#this man knew i was out here stressing over Luke tickets today and was like 1) lane check girlie pop
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Prom Dress
Sunset Curve x Reader - Mercer Reader x Reggie
- a tiny bit like She’s All That.
Word Count: 2,461
Your brother had been adamant on you going to prom seeing as his bandmate, Luke, said they shouldn’t go to make a statement. It was only Junior prom, nothing big. You were on the planning committee, the theme was Paris, though it was a classic prom theme you wanted to make it different. Adding in the Pont des Arts bridge, more well known as the Love Lock bridge, an amazingly painted Louvre museum (all thanks to the amazing art students), and lastly the most obvious Eiffel Tower. You had forced the boys to help you assemble it, because “helping out your baby sister is the best way to show love!”
Though there were a few people on the prom committee, you were the leader, and the one doing most of the work. This was one of your biggest projects meaning it was creating a whole lot of stress. And everyone knows how well you deal with stress, you became irritable and snappy. You always tried to be kind but it was hard.
“Let me help you out, I can even ask the boys to help out.” Your brother, Alex, had urged. He had never liked seeing you like this, he may be a butthead but he’s still your brother.
“Didn’t Luke say you aren’t going? And no, I’m fine.” you huff looking over the expenses.
“I don’t care what Luke said, also, helping prepare the dance isn’t actually going is it?”
“Sure, but I still don’t need your help.” Closing your eyes you rub your face praying that the math would do it itself. But then again nothing gets done right unless you do it yourself.
“Okay. If you need me I’ll be-”
“In the basement, got it.” He stood there for a bit longer hoping you’d let him help. “Stop hovering like mom. Go practice.”
You had fallen asleep at your desk working on homework for tomorrow, something that had been happening more often now. Simply because you didn’t have the energy to move to your bed. However you woke up tucked under your sheets. Wiping your bleary eyes you noticed your room was picked up and your desk was cleared off. You smiled to yourself softly.
Alex had knocked at your door to check on you. When you didn’t answer he had realized you’d fallen asleep. Running down he got the boys to help you out. Bobby had hooked his arms under your legs and around your back to pick you up, you instinctively wrapped your arms around his neck pulling yourself closer. Luke, Alex and Reggie had helped pick the books and journals tossed around your room. Reggie had looked over your spreadsheet, quickly scribbling down the total that you had spent and what you had left for the prom. All four then slipped out as if they were never even there.
As the prom was finally nearing, you had spent most of your time either in the library or one of the practice rooms in the school finalizing every detail. Everyone was bustling about getting asked out as a date or grumbling about the ‘anti-prom’ that a few of the students were having. You hadn’t been asked yet, not that you cared that much. You didn’t need a man to validate yourself. Though it would be nice to have a date, but no biggy.
There was a knocking at the practice room door that startled you, looking up you see a rosy cheeked boy staring in. He pointed down at the door handle, silently asking if he could come in. Pushing some of your books to the side to make space for him, he comes to sit next to you. You continued working on an essay that was due by 8th period.
“How is it coming along?”
“Pretty well, how are you today Reg?” he smirked at your nickname, though you couldn’t see.
“Good, we have a gig tonight. It’s at a book club this time.” your nose scrunched up the slightest.
“A book club? Well I hope it goes… okay. I wish I could come but I have homework to catch up on and I am helping out a freshman with biology. But I’m sure Alex will come home and not shut up about it.” you smile at the thought of your brother bouncing around the kitchen talking about his gig as you got out the ice cream. The bell outside sounded, alerting you of your upcoming class.
“See you later!” You pack your things up and leave behind a dazed boy. He was currently wondering if he made a mistake of not asking you to the prom.
The next day you had ridden into school with Alex, talking all about your silly boy crush. He was the only one you trusted with this information simply because you knew it would never become something.
“Alex, I swear to you that James is literally like sent from the heavens. Just look at him!” You pointed to him through the windshield. Alex could only chuckle, he knew that Reggie had adored you but you hadn’t known that.
“Stop laughing at me. I know it’s stupid and I mean he has never even looked in my direction. But Aleeex!” You whined on.
“I didn’t even say anything. I don’t personally think you should be with him. I can’t stop you though.” Both of you had been through this before. It was as simple as what you had said, James had never even looked in your direction. It was stupid to step out of your box in highschool. But everyone loves James, except for your boys.
Rolling your eyes you got out gabbing your backpack from the back seat. Pulling Alex in for a side hug you began your trek to your locker.
“See you later NERD!” he yelled across the parking lot. Today was going to be a normal day, get through all your classes, spend lunch working on some prom things, finish school and go home to do more work. That was until you showed up at your locker, you had opened it and roses fell out all over your feet. You could feel your face get hot as everyone's eyes were on you now. Someone had cleared your throat, turning around you saw James smiling brightly with a bouquet of roses.
“Will you Y/F/N Y/L/N, go to the Junior prom with me?” Saying it loud enough for everyone in the hallway to hear. If your face wasn’t already on fire it sure was now, you were stuttering over your words trying to figure out how to say yes. Deciding it best to simply shake your head, he grabbed your hand brushing his lips across your knuckles.
He had written his number on your wrist before kissing it lightly. You couldn’t think about anything else all day, the way his lips felt against your knuckles were imprinted in your mind. During lunch you had sat in the back of the library reviewing, for the final time, everything. The list of those who bought tickets, art work, the locks, food, drinks, venue, and transportation for everything. Reggie had slipped in the seat next to you setting a canned iced tea in front of you. It was like clockwork, Reggie would come and eat lunch with you either making small talk or not talking at all.
“So James asked you out?” he asked quietly unsure of how to approach the situation.
“He asked me to the prom. I don’t know if that’s asking me out or just asking me to prom. But it doesn’t really matter because it's like James. Ya know?” You giggle softly allowing yourself to let go the tiniest bit.
“Huh nice. Lucky guy. Well the boys and I are going to head out, practice and all. But Alex will come pick you up after school. See ya later.” grabbing his back he left you there alone.
**** **** **** ****
They say prom can either be the best night of your life or the worst night of your life.
Finally the day of prom had come, you were allowed to take the day off of school. So you spent the first half of it setting up at the venue, though there wasn’t a whole lot to do. You wanted everything to be perfect, you were so unknowingly anxious that your hands were shaking. The second half was you getting ready, previously you had texted James making sure he would be here at 6:00 pm so that you could go out to dinner beforehand. You were pinning back your hair and putting the final touches on your makeup. Clipping on the necklace the boys had collectively bought you for one of your birthdays, you were ready. Stepping into your dress that you had picked out specifically to match James’ shirt. But it wasn’t a big deal.
You had gone downstairs and out to the garage, knocking quietly to alert your presence before walking in. Your shoes clicked against the hard ground as you moved further in. Spinning around to show off your outfit, hair, and make up. Luke began hooting and clapping while Bobby cat called. Feeling your face grow warm you stopped to face them smiling.
“Thank you, thank you very much!” Your smile couldn’t be brighter, and Reggie’s heart couldn’t be more broken.
“You look amazing Y/N!” Reggie said softly. Alex looked as though he might cry, you were worried for a moment.
“My baby sister all grown up!” wiping the underside of his eye you fling a pillow at him.
“I’m only younger by a few minutes!” hearing the chorus of laughs to your response fills your heart.
“Well dear baby sis, I hope you have fun tonight. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” You make a throwing up face.
“You wouldn’t do anything Alex.”
“That’s that point! And call me if you need anything.” he stands up enveloping you in a hug. Even through the banter you could feel his nervousness, you both did all the big things together. He was there to help you if you needed it and you helped him. But you were alone now, and with that stupid James boy. Squeezing him back twice as hard you quickly kiss his cheek before stepping back.
“I am going to go wait inside, it’s cold out here. But I’ll stop in to let you know I'm leaving.”
You took your leave sitting in the living room waiting. Looking at the clock you saw it was 5:55, no need to worry some people don’t show up early. It’s alright no need to stress. While waiting you had decided to grab a book from upstairs.
6:15, you could still make your reservation right? Plus maybe he needed a bit more time to get ready.
6:30, well you wouldn’t be able to get dinner now but you could still go to prom together. You were now bored with the book and just hoping that James hadn’t forgotten. Luke had walked in the house to grab some water but was startled when he saw you sitting at the kitchen counter.
“Hey, what are you still doing here? Weren’t you supposed to go to dinner?” he asked while filling up his cup.
“I was supposed to, but it doesn’t matter. The actual dance starts at 7.” You smile half-heartedly.
7:15, there was the sound of a car driving down the street that had you jump to your feet, running outside. Seeing a limo drive down past, a figure stands up through the sunroof. You smile and wave when you realize it’s James, but then another body pops up next to him. Then she kisses him, and your heart drops.
“Sorry baby, I thought you would catch on by now. Honestly, someone like me? With you? Never gonna happen.” he shouts from the car before connecting lips with the girl next to him, the car takes off. You sink to your knees feeling your heart sink with you. Tears are streaming down your face, making your makeup run. The makeup you had learned to do for this evening, that took you hours to perfect.
Gaining the strength to stand, you practically drag yourself over to the garage. You could hear the sounds of their movie bouncing off the walls and could see the colors changing through the window. Pushing the door open it creaked, alerting all four boys of your presence. Alex whipped around as soon as he made eye contact with you he was on his feet rushing over to you. He wrapped his arms around your shoulders as you fell into him feeling defeated.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” He tried to sound collected. But he had never seen you so distressed, even on your bad days.
“I-I don’t want to tal-talk about it. Pl-please.” you sniffled. You hadn’t even wanted a date in the first place, you were okay with going alone. But then James had to go and make the night awful.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to talk to us about it. But how can I help?” you could hear his poor heart practically beating out of his chest.
Reggie had come up behind you rubbing your back slightly, trying to calm you down the same way you had done for him so many times before.
