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fanficimagery · 3 years

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They’re So Not Holograms.

Imagine being expelled from school so your uncle Ray offers to take you in and offers you a chance to start over. You accept and you're in for one heck of a story when you realize you're not the only occupant of the Molina garage.

Words: 10K Warnings: This is my first work for JatP, so I apologize in advance for the OOCness of them all. I had no idea what was going to make the final edit, so yeah.. this is not my best work. Be warned that there's mention of an incident that involves a straight guy not taking no for an answer from a lesbian girl. I won't go into detail of that particular scene since it happened before Y/N shows up on the Molina's front doorstep, but it is mentioned which is why I'm warning you now.

Staring up at the large two story home you usually visit every summer and every spring break, you can't help but sigh and wish you were visiting rather than moving in. You love your uncle and your cousins, but you were forced to leave a lot behind in order for your parents to keep their jobs and their mostly in-tact reputations after your little incident.

The front door opens, the shortest and youngest of the bunch jogging straight for you. You drop your duffel bag and prep yourself for Carlos throwing his weight at you, and you catch him with a laugh as you spin from the momentum. "Carlos! Dang, little man, you're growing fast." Julie walks up soon after, shaking her head in amusement at the two of you as you settle her little brother back on the ground and then ruffle his hair. He swats at your hand before you give Julie your attention then. "Hey, superstar. How's it hanging?"

"Hey, Y/N," she muses, "was the drive okay?"

"Eh. I angry karaoke'd all the way here." You shrug. "So where's uncle Ray?"

"Upstairs trying to figure out how to divide Julie's room for the two of you," Carlos says.

Your smile falls and you look at Julie. "What? He's making us share?"

"Yeah. It's totally fine though," she says when she notices your expression.

"No way, Jules! I can't put you out like that. That's not fair."

"It's fine, Y/N. Really."

"Julie, we're both teenage girls. I love you, but you know our hormones will eventually make us clash."

"And on that note, I'm going back inside."

You grin at Carlos' hasty escape, but then quickly refocus on the situation at hand. "God Jules, I'm so sorry. I thought uncle Ray would put me in the spare room or on the living room couch or something."

"Well the spare room was originally the plan," she says, "but then we remembered all of mom's stuff was in there." You cringe, but she assures you it's okay. "And you're going to be here for a while. You are not sleeping on the couch."

You sigh and offer her a faint smile. "I'm sorry to be an even bigger pain in the butt, but I'm not staying in your room either."

"It's either my room or Carlos' room. I suggest you choose wisely, cousin."

"I-"

"Y/N!" Your uncle Ray suddenly appears in the doorway, walking down the sidewalk towards you. "Carlos told me you had gotten in. How are you doing, mija?" He wraps you in a brief hug, kissing your forehead in greeting.

"Hey, uncle Ray. I'm doing good. How are you?"

"I'd be better if I knew where you were gonna sleep." He sighs. "Carlos also told me we have a bedroom dilemma as you refuse to share with Julie."

"I'm really sorry." You frown. "If I were only staying here for a few weeks, I'd be stoked to share with Julie. But it's not a couple of weeks, uncle Ray."

"I know and I'm sorry for trying to shove two teenage girls into one space." You smile sheepishly at him as he seems to understand your reasoning as well. "But the only other space I can think of is the studio garage out back." You seem to perk up a bit, attention solely focused on your uncle that you don't notice Julie's eyes widening. "Julie uses it to practice with her band, but there's a loft that we've recently cleaned out. There's a bathroom in there already, so all I'd need to do is drag a mattress up there. That is if you don't mind all the musical racket."

"Y-yeah. Of course! I don't mind at all." You say, feeling just an ounce of excitement of having your own space.

"What? No," Julie laughs nervously. "I'm sure Y/N doesn't want to live in our garage all on her own. Right?"

"What? Are you kidding me?" You huff. "It'd be like having my own mini apartment, only my favorite cousin in the entire world gets to visit everyday!"

Julie looks like she wants to object some more, which is surprising, but she eventually slumps and shakes her head. "Okay. Just as long as you're sure."

"Of course I'm sure."

"Then I'll go move stuff around. Give me your duffel bag," she holds her hand out for you to pick up your bag and hand it over, "and I'll take it out back. You go inside and help dad bring the mattress out."

"Sounds like a plan." Feeling better about your situation now, you quickly hand your cousin your duffel bag and then follow after your uncle Ray inside their home.

Julie sighs, shaking her head in amusement as she catches the pep in Y/N's step. As soon as the front door is shut, she quickly runs around the house, down the stone steps, and into the studio garage where the boys are chilling. They, however, jump up to their feet upon seeing Julie's hasty entrance.

"Okay so we have a problem."

"What? What is it? Did your not dad not take the ghost secret well?" Reggie asks, whining. "Aw man. I knew we should have waited. Does he hate us now? He hates me. Right?"

Julie's eyes, having widened at Reggie's rapid fire questions, blink owlishly at him. "One, slow down. And two, no I haven't told my dad. I can't seem to find the right time."

"Okay then," Luke drawls. "So what's the problem?"

"My cousin got expelled from her school so my dad offered to let her move in and she's going to be living in the loft. In here. With you guys."

Alex slowly leans atop the piano, clearly intrigued. "Whoa. What'd she do?"

Julie opens her mouth to answer, but then closes it and settles for a shrug. "I'm not sure. Dad wouldn't tell us when we asked. He just said there was an incident and if Y/N didn't move in with us, then her parents would have to relocate and she already had a rocky relationship with them so.." she says, smiling fondly. "She's better suited for our family anyway. She's more like a sister to me than a cousin."

Reggie raises his hand as if he needs to, to ask a simple question. "Is this cousin of yours hot?" Alex is immediate to reach over and smack his friend. "Ow! What?" He wonders as he rubs his arm. "I'm just asking what me and Luke are thinking."

"Hey, bro, do not bring me into this!" Luke quickly defends himself. He then glances at Julie, lips stretching into a small smile. "You gonna tell her about us?"

"I'm going to have to, aren't I? I can't exactly leave her in the dark while you three are lurking about. I don't want her to do something she doesn't want anyone else to see."

Reggie nods, smiling. "Like getting naked."

Alex moves to hit his friend again, but then realizes Reggie is right. If he were in Julie's cousin's shoes, he wouldn't want to strip while three ghosts watched on unknowingly. Instead he sighs and Julie nods in agreement. "Exactly. I'm going to tell her. I just- I'm not sure when. So until I do, you three need to be on your best behavior."

"Jules," Luke feigns being hurt as he clutches at his chest, "it's us you're talking about. When have we ever misbehaved?" Julie huffs, crosses her arms over her chest, and raises an eyebrow at Luke. His façade cracks as he laughs. "Fine. We'll be on our best behavior until you tell her about her roommates."

"Thank you." She rolls her eyes, but before she can say any more Carlos is jogging into the room.

"Okay so Y/N and dad are almost here. Tell your ghostly dude-bros to chillax and not scare her like Reggie did tía Victoria."

Reggie squawks. "You scare an adult one time and he never lets you forget it."

Julie chuckles at her ghostly friend while her brother glances around in hopes of seeing them. Ever since Julie freed them from Caleb Covington's curse and was able to finally touch them, they had the choice of turning visible whenever they felt like it. But for some reason, they were more comfortable as ghosts and only turned solid when they got the desire to eat food.

The garage door suddenly opens wide and Ray walks in, one end of the mattress settled on the back of his neck. Y/N is on the other end, struggling slightly with the mattress in her hands.

"I am not meant for physical activity."

Carlos giggles at his cousin's words, jogging over to help her. But when they get to the steep stairs, both Y/N and Carlos leave it up to Ray to figure out how he's going to get the mattress up into the loft. He does, eventually, and then Ray drags Carlos back towards the house with him to retrieve sheets, pillows, and a blanket.

"Oh my god. She is cute!" Reggie muses.

Alex chuckles, but Luke is caught staring at Y/N with awe etched into his features. Alex nudges Reggie and gestures to their friend, and Julie tries her best to fight off a grin. Oh to be able to tease him right about now on having a crush on Y/N as he did to her with Nick that one time while she was in school.

"Listen," Y/N says as she nears Julie. "I know this was tía Rose's place and I know how much it means to you." Julie smiles sadly as Y/N starts to walk around, eyeing the piano, drums, bass, and guitar appreciatively. The boys make sure to stay out of her way as they watch her every move. "I promise to keep my place nice and tidy, and to not mess with anything down here." She goes to touch the drum set, but thinks better of it and pulls her hand back as she smiles sheepishly.

Alex is quick to point it out. "I like her! She knows boundaries."

"Just say the word and I'll be out of your way when you're here with the band."

"It's no problem. Really," Julie assures you. "I, uh, I already called the boys to let them know. They're excited to meet you."

You pause and meet your cousin's eyes. "Really? I-I mean cool."

Julie's eyes narrow at your reaction and the way you can't seem to meet her eyes. "You think they're cute, don't you?"

You cave with a relieved sigh of her automatically knowing. "So cute." Alex rolls his eyes with an amused smile as Reggie and Luke high five, chuckling at their good fortune. "But boundaries! They are your bandmates and I won't interfere other than offering my friendship. Heck I won't even let it be known that I find them cute."

Julie chuckles, angling her head down as she tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "It's a little too late for that."

"Hmm? What did you say?"

Her head snaps up. "Nothing! Nothing," her chuckles now sound a little nervous. "So, uh, is there anything else we need to get from your car?"

"Oh yeah! I have some stuff that needs to come in." As Julie joins her cousin's side, Y/N asks, "Is there any place I can set up my laptop and printer?"

"Of course. Come on. Let's get you set up. I'm sure you're ready to get some sleep."

"So ready," you groan. "I don't have much to unpack, but I want to settle in before I start school on Monday."

As the two girl cousins walk out of the studio, the three ghostly boys watch them leave.

"Oh yeah. She's definitely hot."

"Hey. Come on, dude." Luke softly swats at Reggie. "That's Julie's cousin you're talking about."

"What? I'm just stating facts," Reggie says. "And besides it's you we should be worried about." He steps towards Luke, reaching for his face. "I think I still see a bit of drool. You might wanna wipe that off."

Alex laughs as Luke rolls his eyes. "Whatever. We're ghosts anyway. It's not like anything can happen between us."

"Can't it?" Alex muses, shoving his hands deep into his front pockets. "I mean we can turn solid now. If you want something to happen, it can definitely happen." Reggie smirks as Luke takes a moment to process his friend's words. "And while you think on that, I'm gonna go see what Willie's up to. See you later!"

Alex poofs out of the room, leaving Reggie and Luke. Reggie laughs at his friend's sudden ghostly crisis, stepping closer to him and clasping his shoulder in hand. "Dude, we're ghosts. If something happens, it happens. Just don't get attached." And with that, Reggie poofs out too.

Luke hears Julie and her cousin's laughter ring out, the two girls already coming back. His eyes widen and he poofs out as well. The girl was cute, he will admit that, but he needed to get his head on straight before he became a pining ghost.

You spend the weekend with Julie, surprising her best friend Flynn with your new living situation and then driving them around since neither of them had their driving permit. The girls had kept you busy at the beach and showing you their favorite food places. Sometimes you would catch your cousin mumbling to thin air, but Flynn was quick to distract you and you ended up forgetting Julie's weird behavior minutes later.

Monday morning rolls around and, after taking your time to get ready, you grab your backpack and exit the studio to head inside the house. Uncle Ray has cooked up a breakfast feast, and Julie and Carlos are just coming down the stairs as you're taking a seat at the table.

You smile through a yawn as a plate is placed in front of you. "Whoa. That was a big one," uncle Ray says. "Did you sleep well?"

"Sorry. And yeah," you say. "I love it out there, although it is a bit colder than I expected."

Julie freezes as Carlos snorts. "Sorry about that. It's just our resident ghosts. Ow!"

You frown as he glares at his sister, said sister laughing nervously as she glances between you and Carlos. "Don't listen to him. Ghosts? Pft. What ghosts?"

Ray chuckles as Carlos rolls his eyes, the young boy digging into his eggs and sausage as Julie quickly casts him a brief glare.

You glance between the siblings suspiciously, but don't give it much thought and start in on your own breakfast. "Well if you need a portable heater, we can get you one."

Carlos opens his mouth to retort, but upon seeing his sister's stare he thinks better about it. You fight off a smile, shaking your head at your uncle. "It's fine. I usually kick my blanket off in the middle of the night which is why I get cold when a gust of cool air hits me. I just need to learn not to kick off the blankets. I'll be fine."

"Alright. Well eat up, guys. I need to head into the office as soon as I drop you off."

Carlos nods, but you and Julie frown at him. She looks at you and you look at her, and then you look at your uncle. "Um, uncle Ray, did you forget I drive? I can take Carlos with Julie and I. We were going to pick up Flynn as well."

"Huh. I forgot you drove." You grin up at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. From what I saw, Carlos' school campus is on our way to the high school. It'll be fine."

Uncle Ray seems to sag with relief. "Thanks so much, mija. I can actually head in early today then." Carlos cheers about riding with his cousin instead of being dropped off by his dad. "Well if you're all set, I'll see you guys after school. We'll go out for burgers tonight."

This time it's your turn to cheer. "Yes!"

- - - - - - - - - -

The first day of school went about as expected. Everyone was drawn to you as the new girl and Flynn thrived under the attention, but you mostly kept to yourself unless Julie introduced you to someone. You met Nick and thought he was okay, and then hid your amusement when Flynn would tease Julie about him breaking up with his girlfriend Carrie for her.

Of course not everyone was a fan of your cousin and you met the one person who seemed to dislike her the most. You knew Carrie from previous summers, but she and Julie had a falling out and no one would mention why. Not even Flynn. So figuring it was none of your business, you let it go but ended up staring Carrie down when she tried to intimidate you. Needless to say, the junior had nothing on you and didn't seem keen to start anything with a senior after your feathers didn't ruffle as easily as she thought.

Julie had more homework than you, so while she focused inside the house at the kitchen table, you went to the studio and up into your loft. The second you plop down onto the bed, a cold gust of wind sweeps up your back. You shiver, frowning, but then move on with a shake of your head.

From your backpack you pull out your Algebra II and History textbooks. You immediately start working on history, reading the assigned passages and answering the questions that follow. It takes you half an hour to complete it and before you move on to Math you reach over and grab your laptop from the bedside table. However when you open it up, your laptop automatically comes to life and you're left frowning at the YouTube page it's been left on.

"What the.. this is weird," you mumble. You briefly glance at the top Rock songs from the last decade before exiting out of YouTube and bringing up iTunes, choosing your Math Blows playlist and closing your eyes in brief bliss as Queen starts to play.

But the moment Bohemian Rhapsody ends and Aerosmith's Dude (Looks Like a Lady) begins, you get started on Math. It takes you a little bit longer to complete the assignment than History took you, but by the time you're done Julie has yet to find you. So after putting everything back into your backpack and setting it aside, you roll across your bed and reach into a hard plastic tote that holds some of your belongings. You pull out your drawing tablet and a stack of stickers, and then head on downstairs to the couch.

Drawing caricatures was a hobby of yours and you just so happened to have a friend who would take your edits and turn them into stickers. For now you have about five stickers of each member of your cousin's band- caricature style- and the name of whatever instrument they played curved underneath their faces. Lately you've been working on a sticker that said 'Julie and the Phantoms', but you couldn't get the font or coloring quite right.

You've just settled on coloring Julie's name in a purple that transitions into blue from one end to the other when said girl walks in, sodas in hand. "Finally," she sighs. "I didn't think I'd ever finish that homework. What are you doing?" She then asks as she hands over a Coke.

"I'm just messing around," you tell her as you show her what's on the tablet. "There's a small stack of stickers for you and the boys right there."

Julie glances at the table where you've gestured to and she walks over to pick up the stickers. She sets her soda down and skims through each sticker, a smile blossoming. "Did you- did you make these?"

You shrug. "I drew them, but my friend printed them. As soon as I finish this one I'm working on right now, I'm gonna email it to him so he'll make them into stickers as well."

Your cousin is so in awe that she's not paying you any attention, but you catch her murmuring beneath her breath and nodding along as if she were agreeing with something being said. She eventually looks up, chuckling. "These are sick. The boys are going to love them."

You smile. "I hope so. If you want more, just let me know. They're pretty cheap to make so I don't mind getting them for you guys."

"Can I- can I make a suggestion to the one you're working on now?"

"Oh. Yeah! Of course. What'd you have in mind?"

"Under the band name or wherever you think is good, can you add the words 'tell your friends!'?" She asks. "It's just something silly Reggie says every time the band is introduced."

"Yeah." You glance down at the tablet, trying to figure out the best placement. But then you look up, brow furrowed in thought. "Is this something only Reggie says?"

"Uh yeah. I guess so," she says, shaking her head at something off to her side.

You grin. "I have an idea. Let me try something out and see if you like it. Give me like ten minutes."

Julie sets the stickers back down, picking up her soda and cracking it open. You crack open yours as well, taking a sip before getting down to work. You make the sticker you originally had a little bit smaller, adding in a caricature of a waving Reggie from the waist up peeking out from behind the font. You add a speech bubble, filling it in with the requested 'Tell your friends!'.

When Julie sees it she can't help but laugh. "That's perfect. I'm sure he's gonna be stoked."

"Speaking of, when do I get to meet these hot friends of yours?"

Julie groans and you laugh as you finish coloring and resizing the sticker before sending it off to your friend to print. Closing your tablet, you give her your full attention as she's now sitting next to you on the couch. "Soon," she promises.

"Alright. So what are we doing until your dad gets home? You gonna sing for me, Jules? Give me my own private concert?"

She laughs. "No way. Just watch the Youtube videos. I'm sure Carlos posted every performance."

"Oh he did. And believe me when I say I've watched them. Repeatedly. That guitarist of yours has got some arms that are just- mmm." Julie groans some more, hiding her face in a pillow, and you laugh. "What? I need to get it out of my system before I meet them."

Julie lets the pillow fall into her lap, a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. "All I'm gonna say is don't be surprised if they know what you've said. They kind of have a sixth sense about these things."

"It's all good." You laugh some more.

You go to ask her if she wants to torment her little brother with you, but you see her amusement slowly die and you keep yourself from saying anything. "Hey Y/N, can I ask you something? You totally don't have to answer, but I'm really curious about it."

"Oh. Uh, sure."

"What happened at your old school that ended with you being expelled?"

Your smile falls. "Uncle Ray didn't tell you?"

"Not really. He just said there was a disagreement and a.. protest?"

You snort. It takes you a moment to collect your thoughts, but when you do you end up telling her exactly what happened. "I had this friend back at my old school. She's gay, but only those close to her knew. What it boiled down to was that some asshole found out and outed her to our entire school. Then this boy took things too far by, in his words, giving her what she was missing out on and trying to turn her straight." You roll your eyes, not noticing Julie smiling sympathetically off to the side. "He shoved his tongue down her throat, she tried to push him off of her, but he wouldn't budge. So I beat the shit out of him."

Julie chokes on her own saliva. "W-what?" And then she laughs.

"Well I hit him across the back of the head with one of those hard plastic lunch trays. And then when that broke I used the heaviest textbook I could get my hands on and hit him a few more times."

"Oh my god," she grins. "You're such a badass."

You laugh at your cousin's look of awe. "There was like a week of back and forth between the school and that douchebag's parents, and it made everyone at school show their true colors. I was disgusted that the guy practically got off with a slap on the wrist for assaulting my friend, so I contacted a few friends to make some signs for a mini-protest in front of the school and it kind of got out of control. A few friends turned into thirty and I think there were even a few drag queens in there. They had signs and Pride flags and it- it got pretty scary for a second when a fight almost broke out."

"I repeat," Julie smirks, "you're a badass."

"I was expelled because my protest drew in adult strangers to where many minor children attend school, but the expulsion wouldn't have mattered anyway because I had a restraining order slapped against me by that douchebag's parents and would have had to leave anyway."

"Screw them," Julie says. "That's so messed up."

"It is, but it worked out in my favor. I got out of my parents house and now get to spend the rest of my last year of high school with you."

"And your 18th birthday. You can't forget that," she muses. "It's only a few months away."

Your nose wrinkles. "No parties."

"But it's New Year's! Of course we're having a party," she gushes. "Your birthday is a rare one. Instead of blowing out a candle at midnight, you get to make out with someone."

Laughing, you reach over to nudge her. "You're something else, Jules. I don't know how you have your dad fooled about being so sweet and innocent." She giggles, batting her eyelashes at you. "Now come on. Lets go torment Carlos. It's been about a year since I've sat on him and made him listen to Barbie Girl on a loop."

You stand up, Julie laughing as you offer her a hand and pull her up off the couch.

By the end of your first week with the Molinas, you've settled into a routine that you're comfortable with. You had noticed Julie got a little squirrely whenever you mentioned the boys, so you dropped the subject of meeting them and figured it'd happen when the timing was right. Julie's tía Victoria was happy to have you around the family, she noticing a lightness around the house that she hadn't seen since her sister had passed.

Life with your cousins was going spectacularly well, so of course there had to be a bump in the road. And a major one at that.

You're sleeping when cold air suddenly seeps into your back, making you shiver and wake up briefly. You find your blanket and pull up over your shoulders, turning around in the process and.. rolling into something- er, someone solid. You're fully awake now.

"Ahh!" You scream.

The figure in bed with you jolts, screaming as well. "Ahh!"

"Who the hell are you?!" You move to punch at them, only for them to disappear right before your very eyes. You freeze as your heart drops into your stomach, your eyes blowing wide when he reappears at the foot of your bed. "What the- how did-"

Another figure pops in, grabbing the first by his ear. "Dude, not cool!"

Your sudden fear has you frozen and only capable of glancing between the two figures. Semi-slicked hair, leather jacket, flannel wrapped around his waist.. "R-Reggie?" You wonder aloud in confusion.

Both boys glance at you, the shaggy hair and killer arms in a cut off tee letting you know exactly who he was. You hold your blanket tighter to you, heart thumping wildly. Reggie grimaces in pain as he finally pulls free from Luke's hold. "Hiya. Sorry about waking you and all that. I totally should have asked before taking up the other side of your bed."

Luke shakes his head. "When Jules finds out she's going to kick your butt, man. We were supposed to ease her into the whole ghost business."

"G-ghost?"

Another figure pops in, the blonde sighing and shaking his head in disappointment at his friends. Alex. "I woke Julie. She'll be down here soon." Then he glances at you, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry about all this. Reggie and Luke are idiots."

"Can you blame me?" Reggie whines. "Y/N's bed is really comfortable. And I actually thought she'd just roll through me. I didn't know I'd gone solid. It was unintentional."

"Um," you gulp. "H-how would you know my bed was comfortable?" Reggie freezes and then suddenly looks very interested in the ceiling, and your eyes narrow at him. You sit up a little straighter, staring at Luke, but he too averts his gaze when he notices you're staring at him.

