Calum. Duke got on his hind legs and gently nudged Claudia, wanting to get cuddles from her.

"Hey, babas! What are you doing here?" She said holding Duke in her arms. She turned to Calum and smiled. "Hi."

"Hey," He smiled back. After a few seconds he blinked and handed her the drinks and food. “Here, I’ll be right back.”

Uhh how’s she holding the food and Duke at the same time? Did she put him down and receive the food?

He quickly ran back to his car and grabbed the box. He came back and heard Claudia baby talk Duke while Duke's paws tapped on the hardwood floor in the kitchen, so he went over there.

“What’s all this?” She asked him, gesturing to the box and the food.

“Oh this,” he patted the box, “is the ‘Friends of Friends’ merch. I remember you said you missed out on the sale. But luckily I know a few people, I got you the whole collection."

Claudia's smile faltered and became a straight line. Her eyes pooled with tears. She truly doesn't deserve him. Calum is the sweetest and most thoughtful person she's ever met.

"Claudia, what's wrong?" He asked. He put the box on the floor and pulled her to his chest. She wrapped her arms around his body.

"I didn't want you to see me like this," she said into his chest.

"Like what, Claudia?"

"I'm on my period and I feel embarrassed," she grumbled.

"I know, and I'm sorry you have to go through that. But you shouldn't feel embarrassed for something your body is supposed to do. Especially around me." Calum said. He kissed her forehead. "Now let's eat because your fries are gonna get cold."

Calum sat her down on a stool and handed her carne asada fries. He also gave her all the toppings that she usually asked to be on the side.

A timer dinged.

"My cookies!" Claudia exclaimed. She jumped out of her seat and grabbed an oven mit. She went to the oven and took out a tray of chocolate and peanut butter chip cookies. She had been feeling anxious, so she stress baked. She had been in the middle of combining the sugar and cinnamon to roll the other cookie dough when Calum and Duke came over. Now she set them on the side for them to cool down. She reached for the other bowl, but Calum pulled it away from her.

"Eat. The rest of your cookies can wait," Calum said.

Claudia held up her hands in surrender and sat back down on her stool. Calum slid her horchata and the spicy cream, which was just some hot sauce with sour cream and mayo. It was similar to the one her dad had at the restaurant, except his recipe has more spices and seasoning.

Calum sat next to her with his tray of potato flautas. He gave a piece to Duke, who caught it and took it back to his bed that Claudia bought for him a while back for when he visited.

Calum looked over at Claudia, who was busy admiring Duke to notice. Maybe things are gonna realign again.

***

"Your balls are huge." Claudia giggled. She laughed even louder after repeating what she said in her head. They were rolling up the cookie dough into small balls for the sugar and cinnamon mix.

"You never complained before," Calum said. He wiggled his eyebrows at her, making her playfully roll her eyes at him.

"How could I? My mouth was occupied." Claudia giggled again.

At some point while they ate, all the awkwardness and tension had faded away. They gained back their momentum and became more comfortable with each other.

"Aver," Claudia said. She held her hand out for him to give her the cookie dough.

Calum watched her attentively. She split the ball in half, making two smaller ones. She grabbed a spoon and used it to roll the ball in the cinnamon and sugar mix and placed it on the cookie tray. Then Claudia placed the tray in the oven.

"Can you hand me my phone please?" Claudia asked.

Calum grabbed it and accidentally pressed the home button, revealing her lock screen. It was them sitting in front of the pool on Day 2 of Coachella. Claudia was on his lap with her arms around his neck as he lazily rested his arms around her waist. That day she had changed out of her white crop top and shorts to a dark teal cut out romper with her Doc Martens. All which surprisingly matched Calum's black button down and teal pants outfit.

"Am I your lock screen?" He asked.

"You weren’t supposed to see that,” Claudia said embarrassed. She snatched her phone to quickly set a nine minute timer and locked her phone again. She placed it in her sweatpants' pocket.

"So it was me?" He smirked. There's a teasing tone in his voice.

"Yes." She mumbled.

"As you should, you know, have your boyfriend on your lock screen."

"Boyfriend?" Claudia quirked. She crossed her arms at her chest, tilting her head.

"I mean, yeah… that is how you introduced me to your friend at Coachella.” He cleared his throat and imitated her. “Felix this my boyfriend Calum."

"I do not sound like a Kardashian." Claudia cringed.

"That's what you like to think." He said sipping his drink.

"You know what? No cookies for you." She scoffed.

***

Calum munched on his fifth cookie as Claudia played with his hair while they binged 'Santa Clarita Diet'. She switched between twisting the blonde locks and head scratches. Duke was by her desk sleeping. He had a paw protectively over his duck stuffed toy.

"Shit, I got crumbs on you." Calum said. He tried rising from her chest to wipe off some crumbs, but he was stuck. His hair got tangled with Claudia's hoodie.

"Aver," She said. She slowly unzipped her hoodie, releasing Calum's hair from the zipper.

"Thanks, I—"

His eyes zone focus on her bare chest. All evening he hadn’t noticed that Claudia wasn't wearing anything under her hoodie. He subconsciously licked his lips at the sight, making her nipples pebble.

His eyes traced her breasts. From the peaks of her nipples to the swells of her under boob. Claudia's chest rose quickly in anticipation, waiting for Calum's next move.

"Please just kiss me already." She panted.

So he did.

Calum kissed the small tattoos sprinkled all over her body. He pinched her pert nipple, lightly biting her breast. He continued to lick and nip, leaving love bites. He moved on to her other breast.

Claudia squirmed at his touch. Silently cursing at mother nature or whoever thought of giving people with vaginas periods. She was willing to do anything just to have Calum buried inside of her.

She pulled his face to hers. She impatiently pressed his mouth in hers. The kiss was erratic and messy. Teeth clanked against each other, moans and grunts filled the room. Teasing touches here and there except where they wanted the other the most.

"Want you so bad…" Claudia sighed. She pushed Calum slightly off her.

"But what, pretty girl?" He asked. He rolled off her. She settled down with her head on his chest. Somehow in all of this, he ended up without his shirt. His chest rose as he controlled his breathing.

"I'm on my period," she said. She made her fingers walk around his tummy.

"Well as they say 'swords are meant to get bloody.'" He said.

Claudia lifted her head off his chest and gave him a disgusted look. "Wait a few months then we'll talk." She said. She laid her head back on his chest. Her eyes caught the prominent hard on he had. She smiled to herself and crawled over so she was kneeling in front of him. She toyed with the drawstrings of his sweats.

"What are you up to?" He asked her. He watched her pull her hair back into a ponytail and remove her hoodie.

"I wanna see you sword." She smiled innocently.

Taglist: @calumscalm @cherryxwildflower @hoodschick @myloverboyash @idontneedanyone @findingliam-o @sos-empty-wallets @sexgodashton @calumhoodaf @5-secondsofcolor

#calum hood #el novio series #calum hood imagine #calum hood fanfiction #calum hood fluff #calum hood story #idk what this is but enjoy :)

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starkerforlife6969 · 5 years

Text

Starker Highschool AU - Natasha is Tony’s sister

“Keep it down tomorrow tonight, short stack. My boyfriend’s coming over after school and I’m not sure he wants to hear you mangling the violin.”

Natasha looks up from her homework and stares at her brother in the doorway; lips parted in surprise. Tony’s going for nonchalant, which of course, she can see through in an instant. He may be two years older than her, but Natasha is a particularly observant fifteen year old. “Your boyfriend?” She says, a grin spreading across her face when Tony shifts a little uncomfortably.

“Yes.” He bristles, not quite making eye-contact. “My boyfriend.”

“Since when do you-“

“Since none of your business. Gonna be chill about this or not?”

She lifts her eyebrows and mimes zipping her lips. Tony half-smiles at her: soft and gentle, the sort of smile that says she’s the only one he’s told about his boyfriend, the sort of smile that lets her know that even though he’s a complete dick, he’s a good guy at heart, and a good brother too. She loves him, really. So she says: “My silence will only cost you thirty dollars.”

He smirks at her, and tosses some cash onto her bed. “Jokes on you, short stuff, I was prepared to go to fifty.” And then he wraps his knuckles against her doorframe, and disappears down the hall.

She huffs, rolling her eyes, and turning back to her notebook.

But she doesn’t stop thinking about it. Tony, her brother, Tony has a boyfriend.

Tony doesn’t do boyfriends. He does hook-ups at parties that become the talk of the school and Nat tries not to listen to the gossip or the rumour mill as it goes around and around. A few times, older kids have come up to her, tried to ascertain the truth over a certain one-night stand and she’ll glare at them until they turn away.

But a boyfriend. He must be special. She taps her pencil against her desk and thinks. Is it someone from school? Maybe. She wonders who.

She wonders what they might be like and shudders a little.

Tony dresses like a complete douchebag. He rides his stupid motorbike to school (and okay, yes he does give her a ride from time to time which is pretty cool, but also, no, he’s her big brother, so he’s not cool at all), and he wears black leather jackets and sunglasses inside. He thinks he’s better than everyone else and brags about all his science fair trophies with no degree of humility.

He’s cocky, arrogant and constantly sarcastic.

She can only imagine what horror his boyfriend will be.

Still, she rolls her neck and turns back to her work, it’s only a high school romance, and she knows from experience that those don’t last.

*** “Your hair looks-“ Bruce trips over his shoelaces and hastily rightens himself “-really nice. R-really good.”

She smiles, flicking the vibrant red for effect. “Scarlet suits me, right?”

Bruce nods eagerly, and nearly careens right into an open locker. She catches him by his backpack last minute, and he smiles gratefully.

“So, your brother’s in my brother’s grade, right?” She asks.

Bruce nods as he starts slotting in his textbooks. “Sure, why?”

“Apparently,” she drops her voice into a whisper, not trusting the roaming ears of the hallway, “Tony has a boyfriend?”

Bruce blinks in surprise, before shaking his head and grinning. “Your brother is so cool, honestly, I want to be just like him when I-“

Natasha resists the urge to throttle him, and decides that since Bruce is in science-infatuation mode over her brother’s lame AI tech, that maybe the best person to ask is Clint. She shoots him a text and he replies by saying he’s got a free period later.

The bell rings and Bruce locks up. “Good luck on your recital this Friday! I wish I could make it!”

Nat shrugs, slinging her backpack on. “It’s just another violin thing. You’ll catch the next one.” And then she reaches forward and ruffles his hair.

Bruce bats at her, and scurries away.

* Clint, as it turns out, has information.

It’s not a boy from this school, but-

“Murberry Academy across town,” he says, mouth full of chips. The teacher on duty keeps glaring at him, but he hasn’t noticed. “That’s what I heard.”

Natasha leans back in her chair, thinking. She doesn’t know anyone from Murberry Academy. But she does know about it. “Super preppy school- the one with the blue blazers?”

Clint nods, licking cheesy dust off his fingers. She tries not to make a face. Boys are gross. “Yeah. So, your brother probably met his bae at a party or something.”

She does make a face at that. “Not bae. Never say that again. You’re banned.”

“Hey, Nat?” Comes a whispered voice, and Natasha turns only to feel her whole face bloom bright red as Pepper leans over with her stupid gorgeous face- “Do you have a pen I can borrow? Mine ran out?”

Natasha hands one over with sweaty fingers and what she hopes is a smile, but might be a grimace-

“Well that,” Clint mutters, laughing and choking on his snack, “was smooth.”

Natasha hits him, and it’s worth the apology the teacher makes her give.

There’s a big part of her that wants to play really loud music that night. Howard and Maria are out, like normal, and she knows Tony is getting ready. She wants to blast Taylor Swift or one of her podcasts, or maybe practise for her recital- but there’s thirty dollars in her purse, and she doesn’t want Tony to chicken out.

She’s curious.

So, when she hears Tony leave his room, she bolts out of hers, and follows him to the kitchen.

He’s wearing a tight black tee and dark jeans, and his hair is messy in that bedhead kind of way that meant he spent ages on it-

“Oh god,” he groans when he sees her, shooing her away. “Go. You’re banished.”

She laughs, sitting up at the breakfast bar in her pyjamas and shakes her head. “No way. I wanna meet him. What’s his name?”

Tony rolls his eyes, and he starts pulling stuff out of the cupboards. Flour, sugar, eggs- Nat frowns and wonders just how nervous he is. “Oh, right, his name, how could I forget? It’s- none of your business.” And then he pats her head with the newspaper.

She reaches forward and grabs the pot of frosting he’s taken out, popping the lid and digging out some with her finger. She’s watching her brother through her lashes, trying to be discreet, because he’s agitated, pacing, he’s a little sweaty, which is- weird. He must- the thought seems odd, he must really care about this guy.

So, she swallows her frosting, and goes for casual: “You know, Spongebob-Uglypants, I’ll probably like him, right? I like Clint, and Clint is a piece of garbage sometimes.”

Tony relaxes, just a little. “He’s uh- special.” He admits, rubbing the back of his neck.

Natasha wants to say: high school relationships don’t last and how long have you even known him?

But she doesn’t. She just offers the chocolate icing to Tony who takes some gratefully.

And then the doorbell rings.

Nat beams and Tony groans, and goes to answer it.

There’s silence for a moment and then-

“Oh my god, you taste like chocolate!” Comes a bubbly voice, and Natasha frowns, because that doesn’t sound like a motorbike riding, black leather wearing piece of boyfriend material-

And then they walk in.

She can’t help but sputter.

The guy next to Tony is- he’s- what the fuck.

He’s all small and dainty, with pastel highlights in his curly, light brown hair. He’s wearing a pink sweater and beige corduroys and he looks like- he’s- sweet- and friendly looking and- he smiles brightly once he sees her, and Natasha cannot compute because her brother is all in black, stone-faced and sarcastic, but this boy is-

“You must be Natasha!” He squeals delightedly, bounding forward with an outstretched hand. She shakes it in disbelief, eyes flitting to Tony for confirmation that this is a joke. It must be. “Tony’s told me so much about you! Oh my gosh, you guys look so alike!”

At that, both Tony and Natasha recoil.

Tony grabs Peter’s wrist, tugs him into his side and settles a hand instinctively onto his waist and Peter cuddles him automatically.

Oh god. This isn’t a joke.

This is- this is Tony’s boyfriend, this is-

“Peter,” Tony introduces, “this is my sister. She’s promised not to be annoying today.”

“Don’t think I promised that,” Natasha quips, finally dragged out of her stunned silence. She looks over Peter again, at the bright colours and big honey eyes. “Peter, how did you and my brother meet?”

Tony looks pained. “We don’t have to-“

“Oh, it’s so sweet!” Peter gushes, “I go to Murberry and we were having a decathlon contest against your school and I got lost on my way back from the bathroom and I ran into Tony! He was so sweet and funny! And we just hit it off, right, my gorgeous scientist?” Peter nuzzles Tony’s neck and presses a sweet kiss to his cheek and Natasha bites back her laugh because this is brilliant.

She needs to start recording this.

Tony looks like he’d kill her if she tried.

“That’s right, babe,” Tony sighs, sounding resigned to his fate.

Peter pouts up at him. “No, call me by the nickname you call me all the time-“

Natasha can’t help the giggle that slips out, and Tony glares at her without any heat before whispering: ‘bambi’ right into Peter’s ear.

Oh god. This is everything. Her brother is a softie. Oh god. His weakness is pretty boys who are on decathlon teams-

“We’re about to make cookies for the charity fun run winners, Nat!” Peter exclaims, as he and Tony walk around the counter. “Do you want to join us? Oh Tony! You got the white flour just like my Uncle- you didn’t have to! You are so sweet!” And he’s tiptoeing and kissing Tony again and-

This is brilliant. Her brother is a sweet, thoughtful softie. He’s not a cool guy at all. And all the ingredients on the counter now make sense.

Tony gives her a look that says: stay and die.

So, she decides to do him a favour. “I would, Peter,” she smiles warmly, because Peter is sweet and she likes him enormously. “But I have a lot of homework to do. Say bye before you go though, okay?”

“Okay! Good luck on your homework!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony mutters, practically shoving her out.

For the rest of the evening, she hears Peter’s giggles and her brothers own, softer laughs. Laughter she’s never heard from him. She hears the low murmur of their conversation, and then silences where she tries not to think too hard about what’s happening.

When it hits midnight, and she needs to go to bed, she leaves her bedroom to tell Peter goodnight, and she finds her brother and his boyfriend on the couch, snuggled into each other, watching an old Friends episode.

“Natasha,” Peter blinks drowsily, sitting up. He’s so cute, he’s like a deer- oh. Bambi. “Hey,” he smiles, “wha’ time is it?”

She smiles back, “it’s almost midnight.”

“I need to be heading home,” Peter sighs, and Tony grumbles, half-asleep.

“Stay the night, bambi, please.”

Peter blushes a little, and kisses Tony’s nose. “I wish I could, handsome.”

Tony yawns, forcing himself up. “I’ll pick you up after practise tomorrow,” he promises, kissing Peter on the mouth, and Nat looks away politely.

“Only if you bring a spare helmet,” Peter chirps, and Tony swats at him but misses. His fingers are curled into Peter’s sweater, like he doesn’t want him to go, and Natasha can’t-

It was funny, before, with the flour in their hair and the pet names, but now- it’s just sweet and soft and warm and-

She thinks of Pepper and feels a little lonely.

After bidding Peter goodnight, Tony stares at her, as if waiting for the jokes to come, but she doesn’t have any. Okay, she does, but not for tonight.

“He’s nice,” she says, as lightly as she can, “I like him a lot. Plus, the house smells like cookies. It’s a yes from me.”

Tony scratches his chin where his awful, patchy, teenage stubble is starting to make an appearance. “It’s a yes from me too, squirt,” he says fondly, and they both go to bed.

* Natasha’s a protective little sister, just like Tony can be a protective older brother, so she stalks Peter’s facebook a little.

It’s all just gut-wrenchingly charming.

He posts an inordinate amount of cat memes but also lots of photos of him and Tony, and in all of them, Tony is a stoic-faced figure, effortless suave and leaning back with perfect hair in dark clothes, with Peter as his rainbow-splashed companion, with his huge smile and sun-dappled freckles.

Peter tags Tony in pretty much every post she sees and Tony replies to them all without fail.

Her brother is a sap, and honestly, Natasha’s kind of here for it.

Peter adds her on facebook and she hits accept- and then suddenly she’s getting tagged in stuff.

Stuff like tag the prettiest girl you know and who rocks red hair the best and- damn it, she’s getting more and more fond.

She hopes they don’t break up. She hopes high school relationships last.

Peter even comes to her recital. Rushes up to her back stage afterwards, flushed with glee, and gushes over how “amazing you are- oh god, you’re just- you’re amazing! Please tell me you want to be a violinist when you grow up.”

She laughs, glowing with pride and the rush of the performance, and shakes her head. “I don’t think so, it’s just a hobby. I’m glad you liked it though, Peter.”

“I just- Tony said how good you were, but you blew me away and-“

“Wait.” She cuts him off; surprised, “Tony said I was good?” Her arrogant, know it all brother said-

Peter rolls his eyes like she’s being silly. “He’s always talking about you! I feel like I already know you! He brags about you all the time. How you’re a black belt already, and how you stood up for that girl by punching that waiter in the face! And that he loves listening to you play- he’s come to all your recitals!”

