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george-weasleys-girl · 1 year

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Could you write an angsty George fic where shortly before he and Fred leave hogwarts to open thier shop he dumps you because he feels like he owes it to fred and his family and basically everyone to give 100% of himself to the joke shop seeing as everyone could use thier spirits being lifted and maybe also part of the reason he dumps you is cuz he's a little pessimistic and depressed about the future because of the impending war

Thank you, dear anon, for requesting this. It took a twist that I wasn't intending when I began. I had so many false starts. Nothing I wrote seemed to work. Then I listened to The Pretenders, "Back on the Chain Gang" and "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper. Once I set it in the future, with them looking back, everything fell into place. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

~•~

Time After Time

Warnings: angst, couple of curse words

Summary: George broke up with Y/N the night before he and Fred left Hogwarts. Four years later, after zero contact, she walks into the joke shop.

~•~

"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you." George said, his eyes locked on to her face as he traced the lines on her palm. He still remembered their patterns even after all this time.

Y/N's eyes rose to meet his. "You shattered my heart that day. There are pieces of it still missing." She sighed, pulling her hand from his. "And I still don't fully understand why you did it."

George's breath caught at the sudden loss of her touch. Four years of regret and longing punched him in the gut. So many nights, he'd cried himself to sleep yearning for her. Her soft breath against his cheek, her sweet voice whispering 'I love you,' into his ear over and over. He was desperate to gather her up in his arms, tell how sorry he was, how stupid he had been, how much he still loved her and that if she just gave him a second chance, he'd never, ever let her go again.

But he didn't. Instead, he poured himself another hefty glass of wine and downed all of it in one swig.

"I didn't deserve you," he said, eyes cast down at his empty hands. "I guess I still don't."

"Yeah, you drilled that into my head the day you broke up with me," she snapped. "That still doesn't explain why you did it."

George said nothing, continuing to stare downward, unable to meet her gaze.

Y/N closed her eyes for a moment. "Even now, after four years, you still can't tell me the truth." She stood, beginning to regret accepting his invitation to come upstairs to his apartment. "I--I shouldn't have come here. I should go."

She turned to grab her jacket, but George stood, clasping both her hands in his. "Please, Y/N, don't go. I--I'll explain. Just--please, just stay a little while longer." The words, 'I love you,' were on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them whole, afraid they might be too much.

Y/N stared into his eyes for a long while, then she nodded. "Ok."

~•~

They moved from the kitchen to the living room. Once they were sitting face to face on the sofa, with fresh glasses of wine in hand, George took a deep breath and began.

"You were my world, Y/N. I loved you so much it hurt sometimes. The two years we were together were the happiest of my Iife. I woke up everyday feeling like the luckiest son of bitch to ever live. I couldn't believe that someone who was so beautiful and kind and smart and funny as you could love me." He pointed to himself, lowering his eyes. "Me. Fred Weasley's sidekick twin."

The sharp pang of remorse stabbed into her heart at the mention of Fred's name. She should've come back for the funeral, but after her and George’s relationship imploded, she didn't know if she'd be welcome. The last thing she wanted to do was cause a scene at the funeral of one of her dearest friends.

So, she stayed away.

Y/N swallowed hard, forcing down her guilt. "Tell me, George, what happened to all that love?" she asked. "Did it all just fade away?"

George's head snapped up at that, eyes wide. "What? No! How could you think that? It's just--" he paused briefly, chewing on his lip. "It's just that Fred and I were ready to open up the joke shop. I owed it to him, to my family, to put everything I had into making our dream come true." His brown eyes locked onto hers, pleading for understanding. "And there was so much darkness then. So much fear. People needed something to help them forget, you know? Forget that the war was coming. If only for a little while."

"So, I no longer fit into your grand dream? Is that it?" Y/N's chin trembled when she spoke.

"No, love, no," he said. "It wasn't like that. It--I couldn't be the boyfriend you deserved anymore. You deserved someone who could give you their all. Someone who wasn't working all hours of the day and night. Someone who would be there. And I knew I couldn't be that person for you anymore."

Y/N placed her glass on the table, then looked him dead in the eye. "You're a damned fool, George Weasley. We'd talked so many times about how it would be when you and Fred opened up the shop. I supported you and the shop and everything that came with it. I gladly accepted it all because I loved you, and I wanted your dreams to come true. I would've done anything to help that become a reality. So don't go there, George. Don't you fucking dare pretend I didn't know what I was signing up for."

Y/N rose abruptly and crossed the room to gaze out the window.

"It's not that, Y/N." His words were barely above a whisper. "I know you understood, but I'd thought about it alot, and it wouldn't have been fair to you, love. You deserved so much more than an absentee husband."

Y/N rounded on him. "That was my choice to make! Mine! And you took it from me without my consent."

George flinched as if she'd slapped him. "I didn't mean--I didn't think-‐"

"You're damned right you didn't think!" Y/N interrupted, running a shaky hand through her hair. "What are you not telling me, George? There's more to this, I know there is." She sighed and her voice grew soft. "Was there--someone else?"

George rose to stand before her, cupping her face in his hands, his eyes unflinching. "No, Y/N. There was no one else. There never has been. You were and still are the only woman I've ever wanted."

"Then why, George?" Y/N pulled away and walked back to the sofa. "Why?"

He remained silent for several long moments. "I was afraid," he said finally, refusing to turn and face her.

"Afraid? What do you mean? Afraid of what?"

"The war."

"I don't understand." Y/N said. "Everyone was afraid. What did that have to do with our relationship?"

George whirled around, eyes brimming with tears. "I didn't want you to die, ok?!"

Y/N stared at him, taken aback by this revelation. Of all the things he could've possibly said, she never expected this. "Why were you so certain I would die?"

"I wasn't. But it was a war. People die in wars." His voice trembled. "Fred died. He died, Y/N! And it damn near killed me. If you'd died too--" George shook his head, burying his face in his hands as he broke down.

"Oh Georgie." Y/N crossed the room, her open arms wrapping around him.

He melted into her embrace. "I-I'm sorry. I was stupid." She could barely make out his words through the hiccupping sobs. "I th-thought if I pushed you away, you'd go back to your muggle family. Y-you'd be safe."

Y/N squeezed him tighter. His plan had worked. It'd worked so well that she took a job at Beauxbatons teaching Charms.

"Of course, you would do that." Y/N wept into his shoulder, finally understanding. "How did I not see it? Merlin, that was such a--you thing to do."

George chuckled through his tears and pulled back to look at her.

"I never stopped loving you," he admitted, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"Nor I, you."

Before either of them realized what was happening, they closed the distance, their lips touching for the first time in four years. It wasn't this deep, passionate reunion as they both imagined it would be, but tremulous and gentle. They were suddenly those two fifteen year old kids again. Nervous, eager, yearning, and so desperately and madly in love. It was their second first kiss.

~•~

"I'm so sorry, George. I should've come back before now." Y/N confessed once they rested on the sofa again. "I was angry at you for a long time, and when it finally faded, I didn't know if you'd still want me around."

George moved closer to her, placing his hand over hers. "I've missed you so bloody much, Y/N. I can't tell you how many times I wrote to you, but never had the balls to send the letters." He smiled sheepishly. "Because I was afraid you wouldn't want me either."

Y/N snorted. "I bet if we looked up the word idiot in the dictionary, there'd be a picture of us."

George chuckled and nodded. "So, what now?" he asked.

"Well, I have three months until summer break. I've been debating for a while whether to continue my teaching job at Beauxbatons. And I think I've finally made my decision."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm. I think it's time for me to come home and when I do, I'd like for us to try again."

George's smile put the sun to shame. "I'd like that too." He raised her hand to his lips, leaving a lingering kiss on her palm.

"Are you hungry?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm famished!"

"I happen to know this great place, just a short walk down the hall. The chef is superb. Makes the best spaghetti and meatballs."

"Ooh, my favorite!"

George smiled and offered his arm. "I remember."

#george weasley #george weasley x reader #george weasley x y/n #george weasley angst

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spatio-rift · 8 months

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oh my god hold on a second. do you think the $quad has met saiko's parents. like they HAVE to have been over at his house before. i'd imagine some of the butlers and bodyguards are familiar with them (especially the ones that accompany him to school) but they're his Guys so i'd imagine they hang our at his house more than the others... so they'd definitely had some encounters w his mom/dad. funniest scenario is at the point of their friendship where they can tease him and he won't mind they'll be acting silly and then one of his parents walks in and they're suddenly perfect well behaved little angels who are just such good company to their dear metori. do you see the vision...

I DOOOO I SEE THE VISION.... theyve definitely visited his house the most out of everyone at pk theyre here every other day. i remember talking about this w a friend years ago and we were saying saiko would always be calling them over when he feels a little bored or lonely under the pretense of needing them to do stuff for him even though hes literally got a dozen people personally attending to his needs at home. constructing elaborate scenarios to just hang out without having to acknowledge any sort of friendship. i think post-friendship acknowledgement they still always gather at saikos house because hes got everything they could possibly want in there and also their houses arent up to his crazy standards so by default.... it can be a little insulting but they like getting picked up from school by a professional chauffeur w a limo too much to ever really complain about it lol

the saiko staff is kind of amused by them when they come over cuz theyre so used to doing that job for saiko at school they start doing it at his house without realizing. mostly though i think theyre happy he has normal friends now (and that its made him less annoying to deal with)

HIS PARENTS. theyve only met them like once or twice bc theyre really not at the house often. i like to think it wasnt even intentional they just keep getting lost in that huge fucking mansion and somehow end up in places they shouldnt be like saikos dads office or his art collection room. its really awkward every time because his dad doesnt really get it so when they blurt out a self introduction and say theyre his sons friends his dads like '...so you work for him, yes?' and arguing with a man that looks like a human-sized star and has enough power to make their entire family disappear with a snap of his fingers is a little scary so theyre just like yes sir we do sir. and he just pats them on the shoulder and tells them to keep up the good work and calls someone to guide them back to his son.

saikos mom is really funny to think about bc for takahashi yokota and murata its like going to their friends house after finally getting thru to him and starting to have a sort of normal relationship with him and meeting their celebrity crush there. when they come to saikos house after meeting her they try to discreetly ask if his mom is gonna be there. you know just to be polite and say hello they should probably bring a gift too... and saikos like shes in brazil rn and im going to kill you.

#saipsi #$quad #saiko metori

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incarnateirony · 1 year

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Just to clarify, Sonoma is not central California or Southern California. Sorry, but the areas you are referencing are hundreds of miles away from each other. Sonoma is very much in Northern California, and nowhere near Misha. Misha seems like a nice guy, tho.🤷‍♀️

You guys probably think Misha is in Ojai. No. His last rental location in california is about 2 hours from Sonoma, and in terms of the type of place it is, that's "just up the road." IDK if you're european or what, but they're not, 2 hours is nothing, ESPECIALLY for holiday gatherings. There's Californians with daily work commutes as long. Sit down.

And it's still Central Cali. It's bay area, but it's Central Cali. Don't try to be pedantic. Even in cali people can't agree what's north, south and central. Talk to three motherfuckers in merced, you'll get three answers. You know what's there though? A mountain that separates the bay from Central Valley. Which is full of vineyards. Omguz. Better go tell Central Valley to not be called Central Valley.

It's not hard to understand in perspective that a family flies out, to visit other family/friends, on a holiday. However, Jenneel's family and friends are not there, nor anywhere remotely near there, except one MFer about 2 hours out, who is himself about 2 hours out from his kids. You fly in. You do some tourism. You meet up on a day since the kids that used to get babysat together probably miss each other. You fuck off. Welcome to holidays, are you new to humaning?

why some mfer that's got half the data decide to tell me from their broken data I'm wrong cuz some shit in their head. I would bet five dollars this person thought he was in Ojai.

Funny thing is Misha's even already streamed from this non-Ojai location, or done one of his videos of some kind, I don't remember if it was a paid video for a fan or event video but yeah. Like. Bruh. Whoever you are, you've missed a wholeass Misha location for like two years, give or take.

Seriously, for the foreigners, the colored parts are Central Valley. Check Sonoma on a map. Lmfao this is what they're down to splitting.

That's all Central Valley, numpty. Sacramento Valley is literally where the orchard shit is. Can't believe someone LITERALLY decided to be this pedantic when *the post they are trying to critique itself* had a caveat that the classification was muddy and disagreed on even to locals.

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godsrejectedmartyr · 11 months

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dreams are funny sometimes, and i find it funny how sometimes they’re exactly what you need.

a week before my sophomore year we had to put my dog down. i’ve had dogs before but he was like, MY first dog. i remember when i met him i was in the fifth grade and he belonged to this family from our congregation. i was in love with him the moment i met him. he was this small little white ball of fur, the absolute cutest. eventually that family couldn’t take care of him anymore, and they said that since i loved him so much i could keep him. he was still a small dog, but he grew up to be such a hefty guy. he wasn’t fat, but he was very dense. that’s what made him so nice to hug and carry around. i would literally take him with me anywhere. we’d take him to get together a and gatherings that took place outside, i’d take him out to stores with me and he’d just sit in my arm on my hip like a little kid and was always so well behaved. in the winters he would wear jackets when i would take him out with me. he would always sit with his legs kicked straight out behind him so that his tummy would feel the cold of the floor. when he had puppies he would always bring the mama food and never ate unless the puppies ate first and wouldn’t sleep on the bed so that the mama could be with her babies. when we would watch movies in the living room we would watch the tv too. when we had zoomies, he would always jump over the wooden spacer that was in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room like it was a huge hurdle or something. he was just so good. one day he stopped eating and eventually his back legs didn’t work anymore. i don’t know what happened, he wasn’t even five years old yet. one morning my mom came back from the vet and she didn’t have him with her. at first i had no idea how to feel, but then i guess it hit me that i was never going to be able to hug him anymore. there’s just nothing out there like him. he was just so small and dense and hefty. i loved the pressure he put on my chest when he would lay on top of me. in a way it was extra upsetting cuz i didn’t even get to say goodbye. he was just there one night and in the morning he was gone. if i knew i wasn’t gonna see him again i wish i would’ve been able to hug him one last time. that was all i wanted.

a few months after he passed, i was obviously still mourning because he was like, my best friend for years. but i dreamt of him. and in my dream i knew he was dead, but all i could do was cry and just hug him, it felt so real. there was other people in my dream, i don’t remember who they were or what their purpose was but all i heard from them was that i needed this. and i guess i did. i never dreamed about him again after that. of course i still get sad when i think about him too much but it’s easier to talk about now.

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princessdemo · 2 years

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just a christmas request bc im very much in spirit now .. mayhapz deccers and u work for the team and its a tradition to do a massive secret santa and its fate bc u get one of them and he gets you … and he finds that hes spending his time more around you (and its funny cuz ur not necessarily suspicious) until one day he kisses u out of surprise and hes like “you know part of my secret santa for you is a kiss”…. and u may continue that :3

The best present - Declan Rice.

HI BBY @rashys !! THANK U FOR THIS REQUEST, IM SO SORRY IT LITERALLY MAKES NO SENSE, BUT WRITING IS LITERALLY *"&"*"(!() NOT THE ONE FOR ME,, I HOPE U LIKE PARTS, I LOVE U SO MUCH ANGEL <333333333

Working with the England national team was one of the biggest achievements of your life. It was something you dreamt of since you was a little girl, getting to work with your idols. Being a physiotherapist was also the job you had taken a liking too since you first heard about it. Having the ability to help others be their greatest physically, was something you had always wanted to do. When you got the call you was going to be working as a placement at St Georges park, you was ecstatic. Tears flowing, with lots alcoholic celebration drinks to praise you for your achievement. You was the happiest girl in the world. Then, when the team had signed you for a job working with the players full time. You were definitely living your biggest dream.

The festive season was always exciting and something to look forward too at St Georges park. Decorations and lots of happy faces shining down the halls, something no one would want to miss. Maybe, Jordan Pickford. The team always seemed to go to town, tinsel hanging from nearly every single china object in the building. Music blasting from the speakers. As for the players, it seemed like a boost in their mentality and well being, considering that it wasn't long before they would got a well needed break to relax and spend time with their families. On a daily, you would catch John stones and Kyle walker skipping along down to the pitch singing a mixture of Christmas songs together. Believing they were the new Beyoncé and Jay Z. It really was a period of love and happiness.

A tradition the team had acquired over the festive period was secret Santa. It was always a good laugh to see what everyone had brought each other. Last year, you remember Harry Maguire receiving a book on tips to score a goal other than a header, and Jordan Pickford opened up a box containing therapy sessions to control his anger issues on the pitch. All in all, it was a laugh. This year, you had picked Trent Alexander-Arnold's name out of the hat, someone who you believed you could find a present for easily. However, the person who seemed to have chosen your name out the hat, didn’t have the same thoughts as yourself.

Declan Rice, the most charming number 41 in the world. One of the idols for many young girls, stealing the nations heart during the euros. Over the years, he had developed a strong liking to yourself, with all the boys noticing the way he would open the door for you, check how you were feeling, book unnecessary physio appointments. You didn't seem to pick up on his ways, thinking he was just being a gentleman, or working too hard on the pitch. To you, Declan Rice was just a close friend.

When Declan had pulled your name out the hat, his body froze. He was utterly scrambled as to what to buy for you. Nothing came to his mind, he didn't want to mess this up, given that this could be his one chance in getting closer to you. If he brought you something you didn't like, he feared you would never want to see him again. Very childlike he was, according to Mason.

"Hello Lads." You smile at the group of boys, who were gathered in the gaming room. A game of Fifa was sported on the TV, Jack and Bukayo competing against each other. Several grunts and profanities here and there from the two. You take a seat on the sofa, placing yourself next to John who was flicking through his phone, taking various videos of Jack sulking because of his loss.

"Yo, Y/N. How are you?" The familiar brummie accent echoes through the room, causing your head to turn in his direction.

"Good thanks, looks like you are getting obliterated by the little lad!" You replied, earning lots of laughs from the others. Saka reaches over to you, holding his fist out for a pump. "Might have to practise a little more on your skills, can't have someone 6 years younger than you winning."

"Alright y/n, are you asking for a game?" Jack spoke, eyes flickering from the screen and yourself.

"Have you gotten your secret Santa gift yet, Y/N/N?" John gazed over at you, sending you a beaming smile.

"Of course, worlds most organised person here!" You ran a hand over your face, nodding your head in response. The sarcasm was radiating off your body, you hadn't even began to search for Trent's gift.

"Not long left till we are handing them out," Dec spoke, running his hands over his shorts, before standing up and sighing. "Night lads, good night y/n. See you all tomorrow. Bukayo, keep thrashing jack will ya."

The next day, you found yourself looking up presents that Men would like, or even football players, or Scousers, the list went on. There was a few days until the gifts needed to be handed out, so you were fairly confident you would find something in time for Trent. Your office had a comfortable silence, no background noise needed. Just the noise of a scribble you would make against your notebook if you found something that tickled your fancy for Trent.

"Hey Y/N," The knock on your door making you jump, and before you even had the chance to reply, the door had opened. Quickly scrambling to close your laptop, you shut the website down immediately before giving your full attention to the man stood in front of you.

"Hi Declan," You mutter in confusion, a nervous smile arousing. You wasn't too sure as to why Declan was here so early, but you weren't complaining.

"Watching dirty things were we? you were quick to shut that down." He nods his head over to the laptop, a small smirk riding onto his face, you laugh at his choice of words, hitting his shoulder from his stupidity.

"How can I help you?" You smile, you didn't think the boys would be coming in for appointments until 10:30am, the clock on your desk shining 9:17am.

"My thigh, its been feeling really tight recently. I know I have an appointment later, but you wouldn't want me to be in pain before the game." He mumbles, "I know I have an appointment later, and I can.."

"Take a seat, idiot." You cut in, breaking your knuckles before getting ready to massage his tender skin. Your hands get to work by kneading the muscle gently, loosening up the pain. As you were working your magic, you noticed Declan had closed his eyes in bliss. A small moan escaping from his lips as you rub towards his groin. Giving him some extra special treatment.

"Was that a moan, Deccers?" Your eyes widening towards him, eyebrows furrowing at his state. His eyes shot open, cheeks flustering red. "What? No, of course it wasn't."

"Yeah, yeah." You chuckle at him.

A few days after the morning with Dec, you were walking through the cafeteria after collecting a cup of coffee. You spoke to a few of the boys, finding out how they were feeling after the last match result. From becoming the physio of the national team, you find yourself having a strong friendship with nearly all the players. Considering you see them daily, during international break. Using this friendship, you look out for the boys not only physically but mentally. Often worrying they don't speak enough about their mental health or emotions.

"Y/N!" You stop in halt down the corridor. The coffee in your hand nearly spilling due to the sudden change in movement. You turn your head to see a familiar friend of yours behind you, jogging over to speak.

"Dec, you okay?" You look up at him, his height towering over you.

"All good. Just wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead." You replied, lifting the lid of your coffee to blow on the hot contents.

"I was wondering if maybe you could," His fingers find the black of his head, scratching the nape of his neck. "Help me choose a present for my Mum? Of course, you don't have to." He word vomits, stomach fluttering with butterflies. "But I just thought maybe hearing from a woman's perspective, could give me some ideas? It's hard not having someone like a girlfriend to help you out, and you are probably the closest girl I have.”

Your face fell into an awe, at the sight of the boy standing in front of you. His hair was messy, as though he had just woken and hadn't thought about styling it and his eyes were puffy still, suggesting he had slept pretty well.

"Of course, Dec. No worries, I'd love to help. Just give me a date and time." You smiled softly, nodding your head at his idea. Declan didn't know how it was possible to love a girl more and more each day.