Alex is the only one amused and he meets your gaze with a smile. "These two idiots like to nap in your bed when you're in school."

"WHAT!?" The two guilty ghosts poof out, making you flinch as you suddenly remember they're not exactly normal boys.

"I told them it was going to bite them in the butts. I guess they hadn't counted on it being so soon." You blink owlishly at him, unsure of what to say now. After all, HE'S A GHOST! Alex notices your stare and sighs. "Well if you'd like to get dressed or whatever, Julie should be here any second now. We'll explain things then."

Alex poofs out and you're left staring at nothing but air. Your heart is still wildly thumping and there are only three words running through your mind: what.. the.. fuck.

After what seems like several long minutes, but really it was only about a minute after the boys had left you alone, the studio door opens and a frantic Julie rushes in. At the sound of her panicked voice, you throw off your blanket and scramble down the stairs.

Julie stares at you in shock, still in her own pajamas, before her gaze falls towards your legs and then back up to your own gaze. "Uh, Y/N? You forgetting something?" You glance down, frowning and wondering what she's talking about. "Pants, loser. You forgot pants."

"Yeah? And you forgot to tell me that ghosts are real!" She sighs as you stare her down, but then you subtly glance around for a pair of pants or shorts or something. Black sweats hit your shoulder and you meet Alex's sheepish gaze. Hesitantly smiling at him, you quickly step into them and drag them up your legs. "If they've been in here this whole time it's nothing they haven't seen before."

Reggie giggles and Alex shakes his head at friend. Luke, however, can't seem to look in your direction and there's a telltale flush on his cheeks. Huh, that's odd.

"I'm really sorry," Julie says. "I was going to tell you, but it was never the right time."

"Jules, the right time would have been when uncle Ray gave me permission to sleep out here."

She frowns guiltily at you and you know you're not really upset with her. The adrenaline of bumping into someone in your bed was still rushing through your veins which is why you seem a bit cranky. "If it'll help we can explain everything now?"

"Might as well," you sigh. "I don't think I'll be able to fall back asleep." You shuffle over towards the couch, eyeing each boy on the way. Sitting down, you drag a pillow into your lap and hug it. "So.. what the hell is going on?"

Your cousin and the boys glance at one another, Reggie and Luke subtly shaking their heads. Alex rolls his eyes and steps forward to stand with Julie. It looked like they were going to be the ones to explain.

"Okay, so," Alex says. "Luke, Reggie, and I died twenty five years ago."

Immediately your hand raises and Alex falls silent. "Quick question. If you guys are supposedly ghosts, then why was I able to actually feel Reggie?"

"That part comes in later. Just please listen," Julie pleads.

You nod, gesturing for them to continue then. Alex flashes you a small smile. "So we died-"

"Death by hotdog," Reggie sadly muses.

Luke nods along. "I'll never look at another hotdog the same way again."

You can't help but snort, especially when Alex and Julie roll their eyes at the interruption. "Anyway, as I was saying," Alex says, raising his voice a little higher, "we died. We ended up in this dark room for what felt like an hour and then got spit out here in Julie's garage when she played one of our demo CD's."

"Only it wasn't an hour later," Julie says next. "It was twenty five years later." You shake your head in utter amazement. "At first I was the only one able to see them. Then when I had a performance at school and the boys performed behind me in solidarity, they could- they could be seen! The entire school could see them, but then as soon as the performance was over they poofed out."

"Hence the phantom part of the band name," you mumble.

"We let everyone believe we're holograms," Alex says. "Anyway, we used to be a band of four before we died. Sunset Curve. The only one to survive went on and skyrocketed to fame with songs that Luke wrote."

"He didn't!?" Your eyes widen. You glance at Luke to see him frowning. "What a dick thing to do."

The boys all snort, but a moment later Alex continues to tell their story. "We were pissed and ended up being introduced to this ghost who was supposed to help us get revenge on our ex-band mate. Only this ghost was old and powerful and wanted us to join his ghostly club house band."

"And when he noticed we weren't going to join him, he stamped us with a curse," Luke finally speaks up. "The longer we were away from his club, we got hit with these painful jolts. They started to become more frequent and would have eventually destroyed our souls."

"But our girl Julie," Reggie muses, "cried her big heart out and, we're not sure exactly how, was able to touch us. Her touch made us feel stronger, warmer, and it disappeared the stamps off our wrists."

"And now I have three ghostly brothers who can go corporeal whenever they feel like it," Julie says as she hooks her arm through Alex's. You grin at her. "I really am sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

You wave her off. "At least the truth came out before I was in a rush to go somewhere and whipped off my shirt. I'd have hated to traumatize the boys."

"Oh please traumatize me." The words are mumbled, but still heard by everyone. Every gaze darts to, surprisingly, Luke and his eyes widen as cheeks redden. "Did I- did I say that out loud?"

Reggie snorts. "You did."

"Well I- I didn't mean-" Luke rubs at the back of his neck, falling silent and then poofing out.

The second Luke is gone, everyone bursts into laughter. You laugh so much that tears gather in the corner of your eyes and Julie is hanging off of Alex's arm. Reggie is the first to recover and mentions going to check on his boy, and then it was just Alex with you and Julie.

You eventually stand up, intent on doing something now that you've had this big secret dropped into your lap, when Alex takes a step in your direction. He pauses and you quirk an eyebrow at him. "Can I just say thanks for being so cool about this? I mean you could have ran inside the house and alerted everyone like Julie first did-"

"Hey! Not cool." Said girl pouts, swatting Alex with the back of her hand.

"-but you didn't. Sure you freaked, but I would too if I woke up next to Reggie."

You chuckle softly. "You guys are just lucky I hate physical activity and loathe running." Alex grins at you. "Plus I guess your secret is pretty cool. I'm okay living with ghosts so long as no ghosts occupy my bed while I'm still in it."

"Noted. I'll be sure to let the boys know."

"Thanks." As soon as Alex poofs out, your chill façade drops. "Oh my god, Julie!" You hiss. "They're ghosts!"

Her smile falters. "Uh, yeah."

"They're ghosts who heard me talking about how cute they were and about Luke's arms!"

"Oh yeah." She chuckles. "Well if it's any consolation, Luke is clearly into you. He totally wants you to traumatize him with your boobs."

"It's not funny!"

She fights to contain her amusement. "It kind of is."

"Ugh. Julie," you groan. "This is so embarrassing."

"Relax. They'll probably poke fun for a few days before letting it slide. Just give them a chance, Y/N. They're really cool guys."

"God I hope you're right."

Now that the secret is out, the boys are corporeal more often than not inside the studio. Reggie and Luke take pleasure in teasing you, the two of them bringing up stuff you said about them when they were invisible or drawing attention to Luke's arms or Luke somehow suddenly needing to change to his shirt while in your presence. You made promises to get him back- to which Alex couldn't wait for to see what you came up with- but you've yet to fulfill that promise because there were more pressing matters at hand.

You're more than okay with keeping their secret, but it's only a matter of time before uncle Ray catches them. They like interacting with you, Flynn, and Carlos so they're visible quite a lot, but anytime uncle Ray nears it's a race to clean up any evidence of their presence and then poof out. You manage to convince Julie to tell her dad with promises that you'd be by her side the entire time, so she does. It had seemed uncle Ray was moments away from asking if she needed to see her therapist again when Reggie poofed in, followed by the other two boys who slapped him upside the head for doing so. Needless to say, Ray was shocked to his core but accepted the boys after seeing them interact with his two children and yourself. However, it was agreed by all that tía Victoria could not know the secret.

One day you had gone shopping for a couple new outfits with the girls and figured it was now or never to get Luke back. Sure they had seen you in an overly large shirt and boy short underwear, but they'd never seen you in proper lingerie. And when Flynn and Julie had caught on, they helped you choose the most daring piece of underwear to stun the ghost boy from the 90's.

When you get back to the studio, Julie pokes her head in first since she was the only one capable of seeing them when they were invisible. "Alex, where's Luke and Reggie?"

"They mentioned going down to the beach. Why?"

You and Flynn stumble in then, giggling. "It's payback time, my favorite ghostie. Your boy is not gonna know what hit him."

Alex's eyes light up. "Yes. What did you have in mind?"

"Two words," Flynn says. "Victoria's Secret."

"Oh no. You're gonna kill him all over again."

You mockingly glare at him. "He caught me ogling his v-line, Alex! He deserves to see exactly what I'm working with and not be able to touch."

He grins. "Can I see what you chose?"

"Duh. I need you to choose which set is going to make him lose his mind."

Walking over towards Alex, you set the bags down and sit on the couch beside him. Julie and Flynn sit on the armrests, eagerly waiting for you to dig out your purchases. And when you do, Alex's eyes widen before he bursts into laughter.

There are three identical sets of bras, panties, and garter belts in the colors of black, navy blue, and emerald green. You giggle as Alex takes choosing seriously, he picking up an article in each color and holding it to your arm. He hums in thought.

"In my opinion the blue suits your skin tone best, but I'd still go with the green."

You take it, carefully cutting tags off. "And this is why I love you. You're the best."

"Mhm. So how do you plan to have him see you in this?"

"I actually have an interview with the people uncle Ray works with in two days. I might not be able to take pictures, but I am good with all the technology stuff," you say. "I can pretend the straps to the belt are aggravating me and walk out to ask for your help."

Alex giggles. "You're evil."

"He started it." You shrug. "And besides, lingerie is such a confidence booster. You guys have no idea," you chuckle.

And then two days later you finally put your plan into motion. Flynn was bummed she couldn't be there, but Julie managed to be in the studio for your surprise after having pulled Luke into an impromptu writing session. Reggie, after having been given permission to use your laptop whenever he wanted, was watching Youtube videos, and Alex was flipping through a magazine not too far from his friend where he constantly glanced at the bathroom door rather anxiously.

Not too long after you enter the bathroom in a rush, you having screeched about being behind schedule for your meeting on the way in there, you start making a racket and cursing just loud enough to be heard outside the door. Outside, Alex does his best to fight off a grin.

Inside the bathroom, you've slipped into the emerald green lingerie, black garter belt, and black stockings. Both bra and panties are lace, giving the illusion of being sheer, but your important bits are still covered which is why you're more than okay walking out in this particular set. You spritz some body spray over your cleavage and abdomen, grinning when you see yourself sparkling as you move, and then quickly clip your garter belt to the tops of your stockings. However, for the clips in the back, you purposely twist the straps when you clip them on.

You curse some more to make everyone outside believe you're having some sort of problem, groaning for good measure, and then crack open the bathroom door to stick your head out. "Hey Jules, can you give me a hand?" You ask, already knowing what she's going to say.

"Mmm," she mumbles distractedly, writing in her notebook.

Luke glances between you and Julie, Reggie has clearly paused his video to see what's going on, and Alex takes his cue. "I can help," he calls out as he tosses his magazine aside. "What do you need?"

You frown at your cousin when she purposely doesn't look at you before looking at Alex, inhaling deeply before you straighten up and open the door wider. Given his position, Reggie is the first to take notice of your outfit and whimpers. Audibly. Julie and Luke look up then, Julie hiding her smile and Luke's eyes widening as his jaw drops open in shock.

"I'll do it! I can help you," Reggie blurts, cheeks red. He gulps. "What exactly is it you need help with?"

Walking towards Alex, you mockingly glare at Reggie and then ruffle his hair on your way to his blonde friend. You stop in front of him, turning around and then glancing over your shoulder at him. "The garter belt," you say. "I keep getting the straps twisted."

"On it." You see a smile threatening to break free as he immediately takes hold of the clasps and rights the wrong, and you turn around so you don't lose it yourself.

Only when you face forward, you can't help but snort at Reggie's awestruck expression and the fact that Luke is faring no better. But Luke is the one who seems to know almost immediately what you're playing at and his eyes narrow when his gaze finally meets your own. However, before he can call you out on your act, there's a distinct snap!, a brief stinging pain on the back of your thigh, and you whirl around on Alex.

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry," he laughs, immediately sitting back and out of range of your swatting swing. "I couldn't help myself."

You shake your head in amusement before making sure the strap isn't twisted anymore and then make your way back towards the bathroom. It's oddly quiet as you finish getting dressed behind the bathroom door, and then exit in a cream-colored blouse tucked inside a black pencil skirt. Julie wolf whistles when you exit and you wrinkle your nose at her as you head towards your heels to slip your feet into.

Once your heels are on and you run your fingers through your hair to give it a very stylish, mussed look, you can't help but meet Luke's gaze. When you notice his slackened expression, you wink and finally allow yourself to laugh.

Red rushes to his cheeks as he narrows his eyes at you. "You're the devil."

"And don't you forget it," you immediately retort. "Keep it up, Patterson. I won't play fair and I promise my next look will drive you to take a cold shower." Alex finally loses the battle with his laughter, as does Julie, and Luke frowns at you. "Now that I've pranced around half naked, it's time I get to my interview. Wish me luck?"

"Luck!" Julie immediately shouts. As soon as Y/N disappears, there's a telltale beep and Julie lowers her phone. She glances between Luke and Reggie, shaking her head and chuckling. "God you straight boys are so easily distracted. Flynn's going to be so mad she missed this."

Luke points to where Y/N disappeared, stammering over his words before he finally gets proper hold of his thoughts. "She doesn't play fair!"

After what you would have called a successful interview, you went back to the studio where you found Luke all alone. You ended up calling a truce with him, but that ended up being a terrible decision on your part. Because interacting with a Luke who was as genuine as can be without the flirtatious behavior or teasing, well it turned out you found yourself liking the boy a little more than you should.

When Halloween came you found yourself dressing up alongside Flynn and Julie. Normally you'd have gone for something sexy, but after parading around half naked and knowing uncle Ray would not appreciate his underage daughter showing off too much skin, you settled for something that would make everyone laugh. You, Julie, and Flynn agreed to dress up as the boys, but you couldn't take their clothes until the day of. So when Halloween morning rolled around, Carlos and uncle Ray kept the boys busy while you and the girls raided their stash of clothes in the studio.

Julie took Alex's pink Champion hoodie and a snapback to shove down backwards atop her curls, Flynn wore Reggie's leather jacket atop a plain tee and wrapped a red flannel around her waist, and you took Luke's white Rush shirt with its cut off sleeves and a blue hoodie that also had it's sleeves cut off. You had giggled with each other when you all saw the final outcome and even took a few pictures to post to your personal Instagrams.

Then when the boys finally came in, it took them a moment to realize what they were seeing and it only clicked when you stepped forward and said, "Hey! We're Sunset Curve."

And then Flynn stepped forward, shooting finger guns at the boys. "Tell your friends."

Julie snorted and the boys burst into laughter, and then you took even more pictures with the boys- only when they were posted online you captioned them that you were the Phantoms from Julie and the Phantoms. Then when all was said and done, the six of you took Carlos trick-or-treating around the neighborhood while uncle Ray and tía Victoria cooked up a Halloween feast.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were emotional holidays for quite a few of you. The boys for obvious reasons- they being dead and not able to spend time with their loved ones- and you because while your parents could be more decent, you loved them all the same and wished the circumstances between you were different. But uncle Ray was understanding and made sure everyone had more than enough food and presents, and the night ended with everyone under the age of twenty falling asleep in the living room after admiring all their new belongings.

New Year's Eve rolls around and you're excited for two reasons- one being because of the fireworks that will no doubt go off at midnight and because at that exact same moment you'll be turning 18. Everyone expected you wanted a big party, but you surprised them all when you said all you wanted invited was everyone in the Molina household + studio, Flynn, and tía Victoria. You just wanted to have karaoke and a jam session, and some fireworks. You didn't want to make a big deal out of it.

The morning of New Year's Eve, you're woken up by Reggie bouncing on your mattress. But instead of being grouchy about it, you laugh and then yelp when Luke and Alex poof in to pop confetti poppers above you. You sit up, keeping the blanket across your lap as you shake your hair free of the shimmering mess.

"Happy birthday," Alex says, sitting down beside you and hugging you. "Ray said to be inside in twenty minutes. He's got a whole breakfast spread planned."

"Technically it's not my birthday yet, but thank you very much. I'll be inside as soon as possible."

Alex beams before Reggie takes his place, he leaning in and kissing your cheek with a loud smack. You giggle and accept his hug. "Happy birthday, my beautiful living friend. You don't look a day over 30."

You snort and then shove at his shoulder. "Shut up and get out. You don't get to be mean to the birthday girl."

"I thought it technically wasn't your birthday?" He winks at you. "Now hurry up. We can't eat until you do." And then with one last grin, Reggie poofs out.

Sighing happily, you stare up at Luke then. He grins as he readily lowers himself onto your mattress, laying on his stomach and keeping his expression directed at you. "Are you ready for tonight?"

"Am I ready to be a year older? Not really," you say. "But I am ready for some sparklers."

He chuckles. "Age is just a number, Y/N."

"Says the ghost who's forever 17," you mumble.

"Do you want me to find you a rancid hotdog? Because I will. Then the two of us will forever be 17."

"You're such an idiot." You can't stop grinning, especially when he mentions the way he died. It was terrible they died, but absolutely hilarious that it was death by hotdog for them. "I still don't understand how you didn't notice the weenie was bad. Rancid meat smells disgusting and you ate it!"

"In our defense we thought the smell was coming from the trash in the alley." You can only shake your head at him. "And we were still riding the rush of sound check inside the Orpheum."

"Your idiocy amazes me," you deadpan. "Now go on. I need to put on pants and brush my teeth. I'll meet you inside."

"Oh now you want to be all shy about walking around in your underwear." Luke playfully rolls his eyes. "Okay."

"You know what? I was being considerate so my near nudity didn't turn you into a stammering fool, but now I think I'll just do it." You grab your blanket to throw it off of you, but Luke quickly scrambles up and off your bed.

"Okay. Okay! I'll see you inside."

As soon as Luke poofs out, you grin to yourself like an idiot. The tension between the two of you was obvious from the beginning and it's still there even after you called a truce. You giddily get up and head on downstairs, making your way towards the bathroom to freshen up before heading inside. But as you're brushing your teeth, you realize you can't stop thinking about Luke. Which is kind of a bad thing. For you.

Everyone who has eyes can see the way Luke looks at you and the way you look at him, but given he's a ghost and you're very much alive you've agreed that nothing can happen between the two of you. Not just because of his ghostly status, but because of his status as Julie's bandmate- which is another problem they need a solution for but they won't worry about it until they have a record deal in their clutches. After then, they'll worry about revisiting the boys' family they had left behind when they died.

Quickly fixing your hair, you pull on a pair of leggings afterward and start making your way out of the studio. You sigh and come to the conclusion that for now you'd just enjoy the company of a cute ghost. You can totally get over the silly crush in no time.

- - - - - - - - - -

As you're getting ready for the night, you're surprised there's a knock on the floor of the loft right before Luke's head pops up by the stairs. "Is it okay if I come on up?"

"Yeah. Of course," you say. You grab your boots before sitting on the edge of your mattress, slipping your feet inside of them and start lacing up. Luke stands off to the side, a little sheepishly, and you grin at him. "Something up? You're too quiet."

"Yeah. No, I'm good." He chuckles a little nervously and then finally moves to take a seat next to you. When he's seated, you nudge him with your shoulder to get him to lighten up. "I just- we got you a present and I've been nominated to hand it over."

"A present? From who?"

"Well it was originally from Ray, Jules, and Carlos," he says, "but when us ghosties wanted to get you something too, it kind of turned into a joint gift from all of us." Luke reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small box. You quirk an eyebrow at him as he hands the it over and immediately lift the lid. You coo at the silver charm bracelet inside and then lift it to examine the charms. "Ray, Julie, and Carlos had the laptop, dahlia, and lightning bolt charms already on there, but then we went back to the mall and had a microphone, a guitar, a bass, and drum sticks added to it."

"This is perfect. Help me put it on?"

You manage to unclasp the bracelet to slip it onto your right wrist and then Luke is scooting even closer to you so he can clasp it correctly. When he does, you twist your wrist back and forth so the charms jingle and fall correctly in place. Then you glance up at the same time Luke does, noses inches apart, and it's like both your breathing ceases.

Both your gazes seem to dart down to each other's lips and then you're jerking back while shakily inhaling. "You're trouble, Luke Patterson."

He smirks. "Fun trouble. You should try me sometime."

You can't believe the nerve of this ghost, so you roll your eyes, grin, and then climb to your feet. "Whatever you say, ghost boy. Now let's go. Tía Victoria was making me menudo for my birthday dinner."

Everyone at the Molina household is exactly who you wanted there and you get a kick out of watching the ghost boys attempt the menudo, watching the way they freeze when it's explained what exactly is in the menudo. Alex and Luke had slowly swallowed what was in their mouth before proclaiming they were full, but Reggie shrugged it off and kept on eating.

Outside uncle Ray grilled up some burgers and hotdogs for those who weren't fans of the menudo, and Julie had brought out bags of sparklers. You, Flynn, and Alex wasted no time in sparking some sparklers up while Reggie, Luke, and Carlos grabbed ahold of some small cannons to shoot off into the quickly darkening sky.

Many laughs are had, running amok in the streets with sparklers, and many pictures are taken. Your favorite, by far, had to have been when Carlos accidentally caught Reggie's flannel on fire and he stopped, dropped, and rolled in the street. You, Flynn, and Julie were never going to let him forget that terrified expression of his.

But then there's only five minutes to midnight, uncle Ray and Carlos are carrying several large firework boxes into the middle of the street and hurriedly untangling some wires, and a birthday sash is being draped over your head by Julie.

Seeing your uncle Ray and Carlos space out large boxes have drawn some of the neighbors to see what no doubt is going to a firework display, and you excitedly wait several feet away from the impending commotion.

Suddenly tía Victoria starts a countdown from twenty, Flynn hands out party horns, and everyone excitedly joins in.

"FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE. HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

You blow your party horn, laughing when you spot Reggie jumping on Alex and Luke's backs in excitement. Uncle Ray hits a button in hand and the first box shoots off it's first firework. The explosions of white, gold, pink, blue, purple, and green has everyone making happy remarks, and you watch on, not noticing everyone pairing off to watch the show (Alex and Reggie, tía Victoria and Carlos, and Julie and Flynn).

You're smiling up at an explosion of white crackles that chase each other across the sky when two arms wrap around your neck from behind and a body presses up close behind yours. You chuckle as your hands come up to grab onto a forearm and you briefly glance over your shoulder. It's Luke.

As you go back to watching your uncle put on a spectacular firework display, you feel warm breath fan across your ear. "Happy birthday, Y/N," Luke murmurs.

"Thank you." You smile brightly even though he can't see it and then glance over your shoulder once more, holding his gaze as your faces are literally an inch apart. "Happy New Year, Luke."

He beams at you and against your will your gaze darts to his lips. Your mind is whirling and you know everything about you and Luke is a bad idea, but you just can't help yourself. And apparently neither can he.

