#oh alex you and your disastrous dating life
Text
Almost Paradise S02E05 Deus Ex-Wife Machina.
#almost paradise#almost paradise spoilers#alex walker#christian kane#oh alex you and your disastrous dating life#alex my beloved dumbass#but the way his voice broke when he said waterboarder#ouch#poor bby needs a hug#ghostly'sgifs
89 notes
·
View notes
Text
Stay Out of This OK? (Mal x Baby!Reader)
Request: Sequal to Better Luck Next Time where the team tries to help Baby!Reader get with Mal.
Authors Note: so this was super fun to write with @literaryhedgehog. It’s in the same 3 times they didn’t and 1 they did of the other one we did! I hope you enjoy and hit me up with questions or if you just wanna say Hi!
Team bonding was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be an activity that everyone would enjoy. Instead, it had turned into a board game massacre. There weren’t enough Monopoly pieces for everyone to play, so the team got split up into pairs. “Randomly assigned” pairs. (Though you would bet your signed Mia Hamm jersey that there was nothing random about you being paired with Mal).
“I told you I need to play the shoe! It’s my lucky piece!” Emily yelled, literally trying to pull the shoe piece from your hand.
“Chill Emily, it’s just a game,” Lindsey glared from beside her. This whole thing wasn’t even about the game, it was about getting you to talk to your crush. (Which the team was determined to get you to admit your feelings too).
“More like a crushing commentary on how consumerism works…” You mumbled with an eye roll. You fucking hated this game. The only upside was that you got to cuddle with your favorite forward.
“Well yes, that is literally what the game is supposed to be about, but we’re here trying to have fun.” Christen eyed you as she added a hotel to Baltic Avenue. You rolled your eyes.
“Yeah babe, just have fun with it,” Mal nudged you, causing your lips to tick up lightly.
“Mal called Y/n babe,” Emily squealed, instantly being shushed by the flares of your teammates. The plan was to get the two Preath children together, and with your skittish and shy nature, they had to be subtle about it as to not scare you off.
It seems to be working as you were cuddled into the older girl’s side, your chin resting comfortably on her shoulder.
“ Maybe you should blow on the dice, Y/N.” Kelley mentioned in a forcefully offhand manner, “You know, for good luck.”
“Actually, I think it might be luckier if you just roll, you’ve been getting higher numbers anyway,” Mal said kissing your cheek and handing the dice to you, while covertly shooting Kelley a look that screamed ‘please shut up’. The team may have had good intentions, but their plans never seemed to work out well, and she really liked you.
You forcefully threw the dice on the board, tired of the near-constant teasing from the team. Too forcefully. One of them bounced through the center, ricocheted off the hat on Electric company and flew off the table into Lindsey’s lap. The other took out the house at Park place before Christen stopped it.
Everyone looked down at the numbers. Snake eyes, that moved you right onto the words “Go to Jail.” The room burst into laughter, and your cheeks tinted a deep shade of red.
“I think I’m done for tonight, sorry Mal,” You said gulping, untangling yourself from the woman, and rushing to stand up.
“No babe, you don’t have to go!” She called out, standing up as if to stop you as you made your way to the door. This had been going so well until the girls started teasing you.
“I’ll see you in practice tomorrow,” you said, smiling quickly. You closed the door behind you then opened it again quickly, just long enough to call out “Next time, we’re playing cards against humanity.”
Mal glared at the other girls as Emily moved your piece into the game’s jail. “I love you guys, but just stay out of this, ok?”
“Sure, sure. Of course.” The other women said halfheartedly, giving Mal no reassurance whatsoever. The two of you would be so good together, they just couldn’t help themselves from meddling.
……...
“Okay we’re doing drills in teams of two today,” Carlie called shaking a hat with pieces of paper in it. She was in charge of the forwards and middies workouts for the day, and while you were ecstatic to get to work with one of your idols, you were also wary of your teammates and their desire to embarrass you in front of your crush. But the team captain wouldn’t get involved, would she? Carlie was like too old and too serious for the team's shenanigans right?
One by one Carlie drew a slip out and called out the names written on the paper. She paused for a second before she read your name, pairing you with Mal.
You furrowed your eyebrows. Why were you paired with another forward? Was Vlatko going to try putting you or Mal in midfield? That didn’t make sense, you were both strikers and damn good ones at that.
“Don’t look so excited now,” Mal joked as she approached you, eyeing your frown carefully.
“I am excited, just nervous, and a little tired. 8 am workouts aren’t really my thing. Also, Captain hasn’t said what we’re doing yet, and I will mutiny if we have to do burpees.” You grumbled, shooting Mal a sheepish smile.
“I don’t think you’re alone in that… I think we’re just doing some crossing drills,” Mal re
“Okay, everyone has your teammate? Great.” Carlie tossed the hat into a bag she had stowed under the bench. “Today we’re doing timed crossing drills. Focus on accuracy, but the team to finish the fastest gets to go in early and losers have to do 5 laps. Lindsey and Rose, you’re up.”
There were many things you enjoyed in life. The smell of rain, the feeling of warm sand on your toes, and Mal running chasing a ball down the pitch were 3 at the top of your list. Her control over the ball was amazing and the ease upon which she weaved between defenders was too enticing to not stare at it. One second you had been running down the field, pointedly not looking at Mal, the next you had tripped over your own feet, and nearly face-planted in the dirt by the goalpost.
“Whoa there kiddo,” Tobin grunted as she caught you, an easy smirk planted on her face. She had seen where your eyes were but didn’t feel the need to tease you about it.
“Thanks, Tobs,” You mumbled, your cheeks dusting a light shade of pink. She patted your shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She opened her mouth to say something but was rudely interrupted.
“Hey, y/n don’t fall for Mal too hard,” Emily called with a giggle from across the field. And you felt your cheeks get even hotter. You shook your head and headed back towards Carlie.
“Hey, stay out of this!” Mal said firmly, punching Emily on the shoulder as she ran off to chase you.
“Whatever you say, kid,” Emily smirked back, shrinking only at Tobin’s glare. The thing that Toby understood was that you and Mal would get together when the two of you were ready. It didn’t do anyone any good to meddle in it.
…...
“Sorry, no room,” Ashlyn said her mouth twitching as she saw you look over the available bus seats. Or more specifically all the unavailable bus seats, since every single normally empty seat had suddenly been filled. Team members who were normally bus buddies had simultaneously decided today that they were going to split up over two rows, and several duffel bags had mysteriously appeared to fill up the rest of the empty rows.
“Why is Alex in my normal seat?” You asked, glancing at the place that had become yours, feeling your anxiety rising.
“Captain's orders,” Alex shrugged, fighting to keep her face neutral. If you and Mal weren’t going to buck up and ask each other out, then the team was just going to conveniently keep putting the two of you together.
“Just sit with Mal,” Carlie waved you off, barely looking up from her phone. You didn’t move, too busy calculating the probability that the seat change was going to cause some disastrous event. You had heard the stories, and you knew the risk. But how were you supposed to tell Carlie that you were sure that if you sat in the wrong seat you were going to curse the whole team?
Just then Mal climbed onto the bus and froze. Oh, this was ridiculous.
“Right, well since we’ve decided this match doesn’t matter,” Mal said, pushing lightly past you to get to the seat where Kelley was sitting alone, “I’ll just sit here where I can actually hear the speaker system.”
“Alex isn’t going to like this,”
“Then Alex can sit here herself,” Mal said, dramatically lowering her bag towards the seat next to Kelley.
“What about Alex,” Alex started, turning towards the commotion, her eyes zeroing in on Mal who held her bag an inch above the seat, as though daring Alex to come prevent her from setting it down. “No. no one sits with Kelley but me,” She growled, shoving past you to get to her spot.
Mal smirked, already walking down the aisle towards her own seat. Her eyes softened as she watched your face light up now that your usual seat was empty, smiling when you relaxed into the foam. She turned around to walk down the aisle, and leaned over to hiss at Carlie, Kelley, Alex, and Ashlyn as she passed “I told you to stay out of this.”
……
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” You asked as Mal dragged you down the dark street. It was nearly midnight, and she had decided that it was the perfect time to go and get a snack.
“Well, officially we are supposed to be getting extra protein in our diets for this week of practice. Technically peanut butter milkshakes have protein!” She smiled dopily at you, pulling you towards the brightly lit building in the distance.
“But it’s midnight, and if Chris or Tobs find out, they’re going to kill us,” You whined, dragging your feet as you approached the diner. How she knew it would be open, you had no idea. You still stood by your point that wandering around this late was a bad idea. But you would go anywhere with Mal.
“Which is exactly why we left at midnight. Chris is definitely asleep by now, and Tobin is probably too wrapped up in a painting to notice anything else,” Mal bit her lip and looked back at you. “And there are some things worth dying for. Like chocolate peanut butter milkshakes.”
“As long as you’re paying,” You grumbled, playfully tugging at her hand.
“That would make it a date then wouldn’t it?” Mal asked with a smirk, and your steps faltered. There was no way Mal wanted to date you right? She couldn’t feel the same way you did.
“Do you want it to be a date?” You asked softly, freezing on the spot, the ground suddenly the most interesting thing on the planet.
Mal stopped moving and looked back at you. Her brown eyes glinted in the light of the streetlamp, as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Yes. Of course, I do. But if that bothers you it’s-”
“I would love to go on a date with you,” You interrupted her, your eyes wide.
“Yeah?” She asked hesitantly, afraid to scare you off.
“Absolutely. I would have asked, but I didn’t think you felt the same,” You nodded firmly. Your eyebrows suddenly furrowed. “Is this why Kelley told me to just get my shit together and grow a pair?”
That had been a very strange and scary conversation considering Kelley wouldn’t tell you what the two of you were talking about. You had been so freaked out that you only talked to Tobin, Christen, and Mal for like a week because you were afraid of saying the wrong thing. It was also why Tobin had decided to be a defender for a day and tackle Kelley every chance she got.
Mal laughed, “That’s not even the half of it. I’m surprised you didn’t notice, I practically had to too ‘stay out of it’ on their foreheads, they kept meddling so much. Now come on, those milkshakes won’t drink themselves. I’ll get you extra sprinkles on yours!”
In the end, you didn’t need the team's help. You and Mal had gotten together in your own way, in your own time, and you wouldn’t have had it any other way.
346 notes
·
View notes
Text
So even though season 5 is my favorite season of Gilmore Girls, I also think it's the season where we first see plot elements introduced in the show merely the create drama for drama's sake. Although nothing happens that can't be fixed, it's a pattern that re-emerges to disastrous effect the next season and made the final two seasons so difficult to watch. Unfortunately, a lot of what was written is inconsistent with what happened before on the show and was completely unnecessary.
Let's take the biggest issue, the spoiled man-baby elephant in the room: Christopher. ASP was infatuated with the actor (she made a point to gush over how gorgeous he was in AYITL era interviews) and sought to include him in the show at all possible points. ASP claimed she only got Luke and Lorelai together when she could ensure that Sutcliffe was available to cause "drama": since she earlier claimed that Jess came on the show mostly to keep them apart, it's obvious that she really, really did not want to write them.
However, from a plot standpoint, Christopher isn't needed. He more or less disappeared from Lorelai and Rory's lives at the beginning of season 3 and they were fine on their own. Lorelai had relationships with Max, Jason, and Alex without his involvement whatsoever, so the idea that he's suddenly needed to make her relationship with Luke interesting is faulty reasoning. Unless, of course, you want to argue that the true intention is to introduce the idea that Luke and Stars Hollow are too lowly and pedestrian of an existence for Lorelai, who deserves a more upper-class lifestyle, which brings me to my next point...
