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bechloeislegit · 3 years

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Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl - Chapter 1

A/N: First, I'd like to say Happy (Belated) Birthday, malexfaith (the actual day was April 14)! Second, I asked for an idea for a fic for her birthday, and this is one idea she sent me. It was originally going to be a one-shot, but it got away from me. (I hope y'all like it).

Award-winning singer Beca Mitchell has had a rough few months. Her bosses force her to take some time off to get herself together. They send her to a ranch where she meets Chloe Beale. They knew each other when they were children; can they be friends again or will a different kind of relationship develop?

Award-winning singer/songwriter Beca Mitchell stood in front of her two best friends, Stacie Conrad and Cynthia Rose (CR) Adams. The two women currently standing before Beca weren't just her friends; they worked for her. Stacie was her manager, and CR was her publicist.

"I'm not going!" Beca yelled at the two women, stomping her foot like a child.

"You have no choice!" Stacie yelled back. "Do I need to remind you why we are having this discussion in the first place?"

Three Days Earlier. . .

Beca hit the final note, and the crowd started cheering and applauding. Beca smiled out at the crowd as she waved and made her way off the stage.

"Beca! Beca! Beca!" The crowd chanted.

"Encore time, Beca," Stacie said.

"I need some water first," Beca said, trying to catch her breath.

"Here," Cynthia Rose said, handing Beca a bottle of water.

"Thanks," Beca said, chugging down half the bottle.

Beca wiped her face and ran back onto the stage. The band started playing, and the crowd started cheering.

Beca started singing and made her way over to the band. The bass player played a riff, and Beca was getting into it when she suddenly stopped and put a hand to her head. A loud "oh" went up from the crowd as Beca started to fall; the bass player grabbed Beca and eased her down to the ground. Several people came running from backstage.

CR yelled for someone to call 9-1-1 as Stacie hit her knees and grabbed Beca to her.

"Beca?" Stacie called her name as she lightly smacked her cheeks.

Beca did not respond, and Stacie yelled, "Someone call 9-1-1!"

"Already done," CR said as Stacie continued trying to rouse Beca.

An announcement was made asking that everyone leave the building in a calm and peaceful manner. The place emptied out for the most part; there were still a few who made their way close to the stage and stood watching what was happening. Security prevented them from getting onto the stage.

Beca came around about five minutes later, and a small cheer went up from the small crowd. They became quiet again when two EMTs arrived and made their way onto the stage, immediately going over to Beca.

"Want to tell me what happened?" one of the EMTs asked as he started to take Beca's vital signs.

"I'm not really sure," Beca said. "I was singing, and then I felt dizzy. Next thing I know, I'm waking up to this one," she points her thumb toward Stacie, "slapping my face."

"You passed out," Stacie said. "I was trying to wake you up."

"We should take her in so a doctor can check her out," the EMT told Stacie.

"I'll ride with her," Stacie said. "CR, you call Theo and let him know what's happened."

"Got it," CR said.

"I don't think I need to go to the hospital," Beca said.

"I don't care what you think you need, Beca," Stacie said, shaking her head. "I just knew something like this was going to happen."

The EMTs helped Beca up and onto the gurney. They proceeded to fasten the restraints to hold Beca securely. Stacie followed the EMTs out to the ambulance; Beca complained the entire way about not needing to go to the hospital.

"Shut up, Beca," Stacie said. She looked at the EMT and asked, "Is there any way you can knock her out again?"

"I heard that," Beca said.

"You were meant to," Stacie shot back.

Back to the present. . .

"You passed out because you were drunk and dehydrated," Stacie said.

"I didn't do anything!" Beca said, running a hand through her hair.

"Didn't do anything!" Stacie repeated. "Are you drunk right now?"

"Stacie, calm down," CR said. "Yelling at her is not helping anything."

"She is going to ruin us all," Stacie said. "I can't keep doing this with her. We're running out of favors to call in to keep her shenanigans out of the tabloids."

"I know," CR placated. "She just needs to understand that the studio isn't playing around this time."

"This time?" Beca questioned. "What did I supposedly do to make this time so special?"

"Have you totally forgotten the drunken brawl you started?" Stacie asked. "And let's not forget about the threesome thing. You're lucky you're not in jail."

"For what?" Beca asked. "We were in a bar, and they were both being served alcoholic drinks."

"Yeah, well, one of them was only seventeen," Stacie said. "The age of consent in California is eighteen. And don't think because you're a woman, you get a pass. Her parents have every right to have you charged with having sex with a minor. You're lucky they were more upset that the bartender was serving their underage daughter alcohol, or it could have been so much worse for you."

"I can't be blamed for not knowing how old she really was," Beca mumbled.

Stacie rubbed her temples and looked at Beca. "You'd better get your head on straight, or you're done."

"I'm still not going to wherever it is the studio wants to send me," Beca said. "I'm an adult, and they can't make me do anything I don't want to do!"

"Take it easy, Beca," CR said in a calmer voice. "I'm telling you this as your friend. You're under contract, so yes, they can make you do whatever they want you to."

"Wanna bet?" Beca said petulantly. "Tell the studio I don't want to go."

"The studio folks aren't asking you if you want to go," CR said, stepping into Beca's personal space. "They're telling you, you have to go. You need to take some time off to rest and get your head back in the game."

"I don't understand why," Beca said, lowering her voice and taking a step back.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Stacie yelled. "You literally passed out during the encore at your concert because you were drunk, Beca. You're exhausted, and you're making bad decisions; really bad decisions."

"Not to mention the fact that your daddy issues are becoming a PR nightmare," CR added. "I know you were hoping your dad came back it was to make amends . . ."

"I don't want to talk about him," Beca interrupted, crossing her arms and glaring at Stacie and CR.

"Okay, you don't want to talk about your dad; that's fine," CR said. "Let's talk about how the studio is considering canceling your contract and letting you go."

"What?!"

"CR's right," Stacie confirmed. "If you don't take time off, you're done. Fired. No more music. No more VIP treatment. No more one-night stands with your fans. No more making money. Are you ready for that?"

"And, if Khalid fires you," CR said. "Don't count on another studio wanting to sign you."

Beca ran a hand through her hair and stared at Stacie and CR. She let out a loud sigh.

"Fine, I'll go."

"Good," Stacie and CR said simultaneously.

"But. . ."

"But. . . what?" CR asked hesitantly.

"But," Beca said, smirking. "You two have to go with me."

"Not gonna happen," CR immediately stated. "Denise is due in two weeks, so I can't go."

"I'll accept that as a good reason for you not going," Beca said and then turned to look at Stacie. "What about you?"

"I don't want to go," Stacie said.

"If not wanting to go isn't a good enough reason for me not to go," Beca said. "It's not a good enough reason for you either. So, if I don't get a choice in the matter, you don't get a choice. Make sure you tell the studio honchos if you don't go, I don't go, and let's see what happens then."

Beca turned and left the room.

~~ Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl ~~

A week later, Beca and Stacie were on a private jet heading to Denver, Colorado. Beca was sulking as Stacie calmly flipped through a magazine. Neither woman spoke, and they flew in relative silence for close to two hours before Beca broke that silence.

"I can't believe you caved with the studio and are making me do this," Beca huffed. "I thought you were my friend."

"I am your friend," Stacie said, continuing to flip the pages of the magazine. "But, I'm also your manager. I love you, but I love my job more, and I'm not going to do anything to lose you or my job. So, if I have to go to Denver and babysit you, then that's what I'm going to do."

"Why exactly were we going to Denver?" Beca asked. "Is it like a spa retreat or something?"

"Nope," Stacie said, setting her magazine aside while pulling something out of her bag. She held it out toward Beca. "We're going to be spending the next three weeks at a western-style dude ranch."

"A DUDE RANCH?" Beca screeched, causing Stacie to grimace. "Whose bright idea was that?"

"Theo's," Stacie replied with a shrug.

"I should have known," Beca snarled. "That guy never did like me." Beca sighed and asked, "What the fuck am I supposed to do there?"

"You're supposed to rest and relax," Stacie said. "And they run a dry ranch, so there won't be any booze to get you into trouble."

Beca scoffed, and Stacie handed a pamphlet over to Beca.

"Read the brochure if you want to know what you'll be doing," Stacie said.

Beca took the brochure and looked through it.

"The only form of transportation on the ranch is on horseback," Beca read aloud. "The only horses I want to deal with are the ones under a car's hood."

"What part of the only form of transportation is on horseback are you not understanding?" Stacie asked. "Get it through that thick skull of yours; there are no cars, trucks, or other motorized vehicles. Just horses. I'm personally looking forward to riding again."

"Good for you! But there's no way I'm riding one of those beasts," Beca grumbled. "I hate horses."

"Just give it a shot, Beca," Stacie said. "Horses will help calm you; you're supposed to try and relax. And, you could always save a horse and ride a cowboy instead. Or in your case, a cowgirl. But only if she's over eighteen."

"Haha," Beca scoffed. "I get ridden plenty, thank you very much."

"Groupies and one-night stands don't count," Stacie said. "You need to find someone to have an adult, meaningful relationship with."

"Says the woman who calls her vagina a hunter," Beca snorted. "When was the last time you had an adult meaningful relationship?"

"We're not talking about me," Stacie said. "Plus, I'm not under contract, so what I do is nobody's business but my own."

"I'm starting to regret signing a contract," Beca said. "Almost as much as I regret hiring a friend to be my manager."

Stacie shrugged and picked up another magazine. "You know you love me."

"We both know I do," Beca said, sighing. "But would it kill you to let me live my life the way I want to?"

"Probably not," Stacie shrugged. "But, it might kill you and I'm not willing to take that chance. Believe it or not, I actually do like having you around."

Beca was saved from responding as the Captain announced, "Ladies, please fasten your seatbelts. We're making our final approach into Denver and should be landing in about ten minutes."

~~ Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl ~~

A van from the ranch was waiting in the hangar when the jet came to a stop. The pilot opened the door and lowered the stairway. Stacie stepped out first to find a man looking, every bit the cowboy in blue jeans, checkered shirt, boots, and hat, staring up at her from the bottom.

"Miss Mitchell?" the cowboy asked, tipping his hat.

"That's her," Stacie replied and pointed over her shoulder.

Beca gave a small wave over Stacie's shoulder.

"Nice to meet you, ladies," the cowboy said. "My name is Tom and I'll be escorting you to the ranch. I'll get your bags while you make yourselves comfortable in the van."

Stacie got into the van and watched as Beca grabbed two of the bags and placed them in the van herself. Tom grabbed the remaining bags and placed them in the back. Tom opened the driver's door, removed his hat, and situated himself behind the wheel.

"The drive will take about forty-five minutes," Tom said, looking over his shoulder at the two women. "There's water in the cooler behind you. Help yourself."

Tom turned to face the front and started the van.

About an hour later, the van turned off the main road onto a dirt road. Beca sat up and started looking around. Off in the distance, she saw several buildings.

"Looks like something from an old Western movie," Beca said.

"I love the log cabin look," Stacie said, looking around.

"Will we be staying in a log cabin?" Beca asked Tom.

"Sort of," Tom said. "All our guests stay in individual one-room cabins. The main building houses the offices, gym, game room, kitchen, and dining room. Since this is our slow time, you'll both probably be given your own room."

"That actually sounds cool," Beca said.

Stacie lowered her window, saying "Look at all this wide-open space. And smell that clean, fresh air. We're definitely not in LA anymore."

"If I click my heels three times and say there's no place like home," Beca said. "Will I wake up from this nightmare and find myself in my own bed back in LA?"

"No," Stacie said. "And I can't believe Miss I Hate Movies, just used one to make a point."

Beca let out a snort and looked out her window.

"Those things are huge," Beca said, spying two horses being ridden by a man and a woman; they looked as if they were racing.

"Oh, wow," Stacie said, leering at the couple. "The scenery just keeps getting better."

The woman's hat flew off and red hair flew out behind her. Both riders stopped and the woman said something to the man that could not be heard in the car.

Beca's eyes widened in surprise when she saw the redhead's face as she turned and trotted back to where her hat landed. She was gorgeous.

"If she can ride a horse," Beca said, pointing at the female rider. "I may just have to take up riding myself. She makes it look hot."

"She's really pretty," Stacie said, looking the girl up and down.

"She sure is," Beca mumbled. "She kind of reminds me of someone I knew when I was a kid."

Beca and Stacie continued to watch the two riders.

"He's also really hot," Stacie said. "He can park his boots under my bed anytime."

"Ew, gross," Beca said. "Try and keep it in your pants, Stacie."

"I will if you will," Stacie said, laughing. "Who does the hot redhead remind you of?"

"Someone I knew from back when I lived in Atlanta," Beca responded. "We actually met in Kindergarten and became fast friends. I'd say she was my best friend from the time we met up until we were nine."

"What happened when you were nine?"

"Didn't I already tell you about that?" Beca asked; Stacie shook her head. Beca continued. "My grandmother got sick and my mom took me with her to Seattle to help her out. I was only supposed to be gone for the summer. But, my grandma died and left my mother her house. My mom and dad were going through a rough time and my mom decided to stay in Seattle and asked my dad to come there. He chose to stay in Atlanta and promised to come to visit, but he never did. They eventually divorced."

Stacie looked at Tom and asked, "Who are they?"

"That's Chicago and Chloe," Tom said, glancing over at the couple. "Chicago's dad owns this place and Chicago runs it. Chloe is a vet and takes care of the animals on the ranch."

"Chloe?" Beca repeated. "What's her last name?"

"Beale," Tom said as the van came to a stop in front of the main building.

"Oh, my God," Beca whispered as she continued watching the redhead. "I do know her! Or rather, I did."

"Are Chicago and Chloe a couple?" Stacie asked.

"God, no," Tom said, chuckling. "Chicago is married to Jessica and Chloe is his cousin."

"Good to know," Stacie murmured, looking at Beca watching the redhead.

~~ Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl ~~

Beca and Stacie stood next to each other and watched as Chicago and Chloe rode up to them and hopped off their horses. A woman walked out of the main building and stood next to Chicago. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.

"Good afternoon, Miss Mitchell, Miss Conrad," Chicago said, removing his hat. "Welcome! My name is Chicago Walp and this is my wife, Jessica. We run this Ranch for my dad, so if you need anything, anything at all, please don't hesitate to ask either one of us."

Chloe cleared her throat and Chicago smiled over at her.

"Sorry, Chlo," Chicago said, chuckling. "And this lovely young lady is Dr. Chloe Beale. She takes care of all the animals. She also gives riding lessons for anyone who wishes to learn."

"Please, we're just Beca and Stacie," Stacie said.

"I know who Beca is," Chloe said, smiling. "I was totes excited when I heard you were going to be a guest. I'm a big fan."

"Thank you," Beca said, looking down at the ground.

Tom was retrieving the luggage from the van and Chicago moved to help him.

"Please be careful with those two bags," Beca said, rushing over to them. "I'll take them."

Beca put one of the bags over her shoulder and pulled the other over to where Stacie was talking to Jessica and Chloe.

". . .said she'd love to learn to ride," Stacie was telling Jessica and Chloe.

"Who said that?" Beca asked. "It wasn't me. I hate horses; they're just huge, scary beasts."

Jessica and Chloe both laughed.

"Didn't you also say, if Chloe was riding that you might have to reconsider riding because she made riding a horse look hot?" Stacie asked, chuckling when Beca's face turned red.

"That's not-," Beca stuttered, looking from Stacie to Chloe and back again. "I, uh, didn't, um. Ugh! I hate you so much right now."

"It's okay, Beca," Chloe said, chuckling. "I think you'd look hot riding, too. And our horses are very tame. I'd be happy to teach you to ride and show you how tame they are."

Beca blinked a few times and stared at Chloe. Chloe looked at Beca and then at Stacie.

"I'm sure Beca would love that," Stacie said, causing Beca to snort.

"I might be game," Beca said. "If Stacie takes lessons, too."

"I already know how to ride," Stacie said, smirking. "But I'll go along with you so you don't get scared."

"Good," Jessica said. "Now that's settled, let's get you to your rooms, shall we?"

"Ladies, if you'll follow us please," Chicago said as he and Tom walked past them.

Beca and Stacie followed. When they entered the main building, Tom grabbed a luggage cart and he and Chicago set the luggage on it. Beca gently placed the two bags she was carrying onto the pile and stepped back.

"Let's get you checked in," Jessica said, leading the way over to the registration desk. "Thanks, Tom, Chicago."

"No problem, babe," Chicago said, shooting Jessica a smile.

"You're welcome," Tom said. He tipped his hat at Beca and Stacie, and said, "Enjoy your stay, ladies."

"Thanks, Tom," Stacie said, winking at him.

Tom smiled at her before turning and exiting the building behind Chicago. Chloe walked over and stood by the desk; she couldn't stop looking at Beca. Beca looked back at her, blushing and looking away when Chloe smiled at her.

Jessica got Beca and Stacie checked in and grabbed their room keys, handing them to Chloe.

"Chloe, would you like to show Beca and Stacie to their cabins?"

"I'd love to," Chloe said excitedly, grabbing the keys. "Thanks, Jess."

Jessica winked at her and Chloe walked over to the luggage cart. She looked back at Beca and Stacie.

"If you ladies will follow me," Chloe said as she started pushing the cart.

Stacie nudged Beca's shoulder when she noticed Beca looking at Chloe's ass.

"Rein it in, Beca," Stacie whispered. "A bit of discretion wouldn't kill you."

Beca blushed and moved her eyes up to stare at the back of Chloe's head.

~~ Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl ~~

Chloe took the cart outside and started toward a row of cabins. The path was wooden and stretched from the main building around to all the cabins. Chloe stopped at Cabin #4 and unlocked the door. She left the luggage cart outside and stepped through the doorway. Beca and Stacie followed her inside.

"This is your cabin, Miss Mitchell," Chloe said, waving an arm around the room. "Your bathroom is through that door over there."

Beca looked to where Chloe was pointing and nodded her head in acknowledgment.

"Please call me Beca," Beca told Chloe as she looked around the room.

"Okay," Chloe said, stepping back out the door. "Beca, if you'll point out your luggage I'll bring it in for you."

Chloe reached for a bag and Beca stopped her, saying, "I got it."

Beca grabbed her laptop case and another case, and took her cases over to the desk, and started to unpack them.

"No offense," Stacie told Chloe. "She's just very particular about people touching her equipment."

"Understandable," Chloe said. "I'm sure it's very expensive. What else is hers?"

"I'll help you with them," Stacie said. "This one stays here and that one there." Stacie grabbed one of the suitcases and pointed at the other.

The bags were placed near the bed and Chloe walked over to the wall, getting both Beca and Stacie's attention. She placed her hand on the thermostat and explained, "Each cabin has its own thermostat. You can control both the heat and air conditioning to your liking. It's usually mild during the day, but the temperatures drop somewhat at night. If you need an extra blanket or pillow, you can find them in the closet next to the bathroom. That's also where we keep everything you'll need for the bathroom, like towels and soap, among other things. If there's something you need and can't find, just pick up the phone and dial star zero one. That rings at the front desk in the main cabin. Someone is always there 24/7. Or you can dial star zero three and reach me; I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have."

"Thank you, Chloe," Beca said.

"Stacie," Chloe said, tearing her gaze away from Beca to look at Stacie. "You'll be right next door in cabin #5. The rooms are set up in the exact same way. Do you have any questions? Or need anything?"

"I'm starting to get a bit hungry," Stacie said. "What time does dinner start being served?"

"Oh," Chloe said as she walked over to the desk and pulled a folder out of the drawer. "There's a weekly schedule of activities and a menu for all meals inside this folder. It's updated every Sunday night. I know tonight we're having a barbecue with all the fixin's. You'll get a chance to meet some of the staff as well as the other guests." She glanced at her watch. "Aubrey will probably be ringing the dinner bell shortly."

"Who's Aubrey?" Stacie asked.

"She's my best friend," Chloe responded. "She's also the cook. You'll love everything she makes; I know I do."

"I'd like to unpack before dinner," Stacie said. "Beca, I'll swing by and get you when the dinner bell sounds. Okay?"

"Okay," Beca said. "I'll unpack and freshen up a bit."

"Great," Chloe said. "Here's your room key. We have a master key to all the rooms if you should lose or misplace it."

"Thanks again, Chloe," Beca said, taking the key.

"Stacie," Chloe said, turning toward her. "Let's get you to your room."

Stacie followed Chloe out the door. She took a deep breath. "Something smells good!"

"It's the meat from the grill."

"Whatever it is, it smells delicious."

"The meats are great, but it's the sides that make the meal for me. I'm sure Aubrey made potato salad, pasta salad, as well as a vegetable salad. Corn on the cob and baked beans for sure, and several desserts."

"Sounds like quite the feast," Stacie said.

Chloe pushed the luggage rack to the next cabin and helped Stacie take her bags inside.

"Here's your key," Chloe said as she handed the key to Stacie.

"Thank you, Chloe," Stacie said.

"You're welcome. I'll see you and Beca at dinner."

Chloe left and was surprised to see Beca looking out her door.

"Did you need something, Beca?"

"I was wondering if you had a minute?"

"Um, sure."

Beca stood aside and let Chloe enter the cabin. Chloe walked over to the desk chair and sat down.

Beca started pacing back and forth. Chloe watched her for a moment.

"So, um, what can I do for you, Beca?"

~~ Save a Horse, Ride a Cowgirl ~~

About ten minutes after Chloe left her, Stacie was startled by a sudden loud clanging sound. Realizing it must be the dinner bell, she laughed quietly to herself and shook her head.

It was only a few minutes later that Stacie grabbed her room key and left her cabin. Beca and Chloe were coming out of Beca's room as Stacie reached it.

"Oh, hey, Chloe," Stacie said, surprised to see her. "I wasn't expecting to see you with Beca."

"Beca wanted to know about the riding lessons," Chloe said. "You two have a lesson tomorrow morning at ten."

"We do?"

"I told you, Stacie," Beca said. "If I'm going to take lessons, so are you."

"And I told you, I already know how to ride," Stacie said. "Besides, will you even be up before ten?"

"Don't worry about me," Beca said, glaring at her. "I'll be up in plenty of time."

Stacie ignored Beca's glare and looked her up and down.

"Loving the cowgirl look, Beca," Stacie said. "I'm guessing you only brought your plaid shirts and jeans without knowing you'd end up on a ranch."

"I think she looks adorable," Chloe said, causing Beca's cheeks to redden.

"I'm not adorable," Beca mumbled.

"She does love her plaid shirts and jeans," Stacie said.

"What's wrong with that?" Beca asked. "They are good for any occasion."

Stacie snorted as she looked out over at the tables that were set up for the cookout.

"That looks like a lot of food," Stacie said. "How many guests do you have?"

"Including you and Beca, we have eight guests," Jessica's voice said from behind them. "And all the staffs' meals are provided. Come with me and I'll introduce you to some of the other people who work here."

Beca and Stacie followed Jessica and Chloe over to the huge grill that was being manned by two of the cowboys.

"Guys," Jessica calls out, getting their attention. "I'd like you to meet some VIPs that will be with us for the next three weeks."

The two men turned to look at Beca and Stacie. One had dark brown hair and was a couple of inches taller than Stacie; the other's hair was a lighter brown and he was about Stacie's height. They both have boyish faces and grinned at the two women.

"I know her," the taller of the two said, pointing toward Beca.

"No, you don't," Beca said, shaking her head. "He doesn't."

#bechloe fanfiction #beca mitchell #chloe beale

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vintagegoddess12 · 4 years

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Migraine Moments

Part 1

Relationship: Sarah Paulson x Reader

A/N: This is a fic no one asked for. Yes, I wrote this while I’m having a migraine. Yes, this isvmulti-part. This was supposed to be a one-shot but as I was writing, the longer it got that I have to divide it into parts. If you have some requests for a fic/imagines/headcanons, just hit me up!

It was a sunny afternoon at the Los Angeles International Airport when Sarah Paulson's flight touched down. The busy terminal is filled with people yet the paparazzi stuck out like a sore thumb with their high definition cameras and recorders in the full view, ready to pounce when some celebrities arrived. She took one of her luggage from the conveyor belt before her personal assistant insisted that they take care of it.

She remained standing near the belt, waiting for the signal that it's good to go outside. Another full week of press junkets and hotel room service waiting for her.

"You eventually have to take it off," she hears from a distant conversation, not fully paying attention. "I will," the voiced that replied sounded familiar so she turned around to see who it was. [y/n]. Now, Sarah understands fashion. The sparkly, big dresses and the glam of it all but the one thing she'll never get is how a pair of jeans, plain black shirt, and shades can make you look so stunning. Stunning enough to make her hold breath. She quickly brushed the thought when she noticed you have spotted her. A small smile formed on your lips and approached her, planting a kiss on both her cheeks. "When did you land?" You asked your movie co-star. "Just a few minutes before you," she replied. "You look amazing." You gave her a flirtatious smile before replying, "all for you, darling." Sarah felt a blush form in her cheeks. This is how it's always been between the two of you. Flirty banters and witty repartee. She knows it's all in the name of having a good time but that doesn't stop the butterflies in her stomach or the tingle she feels in certain places sometimes.

"Okay," the road manager took both of your attention. "There is press waiting outside, probably some fans. You just have to give them a quick snapshot then we'll be heading for the hotel." Your eyes remained fixed on the floor all throughout the orientation, which your co-star did not fail to notice. The bright lights of LAX are not helping with your migraine. It started when you were on the plane, minutes before the take-off from New York. Your manager insisted that you push through the interviews today but the pain behind your eyes is telling you otherwise. So here you are, spacing out in the middle of LAX with a sea of reporters. To be honest, the only thing that's grounding you is the distinct sweet smell of your friend Sarah. "...save all statements for the first round of interviews later," the road manager tapped your shoulder to make sure you were listening. You simply gave them a thumbs up. --- "OH MY GOD SARAH!" Several of the fans screamed the moment her silhouette reached their line of sight. Not soon after, you can hear the flashing of cameras. "[Y/N], look here!" The photographers bellowed. "Here!" "Smile here, ladies." "Give us a smile here." You winced behind the shades you're wearing. Everything is just too loud. You continued walking until you heard the blonde actress chuckled behind you. "They really love screaming our names, don't they?" "I love screaming your name," you quipped. Both of you paused for a while, clearly taken aback by your response. "You know? 'Cause I'm a fan," you immediately added. To relieve the tension, you ended the statement with a laugh. You continued walking while internally screaming. If you weren't in literal pain right now, you'll be a lot better at filtering your words. Sarah, however, remained frozen for a split second. The idea of you screaming - moaning - her name danced around her head. These scenarios only come to her in the comfort of her bed, in the middle of the night. She gulped, evidently trying to ignore the heat roaming her body. The LA heat is not helping the agonizing rush of blood to her center. Your road manager instructed to stop in front of the cameras for a quick photograph. Sarah quickly positioned herself on your left, keeping a respectable distance. Her publicist, who was with the crew ahead, immediately pushed the two of you together. "This is better for the camera." She then moved out of the way. Better for camera, my ass. They know about your lingering feelings for the blonde. She was, after all, all you can talk about in when you’re with them. This is just them pushing you to admit it to her. If you can take a guess, they probably have bets about it.

Both of you posed for a good 3 minutes when your ride arrives. You bid goodbye to the fans, who were still ecstatic to see their idols, just before you drove away. --- Upon checking into your hotel, the sweet relief of a bed awaits you. The pain in your head remains throbbing. As you were making your way out of the elevator, your publicist reminds you of your schedule. 7 days of promoting the movie. "Make them love it," the very first of many reminders reached your ears. "Make them love you," you scoffed at the idea but you know this is the norm. "Make them love her." Make love with her. Wait! What? "You got that?" Your publicist reiterated. "Loud and clear," you offered a weak smile. It's hard managing a proper conversation with the pain not going away. You swiped your keycard once you reached your room. 1223. The door opened and you can immediately smell the classic hotel mist - freshly cleaned bed sheets and curtains. You began to relax until you noticed something different - a distinct sweet smell of someone so familiar. You entered the room only to be greeted by a certain blonde. In the room. Where you will be sleeping. "Hey, [y/n]!" You winced at her loud greeting. "Hi!" You turned to your publicist, who already knows what you're about to ask. "The production decided that it would be easier to control the paparazzi if we're guarding only one room," they explained rather rapidly. "We'll leave you, ladies." They then closed the door upon leaving. "Oh!" was all you could say. You looked into the room and saw her expectant smile. How can you feel bad when that's what you'll see in the morning? For a whole week? You turned to her and muster the biggest smile you can, despite the killing headache, and said, "So, it's a sleepover."

