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messers-moony · 3 years

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King and Queen | S.B

Paring: Sirius Black X Fem!Potter!Reader, James Potter X Fem!Twin!Reader

Summary: James goes through a lot during his time at Hogwarts but his sister is always by his side.

Inspiration: Click

A/N: If this comes off insensitive to anyone please let me know and I will remove this.

James Potter was a handful. From the minute he was born, he had this gleam in his hazel eyes that raged and burned with trouble. His twin, Y/n Potter, was almost the opposite. The soft smile that laid on her features and the glitter of calamity in her eyes. Euphemia and Fleamont were in for a lot the minute their twins were born.

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder is most comparative to having a web browser up with one too many tabs. James had always been unable to focus and was naturally messy. Truth be told, he thought it was normal, just as everyone else did. It wasn’t until his second year at Hogwarts did he realize something was genuinely wrong with him.

Remus told him that he had this muggle thing called “dyslexia,” which was a difficulty in interpreting words, letters, and other symbols. However, it never affected his overall intelligence because everyone knew that Remus Lupin was indeed and wholly brilliant. It got James wondering, did his inability to focus, be organized, and hyperactivity have a deeper meaning?

His twin - Y/n - was quite the opposite. She made quick friends with Remus, Sirius, and Peter, who were close friends of her twin. Y/n was top of their class, creating a friendly competition with Remus, but she was always able to focus. Often she would hyper-focus, which would leave her working for over five hours at a time without realizing it. In those times, James would have to snap her out of it.

Over the summer, James expressed his concerns to his parents. He was talking about how this could be a real issue he’s facing using Remus’ dyslexia as an example. Eventually, they gave in, letting James go to a muggle doctor. James had to fill out a questionnaire that would come back with his results in one week. That week was probably the longest week of his life. Nonetheless, his test results had come back positive.

Fleamont and Euphemia would be lying if they were surprised. After hearing about the disorder, it was almost the definition of their eldest son. Fortunately for James, the muggles had come up with a cure - no, not a cure - dammit, what was it again?

Impede the symptoms! That’s what those muggle pills do. James was required to take two pills a day, one in the morning and once at night. Y/n was in charge of making sure he did so because - more times than he’d like to admit - he would forget everything if it wasn’t for Y/n.

In third year, James was as energetic as ever while getting on the Hogwarts Express, “Aren’t you excited, Y/n?!”

She chuckled, “Yes, but Merlin, you don’t need to literally jump with joy.”

“But I’m excited!”

“I know that.”

They made their way to the compartment that held Remus, who was reading a book. James sat in front of him while Y/n took her seat beside Remus, “‘Ello Remus.”

“Hey, Potter pair.”

Y/n sighed, and James groaned, “That nickname needs to go away.”

“I quite like it.” Remus stated smugly, “Suits you both.”

“What’s that suppose to mean?” Y/n accused falsely, “It means that wherever one of you are, the other isn’t that far behind.” Remus replied.

James had zoned out already, and Y/n snapped in his face, “Take your pills?”

“Forgot.” James muttered guiltily, “Oh Godric.” She whispered.

“Pills?”

“James went to a muggle doctor this summer.”

Remus quirked an eyebrow, “Did you now?”

“Got diagnosed with ADHD.” James informed, and Remus looked amiss, “Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.”

“Ah, I’ve heard of that.” Remus said, and James smiled sheepishly, “I feel kinda odd, like out of place.”

“Why?”

“Dunno, just, why can't I be normal?”

“You are normal, James.” Y/n reassured, “And anyone who says differently obviously doesn’t care about you.”

The compartment door slammed open, “Who doesn’t care about who?”

Remus snorted, “Ever the dramatics, huh, mate?”

“‘Course.” Sirius flopped down beside James, “It comes with my charm and devilishly good looks.”

“Ah, yes.” Y/n said, chuckling, “Don’t you see how I’m swooning for you?”

The back of her palm was against her forehead, “Come off it.” James swatted at her and then elbowed Sirius, “Better not make my sister swoon.”

Sirius chuckled and shrugged, “Can’t help it. I’m just that irresistible.”

The four of them laughed at Sirius’ dramatics and continued talking about the new term. Remus and Y/n were talking about books they couldn’t wait to read. Remus was even kind enough to gift her some muggle books he bought over the summer holiday. Sirius and James bickered about what pranks to do this year, along with which ones were better.

Third-year was fun. It was a year of flooding corridors, turning Slytherin robes red and blasting music in the common room after a Gryffindor victory. James was a brilliant Quidditch Chaser, and Y/n was a fantastic Seeker. Nothing was quite like the Potter pair. Something about them was just unforgettable.

Maybe that’s why Sirius was so fond of her. Something about the Potters made people around them smile on the hardest of days. They made sure that every moment was a night to remember. Every memory was worth reliving. So adventurous, so reckless, yet so kind and loving.

By the time fifth year rolled around, Sirius Orion Black had fallen off a cliff into a lake called love. Sirius completely submerged himself in love for Y/n Potter. The younger twin by just 20 minutes, but something about her was so divine. Was it her silk and glittering h/c hair? No - maybe it was her gleaming e/c eyes. Perhaps it was for her strive for adventure and extreme kindness.

Nonetheless, Sirius fell hard.

And who better to tell than James Potter himself?

Causally - as usual - Sirius opened the door to the Marauders dorm. It was empty aside from the brunet boy with glasses on the bridge of his nose. His hazel eyes were focused on a textbook - Potions textbook - maybe it was to impress Lily. Sirius couldn’t care less, so he pulled the chair out in front of the desk and sat before James.

“Mate, I need your help.”

“Running from Filch?”

“No. Something- Something worse.”

“Something worse?” The textbook shut loudly.

Sirius nodded, “Way worse.”

“Alright then, come into my office.” James teased, and Sirius grinned.

It was silent, “I’m in love with your sister.”

James sputtered, “Excuse me?”

“I’m in love with Y/n.”

“No, no.” James waved his hand horizontally, “I heard you.”

“Then what else would you like me to say?” Sirius asked.

“Literally anything else.”

“Sorry, mate.” Sirius muttered, “I- I really didn’t mean to.”

James chuckled and wiped his hand across his face, “I suppose you can’t really stop love, huh?”

“You really can’t.” Sirius agreed, “I tried. I promise I tried.”

“It’s not that big of a deal late.” James assured, and Sirius looked at him with wide eyes, “I trust you just-“

“Just?”

“I’m worried about her.” James completed, “I- I worry about her every night.”

Sirius softened, “It’s like you with Regulus-“ James continued before Sirius could interject, “And don’t pretend. Your silencing charms are bloody terrible.”

“I know you still care for Regulus, you worry about him every night, and I do the same for Y/n, except my silencing charms are better.” James teased sightly, “I trust you, Sirius. You’re the brother I never got but always wanted. You know, the brother I can play Quidditch with, rough around with, the brother who’s just as sneaky and mischievous as I.”

“But Y/n is still my blood. She's my twin, my best friend, my partner in crime. She was the mind behind my pranks before Remus.” James elaborated and then smirked, “Remus and Y/n make a great team, ya’ know?”

“They are quite brilliant.”

“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, take care of her?” James looked like the eleven-year-old boy again, “Don’t make her a fling and don’t make this temporary.”

“Y/n is a strong woman, and she isn’t for weak men. I’ll be honest,” James chuckled, “She doesn’t need a man. She doesn’t even really need me. I need her more than she needs me. Regardless, take care of her. She deserves a man worthy of her. Someone that’ll get her ice cream at 4 a.m. because she’s craving it. Someone that’ll go on sporadic trips with her. Someone that’ll understand that after a hard day, all she wants is a book and coffee.”

Sirius was appalled; he’d never seen James look so passionate, “Growing up, mum always told me to be a gentleman. I know it may not seem like it sometimes, but she always raised me as one. To hold a door for them, push and push in their chairs for them, give them my jacket even if I’ll freeze.”

“Those kinda things. Dad said I should practice on Y/n, and I did. From then, Y/n always got treated like a queen, and she deserves no less. I won't lie, my parents treat me like a king too, and I don’t want any less either.” James explained, “Be the king that’s worthy of my sister.”

“That’s all I ask of you.”

Sirius nodded, “I’d be honored to serve her as my queen.”

“And if you show her no less, she’ll spit you out like chewing gum.”

He shuttered, “I hate how accurate that phrase is.”

James laughed, “I know her more than you think.”

By sixth year they were dating. Sirius would be lying if he wasn’t eternally shitting himself when Y/n said yes to going to Hogsmeade with him, alone, as a date. In fact, James almost wanted to throw him a party for finally not being a little bitch and asking out his sister. This party consisted of a bottle of firewhiskey and chocolate because that’s all that was in the boy's dormitory. But a party nonetheless.

When Lily rejected James for the last time before graduation, he was utterly heartbroken. He’d spent and dedicated seven years of his life to this gorgeous woman. Despite all his efforts and all his charms, she still wasn’t interested. James tried. He really tried. He wanted Lily so bad. His heart broke when she said her final words of goodbye.

“I’m sorry, Potter. Maybe in another life, just not this one.”

Tears had ebbed at the corner of his eyes as he made his way back into the castle from the Black Lake. In the common room, where he felt like he had just got dowsed in water. James made his way to the girl's dormitory. His hand curled into a fist and knocked lightly on the wooden door. Shuffling was heard from the other side, and the door finally opened, revealing his sister.

Without warning, James crashed into her arms, forcing his nose in the crook of her neck, “Woah.”

“Are you okay, James?”

His body shook with sobs as he shook his head no, “It’s okay. Let’s go lay down, okay?”

Gently she led him to her bed. He curled up beneath the navy blue comforter and placed his head on the silk pillow sheets. If he tried hard enough, he could forget the way Lily’s hair smelt today or the way her green eyes glistened in the sun. Now engulfed in his sister's scent, trying to remove every feeling for Lily possible, he dug his nose deeper into the comforter.

Y/n sat beside him, her back to the headboard, and ran her fingers through James’ already untied hair, “What's got you so worked up?”

“It’s done.”

“What’s done?”

“L- Lily and I.” James choked, “She- She really doesn’t want me.”

A new wave of tears overcame him, and Y/n continued to try and soothe him, “Well, she’s a tosser.”

James narrowed his eyes, “James, you know I love her. She's my best friend, but if she can’t see what’s right in front of her, then she’s an idiot.”

“Can I- Can I stay here tonight?” He asked hesitantly.

“You sure you don’t want me to stay at your dorm?” Y/n questioned, “Because you know who sleeps here.”

“Will you stay with me?”

“Till the end.”

After a couple of minutes, Y/n and James made their way down the steps to the boy's side. They walked up more steps and finally made it to the boy's dormitory. James collapsed on his bed in the left corner of the room, and Sirius perked up at seeing his girlfriend enter the room.

“Whatcha doin’ here, love?”

“Staying with my brother.”

Sirius nodded and stood up to hug her, gently pecking her forehead, “If you guys need anything, let me know, ‘kay?”

“Thanks, Siri.”

Gently Y/n pulled back the maroon curtain and sat down beside him again. James reached for her hand and intertwined their fingers. Something they used to do as kids. When a thunderstorm would go by, James would always seek sanctuary in his sister's comfort.

He fell asleep that night, knowing he was safe, loved, and knew that someone cared about him. Even if Lily didn’t love him, at least someone else did. He had his boys, and he had his sister. Right now, that’s all he needed beside him: Screw Lily and her idiot decision skills. Y/n was right; she was a complete tosser.

When Hogwarts was over, James and Y/n got a flat together. Sirius, Remus, and Peter got one only a floor above. Realistically this wasn’t the plan. James always planned to buy a house with Lily, but he was still healing, and after everything going on, it was vital for him to hold his sister close to him.

Euphemia and Fleamont barely lived to see their children graduate. Not too long afterward had died due to the horrid dragon pocks. It devastated both twins and Sirius. While Sirius wasn’t their true child, he very well could’ve. Euphemia noticed Sirius’s lingering stares on Y/n and the loopy smile that graced his features.

She was the one who got Sirius to man up. She was the one who gave him advice. She was the one who told him what books were her favorite, which chocolate she liked the best, her favorite quills. Euphemia was one of the main components in getting Sirius to date her daughter, and when it finally happened, the parents couldn’t have been happier.

James’ ADHD still remained even in his adulthood, making regular everyday tasks much harder and twice as long. Most of the time, the pills were able to help him complete those tasks. But sometimes, when Y/n wasn’t there to remind him, he would miss his days. When Y/n got home from work, she had barely taken off her shoes to see the apartment spotless.

It was a pleasant surprise, but James was never really one to clean, not that she really minded, but the apartment didn’t have a speck of dust on it. Hesitantly she put her keys on the island along with her bag.

“James!”

“Yes, Y/n?”

He appeared in the kitchen where Y/n was, “Um, did you clean the apartment?”

“Yes, I did!” James nodded enthusiastically.

Y/n sighed and gave her brother a sweet smile, “What did you not do today?”

“So, you know how you told me to go to the pharmacy?”

“Mhm.” Y/n nodded, “Indeed I do.”

“Well, they were out of my meds.” James informed, “I have to wait a week.”

“Oh, Merlin.”

“On the bright side!” James was already causing her a headache, “It’s gonna be a fantastic week! I’ve got so many things planned for us! We’re gonna go-“

James continued to ramble as Y/n grabbed her keys, bag and slipped back on her shoes, “I’m going to Sirius’!”

“Thought you were my sister.” James faked pouting, and Y/n smiled, “I love you, but you’re crazy.”

“I love you too!” He yelled as she closed the door.

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romelle · 3 years

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gia. i am requesting some younger broganes headcanons pls

i wasn’t sure exactly what you meant by younger, but i went for their pre-kerberos dynamic! i hope that's ok 🌈🌌☄

the garrison once asked all the students to write down the names of their piloting role models, and keith wrote shiro's

this made shiro go all mushy, which in turn made keth tell him that he was just the only person there whose name he could remember

matt: this is my little sister katie. she built a robot when she was only six. one day she'll be the greatest tech genius in the world

shiro: this is my little brother keith. when he was thirteen he stole my car and then i adopted him. one day he'll get into a fistfight with god

matt hates hearing shiro's stories about keith's stunts because it genuinely makes him question everything he ever learned during his lifetime of being a nerd

matt: are you aware of the fact that according to literally every law of physics your brother should have died approximately forty times by now

shiro, who didn't have breakfast that morning because keith ate a whole box of dry cereal the other day: i should be so lucky

sometimes keith will just run up, jump on to shiro's back, and then stay there for the unforeseeable future. shiro doesn't even acknowledge him up until he goes to sit down and keith yells "stop takashi you're going to crush me!!" to which he feigns surprise and goes "oh hey keith. when did you get there"

shiro: and just remember, patience yields focus

keith, nodding seriously: ok. got it.

shiro: great! i knew you would buddy

adam:

adam, once they're left alone: dude. what does that even mean?

shiro, dropping his face into his hands: i have no idea. i'm only twenty i don't even know how to preheat the oven please leave me alone

thirteen-year-old keith once gave adam the shovel talk. adam tells shiro about this as though it's some cute anecdote, but shiro actually panics because "no you don't get it, he's serious. you should probably lay low until i talk to him"

keith: would you take a knife for shiro?

adam: haha um. sure?

keith, reaching into his pocket: ok good

keith sometimes gets scared during the night but he doesn't know what he's supposed to do about it so he just taps over to shiro's room and stands next to his bed silently staring until shiro wakes up with a scream

shiro: i will never give up on you keith

shiro, after finding a knife under keith's pillow while changing his bedsheets: ...i will give up on you occasionally

the first time keith initiated a hug was genuinely one of the happiest moments of shiro's life. this is a big deal, considering the fact that he literally keeps a memory book

shiro, showing the memory book to adam: and this is keith in his favourite romantic chemicals t-shirt

keith, burying his face in a pillow: you're so embarrassing. please fuck off

whenever shiro acts particularly overbearing and dad-like, keith just looks him straight in the eye and goes "isn't saturday bingo night in the retirement home"

shiro, the pioneer of recklessly driving off of cliff edges: are you TRYING to get yourself killed

keith, who just went skating without his knee pads: ...

whenever he talks to literally anyone shiro will be like "yeah i love keith. he's a very good kid and an amazing pilot and i'm very proud of everything he has achieved. i would do anything for him" but also when keith asks if he can have a gum he’ll say no and call him a shithead

shiro: keith, dinner's ready! come to the kitchen

keith: (comes to the kitchen)

shiro: it'll be done in five minutes, actually. but now that you're already here you might as well set the table

keith, opening the drawer with the kitchen knives: i hate this family

the sillier the joke, the louder keith laughs. the first time little preteen keith bursts into full-body laughter is when shiro makes a truly horrible pun, and once he calms down he's like "what the shit are you looking at" while shiro just stares at him with tears in his eyes because god he loves this little dude so much

garrison official: wait. keith isn't your kid?

shiro: ...no?

garrison official 2: huh. i really thought you and adam adopted him

shiro: wh... how many of you thought this?

shiro:

shiro: put your hand down, keith

#voltron #broganes #vld shiro #vld keith #lumi.headcanons

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lea-andres · 2 years

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I'm soft for Kid!Bean so here's some headcanons!

Tails, Charmy and him are all close/best friends - they often get in and out of trouble very easily together.

He got a bad fever after being found by Bark and almost didn't make it.

Fang would be the type of relative to immediately ask who was the winner if Bean got into a fight.

Molts whenever under extreme stress.

He almost gave Bark a heart attack when summoning his first bomb, which was lit.

Bean would be the type of teenager to flatter his way out of trouble but be mean to someone else when no one's looking in the future.

He often curls up into a ball whenever asleep.

Knows how to use a gun (don't tell Bark or Jewl).

Sonic and Jet are like his cool older cousins.

Bean picks up a thing or two from Rouge when she babysits him.

Shadow is like to pseudo older brother figure that he gets to annoy every chance given.

When fully grown, whoever Bean dates and brings to the house to meet the family would be given a shit ton of shovel talks.

He has a tooth gap.

Colorful bandaids are a go-to for small injuries and or bruises.

Mina is another cool aunt figure, same with Rouge.

No one is safe from his forcefully adopting ways.

If Zavok x Vector exists in this AU he would partake in the pranking if not a little more merciful than Espio and Charmy.

He and Jewl watch movies a lot, sometimes someone else joins but never makes it through a entire movie.

Bean's room has a shelf full of comic books and most of them are superhero based.

Chews a lot of gum.

He has a cardboard box full of fidget toys, his favorites being the pop-its and the therapy putty.

Zavok X Vector doesn't normally exist in my lore, it's a product of @stillafanofsonic being a goofball. 😂 Like, sorry anyone who got attached to that, normally we hate Zavok, but that joke ship spun off into a weird direction because it could actually be narratively interesting? I personally have no plans to legitimately explore it though. (But if someone wants to take it and run with it, by all means go ahead! I'll definitely look at whatever the results are! 😂)

Poor Bean getting sick when Bark first found him. That probably pushed him even harder toward leaving North Island: to get the kid out of the bitter cold so he could recover. 🥺

Fang taught Bean how to use a gun, 100%. Bark suspects this is the case, but has no proof to nail either of them down with. Jewel is unaware Bean knows how to use a gun, and all the guys want to keep it that way. She'd tear Fang to shreds for teaching Bean that while he's so young.

Oh GOD if Bean ever dated (I don't think he would, personally, but my word isn't law.) there'd be so much scrutiny of his partner. Bark looming around being the scary dad, Fang cleaning his gun while side eyeing them, Jewel questioning them for their entire life story...

I would also like to add a fidget cube to his box of fidget toys. I used to have one before I broke/lost it, and I really miss it. I should order a new one soon, I have an easier time sitting through movies and stuff with it.

#kid!bean #lea's a dumbass

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artificialqueens · 3 years

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Come Home to My Heart, Chapter 3 (Lemyanka) - Plastiquedoll

read on ao3 ✨| chapter 1 2

A/N: hi! I hope you like this new chapter as it goes deeper on the feels™️ I really wanted to give the characters more background (and a little bit of angst whoops) and finally, there are new names dropping yay! Again, there’s a time skip of two years this time. Enjoy & thanks for reading <3

-3-

When Priyanka turned fifteen, she discovered new things she loved. She loved dying the tips of her hair with bright colors every two weeks and a half, she loved skateboarding, she loved being the center of attention and a little bit of a class-clown at school, she loved hanging out with her group of friends, she loved the phone calls with Lemon to catch up and talk shit about everyone…

“Okay, can you hear me now?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s better.”

Priyanka peeped through the hallway hoping no one would decide to interrupt them. She nervously removed the shiny red nail polish with her teeth as they tried to re-connect, if her mother saw her she would’ve scolded her on the spot. The landline phone was solid red plastic with buttons and wires, it was age-worn but at least it wasn’t like her grandparent’s phone with the rotary dial system or it would take hours to get all those area code numbers correct and get Lemon on the other side.

“Thank God. I’m literally inside the closet just like in The Parent Trap. I told my mom I was calling my grandma because last time our phone bill had several zeroes.”

Priyanka chortled and entangled the curly wire with his fingertips. “Sorry about that… so, you were saying… about the audition?”

“Oh, right! I’m trying to get into this dance academy that’s supposed to be the best of the best and the audition waiting list is a nightmare… but they called me the other day and said I’ll have shot in two weeks.”

“Oh. My. God. Lemon that’s awesome!”

“I know! I feel it, Pri. I know I can do it but… I don’t want to assume anything until I get there. I’m confident in my skills but what if they perceive that confidence as cockiness or something like that. I was talking to Jan the other day and she said-”

“Wait, who’s Jan?” Priyanka frowned before the unfamiliar name.

“Jan. Jan! My friend Jan? We have Biology and Math together, remember?”

“I don’t think I’ve heard her name before.”

“I’m sure I have mentioned her… anyway. Jan is madly talented –like, she can sing- and she auditioned for music school like a year ago and told me that…”

Jan. She hadn’t mentioned a Jan before… it was weird for Priyanka that knew all Lemon’s New Yorker friends’ names and she was pretty sure Lemon remembered all her friends’ names as well.

“… anyway, I’ll keep my head high and hope for the best. I’m training extra hard these days to make it. My muscles are sore and I can’t feel my legs right now but hey, no pain no gain.”

“I’m sure you’ll do great.”

“Thank you.” She paused as if she wanted to say something else, Priyanka could hear her breathing, but then she continued chattering. “Also, my mom got promoted again and now she bought a computer I can e-mail you the day of the audition. But tell me, how are things over there? Did the girls work their differences yet?”

“You know Scarlett, she won’t shut up and-”

“Priyanka, it’s dinner time.” Her mother announced from the kitchen.

She sighed. “Shit. I have to go or my mom is going to cut the phone wires. She says this time is for real.”

“Oh, okay… I’ll call you soon then.”

“Yes, please call me right after the audition or before if you wanna talk… you know. Break a leg or whatever… make sure is figuratively speaking, please.”

She heard Lemon’s giggle on the other line and something inside her went softer.

“I will… and I will be there for Christmas this year, I made my mom promise it.”

“Fingers crossed.” She said before hanging up.

When she looked at herself in the mirror she had a silly grin on her face that couldn’t be erased.

Lemon hadn’t been back in a long year and a half. After spending the first holidays after her parents’ divorce with her dad in Canada, she had to spend the next one with her mom in the Big Apple. Plus, her father got to travel to New York quite often those days and got to see her a lot. She sometimes sent things for Priyanka with him, a nice hoodie, a makeup bag, one of those stupid tourist t-shirts with the Statue of Liberty printed on it, sometimes a pair of dangling earrings or a simple letter and a picture of her. She treasured each of those little trinkets.

Priyanka was saving money from her allowance and was hoping to get a job soon so she could buy a car someday and visit her friend in the big city, they might even go on a road trip over the summer, it was a nice thought to hold onto until they could hang out again.

On the day of Lemon’s audition, Priyanka was restless. She got kicked out of one of her classes because she kept fidgeting, twitching, moving around, and chewing gum. It drove her teachers insane. Scarlett and Kiara mocked her from the window of the classroom and then got a warning as well.

Later that day she cleaned all her room to avoid thinking. She found several pictures of her and Lemon over the years –including that one time they tried Lemon’s mom makeup for the first time, Lemon was missing her two front teeth-, there were some photos from their first days of school and even Lemon at Priyanka’s plays. She was so pissed when she got that old lady role instead of the main character but she had managed to steal the scene anyway.

As the sun was setting, she didn’t know what else to do. She did the dishes without offering resistance and then got into an argument with her little sister who wanted to watch Hannah Montana while Priyanka just wanted to watch the new episode of America’s Next Top Model. She had to admit it though, the intro of Hannah Montana was kind of catchy (something she would never admit to her sister).

It was almost quarter to nine and she still didn’t have any news. There was a two-hour time difference with New York but still… it was gnawing her from the inside.

Right when Tyra was about to reveal which model got to stay for another week, the phone rang in the hallway and she couldn’t jump out of the couch fast enough.

«You have a phone call from-» Press one to accept, yeah, yeah, she knew that.

“Lemon?” She didn’t even wait for a «hello».

“Pri? Is it you?”

The sound of her voice brought her back to life, she could hear the sound of her heart beating again.

“Yes, it’s me! How did it go?”

“Oh my God, Pri… I’m calling you from a payphone in the middle of Times Square, this is insane. The girls lend me some cash to call you.” Priyanka could hear the sound of the traffic and even some giggles coming from outside of the phone.

“And? You’re killing me here, Lemz.” She had her fingers crossed even when she couldn’t see that gesture through the call and was holding the phone against her ear with her shoulder.

“It was so difficult I thought I was never going to learn the steps I’m literally so exhausted right now but…”

But.

“I got it, I got the spot!”

Priyanka started screaming.

“Priyanka!” Her mother shouted.

“Sorry…sorry!” She covered her mouth with her hand.

Lemon was cackling.

“Lemz, I might get in so much trouble for this but… Congratulations, I’m so happy for you!”

“Thank you.” She sounded truly happy, Priyanka wished she could see her right at that moment. “Jan, can you give me another quarter? Thanks, doll.”

That girl Jan again.

“So what are you girls are up to?”

“We’re going to get some pizza to celebrate. Jan is here as you heard, so are Goona, Rosé, Jackie… They say hi.”

“Tell them I said hi too.”

“She says hi… No, I’m not telling that, shut up…”

“What is it?”

“They are being assholes as usual… Listen, I have to go, I’m running out of coins and I still have to call my mom.”

“Okay, we’ll talk soon… I’m so happy for you… Love you.”

“Love you too! See you in a few weeks.”

“Yeah. I can’t wait.”

“Bye, Pri.”

She hung up but stood next to the phone for a moment, staring at it.

Just a few more weeks.

Priyanka kept begging her older brother to teach her how to drive. It took a few weeks of insistence until he gave up and the lessons started. They only stopped when the snow got too thick and the roads too slippery to practice. Still, by that time Priyanka was almost an expert. She needed to perfect her parking skills before turning sixteen and that would be it.

She also needed a car but that was the least important part.

“So when’s your girlfriend coming to town?” Scarlett asked.

Priyanka choked on her hot chocolate and coughed a couple of times. “Lemon’s not my girlfriend.”

Kiara rolled her eyes.

“Ah, yes, I can’t wait to finally meet her!” Juice –the latest addition to their group- said.