"Thanks Y/N, you truly are the best, so how about.."

Just as Dec began, your phone buzzed in your pocket, alarming you that had an important phone call within 5 minutes you needed to take.

"Sorry Dec, I really need to go, a phone call is awaiting for me. Message me." You swiftly changed direction and walked towards your office. Leaving Declan standing alone in the corridor.

"Yes! Lets go." He whispers to himself, fist bumping the air. Oh boy, was he whipped for you. Off he was to tell Mason about the conversation you two just had, just a young school boy at heart.

Following on from the conversation, you did in fact help Declan choose a present. Picking out a luxury handbag from Selfridges, which was worth shedload amounts of money. Declan was having no hope finding you a proper main present, he had brought you a few items, a perfume you told him you liked and some chocolates. He still couldn’t find a main gift for you to receive.

The day before the exchanging of gifts between the team, Dec had found himself stressing. He knew he was running out of time, and he didn't want to let you down. Sure, he’s glad he’s picked a few bits for you, however he believes if not enough (in your opinion, it was plenty.) to wow you over. The only option he had was to ask his dear best friend, Mason Mount.

The day of the gift exchanging came flying around, wrapping paper was torn all over the room, and you had to remind yourself several times you were in a room with grown men. Your personal favourite present was Jordan Hendersons present to Kyle walker. A karaoke machine for him and John to use. As for you, you were more than grateful from your present from Declan. A top up of your favourite bottle of perfume. The thought of him remembering your scent made your heart flutter immensely.

Further on in the day, Declan had called Mason to meet alone. He wasn’t satisfied with himself, even though you had told him how much you appreciated his gift and remembrance. He was still not happy.

"Mase," He huffed, settling himself down on the sofa, a deep sigh passing from his lips.

"Dec, you need to chill. She’s happy. You should be too!”

"I know, I know, I just want to give her a final perfect gift. Did you see what all the other girls got? I don’t want her to feel I did her dirty.” He shrugs at Mason, a grumble falling from his mouth. Declan had spilt to Mason his secret Santa a few weeks prior, the kid not being able to deal with the fact he had gotten you as his special person. Since then, most nights the two would try and discuss what Y/N would like. Conversations over Facetime and Text becoming a habit.

“Do you think she thought I did her dirty?”

Mason chuckles at his best friends question, head shaking. "I had a thought last night about what you could do. If this happened, which I was 90% sure it would." Mason smiles at Declan, as he sharply sits up. His head that was once in his hands, now looking straight up at Mase. The definition of an excited child when they ask to open their presents on Christmas day.

"Go on.." The two converse together, Declan engaging in Mason's plan in setting out the best gift for Y/N. Declan could not have been happier with his best friend for coming up with the best idea. Reminding himself to award him afterwards.

"Mase, Dec... what you doing in here?" You approach the two boys, from the corridor, taking a seat next to Dec.

"Nothing, nothing. We were just.." Mason quickly reaches for his phone in his pocket, taking it out as a disguise. "Looking at Memes, right Dec."

"Yeah, have you seen the one 'hello darkness my old friend' meme of you me? quality in my opinion." Mason chuckles at Declan, hand rubbing over his eye.

"Yeah, quality."

"Actually. Y/N, can I talk to you in your office?" Declan smiles, tilting his head towards your office, before reaching a hand out to help you up. You comply with his actions, taking his hand and lifting yourself up.

"Sure," You smile, "Be right back Mase." And just as Declan is off, he turns his head back to look at Mason, who sends him a thumbs up and a big smile. Like a dad who had just dropped his son off for his first day of school. The encouragement Declan needed.

The two of you trod along to your office, chuckling at an awful dad joke Declan had told you. The nerves Declan got whenever he was around you, seem to uncomfortably bundle up in his stomach once again. His heart fluttering.

You both take a seat in your room, the quiet atmosphere causing an awkward silence between you both. Your mind is puzzled with what Declan needed to ask you, nothing coming to mind.

"You okay?" You raise your brow, watching him shuffle into a comfortable position.

"Yeah, yeah.." He replies, shaking his head. "You look, really.. pretty today, your hair.."

"Oh, thank you, Dec." Swallowing the lump in your throat. "You look.. great too."

"Thank you," He mumbles, eyes peering towards the ground. "So what did you want to ask me?"

His head shots up at your question, cheeks forming a bright shade of red. His lips were slightly parted, as though he couldn't form the words he wanted too. "I wanted to ask," He nervously chuckles, hand's reaching towards his neck.

The sight in front of you was a nervous mess, and you couldn't bare to see him crumble in front of you. Taking matters into your own hands, you decide to stand up from where you was sitting, and place yourself next to him. In hope this could calm his nerves.

"What did you want to ask?" You softly prompt him, taking his hand in yours and rubbing your thumb gently over his knuckles.

"I just wanted to ask.." And before you can even process what he had just said, he shuffles towards you closing the small gap between you both. His hands raise up towards your face, tucking a small piece of hair that had fallen over your eye behind your ear. His eyes fall being in contact with yours, to your lips. Pupils bursting at the soft pink goodness. He leans in to your face, placing a light, feather-like kiss.

You pull back at his actions, eyes widening in shock. Your mouth is still tingling from his touch, a burst of excitement running though your both of your veins.

"Y/N.." Declan breathes out, you smile at him. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me.."

"No, no no no." Your hands find his face this time, pulling him towards you. The contact between both your chests is electrifying, the rapid beats pulsing between you both. Your lips find their way back to Declan's, this time with a lot more force than before. Fingers threading though his hair, earning a few breathless moans from the west ham captain.

"Y/N," He whispers between the next kiss, Eagerness not letting him fully speak.

"Mhm." You murmur, Before he places a sweet, slow peck on your cheek, pulling away.

"Merry Christmas, from your secret Santa."

#cutest mf ever #Declan rice #declan rice #mason mount #declan rice imagine #delcan rice imagines #declan rice one shot #declan rice x reader #west ham united #declan rice blurb #mason mount imagines #england national football team #deccers #dangerous deccers #football fic #football imagines #footballers #footballer x reader #england football

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watchmegetobsessed · 4 years

Text

Update - Harry Styles

i’ve been deep inmy harry feels and this thought just wouldn’t leave me alone so i had to write it. im thinking about starting a taglist for harry, i think i’ll write more about him in the future. let me know if you’d be interested in the taglist!

word count: ~5.9k

masterlist

Sequel: The best present

Harry is not that into YouTube videos, has never really been, which is kind of ironic seeing the number of videos on the internet that is about him. The man himself who makes everyone talk online feels weird seeing someone talking on his screen, looking into his soul as if they were right there with him. But today he felt the sudden urge to be like his peers and get lost in random rambling videos from strangers, who felt the need to put themselves out there.

He has made a mean cup of tea for himself, made himself comfortable on his couch with his laptop balancing on his thighs and now is opening up his browser to unwind in an unusual way. As YouTube opens in front of his tired eyes, he stops when he tries to type in the keywords he is searching for. What is he looking for really? He thinks to himself trying to remember what he heard from his friends when they talked about funny or interesting videos. One thing is for sure, he is trying to avoid watching videos of himself in any content. He has had enough of him for the day, it’s time to focus on someone else, even if he doesn’t know the person.

He scrolls through several pages of many different keywords until he settles for a video where a girl talks about how her latest moving day went. Starting off Harry feels weird listening to her talk about such personal things as where her bed went in her room, how she packed all her stuff to fit them in the boxes, but soon enough this feeling settles and he starts to realize it’s kind of relaxing.

It doesn’t take too long for him to fall down a rabbit hole and by the time his tea empties out from his cup he is intensely watching a guy rant about his boss at Subway while doing a mukbang. The latter is a new discovery for Harry, he has never heard of it before, but he can see why some people find it satisfying.

The video ends, Harry checks the time and sees that it’s already after midnight and he hasn’t even realized how fast time flew by.

“Alright, just one more,” he mumbles to himself scrolling down the column of the recommended videos until his eyes stop at one particular upload at the very bottom.

July update for my Sammy, ready the title and an eye-catchingly beautiful girl is smiling from the thumbnail. He finds her breathtaking, the lack of makeup, the worn out hoodie she is wearing and the many various plants in the background makes it appear she is sitting in the middle of the forest.

Harry finds himself clicking on the video before he could even decide consciously to watch it. The screen loads and the girl appears in front of him, this time in a much larger size.

“Hi Sammy, welcome back to our channel,” she starts with an angelic little laugh as she pulls her shoulders up to her ears as if the camera is making her shy. She has no reason to be shy, Harry thinks to himself. His second thought is about Sammy, he is one lucky guy to know this angel and have her think about him. “It’s Y/N here, your one and only sister,” she adds.

Sister. The word brings Harry relief and he is surprised to feel this way, but he has no time to think anything of it because she starts talking again.

“Here is my July update, I’m sorry I’m a little late, but we got back from Oregon yesterday. Aunt Ella is sending you kisses and hugs, she missed you at the barbeque, or maybe it was just your helping hand at the grill,” she chuckles to herself, probably recalling the memory.

Harry has no idea who Aunt Ella is or where she lives in Oregon, but the way she talks about it makes him feel like he is part of the family a little.

Y/N carries on and starts talking about everything that has happened in July. Painting the shed at her parents’ home, buying a new armchair, one her cat absolutely adores and refuses to sleep anywhere else now, she went to the hairdresser to get a trim, but not too much. She tells about her plans for August, how she is thinking about going to the farmers’ market more often, and she has been playing with the idea of adopting another cat.

“I think Henry has been feeling a little lonely lately. He could use a buddy,” she tells the camera, her eyes moving to the side from where a weak but moody meow can be heard as an answer. “Yeah, I think he agrees,” she chuckles and Harry finds himself smiling at the screen.

At the end of the video she asks a few questions from Sammy, how he has been doing, if his wrist feels any better, even asks about a friend called Matthew. Harry wonders if she has ever gotten the answers to her questions and where Sammy saw this video. What is he doing that made her want to do an update on YouTube?

When the video ends Harry clicks on her profile faster than he would willingly admit to anyone and it’s like he opened the gate to paradise. Tens and maybe hundreds of videos are queuing on her page, monthly updates, birthday wishes, short story times about family gatherings, news and happenings in her life.

Harry gets lost in her tales. He watches video after video, noticing the smallest details about her, almost mentally taking notes about her updates, finding anything and everything she talks about so interesting as if he knew those people and places she mentions. He comes to realization that Sammy is her older brother who is serving somewhere in the military. Y/N is making the videos to update him about her life even if she knows most of them doesn’t get to him until weeks later, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. He also learns that Sammy sends them back lengthy emails once a month and always ends them with a joke they made up with his mates at the army. Y/N loves them even when they're not even funny, she never fails to mention that she smiled reading them.

Hours pass by and the rising Sun peeks inside the window pulling Harry back to his own reality, shocked that he just spent the whole night watching her videos and didn’t even realize how deep he has gotten in her life. Lucky for him he has nothing planned until the afternoon, so shutting his laptop he sets it aside and heads straight to bed, but lying between his silky sheets he catches himself staring out the window, wondering what Y/N might be doing right now. From what he collected she lives somewhere in Spokane and has family in Seattle and Portland, which puts her quite a few time zones behind him. He finds the thought of them going to bed at the same time despite the distance a little funny. He lies in bed for quite some time before he finally drifts off to sleep with a particular girl on his mind, who doesn’t even know he is thinking about her.

“Do you think you can fall for someone you have never met?”

Harry’s question catches Mitch a little off-guard, but he is kind of used to his random bits of thoughts. Pouring some sugar into his coffee he follows the wondering singer to a free table in the corner.

“Isn’t it what all your fans feel?” he answers with a question, earning a surprised look from Harry. He hasn’t thought about this side, now the situation is kind of ironic, he supposes.

“Y’re right,” he nods stirring his coffee around in the small cup.

“Want to let me in on your thoughts?”

Harry feels a little shy to admit how he has watched all of her videos in the past few days, 207 to be exact and now he feels an oddly deep connection to this girl he has never even seen outside of a screen. Last night he dug up her Instagam profile, and even though she is not posting as frequently as she does on her channel, it was a refreshing change to see her in different settings. Chilling at a lake, having drinks with her friends, playing with her parents’ puppy, it amazed him that she has a whole life outside that small portion she lets him see in her videos.

Hesitantly, but he tells his friend about his latest hobby, if it’s not too weird to call it that, while his friend patiently listens and nods along his words while sipping on his morning coffee.

“D’you think I’m crazy?” Harry sighs leaning back in his seat, looking at his friend and colleague for validation that he hasn’t lost his mind entirely.

“Definitely not,” he chuckles shaking his head. “It’s like falling for that girl in school you know so much about but never really met.”

“Only that I’m stalkin’ this poor girl.”

“This is not stalking. We both know it’s far from that.” Harry nods with slight relief that his situation doesn’t seem as bad as he has been feeling lately. “Have you gotten in touch with her?”

“And what am I supposed to do? Comment on her video that I think her cat’s a cutie and I watched all her videos in three days ‘cuz I think she’s beautiful and I find her voice soothing?”

Mitch lets out a soft chuckle at the oddly specific answer he just gave and finds it amusing how interested his friend has grown about someone in such a short time.

“Maybe phrase it a little different.”

“So you do think I should reach out?”

“I don’t see why you shouldn’t. Use your personal YouTube, leave her a nice comment. Maybe she’ll reply.”

“And then what?”

“I don’t know, Harry,” he chuckles. “Just go with it and you’ll see. You are obviously interested in her, it’s better than just sit and watch her videos.”

Harry agrees. It wouldn’t hurt to try to reach out to her, possibly in a not too creepy way. Maybe just a sweet comment on one of her videos and if she replies… Well, he doesn’t know what comes after, but he’ll figure it out.

Y/N updates regularly. Usually once a week and mostly it’s Sunday when a new video gets uploaded. This next Sunday Harry finds himself checking her page occasionally through the day to see if there’s a new update, but it seems like she is missing today. Right until he is driving home and gets a notification from the app.

Y/N has just uploaded a new video! It reads and Harry’s heart beats a tad bit faster. He thinks about pulling over to see it right away, but he tells himself that would be a bit too much, so he is forced to wait until he is in the comfort of his home.

Finally sitting on his couch he opens up his laptop and clicks on the video that has the title: September update.

Y/N sits in her usual spot, Henry in her arms as she is gently stroking his head with a warm smile on her face.

“Hi Sammy! Welcome back to our channel,” she greets him with her usual words and Harry loves how she calls the channel theirs. “This is my September update, even though not much has happened,” she breathes out, eyes wandering to the window besides her and Harry wonders what she sees from her window every day. Does she live in the city? Is it an apartment or a house with a backyard? Are there any trees or does her room have a terrible view, maybe just another house next to hers?

She starts her talk about the month, which she spent mostly with working, a little shopping and meeting her friends. She tells him about her planned trip to the local shelter to see possible new kittens to add to her household and Harry feels himself growing excited about it. He even thinks about what kind of cat he can see get along well with Henry even though he has never even met him.

“Anyway, mom and dad miss you, I miss you too. I loved your joke about ducks in your latest email,” she chuckles sweetly, bringing a smile to Harry’s face as well. “Mom is excited to see you at Christmas, our cousins will come to Portland as well. Maya can’t wait to play Jenga with you, she said she’s been practicing.”

The video soon ends as Y/N tells Sammy how much she loves him and eventually turns the camera off.

He straight away moves the cursor to the beginning of the video and as she starts talking again he scrolls down to the comment section that’s entirely empty. There are only two views on her video, usually a hundred is the max, but she doesn’t seem to care about the views, it’s more about the message.

He clicks to type a comment, but his hands stop above the keyboard as he tries to think of what to write. Mitch was right about taking a chance at reaching out, but what is he supposed to write exactly? Everything that comes to his mind sounds so creepy and scary, and he knows it’s weird that he formed such a deep connection to an unknown girl online. At last he starts typing.

“Hi Y/N! I’ve stumbled across your videos the other day. Love how you keep your brother updated, it’s such a nice gesture. I hope life treats you and Sammy well, you truly deserve it. Good luck with finding a buddy for Henry! Love, an admirer of yours, H.”

He reads it back several times, deleting then retyping it again until he decides to just go with it. A rush of adrenaline washes over his body when he sends the comment and it’s officially out there. Secretly he wishes she would reply right away, but moments pass by, then moments turn into minutes and nothing happens. His comment stands there alone and he has to realize that maybe she will never even reply or even see it.

It doesn’t matter, he tells himself as he shuts the laptop down and goes on to do his things, but he finds his thoughts wander over to her from time to time.

He has a busy day ahead of him the next day, quite a few meetings and a fitting. He checks back for a reply in the morning, but it slips his mind the moment he leaves from home and his phone rings right away. Throughout the day he basically barely has time to check his emails, his other notifications are just sitting patiently on the bar, waiting for him to acknowledge them. It’s way past five in the afternoon when he finally have some time for himself after his fitting. He is sitting in his car, people walk past him without even realizing who is sitting behind the tinted windows. Scrolling down he gets rid of everything that doesn’t seem urgent until his eyes stop at one particular notification.

“Y/N replied to your comment,” he reads it out loud, just to make it real, as if he is seeing it wrong and saying it with his own mouth brings it to life. He quickly taps on it and the familiar video opens up and while Y/N starts talking again the screen jumps down to the comments where, in fact, there is a reply from her.

“Dear H! Thank you for your heartfelt comment! I always forget it’s not just my family who sees these videos, but I’m happy you found them interesting enough to watch a few of them.”

“A few?” Harry huffs to himself feeling a little ridiculous he has watched all of them.

“I hope I didn’t bore you too much. Thank you for the well wishes for me, my brother and Henry too. He is sending his love to you. Y/N xx”

The comment was posted three hours ago. The thought that she has acknowledged his existence with not only reading but also replying to his comment brings him extreme joy. He reads her words over and over again, looking for any clue that would give away that she found his comment weird, but it seems like she was more surprised and happy that someone else saw her video besides her brother. Harry starts to type his reply without hesitation.

“Bore me? You saved me from watching another “what’s in my bag” video the other day. It was a pleasant change. I love your plants, by the way. Your room always gives off the most relaxed vibes. It reminded me I should have more of them in my home. H”

Harry smiles to himself posting his comment, the fear of appearing like a stalker long gone from him, the interaction is making his inside blossom from joy. For his biggest surprise a reply appears just a few minutes away and Harry reads Y/N’s new lines with deep hunger.

“Those videos suck the life out of me every time! I might be having a problem with buying too many plants, but I can’t help myself. They truly bring peace to me just by looking at them. I’m glad you are planning on buying some more, you won’t regret it!”

Harry is dying to reply, but he doesn’t want to look too eager and needy, so he opts for just liking her comment to let her know he read it and agrees. He locks his phone and puts it aside with the widest smile on his face as he starts his car and leaves his parking spot.

Two weeks pass by. In those two weeks Y/N uploads two more videos, one about her time with her grandparents, for a change it was filmed at their home and they even said hello in it. Harry feels wholesome seeing her with her granny and grandpa, it’s clear she cares a lot about them. The other video is just a short one where she has met some of Sammy’s old high school friends and she had a check in from them, sending a sweet message to him through the video. Harry doesn’t doubt how much these little things mean to Sammy, even if he doesn’t get to see them right away. Seeing Y/N alone boosts his mood every time she uploads a new video, he can only imagine how they make Sammy feel.

He leaves comments on her videos without a second thought and she replies to all of them, a lot of the time almost immediately. These are the highlights of his days without exception. Knowing that she has anything to do with him just fascinates him and he is starting to realize what his fans feel towards him on a different level. Whenever he sees the notification that she has replied to what he wrote or that she uploaded a new video he flies right to her page to check it, no matter what he is doing. Some of their comment threads turn out pretty lengthy, almost like a chat conversation and it has Harry wonder how they could maybe move it to somewhere else from the comment section.

He wants to ask for her number, but figures it wouldn’t be the best idea. Regardless of how much he enjoys their short little conversations, the situation is still weird and complicated and he doesn’t want to forget that.

But he is pleasantly surprised when she brings it up herself, to move the conversation to somewhere else.

“Would love to discuss that more with you. Up for exchanging IG names?” her question reads and he blinks a few before he fully comprehends that she wants to talk to him more in private. However there’s no way he can send her his real Instagram profile and making a fake one would be way too suspicious. Opening up the private messages he sends her a short, but informative message.

“I don’t use Instagram, but feel free to text me,” and then his phone number.

He sits at the dinner table anxiously, waiting for his phone to light up from a new text, and just a few minutes later it finally comes.

“Hi! It’s Y/N,” he reads from the notification and he saves the number right away.

“Hello! Save me as Harry. I haven’t even told you my name yet, how rude of me!” he replies chuckling to himself.

“Will let it slip this time. Harry. What a nice name!”

“Is it what you thought about from the H?”

“It was one of my theories. The other one was Hayes, but Harry fits you better.”

“You haven’t even seen me, how do you know what name fits me?”

“I don’t know. You had a vibe. There are many great Harries in the world, you seemed to fit between them!”

Harry wonders if she is thinking about him without even knowing that… it is him. He wants to ask her, but decides not to. Instead, he is enjoying that he can now reach her immediately and not through a comment section. He never thought this would actually happen.

The texts never stop. They have so much to talk about! Their entire life to share, millions of thoughts and so much to discuss! Harry is not proud of the time he has spent with his eyes glued to his phone, but he wouldn’t miss a chance to talk to her for anything. Their friends are not blind to the change in him, but Mitch is the only one with a guess about why he has gotten so addicted to his phone.