#sarah paulson #sarah paulson x reader #sarah paulson imagine #I'm a sarah paulson simp can you tell #migraine moments #one hotel room trope coming your way #i might use some other tropes here just you wait #is there smut? we'll see #yes definitely #dum dum i write for 3 things #smut #angst #fluff #but i write angst better so pray for my soul that this doesn't get angsty

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oopsiedoopsie23 · 4 years

Text

The princess and the drummer | Rook x reader

A/N: Soooo I sort of drifted away from the prompt but I actually liked how this turned out so forgive me my loves. Also, wouldn’t mind doing a part 2 to this so let me know if ya want one <3

Prompt: Rumours spiral when the reader, a famous pop star, is spotted getting drum lessons from a certain drummer ;)

“I really don’t think it’s a good idea Y/N, you have press starting soon for your album and we really need to control what the press is saying about you before then, being there will do nothing but hurt your image right now.”

“Mhm...mhm...”

“Y/N are you even listening to me? I’m trying to save your image, you know?”

You sighed as you took another sip of your beer before putting your phone back to your ear.

“Look, all I’m doing is hanging out with my friends before their concert tonight, it’s fine, I don’t see how that could possibly end my career.”

“I’m not saying that this will end your career...”

“Perfect! So if it doesn’t end my career then I don’t give a shit.”

You end the phone call before quickly downing the rest of your beer.

“Damn girl who the fuck did you just kill?”

You turn around and see none other than your best friend himself, MGK, in what you like to call his prime element, joint in one hand, microphone in the other, wearing expensive clothes that he was definitely gonna strip off 5 minutes into his concert.

“What makes you think that I killed anybody?” you smirked as you took the joint out of his hand. “The fact that you just downed that beer and sounded like you wanted to shoot whoever you were on the phone with, in the balls.”

You laughed, almost choking on the smoke coming out of your lungs as you hand the joint back to him. “Trust me, I wanted to do a lot worse to that fucking idiot.” You roll your eyes, “My manager says that they’re the best publicist in this stupid ass industry, but they seem more like a fucking babysitter with a stick up their ass, to me.”

This time it was Colson’s turn to laugh. “C’mon dude forget that shit, you can keep us company during sound check.”

You nodded, accepting his invitation, following your best friend through the venue’s small hallways and staircases leading to the stage.

“Damn Col, this is a dope ass venue.” you whistled, the venue was definitely smaller than you were used to but with all of the lights and screens set up, it created an atmosphere that felt almost euphoric.

“I know, it might not be one of the arenas that you perform at but this is something else.”

You turn around, ready to smack Colson for his slight dig at you when you hear another voice interrupt you,

“Hey sweetheart, heard you were about to kill someone over the phone earlier!”

“Rook...always the gentleman.” you smile as you take the beer from his hands.

The two of you stand in silence for a bit, admiring the venue and each taking small sips of your beers.

“Do you know how to play the drums?”

You almost spit out your mouthful of beer as you begin laughing.

Rook can’t help but join in as he watches you fall to the ground, clutching your stomach from laughing so hard. “What? You seem like the type of girl to kill someone in their sleep so you must play the drums at least a little bit.”

“I sing fucking pop music Rook, and what is it with everyone calling me a murderer today?”

“In my defence, your music gives off more of a ‘sweet but psycho’ vibe and not much of a ‘pop princess’ vibe.”

You watch as the drummer smiles wide, as if he’s about to laugh at his own joke, before stretching his hand outward slightly, like he’s offering you to take it.

“C’mon even pop stars can learn how to play the drums.”

You blush slightly as you take his hand, allowing him to lead you up another set of stairs that led to the drum set.

“So...this is my home.” you giggle as Rook picks up one of his drumsticks using it to point to each part of the drum, explaining what they do, you were so entranced by him and his passion for the instrument that it takes you a few minutes to notice that he was still gently holding onto your hand.

It isn’t until he leaves to grab more beer that he lets go of your hand. You can’t help but feel as if your hands miss the warmth and gentleness of his as you’re sitting in his seat holding his drumsticks, awaiting his return.

“Y’all motherfuckers need to get a room.”

You spin in the seat, glaring at your best friend who was leaning against the wall, seemingly watching you.

“First of all, you look creepy as fuck, second, you know that we’re just friends.”

Colson smirks at you before taking a sip of whatever poison he was drinking, “Then why were the two of you holding hands the whole time?”

You blush as you realize that you weren’t the only one that had noticed.

“Hey I got one for you too, in case you wanted one.”

Rook carefully sets the beers on the ground before turning to you.

“What are you smiling about?”

“The fact that after this lesson, I’m gonna give you a run for your money.”

Rook laughs and you can’t help but feel your heart skip a beat as you see how wholesome his smile is.

“Okay then, let’s see what the pop princess can do on the drums.”

“I thought that I was more of a psycho than a princess?” you smirked

“Well it depends on how much you give me a run for my money, princess.”

You swear that you almost fall off of the chair at the nickname. Rook notices your slight surprise and takes the opportunity to stand behind you and wrap his arms around your shoulders so that he was able to put his hands around yours on the drumsticks.

Your breath hitches as you move your head up so that you were looking back into his eyes.

You watch as his eyes slowly scan down your body, from your eyes to your lips, to your cleavage that you knew you were giving him a better view of, from your positions. You smirk as you take advantage of his surprise to grab the sides of his face, pulling him downwards so that both of your lips collided.

You felt electricity go throughout your body. It was as if you could feel a spark buzzing throughout your body travelling from your lips to your feet. You felt his hands slightly graze over your hips and you try your hardest to hold back a moan.

“Hey Rook, if you’re done tongue fucking my friend can we do our sound check now?”

The two of you stop kissing and look down to see Colson smiling at the two of you, phone in hand, with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

You were on such a high from your make out session with Rook that it took you a second to realize that Colson was filming the two of you. Rook immediately noticed you tense up and put his hand on the small of your back, trying to calm you down.

“Kells are you filming this shit?”

“Hell yeah dude, I’m live right now, I want to make sure that we have a video of this so we can play this shit at your fucking wedding!”

You groan and put your head in your hands, knowing that Colson’s video of you and Rook was definitely going to cause an onslaught of articles written about the two of you. And just as you were about to reach for your beer, as if it was clockwork, your phone began buzzing like crazy.

You sighed looking back up at Rook, who was still looking down at you, watching you with worried eyes, with his hand on your back.

“It’s all over the websites isn’t it?”

“You bet your ass it is! What in God’s name were you thinking? You’re a pop star for fuck’s sake not some groupie! I told you that you should’ve just stayed home! I knew that you were gonna do something to mess all of our hard work up!”

You didn’t know if it was the fact that you were 2 or 3 beers in, or if it was the fact that you still felt a buzz of electricity coursing through your veins but you had enough of this bullshit publicist and were ready to actually put them through a fucking grave like everyone thought you would.

You stood up, grabbing your beer, holding your finger up to Rook, signalling for him to give you a minute before walking away slightly so that you were behind a wall, safe from prying eyes and Colson’s drunk livestream.

“Listen up you little shit, I’m sick and tired of you thinking that I will do whatever the fuck that you say, and treating me like I’m some precious pop star. When you said ‘our’ hard work I think that you misspoke because the only work that’s been done is me working my ass off, making music that I don’t even like and pretending to be someone that I’m not!”

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that from now on, I’m gonna do the shit that I want, not giving a fuck about what the press will say in the stupid fucking interviews and...you’re fired.”

“Wha-”

“Tell my manager to find me a better fucking publicist.”

You end the call, before leaning against the wall, trying to catch your breath.

“Should I call the police to report a murder?”

You look to your side and see Rook looking at you with worried eyes.

“I think that I might have to throw away my phone to get rid of the evidence.”

Rook chuckles before stepping in front of you and taking both of your hands in his. “You know, we never really got to finish our drum lessons.”

“So does that make me a psycho or a princess?”

“I don’t know I haven’t decided yet...I think that we need to finish where we left off first, to help me make a decision.”

You roll your eyes as the two of you connect lips once again, reigniting the sparks that were flying.

“You do know that all of the fucking websites are going to be saying that you were making out with some mystery drummer right?”

You can’t help but burst out laughing, as you wrap your arms around his neck,

“The princess and the drummer...I like the sound of that.”

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

Let me know if you want a part 2 my loves :)

#rook #jp cappelletty #jp cappelletty x reader #rook x reader #rook imagine #jp cappelletty imagine #xx #est #mgk #machine gun kelly #machine gun kelly imagine #machine gun kelly x reader #colson baker #colson baker x reader #colson baker imagine #imagine #fanfiction #oopsiedoopsie23

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cilldaracailin · 4 years

Text

Killer Queen

Hello my Tumblr lovely’s!

Who is ready for some more! It’s a good one if I do say so myself! ;) Hope you all enjoy!

Suze xx

“One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.”

Robyn had left Taron just after four and it gave him some time to catch up with Lyndsey, quickly explaining to her about his little fan meet on the beach. While on the phone with him, his publicist did a quick scour of the usual social media outlets and as predicted the fan picture had appeared on social media but not received the backlash he thought it was going too and his posting of the Instagram picture had appeased most, though Lyndsey felt the need now to warn Taron that his visits to Ireland might not be completely media free as before, Taron’s whole body slumping onto the duvet in the tent as he listened, returning his answer with heated tones.

“I just need to give you the heads-up Taron, you know this. Don’t get crabby with me.”

“Sorry Lyndsey.”

“Look I know you want to protect her.”

“It’s more than that.” Interrupted Taron.

“And Robyn had proven herself very capable of dealing with the media Taron.”

“But it’s so different when it will involve her home.”

“And it won’t come to that and Taron, you know some reporters already have been at her home back in September and it was fine.”

Taron sighed heavily, rubbing his tired eyes. “Sorry Lyndsey.”

“Don’t be sorry. I know you love her and have this undeniable urge to defend her and watch over her but it’s not always possible Taron and at some point, you are going to have to accept that, especially if you keep inviting her to your events. It is going to get people talking as you bring her into the public eye more. If you want to protect her, you will have to leave her at home but if you want her by your side, now or in the future as something more, you will have to be ready to completely let her into your world.”

“Sorry.”

“Stop saying sorry to me Taron.” Laughed Lyndsey. “Robyn has without a doubt gotten under your skin and believe me, I think the world of her and you know that.”

“I do.”

“Then trust me.”

“I do.”

Lyndsey smiled into the phone. She had worked with Taron for so long, she could read every emotion he was feeling from just the tone of his voice and his reactions and knew immediately he had a bad night’s sleep. “You are tired. I need to you to sleep tonight for me.”

“I will.”

“Taron…”

“I will Lyndsey and sorry again. It just rattled me. It’s not something I expected and wasn’t prepared for the photo.”

“And you dealt with it as you always do, with a cool and level head. You trust Robyn?”

“Of course.”

“Then let’s just wait and see Taron. Normally stuff like this either blows up or floats around before it dies out. I am sure the premier will have more of a reaction than anything and before you say it, sure your picture and visit to Ireland will more than likely be a question asked of you while on promotion but you know how to answer these questions Taron and you know I have left it up to you as to how you want to do so. Robyn is a firm fixture in your life and most people understand it is because she saved your life and you don’t have to make excuses for that Taron. You should never make excuses for that.”

Taron nodded to himself. “Thanks Lyndsey. Sometimes I forget that part.”

Lyndsey rolled her eyes. “Don’t give me that shit Taron. You can’t bullshit me.” She heard him laugh a little. “I want you to stop over thinking, go and enjoy Robyn’s show tonight and then sleep, as best you can and I will see you bright and early at the Radio One studio on Sunday.”

“Sure.”

“And get as many hugs in as you can and remember them because as far as I can tell, Robyn’s hugs are the only thing that can calm you down lately.”

Taron chuckled. “I will try.”

“See you Sunday.”

“Thank you Lyndsey. Sorry for bugging you.”

“You don’t bug me Taron. Frustrate me at times but I know for a fact you do that to all the women in your life.” At last she heard a genuine chuckle from him. “Go and enjoy your last few hours of freedom.”

Taron ended the call and let his arm fall away from his ear, his phone falling from his hand and onto the soft duvet. As always, he let his worries over take him and once again it was another woman calming his fears. With Lyndsey’s promise to further double check everything for him, he found himself breathing a little easier and putting the thoughts of the photo to the back of his mind. Instead he focused on the evening to come and another chance to watch Robyn on stage in her element and he was just a little excited to see her in her stage gear once more but his face frowned as he remembered all the kisses from the night before but Robyn had promised him it wouldn’t happen again.

“And I am not jealous.” He said turning his head to look at the two dinosaurs who still sat together inside the tent as he had left them earlier. They both grinned back at him. “I am not.”

But his beating heart and rise in body temperature said otherwise. Taron rolled over into his stomach and let a muffled scream out into the pillow, his anxiety about the photo, his upcoming tour and his love for Robyn causing emotions and feelings he was finding so hard to cope with. He reached for his phone and pressing number one on his speed dial, groaned once more into the pillow.

“Hello love.”

“Hey mam.”

“Taron, love what’s wrong?” Tina could immediately hear the deflation in her son’s voice.

“Mam I can’t do it anymore.”

“Do what love?”

“Robyn.”

Tina just about heard the whispered of the woman’s name who had wiggled her way into her son’s heart because his voice was laden with sadness. “Taron?” Tina listened to silence for a few seconds. “Taron, sweetheart?”

“It hurts too much to love her mam.” He turned his head sideways on the pillow. “Even more so because I can’t tell her because that fucker hurt her so badly she not only believes she doesn’t deserve to be loved but that it’s something that doesn’t exist and I can’t sit here anymore and not tell her that I love her because it is what she deserves and she needs to know that love is wonderful and thrilling and she is most definitely worthy of it and I want to be the one to love her. I need to be the one.”

“Ok Taron you need to slow down, stop speaking in riddles and start from the beginning.”

With a rush of words and long sentences, Taron burdened his mother with his worries and woes, once starting to speak, finding it hard to stop until he had managed to get everything off his chest, including the fact that he was actually very jealous of the stage kisses.

“Mam why are you laughing?”

“Taron this is what love is, what it does to you and I know you love her.”

“And you still stand by your advice of not telling her?”

“Yes.”

“Mam!” He groaned.

“Yes Taron I still do even more so after what that fucker as you call him did to her.”

“That was actually Robyn’s mam’s words, not mine.”

“I really need to get Robyn’s mam’s number. I would like to have a chat with her at some point.”

“Mam don’t change the subject.”

“You told me when you met Robyn, she wouldn’t let you in and it took a lot of trust for her to open up to you and it was a man who betrayed her trust Taron. The fact that she has let you in speaks volumes for how she feels about you.”

“I wish she would just tell me.”

“Women don’t think like men do.”

“Well I know that mam.”

“And I don’t just mean thinking with certain body parts.”

“Ugh mam seriously?”

“Well Taron you went into some detail about that kiss and a pair of short purple shorts so I am just returning with the information you have given me.”

“Maybe I should talk to Guy.”

“Taron, Robyn has been badly hurt in the past and I know you know that but because it was a man who did it, she will be very guarded when it comes to a new man in her life. She will be scared to let one in, to actually admit she loves one even if that one is you Taron. She won’t open her heart to someone for fear it will be broken again. A woman’s heart is a very delicate thing, especially a torn one.”

“Mam I know she loves me.”

“And I am sure she does but Robyn has to realise it for herself.”

“Her kiss made it pretty clear.”

“And that was a kiss from a bet. There is a difference I am sure between a kiss from a bet and a kiss she wants to give you of her own accord.”

“But it was a kiss.”

“Sweetheart, women are complicated.”

“You don’t need to tell me that.” Taron rolled over into his side. “I just don’t know how much longer I can wait to tell her.”

“As long as it takes Robyn to tell you. You want to protect her and show her that you love her than keep doing all the wonderful things you have been doing for her. She will come around Taron.”

“It’s so hard mam.”

Tina felt for her son. “Is she worth it?” She asked. “Is she worth the traveling and the tiredness and the longing that you have worth it for one hug, or one cuddle you get from her?”

“Of course.”

“Then you will wait Taron. I know you chose your career for your love of acting Taron and I don’t hold your choice against you and you know how proud me and your step-dad and your dad are of you but for a woman to step into your world, you are asking a lot. However, Robyn has taken it all in her stride and is joining you for your premier, one which will be filled with press from around the world, live TV coverage and more publicity than Robyn will have ever faced. I think it’s clear she loves you if she is willing to do that for you. Also, she cooked for you and baked. She definitely loves you Taron but please try and be patient with her. If you rush her, you could trigger some of those feelings of rejection she still has in the back her mind.”

“I don’t want that to happen.”

“Love is hard Taron. No one said it was easy.”

Taron sighed. “If it was easy it wouldn’t be real.”

“Unfortunately, that’s true. Just keep doing what you are doing love. Robyn has a beautiful heart and you know I adore her and how she looks after you but you keep doing these little things for her and soon, she will come to her senses.”

“How long…”

“As long as it takes her Taron.”

“Thanks mam.”

“Anytime love. You are not going to blurt it out this evening?”

“No mam.”

“Even after you see her dressed in leather.”

“Mam!” Taron’s scoff turned to a light laughter. “Though I have seen her in a towel.”

“Taron David Egerton!”

Taron chuckled at his mam’s scolding. “And she has seen me in one too.”

“Taron!”

“I love you mam.”

“Yeah and I love you. Be gentle with her heart ok? Like I said, it’s been torn before and still a bit brittle.”

“I will mam.”

“Taron, I truly believe you can heal it for her. Just give her the time to figure that out.”

“Thank you mam.”

“Ring me tomorrow when you get back to your flat ok?”

“I will do.”

“And tell Robyn I said hello.”

“I will.”

With a heavy sigh, Taron dropped his phone onto the pillow in front of his face. He trusted his mam’s advice and judgement more than anyone’s and although it was not what he wanted to hear; he knew she was right. Robyn had been treated horribly before and he knew himself she was guarded but when it came down to him, he also knew she trusted him and he would do nothing to break that trust but taking his mam’s guidance, he knew but hated that he would have to wait for Robyn to figure out that she loved him as much as he loved her.

After a nap, he hadn’t realised he had taken until he woke up, Taron quickly showered and changed, pulling his black hat onto his head again and made the quick ten-minute walk to the hall with five minutes to spare before the performance started. Robyn’s little head massage had helped to ease a niggling headache he had felt earlier, knowing it was from lack of sleep but the two paracetamol he had routed out from her drawer had lifted it completely and as he sat on the inside edge of the row four, he kept his hat on his head and his eyes on the programme, one that he bought from Jane on the way into the hall, ignoring the smirk on her face.

With his closeness to the stage and his second time watching the show, he noticed things he hadn’t before, including how tight Robyn’s stage outfits actually were and her facial expressions as she sang and danced and the wink she definitely threw his way before she slid down the fire pole and he chuckled as she smoothly slid down the pole with ease and grace.

The other thing he definitely noticed was the stage kiss between Robyn and Cathal just before the first act ended and he was sitting up in his chair, the programme twisted in his hands again as Cathal grabbed Robyn by her hips and pulled her tight against him and kissed her hard. What upset Taron the most was that he could see Robyn place her hands on her co-stars chest to push him away from her and the flicker of anger in her eyes before she put her arms around him and turned them around so her back was to the audience, Cathal’s face going straight into her neck. Taron glared at him, hearing his teeth grind and a very quiet growl come from deep within him. Robyn had told him that she had spoken to Cathal and he had been warned not to kiss or touch her and he had clearly leaped over boundaries once again and Taron was fuming as he sat, putting his hat back on his head as the house lights came back on.

He saw Jane walking towards him, selling raffle tickets and he motioned towards her.

“Hey you.”

“Is there any way I can talk to Robyn?” He asked quickly trying to keep his voice steady.

“To Robyn?” Jane asked.

“Yeah. Any chance?”

“Well I am not too sure. The cast have about fifteen minutes to catch their breath and change before they are back on stage.”

“Please Jane.”

She looked to him and sighed. “Come with me.”

Taron stood up and dropped his programme on the chair and followed Jane out through the main doors of the hall and around the front of the building and then through a side gate. They walked down a narrow pathway and out into a very small open garden with a picnic bench on which Robyn was sitting her head in her hands. Taron mouthed thank you to Jane and quickly walked over to stand in front of Robyn.

“You need a squishy hug?”

Robyn looked up in surprise to see Taron standing in front of her and without a word, jumped down from the picnic table and into his open arms, snuggling deep into his warmth, feeling his arms hug her tightly.

Before the show started and once she was dressed and ready to go, she had spoken to Cathal about the stage kisses and he assured her he wouldn’t try anything but he broke his promise just before the first act ended and their kiss after their duet was hard and fast and horribly wet and Robyn had tried to push Cathal away but he only pulled her disgustingly firm against him but somehow she managed to break their kiss, push him on his chest hard and turned their closeness into a hug, Cathal’s face immediately going straight to her neck, into where Taron always nestled his face so closely and Cathal’s hot breathe on her neck made her skin crawl and a cold shiver run right through her.

Once the stage went dark, Robyn shoved Cathal away from her, lifted her knee and aimed hard for his crotch before she ran down the steps ignoring all her cast mates who called her name and stormed outside, taking to pacing up and down the small garden before taking a seat on the picnic bench, her head in her hands. She was thoroughly frustrated. She hated being taken advantage of and had already been in a position like that with Keith and she had worked so hard to get over him and how he treated her and she could slowly feel her insecurities creeping back in as Cathal made her feel as small as a mouse. Keith often used his physical strength against her and Cathal was doing the same and Robyn hated feeling not in control.

She was running shaking hands down her face when Taron’s voice filled her ear and there he was standing in front of her, his arms open for a hug and she didn’t need to be asked twice if she wanted a hug. She was desperate for comfort that only Taron could give her and he did it with his wonderfully strong arms, warm chest and beating heart.

“Breath darling.” Taron whispered into her curly hair. “Take a breath.”

“I am going to murder someone by the end of tonight.”

Taron chuckled into her hair. “I don’t doubt that for a second.”

Robyn snuggled more into his shoulder and allowed herself to sink into him, feeling his hands rub up and down her back, the material of the cropped top moving so eventually his hands met with the heated skin of her back. He rested his hands flat on her lower back, his thumbs grazing softly back and forth over the dip in her skin above her skirt.

“Hey Robyn, we need to get that costume change going. Oh sorry!” Dee had walked out to once again locate one of the female leads of the musical to get her ready for the second act but she was wrapped up in a cosy looking cuddle in the arms of man who had appeared from nowhere. “I will give you a second.”

“Thanks Dee. I will be there in two.”

Robyn ran her hands in circles around Taron’s back before gripping his long sleeved stripped t-shirt in her hands. “Thank you.” She murmured into his t-shirt.

“You ok?”

“Not really.” Robyn felt how Taron’s whole body froze for the briefest second before he resumed his back rub for her. “But I will be.”

“I am going to have a word with him.”

Robyn pulled herself from Taron immediately but her hands were still wrapped around his back. “No you won’t.”

“Robyn he cannot fucking do that do you. It’s disgusting and almost harassment and I won’t have anybody do that to you.”

“True but you won’t go near Cathal.”

“Robyn…”

She placed her hands on his cheeks. “He is already going to find it hard to walk straight for a while. He doesn’t need any words.”

Taron grinned under her hands. “Stiletto?”

“Knee.”

Taron winced but moved to place a soothing kiss on her head. “Good girl.”

“I told him yesterday it was going to happen if he tried to kiss me again.” She felt her hands being taken, as Taron took them from his cheeks. “You can understand somewhat because like me you still get flashbacks of Florida but sometimes I get some from Keith and unfortunately unwanted kisses are part of them.”

“Robyn…”

“Not ours.” She confirmed immediately. “But the force of what Cathal does is uncomfortable and unprofessional.”

The Welshman immediately engulfed her in another hug, desperately wanting to show Robyn what a kiss should be but her little confession only further confirmed his talk with his mam earlier and Robyn was definitely more than a little brittle and now was not the time for a kiss so instead he hugged her so close to him.

“Thank you Taron.”

“I am always here for you Robyn. Always.” He was trying so hard to keep his cool, knowing the arsehole who was taking advantage of her was only a few footsteps away and while on the outside he was showing himself to cool and composed, inside he was seething.

“Ahem.”

Both turned to see Dee once more standing at the door.

“I am really sorry Robyn but we only have five minutes. I really need to get you changed.”

“I am coming Dee.”

Robyn let Taron go and took in his concerned eyes which were frantically searching hers. She lifted her hands and fixed his hat so it sat straight on his head. “I will be fine. I always am.” She assured him, moving forward to kiss his cheek. “Thank you. My knight in shining white and navy stripes and a black hat.” She half smiled. “Go and enjoy the rest of the show.”

“That bastard better not touch you.”

“Well he has to…”

“Out of script I mean.”

“Don’t charge the stage Taron.”

Her words made him grin a little. “He tries anything and you may have a new cast member.”

“Robyn!”

“I had better go.”

“I will wait for you at the end of the show.”

“You had better.”

Robyn turned away from him and walked quickly back into the backstage area and through the curtain for the female dressing area.

“You have three minutes.” Dee said holding a make-up brush while Laura was beside her with a hairbrush. “And he is beautiful.” Robyn didn’t answer her as she sat in the chair but she whole heartedly agreed with the make-up artist but Taron was more than beautiful. He was perfect. “Might need to hold off on the blush for the second act.”

“That was some hug Robyn. You get them often?” Asked Laura as she stood behind her and quickly fixed her hair.

“How did you see the hug?” Robyn asked her with her eyes closed as Dee topped up her eye shadow.

“We all saw it.”

“You all peaked out the door?”

“Naturally.”

“Jesus.”

“And we are all a little jealous of it.”

“He gives good hugs.” Robyn confirmed. “Everyone saw it then?”

“Everyone but Cathal and Jude.” Replied Laura.

“Jude is livid.” Dee explained as she fixed some smudged eye liner. “Pulled Cathal outside the hall to talk to him.”

“Steve would be stepping in if he was able.”

“Just my luck that he happened to break his hand.” Sighed Robyn.

“Your male friend, that’s Taron right?” Asked Laura as she sprayed Robyn’s hair, seeing the curls bounce as Robyn nodded. “He’s something else.”

“Yeah he is.”

“Ladies, we nearly done? We have about thirty seconds.” They heard Jude call in through the curtain.

“Go and get changed.” Said Dee as she let Robyn up from the chair. “And hey, Cathal really struggled into his leathers. We watched.”

Robyn moved over to the clothes rail and quickly stripped down and pulled on her dress for the opening scene of the second act, making sure it was straight, her heart racing. She had never known a man like Taron before who knew her so well, who knew what she needed and she desperately needed the hug and it seemed he did too and she also knew he was mad. She could see it in him even though he tried his best to keep his anger in, she could feel the tension in his body and she had never felt protected and loved more than right there and then.

“You have about five seconds to get on stage. Just go from stage left.” Jude met her as she came out from around the curtain. “I am sorry I can’t replace him Robyn.”

“It’s ok.” She said as she walked past him and to the side of the stage.

“No it’s not. I have spoken to him and he knows.”

“We haven’t a chance of the AIMs award.”

“We have every chance. Now go and kill it like you always do.”

Robyn nodded, her eyes going to Taron as he sat back in his seat. She had been able to see him the whole show and when she thought it would have made her nervous, it was the opposite and knowing he was there only made her want to perform perfectly and hit every note and give the best performance she could managed because Taron had travelled to see her and support her. With a long breathe she skipped on stage a little later than normal, turning her focus on being Mimi, looking Cathal in his eyes, showing him that she was not taking any of his shit.

As Taron sat back in his seat, he was still furious and once more the programme was twisted in hands. He was so glad he had been able to see Robyn in between the two acts, thankful he could be there to give her some comfort but he was pissed off and his anger stull bubbled under his skin, even more so when he learnt that Keith had taken advantage of Robyn through one of the most intimate gestures a man can get from a woman. A kiss.