...that Luke needs to be ushered out of Lorelai's life at the insistence of her parents. This is ridiculous. Lorelai's lifelong battle with her parents is based on the fact that she chose her small town and a more debased lifestyle over them. She rejected their values and raised Rory with her own and that included raising her at a lower class of society. Lorelai's parents don't approve of what Lorelai does for a living, and Lorelai has to beg them to attend the test run of the Dragonfly. More to the point, Emily seemed to acknowledge that Luke and Lorelai were attracted to each other in season 1, and even though she ends the last of those conversations impatiently asking Lorelai what she was thinking, she seems to accept it. Lorelai is what Lorelai is, and she can't make things change.
Oh, but in season 5, Emily is suddenly concerned about Lorelai's "future" because she owns an inn instead of managing one, and she has to insist that Luke and Lorelai break up to protect that "future" even though she never cared about her profession before and did not involve herself in any of Lorelai's other relationships, and she has to finagle to get Lorelai and Christopher together even though she gave up on that two years earlier when she realized it wasn't going to happen like she wanted and forcing Lorelai and Christopher to interact was only making things worse. It's all ridiculous manufactured drama when she just as well could have shrugged her shoulders at Lorelai dating Luke and remained mostly indifferent at Lorelai opening the inn like she was before, instead of using both of these things to justify interfering in Lorelai's love life because Amy wanted that to be the plot.
However, if you want to argue that Lorelai needs to move upward in society in order to cast Christopher as a more plausible alternative, I guess this could justify writing this plot, even if it argues against the basic premise of your show and title character.
The last plot element that is drama for drama's sake is of Lorelai's pregnancy scare and new job offer. Earlier on in the season we see Lorelai contemplating marriage, yet when she thinks she might be pregnant she is hesitant and won't tell Luke because she wants to experience life as an independent adult woman for the first time right as Luke is contemplating buying a big new house for them. Okay, fine, Lorelai, it's your life, but pick a lane, please. Then we see her contemplating this job that has her traveling all over the place out of nowhere even though she has had her business in the small town she has lived in for decades open for (1) year, fulfilling a dream she has had for years, which she also runs with her best friend who has two small children and is seemingly dependent on Lorelai staying put and following through with her commitment to keep that business running. Now all of a sudden Lorelai wants to travel after running her own inn for a year? Again, it's her life but this really comes out of nowhere and both of these plot elements seem to be introduced so that Luke can have his "what about the kids" outburst.
Then we have Lorelai forget about independent life and wanting to travel and see her propose to Luke, although she is initially hesitant about kids, only to have her be willing to tear down the relationship and wreck any possible personal relationship between them permanently by the season because she doesn't have the marriage and kids she so desperately wants.
I don't think any of this was necessary, but ASP did not want to write about Luke and Lorelai, the functioning couple coming together somewhat late in life and living a nice middle-class life in their crazy town. She wanted to write a love triangle that implied that Luke wasn't good enough and Lorelai aspired to be part of upper-class society again, even though she had spent the majority of her life running as far away as she could from it.
Now, I know I am not like many (if not most) fans of this show. There seems to be a significant portion of the remaining fans who are only in favor of something if it means Lorelai is getting what she wants. Obviously, I do not believe that what Lorelai wants has to be considered the primary value in the plot: at a certain point, morality and the best interests of more consistently written characters have to considered, too. But my point here is that perhaps none of that matters because at a certain point towards the end of the show's run what Lorelai actually wanted changed quite frequently based on whatever it would take to shove her in the direction of ASP's preferred love interest and the high-society aspects of the show she clearly valued the most.
Anyway, season 5 is still enjoyable to me but there's a lot about it that doesn't make sense and is clearly geared to guide the show in a more classist direction.
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
In Another Life
Prompt: "Hi again! I always look forward to reading all your work, would you be interested in doing a cross-over?? One where the reader is dating Carol at the beginning but then they break up (you can decide the reason why) and the reader moves to National City where she meets Lena. Then the reader falls in love with Lena and they begin dating. After a while, Carol returns and tries to win the reader back. You can decide how it ends - reader ends up with Carol or Lena or they start a poly-relationship??”
Requested by: @lmaodrag1037
Pairing: Carol Danvers x Reader, Lena Luthor x Reader
Word Count: 6103
Warning/s: DC X MARVEL Crossover. Angsty with a happy ending (depending on who you ship R with.)
A/N: This prompt sat on my pending list forever. I’m so sorry it took so long but here it is. I hope you guys like it. I’m sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes that still escaped me. And lemme know what you guys think! Stay bright, my darlings. xx
***
You didn’t know what went wrong. You were okay. You were more than okay, together; even though she’s away in space most of the time. You manage, you make it work. Then just after putting the world back together, your world started caving in. This is supposed to be a happy moment! You just defeated a titan and revived the dusted half of the population. So you’re confused as to why Carol is mad at you again.
“Y/N are you listening?” Carol snapped her fingers at you.
“I’m sorry, I was elsewhere.”
“Clearly,” she said annoyed.
You haven’t seen your girlfriend for three months since she volunteered to go with Gamora on a short mission off-world. You realized it's happening a lot recently. Every time she’s on Earth, she’s always rather pissy with you.
You sighed heavily. “What’s happening, Carol?” you asked, exhausted from all the day's work of being an Avenger and also an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. All you wanted was to come home and maybe cuddle with your girlfriend or your best friends Nat and Maria (since Carol’s always, well absent).
Carol spun around to look at you. There’s some anger reflecting on her beautiful hazel orbs. “What’s happening is, I’m breaking up with you,” Carol says plainly like she’s not breaking your heart.
“Excuse me?” you blinked at her twice.
“I didn’t think you had it in you,” she said gritting your teeth.
“What are you talking about?” you asked confused as hell what she’s on to.
“You and Maria sleeping together!” Carol said angrily.
You wanted to chuckle but one look at her face and you know she wasn’t joking. You looked at her defiantly. “Did you snort some space drugs or something?”
“Agent Johnson said,” Carol tried to say but you cut her off.
“Agent Johnson?!” you asked incredulously. “You believe her word more than mine?” Your voice shaking, and it wasn’t from the pain you’re feeling inside.
“She saw Maria come out of your room in the wee hours of the morning!” Carol tried to defend her accusation.
You thought back of the last time, Maria slept over in your room. It was a few weeks ago. You were training the new recruits, you were sore and awfully lonely. You’ve been missing Carol a lot. So you settled for a movie night with the girls but Nat’s on a mission, Pepper’s with Tony and Morgan in the lakehouse, and Wanda’s out on a date night with Vis. You were close to crying when Maria knocked on your door.
”I take it’s just us tonight?” she asked after you nearly dragged her inside your room.
“Yes. Nat’s still on a mission. If she wasn’t she’ll be here,” you said while popping the wine open. Maria flops down beside you on your extra expensive couch care of one Tony Stark.
“Of course she will, I won’t let her miss it,” Maria said before reaching for the remote and flipping through your watchlist on Netflix. You ended up doing a marathon of How I met your mother, again. Both of you falling asleep after a season or two. You felt Maria hopelessly try not to make too much fuss getting out of your extra soft sheets.
“Doing the walk of shame?” you mumbled your futile attempt at a joke, before burrowing deeper into your warm sheets. Maria chuckled.
“Yeah, Nat’s home,” Maria said before kissing the top of your head and jumping off the bed.
You just hummed and chuckled then went back to sleep.
You shook your head to clear away the memory and look at your girlfriend.
Ex-girlfriend, rather. She broke up with you a minute ago, you had to remind yourself.
“I gave you my word, Car. No matter where you go, no matter how long it takes, you’ll always have me, didn’t I?” you finally let the tears roll. You have minor injuries from today’s mission; you’re exhausted, and now also heartbroken.
“You know what my father did, I told you the story,” you tried to continue but you’re full-on crying now. Carol knows the story of how your father cheated on your mother multiple times, and how it ruined you and your family. Carol knows, Carol remembers you promised you’d never do that to her no matter how long she’s gone.
Carol wanted to reach out. A part of her head is screaming abort! Abort! Abort! But instead, she frowned deeper and crossed her arms. She couldn’t ignore what she heard.
“I gave you my word, yet here you are accusing me of being the very thing I loathe,” you said looking up at her, tears already drying on your cheeks. “You’re throwing away everything we had for five years, to take the word of a girl you know for months. I hope it’s worth it.”
You wiped your face using the ends of your sleeves. Before Carol can say anything else, you opened a portal behind you and disappear through it.
***
Opening portals through space and time is your power as a mutant experiment. Opening portals are very serious business, it requires intent and total concentration to land where you wanted to be precisely. It can be dangerous, potentially disastrous to open portals when you’re unfocused. You certainly didn’t want to suddenly open one 35,000 feet above the ground, and free fall from the sky without a parachute ever again. So, you’re extremely grateful that you’re standing on concrete after leaving Carol behind.
“Who the hell are you?” you heard someone ask behind you.
When you turned around you saw a beautiful woman with the greenest eyes you ever laid eyes on. You held your hand up to show her you mean no harm.
“Who sent you? Who do you work for? Are you working for Agent Liberty?” the pretty lady asked; face completely neutral but voice slightly shaking.
“No one sent me. I don’t know who Agent Liberty is,” you tried to explain. You wanted to introduce yourself and explain further but suddenly your vision blurred and your knees gave out.
***
Lena gasped when your body hits the ground. She didn’t know what to do, she didn’t know who you are or where you came from exactly. All she knows was you walked through a portal. She walked closer to you and inspected your body. You’re wearing some sort of latex suit, a little like Alex’s D.E.O uniform but with a different logo on it.
“Alex,” she whispered before pulling out her phone and calling the older Danvers’ sister.
Lena didn’t want to explain on the phone. Alex sent Supergirl ahead to check if you were a threat but when Supergirl arrived she had to hold back the urge to take a photo of Lena; sitting on the concrete floor of her rooftop in her expensive suit and cradling your head on her lap.
“Lena,” Supergirl said to catch her best friends attention. “Are you okay? Did she hurt you?”
“No. She didn’t hurt me. She passed out before she can tell me anything though. Help me bring her to the lab,” Lena said without taking her eyes off your face. Kara had to bite her lip to keep herself from actually squealing.
“Alex said we should take her to the D.E.O. If she needs medical attention, Alex can take care of her.”
Lena knew it was the best thing to do. So she nodded for Kara to take you.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Lena said before Kara flew away with you.
***
When Kara arrived at the DEO, Alex was already ready to receive you with her medical team.
“What do we have, Supergirl?” Alex asked while she fusses over you on the gurney.
“Lena said all she knew was she came through a portal,” Supergirl answered while keeping at pace with her sister.
“Portal? Like Cisco’s portal?” Alex asked while checking your vitals.
Supergirl made a quick sweep of your person to check on anything that could trigger a portal, like the watch Barry gave her but there was nothing on you except your skin-tight suit. Alex noted the black insignia that’s blending in your suit.
"Querl,” Alex called as he passed by.
Querl walked towards the sisters. “You need me?”
“Scan our database for this insignia. We need to know who she is, and where she came from.”
“I will do that,” Querl affirmed before leaving the medical ward. As he exits, Lena came in the room.
“How is she?”
Alex quirked an eyebrow at her sister. Supergirl just smiled and shrugged.
“She’s gonna be fine, Lee. She’s fatigued and extremely dehydrated,” Alex assured their friend.
***
You blinked once, twice before the room came in focus. You’re in a medical bay but it’s certainly not a hospital. It’s very reminiscent of the one at S.H.I.E.L.D actually.
“Oh, hey! You’re awake! I’m Supergirl btw,” a blonde woman with blue eyes in a red and blue suit introduced herself. She reminds you of Carol because of their suits color scheme similarities. You tried not to flinch at the memory of her. Kara noted the sudden sad look on your face.