“Is it the girl from the videos?” he asks Harry one time when they are at the studio, having lunch break. Different food boxes are scattered around them, on the table and the couch. Harry’s phone just light up from a text and he immediately dropped his lunch to type a response.

He glances up at his friend with a shy smile nodding his head. He hasn’t talked about his newly funded friendship with Y/N yet, it feels like as if he tells it to anyone it might evaporate into just a dream.

“So you reached out, huh?”

“I did,” he nods returning to his food once his message is sent. “She’s great.”

“Does she know who she is talking to?” Harry’s lack of answer tells enough about the truth to Mitch. “You can’t hide forever, especially if you are planning on meeting her.”

“I know,” he answers shortly. “But I just don’t know how I could even bring it up to her without sounding like a mad man.”

“She’ll need proof.”

“M’not ready to show m’self to her. What if it changes everything?”

“Then it wasn’t worth it,” he simply tells him.

Deep down Harry knows it’s the truth, but he is not ready to be robbed from the joy she is bringing him. He has never felt such a deep connection to anyone before and they haven’t even met. It’s just a version of her he is seeing on the screen, not her real self. But it feels real to him and he wants to keep this reality to himself for just a little longer.

“I wish I could hear your voice, Harry. You are one big mystery to me, you know that?”

He forgets to breathe for a moment as he reads her message, lying in bed one evening, getting ready to sleep, but he wanted to check in with her before ending the day.

“You know so much about me already,” he types back.

“Not enough, I feel like. Sometimes I’m afraid Nev and Max are about to show up at my door and tell me that I’ve been catfished.”

He chuckles at her words, though he completely understands her fear.

“What do you want from me then?”

“Send me a voice message so I know you are real. That would put my suspicion to sleep. For a while…”

Harry hesitates for a long time until he decides just one voice message couldn’t hurt. Just a short one where his voice is not that recognizable so his cover won’t be over immediately.

“Good night, Y/N,” he tells into his phone and then send the recording to her.

He watches the status change from delivered to read and a couple of minutes go by before she finally responds.

“Thank you. Now I know that you are real. I hope I’ll hear your voice in real life one day.”

“I hope that too.”

His time spent undercover is coming to an end and he knows it’ll happen soon. It’s been weeks since they started chatting, almost an entire month and she’s been hinting her will to see his face and though he has been putting it off, he knows it has to happen.

Fate is playing under his hands, because he is traveling to Seattle for a few days, exactly when Y/N is traveling there to visit her parents.

“I hope you know you can’t leave without meeting finally,” she wrote when she found out they are going to be in the same city.

“It never even crossed my mind!” he wrote back chuckling to himself, however it brought him extreme anxiety that he is now going to be forced to come clean about who he really is.

He spends his whole flight to Seattle making up possible outcomes for their first official meeting. Not all of them end well and it’s just fueling his fear that he might lose her for not telling her the entire truth.

But she is a smart girl, she’ll see your reasoning, he tells himself, however he can’t entirely convince himself that it will be the case.

In hopes of squeezing in more than just one meeting into the weekend they agreed to meet almost first thing after he lands. So after checking into his hotel he heads into the city to finally meet her in real life in a local café she suggested for the occasion. Arriving to the place he is running a little late and she already texted him she’ll be waiting for him inside. Harry is wearing a beanie with shades to try to keep up his cover and it seems to be working, no one has approached him yet.

Stepping inside the cozy looking place his eyes roam around and immediately finds her sitting in the corner, pouring sugar into her coffee, not even paying attention to the door at the moment, but truth is she’s been intensely staring at it in the past ten minutes she has been there.

Harry takes a deep breath and nods to himself before heading in her way, hands shaking nervously as he stops at her table.

She glances up at him with innocent eyes, a smile spreads across her face as she sees that her mysterious Harry has arrived and she doesn’t recognize her until he finally takes his sunglasses off.

Harry watches her face turn from happiness to surprise then utter shock as she realizes who is standing in front of him.

“You are… my Harry?” she asks, confusion laced through her voice and Harry can’t ignore how she called him her Harry. He likes the ring of it.

“M’orry if it’s a little too much f’you, I really didn’t know how to tell ya.”

Keeping his eyes on her he pulls out the other chair at the table and takes a seat across her while she is still staring at him with a shocked and puzzled expression sitting on her face. Then she looks around in suspicion as he wiggles his coat off his arms, before her eyes settle on him once again.

“It’s not an episode of Catfish, right?” she asks making him chuckle.

“It is not, don’t worry.”

“I’m sorry if I’m being weird, but this was literally the last thing I was expecting,” she admits leaning back in her seat. “I believed things like this only happen in movies.”

“Not just there,” he smiles, slowly relieving that she is still sitting there and hasn’t ran out. It’s going way better than he expected.

She needs a little time to put the whole picture together and befriend the thought that she indeed just developed a friendship with Harry Styles through her videos for her brother. The absurdity is still shocking to her, but the more time passes by with him still sitting there, the more she finds peace with it.

Once the shock and surprise is gone they slowly realize they are seeing each other in real life finally. Harry feels overwhelmed, she is even more breathtaking than in her videos and through texts. He is mesmerized by her whole being and could listen to her talk in person forever, he wouldn’t get bored of her.

Time stops existing as they sit at the little café, talking for hours even though that’s all they’ve been doing through texts, but they just can’t get enough of hearing each other, seeing each other’s reaction and be able to see each other and not stare at a screen while talking.

Unfortunately, time never stopped just for the two of them and soon she realizes she needs to head back home. Harry doesn’t want to let go of her just yet so he offers to give her a ride, thanking himself for getting a rental for himself upon arriving. Y/N accepts the offer so the two of them head back to her parents’ home, soaking up the last minutes of their precious time spent together.

“Thank you for today, I really loved meeting you finally,” she smiles at him once they are parked on the driveway.

“I hope I didn’t shock you too much,” he chuckles scratching his chin.

“Just a little,” she admits before they both get out of the car and walking around it she stops in front of him, after a moment of hesitation she opts for a hug that he returns more than happily.

It feels as if her frame was perfectly sculpted to fit in his embrace and Harry can’t imagine how he could go this long without even seeing her in person. He knows it’s gonna be utter misery to be away from her after they leave the city.

“Will I see you before you take off?” she asks letting go of him. Harry looks down at her, the urge to kiss her growing bigger with each passing moment, but he is not sure if it would be appropriate to give it a try on their first time meeting.

“I’m free tomorrow for a lunch,” he tells her and she nods smiling.

“Then I’m free too,” she chuckles.

There’s an awkward moment where they are not sure what else should be done or said and the more they wait the weirder it’s getting so Harry clears his throat as he takes a step back, sad that he has to leave without feeling her lips on his, but he is not trying to be too greedy.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he smiles walking back to his car. Y/N waves after him and sitting back to behind the wheel he takes a moment to himself to collect himself after everything that has happened today. His hands curl around the wheel and he is about to start the car when someone knocks on the window. Y/N is smiling at him through the glass and he rolls it down curiously.

“I just…” she starts hesitantly, her eyes wander down to his lips and Harry knows what’s about to happen, but it still catches him by surprise.

Y/N leans in through the window and presses her lips to Harry’s, capturing them in a sweet, long awaited first kiss they both have been dreaming of for quite a while. Harry smiles into the kiss, bringing his right hand up to cup her cheeks as they stretch the moment for as long as possible. Whenever one pulls back the other brings them back for just one more kiss that turns into two more, then three… It takes a long time for them to finally let go of each other.

“See you later, H,” she smiles backing out of the car and running up to the front door, smiling wildly as she waves in his way one last time before disappearing in the house.

Lying in bed that evening Harry is scrolling through his Instagram feed when he finally realizes he can now follow her without a worry. He is quick to find her profile again and hit that follow button. He is happy to see she was already following him.

He is just about to put his phone aside and go to bed after such a busy but exciting day when a notification pops up on the screen.

Y/N has just uploaded a new video!

He taps on it quickly and her smiling face greets him from his phone’s screen.

“Hi Sammy! It’s me again. Welcome back to our channel,” she starts with a shy smile. The setting is new this time, he supposes it’s her parents’ home this time. “This is going to be a short video, but I wanted to tell you about something. Or someone.”

Harry’s heart skips a beat when he thinks about where it’s heading. He listens to her voice holding his breath.

“I met someone today. We’ve been talking for a while, but I could finally hug him today. His name is Harry, and he is a wonderful man. I think you two would get along well,” she says with a soft chuckle. “I love spending time with him and I hope he feels the same way. Actually…” Her eyes move up straight to the camera, something she doesn’t do often. She usually stares out the window or plays with Henry while talking. “I think he is watching it right now. Hi Harry!”

“Hello, Beautiful,” he greets her back with a smile as if she could hear him.

“I wanted to tell you how amazing you are making me feel. I hope I didn’t disappoint. I was so nervous to meet you today, I hope I lived up to what you imagined me to be.”

“You were so much better than that,” he answers again.

“Anyway… I hope you feel the same way. You are the first guy I’m talking about in an update, so appreciate it!” she tells him and he chuckles lightly. “I’ll see you soon, H. But until then… Know that I’m thinking about you.”

“M’thinking about you too, Angel.”

“Sammy, I miss you as always. I hope everything is well, can’t wait for your next email. I love you,” she smiles before the video ends.

Harry heads straight to the comments. This time he doesn’t leave a lengthy one, just a short line, but it has everything he wanted to tell her.

“I feel the same way.” The comment reads. Just a few seconds later comes the notification and he smiles sweetly at his phone.

Y/N liked the comment.

#harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles imagine #harry styles oneshot #harry styles fluff #harry styles fiction #harry styles x you #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x reader #harry #styles #one direction #harry styles fanfictions

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abbyilr1967 · 3 years

Text

Making Up for Lost Time - Tetsuro Kuroo x Reader

Summary: The reader and Kuroo are getting ready to graduate, he meets her back at the volleyball clubhouse to confess some things he’s been holding in for years.

A/n: Wow, my account really is feeding all my weebs out there. Also, there’s really no plot to this, just kinda wanted to write this cute, fluffy little thing cuz I love my baby Kuroo. As per usual, here is a link to my Masterlist.

Warnings: swearing (like a little).

Word Count: 1.3k

The spring breeze flows through your hair as you climb the steps to the volleyball club’s clubroom. Walking in you’re faced with the memories you made over the past three years as their manager. It all started because your friend from middle school, Tetsurō Kuroo, thought that you would be a good replacement manager after the third-year manager graduated. You had your doubts in the beginning but never thought volleyball would become a huge part of your life.

Kuroo was always energetic, and it was contagious.

The best years of high school were spent with the Nekoma Volleyball Club, and you made some incredible friends along the way. Especially with Kuroo. You’d known him since middle school and had always had a bit of a crush on him. So when the third-year manager said he’d suggested you as a replacement you were a little surprised. But you are grateful he did because now you stand in the clubroom reminiscing.

You go around the room, looking at all the things the boys had left around. Obviously, they haven’t come round to pick up their stuff before the summer. You, however, were there to collect your things for the last time. You and the other third years on the team are graduating in a few days, and with your final exams all done, there was nothing left for you to do except wipe your existence clean from the school.

As you were piling your belongings into the small box you brought, you are interrupted by the spiky-haired captain himself. Although I guess former captain is more fitting now.

“Hey Y/l/n, whatcha doing?” he asks, leaning against the door frame.

“Hey, I’m just gathering my things,” you say, turning from the box to face him. “I’m gonna miss this place after graduation.” You and Kuroo stand in silence for a moment, admiring the posters, medals, and plaques that adorn the walls. He pushes himself off the doorframe and moves to help you pack up your things. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” he responds.

“Are you going to continue with volleyball?” you ask.

“I’m gonna play in university, not sure if I want to go pro though.”

You hum in acknowledgement, continuing to pack away your things.

“What are you going to do?” He asks in return.

“I’m going to college locally, didn’t want to go too far from home yet.” You finish packing your things away and turn back to Kuroo. He looks surprisingly awkward, which is unusual for the suave and confident man.

“Well,” you grab the box full of your things. “I guess this is it.”

You extend your hand out to Kruoo, offering him a handshake, afraid to do any more than that. For a split second, you swear he looks almost sad. He takes your hand in his and gives its tight squeeze.

“I’m gonna miss you Kuroo,” you say, letting go of his hand reluctantly.

“I’m gonna miss you too.” You turn and make your way towards the door, a little disappointed with yourself that you were too nervous to say more.

As you walk down the hallway you get lost in all the memories of the times you spent with Kuroo. All then stolen glances, all the lingering touches, and all the close shoulders during team huddles. You were never going to forget him.

“Y/n!” Kuroo shouts, running to catch up with you. “Stop!”

“Kuroo?”

He approaches you, huffing and puffing trying to catch his breath, you set the box on the ground behind you.

“I don’t really know how to start this,” he wheezes, hunched over on himself. “But I’ve got to get something off my chest.” He straightens himself back to his full height, looking down on you with a glint in his eye.

“Kuroo I—” You glance away from him, heart beating out of your chest when he takes your face in his hands, forcing you to look at him.

“I like you Y/n,” he starts. “And I’m pretty damn certain I love you. But I’ve liked you ever since the end of middle school, and being back in that clubroom made me think of all the time we spent together, and all the time I want to spend with you in the future.”

Your lip trembled slightly, trying not to let your emotions overwhelm you. Slowly, you bring your hands up to hold his wrists, needing something real to ground you in this moment.

“Do you know why I recommended you as the replacement manager all those years ago?”

“No,” you say, trying not to stutter, but failing miserably.

“Other than the fact that I knew you would be perfect for the job, which I was right,” he jokes. “But I wanted to spend more time with you.”

You unexpectedly start giggling, smile so wide it almost hurts.

“What’s so funny?” He removes his hands from your face and rests them atop your shoulders.

“Kuroo,” you’re slowly starting to get yourself under control. “I’ve had a crush on you since middle school, and when the old manager told me you recommended me my heart was beating out of my chest because I thought you never noticed me.” Your emotions get the better of you and one stray tear falls down your cheek.

“Hey, hey, don’t cry,” his thumb brushes the tear away. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“It’s a happy tear I promise,” you say, running your thumbs over his knuckles.

“Can I,” he hesitates. “Can I kiss you?”

Your heart leaps into your throat, and your palms become heated. Unable to speak through the lump in your throat, you lightly nod at him in response. You let go of his hands as they move to cup your face, and he leans in. His lips are soft against yours, sweet and supple. Your hands find their way around his neck, pulling him in closer. The kiss becomes more demanding, and against better judgement, you pull back.

He rests his forehead against yours, breath fanning over your face as you both catch your breaths.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to say anything,” he breaths, pulling you into a tight hug. He’s buried his face in the crook of your neck, and you do the same.

“I’m sorry I never said anything too,” you whisper, snuggling further into him.

“C’mon, my car is just down there. Let’s go,” you suggest.

“Where too?” he asks, wiggling his eye brows at you.

“Anywhere, we’ll drive until we find a spot. Some place we could call ours.”

“I like that idea very much,” he says, placing a quick kiss to your lips. He steps past you, grabbing the box from the ground.

“Lead the way.”

You park the car, practically pushing Kuroo out so you could show him the spot your remember from childhood.

“This is the end of a walking trail my family and I used to walk on when I was a kid. I haven’t been here in years,” you’re practically pulling him behind you as your excitement gets the better of you.

“See, beautiful isn’t it.” You look out across the city. The sun had begun to set by this time, so the city lights were becoming brighter by the minute.

“It is, but I still think you’re more beautiful,” his arm snakes around your shoulder, pulling you in so he can kiss your temple. You bury your face in his chest, trying to hide your blush from him again. “Tetsurō,” you whine.

“Sorry,” he chuckles. “I’m just trying to make up for lost time.”

“I know,” you whisper. “I know.” You and Tetsurō watch as the sun begins to set over Tokyo, watching as the people continue about their lives while your’s and Tetsurō’s stay still.

“I love you, Tetsurō.”

“I love you too, Y/n.”

#haikyuu!!#tetsuro kuroo #kuroo tetsurou #tetsuro kuroo x reader #tetsuro kuroo x you #tetsuro kuroo x y/n #kuroo tetsuro x reader #kuroo tetsuro x you #kuroo tetsuro x y/n #kuroo x reader #kuroo x you #kuroo x y/n #tetsuro kuroo fluff #haikyuu fluff #fluff #love confessions

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strabbyshortcake · 3 years

Text

the truth about snaktooth

Gramble finally tells his partners what befell him and everybody else on the island.

“Whatcha doin’, Gram?”

The screen door clatters as it shuts behind Boots. It’s a nice summer night, one of the rare ones they got with little humidity, so Gramble had left the main door open, the sound of katydids and crickets drifting through from the outdoors. He looks up from the hand towel in his paws, shoulders hunched guiltily.

There’s a large cardboard box sitting on the floor, full of bits of kitchen décor. Ceramic plates with fruit stenciled on them, prints of vintage ads for bread and desserts, towels with produce embroidered on them. All the kitschy things Boots knew he liked decorating his spaces with, and Gramble spent more time in the kitchen than either her or Piesha, with how much he enjoyed cooking.

“Oh, evenin’ Boots,” he greets her, expression softening into a smile. “You remember we talked about Lizbert and Egg visitin?”

“Yeah…?” She pads over, frowning a little at the bare spots on the walls and shelves. Boots was acquainted with the two from attending expedition reunions with Gramble, and while she made it no mystery that she disliked Lizbert’s invasive style of exploration, it was all in the past. Liz had retired from that life after the whole Snaktooth stunt to become a museum curator. “What’s the matter, they allergic to tackiness?”

Gramble laughs at her affectionate teasing. “No, well… Actually, funny you should say that. Egg’s fine, but Liz has got… I guess you could say she’s got kind of a hang-up over food imagery. And while she’s doin’ well these days, might just make her a lil’ more comfortable to not feel so surrounded, y’know?”

“Yeah, yeah, I get you.” Boots nods, reaching up to take the clock off the wall. It’s a piece of painted wood in the shape of a strawberry. Nollie had made it in an art class. “Place is a little dusty, anyway.”

Together he and Boots work to mostly strip the place of any food-related decoration, leaving only a couple little accents up so the place didn’t seem too bare. Gramble sighs at the empty walls, leaning into Boots’ touch as she places a paw on his shoulder.

She and Pie had always been so understanding when he told them he couldn’t talk about what had happened on the island, but he hated to keep his loved ones in the dark. Not simply for the fact that there might still be danger lurking out there, but that he knew he could trust them, and yet, just telling them what had happened was almost as terrifying as the thought of being back there. The idea that just speaking of it would somehow make it manifest, bring it back into his life when he’d worked so hard to escape it, haunted him, but so did keeping it bottled up inside.

“…I need to tell you both what really happened,” he says quietly. “It’s been long enough. Just, after Liz and Egg are gone. Then we’ll talk about it.”

Boots blinks down at him in surprise. “You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

The visit went well. This was the first time Lizbert and Eggabell had seen the new house and the refurbished barn, the first they’d met Cardi and Dember, and Nollie had only been a year old when they’d last come around. They’d caught up, shared stories, enjoyed Gramble’s cooking and chatted about where their lives were going and where they’d been.

After they’d waved goodbye, gotten in Eggabell’s car and driven off to see Wambus and Triffany, after the dishes had been cleared and cleaned and the kids were all in bed, Gramble sat Boots and Piesha down on the porch swing in the back while he took the rocking chair.

“I need to tell you,” he says, fidgeting with his paws where they rested on his chest. “about what happened on Snaktooth.”

“Alright.” Pie nods slowly, leaning into Boots’ cushy side. Boots gives him an encouraging smile, rocking the swing back and forth slightly with her heel.

Gramble swallows, licking his lips. “So… Not all of what I told you was a cover-up. We did run outta food and I did almost starve to death. But… Geez, I dunno where to even start.”

“Why’d you go in the first place?” Boots asks.

“Oh, that I didn’t lie about either. My mama really did up and leave while I was at college. I went cuz… Cuz I guess I felt like I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I saw Liz on TV say she was gatherin’ people up for her team and I just… I wanted somewhere to go that wasn’t home.”

She nods solemnly, gesturing for him to go on.

“Well, Snaktooth… Liz said she found somethin’ there. These creatures she was documenting. D’you… Have either of you ever heard of bugsnax?” Gramble nearly whispers the last word, even though it’s just the three of them out here, just the three of them and the crickets and fireflies, the kids sound asleep.

Piesha tilts her head, thoughtful. “Mm… Maybe a long time ago,” Pie says. “One of those things they got lots of fairy tales about. Critters made of food, right?”

“Right.” Gramble nods. “But they’re real. And please- I know how it sounds,” he stammers, even though neither of them looked skeptical. “But I swear. I saw them, I picked them up and held them, I had a whole barn full of them that Liz and Buddy caught for me. I had names for them, and… and everybody said they were the most delicious things they’d ever eaten. B-but there’s a reason for that. Sorry, lemme go back a bit and explain.

“When we got there, we thought we’d be able to farm. That was Wambus’s thing, but no matter what he tried, the crops would wither, or the bugsnax would get in and destroy them. The only thing he could grow was the sauce that grew on the island, and that wasn’t anywhere near enough to live on. Pretty soon we ran outta food, but that wasn’t a problem for most folks. They’d just eat the bugsnax.”

“And I’m guessin’ you didn’t?” Boots asks.

He shakes his head. “No, I didn’t want to. I already didn’t eat meat, and the snax were always so cute and friendly and I couldn’t bear the thought of hurtin’ them. So I just… didn’t. I tried to live off the sauce, and I ate dandelions and weeds, I ate damn near anything that was edible, but it was never enough.”