“Fucker.” He muttered under his breath as the house lights dimmed and the music for the second act started to play. Robyn took the stage a little later than the night before, going straight into her song and Taron could see her standing straight and keeping directly in character with Cathal. He didn’t understand how she could do it but like he was a professional actor knowing where his responsibilities lay so did Robyn and she showed that by her perfect performance.

He was on his feet cheering and wolf-whistling before anyone else in the hall and he didn’t care. It was what he had wanted to do last night but because he was keeping a low profile, he couldn’t but now that Robyn knew he was here, once the house lights went up before the cast took their bow and sang their final song, he was clapping hard. His standing ovation spurred everyone else in the hall to get to their feet too and when Robyn ran on stage to take her bow, Taron whooped and called even louder, seeing her laugh at him and she blew him a kiss and gave a curtesy.

He freely sang along as the cast took an encore of Seasons of Love and applauded until they had all left the stage. He side stepped from his chair, into the walkway to let the people sitting the row he was in to get out before he sat back in his seat. He was even more proud of Robyn compared to last night and as he sat on his chair, his joy for Robyn turned a little sad as he thought about how this time tomorrow, he would be back in London and up to his eyes in work. His flight was early the next morning and Robyn had promised to bring him to the airport as she always did but he wasn’t really looking forward to it. He never did enjoy saying goodbye but this weekend had been so special for him because he had been the one to spoil and treat Robyn and he loved doing it for her. He was so thankful it wouldn’t be another eight weeks or so before he saw her again, only two weeks until they hopefully would see each other for dinner in Paris.

“So, was it better the second time round?”

Jane walking over to him broke his thoughts. “Absolutely. Thank you again for getting me to her.”

“You are more than welcome.”

“Guess I really owe you that signed photo now.” He smiled as Jane blushed.

“Robyn told you about that then?”

“She tells me things.”

“I am sure she does.” Jane nodded. “It was nice to see you again Taron and that little smile. Good luck with your tour.”

“Thanks Jane.”

“I’d imagine she will be out quicker tonight. You can go and wait at the curtain if you want.”

“I think I will do that.”

Taron got to his feet, slipped on his coat and made his way over to where the curtain separated front of house from backstage and stood waiting patiently for Robyn to come out. He was looking forward to going back to hers, letting her shower and although he didn’t have any more surprises for her, he just wanted to give her the longest cuddle as they lay in the tent.

“I told you I have nothing to say to you. Just piss off Cathal.”

On hearing her heated tones, Taron ignored the shouts of entry refusal from the people at the curtain and barged straight through the black material into the private backstage area of the cast members, seeing Robyn and Cathal in a stand-off, some space between them. He briskly walked to Robyn and stood in front her, his back right against her chest.

“She said piss off, loud and clear.”

Robyn was more than relieved that Cathal had played the part of Roger as he was supposed to play it during the second act and didn’t even attempt to try anything and any kisses they shared were simple stage kisses and nothing more. Once their final bow was taken, she was the first off stage and into the dressing area, pulling her tattered dress over her head and hanging it on the hanger before she pulled on her jeans and Taron’s Hawaiian shirt. She had worn it to rehearsal, needing to feel a comfort and security from having a piece of him with her and after she had buttoned the middle buttons, tied the bottom ends of the shirt in a knot, so it sat on the waistband of her jeans. She was more than ready to say goodnight and go home, shower and change into her wonderful cosy dolphin PJ’s and another piece of Taron’s clothing, sit in her tent and eat the cupcakes Taron brought her yesterday and just be in her own home with him. As she grabbed her bag and coat, she said a quick goodnight to her other cast mates and director and made her way towards the curtain but she was stopped by Cathal who pulled on her hand, Robyn dropping it like it was a hot coal.

She was about to tell him to leave her alone again when Taron suddenly appeared and stood in front of her, saying it for her, his arms moving out a little so Robyn couldn’t get by him.

“I just wanted to talk to her.” Cathal frowned at the presence of the new man in front of him, blocking his view of Robyn from him.

“I don’t think she has anything she wants to say to you.” Taron replied, trying to keep his temper at bay.

“Look I just want to apologise to her.”

“And I really don’t think it’s good enough.”

“Taron…” Robyn placed her hand on his right wrist.

“You really have nothing to do with this.” Cathal said as he took a step closer to Taron. “You are not her boyfriend.”

“And neither are you.” The Welshman returned. “But I am a man who has respect for women and you clearly don’t. Touch her again and…”

“And what? Is that a threat?”

Taron laughed. “No mate, I don’t need to threaten you. Not when Robyn can do that all her own. How’s the prince jewels feeling?” He asked with a half grin. “Lucky it wasn’t her heel that made its mark.”

There was a titter of giggles from around the cast members as they stood watching the confrontation.

“I don’t need to be her boyfriend to show her respect. It’s what a man does but clearly you are not a man but a boy, taking advantage of a situation because you know otherwise you have no chance. She is much too good for you anyway.”

Taron had learnt his lesson from New Year’s Eve and with the training from Kingsman still fresh in his mind not too mention that still bubbling anger, he quickly dodged the oncoming punch that made its way to him, grabbing Robyn and pulling him with her as he side stepped to the right, Cathal falling over onto the floor in heap as he over balanced when his fist met with blank air.

“You never stood a chance. Tosspot. You ready to go Robyn?”

“Definitely.”

Robyn said a quick goodbye to her friends, not even apologising for Taron’s sudden appearance and keeping his hand in hers, led him out from the backstage area and out of the hall into the fresh night air.

“You are really following through with this knight in shining armour thing, aren’t you?” She asked him.

“I heard you tell him to piss off and I kinda saw red. I wasn’t going to let him even speak to you after what he did earlier and we are going the wrong way.” Taron turned his head as Robyn led him away from the bridge that brought them towards her house.

“I feel like a spice bag.”

“What on earth is a spice bag?”

#Taron Egerton #Taron Egerton Fanfiction #Taron Egerton Fanfic #Taron Fanfic #Love #Friendship #Emotions #Protection #Knight in Shining Armour #Cuddles and Hugs #Musicals #Kisses #Anger #Robyn and Taron

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wheresfury · 5 years

Text

Needy

~Pairings: Brie Larson/fem!reader

~Warnings: Daddy Kink, dirty talk, verbal humiliation, oral sex, praise kink, fluff.

~Word count: 2,539

~Summary: Brie accidentally uploads the wrong video to her Instagram. Oops.

~Authors note: Just a little continuation of God is a woman. Because as was pointed out this would totally happen. Hope y’all enjoy!!

~Other works are on my Masterlist

———-<3———-

Once you make it to the bedroom Brie lifts you up and tosses you on the bed. You yelp as you land softly on the cloud like mattress with too many pillows.

“Wait, I need to put ointment on your shoulder, Brie!”

“Baby, I’m fine, okay? It can wait a little bit longer. I’ve had worse, isn’t that right, baby girl?” You smile sheepishly at her as she grabs the remote for the apple tv and turns it on as she pairs her phone pulling up the sexy video you two just recorded. She sits on the edge of the bed as you come up to kneel behind her, leaving kisses up and down her neck.

“Come on, Daddy. Hurry up!” Brie giggles at you and pushes you backwards.

“Lay down, baby girl, do not move. We are not starting until I get this playing. What did you say you wanted to do?” You pout and lay down placing your hands on your bare stomach. You were still shirtless from earlier.

“I said I wanted to eat you out while the video played.” She smirks at your pouting and takes her time setting up the video. You notice and start to whine.

“Baby, pay attention to me! I know you can be faster than that!” She turns around and raised a brow at your attitude.

“Baby girl, you know brats don’t get what they want. So watch the attitude.” You huff and cross your arms, looking up at the ceiling.

“Fine. Just so you know I will tease you till you’re begging for my tongue, Brie!” She laughs as the video starts to play. She makes her way to hover above you.

“You will do no such thing, baby girl. You know how I know?” Your breath hitches as she leans down to suck on your neck, among the many hickeys she has already created.

“H-how how do you know, Daddy?” You moan as she licks up your neck to your ear making you shiver.

“Because, baby girl, I’m in charge.” Oh god. Your eyes roll back as she sinks down onto your body. Her lips collide with yours as you hear your moans on the screen at the other end of the room. Her tongue explores your mouth as her hips grind down onto yours. She pulls away, making you pout, once her phone starts to ring pausing the video. You lean on your elbows as she reaches over to see who’s calling her.

“Who is it, baby?” Her eyebrows scrunch together as her publicists name pops up.

“It’s Ann, my publicist. That’s weird, it’s way too late to make calls.” She silences her phone and restarts the video. She leans back down to kiss you as the video plays in the background. You moan as you hear her on the video talking about your embarrassing moment at the Oscars. You reach up to undo her bun when the video pauses again indicating another call. She pulls away and growls as she hangs up the call and puts her phone on do not disturb. She presses play on the video and reaches down to pull off her top, unclasping her bra as well. You gasp as she leans back down claiming your mouth in a hard kiss. You undo her bun this time, moaning as her breasts rub against your own. You throw her hair tie away and run your fingers through her shorter hair. You pull away, needing air, as her mouth makes it way down to your breasts bringing a nipple into her mouth. She laps at your nipple while her hand pays attention to the other one, twisting and pulling on your nipple as her mouth works wonders on the other.

“Fuck, Daddy.” She hummed as she switches breasts giving them equal treatment. She takes her time giving your breasts attention. By the time your squirming basically becomes thrashing she pulls away from your chest.

“Impatient are we, baby girl? We have all night, baby. Don’t make me start over.” You whine again as the video comes to the part where you climax. Your pussy clenches at the sight, Brie feels this and looks over to the video. She presses her abs harder onto your clothed cunt as your hands knead the back of her neck.

“Look at how gorgeous you are when you cum, baby girl. So beautiful and all mine, isn’t that right, baby girl?” You moan as you buck your hips up onto her abs.

“Yes, Daddy, all yours. Please!” She hummed as she feels the wet patch over your jeans.

“What is it, baby. What do you want?” Your mouth opens in a moan as she leans down to suck on your stomach way too close to your cunt for you to form a sentence. She knows this and pulls away with a chuckle. She nods her head at you as your breathing slowly evens out.

“I wanna eat you out, Daddy. Please!” She moans at the sound of your pleading and reaches for her phone. You make grabby hands at her as she does so.

“No, what are you doing! Come back here, Daddy!” She glares at your rudeness and you immediately stop. You look at her submissively as she messes with her phone. The video starts over before she makes her way back to you.

“On your knees, slut.” You quickly get on your knees as she sits down were you just laid.

“So impatient, my little slut. I was only starting the video over after you said you wanted to go down on me as it played. Why so bratty all of a sudden, baby girl?” Your hands land on her thigh as you lean down closer to her face.

“I’m sorry, Daddy. I just really want to make you cum, make you feel good. Like how you always make me feel.” She smiles at you and pinches your cheek.

“How cute, baby girl. That’s no excuse to be a brat, though, okay? No more or we stop, understand, baby girl?” You quickly nod your head in agreement.

“Yes, Daddy, I promise I’ll be good from now on!” She smirks at you and grabs your neck pulling you in for a kiss. She takes off her pants and underwear as she nods at you to do the same. You hop off the bed and take off the rest of your clothes.

“That’s my good girl, now make your Daddy cum, baby.” You quickly get in between her legs as she lays back, hands behind her head. You blush at the clear position of power.

“Well what are you waiting for, slut. Get to work.” You moan as you lay down on your stomach and start to kiss her thighs. You slowly make your way to her pussy that is absolutely drenched with need. Your nose bumps her clit as you take in a deep breath.

“Does my cunt smell good to you, slut?” You whimper at the look she was giving you, one of absolute cockiness. Fuck.

“Yes, Daddy. I love the way it smells.” She hums and spreads her legs some more.

“I bet it tastes even better. Stop wasting my time, you dirty whore.” Your thighs clench together at her words and you quickly latch on to her clit, not wanting her to stop this. You see her abs clench at your move and you smile inwardly. You circle her clit with your tongue for a bit before moving down sucking lightly at her folds. She lets out a load moan at the sensation.

“That’s it, baby girl. You’re eating me so good, baby.” She’s about to move her hands to your hair when your phone starts to ring. She releases a growl of frustration and pushes you away from her delicious cunt causing you to whine in tandem.

“Who the fuck is calling you this late?” You shrug at her and get up to get your phone that was on the bathroom counter.

“It’s your publicist, baby!” She groans and gets off the bed making her way over to you.

“Why is she calling you? Let me see.” You hand her your phone as you wrap your arms around her waist. She answers your phone as you start to nibble on her neck, her unoccupied hand holding onto one of your ass cheeks. Her eyes widen and she quickly pulls away from you.

“Wait-WHAT?!” You look at her in confusion as she runs back into your room and quickly picks up her phone.

“Oh no- no no no!” You’re worried now. You make your way over to her as she quickly types at her phone.

“What’s wrong, Brie?” She hushes you as you see her pull up her Instagram. You gasp as you see her latest post. Instead of her singing it was your sex tape. Oh no. She growls and goes to delete the video.

“Why the fuck did Instagram not take this down immediately?!” You hear Ann saying that no one flagged it therefore it was still up. You flush red with embarrassment and go to sit down on the bed placing your head in your hands. This is worse than the kneeling thing at the Oscars for sure. You mumble quietly to yourself as Brie seethes into the phone telling Ann she wants to sue Instagram and something about damage control. By the time she hangs up you’ve stopped mumbling and are just silent. She breathes out heavily before making her way to you. She gets on her knees and places her hands on your thighs.

“I am so so sorry, Y/N. I swear I didn’t do this on purpose!” You look up at her with tears streaming down your face. She looks absolutely heartbroken at your current state. You sniffle as she wipes your tears. Your hands come up to hold hers.

“Hey, Brie, I know you would never do that. I mean honestly, I’m surprised it wasn't me who did it first.” You both laugh at your confession. She smiles and brings a hand up to push some of your hair behind your ear.

“Are you going to be okay?” You smile back at her and nod your head.

“Of course I will be, I mean it will take people a whole lot longer to get over it than the stupid Oscars fiasco.” She hums and kisses your cheek.

“You’re right, baby girl. I mean at least they really don’t see much of your body, they really only see your ass, right?” You laugh heartily at her.

“Oh my god, Brie! Stop it!” She laughs along with you at her silliness.

“Okay okay I’ll stop. Can you imagine all those fan girls calling me Daddy getting that confirmed? Holy shit, babe. We’ll never hear the end of this.” You smirk at her as you pull her onto the bed. You push her down and straddle her thighs.

“You’re right, Daddy. We’ll never hear the end of this. We’re way too damn hot to not talk about.” She smirks at your confidence and places her hands on your hips.

“Hey, as long as you don’t get all jealous hearing other girls call me Daddy.” You glare at her and cross your arms.

“I am the only one who can call you that! I will cut a bitch!” Brie starts to laugh a full bodied laugh at your attempt at a threat. You pout at her.

“Stop it, Daddy. It’s not funny! I will!” She’s still laughing as you go to move off of her. She holds you still and stops laughing enough to speak.

“I believe you, baby girl. Really I do!” You pout at her pathetic attempt at reassuring you.

“Mhm, sure you do, Daddy.” She bucks her hips into you and you moan at the feeling. She brings her hands up to your breasts squeezing them firmly.

“How about we forget about this incident, for now and enjoy the rest of our night. How does that sound, baby girl.” You lean down and kiss her, biting on her bottom lip gently. You pull away with her lip between your teeth before letting it go.

“That sounds perfect, Daddy.” She smirks as she pushes you down to her waist.

“Good, now finish what you started, baby girl.” You moan as you lick your lips diving back into her puffy soaked cunt. She groans as her hands find your hair pushing your face closer to her pussy.

“That’s it, baby girl. Eat your Daddy’s pussy, baby. Fuck you’re so good at this, oh right there, baby.” You moan into her cunt at her praise and move your tongue down to her entrance. You thrust your tongue as far as you can into her pussy as you moan causing Brie to buck her hips into your face.

“Fuck. Touch my clit, baby girl. That’s it. So close, baby.” You thrust your tongue faster as you rub her clit in fast circles. Her thighs clench around your head as her fingers pull at your hair making you release a load moan into her cunt. She screams out your name as her juices soak your face from her climax. You help her come down from her high before she pushes you away with her hands. You lick your lips as you crawl up her body. You lean down and kiss her as she moans at the taste of herself on your tongue. Her hands squeeze your ass as you two continue to kiss passionately. You pull away when air becomes necessary, your hands tangled in her hair.

“I love you, Brianne.” She smiles and bites her lip at your use of her full name.

“I love you too, Y/N.” She leans up to kiss you again before rolling you over onto your back. She leans down and grabs the top sheet to pull over both of you. She lays on her back as you turn to cuddle into her side. Her hand strokes through your hair as you sigh in content.

“Did that really just happen?” She looks down at you confused before she realized what you meant.

“Oh god! The video is probably everywhere by now, baby. I’m so sorry.” She pouts and you lean up to kiss her pout away.

“It’s okay baby, really. We can deal with it tomorrow besides in a way it’s kind of hot.”

“How so?” You smirk as you lean onto your elbow your lips close to touching.

“Well now people know how fucking hot you are with your big top energy and shit.” She broke out into laughter.

“What in the world, baby. You need to go to sleep you’re talking crazy now.” You smirk at her.

“You know it’s true, Brie.” She rolls her eyes as you stick out your tongue at her. She pulls you down for one last kiss before you settle on her chest.

“Goodnight, my beautiful top.” She groans at you as you giggle.

“Stooop, baby!” You stop giggling as you snuggle into her side. She kisses the top of your head as you slowly succumb to sleep.

“Goodnight, my beautiful bottom.” She smiles softly before succumbing to sleep herself.

———-<3———-

Brie Tag: @fun-sized-widow-bites

Forever Tag: @cheethos , @domromanoff , @stuckys-whore , @marilynroselleprentiss , @captainwonderwidow

#again im a sl*t for brie #(n)sfw #brie larson x fem!reader #brie larson x reader #brie larson smut #Brie Larson #captain marvel x fem!reader #Captain Marvel #captain marvel x reader #marvel rpf #marvel smut

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modernsocialmediaau · 4 years

Text

AVALANCE AU

AU: Sara is lead singer in a band called The Legends. Her band mates are; Charlie: Bass Player, Nate: Lead Guitarist, Zari: Drummer, Ray: Pianist. They call their fans beebos. Ava on the other hand is a famous actress with an entourage; Nora her best friend, and stylist, Gary: Manager, and Mona her publicist.

“Rise and shine!” Gary screams from the downstairs, the two are the only one that took care of themselves that night. Everything was going normal until the group caught a glimpse of Ray and Nora locking lips. That’s sort of when all hell broke loose, Sara offered shots and Charlie offered drinking games.

“If he doesn't stop shouting. I will literally hung him by his leg out in the balcony.” Charlie groans placing a pillow on top of her face, Zari pulls her much closer trying to hide her face while also burying her neck in Charlies shoulder.

“C’mon love birds.” Sara throws a pillow at the cuddling two. As well as Ray and Nora locking lips, Zari and Charlie made a mistake locking lips right in front of Gary as well as Sara but Sara already knew.

After an 20 more minutes of Gary shouting and John singing they finally got everyone out of bed for some breakfast.

Soon after breakfast the crew heads for their hike, it was a rather quiet first hour. Sara and Ava are up front leading the way, talking about god knows what while the others are behind them scheming.

“Now that you two are settled, can we focus on those two.” Charlie points at the two blondes leading the way,

“Charlie, Ava needs time to heal”

“And Sara--” Nate sighs knowing how much mending a broken heart is hard, but having had a pile of broken hearts after the other tends to wound an individual.

“Need to heal as well,” Ray sighs

“Okay but you guys can’t tell me that last night they weren’t up on each other or vibing at all.” Mona coo’s looking ahead to see the two girls examining the trail

“So what they’re friends, what if they are—“ Nate is cut off by the conversation the two girls are having up ahead. Ava is currently holding the map far from Sara’s reach, she’s using her butt as a shield.

“Just let me see it for one second.” Ava argues

“Why Miss-Know-It-All,” Sara teases bumping into Ava catching her in surprise letting her guard down. “You didn’t” Ava scoffs, but Sara took that opportunity to take the map and run away from Ava.

“Are you kidding though.” Mona woo’s pointing at the two playing tag with one another

“Okay but they’ve been like that since the beginning of their friendship, they’re both extremely headstrong. Sara is extremely rebellious and from what I noticed Ava is a little controlling.” Nate explains following the two blonde girls still play fighting over the map

“What’s wrong with him?” Gary mumbles, John shrugs taking out a cigarette as they follow, everyone starts to do the same but Nora puts her hand out to stop everyone else from walking.

“Okay new plan, do we force them to be together, or do we let them heal properly and hope that they’ll get together?” Nora speaks up leaving Zari, Ray and Charlie stuck

“Well clearly forcing them together isn't working out,” Ray starts

“Exactly when we do that they seem to butt heads but—” Zari continues

“When we leave them alone they come together naturally—”Charlie adds

“Which leaves us with the question again, do we keep forcing them together? Or do we let them heal—”

“Hey guys! C’mon the lake is up ahead!” Sara shouts summoning the last four to catch up to them.

“Well Ava leaves in a month and you guys leave in 2. Which means everyone will be gone, and your tour is going to last what—?” Nora schemes as they slowly walk trying to create some space as they scheme

“7 month at the most.” Ray informs

“Which means we let fate decide?” Charlie questions

“That just may be our best bet.” Zari pulls Charlie to walk faster since everyone doesn't have a choice on what to do about the two.

1 Hour Later...

“Who knew Mona Wu could cook?” Nora jokes as everyone is enjoying their lunch with some coffee, and tea.

“Well if you guys actually came over for food every once in a while instead of going out to eat you’d actually see how I can cook.” Mona defenses rolling her eyes making everyone cackle. As they continue to eat Sara somehow sneaks away from the group, and of course Ava notices which means she follows.

Nobody else notice the two girls sneak away. As Ava gets closer to Sara she whispers “Hey! Where are you going?”

“Hey, stalker.” Sara chuckles continuing to her path, up a hill

“I’m not a stalker, you just left and what if you get stuck or lost or something?”

“Whatever floats your boat”

“So what are you doing exactly?”

“Wanted a better view, better views give me better ideas, lyrics, melodies—”

“You’ve got writers block?”

“Yup, and it’s killing me because it is literally the last song of the album and we’re suppose to record it when we get back into town Monday.”

“Oh well then I’ll leave you alone—” There’s a pause, a part of Ava that wants Sara to ask her to stay but she can understand why the girl might want her alone time

“No wait, can I bounce things off of you?” Ava smiles before turning back around to Sara

“I’ll do my best—What do you got?”

Sara takes her phone out and pulls up the instrument of her empty music. The two sit for 6 minutes just trying to get the feel of the music.

“First of all, I love the sound—do you have a concept?”

“I don’t know nothing is really connecting to me and the whole album is coming together but this song would take it to a whole ‘nother level”

“Alright let’s start with this what haven't you wrote about?”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“A break up, I refuse. I’ll write about everything else but I don’t know I always feared that I’ll cry during one of the shows and crying is—”

“Disgusting—”Ava jokes

“Exactly but if thats’ the next best thing I’ll take it. So breaks up...break ups”

“How did your break up with Alex go? I know this is personal and might be a little too weird to talk about but—”

“No it’s okay, it was in the end of March and my ex girlfriend Alex broke up with me. She said that she felt lonely every time we were together because I was so busy with everything going on with my life. And she wasnt wrong—”

“Alright what made this break up hard?”

“She found somebody else, this amazing detective named Maggie Sawyer—I guess it hurt a lot because we were friends for 8 years then we dated and I just kind of assume we’d get married and do the whole house and kids thing but to be replaced so quickly hurt.”

“Do you want her back?”

“No I dont want her back but I hate thinking about her with somebody else.”

“Okay so let’s write about that mindset, you dont want her but you hate seeing her with his Maggie person.”

“That’s not bad, Sharpe. Not bad at all.”

30 minutes later

“Let’s hear it, Lance.” Ava runs back to Sara from going to the lake to meditate to hear what she’s got so far.

“It’s rough but hear me out,

So I heard you found somebody else And at first I thought it was a lie I took all my things that make sounds The rest I can do without

I don't want your body But I hate to think about you with somebody else Our love has gone cold You're intertwining your soul with somebody else

“That’s so—What the actual fuck—keep going.”

“That’s all I’ve got so far, I was thinking of adding another chorus like

I'm looking through you while you're looking through your phone And then leaving with somebody else No, I don't want your body But I'm picturing your body with somebody else

“Yes that’s good. Next verse c’mon don’t slack now—”

“Feel free to shout some ideas—jeez this is hard.”

“Right sorry, okay same melody right?”

“Yup, all I’ve got for the second verse is

c’mon baby

this aint the last time—

That I’ve been amazed?”

“No that doesn't make sense, what about that I've seen your face then repeat c’mon baby almost like calling her out as well as calling out to her.”

Come on baby This ain't the last time that I'll see your face Come on baby

“I hate that I can be replaced?”

“You said you’d find someone to take my place?”

“We’re going to go with yours I dont want her to think this is about her in the slightest—then I have this crazy idea that I thought of as soon as you left ”

I just don't believe that you have got it in you 'cause We are just gonna keep 'doin' it' and everytime I start to believe in anything you're saying I'm reminded that I should be getting over it

“I love that its a shift but not too noticeable where it throws the person off”

“Thank you, then the chorus repeats—

I don't want your body But I hate to think about you with somebody else Our love has gone cold You're intertwining your soul with somebody elseI'm looking through you while you're looking through your phone And then leaving with somebody else No, I don't want your body But I'm picturing your body with somebody else

“Do you have any ideas for the bridge?”

“I want it to almost be chant like so that whoever is listening to this is getting a looking at themselves in the mirror and my friends said I need to get over the last bit of you and so here I am hyping myself up in this mirror type of feel.”

“Specific I’m all ears.”

“I want it to build up like this;

I don't want your body, I don't want your body I don't want your body, I don't want your body I don't want your body, I don't want your body

then how about, get someone you love? get someone you need?”

“Fuck that, get money!” Ava jokes but Sara disagrees.

“Genius—

Get someone you love? Get someone you need? Fuck that, get money”

“Damn I am a genius.” Ava nods

“Right, but it needs one more line before I go on a chanting spree—”

“Get someone you love? Get someone you need? Fuck that, get money. I can't give you my soul 'cause we're never alone”

“Where do you keep coming up with this?”

“Okay let’s hear it shall we?

Get someone you love? Get someone you need? Fuck that, get money I can't give you my soul 'cause we're never alone Get someone you love? Get someone you need? Fuck that, get money I can't give you my soul 'cause we're never alone Get someone you love? Get someone you need? Fuck that, get money I can't give you my soul 'cause we're never alone Get someone you love? Get someone you need? Fuck that, get money I can't give you my soul 'cause we're never alone”

“That was it! Yes then obviously repeat the chorus right?”

“Yes and thats the whole song. Thats the whole album WOOHOOO!!!” Sara shouts, pulling Ava into a very tight hug. Ava couldn't help but feel good and oddly giddy having Sara in her arms.

“Oi! Is everything okay?” Charlie waves at the two girls and the two pull away from one another

“I just finished the album you’ve got to hear it!” Sara kisses Ava’s cheek before running towards Charlie. Ava watches Sara making to Charlie, and she decides to sit down to think about what to do.

“What was that up there?”

“She helped finished the last song of the album which means I finished the album—”

“Sara—calm down, let us hear it then?”

Part 13/?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |

#avalance #zarlie #darhkatom #ava sharpe #sara lance #nora darhk #ray palmer #charlie jiwe #zari tomaz #nate heywood #mona wu #amaya jiwe #gary green #john constantine #legends of tomorrow #avalance social media au #legends of tomorrow social media au #social media au

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oikawa13 · 3 years

Text

love in the time of köttbullar

Shouyou sets the bowl on the tiny table with a flourish and an itadakimasu! and this is when it hits Atsumu harder than a Skurup to the temple:He wants this. Shouyou, hip cocked against the miniature kitchen countertop, smiling shyly up at Atsumu through the amber fan of his lashes, beautiful god-boy-man somehow glowing gold even under the buzzy LED lighting. Though they’re standing in a 430,000 square foot warehouse in Tsurumachi, Atsumu’s looking at Shouyou, and he’s home.

