#i'm just still laughing at the way Cookie kept glancing at me while attempting to chew on this thing
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#i dont have a good caption for this.#i'm just still laughing at the way Cookie kept glancing at me while attempting to chew on this thing#she had taken Stella's which is a harder chew of the same type. that Cookie definitely couldnt chew#so i gave Cookie one of the soft ones that Stella eats in like 15 minutes so she doesnt get them anymore.#but then Stella wasnt interested in her own treat anymore. and just. stared.#*new creative post tag here*
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Hi there, how are you? ☺ Hope you are doing well!
May I request something with Ahkmenrah x shy fem reader(a new exhibit for WW2 like a American spy or something) who are best friends with secret crushes on each other that never acted on their feelings yet. It's Christmas at the museum and everyone was indoors celebrating or attempting baking cookies with Larry's supervision. However, Ahkmenrah can't find the reader then looked around outside which was heavily snowing until something hits him in the back. At first he was going to rain down hell upon who threw snow at him before seeing the reader looking like a deer in head lights trying not to giggle. A snow ball fight ensues(doesn't matter who wins). After the battle could result in a fluffy confession and semi smut or warming up smut(your choice).
Pretty please and thank you so much for taking the time to read this! 💖
notes: idk whats wrong with me but i did NOT fully read this request and i am so sorry so here are the major changes: the reader is a jewish nightguard and is pretty outgoing, and the snowball fight circumstances are a little different but hopefully you still like it!! again im so sorry
WC: 3k
+
You watched in an already flushed expression, your hand sprawled out across your nose and mouth as you tried not to burst out laughing. Ahkmenrah was in a similar state, and ever one for theatrics, watched on as a menagerie of exhibits attempted to understand a microwave. There must've been at least twenty people crowded around Larry, each listening intently as he repeated himself for the third time.
"Back in my day," Ahk interrupted, holding up a dainty finger that accentuated his accent, "we used to bake things using an oven."
"Yes, well –" Larry began to say, but was promptly interrupted by the primitive hominids hooting.
You watched as the energy drained from his face, turning him into the perfect image of a southern viscacha, a transition that burst giggles from your chest. Ahk glanced to you, grinning when he noticed your reaction.
"He's right," said Sacagawea. "This would be easier with a fire. I've done it many times before."
"We are not starting a fire in the breakroom," Larry shouted, finally calming the cavemen. "McPhee would never forgive me."
"Well it's too cold to do outside," you said.
"(Y/N)," he turned to you, pointing a vindictive finger your way, "you are not helping."
"I don't think a microwave's gonna bake cookies for you, babe," you said with an easy shrug. Ahk's eyes burned your cheek as you looked forward to Larry. "An' I don't own one of those little convection ovens. Don't think you do, either."
"Food is the only damn thing that connects every culture. No one wants to – to dress up Christmas trees or light menorahs, they want to eat. It's cold and everyone's hungry!"
"Your point?" You raised a single brow. "Just go to the store and buy one of those cookie icing kits or something."
Larry let out a curt sigh, resting his hands on his hips.
"It's Christmas Eve. I don't think anywhere's open."
"It's fucking New York City, at least the Middle eastern markets are open. That's where I go, they're always open on these Christian holidays."
"Fine." He shoved his phone into his pocket. "But you're in charge while I'm gone."
He left in two quick strides, slamming the door behind him, and leaving a deathly silent room. Nearly everyone stared at the pale blue door for several seconds before moving or speaking.
"Sacagawea, you're in charge," you said, kicking your legs off the coffee table and waltzing out the door.
"Oh," she said quietly, chuckling at your mannerisms.
As you reached behind you to close the door, you caught one more glance of Ahk's yearning puppy-eyes on you.
You passed by a number of wax animals as you made your way to the front entrance, fumbling with the door key in your pocket. Most of the birds and monkeys recognized you by now, but the lions were still suspicious, so you kept several paces away from their makeshift nest near the globe. Otherwise your interactions were scant, as most of the language-speaking exhibits were gathered in more 'intelligent' social circles.
Outside, the warm lanterns of the museum vanished into the black sky, becoming little more than starlight that couldn't make it all the way through the cloud cover. Cars and people still waltzing up and down the streets filled the air, from the murmurs of lovers strolling the nearby Central park, to car wheels rolling over dirty snow.
A deep, long breath flooded your body with the crisp scent of snow. You surveyed the passing groups before jogging down the steps, and crossing the road the moment a space in the traffic allowed you to. You adored your job in the museum, but it was exhausting being around people, especially since you originally wanted the job to have quiet, uneventful nights. Part of you still desired that peace, but a greater part now craved the mystic unknown of Egyptian magic and the life in history. That being said, you weren't payed nearly as much as you were owed.
Snow had piled upon the treetops of central park, allowing golden reflections from the streetlamps lining the brick pathways. Since you didn't dare stray from the museum too far or too long, you remained within the arches, staring at the stone figures that were left in the park. You were only drawn out of your trance by the telltale sound of the doors of the museum swinging open across the empty street.
Whipping around, you found a man trailed by a golden cape––Ahkmenrah––scanning the street in front of him in search of something. A wicked idea crawled its' way into your mind, and a smirk stretched across your face before you darted further into the park, calling his name to draw him in without having ever seen you.
Through the thick tree cover, you spotted his golden crown crossing the road and wandering into the park. His pace slowed as the shadows overcame him, and he continued to look every which way, searching for whomever had said his name.
You knelt down to the frigid earth, digging your bare fingers into the layers of snow and pulling a chunk out. Biting back a chuckle, you formed the snow into a firm ball, readying to throw it with a single hand.
The second the back of Ahk's head came into sight, you launched it, watching the white snow careen forward and burst on Ahk's golden crown. He let out a yelp as bits of snow fell into his clothes, melting down his back and through his cape. This time you couldn't help yourself, and you burst out laughing, falling backwards into the snow with your hands clenching your midsection.
"(Y/N)!" He yelled, shock clear in his open mouth as he whipped around. "What in Hathor's name was that?!"
"It's called snow, babe," you laughed loudly, ignoring the couples who stared dubiously at the pair of you yelling at each other from across the park.
He tried to stammer out some sort of reply, his cheeks flushed red, a pause which allowed you to hurtle yet another ball of snow right into his face. The shocked look in his eyes was almost enough to make you feel bad, especially since he wasn't wearing an actual shirt. Fortunately, the feeling soon fled your body as another snowball was crafted, this time by him, and crash-landed onto your exposed neck.
An electrified gasp spluttered from your mouth as ice fell down your shirt. Ahkmenrah looked similarly surprised, and attempted to stutter out an apology.
"I did – I didn't mean to –"
"Oh, you're gettin' it now, pretty boy," you said in a growl, swooping up another handful of snow.
"You think I'm pretty?"
You didn't get to respond, as you cut him off with another snowball landing smack in the middle of Ahk's face. This time he didn't flinch, instead curdling his features into a dissatisfied frown.
While you laughed, he started off in a run towards you, picking up snow as he moved.
"You."
A tiny bit of snow was launched at you, and you shrieked as you tried to ru]\ away.
"Are."
Snowball.
"So."
More snow.
"Mean!"
A full snowball hit the back of your neck, allowing ice to slip back down your shirt.
"Ahhh okay I'm sorry!" You managed to yelp out as you sprinted through the dimly lit park, ignoring the path in favor of winding between the black and white oak trees.
You did your very best to throw a snowball back at him, but you were pretty sure you missed; you didn't have the wherewithal to aim or check. He let out a mangled shout as he brushed the snow off his face.
"That's not the behavior of someone who's sorry!!"
Before you knew it, he caught up with you, running his weight into yours to push the both of you into the thick, fluffy snow. The two of you left a deep imprint where your bodies fell entwined. While you tried to regain control of your limbs in a flushed haze, Ahk swung his legs over your hips. As he pinned you down by one of your shoulders, he used his other hand to shovel snow onto you, grinning as you laughed and giggled, trying to kick away from him.
"How dare you attack your Pharaoh?" He asked through a smile, now attempting to crawl his frigid fingers up your shirt. An involuntary, high-pitched giggle sprung from you.
"Ah!"
You tried to shove him away with your hands, but your arms were much too numb to be strong enough. All it did was convince Ahk to tuck your hands beneath his thighs––right beneath his ass, without as little as a thin skirt to separate you.
"Okay, okay! Take mercy on me, I'm sorry!" You laughed, shaking your head.
At long last he stopped burying you in the snow, instead placing his hands on either side of your head and leaning in.
"Say it like you mean it," he murmured through soft pants, looking as though he was referring to something else––something besides an apology. You had little to offer but that.
Despite being outside in the snow for a good while, it was only now that your breath froze.
"I'm sorry, Ahk," you said sincerely, though you continued to smile.
"Are you sorry for leaving me alone in the museum, too? With all those maniacs?"
You belted out a laugh, tilting your head back and exposing your neck.
"Aww, did I hurt you?" You asked a little too sweetly, pouting out your bottom lip as you slid your hand out from underneath him, letting your palm glide over his heated skin.
"I missed you terribly," he said, whispering the last word, and searching your eyes with a strange fervor you hadn't noticed before. It held you still for once, enraptured in a wonder.
"Maybe I wanted to lure you outside," you said slowly as a grin slinked across your blushing lips.
"And why would you do that?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.
"A little alone time," you murmured.
Above the treetops, a flurry of snowflakes had been falling, but the tangled branches protected you from most of it. When a stiff breeze blew through the twigs, though, pillows of snow fell through the trees and onto you, immediately muting your conversation.
You burst out laughing at the sight of Ahkmenrah still holding himself above you, protecting you from a mountain's worth of snow. His eyes were clenched shut, and his nose screwed up, accentuating the blush in his cheeks. For some reason, he stayed still, letting you laugh at him and brush the flakes off his cheekbones before he ever spoke or shifted.
"I hope you won't mind me shaking this off," he said flatly.
"Not at all, babe."
By the time you got back, the snow caked onto your clothes had melted, turning the wind into a miserably bitter source of the cold. The warm lights of the museum called you back in, and you jogged up the tall staircases with Ahk trailing behind you.
He caught up to you by the time you slipped in the door. Wordlessly, you locked the door once he was inside, and the two of you shivered as you made your way into the breakroom.
Quiet conversations warmed the usually impersonal room, allowing you to relax with a deep sigh into the couch. Ahk took a seat on the other side of the couch, planting his feet neatly on the floor, with his hands folded in his lap. When he didn't speak, you popped one of your eyes open to stare at him.
"I thought you didn't get cold," you said, keeping your voice low to fit the breakroom's energy.
"I'm probably the only one that can," he said in similar quietude, scanning the room as he bounced his knee at a rapid pace.
You watched him for a moment more before jumping up, making the small journey over to the heater, and dragging it back over to the couch.
"Warm ye ducks," you said as you sat back down.
"Warm.. what?"
"It's from a movie," you chuckled, waving a dismissive hand. "I'll show you later."
"Ah."
He glanced at you several times, seemingly gauging you before he awkwardly scooted closer to you and the heater. A chuckle rose in the back of your throat, but you pushed it away, instead waiting to see if he'd come any closer on his own. He didn't, though you could tell he wanted to, so you tucked your arm beneath his, pulling him over and hugging his upper arm to your chest. His posture stiffened immensely, but you still managed to rest your head on his shoulder.
"I'm gonna be sore in the morning," you mumbled, fighting a yawn.
Any touch from him kindled a fire in your heart, and heat always tended to tire you, bringing you to melt against him.
"If you're still sore by the evening, I can help massage you," he offered softly.
You could feel the breath of his words on your hair; his chin brushing over the top of your head.
"I –"
The door beside you burst open, revealing Larry with his arms full of plastic bags. Another ruined chance. You stood near immediately, on pure impulse, to help him carry the bags to the counter. Ahk soon stood with you, and by the time you reached the table just about everyone had a plastic bag in hand. You were the first to peek inside.
"You found the blank cookies to ice!" You cried, grinning brightly.
"Yeah, not for us," he was quick to say, unpacking the bags in his hold. "The stores were pretty much all clean out of any good stuff, but the Safeway has this dumpster out back –"
"Oh Larry, what the fuck?" You said as you dropped the cookie box.
You took a step back, as well, and bumped into Ahk, who raised his hands up to steady you. Somehow, they were burning hot against your skin.
"I said they're not for us! They're for these guys, they don't have digestive systems," Larry said, gesturing rather harshly in the direction of Teddy, Sacagawea, and the three hominids.
The hominids didn't seem to mind what he'd said, considering they couldn't fully understand him, but Teddy and Sacagawea looked a little offended.
"Did you get anything for people with digestive systems, then?"
He pulled a clear, plastic container out of one of the bags.
"Baklava," he said with a smile.
You covered your face with your hands, disguising the laughter wracking your shoulders as tears.
"Jesus Christ, Larry."
While you and Larry evenly split the baklava, Ahkmenrah wandered over to the table, where the cookies had been laid out with various colors of icing. Teddy was showing Sacagawea what to do, while most of the cavemen were simply dipping the pale cookies into the icing. You chuckled as you watched them, but Ahk seemed less amused. He returned to you with uncertainty.
"Do you think bad food will affect me?" He asked, staring at the table of cookies.
"Do you still have a digestive system?"
"... well yes," he said with a frown. "But most of my organs are stored inside some jars..." he touched his stomach, "I think."
You and Larry gave each other odd looks.
"Just to stay on the safe side, why don't you share some of this with me?" You offered, gently pushing the baklava on the coffee table closer to him.
"What is it?"
"Baklava," you said, wiping your mouth. "Invented by Assyrians in 800 BC."
"How do you know that?" Larry asked.
"I read about it online. Here, try it."
You stabbed a bite onto your fork and held it up for him, watching as he hesitantly leaned forward and closed his lips around it. His eyes widened and your smile turned into a grin.
"That is – good."
"Yeah," you chuckled. "Not very winter-y, though."
An hour later, you were curled back into Ahk's side, cradling a cheap mug of hot chocolate in your lap. A blanket had been spread out across both your legs, and Ahk protected himself from the steaming mug by keeping it above the blanket. While Larry tried to keep the exhibits from making a mess with the icing, you and Ahk watched on in quiet amusement, safe from the hectic yelling.
"I had my doubts about this drink, when you said its' name," he said quietly, staring down into the dark liquid.
"It's not a particularly appetizing name," you said with a chuckle, "but I don't think you had chocolate in Egypt."
"No. I remember when I learned the word at Cambridge, I spent two and a half months pronouncing it incorrectly."
You burst out laughing, hiding your face in his shoulder.
"Of course you did."
His chin nudged your forehead before resting atop your head. A moment of silence passed between you, and through it, you felt his heartbeat thrumming heat across his skin.
There was nothing you wanted to say, nothing that came to mind other than the warmth in your shaky hands and your pounding heart. Sometimes there is no need for words, even if you yearn for them––so you stayed quiet, wondering what he was thinking as he wondered and wished you would speak. Part of him imagined he already knew what you'd say, but he would never know for sure.
In the morning you would lay him to rest and the warm glow of nighttime would end. Before he could let that happen, he needed something from you; something he had difficulty voicing. Such happiness bloomed in his chest that it grew too sweet and sappy, like a crystallized honey dripping over with his affections, sealing his thoughts into a slow sludge.
"(Y/N)?" He asked, almost too quiet to be heard over the other conversations in the room.