They were at the coffee shop, outside was freezing cold and the smell of fresh-baked pastries had dragged them inside the warm environment. Scarlett was having a black coffee while Priyanka and Kiara had their respective hot chocolate with marshmallows and Juice ordered a cappuccino with whipped cream and sprinkles on top.

“So?” Scarlett arched a brow.

“Her flight is booked for next week if the snowstorms allow them to fly.”

“I remember you two from primary school; they were joined by the hip, even before you shared diapers or something.” Kiara mocked.

“Oh, that’s right. You were in her classroom in kindergarten back when Ilona prevented everyone from playing with her.”

“That’s because Lemon spilled some paint over Ilona’s drawing… it was kids’ things. We all forgot when some random kid wet his pants or whatever.”

“And when did the crush began?”

Priyanka shot daggers at Scarlett with her eyes.

“I don’t have a crush on her. She’s literally my best friend, you guys are delusional.”

“Sure…” Kiara stirred her chocolate. “But it’s been what? Almost two years since she graced us with her presence?”

“Yeah, her parents didn’t want her to travel alone last time so her father flew to New York.”

“All jokes aside,” Scarlett changed her irksome ‘let’s pick on Priyanka’ tone for a minute. “Are you going to tell her about…?”

At the age of fifteen, Priyanka discovered she didn’t like kissing boys.

It had been at a lame party in a basement, her classmates had invited her and one of them suggested they should play seven minutes in heaven. Priyanka was about to skip it and refill her paper cup with cheap vodka and orange juice when she got dragged by the wrist and pushed into the closet with a guy from the hockey team. She suspected he had a crush on her for the longest time and this was instigated by his friends but the moment the door was locked, she panicked.

Her friends tried to get her out of there but there were a few underdeveloped brains and much muscle blocking the door. So she guessed she was doing it. The guy wasn’t that bad –she liked to believe- he told her they didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to and he was what most girls of the classroom referred to as «handsome». Priyanka shouted she was okay to calm down her friends and figured the best she could do was getting over it once and for all.

It was her first kiss.

The guy had rough lips and a slippery tongue and it was in the middle of all that smooching when his hand went under her lower back that she knew, she wasn’t enjoying it at all. She pushed the guy aside and used the back of her hand to clean her lips, she’d need some mouthwash as well. He asked if everything was okay but she was too condescending and told him that she was feeling dizzy.

The door was unlocked when he asked his friends to do it. Priyanka walked back –ashamed-to her group of friends as Kiara told them they were all disgusting and how stupid the game was. Priyanka called her brother from a phone upstairs and left soon after. For the first time, she was quiet on the way back home.

Later that night when she was laying on her bed in the darkness, she couldn’t stop thinking about it, thinking about how she was supposed to feel kissing that guy -any guy- or thinking about the fact that she wasn’t even remotely attracted to boys but mostly, thinking how she so wished that guy was someone else, how she wished that guy was a girl.

The following week at school the not-so-nice-guy had told everyone that Priyanka was basically a slut and if it wasn’t because she was so wasted, they could’ve gone to third base in that closet that very night. Priyanka wasn’t ashamed anymore, she was angry. Very angry. During lunch, she walked directly towards him and exposed him in front of everyone, not only denying the absurdity of those rumors but also stating that she would never even consider touching his small dick.

After that, Priyanka was done with guys, boys, and men in general.

She had a heart-to-heart conversation with her friends afterward but –to no one’s surprise- she ended up with the least heterosexual and most supportive group of friends in the world.

Still… she hadn’t been able to tell Lemon yet. She had tried but there was something about phone calls that didn’t help at all, she wanted to tell her in person, she wanted to see her face and know that everything was okay. And she planned to do it during her visit.

“I’ll try.” Priyanka stated, hoping the universe cooperated with her.

“Good. So you can make out under the mistletoe next.” There she was again.

“Okay, you two,” She pointed at Scarlett and Kiara. “you have to stop it or I’m going to do you guys dirty and you know I can.”

They started laughing, clearly taking Priyanka’s threaten lightly.

“That’s it! You,” She directed toward Kiara. “I have seen you drooling over Kyne the entire semester.”

Kiara went pale.

“And you two…” She turned back to Scarlett and Juice that were cackling sitting on the couch. “Yes, I’m talking to you, do you really believe I haven’t seen the way you look at each other, those stolen glances, the subtle touches? Please, is this a Jane Austen novel or what? You ain’t that smooth.”

“Hey! I didn’t say anything!” Juice protested.

Scarlett’s mouth turned into a thin line and her ears were suddenly pink colored. She murmured something Priyanka couldn’t catch but rhymed with «witch».

“Sorry girl, I warned you heads would roll and I’m not leaving any survivors if that’s what it takes.”

Scarlett put her hands up as a sign of surrender. “I respect it, you’re a bitch but I respect it.”

So that was the word she used.

Lemon would arrive at any minute now.

Her father was picking her up from the airport, they would have lunch at some fancy restaurant in the city center and then he’d drop Lemon at Priyanka’s house until sunset –that was when she had to leave again to have dinner with her relatives.

Priyanka kept moving her right leg, restless while sitting on the couch, eyes nailed on the window.

“Priyanka, take the trash out, it’s your turn.” Her mother told her casually as she directed upstairs.

“Mom!” She complained. “I’m doing important things.”

“You’re sitting on the couch.”

“My point exactly.”

Her mom gave her the glare. “Trash. Out. Now.”

She grumbled but did as asked.

Priyanka put on an extra thick coat over her jeans and knitted orange sweater, adjusted her wool socks and boots, and adventured to the exterior world of the Canadian winter wonderland. She only had to walk a few steps but she could feel her body freezing with the icy breeze. The snow was blinding white and she could hear the whistle of the wind blowing and the sound of her own teeth chattering.

She didn’t even hear the sound of the car stopping right at the entrance of her house nor the door closing or the steps.

She barely had time to turn around when an identified running person hit her like an asteroid. Lemon was small but she still got the strength to tackle Priyanka down with a hug. She didn’t even notice whether the snow was cold or not.

“Hey!” She was still down on the ground and needed to turn around once Lemon moved. “You’re here…”

The vision was dazzling. Lemon’s face, her eyes, her smile from ear to ear with full teeth showing, her blonde hair falling like a cascade over her rosy cheeks. It was as if she had been taken from an Andersen fairytale or a Tchaikovsky composition, ice queens and fairies fluttered around Priyanka’s head.

“I’m here! Can you believe it?”

She was still pretty much straddled on Priyanka, making the brunette blush and hoping she could blame it on the weather. Finally, Lemon got to stand up and helped her friend to get on her feet again.

Lemon was irretrievably tiny but there was something different about her since the last time they had seen each other. She looked less like the little girl Priyanka remembered and more like a teen pop star of the magazines they used to read with her slightly curled lighter hair, pink glossy lips, longer lashes… She was wearing a yellow sweater and a white puffy jacket with matching fake fur around the neck, corduroy pants, and cream boots. Even her glasses were stylish now.

“Wait, are you taller?” She observed.

“No, you just shrunk in the washing machine.”

Lemon elbowed her and then turned to wave at her dad that was still in the car.

“He told me he saw you in the supermarket the other day and asked what does your mom feed you with so I could get some too.”

Priyanka laughed at loud. “He got you there.”

“Ha. Ha.”

“But enough with my height, let’s go inside, I think I got snow on my socks and I don’t want to catch a cold or wait until another short person attacks me.”

“Hey, you said enough with the height.”

“No, no. I clearly said mine, not yours.”

Lemon rolled her eyes and there it was the old Lemon she knew so well, the exact dose just a little less sugary and a bit sour.

They went to Priyanka’s room, she shared it with her middle sister but she was currently busy practicing at music school with her cello for her end of the year concert, there were a few trophies, certificates, and distinctions on her side of the room meanwhile Priyanka’s was a collage of pictures with the girls, an album cover Avril Lavigne, one large poster she got from the local cinema when Spice World was brought back for a special feature and she forced her friends to watch it for the millionth time, some random doodles she did in class and of course, photos and postcards Lemon had sent to her.

The blonde smiled when she spotted a picture of them from their first day of primary school, their backpacks were bigger than them.

They removed the heavy coats, Priyanka changed her wet socks for new ones and a pair of slippers. Lemon was prying into the mess that was her desk, her fingers roaming through her school books, comic books, magazines, and scattered papers as if she tried to figure out if she still knew the owner of that space in the way she used to.

They sat on Priyanka’s bed on the nothing-like-Priyanka flowery blanket one of her aunts got her for a birthday. Priyanka’s mom dropped by to say hi and left a tray with two smoky cups of tea.

“I love your mom, she read my mind.” Lemon said, wrapping her hands around the warm porcelain.

“She’s being nice only because you’re around.” Priyanka took a sip of her tea. “I wonder if it’s a good time to tell her that I broke one of her flowerpots when I was practicing with the skateboard.”

“You’re the worst.” Lemon giggled.

“Certified. Three years in a row.”

The blonde shook her head. “Does she still make that incredible curry with potatoes?”

“Yeah, once in a while.”

“Oh my God… I tell you I’ve dreamt about it. You know I love Christina to dead but she can’t cook at all.”

Lemon, at some point after the divorce, had stopped addressing her mother as “mom” and now she called her by her first name.

“Do you remember she always made dinner with dry spaghetti and can sauce?”

“You laugh all you want but that’s my comfort food till this day.” Priyanka defended her.

“She doesn’t even cook it anymore, now we buy it all pre-cooked or already cooked. She might even forget how to boil water. Anyway, we’ve tried a thousand restaurants but I swear to you, Pri, no one can cook like your mom.”

“Well, I’m glad you’ve missed one of us.”

Lemon threw a pillow at her face.

“Of course I’ve missed you, dumbass.”

They did each other’s nails, Priyanka ended up with a light blue shade Lemon had brought for her and it was allegedly the same color as Tiffany’s, and the blonde insisted she had to draw a white ribbon to make it look like the jewel’s teeny tiny boxes.

From there, Priyanka could see everything. Lemon frowning, concentrated on her task, the way she batted her lashes, her pretty eyes, the little freckles she had over her nose, the shape of her cupid bow turned into an unintentional pout… her lips.

Priyanka gulped and then Lemon caught her staring.

“What is it?” She looked for some hint in Priyanka’s face. “Do I have something on my face?”

“No… I’m just making sure you don’t fuck up the design.”

Lemon rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly. I’m almost done.”

While Priyanka’s nails got dried, they talked about school, classes they liked and disliked, teachers that they loathed or loved, then about their plans after turning sixteen, Priyanka told her about the driving lessons and Lemon told her she wanted to dress up as Cher Horowitz –of course- for her birthday and by the time Priyanka started with Lemon’s nails, she was reviving her dance audition.

“I tell you, Pri, there was a moment I doubt I’d got in. It was a flash but I felt it in my stomach I thought I was going to puke and mess everything up.”

“Hey, but you didn’t. I’m sure you nailed it.”

The blonde sighed. “Still, New York is like… everything’s so fast and everyone’s competitive to the point where you can’t get distracted or someone else will go after what you have. It’s nice to be here for a change, this is the only place I can really relax. It sucks that I can only stay for a week and five of those seven days I have to visit my dad’s relatives out of town.” She met Priyanka’s eyes. “I wish I could get to spend more time with you, you know?”

Priyanka’s heart skipped a beat. At that moment what she suspected but didn’t dare to say at loud became a reality, all those corny songs from the 90’s suddenly made sense, all the movies Hollywood had sold labeled as «romance» acquired a new meaning and she finally understood what «to have butterflies in one’s stomach» really felt like.

She liked Lemon. She liked her best friend…. And she liked her a lot.

That was the reason she hadn’t been able to tell her about what happened earlier that year at the party because it wasn’t just that she wanted to kiss a girl instead of a guy, she wanted to kiss one particular girl and she was right in front of her at that very moment.

They never warned her about it, they never told her that she would live normally until the day she’d realize she could harbor such feeling inside, that one day she’d just… know.

She almost dropped the nail polish bottle over the blanket.

“Oh, careful.” Lemon grabbed it just in time. She looked at her friend with concern in her eyes. “Pri, are you okay? You look… pale.”

“What? Ah, yeah… it’s nothing. I’m recovering from a cold I caught, that’s it…” She shook her head and took a breath of air. “I’m sorry, you were saying…”

“About the dance academy,” Lemon resumed her story. “the girls think I can make it through the next three years, and then I can major in dancing, I might even get a scholarship if I do outstandingly well.”

There was something, a little detail there that wasn’t… right.

“I hope you can visit me soon, you gotta meet the girls; you’re going to love them. Rosé and Jan are also Geminis, I guess that’s why I get along with them so well. Luckily, Jan would be my roommate if she gets her scholarship as well and…”

“Roommate?” Priyanka asked.

“Yeah… for college? We’re thinking about moving in together because rents are expensive even for the smallest studio apartment advertised. It’s a nightmare.”

“But wait… what happened with the plan? Our plan?”

Lemon opened her mouth to reply and then shut it.

“You forgot about it…”

“No! You know I didn’t… but… my options are wider now, I have to think forward and… did you seriously think-?”

“Yes. I did.” Priyanka didn’t even let her finish speaking.

Her soul had been just crushed.

“Pri, that’s not what I mean. We made that promise when we were ten, things have… changed since then.”

“Maybe they have changed for you but I’m still stuck here, I’m still counting on our plans… our promises. I’m still counting on you. The only thing that has changed is you and your pompous New Yorker glamorous lifestyle.”

“Oh, so it was so easy for me, right? It’s not like I had to attend a school where I didn’t know anyone, being the new girl and sitting alone during lunchtime for months while going through my parents’ divorce… I hated it the first months, Priyanka, I really did and I swear that talking to you on the phone and dancing were the only things that kept me alive…” Her voice cracked. “It wasn’t until I met my friends that I felt like I could do it… that it wasn’t completely waste of time and that I wasn’t a totally useless person.”

“Lemon… you never said-”

There was a single sparkly tear falling down her cheek.

“Well, I hope you’re happy now. There you have it, my life isn’t a glamorous as you thought, is it?”

“It’s because that’s what you’ve told me! Maybe if you didn’t sugarcoat things I could’ve helped you…”

“And do what? And then what? You’d get tired of me with all those problems and we’d eventually drift apart. I’d become a burden for you.”

“What? Where did you get that from? Let me be your friend, that’s what friends do… they help each other during the rough times too, they tell each other things.”

“Oh, and you surely have told me everything that’s being going on here.”

Priyanka remained silent.

“I still talk with some people from school here and there… why didn’t you tell me about what happened at that party?”

“Lemon, that’s completely different…”

“Is it? Because from my perspective, it looks like we’re hiding things from each other now.”

“And breaking promises as well for what it seems.”

Lemon looked at her, she seemed hurt and it broke Priyanka’s heart to see her like that.

She wanted to reach her and hold her hand, hug her and tell her that everything was alright but at the same time, she was angry. She couldn’t have it both ways. It wasn’t fair.

Priyanka’s mother called them from downstairs; Lemon’s father was there to pick her up.

“I better go.” She grabbed her coat. “I’ll be back in five days if you want… whatever.”

She was gone before Priyanka could say something and frankly, she felt that if she opened her mouth it was going to get worse. It wasn’t until the girl left the house and she heard the car getting lost in the distance that she collapsed on her bed and started crying on the closest pillow she had.

Five days after, it was a New Year already but little had changed since they last met.

Lemon visited Priyanka’s house only to discover she wasn’t there.

“Could you please tell her I came to say goodbye?” She bit her inner cheek to contain a sob.

She had a flight to take back to New York.

Priyanka had taken the family’s car without permission and she had driven for a few hours, making sure there was no chance of their paths crossing. It was petty; she knew she was being childish avoiding her rather than talk things through and she was going to regret it and hate herself later, damn, she was going to get grounded for months but who cared? At that moment, the only thing that was on her mind was that she couldn’t see Lemon.

Not like that.

She did her wrong but she was partly right. Priyanka wasn’t being honest with her and she couldn’t tell her all the truth to restore their friendship.

She couldn’t tell her that she was gay and that she was in love with her because it would change it all.

It would destroy their friendship entirely.

Lemon would never reciprocate those stupid feelings of her.

Maybe if she put enough distance between them, those feelings would simply fade, go away, and right now, New York sounded distant enough.

If it was on her to do the hardest part for the sake of all the years they’ve been together, then she was going to do whatever it’d take.

Tears scorched her eyes.

At the age of fifteen, Priyanka loved her best friend Lemon but she also hated her.

#rpdr fanfiction #drcan #can1 #priyanka #lemon #lemon x priyanka #childhood friends #friends to lovers #lesbian au #timeskips #angst #long-distance friendship #come home to my heart #plastiquedoll #concrit welcome

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bethhxrmon · 4 years

Text

do flowers exist at night? -chapter fourteen

Chapter Fourteen: No Categories

Pairing: Steve Harrington x OC

Chapter Summary: Being stuck in detention with a few other people, it is only natural to have some sort of long-winded conversation that no one learns anything from.

Word Count: 4k

Warnings: Swearing, implied sexual assault, slight homophobia, probably not great writing lol

A/N: I hope you guys maybe catch the reference here?? Anyways I’d love some feed back from y’all. It you like this, you can find the masterlist here.

~*~*~*~

Getting in a car with Jonathan Byers to go to detention was not what Annie would have done with her Saturday morning if she had a chance. Still, it beat walking to detention and she knew that.

She ended up getting out of bed before Steve woke up for once. It was easier to sleep with someone next to her. Not that it ever fully got rid of all the nightmares, but it was as good as it got. So she waited until Jonathan was in her driveway before waking Steve a bit to let him know she was leaving.

"If you need me to beat up Billy for ya after, let me know," Steve murmured.

Annie kissed his nose, "You're not gonna do that, I'll be fine."

That was the goal at least. If she was there with Jonathan, then it didn't matter that Billy was there. Besides, there would be anyone else who got detention that first week back. Who knew what that could be for, but she wasn't banking on many people being there.

The car ride with Jonathan was pretty quiet aside from the cassette tape playing. If nothing else, she could say that the guy had good taste. Really, the only wrench between them was any grudge she had because he sort of played a part in Steve getting hurt. Not that it was a huge deal now. That was clearly the case considering how easily Jonathan gave up the day.

He pulled up to the school and they both stayed seated for a bit longer.

"Thanks for this... you um... I know it's probably not the way you wanted to spend today," she said, shrugging a little.

Jonathan sighed, "It wasn't, but you shouldn't have to deal with that guy alone."

With that, they both went to the school and walked straight to the library. Much to Annie's surprise, there were four other people. She recognized Billy and Carol, but wasn't completely familiar with the other two. They were both in her theater class and she knew that she would feel like an ass if she asked their names now.

Instead of the librarian running detention, it was the assistant. A man who only seemed to be a few years older than any of them. However, that meant he didn't really care what they said or did as long as they shelved the books and didn't bother him as he gossiped on the phone.

It was simple enough. Once all the shelving was done, she could just keep to herself until they could all go home. Everyone seemed rather content to do that. At least, everyone except for Billy who couldn't go five minutes without saying something to someone.

At first, all he did was talk to Carol. None of them really cared. Carol seemed to agree with him on anything he had to say, so he got bored of that easily. It was Annie's personal goal to not be a target. Though, she also trusted Jonathan to help her out if things got bad.

Though, his first actual remark was to the girl whose name Annie couldn't quite place.

"So what did you do to get detention, sweetheart?" Billy asked.

The girl side-eyed him as she shelved a book, "The name's Robin, and it's none of your business."

"Oh, come on! You're such a boring nerd, forgive me for having a hard time seeing you get into detention for any reason at all. You’re basically everything a parent could want. Boring and quiet," he said.

Annie watched as Robin sighed, "Not all of us like our parents as much as you'd think."

"Oh, you wanna trade places then? Do you wanna see what my old man did to me? His bitch of a wife didn't even bother to stop-"

"That's enough. You don't need to prove how much your life sucks," Jonathan said.

Billy approached him, "Oh, and why's that?"

"Because you'd come in last compared to all of us," Annie said, just loud enough to be heard.

It hadn't been Annie's intention to say that out loud, but now she had Jonathan and Billy staring at her. Maybe no one would take her seriously. Though, she was willing to bet every cent that her life was more difficult than Billy's since he was one of the reasons it was so hard for her to simply go to school.

"Well, what else are we gonna do here?" Carol asked, "May as well compare all our shitty lives."

Billy nodded slowly, "Okay, let's do it."

"Shouldn't we have some rules?" Robin asked.

The other boy Annie didn't know nodded, "Yeah, is this a competition? Because if we vote then we're all just gonna vote for ourselves."

"Then we just... can't vote for ourselves," Annie suggested, "I don't know."

Jonathan sighed, "Alright, who's starting us off?"

"I can. And then you'll all just understand how shitty someone's life can be," Billy said, leaning against a table, "Are you guys ready?"

Annie rolled her eyes a little, "Go for it."

"I will," he said, glaring at her, "My life's never been great. When I was a kid my mom left me with just my dad. He always beat on her and when she left, he did the same to me."

The other boy shrugged, "Everyone gets hit around as a kid."

"Shut the fuck up, dorito breath," Billy snapped.

"It's Keith, actually."

"Like I give a damn," he crossed his arms, "Anyway, my dad started seeing Susan and she had a daughter. Max was always a bit of a bitch, making my life a living hell. I got tired of her and I gave her some shit. Now, my old man didn't like that, so he said he was gonna send me to a military school."

Carol blew a bubble of her gum and let it pop, "Doesn't look like you got any military training."

"Yeah, that's 'cause I told him there was no way I was letting him just ship me off somewhere away from home. I hate him, but all the punks there would treat me even shittier than he does. See, getting beat around a bit might be normal, but I'm hit around more than a bit."

Annie couldn't help seeing red. Of all the things that he could have complained about, he had the nerve to complain about being hurt by a parent? That was supposed to justify everything he did? How could that possibly excuse what he did to those around him? She stopped listening at that point, her brown eyes giving a steely gaze at the gaudily-patterned carpet.

The only reason Annie knew that Billy was done was because Carol cleared her throat, "Come on, I can totally do better than that. You might get beaten a bit, but come on. You're more of a bitch than I am, Billy."

All of them nodded. She didn't think that he would be winning this. Not when she already knew exactly what she wanted to say. Maybe she would put on a bit of a show about it. It was hard to decide.

"Okay, so I was born in Chicago and then moved here in '72. Everything here is super lame, I feel like I should get points for a good part of my life just being too dull to document," Carol said, chewing on her gum, "Anyways, I started crushing on Tommy when we were in seventh grade. It wouldn't have been a problem, but he was dating my sister. She was a grade above us so you can't ask her now, but I just had to have Tommy."

Annie wasn't quite sure where this was going, but she felt like it was better than Billy's self-pity. Sure, his life sucked, but she would have more sympathy if he hadn't done the things he had.

Carol let out a sigh, "So, it took a bit of work, but I was able to win him over. Half the school hated me. That might still be the case, so... I guess I'm sorry? Except I'm not. Look, it's all in good fun. Doesn't matter anyways since the rest is history with me and Tommy. Except for the last year I know he's been screwing around behind my back."

"I um- I actually don't know what to do about that. Do any of you know what I'm supposed to do?"

Robin shook her head, "You dump him!"

"Yeah, I can't stand you, but you should definitely break up with Tommy. You deserve better," Annie added.

Somehow, with the knowledge that Tommy had been doing that to Carol, she felt worse for the girl than she did for Billy. Not that it was a difficult thing. She hadn't talked to Carol since the day she and Tommy were bothering her.

Jonathan sighed, "You're not the only one who's lived here a long time."

"So you're going next, Byers?" Billy asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm not about to pretend like I don't have issues. Because, like you, I got beat around by my dad. So did my mom, I helped Will get out of that. Look, you and Carol are a bit more... headstrong than I am. That's just not my speed. I don't talk about that stuff much, but I know I'm the one keeping things at my house together."

"Oh, come on. You're dating Nancy Wheeler, shit can't be that hard," Billy said.

Annie rolled her eyes, "You can be dating someone and still have a hard time. Let him go."

"Aside from everything with my parents, I think you all know about Will. I'm not gonna talk about that, but it still counts for all this shit. So, I think some of you know how outcasted I was-"

"Only because you took stalker pictures of Nancy," Carol said.

He sighed, "I know that's part of it, but you guys didn't like me before then either. She's kind of my only friend and I waited almost a year to be with her."

"Um, okay, I thought we were lab partners," Robin chimed in.

Jonathan nodded, "You're right. You're both right, but I still never feel like I belong. After everything my family's been through, I can't afford to feel sorry for myself. I have to be unbreakable, you know? Instead of giving my little brother a hard time, I try to take care of him as much as my mom would. Sometimes I wish she took care of me that much, but I know she cares. I just don't know what's gonna happen when I go to college. It's far off, but I don't wanna abandon my family."

"You're not going to. You can move on from this town when you get a chance. Nothing says that you're not allowed to come back," Annie pointed out.

Obviously she knew that there was more to Jonathan's story. He went through everything over a year ago plus the same stuff she dealt with. It sucked, but she knew that he wasn't about to tell everyone. They couldn't talk about that stuff.

There was a long pause as some of them shelved the nearly empty carts of books. No one seemed to want to go next. Annie almost contemplated on going next. Everything that she wanted to say was right there in her head whether everyone wanted to hear it or not.

Keith let out a long sigh, "Okay, I know you guys are wondering what hardship a guy like me could have."

"We don't have to wonder," Carol said, "You're a tragedy."

Robin shrugged, "Not being allowed to eat in the library isn't a tragedy."

"Neither is not being allowed to annotate books," he countered, "Well, Jonathan over here isn't the only one with the hots for Nancy Wheeler. I helped out one of her brother's friends and I was supposed to get a date with her."

Jonathan laughed a bit, "Did that actually happen?"

"Nope, nothing happened, I totally got stood up. See, she doesn't think I'm the most attractive guy."

"Wonder why," Carol said.

“She has a boyfriend, that’s why,” Jonathan countered.

Keith glared at them, "I happen to think I look great. Nancy doesn't know what she's missing, and I don't wanna hear it from the chick dating Tommy Hagan of all people."

Annie's mouth dropped open. The nerve of some of the people at this school was beyond her. She could see Robin look a bit on the shocked side as well. Though, now, she had to know where this story was headed.

"Anyways, after that failed date, I went home. It's a classic story, you know? The mediocre-looking guy loses the beautiful girl because she thought she was too good for him. So, you might ask yourself if I'm bitter about all this," he paused before shrugging, "Not really. I got to go home to my parents and our large house and my Atari. Now, that's tragic."

Billy coughed, "You gonna give us your sob story?"

"Well, I lost the girl, but I still got to dance around my room in my underwear. So, you do the math. I can still flirt with whatever pretty girls I want. I'm a free spirit and I don't have to do anything unless I want to," he looked around the room, "So I guess I don't have a sob story. Life's pretty damn great."

Carol nodded slowly, "Okay, that's one person out of the running. I'm thinking we should just get to how we're gonna vote or whatever."

"Um... hello? I've still got something to say," Annie said.

Keith looked at her, "I'm sorry, but who're you again?"

"Oh, she's the chick who's dating Steve Harrington. His rebound, ya know?" Carol said, "What could you possibly have to say that could be tragic?"

Keith shook his head, "Of all people, you had to date a douchebag?"