“Where am I?” you asked before a redhead in a black tactical suit came in. She smiled at you briefly before standing against Supergirl. Together they look like a powerful duo, like Nat and Carol, actually.
“You’re in the D.E.O, Department of Extranormal Operation. I’m Alex Danvers, I’m the Director.”
“Aren’t you a little too young to be a Director?” you asked feeling a little silly. It must be the medically-induced drugs. Alex couldn’t help but smile.
“Maybe,” Alex answered.
“I’m Y/N. I’m an Avenger, and S.H.I.E.L.D agent,” you said full-on beaming before lying on your back and passing out again.
***
When Kara and Alex arrived at the conference room, Lena was already there and talking with Querl.
“Any updates, Querl?” Alex asked as she looks through the monitors.
“There is no Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D anywhere in our databases. I run facial recognition as well but nothing came up either,” Querl explained, clearly frustrated by the situation at hand.
“I called Barry but they said they got nothing,” Kara piped in, their backs turned towards the door.
“Who’s Barry?” you asked so suddenly that everyone nearly jumped out of their skin. Including Supergirl. They turned towards you wide-eyed. No one gets to sneak behind these team.
“How did you?” the blonde stammered.
“Oh! Hi again! I woke up alone in my room, and I thought it was rude of me to pass out mid-conversation. So I thought of the Director, and opened a portal to her,” you explained while glancing at Alex.
“Told you she’s can open portals,” Lena murmured low enough but she still caught your attention.
“Hi! I’m Y/N. You’re the lady from the rooftop.”
“I’m Lena. Lena Luthor,” she said cautiously.
You beamed at her. “Sorry for passing out on you too. It happens sometimes, when I open a portal too far from my starting point,” you explained.
A man name Querl asked how you’re portal jumping without any tech with you, which prompted you to tell them about being a product of mutant experimentation. It was kind of weird that they don’t know what that is or what mutants are. So, you ended up explaining that too.
***
It took several hours of storytelling, interrogation, and an alien mind reader before everyone decided you’re not an actual threat. Another hour before you decided that you can trust them. Another hour to set up a fake identity for you, and at the moment, Kara, Alex, and Lena are arguing where you would be staying.
You cleared your throat. “If it’s all the same to you ladies, I’ll stay with Querl.”
Querl just grinned smugly at them. “Brainy? Why?” Alex asked, angst by your choice.
“He offered. I agreed,” you answered simply. Thankfully, Nia didn’t find anything wrong with that.
Lena laughed before walking up next to you. “I’m sorry, we should have asked.”
You beamed at her. “You should have. I would have gone with you,” you said cheekily before following Querl and Jonn out of the conference room. Had you not walked away, you would have seen the blush that crept up on Lena’s face and the teasing she had to endure from both Kara and Alex.
“Someone has a crush,” Kara sing-song.
“Oh, shush! I do not,” Lena tried to lie but Alex and Kara knew better.
You know you just got out of a relationship but you’re currently stuck in another universe, might as well make use of your fresh start. You need to heal before anything else.
***
The decision to live with Querl was tactical on your part. You’re not trying to leave immediately but you still need to find a way back to your universe. Maria and Natasha will give you hell for leaving without telling anyone. Even though you didn’t exactly plan on being stuck on a parallel universe at all. Your heart ached thinking about home, thinking about your friends, thinking about her.
Your heart ached as you lie on Querl’s guest room, thinking about all the times Carol came home to you after a mission. How the strongest Avenger likes to cuddle like a baby when she’s bone-tired. Your heart aches remembering the sound of her laugh and how it used to give you so much joy watching her goof around with Thor and Peter. Your heart ached reminiscing the way her arms made you feel safe, her lips made you feel at home. Your heart broke a little more remembering the last time she told you she loved you.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Querl asked from the threshold of your room.
“I’m just wondering if there is a universe where she and I ended up happy together?”
In the course of your interrogation, the D.E.O along with James and Lena asked thoroughly about your life and the event before you landed on their Earth. You didn’t have a choice but to tell the truth, even if it’s still a little raw for you. Querl know who you’re talking about, and he wisely didn’t spout a formula that calculates the number of universes in which you and Carol are happy together. He just wished you a good night.
***
You’re not quite sure how time flows between parallel universes but you’ve been on Earth-34 for three months now. Figuring a way back home has been fruitless, to say the least, and it has been taking a back seat since you finished D.E.O training and started a more active role in the organization. Alex assigned you as a D.E.O liaison officer at L-Corp, which you didn’t have a problem with. In the three months, you’ve been on their earth, and after being inducted as an official member of the Superfriends, Lena is secretly your favorite.
It’s a harmless schoolgirl crush, you didn’t pay any mind. Lena is an amazing human being, a lot of people admire her. She’s intelligent, sassy, and quite literally, breathtaking. It’s not like you stand a chance to date someone as amazing as her if you’re ever stupid enough to ask her out. Which you aren’t, so you’re sticking with friendship. Friends are good; friends rarely break each other’s heart.
So you’re bewildered as to why Lena’s hellbent on arguing with Alex at game night nonetheless about why she didn’t need you as her additional security.
“Alex, L-Corp has the most advanced security since our latest upgrades last month,” Lena says as quiet as she could inside Alex’s open kitchen.
“We know but having Y/N on the ground with you at all times makes me feel more at ease. She has powers, and her fighting technique is unprecedented,” Alex tried to argue.
“I’m not a child, Alex.”
”I didn’t say that you are, Lena.”
“Agent Dallas,” you suddenly spoke from where you’re sitting on the floor. Alex and Lena turned to look at your back as you continue to play monopoly with Kara.
“What about Agent Dallas, Y/N?” Alex asked before taking a sip of her beer.
“Agent Dallas has superb fighting abilities. Not to mention she’s an excellent markswoman too.”
Lena and Alex scrunch their eyebrows together, trying to figure where you’re going with this. Kara nodded towards their direction that caused you to look at the two over your shoulder. “You can assign Agent Dallas as Lena’s security detail if she didn’t want me,” you said simply before rolling the dice.
Lena looks angst at the suggestion.
“Oh no, she thinks you didn’t want her,” Alex whispers in Lena’s ear teasingly before walking towards you and the others.
***
Lena was awfully silent through game night. She participated, of course, but there’s a pensive look on her face all night. When it was time to go, you tried to insist that you’ll walk to your new apartment but Lena shoot it down with one look.
It’s fascinating how one person can remind you so much of your family. With one look, Lena can shut you up and shut down any of your crazy ideas just like Natasha. Her intelligence and love for all science and technology can rival Tony’s. Her superb leadership skill can match Steve’s. Her loyalty is like Maria’s, and her caring nature’s just like Wanda’s. You can’t help but smile to yourself as you watch National City in the comfort of her Porsche.
“Thanks for driving me, Lee. Goodnight,” you said when you felt the car come to a stop.
Before you can exit the vehicle, Lena reached out and caught you by the sleeve of your white polo.
“Y/N,” she said softly. You turned to look at her bewildered. “What’s wrong?”
She licked her lower lip, and no one could fault you when you got entranced by the movement. “The reason why I didn’t want you to work at L-Corp was…” she paused.
You quirked your eyebrow to prompt her to keep going. “…was because I think it’ll be inappropriate to ask you out when you do,” she rushed out in one breath. You blinked once to clear away the fog that suddenly hangs in your head. One more to let what Lena sink in.
“Well. Technically, you’re not my boss; Alex is,” you said slowly and seriously before breaking out into a smile.
“Y/N!,” Lena whined before crumpling the sleeve of your polo. You couldn’t help but laugh. You leaned against the center console of her car and gave her a quick kiss on the cheeks before exiting the car. Leaving a blushing happy Lena Luthor.
***
You give it to Lena to know how to make a girl feel special. On your first date, she arrived at your apartment promptly, and with your favorite bouquet of flowers at that. She then took you to the most expensive and exclusive restaurant in National City, where you had a five-course meal and talked the night away. Lena drove you home way past midnight but didn’t stay the night. Plans for the second date was made the next business day.
Your second date didn’t happen until after another month because Lena got busy and you got busy making sure she’s safe always. On your second date, you took Lena out to ride your new Ducati motorcycle to a rustic restaurant outside the city limits. The place was warm, inviting, and private even for a Friday night. Lena absolutely loved it that you ended up staying in a cheap nearby hotel because you both were too sleepy to drive back. Lena argued that she can call her driver and pick them you up but she relented when you question her sense of adventure.
That night the only available room in the hotel only had one double bed.
“I can take the couch,” you said as you both stare at your current predicament.
She walked to the bed and sat down in front of you. “Y/N, we’re dating. We can share a bed.”
You tried not to blush but Lena’s just too beautiful that you couldn’t help but kiss her.
“What was that for?” she asked breathlessly.
“Nothing. I’m just really happy I’m here with you.”
It took a while to get where you are but you’re better now. You still miss Carol, a part of you will always be Carol’s but you’re happier now. Lena makes you so happy.
***
Dating Lena is possibly one of the most beautiful experience you had in your life. And you’ve had so many in this lifetime. You survived being tortured and experimented on. You defeated a titan, twice! Heck, you even managed to go out in space. You thought you’d lost your home when Carol broke up with you. You thought Earth-34 was just another adventure but it turns out it has become home too and without fully realizing it, a year has officially passed since you arrived on their universe.
You were supposed to be celebrating your “Earth-34 birthday” as Alex and Kara call it but an emergency occurred. A group of possibly hostile vigilante’s are spotted downtown. Kara and Jonn flew at the scene first. Querl and Nia drove there next. Alex went directly to the D.E.O, while you drove Lena first to her penthouse where another agent was to take over your place for the time being.
When you arrived downtown, you were floored to see Carol sizing up Kara while the rest of the Avengers are aiming their weapons at Jonn, Querl, Nia and a few D.E.O. agents. You would have laughed at the hilarity of how the two blonds look almost identical but the scowl on everyone’s faces stopped you. Instead, you yelled at the top of your lungs,
“Stand down!”
Your family immediately turned towards your voice. You walked towards the center and in front of Natasha. She holstered her gun, when she turned towards you, you expected her to pull you in a hug but instead, she threw a punch at your face. You stammered a step backward, you held your hand up to signal everyone to stand down. Your lips are bleeding, and before Kara can fuss about it; Nat pulled you in a tight hug.
“I miss you so much, idiot,” she murmured against your hair. You wrapped your arms around her sturdy frame. Maria joined the group hug immediately.
“You know these people?” Guardian asked. You can hear Tony mocking his suit from Nat’s comms. You had to reign in the chuckle.
“They’re the Avengers,” you answered before leaning your forehead against Maria’s.
“We,” someone said behind you. You didn’t need to turn to know who it is. You know that voice in any universe. “You’re still a part of our team,” Carol continued.
***
“You didn’t tell me Carol and I’s suit are almost identical,” Kara whispered as you walk side-by-side at the D.E.O.
“I’m surprised she even told you about us,” Nat quipped, clearly overhearing Kara as she and Maria walk behind you. You turned on your heels to look at Natasha. She might be joking but you know the hurt was real.
“Tasha,” you said. She smiled at you; she’s gonna be pissed again when she found out the truth.
“She couldn’t stop talking about you actually,” Kara supplied excitedly as the three of you entered the training room, which is the only room big enough to house the lot of you.
“Are we still waiting for someone?” Tony asked on his typical bored CEO demeanor.
You couldn’t help but smile because god you miss him. Lena’s gonna freak when she finds out he’s here, and they can finally meet. Speak of the goddess herself, Lena burst through the door of the training room in her signature CEO entrance. Carol, Maria, and Natasha noted the way all your focus going in on the newcomer. Carol frowned deeper.
“Y/N?” Lena asked for you immediately.
