Minor prediction/Wish list item for Season 3:

I want our boys to end up hiding in a closet together. A small closet. Very dark, warm, and cozy. Face to face.

final reddie hc of the year perhaps…… but a hc that i really like is that during the 27 years richie became a celebrity singer instead of a comedian (you should all know at this point how much i adore singer/band richie <3 <3 ) in his 20s/early 30s, and then kind of took a break from making music after a good decade or so of being a top artist. his music covers a wide range of genres, but his most popular songs are all the ones where he sings about his love for this mysterious love interest….. richie has never lasted long in any of his relationships, so his fans all wonder who this person is that richie is writing all of these incredibly intimate and romantic songs about (plot twist: richie doesn’t know either. he knows that there is someone, someone in his heart who he loves, but he can’t quite remember who, so he lets it all out in the form of song lyrics…)

then, let unfold the events of chapter 2, richie goes back to his hometown and re-meets eddie and finally realizes who he’s been writing these songs about for his entire life…. it’s eddie. it’s always been eddie. it’s kind of a big moment for richie, but he doesn’t have long to worry about it, because there’s more important business to take care of…. like defeating that stupid fucking clown.

after derry 2.0 and eddie survives and ALL of the losers are all living happily again, richie circles back to all his feelings for eddie. he’s still in love with eddie, he always has been, and the more time that richie spends with eddie after eddie’s divorce, richie continues to fall even more in love. but, he’s still scared. he’s been closeted for his entire career, and even though he defeated pennywise he’s still scared to come to terms with his sexuality and his feelings for eddie. besides, he doesn’t want to make a move on eddie and get rejected- he doesn’t think his heart would be able to handle that.

and so, richie decides to deal with his feelings in the only way he knows how: he writes a song about it.

and it comes as a VERY big surprise to all of richie’s fans when, almost 10 years since he’s last released a song, richie puts out a whole bunch of new songs, all of them once again about this “mysterious” person that richie’s in love with. he’s asked in an interview not too long after what was the motivation for these new songs, why they were released so suddenly, what made him want to record new music after such a long time? and of course richie’s vague about it, he just says something satisfying enough and changes the subject with the interviewer.

but as eddie’s watching that interview, as he’s listening to the songs that richie has put out since their reunion, since all the late nights they’ve spent together and the long talks they’ve had… eddie thinks maybe he knows why.

eddie never told richie the real reason why he had divorced myra. he had simply told his friends that they were unhappy, and that was it. and while that was true, they didn’t know that it was also the fact that eddie had finally allowed himself to accept that he’s gay, and that he’s in love with richie. he didn’t tell richie because eddie was certain that richie was straight, that if he did confess then he’d receive nothing but rejection.

but after listening to the lyrics of richie’s songs, and finding them awfully similar to his and richie’s situation….. eddie thinks that maybe confession isn’t so scary after all.

Do you have any modern byler hcs?

(cracks neck, stretches) oh boy DO i

mike wheeler closet one direction fan truther LISTEN u can’t tell me he does not listen to 18 and get giddy thinking about will and how they’ve grown up together and spent their lives together (either established or pre-relationship) that is so real to me ok . and he just gets into boyband music in general because it’s fun and it’s kind of sappy and the guys are really cute and every time he sings one of the songs it makes will roll his eyes and laugh and then it’s one big horrendous feedback loop of mike being down BAD for his best friend

they’re those idiots that literally start having their own conversation in the big group chat and ignore everyone else entirely and then one by one lucas and dustin and el and max will just leave and start their own group chat and they have a bet to see how long it’ll take for byler to notice that no one else is even there anymore (it takes about two and a half weeks)

they send each other little voice memos during their day if their hands are too full to text but they “don’t have time” to call so u scroll up on these idiots’ text convos and it’s like 5 minutes straight of those little blue imessage voice memo blobs

long distance edition: they Definitely order each other doordash. will’s got all of mike’s preferences saved on his app and it’s categorized like “things mike is always in the mood for” “things to get him when he’s sad” “if he had the worst day ever” and mike doesn’t know How will knows when he’s sad or has the worst day ever but 30-60 minutes later the exact food he was in the mood for shows up at his door

mike sends will all of his essays to proofread except will can never send him actual constrictive criticism and it’s always a google doc w comments like “you spelled this word wrong lol” and then they spend the next hour literally just talking to each other over this shared google doc and then mike has to panic edit his essay at 2 in the morning

mike’s parents make him get a job to pay for the phone bill skyrocketing from talking to and texting will literally every waking moment of every day. like Every Waking Moment Of Every Day. he sprains his thumb from texting too much

they netflix party/watch movies together online when they’re apart except mike always falls asleep thirty minutes in and will leaves the camera on and goes to sleep too so it’s like they’re Together

mike got really into the “alexa, play ___” when it was a meme and then will had to disconnect and hide the alexa in their house and threaten him with a breakup if he didn’t shut up .

mike drives, will tries and fails to use google maps and gets too distracted by mike’s horrible driving/how cute he looks while almost hitting a pedestrian to tell mike to turn on time (in the end, they end up propping the phone up on the dash w one of those holder things and using the google maps voice commands)

mike made a bunch of spotify playlists about how much he liked will and forgot that 1. will followed him, 2. they were public, and 3. his listening activity was on

there are more but . these should suffice for now . maybe 🤸

The Power Couple | Alex Berenson | Published 2021 | *SPOILERS*

From #1 New York Times bestselling author and Edgar Award winner Alex Berenson comes a supercharged thriller about marriage and the dangerous secrets spouses keep. 

Rebecca and Brian Unsworth appear to have it all. A nice house in the suburbs of Washington DC. Two well-behaved, healthy teenage children. Important government jobs - Rebecca working in counterterrorism for the FBI, Brian serving as a coder for the NSA. Their lives stand to improve even more as Brian, in his off-hours, has just developed and sold a highly profitable app. 

However, the Unsworths’ marriage isn’t as perfect as it seems. After two decades together, they’ve drifted apart, talking little and having sex even less. Seeking to revive their strained relationship, they decide for their twentieth anniversary to take their two kids, Kira and Tony, on a European getaway. 

They have a blast...until one night in Barcelona when Kira doesn’t come home from a dance club. She’s gone. Abducted. Over the course of a single weekend, the Unsworths will do everything possible to find her - as Kira herself discovers just how far she’ll go to break free of the trap that’s been set for her. And even as Rebecca and Brian come together for Kira, they realize their marraige is more tenuous than they realized. 

The Power Couple is both a fast-paced, globe-trotting espionage novel full of surprisings twists and a nuanced look at modern marriage - the challenges of balancing career, parenthood, sex and love. 

Rebecca and Brian Unsworth are a well-connected “power couple”. Rebecca works for the FBI in the Russian counterintelligence division, and Brian works for the NSA. Living on the outskirts of D.C., they are planning on heading to Europe to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary with their two children, Kira and Tony. 

For Rebecca and Brian, they are just now getting back into the happiness of their marriage. It started off strong, but overtime it peetered off into near-nothing. Rebecca has spent the majority of her children’s lives working endlessly for the FBI, first in Birmingham, Alabama where she assisted in bringing down a political mastermind, then in Houston where she briefly had a non-sexual affair with a Texas Ranger while working on a case involving a serial killer before finally settling down at the FBI headquarters in D.C. 

Brian has spent their entire marriage living in her shadow. Following Rebecca everywhere she went, raising their children essentially alone as a “house husband”, and working odd jobs in order to off-shoot his wife’s insane spending, living well above their means. However, neither of them ever took the time to say that their marriage was over, and they continued to push through it. 

Nearing the end of their Euro trip, Kira meets a young man named Jacques in Paris. They were scheduled to leave the following morning for their last stop in Spain before heading home. Kira explains this to him after he requests a date with her, but he insists on taking the train to Spain to meet her the following night. She meets him at a bar, and to her dislike, brings along his sister Lilly, and the two girls don’t get along. However, Kira doesn’t know that her life is about to change. 

Jacques, Lilly and Kira move on to another bar, where she partakes in a little drug usage. However, this leads to Jacques and Lilly kidnapping her, taking her to a location in a city about an hour or so from Barcelona. When she fails to return home, the FBI agent in Rebecca won’t rest until she finds what had happened to her. 

With the help of local authorities, an almost unreliable witness and pure instinct, they realize that Kira has been kidnapped. Due to the nature of her job, Rebecca believes it is because of her, especially as there has been threats recently. While this can’t be proven, Rebecca does whatever mother would in her case: she fights to bring Kira home, and alive. 

Kira is kept inside of a closet, with no lights and nothing. They feed her small portions and bring her water, and Kira plans her escape with each visit. Using to her advantage an attraction one of her kidnappers has with her, she ultimately invites him to come into the closet for sex. While using the restroom, she finds a bottle of acetone-based nail polish remover. Along with a lighter she luckily located inside the closet as well, she would be able to harm and severely injure Rodrigo. When she begins playing with him sexually, she waits until his euphoria is at an all-time high before she puts flame to acetone, and throws it into his face, blinding him. 

She is able to get away, but not without some setbacks. While trying to navigate in the dark, she trips inside a hole and injures her ankle, and eventually ends up cutting her thigh on a large butcher knife she took with her from the house. Rebecca and Brian were already on their way to the town to locate her, as her kidnappers were asking for a ransom. When the authorities say that a home in an abandoned real estate development had gone up in flames, the coincidence is too strong to ignore. 

Rebecca is flighted there by helicopter. When she realizes that Kira likely had gotten out of the house at that point, she goes in search for her, finding her hiding behind the brush. 

When they return home, life returns to normal. Kira, in hopes of returning back to her usual self, goes back to Boston where she attends Tufts University, wanting to prove her independence once again. Brian and Rebecca return to their jobs. However, what we have learned since then is that Brian is a spy for Russia, working with a man named Irlov. He had given Brian $2 million for his insights through his job at the NSA, and used the ruse of a phone app that Brian had “created”. 

When Rebecca goes to visit Kira at school as a surprise, Kira suggests they go to a newly opened casino. Using her husband’s app, used to help casinos advertise, she realizes that the app hasn’t been updated in quite some time and it all comes together - Brian is the mole that the FBI has been chasing at the NSA, and the reason their daughter had been kidnapped was his fault. Something that he had kept to himself, and something that he could have done to prevent it from happening, or finding her faster than they had. 

She works endlessly to prove this is the case, and she does. But Brian realizes that Rebecca is on to him, and they both, in secret, make plans to end their spouses life. Brian suggests they take another trip, as it is nearing their 21st wedding anniversary, and the last trip hadn’t gone well with Kira’s kidnapping. Brian plans to take her out in the waters surrounding St. Barts and throwing her overboard. But Brian doesn’t realize that Rebecca is well prepared. 

On the night, Brian rents a boat and takes them out into the open sea, reminiscent of their honeymoon. They share a bottle of champagne, him in hopes that it’ll get her drunk enough not to notice the Xanax he will eventually slip inside the alcohol, and her, with plans to kill him in some way. When he throws her overboard after a sexual moment, she takes a syringe she has sneakily taped and hidden on her leg, filled with enough epinephrine to bring down a horse, and shoots him in the leg with it. This causes Brian’s heart to essentially explode, and where he dies.

I found this book by accident while browsing at the library. It sounded interesting enough, an almost Taken-like essence to it, and anyone who knows me knows I love me some Liam Neeson. While the similarities are there, this book just didn’t hit home for me. I gave it 3/5 stars because it was entertaining in some aspects. I felt truly sorry for Kira through all of this because her dad was a downright idiot. But, there was a lot within the story that was shared that didn’t need to be shared. Like, what led to Brian working for the NSA - everything had already been explained in Rebecca’s POV, but I do understand that they were showing his side versus her side, wanting us to feel sorry for him. 

But, as someone who is married to someone in the military, who protects our state and our country, Brian being a Russian spy just pissed me off and I felt no sympathy for him whatsoever. He could have told Rebecca what was going on at any time, but he was only worried about himself and not the well-being of his child. He was the epitome of a terrible father. Good on Rebecca for doing what she had to do to protect her daughter from the truth. She would go to her grave before telling anyone the truth about what happened between the two of them on that boat. 

Either way, this one just didn’t do it for me. I’m glad I read it, but I don’t think I would suggest this one as a “must-read”. 

Benefit of Doubt

Yandere Floch Forster x Reader

Synopsis: Your friends don't like Floch, Floch hates your friends.

Warnings: modern/college AU, theft, stalking, floch is a closet creep, reiner x reader in the mix too, floch being disgusting

Taglist: @princessfetus @brujaovermoxy @p00pdev1l @milkteavariant @7mental7

5043 words

Floch has a tendency to cling to you in social situations.

Not that he goes to places with many people, most of your time together is either one on one or with his friends. Maybe a group event that Jean or Eren choose to tag along to. He acts more like a bodyguard sometimes when he doesn’t need to. Glaring at the people around you, placing his belongings on the extra seats at tables so nobody else can sit there, always offering you his jacket when it was slightly cold or rainy, even when you were already wearing one. He’d rather be uncomfortable and risk getting sick than you. 

Going to any party that Floch was also invited to, he often found himself stuck to your side. You had to actively mingle only with other girls, only then would Floch hang around Jean and Eren for the further duration of the party. You were one of his only friends, aside from Gordon and Sandra of course. But they didn’t understand him like you did, they didn’t challenge him like you did. He liked that about you, that you can disagree with him so confidently and still not turn your back on him, a true friend. 

After the so-called “falling out” with Armin, any chance he had of inserting himself as a central part of your friend group was crushed. Floch had too much pride to apologize (not that he believed he had anything to apologize for), doubling down when pressured on it. That only made things worse, and even though it was in the past, the entire group already cemented their opinions of him.

About a year later and little progress has been made. Connie and Sasha are amicable to him, Armin is polite, and Mikasa outright ignores him. Out of the group, he’s closest with Jean and Eren, but not by a lot. Of course, how can he forget you? 

Truth be told, Floch was willing to leave Sandra and Gordon in the dust if it meant being a part of your friend group, and thus being a bigger part of your life. It’s not something he can admit to himself, but there was a time that he regretted creating a permanent divide between himself and the others. He can’t say he truly cares for anyone else in that group now, they’ve all mostly shown their true colors; you’re one of the few ones he can tolerate. 

You were the only one who really gave him a chance after what happened, trying to convince the others that Floch wasn’t so bad when they asked why you would ever hang out with him. You were able to mend his relationship with Jean, and even Eren, one of the most stubborn people anyone has ever met. You apologized on his behalf, you stuck up for him. Surely, you saw something in Floch that the others didn’t?

So why did you consistently choose your other friends over him?

Sure, you and Floch weren’t that close. You’ve been part of Eren’s friend group since high school, of course, you all share a deep bond. You only met Floch in your first year of college, meaning you’ve only known him for two years. (Really, it was just a few months over one year, but if you round that up it’s a year and a half, and if you round that up, it’s two years). Within those two years, you and Floch spent time together in the presence of other people, went to parties together, and studied together.

Even when you were studying for completely different courses, you’d usually do it in each other's company. You’d even lent him your notebook containing all of your Psych 1102 notes once you finished the class when he told you he was taking that course. It was a lie, it wasn’t even in his course map, but he just needed to keep the conversation going. Floch didn’t know you’d give him your notebook, not that he was complaining or anything. He didn’t care for the subject, but he read through your notes anyway to admire your handwriting.

Weekend trips, movie nights, and late-night drives were all reserved for your “real” friends, all events Floch was never invited to. He wonders if you talk about him, or if they talk about him. The idea of Connie or Ymir cracking jokes at his expense makes his nose scrunch in indignance, the imagined rejection of you laughing at the imagined jokes. Perhaps he’s just paranoid. But how can he not be? You’re his friend, and you’re also hanging out with people you know he doesn’t like. People who refuse to let Floch in, if only to be with you. People who constantly reject him unjustifiably, because they don’t understand their own hypocrisy. Floch can’t be blamed for not wanting them to taint you and cloud your judgement. If he had it his way, he’d be your only friend. 

You’ve been awfully distant lately, something Floch intends to fix, no matter the cost.

-

The cafeteria was unusually empty. “Empty” meant it was only 65% full, and not overflowing with people. You, Ymir, Sasha, and Connie sat at the six-person table, talking and catching up while eating. Your phone buzzed and instinctively you went to grab it before either of the women sitting beside you saw it. You hoped it wasn’t what you thought it was, lately you’ve been getting enough shit for hanging out with Floch. He’s gotten bold to start his antics of sneering and glaring at those he dislikes, most of them being your friends. No matter how many times you try to tell him to knock it off. You haven’t spoken to him in a few days after he tried to goad you into talking bad about your friends.

“Your boyfriend texted again.” Ymir hums, looking at the notification on your phone screen. “He’s not my boyfriend.” You grumble, looking at the preview of the message.

Floch

Hey, if you’re free tonight do you want to watch a m….

“What’s it say?” Sasha leans against you from her seat, fry in hand. You hesitate, not wanting to open the messages app. If you do, Floch will know you read his text, and you’ve been trying to avoid him as of late. It’s been a nagging feeling, irritation stewing within you in his presence. You felt bad for it, but these feelings weren’t exactly… unjustified. There wasn’t anything wrong with Floch, but lately, he’s been a bit… pushy. 

He outright asked you once why you never had enough time for him, as if he was your boyfriend and you were dodging his dates. Floch didn’t drop it, not when you got increasingly fidgety and not when you gave him the very reasonable excuse of having a lot of schoolwork. Sure, maybe you were avoiding some of his texts and lying about migraines to get out of hanging out with him every now and then, but it’s not your fault. Floch was just so intense and so stubborn about it, it’s draining, and you need time away from him to recharge. 

He was never shy about his disdain for your friends, making him hard to hang out with. Usually, you were able to steer him away from it, but Floch was outspoken and when he had something to say, he said it. He was fine to hang out with, just not when he decided to badmouth others, which was becoming increasingly often. 

“He’s kinda annoying,” Ymir says, eyes flittering around the cafeteria to check if he was around. Her eyes light up slightly when she spots Reiner and Historia, waving them over to sit at the table. “He is not annoying, he’s just,” You can’t come up with an excuse for his behavior, and you don’t want to admit that Ymir might be right, that he has been irritating lately. “You find every guy annoying.” Ymir snorts at that, a lazy grin drawn on her face. “He’s extra annoying, worse than Reiner.” 

“What about me?” Reiner says as he takes his seat across from you. Historia sat across from Ymir, next to Connie. “Nothing.” Ymir gives her full attention to Historia, effectively tuning the rest of you out. You open the full text, biting your tongue. Sasha stopped looking at your phone, and when you glance back up she’s taking food out of Connie’s tray. You read the whole thing multiple times.

Hey, if you’re free tonight do you want to watch a movie at my place? I’ll make snacks. 

…It’s not like you had anything to do tonight. You’re ahead in your classes, it should be fine. You’re not sure if you want to though, and that usually means you don’t. Floch wouldn’t take it too well if you denied him again, maybe you could use this chance to properly sit down with him and talk about his behavior. Maybe Floch would finally listen this time and back off, or at least try to meet you halfway for once.

…Perhaps you’re being too optimistic about the possible outcomes of this.

Floch glowers from the other side of the cafeteria, leaning against a wall. Gordon was saying something about class, it was tuned out. Floch narrows his gaze on you, waiting for a reply to a text. Occasionally his eyes drop to his phone, messaging app still open, staring at the read receipt. You saw the message, you must have. Your phone screen lit the moment Floch sent the text, you picked your phone up and looked at it. So what the hell? Was their conversation that interesting? Floch can’t remember a time you ignored a text when you were talking to him. 

He’s about to walk right over there and ask you, tell you to come to his place later, that he’s picked out a great movie. It’s the one he heard Armin yapping about, the movie you and your friends were probably going to go see at the theatre. You won’t want to go with them if you’ve already seen it, yeah? Floch bites the inside of his mouth, working up the nerve to go over to your table. Sasha and Historia weren’t an issue, Reiner wasn’t intimidating to him in the slightest, Ymir…

Well, every man was scared of Ymir. 

He can still see the slight surprise on the faces of some of your friends the last time he approached you while you were with them. The silent pleads for him to go away. At least Eren and Jean knew how to treat him, Armin and Historia’s fake niceties and Connie and Sasha’s playful jabs meant nothing to him. Watching Reiner and Historia fill up the seats fills him with unease, especially Reiner. 

Floch doesn’t like the way you look at Reiner. He knows you like him, that you’ve liked him for a while. You haven’t made a move (yet), and Floch worries there isn’t much he can do to stop you two from getting together. All of the shy glances, inside jokes and obnoxious jokes Reiner tells. Your insistence to go to all of his games, hanging out with Reiner after school, but Reiner never looked after you like Floch did.

Reiner never eaves dropped on your friends’ conversations to make sure they weren’t talking bad about you, Reiner never walked behind you when you went to your classes to make sure you got there safely, and Reiner never drove past your place to make sure no peeping toms were around. Sure, Floch can never tell you he’s done any of these, but isn’t that all the better? That you have someone watching over you, to keep you safe, even when you’re not aware?

Floch isn’t sure why you haven’t gotten the hint and given up on that sorry excuse of a man; but it’s the one thing he never brought up with you. It must have been a sensitive topic, you had almost burst into tears when Floch asked why you ever thought Reiner would like you back. Sure, he could be insensitive at times, but surely that was an overreaction?

His phone dings with a notification. Finally, you responded to his text. From his spot in the cafeteria, he can see you put your phone right back down after sending it. 

Sure, I’m free tonight. I can come to your place at 8 PM? :)

Tonight will be the night then, tonight Floch will sway your feelings away from Reiner. That guy’s no good for you anyway, you click much better with him.

-

Floch has been staring at the text from you for the past five minutes, the one saying you were here. He offerd to pick you up, but you so adamantly refused. It’s been long enough, where were you? Floch hopes you didn’t take the stairs, walking up to the seventh floor of the complex that way would take forever. There’s a knocking at your door, and excitement shoots through him, the sound serving as bullets to his thoughts. Finally, you’re here.

When Floch opens the door for you he can feel his heart hammering out of his chest. There you were, wearing a sweater and flared yoga pants, a floral silk scrunchie on your wrist. He hates that the sweater is a longer one. He hopes it’s just oversized and not something another man gave you. 

“Hey! I’m not early or anything, right?” Technically you are, but it’s better than being late. Floch beams, trying not to be too excited for your arrival. How can he not be, you two haven’t hung out properly in a while, he’s just happy to see you. “Not at all, come in.” He steps to the side, letting you in. 

His apartment is as you remember it, spacious with white walls and laminate floors. It’s hardly changed from the first time you came here, and you doubt it’s changed much since his grandparents purchased it for him. A jacket of his is tossed on the arm of a couch, and there’s an Xbox resting on the television stand. A few keep-cases containing DvDs and physical game copies rest on the shelves of the stand, and a chocolatey aroma wafts from the kitchen. 

“I uh, I just stuck some cookies in the oven, they’ll be done soon. I can get some popcorn going to for the movie.” He offers almost sheepishly. He’s wearing a nicely fitted black shirt and jeans. It’s very basic, but something Floch put a lot of thought into, going back and forth between clothing options before you got here. Maybe he’s trying too hard, but you deserve him only at his best. “Yeah, yeah that’d be great!” With that, Floch goes to find some popcorn in his pantry, telling you to go ahead and get comfortable.

You’ve been here enough times to skip past the awkward sitting at the edge of the couch, kicking your shoes off, and getting situated. The television is already on, playing whatever was on cable. Currently, something involving a court case. You don’t pay attention to it for more than a minute before turning around on the couch to look at Floch in the kitchen. 