Luke is the one to close the distance, softly pressing his lips to yours. You smile against his lips, giggling some before adding a little bit more pressure so he doesn't think you're laughing at him. The entire situation is just a little bit hilarious to you.

After a few seconds you pull apart and the two of you end up laughing before you go back to watching the fireworks. Fortunately no one had been paying you any attention, so you and Luke can keep the kiss between the two of you.

You know for sure nothing can actually come out of whatever is going on between the two of you, but for now you're willing to take it one day at a time and come up with official rules later on the down the line.

#julie and the phantoms imagine #julie and the phantoms x reader #jatp x reader #luke patterson x reader #luke patterson #julie molina #ray molina #reggie peters #alex mercer #carlos molina #julie and the phantoms

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blush-and-books · 3 years

Text

The End of Julie and the Phantoms - A [very long] Theory

The core of this theory was inspired by many posts that I have seen saying that Julie’s “everything was a dream” shirt may have insinuated that nothing happening on the show is actually reality. I brought my series finale pitch to my dear friend @willexx who then helped me develop this headcanon into something I cried about during lunch.

It starts out pretty heavy, but there are some little light things here and there because it’s what the himbos would have wanted.

We start here:

In the last episode, the boys are ready too cross over. It’s an emotional moment for everyone, they’re crying, Julie is sobbing, and we as an audience have definitely seen better days. With one last “we love you, Julie,” a flash of light overtakes the garage space, blinding our screens.

The scene flashes to Julie lying in bed, waking up from her ringing alarm.

She is visibly confused, clearly wondering how she got to bed when the last thing that she remembers is the boys’ painful departure. When she reaches for her phone to turn off her alarm -- it’s a school day -- she quickly notices the date:

It’s the same day in 2020 that she met the boys, that she was going to clean out her mom’s garage, and that she had to perform to keep her spot in the music program.

So, none of it was real?

Not exactly.

The experience was a sort of dream-like saga that was designed for her to be able to grieve on her own, and rediscover her voice in her own way. But just as the panic sets in that it was a complete figment of her imagination, the feeling of cold metal on her left hand becomes too hard to ignore: One of Luke’s rings.

Reggie’s leather jacket is hanging in her closet.

Alex’s fanny pack is slung across the back of a chair.

But when she runs downstairs, clad in her dinosaur slippers, rushing to the garage to see if the guys were there -- they aren’t. They have crossed over.

As she moves through the day, she’s a new Julie, but everything else is the same. Instead of a baseball cap and low ponytail, Julie throws on her black jeans and Reggie’s leather and lets her hair run wild. She’s displaying a confidence that Flynn hasn’t seen in a long time, that seemed to have hit Julie overnight.

Julie sings Wake Up in music, and keeps her spot in the program. She doesn’t oogle Nick in the halls and she tells Carrie off when there’s an attempt at an insult made.

Real or not, the boys helped her. They did their job.

When she gets home, and Ray irks her about cleaning the garage or selling the house, she is quick to insist that she doesn’t want to move and that if he needs her for the rest of the night, she’ll be in her mother’s studio.

There aren’t any instruments except for the piano, and the space has the original layer of dust that it had before her and the guys started using the space again. Julie feels empty. But she reminds herself that the ring on her finger is real, extremely real, so she retraces her steps that she had taken in the first episode and tracks down the Sunset Curve demo CD, puts it in the stereo, and plays it.

Nothing happens. Or, at least -- nothing that she could see.

The camera pans up as Julie is hard at work to organize the garage, and we see the boys in the chairs on the ceiling, watching over her fondly.

~This is where @willexx started to throw in some epic ideas~

The boys are real, and they have crossed over, which renders Julie unable to see them. However, in her reset reality without them, no one remembers Julie and the Phantoms or the fact that the boys existed in the first place. The boys, while she can’t see them, visit her and try to make contact with her as much as they can, even though their times with her are limited since they are supposed to be on the other side.

She’ll feel a ghost of a touch on her hand or her hair, and know that Luke is there. When she’s in the car and the radio is on a country station, she knows that it’s Reggie. In a journal for school, a small “okay” will be written in the corner of a page, and it is Alex. These little notes keep her going, and she’ll just sigh and say “my boys,” and leave everyone around her confused.

Sometimes, when she wakes up in the morning, the demo tape can be heard playing in the garage. Somehow she’ll get filled with hope that if she runs into the garage, the boys will be there rocking out without her like she used to scold them for left and right -- but no one is there. Ray comments that the stereo is broken and Julie has no choice but to nod along.

One day she finds Luke’s songbook that had been buried in the plastic garbage bags of the boys’ belongings. She still brings Unsaid Emily to his parents, and she cries herself to sleep that night.

When Julie blows up as a solo artist, she actually records Unsaid Emily, and she records Bright, and all of the other songs that her and Luke wrote together. Luke Patterson is in the writing credits for many of the songs, where Trevor never bothered to list him, and a part of Luke is at piece.

On the two year anniversary of Rose’s passing, Julie finds Luke’s “angst flannel.” Ray asks where she got it; she tells him a thrift store. But it feels warm, like all of the guys are there, hugging her.

Another morning, she could swear that Luke and Reggie are strumming out Flying Solo on level one volume, and once again finds herself darting to the garage with no good excuse except to keep her hopes up. They, unsurprisingly, aren’t there -- but a note is, that says “you’re a star, Jules. We love you.”

The handwriting is messy. She knows it’s from Luke, who probably fought the boys to even write the note because he just wanted to talk to her even though they need to move on and his handwriting is awful. The note gets tucked into the pocket of the flannel, and when she needs to be reminded that she’ll be okay, she pulls it out of the pocket and holds it tight.

Before every show, she reads the note, and mumbles a little prayer to them wherever they are -- even if no one else believes they are real.

When Luke’s flannel starts to lose it’s original sweet scent of Emily and Mitch’s house, Julie spends an hour crying on the floor of her bathroom. A faded orange beanie appears in her room the next day.

Little notes from Luke appear here and there, but never from any of the guys. In the shadows where she can’t see them, Alex tells Luke that in order for both themselves and Julie to move on, Luke needs to stop leaving her notes -- so most of the ones that Julie finds are even more messy than usual, like Luke was trying to write them without the guys noticing.

During one of their forbidden conversations, Julie says to Luke: “hey, I never told you this before... But I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t know what I would do without knowing that you guys were still around. I think I would have lost my mind, and would have been convinced that I went crazy.”

Luke could have ran to Alex, repeated Julie’s tearful words, and given the drummer a fat “I told you so.” But he doesn’t. Julie’s validation is the only validation that he needs.

Whenever her and Carlos and Ray make an extra seat at their dinner table for Rose, Julie imagines, deep in her mind, that it is for Reggie too. Reggie deserved a seat at their table; deserved to be a part of their family. A family that would have loved him. And when a fork falls off of the table, Julie knows he’s there. One day, Julie asks Ray how he would have felt about having another son. He responds confused, and Julie gets tears in her eyes, and neither of them bring it up again.

When Julie and Flynn go to Pride together, Julie wears Alex’s fanny pack even though she hadn’t gotten any signs from him since they had all moved on. He still doesn’t reach out afterwards, too overwhelmed by her gesture to think of a way to properly extend his gratitude and love for the girl who is keeping his spirit alive -- but Luke lets her know that he was grateful.

Luke still visits Julie like he visits Emily and Mitch. And on Luke’s birthday every year, Julie goes to a little bakery after school and buys herself a cupcake; sneaking downstairs in the middle of the night to light a candle and sing happy birthday. When she lights the candle, the candle gets blown out. Every year after that first year, she gets candles that you have to turn on and off so that Luke can’t ruin the moment.

(He ends up throwing the fake candle on the ground out of retaliation.)

Julie is so emotionally stable for the most part that the complete change is a shock to Ray. He tries to ask her what happened, but she always acts like nothing happened and then hides in her room for hours. Sometimes, she makes random little comments out of the blew and Ray has many conversations with Victoria on whether or not he should have Julie seeing Dr. Turner again.

At her first solo concert, Julie walks into the dressing room to find “Stand Tall” written three times, in three different handwriting styles, in red, pink, and blue. The message in blue is the messiest by far, and is followed up with a heart.

The name of Julie’s first album is Phantoms.

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the himbos #jatp #jatp theory #jatp headcanons #julie molina #luke patterson

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bluefirewrites · 3 years

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I'm sorry about your presentation, idk if your still doing hcs but can you do one where Reggie is julies older brother by 1 or 2 years and Julie in love with Luke and Luke likes her as well but neither will do anything because of Reggie. If not its ok. ☺

I brought up an idea similar to this a while back! But let’s rework it.

In this scenario, let’s say that the Molinas and the Peters' have known each other for a long while, ever since Julie and Reggie were kids. They’ve pretty much grown up together.

And then they get older and a lot of shit happens. Julie’s mom dies. And Reggie’s parents finally get a divorce.

As the two families are healing and trying to move on, eventually Ray and Reggie’s mom sorta just clicked.

And years later, they ended up getting married- officially making Reggie Julie’s brother.

They move into the Molina’s house and they transition to one big family so seamlessly that Julie often forgets that Reggie isn’t her brother in the biological sense. He’s always been an older figure to her, always looking out for her and Carlos.

She’s so used to having him around. And even used to having Reggie’s friends around growing up.

They all met when they were in middle school, but Julie hasn’t seen them much over the years, only seeing them during special occasions or whenever she would go to the Peters’ from time to time.

She remembers Alex, the shy blonde one who does his best to keep the peace when everyone got too rowdy.

And then Bobby, who is just hitting his stride in his sullen, moody teenager phase. Still nice though.

And Luke, the wild one. The guy was all long haired, energetic, and sporting some gnarly braces the last time she saw him.

She hears a knock at the door the night Reggie and his mom had moved in. Julie opens it and it’s the boys: Alex, Bobby, and- woah.

“Julie?” Luke smiles, his long hair cut to a still shaggy ‘do, braces gone, and now ripped, telling by how he’s proudly wearing his Nirvana cutoffs, “No way! Long time no see,”

“Y-yeah,” Julie instantly wishes that she wasn’t wearing her dinosaur slippers at the moment. She leads them all inside, telling them to make themselves at home while they wait for Reggie to come down.

Julie hurries off to her room, red in the face, internally freaking out about the idea of a cute guy coming over to her house on a regular basis.

A cute guy she cannot get involved with... imagine how Reggie would react...

The guys note the dreamlike expression on Luke’s face as he watched Julie go up the stairs. Once she’s gone, Luke whirls around, “Has she always been like that?”

“Squirrely?”

“No...” Luke drops his voice down to a whisper, “I mean, has she always been that cute?”

Alex and Bobby shoots this idea down real quick, “Woah! No no no! Off-limits! She's off-limits, Luke!”

“How come?”

“She’s Reggie’s sister,”

“Step-sister,”

“Still,” Bobby cuts in, “You know Reggie. He takes the brother role very seriously. He won’t let you stand a foot away from her if he heard what you just said.”

“If who heard what?” Reggie says, coming down the stairs.

“Nothing!” They all exclaim, and Luke silently thanks the boys for not ratting him out and invoking Reggie’s wrath.

He does know how Reggie can get when it comes to Julie. He’s already so protective of her. So he’s not going to try and do anything to piss him off.

And besides, he just finds her cute. It’s not like anything’s gonna come from it.

Wrong.

Luke and Julie are hardcore pining for each other the more time the boys spend over at the house.

And they’re over a lot.

Julie would come into the garage, now a studio space for the boys’ band, and watches them practice.

Somehow Luke finds a way to gravitate towards her. Always standing beside her, ready to show a song he’s been working on or just ask how she’s doing.

And Julie would find an excuse to hang around the boys, whether offering to help with songwriting or help clean up the equipment. One time, she hands Luke his guitar and their hands met. They both blush but quickly part before Reggie could see what transpired.

They sneak little casual touches here and there, both to gauge if the other person reciprocates their feelings and to hide whatever was going on between them from Reggie.

This all coming from the fear of Reggie flipping out on them.

Apparently when the boys bring up Nick from Julie’s class, joking about the way he was starry-eyed when dancing with Julie (secretly trying to get a rise out of Luke), Reggie immediately asks Julie about a thousand questions:

“Who is he? What does he do?”

“Do? He’s a student. In my grade...”

“Oh. No job? So he’s a deadbeat, huh? Doesn’t sound like a suitable match,”

“What are you going on about?”

“Does he like the Star Wars Prequels? Yes or No? There is a right answer”

“What does this have to do with anything, Reggie?”

“I need to know if he’s good enough for you!”

Reggie starts watching Nick like a hawk at school, going out of his way to intimidate the junior (well as much as he could. he’s still pretty much a puppy and super non-threatening).

It’s getting ridiculous.

So Julie goes to talk to Luke, to try and nip this in the bud before Reggie notices their weird behavior. She manages to play off needing help to get something in the laundry room to get him alone without suspicion.

“Look, we can’t do this anymore... whatever this is,”

Luke nods, “Agreed. Reggie’s my best friend.”

“And he’s my brother,”

“I don’t want to do something that would upset him,”

“Me neither. Glad we’re on the same page,”

“Right. Same page. So just friends. Deal?” she sticks her hand out.

He shakes it, “Deal,”

They lock eyes, appreciating how the other one looks under the warm dimmed light.

It takes only about .5 seconds for them to crash their lips onto each other’s, igniting a full on make out session. And by the time they finished, they realize their mistake.

Uh oh.

They can’t go back after this.

Now they really have something to hide from Reggie.

They sneak around the house, whenever they could.

Luke would make up an excuse to grab water or go to the bathroom in the middle of rehearsal, just to sneak up to Julie’s room to grab a quick kiss and maybe a small tickle fight just so he could hear that laugh he loves so much.

And Julie would join the boys at the dinner table, sitting next to him and discreetly slipping cue love notes into his pocket that she knows would make him blush and smile all goofily later (and if they turn into potential song lyrics? Well that's for them to know).

Alex warns Luke the next day, “I think he’s catching on. Be more careful,”

They spend more time together now that Julie starts writing songs for the band. Her and Luke would huddle over the piano, scribbling the night away, always sitting dangerously close to each other.

Once, Reggie observes them quietly from the couch with an unreadable expression on bis face.

“We are careful,”

Bobby raises an eyebrow at him, “Really? You tried to pass off the hickeys on Julie’s neck as rashes.”

“And Reggie bought it, remember? He went out and got ointment for her and everything,”

“He’s not stupid, Luke. You better do something about this. Fast,”

Luke sighs, “You’re right.”

Later that night, Luke pulls Julie into the upstairs bathroom, the one between her room and Reggie’s, to talk.

“Jules, as much I want to keep doing this... I can’t stand lying to Reggie,”

“Me too,” she says, “So, let’s just tell him. I don’t like hiding you.”

“But we need to plan it out. We can’t just spring it on him,”

“Catch him in a good mood hopefully, and we’ll tell him together,”

“Sounds like a plan, boss,”

“Love it when you call me boss,” Julie smiles, angling her head up to kiss him.

Just then, the door connecting to Reggie’s room bursts open and the said bassist enters in his bathrobe. His eyes grow wide at the sight of them tangled up in each other.

“What is going on here?”

The couple breaks apart. Julie and Luke jump to opposite sides of the bathroom, hands up in surrender.

“You didn’t lock the doors?” Julie hisses at Luke

“Was not my main priority!” Then Luke steps forward in an attempt to calm Reggie down, “Hey, Reg, pal, um, what you just saw-”

“You guys were kissing in here?” he yells.

Julie and Luke lower their heads, “...yeah,”

Reggie sighs, throwing his hands up in the air, “Unbelievable!”

“Reggie, we’re sorry-”

“In the bathroom, really? Can’t you guys do this in the laundry room like you usually do? My toothbrush is here, come on!”

Wait. What?

Did they hear him correctly?

“You knew?!” Julie all but screamed at her brother.

“Duh. You’re not really subtle,”

Luke splutters, “B-But Nick-”

“Found out real quick that he’s not the one I should be worried about,”

“And the... the, well..?” Julie gestures lamely at her neck, “Why did you get me ointment?”

Reggie smirks, “Just to mess with you.”

“So... you’re not mad?”

“Nah. Like I said. I need to make sure whatever guy you end up with, Jules, is good enough for you. And, well, I’ve known Luke almost all my life. And I trust him. Honestly, there’s no other guy I could think of that could be a better match for you.”

Luke’s hand rests on his shoulder, “You mean that, Reg?”

“Of course. I’m happy for you guys. But uh...” he sticks his thumb towards the door, “Could you like skip on out of here. I did come to the bathroom for a reason.”

“Oh, right,”

“Your Tia’s chicken went right through me-”

“Ok, Reggie! We’re leaving!”

“But one more thing,”

Luke and Julie stop in the doorway leading to the hallway.

“If you think I’m bad,” Reggie shakes his head, “Try breaking the news to Carlos,”

Luke pales, “Oh no,”

“’Oh no’ is right,”

The couple spins around to find Carlos in the hallway, arms crossed, staring them down, “Care to explain why you two were in the bathroom?”

“Well, uh, um, we were-” Luke turns to Julie, but the girl is nowhere to be found, having already yeeted to her room to escape an overprotective Carlos.

Luke throws a pleading look at Reggie, “A little help here, buddy?”

Meanwhile, Carlos is unamused, carrying so much tension in his small body that it has Luke gulping nervously.

“Nope you’re on your own,” he winks, “Make sure to tell him about the ‘rash’ while you’re at it.”

And with a laugh, the bathroom door closes.

“I can explain...”

#julie and luke sneaking around #is so much fun to write #and reggie being like bruhh #you think i'm stupid?#nah #julie x luke #luke x julie #juke #julie molina #luke patterson #reggie peters #reggie peters-molina #jatp hc #asks #blue answers asks

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tmp-jatp · 3 years

Text

Guys I just wrote my first fic.

I mean, I’ve written fics before, but never finished them. But I was struck by inspiration and I’ve been trying harder to write while the muse is there because you never know when she’ll leave and not come back. I’m so excited to share this with you.

You can read it on AO3 here (2479 words btw) or read it below. I’d love it if you checked it out :)

It was safe to say that Luke’s mind was near constantly full to the brim with music. As a songwriter, it was one of his favorite parts of himself. He had notebooks galore, all chock-full of half-written verses and melodies he hummed once in the shower and chord progressions he’d heard in a dream.

Usually, once he freed them from his mind via his pen, they were gone, saved in ink on the page. He would come back to them, to draw inspiration, to weave pieces together, to fashion them into full-fledged songs eventually.

There was always the one song that stuck around, though. It would never leave him, no matter how hard he tried.

He would hear pieces bouncing around between his ears. Sometimes it was a drum beat. Sometimes he heard snippets of words. Sometimes it was two voices, his and another always unrecognizable one, blending more beautifully than he would’ve thought possible as their two sounds danced together.

The Song had always been there, since before Luke could remember. At first there wasn’t much, just three notes that repeated over and over. One day, five more came to accompany them. As he had grown older, he’d learned what The Song meant.

Luke’s parents loved to sing their Song to one another, or they would sing it by themselves when they were alone to feel the other’s presence with them. It was a beautiful sound, and Luke loved hearing it. He asked his mom to sing their Song to him each night before bed for far more years than he would ever admit to Alex, Reggie, or Bobby.

When Luke tried to sing his parents’ Song, either by himself or with them, he’d found he never could. Even though he’d heard it a million times, his mind couldn’t recreate any part of it.

Luke would get frustrated and pout, but his mom would kneel down and smile at him.

“That’s because it isn’t your Song,” she’d told him. “Your father and I get to share this with each other and with other people, and it’s something that’s just ours. You have your own Song, and it��s just yours. One day you’ll find the person you get to share it with.”

Luke knew from middle school that he wanted to be a musician. He’d always been crafting songs, even while his own Song taunted him in its incompleteness.

When he’d gotten his first guitar for Christmas in seventh grade, another gift had come with it: more of The Song. He didn’t know which gift he valued more.

Luke learned how to play chords and arpeggios. He learned techniques while his hands learned the dexterity they needed. He developed muscle memory and honed an ability for transcribing music from his ears to his fingers.

The more he learned, the more his mind seemed to go wild with ideas at possibilities for songs. He started collecting notebooks. He always had one near or on his person with a pen also within reach. They filled haphazardly at the whims of Luke’s imagination.

Luke would play his ideas on his guitar and let them drift through his bedroom. They’d grow on their own and become more. It never felt like Luke was writing them, they just came to him.

His parents called it a gift.

When he wasn’t playing his songs, Luke was playing his Song. It burned into his mind. When he didn’t know where to go next with a piece, his fingers would always bring him back home.

The four boys started a band together. They met in Bobby’s garage and played their hearts out. Luke collected stray ideas all together to form and fill in coherent songs that they would play.

They sounded good.

The boys all knew about each other’s Songs by then. Reggie’s had a country twang to it that drove Luke crazy. He liked to play his Song’s chord progressions on his bass, but he was learning the banjo too to help him fill out the sound in his head. Alex was always humming his between reps and during set up and tear down, lost in his own world. It was soft and sweet, like a lullaby. When he got anxious, he would tap out rhythms and vocalize melodies to help calm himself down. Bobby’s Song was energetic and exciting, a sharp contrast to his shy self. He liked to play it on his electric before practices started and would always be finishing up just as the boys came into the garage, so they never heard much more than that which would seep out into the backyard.

None of them ever tried to replicate each other’s Songs. Songs were personal, they were intimate. Anyway, it wasn’t like they could recreate them, even if they tried.

Luke tried one night to transpose his Song to paper, but it never worked. His pen would hover above the sheet but never write anything at all. He tried to get something, anything, even just a word down, but it wouldn’t come out, determined to stay only inside his head. That was what Songs did.

They named their band Sunset Curve and started playing gigs. Other people liked their music, too.

Bobby became less shy when he was on stage, drawing energy from his Song to create a confidence that he would wear. Alex let out his anxiety on the drumset in a different way than how his Song would relieve his anxiety but which ended up helping just the same. Reggie wrote more country music in his free time. Sunset Curve never played it.

Luke grew older. His voice deepened and matured. One afternoon in the middle of practice, he stopped playing. The other three petered out once they noticed.

“Luke?” Alex asked from behind the set. “You okay?”

There was a voice singing his Song now. His voice was singing his Song.

“Yeah,” Luke smiled and assured. He didn’t explain what happened.

But after practice, he was humming again, a tune which complimented what they’d heard him play before. Reggie, Bobby, and Alex shared a grin while Luke wasn’t looking.

All four of them were in the music program at their high school. There were a lot of talented students in their class.

In junior year, there were a bunch of new freshmen who came up into the class. They showed a lot of promise. Sunset Curve became friends with a group of four of the freshmen. Their groups meshed well as eight, but they also all found a complement within themselves. Alex and Carrie liked to dance together. Reggie and Flynn explored new music genres and played pranks on the other six. Bobby and Nick became study partners. And Luke? Luke had Julie.