She shakes her head, heart pounding with emotion. “That’s not- he hasn’t-“

Peter laughs, eyes crinkling, “he has! He takes a photo of you each time, he has an album on his phone- oh wait.” Peter suddenly looks worried, “that might be a present for you- oh no! Act surprised? Please?”

She can’t find the words.

She pulls Peter into a hug and shakes her head. “Tell my idiot brother I love him okay? And tell him to never let you go.” She says into his ear.

Peter beams, and kisses her cheek. “Okay! And there’s someone waiting to talk to you outside! They asked me to tell you!” And then he’s gone, no doubt to his very-in-love boyfriend aka her brother. Will wonders never cease?

Natasha puts on her coat, and goes out into the cool, crisp air of the parking lot.

Pepper’s standing there, holding a rose.

#starker #tony x peter #high school au #young tony #young peter #fluff #tooth rotting fluff #happy ending #dating #tony and natasha are siblings #natasha x pepper #tony is a softie #tony stark has a heart #slightly fem peter #precious peter parker #petnames #cute shit honestly #well i think so #popular tony

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 4 years

Text

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt.89

Keith loathed shopping. He loathed the crowds. The prices. The noise. The children that sounded like store alarms when they screamed. He felt like something was missing in him when surrounded by all these people going about their normal day. And he felt like a dick... though he wasn’t completely sure what he’d done wrong to upset Lance. All he’d wanted was to get this all out of the way, then the next thing he knew his boyfriend was buying an obscene amount of pizza while he was still recovering from the adult store. He was a pervert. Lance had to think so. He didn’t mean to be, but he’d been the one to buy things with his boyfriend in mind. Lance had him to help him through his heats, but he couldn’t be there all of the time... and he’d been trying to think of how to make Lance’s urges feel better for his boyfriend. So yeah... he’d over shopped, then spent the car ride nervous about showing Lance.

Walking beside his boyfriend, Keith was messaging Shiro. Curtis had said Lance seemed pretty upset, but his boyfriend hadn’t said anything to him... He hadn’t said much of anything. The awkwardness bled over into super awkwardness as his thoughts drifted to Krolia, proving he was a total pervert for both thinking about his mother and his sex life at the same time. He already had a window open in his phone on pocket pussies... and how to use a cocking properly. He didn’t want to hurt Lance, but there was something hot about wondering how Lance would react to wearing one... they both came pretty quick, not like in porn, and Keith kind of wondered if it was normal. He liked their sex lift. He liked when Lance would get right into it and ride him. His boyfriend would make the hottest expressions. He loved the feel of Lance’s slender hips in his hands. He loved when his boyfriend was spent he’d curl into him for cuddles and kisses. He loved the nights they didn’t have sex, simply sharing a few kisses before spooning up together. He loved the way Lance laughed when he tickled him...

But.

His head was being annoying about his mother. Krolia apologised. Krolia told him he wasn’t a disappointment. Krolia told him she loved him. Krolia liked Lance. Krolia got on with Miriam. Lance and Miriam managed to get on with Krolia. He didn’t know how she made him feel. He was angry that she’d come out and said all... of that... so why did he wonder what she was doing after she’d dropped them back? Then he started wondering if his mother liked pizza. Was she lactose intolerant like he was? Why didn’t he know about his grandparents? Were they alive? Would they like pizza? Lance wasn’t asking about Krolia and Lance always asked about these things. Was he trying to give him time to think? But if he was, why was he upset?

Lost in his thoughts, he thought Lance was still beside him. Shiro’s last message was that he and Curtis said thanks for the pizza and that he wasn’t getting back into the apartment without talking to Lance first... Keith trying to come up with a witty reply, but lacking because his mind was elsewhere. Now he’d lost Lance. Lance wouldn’t leave him behind. So why had he wandered off? Turning on the spot, he couldn’t see his boyfriend. The swarms of people mixed and mingled as they moved past or around each other, and Keith had no idea where to begin hunting Lance down. Looking back at his phone, his thumb hovered over the screen. A normal person would call their boyfriend... but that little voice in the back of his head made him question if Lance would answer.

“Keith?”

Keith nearly screamed as he jumped. Spinning back around, he found Lance right in front of him

“Where the hell did you go?”

Lance scratched the back of his head, gazed on his feet. Keith supposed his tone was harsher than he’d want it to be

“I thought you were beside me. I went to talk to you and realised you weren’t”

Oh...

“I was talking to Shiro. He says thanks for the pizza”

Lance nodded, Keith kind of kicking himself as his boyfriend still wasn’t looking at him

“That’s good. I got two each so there’d be left overs”

That explained why there so many... he hadn’t thought about left overs

“Right. That makes sense”

Why was he being so awkward? Had he made this awkwardness being stuck in his head? Why wasn’t Lance reaching out and pulling him close?

“The store’s this way. It’s not that far”

“Okay...”

He knew the words. He needed to apologise. But between his brain and his mouth there was some kind of blockage, things weren’t coming out how they should have

“We should go”

Right. Moving. They were holding up traffic. Lance moved his hand like he was going to take Keith’s, before stopping and letting his hand drop. Great. Now he knew for sure he’d hurt Lance’s feelings somehow.

Lance was trying. He thought he was trying. He’d nearly had a panic attack when he found Keith wasn’t by his side. Crowds would do that. Part of him always expected Nyma and Rolo to step out. He worked better when he knew the lay of the land. The shopping centre had changed a lot since he’d been there last. The bright lights assaulted his eyes, the crowds made him wonder how many vampires were walking past him. Was his scent strong? Did normal people smell something wrong with him? We’re vampires eyeing off him, knowing what he was? Did Keith feel safe shopping with him? Or was his boyfriend on guard? He couldn’t believe he’d wandered off and left Keith behind. What if someone had hurt Keith because he wasn’t paying attention to him?

Careful to keep Keith in the corner of his vision, Lance tested the waters between them, leading Keith past the camera store. Keith’s eyes widened for a moment, then the look was gone

“Do you want to go in?”

“We don’t have time”

Oooookay. They did. Platt stores weren’t like Garrison where they only closed late on Thursdays

“It couldn’t hurt to take a look. This place doesn’t close until 6...”

“Maybe another day”

Lance didn’t see why they wouldn’t head in. Keith clearly wanted to... Why weren’t they... why was it so weird between them? Did Keith think Lance wouldn’t understand?

“Okay then. Sure. The store map said it’s this way”

Lance hadn’t thought much about high end motor cycle gear. He acknowledged Keith’s bike hadn’t been cheap, and he knew cheap helmets were sometimes as bad as wearing nothing, but high grade clothing wasn’t really on his radar as it wasn’t his look. Stepping into the store, the guy behind the counter was impressively tall. Gone were the days when a full tattoo sleeve meant you were a badarse, almost all hipster baristas these days had sleeves and big arse beards to match as they sold their overly complicated coffees to the masses. This guy looked like a teddy bear. Round... kind of Hunk huggable like... a little bit of a goatie. He could definitely crush Lance like a bug if Lance said any of this out loud

“Hey, fellas. Let me know if you’re looking for anything in particular”

Keith gave the man a nod, Lance smiling because that was the adult thing to do

“We’re browsing, we’ll let you know if we need any help. Thanks”

“Don’t be afraid to ask”

Lance wondered if the poor dude was secretly a misunderstood gentle giant, then he looked at the man’s hands. “GetFucked” tattooed across his fingers... so maybe not. Darting over towards the clothing racks, he hoped he hadn’t offended the guy behind the counter... but there was only so much bravery he had in front of a dude so big. Following him over, Keith actually seemed interested when he started looking at the leather jackets

“Are there any rules I should think about?”

“Not really. Pick something you like and is practical”

“That’s no help”

Lance forced a laugh. Wincing at the sound

“Okay. Yeah. Usually gaudy is like the go to or slutty. But I don’t care. If anyone says anything, they know they’re asking for a fight. Personally I’d prefer something that covers you up”

Keith nodded, moving past the jackets to the pants, then moving back. Lance didn’t know what to think. Everything was black. Black and silver. Or more black. He kind of wondered if bikers were cranky because they got so hot wearing all black? Maybe they were cranky because their balls wear sweaty? But that didn’t work for lady bikers... It had to be the sun. Not wanting to seem disinterested, Lance slipped past Keith to look at pants, finding a pair he liked immediately. They’d look good on Keith. Keith had great legs. Though all of Keith was pretty great. Sure, Lance was twiggy with long lean muscles and a small 4 pack... a six pack on a good day before his body started changing and now he had this little smoodge of fat on his belly... but Keith... God. He was biased... but if this was an anime he’d be spurting blood out his nose each time Keith stripped his shirt off. Muscles from hours or training, tempered with hours of fighting. Definitely he’d kill for, with the softest hands that’d never physically hurt him. Finding Keith’s size, Lance ignored the price tag, carrying them over as Keith pulled down a hooded leather jacket with a two layer look

“That one?”

“I don’t know. Do you think it’d look alright?”

It’d look better on the bedroom floor. Lance blushing at his own stupid thoughts

“I think so. What do you think of these?”

The pants weren’t overly complicated. Three shirt diagonal leather straps buckled near the inner thigh. The buckles neat silver rectangles. The cut was skinny leg, which Keith could totally pull off

“They’re alright”

“So yes to the pants and the jacket... you should get boots too. Something you can wear outside of... you know”

“I don’t want to spend too much”

“We’re not paying”

“Fair point”

The boots they pretty much just went for simple. A tiny heal, mid-calf, with a brown sole and a zip on the side. Carrying the lot to the counter, their new friend smiled

“Got everything?”

“For now”

The man nodded, starting to ring up the sale, Lance placed his credit card down on the counter. Lance’s attention drifting to the Lester globes in the cabinet beneath the counter. He’d noticed Keith wore gloves during missions, then fingerless leather gloves when he rode. His boyfriend would have to have his birthday eventually, maybe a pair of gloves would be a nice gesture?

“What kind of bike do you have?”

Keith launched into explanation. If Lance had been asked he would have said a “death trap on wheels”. Maybe he should borrow some of Hunk’s engineering books, so he could keep up? He might have the memory, but having the memory didn’t always mean he could do the doing. Plus he’d learned his lesson that one time he tried to help Hunk and dropped a spanner on his head because he’d managed to use too much strength and strip the bolt... Hunk laughed it off, but Lance never tried to help again.

With Keith talking bike specs, Lance decided to wait outside for him. He didn’t want to be the uncool boyfriend that knew nothing. He’d had more than enough of that feeling. Wrapping his arms around himself, he found himself watching the crowd again. Coran told him to avoid crowded places... Maybe it was time to pester him over this medication he was supposed to develop. Thinking about it made him feel like he’d been reckless with Keith’s life. He wanted to be able to do normal boyfriend things. He wanted to take Keith places and not have this fear creeping in. He knew Keith had skills, but he also knew some vampires wouldn’t care for them. Then there was Matt and Rieva to consider now he was back home again. He wanted them to live comfortably. Yeah. He really needed that chat with Coran and a good talk with Allura... Today preferably when they dropped Keith’s clothes in to be altered.

Coming out the store Keith finally seemed in a better mood. Lance forcing himself to seem relaxed as he shot his boyfriend a shaky smile

“All good?”

“I couldn’t remember your pin so I paid, and before you ask, I got a receipt”

“I forgot about that bit”

“It’s fine. Are you okay?”

“Hmm? Yeah. Just tired”

Keith didn’t believe him, Lance adding

“All these noises and people. You know how it is”

Ah. There was a spark of belief now

“I’m pretty peopled out too. That guy talked a lot”

“Don’t be like that, I know you liked bragging about your bike”

“Maybe a little. Do you really think this’ll pass?”

“Yeah. I decided I’m definitely going to talk to Allura about what to wear before we go”

“She’s probably got more idea than I do. Are we going home now?”

“Nah, I’ll drop you off then head over to see Coran about getting more blood bags”

“You sure? You did buy a mountain of pizza”

Keith was now worried about the pizza? Not him? No “I thought you were staying the night?”. Keith probably needed Shiro time, so he’d head home

“That you guys will finish off perfectly fine”

“Maybe... Should we go?”

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here”

Keith fiddled with the radio as Lance drove. Dropping his boyfriend off, it was kind of awkward when Lance went to kiss his cheek and ended up kissing Keith. It was pretty much their worst kiss to date. Both of them felt it. Driving over to VOLTRON, Lance parked at the front of Castle Altea, figuring he wouldn’t be long. Gathering up Keith’s clothes and boots, he headed inside, trying to not keep thinking about his boyfriend.

Taking the elevator down, Krolia was waiting with Coran, answering the question of where she’d gotten to

“Are those your clothes?”

“Keith’s, for the mission. I haven’t picked anything yet”

Handing the bundle over, Coran picked up his mood

“Thanks for that. Have you got a little time to spare?”

“Yeah. I wanted to ask about some more blood bags seeing mine are off”

“Sure thing, my boy. Come on through to my office”

Krolia gave them both a wave as the pair moved towards Coran’s office.

Sitting himself on the examination bed, Coran closed the door behind them before turning to Lance

“That’s not the face of a happy man. Did something happen?”

“Kind of... call it a brainwave if you want, but I realised Keith could have been in danger today”

“Ah...”

Coran got what he meant

“I know you’re busy, but have you had anytime to come up with something?”

“Lance...”

That was a no. He really did get that he wasn’t priority. Keith, however, was his number one priority

“I was thinking about it today. We’ve been super lucky nothing’s happened when I’ve been out with Keith. There were so many people today... and I lost sight of him. It was only for a few minutes, but those few minutes... anything could have happened”

Sitting himself down at his desk, Coran clicked his mouse a couple of times, Lance could see the man had opened his file up

“I did want to wait longer given your hormone levels”

“I get that, but right now, I feel like I don’t have an option. I want Keith to be safe”

“We want that for all those we care about. Did you boys perhaps have a fight?”

“Not really. I upset him and I don’t know how. I told him I want to work on myself, but I don’t know if I can until this heat thing is sorted. I don’t want to get heats anymore. I don’t want to be different anymore”

Lance’s voice shook. Why’d he have to be so different?

“Lance... Keith cares about you. He doesn’t mind your heats”

He already knew that. But what happened if he went into heat when Keith needed his help or he was on a mission?!

“I mind! I don’t want to be spilling pheromones everywhere! I want to be able to date my boyfriend without having to worry someone is going to kill him!”

Coran took a long moment, before replying

“I understand this is hard for you. I have had the labs trying to synthesise something to help, though for the most part your body would burn through anything we designed rather quickly. We’ve been trying to adapt werewolf DNA, but without trial and error, it could take more time than I initially thought”

“Can’t you do something? You stopped Matt”

“I manipulated his quintessence”

And changed him back to human

“Can’t you do that for me?”

“I’m sorry, my boy. No. Your body is still learning how to live with these changes”

He was sick of these changes

“Then give me something. I’ll have my heats if I have to, but I need my scent dulled or Keith won’t be safe. I was scared today. He was there and then he wasn’t. He was in his own head... and he was mad at me...”

“Your hormone levels are returning to normal... disrupting them can bring about side effects”

“Most things have side effects... you said we have to test things don’t we? Why can’t I try the same thing as a werewolf?”

“Because your reproductive system isn’t the same, nor is your diet...”

So Coran didn’t have a clue to help him? Burying his face in his hands, he didn’t know what he’d expected

“I don’t want to be like this. I don’t want to be scared of my body betraying me... I don’t want to cheat on Keith’s because my body does something stupid. He’s so good to me... I want to be a good boyfriend for him. I don’t want to feel the same way I did over the condom breaking”

Coran sighed softly

“I know this isn’t easy. You need to understand the risks. Haemorrhage. Blood clots. Depression. Hair loss. Loss of appetite. Fits of anger. Ego inflation. Mood swings. Cramping. Nausea. Vomiting. Night terrors. Hallucinations. All of these could be possible”

Coran counted off his list on his fingers, missing the most important fact

“None of that is as bad as losing Keith... Even if it’s just a trial run, and it doesn’t work out, we can try? I can call you everyday... stop if I’m sick?”

“Lance, I think you should talk to Keith. We’ve talked about emergency contraceptives before, but long term damage can occur”

“I hate this...”

“I know you do, my boy. I know. I refuse to trial anything that could risk your life”

“Then... Then... give me something now? Whatever you think might work. I’ll stay a few hours and you can monitor me...”

Coran wheeled himself over, taking Lance’s hands in his

“You have always been special to me. I would find a way faster if I could”

Lance sniffled, tears rolling down his cheeks as he thought of losing Keith

“Do you need samples? Would that help?”

“I already have samples. It’s all about finding what’s best for you and your body. You have a wonderful and loving boyfriend. Talk to Keith. Whatever you decide may affect you both”

“Why can’t I take something like the pill with blood?”

“Your body metabolises most things too fast. You burn through things like werewolves do. You need constant and sustained releases in your system”

“Like a coated pill? We’re it erodes with time? Something you could implant?”

Coran raised an eyebrow

“I didn’t think of that...”

Lance knew “smart dumb” happened all the time. Sometimes the simplest ideas where missed by the minds need to over complicate things. It’s happened to poor Pidge far too many times

“But now you are, you have some idea?”

“Not fully. Let me see what those egg heads in research say. I’ll put a rush on it”

Lance could have kissed hi

“Thank you... No one tells you falling in love is so confusing and scary”

Coran smiled at his softly, squeezing Lance’s hands as he did

“And it’s wonderful and amazing. I’ll ask Allura to pick up those blood bags. Would you like a bite to eat while we wait?”

“Yeah... I probably should”

#once bitten twice stupid #oncebittentwicestupid

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fanfiction-ahoy · 4 years

Text

First Kiss

A ROTTMNT Leo x OC blurb

After fighting alongside the turtles and becoming friends with them and April O'Neil, Minji felt like she had people to go to get away from some of her daily stresses. She was wary at first, not sure how she would fit in with their established dynamic. But months passed and it didn't take long to fall in stride with the group's antics.

She got nicknames like "pretty kitty," "foxy momma," and "hot shot" for her hero name (from Mikey), her lineage (via April and Leo), and for her talent (from Raph) respectively.

Hanging out with the turts always brought a smile to her face. Mikey made amazing food and she was always happy to lend a hand in prepping ingredients or taste testing new recipes. Donnie was great to challenge in video games and to discuss big brain topics with when she had the inkling to do so. Raph was the best for cuddles and venting, each other taking turns talking about shared interests to get their minds off the shared fear of letting their family down.

Finally, Leo; Leo was a wild card she'd yet to figure out. Minji knew that he was very fond of cheesy puns and definitely loved magic (she knew he enjoyed the fact that she can juggle balls of fire, at the very least). But what she didn't want to admit was the fact that, after so many one liners and casual touches, she might have grown feelings for the turtle. And she desperately hoped that he couldn't notice.

"What's up, Min?" A turtle greeted, popping into the girl's line of sight. She'd been deep in thought, sitting atop the skate ramp. It was a quiet day in the lair and she had dropped by when everyone was off doing their own things.

"Oh! Uh, hey, Leon," she smiled, waving a hand briefly. "I just came by to wind down after school, that's all."

The boy sat himself next to Minji, leaning back on his hands. Without looking at his friend, he stated, "I know your relatives are in town."

The way he said "relatives" made her shoulders bunch up. When her relatives came by, it was always a big kitsune party. "Who told you?"