Amid the Flärdfull and the Smörboll, Miya Atsumu falls a little more in love.

words: 3,378 | rating: T

i’ve never been inside an ikea so this fic quite literally changed me as a person. sometimes loving a person is as scary as saying that first i love you!!!! and sometimes... love is easy as saying i love you at an ikea ; ;

LAUNCHING MERRILY DOWN THE PATH OF SIN (THE FIRST TIME)

"Bokuto said I should bring you home. But I don’t know where you live. So I took you here.”

“To hell?”

"No, Atsumu-san. To my apartment."

words: 1,990 | rating T

i wake up in the middle of the night thinking about this fic and then go on ao3 to reread it again its just so fdjgfhdjf good. i think about this shoyo a lot. theres something!!!! very dreamy going on here. this is the first part to a series btw, you can read them all if you want since theyre probably all around 1k :-)

lord i no longer believe in anything but the way he holds my name between his teeth

The miracle of the rabbit on the moon.

“We took this photo at their seventh birthday party. His father baked a cake. But someone ate all the jellybeans off the top before they could even sing the birthday song. That’s why Atsumu cried. He used to cry a lot. It stopped when the twins found out about volleyball, but before that Atsumu would cry over everything. Spilled milk. A skinned knee. The neighbor’s dog. He was the twin that was scared of paper straws. It's funny how things have changed.

“He looks happier now. Did you do that?”

words: 10,456 | rating: T

so, this goes just a liiiiitle past 10k so its up to you if you want to read it or not, i just thought i’d include it since its so! close! lol theres this part!!!!! they are holding hands underneath the table!!!!!!!!! atsumu are you drunk?!!! no!!!!! hes just so stupidly in love with shoyo. i cant stand them!!!!!!!!!!!

wait for it, wait for it

The notifications are up at 100+ again and Hana wants to check it quickly to make sure nothing's wrong, especially because she'd just cleared them before the media scrum. The fans, she figured, must be overjoyed with the win.Congratulations MSBY Nation!!! the first reply reads. #myspiker #atsuhinaBoth tags, she finds, are currently trending in Japan.

Five times #atsuhina trended on volleyball Twitter and one time it should have (but luckily didn't), as told by the MSBY Black Jackals' junior publicist

words: 6,043 | rating: T

this fic is SOOOOO much fun!!!!!! also i love hana, idk if i ever mentioned that before but yeah. this is like... hdjkdhgjfd so much ; ; <3

south of an early summer

Warmth, then, was being wanted back. Two weeks later, Atsumu holds that warmth in by Shouyou’s waist; he watches it, how it sleeps, and wonders what the heat will become next.

words: 2,602 | rating T | tw: atsumu being atsumu about (past) kg/hn for a split second

IF i wasnt an absolute fool and gave you all these recommendations to pick and choose from id just send you this and the walking emoji bc honestly!!!!!!!!! i may not know what the heck romantic means but i see this and maybe it is romantic! maybe its not the average romantic idk?!!!! but i do know theres something beautiful here. love ?? ; ;

truths in two’s

Shouyou leaves for Brazil in two hours.

words: 8,300 | rating: T

LDR.... but like, in probably one of the easiest 2 breathe/good feeling fic for ldr!!!! idk im a baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ten reasons to break up with me: a love letter

1. It has to be you, ‘cause I won’t.

words: 4,197 | rating: T

pls....... i cant even THINK about this fic without crying okay!!!!!!!! insane. fuckign!!!! i love it so much, so much. it lives in my heart. this is the fic where i was like... i dont believe in love. yes i do. no<3 YES!!!!!!!! and cried and paced my room and finally FINALLY!!!!!! stopped feeling so hurt about hinata leaving for brazil again lmao!! like, i cant explain. this sounds crazy right???? anyway, i think... atsuhina can love each other so much it hurts when theyre apart but their love is so.... i mean......... they literally waited years to play together... so......... their love keeps them going..... GOODBYE!!!! i love listening to fka twigs cellophane & home with you and just..... being insane.

just can’t help myself

Five times Hinata takes care of Atsumu, and one time Atsumu returns the favor.

words: 5,025 | rating: T

*think about atshn taking care of each other* *cries*

blue crush

And there’s a promise there, sewn into the easy curve of his lips: I’m not going anywhere, Atsumu-san. Glittering eyes that cut through the rain-blurry dark like a beacon when Shouyou turns back to look up at him. Even if you fuck up all of our dates.

Murphy’s Law as demonstrated by Miya Atsumu.

words: 2,297 | rating: T

atsumu trying very hard to have things perfect and romantic and even in the failures its still very lovely<3

If I’m Icarus, You Must be the Sun (Allow me Three Mistakes)

He wonders if Icarus felt like nothing was wrong with self-destructing, because he had reveled in the sun, if only for a little while.

Atsumu finds, loving Hinata is the same.

Atsumu's love over the years, and the mistakes that accompany it.

words: 4,620 | rating: T

i am...very weak to the whole icarus/sun thing with hinata and his ships. this one though......... i think about it A lot.

in your eyes, i see our future

“Yer’ a real sweetheart, Hinata Shouyou.”

Shouyou smiles brilliantly. “Only for you~”

He scoots over so Shouyou can sit next to him. He can smell the pineapple body wash Shouyou is so fond of the moment he sits down. Shouyou passes the tray over carefully before settling against the headboard comfortably.

“What’s the occasion?"

(Or, Atsumu just really wants to marry Shouyou.)

words: 9,769 | rating: T

fhdsjjkjfdsj goes crazy stupid over marriage!!!!! listen... i do not believe in marriage!!!!! but for atsuhina, oh you bet i do!!!! :-)

breathing a hello

There’s no significance to them ending up here except that both of their lives are held in the sway of volleyball. Everything else comes second.That’s the crux of it, really.

words: 2,826 | rating: T

gjhfsjkfd shhhhhhhhh. my heart is very soft when i think of them here, please..... just!!!! pls.

if you’re out there in the cold, i’ll cover you in moonlight

My [23M] best friend and ex-boyfriend [23M] is visiting me for a week, and my current boyfriend [24M] who agreed to all of this is suddenly withdrawing from me. Can I get some advice? Please? Anyone?

words: 8335 | rating: T | chapters: 3 | tw: past kg/hn 😳

this one is optional since you wanted one shots and theres 3 chapters here. my idea of romantic is...well, i especially love when one of them is acting hurtful/mean/difficult to the other bc their own personal issues but the other loves them anyway??? and then they work on that issue!!! just!!!!! ; ;

Love in the Time of Insomnia

And anyway Hinata was sprinting out faithfully after Atsumu, who had keys to the gym like a badass, and who was going to give his spikers a few more tosses after-hours without Meian knowing like the greatest, most generous badass the Jackals had ever seen.

words: 2,457 | rating: G

running four kilometers just so atsumu can rest. this is what romantic means!!!! hdkshjfhdj

ode to what you’d have been

5 times it’s Kageyama’s fault and the 1 time Hinata realizes it has never been.

words: 3,628 | rating: G

loving someone including their flaws PART 2!!!!!! ok.... u might be like... um... this is romantic? hfdkhjfd LISTEN!!!! to me!!! there is nothing more romantic than being in love with someone and the ugly parts of them. going, i love you, all of you. and communication!!! and understanding!!! and feeling terrible and shitty and horrible but having the one you love accept you. and trying to help ease your mind, worries. *sobs real hard* also shout out 2 ‘okaaayy.... i hate sakusa now’

a shrine for a boy

Despite his uncertainty about how to tell Atsumu of his move to São Paulo, Hinata takes action. Things do not go according to plan.

words: 2,447 | rating: G

hinatas time 2 be romantic and fail but its ok bc!!!!!!!!!! :-) they are just dummies in love<3

the greatest distance between you and longing is defeat

(In other words: Atsumu, let go. I’m here now.)

words: 3,310 | rating: G

um... *cries* post break up.... o_o!!!! god they really thought they could????? lmao!!!!!!

the tear in this (our gentle language)

“I’m going back to Brazil.”

He isn’t asking for permission. This isn’t a consultation. Hinata Shouyou informs his boyfriend at their after-practice practice. Miya Atsumu has a volleyball in each arm, trying to pick up a third. It drops and rolls away from him. The thud resounding in an empty gymnasium.

Shouyou had tried to envision Atsumu’s reaction many times. He never expected to be met with silence.

Alternatively: an exploration of Hinata Shouyou’s return to Brazil

words: 7,204 | rating: M

ldr CAN be romantic ok!!!!!!!! it takes a lot of communication, time, and love ; ;

evening sun

Atsumu looks at Shouyou and thinks, I want to know every inch of you.

words: 1,502 rating: M

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camillemontespan · 5 years

Text

the history of us [drake x camille] [part eight: 10th august - i can’t lose you]

Part Seven here if you want to catch up.

Warnings: NSFW. Alcohol abuse. Angst. Feelings.

@jovialyouthmusic @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @pug-bitch @sirbeepsalot @moonlightgem7 @dcbbw @emceesynonymroll @notoriouscs @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld @stopforamoment @sawyer0akleyscowboyhat @ccolz88-blog @symonde @nomadics-stuff @burnsoslow @i-bloody-love-drake-walker @drakesensworld @gardeningourmet @iplaydrake

*************************************************************************************

10th August 2023

Olivia, Hana, Kiara and Penelope are coming over this evening for an unofficial meeting, by which I mean we’re drinking wine and talking about our new campaign, while putting the world to rights.

Kiara’s been trying so hard the past couple of years to get into a diplomatic career; she has the skills, the knowledge and the intelligence but Cordonia is so archaic with their attitude that ‘women should be at home while men work,’ it’s meant that Kiara has stayed at the bottom of the ladder. The one thing that holds her back from landing her dream job is the fact she has a vagina.

Now, the Duchesses are rallying together to campaign for women’s equality in the workplace, and that doesn’t apply to just duchesses - it applies to all women in Cordonia. We want to make a difference. I want to see change so that when Lily is older, she doesn’t have any obstacles to overcome; she can achieve anything she sets her mind to.

Liam is on board with the campaign. We’ve met him a few times to discuss and he’s given us free reign to do what we want. He’s a modern king and is open to pushing boundaries.

Drake has been really supportive about the whole thing. He’s read my PowerPoints, given me notes on my speeches and just been there for reassurance when I start doubting that this campaign will work.

He’s had another therapy session since we first met Tessa. I sat with him again and he talked to me, pretending she wasn’t there.

I feel like a terrible wife. I didn’t realise he was going through all of this shit. I know he puts so much pressure on himself, he always thinks he’s going to slip up and do something wrong which will make Cordonia turn on him. He is so protective about our family too, he hates that we are photographed all the time, but you can’t exactly call up a media blackout.

He told me that he feels like he isn’t worthy of his title or status. When the newspapers write about everything he does wrong, he feels like an imposter.

He hasn’t touched whiskey since the therapy session. I know it’s very early days and I don’t want to put pressure on him by hoping we’ve averted disaster, but he’s seemed a lot better. He’s been more attentive than usual, more playful with Lily if that’s even possible. He just seems carefree.

*****************************************************************************

‘Aaaah Daddy!’ Lily shrieked. Drake had lifted her up and twisted her so her head was suspended above the floor and he was holding her by her ankles, swinging her from side to side. She burst out laughing as he swung her more. They were in the garden with the sun shining down on them and Camille was lying on the sunlounger in a bikini top and denim shorts, sunbathing.

Drake had been focused on Lily and Camille since the first therapy session. He had decided that the amount of sex he and Camille had enjoyed in Texas should be replicated in Valtoria; as a result, he had woken her up every morning with his head between her thighs, pushing her over the edge and pulling her from her slumber.

He hadn’t touched whiskey. When he felt anxious, he would distract himself by going out into the garden and just taking a moment.

Tonight, the Duchesses were coming over for an unofficial meeting. Drake planned to lock himself in his study dealing with work emails and watch YouTube videos while the ladies drank wine and talked.

He was feeling good. Free.

***********************************************************************

Camille sprayed her perfume on her wrists and neck when she finished getting ready. It was a casual night with the girls, so she was only wearing jeans, a black off the shoulder sweater and black ankle boots. Her hair was tousled and fell down her shoulders and her eyes were lined with kohl.

Drake came into the bedroom and smiled as he watched her ruffle her hair with her fingers.

‘You look gorgeous,’ he told her. Camille rolled her eyes. ‘I look pretty casual to be honest, Drake.’

‘Nah, you always look good.’

He reached around and wrapped his arms around her body, kissing her neck. Camille closed her eyes and focused on the attention.

He didn’t smell of whiskey, which was good. She found that she was now unconsciously trying to work out if he had had a drink or not; she didn’t want to treat him like fine china but she still worried.

‘Do we have time...?’ Drake whispered in her ear, causing the hairs on her neck to stand up.

Camille smiled softly and turned around to face him. ‘I’ve always got time for you,’ she told him. Drake grinned, a look of genuine joy on his face. He pulled her towards him and he fell back onto the bed with her landing on top of him. She burst out laughing.

‘You laugh like a two year old,’ Drake said, chuckling. Camille swatted his chest with her hand.

Their lips met and for a few moments, they kissed slow and long. Deep, languorous kisses. Drake ran his hands down her back to settle on her ass, squeezing gently. Camille groaned against his mouth and their kisses became more urgent.

He unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them off. Camille returned the favour and pulled down his boxers, releasing him. She took him in her mouth instantly without hesitation.

Drake threw his head back as he focused on her tongue and lips teasing him. ‘Fuck, Camille..’

He wanted her now. He was impatient.

Drake lifted her up and pulled her down on top of him. He slid into her so easily. Camille let out a cry and began to rock her hips, increasing the pace the more Drake groaned her name.

He reached out and played with her clit, circling her nub. Camille’s eyes rolled back as she focused on the pleasure. ‘Drake, that feels good,’ she murmured.

‘I want to make you feel good.’

‘You always make me feel good.’

His hands grabbed her hips and his fingernails dug into her skin, forcing her to drive harder. She gripped onto his hands as she rode him. She loved feeling close to him. This was how it should always be.

They didn’t say what they were thinking. They were too caught up in each other.

I can’t lose you, Drake.

You won’t lose me.

But what if I do?

That’s not going to happen.

I can’t lose you.

*****************************************************************************************

‘So, Leo’s introduced this new thing in the bedroom..’ Olivia said, her eyebrow raised. The Duchesses all leaned forward with their wine glasses in their hand, eyes wide.

‘Well? Tell us!’ Kiara said.

‘It involves handcuffs, bubble wrap and Vaseline.’

Hana wrinkled her nose. ‘Ugh I really don’t want to know.’

Olivia shrugged. ‘Your loss, Lee.’

‘I’ve joined a new dating app,’ Kiara volunteered. ‘For kinks.’

‘Kiara!’ they all shouted, laughing.

‘What?! It’s really good!’

They all helped themselves to more wine. Lily was in her room reading, but she occasionally came down to say hello. Before the meeting had developed into sex talk, Lily had sat on Camille’s lap as they discussed their plan of action. She soon got bored though and left, which was when Olivia had changed the conversation.

‘What’s Drake like in bed?’ Olivia asked. Camille stared at her. ‘I’m not telling you!’

‘I bet he’s a brute..’ Kiara whispered. ‘Like, he doesn’t hold back.’

‘Nah, he’s a marshmallow really, so I bet he’s all romantic!’ Hana said.

‘I don’t want to think about Drake having sex,’ Penelope said, looking like she might be sick.

Camille giggled and took another sip of wine. ‘Let’s say he knows exactly what he’s doing.’

‘Ugh, you’re so boring, Camille!’ Olivia scolded. ‘Come on, give us something. Is he big?’

Camille sighed. She then extended her arm so it thumped on the table. ‘Oh yeah.’

The duchesses screamed with laughter. It echoed through the manor, reaching Drake’s study.

****************************************************************************************

He hadn’t meant to. He had just been on the Cordonian Herald website to see what was happening in the country today and he hadn’t meant to open it.

Drake had come across an article. An article written by Madeleine.

And it was in the Cordonian Herald, the most respected newspaper in Cordonia.

Drake opened the article, despite knowing he shouldn’t feed his demons. But this was his former publicist and he needed to know what she was talking about now.

Everyone thinks they know the Duke and Duchess of Valtoria. Commoners who have been gifted one of the highest ranking titles in the country, they are a true rags to riches story. Some may view them as endearing as they navigate the trials of noble life, watching them learn as they go.

They are not endearing. While working for them as their publicist, I can tell you with authority that they are not what they seem.

Camille is a New Yorker born and bred and she is hell bent on making things modern and fresh. She wants change. She wants to challenge our values - values that have held up Cordonia for centuries. Do we really want this American to change Cordonia? She has only been in the role for four years; surely, someone more experienced than her is better equipped to facilitate change? But why change Cordonia anyway? She simply thinks we are too traditional and set in our ways, which means she is not loyal. She doesn’t understand that we are a country seeped in history and royal bloodlines; we are a nation of grace and prosperity.

But at least she is doing her job, I suppose.

The same can’t be said for the Duke. He stays at home most of the time to look after their daughter. He is a house husband mascqerading as a Duke. Cordonia believes in the idea that men should go out to work while women stay home, but this is not evident in the Walker household. They have twisted their roles so it’s Camille who is the breadwinner. Cordonian family values are not evident.

Meanwhile, he lets Lily run riot. She broke her arm last month while in his care; what does that say about him? Let’s not even go into detail about how he loves a drink....

Drake had to stop reading Madeline’s poison. It wasn’t even a well written article. It was a hate piece, totally one sided, and not typical of the Cordonian Herald. Which made Drake wonder why the newspaper were suddenly printing this trash. He expected better.

The thing was, he and Camille hadn’t done anything to deserve this.

Once again, he felt powerless. How could he control the media? He couldn’t. He couldn’t stop Madeleine from spouting her shit in a national newspaper. Drake wished they could just pack up and leave. Leave Valtoria and just go to Texas. Why not? Why couldn’t they just hand their duchy over to someone else? Was that even possible?

Drake ran a hand through his hair. He got up and left his study and made his way to the bedroom. He passed the Duchesses, who looked at him as he neared the living room door.

‘Hiiiii Draaaaaake!’ Olivia, Hana, Kiara and Penelope chorused, while Camille turned red. Clearly, they hadn’t been talking about their campaign.

Drake thought of Madeleine’s opinions about their campaign; if she threw a spanner in the works, thereby halting the progress of Camille’s campaign, Drake would go mad. She had worked so hard.

He reached their bedroom and opened the wardrobe door. He stopped, trying to breathe. Just breathe. It’s all good.

He thought of Camille downstairs talking to the Duchesses as they planned world domination. She was making good changes; she was doing her job. Maybe Madeleine was right. Maybe Drake was just pretending to be a Duke when really, he was a house husband. He didn’t do anything aside from check work emails. He wasn’t making a difference.

Stop it.

He looked after Lily and made sure she was loved. Surely that was important.

Yeah but to Cordonia, it’s duty first. Duke first, family second is their attitude. Which means I’ll never fit in here.

Drake reached into the wardrobe and searched. Eventually, he found it. The bottle of whiskey he had hidden in here so it wasn’t in his study. He had wanted to resist temptation.

He should have poured the bottle down the sink and he was going to.

But he had held back. For some illogical reason, Drake had kept this bottle of whiskey. Maybe it was his back up. A safety net if things really went to shit and he wanted to sink into oblivion. It called out to him now. Just one sip.

Drake took a deep gulp from the bottle. He felt the liquid burn his throat as it slid down into his stomach. He drank another.

Enough now.

Drake put the bottle back into the wardrobe, hiding it behind a box. He felt calmer now. He hated to admit it but he did. He also felt a heavy guilt that shot like a bullet through his chest but he pushed it down.

******************************************************************************************

The Duchesses left a few hours later, giggling and hiccuping. Camille smiled as she cleared up the living room.

She went up to Lily’s bedroom and found her daughter playing with her doll house. ‘Hey, honey.’

Lily looked over and gave her mother a wide smile. ‘Hi mommy.’

Camille sat down beside her. ‘Having fun?’

‘Yeah. I’m playing Families.’

‘Oh? What’s happening?’

Lily held up a doll that was meant to be the dad. ‘He’s going to play with his child all day,’ she said, then she held up the mother doll, ‘and the mommy is going out to save the world.’

Camille smiled. ‘Saving the world?’

‘Yeah! Just like you, mommy.’

‘And daddy stays home and plays with his daughter?’

Lily nodded fiercely. ‘He’s the best daddy. All daddies should stay home and play. Mine does.’

‘Does that mean your daddy is the best daddy?’ Camille asked, stroking Lily’s hair. Lily nodded.

‘Daddy is the best daddy in the whole world,’ she said solemnly.

Camille placed a kiss on Lily’s head and got up from the floor. ‘I’ll be back up in ten to get you ready for bed, okay?’

She left Lily to play and went downstairs to Drake’s study where he had been holded up for hours. He was sat at his computer, watching a YouTube video.

‘Hey, baby.’

Drake stood up and wrapped his arms around her. ‘How was the meeting? You achieved world domination yet?’

‘Baby steps!’ Camille replied. ‘Olivia and Leo are trying out something new in the bedroom..’

‘Do I want to know? Will it scar me for life?’

Camille giggled. ‘It involves Vaseline and bubblewrap.’

‘Eww..’

Camille laughed and kissed Drake softly. She then pulled back. ‘Drake. Have you been drinking whiskey?’

Drake blinked. ‘No.’

‘Yes you have,’ Camille said, her voice trembling. ‘I can smell it on your breath. You’ve drank whiskey.’

Drake reached out to take her hands but she pushed him away. ‘No, no. Don’t. Are you bottling up feelings again? You’re self medicating again? Fucking hell, Drake! I thought the therapy was working. I know it’s early days but still, you’ve been so positive recently and happy. What’s happened?’

Drake bit his lip. ‘I read the latest hate piece by Madeleine.’

Camille stared at him. ‘Why are you reading any of that shit? Haven’t you learned? Reading this stuff doesn’t help!’

‘I didn’t mean to!’

‘You still clicked on the fucking article!’

Drake held up his hands in frustration. ‘Because it was about us! I needed to see what the bitch was saying. She was awful, Camille! She said that you aren’t loyal to Cordonia because you want to change it and she said I’m just a house husband who pretends to be a Duke. And she’s right, I don’t do anything!’

Camille pointed at him, her eyes steady on his. ‘Don’t you dare let her into your head.’

‘But she is! Everyone is!’ he burst out. ‘I can’t do anything without feeling like I’m being judged! I just wish for one fucking day that we could catch a break. I wish we could leave! I want us to just fuck off out of this fucking country and go back to Texas-’

‘We can’t, Drake!’ Camille shouted. ‘We are the Duke and Duchess of Valtoria-’

‘I’m a Duke by name only!’ he interrupted. ‘I am not the Duke of Valtoria! I am Drake Walker, that’s who I am. I can’t stand being the Duke. I hate this responsibility we have, I hate the constant media attention, I hate having to plaster a fake smile on my face at royal events, I hate this life!’

Camille stepped back. Her eyes had filled with tears. ‘You hate this life?’ she repeated, her voice shaking. ‘Really, Drake? You hate this life? This life with me and Lily?’

Drake pressed his fingers on either side of his nose. ‘No, Camille. You’re twisting my words-’

‘This life that you hate has me and your daughter in it!’

‘I meant this noble life! I just wish we were normal!’

‘Drake, I wish we were too but we aren’t. We met at a fucking suitor competition for the King. Everything about our life isn’t normal but hell, we try our best to make it so. We’re trying to make Lily’s life as normal as possible; you taught her about stars last week! That’s normal! Just because we have these titles doesn’t mean we should be defined by them.’

‘But we do have these titles and we have so much pressure on our shoulders,’ Drake explained. ‘I’m sick of it.’

‘Drinking isn’t the solution,’ Camille told him. ‘It never is.’

‘It numbs me.’

Camille stared at him with her fists clenched. ‘I don’t want you numb.’

‘If you were inside my head, you would understand,’ he said, his voice cracking.

‘I do understand-’

‘No, you don’t.’

There was a long silence. Camille closed her eyes then opened them, her eyes penetrating his. ‘I’m putting Lily to bed.’

‘Camille-’

‘No, Drake,’ she whispered. ‘I’m tired. I’m so fucking tired.’

She left him in the study. Drake slumped down on the chair, listening to her footsteps fade away.

****************************************************************

I thought he was trying. For a moment, he was. But when I smelled the whiskey on his breath, I just knew we were back to square one. I didn’t mean to close up from him; but I’m tired. I’m tired of worrying. I’m tired of trying to get through to him. I’m tired of trying to get him to understand that I’m here for him.

Maybe I’ll feel better tomorrow. I will go back to being the Camille who tries to help. But right now, I feel bone tired and hollow, as if my insides have been raked out. Sleep will help.

Drake remembered that night. When she smelled the whiskey, the look on her face was one of complete betrayal. She had tried so hard to be there for him and he kept throwing it back in her face. Why had he done that?

He sighed and turned the page.

#drake walker #drake walker x mc #trr fanfic #the royal romance

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ilovethings-somuch · 5 years

Text

Good Press

Chris Evans x Reader

Fake Dating AU

A/N: Here it is! Happy Election day! Get out and VOTE!

This is technically part of my 1.5k Followers Celebration and its been haunting me from my drafts for over a month, but I finally finished! This is a fake dating AU and it was requested by @princenyaz

I’ve been in a rut for a while now so I’m going to share the website that has repeatedly helped me get out of ruts like this one. It’s called Fighters Block (I linked it there) and it basically gives you a fun way to reach a word count and be motivated to just keep writing something.

“I’m sorry, you want us to what?” I asked my publicist, who also happened to be Chris Evans’ publicist, as I chose to ignore the look Chris was giving me.

“I think it would be a good idea for you two. You have a lot in common and it would give both of you a lot of positive press.”

“Why do I need positive press?” I looked at Chris for backup but he refused to meet my eye. “Are you going to back me up on this?”

“I actually, don’t think it’s such a bad idea,” he shrugged.

“Really? Other than the fact that we’d be faking a relationship? You don’t see anything wrong with that?”

“It’s not ideal, of course, but if we make a contract and know each other’s boundaries it’s basically like a business transaction.”

“I can’t believe you’re agreeing to this,” I shook my head as I glowered at both of them.

“I’m just saying it might not be that bad. The final decision is up to you,” Chris tried to assure me.

“Chris is right,” our publicist spoke up. “Take some time to think about it over the weekend, and we’ll have another meeting to discuss it on Monday.”

“Are you saying you don’t want to go on a date with Chris Evans, because honey I will gladly take your place,” my best friend, Ellie, offered when I told her about my meeting.

“That’s not the point,” I started.

“It is the point! If your publicist thinks it’s going to help kickstart your career, and that it’s going to be good on Chris’ end too, then why not? He’s a nice guy! Plus, he’s not bad to look at.”

“But it’s fake.”

“It is, but at least you know it’s not real going in. Think of it as method acting, you’re just acting as his girlfriend,” Ellie suggested.

“That’s not how it works.”

“But it can be! Don’t write it off so fast. I think it would be fun.”

“Of course you think it would be, you’re also the one who thinks skydiving is fun,” I deadpanned.

“Don’t change the subject. Look, if you’re really worried about either of you getting the wrong idea or something, just make a really good contract so that you know you’re both on the same page.”

“That’s what Chris said,” I mumbled.

“See, I knew I liked him!” she laughed before being serious again. “You asked for my opinion and I think it would be good for you. Not only because it will get your name out there, but because it will get you out there.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means, you haven’t so much as talked to a guy since Ryan. You need to put yourself out there again.”

I took the rest of the weekend to think about it. I weighed the pros and cons, but really I couldn’t come up with a good list of cons. I was sure there had to be a concise list of reason why this was a bad idea, but when it came down to it I could barely name three.

“I can’t believe I agreed to this,” I sighed as I looked over my outfit one last time.

“Honestly, me neither,” Ellie laughed from where she was perched on my bed. I gave her a sulking look and she hopped off the bed to hug me. “It’s going to be fine! Chris is such a nice guy, and you made a very thorough contract, nothing could go wrong.”

“Thank you,” I hugged her back for a moment before straightening up and releasing one final deep breath.

“Now get out of here, you’re going to be late!”