"Not only a douchebag, but a pussy one at that," Billy added.

Jonathan reached out an arm to stop Annie from doing anything, but she ignored it and walked up to Billy. What it was she had in mind to say was beyond her. All of it just fell out of her mouth. Any bit of anxiety was replaced by a pure, unbridled rage and it was all she could do to not electrify him to death where he stood.

"This isn't about Steve. This is about me," she said, "And you know what? Maybe there's something to be said for me not having anything to say that could top any of you."

Billy nodded, looking like he was waiting for her to admit defeat.

"Like, seriously, your lives all sound like they suck and your stories... they show that as well," she looked up at Billy, "I mean, seriously, coming so close to getting shipped off to military school for being a dick. That could have come so close to being a real problem for you. Not like something I know of that's an actual problem."

She walked over to Carol, "And, getting cheated on? A tragic yikes. Unfortunately, I've seen that happen too many times to count. Seriously, though, please dump Tommy, he's not worth it."

"And Jonathan," she patted him on the shoulder, "Having to wait a year to get the girl you loved? And then getting her at the expense of hurting someone else's heart and trust? How could you have been so wronged!"

She glanced at Robin, "I don't have your story yet, so you're good for now... but Keith, oh Keith."

He looked at her and she frowned, "Being thrown aside for how you look? Now that sounds like the actual worst. Unfortunately, I can't relate. I mean, let's be real here. I'm, like, super hot. So hot that I have a dick for a boyfriend apparently. Hm... I'm not sure if I could ever compete with you guys!"

"Oh, I think I got an idea!" she said, standing in the middle of the library, "See, my looks have always been pretty great. So great, in fact, that I've had great luck with boys ever since I was little. And even from that age I was totally aware that all guys wanna do is, well, you know."

She wiggled her eyebrows as she sat on one of the tables, "So when I was in Seattle, I was fourteen when I met Jeremy. He was my music tutor, about eighteen, he was a senior. You could say he taught me everything I know. Like, he would take me through my scales and vocalizing exercises. He put my mouth to work a lot, if you catch my drift. Had to break me in, you know? And once all that was done, he would play with my hair and tell me how pretty I was. I thought there was a connection there, something different."

"Wait, did he-" Jonathan was cut off by Annie giving him a pointed look.

"So... that fell through after, like, six months. Then there was Greg. I was sixteen, he was nineteen. He worked as the sexy secretary for my mom's law firm. Naturally, I offered to help him out," she took a breath, "He had me help out in more ways than one. I mean, he could barely wait for my mom to leave the room before getting my shirt on the floor. Still, I'm pretty sure we had a connection. It was gonna be different."

Carol scoffed, "Yeah, right."

"Yeah... it didn't pan out, so I decided to focus on school. That's how I met Dr. Lancaster, my dad's boss. You guys know about the college professor scene in Seattle, right?" there was a pause and she shrugged before continuing, "He admired my intelligence and I helped him grade papers and whatnot. There was no way that he could've gotten through the semester without me. He said that we had something special... not quite as different as I thought."

Robin's eyes widened, "You fucked a professor?"

"No, actually. My parents were starting to have problems, so we moved to New York before anything happened. Pretty cool, right?" Annie said, letting out a sigh, "It wasn't easy there. The guys sucked, everyone did. Well, aside from my dad's TA."

"We already know he’s just gonna be a dick!" Carol exclaimed, "Sorry."

Annie forced a smile, "Todd made sure that I was handling the move okay. We would hang out all the time. It was great to actually have a friend. Nothing special to it. Until we were in my dad's office and he was talking about how much he really liked me... that's fine or whatever, but then he started to force himself on me um... pinning me to the desk? My dad caught us and he's blamed me ever since. He wrote a long letter about how I'm the biggest slut he knows."

There was a pause and she took a shakier breath, "So, moving here and getting that plastered all over my locker? Not so different from what I'm used to. I mean, all guys wanna do is, well... you would know, wouldn't you, Billy?"

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what it means. I know what you were gonna do to me if Max didn't stop you."

"Annie," Jonathan said, giving her a warning look that she ignored.

Billy rolled his eyes, "You tried to slit my throat."

"Because you were killing Steve!"

"Only because you guys were hiding Maxine."

"Because she was scared of you, and I don't blame her," she said, her voice cracking.

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever, now you're just crying to get more points."

"The least that could happen is that I win some dumb competition about who had the shittiest life," she said, getting off the desk, "Come on, Robin, you're up."

Robin looked at all of them, "Um... you know what? I'm good. This is really what we've come to? Arguing about whether someone deserved to get their face beaten in or whatever? I don't wanna bother."

"She's just worried that her story isn't gonna be that good," Carol said, crossing her arms.

Keith nodded, "Yeah, I hate to say it, but I agree."

It continued like that for a little while, each of them inadvertently pressuring Robin into saying something. After all, they all said something that was super personal. They may as well just have Robin in the running for all this.

"Okay, fine. You guys want some sad story? I'll tell you one," she said, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, "Just... a bit of context, I went to a camp last summer. Um... I met a gir- guy. We hit it off, you know?"

"What's his name?" Carol asked.

Robin sighed, "Sam, her-his name was Sam. We had something really good going, you know? It was really sweet, the way that um... that he would talk to me. I thought we could keep it up over the school year. The only problem is um... my parents, they're traditional. Like, really traditional and he was... well, he wasn’t someone they’d approve of. They found that out when he sent a photo. So I had to write him a letter and end things."

"Oh... what did you say?" Annie asked.

"I told he-him that... well, that I loved him. I loved him as much as you could love someone. That I really, really missed everything about him. I even said that if I could, I would have told my parents to screw off. As if they can choose who I love and wanna be with. I'll never be what they want, no matter how hard they try to force me into soemthing I don't want," Robin sighed, running a hand through her hair, "Of course, I can't say that to my parents... so I ended up sending that stupid letter. Is this really what we're doing, though? I have to bear my soul to all of you to win some dumb competition? I'm over this!"

There was a silence around the room before Billy piped up, "They had a point, you can't trust some people."

"I already have to hear it from my parents, so shut the hell up, Hargrove," Robin replied, shaking her head, "See, this is the type of shit that happens when we open ourselves up. It's stupid to compete for this. We'd all obviously vote for ourselves."

Annie shook her head, "I was gonna vote for your story, actually."

"Robin's right, though. Comparing everything like this was stupid,” Jonathan replied.

"It was that bitch's idea anyways," Billy said, gesturing to Annie.

She rolled her eyes, "Because you were being a dick. I didn't mean to actually have us spend this long on the subject."

Eventually, the topic dissipated, and no one cared any longer. It took a lot for them to all talk about what they had, but it clearly didn't make a difference. Annie just focused on shelving until Robin came near her.

There wasn't anyone else close enough to hear both of them, so Annie approached Robin, "Hey, um... I've got a question."

"What's up?"

"You don't have to answer, but... was Sam a girl ?" Annie asked.

Robin's eyes widened and her mouth opened.

"Wait, don't worry, I was just... I was wondering because it sounded like that. I mean, only because I kinda play for both teams, you know?"

Robin blinked, "Hold up, but you're dating Steve Harrington."

"Yeah, and? Still doesn't change the fact that in those two years I didn't mention that I was dating Penny who lived a few doors down from me."

"Holy shit, and you're not gonna tell anyone?"

Annie shook her head, "Wouldn't dream of it."

The both of them continued to shelve in silence. Though, Annie felt like there was more of a friendship between both of them. She hadn't told Steve about any of that yet. Not because she was scared of him reacting, but because she really didn't want him to just claim that he didn't believe her. That thought didn't stick around.

A couple hours later, and everyone was allowed to go back home. It almost felt like none of them had talked about anything. Maybe that was for the best.

Taglist: @dungeons-and-demodogs @nxncywheeler @ilovebucketbarnes

#steve harrington #steve harrington x original character #steve harrington x oc #stranger things #stranger things fic #stranger things 3 #stranger things 2 #stranger things x original character #stranger things x oc #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #dfean?

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dessiekarma · 4 years

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My Harem is Entirely Bad Boy Types (Kirisaki Daiichi x Reader) Pt. 9

Chapter 9: Finally Seto’s Getting His Allotted Chapter with the Protagonist! All the Other Guys Got Their’s!

“Do you really think it’s her?” Hara asked pushing the phone Furuhashi, who was scrutinizing it just as heavily.

“It looks like her but you know…really different.” Seto said zooming in on his own phone.

“Do you think she’s seen it? Is that why she’s not at practice this morning?” Hara said before answering his own question. “I’m pretty sure this was sent to everyone at Kirisaki Daiichi and then some.”

“Well that proves it then doesn’t it?” Yamazaki sounding angry. “We spend all that fucking time defending her and for what if it was all true?”

“We don’t know that it’s all true.” Seto urged halfheartedly.

“I thought you were supposed to be the smart one! Remember what that lady said about her not being a good girl and how she even agreed she wasn’t always a good person? Then the fact that this mystery thing went down in middle school that she never tells us about. Or the mystery Touou thing that she also never told us about. Top it all off with this picture of her from her first year and its kinda obvious that Mei wasn’t lying!”

Yamazaki had been stewing in these feelings ever since the day he walked her home. He found it hard to see her the way he once had. He’d thought maybe she was different but her confirmation and the new evidence blasted around the school proved she was the same as everyone else. The same as Mei, the same as all those other girls who threw themselves at Hara…maybe even worse.

The evidence in question was a picture of (Y/N) sitting on the train with one tan legged crossed over the other. Her skirt was too short to pass school uniform regulations and her sweater baggily hanging off her shoulder. Her hair was a golden honey colour accented by big glossy lips and way more cleavage than most people would find acceptable.

To top it off she was leaning her head against the shoulder of a much older man in a suit. Even with all assumptions aside it was pretty clear to all of them that this was a compensated date.

“Okay so what if she wasn’t lying? I guess it all makes sense with what she said about (Y/N)’s ‘hobby’ but what does it matter?” Seto asked running his hand threw his hair. “She knew she was good looking so she spent some time with old perverts for money. I mean the only reason most girl here don’t do it is because they already have money.”

“And she does too, clearly! So, what reason would she have to be doing this kinda thing?”

“I don’t know, I’ve seen the way salary men go all out for a young girl’s attention. They devote a lot of time and effort to it. Can’t say it wouldn’t be nice for a milf to fawn over me like that.” Hara gave a shrug and chewed his gum more intensely.

“You know most of those types of guys are married right?!”

“Yeah so what? It’s a man’s job to be faithful to his wife, not the other woman’s.” Furuhashi offered.

“Oh of course you would have that opinion.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“I’m just saying it’s pretty convenient that the ENGAGED guy in the group is trying to justify cheating.”

“Just the way it’s convenient of you to suddenly side with your bitch of an ex after realizing your perfect little payback wasn’t what you expected. I know Mei still has you licking her boots but don’t take it out on our manager.”

Yamazaki looked as if he would have something to say in return but he only grit his teeth and slumped into the bleachers.

“Besides a girl as cute as (Y/N), no way she would have to have done more than flirt for money. I mean not that I care what she did or didn’t do. I’m just saying sometimes those paid dates are pretty vanilla. Men just want to be seen with cute girls on their arm.”

~~~~~

“What? Are you making fun of me, Seto?” (Y/N) said looking totally heartbroken.

The young man sputtered and choked on his words realizing exactly what the hell this sounded like. When (Y/N) hadn’t shown up to school yesterday and today he knew the only way he would get to ask what he’d been meaning to was to go to her place.

He would have thought with the amount of times he rehearsed how he was gonna say it and with everything going on, that he would have caught his mistake.

I have this thing that I need to be bring a date to. I was wondering if you could be my girlfriend for the day. I’ll even pay you!

Stupid stupid stupid.

“What I meant to say is I told my brother and the outfit. You owe me a favour but it’s a lot. So I can give something else. Ya know the Seirin and shit I can’t breathe.”

(Y/N) rolled her eyes slightly but smiled and shook her head softly.

“Come in.”

“To your house! But you said you live alone.”

“So, what? Furuhashi and Yamazaki have stayed over plenty of times.”

Seto wanted to pry on that but didn’t want to come across as accusatory. Walking into the guest house he was greeted with a slightly messy but overall welcoming space. Watching her gesture to the couch, the tall male took a seat and tried to get his thoughts in order.

“Do you want something? A water, soda, juice?...Espresso?”

“Plain coffee would be nice.”

“Sure. I’ll be right back.”

Seto nodded and watched her disappear from his peripherals. Looking around the room he was surprised with how humble everything looked but thinking it over he shouldn’t have been too surprised. (Y/N) was a surprisingly humble girl for apparently living a lavish lifestyle.

A chuckle almost left Seto’s lips as he noticed several anime figures on various shelves. That was more like what he was expecting. Curious, he got up to take a closer look at the stuff decorating her living room.

In particular one shelf held several framed pictures. The largest made a smile come to his face. (Y/N) appeared to be no more than 3 or 4 years old. She was holding her fingers up into a peace sign, hugging a huge stuffed Pikachu tightly.

The picture right next to it however made his heart feel heavy. (Y/N) was probably eight years old in this one. She was hugging a little boy about the same age who was lifting up a baby girl. Everyone was smiling brightly in the picture but none more than a frail woman sitting in a wheelchair behind them.

They were clearly in a hospital and the woman was very clearly the reason they were there. Thinking about it, thought (Y/N) always referred to her parents as a unit making it sound like they were both around…her mother was hardly mentioned on her own. Everything was always about her dad and maybe this was why.

“Being nosy?” The young girl said coming up behind him with a hot cup of coffee.

“It’s not being nosy if the stuff is on display. You were a cute kid, these your brother and sister?” Seto asked hoping more for an explanation of the woman in the picture.

“My cousins. So, did I give you enough time to calm down and tell me what you came here for?”

“Actually yes. (Y/N) I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was making fun of your situation.”

“But you do know about it?”

“I’ve seen the picture yeah.”

“I don’t know why I even let it get to me so bad. It’s a really old picture! Once I started dating my ex, I stopped going on paid dates.”

“It’s really not my business. You’re still the same person to me.”

(Y/N) smiled up at Seto’s genuine words.

“Well now for what event am I playing your girlfriend?”

“Ugh I really wish I hadn’t worded it like that. Look remember the whole Seirin interview shit, I told you I would cash in the favour later. Well I’m cashing in big time. My brother is debuting in this K-pop group and it’ really important to him that I go to his banquet. My mother was making this huge deal about me not being able to find a date so I lied and said you were my girlfriend.”

. . .

“Your brother’s in a K-pop group? You didn’t bring that up when you told me your parents were celebrities!”

“Look I’ve lived my whole life with people talking about my brother forgive me for not wanting to give one more person a reason to gush.”

“Fair enough. So this thing is black tie?”

“Wait…you’re actually gonna do it?”

“Yes.”

“But I thought. I just figured this was kinda gonna be a big thing to ask for. Like I know you owe me a favour but I figured I was gonna still have to throw in some other incentive here.”

“Huh why?”

“Well because you’re just you and look at me. I don’t know…have you ever dated a guy like me?”

(Y/N) seemed to be thinking it over in her mind for a bit.

“No, my ex was kind of an airhead and I was never in a serious relationship before that. So, I guess you could say I never really dated a smart guy!”

“That’s not what I meant.” In his own opinion (Y/N) was a solid eight on a regular day and could easily be a ten when she fixed herself up. But he at best was a five in the right lighting.

“You’ve done a lot for me and the team. You tend to be the voice of reason. Plus you sang with me when I was trying to get comfortable at KiriDai. I think I can help you be comfortable at your family’s dinner party.”

“Ughh are you sure? I mean I know I was the one who asked but I just…I feel kind selfish now asking you to do this when I know you got a lot going on right now.”

“Ehh I see it as a good distraction. The guys heard of everything going on, I assume?”

Seto’s mind instantly went to Yamazaki’s weird bitch fit but decided to not worry (Y/N) about it for the weekend.

“Yeah, I mean we are wondering what’s going on but you don’t really have to explain anything to us.”

“It’s not an exciting story or anything. I was both rebelling and needed the money. It wasn’t some costume in the picture…I was really like that back then.”

“Still people shouldn’t judge you by your appearance.”

“I was a pretty big bitch back in the day, too. You know that guy I beat the shit out of in the cafeteria? Yeah that used to happen on a daily basis. Sometimes to people who were talking about me but sometimes to people who even looked at me wrong. I drank, smoked, slept around, stole some boyfriends, all the kind of things you’d expect that cliché to do. I guess there’s no point hiding what a piece of shit person I used to be.”

“Well in my opinion…good people do bad things.”

(Y/N) cocked her head to the side questioningly before smiling widely.

“So where is your brother’s party going to be at?”

“Ummm Okinawa.”

“OKINAWA! How long do I have to prepare?”

“It’s tomorrow.”

“…I change my mind you do owe me.”

“That’s fair what do you want?”

“I was just about to watch this anime. Watch it with me?”

“You want me to watch anime with you?” Seto asked raising a brow. He’d seen like two episodes of pokemon when he was younger. “I guess. What’s it about?”

“Don’t worry about it! Just umm are you a sentimental person?”

“Not particularly.”

“Oh good, then you can console me when I’m crying my eyes out.”

~~~~~

“Heh not sentimental my ass. Your eyes are still looking puffy from yesterday.” (Y/N) snorted as she fixed her hair in her compact mirror.

“They are puffy because I was asleep on the flight! And I already have ugly narrow eyes to begin with.”

“You were crying harder than I was!”

“You’d seen it before! She disappeared and I wasn’t prepared for it!”

“Sure sure. Also, I didn’t miss that self-deprecation. I like your eye shape, it’s alluring.”

“What?! Shut up.”

“Seriously, it’s like constant bedroom eyes. Society is just too on the hype train for big wide bright eyes when narrow sleepy eyes can look just as good.”

“Can you really talk about society pressure when you work for New Face? Those models are caked in makeup. The company name literally implies you need a different face.”

“Why do you think I only ever use Me But Better? You can enhance what you got instead of thinking you NEED to change everything you already have. I work for New Face because I have to, not because I agree with their ideals.”

“I guess. Oh shit here we are.” Set ran a hand through his hair for what was probably the hundredth time. “Fuck I’m nervous. Okay so you remember everything we talked about so that our stories match up?”

“Yes yes. We met at basketball, not a lie. We’ve known each other for almost a year, not a lie. I gave you chocolates for Valentine’s Day, not a lie. You thought I was beautiful and asked me out.”

“Not a lie.”

“What?!”

“I did ask you to be my date, here didn’t I?”

“I guess but you didn’t have to say it like that!” (Y/N) stuttered out.

Seto smiled. He was surprised and amazed that someone like (Y/N) who described her past the way she did could get so easily flustered. It just sort of confirmed what he already believed, that she was pure of heart…a good person who’d done bad things.

“Aren’t you gonna open my door?” (Y/N) said knocking her scarf covered cast into the car handle.

“Oh fuck you’re right. My dad would disown me if I wasn’t the perfect gentleman.”

With that (Y/N) stepped out of the limo and took Seto’s arm. Instantly he was cursing himself for asking her to do this. It didn’t look right. He always came to these things alone and then to just show up with this gorgeous girl. It had “I flaunt my money to get dates” written all over it.

“Don’t be so tense. Everything is going to be fine.” (Y/N) whispered giving him a reassuring smile.

With a deep breath the two walked into the building. Instantly both felt overwhelmed. (Y/N) by the sheer number of celebrities and important people. Seto by his brother’s eyes instantly meeting his and perking up.

“Was he waiting for me? Brace yourself.” Seto whispered just in time as his older brother came barreling through the crowd. His eyes were big and lit up like a child meeting his new puppy for the first time.

“Little bro! Is this her?! Wow it is, isn’t it! She’s gorgeous! Hey how much of the family inheritance did you give her? Just kidding! So what’s your name!?”

“Forgive my older brother he is going for the hyperactive quirky member of his group. The type that very closely verge on annoying. Joo-won this is (Y/N), my girlfriend.”

“Annoying!? You’re so mean!”

(Y/N) was shocked by the banter between the two males. First of all, Seto’s brother was one of the prettiest men she had ever seen. More masculine than Reo’s feminine beauty but softer than Aomine’s rugged handsome face. On another note she was surprised by how well the two brothers got along and how much they seemed to genuinely care about the other, despite the jabs.

She had unfairly made a few judgements on Seto’s brother based on the few things she’s heard.

“Mom and dad are gonna be so excited!”

“About what, son? Oh my, Ken! I hadn’t realized you arrived already. You were supposed to text us the moment your plane landed. I trust the limo driver found you anyhow.”

(Y/N) was utterly starstruck yet again. Seto’s dad was 100% dilf material, straight daddy born of your deepest fantasies. He had told her that his dad was a pretty famous Japanese actor back in the day but she didn’t realize she was gonna be spending her night watching every movie he’d ever been in. And when he locked eyes with her she was sure she would die.

“Oh my goodness Joo-won, where did you find this beauty?”

“You know mom said I wasn’t allowed to bring a date! She said it would make potential fans think I’m taken.”

“Then perhaps she would like to be my date.”

“Actually Seto-san, I am Kentaro’s date! It’s very nice to finally meet you.”

“(Y/N), this is my father Kenjiro Seto. Dad this is my girlfriend.”

Mr. Seto appeared taken aback for a moment and looked at his youngest son, who timidly wrapped an arm around (Y/N)’s waist and pulled her to him.

“When my wife and son told me our little one had a girlfriend, I didn’t expect someone so radiant!”

“Did you expect me to show up with a tanuki in a dress?” Kentaro mumbled angrily.

“Don’t take it personal son. You just never showed much interest in dating and the dates we sent you on never went well. We were beginning to entertain the thought that perhaps ladies weren’t your type. But that would have only been much harder. Men who enjoy the company of other men are held to a higher standard.”

(Y/N) found herself frowning at that underhanded remark. She made a point to lean her head on her teammate’s shoulder and lace her fingers through his.

“You seem so picky, Ken-chan. I suppose I’m lucky, I caught your attention at all.”

Joo-won and his father looked at each other in disbelief. She sounded so genuine in her words and seemed so comfortable with him. As much as Joo-won wanted this to work for his brother and wished him all the happiness in the world he couldn’t help but worry this girl was after something other than his brother’s love. And he didn’t know if he could stand to see another woman tear him down.

“My baby! There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Some people wanted to meet and speak with you.” (Y/N) felt her hand suddenly gripped harder. “Kentaro, I didn’t know you had arrived yet. So glad you made it here without a fuss. Though we would have appreciated you accompanying us to Korea to see your brother’s official debut with his group.”

“I don’t need to be there for the whole group. I’m here because this is for him. Besides I had school yesterday.”

“Ever the studious one. Good it will serve you well to be able to start a company or some other thing to support yourself. Oh and who is this?”

“Mother this is my girlfriend, (Y/N). (Y/N) I’d like you to meet my mother, Young-Mi Seto.”

Consider (Y/N) intimidated. How the hell would anyone be okay being surrounded by a family of Greek gods. They were so attractive she was beginning to feel just a tad insecure. Honestly Kentaro might have had a better fit asking Reo to be his date!

“I’m very thankful to have the chance to meet the whole family. I promise I am being very good to Kentaro, as he has been with me.”

“I can see that. What a beautiful dress! It’s Zuhair Murad, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is actually! Thank you!”

“You must have very expensive tastes.” The woman said with a not so subtle up and down glance at her son.

“Not at all. This was actually thrifted.”

“Humble…cute. Come along Joo-won, Kenjiro, we have an interview to give!”

(Y/N) watched as the three walked off. Turning to her date she could see his jaw was clenched. If his parents were making these sorts of comments in front of his significant other…she couldn’t imagine what the rest of his life had been like.

With their wide eyes and ivory porcelain skin, it was clear her teammate was the odd man out in the family. Finally, all of his self-deprecation made sense.

Reaching a hand up she placed it gently on his cheek caressing his gorgeously sculpted cheek bone. She felt him tense again and thought he would jerk away from her. To her surprise he turned into her touch and placed his hand over her own.

As if it came naturally to him, he brought his lips to her hand and kissed her palm. (Y/N) felt a light rose colour dust her cheeks and smiled.

From a distance the boy’s father watched the interaction before turning away.

~~~~~

“What do you mean, it was a simple error!?” Kentaro rolled his eyes as his mother went off on the catering staff. “I specifically said nothing citrus. My baby is allergic to citrus and it was a simple task. Keep oranges, grapefruits and LEMONS off the menu!”

“Bmom ithhs okay. Really I can breathhe juthht fine!” Joo-won said around his swelling tongue.

(Y/N) scurried in with a cup of ice cubes and handed them to the grateful male who proceeded to pop several in his mouth.

“No, it’s not fine! You are fired!” The woman yelled pointing an accusatory finger at the waitstaff. “And you…oh my poor baby. We can’t have you perform for you guests like this. However, they are expecting some form of entertainment. Perhaps I can go up and sing one of my old-”

“Assthhk Ken! He can sthing sthhho good bmom!” Joo-won said pointing at his brother excitedly.

“Dude, what the hell are you talking about.” Kentaro said giving his brother a clear ‘stfu’ look.

“Yeah I alwayths hear you sthing in your room when you think no one can hear! And I thaw that video of you sthinging with your girlfriend! Ohhhhh you guyths can do a duet! It would be thuper cute and an easthy way to introduth her to everyone!”

“Ohh Joo-won I don’t think they want t-”

“That’s an amazing idea!” Seto’s father spoke up with a grin. “Come on Young-Mi, don’t you think we should take some time to show off our youngest boy?”

“No, I’m perfectly content being the disappointment child.” Kentaro said slinging his arms around (Y/N)’s shoulders and resting his chin on her head.

His father frowned at that comment while his mother only continued to fume as she thought of alternative ideas. Finally the woman threw her hands up in defeat.

“You and your girlfriend have to be ready in 20 minutes!” The woman said firmly before walking out the door, back into the party.

“No! We don’t want to do it!” Kentaro turned to his brother and father raging. “What the hell guys!? You didn’t even ask me! Let alone my girlfriend! What if she has stage fright!?”

“You will do just fine son. Go on think of a song and practice while you still got time.” The older male quickly sauntered after his wife.

Joo-won simply gave his brother a smile and small shrug.

“You don’t have to do this (Y/N). I’m so sorry I got you dragged into my family bullshit.”

“Hey, I came in here with the ride or die mentality. So, what are we gonna sing!?”

Kentaro was amazed that she was so willing to go along with the idea.

“Shit I have no clue. A love song! People loved it last time, what’s a real tearjerker we can throw at them?”

Both teammates looked at each other with wide eyes as the same idea came through their minds.

~~~~~

Kentaro swallowed hard as he looked out at the crowd. Sitting on the stool with his guitar he knew this time around wasn’t in his head that all eyes were on him. Even (Y/N) gave him her full attention and she sat on the stool directly across from him.

“Whenever you’re ready.” She whispered reassuringly. Her smile grew wider as the first notes of the song echoed in the room. And when his voice came out clear and perfect (Y/N) remembered just how amazed she was the first time she ever heard it.

Kao o awashitara kenka shite bakari (Whenever we saw each other all we did was fight) Sore mo i omoide datta (Still those are wonderful memories too) Kimi ga oshietekureta da mou kowaku nai (You taught me so much; I’m not afraid anymore) Donna fujiyuu demo shiawase wa tsukameru dakara (No matter how difficult my life is, I can grasp happiness)

The two locked eyes with each other before taking in a deep breath and singing in unison.