You craned your neck to look up at him, and hummed your confirmation.
"I don't want to leave you in the morn," he said, puzzled by his own emotions.
"I'll be here tomorrow evening," you said, chuckling softly.
But will it be the same? Would the hours amount to the same love, to the same adoration for one another that thrummed between you now?
"I suppose so," he mumbled, pressing a gentle kiss to your head.
I love you.
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PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 15
first time reader - click here
TW/SUMMARY: Is bad humour a trigger? Cards against humanity. Loki in the wild. Chaotic Tony, chaotic Reader. Team bonding, a gag chapter lmao
My beta is babey 🥺 @miscmarvelwritings
If someone had bothered to ask me what kind of relationship I had with Tony, it would've made my brain glitch. In the weeks we spent fucking, sciencing and hanging out with the Avengers, it never once crossed my mind. We had fun and it was easy. Unlike both of our lives, it didn't require much mental energy for us to get what we wanted from each other. For me, it was easier to ignore my skin aching for Tony when he was already spending so much time on me. I wasn't sure if it would ever be enough, really, so taking exactly as much as he was giving was my best bet.
We built things in his workshop with Pete by our side and it wasn't awkward. The spiderling said he was happy as long as we were happy and didn't mind it too much when Tony got handsy. The man had at least some morals and stuck to kisses, ass-slaps and lewd comments which made Peter snort and fake-retch sure, yet the boy never displayed any real discomfort. It was endearing. He really became the little brother I never thought I would have.
The sex was fantastic, to say the least. We fucked on just about every flat surface on the residential floors. Steve caught us once, although I am almost hundred percent sure Tony staged it all on purpose. The good Captain didn't even blush, instead just silently closed the door behind him as I stared in his face, gripping Tony's head with my thighs.
The weather grew dreary yet both of my parents still stayed out of New York. Mother went back to Canada and dad continued his never-ending party on the West Coast, conquering California and living his best life. My house was dark and cold, and I started hanging around the tower more often than ever. If I wasn't with Tony, I was busy catching up Wanda and Bucky on pop culture, teaching Thor how to bake cakes and doing other meaningless, domestic stuff. The Avengers tower bustled with life at all hours and there always was someone...
I never felt lonely. It was such an unusual experience. Comfort and reassurance was always one room away. Be it Thor with his gratuitous amount of physical affection or his brother's incredibly witty, dark humor, I never had to stay one-on-one with my thoughts for too long.
Personally witnessing Bruce's coming out of his shell was the highlight of my life, no lie. I was so used to the quiet, mousy Banner that my brain refused to acknowledge his amazing sense of humour at first; I wasn't sure if he was joking or ... Or what? Truth to be told, Brucie-bear was as snarky as Tony,Loki and Stephen. The sorcerer had started visiting more often too, under the guise of tutoring Wanda, but all of us saw the way he lingered in the communal areas after their study time came to an end.
If loneliness was a sickness then the tower's inhabitants and frequent visitors were beginning their recovery journey.
"Have you guys heard about Cards Against Humanity?" I asked one evening once the movie credits began rolling. Wanda was squished into my side with her legs in her brother's lap; Clint laying atop both siblings like the trash bag that he was. And I meant it fondly.
On the other side of me, I had Bucky and Loki, who had begun to discuss their respective collections of sharp and pointy things once they deemed the movie lacked action. Legally Blonde and action, did they really think..? Nevermind.
"Yes, and if you're offering, the answer is yes," Clint mumbled, reaching for his second pack of Cheetos.
We gathered in a circle as I brought the shoebox that had the original deck plus a couple of expansions. This was beginning to look interesting. "So, I have the special Avengers edition right there..."
"Say no more," Clint even abandoned his snacks. "But I'mma put on the episode of Lucifer I missed. Multitasking," He winked, wrestling the remote from Pietro. We waited patiently as they finished the obligatory round of horsing before settling down for the game.
I explained the rules of the game, choosing to disregard Loki's scoffing and Wanda's doubt about the quality of the humor in the game. We played a few rounds with me explaining some of the deeper pop culture references. At a point where all of us were engrossed, laughing and poking fun at each other, more of the Avengers parked themselves on the couch.
Stephen, Tony and Bruce evidently had been sciencing, all three men having had their safety goggles perched forgotten atop their heads. Sam, Natasha and Steve - probably sparring. All three of them brought the smell of soap and laundry detergent to the room. All of the newcomers observed us with mild interest, periodically glance at the TV.
It was Wanda's turn to be the card Czar. I had to take a moment to finish my last giggling fit.
"Okay, the white card goes..." She paused dramatically. "I never truly understood blank until I encountered blank." With that, she poked the timer app on her phone. The sixty second countdown began.
I did a quick inventory check. Then I snorted. I had to quickly stuff two knuckles in my mouth, biting down, to attempt to silence the hysterical fit of laughter I was on the brink of. Loki was definitely going to stab me but the opportunity was too good to pass. No fear, we die like men.
"Ooh, she's got something," Clint teased, having noticed my shaking shoulders.
The timer beeped. Naturally, Loki went first. He wore a mildly disgusted smirk. "I never truly understood parting the red sea until I encountered third base," The trickster caved and began chuckling.
Somewhere behind me, Sam and Tony began cackling while Stephen and Steve groaned loudly in mild distaste.
"Press F to pay respects," Pietro clapped Loki on the shoulder with a sympathetic chuff. "I raise you - I never truly understood licking things to claim as your own until I encountered the clitoris," The young avenger struggled through laughter, followed by everyone else this time.
"That's a keeper, ladies," Sam's rich baritone quipped.
I laughed along, inwardly preparing for the inevitable. "Yikes," I whispered, side-eyeing Loki. "I never truly understood daddy issues..." I trailed off, hearing Bucky and Steve beginning to tease Tony. "... Until I encountered Loki, the trickster God."
The room drowned in a sea of laughter, Tony and Clint busting a gut so hard they fell over. Said trickster God was less than amused, however, glaring in my direction with the force of a pissed off bee swarm.
"Ow, that's cold, Princess, that's just cold," Clint squeezed out.
"Loki," I abandoned my stack of cards, crawling over Pietro and Bucky on all fours, settling prettily on my knees in front of Loki. Making my very best puppy eyes. "I love you, with all my cold black heart. And you're technically the patron saint of fun and shit, so that means you must approve of this very clever joke," I pouted, batting my eyelashes.
"Baby girl, I think you're laying it on too thick," Tony gasped, slumping on the couch, holding his sides. Everyone kept laughing, now at my feeble attempt at placating the upset Loki.
Who, by the way, looked a bit spooked. Subtly but surely, the raven-haired Asgardian leaned away from me.
"Don't be mad, I'm too cute to be mad at," I finally snorted, pat-pat-patting him on the shoulder. "It's okay, you can join my club. We have hot old dudes and cookies."
That broke it. First, the corner of his mouth twitched. Then, Loki looked away. I saw the storm before it crashed; with a weird noise of his own and his cheeks puffed out, Loki joined in on the shit-fest, howling full volume and doubling over. I followed suit, until all of us were writhing around on the floor. We'd stop and then someone would make another remark and it would go into another round again.
"Menace," Loki scoffed at me, smiling. "And for the record, the hottest old dude, as you put it, would be me." That said, he went back to calmly waiting for his next turn. "I'm about a thousand years old."
"Thor's older," Bruce noted thoughtfully.
Loki scoffed. "That man cannot chew with his mouth shut. If that's considered attractive, I'm leaving this forsaken planet."
That struck a thought within me. One that was brewing a long time, to be honest. "Thor is the god of himbos," I said with the same tone as "Eureka!".
"Shit, you're right," Sam exclaimed, following with another, weaker fit of laughter meanwhile Bruce had to be the one explaining the term to the poor, poor, clueless members of the Avengers.
I need to find a way to award them some kind of points for learning the gen-z lingo. "Patrick" stars maybe, since they lived under a fucking rock?
"Princess, never a boring day with you around. You don't half-ass this shit," Tony's warmth reached me as he shuffled around on the couch, sitting directly behind me. I leaned my back against his legs.
"I'm not a clown," I shot back. Tony stiffened. Dramatically flailing my hand I announced: "I am the whole god-damn circus!"
As the game progressed, we found out that Clint was That Guy - meaning, the dude every CAH group had, the one who grossly overused the "Bees?!" card and made Star Wars references whenever humanly possible. The only even slightly funny joke was about a lightsaber up the ass, in the end all of us finding out that Bucky knew a little too much about modern sex toys - "Hey, I saw one on Amazon, I'll send you the link, Birdman" - to Steve's open-mouthed horror.
What Loki lacked in references he made up in wit. The play on "During sex, I like to think about genetically engineered supersoldiers" had Bucky scrambling to switch places with Wanda whilst Loki himself was attempting to shoot bedroom eyes at Steve. It was a mess.
Bucky's own play had Steve abandon all pretense at being in any way appropriate as he struggled for air. "The Avengers new rules prohibit using Mjölnir as a dildo." Me and Tony became somewhat of a messy guffawing octopus of limbs for a moment after the super-soldier said it.
"Don't. Tell. Thor!" Strange gritted out, hiding his laughter behind a palm, uncharacteristically having lost his stuffy attitude. By god's will the man was attractive when he smiled.
As time ticked, each one of the starting players had attracted a newcomer. There weren't enough cards for everyone to play (Tony had, of course, ordered additional ones but they wouldn't arrive until the next day) so people kind of whispered and pointed at what they thought would fit.
Natasha conspired with Wanda, Sam went to his bird-bro, Bruce was forcefully dragged by Bucky to his side. Surprisingly, Steve teamed up with Loki which made Pietro stick his nose up in the air and promptly declare he needed no backup.
I already had Tony on my side. The genius wasn't of much help, however, he simply annoyed me out of my skull by randomly giggling and making immature jokes. It should've alarmed me that Stephen was eager to join me and Tony - usually he just butted heads with anyone who had any opinion whatsoever.
I was left bewildered upon discovering the wizard liked drama as much as the Kardashian clan and was quite competitive at causing the most shit.
My clown crown felt threatened.
"This one," Tony poked at a card in my hand.
"If you think that's funny, your intellect is obviously overestimated." Stephen dismissively waved a hand. "This one," It was unmistakable whom the trembling finger belonged to. It pointed at a card on the other side.
"Wizards are just hilarious," Tony seeped sarcasm.
"Try me, Beyonce," Stephen murmured darkly.
That was just background noise to me. I had all my undivided attention on the TV, my last two functioning brain cells focused on the scene unfolding right in front of me. The Lucifer episode, the devil and his insatiable thirst for honey. The timer buzzed but I was still drawn towards Tom Ellis dipping two of his fingers first in the honeypot, then in his mouth, all the while looking like a damn snack himself. Illegal. I've never simped so hard for a fictional character.
A golden glow snatched a card out of my grasp, levitating it.
"Girl, what the hell?" Wanda saw my face and attempted to revert me back to earth. "Someone turn off the TV, there's not enough water in the tower to quench her thirst."
"Hey, did you two just - don't ignore me!" Tony whined, managing to tug on my hair and attempt to reach for the card now held in Stephen's grasp, simultaneously.
"I don't blame her," Clint mused. "That right there is one very fine dude."
I shook my head, clearing any untoward thoughts. Focus. "First of all, Bird, you're a dude. That there," I pointed up at the TV. "Is a man. A Man." I emphasised, getting a jealous poke in the back from Tony. "Second of all..." I turned towards Stephen. "The quaffle, the snitch and the AUDACITY OF THIS BITCH!" The last of my sentence was pitched. The sorcerer had raised his arm, clutching the card, and I struggled to reach it.
"What... What did you just say?" Stephen was laughing, not at all phased by me climbing him like a tree to take hold of what's mine. Tony was actively helping - or, trying to. One-handed. The other hand attempted to snatch the rest of the cards from my grasp.
"And that's an F on teamwork," Bucky's sarcasm was complemented by Steve's famous Captain America Is Disappointed In You look.
"Uhh... Guys? What's going on?" Peter's timid voice leaked confusion.
"Hello, friends," Thor boomed, drowning out the boy's questioning noises.
"We're playing a game. Cards Against Humanity."
Wordlessly, Peter towed Thor along with him to find a spot amongst us. And even if Thor didn't get any of the references, he still was good fun. His laugh was infectious. The way he cheered for every winner was incredibly wholesome. Golden space puppy. The urge to immediately pet Thor and give him endless pop-tarts was strong in me.
Loki was one dramatic, vengeful bitch. "Women get turned on by the Devil himself"? I was ready to throw hands with the trickster. Everybody's laughter drowned out any cursing I might or might have not directed towards Loki who looked far too satisfied with himself. I was going to substitute the sugar for his tea with salt one day, mark my words.
I wouldn't admit it over my dead body, but the way he got back at me for the daddy issues joke was kinda funny. Okay, very funny. It was fucking hilarious. I admire a clever man.
THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub @mostly-marvel-musings @vozit @littlegasps @pilloclock @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads @hermione-grangers-wife @individualistfem @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway @softie-socks @schemefrenzy @letsby
#party favours#bun writes#tony stark x reader#tony stark x y/n#tony stark x you#bruce banner x you#bruce banner x reader#bruce banner x y/n#stephen strange x y/n#stephen strange x you#stephen strange x reader#avengers team x reader fluff
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EllieDina Week Day 2: Dawn.
Okay, I know that this is extremely late! But I only get time to write at night, so I hope you enjoy this crazy mess of a story. I had a lot of fun writing it. The rating I will say is for teens and up, just to be safe.
○•°●
Movie night at Joel's place had become a reoccurring thing once Ellie had become more adapted to the fact they actually lived in a stable home, a place with walls, food and a roof over their heads at all times.
Jackson had a surprisingly vast selection of films to choose from, and Joel was all the time always finding movies he'd loved to watch with Sarah before Outbreak Day. And he wanted to share that experience with Ellie as well, moving to Jackson had made him feel safe. Like he could finally start shedding that thick skin he'd accumulated over the years.
Ellie on the other hand, was a completely different story. Despite knowing they were safe in Jackson, her mind still kept on thinking about the what if's. She was sixteen now, and it had taken her forever to get Joel to allow her to go on patrols that weren't a large group.
But now that she had proven to him that she could handle it, she would often go on patrol with Dina and Jesse. That, would unfortunately get a bit awkward at times. Because Dina and Jesse always seemed to be dancing around each other. Ellie didn't get it, they could be having so much fun on the ride back to Jackson, laughing and cutting up. And suddenly either Dina or Jesse went silent, she didn't understand why they… They wouldn't just admit they liked each other.
< >
Ellie sat on Joel's couch, knee bouncing wildly from the nervousness she felt as she stared at the television set in front of her. Why was she feeling so fucking nervous? All she had done was invite Dina over to join them for movie night.
Joel walked out of the kitchen with his owl mug held in his hands, he shook his head with a soft, endearing chuckle. " What are you so nervous about, kiddo? I can practically see the hole you are wearing into my carpet. "
Ellie tossed her hands up in the air in frustration, flinging her head back as she exclaimed. " Ugh, I don't even fucking know, Joel! It's not like this is unusual, me… Hanging out with Dina. " She sat up quickly, a look of understanding settling on her face as it hit her. Oh- This was the first time that she'd asked Dina to hang out one on one, without Jesse.