“I don’t know…”
“Why don’t we go out and get some ice cream?” Luke stood in front of you.
“Yeah, and we can walk around the park for a bit. But only if you want.” Bobby added. Looking around at your boys, you realized how much you loved them.
“That sounds nice.” Smiling very smally.
All the boys had loaded up in the car as Alex ran to get his wallet. Luke was sitting shotgun, Bobby behind the driver seat, Reggie behind Luke, and you in the middle. You laid your head on Reggie’s shoulder, sighing deeply. How could you’ve been so stupid? Honestly James? Interested in someone like you? What a joke.
You all had gotten ice cream, the boys having 2 scoops, whereas you had 3. Alex cut them off. To everyone at the ice cream shop you probably looked crazy, 4 tall boys 3/4 of which were dressed in dark colors; and a girl in a puffy dress all dressed up with her makeup running slightly with her legs kicked up on one of their legs. But to you, this was family. You couldn’t have asked for a better one, because you had just had one of the worst nights of your life, having your heart broken by something you hadn’t even wanted in the first place. But here you were sitting with your boys laughing over something stupid Luke had said with your legs kicked up over Alex’s legs.
#Julie and the phantoms#sunset curve imagine#sunset curve x reader#mercer reader#alex mercer x sister!reader#luke patterson x reader#reggie peters x reader#bobby wilson x reader#fluffy#grace writes
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Signed, Sealed, Delivered (2/6)
Fandom: Star Wars
Pairing: Rey/Ben Solo (Reylo)
Note: Chapter count went up! As always, giant thank you to @andyouweremine @notababoonbrandishingastick and @storiesofimagination for all of the reading and cheerleading and handholding.
Read below or on AO3
Creepy Threepio agrees and Ben sends Rey a message to coordinate with her on getting Amilyn and Snoke in the elevator at the same time and when to meet Ben in the maintenance room in the basement of the building.
Everything goes completely and horribly wrong. Which really doesn’t surprise Ben, he knew that the plan was a long shot. But it does surprise him at just how wrong everything does go.
Rey is standing next to him, her jaw hanging open as she watches the disaster that is happening on the screen. Creepy Threepio looks overly thrilled by the scene in the elevator. Which with everything Ben has heard about him through the building grapevine, it also doesn’t surprise him.
To Rey’s credit, they did get Amilyn and Snoke in the same elevator. Everything went well for about ten seconds. Ben would give them that. For ten seconds their plan went absolutely wonderfully.
Then there was a flower delivery man that stepped into the elevator. Then Threepio stopped the elevator. Then Amilyn and Snoke fought and fought about what to do, cancelling and recalling the emergency button, arguing about who had cell service and just calling the fire department.
All of which was, quite frankly, bad enough.
And that was before the delivery guy really started to panic about being stuck in an elevator and took his clothes off and stood naked in front of Amilyn and Snoke.
Obviously, the situation took many turns for the worse.
But then he started urinating.
That’s what they are watching now. The aftermath of this man urinating in a small enclosed space with their bosses. Snoke is losing his shit, and if it wasn’t going to become Ben’s problem when those doors opened, he would find it a bit amusing to see him so out of sorts.
Amilyn handles it better than Snoke. She’s trying to comfort the man while shooting daggers at Snoke as she rambles on about stress incontinence and how it’s a perfectly normal thing.
“Open the doors, Threepio,” Rey orders, her face paling as she keeps looking at the monitor. “Open the fucking doors. We have to get them out of there.”
“I told you this was a bad idea,” Ben says, holding his hands up when she looks over to him and glares. “I’m just saying.”
Rey doesn’t say anything else, just keeps her eyes on the screen, unable to tear her attention away from the trainwreck that is still occurring as Threepio takes his time to get the elevator up and running and the doors open.
Finally, the doors open and Ben watches as Amilyn and Snoke fight each other to get out of the elevator first, screaming at each other about their behavior.
“Yeah,” Ben sighs, watching as both Amilyn and Snoke walk off the screen. “Real good first meeting. I definitely think this is the meet up story they are going to tell at their wedding.”
Rey bites her bottom lip, one hand gripping the edge of the desk in front of her. “We’ll do better next time.”
“Next time?” Ben rolls his eyes. “Rey, there is not going to be a next time. Did you not just see what a fucking disaster that was? Someone peed in front of them.”
“Yes,” Rey answers, with a small nod. “That is what just happened. So, we can’t really do worse next time. We’ve got nowhere to go but up from here.”
Ben stares at Rey, trying to figure out how exactly she is taking what just occurred to be anything but a certifiable loss. “There is no way. I’m not doing this again.”
Rey turns her attention to Threepio, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for your help.”
“Thank you,” Threepio exclaims, a wide grin spread over his face. His eyes are crinkled at the corners. “This is the greatest thing I’ve ever done.”
Rey gives a nervous chuckle before pointing down at the small plant she had brought for him. “Don’t forget to water this guy at least once a day. Okay?”
Ben follows Rey out of the room. They both look at the elevator for a second, before heading toward the doors for the staircase.
“I’ll come up with another plan tonight,” Rey says as they start the walk up to their floors. “This was a rash plan. We need to pay more attention to the details and the variables.”
“Rey, I really don’t know.” Ben pulls his phone out of his pocket as it starts beeping. He holds his phone up for Rey to see. “Snoke is losing his mind. Today is going to be awful and we probably deserve that for trying to mess with our bosses’ love lives.”
“Don’t,” Rey started, before grimacing as her own phone started going off. “Don’t back out on this yet. One more shot. Just one more.”
Ben pauses at the landing between the floors, starting to read through the onslaught of messages from Snoke. One of them even suggests that he needs to find and fire the delivery guy. As if that is something in Ben’s power.
He isn’t sure what makes him agree. He isn’t planning on it. He is planning on telling her no. That this was fun, or, well, fun wasn’t really the right word for it. But it was something. A nice break to his usual days.
Her eyes are hopeful though as she whispers please and holds his gaze.
He’s going to tell her no. Absolutely no way in hell is he doing this again.
And yet, he says, “Okay. Fine. Just one more.”
***
“Ben,” Leia’s voice is demanding and clearly irritated over the phone. “You were supposed to be at the restaurant 45 minutes ago.”
“I know, Mom.” Ben sighs, spreading his legs out wider to stop anyone from trying to sit in the two seats next to him. “Snoke is running late. As soon as he gets here, I should have about two hours and I’ll head straight to the restaurant.”
“This is ridiculous.” Leia mutters. Ben can hear ice clink against her glass in the background. “I don’t know why you won’t just let me or Luke make a few calls so you can quit.”
“I don’t want to get into this again.” Ben runs his hand over his chin. “I want to get my jobs on my own. It’s important to me.”
“You’ve been saying that since you graduated,” Leia points out and Ben hates how he knows that she has a point. “How long are you going to put yourself through this? You're currently holding seats for someone that can’t even be bothered to be at his kid’s show on time. You work an impossible number of hours every week. Your pay is a joke. You haven’t made it home for dinner in months. There’s only about a ten percent chance I’m actually going to see you today, Ben. We both know it.”
Ben tilts his head back, briefly closing his eyes as Leia brings up with the same arguments she uses every time they have this conversation. Not that they aren’t good arguments. Everything she is saying is true. It just doesn’t change anything.
“You’re wasting your potential, Ben,” Leia adds at the end. Which is new. She hasn’t pulled that card before. “You could be doing so much more and you are just wasting it waiting for Snoke to open up doors for you that you don’t need him to open.”
Ben’s just about to respond when he hears Snoke’s voice in the auditorium. Ben sits up straight, turning his head to see him practically pushing people out of his way to make it to the front where Ben is waiting.
“I’ve got to go, Mom,” Ben says, holding his free hand up for Snoke to see. “I love you.”
“Ben—”
Ben hangs up the phone.
***
Rey’s spread out across her bed. She has her cell phone upside down and left on the shelf by her door. It’s 2 am and she is decidedly not going to look at her phone again until at least 6 am when she is getting ready for work.
She pops another piece of popcorn in her mouth as she watches another video of a sports event. This time it’s a basketball game and she’s zoning out as she can hear the music change to some cheesy song about kisses and the video focuses on people sitting next to each other for the kiss cam.
Kiss cam.
It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect. It’s so much better than the trapped in the elevator idea they had gone with the first time.
Rey gets out of bed and grabs her phone. She’s about to text Ben her great idea when she hears Kaydel come in the front door.
Rey sets her phone back down and looks over at the “Will you be my maid of honor?” sign that Rey had found on her bed this morning. She picks it up off her dresser and walks out to tell Kaydel yes.
She’s going to be the best maid of honor for her. She just needs this plan with Ben to work out to have the time for that to happen.
***
“Okay, we didn’t do so great last time,” Rey says, tapping her fingers against Ben’s desk as she talks. “But our luck is going to change. This plan is going to blow your mind.”
Ben smiles despite his best efforts not to. Her excitement is contagious. It’s quickly becoming one of Ben’s favorite things about Rey. The positive spin and twists she can put on most situations is so different from how Ben sees things. It’s nice to have around.
“We’ll see,” Ben teases. “Are you going to tell me this great plan?”
“When I feel like I have your full attention.” Rey leans forward over his desk, to look at the list he is writing. “Lemons? Wire? Still working on this?”
Ben drops his pen on top of the list before rubbing his hand at the back of his neck. “Snoke’s kid needs the best science project for the science fair. Obviously.”
“Ah,” Rey says with understanding. “And you are doing… lemons to electricity? Very fancy. Definitely the best.”
“I hate my job.” Ben groans, shaking his head. “I’m twenty-eight, and I’m still an assistant. This is… not where I thought I’d be in life by now. Googling how to do a stupid middle school science fair project.”