“That’s awful, Gram.” Boots says, her brows knitted. “Why didn’t you leave?”

“Well, I… I thought about it,” Gramble wraps his arms around himself. “Even though I didn’t have nowhere to return to, I figured it might be better than starving. But it wasn’t too long after that Lizbert up and disappeared. Her and Egg, there was an earthquake and after that they never came back to town. Some folks thought they died, others thought they ran off, but without her nobody was bringin’ in bugsnax to eat and they started to eat mine, so I ran off with the rest of ‘em and that made everybody mad and I really did start to think there was nobody who cared about me but the snax and Wiggle, and… and even she was eatin’ them too, but I let her cuz I didn’t have nobody else... I was so afraid she’d leave me too that I put up with it.”

He pauses, taking a deep breath. “So, um… I guess a couple weeks after that, Buddy finally showed up. We’d been on the island almost a year at that point. They wanted to interview Liz, figure out what happened, and they managed to get all of us back into town within a week or two. I was really doin’ poorly though.” His claws absently scratch at his belly over the scar that the rake had left, concealed beneath his fur but never fully faded. “Didn’t care much whether I lived or died. Nothin’ I tried worked, and one of the big snax I asked Buddy for nearly killed me. And then…”

Boots holds Pie’s paw between both of hers, stroking it, both of them patiently waiting for him to gather his racing thoughts. It had been so long since he’d even thought about all this, and much of the events were a haze of hunger and pain, he was amazed he could keep the basic timeline coherent.

“Then, one night… When we were all back in town, Filbo decided he wanted to throw a party. That was when everything… That’s when it all fell apart. There was an active volcano on the island, and it erupted. Eggabell suddenly showed up back in town and told us she knew where Liz was, and she and Buddy and Filbo ran off to get her while the rest of us tried to get to safety. B-but… You remember what I said before, about the bugsnax?” He lifts his gaze to the two of them.

Pie nods at him. “Yeah. They taste good, right?”

“They also…” Gramble holds his paws out, curling his fingers into fists. “They change you. Whenever you eat one, your body parts become it. I know it sounds silly, but everybody was walkin’ around with arms and legs made of strawberries and corn and cinnamon rolls and you kinda just… got used to it. I only ever ate one when I was sleepwalkin’, and I don’t even remember what it was like, but everybody else except Shelda ate ‘em all the time. You get used to it and then you start believin’ that they’re the only thing that can make you feel good anymore. Sorta like drugs, but sorta like… Wiggle used to say they inspired her, and Chandlo thought he could get stronger with them, it was whatever you wanted. I guess even I was fallin’ for it, thinkin’ they could replace my family, and I never even had to eat ‘em.

“But that’s the trick. You get dependent, but you don’t realize that… That they’re parasites. And I’m kinda fuzzy on the details, but according to Buddy, Liz was somehow stuck down in the main… meat of the hive,” Gramble brings his paws together, looking down at his intertwined fingers. “And that’s where she’d been all along, down in the darkness with all those food bugs crawlin’ all over her and into her mouth and… that’s why she’s got such a thing about food.”

“Ah…” He can’t blame Boots for looking a little numb, covering her mouth with her paw as Pie stares blankly at him. It was a lot to take in. “Yeah, I guess that’d do it.”

Gramble goes on. “They attacked us not long after Buddy and the others left, tryin’ to force themselves into our mouths, or kill us, either or. I guess they knew the jig was up, then and there. No comin’ back from that. But we all got away, in the end… And that’s what happened.”

He falls silent. The porch swing creaks slightly as Boots lets it come to a stop, letting the singing of the insects fill the air between them for a long moment.

“S’this place still out there…?” Piesha speaks up softly, glancing out into the darkness as if the snax might be watching from the trees.

“Far as I know,” Gramble says, slipping off the chair to walk over and take one of their paws in each of his. “But you gotta promise me you will never, ever go there.” His expression is grim as he peers up at them. “And you’ll never breathe a word to any of the kids about it, or to anybody else. Nobody should ever step foot on that awful place again.”

“Gram,” Boots squeezes his paw in return, then leans over to scoop him up and pull him into her lap, the swing groaning in complaint as yet another grumpus is piled upon it. “…there’s gotta be somethin’ we can do-”

“No.” Gramble shakes his head, desperation creeping into his voice. “I- I don’t know. Maybe there is somethin’ that someone out there can do, but it can’t be any of us. I don’t want nothin’ to do with it ever again and if word gets out, it’s just gonna be more people goin’ there and that’s exactly what it wants. Please,” he tilts his head up at her, the porch light glimmering in his eyes. “Just leave it alone. It can’t get us here and I want it to stay that way. Promise me.”

When she hesitates, he repeats himself, teeth glinting as his lips peel back. “Promise me, please-”

“I promise.” Boots leans down to kiss him on the nose, wrapping her arm around him as the other draws Pie in closer. “I won’t tell nobody if that’s what you want.”

“That’s all that I want,” he murmurs into her fluffy chest, suddenly very tired despite the mental weight that had lifted. He’d spoken Snaktooth’s name aloud, finally uncorked what he’d kept bottled up for nearly two decades now. He should feel better-prepared, now that they were all on the same page, so why did he still feel like he was only summoning the beast? Perhaps he just needed to sleep, let this new information digest, and they’d face whatever came tomorrow together.

Hundreds of miles away, the island remembers them too.

#bugsnax #gramble gigglefunny #boots timberheart #piesha honeyclaw #fics #i wrote this a while ago and completely forgot to post it

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misterewrites · 3 years

Text

Secret Agent Bard (Welcome to the Underground!)

Hello everyone! E here with a new chapter of the underground! Woo! I hope you are all doing good and staying safe.

So I actually have more to say today! That's a trip. I’ll have an author’s note under the line.

So that's it for now. Stay safe, take care of you and your loved ones, stay out of trouble, wash your hands, wear your mask, get vaccinated if you can and push to release the vaccine world wide cuz we're all in this together. Have a great week and thanks for reading. I appreciate it and feel free to tell your friends, reblog, drop likes and feedback i love it all. Bye for now and enjoy!

If you want an easier place to read the story cuz tumblr sucks sometimes here’s a link to the chapter https://archiveofourown.org/works/27814297/chapters/79541746

The First Chapter: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27814297/chapters/68094967

and since you made it this far here’s a link to all my stories!

https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrE42/pseuds/MrE42

Byeeeeee!

Author’s note: Today’s work will be a little different as there will be singing. The chapter with the bard is gonna have singing? Go figure haha So if you see a sentence in Italics, that means someone is singing. Bold and italics represents various people singing as a group. The song in question is called twiddles. There's different versions of it but the one I chose is from the misbehavin maidens. Great group but all their work ranges from innuendos to straight up not safe for work so listen at your peril. I have now completed my responsible adult duties haha. here’s a link to the chosen song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS1-_fKF5ug

Summary: Oliver has quite the task ahead of him as the group splits to achieve their goals. Leading Sel and Flora, the young bard will have to think quick on his feet to ensure this mission is a success. Luckily he's an old hand at this. Ironically the one person who could distract him may make a surprise appearance tonight.

-----

Oliver stood quietly, arms crossed and his mind thoughtful as the group prepared to go their separate ways. While ideally nothing would go wrong, that was a childish belief: Every person and robotic being here knew safety was not guaranteed in their line of work.

Even the old man knew the risks.

Oliver hated doing nothing. He thrived when he was busy, focused on whatever task required his attention whether it be being a better bard or upholding the Choir’s values. Too many ghosts and regrets lingered on the edges of his mind and he found the best solution was to simply keep occupied.

But that was his coping mechanism, not everyone else. He knew better than to rush his team: The party would last at least another few hours and beside the goal of getting Sel to the third floor, there was nothing else to do. No information to gather, nothing to review. Let them have their moment, it was good for morale.

Terri and Flora were sickeningly adorable: Hands clasped tightly with Terri tearfully asking her girlfriend to not poison everyone. Flora gave a halfhearted promise while as they shared a tender kiss. Terri noticed her less than enthused tone but refused to press the matter further.

Tyrell stood awkwardly to the side, his face twisted in a strange mixture of sick and excited. He fidgeted with something in his pocket, seeking comfort from whatever lay within. Given the shape of the bulge and size, Oliver guessed it was a knife.

Sel stood nearby, motionless in the shadows of the alley. They hadn’t moved in some time though he suspected the automaton was simply waiting for the next phase of the plan.

“Alright” Oliver spoke up, his voice firm yet gentle “Times up. You have your assignments?”

Uneven murmuring responded.

“Let’s go.”

Oliver, Sel and Flora went down one end of the alley, Terri and Tyrell disappearing in the opposite direction.

-----

It didn’t take long for the trio to find the main streets of the Merchant Ward and make their way towards the Brambleoak banking office. The crowds weren’t as thick as they had been during the day but Oliver knew everyone out and about did so with a purpose.

“Bard.” Flora asked without warning, breaking the awkward silence “Question.”

“Answer.” Oliver cheekily replied.

Flora glared.

Oliver coughed “Yes?”

“You are a First Chair Soprano correct?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Yet you are so young. How did you manage that? I thought First Chair ranks were only reserved for experienced or particularly skilled members. You don’t seem to be very magically powerful.”

Oliver paused for a moment, trying to best answer the question.

In a way Flora was correct in her assessment: He wasn’t particularly powerful as a spellcasting bard. Unlike Flora who clearly committed herself fully to nature and thus druidic magic, Oliver had only recently thrown himself into the magical arts.

Unless you were a wizard who studied the secrets of the universe with a very intimate and well versed knowledge of magic, most spellcasters drew their power from sources of existence: Clerics from their gods, Druids from nature, Warlocks from something beyond mortal existence yet not quite a deity, sorcerers because a family member fucked around with pure incomprehensible concepts. Magic was the fabric of the universe and the more you threw yourself into a source of power, the more the source threw itself into you, guiding your hand and your spells.

Of course each, wizards exempt, were limited in their spellcasting options. Clerics were powerful holy/unholy practitioners but couldn’t command plant life to save their lives. Druids were in tune with nature and the weather and all the lovely flora and fauna but ask them to superimpose an image onto something and they’d give you a dumbfounded look. Warlocks kinda just do whatever their sugar patrons felt like lending.

Magic bards drew their power from the arts: Drawing, singing, poetry, even witty and funny satire. Bards were in tune with life, with existence. Art could heal, could hurt, could make you feel happy and sad. It could make you feel like a whole new person or perhaps take you to a time and place you’d forgotten. Bards sung the song of life and Oliver was no exception.

However, Oliver still wasn’t sure what he could do exactly. His magical muscle was average on a good day and he could only cast a few spells before needing a good night’s rest. The basic healing spells and comprehension language he cast earlier today had taken a good chunk of his energy but he relied more on his wit than raw magical strength. He discovered creative and useful ways to cast his spells like amplifying dissonance noises to distract and disorient foes or temporarily place another person’s image over himself. Magic was as much about creativity as it was skill, pushing the limits of what you can do with your particular brand of spells.

“I’m clever.” Oliver answered honestly “The whole magic of the arts is new to me but I’ve been in the Choir for a long time now. I used to be Tenor like Sel here but more fast talking than breaking and entering. I guess they carried over my old position into my new one.”

Flora nodded, satisfied “That answers much. How long have you been a bard?”

“Few years now.” Oliver checked the street sign to ensure they were on the right path “The magic part is going on 3 years.”

“I see.” Flora scratched her chin “I’ve been a druid my whole life so it is a strange concept to be so new to the spellcasting arts yet hold such a high rank.”

Oliver gave a casual shrug “Not sure what you want me to say. We’re here by the way.”

The bank looked as unkempt as Oliver had remembered: Faded, peeling green paint with gaudy gray stone pillars. Two guards in green uniforms stood in front of the massive reddish brown doors that led into the bank.

“Lea’s mercenaries.” Sel pointed out “They are not letting anyone in.”

“Correction.” Oliver brushed off nonexistent dirt from his washed-out outfit “They’re not letting nobodies in. Luckily tonight we’re somebodies. Follow my lead.”

Oliver let out a tense breathe before strolling forward, his mannerism cocky yet unsteady. He reached the top of the steps when two sharp looking blades reached out to stop him.

“Halt” The elvish woman spoke with a hint of irritation “You lost?”

“Not at all!” Oliver beamed with a smile that was too wide to be natural “I’m here for the party. There is a party inside no?”

“No” The human man spat out.

Oliver gave a forgetful grin “Oh? I could’ve sworn Brambleoak was having some sort of charity event tonight. I’d show you my invite but I think I misplaced it.”

The elvish woman sneered “Right. How convenient for you having lost your special one of a kind invite.”

“Pfft.” Oliver scoffed “Special one of a kind invite? Reiner hands them out like candy. Probably find one in a gutter nearby.”

The guards shared an unspoken understanding with one another.

“Well.” The human began “Let’s pretend that is true.”

“It is but go on.”

The human’s eyes narrowed “Why should we let you in? You dress rather poorly for someone claiming to be in Reiner’s usual circles.”

Oliver let out an exaggerated gasp as he puffed out his chest “Do you know who I am?”

“Umm no.”

Oliver growled unhappily, his fist clenched tightly within his pocket “I am rich! I AM POWERFUL! AND I DEMAND ACCESS!”

As quick as lightning, Oliver flung a handful of gold coins towards the pair. The two reeled back in surprised as the money clanked onto the smooth marble floor. A moment hardly passed before the guards were shoving the loose coins into their tunic pockets like hungry dogs. They straightened up, eyes alive with greed.

“Of course sir” The elvish woman bowed her head in apologize “Deeply sorry for that.”

“Please go ahead.”

Oliver gave a self satisfied nod before moving past the pair only to stop as he heard the sounds of swords scraping each other. He turned backwards to see the guards barring access to Flora and Sel.

Flora looked back and forth between the guards, her eyes calculating and cold. Sel stood still but clearly at the ready for any sort of trouble.

“They’re with me.”

The Elvish woman shook her head “We said we’d let you in. These two? Definitely not Reiner’s usual prey.”

“They aren’t” Oliver admitted “But I need them.”

The human turned to him, suspicion in his eyes “Why?”

“She…” Oliver pointed lazily towards Flora “Is my street doctor.”

“Street doctor? As in….?”

Oliver gave a cheery wink “The fun kind.” And for give measure, he added a weak shiver to his act “Ugggggh I feel cold, are you cold? It’s cold.”

Before anyone could say anything, Oliver began shaking. He rubbed his hands for ‘warmth’ while swaying back and forth.

“Uh oh.” Flora spoke dully, pushing past the guards and holding Oliver steady “He’s crashing. I need to give him his umm medicine.”

“Medicine?” Oliver repeated, his voice soft yet manic “Yes medicine. I need it. I NEED IT!”

Folks began to turn their way, the guards shifting uncomfortably under the sudden attention they were receiving.

“And this one?” The Elvish woman gestured to Sel.

Oliver began to rock back and forth, his voice a harsh whisper. “Guard. Guard. Guard guard guard guard.”

The human threw up his hands in defeat “Bah! Get him in there and fixed! Any trouble and I’ll personally come over to beat your asses.”

“Thank you sir.” Flora murmured through gritted teeth. She guided Oliver and Sel through the doors and into the party within.

Flora sighed as Sel cracked the tension out of their fingers. Oliver straightened up, wiping the sweat from his brow.

True to his expectations, the bank had been altered to be suitable for a charity event: Torches lined the walls, casting the building into a bright light. The desks normally found on the floor were gone as to allow a more spacious setting. Oliver counted a handful of guards scattered about, wandering about for any sign of trouble. All except for the lone guard beyond the empty elevated platform who stood in front of the stairway to the upper floors.

“What now?” Flora asked

“Split up. Sel stay close to the door, Flora and I will figure out a distraction.”

“Sounds good.”

And without another word, Oliver was swallowed whole into the crowd.

-----

It had taken an hour for Oliver to figure out what kind of distraction he would need.

The patrols themselves hadn’t been very difficult to plan for: They would move randomly about, keeping an eye on the party and each other. He counted about 6 of them total and each one of them was easily starstruck. At the sign of any disagreement, they would swarm in groups of three and quickly threaten any troublemakers into compliance. However, upon meeting anyone with even the smallest bit of fame, they would subtly motion to each other and make their way as one to the person in question, hoping for a glance or the chance for an autograph.

So the floor guards were no problem but the one standing watch over the door was much more difficult. Evidently Lea was smart enough to give the most important job to the most responsible of his idiots. The stairway guard or Stairy as Oliver labeled him, would not budge at the sign of any trouble. Loud arguments, agitated party goers, a waiter being tripped (sorry it was for science buddy). None of these would pull him from his post. Celebrities wouldn’t either. Any time his buddies motioned to a famous person, he would shrug his shoulders and stay put.

Oliver was beginning to wonder if Flora needed to poison Stairy until he noticed something about half way into his observations: Stairy was a music lover. Specifically a cute girl music lover.

His gaze would wander every time he caught sight of a pretty girl who happened to be too close to him. Oliver wasn’t sure at first so he decided to test his theory. With his pocket change lessened, Oliver noticed how often a girl would catch Stairy’s eye. His attention didn’t shift when they fell in front of him, obviously in distress, or walked slower allowing him to enjoy the view longer but Oliver caught him smiling and tapping his foot when the odd girl would sing. He even staggered away from his door a few steps at a time before catching himself and returning to his post.

So the best distraction would be a girl who could sing and have some level of fame attached to her name.

Oddly specific and Oliver hadn’t the slightest idea how he was going to mange that. He was attempting to solve this puzzle when something caught his ear.

“Get off me you mulched dirt licker!”

That rather unique set of cursing could only mean one thing: Flora.

Oliver turned to where he last spotted her and found the young druid being hassled by a tall man in an elegant uniform.

Oliver noticed the guards were looking about, not yet spotting the commutation but aware something was going on. He needed to act first if he wanted to stop Flora deciding to kill everyone in the room.

The bard quickly slipped into the crowd, darting and weaving between any and everyone he could. He saw Flora slip a small vial into her hand as the man towered over her.

“I jus wanna dance.” the man’s words slurred out of his mouth “A pretty thing like yo shou wanna dance”

Flora’s eyes narrowed angrily “For the last time you dried poop stain, LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Flora pulled back her hand, prepared to throw the mysterious vial at the drunk’s face.

“Whoa!” Oliver cried out, tightly grasping onto Flora’s wrist “What seems to be the problem?”

“Nothing I can’t solve on my own.” Flora coldly glanced towards the drunken man.

“One sec.”

Oliver eyed the man carefully, absorbing every little detail he could.

He could see the muscles strain against the fabric of his light green tunic so this man worked in something physically laborious. The sheathed sword on his belt weight seemed to throw him off balance with every step. His gaze was unsteady and Oliver could see his pupils dilating wildly.

So this man was physically fit, armed with a sword in a charity event for the rich people and wearing light green tunic while currently drunk.

“You should leave her alone” Oliver said, sarcasm dipping from each word “You are so not her type.”

“So?” The man hiccupped “What’s the big deal?”

“So she’s got a girlfriend you idiot.” Oliver gestured with his hand “Besides you should go before your boss Lea gets here. I’m betting he won’t be happy one of his undercover mercs is currently drunk on the job. Of course I could always tell your captain what’s going on. That’s him over there right?”

Oliver gestured to the closest guard making his way towards the trio. He didn’t look any different than any guards but Oliver noticed his green was a shade darker than the rest. Lea probably used different hues to signify rank in his mercenaries.

The drunk’s face paled as he fidgeted nervously. He rose his hands in surrender, eyes darting between the two “Sorry.”

“Any trouble?” The captain approached, his hand tightly held around the hilt of his blade.

Oliver beaned cheerfully, trying his best to pull attention away from the fuming Flora “Not at all my good sir. This man simply mistook us for someone else, correct?”

The drunk nodded slowly “My bad. Forgive my intrusion.”

The captain gave a cold smirk “Apologizes. Mikey?”

The drunk flinched “Yes sir?”

“A word in private. Now.”

Oliver let out a sigh of relief as the captain dragged Mikey away..

“You should’ve let me poison them.” Flora muttered darkly.

Oliver scratched the back of his neck tiredly “Night’s still young. Still might get your chance if I can’t figure a way past Stairy.”

Flora tilted her head quizzically “Stairy?”

“The asshole at the base of the stairs.” Oliver answered absentmindedly as he spotted a familiar streak of platinum blonde hair among the crowd of strangers “And I just figured it out. Can I trust you not to poison everyone here?”

“You have an hour. I get bored easily” Flora swirled the sickly purple liquid in the vial threateningly.

“You and me both.” Oliver patted her shoulder before chasing down his perfect distraction.

-----

Oliver’s heart began to thunder loudly in his ears, a nervous and uncontrollable energy overtaking his resolve. The mission was important but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t happy to see Maria today.

Maria Thoreau was the daughter of a powerful, influential family. The Thoreau’s were more concerned with their standing in high society than any virtuous endeavors and thus each one of their children was trained from birth to excel in their chosen field. Maria’s older brothers were an aspiring politician and merchant respectively.

Maria’s path was to be a well famous singer and patron of the arts. She wanted nothing more than to sing for the people. Unfortunately, her father only saw a chance to further the family’s good name and tied his desire for power with her passion and dream. It was bittersweet really but nothing much could be done about it.

Yet.

Maria knew Oliver as a musical rival who thwarted her group’s attempts at winning local competitions which in turned derailed her father’s plans. So needless to say she was less than thrilled when she caught him making his way over.