“Oh, I forgot to ask, do you still have the notebook I gave you, for psychology?”

He pauses, bowl in hand. He turns to face you, thinking about what you said. “Yeah, why?” “Sasha’s taking psych next semester, I was gonna let her use some of my notes to help her. Could I get it back?” Floch, now looking back at his kitchen, bites his lip in thought. He tries to pull any memory, if he’s done anything to that notebook. He’s only read it and sniffed it a few times, but nothing egregious.  It should be fine to hand it back to you.

“Yeah, it’s in my room, you can just go get it, ‘ts on the bottom shelf.” Floch says. He’s cleaned his room just for you, it’s changed since the first and last time you went there when he insisted you could conduct your study session on his bed. Maybe you’ll be impressed with how he’s rearranged things. “Okay, thanks!” You call to him, hopping off the couch and making your way down the hall to his bedroom. 

His bedroom isn’t as sparsely decorated as the corridor or the rest of the apartment. A few posters are hung up on the wall, his bedsheets were swapped to a blue-gray flannel pattern, and a tall bookcase sits adjacent to the desk he does his work at. Multiple books he had to purchase for his classes, many classic books that he mentioned to you once he enjoyed reading. Your psychology notebook was on the last shelf, the spirals sticking out against the other hardcover spines of his books. You grab it, eyes looking over the shelf again to see if there were any books you recognized. 

There’s something that sticks out to you. The light blue leather spine of a diary. You glance briefly at the empty hallway and can make out the sounds of Floch putting something in the microwave. Deciding you have enough time, you peel it out from its place on the shelf. The design is awfully nostalgic, with a gold lock and key attached to the book to keep it shut. You had the exact type in high school, a gift you got for your first day of 9th grade. Memories flood you of your old diary, thick with many pages you doodled and wrote in all the way until your senior year. You make a mental note to go dig it out of your closet whenever you go to visit your parents over break. 

But why would Floch have something like this? It’s a bit girly, the lock is heart-shaped and so are the keys. It’s eerie how similar it is to yours, but these types of notebooks were very popular. Maybe he just liked the color. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to crack it open and take a look, just at the first few pages. No- it’s wrong, you can’t do this to your friend, but you just have to know what he writes about

The familiar cursive font printed onto the cover page reads; “This Diary Belongs To” On the line provided is your name, in your handwriting. 

What the fuck.

Your heart drops as you realize this is your diary. Your diary, that somehow is in his possession. 

You can’t believe what you’re seeing. In the margins of the full pages are Floch’s personal notes. He’s annotated your old journal entries and written his own entries on pages with extra space at the bottom or on the blank pages. One page, in particular, was folded, halfway torn out. As if he decided at the last minute he didn’t want to throw the entry out. 

November 12, 20xx

Reiner sat with me at lunch, he- 

The rest of the sentence is violently scratched out with a pen. Many sentences on the page are blacked out in sharpie after that. You remember the day you wrote this entry, or rather, you remember sitting with Reiner at lunch. It must have been 11th grade, and you remember gushing to Mikasa about it on the phone after scribbling it down in your diary. Flipping through the pages, any entry about Reiner was scratched out, or replaced with Floch’s name. 

March 4, 20xx

I got assigned Reiner Floch as my lab partner, we had to dissect a frog. Nastiest shit of my life, I kept gagging so Reiner Floch had to do the whole thing for me. I had to answer all of the other questions and he let me copy off of his paper for the stuff about the intestines and stuff. He sat with me at lunch too im going to go crazy

Below the paragraph was an old drawing you don’t remember making, a scribble that you recognize as yours, but it has been scratched out and drawn over in marker. Whatever it was, Floch didn’t seem to like it. He’s gone through your entire diary, gotten an intimate view of your thoughts when you were younger, he’s done something you hadn’t thought he was possible of. Floch, so hurt over your past (and okay… maybe current) crush on Reiner, he inserted his name into the pages, rewriting your stolen diary to fit his narrative. 

What the fuck.

What the fuck.

You flip to other pages, those that are half full with old entries of yours, the rest his own handwriting. Half cursive paragraphs detailing the days you two hung out, what you wore, and how you styled your hair. Some of his writing was scratchier and he pressed harder with his pen, those pages mentioned the names of your friends, Mikasa and Armin in particular. Some pages were stained, something rubbed in and absorbed in the heavy paper. One in particular sticks out to you, written on the page next to the one with all the dried blotches.

I tried using your scrunchie to jerk off, the pink one with the flower pattern. It was awful but I did it because it’s your scrunchie. I did it for you. I don’t know if people wash scrunchies but you probably should when I give it back. 

The words on the page jumble together and your head spins. When had he even taken your scrunchie or your diary? Nausea and dizziness overtake you and your cold hands begin to tremble. You force the silk hair tie off your wrist, writhing in disgust as you throw it across the room with as much force as you can muster. Violated, you feel absolutely violated.  Floch’s voice comes from the end of the hallway, but you can’t understand what he says. He calls again, tuned out by your terror. He comes to his room, hand on the doorframe as he leans in. “Did you find it, it’s on the-” You both lock eyes, Floch watching you on the edge of his bed, stolen diary in hand. He can’t see the page you were looking at from where he is, but it doesn’t matter. He’s tainted every page of that book.

A look of horror flashes on Floch’s face for a brief moment as the situation dawns on him. He’s been caught; you had looked into the abyss that was his reprehensible actions, ones that Floch hadn’t even considered morally wrong until he saw the way you looked at him. Like you were afraid of him, like he was going to hurt you. You both looked at each other like deer caught in headlights; though to you, Floch looked more like the wolf that got caught stalking his prey. 

“I- I should go.” You stammer, standing up. Unsure what to do with the diary, you leave it on his bed. He can keep it, you don’t want anything to do with it anymore. The thought that your friends are going to have a field day with this might have come to you if your senses weren’t clouded with panic and pure alarm. “(Y/N)-” “Floch, I need to go.” “Just let me explain.” He blocks the doorway, arms up to keep you from leaving. “I can explain.” 

His room is closing in on you, your only escape is now gone. The window wasn’t an option, you don’t trust yourself to open it fast enough, and his apartment was on the seventh floor, what then? Your palms are sweaty and your mouth has gone dry, dread and sheer terror digging an ever-deepening pit in your gut. “I didn’t- I never meant for you to see that.” He says, which is probably not the right thing to say. Definitely not the right thing. “I never wanted to hurt you.”

“Let’s go to the living room,” He says after a more than uncomfortable silence, unsure of if he should step forward or back. You’re like a caged animal, he doesn’t want you lashing out. “Please, (Y/N),” Floch hates the way you’re looking at him, like he’s about to pounce on you and rip into you. You don’t say anything at first, trying to steady your breathing. Eventually, you nod, clenching your teeth and averting your gaze. “Okay.” Play along with this for now until you have the chance to get out. 

You tread back to the open living room with Floch. It’s much less constricting, but you don’t feel any less closed in. You trail behind him like a scared animal, eyes focused on his back and betting on the chance that he’ll be distracted long enough for you to get through the front door. He leads you back to the couch, going to sit next to you as you try to get comfortable. 

A small ding is heard from the kitchen, a gift from the heavens above. “Oh, they’re ready.” Floch quickly goes over to the oven, turns the dial down and gets an oven mitt. It was some escape from the stressful situation you’ve thrust him into. It’s only prolonging what feels like your doom. The front door is left unattended, surely you can unlock it fast enough and get out. Maybe scream, surely someone will help. Now’s your chance, and you aren’t going to pass it up. 

You barely made it three paces before Floch grabbed you, a hand over your mouth and his arm wrapped tight around you. You couldn’t get a scream out, and biting at the flesh of his palm did nothing. The struggle went on, your elbow slamming into Floch’s torso. He let out a pained noise but recovered quickly. Your fingers brushed against the doorknob before being thrown on the floor. Floch grabbed you to keep you from getting back up or trying to crawl away. You broke your fall with your arms, which now hurt. They’d probably be bruised later, but it didn’t seem to be anything bad. The end result of your struggle was Floch sat against the wall with you tucked between his legs, an arm caging you in and the palm of his hand returning to your mouth to muffle you.

“You said you’d let me explain.” He says in your ear, low and irritated. You’re still thrashing against him, getting increasingly frustrated as your vision blurs. Floch was stronger than you, you’d never noticed it beneath his long-sleeved shirts or jackets, but his arms were thick with muscle. He’s well built, something you never really noticed before. Floch could be really strong when he wanted to be. 

As much as Floch hates to admit it, your struggling against him and your tears wetting his hand was getting him hard. A shaky breath bordering on a moan escapes him and it’s that makes you still in his arms. Floch keeps his hand over your mouth, adrenaline still pumping through him. He tries to focus on you, the body spray you used before coming here, the way your hair is parted. This is wrong, incredibly wrong. Everything about this is wrong, but he’s determined to make it right. 

“It’s my fault,” For being so careless to leave it out like that “I’m- I’m sorry,” Floch says, forcing the words out of his constricting throat. Surely there’s a way for him to salvage this. He will salvage this, whatever it takes. “You aren’t going to scream, are you?” He says in your ear. You shake your head, fear constricting your very being. Floch wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, right? Slowly and cautiously, he removes his hand from your mouth. It lingers, just an inch or two, in case he needs to silence you again.  

A knock resounds from the other side of the apartment door, probably one of his neighbors. It makes you both freeze up, Floch tightening his grip on you. 

“Everything all right in there?” An older mans voice comes from the opposite side of the door. He must have heard the scuffle you two were in. 

You both stiffen up, two pairs of wide eyes staring at the door. Floch slaps his hand over your mouth before you can scream, pressing you further against him to try and keep you quiet. “Not a fucking word.” He hisses into your ear, ensuring you would stay quiet before giving his attention to the pesky neighbor outside. “Yeah! Everything’s fine!”. Floch calls back, praying the man leaves. “It sounded like something heavy fell, you okay?” The voice calls back. A grimace decorates Floch’s face and he bites his lip. Damn helpful neighbors. “It’s fine, I just dropped something!” He digs his nails into your flesh, on your face, and through your sweater. 

Floch is your friend, he wouldn’t hurt you. You try to repeat that in your head, knowing how obviously wrong that is. He’s already hurt you, he will continue if you let him. Your elbow strikes Floch where you can again, with all the strength you have (not a lot after being thrown on the ground), but he steels himself and only squeezes you further against him.

“Well, alright,” The man says, adding that if something were to occur,, Floch should come ask for help. Floch gave a forced ‘thanks’, listening to the mans footsteps fade and hearing him walk back into his own apartment. He loosens the hold he has on you, his hand dropping from your mouth. After a beat of silence, Floch decides to speak up again. “We can talk about everything, I’ll explain it to you,” 

“Floch, please, I want to go home. Just let me go home.” You say, and you’re so quiet that Floch almost doesn’t hear you. “You need to stay,” Floch knows whatever he has to say to you is going to take longer than what tonight will allow. Besides, he can’t let you go until you’ve forgiven him and he knows you won’t make a fuss over this later. “We can talk about it after the movie.” He says this while nuzzling your hair with renewed confidence.

You’ve always been so understanding before, and always stood up for him, Floch is sure he can convince you to give him the benefit of doubt this time too. 

My DT17 Mad Ducktor!

Ummm yeah, since he lives in my head rent-free and I’m constantly working on a fic about/drawing of him, I thought I’d explain some stuff about him so people know what the duck I’m talking about. 

So first, here’s what he looks like...

(I love his makeup. XD)

General Info~

He’s the only surviving Gyro clone from the Moonvasion, he was badly injured by a bolt from a Moonlander’s gun, and then ended up falling halfway down Killmotor Hill.

Because of this he lost his left hand/half his left forearm, and they’re robotic now! He usually hides it with gloves, because he’s discovered that people will underestimate him.

He spent quite a few months recovering and building his robot arm, and he expected to be welcomed back as a hero, for surviving the Moonvasion. However, that wasn’t the case. Everyone thought the clones had all been killed, and didn’t care much because they were clones, and well, expendable. *cue Drift Away*

Of course, he got incredibly mad at all of them for forgetting him, and blamed Scrooge for it. He thought Scrooge was embarrassed because he needed Glomgold’s help to defeat Lunaris, and therefore Scrooge was trying to cover up what had happened during the Moonvasion, which meant that Mads was left behind.

Because of this he has severe abandonment issues, and part of the reason he’s so dramatic and flashy purposefully annoying is to try and make himself noticeable and unforgettable... So he won’t be forgotten again.

Part of his motives are trying to make a name for himself, he hates being seen as just a clone of Gyro’s, so a lot of what he does is strive to be entirely different to prove he’s his own person.

So he loathes Scrooge because he thinks Scrooge is the reason he was forgotten, and hates everyone else because they forgot him.

However, he thinks that Gyro would’ve gone looking for him, if Scrooge hadn’t kept him busy. So in his eyes, Gyro is the only one that’s really on his side. 

...Which developed into a weird obsessive one-sided crush on Gyro. (Nyehehehehe, gotta make the MDGyro hurt...) This only got worse once Gyro tried to help him fix his life, he saw that as Gyro returning his feelings, buuuuut it wasn��t.

At this point in my stories (two years after Mads first made his appearance) he’s actually very close to Gyro, they’ve kinda laid out their relationship as just being friends. But Mads still has a yearning crush on him that he doesn’t think will fade. 

Mads hated Fenton at first because he was part of the people that forgot about him, and Fenton is in a relationship with Gyro, so he thinks that Fenton ‘stole his darling.’ 

Two years later, he gets along pretty well with Fenton, they’ve actually been through a lot together. Between rescuing Gyro from F.O.W.L. a few times and Mads (grudgingly...) helping Fenton with the guilt of not being able to save someone, they have a pretty fun relationship.

Mads is also close to Archimede (who is Gyro’s part-Italian cousin in this universe and very out of character, but... deal with it I guess idk XD), their relationship started out pretty rocky- though that’s what happens when you kidnap someone and lock them in a closet for two days- but now Archie is the only person Mads trusts as much as Gyro.

Though a major factor in Mads easily growing closer to Archimede and why Archimede disliking him hurt so much was because Archie was the one who took Gyro in and cared for him after Tokyolk. Gyro flew back to the U.S. as soon as he possibly could, and stayed with Archimede with several months. Archimede was the one who discovered Scrooge was hiring, and was the one who pushed Gyro to get a job at McDuck Enterprises. So long story short, Archimede means a lot to Gyro, and it hurt Mads quite a bit to lose that. And it’s why it was so easy for him to start trusting Archimede again, once Archimede finally tried being nice to him.

If there’s one group of people that Mads hates more than Scrooge and the Duck family it’s F.O.W.L.. They’ve kidnapped Gyro quite a few times (and you don’t touch Mads’ darling XD), and tried to wreck Mads’ life once. But their organization is much stronger than him, so there’s not much he can to on his own to take them down.

Black Heron hates him as much as he hates her, and goes out of her way to make his life miserable. 

He does have a golden lasso that he uses to disguise himself as other people, the only giveaway is his eyes always stay acid green. 

OH I ALMOST FOROGT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING- When Gyro created the clones he worked in a little thing that they were automatically incredibly loyal to him. The clones still have their own minds and thoughts and choices, but they’re ‘programmed’ so that they physically can’t hurt Gyro, and they would literally have to take a bullet for him. In short, they will always value Gyro’s life more than their own. Gyro did this so that the clones couldn’t get any ideas about possibly rising up against him, and it came in handy during the Moonvasion, when he had his own personal troop of bodyguards who would have to die for him. 

Because of this Mads can’t hurt Gyro, and he always have to have Gyro’s best interests at heart whenever he does something that involves Gyro. Outside of that, he can just be like a normal person. This of course is relative, Mads could do something terrible because he thinks he’s helping Gyro, but actually it’s really just more work for Gyro to clean up and explain to the city why half a building was destroyed.

This is another reason why Mads cares so much about Gyro and his safety, and is what kicked off Mads one-sided attraction to him. However Mads doesn’t know how much of his love of Gyro is actually his own, or how much of it is programmed into him by the clone loyalty feature.

He also has a mental connection with Gyro, they occasionally share dreams and can sometimes send each other messages in dreams too.

He does try to consider Gyro’s feelings in his actions though, but most of the time he ends up screwing it up (and that means kidnapping someone without realizing what Gyro would think about it, most of the time) and making Gyro mad at him. 

Oh, and the Supercell is located on the outskirts of Duckburg in this universe.

Fun Facts/Headcanons~

(Some of these are brought up in the stories, some are just random ideas I wanted to get out there.)

Loves muffins and hates cake because he sees cupcakes as ‘cheap muffin rip-offs.’

Somehow always a tube of black lipstick on him.

He has tracking devices on Gyro’s clothes-

He’s called Fenton by his actual name like three times, most of the time he just calls him ‘Gizzy.’ And he always calls Archimede ‘Archie.’

Gyro has a small tribe of adopted stray cats (that are all named after Disney cats), and Mads’ emotional support one that hates everyone else yet adores Mads is Lucifer from the ‘50′s Cinderella. 

Gyro can play the piano really well because I say so, so Mads can too.

Gyro also is good at doing hair and makeup because he used to do it with Della before the SoS incident, so Mads can too.

He will wear pretty much anything except what he’s supposed to.

I heavily based his backstory off of Spinel’s, if you couldn’t tell. XD

He has his own Lil’ Bulb he stole from Gyro, their name is Blacklight.

His tail feathers are the same color as his hair.

He never stays in the Supercell for long, and can always find a new way to get out of it. At this point Gyro has just accepted that Mads can’t be contained.

He’s almost never purposefully killed anyone (though emphasis on the almost)- but he doesn’t much value other’s lives that much. To him, it’s just collateral damage.

He has a terrible singing voice, but will shamelessly belt any song just to annoy people (the more voice cracks the better).

He likes the sound and smell of rain.

He loves having the feathers on his back brushed through.

He doesn’t have fingernails ‘cause like he’s a bird but but he will paint his feet-claws.

HIs voice is just a tad bit higher than Gyro’s, but usually you can’t tell the difference.

His robot hand has a variety of different little gadgets and weapons, including a finger that shoots laser, a knife that slides out over his knuckles, his hand shoots off like a harpoon to create some kind of grapple-hand (which he claims Heron stole the idea from him, but hers came first...), and the ability to download information which can be sent to his glasses and projected onto the inside so he can see it.

He likes Billie Eilish’s music. 

Yeah, that’s all I can think of for now! Congrats, if you made it this far! Oh, and here’s the link to my first story...  Idk if y’all know this, but I am superb at titles. 

I Love You, This Christmas - Harry Styles Christmas Series (#6)

Both Y/N and Harry have spent the majority of the year on tour, which means they’ve hardly been able to see one another except for a few days here and there. This of course has put a bit of a strain on their relationship, despite being together for over three years. Their love is still there, but sometimes that isn’t enough. So, with the holidays coming around and their  tours coming to end, they hope to use this time to reconnect and see if their relationship can make it through. 

#1

 #2

 #3 

#4

#5

**

Later that afternoon, Harry walked in empty handed. You looked over at him curiously, wondering where he’d been and what he had to do and yet came back with nothing.

“Hey, baby,” he said.

“Hey,” you mumbled.

“Everything okay?” He asked.

“Just wondering where my boyfriend’s been all day,” you said.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be gone that long,” he said.

“Hmph,” you said. “Soooo, what did you do that was so important,” you asked.

“Just some stuff I had to get done,” he said.

“Interesting,” you said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He laughed.

“Nothing,” you said, pouring yourself some hot chocolate.

“Did I do something?” Harry asked.

“No,” you said, walking over to the couch.

Harry was beyond confused because he was sensing a mood coming off of you. He knew you were probably upset from this morning and his sudden leaving, plus he was gone longer than he thought. But he didn’t think you would be acting like this. He felt bad not telling you the truth, but he couldn’t for obvious reasons.

“Did you miss me that much?” he asked.

“I just didn’t expect my boyfriend to be gone all day,” you said.

“I wasn’t gone all day,” he said.

“Most of it,” you said. “And you didn’t even tell me where you were going.”

“Sorry didn’t realize I had to tell you my every move,” he mumbled.

“You don’t, but you also don’t have to be so secretive about anything,” you said. “And furthermore you’ve left this house more often than I have, so what are you already annoyed with spending so much time with me?”

“Where the hell did that come from?” He asked.

“Because it’s the truth!” You said. “You’ve gone somewhere pretty much everyday since we’ve been back.”

“Uh, sorry that I have other things I have to do,” he said.

“And like I don’t?” You scoffed.

“Then why haven’t you done anything?” He asked.

“Because I knew we were supposed to be spending time together,” you said.

“I didn’t realize we were supposed to be spending all day, everyday together,” he said.

“Oh, right because we didn’t just spend almost an entire year apart, so excuse me for thinking my boyfriend would want to catch up on lost time,” you snapped.

Harry ran his hand through his hair, shaking his head, “Why are you being like this?”

You glared at him, shocked at his words, “Why am I like what? Why am I wanting to spend time with you? Why am I upset that you’ve gone somewhere everyday and won’t tell me? Gee I don’t fucking know.”

“What the fuck is happening right now?” Harry said.

“You know what? Don’t talk to me,” you said, pushing past him and going into the bedroom, slamming the door.

**

Harry sat on the couch waiting for a bit before going up to talk to you. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but he needed to do something to move past whatever was going on with you. He poured himself something to drink. He was still majorly confused as to what just happened.

Ten minutes passed and he finally went up to the bedroom. The door was shut, but not locked. He took that as a good sign and walked inside.

“Y/N?” Harry said, looking around.

You were in the closet putting up the clothes you had washed earlier in the day. When you heard his voice, you poked your head out, rolling your eyes before going back into the closet. Harry groaned, walking over and standing in the doorway.

“Are we going to talk about this?” He asked.

“Oh, now you want to talk? Are you sure you don’t have any errands to run?” You rolled your eyes.

“Oh my god, Y/N, I really wish I could follow where you’re going with this, but I seriously do not understand why you’re acting like this,” he said. “All I did was go out for a few hours…”

“Just don’t worry about it,” you said, shaking your head.

“No, we’re going to talk about it,” he said.

“So, you rather talk about why I’m upset over you going out for hours and keeping it a secret, but not why we hardly spoke over the last year?” you said.

Harry sighed, “We’ve been over this.”

“No, we really haven’t,” you scoffed. “We touched on it a little bit, but then you wanted to basically sweep it under the rug.”

“Why does it matter at this point?” He said. “It happened. It’s over. We agreed everything was okay, why do you keep bringing it up?”

“Because if we don’t talk about it then we’re never going to know what the problem is and how to keep it from happening again?” You snapped. “And the fact that you don’t want to talk about it, really doesn’t make sense to me.”

Harry sighed, running his hands through his hair, “Because I don’t see the point in worrying about something we can’t go back and change. We’re together again, we know it fucking sucked and we agreed we wouldn’t let it happen again, so what else is there talk about?”

“Wow,” you whispered, shaking your head. “I can’t believe you honestly think that. Is there a reason why you don’t want to talk about this? Did something happen? Did something change for you?”

“What? No,” Harry said. “And for you to even think that really fucking hurts.”

“Not as much as you not wanting to talk about this,” you said, pushing past him once again.

“Where are you going?” He said, following you out of the bedroom and towards the front door.

“I don’t know,” you said. “I just… need to get out of here.”

“Y/N, come on,” Harry said.

“No, don’t do that,” you said. “Don’t make it seem like I’m overreacting.

“I-” Harry said.

“I just… I need to go, don’t wait up,” you mumbled, walking out the door and slamming it shut behind you.

Love Language - Fred Weasley x Reader

A/N - Hey! Sorry I’ve been inactive for a little while, I’ve been super busy with work and stuff, but here’s a fluffy Freddie fic.