“So, let’s make our jobs a little bit better by getting at least a slight increase in personal time added to our days.” Rey beams at him, pulling two tickets out of her jacket. “These are ours. I’m assuming you can get Snoke a seat at the next Yankees game?”
“Yeah.” Ben shoots her a curious look. “I can do that. What’s your plan exactly?”
“You’ll see.”
***
Ben’s been standing at the front of the Yankee Stadium for almost thirty minutes waiting for Rey to show up. The game is going to start soon and he hasn’t heard from her since she sent him a location pin of where to meet her before the game.
He’s just about to call her when he sees her running across the street toward him. His eyes widen slightly as he takes in her appearance. She is dressed in Yankee’s gear from head to toe. She looks absolutely ridiculous… and a little bit adorable.
“What the fuck are you wearing?” She asks, slowly moving her eyes up and down his body.
Ben glances down at the suit he had on. He doesn’t see anything wrong with what he is wearing.
“A suit?” He responds, lifting one of his shoulders up in a small shrug. “I came straight from the office.”
“No one wears a suit to a Yankees game, Ben.” Rey rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling and shaking her head just enough that a piece of her hair falls into her face.
Ben doesn’t think and lifts his hand up to brush the hair back and tuck it behind her ear.
“Thanks,” Rey blushes as Ben pulls his hand back from her face. She glances down away from Ben for a moment, but Ben is almost sure he sees her lips twitch up in a smile.
“You’re late,” Ben points out, trying to distract himself from the way his heart is beating faster when she looks back up at him and her cheeks are still slightly pink. They start walking toward the line to go through security. “I’ve been waiting forever.”
“Forever?” Rey scoffs. “You’re such a drama queen. I had to get supplies.” She waves the foam finger in her hand as an example. “I over dicked around.”
“You what?” Ben laughs.
“You know. I over dicked around.” Rey says the phrase again as if it is a common expression. “I got down here early to get everything set up with the kiss cam. And then I saw this cute shirt,” she points at the button up jersey shirt she is wearing. “Then I figured you’d need a foam finger to show your team spirit, which clearly I was right about, Mr. I-wear-a-suit-to-a-baseball-game.”
She pauses as they get closer to the front of the line, pulling the tickets out of her bag.
“I lost track of time.” She continues, giving him an apologetic look. “I still can’t believe you are wearing a suit.”
“I didn’t realize there was a dress code for a baseball game.”
“Comfort,” Rey teases as she hands her tickets, before grabbing on to Ben’s hand and pulling him through the crowd. “You should be comfortable at a baseball game.”
“Maybe I find suits to be comfortable.”
“You’re so weird.” Rey says, letting go of his hand as the crowd around them thins. Without much thought, Ben reaches forward to grab onto her hand again. He pauses just before his fingers would brush against hers, remembering that he has no reason to hold Rey's hand. He just wants to. His hand falls back to his side as he follows Rey as she starts heading up the stairs to their seats.
***
“You got everything set up?” Ben asks, tilting the popcorn bag that he had grabbed during the third inning toward Rey.
Rey assumed when he left he needed a little bit of a break from the group of teenagers that had bombarded him with questions when they sat down. Rey introduced each of the kids to him, and she introduced Yoda, the sweet old man who ran the group home that the kids were placed in.
“Yep,” Rey answers, throwing a piece of popcorn into her mouth as she smiles at Ben. “I think I can sort of see them?” She adds, squinting her eyes down toward where Snoke and Amilyn are sitting next to each other.
Ben had taken off his suit jacket and his tie after one of the teenage girls sitting next to them had joined Rey in making fun of him for looking so formal. He had also rolled his sleeves up to just below his elbow. Between that particular look and the way his hair softly moved with the gentle breeze, Rey is fairly distracted by how attractive she finds him.
“Me too,” Ben says. “They don’t look like they are yelling at each other.”
“Very promising.”
“It’s definitely a step up from the elevator incident,” Ben teases, bumping his shoulder against Rey’s. “I’ll give you that.”
“I told you we could do better,” Rey reminds him. “I have a good feeling about this.”
Rey watches the game, groaning when the umpire makes a bad call with the rest of the crowd. The atmosphere and sense of belonging in a crowd that came along with being at a live sporting event has always been one of Rey’s favorite feelings. She fell in love with it during her first minor league hockey game that she went to when she was 10. She loves watching the kids next to her fall in love with the same feeling.
“They aren’t even watching the game,” Rey complains, glancing over at Ben who seems into the game at least. “I know we set them up to come to the game, but with seats like that, I would be falling over myself.”
Ben looks off to the side for a few seconds before he responds. "I’ve had seats like that before," he says and he sounds almost ashamed to admit it to Rey. "I didn't appreciate them then."
"That's okay." Rey shoves her shoulder up against his, softly laughing. "I bet you will next time."
Ben looks like he is about to respond when Kiss Me starts to play over the speakers. Rey claps her hands excitedly before hitting one of her hands on Ben's knee.
"It's time!" Rey exclaims, her eyes glued on the jumbo screen, watching as the first couple gets picked out.
The first couple laughs before leaning across their seats for a brief kiss. The next pair does the same thing.
Rey loves watching the people blush, the quick glance to the other person making sure that this is okay, the shy smiles on their faces as they lean in for the kiss.
Her heart plummets to her stomach when she sees her face on the screen.
This was not supposed to happen. She's going to kill Artoo. Rey clearly and explicitly explained to him that she needed the camera on Amilyn. She gave him the exact seat.
Ben brushes his finger over her elbow. "Rey?" He asks.
Rey squints her eyes at Amilyn and Snoke's seats. They both seem entranced by their phones still. But Rey can't guarantee that they will remain focused on their phones and not on the giant screen with her and Ben's face.
They could get caught, Rey realizes, if the focus stays on them and Amilyn or Snoke look up from their phone.
They can't get caught.
So Rey turns her head, leaning closer toward Ben and kisses him.
He's surprised at first. At least Rey hopes the way Ben freezes against her at first is from surprise, but then he seems to melt into her, responding with passion she isn't expecting, one hand tilting her head to angle her better against his lips while the other brushes against the hair at the nape of her neck.
Objectively it's a good kiss. Ben's lips are soft and move against hers with ease. Rey's stomach swoops as Ben's mouth opens slightly. It would be easy to get lost in the way Ben kisses her.
There's wolf whistling and hollering coming from the kids around them when they pull away.
Rey stares at Ben for a moment after they separate. Her eyes are wide and there's a blush creeping up his neck and Rey hopes that her face isn't too red, but she can feel the heat on her cheeks.
She looks away, straightens her shoulders and sees the camera focus on Amilyn and Snoke.
They are still lost in their phones and Rey lets out a sigh of relief because they missed the kiss. She's certain that they didn't see her and Ben. Their plan can still work.
Rey focuses her attention on joining the crowd in cheering, trying to capture the attention of Amilyn and Snoke. It's a good distraction from the way her lips are still tingling from the kiss. From the way her thoughts want to drift away to imagine kissing Ben again.
Their bosses finally, finally, look up when the man behind them taps them on the shoulder.
Amilyn looks up at the screen and then over at Snoke. She laughs before shaking her head and looking back at her phone.
Snoke doesn't seem to understand what is going on.
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Rey joins the crowd in chanting, smiling as Ben joins in as well.
They don’t.
Rey joins the crowd in booing when the camera moves away from Snoke and Amilyn and onto another pair of people.
“Fuck,” Rey mutters under her breath. She scrunches her nose up and turns her head to look at Ben. “Well, that’s two of my ideas that have completely failed. My bad luck at romance appears to be contagious.”
“We’ll come up with something,” Ben says, giving Rey a small smile. “Maybe I’ll come up with the next idea.”
“I don’t know Ben.” Rey shakes her head. “Maybe you were right to begin with. This is crazy. I’ll just have to find a way to tell Kaydel that there’s no way I can guarantee being able to do all of the things she is going to want me to do as her maid of honor. Or tell Amilyn that I’m going to be slightly less available to her for the next few months. Neither of which are conversations I actually want to have, but I’m an adult and I can--”
“Rey,” Ben interrupts her, placing one of his hands on her knee. He points at the screen with his other hand. “They went back to Amilyn and Snoke.”
“What?” Rey asks, turning her attention to the screen. Sure enough, Amilyn and Snoke are the focus on the screen, a glittery pink heart framing their faces.
The crowd is even louder this time chanting for them to kiss. The music changes to Kiss the Girl. It’s easy to get lost in the atmosphere.
Amilyn is blushing and Snoke still seems unsure of what to do as he keeps his eyes off the screen. Rey notices when he looks over at Amilyn though, as if he’s considering just going for it.
Ben is chanting loudly next to her, clapping his hands together to accentuate the words. Rey giggles as she starts clapping in time with him.
Amilyn bites her lip and leans over the armrest separating her seat from Snoke’s. Rey grabs onto Ben’s hand, shaking it in excitement as she watches Amilyn closes the distance between her and Snoke and…
And kisses him on the cheek.
Rey groans, letting go of Ben’s hand. “So close,” she says, tilting her head back. “So close.”
The crowd seems to be just as outraged as Rey feels, judging by the sounds that are echoing in the stadium.
“It’s progress?” Ben offers. “This is still going better than the elevator.”
Rey snorts. It’s strange to hear Ben being the positive one. She appreciates him trying, but she recognizes that he is only saying these things to try to make her feel better. Not because he actually believes that this plan is going to go anywhere.
Rey’s not sure if her disappointment is just because this means she’s going to have to let her best friend down or risk her job… or if she’s going to miss having a reason to talk to Ben.
Rey sits up, watching as another couple kisses on the screen.
“It’s basically the law that you kiss when the kiss cam is on you.” Rey complains, tossing her hands up in front of her face. “I’ve been to so many games Ben, so many, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone not kiss. This should have worked.”
“One last time, folks,” the announcer’s voice rings out across the stadium as the camera once again focuses on Amilyn and Snoke. “Why don’t you just kiss the girl?”