Joel smiled knowingly as he stepped up to the couch and took a seat beside her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. " Well- I think that maybe… Just you and Dina should enjoy this film. I've seen it a buncha times anyway, and I've got to get up early first light. "
Ellie's green eyes widened at Joel's suggestion, and she shoved his shoulder with a frustrated groan. " You're the fucking worst. Thanks for nothing, Joel. " Part of her was grateful, but that was something Joel could never know.
Joel had moved the hand that was holding his coffee, not wanting to spill the scalding hot liquid on either of them. But he laughed as he got to his feet. " Hey, just thank me when I get back tomorrow evening. Good luck, kiddo. " And with that Joel headed upstairs, his cup of coffee in hand.
< >
Ellie had nearly started dozing off on the couch, when a knock sounded on the door and she jolted upright with fear in her eyes, her heart hammering in her chest. She shakes her head and feels stupid as she glances around, realizing that she's at Joel's place. And then it clicks in her mind that the person at the door was Dina.
She quickly scrambles to her feet, combing her fingers through her hair as she makes her way over to the door. As soon as she opens the door, she's greeted with the sight of Dina smiling brightly at her, the fluorescent lighting from Joel's porch light making her freckles pop. God, she was unbelievably gorgeous.
" Ellie? Hello, earth to Ellie. " Dina says as she snaps her fingers in front of Ellie's face.
Ellie shakes her head to clear it, looking at Dina in confusion for a moment. Before she realizes that she'd been talking to her, and was holding a baggie of cookies out to her. Her faces flushes an embarrassingly bright shade of red, as she takes the cookies from Dina. " Shit! I'm sorry about that. I totally fucking spaced. "
Dina arched her brow as she looked at Ellie, and then she laughed and stepped past Ellie and into the house. " I certainly hope you aren't spaced out yet, those cookies are made with a special ingredient. " She said with a wink.
Ellie smiled, a chuckle escaping her lips as she turned the baggie of cookies over in her hand. " No fucking way, you made edibles? Okay, this movie night just got ten times better. "
" Oh? So it would have been unbearable if I didn't bring cookies baked with a shit ton of weed in them? " Dina asked with an amused smirk on her face.
Ellie rolled her eyes at Dina's words and began shoving her in the direction of the living room, kicking the door shut with her foot on the way by. " You are such an idiot, shut up and let's get this movie started. "
Dina began walking herself to avoid being shoved by Ellie anymore, and she sat down on the couch, after snatching the cookies back from Ellie.
Ellie feigned being hurt by her snatching them back. " Well, I never- Is that how you give gifts, Dina? You just take them back? While I'm slaving away over here, setting up the movie for us to watch. " She says as she's crouched down near the DVD player, she takes the disc and puts it in the player.
Ellie let's out a yelp of surprise as a pillow is tossed in her direction, and she looks up to see Dina beckoning her over. " Oh, just shut up and get over here, El. "
Ellie shrugs her shoulders and gets up, walking over to the couch, she takes a seat right beside Dina. The remote to the DVD player in her hand. Okay, this was good. Things were still just like normal between them, the same type of banter they'd be tossing back and forth if Jesse was around.
" So, what are we watching? You said it was a movie that Joel has been wanting you to see. " Dina asks curiously, smiling at Ellie as she opens up the bag of baked goods.
Ellie's face scrunched up in thought for a moment, and Dina found the sight to be both endearing and dorky. " I think it's called Pulp Fiction, I have no clue what it's about. But Joel said he thought it was right up my alley. "
Dina gave a thoughtful hum in reply, having not seen the movie herself either. She passed Ellie one of the cookies, watching as she hit play when the movie menu popped up. " Well, I guess if we don't like this one as much, I've got a backup we can watch after. One of my favorites. "
Ellie gratefully took the cookie, tossing the remote on the other side of the couch. She glanced over at Dina curiously, not paying much mind to the start of the film. " Wait, what is your favorite movie? What'd you bring? "
Dina took a bite of the cookie she'd taken out for herself, once she'd chewed and swallowed it. She shook her head slowly and laughed. " You are going to think it's so stupid, but it's this movie called The Adventures of Milo and Otis. It's about a tabby and a pug, becoming unlikely friends. It actually turns out to be really damn sad. "
" Dina, I don't think that sounds stupid. I mean, yeah- It might turn out to be completely boring or some shit. But you said it's one of your favorites, so I'm going to watch it. " Ellie said matter-of-fact, before she began to eat her own cookie.
Both girls turning their attention to the movie that was playing on the screen, enjoying the edibles and just spending time together.
< >
Ellie snorted softly as Dina rested her head against her chest, Pulp Fiction long since over, the audio from the start screen was playing on loop. Ellie gently brushes her fingers through Dina's curls, a dopey smile on her face. " You are such a dork. "
Dina began laughing once more, the vibrations resonating throughout Ellie's chest. She raised her head slowly, her brown eyes zeroing in on all the little details of Ellie's face. The scar through her right brow, the dusting of freckles on her face, her bright and oftentimes curious green eyes. " Why don't we ever hang out like this? Just you and me? " Dina suddenly asks.
Ellie was about to attempt to sit up with how shocked she was, but it was impossible considering that Dina was practically laying on top of her. Ellie honestly couldn't even remember how they'd ended up in this position, but she wasn't mad about it. Her mind was too chill for that.
Ellie's eyes softened and she gently brushed her thumb over Dina's cheek. " I guess I'm just so used to hanging out with both you and Jesse, I didn't… I didn't- Ah, fuck it! I didn't have the balls to ask you to hang out without Jesse. " She said with a heavy sigh, knowing how stupid it must sound to Dina.
" Oh, Ellie- First off, I know that you don't have balls. " Dina teased as she chuckled, but she then smiled fondly. " I don't think it's stupid, if that's what you are thinking. Well- Maybe a tiny bit. But that's only because you know that I adore the hell out of hanging out with you! With or without Jesse. "
Ellie gave Dina's shoulder a light punch, but then she laughed and wrapped her arms around Dina. " You're such a dick. " She said lovingly.
Honestly, she wasn't sure how it happened, but one minute they are talking. And the next moment they are clutching to each other like a lifeline, their lips locked together with the occasional accidental knocking of teeth. Soft groans slips from their lips as they hold each other close.
< >
Ellie wakes up with a groan, reaching for the television remote to turn it off and make the noise stop. Her eyes widen when she realizes that her and Dina must have fallen asleep while watching the movie, Dina was curled up against her side, fast asleep. She grabbed the remote, cut the TV off and laid her head back down. Closing her eyes, she smiled faintly as she felt Dina nuzzle closer. Sleep soon taking her again.
Joel walks down the stairs at dawn, his backpack on, all ready for patrol. He chuckles and shakes his head as he passes the living room, Ellie and Dina both fast asleep on the couch. " I knew you'd be just fine, kiddo. " He said softly as he walked to the front door and stepped outside. Closing it softly behind him, he looks up at the beautiful shades of pink, purple and blue.
#The Last of Us Part II#elliedina week#ellie x dina#Sony Interactive Entertainment#Naughty Dog#Ellie Williams#Dina TLOU2#video game photography#video game edit#rich the idiot talks#rich the idiot writes#I apologize to anyone who saw me screw up like ten different times
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Bro’s before that kinda bro
Todoroki x reader
Part: 1/?
Summary: You have a crush on your friend but he just doesn’t get your feelings. It’s up to you to figure out how to woo him.
You loved Todoroki.
And he loved you just as much……
As a friend possibly could.
He obliviously missed all the signs you had been giving him, poor boy couldn’t even tell when you were flirting with him. Any other sane person would be able to tell what you had been doing all this time. Every attempt, shot down innocently because he truly didn’t know what you were hinting at.
You thought one of these days you were going to break and just straight up confess to him because of how unnoticed your efforts went. It took every piece of your being to not outright confess your feelings for him and make out with him on the spot.
It was especially bad when one night your cravings for some sweet snacks got the best of you making you reluctantly go to the kitchen. You were surprised to see Todoroki sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone with a cup of tea on the table. He didn’t seem to notice you coming down the stairs, making you decide to scare him a little.
You covered your mouth to hold back any giggles as you tip toed over to his unguarded position. You stood behind him for a beat of a moment before abruptly grabbing both of his shoulders. He whipped around and grabbed one of your arms before you could even pull back.
He looked up and dropped his shoulders just an inch with a small glare being shot your way. “I didn’t know I should be on my guard at night too,” he yawned.
You ran your hand through your hair as you let out an awkward laugh “Well, think about it, I’m preparing you for any sneak attacks!”
He went back to his phone rolling his eyes.
You began walking to the kitchen before you got the chance to forget those snacks. “But hey what are you doing up this late? It’s like almost 12.” you asked as you raided the pantry for a cookie or anything of the sort.
He turned his head over to where you were, “I… couldn’t sleep,” he said in a lower tone shifting uncomfortably, “What about you?”
You had known Todoroki long enough to know that two things were weird about what he said, first his tone was off and second he never stays up this late. You peeked your head over the pantry door with a cookie in your mouth, “What do you mean you couldn’t sleep? Did something happen?” You asked ignoring his question.
He averted your gaze to his lap, “No it’s nothing, don't worry about it.”
You gave him a concerned look before sighing and squeezing yourself between him and the couch’s armrest.“Scoot! Something’s obviously bothering you and I wanna help you out.” You said wiggling a bit on your side .
He shuffled over giving you a small smile that literally took your breath away. You tried your best to calm your now heightened heart beat. You cleared your throat, “Take as long as you need though. I’ll listen ok?”
He nodded looking back down at his hands in his lap, “I had an odd dream. Something that freaked me out.” You cocked your head silently asking him to continue.
He glanced at you before looking away again, “It was about Endeavor. More like a memory I guess… He was arguing with my mom and she said that I,” he took in a breath, “that I was going to be just like him. That I am like him and how she didn’t want to look at me because of how I just keep growing more and more similar to him.”
You sat there shocked at what he said, before you could comfort him and give your apologies he continued.
“And then I looked in the mirror and I looked exactly like him, or I was him. The reflection in the mirror mocked me saying I couldn’t escape him and I’d be wanting to be better but would end up hurting others and destroying everyone else’s relationships with myself just like he did. That I’d end up being hated, never achieving my dreams that I’d die alone and he would always be there to haunt me. I woke up after that and I just…”
You nodded understandingly feeling extremely shocked at how his PTSD from childhood had manifested into such a scary nightmare as a teenager. You felt incredibly heartbroken at what kind of dream he had. His father damaged him so badly as a kid Todoroki was still dealing with the trauma.
He looked so broken in front of you. You wanted to reassure him that he had just had a bad dream. That he resembled nothing of his father.
But the words just didn’t form and you sat there not knowing what to say. It was completely silent. You both dwelled in the freshly expressed emotions quietly. Neither of you moved, you both continued to look at the ground. You glanced up at Todoroki, opened your mouth to speak, and decided not to. Instead you hesitantly put our hand on top of his. He jerked his hand a little and moved his head to look at you.
“Todoroki, thank you for telling me what happened,” you looked up at him, rubbing small circles on his hand. “I know it was hard for you to do that. You’re nothing like your father though I… I never saw him in you. You’ve proven to be so much better than him. If no one else is proud of you for that then I am. I’m proud of how much you are yourself and you strive to be better.” You gave a heartfelt smile at his shocked expression.
He looked away and you swore that if you squinted he had a slight slight slight slight blush and a HINT!!!! Of a smile. You died on spot he was just so lovely.
“Thank you.” He mumbled giving your hand a tight squeeze. Wow did he know what he was doing to you? You internally wheezed and felt your heart beat so loud you couldn’t tell if Todoroki was talking still.
‘I wish we were more than friends. Why are you doing this to me.’ You thought to yourself. Well at least you thought you thought that thought to yourself. He looked up at you confused.
“What do you mean (y/l/n)?” He asked with furrowed brows.
Your eyes widened and your mouth dropped to the floor. No way did you just say that out loud. The absolute love of your life, your amor, your crush, just heard you confess that you basically like him. You felt your face heat up and you retracted your hand from his as you suddenly felt abnormally sweaty.
You silently freaked out too shocked to even move. “Uhm I-I didn’t mean to say that out loud I’m so sorry I don’t know what I’m talking about!” You rambled.
He cocked his head to the side. “Did you want to be best friends? I don’t know why you’d be sorry about that. We can be best friends if you want that.”
You sat there even more shocked. He. was. so. dense. You sighed rubbing your temple. You didn’t know whether you should feel disappointed or saved. You shook your head taking it in as a good thing he was so dense.
“Uhm yeah. I’d like that a lot actually,” You smiled.
He nodded his head returning the smile. “Good. I’d like that too.”
“Well I’m glad we got that out the way!” You got up brushing yourself of any crumbs. “Uhm talk to me if anything else starts to bother you again alright?” He nodded back. You stood there staring at him.
“Did you need me to walk you back?”
“Oh No! No it’s fine really! I can go back myself! Uhm alright good night see you in class!”
“Goodnight to you too.”
You hurried back to the girls dorms and into your room before you could blurt out any more confessions. You laid in bed completely shocked about everything. He was so oblivious to your feelings. But you didn’t want to ruin your friendship. I mean yeah being best friends is great. For people who want to STAY FRIENDS. Not for people like you who have been crawling out the friend zone hole forever.
You tossed and turned in bed. Sighing you decided to text your bakusquad chat about what had just happened.
Your hand wavered over the call button for him. You didn’t want to bother him, but at the same time what Mina said is true. If he truly didn’t want to answer he wouldn’t. So no harm in trying right?
You gathered all the courage you possibly could and pressed on his contact. You waited as you heard the facetime ringtone go on over and over. Until it stopped and his face popped up on the screen. You audibly gasped in surprise to see that he even picked up the phone.
“Hey. I didn’t know you’d answer.” You said, still thoroughly surprised.
He smiled that smile that makes your heart topple over itself. “No I wouldn’t ignore your calls. What’s wrong?”
You we’re so mesmerized by the angle of his face that the camera showed off. He held it in his hand at a bit of a low angle really detailing his jaw line. He was probably sitting at a desk or something because he kept putting his phone down into his lap to do something.
“No no nothings wrong, I'm good!”
“Then why’d you call?”
“Oh right! I needed help with the test tomorrow. Did you know what would be on it?”
He finally shifted the phone onto his desk so that it was sitting up on something. You could fully see his face and torso. His room was dimly lit and he had a book and papers on his desk. So he was studying too.
“Yes I’m working on it now, did you want me to send you the answers?” He asked while flipping through what seemed like a math book.
You nodded, “Please! I didn’t know we had a test until 2 minutes ago! I’m looking at the study guide now but I cannot think of the answers.” You knew you’d be pulling an all nighter, so him sending you answers would help a ton. You decided that you’d have to pay him back somehow tomorrow.
After he sent the answers you two occasionally talked here and there but often sat in silence. It felt nice not needing to talk to him to fill the silence. Another thing that made you fall for him even more, you felt way more comfortable being around him than a normal friend would feel. You tiredly moved your eyes towards the clock to see the number 3:25 AM across the alarm.
“Oh god it’s 3 already. Are you pulling a-“ you yawned. “An all nighter too Todo?” You asked, stretching your arms out.
.
..
…
……………...
No response
You quirked your brow and switched your screen from the photos he sent to the facetime call. You internally squealed at the sight in front of you. He was passed out on his desk, his face laid sideways with his arm under it as a headrest. You couldn’t really see his face but you thought he still looked cute.