She was...well, she was Julie. She wasn’t afraid to be herself and wore it proudly, with her butterfly hair clips and dozen friendship bracelets and doodled shoes.

Reggie suggested that their group of eight should have a name. Flynn was unamused by Bobby’s suggestion of “Octuple Trouble”.

Luke wondered what the four freshmen’s Songs sounded like. He never asked. Songs were intimate, and lots of people were shy about other people hearing them. Songs revealed the deepest parts of your soul.

Luke knew that his soul was pure music and music alone.

Besides his parents and his brothers, no one ever heard Luke’s Song. No one else needed to hear his Song. It was his.

Julie, Carrie, and Flynn showed the boys how to make friendship bracelets. They explained how you made them for each other and then tied it on each other’s wrists so they would never come off as long as the friendship would last. Luke thought he would be embarrassed by wearing friendship bracelets and how it would clash with his style of jean chains and cutoff tees and metal rings, but somehow he wasn’t. They all eight hung out at Carrie’s house and tied bracelets for hours that night, with Star Wars playing in the background on the TV at Reggie and Nick’s requests. By the time they were finished, beads were in mis-matched piles on the ottomans and slivers of tape and string sprinkled the floor. It was one of the best nights of their lives.

Luke wore his bracelets proudly. They were dorky, but they were so them and Luke loved them. He had a purple and blue knotted pattern from Julie, and an orange and green one with beads that read B-I-C-E-P-S---M-C-G-E-E from Flynn.

Carrie made Alex something pink that Luke never saw closely. They’d spent the whole evening with her teaching him some fancy pattern of knots that would make a picture, so theirs matched one another’s.

Luke didn’t see what Bobby, Nick, or Reggie had made or for whom. He’d been too focused on his bracelet for Julie. He tried to channel all of his love for the friendship he’d found with her and with all eight of them into the strings, but his fingers that normally were so dextrous and able on the guitar couldn’t hold the strands with the right tension and it ended up a mess.

She loved it and wore it anyway.

Luke eventually had one bracelet from each person in Octuple Trouble and had given one to each person in turn.

Luke’s Song still plagued his mind day-in and day-out. Every day it felt it was more complete. He heard it all the way through now, but even still it wasn’t complete. There was always his guitar playing, but there was another instrument dueting his. Luke knew what the instrument was in his heart but he couldn’t name it when he tried. It was just...there. A sound that he knew better than any other but it was also different than anything he’d ever heard before. He heard his voice singing all the words, and he heard another voice, too, but it belonged to nobody. The other voice was the biggest mystery to him. It made him feel like he was home but like he didn’t know where home was.

A few months into junior year, Julie changed. She became more reserved and stopped playing in music class. Luke knew why. He didn’t know how he could help, though. He tried to just be there, and to make sure she knew he always would be.

Sunset Curve was gaining a reputation and playing more and more gigs.

Carrie started her own group, Dirty Candi. At some point she cut off all of her bracelets. Alex still went to all of their performances to support her.

Julie and Flynn stayed closer than ever before, but the rest of them...drifted.

A part of Luke fractured alongside their group. He was pretty sure a part of each of the rest of them did, too.

Senior year started and the eight of them felt practically like strangers once more. They were still all in music class, but it was different. It had been different for a long time. Nick and Bobby didn’t study together anymore. Alex and Carrie still hung out, but Reggie and Flynn hadn’t pranked anyone since November. Luke missed Julie.

Alex came to practice late one afternoon in September with wonder in his eyes and voice about a skateboarder he’d met.

“Well, he sort of ran into me...literally, and we both fell down. And I scraped up my hands pretty bad on the concrete trying to catch myself-” Alex showed them the bandaged heels of his palms “- and it stung, like, really bad. You know how I have that nervous habit where I hum my Song when I’m anxious? Yeah, okay, so I started to do that while he apologized and grabbed band-aids out of his pocket - I don’t know why he had band-aids, Reggie, probably because he gets scrapes pretty often too. But so I was humming my Song, and he started humming it too.”

Luke wondered what it felt like to hear your other half complete you.

A year after Julie changed back in junior year, she changed again. She came back. She played in class again and Luke was once again in awe of the power packed into this sophomore. He’d forgotten just how amazing she was. He didn’t know what had triggered this return, but he didn’t care. She was back.

Three weeks later, Luke was looking for Mrs. Harrison. He needed her to sign some form for him for his guidance counselor, something about graduation requirements. Luke hadn’t been paying attention.

He had his hand on the handle to the music room and was about to twist it open before he heard a sound from inside.

Three notes, repeated. Five notes. The whole sequence repeated once more.

Any thoughts of forms fell from his mind. Luke opened the door with a fervor he’d never experienced before. He rushed into the room but only made it two steps in before his shoes squeaked to a halt on the wooden floor.

Luke locked eyes with Julie. She sat behind the piano, in a black dress he’d never seen before.

The paper in his hand fluttered to the floor. Wordlessly, Luke crossed the room and picked up Mrs. Harrison’s acoustic guitar. He slipped the strap over his neck and faltered. What if he was wrong?

He took a deep breath and pushed his doubts down.

Luke turned around and saw Julie, who was watching him with a concerned curiosity.

No turning back. No regrets.

Luke’s hands started playing the first song he’d ever played. The song he’d played a billion times. It was etched into his dreams and it framed his every thought. Luke played his Song.

Julie’s eyes widened in recognition and her jaw dropped open.

Luke started singing and that seemed to spring Julie out of her stupor. Her fingers started moving across the keys in chords that accompanied his plucking.

She picked up the verse where he left off and Luke was hearing The Song for the first time. The other instrument that melded with his was the piano underneath Julie’s fingers. The other voice was hers.

Luke could see it in her eyes. She felt it, too.

Home.

It was exhilarating.

They filled the music room with their Song - no longer his, it was theirs - but the entire world was just them two. Nothing else existed but their music together.

Luke walked around the side of the piano while he played so he could be closer to Julie. He saw his god-awful friendship bracelet on her wrist while she played and smiled at the part of her that he carried on his, too.

That wasn’t the only part of her he’d been carrying, he realized.

Their Song.

Wow.

The two of them drew to a close, out of breath with amazement.

We create

A perfect harmony

They locked eyes. They were home.

@pink-flame @thedeathdeelers surprise you’re on my taglist

#i wrote a thing #i'm really proud of this one #soulmate au #it's fluffy #yay #juke #jatp fic #jatp #julie and the phantoms #fluff #mine #my writing #octuple trouble

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obx-adventures · 4 years

Text

Butterflies

Summary: From dating in junior high to high school best friends is quite a trip.

A/N: I’m having some writers block so I’m hoping this little imagine based on real life will bring the creativity back so I can get started on The Fall.

——

“What’s wrong?” Nick asks as we approach the Chateau. I look over at my boyfriend of 2 months and immediately feel guilty. His face is full of concern for me, so I summon a small smile and pretend to be excited for my birthday party tonight.

“Nothing, sweetie. I’m great.” I grab his hand as we walk up the steps of the porch.

I steel myself before I walk through the door, trying to protect my heart before I see JJ but also worrying that he won’t be here tonight. His girlfriend of 6 months, Amanda, has been keeping him away from the Pogues a lot lately, which has been particularly awful for me. Spending time with JJ is my favorite thing to do but it’s also incredibly painful. Unrequited love is a bitch.

When we walk inside, I’m met with a cacophony of laughter and music. Kie sees us first and runs over to embrace me. She picks me up, spins me around, and yells “Happy Birthday” over and over. Her drunken energy lifts my spirits, buoying me up from edge of despair. Soon after, Sarah, Pope, and John B swarm around me and I’m suffocating in the middle of a group hug.

When they finally release me, I ask the question I’ve been dreading, “No JJ?”

I can’t interpret their responses. John B looks angry, Sarah and Kie are giddy, and Pope is concerned. It’s Pope I focus on and await an answer.

“Umm, he’s in the spare room. He’s… not really in a party mood.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Amanda broke up with him.” I raise my eyebrows at Pope and then look over at Sarah and Kie, finally understanding why they look so happy.

“Ding dong, the bitch is gone!” Sarah exclaims while laughing. None of us liked JJ’s girlfriend, especially when she started isolating him from us three months ago.

Without speaking to any of them, I head toward JJ’s room. I knock softly but let myself in before I hear a reply. I find the room completely dark and see JJ curled under the blankets.

“Hey, J…” He pulls down the blankets enough for me to see his eyes. They’re rimmed in red and his cheeks are tear stained.

“Happy Birthday,” he says softly.

“Thank you. You going to come out to the party?”

“Not in the mood.”

“I know, love.” I sit on the edge of the bed and reach over to brush the hair out of his face. “But maybe being around my sunny disposition would help.”

“She fucking dumped me…” His eyes well up again but he keeps himself in check.

“Pope told me. I’m sorry.”

“I bent over backwards to make it work. And she still fucking left.”

I crawl under the blankets and wrap my arms around him. As soon as he’s in my arms, his tears break free. I hold him tightly and stroke his hair to soothe him.

“I got you, J. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Why doesn’t anyone love me enough to stick around? First my mom, then you, now her. What’s wrong with me?”

I breakdown with him at the reminder of my biggest regret. JJ and I have known each other since kindergarten. We became friends in junior high when we sat next to each other in English. Our friendship turned into flirtation and then eventually we started dating. Dating in 8th grade is full of angst and drama but through that, real feelings grew, and I panicked. Right before we started high school, I ended it. I distanced myself from all the Pogues and we didn’t speak for all of freshmen year.

“JJ, nothing is wrong with you. I ended things with us back then because I was scared.” I realize immediately that I’ve revealed too much in trying to comfort him. He lifts his head from my shoulder to look at me.

“You were scared? Of me?”

“No, of course not. I panicked… It doesn’t matter now. I just need you to know that you are amazing and if Amanda doesn’t see that, then fuck her.”

We lay together silently for a while, allowing me to think about how he and I got back to this point. I thought JJ Maybank was out of my life for good after our breakup, but fate had different plans. We ended up in the same class for sophomore English and I was shocked when he sat at the desk next to mine. We reconnected quickly and I was reminded of the purity of his soul, falling in love with him all over again. But at this point, JJ had become the ladies’ man that we all know. He hopped from girl to girl as I sat and watched as one of his best friends. For awhile I thought he had completely soured on relationships after we broke up but then he started dating Amanda. Watching him get closer and closer to her nearly broke me.

“Where’s Wonder Boy?” JJ’s voice breaks me out of the melancholy of memories and it takes me a moment to understand what he’s talking about.

“Oh shit!” I scramble out of bed and turn back to him with my arm outstretched. “C’mon, we need to get back out there. I bolted in here when Pope told me what happened, and I left him out there with everyone else.”

JJ chuckles as he pulls himself out of bed. When he stands up, I have to tear my gaze away from his toned torso before he notices. Once he pulls on a shirt, we rejoin the party.

“He’s alive!” John B yells, throwing his arms into the air in celebration. “Pope, you owe me $10.”

“You couldn’t leave him alone, Y/N?” Pope asks as he hands over the money.

“Nope, he doesn’t get to mope on my birthday.” I jump when I feel Nick’s arm wrap around my waist.

“I thought you forgot about me.” The rest of the group laughs, thinking Nick’s teasing me, but I hear the wounded tone in his voice and feel guilty all over again.

“Course not, sweetie.” I lean in and give him a peck on the lips.

Kie notices the weird vibe between us and breaks the tension by suggesting Truth or Dare. As we gather around the living room, I end up with Nick on my left and JJ directly across from me. Though he’s trying to put on a happy face, his pain is still evident, breaking my heart even more. When he catches me watching him, he offers a small smile to reassure me he’s ok. Nick reaches over and clasps my hand, causing JJ to roll his eyes. I chance a look over at Nick and his face is set in anger.

----

“Y/N, what the hell was happening last night?” I try to avoid Kie’s questioning eyes but Sarah nudges me for an answer. I had a feeling this was going to come up when Sarah invited us over for a girls’ night.

“What are you talking about?”

“JJ, you, and Nick. I thought Nick was going to kill him at one point.”

“Yea… Nick is pretty pissed at me. We got into a fight on the way home. He asked me why I brought him if I was going to ignore him all night. I tried to tell him that I was just worried about JJ, but he said it was all bullshit. He didn’t talk to me the rest of the way to my house. We sat outside for like 5 minutes without saying anything. I finally gave up and went inside. I don’t get why he was so mad.”

“Y/N, it’s just us here,” Sarah says kindly. “JJ followed you around like a lost puppy and I talked to Nick more than you did. What’s going on?”

“Really, nothing is going on.” I desperately want this conversation to end. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Oh shit… you still love him!” Kie almost shouts. “I thought we were past this, Y/N. You’re with Nick now.”

“Kie, I’m not… I’m past it. JJ was just having a rough night and we had a weird talk when I went to check on him.”

“About what?”

I’m saved from talking about my conversation with JJ by my phone ringing. I look at it in confusion when I see that it’s John B calling.

“Hey, JB. What’s up?” Sarah and Kie are equally confused.

“Y/N, I’m sorry for calling while you’re at girls’ night but I need you to come over.”

“What’s wrong? Is JJ ok?”

“No, he’s really drunk and crying. I can’t really understand what he’s saying but he keeps asking for you.”

“I’ll be there in 10 minutes.” I hang up before he has a chance to respond and start gathering up my stuff. “Sorry, ladies. I have to go. JJ is a mess and John B needs me to come over. What? Why are you both looking at me like that?”

“Nothing, go take care of JJ. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

----

“Is Y/N here?” John B looks over at me and opens the door further so Nick can come into the Chateau.

“Hey, Nick…” I look around at the Pogues and my eyes linger on JJ before taking Nick’s hand and leading him out to the porch. “You’ve been ignoring my calls and texts for a week. What are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m going on a fishing trip down in the Keys with my dad.”

“Oh, how long will you be gone?”

“Three weeks.” My eyes widen and he looks away from me.

“Wow, that’s a… that’s a long time.”

“Yea, I just wanted you to know I’d be gone.” He still won’t make eye contact with me and is shuffling his feet. I step towards him and grab his hands to get his attention. After a few moments, he finally meets my eyes.

“So what does that mean for us? We haven’t talked since my party last week and now you’re leaving. Are you still mad at me?”

“I’m not mad, Y/N.” He drops my hands and takes a step back while running his hands through his hair. “I’m… fuck, I don’t know. What the hell is going on with you and JJ?”

“Nothing! God, I’m so fucking sick of people asking me that! JJ’s having a hard time and he’s one of my best friends so I’m here for him. Is that so fucking horrible?”

“Helping your friend through a rough patch is fine but why the hell do you think people keep asking you about him?!” He takes a breath and looks away from me for a moment. “Are you in love with him?”

“Nick, come on. You’re reading too much into this.”

“Are you in love with him?!” He yells, causing me to jump. I move closer to him and place both hands on his shoulders.

“I’m with you, Nick. You need to let this go.” He meets my eyes finally and looks like he’s trying to find an answer.

“Fuck this.” His face sets in anger as he steps back and turns to leave. “I’ll be back in a couple weeks.”

“Nick, wait!” He stops at the bottom of the steps and turns back to me. “Where does this leave us?”

“We’ll talk when I get back.” He leaves without another glace back at me.

I sit down on the couch on the porch with my head in my hands. I feel terrible for the pain I’m causing him. Why can’t I just let JJ go and commit myself fully to Nick? Nick is a great guy and he was patient with me when we first started spending time together. He could tell I was trying to heal but he never asked me what caused my pain. Maybe if he had, we could have avoided all of this trouble. Maybe I would have told him about my feelings for JJ and I wouldn’t have let him sweep me away into the hope that caring about him would make me care less about one of my best friends.

“You ok?” I lift my head to look at JJ and wipe away my tears. He sits down next to me on the couch and pulls me into his side. “What happened?”

“Nick… um, he’s going out of town with his dad for a few weeks.”

“And that’s why you’re crying?”

“No… he’s still angry. I don’t know where we stand right now.”

“Why’s he angry?”

“He thinks… nevermind, don’t worry about it.”

“Nope, you’ve been taking care of me all week. Talk to me, love.”

I steady myself and meet his gaze. We started calling each other pet names back in junior high as a joke since everyone assumed (correctly) that we liked each other. Then we picked it right back up as we became friends again. ‘Love’ is the one that stuck, and it never went away when he was with Amanda and I started dating Nick, we just only say it when it’s just the two of us.

“Let’s go back inside.” I stand up before he can respond but he grabs my hand to stop me. “JJ, I can’t get into this right now. Ask me another time, ok?”

When we head back inside, everyone’s questioning eyes are on me. Instead of talking, I get myself a beer and chug it down. The Pogues pick up on my avoidance and resume their conversation. I can feel JJ watching me but continue to avoid his gaze, unwilling to show him the storm of emotions that I’m trying to suppress.

----

I’m awaken in the middle of the night by a noise I can’t place. It takes me a moment to understand that it was a knock on my window. I groggily climb out of bed and shuffle over to open the window, not bothering to open my eyes all the way to see who my visitor is. Since Nick left 2 weeks ago, JJ has come by almost every night when he can’t sleep.

“I told you to just come in.” I mumble at him.

“Felt like a creep comin’ in while you were asleep.”

“Don’t care, I’d still be dreaming.”

“What were you dreaming about?” He lays down next to me and brushes the hair out of my face. “Love, don’t go back to sleep.”

“It’s ‪2am‬, J.” He laughs a little at how grumpy I sound.

“I know but I want to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“I don’t care, whatever you want.”

“I want to sleep.” I grope my hand over to find his face and cover his mouth. I feel his smile before he pulls my hand away.

“Please… tell me a story.” Usually when he comes over, I let him in and we quickly fall asleep next to each other. Something must be bothering him.

“JJ, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just want to talk to you.”

“Why?”

“Because I like the sound of your voice.” One eye quirks open at this and I furrow my brow at him.

“J, what’s going on? You normally aren’t this chatty.”

“I have to tell you something.”

“Ok… what is it?” I push myself up onto my elbow so I can see his face.

“I don’t want to say it yet. I was hoping you talking would settle my nerves first.”

“Don’t be nervous. Just say what you need to say.”

When he’s quiet, I lay back down and try to relax. Just as I’m about to fall back asleep, he opens his mouth.

“You give me butterflies…”

“I what?!”

“Whenever I’m around you, hell even when I’m just thinking about you, I get butterflies in my stomach. Which is really fucking weird because I’m always thinking about you. So… butterflies all the time.”

I’m stunned into silence. He rolls over so our faces are inches away and tentatively cups my cheek in his hand, rubbing soft circles with his thumb. I close my eyes at his touch and feel my heart start to race. I give JJ butterflies. Me. And he said he’s always thinking about me. When the hell did that start?

“Since when?”

“Since always.”

“Always?” I ask, confusion lacing my voice. “Like since we became friends again?”

“No, since we became friends the first time. Since 7th grade. I thought it went away when we didn’t talk for all of freshman year but then I walk into sophomore English and I thought I was going to pass out when I saw you. It’s never gotten better, even when I was with Amanda, which was the whole reason she stopped hanging out with the Pogues.”

“Huh?” Now I sit up, hoping to finally understand why Amanda kept JJ away from us all that time.

“The last time she did, we all went to the beach. You and I got into a splash fight in the water while she was sitting in the sand. You dunked me and I lifted you up and threw you. When I got out, she said she wanted to go and then she spent the whole car ride back to her place yelling at me about flirting with you in front of her. So, she didn’t come around anymore. But then she heard about that Boneyard party a couple of months ago when you fell asleep leaning against me around the fire and I carried you back to the Chateau. She didn’t want me to see you anymore.”

“That’s why you were never around?”

“I thought that it was for the best for us to be apart for a while, maybe the damn butterflies would go away. But it didn’t do any good. There were a few times when we saw you out on a date with Nick and it felt like I was sucker punched in the stomach. When she broke up with me, I thought it was because of you.”

“Was it?”

“No, she said she found someone else. That’s why I was so upset, I don’t… I don’t do very well with being left. But you’ve been with me these past couple weeks… and once I got past the rejection, I remembered she was never the person I wanted anyway.”

I turn away from him and sit on the edge of the bed, thinking furiously. Everything he said makes sense, but none of this feels real.

“Can I ask you something?” I turn back to him and nod, not trusting my voice. “Why has Nick been such a dick since your birthday?”

“He thinks I’m in love with you.”

“Are you?”

All I can do is nod again. When he moves forward to kiss me, I put up my hand to stop him. “I’m still technically in a relationship with Nick, love.”

“I know but –”

“No buts. How could I ask you to trust me if I cheat on him with you?” He growls in response but lays back down.

“When does he come back?” I lay back down too but we both keep to our side of the bed.

“A week, I think.”

“We’ve waited this long, I guess another week won’t kill me.”

——

“You have got to be kidding me?!”

I jolt awake the following morning at the loud voice and am shocked to see Nick standing at the foot of my bed. He’s staring in the area to my left and I suddenly remember JJ is in my bed.

“Nick, it’s not what it looks it!”

“Really? So I’m imagining JJ in bed with you?”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it. Nothing happened between me and JJ.”

“Oh sure, that’s totally believable.” He throws his hands up and leaves my room.

I turn to JJ who is smirking at me. I roll my eyes at him and get up to follow after Nick.

“Where are you going?”

“To talk to Nick, to explain.”

“Why does it matter? You were going to break up with him anyways and I don’t think he’s going to believe you.”

“It matters to me. Even if he doesn’t believe me, I need him to know the truth.”

I run out of my room and catch Nick as he’s getting in his car.

“Nick, please let me explain!” I catch him as he’s opening his car door.

“Did you have sex with him?” His anger and pain are written all over his face.

“No! We didn’t even kiss.” When he scoffs, I add, “I promise.”

“Your word doesn’t mean a lot here. You also told me nothing was going with you two.”

“Nick, I’m sorry. Really, I am. I was in denial... You know how I was a bit of a mess when we started hanging out? Well, that was because I was in love with JJ and he was with Amanda. But I swear, I thought I had gotten past it when we actually started dating. Being your friend, spending time with you, helped. And I thought the feelings for him were gone when I realized I had a crush on you.”

“When did you figure out that you’re still in love with him?” I chew on my bottom lip and look at my feet. “When, Y/N?”

“When we ran into him and Amanda at the Wreck, maybe a month after we started dating.”

“That was 2 months ago! You could have saved us all a lot of fucking pain if you just ended it then.”

“I... I’m sorry, Nick.” My voice drops to a whisper as I add, “I thought it would get better if I gave it time.”

“What about me?! While you were trying to get over him, I was falling in love with you! I spent the past two weeks moping instead of fishing, which is why my dad brought us home a week early. He told me I was being a jackass and to come straight here to apologize. He said it would be romantic to just show up, to surprise you. I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t call, who knows how much longer this charade would have gone on. Were you ever going to tell me?”

“I was planning to tell you everything when you got back...”

“Great... well, consider us over. You two deserve each other.”