Hitori demo yuku yo tatoe tsurakute mo (I’ll go on alone, even if it’s painful) Kimi to mita yume wa kanarazu motteku yo (I will always carry that dream I had with you)

(Y/N) swallowed thickly. She heard so much emotion in Kentaro’s voice. It felt as if they had sang this song to each other a million times. So of course, she could only hope to match that pure tone in her own solo.

Zutto asondereru sonna ki ga shiteta (I thought we could play forever) Ki ga shiteita dake wakatteru (But I know that’s just what I wanted to believe) Umaretekita koto mou koukai wa shinai (I don’t regret being born, anymore.) Matsuri no ato mitai samishii kedo sorosoro ikou (Like the end of a festival, its sad but we have to go)

She felt her voice crack with emotion as that lyric hit hard. ‘I don’t regret being born, anymore.’ Scooting her chair closer to his she placed her hand on her friend’s knee. (Y/N) didn’t know if she would be able to finish the song without her voice cracking or just breaking down sobbing. The tears that trailed from her eyes betrayed her conviction to keep her composure.

Megutte nagarete toki wa utsuroi da (Time changes as its webbed and flows) Mou nani ga atta ka omoidasenai kedo (I can’t remember clearly anymore but,) Me o tojitemireba dareka no waraigoe (If I try and close my eyes..I can hear someone’s laughter)

Strong hands grabbed her face gently and his thumbs were placed tenderly over her quivering lips. (Y/N) stayed silent as Kentaro finished the song’s final lyric, surprising her as two lines of water cascaded down his face.

Nazeka sore ga ima ichiban no takaramono (Somehow that’s my most precious treasure)

The room was deafeningly quiet for a second before a thunderous applause could be heard. Turning towards the crowd the two performers were shocked to see so many others with tears in their eyes as well.

(Y/N) almost laughed at Joo-won looking absolutely in pieces with both hands pressed tightly over his mouth.

“Think any of them know that song was from the anime we watched last night?” (Y/N) said turning to Kentaro, who was already staring at her.

“You cried more than me this time.”

“Yeah but you still cried.”

“Because you made me sad.”

“Why?”

“Because you were singing like you’ve felt every word.”

The two followed each other off the stage and were immediately bombarded by this man in a nice albeit ‘loud’ suit. He gave (Y/N) a once over before doing the same to Kentaro before nodding his head excitedly.

“Yes yes you two would be perfect!”

“I’m sorry sir, perfect for what?” (Y/N) asked taking the initiative.

“I’m a talent manager! My company has been looking for a good duet! You guys are it! Duos have fallen out of style decades ago but we think they could make an amazing comeback and you two would fit the image we are going for.”

“And what image would that be exactly?” Kentaro asked with a brow raised.

“The song you sang, it’s about lovers reincarnating and remembering the time they spend with each other in past lives. That’s the shtick, lovers across decades! The couple has been reincarnated and fall for each other in every lifetime. The way you guys sing…its like you’ve been lovers for a millennium. Everything is almost perfect we would just need to do a few cosmetic touc-”

“We aren’t interested.” Kentaro said pulling on (Y/N)’s hand to lead her away.

“Come on now be reasonable! Just a double eyelid surgery, a little nose job and maybe some whitening treatments.”

Now it was (Y/N)’s turn to look offended.

“Excuse me! Who do you think-”

“(Y/N), it’s okay he wasn’t referring to you.”

“I kn-”

“Oh yes that is just like my youngest!” The boisterous voice of the boy’s mother caught both their ears as she spoke to a group of her friends and colleagues.

“We had no idea your young son was just as talented as his older brother! Why have you been hiding him, Young-Mi?!”

“That boy has never wanted the star life! It’s just not his thing. All the glamour and self care just fell to the wayside for him. We tried to take him to have that unsightly blemish removed from his forehead when he was nine but he threw a fit! But that’s Kentaro for you, the voice of an angel but a face made for voice acting!” The woman laughed loudly along with her friends who followed in suit.

Kentaro visibly flinched by those words and was about to steer (Y/N) in the opposite direction before she pulled from his grasp and stormed up to the group.

“Why would you ever think that would be okay to say about your own son?” The girl asked calmly but with a clear tone of disgust in her voice.

The group she walked up to blinked owlishly and waited for the older woman’s retort. The Korean woman didn’t miss a beat as she smiled largely.

“You found a good one, Ken! Look at her jumping to your defense but we joke like this all the time, right sweetie.”

“Yeah.” Kentaro placed his hands on the girl’s shoulders and whispered into her ear. “Drop it, let’s go.”

“But you are clearly bothered by it! A mother shouldn’t treat her child that way.”

“Ohh a bit of parenting advice from a little girl I’m sure has no children of her own.” Young-Mi laughed into her palm. “You know you don’t exactly make a good first impression right honey?”

“I was about to say the same.” (Y/N) spat back which seemed to take the woman a second to recover from. Clearly she wasn’t used to being talked back to.

The shutter of a camera went off, but the two women didn’t back down from their staring contest.

“You really don’t know how this works do you? I’ve seen girls like you come and go. Girls who want what they can get from my son. They agree to these dates in hopes they get a taste of the finer thing, get spoiled with gifts and eventually marry into riches. But when the money belongs to the parents, that’s usually who you should try to impress.”

“I’m with Kentaro because I want to be! You’ll find I have plenty of my own money I don’t need yours or your husband’s.”

“Then what is it? Huh you want to merge businesses?”

“I don’t need any ulterior motive to want to be with him! If you must know I’m the heiress to New Face, a company that has held no interest in taking on spokespeople over the age of 40.”

Young-Mi was clearly fuming at the young girl before her mouth dropped open into a small o-shape that merged into a laugh.

“You’re the one New Face has been hiding in shame for the past few years. Yes, most of us have heard about the ILLIGITEMATE makeup heiress that should be lucky anyone who would have inherited New Face is either infertile, disowned, or dead.”

Very audible gasps were heard from the room and Kentaro felt an almost sob rip through (Y/N)’s body as he began to pull her back. To his surprise that sob turned into laughter.

“You really are that much of a stereotype? The beautiful face with nothing underneath, tearing down anyone anyway you know how? Trying to live her life through her children! Your career ended before you were ready and pushing your kids is the only way people don’t forget your name! Maybe you would have been more memorable if you strived to be more than a pretty face! Clearly you weren’t that good of an actress, otherwise you’d figure you could ACT like you give a shit about your son-”

(Y/N)’s head snapped to the side as the older woman put all her force into her palm and struck her across the face.

“Mother! You went way too far!” Kentaro yelled out at the woman, pulling (Y/N) behind him to protect her.

“Young-Mi, that’s enough! You’ve had too much to drink!” Seto’s father said finally making his way into the crowd to pull his wife away. “Ken, (Y/N), I apologize greatly.”

“Don’t apologize, Kenjiro! Who is she to speak to me like that!? Your son brings in this little brat and we’re supposed to treat her specially in hopes she won’t leave him?!”

“…You don’t get it. You don’t even realize” (Y/N) mumbled, tears running down her red bruising cheek. “Your son, this one right here, he’s amazing and you don’t see that just because what? He doesn’t look like you or your perfect little family? Did you know he’s so smart, musically gifted, an amazing basketball player?”

(Y/N) clung onto her teammates hand tightly.

“But he doesn’t see anything good…and it’s because of you. Do you know how hard it is to unlearn the negative things parents put in your head? And it’s not enough to tell yourself its not true…so I’ll tell Ken-chan every day that he’s one of the most amazing guys I ever met, inside and out. And I hope I can help undo what years of you has done to him.”

“Let’s go.” Said male pulled on the girl’s wrist. “That’s enough, (Y/N).”

She couldn’t tell if he was angry at her or not. o, she remained silent as her friend pulled her through a staring crowd and out the door. The only breeze blowing through the air was hot and wet, making the fabric of her dress stick to her skin. He continued to pull her along the sidewalk. She didn’t think he even knew where he was trying to go but it wasn’t the time to ask questions.

(Y/N) expected Seto to scream at her, to tell her she was out of line. It dawned on her yet again that she was still meddling in her friend’s lives without asking. An internal debate in her mind was arguing that she was right in intervening and the other voice said she should have kept her mouth shut.

It wasn’t like Hanamiya’s situation. That was so secretive, the problems between Makoto and his mother had to be dug up. Young-Mi had made it everyone’s business when she put her comments out there. Just because it was uncomfortable to say something didn’t mean she shouldn’t have said it. Someone should have a really long time ago.

The girl gulped lightly as Seto’s feet came to a halt on a bridge overlooking the water. In the time it took to get here it had been decided that she didn’t regret speaking out, maybe just regretted how it came out.

The tall male turned to her, his face completely red and (Y/N) knew she was in for a fit of screaming. Closing her eyes, she braced herself for his rightful anger instead she felt his long arms wrap around her.

Her eyes snapped open as Seto held her tightly to his body.

“Eighteen years of those comments, of those parties, of those people laughing at my expense and you are the only one who has ever spoke out for me.” Seto mumbled into the girl’s hair.

Without a second thought she clung onto him just as tightly.

“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you or made anything hard for you in the future. But it wasn’t right, I shouldn’t have had to be the first person to ever say anything. Ken-chan, it’s not true, all these bad things you think about yourself…none of it is true. What’s inside matters but to me you are really handsome!”

(Y/N) was surprised yet again when Seto cupped her face between his hands and drew his face in closer to hers. Her breath caught in her throat, her lips parting slightly. But instead his forehead pressed against hers and he sighed softly.

“Thank you…for everything.” Finally pulling away he gave her a genuine smile before his face morphed into a sheepish look. “So, not your fault but our flight back isn’t until tomorrow and we were supposed to stay in the same hotel as my family but I’m not sure that’s a great idea.”

“That’s okay! I can buy us a hotel room for the night!”

“You expect to find a hotel room last minute in Okinawa at this time of year?”

“Sure, if you know where to look!”

~~~~~

Seto could feel himself sitting stiffly as he drowned out the sounds of the shower running. It was purely for convenience sake that (Y/N) dragged him into a Love Hotel. When she’d made the suggestion, he insisted in calling around first to see if there weren’t any available rooms at a proper place.

Of course, they hadn’t found anything and even this location had proven to be a bit of a problem. For starters there was only one room available, though he knew it would seem odd for the two of them to have gotten separate rooms at this kind of hotel. Secondly, they questioned if (Y/N) was underage, which was totally the right thing to do but 1. They didn’t need shit to fall through right now and 2. Nobody bothered asking his age.

“Ken-chan, you okay?” (Y/N) said making the male practically jump out his skin.

Turning towards her didn’t help much as she was drying her wet hair in nothing but a tank top and shorts. Her skin was glistening and when he looked closely, he noticed a droplet of water fall from her hair only to roll down her shoulder, over her collar bone and between her breasts. Swallowing all the saliva that had pooled in his mouth, Seto tore his eyes away and spoke.

“It would seem that they don’t have any spare cots or mats anywhere in the hotel so I decided to take the carpet and you can have the be-”

“No, that’s fine! Sleep with me!”

Seto felt his face burn red and turned away from (Y/N) so she wouldn’t notice. Without intention he quickly turned on the defense.

“That’s not really appropriate. Believe it or not I don’t make it a practice to come to places like this or other sleezy stuff like sleepin-” Seto’s words faded off as he heard how accusatory that sounded.

Looking back at (Y/N) he saw her with her knees pulled up to her chest, staring down at her barefeet. He had been defending her behind her back for days only to go and passive aggressively slut-shame her to her face, calling her sleezy.

“I’m…I’m not dirty or sleezy, you know.” (Y/N) pushed her hair behind her ear before giving him a small smile. “But I won’t push you to sleep anywhere or do anything you aren’t comfortable doing. Goodnight Seto.”

Ouch back to last names.

With that the girl bounced under the covers and turned to give him her back. Seto sighed, wanting to explain but also not wanting to expose himself. She would think he was 100% pathetic, especially someone so sexually liberated like she was.

Pulling off his shirt, he grabbed a pillow and chucked it onto the ground ready to just call it a night.

What am I a little bitch? He thought to himself before he could make his way onto the floor. This girl just stuck her neck and her company out on the line to tell his mother off. How the hell was he gonna let her defend him and then not even try to apologize for hurting her feelings?

“Hey (Y/N)? I’m really sorry I said that. I don’t think that people who get around or come to these plays are bad people or anything. I promise it wasn’t meant to be a jab at you.”

The girl didn’t even twitch to acknowledge him. Turning his body completely towards her, he frowned.

“I know that sounds like bullshit but please just look at me so I can explain. I can’t leave you feeling this way about me after all you did for me today.”

Still nothing and now Seto was beginning to get mad. Crawling closer to her. he tried once more.

“I’m apologizing here. You don’t have to accept it but at least acknowledge I’m here. There’s no way you’re asleep already! (Y/N)!”

With that Seto flipped her onto her back and found himself hovering above her, his hands on either side of her surprised face. The earbuds in her ears were apparent now, as her phone laid discarded beside her with the YouTube video still playing.

Neither said anything and Seto’s body was suddenly frozen, only his eyes flickering all over. Taking in the way (Y/N)’s hair rested into the pillow, the way one strap of her tank top was falling from her shoulder. He could see her chest rising and falling quickly and suddenly grew very aware that he was in nothing but basketball shorts. However, instead of moving like a normal person, Seto remained awkward and stiff like a board.

…And speaking of stiff.

Seeing (Y/N)’s face suddenly burn red and seeing her eyes widen snapped him back to reality. Flipping off her of, Seto planted his face into the bed and slammed a pillow over the top of his head. She totally felt that, and nothing even happened! What was he? Thirteen?!

A gentle touch on his back only made Seto sink deeper into the bed and really just pray the earth would swallow him whole.

“Hey, it’s okay it happens. I, umm why were you on top of me though?”

“I was trying to get your attention to say sorry for being insensitive. I don’t actually think bad of people who have a lot of experience that was just…. insecurities coming out.”

“…I understand. Trust me, I’m the queen of saying the wrong shit at the wrong time to the wrong people! I’m glad that you don’t think that way of me though. It was confusing me why you would say that when you were so understanding when you came to my house.”

“Yeah I’m just really stupid and can only succeed in embarrassing myself in front of the only girl I have been around this long.”

(Y/N) remained silent and Seto only now noticed that her hands had been kneading at his back muscles. A soft groan escaped his lips when she hit a certain spot.

“The tension there, tells me your nervous. Do I make you nervous?”

“Ugh it’s not because of you, I’m just never really around girls and they just kind of make me nervous.”

“Hmm…you don’t have to answer this but well you know about my sex life. Ken-chan, have you ever been with a girl?”

Seto felt like a computer that got the blue screen of death. His mind was making an atrocious screeching sound and he was 99% sure that was his internal screams. (Y/N) really just did that, she really just asked him if he was a virgin.

The audacity! The lack of tact! How uncouth! How dare sh-

“No.”

And of course the rest of that just ran out his mouth like a coursing river. Damn her for being really easy to talk to.

“Ahh okay! That’s why you were nervous sharing a bed with me! Don’t worry I won’t try anything! I just want you to be comfortable.”

“Don’t start treating me like a girl just because you know I’m a virgin!”

“Virginity isn’t a gendered thing! I’m not less of a woman because I’ve lost mine and you aren’t less of a man because you haven’t lost yours! Mine wasn’t a big deal to me.”

“Mine isn’t to me either. I’m not waiting for marriage or for a special someone or shit like that…it just never really happened. I usually just have a single date with a girl and it never gets past that point.”

“That’s fine! Things happen for people in their own time.”

“Yeah I know! Joo-won has been telling me that shit for years! I don’t care about having not done it just not having the opportunity to have done it? That doesn’t make sense, I guess I just want girls to find me attractive enough to want t-”

Seto’s eyes grew wide as (Y/N)’s hands grabbed his face with a level of dominance and pressed her lips onto his. If he thought his heart was racing before, he was about to go into cardiac arrest now.

Seemingly as soon as he realized he could kiss back the girl pulled away.

“Why did you-” He began.

“I ummm caught in the moment. And on the bridge. I thought you wanted me to… Do you want me to stop?”

“No!”

~~~~~

“Kentaro, you finally made it home.”

Seto cursed to himself, having been caught coming back into the house. Turning to look at his father with a clear ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ expression didn’t save him from his dad beckoning him closer.

“Where’s mom?”

“She took Joo-won to get his hair done. And before they get back, my son I really need to talk to you.”

“Look I already know that you’re gonna say I shouldn’t have brought (Y/N) around and that it embarrassed the family and we were rude-”

“No no, this has nothing to do with my future daughter-in-law. She’s quite the firecracker and I simply adore her! She has more of a backbone than you do.”

“What?!”

“Look, it was about time someone put Young-Mi in her place. She needed to be brought down a few pegs. In that same vein…quite a few news articles have come out criticizing your mother, in fact she received a call from the CEO of Me But Better this morning. Some representatives had been talking with her about having her endorse their products and perhaps do a collaboration. As you can imagine, a brand that sells self-love didn’t want to work with a woman who openly mocks her son.”

“Wow I didn’t know mom would lose work because of it. If (Y/N) really is the heiress to New Face I’m sure whoever she is inheriting was furious with how mom spoke to her.”

“I believe you are right. It wouldn’t surprise me if some calls were made to convince this new company to cut the deal. However, don’t feel too bad for your mother. She is riding off Joo-won’s coattails happily for the time being.”

“Well good for her, she deserved to have at least one son she didn’t hate.”

“Ken, your mother doesn’t hate you. She hates herself and you remind her of that every day.”

“What?”

“You look like her and she can’t stand it.”

“Dad, I look nothing like mom or you for that matter.”

“Well now you did get my sculpted cheek bones and jawline! No matter, Kentaro what I show you here it goes to the grave got it?” Kentaro tilted his head in confusion as his father produced an old student id and handed it to him.

Looking at the image the girl looked relatively pissed off. Her narrow eyes, tanned skin and wide face read very clearly as a girl who was conventionally below average on an attractive scale.

But just above her right eyebrow, not as centered as his own, a large dark mole caused the male to quickly look at the name on the ID.

“This is mom!?”

“Yes, but promise you’ll never bring it up! She doesn’t know I found this in a box of her old stuff!”

“She looks so plain! She’s like a four!”

“Yeah I know! Now you should be lucky you got some of my good qualities to balance you out!”

“So, she never told you that this was what she really looked like?”

“No, she got all her surgery before she began her career as an entertainer and definitely before she traveled to Japan. You and this ID are the only proof that she was once the girl in the picture.”

Seto stared at the piece of plastic then looked back up at his dad. He had seen pictures of his dad at all points in his life. The man was naturally a ten. He couldn’t help but wonder…

“Dad if she looked like this when you first met her wo-”

“Nope. I know what you’re going to ask me, and my answer is no. If your mother had come up to me like this, I wouldn’t have dated her.”

“Wow dad that’s actually pretty douchy.”

“I wouldn’t have been rude to her but…once I got to know her, I wouldn’t have tried pursuing her. She wasn’t an ugly duckling with a heart of gold; there was no seeing past her appearance into an amazing personality because she doesn’t have one. I grew to love her the longer I was married to her but in the beginning, it was all physical attraction. You are totally different in that aspect. Don’t think you’ll lose (Y/N) because of your looks, because you’re actually a good guy inside.”

“Yeah well…I’m glad I get everything a little more now.”

“Son, I am so sorry that we haven’t been the best parents. But look at you, even without us, you’ve accomplished so much. A star athlete, straight A genius with a beautiful girlfriend.”

“Dad…since we’re being honest here. (Y/N) isn’t my girlfriend, she’s the team manager. I wanted her to pretend to be my girlfriend so I could prove to mom that I didn’t need to pay or threaten anyone for a date. She’s just a really good friend who did a lot for me this weekend.” Seto coughed into his hand, trying to stifle down a blush as his mind drifted to last night’s events. “A whole lot.”

His dad didn’t miss any of the telling signs in his son’s explanation. He also remembered everything from the party. There was no denying it…his son was in love. But the girl…the girl seemed to be the type that needed to be told that outright to pursue. And that’s where he knew his poor son would finally sink or swim.

“Well for the first time in your life, let me be a good father and give some advice. Get on it…now. A girl like that doesn’t stay on the market long, no matter how much money or how good looking you are.”

“I know, my whole team is after her.”

“Even the playboy with the hair?” His dad said flaring his fingers out over his eyes.

“Yeah.”

“Yikes. Well make your confession quicker and better than theirs! And you know, regardless of who she ends up with…keep her around. She’s a good girl and I can tell she’s the type of friend you’ve been needing for a long time.”

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udunie · 4 years

Text

Okay, you guys, here’s the part of the Gerard fic that I love (it goes on to a sex scene that I don’t like, cause it doesn’t seem to fit the tone of this part)

Warning for: prostitution, drug abuse, addiction, generally heavy themes

Also, this is basically not edited or betaed at this point, I just want to pick your brains about how to go on with this, cause I feel like ‘monster cock and fake tits’ isn’t the way to go... Please let me know what you think :D

ETA: wow love it when tumblr fucks shit up, anyway, fixed now lol

***

Stiles was just a month or two over eighteen when his dad died. He didn’t like to think about it. Or all the things that happened after. It was like whatever self control he ever had was buried with his dad, leaving him destined to make one bad decision after the other.

Stiles just wanted to forget. Preferably everything; not going to college, not being able to pay his dad’s medical bills, being forced to sell the house, living in his jeep and turning tricks on occasion to survive… He just wanted to escape it all.

First there was the drinking and the weed, and when those were not enough anymore to get him through the day, he tried other things… ecstasy, cocaine, whatever. With his ADHD, drugs didn’t always work as they were supposed to. Sometimes a little too well, sometimes not at all, or in ways he didn’t enjoy. Nothing really stuck.

It was exactly on his nineteenth birthday when he met Kate.

“Want to try something new?” she asked, slithering up to him in the club. Stiles saw her around before, he knew she was selling something, though never really checked to see what. Lately he didn’t have the cash to get anything serious. “You look like you could use a little pick-me-up. You’re cute, so I’ll let you have one on the house.”

Stiles was a bit drunk and a bit high and very stupid.

“Wha’s it?” he asked, voice slurring a bit.

“Silver Bullet,” she said, holding up a pill. It reflected the strobe lights weirdly. “It will shoot all your troubles dead, baby. That’s a guarantee.”

Stiles popped it into his mouth without hesitation, chasing the bitter taste down with the vodka tonic he managed to flirt out of someone.

And the rest was history.

***

Silver Bullet wasn’t like anything he ever tried before. For one, it worked; getting him high and happy and horny every fucking time. He wasn’t hungry, he wasn’t tired or cold or lonely when he took it. Everything was fun and easy and sexy. It felt like being in love with every single person around him.

At first, it was easy. Almost too easy. He took a pill and felt like he wanted to make love to the world. He picked up a few johns, had sex that felt way better than it had any right to be and by the time he crashed, he had the money for the next few pills.

Even when he was sleeping, he dreamed about them, about having a whole palmful of those pretty, white pills. Even in his dreams, he could see the tiny, metallic looking particles in them. When he asked about it, Kate said that was the magic and he believed her. Stiles couldn’t imagine going for a day without.

Then Kate raised the price. Then she raised it again. And again. ‘Welcome to the free market, where demand sets the price’ she told him, laughing. He tried to look around for another dealer, but nobody was selling Silver Bullet, they all told him to fuck off if he even just asked about it.

It only took a month for him to start begging her. He sold the jeep, he sold his parents’ wedding rings, he had nothing more to give.

“I will do anything, Kate, please,” Stiles told her. The music was too loud in the club, and the lights too blinding and the shadows too deep. For a second, he thought about just… taking the little tin box of pills he knew she had on her with force, but it was a struggle to even hold himself upright. He was always so tired when he went too long without it.

She leaned back against the wall. Stiles wondered if her smile was always that cruel.

“Hm… Anything?”

“Anything, whatever you want, I will do it,” he said, the words rushing out of him.

“Tell me I’m beautiful,” she said, fluttering her lashes.

Stiles remembered seeing her through the haze of the drug. She’d looked like an ethereal being, like an honest-to-god angel.

“You… you are beautiful, you are the most beautiful woman in the world, I’ve never se-”

“Am I prettier than your mommy was?” she cut in.

She was standing so close, Stiles could almost taste the pill burning his tongue.

“Yes. Yes, you are, so much prettier,” he croaked, mouth dry.

She laughed, loud and harsh.

“Unfortunately, baby, flattery won’t get you anywhere,” she said. Stiles wanted to cry. “This is a family business, you know? What sort of a girl would cut her father’s profits?”

Stiles felt shaky and like he was about to throw up. He must have looked miserable, because Kate gave him a long, calculating look.

“But you know what? I can take you to meet him. Maybe you can dazzle him with your… talents.”

Kate was really the most beautiful woman in the world.

***

He was shaking during the whole car ride. He hadn’t had a high in three days, and he felt like he was about to die. Kate made him lie down, his head on her lap, and she stroked his hair, nails too sharp as they scratched against his scalp. The man driving the car - her brother, Stiles thought - gave him a few disgusted looks in the rearview mirror, but Stiles couldn’t care less.

He was going to meet Kate’s dad and fuck him and get high and everything would be fine.

Kate’s father lived in a huge house surrounded by a park and iron gates. It was like something out of a movie, but he was way too anxious to really appretiate it even as Kate led him inside. There was a double staircase in the entrance hall, and Stiles was told to wait there.

The place was big enough that he thought there should be an army of servants around, but everything was strangely silent. Stiles tried not to stare too much. All he could think about was getting his pills. Or maybe stealing something and pawning it off so he could get cash. But… Kate probably wouldn’t sell to him if he did that, right? It was hard to think with his whole body numb with need.

He spaced out instead, staring into mid distance, imagining how good it will be to get his pill and feel alive again. Stiles had no idea how long he just stood there until he finally heard Kate calling him from the top of the stairs. She sounded annoyed.

“Get your ass up here,” she bit out when she finally had his attention. “You don’t want to get him in a bad mood.”

Stiles didn’t. He ran up to her, not daring to touch the polished railing.

“Fuck, sorry,” he said, but she already turned her back, leading him to a set of tall double-doors.

“Daddy,” she said, pushing them open. She sounded very different than when she was talking to Stiles. “Here he is.”

Kate’s father was an old, old man with short, white hair and a stern face that had Stiles shifting from foot to foot with nerves. He was lounging on a sofa in pajamas and a brocade house coat. His eyes were cold enough to make him shiver where he stood.

“Stiles, this is my father, Gerard. Daddy, this is the boy I’ve told you so much about.”

Stiles doubted that random junkies were a regular topic at the family dinner, but he didn’t say anything. He had a goal in mind, and Gerard didn’t look like he enjoyed people mouthing off.

The old man looked him over, like he was a piece of gum stuck on the sole of his shoe.

“Strip.”

Stiles swallowed, glancing quickly at Kate. She nodded her head at him, smiling in a way that made him second guess himself.

“Go on, baby, try to make a good impression.”

Stiles licked his lips, and got to it. He felt stupid and weird with her watching him undress for her father. Without the warmth of drugs in him, he was acutely aware of how boney and pale and… ugly he was.

When he was finished, he just stood there, eyes glued to a spot over Gerard’s shoulder, wanting to cover himself but knowing that he shouldn’t.