“I’m here,” you said unable to untangle yourself from Maria’s embrace. Maria narrowed her eyes at Lena. Lena frowned as she watches Maria’s slender figure, hugging you from behind. You pleaded for Lena to remember all your stories.
“Who are you?” Carol suddenly asks. Steve bristled at her tone.
You watched Lena take in Carol before standing ramrod straight (not that she’s one to slouch). “Lena Luthor, CEO of L-Corp. Y/N’s girlfriend, who are you?”
Tony snorted. Maria and Nat tried to snicker quietly but failed miserably. “Carol Danvers. Captain Marvel,” Carol introduced herself. And then a thick, awkward silence descended upon the room.
“Okay, ladies. Play nice,” Alex asserted her power. “I’m assuming you came here for Y/N?”
Steve affirmed after introducing himself and the whole team.
***
Everyone turned to look at you. Maria noted your stiff posture in your arms. She knows you too much to know your decision even before you can make one. She smiled sadly at you. You need to come clean now.
“I can’t..” you stammered out. Everyone waited for you to continue. “I can’t go back, Steve.”
Tony didn’t speak, he just watched you. Before anyone else can say anything, Carol spoke. “Tony worked on the simulation and technology in half a year to get to you.”
You have no doubt he did. Your heart hammered in your chest. Kara looked at you sympathetically, clearly picking up on your heartbeat. “I spent the last half, jumping from one earth to another to find you.”
“I didn’t ask you to,” you nearly yelled. And there it is, the anger that you felt when Carol accused you of cheating on her suddenly bubbled up inside you. “Heaven knows I appreciate you all coming here but no one asked you to find me because I found my way back.”
You can hear a pin drop at the silence that followed. Everyone waited with bated breath for you to continued. You saw the realization dawn on Tony’s face faster than everyone else.
“I figured a way back to our universe on the sixth-month mark of my landing here,” you said slowly.
***
Everyone gasped, except Querl. Carol motioned for you to step outside the balcony. You followed her without question, you owe her at least that. Carol didn’t speak for a minute, and you just watched her regulate her breathing.
“Did you hate me that much?” Carol asked. Eyes closed, face turned towards the sun.
“I never hated you, Car,” you said as you watch the side of her face. “I was mad when you accused me of cheating on you. I was heartbroken when you took Daisy’s word over mine but I never hated you. I love you far too much for that.”
Carol noted the use of present tense and you know her well enough that she caught it. You tried to smile at her. “I will always love you, Carol but I’m in love with Lena,” you said softly. There’s no use beating around the bush.
You watched every emotion that passes through her face as she processes that she’s going home without you. Regret, jealousy, sadness, surrender.
“I’m sorry, Y/N. I was stupid,” she said with tears running down her face that you immediately pulled her into a hug. You’re both aware that you’re still in full view of both your teams but at that moment you didn’t care. “I love you,” Carol sobbed against your hair. You rubbed soothing circles against her back.
“I know. I love you too,” you said tearing up too. “Maybe in another life, we can try again.”
***
All goodbyes are bittersweet, only you know this isn’t one. There’s no way, Nat and Maria won’t be portal jumping to you whenever they can, now that they have a way to you and vice versa.
Steve came up to you first. “I’m really proud of what you achieved here. You know S.H.I.E.L.D is always open for you,” he said before pulling you in a brotherly hug, which you gratefully returned.
Tony came up next. “Stark Expo is opening again soon. Come home and bring your girlfriend, she’s a delight,” he said before ruffling your hair like the annoying brother that he is.
Maria and Nat came up together. Maria pulled you in against her in a back hug; which you thought might be Maria’s favorite position to hug because she’s taller than you and Nat. Nat stood in front of you, reaching out to touch your cheeks.
“Kara gave us this,” Nat said showing what seems to be a normal phone. “She said we can use it to communicate seamlessly. So call us, anytime for anything, like always and we will be there.”
“I will,” you promised before leaning towards Nat’s hand.
“And please, visit often. We miss you terribly. Friday’s still movie night when we’re not out on a mission; do come and bring your superfriends. Alex said, you have game nights on this universe, maybe we can all hang out sometime,” Maria said hopefully.
You smiled before turning your head and kissing Maria’s cheeks. “It’s a date,” you said before you turned back towards Nat and saw Carol walking towards Lena.
***
“Hey,” Carol said a little self-consciously to catch Lena’s attention who’s talking to Alex.
Alex smiled encouragingly before excusing herself. “Hello, Carol,” Lena answered. Less hostile but still very much guarded.
“I was rude awhile ago, I’m sorry.”
“You are but nothing I’m not used to. I deal with it every day with my investors trying to always undermine me,” Lena answered matter-of-factly.
Carol rubbed the back of her neck. “I know Y/N is strong and can take care of herself but please, take care of her,” Carol pleaded.
Lena smiled, before extending her hand. “She is and she does but rest assured, I will see to it that she’s well-taken cared of; I promise.” Carol sighed before smiling up at Lena and shaking her hand. This isn’t the result Carol wanted but she doesn’t have the heart to stand in the way of your happiness.
***
Tony opened the portal when everyone bid their farewells, and one by one the Avengers walked through and back to their universe. Before it closes though, Nat turned back to you.
“Hey, by the way, you need to come home on December,” she said vaguely. You quirked your eyebrows at her.
“December 4th to be precise,” Maria piped in.
“Why?”
Nat laughed before taking Maria’s hand and showing you a diamond ring around it. “We’re getting married, idiot.” You look dumbfounded for a second.
Maria looked past you. “You’re all invited, I’m sure HQ can accommodate. Promise you’ll come.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” you said after you recovered from your initial shock. Maria and Nat waved at you before the portal closed.
***
Alex and Kara stood by your side for a minute or two to offer their silent support before walking away and back to the command center. You stared at the wall where your family walked through for another minute before you heard the telltale sounds of heels behind you.
“Why didn’t you tell me you found a way home?” Lena asked quietly.
You turned to look at her. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t think it matters. I wasn’t gonna go back,” you answered; worried that she’s pissed at you.
“When did you know you’re not gonna go back?”
“The morning after our second date.”
Lena raised her eyebrow at that. “When we woke up at a dingy hotel?” she asked surprised.
You tried to stop it but when the memory surfaced, you couldn’t help but break into a goofy smile. “Yeah,” you said dreamily.
“Why then?”
You blinked the lovestruck look in your face and focused back on Lena. You grinned at her. “Oh,” you paused for dramatic effect.
“Well, you smelled divine while drooling all over my arm,” you said cheekily while closing the gap between you two.
Lena gasped. “How dare you accuse me of being unladylike?” she asked in mock offense but you can clearly hear the playful tone in her voice.
You laughed before pulling her hips flush against yours. “Life’s all about choices, and on the cusp of knowing how to leave or staying, I choose you.”
Lena shakes her head affectionately before pulling you in for a passionate kiss.
#raven writes#marvel imagine#dc imagine#avengers imagine#supergirl imagine#crossover imagine#marvel x dc crossover#carol danvers x reader#captain marvel x reader#lena luthor x reader#carol danvers#alex danvers#kara danvers#lena luthor#querl dox#natasha romanoff#maria hill#blackhill
461 notes
·
View notes
Text
Pretending - Karamel One Shot.
There was only so much she could handle, even as a superhero; the past year was tough, to say the least, her skin got thicker, her heart more fragile yet it had endured so much, it was now covered in steel, hard like Kara's flesh. She could fight millions of enemies, get punched and kicked everyday, be exposed to kryptonite and other venoms, be tricked by illusions and strange dreamlike states, but this? She didn't know how to handle this. Mon-El. She didn't know what to do, how to talk to him,how to continue this farce, everything was far from okay but she had to keep her mask on.
She felt so comfortable with him, yet she couldn't stand being in the same room as him for more than a certain amount of time; his presence was deteriorating her inside. Sometimes, Kara wished that Mon-El just left once more, though she knew she couldn't live without him, not again.
She tried to understand those longing, often nostalgic and sad looks, she tried tounderstand the way his voice changed whenever he spoke to her, she tried to figure out what was really going on in his mind, when he smiled, when he laughed, when he sighed; it all looked so familiar she was afraid to read every sign in the wrong way.
“He's not the same Mon-El you fell in love with.” A voice inside of Kara's brain tried to whisper, “But I got to knowhim again this year.” Her heart tried to respond, “No, it's all fake, you've fallen for his memory, you're not in love with him. You don't even know him.” The ugly, ominous voice got too much to her, Kara had started to believe it was the truth.
Mon-El lived at the DEO again, but according to what Alex had said, he barely slept. He spent a lot of time sitting by himself in the conference room or just looking outside of the balcony, sometimes also flying over the city, just like Kara did: Mon-El looked lonely and disconnected, pensive and observing, looking at the cityscapes that surrounded him.
Kara wished she could have hugged him, but maybe it wasn't what he wanted, she wasn't what he wanted..maybe he wanted to go back to the 31st century. All she could do, was step to him and try to have a small talk.
It was exhausting to not know what he was thinking, she could only see his exterior, almost afraid to show any emotion: those days where she could understand him with just one look seemed so far away. Kara had started to accept it, Mon-El was just..a colleague: they were good partners on the battlefield and constantly learned from each other as heroes, but once that those suits were taken off, they were just friends. Yes. They were friends. Or at least, Kara was trying to convince herself they were: she had more practice in this game, she had already repeated that when he was still with Imra, but now the level got a little harder.
Still, they weren't strangers, if she called Mon-El and asked for his help, she was sure he would've given it to her. But maybe she was lying to herself again: maybe that's why she was so distant from him and he didn't try to do anything about it..perhaps he didn't care anymore. He fell out of love years and years ago, why should he care about her? It was obvious that Mon-El was looking for a new beginning in the 21st century, the 31st century was still his home, though: it's not like he stayed.. for her.
That was the truth, and once she swallowed this bitter pill, it was easier to pretend that they had no history. She could force herself to reset everything and start all over, just like Mon-El had done. She was left alone with her thoughts, sitting on a chair in the conference room, her stare was blank and lost, until someone knocked on the door.
“This place has never been so quiet. You've been awfully quiet.” Winn entered the room and sat next to her. “Hey..Have I?”
“Yep.”
“Oh, I...didn't notice. I guess I've been too focused on work.”
“Kara, please..there hasn't been any significant job to do in here for over a week now, and from what James has told me, nothing exciting happened at CatCo either. You know why you've been so..lost.”
“And why is that?”
Winn looked somewhere outside of the door, “You both look miserable. You and Mon-El, I mean.”
“What?”
“He's been officially back here for a month now, what are you doing? Why are you barely talking to him?”
“I do talk to him!”
“Outside of superheroing business? Not so much.”
“How would you know?”
“Because he's terrified to open up, just like you. You're scared to be together in the same room for more than five minutes. He's always looking at his Legion ri-”
“He misses the 31st century.”
“And his necklace. Your necklace. Don't tell me you didn't notice.”
Kara's eyes opened widely, “I don't know what you're talking about.”
“He misses you, being with you..and you won't even let him come close to you. Look, I knowyou're scared of being hurt too..but I know he's in pain as much as you are. I didn't ask him, but it's clear to see.”
She swallowed, half of her wanted to deny this, but the other half wanted to jump in his arms and console him: had she been so foolish to preserve her heart from breaking that she forgot about the one beating one room away?
Winn got up from his seat and gave Kara a pat on the shoulder, “He's on the balcony, but I think he'll fly over the city in a few minutes. He looks very moody today.”
“Thank you, Winn.” She nodded: it was time to take the matter in her hands, even if she still didn't know how to take care of it.
“So, how are you?”
“What?”
“I just asked how are you?”
“Why are you asking?” His arms rested on the balcony, his eyes avoided hers.
“We're friends.”
“No. We're not friends.”
“What are you talking about?”