“Goodnight,” You whispered as you ended the call. You then rolled up your sleeves taking a shot from an energy drink Mina had given to you in case of ‘Dire emergencies’. You decided to seriously get to work and finish your studying for at least a passing grade.
….........................
You passed out 15 minutes later.
Master list — Next
#bnha#plz tell me if there r any typos plz😭#bnha todoroki#my hero academia#todoroki x reader#shoto x you#text series#bnha text post#bnha fanfiction#ok im done#goodnight yall 😏😏😏😭😭#oh tell me if yall like it so far plz 🥺#plz like and comment too! id love to see yalls reactions and stuff lol
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Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Bonus Chapter 5
Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC
Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.
Word Count: 13,151
FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER
Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!
"Come on, Lea, unlock the door," I coaxed gently as I tugged on the car handle a couple times, even though I knew the action would be in vain. "Don't you think it's possible that you're being just a smidge childish?"
"What else is new?" Saïx deadpanned from where he leaned with one hip propped against the hood of his car and boredly scrolled through his phone, not even bothering to look up.
Lea's only response was to glower, razz his tongue and flip his brother the bird before huffily crossing his arms and slouching even further down into the driver's seat.
A testament to what a pillar of maturity he was being at the moment.
Sighing, I bent forward slightly so I could better see him through the window glass. "Need I remind you that you agreed to this?"
"I was tricked!" he harrumphed back, his voice muffled from the other side of the closed door.
My head tipped to one side. "Alright… how exactly were you tricked?"
His head turned to meet my gaze as he drooped his eyelids. "You had a cookie."
I blinked. "...and?"
"And I wanted the cookie."
"...so…?" I prompted again as my brow furrowed.
"So now the cookie's gone, I've changed my mind and wanna go home! Now get on board or get stranded cuz either way, I'm leaving." He jammed the key into the ignition, twisted hard and… nothing. Lea's eyes widened briefly before narrowing as he turned it again. And yet again.
"Did you forget my car requires the key and the code to start the engine, oh brainless one?" Saïx said flatly, eyes still trained on his phone screen.
That's right. Saïx's vehicle had a friggin' keypad built into the center console that required a seven-digit code. And it was a BMW no less. One did really have to wonder what his mystery job was that allowed him to afford such luxuries.
Lea growled, banging his palms against the steering wheel. "God fucking damnit, Saïx! This is exactly why ya shoulda told me the stupid password ages ago!"
He cocked an eyebrow at that. "So you could lock me out of my own automobile and drive away with it? As compelling an argument as that may be, I'm not exactly swayed."
"As compelling an argument as that may be, I'm not exactly swayed," Lea parroted back in a mockingly nasal tone before mashing his hand down hard on the car horn, blasting it and startling Saïx into jumping away from the vehicle and nearly dropping his phone. He shot Lea a dirty look, who simply replied by flashing him a half sneer, half smirk - a "smeerk," if you will.
"Well," I hastily interjected, trying to keep the peace as I once more peered inside Lea's impromptu little sanctuary on four wheels, "since I think we can all agree that it looks like you're stuck here for the time being, perhaps now you'll want to come out? Maybe even go inside the house with us?"
"Mm-mm. Nope. Not going anywhere near that dump," he hitched his chin with a derisive sniff. "My happy ass is gonna stay put right here, thank you very much."
My lips pursed to one side. "...okay… for how long?"
"Forever."
I fixed him with a dull stare. "Forever? Really?"
"Forever," he repeated, his voice firm. But then with a thoughtful frown, he amended, "...or until ya tell me you won't make me go inside. Whichever comes first."
I exchanged a brief look with Saïx. Then we both nodded as we came to an unspoken agreement together. My gaze settled on Lea once more, "Alright. I won't make you go inside."
He squinted at me, eyes suspicious as they darted over to his brother, then back. "You swear?"
"Cross my heart," I used a finger to draw an X over my chest.
Still, he looked unconvinced. A pause, then he rolled down the window a crack, just enough to poke his little finger out as he insisted, "Pinkie promise?"
My lips flapped as I blew out an incredulous little huff, but I hooked my pinkie with his. "I promise I won't make you go inside."
"Well, alright then!" his face immediately brightened and he unlocked the door. I took a step back as it swung open wide and he stepped out, reaching his hands skyward for a whole-body stretch with a satisfied sigh. "Whew! Feels good to be outta that car after all that time on the road, huh? My ass was starting to go numb from all that sitting and- shit motherfuck!"
The last part came out in a hiss when Saïx rushed him and Lea dodged just in the nick of time. "Betrayal! J'accuse!" Lea snapped as he dove for the still open car door, but stumbled just short of it thanks to Saïx catching his ankle in both hands. Not one to go out without a fight, Lea desperately latched one hand to the steering wheel and the other to the door frame, trying with all his might to pull himself back inside the vehicle while Saïx threw his entire body weight into dragging him out of it. Muscles straining, Lea snarled through grit teeth, "You promised!"
"She did. I made no such promise," Saïx replied matter-of-factly. He didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat.
"Don't think you'll get off on a goddamn technicality!" Lea grunted, gaining another inch into the car interior. He attempted a futile kick towards Saïx's face, "Leggo!"
Gnawing on my thumbnail, I now just watched as these two grown ass men basically played tug-of-war… with Lea's leg. And… shoot, it looked like Lea was winning. I had to do something, but what?
He suddenly shot me a tiny glare over his shoulder, "I expect this kinda bullshit from him, but not from y-"
I lunged towards him, grabbed his face with both hands, and pressed my lips firmly to his.
He lost his grip and came flying out of the car, crashing into Saïx who staggered but managed to stay upright. "That's cheating!" Lea huffed indignantly as he tried to scramble back inside the car again, but Saïx got him in a headlock first. He fought to pry himself free and when that proved unsuccessful, his hand suddenly produced the car keys once more, almost seemingly out of thin air. Threateningly tapping the tip of one key to the car's paint job, he spat, "Unhand me, villain, or the Beemer gets it!"
Saïx made a grab for the keys which gave Lea the opening he needed to elbow him in the gut and break free. But Saïx was quick to recover and snagged Lea again before he could get back inside the safety of the BMW. A struggle ensued, one that resulted in Saïx getting Lea in a grapple hold from behind by hooking his arms up under his armpits, back over his shoulders and interlocking his fingers together at the nape of Lea's neck.
Huffing and puffing and subdued for the moment, Lea grumbled a long string of curses under his breath as his brother hauled him around the car and across the front lawn towards the house - a rather nice suburban home, I might add, despite Lea's earlier comment about it being a dump. There was even a rather expensive looking car in the driveway, some sort of convertible that was sleek and black with a plate that read Insomnia RHS-113.
I took a quick glance inside Saïx's car to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything and noticed Saïx's had left behind the bag he'd brought with him. Grabbing it, I closed the driver's door and as I hurried to catch up, I could hear Saïx lecturing, "I did not ruin my sleep schedule and drive for half a day to get us all here just for you to chicken out at the last second and hole up in the car. You're going inside. Deal with it."
Lea turned his head to one side with a tiny scoff, but had no other retort. As we stepped onto the porch, his eyes landed on me. "You! Can't believe ya used your feminine wiles on me for evil. Of all the cheap, dirty, underhanded - dude," that last one had been directed at Saïx, who still had him grappled, "ya mind? You won already, jackass! I'm not going anywhere, jeez!"
Saïx hesitated for a few seconds, his face pinching before finally letting him go. "Thank you," Lea ground out in a tone that was the very antithesis of gratitude as he rolled his shoulders and popped his neck. Then he focused on me once more as Saïx retrieved his bag from me, "Now, where was I...? That's right! Of all the low, crooked, sneaky-"
"I'm sorry," I grimaced as I fidgeted with my braid. "...are you mad at me?"
"You kiddin'? Hell no, I'm proud of ya! Slowly but surely, I'm corrupting you to the ways of the dark side, El! 'Sides, who could get pissed at this adorable widdle face," he cooed, pinching my cheeks and smooching my forehead.
Then he tried to bolt.
It seemed he was hoping the element of surprise would be on his side.
"Gack!"
Unfortunately for him, it was not.
For that'd been the sound of him choking as Saïx snatched him by the scruff of the shirt , causing its collar to dig into his throat. He stumbled to an immediate stop and Saïx let go, folding his arms together and fixing him with an unamused look. Lea just rubbed at the fresh sore spot around his neck and laughed sheepishly. "Uh… wouldja believe I just forgot something in the car?"
Saïx drooped his eyelids. "No."
"Heh. Was worth a shot."
"It really wasn't," Saïx harrumphed as his hands smoothed his hair and swiped the wrinkles out of his clothes from their little kerfuffle. Then, without further ado or preamble, he pressed the doorbell.
A hush fell over us as we all waited. Lea glanced back over his shoulder, furtively side-eyeing the car. Saïx smacked the back of his head with a sharp thwack! "Ow! What the fuck was that for?" Lea snarled, socking him in the arm.
He didn't even flinch, just kept staring hard at the door as he muttered, "Don't even think about it."
"Wha- me? Think? Psh, I would never!"
"Finally… something we can both agree on."
Lea curled his lip with a soft tch, but otherwise fell quiet again… unnaturally quiet. At least for Lea anyway. He looked agitated now, with his eyes downcast and his lips set into a grim line, his posture very rigid and his whole body very still. I frowned and slipped my hand inside his, gently squeezing as I laced our fingers together. He looked over at me, eyes softening and smiling weakly as his grip tightened around mine and stayed that way.
That's when the front door opened.
Lea looked at the new face that greeted us now. "Hey…" he began, then paused, seeming to struggle with the next word. He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply before exhaling, then finally forced out a soft, "...Mom."
You read that right.
Mom.
Lea had finally done it. At long last, he'd caved and agreed to see her. And trust me, he really had consented to this reunion, despite what his little tantrum a minute ago might look like to the contrary. Was it weird that I was here too for this? I thought maybe it was, at least a little bit. I mean, somehow I just felt like the first time I met his mother shouldn't also be the first time he was seeing her again in twenty years. Maybe that was just me though. In any case, Lea had kept saying how much he'd wanted me with him for moral support. Somewhat more surprisingly, Saïx had been pretty insistent about me joining them as well. Perhaps he thought my presence might keep Lea more docile and civil towards their mother.
If so, I got the feeling Saïx was about to be in for a rude awakening.
The woman who stood in the doorway before us now was pretty, her silver hair pulled back into a ponytail with long bangs that framed her face and the same vibrant green eyes as Lea and Saïx. She would've had to have been young when she had given birth to these two. Oh gosh, I might even go so far as to guess that she'd still been a teenager when she had Saïx.
Her eyes widened at the sight of Lea and she blinked a couple times. But then a slow half-grin tugged at her lips as she crossed her arms and lazily leaned one shoulder against the door frame. "Well, look who finally decided to give me the time of day."
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, averting his gaze with a tiny scowl as he rubbed his shoulder with his free hand, "let's not make a huge fuss outta it."
"Course not, wouldn't dream of it. I-" she cut herself off, looking past him towards the afternoon horizon, bringing up a hand to shade her eyes with. "...wouldja look at that? Why, I do believe that's a pig flying."
"That's it, I'm leaving."
With a snort, she snagged him by the elbow before he could get very far. "Now now, no need for the ruffled feathers, I was just jerking your chain. Now stop camping out on my porch and c'mon, get in here!" It seemed it was not a request for with that, she yanked him inside, forcing me to stumble and follow since our hands were still linked.
"When you mentioned you might be bringing friends with you, Saïx, you never said anything about one of 'em being Axel," the woman good-naturedly accused him as he stepped in behind us, clicking the door shut before accepting a hug from her. From this angle, I could see her ponytail was composed of several smaller, segmented ponytails.
My boyfriend narrowed his eyes at her, "Not Axel. It's Lea now."
Releasing Saïx, she cocked her head at Lea and then hummed a laugh. "Right. Saïx told me something about that. Gotta be one of the cool kids and go by your middle name, huh, Lea?" her fingers bounced in air quotes around the name.
"It's not about being cool, it's- ugh, nevermind," Lea grumbled before shooting his brother a little death glare and muttering, "She didn't even know I was coming?"
"Didn't want to get her hopes up," he replied in his usual cool monotone.
Whatever comeback he might've had to that was swallowed in a grunt as he next suffered (quite visibly, in fact) a hug from her. He did not return the embrace. She didn't seem to mind or even notice. "C'mere, let me have look at you," his mother suddenly demanded as she pulled back and Lea's face scrunched up in displeasure as she grabbed it, tugging him down for closer inspection. After a few seconds of scrutiny, she smirked and declared, "Pretty Boy, mm! Both you and Saïx. You have me to thank for those good genes. And you're both so tall too! Dunno where that comes from, cuz you certainly didn't get it from me. You boys must be eating your Wheaties."
Now that she mentioned it, she was pretty short. About my height, in fact, maybe an inch or two taller. It was hard to be sure exactly in those heels she was wearing. But that did raise an interesting point now…
...how did such big men come from such a tiny woman?
The logistics of it had my mind boggling!
"And who's this cute lil thing?" she was now turning her gaze on me. Then to where my hand was still intertwined with Lea's and her eyes crinkled slyly. "Oh-ho, I see. This is the girlfriend."
I smiled shyly back before shooting Lea a quick, awkward glance. He stepped in to introduce me, "Mom, this is Elsa."
Still feeling rather out of place here, I sucked in a tiny, anxious breath before getting out, "It's so nice to meet you, Mrs-"
"God no, please, none of that 'Mrs' crap," she said dryly before grinning once more. "First name's fine, shortcake. Just call me Aranea. Alright, you're up."
...up? Up for what exac-
I squeaked as I too was suddenly assaulted with a hug. Just as abruptly, she was leaning back just enough to squint her eyes at me and tilt her head.
Ah. I see. My turn to be assessed and appraised like a piece of meat.
Well, I certainly hoped I passed inspection!
After a few tense seconds, one corner of her lips quirked up. "You two are gonna make absolutely gorgeous babies. So when are you gonna get on popping out my grandkids? Wait, don't tell me… there's already a bun in the oven."
"Mom!" Lea snapped, my face erupting into flames as he lunged to get between me and her.
There was most certainly not a bun in the oven! There wasn't so much as… as… as dough! The oven wasn't even, uh... preheating! No, trust me, my "oven" was one hundred and ten percent bunless, thank you very much!
Aranea snorted, "Calm down, was only having a lil fun. Just trying to make up for all those years of motherly teasing I missed out on."
A soft hmph from his throat. "Yeah? Well, who's fault was that?"
Her eyes widened slightly and a heavy silence descended over the cozy foyer we were all currently gathered in. Saïx directed a muted scowl at his brother. It went ignored, Lea idly inspecting his nails now and not looking the least bit sorry.
This visit? Off to a great start. Simply superb.
"Aranea?" a clipped, British accent suddenly came echoing from somewhere else in the house, thankfully shattering the long, uncomfortable lull. "Who was that at the-?" the owner of the voice emerged through one of the archways and the words died on his tongue as his eyes alighted on all of us. He had short, dirty blonde hair that was spiked up and intelligent, green eyes that were sharp behind his sleek, black-rimmed glasses. "Oh. I see you've begun the pleasantries without me. Saïx, my boy," he smiled, extending his hand, "a pleasure as always. Might I inquire as to who your comrades are?"