“Don’t you like him, daddy?” Kate asked, sounding like she was pouting, but Stiles didn’t dare look at her again.

“I would have preferred a girl. You know that,” Gerard said. Stiles would have pissed himself if that much disdain was directed at him, but Kate just laughed, her voice sweet and light.

“But I don’t want to have a little sister or brother,” she said, teasing. “Chris is enough of a headache.”

Gerard barked out a laugh, sitting up straight.

“Damned right he is. Fine.” He picked up a shiny, darkwood box from the side table, opening it in his lap. It was lined with dark green velvet and there was an injection needle in it. It looked like it was antique, with little rings at the end of the crossbars. Beside it was a corked vial, filled with something that glittered like mercury, though lighter in color.

“Come here and get on your knees,” Gerard told him, not even glancing at Stiles. He clearly expected to be obeyed.

“I… What… what is that?” Stiles asked, watching him stab the needle through the cork and pulling some of the liquid into the syringe.

Gerard looked at him.

Stiles made the mistake of meeting his gaze.

Suddenly Kate was behind him, her breasts pressing into his naked back.

“That’s the good stuff, baby. That’s the real Silver Bullet right there, the same one you love so much, just a thousand times better,” she whispered in his ear. “And if you want it, you better be a good boy.”

Stiles couldn’t take his eyes off the syringe. Just the mention of the drug made all his cravings rush back tenfold. He wanted it. He wanted to feel it so bad.

He dropped on his knees in front of Gerard without any more hesitation. He didn’t like needles, and he didn’t like him, but he wanted… He needed the high.

Stiles didn’t expect to be backhanded hard enough to make his ears start ringing. There was a dizzying moment when he forgot where he was or why. Gerard grabbed his jaw, his fingers biting into him.

“When I give an order, I expect you to follow, is that understood?” he asked, sneering into his face from up close.

Stiles whined. His right cheek was burning. It would probably bruise… But it wasn’t even close to being the worst thing he ever got just to get high.

The man stared into his eyes for a long moment, maybe waiting for him to put up a fight, but all Stiles wanted was the Silver Bullet.

“Good,” he said finally, patting his face where it hurt. “Open your mouth.”

Stiles did.

Gerard trapped his tongue between his knuckles and pulled it outward and to the side. His fingers tasted salty and a bit bitter.

“This way, it will get right to your head,” he commented, Stiles closed his eyes as he saw the syringe getting closer. He just wanted to be alive again. “Don’t move.”

Gerard injected him at the base of his tongue. There was a sharp bite of pain that made him suck in a breath. He could feel his mouth flood with saliva.

And then…

Stiles remembered how happy he was back when he was just a kid and his mom bought him exploding candy. It was sweet and sour and like he had a little firework going off in his mouth. This was like that, but he could feel it in his head, his skull was filled with exploding candy, popping and popping and throwing sparks of flavors and colors and shapes and smells in every direction, every nerve in his body sizzling and popping and popping… The world was suddenly and inexplicably beautiful.

Everything was so pretty and bright and pleasurable that it almost hurt.

He could feel his hips pumping into the air, body convulsing like it was caught in an orgasm that just didn’t want to end. There were still fingers in his mouth and he moaned, licking and sucking at them eagerly. He felt like he was a flame, radiating pleasure and everything around him reflected it back, just amplifying it even more until he was drowning in light.

***

“What a nasty little slut,” Gerard said, letting the boy kneeling in front of him suckle on his fingers, slurping around his knuckles like he was trying to give the blowjob of his life. His eyes were glazed over and he was twitching almost alarmingly. “It’s been… what? Forty seconds? And he already came twice.”

Kate laughed, leaning against the doorframe.

“You like him, don’t you?” she asked, crossing her arms.

Gerard did, but he didn’t want Kate to know. The girl had to learn to do better, even if she managed to do an adequate job with this one.

“Should have been a girl,” Gerard reminded her, pushing his fingers in as deep as they could go, nudging the boy’s tonsils. He didn’t gag, but his eyes did roll back. Ah, and he was coming. Again. “But I will take it.”

#my fic #gerard fic #give me your thoughts please

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spine-buster · 5 years

Text

Alone, Together | Chapter 18 | Morgan Rielly

A/N: These next two chapters are what I consider “The Vancouver Chapters”, so enjoy! And yes, the BizNasty Does B.C definitely inspired this.

Bee had never been on a plane before, let alone business class. She knew what planes looked like inside – she wasn’t stupid – but she was shocked to see where they were sitting: nice, plush, individual seats with a footrest, tables, big screens, and even a shelf up against the plane wall. Morgan made sure they got window seats, because he knew she’d be taking pictures out of the window, especially as they flew over the Rockies. The flight was just under five hours, so she had a lot of time to get as many pictures as she wanted.

Bee put most things in her checked luggage, so she really only had to bring her tote bag on the plane. As she settled into her seat, she automatically opened the window covering and looked out onto the concrete of the Toronto airport runway. Morgan settled into his seat behind her, leaning in so he could get close. “You okay, bumblebee?”

She glanced behind her. “These are really nice.”

“I know.”

“Do you always fly like this?”

“Pretty much,” he admitted. “I’m a big boy. I need my space.”

He was built like a fridge so she figured as much. She also figured they’d be flying back to Toronto the same way. She obviously had to admit this was nice. She thought they’d be squeezed together like sardines in economy…not that she would have minded being squeezed next to Morgan. She’d even prepared for that – she brought a book, Richard Llewellyn’s How Green Was My Valley, headphones, some Gravol (she didn’t know if she got sick on planes, for obvious reasons), some gum for when her ears popped. She even bought snacks once they passed security. She’d researched what she would need. Morgan didn’t bring anything besides a neck pillow and headphones. She knew he was used to the journey. He probably knew the exact moment the plane would start to descend into Vancouver.

She also knew that he would want to sleep, but she didn’t know if she would be able to. She knew it was probably dumb, but she had never been on a plane before and she wanted to remember the experience: the turbulence, the take off, the landing, hell even the airplane food. It was an early morning flight, still only 6:30am as they boarded, the plane taking off at 7:30. They’d be arriving at 9:30am Vancouver time if all went well. His parents would be picking them up from the airport.

Bee wasn’t nervous about meeting his parents. From what Morgan had told her about them, they seemed to be amazing people, genuinely nice and caring – they had to be if they raised Morgan. She wasn’t nervous about meeting his brother, either, because Morgan told her so much about him and about his work on all the different movie sets in Vancouver and how cool it all was. God, and then there’d be Maggie – Morgan’s original girl – wagging her tail and slobbering her with kisses…

She was excited more than she was nervous.

“Go Leafs go,” a passenger said quickly as he made his way through the aisle, hauling a giant backpack in front of him. Bee whipped her head around to look at him. He was in his mid-twenties, light brown hair with a hoodie and track pants on. She watched as Morgan gave him a tight-lipped smile and a slight nod of the head. “Shoulda been named an All-Star, Mo. You’re the best defenseman in the league right now.”

Bee smiled. Morgan was way too humble to take the comment seriously, even though she knew – and probably everybody on this plane knew – that the guy was right. Morgan chuckled slightly at his comment. “Yeah, but at least I get to spend a week at home now,” he said.

“Those videos the boys made for you were funny as shit,” he added, noticing the line in front of him was moving. “You should be our next captain, bud. You’re the fucking man.”

Morgan smiled politely. Bee smiled too, wiggling her eyebrows. “Thanks bud,” Morgan nodded his head one more time before the guy moved forward, disappearing into economy class. Morgan leaned forward once he was gone. “You still need to help me kill the boys after they released those videos.”

“I could never kill them for saying the truth,” she turned away from him dramatically, lying down in her seat just because she could.

***

Bee knew immediately who Morgan’s parents were because of their waving arms. Nobody else in the arrivals section looked as excited as they did early in the morning. His dad towered over his mom – she knew where he got his height from now – and his mom did a little jump of excitement when she saw them. They followed as she and Morgan walked to their left down the ramp, lugging their suitcases behind them.

When they finally met, Morgan gave his parents big, warm hugs. His mom rocked him from side to side for a few moments before finally letting go. Morgan turned his attention to his dad, and Shirley turned her attention to Bee. “Briony! It’s so nice to finally meet you!” she exclaimed.

“It’s so nice to meet you too Mrs. Rielly,” Bee smiled.

“No no, you call me Shirley,” she said, extending her arms and giving Bee a strong, warm hug like she just did to Morgan.

When they let go, Bee focused her attention to Morgan’s dad. “Mr. --”

“It’s Andy,” he said, giving her a quick hug. “It’s very nice to meet you Briony. Is this your first time in Vancouver?”

“Yes! It’s actually my first time out of Ontario,” Bee said nervously.

“Well, Vancouver is the perfect city for first-time travellers!” Andy replied. He turned his attention back to his son. “Did you guys eat on the plane? We can go have breakfast.”

“No no, we had something.”

“Alright,” Andy smiled. “Then let’s go into the city.”

Everybody loaded themselves into the family SUV and Andy drove through the streets of Vancouver while Bee sat in the backseat, head practically out the window as she took in the scenery around her. She felt a bit stupid taking out her phone to take pictures, but at one point, some mountains appeared in the background, and she couldn’t help but start snapping. She’d Googled pictures of Vancouver so she’d know what it looked like, but actually being here and seeing everything was totally different. It was a beautiful, sunny day outside despite it being winter, and the crisp morning air just made everything more beautiful.

Andy eventually drove to a place called Kitsilano Beach, where he parked the car on a residential street before they began walking. Even though it was the middle of January, people were still out jogging, playing with their dogs, and Bee even thought she saw one person doing yoga. They walked along the pavement path, before the beach, the beautiful mountains rising in the distance. Even some sailboats were already out on the water. It was all so picturesque, and Bee was sure she was being annoying with how many pictures she was taking.

“Briony, Morgan tells us you’ve been studying for your Master’s in Financial Economics,” Andy said as she finished another round of photos of the coast, smiling at her as she put her phone back in her purse.

“Oh, yeah,” she nodded. “I’m finished now though. Just got the paperwork about a week ago that I’ve passed everything and I’m officially graduating in June.”

“Heeeeey! Congratulations!” he said excitedly. “And now?”

“Now I’ve gotta get a job,” she joked. “I actually have an interview at Scotiabank the Monday we get back. I’m hoping something comes from it.”

“That’s fantastic, Briony!”

“She graduated with a 3.8 GPA!” Morgan chirped in from behind them where he was standing with Shirley. “Straight A’s across the board!”

“Hey, can you teach Morgan some things?” Shirley laughed.

“He’s been learning!” Bee said earnestly. Shirley whipped her head towards her son in shock. Andy let out a loud ‘What?!’, causing Bee to laugh. “It’s true! He pulled out ‘Keynesian economics’ once during conversation, and now he’s got all the newspaper apps on his phone and will bring up Bank of Canada interest rates.”

“My son, Morgan Frederick Rielly, is bringing up interest rates and Keynesian economics? Whoa ho ho,” Andy shook his head.

“Can you maybe not embarrass me in front of my parents?” Morgan asked, hands on his hips.

“What’s embarrassing? It’s cute!” Bee giggled.

“It’s super cute!” his mom stressed. “God, trying to get you to watch the news when you were younger was a struggle. Now she’s saying you have their apps on your phone? That’s growth, dear.”

As the four continued to walk along the path and joke around, learning more and more about one another, the beach stopped and they walked through a path of trees that obscured their view for a while. When they emerged, Bee was shocked to see the Vancouver skyline stretched out before her in the distance, the mountains rising behind the tall condo buildings.

“Oh wow!” she exclaimed, walking past the Elsji Point sign to the edge of the Kitsilano Seawall. She heard the waves crash up against the rocks and stepped on them, trying to get as close to the edge as possible. “How cool is that?!” she shouted to no-one in particular.

“You like what you see, Briony?” Shirley laughed.

Bee looked back to see Morgan following behind her, balancing himself on the jagged rocks. “It’s beautiful!” she called out to his parents, focusing her attention back on the skyline. She felt Morgan’s fingers tickle the small of her back before he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, standing next to her on the rocks, looking out at the skyline. “What a view!” she said, smiling from ear to ear as she looked up at him momentarily.

“I agree,” he smiled, not caring about the skyline.

***

Neither Morgan nor Bee truly minded that the rest of the day was spent with his parents. They had taken an immediate liking to Bee, and after taking pictures together at the Kitsilano Seawall, they drove to Yaletown to have lunch before getting back in their car to drive home. Sometime during the drive, they crossed the Lion’s Gate Bridge into North Vancouver. The streets became leafier and more tree-lined, tall glass condo buildings making way for large single-family lots hidden by trees or built into cliffs and hills along the coast.

When Andy pulled in to what Bee could only assume to be their house, she was taken aback by the prettiness of it, and of course the size. It was huge, bigger than what she was used to of course, with huge windows and a landscaped front yard with giant pots of flowers framing the front door. Bee felt like she was looking at a castle. Chateau Rielly. This is where Morgan grew up. This is where he’d wake up early for hockey practice and lug his giant bag out to the car. This is where he’d play in the streets with his brother and friends before getting called in for dinner. This is where he moved out of, at only fourteen years old, to pursue his hockey dream.

When Bee stepped inside the house, she was again taken aback at how it truly felt like a home. Nothing she had ever lived in had felt this warm and inviting. Right in the entryway, there were framed pictures of artwork Morgan and his brother Connor drew when they were young; weirdly shaped people with a house and a dog. Morgan had drawn mountains in his while Connor drew a huge sun.

“Figured you two might want to relax a bit before dinner,” Andy said as he slipped out of his shoes. “It’s already been a long day.”

A loud bark interrupted everyone, and Maggie came zooming around the corner, running straight towards Morgan. He bent down immediately and she practically jumped into him, slobbering his face with kisses. Her tail was wagging so quickly and so excitedly that it was banging against the floor and the wall.

“Hi baby girl! Hi! Hello! Hello!” Morgan began cooing at her, scratching at her ears and letting her lick his face. “Hi Maggie girl! I’m home! Yes! I’m home! Are you happy Maggie? You happy to see me Maggie?” Maggie barked in pure elation, even whimpering a few times as she kept jumping up on him.

“Oh, the love fest begins,” Shirley smiled, shaking her head at the sight before her. “Sorry Briony, he’s going to smell like dog breath for the rest of the night.”

“Maggie loves me and I love my Maggie girl,” Morgan quipped as Maggie continued to lick at his face. “Maggie, go meet Briony! Who’s that?”

Maggie’s attention focused on Bee, and she waddled over to her at Morgan’s command and began sniffing her. Bee didn’t have much experience with dogs besides Sarah Jessica Barker, and even then, Sarah Jessica Barker was a small dog. Maggie was huge. Bee stuck out her hand for Maggie to smell, and it only took a couple of sniffs for Maggie to start licking her. “Hi Maggie. Hi beautiful girl,” she said, kneeing in front of her to give her some more pets. Maggie got excited at that and gave Bee’s face a giant lick, causing her to squeal.

“Oh great! Now they’ll both smell like dog breath,” Andy rolled his eyes playfully. “Mo, come on. Go bring the suitcases upstairs and then come out and see the new deck.”

Morgan left Maggie unwillingly, grabbing both his and Bee’s small suitcases in both hands before climbing the stairs quickly. Bee and Shirley followed close behind, with Maggie following Andy outside to the backyard. Once they were all at the top of the stairs, Shirley and Bee took the suitcases from him before he went back downstairs and outside with his dad.

“You’re in here sweetie,” Shirley said, leading her down the hallway. She opened the door to the spare room, all done up for Bee’s visit. There were a bunch of pillows on the bed with a really cozy looking comforter. Bee noticed a door leading to an ensuite bathroom and another further down the wall, probably a closet.

She took her suitcase from Shirley, hauling it onto the bed as Shirley walked over to the window to open the blinds, revealing an absolutely stunning view of a rocky cliff and trees, and even a sliver of the ocean. God, was there anywhere that wasn’t beautiful here? “Thank you for letting me stay in your home,” Bee said to her.

“Oh, there’s no need to thank me, sweetheart,” Shirley smiled. “It’s not like we’d let you stay at a hotel when we have extra room. You have your own washroom right through that door, and Morgan is just in the room beside you in case you need anything at night,” she explained.

“I almost insisted on it to Morgan,” Bee tried to joke. “He wouldn’t hear any of it.”

“Then I taught my son well,” Shirley winked, walking over to the bed to start fluffing the pillows, as if they needed any more fluffing.

“I didn’t want you to feel like I was intruding on your time and space,” Bee explained. “Um, I’m sure Morgan told you about me a little bit, and how I’m not used to all this stuff.”

Shirley stopped fluffing the pillow, placing it down on the bed before giving Bee a concerned look. “He did, but only because I pried it out of him, like any mom would when he son tells her he has a new girlfriend,” she said. “Which is all the more reason why you should stay here, in a family home, rather than some stuffy hotel.”

Bee nodded her head. “Um, I know this might be a bit forward of me, but we can talk about it if you want. I’m sure Morgan’s told you about that too…how upfront I am about it,” she half laughed. “I’m not that sensitive about it. I told Morgan the second time we hung out.”

“Honey, I’m not going to force you to talk about anything. I’m just…” Shirley couldn’t find the right words. She sat down on the bed and pat the seat beside her, so Bee joined her. “I just want to make you feel as comfortable as possible while you’re here. I know how much my son adores you and how much he cares about you. And quite frankly, he’d probably kill me right now if he knew we were having this conversation,” she pulled a face, causing Bee to laugh slightly. “I know your mom had her…troubles, and her addictions, and I know she wasn’t the best mother to you. But Morgan told me how you worked yourself out of that life, and I know this isn’t much coming from me, but I’m very proud of you.”

Bee felt like crying at her words. Besides Clarette telling her the same thing, she’d never heard a maternal figure say those words to her. I’m proud of you. It was the warmest feeling in the world; the best arrangement of four words Bee could hear from someone. “It actually does mean a lot coming from you,” she said quietly. “Morgan has told me a lot about you too. How educated you are and how you started your own medical company. He loves you guys so much. Like I can tell…I can tell he wants to talk about you guys all the time, but he kinda holds back a bit, because he knows I don’t have those same experiences, with parents and a sibling and a dog, so he doesn’t want to make me feel uncomfortable. But I like hearing that sort of stuff.”

“Morgan is a gentle soul,” Shirley nodded her head. “A bit rare for a hockey player, but he is. I remember…oh gosh, he’s going to kill me…” she shook her head quickly, “but I remember when he was a toddler and he grasped the idea of happiness – you know, how things can be happy and sad. And when he did, all he used to ask was ‘Mamma happy?’ ‘Daddy happy?’ ‘Connor happy?’ ‘Plant happy?’ ‘Chair happy?’ He was always making sure everybody and everything around him was happy. And if they weren’t, he’d work to make them happy again. That’s never gone away with him. It’s something that he’s kept all these years later.”

Bee couldn’t help but smile at what Shirley was telling her. It was true. Morgan was very in-tune with people’s emotions. If one of his teammates was upset or stressed, he’d talk it out with them, lend them a listening ear, and try to make them feel better. He did the same with her. Always. It was crazy how, even as a toddler, he had the same qualities. “He’s definitely still kept that up,” Bee smiled.

Shirley placed her hand on Bee’s forearm, giving her a warm smile. “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable here, ever. You are not a guest here. If you’re every hungry or thirsty, just walk to the fridge and get what you want. Fall asleep on the couch,” she said, being interrupted suddenly by Maggie’s bark, signalling Morgan and Andy were back in the house. “You’re a gentle soul too, Briony. Regardless of what happened in your past, and regardless of the tough exterior you may have had to put on to survive in this world alone. Inside, you’re a gentle soul. That’s why my son adores you. Gentle souls stick together.”

Morgan’s loud footsteps pounding up the stairs prevented Bee from bursting into tears right then and there. When he appeared in the doorway, he was greeted with Shirley rearranging a picture frame on the armoire and Bee sitting on the bed, looking out the window. “Everything good?” he asked, taking in the scene of his mother and his girlfriend.

“Just admiring the view,” Bee pointed to the window, which faced out into the backyard, holding in her tears.

***

“Baby…baby…Bumblebee…Bumblebee…”

Bee thought she heard a voice, but she had been in such a deep sleep, she wondered if it was just a dream. She opened her eyes, barely, to see a figure standing over her. “M…Mo?”

“Baby, get up,” he shook her gently.

“What?”

“Get up. We gotta go.”

“We gotta go? Where?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“What?!”

“We gotta go somewhere, but it’s a surprise.”

“Is this some sort of sick joke?” she looked over at the alarm clock on the bedside table. “It’s 4:30 in the morning, Mo.”

“I know. But you need to trust me.”

She leaned up in bed, looked over to her window to see darkness outside. “Is the sun even out yet?”

“No. But that’s the best part. Come on. Wash your face and let’s go,” he said excitedly as he left the room. She could see Maggie in the doorway waiting excitedly before she followed Morgan out of the room.

She got out of bed and quickly washed her face and brushed her teeth. She brushed through her hair quickly and put on a hoodie and a pair of jeans, wondering to herself how cold it was outside, since it was still in the middle of the fucking night. She emerged from her room to see Morgan pouring coffee into two canisters, a cool bag seemingly already packed with Tupperware. Maggie was waiting patiently at Morgan’s feet, her tongue dangling out and something strapped to her body.

Bee rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. “Am I hallucinating or is Maggie in a lifejacket?” she asked.

Morgan glanced behind his shoulder to smile at her, and smile down at Maggie. “Yes, she’s in a lifejacket.”

“Is that a shark fin on top?”

“Mhm,” he nodded his head as he closed the coffee canisters. “She’s not only the queen on land, she’s the queen of the ocean too.”

“Where are we going?” she tried to ask one more time as she watched him fling the cool bag over his shoulder.

“It’s a surprise,” he winked, handing her coffee. “Now let’s go.”

He guided her through his parents’ backyard, and even through his neighbour’s backyard with a flashlight, down a path of rocks used as steps carved into the edge of the coast until they got to a dock. Maggie followed close behind them, trotting her way down to the bottom. There, a boathouse sat housing two compartments. She could only assume one belonged to his family. “Are you taking me out on a boat?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Morgan said, holding her hand as she manoeuvred by a few shaky rocks. “You don’t get boat sick, do you?”

“I have no clue. Are we allowed?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” he smiled at her. “C’mon, let me help you in.”

She grabbed his hand and he provided support as she stepped into the boat from the dock. He gave her his coffee canister and the cool bag to store before bending at the knees to pick up Maggie in his arms and put her on the boat as well. When he climbed in, he gave Bee a quick kiss before doing what he needed to do to prep the boat to take it out. Once he turned the motor on, Maggie barked excitedly and he started driving it along the water.

He drove the boat through the Strait of Georgia, in between Keats, Gambier, and Bowen Islands, as if he was taking it to Gibsons – a regular summer activity. The scenery was more beautiful than Bee could have ever imagined, even better than the pictures she had Googled to get a better understanding of what Morgan grew up surrounded with. The mountains looked like they appeared straight from the water as a light fog lay on their tops, creating a haze to go with the slow-coming sunrise that illuminated the scenery for her. The deep blue of the ocean mixed with the deep hues of the mountains was breathtaking. The sound of the water, so calm and so serene as it hit the side of the boat, provided the perfect background music to the scenery before her.

She was a city girl through and through. Born and raised in Toronto, a product of the concrete and streets she called home. But out here, on the boat, with mountains before her and the natural scenery of the Sunshine Coast surrounding her, Bee couldn’t think of a better morning.

Morgan eventually stopped the boat, turning the engine off as he took out a blanket and brought it with him to the seat on the back of the boat where Bee was sitting. He sat next to her, unfolding the blanket and laying it across them. Maggie came trotting towards them, still with her shark fin lifejacket on, and lay down at Morgan’s feet.

“Are we just gonna watch the sunrise?” she asked as she snuggled into him.

He wrapped an arm around her and clasped her hand that was lying on his chest. He brought it up quickly to his lips and kissed it. “That’s exactly what we’re gonna do,” he whispered.

And they did. For at least two whole hours, they sat in the boat, attached to each other, and watched the sun rise over the mountains and illuminate everything in its sight. It made the waves look like a sea of diamonds. It made the mountains giants among their miniscule existence in the boat. It made Morgan’s blue eyes shine like sapphires every time she looked up at them and kissed him. It made her believe there was nothing better than this; there was nothing better than being cuddled next to Morgan, on a boat in the middle of the Georgia Strait, watching the sunrise over the West Coast.

Despite Morgan not wanting the morning to end, he knew that they’d eventually have to get back to his parents’ house for breakfast. He didn’t want to, though. He could have stayed out here for the rest of the day. He could have stayed out here forever. He could have forgotten about every other worry he had and just live on the boat with Bee and Maggie. But he knew his parents wanted to spend more time with her before their day in Victoria with their friends, and he didn’t want to deny them getting to know her.

Suddenly, a small explosion came up from the water. Water sprung up from something beneath the water, and Bee yelped slightly in fear. “What was that?”

Morgan paused, a small smile appearing on his face. He waited patiently for another to happen, and when it did, he smiled even more. “It’s a pod of whales.”

“It’s a what?!” Bee demanded, suddenly getting scared. “Oh my God, are they – are they gonna capsize the boat?!”

“No no no, we’ll be fine,” Morgan said. “They’re peaceful. This isn’t Moby Dick.” He walked back to the steering wheel of the boat and turned on the engine.

“Excuse me? What do you think you’re doing?” she asked as another whale sprayed water from their blowhole.

“We’ve gotta follow the pod, Bee.”

“Are you nuts?”

“Bee, do you know how rare it is to be this close to a pod? At this time of year? We have to!”

“Morgan, we’re going to die.”

She was such a city girl. He just laughed as he adjusted the motor on the lowest setting, just enough to get the boat moving to follow the whales but not loud enough to scare them in any way. “Bumblebee, it’s going to be magic. Don’t worry, we’ll be safe. My dad and I have done this a lot.”

They began following the pod slowly, Bee looking over the edge of the boat to see if she could see the figures of the whales under the water. She couldn’t – she figured they were too far away – but then another whale sprayed more water from its blowhole not too far from them and she saw some of it come out of the water. She gasped at the sight. “Morgan! It came up a little!” she called out.

Another whale, seemingly right beside the other one, did the same thing, except its tail fin came up too. Bee gasped again and she kept muttering ‘Oh my God’ over and over to herself. After a few minutes and more tails coming up from the water, Bee couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She looked at Morgan. “What kind of whales are they?” she asked.

“By the tail, they look like humpbacks,” he said, noticing another blowing of water out in the distance. They were becoming more frequent now, and he knew what that meant. He stopped the boat, killed the engine, and went over to Bee, who was still looking over the edge. “Bee, look out into the distance. They’re gonna breach.”

“What’s that mean?”

“They’re gonna jump. All of them.” He wrapped his arms around her, standing behind her so her back was flush with his chest, and leaned his head gently on top of hers. He waited patiently, a few more blows of water and some tail fins coming up.