Request:  Hi! Can I have a Fred Weasley x reader where they’ve been dating for a while and they have a love touch relationship where they always have to be touching in some way. Then umbridge comes in and makes the boys and girls can’t be within 8inches rule

1.3k words

masterlist here

Hogwarts was unbearable for Y/N at the minute. Professor Umbridge had begun to take over the entire school. Every class that she sat in was tense, some of her teachers had lost their jobs, all of the clubs had been banned. But everything seemed okay when Y/N was with Fred. They had been dating for a while now and barely spent a second apart from each other. George used to often make jokes about Fred getting aggravated if he and Y/N weren’t constantly touching. They were basically joined at the hip.

All of that ended one day when a particularly loud noise rang through the halls of Hogwarts. Y/N and Fred were on their way to their Transfiguration class when they heard it.

             “Boys and girls are not permitted to be within eight inches of each other.” Umbridge’s voice echoed through the corridor. Y/N’s heart sank immediately, and she looked down at her and Fred’s entangled fingers.

             “Don’t worry, love, what’s she going to do? Chop our fingers off?” Fred laughed, shaking his head, “she’s a right hag, isn’t she? Old Umbridge.” Y/N tried to laugh but there was a dull ache in the pit of her stomach, she couldn’t think of anything worse than her and Fred getting into trouble just for holding hands.

             “Yeah, I suppose,” she smiled, “We’ll just have to try and be careful, Freddie.”

 “Being careful” to Fred meant stolen kisses in the corridors when he thought that no one was looking. He would often grab Y/N’s hand and pull her into a deserted corridor and give her a quick peck on the lips before dashing off as soon as he caught a glimpse of either Filch or Umbridge. They were walking back from Quidditch practice one evening when Fred quickly yanked Y/N’s arm.

             “What was that for?”

             “That bloody cat,” he yanked his head in the direction of Mrs. Norris who was fast approaching them.

             “Shit.”

Without a second thought, Fred grabbed her hand and pulled her into the broom closet down the next corridor.

             “Fred! What the hell were you thinking?” she hissed, “if we get caught in here we’ll be in twice as much trouble,”

             “I’m sorry,” he said, “I panicked. I barely get to be with you anymore now,”

             “We’re together all the time, Freddie,”

             “Yeah, but not like together, Merlin, I can’t remember the last time I properly hugged you or held your hand. I hate all of this sneaking around,”

             “I know, I hate it too,” Y/N frowned.

             “I mean, if it was just me that was going to get into trouble then I’d parade around the corridors holding your hand and kissing you every five minutes,” he smiled, “I’d just hate for you to get into trouble for it.”

Fred gazed into her eyes for a moment, taking in all the features of his girlfriend’s face. He placed one of his hands on her waist and pulled her closer to him. She looked up at him and smiled. God, he would take a hundred detentions with Umbridge just to see her smiling at him. There was a loud creak as the closet door opened abruptly.

             “Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Filch drawled.

Y/N and Fred were frogmarched to Umbridge’s office, where she sat at her desk smiling sweetly at them.

             “Care to tell me why you and Miss Y/L/N were in the broom closet together, Mr Weasley?” She smiled grimly. Y/N shifted on her feet, glancing at Fred out of the corner of her eye.

             “Well, you see,” Fred began, “Y/N here is my girlfriend and you know, this ‘eight inches’ rule isn’t really working out for us,” he glared at her. Umbridge giggled.

             “I’m sure you know, Mr Weasley, that this is an educational environment and those kind of relationships aren’t exactly appropriate,” she was still grinning, “a week’s worth of detentions for the both of you should be sufficient then?”

             “But-” Fred interrupted.

             “No buts. You can start tonight. Take a seat.” She gestured to the chairs in front of her desk where two black quills lay menacingly. Y/N didn’t have the strength to protest, she felt defeated. She felt guilty about feeling a bit angry at Fred for getting them into this mess. However, she sat down and proceeded writing the lines that had been set for them. It wasn’t her first detention with Umbridge and after she had written a few lines, she felt the familiar stinging, burning sensation on the back of her hand.

 It was late when her and Fred arrived back to the Common Room. Neither of them spoke a word to each other on the way back. They didn’t speak to each other the next morning either. It wasn’t until they were having dinner that the silence was finally broken.

             “Is it a bit frosty at the dining table this evening, or is it just me?” George joked, looking at the pair.

             “Just you I reckon, Georgie,” Fred replied snarkily.

             “Stop being rude,” Y/N nudged him under the table.

             “I think you two need to go talk about whatever is going on,” George said, “Fred’s angst is getting all over my apple pie and custard and I can’t take it any longer,”

             “You want to go for a walk?” Y/N stood up, going to reach her hand out for Fred before smiling sadly and tucking it into one of the pockets of her robe instead.

They walked out of the Great Hall and started wandering down the corridors.

             “I’m sorry if I’ve been being grumpy, Y/N,” Fred said, glancing at her, “I’m just finding it really difficult not being able to be with you properly,”

             “I know,” she smiled at him, pushing her hair out of her face, “George said that you’d been being a bit tetchy, I thought you were just mad at me or something.”

             “What?” he stopped in his tracks, “I could never be mad at you, sweetheart,”

Tears started welling up in her eyes, she fiddled with the sleeves of her jumper as she looked at Fred. She could really do with a hug off of him right now, but she didn’t want to risk another detention.

             “Erm, Y/N, turn around…”

She was half expecting to see Umbridge pacing towards them and was bracing herself for another argument. Instead, she turned around to face a large, ornate wooden door.

             “That wasn’t there before… was it?” she asked, walking towards it cautiously.

             “It’s the Room of Requirement, I reckon,” Fred said, placing his hand of the handle, “It only appears to people who really need it.”

 Y/N and Fred entered the room. It was decorated plainly, a large plush sofa sat in the middle of the room in front of a roaring fire. Fred threw himself down and pulled Y/N onto his lap. Fred’s touch seemed to linger on her skin, his fingers felt warm as he stroked them up and down her arm comfortingly.

             “This is better, isn’t it love?” he smiled, cupping her cheek in his hand and pulling her in for a kiss. Fred’s lips were warm and soft, he kissed her tenderly, playing with a strand of her hair. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, trying to get as close to him as possible. Y/N buried her face in his hair, breathing in the fresh, clean smell that she had missed so much. It felt good to be close to Fred again. She had missed lazily playing with his hair as he napped in the common room, how his fingers were constantly intertwined with hers.

             “I never, ever want to leave here, Freddie,” she whispered.

             “Me either.” He tucked his face into the crook of her neck, and she could feel him smiling against her skin. In that moment, everything seemed okay. As long as she was with Fred, everything always would be.

Safe - 8x14 Speculation Fic

Writer’s Note: The idea for this came from the 8x14 synopsis, and while it technically still is a speculation fic, I don’t imagine the episode happening exactly like this. However, I did use what I’ve seen from bts photos and videos, as well as things Tracy has said in interviews to develop some of the scenes/details. This is probably my favorite piece that I’ve written in a while, so I hope you enjoy & thank you for reading!

Hailey rustled through her closet looking for her black wedged boots, trying her best to hurry as she knew Jay was waiting for her in the kitchen. She wasn’t much of a boot with a heel kind of girl, but she and Jay had special plans and she wanted to look nicer than usual. While they had been together for months, that night was the first time they were going on a proper date. They each decided at the beginning of their relationship that with both of their histories, they wanted to keep things simple and to themselves, which meant a lot of take-out and a lot of nights alone in their apartments. However, after Hailey mentioned something in passing about their clandestine time together starting to feel restrictive, Jay made plans at a fancy restaurant where he knew they wouldn’t run into any of their fellow team members.

“I don’t mean to rush you, but our reservation is in 45 minutes and it will take us about 30 to get there,” Jay said softly, peeking his head around the door frame.

“I know, I know. I’m trying to- finally!” she shouted upon finding the boots in the corner of her closet. She brought a knee into her chest as she pulled a boot onto her foot before switching to the other leg and doing the same.

“Okay, I just need to get my phone and wallet and then I’ll be-“ her words were cut short as she caught sight of him for the first time that evening. He was wearing a dress shirt with a light jacket, and his dark jeans curled over the top of a pair of black dress boots. It was much different from his typical, rugged workwear, but she took note of how well the look suited him.

“Wow you clean up nice, Halstead,” she told him with a dimpled smile as he blushed, extending a hand down to help her rise from the floor. Once she was standing, the small space between them closed quickly as she wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her lips to his briefly. While the heels added extra height, she still needed to raise on her tiptoes to meet his mouth.

“Not too bad yourself, Detective,” he uttered as her lips pulled away. His hands grasped her waist, holding her steady as she remained on her toes. They stayed pressed against one another for a moment looking into each other’s eyes, and just when he was about to go in for another kiss, she fell on her heels and pressed the tips of her fingers against his chest.

“Normally, I would indulge in this further, but we’re going to miss our reservation and I’m starving,” she teased, moving past him to retrieve her phone, keys, and wallet, along with her jacket slung over the back of the couch.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Hailey was charmed by how nice it was. It was far different from the usual dive bars and pubs they went to after work, and part of her even felt like it was too nice for them to be at.

“Halstead, party of 2,” he told the hostess, holding up 2 fingers with the hand that wasn’t intertwined with Hailey’s.

A stifled smile came across her face and she nodded her head towards the floor as they waited for someone to guide them to their table. It seemed surreal to be standing in the middle of a fancy restaurant with him, holding his hand and waiting to be seated for a romantic dinner. She couldn’t tell if it was because of how long she secretly pined over him or if it was because being with Jay felt like her first real love story, but there were many moments when being with him felt like some fantasy, and that moment was one of them. At one point in time, being with him was something she only dreamt about. It was a thought that crossed her mind when his gaze lingered a little longer than it should or when an accidental touch sent her heart racing. Before they took that leap, she worried being with him would mean giving up being his partner. It was that fear that made her keep her feelings bottled up for so long, but as they proved time and time again, as partners, as lovers, and as both - they were good together. She turned her head and placed a light kiss on his shoulder. It was a tangible reminder that he was hers to kiss, but it also grounded her in that moment that felt like just another dream.

The dinner itself was incredible. Hailey officially added the restaurant to her list of favorite food spots in Chicago, and they spent the entire meal giggling and sharing stories they had never shared before. By the end of it, Jay was stuffed, but Hailey insisted they order a dessert, her sweet tooth getting the best of her. Jay teased her for ordering the lava cake, the most indulgent option on the menu, but she was able to tease him right back when he asked the waiter for a second spoon when it was brought to the table.

Just as Jay was about to pay the check, his phone began to ring, Voight’s name popping up across the screen as he pulled out his wallet.

“Uh oh,” Hailey said as he picked it up to answer. Jay spoke with their boss briefly, mainly nodding his head and muttering brief affirmations every few seconds.

“I think she’s out tonight, but I can call her and swing by to pick her up wherever she is,” Jay said, shooting Hailey a wide-eyed look as he quickly came up with an excuse as to why they’d be riding in together all dressed up.

“Alright hot stuff, as much as I’d like to keep this night going, it seems we caught a case,” he told her, as he stood from his chair. He took out his wallet, counting out enough money to cover the check and tip before resting the bills under his glass on the table.

“At least we made it through dessert,” she said, sending him a childlike smile.

“Oh, that was dessert? I had something else in mind for that,” he replied smugly, Hailey’s face turning bright red at his suggestive words.

“Oh really?” She questioned, taking a step towards him to close the gap between them. “You’d better clean up that mind before we get to the scene,” she whispered with a chuckle, twirling around swiftly and making her way towards the door as he shook his head at her tease. His hand found the small of her back as they made their way out the door, and he placed a kiss against her temple, knowing it would probably be the last display of affection he could show before they had to enter partner mode.

When they arrived at the house, Kevin and Voight were outside talking to a few patrol officers. Hailey’s mood had changed drastically upon arriving at the scene. She couldn’t explain why, but she felt uneasy as she jumped out of the truck and secured her badge and gun to her hip.

As they approached, Kevin pursed his lips together and let out a two-tone whistle as he caught sight of Hailey.

“Damn girl, sorry to pull you away from whatever had you all cleaned up,” he told her, cocking his head to the side as she shook her head at him with a smirk. Her eyes caught sight of Voight’s as they darted between her and Jay and she became nervous, imagining that he was putting two and two together. She decided to change the subject quickly before any further comments could ensue.

“Oh, shut up,” she told him. “What do we got?” She asked, spinning her head around the scene and taking in the myriad of patrol cars.

“I think it’s something you have to unfortunately see for yourself. I do have to say, you might want to brace yourself for this one,” he said, turning to lead them inside. Jay and Hailey met eyes, sharing a look of concern before turning and following Kevin and Voight inside.

Walking through the front door, they collectively grimaced at the overwhelming smell of blood that tinged their noses. They hesitantly made their way deeper into the house and Hailey’s heart dropped when she caught sight of a family of four, a couple and their two kids, all tied up and shot dead on the living room floor. That uneasy feeling from before suddenly made sense. She clenched her jaw, groaning at the sight as she looked away, recognizing the same unsettled look in the face of each of her fellow officers.

“What the hell happened here?” Jay asked, looking over at Kevin for the answer.

“This is the second home invasion robbery in this neighborhood this week. Robbery-homicide has been working these guys since the first one, but so far they’ve come up with no leads. Whoever these guys are, they’re professionals. It’s a two-man crew, they come in through the back, dressed head to toe in dark attire, get what they need, kill the family, and get out. They’re in and out in less than 10 minutes and they’ve got a getaway driver who knows how to avoid traffic cameras. Robbery-homicide tells me these guys killed a family of three earlier this week, and that the dad had bruises on his body in addition to the gunshot wound that killed him. Now, what’s interesting is in this case, the mom is the one with these bruises. These families were definitely targeted, we’re just not sure how or why,” he explained causing them each to frown.

While Kevin explained the case, Hailey fell silent as the details brought her back to a string of cases she had worked during her time in robbery-homicide. She spent weeks chasing after a crew targeting families who had shopped at a high-end jewelry store, only that connection was missed for the first half of the investigation. By the time she and her team had finally caught on to why the families were being targeted, four families had already been killed, five kids below the age of ten among the victims. Hailey beat herself up for months knowing if they had caught onto the pattern sooner, they could have saved more of the families - more of the kids. This case sounded eerily similar, and she was bound to not let history repeat itself.  

“How’d we catch this if robbery-homicide was on it?” Jay asked, shoving his hands in his pockets as his gaze intentionally avoided the gruesome scene before them.

“Miller assigned it to us. She wanted a fresh pair of eyes. She’s getting a lot of heat from the press about there being no leads, especially since this is a high-end neighborhood. Plus, these guys have already killed three tender-aged kids. I want the animals on a stick,” Voight replied straightly.

“Do we know what they’re after?” Hailey asked, her brain already working to establish a connection.  

“No, and that’s what’s given our robbery-homicide guys so much trouble. The only connection is that both families have had pretty high-tech safes somewhere in the house. Last house it was in a bedroom closet, but this one was in the basement. It seems like these guys make their way in, beat the location and combo of the safe out of one of the parents, get what they need, and off the entire family before hauling ass out,” Kevin told them.

“Well, I’ve worked cases like this one before. If we’re going to get anywhere, we need to figure out what it was they wanted and how they knew about it. We’re on a time crunch now, because it’s only a matter of time before these guys strike again,” she said, turning and leaving the house without waiting for any of their responses.

After leaving the scene, they all made their way back to the district to go over the files robbery-homicide had sent over. They browsed over the files for a couple of hours before Voight sent them home, needing them to rest up and refresh before they dove completely into the case the next day. The familiarity of the case was itching at Hailey, but as much as she wanted to see something that everyone else was missing, she came up short in every place she looked.

The next morning, she and Jay got coffee together. She had been quiet since they caught the case. Jay picked up on her shift in mood that occurred from the restaurant to the scene, but he left it alone to give her the space she seemed to need. He eventually built up the nerve to ask what was wrong. She told him about her old case and how much it meant to catch the guys and quickly. He agreed, admitting to her how much seeing those dead kids struck a nerve. He reassured her they would catch them one way or another. As they walked out of the coffee shop, a call came over the radio:

Units over the city-wide, we got calls of a home invasion. 1433 N State Street

“Gold Coast, that’s the same neighborhood as the other home invasions, you think that’s our guys?” Jay asked looking over at Hailey as he held the radio up.

“Could be, let’s roll on it,” she told him, rushing towards his truck as he followed, telling dispatch they were taking the call.

They rolled up to the scene, carefully clearing the house together, but they arrived too late, and the offenders were gone. They found the couple who lived there in the same position as the last two families, only they still had a pulse. Hailey tried asking them what the offenders were after, but all she got were incoherent mutterings from each victim. They both died before ambulances could arrive, but just the same as the other cases, only the husband had signs of bruising in addition to the gunshot wound, and a safe was found in the back of a linen closet. While crime techs combed the house, Hailey made her way out to the back garden, finding a hose to rinse the victim’s blood from her hands. Her hands were shaking so much, she couldn’t quite scrub enough to get them clean. Jay caught sight of her through the window and wade his way out to her, grabbing her hands in his to steady them. She looked up at him as he nodded his head, taking the hose and helping her scrub her hands clean. Once they were clear, he held her hands in his for a minute longer, quickly releasing them when someone cleared their throat behind them. When they turned around Voight was standing there, his hands deep in his pockets, eyeing the two of them as they took a step back from one another. If he didn’t know about them before, he definitely did then.

“You get anything new on these guys?” He asked, a knowing look plastered across his face.

“No, Sarge. They were gone by the time we pulled up,” Jay told him, dropping the hose to the ground.

“Well, get back to it. We’ve wasted enough time as it is, we’ve got to catch these guys,” he said bluntly, turning and making his way back into the house. The two of them stayed there frozen, shaking their heads at how careless they had been to let him walk up on them like that.

Back at the district, they scrubbed the lives of all of the victims, still coming up with no connection between any of them. Nighttime arrived once again with no leads and no suspects, so they decided to call it and head home. That night, Hailey laid awake, tossing and turning for hours. She tried every method she knew to fight off the insomnia that had kept her restless, but nothing was able to lull her into a slumber. It was the case that was keeping her up, and her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling while a million theories circulated through her mind. Something about it just didn’t make sense, and she couldn’t shake the idea that they had been missing an obvious connection. The faces of the couple she tried to save earlier that day remained at the forefront of her mind, and after a while of fighting off the urge to get out of bed and chase that gut feeling, she finally slipped out from the grasp of Jay’s limp arm, carefully retreating from the bed as to not wake him. She made her way over to her closet, pulling on a pair of jeans and slipping a sweatshirt over her head before grabbing her badge and gun from the nightstand and sliding her phone into her back pocket. She made her way to her office, retrieving a sticky note and pen to write Jay a message letting him know where she was going.

Couldn’t sleep. Gone back to the district, needed to go over the case again. ♡

She tiptoed back into the bedroom and placed the note on her pillow where she knew he’d see if he happened to wake up. She grabbed her coat and opened the front door, slowly guiding it closed on her way out, still trying her best to be as quiet as possible. She wasn’t sure what she would be looking for when she arrived at the district, but she had hoped that studying it alone and in the quietness of the empty bullpen would provide her with a new perspective. She made herself a cup of coffee before walking over to her desk and opening up every file they had on the case. She paced the floor of the empty space, flipping through files and studying photos until she was sure there was nothing to see. Finally, she hoisted herself onto the top of her desk, pulling her knees into her chest and eyeing the board for something they may have been missing. Suddenly, she heard the beeping of the keypad and the clanging of the door opening and closing downstairs. She checked her phone to see the time. It was 4 am, and she couldn’t imagine who else would be up that early. She did a double-take as Jay made his way around the corner, a look of exhaustion on his face as he sent her a lazy smile.

“What are you doing here?” She asked him, unclasping her hands from around her knees and pulling herself to the edge of the desk.

“Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing,” he said with a smirk, pulling his jacket from his shoulders and resting it on the back of her desk chair.

“I couldn’t sleep. Something about this case was keeping me up, so I figured instead of lying in bed and staring at the ceiling for hours I would try and make myself useful. You didn’t have to come check on me. I’m fine,” she told him, the corners of her lips curling up into a reassuring smile as he came to stand over her.

“I couldn’t go back to sleep once I realized you were gone,” he told her softly with a slight pout before turning to lean on the desk beside her. “So, what have you figured out?” He asked, his attention turning to the board before them. She sighed, crossing her arms and staring at the crime scene photos as he waited for her response.

“I don’t know. I mean these families have no connections. The kids all go to different schools, they all work at completely different places, they don’t even shop at the same stores, I can’t seem to figure out where their lives intersect, so I just don’t understand why they’re being targeted,” she ran down, looking over at Jay whose eyes surveyed the information on the board.

“Maybe it’s about more than just the robbery. I mean they’re taking time to kill every member of the family, including the kids. Unless these guys are just straight-up psychopaths, it sounds like whatever is going on could be personal,” Jay suggested, looking over at his partner whose eyes were transfixed on one particular photo on the case board. His words sparked something in her, and she caught sight of the words Resurgence Tech written in bold font on a magnet on the refrigerator from the second crime scene. She knew the name was familiar, but she couldn’t remember how.

She pulled out the files from each of the cases and found what she was looking for. An email address registered in the husband’s name from the first robbery ending in resurgencetech.co. Looking at the other files, she was able to establish a connection between all of them leading back to a company previously known as Resurgence Tech. As she and Jay investigated through the night, they were able to figure out what was being stolen and why it was worth killing over. Resurgence Tech was a company co-founded by four individuals, Ryan Ethers, victim of the first robbery, Scarlett Jameson, victim of the second, Max Lin, victim from the third, and Lianne Meadows, who lived in a house in the Gold Coast District close to the previous victims. Five years prior, Resurgence Tech created a breakthrough idea for a high-tech medical device that had the potential to significantly change the practice of medicine. However, after hours of gathering information and records, the two detectives found out that the design was actually stolen from two brothers who had developed the original idea for a project they were working on in college. Resurgence used their power and influence to discredit the claims of the brothers, blacklisting them from the entire industry, and eventually pulling the design before it could ever meet the market. Not long after, Resurgence shut down for good, liquidating its assets and washing its hands of its shady actions for good. Digging deeper into the four co-founders of Resurgence and knowing more about where to look, Hailey and Jay were able to find email exchanges between them all discussing what to do with the patent plans for the stolen design in case there ever came a time to reintroduce the tech to the market. The strategy was to split the plans between the four of them, each keeping a piece locked up on a thumb drive hidden in a safe.

As soon as the sun rose that morning, Hailey called Voight and the rest of the team to come in. She explained the connection and identified the brothers as suspects, describing how the robberies must have been to obtain the thumb drives and get vengeance for the way Resurgence screwed them over. The situation had a significant impact on the brothers’ lives, leading them to turn to a life of crime, describing how they got connected with an armed robbery crew, and began pulling jobs across the city before getting caught only a year after Resurgence blacklisted them from the tech industry. They were released early due to overcrowding and good behavior, so they got out, hacked into the emails of the individuals that ruined their lives, and found out the design was out there, still viable to be profited from. Running on anger and revenge and using the skills they developed in their time with the robbery crew, they sought to take back what was theirs. They were operating under the theory that the two brothers were committing the crimes, and a guy that used to run with them in their old robbery crew was taking on the role as the getaway driver.

“Well, let’s go scoop ‘em up,” Voight said upon hearing the rundown of the case.