I waved her off but took her advice and grabbed my bag and keys before heading out the door. Chris suggested a new restaurant downtown and even if I wasn’t excited about the date itself, I was very excited about the food. As I got out of the car I noticed another car door closing a few cars over. I looked over at the same time Chris saw me so I caught his smile and wave.

“Good timing,” he called as he waiting for me before we walked up to the door together. “You look great,” he complimented me easily and I was taken aback for a moment before remembering that that was a typical statement on a date.

“Thank you,” I recovered, “you look nice too.”

“Oh thanks, the henley really classes things up,” he joked.

We were sitting in the restaurant by then and I was trying to think of something else to say. “It shows off your tattoo at least.” There was too long of a pause before I got the words out and he seemed confused before remembering our conversation about his shirt.

“It does, do you like tattoos?”

“I like them on you.”

After the initial awkwardness, we were able to talk pretty consistently throughout the meal. I embarrassed myself a minimal number of times and before I knew it the waiter was dropping off the check. My instinct was to grab it or at least insist that we split it, but Chris was faster and quickly informed me that since he picked the restaurant it’s only fair that he pays. I was still going to argue but he shut me up by telling me that I could pick the restaurant and pay next time. That’s when I was reminded that this wasn’t just a one-time thing. We were planning on keeping up this relationship for at least a few months.

Chris offered me his arm as we stood from our table. I gave him an unsure look for a moment but he subtly nodded to the not-so-casual paparazzi that was waiting outside the restaurant and I quickly understood. It was weird how comfortable it felt being close to him, touching him, but it almost felt like I’d known him for a while. Chris escorted me to my car, the paparazzi stayed at a semi-respectable distance, but Chris still gave me a kiss on the cheek for good measure.

“I’ll call you,” he called to me as he walked backward towards his car.

“I’ll be waiting,” I teased, assuming that this was also for the benefit of the press. I later discovered that was not the case when my phone lit up with a call from Chris as I was getting into bed.

“Hello?”

“I think it’s funny that people still answer the phone like that,” he laughs into the phone. “As if you don’t have caller ID and know who’s calling.”

“It’s a force of habit,” I defend myself lightly. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

“I told you I was going to call you later.”

“Yeah, but I thought that was just because of the press being around.”

“That might have been part of it, but is it so bad that I like talking to you?”

I press my lips together to suppress the smile that’s trying to show, “It’s not a bad thing.”

“Good. You know, I wouldn’t have agreed to this whole setup if I found you totally intolerable.”

“Of course not, I’m glad I made that one step up from intolerable.”

“Maybe, but you’re on thin fuckin’ ice,” Chris’ accent came out as he teased.

“Oh no, baby I’m sorry, I don’t know what I would do if my fake-boyfriend broke up with me,” I whined sarcastically. Chris blurted out a boisterous laugh and I couldn’t help but feel a little pride at being the cause of that sound.

“You should do more comedies,” Chris suggested once he calmed his laughter.

“Yeah? Maybe I’ll ask my manager.”

“You mean our manager.”

“I mean my manager, but I can tell her about you if you’d like. Maybe I could get you a meeting, she’s really great. I bet she could get you some auditions, but of course, you need to be ready to start out with some low budget films. You can’t have everything, Chris.”

“Wow, the sass is really strong with you, isn’t it?” Chris said in disbelief.

“I’m sorry,” I quickly backtracked. “Sometimes I can’t shut it off.”

“No, don’t apologize, really, I think you’re funny.”

“Thank you,” I trailed off awkwardly.

“Anytime,” Chris offered. “Well, um, I should get some sleep, I just didn’t wanna back out on my promise to call you. We should set up another date soon.”

“Yeah, I’ll look at my schedule tomorrow and text you or something.”

“Perfect. Well, Goodnight, (y/n).”

“Goodnight, Chris”

We ended up going on quite a few public dates the following weeks. It wasn’t until later that I realized we also started spending time together privately. I was convinced we were just becoming closer friends, and even if I wanted it to be more than that, I knew Chris didn't feel the same way. We were both just doing this to advance our careers and get good publicity, I couldn't bring myself to even consider that there could be anything more. Even when his causal touches started showing up in private, or that time he surprised me with flowers and soup when I told him I couldn't make our date due to a sudden case of the flu. That was the first night he slept over, granted, he slept on the couch and it only happened because he was convinced I was going to get worse over the night. All these moments seemed so insignificant at the time, but now I'm able to realize how important they were in the creation of our relationship.

The fake dating started seeming like less of a chore, it started feeling real. I knew I was in trouble, but I kept telling myself that even once we had to "break-up" we would still be friends and I could deal with that. Or at least I thought I could deal with that.

"You guys have been doing great," our publicist informed us. She asked us to come in for a meeting to update how we were doing with the fake relationship and because she had news for us, though she wouldn't tell us what the news was.

"It hasn't been easy," I sigh sarcastically and lean away from Chris. He laughs wholeheartedly and reaches for my hand. I don't pull away and instead, enjoy the feeling of his hand in mine.

"As much as I love seeing how well this has worked for both of your public images, I think it's time to quit while we're ahead. There was a big scandal in Hollywood last week where a couple was caught to be faking it. They were seen with other people and instead of taking a hit from a cheating scandal they thought it would be easier to admit it was fake. Now, I know you two are smarter than that, but I don't want anything like that to happen to you two and have this all be for nothing."

"So, we need to break up?" I asked, trying to mask the sadness in my voice.

"You do."

"Oh, okay," Chris replied quietly, gently dropping my hand in the process. He turned to our publicist and took a business tone, "How do we do this? Do we need to stage some public breakup or do we release a statement?"

"I think it's best if we just do a statement, as long as you two are okay with that? There's no reason we need to act like you left it on bad terms. Especially since you seem to have become friends at this point, I wouldn't want to jeopardize that."

"I appreciate that," I said and Chris met my eye with a smile.

"That means we'll have to stay away from each other for a while though, right?" Chris asked, looking back to our publicist.

"I think that would be best. I would suggest laying low for a while and then after a few weeks, don't be afraid to be seen with other people. We want to make this break up seem easy and happy. You guys could even go out together as long as it were in a group setting so it didn't seem like you were getting back together."

Chris and I left the office together. I was feeling defeated but still tried to put on a brave face since I wasn’t sure how Chris felt about the whole situation. For all I knew, he was excited for it to be over. An intrusive part of my brain wanted me to believe that is the case, even though my heart was telling me it wasn’t. Chris took my hand in his again as we stepped onto the sidewalk.

I looked up at him, confusion written on my features, and he smiled, "I figure it might be our last chance before the statement goes out tomorrow."

"You say that as if you're going to miss this," I replied in a mildly sarcastic tone. A tone that made Chris stop in his tracks, pulling me back right along with him.

"Why do you say it like that? Of course, I'm going to miss this and I'm sorry if this has been so awful for you that you're not going to miss it at all, but spending my time with you has been one of the highlights of my life lately."

"I'm sorry, I, I didn't mean it like that," I tried to rush through my words, trying to fix what I'd done, but at that point, Chris had dropped my hand and continued walking without me. A thought ran through my head about not needing to stage an argument since I could ruin any situation all on my own as I jogged to catch up with him. I took his hand in mine again as I pulled him to the stop.

"Chris, listen to me please," I looked up as a camera flash caught my eye.

"We can't do this here," he told me.

"I know, just, come over and let me explain." He agreed reluctantly and we continued on our way. I let go of his hand once he agreed and he didn’t make a move to pick it back up, even with the paparazzi on our tail. The trip to my apartment wasn’t far from the office and we walked the rest of the way in silence. As soon as we got inside Chris faced me, his arms crossed and eyebrows raised, waiting for an answer.

"Do you want to sit down?" I asked, trying to release some of the tension that had built between us.

"I think I'm good right here, at least until I hear what you have to say."

"Right. Okay, so, I guess, I like you. I like you more than I should and I'm not ready for this to be over."

"You have a weird way of showing it," he scoffs.

"I know, I know,” I sighed again, willing myself to say the words that had been on my mind for weeks. “I didn't want to open up and let you know how I really felt because I didn't know if you felt the same way. I didn't want to tell you and then end up losing you as a friend too. I can handle not being your girlfriend, but I can’t lose you from my life. I know you don’t like me as any more than a good friend and that’s okay, but this is why I’ve been acting weird, I was trying to keep that last bit of distance between us.”

“What makes you think I don’t like you as any more than a friend?” Chris asked with an amused look on his face.

“Well, how could you? You’re you and I’m just,” I shrugged and gestured vaguely to myself.

“Don’t do that, you’re perfect.”

“From from it,” I said immediately before the realization of what this could mean set in.

I caught Chris roll his eyes as he finally uncrossed his arms and stepped closer to me. He didn’t stop until we were almost touching, his eyes bore into mine and he cupped my chin to keep me from looking away.

“You. Are. Perfect,” he said slowly, enunciating each word with careful precision. The urge to roll my eyes was strong but the emotion he had in his eyes stopped me. “I have a confession,” he paused and took half a step back, releasing my chin. “I only agreed to this fake dating scheme because I had a bit of a crush on you. I wanted to get to know you without the pressure of a real relationship and I’d say it worked. I know you, and I like everything about you.”

“You do?”

“I do,” he said with a soft laugh. I couldn’t think of anything to say for a moment as the news sunk in and Chris took the opportunity to close the gap between us. His lips touched mine, softly at first, seeking reassurance. I gave in almost instantly, parting my mouth has his tongue glided along my bottom lip. I had a fleeting thought about getting drunk on the taste of his mouth, but before I could finish it he was pulling away. I chased his lips inadvertently and he smiled into another quick peck before fully pulling back.

“We should probably call our publicist and tell her not to run that statement,” Chris said in a somewhat triumphant tone.

“I think that’s a good idea,” I agreed, still feeling dizzy from the kiss.

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#Chris Evans #Chris Evans x Reader #Chris Evans/Reader #Chris Evans fanfiction #Chris Evans fanfic #Tiana's 1.5k followers celebration #fake dating #fake dating au #Chris Evans fake dating au #chris evans request #happy election day

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teamhook · 5 years

Text

Just another CS MOVIE AU… Happy Valentine’s Day Ch 5/5.

|AO3| |FFN|

Hello! Okay, so I bring you, musician!Killian AU inspired by Forever My Girl cause I see CS everywhere! Sorry, I’m stubborn and although I was told this should be a SF fic. Maybe I’m wrong but I couldn’t stop myself.

Maybe you guys can tell me if I was wrong…

I wanna thank @searchingwardrobes and @ilovemesomekillianjones for their Beta services. They each helped me so much.

So allow me to give you all Chapter 5 and final chapter of my Valentine’s Day gift to all of you, my lovely shipmates.

I didn’t tag some of you before because I didn’t want to be too presumptuous but gotta share the love:

@its-imperator-furiosa @djlbg @mayquita @andiirivera @captainsjedi @wellhellotragic @ultraluckycatnd @onceuponaprincessworld @aprilqueen84 @tehgreeneyes @hookedonapirate @thesschesthair @krustybunny @alexandralyman @artistic-writer @kymbersmith-90 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @snowbellewells @resident-of-storybrooke @flslp87 @searchingwardrobes @pocket-anon @branlovestowrite @seriouslyhooked @sherlockianwhovian @doodlelolly0910 @courtorderedcake @ilovemesomekillianjones @shireness-says @donteattheappleshook @jennjenn615 @bethacaciakay @thislassishooked @shipsxahoy @shady-swan-jones @tiganasummertree @cat-sophia @hollyethecurious @thejacketandthehook @dassala @allofdafandoms-blog @kday426 @winterbaby89 @snidgetsafan @delirious-late-nights @onceuponaprincessworld @let-it-raines @profdanglaisstuff @revanmeetra87 @stophookingatmeswan @kmomof4 @optomisticgirl @lenfaz @gingerchangeling @darkcolinodonorgasm @daxx04 @jennjenn615 @lizacstuff @lassluna @xemmaloveskillianx @xhookswenchx @peglegsjones @shireness-says @laschatzi @onceuponataarna

The Denver Arena welcomes Killian Jones with open arms. The city is having a slow month and is able to offer an earlier opening to the musician in lieu of the anticipated performance. They much preferred this to waiting until after the European tour to host the singer. An overcrowded arena applauds the music star’s much awaited show.

“Thank you. Thank you, Denver!” Killian takes a bow on stage. He waves at the crowd as he runs to the backstage. For the first time in years he takes no notice of any groupie in the crowd.

Scarlet greets him with a water bottle, “Killian, that has to be best I’ve seen you perform. I think the crowd forgave your last minute concert cancelation. These new songs are just crushing it, you know?”

Killian gives him a tight smile, “Just get me out of here, mate. It doesn’t matter.”

Will stares at him and obliges. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

Tiny and Will share looks on the way to the airport, they’ve grown tired of Killian’s brooding. After boarding the plane Will decides to engage Killian head on. “Killian, why are you doing this to yourself?”

“Doing what?” Killian asks, acting aloof.

“Mate, what happened while you were back home? You sounded happy and suddenly you asked me to organize the concert.” Will prompts him to continue.

“She almost died because of me. I just...” Killian closes his eyes as he remembers.

“Who almost died?”

“Alice Hope, my daughter.” Killian cannot contain the smile on his face at the mention of his daughter’s name. He continues his tale, “We were all having dinner at Emma’s. A big get together. Then Alice started choking, and instead of helping her I bloody froze.”

Will’s demeanor changes from business to friendly, “Killian, you froze because you love your daughter.”

Killian rebuffs stubbornly, “She could have died, Will. I could have lost her and I did nothing.”

“Killian, she didn’t die. She’s alive, back home, and most likely wondering where her father is. We all mess up, but it’s what you do after you mess up that counts. You have to show up, be there for them. This whole time I’ve managed you I’ve never thought of you as a bloody arse, not until this moment. Kids don’t come with manuals. Trust me. I love my Anastacia but if she tells me she’s with child anytime soon I’m going to freak out.” Will gives a little laugh.

Killian nods agreeing with his manager.

“Killian, don’t get me wrong, I get it. I do. I know there are better men than you out there, but Emma doesn’t love them. She loves you and you love her, too.”

Killian ponders the advice for a second.

“Sorry, I’m late boss,” his publicist says as she sits down.

Killian smiles, “MM I need the pilot to change the flight plans.”

Mary Margaret looks at Will for backup.

“If that’s not an option then I need to get off this plane.” Killian raises a single brow.

Mary Margaret shakes her head, “No, no, no. We are supposed to leave right now.”

Killian crosses his arms stubbornly. “Since you don’t want to have him change course, I’m getting off this plane.” Killian unclips his seatbelt and stands up.

“Killian, you are to perform in London in 14 hours. So no, you’re not getting off this plane, and we are definitely not changing course.” The petite publicist rises from her seat as well. “For the love of God, do not get off this plane.”

“Oh, I'm getting off this plane,” Killian affirms as he glances at Will.

Will nods, “Mary Margaret, let him go. We can make this work. He needs to do this.”

Mary Margaret is confused at first, but she and Will had worked closely during Killian’s absence. They’d formed a friendly bond. She moves out of the way and hopes Will can explain what just happened.

Killian gets off the plane and runs to the terminal. He goes to the closest airline and purchases a ticket to Maine.

As he waits for the plane to board he takes out his old taped up flip phone and listens to the voicemail.

“March 5th, one saved message.

Hi, Killian... it's me, Emma. I've lost count of all the times I've called. I still cannot figure out why you left me on our wedding day, and I fear I will never find out why. We need to talk. I really need for you to call me back. If you don't, I promised myself that I'll never call you again. I'll have to find a way to move on with my life. But I want you to know if I don't ever hear back from you, I will always love you, Killian. You will always be the one for me. And you'll have my heart forever.”

Killian Jones finally does what he should have done eight years ago. The line rings… “Hi, this is Emma. Leave me a message after the beep.”

Hello, Emma. It's me. I know it's taken me eight years to return this message and it’s about bloody time. I always wanted to, but I knew I would need to have an answer for you. I had no answer until now. See, my mum was the love of my life until I met you. I know we were so young, but the thought of losing you someday, the way that I lost her, my heart couldn't take it, so I ran. But I can never move on, Emma. And that message you left me, I did listen to it. I’ve listened to it every day for the last eight years. And then when I met Alice Hope, my heart just burst open. I thought I wasn't good enough for you two. If you choose to give me one more chance, I'll spend the rest of my life trying to be a better man. I'm never leaving Storybrooke again without you and Alice Hope by my side. You're the one. You've always been the one.”

The plane lands at Bangor International Airport and Killian quickly finds a car rental place. Normally he would have wanted a flashy car to show off to women, but today he chooses an SUV. He makes a point to ask the clerk about the crash statistics. The clerk pales until Killian smiles, “I’m not planning to crash mate, but I do intend to drive some precious cargo around.” With that he leaves the airport for the seemingly eternal drive to Storybrooke. He hasn’t heard back from Emma. He truly shouldn’t be surprised after his unannounced departure, again. She is surely going to kill him

He parks the SUV in front of Emma’s, scanning the house, it’s so quiet and dark, perhaps no one is home. He decides to get out of the vehicle and find out for sure. His hands are sweaty as he knocks on the door. He rocks back and forth as he waits for someone to open the door, which nobody ever does. He waits for an hour and figures he should go home. As he is leaving, a thought comes to him, he takes out his old phone and leaves it for Emma on her front porch. With one last look he heads home.

Liam smiles as soon as he sees his brother walk inside the house. “Brother, you’re back.”

Killian takes a deep breath. “Aye, I should have listened to you. I’m sorry, but this time it’s different. All those years I was away I knew something was missing. Now I know, home is the place when you leave, you just miss it. Being away from Emma and Alice Hope the last few days, I've never missed them more. I’m home and I’m done running.”

Liam smiles big at his brother as he walks up to him and hugs him. He whispers, “I’m glad to have you back little brother.” He claps Killian’s back fondly. “She’s out with the girls, and the little one is spending the night with Granny. I bet she was spoiled rotten by the old lady.”

“How bad is it? Bloody hell, I mean how angry is she?” Killian runs his hand through his dark hair.

“Brother, she is mostly disappointed, and Alice Hope, she has been brooding since you left. In true Jones fashion.” Liam smiles, “The girls wanted to cancel tonight but Emma insisted that celebrating a happy occasion was what they all needed.”

“Happy occasion?” Killian asks curiously.

“Ah, yes. You don’t know. Ruby Lucas is getting married,” Liam says smiling.

“Who managed that? Ruby always claimed she would never marry.” Killian smiles at his friend’s antics.

“That was before she fell in love with our good Sheriff.” Liam waits for the information to sink in his brother’s mind.

“Sheriff, wait.. She’s marrying Humbert? I thought Emma and him were...” Killian stutters.

“I’m afraid not brother. I won’t lie, a few years after you left Emma and Graham tried, but your memory was always in the shadows.”

Killian’s jaw clenches at the confirmation, but he has no right, he knows that. He had enjoyed other women’s company while he was gone, so he can’t reproach Emma for trying to find love again.

Liam continues, “Don’t worry brother, everything will work out. I need to pick up Ali from Granny’s in the morning. I would invite you, but you need to talk to Emma first.”

Killian nods, “I know, I called her and I’m hoping to hear from her early.”

After a sleepless night, early in the morning as he is finally falling asleep, he is woken up by something hitting his window. He rises, and again he hears the clinking at the window. He opens the window to find Emma outside. She gestures for him to come outside.

This is it, the moment that he will find out if he has a family or if she tells him to bugger off.

As soon as he opens the door he is assaulted by her question, "You've really been carrying this old, prehistoric, beat-up, duct-taped, really ugly cell phone for the past eight years because of me?" She locks eyes with him as she waits for his answer.

He simply nods, "Aye."

She raises the phone to look at it once more. "And you listened to that message every single day since I left it there?"

Again he nods, "Aye."

"And you'll never leave Storybrooke without Alice Hope or me?"

"Never, love."

She smiles big, "Then all I have left to say is, welcome home Killian Jones." She rushes to him and pulls him by his shirt's collar into a passionate kiss. Their lips stay locked for what appears to be an eternity.

They separate and breathe each other in, her smile blinding him as she presses her forehead to his. They are so lost in their happy moment they don’t hear the new arrivals.

Alice Hope's grip on her uncle's hand tightens at the sight before her.

"Dad?" Alice Hope's little voice breaks through their happy bubble.

Liam lightly squeezes her hand, encouraging her, he leans, "It's okay little one, go on." He lightly nudges her.

Alice Hope slowly walks towards her parents. Her unsure steps don't go unnoticed by Killian. He did that to her. He slowly unlocks himself from Emma's hold.

Emma catches on and she gently squeezes his forearm. Killian meets Alice Hope halfway and he kneels before her. "Little love, I'm sorry for hurting you but I can assure you, I will never leave this town again unless it's in the company of my two loves."

Alice Hope quirks an eyebrow. "I'm sorry I scared you away."

Killian smiles, "Little love, you've got nothing to apologize for. I'm the one that's sorry, I let old fears drive me away. First from your mother and now from you, but my biggest fear is not having you in my life." He stands up and she automatically throws her arms around his waist. Emma and Liam look on smiling.

Emma approaches, and says, "I hope you have room for one more." Liam chuckles as he reaches them. "Better make that two more." The group holds on tight to each other.

They break the engulfing embrace only to head inside.

Liam pulls Emma aside for a second. "I hope I didn't overstep by bringing Ali here."

Emma smiles brightly at Killian and Alice Hope talking animatedly as they entered the house, then turns to Liam. "No, you did the right thing."

"I'm assuming things went well between the two of you."

"Yeah, everything is okay."

-----

Liam and Emma are making a quick lunch of spaghetti and a salad, while Alice Hope and Killian catch up.

Alice Hope lays her head on Killian's shoulder while sitting on the couch talking. "Dad, if you're gonna stay here, how are you gonna sing?" Alice Hope asks.

"Ah, little love," he scratches behind his elvish ear, "about that, your mum and I need to discuss some things. I was about to start the international part of my tour." He nudges her before adding, "those songs you and I worked on together were a big hit."

She sighs, "So you are going to leave again."

"Alice Hope, I meant what I said before. I’m not leaving Storybrooke unless you and your mother are by my side. And even though I have a contract to uphold, se will figure things out. I'll call my manager. Don't worry."

Liam and Emma call out from the kitchen when lunch is ready, and just as Alice Hope and Killian arrive, Liam excuses himself for a second. He goes to his room and quickly returns. Killian raises a brow in confusion, and Emma and Alice Hope share a look. Liam simply smiles as he takes his seat.

After enjoying a peaceful lunch, Alice Hope and Emma go sit down in the living room at the insistence of Killian and Liam, the perfect hosts.

While they clean the kitchen Killian's curiosity wins out. "Brother, where did you go earlier?"

Liam smiles and looks at him only to simply wink in response. "I'm happy things are finally as they should have been long ago."

Killian couldn't stop the smile. "Aye, I just need to make arrangements with my manager."

Liam scratches behind his ear, apparently it’s a family trait, then shows Killian their mother’s ring. “I believe all you need to do is ask." "She gave it back after-"

Killian purses his lips, "I left? I don't know if using that ring would be a good idea."

"Killy, she knows what that ring means to us... to you. You and I both know that the ring belongs on her finger."

"You're the oldest, what about Elsa?" Killian asks.

Liam blushes red, "Killian. Elsa and I aren’t…”

Killian smirks, “Aren’t what? I don’t know who you think you’re fooling.” Killian rolls his eyes. “I’ll accept the ring on one condition.”

Killian waits for his brother to answer and finally Liam whispers, “What’s that?”

Killian’s smile broadens, “That you admit that you two are hopelessly in love.”

Liam closes his eyes and takes a breath, “Fine! You win brother. Elsa and I have been secretly dating for years.”

“Liam, why the secrecy?” Killian asks confused.

“Elsa and I agreed to take things slow. Her traveling back and forth has helped with that. I think part of me felt guilty, how could I find happiness when my brother was still lost?” Liam’s sad eyes meet his brother’s.

“Liam, I’m so sorry, but there’s no more need to hold back.”

“So don’t hold back on my account either, ask her.” Liam hands him the ring.

Killian studies the ring as he twirls it. “Do you really think she will say yes?”

“I’m not going to say she was pining for you all this time b” Liam is interrupted.

“Who’s pining?” Emma asks as she walks into the kitchen.

Killian pockets the ring once Emma enters the kitchen.

The soft melody traveling from the living room fills the kitchen.

Emma quirks an eyebrow, “Is this about Elsa? Liam are you finally popping the question?” Emma shrieks in excitement and starts jumping up and down.

Liam’s face reddens. “Oh no, this is about someone else.”

“Sure Liam.” Emma turns her attention to Killian. “Alice is playing that song you guys worked on together. She’s good, just like her papa.” She shares a smile with Killian.

“Emma, we need to talk,” Killian says before he can chicken out.

“Yeah?” Emma looks between Liam and Killian. Liam shrugs and walks to the living room.

“Emma, I meant what I said in the message,” Killian says, “but I have a contract I have to fulfill.”

Emma’s eyes dim, “Oh, right.” She bites her bottom lip.

“I just have to call my manager and publicist to work something out. I’m not leaving my family behind ever again,” Killian assures Emma in a soothing voice.

“Okay, so after you talk to them and figure something out, we can decide what to do next.” Emma gives him a smile.

“Love?” He reaches out to her.

Emma lifts her hand to meet his and they twine their fingers together.

He reaches for the ring in his pocket and takes it out.

Emma notices the familiar heirloom.

Killian follows her gaze and he studies the relic. “Emma, I don’t know if this is too soon or too late. As you know the ring was my mums and... I’m sorry, maybe this is a bad idea…” Bloody git, Killian mutters to himself.

“Killian, I...” she sighs.

They are too busy with their talk to notice they have an audience.

“Mom, dad, what’s going on?” Alice Hope asks.

“Ali love, lets give your parents some time alone to talk.” Liam smiles apologetically to the duo.

Alice Hope gasps when she sees the ring in Killian’s hand. “Are you guys getting married?” Her happy smile blinds the room as she starts to jump up and down.

Emma and Killian look at each other with a little panic in their eyes.

Liam clears his throat. “No one is trying to rush you two, but why wait?”

Emma and Killian share a look.

Liam speaks again, “You’re childhood sweethearts that found their way back together. You’re parents to an adorable little girl. You have a ring. You have someone that will marry you in an instant.” Liam points to himself. “All you need is a license.”

Liam calls out for Alice Hope, “Come on little one, play more songs for me.”

Alice Hope looks at her parents and follows her uncle.

Killian nervously looks at Emma. “Love, we don’t have to rush. My brother was talking out of his arse.”

Emma smiles, “Killian, he’s right. We’ve known each other all of our lives. We have a daughter…”

Killian blurts out, “If this is about the ring I can buy you a new one. One that won’t be tarnished by my actions.”

Emma tilts her head as she studies his face. “This ring was your mom’s.” She grabs the ring and smiles.

Killian lovingly quirks an eyebrow and smiles as he reaches for the ring, “This ring belongs on your finger, it was always meant to be you. My love, my happiness. My true love.” He clears his throat and lowers himself to one knee, “Emma Nolan, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

Emma playfully rolls her eyes, “Don't think I'm taking my eyes off you for a second."

Killian laughs, “I would despair if you did."

They laugh together as he puts the ring on her finger, “That was a yes, right?” Killian panicks for a second.

Holding hands, they head towards the living room where Alice Hope and Liam are sitting on the couch. The youngest Jones strums the guitar, but stops as she notices them holding hands.

Liam gets up, “So, are we planning a wedding?”

Emma and Killian both answer, “Yes!”

Liam looks between them, “What kind of wedding are we talking about?”

Emma answers, “Something small, just family and friends.”

Killian volunteers, “I could have my manager and publicist help.”

Emma looks at Killian, “They can help make arrangements for your tour, but I think Granny’s diner would be perfect.”

Liam smiles, “You two need to go get that marriage license and the rest will fall into place.”

Truer words had never been spoken. Liam should have been smug about how easy everything fell into place. They called Elsa, Ruby, Anna, and Marian to help Emma.

Killian and Liam kept an eye on Alice Hope, and Robin finally spent some quality time with his old friend. Liam enjoys teasing them about planning a wedding for their kids in the future. Robin and Killian both grunt.