Then the magic happened. Against the backdrop of the sunrise and the mountains in the distance, the humpback whales began to breach. One after another, their bodies jumped out of the water, splashing down in a heap. It was like they were putting on a show for her as they kept breaching, moving across the water but going further into the distance. They were the only ones out, the only ones witnessing this beautiful, natural display. Bee screamed and jumped out of Morgan’s arms in pure jubilation as she watched, bending over in shock and bringing her hands up to cover her mouth, almost cackling at what she was witnessing. More screaming of ‘Oh my God!’ every time one breached, huge gasps at the size of them, pure shock and wonder and elation and euphoria spreading through her veins. Never, never in a million years did she think she’d be able to witness something so beautiful and ethereal.

When their activity died down, and they were getting too far to truly see, she looked back at Morgan, her jaw on the floor at what she had just witnessed. He had a giant smile on his face too, so incredibly happy that she was able to see them. She walked slowly into his outstretched arms, her hands still over her mouth in shock. He wrapped his arms around her again tightly, placing a quick kiss on the crown of her head.

“That was…” she began, but she couldn’t find the right words to truly express what she was feeling. She’d never done drugs before, but this is what she imagined it was like to feel high.

“See? And you thought they’d capsize the boat,” he joked.

“I can’t believe I just saw that. I…” she trailed off, again unable to truly find the right words. “Morgan, that was incredible.”

“I know. It’s magic.”

“Oh my God. Oh my God. And you’ve seen that more than once?” she asked.

He nodded his head. “Quite a few times, actually.”

“God, Morgan. You’re so lucky.”

Her tone brought him back down to earth a bit; made him truly realize that yes, he was lucky to have been able to witness something like that more than once. He realized that for someone who had grown up in the city, all concrete and skyscrapers and university buildings, what she just saw really was magic; a reminder of the natural world that still existed, that would still exist after that concrete, those skyscrapers, those university buildings were all gone. There would always be the ocean. There would always be nature.

There would always be magic.

***

The sound of Morgan’s scream and splash in the pool was sure to upset the neighbours. After cooking (read: barbequing) Bee dinner all by himself, he had convinced Bee to take a late night dip in the pool as the sun set on the West Coast. She didn’t know how to swim, but that didn’t matter to him. It wasn’t about the swimming. His parents were spending the night at their friend’s house in Victoria on Vancouver Island, so they had the whole house to themselves.

He had changed into his bathing suit quickly – an old one he’d found in a drawer in his bedroom that was a bit too small now, but whatever – and met Bee outside before he made a run for it and dove into the pool. He’d already adjusted the pool temperature so it was a bit warmer. He thanked God his parents hadn’t winterized it this year because his mom wanted to practice water aerobics and Maggie would swim to get exercise to lose weight (the vet was wrong, Morgan thought – Maggie was a chunky girl but she was a good girl and didn’t need to lose any weight if she didn’t want to).

He watched as Bee followed close behind him, her comfy bathrobe still on, concealing her body. She looked back nervously into the house as she watched him swim around. “You…your parents aren’t home, right?”

“Bee, we drove them to the ferry this morning.”

“And like, we know for sure that they got on the boat?” she asked, fidgeting with the tie on the robe before looking back into the house.

“Can you stop being so paranoid,” he deadpanned. “They’re gone. It’s just you and me, baby. And Maggie. But she’s sleeping on her bed because it’s past her bedtime.”

“That fact that your dog has a bedtime really says something, you know.”

Morgan watched as Bee disrobed slowly, and he couldn’t help the giant smile that appeared on his face when she dropped it to the floor, leaving her in her one-piece swimsuit. It was a black deep V-neck, a majority of it the solid colour while a part of it was striped. It wasn’t high cut at the hips or deeply revealing in any way, but Bee filled it out so well. As she bent over to fold the robe haphazardly on the deck chair, he saw the material ride up. He put his fingers between his lips and whistled loudly.

“Can you not?” she gave him a look, somewhere between amused and annoyed. “You might wake up your neighbours.”

He rolled his eyes. “Can you get in here?”

She left her robe alone, walking gingerly towards the pool. She’d never learned how to swim before, and although the pool wasn’t that big, she was still nervous. She stood at the edge, watching Morgan as he tread water. That meant he was in the deep end. “Can you go into the more shallow water,” she requested nervously.

He did as he was told, moving towards the more shallow part. He watched as she moved with him. He brought his arms up, beckoning her in. “C’mere,” he said.

“Morgan…don’t let go,” she said nervously. “I mean it. I don’t know how to swim at all.”

“I won’t, I won’t,” he said, licking his lips as she bent down and sat on the edge of the pool. “You just gonna wiggle in?” he asked.

“I guess? Should I do something different?” she worried.

“No no, that’s fine.”

“And you’ll catch me when I go in right?”

“Of course.”

She wiggled her body off the edge nervously and landed in the water with a splash, Morgan catching her automatically. She held on to him around his shoulders with a death grip. “Mo?” she started kicking her feet instinctively from beneath her.

“I got you, I got you,” he said comfortingly, wrapping his arms completely around her. “Stop kicking your feet.”

“Well what am I supposed to do with them?”

“Just wrap ‘em around me,” he whispered, his hands trailing down to her thighs. “Like this.”

“Is that safe?”

He couldn’t help but smile again. “Yes, it’s fine because I know how to swim. You’re also only in like, five feet of water, and your incredible hunk of a boyfriend stands at a staggering six-foot-one.”

Bee snorted. “You are honestly the worst.”

He moved away from the ledge and submerged her more in the water. She grabbed onto him a little bit tighter as he did so, still nervous about the fact that she couldn’t swim. “You look incredible in your bathing suit,” Morgan said, trying to get her mind off her fear.

“I think it shrunk. I washed it before bringing it here and now it keeps riding up my butt,” Bee revealed.

“Whatever happened, it looks incredible,” he repeated, his hands wandering to her butt now that she mentioned it. “It just hugs your entire body perfectly. It looks hot.”

“Morgan.”

“I’m being serious.”

“I know you are,” she giggled, and in that moment, Morgan realized she was probably laughing because she could feel his growing erection in his swim trunks.

“And your boobs,” he continued.

“Morgan.”

“God, your boobs look even better.”

“Can you not.”

“Nuh uh, you’re gonna hear this,” he shook his head. “You look phenomenal.”

She smiled at him, biting her bottom lip as she played with the wet hair at the nape of his neck. She couldn’t believe how the day had turned out. Even though she had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning because of Morgan’s surprise, it was beyond worth it. The time they spent together with his parents felt so natural and unforced, like nobody was putting on airs and graces just to impress the other. Finishing off the day with Morgan’s home cooked dinner and now a dip in the pool, she really couldn’t believe how much fun she’d had. “I think this might be one of the best days of my life,” she said softly. “I’ve had so much fun today. Everything has been so…amazing.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” she nodded her head. “I know this is my first vacation ever, but I could get used to this.”

Morgan laughed, giving her a quick kiss. “I’ll bring you here anytime you want Bumblebee. You just tell me when.”

She bit her lip again, and Morgan couldn’t take it, so he leaned in to kiss her and he wasn’t able to stop. She reciprocated readily and she felt him move in the water, back to the edge, so he could push her up against it. As the kisses got heavier and steamier, Bee couldn’t help but run her hands through Morgan’s wet hair and drag her nails down the muscles in his back. As was usual, Morgan began leaving a trail of kisses along her jawline and down her neck, making sure to move back up to her lips and stick his tongue down her throat.

“Briony?” he said when he pulled away to catch his breath. He gulped. Her lips were swollen from all the kissing.

“Hmmm?”

“I love you.”

She tried not to let her body freeze up. She tried not to look shocked, or stunned, or that she wasn’t expecting it at all, because she had been for a little while now, because she knew the feeling was there with him, even if he hadn’t said the three words yet, and quite frankly, the feeling was there with her too, it’s just that she didn’t have the confidence like he did to say it out loud first, and - -

“Briony?” his voice, nervous as ever, interrupted her internal thoughts.

“I love you too Morgan,” she said automatically, adamant to not overthink it. Love was complicated, so complicated, but love was also simple. If you loved someone, you knew. End of story. The feeling could creep up, the feeling could come all at once, the feeling could overwhelm and engulf you completely, but when you knew, you knew.

Morgan and Briony knew.

#morgan rielly #morgan rielly imagine #morgan rielly fic #toronto maple leafs #toronto maple leafs imagine #toronto maple leafs fic #nhl #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #nhl fic #hockey #hockey imagines #hockey imagine #hockey fic #alone together series

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flowers-creativity · 5 years

Text

Whumptober day 11

Fandom: Stranger Things Characters: Max Mayfield, Lucas Sinclair, Erica Sinclair (supporting: Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers) Warnings: Blood, minor injury

Prompt: Stitches

Summary: Erica and Lucas fight a lot but in the end, they’re family

Notes: First time writing Erica, I hope she is IC. Also very rough and off-the-cuff.

Fun fact: the idea for the injury is actually taken from the same happening to me (glass (bottle), tiled kitchen floor, shard to the leg). Mine was not quite so severe as I made it for poor Erica here but I still have the scar.

"Hey!"

Lucas smiled at her. "Hi!" He grabbed Max's hand and pulled her towards him, giving her a quick kiss. When he let her go again, his face clouded over, though. "I'm sorry, Max, I can't come out today."

"Huh?" Max raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "Did you get grounded?"

Lucas rolled his eyes. "I'd actually prefer that," he grumbled. Louder, he continued: "No, Mom and Dad had to go to some appointment they forgot about, so--" he hooked his thumb over his shoulder towards the living room, "I'm stuck with her."

From behind him, she could hear Erica's voice: "Screw you, Lucas!"

Max laughed. "Babysitting?" At his answering nod, she smiled and gave him a little push into the house. "I'll help. We can just hang out here."

His face lit up, and he seized her hand again, squeezing it. "You're awesome – thank you."

Max just nodded – it was not much of a sacrifice. As much as she liked going to the arcade and hanging out with the rest of the Party, there was a reason Lucas was her boyfriend, after all. Time spent with him was always enjoyable.

Plus, even though Erica antagonised Lucas at every turn, Max actually liked her. She was an unstoppable bundle of self-confidence and sass and able to take down her boyfriend a peg or two which he sometimes needed. Max couldn't be solely responsible for that.

She trailed behind Lucas into the living room where Erica was curled up on the couch and was watching something on TV. "Max and I are going up to my room," he told her, "so call if you need anything. Remember, one hour, and then you turn the TV off, understood?"

Erica rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah," she answered. "Hi Max!"

"Hi Erica!" Max smiled at her. "How's everything?"

"Well, apart from being stuck here with this dumbass, as if I need a babysitter ..." Erica waved lazily at her brother, "things are good. Go suck face with him, so he leaves me alone."

Lucas groaned. "Eeeerica ..." He pulled her name apart like chewing gum.

"Luuucas," she mimicked him. "What's your problem? Go spend time with your girlfriend, so you don't have to bother me, and I don't bother you."

Lucas threw up his hands. "That's all I want!"

"Well, then you have it!"

Max watched the back-and-forth with a raised eyebrow, amused. She never got tired of watching those two bicker because it never escalated above complaining and mild insults. What a difference to her home life ... But finally, she took Lucas' arm and pulled him away. "Come on, let's go suck face or something!" She grinned up at him and then back at Erica who mimed throwing up but then flashed her a bright grin.

They spent the next half hour or so in his room (not only sucking face, thank you very much) when suddenly a loud crash disrupted the relative quiet of the house. Lucas looked up, frowning. "What's the plague doing now?" he murmured. The next moment, a wail rose up from below, and Max sat up on Lucas' bed. "That--" She didn't even manage to finish the sentence before Lucas was already up and across the room, wrenching the door open. She scrambled to follow him as quickly as she could.

When she reached the Sinclairs' kitchen, she stopped dead in her tracks. Erica sat on the floor, her hands wrapped around her right leg, crying up a storm, and there was blood smeared all over the kitchen tiles, mixed with the cold glitter of broken glass. Lucas was crouched before his sister, his eyes wide, his hands hovering over her leg. "Erica, calm down," he pleaded with her, "tell me what happened, where are you hurt?"

Max quickly crossed the remaining distance and dropped into a crouch next to them, placing a calming hand on the younger girl's arm. "Let us see," she urged her.

Erica hiccupped but finally managed to unwrap her hands from her leg. "It's bleeding so much," she whimpered. "Make it stop, Lucas!"

Lucas gave Max a helpless look but took a deep breath and pulled Erica's hands carefully away from her leg. There was a long, deep slice running up her leg from her ankle, bleeding freely. "Oh shit, Erica, how did you do that?!"

"I didn't do it on purpose, you idiot! I dropped a glass!" A bit of her usual spark lit up in Erica's eyes but was quickly extinguished as she bit her lip, fresh tears welling up. "It really, really hurts," she sobbed, and it reminded Max painfully that for all her precocious lip, Erica was still only ten years old.

She looked from the wound which was really bleeding a lot to her boyfriend. She was good at first aid but this looked as if it needed more than a plaster or even a bandage ... "We should get you to the hospital," she said. "That could need stitches."

Erica blanched and grabbed Lucas' sweater, hiding her face against his chest. "No!" she wailed. "No, I don't want that!"

Lucas rubbed her back and looked uncertainly from her to Max and down at the wound again. "Hey, Erica, Max knows a lot about first aid. When she says you need a hospital, I'm sure she's right," he told her. "And you want it to stop bleeding and hurting, don't you?"

Max squeezed Erica's arm in sympathy. "I'll grab your first aid kit so we can bandage it for the time being," she said to Lucas. "Bathroom, right?"

"Yep, left door above the sink," he replied. "Thanks, Max!"

She smiled at him, then jogged quickly to the bathroom. Luckily, Lucas' parents were the kind who kept their medicine cabinet well-stocked, and she was back quickly with a cotton pad and two rolls of bandages. Lucas readily let her do the bandaging while he held Erica, soothing her with small touches as she still clung to him, quietly crying. When Max had finished, she looked at him and asked: "Uh, how do we get her to the hospital, though? I don't think letting her ride on the back of your bike is the best idea."

Lucas frowned and rubbed a hand over his hair. "Good question. We could go over to Mike and see if his parents or Nancy can take us?" The Wheelers only lived a few doors down the road.

Max nodded, relieved. That was a good solution. "I'll go," she offered. "You stay with her."

He gave her another thankful look and nodded before going back to comforting his sister. Max almost smiled as she got up and left the kitchen. No matter their bickering, they were family, after all. It was only almost a smile, though, because she truly felt for Erica.

It turned out neither Mike nor his parents were home but luckily, Nancy was – with Jonathan, which was lucky since she wouldn't have had a car otherwise. But they only needed to hear Max's short description of what happened to get up and snatch jackets and car keys. Soon enough, she and Lucas were helping Erica into the backseat of Jonathan's old car. She had stopped crying except for the occasional sniffle or hiccup but there were still tear streaks on her cheeks, and she was refusing to let go of Lucas' hand. Lucas met Max's eyes over her head and shrugged helplessly. She shook her head at him – really, she thought it was sweet.

It turned out, while a cut in the leg was not a huge emergency, kids still got pretty quick treatment. It took maybe half an hour until a doctor saw them and confirmed Max's assessment: the wound needed stitches. This prompted another round of tears from Erica but Lucas remained patiently at her side, stroking her back and telling her: "It'll be okay. I'm sure they'll make it quick. And I'm here, I promise, I'll be here the whole time." And he was, as was Max, while the (older and a bit tired but not unfriendly) doctor cleaned the cut to ensure there was no glass in it and closed it with a few stitches.

Later, when they were again sitting in the back of Jonathan's car on the way back and Max was watching Erica leaning her head against Lucas' shoulder, she thought that Erica and Lucas were really lucky to have each other. She hoped that deep down, they knew it, too.

#whumptober2019 #no.11 #stranger things #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #erica sinclair

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lenin-it-to-win-it · 5 years

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just gonna rant about my health issues to no one in particular for a bit under the cut sooo

im just so fucking tired of being sick all the time like. its been almost 2 years now of actively Going To Doctors And Having Tests Done And Trying To Get A Diagnosis and fucking!!! nothing works!!! and i only have until the end of this coming school year to get it figured out before my insurance runs out otherwise im just fucked!!! because im sure as hell not gonna be able to afford a fucking mri every six months making 10 bucks an hour at some retail shithole but so far ive seen SIX different fucking doctors (not counting 2 ER visits) because they all just keep shuffling me back and forth like “idk maybe have someone else deal with this? weird lol” or like “have you considered that maybe you might have anxiety :) you seem stressed :)”

like yeah its a fucking stressful situation getting progressively fucking sicker for two goddamn years wasting thousands of dollars and reaching the end of a fucking ticking clock because almost every doctor ive seen is an incompetent jackass who does NOTHING but waste my time and money and then fucking condescend to me about anxiety like!!! yeah i probably DO have anxiety and depression and autism and what the fuck ever else but this isnt THAT

and the literal ONE TIME i had ANY treatment that worked AT ALL helping with my eye spasms (literally One of Many Symptoms that i deal with on a fucking daily basis that still manages to completely fuck up my life) is something i cant take anymore because it damaged my fucking eyes!!! possibly permanently!!! i already HAD issues wtih light sensitivity that this medicine made WAYYY fucking worse and guess whats one of the WORST things at setting off my eye spasms??? anything to do with fucking light so YEAH thANKS for that @ the opthalmologist who had me take those damn eye drops for two months straight, which other neuro opthalmologist said was bullshit when i saw her again, not that im letting HER off the hook either since she REFERRED me to that incompetent bitch in the first place and then had NO solution other than “hm well you definitely shouldnt take that medicine again, but theres literally No Other Treatment, maybe blow another $400 in a few months to come see me again so i can continue to Not Help You In Any Way”

and its getting wORSE ALL THE TIME!!! and the best thing doctors can think of is “hm well maybe wait a bit to see if it gets worse? and maybe then we’ll know what it is?” well its getting worse!!!! but they still dont seem to know what it is!!! like at first it was just my vision going out of focus for a few seconds at a time, then it was a few minutes, then i was having visual distortion (or maybe hallucinations? who knows! certainly not any of the fucking doctors ive seen!), then awful fucking eye strain headaches, then spasms in my neck, then my jaw, then my arms, then my legs, now all fucking over, and now i get sick and dizzy just by moving my HEAD too far or too suddenly and like at work earlier today i was just stumbling around for two hours bc there was too much pressure in my head and everything felt tilted and i was just grabbing at every surface trying not to fall with my head like on my shoulder bc keeping my neck straight was too fucking hard and i swear to fuckign god a couple nights ago there was this weird buzzing on the side of my face??? and like it felt like my mouth was moving slower than it should??? but i dont even KNOW if thats a Real SymptomTM or if i was just freaked out and tired and imagining things or if i really am just getting to be a paranoid delusional nutcase about my health because every little thing terrifies me at this point, like ive been coughing for a couple weeks and instead of being like “oh its a bad cold” im like “maybe now my immune systems fucked up too maybe this is A New Symptom” i literally cant tell anymore i have no fucking idea

and i dont WANT to think about all this All The Fucking Time but i do!!!!! i literally HAVE to bc it affects my life in every fucking possible way and i cant escape it like even rn the light from the fuckign computer is hurting my eyes and i cant even see what im typing half the time bc my eyes keep going out of focus and my teeth keep chattering and my head hurts or ill go to get a drink of water but then just Stand there for a few minutes bc i dont trust myself to hold a cup full of water and not spill it bc im having spasms or ill have to wear sunglasses at the dinner table bc my fucking idiot asshole dad got the BRIGHTEST possible lightbulbs for the dining room and i physically cant stand them

or like im already dreading having to explain all this shit to my professors this semester about how like “oh so i probably wont be able to keep up with daily readings, especialyl not if theyre on physical paper and i cant scale up the text because my eyes just spontaneously stop working and i cant read..... and ill need a computer to take notes, i can Usually hold a pencil but one time i had a spasm in class and flung it across the room and it was super embarrassing and i ltierally skipped that class for weeks because of it so id really rather not deal with that again.... and even though im a fuckign AMAZING public speaker like, state champion debate level public speaking, ill still probably get super fucking nervous and suck at any kind of in class presentation bc ill just be thinking about my spasms the whole time and wont be able to focus....... and ill have to wear sunglasses all the time too so hopefully thats not an issue........ and also ill probably miss a lot of class bc whether or not i can handle walking half a mile Varies Wildly from day to day and also i have a lot of doctors appointments and sometimes im on medicine that completely ruins my sleep schedule so you know... looking forward to a great semester, hope i dont completely fail your class”

and i have fuckign work tomorrow where ill have to deal with trying to pretend like even the most minor tasks arent painful and difficult and deal with awful btichy entitled customers complaining that im not SMILEY enough for you like the motherfucker who asked me how i was and i said fine and he was like “jUuUUuuuST fINE” like shut the everlasting FUCK UP with that ive met my obligation leave me ALONE my day isnt FINE im in awful pain and i HATE you and everyone like you or ill have to deal with my coworkers giving me weird looks while im having spasms or outright MOCKING me for them like the asshole that called me TWITCH (and a whore, but thats Another Fucking Story) or just not knowing how to deal and making bad taste jokes like when my teeth are chattering bc I Physically Cant Make It Stop like “haha are you chewing an invisible piece of gum lol” like no bitch im a neurological nightmare and my brain doesnt work and im Barely Holding Together would you PLEASE shut the fuck up

and most of the time i just feel like everyone thinks im a fucking freak like even just sitting in the waiting room to see the neurologist or opthalmologist or whatever and everyone else there is Old and im the only person even remotely close to my age there and even the doctors dont seem to take me that seriously bc of it like “oh shes young, cant be that bad, all these old people out here are gonna die like tomorrow so why worry about this girl, its probably just anxiety from being on her period or having a test to study for lol” like straight up when the movement disorder neurologist was examining me she was like “im not used to seeing anyone this young or healthy’ and i know she meant it relatively speaking but like!!! clearly im NOT healthy or i wouldnt BE here like obviously something is wrong with me and its ruining my life and its serious and id like it fixed thanks!!!!!

and i feel like No One Gets It like, obviously there are people wayyyy sicker than i am who suffer a lot more or people in similar situations but like. i dont Personally Know someone like that i can just talk to and like, of course i have friends who can Listen but.................................. theres a difference from being able to listen and being able to actually Understand and sometimes you just cant Get It unless youve gone through it like i really dont think ANYONE in my life has any idea how serious this is or how much it affects me and i know i cant expect everyone to just Always Think Of My IssuesTM but little things!!! like maybe NOT having the brighest possible lightbulbs in the dining room!!!! my brother NOT having his birthday party at dave and busters, which i had TONS of spasms at last time i went (and im even worse now!) AND the staff gave me shit about wearing sunglasses so now im nervous about That too or just! idk! people respecting and listening to me when i tell them that i Cant Do Something or that Doing That Thing Hurts and not just brushing me off or telling me im overreacting and then getting all shocked pikachu face when their dumbassery actually physically HURTS me and i get pissed with them for it!!!!

i dont think anyone gets how much it scares me all the time or how its Always on my mind and i literally cant think about anything else like. this could be the rest of my life. this could end my life. i dont know what i have. i might get diagnosed in the next month and have it completely cured, i might get a diagnosis and still be sick forever, i might not find out until its too late and i have LITERALLY NO FUCKING IDEA WHICH ONE!!!! ITS GREAT!!!!!!!! WELCOME TO MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!

#vent #rant #i sincerely doubt anyone will read to the end of this but whomst knows #besides it feels nice to just scream

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scullyy · 5 years

Text

Two Sides of the Same Street / Chapter Two

Title: Two Sides of the Same Street Chapter One / Chapter Two

Pairing: Clementine x Louis

Word Count: 1935

Summary: Clementine and Louis catch the same bus home and take the chance to get to know each other.

A/N: Wow this is finally out ha

Also @goofy-gomez here is your tag as you asked

“What time does the bus usually get here?”

“Let’s see, about ten minutes ago.”

“Oh.”

Of course, the damn bus was late. On most days it was on time, right to the minute. Louis broke his attention from the setting sun onto his cracked watch, checking it for the third time. Had the damn thing finally broken?

Clementine threw her empty Coke can into the bin beside her, smiling at her successful shot. All that time spent playing Paper Toss came in handy. “I hope there wasn’t an accident.” The torrential rainfall the town had been receiving the past few days had resulted in a couple collisions, arrogant assholes who thought they could make the green light in time.

Louis popped a piece of gum into his mouth, trying to keep his obnoxious chewing to a minimum. “Wilson is a safe driver, probably just some traffic build up.”

Of course, this damn bus runs late the day Clementine has to catch it. Lee needed to stay behind, finish some tidying and organise the days' wages, he let Clementine go home early after her fourth yawn within three minutes.

Normally Louis would chuck his headphones on and shuffle through whatever playlist appealed to him, maybe even make up a little dance. But that seems rude in the presence of an acquaintance. And a pretty one at that.

“Do you want to play a game to pass the time?”

Wow, what a unique way to get to know this girl. Dickhead.

“Why not. What game were you thinking?”

Louis straightened his fingerless gloves like the showman he was, a chance to impress someone was a chance taken. “Well, it’s not technically a game,”

She scoffed. “Liar.”

“It’s basically Truth or Dare but without the dares. Usually, it’s played with cards, but I left my pack at home.” Louis turned his pockets inside to show her. "Fine,” Clem sighed, her warm breath creating smoke that flowed out of her mouth like a dragon. “You go first.”

Louis considered this a win. “Do you usually catch the bus? I just want to know if your presence will be around in the future to delight me.” He sent a dramatic wink her way, his signature move.

“Not really. It's a twenty-minute drive to the shop but my car is a wreck right now, so bus it is," She shuddered at the thought of walking home alone at night. Once was enough. "My turn. How long have you been working at that music shop for?" "Since it first opened about a year ago. I was so excited to be working there but now there's a new manager and he's making life shit." Louis remembered the day he saw an ad in the paper for a new music shop opening on the corner, his screams almost burst Marlon’s eardrums. "Ouch. I'm lucky then, my boss is actually my dad. Well, adoptive dad technically. He always wanted a family business, that’s why we moved down here.” Louis leaned against the telegraph pole, his coat doing nothing to stop the cold from seeping through. "Damn, you are lucky. He seems cool.”

Clementine smiled fondly. “Yeah, he is. He took me in when I was eight,” She swallowed the lump in her throat at the thought of her time without Lee. “What about you? What’s your family like?" "We’re not that closely knit. I moved away about a year ago with my friend Marlon, been here ever since." Now that was an exciting day. He and Marlon had been planning to live together since they were fourteen, to have the freedom to do whatever they wanted. Adulthood had taken a turn for the worse, the sore reality of work and living expenses punched them both in the gut. "Is that our bus?" Clementine pointed to two white lights merging from the horizon, realising her suspicions were correct when she saw the elderly driver through the window. “Finally.”

Louis dug around in his back pocket for his trusty bus pass. “My lazy ass is ready to sit down,” The bus screeched to a halt beside them, spraying murky rainwater onto their ankles. “Good evening Wilson.” Louis tipped an imaginary hat to the bus driver, who smiled back gratefully.

He and Clementine sat towards the back of the bus behind a young man and what appeared to be his son. Clementine nabbed the window seat, creating patterns between the raindrops left behind on the glass.

Louis set himself down beside her, shaking his boots dry. “Favourite colour?”

“Red. You?’

“Blue,” His eyes lit up at the coincidence. “Maybe one day we’ll make the colour purple. Get it? Cause red and blue makes purple-”

Clementine raised her hand, shushing Louis. “Yeah, I get it. What are you insinuating?”