Amilyn rolls her eyes, but Rey catches the way her chest shakes slightly from laughing, the way her eyes crinkle at the sides in humor.
The crowd is far too invested in this kiss happening, Rey decides, as she and Ben stand up and continue chanting for the kiss to happen.
And it does.
Finally, Snoke places his hand on the side of Amilyn’s face and they kiss.
Rey cheers, throwing her arms up in the air in victory. Ben grabs onto her waist and pulls her into his side.
“We did it!” He exclaims, wrapping his arms around her and picking her up from the ground.
Rey squeals, burying her head into the crook of his neck. She pulls back when he puts her back down, smiling widely up at him. “I told you I had a good feeling about this.”
Ben matches her grin, shaking his head. “Right,” he teases, the word almost inaudible as he laughs. “You had zero doubts this entire time.”
“Not a single one.” Rey drops her gaze to Ben’s lips, and she wants to kiss him again. To stand on her tiptoes and press her lips against his. She looks away, feeling the way her neck is heating up. Scratching at her neck, Rey sits back down and gives Ben one last, small smile.
“Now what?” Ben asks, sitting down.
Rey keeps her eyes forward on the game that is just starting to resume.
“Now… now we enjoy this small win,” Rey says after a few minutes, turning her head to look at Ben. He looks more relaxed in that moment than he has all day. “Then you get to come up with some ideas for phase two.”
***
The Yankees win. Amilyn and Snoke kissed.
Rey kissed him.
For a plan Ben had been so hesitant to agree to, it has so far been working in his favor.
Rey tugs on his hand as they head out of the stadium. He likes the way Rey keeps grabbing his hand, holding it when they walk. He likes the way her hand fits in his.
He’s starting to think that he might just like her.
Rey is practically beaming with glee between the win and her plan working. She’s chattering at about a million miles a minute about the game and stats that he finds oddly impressive that she has memorized. He doesn’t know enough about baseball or the Yankees really to follow half of what she says, but her joy is contagious.
Ben can’t remember the last time he smiled this much.
Rey’s phone beeps and she drops his hand to reach for it. Ben’s phone goes off a few seconds later.
“Oh my god,” Rey whispers, stopping completely once they are just outside of the stadium. “It worked. Ben, it actually worked.”
Ben nods, rereading the message on his phone. “Snoke isn’t coming back into the office for the rest of the day.”
“Neither is Amilyn,” Rey grabs onto his hand again, slightly swinging their arms together. “I don’t have to go back into the office.”
“Neither do I.”
Ben is a bit amazed that this actually worked. That somehow Amilyn and Snoke were off together and because of it he and Rey both are now free for the rest of the day.
“So what are you going to do with all of this free time?” Ben asks as they make their way toward the subway.
“I was thinking…” Rey’s sentence trails off and she bites at her bottom lip. She looks nervous. “I was thinking maybe we could go get drinks? Or dinner? You know, to celebrate the win?”
“Yeah,” Ben quickly responds before Rey is fully finished talking. “I would love to do that. Maybe I could even convince you to help me come up with some ideas for phase two?”
“Absolutely not,” Rey shakes her head. “But you can try.”
***
“Do you think we’ll even need a phase two?” Ben asks, taking a drink from the beer bottle in his hand. “I mean, maybe we should just let nature take over from her?”
“Nature?” Rey sputters, staring at Ben as if he’s grown two heads. “Ben, we need this relationship to work out for at least the next 3 months. It took two well thought out plans to get them to this point, and you think nature can just take over from here?”
“Well thought out plans?” Ben mocks. “That is one way of describing your plans I’m sure.”
“Hey,” Rey swats at his hand, laughing as he pulls it away from her. “My plans ended up working so no complaining about them. Besides, we’ve been here for,” Rey glances down at her phone, “almost two hours, and you have provided zero plans for phase two.”
“That’s because I’m still not convinced that we need a phase two.”
“We need a phase two,” Rey states as if her opinion is fact. Because it absolutely is what they need and Ben just needs to get on the same page. “So you better start thinking of one.”
Rey finishes her drink, running a finger across the rim of the glass. “I told Kaydel I’d meet her soon.”
Ben nods, finishing his beer. “This was nice.”
Nice might be an understatement. Even if they still don’t have a plan for what they are going to do about Snoke and Amilyn next… just talking with Ben had been great.
She knows more about him now, about his past, and his family. The reasons why he won’t let his family help him out. It’s hard for Rey to imagine having a family that wants to help and turning them away. But she can sort of see where he is coming from, it’s an almost foreign concept to her.
Getting to know Ben is nice. Talking to Ben is nice. Hearing him laugh and smile and watching the way his eyes lit up when he gets excited is more than nice. It’s doing nothing to stop her growing desire to kiss him again.
She probably needs to figure out what she is going to do about that problem later.
“It was,” Rey agrees, watching as Ben smiles. She wonders if he has any idea just how gorgeous he looks when he smiles. She wishes she was just a little more brave, or a little more drunk, to tell him. “Even if you have presented no plans. Or apparently even thought about a plan more than coming up with a bad argument about how we don’t need a plan.”
“I’ll come up with a plan,” Ben laughs when Rey narrows her eyes in disbelief. “Have some faith in me.”
“Okay,” Rey concedes, grabbing her phone from the table before standing up. “But just some.”
“Have fun with Kaydel,” Ben says, standing as well. “Enjoy your time with her.”
“I will.” Rey pausing, glancing away from Ben for a moment, debating her next move. Ben’s arms are around her before she has much time to consider anything, pulling her into a hug.
Rey grins as she wraps her arms around him. She lingers when he pulls away, stretching up to press her lips against his cheek.
“Good night, Ben.” Her voice is light and soft as she takes a step back. “I expect at least three options tomorrow morning.”
Rey can still hear him laughing when she exits the bar.
***
“Wait, wait, wait,” Kaydel starts, waving her hands around. Rey grabs onto Kaydel’s arm, pulling her away from a larger crack in the sidewalk. “You and the guy who you said was a—and I am quoting—‘giant fucking asshole’ kissed today?”
Rey rolls her eyes. That would be the part of the story Kaydel would focus on. “We were on the kiss cam.” Rey says as if it’s a complete and full explanation. “And Ben isn’t an asshole. I mean, okay, he can be an asshole. But he isn’t always an asshole. He can actually be kind of… sweet sometimes?”
“Oh my god,” Kaydel grins, clapping her hands together excitedly. Kaydel always talks with her entire body, but it’s more pronounced and with larger movements when she has been drinking. “You like him.”
Rey sighs, pressing the button for the crosswalk. “That’s rather irrelevant,” Rey says as they start crossing the street. “I don’t even know if it’s true. Can’t we just focus on the fact that I got off work at a reasonable time today and that I came up with this evil genius plan to make sure I have time to perform my maid of honor duties?”
“Absolutely not.” Kaydel rolls her eyes. “We are one hundred precent focusing on the fact that you kissed a hot guy and that you can’t stop blushing every time you mention him.”
“I’ve been, I’ve been drinking,” Rey tries to come up for another explanation for her blushing. Because she is blushing. She knows that she can’t stop blushing whenever she thinks about Ben and it’s a little ridiculous. She feels like a schoolgirl with her first crush. “My face always gets a little bit red when I’ve been drinking.”
Kaydel stops in the middle of the sidewalk. Rey almost runs into her at the same time that Kaydel turns around. Kaydel’s eyes are narrow and pointed, but there’s no heat in the glare that she is giving Rey. Kaydel places her hands on Rey’s shoulders and stares at Rey for a few moments before she finally says, “You’re an absolute idiot.”
“Real nice, Kay,” Rey complains. “I’m really feeling bathed in your love right now.”
“You should always feel bathed in love when you are around me.” Kaydel sways slightly, increasing the weight pressing down on Rey’s shoulders. “But that doesn’t make you any less of an idiot.”
Rey huffs, blowing a stray piece of her hair out of her eyes. “Why don’t we just go home? You can tell me more about what an idiot I am while we drink some water.”
Kaydel shrugs, turning around and looping her arm through Rey’s as she starts walking again. “I’ve got nothing else besides you’re an idiot. But maybe you can tell me more about this plan and more about Ben. I think I’ll like him.”
***
“Princess?” Han yells from the front door. He is leaning against the open door and the smug smile on his face is maddening. It only grows the longer Ben just stares at him. “Our son is here.”
“What?” Ben can hear Leia ask from in the house. He can practically see her shocked face with the surprise he can hear in her voice. He hates that showing up unannounced is such a rare thing that he deserves this kind of reaction from his parents.
“Are you busy?” Ben asks, stepping forward to go into the house. Han moves just enough for Ben to squeeze by him. “I can always leave if you guys had plans.”
Leia walks toward him and slightly smacks his arm before wrapping her arms around him.
“I was just about to kick your dad’s ass at cards,” Leia says, pulling back. “You can help.”
Han pats Ben on the back as he walks toward the family room.
“Do you need money?” Leia questions, her eyes narrowing as they all sat down. “Are you finally going to let us help you?”
“No, Mom.” Ben tries to keep the irritation out of his voice, but he knows he isn’t very successful with the look Leia is giving him. “I don’t need money. I’m doing just fine. And my job is getting better. As I assumed you could tell, since I’m here visiting you.”
Leia purses her lips giving an almost imperceptible shake to her head. “One day of getting off at a reasonable time does not make the situation any better Ben. Especially when it’s a situation that you don’t even have to be in.”
“How’d you end up getting off so early anyway?” Han asks, giving Leia a look that Ben knows is him telling her to stop pushing. He shuffles the cards in his lap. “I don’t think that in the entire time you’ve been there you’ve gotten off before 10 without a lot of prearrangement.”