“Ollie” she forced a smile while her hazel eyes narrowed, peeved “I’m surprised to see they let you into this exclusive event.”

Oliver gave a cocky shrug “Well your beauty caught my attention and I couldn’t resist trying to figure out a way in.”

Maria’s cheeks burned a pinkish hue.

Maria was the same age as Oliver with short, tastefully cut dark brown hair. A single streak of platinum blonde hair hung off the side of her face, giving her such a cute look. Her clothes were practical tonight since she wasn’t performing: A simple white blouse with a long flowing dark blue skirt that went all the way down to her feet. Her shoes were sensible dark blue flats designed for comfort over style.

Maria coughed into her hand, willing her blush away.

“So.” She cleared her throat “Is this your sad attempt to throw me off my game? You won’t win the next competition. We’ll be dealing with professional judges this time.”

Oliver’s eyes widen in false surprise “There’s a competition here? Fancy that. I hadn’t been made aware of that but since we’re both in town, why not have a round two?”

“Oliver….”

“I mean” Oliver went on, pretending not have heard “You are a much better singer solo than with those harpies you’re forced to keep around.”

Maria glanced to the side timidly “Don’t be absurd, the Melodic Maidens are a perfect, well oiled machine.”

Oliver scoffed dismissively “I suppose they’re nearby, listening in. Hardly leave you alone, don’t they?”

Maria opened her mouth to respond when a shrilly voice cut in.

“What do you know you two bit hack? How much did you bribe the judges last time?!”

Oliver gave a strained smile as the rest of the ladies forced their way into view.

“Lilly, Filly, Sally. You suck.”

The triplets snarled in unison, openly glaring at the bard.

Lilly, Filly and Sally were Maria’s chains: They were as much there to further her career as they were to report back to daddy to ensure the errant daughter stayed on course.

As triplets, they all shared the same features: Three pairs of dull green eyes and long messy black hair. Even their clothing were the same with each wearing a strapless dress that showed way too much skin and skirts that were way too short. The only reason Oliver could tell them apart was due to their preferred colors: Lilly in a shade of pink that was bright for her skin tone, Filly with a pale ugly yellow and Sally in seas of dark red.

The trio surrounded Maria, their arms embracing her in an uncomfortable hug. Maria bit her lip, trying to hide her uneasy.

“Still wearing that tacky outfit huh Ollie?” Lilly eyed his faded clothing distastefully.

Sally let out an unfriendly laugh “Ollie always looks like trash. Not even prize money could buy an ounce of class.”

“Actually” Oliver brushed his shoulder dismissively “Class is cheap. No amount of money could buy an ounce of character. You can blow hot air at me all you want but nothing in this world could ever change the fact that the three of you are bitches.”

The trio clicked their tongues disappointingly, their normally plain faces twisted into unflattering visages of rage while they screamed as one.

“HOW DARE YOU INSULT US?!”

“YOU ARE SUCH A POOR TACTLESS MAN!”

“YOU FUCKER!”

Oliver casually waved his hand “All bark and no bite. I’m supposed believe you’ve gotten any better in two months? Last time I checked I won the last competition.”

“OH YEAH?!” The triplets yelled, furious.

Maria threw a suspicious glance Oliver’s way “Girls, I don’t think…”

“Come on Maria, we don’t want to have to tell daddy you backed down from a challenge.”

A shiver ran down her spine, the fight draining out of her face. Oliver felt a tinge of guilt but said nothing as the girls took their positions.

Maria paused for a moment, her breathing slow and calm. The murmur of the crowds grew louder and louder upon the recognition that the ladies nearby were the Melodic Maidens.

Maria pivoted on her heels, a bright warm smile gracing her lips. Oliver could feel his heart skip a beat at the sound of her soft, airy voice beginning to sing

“Oh you hear a lot of stories about the sailors and their sport” Maria gave a playful wink his way. His cheeks burned brightly at her playful banter.

“About how every sailor has a girl in every port”

Maria twirled, her steps mischievous and alluring as her dark blue dress chased after her. She gracefully held two fingers aloft for everything to see, her smirk cocky and assured.

“but if you added two and two you’d figure out right quick”

Maria backed up as the triplets step forward to join her, the group made whole and ready for the chorus.

“It’s just because the girls all have a lad on every ship”

Maria turned to throw a sultry look towards her rival bard but instead of finding a dumbstruck Oliver, she found a smiling one. His gaze was gentle and loving as if he was seeing utterly beautiful. A small smile was tugging at his cheeks. Maria could feel her heart thunder in her ears as, without warning, Oliver gave a thumbs up and mouthed an appreciative “Thanks” before ducking into the growing crowd.

“And it’s twiddley idle idle idle, twiddley idle aye.”

What was once a spattering of folks formed into a massive gathering. Most of the party goers and guards had come over to catch the free show the girls inadvertently given and thus all focus shifted onto them. What was an attempt to show up Oliver ended up being a very unnecessary showcase.

“It’s often times a man will leave you broken with dismay”

Boy was Maria feeling that dismay right now.

-----

Oliver’s plan worked: Stairy hadn’t been to resist the siren call of a beautiful woman and her singing. Luckily the harpies hadn’t ruined it with their imperfect pitches. Stairy hadn’t taken more than a few steps when Sel slipped in behind and began working at the door. It took a moment but one blink later and the automaton vanished out of sight.

Oliver let out a sigh when a hand gripped his shoulder tightly.

“Hello sir.” A guff, low voice in a less than friendly voice “Might I have a word? You’ve been acting rather strange all party long.”

Well fuck.

#Welcome to the Underground #My Story #Original Work #original story

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thadelightfulone · 3 years

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All I Want... 25 Days of Christmas Challenge, Day 16

A/N: Sorry for the delay...but I think you’ll forgive me for the wait. 😏

December 18th - Part 1

DeeDee checked herself out in the mirror. She had on her favorite pantsuit and decided on a low slicked back chignon for her hair. She ran her hands down the suit jacket one last time and looked at her reflection.

“Today’s the day, DeeDee. We have worked so hard to get here and we deserve everything that is coming to our way.” She smiled and put her tortoise shell glasses on. “I’m proud of you and everything you will go on to accomplish starting today.”

DeeDee heard her phone chime and buzz across her dresser. She walked over and picked it up. It was Phyllis in the group chat.

Phyll: Your presentation is at 4pm, right?

DeeDee: Yes

Phyll: The Engineering building?

DeeDee: Yup

Phyll: What room?

DeeDee: 1759

Phyll: We’ll see you there.

DeeDee: Great, see you later.

Bev: We love you, DeeDee.

DeeDee: Love you, too.

DeeDee made her way out to the living room and grabbed her purse and laptop case from next to her desk. She locked up and headed to campus to get settled in for a long day.

---

Erik was cleaning up his desk. He came in early to send out the last of his work emails before he left for a week. He locked up his computer and stood up to leave when T’Challa walked in and stood near his desk.

“Hey Cuz.”

“You leave today, right?”

“Yup, my flight leaves in 2 hours.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m excited to see Dr. Bell. She helped me work through a lot of shit while I was in school.”

“That is expected, but you know what I mean.”

T’Challa took a seat in front of Erik’s desk. He pointed towards the chair across from him. Erik put his briefcase down and took a seat.

“How are you feeling?”

Erik is quiet for a moment, deep in thought. “Ready.”

“And you are sure?”

“You and Quis, I swear.” He rolled his eyes. “I get it. I messed up before. But at least, she showed her true self before I made a horrible decision.”

“Erik, we ask because we care.” T’Challa sat forward in the chair, “You were in such a rush to find the one and get married. You never took the time to really get to know her.”

“I know, I know.”

“You told her exactly what she needed to hear for her to act like the woman for you.” He put emphasis on act. “And she tried to trap you. So, yes we want to make sure that you know what the hell you are doing this time around.”

“I don’t need to be reminded of that fuck up.” He sighed, “Besides Quis said she is nothing like her. And I do know that for myself, too.”

“Marquis knows her?”

“Yeah, she is one of his doctoral students. Actually, hold on a sec.” He pulled out his phone. He went to a text thread, where his previous text was still unread.

Prince Erik: Good morning DeeDee. I hope you have a great day.

Prince Erik: Hey, you never did tell me how your presentation went. Let me know where we are celebrating.

Erik looked back at T’Challa, “Where was I? Right, DeeDee was one of his students.”

“Ok, and what do you know about her?”

“I know that she is everything I am looking for. She’s smart, funny and sweet. She calls me on my crap. Even if she is super nice about it.”

T’Challa nodded his head, “And you are ready for her?

“Yes, I am. And I know I deserve someone like her.” Erik smiled, “All the bullshit I went through in my last relationship, let me know I wasn’t ready back then. You’re right, I rushed and almost got in too deep with someone, who was all wrong for me.”

T’Challa looked at Erik, then touched his ring, “Does she know?”

“Yeah, and doesn’t even care.” He smiled, “I’m telling you, T. She is it.”

“For your sake, I really hope she is.”

He stood up and Erik followed.

“I’ll be fine.” Erik looked at his watch, “I should get going. I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Until then, cousin.” T’Challa hugged him, and then Erik grabbed his things. They left his office together.

---

DeeDee has watched three other defenses already. They were breaking for lunch before reconvening for the last two of the day. She made her way back to Dr. O’s office. He was letting her use it for the day.

“Hey DeeDee, how you feeling?”

“Hi Dr. O. I’m ok.” She took a seat on the couch. “I am not feeling as nervous now, but I am definitely ready for it to be over.”

“I get it. I’m so sorry that you couldn’t go earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m hoping they chose to give me the last spot because they liked my topic best.”

“I like the way you think.”

“Thanks, Dr. O.” Her phone goes off, “Ooooh, let me go get my friends. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Sure thing. I’ll see you back in the main room.”

DeeDee checked her phone and went outside to meet with Beverly and Phyllis. She hadn’t seen or spoken to Phyllis, but she had chatted with Beverly since that disastrous night out.

They ran up to her and gave her hugs.

“I’m so sorry girl.” Phyllis said as they all stepped back.

“I don’t know what’s going on. But don’t take that out on me.” DeeDee finally spoke.

“I know, I know. I just -”

“Men trouble.” Bev nodded towards Phyllis.

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Your new friend, Erik.”

“What about him?” DeeDee rolled her eyes, “You know what, we can discuss this later. It’s time for the next presentation to start.”

All three of them walked to the room and DeeDee led them to seats in the center on the left-hand side. She returned to her spot up front and sat down to wait for the next doctoral student to present.

---

Marquis’ cell rang while he sat in his office.

“Hey E. What’s up man?”

“I’m back.”

“Wait! You’re already here?”

“Yeah, I just made it to my hotel. Figured I would hit you up to see what you’re doing tonight.”

“Just a simple dinner with the fam. But you are more than welcome to join us.” Marquis pulled his phone away and looked at the time, “What are you doing now?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“Come visit me on campus.”

“Seriously?”

“You ain’t doing nothing and I have to be here, so yeah. Just bring ya ass.”

“Is your office in the Engineering building?”

“Yeah, I’m in 1590, at the end of the main hall.”

“Alright, I’ll see you in 30.”

“Great, text me if I’m not in my office when you arrive.”

---

DeeDee blinked and the presentation after their lunch break was over. She sighed and looked back at her friends. She didn’t bother to invite any members of her family. They would see her on Christmas and besides she wanted to concentrate on her presentation. It would not happen if she saw them in the audience, clapping and cheering before she could even talk.

She went to them, “I gotta grab my things from Dr. O’s office. I’ll be back in a few.”

“Yeah, ok. I need to use the bathroom.” Phyllis said as she stood up. “Bev, you good here?”

“Actually, I’ll go with you, DeeDee.”

Walking out of the room, DeeDee reminded Phyllis where the first floor bathroom was and they all split once they got to the hallway.

---

Erik entered the building and stood at the top of the hallway. Not much had changed about the old building. He walked over to the directory and looked at the faculty names. He recognized a few of them and ran his hand over Dr. Bell’s name. It showed her office was across the hall from Marquis’. Great.

He started walking down the long hall, when a voice called out to him.

“Excuse me?”

The feminine voice caught his attention. He slowed to a stop.

“Yes, you. Are you lost?" He could hear the click clack of heels, “Maybe I can help you.”

He turned around to see a young woman in a suit approach him.

“Oh no, I’m fine. But thank you.”

“You sure?”

Erik watched as she looked him up and down. He gathered himself, “I’m positive, I’ve been here before.”

“Really? I’m here often and I would have remembered you.” Her voice dropped an octave.

“I bet you would.” He laughed, “Look, I really should be going. My friend is waiting for me in his office.” He looked behind her, “And it looks like someone is looking for you.”

She turned around and saw hands waving dramatically in the air.

“Phyllis, hurry up. It’s gonna start soon.”

“Alright, I’m coming.” She turned back around to look at Erik, “I hope I get to see you again.”

He nodded at her and made his way down the hall. “Not if I can help it,” He mumbled.

Erik knocked on Marquis’ office door. He pitched his voice. “Excuse me, Dr. O.”

“Why are you knocking? Come on in.”

He walked in and Marquis jumped up when he saw him.

“I thought. You know what -- nevermind.” He gave Erik a hug, “How you doing man?”

“I’m good, I’m good.”

“You look it. Still living at the gym when you aren’t at work, I see.”

“I mean, you know. I never again want to look like the stick that shared an award with you.”

They both laughed.

“So, why are you still here on a Friday afternoon? You could be on your break already.”

“I will be. Immediately after this last doctoral defense presentation.”

Erik huffed and pulled out his phone. He hadn’t heard anything from DeeDee yet today. He shook his head and put it away.

“So, those were today?”

“Yup. There is one more and then we can go get drinks before I take you to see the family.”

“Yeah, sure that’s fine.”

Marquis locked up his office and they walked down the hall to the main room.

---

Erik sat in the back row out of the way, while Marquis walked to the front and gathered everyone’s attention. As he looked out ahead of him, he saw the girl from earlier seated on the opposite side from him. She was talking to her friend and kept looking back at him.

“This cannot be good.” He returned his focus to Marquis up front.

“Thank you all for being here all day today. We are ready to start our final defense presentation.” Marquis nodded to a young woman on his left who walked over and took the clicker from him.

When she turned around to address everyone, Erik gasped. It was her. He was looking at DeeDee. She pressed the clicker for her starting slide and began to speak.

Erik took her in while she spoke. She definitely could not hide from him now. DeeDee was dressed in a burgundy and black houndstooth patterned pant suit with a burgundy blouse. It fit her very well, and he could make out her wide hips and the chest that prevented her from closing the blazer. He bit his lip to keep from making an inappropriate sound. Her dark curls were pulled back in a sleek low bun with loose tendrils hanging out. He hadn’t seen those glasses before, but the cat eye shape looked really cute on her.

He tried to fully focus on what she was saying, but was glad that she asked him for advice a few weeks before. He would catch a word or two and know where she was. Erik continued his physical assessment of her while DeeDee’s presentation continued.

DeeDee was much shorter than he thought, but he loved the idea of her looking up at him or having to get on her tiptoes to kiss him. He smiled as her nose scrunched up while she spoke about environmental waste and how her study addressed it. He saw her infamous full cheeked smile when she answered questions from the panel and audience.

When he was done getting his fill of her, he could hear the applause and she sat back down while the panel spoke amongst themselves.

He was so proud of her. She handled herself very well up there. And although he never expected to see her real presentation, he was happy to have been there.

---

Everyone has walked to the front to congratulate DeeDee who was just told that she cleared her defense and that the panel was recommending the certification of her Ph.D.

DeeDee saw Beverly and Phyllis first. They both ran over to her, giving her hugs and praise. She smiled at her two friends.

“Thank you both for being here.”

“We wouldn’t have missed this for the world, hun.” Beverly spoke up for them.

DeeDee pulled away from them and headed over to Dr. O. He was standing next to a man in a nice black suit, who was a few inches taller than him. She tapped Dr. O on the shoulder, he turned back, saw it was DeeDee and gave her a hug. She pulled away and noticed that the gentleman next to him was staring intently at her.

When DeeDee looked over, she saw very familiar short dreads with a shadow fade, a neatly trimmed beard and the same dimples that she had been dreaming about recently. It can’t be.

“Erik?” She breathily asked.

“In the flesh.”

“What are you doing here?”

“You know I came for Dr. Bell’s retirement party.”

“Yeah, but I thought you would be here tomorrow or Sunday. But you are here. At my defense.” She stepped back to look up at him.

“I am and it’s nice to meet you, Dr. Deidre Chabert.” He held his hands out.

She smiled brightly at him and walked forward into his arms. He engulfed her in a big hug.

“Let me take you out to celebrate tonight.” Erik said into her ear. He looked over DeeDee’s head and saw the two women from earlier staring at them.

“I would like that.” She mumbled into his chest.

“Good, go get your things.”

She pulled out of his embrace and stared at her friends who were now behind her. DeeDee slid by them and went to get her things.

“So, how do you know DeeDee?” Beverly asked him cheerfully.

Phyllis just stared at him, arms crossed against her chest. DeeDee bounced back over to everyone with her bags.

“Hey guys, I want you to meet Erik.”

“What? Mr. Note in the textbook? No way.”

“Guilty.” He replied.

“Do you mind if we get together to celebrate later this week or next weekend?”

“Sure sweetie.” Beverly spoke up. “Have fun, but not too much.”

“Yeah, we’ll see you later, Dee.” Phyllis gave her a half hug and stormed past her.

Beverly gave her a hug and walked out after Phyllis.

“I have questions, but I’m gonna wait.” Dr. O turned to DeeDee, “You’re still coming over to go to the Christmas Festival with us tomorrow, right?”

“And miss an opportunity to see my favorite girl. Not a chance. Besides, I don’t think she will forgive me.”

“Great. Well, you two enjoy your evening.” Dr. O daps Erik, “I’ll see you tomorrow as well.”

“Definitely. Goodnight Quis.”

Erik grabbed DeeDee’s things, “You want to leave your car here or drop it off at your place?”

“You can follow me home.”

He extended his arm as they walked out of the room, “Lead the way, Dr. DeeDee.”

“Don’t you start that mess.” She bumped him with her shoulder.

“Would you prefer Dr., Miss or Little?”

“Little?”

With his free hand, he grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers. “You are much smaller than me.”

“I bet you like that, don’t you?”

“You have no idea how much.” He squeezed her hand.

“Watch it, Mr. Erik.”

“Or what?”

“I don’t know yet, but you will find out.” She returned the squeeze.

Taglist: @teakturn @ghostfacekill-monger @shaekingshitup @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @woahitslucyylu @ladymac82 @bugngiz @eyeknowmywrites @ajspencer1892 @arafatih @issimplyaamazinggg @tchallasbabymama @killmonger-fics @beautifullmelodyxx @raysunshine78 @fd-writes @ljstraightnochaser @just-peachee @kaleidoscopeofsoul

#25 days of christmas challenge #erik killmonger x oc #black panther fanfiction #bp christmas #all i want #thadelightfulone

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rangergranger11 · 3 years

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Headcanons (I promise these won’t make you cry)

Ok so on @eatyourdamnpears post there were a lot of headcanons, and I decided to put them all in one post, but just bear in mind, half of this is credit to @thedarkestcrew cuz she did some amazing HCs, and I’m by no means stealing hers, just putting it all in a better place.

- Liam sends packages to Ruby because he can't make a fool out of himself in person so it's the next best thing.

-These packages include things like hand writing notes, stuffed animals, any ruby jewellery he finds, pictures of them on dates that he printed (he has matching pictures and keeps them under his bed)( Cole and Harry find them but it's too cute to tease him), and finally, videos to make her laugh

- He also keeps a menu from Ruby Tuesday, and LOADS of old CDs and rock band t shirts

-Cole and him borrow each others jackets all the time and it's not a problem because they live in the same house and they can just go over to the room next door,

-But when ruby starts stealing Liam’s jackets that he stole from Cole? well now the Stewart house is missing 10 leather jackets and you can't just get them form the girl who lives a state away. So she has to send them back in the mail,

-keeps a few that smell like Liam because she can

-sometimes people are confused which Stewart brother Ruby is really dating. And the fact that they look like twins it adds to the confusion, and the Ruby and Cole literally love to watch people get so mixed up

-oh absolutely, they’ll walk in on ruby and Liam making out, but two second later see Cole smoothing Down her hair and calling her Gem, AND seeing her he friendly with Chubs and cleaning his glasses because her skirt has better fabric for it, AND seeing her joke around with Nico

-it becomes a bet to see who she's with

-Liam will give Ruby his jacket, but than Cole comes and notices it's his jacket and makes a joke about them dating, she just gives him the jacket because she'd rather wear lee'. bystanders are distraught

- And then Clancy comes along and brags about how he kissed Ruby and then the people who bet are just like 'where. the. hell. did. clancy. frickin. gray. come. from???

-Ruby thinks most of the rumours are funny and will be really vague about who her boyfriend is. most of the time just seeing Ruby and Liam together will be enough for people to figure it out by how the are relaxed around each other and look lovingly at the other.