“I don’t even know. Your turn.”

She couldn’t stay annoyed at him, not with that childish grin he always seemed to have switched on. “Favourite cafe in town?”

Louis slapped his knee, making the little boy sitting in front of him jump. “Oh my god-okay so my friend Omar owns this amazing cafe down the street, he is seriously the best chef. His stew is to die for. I tried to convince him to call it ‘Stew with Lou’ but he didn’t seem too impressed.”

“Sounds nice, I’ll have to give it a go sometime.” Clementine looked out onto the street, the lights illuminating the small houses and shops. How her, Lee and her little brother were able to uncover this little corner of the world was beyond her.

“Maybe I’ll take you someday,” He mumbled under his breath, his own special promise. “What are some small things that make your day better?”

Clementine chuckled. “Whenever my little brother grabs my hand. Even if he doesn’t want anything, just makes me feel good.” Her fingers traced her palms lightly, giving herself a gentle shiver. Seeing his beaming smile whenever she got homemade the dull ache in her chest disappear.

“Well that’s really sweet,” Louis hung his head low. He hadn’t seen his little brother since he left home, his small face and gapped teeth brought on a sombre smile.

“So, what shows are you into?” She noticed the way his smile fell, how his glowing eyes melted into a stale form, what mystery was this boy hiding?

There’s the historian again, wanting to unearth the past.

Louis presented his best artificial smile, it had gotten him out of many challenges before. “Doctor Who.”

“Seriously?”

“Hey don’t knock it till you’ve tried it-”

“I have, it’s okay.” Clementine rolled her eyes. Lee loved it, that show is the most relaxing twenty-five minutes of his day.

Louis rested his feet against the seat in front of him. “Really? You seem like the type to watch slow ass shows like Downton Abbey, then again it could be worse.”

“Oi, watch it spaceman.”

“Oi, watch it earth girl.”

Silence fell over them for a brief second, their smiles only growing bigger and bigger before immediately cackling like little kids at a birthday party, their shared knowledge going over the heads of the two people in front of them. Luckily it was their stop, they eagerly left Louis and Clem to their own mad devices.

“I think we scared them away,” Clementine spat between bursts of laughter. Her body had moved closer to Louis, their elbows and knees hitting each other as their bodies trembled. Not that either party was complaining, not one bit.

Louis wiped the tears from his eyes. “They’re fine. Which stop do you get off at?”

“It’s the next one I’m pretty sure,” Clementine straightened out her denim jacket, enjoying the pain either side of her stomach. It had been too long since she had a hearty laugh, it was therapeutic. “Which stop are you?”

Louis eyed down the road in front of them. His stop wasn’t for another ten minutes...

“It’s the next one too!”

A little lie never hurt anyone, right?

It was certainly worth it by how Clem’s eyes lit up.

“Cool. Would it be okay if you walked me home? I don’t like walking alone in the dark-”

“-Yes!”

His answer was more enthusiastic than he liked it to be. It was supposed to be calm, suave and sophisticated. But no his heart jumped the gun as always.

Clementine settled down her nerves. “Thanks.” She muttered, biting her tongue to bury the laughter from coming back. She twiddled her thumbs as the bus came to a slow halt, the rain suddenly hammering down like bullets. “Shit, you don’t happen to have an umbrella do you?”

His hand flew into his satchel and revealed a large black umbrella. “I have been waiting for this moment my whole life.”

Clem gave him a hesitant smile. “And by that you mean…”

“Well, I carry this thing everywhere with me and my friends laugh at that since I haven’t ever used it. But guess who’s laughing now.” Louis threw the umbrella over his shoulder, brandishing it like a weapon.

“Does that one have a name too?” Clementine and Louis both stood from their seat, making their way towards the front of the bus.

“How about Ursula? My favourite Disney villain,” Louis waved goodbye to Wilson as he opened the umbrella, jumping into a puddle by the lamppost. “I’ll never get too old for that. Disney and puddle jumping.”

Clementine hurried under the umbrella, sticking close to Louis. “I live right down the street, it’s the house with the green roof.” She gestured to a house towards the far end of the street, the only house with the front light on. Louis took smaller strides so Clem could keep up with him, one step to him was two for her.

And it was absolutely adorable.

“How’s the guitar going?” With every step they took Louis dreaded having to part ways with Clem, even if he was going to see her the very next day at their work. The rain blanketed them in a fantasy world where nothing could reach them, the outside world was a distant land. No pressures of work, no demanding customers. Just peace and shared knowledge.

“I’m really liking it. Thanks for your help by the way, when I came into the shop.” Clementine enjoyed this cacoon, thanking her past self for leaving her umbrella at home.

Louis bowed graciously. “Anytime my darling.”

“Oh my god, seriously?” She scoffed. If this boy was going where she thought he was...

“Oh my darlin’, oh my darlin’, oh my daaarlin-”

The punch to the forearm was enough to put the singing to an end. “Do you know how many times people have sung that to me?”

Louis rubbed his aching arm, trying to figure out how a girl of her stature could deliver such a blow. “Not enough?”

Clementine ignored him, silence seemed to be the only way he’d understand how serious she was. “And here is my final stop,” Her fingertips danced along the black fence surrounding her house. The kitchen light was on, most likely her brother finishing his homework. “Thanks for walking me home.”

“No problem. I’ll always be here to help guide you through the night,” Louis winked. He opened the gate for Clementine, chivalry wasn’t dead yet. “Goodnight Clemster, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She gave him a slow wave. “Sleep tight Louis.” She jogged up to her front door, fumbling with the door keys for longer than necessary.

Louis waited till she was inside before continuing down the street, laughing into the cold and dreary night. “Right, now how the hell am I going to get home.”

#twdg #the walking dead game #clementine twdg #the walking dead game season four #louis #twdg louis #clouis #louisentine #fanfiction #xscullyx

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foxboymyles · 5 years

Text

Pardon My Imprudence [Chp 3]

Note: This chapter is quite long. Hope you guys don’t mind! ^_^

The next day, Luffy hurried downstairs and ate his breakfast 2 times faster than usual.

Shanks looked at him in shock and slowly passed him a bottle of water. He thumbed at Luffy to Sabo.

“Is he ok?”

Ace interrupted before Sabo could speak. “He’s just going freaky over this new boyfriend he’s got.” Sabo went silent and nodded.

“Oh, gosh. That’s what’s been going on?” Shanks said, drinking his coffee. “Well, I’m not gonna stand around and let you do your own thing this time, Luff. I need to make sure this guy is good.”

Luffy nodded.”Yeah, I’ll invite him for dinner today!” Luffy was gonna run out the door when Shanks tossed him another bottle of water.

“What’s his name, by the way?”

“Roronoa Zoro!” Luffy said, rushing out the door.

Shanks paused for a second.”Eh?!? He’s Mihawk’s son! Wait, Luffy!”

…

Luffy spotted Zoro, after dashing through the gates where they meet. He hugged Zoro tightly and gave him another bottle of water.

“Here!”

“Oh, that’s fine. My sister started getting her own water.” Zoro said, in a warm voice.

Luffy’s interpretation of Zoro’s voice was always warm and mellow ever since that last night when he called him. It was then when Zoro moved closer to Luffy’s lips. He lifted Luffy’s chin with his hand and turning his head slightly. Luffy dropped his water and closed his eyes. Their lips met, slowly but surely, feeling like a mixture of soft skin and warm breath. Luffy’s reflex was to relax his body weight on Zoro, feeling secure to put his arms around Zoro’s neck. Their lips parted, but Luffy’s chest was still against Zoro’s. His cheeks were flushed, as he met lips with Zoro again. If he was just a little more out of space, he wouldn’t have heard Usopp calling out his name.

“Luffy! What the heck are ya doing?” Usopp said, a little surprised.

Nami was behind him, grinning and giggling at the scene.

Luffy chuckled and put his head against Zoro’s chest.

“Hi guys!”

“I knew he was gay! You owe me 20 dollars!” Nami said, putting out her hand to Usopp.

Usopp backed away.”What?!? I don’t remember making any bets!”

The bell rang, and all of them made their way to the stairs. Usopp got a dollar from his pocket.

“This is all I have right now. Heracle is giving me my allowance tomorrow.” Usopp said.

“How much you getting?” Nami said, grabbing the dollar.

“Uh, 15,” Usopp said shortly.

Nami smirked.”Great! I’ll get 50% of that! Which is 7 dollars and 50 cents.”

“I guess that’s ok,” Usopp said, out of relief.

“So I have to give you that amount for a few weeks?” He continued.

“Yup! Until I get my 20 dollars!” Nami said cheerfully.

She then grabbed his hand and ran off to their class.

Zoro put his arm around Luffy’s shoulder and got to his classroom. He said a short goodbye and maybe an ‘I love you’ from what Luffy’s ears could tell. He kissed Luffy’s forehead and went to his English class. As for Luffy, he had Math. Once he got to his seat, his friend Vivi greeted him. He told her the news about him and Zoro, and she gleamed. She explained that she’d known Zoro and that he seemed really lonely as a person, and that he had a good heart. Luffy smiled at her comments and said that he’d promise he’d take good care of Zoro. The teacher, Silvers Rayleigh came in. He had a silver-colored beard and long, slightly wavy hair. He always had a button up shirt on and dark pants.

“Alright class, get to page 398 in your textbook. You’ll be doing warm-ups from what we did yesterday.” Rayleigh said, pointing to the board which read the instructions.

Chopper was the student helper. He had taken this math class before for 2 months until he was moved to more advanced classes. Now it’s an extra class that he volunteers to be in. Chopper smiled and wrote the numbers of the problems on the board. Luffy was opening up his book until he felt something hit his back gently. He turned around and saw, of course, Eustass Kid.

“Hey, Straw-dork. How’s it going?” He said, a little vicious but friendly enough.

Luffy nodded.”It’s going good. How’s Law doing?

“He’s doin’ great. Still working on motorcycles, things like that. I heard you knocked Bellamy in the head good. Deserves it, that shit head.”

Luffy didn’t respond, but the girl in the back did.

“He was getting in the way anyways,” Rebecca said, ironically in a soft, polite voice.

She has shiny light pink hair that looked like sweet cotton candy. Her eyes were chocolate brown, and her skin was warm. It smelt of fresh flowers when you turned her way.

Kid raised his eyebrows and smiled.”Oh? Didn’t know a pretty lady like you was here. You’re awfully quiet.”

“Yeah, sure. I was hearing something off the announcements, though. Would you like to hear?” Rebecca asked.

“Go ahead.”

“Apparently our principal Marshall D. Teach is getting replaced,” Rebecca said in a lower tone.

Luffy and Vivi were listening and smile slightly. Kid nodded his head in approval. No one liked their Principal, Mr.Teach. He made it to where they were free, but a little too free. There’s been many fights and Luffy’s seen their friend Sanji smoke inside the school freely without getting caught. Luffy liked the idea, but he knew it’d cause disorder in the school, and that it upsets many people.

“The bad news is Sir Crocodile is running to be principal,” Rebecca said, unsettled.

Vivi bit her lip nervously.”I know him. He was the principal of my middle school. He ended up causing a lot of misery for some students and framed them for doing things they didn’t do. But the school never found out. They never believed anything anyone said against him.”

Luffy’s eyes slightly widened. “Really?” Kid and Rebecca listened and she continued.

“Yeah. He was gonna go after me because I was generous with money at the time. Fortunately, he went to another school to teach.”

Rebecca gulped.”That’s really bad news-”

Rayleigh cleared his throat and looked at the 4 that were murmuring.

“Is there anything you want to share with the class?”

Luffy raised his hand, as Rayleigh sighed and accepted his comment.

“This guy is gonna try to be principal here and he’s really mean. He tricks students and gets them into trouble and steals their parents’ money. The school board hasn’t found out and they won’t believe kids when they say he’s bad.” Luffy grinned as Vivi slapped him against the head.

“You weren’t supposed to say that!” Vivi exclaimed.

The rest of the class mumbled to each other as Rayleigh quieted them down.

“I assure you, Luffy, that this school will never let in people such as him. Now, class. May we continue?” The rest of the class agreed.

…

It was lunch period. Zoro had just gotten out of PE and Luffy was out of History with his favorite teacher, Ms.Nico. She had taught him a few life lessons and was generally very calm. Ms.Nico was easy to follow and you could learn so much without hassle.

Luffy spotted Zoro and held his hand. “Hey, Zoro!”

“Hi, Luff.” He replied back.

“I heard some news about a guy trying to be the new principal. Apparently, he's a real bad guy.” Luffy explained.

“Of course. The school board is stupid with things like that.” Zoro said, putting his other hand in his pocket.

“Oh, by the way. My dad wants you to hang out with us for dinner tonight.” Luffy said, smiling.

Zoro nodded. “I can do that.”

“How’s your sister?”

“Bratty, like always. She’s tolerable sometimes. Don’t invite her.” Zoro warned.

Luffy laughed and accepted Zoro’s request. Kid signaled for Luffy to sit at his table. Luffy sat and Zoro told him he’d get both of their lunches. Sanji sat at the table subtly, looking through his phone.

“What’s moss head doing?” Sanji asked dryly.

“He’s just getting lunch.”

“Why’re you still here, then?” Sanji said, unwrapping a gum wrapper.

“He’s getting my lunch for me,” Luffy replied.

Sanji started to chuckle at the thought.

“So he’s seeing you?” Sanji asked.

Kid didn’t want to tune in to the conversation and took out his phone.

“Mhm,” Luffy said.

Zoro came back with Luffy’s tray and set it by him. He put his tray down and began eating after Luffy said a short thanks.

“How was confessing to him like? Did you pussy out on the first try?” Sanji asked with a ridiculous smile on his face.

Zoro glared. “I was cut off by his brother the first time. The second time Ace called me himself and I could only explain it as a rant directed at me.”

Sanji laughed hysterically. “It doesn’t matter what circumstances, you always get bad luck somehow! What a dumbass!”

Zoro pulled him by his shirt. “You wanna say that again?”

“Dumbass,” Sanji repeated in a drawl.

Kid groaned. “Will you ladies shut up? I’m watching a porno here.”

Usopp and Nami came over and sat down.

“What’re you guys going on about now?” Nami asked.

“Moss boy here is getting offended,” Sanji said, smirking.

“Fuck off.” Zoro mumbled, grabbing one of Luffy’s chicken tenders, then heard him yell ‘hey!’

Luffy turned Zoro around and growled. “Give it back!”

Zoro smiled and mumbled with his mouth full. “Make me.”

“I know where this is going, so here. Spare my life.” Usopp said as he grabbed 3 of his nuggets and gave them to Luffy.

Luffy smiled brightly and gobbled the nuggets up. “Usopp is my favorite friend!”

“Wow, what an unhealthy dynamic you have there, Zoro,” Sanji replied.

“Yeah, yeah. I was just teasing him, idiot.” Zoro said.

“I bet you do that a lot,” Sanji said, snickering. Usopp’s eyes widened and coughed.

“Yeah, and you can’t get at least one chick in your bed out of your whole lifespan,” Zoro replied.

Kid made a sizzling sound with his mouth while staring at his phone.”Wow, that’s gotta hurt.”

Sanji grunted. “Yeah, yeah. The gay guy giving me advice about women.”

Zoro smiled. “Huh. What about that huge party I gave you the wrong address to. And you ended up in a homosexual org-”

“We don’t talk about that!” Sanji said, his face red.

“Oh, that’s hot.” Kid said, intentionally referring to the graphic images on his phone. But, Nami and Usopp didn’t see it that way. They stared at him awkwardly. “What?” Kid said, stuffing his mouth with pizza.

The bell rang as everyone went back to their classes. The rest of the day was normal.

As soon as the final bell rang, Luffy went to Zoro’s class. He was packing his stuff and talking to Ms.Nico.

“Hi, Ms.Nico!” Luffy said.

Ms.Nico Robin had long jet black hair. Her skin was fairly pale and she had beautiful light blue eyes.

“Hello, Luffy. What can I do for you?” She smiled politely.

“Oh, I’m just waiting for Zoro. He’s gonna come over for dinner tonight!”

“That’s delightful. He told me about your acquaintance with him as well.” Robin said, giggling.

Zoro blushed and continued to put his things in his backpack. Robin and Luffy had a conversation until Zoro stood up with his backpack and grabbed Luffy’s hand.

“Thank you for explaining that part in history, Ms.Nico. I’ll do good on that test, I promise.” Zoro said as she waved goodbye.

…

Zoro got to the le roux house and sat on the couch. Sabo sat by him and welcomed him.

“Where’s Ace?” Zoro asked.

Sabo shrugged. “He said he was getting Luffy his favorite snack and a couple other things. I hope he’s not out too long. I’m making homemade lasagna.”

Zoro nodded. “Do you have a job as a caterer or do you just like to cook a lot?”

“Oh, I’m not a caterer. I do have a job, though. I’m a freelance writer. I enter cooking competitions on the side.” Sabo said, excited to answer.

“How about Ace?”

“He’s a lifeguard in the summer. He also does some music and plays the acoustic guitar.” Sabo said.

“Ace is really talented! He can play a bunch of songs.” Luffy added.

They chatted for a while until Shanks opened the front door. Zoro stood up and shook his hand.

“Hi! You’re Zoro, correct?”

“Yeah. It’s nice to meet you, Shanks.” Zoro said.

Sabo put a hot turkey on the table and sides like mashed potatoes and peas. He placed a pitcher of water and another of homemade orange juice. Luffy sat by Zoro and on the other side was Ace, Sabo, and Shanks.

Zoro ate a piece of turkey and smiled. “You’re really great at cooking, Sabo.”

“Thank you! I have to cook a lot of food usually. Luffy tends to eat a lot.” Sabo said.

Shanks got the water pitcher and filled up his cup.

“So, I was surprised to hear Luffy was dating you because I’ve talked to your father and he’s mentioned your name.”

“He’s a really successful man, but he’s very strict,” Zoro explained, cutting his chunk of turkey again.

“That’s true. Do you work anywhere?” Shanks said. He took a sip from his cup and placed it down.

Zoro nodded. “I’m a waiter at Blue Creek. Our friend is a cook there.”

Luffy smiled. “Sanji’s a great cook like Sabo!”

Sabo blushed slightly and grinned, his hand scratched the back of his head. “You think so?”

Ace rolled his eyes at Sabo’s flustered-ness.

Zoro gave his leftovers to Luffy, who thanked him with a sloppy kiss on the cheek. Ace turned away, but Sabo laughed at how comfortable they were. Zoro didn’t react differently and ruffled Luffy’s hair.

Shanks jumped up, as he suddenly remembered something he was going to say.

“Luffy did a great job teaching that Bellamy kid a lesson, I heard!” Shanks said cheerfully.

“I’ve only known recently that he was that strong,” Zoro said.

“You’ll be learning a lot more about what he can do. It’s incredible how well he can get back on his feet. Remember when I tell you that.” Shanks informed Zoro.

“I’ll be aware of that,” Zoro remarked.

“Zoro fights too! He does heavy lifting and trains with katanas!” Luffy exclaimed, trying to show off his boyfriend.

Shanks chuckled. “Now that’s gonna be a duo no one will mess with.”

“Except Garp.” Ace mumbled.

Sabo’s eyes widened and he began hacking, nudging Ace in the side. Shanks turned his attention to them in curiosity.

“What about Garp?” Shanks asked.

“Remember? Garp is trying to take Luffy away to become a marine. His co-workers hate us.” Ace said aloud.

Shanks sighed. “I don’t think that was necessary, Ace.”

“I think he needed to know.” Ace said, as he stood up and put his plate away.

Sabo stood up and attempted to get him from going back into his room, but he quickly got up the steps and shut the door abruptly. Sabo sat back down and looked at Zoro. He still somehow looked calm. From that quarrel, he would have expected a little bit of a tense appearance. But alas, he looked the same as before. The only difference is that Zoro looked like he was going through deja vu. Somehow…

“I’m sorry that happened, Zoro. He’s a little personal about, you know, what’s going on with you and Luffy. I promise that he’ll get used to it! He does this very often.” Sabo said, reassuringly.

“He’s always like this. What made him split again anyways?” Shanks asked.

“I guess the mention of Zoro and Luffy being a duo? Also, Garp called Ace the other day. Same thing, about being a marine…”

“I’m sorry to leave you out,” Shanks said to Zoro. “Garp is Luffy’s biological grandfather. I’m a stepfather to all three of these kids. Ace had no parents and both Sabo and Luffy’s fathers didn’t want them. On top of that, Luffy and Ace had no mother. So I decided I would help them.”

Zoro nodded. “I understand. Luffy told me you've been his adoptive parent since he was 7.”

“Garp is obsessed with the fact of all three of them becoming marines, and they refuse. But he always tries to convince them to. As for his co-workers, they think we’re criminal’s because Luffy’s biological father was an infamous criminal.” Shanks explained.

Zoro’s eyebrows slightly went up.”Criminal?”

Luffy continued eating.

Shanks murmured for Sabo to get the wine and turned back to Zoro. “Yes, he’s rebelling against what would be the world government right now. It’s not helping any of their images, really.”

Sabo put the wine on the table and unscrewed the top. Shanks grabbed the bottle, and lightly tipped it, as the red sparkling liquid filled his wine glass.

Zoro looked at Luffy who was wiping out his mouth and smiling generously.

“Thank you for the meal, Sabo!” Luffy said.

“Anytime,” Sabo said.

Zoro looked up at Shanks, looking a little unsure.

“Should I go up there and talk to him?” Zoro asked.

“If you want to get yelled at,” Shanks said, sipping his wine.

Zoro stood up and went upstairs, as Luffy stayed in his seat.

Sabo frowned. “Why didn’t you stop him, Luffy? Ace is not gon-”

“Zoro knows what he’s doing,” Luffy said, smiling.

Luffy kept a conversation with Sabo, as Zoro knocked on Ace’s door. He heard a muffled ‘who is it’ from Ace.

“It’s Zoro.” He replied back.

Zoro could hear a soft sigh, as the other opened with a creek. Ace had an acoustic guitar strapped onto his body, and a small pick was in his right hand. He signaled for Zoro to sit down.

“I’m sorry about the public affection. I-”

“No, it’s fine. You don’t need to worry about doing that- I’m just a little protective over Luffy. So if I say anything crude don’t take it seriously. Just controls me a lot.” Ace explained, striking some chords.

“So, what’s with your grandfather? He doesn’t seem like much fun.” Zoro said.

Ace put his guitar down and threw his pick on the bed. He shrugged hopelessly and laid his head on his hands.

“I don’t know. He’s really stern on us being marines, but somehow I think he already knows we’ll never do that. But he keeps on trying.” Ace said.

“Either way, Luffy must handle it great,” Zoro said.

Ace smiled. “Of course, like everything. I’ve always wondered where he got his strong will from.”

There was silence. And then, Ace stood up. He grabbed a 20 dollar bill from his pocket and gave it to Zoro.

“Go out and get some ice cream with him, will you? Keep the rest, that’s all the money I have on me right now.” Ace said sternly.

Zoro smiled and grabbed the bill. He stopped.

“You’re not as bad as you make yourself out to be. It’s been nice meeting you.” Zoro said, grinning.

And so Zoro went down the steps. Ace’s eyes widened temporarily, then he smiled.

#zolu #anime #pairing #fanfiction #writing #otp #one piece #luffy #zoro

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angel-scythe · 5 years

Text

Chloe : Chapter 20

Hi !!

I’m so excited to show you this chapter and those coming after!!

I love you all for the interest you gave to my first long DBH fanfiction and the first one I could actually finish since six hellish months (what’s actually horrible for someone who can’t live without writing)

I hope you’ll love it.

You know what to do, right?

Smash the | °| or keep reading!

7th December, 15:21

School was over and Elizabeth came to the entry, didn’t know who will take her back to home or wherever she will be brought. Probably the precinct, anyway. Her papa’s or her daddy’s one, it was the same in the end.

She said goodbye to few friends and pulled out the tongue to Andy. Then she finished to cross the schoolyard. While she wasn’t yet at the end of the yard, she recognized someone and her heart bumped in her chest. She bounced then ran toward the person whom was talking in a cellphone. They looked to struggle.

She ran a little faster and jumped at the person legs, hugged them tightly.

“Hiiiii!”

“Hi!”

“I missed you!”

“Me too.”

She smiled widely and turned the head when she heard something. It was Andy whom coming and she hugged more tightly the legs.

“You see?! I told you my stepfather was an Android!” she screamed, as proud as a peacock.

“Elizabeth,” Connor said softly. “Don’t bother your little friend.”

“But…”

She looked toward him and saw that his cheeks were quite blue.

“Come, we’ll go to the precinct. You’re papa isn’t there already but he will soon.”

“Okay. You’ll stay with us?” she asked, looking him with wide eyes.

“I think, yes. If your papa is okay.”

“I’m sure he’s! He likes you so much!”

“Are you sure it’s not you who like me so much?”

“Too!” she giggled.

She had her hand in his and they walked in the street and she was so happy. She even didn’t care about the looks that finished on her. On the hand softly held. Or they were watching Connor. Maybe it depended of whom did it? The Androids looked her, for example.

After all, how a Human could love an Android and inversely.

Both didn’t care since the little girl talked about her day, so happy to share that with Connor. He was listening carefully and asked things. Then he talked about Sumo. He loved so much Sumo and Elizabeth was, of course, really entertained to listen about everything he could do.

As they walked, they arrived at the bus station. The precinct was not so near of the school and since Connor couldn’t drive a car… In fact, when the segregation ended, much robots started to want to drive and a lot gained their driver’s license. Few because they were already able to because of their works. Since, they should have passed the license. However, Connor didn’t feel the envy to drive especially because he was with Hank or, now, Gavin. Both could drive so it wasn’t really useful.

Now, just at this moment, he felt a little more the need to drive because people were looking his LED and his hand around Elizabeth’s one. Even the Androids looked him with astonishment. After all, a lot of Android discarded any sign of the fact that they were Robots. Some still used it but they were more and more rare.

The bus came and Connor let people got down and other got up before entering with the little girl. He has real money to help the transaction, knowing he should take the bus, and he took two tickets. The man behind his flywheel looked him as he walked in the alley. He let Elizabeth choose the place, near a window, and came to follow her.

“Wait a second!”

The voice was harsh.

Connor turned his head toward the head of the bus. It was the driver, getting up to come toward him.

“You’re an Android, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“You can’t come here. The Androids are in the back.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You can! Go in the back with the others!”

Connor was perplexed.

“I thought Markus has asked for the segregation to stop.”

“Yes. He does. And what he got? This! You have seat in the back. It’s pretty cool, no? Go there!”

Connor shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but no. I guess Elizabeth can’t come with me. Do you think I’ll let her alone? I rather sit with her.”

“I’ll kick you if you don’t move in the back, you shit!”

The Android looked him as the others passengers watched. A lot of Androids didn’t dare to act, in fact. Markus has gained rights for them but things needed time. They couldn’t just appear as they wanted to be seen for now. And they waited… Seat in the back, it was already a good thing. Even if it wasn’t the right law. Sometimes, it was better to just bend over and accept...

“I won’t repeat a third time, you dipstick. You. go. in. the. back. with. your. littles. friends.” The driver put his hand in his back pocket.

Elizabeth moaned, afraid.

“Conny…” she cried.

Connor couldn’t bear that. He really liked the little girl and she was Gavin’s daughter. For him, make her cry was like a double-crime.