Ruby quickly convinces Granny about letting the wedding and reception take place at the diner. “Granny, it’s not like the groom can’t afford to give Emma a wedding fit for a princess. They just want it to be us, family.” The older lady quickly agrees.

The other women find the clothes and make floral arrangements at Emma’s shop. Pieces falling into place.

Emma decides on Middlemist.

The diner quickly transforms into a fitting place for a wedding.

This time Liam and Robin keep Killian company. An irritated Killian says, “I’m not going anywhere. I’m just nervous Scarlet hasn’t arrived yet.”

His brother asks, “Why are you so nervous about that?”

“He has our traveling itinerary and documents. I had to invite Will and his wife. He convinced me I was being an arse. MM my publicist made sure no one got wind of the wedding, so I invited her as well. It’s about time both parts of my life are introduced.” Killian keeps looking out the window for Will and MM.

In the corner sat a sulking David. He still couldn’t believe his sister had fallen for Jones’ shit again. Here they are once more at a wedding.

David decides to go outside for a quick smoke. He stands near the patio exhaling the smoke and he can’t help notice a petite brunette getting out of a car with a couple he hasn’t seen before. A large man guides her and the others to the diner. Without realizing it, he is following her inside. They exchange pleasantries and introductions.

The wedding is finally about to start, and the group finally goes outside, everybody taking their place. Killian stands tall in a black suit.

The wedding march song begins and Emma emerges from the Inn walking hand in hand with Alice Hope.

Killian can’t contain his blinding grin, she is beautiful. Her simple off white dress flows as she walks towards him.

Once they reach him, Emma stands next to him and their daughter stands on the opposite side of Emma.

Liam starts the ceremony, and the pair exchange vows and are finally pronounced husband and wife.

----------

Emma and Alice Hope are backstage alongside Liam and Elsa who are holding hands. While they’re all enthralled by the performance onstage, David is enthralled by his conversation with MM.

“Hello, London! I’m so grateful to be finally here.” The crowd cheers. “Thank you for allowing me to reschedule, because of your generosity, I’m here offering a special treat, today I’m introducing you to my family.” He looks at Emma and Alice and waves them on.

Emma and Alice Hope wave at the crowd.

Killian smiles at his girls. “Alice, come here little love. This song is very special to me because my daughter helped me write it, and she will be performing it with me tonight.” Emma waves goodbye to the crowd and goes backstage to watch the two great loves of her life.

At the center of the stage two chairs are side by side. Killian sits in one and Alice Hope in the other, each with their guitar in hand. They start to play and their voices sync perfectly as they sing for the crowd.

Seen it all

Endless nights and storm clouds brewing

A tired heart

18 wheels, asphalt moving.

I felt the hurt along the way

Seen the tears roll down her face

Nothing could ever take her place

Out there on the road, so alone

Home, finally home

Sometimes it's hard to stop a rolling stone

But wherever it may roll

It always seems to find its way back home

Early sun rising

In and out of hotel rooms

Highways winding

another town to push on through

Painted memories in my mind

They got me through hard days and the longer nights

But now I'm turning back the tide

I didn't realize how far I'd gone

Home, finally home

Sometimes it's hard to be a rolling stone

But wherever I may roll

I always seem to find my way back home

Endless nights

That emptiness lasted forever

When all I wanted was for all of us to be together

Home, finally home

Sometimes it's hard to stop a rolling stone

But wherever it may roll

It always seems to find its way back home

I always seem to find my way back... home

#Captain Swan #CS Crew #CS Mafia #cs ff #csromcom19

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deans-baby-momma · 6 years

Text

Rescue Me-Chapter One

Chapter 1

A/N:This is my first venture in the AU world. There will be about 6 chapters. If you want a tag or to let me know what you think of this, let me know HERE.

Dean’s a drunk bar owner, who has a rumored playboy rep. His lawyer brother, Sam has to help him when sexual harassment claims start rolling in. Y/N is Dean’s best friend and business associate. She stands beside him when his lifestyle begins to take it’s toll on not only Dean but the future of the bar. How will she “rescue” him from himself?

Dean has Talia bent over his desk, one of his large hands pressed between her shoulder blades holding her down and the other gripping her hip while pounding into her from behind.

I knew it was wrong, watching them. But I couldn't tear my eyes away. The way his muscles rippled under his tight tee shirt, his ass clenches as he thrusts into her. And the sounds, oh the sounds! The low growl emanating from his chest as he buried himself inside her, the groan as he pulled out only to push in again. It was bliss to my ears.

I continue observing the primal performance they were unknowingly executing. Neither of them had heard the office door open or my breath hitch as I walked in. No, Dean and Talia were too consumed with one another to notice. Talia moaned loudly as Dean plunged deep and held himself there. I could tell by the way his legs were shaking he was cumming.

Before they were finished and caught me I left and quickly made my way back to my own office. The dampness in my panties making my retreat challenging.

I had on occasion dreamed of what it would be like to be with Dean Winchester. The man just oozed sex appeal. The candy apple green eyes, the perfectly coiffed hair, the thick thighs and bow legs. Yes, I didn't know many women who could look at him and not want him. And he knew it. He would flirt and wink with the female patrons of the bar and sometimes even the men seemed to be mesmerized by his magnetic personality.

To say I was surprised at what I witnessed would be an exaggeration. Gossip was that the boss man had his way with most of the employees at the bar. I also knew that this was probably the last I'd see of Talia. Most of the female staff Dean had been rumored to have had sex with were no longer employed by The Bunker Bar & Grill.

Actually the only regular, constant female employee at The Bunker was me. I have been working for Dean for 3 years as his advertising agent and publicist; well, not his per se but for the bar.

After my divorce from Jasper, I had been left high and dry; no home, no job and no money. I had known the Winchesters since I was 7 years old. We had become neighbors when my family moved into their community and I had become fast friends with the two boys. Dean was 2 years older than me and Sam was 2 years younger. We had stayed in contact with one another from then on. So with nowhere to go, I called up my two best friends for help.

Being the advertising agent kept me in contact with both of them and gave me a chance to finally use my bachelor's degree I worked so hard to get. My ex had always claimed that his job paid enough that I didn't need to waste my time facilitating a useless career. He never understood my desire to help others. To aid and guide others to utilize advertisements for their benefit.

Now being the advertising agent for The Bunker, as it is locally known as, allows me to work closely with both. Mostly Dean though as I need his approval and consent before running ads and notices for events that the bar holds. My time with Sam is mostly spent on days off when the guys would throw a party or have a family barbeque at their house. I was always the VIP on both lists. They both wanted me there and would make sure and let me know so. They would constantly tell me that if I wasn't there it wouldn't be as much fun. And as much as both of them were the lives of the party and were very outgoing, they would spend most of the time surrounding me and making sure I was enjoying myself.

Sam's fiance, Jess, would join us when she wasn't working at the local hospital as a nurse on the surgical ward. She and I got along fantastically. We had many things in common, such as the same taste in music and the same affinity for spicy foods. We had even bet and won a hot wing challenge with the guys.

"You asshole! I'm going to make you pay for this!" I hear screaming in the hallway and I look up to see Talia huff past my office door. I shake my head and turn my attention back to the commercial board in front of me. A few minutes later, Dean saunters into my office and plops into the chair in front of my desk.

"Need to find a replacement for Talia," he says nonchalantly. "She is no longer on the payroll here."

I quirk my eyebrow at him as I open the drawer under my desk, pulling the folder of applications out. Now, not only am I the advertising agent and publicist for The Bunker, Dean has also deemed me as responsible for conducting interviews and hiring new staff.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault," he defends himself, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Mmhmm," I hum as I open the folder and pull the first application out and hand it to him.

“Thanks doll face,” he says as he stands and walks to the door. Stopping just outside the frame, Dean turns and calls my name causing me to look up. He winks and tells me, “I'd be lost without you.”

Neither one of us knew that in the next few months how true that statement would become.

@larajadeschmidt13 @xxdragonagequeenxx @sea040561

CHAPTER 2

#dean winchester au #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester x reader au #spn au fanfic #spn au #dean winchester fanfic #rescue me #dean winchester x y/n #dean winchester x you #deanwinchesterxreaderinsert #smut #angst #fluff

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aviationfiction · 6 years

Text

XXXII

Dante St. James

“I need you all to understand that it takes a tremendous amount of effort and time to build a business. There is no such thing as an overnight success. I don’t care how many viral moments you see. I know that social media driven fame has become the new thing. It’s those moments where someone does something simpleminded or displays some type of talent and the next thing you know they’re sitting on Ellen’s couch and being given tickets some some concert, sporting event, or a four figure donation. As quickly as those moments of fame come is as quickly as they fizzle out. Are we talking about Antoine Dodson anymore? Remember he told us to hide our kids and our wives?” As expected, laughter sounded out in the enormous seminar room as everyone shook their heads in response to my question and also towards one of the biggest viral moments the internet as ever seen. Though I typically hate conducting our workshops, I still take them on rather than passing them off to someone else because I have no issue with sharing my knowledge. It’s an essential part of life. We learn so that those after us can utilize our knowledge and improve upon what we’ve already done. Who am I to try and avoid the circle of life? Though the higher ups in the building tend to look at the interns as the flunkies who they can control and manipulate, I view them as budding employees who are slowly working their way up their ranks. We tend to hire interns from some of the most prestigious schools in the country, but it was me who also opened up our selection process to state schools, community colleges, and institutions with small student bodies. Everyone deserves a chance. Some of the people we hail as geniuses in a ton of fields didn’t even go to college. If I can sit up here and drop enough gems to advance everyone in the room forward whether it be here at the company or in some other aspect of their lives, I’m serving a part of my purpose. Despite what they may think, I learn from them just as much.

“I can stand here and list off a ton of those moments, but overall, are we talking about them now? No. As a public relationships representative for a company, you do not want that. If you cannot attract and retain customers and consumers, not only will whatever company or artist you work for fall under the radar to the point of being obsolete, but you yourself will not survive in the field.”

“But with someone like Antoine, he wasn’t looking for fame. It just sort of came to him. Right?” The question came from the back of the room. If I’m not mistaken, is name tag said Harris.

“He was seeking proper PR after the fact. Often times people who experience those viral moments try to capitalize off of them. Why wouldn’t they? Your name and face is out there, so why not try to make some money off of a naive public that is getting amusement off of whatever it is that you said or did? He did a couple of television appearances and even did correspondence for some show for a couple of months. He did the typical showing up to Hollywood events for the sake of publicity move and don’t forget they turned the audio from the news report into a song that sold millions of singles. He was performing that crappy auto-tuned song everywhere, even on BET. He ended up hiring a publicist and that person had him move out to L.A. and ruined whatever momentum he had. That was the end of it for him. There was no real goal there. There was no strategy because as you said, he wasn’t seeking fame in the first place. This is why those type of people fade away. As publicist its your job to do your best in creating the momentum behind a person, but I won’t lie to you about it being challenging especially when you initially notice that whatever talent, product, or service they’re trying to push out there is bullshit. As interns, that’s what they’re going to push down here to you, sadly. That’s apart of the challenge. As you work your way up, you’ll be able to pick and choose who and what you want to represent. You’ll be able to sort through the pile and toss what sounds great to the right and the nonsense to the left. You’ll be able choose between working with Sony Records instead of having to come up with a marking campaign for the guy who is trying to sell baby poop alarms. Yes, that’s a real invention. Look it up.” Even I had to laugh at that one. That is by far the dumbest shit I’ve ever seen in my life and I’ve had my experiences with people and products that have rendered to me to speechlessness from their ridiculousness. Nothing tops that one.

“And don’t forget. Don’t overlook platforms just because it didn’t work in the past. Don’t close your ears to suggestions. The important part of keeping things going at any PR firm is feedback. We’ve talked about this before and I cannot stress it enough. Share with your people. Uplift your firm. Update the people around you about the results of whatever you’ve done whether it’s successful or not. If it’s successful, it can always become even better. If it’s not, modifications can be done to get it there.” With the click of a button, I shut the oversized screen off as a sign of my conclusion and the round of applause caused me to swiftly turn my head with a smirk. I never expected it, but it’s nice nonetheless.

“Thank you. It’s been three long days but I’m glad that you all were attentive, well enthused, and engaged each day. You all make it easy on me. Feel free to stop by my office if you have any questions or you want to run something by me. I have an open door policy unless I’m extremely busy. Either way, Stacey will make sure I get the message, even if I can’t get back to you immediately. Have a Happy Thanksgiving as well.”

You ever been tired of hearing yourself speak? Though the three day workshop was a success, I’m damn sure tired of hearing my voice. I’m up at five and in the office by seven so that I can respond to any e-mails and go over paperwork before coming down here to spend the rest my early morning and the bulk of the afternoon amongst the interns. Matthew was supposed to be in here with me two out of three of this days but my no show older brother purposefully ducked off to Vegas to get out of it. What he deems to be work is most likely going to be nothing more than a weekend of drinking and gambling away money that he’s making simply for being employed here. Though Richard popped his head in twice, I didn’t bother with addressing it and I’m not going to now that it’s all said and done. My patience in that particular area is diminishing from thin to nonexistent day by day. I have enough on my plate as it is.

“I got you Carbone for lunch. I was in the area so I figured why not.” As soon as I stepped one foot of the elevator, I could hear Stacey’s voice. I don’t understand how she automatically knows it’s me coming. She’s yet to fail at it.

“What did you get?”

“The spicy rigatoni vodka with the meatballs and grilled asparagus. I know it sounds heavy, but what Italian dishes aren’t? Your mother called for you. I’m sure you’re not going to call back, so moving on. I also got you a little something something from the cheesecake factory. You needed a dessert with that.”

“Did something happen?” I didn’t bother to walk down to her office. Instead, I opened the door to my own and awaited the sound of her heels. Eventually, she’ll get up and make her way in here.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because you bought me Carbone for lunch and then stopped at the Cheesecake Factory to buy me dessert. Either you did something or something happened. Which one is it?” As soon as I flopped down into the leather chair, I eyed the two bags she left on my desk. Though my appetite isn’t craving much of anything because Autumn was up early enough to fill my stomach with French toast, eggs, and turkey bacon, I am absolutely going indulge on the cheesecake. If it’s a red velvet slice, that’s even better.

“I didn’t do it.” Suddenly the sound of her heels became more annoying than it usually is. I knew there had to be something.

“Well who did?”

“Richard.” His name rolled off of her tongue in the same manner as it would have rolled off of mine if I were the one saying it. Though he’s never personally stepped out of character with Stacey, her disdain for him stems from the relationship that she and I have. If were up to her, I would have left his company a couple of years ago. Now that Autumn’s in my life, her advice for me to get out of here has become more intense and urgent. Whether she can go wherever I end up or not, she would rather stay behind than to see me remain confined within these A&M walls.

“What happened?”

“Your father has been walking around this building ever since he came in this morning telling people that you’re engaged. Not only has he been telling people that you’re engaged, but he’s also giving them a wedding date.” Suddenly my desire to devour that piece of cheesecake diminished and disdained filled the pit of my stomach at the thought of him boastfully walking around here announcing what I know he feels nothing but sarcasm and indifference about. I never had any intention to conceal my engagement from anyone, but from the moment I took that knee in front of Autumn, I did internally vow to protect it from those who I know are toxic and more than willing to go out of their way to sabotage what she and I share. It’s been two weeks since her birthday festivities and I’ve contemplated speaking to my parents and brother about it a number of times and personally chose to back down at the end of each thought. If we had a normal family dynamic, I would have had a conversation with both my father and brother a long time ago and would have gotten advice not only on how to treat a woman but how to have longevity with one. If I respected my mother and her opinion enough, I would have been picking her brain for pointers on how to woo, romance, and consistently shower Autumn with my love and affection. Our Sunday dinners would have been filled with knowledge from the two elders, laughs with my big brother, and the teasing that I’ve now have gotten used to from my sister-in-law, but instead I sit there filled with tension, counting every minute until I feel compelled to walk out so that I can refrain from mentally exploding. We don’t have nor have we ever had normalcy so my engagement is mine. My fiancée is mine.

“What the hell do you mean he’s telling people a date?”

“He’s mentioning May twentieth and boasting about it being at The Plaza Hotel. I suppose he’s mentioning The Plaza because it’s one of the most, if not the most expensive venue in the city for a wedding. It’s damn near four hundred dollars per guest, with additional taxes and service fees.”

“How do you even know that?”

“Okay, I won’t lie. It’s been two weeks since you laced my soon to be sister-in-law’s finger with that gorgeous Lorraine Swartz ring, so I’ve been looking around. I couldn’t help myself. An engagement party has to happen soon.”

“Stacey.” I slowly drew my hands down my face and huffed. Had she not been the bearer of bad news prior to telling me what she’s been doing since Autumn’s birthday, I would have laughed because she truly cannot help herself. I’d already figured it out when I saw two Brides magazines sneakily tucked under a couple of papers while standing in front of her desk just a couple of days ago. In our many conversations since then, she’ll casually snuck in a couple of questions about the types of flowers I like, my preferred ambiance, and color schemes that have either left me in confusion or amusement. I’m more than glad that she’s excited but if that excitement can stay contained within the bubble that we share while we’re in this building, I’d be thrilled.

“What? I’m happy. I wonder who could have told him though. You think Camille did? She’s the only person that I can think of.” Instantly, I shook my head. She wouldn’t. Camille and I have had more than enough conversations that I’m absolutely sure have remained between the two of us. She and Matthew have far too many issues that need to be discussed so I’m the last person that they’re arguing or potentially pillow talking about.

“No. It couldn’t have been her. Were we some bullshit Page Six story again?”

“No. Autumn posted a couple of photos of herself from her birthday party on her Instagram, but they were all photos that were taken before you proposed because her ring wasn’t on her finger in any of them. Can I ask you something though?”

“What?” Could it have been Camille? Maybe it slipped out at a family dinner? There was no one else at the table who could have encountered Richard since then but her.

“Is she not allowed to post photographs of you?”

“Who said that?” I’m not a social media person. I’ve never been one. Though I’ve been encouraged to up my presence in that area for the sake of this business and self-marketing for future endeavors, I still haven’t delved too much into it because I’ve seen how addicting, vile, and distracting it can be. The interns walk around here with their phones glued to their hands and sit around on their breaks gossiping about the latest in entertainment news or something silly and potentially ignorant that has gone viral for the day. I wouldn’t deem myself to be above it, but I don’t keep up with anyone’s personal business aside from my own and those that I love. Even in the midst of scandals that require extensive P.R. clean up work, I don’t deal with it. That’s not my department. That aside, I’ve never attempted to control or monitor what Autumn chooses to share on social media. I wouldn’t be bothered by her sharing photos of us because I know she understands and even limits what she shares and how it’s done.

“No one did. I’m simply asking.”

“She can post whatever she likes. I’ve never told her that she can’t post photos of me. I don’t believe she’s interested in being the one to usher people into her business and that’s exactly social media is. She had a public divorce, Stace. You know what type of scrutiny comes with that.”

“That’s understandable. It didn’t come from the internet though. Believe me, I looked around.”

“I’m going to ask him myself and do my best to shut him the fuck up. He does his best to control and manipulate just about everything that forms in his path, but my pending marriage is off limits.”

“Dante, you know you have to get out of here before you stand at an alter and exchange vows right? You can’t do that and come back here.”

“I know.” I know that now more than ever. I’ve known since Autumn and I made it official in Las Vegas and it was a focal point of our conversation when I chose to take her to Malibu in the wee hours of the morning to give her a look at what a potential life together could and would be if we were to move out west and turn what is now just a house into a home for ourselves and soon enough, a growing family. Though I can give myself credit for knowing how to control and shift my emotions when necessary, I cannot take the risk of there possibly being a time when I can’t and then I come home to inflict negative energy on the people that I love. I don’t want to bicker back and forth with my wife over trivial bullshit because I’m mentally miserable and entrapped by Richard’s expectations and his underhanded choice in seeing me as a tool rather than a son. I don’t want Elizabeth showing up to my house and forcing her way into my comfort zone only for an argument to erupt because she’s purposefully overstepping. I have no interest in sitting in a jail cell for the rest of my life because Matthew decided to disrespect Autumn yet again. None of that can come to fruition if the change doesn’t start with myself. I don’t want my children within toxic environments or around the people who create them. I can’t predict what the future will entail nor do I know if there will be any improvements in the relationship I have with the people I share a blood connection with, but I understand how our interactions are now, where the tension stems from, and most of all, that there is no resolution to be had right now or in the foreseeable future.

“I’ll be back.”

My trek to the elevator was swift and though the wait for it was only a mere couple of seconds, suddenly I wished it was minutes or even hours at the doors opened to reveal Megan leaning against the stainless steel wall. Though it’s unspoken, she intentionally attended all of the workshops for the sake of being within my presence for information that she doesn’t need because she already knows it. While there is nothing wrong with making sure to brush up on information to remain sharp within your craft, her intentions have absolutely nothing to do with that and I’ve known it for months. She’s the young school girl who has perfect attendance in a particular class because she enjoys ogling over the teacher but apples aren’t what she wants to put on my desk. The way she maneuvers around here has gone from being something I chuckle at to a certain level of discomfort that may need to be addressed before she does something to get herself expelled from a program that she’s damn near completed. I’d hate for her to allow her hormones to get in the way of the talents that she actually does possess. I’m am not, nor have I ever, nor will I ever be interested in anything beyond a cordial professional connection with her. If she feels compelled to screw people around here, there are a ton of her peers and even superiors who would be more than willing to take her up on the offer.

“Good afternoon Mr. St. James.” We didn’t make eye contact. As I stepped inside, my attention was directed to the panel of buttons. My finger tapped one for the floor I’m going to and I stepped over to the side to give both her and I some room.

“Good afternoon.”

“I didn’t get a chance to tell you that the workshops were great. You always do a such great job.”

“Thank you, I’m glad that you enjoyed them.”

“So what are you doing for Thanksgiving?” Just about everyone has already left or is leaving early to begin their holiday festivities. Hell, I’m surprised Stacey is still in the building. She usually likes to begin her precooking early in the morning so she won’t have to do any of it overnight.

“I’m spending it with family. You?” Autumn’s family that is. She invited me to come and having Thanksgiving dinner at her house the day after her birthday and I quickly agreed with her request. Typically, I’m at home for Thanksgiving. Though my mother spends days at a time convincing me to head over to their house to have dinner with them, I either decline or agree to get her off of my back, only to leave her in disappointment when I never show up the day of. I usually have no interest in being there during Sunday dinners, so why spend a family oriented holiday at a table filled with food that is poor quality in taste while listening to the banter of three people who I do not favor? Usually Stacey will drop off Tubberwear bowls filled with food, but this year I’m spending it with those who I’ll be able to call my extended family soon enough. Her birthday dinner gave me more than enough of a great vibe to know that they enjoy themselves during celebrations, so I’m looking forward to it. I’m damn sure ready for the food. Both Autumn and her mother are cooking. I already know what my lady can do in the kitchen and if her mom cooks as great as I know she bakes, I’m in for a hell of a treat.

“I’m doing the same. We’re all heading over to my aunts house in Delaware this year; my mom’s sister. It should be nice.”

“Yeah, it sounds nice. I hope you enjoy yourself.”

“Are you really engaged?” I’d already known this trivial conversation was leading up to that question as soon as she opened up her mouth to say good afternoon. The eager expression on her face let the cat out of the bag and there was no way for her to mask it because she’s overt with her emotions and thoughts. I doubt anyone else within the intern pool would be bold enough to ask me such a personal question aside from her and instead of taking an approach of seniority and superiority, I’m going to indulge her curiosity with an honest response.

“Yes.” What I thought was simple and straight to the point turned into an instant complexity judging by the expression on her face. She lost her train of thought and didn’t know where to go with her follow up question. I don’t see signs of hurt. There was a shock value in what I said judging by the bulging of her eyes and I’m not surprised. Though it isn’t by my doing, I know my love life has always been a whispered topic throughout this place. Because I’ve never engaged in problematic romantic or sexual situations with anyone employed here, it has left them to seek out who I may or may not be dealing with outside of work. For any event we have, there is always an anticipation to see if I’ll show up with anyone on my arm and I leave them all filled with disappointment every single time. I’m sure there are those who have assumed I’m gay because of it. All in all, I really don’t give a shit.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

“Is it to the woman I saw you with at The Met?” Shit. I forgot I even spoke with her that day. Up until now, the only thing I could recall was the petty argument that happened between Autumn and I and her hair blowing in the wind as she rode off in a taxi leaving me to wonder if she ended things things between us.

“Yes.” The elevator doors opened as soon as I finished my one worded response. “Have a great day and a Happy Thanksgiving.”

My feet were moving as swiftly as my thoughts. Without acknowledgement or regard, I breezed past Richard’s barely out of college secretary and opened the door to his office, despite her warring about him being on an international business call. Though he continued to speak, he smirked to acknowledge my presence and used his hand to summon me forward. I chose to remain near the door so my exit could be as quick as my entrance. I rarely, if ever, come up here. He usually intrudes on my space or seeks me out.

“Syed, let me give you a call back in about fifteen minutes.” Syed from Marka Holdings. I know exactly where this is going, if not today, then sometime next week.

“Why are you prancing around here talking about something that you know absolutely nothing about. On top of it, you’re giving people a date and promising invitations? You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Aside from the A&M Gala, Richard hosts a ton of parties and a weekend in the Hamptons for a large quantity of employees in the building. He attempts rounds of golf with supervisors and the heads of certain departments and he’s also hosted a few of them at his home. I have a tendency to bring work home but not the people at work. Other than Stacey, I couldn’t imagine having to muster up a phony grin while shaking the hands and giving thanks to attendees from this company who couldn’t care less about my marriage. I don’t mind playing politics but I’d at least like to be able to let my guard down and enjoy my wedding without having to question motives and intentions.

“Congratulations son. Shit if you ask me, I never thought the day would come and yet here it is. I saw it in the way you were looking at her when your mother and I showed up to the opening of your restaurant and nightclub in Los Angeles. You were looking at her like you’d never seen anything like her at any other point in your life. Liz and I had a good laugh at that. She went on and on about how much she likes her and I told her that I like that you like her. I like why you like her. I’ve told you that you need to get your face out there more often and she’s the perfect piece to that puzzle.” Two deep breaths and the shaking of my head did nothing to cease the arising aggravation. The most insulting part of his statement doesn’t come as a surprise. Despite how much he claims to be in love with my mother, she is without a doubt his trophy wife. He parades her around as such and has made plenty of derogatory statements about beating white men at their own game by parading around with one another their own. Early on, he thought Matthew would eventually end up marrying outside of his race as well, but Camille came into the picture at the right time. Though she’s humbly beauty and brains, Camille has a maternal instinct that I am sure he gravitated towards as a means to cope with the loss of his own. Though Elizabeth coddles him and turns a blind eye to his bullshit as a means to pay her debt for having played a part in ruining his family, she isn’t his mother and he’ll never view her as such despite his pretending. He turns to Camille, who has a ton of similar traits to his mother, and she pets and takes care of him though he is undeserving. It’s likely the reason why he’s not as invested in them starting a family is because the children will draw a lot of her attention away from him.

“My relationship isn’t for show or to gain traction to my public persona. I don’t operate like you. How many times does that have to be clarified and proven for you to understand it? Anything I have going on beyond this place is beyond you and your acceptance. So do me a rare favor and stop walking around here giving people false information about my business for the sake of making yourself look good. I don’t need it and neither do you.”

“I went to Lorraine to pick out a tennis bracelet for your mother and a couple of other pieces since the holiday season has arrived and it was quite interesting and yet confusing when she quickly congratulated me on gaining a daughter-in-law. She then went on and on about how detailed you were in designing the ring and how important the whole entire process was for you and I had to sit there with a smirk on my face while nodding in agreement with some shit that I had no idea about. How exactly do you justify not telling your parents that you plan on marrying someone?”

“As I said, anything I have going on beyond this place is beyond you. That’s all the justification you need. You shouldn’t be surprised by what I don’t tell you. What should surprise you is what I do tell you.” His face eased into a blankness as his eyes attempted to piece a hole through me. I struck a nerve.

“Your mother and I would like to host you and your fiancée for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow evening.”

“No thank you. We have plans already.”