“Sarge, as much as I want to bring these guys in, we don’t have any evidence on them. There’s been no DNA, no prints, no witnesses tying these guys to these cases. There’s no way they’re going to talk, and if we bring them in, they’re just going to get released even if we keep them for the full 48 hours. By then they’ll have already made plans to run,” Jay said.

“These guys have killed nine people, three of those people being little kids. If we don’t act now, they’re going to strike again and that’s going to be blood on our hands. We bring them in, and we make them talk. I don’t care if we have to threaten them, or if we get ‘em to flip on each other. Either way, we’re not just going to sit around and wait for something to happen on this one. Not when we’ve got a pile of bodies growing the longer we sit here with our thumbs up our asses. So, Hailey, Jay, I want you two going to pick these guys up,” Voight bit back, a distinct annoyance in his voice. He had been on edge throughout the entirety of the case, but his temper seemed to have only increased after walking up on Jay and Hailey at the scene a day prior.

As much as Hailey wanted to side with Voight, she knew Jay was right. Bringing them in with no evidence and no witnesses placing them at any of the scenes would only guarantee them getting to walk, something she was determined to not let happen.

“Sarge, we can’t,” she muttered, swallowing what felt like a rock in her throat as his face fell with bitter surprise.

“What?” He challenged, his head dropping down as he cut his eyes at her.

“Jay is right. We can’t just jump on these guys with no evidence or else we risk losing them for good. I know you want to get these guys quick, but there’s got to be a better play,” she replied, taking note of the uncomfortable looks expressed by the other Intelligence members who quietly observed the interaction from the other side of the room. She watched as he pulled the inside of his cheek between his teeth.

“Remind me, who’s the sergeant of this unit?” The question carried a great deal of weight, and everyone in the room fell silent as his eyes travelled between each of the five intelligence members. “You don’t have to agree with what I say, but there’s a chain of command here and I expect you to listen to me. Now, unless there’s another sergeant in this unit I’m unaware of, I’m in charge. So, I’m only going to say this one last time. Jay, Hailey, go pick these guys up. I have to go update Miller on what’s going on. Those guys better be sitting in interrogation when I get back. End of,” he roared, making his way past the officers who remained frozen in place.

While Adam, Kevin, and Kim went back to work, Hailey grabbed her jacket, heading down the hallway out to the parking lot to follow the sergeant’s orders.

“Hailey, wait,” Jay called after her, grabbing her arm and pulling her into the observation room where he knew the others wouldn’t be able to hear them.

“What?” She questioned, a look of concern on her face as he silently thought through his words.

“I think I have another play,” he told her.

“Jay, he seemed- “she began before he cut her off.

“No, I know, but you know I’m right. We bring these guys in now and these families will never get the justice they deserve. We know there’s only one family left on their list, Lianne Meadows. The only move we have left is to catch these guys in the act. I say we sit on her house and wait for the robbery to go down, snatch them up, and then we have the guns tying them to the other cases and we have leverage to get them to flip if we need to,” Jay told her, the look in his eyes pleading with her to agree.

She knew Jay was right, but she also knew what going against Voight’s orders would mean. By that point, it was safe to assume he knew about their relationship. She knew that alone would be cause for him to assign them to different partners or even to different units. Teaming up and going against him would only increase the chances of him pulling the trigger on that. From the start of the case, she knew she wanted to catch the guys no matter what, but she never imagined it would involve making a decision that could possibly jeopardize her partnership with Jay. Every part of her knew his way was the only option that gave them a chance of making things right, yet she knew there would be a cost to them both going against Voight’s orders.

“You’re right… but let me do it alone,” she told him, causing him to frown at her words.

“What? No, I can’t let you go after these guys by yourself,” he argued, a combination of concern and annoyance in his voice.

“Jay, if we do this together it’s only going to give him reason to split us up. I have a feeling we’re already on his hit list after everything that has happened these past few days, and if he sees that we’re siding with each other… going rogue against his orders? He could reassign us partners, or worse, ship one of us off again. You, this partnership, our relationship, it all means too much to me to risk. If I go alone, only I take the fall, and he doesn’t have reason to use our relationship against us,” Hailey told him, moving a hand to his chest as she spoke.

Pushing him away and crossing that line by herself was the only way she knew how to protect both their relationship and their partnership. With her history of crossing lines, she had hoped it would just seem like another questionable decision she made all on her own, and he wouldn’t have reason to punish both of them by splitting them up.

“Hailey, I’m not just letting you go there without backup,” he finally said, his jaw set tightly as he peered into her eyes.

“I’ll have Trudy assign some patrol guys for backup. That way you and the others don’t take fall back from Voight, but I won’t be going in alone,” she replied, moving the hand from his chest to cup his face. “I’ll be fine,” she told him.

He nodded hesitantly before sliding his fingers down her arm and wrapping his hand around hers.

“Be careful,” he insisted, squeezing her hand lightly.

“Of course,” she nodded back before opening the door and disappearing down the hall.

She sat out front of the house, the patrol officers waiting a street over for her signal. It had been about an hour and she had already dodged two calls from Voight. Her patience was running thin with every minute that passed without a sign of the crew. Then, she spotted a dark van creeping down the street and she slumped down in her seat, trying to avoid being seen. As the van approached the house, two men rolled out of the back door as the van maintained a low speed before stopping down at the end of the street. The second the men made it around the back of the house, Hailey radioed the patrol guys, climbing out of her car and drawing her weapon as she followed the offenders around the back. When the patrol guys caught up, she nodded to one of them, signaling them to open the back door and enter the home. The second they made it through the doorway, they were catching fire. Hailey took cover behind a door frame, keying her radio attached to her vest.

“10-1, 10-1, shots fired at the police, 1327 N Dearborn Street. Be advised patrol and plainclothes officers on scene,” she yelled into the radio, securing her free hand back on her gun before motioning the officers to press forward. They made their way into the house, carefully clearing each room as they passed through. When they made it to the front of the house, she caught sight of one of the guys escaping out the front door.

“5021 Henry I’m in foot pursuit of a suspect in an alleyway going west across the street from the original location,” she called out into the radio as she pumped her legs with each step, trying to control her breath as she chased after the suspect. He rounded a corner and she slowed down, holding her gun out to peer around the corner before continuing the pursuit. The next thing she knew, her gun was being kicked out of her hands and she was being thrown against the wall, hitting the side of her head against brick and feeling blood trickle down her face. She brought a knee up into her attacker’s groin, giving her a brief opening to connect an elbow with the side of his head. Falling to the ground, the man grabbed at her ankle, bringing her down with him before grabbing hold of her vest and laying a fist into her jaw. The blow sent her backward, shooting pain into the side of her face. She caught sight of her gun on the ground a few feet away and went to crawl for it, but he grabbed at her leg, drawing her backward toward him as she stretched her fingertips towards the handle. He was stronger than her, and he managed to pull her back enough to regain hold of her vest, winding up to lay another fist into her face. Before he could, she wrapped a leg around his, twirling him over so she was hovering over him. She began laying fist after fist into his masked face until she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She flinched, sending her elbow backwards towards the person. It was grabbed instantly, and she wiggled in the grasp before turning around and taking in the familiar green eyes of her partner.

“Hailey, we got him,” he said, holstering his gun and grabbing her by each arm to pull her up from the ground. Kim came from behind him, removing the mask from the offender and rolling him over to place him in cuffs. Meanwhile, Jay wrapped Hailey in his arms, bringing his chin down to her head as they swayed together in an embrace. Her breath was heavy and shaky, and she felt tears pool at the corners of her eyes. She was overwhelmed by everything that had just happened, but his arms wound tightly around her helped steady her breathing.

“It’s okay Hailey, you’re safe. I’ve got you,” he reassured her through a whisper. She took comfort in his words, and despite the pain surging through her head, she buried it deeper into his chest.

Luckily, they had reached the target and her family in time before the offenders could do any harm. Hailey went to Med to get her head checked out. A few stitches and several scans later, she was cleared, making her way back to the district to take whatever repercussions Voight had in store for her. The second she made it up the stairs, everyone’s eyes fell on her and she just flashed them a gentle smile and nod, signaling to them she was okay. Voight came to the doorway of his office, and she didn’t miss a beat heading straight towards him. However, just before she reached the door, his attention shifted over towards Jay at his desk.

“You too, Jay,” was all the sergeant said before turning and moving back into his office. Jay stood, making his way over and closing the door behind him before coming to stand beside Hailey across from the Voight’s desk. He looked over at them silently for a moment, Hailey setting her jaw tightly as she braced for whatever was to come.

“Are we just making a habit out of disobeying me and questioning my orders? Is that what we’re doing now?” He asked them. They remained silent. “Because if that’s what we’re doing and you’ve got a problem with how I run things, there’s the door. You can get out right now,” he told them sternly.

“Sarge, we needed to get those guys. Catching them in the act was the only way. I did what I had to do to make sure those families got justice,” Hailey said, her eyes remaining fixed with his.

“I told you to pick them up, bring them in, and instead you went your own way, putting that family, yourself, and a couple of patrol officers at risk. I could suspend you over this,” he argued, a distinct tension building in his voice.

“Sarge, it was my idea. If anyone deserves punishment, it’s me,” Jay admitted, causing Hailey’s head to swivel his direction, a cross look on her face as the words left his mouth.

“No, that’s not… Look, I went there on my own. I’m the only one to blame here,” Hailey argued causing him to shake his head before them.

“Okay, look. I know there’s something going on between you two, I have known for a while,” the second the words left his mouth, their eyes met briefly, and they both swallowed hard before turning back to him. “I decided to turn a blind eye because you two were able to keep it strictly professional here at work as far as I was concerned. But what happened today, what’s happening right now… this lying to me and covering for each other is not welcome in my unit. This is your warning and it’s the only one you’re going to get. As long as I’m in charge of this unit, you listen to me. You don’t go off-book, you don’t go behind my back because you disagree with what I say, and you certainly don’t let whatever is going on between you two change the way you make decisions. I know you guys are going to have each other’s backs… as partners and as whatever else, but the second that trumps having my back and the team's back, the way it did today, it undermines my authority and puts all of us at risk. If anything happens again like what happened today, you’re both done, and I’ll make sure you never work in the same unit again. Is that clear?” He asked them.

“Understood,” Jay replied.

“Yes, Sarge,” Hailey uttered, her heart rate dropping significantly with relief.

They drove home that night in silence, partly from exhaustion and partly from trying to process everything that had happened in the past 72 hours. Three days ago, they were on their first official date, celebrating their relationship for what felt like the first time, and now they were coming down from what could have easily been the end of their job and their partnership. Even though she hated the way it had to go down, she stood by having Jay’s back and trying to protect their relationship, even if it meant muddying the waters between them and Voight. From the start of the case, she was determined to catch the guys, chasing a small sense of redemption she felt she needed for that case she worked so many years prior. She wasn’t happy about everything that happened, particularly everything that went wrong, but she was able to save a family and get some form of justice for the others, and she stood by that firmly. It wasn’t the first time she had challenged Voight or crossed lines, but it was the first time she was genuinely fearful of the consequences. She was just glad her fears didn’t come to fruition. She looked over at Jay in the driver’s seat, and she remembered the way he told her she was safe after pulling her from the attacker only hours prior. Safe wasn’t something she had felt often in her life, but she certainly felt it when she was with him. She smiled to herself in the dark, satisfied to know that at least for that day, despite everything that happened, their relationship and their partnership were two things she could still consider safe.

like branches in a storm

you know what? fuck it. i say they BOTH moved into the basement their senior year <3

Nursey wakes up on the morning of graduation with the distinct and uncomfortable impression that somebody’s glued him to the mattress.

Trying to sit up proves fruitless. He blinks up at the ceiling a few times instead, and the unfamiliar room resolves itself suddenly into the basement of the Haus: cramped but tidy, almost spartan now that its occupants are moving out in a few hours. All that’s left is a stack of neatly labeled boxes by the door, a few plants on the desk that are too big to be packed away. Two suits are all that remain in the closet, caps and gowns and hoods—one gold-edged, one white—piled on the shelf above them.

It takes a long moment to quell the fear that flutters low in Nursey’s gut at the sight. In two hours he’s going to get up and get dressed and then, carried forward on the relentless tide of pomp and circumstance, he’s going to have to leave this place that’s been his home behind.

He looks back up at the ceiling, at the pre-dawn light that washes across it through the one small window. It’s watery and cool, the sort of morning that promises sunshine—a perfect summer day, just in time for the ceremony.

Nursey decides that he’s going to be angry at the sun today.

He shuts his eyes tight against reality, goes to seek solace in the safety of his pillows—but he finds only Dex there, warm in the bed beside him. He’s turned over onto his stomach, one heavy arm slung across Nursey’s chest; slow, even breaths ruffle Nursey’s hair, tickle his cheek.

Well, Nursey thinks. That answers the glue question.

also on ao3

He exhales in relief, tucks his nose down into Dex’s shoulder, and tries to make himself relax by degrees. It’s no less heart-stopping to wake up to Dex today than it was when they first started dating, but it is familiar now, and that at least is enough to lull Nursey back to stillness for a while. He steadfastly tries not to think about anything other than the rise and fall of Dex’s back and—

For the second time in five minutes, Nursey’s brain says, Fuck it.

He can’t believe it’s their last morning in this room.

It still shocks him sometimes that he and Dex ended up here, curled up together where they’d once lived at each other’s throats. He definitely prefers this arrangement, the cozy closeness of sharing a room and a routine and a life, tangled up in each other.

Nursey’s never been happier, and so a part of him hates that he can’t help but dwell on the worst case scenario. He’s spent his last few months at Samwell worrying that this thing between them is too new, too precious, to survive outside of the place where they’d learned to respect each other at last.

He doesn’t have much time to dwell on it today, though, because at that moment a voice in his ear says, “Mornin’.”

When he turns, Dex is blinking at him across the pillow, all long lashes and five thousand freckles and the world’s most kissable nose. Nursey decides to do something about that last observation—mostly just so he can watch the slow curve of Dex’s smile as he pulls away.

“Hey,” he murmurs. “Good morning.”

Under the covers, Dex stretches one leg and then the other, miles of sleep-warm skin brushing against Nursey’s calves. He hooks one foot over Nursey’s knee and tugs himself impossibly closer, buries his nose in the sweaty collar of Nursey’s t-shirt.

“Sorry,” says Nursey reflexively. Dex just shakes his head, mumbles something that might be either it’s fine or you smell, and presses his lips to the base of Nursey’s throat.

Gratified to be absolved either way, Nursey runs a hand up and down Dex’s back and tries to let the steady rhythm ground him.

“Babe.” Dex’s voice is scratchy and low when he speaks again. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Nursey answers, a shade too quickly. Dex pulls back a little to raise an eyebrow at him, silently calling bullshit. “Just, uh.”

Uh is about the only way he can think to describe it. The feeling welling up in his chest at the thought of leaving Samwell is too unwieldy to name—maybe it always has been. Definitely has been for the last two weeks he’s spent viciously pushing it down. Now, with the reality of graduation staring him in the face, his body’s no longer big enough to contain it. His mouth doesn’t know how to describe it. Words don’t fail Nursey often, but this morning they’ve deserted him entirely.

But beside him, Dex is quiet, patient, and Nursey feels like he owes it to him to try.

“I’m just,” he tries again, eloquently. “Today, you know? Excited. Scared. Little sad.”

“Huh.” Dex grunts and then lifts his head just enough to squint at his phone screen. “S’a lot of feelings for eight forty-five.”

“Well, just because you don’t have them until after nine,” Nursey retorts. He lets it hang, though, and scrubs his hands over his face, viciously swiping away a tear that threatens to escape.

Dex huffs out a sympathetic breath and drapes his arm back across Nursey’s chest. “M’chirpin’ you,” he murmurs, lips brushing Nursey’s forehead.

Nursey offers him a watery smile. “I know, Poindexter.”

They’re quiet again for a while—two floors up, Nursey hears the pipes protesting as someone tries to coax the shower up to a bearable temperature—before Dex adds, “I’m sad too. If it helps.”

Nursey has to swallow past the sudden lump in his throat. “Yeah?”

“Mhm.”

Footsteps move past the basement door on their way into the kitchen—Chowder’s, maybe, or Whiskey’s. Big breakfasts are the order of the day on momentous mornings; Nursey knows he’ll start smelling biscuits and bacon whether championships are won or lost, exams are passed or failed, new relationships are to be celebrated or breakups gravely toasted with Tango’s leftover bowl of cereal milk.

Old habits die hard in this Haus.

“Funny thing is, though,” Dex says, and his voice brings Nursey back to the present: this boy, this bed, one last morning in the place that made them. “I kinda like you.”

“Oh, shit, you do?” Nursey asks, soft and wry and fond.

“Yeah.” When Dex smiles for real his eyes crinkle up at the corners, and Nursey loves him with a ferocity that no damn graduation can stop. “Maybe against my better judgment, but—ow, hey—hard to be too sad today when I know I’ll still have you at the end of it.”

“Thank God,” says Nursey. “Need someone watching my back.”

He tries not to let it show how much it buoys him, the simple reassurance that Dex likes his presence in his life. On such an uncertain day, though, he wonders if Dex knows just how badly he needed to hear it.

Dex's face gives nothing away when he snorts, digs a gentle elbow down into Nursey’s ribs. “Understatement of the year, babe.”

Call him a hopeless romantic, but Nursey’s brain flicks through all the maritime imagery it can think of: anchors, tides, lighthouses. Oh, that’s a good one—a light on the distant shore. Someone to guide him home, no matter where home turns out to be.

Somehow, he doesn’t think he’ll ever have to look much farther than this bed.

They’re quiet while the sky turns from gray to pink to gentle gold, while the sun comes up on an ending—and maybe, if Nursey is lucky, a beginning, too.

more of my trans billy ficlets here 💕

--

thing is, billy never wanted kids.

he didn't even like playing with the stupid plastic babies that out of touch relatives thought made good christmas gifts. the dolls stayed in a sad creepy little pile in his closet—shoved in the corner behind the laundry hamper—til he was ten, and his father started really cracking down on his be grateful for what you have campaign.

billy still insists that using his mom's hairspray to set them on fire counts as playing with them. but that particular argument ended with billy icing a black eye, peeking through the bathroom window to watch his dad lug what was left of his dresser to the dumpster across the street.

point is, billy's never had any interest in being a parent, not even playing pretend at being one.

and that was never really a problem, no guy stuck around long enough for it to ever be a conversation they'd have to have.

until steve.

and steve...steve was fucking born to be a dad, and billy knows it. even without knowing all about the botched dream of a white picket fence happy ending with his high school sweetheart, without having seen that wistful look in his eye when he talks about how he was going to take a shitty job with his dad and live out his suburban i-peaked-in-high-school fantasy, even without all that, it's still obvious.

because he's happy mothering his rag-tag band of ducklings, even though they're too old to be babysat now. because he lights up with the most precious fucking goofy grin when random babies wave at him in public. because he knows all the ways his parents went wrong, and he's exactly the kind of person who'd do better just to spite them.

but billy doesn't know if he's that kind of person. and he's not sure if he'd ever forgive himself if it turns out he isn't.

he's not sure what he'll do about it if steve ever asks, so he's been doing the only logical thing. avoiding the subject entirely.

which, obviously doesn't last.

they've been together for three years. they share an apartment. marriage and kids and all that normal adult couple shit is what mature people talk about when they're in committed relationships, apparently.

it started with a favour for a friend.

some girl steve works with needed someone to watch her toddler for a couple hours, and of course steve volunteered. would've been fine if he hadn't forgotten something at home and called billy to ask him to drop it off.

and, see, it wasn't like he meant to stay, the kid was just so fucking clingy, and took a shying to billy of all people.

and billy saw the little soft-eyed smiles steve kept throwing his way whenever the kid latched onto his leg or babbled at him in toddler-speak that billy had to pretend to understand. he noticed. he's can't stop noticing. can't stop nervously glancing at steve, anxiety threading itself around his heart, his lungs, til he's all tangled up in it, tied up, stomach lurching when it pulls and tightens. he's tense, and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

and it does. in the car on the way home.

"you ever think about having kids?" steve is trying so hard to be nonchalant that it's almost painful. he's tracing patterns on his jean-clad thigh, billy can see him out of the corner of his eye. he keeps his gaze locked on the road.

he should probably ease into it. maybe. he has no idea, actually, this is probably gonna be a shit-show either way. for one, brief, horrifying moment he wonders if steve would break up with him over this and he can't breathe for a second.

and when his lungs expand again what comes tumbling out of his mouth is—

"i'd be a shitty dad, steve."

he winces at his own tone.

"fuck off, you would not." steve's vehemence surprises him enough that he forgets not to look. steve's brow is furrowed, his jaw set in a stubborn pout.

billy chews his lip silently, fingers tight on the steering wheel. "what makes you so sure," he asks quietly.

"you're kidding, right?" steve huffs. there's a pause, and his palm lands on billy's bicep, warm and grounding. "i'm sure because i know you." he squeezes billy's arm, "and...max and i talk," he adds, voice soft.

"knew introducing you two was a bad idea," billy mumbles. "fucking gossiping behind my back"

steve snickers. "all good things, i promise."

"right."

"...mostly good things."

"hm."

"come on, she loves you and you know it."

billy sighs, a half-hearted grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. "yeah."

"and so do i."

"...you better." his smile grows when steve slaps his shoulder. "yeah, yeah, love you too, jesus."

"you better," steve echoes sarcastically. after a quiet moment of slowly drawing circles up and down billy's arm he adds, "i doubt myself too, y'know. it's not like i have any idea how to parent, mine weren't around enough to help me figure that shit out." he snorts.

"oh come on, you parent the shit out of those dorky brats of yours."

"nah..." steve shrugs, his hand slipping from billy's shoulder. "i was just. there, i guess. not like they listened to me or anything. which was probably good, 'cause i gave shitty advice and swore too much."

"you must done something right, they're still around." he glances over at steve. he's not looking back, he's got his forearms folded across his stomach, fingers curled around his elbows, slouched in on himself. billy reaches over and slips his hand around one of steve's. "hey. every one of those kids looks up to you, and you fucking earned that."

the rest of the drive is spent in companionable silence. billy knows its not the end of the conversation, not even close. it's going to come up again later, but it feels less looming and terrifying now. it's hard to be too scared of what-ifs when steve is two feet away and fiddling with one of billy's rings with a soft smile on his face.

later turns out to be when they've settled into bed for the night.

when steve rolls over, tugging billy's arm until it's draped around his waist, and he wiggles around trying to get his pillow squished just right. and billy watches him with an amused smile. and steve grins back, for a second, before he bites his lip, and—

"so, i...do want kids. um. just to be clear."

billy sighs. "yeah, i figured."

"i know you'd be great at it, billy," steve says quietly, firm and gentle and so damn sure that billy almost wants to believe him. "and we'd make a real pretty kid"

"jesus, harrington."

"what? it's true."

billy huffs a laugh. "yeah." he shifts, sheets rustling around his legs. "i never wanted kids, you know. always fuckin...freaked me out. the idea of it." steve watches him quietly, a warm hand on his chest, waiting patiently as billy pauses. "still fuckin' freaks me out. but you...it's less terrifying when i think about doing it with you. maybe."

"yeah?" steve's grin is blinding, his whole fucking body curling into it.

"maybe. keep it in your pants, bambi."

steve kisses him, cupping his cheek and leaning in slow and careful. "it's okay if the answer is no. it's okay. i'm just..." he nuzzles a little, eyes falling shut and a soft, contented smile warming his face. "makes me feel all special that you'd even consider it. for me."

yeah it's starting to look like there isn't a whole lot billy wouldn't consider doing for steve.

he snorts, and kisses steve's nose. "yeah well, don't get used to it."

"mm," steve snuggles closer. "wouldn't dream of it."