Mon-El finally turned around, clearing his throat: “If we were friends, you'd invite me to game night with everyone else, you'd ask for my opinion on your new shirt, you'd text me, you would suggest new books and send me articles that interested you. You would call me and ask me if I wanted to see a new movie at the cinema, you would complain to me about how terribly dry is your job as a journalist right now and we would laugh about it while making popcorn, you would laugh with me about some of Winn’s ridiculous sweaters, you would joke and pretend to be mad when I joke about you. We're not friends. And you know that.”
“Stop it. Stop it, now.” She inhaled deeply, a burning fire started inside of her, she couldn't suppress it anymore, “I can't invite you over my place because everything reminds me of last year, when you were with me and I was happy, for once. I don't want to know your opinion on my clothes, or books, or movies because you would probably say something nice and I would lie to myself saying that you're still in love with me and everything is back to normal. How am I supposed to ask you to go out with me without having constant flashbacks to our dates? Gosh, I used to be so happy with you. I can't pretend, I can't pretend this is my normal routine when I know you're a few steps away. You carved yourself a space into my life, but now it's just a hole full of rubble. I pretend you're not here. I pretend you're just a shadow, a memory. Because if I told myself that you're so close to me, I could stop breathing and thinking clearly.”
Kara looked up into Mon-el's eyes, full of lust, anger, love, sadness, tiredness: he was dangerously close. “We're not friends.” He took a breath from her lips. They weren't friends. They weren't just friends. They weren't just lovers. They were two souls, destined to mend each other and blend into one another.
“Do you even want to be my friend?”
“You're the one who can't even keep a conversation with me.” Mon-El laughed bitterly, ”Of course I want to, I want to be part of your life, I will always want you to be a part of mine.” His tone got sadder as his sentence ended, a sad sigh made her eyes soften: Kara slowly realized how damaged both of them were inside.
“Alex told me you barely sleep and you're always wandering here at the DEO, from the conference room to here and then you fly away..I used to do the same, when you were gone. I know you're in your own bubble and don't want to hear anything from anyone, but listen to me at least: everyone is worried about you, I am worried, too. I'm sorry I haven't done enough to help you, but I want you to feel alright. I've been so busy curing my wounds that I didn't realize that you had way more than I did. Do you want to come to my place and spend a nice night in?”
Mon-El's eyes lit up, a soft smile on his face, “We could watch a movie, we could take some Chinese food, or cook, if you want to..What do you think?” Kara continued with a new, sweet voice.
“I would love that. But I'm the one cooking.”
“Deal.”
“What do you wanna eat? I'll go grocery shopping with Winn today to pick everything up.”
“Anything you want, really.”
He nodded, walking away: “I'll see you tonight, then. 8?”
“Sure.”
They looked happy, for once.
When the time came, Kara was extremely nervous, overthinking the scenarios that varied from disastrous to wonderful: in the end she told herself that everything would have flowed naturally, they would've been comfortable with each other and maybe the night would've ended up surprisingly well. Mon-El arrived perfectly on time, his arms carrying a bunch of paper bags, his smile brighter than ever; “Hi!”
“Hi! So what did you buy?”
“It's a surprise..did you pick the movie?” In the moment he stepped inside, it was like both of them had traveled back in time or were in a dream, everything looked so normal.. her place didn't look empty anymore.
“Yeah, it's a comedy that came out last year but I couldn't get to watch it at the movies, but it's already on Netflix luckily.”
“Ooh, perfect. I'm gonna start working at the stove.”
“Need any help?”
The night went on and they just grew more comfortable with each other, any sort of awkwardness was gone, sometimes she would even lean into his shoulders and Mon-El would welcome her with a content sigh; what were they doing? Sparks were flying around them, their sadness had left and both of them realized how much they needed a night like this, to be with each other like this.
After the movie was over, Kara asked Mon-El if he wanted to help her clean the dishes: it was just another excuse to spend more time with him, she didn't want the magic of that night to disappear, Kara was afraid that in the moment he would've walked outside of her door, everything would've gone back to how it was a few hours before. They didn't dare to say a word until they were done, both thinking about what was coming next.
Suddenly, Mon-El turned around and grabbed Kara's hands in his: “I am not okay.” He looked into her eyes and then slowly lowered his gaze down her pink lips. “You asked how I was earlier, here's your answer.”
“Why?” She did the same thing, ending with a lip bite.
“Because I can't stand being so far from you, I can't stand knowing you're so close and broken as I am..and if I don't kiss you right now, I might go out of my mind.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
“I wanna hear it from you. No more tiptoeing around.”
“You want me to ask you to kiss me?” Kara was playing with him.. and Mon-El knew it, he hated it but loved it at the same time. They finally smirked at each other.
“Mh-mh.”
“Why?”
“Your lips are so inviting.”
“Kiss me.” Mon-El smiled and picked Kara up in his arms; if their kiss could've talked, it would've said a single word: 'finally.’
Once they drifted apart to breathe, Mon-El lay Kara down on the bed: for a moment, they rested their foreheads together and he moved her hair from her neck kissing it gently.
They looked into each other's eyes, a whisper escaped Kara's mouth before meeting his lips again, “Don't let me go.”
“I won't.”
The honesty in his voice was reassuring enough to believe those two words: she trusted Mon-El and knew that, whatever threat would've arrived next, their love was stronger than that. It was something bigger and stronger than they were, it couldn't be described, it simply was their destiny: they were soulmates, they were made to find each other, always, through space and time.
_______________
i hope you guys enjoyed it! i cant believe i posted two one shots in two weeks. this one started so randomly as a drabble and then my friend begged me to continue..i hope i did a good job😅😅
let me know what you think in my inbox and reblogs, thank you for reading! ❤️❤️❤️
#karamel#karamel one shot#karamel ff#karamel one shots#karamel fanfic#karamel ffs#karamel fanfics#karamel fanfiction#kara zor-el#mon-el#kara danvers#supervalor#iminyourhandskara#kara x mon-el#mon-el x kara#chris wood#melissa benoist#supergirl
93 notes
·
View notes
Photo
“After a disastrous first date, the only things Holly Berenson and Eric Messer have in common are mutual dislike and their love for their goddaughter. When they unexpectedly become her caretakers, Holly and Eric have to put aside their differences and learn to work together for the sake of the child. Juggling competing career and social commitments, Holly and Eric look for common ground while living under the same roof.”
SAMUEL DWIGHT EVANS is TWENTY-NINE years old and AN ARTIST. He is currently SINGLE, and his endgame is BLAM.
“Having somebody help you doesn’t mean that you failed.”
Here’s the biggest thing to know about Sam: he’s always been good at taking care of people. He prides himself on that fact. He was mostly just a kid himself when he first started helping take care of his family, doing anything he could to make life easier on his parents. It’s extremely important to him that those around him feel secure and loved. He thinks he does a pretty good job of making that happen for the people he loves.
For all of his kindness and general love for other people, Sam’s got those areas in life where he doesn’t particularly shine. For example, he’s never been the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree (in fact, his mom used to say that though she adored him, sometimes it seemed like the light was on but no one was home). And it’s not that he’s dumb or anything like that, contrary to what some of his teachers probably thought when he was growing up. His brain just works differently. Not only does he have dyslexia, which makes reading and math a total pain in the ass, but he’s creative. Incredibly so. He responds best to things regarding art, which of course led him to pour all of his heart and soul into learning all about it growing up, leading to his profession later in life.
Love has been kind of a weird thing in Sam’s life for, well, all of it. He went through that thing in high school where he realized he was into dudes as much as he was into girls, so that kind of put a hold on things for a while. Then there was all of the meeting new, interesting people and figuring out what he wanted out of a relationship while he was in art school, and he’d get all weird and nerdy and talk too fast when he got nervous, which scared far too many people off for Sam to be able to form actual relationships in those years. He wants it, though. He’s getting older and he wants to fall in love for real and have someone who doesn’t mind that he doesn’t really know what he’s doing when it comes to romance. But hundreds of failed dates later, Sam is wondering when exactly that’s going to happen.
A lot of it, he’s sure, has to do with the fact that he doesn’t really perform well under pressure. He’d love to say otherwise, but the fact is that if you throw him into a situation he’s unprepared for, he’ll freeze up. At least in the beginning until he can figure out a clear way to get him through it. Which is kind of ironic, because he’s also not much of a planner in general. He tries to go with the flow. But for Sam, going with the flow focuses more on the idea that you can’t change the past. It’s not so much about those crazy curveballs the universe throws you sometimes. Life comes at you fast, and contrary to what Ferris Bueller tells him, sometimes Sam kind of wishes he could miss some of it. At least the parts he just can’t keep up with.
It’s complicated, though --- as all of life is, he supposes. Part of him likes not knowing what the future holds, on some level. Like, he never knows what his next project is going to be. Will he be asked to draw a comic for an article? Maybe someone will commission a canvas painting? It’s all up in the air. But those unknown things are the kind he can deal with. A request for a physical art piece vs. a digital one isn’t going to change his life in the way, say, oh, I don’t know, ending up with your best friend’s kids might. Just off the top of his head.
CONNECTIONS.
BLAINE ANDERSON → Blaine and Sam went on one (failed) date what feels like an eternity ago. They were set up by Blaine’s brother Cooper and his girlfriend at the time, Sam’s best friend, Harmony. It didn’t quite work out. They remained fairly civil over the years for the sake of Cooper and Harmony and their family, but Sam wasn’t sure if they would ever be close on their own. They never expected to be where they are now, having to work together to raise that little family left behind.
NOAH PUCKERMAN → Noah is Sam’s number one bro. They have been roommates since shortly after college, where they were both broke and Sam responded to Noah’s ad for someone to split the rent. Sam knows they’re getting older and their carefree lifestyle in their own little world can’t last forever, considering all that’s going on. But Noah will always be his go to, especially now that he doesn’t have Harmony.
QUINN FABRAY → Quinn was the planner for Cooper and Harmony’s wedding, and Sam was obviously a big part of that, so he ended up seeing her around a lot. Sam totally had a thing for her. He doesn’t know if it was ever really reciprocated, because he didn’t think it was all that appropriate to hit on her when she was just doing her job at his own friend’s big day, but he sometimes wonders what might have happened if he did.
✗ Sam is currently TAKEN and played by ALEX (EST).