“A lot of the decisions that you make to isolate yourself don’t bother me. You are who you are and despite your resistance, I am proud of who you have become. I cannot and will not dwell on you throwing these silent tempter tantrums because I didn’t take you to the park to kick a ball around or because I didn’t throw you some fancy sweet sixteen party and present you with a sports car in front of all of your friends. I raised you to be a man and I financed the finest educational opportunities to complete that task. My job is done. It’s your mother who sits around moping and crying over you continuing to shut her out despite her endless attempts to amend the tension between the two of you. How does that not guilt you? There are people who wake up everyday wishing that they’re able to have a conversation or share a hug with their mother and yet you take that for granted.”

“Do I? It might be a little too late for me to be craving a mommy type of hug. She should have been giving me those when I was a child and actually needed them. Those were necessary when I was trying to learn what love is. Now? I don’t see the point. You can’t miss what you never had right? It’s difficult to make up for that kind of intentional lost time. She made that choice. Not me. I didn’t come here to talk about that or her. Stop turning my personal life into a hot shot story. That’s all I have to say.”

“What do you think you’re going to do? Get married without your mother and I in attendance? You’d look like a fool.”

“What’s that quote by Winston Churchill? Uh….oh yeah. The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.”

The famous quote was my final statement and it lingered in the silence that followed my exit. Nothing more needed to be said and I had no interest in starting a full blown argument over what he knows is out of line. If anything, he pulled that charade today out of spitefulness for whatever unwanted emotions he’s feeling due to my lack of mentioning anything directly to him. Despite that, he knows better than to seek guilt from me about anything. I don’t regret it and if it were up to me, he still wouldn’t know.

Leaving the office now, baby. I’m on my way to you.

Though she insisted that I didn’t have to do it, I promised Autumn that I’d be picking her up from work today and we’d grab a pizza and some great pasta for lunch. It’s been a while since we had a pizza date and I’ve missed watching her drool over each slice she consumes. Also, it’ll be a way for us to have some private time to kick it with one another before we’re at her parents home and surrounded by relatives that I know and plenty that I will be getting to know.

Don’t go to Teterboro. I’m not there. Isaac and his ridiculous ass drove me to the hospital in Hackensack over absolutely nothing. Just go to your place and then I’ll call you when I’m on my way home so you can head over. I’ll tell you what happened when you get to the house. I love you.

The “over nothing” portion of her text message never registered. As my pace picked up, my phone nearly slipped out of my palm as perspiration built up. My frustration and anxiety met the golden elevator’s button as I pressed it ceaselessly in hopes that the elevator’s operating system would understand my mental space and quicken it’s pace so that I could exit the building properly, but it didn’t. Instead, I opted for the staircase and dashed into my office to retrieve my possessions. Out of respect for Stacey, who had disappeared from her desk, I took the lunch she bought me with me and sent her a text message that I left the building while on my way to the car. God had to be on my side as I forced myself to remain within the New York City speed limit while heading towards NY-495 West but I defied him a bit as I put my foot to the petal once I was on I-95 in New Jersey. The lack of traffic was what allowed me to race against the thirty five minute time frame it should have taken me to get to her and I was able to cut it down to twenty five. I didn’t have a clue of where she could be, so my best choice was to start with the emergency room. Whether she was there or not, they could give me answers.

“Dante!”

While digging down into my pocket for my phone, I turned my attention in the direction that the light voice came from. Lauren raised her hand up high enough for me to notice her as she trekked down the hallway with her coat draped over her arm. Though I didn’t expect to see her, relief flushed through my thoughts because I no longer had to ask a ton of questions to random employees.

“I’m so glad that you’re here and yet I’m kind of not glad about it, because she’s going to be so mad.” I raised both eyebrows at her giggling and she shook her head. “She’s so angry and she’s being stubborn because she feels like Isaac overreacted. Lillian and I were already out at the store picking up what was left on Autumn’s list of groceries that she needs for her portion of tomorrow’s dinner when we got the phone call, so we just rushed here. The groceries are still in the car and everything. Silas is at the house with Larissa and Ray but he’s been calling just about every ten minutes. I can only imagine the look on her face when she’s sees you. She’s probably going to blame me and say that I called you.”

“She told me that she’s here, so she’ll know it wasn’t you. She texted me telling me to go home and wait for her, but that wasn’t happening.”

“I’m glad it didn’t. Maybe you can talk some of that stubborn down. You do know your wife to be is a very stubborn woman right?”

“I know.”

“Good. So you know what you’re going to be dealing with as long as you both shall live.”

“I do.” Our chuckling followed my response. I learned that about her very early on and though it has it’s slightly annoying moments, it does have it’s cute ones. I also appreciate that she knows when to check herself in that area.

“She’s right through those doors down there and in the second bed closest to the left when you walk in the room. Luckily the other patient in the room was discharged a little while ago, so he didn’t have to endure the continuous argument between she and her brother for long.”

“What happened? Why is she here?”

“Some dizziness that caused her to take quite a bit of a fall.” My eyes instantly widened at that revelation and while Lauren nodded in understanding at my reaction. “Issac thought she was having another one of those TIAs or worse, so he put her in the car despite her protests and drove her here.”

“I’m glad he did. I’m going to check on her. You’re leaving?”

“I’m just running to the car, I’ll be back.”

“Okay.” After receiving clearance from a staff member in registration, I was granted access to the emergency room. A churning in my stomach sparked up at the stench and sight of illness. When my uncle started being in and out of hospitals, much like anyone else I developed a bit of distaste in the midst of the respect I do have for the people who put in countless hours to save lives. It’s something about knowing that no matter how many times he was back and forth in the hospital, his health slowly but surely continued to deteriorate. It caused resentment to fester within me. It makes sense given that he’s the only father that I ever knew. With that in mind, a place like this is the last place I want to see my fiancee in unless it’s to birth our children.

I could hear Autumn’s complaints as soon as I stepped in the room and her mother’s plea for her to cooperate went into one ear and right out of the other as she spoke over her and scolded Isaac for being so impulsive and stupid. Surprisingly he didn’t respond with words. He let her rant fly freely.

“You’re really having a fit over here huh?” Though I playfully poked my head beyond the curtain to lighten the mood, the bewildered expression on her face signified just how poorly that went over. Had it not been an embarrassing move within itself, I’m almost sure she would have pulled the white sheet over her head and did her best to mentally disappear from the room. Aside from the machines hooked up to her finger and arm to check the standard vitals, she looked to be doing alright and that granted me far more relief than anyone could ever understand. I can only imagine what her family went through when she was hospitalized and how the visual and experience has remained embedded in their conscious, but if God is on my side I don’t ever want her to go through something like that ever again. I don’t want to stand over the love of my life as her life hangs on by a thread. It’ll mentally and physically suffocate me.

“Boy am I glad that you’re here. Maybe you can talk some sense into your fiancée and convince her to do the CT, so that we can go home. That’s all she needs.” Lillian drew her lips up into a frustrated smirk and glanced over at her headstrong child who refused to make eye contact with me.

“I’m going to step outside. Maybe she’ll do it if she no longer has someone to argue with.”

“We wouldn’t be arguing if you hadn’t overreacted to absolutely nothing.”

“Or maybe we shouldn’t be arguing because I was only looking out for you. I don’t think you understand because you weren’t on the other side of that shit. I’ve never known you to be a person to lack empathy so don’t pull that bullshit now because you’re upset. I’m glad you’re alright for the most part, but lets not forget the last time you were gripping your head and you hit the ground, you didn’t get back up. Thankfully, you’re still here after what happened. Carelessness can always be a reason for you not to be, but I’m not participating in that shit. I did what was right. Be mad all you fucking want to.” In a swift movement, he snatched his trench coat off of the chair on the left side of the bed and walked around me. Though his words didn’t seem to go into one of her ears and right out of the other, she couldn’t help but to roll her eyes at his emotions because she was still stuck in her own.

“I don’t like places like this. Who the hell does? You don’t know what it’s like to be woken up every half an hour or so to someone sticking you with this and that, taking you from floor to floor for a bunch of tests that never make sense, and painfully wondering if you’re going to get the hell out of here. My time in this very hospital was not pleasant. So excuse me if you all are pissed off because I have fears and hesitance about coming to places like this.”

“No one is refuting how you feel. We haven’t done that. I understand where you’re coming from. No one enjoys coming to hospitals sweetheart, but you know what? It’s apart of life and it’s better to be safe than sorry. Your brother isn’t a doctor. He became alarmed by it and wanted to get you to a place where what you’re feeling could be analyzed and understood whether it was something big or small.” Rather than scolding Autumn for the silence that followed, she pressed her lips to her forehead and endearingly ran her hand over the top of her head in a manner that only a mother could do. “I’m going to step outside for a couple of minutes.”

Rather than taking a seat in the chair, I purposefully invaded her space by sitting down towards the end of the bed. Though I hadn’t said anything yet, she was forced to make eye contact and within that split second, the vulnerability that she’d been trying so hard to mask since my arrival slipped beyond her control and began pouring out of her by the way of tears filling her eyes and her arms protectively being wrapping around the upper portion of her body.

“Why do you fear vulnerability? We all have it.”

“Because I don’t like people feeling sorry for me. It worsened shit when I was feeling sorry for myself.”

“I don’t feel sorry for you. I love and care about you. That’s not the same context. I’m quite sure that everyone else who showed up here because they love and care about you feels the same way. What happened at work?” She received me as I inched closer. Once I opened my palm, her hand slipped into mine and our fingers interlocked in our usual fashion.

“A headache. I woke up with it. It became a bit more intense as I was going over logistics for the Christmas party and I ended up tripping. I didn’t fall out like Isaac assumed. I felt a bit dizzy and I tripped. That’s how I fell and I hit my shoulder pretty hard on the floor.”

“You didn’t tell me you had a headache this morning.”

“Because it felt like a typical headache. I took Motrin before I left but they ended being ineffective. I get migraine headaches from time to time. This isn’t anything new.”

“And how do you feel now?”

“I feel alright. My shoulder has a bit of an ache but there’s no damage there or anything like that. I hit it on something. Any part of your body will hurt if that happens to it. They gave me a pill that’s already helping and I’m sure before I’m discharged from here, they’ll give me a shot like usual. We have been through this before.”

“And the CT?”

“Stupid. It’s not a TIA or a stroke, Dante.”

“Well let’s just get it done to be sure and walk out of here knowing there’s nothing to worry about. Can you do that for me? It’s one little test. I’ll go with you if you want. After that, we’re out of here. Alright?” Her hard exhale earned a laughter from me that only prompted her to roll her eyes and she eventually nodded her head to comply with the request.

“Thank you. When we get out of here, we’ll get that pizza.”

“To go, because I have to finished prepping a few things. I’m also making all of the desserts today.”

“Don’t you think you should take it easy on that shoulder?”

“I will, tomorrow when all the cooking is finished. Once that’s done, I don’t plan on doing anything else other than laying around and watching TV like I do every Thanksgiving once we’ve eaten and the laziness kicks in.”

“Oh. I meant to ask you, what’s in those bags that you bought in the house yesterday?” The innocent smirk that arose on her face after her eyes widened only caused me to narrow mine. As quickly as she arrived and sat down in my lap is as quickly as I forgot about the bags. I even walked past them on the way out this morning and never once thought to take a peak.

“Customized Christmas ornaments.”

“Oh man.” She has every intention to make it look like Christmas has thrown up in my apartment and there is absolutely nothing that I can or will do to stop her. The excitement she’s had in talking about it increases everyday and I’d be an asshole to rain on her parade. At least it’s not me doing it, because if were, that same small ass Christmas tree that Mike has a vendetta against would be sat out on the table and left as it is.

“You’re going to love it. I promise.”

“I’m not complaining. Do as you please.”

Though she attempted to hide it with the hospital gown covering her top half, I could see the bruise forming on her shoulder as the nurse wheeled her towards the elevator for the scan. Every few seconds, her impotent eyes would pan towards the left to see if I was still walking along side her for this process. Though I couldn’t go inside, I assured her that I’d be waiting outside and I did for the twenty minutes she lay inside of that machine. Her mood then went on a array of up and down emotions until we were presented with results that proved no abnormalities were found. As Autumn informed me before, they did give her a shot right in the upper area of her backside and a prescription for any further pain she may have with her head. The instructions for her shoulder were simple; ice and rest. Knowing Autumn, neither will happen. The concept of sitting still seems to go over my fiancee’s head and yet I can’t judge her because I’m still learning how to do so myself.

“You need to apologize to your brother.”

“Have I told you how handsome you look today? That grey is so sexy.” As I gently eased her black patent leather puffer coat over her shoulders, my lips curved in response to her obvious deflecting.

“He deserves the apology.”

“But…”

“Autumn.”

“Okay. Fine. I’ll apologize. You do look really handsome though. I didn’t say that to be slick.”

“Thank you. I’ll take those things there. Lets gets out of here.”

“Oh you don’t have to tell me twice.” As I grabbed her purse and the extended care packet the nurse left behind, she walked out ahead of me. By the time I’d gotten out into the hallway, I was left to keep up with her stride as she made her way towards the exit of the emergency room. She refused to even peak her head inside of the waiting room to alert anyone that all was fine and that it was time to go. She needed fresh air, but most of all, the reassurance in her being okay and not having to be imprisoned to a bed in such a place was her being able to walk out of those doors.

“Isaac and Lauren are sitting in the car having coffee. I decided to wait in here. I knew all would be well. There’s nothing wrong with a little bit more assurance.”

“Yeah, she’s fine. Why didn’t you come back to the room?” As I helped her pull her coat over her shoulders, she gave me a knowing smile though her facial expression held a seriousness in it that I didn’t understand.

“It was at this very hospital that I had to make decisions about her life that technically weren’t up to me. I reached out to Andreas and he did nothing. He did not come here and hold up his end of that in sickness and in health portion of his vows. Silas and I were left to handle everything. I know you love my daughter and have asked for her hand in marriage, but there is so much that comes with that and situations like this are exactly that. You will be her life partner, so when you arrived I excused myself because I wanted to began to find my own comfort in knowing that I can trust that you will be there for her.”

“For as long as there is breath in my body, I will be there for her.”

“Well, alright then. Lets get home because there is cooking to be done. Autumn tells me that you don’t really celebrate holidays, so I plan on making you change your mind about them. We always have a great time and with you now becoming an addition to the family, we have to show you how it’s done.”

“I’m looking forward to it. Are you making that cake that you shared with me on my birthday?”

“I am. I know you love cheesecake, so there will be a few options in that area. This and Christmas are the two days of year where we really overindulge on the desserts.”

“Oh yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to it now.” Her hand met my back during our laughter and she gave it a gentle pat.

“We’re so happy to have you Dante.”

“Here, take some of this too.”

Autumn unfolded her legs and crawled towards me with her plate so that I could give her half of the slice of cheesecake Stacey bought me. Somehow, we ended up sprawled out on her bedroom’s rug with a half pepperoni half cheese pizza being shared amongst us. Though the television was on, the volume was low enough for neither one of us to glance in it’s direction to check out whatever movie was playing on the HBO channel she left it on. Most of my attention was on her thighs as my grey shorts, that she somehow stole, loosely rode up on her thighs. The Columbia t-shirt covering her upper frame? Mine too. We would have been damn near identical twins in attire if I didn’t opt for a pair of sweatpants instead.

“Some interesting shit happened at work today. Stacey usually always buys me lunch whenever some aggravating shit is either going down or soon to go down. As soon as I saw that pasta and the cheesecake on my desk, I knew it had to be something.”

“Is everything alright? What was it?” Rather than scooting back to where she was, she lazily threw her legs over mine and leaned back against the frame of her bed for support.

“Richard found out about our engagement and began telling a lot of people about it. It got around the building enough for an intern to ask me about it. He was even telling people a date and promising invitations to people I wouldn’t even invite them to a birthday party of mine let alone my damn wedding.” Her eyes washed over me and yet they held no reluctance or resistance about what I revealed.

“You truly do not pay them any mind huh?”

“I don’t, but why do you ask?”

“Because both he and your brother try to do everything in their power to dig under your skin.”

“I’ve summed it up to them not knowing how to communicate in any other manner. Neither one of them understand how to hold a proper conversation with me nor do they desire to address the tension and elephant that is always in the room when we’re within each other’s presence, so it ends up being shit like what happened today. He felt like I was being spiteful by not telling him so his revenge was to do something he knew would make me uncomfortable and angry.”

“Can I ask you something?” After putting another folk full of the red velvet sweetness into her mouth, I nodded and remained silent so she could proceed with it.

“What is it going to take for some amending to begin? I know that it won’t happen overnight nor will it happen within a year but what will it take for just the beginning of it to start?” I’ve asked myself that question a number of times and each time I’ve come up with a different answer to satisfy my own needs. Initially, I’ve always had selfish thoughts of what needed to be done to accommodate myself and what I’ve been feeling over the course of my childhood and into my adulthood. I’ve considered how many apologies it’ll take, the genuine nature that needs to be involved, and the truths that I’ve yet to hear from any of them. As an adult I now realize that the complexities are far too extensive for it all to just be driven towards what I’ve felt and still am feeling. There are a number of hurt people involved and it all stems from different situations intertwined into a web of sin and bullshit. I’m not completely innocent in it either.

“The truth. Often times, people have this concept of wanting to move forward and put the past behind them. While that sounds good, I also see it as an escape route; a poor one at that. It’s simply people choosing to know that the skeletons are in the closet and making a conscious decision to not open the door. Eventually, someone will, whether it’s by a mistake or on purpose. I’m not the one running from it, they are. I’m not perfect but they have an issue when it comes to addressing their flaws and where they’ve gone wrong. How do you ever learn if you don’t acknowledge when you’re wrong? How can an apology ever be genuine if you can’t even admit or talk about what you’re apologizing for? That’s what I need. Ultimately, it doesn’t start with me. There has to be plenty of self realization before that can happen.”

“I understand where you’re coming from. Before you can amend anything with them, they need to look deep inside of themselves and come to terms with their own deep rooted issues.”

“Absolutely.”

“When do you want to get married?” That question caught me off guard, not because I haven’t been thinking about time frames, but mostly because I’m not sure how that correlates to this particular conversation. “I’ve been giving it some thought and I’ve considered this up and coming summer, somewhere around your birthday since it’s at the very end of August or maybe in September. It’s either that or we wait until maybe the Spring of following year.”

“It’s funny that you mention August because I was thinking of the same month. The nineteenth.” A smile arose at our similar thoughts.

“I was thinking the twenty sixth but I like the sound of the nineteenth better for some reason.” As my fingers slowly trailed up the skin of her thigh, trails of goosebumps began to follow my fingers and infectiously caused a round to trickle onto the nape of my neck. Just the feel of her skin takes me over the edge. “I love you and I want you be comfortable so do you want to do something small? Maybe we can have a civil union at the courthouse and some kind of a small celebration after with a few of the people that we love until everything is better with your family.”

“Autumn.”

“It’s not like I’d be doing it without my family knowing this time and I wouldn’t exclude them either. It’s our union and I want it to be fair. I don’t mind waiting until you’re ready in that particular area either. I don’t want you to have any regrets or to ever reflect back and think about how much you actually did want them there.”

“Fair for me is having the wedding that neither one of us have ever had. I’m not giving that up for anything or anyone. That’s not a sacrifice that I’m willing to make because there’s no true purpose for it. Why would you ever want to cheat yourself out of that? I want to see you in some of your designs and I’d like to be waiting for you at the top of an alter. I want to see your favorite flowers all over the place and to have a reception that is the best party of the year. After that’s all said and done, I want us to get on that jet and fly to wherever we want on this planet to celebrate our nuptials. That’s fair. I can give you that. Can you give it to me?”

“Of course I can.”

“Thank you.” Our lips met for a soft kiss and her palm traced by face, not in sympathy, but in a reassurance that I have her and we’re in everything together. Much like I am ready and willing to protect her at all costs, I know it is no different on her end.

“You have to promise me something though.”

“Anything.”

“I’d like for you to at least crack the door so that your mom can begin to make her way back into your heart. I am not nor will I ever dismiss how you feel and what you have gone through, but I do know that you love her. The love you have for her is why you’re so disappointed. I know you may not believe it but I see some good in her and she loves you. Just try it and see what happens. Don’t be so resistant all the time. Little by little, okay?”

In choosing her to be my life partner, I expect her to challenge me because Autumn within herself is a challenge that I’m still happily learning and maneuvering through day by day. If anything, I believe that she came into my life for that purpose aside from giving me love and companionship. Without being overbearing, she has changed my perspective on plenty and has broadened my experiences. I’m not surprised by this request and though I wish I could just shrink up and refute all the reasons why she believes this needs to be, I won’t. Not only will she not accept stagnant growth from me but I refuse to accept it from myself.

“Okay. Little by little.”

“Thank you.” A sharp exhale oozed out of my mouth as she straddled my lap and my body fell back the further she pushed herself down. Had this been happening on the marble flooring of my apartment, her clothes would have been halfway off by now but a peak of nervousness caused my eyes to pan back and forth between her breathtaking beauty and the closed yet unlocked door. Her irresistible nature would absolutely be the cause of me taking such a wild risk and yet I don’t want to scar anyone for life nor do I need the heads of this household viewing me in a negative light because I’ve lost all control with their daughter within their home.

“You know where we are right?” The softness of her lips meshed into mine and in that moment a sense of peace washed over every aspect of me. The warmth of her hands cupping my face made me aware of reality and yet the feel of her lips intertwined with mine began to draw me to that euphoria that I only experience with her.

“Move in with me.” The request was met with the shaking of her head and an endearing peck to simmer down yet another slightly disappointing blow to a question I’ve been asking since the proposal.

“Move in with me.” The more my hands roamed, the more she shuttered to my touch. Her eyes clenched tightly at the unintentional rolling of my hips. Maybe it was intention. Okay, it was.

“Please.”

“No.” A kiss to my forehead was followed by a kiss on the very tip of my nose. Kisses all over my face are my alarm clock when we’re in bed without responsibilities awaiting us.

“Well let me get you an apartment.”

“No.” With my arm locked around her waist, I used enough weight to flip us over and the wince that followed halted every action that I wanted to follow. “My bad. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s just sore. I’m cool.” My kisses were geared towards her shoulder and they remained there as we basked in a much needed silence after the pressures of the morning and early afternoon.

“Why are you so stubborn?” Her laughter and the playful rolling of my eyes had my attention, but the manner in which she wrapped her thighs around my waist distracted my thoughts from the conversation which was her intention in the first place. She claims it’ll make sense to move in together once we’re officially heading out West and it’ll be a fresh start in our new home as man and wife, but who cares about all of that? It’ll still be a fresh start either way.

“Autumn, are you…” The door swung up with no knock or regard and a nearly mortified Lauren is what we were met with. Her eyes bulged open as far as they were capable of going and her lips fell apart to deepen the expression. Though rendered to speechlessness, the amusement arising within her facial expression was noticeable. I may even be able to chuckle at this. Had we been without the layers covering more than just our intimate portions, not so much.

“Never mind, sorry for interrupting.” As swiftly as she opened the door is as swiftly as it closed behind her. Autumn’s lack of amusement is what worsened my own. In our maneuvering to get off of the floor, I could hear the snide remark she made about her sister-in-law’s supposedly intentional barging in. No matter how many times I ask her about it, I still don’t understand what their underlying issues stems from.

“I’m going to head downstairs before Lauren snitches on me.”

“Why would she do that? I think you have it out for her for no reason baby.” Her eyebrow flew up while she eyed me and I just about shrunk under that all too familiar expression of disdain. I pity anyone who has to stand under the scrutiny of she and her mother doing it simultaneously.

“Because she’s always in my business and I don’t know why. I don’t ask her anything about hers, but she could not keep her nose out of my mine when I was going through everything I was going through with that man. Though she did it with the guise of being family, I still think it was for the sake of her own entertainment. Because she felt like she saved Isaac from himself and his demons, she probably figured she could save me from my own. It’s that plus that goody two shoes nature about her. Like just now for example. Girl, you’re pregnant. You stood there staring at us in shock though we’re fully clothed, meanwhile you’re walking around with a gut full of human which is pure evidence that my brother has been blowing your back out nightly. Is anyone staring at her mortified about it?”

“Why are you making it so deep?” The aggravation in her tone was hilarious. I don’t even think she dislikes Lauren. They’re polar opposites and it is that aspect of their dynamic that Autumn clings to as a means to force a dislike that isn’t there.

“It’s not just that. She picks and chooses when to stay her lane and I don’t like that either. That’s how all of those churchy chicks act.” My refusal to stop laughing earned a light mush to my head. If anyone else heard what she just explained, they’d be laughing too. “I’ll be downstairs. You’re going to stay in here and watch TV?”

“Yeah. I’ll probably take a nap too. I’ll be down later. Are you going to be nice to your sister?”

“Dante.”

“Be nice.”

“I’m always nice.”

“And apologize to your brother.”

“I will.”

I knew she will because she valued his speech he dedicated to her at the birthday dinner. Complete healing won’t happen over night, but thus far, they’re in a much better place and communicate more often than they were before. From what she’s been telling me, since then, they even gel better at work. If I can be apart of salvaging the relationship between those two than so be it. With the loss of Shane, they need one another more than they realize it.

I can’t remember the last time I had a slight hang over and I know for sure I’ve never experienced one on Thanksgiving Eve and yet I’ve just thrown back two Motrin out of a bottle I found in Autumn’s medicine drawer and I’m silently praying that they do the job. The nap I took was only a reset for what was to come. After peaking my head into the kitchen and being yelled at by every single woman occupying it, I quickly learned that there is a system to the holidays and I had to get in line or have my head ripped off. While the women do the cooking, the men stay out their way and hang downstairs in Silas’ man cave. Good ol’ soul music, cigars, beers, and rounds of card games is the tradition and I quickly earned a spot at the table. The mix of the older and younger men wasn’t a clash but instead, turned out to be great conversation and lessons that I can’t learn from anywhere else. Whether it was politics, sports, cars, life, and the women we’re all in love with, we shared back and forth banter, laughter, and advice that I’ll never forget. It just about felt like moments that I’ve occasionally witnessed on a television show, but better. Had Lillian not chased us all to bed as the sun began to creep up into the sky, I’m almost sure we would have all still been down there laughing and jokingly yelling about the card games.

“Did you get any sleep at all?” We spoke briefly while I was on my way up here to come to bed but I never felt her join me at any particular point. Because she’s often times a night owl and will creep out of the bed in the middle of the night due to restlessness, I’ve gotten accustom to sensing when she’s not there. The last I remember seeing her is when I was on my way upstairs to get in the bed and she told me she’d be up after she finished putting icing on a cake. That never happened. Even when I woke up, she wasn’t here.

“I fell asleep on the couch for a few hours. I did it on purpose. If I would have gotten in the bed, I probably would have fell into a deep sleep so I laid across the couch so that I could wake up in time to watch the Macy’s parade. Shane and I would watch it every year.” I looked on as she applied some type of make up product under her eyes, down the bridge of her nose, in-between her nose and upper lip, and then right on her lower chin.

“What is that?” I have absolutely nothing against make up. If it’s something that she or any woman wants to wear than so be it. She’s stunning with or without it. I’ve just never watched her put it on and the process seems like one hell of a task. I barely like to shave on my own.

“Concealer. I’m sleep deprived and I certainly look like I am, so this is going to help that. It’s the cure. All you need to do is use some concealer and it’ll brighten things up while getting rid of any signs of exhaustion.”

“You went to sleep after everyone else did, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I did. Maybe an hour or two later. I couldn’t really sleep anyway.”

“Are you okay?” As she patted away at her face, her words continued to nonchalantly flow from her glossed lips. Though her tone wasn’t insulting or dismissive, it lacked the normal enthusiasm she has when we speak. While slouching forward so that she could get a good look at herself in the mirror, she paused and thought about an answer.

“Yeah.”

“I’m really appreciative of you inviting me to come and hang out here for Thanksgiving. Usually I kick it at home and Stacey will bring me a plate whether she cooked at home or is having dinner at someone’s house. It’s not that I don’t understand the concept of spending time with family, but I really got a different experience hanging around your dad, Isaac, your uncles, and your cousins Eric and Austin. We had a blast, honestly.” Our eyes briefly met as she patted various places on her face over and over again with some kind of an egg shaped sponge. The smile that I’d been seeking out for about an hour or so finally arose on her face.