-But when she hears the Clancy rumour she shuts that down faster than Charles scarfs Down a pancake

- Also, Liam's mum and Harry have an ongoing bet about who Ruby is actually dating because it's just so confusing at this point. Grace is like 'are you blind???' and Harry Is like 'there's something with Cole, I swear!!' But eventually realised its Liam and gives in

- Grace thinks she’s dating Cole, because when she visited she hugged Cole first and than a minute later hugged Liam. Yes, she went out to the park with Liam but grace doesn't know that, also she spend 20 minutes in Coles room chatting. She thinks Liam just has a crush on her or something

- Ruby's parents can't tell them apart for anything and made a rule of " announce who you are before talking" after Liam kissed Ruby on the cheek and her mom thought that was the same person who told someone to go-F themselves ten minutes ago and nearly faints. It takes them a while the even figure out there are two blond southern men that flirt with their daughter

-Grace is always giving Liam encouraging mom advice like, 'there are always others' and 'you'll get there someday' and Liam is just like 'thanks, mom'

-Ruby's dad is just so tired of confusing Liam and Cole, he's like 'Stewart sr' and 'Stewart jr.' He tried to call them 'Ruby's boyfriend' and Ruby's friend, but Cole answered to both just for the fun of it

-Chubs does not think it's funny at all and spits out what he's drinking when he sees Cole look when her dad says ' Ruby's boyfriend'. almost strangles Ruby until he hears about it.

-Vida thinks it's really funny but event breaks and tells everyone it's a joke the day after. she doesn't know how many more times she can see Liam pouting

-After the Cole fiasco is over. his parents wait about a week and try to get Liam with Ruby. it's a bunch of prep talks, buying new clothes, telling him how to not mess up. when the big date comes her kisses her as a hello and they feel betrayed

-When ruby’s dad says the jr, sr thing he has Harry looking too and now he just needs to have ruby in the room with him, whoever’s face gets softer Is Liam, the one who stands up to tease her about something is Cole

-One day they talk about it and their 70 percent sure it’s Cole because they think he’s more her type while Liam would be good for her. Anyways they see her making out with Liam and are shocked and think she’s cheating on Cole.

-Harry had to sit Cole down and explain that Ruby isn’t faithful and Cole is absolutely loving it. He’s eating it all up, goes along with it, calls ruby in-front of him and ‘breaks up with her’, she also thinks it’s hilarious because for crying out loud it’s been a few month into the new program and why not see how long they can keep going. I swear they have a whole plot on how they met, what line made them fall in love the, whole 9 yards.

-Grams knows of course because she pulled her aside and threatened her to date Liam because he’s the poster ’ nice southern boy’. Liam does not enjoy his girl friend pretending to date his brother but she throws enough Liam flirting into the mix to make it even.

- when Cole ‘breaks up’ with her, they have a fully fledged fake argument, like ‘remember that time when we got ice cream and you told me you told me you loved me’ and ‘you never loved me!!’ And for Ruby this is easy, because let’s face it Ruby is a grade A liar (in a good way) and Cole should be a 5 star actor because he is so damn dramatic.

-Harry is totally buying this, and in the end they confess to their parents that Ruby + Cole was never a thing, and Liam is just looking at his mum like ‘SEE, I TOLD YOU I WASN’T A TOTAL LOSER’ and poor Grace just bakes a bunch of things just to make it up to him, and they all have a laugh about it.

-But it was getting to the point where Ruby’s parents asked Zu which one she was dating and she was like ‘I am not getting involves in this.’ and Cole is just giving her a discreet thumbs up for playing her part while she just rolls her eyes.

-Oh absolutely they get into it, everyone who knows their lying get popcorn and treat it like its a movie. Cole says something absolutely ridiculous like “ you can take my heart, and my dignity, but I’m taking back the popcorn I gave you that one time” and Ruby has to use all of her enegery to not burst out laughing.

-Ruby can also fake cry quickly so she’s sobbing, and by the end schools her face within a second and wipes away to tears Cooly. Ruby’s mom can’t trust her after that. also still kinda doesnt belive she’s dating anyone because of the Cole thing. Liam comes over 5 times before she’s convinced that this isn’t another prank. Ruby tells her she’s going on a date Saturday and says “ ha ya alright I’m not falling for that again” and than on saturday spends 6 minutes looking around the house for her before calling her and realizing that she wasent kidding

-Vida definitely films the whole thing like it's some telenovela, while Chubs is rolling her eyes at her but Zu secretly loves the drama and her stupid family. And Rubiam parents mention this at their wedding as well like, Ruby's dad would be doing a speech 'today we are gathered for the union of my daughter and Cole- Liam, i meant Liam. Its definitely Liam. Right Ruby??'

-Cole shows up to Haven for a visit about to yell at Liam and Ruby for not inviting him sooner after Harry and Grace let the location slip

( I know cole being dead is one of the things that sparked haven being made on liams part, but let's just say the spark for haven was Ruby getting harassed and Liam not being able to see her like that and asking her to run away with him to the middle of no where. Good? Great)

-Cole is about to walk through the door before a kid puts a frog in his hand and another kid asks if he can beat the level on his game boy.

-he thinks it's really adorable and the kids start calling him Liam for a Few minutes so why not,

-anyways he sneezes in a lone hallway and lights something small on fire before quickly putting it out.

-Owen is coming out of his room but sees the panic in Coles eyes and says ' hey, I'm not one to judge' and walks back into his room.

-When Ruby gets home she stops and stares at him for a full minute like " that's..... not Liam????"

-he calls her gem and she can't decide between jumping a hug onto him or punching him.

-Liam gets home and the kids all do a double take like ' you changed shirts??? can got a hair cut????' before doing a double take between the two

-Loads of the kids gather around and start making daisy chains for Cole’s hair, and he freaking loves it.

-He’s surprisingly good with kids as they all hover around him asking questions, holding his hand and showing him random things and it warms Ruby’s heart so much

Again, credit to @thedarkestcrew for thinking all of this, and this post has been fun

#the darkest minds #tdm #in the afterlight #rubiam #ruby daly #cole stewart #liam stewart #vida conner #charles meriwether

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kpopgirl1234bl · 4 years

Note

Hey honey! can you write a part 2 for the scenario with Ciel with an ill s/o, where he finds the cure but is a super silly ritual, like she has to kiss the love of her life in a full moon night while holding a white dove (you can improvise whatever you want with this💙), and Ciel is afraid cuz if it doesnt work that would mean he isnt her real love (obviously he is 💙) thanks so much gorgeous writer 💙💙💙💙

I absolutely love this idea!

I did something on my own, but I hope it didn't ruin the story

Hope you enjoy the story

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

Summary: Ciel finally found a cure for your family curse, but will it work?

Pairing: Ciel Phantomhive x fem!reader

Words: 1.420

Warning: a little angst but fluffy ending

Request: Yes

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

Ever since you had fallen ill and you told Ciel about your family's curse, Ciel never stopped looking for a cure for this curse.

After talking to several doctors and talking to Sebastian, and The Undertaker, Ciel finally believed he found a cure for your family's illness.

Ciel also learned during his research, discovered that you had a mark on your back, that would spread when the illness began taking over.

Luckily for Ciel, the illness hadn't started to spread yet.

When Ciel found the cure and told you about it, you laughed a little since it sounded kind of funny, but if the ritual worked, nothing could stop you.

You and Ciel started planning everything for the next full moon, where the ritual would take place. But during this time, Ciel started to doubt himself.

'What if it doesn't work?'

'What if I am not her true love?'

You saw this plaguing his mind and reassured him that you loved him and only him. You had loved no one like him before, and would never stop loving him.

In the middle of planning, tragedy struck.

While planning, you started to feel sick. You thought nothing of it until you looked in a mirror.

The mark had started to spread.

Ciel found you collapsed and crying on the floor, he rushed over to you and asked you what was wrong.

You told him that the mark had started to spread, after telling him that, Ciel felt his whole world stop and he felt completely numb for a moment.

'This can't be happening.' Ciel thought.

Ciel felt numb to the world, absolutely heartbroken, but yet he remained confident.

"Y/N." You heard Ciel say your name.

"Y-Yes." you sobbed and dried your tears.

"Marry me?" Ciel looked you dead in the eyes when he asked you this. You looked shocked at him, unable to speak a single word.

"I don't care if the ritual works or nor, I want to marry the woman I love," Ciel said, holding you close, close enough for you to hear his beating heart.

"Yes." You hugged him and clutched a fistful of his clothes.

Ciel pulled back and smiled at you, drying the tears that kept falling from your eyes. Ciel leaned in slowly and captured your sweet lips in a passionate and loving kiss.

TIME SKIP

You and Ciel began preparing the ritual alongside a makeshift wedding. Since the wedding was a last-minute decision, you and Ciel agreed on a small wedding and only invited the closest people to you.

The days slowly approached the ritual day, and Ciel spends as much time with you to make sure you were okay.

So far, the illness had not spread that far, but you still felt sick. But despite being sick, you found a beautiful dress you wanted to wear for the ritual. Ciel had not seen the dress, so you were excited to see his reaction.

TIME SKIP

The day was finally here. The day of the ritual was finally here.

The day was spend preparing the garden for the ritual/ceremony.

Later in the day, you and Ciel were lead into separated rooms and began to get ready for tonight.

"Are you nervous, Miss Y/n?" Mey-Rin asked you as she got you into your dress.

"Very Mey-Rin, I mean what if it doesn't work, what would I do." You said, and you felt Mey-Rin place her hand on your shoulder.

"Miss Y/N, love will always find a way, don't worry." Mey-Rin smiled and continued working on your dress.

TIME SKIP

You stood with Sebastian before the doors that lead into the garden, where Ciel was waiting for you two.

Instead of a bouquet, you were holding a pure white dove since the ritual called for a white dove.

"We are ready to begin the ceremony." Finnian ran up and told you. You took a deep breath, and you two slowly began walking as the doors opened.

You spotted Ciel immediately and smiled at him.

You now stood in front of Ciel, smiling as the moonlight shone brightly upon you two as the ceremony/ritual began.

"We are gathered here today to unite Ciel Phantomhive and Y/N L/N." The priest said.

"Bring the rings forward, please." The priest said, and Finnian stepped forward with the rings. You and Ciel took the rings and ready to place them on your fingers of each other.

"Now do you Ciel Phantomhive, take Y/N L/N, to be your partner in life and sharing your path; equal in love, a mirror for your true self, promising to honor and cherish, through good times and bad, until death do you part?" The priest asked Ciel.

"I do," Ciel said and smiled at you, looking deep into your eyes.

"Do you Y/N L/N, take Ciel Phantomhive, to be your partner in life and sharing your path; equal in love, a mirror for your true self, promising to honor and cherish, through good times and bad, until death do you part?" The priest asked you.

"I do," You said and smiled brightly.

"Ciel, please repeat after me. "I Ciel Phantomhive give you Y/N this ring as an eternal symbol of my love and commitment to you." The priest said.

"I Ciel Phantomhive give you Y/N this ring as an eternal symbol of my love and commitment to you," Ciel repeated what the priest had said and placed the ring on your finger.

"Y/N repeat after me. "I Y/n give you Ciel Phantomhive this ring as an eternal symbol of my love and commitment to you." The priest said.

"I Y/N give you Ciel Phantomhive this ring as an eternal symbol of my love and commitment to you." You repeated what the priest said and placed the ring onto Ciel's finger.

"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride." The priest announced.

You smiled at Ciel and looked down at the white dove. You felt Ciel place his hand over yours, holding the dove.

You both leaned in, and finally, your lips met in a sweet and passionate kiss.

You both pulled away, and you felt the dove squirm, so you let it go, and it flew towards the moon. Right after, you felt a pain in your back where the mark was. You bend down, the pain made it unbearable, and you couldn't breathe.

"Y/N!?" you heard Ciel shout. You laid on the ground, hyperventilating. Not long after, the pain subsided, and you could finally breathe again. You looked up at Ciel, looking at you concerned. You looked around, and you saw all the other looking anxious at you.

Just then, you remembered the pain were your mark had been. You grabbed Ciel's hand and ran towards your bedroom.

"Y/N! What's going on?!" Ciel shouted as he ran behind you, hanging on to your hand.

You opened the door to your bedroom and closed it after Ciel, and you ran over the mirror and tried to remove your dress.

"Y-Y/N!" Ciel blushed bright red.

"I-It's not what you think, please just help me remove this dress," you asked Ciel. Ciel reluctantly helped you remove your dress. When your back was unclothed, you turned around and looked.

The mark was gone, completely gone.

"It's gone." You whispered.

"What?" Ciel asked and walked over to for himself.

It was true. The mark was gone. Ciel brushed his fingers against your skin, where the mark once appeared.

"It worked Ciel, it worked." You felt yourself tearing and leaned your head against his chest. Ciel finally snapping out of his daze, wrapped his arms tightly around you.

"It's true after all," you said.

"What is my love," Ciel asked you.

"True love conquers all." You said and smiled at him.

"Indeed it does, my love, indeed it does." Ciel smiled and leaned and kissed you, which you gladly accepted.

'Finally, after all this time, she's finally mine, forever and always.' Ciel thought to himself as he felt your soft lips against his.

After getting you into your dress again, you went to tell everyone that the ritual had worked. Everyone celebrated and cheered.

Later on, you and Ciel retreated to your bedroom. Once you two had entered the bedroom, there was no holding back. You and Ciel rejoiced that from now on, you could spend every day and night in each other's arms.

And that's what you two did that night. Never once leaving or letting go of each other.

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pwnyta · 3 years

Text

OK THIS IS MY IDEA FOR LIKE A VOLTRON SEASON... keep in mind I didnt watch the last season but nobody liked it so Im sure no one cares if I accidentally retcon stuff.. HERE GOES-

BOOM

Starts off with Coran. Hes staring up at some screen with a bunch of weird alien science bullshit on screen. He looks kind of more aged and tired which is a little concerning because his species is seemingly like immortal. But hes staring up at this screen and hes starts talking to Allura... whos not there its more like ‘where could you be, I still feel like youre out there somewhere‘ that kind of thing...

Romelle comes in and starts like ‘Coran you gotta stop with this. You gotta move. whens the last time youve talked to someone besides me or this screen.’ etc and Coran just looks sad because hes kind of been left behind and he misses the last family he really had left. and hes all ‘I feel like shes still out there... I wish she’d just give us a sign‘ and Romelle feels bad but tries to convince him to step away...

WHEN SUDDENLY some of the alien tech starts picking up some weird interference and Coran and Romelle are like !!!!! Holy shit... and now Romelle is a little on board and Coran grabs a communication device or w/e.

hard cut to Pidge and Hunk. Theyre just fucking around.. I havent decided more about them but lets just say theyre like playing a game late at night and goofing off surrounded by weird inventions and random junk... Pidge loses and Hunk gloats and theyre surprised when their phone rings... (of course Coran would contact them first) but MOVING ON

Lance is still like working on a farm somewhere or w/e he was doing at the end of the series, just with his big family and looking pretty pleased... little girl runs up and tells him grandma said hes got a phone call so he picks her up and heads in.. and then you find out the little girl is his daughter and hes a good dad and its very cute. also he has beard in these moments cuz it can be funny later.

Then we get to Shiro... whos sleeping. Hes all stressed out.. think that scene in IM3 with Tony... like hes not gotten any sorta therapy. And he wakes up all sweaty and startled and Curtis comes in and is like ‘Oh honey are you ok... I thought I heard you wake up‘ something something showing a cute relationship with the fellas. PHONE CALL.

Then were with the Blade. Full suited up Blades are training, ones way bigger than the other, theres some other smaller Blades at the side watching... its clearly some kind of battle instruction... This is were Keith is gonna be re-introduced but boom smaller Blade gets knocked back and helmet phases away to reveal some little gremlin mad that they got bested. A little hot headed moody thing and then the instructor phases his helmet away and its KEITH. Fully purple. Those hints that Keith was getting more Galra-like... now this. Krolia comes in to tell him Coran has called and asked him to come by because something important happened.

At where ever Coran is at the Paladins start showing up. Make it really clear that they havent really kept in touch much...

Pidge and Hunk meet up with Lance... see his beard and start RAILING on him. Like WHAT IS THAT?! And Lance fights back because he thinks the beard makes him look manly but Pidge laughs and Hunks like...//strokes his own beard and Lance is like ‘HUNK HAS A BEARD!‘ but Pidge is all ‘HUNK HAS THE FACE FOR A BEARD YOU LOOK GOOFY AS FUCK‘ And Lance is like ‘Whatever what do you know!‘

then Shiro is like ‘Geez you guys are already bickering?‘ Pidge is super excited to see Shiro and Lance is like ‘AH YES. A man of great honor and refined taste!! SHIRO... Tell them my beard looks good!‘ and Shiros all :).......... yeah. But its obvious hes just trying to be nice but hes a bad liar and Lance is like ‘GOD DAMN IT‘ and the others laugh.

Keith comes in fully Galra.. the other Paladins are like ?!!?!? WAT. And Keith is like hey! all casual about it, offers a hand to Shiro for their little hug thing even tho even Shiros still like ‘Purple? also youre taller than me now? Dont like that.‘ but Keith is like ‘wtf is up with the beard?‘ and Lance is all ‘I DONT WANNA HEAR IT FROM YOU.‘

Cuz hes fucking purple.

But they get to Coran and Coran goes off with a bunch of alien tech speak and only Pidge and Hunk are really following along but they look a little skeptical when he starts trying to mash pieces together like ‘Oh this could be Allura trying to communicate with us! Maybe we can get her back!‘ which of course hooks Lance immediately.

At the chance to maybe create some cool new device Pidge and Hunk are ready to work with Coran to make some device to pin point the anomaly and maybe create some kind of universe jumping portal... they remember that comet thing from that weird AU episode so they know its technically possible. Keith thinks its a bad idea and Shiro trusts his instincts cuz he wasnt really there for that so he has no input.

BUT it happens anyways and more information on the anomaly is given with Pidge and Hunks machine. they find its one life form thats not like something enormous and they get a little more into Corans mind set. Maybe this really is a Allura.

Theyre willing to risk it.

Something something they build a machine and some kind of containment area to try and ease Keiths mind. Theyre suited up prepared for whoever it is that might come through.

But its clear when the figure steps through the portal that its not Allura and probably not an Altean at all. Weird number of toes, really tall. They suspect Galra and they know there are still rogue Galra out there so they keep their guard up but then the person looks over at them and immediately removes their mask and its Ulaz! and hes like ‘OH FUCK! Shiro!!! (not exact words... I dont do dialog leave me alone)‘

and Shiros ‘ULAZ!!!!‘

Ulaz can look a little different, maybe his mohawk hair is longer and braided so he looks all cool but also like he hasnt been able to maintain his hair, hes got some scars on his face, maybe he lost an eye or something.

And everyones a little excited to see him especially Shiro and even Keith cuz thats one of his Blade brothers! The first one hes met really... (Coran and Lance are not quite as happy...)

After a brief moment of joy Ulaz is quick to inform them of the AU Alteans.

They get filled in. They find out that those Alteans are also looking for Allura... which Coran is like ‘Allura really is alive!!‘ but its not that important to Ulaz at the moment cuz hes just going on about the number of followers Hiras got and theyve been fucking around in the universes gathering followers and power and shit.

Then hard cut to Hiras fleet and that bitch is PACKIN.

THAT WOULD BE FIRST EPISODE SET UP. //a fanfiction by Ewim

what do you think...

#I know its like 11pm and everyone hates VLD BUT HEAR ME OUT!#VLD

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artificialqueens · 4 years

Text

Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, 3 (Branjie) (and background everyone else) - Ortega

a/n: hey fam!! we are over halfway through the rewrite so hopefully soon i can get a brand brand new chapter out to u soon, in the meantime enjoy chapter 3 all over again and see if u can spot the differences lmao?? idk but i hope u enjoy anyway!!

fic summary: Strictly Come Dancing enters its 18th series and its producers, after being goaded by a rival dance show on its inclusivity, commission it to be an all-female cast. Unlike Akeria who’s just here to bone her potential dance partner, dancer Vanessa is ready to act like a professional.

And then TV presenter Brooke Lynn walks into the rehearsal room.

***

28th September 2020

Vanessa has never been more excited in her life as she paces the rehearsal room, checks herself out for what is surely the millionth time in the mirrors and pulls a few strands of her dark hair out of her ponytail to frame her face. There’s a cameraman and a lighting person and a random producer set up in one corner too but Vanessa hardly acknowledges them, because it’s her first rehearsal with Brooke and in a moment she’s going to walk through those doors and they’ll get to start their journey together.

Saturday night had been a blur. They’d been rushed off to film their post-show reaction interview and Vanessa hardly remembers what she’d said. She supposes it couldn’t have been more incoherent than her immediate reaction. Or perhaps it had been. They’d swapped numbers excitedly, Vanessa’s heart dipping a little as Brooke insisted she couldn’t join for post-show drinks as she had to film early the next morning. With a pang of embarrassment, Vanessa remembers the text she’d sent to Brooke in the early hours of the morning as a result of Monique and Akeria’s shocking influence and way too much tequila:

V: iknow its 1am but im still so excited to be partnered wirg u and i cant wait for first rehearsal!!!!!!! x

It’s a miracle Brooke had still been up so her reply could come instantly and Vanessa didn’t have to wake up smelling of alcohol, kebab and regret the next day.

B: I’m excited too!! Have a good night, can’t wait for Monday x

It’s not like Vanessa has a crush- she’s just excited, as she keeps reminding herself, and Brooke is her first partner. It’s natural to look forward to seeing her as much as she is.

Vanessa inspects her reflection again, frowning and pulling out two more strands of hair from her ponytail to hang loose. She gives a cry of frustration as she realises she’s ruined it by pulling out way too much, so she bends over and hangs her head down between her knees to gather her hair up again.

She’s in this position when the door opens and she hears Brooke’s voice ringing into the echoey room.

“Good morning! Oh shit, am I interrupting something?“

Embarrassed, Vanessa flips her hair back and stands up straight, walking quickly over to Brooke as she dumps her gym bag at the door. “No, fuck, sorry, I was just fixing my hair! Hey!”