1 note
·
View note
Text
i’m really confused about the writing in supergirl?
and i’ve tried to google my confusion away, but it led me to places i didn’t intend to reach and tumblr searching is leading me to spoilers (which i don’t actually mind that much, but i’m here for meta answers that i don’t find).
mainly i’m just baffled by james olsen and all the romantic arcs.
i’m turning to tumblr’s fandom expertise for answers but i need you to understand my zero point ground before i ask any substantial q’s - i did not read any supergirl comics before (have read some dc in general and am a huge young justice fan, yes) so comparison to the source material means close to nothing for me. i generally don’t watch superhero related stuff. so why did i even start watching supergirl?
i’m just a Simple Gay™. yeah, i’ve been bombarded for the past year or so with supercop gifs and whatnot - and don’t get me wrong, i absolutely know i’m not going to get any gay content out of this show - but i have a bit of free time and thought i’d give this series a shot because it had wandered the realms of my mind for so long, thanks to tumblr supercop fanbase.
also regarding expectations - i did not expect this show to be a stellar example of top tier writing. i knew this is a light hearted, carefree show i’ll watch for simple fun, and that meets my expectations quite well. i’m not, per se, disappointed of the writing - not every damn piece of consumable media needs to be shakespearean poetry (and people who dismiss those things on the merit of that alone are missing so much, imo) - but it bothers me to the core when i recognize a poor written character being paraded on the plot lines. what i mean by that - a character that seems so meaningless still stands on a pedestal the creators of said character created for it. it’s like a curator putting up his son’s kindergarten crayon doodle on the fine arts exhibition - like, i get that you love your son, but my dude this is so out of place.
i’m 13 episodes in (more than half a season?) and i think this is really early to be frustrated with james olsen, given there are 3 seasons out, but i find myself not indifferent but annoyed with his character and how it affects this perplexed romantic hexagon arc. now, this is the time i worry the thought of ‘you’re only here for the gay’ to come up, so let me put up a disclaimer - the fact that i considered watching this show in the first place because of a non-existent gay ship doesn’t mean i don’t get to criticize an existent (and prominent, mind you) romantic arc. yes, i crave for lgbt content that is not complete crap in mainstream media, but there are so many written and showcased fictional couples i appreciate regardless the gender and\or sexual orientation of the characters involved. but it’s not ‘despite’, it’s because i’m a gay person who lives in a time of decent and even good lgbt romantic arcs representation that i find it very hard to be forgiving for poor written cis-het ones. it’s because lgbt people endured the years upon years of piss writing of lgbt characters in romantic arcs that were generally concluded with ‘this personality-less gay character 1′ and ‘this personality-less gay character 2′ should end up together on the merit of their dictated sexual orientation alone, that i find myself angry of lazy writing of cis-het ones that try to condition the viewer to ship two characters together because the script said they will touch hands and camera direction said to zoom on their face. this is not writing and properly developing a relationship between two characters this is directed instructions from the production down, as opposed to from the writing up.
after my supposed establishment of why i’m an Angry Lesbian™ about hetero ships writing i want to get to the nitty gritty - james olsen and the oh so many other problems with other characters.
i get characters crushing on each other, it’s got real cute potential, but can someone explain to me, enlighten me please - why do i get to live through cringe worthy anguished characters with a crush that doesn’t let me on anything other than ‘okay, i get that they’re attracted to each other’. what is their human connection based on and why the story didn’t bother showing me? because literally every scene he has with kara (that isn’t his given alone screen time or the professional ‘friends helping supergirl with mission’) is either him telling her about superman in the first episodes or him giving her this eyebrow-frown look while she talks. we know nothing about this character and his dialog doesn’t make him voluntarily informative about himself - how am i supposed to connect with him and understand that kara finds his personality endearing if i know zero facts about him as a human being? i know he’s a photographer and he knows superman. when lucy lane is introduced it’s because 1. she was there and he didn’t voluntarily let the viewers know who she is, and 2. she was there to serve the romantic weird entanglement and nothing more. what it did give us? some info about their brake up and life together - it is still nothing about james’ personality traits. i don’t want a sad back-story as much as i want a well rounded character in the present-story.
i was just brushing it off or groaning in frustration most of the time, but somewhere in the middle of season 1 (don’t remember exact episode) alex referred to james as kara’s family. that ticks so many tickey things in me - alex is her sister since she was 13, winn is her good friend for presumably all years she’s working at catco, and james arrived a week ago and suddenly he’s family because kara is crushing on him? no. no. no, story, you need to show me and explain to me in so much detail why a week-long crush is someone’s family along side an actual sister and a very good friend, you don’t tell me about it retrospectively.
and for the ever loving fuck why does he keep advancing on kara when he’s in a relationship with lucy? winn even acknowledges this verbally to his face (episode 12 i think) saying he can go get kara if he wanted to, that he just need to end things with lucy - yet he sees that as a sign to gather up the courage for romantic advancement right after the kara-adam brake up before talking with lucy?
that’s a big nope.
and adam. oh, adam, sweet summer child. he really is just a harmless side character who crushes on kara, and she reciprocates, for about an episode and a half - and then comes the time in a superhero’s journey for ‘my identity is known and that puts people in my immediate surrounding in jeopardy’ - ... while she’s on a date with adam? don’t get me wrong, it’s all fine, but it’s just fine. why did this moment have to come when our main hero is in a barely second date relationship? the brake up literally meant nothing to me because we had no time to get to know adam. who is he? he was there to advance cat’s character, we didn’t learn anything about him in his screen time that wasn’t already told to us by cat. we know 1. what cat told kara (that was confirmed in his screen time), and 2. that he thinks kara is amazing. all he talks about is her, never himself. i know gurnisht about this character - why should i care about him when kara brakes things up?
and then we have *spooky voice* the friendzoned guy. first, can someone please make this phrase disappear from existence, yet second, while winn is written with some mistakes (using ‘friendzone’, kissing without confirming mutual feelings) - he is the most developed character of this disastrous romantic blah and he is written is such way that makes me care about him. kara doesn’t reciprocates his feelings? fine and valid, i just wish i could care about who she likes because they would be rounded developed characters as the ones she doesn’t.
in conclusion - please explain to me why should i ship a guy-character and a girl-character if their only connection is shared screen time and not the blessed character and relationship development a lot of lgbt ships get on mainstream media recently?
*banging pots and pans*
I’M A GAY WHO’S PRO WELL DEVELOPED HETERO-SHIPS.
12 notes
·
View notes
Text
Coffee Date
Title: Coffee Date
One Shot: 1/1
Character/Pairing: Adam Carson/Jade Puget
Genre: Fluff
Rating: General
Summary: It really should not have been this complicated. It was just a simple question. Any idiot could do it. So why was he having such a rough time with it?
Authors Notes/Warnings: Nothing in this piece ever happened. I claim no ownership nor do I make any sort of profit from this, other than pride and a sense of amusement.
For the hundredth time, Jade found himself cursing the reflection staring back at him. It really should not have been this complicated. It was just a simple question. Any idiot could do it. So why was he having such a rough time with it?
God, he really was getting far too old for this. Taking a deep breath and splashing a fresh round of cool water on his face, he forced himself to clear his mind. I can do this.
Flashing his best smile, Jade began, “So I was wondering if you’d like to go out with me sometime. We could…Fuck, what am I twelve? ‘Would you like to go out with me?’ Jesus why not say ‘Do you want to pin me and go steady?’”
This was never going to work. He was fooling himself when he thought he could handle this. “You know talking to yourself is a sign of mental illness.”
Jade screeched as he swirled around to face the owner of the voice. Adam’s blue eyes shone with amusement at the look of terror that flooded his friend’s eyes. “Jesus Carson! Are you trying to kill me?” The laugh that fell from Adam’s lips almost melted Jade’s anger and embarrassment at being found out. Almost. “Never mind, I thought you were supposed to be getting coffee with Hunt and Dave.”
“And leave you here by yourself, in this fragile state? What do you take me for?”
Jade bit back the retort hanging on the tip of his tongue, though the ire glowed in his eyes forcing another hearty laugh from Adam. Jade simply rolled his eyes, willing down the redness that had flooded his cheeks and praying Adam hadn’t noticed. “An annoyance?”
Adam simply rolled his eyes and chuckled again. “You love me, old man. Admit it.” He laughed harder still at the way Jade rolled his eyes. “So who are you trying to ask out? Or are you professing your undying love to yourself. If that’s the case you’re giving Dave a run for his money in the narcissism department.”
“Ha ha.” Jade shook his head, trying to think of something, anything he could say to change the topic away from his disastrous attempt at practice flirting. “Seriously, I thought you said you were going to check out the city.”
“Nice deflection.” Jade flushed once more, hating his traitorous blood vessels for giving him away. The smile that spread across his friend’s face told him that he’d been caught once more. “So, seriously, who are you practicing for?”
The curiosity in Adam’s eyes pulled Jade in and it was in that moment that he knew he was a goner. There was little anyone could do when Adam Carson turned his full charm on them. The smug bastard.
“Just someone,” Jade muttered, hoping his friend wouldn’t push. It was hard enough dealing with the fact that Adam had caught him making a fool of himself, having to admit that it was in fact Adam that he was doing this for would surely be the death of him.
Adam’s eyebrow cocked in amusement, “Does this someone have a name?” Jade ignored his question and made his way from the bathroom towards the bed that he claimed as his own. “Oh come on, it can’t be that bad.”
His friend’s goading was starting to grate his nerves. Why couldn’t Adam just leave well enough alone? It was, however, becoming abundantly clear that Adam had no plans of letting the matter go. Jade forced in a deep breath before muttering “Alex.” It was close enough to the truth.
“Alex, huh?” He watched as the wheels turned in Adam’s head and was confident that he wouldn’t make the connection. “Where did you meet him?”
Fuck. “Um, he…” Jade trailed off, trying to think of something, anything. He’d never been good at thinking on his feet in stressful situations. And this certainly qualified as a stressful situation. “He…works at the coffee shop down the street from my place. He’s got a nice smile and gorgeous eyes. Good sense of humor too.” That sounded believable enough, didn’t it?
Adam smiled, “Sounds like a nice guy.”
Jade nodded, hoping that Adam would let it go. But knowing Adam that wouldn’t be the case; he was stubborn as an ox to put in nicely. That was one of the things Jade loved about him. He was easy going and understanding but firm in his beliefs, someone that would perfectly compliment his own neurotic nature.
“So I take it you haven’t worked up the nerve to ask him out yet?” The knowing smile that spread across Adam’s face only added to Jade’s ire and embarrassment.
���Whatever gave you that idea?” Jade asked through clenched teeth.
“Chill, Puget,” Adam chuckled and Jade flushed once more. Dammit all. “I just never thought I’d see the day you’d be at a loss when it came to talking to a guy.”
“Oh ha,” Jade started, feeling his irritation raise once more, “I just…”
Adam nodded in understanding, “You don’t want to make an ass out of yourself.” Jade closed his eyes, nodding silently, Too late for that one, huh Puget? “You know what would help more than talking to yourself in the mirror?”
“Growing a pair and talking to the guy?” Jade mumbled, wanting nothing more than for the floor to open up and swallow him whole. That would have been a much more pleasant alternative than discussing this with Adam. Hell at this point just about anything would have been.
Adam’s head flew back as a hearty laugh spilled from his lips, “That wouldn’t hurt,” he started, his laughter slowly subsiding, “But seriously, having someone to practice with wouldn’t hurt.”
Jade froze for a moment before his eyes snapped up to meet Adam’s. He couldn’t be serious…Could he? “Wha-what?”
“I know you’re brighter than that, Jade. Despite the brain cells you’ve fumigated off with all that bleach.” He reached up, rubbing his hand through the blonde fringe that covered Jade’s right eye. Jade chuckled, despite himself, at Adam’s playful though backhanded compliment and his affectionate touch. “I’m saying that if you need someone to be your sounding board, I’m game.”
“What?” Jade startled again. There had to be something wrong with his hearing. Maybe Adam had hit his head before coming up to see him. Something wasn’t right.
“You heard me.”
Jade blinked several times before finding words enough to speak, “So you’re saying you want me to pretend you’re Alex and ask you what I want to ask him?” Adam nodded, watching the wheels begin to turn in Jade’s head. In the back of his mind, Jade knew this could turn out to be a very, very bad idea.
But this could be his one chance to tell Adam what he’d always wanted to and have his feedback and response. Well technically it would be “Alex’s” response, but Jade had to admit it was tempting. “I…I guess.”
Adam smiled, moving to sit on the bed across from Jade’s. “Fire at will.”
Jade sat up a little straighter and cleared his throat, now suddenly at a loss for words. Was he really going to do this? Really going to ask Adam what he’d wanted to ask since practically the first time they’d met under the guise of helping him talk to fictional Alex? How pathetic can a man actually get?
“If you’re uncomfortable, we don’t have to do this,” Adam reassured. The small voice in the back of Jade’s mind screamed at him to take the opportunity Adam had just offered him and run like hell. That would be a lot less embarrassing. But he forced himself to shake those thoughts away. For once in his life he refused to be the coward. Not that telling Adam under false pretenses was the height of bravery, but it was better than running straight for the hills as he’d done so often in the past.