“I got off at 6.” Ben is a little too proud in the way he says it, as if getting off at a reasonable time is some kind of accomplishment Leia is going to want to hang on the wall. “So I’d say things are going much better.”
“Off at 6?” Han starts dealing out the cards. “And what did you do for the first few hours of your freedom?”
“I, uh, I went out for drinks with a…” Ben pauses, pretends that he is looking at his cards and contemplating his move. Maybe he should have just gone home and hung out with Poe. Poe was less likely than his parents to ask questions. Most of the time. “A friend. I went out for drinks with a friend.”
“A friend?” Leia repeats, her tone far too knowing. “Does this friend have a name? Do we know him?”
“Her,” Ben corrects, rolling his eyes at Leia’s inability to be subtle. “And her name is Rey. You don’t know her.”
“How did you two meet?” Leia places two cards face down in front of her without appearing to glance at them as she keeps her eyes on Ben.
Ben keeps his eyes on his cards, debating the best way to phrase the way he and Rey had met. He doesn’t quite think his mom will be too thrilled with the truth. That he had pretty much stolen Rey’s food delivery and then asked for her to pay him back with interest the next day.
Even he was aware that he was kind of an asshole in that story.
Somehow explaining that she’s an assistant in the same building as him who came up with an idea to set their bosses up so that they can have more free time doesn’t seem much better.
He decides on somewhere in the middle.
“She’s an assistant who works in the same building. We met when we both were trying to get dinner for our bosses late one night.”
“Uh huh,” Leia hums and Ben hates that Leia just knows that there is more to the story than he is telling. It’s always frustrated him the way Leia can pinpoint every time he tries holding something back from her. “And you two are bonding over work?”
Ben glances at Han, trying to signal for him to jump in and change the subject. Han just smirks and shakes his head.
Not that Ben can blame him.
“Poe is really excited about your birthday party,” Ben says instead of answering the question, trying to change the subject on his own. “Thanks for sending him an invite directly. Instead of just having him tag along with me.”
“Well, I wanted to make sure that he knew he was welcome whether or not you could make it,” Leia tilts her head to the side. “With your schedule it’s not that it’s a guarantee that you’ll be there.”
“I’ll be there,” Ben sighs. “I promise I will be there.”
“Good,” Leia grins. ���And you should bring Rey. If you’d like. We always love meeting your friends.”
“Always,” Han adds, tossing a card onto the table. “I’m sure it would make your mom’s birthday to meet your new friend.”
“You both know that I’m 28 years old right?” Ben asks, glancing back and forth between the two of them. “And that there is no way I’m going to bring Rey, who I’ve known for less than two weeks, to Mom’s birthday lunch. I would consider telling Poe he isn’t allowed to come, but I’m pretty sure you’ve both run through all of my embarrassing stories with him already.”
“I’m sure I could come up with a few more,” Leia teases. ‘And this is exactly why I sent Poe his own invite.”
Ben runs a hand through his hair. “Can we just play cards? Go back to you giving me shit about my job?”
“Sure kid,” Han agrees. “But we really are looking forward to hearing more about Rey.”
***
“Okay, what about this spot?” Rey asks, turning her phone toward Kaydel so she can see the picture she has pulled up. It’s a gorgeous winery just outside of the city. The pictures show the grassy hills, with the perfectly planted flowers, and there is a little stage that could be used for a DJ or a band.
Kaydel crinkles her nose and shakes her head. “It’s too far away. I don’t want to have to leave the city for my engagement party.”
Rey nods, pulling her phone back and resumes scrolling through the different results of different venue ideas. “Well, what have you found over there?”
“This place looks nice,” Kaydel hands her phone over. “The rooftop is definitely a good size, and it has a bar already set up. I think this might be the place. And they have availability on most of the nights Rose isn’t scheduled to be on call at the hospital.”
Rey looks through the pictures. It’s perfect.
“I say book it then.” Rey gives the phone back to Kaydel. “And let me know what night you guys end up picking so I can make sure I can coordinate to have it off.”
“Maybe you’ll bring Ben,” Kaydel teases, rolling over onto her side on the couch. “I think I’d like to meet him.”
“Maybe I’ll bring one of the guys from that new dating app you signed me up for.” Rey shakes her phone in the air.
“Sure, you could do that.” Kaydel’s face is inquisitive as she continues. “Have you had any good matches?”
“No.” Rey sighs, tossing her phone onto her lap. “I have had zero good matches. I’m starting to think there’s no hope for me. I’ve looked through hundreds of matches, and just, nothing?”
Rey decidedly does not mention that part of the problem is that she has been comparing every match to Ben. It’s not a fair comparison. Not everyone can be tall and handsome and have annoyingly nice hair.
And it’s hard to get an idea if someone is insufferable in an endearing way in the few sentences that are posted in the bios she reads.
The truth is that it’s hard to get any sense of who a person is on a dating profile and it’s one of the main reasons Rey is pretty sure she is never going to have luck finding a date on one.
“So ask Ben,” Kaydel says as if it’s the most logical decision. “I’d like to meet the guy that’s helping make sure my best friend gets to attend all of the important things for my wedding. And he makes you smile, Rey. You should invite him.”
“Maybe,” Rey concedes, biting down on her bottom lip as she stands. “I’ll think about it. But it’s late and I’m going to bed. I love you, good night.”
Rey tries not to think too much about how Kaydel might have a point as she gets into bed. Ben does make her smile. A lot. He also makes her laugh. And, yeah, he can be a little infuriating sometimes, but if she’s being honest, she kind of likes that about him. There was also the kiss at the game.
It was a good kiss.
One Rey doesn’t mind thinking about while she falls asleep.
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I was at work when Ash posted this, and came out of work to see the notif and then proceeded to sit in my car sobbing for 20 minutes. This man, and this band are my lifeline. I’ve never told y’all my story about how I found 5 Seconds of Summer, but now seems like a good time. I’ll put it under the cut so it doesn’t clog up your dash.
I found Luke around the 14th of March 2011. I was 14. He’d posted his cover of ‘Fireflies’ by Ron Pope a few days before, and there was just something about it that I couldn’t get out of my head. At the time I didn’t think much of it (this was pre-youtube account) and I kept checking back every now and then to see if he posted anything else. In April of that same year, Mike and Cal uploaded a video introducing them as a three piece under the name of ‘5 Seconds of Summer’ - they did a few more covers, most of the time with only two of them lmao, and I kept checking back to see what they were posting. Ash joined them in December 2011 and they became a four piece.
When they uploaded the video for ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, I knew that I wanted to keep watching their content as there was just something I still couldn’t shake. The energy with the four of them had shifted somehow from just being the three of them, and it kept me interested.
They toured a lil bit of Aus in 2012, and I spent my days on Youtube watching shitty videos of them playing songs they’d written themselves rather than covers. They then revealed that they were releasing an EP later in the year. They dropped ‘Unplugged’ in June 2012 in Aus and NZ and I remember being super sad that I couldn’t buy it in the UK yet. It was released WW in December 2012, and you bet your ass I bought an iTunes voucher so I could buy it (remember iTunes vouchers?? Those were the days, RIP iTunes). They moved to London at the end of that year. I remember seeing a video someone uploaded of them doing an impromptu session playing in a park in London and being so sad that I wasn’t there to see them. They did some small intimate shows in the UK while they were over here, but I never got to go to any of them.
In early 2013 they started touring with 1D, but again I never got to see them. I LIVED for the shitty videos people were posting on Youtube of their performances, and I was desperate to see this band I’d become so obsessed with following.
On the 24th of February 2014, they uploaded the video for ‘She Looks So Perfect’ on Youtube. It was at this point that my friends at school became aware of them and started following them, despite me telling them for years that this band were awesome (teenagers, am I right?). On the 27th of June 2014, they released ‘5 Seconds Of Summer’ out into the world. I was 17 years old.
At 17, I was struggling with A LOT. My grandad was very ill, my friends turned out to not be my friends, and it’s probably one of the loneliest periods I’ve ever had in my life. I’d experienced what I thought was heartbreak, and their self-titled album was everything I needed at that time in my life. I finally saw them on the 5th of June 2015. I got to spend two hours in a room with my four favourite people in the whole world. I have a video of them playing ‘Everything I Didn’t Say’, and all you can hear is me sobbing in the background lmao.
Walking out of that venue, I knew my life would never be the same.
I was pretty active on social media at this point, as were the boys, and seeing the stupid things they got up to on Keek and Twitter genuinely made my days so much brighter.
As we all know, ‘Sounds Good Feels Good’ was released on the 23rd of October 2015. I was 18, my parents had just split up, my grandad had died and I felt like the whole world was out to get me. I fell into a period of intense depression and did some things I’m not proud of, and I honestly didn’t see a way out. Then SGFG came along. That is the album that quite literally saved my life. Listening to the four people I admired most in the whole world singing lyrics about things I was going through, being the same age as me, was totally overwhelming. I don’t remember my first listen through of that album - what I do remember is the way that it changed my whole world view.
They understood exactly how I felt, down to the last detail. To this day I have to leave Broken Home and Invisible off of playlists because they jolt me back to a time in my life that I don’t ever want to experience again. That whole album was my saving grace for a long time. I’m eternally grateful to them for releasing it when they did, as I’m gonna be straight up and say that I might not have been sat here typing this today.
I went to their show for the SLFL tour on the 8th of April 2016. I spent most of that night crying my eyes out and getting weird looks from the people around me, but I didn’t care. This was my band, and they were playing the songs that literally saved me. The SGFG era was emotionally draining for me for a long time, and it took me a while to be able to listen to most of the album again as it just felt so raw.
When they took time off to rejuvenate themselves before album three, I was worried. For the last 6 years this band had been what kept me waking up each morning. The lack of content was freaking me out and I wasn’t sure how to deal with it. My mental health was on its way down again and I found myself going back to old patterns.