"The prodigal son returns home at last," Aranea wryly chimed in before Saïx could. "Iggy, it's about time you've met my second eldest knucklehead of a kid Axel and his-"
"Lea, Mom. Lea. Get it memorized!"
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lea," the man cordially stretched a hand out to him now.
He didn't take it. "It's something, alright…" he arched an unimpressed eyebrow, "...Iggy, was it?"
He gave a curt if a bit sheepish chuckle at that. "Ignis, if you would. And who is this lovely companion of yours?"
A beat.
Then I gasped, "Oh!"
It's me.
I'm the lovely companion.
Self-consciously clearing my throat, I supplied, "E-Elsa." I did take his hand when offered, blurting out, "And I'll have you know I'm completely and totally bunless."
...thank you, mouth, for that entirely unnecessary addition to the conversation.
His brow furrowed as he took his hand back. "Well... allow me to see what I can do about that."
Uh…
...was he propositioning me?
"Perhaps I can whip up a few rolls to go with dinner," he suggested, tapping his knuckles to his chin.
Oh.
He meant bun buns. Not-
Ahem. Nevermind.
"So," Lea spoke up once more, folding his arms beneath his chest as he fixed the man with a hard stare. "You're the orthodontist."
"Optometrist, actually," Ignis corrected. "By the by, when was your last eye exam? If you'd like, I could squeeze you in for a quick checkup sometime, free of charge."
A small, contemptuous huff escaped his nostrils as his eyelids drooped. "Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"
Ignis gave a bemused frown at that, but was saved from having to respond as Aranea inserted herself back into the conversation with, "Iggy, is that…?" She trailed off and the second Ignis glanced away from us to look at her instead, Saïx discreetly elbowed Lea, forcing a tiny oof out of him. Aranea grinned as she took in what Ignis was wearing, "It is. You old softie, you put on the apron I got you."
"I cut quite the dashing figure in it if I do say so myself," he gave a pleased little sniff as he stood a bit straighter and absently fiddled with the neck strap of said apron which had the words Gordon Ramsay is my bitch proudly emblazoned across its breast. That, plus the fact that I was just now noticing that he was carrying a meat mallet in one hand, suggested he'd most likely just come from the kitchen.
"Mm, I'll say," she nodded as she continued to eye him up and down appreciatively. But then her gaze landed on the meat mallet - more specifically, on the little gooey red flecks clinging to it. "Hey, did you start tenderizing the steaks without me? Told you I'd help with that."
"I'm loath to make a lady bloody her own hands," he murmured with a tiny smile, wrapping his fingers around hers and bringing them up to his lips.
Lea made a low noise deep in his throat that was half scoff, half gag. That earned him a firm shoulder check from Saïx while he walked past Lea to step closer to his mother and Ignis. As Saïx engaged the two of them in some polite small talk, Lea's expression twisted sourly and he started muttering something under his breath too quiet for me to make out. Seeing as how the others were preoccupied with their own conversation at the moment, I took the opportunity to once more take his hand in mine and ask gently, "Something you want to get off your chest?"
"Hm?" he distractedly hummed, still with a slight glower as his gaze remained fastened to the other three for a few seconds more. But then he snapped out of it and huffed out a sigh, fingers agitatedly ruffling at his hair. "Aw, nothing. I just don't trust it."
I tipped my head to the right. "Don't trust what?"
"Him," he hissed through his teeth, gesturing with his chin towards Ignis. "The whole fucking posh, namby-pamby Brit orthodontist act. Nice try, pal. Not buying it."
I shook my head with a snort, "He's an optometrist, Lea."
"Exactly! The jerk can't even get his story straight," he harrumphed. "Betcha he doesn't even know the first thing about corrective lenses."
"The man wears glasses," I deadpanned.
"All part o' the cover. Mark my word, that slimy sneak can't be trusted." As if sensing Lea's gaze on him once more, Ignis glanced up with a courteous smile and nod in our direction. "Yeah, keep smirking, you smug bespectacled bastard. I'm onto you," Lea mumbled low enough that only I could hear him, but pointed two fingers at his eyes before redirecting those digits at Ignis, who just blinked before returning his focus to Saïx and whatever it was he was talking about.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, groaning, "You're ridiculous."
Lea looked at me now, banishing the dark look and grinning softly. "Heh… maybe…" Giving my hand a quick squeeze, he then pulled me towards him and brought my arms up to hug his neck before slipping his own arms around my waist. Nuzzling his nose lightly to mine, he conspiratorially whispered, "Let's bail."
My head rocked back at that. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. This is a bust, El, so let's blow this popsicle stand. Slip out the door while their backs are still turned. Lookit what I still got," he removed one hand from my hip, shoving it down into his pocket before producing the car keys with a little jangle.
Only mildly surprised that his brother hadn't managed to recover those in their scuffle out front, I rolled my eyes, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"What, ya mean Saïx? Eh, ditch him. Loser can hitchhike his dumb ass home."
I gave him a dull stare. "Still forgetting something else."
His lips pursed to one side as one eye squinted. Then it clicked. "Shit, you're right. Still don't have Saïx's code to start the car engine. Damn, guess that leaves us high and dry. Unless of course, you happen to know the code," he chuckled with a shake of his head.
Biting down on my lower lip, I averted my gaze.
"Wait… do you?" his eyes narrowed suspiciously at me. I wrinkled my nose and still kept my mouth shut. "You do! Crap, why didn't ya say so earlier?"
I gave a noncommittal shrug, still avoiding eye contact. "You never asked."
"Oh, for the love of… why would he trust you with the code and not me, his own brother of all people?"
Now I met his gaze once more, raising one eyebrow. "...maybe because he knows I'd never use it to steal his car while we're hundreds of miles away from home?"
He gave me a flat look. "...okay, just because it's true, doesn't make that any less of a low blow."
"Moonglow pear, you say?" Ignis's voice suddenly picked up, drawing our attention back over to him. It seemed Saïx had just gifted him with that small bag he'd been carrying, which one could reasonably assume was filled with the aforementioned fruit. Ignis had pulled one out and was turning it over in his hand for a closer look. "Yes, I've heard of these and have been meaning to try them." He studied it for a few seconds more, then his eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers, "That's it! I've come up with a new recipe!" With that, he bustled back out through the hallway he'd come in through.
Smiling fondly after him, Aranea then glanced towards the rest of us once more and gestured towards a different corridor. "Why don't we continue this somewhere more comfortable like the living room, hm?" She turned to lead the way and Saïx did not hesitate to follow. I cocked my head at Lea in silent question and his face scrunched up in distaste, but then with a grumbling sigh, he released my waist, took my hand and we trailed after them as well.
The living room was big and filled with a homey, tidy clutter. The far wall had a giant sliding glass door that led out onto a wooden deck that overlooked a reasonably well-kept backyard. A massive entertainment unit took up another wall, housing a big screen TV amongst the ordered chaos that filled the rest of its shelves. Across from it were a few armchairs and one long, very comfy looking couch. Said couch was currently occupied.
The two boys looked to be teenagers - highschoolers, by my guess. Neither of them glanced up as we entered the room, just continued to concentrate on their phones as their thumbs tapped and swiped at their screens. The blonde one with freckles was sitting upside down with his knees hooked over the sofa's backrest and seemed extra focused, licking one corner of his lips while his brow furrowed. The other guy with the black tousled hair, black shirt, black jacket, black everything had taken up the rest of the couch by sprawling across it, propping his feet up on the armrest. He was a lot more apathetic as he stared at his own phone screen, even though his thumbs continued to be a blur of activity. Maybe he was just in "the zone."
"Look alive and make room on the sofa, boys. We got company," Aranea told them, coming to a stop next to the coffee table and planting one fist on her hip as she eyed them both.
They neither budged nor took their eyes off their smartphones. The blonde one did however chime in with, "Bah, it's just Saïx. Saïx's not company."
Her eyes narrowed with a flat, "Wanna run that by me again, Prom?"
"Lemme finish! He's not company cuz he's family. Yes!" he whooped the last part with a tiny fist pump as something good had apparently just happened in his phone game. Already, his thumbs were back on the move across his screen as he tacked on, "And family means never having to give up primo sofa real estate."
"Aw, what a sweet, half-hearted attempt at sentiment," Aranea cooed with a bat of her lashes before scoffing. "Nice try, bucko, now scoot."
With a grunt, he flipped over to sit on the couch properly and shifted closer to his armrest to make room, all while still staying fixated on his game - rather the impressive feat, I might add. The other boy however remained exactly where he was. "That goes for you too, Noct," she patted a hand to his shoes.
"In a minute," he mumbled, eyes narrowing slightly on his smartphone now as his thumbs started tapping more furiously.
"Not in a minute, now," she insisted sternly. Still he didn't move so much as an inch, not even bothering to reply this time. Aranea rolled her eyes, "Look, I know you fancy yourself a prince round here and like to lounge about like that couch is your throne and this house is your castle with everything the light touches in it your kingdom. But if you're the prince, that makes me the queen, so what I say goes. That means move your princely ass!" With that, she unceremoniously shoved his feet off the armrest.
"Hey!" he scrambled not to fall off the couch altogether, catching himself and sitting up next to Prom. Gritting his teeth as he looked at his phone again, he then puffed out a sigh of relief, "Whew, still got the Devil of the Cygillan on the line." And just like that, he was sucked back into it.
"Ah, the mortal struggle between man and virtual fish," Prom sniggered, gaze still trained on his own phone.
Aranea scrunched up her nose, "You two playing that silly game again? What's it called… King's Kite?"
"King's Knight," Prom corrected, tongue once again poking out of the corner of his mouth as his thumb mashed at the screen now. "And we were, but then Noct decided to be lame and play his dumb fishing game instead."
"Ugh, lazing about like a couple of couch potatoes all day, doing nothing but staring at your phones for hours on end…" she grumbled, folding her arms together and shaking her head. "This is why neither of you boys have gotten laid yet."
I'll say this for Aranea... she seemed to have a rather, hrm… unique approach to parenting.
Prom frowned, "'Scuse you, I've just been scoping out my prospects, thank you very much."
"More like stalking," Noct snorted, squeezing one eye shut as he rapidly drew circles on his screen with a fingertip.
"Hey now, what Cindy and I have is beautiful and I won't have you cheapening it by making it sound crude and perverted," he shot back with a small hmph.
Aranea quirked an eyebrow. "...and Cindy would be?"
"My Goddess of the Gears," Prom sighed dreamily. Eyes still glued to his game, mind you.
Eyelids drooping, Noct clarified, "She works over at the Hammerhead Fuel and Garage."
Giving the ceiling a thoughtful squint for a few seconds, Aranea then blinked a couple times. "Wait, you talking about the blonde knockout? Oh, Prom, she's gotta be at least a whole second grader older than you and way more woman than you could ever handle."
"Pretty sure she has a thing for Uncle Gladio too," Noct smirked.
Making an indignant noise in his throat, Prom scowled and freed up one of his hands to wave in front of Noct's phone, blocking line of sight to the screen as he spat out, "You shut your whore mouth!"
"Shit, Prom, language!" Aranea snapped. As Noct used an elbow to knock Prom's hand away so he could salvage his game, Aranea puffed out an annoyed breath and turned to face us once more. "Sorry about them. These would be the rugrats… your lil brothers, Ax- Lea," she hastily corrected herself before jerking her thumb over her shoulder towards one, then the other. "Noctis. Prompto."
Right… I remember Lea mentioning something about his mother and her two-point-five kids. Did that mean that there was still another o-
TWHUMP!
The sound of a large throw pillow suddenly smacking Noctis in the face.
Courtesy of a little girl with brown eyes and short, dark hair who'd suddenly popped up out of hiding from behind the sofa armrest. She proceeded to shriek with laughter as she dashed off and made her getaway down a hallway, her cackling echoing off into the distance before a door slammed shut somewhere in the house.
Huh. Guess that'd make her the point-five.
Wide-eyed and clenching his teeth, Noctis snatched up his phone from where he'd dropped it on the carpet after the vicious assault and frantically swiped the screen a few times. Then he glowered, slamming a fist down onto a couch cushion. "My line snapped and he got away. Dammit, Iris, I'm gonna kill you!" he snarled, jumping to his feet and ready to charge after her.
"Hold it!" Aranea ordered and he froze before he could even take a single step. "You leave your sister alone and sit your butt back down, mister."
"But she-"
"Ah-ah!" she waggled a stern finger at him, then pointed down in a silent but firm command.
Growling, he threw himself into his seat once more, slumping down low and crossing his arms. "You all baby her too much, especially Uncle Gladio! She's such a brat!"
"Takes one to know one, eh Noct?" Prompto chuckled. Noctis shoved his shoulder hard and he shoved back before they both settled down and became engrossed in their phones again.
"Well?" Aranea prompted them, planting both fists on her hips now, which I took to indicate she really meant business. "It's not every day you meet your other long lost half-brother. Aren't you two gonna put away the phones long enough to at least say hello to Lea and his lil girlfriend, Elsa?" No response. Her right eye twitched. "Seriously, boys, turn off the phones and stick 'em down your pockets before I stick 'em up somewhere else."
Noctis was the first to comply, tucking his phone away with a tiny eye roll before tossing a hand up in a lazy wave towards us. "Hey. Nice to meet you."
Prompto on the other hand kept his phone out, merely taking a split second to shoot us a quick glance before focusing on the mobile device again with a, "He-" The word however got swallowed in a splutter as he did a double take at me, then hopped up to his feet so fast the phone went flying out of his hands. He fumbled to catch it and hastily pocketed it before stepping closer to me with a big grin and sheepish laugh, "He-he-hello there!" He cleared his throat and smoothed his hair, then continued more confidently, "What's shakin', Miss Breathtakin'? Name's Prompto, perhaps you've heard of me? I'm kinda legendary with the ladies around here." Insert wink and finger guns.
I just stared at him blankly.
What…
...was even happening right now?
A wry snerk from Noctis. "Yeah, legendary for being a totally tongue-tied bonehead around them."
"Shush, man, be cool," Prompto hissed back over his shoulder at his brother. "Just cuz you're already tied down, doesn't mean you hafta always ruin it for the rest of us!"
"Tied d-" Noctis began to echo before cutting himself off with a huff and a tiny glare. "Luna and I are just friends!"
"Who ever said anything about Luna? You're the one who brought her up," he singsonged back with a bounce of his eyebrows.
Snorting, Aranea moved to take a seat in the chair next to the far end of the sofa as she added, "You two lil lovebirds have been practically engaged since you were in diapers."
Prompto declared triumphantly, "Exactly! So zip it, Noct! Now where was I…? Ah, yes." He turned back to me, reaching for my hand to plant a kiss to the back of it with a debonair, "Enchanté."
A groan escaped Aranea as she facepalmed. "Prom, stop hitting on your brother's girlfriend."
"I don't see no ring, which means all's fair in love and-" the words abruptly died on his tongue as he looked past me and his eyes grew round, his face paled, and he gulped. Curious as to what had caused such a reaction, I glanced back myself to discover Lea looming behind me with the darkest look I'd ever seen to grace his face aimed directly at Prompto. "Uh, heh… L-Lea, w-was it? N-Nice to m-make your acquaintance," he squeaked out before darting back to his spot on the couch and using Noctis for protective cover.
Hiding a grin behind her hand, Aranea gestured towards the freshly freed up seating, "You all gonna keep standing in the hallway? Go on, take a seat already."