After I watch him drive away, I walk back inside and find JJ waiting right inside the door. He wraps his arms tightly around me and kisses my temple.

“I am such a shitty person...” I start crying into his shoulder while he strokes my hair.

“No, love, not at all. This was a fucked up situation for all of us.”

“I hurt him so badly.”

“He’ll be ok.” When I scoff at him, he adds, “Eventually.”

We stand there in each other’s arms for a little bit until he pulls back to tell me he needs to go to work.

“Can I come back later?” I nod at him and he kisses my forehead before he leaves.

——

It’s been two weeks since Nick and I broke up and JJ and I have spent almost every moment together. But nothing has happened between us yet. No kissing, no more talks about butterflies, nothing. At first I thought JJ was just trying to give me space after how awful things went with Nick but now I don’t know.

“JJ, what are we doing?” I finally ask him. Instead of watching the movie, I’ve spent most of it staring at him laying on his side of the bed, trying to find the courage to ask him what’s been bothering me.

“Umm, watching this shitty movie that you picked.” He turns towards me and sees the tears building in my eyes. “Love, what’s wrong?”

“I thought... what happened... did the butterflies go away?”

“Fuck, no, of course not.” He brushes away the tears that slipped down my cheeks. “I didn’t know if... you were so upset after you talked to Nick... I didn’t know if something changed or if you thought you picked the wrong guy or, shit, even if you were forced into your choice because he found me in your bed.”

“JJ, you’ve always been my first choice. I got scared when we were kids because I realized that I will always want you. I just never thought I could keep you. Even at 14, I knew you are the man of my dreams. But I’m just me. I thought if I said goodbye first, I might be ok. But I’ve regretted it every day since. I’m so in love with you, JJ. I always have. I think I always will.”

We stare into each other’s eyes for almost an hour as we lean against my head board. In those ocean blue eyes, I see his internal struggle. I give him time to process everything I’ve said, knowing that it’s contrary to everything he’s been told his whole life.

“You aren’t just you, love.” He leans closer to me, our noses are centimeters apart. “You’re the most important person in my life. I love you.”

He closes the remaining distance and kisses me gently. I press closer and he deepens the kiss, resting his hand softly on my cheek. He pulls back and gives me my favorite JJ smile.

“The butterflies definitely didn’t go away, love.” I smile back at him and go back in for another kiss.

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enchantedlokii · 4 years

Text

The New Generation

Chapter One

Rating: PG

Warnings: none

Characters: Peter Parker, Cassie Lang, Shuri, Lila Barton, Harley Keener, EDITH, Morgan Stark, FRIDAY, James Rhodes

Mentioned: Nick Fury, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Thor Odinson, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Scott Lang, T’Challa, Wanda Maximoff, May Parker, Ben Parker, Pepper Potts

There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people. So when we need them, they could fight the battles that we never could. This idea was known as the Avengers Initiative; the brainchild of a man named Nick Fury. The Director of SHIELD.

The world saw the Avengers in action for the first time in 2012 when an alien army known as the Chitauri attacked New York City. It started with six heroes whose names will never be forgotten.

Steve Rogers. Captain America. The World War II super soldier had been frozen in a crashed plane for seventy years when he was found by a SHIELD team. He’s known best for his shield, and only a few know that he is one of the few that have been deemed worthy to wield Mjolnir.

Tony Stark. Iron Man. Born into a wealthy family and given ownership of a multi billion dollar company at a young age. For years he manufactured weapons before seeing the war zones in Afghanistan. Instead, he started making suits to help fight against those who wanted nothing but war.

Thor Odinson. God of Thunder. An Asgardian warrior with the power of lightning. His hammer, Mjolnir, is one of the most powerful weapons in all the nine realms. His new axe, Stormbreaker, is even more powerful. Making him stronger than before.

Bruce Banner. Hulk. He was changed on accident after exposure to gamma radiation. For years he was seen as a monster, but he was deemed a hero after being recruited to join the Avengers. Over time, he’s learned to control his strange power and can finally trust himself.

Natasha Romanoff. Black Widow. The Russian spy trained in a place known as the Red Room. She became their master assassin, earning her mantle and following their orders until she was rescued by a SHIELD agent who was sent to kill her but decided she should be given a chance.

Clint Barton. Hawkeye. He was the SHIELD agent who decided Natasha deserved a chance. Skilled with a bow and having perfect eyesight and aim, he never misses his target. He watches from the sky, keeping his teammates safe from the enemy.

Every kid wanted to be an Avenger when they grew up. It was the dream of so many to fight by their side and help protect the world. I got lucky enough to be one of the few who will ever have that dream come true.

“Cassie, where you at?” Peter called over his communicator. He was stuck to the side of the Empire State Building, watching as his friends fought with the army of drones. It was always drones.

“Right here!” Cassie grew larger, kicking one of the drones out of the air before waving at Peter. There was only a second before she shrunk down again, flying away to the next enemy.

That’s Cassie Lang. Stinger. Her father is Scott Lang, Ant-Man, as you can probably see from her Pym Technology. She was just a kid when her father gained the mantle, but says she knew immediately that she wanted to be like him when she was older. Now, she’s a valuable member of the Avengers.

“I’m going to have to add wings to this suit,” Shuri huffed as Peter swung down beside her, shooting a web at the drone she had pinned to the ground. He couldn’t see her face because of the Black Panther suit, but he guessed that she was slightly annoyed but also thinking about ways to make that idea a reality.

“Pretty sure cats don’t fly, Shuri,” Peter chuckled as she stood up, the claws on her hands retracting into the suit. “But I would happily help you make that happen.”

Queen Shuri. Black Panther. Sister of King T’Challa. Shuri was already a warrior as a princess, helping fight alongside the Dore Mijae and her brother when Wakanda was in danger. When her brother died, she took over his mantle, promising to make him proud.

“Hey, I want wings,” Lila protested. Peter actually had no idea where she was at the moment, but he would see an arrow flying through the air every now and then and knew she was fine. “Shouldn’t Hawkeye get to fly before Black Panther?”

That’s Lila Barton. Hawkeye. Daughter of Clint Barton. Clint was not happy when he learned that Lila wanted to join the Avengers, but he knew he couldn’t stop her. In a lot of ways, she was just like him. She was determined and stubborn, and this was something she had always wanted. Even before she picked up her first bow.

“How many drones ‘re left, Parker?” Harley called. Peter could hear the whirring of his repulsors through the comms. He was a bit farther away, chasing drones that had gotten past them.

Harley Keener. Iron Lad. An engineer from Tennessee. You can probably tell from his accent he comes from Nashville. He lives in New York now, but I doubt his twang will ever fade completely.

“Hey, EDITH,” Peter murmured, glancing at the screen on the inside of his mask. He could still see dozens of red dots on the map, signifying battle drones. He was silently grateful that he had his AI with him this time. And his teammates. “How many drones are left?”

“I’m seeing around fifty active drones,” EDITH replied. “Are you sure I don’t need to call in Ms. Maximoff for backup?”

“No, let Wanda have her vacation,” Peter told her, shooting a web at the nearest drone. “She deserves it.”

And that’s me. Peter Parker. Spider-Man. I was only fourteen when I was bitten by a radioactive spider that gave me these crazy powers. I kept it a secret for six months before I came home from school and found my Aunt May talking to Tony Stark in our living room.

Being an Avenger had been my dream for years. I remember watching them fight on TV as a kid, begging Aunt May and Uncle Ben for more and more toys and Avengers pajamas. I never imagined that I would have that I would not only meet my hero but be asked to fight alongside him.

Peter heard a repulsor blast and a nearby drone exploded. He looked up, planning to see Harley’s white-and-orange suit, but frowned when he saw the faceplate of a gold-and-red suit lift. “Hi, Peter!”

Morgan Stark. Fourteen year old daughter of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. My pseudo sister. She started working on that suit when she was eight. I helped her in secret, knowing that Pepper would kill me if she ever found out.

“Morgan! What are you doing here?” he asked, shooting a web at another drone and bringing it to the ground. He heard Morgan firing up a repulsor again and groaned with frustration. “Your Mom’s going to kill you. Go home. Now.”

“I know what you’re gonna say,” Morgan started.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Peter told her. He suddenly found himself trying to go back to a spaceship on its way to Titan and shook his head. Not now.

“I was gonna stay home—”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Peter said sternly. He knew that the girl would just keep talking. She always did, especially when she was nervous. Usually he would just tease her for it but in the suit she already reminded him so much of her dad that it hurt.

“But FRIDAY said that you were fighting with the team and I couldn’t stop thinking about you. . .”

“And now I gotta hear it,” he sighed.

“And, I mean, you helped me make the suit.” Morgan looked at one of the gauntlets before shrugging. “So if anything, it’s your fault I’m here.”

Anyone would think we’re actually related. God, was I really this annoying? “What did you just say?” He asked, voice stern. He could imagine Morgan’s eyes widening behind the mask like his had.

“I take that back,” she said quickly. “But seriously. I’m here now, so just let me fight. Please, Petey. I want to fight.”

“No, Morgan. Go home,” Peter growled, turning as his Spider-Sense warned him of a drone coming towards them. He shot a web and threw it to the ground. “You’re fourteen. You can’t just come out here and fight. You’re not an Avenger.”

“You were only fourteen when Dad asked you to fight!” Morgan protested. “And you weren’t an Avenger either. So why is it any different for me?”

“Because I have powers to keep me safe and I had practice fighting everyday criminals before I fought anything like this,” Peter told her. “As amazing as these suits are, you can still get hurt in them. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen. I don’t want you to end up in the hospital or paralyzed because you’re so stubborn.”

Peter heard a repulsor firing up at the same time as his Spider-Sense went off. He looked over to see a drone coming at Morgan, then saw an orange beam blasting it away. The only problem? It didn’t come from Morgan’s suit. He winced and turned to the side. Sure enough, he saw a familiar silver suit. “You kids have some serious explaining to do.”

#mcu #marvel #avengers #peter parker #cassie lang #shuri #lila barton #harley keener #edith #morgan stark #friday #james rhodes #spider man #stinger #stature #iron lad #war machine #young avengers

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puckngrind · 5 years

Text

Skating Lessons part 16

Summary: More time in the hospital. Does the reader get to come home?

Warnings: maybe swearing, it’s in a hospital...that’s about it.

Word count: 2954

Series Masterlist

You looked over at Josh after the doctor let you sit up finally. He was standing next to your bed. There was that familiar smirk on his face but it had been replaced with a look of distress and the color was gone from his face.

“Josh.” You reach out to grab his elbow. “Babe.” You tug a little on his hoodie to bring him back to you. His eyebrows are furrowed and you can see his mind is racing. “Josh.” You mustard all the power you could since your voice sounds weaker than it should be.

“Sorry.” He rubs his face. “Did you say surgery?” His hand drops and you take the chance to interlace your fingers in his and pull him towards you.

“Well, not necessary and not right now regardless.” Dr. Jaynes puts his hand on your foot which is still being stabilized. “We will have to let (y/n) heal a little. Keep it in a boot. X-ray in another week. Take it week by week.” He emphasized the end and Josh turns to look you up and down.

“See baby, I’m fine.” You squeeze his hand and smile at him. He huffs and looks you over again.

“(Y/n), I’m thankful this is all we have to worry about but this is far from fine Sweetie.” Josh’s jaw is clinched.

“I agree, this could have been very serious. I’ve seen many patients come in with worse conditions and accidents that were not a bad as yours. We want to monitor you today but you should be discharged tomorrow morning if all goes well. Change your meds and get a boot on your foot that you can go home in. The nurse and Physical therapist will be after lunch to fit your boot and talk home care. Any questions?”

“Can I wear normal clothes yet?” You were tired of this gown that showed all the bruising on your body. You could see Josh’s face when he saw them and you knew Mason would not be able to handle it.

“Well, let’s get the boot on and make sure we don’t need to do any more tests then yes. Can someone bring you some?” You go to say your mom could run by on her way here but then you hear Josh starting to talk.

“I can. I’ll go get my car, shower, get your clothes and some breakfast. Sound okay? It won’t take me long.” Josh brings your hand up to his lips and kisses softly.

The staff all leave and Josh almost immediately has his lips on yours. You breathe him in. How does he still smell so amazing? He’s pretty much been in the same sweats since morning skate yesterday.

“I don’t want to leave you but I’ll be quick plus someone is coming to sit with you until our mom gets here.” Josh kisses you again and you need to get your phone and ask mom for lipgloss. You feel how chapped your lips are against his.

“Wait, what?” You processed that he said someone was coming to sit with you. You give him a look trying to read his face but the look is one you’ve never seen from him until today. “Josh, I don’t need anyone to sit with me. My mom will be here in like an hour.”

“It’s an hour too long and it’s too late. They are here.” He looks down at his phone and back at you. Sure enough in walks Natalie Atkinson and Janelle Foligno. Your hand immediately goes to your hair to try and tame the mess. Josh is greeting them at the door and moves to let them in. Janelle has the biggest edible arrangement you’ve ever seen and sits it next to your bed.

“Hey (y/n)!” Natalie comes right next to you and places her hand on yours. “You have all of us freaked out.” She eyes you like she wants to give you a hug but isn’t sure so you lean in to initiate.

“Thank you, sorry. Wasn’t expecting this clearly.” You smile and the ladies quietly laugh. You eye Josh with a mouthful of pineapple. “Are you eating my gift?”

“Um...Stress eating.” He mumbles though bites and hands you the card.

All our love,

The Lady Jackets

It’s simple but speaks volumes.

“See, hockey is a family. They all have been blowing my phone up since I got the call.” Josh now has a strawberry in his mouth and hands you a skewer. He had told you but you were starting to see it. While it’s a business and his job these people really were his family in Columbus and they had their arms wide open for you and Mason to join.

Josh kisses you and made Janelle promise to call him if any doctor came in before he got back. He kisses the top of your head again and Janelle hands him her keys. He stares at you whispers he loves you and ducks out.

“You’ve changed him.” Janelle smiles softly at you. “Nick agrees. You bring out the best of him and we are so thankful he found you.” She places her hand in yours then goes to pulls up the chair across the room to sit next to Natalie.

You were thankful for Janelle and Natalie. They didn’t focus on your accident just talking about your boys, the kids, and your favorite things to do with kids in Columbus. You found yourself easily talking to them like you’ve been friends for years.

“Honey?” Your mom’s voice comes from behind the door. Her face was puzzled as she took in the room. She nodded to the girls and leaned in to rub your face like she’s always done and kissed your forehead. You introduced Janelle and Natalie. “Thank you for keeping (y/n) company while I got Mason to school and her dad off to work.”

“How’s Mason?” Your voice is the strongest it’s felt since your crash.

“He knows you are at the hospital with a hurt foot but that’s it. We didn’t know what to tell him.” Her hand rubs yours. “I’m glad you are so alert. When Josh texted saying you were more like yourself I thought there was some wishful thinking there.”

“They are weaning me off the meds so I can go home. And dad?” Your eyebrows pressed together to try and read your mom’s face.

“He’s keeping himself busy to he doesn’t have to think about it. The man couldn’t find his socks in his own sock drawer this morning.” Her statement produced a laugh out of the room. You could only imagine. You sprained your knee in high school and he completely relandscaped the yard while you waited for your ortho appointment to see if you torn any ligaments.

Your mom easily fell into conversation as she stood at your side brushing your hair. All of a sudden you could smell food. “Josh is back.” You exclaimed in a hushed voice and the three women all looked at you then the door.

Sure enough Josh walks in with a backpack that he makes look tiny and breakfast.

“Well, I guess I didn’t bring enough food for the party ladies, just our patient.” He had two bags from Fox in Snow and what you can only guess is your favorite, New Orleans Iced Coffee. He takes a sip.

“Wait, that’s not for me?” You look at him disappointed.

“Well, I wanted a sip before you downed it.” He laughs and hands it over.

“And Fox in Snow is a little out of the way from your place?” You raise your eyebrow.

“Yeah, I took a detour.” He rubs he back of his neck and slowly sits on your bed.

Your mom was already moving your tray over so Josh can lay out your breakfast. Janelle and Natalie said their goodbyes to all three of you.

“So what did you ladies talk about?” Josh had shoved his ham and cheese baguette in his mouth.

“You mainly.” He almost chokes which makes you laugh. “You okay babe? And did you time this out so you were there when the baguettes were available?” You smile at him and grab your own.

“Maybe...” he smirks at you. “And what about me were you talking about?” His eyes meet yours then he looks over to your mom who has made herself comfortable in the chair next to you.

“Oh you know, girl talk. But we also talked about where I love to take Mace too.” He gives you a glare that makes you almost laugh.

“Speaking is Mace...is he coming here after school?”

“That’s the plan.” Your mom chimes in not looking up from her magazine. “Also depends on (y/n) too.”

“Yeah, let’s see how this afternoon goes. You can bring him for dinner maybe?” You look at Josh and then your Mom.

“I told preschool I would pick him up today. Figured we can do lunch and hang out until your dad got home.” She finally looks at you. She has her ‘not going to my emotions get the best of me’ face on. You once called it stoic and got an ear full from her. “I’m glad Josh is here since I’ll have to leave soon to get in that lovely pick up line.”

You could tell your mom was relieved Josh was here. You were thankful too but you didn’t want him to miss anymore work. “Thank you mom. I know how much that pick up line is the death of you.” You giggle and turn your attention to Josh who has kept a hand on your body and still managing to eat. “And J, you need to go back to work. Isn’t there a game tomorrow?” You move your leg a bit to nudge him.

“It’s in 2 days. I’m only going to morning skate tomorrow and leaving as soon as your are released. Torts is okay with it.” He rubs his hand up your leg.

“Babe, you need to go back to...” you try to repeat but Josh interrupts you.

“Nope. Torts is a family first kind of coach. I’m sure he wouldn’t let me practice if I showed up anyway. Plus we have a quick roadie to Pittsburgh in three days.”

“And you are going to that?” It came out more like a statement than a question.

“As long as you are settled. Your mom and I already talked about plans for home.” Josh’s smirk was back.

“Yes we did.” Mom chimes in again. You almost forgot she was there for a moment.

“I’m your primary care taker and she’s worked out the whole Mason thing and then back up when I’m gone. Plus Beth is going to help.” Josh looks pleased with himself.

“Wait? What? Beth? Plan?” Your puzzled look makes both your mom and Josh laugh.

“Yeah, your mom wasn’t exactly comfortable with the showering thing.” Josh’s smile reaches his eyes as he chuckles.

“Oh. My. Word. What the...” You look at Josh and feel the heat flood to your face. You see your mom laughing silently next to you.

“There is only one person in this room that has seen you naked in the last four years and it’s not me.” Your mom laughs out. How was this conversation happening? You eye Josh who just shrugs his shoulders with a look of satisfaction.

“She’s not wrong there babe.” This makes your hands cover your face in sheer embarrassment.

“Can we please talk about something else?” You mumble through your palms. Your mom and Josh comfortably talking about seeing you naked is the last thing you want to discuss or imagine.

“Sure.” You hear another voice coming through door. Your eyes dart towards the voice. The physical therapist introduces himself and you know the red on your cheeks is not going anywhere anytime soon. “I’m not here for your boot yet but I needed to make sure if you brought pants that they would fit or if your family needed to go get something else.” He eyes Josh who clearly hasn’t noticed. You clear your throat and motion to bag.

“Oh! I brought my sweats since I was sure your leggings weren’t fitting over a boot.” Josh gets up to retrieve the bag and pulls out his old team sweats. You catch the PT’s eyes widen and you smile knowing he’s figured out who Josh is.

“Can she wear them?” The physical therapist eyes you and then Josh.

“Yes, she has before plus these are old so if we need to cut them we can.” Josh tugs at the drawstring and you know by the smirk on his face he remembers the last time you wore them. “I’m Josh by the way.” Josh reaches out his hand to the therapist.

“Yeah. Yes, I know. Huge fan. Like major fan.” You laugh at the exchange. Seeing men fangirl over your boyfriend was entertaining especially medicated. “Anyway, I’ll be back after lunch. We wanted to wait to see if (y/n) needed any more tests and we can put the boot on, talk after release care, and such.” He looks at you again and then to your mom then back to Josh. “We will need an idea of a plan for when discharge happens tomorrow too.”

“Taken care of.” Josh proudly admits.

“Oh, great. (Y/n) being home by herself really should be at a minimum until she figures out the whole balance thing.” The therapist is only talking to Josh at this point and your mom is watching the interaction in amusement.

“Wait, balance? Because of my foot?” You chime in confused because a broken foot shouldn’t be this big of a deal.

“Oh, uh, maybe...oh...has the doctor not discussed?” The professional standing in front of your bed sounds like a first year med student if that.

“Please just tell me.” You see your mom’s face contort and Josh flinch.

“You may have vertigo from whiplash that you haven’t noticed since you’ve been laying flat and on pretty heavy meds.” He clears his throat and takes in the room. “It’s nothing that will last a significant amount of time but with the foot plus the potential of vertigo your balance won’t be the best.”

“So...” Josh pipes up. “When are we going to figure out if this is something we need to worry about or not?” You are impressed with his composure and ability to ask the right questions. It’s very sexy. The therapist seems almost intimidated and excuses himself to what you assume is get your doctor. Your focus turns to Josh but you don’t get a chance to say a word.

“I need to go get Mason.” Your mom’s voice wasn’t as light as it was earlier.

“Mom.” You squeak out. “I’m fine.” You think if you keep saying it everyone will actually believe you.

“Sweetie, I know. It’s just a lot. And yes, I know it could be worse but you could also just be home with some cuts and scrapes.” She made her way to you and kisses your forehead.

Lunch and the fitting of the boot were somewhat relaxing. Getting the pins out of your leg from the stabilized was a relief. The doctor explained the vertigo and had a team help you stand. He was right. Your balance was off and you would have fallen on your face if Josh wasn’t in front of you. His strong arms flexed and came around you almost lifting you up on your bed. Dr. Jaynes gave you permission to wear normal clothes since Mason was coming and Josh helped you change just in time.

“MOMMA!” Mason came crashing through the door with a teddy bear that had an Anderson shirt on. Josh lifted him up to help get him on the bed without hurting you. “Look, we got you a bear like Bauer but it has Josh’s number on it!” He hands you the bear and you hug it then him. Josh has a look in his eye that brings a tear to yours.

“Baby, I’ve missed you.” You croak out. Josh takes this moment to jump in.

“Mace, are you ready to be my big helper for Momma?” Josh sits behind Mason on your bed and Mason leans into him.

“Yes. We have to help her get better so she can skate for my birthday.” Mason looks up at Josh and Josh’s face softens.

“Well bud, even if she isn’t, I’ll make sure she gets on the ice with you. Okay?” Josh rubs Mason’s arm and looks deep into your eyes. “Babe you okay?” He notices the watery eyes.

“Yes. Just ready to get home.” You didn’t want to admit how Mason’s interaction with Josh was making you emotional.