"Your cousin sent me a pic of everyone and asked me where you were," he replied casually, shrugging as if it wasn't a big deal. Minji huffed. She knew it was a bad idea to tell anyone in her family about the turtles. But, what else could she have done when they barged into her apartment without warning? At least it was only her cousin that received the heart attack that night.

"Jiyoung shouldn't be dragging you into our crazy family business," Minji mumbled, slumping forward. "It's just that...with so many yokai under one roof, I just feel so awkward! Like, they can all change into foxes and I can't." As weird of a sentence that was, it was a fact she had yet to come to terms with. Her family was special and so was she, but the one thing that brought them together made her feel left out. Hell, she had to use a cloaking broach to make her feel like she was part of the fun family antics.

Leon placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, causing her to glance his way. "Yeah, but can all of them use mystic fire like you can?"

She hesitated. "No..." her cousins couldn't use the fox fire like she could. Even some of her older relatives sometimes struggled with the ancient technique. And she had unlocked this talent when she was a baby!

"Then stop moping about something you can't do and start embracing what you can! You're hot and they're not, Minji," the turtle teen announced, trying to get a laugh out of his friend.

Which it did. "I guess that's true, blue," she grinned, side-eying the boy. "But, I'm still not ready to go home just yet."

He nodded; he knew that hanging with them was a weird sanctuary she and April surprisingly enjoyed. "Wanna go on a walk, then? We can ditch mis hermanos y su familia and explore up top."

Minji suppressed the heat that started crawling up her neck. This wasn't a date, was it? They were just going on another one of their late night strolls. That had to be it, right? "Yeah, sure! I-I'd really like that."

Since he'd gotten up first, Leo offered his hand to pull her up. She'd taken it and once on her feet, got dragged to his room to watch him put on some human clothes. You know, to disguise his whole situation. As soon as he was ready, the two passed through the living room to grab Minji's hoodie before heading out.

Once out of the sewers, the girl took a deep breath and sighed. The air was crisp; a signal that autumn was near. That was probably another reason why the turtle had put on the outfit. Little did she know that he just wanted to feel like a normal teen hanging out with his normal crush.

Yes, Leonardo had realized his feelings for the girl were more than platonic after a couple months of getting to know her. It was a terrifying new experience for him, never really thinking that he'd have a chance at a relationship given that he was a mutant turtle. But, then Minji dropped into his life and he couldn't have asked for more.

Looking down at her, he smiled as she zipped up her tan jacket and pulled the hood over her head. It was big enough to fit him (he knew because he tried it on when asking why she insisted that she liked bigger hoodies to bundle up in) It amazed him just how much humans could vary in shape and size. She was short compared to him and his brothers; even shorter than April! But, that masked her mystic ninja background. Maybe that was what drew him in. The similarities and differences that caused their worlds to intertwine.

As the two walked along the sidewalk, they threw out jokes and talked about their misadventures. Since the streets were empty in the part of the city they chose, Minji conjurred a small blue flame and started flipping it between her fingers like a coin. Leo was amazed at how easy it was for her to use her mystic power. He still struggled with his sword and that was something he'd obtained. It wasn't something he'd inheritted through blood. He thought that made Minji much cooler in his eyes (despite the heat coming from the flames in her hands and in his heart).

There was a late-night cafe open that Leonardo had guided them to. It specialized in fresh baked desserts and milkshakes for those with a sweet tooth and habits of staying up til midnight. When the two entered, the scent of chocolate chip cookies hit them first. After getting a late night snack (and a compliment along the lines of "what a cute couple" from the cafe clerk that sent blushes to both of their cheeks), the pair decided to enjoy the rest of their night on the fire escape outside of Minji's apartment.

She'd grabbed a few pillows and blankets to sit on from her bedroom, the window of which they were situated outside of. Hunkering down, they both sipped on hot chocolate and munched on cookies for a quiet minute.

"Thanks for hanging out with me, Lee," Minji mentioned. She looked at him with a small smile, her cheeks still rosy from the clerk's earlier compliment (he dismissed her blushing, thinking it had to be from the cold and not over him).

"Hey, no problemo, chica," Leo smirked, holding his drink with both hands to keep them warm. "What are friends for?"

"Right; that's what friends are for..." Minji sighed. That comment unintentionally hurt both of them. Neither wanted to remain friends, but they were scared of how changing their dynamic might affect them and everyone around them.

A short silence filled the air, seemingly brought in by a harsh gust of cold air. The two shivered, not expecting a drop in temperature. "Hey, Leo? Do you maybe wanna go inside?"

They'd been sitting across from each other at first. With their knees up to their chests and their feet side-by-side atop of the blankets and pillows from Minji's room. He didn't realize that he was staring until she started to ramble. "We can go inside to get out of the cold and we can get more comfortable. Not that this isn't comfortable, but it is a little chilly. And we don't have to do anything! I know it's my bedroom and i-it's not like I'm expecting anything to happen but-"

Then he started his own clumsy reply, whilst standing up. "Yeah, no, totally! I-I got you; we should go inside and warm up because my feet are freezing."

Gathering up the stuff she'd brought out, making Leo trip by yanking a blanket from under him, they both scuttled through her bedroom window. Turning on a lamp, Leo got to see the simple layout of her space. A queen sized bed took up a corner of the room with a desk in the other. There was a small closet across from the bed, the fox mask he'd seen countless times hanging on the doorknob. The room was befitting of Minji.

"This is really nice, Min," he complimented, turning to look back at his friend. She was taking off her hoodie and shoes, thanking him with a soft smile.

"Will you be okay if I go change real quick? I'll be right back," she questioned, heading to the closet to change.

He replied that, yes he'd be fine, before she scurried inside the smaller space. Sitting on her bed, he tried to calm the fuzzy feeling in his stomach. Leon hadn't spent this much alone time with Minji without an interruption of sorts. Whether it be his brothers poking fun at him or something else. His train of thought was cut off by the girl walking out in an oversized long sleeve shirt, bike shorts, and fuzzy socks. With her hair tied up into a pony tail instead of her signature braid, she looked cute and cozy.

"Oh," Minji said, tilting her head at Leon. "I thought you'd change, too."

The turtle awkwardly looked about himself, quickly trying to come up with an explanation. "Oh! Ah, well, you see I didn't change because when I leave, I'll just have to put it all back on. Yeah, so, why not save myself the trouble, you know?"

"I guess you're not wrong," she agreed. "When are you gonna head out, then? It's getting pretty late and I would hate for Splinter to get mad at us."

He hadn't thought that through yet. Leo wanted to spend more time with his friend, but he also knew curfews were a thing now in the lair. "If you're feeling better, I can go right now," he smiled, gesturing to the window.

"Besides, I need my beauty rest. Do you think I look this good without a full eight hours of sleep?" He joked, striking a pose.

As she walked to her bedside, Minji chuckled, "you look good all the time, blue. I don't think it'd be that hard for you."

The comment caught the boy by surprise, literally throwing him off his game and balance. Did...did she just agree that he's good-looking? Was this an opening for a confession?

"Well, I, uh...thanks?" He recovered, placing a hand on the back of his very hot neck. "You look good, too; in fact, is it hot in here or is it just you?"

Finally sparing him a glance from a short distance away, Minji was doing her best at keeping her composure and firing back her own comments. "It's just me; thanks for noticing because I think I'm on fire," with that, she conjurred blue flames in the palm of her hand.

Breathing a relieved sigh, Leo laughed at her comeback. "If you're on fire, I think I'm at risk of burning up."

"Just don't stand too close then," she replied, putting the fire in her hand out as she sat on the edge of her bed facing the turtle.

"What if that's all I want, though?"

"Well, I-" she paused, watching as the blue banded teen approached her. "W-well-"

Standing over his friend, Leo leaned in close to her face. "Something wrong, Min? Kit got your tongue?"

"More like a turtle, but yes," she whispered, staring back at him. He was so close; close enough to feel his breath on her face. His hands moved from his sides and were placed on either side of her on the bed.

He could do it. He could kiss her right here and tell her all about his feelings. But, dios mio, was he nervous. I mean, she hadn't moved away after his advance, so that had to mean something, right? And she even shot back her own little comebacks! She had to share some of the same feelings, at the very least. Looking down at her lips, then back up, he silently hoped she got the cue.

What surprised him as he leaned in further was the fact that she did, too. Her lips met his briefly, in an awkwardly short first kiss. When they both backed up, Minji's face was bright red and she slapped a hand to her mouth. "I-I'm so sorry! I-"

She didn't get another muffled word out as Leon grabbed her hand away from her face and stole a second kiss. This one was more refined, as her other hand moved to his shoulder. This was it; he wasn't dreaming. He was finally kissing his crush! And she was kissing back! When they pulled away for air, he stated, "I'm definitely not sorry."

A text on Leo's phone interrupted the two, making the boy pull away with a grumpy sigh. It was from Donnie, letting him know that Splinter was making his rounds on the boys' rooms soon before going to bed. He groaned, wondering why something always had to ruin good things for him every time. Minji saw the text from the purple brother as the turtle placed his phone in her lap and his forehead on her shoulder.

"I'm guessing you have to go right meow, huh?" She giggled, nudging the side of his head with her cheek. He grumbled, moving his face into the crook of her neck. When he spoke, his lips brushed her hot skin. "I mean, yeah...but-!"

"No butts unless it's yours leaving my window, blue," the girl replied, trying to calm her nerves down and pushing on the boy to get him off her.

"I should take your butt with me..."

"Excuse you?"

"I said I should get going!"

"Uh-huh, sure you did," she rolled her eyes as Leo neared the exit. "I'll text ya later, okay? Gotta make sure you get home unscathed."

With his body already outside, Leo poked his head in to confirm that, yes, he'd text her when he got home. And before he could duck out, Minji bumped her forehead against his. An act that the two had grown accustomed to doing when saying goodbye after nights like these. It had been a running inside joke, since bonking heads into one another on a few occasions and once during a mission. But, it always held sentiment for the two. Now it was much more endearing than dangerous.

When the turtle got home, he was greeted by his disasterous twin. "Sooo, how was your date?"

"I-it wasn't a date! We were just talking," blue defended, failing to hide his blush. Purple rolled his eyes. "Riiight, and Galileo didn't discover the rings of Saturn."

"Did you do it, Leo? Did you finally confess to Minji!" Mikey gasped, poking his head around the corner.

"Or did she kiss you? You know, since you got that lovesick look on your face," Raph snickered, appearing behind his younger brothers.

"Ugh! Why can't you guys give me a break?!"

#rottmnt #rottmnt oc #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt x oc #rottmnt leo #first kiss #rottmnt fanfiction #rottmnt leonardo #the blue bluey

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mrs-i-have-too-many-biases · 5 years

Text

Stray Kids' react to them walking in on you changing

Scenario: you were changing and they (accidentally) walk in.

Genre: fluff/ humour

Pairing: Stray Kids X Female Reader

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

Chan:

You and Chan are very comfortable with one another. He has seen you in your bathing suit or bikini before so you didn't make it a big of a deal when he walked into you changing.

"Baby- I- I'm sorry I didn't know-" He panicked when he walked into the scene.

"Channie, calm down. I'm mostly covered up. And besides, you've seen me in my bra before." You giggle.

"But- Fuck it. Baby you're so hot. I love you." He says laughing

Woojin:

The two of you just came back from a gym session. After that you were in a desperate need for a long shower. After you came out and had put on your lingerie, your boyfriend suddenly barged in.

He stopped in his tracks and just stared at you. First there was a look of panic and shock written on his face. A few seconds after that he started smiling and walked over to you, wrapping his arms around you.

"Did I ever tell you that you are beautiful? Because fuck baby you are."

Minho:

You didn't even hear him coming home. You had just taken a shower you had your lingerie on, but you were procrastinating to get dressed. You were spread out on your shared bed when he walked into the room

You let out a screech when you noticed him.

"When did you-"

"What the fuck is this?" He says cutting you off.

"What?"

"You're really out here, looking like a Goddess while I'm out?" He jokes.

You look at him with confusion once again before he starts to speak again.

"Well, don't blame me, because you started this. But I guess we got to compete in who is the hottest because int his household there's only room for one person who can hold that title."

Changbin:

You were an idol as well and you were getting for a show that you featured in with Stray Kids. Your boyfriend had been hanging out with you, since you both waited for the shoot to start.

It was now time for you get changed and he didn't leave.

"Changbin! I'm getting changed, get out!" You squealed when you noticed your boyfriend's eyes on you.

"Why, I've seen you in a bikini before? A bra seems not so different." He smirked as he sipped on his drink.

"Pervert!" You yell after him.

"Baby, I like beautiful things and you're one of them. Just let me appreciate it, will you?" He chuckled after you threw your jacket at him.

Hyunjin:

Hyunjin was running back in fort as he was gathering his and your things as you were about to leave for your date. He would yell out for you to ask where you purse was, so he could dump his stuff in there as well.

When you didn’t respond he walked into your shared bedroom without a second thought. “Baby where is your purs- OH MY! I’m sorry!” He’d yell when he walked into you changing.

The boy covered his eyes as he tried to make his way back out, embarrassed as hell. “Hyunjin baby, you’ve seen me without pants before, calm down.” You laughed.

The boy would sneakily take a peak and see that you were wearing a nude coloured top, which he didn’t notice at first, explaining his reaction.

Jisung:

This cheeky bastard. He would make it seem like he ‘accidently’ walked into you changing, when in reality he had planned it all. You would take a shower and do your skincare routine.

When he heard the shower stop he made his way to your bedroom and waited for a while, until he found the perfect moment to barge into the bedroom to bother you.

“Baby, I can’t find my charger- Well hello there.” He’d say as he checked you out.

“Jisung get out, you pervert.” You’d laugh as you threw your pillow in his direction.

“Nah babe, I rather stay here and watch.” He says whilst he made himself comfortable on your bed with a smirk.

Felix:

You’d be getting ready for a date as well, the time Felix walked into you changing. You were throwing your clothes on and off until you found a dress that you thought looked perfect for you date night. One little problem, you couldn’t reach the zipper and your the top part would fall off constantly if you tried to reach it, so you called your boyfriend for help.

“What’s wrong babe, you called m- I’m sorry I didn’t know you were changing.” He apologizes when he walked into your bedroom.

“No, no! That’s why I called you.” You chuckled whilst you tried to cover you chest with your dress, not wanting to flash him.

“I can’t reach the zipper, could you zip me up, please?” He smiled at you and fulfilled your favour, wrapping his arms around you after he did so.

“You look so gorgeous honey.” He’d whisper.

“Says the most handsome man ever.”

Seungmin:

Seungmin needed to pee really bad and he was unaware that you were changing in there.

The boy would bust the door open, letting out a small scream when he saw you in just a towel, receiving a scream from you in return.

He shut his eyes closed and ran out the bathroom, bumping into some walls as well. You let out a small laugh and told him it was okay.

You would peck his lips and made your way to get changed, leaving the boy with a sheepish smile on his face, still trying to process what the hell just happened.

Jeongin:

Jeongin would walk into the bedroom to get his phone, not noticing that you were changing. He would let out a few weird noises, that could be categorized under screeches, as he ran out of the room.

You, who was processing what the heck just happened, laughed to yourself as you saw your boyfriend running out of the room.

Later, when the two of you would be sitting on the couch, he couldn’t look at you in the eye. You were a giggling mess when you cuddled closer to him. Teasing him for his embarrassed state.

“YOU DID THIS TO ME!” He laughed.

Gifs aren’t mine

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

Masterlist is in bio~ Mia

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bittysvalentines · 4 years

Text

of course (it’s us)

From: @willdexpoindexter

To: @crocophant

Giftee, I hope you love this! you said you loved bed sharing and mutual pining and boy did I chock this full of those.

Justin’s bed broke on a Tuesday morning.

He wasn’t even sure how it happened, but when he swung his legs over the side, the frame just split. Holster chirped him about breaking his bed in the most boring way possible but then offered to share his own. Justin made his excuses about using the couch and not putting him out, but Holster wouldn’t back down and he eventually caved to his best friend.

Holster had a queen mattress at Haus 2.0, and while it felt so much larger than the twin bunk Justin had sometimes shared with him at Samwell, it suddenly felt tiny when Justin joined him in it that night. Holster climbed in first, taking the spot by the wall and the air felt charged as Justin pulled back the covers and laid down.

“Thanks again, bro,” Justin mumbled as he nestled into his pillow beside Holster.

“Anytime, bro,” he whispered back. “I wasn’t gonna make you sleep on that couch. You don’t even fit on it.”

Justin didn’t know why Holster was whispering but it suddenly felt important not to break the silence.

“It’s different,” Justin answered in his own whisper, even as his body relaxed into the bed.

“‘S the same, Rans.” Holster reached out and pulled Justin into a loose cuddle. “Just two bros, cuddling. Let the cuddles happen.”

Justin smiled up at him and let himself be held, pushing down on the weirdness he was feeling for being in Holster’s bed. ‘It’s the same,’ he told himself.

Because the thing was, ever since they’d graduated and moved to Haus 2.0, Justin had been missing Holster. He had no reason to! They had bedrooms next door to each other and desks on the same floor at work. They commuted together, ate nearly every meal together, talked constantly. But at the end of the day, Holster went into his own room and Justin missed him.

There was just something wrong about not sharing a room with Holster anymore, and the more it bugged him, the more he retreated into himself and then felt bad for doing so since Holster hadn’t done anything! He just had to get his head straight.

His subconscious clearly had no qualms about being close to Holster, because the next morning, Justin woke up spooned around him. He took a deep breath and reveled in the feeling of Holster in his arms. ‘It’s the same,’ he told himself again.

Holster stirred and woke up, rolling so he was flat on his back and looking up at Justin.

“Morning, Holtzy.”

Holster smiled. “Hey, Rans. Sleep alright?”

“Yeah,” Justin answered with a soft smile. He couldn’t remember ever sleeping this well in this Haus, actually. And he’d slept in Holster’s bed before! After anxiety attacks or just stressful days, Justin often sought out a bro cuddle. But those nights, Justin was exhausted and never slept well. Last night though? Oh my God, he had slept so well it was kind of embarrassing. He swallowed it down. “You?”

“Yeah,” Holster answered with an easy smile. “We should get up.”

“You’re right but you shouldn’t say it.” Justin groaned as he hauled himself out of the cocoon of warmth.

Holster laughed and followed him out of bed. They got ready for work together as always but it felt different. Like they had been living in a different universe briefly in that bed and now he had to step out of it. Justin wanted nothing more to go back.

He pushed the thought from his head and pulled on his coat.

The day passed in a blur. A big pitch was coming up at work and Justin didn’t have any time to think about the latent feelings of the morning. By the time he collapsed into Holster’s bed that night after staying late and working until well past nine o’clock, Holster had just wrapped him up and held him close. He felt himself relax into the hold slowly and finally looked up at his best friend.

“Thanks, Holtz.”

“Rough day?”

He knew it had been, he was just giving Justin room to rant if he needed it. God, Holster knew him so well. “Yeah. I’m okay now, though.”

“I got your back,” Holster assured him with a smile.

“I didn’t have a chance to call the bed place,” Justin mumbled into Holster’s chest. “I’ll do it tomorrow.”