Clearing his throat, Jade forced himself to respond. “No, no, its fine. It’s just…a little strange….Well not that you’re strange, just that…I’m just shutting up now.” Once again scarlet flushed rampantly across the burning skin of his face. He wasn’t meant to do this with any amount of dignity it seemed. “Can we start over?”
Adam nodded through his fit of laughter, hiding his face in his arm at one point in a vain attempt to stifle it. He waved his free hand at Jade, signaling that it was fine for him to continue. Jade sat for a few moments more, trying to gather his wits about him. He could do this.
“Hey Jade! Your usual for today?”
Jade jumped slightly, he would be surprised if Adam didn’t think him a complete nut case at this point. It took him a moment to catch onto Adam’s…“Alex’s” lead. “Um, yeah. That would be great.” He kicked his heels against the frame of the bed, this was just going swimmingly.
Adam quirked an eyebrow at the man sitting before him and continued on with the charade, pretending to hand Jade a cup. “So, anything new going on with you?”
Taking the ‘cup’, Jade smiled nervously, “No…Not really.” God, maybe he would have had better luck just sticking with the mirror. “So um…Are you seeing anyone?” As soon as the words had left his lips, Jade felt the strong urge to bang his head against the bedside table. Really, genius? That was the best you could come up with?
He had to give it to Adam, the man kept a straight face at that question, though he knew it had to be quite the effort. He could see his shoulders shaking with the strain of composure. “No. You interested?”
“That’s a bit forward, don’t you think, Ad?”
Adam rolled his eyes, “You’re the one who agreed to my help. Take it or leave it, pal.”
“Fine,” Jade groaned, forcing himself to get back into character. “Maybe?” He batted his eyelashes for effect, secretly loving the smile and laughter they brought to Adam’s face.
“Well then,” Adam paused, looking down for a moment before meeting Jade’s gaze, “That certainly changes things.”
Jade sat perplexed for a moment, staring blankly at Adam. He had no idea where this was headed. Adam was supposed to be helping him. Or well technically unknowingly fulfilling his fantasy, but that was food for thought for another day.
“…Depends on what you are interested in.” Adam’s voice broke through his thoughts, though he only managed to catch less than half of them.
“What?”
Adam smiled, “I said it turns out I am available but it depends on what you are interested in.”
Jade swallowed audibly, “Um…Dinner…with me.” He could hear the warning bells ringing in his head; Mayday! Mayday! This was going from bad to worse and Jade had no idea how to back pedal out of it.
Unconsciously, his fingers began to pick at the blue duvet that covered his bed. Another nervous habit he couldn’t shake and one he knew Adam would pick up on. It was impossible to spend so many hours with a person over the years and not know when they were inches from a nervous breakdown.
To his credit, Adam didn’t say a word about Jade’s actions; Jade hoping he chalked it up to the weirdness of the situation and nothing more. He smiled reassuringly at Jade, “That would be nice. What did you have in mind?”
“Do you like Chinese?” That was better, more assured. A sliver of relief rushed through him and he allowed himself to relax his shoulders and smile, albeit weakly. Adam nodded and Jade’s smile spread. “Good. So um, would seven on Wednesday work for you?”
“Wednesday would be perfect.” His warm smile was echoed on Jade’s face. “See, it’s really not that hard.”
Jade nodded silently, letting his mind wander ever so slightly to the admittedly and unrealistically hopeful idea that he might actually be taking Adam to dinner on Wednesday or any other day. It was silly, Jade was well aware of that, but it pulled a hopeful smile to his face.
“Jade?” Adam’s voice broke through the haze of Jade’s thoughts.
“Hm?”
“Do you think you can work up the balls to ask me for real this time?”
Jade’s eyes snapped open and locked on Adam. “What?” He managed to mumble, quite certain he once again had misheard or misinterpreted at the very least, his friend’s words. His heart pounded erratically against his chest. His gaze quickly dropped to his lap and he fought to regain his sanity and composure. God, he had to be losing it.
Silently, Adam pushed himself up from his bed and moved to settle beside Jade’s tense form. His fingers traced the underside of Jade’s jaw, turning his face up so that Jade was now looking him directly in his eyes. “You heard me.”
“But…” Adam silenced Jade’s question with a calloused finger to his lips. Jade fought the involuntary shiver that coursed through him at the touch. Removing his finger slowly, Adam leaned forward. His warm breath tickled Jade’s face, forcing his eyes to close despite a valiant fight to keep them open.
Their lips pressed gently together and Jade was in heaven. He was sure there was nothing in this world that could ever feel as good as Adam’s lips against his. His arms wrapped lazily around Adam’s broad shoulders and he allowed himself to sink into the kiss. Jade’s eyes remained tightly sealed as he felt Adam pulling slowly away from him. He could feel the warm heat of Adam’s breath against his skin and he involuntarily shivered.
“So are we still on for dinner?”
“If you keep kissing me like, Carson, you can have whatever the fuck you want.”
0 notes
Text
Making the Grade - Ch. 2
A/N: Thank you all so much for your patience. I’m so sorry this took so long! This wouldn’t be possible without the support from my friends and readers. I truly appreciate you guys!
Chapter 1
“Wait wait. Here comes Lou - tell him what she said when you asked for her number.” Harry’s laughter peals across the corner of the lacquered bar where Niall’s leaning with his head in his hands. “Christ Harry, ya think you could keep your voice down to a dull roar?” Niall can feel his cheeks burning hot with shame. The entire debacle has been running through his head on a constant loop since the afternoon. After Poppy had stormed out of his classroom, Niall was left standing at his desk, his mouth hanging open and his arms hanging uselessly at his sides. For a brief moment he considered running after her, but what would he say? “Hey, just so you know, I wasn’t hitting on you?” Niall may have terrible luck with women, but he wasn’t a complete idiot. Even he knew that wasn’t the way into a pretty girl’s good graces. So, instead, he sank down into the hard plastic chair, took a deep breath, and shoved all his papers into his worn leather messenger bag. By the time he’d made it to the pub to meet Harry, Niall’s mood hadn’t improved. He’s skulked into the bar, heaving himself onto the stool next to Harry’s and waved Louis down for a pint and a shot of Jameson. Harry had coaxed the entire story from Niall and was now forcing him to repeat it to the bartender for his own sadistic pleasure.
Louis sidled up to the bar, flipping a bar towel over his shoulder. They’d made friends with Louis almost immediately, deciding that his caustic attitude and relentless sarcasm could be tolerated because of their shared love of football and collective homesickness for the UK. “Ok Harold, you’ve made your point. Spill it, Nialler.” Louis was working on his Masters in psychology, a degree that came in handy more often than not working as a bartender. With a deep sigh and a tug on his fringe for good measure, Niall reluctantly filled in his friend.
“I kinda accidentally asked out one of my students this afternoon. Got me ass handed to me in the process.” Niall raised his eyebrows and took another swig of his pint. “Gotta be honest, she was fuckin’ terrifying.” Slumping against the bar in defeat, Niall stared at the drops of condensation rolling down his glass.
“I’m sorry, did you say you ‘accidentally’ asked out a student, Neil?” Louis was staring incredulously at Niall, a wicked cackle starting to bubble up from his slight frame. “How do you accidentally ask someone out? I mean, logistically, how does it happen?” Louis and Harry were shaking with laughter as Niall sat back and glared at both of them.
“For your information, Lewis, I wasn’t trying to ask her out. It was a complete misunderstanding.” Harry slapped Niall’s shoulder, shaking him slightly in his seat. “Happens to the best of us, right Lou?” Harry looked pointedly at Louis, nudging his chin in Niall’s direction. Louis got the hint, and piped up quickly. “Sure Ni, sure. I mean, can’t win em all can ya?”
Niall slammed his fist down on the bar, startling his friends and a few other patrons nearby. “I wasn’t asking her out! Fuck, mate! I just….I’m just…….” Niall took a breath and slumped his shoulders forward. “I’m tired of bein’ the butt of everyone’s jokes. I don’t need to be like Harry, pullin’ a new piece of ass every weekend -” Harry pulled a face, the corners of his mouth tugging down. “Heyyyyyyyyyy!” Niall rolled his eyes and continued. “But it would be nice, for once, not to have to perform a post mortem every time I interact with a woman!” Niall slammed the rest of his beer, and pushed his stool back. The legs scraped harshly against the worn wood of the floor making Harry and Louis cringe. Throwing a few bills down on the bar, Niall grabbed his bag and slung it around his broad shoulders. “Just, nevermind. I’ll get over it. See ya later, yeah?” Harry and Lou silently watched his figure retreat through the swinging doors of the bar, disappearing down the street.
The early fall air was beginning to cool down, and scattered leaves swirled across the sidewalk as Niall trudged towards his apartment. His head swam with a tangled mess of emotions and thoughts. He’d never blown up like that in front of his friends. He took great pride in being rational and even-keeled, and was tolerant almost to a fault. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why this one moment, this one girl, had rooted so far into his psyche. He’d never given much thought to any of the girls that had come and gone over the years. Even sweet Claire, the girl he dated his last year at uni. She was nice, things were easy, and neither of them put a lot of effort into being together. He loved her, or at least, he thought he did. Looking back, he didn’t remember feeling particularly sad when she’d rolled over in his bed the morning after graduation and broken up with him. He’d simply agreed that it was probably for the best and wished her well. There were other girls too. Megan, the barista from his favorite coffee shop who always wore red lipstick and had given him free coffee for two months before he realized she liked him. When that had ended, he was more upset about having to find a new place to get his morning cuppa. Then there was Alex, the French Literature major who was subletting the apartment above his. They’d bonded over a mutual love of crossword puzzles. Niall had actually thought that was going well until he walked into Harry’s room one morning looking for a spare umbrella and found Alex lounging gracefully in Harry’s bed….naked. When Harry begged forgiveness for the trespass, Niall had waved him off without another thought. Then there was Heather. The infamous “negative date” that garnered him so much grief from his colleagues. Niall had been drawn in by her long, fiery red hair and sharp tongue. That, of course, had ended disastrously. Last he heard she was dating one of the Latin TAs - some bloke called Liam that was usually described as “tall, dark, and handsome.” That had been the last straw - it was too much effort to waste, so Niall had casually sworn off dating. When he explained it to Harry, his friend had just sighed and shook his head. “Hope you’re not expecting some sort of solidarity out of me, mate.” With that he’d grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and sauntered back into his room for round four with Mel. Or was it Char? Niall couldn’t remember, only that it was something short for something else.
Lost in his own thoughts, Niall failed to notice the hurried figure barreling towards him until it was too late. His shoulder impacted something solid and warm, and he heard a screech as the person he rammed into tumbled onto the sidewalk. His bag swung around, dislodged from its perch on his shoulder, and he tripped awkwardly trying to right it. When he finally regained his balance he spun around to see if the other person was alright. To his shock, he found himself staring down into the steely glare of Poppy Miller.
The first thing Poppy thought when she hit the ground was, “That’s going to leave a mark.” The second thing Poppy thought was, “I’m going to tear this jerk a new asshole”. The rampage of words died in her throat when she looked up and found herself staring into a pair of very familiar, very blue eyes. Before she could think, she managed to unceremoniously croak out, “Oh fuck, it’s you.” She winced at her own words, acutely aware at how Niall had visibly flinched at them. She watched as he adjusted his bag, pulling it farther back on his shoulder so he could lean down and offer her his hand. Poppy slipped her hand into his, mesmerized by how small her fingers looked cradled in his palm. The warmth from his skin seeped into her pores as he gently pulled her up from the concrete. As soon as she was upright he dropped her hand. Poppy shivered at the loss, flexing her fingers over and over to try and hold onto the lingering heat from his grasp.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you -” Niall started.
“You should watch where you’re going, you know.”