At this point, I’d been in a relationship for almost three years, was engaged, and was living with my then SO. I thought everything was perfect, I had the life that I wanted with a man that I thought I’d be with forever.
In February 2018 they released ‘Want You Back’, and I loved it, but didn’t have the connection with it like I did with SGFG. I missed out on tickets for the 5SOS III Tour (and may have cried about it, but it’s fine), but bought tickets for the Meet You There Tour before they even released the album. This was my band, of course I was going to see them.
When ‘Youngblood’ dropped, I had a day off from work. I set my stereo system up, and lay on my living room floor with the speakers around me in a circle. I wanted to feel the new album, not just listen to it (weird, I know). Want You Back and Youngblood were fine, but then we hit Lie To Me.
‘I know that you don’t, but if I ask you if you love me, won’t you lie, lie, lie, lie, lie to me?’
I genuinely felt all of the breath I had in my lungs, vacate. I’m gonna be straight and say that I hadn’t been happy in my relationship for a while despite what I said above - my partner was emotionally abusive, and the warning signs were clear, I just didn’t want to see them. That one line haunted me every time Luke sang it, but I let it play through and moved through the rest of the album. When it finished, I let it play through again. I let those lyrics flow through me, and by the time it got round to Lie To Me again, I was sobbing. Once again, these boys knew exactly what I needed to hear, at the exact time in my life that I needed to hear it. It took me seeing them again in November of last year to make a change in my life.
If you’ve been around for a little while, you’ll know that I’ve shared my Meet You There Tour story before, but if you haven’t read it, you can find it here. I stood at the back of the O2 Academy in Birmingham, a year ago tomorrow (1st of Nov) and cried. Listening to my boys sing those songs in person absolutely broke me, and made me realise that I wasn’t happy in my relationship. I left that show heartbroken, and overwhelmed, and honestly exhausted, but I drove back home and spent the next two months trying to fix the relationship I was so unhappy in.
I thought I’d made progress, but after Christmas of last year, everything fell back into old patterns and enough was enough. Watching my ex-partner walk out of the front door was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through. I’d taken the plunge, but I was broken. I moved back in with my mum in January of this year, which has been incredibly stressful (that’s another story lmao), but the one thing that has kept me going is these four boys.
Ashton is always the one that I feel the most connected with - I don’t know if it’s because he’s the oldest and people usually think I’m a lot older than I am, but his life philosophy and his attitude towards the things which make him a better person, inspire me every day. Whenever I’m having a shitty day, he always seems to put out a Tweet which says exactly what I need to hear. His love for us keeps me going every day, and I strive to be even half the person that he is. He does so much for us, and I thank God every single day he biked halfway across Sydney to attend that first band practice as a four-piece.
Their music makes me feel a lot less lonely, in a world that hasn’t always been the kindest to me. Because of them, I’ve met some of the coolest people on the planet through this godforsaken website, and the existence of these people in my life makes me excited to wake up each day.
This Tweet from Ash tonight reminded me exactly why I stayed with this band way back in 2011. Their passion for their art inspires me every single day and I am constantly in awe of the way they continue to push themselves and their performance.
I am not the same person I was at the start of the year. ‘Youngblood’ has helped me reinvent myself into the person I’ve always wanted to be. I’m so much stronger than I ever thought possible, and I’ve only realised that because of four dorks from Sydney that told me it’s okay to be whoever you want to be.
I will forever be grateful for their music, their passion, and their presence on this Earth. I’ve never stuck with any artist as long as I’ve stuck with this band, and I would not change that for the world.
Thank you 5SOS, for always being there for me, even if no one else was. I love you guys.
#personal#wow#that ended up being a lot longer than I was planning#if you read all of that#I'm impressed#thank you#tw: sucide#tw: depression#tw: self harm#cashtonasfuck
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are you ever going to finish of corporate scandals?
yes! one day! but not today lol here’s a new percabeth au instead! it’s based off the movie The Wedding Date.
Annabeth’s old camp buddies, Piper and Jason are getting married and the whole gang is reuniting for the celebration. Luke is her ex who broke her heart, and she refuses to show up alone to their wedding so she takes her roommate’s advice. She hires a fake boyfriend.
part 1
Annabeth checked and rechecked the tickets in her hand. The 5:15PM Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station to Montauk. Platform 7. She had that info submitted to memory from the moment she bought the tickets. Her phone buzzed. Her hand flew to her jacket pocket. A boarding notification. She exhaled, glad it wasn’t the “Hey, this plan is crazy and so are you, I’m out!” text she had been expecting.
“Annabeth?”
She whirled around, dragging her suitcase along with her. Oh gods, he was taller than she remembered. And much more handsome. “Hi.”
“Sorry I’m late, babe.” grabbed her waist and kissed her.
~
“Honey, I’m home!” Rachel yelled, kicking off her red rainboots and dumping her keys on the dining table. Annabeth waved at her from the couch, motioning to her phone.
“Who is it?” Rachel asked, already stalking across their apartment to the kitchen to rummage for food.
“Piper,” Annabeth mouthed. She covered the receiver, “Rach, if you’re looking for the leftovers from yesterday, they’re long gone.”
“You bitch.” She swung open the refrigerator.
“What—No, of course I’m paying attention, Pipes—Yeah, got it, dress rehearsal is at seven, pictures on Sunday at ten.”
“Bridezilla come out yet?”
Annabeth rolled her eyes. Piper was the most laid-back bride in the world. She covered the receiver again, “More like Groomzilla.” Rachel laughed, as Piper continued to rattle off the list of appointments Jason had asked her to pass along to Annabeth. “Listen, Pipes, I have to go. Facetime me during your fitting tomorrow. Love you. See you soon. Bye.”
Annabeth tossed her phone on the coffee table before walking into their tiny, Manhattan-sized kitchen to join her roommate. “How was rehearsal?” Annabeth asked, leaning against the counter as Rachel scarfed down leftovers she managed to dig out of their fridge.
“Terrible. How was your day?”
“Also terrible.”
“Why? Remote wedding planning not working out?”
“No, the wedding is going to be perfect. I’m an awesome bridesmaid even though I’m across the country from them. It’s just, you know, certain people…”
“Luke.”
“Yes, Luke. He’s going to be a groomsman now.”
“Oof.”
“So now I won’t just have to bear seeing him at the wedding. He’s going to be there all weekend for all the wedding prep.”
“I’m sure Piper and Jason will know not to put you in a situation where make you have to interact.”
“Still! I haven’t seen him since he, you know. And this is the first time I’m going to see so many of our friends again since the breakup. There’s no way he’s not bringing a date. I can’t show my face! My pathetic, single face.���
“Then you bring a date! Show up with some hot arm candy and show him.”
“The wedding is next week! Where am I going to find a date?”
“Doesn’t matter as long as he’s hot.”
“Also, if I do somehow meet someone in the next week, I can’t bring them to a wedding. Wedding’s are not first date material. Wedding’s say, meet my parents, I want commitment! And we all know how guys feel about fucking commitment,” Annabeth spat out, “No guy would go to wedding as a first date.”
“He would if you paid him,” Rachel scoffed, “Or slept with him.”
Annabeth smacked her arm, “Stop joking! You know what, I’m tired of talking about this, it’s stressing me out.” Annabeth wrenched open the freezer and grabbed her emergency pint of half-baked Ben & Jerry’s. “How was rehearsal?”
“Lousy. I still can’t believe you’re going to miss my show.”
“I’m coming to opening night!”
“Yeah, but it’s an off-off-Broadway production of Romeo & Juliet I needed you to come every night to fill the house so at least we know for sure we’ll have an audience.”
“You won’t need me. Shakespeare always draw a crowd.”
“This is going to be the worst show I’ve directed ever. Grover got poison ivy, poison oak, and poison fern believe it or not, so I had to find an understudy last minute. I specifically told him not to hook up with his girlfriend in Central Park.”
“I’m sure it will be great.”
“Let’s just hope Juliet doesn’t get poison fern.”
Annabeth was the only one in a crowd of about seventeen who gave the cast a standing ovation, but she didn’t care. In this basement theater of a rec center in Washington Heights, seventeen was basically a full house.
“Great job!” Annabeth said, hugging her roommate and thrusting a bouquet of sunflowers, Rachel’s favorite, into her arms. She and a couple of the actors’ friends and family members had been invited to the ‘cast party’ after the show — aka pizza and soda in another room of the rec center.
“Thanks, Annabeth. You really liked it?” Rachel said, beaming as various crew members patted her on the back as they went to grab pizza.
“Yes! The decision to set the play in a post-apocalyptic, Game of Thrones¬¬-y Verona was so cool. And the actors were phenomenal. Even when that magician walked right onto the stage. The way they improvised—”
“It’s because it’s happened before! People also book birthday parties here and they get the rooms confused! During our tech rehearsal, a clown walked in!”
“Well, your show was amazing. I’m so proud,” Annabeth said, sincerely. “Your cast was great.” Over Rachel’s shoulder she spotted the actor who played Romeo talking with brown-haired woman and man with glasses and salt and pepper hair. “Especially Romeo.”
Rachel beamed, glancing over her shoulder at him, “I know right! Wasn’t he amazing? He’s the understudy!”
“No way,” Annabeth said. His performance had been captivating to say the least. His monologues as Romeo were enough to make Annabeth swoon.
“His name’s Percy,” Rachel lowered her voice, “I love Grover, but I’m almost bummed his poison ivy rash is almost cleared up.”
“How did you find him?”
“Our theater major alumni Facebook group. He’s a friend of Grover’s.”
“And he willingly memorized a lead part’s lines in a Shakespearean play in less than a week?” Annabeth asked, incredulous.
“You know actors, Annabeth, they’ll do anything for a gig. Especially a paid one.” Rachel said, “I have to go talk to my stage manager, go get pizza!”