“Don’t even worry about it, bro. It’s not like it’s some great hardship to cuddle you,” Holster chirped. His chest rumbled with laughter beneath Justin’s forehead and he grinned. He loved Holster so much.

Oh shit, did he love Holster? Was that what this was? The missing him from right next door, the ease of falling into his arms, the misery of not being by his side all day?

“Rans? You okay? You’re kinda weirding me out, bro.”

Justin took a deep breath, consciously relaxing his muscles and looked up.

“I’m okay,” he lied. Holster didn’t look like he believed him. He wasn’t yet, but he would be. “Just stressed, I guess.”

“What can I do?” Holster asked.

Justin shrugged. “I just wanna sleep I think.”

Holster nodded and nudged at his shoulder until Justin rolled over, then pulled him to his chest. “You’re little spoon tonight. That’s the rule for stressful days, Ransy.”

Justin chuckled as he let Holster hold him and hoped he would fall asleep quickly so Justin could worry in peace.

As Holster’s breathing evened out behind him, Justin let his mind wander. He felt so secure in Holster’s arms. He felt at peace here. He loved being held by Holster. He loved being with Holster. He missed him when he wasn’t around. He wanted nothing more than to stay in this bed forever.

He was in love with Holster.

The morning dawned bright and Justin woke to find himself laying on Holster’s chest. He had slept just as well after his realization as he had the night before, and it only made him feel more secure in himself. As with everything related to Holster, even things that should cause anxiety did the opposite. A small part of him thought he should be worried that he had fallen for his best friend, but it was Holster. Holster made him calm.

He looked up at Holster and found him looking down at him sleepily. The sunlight peeking through the curtain lit his hair in a fiery halo and Justin fought to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. Even though he was secure in his realization, it wasn’t the time to share it.

“Morning, Rans,” Holster yawned, and Justin’s heart beat faster. Yep, this was happening.

Justin took a deep breath and decided to just let it happen. For too long, he’d been fighting this new (ish) urge to look at Holster, compliment him, touch him, hold him. He was gonna let himself do it.

“Hey, Holtzy,” Justin murmured, staring up at his best friend. He squeezed him a little where he was holding on and Holster smiled at him. “You ready to kick Thursday’s ass?”

“With you? Always.” Holster grinned.

They got up and seamlessly orbited around each other as they worked through their morning routines. Holster got dressed while Justin used the bathroom and then they switched. Justin started coffee while Holster threw bread in the toaster. Holster grabbed their jackets from the closet while Justin double checked both bags were zipped all the way and handed Holster’s to him in exchange for his jacket.

As they walked out the door, Justin let himself bumped into Holster’s arm playfully. Holster smiled over at him.

“You’re the best, Holtzy.”

“Pretty sure that’s you, Rans,” Holster nudged him back.

Justin’s heart soared and a new thought introduced itself: he could press up just a couple of inches and kiss Holster.

It wasn’t a scary thought. He almost expected it to be, such a big change from how he’d previously thought about his best friend. But that same calm settled over the new thought, too, and Justin just smiled. Soon.

Justin spent the rest of the day, through the commute and lunch together at work, through making dinner together with Shitty and Lardo, and through getting ready for bed, absolutely failing to keep his newly acquired heart-eyes to himself. The more he thought about Holster, the more he wanted to never stop thinking about Holster.

“The bed place is coming out Saturday morning,” he told Holster as they settled in for the night. He’d pushed aside thoughts of prolonging the forced bed-sharing and called the place he’d bought the bed from that afternoon. They assured him they would come out as soon as possible and replace the frame under his warranty.

“That’s good. Sucks that it broke so fast but at least they’re taking care of it.”

“Yeah,” Justin agreed. “This is nice, though. Getting to hang out with you more.”

Holster gave him an indulgent smile. “We hang out all the time, Rans.”

Justin just smiled back and shrugged. “Still nice.”

He’d come to the conclusion that he shouldn’t make a big deal about his feelings until after the bed was fixed. If it was weird, he needed to have somewhere to go. Not that he thought it would be weird! He had been basically flirting with Holster all day and he was pretty sure he was flirting right back. But his anxiety demanded a back-up plan. He’d know on Saturday.

Friday was absolutely lovely, as far as Justin was concerned.

He’d woken up to Holster spooning him again and he had basically refused to get up. They’d gotten seats on the train and been pressed into each other the whole ride. Justin let himself rest his head on Holster’s shoulder and Holster had responded by wrapping an arm around him.

“You can nap on me if you want, bro,” he’d said, tugging Justin flush to his side. Justin had grinned to himself and cuddled in.

At lunch, they’d been eating in the kitchen and a couple of coworkers invited them to a happy hour after work.

Holster had been loose with his affection at the happy hour, too, squeezing into a booth and dropping his arm over the back behind Justin.

“Not enough room for all of us,” he’d murmured in Justin’s ear. Justin had squeezed his knee beneath the table in silent thanks and chatted easily to Paul on his other side.

They’d gone home together and Justin had eagerly crawled into Holster’s bed.

“Ransy, it’s like eight o’clock.” Holster regarded him with a chuckle.

“Shut up and cuddle me,” Justin demanded, reaching out for him.

Holster laughed again, loud and free, before crawling into the bed.

“You good?” Holster asked, his voice suddenly serious after the big laugh he’d let out the moment before.

“Gonna miss this,” Justin admitted.

“You’re always welcome to come cuddle, Rans,” Holster promised, squeezing Justin tighter.

“Gonna hold you to that, Holtzy.” He let the silence sit for a moment before looking up at Holster. “You wanna watch some 30 Rock?”

“Only always,” Holster grinned, reaching for his laptop.

Justin let himself relax into the comfortable sound of Holster quoting half the episode to him as they lay in bed together. A small part of him was still wondering if Holster felt the same way, but curled around each other like this? It was them. It had always been them.

He woke up to his phone alarm. He didn’t remember falling asleep or setting the alarm, but of course Holster had his back.

“Gotta get up,” Holster grumbled. “Bed people in an hour.”

Justin chuckled and sat up. “I’ll make coffee.”

The installers worked quickly and his bed was fully functional again less than a half an hour after they’d arrived. He sat on the mattress and stared at the wall. He could tell Holster now, but he was suddenly nervous. Not about them, never about them. But about it not being enough. Holster deserved the world! He deserved to be wooed! Justin would have to come up with a plan and ask him out properly, not just kiss him the minute he could.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been lost in his thoughts when a knock sounded on the doorframe to his room.

“All done?” Holster asked when Justin looked up.

He gestured to the bed lamely. “All done. Don’t gotta share your bed anymore.”

“You know you’re always welcome,” Holster said gently.

“I know.” Justin stood. “Let’s go out for lunch?”

“Okay,” Holster smiled, wrapping his arm around Justin’s shoulders as he came level with him and walking them out of the house.

By the bedtime, Justin still had no plan to woo Holster properly. Everything he thought of was too small for the bigness of his feelings. So he hugged his best friend goodnight and went to his own bed.

Where he laid awake and stared at their shared wall.

His bed felt too big without Holster to wrap himself around and too cold without Holster’s body heat and too quiet without Holster’s small snores. He tried to put it from his mind, clear it of anything and just drift away. He tried to firm up a plan to woo Holster properly.

Nothing worked.

Justin grabbed his phone and checked the time. Nearly two. He was never going to sleep without Holster. Maybe he could just slip into his bed and Holster would accept the cuddle. He decided to go for it.

Justin swung his legs over the side of his newly fixed bedframe and froze as a soft knock sounded at his door. He crossed to the door and opened it.

“Hi,” Holster said shyly.

“I can’t sleep either,” Justin replied. “Get in here.”

Holster’s face split into a giant grin and he climbed into Justin’s bed with him, wrapping around Justin and humming happily.

“Night, Ransom.”

“Night, Holster.”

Justin’s eyes slipped shut and he fell asleep almost immediately.

As had been the case for the last four days, Justin woke up first. As he looked at his sleeping best friend, he realized there didn’t need to be some grand gesture. Things between them were simple, they always had been. They understood each other like that. Besides, Justin had been wooed by this ridiculous man long ago, who’s to say it wasn’t the same for Holster?

“Hey Holtzy?”

Holster blinked awake and smiled shyly at Justin.

“Can I say something? It’s kind of scary, but just… hear me out. I think you should know.”

Holster suddenly looked a lot more awake and grabbed for Justin’s hand. “You’re scaring me, Rans. You know you can tell me anything.”

Justin gave a smile he hoped was reassuring and took a deep breath. “I can’t sleep without you. It was only four days, but I can’t do it. And I need to tell you why. Because I never want to sleep without you again. I’m in love with you, Adam.”

“Oh.” Adam blinked.

Justin gave him a moment to process, squeezing his hand.

“You are?” Adam asked.

“Yeah,” Justin said. He was trying so hard not to be nervous but now that it was out in the open and Adam hadn’t said anything he was starting to worry.

“Since when?” Adam asked at last, his voice cracking slightly.

“I, um, I don’t really know. But I realized it this week.”

“And, uh, what do you wanna do about it?”

Justin laughed, of course this was the one time Adam couldn’t read his mind. “I had hoped to kiss you at some point,” he chirped. “Maybe be your boyfriend if you wanted?”

Adam’s cheeks flushed pink and he nodded fervently.

“Do you have anything you want to share before that happens?” Justin prompted, cupping his free hand to Adam’s cheek.

“God, of course I want to be your boyfriend, Justin! I love you, too; I’ve loved you for so long.” He reached out his free hand to wrap around Justin and pulled him into a searing kiss.

Fireworks burst behind Justin’s eyes.

This was nothing like that time they’d made out at a kegster as frogs, all sloppy and drunk and inexperienced. This was the kiss of a couple in love, who had always been in love and would always be in love.

He melted into the kiss as he slid his hand into Adam’s hair.

They fit together like puzzle pieces because of course they did. They were Ransom and Holster. Justin and Adam. Insta-friends and forever partners.

Boyfriends.

Of course they were.

#holsterransom #bv2020 #bitty's valentines #omgcp fandom #omg check please!

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might-guys-acorn · 4 years

Note

Just asked for the Shika/Naru/reader right before I saw your prompt list and I think 🛷 would be perfect for it with three instead of two 😋

Im so excited for this!! -🦎

===============================

Shikamaru, Naruto

🛷- "Uh, I dont think this sled is made for three people."

The sound of Narutos laughter bounced off the blanket of white around you, your own laughter following as you dragged Shikamaru by the hand.

"I dont see why we couldnt just stay inside and watch movies." Shika sighed, muffled by the scarf you had wrapped around him, making sure he didnt get too cold.

"Dont be such a couch potato, Shika! We dont get snow like this everyday!!" Naruto yelled, already standing at the top of the hill, holding the old sled above his head. He'd insisted you all go play in the white fluff, and with the bright glow all around outside, there was no way you could resist either. Sure it was childish, but it wasnt often you all got time together and after everything this year had brought, you deserved a little fun.

You finally got Shikamaru up the hill, and turned to zip Naruto's coat up further. The last thing you needed was for the boys to get a cold; they both got so whiny when they were sick and it was a guarunteed housebound week for the three of you.

"You worry too much about us, Y/N." Shika stated from behind you, smirking at Naruto's grin from the attention.

"I'm your girlfriend, Im allowed." You stated, tunring on your heel to kiss his cheek, the snow under your feet crunching with each movement.

"Okay, sweetheart, enough babying handsome over here, we've got snow to play in!" Naruto stated, wrapping his arms around your waist and placing his head on your shoulder for a moment before turning to sit down on the creaking wood of the sled. You turned and laughed as you sat down too, scootching as close to Naruto as you could, leaving some room behind you for the other half of your heart.

"Cmon Shika!!! Itll be fun!" You turned, and flashed him your most winning smile.

"Uh, I dont think this sled is made for three people." Shikamaru stated, staring at the solid 4 inches of room behind you.

"Shh, just hold tight to me, handsome." You said, and he felt his heart flutter at your nickname. Whether uttered by your voice or Naruto's, his pulse raced and cheeks flushed everytime. He sat down, and engulfed you in his arms, trying to ignore the half of his body that was hanging off the sled.

"Away we go!!" Naruto yelled, lifting his legs to release the sled down the hill, and the increasing speed made his golden locks fly back to tickle your nose. At the sudden motion, Shika gripped tight behind you, but the lack of support underneath him overtook his weight, and next thing you know, halfway down the hill, your arms were ripped from Narutos waist as Shika pulled you down with him, the two of you giggling as you toppled into the snow. Once he reached the bottom of the hill, Naruto stood up and gazed at where his missing weight landed, seeing you and Shika cuddled up in the sea of white falling down the hill, and ran up to flop down on top of you.

"He cant have all the attention, Y/N!" He yelled before his body landed across where you and Shika's legs were entwined.

"I told you there wasnt room." Shikamaru laughed, tears in his eyes and his nose turning red from the cold. You tucked yourseld into his neck, and Naruto moved so he could trap you both in a hug underneath his body.

"I dont see you complaining, though." You said with a smile, kissing one nose and then the next, your heart filling your chest as their laughs mingled in your ears. You could feel the snow that had burrowed beneath your clothes start to melt, and you knew the same was happening with the boys, but you couldnt bare to move from the cozy place on the hill where you all were cuddled up together. Just three tangled bodies, tucked into an endless white sheet. After a moment or so of simply sitting in a content pile of love, you felt Shika begin to shiver a bit next to you.

"Hey honey, its time to get up." You said, kissing Naruto's temple. He had shut his eyes to savor the moment, and he shook his head with a pout, nuzzling his head into Shikamaru's scarf as well as your lips. You looked at Shika, and he winked at you, trapping his glove underneath his thigh to free it, and then placing the cold, wet hand under Narutos jacket. At the feeling of icy skin on his back, Naruto shot up in surprise.

"I'm up! I'm up!" He yelled, hopping from foot to foot as you and Shikamaru pulled yourself from the snow. Naruto looked at you both with a playful scowl. "That was mean."

"I did ask you nicely, first." You smirked, and walked over to tuck his soaked hat over his ears. You looked him over, and then at Shikamaru, and lastly down at yourself and realized all of you were sopping wet.

"I think we should head home. I could use a warm bath." Shika said, and took Narutos hand.

"As long as theres room for two more." You reply, placing an arm around his waist and leaning your head on his shoulder. The three of you walked back to the house, the cold winter breeze chilling you down to the bone.

It was a valiant effort on your part, but the next week was still a rough one. After all, the only thing worse than your boys being sick, is when you get sick with them.

#shikanaru #ShikaNaruS/O #shikamaru x naruto x reader #shikamaru fluff #naruto fluff #shikamaru #shikamaru nara #naruto #naruto uzumaki #naruto imagines #poly fluff imagines #holiday prompts

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thatmultifandomhoe · 5 years

Text

Strawberry Cream and BBQ - 14

Pairing: Hybrid Hoseok and Human Reader

Overview: Your best friend knows she can count on you for anything, so when she asks you to watch her hybrid while she’s gone for a study abroad trip for four months, you can’t say no. But when these four months are over, things have changed in a way no one expected.

Word Count: 3,171

Genre: Hybrid AU, Fluff, Future smut, Angst, Best friends to Lovers

Warning: Here’ssssssssssssss Johnny!

Master List

Sneak Peak - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14 - Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21 - Part 22 - Part 23 - Part 24 - Part 25 (Final) - Move in Day: A SC&BBQ Drabble

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

You raised an eyebrow as you looked up from your computer screen, watching as Johnny made himself comfortable in the spot next to you. Since there was an hour before your next class, you were taking advantage of the gap to work on another essay in one of the cafes on campus. Handouts and notes were spread out on the booth table to make it easier to find what you needed. To everyone else, it was a sign to not interrupt. To Johnny however, it meant nothing.

“Well hello to you too,” you sarcastically greeted back. Immediately you saved your work, knowing that Johnny was very much a talker.

Johnny just shrugged. “Sorry, you just look out of it.” Handing you a stack of papers so they wouldn’t get ruined, he leaned his left elbow on the table to face you. When he was comfortable, he reached over and gently turned your chin, his eyes scanning your face in concern.

There was no point in trying to resist, he was stronger and faster than you. If he noticed the dark circles that you attempted to cover up with concealer, you wouldn’t be surprised. He always noticed the smallest detail no matter what it was. At least Hoseok hadn’t, and that was only because he had already left for work by the time you woke up that morning.

It had been a few days since the two of you had gone out for Korean BBQ and everything had gone back to normal, at least, that’s what you thought. Hoseok was still showing you affection – longer hugs and more cuddling on the couch – but he was also spending extra hours at the Dance Studio to practice his routine for the show. Sometimes he didn’t get home until eight at night. On those nights when he walked through the door, you simply opened your arms and held him for as long as he wanted, which is what always led to cuddling on the couch. Not that you were complaining, but you wished it didn’t feel like a constant tug of war between your heart and brain.

Fingers snapped in front of your face, startling you back to reality. “Hey, are you okay?” Johnny softly asked. He really was getting worried about you. The two of you were friends, and considering what you did when he got his heat, he wanted to help you with anything that you needed. He was forever in your debt, no matter how many times you told him to not worry about it.

“Yeah,” you softly answered, forcing a gentle smile. Looking at Johnny, you noticed that he was bundled up for the weather, although his winter jacket was unzipped and his hat was on the table. His little ferret ears were barely peaking out from his light brown hair. “Just…just some guy issues. And school, and work. Basically, life is happening all at once.” A forced chuckle made its way past your lips as you leaned back against the seat and ran a hand through your hair.

“Guy issues?” Johnny repeated. “Well let’s start there. What’s going on?”

At first you shook your head, not wanting to feel like a burden by telling Johnny everything that’s happened. That’s what you decided in your mind, but the second you met his gaze, you found yourself spilling. “It’s Hoseok, he’s my best friend. Ever since he came to stay with me, it’s like I’m seeing him a new light. Like he’s not just my best friend, but as like…” you gestured with your hand, struggling to find the words.

“Like someone you can see yourself having romantic feelings for?” Johnny suggested.

“Yeah. Then one of our other friends said that we…we act like mates.” Your voice stopped working after saying that one word, forcing you to take a sip of the soda you bought. Before continuing on, you pulled you legs up on to the seat and rested your chin on your knees. It was a tight fit, but you didn’t care anymore. “I’ve been doing research, and hybrids know who their mates are the second they meet. That’s what all the books and my friends say. And Hoseok and I…we’ve been friends for three years. I’ve dated guys during that time and he’s done nothing to indicate that I am... his.”

When you were done speaking, you hugged your legs and looked up at Johnny, having to tilt your head to the side to do so. Now that you had let out everything that was bothering you, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of your body allowing you to breathe properly again. Maybe this was what you needed.

Johnny’s face remained neutral during your story, not once letting it show what he was thinking. He simply adjusted his position, letting his cheek rest in the palm of his hand, his lips pressed together in thought. “Not once has he showed signs of being territorial or protective?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Only once and that…” you felt your cheeks heat up as you quickly looked down and away from Johnny. It was a little embarrassing, but it shouldn’t matter. The two of you were grown adults, you should be able to talk about sex without feeling like you’d get in trouble. “That was because he could still smell your scent in my apartment. Hoseok…I’ve never seen him so hurt and upset before.”

He let out a low whistle, leaning back in the seat. “Yeah, that’ll do it.”

“Do what?” You asked, confused with where his thought process was going.