Indruck 22 for the meet uglies?

Here you go! I went SFW on this one

you’re on a date with this awful, awful person who keeps getting under my skin because my friend and I have been eavesdropping all night and your date says something that makes me snap … I thought it was a first date, not a three year relationship

“...such a waste of money. I mean, why spend all that to get something tacky on your skin?”

Indrid rolls his eyes at Barclay from across the counter of the Amnesty Lodge coffee shop, the cooks arms and hands sporting a plethora of tattoos rivaled only by Indrid’s collection.

“I dunno, l like the one I got.” The other man--who seems to be on the worst first date of his life--shrugs.

“You honestly think you and Juno couldn’t have spent that money on something else in college?”

“I mean maybe but, uh, we were earnin our own cash, figured we got to decide what to spend it on.”

“Hmmmm” the first guy sips his coffee, “sounds like a typical excuse for someone who doesn’t want to admit a mistake.”

“C’mon, that ain’t fair-”

“Ugh, stop saying ain’t! I can’t take someone who talks like that to meet my family.” Before the target of his disdain can respond, he snaps his fingers, “hey, buddy, can I get a refill or what?”

“The station for black coffee refills is right there, sir.” Barclay indicates the very obvious corner of dispensers, his voice the kind of calm that Indrid knows means he’s memorizing this guys face to warn other staff about.

They earn a brief reprieve while The Asshole leaves the table. When he returns, he’s shaking his head.

“God, have you looked at the photos they’ve got up? Who the fuck wants to look at bones?”

Indrid quickly glances at his friend to be sure he’s permitted to start a fight. Barclay nods.

“Quite a lot of people.” Indrid spins on his stool. “I’ve sold a number of them just from the display here. So perhaps you could keep your rude, unclultured, close-minded, obnoxious mouth shut.”

The man balks, looks to his companion for help. He offers none, mouth trying to form words and only coming out with halves of ones (except for the “fucks” which are plentiful).

“Oh my fucking god, you agree with him! That’s it, I’m out.” The Asshole pushes back from the table and storms out. The remaining man leaps up, panicked.

“Fuck.”

“It’s okay man, shitty first dates happen to all of us.” Barclay offers from beside the bakery case.

“I mean yeah, they do, but that wasn’t one of ‘em. That was my boyfriend of three fuckin years.” He dashes out of the shop, sparing a final glare at Indrid as he does.

Indrid trades a sheepish look with his friend, “Oops.”

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

“I’m glad you finally get to meet Duck!” Aubrey grins over her shoulder as she and Indrid wind down the hall at the office Kepler magazine.

Founded by childhood friends, Kepler worked a combination of print and video content that saw its subscribers and revenue climb while other publications struggled to stay afloat. Aubrey was head of the video team, though she contributed content to the magazine in the form of interviews about environmental activists of color and sustainable gift guides.

Kepler has three sections: travel, science, and environmental writing. Indrid now has the honor of being one of their primary photographers. He started two weeks ago and is thoroughly enjoying his work and the company of the other staff. The only person he’s yet to meet is Duck Newton, one of the founders and main reporters, as he was off on an assignment.

Aubrey knocks, gets a friendly “come in” and ushers Indrid into the office.

Looking at him from behind the desk is The Asshole’s Boyfriend, whose face goes from open and friendly to confused, then to perturbed.

“You okay?”

“I, uh, fuck, n-ye.” Duck sighs, “remember how I told you Alex and I split after a shitty date in a coffee shop?” He points at Indrid, “this was the fella who, uh, expedited the process.”

“Ohhhh.” Aubrey frowns, then shrugs with a smile, “whelp, he’s our new photographer. We’ll see you around.” She hurries them outside once more, shutting the doors. As they head back the way they came, she whispers, “his ex was a huge fucking dick, so if word gets out everyone is gonna think you’re a fucking hero.”

“He didn’t seem to see it that way.”

“It was only a few weeks ago, so it’s still pretty fresh. He’ll heal from it okay, Duck’s a tough cookie. And I’m sure you guys’ll get along eventually.”

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

“Juno, please, you gotta come with me.”

“I would bud, except it’s April and I’s fifth wedding anniversary that weekend. And no, we already have plans, so we can’t just take over this assignment as part of the celebration.”

“Fuck” Duck leans back in his chair.

“...You really asked everyone?”

“Ye-no, fuck-”

“Duck.”

“I ain’t asked Indrid yet.”

“There it is.” Juno smirks, “you gotta ask; besides, we were gonna have him do illustrations for the feature, but photos would be even better. And we both know it ain’t his fault y’all broke up.”

Duck nods, promises to ask Indrid after lunch. He finds the photographer flipping through his files from his shoot for next issues cover. His silver hair is pulled back, red glasses sitting on the desk beside him so he can gauge color correctly.

Duck kind of wants to pull the silver locks just to see what happens. It’s not his fault Indrid looks like his Sophomore roommate who he had a raging crush on, only with more tattoos and a much more captivating face. Pity he helped fuck up Duck’s last chance at a stable relationship.

“Hey, Indrid, you got a minute?”

The photographer cocks his head.

“I, uh, so we got a feature on this whole chunk of places touting themselves as ‘sustainable romantic getaways. I booked a bunch of places, but a lot of ‘em will turn me away if I turn up solo. And the person I was supposed to go with ain’t an option any more. Neither is anyone else. You get my drift?”

Indrid pinches the bridge of his nose, “you realize this is a terrible idea, yes?”

“Hey, we been workin together just fine. Ain’t we? Wait, fuck, I ain’t been treatin you bad even when I’m tryin to be professional, am I?”

“No, you’ve been perfectly polite. But there’s a world of difference between being cordial in an office and going on what’s functionally a vacation together.”

Duck crosses his arms, “I ain’t about to lose eight hundred bucks in deposits.”

Indrid blinks, then chuckles, “Fair. What day do we leave?”

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

The temperature rises and the air dries as they speed south on Five. Indrid fiddles with games on his phone as cover for the list of “will this be a disaster or not” he’s mentally constructing. So far the signs are positive; Duck isn’t very chatty, but neither is Indrid. They have similar tastes in music, which makes much more sense when Duck explains he was a burn-out in high school. He also isn’t agitated by Indrid stimming, which makes it easier for the photographer to relax and enjoy the drive.

But they haven’t spoken about the elephant in the car, and Indrid resolves not to be the first to do so. No point in poking the sore spot if he doesn’t have to.

They stop at a Sinclair for gas. Duck reaches into his glovebox for something as Indrid climbs out, comes away with a photo instead. It’s one of those ones from a photobooth, faded but unmistakably him and his ex. His face falls for a second and Indrid scurries into the Dairy Queen attached to the convenience store.

As he waits in line, he turns one fact over in his mind like a picture he’s trying to make sense of; it would be easier to let their awkward first meeting go if he did not genuinely like the other man. He’s charming, in a quiet way, and very friendly. He’s built like the guys Indrid always got useless crushes on in college, usually third tier frat boys or--if he was lucky--a bear a few years older than him who liked his men on the odd side.

He doesn’t like seeing Duck sad. The sadness isn’t something he can fix. The stalemate between these two facts annoy the living hell out of him.

He’s next in line, glances up to confirm what he wants, and gets an idea. Last week, he overheard Duck talking with Aubrey about roadtrip snacks of their youth.

“One chocolate dipped cone, on me.” He holds the treat out to the other man.

“Oh. Uh, thanks. These are my favorite from when I was a kid.” Duck’s smile returns.

“I remembered. Or, ah, that is, I remembered you saying that.”

The smile changes, “you didn’t need to.”

“I wanted to. Shall we?”

“Yep. Uh, you gonna be able to drive and eat that at the same time?”

“Do not doubt my ability to consume ice cream under difficult circumstances, Duck Newton.”

They make it to their first stop unscathed. It’s what Duck refers to as, “eco-bespoke,” a fancy spa and hotel built in a former school, the kind that was made in an era of beautiful instead of grim educational architecture.

“Goats!” Indrid claps his hands, delighted, at the two animals stabled near the main building. One of it’s supposed sustainable elements is the small farm that helps feed the on-site restaurant. Duck smirks and Indrid suddenly feels the gulf in their upbringings, “Ah, I suppose they’re not exciting to someone who grew up in a rural town.”

“Nah, but they’re damn cute.” Duck checks the tag on their room keys, “okay, we’re in the green building, room 2B.”

Indrid snaps some photos as they cross the grounds, more to remind himself of things he wants to come back to later than anything else. He’s busy studying a strange mark on the wall by their door when Duck says, “I can sleep on the floor.”

“Why--oh” he stares at the single bed, “in retrospect, we should have seen this coming.”

“Yeah.” Duck drops his bag near the closet, slides the door to look for spare linens. Indrid summons his courage, finds it lacking, and so bolsters it with nonchalance.

“It’s a king, we could easily share.”

“You’d, uh, you’d be okay with that?”

“It is only narrow definitions of masculinity that mean something like sharing a bed is inherently sexual.”

He’s not entirely sure that made sense, but Duck nods, “You want the right side or left?”

“Right, please.”

“Great. And, uh, Indrid? Thanks for rollin with all this. I, uh, I know it’s fuckin weird but this is a huge feature for the magazine and we woulda been fucked if we had to pull it.”

Indrid gingerly sits on his side of the bed, “You’re welcome. And I don;t know about you, but” he smiles, catches Duck watching him intently in the mirror, “I’m enjoying myself so far.”

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

“Why has an activity that renders one incapable of using their thighs been deemed ‘romantic?” Indrid mumbles, face-down on the bed to offer his burning legs relief.

“Fuck if I know.” Duck groans as he sits next to him, “Kinda fun, but if I was doin this to get you in bed, I’d be fucked.”

“I am in bed” Indrid teases.

“And if I tried to put the moves of you you’d toss me outta it. Assumin I could even move myself that close.” Duck nudges him, then clears his throat, “uh, I mean, not like we’d be doin that-”

“Nono, point taken.” Indrid rolls over. The horseback ride was one of the “couples exclusives;” a trot out to a beautiful oasis for a gourmet picnic. Indrid got some excellent shots, including one of Duck with honeycomb dripping down his chin, which he will not be offering up to editors but may keep for himself. For it’s beautiful composition, of course.

Mercifully, their next stop is the pool. Indrid settles himself in the hot tub while Duck types some notes on his phone. Then his friend doffs his bathrobe and Indrid may as well be in a dream. In the steaming, echoing paradise of multi-colored tile and ecstatic shouts, Duck stands like one of the angelic fountains at its heart has come to life.

“You okay there, ‘Drid?”

“Yes.” He hopes his lack of glasses means Duck will mistake his blatant staring for trying to get his vision in focus.

“Then scoot your cu--uh, your butt over so I can sit down.”

Indrid gladly moves aside, finds he’s so comfortable with Duck pressed against him that he begins nodding off in the warm lull of the water. When the other man nudges him, saying it’s time to go, he finds a strong arm draped over his shoulder and Duck’s smile the most relaxed it’s been all trip.

Their last task at this location is to locate the speakeasy somewhere on the premises and order the “lovers delight” (only available to couples). To do so, they follow clues purple light bulbs, doors that lead to tiny, art-filled rooms, secret staircases, and a false supply closet to a dark wooded, dimly lit, incredibly pleasant bar looking out over the property. The drink turns out to be a massive goblet (more a bowl that someone stuck on a stem) of ginger syrup, prickly pear juice, and silver tequila.

It also turns out to be incredibly strong. So much so that when they get back to the room, Indrid loses his balance getting his shoes off, which makes Duck laugh, which results in both of them flopping onto the bed.

“S’fun. You’re, you’re real good at the clues. Should, should go to an escape room when we get home.”

“Wasn’t, hic, that hard. They, they want, hic, want you to find it.”

“Take the compliment, goofus” Duck pushes his shoulder.

“You’re, hic, the goofus.”

“Nuh uh.” Duck sticks his tongue out. Indrid does the same, then licks his cheek just to hear him laugh.

Duck rolls onto his back, giggles dying down to a contemplative sigh, “He woulda hated this.”

“Your ex?” Indrid crawls to stay close to him.

“Yeah. Everythin I like, or, or thought was fun, he thought it was a waste of time or just plain worthless. He, he wasn’t like that at the start. Dunno what changed. Probably me. Probably got borin. Got worse.”

Indrid is not so drunk that he believes he can fix this. But he’s just drunk enough to stroke Duck’s cheek and murmur, “No. Nono, hic, you’re th’best.”

He doesn’t remember falling asleep after that, but he must have, because his phone is beeping at them to get up and face the day. They do so with to-go coffees in one hand and their bags in the other, neither speaking of the night before until Indrid has turned the car into deeper desert.

“Sorry for gettin on a thing about Alex last night.”

“It was a three year relationship; goodness knows you’re allowed to have feelings about it.”

“Even relief?”

Indrid glances at him, “Of course.”

His friend leans back in his seat, sipping from his travel mug, “That’s half the reason I been in such a funk. I feel like I oughta be sad, then I feel guilty for the fact I’m relieved instead. But if I really was that unhappy in it, why did I hang around so long? Maybe that was the best I deserved, y’know?”

“I know the feeling, yes, but I can’t say I agree with your statement. You deserve someone who sees you for who you are and adores it, not someone who loved what you once were and became bitter when you grew.”

Duck looks at the console between them, at Indrid’s chipped black nails and the hand he hopes isn’t shaking. He squeezes it a moment longer than necessary, “Thanks, ‘Drid. It’s nice to hear that from someone who’s still gettin to know me. Juno and them, they’re my friends, I know they’re in my corner but, uh, sometimes I worry that anyone new is gonna find me dull or somethin like that.”

“I’m sure some people would, just as some take one look at me and decide I’m a weirdo who they don’t want to deal with. But I can say with certainty that I don’t find you that way.”

Duck grins all the way to their destination. It’s a quirky trailer park full of amenities and built mostly from salvaged materials, doing it’s best to run off the grid. It also gives each trailer a theme, and Indrid flaps his hands when he sees they’ve been booked in the “The Cramps” themed one.

“Hell yeah.” Duck mirrors his excitement as they open the door. Their haven from the desert sun is full of kitschy horror artifacts and a much smaller bed than the previous spot. There’s no debate this time; Indrid settles on the right, Duck on the left, and they settle in for a nap before venturing out to work.

They take in the bar, the arcade, the mini-golf course, and the “couples supply room” (“damn, didn’t know they made eggnog scented massage oil” “ooh, I like how that smells”), but Duck turns out to be most excited to rent a stargazing kit and guide Indrid out into the dark desert. They’re on their backs, shoulder to shoulder and munching chocolate covered fruit, when he discovers the source of his glee.

“There!” Duck points to a crackling streak of silver.

“A meteor” Indrid wiggles happily as a second one speeds through his view.

“It’s the Perseids, and this is a damn good place to watch ‘em. Look, there’s another one.” He’s breathless each time and Indrid’s heart threatens to beat hard enough to crack the earth at the sound.

“Did you ever wish on stars when you were little?”

“Yep. Never asked for much worth notin, though I’m pretty sure I wished once to just wake up and be a boy. Or, uh, guess for everyone to see me as one. What about you?”

“I wished...I wished for someone to do things like this with, some who’d kiss me and tell me that they didn’t need to wish because what they wanted was right here.. I love the world, I want to see so much of it, that’s half the reason I chose my profession.. But when I was young I thought I’d be with someone when I did. I thought it was easy to find that kind of love. To be worthy of it.”

“Hey now” Duck rolls onto his side. He’s backlit by the moon, meteors zipping behind him as if they, just like Indrid, are pulled to him, “what happened to all the stuff you said in the car about deservin someone who adores you?”

“It’s easy to apply such things to you, harder to believe them about myself.”

“How come?”

“Because you are everything a sensible person could want in a man and I am not.”

“That’s where you’re wrong” He sets a hand next to Indrid’s shoulder, “Can think of at least one sensible fella who wants to get to know you a whole hell of a lot.”

“He’ll get to know me plenty, we’re co-workers.”

“There are different kinds of gettin to know someone.” Duck dips down, brushes their noses together, “for instance, the last few days I’ve gotten to know you’re a damn good travel companion and that Ned was smart to hire you. But I’ve also gotten to know there’s some things about you I really wanna know.”

“Such as?” Indrid’s fingers find Duck’s sides.

“Such as whether you wanna go on a date with me when we get back. No assignment, just the two of us gettin some time together.”

“I want nothing more.” He leans up to kiss him, feels him shudder happily when their lips meet. Indrid wonders how long it’s been since someone kissed Duck like they meant it, and resolves to make up any deficits with an enthusiasm that would put horny eighteen year olds to shame.

Indrid nips Ducks ear, “you know, were it not for the threat of mosquitos and scorpions, I’d suggest we make good use of the non-food items in that basket.”

Ducks grin lights Indrid up like a comet, “Then howsabout we go test just how conducive our trailer is to romance?”

Indrid kisses him adoringly, “Lead on, sweetheart; I’ll follow you anywhere.”

today, tomorrow and all of our lives | n. mackinnon

Word Count: 7.3k Warnings: Some smut in the middle, swearing, minor character death. Summary: Leah reflects on her relationship with Nate through a series of memories they’ve shared in the minutes before they say I do.  a/n: Full disclosure this is the first piece I’ve written in almost 10 years. It turned out way longer than expected and I am so terrified to post it but I hope you all love it as much as I do. Any and all feedback is appreciated, happy reading! 

As she looked into the mirror, running her fingers over the white silk lining her frame, all she felt was calm. Peace. She’d surprised herself in that regard. She’d expected nerves, expected anxiousness, but she didn’t feel either. She simply felt calm. Her fingers moved up toward the tulle settled neatly in her hair, then ran down the fabric of what had once been her grandmother’s veil. Her something borrowed. She thought of her grandmother then, of the relationship between her and her grandfather, one that had lasted almost sixty years before they’d left this life together, just months apart and still madly in love. The kind of love she’d hoped for as she watched them as a child, then as a teen, then as an adult. The same kind of love she felt she’d found when she met him. Her eyes closed, thinking back to the day she’d first laid eyes on him.

The excited little voices of the children filing back into her classroom brought a small smile to Leah’s face in an instant. Kindergarten had just finished art, and as she watched them come in and sit back at their tables, she silently thanked Mrs. Claskey for the lack of paint on their clothes and hands. There’d been a small (according to Mrs. Claskey, not so much to Leah) incident last week at the very end of art class that had somehow ended in Jack Ledger’s entire right arm and half of his shirt covered in brown paint. Of course the 5th graders had already been lined up at the door waiting to come in, so Mrs. Claskey hadn’t had time to clean him up. That’d been a fun afternoon at the sink for Jack and Leah. Once all of the children were seated, Leah stood from her rocking chair at the front of the room and raised her hand. Her students followed suit, having been conditioned to quiet down and raise their own hands when she did so. Their hands lowered as she began to speak.

“Alright, my friends. I know we’re excited, today’s a special day for us. We have new friends coming to spend time with us this week! Do we remember who they are?” As soon as she finished, little hands all over the room shot back up. Leah looked around, pointing to the tiny blonde in the far too large and, Leah suspected second hand, Avalanche jersey dead center. “Emory, who are they?” “The Colorado Avalanche, Ms. Brewer! They play hockey here, at the Pepsi Center! My dad says some day they’ll win the… the um…” “The Stanley Cup?” Leah supplied. That and what information Emory had spoken aloud was about all she knew of them as well, not really following the sport herself. “Yes!” Emory continued, “The Stanley Cup!” Leah nodded and clasped her hands together. “Good job Emory that’s right! Some of the players from the Avalanche are coming to meet us this afternoon. They’re just as excited to meet you as you are to meet them. But before we can do that, we need to talk about the rules for when we have guests in our classroom.” A small groan sounded throughout the room and Leah giggled under her breath. “Okay, okay. I know talking about our rules isn’t always fun, but we want to show them how kind and polite we can be, right?” Twenty-two heads nodded, so she continued. “Good! Okay, who can tell me our rules then? Thomas?” Her gaze fixed on the quiet boy in the back corner, smiling slightly at him as he straightened up in his chair. Leah had been subtly attempting to bring Thomas out of his shell throughout his time in her class. As she remembered his silence and lack of eye contact at the beginning of the year, she felt nothing but pride for how far he’d come. “We don’t leave our spot at the carpet unless you or our guest says that we can. We sit criss cross applesauce and don’t touch our friends while we’re listening. When we want to talk or as a question, we raise our hands until someone calls on us. And we always show kindness to our friends, our visitors and our teachers.” Leah felt a swell of pride at the last bit. She had a great group of kids this year, and though she knew she shouldn’t play favorites, if she’d had a list this class would be up at the top for years to come. Teaching at a school in a low income area of Denver wasn’t what she’d expected herself to do after graduation, but she adored it all the same, and the children she’d taught were all incredibly special to her.