Lea continued to give Prompto the evil eye as he and I settled into the now empty half of the sofa with me next to Noctis. Saïx took the armchair to Lea's right and with that, a hush descended over the room.
...a very drawn out, very awkward hush.
Now don't get me wrong, I am no stranger when it comes to uncomfortable family gatherings. My parents and I were on very, very tentative speaking terms again and I'd recently been to a handful of uneasy dinners with them where silence had reigned supreme around the dining table. Of course, even before I'd ran out on my own wedding, back when I was still their perfect daughter that always did as she was told, even then the Fryse household wouldn't exactly have been considered warm, friendly and inviting. It was just the way my family had always been - cold and distant.
But this home felt different. Here, the quiet felt unnatural and wrong. This seemed like a place that was normally filled with chatter and laughter, making its absence now very unsettling. Especially with Lea in the room, who practically considered silence his arch nemesis and always felt the need to fill the void with his ramblings. In fact, until this very moment, I'd thought him physically incapable of keeping his mouth shut whenever there was a gap in conversation in desperate need of small talk. And yet there he sat now, slouched in the couch cushions, elbow on armrest and head propped up against his knuckles, lips clenched firmly shut and his pinched expression making it abundantly clear he would rather be anywhere but here right now.
I glanced past him and made eye contact with Saïx. He merely frowned, flicked his gaze meaningfully towards Lea before looking back at me again.
Saïx wasn't going to be the one to speak up first. Afterall, he'd already long ago patched things up with his mother and was on speaking terms with her again. Now it was Lea's turn. However, Lea needed to at least make some small effort on his part.
But I'm not sure exactly what Saïx expected me to do about that.
I hesitated, gnawing on my bottom lip for a few heartbeats. Then I lowered my gaze to where Lea's hand rested atop the cushion between the two of us. Slowly, I covered it with my own and he turned his head to look at me.
Alright, so… I've always heard about couples who are really close developing sort of this, I don't know… relationship telepathy after they've been together long enough, to the point where a single glance between the two of them can communicate an entire conversation. Time to see if that theory held any water.
I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders and fixed him with a determined, steady stare.
Talk to your mother. You hear me? Do it. Do it now.
He watched me blankly for a few seconds. Then one side of his mouth lifted and he gave me a tiny nod.
I blinked.
...did it work?
Had he actually received my otherworldly message?
His hand shifted to instead be the one on top of mine, giving it a gentle squeeze as the other reached over to graze my cheek with his thumb and tuck my bangs behind my ear while he bent to press a kiss to my forehead.
Gah, no, you sweet but oblivious dope!
What, did he think the situation was stressing me out and I'd been seeking comfort?
...which, to be fair, was not an unreasonable assessment.
Puffing out a tiny, irked breath through my nose, I firmly locked gazes with him once more and jerked my head towards Aranea a couple times.
Talk.
To.
Her.
Dork.
More blank staring from Lea. But then it finally seemed to click, at least if the way his face twisted into a petulant grimace could be taken as any sort of clue. I responded by narrowing my eyes at him. He relented with a low sigh and at long last shattered the quiet with a, "So… Mom…" he paused, frowning as he rubbed at the nape of his neck and struggled to come up with something to say. "...how do you… keep yourself busy these days?"
A growling huff erupted from Saïx as he directed a dull look towards Lea. "You should know. I've told you before."
"And I wasn't listening," Lea shot back through his teeth, brutally blunt and not seeming to care. He toned it back a bit however as his eyes settled on his mother once more. "So what… ya do the whole suburban housewife, minivan driving, pep rallies and bakesales running, soccer mom thing now?"
Prompto burst out laughing at that. "This is our mom we're talking about here, right? Please, you know how she is."
Lea glared daggers at him and he blanched, ducking down to hide behind Noctis once again. Looking away, Lea mumbled under his breath, "Oh yeah… know her super well."
"I'm a process server," Aranea piped up and all eyes turned to her. "Ya know… those people who'll find you on the street, hand you legal papers and go, 'You've been served!' I'm pretty damn good at it too. I take care of all the tough cases, you know the type… those squirrelly, shifty-eyed motherfuckers who bolt at the first whiff of trouble, thinking they can outrun me." She smirked now, "Hehe… love it when they try to run."
"Mom's earned a bit of a reputation," Noctis added with a tiny grin. "People call her the Commodore."
Aranea chuckled at that with a smug, "Stop, you'll make me blush."
"Huh," was all Lea said at first, pursing his lips to one side. Don't think he quite knew what to do with this information. "...sounds… fulfilling."
And with that, a crushing silence stifled the room once more.
Okay, so… that'd worked well.
Sort of…
I mean, it'd worked okay.
At the very least, it'd worked.
They'd talked!
...for a grand total of two seconds… but still, that was something, right?
Oh who was I kidding, this was a total trainwreck.
So then… now what?
Luckily, I was saved from having to figure that out by Ignis stepping into the living room just then, dusting his hands together as he announced, "That ought to do it for the moment! Now to let those steaks au poivre cook for a bit. Saïx!" The man in question glanced up at the mention of his name and Ignis went on, "If memory serves, I seem to recall you taking a rather keen interest in observing the night sky. Well, I'm a bit of dabbler myself and have recently acquired a new gadget to fiddle with. A telescope - the Ultros StarSeeker Reflector. It's in my study, would you like to come have a look at it for yourself?"
"The mark VI?" Saïx asked, already rising from his chair.
"The mark VII," he corrected with a smile. "150 millimeter. It's supposed to be the latest. Makes the moon seem so close, you'll think yourself to be standing on it. Boys," he now addressed Noctis and Prompto, "why don't you join us?"
"Already seen it. Pass," Noctis muttered, distracted by his phone once more.
Ignis cleared his throat, smile widening. "I must insist."
Prompto groaned, "Dad, can't we do it later? It's not even dark out."
"Alas, science waits for no man, nor do I. Elsa," his gaze landed on me now, "might I interest you in accompanying us as well?"
It was then that it dawned on me that Ignis was probably trying to give his wife some time alone with her (until as of twenty minutes ago) estranged son. Even as I opened my mouth to reply however, I felt Lea's grip tightening slightly around my hand. I hesitated.
I don't think he wanted me to leave.
Maybe I should have anyway. Maybe just a smidge of tough love was in order. Maybe it would have been for his own good.
However…
"I think I'm good, thank you," I politely declined.
With a small bow of his head, Ignis said, "Very well. Come along, boys!"
Heaving a heavy sigh, Noctis stood up and moved towards him. Prompto sprung up with a chipper, "Just a sec! I wanna snap a picture of this!" He darted past the two of us still seated on the couch, snagging Noctis by the elbow and Saïx by his sleeve and yanking them back over towards Lea. Then he fished out his phone before slinging one arm around Noctis and Saïx, forcing them to huddle in close and hunch down as he crouched to throw his other arm around Lea's shoulders. Awkwardly maneuvering his phone and pointing its camera at the four of them all squished together, he laughed, "Group shot of the four bros from different Joes but all from the same ho! Say cheese!"
As the flash went off, Aranea leaned forward in her armchair, her tone dangerously sweet as she asked, "All from the same what, Prom?"
"Aw, Ma, c'mon, you know I don't mean it! It was just for the sake of the rhyme!" he brushed off as he released Saïx and Noctis, freeing up that hand to tap at his screen and double check that the photo came out well. "Lea, dude, you so did not say cheese. I mean, look at th-" he glanced towards Lea (who he still had his arm around, mind you) and choked mid-word at the withering look he was giving him. Hastily snatching his arm back and jumping away, he turned to the others. "L-Let's go look at stars n' shit! Hell yeah constellations!" Then he all but blurred out of there with Ignis, Saïx and Noctis following behind him at a more relaxed pace.
"Seriously do not like that kid," Lea grumbled low as he scowled after him before looking back at me. More specifically, at my tiny grin I was rubbing my curled fingers over. He cocked an eyebrow, "...what?"
"Oh nothing," I whispered back with a shake of my head, trying to school my expression and failing. "It's just… well, he reminds me a little of you, is all."
He stiffened, looking outright offended. "You gotta be joking. That punk? We're nothing alike."
Said one upbeat, flirty goofball about the other.
My grin twitched wider as I merely shrugged, "If you say so."
Our brief exchange had me almost forgetting it wasn't just the two of us in here. Now as I glanced over towards Aranea, I gave her a timid smile. She smiled back, shifted in her seat and crossed her legs, but said nothing. Lea continued to avoid meeting her eyes, frowning off into space as his knee restlessly jiggled up and down while he held my hand in his lap, his fingers idly fidgeting with mine.
The quiet stretched.
I had to wonder if maybe I should have left with the others. If I weren't here this very second, would they be talking now? Could it have really made a difference? Honestly, I don't think it would have. Lea had already tried to start a conversation once. Sure, it'd been a rather feeble, halfhearted attempt at that, but still the effort had been made. And now he was done. He had no interest in doing it again and seemed perfectly content to go on stewing in silence. As for Aranea, I may have known her for less than an hour now, but even in such a short amount of time I could tell she was not someone who was particularly shy about speaking her mind. If she had something she wanted to say to Lea, I very much doubted my presence would have stopped her in the slightest.
I think the two of them were just… stuck.
In some sort of limbo with zero clue of how to proceed or handle this situation.
...should I try relationship telepathy again?
No, judging by the stubborn set to his jaw, it seemed highly unlikely at this point that any amount of mental nudging or prodding would push Lea into being the first one to speak up.
...but maybe a different target would be slightly more receptive to some subtle psychic persuasion?
I slowly turned my gaze on Aranea once more. With a tiny inhale and exhale, I hitched my chin and squinted.
Here goes nothing.
Speak to your son. Say something. Anything. Just talk.
A brief pause, then I winced.
Uh… please?
Musn't forget manners when trying to pierce the cosmic veil to telepathically coerce your boyfriend's mother!
That is, er… if it's not too much trouble, ma'am?
Gah, what if she thought being called ma'am was insulting?!
N-not ma'am! You're not a ma'am! I meant Aranea- no, too overly familiar… um… Mom? Dear god, no! Commodore? Yes, Commodore!
I almost saluted her for good measure, but thankfully caught myself before I did. That would have been silly!
...as if me attempting to psychically communicate with the woman weren't already silly enough.
Lea was right. I really was a friggin' kook.
Ah well, in for a penny, in for a pound.
Please, just… talk to him, okay? Talk to-
"So, Elsa…"
No, not me! Him! Him! For the love of… what, were our metaphysical wires getting crossed? Ignore me, talk to-
Ugh, forget it, I give up.
Consider my brief and not at all glorious career as a mystical telepath officially over.
She grinned at me as she continued, "...are you still a college student?"
"Oh!" I sat up a little straighter. "No… er, I mean, yes. I mean… rather, I've graduated. But… it wasn't for me. My major, that is. So I went back, and… and now it's a much better fit." A beat. Then I gasped, "Acting! That's my new… that's what I'm doing now! What I, ah… what I went back to college for," I breathed out an awkward little laugh.
Wondering why was I suddenly so nervous?
Oh I don't know… could it be that it was just now really sinking in that this was officially my "Meet The Parents" visit? I was in no way prepared for this! I mean come on, she was supposed to be focusing on Lea, not me! Crud, I just hoped I was making a halfway decent impression so far.
"You wanna be an actor, huh? Get into showbiz?" she nodded encouragingly.
Oh, we were still talking about me? We weren't done?
Fudge.
"Maybe… I think so…" No wait, that wasn't quite right. Lifting my chin and steeling my gaze, I said more firmly, "Yes. It's… something I'm actually quite passionate about. Both singing and acting. It's a childhood dream I hope that perhaps I might one day turn into a reality."
Her eyes crinkled and she nodded again. "Been in any productions?"
"Two. Well… rather, one and a half I suppose… I'm in rehearsals for my second show. It's only community theater mind you, I'm still learning," I tacked on shyly.
It occurred to me that maybe this was her way of reaching out to Lea. I mean, a common tactic for connecting with someone was talking about something they liked. And seeing as how I was his girlfriend, it stood to reason that Lea liked me. So maybe, in a way… talking to me was her trying to score points with Lea?
Gaining a bit of confidence, I went on, "We're putting on Rocky Horror Picture Show, what with Halloween coming up and all. I got the part of Columbia, which is a supporting role but still very exciting!"
"Oooo, Rocky Horror you say? The one with all the tight leather, fishnet stockings, and lacey corsets?" Her eyes shifted slyly over to Lea as she shot him a wink, "Betcha you're a big fan of your girlfriend starring in that."
Lea's face twisted in disgust, "Ugh, Mom, don't be gross about it."
For the record, he was a big fan of it.
A really, really big fan.
She chuckled at his obvious discomfort before her eyes suddenly lit up as a thought seemed to strike her. "Speakin' of Halloween… be right back," she smirked, quickly standing up and disappearing down one of the hallways.
"Quick, now's our chance, let's make a break for it!" Lea leapt up to his feet, but I used the hold I still had on his hand to yank him back down into the cushions next to me. He drooped his eyelids at me. I drooped mine right back. With a huff, he slumped further down into the sofa and straight up sulked.
It wasn't long before Aranea returned, now with a pair of stacked cardboard boxes weighing down her arms. She deposited them onto the coffee table with a heavy thud, blowing off some dust before turning them so we could see there was something written in sharpie on their sides. Aranea shifted the top one branded SAÏX off and settled it down next to the other box that had AXEL scrawled across it. Lea's glower darkened as he spotted that particular label.
Flipping the lid off that one, Aranea began rooting around inside. "Hm, lessee here… blankie?" she muttered, mostly to herself it seemed as she then shook her head and shifted more things around in the box. "No… binkie? No…"
"What are you doing?" Lea asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at her.
"What's it look like I'm doing? Going through a few odds and ends I kept from when you were a tyke," she grinned at him before pulling something out and holding it up. "D'aww look… baby's first arson!" In her hands was the charred and blackened remains of some sort of stuffed animal. She cocked her head slightly as she scrutinized the thing, "Think it used to be a rabbit… or maybe a piglet?"
"Tiger!" Lea snapped as he snatched the thing out of her grip. "He was a tiger and his name was-" he suddenly stopped, glaring at the mutilated little plushie for a second. Then he chucked it back into the box, grumbling, "Doesn't matter."
I however reached in to pick it back up for a closer look at it myself, brow furrowing as I turned the roasted to a crisp little feline over in my hands. "...what did you do to this thing?"
"Happened when he was four. Just happily tromped the doll over to the burning fireplace and tossed it in before I even realized what the lil snot was up to," Aranea chuckled wistfully before returning to digging around in the box. Next she was lifting out what looked to be a clay mold of a child's handprints as she snerked, "Can you imagine him ever being this small? Crazy." Then she was frowning at it, lightly scratching a finger at one blackened corner of the plaque as she arched an eyebrow. "Huh. Looks like you scorched this a bit too."
Shrugging, she set it aside before taking another look into the box, her face brightening. "Ah, and here we have Lea's masterpiece collection." She stuck her hands back inside it, this time retrieving a handful of crude drawings on slightly crumpled papers. To me, she said, "Ya know, he was quite the lil arteest! Coulda been the next Picasso if he'd just…" she trailed off, distracted now as something caught her eye on the top drawing. She squinted, "...is that a tree that's on fire?" Flipping to the next sheet, she blinked. Then the next. Then the next. "Yeesh, kiddo, you really had a thing for fire when you were a tot. Maybe I shoulda been more worried." Then she brushed it off with a bat of her hand, "Bah, you turned out fine!"