Johnny reached over to pat your back. “You are right on the fact that we know who our mates are,” he explained, a smile growing on his face. “But when the mate is human, like you, sometimes we hold ourselves back. While we only have one person that we love and spend the rest of our lives with, you still have options. Obviously after being marked meant that you wouldn’t see any one else romantically, but before that you still have the choice to leave. To fall in love with someone else.”

Your face contorted into a frown as Johnny explained. The words were making their way into your brain, but they hadn’t settled down in a logical explanation yet. He must have seen the look on your face because he continued.

“You said you had been dating guys during these last three years, and I’m assuming they were human, then that means Hoseok was holding back for you. He wanted you to have a choice even if it wasn’t him. But when he smelled my scent in your apartment, especially your bedroom,” Johnny raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his lips as he teased you. “Then it makes sense for his outburst. It’s one thing to date other human guys, but other hybrids? Since we mate for life, the idea of him losing you to some other hybrid would have sent him into full blown territorial mode. Does that make sense?”

It took several moments, then the pieces began to click together. “But he never even made an attempt to make it known that he saw me as more than a friend until recently.” Your mind was still trying to say that Hoseok didn’t see you like that, but your heart was starting to race and you had to wipe you palms against your jeans due to your nerves.

“Because he wanted you to be in charge,” Johnny countered. His face softened as he looked at you, seeing the hope fill your eyes. It was obvious how you felt about Hoseok, but he could also see the way you were holding yourself back. “We may not get to choose who our mates are, but you humans do. Hoseok wanted you to have the choice, and if he didn’t make a move until he caught wind of me, then he really wanted it to be as fair as possible for you.”

Licking your lips, the back of your eyes stung as you pressed your forehead against your knees. Johnny was never one to lie, so if every word he said was true, then you really did have a chance with Hoseok.

His arm settled around your back and you didn’t try to stop him as he pulled you in for a hug, comforting you as you squeezed your eyes closed. It was just too much. “What do I do?” You softly whispered, not wanting to look up just yet.

Johnny gently squeezed your shoulder. “Well you obviously don’t jump him when you get home. Giving him a heart attack isn’t a good idea.

You elbowed him in the side, smiling when you heard his laugh. “I’m serious Johnny.”

“So am I,” he teased. “Just ease into it. Maybe even be a little flirty and if he returns it, then go from there. Then maybe one day, tell him the truth. I promise you, Hoseok will be the happiest man in the word.”

With a nod, you lifted your head, wiping away the tears that had dripped down your cheeks. The butterflies were alive and flying in excitement in your stomach. From the way that Hoseok was being extra affectionate with you already, you knew the second that you initiated even more, he was going to be all over it.

Watching your facial reactions, Johnny simply squeezed your shoulder once more and snuck a quick glance at the time on the laptop. “Come on, we have classes to attend. Or you could just pack up and hurry your ass home to lover boy.”

You slapped his arm with a gasp, but the two of you erupted into giggles as you made quick work of packing away your notes and laptop. “Thank you, Johnny.”

He waved away your thanks though as he zipped his jacket up. “Don’t worry about it. I owe you my life after you helped me. Plus, we’re friends. And friends help when the other is having a mid-life crisis about her love life.”

After making sure you were okay, Johnny headed out so he’d make it to his own class, leaving you to your own thoughts as you walked across campus. Your steps were lighter and it seemed like you’d been zapped with energy sourced from the sun. As you paid attention to your class, you couldn’t help but be eager to get home to a certain someone.

***

By the time dinner rolled around, Hoseok wasn’t home.

He remembered to send you a text this time. He had gotten talking to one of the other instructors at the studio and apparently, the group that they were teaching was too large for only one instructor. It was one of the free classes and they hadn’t been expecting so many people to show up for it. Since Hobi knew the dance that was being taught, he was staying along with the other instructor to help out.

You understood, work was work after all, but your mood dampened when you realized that meant you were eating alone. The few weeks that Hoseok had been living you, the apartment was never purely quiet anymore. There was always something, whether it was Hoseok humming along to a song, or suddenly breaking out into a little dance as he waited for the microwave to finishing cooking whatever he tossed in there. Or those moments when he made these cute little noises and sound effects when he was reading on his phone or watching a video. It was never quiet anymore.

He radiated an energy unlike anyone you knew and being alone in the silent apartment, with only some background music, was strange. And now that you knew it was okay to have feelings for him, you were beginning to realize how much you liked him.

After digging around the fridge, you found leftover pizza from the other night, tossed a few slices on a plate and put it in the microwave. While it reheated, you brought out your laptop to work on that essay. Might as well get some work done than nothing.

When eight o’clock rolled around, the essay was finished and submitted. The TV was turned on to an old episode of Friends as you had been camping out on the couch with your textbook, forcing yourself to get through another mind-numbing chapter of Thoreau. It made you miss and want Emerson back. At some point you slipped out of the sweater you had on and into a tank top, letting your hair down for the night.

You sighed though as you forced yourself to stand. After sitting on the couch in the same position for the last couple hours, your legs were starting to grow sore. Time to move around. Your body automatically brought you into the small kitchen, opening up the cabinet to get a mug to make instant coffee. There had been a headache forming from staring at the small text and trying to comprehend the overall message, so you were hoping that a cup of hot coffee would take care of that.

As the hot water poured into your mug, you busied yourself by getting out a plate and the pizza again. It wasn’t much, but you figured that Hoseok would be hungry by the time he got back, so it made sense to get it ready for him. That way all he had to do was sit down and eat.

Hoseok was yawning as he pulled his keys out from his pocket, coming to a stop in front of the apartment door. He was dead tired. The session ran a lot longer than anyone was expecting, but it was worth it in the end. To see all those happy smiling faces on those kids faces, it reminded him of when he first started going to the Dance Studio all those years ago.

He was careful to make sure he shut the front door quietly, not wanting to disturb you were in-case you were in the middle of some paper like you always seemed to be. But when he looked up, he was surprised to see you standing in the kitchen. The familiar scent of coffee caught his attention, and when you didn’t turn to greet him, he figured that you were lost in thought. Another late night of studying apparently.

With a gentle smile and a cute idea, he carefully set his gym bag on the floor, being quiet with his steps as he walked up behind you. The minute his arms wrapped around your stomach, you jumped, placing your hand over your racing heart.

“Hoseok,” you whined, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to even pretend to be mad. Instead, your body instantly relaxed until you were leaning against him, your arms wrapping over his.

A soft growl of approval filled the room, his chest vibrating against your back and unable to help himself, he nuzzled the side of your neck. He took a deep breath of your scent, the strawberry cream washing over his senses and making his fatigue disappear until he couldn’t remember it.

Except, when he took a short breath, he noticed that there was something different about your scent. Something that hadn’t been there before. He frowned; his nose trailing against your neck, inhaling deeply until he reached your ear. With his eyes closed and body pressed against you, he was able to feel the little shudder that ran through your body for a brief second before you softly sighed.

It was when your fingers grazed the back of his hand, hesitantly pulling back before you were able to lace your fingers with his, that it clicked in place. You weren’t moving out of his embrace. In fact, it seemed like you were trying to get closer to him. Hell, he could hear how fast your heart was racing. If this was what he was thinking, he wanted to cry in relief and never let you leave his arms.

There was only one way to prove his theory.

Straightening up, he couldn’t help the smug grin when a soft whine left your lips, turning on your own to see why he had moved away. To you, there had been no indication that he wanted to stop his hug.

“Hobi?” you whispered, glancing down to see that he hadn’t removed his arms from around you. In fact, the second you were facing him, he pulled you even closer, bodies pressed against each other as you looked up at him.

Your breath was coming a little faster, suddenly feeling much warmer when he lifted a hand to brush your hair back behind your ear. His fingers were gentle to the touch, reminding you of water ripples when a stone was tossed into a river as he caressed your cheek. Without even thinking you leaned into his touch, eyes closing as this time, you slid your hand over his arm until you were holding his hand, finally lacing your fingers together with his.

He felt like he died and went to heaven.

Ever since that talk with Namjoon, he had thought it was going to take much longer to get you to see him as more than just a best friend. Guess he were wrong about that. “Open your eyes,” he gently requested, stroking your cheek with his thumb to coax you in case you resisted; he wanted to see those beautiful eyes of yours.

There was no resistance on your part though, complying immediately. You found yourself gazing up into Hoseok’s brown eyes, his lips softening into a smile that took your breath away. He was always handsome, that was a given from the first day the two of you met, but this time, it was like you were finally seeing him as the man he’s always been. In those hours that you had the apartment to yourself, you had realized how much your feelings for him had changed. While you loved your friendship with Hoseok, you wanted so much more with him.

He stroked your cheek once more, lowering his face to place a sweet kiss on your forehead, his eyes closing and his lips lingering on your skin. Scaring you away was the last thing he wanted, but this was the only way to figure out if you loved him the same way he loved you.

Despite him asking you to keep your eyes opened, you closed them again, a small smile appearing when his lips trailed their way down your temples to your cheeks where he kissed you again. All the while he gently moved his hand to rest on the back of your neck. When he rubbed the tip of his nose against yours, you softly giggled and if you had opened your eyes, you would have seen his smile that made his lips look like a heart.

Then without warning, he tilted his head and kissed you.

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dollophead-merlin · 5 years

Text

As Gentle As a snowflake

As the years following Arthur's death passed, Merlin found himself returning to Camelot less and less, really only going for weddings and funerals. The most recent death had been Gwen. Leon and Gwen had wed fifty years prior, when Arthur died to hopefully bare an heir to the throne which, thankfully, they did. All of the knights of the round table were long gone save for Leon.

When Merlin walked through the large wooden doors to the throne room where the service had been held, he looked around to look for any familiar faces to which he failed to find. However, in front of Gwen's casket, he saw a man with dark, curly hair and the same crown that Arthur wore, along with what seemed to him to be a familiar head of shoulder length hair.

He walked up to his old friend's casket.

"I will miss you dearly, old friend." Merlin muttered as he looked over the jewel studded casket.

Leon looked up to see the face of an old friend.

"Merlin?" Leon was astounded. He looked as if he hadn't aged a bit since that horrendous day. Then again, neither did he.

"Sir Leon." Merlin smiled. Like himself, he had looked as if he hadn't aged a day. The other man finally looked up.

"Father?" He asked, puzzled.

"I'll be right back, Tom, I need to speak with an old friend for a minute." The young man bowed his head again, mourning the loss of his mother.

The two of them moved off to the side of the room to speak a little bit more privately.

"Merlin? How are you? You look as if you haven't aged a day." Merlin flashed a ghost of his signature grin, desperately trying to be cheerful but miserably failing.

"I could say the same for you, old friend." The two of them talked for quite some time, with Leon telling him about a sorceress who cursed his family so their firstborn (who just so happens to be Leon) lives to be immortal and about his son Tom and the great king he's become and Merlin telling Leon himself about his magic (of course, Gwen had told him about it and over time, he had come to accept it and even lift the ban as his last act as King of Camelot) and his immortality (because apparently Emrys means immortal in some language? Merlin doesn't know either) as well.

They talked for hours but alas, Merlin couldn't stay in Camelot long. Before he left, however, Leon made him promise to keep in touch throughout the years.

And so they did. At first they'd meet up in a tavern or take a picnic deep in the woods every few centuries, which after a few centuries turned into every century which in turn turned into every fifty years. Before they knew it, they were seeing each other almost every day and found themselves catching feelings and soon falling absolutely head over heels in love with one another.

Merlin always found himself dreading Christmas time. Whilst he loved Christmas itself, an empty, black void filled his entire being, despite Leon constantly supporting and cheering him up. The two men could both agree he had adopted healthy ways of dealing with his past, despite it being thousands of years ago. However, Merlin still broke down and had depressive episodes from time to time. Leon was there through it all.

The two of them cuddled comfortably on the couch, a multitude of blankets piled up on them as they watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

"Merls, I need to go make more popcorn." Leon said while poking Merlin's butt playfully.

"Mmmnh, you're so warm." Merlin said as he got up, pulling a blanket up with him and wrapping it around him.

Leon popped some popcorn in the microwave before sitting on a bar chair.

"Come here love." He said as he held his arms out. Merlin sat himself facing Leon and snuggled into his neck. "You've been awfully cuddly lately, you doing alright, snowflake?"

Merlin shrugged lazily and wrapped his arms around Leon's waist as he felt his chin twitch and tremble.

"Look at me sweetheart," Merlin looked up with tear-glossed eyes, "Awww, honey, please, tell me about it."

"What's the point? It's always the same thing." He sobbed, leaning back into Leon's shoulder who, in turn, wrapped his arms around his love.

"I know, I know. Just get it out my love. Do you want to go back to the couch?" Merlin nodded into his shoulder and readjusted so he was straddling his waist. From there, he easily picked Merlin up and slowly took him to the couch.

Leon sat the two of them down and covered them up with the blankets before rubbing Merlin's back and peppering his neck and shoulders with light, gentle kisses as he sobbed.

"It hurts Leon, it hurts so much and I can't stop it." Merlin whimpered weakly.

"I know, baby. One day it won't hurt as much. I promise. You will always have me."

"I love you Leon." Merlin muttered sleepily.

"I love you too, my beautiful prince. Get some sleep. I'll be right here when you wake up." Merlin muttered a small "mhm" before settling nuzzling back into the crook of Leon's neck.

For the next few hours, Leon dare not move for fear of waking his beloved. He flipped through various Christmas movies to pass the time.

This is going to be Merlin's best Christmas yet. Leon thought after carding through a mental list of the presents he had gotten Merlin. He began peppering kisses all over Merlin's exposed shoulder and toying at the hair at the base of his neck when he pressed himself further into Leon's chest and heavily and contentiously sighed in his sleep.

Then, it started to snow. Leon knew how much Merlin loved snow. In fact, he loved it so much that he'd be absolutely devastated that he'd missed the chance to go outside and enjoy it with Leon.

"Merls. Merlin!" He whispered as to not startle him awake. Merlin awoke with a yawn, stretching soon thereafter. He looked up sleepily to see Leon smiling down at him, causing him to blush and look back down. "Look Merlin, it's snowing!" His eyes brightened and a smile appeared on his face at the mention of snow. "Let's get dressed and make some hot chocolate so we can go out."

After a long afternoon of playing in the snow, making snow cream, and making loads of cookies and sweets for the neighborhood kids, they decided to put out their presents. For the next morning and go to bed.

The next morning, Leon woke up as excited as, well, a kid on Christmas.

"Merlin! Merlin!" He whispered, barely able to contain his excitement. Merlin woke up rather quickly and chuckled at his boyfriend's antics as he pulled him down the stairs and into the living room.

They opened presents rather quickly and soon enough, all of the presents were unwrapped.

"Leon... This is.. How did you... What?" Merlin said while looking at his presents that ranged from necklaces and bracelets made with various leathers, chords, and decorated with little metal dragon and dagger charms, which Leon knew Merlin would adore, to soft, new blankets, to somehow even a few of his old tunics, his red neckerchief, his jacket, and even a few of his old spell books and some of Gaius' trinkets. He was on the verge of tears. "Thank you, so much Leon. I love it all."

"One moment, I have one more thing I want to give you." He hopped up and raced out of the room as if Christmas hadn't even started yet, nearly slipping as her rounded the corner.

When he came back into the room, Leon was carrying the biggest gift box Merlin had ever seen. He set it on the floor gently, letting Merlin creep up to it. He unwrapped and opened the box to find... Another wrapped box

"Seriously?" He chuckled as he arched his eyebrow at Leon.

"Keep going."

So he did just that. The next obstacle he ran into was having to search for the next box in a box full of confetti. When he found the box, it was completely covered in zip ties which was followed by tape. When he finally got that off, he took what seemed to be the final box out of that box, as it was plainly wrapped.

"Here let me get that for you." Leon said while reaching for the box.

"Wow, couldn't have said that when I found the box covered in zip ties?" Merlin chuckled to which Leon just shrugged.

"Now, before I open this, you have to close you eyes. And absolutely no peeking actually, better yet..." Leon said, grabbing a dishcloth and tying it around Merlin's head and turned him around. "Can you see?"

"No."

Leon unwrapped the box and got ready to reveal his final gift.

"... Turn around."

Merlin turned around, not knowing Leon meant 'take off the blindfold' as well, making Leon snicker.

"Take the blindfold off as well." He said with a grin.

"Oh." Merlin said, taking the blindfold off and opening his eyes. He blinked a bit before looking down at Leon. The sight before him brought tears to his eyes. "Leon..."

Leon was knelt down with a black velvet box propped open to reveal a beautiful diamond ring; a thick black band with a beautiful white diamond embedded into the band.

"Merlin Hunithson, when we met all those centuries ago, all I knew you as was a very loyal, happy manservant who wasn't afraid of speaking his mind to the king. However, as I got to know you, I realized you are so much more than that. You are incredibly kind, loving, caring. You do what you know is right. You enjoy the little things like a simple butterfly dancing through the spring air or watching leaves fall during the autumn afternoons, or even watching snow fall and the utter devastation you feel when you realize you missed it. I realized you are perfect in my eyes and I fell in love with you. At first, the older side of me tried to push those feelings away. As we lived on, I realized that those times are over and I should enjoy what I have in front of me, and it's the reason I am here with you, right now, on one knee. Merlin Emrys Hunithson, will you marry me?"

"Yes." Merlin whispered, letting tears stream down his face while he nodded his head vigorously and knelt down in front of Leon.

After quite a while, Leon wrapped Merlin up in a blanket, picked him up, and sat down on the couch, holding his now fiancee close.

"I love you so much Leon."

"I love you more than you can possibly know, my gentle little snowflake."

Wow talk about a sickeningly fluffy story am I right? Anyway, hope you enjoyed!

#merlin #leon x merlin #bbc merlin au #bbc merlin fluff #Leon's immortal au #post canon era Merlin #bbc leon

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dat-fandom-losertown · 5 years

Text

The Drift Between Us

•◊•◊•◊•◊•

Chapter 7: Celebration

•◊•◊•◊•◊•

Hank Anderson x Connor and Gavin Reed x RK900 (Ritch)

Pacific Rim AU

Warnings: Alcohol, Drunkenness (they’re just chillin’ with some drinks)

Word Count: 8,129

•◊•◊•◊•◊•

Previous <> Masterlist <> Next

•◊•◊•◊•◊•

Connor is just leaving the office area with Ritch right at his heels when someone suddenly pops up from around the corner. Connor jerks into something resembling a fight stance, then just as quickly relaxes with a huge sigh and small smile. It’s just Simon. The blond smiles apologetically, while the rest of the crew starts standing up after leaning up against the wall behind him.

“Well? What’s the news? Are you staying or going?” North asks impatiently.

“We’re staying.” Ritch informs in a tone he hasn’t heard in a while. When Connor turns to look at him, his twin has a small smile and a light in his eyes that he thought Amanda successfully destroyed long ago; one of content and relief.

The four trainees all cheer at once, and Simon hops over to hug Ritch in one arm and Connor in the other. Connor short-circuits for a moment, but Ritch immediately gives a gentle hug back. Before he can copy his twin, though, Simon is letting go and Markus is taking his place, leading them away with one arm over each of their shoulders.

“This is a cause for celebration!” He calls, making both twins cringe at the volume right by their ears.