A new nurse walks in for meds. Josh stands up but Mason doesn’t move. She introduces herself and turns her attention to Mason. “Hi sweetie. I need to check your mom. Could you stand with your dad or grandparents for second?” Josh’s eyes bugged out of his head and your lips curl up but Mason is the one to answer.

“Dad? He’s my Josh.” You giggle a little and the look on nurse’s face was priceless. You eye Josh who you can see swallowing the lump in his throat as his initial shock look turns to a sweet one. Josh really was the closest thing to a dad Mason has ever had. And the fact that Mason claimed him as his made your heart skip a beat.

“Yup, I’m yours. That’s for sure.” Josh pulls Mason up into his arms and gives him a kiss on his forehead and you melt right there in your hospital bed.

#josh anderson #my andy man 77 #skating lessons fic #josh anderson imagine

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fanficimagery · 5 years

Text

Imagine being Scott's sister and falling in love with Theo. In a fight with an encroaching Pack, you get severely injured. Can Scott be persuaded to give you the bite or will he let the past repeat itself?

Theo X Reader

Falling for Theo had been the last thing you'd expected to ever happen. When he'd returned to Beacon Hills just in the nick of time to help out your brother when the Dread Doctors first released one of their experiments, you'd been grateful. You didn't care that he had claws, fangs, and yellow eyes. In fact, you didn't care about his cocky attitude and instead found it rather attractive at times.

But you did start to care that it seemed he was pitting Scott's pack against their alpha and that didn't sit well with you. Theo had become an actual monster and you were heartbroken when it came out that he was working with the Dread Doctors to bring down your brother and resurrect The Beast of Gevaudan. While the pack either gloated or were speechless about Theo's betrayal, it was Scott who comforted you because he knew you and Theo were once close before the Raeken's had moved away. Then Theo disappeared which was good for Stiles' peace of mind, but there was a part of you that was sad all over again.

Ghost Riders came into the picture soon after and wreaked havoc on your hometown, kidnapping locals left and right (though no one knew anyone went missing because everyone's memories were being altered), and Theo was suddenly back. Only this time, Theo was a lesser version of himself and it seemed wherever he was did a number on him because he was terrified of going back. And when no one wanted anything to do with him, you found yourself with a shadow as Theo took to dogging your footsteps and catching up on all that he’d missed.

It was then everyone saw a different side to Theo, he doing his best to earn everyone's trust and even sacrificing himself to the Ghost Riders when they'd cornered him and Liam. His newfound loyalty to the Pack and Beacon Hills did a lot to appease Scott somewhat, and it even got your brother off your back about all the times Theo had hung out at your house.

Then something terrible came, exposing the supernatural side of Beacon Hills to the humans and instilling fear into them all. War broke out between hunters and supernatural beings, and the humans who were in contact with supernatural beings got caught in the middle. Fighting humans was a lot different than defending yourself against a supernatural being, and you were grateful Theo stuck close to help you out when your fellow students started targeting you because of your connection to Scott.

Not a single member of the pack trusted Theo as far as they could throw him, and you completely understood their opinions, but you warmed completely when he stayed to help Mason in the underground tunnels and when he found it in himself to finally take someone's pain away as they were dying. Theo was completely changed after that and though you offered to forgive him for his past deeds, you also mentioned you'd never forget.

Several months down the line, it was Theo who made it his mission to completely win you over. And when he eventually did several more months later, you were at a complete loss when he kissed you and confessed his feelings. He left the ball completely in your court and against almost everyone's wishes, you agreed to date him.

Having gotten home from a day of classes down at the community college, you're excited to see Theo in your home and working online to obtain his GED while your mom cleaned house on her day off. It was good to see she had finally warmed up to your boyfriend after seeing Scott give his blessing on your relationship, and it never failed to amuse you when you remembered how she threatened Theo should he go back to his murderous ways.

As you pass your mom in the hallway, the two of you greet each other with kisses to the cheek. She tucks your hair behind your ear before letting you pass and then you lean over the back of the couch, pressing a kiss to Theo's cheek and then his mouth when he turns to glance over his shoulder.

"Hey. Long day?" He asks.

Rounding the couch, you plop down on the end opposite of him and toe off your shoes. "Yeah. I just want to eat and sleep."

"Sorry," he says, shutting his laptop and setting it on the coffee table. "Scott called. Something is testing our borders, so the Pack is coming home for the weekend. Your brother should be here in a little bit."

"No," you whine. "We just got rid of the pixies last week. Why can't we just chill for a month or so?"

Chuckling, Theo grins. "It's Beacon Hills." Then reaching out towards you, he grabs you by the wrist and tugs you down so your head is in his lap. "Nap. I'll wake you when he gets here."

"You better." Accepting a chaste kiss from him one more time, you then settle down and do as you were told.

- X - X - X - X - X -

Groggily waking up, it takes you several seconds to realize you're in your bedroom. As Theo lays on his back, he has you tucked up right next him with your head on his shoulder and your right leg thrown over his thighs.

Moaning softly, you arch up into him. "What happened? I thought Scott wanted to talk?"

"S'fine," Theo murmurs. "Your mom told him how tired you've been and he promised we'll talk tomorrow."

"'Kay. Anything I miss?"

"Hmmm. Stiles got in early. He still hates me."

You smile. "Of course he does. Anything else?"

"Your mom officially knows I've been sneaking in through your window." At that, your eyes fly wide open and Theo shakes with suppressed laughter. "Don't worry. After a very humiliating talk with her, she knows we take every precaution available and told me to use the stairs from now on."

"Oh my god. She's never going to let me live this down. Liam's never going to let us live this down!"

"Worth it," he mumbles. "We don't have to sneak around anymore. Now get some sleep. Everyone should be here by tomorrow afternoon."

"Yay," you deadpan.

The pack reunion was well underway at your house. Everyone but Stiles had a warm greeting for you, but in all honestly Stiles was more your twin's friend than yours. Derek and Cora's return had surprised you, but after Scott's quick explanation of an encroaching Pack, the Hale back-up made sense.

Once word got out about the cleansed nemeton, it seemed like every supernatural entity wanted to taste it's power. But everyone who came through dealt with the McCall Pack and they were usually sent on their way soon after. This time though, the Pack was scattered and a nearby pack had just gotten word that Beacon Hills wasn't as protected as everyone once thought.

"So what do we do?" Liam asks. "Hayden, Mason, and I are finishing up our last year of school. We have classes all day and can't patrol the borders until after four."

"I can patrol mornings and late at night," Theo pipes up, raising his hand.

Stiles scoffs. "That's comforting."

You shift uncomfortably at the tense atmosphere that follows and fortunately Sheriff Stilinski breaks it by cuffing his only son on the back of his head. After Stiles yelps, Sheriff Stilinski says, "I can leave Parrish free to patrol wherever you need him. Just let me know when and where."

Derek nods, offering up his own services, "Cora and I can stay as long as you need us, Scott."

Peter sighs. "What the hell. Count me in as well."

Smiling in relief, Scott says, "Thanks, guys."

"What about us humans?" Melissa asks.

Scott shrugs. "Just go about your day as usual. In between patrolling, the humans will be checked up on to make sure no other Were has been near."

"Well whatever their deal is, let us hope they get it out of their system over the weekend," Stiles says. "Lydia and I have to leave by Monday, and we all know we're the brains of the Pack."

Several people groan and you toss popcorn kernels at Stiles' head. "Way to jinx us, Stilinski."

As luck would have it, the encroaching Pack make their move Sunday afternoon in broad daylight. A trip to the grocery store was in order since the Pack was eating the food in your mom's cabinets and refrigerator, and no one had thought to tag along with you. So while you were loading the groceries into the trunk of your car you were caught completely off guard as a cloth was clasped over your mouth and nose, and no amount of struggling freed you from your captors. And as your world went black, your last thought was that if you made it out of this alive you were going to throat punch Stiles.

When you eventually come to it's because something sharp is digging into your neck. And when your eyes flutter open, it takes you a moment to realize the glowing eyes across the clearing are the rage filled eyes of your pack. Which means.. which means the claws at your throat are entirely unfriendly.

"Don't. Move," Theo grits out between his elongated fangs.

You immediately stop fidgeting and stand a little taller to elevate the grip on your throat since the werewolf at your back had only been holding up your unconscious form by grasping your throat. Gulping, your gaze darts to each of your pack members and you mentally forgive Stiles when you see the panic in his eyes.

"Let my sister go," Scott snarls, "and you can walk away from this."

"My dear boy," the werewolf holding you tuts. Alpha. He's definitely an alpha. "You seem to be under the impression that it is you who will win." Scott's eyes blaze red and the alpha behind you chuckles. "Go get 'em, boys."

Your stomach sinks as the enemy pack appear one right after the other, lunging from between the trees and attacking your pack. Scott and Kira fight back to back, her sword slicing through wolves with one goal in mind. Derek and Cora snarl in rage as they fight off their own wolves, and Peter seems to be protecting Stiles and Mason to the best of his abilities. Even with her wailing Lydia is no match for teeth and claws when the wolves decide to gang up on her, and Liam and Hayden do what they can to help the banshee.

"Y/N!"

Theo, with his eyes blazing yellow, starts in your direction, but the enemy wolves block him.

"Silly boy," the alpha muses. "As if he even has a chance."

Scott roaring as claws drag down his back makes you flinch and the alpha holding you chuckles. As the battle rages on, you decide to ask, "Why me?"

The alpha's chest rumbles with glee and you cringe when you feel lips brush your ear. "Because, my dear, you are the alpha's sister. Without you, he'll be so lost in grief that Beacon Hills will be easy pickings."

Realization sets in immediately and tears prick your eyes as you watch your pack fight for their lives and Beacon Hills. "You don't plan to let me live, do you?"

"It depends on your brother. All we want is the nemeton."

"Yeah? Well you can fuck right off if that's what you want." The alpha tightens his grip on your throat and you choke. Glancing for someone- anyone, really- you find Theo and Scott doubling their effort when they see you struggling for breath.

His grip loosens and you can finally pay attention to the battle once more. And this time, it seems your pack is doing more than holding their own. Scott, Theo, and Peter are the bloodiest, the three of them looking pretty terrifying as they inch closer and closer towards you.

"Too bad, little dove," the alpha drawls. "I guess our time is going to be cut short tonight."

"Wha-"

The claws dig deeper into your throat and your eyes widen in horror. Your hands uselessly scratch at the alpha's hand and your shout gets cut short as the claws are then ripped to the side, slicing through your throat with ease.

"No!" Scott roars.

The alpha whistles and then pushes you forward, and Theo rushes forward to catch you. Stumbling into your boyfriend's arms, he immediately lowers you to the ground, cradles you in his lap, and covers your neck with the palm of his hand. "Scott! Scott, what do I do?"

"I- " You choke on your blood, splattering your lips and chin with red.

"Don't. Shhh," Theo says.

"The pack's retreating. Follow them to the borders," someone shouts.

"Theo. L-Look at me," you say, gulping down mouthfuls of copper tainted saliva just to be able to speak. He looks down at you, eyes swimming with tears. "I l-love you. I need you to-"

Theo whines. "Stop. Please just- I love you too, okay? But we need to save our declarations for later."

"I don't know.. if I'll have a l-later."

"You will. You have to." Looking back up, Theo screams as you start to cough again. "Scott!"

"It's okay. It's-"

"Theo, siphon her pain." Glancing behind him, you see your brother silently crying. He's staring right at you, but it's like he doesn't even see you. He's reliving a past tragedy and you don't blame him for not immediately acting.

Suddenly the pain is a lot more bearable and you relax against your boyfriend. Meeting his gaze once more, you say, "I loved you in this life.. and I will love you in the next." Coughing, Theo loosens his grip just a little on your throat before applying pressure after the cough has passed.

"Stop talking like that. Scott will- he can bite you. You can live."

"It's 50/50. You know-"

"I don't care! It's a better option than doing nothing." Theo looks up, reaching back with his other arm and swiping at Scott's leg. "Snap out of it! Y/N needs you."

Scott seems to shake his head clear and he's quick to drop to his knees beside you. "Y/N? I don't- what do I do?"

"Bite her!"

You gulp. "Do what your gut is telling you, Scotty. I won't.. pressure you."

Tears fall from your brothers eyes, they burning red. "I never wanted this for you."

"I-I know."

"I'm sorry."

"Me.. too."

Scott hesitates for a moment before grabbing your right arm, he holding it in front of his mouth before closing his eyes. When his mouth opens wide, his teeth elongate and you cry out when he closes his mouth around your wrist. The pain is absolutely blinding and it doesn't come as a shock when everything goes dark.

- X - X - X - X - X -

Hours later after the McCall pack has made sure the encroaching pack is long gone, everyone returns to the McCall household where they find a newly showered Scott and Theo pacing the living room. Melissa is stress cleaning the kitchen and Sheriff Stilinski is keeping an eye on her from the doorway between the kitchen and living room.

"How is she?" Lydia softly asks.

Theo shrugs and Scott sighs. "The bleeding slowed so Mom cleaned the wounds and bandaged them. She's stable. That's all we know."

"Does she smell like a wolf?" Derek asks. "It's been hours. You should be able to tell."

"I can't. She smells like that alpha since he was pressed up to her back."

A choked off whine startles everyone into silence and Theo stares at them with tear-filled eyes. "Can you guys just.. stop. I can't- I can't think about the bite not taking."

"Theo," Derek frowns. "The bite-"

"I know, okay? I know. But Y/N- if anything happens to her-" He trails off, shaking his head and pressing his lips together to keep from sobbing. "I can't lose her. I don't know if I can handle it if she doesn't make it."

A moment of silent grief takes hold of the pack and Stiles says, "She's your anchor. Isn’t she?"

Surprised that Stiles is talking to him without any hostility, Theo can only nod as the tears streak down his face.

"The- Theo?" Every supernatural being's head snaps up, staring at the ceiling at the sound of the weak voice. "Scott?"

"She's awake," Scott breathes in awe.

Then glancing at one another, Scott and Theo lunge for the stairs.

Sitting up in bed, you cringe as the tape holding the bandage to your neck pulls on your skin. Your head is pounding, and your neck and your wrist feel like it's on fire. Then slowly crawling out of bed, your feet sink into the carpet of your floor as you walk over to the mirror hanging on the back of your closet door.

Seeing your reflection, your nose wrinkles at the mess of hair sitting atop your head. The front of your shirt is soaked with blood and the bandages you're wearing had nearly been soaked through. Against your better judgement, you decide to see what's underneath the bandages.

The one on your wrist peels off easy and you frown at what appears to be a scarred over bite mark. Then glancing at your reflection once more, you work on peeling off the bandage over your neck. And beneath that lies three slash marks, still red and raw but mostly healed.

The memory of what happened jumps to the forefront of your mind and your heart starts to beat erratically. The memory of feeling terrified and horrified rushes back, and suddenly rage bubbles up. Subconsciously you bare your teeth and you slap a hand over your mouth when your eyes blaze yellow in the mirror.

"The-Theo? Scott?" You weakly utter.

One moment it's silent and the next there's thundering footsteps resonating in your ears. You cringe at the volume of it and yelp when your bedroom door is thrown open. Whirling around, you growl. Scott and Theo stare in shock, and after realizing what you did, you apologize. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

Scott rushes forward and throws his arms around you, he hugging you as tightly as he can. Your chest stutters with suppressed sobs and you manage to get your arms around your twin too. "The bite took."

"I-I guess," you mutter in response. "Everything is still healing."

Scott hugs you for what feels like an eternity and when he releases you, you look to Theo only to see everyone else congregated at his back. You want nothing more than to assure him you're okay and talk about those three little words the both of you spoke to one another, but then your mother is there pushing through the pack and she's sobbing with relief once her arms are around you.

Then after your mother's had her fill and has stepped aside, Theo is there. His arms are immediately around your shoulders and his face pressed to your neck. With your arms wrapped low around his back, you squeeze him as tight as you're capable of. "It's okay. I'm fine. We're fine."

"Never again," he mumbles. "You are never going anywhere alone ever again."

Chuckling through your tears, you agree. "Fine. So long as you're with me, I think it will be just fine."

"You have yourself a deal, McCall."

#fanficimagery #theo x reader #theo raeken x reader #theo raeken imagine #teen wolf imagine #tw imagine #theo raeken #scott mccall #stiles stilinski #derek hale #peter hale #lydia martin #melissa mccall #imagine

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writtenkitten18 · 4 years

Text

My Blood: First Meeting

Lily! Help me! Save me! Lily!

My head jumps off the table with a swiftness which causes my body to fall to the ground. Even though it's been the same nightmare for the past 8 years, I always have the same reaction to it. Except this time, I was sitting at a table in Labyrinth, so I had to make sure to be extra quiet so I don't disturb any of the customers.

Seeing my body fall to the ground, my best friend Eric runs from around the bar and helps pick me off of the ground. "Are you okay Lily? Was it another nightmare?"

After he picks me up off the ground, I nod my head. "Yeah. It was another nightmare. I keep having it. And nothing seems to stop it. I've tried anti-depressants. Meditation. Nothing seems to work."

Eric sighs. "I know how you feel girl. Bella's death hit everyone hard. But anyways, I'm here because you have a call for you. I think it's your mom. Something about it being urgent."

Nodding my head, I walk over to the payphone in the corner of the club and take the phone off of the hook, placing the phone against my ear. "Hey mom. What's up?"

"Hey sweetie. I'm at the station with Uncle Fin and he was telling me that he needs help with this case and I was thinking maybe you could help him with the case? You can even bring Eric with you and you both can make extra money on the side."

Sighing, I respond to her question. "Uhhhh sure Mom. We're on break and I guess Eric and I can kill some free time. When do you want us there?"

"Maybe in about 30 minutes? No rush."

And with that, the two of us say our goodbyes and I put the phone back on the hook. I walk back over to the bar, where Eric was cleaning some of the glasses for tonight's big night. "Hey E. My mom wants us to stop by the station so we can help with the case."

Eric thinks for a moment and then nods his head. "Sure. Why the hell not. We've got some time to kill. Besides, we might even get the chance to meet someone special."

I roll my eyes. "Okays slow your roll there. Even you know that I'm saving myself for that special someone. Now, lets hurry before we're late."

——-

After a thirty minute drive, Eric and I arrive at New York precinct As we entered, we were greeted by several police officers before we stepped into the elevator and arrived on the Special Victims Unit floor and walked into the office, where we are immediately greeted by Nick and Amanda.

Noticing my entrance, Amanda stands up from her desk and runs over to hug me. "Hey Lily. We weren't expecting you today. What are you doing here?"

After we finish our hug, I respond to her question. "Mom called me and said that Uncle Fin needed help for the case so here we are. Is mom in the office right now?"

Amanda nods her head hesitantly. "Yeah she's in there with Benson." Nodding my head, Eric and I walk over to Benson's office and knock on the door. After we get the okay to enter, I open the door slowly and I see Benson face to face with another man and mom standing next to Benson.

I walk in slowly and look over at Benson. "Hey Benson. Is everything okay?"

Breaking the stare contest, Benson looks over at me. "Yeah. Everything is okay Lily. What are you doing here?"

I point over at Mom. "Mom called me. She said that you needed help with the case and bring Eric as well."

With that statement, Mom walks over to me and places her arms on my sides. "Yeah. I lied technically. They do need help with the case but there's another reason why I called you here." She pauses for a moment. "Remember when I told you that your dad died protecting Chicago?"

I nod my head. "Yeah. I based my entire life based on what happened to Dad. Why do you ask?" I also point to the man in the room. "And who the hell is he?"

Mom looks over at the man, back at me and sighs. "Well, I lied. Your dad didn't die in Chicago. He's still alive. He still with the Chicago PD and he's in charge of their intelligence unit. His name" She pauses. "His name is Sergeant Hank Voight."

I chuckle. "Come on Mom. You've got to be bullshitting me, right? Who put you up to this? Nick? That asshole loves to just pull my chain."

Mom shakes her head. "This isn't a joke. I didn't tell you about him because.... Damn it. It's very complicated why I didn't tell you. But needless to say, your dad is alive and actually he's right here." She turns to face the man that's in front of Benson, whose name I just learned is Hank Voight. I remember the name Hank Voight. He was arrested in Chicago for being a dirty cop. He also threatened a firefighter for filing a report against his son Justin.

I shake my head with tears in my eyes and slowly walk backwards. "So you're telling me that after 25 years of thinking that my father was dead, he's been alive this whole time."

The man whose name I just learned is Hank walks towards me and speaks in a gravely voice. "Trust me. If I had known that you had existed, I would've come for you sooner. It's just been complicated for me."

I chuckle slightly with tears in my eyes. "'Complicated for me'? What about for me? Huh? Can you even fathom what it's like for me to grow up without a father around?"

Eric places his hand on my arm. "Calm down Lily."

I shove his hand off of my arm. "No Eric. He needs to know." Understanding what I was trying to say, he backs away from me and leans against the doorway. "Do you know what it's like to be sitting at home, wondering why you couldn't go to father-daughter dances or events? Can you even imagine?! I was bullied constantly through high school for being a bi-racial child of a black woman and a white cop?" I start to sob as I look over at Mom. "You kept him from me all these years. You could've told me the truth, but you didn't." I shake my head. "I can't trust either one of you." With that statement, I grab Eric by the arm, and he walks with me out of the precinct, despite the protests from Benson, my mom and Hank. My newly discovered father.

#Chicago PD #Law and Order SVU #Zendaya #Tom Holland #chicago pd fanfiction #Jay Halstead #jay halstead x reader #hank voight x daughter #Camila Cabello #shawn mendes #sabrina carpenter #Sofia Carson #Brendon Urie #Bella Thorne

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sapphicsaro · 5 years

Note

can i request an anya fic + career day at school (preferably set when anya's 8/9 yrs old). thanks 😊

i tried to be fluffy, but you know I’m an angsty bitch !! enjoy !!

—

“Okay, so remember that tomorrow is career day, kids! If your parent is coming, they will sign in with me in the morning. Have a good day everyone!”

Miss. Mitchell was a nice teacher.

Was she annoying? Maybe a little too sweet sometimes, but Anya liked her. Third grade wasn’t challenging for the young girl, but Anya enjoyed that her teacher at least tried to make it fun with activities and projects.

You might be able to say that Anya was a teacher’s favorite, which is why Miss. Mitchell noticed her apprehension at the mention of career day.

“Anya? Can you hang back for a few minutes?”

Anya furrowed her brows, “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no. Not at all.”

The eight year old redhead watched her classmates leave as she headed towards her teacher’s desk and took a seat on the opposite side. She crossed her arms as Miss. Mitchell stared back.

“Anya, I was wondering if you planned on having anyone come tomorrow for career day? You’re the only one who hasn’t updated me.”

“No. No one is coming.”

“Any reason why?”

Because my mom’s dead and my dad is an Avenger, but I can’t tell anyone.

“My dad’s busy,” Anya fiddled with her skirt, trying to avoid the tall blonde’s blue eyes.