Rummaging around in the box a bit more, she gave a victorious, "Ah-ha!" before pulling out a thick stack of photos. She took a second to shuffle through a few of them before showing us one, "First day of kindergarten." I took it from her, seeing as Lea showed zero interest in accepting it himself. I couldn't help a small smile as I looked at it. He really had been an adorable child, almost ridiculously so. "Second birthday." I glanced up at her words to see her holding out another photo, which I gladly took as well.
She thumbed through a couple more photos before, "Oh, here we go." Plucking one from the bunch, her fingers gave it a satisfied flick before turning it towards us with a half-grin. "The whole reason I remembered to dig up this box just now: Halloween photos! Didn't he just make the cutest lil ninja assassin?"
He really did.
"Mom," Lea abruptly spoke up, his tone low and even and… something else that made the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stand on edge. "...why do you have all this stuff?"
"Hm?" she hummed absently, already back to flipping through the photos.
There was a pause, then he quietly rephrased, "When did you have time to grab it?"
"Oh, I just-" she cut herself off, posture suddenly snapping straight as she grimaced slightly. Her eyes darted to Lea then quickly looked away. Putting the photos down on the coffee table, she cleared her throat and began again, "I took it all with me when…" Another pause, another frown. "...when I…"
"When you abandoned Saïx and me," he finished for her, the edge to his voice unmistakable now. "So… instead of taking me with you when you flew the coop… you took a box."
Uh oh.
"Lea, that's not…" she began, then stopped, lips pressing into a grim line and face pinching as she stared down at her lap for a second. Then she lifted her gaze once more, opened her mouth to speak but clicked it shut again with a tiny growl in her throat, clearly frustrated with herself for being unable to think of the right thing to say.
Her son on the other hand seemed to be having absolutely zero trouble finding his own words, still with a deadly calm to them. "So... what? After dumping Saïx and me like yesterday's garbage, you took the boxes just so you could put on a show that you ever gave a shit about us?"
She gave him a sharp look, her eyes flashing dangerously. "That isn't fair, I-"
"Fair?!" he was on his feet in the blink of an eye, his hands balling into fists at his sides. Nostrils flaring, his voice began to rise now, "No, what wasn't fair was you deciding you didn't want your goddamn kids anymore and leaving them behind to go off and start your new stupid, perfect life and your new stupid, perfect family filled with perfect little snot-nosed brats given to you by your fucking perfect orthodontist!"
Optometrist. Not orthodontist.
Should I correct him?
I decided against it.
(Rather wisely too, if I do say so myself.)
Standing up as well now, Aranea tried to argue, "It wasn't like that! I-"
"Then please! By all means, tell me what it was like!" he snarled back. Two fingers jabbed at his temple, "I'd simply freaking love to know how you rationalized this all away in that screwed up head of yours so you could sleep at night in your comfy, cushy tempur-fucking-pedic king-sized bed while Saïx and I got chewed up and spat out by the hellhole that is the foster system! Tell me, how the fuck is what you did to us okay?!"
"It wasn't okay! Shit, of course it wasn't and I'd never try to tell you that it was!" she yelled, her breathing heavy now as she lifted her chin slightly. "But… you have to understand, it was… I was still young and-"
Lea barked a cold laugh at that. "Young? Seriously? That's your go-to defense? You wanna talk young, Saïx was eight. For fuck's sake, I was six." He shook his head, sneering, "But no, you're right. You were young, so let's just forget it and continue sitting around getting all bogus nostalgic over a buncha meaningless crap in a box while pretending everything's fine and dandy and like you didn't royally fuck over our whole goddamn lives twenty years ago."
Shoulders tensing, Aranea shot back, "Damn it, if you'd just let me talk-"
"You had your chance to talk!" he shouted over her. "You've been talking nonstop since I walked through the front door and it's all been nothing but bullshit and rubbing my nose in your happy, cozy, picture-fucking-perfect lifestyle!"
"That's not- I never meant to-" she blew out an exasperated huff, pinching the bridge of her nose as she took a second to compose herself. Then, more softly if a bit strained, "Look, obviously I'm no good at this. But I'm trying here."
"Yeah? Well not hard enough," he ground out through his teeth. He took several deep breaths, hands clenching and unclenching repeatedly. When he at last spoke again, his voice was now hushed and thick with unshed tears, "Were you ever even sorry for what you did? Did you ever even have any regrets at all?"
Her eyes widened as her head rocked back. "Of course I had regrets-"
"No, you had a box! Just a dumb box!" he smacked said box off the coffee table, sending it crashing to the floor and spilling its contents across the rug. With that, he stormed over to the sliding glass door, throwing it open and stomping out onto the backyard deck.
As he slammed it shut again behind him, the sharp noise jolted a breath out of me that I hadn't realized I'd been holding. It was only then that I noticed how loud the pounding of my heart was in my ears, how tense my muscles were or how tightly my fingers were clutching at the skirt of my dress. Forcing myself to relax a bit, I released my grip and anxiously brushed out the wrinkles in the fabric as my gaze drifted towards Lea once more.
I could see him out there now, hands angrily ruffling at his hair as he paced back and forth. Honestly, his blow up probably shouldn't have come as any sort of shock. This was something that he'd been carrying with him for years now, an anger that had been building inside for two decades and in desperate need of release. It probably really hadn't even been a question of if he would explode, but when.
A loud scoff drew my attention over to Aranea who was also watching Lea, a little scowl twisting her features. Squaring her shoulders, she started marching over towards the sliding glass door grumbling, "Oh-ho, if you think this is over, you got another thing coming, you lil-"
"Wait," a new voice calmly commanded, freezing her in her tracks. I glanced towards where it'd come from to discover Saïx in the threshold to the hallway, frowning and arms crossed with one shoulder leaned against the inside of the arch. I wondered how long he'd been standing there unnoticed, how much of the fight he'd witnessed. Probably most of it. Pushing himself away from the wall and walking towards her, he reasoned, "You'll probably only set him off again. Allow me. Perhaps I can get him to cool down a bit first before coming back inside to continue your discussion more rationally."
Aranea's face scrunched up at the idea of having to back down for the moment but then she sighed heavily and stepped aside, letting Saïx pass. Soon he was outside with his brother, the door gliding quietly shut in his wake. Aranea stood there for a few seconds more, eyes narrowing as she watched them through the glass before turning away with a tiny hmph. "That knucklehead has more Reno in him than he'll ever know," she muttered sourly under her breath. Then she looked at me. "...excuse me, I… I need a minute." She stalked towards one of the other doors, pausing long enough to add over her shoulder, "Sorry… that you had to see that…"
"No, that's, uh… don't mention it," I said awkwardly, my voice small.
With a curt nod, she made her exit.
Peering outside once more, it unfortunately appeared like Saïx wasn't making any headway in pacifying Lea. Though the closed door muffled it, Lea was quite visibly yelling again as he gestured furiously back at the house. Saïx looked remarkably unruffled as he withstood the tirade and every now and again, I would see his lips move whenever he got a chance to squeeze in a few words, face expressionless as he did so. But if he'd intended for whatever he was saying to be soothing, it seemed to only be having the opposite effect as Lea kept bursting out into more impassioned rants. Though it was hard to tell, there was a slight twitch to Saïx's eye now that hinted at him getting more irked with each new outburst.
Finally, Lea just hotly tossed his hands up and turned his back on Saïx, kicking at the wooden railing of the deck. It seemed Saïx had had enough himself for he too turned away, pushing the glass door aside so he could come back in. As he pulled it closed with more force than necessary, he seethed, "I give up. Possibly you'll have better luck convincing that idiot to get his head out of his ass." Without waiting for my reply, he crossed the room in a muted huff and was gone.
I bit my bottom lip, hesitating for a heartbeat. Then I rose, hands smoothing up and down my dress as I slowly stepped towards the door leading out to the backyard. My hand reached out for the handle, stopping just short for a second as I inhaled and exhaled slowly. Then I grabbed hold, slid it open and stepped outside.
Lea was facing away from me, surveying the backyard as he bent forward slightly with hands braced atop the railing. A light breeze picked up, tugging at his crimson spikes and making them dance. By contrast, his whole body was very still, almost eerily so. His muscles were taut and there was a stiffness to his shoulders that was impossible to miss. His fingers squeezed around the railing to the point of practically turning his knuckles white.
No question about it. He was still very much pissed.
It was almost strange, in a way… I was so used to him always being such a boundless source of energy and joy. I'd only ever seen him get angry one other time and that was when Grandfather had tried to bribe him during that disastrous weekend with my family. Even then, it hadn't lasted long and paled in comparison by far to his temper now. It was odd seeing him like this. Unsettling even. But I understood. I knew Lea's mom had always been a sore spot for him, so I was actually almost kind of amazed things had remained civil for as long as they had.
In a way, it was maybe even a good thing he'd went off like he did. You know… cathartic. Better he have a chance to rant and get all those things he'd probably been wanting to say to her for years off his chest, rather than keeping it all bottled up inside to fester.
But now it was time to pick up the pieces, pull him back together and maybe possibly even get him talking with his mother again, hopefully in a more constructive way.
...but how to do that exactly?
I just stood there in a moment of silent uncertainty, staring at his back as I tugged and twisted at my braid. But the longer I watched Lea, the more my heart squeezed at the sight of him. At how dejected and unhappy he appeared, his raw emotions practically etched into every line of his body. Eventually, my feet made the decision for me and I took an almost instinctual step towards him. Then another, and another one after that.
When I was close enough, my hand seemingly of its own accord reached out to softly touch his back. As soon as my fingertips made contact, his whole body went visibly rigid, even more so than it already had been. I brought my other hand up to join the first and slid them slowly around his middle as I took one final step forward to hug him from behind, resting my cheek against his warm back and closing my eyes as I listened to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
It took a few seconds, but then I felt the tension in his muscles start to ease as he gradually relaxed into the embrace and my hold around him reassuringly tightened. I had to let go however when he abruptly turned towards me, his arms encircling my waist to hug me fiercely to him. My arms shifted up to wrap around his shoulders instead as he buried his face in my neck, inhaling deeply and exhaling a couple times. I could feel him trembling, but with each steadying breath he took it subsided little by little.
I wasn't quite sure what to say or do beyond holding him and tracing light soothing circles along his back, hoping he found it as comforting as I always had whenever he'd done it for me so many times in the past. I patiently waited and just assumed he'd eventually open up when he was ready.
When he eventually did speak, it was so low and muffled against my throat that I almost didn't hear it. "...sorry, El… if I scared you..."
I shook my head slightly, my fingers shifting up to stroke his hair as I murmured, "Scared? No. A bit startled? Maybe… Concerned? Definitely." I tucked in my bottom lip for a hushed moment, then asked, "...are you okay?"
At first Lea said nothing, his only reply coming in the form of squeezing me more tightly to him. We stayed that way a few seconds more before his hold loosened but didn't let go - just enough for him to straighten up and press his forehead to mine. His gaze was downcast and my chest ached at how miserable he looked. His lips parted once more but instead of answering my question, he grumbled, "What she did was wrong."
"It was," I said calmly with a single small nod.
"She doesn't deserve my forgiveness," he tacked on, still quiet but more firmly now.
I noticed tears brimming at the corner of his eyes. Moving my hands to cup his face, I gently wiped them away with my thumbs as I agreed, "She doesn't."
"Serve her right if I never spoke to her again," he gave a tiny scowl.
Again, I nodded. "It would."
Now his green gaze locked on mine, squinting for a second before he puffed out a heavy, bitter sigh. "...but you think I should talk to her, don't you?"
My eyes lowered briefly and I pursed my lips to one side as I tried to choose my next words carefully. Then I looked back up at him, "I think… that you've had your turn to speak your mind, so maybe... it might be the right thing to do to give her a turn as well."
Lea merely made a noise of derision deep in his throat, glancing away.
I used the hold I still had on his face to gently make him look at me again. "I'm not saying you have to let her off the hook. Nor that you have to see her side of things. Nor even that you have to listen to her really. But I believe letting her speak and say whatever it is she was trying to tell you… maybe it could do some good. For both of you. And then... " I paused with a thoughtful frown. "...well, I'm actually not really sure what then, but... maybe the way forward will be clearer once you've both had a chance to talk. You'll never know until you try. And it's at least worth a try, isn't it?"
His expression softened somewhat, but not completely. "...how very logical, insightful and sensible of you, Doctor Phil."
I made a little snort at that. "Why, thank you."
"It wasn't a compliment." The words had no bite to them and were more so just tiredly teasing. He then fell silent for a moment, seemingly mulling over my advice while still holding me against him, his thumb absently rubbing up and down where it rested against the small of my back. Then his face pinched slightly and he harrumphed. "...she never even said she was sorry for what she did."
"Maybe she would have if you hadn't kept talking over her," I lightly pointed out with a wrinkle of my nose.
He hummed a weak, almost inaudible laugh at that. "There ya go with that logic again." He then heaved another sigh, "...I dunno… I guess maybe I can go back inside and…" he slowly closed his eyes and grimaced, as if even the very idea of his next words turned his stomach. "...give this a shot. Chances are good though it'll just end up being the sequel to the earlier shitshow," he rolled his eyes.
I tugged his head down and got on tiptoe, murmuring against his brow as I pressed my lips to it, "I'd expect nothing less."
As I lowered myself back down onto my heels, Lea brought a hand up to graze his knuckle tenderly along my cheek, giving me that soft look of his that still to this day caused my heart to flip-flop and made it hard to breathe. Then his fingers trailed past along my jawline to cup the back of my neck as he bent down to kiss me, slow and thorough, sending a heat through me that made me melt from the inside out. When he at last pulled away, his voice was husky against my lips as he said, "Thanks, El... for coming with me today. Having you here during… It makes everything a bit easier."
Face hot and feeling a bit breathless, I cleared my throat and smiled shyly. "Happy to, uh… to help… in whatever small way I can."
He grinned, his fingers toying with the tip of my braid as he gazed down at me for a second longer before he planted a quick peck to my lips. Then he was releasing me, taking hold of my hand instead and tangling our fingers together. Blowing out a breath that flapped his lips, he muttered, "Right. Back into the fray for round two now, ding-ding."
"Maybe try not going back into this expecting a fight?" I suggested as I felt a sudden buzz from my phone in my pocket. I went on as I fished it out to check my notifications, "Never know, it could possibly even-" The words however got strangled in my throat as my eyes widened, I nearly dropped my phone and I gasped out, "Baby!"
"Yes, Cuddlebug?" he cooed back.
I blinked at him. "Wha-? No, not you. I meant Rayne."
Lea looked positively scandalized. "You have other Babies besides me?" He clutched a hand to his chest, "The betrayal."
"No, I- That's not- She's not-" I stammered out before giving up with a groan of frustration and then shoved my phone up against his nose, reiterating more desperately, "Baby!"
His brow furrowed as he took it from me, eyes quickly scanning the open text message before both eyebrows shot up his forehead. "Holy shit, Raindrop's gone into labor?! I thought she wasn't s'posed to pop that kid out for another few weeks!"