“Yeah! We already have people bringing drinks and snacks to Simon’s and Markus’ bunker!” North cheers.

That catches Connor’s attention. “Drinks? As in, alcoholic drinks? Aren’t those prohibited?”

“Maybe for pilots they are, but not for us normal people and trainees, it’s only looked down upon!”

Josh elaborates a bit further. “Technically we’re not supposed to get drunk, but I’ve been getting close with some of the people who work in the lab downstairs, and they’re all allowed to have drinks every now and then, or they can do this weird petition thing to get a larger supply if there’s some kind of thing they’re celebrating. I just asked a couple of them if they could get one going so we could have a few drinks tonight.”

“You were that confident we were going to stay?” Ritch asks.

“Eh,” Markus says unsurely, “We figured you probably wouldn’t be sent off, not with how perfect you guys are for this job, but could’ve been a sending off party if things went downhill. Now stop asking questions and let's get back to our bunker!”

Markus then unloops his arms from their shoulders and sets off at a faster pace. Connor and Ritch quickly catch up to him. It doesn’t take too long to make it to Simon’s and Markus’ bunker, and when they do, there’s two other people waiting in front of it. One look at Ritch proves that he doesn’t know who these people are either, but they’re holding drinks, so they must be Josh’s scientist contacts.

“Did you guys bring any snacks?” The tanned woman waiting calls amicably.

Simon shakes his head, “No, the cafeteria was completely closed, and no one was willing to donate to our cause.”

The woman shakes her head with a sarcastic frown, “The greedy fucks.” She smiles, “Lets get all of this inside, then, shall we? I don’t want Hank or someone coming around the corner and seeing this.” She lifts up four bottles of amber-colored alcohol.

“Why not?” Connor didn’t mean to ask out loud because he has a feeling why she would say that, but there’s no taking it back now.

“Because this is his favorite stuff.” She walks through the door that’s been opened by Simon, “He used to always try to leech this off of me until what’s-his-face came along and was happy to give up his small ration. And now he’s on complete prohibition by the orders of the Marshal.” She sets them on the desk connected to the wall. “Honestly, it took him long enough.”

Connor simply nods and makes a note of the brand while looking around the room. It’s an exact copy of his and Ritch’s shared room, except Simon and Markus have photos and drawings hung up with sticky-tack and little trinkets and other small souvenirs on the higher shelves, along with plenty of fictional books among their brand new study material.

Where Ritch and Connor decided against paying extra to get the study material, they signed up to bring their own (which was almost free because Amanda had most of the books needed). Most people wouldn’t have that kind of luxury, and it makes Connor almost feel guilty for just a moment, then it goes away just as quickly when he spots a family picture on the shelf. Younger versions of North, Josh, Markus, and Simon are all posing around an older caucasion man in a wheelchair outside under a tree. It’s very nice, and it makes Connor wish he somehow had taken pictures of him and Ritch as they were growing up.

This room makes the twins’ bunker seem empty and lifeless, but Connor doesn’t even know where to start in getting their room to look this lively, besides being cheesy and hanging up Jaeger posters when there’s a loading dock of them in the same building. Maybe he’ll try drawing one of the newer models to hang up if it’s allowed– not that he can draw well, but it’d be a nice challenge on one of his slower, emptier days.

“Let’s get this started!” North suddenly shouts, making everyone cheer and Connor glad that these rooms are pretty much sound proof with all of the metal and concrete everywhere.

Instantly, there’s a bottle and a small cup pushed into his hand. The cup is partially filled with the amber alcohol that that woman, Vanessa apparently, told him was Hank’s supposed favorite. Connor tries a sip of that first and finds it disgusting, plus the burning sensation down his throat is too off-putting for Connor, so he sets it aside. The second bottle is something pink that Simon put in his hand with a wink. A sip of this is like drinking some kind of fruity soda with a certain zip to it. Connor decides he likes it, and grabs the same brand in the four other flavors after reading it barely has 3% alcohol in it versus whatever the hell is in that amber stuff.

A few hours and many, many drinks later, almost everyone is some degree of drunk and has split off into two groups. Markus turns out to be very tactile when he’s drunk, and is currently cuddling Simon while the blond and North are giggling about anything and everything over where they’re sitting on the floor in the corner of the room. Josh is sitting on the lower bunk, gushing about something he can’t understand to Vanessa and Riley, and Ritch seems to be following along well enough from where he’s sitting calmly on the ground. It makes sense. Ritch was always more into the tech and psychology side of science, and Connor was more interested in biology and first aid. Neither of them really loved science, but those were their preferred types when they had to choose one for schooling.

Connor gets up from where he’s leaning against the desk with all of the drinks. Over the past few hours, he started a game with himself; how many bottles can he hide somewhere on himself before someone notices. It slowly grew more challenging the more bottles he was stashing away, and he almost got caught twice, but now he has a total 13 bottles of different-colored wine coolers stashed in the fluffy jacket he’s wearing (everyone got hot and lowered the thermostat, so Connor was given Markus’ jacket to keep warm after refusing to drink the beer and whiskey to keep warm) and in various pockets of his cargo pants, and everyone is too drunk and/or preoccupied to notice him taking a 14th one.

Well, Ritch might be noticing him, but if he has, he’s made no move to stop him. He’d like to think that his brother has secretly joined in on this little game, or made his own in some way. It’s more likely that he just doesn’t care what Connor’s doing, though, and he tries to tell himself that it’s perfectly alright. It actually kind of works, this time.

The point is, this was all fun earlier when people could still talk, but were stupid and loose enough to do and say ridiculous things. Now, though, he’s the only one sober enough to walk in a straight line (except for Ritch, who only choked down a beer or two after deciding wine coolers are too sweet for him), and everyone else is too shit-faced (North’s words from earlier) to properly hold a conversation.

There were four bottles of whisky and two large packs of beer and a thing of wine coolers when this all started, so Connor’s a bit worried that, between six people, there is only half a bottle of whiskey and a six spare beers left (not including the 13 wine coolers poorly hidden on himself). That whiskey is supposedly strong, and he has absolutely no clue how much alcohol an adult body can take before bad things start to happen– he mainly learned about injuries, not drunkenness or illnesses. He doesn’t really trust North around this stuff, since she looks the closest to going into a coma and had been going back for more drinks more frequently than anyone else.

With that, a sudden idea pops into his head.

He still needs to thank Mr. Anderson for talking to Marshal Fowler and for everything else he’s done for him, and if what Vanessa said earlier is true, then he won’t be able to get access to any alcohol for a long while, if ever. Connor may not know much about anything outside of injuries, but he does know that completely cutting someone off suddenly when they have a drinking addiction as strong as Mr. Anderson’s is not good. It can lead to worse things, and he doubts he’ll stop drinking just because of the threat of not getting anymore. Maybe he’ll slow, but not stop. He’s pretty sure that’s not how it works.

Connor glances at the clock, which glows the numbers “1:07” in bright blue. Although, if this whiskey is really Mr. Anderson’s favorite drink, then he shouldn't mind if Connor brings it over this late– or this early– as a quick thank you, especially so if he isn’t supposed to have this kind of thing anymore. Connor knows this isn’t a good idea, but quite frankly, he trusts Mr. Anderson with it more than North at this point. He at least should know how to handle his drinking so he doesn’t immediately die from alcohol poisoning, and Connor wouldn’t be surprised if she already has poisoning to a certain degree.

Now that he’s finally convinced himself that this is, indeed, what he wants to do, he carefully unloads some of his bottles of wine coolers (he wants to bring some back to his bunker to put in his and Ritch’s mini-fridge because they’re delicious in smaller, occasional doses). That makes just enough room for the several beers he stashes in their place. It takes just over fifteen minutes of shuffling so he isn’t being completely obvious, but no one seems to have noticed yet, not even Ritch, who’d surely be giving him a very strange look by now if he did.

Now the trick he wants to use for the whisky bottle (shove it in a pillowcase with a pillow and carry it just right, so it looks like it’s just the pillow he’s holding) won’t work because everyone is hoarding the pillows, and the bottle is a bit too square-shaped for that. He can’t even use the balled-up-blanket trick because the only two in the room are occupied as well. Hiding it under his jacket would make the whisky bottle clink against the beer and wine cooler ones, and there’s no way to keep it up in his jacket and look natural at the same time, anyway.

Unless it didn’t need to look completely natural.

All it would take to get it out of the room is tucking it under his jacket, and who is going to be walking down the bunker halls this late at night (early in the morning?)? Connor highly doubts that there are guards stationed in a hallway filled with people whose entire job is batting and killing giant aliens that destroy cities for fun. The only other people he could think of that could be out at this time are people working the night shifts, and he doubts anyone focused on their own job will notice or care that he has a bottle in his hand, even less so if the label is covered by something to make it less obvious that it’s alcohol and not some kind of juice or tea.

Therefore, Connor looks around to make sure that no one is watching– Josh and Ritch are still talking quietly, but Riley is asleep and Vanessa looks about there too, with Markus, Simon, and North following her close behind– then takes three napkins and the bottle and shoves it all under his jacket carefully. He takes two experimental steps towards Ritch both to test how loud the bottles are and to tell his brother that he plans to leave. There’s minimal noise as long as he shuffles “tiredly” rather than taking actual steps. He stops right by Ritch, who looks up questioningly at him.

“I’m gonna head to bed. It’s getting late for me.”

Ritch nods, “Alright. I planned on leaving soon as well. I want to get everyone situated and comfortable before I do.”

Connor nods a single time, then turns and leaves silently. He keeps his arms curled around himself as if he was still cold despite the jacket as he opens the door. Again, if Ritch has noticed anything, which he must have by now, then he doesn’t say anything. Connor keeps his arms like that until he decides the coast is clear, then pulls out the bottle and napkins, loosely wrapping the napkins around it and holding the covered bottle like he would any old water bottle.

He passes his own bunker on the way to Mr. Anderson’s, but decides against going inside to drop off his wine coolers. Even though less bottles would allow him to move more naturally, the time it would take to dig them out and put them away isn’t worth it, since he’s to get back before Ritch does. He moves on a bit quicker at the reminder of his self-set time restraint.

While Connor hopes that Mr. Anderson is still up, he knows the chances of that are rather low. As he approaches his lunch companion’s door, he realizes he needs to come up with some kind of plan of where to keep this stash if the retired pilot won’t wake up or won’t let him inside to unload everything. He doesn’t want Ritch to know about this any more than he probably already does, after all.

He quickly decides that he’ll put the alcohol under his own blanket. His reasoning is that the mini-fridge is out of the question for anything except for his own colorful alcohol because there’s just no room in the ridiculously tiny thing. Plus, because Connor is on the top bunk, it would be difficult to see unless someone climbs up there, and no one would do that, especially not between now and lunch. No one has even been in their room before, not unless Ritch brought someone in there without his knowledge, but he’s more protective of their space than Connor is, so that’s very unlikely.

As Connor raises his hand to knock, Connor realizes what it may look like for someone to knock on the known-alcoholic’s door in the middle of the night with a covered bottle in hand. He quickly tucks the whisky bottle under his jacket carefully and hugs his left arm to his chest to pin it in place as he finally knocks.

He waits a few moments for any sign that Mr. Anderson is up, then knocks again, this time more firmly. When there’s still no response, Connor turns to go back to his room. He doesn’t want to wake him up if he’s still asleep, after al. He pulls out and readjusts the bottle and napkins in his hand so it doesn’t slip from his grip and keeps his stride at a tired shuffle. He makes it five steps before the sound of a door opening stops him in his tracks.

“Connor? What the fuck are you doing? It is 1:30 in the morning.”

He spins around as quickly as he’s silently able to with all the bottles tucked into his waistband. It ends up not being very fast.

“May I talk to you? Inside?” he asks boldly. He notes the other’s disheveled appearance, with the stained shirt and holey sweatpants.

“Fuckin’– What?” he shakes his head incredulously. “Could this not wait until a decent time to be awake? Why now in the middle of the night?”

“I just wanted to give you something as my thanks, and I’d rather do it without people around to poke their noses into it.” he replies genuinely, “But I guess it can wait until after lunch–”

“Wait a minute.” he interrupts, “What do you mean, ‘give me something as a thanks’? A thanks for what? And why would people not mind their own businesses?”

“I mean, I’m sure they would, but I’d still rather not talk about this in the middle of the hall.” He swings the whiskey bottle in his hand, hoping the other man will figure it out on his own. If the way Mr. Anderson tracks the movement with his eyes says anything, he definitely did.

“Fuck’s sake, get in here.” He turns and disappears behind the door, leaving it open behind him. Connor hears him mutter “not like I was actually sleeping anyway…” before he makes a move to enter.

Connor can’t help but notice that the room is cleaner than it was last time he was in here. The top of his desk is empty. There’s only one bottle Connor can spot out in the open, versus the several before. All of the clothes that were once in one large pile are now in two piles and a folded stack, which Connor elects to assume means “unwearable”, “not clean”, and “clean” based off of Mr. Anderson’s habits and normal wardrobe. He carefully shuts the door behind himself and eyes the older man, who’s leaning against the desk tiredly, now. It looks like he quickly ran his fingers through his hair, but he looks more tired despite that.

“You cleaned again.”

He really didn’t mean to say that out loud– hell, he didn’t even mean to say it the last time he was in here–, but Mr. Anderson doesn’t seem as bothered by it as he was before.

“Yea? You gonna say that every time you come in here and I’ve made progress? What about when it gets messy again, hm? ‘Cause I guarantee it will.” he challenges.

Connor just shakes his head calmly with a nervous smile. “If you’ll believe me, I didn’t actually mean to say that out loud. And this isn’t my room, it’s yours, so I don’t see why it’d be any of my business what you do with it beyond keeping potentially harmful bottles off the ground.” He pauses to eye the desk Mr. Anderson is leaning on. “Do you mind if I use your desk for a second?”

It’s a rough topic change, but it’s one that Mr. Anderson takes silently. He simply moves out of the way, overplaying exasperation of having to as he waves to it. Connor nods a silent thanks and walks over, mentally cringing at the feeling of the bottles in his waistband rubbing and clanging together with each step. Apparently his lunch companion couldn’t tell that he was hoarding bottles until now because he’s suddenly extremely interested in what Connor has.

He puts down the whisky first and uncovers it, discarding the napkins on the ground for now. Mr. Anderson is immediately at his side to investigate, obviously surprised to see the brand.

“What the fuck? This is full?” he whispers, then continues the same way as if someone will overhear him if he speaks too loud. “Where the hell d’ya get this? And how?”

“I heard that Marshal Fowler suddenly went from somewhat tolerating your drinking to cutting you off completely,” he answers partially, ever-so-carefully unzipping his jacket so the bottles barely tucked inside the inner pockets don’t slip out and crack or shatter. “And strictly from a medical point of view, it’s not healthy to cut off an addiction like yours like that so suddenly, so I decided to help out as thanks for talking to the marshal about giving me and Ritch a second chance. But don’t expect me to do this again, I was only able to this time because I was at a celebration and everyone was extremely inebriated.”

Once Connor has his jacket unzipped, he slowly pulls out the two beer bottles in the most danger of falling. The one on the left side makes his wine cooler bottle almost fall, so he has to pin it under his left arm so he has time to put the beer in his right hand down and catch it. He then digs out two more beers and sets them down, realizing there’s no good way about unloading Mr. Anderson’s alcohol without making his own fall out.

“Jesus. How many bottles did you take?” He picks up one of the beer bottles, studying the label.

“I had 16 bottles on me, plus the whisky–”

Mr. Anderson’s head snaps to him, “Wait, what?–”

“–and I think the only bottle people will notice missing is the whisky, since there were only four of them and there wasn’t enough room to stash them in the recycling with the beers and wine coolers. Though I doubt they’ll really care or question why there’s only three bottles left in the room.” Connor pulls out the last beer in his jacket pocket, then starts the process of freeing the one in his waistband, which is going to require taking them all out then resizing the belt. “Oh! And the wine coolers are mine, so you can’t have any.”

“I don’t like fruity drinks anyway.” he answers, staring at Connor as if he has a second head or a third leg. Connor ignores this easily, it’s a look he’s very used to, sadly.

He moves to pull out one of the two beer bottles from under his belt and immediately realizes his mistake. The wine-cooler bottles carelessly tucked in the biggest pockets are heavily weighing his pants down, and he doesn’t feel like flashing anyone. With a defeated sigh, he pulls the two bottles from the pockets over his calves (People rarely look down when they have somewhere they need to be, so the chances of someone other than Ritch noticing those two and the two lumps in his nearly-untied boots then commenting on it are lower than people seem to think). He then tries to get the bottle out again, but the three in the back start slipping, but if he tries to keep them from falling, then the bottles in the front will fall.

Realizing how stupid this delema is since it’s his bottles that are about to go down his pants and not anyone else’s, he simply pulls out Anderson’s bottle and lets the rest drop down his pant legs. He tightens up his belt, then removes the two from in his boots and lets the fallen wine coolers in his pant legs slip to the ground unharmed.

“Jesus fucking christ, you actually had 16 bottles tucked away.” Connor looks up and sees Hank shaking his head in disbelief. “How in the fuck did you manage that? Actually, why would you try to do this in the first place?”

“I got bored, and despite what everyone thinks of me, I’m not a rule-following teacher’s pet.” He sits on the ground and starts working on lacing his boots properly. “I just make sure that my ‘crimes’ aren’t serious and are done without anyone noticing.” He finishes tying boots onto his feet, then looks up to smirk up at the ex-pilot. “Like hiding 16 bottles of alcohol in various places and delivering seven of them to someone who’s supposed to not have them.” He starts stuffing the coolers on the ground away in his pockets, not wanting to impose on the other man too much longer.

“And where did you say you got all of this from? A celebration?”

Connor nods and stands up. “Some of my and Ritch’s mutual friends had a small gathering with copious amounts of alcohol because tonight we found out we’re staying!” Connor beams. It feels very strange on his face after so long of being in a tense or panic-like state. “And with the way Marshal Fowler was speaking, it sounds like we’ll be able to graduate as soon as we find partners to pilot with. So that’s what all this is,” he gestures to the bottles, “It’s a thanks for that, because he mentioned in passing that you spoke to him, and he trusts your judgement of people.”

Connor sees Mr. Anderson’s expression of surprise, and doesn’t try to work out if it’s a good or negative type. He just waits patiently, knowing that he’s probably trying to figure out a way to say something. That’s what these lengthy silences meant most of the other times, anyway.

“You do realize that you’ll get in big trouble for this if you’re caught. After all the paperwork stuff and everything.” It’s not the kind of thing Mr. Anderson has to work himself up to say before, but Connor is the last person to push someone for withholding potentially sensitive information or opinions.

“Then it’s a good thing I won’t be,” Connor states confidently, “I may get anxious or uncomfortable with a lot of things, but these past couple of weeks of adjusting to how things work around here are not how I usually am. I’m not normally that fragile or easy to upset. Besides,” he leans on the desk casually, “if there’s anything I’m good at, it’s yoga and stealing food and drinks. I’ve had more than enough practice growing up to feel confident in my abilities to get away with tonight’s heist, Mr. Anderson.”