“Good, Thomas! But there’s one more rule we forgot, the most important rule. I know we remember, so how about let’s all say it together?” “Have fun!” “Yes! Have fun! I don’t think it’ll be hard with these new friends.” She glanced up at the clock then that read one o’clock on the dot. “Okay friends, time to make our way to the carpet! Please find your spot in our circle.” As her students got up and made their way to their seats in front of the rocking chair, she heard multiple people enter her room and all twenty-three heads, including her own, turned toward the intruders. Leah studied them for a moment as they made their way through the desks toward the group. There were two of them, both in blue and burgundy jerseys graced with the numbers 29 and 92 and an A and a C, respectively. Excited gasps and whispers filled the front of the room. The first to reach them was 92, and probably the most conventionally attractive man Leah had ever seen in person. His perfectly straight, shining white teeth were on full display, a wide grin stretch prominently across his face. His attention was focused solely on the children, so Leah looked past him and settled her eyes on the other, 29. She was surprised to find his attention fixed on her. She was also surprised at the butterflies that filled her stomach when her eyes met his. The bright blue staring back at her was like a shock to her system. She felt herself blush and quickly averted her gaze down to the jeans, white tank top and baggy yellow cardigan she’d pulled from her closet that morning. ‘Probably would have been a good day to dress it up a bit, Leah.’ She quickly shook herself from her thoughts and smiled at 92, still unable to meet the eyes of 29. “Hi there! I’m Ms. Brewer. We’ve all really been looking forward to this, I know they have especially.” Leah gestured to her excited students, some of the visibly trying to stop themselves from squirming in their places. He smiled at her and took her outstretched hand, shaking it and then setting his sights back to the children. “Hi everybody, we’ve been really excited to meet you! I’m Gabe, and this is Nate.” He gestured behind him to number 29. Nate. The name bounced around her head like a stray pinball. Nathan Mackinnon. She remembered seeing his face plastered over billboards downtown, along with that of who she now remembered 92 to be, captain Gabriel Landeskog. The two large hockey players sat in the admittedly too small chairs in front of the group, and Leah quietly made her way to the corner of the room, plopping in her desk chair to watch the interaction between Gabe, Nate and her students. As they excitedly asked and answered questions and talked about school, hockey and life in general (as much as five and six year old children could), Leah found herself unable to look away from Nate. He wasn’t handsome in the way that Gabe was. His nose and teeth were slightly crooked, and his jaw a bit more squared, but she found him incredibly attractive all the same. He smiled brightly at the group of children in front of him and enthusiastically spoke with them, his laugh speeding up the butterflies she still felt. She again found herself shaking her from her own thoughts, looking down at the papers on her desk. Leah hadn’t dated anyone seriously since her disastrous relationship with Scott had ended just before her college graduation. They had met in high school and began dating junior year, when they were both far too young and impulsive to have actually found the kind of love that was meant to last. They were two different people from the start, Scott preferring to get plastered at a large house party, Leah preferring to spend her Friday night on the couch under a blanket watching bad television. They had somehow lasted through their first three and a half years of college together, though they spent large chunks of it arguing or in silence, before Leah had discovered that the last seven months of their relationship he’d spent in bed with a blonde he’d met in one of his classes. She’d been devastated, but deep down she’d known he wasn’t the man she was meant to marry. Following graduation, she’d packed her things, picked up and moved to Denver for a fresh start, and hadn’t looked back since. She blamed her lack of dating for her current thoughts about Nate. She’d been so lost in her thoughts that she was surprised when she heard one of her students saying her name, immediately turning her attention back to the carpet ready to answer, though she found Millie still speaking to Gabe and Nate. “-she’s the best! She’s so much fun, even when she’s making us do our counting worksheets. Ooh, she lets us sing our weather song every morning, that’s my favorite part of the day.” Millie turned towards Leah and spoke directly to her, “Ms. Brewer, can you sing the song for them! It’s so much fun, they’ll love it.” Leah blushed slightly but chuckled as all twenty-two excited smiles and two curious pairs of eyes turned towards her. “Why don’t we all sing it together? Show them how great we are at it.” Leah led the excited group through their morning weather song about the rain, the snow, the wind and the sunshine and as they finished (loudly) she once again looked at the two blonde men and found Gabe smiling widely at the class while Nate looked at her with a small smile of his own. Her face warmed yet again as they all began clapping and laughing at her as she grinned and took a small bow in her chair. Conversation between Gabe and her students continued, but for a long moment Nate’s gaze remained fixed on her. She looked down at the papers on her desk again, trying not to read too much into his glances that were frequently aimed at her. All too quickly the two men stood from the chairs and bid goodbye to the students and after a collective “aww” and a round of high fives, left the room to meet the fifth graders waiting for them in the gym. As Leah focused on getting her students back to their seats at their tables, she didn’t notice Nate casting one last look through the door as they left, his eyes only set on her. By three o’clock all of her students were gone and Leah made her way around the room, cleaning up leftover trash and wiping the crumbs from their end of day snack from the tables. She jumped as she heard the deep voice coming from just outside her door. “Hi, did you need some help?” Her head snapped towards the voice and her eyes again met the bright blue that hadn’t left her mind for the rest of the afternoon. The small smile she’d gotten before was present on Nate’s face as he watched her drop the wad of colored paper in her hands into the trash. “Oh no thank you, I’ll be okay here.” She silently willed the butterflies dancing around her stomach and the blush painting her cheeks to go away as he stepped further into the classroom and waved her off, starting to push the chairs into the tables as he spoke again. “It’s no problem, it’ll go faster if we work together. Besides, Gabe’s somewhere shooting extra footage with our media team and this’ll get me out of that.” They both chuckled at that and she nodded, keeping her eyes averted as she helped push in the chairs. “I’m Nathan. Mackinnon. Nathan Mackinnon. But, um, everybody just sort of calls me Nate.” “Nice to meet you, Nate. I’m Leah, Leah Brewer.” She knew there were nerves in her voice, but she didn’t know if she’d imagined the hint of them in his. They worked in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “So, Leah, are you from Denver?” She shook her head. “No, I grew up in Murraysville. It’s in Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh.” He lit up a bit, turning towards her fully. “One of my best friends lives there, plays for the Penguins. Sidney’s his name, Sidney Crosby.” She shot him a playfully unimpressed glance as she stopped pushing in the chair. “Now Nate. I may not know much about hockey, but I can assure you, even I know who Sidney Crosby is.” She laughed quietly at the blush that tinted his cheeks and he chuckled along with her, shaking his head. “Yeah that was stupid, sorry.” They kept on cleaning up the last of the classroom until he plopped into the last chair. “So, what brought you to Denver all the way from the East Coast?”
 Leah figured that since he’d sat down, he wasn’t planning on leaving right away, so she made her way to her rocking chair. She thought for a moment before she answered. It wasn’t like she could come right out and tell him Scott had emotionally destroyed her, so she settled for the cliche, generic answer she gave most people when they asked her. “I graduated from college and just… needed a fresh start.” He nodded slightly, but by the look he gave her, she knew he was curious for more. He didn’t press her, and the small talk moved onto other things, her job, then his job and then their families and friends. The conversation flowed so easily between them. By the time she realized almost forty-five minutes had passed, they were laughing and sharing stories as if they’d known each other for years, not hours. “Oh, it’s almost four o’clock, you should probably get back to Gabe and the rest of your team.” He sighed as they both looked at the clock, like he knew she was right but also like he didn’t want to leave. “You’re right. It was really nice meeting you though.” He stood from the chair as she returned the sentiment and turned to leave the room. He’d made it almost fully out the door before he stopped and turned around asking her one last question. “Listen, I don’t… this might be a little forward, I- would you maybe want to go out to dinner sometime? With me? Like, as a date?” She stared at him in surprise for a moment and then thought about her answer. Sure, she hadn’t really dated much since Scott, but it had been three years and thousands of miles since then. And there was something about Nate that intrigued her, something that had caused the butterflies to erupt the minute they’d made eye contact. Something that made her answer fairly easy. “Sure, Nate, I’d really like that.” The memory flooded away as she opened her eyes and looked back into the mirror. One dinner date had led to another, which had led to a few more, then spending the night at her place and then his. She’d met Cox then, which she was glad had gone well because, as Nate had told her later, he couldn’t date somebody Cox didn’t like. That had led to her meeting his teammates and their significant others, and him meeting her friends. That summer when his season and her semester had ended, they traveled to Murraysville where he met her family, and Nova Scotia where she met his. Before they knew it a little over a year had flown by and they’d bought their first house together. She chuckled at that memory, instantly thinking back to the mess of hockey players that had filled their home the day they moved in. “Josty come on, man! The box says fragile!” Leah giggled from her place in the kitchen at the sound of JT’s voice echoing down the hallway, and then at Nate’s voice, floating in from his spot in their living room. “Don’t break any more of my shit, Josty, you know I still haven’t forgiven you and Z for the broken lamp from the Christmas party.” Mel snorted across the counter, Jackie shaking her head as Leah placed the last of the bowls in the cabinet. “They’re a fucking mess, the whole group of them.” Jackie and Mel laughed and nodded in agreement before moving to start on loading the cutlery into the drawers. Leah made her way from the kitchen into the living room, passing by Gabe, EJ and Naz walking to the front door to pull more of the heavier pieces of furniture from the truck. “Thank you guys again for helping us with all of this. No way Nate could have done all the heavy lifting himself the softie.” She smirked at the indignant ‘hey!’ that came from their sofa and the boys chuckled before assuring her again it was no problem and heading for the door, EJ jostling her on his way. She rolled her eyes but smiled at the toothless grin she got in return, passing them to plop down next to her boyfriend, leaning heavily into his side and closing her eyes with a yawn as he lightly kissed her forehead. “Tired, baby?” “Mhm.” As she opened her eyes again, she finally took the chance to look around their living room, the large bay windows bathing the room in sunlight. Boxes were scattered around, the television still waiting to be mounted above the fireplace and the shelves empty, save for one photo. Her eyes landed on it and she smiled fondly, one of her favorites of the two of them. It was taken in Cole Harbour on one of their last trips. They sat together on the boat, her leaning against his side with his arms wrapped around her, much like they were now. They’d gone for a sunset cruise with Sid and Kathy and Tyson and Emma who had also come back up north, just chatting and enjoying the company when Kathy told them to pose, that the sunset created the perfect backdrop behind them. As they leaned into each other and smiled at the camera, Tyson said something from just beside Kathy that had drawn her attention as Kathy snapped the photo. She’s laughing in his direction in the photo, still leaning against Nate who’s smile is directed only at her. The love between the two of them is obvious, which is exactly why it’s one of her favorites. Leah is drawn from the memory captured in the photo when she feels Nate’s lips on the top of her head again and the smile on her face grows even wider. She listens to the sounds of a pot clattering to the floor in the kitchen followed by Jackie’s voice scolding EJ and Gabe and Mel laughing, Josty, JT and Burky pushing each other around in the hallway and Nate’s slow, even breathing right beside her on the couch. As her eyes closed once more, she couldn’t remember if she’d ever in her life felt as happy as she did in that moment. Nate’s fingers ran through her hair and she pulled slightly out of his embrace, taking a moment to silently study the man she’d so quickly found herself falling madly in love with. “What’s on your mind?” he asks her, and she finds herself overwhelmed with emotion as she tries to put her thoughts into words. “I love our friends. I love our new house, but I love even more that we get to make it a home. I love this life that I get to build with you. I love you Nate.” The silent exchange that directly followed was just as meaningful, if not more so, than the words she’d just spoken. She could feel it. He’d felt it too. “I love you, too.” He hadn’t said much, but what he had said had told her everything she needed to know. She’s yanked quickly from that memory as the door to the bridal suite opens. Linnea flounced into the room in her white tulle dress, looking every bit the little princess they all considered her to be. Mel shuffled in behind her before the door is closed again. The soft pink of her dress perfectly complimented her blonde hair and pale skin, amplifying her beauty even further. Mel and Gabe were two of the best things to come from her relationship with Nate, quickly becoming some of her very best friends. Through every hardship or struggle she’d faced during her relationship with Nate he’d been right there beside her, but the Landeskogs had been right there on her other side. She still feels a jolt of happiness when she remembers finding out about Linnea for the first time, and the first time she got to hold her. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face as they entered the room, fiddling with the small diamond bracelet Mel had given to her as a gift the night before from both her and Gabe, her something new. Mel snorted, joking “What, already thinking about the honeymoon?” Of course she hadn’t been before, but she started to now, and she quickly tried to ignore the tingle she felt between her legs at the next memory, one from just a few weeks ago.     “Oh fuck, yes.” Leah’s eyes were shut tightly, mouth wide open, one of Nate’s arms thrown across her lower stomach to keep her from squirming as his tongue slowly circled her clit. She was panting, hard, one of her hands wound tightly in his blonde hair while the other held onto their headboard. She’d already come once on his fingers, but he hadn’t shown any signs of slowing down. He groaned as he pulled away slightly, his mouth and chin covered in her wetness and let his eyes roam back up her body, flushed, until they met hers. “Fucking love your pussy, baby.” He dove back into her cunt then like it was a five-course meal as she tightened her grip on him and moaned loudly, her body thrashing and hurtling toward her second climax. She’d found out early on in their relationship that in contrast to how soft he was with her normally, in bed Nate was filthy. And she fucking loved it. They both shared a high sex drive, and when they first started dating, they’d gone at it like rabbits. In the morning in the shower before she left for work, on their couch when he’d gotten home from a game, one particularly exciting afternoon when he’d come home after practice and laid her out on his kitchen table. They constantly got each other off over FaceTime or Skype when he was on the road, and on their first bye week together they spent almost the entire five days of their trip fucking on every surface of the villa they’d rented. She’d been sore for almost a week. And after almost four years of dating, it hadn’t really slowed down at all. When Nate moved his tongue from inside her back to her clit, flattening it and shaking his head from side to side, she felt her orgasm crash over her. “Fuuuuck yes!” Her back arched sharply off the bed as she rode out the waves of her high, Nate continuing to lick and suck at her through it. As she worked to catch her breath, he kissed his way back up her body, biting down softly on her neck when he reached her sweet spot. “So sexy when you cum. Think you can give me one more, baby?” Though she was exhausted from the first two orgasms he’d given her, she still nodded enthusiastically and let her hand snake down his body, taking him in her hand and guiding him toward her center. She let out a sigh which turned into a quiet moan as he entered her. Of all the men she’d been with, which though admittedly wasn’t many, Nate was the biggest. His length was average, but he was thick, spreading her open and filling her better than any man ever had before. Their mouths met as he started to move inside of her, swallowing the noises she made. She knew it wouldn’t take much for either of them, her already sensitive from her first two highs and him keyed up from the reactions he’d gotten while giving them to her. As his thrusts picked up in both pace and in power, their kisses turned more into breathing and moaning into each other’s mouths before he moved back down to her neck then down further, taking one of her nipples into his mouth and biting before rolling it between his teeth. “Ah, daddy please, I need to come, I need to come.” She whined, rolling her hips up to meet his the best she could. He kept his pace and shook his head slightly. “Wait baby, wait for daddy. I’ll give you what you need, be patient.” He stopped for a moment and took her ankles into his hands, placing them up over his shoulders and she cried out as he began thrusting against her harder and faster, hitting a spot deeper in her than before. Her breathing went ragged and she struggled to get out anything but whines, which quickly turned into yells, then sobs. “Please daddy! Please, I’m gonna, I can’t- I need to cum!” she clawed at his back, her head lolling back against the pillows as she felt his hips begin to move more frantically and uncontrolled. “Yeah baby, fucking cum for me. Show daddy who makes you feel like this, who’s pussy this is.” She shrieked and seconds later felt her fluids gush around him, pulling a loud groan from him as he followed her over the edge. “Fuuuuuck yeah baby, your pussy feels so good when you cum around me. Fucking angel.” He grunted, filling her with his seed. They’d stopped using condoms six months in and he maintains it was one of the best decisions they’d made. She couldn’t help but agree with him as she felt his warmth pulsing inside of her.   When they’d both given each other everything they had, he dropped down gently over her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her as she trembled through the aftershocks of her third high of the night. Soft kisses were planted across her neck and jaw and she lightly combed her fingers through the sweaty mess of blonde on the nape of his neck. These were some of her favorite moments with Nate. Just after a round of great sex when they just laid catching their breaths in the silence, still connected and just basking in the warmth of being together. All she was capable of thinking about in those moments was the man laying over her and how much she loved him. “I love you baby.” He whispered quietly to her as he pulled away from his place at her shoulder, leaving her with a languid, toe curling kiss on her lips and feelings of love for him swirling around her body. It was Mel snorting again that brought her back to reality and she turned toward the other blonde, realizing she’d been biting her lip as she got caught up in the memory. “Jesus, I was kidding. My child is in the room.” Mel smirked and Linnea answered perfectly with a giggle from her spot in the corner, making both women laugh. She turned back toward the mirror to readjust her veil for what felt like the twentieth time since it’d been put in her hair. Mel continued. “Anyways, we just came by to tell you we’ve got about 15 minutes to go time. Maid of honor duties and all.” She winked making both of them laugh again before she swept Linnea into her arms, heading for the door “We’ll leave you alone now, see you in a bit.” As she exited the room, another woman entered. “My baby. Look at you, you look beautiful.” Her mother moved to stand by her side in the mirror, placing a hand gently on her shoulder, eyes filling with tears as they met hers in the mirror. “Your dad would be so proud, sweetheart.” Her own eyes filled with tears this time and as she closed them, she could hear the beeping of the heart monitor and smell the sterile scent of the hospital as clear as day. She couldn’t breathe. The only word to describe her in that moment was numb. Her eyes traced the wires to the white linen blanket, up to the machine that measured the slow heartbeat of the first man she’d ever loved. A face eerily similar to her own, her father had never looked thinner and paler than he did laying there in his hospital gown. ‘Brain aneurysm. Ruptured. Hemorrhagic stroke.’ The words the doctor had spoken to them rested like a weight in her head and in her chest as she stared down at their hands, hers clutching tightly and his limp and unmoving. She couldn’t cry. Not yet. She’d been holding onto hope for days now that he would wake up, that they could talk about how terribly their Steelers were doing and laugh about the clumsiness of her mother. That they could drive home together in his car, singing terribly along to the old Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin tunes he’d brought her up on. That one day he could walk her down the aisle (‘Not until you’re 30!’) and hold his first grandchild. No matter how many times she’d heard the words braindead and pull the plug, she held onto that hope, the same hope she was starting to feel slip between her fingers. The beeping was the only sound in the room aside from her mother’s sniffling and Nate’s steady breathing. Her parents had divorced just before her fourth birthday, but they’d remained great friends and worked together to raise her, something she didn’t realize how grateful she was for until she reached adulthood. It was only fitting that she, Leah and Nate were the three present at his bedside as two of them were what he always called ‘the loves of his life’ and the third one of his ‘favorite people out there’ as he’d called Nate just a few months before. The doctor entered the room again and when Leah met his gaze it was somber. She looked away almost immediately, knowing what was coming as he started speaking to them again. “I’m sorry, we’ve done all that we can, but we believe at this point it’s about a five percent chance he’ll wake, and if he does, we can almost guarantee significant brain damage. It’s in my medical opinion that you may want to consider pulling him off of the life support.” She felt it then, the first tear slip down her cheek where she sat in the chair by her father’s side. She locked eyes with her mother and they both knew what they had to do. This isn’t the way he would have wanted to live, and that’s if he did, and she wasn’t going to put him through any pain and suffering simply because it would make her happy. An hour later, after the three of them had all spoken their goodbyes and spent their last minutes with him, the machines were turned off. The beeping stopped, her father’s hand, still clutched in her own smaller, softer one went cold. Leah wept. She laid down on the bed beside her father’s body and held him, weeping as the last signs of life left his body. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t get through this. She didn’t want to live a life without her dad’s obnoxiously loud laughter and world famous bear hugs. She didn’t know how she was going to pull herself from the grief crashing over her in waves. Then a warm hand circled her ankle from its place at the foot of the bed, thumb softly smoothing over the skin there. Nate. Her rock, her stability, the calm to help her weather the storm. He’d be right by her side through it, just as he had been in everything else since the day they’d met three years ago. She knew when she felt the letters he was tracing onto her skin. I love you. It was strange but through all of her grief then, she felt the slightest bit of joy, because she also knew that her father had gotten to know and love the man she was going to marry, the love of her life. Her mother quickly pulled a handkerchief from her clutch, chastising both herself and her daughter for ‘ruining her makeup.’ She giggled as she clutched her mother’s hand and then directed a small smile at the pair of sapphire earrings she wore, a gift from her father on her eighteenth birthday and now her something blue. He was there with her, she knew that he was. Quickly wiping at her eyes, she handed the handkerchief back to her mother and went to gather her bouquet from the small table but stopped when her eyes landed on her engagement ring. One that had belonged to Nate’s grandmother, her something old. She floated away into yet another memory, and by far one of the best of her life. The air was crisp and smelled of the first signs of winter as Leah and Nate walked hand in hand down the lakeside pathway through Confluence Park. This was her favorite time of year, filled with memories of pulling out the Christmas decorations far too early with her mother as her father just smirked and shook his head at them. Memories of home games spent with her girls in the family box cheering on the men they loved. Memories of cold mornings spent curled up on the couch with Nate under the blankets, Cox at their feet as they fell in and out of sleep, watching the snowfall through the bay windows. She smiled as Nate gently tugged at Cox’s leash, willing him to slow down as they strolled lazily behind him. “This is my favorite time of year. I know I always complain about how cold it gets, but nothing beats a winter day like this.” Nate brought their joint hands up to his lips to place a kiss and replied, “I know baby. It’s one of my favorite times of year too, just because you love it.” She laughed at the cheesiness of his statement but leaned into his side, looking up at him as they slowed even more. “I love you, you know.” He didn’t reply immediately so she continued walking, only stopping when he did, turning to gaze at him curiously. It was only then that she felt the trembling of his hand still clasped in hers. “Nate? Why are we stopping, are you okay?” Cox whined behind her, probably wondering the same thing. “Yeah baby I’m fine, I just needed to say something and I wanted your full attention when I did.” This intrigued her even further but she didn’t answer, waiting for him to say whatever it is she could see was stewing in there. He stared at her for a moment longer before he started to speak again. “There’s something that I haven’t told you. I spoke to your dad on the phone a few weeks before he died. Spoke to him for quite a while, actually?” Leah was now incredibly confused, so she waited for him to continue. “You know how much I loved and respected him. I don’t know how but in three years he became another father figure to me and I wanted his opinion on something important so I called him to ask.” “What did you ask him?” her interest was thoroughly peaked as Nate’s hand dropped to his pocket, until he pulled out a small velvet box and both hands came to cover her mouth when she realized what was happening. She went completely still, tears already coming to the surface as he took a step closer to her, one of his hands still holding Cox’s leash and the other the box. “I asked him for his blessing.” He looped the leash around his wrist, but Cox was still then, sitting on the pavement at her feet, tail wagging furiously though she knew he had no idea what was occurring. How much her life was about to change. Then Nate took one of her hands from her mouth, her left hand, and held it tightly in his own. “When I was growing up, I watched my parents all the time when they were together, and you could see it in their faces when they looked at each other. It was this pure, real, genuine kind of love that doesn’t scream at you. The kind of love that’s just there, the kind that looks like making each other breakfast or bringing each other the morning paper, the kind that’s sitting on the couch together doing two completely separate things but somehow still being connected, the kind that looks like smiling through raising two children together. I saw other people find it, Mel and Gabe, Erik and Jackie, Sid and Kath. I always wanted that kind of love, but I never believed that I would have it, that I would somehow be lucky enough to find someone that loved me like that or that I could love like that. I think I realized on our third date that even if it wasn’t there yet, I could see that kind of love with you, and then it happened. There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not thanking whoever’s up there in the sky or wherever they are,” she giggled slightly through her tears at that bit, “that I got lucky enough to fall in love with you. You are everything. You’re kind, you’re witty, you’re intelligent, you’re incredibly beautiful and you’re so loving to everyone around you. But especially me. You’ve loved me through every bad game, through every hotheaded tantrum, through every argument, through every loss and every heartache. It didn’t matter what I was facing, what we were facing, you’ve loved me through all of it and I can only hope to spend the rest of my life giving that love right back to you.” At this point she was ugly crying, clutching his hand so tightly her knuckles were turning white, but he pressed on. “This kind of love, the love we feel for each other is special, once in a lifetime. It doesn’t come around often and my grandma always told me when you find something like it you have to hold on as tightly as you can and never let go. This was hers, actually.” He opened the velvet box then and Leah gasped as she saw the simple round diamond set on a silver band. “After I called your dad to ask for his blessing and he not only told me yes but that he couldn’t be happier not only that his daughter had found someone she loved so much but someone who loved her the way she deserved,” she wept harder at that “I called grandma and told her I had found it, the kind of love she told me to never let go of, and the next time we were in town visiting her she gave me the ring. This ring is from a marriage full of that love and I thought it might be a good luck charm for us, not that we need it.” She laughed loudly at that and he grinned at her, but his smile softened and she found tears to match hers in his eyes as he dropped to one knee. “You’re it for me, baby. My best friend, my soulmate, the love of my life. I’ll never need to wonder again if I’ll ever find this kind of love because hopefully I’ll get to have it with you and the family we’ll build forever. If you say yes, I promise to fall asleep a little more in love with you today, tomorrow and all of our lives. I love you so much. Leah, will you marry me?” She didn’t even need to think, she knew. She’d known for years, just as she was it for him, he was it for her. “Yes. Yes, Nate. I love you. I love you.” He slid the elegant diamond onto her finger and his lips were immediately on hers, kissing her through their laughter and through their tears, over and over again. If you’d ask her, there weren’t words she could put together to describe the love she felt for him in that moment. Everything, every moment and memory that lead them to this place was worth it for the reward of getting to call him her husband for the rest of her life. They spent what felt like hours but could only have been minutes kissing and laughing in that park, elated at the idea of spending their lives together. As they finally pulled away from each other Nate excitedly pulled her left hand forward, flashing it at their dog proudly, making her laugh once again. “Cox, she said yes! Mom and I are getting married.” The knock on the door shook her from her happiest memory, Gabe standing proudly in it’s frame offering her his arm. When she’d thought about who would walk her down the aisle that day, though they’d never fill the void left in her father’s absence, Gabe was the only choice. The older brother she’d never had but had found in him. “Ready to be Mrs. Mackinnon, kid?” The nerves still didn’t come, the calm and the peace remaining. She grabbed the bouquet and crossed the room to take his arm. “Never been more ready in my life.” (+ bonus:) Their bedroom was still save for her husband’s soft snores and the hum of the ceiling fan. The clock on the bedside table next to her that was illuminated by the soft glow coming from her reading lamp read 3:53 am, but she didn’t feel the sleep gripping her like she probably should. She took the quiet moment to glance at the man sleeping soundly beside her, the man she’d called her husband for the last two years but her best friend for far longer. He was the man of her dreams and though they’d faced challenges, she wouldn’t have wanted to face them with anyone else. She scanned quickly back through all the memories she had of their relationship and smiled when they brought back the feelings of intense love between them. And as she looked down at the tiny baby nestled softly in her arms, his eyes an identical blue to his father’s, she remembered the words he’d said the day he proposed. “I promise to fall asleep a little more in love with you today, tomorrow and all of our lives.”