"Well she's popping it out now!" My spine snapped straight as a thought struck me. "Like… now now! While she's there! And we're here! But we shouldn't be here! We should be there, not here! Definitely not here! We-"
"Shh, it'll be fine, I gotcha," he gently shushed me, one of his hands gripping my shoulder and the other coming up to rest his warm palm against the side of my face. "I'll put the fam drama on pause and we can hit the road ASAP."
"...really?" I asked slowly, uncertainly. "...that would be okay?"
He gave a soft snerk and shrugged. "It's waited twenty years already, I think it'll be fine waiting a lil bit longer. 'Sides, it's not every day our friends are having a baby, we should be there."
I turned my head slightly, giving him some side-eye. "And I'm sure this in no way is you hopping on the first excuse you could get to procrastinate sorting things out with your mother like a mature adult."
"Nah, that's just a bonus!" he chuckled.
I fought a tiny grin. But then it swiftly faded, a crease forming between my eyebrows now as something else occurred to me. "But we're so far away… it took us most of the day to get here!"
"The way I drive, we'll be back in half that," he wickedly smirked, digging the car keys out of his pocket, tossing them up into the air and catching them with a wink. "Just leave it to me! Now c'mon, babydoll, let's say our hasta la vistas then make like a piñata and beat it!"
With that, he took my hand in his again, opened the sliding glass door and we hurried inside.
Author's Note: We've had plenty of Elsa's fam drama by now, figured it was high time for some of Lea's fam drama too xD Plus we all know our fave Fire Boi can have a bit of a temper even if he doesn't let it loose often, so it was fun to finally have a excuse to REALLY show that side of him in this fic! Luckily our ICE Queen was around to COOL our FIRE boi's HOT temper... hehehehehe xD Anyhoo, I knew for a while that I wanted to do a chapter with Lea's mom and her new family, but I was mega stumped on which characters would play the parts. For the longest time, I wasn't sure if I was gonna include any of the FFXV cast in my story (except for the brief reference to Meteor Publishing and Vyv allllllll the way back in chapter 2 as to where Rayne works and who her boss is respectively) but then when this idea came up, it really was too perfect! Aranea is just the right amount of sass and kickass that could totes be a perfect fit for Lea's and Saïx's mom! She even TALKS a lot like Lea with similar speech mannerisms and everything, or so you'll notice if you rewatch her video game cutscenes (as I have multiple times while writing this chapter now lol!). The main struggle was that she has a tendency to be quite flirty in the video game, but seeing as how 4 of the 5 men in this chapter were her SONS, couldn't really have her doing that except for with Iggy xD Hopefully I still managed to capture her personality well enough! And of course, including 3 of the 4 Chocobros was a pleasure to write! Plus, I got to squeeze in SO MANY FFXV references this chapter, it felt ridiculous after a while, but I couldn't help myself xD And bonus: in case it wasn't clear in that one quick sentence that was tossed out, turns out Reno was Lea's biological dad! Which sucks a lil cuz that means Reno is deceased in this AU and I hate to do that to another one of my fave redheads... but ah well! Who knows, maybe he only faked his death all those years ago and he's still out there alive and kicking and wreaking havoc xD
Teeny fun facts: I wrote that Lea's new step dad was an orthodontist waaaaaaay back in ch15 before I even knew Iggy was gonna be his step dad, so when I was rereading that for this chapter, I was all "shiiiit, I can't make Iggy an orthodontist, ew!" xD Optometrist didn't seem THAT much better, but hey, at least the dude wears glasses - that's all ya need to become a licensed optometrist, right? xP At least the whole orthodontist-optometrist thing made for a pretty decent running gag this chapter haha! Also, the telescope was based off a real telescope model I found after some googling, just the original brand was named after some sort of constellation, I forget what (...Orion? maybe?). So I changed THAT to one of the constellations from KH3: Ultros! ...because it was the best sounding one for a telescope - sorry, no Cactuar brand telescopes in this story xP
No clues or hint word/phrase this time for what the next one-shot is gonna be about - given the kinda sorta cliffhanger I left his chapter off on, you can probably guess what blessed event is gonna happen next time xD Don't worry, I'll try to throw in a couple of surprises for you still that you hopefully won't see coming!
Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!
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#kingdom hearts#frozen#elsa#axel#fanfiction#lea#fanfic#kingdom hearts fanfiction#frozen fanfiction#kh fanfiction#kh fanfic#frozen fanfic#kingdom hearts fanfic#axelsa#fluff#romcom#slow burn#KH3#my writing#ice cream and fire oven pizza#rare pair#crossover pairing#humor#snark#fake dating au
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an awaited love♡
it was unlikely to vision the school's bad boy and good girl to date but hey, anything's possible.
it was a daily routine since they were both stressed. y/n, head of the cheer team and library aide before and after school while haechan was the leader of the dreamies and captain of the football team.
you may be curious as to how complete opposites ever crossed paths romantically and it was all from a detention in the library. haechan stole a go cart to drive his friend, chenle to the nearest bathroom during football practice so he can take a shit. which landed haechan right in between the aisles of the book shelves and a game of 21 questions between the both of you since he was bored.
"is it true that you smoke weed and drink alocohol?" i ask.
"yeah... people who has never tried it before always looks down upon it but its not that bad once you try... you want me to burn you out?
"WHAT?" i blurted out accidentally but i realized that this is a library so i slapped my hand over my mouth.
"you do know that it's just the two of us right? the librarian isn't even here." he said as he decides to sit on the floor and place the book on the lowest shelf and absentmindedly i just sit down along with him.
"what do you mean burn me out? what does that even mean?" i ask as curiosity kills the cat but instead of answer back, he smiled like he had a devious plan.
i had the joint my mouth as he was lighting up the other end with his red lighter. as it caught on fire, he blew it out and told me to suck and i did as hard as i could and then he took the joint of my mouth as he saw that i took a hard hit. my eyes were watering and my throat was getting scratchy, itching to cough but he told me before we started that i have to hold in the smoke as long as i can.
"hold it in y/n, don't cough it out yet." he attempted to courage me but for 10 more seconds i had to cough the foreign smoke out of my lungs. as he watched me cough it out, he patted my back and told me to spit it out if i had to since we were hiding on top of the library's roof. as i was collecting the clean air throughout my lungs, he patiently waited for me to calm down and when i did, he asked: "wanna hit it again?"
...
and that was the funny yet confidential start as to how we began to affiliate with each other. before i always admired him from afar but i knew to stay away since he was bad news. but whatever happens, happens and i don't regret meeting haechan at all. that night of his detention, we were stoned to the bone and we discussed everything we could to get to know each other and it was all in one night. we talked about our favorite genre of music to our biggest fears and dreams, our hobbies to our pet peeves, or our future plans and our past.
the more we talked, the more i felt myself getting comfortable with him, and the more i started to admire how his tanned skin looked so beautiful in the sky's sunset. the way his orange dyed hair suited him and brought out his brown eyes. the way his voice was soothing to listen to and made me feel drowsy (or maybe that was just the weed) .
there was a moment where we both stopped talking and let the silence talk for us and let our thoughts roam. i thought about how life and school wasn't as eventful as i thought it was, it was just a routine. wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, go to the library, go to class, go to cheer practice or go to the library then go home to do homework. i realized nobody ever asked me to hang out or invited me to parties or asked me out on dates because i was stuck in a routine. nothing new and no changes. but hanging out with haechan made me see a whole new world.
"hey y/n"
"hmm?"
"i'm glad that i got detention." he said and i just quietly laughed to myself because i knew what he meant.
"and i'm glad you stole that go-cart." he said and his red eyes turned to me and smiled at me.
"you know i like you like this." he stated as he slowly tucked my hair behind my ear and i blushed.
"oh yeah? why?"
"your hair is down. i never see your hair down. your eyes, they're red but i can see that you're genuinely content like you found a peace within yourself." he said truthfully and in all honesty, what he said was accurate. my whole life has always been lived in safety. i never did do anything exciting, most likely because my parents control my life and i'm already given the nickname 'the school's good ice princess'. "i've never really told anyone this but i always admired you from afar." he said as he took another hit from the joint and passed it to me as shock slowly registers within me.
"n-no way." i said while taking the joint from his fingers and taking a hit as he exhaled the smoke.
"oh yes way, i always thought to myself that you were too good for me to ever confess to you. your pretty little self intimated the schools bad boy." he confessed. and that just made me take a second hit as i couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. i kept in the weed induced smoke in my lungs until i felt the need to breathe which was awhile and enough time to think of what to say back.
"i had no idea but i'm kinda mad now cus it's senior year now and i wished you would've confessed to me early because i would've accepted your confession." i truthfully said and i passed the joint back to him but he just began to shake his head.
"naaah you wouldn't date someone like me." he said and i felt a little sad as to why he would say something like that.
"why would you say that? you didn't even know me before." i say, fully facing him only to see he was always sitting towards me.
"no but i knew of you and before i knew you were a straight A student, you always smelled like green apples and shea butter, you didn't like the school's cheeseburgers since it the cheese just looks like cum on top of the burger, and you never used pencils and how you-" i cut him off by softly placing my lips on his because i was starting to get tired of him ramble about me. i tasted weed and the flavor gum we're both chewing awhile ago. but what really snatched my soul was how he reacted back, he kissed me with in undeniable passion as if he waited years for this exact moment and he's trying to tell me that he's in love with me. it was slow but the burning within ourselves was empowering. as we parted, it was like static electricity.
"wow" i said. "that was my first." i said quietly.
"same" he said and i looked at him slowly in disbelief. "what? have you ever heard one rumor of me sleeping around? that's all jaemin, not me." he said seriously and i just chuckled and i couldn't help but kiss him on the cheek. he was overwhelmingly cute.
"what was that for?" he asked.
"for all the years you waited to confess to me." i said and i kissed him on the other cheek once more. "for all the years you admired me from afar." i kissed once more on his forehead. "for all the years you studied me and my natural self." i kissed him chin. "for all the years you thought i was too good for you." i kissed his nose. "for all the years you probably wished for this moment." i kissed his lips. "for all the years we missed out together."
as i pulled back to study his face, his eyes were barely open, hash and undeniably happy from all the love and affection i'm giving him, i just had to laugh until my stomach growled then my mouth watered and tacos came into my mind. then it was his turn to laugh.
"let's get out of here" he said as he slowly got up and brought me up along with him too. i stumbled a little and he caught me in a tight embrace. and cringy me i just had to laugh.
"sorry this is so cliché" while he rolled his eyes and let go of his hold on me and my legs went jelly. only for him to catch me once more. "jerk" i muttered as he laughed and helped me slowly walked out of the library building and into his car. he paid for our tacos and i swear it tasted like heaven.
"damn so you got the munchies huh?" he asked, eyes still red with a smug laugh. i just slowly nodded my head while i slowly enjoyed my taco. he just shaked his head and ate more of his taco but continuing to stare at me. although i was as high as a kite in the sky, i can feel his eyes on my face until i stopped eating to ask him what.
"oh nothing, you're just so beautiful and i'm just glad you decided to be mines." he said as his clean hand rubbed my thigh underneath the table. darn these booth tables, i'm trying to eat, not be sexually aroused. i almost choked on my food and it made him stop.
"oh, are you okay?" he asked and began to pass me the coke. i drank until i stopped choking and nodded my head to show that my gag reflex was fine now.
we finished our tacos and in the car, he asked if i wanted anything else. although i was still hungry, i didn't want to be a burden.
"im fine" i said only for my stomach to growl again.
"okay yeah no, we're going to 7-eleven." he said before putting his keys into the ignition.
as we arrived to the nearest store he told me the exact words "get whatever you want." and five minutes later, i had armful of a big bag of doritos, a pickle, oreos, a coke, kit-kat, and a pint of cookies and cream ice cream. he laughed as i dropped all of the snacks onto the counter and gave the cashier a $20 bill, as he got gum, a slushee, and eye drops. as the lady bagged our items, he told her to keep the change. we walked out with him holding the bags and me opening the door and unlocking the doors as we both got into his lexus.
"i don't know why i'm so hungry. i usually don't eat this much." i said ashamed while opening my bag of chips. he just laughed as he began to exit out of 7-eleven's parking lot.
"when you get high, you can get the munchies. munchies is when you get really hungry and crave for food mostly snacks but you can eat meals too." he said and the information slowly processed into my brain as i munched loudly on my snacks. he gave me a quick glance and laughed again.
"why are you laughing at me?" i ask completely clueless.
"because you're exactly everything i ever wanted and you've never changed over these past years i have admired you." he said and all i can think of was 'oh... so he in love love.' i turned on his radio and my favorite song better by khalid played. and it was like i can hear every beat and instrument and backup vocals playing in the song.
it was only 9 pm and he asked if i needed to go home and i said no since my parents know i usually get home late by bus which angered him a little.
"you're no longer allowed to catch the bus anymore. i will pick you up and drop you off. okay?" he asked as he gripped my thigh and i shakily replied.
"o-okay"
"okay good." and he drove towards the lookout of the entire city.
"why are we here?" i asked.
"you're still high and i just wanna take you home when you're able to walk properly." and i just nodded deciding he was right since my parents would be pissed if they knew i did marijuana.
i munched on my snacks as haechan posted a quick pic of the view from his car and his caption was "nothing feels better than this" since it was the song that was playing and then he posted it on his ig story.
when i finished all of my snacks, i faced the other way to let out a long and loud burp. instead of him being disgusted all he said was "okay first of all, wow that was impressive and second of all i don't know why you're facing the other way, i need some of that talented burp." and began to fan the air towards his face and i laughed out loud as i stopped him from smelling my dinner.
"oh here" he said as he passed me eye drops. i accepted them and began to drop them into my eyes. "do you have perfume by any chance?" he asked me and i nodded my head. "good, spray yourself with that." and i did as told as we began to take our leave from the lookout and back to my neighborhood which is the same neighborhood that he lives in.
we drove into my driveway and i didnt want to leave his car. "as much as i want you to stay with me y/n, you have to go home to your parents or else they will call 911 on your ass." and i nodded my head since he's always right.
"you're right" i said with a sad sigh yet i couldn't help the growing smile on my face as i thought about what i did today with him. "thank you for today. i'm very grateful and i hope we can do this again."
"sure we can do this tomorrow." he said calmly.
"omg are you serious?" i said and he nodded for me to smother him in kisses all over his face.
"thank you! thank you! thank you!" i said and gave him one last kiss on his soft lips, it was similar to the one on the roof except this one was given in a relief type of way. as we pulled away, we were bith breathless.
"i am so whipped for you." and i just giggled before grabbing my things and exiting the car.
"thank you again and get home safely!" i said.
"my house is down the street, i think the worst thing that can happen to me is a speed bump." he said cockily and i just rolled my eyes.
"i don't care just be safe." and he just nodded and smiled.
"okay, okay, go wash up and shower. dont forget to dm me your number before you sleep. okay?"
"okay" i say and smile before biting my bottom lip.
"oh don't do that before i'm about to leave. leaving you is hard enough already." i laugh once again before sending him off for real this time.
"bye haechan"
"okay bye." he said before putting the car into drive and i began to walk up my steps until he honked. "see you tomorrow babes!"
and just like that my heart was stolen.
my parents were in their rooms so i quietly showered and laid in my bed as i texted haechan my number.
he sent me a good night text since it was 11 pm and we both had a busy schedule and i couldn't wait to have our weed date again.
and that's the funny yet fluffy story of how y/n and haechan became the good couple/bad couple.
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