He stands up straight again before blinking in shock at himself. He just mentioned a detail of his childhood and isn’t affected by it. Hell, now he’s actively thinking about how he and Ritch had to sneak out of the house with stolen money if they ever wanted any kind of junk food and he’s still completely unbothered by the memory. There must be more alcohol in his system than he thought. Just how many wine coolers did he have to drink in order to get loose like this?

“It’s Hank.”

Connor snaps his head up, not knowing when it lowered in the first place. He’s extremely glad all of his bottles are tucked safely away because if he was still holding one, he might have just dropped it on the hard floor.

“I’m sorry?” he asks politely. There’s no way the Mr. Anderson is asking Connor, the annoying kid with the fucked up head, to call him by his first name.

It’s extremely disrespectful to call someone older than you anything other than Miss, Misses, or Mister, even if they’re only older by five years, Amanda’s voice informs in his head.

Never judge a person purely based on their age. Some people, like you, are completely mature despite their age still being a comparatively small number. Some people, like Howard over there, still act like children even though they’re older than me. Treat a person with a careful balance of how they act and what social standards require, the same voice scolds louder.

“Look, if you’re still going to bug me during lunch and dinner, then I’d rather you just call me Hank.” He sighs and looks away. “Having someone like you call me ‘Mr. Anderson’ makes me feel old, and honestly? A little fuckin’ creeped out too. Mister and miss or whatever is reserved for children, and you don’t look like a fuckin’ child to me.”

For the first time in a long while, Connor chooses to ignore Amanda’s irritated voice in his head. He’ll only call him Hank because the other wants him to, and he has a feeling that they’re something he calls “quiet friends”. Friends without stating it and never mentioning as much for one or both people's sake, but still friends nonetheless. But in the end, it doesn’t matter because either way, Connor feels accomplished. He just made his first friend that didn’t tie in to Ritch at all.

Connor realizes too late that he hesitated for a tad too long, so he tries to break the growing tension with a very bad joke.

“Well then, Hank, you can just call me Connor, now. No ‘Mr. Stern’ necessary anymore.”

It takes Mr. And– Hank a second to understand the joke that he never once called Connor by his last name before, then he’s shaking his head at the ceiling with a huff of amusement.

“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

“Most likely. Hopefully it won’t be too painful, though.” Connor smirks.

Hank looks back down with a scowl, but Connor swears he can see mirth in his eyes.

“Just get out of here and go to fucking bed before anyone gets any wrong– or right– ideas.” he nods to the door.

Connor nods and quickly gets to the door. However, he pauses just as he’s about to open it, then turns back to Hank.

“As I said before, I won’t be doing this again and feeding your issue, Hank. I’m just acknowledging that quitting cold turkey like Marshal Fowler wants you to can be dangerous. You still need to work on slowing down with the goal of stopping.” He pauses to see if the ex-pilot has anything to say, which he doesn’t besides a sigh. “Good night, Hank. If, uh, you ever really need sleep one night, I’d be willing to give you some of the oil that allowed me to sleep for two days during my mood dip.”

Was that only last week? Or was it the week before?

“Thank you, Connor. I may take you up on that.” He sounds surprisingly genuine, and the trainee can’t stop the small smile from appearing. “Now get out of here before I decide to hate you again.”

He nods quickly, not bothering to hide his elation that Hank basically admitted that he likes him, and opens the door. “I hope your night gets better.” he says as he shuts the door.

Ritch is already in bed by the time he makes it back, but he doesn’t question Connor about his whereabouts. That means he probably knows exactly what he was doing and confirms Connor’s assumptions that he knew about the hidden alcohol bottles. Oh well; Ritch probably isn’t too put off by it since he never said anything despite obviously holding off sleep until he got back. They both sleep soundly that night.

The next morning, Connor is in the training area doing his morning stretches with Ritch at his side when he sees the Jericho Squad walk in, very obviously hungover. Simon and Josh don’t look as bad, but North is in the worst shape, unsurprisingly. She squints against the lights of the room and stumbles directly behind Markus, who doesn’t appear to be miserable, but also isn’t smiling and chatting along with Josh and Simon like he usually does. North suddenly turns her head and immediately spots Connor.

“How the fuck are you two not miserable?” she shouts across the room.

She opens her mouth to probably yell again, but Connor quickly stands up from his spot in the corner and moves over to their group so they won’t call anymore unnecessary attention to themselves. He doesn’t hear echoing footsteps behind him, so Ritch must have stayed behind to properly finish his stretches.

“I’m not miserable because I kept my drinking under control.” He answers quietly as soon as he’s close enough to. “Besides, once you’re jaeger pilots, excessive drinking isn’t allowed anymore, so you guys should start practicing prohibition.” Connor scolds in a teasing tone.

“Well,” Simon begins, “lucky for us, we aren’t actually pilots. Only trainees, so we can do what we want for now.”

“But Ritch and I probably will be as soon as we find suitable partners, so I don’t expect us to–” Connor’s teasing is interrupted by North.

“Woah, woah woah woah. You mean to tell me that not only are you guys sticking around, but you’re graduating early too? And you didn’t even tell us? How skilled are you exactly? What the hell...”

Connor thought someone who is this hungover would be quieter.

“Did Ritch not tell any of you last night?” Everyone shakes their head. “Oh... Huh. Well, as soon as we retake evaluations and find partners, we’ll probably be graduating and moving on as pilots.” Connor pauses, “I think that’s kind of a problem, though, because as far as I know, there’s only one more jaeger, and by regulation, each pair needs their own in case of an emergency where every available pilot is needed–”

“Wow, yup. Already boring me.” North bluntly states.

Connor makes a mental note to not talk about jaegers and regulations while she’s around. It’s odd that she wants to be a jaeger pilot but doesn’t want to hear anything about the jaegers. Maybe that’s part of the reason the passing rate of this training is so low? Some have the skills and drive to fight kaijus, but not enough desire to keep up with the less exciting things (if putting one’s life in danger by fighting ginormous aliens can even be considered “exciting”).

“North!” Markus chides, ”Just because you hate memorizing all of this stuff doesn’t mean everyone does. Leave him be! Besides, you’re gonna have to know all of it if you actually wanna fight kaijus.”

“Connor’s right, you know.” Ritch’s voice points out from behind him suddenly. “About everything. I don’t know what Fowler plans to do with two possible new pairs and only one known jaeger, unless he has some prototypes hidden up his sleeve, but those would have to be in testing stages now, not available for pilots to use quite yet.” He crosses his arms and looks to the side, a tell that Ritch is thinking through something carefully. “The only thing I can think of is that he has one that’s almost out of testing that we just haven’t heard of yet for whatever reason. Or he just didn’t want to miss a chance having at least two more pilots around here and compromised with whoever about this, despite only having one available jaeger.”

Josh nods, shifting his weight onto his other leg, “I think it’s more the second reason than the first. There haven’t been nearly as many people looking to be jaeger pilots since the propaganda stopped standing a chance against the horror stories on the internet and news.”

Everyone silently nods their agreement.

“Either way,” Connor begins, “I don’t actually know how often we’ll see each other outside of meals now. With us having to redo our evaluations and partner hunting and stuff.”

“I doubt they’ll keep us out of the class, Connor.” Ritch doesn’t bother to turn to look at him like he would with someone else, knowing he wouldn’t be put off by it. “I don’t know if we’ll still be top of the class, since we’ll likely be overqualified for what stage everyone here is at, but I don’t see why Luther and Chloe wouldn’t let us stay and help, even if it isn’t your favorite thing to do.”

Connor shakes his head with a shrug, “It really isn’t. I don’t like leadership roles like you do.”

Ritch nods. Connor has a feeling they’re both thinking about how Amanda didn’t mind this particular dynamic between them, even though it took a bit of time for her to warm up to it. Before Connor can get too wrapped up in his head, North snaps him out of it.

“So you gonna show us what you can really do today, since you were supposedly holding last time? Which I still don’t believe, by the way.” she challenges with a certain glint in her eye that he has grown to dislike.

“No.” he retorts at the same time as Ritch. Everyone goes quiet.

Connor continues quietly, “We weren’t holding back as much as we have with everything else last time. I don’t want to have to do it again and get hurt worse…”

“I agree. I don’t like fighting against Connor.”

“The only things I want to fight are kaijus and assholes.”

“Snobbish, biggoted assholes.” Ritch specifies.

Out of the corner of his eye, Connor spots a few other students entering the training area, so instead of correcting Ritch that he would fight any asshole if they did something to warrant it and have his brother inevitably push back against that, Connor just huffs. Ritch will understand that he means it as a show of disagreement; and he does, if his version of an eye roll is anything to go by.

“Well, I suppose I better go off and try to find some kind of jaeger partner. I’m going to need a lot more time than Ritch because… Well, you all know exactly how I was when we were trying to get to know each other.” Connor smiles genuinely. If there’s one thing he can do right, it’s turn his short-comings into jokes or some form of amusement for himself.

Although, everyone except Ritch smiles awkwardly, so Connor immediately knows that these people don’t really do self-deprecating jokes. Ritch simply frowns sympathetically probably because he already figured out that they don’t use that type of humor, and he takes that as his cue to actually leave. Before he can turn to leave, however, Chloe shouts Connor’s and Ritch’s names. When they look to her, she waves them over with a smile. They say a quick goodbye to the group as they calmly walk over. Connor is painfully aware of all the silent attention they’re getting.

“Just as Marshal Fowler said yesterday, you need to start reevaluations today. Would you prefer to do them over in the gym, or in here? I can’t promise we’ll have the gym to ourselves, but it may be less crowded than in here.”

He looks to Ritch, who gives him a sort of curious look. It’s up to Connor, then. He turns back to Chloe and shrugs with a polite smile.

“I guess in here is fine. It seems more convenient than going all the way there then back again in a few hours.”

“Are we going to have to do the combat evaluations again?” Ritch cuts in, “Because I will not fight against Connor again if that’s the case.”

Chloe blinks, her features turning into a careful balance of blank and attentive. She blinks again when neither Ritch or Connor expand on the request.

“Did you hold back that much the first time?” she half-jokes lightly, but he sees the slight concern in her eyes.

The only responses she gets for several moments are Ritch’s shoulders tensing and Connor looking away nervously. Although, it’s obvious she’s waiting for some kind of verbal confirmation.

Ritch sighs and finally answers quietly, “It’s dangerous for us to not hold back when we’re not fighting to kill.”

Connor only nods solemnly in agreement.

Chloe takes a deep breath before speaking, “Okay then, you won’t have to do that over again.” She flips through her clipboard of papers and marks something down quickly, “So let’s skip to flexibility, okay? Go ahead and line up against the wall.” She nods her head to the area next to the doorway where some basic equipment is.

They go through the basic stretches. For the sit and reach, they use the block, adjusting the measurements to their size, and start with both legs on it, then just one at a time with the other bent. Ritch does above average, and Connor does extremely well if Chloe’s expression means anything.

Next is the v-sit, so Chloe has Ritch put his feet against the wall and lean forward down the middle, then lean to each side. It turns out that he’s a bit more flexible on his right side than left for whatever reason. He’s then told to bend to the middle and touch his toes, which he does relatively easily. When Connor starts, he foregoes the wall, despite the confused look Chloe gives him, and lets Ritch hold his feet in place while he leans forward. He can almost put his forehead on the floor, and when leaning to either side, he lightly rests it on his knees. Chloe starts marking on her clipboard again, and Connor has to ignore the numerous stares he feels from the other side of the room.

The rest of the stretches go similarly. Next they stand and touch their toes (Ritch manages to do so, but Connor is able to put his palms flat on the floor and bends his arms), then they move on to the butterfly stretch, calf flexibility test (they both pass this one with flying colors), side bending, and trunk rolls (this is the easiest one for both of them). Before they know it, almost an hour and a half has gone by and they’re done with their official stretches.

“Hey guys,” Chloe calls the twin’s attention quietly. She continues when both of them look at her. “Do you mind if I do just a couple more stretches? We did the same thing for North and Traci. It’s to see if we should start designing a jaeger that has more rotation and flexibility for our more bendy pilots.”

Connor looks to Ritch, who answers. “Sure, whatever you need.”

She smiles. “Can you do some lunges?”

They both nod and get into position and hold it easily. Chloe marks something in her book before she tells them to sit on the ground and spread their legs as far as they can go. Ritch raises an eyebrow at Connor for whatever reason before attempting to do the splits. Connor easily does it, then holds the position as he puts his chest to the ground, then sits back up. When Ritch gets up to shift the direction of his legs, leaning into something close to a lunge, Connor doesn’t get completely up, instead just sitting then shifting his legs over. He leans forward towards his knee then, too, just as he taught himself, then sits up, torso perpendicular to the ground and his legs.

“Surprising,” Chloe states in a praising tone, jotting something else down on her clipboard.

Ritch gets up and smirks down at Connor. He can’t stop himself from smiling back a bit as he gets up too. It’s nice to actually be praised for something that he had only gotten huffed at for in the past. Now he’s kind of glad that he missed this evaluation altogether while he was going through his mood dip because he wouldn’t have wanted to hold back. Plus, having to rush off to let the next person go and/or having everyone’s undivided attention on him would make this nerve-racking, even if he would’ve held back.

A sudden wolf whistle from across the room shoves him out of his thoughts.

“Yass Connor!” North yells obnoxiously, gathering most people’s attention to them, “Show ‘em who’s queen!”

“North, why are you like this?” Connor shakes his head, feeling his face heat in embarrassment. That question is better than what he actually wants to ask; are you still somehow drunk?

“Wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t.” She then winks and blows Connor a kiss and a winks, the entire act overplayed and an obvious show of teasing him. Maybe she’s overplaying being okay so people don’t suspect her actual hungover state too much.

Connor just sighs and shakes his head again, watching Ritch as he does his equivalent of an eye roll.

“Alright boys,” Chloe says behind them, “do you want to do stamina and cardio next or strength and weights?”

Ritch and Connor glance at each other, then nod simultaneously.

“We’ll do cardio today since we’re already stretched for it, if we can push strength to tomorrow?” Ritch answers, the end sounding like a question rather than a reply.

Their instructor smiles, “Sure, that works for me! Let’s head over to the gym for the equipment, then.”

The rest of their time before lunch is spent doing various cardio and stamina tests. Most of their time is spent on the treadmills and exercise bikes for sprinting and and different kinds of endurance. Chloe gives nothing away about how well they did this time, and they return to the training area just as the rest of the class is finishing up punching techniques with Luther. They’re all released at the same time to go shower before lunch. Connor and Ritch are told to head to the testing room instead of here when they finish lunch so they can retake their written evaluations.

Connor lets Ritch have a shower first and picks up their room a bit. It’s not really messy, just a few stray clothes in a pile on the ground around the hamper instead of in it, but it gives him a reason to do some very-needed organization in their desk drawers. He spots his journal in the third drawer and suddenly remembers several things from last night and this morning he wanted to write down.

He writes down North’s hatred for regulation and technical talk. He then adds that he thinks Josh will probably transfer over to the science section of this entire operation, and that North may pair up with Traci if that’s the case and she’s not let go for her lack of interest. He notes that Traci used to be a dancer and is ranked at least third in their class, if not first or second, so she may be a good partner candidate. With that, he starts writing down everyone’s personality and the likelihood that they’ll leave or their partner will leave, and the probability of them leaving if their partner does. He immediately crosses out a bit more than half of the names in the class just from this, knowing he would never work well with them, so he moves on to the active pilots.

He writes that Gavin is much more likely to partner up with Ritch than himself, since they apparently know each other already, and crosses that name off without writing anything about his character down. Pretty much everyone else he knows of has a partner they work well with, and even with insufficient data, he knows that the chances are low to none of them wanting to suddenly switch partners or share.

He makes a quick note of Hank’s favorite whiskey and how Hank used to have a dog and probably still loves it according to Marshal Fowler. He’s finishing jotting down the fact he’s probably Connor’s “quiet friend” while idly wondering if Hank would ever consider getting another dog when Ritch steps out of the bathroom.

“You’re writing in that journal again?” Ritch says almost immediately, crossing his arms.

“Yes, because I’m going to screw up if I don’t, especially now that I need a partner.” He closes his book with a thump.

“Connor, despite what you think, you really don’t need that.” Ritch nods to his journal, sounding softer than usual, and it’s somewhat disconcerting.

“Yeah, I really do. You’re welcome to read through it if you like.” He makes a point of putting it on the desk. “So far it’s just basic temperaments of different people and the probabilities of the other trainees graduating.”

Connor walks past his brother into the bathroom to wash up, reflecting on everything he wrote down, trying to figure out if he missed anything. He doesn’t think he has.

This is going to be a lot harder than I thought, Connor thinks to himself, At least I kind of know what I’m looking for now, though. The only problem now is finding this perfect type of person within the next few weeks…

•◊•◊•◊•◊•

Previous <~> Masterlist <~> Next

•◊•◊•◊•◊•

A/N: Hey guys! I am so so sorry for the huge delay for this chapter. Life decided to creep up on me and bash me over the head with a bat there for a second, plus I wanted to make some kind of art for my new TDBU masterlist, but now you should be getting updates faster from now on! I’m hoping to get back on a weekly or biweekly update schedule because I have a ton of other things I want to write, but I refuse to until I finish one of my WIPs 😂😅 Also, sorry for the ton of Connor POV recently, I promise that next chapter will be more Reed900 action!! And with that, I hope you all have a good day/night! Until the next update!

P.S. I have actually played the bottle game that Connor did. It started at one of my dad’s promotion parties when I was 15, and I wanted to see how many beers I could stash away (I wasn’t going to drink them, yuck) before an adult noticed. My high score is 12, and the only reason it isn’t 14 is because my aunt noticed me retying my boots to secure the bottles in them.

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all-of-the-imagines-for-eve · 5 years

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Forget About It ~ Sweet Pea (Part 4)

A/n: I’m mega enjoying all the feedback on this. I’ve had this idea in my head FOREVER, like when I FIRST made this blog primarily Twilight and Riverdale, which is to say literally the beginning of time lol. I’m so glad that I finally got it written and that you guys like it :)

Warnings: It gets a little heated like twice. Violence. Bullying. Angst. Lots of angst. Depression. Fluff too :)

Word Count: 4252

MASTERLIST

'Cause I feel like a bad joke- walk the tight rope to hold on to you. I gotta know, was it real? Or a love scene, from a bad dream? I don't think, I can forget about it! Gotta know was it real?

Tall Boy didn't get kicked out of the Serpents, even when it got brought up several times. Serpents I wasn't at all close to brought it up. I stood up for him. I brushed it away or waved it down, taking the death glare from my friends every time I did so. Every time they asked I said it didn't matter. He hadn't broken Serpent law because at the time I wasn't official, and they could hate them all they wanted, but if I wouldn't stand against him, they had no case so they should just shut up about it. What they didn't know was that I didn't believe him. I didn't trust him enough to be out of the Serpents, worried he'd run to someone else like the Ghoulies (or maybe someone even worse) in revenge if they did kick him out. So he stayed.

My defending didn't stop Tall Boy talking endless shit about me. In fact, it seemed to fuel it. When I was established as a Serpent better, and people saw how good of a person he was and heard what Tall Boy had tried to do to me, everyone shut him up really fast. Soon he had no one to talk to. But people like Tall Boy didn't seem to be able to sit down and shut up and have any kind of sense or decency. When everyone stopped listening to poison about me, he started talking about Jughead. And he seemed to have a LOT to talk about. After I caught him talking I faced him. "Hey Tall Boy." He turned to face me as I stood from my chair. "I don't like you talking shit about my family."