Brooke has her arms out ready to hug Vanessa and she accepts gladly. She smells all clean and of fabric softener. She probably uses in-wash scent boosters like an adult who has complete control of her life and more money than sense. They pull out of the hug and Vanessa fixes Brooke with a smile.

“So!” Vanessa starts, but there’s a noise from the other side of the room. One of the producers has stepped forward.

“Uh yeah, ladies, we can’t use that intro. We’re gonna have to film again.”

“How come?” Vanessa asked, realising too late that it’s because she was bent over with her hair hanging to the ground and that Brooke swore. The girls share a guilty laugh and Brooke retreats to the door. The good news is that they get to hug for a second time when they reshoot, and Vanessa gets another scent of Brooke’s detergent and the protected feeling of having the other girl’s strong arms around her.

“So, first rehearsal!” Vanessa chats cheerfully, leaning on the barre and tilting her head as she talks to Brooke. “How we feelin’?”

“Good! Excited. Ready. Positive adjectives,” Brooke says all at once, smiling at her. “How about you?”

“I’m happy. Kinda nervous, ‘cuz now I have to live up to your expectations.”

“And they are great expectations.”

Vanessa nods. “George Orwell style.”

Brooke pauses, fixing Vanessa with a funny look, then bursts out laughing. “Even Charles Dickens?”

Vanessa laughs, shrugging. “They both wrote books, I stay winning.”

She watches as Brooke doubles over clutching her stomach in hysteria, and feels a sense of pride at having made the girl laugh so much. Remembering the film crew in the corner, she smacks her hands together. “Right! For our first dance as a Strictly partnership, we are doin’ a…quickstep!”

Brooke raises her eyebrows and nods slowly. “Ballroom first, okay! I can do that. I guess I’m surprised we’re not doing Latin.”

Vanessa shrugs. “Ballroom ain’t my strong suit so I figured it’s better to get it out the way early while we got other, shittier girls we can hide behind.”

There’s a beat of silence as the two girls look at each other. They both speak at the same time. “…Farrah.”

“Reshoot!” the producer shouts over, Vanessa feeling herself roll her eyes like a teenager. Brooke snorts a laugh and Vanessa feels that little match spark up in her gut again. They reshoot, having the same conversation as before in so many words. It’s tricky remembering not to swear- Vanessa peppers fuck and shit into her daily language like she’s seasoning it, so it’s odd attempting to remove that from her vocabulary. She should probably be trying to give Brooke the impression of a mysterious and graceful woman who says gosh and darn but if she’s going to be working with her she’s going to be working with her, not a cookie-cutter picture perfect imitation.

“You wanna warm up?” Vanessa asks her, feeling a little bashful as Brooke rolls her neck slowly. She gives a small shake of her head as a long strip of her bare neck is exposed, her blonde ponytail falling over her shoulder. Vanessa feels like shaking her head herself, shaking all the thoughts that just entered her head out of it. Get a grip.

“Nah, I already did a bit before I came. We’ve got a gym at the flat, so it’s good for that kind of thing.”

Vanessa feels her eyebrows fly up her face. What kind of fancy-ass flat does she live in? “You wanna just do a bit of conditioning then? I saw you were good at it on the induction day, so you prolly don’t need to do much-”

“You had your eyes on me on induction day then?” Brooke interrupts, gives Vanessa a cheeky wink that makes her face hot. She thinks about making a jibe related to Brooke eyeing her up during squats, but she thinks it’s maybe a bit much. This is only the third time they’ve seen each other, after all. She doesn’t know why she’s acting like such a teenager.

“You wish, princess,” she sticks her tongue out. Brooke laughs and Vanessa joins her, trying not to think too much about where that princess appeared from out of nowhere.

Brooke shrugs in agreement and they do a bit of conditioning on the mats that are kept at the studio. They don’t really need to be doing too much- it’s a quickstep, it’s not exactly Cirque du Soleil- but Vanessa enjoys giving her muscles a proper stretch anyway. She doesn’t need to be the bendiest dancer in the world but she likes to feel as if her flexibility and strength are constantly improving. The film crew stay to catch some rehearsal shots but Vanessa feels as if it’s only her and Brooke in the room, their easy small-talk coming naturally as they stretch and chat over the chill R&B Vanessa’s stuck on in the background. Brooke’s been working that morning already, shooting for The Voice. They’ve moved filming to the morning so she can participate in the show. Vanessa says she hopes it’s not inconvenienced her too much and Brooke laughs and waves her apology away, saying it’s been her dream to get asked on the show ever since she rose to TV-presenter status.

Vanessa agrees, tells her about growing up watching the show with her Mom, how it inspired her when she began to compete all those years ago. She could get into other stuff, like the Summer when they couldn’t fly back to Puerto Rico because Vanessa had begged and pleaded with her Mom to spend the flight money on another term at dance school instead and it had caused a rift so huge it almost tore a hole in her family. But she doesn’t. As Vanessa reminds herself, it’s only their third meeting.

So why does she have to fight the compulsion to tell Brooke her damn life story?

Before Vanessa can blurt out any emotional moments from her upbringing (and she doesn’t exactly have a shortage of them), she slaps her thighs, stands up and rolls the mat away.

“Okay, let’s get started. Now obviously you’re good-”

“Oh, of course,” Brooke jokes. Vanessa’s heart gives a dip.

“- so I think we can maybe just start learning the full thing? If it’s too hard then we can just do some of the basics and go over lil’ techniques an’…stuff,” Vanessa clocks the cameras, changes the “shit” she was about to let out. “But the good news is we got two weeks to learn this one instead of one.”

“So there’s no excuse for it not to be perfect,” Brooke nods immediately. Vanessa freezes, taken aback. Brooke in turn looks almost as if she’s been caught out, and her face turns a little red. “Sorry. That probably seems way too keen, it’s just a fun dancing show-”

“Nah, keep that spirit. I’m a fan of that,” Vanessa smiles at her and Brooke, reassured, smiles back. The girl’s clearly a perfectionist. Vanessa adds that to her growing list of things she’s learning about her new partner. “Aight, I’m gonna show you how it’s gonna look. Lemme get my phone.”

Vanessa dashes over to her gym bag, scrambles about in it for a moment. She spent all of Sunday and stayed up all night finishing off the choreography with Crystal, who she’d also helped choreograph her first dance too, not that Crystal needed any help choreographing Latin. Or indeed ballroom. Or indeed any dance full stop. They’d brainstormed and drank gallons of water and chatted together excitedly the whole time. Being on the show with Crystal is nice because they practise their Spanish together so Vanessa doesn’t lose too much of it, and she understands what it’s like to be away from her huge extended family on days like Cinco di Mayo when the only real celebration of that in the UK is a display of Mexican party food in Tesco, and they moan together about the fact that neither of them have seen a single plantain on sale since arriving in the country. Finally finding her phone in her gym bag, Vanessa searches for the video she and Crystal took of the quickstep once it was all finished. Finding it, she plops down next to Brooke who’s sitting on the dusty floor and leaning against the mirrored wall. She hits play, holds her breath nervously and hopes Brooke will like what she’s come up with. Vanessa is relieved when a small smile grows on Brooke’s face.

“Are we actually doing it to Pon De Replay?”

“Damn right we are!” Vanessa replies proudly. She got her song request in early and the producers approved it on Sunday morning. She knows that she’s not as good at ballroom but she likes the fact that she can use songs she likes and twist the style to fit, making it more comfortable for her. The dance she’s created is clever, even if she does think so herself. First week is all about showcasing your celebrity and what they do, what kind of person they are, so Vanessa wants to give Brooke a challenge. The first half is a straightforward quickstep and the second is the same but everything mirrored and in reverse. There’s a silly bit at the start where Brooke’s going to pretend to be interviewing Vanessa to reflect her everyday career. It’s cheesy, but that’s Strictly.

The video comes to an end and Brooke is smiling from ear to ear. “Oh my God. I love it.”

“Ah! Amazing. I’m so glad,” Vanessa beams, happy and relieved all at once.

“I mean, it looks hard. But I didn’t think any of this would be easy.”

“It’ll get easier, though! Just needs practise. And remember, we’ve got two weeks!” Vanessa reminds her, standing up and shaking herself out. “So we’ve got ages. I mean. In between all the press and social media madness, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Brooke laughs, pushing herself up from the floor. “Right, come on then, teacher. What do we start with?”

Vanessa begins showing Brooke the routine, the complex and intricate little steps and hops of the quickstep taking Brooke a little bit of getting used to. But by lunchtime, they’ve gone through a little chunk of the dance already and they’ve run it without and with the music. Vanessa’s pleased with their progress and when they stop for their lunch break they’re both exhausted, sweaty, and smiling.

“You good?” Vanessa asks Brooke, who’s taking a long swig of her drink. Her eyes widen as she nods quickly.

“Yeah! Christ, it’s so tough. You’re a good teacher, though,” Brooke says, finally finishing her water. The praise makes Vanessa blush; she’s glad she’s already red from all the dancing so it doesn’t show as much.

“You’re doin’ great. Makin’ my job easy,” Vanessa smiles at her. She bites her lip before speaking again. “Hey, you wanna come have lunch with me?”

Brooke pulls a face and pouts. “Aw, that sounds amazing but I’ve got a meeting with my agent at quarter past. To make sure you’re not committing human rights violations against me or whatever.”

Vanessa snorts a laugh, tries not to look disappointed. They promise to meet back at the studio in half an hour, and Vanessa heads to the canteen where she knows some of the other girls will be having lunch too. The studios that a bunch of them have had the foresight to block-book are great and modern, and Vanessa feels bad for girls like Jan who’s having to rehearse in a draughty church hall near Jackie’s sleepy Hounslow suburb. Pushing open the double doors, she finds Phi Phi, Jaida, Monique, Crystal and Plastique already sitting at a table and eating lunch. Vanessa dashes over.

“Beep beep, hoes! Winner coming through,” she shouts over to them cheerfully, Monique laughing and rolling her eyes long-sufferingly as Jaida shakes her head at her.

“Take several seats, bitch.”

“One’s fine, thanks,” Vanessa flutters her lashes at her, causing the other girl to laugh.

“How did you even get in through the door with your head this big?” Monique scoffs, as Vanessa chucks her bag down and rakes through it for her lunch.

“Hey, you’d be crowin’ as well if you saw what my girl can do,” she points out, ignoring the way Monique’s eyebrows fly up her face at the my girl.

“It’s not about who’s got the best dancer from the start, it’s all about the potential,” Plastique shrugs at her. Vanessa gives a laugh.

“Aw, Scarlet’s got loads of that, right?” she jibes, the other girls laughing. Plastique rolls her eyes.

“We spent half an hour on a step-ball-change. Every object in the room slowly started to merge into implements with which I could kill both her and myself,” Plastique put her head in her hands. She’d ended up being partnered with the soap star and Monique, to her badly-suppressed delight, had been given singer Monet.

“At least she’s trying to work hard,” Phi Phi sighed, her face taking on a sour expression. “Willam is killing me. She keeps doing shit wrong and if I point it out she just makes a joke about it. And she keeps dashing next door to show shit to Courtney! What the hell is up with that? Courtney’s got Blair to worry about, she doesn’t need a damn goofball interrupting her rehearsal every two minutes to add to that.”

“Where is Courtney, anyway?” Vanessa asked, taking a big bite out of her chicken and rice. She knows Courtney shares their studios too and she’s notable by her absence.

Phi Phi pulls a face in response. “Let’s just say her and Blair have a lot of work to do.”

“Well, I can’t relate,” Monique smiles smugly. “Me an’ Monet have been doing amazing.”

“So’ve me and Gigi! She’s awesome,” Crystal pipes up excitedly. Vanessa swears she can see her pupils turn into little hearts as she speaks. “She’s so hardworking. We’ve done, like, half our dance already.”

“No you haven’t, stop lying,” Phi Phi nudges her under the table with her foot. Crystal rolls her eyes, resigned.

“Okay, not half, but maybe like a quarter. An eighth? A twelfth.”

The girls explode laughing and Vanessa actually has to wipe tears from her eyes. When she calms down, she asks Jaida how her rehearsals with Yvie are going so far.

“Alright, I guess. The girl’s really great, she’s got so much talent. But the bitch won’t stop filmin’ shit for her fuckin’ vlogs! I’d leap out the damn window but our room’s on the ground floor.”

Another roar flies up from the girls. It’s always funny to see how they all gel with their dance partners, and Vanessa has never got to experience it for herself until this year. She’s so happy she’s been paired with Brooke.

After the girls finish their lunch, Vanessa and Brooke continue to rehearse. The days pass like that easily with hours spent in hold, out of hold, stepping, hopping, watching Brooke tear her hands through her messy ponytail in frustration when she can’t immediately nail a particular move. Vanessa learns that Brooke’s hard on herself and, though she never snaps or yells, Vanessa knows it annoys her having to really properly work at the tricky bits. Truth be told, Vanessa gets annoyed at herself too. She curses herself whenever Brooke struggles with something, becomes convinced she should have made the dance a little easier for her. If Brooke doesn’t pick something up quickly Vanessa is irritated at her own teaching methods. She knows Brooke wants to be the best no matter how much she plays the competition off as simply a bit of fun, and she gets annoyed when it seems like she’s not doing enough to help her achieve that.

On the whole, though, Vanessa tries not to beat herself up too much. They do seem to be making really good progress in comparison to some of the other girls, and they’ve more or less learned the whole dance by the end of the first week. It bodes well for their next few weeks together, as they both know the two-week rehearsal process is a luxury that’s not going to be afforded to them for the rest of the series. Besides, next week is full of social media madness and promo filmings and they’ve got their It Takes Two interview with Cheryl on Friday. It’s going to be exhausting.

“It’s going to be exhausting,” Brooke smiles gently, contemplating the week ahead and rubbing her eyes at the end of their Saturday night rehearsal. It’s 10pm and probably far too late and Vanessa should’ve let Brooke get an early night but she got carried away polishing up little sections with her.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kept you so late tonight,” Vanessa laments, frowning. Brooke frowns back, her face full of concern.

“Don’t apologise! I’m willing to stay as long as it takes. However long you think I need,” Brooke gives a small laugh, and Vanessa concedes and joins her laughter. The thought hits her that they’ve not shared too much on social media yet. Some of the pairs are giving round-the-clock updates as if they’re News 24 (she doesn’t think Aja and Farrah have stopped going live on Instagram since they began rehearsing but that’s what you get with a reality TV star as a partner), and Vanessa feels a bit guilty. She knows she’s got fans- it never gets any less crazy to say but it’s true- and she knows they’re as excited about her Strictly journey as she is. So she takes her phone out of her bag and waves it a little at Brooke.

“Hey. I know it’s late, but we’ve been workin’ so hard we kinda forgot about all the fun shit. Wanna take a few post-rehearsal selfies for Insta?”

She pauses as Brooke lets out a small laugh, suddenly feels embarrassed. “You know. If that’s your sorta thing.”

“I’m a TV presenter, Vanessa, I’m not the Prime Minister. I’m allowed to have fun,” Brooke laughs, struts up to stand beside her and faces the mirrored wall. “Go on then, Naomi Campbell, start the damn photoshoot.”

Vanessa laughs and her heart gives a little flutter as Brooke locks her fingers and rests them on her shoulder, leaning down and resting her head on them. She pouts and in turn Vanessa throws up a peace sign and sticks her tongue out. She takes a burst of five photos that will all look identical but she knows she’ll be able to find a tiny, minute difference in them all. Brooke leans over her phone as she scrolls through the photos, and suddenly jabs a finger against her screen.

“That one. It’s cute.”

Vanessa obeys orders and puts it on her Instagram story along with a timestamp and a little gif of a teddy bear falling asleep.

“Now do a video!” Brooke bounces on her toes all excited, and Vanessa has to laugh at how much she’s getting into the swing of things. Vanessa points the camera at them both, begins recording.

“Hey guys, Vanjie here with my girl Brooke Lynn, so it is…” she forgets the time, appeals to Brooke. “10.05? 10.06?”

“Way-too-late-o’clock,” Brooke chimes in, pokes Vanessa’s face teasingly. Vanessa rolls her eyes.

“We’ll go with that. An’ we have just finished a run of our full dance, you’re gonna love it, I can’t wait to show off this girl, y’all are not ready.”

Vanessa feels her face grow ever-so-slightly flushed as Brooke turns to her and smiles. “Aww. That’s cute, thanks! Oh, can we tell them what the song is?”

Vanessa faces her and laughs. “No way! We gotta wait til Monday, that’s when they all get released.”

“Please?” Brooke actually pouts. It’s too adorable and her face is so close to Vanessa’s in her attempt to fit into frame that Vanessa could totally lean forward and give her the tiniest little kiss if she wanted.

She doesn’t want to. Why the fuck did that thought just appear in her head?

“No! They’ll find out on Monday. And the dance too! No special treatment.”

“Ugh. I’m so telling my agent, this is definitely illegal. Should’ve stayed on the damn One Show.”

Vanessa bursts out laughing at Brooke’s joke, shakes her head at the camera. “I have to work with this diva. Jeez. Well, see you guys later!”

“Yeah, see you all later! If she hasn’t murdered me by then.”

“If I haven’t murdered her by then. Bye, love ya!” Vanessa signs off and stops recording, posts the video to her story as Brooke laughs. “You’re a natural at all this social media shit. Right, go get some rest. See you Monday, girl.”

“See you Monday,” Brooke smiles. Vanessa doesn’t miss the way she sort of hovers, lingering with the smile still on her face before looking to the floor and then leaving the room. Vanessa wonders what she was thinking. It couldn’t have been that important.

Before Vanessa begins to pack up she checks Instagram to see the reaction to the stuff she’s just dropped. There’s a few replies- she always gets them on her stories from fans and she tries to reply to most of them. One in particular catches her eye- a reply to the video which is peppered with heart-eye emojis and simply reads:

OHMYGOSH!!!!! You guys are SO cute together!!!

Vanessa doesn’t realise how long she’s been smiling until she’s left the studio and walking to the tube.

They both have a day off on Sunday- they all do. It’s been a long first week and they’ve all earned it. Vanessa has an ice bath because she’s forgotten how intense it is to be rehearsing all day every day with just one other person. It reminds her of the show she did that Summer with-

Well. It doesn’t matter now.

What matters now is Brooke, and Vanessa spends most of the daytime on Sunday sitting on the small sofa that’s squashed under the ceiling beam in her tiny narrow flat, curled up under a blanket and trying to figure out how to text her. She wants to make that connection with her partner, she wants her and Brooke to be close friends and to be able to go for lunch and talk about anything together and have their own little jokes and stuff like that. Lots of the dancers have that kind of connection with their girls already- Crystal and Gigi are averaging around two silly selfies a day on social media, Vanessa can hear Monique and Monet’s laughter ricocheting off the walls and down the stairs from their rehearsal room, and there is already some are-they-aren’t-they media speculation in the form of Jan and Jackie, who were papped going to get bagels in a break between rehearsals with their pinkies interlocked and small smiles on their faces. Vanessa’s not jealous of them, whatever it is they have. She’d asked Crystal about them, because she’s closer with Jan, and Crystal had laughed it off and said they’re just friends and they’re getting on very well. Vanessa has reason to doubt her, mind you. She knows chemistry when she sees it.

Vanessa finally decides to shoot Brooke a message at around six at night. She’s making a cheat meal of mac and cheese with a bunch of chorizo through it, because she damn well deserves a carb and some dairy and some oily meat. It’s when she realises that she’s made enough for a small village that she takes her phone out, messages Brooke before she can overthink it.

V: i’ve just made way too much mac and cheese, u wanna have a rehearsal room floor picnic tomorrow? x

The moment it’s sent she regrets how outrageously fucking pathetic she sounds. That is until she gets a reply around two minutes later, one that makes her face hurt with a smile.

B: No chance you’re offloading your failed masterchef attempts onto me. How do I know it’s edible? x

Her reply is flirtatious. Vanessa tries to explain it away but she can’t, so she positions her phone in front of the huge earthenware tray she’s just taken out of the oven, the breadcrumbs giving a satisfying crackle as she sticks a serving spoon into it and takes a boomerang of the strings of cheese and billows of steam that emerge as she pulls the spoon out and a golden slice of the baked pasta with it. She sends it off to Brooke without any written reply and for a moment she forgets about any potential response as hunger overtakes her. She grabs a white bowl with a small crack down its side and piles the pasta high into it, sitting back on the couch and pulling the purple blanket over her knees as she scans the channels for something to keep her company as she eats. She settles on a rerun of some 90s gameshow and as it eventually finishes, so does her dinner. It’s only then that Vanessa remembers her phone, and as she dashes back across to the kitchen counter her heart gives a giant thump of joy as she sees four messages from Brooke.

B: Omg I take it all back, I will never doubt your cooking skills again x

B: Is that chorizo???????? I’m so hungry x

B: Are you mad at me because I said it wouldn’t be edible?? I’m sorry!!!!!! x

B: Please bring some for lunch tomorrow! I’ll get us a dessert, call it an apology x

Vanessa looks at the little “x” after each one. She’s blushing before she even knows it and it’s almost like Brooke has planted real little kisses on both her cheeks.

V: i’d say it’s a date but i’m not gonna give u the satisfaction x

A reply from Brooke doesn’t come but somehow it doesn’t bother her.