Annabeth walked over to the table spread with food. Pizza, chips, various dips, soda, utensils and blue cookies? As Annabeth filled a red solo cup with lemonade, her eye wandered back to Romeo. The couple, his parents she assumed, had left, and he was now chatting with the actress who played Juliet.
He was so handsome. Actors always were. Tall, dark-haired, green-eyed. Dreamy. He definitely would still be taller than her in the stilettos the bridesmaids were wearing. If only she could roll up to the wedding with someone like him on her arm…
Annabeth shoved him away, “What are you doing?”
Percy looked at her, confused, “Um? I’m your…boyfriend?”
“We don’t have to start now. Not until we get to the wedding.” Annabeth straightened her blazer. She thrusted his ticket into his hands, and extended the handles of her rolling suitcase, “Come on, they’ve already started boarding.”
Percy followed her, smoothly taking her suitcase from her and loading it up the steps of the train for her. She shot him a look.
Percy lowered his voice, following her through the aisle of the train car, “Any of the other wedding guests could be on this same train, we don’t want to ruin this before it even starts.” Annabeth chose two seats at the back of the train car. She slid into the window seat. Percy lifted her suitcase and his oversized duffle bag into the overhead compartment with ease.
“It’s Thursday and the wedding isn’t until Sunday. The only people heading up there now are in the wedding party, mostly out-of-towners, and they all flew in this morning,” Annabeth said, curtly. She tried to remain cool even though she was feeling so flustered by him. She could barely even look him in the eye. She felt so embarrassed even though this was her damn idea.
“You look very nice.”
Annabeth flushed. “Thank you,” she muttered. Her hair was frizzy after commuting in the midsummer humidity straight from her office building to Penn Station, but she knew she looked good today. She smoothed imaginary wrinkles from her cream pencil skirt.
His hair was messier and curlier than it was the night of the play, contrary to his Romeo’s gelled down locks. He looked so relaxed and cool in a button down with the sleeves rolled up and navy shorts.
“Okay,” Percy said, shifting towards her as the other passengers began to fill up the remaining seats. “Debrief me. What’s my job? Where am I from? How did we meet?”
Annabeth stared at him. “You’re Percy, an actor from New York. We met at my roommate’s show.” Duh?
“Come on, no cool backstory for me to try method acting?”
“No, the most convincing lies are closest to the truth,” Annabeth replied, “And I need this to be convincing.”
“I want a challenge.”
“Isn’t pretending to be my boyfriend enough of a challenge?”
Percy grinned, “Shouldn’t be that hard.”
Annabeth flushed again, “Then why exactly am I paying you $2,000?”
“Like you said, I’m convincing,”
“Please have your tickets out. Next stop is Babylon.”
Annabeth looked out her window as the platform fell away into the darkness of the tunnels. The train gained speed and made its way out of Manhattan.
When Annabeth awoke, the LIRR train was no longer underground, but racing through the tracks of Long Island. The train ride to Montauk was three hours long so the last rays of sun had just disappeared.
Annabeth glanced over at Percy, also was dozing away, head tilted back and mouth fully open. He really was so attractive. Tan, chiseled face with a jaw some women would murder for, but he still had a boyish softness to his expression, especially when he slept.
“Next stop, Montauk.”
Annabeth nudged him. Percy blinked groggily and cracked a goofy grin when he saw her looking at him.
“You drool in your sleep.”
#lol sorry this isnt ocs#percabeth fake dating!au#bookworldersanon#the wedding date#mywriting#percabeth#percy jackson#percabeth au#fanfiction
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After My Father’s Funeral Chapter 1
Summary: Funerals can be stressful, but so can weddings--especially with a family as effed up as theirs. Unfortunately for Leia, she has both to attend in one go. So much for repression. Modern AU
Pairings: Leia/Han, Mara/Luke, Jyn/Cassian, Leia&Han&Luke&Mara&Cassian&Jyn, Uncle Owen/Aunt Beru
Chapter summary: Let the past die, bury it if you have to.
Chapter pairings: Mara/Luke, Jyn/Cassian, Past!Leia/Cassian, Luke&Leia&Mara
A/N: Based on the idea that it would be really traumatizing to be a Skywalker in the modern day. See Ao3 and FFN versions for full authors notes.
If Leia had learned anything from her albeit limited experience traveling, it was that bureaucracy was a bitch. “Bureaucracy is a lawyer’s best friend, Miss Organa,” her boss, Akbar, had told her. “These people, they try so hard to cover every little crack and crevice, but it’s our job to find where they were wrong.” Today, in-line at the airport, Leia was fairly certain it was the whole idea that was wrong with bureaucracy. After her ticket failed to work, she had to wait in-line to speak with a representative, having already spoken with two other employees and a supervisor. It was as if the universe was preventing her from going home, which she desperately wanted to take as a sign to switch her flight to someplace with tropical beaches. She was even considering Canto Bight, when it was her turn in line.
“Thank you for flying Rebel Air. How can I help you, ma’am?” The smiling woman said.
“Yes, hello, I have a last-minute booking to Naboo, and my tick-“
“We have a policy on exchanging flights for last-minute bookings, ma’am. I’m sorry.” The response was tired, rehearsed, as if countless people had tried to weasel out of the policy of the company.
She sighed inwardly, bidding the dream of the casino goodbye. “I don’t want to exchange, I want to get on my plane, my ticket won’t check me in.”
“How odd, may I see your ticket and some ID, please.” Leia handed both over, and the woman scanned it. “Naboo, huh?”
Leia was not in the mood for smalltalk. “Yep.” The airport had to be the worst place for small talk.
“What brings you there? Big racing down there, I hear.”
“Yeah, yeah, I grew up there. I’m going for family stuff, you know. A funeral and then a wedding.” The representative nodded and smiled knowingly. How ironic, there’s no way she could’ve known.
The computer made a noise, not a good one either, and the rep made a face, and tried again. “Hmmm,” she said. “Odd, let me get my supervisor.”
Leia groaned and laid her face on the counter. She hated to leave her fate in the hands of strangers, without any agency as to getting anywhere. After a few moments, she huffed, trying not to lose her temper. She wasn’t in a hurry per se, but also wasn’t in the mood to spend any more time than she had to with airport employees.
The rep appeared with another employee. “I’m sorry about that Ms. Organa, here’s a new ticket for you, should work now,” the (presumed) supervisor told her, scanning the ticket. There was a happy sounding beep, and she took her ticket with a thanks.
She checked her bags, and sat down at her gate. The tv above the gate was on; she immediately regretted glancing at it.
“…the noted activist, and so-called ‘Champion of Free Speech’ Anakin Skywalker has died. The 65-year old had been battling lung cancer for nearly a decade before passing away at his home in Naboo on Friday. Skywalker first rose to fame as a leader of the Imperialists under the name ‘Vader.’ But Skywalker had moved away from the group in recent years—even calling it a ‘cult’ in one noted interview—to support pro-environmentalist groups. His family asks to make any donations to…”
“Quite the enigma, that man.” The voice made Leia jump, and she looked over to see a man sitting next to her looking at the TV. He saw that she had looked over and continued. “I read his book ‘Anti-anti-‘, and let me say—“ She immediately got up, took her carry-on bag, and moved to sit on the opposite side of the seating area with her back to the stranger. If the man was at all offended by her behavior, she neither knew nor cared.Skywalker certainly had a way of ruining everything, even the flight to his funeral.
The Naboo airport held one of her most treasured memories: when she had parted with her brother, Luke, for the first time since what she had dubbed the Ruling. They who had spent a majority of their formative years apart, only to be reunited at 16 through the worst of all circumstances, left each other for the first time since then in a tearful goodbye at the airport four years ago. At the time, she knew she wouldn’t miss the city, her old college, or even her (recently) ex-boyfriend, but she hated leaving her twin after trying so hard to stay together.
So today it was only fitting that it be Luke’s face to greet her at the gate. Their embrace was tight and full of longing, she hadn’t seen her brother since before they had turned 25. Leia turned and greeted the woman beside Luke with her own tender embrace and a kiss on the cheek.
“Mara, you look so well,” Leia said, gripping her soon-to-be sister-in-law’s forearms.
“Thank you, as do you as always. Thank you for coming sooner than we’d originally talked about, I’m sorry if it spoiled any of your plans.” She blew her red hair out of her face, smiling broadly.
“Well, if they were spoiled it’s how ol’ dad would’ve wanted it,” Leia released Mara and heading towards baggage claim.
“Now, Leia-“ Luke’s voice was a warning, one that she wasn’t about to heed.
“‘Now, Leia’” Leia mockingly repeated. “I promise to keep my comments to myself during the wake and the funeral, but I make no such guarantees about anywhere else.”
She couldn’t hear Luke’s sigh, but she knew it was there. They picked up her bag, and hopped into Luke’s old truck.
“When’re you going to get a new car?” Leia asked. “The windows still roll down.”
“Luke had said something about the end of days, but that is in contention,” Mara joked from the backseat.
Luke only smiled. Leia knew that he wasn’t bothered at all at Mara’s comment, or even at her’s towards Skywalker. Her brother had the most positive temperament of anyone she’d ever met; she resented him just a little for that.
“I hope you don’t mind staying with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru,” Luke said as they crossed over Amidala bridge. The bridge connected the inner city and the boroughs of Naboo, a passion project of their late mother’s. They had named it after her, a symbol of how much she had been universally loved in her local community.
“Of course not,” Leia stated, only lying a little bit. It was difficult to pin blame on anyone for the unpleasantness that had framed the last ten years of her life. Luke was definitely not a candidate, and therefore should not have to suffer her contention. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were contenders as well as her own dear parents. The only person who Leia could surely, 100%, be blamed was Anakin Skywalker. And blame him she did.