“What about your mom?”

Anya felt her eyes begin to water, “She can’t.”

“Okay, well, if you need to talk, or need anything-“

“I’m fine, Miss. Mitchell. Thank you. Can I go now?”

Miss Mitchell smiled slightly and nodded, “Of course. Is your dad here to pick you up?”

She shook her head, “No, my uncle is coming today.”

“Okay, I’ll walk you out.”

Anya slipped on her backpack and grabbed her teacher’s hand as they walked towards the front of the school, out the doors where Fury stood.

“Hey spider.”

The little girl grinned widely and ran towards her “uncle” who immediately welcomed her into his arms. Anya giggled, “Hi, дядя (uncle)!”

Fury smiled as he held her, he loved her Russian. She continued her lessons because it reminded her of her mother, something she always wanted since her passing.

It’s been years, but going through elementary school without a mom made life harder. Everyone bombarded her about her mother, and Anya never told anyone what really happened. Teachers assumed she was busy, because Anya said she was, and her friends had no clue her mother was no longer around. She would tell stories to them about all the things she would do with her mother, from days at the theme park to camping out in their yard. Her imagination was wild.

Anya snuggled into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder, “I’m tired.”

“What, is third grade tiring?”

“You don’t even know. I need to go home and nap.”

He chuckled, “You got it.” Placing her down, she got herself in the car, and Fury noticed Miss. Mitchell still standing nearby, watching them. “Is there something I can help you with?”

She shook her head, snapping back into focus, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude. I was just…um…actually…while you’re here…do you mind if I ask you about Anya’s home life? You don’t have to answer, obviously, it’s just-“

Nick looked back at the car, seeing that Anya already had her headphones in, “You can ask. I might not answer.”

“Right, of course,” she smiled uncomfortably again. “I was just wondering, do you know what her parents do for a living? Just because tomorrow is career day and all of the kids are either bringing in a parent or doing an activity about their parents’ job and I can’t seem to get much information from her. She talks about her mother and father all the time, but nothing about what they do.”

“What exactly does she say about them?”

“Oh, all good things. She talks about her father all the time, you know, about their hiking trips and such. But her mother, that’s who she mostly talks about.”

Nick sighed, “Oh.”

“No, no! Nothing bad. She’s all about her mother, always talking about their days together, at the theme park and the mall. She really loves her mother a lot. But, she says her parents are at work whenever I ask. And I’ve met her father, never her mother, and I still don’t know what they do exactly.”

Oh fuck.

Nick swallowed hard, “She hasn’t told you…”

“About their jobs? No.”

He glanced back at Anya who was focused on the screen in her hands, god, the poor thing. “I’m sorry, Miss-“

“Mitchell. Miss. Mitchell.”

“I’m sorry, Miss. Mitchell, but Anya’s mother passed away about four years ago before the vanished returned.”

Her smile faded quickly as she realized the reality of the situation, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”

“No need to apologize. She has a lot of family helping her out, and her father is very much in her life.”

“Of course. Gosh, I just wish I would have known. I have a policy of how to deal with children who have lost a parent,” the young woman look defeated.

“It’s not your fault. I’ll talk with her and her father about it. And thank you for your concern, but I’d appreciate if you let us talk about this at home first before talking to her.”

“Oh, yes! I won’t bring it up again, I promise.”

If only she knew.

If only he could tell her that Anya’s mother died to save billions of people; her sacrifice alone brought back the vanished.

But he couldn’t.

The world was still a dangerous place, and they tried to keep Anya on the down low. Hell, they had their names changed for her to be in public school. Anya’s last name was now “Baker”, and her parents were “James” and “Natalie”. Fury desperately wanted to change Anya’s name to a more common one, but Clint refused. She was too young and already lost her last name, it would be too much.

So, years ago when they sat down little four year old Anya before school started, they quizzed her on her name and she passed with flying colors.

What else could you expect from the child of two agents?

There wasn’t much Fury was unsure of, but this situation was definitely an uneasy one for him. He had continued to be a large part of Anya’s life, always being there as much as he possibly could. After losing Natasha, Fury needed to take some time for his personal life, which wasn’t really significant.

But there was Anya.

Clint welcomed the help, although he never acknowledged it. The man had struggled a lot after losing his wife, and he often did not reach out when he needed support. Neither would Fury. So they didn’t talk about it. He just came over, helped with Anya and never explained why.

Anya was knocked out on the ride back.

At least he had some time to think about how he could handle this conversation.

He carefully got her out of the car, carrying her back to the farmhouse to make sure she stayed asleep. She grumbled here and there, but Fury managed to get her all the way upstairs and in her bed without her waking up.

As he headed back downstairs, he pulled out his phone to call Clint.

Two rings later, the archer answered, “Fury, everything okay?”

Casual phone calls weren’t a thing between the two men, so obviously Clint would assume there was a problem if he was calling. “Anya is fine. But her teacher gave me some news.”

“What, is she in trouble?”

“No. But tomorrow is career day. And Anya said her parents were too busy to come in.”

“And the teacher’s suspicious?”

“Yeah, she asked me what Anya’s parents do for a living.”

“Parents?”

“Exactly.”

There was a small silence before Clint sighed, “Shit.”

“Apparently Anya has been telling everyone about the fun adventures her and her mother go on, including her teacher.”

“Did you tell her the truth?”

“I had to, Clint. We have to ensure that your covers won’t be blown.”

“I’m coming home.”

“Clint-“

“No, Fury. This is much more than her risking our covers. She’s pretending her mother is still alive. I need to be there for her.”

“I’ll talk to her about it.”

“And what? Warn her about how she’s not being a good agent?”

“Excuse me?”

“She’s not Natasha, she doesn’t work for you. This is my kid we’re talking about.”

“You think I only come here to keep your covers in check? You think I’m here to work?”

“Sounds like it.”

“Jesus fuck, you’re dense if that’s all you think I’m here for. Sure, I just volunteer to watch her for the week for work purposes. Anya is family to me, Clint. And so are you, I’d hope you would have known that by now.”

Clint remained silent.

“I called you because I was worried about her. I didn’t know what I should do.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. But never question my love for that little girl again.”

“I can still try to come home? We can make up a fake job or something and I��ll talk to Anya about her stories later?”

“No, you only have one more night there. You should finish the mission with Bishop.”

“Okay. Just please let me be there to talk to her about this, though.”

“Of course.”

“Keep me posted, Fury. I have to go, but call me before she goes to bed?”

“You got it. See you soon, Barton.”

“Goodbye.”

“Uncle Fury?”

He turned around to see Anya rubbing her eyes, “Hey there, munchkin. You okay?”

She yawned, “Mhmm, I just needed a nap.”

“C’mere, kiddo.”

The little girl waddled over to him, and reached out climb up into his lap. She snuggled into his chest, “Was that papa?”

“Yes it was.”

“Is he coming home?”

“One more day. Is that okay?”

She nodded, “Mhmm.”

Fury let her lay against him, her fingers picking at his shirt, “Anya?”

“Yeah?”

“How would you like it if I was your guest for career day?”

She lifted her head up, her face beaming, “Really?!”

“Of course. It’d be my honor.”

And that’s how Nick Fury ended up in a classroom at eight in the morning surrounded by third graders listening to how he “knew the Avengers” because of his old job as a “driver”.

Sure, it was a massive lie.

But it made all the kids happy, especially one little redhead.

#clintasha #clintasha au #black widow #hawkeye #natasha romanoff #natasha romanov #clint barton #anya romanoff barton #clintasha fanfic #clintasha fanfiction #prompt #request

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rosentm · 5 years

Text

helllooo ! PHEW this took me a hot MINUTE to write out but i’m finally done . i’m sam , your local dark academia & stevie nicks trash , and i bring forth my favorite Musical Theater Son Ari !! i have literally been on a straight up show tunes kick ever since binge watching the politican ( which isn’t even a musical just BEN PLATT ) and thus , enough about me , i present to you the real star of the show ... !!

INTRODUCING ...

did you hear how ARIEL ROSEN is applying to columbia university as a MUSICAL THEATER major ?! the TWENTY-TWO year old is living in the CARLTON ARMS. i heard that they got in because they are AMBITIOUS and FERVENT, but honestly i think HE can be INSECURE and COMPLIANT. they’re a real THESPIAN. oh well, only time will tell if the SENIOR will make it til the end.

full name : ariel nathaniel rosen ( it’s pronounced AHHH REE ELLE not AIR ree elle GET IT RIGHT or don’t talk to him )

nickname : ari , like ah - ree , and exclusively goes as such

birthday : september 30, 1997

zodiac : libra sun , aquarius moon , leo rising

nationality : american

ethnicity : jewish

religion : jewish

sexual & romantic orientation : bisexual , biromantic

hometown : los angeles , california

languages spoken : english

aesthetics : bright stage lights, secret playlists, the swish of a soccer ball catching net, black american express cards, muddy soccer cleats, old money

dream roles : guy ( once ) & emcee ( cabaret )

character parallels : troy bolton ( high school musical ) , nate archibald ( gossip girl ) , austin ames ( a cinderella story ) , neil perry ( dead poets society ) , andrew ( the breakfast club ) , pink ( dazed and confused )

background info !

born and raised in sunny los angeles , beverly hills to be exact

both his parents are in the entertainment business , his father is the ceo of a production company ( think warner brothers ) and his mom is a hot shot producer at the same company

he’s the youngest of three , with two older sisters , and greatness was always expected of the rosens . his eldest sister , lila , has just passed the california bar exam on her first try and is now working in entertainment law in los angeles . the middle child , ilana , is in grad school and studying to become a pediatric surgeon . and then there’s ariel .

ari was a good kid . in high school he was captain of the soccer team and was really really talented at the sport , he tutored underprivileged kids on tuesdays , had a high school sweetheart that his parents loved . he was beloved by the student body , he’d walk into a party and every guy would give him a high five , every girl would say hello . only he was hiding this huge secret that he felt like he couldn’t tell anybody .

he was a THEATER NERD . while out loud he would blast brockhampton & kendrick , if you took a look at his playlists you’d find endless amounts of show tunes . not that he’d ever tell anyone ! his parents may be in the biz , but it was strictly corporate . neither of them spared any time for the arts , at least not where their kids were concerned

he was the golden child , the only son , the baby boy . his mom totally coddled him and his dad had huge expectations for him . they were both thrilled when he received his acceptance letter from columbia , which happened to be the school his sister ilana was attending at the time . he got into the business school , where he would major in business and minor in economics & entertainment management whilst playing as center midfielder on the men’s soccer team

his first year and a half at columbia were swamped with late night studying , internships with major companies thanks to his dad’s hook ups , soccer practice and essentially no time for social life ( although being in a frat like delta psi helped out on that front , as even when he didn’t want to go out , they brought the party home )

but in the middle of his sophomore year he did something entirely brave ! he auditioned for a musical . an amateur production , neither a part of the school nor on broadway , but he landed the role and told virtually nobody , not even his friends .

at the end of his sophomore year , after the production had run its course , he took the leap , auditioning for columbia’s theater program . it was a huge shot in the dark , seeing as he’d already finished two years of undergrad as a business major , but shockingly ... he got in .

okay , not that shockingly . even without formal training , anybody could see the potential in ari when he gets on stage . the voice he’s got in him is undeniable , and acting just comes naturally . despite his somewhat timid personality , he takes the stage by storm every time . also , his last name carries some weight at the university , but that’s besides the point .

it’s been two years now since he switched majors and he’s been so much happier , though he has yet to tell his parents . he’s not sure when he’ll get around to that but it’ll certainly be later rather than sooner

personality !

ari is the nice guy . very much the “ lovable jock ” trope , he’s pretty soft . you could step all over him and he’d probably apologize to you tbh

that being said he’s got a winner’s drive , he’s an athlete after all , and can be incredibly determined when he wants to be

v smart , probably should have been in omega chi delta , but his jock reputation preceded him and plus , he likes drinking too much

he’s really not very flirty because he can be kind of shy ?? but get a few shots in him and he’ll talk you up ok

i feel like i’m missing some stuff but anyway ?? HERE is his pinterest board !

wanted connections !

best friend — probably a frat brother , PLEASE give me a bromance

platonic soulmate — the best friend , the gal , the one that everyone asks “ are you guys a couple ? ” to which they both disgustedly respond “ NO ! ” wren

freshman fling — i say fling but that was just for alliteration , it was probably a whole ass relationship . you see , ari came to columbia still dating his high school sweetheart , they were gonna do long distance , but this was the person that made him realize that there was so much more to the world he had to see and experience before committing to a girl he met at thirteen . they could’ve ended amicably or not !

teammates — WHAT TEAM ? LIONS ! WHAT TEAM ? LIONS ! LIONS ! GETCHA HEAD IN THE GAME !!! ok basically just soccer bois like give em to me if you’ve got ‘em . ari is a starting center mid and ?? i’m thinking team captain since he’s a senior now but

billionaire boys club — ok not just boys but give me all the rich kid plots like going out shopping for the day on the upper east side , dropping a thousand on a table at an exclusive club , jetting off to europe for the weekend . we have to stan

ex girlfriend — welp i have an hc that ari dated a girl for at least half of sophomore and all of junior year because he’s definitely a fully committal , all in kind of guy ( so it would’ve been a recent break up ) , but they broke up and we can figure out the details of why let’s get this angst nellie

secret hook up — it’s 2019 ari !!!! GAY IS OK . anyways this kiddo has completely come to terms with his sexuality he just doesn’t feel like his parents ever will . they kind of have his whole life planned out and a huge chunk of that is marrying a #NiceJewishGirl soooo ! this can be secret in the sense that ari doesn’t plan on telling his parents but they aren’t secretive about it at school , or it can be entirely secret idc ! soleil

theater friends — as a drama kid ... the freaking bond between your cast mates and the crew ?!?! phew ... gimme these bonds !!! also would love a plot where they were cast as romantic interests and had to spend the semester making out during rehearsals

business & econ major pals — ari spent his first two years at columbia in the business school , so i imagine a lot of his earliest friends were met through that ! mayhaps one of them was the earliest person he confided in about not actually wanting to do business

grad school friends — idk if any muses are grad school students but ! ari’s older sister ilana ( i might end up erasing her name and major and make her a wanted connection IDK I’LL SEE HOW I FEEL ) is 2 years older and went to columbia for undergrad , so i imagine when he was a freshman she introduced him to a lot of her friends ! so if any grad school muses also went to undergrad at columbia mayhaps they knew ari’s sister and yada yada ok this one was a loose connection but an attempt was made

#columbia.intro #wipes forehead #I spent Way Too Much time on that !#gimme a like and i'll slide into your dms tho :~)

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badchoosey · 5 years

Text

Home for the Holidays, Chapter One: There’s No Place Like Home

It’s the annual holiday party at Piquant Press in downtown Manhattan… But you’re at your desk, frantically finishing up the last of your work.

Egg Just a few… more… lines…

Suddenly, a glass of eggnog is thrust into your field of vision!

Egg: Whoa!

Friend: Egg Joy, if you don’t stop working right now, I’m not going to be office BFFs with you anymore!

Egg: Bree, there’d better be rum in this.

Bree: There isn’t, but I did bring you the fun flask if you wanna spice things up a little.

Egg: Have I told you lately that you’re my favourite?

Bree hands you the glass, then hops on your desk.

Bree: Are you done with your edits yet? ‘Cause I’m ready to party!

Egg: Just give me one minute…

Your fingers fly over the keyboard as you make a few more changes to the paragraph on your monitor.

Egg: And… done!

Bree: I’m sure it’s genius too. I swear, I don’t know why it took them so long to promote you from intern to junior editor.

Egg: I’m just grateful to have the position now, which is why I can’t slack off.

Bree: It’s not slacking off if the whole company is partying. Even Nick is out there. And he’s looking fiiiiiine in that tux, don’t you think?

You follow Bree’s gaze to find your boss Nick talking to your other coworkers…

Egg: Nick is not my type. You know I don’t go for the strict, workaholic type.

Bree: Hey, I’d go for any type if they looked like Nick.

Just then, people start to file up to the roof…

Bree: Looks like it’s time for Nick’s big speech.

Up on the roof, Nick stands on stage, calling for everyone’s attention.

Nick: Welcome to our annual holiday party. For those of you new to Piquant Press, I’m Nick Peralta, the editor-in-chief here.

Bree whispers to you…

Bree: And resident hottie.

Egg: Shhh! Someone’s gonna hear you!

Nick: It’s been a banner year for our little publishing company. We may be small, but we’ve held our own against the industry goliaths.

A cheer starts to go up from your coworkers, but Nick raises a hand to keep them quiet.

Nick: That means we must work even harder. I myself always find the perfect project to start the year off right, and I expect the same of my junior editors. Speaking of which, we recently promoted a select few to editing positions. Instead of praising the year we’ve had, we should applaud their diligence. Nic catches your eye over the crowd.

Nick: Ms. Joy, as one of our newest editors, is there anything you want to say to the group?

Egg: Me?

Bree: Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!

Bree pushes you toward the stage, and Nick hands you the microphone.

Egg Thank you, Mr. Peralta. Uh… as you mentioned, I’m Egg, one of the new junior editors. I just want to say…. Umm… Merry… Christmas?

Nick So glad you could share those enlightening thoughts with us.

Nick holds his hand out for the microphone.

Egg: Right. Sorry.

Nick turns back to the crowd as you hop off stage.

Nick: We have a lot of work ahead of us in the coming year, so I hope you take this time to rejuvenate… Because come January 1st, the party’s over.

Nick lifts his champagne glass.

Nick: Happy Holidays.

Egg: Happy Holidays indeed.

You meet back up with Bree inside the main office.

Bree: Is it just me, or did Santa leave coal in Nick’s stocking one too many times?

Egg: He does seem to have it out for Christmas. I wonder why…

Bree: Well, if anyone can figure it out, it’s you.

Egg: What’s that supposed to mean?

Bree: Just that Nick totally likes you. The two of you would be so cute together!

Egg: Bree, he’s my boss. You know the rules.

Bree: There’s no official rule in the employee handbook. And besides, bending the rules only makes things more fun!

Nick: Excuse me.

Just then, Nick brushes by you and Bree.

Egg: Sorry!

After he’s out of earshot, Bree starts to giggle.

Bree: Ohmygod, do you think he heard us?

Egg: I hope not!

You watch as Nick disappears down the hall toward his office…

Egg: If Nick did hear us, he doesn’t look too upset about it. He’s going right back to work.

Bree: Yeah, rumor has it he still hasn’t picked his first manuscript for next year. He never waits this long to pick his projects. He’s even taking a business trip to Barbados to meet with a potential author. Can you imagine?

Egg A tropical Christmas, huh? I’d rather have a white Christmas any day. Nothing beats fresh snow and a cup of hot cocoa!

Bree: You do paint a pretty picture.

You turn your gaze back down the hallway, where you can just make out the light flickering on in Nick’s office.

Egg: He must be looking for something really special for his first manuscript.

Bree: Egg, this is the perfect opportunity to talk to Nick! You can convince him to take a break, relax a little… and get to know him better…

Egg: Bree, he might not even be single.

Bree: You won’t know until you ask!

Egg: He’s probably busy…

Bree: Exactly! Someone has to teach him work-life balance, and I’m volunteering you!

Egg: I don’t wanna bother him…

Bree: You could never be a bother, Egg. But if you’re not gonna try to get on Nick’s good side… I’m gonna take full advantage!

Bree grabs your arm and leads you out onto the dancefloor.

Bree: We’re gonna jingle bell rock the night away!

Egg: I don’t know if that’s such a good idea… I have to get up early to drive home tomorrow--

Bree: The night is still young, and so are we!

Egg: I guess one dance won’t hurt…

The two of you continue to party late into the night…

The next morning…

Egg: I’m exhausted… I’m never staying out late with Bree again!

You’re about an hour outside of town when your phone rings. You answer it on bluetooth…

Egg: Hey Mom, I promise I’m not flaking out again, I’m almost there.

Mom: I’m not calling about that. I know you wouldn’t dare cancel on me again. Have you heard the big news?!

Egg: Mome, you know I never hear the town gossip when I’m in the city.

Mom: You remember Holly?

Egg: Holly Wright? My childhood best friend? Yeah, her name rings a bell.

Mom: Enough of your ‘tude, missy. Turns out, she wrote a book!

Egg: Mom…

Mom: Her manuscript was just leaked to the whole town! Everyone’s talking about it. I was thinking maybe you could take a look…?

Egg: Mom, I can’t publish a book as a favor. I was just promoted to junior editor. I have to protect my reputation at the company.

Mom: I know that, sweetie. I’m not asking you to publish it sight unseen. Just give it a chance once you get here, okay? I think the story will surprise you.

Egg: If you say so… I guess it couldn’t hurt to look it over.

Mom: Alright, sweetie. I’ll see you soon.

Egg: Wait, that’s it? That’s all you wanted to talk about?

Mom: Unless you want to talk about your love life?

Egg: Oh, wow, look at all this traffic. I’d better focus on driving! Bye, Mom!

You shake your head as you hang up the phone. You turn off the highway, and soon you’re zooming along the only road into town…

Egg: Deer!!! Aaaaah!

You grip the steering wheel and then you freeze, your mind completely blank, as your car barrels toward the deer… At the last second, the deer darts out of the way!

Egg: Waaah!

Finally, your body reacts, and you wrench the wheel to the right! Your car swerves into an embankment, and the trees overhead unload their snow your windshield!

Egg: Ooooof… Now what?

You try to open the door, but it won’t budge. You grab your phone…

Egg: Mom… I need help!

You quickly explain what happened…

Mom: Don’t worry. I know the perfect person to get you out!

Later, you hear scratching and scraping outside your car as someone digs you out…

Egg: Hello?

Voice: Hang tight. I’ll have you out soon.

Egg: You’re a lifesaver!

The voice sounds comforting, familiar… Suddenly, you realize who it is.

Egg: Wyatt Hart? Is that you?

Voice: At your service. Your mom called me to help you out.

Egg: (I can’t believe my mom called my high school boyfriend to rescue me!)

A few minutes later, you see Wyatt grinning at you through the window.

Egg: Wyatt… Don’t think this means I need to be rescued all the time. I’m not some damsel in distress.

Wyatt forces your door open, and you squeeze out.

Wyatt Trust me, I remember. If anything, you’ve always been the one to rescue me. Come on, I’ll give you a lift back into town.

Egg: But my car…

Wyatt: Don’t worry, I’ll tow it out later. Let’s get you home first.

You look at Wyatt’s truck, which has Hart Mechanics emblazoned on the side.

Egg: Well, if you’re sure…

Soon, you’re in Wyatt’s truck cruising through the outskirts of Winter Haven…

Wyatt: So, dare I ask how you managed to find yourself buried under all that snow?

Egg: There may have been a deer involved… But don’t worry, it got away.

Wyatt: Ah, that explains the angry herd of deer I passed on the way in. Good thing I got to you before them.