Friends to Lovers | Larry Fanfic Recs

Hiding Place by alivingfire | 365k | Explicit

Louis never wanted a soulmate, didn’t really care for the whole Bonding thing at all, really. Enter Harry Styles, who’s wanted to be Bonded for as long as he could remember. With one fateful meeting in an X Factor bathroom, Louis gets a dagger on his arm and the realization that just because Harry is his soulmate doesn’t mean it’s mutual.

From the X Factor house to Madison Square Garden, from the Fountain Studios stage to stadiums across the world, Louis has to learn to love without losing himself completely, because someday his best friend will Bond to someone and replace Louis as the center of his universe. Meanwhile, Harry begins to think that maybe fate doesn’t actually know what it’s doing after all, because his other half has clearly been right in front of him the whole time. All he has to do now is convince Louis to give them a chance.

Or, the canon compliant Harry and Louis love story from the very beginning, where the only difference is that the love between them is literally written on their skin, and there’s only so much they can hide.

And Then a Bit by infinitelymint | 158k | Explicit

“We’d like to give the fans what they want.” Magee states, placing his hand on the table in front of him and leaning forward. “We want to give them Larry Stylinson.”

Or, take a parallel universe where Louis and Harry were never together, mix in a two year hiatus and an impending comeback, pour in a dash of lost fans, two tablespoons of strong friendship and a Modest! employee with a good idea. Add a squeeze of pretending to be a couple, lots of kisses and a tattoo or two. Stir. Serve: the mother of all publicity stunts.

(aka Harry and Louis fake a relationship for publicity. Eventually it becomes a lot less fake and a lot more real.)

Wild Love by purpledaisy | 130k | Explicit

“Good,” Julia says, clearly pleased to have them both uncomfortable and unable to look at each other. “Now, I only have one more question before you can go. What are you planning to do when this experiment ruins your friendship?”

“We said we’d stay friends no matter what,” Harry says smoothly, his chin lifting in defense.

“That was our one thing going into it,” Louis agrees. “Stay friends no matter what.”

Julia raises a perfectly manicured brow, “That’s all fine and good. But I hope you realize your emotions aren’t going to realize this is an experiment in the end. If one of you falls for the other and finds out those feelings are not reciprocated, you’re not going to be able to laugh it off as a social experiment. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do this, I’m just hoping you’ve considered all of the possible outcomes.”

- AU: Two best friends try to date each other for forty days. It's supposed to be fun until emotions make it complicated.

California Sold by isthatyoularry | 123k | Mature

Notoriously closeted boyband member Harry Styles is famous on a global scale, meanwhile Louis, as his best friend, is back home in Manchester, living the typical life of a 24 year old. When Harry needs Louis with him in LA, a publicity stunt gone wrong changes their friendship forever.

A fake-relationship AU between two lifelong best friends.

Tired Tired Sea by MediaWhore | 113k | Mature

As a B&B owner on the most remote of all the British Isles, Louis Tomlinson is used to spending the coldest half of the year in complete isolation, with his dog and the sea as sole companions. Until, one day, a mysterious stranger on a quest to rebuild himself rents a room for the winter.

Like a Bullet in the Dark by Vurdoc | 99k | Explicit

Prince Harold Edward Styles Lancaster is second in line to the throne of Great Britain. He is also your average Uni student- or he tries to be, anyway.

With a promise from the press (and his father) that they'll leave him alone for four years, he sets out to be a student at Cambridge, when he meets his very normal, very working class, very handsome suite-mate, Louis Tomlinson.

Louis makes Harry feel more like a person than he ever has before, which might cause some issues later on- 'cause Harry has a secret that he's only told his sister Gemma about.

Little does he know though, that Louis has some secrets of his own.

A Will & Kate Au- with a twist.

Christmas-ing With You by dolce_piccante | 65k | Mature

Two writers from Loving Heart Television, the premiere network for holiday romance films, find that, sometimes, love is not only in their works of fiction.

Faking It by TheCellarDoor | 46k | Mature

A uni AU in which Louis has been Harry’s best friend since he offered him cubed fruit on the playground, and they spend more time cuddling in their dorm beds than they do apart, but it’s not like that. Or is it?

Aka Harry pretends to date his best friend to escape unwanted attention from a too insistent classmate and hopes it won’t blow up in his face. Featuring embarrassing dildo accidents, awkward boners, longing, first times, late night conversations, emotional discoveries and Niall as the exasperated friend with bad advice.

if the sun don't shine by falsegoodnight | 36k | Explicit

Louis finds himself struck frozen, fingers stuck in place where he’s flattened them against the cold railing. It takes every bit of his remaining strength to pull them away, sliding them under his shirt and pressing them to his stomach to leech some of the warmth. He hardly pays attention to the bite of the wind and air on his shivering body. He can only pay attention to the music.

The music that is undoubtedly new to Louis’ ears, yet listening to it is the most familiar thing Louis has ever experienced. An inexplicable rush of emotions flood his mind and body, rendering him speechless and hollow. It’s a call of loneliness. It rings of everything Louis’ been feeling.

And the pure yearning - the intense longing for something and someone - tears through straight to Louis’ heart. The desperation feels all too intimate, all too real. It makes Louis think of what he yearns for more than anything. It makes him think of his soulmate.

-

In a world where you meet your soulmates in dreams, Louis has spent the last three years going to bed hoping to finally meet his, only to end up disappointed time and time again. It all changes with a violin.

From the Start by allwaswell16 | 32k | Explicit

Louis has no idea that one act of kindness will cause his life to spiral out of control. But that's what happens when his new friend fake proposes to him and a video of it goes viral.

Barefoot in Blue Jeans by indiaalphawhiskey | 24k | Explicit

AU. Louis Tomlinson is trying desperately hard not to fall for his son’s au pair, but he can’t, for the life of him, remember why.

475. The hope that this fear is unfounded.

In Dreams by dolce_piccante | 23k | Mature

AU. When Harry moves to a new city, his new flat come with a number of sweet, anonymous gifts and surprises that brighten his days. Could it be a friendly ghost? Another friendly presence in his new building is his tattooed neighbor, Louis, who seems determined to put a smile back on his face.

You're Writing Verses About Me by Rearviewdreamer | 23k | Teen And Up Audiences

Everybody knows that Louis has never been one for serious boyfriends. His reputation around campus precedes him, which is why he doesn't think twice before proudly telling his mother about his new and completely fabricated relationship with his oddly quiet and completely

And I Will Hold On To You by darkmarkburning, staybeautiful | 23k | Mature

“I can’t believe my best friend is about to be Prime Minister of Canada,” Harry whispered in his ear, his arms tight around Louis’ shoulders. “Who decided it was a good idea to let some brash kid from Doncaster run a country?”

“I don’t know,” Louis laughed into his shoulder, “but if you promise not to tell them they’ve made a mistake I’ll give you a posh office.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal, Tomlinson.” Harry pulled away and smacked a kiss onto Louis’ cheek. “I’m proud of you, Lou, I can’t fucking believe it, but I’m proud of you.”

or Louis has just been elected Prime Minister of Canada and Harry is his best friend since childhood.

the way the storms blow by rbbsbb | 21k | Explicit

Louis doesn’t have a habit of thinking about Harry’s dick.

That would be weird, seeing as they’re best mates, and they share a flat, and they’ve spent holidays at each other’s family homes. Their friendship hasn’t ever risen to a point where Louis should want to see his mate’s dick, and he’s happy to keep it that way.

Except, all that Louis can think about is exactly that. The size of it. The shape. The amount of people it’s been in.

Maybe it’s the tequila talking, or the fact that Louis’ just recently walked in to an eyeful of Harry taking turns on some slags that he’s never seen before, but. Louis’ mind can’t stop obsessing over the idea.

Autumn At My Window by TheCellarDoor | 20k | Mature

A canon-compliant AU, in which Harry and Louis are both in the band and have been sharing flats and hotel rooms for nearly five years, but never made the leap past 'friends who are too close for comfort'.

Featuring a lot of pining, Louis' addiction to Harry's scent, and a whole lot of sexual tension that might just snap loose when they decide to spend some time together all on their own.

The Sex Methods by Alice_Novelland | 19k | Explicit

Harry and Louis explore alternative methods aka sex methods to help each other out.

once bitten and twice shy by pinkcords | 19k | Mature

This time as his stomach rolls, there’s no doubt about it. He’s going to vomit. And if he does, it’ll be on Louis’ shoes, a nice little parting gift to go with the embarrassment he’s caused the both of them. “I’m gonna throw up,” he says just as Louis turns to look at him, blue eyes swimming with shock and confusion, and asks, “Is that true?”

Or, in a rush of bravery only senior year can bring, Harry confesses his feelings in a letter to his neighbor and best friend, Louis, only for the entire school to hear it and laugh him out of their small town in Wisconsin. Ten years later, Harry's a successful lawyer at Columbia Records, coming home for Christmas for the first time since he departed for college. He plans to work his way through the trip, eat his mom's cooking, and avoid everyone from his past for as long as possible. The only problem is best laid plans hardly ever go as intended.

Oblivious by Speechless | 19k | Explicit

"You say it's nothing serious after you've been obsessing over it for months," Liam observes, pausing their videogame. "But now you barely talk about it-" "You guys fucking ignore me whenever I try!" Louis shouts, bumping his shoulder against Liam's and hurting himself in the process. "You're postponing sex, when it's obvious that Luke's up for it at this point." Liam ignores him. "For some reason you've left Harry in the dark about it-" "What?!" Louis snaps, banging his controller against the coffee table. "I have not!" "And no matter how blatant it is, no matter how fucking ridiculous you both get when it comes to it-" "Shut your hole." Louis urges, pinching his thigh, as soon as Harry enters the room. "Shush."

* Where Louis gets a little crush on Luke and for some reason Harry starts acting weird *

searching for a sweet surrender (but this is not the end) by feelslikehxme | 18k | Teen And Up Audiences

Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles, the two most loved coaches on The Voice UK known for their banter on the show and best friendship off. Louis’s determined to win and finally end Harry’s winning streak with Zayn Malik on his team, but Harry’s flirting and Liam Payne have different plans.

— Or an AU based off the Voice where Louis’s Adam, Harry’s Blake, Niall’s Shakira, Zayn and Liam have a cliche Romeo/Juliet love story and Louis’s too old for pathetic pining.

Can I bother you for a sex? by perfectdagger (sincerelyste) | 16k | Explicit

Reason #40 – Called/texted the wrong person, but he was into it anyway

“So, this isn’t really an invite for a sex, I see,” Louis spoke, not missing the chance. There was a teasing smile on his lips as he turned around to face Harry again after he had just closed the door.

Harry let out a laugh as he closed his eyes and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Oh for fuck's sake, Louis,” he looked back at Louis, “this will haunt me forever now, won’t it?”

Louis shrugged. “Not my fault some people manage to mistext and sext others at the same time.”

When Harry mistexts Louis, Louis realises that he wouldn't mind Harry bothering him with anything, especially not with sex.

You'll Be Home For Christmas by 2tiedships2 | 15k | Not Rated

“Honesty, Lou, just ask Harry for help.”

Louis remained silent as he continued to scowl at the Christmas calendar Niall had hung on their refrigerator.

“And be nice to my calendar filled with holiday cheer,” Niall instructed. “You’re going to burn a fucking hole in it from the way you’re glaring at the innocent thing. It’s not the calendar’s fault that your heat is starting so close to Christmas.”

You're The One That I Want by spacecakesandmilkshakes | 15k | Explicit

Harry had always been Louis' best friend and...well...his baby, until one day he realized that his baby was all grown up.

show you the stars in the daylight by bruisedhoney | 13k | Explicit

Louis laughed, the sound loud and borderline obnoxious. Harry winced. “Are you kidding, Haz? I wouldn’t even look twice at someone that couldn’t pick me up.”

And, well. That was new information to Harry. It’s not like Louis had ever mentioned to him that he was his type in any way, shape, or form. Harry shifted closer into the space between Louis’s legs, even more intrigued than before. “Why not?” he asked curiously, all pink lips and big curls. Louis smiled.

“Tiny, innocent, little Harold. Need someone that can pick me up, don’t I? I like being tossed around a little. You know, pinned down and made to take it. Lifted up like I’m nothing,” Louis said it all with a confident smile, his sharp little teeth tugging at his bottom lip as he locked eyes with the jock across the kitchen. “Think he might come over here. Move over. I don’t want him to think we’re together.”

Or, the one where Louis has a type and at sixteen and scrawy, it's definitely not his best friend's little brother Harry...ten years later, he changes his mind.

when everybody wants you by nightwideopen | 11k | Mature

Harry nearly faints on the spot. He got the job. He’s going to be on Saturday Night Live.

Three of Harry's dreams come true, then one of them falls apart.

or

the SNL au that no one asked for

Shape of You by Only_angel_28 | 11k | Explicit

“Seriously?” Surely, Harry must be joking. Louis arches a skeptical brow and snaps the waistband of Harry’s joggers playfully. “What exactly do you have down there, Styles? I know you’ve got four nipples, d’ya have a couple extra bollocks as well or summat?”

“No!” Harry shrieks, his voice bordering on shrill. “No,” He repeats a little quieter, calmer, “I just—I’m, er, kinda…big, I guess.”

Louis rolls his eyes in fond exasperation. “That’s hardly a problem, curly.”

*Or Harry is insecure about a certain rather large part of his anatomy that is apparently intimidating to the point where it has actually scared off potential shags. When he ends up confessing this to his best friend and roommate, Louis takes it upon himself to prove that Harry’s size doesn't have to be a curse, and decides to help show him just how perfect he is.

Waiting by allwaswell16 for LadyLondonderry | 10k | Explicit

Louis Tomlinson was Harry’s omega, of this Harry had always been sure. Unfortunately for Harry, Louis seemed to think they were just best friends. The six weeks that Harry has to live with Louis were going to be rough.

You Give Me Fever (What A Lovely Way To Burn) by my_fandom_OTPs | 10k | Explicit

Louis walks in on Harry jerking off in the shower. What happens after is just… Impulsive and spontaneous.

the value of this moment lives in metaphor by clicheanna for hattalove | 10k | Teen And Up Audiences

Louis and Harry are best friends and absolutely nothing more. It’s a bit strange that, suddenly, everyone thinks they’re dating.

Or the one where they’re all teachers at a high school and students are more invested in their lives than normally expected.

trusting things beyond mistake by sarcasticfluentry | 9k | Explicit

"Is that even possible?" asks Harry.

All of them stare at him for several seconds, and then Louis says, "What, coming untouched?"

"Christ," Zayn mutters, throwing his hands up. “This fucking band, I swear.”

...or, Harry wants to see if he can come without touching his cock and ends up getting more than he bargained for.

And I Will Steady Your Hand by kiwikero | 9k | Explicit

All first year university students who had not yet presented were strongly advised to join the Fire Away meetings, a support group for so-called 'late bloomers.'

They were not, however, advised to fall in love with someone else at the meetings without knowing what they might eventually present as.

A Christmas Wish by Snowy38 | 8k | Mature

"So when are you going to tell him?"

Louis pursed his lips at his sister, his Skype video call relaying his thoughts on that subject perfectly.

"Next question," he mused.

Lottie rolled her eyes.

"It's your birthday in four days, Louis."

"What difference does that make?" He scoffed.

She shrugged.

"You can get drunk and confess how you feel and take it back afterwards if he doesn't feel the same."

That might work if Louis wasn't in love with Harry. But Lottie didn't know that and she didn't need to find out.

"Thanks Lots," he said anyway.

"Seriously Lou what's stopping you?"

Louis sighed.

"Fear mostly."

Under that Damn Mistletoe by hickeystyles | 7k | Mature

Louis' heart froze when he looked over and saw Liam whispering in Harry’s ear and nodding towards the mistletoe. Louis’ eyes widened comically before he dove out of sight so Harry couldn’t see him standing under the mistletoe like an idiot, or worse, like he was part of Liam’s plan to have Harry kiss him.

Or a Christmas Party AU where Louis is in love with his best friend Harry and everyone else is trying to force the two of them under the mistletoe together

We Could Be A Dream by Bearandleonardwrite | 7k | Explicit

“So, I’ve never seen you at one of these parties before,” Harry says as he hands Louis his drink. “Who’re you here for?”

Well, shit. Louis was definitely not expecting that. He sips on his drink to give him a few moments to think of an answer and then, “Oh, y’know. I’m dating the host’s brother. What about you?” He’s quite pleased with himself. Great answer. He takes another drink as a reward.

Harry grins at him, eyes bright, and shrugs. “Gemma’s my sister.” Louis hums around the rim of his cup waiting for him to elaborate. “She’s the host,” he tacks on, smug smile on his face. Louis chokes on his drink and tries his best to glare at Harry while he coughs. Harry rubs at his back until he can breathe properly again, which is actually really not that helpful. “Didn’t realize we were dating, Lou. I’m flattered.”

(Basically; Louis meets Harry at a party that he wasn't invited to. He ends up asking Harry to tutor him so he can keep seeing him. Featuring a bit of pining and a tea party.)

Mission Fucking Impossible by orphan_account | 7k | Mature

“Are you and Louis fucking?”

Harry nearly spits out his drink as he tries to communicate a "what the ever living fuck" to Niall with his eyes.

Niall takes another casual sip of his beer “Not like I’m the only one thinking it mate, I’m just the only one saying it out loud.”

- Harry is in love with Louis, and he is almost positive Louis is in love with him too. Naturally, Harry deals with this by trying to get Louis horny and hope for the best.

Things don't exactly work out how he plans.

One day to believe in you by mediaville | 7k | Explicit

A mysterious force compels Louis to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Even when it's really inconvenient.

Harry blinks and has the nerve to look surprised. "You think about me when you get off?"

"Yes," Louis says. He wonders how hard he'd need to punch himself in the face to knock himself out.

"Often?"

"Yes, Christ, Harry," Louis groans. "Probably eight times a week for going on six years now. On average, you know. More when we were touring, less when I've been visiting family. Anything else you'd like to know?"

Fake It Till We Make It by whileatwiltshire | 7k | General Audiences

#33- Keeping up with the Neighbors

“We can fake it.”

What?

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“No I did not. Say it again.”

“I said” Harry started slowly, “We can fake having sex to teach them a lesson.”

It was clear to say that Louis's mouth went a little dry at the suggestion.

Or ,

Their neighbours were a bit too loud during their bedroom activities and Harry comes up with the worst plan to shut them up. Louis agrees anyways.

Web Me Harder by iwillpaintasongforlou | 6k | Explicit

Louis Tomlinson, otherwise known as London's masked hero Spiderman, finds himself crashing through the window of Harry Styles one night after a particularly nasty fight with a villain. Luckily Harry is a nursing student with a soft spot for caped crusaders who's more than happy to tend to all of Louis' wounds, no matter how many times he swings by.

candy in your mouth (i know you love me) by embodied | 6k | Explicit

“You’re wrong,” Harry says, jaw clenched tight. “Because if all I wanted was a fuck, I’ve got at least three willing parties a phone call and a five minute drive away. What I want is you. I want us, I want it to be normal again -”

“What the fuck is normal?” Louis yells, much too loudly, and has to pause to consciously lower his voice before he speaks again. “Because a year ago, normal was eating too much takeaway and watching B-movies on Netflix in your room, and then normal was me choking on your cock at half past two in the morning, and I don’t know about you, but as of the past few weeks, normal is not seeing or talking to you at all, because I’ve all but admitted that I’m fucking crazy for you and you don’t know what to say to that.” Louis’ chest heaves, his breath coming out short. He hears his own throat stick when he swallows, and his voice is decidedly weaker when he asks, “So which one is it, Harry?”

AU. Things have shifted since last Christmas.

Running Through a Cloud of Steam by allwaswell16 | 5k | Mature

As Harry’s long anticipated twenty-first birthday approaches, he anxiously awaits the moment when he finally meets his soulmate. He’s not even sure he believes in soulmates, but at the very least, he hopes to prove to his best friend that nothing can come between their friendship--not even a soulmate.

You Can't Blame Me For Tryin' by lululawrence | 5k | Mature

Reason # 38 - Because He Is From One of the Countries You Haven't Had Sex With a Person From Yet.

Louis had been accepted into the study abroad program through his uni back home and therefore got to spend a year in rural Minnesota, of all places, but he wasn’t going to complain. It was still a pretty cool experience, even if it was far different from what he had been expecting. And besides, if he’d been sent to literally any other university, he’d never have met Harry.

If It's Meant To Be (It'll Be, It'll Be) by lululawrence | 4k | Not Rated

“So, anyway. I’m done here and on my way to the airport. I think I’m expected to be there in the morning, around ten. I’ll let you know when I’m getting close.”

“Sounds good.” Harry pulled back from the window and threw himself onto one of the beds. Once he got comfortable, he steeled himself and then went for it. “It’s been too long this time, Lou,” he finally whispered. He watched as Louis bit his lip and nodded slowly.

“I know,” Louis agreed, just as quiet in return. “We have to swear to never go this long without seeing each other again. Two months is just...unacceptable. I’m gonna go now, but I’ll see you soon. ‘Kay?”

“Yeah. See you. Be safe,” Harry said, far too fondly for his best friend. He couldn’t help it though. It was how he always had been and probably always would be.

They hung up and Harry threw his arm over his face.

“I am so in love with him,” he whined to himself. “Fuck.”

Satisfaction by iwillpaintasongforlou | 2k | Teen And Up Audiences

Louis and Harry have known each other since before they could remember and been in love with one another for about as long, even though both steadfastly refuse to admit it. When Louis starts dating other people, it is only to help himself move on and not at all to make Harry jealous. And the sulking sort of anger Harry feels when he watches Louis kiss other people is completely irrelevant anyways.

Fluffy Alex and Aphrodite Headcanons

for my best wife @astorias-reigning-legends vuv

(Pre-relationship with MC)

Alex meets with Aphrodite at least once a week, their mother always making sure to have time spent together with them. Usually they meet for dinner, but often times Alex will end up staying the night on Olympus to keep her company

Anytime Aphrodite has a concert, she always gives Alex VIP tickets. Unless there’s a very important case they’re handling, Alex tries their best to attend them, especially if they’re held somewhere in New York

Every now and again, she asks them to record a song with her. Whether it’s for the world, or just for something they both can keep, it’s nice to just sing together from time to time

Aphrodite checks in with Alex pretty frequently, and though it doesn’t happen very often, she knows when they’re getting overwhelmed and meets with them to help- either in the form of getting them to take a step back and breathe, or using her aura to help refresh them

They definitely, 100% talk about Alex’s love for MC (pre-relationship), and Alex gets very flustered about it, but they know they can say to their mother what they can’t to MC

Most mornings, Alex will text or call Aphrodite, if for no other reason than to wish her a good day and getting an opportunity to speak a little Greek

Aphrodite pushes for Alex to take their birthday off work each year so that she can dedicate a day to them, knowing it’s pretty much her only chance to do so thanks to their workaholic tendencies. Alex appreciates that she goes out of her way for this (though she doesn’t see it as going out of her way at all) and enjoys being able to spend a day just doing whatever with their mother, and maybe getting to spend some time with Hades and Persephone, too.