“I hope for you it’s not a gun in your pocket.”

“Fucking Android!” The driver started to take what he had and Elizabeth screamed.

Connor got something in his jacket, too. People screamed in the bus, afraid. But the Android didn’t have a gun or whatever. However, what he showed frozen the man who licked hardly his lower lips.

“W… where do you…”

He watched the police badge in Connor’s palm.

“I’m Connor Anderson, the Android Detective working for the DPD. May I look in my data if you did something wrong, those lasts weeks? Or you prefer to try your chance with the gun? I never saw a trial from inside.”

In fact, Connor knew the man didn’t have a blank police record and he perfectly knew the man can’t force him to go in the back. It wasn’t the law after all.

“Okay. Okay… Just sit down. B… But, next time, say immediately you’re a fucking cop.” The man went to the front of the bus to sit behind his flywheel, mumbling against the Androids.

Connor sat beside the little girl and took her in his arms.

“Are you okay?”

“I… I’m okay. But I was scared.”

Connor hugged her more.

“I didn’t want you to be hurt.”

“I didn’t want you to be alone and hurt.”

The youngie cuddled in his arms. She was still scared. Maybe more because her both fathers were in the police? She knew. Sometimes, one will come back with bruises or wound and will explain, shortly, it happened in the work, because people weren’t kind. She knew what being hurt by a bullet or a weapon was and she had already her daddy in hospital. That time, he said it was the appendage but since her papa was worry and her daddy didn’t have his appendage since she was four, she didn’t think it was really the appendage.

She was just happy the man was okay now. And she was happy to get some love, caresses and hugs.

7th December, 17:37

As they came back to the precinct, Felix did the report on the computer and for Gavin too. For him, it was quite surprising that five of Gavin’s Classmates couldn’t remember him. Each of them, tough, used to have problem with Chloe when they were at school. The lady had warm blood and couldn’t stand it when people said something wrong about her brother. Since Elijah was weird and too intelligent, he really had people who hated him and insulted him. So Chloe was quite hated too but nobody has killed her or the ST200. Not with the alibis they gave.

Gavin couldn’t bore to hear him talk and talk.

It was weird because he almost had the same voice as Connor and he liked to hear Connor talk, in fact.

Almost because, for him, the voice were absolutely different. Connor’s one looked more soft, cute. And Felix has just a weird cold voice.

In his opinion.

He turned off the motor and went out of the car. Felix followed him, still doing the report. For three hours and half. Just kill him. And he even hadn’t eaten during the day. Only the coffee everyone offered to him and maybe a biscuit then, of course, the gum he chewed to don’t smoke. He wanted to smoke…

He went to the precinct and crossed the security.

“Connor is here.” He heard in his back.

Felix, of course.

But inside his heart, Gavin was happy to know that. He searched the Android with his eyes and smiled when he saw him but not only. As he was working, he had Elizabeth on his lap and seemed to help her to do her homework. She didn’t look like she was drawing anyway.

He went to the desk even if Hank was in front of it, drinking coffee while trying to make a report in his computer.

“I’ll do it, Lieutenant. Don’t worry about that. Do you need something in particular? I can make it appear in your terminal, maybe…”

“Don’t make life easy for you old dad, Connor. I won’t learn if you do everything for me.”

Well in fact, he tried to understand and manage his live around informatics since he was born. And he was from 85! Imagine how lame he could feel when he grew up with this technology. When all his friends got new and high-tech mp3, 4 or whatever the number and he still use a CD player because he preferred that and it was more easy. Well, now, he has a compact music player but still struggle with that.

“Plus, if you let him in his shit, it’ll be funnier. And I said sheet. With two e.”

“Of course,” Hank said with a fake smile.

“Papa!” Elizabeth jumped on the ground then at her father’s waist. “Papa! You should have seen Andy’s head when Conny came to pick me up! It was so funny!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah! But most fun of that, we plied at rock, paper, scissors and you know what?”

“What?”

Gavin took his daughter in his arms and go back to his place.

“I win each time!”

“Awesome!!”

How Connor did that?

Connor got up after a quick glance to Felix whom went to his desk. In fact, he used Wilson’s one when this one didn’t use it. He had his own session since this morning so… But he could as well use Connor’s one, especially because the RK800 took Elizabeth’s stuff and came to Gavin’s desk to put it in.

He turned to go back with Hank and Gavin gave a quick look to him. He smiled as his daughter told things and things. In the same time, he looked the homework his daughter has made. It was obvious Connor helped her since he couldn’t see something wrong. Of course, his daughter was smart but she used to have one or two mistakes.

He kissed her head when she started to talk about her lunch. She had French fries with cheese and a salad with tomato sauce pellet so it was good. It was her daddy who paid for her lunch at school and sometime, she was a little guilty but it was so good. And her papa said it was okay and it was easier. Sometimes, she had bread or other things made by her papa. She was always happy. Gavin rose her like that. To be happy with wade live given to them.

7th December, 19:02

The door was closed when Gavin entered in his home. He got to the kitchen and his daughter bounced behind him.

“Can I help?”

“Yeah. What would you like to do?”

“Hmm…”

The little girl looked in the refrigerator as the TV was turning on. The emission they always watched was put on. The LP600 was still the main candidate.

She heard her papa’s belly gurgle.

“Pasta’s risotto?” she proposed.

It was something her papa made often since he didn’t have a lot of time to cook. They went home pretty late every time.

“Let’s do this.”

Gavin let her daughter took the ingredients and choose if they’ll do a cheesy recipe or more meaty. He wanted her to be happy and did what he can with that.

Finally, she chose for a fishy and seafood one. Gavin was glad to use the breaded fish and the last gambas he still have in her freezer. That make some place and he could buy new stuff after that.

“Tadaaam.”

Elizabeth was bright and happy as the meal was over. She put one ladle of pasta in each dish and they went in the sofa, in front of the TV. The game was almost finish and the youngie still needed to wash her, check her homework a last time and she maybe could hope to play a little before go to bed but she didn’t really hoped for that.

“May I taste?”

Elizabeth looked Connor, sit beside her.

“I thought you couldn’t?”

“It was right. I made some upgrade, in fact… Now, I can eat.” Connor smiled. “I wanted to taste your awesome meal. And I’m not disappointed you made a such meal with your papa, then!”

“Oooh!” Elizabeth took her fork and gave it to the Android.

He thanked her and taste. It was particular but… good?

“What can of other upgrade did you make?” Gavin asked.

Now he understood why the bot wanted to stay at Jericho and discuss with the people.

“I… can blush! The regular color for us his blue, to remind the thirium, the blue blood but we can choice the color. I hesitated for the red to look like you and North said I should choose the multicolor’s one but… I choose the blue finally.”

“Awesome!” the little girl smiled. “Blue his great! I love blue!”

She hugged him.

“You’re awesome, Conny!”

“You are,” he said, hugged her back.

Gavin hided a little smile, seeing them together.

#It's on ao3 #Convin #Gavin800 #Gavinreed #Gavin reed #Connor rk800 #dbh #detroit become human

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lesbiansteveharrington · 7 years

Text

OH, TO BE ALONE WITH YOU (PT. 1)

Pairing: Stenbrough with minor Reddie on the side

Word Count: 3,986

Prompt: Stan Uris moves to Derry, Maine following the death of his father and gets a job babysitting a little boy named Georgie who just so happens to have a very attractive older brother. (Modern High School AU)

Warnings: Mention of death, depression (not a major theme), anti-Semitism, struggles with faith

Link to part two: https://jamespottev.tumblr.com/post/166443144647/how-would-you-feel-if-i-told-you-i-love-you

__________

Sometimes, Stanley Uris didn’t know what was up and what was down. Sometimes, it felt like the world was moving but he was stuck in the same position, day after day. And it sucked. His mother thought that a new start would be good for them, that it would help them move on.

Stan wanted to scream. He wanted to call bullshit on her logic. It wasn’t that he didn’t mind moving. He wasn’t exactly popular back at his old high school in Bangor ( once upon a time, his father had asked him if it was because of them being Jewish – but it wasn’t an anti-Semitic thing, aside from the occasional, always unfunny, holocaust joke, it was more so the depression thing and the OCD thing and the gay thing that drove people away ) so it wasn’t like he was going to be all that missed. Even his Jewish friends didn’t seem like they were gonna miss him that much. And it bothered Stan how little he cared about it.

But after his dad died, everything just seemed so… pointless. His father, a man who had never smoked a day in his life, ended up dying of lung cancer. It made Stan furious. At the world. At God. At everything. After watching his father shrivel up into a shell of what he had once been, Stan’s already complicated relationship with religion had turned sour. It infuriated him that his father could be dying and still praising that almighty presence above. Stan wasn’t even sure if he believed anymore.

“Stanley,” his mother’s voice called. “Come on, you’re going to be late!”

Gulping, Stan gave himself a once over and straightened the collar of his shirt before grabbing his backpack. As he left his room and shut the door, he found himself cringing. So, he went back, turned the bedroom light on and then off before shutting his door. Stan repeated that three more times before he was satisfied. It made him feel sick, wrong.

“I think you should start going back to therapy,” his mother told him on the ride to school.

“Mom—”

��No arguments, Stanley,” she said, her voice sharp like the cracking of a whip. “I know you, I know my son. You’re not okay, sweetheart. All I want is for you to be happy. I don’t want to send you off to college in two years with you…”

She trailed off and sighed. Stan could tell that if she hadn’t been driving she would’ve pressed a small kiss to the top of his forehead and hugged him tightly. Stan licked his lips and closed his eyes. He hated how unhappy his mother was. He despised that part of it was caused by him.

“I’ll see you tonight, yeah?” Andrea Uris said, looking at her pale, skinny son.

“Yeah,” Stan agreed, nodding.

“We can talk about you getting that job. How’s that sound?”

Stan smiled at that. Since his freshman year of high school, he had been begging for a job. He liked the idea of working – the responsibility, the experience, the money that he could save up to buy all the books he’d ever want to read. Stan just really wanted a job. He wanted something to do with his life.

And he also needed to start saving up for college. His father had been a Rabbi and his mother was a kindergarten teacher, so it wasn’t like there was a lot of money in either of those professions. If he didn’t want to leave college with an obscene amount of debt, Stan would have to save money while working his ass off for good grade.

“Hi, I’m Stan Uris,” Stan said in a quiet voice to the lady sitting at the receptionist desk.

“Oh, the new boy!” the receptionist said in a too-loud, too-cheerful voice.

Stan winced a little and smiled.

“Here’s your schedule, and your student guide will be down any minute to take you around!”

The receptionist had an odd accent that Stan wasn’t very fond of, and when she snapped her gum he thought his head might explode.

A minute later, a very clean cut looking black boy with broad shoulders, short hair, and a wide smile walked into the office.

“Hey, you must be Stan,” he said, walking straight over to Stan and offering his hand to shake. “I’m Mike.”

“Hi,” Stan said, shaking Mike’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

As it turned out, Stan and Mike had all the same classes which was why Mike was chosen to give Stan the school tour. Within five minutes, Stan had decided that he liked Mike a lot. Mike was soft spoken, intelligent, and kind. He might have looked like all the football players at Stan’s old school that gave him hell for being gay, but Mike was nothing like that.

So, maybe Derry wouldn’t be that bad.

At lunch, Mike led Stan past the table filled with boys wearing the same kind of jacket as Mike and towards a different table in the corner of the room. At that table sat a very pretty girl with freckles spattered across every bit of visible skin and short cropped red hair. Beside her was a broad boy with dark blonde hair and a shy smile. Another boy sat across from them, lanky and thinly muscled with thick glasses and rather gorgeous dark hair. His arm was slung around the shoulders of a shorter boy with neatly combed chocolate curls. It was a ragtag bunch, but as they greeted Mike with wide smiles Stan could tell that they all loved each other a lot.

“Hey guys,” Mike said, sitting down and gesturing at the empty chair for Stan. “This is Stan, he’s new. Stan, this is Bev, Ben, Eddie, and Richie— where’s Bill?”

“Out sick,” Richie, the boy with glasses, snorted, ducking his face into the crook of Eddie’s neck.

Richie’s body convulsed with laughter Stan didn’t really understand. He stayed silent and began unpacking his lunch.

“What did you do to him?” Mike sighed, looking towards Bev.

“Hey, he agreed to drink with us,” Bev said defensively.

“They’re ridiculous,” Mike murmured to Stan, drawing a small smile from the new boy. “Don’t hold them against me?”

“So, I found a job for you,” Andrea told Stan that night after setting out dinner.

“Yeah?” Stan asked.

He held his breath for a moment, unsure if he was willing to trust his mother’s judgement on this.

“Yes. A woman named Sharon at my work was saying how she needs a babysitter for her son Georgie on Thursdays and Fridays,” Andrea said, stabbing her fork into her salad.

“Babysitting?” Stan asked, trying his best to hide his annoyance. “Mom. I don’t want to babysit.”

“It’s fifteen dollars an hour, Stanley,” Andrea said. “Sharon said it would be for at least five hours each night, so that’s at least a hundred and fifty dollars every week.”

Stan quickly did the math. If he kept fifty dollars every week for himself ( though, he didn’t have friends or much of a social life so why would he really need fifty dollars a week to do things? Well, Mike and his friends had been welcoming enough… maybe he’d finally have some friends… ) he could put away a hundred bucks each week. If he kept that consistent for two years ( and who knew what this kid’s parents would need over school breaks and the summer ) Stan could have a significant amount of money saved when he needed to get to college.

Suddenly, babysitting didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

“So, when do I start?” Stan asked.

Andrea beamed at her son.

“I have her number written down. You can call her after dinner and ask.”

As it turned out, Sharon Denbrough needed Stan to start ASAP. And tomorrow was Friday, meaning that Stan would be babysitting ten-year-old Georgie from 5:00 to 11:00.

When Stan shuffled into school, head down, he went straight to his locker. The girl to his left and her friends shot him a weird look, though Stan wasn’t all that sure why. He wasn’t that weird looking.

“Stan!” Mike’s voice boomed cheerfully.

Stan looked up and smiled at the approaching boy. Mike was walking with Ben and a boy Stan didn’t meet yesterday. But, boy, did he wish he had. The stranger was tall ( probably a little over six-feet, which definitely didn’t make Stan a little weak in the knees — no siree! ) and had light brown hair combed and styled very neatly. And his eyes—they were the bluest blue Stan had ever seen.

“Hi Mike, Ben,” Stan said in his typical quiet fashion, quickly glancing at the other boy before shifting his eyes down to the textbook in his arms.

“Stan, this is Bill. He was sick yesterday,” Ben said. “Richie mentioned you and Bill was anxious to meet the new kid on the block.”

Both Bill and Mike snorted quietly as Ben’s mouth lifted into a small smirk. Stan didn’t get the joke.

“It’s nice to meet you, Stan,” Bill said.

His words were slow and deliberate, and Stan really liked that.

“You too, Bill,” Stan replied, hoping that he wasn’t blushing.

If he was, no one said anything.

At lunch time, Richie clapped Stan on the shoulder and loudly proclaimed that his algebra teacher was a homophobic piece of shit.

“Why is he homophobic, Rich?” Bev asked, smirking at the boy.

“He told me I would never accomplish anything in life and is making me serve detention on Monday! This is gay oppression!” Richie exclaimed, flabbergasted.

Stan chuckled quietly.

“So, Stan, do you want to see Kingsman with us tonight?”

Stan’s heart bloomed within his chest, filling him with a warmness he had never felt before. He sighed, silently cursing his need for a job.

“I can’t,” Stan said, scratching behind his ear. “I have to babysit tonight.”

The rest of the group shut up about the movies after that. Stan realized that they were doing it for him—so he wouldn’t feel bad about missing out. The thought made him smile.

As a matter of fact, he was still smiling about it as he walked to Georgie Denbrough’s house.

“You must be Stan,” a tall, handsome man said with a warm smile as he opened the door. “It’s nice to meet you, son. I’m Zack Denbrough, Georgie’s dad.”

“It’s nice to meet you as well, sir,” Stan said politely, shaking his hand.

“Georgie!” Zack yelled up the stairs. “Come down, please!”

Seconds later, a small boy was sprinting down the stairs with a manic smile on his face, laughing as a tall, slightly muscled, shirtless boy ( Georgie’s brother, Stan assumed ) chased after him. Stan froze when he saw that the boy was Bill from school.

“Georgie, g-give me my sh-shirt!” Bill yelled.

Georgie was laughing still, loudly. The laughter was echoing around the house. Georgie and Bill sprinted past Stan without sparing him a second glance. A moment later, there was a loud scream followed by laughter as Bill, while laughing, called Georgie a twerp.

“My sons are rather… hyperactive,” Zack told Stan with an apologetic glance. “Once Bill leaves, Georgie will calm down, though. The two rile each other up.”

Stan swallowed thickly and nodded. His throat felt very dry, and his hands were beginning to itch. Slowly and deliberately, he dragged his blunt nails up and down the material of jeans that covered the outside of his thighs.

“Georgie, come meet your babysitter,” Zack said, walking out of the entrance hall and into the kitchen. “And, Bill, for God’s sake, put on a shirt.”

After a second’s deliberation when Stan seriously considered booking it out of the Denbrough house, he made his way into the kitchen. He caught Bill’s eyes and gulped.

“Stan! Hey!” Bill exclaimed happily, pulling a black t-shirt over his head. “When you said you had to babysit, I didn’t realize you’d be babysitting Georgie. I thought you had a younger brother or sister.”

“No,” Stan said, shaking his head and trying to remember not to stare at Bill. “I’m an only child.”

“Ooh, I wish,” Bill chuckled, sticking his tongue out at Georgie who reciprocated the motion.

Stan laughed dryly.

It wasn’t long before Zack and Sharon left for their date night, letting Stan know that they left forty dollars on the counter for him to order food and that he was welcome to keep the change. Bill was still there when his parents left.

While Georgie was showering, Stan took his opportunity to talk to Bill.

“So, uh, why aren’t you babysitting your brother?” Stan asked.

‘Really, Stan?’ he thought to himself. ‘What a stupid fucking question.’

Bill’s face went a little pink and he began to rub the back of his neck.

“Yeah, I’m not really allowed to do that anymore,” Bill said, his words paired with an awkward laugh. “Last time I babysat Georgie, it was pouring r-ruh-rain and I let him go outside, and he ended up getting wicked sick. My p—parents were really angry with me.”

Stan hadn’t noticed Bill’s stutter earlier. He didn’t say anything about it, though. Instead, he merely smiled a little.

“Well, if I’m ever babysitting Georgie and it rains, I’ll make sure not to let him go out.”

Bill threw his head back and laughed loudly. As his laughter died down, he bumped his shoulder softly against Stan’s and bit down on his lip. Yet again, Stan was gulping because of Bill Denbrough.

“I should get going,” Bill said, a look of regret crossing over his face. He stood up and patted Stan on the shoulder, but his hand lingered for a moment. “I’ll catch you later, Stan. I’ll probably be home before my parents.”

Georgie was a cute kid, and very sweet. He made a lot of meme jokes, which he told Stan he had learned from Richie. One time this past summer, Georgie told Stan, he ran into Bill’s room and dabbed with two fidget spinners in his hands. When Bill found out that Richie had been the one to tell Georgie to do it, Bill didn’t speak to Richie for a day and blocked him on all forms of social media.

At 9:00, Stan had to put Georgie to bed. After that, he had two hours to spare before he got to leave. And considering he was in someone else’s home, he had no idea what to do. So, he just grabbed a book from his bag and sat down in their living room to read.

Bill came home at 9:30, and when he saw Stan curled up on his couch reading a book on birds ( of all things ), he couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“What?” Stan asked, a little defensively.

“Nothing,” Bill assured him, sitting down next to him on the couch. “It’s just— well, a book on birds?”

“I happen to like birds,” Stan said, eyes narrowed. “They’re interesting.”

“Yeah? How so?” Bill asked, genuinely curious.

And so, for the next hour and a half, Stan talked to Bill about all different kinds of birds and the best places in Maine to go bird watching. And Bill seemed really interested too, he was asking questions and just looked completely earnest. By the time Sharon and Zack came back home, Stan hadn’t even realized that it was 11:00.

“I noticed you didn’t drive here,” Bill said, sneaking up on Stan as he put his coat and shoes on. “D-do you want me to drive you h-h-home?”

Stan almost protested, but he was feeling selfish. He wanted to spend more time with Bill, even if it was only for a ten-minute car ride.

“Thanks, Bill,” Stan murmured once Bill pulled into his driveway. “I’ll see you Monday.”

“Wait,” Bill exclaimed, grabbing Stan’s wrist. “Give me your number.”

Bill wiggled his phone in front of Stan’s face, blue eyes wide. Stan thought his face was going to split in two from how big his smile was. Eagerly ( maybe a little too eagerly, but Stan didn’t know much about this kind of thing ), Stan punched his number into Bill’s phone. If he was a more confident kid, he might have put some kind of witty, suggestive emoji next to his contact name… but Stan wasn’t like that.

“So, who’s the boy?” Andrea asked with a coy smirk on her face, watching as her blushing son stumbled his way backwards into the house, waving goodbye to the boy who was sitting in his car.

“There— there’s no boy. What are you talking about?” Stan blustered.

Andrea rolled her eyes.

“Stan, I’m your mother. You’re supposed to tell me these things.”

Stan sighed and relented, rolling his eyes.

“His name’s Bill,” Stan said.

“Do you like him?”

“I met him this morning, Mom!”

“Okay. So, what?”

Stan groaned, rubbing his eyes.

“He’s Georgie’s older brother and offered to drive me home because I don’t have a car. That’s all.”

Andrea hummed suspiciously, but didn’t press Stan further.

“My brother thinks you’re hot.”

Georgie’s statement was so bluntly presented that Stan choked on the slice of pizza he was eating.

“I heard him talking with Bev and Mike about it the other day,” Georgie added, grinning at Stan.

“Oh,” Stan said in a high, uneven voice. “That’s nice.”

“Do you think he’s hot?”

Stan’s face was burning.

“Georgie—”

“What?” Georgie asked, putting on his best angel face.

“I’m not talking about your brother with you,” Stan snorted. “And you’re ten, which is just— no.”

“I’m gonna be eleven next month,” Georgie whined.

Stan wasn’t amused.

“Eat your pizza, Georgie.”

“Do you think he’s hot yet?”

“Georgie, you need to go to bed!” Stan exclaimed, trying his best not to laugh at Georgie’s persistence.

All night, he had been pestering Stan about his thoughts on Bill. Like, yeah, Stan thought Bill was hot. But he wasn’t about to tell Georgie that. If he said anything, Georgie would definitely repeat it back to Bill ( Stan wasn’t ignorant to Georgie’s hero-worship of his brother ) and then Bill would think Stan was weird. Though, Georgie did say that Bill thought he was hot.

“Did he really say— agh! Never mind! Go to bed!”

Stan seriously considered throwing himself in front of a bus then and there. Was he seriously just about to ask a ten-year old about that? UGH!

Georgie laughed.

Bill arrived home not long after that, grinning. Georgie shut his mouth about Stan finding Bill hot.

Three weeks after Georgie asked Stan if he thought Bill was hot, Stan had the weekend off. Bill’s parents were going away for a few nights for their anniversary and Georgie was going to stay with Sharon’s sister in the next town over. That meant Bill had the house to himself.

If Bill was a different kid, he would’ve been instantly sending out invites to a party. But Bill was Bill, and he wasn’t like that. Instead, he invited Stan over for a movie night.

Andrea drove Stan over to Bill’s house and quickly lectured Stan on practicing safe sex. Stan wanted to die.

“Mom! Holy, crap!” Stan exclaimed, his face beet red. “It’s not— we’re not— no! Anyways, the rest of our friends are gonna be there!”

The rest of their friends ( ‘The Losers Club’ they were often referred to by a senior named Henry Bowers and his gang of asshole friends, but Stan didn’t pay them much attention ) were, in fact, not there.

“I didn’t realize it would be just us,” Stan muttered, glancing around Bill’s dark house.

“Oh,” Bill said, rubbing his neck. “I didn’t— are you upset?”

“No,” Stan said, smiling. “I just thought— you know what? It’s not important.”

Bill smiled that breathtaking smile of his and Stan found himself wishing for a puff of Eddie’s inhaler.

“Richie was saying I should throw a party this weekend,” Bill snorted. “And Bev was saying we should utilize my empty house and my father’s never ending liquor supply and get drunk.”

Stan didn’t think that sounded too awful. Well, the getting drunk part at least… so long it was only their group of seven. He wouldn’t want other people around. Just the seven of them… ‘the lucky seven’ had Mike called them a couple weeks ago. The thought made Stan smile a bit.

“Would getting drunk be that bad?” Stan asked Bill, a smile on his face.

“Not if it was just the two of us,” Bill replied easily in his slow deliberate voice.

The voice that made Stan’s knees go weak and stomach tie in knots.

Not if it was just the two of us… Stan flushed a deep red.

“So, I ordered us pizza,” Bill said, gesturing to a box on the table. “Normally I go with pepperoni or barbeque chicken, but I know it’s not kosher for Jewish people to eat pig or meat and cheese — that’s the right word, right? Kosher?”

Stan had barely thought about his faith in months. It had seemed so insignificant, so unreal for him after his dad died. And when it came to eating kosher— well, that had been the way he lived his life for the past sixteen years so he never even really thought about it. But Bill had thought about it.

Stan suddenly felt the urge to kiss Bill, but he had enough will power to stop himself.

“Is regular cheese fine?”

Bill was being so casual, acting as if nothing was wrong. Well, not that anything was wrong… but he had just made a significant impact on Stan and was acting as if nothing had happened.

“Cheese is perfect,” Stan said softly.

Bill beamed and Stan felt like his heart was going to explode out of his chest.

Stan really wanted to kiss Bill. But he didn’t.

After they ate their pizza, Bill suggested they watch something. And by something, Stan knew that Bill meant Game of Thrones. Bill was a die-hard Thrones fan and nearly had an aneurism when he found out that Stan didn’t watch it. Last week, he finally convinced Stan to start watching it. Stan was already on season three.

Bill sat down next to Stan, but in an unnecessarily close way. Stan sat curled against the arm of the couch and Bill sat right down beside him. There was only a small inch or so of space between them. Stan said nothing because he didn’t want Bill to move away.

“You know, I feel bad for Theon,” Stan confessed.

Bill didn’t say anything.

“I mean, I understand why he did what he did. He just wanted his father’s approval. I don’t agree with his actions, but I understand the motive. You know? And, wow, he really does not deserve… that.”

“You’re cute.”

Stan’s eyes went wide, and so did Bill’s. From how red Bill’s face was, Stan could tell he most definitely did not mean to say that out loud.

“Thanks,” Stan found himself saying. “You too.”

And then he kissed Bill. Holy shit. He was kissing Bill. And Bill was kissing him back.

WOW! WOW! WOW!

Even for a first kiss, it was pretty awesome. Stan had no idea what he was doing with his mouth, but Bill seemed to have some experience so he took charge. His right hand went around the back of Stan’s neck, while the other propped himself up against the arm of the couch that Stan’s back was pressed against.

Stan was in paradise, his hands wrapped around Bill and digging into Bill’s soft hair.

When Bill pulled away, they were both panting, gasping for air. Bill’s eyes were peering into Stan’s, and both boys smiled before Stan pulled Bill’s face down, crushing his lips to Bill’s once more.

____________________

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