“Did you think I was going to leave you home by yourself? If you didn’t come here, I was going to come to you. I’m glad that you enjoyed yourself though. No one should be alone on days that are all about family. I don’t think anyone should be alone at all, but especially not on days like this. Despite our personalities and ways of life, we all need people. I am your family now which then means that my family is yours. So, you belong here just like anyone else does.”

“I think it’s going to be awesome when we’re able to host holiday gatherings in our home.”

“We have to do it in London sometimes. I’d love that so much. I know Thanksgiving may not be a traditional holiday there, but Christmas is. I love being at your London place.”

“We can do that. If you love it there so much, we can spend time there more often. There isn’t anything I can do here that I can’t do at the London office.”

“I’d love that. It feels like a getaway and yet still feels like I’m at home. It’s rare for me to feel that way. I certainly didn’t experience that in Miami. I always felt like I was out of place…and in the long run, I guess I found out that I was.”

“You weren’t out of place. He was. You were trying to build a home and he was bullshitting.”

“Yeah, but I was in the wrong for even trying to in the first place. I had all the signs that he didn’t want it and ignored them for the sake of my emotions and selfish needs. I have to take some responsibility. We both screwed up, just in different ways. I have a lot to learn when it comes to the whole wife thing. Bare with me.”

“You really don’t give yourself enough credit. I don’t have to bare with anything. If anyone’s lucky here, it’s me.”

“Lucky huh?”

“I am. I’m a very lucky man.” Though I opted for a simple beige colored Ralph Lauren sweater and blue cargo slacks, Autumn decided to be as glamorous as she usually is for the indoor festivities. She didn’t let being in the comfort of her home stop her from donning a short Fendi navy blue wool dress that not only looked amazing on her, but also had this youthful look to it that compliment her young face. The baby blue boots she paired with it were eye catching as they hugged on her thighs. Though loud in color, they worked and still fit in with the fall season. I’m not quite sure how she’s making them work, but it’s Autumn and I’ve learned that she can pull off anything she wants.

“You look amazing.”

“Thank you. You do too. Can we stay at your place tonight?”

“For what?”

“Because your hands off approach while here isn’t going to work for me much longer. I’m deprived.” My laughter was loud enough for anyone to hear if they were walking by. She’s not the only one. I had to give myself a mental pat on the back for the restraint I had while on that floor yesterday. The temptation was a bitch.

“Deprived? It’s only been, what, a few hours over twenty four? We were all over the shower yesterday morning.”

“We could have been all over the shower a little while ago too.”

“We’re at your parents’ house.”

“There’s always the car.” As she placed her make up brush down, she turned to face me. The knots already forming in the pit of my stomach intensified at the sight of her legs crossing. “Maybe a little backseat action?”

“That’s what you want?” Though she wasn’t within reach for my hand to reach her, I still learned forward and that alone made her flinch. It’s exactly what I wanted. She couldn’t be the only one teasing in this room.

“I don’t care where it happens. Just make it happen.”

“I got you.”

“Okay.”

She took an additional ten minutes on her make up and joined me towards the edge of the bed for selfies to send to Heather who was already sharing her own from Miami. It was the first year she was having her parents and in laws come together for a holiday with her being the host. Had she not done it that way, Autumn assured me that she would have made her way over here after having dinner with her family and then she’d go over to the Daniels household for leftovers the very next day. Her life in Miami changed that but much like everyone and everything else, adjustments are being made to bring those traditions back and to create some new ones.

I didn’t expect more people to be joining us, but Autumn’s godmother and her family arrived to fill up the few spaces left at the dining room table. Overnight, Autumn changed the whole entire ambiance of the dining room to reflect the spirit and color scale of the holiday. The way she’d done it reminded me of the shows my mother enjoys on HGTV. The floral arrangements and satin cloth made it look like something out of a catalog and yet the names on the placement cards and the messages inside of them maintained the personal aspect of it. Her attention to detail is absurdly incredible.

The food, my God, the food. They’d made enough to fill the entire table plus an additional table on the other side of the room. There were desserts that haven’t even made it out of the kitchen. Though Lillian lead grace, the most endearing part about it is everyone going around the room and announcing what they’re thankful for. Though I know everyone at the table believes in God’s blessings, but if someone didn’t, I know they would have felt something right then and there. In hearing the way they included Shane and gave thanks for his life, though it was taken away from them, an outsider would have understand what faith is and how meaningful it will always be.

In being apart of this, I cannot allow my children to have anything less. I refuse to be the reason that negativity affects their emotional growth by not exposing them to what a healthy family is and what that type of dynamic is supposed to function like. While nothing is ever perfect and everything has it’s issues and faults, the capability to come to together and make sure the ship keeps sailing is what matters most. I need them to understand what it means to have a network of people who you can depend on and share your life with. In understanding what family is, they’ll know to only befriend people who makes them feel just as accepted, appreciated, and loved. I want the photo albums filled with holiday memories and the stories we’ll reminisce on while sitting around a fireplace. I want there to come a day when my grandchildren are running around our home on a day like this while Autumn and I are blamed for them being spoiled rotten. I want this not only for me, but for my friends who are my family and the people I am closest too. How this feels is not only important but it’s an essential to life. Whether the relationship I have with my parents and my brother heals in an impactful way or not, I have to heal on my own for the sake of my well being and the family that I’m soon to have. I can’t have any of this without it.

“Lillian, you’re finally joining me in the grandma club. I’m elated about it.” Larissa reached over for Lauren’s belly and softly ran her hand over it’s slightly budding surface. She and Issac’s baby has been a hot topic around the table and the joys of all of the festivities that comes before a childbirth have been shared in ideas that will eventually come to fruition. Though it didn’t feel like being in a hot seat, a number of questions came my way though most were professional related more so than person, aside from one or two questions about my upbringing. There was only person in the room who hadn’t opened their mouth once throughout the entire dinner and it was Autumn. There were instances when I’d observe her closely listening to whoever had something to share and then there were moments when the egg shell colored wall seemed to draw her in more than anyone else. Though she opted out of dessert, she exercised curtesy and waited for me to finish mine so that I wouldn’t be at the table without her.

“What’s bothering you?” A cool wind gusted through the crisp Thanksgiving air and swarmed our slightly shivering bodies as I did my best to mesh us together for the sake of sharing warmth. Though the weather isn’t brutal, it’s certainly chilly enough for light coats and neither one of us opted to put one on when walking out of the door. She’d been out here first, standing to the left side of the door post and taking in some much needed fresh air. Me? After looking for her upstairs, my next bet was to seek her outside.

“I just miss him.” Her shoulders sunk in the midst of my embrace and I caught a glimpse of the grimace adorning her face as she glanced upward. Luminous stars emerged amid the ocean of blackness occupying the skies in a complimentary manner for the half moon that cascaded its faint rays upon our frames. The beauty of it held our attention.“I don’t question God’s decisions. Even when I was going through hell, I took it as a so be it type of thing. But Shane? I don’t understand that decision and though it is not for me to understand, I try to everyday.”

“I don’t believe Shane would want you feeling like this.”

“I know. If he were here right now, he would have told me to get over myself while stuffing his face with banana pudding. Sometimes I just want to talk to him. I miss that more than anything else.”

“I understand.” I think of my uncle Harry in the same manner that she does her brother. Though I am relieved that he is no longer dealing with the suffering that ultimately lead to his death, I do feel a void without him. Both Autumn and I have lost the relatives who felt like mentors and great friends more than anything else.

“Did you enjoy dinner?”

“Excuse my language but you and your mom can cook y'all asses off.” Light giggles followed the more than deserved compliment. I’m already contemplating what I’m going to have when I go for seconds.

“Thank you. I’m tired after all of that. Once I take a shower, I know I’m going to sleep damn good.”

“Yeah, you need it. How about you go start that shower and I come up and tuck you in?”

“Tuck me in? Sounds like you’re not going to bed any time soon.”

“I have to meet up with Mike about something important. I won’t be long. You know he’s not that far from here.”

“Okay. Well go ahead and do that. You don’t have to wait around for me to get into the shower but I have some cleaning to do before that happens. I’ll be up when you get back.”

“And then we’ll do hot chocolate and a movie?” We’ve done that a number of times since the fall weather has trickled in and it’s always a nice and quiet evening for the two of us.

“With some pie. Sounds like a plan.”

“It’s a date then.” Her supple lips gently pressed into my own for an endearing kiss.

“It’s a date.”

The sound of the Spalding ball thrashing against the acrylic surfacing served as music to my ears and eventually glee within my form as the ball went swooshing through the hoop as I landed yet another shot from the three point line. Despite the time, I had no fear of an issue happening while I tossed around a ball in this upscale park. We’ve come out here to play a number of times and I don’t believe I’ve seen more than two or three people with some pigment to their skin. Despite the wealth gap that I am apart of, witnessing the isolation and investment people with fortunes put into making sure their children are separated from inner city kids is why I continuously donate money to organizations like the Boys and Girls Club. If these people can have nice parks, courts, and fields for their offspring, why can’t everyone else? If only people understood how many lives can be saved with the simplest task of implementing something for the youth have fun with and by showing them that you actually give a damn. I can be doing more and I will. I’m tired of hearing about blood being shed and people losing their lives before they can even began to fully live them.

“Yo.”

“Ay man.” He too was bundled up and the boots he chose to wear were a clear sign he had no intention to play basketball. I didn’t either technically, but why not shoot around and get some of the food off while I waited?

“Happy Thanksgiving HI-LIGHTER.”

“Same to you punk ass.” We dapped and our usual embrace followed. A dap for friendship and an embrace of brotherhood.

“I need you to look at this.” He didn’t hesitate to flip the folder open and lay it into my hands. The cool air suddenly turned into a merciless frost as a frenzy of pickling sparked by my nerves eventually diminished to nothingness. The skin of my chest tightened in defense of my heart, as it thrashed against the cage of my chest, and filled my ears with its’ plea.

“I have some people in high places looking further into some other shit but the question is what are you going to do? I never question these favors and I never will. As a lawyer, I can get disbarred for this. As a brother, I need to know what the fuck are you going to do?”

“I need a favor.”

“What?” His frown intensified at the all too familiar words. “I already told you that I have people on it.”

“For Autumn. It’s important to me. Please.”

The rustling of the trees filled the air with melancholy. Our eyes spoke louder than any words could ever be.

“I know, which it is why I’ve already taken care of it. It’s going to be alright. You’ll be alright.”

Whether that last statement will uphold as the truth or not, when it’s all said and done, I can sleep well knowing that she will be.

#j. cole fanfic #j. cole fanfiction #j cole fanfiction #j cole fanfic #fanfiction #fan fiction #fanfic #rihanna fanfic #rihanna fanfiction

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breeeliss · 7 years

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[Miraculous Ladybug]: It’s All Hype!

pretend that i posted this like two days ago and im already writing day 5 prompts k thanks

[Day 2: Banter] [Day 4: Common Interests]

Link to Archive of Our Own: [AO3]

Title: It’s All Hype! Pairings: Ladynoir (Ladybug x Chat Noir), Adrienette (Adrien x Marinette) Summary: Alya accidentally gets the Internet in a frenzy after announcing that Ladybug and Chat Noir are dating, but the two heroes are adamant about correcting the error and making sure the world knows that they’re just friends. So Alya proposes a staged public break up to set everything right.

In hindsight, she really underestimated how utterly freaking difficult that would be.

Day 3: Explosive

“So can I ask you something since you’re my publicist now?”

Alya was sitting in the shade underneath a large oak tree in the middle of the park they were hanging out in. Because it was Sunday, it was relatively empty. There were only around ten or so people, and they didn’t seem interested in causing a fuss over the two heroes being here, so Alya thought it was a safe spot for the three of them to have a quick lunch. She snuck in a takeout container she’d picked up from the Thai place right next to her house, deciding that she needed the energy if she was going to be tackling this break up scheme for any longer. She spoke through a mouthful of noodles. “You do realize I’m not a real publicist, right?”

“Maybe not, but you’re good at your temporary job,” Chat Noir said, sitting on the park bench right across from Alya and chewing thoughtfully on a piece of baguette. “And I trust your opinion.”

“Okay, so what’s your question?”

“Am I allowed to sponsor small businesses? You know, like get on camera, hold up a product and say something like, ‘I am Chat Noir and I’m going to head on over to Tom & Sabine’s for a nice croissant.’”

Alya snorted. “Liking the bread that much, huh?”

“It is literally to die for!” he moaned in delight, taking another huge bite. He poked Ladybug who was next to him calmly eating from the takeout container she’d gotten from the same restaurant Alya had stopped at. “You sure you don’t want any? The bakery is literally right across the street. I always try and pick up something when I’m in the neighborhood.”

“Even transformed?” she teased.

“Of course! The owners love me. Ever since that Animan akuma, they give me free samples. You should take advantage.”

“I’ll make sure to try next time.”

“I’m not much of a commercial filmer. Although…” She put her food aside, took out her cellphone, and held up the camera. “Hold up the packaging with their logo on it and pretend like you’re about to take a huge bite.”

Chat Noir did as he was told, turning the paper packaging the baguette was in towards the camera so that the T&S symbol could be seen. He stopped just short of taking a bite off the bread and even managed to fit in a small wink before Alya snapped a couple of pictures. “I’ll throw them up later. I’m sure they’ll appreciate the buzz.”

“Sweet,” Chat Noir grinned.

“Wait, I have a publicity question,” Ladybug said. “I’ve been thinking….why are we going through the trouble of staging a fake break up for a relationship that isn’t real if we can just tell everyone that we’re dating other people? Wouldn’t that be simpler?”

Alya and Chat Noir winced simultaneously. “That might get messy,” Alya informed. “Like super duper messy.”

“Why? It’s the truth, isn’t it? It’s not like we’ll drop names or anything like that.”

“Yeah, but do you ever see how the Internet gets over celebrities who are secretly dating other regular people?” Chat Noir asked her. “Right now people are guessing the date of our future wedding which is annoying for us but still pretty harmless. But if we say we’re dating other people, thousands of people are either going to pretend that they’re dating us or start getting to really skeevy levels of stalking to try and figure out who we’re dating. Let’s not even start with the Twitter and Tumblr wars all that’s going to start. That happened with this Gabriel model who was in a lot of their women’s fashion ads. It was a total disaster and she had to get off Instagram. Trust me. Not worth it.”

“At least if you guys pretend to break up, the most the fans are going to do is cry over it and set up altars to pray for you guys to get back together,” Alya explained. “You’re definitely going to get those super creepy fans, but at least you’ll have considerably fewer of them.”

Ladybug leaned back in her chair. “Wow, I’m impressed. Didn’t know the two of you knew the inner workings of fandom culture so well.”

“Spend literally a day on Tumblr or Twitter and you will be forcefully acquainted with it,” Alya muttered.

“Fandoms are scary, my Lady,” Chat Noir nodded. “And our fandom is very passionate. You really need to read the Ladyblog comments more often.”

“There are hundreds of thousands of them, I’ll pass.”

“I pretty much ghostwrote like half of them. I really recommend you read them.”

Ladybug flicked him on the nose and ignored him. “So what’s our next move and why are we in the park? Not that I don’t appreciate the lunch break but it’s kind of chilly out here.”

Alya pointed her chopsticks at the two of them. “Well, seeing as how you two are apparently incapable of faking an angry falling out — and I don’t know whether that’s impressive or pathetic — we’ve got to opt for a completely different strategy. And we’re in the park because I needed the food and the fresh air since the two of you are enough to make a sane person drink.”

Chat Noir frowned. “You’re not old enough to drink.”

“Exactly. That’s how stressed I am.”

Ladybug pouted self-consciously. “We’re not really good at the whole getting angry at each other thing. Sorry.”

“Not to worry, Ladybug. This is me we’re talking about. I already have another idea for how to break you guys up.”

“Does it involve more script reading?” Chat Noir giggled.

Ladybug smacked him on the shoulder. “You are never going to leave me alone about this, are you?”

“Not for at least the next two weeks.”

“Definitely no scripts,” Alya decided. “You two can’t be trusted. We’re going to have to go for something that involves a lot less talking but is just as explosive.”

“Sooooo….like an actual explosion?”

Alya stared at him for a very long moment. “....how the hell is that going to help your current predicament?”

“I don’t know, I’m just spitballing here!”

“Getting you into a yelling match isn’t going to work because you guys can’t manage to insult each other properly,” Alya explained. “So we’re going to totally change up the mood. Which one of you is good at crying?”

Ladybug jutted her thumb towards Chat Noir. “He cries whenever he sees stray cats sleeping in gutters or cardboard boxes. Literally. Just completely starts bawling.”

“They don’t have homes Ladybug!” Chat Noir insisted. “They’re all cold and alone in the streets with no one to love them.”

“Alright, this is what you’re going to do,” Alya instructed. “You’re going to remember every single stray cat you’ve ever seen and start sobbing harder than you ever have in your life. All those kittens without homes. Stuck in the gutters. No hope in sight. Ladybug is going to do her best to calm you down, tell you it’s okay, that it’s not a big deal, but it’s not going to help. You’re going to storm off, tell her you need time alone, and walk away from her. I want this dramatic, I want this explosive, and I want this convincing.”

“How is him crying over stray cats going to make it seem like we broke up?”

“Because it’s not going to matter what you say. From far away, Chat Noir crying over stray cats and you trying to comfort him could easily be Chat Noir crying over a failed relationship and you trying to convince him back into it. I’ll film this from so far away. People won’t be able to hear anything, but they’re going to assume the worst. I’ll spice it up with my own impressions of your doomed relationship and make it really snazzy, don’t worry. All I need you two to do is go through the motions.”

Ladybug snorted. “Well, I don’t think that’ll be too hard. We go through this exact scenario like twice a week.”

“I’m going to send you YouTube videos about homeless animals and kill shelters,” Chat Noir said. “Then I dare you to come back to me the next day and tell me that I’m overreacting.”

“This time, no rehearsals!” Alya demanded, glaring at the two of them. “Everything’s gotta happen on camera. Is that clear?”

Ladybug and Chat Noir nodded while Alya threw out her lunch container and wiped the blades of grass off her jeans. “Alright, first thing’s first. Chat Noir. Start crying.”

Chat Noir blinked. “Wait. Like….like right now ?”

“Um, yeah? That’s the whole point of this.”

“I can’t just cry out of the blue! My emotions can’t be faked! I have to feel the tears.”

“Are you serious?” Alya complained. “I thought you said that you were a good crier.”

“I said that I’m good at crying,” Chat clarified. “Not that I can just cry on demand. That’s too much pressure. I need to be in the right mood!”

Alya turned slowly to Ladybug. “And I’m assuming you aren’t capable of crying spontaneously, is that right?”

Ladybug lifted her hands. “We already discussed that I’m not a good actress. If you’re going to ask anyone to fake a crying fit, he’s your best bet.”

Alya sighed. “Alright, well what do you need to help you start crying?”

Chat Noir hummed. “Not sure. I’ve never had to fake cry before.”

“Oh my God,” Ladybug groaned, leaning over to poke Alya on the shoulder. “Give me your phone. I’ll handle this.”

“I need to see a stray cat otherwise it’s not going to work.”

“Can’t you just imagine a stray cat?” Alya asked. “That’s good enough.”

“No, my imagination can’t properly replicate the visceral emotions that go into seeing a real live cat out in the streets abandoned by their family and sitting there without a home. The human mind is incapable of a task that huge.”

“So what, do you suggest that we go out hunting for stray cats then!?”

Chat Noir’s face lit up. “That’s a great idea! Let’s find a stray cat!”

Alya gaped at him. “You’re joking.” She turned to Ladybug. “He’s joking, right?”

Ladybug looked up from scrolling on Alya’s phone and gave her a flat stare. “Take a wild guess.”

Fifteen minutes later Chat Noir was running four blocks away to the local pet shop, buying two bags of cat treats, and making Ladybug and Alya accompany him while he crawled on his hands and knees around Paris trying to find a stray cat to cry over. He was checking on rooftops, underneath cars, in alleyways, and behind dumpsters, holding out cat treats and meowing loudly in order to make it easier for them to approach him. At one point, Chat Noir was sat at the top of a tree to get a better view of the neighborhood while Alya leaned against the trunk with a scowl on her face.

“Okay, this was a stupid idea,” she decided. “We should just move on to Plan C.”

“It’s a little late for that,” Ladybug snorted. “It isn’t even about the fake break up anymore. He just really wants an excuse to go hunting for strays. He’s been meaning to get a pet for months.”

“This part of the city is too busy, we’re never going to find one! Is there nothing else that’ll make him cry?”

“Working on it.” Ladybug called up to Chat Noir while staring at a web page that she had pulled up on Alya’s phone. “Okay so I found a website that says if you yawn really big — like open your mouth super wide — and then blink your eyes a bunch of times, it’ll naturally produce tears and help you start crying.”

“The last website you found told me not to blink!” Chat Noir called back. “So which one is it?”

“No the last one said to keep your eyes wide open and then blink really quickly.”

“So do I have to keep my eyes open while I yawn? Is that even possible?”

“No! Just yawn, you dummy!”

“Where are you even looking?”

“I’m Googling! These are the first results that are popping up!”

Chat Noir widened his eyes and pointed ahead of him. “Look! It’s a restaurant! I’m sure that are little kitties digging through the trash. Let’s go!”

Ladybug turned to Alya and shrugged. “Maybe bringing up the whole stray cat idea was my bad.”

“No, I encouraged it,” Alya grumbled. She rolled her eyes when Chat Noir leaped behind a bush and left a small pile of cat treats before slinking off underneath a parked car to do the same. “Do you have to deal with this all the time?”

“Don’t get me wrong, he’s very dependable, very loyal, and I trust him with my life. When it comes to his job, there’s no one better than him. Outside of that? He’s a complete dork and stunts like this are the norm. Gotta accept him for who he is, you know?”

Alya pointed ahead of them. “Ladybug, he’s leaving trails of food down the sidewalk like Hansel and Gretel.”

“Chat, that’s littering!” Ladybug called out. “We’re going to get in trouble!”

“It’s for the cats! So they can follow me!”

Ladybug snorted in laughter. “Can you help me pick all these up?” she asked Alya. “If he does find a cat to keep, he’ll want the treats.”

“Sure. Oh, by the way. Is Chat ticklish? Maybe if we tickle him hard enough he’ll start crying and I can start filming.”

“Don’t know if he’s ticklish but if you can find any bird feathers that might work. He’s deathly allergic to them and his eyes get all watery if he’s anywhere near them.”

Chat Noir spent the next half hour fully invested in his cat hunt while Ladybug and Alya followed close behind, casually chatting about summer plans, favorite places to study in the city, and whether or not Ladybug was ready for her end of year exams. Deciding that she might as well take advantage of the situation, Alya made it a point to grab footage of Chat Noir looking in every nook and cranny around the city for cats so that she could edit it together into a funny little video for her blog. In between, Ladybug kept trying to find threads on the Internet of theater kids sharing advice on how to fake tears on stage in case the whole cat idea went south. The search seemed hopeless until, almost out of nowhere, Chat Noir screamed at the top of his lungs.

Alya quickly grabbed her phone back while Ladybug called over to Chat Noir who was staring into the alleyway with a strange look on his face.“What is it?” she asked. “What did you find?”

Chat Noir was gaping at something that Alya couldn’t see, but judging by the way his bottom lip started trembling, she had a pretty good guess at what it was. She leaned over and whispered into Ladybug’s ear. “Are those the waterworks?”

“Oh yeah,” she muttered back. “He’s definitely going to lose it.”

“Okay, approach carefully,” Alya instructed. “Wait for him to really let it out and then go up to him to try and comfort him. Try to stage it so that it looks like a dramatic fight.”

“Roger that.”

Alya stayed back to film from afar so that it would look like she just happened upon the two heroes having a conversation in the street. Ladybug carefully approached Chat Noir and schooled her expression into a look of worry. “Chat, what’s wrong, you can tell me.”

“I can’t even believe this….” he muttered, his voice sounding thick with tears that were just waiting to trickle down his face. “This is so awful.”

“What’s so awful?” Ladybug asked. “Talk to me please.”

Chat Noir was already leaving tear tracks down his mask and cheeks and he was furiously rubbing away at his eyes while Alya filmed the whole thing on her phone. This was perfect. They both looked incredibly convincing, especially Chat Noir who was sniffling and mumbling words into the hand that was covering his mouth and fruitlessly trying to hold back his whimpers. There was a small crowd forming across the street at the scene and Alya made sure to get a quick shot of that too just for good measure.

Ladybug was still talking to him, getting closer to the alley and trying to see if she could find a way to gently approach him, but Chat Noir didn’t give her a chance before he dove into the alley, looked through the old discarded junk probably left by the tenants of the apartment building right next to them, and plucked out a cardboard box. Even from all the way over here, Alya could hear a chorus of small meows coming from the box, and Chat Noir’s crying turned into full blown sobbing as he tipped the opening of the box towards Ladybug to see.

“Look at this!” he blubbered. “Look how young they are and someone just left them in the cold in an old smelly box.”

“Oh my God, they’re babies!” Ladybug gasped, peeking into the box and shoving aside the single thin pillowcase that was meant to serve as a flimsy blanket. She bit her lip and covered her mouth. “They don’t look more than a couple of weeks old. And there’s six of them.”

“Who would do that!?” Chat Noir wailed, garnering the attention of everyone within a block radius. “They’re just little kittens. Who would throw them out and keep them away from their Mama like this? Why are people so cruel ?”

“Maybe they couldn’t take care of the kittens anymore and didn’t want to deal with the hassle of selling them,” Ladybug reasoned. “I’ve heard that happens a lot. They look like they really need their Mama’s milk. This is so sad.”

“ Sad!?” Chat Noir exclaimed. “This isn’t sad! This is a travesty! Of all the indecent, inhuman, and inconceivable stunts that someone could possibly pull, this has got to be the most heinous. This is mindless cruelty! I can’t believe people would dare treat cats this way!” He picked up a kitten, nuzzled it to his cheek, and stared at the group of people still staring on at the scene. “Look at this!” he told them. “Look at how cute their faces are! How could anyone do this?”

Ladybug looked nervously between Alya and all the concerned whispers from across the street and rubbed a hand on Chat Noir’s back. “Come on, kitty, it’s okay. We’ll just take them to the no-kill shelter nearby and have them take care of these little guys. Then everything will be fine.”

“No. That’s not enough. Here hold this.” He shoved the box of kittens into Ladybug’s arms, stood up on one of the outdoor chairs that belonged to the café right next door, and started speaking to the quickly growing group of spectators in front of him. “This kind of behavior is unacceptable, my fellow Parisians. There is something called the sanctity of life, and that sanctity runs deeper than just consideration for human life. It spreads to the lives of every living being in this world. We have a duty as responsible citizens to commit ourselves to the safety and wellbeing of all animals in our city. This atrocious behavior should not be accepted.”

A few people cheered and clapped at his words, and pretty soon Chat Noir was falling into a speech about treating animals with respect, abolishing kill shelters in the city, making community efforts to rescue homeless animals, and doing their part to help those small, fluffy creatures in the city who couldn’t help themselves. It was a great speech — so great that Alya was rather impressed that it wasn’t rehearsed beforehand. Pretty soon there was a pretty sizeable crowd listening on and cheering along with Chat Noir while people pulled out their phones to film and Snapchat the passionate rant. When he was done, everyone clapped and chanted his name while he carefully took the box from Ladybug, wiped his tears, and started walking towards the no-kill shelter. All along the way people were shaking his hands, asking to see the kittens, and offering to pay any expenses that would go into taking care of them.

Ladybug walked over to stand next to Alya who had finally stopped filming the entire scene and pocketed her phone. “So,” Ladybug said conversationally. “Can any of that be used to fake our break up?”

Alya sighed. “No. Definitely not. We got out staged by a box full of abandoned kittens. Which means I’m going to have to think of a Plan C.”

“Well, you wanted explosive. And this was definitely explosive.”

“Yeah no kidding. Didn’t think the kid had all of that in him.”

“Thanks for understanding, though. He really needed to do that.”

“He’s going to become Paris’s favorite humanitarian overnight, you know that?” Alya smirked. She patted her pocket. “This is all going up on the Internet. If you two aren’t going to give me any break up material, then at least I can edit together a good video about Chat Noir rescuing kittens during his day off.”

“That’s good to hear!” Ladybug smiled. “But, if you don’t mind my asking, what’s Plan C?“

“Well, it’s funny you should mention that, because I have no freakin’ clue.”

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