Poppy interrupted him, almost out of reflex. She clapped her mouth shut, silently kicking herself. She’d felt guilty about what had happened in the classroom all day. As soon as she saw the look on his face when she spouted off to him, she realized she may have overreacted. But, the damage was done and now here she was, digging herself a deeper hole. She crossed her arms tightly around her chest and peered up at Niall. He took in her posture and the scowl etched onto her face, and bristled his shoulders. Poppy could tell he was on edge, like he was waiting for her next strike.
“Right. Well, sorry - again. Are you okay? Not hurt or anything?” Poppy watched as his blue eyes flicked across her body looking for any signs of obvious injury. It was a completely innocent assessment but each time his eyes found a new part of her body Poppy felt her skin tingle. She swallowed harshly and shook her head. “No, I’m fine. It’s fine. Probably just a little sore tomorrow, but I’ll live.” She watched as Niall tucked his bottom lip under his teeth and nodded at her. “Good. Okay. Um, I guess I’ll see you in class then.” Poppy opened her mouth to say something - willing any words to come out. Before she could make a sound, Niall spun on his heel and loped off down the sidewalk shoving his big hands in the front pockets of his jeans. As he rounded the corner, Poppy’s voice finally decided to materialize. “Sorry I’m an asshole.” With a heavy sigh she gripped her bag tight and headed for home.
At the next editorial meeting, Sabrina made it abundantly clear how badly Poppy had handled both run ins with Niall. Her exact words were, “You’ve let all womankind down, Miller.” Poppy argued that assessment may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but she couldn’t deny that the simmering knot of shame over her actions had yet to unwind. She spent the rest of the meeting stewing in self-loathing. When the rest of the staff shuffled out of the cramped office an hour later, Sabrina got up and closed the door behind them. She turned and leaned into the door shooting an appraising stare at Poppy’s hunched figure. “Okay. Spill. I’ve never actually seen you pout and mope like this over a guy. Actually, I’ve never seen you pout and mope about anything, Miller. What gives?”
Poppy curled her legs underneath her and pulled the sleeves of her hooded sweatshirt over her knuckles. “It’s not about a guy, Sabrina. At least…I don’t think it is. I mean I don’t even care about guys. My happiness shouldn’t depend on whether a boy thinks I’m pretty. And I’m not saying he was like that, because actually I think he might be the complete opposite? I dunno. It’s hard to explain.”
“Apparently. Because you’re doing an absolute shit job of it.”
Poppy lobbed a crumpled sheet of paper at her friend and sighed heavily. “Fuck off, you know I’m not good at feelings.”
“I know sweetie, and I’m not saying you need to find some sort of version of self worth by dating. But, you know it is possible to have a relationship and not lose yourself in it, right?”
Sabrina approached Poppy carefully, kneeling in front of her. “Not every man is looking to own you. And despite what your mother keeps telling you, your life will not end if you don’t have a diamond ring by graduation.”
Poppy considered Sabrina’s words carefully while replaying all the times she’d purposely pushed guys away over the years. Poppy wasn’t prude, by any standards, but she had a knack for completely tossing guys aside as soon as she deemed them “too familiar”. Unfortunately, at a small liberal arts university, word travelled quickly. Midway through sophomore year it had gotten back to Poppy that she had earned a reputation as “difficult” and “not worth it”. In true Poppy fashion, she considered that a win and declared herself better off. She promptly shelled out some cash for a good vibrator and called it a day.
“It’s just the way he looked at me, Sabrina.” The picture replayed in Poppy’s mind - the blue in Niall’s eyes flashing from a deep caribbean blue to a cold steel grey as if every emotion he was feeling was concentrated in the tiny ring of his iris’. Sabrina, trying desperately to lighten the mood, nudged at Poppy’s knees.
“What? Like you’d gone off the deep end?”
Poppy snorted and looked away. “No. He looked at me like…like I had just validated every single terrible thing a girl had ever said to him. And the instant I did it, I knew it was wrong. In the thirty seconds we were face to face I saw every single emotion play out in his eyes, Sabrina. And it scared the hell out of me. I’ve never been able to read someone like that.”
“Oh honey”, Sabrina cooed, “so why’d you freak out on him the second time?”
Poppy groaned and tipped her head back, absentmindedly rubbing the fading purple hue on her hip from where she’d hit the pavement. “I don’t know! I panicked. He was just right there, and he smelled good, and my ass hurt from falling, but then he looked at me and I felt like I was on fire and I just…..short circuited.” With a frustrated growl, she hung her head between her shoulders. “I’m a fucking disaster.”
Sabrina patted Poppy’s knees lightly. “Think of it this way, there’s only ten more weeks in the semester. So tops, you see him twenty more times.” Poppy picked her head up and glared at her friend.
“I hate you.”
Sabrina smiled wickedly and tipped her head forward. “No you don’t.”
For the next few weeks, Poppy tried her damnedest to ignore Niall. That was a fairly monumental task considering she was forced to sit through his class twice a week. Each time she slid into her seat she could feel his eyes on her. But when she flicked her own eyes up, his stare would be fixated on some random part of the room. She got the distinct impression he was determined to find any piece of chipping paint or curling tile more interesting than meeting her gaze. That didn’t stop her from finding herself studying the way his long legs stretched out under his desk. Or noticing that he had a system for rotating his funky socks (stripes, then polka dots, then chevron). She even found herself craving the lilt of his voice, even though the subject matter was less than appealing. Niall made the political tensions in eastern Europe during the 1980s sound like a Harlequin romance novel.
Unfortunately by the fourth quiz returned to Poppy with a bright red “C-” on it, she realized even Niall’s voice couldn’t make the information stick in her brain. It took the entire hour of class to build up the courage to approach him. Poppy had done the quick math, and at the rate she was going with these quizzes, she wasn’t going to pass the class. And if she didn’t pass, she didn’t graduate early. And if she didn’t graduate early…well, technically nothing would happen, but it was the principal of the thing now. When students around her started shuffling papers into their bags and leaving, Poppy was shocked to realize she’d basically missed the entire lecture by being caught up in her own internal battle. The irony that she missed all the material because she was so stressed about not doing well in the class wasn’t lost on her. She steeled her resolve and slowly packed up her things, waiting for the last few students to head out.
“Um, Niall? Do you have a second?” Poppy tried to use her nicest voice, the one she usually reserved for small children and the elderly Japanese woman who always slipped an extra spicy sauce container into her sushi takeout box. She didn’t miss the sharp breath Niall sucked through his nose at the sound of her voice.
“Miss Miller. What can I do for you?”
Poppy deflated a bit at the use of her surname. It seemed stiff and formal, and she swallowed harshly trying to get rid of the bad taste it left in her mouth. “I’m concerned about my quiz scores? It’s just that…I need to pass this class to graduate early and I’m just not doing well.” Poppy’s voice trailed off and she pulled the sleeves of her sweater over her fists; a habit that had left the ends of most of her clothes slightly frayed.
Niall scraped his bitten nails through the short dark hair at the back of his neck. He was slightly dumbstruck that she had actually approached him. He’d had a email about her grade sitting in his drafts folder for two days - waiting for the moment he would find the nerve to hit send. The thought of direct interaction with her set him on edge. “Right, yes. Actually, I’ve been meaning to contact you about that. I apologize for not emailing ya sooner.” He felt a blush rise over his cheeks and looked up to peer into her face.
Poppy was chewing on her bottom lip, leaving it a little swollen and rosy from the sharp pinch of her teeth. Niall couldn’t help but stare at it, watching in awe as the color spread across her plump lip. “Is it the material you’re not understanding? I mean, are ya caught up with the reading at least?”
Poppy nodded vigorously and released her lip from its captor. “Oh no, I mean, yeah I’m caught up. I’m actually a week or so ahead.”
Niall raised his eyebrows in surprise. Being ahead in the reading assignments was not only unusual, but also not normally indicative of poor grades. Poppy sensed his confusion and tried to explain herself.
“I just like to plan and be ahead. So I just have a schedule for the reading. But, I guess it’s not really doing me any favors right now.” She let out a nervous chuckle as she shifted her bag across her body.
Niall hummed and rested his chin on his wide palm. “Well, this material takes a bit more time to digest properly, yeah? It’s not really meant to be read and regurgitated - it takes some proper time to process and think about what the relationships we’re discussing mean to a larger world view.” He flicked his eyes up to Poppy’s in a silent question of her understanding. Poppy nodded slowly as she thought about his words.
“Well what exactly do you recommend? I mean, logistically.”
Niall shifted in his seat nervously. The answer was staring him in the face, but he was apprehensive as hell to even suggest it lest this girl bolt on him again. He smirked a bit at the thought that maybe “third time’s the charm”, and let his duty to his students overrule any of the wounded pride still lingering inside him. “I think you need a tutor, Poppy. You need to read the material and then be discussing it with someone. Usually I suggest a study group, but in this case, I don’t really think any of the other students are up for that.” Niall saw a flash of embarrassment pass over Poppy’s face and immediately started back tracking. “No no no, sorry, it’s not because of you personally! S’just that everyone else is a senior or fifth year. They’ve all had a lot more background in political theory, so they’re better at it. Fuck. Sorry, I’m not trying to say you’re bad at it. But you kinda are. Shit, I mean it’s just….I’m sure you’re smart…” Niall stopped himself and untucked the blue pen perched behind his ear, flinging it down onto his notebook. “Christ, look - m’ willing to tutor you if you want. I know you’re not my biggest fan but I’ve got the time, and I thi-”
“Yes!”
Niall gaped in surprise, finding a small amount of comfort in the fact that Poppy’s facial expression seemed to mirror his own. She’d blurted out her acceptance impulsively and appeared to be shocked that her voice had acted without the support of her brain.
He closed his mouth and nodded. “Ok then, well I think maybe three times a week to start? Got my office hours, and then maybe Friday evenings as well? So we can get ya caught up. See how the midterm goes and then maybe go down to twice a week?”
Poppy nodded, still feeling as though she was on the cusp of having an out of body experience. She pulled her planner out of her bag to jot down Niall’s office hours and block out her Friday nights for the next few weeks. “Okay, that works for me. Thank you….for doing this. I know it’s your job and everything, but I just appreciate you taking the time.” Poppy felt her cheeks blush and was delighted to see that Niall’s face was still tinged pink from his earlier rambling.
Niall smiled, momentarily blinding Poppy with a flash of perfectly straight, white teeth. His broad shoulder shrugged casually. “S’no problem. Want you to do well, I mean I want all my students to do well. Wouldn’t be much of a teacher if my students were failin’ left and right, now would I?”
Poppy laughed lightly and shook her head. “No, probably not. I better run though, I’m sure you’re busy. Thank you. Again. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Niall clasped his hands behind his head and nodded. “You got it. I’ll see ya tomorrow.”
Poppy turned to head out the door, but stopped just as she reached the threshold. She spun around and dug into her bag, rooting around for something. Niall stared questioningly at her, figuring she’d forgotten to hand in her work from class. A moment later she thrust a flat, black piece of metal towards him shyly and he smirked when he realized what it was. He reached forward and delicately plucked the phone out of her outstretched hand. With a playful smile Poppy cleared her throat.
“Niall, can I have your phone number?”
142 notes
·
View notes
Text
"You gotta remember the good- like the heroism! That I sure will..."
Almost Paradise S02E01 The Magellan Cross.
#almost paradise#alex walker#kai mendoza#ernesto almares#christian kane#samantha richelle#arthur acuna#oh alex you and your disastrous dating life#i just love these three's friendship#the comfortable teasing#the giggles#its great#ghostly'sgifs
48 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
conglomeration-comspire-blog
Conglomeration
dawahman-blog
The Final Da'wah
steevedark
Steeve's Afterdark Lair
sergioleonardi67
Sergio Leonardi
fernisfat
customs are: open!!