You grin, comforted by the familiar rapport. You look out the window just as you pass by the town square.

Egg: Wow…

Wyatt: How does it feel to be back?

Egg: Like I never left.

Wyatt: And the Big Apple’s treating you okay? Your mom mentioned you just got a promotion.

Egg: Of course she did. Yeah, I just made junior editor. Youngest in the company’s history.

Wyatt: Wow, congrats. I’m surprised they could spare you long enough for a trip home this year.

Egg Trust me, they’re not missing me just yet. Besides, I brought my laptop, so I’ll still be plugged in.

Wyatt: I’m really happy for you, Egg. It sounds like all your dreams are coming true.

Egg: Something like that… What about you?

Wyatt: What about me?

Egg: We haven’t seen each other in years! There must be something new in your life!

Wyatt: Nah, it’s pretty much same old, same old for me.

You poke Wyatt’s shoulder.

Egg: You know I can tell when you’re not telling me something, right?

Wyatt: Oh hey, remember when we used to sneak away to Sweetheart Lake back in the day?

You roll your eyes as Wyatt points out to the turnoff to the lake up ahead.

Egg: Subtle.

Wyatt: I know I definitely remember our late night rendezvous in high school.

Egg: ‘Rendezvous’?

Wyatt: What? I thought it made me sound refined.

Wyatt gives you a warm smile.

Wyatt: We could take the long way home by the lake, you know. We just got some fresh snowfall, perfect for snow angels. And if Ms. Big City isn’t too busy, I’d like to get to know the new you. What do you say?

Egg: Maybe another time…

Wyatt: Oh? Do you plan to get your car snowed in again?

Egg: You know what I mean.

Wyatt: Yeah. I do.

Wyatt grins as he turns down the direct route to your house… He pulls up outside your childhood home. You take in the familiar sight…

Egg: It’s good to be home…

Wyatt grabs your bags out of the back of the truck.

Wyatt: Hate to drop you off and run, but I gotta get back to the garage and then rescue your poor car.

Egg: You’ll call me with an estimate?

Wyatt: Not on your life. Consider it a welcome home present.

Wyatt gives you a little salute.

Wyatt: See you around.

Egg: See you.

You head inside… You find your adopted mother and brother in the kitchen…

Mom: Egg! You’re home!

Dylan: And alive!

Your mom wraps you in a big hug.

Egg: Yes, yes, I survived my harrowing journey.

Mom You’re just in time for some of my world-famous apple cider.

Egg: Mmmm… that sounds perfect.

Your mom pours you a steaming cup of hot cider.

Dylan: What took you so long?

Mom: Honey, at least let your sister finish a sip before you start the interrogation.

Egg: It’s fine. He was born to be annoying.

You reach over to ruffle your brother’s hair.

Egg: I was just dealing with car trouble.

Dylan: ‘Car trouble’, huh? Is that Wyatt’s new nickname?

Egg: It’s not like that… Wait, how did you even know I was with Wyatt?

Dylan: He owns the only mechanic shop in town… plus Mom called him… plus we saw you guys outside. Take your pick.

Egg: How have you been, Dylan?

Dylan: Changing the subject? Classic. What do you wanna know?

Egg: Tell me about school, you enjoying your senior year?

Dylan: Eh. It’s alright.

Egg: And your college apps? Are you staying on top of those?

Dylan: Yes, Mom. Did you come home just to nag me?

Egg: Pretty much.

Mom: Alright, alright. Give your poor mother one afternoon without bickering, please?

Your mom refills her own mug with cider then turns back to you.

Mom: Dylan’s right though. You and Wyatt looked awfully cosy in his truck…

Egg: Mom, not you too!

Mom: I’m just saying, he’d make such a good boyfriend if you didn’t already have one.

Egg: What? I don’t have a boyfriend.

Mom: You don’t? But what about that man who called? He said he was from the city… and he seems like your type… And he’s coming here, so I just assumed…

Egg: Mom, trust me. I’d know if I had a boyfriend.

Mom: If you say so…

Egg: Wait, are you talking about--?

Just then, you’re interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

Egg: I’ll get it.

You open the front door to find…

Nick: Ms. Joy.

Egg: Mr. Peralta?!

#home for the holidays #choices hfth #hfth #playchoices #bad choices

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harryspaceshipmchale · 6 years

Text

Assassination Nation Fic: The Half of It

Rating: Mature Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: F/M Fandom: Assassination Nation (2018) Relationships: Nick Mathers/Lily Colson, Nick Mathers/Rose Mathers Characters: Nick Mathers, Lily Colson, Rose Mathers, Carly Mathers Additional Tags: Deleted Scene, Daddy Kink, Texting, Age Difference

Spoilers if you haven’t seen the movie.

Notes: I am in no way condoning Nick's behaviour or their relationship. I just found the thought of her actually going to dinner at their house intriguing. This movie f'ed me up; it f'ed me up real good. I'd advise not reviewing or leaving kudos because otherwise I might be tempted to write more (I'm kidding. Please do.)

I will add this to AO3 later/when it lets me as there seems to be a server error right now.

Rose is persuasive. She's persuasive in the way that it makes perfect sense that she found a life partner in Nick. They both know how to turn it on, make you feel as if you should do this or you should do that. As if not going to dinner will mean it will be the last time you're invited or that you'll cause their daughter anxiety because you used to be so close. She doesn't say that, of course, but it's implied in the way she sighs over the phone and the way she squeezes your hand and winks at you on the doorstep like you're in on a secret.

If only she knew the half of it.

"I'm so glad you accepted the invite. Carly's been looking forward to it all week."

"Of course. I wouldn't miss it."

"Come on in, you know your way around, don't act like a stranger.”

You laugh and follow behind her, your hands in your back pockets, one of them glued to your phone in case it slips out. There are only two pairs of shoes inside the door, you notice; heels and light-up sneakers. Your question is answered moments later after you've slipped off your own.

"Nick's not home yet but he'll be back just in time. Hopefully, he's remembered you're coming, you know what he's like."

You laugh again, nervously this time because you do know what he's like but not in this setting; not since he put his hand on your thigh and wished you goodnight before letting his fingers drift across your skin like a fea-

-"LILY! Lily, you're here! I missed you so much!" Carly comes sprinting in, wrapping her arms around your legs, pulling you from your thoughts.

"Hey, sweetie. Aw, I missed you too." You stroke her hair because it's true. You do miss her. You miss the safety she used to bring you.

"Can I show you something? Upstairs? In my room?"

You laugh and reach to pick her up, watching an approving smile grace her mom's face as she walks to the kitchen.

"I'll call you down when you're needed."

"Thanks."

You run your hands through Carly's hair as you walk upstairs, pressing a loud kiss to her cheek.

"What's so important that you have to show me then, huh?" You let her down, following her scurried footsteps to her room of pink. You check your back pocket and your phone is still there, so, you perch on the bed, content.

"Look at these toys, I got! Everyone has them at school but I think mine are the best ones."

"Wowww. Those are something. Very impressive."

You smile even though all she's showing you are plastic figurines coated in glitter and you reach out for one to walk along the side of her bed frame.

"Daddy said that if I'm a really good girl I might be able to get another one for my birthday."

Your smile tightens and you drop the toy onto her blanket.

"Did he? That's nice of him. I'm sure you will."

"I wish you could come to my birthday party but he said you can't."

He lied but you're thankful.

"Aw, I know. I'm just so busy with school now and my friends... I'm sure you'll understand one day."

"Our new babysitter isn't as nice as you. She doesn't let me play on the iPad if I can't sleep and she's really old."

"Really old? No, I'm sure she's not."

"She is! She's like... thirty."

Of course, she is, you think. At least you're not replaceable; it's a small victory.

You hear heavy footsteps so you can edge closer to the end of the bed and toe the door all the way closed.

"Is that Daddy?"

You feel your phone vibrate against your thigh, so you pull it out, holding it close to your chest.

Daddy😍: Forgot you were coming

"I think so..." You answer her, distracted, your heart now starting to pound against your ribcage.

You: I didn’t realise I was forgettable

Carly gets up then, making you lock your phone screen.

"I don't know if dinner’s ready yet, sweetie."

"I want to go see Daddy."

"Of course."

Your phone buzzes again as you hear a door open and close in the next room.

Daddy😍: stop messaging

You hear muffled voices and a happy shriek from Carly, so, you take that as your call to walk back downstairs before he gets the chance to see you.

It's not that you don't want to see him. Rose isn't that persuasive. There was always a part of you that wanted to see what would happen if you were under his roof again; that wanted to see how he would respond.

Would he get nervous? Would he just stay quiet and smile like when he sees you in passing? Would he message you under the dinner table, his foot sliding towards yours? Would he make your skin feel like it's on fire and make your thighs clamp shut? Would he take you in a room alone and do all the things he says he wants to do to you?

"Would you mind helping me put some glasses on the table? I would have asked Nick but he rushed straight upstairs."

You're shaken out of your thoughts, wandering into the kitchen.

"Of course." You say, reaching for the glasses in her hands before placing them down in the right places. It isn't the first dinner you've had with them, so, you know where they should go. Or so you think.

"Lily! Can I sit next to you?" Carly squeaks as she runs down the stairs. You turn and catch Nick behind her, his shirt sleeves rolled up and his top buttons undone.

"Go on then," Rose answers, once again winking in your direction. You follow orders and place Carly's pink cup down next to where you'll be sat.

"Nick, you haven't welcomed Lily in yet."

"Oh it's fine, don't worry." You wave a hand dismissively as you continue to set the table.

"We all know each other here, no need to get formal." He says, walking past you towards Rose - his wife -, his hands going to her shoulders, his thumbs kneading into her back. Carly wants you to watch her twirling and dancing, so, out the corner of your eye, you see him kiss Rose's cheek and the crown of her hair.

You wonder if he does it as a cover or if he's still really like that with her; affectionate, loving, kind. If he is, he's capable of doing the same to you. He tells you he cares about you, that he'd miss you if you ever stopped talking to him. He tells you you're the most beautiful girl in the world and that she - Rose - was never like you.

He also tells you you're a slut and a whore and that you misbehave like a dirty girl and that all the boys at school must want to step out of class and fuck you. But that's only when he wants to see your nipples against your shirt or see you kneeling on your bedroom floor, begging him to tell you what to do on the phone.

Sometimes you imagine them together. You imagine their boring sex; missionary, vanilla, the kind which has her crying out "I love you" because that's what she thinks it's about. The kind of sex where he finishes without even muttering a word before rolling over and falling asleep instantly. Maybe there are times when they fuck - when he's angry or he's already watched porn that day or he's watched you in his office alone and he needs to take it out on something more than his hand - but it doesn't happen often.

"Okay, Carly sit at the table." Rose walks over with a pie dish in hand.

You refocus, looking up to see him watching you from where he stands near the kitchen countertop. He has a glass up to his lips - the one you put down on the table - and you have to look away. You sit down, smiling at Carly as she climbs up beside you. She reaches over trying to hug you without losing balance. You kiss her head briefly before sitting up properly, waiting for Nick and Rose to get seated.

"Well, this is nice, isn't it? Next time we should have your parents over, too. I can't remember the last time we saw them." Rose pours water from a jug into her glass before sliding it towards you so you can pour your own. Nick sits then, white wine sloshing around in his glass. Rose doesn't drink for health reasons, you remember.

"Oh sorry, Lily. I didn't offer you anything other than water. There's soda in the fridge if you want it."

"I'm good, thank you."

"Can I have soda?" Carly pipes up, grinning at both of her parents.

"No, soda's only for grown-ups and for special occasions. You'll have some on your birthday." Nick points a finger in her direction.

"I should have said, it's help yourself. Just serve however much you want. There are veggies in that other dish, too."

"I probably won't eat much, there was a caterer at work today. Big lunch." Nick states, pulling a slice of pie onto his plate and a small spoonful of broccoli.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. How did the meeting go?"

"Good. Made some good progress."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Progress on what?" You ask as you finish plating your food. Nick licks his lips, clearly surprised by your question. "Sorry, I don't mean to pry. I'm just curious, that's all."

"I was meeting with investors for a major property development I'm working on. It's a big deal. Lots of money in it."

He answers her and then tilts his head.

"Well, we're very proud. You've been working hard lately. So many late nights."

You know that's a lie. You're part of his late nights. He only messages you when he's completely alone and usually, that's when he's in his office at home. Sometimes it's for a few minutes, sometimes it's an hour. Sometimes he doesn't ask for photos, he just keeps talking and sees how far you'll take it.

"Carly, I want you to eat all of those vegetables, okay? Don't just pick at the pie."

"Yes, Mommy." She turns to you and rolls her eyes and you laugh because you can't help it.

"That's you, you know, Nick. Teaching her to roll her eyes at me."

Nick looks up, frowning. He swallows the food in his mouth before leaning across the table.

"I'm pretty sure that was Lily's doing. Just because she's not around as much, doesn't mean she hasn't had an influence on her."

You smirk, putting your fork down.

"I think that's a good thing, though, right? Girls need to feel like they can roll their eyes and have a bit of attitude. We're always told not to but then boys can just be boys."

Rose laughs and Nick rolls his neck around, his tongue in his cheek, amused.

"Yes, well, I'd rather it not be directed at me, that's all."

Nick grins around his fork before staring at you, shaking his head a little. When you look away, ignoring him, you notice him tense up and go back to eating.

"Speaking of boys will be boys and all that kind of stuff; a friend of mine told me that there's some sort of female art exhibition going on at the moment. It's supposed to be about supporting more women in art. Sounds interesting, doesn't it, honey?"

"Well, I don't know about me but it sounds like something Lily might be interested in."

You flick up your eyebrows, curling a hand around Carly's wrist where she's laid it out beside your plate.

"Maybe."

"Well, you do art at school. You do drawings."

Rose knows this. You used to do your assignments at this table. She doesn't know about the drawings he's seen, though. The ones that school doesn't approve of. The ones that he said he wished he could watch you draw in real time. He said it would turn him on, knowing that you were imagining somebody touching themselves, a pencil between your teeth in concentration.

"Lily's amaaaaaazing at drawing." Carly coos. You stroke her hair and pat her back.

"And you should eat up." You laugh and share a smile with Rose, who appreciates the help in making sure Carly doesn't get too distracted.

Your phone vibrates for the third time tonight. Just like it's instinctive to tell Carly to sit around and finish her dinner, it's instinctive to jump to the conclusion that it's him. So, you look up but he's somewhere else, gulping back more wine and smiling widely at Rose.

You check the screen, dismissing a message before placing your phone down on the table. That gets his attention. He looks down at it, pushing food around his plate.

It buzzes again so you apologise.

"Oh don't worry about it. We don't usually have phones at the table but we can make an exception." Rose winks again.

Mark: come over tonight

It buzzes once more and you start to feel Nick's foot bouncing under the table, his knee making it wobble slightly.

Mark: pls? why are you ignoring me lily

"Who is it?" Nick asks. You swipe across the screen before answering him.

"Mark."

"That's your boyfriend, right?" Rose asks.

"Yeah. Sorry, I forgot to tell him I was coming over."

"How long have you been together now?" Nick asks, knowing the answer already.

"About a year and a half. Maybe two years."

"OooOoOOOH." Carly teases in a sing-song voice. You roll your eyes and can't help but blush.

That's when you feel his foot. He's put it between your own. His shin is against your legs. You close your legs around it, shifting forwards.

"He treats you well?" Rose asks and Nick pulls back, coughing into his glass as he picks it up.

"Yeah. Yeah, he's... he's Mark."

Carly yawns and slumps forward.

"Carly, sit up." Nick orders.

"Aw, she's tired." You stroke her back soothingly and Rose stands up.

"Okay, let's get you to bed. You are up later than usual. We can have a drink once she's asleep before you go. Is that okay?"

You smile and say yes, not thinking.

"Nick, will you clear the table? Deal with the dishes?"

He smiles tightly and stands up, leaving you to finish your last mouthful alone at the table.

Rose tells Carly to say goodnight to Nick so you watch them, a sudden pit in your stomach.

You've thought about what would happen if it ever got out. Not thoroughly, perhaps too naively, but you've thought about it. Maybe they'd work through it; maybe Rose would let him stay. Carly would never forgive you. You'd never see her again. You'd never see him again. He'd change his number. He'd probably leave town.

Or maybe, in one version of reality, he'd choose you over her. He'd finally say he loves you. He'd leave town but it would be with you. You'd be the one in his bed at night. You'd finally know what it would feel like to have him kiss you and touch you and fuck you. You've dreamt about it. He knows you've touched yourself at the thought of his mouth on you and the thought of him being inside of you.

You'd leave your friends and maybe they'd never understand but it might be worth it; the world he could show you. Mark would never do it. You think it's brave, the fact that he's risking it all for you.

You're selfish but you love him.

You stand up and start on the dishes himself. Rose notices and tells you they can go in the dishwasher.

"Goodnight, Carly. See you in the morning." You hear him say. He kisses her and pulls her close before letting her go with Rose upstairs.

You're alone together.

You take the last two plates to the countertop and open the machine, placing them all in one by one. You can hear him sighing and running his hands through his hair behind you but you don't turn, you just keep placing things before you stand to close the front door up. That's when you feel him come closer.

Your breath hitches as he puts his empty glass down and he slowly turns on his heels, his hands sliding across the counter, his wedding band scratching the surface. You feel his breath against your back and that's when he moves his other hand so you're surrounded by him; caged in.

You stand up tall, your breathing shaky against his which seems deep and slow and in control.

"You liked coming over. I can tell. You like knowing something she doesn't."

He breathes out, pushing himself into you. He's hard. You've never felt it before. He's only ever told you how his body responds to you. You've always had to imagine.

You whimper without meaning to and you fall back on him. He reaches out, his fingers clenching around your waist.

"Careful."

You gulp. He brushes some of your hair from over your shoulder.

"Nick! Carly's coming back down, she's upset she didn't say goodnight to Lily."

"Slut." He mutters under his breath – out of frustration, you guess - before turning around, standing against a chair at the dinner table. You know why.

Carly comes running down and skids a little across the floor before throwing herself into your arms. Nick stands back for a moment, carefully watching the top of the stairs.

"Goodnight Lily. I hope I see you really really really soon."

"Aw, baby, I know. If I can, I will, okay? I can't make any promises. And if I don't see you before your birthday I hope it's extra extra special."

"Thank youuu. Night night."

"Sweet dreams, Carly."

Nick moves away then - you can't help where your eyes land - and reaches out for Carly. He picks her up but doesn't move away. He kisses her and holds a hand under her legs.

"You're Daddy's little princess, aren't you?" He growls into her neck before eyeing you purposefully.

"I'll take you upstairs. Come on." He shakes her foot and does just that, their voices dying out as they reach the top with Rose.

You finally breathe, hard and loudly.

Five minutes later, your phone buzzes and you forget where you left it. You panic until it buzzes again, against the wooden table. You scramble for it.

Daddy😍: You wish I'd fucked you there and then

He must be upstairs, alone. You won't deny it but you also won't lead him on, not now. Definitely not here.

You: Did you want to?

Daddy😍: what do you think

You: you'd never do it

Three dots appear to show he's typing but they fade away and don't come back. You keep waiting and waiting. You reply to Mark.

You: at some lame family dinner, sorry I didn't tell you

“Well, that was nice. I'm so glad you came over, even if it was just for a brief dinner.” Rose walks down the stairs, stopping at the bottom to make sure Nick is following.

“It was nice, wasn't it Nick?” She asks when he comes into view.

He nods and smiles vaguely in your direction.

“Would you like tea? Coffee? Are you sure you don't want that soda?” Rose asks, heading for the fridge.

“You probably want to go home now, don't you?” Nick asks, watching you.

“Maybe I'll take the soda for the road.”

“Okay, sure. We won't keep you.”

Nick sighs, walking into the living area where you now are. Your phone is in your hands and he's staring at it. When he talks, it's loud so you know Rose can hear it.

“Did Mark ever get an answer to his message?”

“He did. I think he's mad at me.”

“Angry?"

“He wants me to himself.”

Confusion flashes across his face momentarily and even though you didn't mean to imply anything, you enjoy seeing him panic. He knows you haven't told anyone so what does he think you meant?

“Soda.” Rose strolls over and holds out a can. You take it graciously and pop it open to start sipping on.

“Can Nick drive you home?”

You gulp back some soda too quickly and have to hold a fist to your mouth.

“It's fine. I drive, remember?”

“Of course, force of habit. Well, at least let him walk you to your car.”

You can't say no because he's done it before and you know you won't say no because you want to know what he'll do next. It's a game and you want to make sure you don't miss a turn.

“Thank you, again. Stay in touch, won't you? We don't want to lose you completely.”

“I know.” You smile tightly before being pulled into a hug. Nick walks to the door and unlocks it, letting the cool evening breeze roll in. You slip on your shoes, bending to pull the heels up with a hooked finger. You can feel his eyes on your ass and it makes your skin buzz.

“Drive safely, Lily.” You wave goodbye and she tells Nick she's going to head upstairs for a bath.

He acknowledges her quietly before he follows you, keeping a distance until the door is closed and you're immersed into the dark shadows, out of shot of the street lights.

You open your car door and go to shut it but he holds it back with his hand, firmly and strongly.

“Why the rush? You used to enjoy me taking you home.”

You look down at him, swinging your legs around so that you're facing him, your feet dangling out the door.

“You didn't reply to my message.” You ask boldly. You've never discussed your conversations in person. He clenches his teeth and you hope you didn't cross a line. His eyes drift to where your legs are open, your shorts rising up your thighs. He licks his lips.

“I could. I could unzip your shorts. Nobody's watching.”

He hasn't touched you since that time he put his hand on your thigh that made you squirm in your seat. When he clutched onto your waist it didn't count; he's held you like that before. He held you like that before he ever called you beautiful or before he ever told you he wanted you to suck his cock until he was coming in your mouth. He held you to stop you tripping over and to stop you catching a ball when you played with his daughter in the yard. You wonder when things changed or if he always thought those things about you. You hope he did.

He won't touch you now. He likes to leave you wanting more; wanting everything.

“Good night.” You say, turning to put your feet on the pedals.

“Say it.”

You clench your hands tighter on the steering wheel.

“Good night, Daddy.”

He slams the door shut and walks away. You wait - you always wait - and your phone buzzes against your leg.

Daddy😍: send me a photo when you get home

Daddy😍: when you're in bed

The next time you see him, it's through Em's window.

The time after that is the last.

#assassination nation #fanfic #fanfiction #mine #my fic #I COULDN'T BE BOTHERED TO WAIT FOR AO3 TO WORK so here we are #it's not the fic i said you guys should stop me from writing #but you probably should have stopped me from writing this one too #I really hope it's not too nick-indulgent and that he does come across as a fckin creepy douche bag #because i was more exploring lily and her experiencing it rather than like... wanting him to come across as some hot Daddy #lmao #ANYWAYyYyY this is out here now so i guess i gotta deal with it

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