He scoffed. "Family?" He paused upon seeing me a venomous glare. "Jughead's only half a Serpent. He'll always have his head in the North Side."

My eyebrows rose, a hand going to my hip. "He's proven his loyalty same as the rest of us. What's your complaint? That's he's too nice?" I leaned against the table, palms flat as I leaned forward. "I know you're opposed to anything good, but I think you of all people are really qualified to be able to talk any bad about another Serpent, don't you?" My eyes glinted, and his glare darkened. "One of the biggest reasons you're still here is because I stuck up for you. Don't make me regret it."

From what I'd heard, he'd stopped most of his talking after that. I didn't want him to stop. The pettier and more childish he looked the fewer people would believe him. But I didn't want him talking often, and I definitely didn't want him to get enough balls to actually allow himself to talk shit like that with me so close by. I knew he was doing it to bother me and that is something I just won't tolerate.

Things were going pretty good, though. Sweet Pea and I seemed to be toeing the line. Neither of us would close that last bit of distance. He wouldn't ask me out, and it made me unsure if he just didn't want to. I'd made myself clear, why wasn't he? Despite that though we still cuddled at night, holding each other close and waking up to each other's skin and smell and warmth. At school, everyone saw us as a couple, and I could see it in the way boys avoided looking at me too long, and girls lost interest in Sweet Pea a second after they looked over. We weren't on the market. We were spoken for, taken. It felt that way to me too. We didn't kiss after that first night, but we did flirt a lot more, and we got more touchy and present around each other. Closer and more aware, as if there was a tangible rope or a magnet, drawing not only our bodies together but our attention to each other as well.

As for the others, Fangs and I developed a quick and fun sibling bond. He gave me piggyback rides and messed up my hair and teased me on a daily. In return, I shouted loudly about how single and hot he was to passers-by and moved his things so he would look for them forever before he'd find them. We played little pranks on each other, harmless and brief but absolutely hilarious to us. Toni, likewise, became like my sister. She gossiped to me, getting me caught up on everything I'd missed in the Serpents and even on the South Side in general. Jughead came to me and apologized not soon after our fight but I'd long since forgiven him, and we were back on track, though I was living more with Sweet Pea than anything. No wI was stealing Sweet Pea's shirts instead of Jug's, leaving Betty to take up the practice for me. The small box of clothes I'd started to gather from my friends started when Jug told me to keep the two shirts of his that I absolutely adored, ones he didn't really wear anyway because they were worn and a little small on him. Next was Fangs' flannel he lent me one night when I had only a tank top on from when I'd first come to the South Side and it had been cold. I'd told him that I only had Jug's two shirts when he asked what the holy hell. Was doing out at night in just a tank top and he hadn't hesitated to hand over his flannel, which I thought was the actual cutest and I loved him for it. Toni found out from Fangs the next day that I was short some clothes and immediately took me to her house to see which of her clothes I fit, insisting that she'd wanted to get rid of some clothes anyway. So I got two new pairs of pants, three shirts, a pullover, a zip-up jacket, and two more flannels from her. Seeing everyone else's clothes on me drove Sweet Pea to give me three of his shirts right off the bat, jokingly teasing that those were mine but his closet was open for me just as much. I basically stole another of his jackets and he didn't even question it. My little box made me feel incredibly loved. It was all I had of my life in the South Side as I had never gone back to my house to get anything. The times I'd visited, my father had seen me turn slowly more and more Serpent, telling me that my room was still as I'd left it as if it was waiting for me.

That was the problem though. It was a room that I associated with a person I no longer was. The clothes and bed and things belonged to someone else. I felt like I was invading just going inside, but actually putting on anything from there? No thanks.

Plus my friend' clothes were REALLY comfortable.

In summary, life was good and every day that passed, I was more Serpent. I got my own Serpent jacket and the day came that I was to get my tattoo. I'd been so excited but now, seeing the needle made me want to throw up. It had been about two weeks since my dance and despite my growing confidence, I was outside the tattoo shot, bent over with my hands on my knees and trying not to throw up. Sweet Pea rubbed my back, trying to soothe me. "We can come another day," he assured gently, his tone giving away his disappointment despite his efforts.

Standing tall, I inhaled through my nose and exhaled through my mouth. "I have a fear of needles," I admitted finally. "Every time we come it's going to be like this." I looked at my friends and saw the heartbroken looks on their faces. "I'm still getting the tattoo," I snapped and they tried to cover their expressions from before. I rolled my eyes, putting on my tough girl act. "Seriously I just need you guys to be patient with me."

I went to move toward the store but Sweet Peat caught my shoulder. I looked at him. "If you're not ready..."

My eyebrows rose, a smirk curling on my face. "I'm ready." There was something under my words. Something lighter and flirtier. It was good for me to divert my attention to something less terrifying. It was bad for Sweet Pea though, his hand falling from my ar as he blushed, swallowing. Toni and Fangs cleared their throats, trying not to laugh. "Are you?" He looked away and I swallowed, trying not to hide my disappointment. Every day my flirts got more serious and every day our back and forth lasted less and less time. I moved into the store, getting back in the chair. I'd run out before to get some air but as I sat back down, the tattoo artist came back to his chair.

"You good?" He asked. I nodded. He picked up the needle pen and I closed my eyes, tilting my head away and groaning as my eyes closed.

Fingers traced against my skin and I opened my eyes to see Sweet Pea in a chair he had pulled up next to me, his hand reaching for the one of mine that was limp against my stomach. "I'm right here, okay? Squeeze if t hurts, but keep talking to me. It'll be over before you know it." My eyes widened with adoration and his face softened as well, our eyes locked. I opened my mouth to say something but then the buzzing of the needle started and I tried not to imagine it any bigger than I knew it was. I was already shirtless, wanting my tattoo on my upper chest, just off from my shoulder and below my neck. "Hey, talk to me. I want to hear that pretty voice of yours."

I chuckled, the sound strangled and breathy as I tried to organize my panicked thoughts. "Breathe slower please, I need you to be more still," the tattoo artist said.

"What's your name?" I asked, looking over.

He smiled a little. "Dylan." When I raised my eyebrows he smiled a bit wider. "They used to call me Tracer. You wanna know why?" I nodded and he began talking, his casual tone and friendly smile combined with Sweet Pea's touch doing wonders to make me forget the needle as the buzzing of the needle became simply another noise and the pain was a distant thing in the back of my mind. Dylan was a retired Serpent and as he told me his half hilarious and half epic stories of all the trouble he'd gotten into in his youth, I felt Sweet Pea not holding back. His right thumb went up and down my arm as his left hand held my hand so that my arm was vertical. He kissed my knuckles every time I gasped or flinched or winced or showed any sign of growing or sudden anxiety or strain. When he did, I was instantly calm again.

When Dylan was done, everyone cheered. Fangs messed up my hair and Toni whooped and hollered, offering me my shirt as Dylan pat me on the back and gave me instructions on how to care properly for it. My tattoo was wrapped up and we left. Sweet Pea and I parted with Fangs and Toni, ending up in his trailer.

That's when I lost it. "Oh my GOD Sweets I got a tattoo!" He grinned, laughing so loud and genuinely that his lips parted and his head tilted back. "I'm a Serpent!"

My hands grabbed the lapels of his jacket, pulling him closer in my excitement. We grew quiet as our eyes met and the lacking proximity between us was noticed. I leaned against the wall behind me and he followed my tilt, his hand raising to brace himself so he didn't crush me. His other hand rose to allow his thumb to caress my cheek, his eyes ripping away from mine to roam my face slowly and purposefully. He seemed to be memorizing me. "You've come so far." His voice was soft, his breath falling across my face and making me smile. He seemed to want to say something but was struggling with saying it. "You scare me," he finally choked out. I went to say something after he paused but he cut me off. "You're one of us, I know, but you're... I didn't count on ever meeting someone like you. I hated North Siders until I met you. Until you changed everything. You proved me wrong on everything I thought. You're absolutely amazing." He leaned closer. "You know they're right, you're not a South Sider." My throat shut and my body seized. "But that's okay," he added gently. "Because you still chose us, and you're a Serpent. That's all that matters. And, Y/n, you're the only North Sider I would trust with anything, but also I would trust you with my life. My- my heart."

"Sweets-" My eyes grew wide.

"I don't want you to think that being a North Sider is bad. You're still part of us. You're still a Serpent and that will never change. You're here, no matter where you came from. I need you to know that."

My eyes watered. "Okay." There was a pause. "Do you like me?"

Sweet Pea chuckled breathlessly, his lips quivering as he tried to form words. I frowned. "So much," he breathed. "I like you so much it scares me. Scares me like needles scare you. I've NEVER felt this way about anyone before. I'm really all in it for you and I'm just terrified I'm going to wake up one day and you'll be gone and it'll all just be a dream."

"I'm not going anywhere," I whispered. We were nose to nose now. I hadn' realized he'd been leaning in. "If you're dreaming so am I, and I'm having the same dream."

His nose brushed mine and the moment was so tender and intimate that I inhaled sharply, my eyes fluttering as I tried to keep them open. "When I saw you after Tall Boy... I thought I lost you. The feeling that I felt- it still makes me sick. You started to fill my nightmares, every sleep bringing ugly images of you broken a little bit more. I was a little bit slower. It took us just a little longer to take Tall Boy's goons and get to you. You're pale and cold and I know you're not going to open your eyes again. You're not going to say my name or laugh and I- I've..." His words cut off as he took a shaky breath in and then let it out again. "I can't lose you, okay?"

"You won't lose me," I assured. "And I won't lose you. No matter where you are, I'll always be yours." I swallowed. "You don't scare me. Maybe it's because you make me feel so safe, though. I've ever felt so safe. Archie was always too nice and too good and too unaware. If he wasn't nearby I felt exposed and so I followed him everywhere like a lost puppy. But with you, I walk tall and look people in the eyes. I feel you by my side even when you're gone. You're everything I've ever wanted and more."

Sweet Pea smiled and then his eyes flickered to my lips. He didn’t pause leaning in to kiss me. The room exploded with heat as we collided, first soft but soon passionate. Our kisses grew quicker and then we were suddenly full on making out, his body pressing me against the wall. My hands rose to entangle in his hair and the hand of his that wasn't on my face dropped to my waist, fingers quickly slipping under my shirt and gripping my bare waist. His head tilted, our noses smooshing and we both inhaled deeply to make up for it. The hand on my waist trailed to my back and then down, finding a hold on the back of my thigh. He pulled my leg up his waist, tugging on me. His other hand dropped from my face to move against the back of my other thigh. I jumped up as he went to move me, helping him as he tried to hold me up. He pushed me harder against the wall, his body rolling into mine. I released a stuttering gasp, my fingers pulling on his hair and making him groan softly.

His lips left mine to move to my neck. Yellow and faded purple still decorated my neck from when Tall Boy tried to strangle me what seemed so long ago but really wasn’t. Just two weeks ago. It was almost gone but not quite and as his teeth ran over the skin, I winced, a hiss slipping through my lips. He jerked back, my arms going higher and the skin where my new tattoo was stretching. I gasped, wincing again. “Sorry,” Sweet Pea grunted. He slowly put me down.

“No,” I whined, pulling him into a kiss again. I kissed him hard and he shivered under my touch as one of my hands fell, going under his shirt and pressing against his stomach. His breath caught.

His hand caught my wrist and he leaned back, both of our eyes opening as we looked at each other. “Y/n,” he whispered. I groaned, letting my head fall against the wall. “I want you,” he assured me.

A sigh from me. “Then what?” I asked.

“You’re hurt,” he reminded me. “And, I mean are you really ready?”

Lifting my head, I looked at him. “Yes, Sweet Pea, I am. I want you. I want to be with you. And you keep stopping me.”

His face went red. “What if I’m not ready?”

Oh. I paused, relaxing and looking at him. “Sweets…” He went to ull away from me but I pulled him closer, kissing his cheek softly. “That doesn’t change anything between us. You’re allowed to not be ready. I’m sorry.” I tugged him gently, wanting him to stay with me but giving him the option of leaving if he really wanted. He leaned closer, his forehead pressing against mine. “I…” I swallowed. “I-” I wanted to say I loved him, but it didn’t feel right. Maybe I did, but this wasn’t the moment to say so. “I’m glad we met. And I’m glad I’m here. With you.”

He let out a few breaths that were almost laughter. “Yeah never thought I’d be glad a red-headed psychopath decided to lose his shit on the South Side, but here I am.” We both and he kissed me against, short and sweet and tender. There was a pause and then he whispered, “I want to be with you too. For real. I’m tired of being scared. I want you to be taken, spoken for, and I want people to know.”

My grin was brilliant as I pushed him away so we could see each other. “Sweet Pea are you asking me out?” I teased. He shrugged, smirking, jokingly playing it off like it was nothing. My grin widened and he couldn’t help but follow my lead, smiling just as brilliantly. “I would love to.”

He leaned down suddenly, scooping me up. I shrieked, clinging to him, and he laughed. He walked us to his room and dropped me on the bed. I grabbed a pillow, cursing his name as I chucked it at him, trying to seem mad through my laughter. He kicked off his shoes and crawled in next to me, pulling the blankets over us. I cuddled into him and he held me tightly, pulling me as close as he could. We fell asleep mid-conversation, nodding off while we talked quietly to each other.

Laughter rang out as Sweet Pea juped, bouncing me as I rode on his back. I’d begged and he had finally obliged after I’d given him a kiss. It was in that situation, happy and very much together, that we were found. “Y/n.” I looked over to see Archie and my eyebrow rose. We were at school, he should be too. Why was he here? Sweet Pea, hearing my name and sensing my sudden change in mood, looked over as well. When I attempted to get down, he let me, his hand on my back to lt e know he was there if I needed him. I hadn’t been anxious but if I had been, that alone would have made it disappear.

Moving to my brother, I placed a hand on my hip. “What’s up, Archie?” Archie reached out, his fingers tracing over my nearly gone bruises and my Serpent tattoo, which was out for everyone to see after it had its time to heal. He looked upset and I stepped back, out of his reach. His hand fell and he swallowed.

He met my eyes. “Come on, dad’s waiting for us in the car.” He turned to leave.

My eyes widened. “What?”

Archie turned back to face me, his expression was dark. “Dad heard about you almost getting killed out here and he’s done playing games.” I scoffed and Archie put his hands in the air, palms facing me. “If you don’t believe me, come ask Dad yourself. He’s waiting in the car just like I said. We came to bring you home.”

My shoulders straightened. “I am home.”

Archie glared at me. “Yeah wel,l then we’re bringing you back to the North Side, Serpent.” He spat the word, refusing to call me by my name. It had the same edge to it as when Archie pulled out a gun that first night I met Sweet Pea. The feeling of disowning and letting go. I wasn’t his Y/n anymore, just as he had long since stopped being my Archie. We were different now, twisted and distant. Impossibly far away from each other.

Just as I was about to argue with him, Sweet Pea pulled me behind him. “She isn’t going anywhere.”

Archie immediately grew angrier, stepping up to Sweet Pea even though he was shorter. Toni was on the scene, her small frame sliding between the two huge boys and pushing them apart. “What is going ON here?”

Fangs and Jughead were suddenly at my side. “I’m taking her home.” Four vices rose angrily and he backed up, putting his hands in the air again. “My dad’s orders! There’s nothing any of us can do. She’s fifteen, he’s her legal guardian.” He sighed rubbing his face. “Come on guys…”

Pushing through all my friends, I faced Archie. I turned my back to him, loing at the four people that meant absolutely everything to me. “I can visit okay?” They all looked at me, as hurt as I felt. “I don’t want to start a war ad ruin the little relationships I have left. I’ll just… I’ll find a way.”

Toni was the first to step up. She gave me a hug, telling me to keep my head down. Jughead was next, his hug accompanied by a good luck wish. Fangs’ hug was harder as he whispered that I’d always be welcome back. Sweet Pea was last. I felt Archie’s on me as he took my hands, leaning down so our foreheads touched. There was a pause and it was too quiet. Like there was a wall of glass between us. “I’m sorry,” choked out. “I’m sorry-”

“Hey,” he soothed. “You’re spoken for, so am I. That won’t change. We’ll figure something out, okay?” I nodded. His hand left mine, fingers grazing my tattoo. I smiled. “No matter where you are,” he whispered. He kissed me and even though it was brief, Archie cleared his throat. “I’ll bring your bx if you want.”

Though a little laugh came out, I was crying. “Thank you.” I leaned away, locking eyes with him. “Wherever I am.” It was a promise, and now we’d both made it. I squeezed his hand one last time before I pulled away altogether, pushing past Archie roughly as I made my way to the car. My dad was waiting in the driver’s seat. As I approached our eyes locked and we both waved. He could tell how upset I was- not that it was hard to, since my eyes were red from crying. He motioned to the passenger seat and I took it, closing the door after me. Archie took the backseat without complaint. My dad started the car and it was quiet as I watched South Side High disappear.

Finall,y my father spoke. “You have a new tattoo. How did that happen?”

“Same way it always does. I did the initiation, I got the tattoo.”

He looked at me. “And the bruises?”

I was quiet for a long time. “Don’t blame the Serpents,” I whispered. “Toni, Fangs, Jughead, and Sweet Pea saved my life.”

“Your life wouldn’t have been in danger if you weren’t there,” Archie grumbled.

“Bullshit,” I snapped. My dad jerked in his seat. “The Black Hood is still running around killing people last I heard. The Red Circle didn’t get him?” That shut Archie up.

A few moments passed and my dad sighed. “Okay, look. There’s tension and danger and we’ve all been through a lot. But we’re a family.” I caught Archie’s eyes in the rearview mirror and we both held the same look in our eyes. We had the same parents and even some similar features. We came from the same bloodline and had lived in the same house nearly all our lives. But we weren’t family. I was a Serpent and he was Hiram and Veronica Lodge’s lap dog. We were on complete opposite playing fields. “And we’re going to figure this out,” our dad finished, knocking us out of our glare down. “My best friend was a Serpent. FP Jones himself.” Archie scoffed and I tried not to verbally attack him for the way the look on his face communicated a little too well on how he felt about FP. “Y/n, you’re allowed to be a Serpent, you already did what was necessary. If you wish, you can wear your jacket and even have friends over.” I looked over at him. He returned my look. “But if anything happens under my roof that you at all even think I couldn’t approve of, I will cut you off, do you understand me?” I slowly nodded my head, too relieved to care about what he was insinuating. Drugs? Sex? Fighting? It didn’t matter right now.

“But dad-” Archie began.

Dad shook his head. “I allow you the same freedoms Archie,” he finished. “I don’t want to hear anymore on the issue.” We were silent for the rest of the trip, but I knew what would happen. I’d be locked in a prison. Somewhere that wasn’t mine with people I didn’t really know anymore, who definitely didn’t know me. This was going to be complete Hell.

FTL: @chipster-21 @bitchyseawitch @alexa-playafricabytoto

Story tag list: @reblogserpent

#Sweet Pea #Jordan Connor #Riverdale #South Side Serpents #Serpents #Sweet Pea imagine #sweet pea x reader #jordan connor imagine #jordan connor x reader #riverdale imagine #south side serpents imagine #south side serpents x reader #serpents imagine #serpents x reader

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