They have their picnic on the floor of the rehearsal room the next day, just as had been promised. Brooke makes ridiculous noises as she takes her first bite of the mac and cheese and Vanessa pokes fun at her for buying the cakes and not baking them (but Galaxy cake bars are delicious, so she doesn’t complain too much). They make a silly video for Instagram- “Hey guys! We’ve stopped for lunch and I brought a picnic!” “Hey, I made cakes!” “Bought cakes. Bought.” - and they’re almost too full to practise afterwards but they do, until late into the night, and the day after that and the day after that. They squeeze in their photoshoot for the title sequence and an interview for the Radio Times and the days pass in a busy blur. Vanessa’s smile grows wider with each rehearsal as they become better and better at the dance and on Thursday night they run it through with no mistakes at all, Vanessa so happy that she jumps into Brooke’ arms and squeals with delight and Brooke squeezes her tight and does the same. Before they know it it’s Friday, they’re the last It Takes Two interview of the week, and the first show is a little over twenty-four hours away.

“You nervous?” Vanessa whispers to Brooke as they watch Cheryl interviewing one of the past contestants they’ve invited on to give their insight. The sister show of Strictly isn’t watched by a huge number of people but it is watched by the hardcore fans, and Vanessa is anxious to make a good impression.

“A little. I’m used to conducting the interviews, not giving them,” Brooke frowns a bit, sweeps her blonde hair over her shoulder. She turned up to the studios in a smart blue suit and orange heels and Vanessa is amazed that she hasn’t dissolved into liquid form under Brooke’s gaze.

Brooke is so beautiful, and Vanessa wonders if she’ll ever stop thinking that to herself.

Vanessa drops a shy hand to her side and takes Brooke’s, lacing their fingers together and giving them a squeeze. They hold hands and press their bodies together and look into each other’s eyes all the time as part of the dance so it’s not weird, it’s almost routine. When Brooke smiles at her, reassured and at ease, Vanessa relaxes by at least ninety percent.

They’re soon called out while a pre-recorded VT of their rehearsal footage plays and they whisper an excited hey to Cheryl in all her fake-tanned, white-toothed glory, the very vision of an Essex girl-turned-professional. Vanessa’s been interviewed by Cheryl before, last year when she was on the bench and all she had to do were some silly challenges and goof around with the other pros. This is different.

Vanessa takes a quick breath in and holds it while she smiles maniacally at the camera and Cheryl does their introduction. “Alright, now, joining us for the last interview of the week- it’s Brooke and Vanessa!”

A cheer goes up from the production crew as they both wave to the camera, and it makes Vanessa’s smile turn more goofy than she’d intended it to be. She leans into Brooke’s side as she laughs and she notices that Brooke’s got an arm resting on the headboard on the sofa behind her.

“Now, Brooke, you’ve had a fortnight of rehearsals and had to work around your busy taping schedule- what’s that been like?” Cheryl asks, leaning forward with interest. Vanessa has always liked Cheryl, mainly because an interview with her feels like a chat with an old friend and she always genuinely seems interested in what someone has to say.

“Ugh, you know what? It’s been amazing,” Brooke smiles, and Vanessa’s heart lights up in affirmation. She turns to look at Brooke and she’s already smiling at her. “Obviously it’s been tiring at times, I think I’ve had a combined total of about 10 hours of sleep this week-”

Vanessa snorts, laughs at how dramatic Brooke’s being.

“-but I wouldn’t change it. I’ve learned so much, and V’s such a good teacher. I really struck it lucky with her.”

The production team let out an “aww”, and Vanessa tries to bite back a grin and fails. Brooke’s arm goes from the headboard to rest around her shoulders and Vanessa is scared to move in case she scares her away like a butterfly.

“Now speaking of- Vanessa,” Cheryl’s face breaks into a smile as she turns to her, and Vanessa’s stomach flutters a little with nerves. “You obviously felt you struck it lucky with Brooke too, let’s remind everyone of your reaction to getting paired with her.”

Vanessa lets out a wail of protest and buries her face in her hands as the clip of their pairing is played, and she can hear Brooke creasing with laughter beside her. Her embarrassment is rewarded with Brooke squeezing her shoulder in reassurance, and Vanessa supposes it’s sort of worth it. The clip comes to an end and, as Vanessa takes her hands away from her face, she knows she’s blushing hard.

“Now, you were…I think you were a bit happy?” Cheryl teases sarcastically. Vanessa playfully glares at her, and Brooke squeezes her shoulder again. “Are you still as overjoyed with having Brooke as a partner now you’ve started to rehearse with her?”

“Aw, I’m still as happy as I was on launch night. Honestly,” Vanessa smiles at Cheryl, turns and smiles at Brooke too because she can’t help it. “She just makes it so easy because- she doesn’t stop smiling, so rehearsals are fun, and she is just the hardest-working girl…that even a word? Hardest-working…most hardworking..I don’t know, but she’s it, you know?”

Her praise is rewarded by Brooke dropping her hand down to her waist, and Vanessa’s heart gives a judder. It’s not like she’s not used to Brooke’s hands on her, but the context is different, and it throws her off ever so slightly in the best possible way.

“I think what’s nice is- I’ve wanted to be on this show for so long and it’s V’s first year with a partner, so we’re kind of doing this whole journey together, and it’s special,” Brooke smiles, and Vanessa nods in agreement, as if the movement of her head will stop the blood rushing to her cheeks in a blush.

“It is nice! Because I suppose, Brooke, you ain’t gotta compare yourself to anyone because there’s not been any partners before you,” Cheryl adds with a shrug. Vanessa smiles at her words and nods, turns to Brooke as she speaks.

“Yeah. You’re my favourite.”

Brooke’s eyes have a twinkle in them as she smiles back at her. “Aw, thanks.”

The interaction is so quick that Cheryl’s already on to her next question before she can pick up on it. “Now, Vanessa, you chose a quickstep for week one, why was that?”

Vanessa sighs a little as she thinks about it. She doesn’t want to come across too cocky, come out with because my girl’s the best and I knew she could do it in her sleep with her eyes shut, so she instead tries to come across as humble as she can. “I think because- it’s a fast dance, and it’s good to go right in at the deep end on your first week. I can see Brooke Lynn’s potential, and I know what she’s capable of, so we just sort of went for it and she’s coped so well. She’s thrived.”

“Not survived, but thrived! I love it!,” Cheryl laughs along with her. “Now, this pairing, I have heard…through the grapevine…this is a bit of a linguistically challenged pairing, am I right?”

Vanessa blinks at her. “What’s that even mean?”

Brooke howls with laughter beside her and Cheryl does the same opposite, and Vanessa pouts. She doesn’t like to look dumb, and the wounded part of her wants to remind them both that she’s the only one out of the three of them that speaks more than one language, but she lets it drop when Brooke explains it to her softly. “Like…words and stuff.”

“Oh right! Yeah, so Brooke’s got lil words for all the steps we’re doin’.”

“It just helps me remember the timing!” Brooke laughs, her turn to feel embarrassed as she covers her face with her hands.

“Yeah, so we go, like…step, hop, beans-on-toast!” Vanessa explains. Cheryl’s looking at Brooke as if she has two heads.

“What is beans on toast?!” she exclaims. Brooke shakes her head, gives Vanessa a look of admonishment.

“It’s just a little phrase, and it goes with the timing of the steps of the dance, and it helps me remember them…I won’t do it on the night, you won’t hear me say it!” Brooke laughs. She’s got the slightest hint of a blush hitting her cheeks, and part of Vanessa feels warm with the fact that the stage lights are too bright to pick up on it and it’s like a secret only she knows.

“Well, Vanessa, there’s also a revelation I’ve heard today that I’m a little bit shocked by…” Cheryl begins, and Vanessa feels nervous, as if Cheryl’s about to rip the butterflies out of her stomach and show them to Brooke as some sort of proof of any embarrassing little feelings she’s got for her. “…you’re a Strictly pro that can’t actually say the name of one of the dance moves?”

“Oh my God,” Vanessa lets out a groan. She knows instantly what Cheryl is referring to, and Brooke’s hand is wrenched from its position on her waist as she claps her hands with mirth.

“Can you say it now?” Brooke teases, and Vanessa rolls her eyes at her.

“Girl, you know I can’t!” she whines, prepares herself to try and say the offending word. “Sash-ay?”

“No!” Brooke laughs, the twinkle in her eye almost blinding.

“Sash-ay?” Vanessa hears herself, and shakes her head. “No, wait, I already said it like that.”

“It’s not like a sachet of sauce,” Cheryl supplies unhelpfully. Vanessa raises her eyebrows at her. She tries again.

“Chassé,” she finally comes out with, and a roar of satisfaction erupts from the crew behind the cameras. She laughs as she protests her lack of pronunciation. “Leave me alone, I got two languages to try an’ speak in!”

“And you can’t say chassé in either of them,” Brooke teases, sticking her tongue out at her. Vanessa finds it hard to rip her eyes away from her partner as Cheryl speaks again.

“Well, you two, you’ve been a joy to have with us today, good luck for Saturday night-”

“Thank you!”

“- Brooke and Vanessa, everybody!”

A cheer goes up from the crew, and Vanessa can’t help but giggle at the silliness that was the end of their interview. As Cheryl introduces another section of the show, Vanessa feels Brooke slip her hand into her own, squeezing it once. Vanessa squeezes back, and Brooke meets her eyes in a calm smile. It’s Friday evening, they’re off to rehearse as soon as this is over, and then it will be Saturday and their first live show as a couple. Vanessa is the best kind of nervous, and she finds herself shutting her eyes for a second as if to check she’s not dreaming.

Another squeeze of her hand from Brooke Lynn brings her back to earth with a bump, but she doesn’t mind.

#rpdr fanfiction #bet you look good on the dancefloor #ortega #strictly au #lesbian au #branjie #vanessa vanjie mateo #brooke lynn hytes #monique heart #jaida essence hall #crystal methyd #phi phi o'hara #plastique tiara #cheryl hole #background jankie #background momo #background crygi

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justfuckingcommittoit · 3 years

Text

Well... this is complicated??

Part Two

I laid my head in Jasper’s lap as I continued half reading The Betrayal while Alice and Skylar were sprawled across the floor with their textbooks. This is how we normally started our weeks, except with less tension throughout the house. It's even gotten to the point where you wouldn't need vampire hearing to hear Emmett and Rosalie bickering about Bella. It wasn't long before Emmett brought his now solo party upstairs to us.

"So, how long do you think Edward will survive Tanya?" Emmett laughs as he enters the room and jumps onto the end of Jasper’s bed, the bounce making me lose grip of my book as it narrowly avoids hitting me in the face.

"Give me 3 to 4 business days to get back to you." Alice replied, barely looking up from her work. Jasper humored Emmett on a bet when Rosalie joined us in the room.

"If he was smart he would stay there. This isn't going to end well no matter what Alice’s visions tell us right now." She stayed in the doorway, her arms crossed.

“Come on, babe!" Emmett exclaimed, "Don't you want another human in the house? It will be like having a third puppy." He laughed.

"Yeah are we that bad?" I asked Rosalie as she glared at her husband’s statement.

“No. But the fact that Jasper can control himself around you and Edward can barely control himself around her tells me all I need to know." She stated as she coldly walked out of the room. Skylar and I looked up at Emmett with a confused look, but Alice answered for him.

“Edward almost lost control today in Biology. I have no doubt that he’d have taken out that entire classroom if you two weren’t in there with him.”

"Wow." Skylar sighed, "I love unknowingly saving my class from vampire tendencies." she mumbled. "Do you really think he's going to stay in Alaska?"

"I mean he literally doesn't have to." I interject. "Have him come back and just tell the schools he's transferring schools."

"And what school would he go to genius?" Emmett asked. "The next school near us is a 40 minute drive."

"Have him stay home? Seriously, no one will know. It's not like you're missing anything." I stated.

Skylar nodded in agreement. "Why do you guys even go to high school anyways?"

"The younger we start out the longer we can stay."

"Okay, but why not just go through college then go get a job. All of you could easily pass as older than you are and you could actually have an independent life instead of living through high school over and over." Emmett stared at Skylar, clearly never coming up with that solution on her own. Jasper tried not to laugh as Emmett got up and left the room.

It was Wednesday when Bella finally caught up to us. Until now, she would glance at us whenever we were around, whether that be in class or the school parking lot with the rest of the Cullen’s. Skylar and I had to finish up our art projects due tomorrow so we skipped out on our usual homework session at the Cullen’s. Bella pulled up next door as we were taking our backpacks' out of the backseat of my car.

"Um hey." Bella said as she jogged over, her hands shoved in her jacket pockets. "Do you guys know where Edward is by any chance? I mean, he was there my first day and then he just sort of disappeared. I guess I'm just wondering if he's alright?" she stumbled over her words a bit.

"He's in Alaska, Bella." Skylar replied, shutting her car door and walked around towards her.

"Alaska?" Bella asked, obviously confused. It's clear that she didn't ask the Cullen’s anything herself. That or they just full up avoided her this whole time.

"He's visiting a friend." Skylar replied, only confusing Bella more.

"Who died." I added. "They um, used to date."

"Such a tragedy. She was like part of the family."

"Then why is Edward the only one gone?"

"She went a bit crazy at the end there." Skylar gave me a look then hopped right into digging ourselves into an even deeper hole.

"Yeah. It was really conflicting for him. That's why he was acting so weird the day he met you, he found out the night before and was still trying to process it all. You know how it is." She finished and Bella briefly nodded, trying to put something together in her head. "So Bella, we haven't heard much about you. Where did you move from?" From there we got to learn a bit more about our new neighbor. We exchanged numbers and then quickly went inside to inform the rest of the bullshit story we just made up to get Bella to stop asking questions.

Edward finally returned to Forks later that week, just in time for Esme’s Sunday brunch with us. Esme and Carlisle really enjoyed taking up cooking ever since we started coming over to the house late Freshman year. We have since established Esme’s Sunday brunch for her to try new recipes for us. The rest of the Cullen’s were mostly in and out of the house on these days, but today Edward joined us at the table, even if he wasn't going to eat anything. He returned early in the morning, finally annoyed with Tanya’s antics or something like that. I wasn't really paying attention to that part of the conversation.

"So you're just going to talk to her like you didn't gag at her when you first saw her?" Skylar asked, trying to hold back laughter. Esme smiled at us as she put down plates of strawberry crepes in front of us. Edward playfully nudged her as Alice seemed to float through the living area to grab something.

"You better talk to her soon, I want to be her friend!" Skylar chuckled at her girlfriend's eagerness to befriend Bella. She didn't think it was fair since Skylar and I have been texting with Bella on and off throughout Edward’s absence.

Shortly after finishing our meals, Bella called. She made point to call at some point during the weekends since we somewhat tricked her into helping us with biology since Edward never did. I answered the phone and put in on speaker with Skylar since Edward left the room to go find some board games they had laying around somewhere. We barely got past hellos before Edward walked back downstairs naming off the games he had found. I quickly took Bella off speaker as she asked if that was Edward that she had heard. Edward and I seemed to freeze in our spots as we made eye contact. Skylar quickly grabbed the phone from me.

"No. That was our pastor. We're at Church. Um break is over so we have to go..sing..now?" I looked at her confused.

"Do people even sing in Church?" I asked myself out loud before turning to Carlisle who was helping Esme behind the Kitchen counter, "Carlisle do people sing in Church?!"

Ok so additional to all these weeks, Violet and I have came up officially with a great conclusion. Edward Cullen sucked at making normal, or even decent, conversations with the poor girl.

It was just so funny how he tried to so hard to seem cool, when in reality, he looked like he had a stick so far up his ass, that it could ultimately reach his dead heart.

"Skylar...SKYLAR!"

I blinked out of my thoughts, a little too late. I shuffled a laugh by covering my mouth as I watch Violet fall backwards on her butt.

She stared at me. Too long for my liking. Making me shift uncomfortably.

"Uh.. how is the weather down there?"

I asked, offering a small smile only for Violet to narrow her eyes at me.

"Want me to kick your kneecaps, so we can share this experience, sister?"

Violet mumbled, venom coated her words.

I moved back a little, blowing a kiss to her.

"Nope! I'll let you savor this one by yourself!"

This was too boring.

"Wait- are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Violet stared at me as if I had lost my brain.

"We may be twins, Skylar, but I'm not Edward. Therefore, I cannot for the love of god read your dirty sinful mind."

"HEY NOW! My mind has no such thoughts!"

Violet raised an eyebrow at me.

"oh, really? Then why does Edward stare at you in such a judgmental way every time you cross his path?"

I cross my arms against my chest.

"Cuz he's an old ancient that has, surprisingly, remained virgin and can't seem to get that stick out his ass.”

Violet rolled her eyes, making herself more comfortable on the floor.

"Your a virgin as well, moron."

"I may be, but not my eyes."

"Ew! I knew it! You watch-"

"NO! God, no! I've seen some things. Yes. But accuse Emmett and Rosalie. Seriously his butt is-"

Violet threw a small snowball to me making me groan.

"Shush!"

"You asked for it. Dirty minded peasant."

Violet rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Just tell me,"

I suddenly remembered my plan and started to grin mischievously. I secretly rolled my eyes to the main door of the Cullen’s mansion. Thankfully, that was enough for Violet to understand my goal. Our goal.

Violet let out a small "oh" before falling flatly on her back.

"Scream in pain!"

I mumbled. Hoping that they wouldn't hear me

"ah."

Violet deadpanned making me sigh.

"Do it correctly!"

"I'd but I'm not in pain!"

"Fine! I'll help you, I guess."

I innocently say, arms behind my back.

Violet’s eyes winded.

"Wait nO- AHHRHHH YOU STUPID FUCKER!"

Violet cried out. Mission? Accomplished. Hotel? Trivago.

In a matter of seconds, Rosalie, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Edward, and Carlisle came rushing out.

"What's wrong?!"

"Why is she moving like a snail?"

"A snail? It seems more like a worm-"

"SKYLAR GONZÁLEZ! EMMETT CULLEN! JASPER CULLEN!"

Violet yelled, slowly standing up.

"Back off, beast! I am one wild Mexican fella, and I know Tae Kwan Do, and I WILL USE IT"

Violet ignored my wonderful speech, gather a bunch of snow, glaring at Jasper, Emmett, and I.

Ok, this was not the plan whatsoever. But a little run won't hurt. Wait, no. I quickly rush over to Emmett, jumping onto his back.

"GO, MOSQUITO!"

Emmett gave me a look.

I gave him one as well.

"What? Prefer sparkly depressed bitch-"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Rosalie furrowed her eyebrows when she noticed red liquid on the hall. She was just glad it wasn't actual blood.

"Ayo Rosie Posie, my sista from another- oh, OH!that's a lot of, um, uh, blood? Did you do this? Cuz I sure as hell didn't-"

My eyes winded when Rosalie suddenly blurted over to me to cover my mouth. She stared down at me, but her glare didn't bother me that much. I was used to it. Quite hot as well.

"That's not blood, stupid! It's ketchup."

I could sense the disgust dripping from her tone. Understandable. Giving the fact that she couldn't eat shit.

I grinned whenever Rosalie finally let go.

"I know your obsessed with me~"

I happily say in a sing like voice.

Only for Rosalie to flip her finger at me.

"I'll kill you."

"And I'll sue you."

"How can-"

"I'll sue you."

I threatened, one of my fingers pointing at her.

"Plus, I will haunt you, and I will-"

"Will what?!"

I thought for a moment.

"I'll think about it."

I said, nodding to myself, before backing away slowly.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Violet and I were eating our lunch- well, extra lunch that Esme kindly made for us. Everything was going fine, until Emmett suddenly started to laugh like a madman. For my bad luck, I was sitting right next to him. And to my fucking luck, he made me drop my fucking grape.

Emmett continued to laugh before calming down a little to fake wipe a nonexistent tear. Fella couldn't even cry, smh.

"Are you ok, Sky? I can sense-"

I cut Jasper off while Violet laughed her ass off.

"Just preachy."

I deadpanned before noticing how worried the Cullen’s looked while Rosalie just seemed about ready to snap someone's head. Literally. And that head would belong to Edward Cullen.How charming.

"Uh y'all good?"

"If you guys have a massive diarrhea just-"

"It's not that. Eric invited Bella to a certain prohibited area. She's currently asking Edward if he wants to go with her. As we all know, Edward is being creepy."

"I can handle this,"

I say instantly, trying to fake Rosalie’s voice. Much to Rosalie’s dismay.

I stood up, picked Violet up by her hood, and dragged her along.

I was not about to do all this work just to leave my beloved twin to eat her food.

Hell to the fuck no.

"Hi, hello, this is Skylar, me, hola."

Bella looked at me weirdly while Edward seemed to see me as the most important goddess out there. As he fucking should.

"Oh, hey Violet! Hey Skylar."

Violet waved, beaming.

"I was just inviting Edward to La push this Sunday."

I nodded. No shit.

"Sorry, Bella. But Edward won't be able to go."

Bella looked confused.

"Why?"

Why ask questions? Women, tsk.

"He and I are going to do our nails,"

Edward immediately looked down at me.

"He is?"

"I am?"

I elbowed his stomach even though I knew it hurt me more, than it hurt him.

"He is."

Bella looked at us skeptically.

"But he didn't even know about it."

I waved my hand dismissively.

"Oh, he did. He's a sexist, y'know? Trying to get rid of that bad habit. He is just too shy to admit it, right?"

I glared. If he fucked this up, I'll never save him again.

"I-Yeah! It's true!"

"Oh.."

"No worries! Violet will go with you!"

"She will?"

"I will?"

I could literally feel an upcoming headache.

"You are, she is, in a matter of fact! Take her!"

I quickly push Violet towards Bella. I grabbed Edward’s hand, and dragged him back to our table. That's what she gets for making fun of my grape.

I let myself flop on a chair beside my girlfriend.

"I'm surrounded by idiots."

#twilight #bella swan #edward cullen #jasper cullen #rosalie cullen

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