During festivals or holidays when HERA gives its workers time off, Alex almost always spends their time on Olympus to celebrate with their mother

Aphrodite is a Hugger(tm) and she is not afraid to hug Alex in the middle of the office, professionalism be damned

Aphrodite doesn’t really have a birthday, nor does she Care about herself having one, but ever since Alex was young, they set aside the same day each year to shower her in affection and spend all their time with her, doing their best to get her (or make her in the case of being a kid) something personal and thoughtful

One such gift that they’ve gotten her is a locket that looks just like their artifact, with a picture of the two of them inside and engraved with a sweet message that definitely makes Aphrodite tear up (or straight-up cry) when she reads it

There are days where Aphrodite gets a little lonely and will call Alex to talk, about anything and everything, and Alex will willingly entertain her for hours on end, even if they’re burning the midnight oil to do so

Aphrodite always keeps Alex’s room exactly the way it is (save for when she takes out the alcohol they’ve hidden in there...) and lets them do with it as they will. She loves that they have their own space in her home, and she wants it to always be open to them, no matter the circumstances. Alex loves this, too, even if most times they prefer staying down on Earth. It’s nice to know that she’s always got a spot reserved just for them.

There have been a couple times in the past wherein Aphrodite attended pride with Alex, to be supportive of them and to encourage them to do what they want. She’s the one that told them about the beach that they wind up going to every pride, knowing they’d appreciate it

Growing up, Aphrodite would take Alex down to Earth to play with Josh and MC, and she likes to recount those days to them, speaking of them fondly

When Alex was old enough and they decided to do some travelling down on Earth, Aphrodite supported them, even knowing that it would mean she’d miss them for awhile. Alex would call more often when they were travelling to make sure she was doing alright, and to make sure she knew that they were still there for her even if they weren’t there for her

Aphrodite is 10000% at fault for Alex’s fashion sense and their makeup expertise. If Alex has an entire closet full of tailored clothes and nice shoes, and if their eyeliner is sharper than a knife, there is no one else to look at but Aphrodite

She taught them how to do their own makeup and guided them until they decided on what they were comfortable with and what they wanted to keep doing

From the very beginning, Aphrodite knew that Alex was nonbinary and always embraced it, accepting them as they were without any question, and helping them find their own way when questions inevitably arose

When came time for Alex to move out on their own, they picked out their own apartment, and then Aphrodite helped them move their belongings there, possibly definitely tearing up the whole time over the thought of them leaving, but being happy that they’re striking out on their own

Alex’s independence and inherent goodness always make Aphrodite very proud of them, and she wants nothing more than to see them succeed and be happy

She’s impressed that Alex, as young as they are, isn’t content with taking handouts and getting by just on godly advantages; they want to work and they want to bring people together and they want to make the world a better place. Her respect for them grows exponentially when she thinks of that

(aaaand a few Alex x MC and Aphrodite headcanons for good measure)

Whenever Aphrodiute extends an invitation to dinner to Alex, she always makes sure to make it known she includes MC in that invitation, knowing how much they love one another and not wanting them to be apart. However, Alex will still sometimes meet with her one-on-one for some quality mother-child time

After Jason is born, Aphrodite visits them much more often than before, and offers advice whenever MC and Alex might need it

Group hugs!!!!!!!! Aphrodite cant help herself from pulling both of them into a hug, and where Alex usually gets a little flustered, MC laughs, returning it with just as much vigor

They eat out at Josh’s restaurant a lot so that they can see him, too, and there are days where he’ll join them for a meal and they all get to have just.... a really nice family dinner together. There’s a lot of laughter and catching up to be had, embarrassing childhood stories to share, and chances to remember MC’s and Josh’s mother

Aphrodite wanted to be very hands-on with Alex and MC’s wedding, but respected their boundaries and wants by holding back until they came to her with any questions/problems they might have (like the venue). She does her best to make sure their wedding is perfect.

Following the last one, Aphrodite talks to MC in place of her own mother, and it warms Alex’s heart knowing just how accepting Aphrodite is of their love, and that she’s so readily accepting of MC to be part of the family. They never really doubted how she would act, but it’s nice to see regardless, and they’re happy knowing that their marriage has the Goddess of Love’s approval

alpha

pairing: frat!im jaebeom x reader 

genre: lil bit of everything. lil smut, lil angst, maybe lots of fluff, established relationship

warnings: language, cringey frat stuff, public(??) fingering

word count: 4,200+

summary: your boyfriend’s frat doesn’t allow dating outside of greek life. hence the reason you two have had to sneak around for ten months... and hence the reason you’ve somehow found yourself stuck and hiding in a closet. 

a/n: wow long time no see! sorry for the delay, I’m really busy/stressing about dissertation stuff lately so updates and writings aren’t going to be frequent. but I really wanted to write this for ya’ll real quick to have SOMETHING, but yeah it’s not edited and NOT very good bc of the quickness. But I hope ya’ll will forgive me :) 

lambda | delta | gamma | kappa | theta | sigma

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

When you woke up this morning, you really didn’t think you would end up in a closet at the Alpha Sigma Phi house.

The space is cramped, dark and a little smelly. Judging by the odor, you guessed that this was the closet that the boys in the house used to throw garbage in whenever they had to “clean” the house. Maybe this situation would have been a little bit better if you had been pushed into the closet that’s on the second floor – that way there would be less garbage and less boy smell. But who were you kidding? There would be a boy smell regardless.

In theory though you really shouldn’t be stuck in a closet at a frat house thinking about which closet you’d rather be in. What had your life become lately?

“Just a little bit longer, okay?” You heard Jaebeom utter through the door. It instinctively made you roll your eyes. The tone of his voice was so nonchalant, as if you weren’t stuck in a small space. But of course, he was on the other side of the door in fresh air, with as much space to roam around as he pleased – he didn’t understand “just a little bit longer” was triggering.

As much as you lo- liked Jaebeom… you weren’t sure if you would be able to hide in small spaces for the entirety of your relationship.

Babe it’s not for our entire relationship… Just until we graduate.

When he had first said that you didn’t really think about the bigger picture. All you had thought about was how happy he made you and how much you loved being with him. And that was the most important thing to you. But lately the sneaking around and the hiding had been a little too much for you – you weren’t sure if you could keep it up for another year… It had already been 10 months and you were at your wits end. Every time you wanted to sit down to have the conversation with Jaebeom – the one where you tell him it’s either the end of hiding or the end of your relationship – he’d give you those eyes, that smile and it would be completely wiped from your thoughts.

Damn Im Jaebeom. You think you fucking love him.

“Jae…” you grumbled, hitting your head against the door a bit. It had already been what… a half hour?

You heard him shush you and another voice emerged from the other side of the door. “Hey man, any particular reason you’ve been standing here?” Jaebeom’s nervous laughter is a giveaway, you just hope that Yugyeom doesn’t pick up on it. “No reason… just… like the space over here… It’s good party watching space.”

There’s silence and you pressed your ear up to the door further, hoping to hear something. You jumped back when you heard your boyfriend’s panicked voice, “what are you doing?”

Yugyeom snorted, “Dude chill… I’m just getting more cups from the closet.”

“Uh… Let me! I’ll get them!”

“What?”

“Yeah no worries dude, I didn’t really do anything to help prep for the party so I might as well get some fucking cups from the closet,” Jaebeom chuckled, his voice shifting to a more normal tone, “to be honest I didn’t really even know this was happening tonight… otherwise…” He drifted off, mumbling the last part to himself. You know he’s referencing the fact that the two of you thought the house would be empty – many of the guys typically going out to a local bar on Thursdays, but to your surprise as you crossed the main foyer in the house, the front door opened with most of the guys in the frat piling through. That led to your push into the closet.

“Yeah well… Red Room was closed because apparently they have a rat problem. I feel like that’s a bunch of bullshit. I mean we go there every week… we would have noticed if there was a rat problem.”

“Maybe they were just good at hiding it.”

There’s a lull in silence and Yugyeom clicked his tongue, as if he thinking deeply about something, “but I guess you wouldn’t know… You really don’t go out with us on Thursdays anymore…” As much as you liked the guys in Jaebeom’s frat – from stories you’d heard through your boyfriend of course – it seemed like they were often pretty slow when it came to certain things. If Yugyeom was starting to get skeptical and began piecing things together then surely the rest of the guys would too.

“Let me get you guys those cups.”

Taking a small step back, you turn to the shelf on your right, finding the red cups almost immediately through the dimmed closet. As the door cracks open slightly, your boyfriend’s long arm appears in the small space, gesturing around – clearly looking for the cups.

“Dude what are you doing?” Yugyeom asked.

“I know where the cups are so why should I go in all the way and get claustrophobic?” You have to cover your mouth to stop yourself from laughing at Jaebeom’s fake explanation.

Yes, because why would anyone ever want to be stuck inside of a closet? Rolling your eyes – happy he can’t see – you thrust the cups forward into his wandering hand. You swear you hear him grunt at your force.

The cups and his hand disappeared along with the small sliver of light that comes from the door being open. “Well… here you go… the cups you wanted.” There’s another pause and you wished you could see what was going on – to know if Yugyeom was buying how uncharacteristically strange Jaebeom was being or if he was still suspicious.

“You should leave your creepy party watching spot and actually join the fun, ya know? Some of the girls from Theta are going to be by soon and I know Amanda’s been asking a lot about you lately.”

Yugyeom’s mention of another girl makes your skin crawl and you’re almost ready to pounce out of the closet and call it a day, but instead you clenched your fists and waited to hear your boyfriend’s response.

“Nah man… I’m good.”

“Come on… how long has it been since you last had any action? I’m pretty sure Amanda would be down to hook up tonight.” Instinctively you felt your hand go to the doorknob, gripping it tightly.

To your dismay Jaebeom says nothing in response and your mind starts running wild thinking about possible nonverbal responses he could have communicated to Yugyeom – perhaps one of them being “yeah I’ll totally bang Amanda tonight.”

And you know what… maybe he should. Maybe it’d be better for him to be with someone he can actually walk around campus with. To be with someone he could actually introduce to his friends. You weren’t any of those things.

The circumstances of your relationship with Jaebeom had been complicated from the beginning. The two of you had met in a random general ed class you were both forced to take for a stupid credit. Never in your life did you think you were going to meet your next boyfriend in “Comparative Post-Communist Politics.” The two of you had the lowest scores in the class and found yourselves bonding over your almost failing midterm grades, but luckily the two of you had passed the course. Thank god for the grading curve.

It had started just that simply – two people who were “class friends.” Nothing more, nothing less. You’d sit next to each other every lecture and laugh over how dumb you both were, but never made efforts to hang out after class or even study together in preparation for exams. It wasn’t until the final day of class that Jaebeom had asked you to get drinks. His request shocked you as you had figured that just like most “class friends” you two would part ways and never see each other again except for the occasional pass by on campus where each of you would squint and wonder how do I know that person? Were they in that one class I took that one time?

You were perhaps even more shocked when you agreed to go.

From then on, the two of you talked about things besides class and got to know each other on a more personal level. You had already known some very basic things about him – such as his affiliation with the Greek system – but soon enough Jaebeom was pouring his heart out to you, and you to him. Both of you admitted that you had never felt this comfortable with someone before.

It was probably you fifth- or sixth-time getting drinks at a secluded place downtown when Jaebeom revealed to you how much he liked you. You felt your heart leap out of your chest and just as you were about to reveal your own confession, he hit you with a “but…”

“but… I can’t technically date you. My frat’s chapter is really strict about dating outside of Greek life. When I was a pledge, they told me that they’ve kicked guys out for going out with girls who aren’t affiliated.”

In any other situation you would have gotten up and said “no thank you” to whoever the guy was, not wanting to waste your time on anything or anyone who prioritized some stupid brotherhood over their feelings for you. But this was Jaebeom… The Jaebeom that you had grown close to over such a short period of time and had told you how much Alpha Sigma Phi meant to him. He had grown up an only child and spent much of his younger years feeling lonely, which was what made him want to rush the frat. He wanted the close experience and to have strong loyalty and ties with the other members – just like with real brothers.

“We can make it work. I really like you too Jaebeom… I’m willing to try this and figure something out…”

At the time… you weren’t sure what “figure something out” really meant – especially since you weren’t supposed to be seen together by literally anyone. Most people on campus knew someone who knew someone that was in Alpha Sig and if anyone saw the two of you together, you’d risk it getting back to the guys at the house. Which was why for 10 months the two of you had been dating in secret – him coming over to yours almost every night and you sneaking over to the house every Thursday when the guys were usually gone until the early hours.

You felt like you were fighting back tears at the thought of Jaebeom with someone else, but maybe it was what was right. You deserved to not be a secret forever – you were in a closet for godssake – and Jaebeom deserved to be with the perfect sorority girl that he could take wherever he wanted without the risk of getting kicked out of his second home. Tightly shutting your eyes, you attempted to stop yourself from crying, but somehow it makes it worse with the first drop rolling down your cheek slowly.

“Baby? Are you crying?”

It’s then that you realized the door had been cracked open once again, Jaebeom looking behind him before slipping in with you, shutting the door tightly. It occurred to you how pathetic you must look, crying in a dim, cramped closet at a frat house.

Quickly, you tried to wipe the tears of your cheek and hiccupped slightly, “N-no I’m not crying. It’s just my allergies with all the dust in here.”

“You don’t have allergies…” He positioned himself closer to you, bringing his own hand up to your face to rest it on your cheek, feeling the wet trails your tears had left behind, “what’s wrong?” Biting your lip, you don’t say anything in the hopes that he’ll drop the subject. Jaebeom knows you well enough to know when you want to move on and not address a topic, but this time he can’t find it in himself to just let it go.

“Y/N tell me.”

The way his thumb continued to gently caress your cheek back in forth, makes you want to close your eyes and pretend you’re anywhere else besides here in this closet having this conversation. You’d rather be with your boyfriend in a place far away from here where you don’t have to hide and you don’t have to worry about perceptions.

“I was just thinking about what Yugyeom said about the girl from Theta.”

“Baby… I would never go behind your back and do something with her-”

You sighed deeply and felt your stomach drop as you kept wedging your way further and further into the conversation you had once been wanting to have. Not seeing his sparkling eyes and that look in bright light made the words somewhat easier to get out. “I know you would never do that… I just think sometimes maybe it’s best if you had someone you could actually be seen with.”

Jaebeom doesn’t say anything, because it’s at that moment he feels his own stomach churn and feel sick. Making out your saddened face in the dark closet and listening to your words he realizes what he’s done. The way you had said “if you had someone you could actually be seen with” as if there was something wrong with you. As if you were less then. He wanted to kick himself for making you feel like that when it was in fact his fault and his own issues that stopped the two of you from being together publicly. Was brotherhood really so important to him when he was at risk of losing the person he loves?

Loves.

Reality hit him again.

“No,” Jaebeom finally said shaking his head, “I don’t want anyone else. I only want you and I’m sorry for making you feel like this. You’ve been so willing to hide this just because I’m a fucking idiot… because you understand how much this all meant to me.”

“Meant?”

He delicately brings his hands to rest at your waist, leaning close enough forward until you can feel his breath on your face, “I have something in my life that’s more important than getting kicked out of a stupid frat. I-I love you Y/N.”

You don’t answer him for a moment and he feels like he’s going to collapse at first from your lack of response. He wonders if maybe he had read the last 10-months completely wrong or if you had finally had enough with his bullshit and he was just too late. Jaebeom feels all of these worries and doubts fade away when you lean forward to press your lips against his. “I love you too,” you mumbled against his lips and you felt your boyfriend smile, his grip tightening on your waist and bringing you even closer to his body until you’re flush against one another.

You felt one of his hands drift down from your waist to the hem of your skirt, slowly caressing your thigh and slipping itself underneath the material until it’s hitched up above his hand. Removing yourself from his lips, you let out a lustful sigh to let him know how much you want him to do what he’s thinking about doing. As he rests his forehead against yours, he looks down between your two bodies, his hand going to your panties, gently playing with the waistband – snapping it back and forth gently to tease you.

“Do you want me to take back that I love you?” You asked playfully.

Jaebeom laughed, “you wouldn’t dare.”

Just as you’re about to respond with a bratty “try me,” you feel him dip his hand underneath the now damp material. He smiled at your caught off guard reaction. His fingers brushed your core, his index finger moving along your slit as he gathered your juices on his finger before he brought it to his lips and sucked them gently. You watched him in the dim light and felt yourself somehow grow more wet than before. He moved his fingers back down, his thumb pressing up against your clit and you felt yourself suck in a breath at the feeling, before two of his digits pushed into your completely. With the small amount of space, you had, you lifted your hips in an effort to get more of him inside of you and he chuckled at the action.

“We have all night baby girl, don’t worry. I take care of you, always.”

You exhaled at the feeling of his thumb massaging your clit and his fingers began to pump into you at a slow rhythmic pace. He watched you for a moment wondering how he got so lucky before returning his lips back to yours.

A groan arose in your throat and against Jaebeom’s lips as he curled his middle finger into you, hitting that spot that always made you so weak and you feel your thighs begin to twitch as you near your high. Sometimes it amazed you how quick he could make you reach your release, but he already knew everything else about you so well it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he would excel at this as well.

When he picked up the pace of his fingers fucking into you, continuing to hit your g-spot each time, you felt yourself quickly come apart and your walls clench around his fingers tightly. You dropped your head down to his shoulder and felt like there wasn’t any breath left in your body as you rode out the waves of your orgasm, Jaebeom making sure not to overstimulate you and slowing his fingers down. When he finally removes his hand from you, you feel so empty almost like your body just wants to be that close to him all the time – not even in a sexual way.

When you finally feel strong enough, you bring your head off of Jaebeom’s shoulder and wrap your hands around his neck tightly, bringing him in for another kiss.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. I never want to stop saying it and I never want to stop hearing it.”

With arms still around his neck, you gently play with the hair at his nape. You feel happier than you’ve felt in a long time – which was saying something considering how happy your boyfriend had made you the past 10 months.

“Should we get out of this closet?” Jaebeom asked with shut eyes, feeling relaxed every time he’s under your touch.

“Now? You want everyone to see us now?”

He shrugged, “They’re going to find out either way so might as well just do it now. I just hope they give me time to get my stuff before they kick me out.” You feel yourself frown at his candor and the thought of Jaebeom losing the sense of belonging he had gained from being in Alpha Sig, but you remember his previous assurances. You had one another and everything was going to be fine.

Just as you’re about to respond to him, you’re interrupted by a sudden emergence of light into the closet signaling the opening of the door. You and Jaebeom both freeze when you see Yugyeom and some of the other brothers behind him.

“Can you two just come out already?”

It’s almost as though both you and your boyfriend had forgotten all of your words. Instead you stare at one another with wide eyes.

“We’re tired of all this waiting. Just come out and introduce us to your girlfriend already man,” Yugyeom whined.

This was embarrassing. Had they been… listening?

“Listen ‘Gyeom I know you chose today’s date in the pool, but that doesn’t mean you win the bet,” one of the guys from behind him said.

Yugyeom lets out a large groan and turns to the member, “what? Why not? I chose today and he was going to do it today! I swear!”

“Yeah but you ruined it by opening the door! You pretty much made the whole thing void… Haven’t you heard of like… not ruining the controlled variable in the experiment or whatever the fuck?”

“The controlled variable was the door? That doesn’t make sense. You’re as dumb as a bag of bones dude,” Yugyeom snorted, turning back to you and Jaebeom. It’s then that you feel relief as Jaebeom finally cleared his throat to say something to the many pairs of eyes fixated on you both, “can you guys please explain to me what’s going on here?”

Yugyeom rolled his eyes at Jaebeom as if it was the most obvious thing in the world to understand, “we had a bet going for when you would finally tell us about your secret girlfriend… Who to be honest isn’t really a secret. I sit next to Y/N’s friend in Econ… class friends ya know.”

You felt your mouth go dry. If they knew about Jaebeom dating an unaffiliated girl this entire time why did they let it play out for so long? Why didn’t they say something to him and make him break up with you or kick him out of the frat? Were they trying to torture the two of you for the longest amount of time possible?

It’s then when you really take in each member of Alpha Sig’s face and you see no malice or disgust at the fact that you’re not a non-affiliate. They almost seemed… happy.

You felt Jaebeom take his head into yours and he sighs once more before looking back to the guys, “listen… Y/N is my girlfriend and has been for the last 10 months… I’ve put her through so much shit and made her sneak around which she did willingly because of how amazing she is. I’ve never felt so loved and cared for by someone before and I can’t put her through more shit that’s going to make her feel less then she is. I love her and I’m sorry you guys can’t accept that. I can be out of here by tomorrow.”

As Jaebeom goes to move the two of you out of the closet, Yugyeom places his hand up causing you both to stop in your tracks.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Jaebeom looks to you and then back to Yugyeom, “the rule… that we’re not allowed to date anyone who’s not affiliated. When we were pledges they told us they’ve kicked guys out for breaking the rule… remember?”

The boys in front of Jaebeom all look at him blankly until Yugyeom begins to laugh, the rest of the guys following him until you have approximately 6 frat guys laughing in your faces. Looking at your boyfriend his eyebrows are furrowed. You can’t tell if he’s confused at their reaction or annoyed.

It takes a moment for Yugyeom and the boys to finally stop laughing, “Jae… are you joking? Is that why you haven’t introduced her to us? Because of that stupid rule?”

“Yeah…”

Coming closer, Yugyeom placed his hand on Jaebeom’s shoulder, “Dude… that rule is not real. They’ve never kicked anyone out over dating someone who’s unaffiliated. Sure, the upperclassmen then didn’t want us to date someone not in an org, but they would have never made us leave… That kinda goes against the whole brotherhood thing. Besides, now we’re the upperclassmen and we just care that we’re all happy. You included.”

You felt like you could run a marathon at the amount of energy and feelings coursing through your body. You wanted to hug all of the semi-strangers in front of you, but also you wanted to hit Jaebeom for thinking that rule was a real thing when it was in fact… apparently not. In the back of your head, you make a mental note to lecture him on next time it never hurts to ask questions before you get into a secret 10-month relationship that might not need to be a secret.

“Thanks guys,” Jaebeom smiled at his brothers, with his hand still holding onto yours, caressing your smooth skin with his thumb.

“Now let’s continue this party, shall we?” Yugyeom yelled loudly as the rest of the guys cheer back in response, most of them heading back to the main living space until it’s just you, Jaebeom and Yugyeom.

The younger boy shakes his head, “I still can’t believe you were in that closet the entire time… which reminds me. I am never going in there again after the actions that occurred in there,” you felt your face grow hot at his admittance that he had heard or at least knew what had happened in the closest just moments before his grand entrance.

“I still can’t believe you knew the entire time and didn’t say anything!” You whined.

“I was expecting you to jump out as soon as I mentioned Amanda… That’s why I brought it up. Which by the way man,” Yugyeom turned to Jaebeom, “none of the girls at Theta give a shit about you.”

“That’s totally okay. There’s only one girl I want to give a shit about me,” Jaebeom smiled proudly placing his arm around you in front of Yugyeom and everyone else at the party. He relishes in how comfortable it feels to finally be like this with you in front of some of the most important people in his life. Besides you of course.

You hummed in delight and nuzzled your head against his arm, into his shoulder, “She doesn’t just give a shit about you. She kind of loves you too.”

“Just kind of?”

“Nah with her full heart.”