They pulled into the drive-way of the Lars’ Farm, and all three each rolled out of the hot car—Luke’s air conditioning had quit sometime in college. Her Uncle and Aunt greeted her warmly, showing her to the guest room, which had, at one time, been Luke’s room. After the Ruling, Leia had sat with Luke in this very room and imagined their lives together growing up as they might have been. The faces of those who would raise them were blurry, but so many of the memories she’d constructed had felt so real, it was bittersweet to think of her childhood without him. Now the walls were bare of Luke’s Ahch-To and X-wing posters and the room certainly smelled better.
She was debating between living out of her suitcase or unpacking when Luke came in with his hands in his pockets and a peculiar smile on his face. Leia knew that look, as she knew every look--every movement even--of her brother’s. Choice words were about to be said, and she was sure she wasn’t going to like them.
“A bit different from when we were 18,” Luke commented.
“Certainly smells better.” That got a chuckle, but it didn’t really reach his eyes.
“Leia…” She sighed, and crossed her arms. “I’ve never been able to tell you what to do-
“Nor will you ever.”
“-but could you at least keep your comments about dad, our dad, to a minimum? Or at least confine them to just between us?”
“Mara knows perfectly well what I think about your father, no sense in hiding from her.” She tried not to be exclamatory, only firm, in her distinction of “your.”
Luke was not having said distinction. “He was your father too.” His tone was matter-of-fact, not loud.
“No, he wasn’t. A father is there for you, a father teaches you how to ride a bike and playfully threatens your prom date. Anakin Skywalker was not my father.”
Luke sighed, exasperated. “What more could he have done to redeem himself to you?”
Leia rolled her eyes. “Well, there’s no use asking that question now as there isn’t anything more he could do. He’s dead.”
“I know that, but what could he have done?”
“Not be a racist? Not inspire god-knows how many to kill? Not left our mother to die? Taken care of us after she died? Oh, and when he didn’t do all those things, how about not putting the fact that we are related to him in the goddamn public record? You know how many opportunities I’ve lost because of him? All a potential connection need do is google my name and right there is ‘daughter of noted activist Anakin Skywalker.’” She stood from the bed, ready to defend her viewpoint in the impending argument.
“You think I haven’t had doors closed in my face too? You really think you’re the only one to suffer?” They weren’t yelling, Luke never yelled. But his voice was firm and contentious.
“No, but you still defend him, he ruined our lives!” Leia didn’t understand how Luke could see the events of the past and come to any other conclusion.
“What would you have done, Leia? If you were in his shoes, what would you have done?” He had always seen the world through their results: Skywalker had brought them back together as brother and sister so ergo Skywalker was good.
“How can you continue to defend him? He’s ruined your wedding!” There were tears in her eyes now, threatening to fall.
“By dying? It’s not like he could choose when-“
“I wouldn’t put it past him.”
Luke sighed, and she felt the tension drop. Their argument would not escalate further. “Mara and I already live together, and we have the rest of our lives, the wedding is just a day.”
“One of the only days in your life where you have all of your loved ones together in one room.”
Luke shrugged. “Maybe you’re right, maybe he was comforted by the idea that everyone was going to be here anyway.”
Leia bit back her comment, knowing it was no use to argue with him. She sat back down, her temper deflated. Luke kneeled on the bed beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder.
“You have every right to be angry, and I hope one day you decide to let it go. Either way, I’m glad you’re here.” Leia bit back the tears until Luke embraced her and she let them fall, silently crying into his arms.
“Luke, Aunt Beru wants to know-“ Mara said, poking her head into the room. “Oh, sorry. Is everything alright?”
Leia nodded and wiped her face as Luke rubbed her back. “Yeah, it's just a lot, you know, to be back here, in this room. We tried weed in here, one time, did Luke tell you?” Luke was right, there was no use dragging Mara into her trauma.
Luke didn’t seem phased that she had lied about what was going on, and groaned. “Never again, I will never understand the appeal.” The three of them laughed and Leia fingered the duvet cover. She tried to tell herself it was only the jet-lag and airport that had made her so upset.
The Wake was the next day, and flew by before Leia even noticed. Both the funeral and visitation were closed events, invitation only, with enforcers hired to keep any unwanted company out. There was a slight mix-up that involved a Senator from Scarif but was soon sorted out without much hassle. Overall, the night was full of people wishing both her brother and her well. Though the stream of mourners was steady, there couldn’t have been more than a few dozen. Mara had mentioned something about the event conflicting with the races, and Leia laughed to herself that not even her father’s funeral could compete with this town’s obsession with racing. Most of the guests were also wedding guests, and promised to be there in a little over two weeks under much lighter circumstances.
“I hope they all RSPV’d, otherwise it's going to be terribly awkward to turn them away,” Luke said to Mara and Leia during a small break between mourners.
“‘Sorry great-aunt Myla, I know you said you’d be here two weeks ago, but that was then and this was now,’” Mara mimed Luke turning away elderly potential wedding guests. The three all cracked a smile and greeted another couple, Anakin’s former editor and his wife.
They had chosen a closed casket for both events. Still, Leia couldn’t help but glance at the casket every so often with a sick desire to set her eyes on Skywalker one more time. To see if he was really dead? Would she find joy in knowing he’d finally gotten what he’d deserved: a slow death, probably most of it in pain? She snapped her head away and shook her head. Pretty soon, she’d turn out like him: evil.
The funeral was the Friday after. In front of the mirror, Leia was hoping no one would notice that she’d worn the same black dress to both the wake and the funeral. She only had maybe two black dresses to begin with—white was more her color. And, even then, she’d had to pack for nearly a month and could only take so much with her. Besides, she was grieving, right? Who expected someone to be en vogue while in mourning? To finish the outfit, she wore big, dark glasses so that—hopefully—no one saw her rolling her eyes during the ceremony.
The temple was surrounded by natural beauty, flowering trees and even a waterfall. She was sure Luke had picked out this place. Another receiving line, more mourners. After a dozen or so, she was stifling a yawn and excused herself to get some water.
It was on her way down the hall that she ran into someone she had not expected to, and, from the look on his face, he had not expected her either.
“Cassian?” She said, removing her glasses.
“Leia, its good to see you again.” They awkwardly stood in the hallway. Cassian was with a very pretty woman their age, with big blue eyes and somewhat of a European face. If the rumors from Luke were true, then this must be...
“Leia, this is my fiancé, Jyn Erso. Jyn, this is…an old friend, Leia Organa. We went to school together.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Leia said, smiling and extending her hand.
“Ditto.” So she was English. “Sorry about your loss.” She shook Leia’s hand. It shouldn’t feel weird, should it? To meet your ex’s fiancé. She tried to smile and push it out of her mind.
“Thank you both for coming, but, in truth, I had not expected you to be here.”
“It was more for your brother and Mara-“
“And you, of course,” Jyn interjected.
“Of course. You and Luke and Mara, we came to support you. How are you doing?” She couldn’t make out his tone, and therefore if he was referring to her life in general, the funeral, or the wedding. She said as much. Cassian chuckled and Jyn even cracked a smile. “All three, I guess.”
She addressed each in sequence. “Fine, ehh, and fine.”
“We should get together and catch up, the fo- five of us,” Cassian said.
“We’re having a party tomorrow night to celebrate the wedding,” Jyn said. “You’re invited, of course.”
“Well then, of course I’ll come,” Leia assured. The three of them started back towards the entrance where her brother and Mara were waiting.
“And we’ll have to meet, and catch up,” Cassian reminded.
“Yes, catching up, let’s. It was nice seeing you both, I’ll see you in there, and maybe after. Definitely tomorrow.” Leia talked as they walked. She took her place next to Luke as Mara kissed the cheek of some tall scruffy-looking guy. Leia figured he was probably one of her family as she had never seen him before, but thoughts of the man were quickly put out of her mind.
“Cassian! Jyn!” Luke said, shaking the hand of the two, Mara embraced them both.
“It’s great that you’re both here, we’ll see you tomorrow.” Mara told them and Leia nodded, already turning to the next person in line.
The funeral went by also without a hitch, though Leia had her fair share of eye-rolling and snorts—the latter of which she masked as sobs with the help of an acquired tissue. The speaker carefully skidded over Skywalker’s debatable crimes against humanity by simply referring to them as “dark times.” Leia had to pretend to blow her nose to contain the scoff from that one.
Soon enough they were wheeling the casket up the aisle and headed to the cemetery. Only close friends and family were attending, no more than ten or so people. Luke and Mara rode in Leia’s rental rather than Luke’s truck. They were right in the front behind the hearse.
“I don’t think I ever thanked you for coming early, Leia,” Luke said, and Mara rubbed his arm.
“No need, I wish I could’ve come sooner and helped out with any affairs that needed to be tended to.”
Luke shrugged. “There wasn’t much to sort, he knew it was the end and had already planned with money set aside. He was in the hospital for the last year, didn’t even have a house or many personal items. No, all he-“ Luke must’ve known that she wouldn’t’ve cared if Skywalker had wanted her at his funeral or not, and amended his statement. “All I wanted was for you to be here.”
“Then I’d do it again, one-hundred times over. Anything for my baby brother.”
Luke smiled. “I’m the oldest.”
“Are not.”
“Are to.”
“I can dig up the pictures of the birth certificates again, if you insist.”
Luke seemed to shrug. “Pictures can be doctored, unlike your attitude.”
That made Leia laugh out loud as they pulled into the cemetery, the loud bell proclaiming their purpose for visiting.
There was a small ceremony at the tomb-site, the speaker inviting anyone to come and say something. Luke gave a small speech, as did a few others, but Leia hardly noticed. She was looking over the rise to the group of men wearing all black who seemed to be staring at them. They had shaved heads. One raised a sign over his head that read: “Long-live the Emperor.” That was enough for Leia.
“Excuse me,” she said quite suddenly as she got up and to the enforcer who’d come with them, directing his attention to the intruders. He quickly spoke on a walkie-talkie, making his way in the direction Leia had pointed.
The group noticed the man heading towards them, and some started to run away. Most stayed put.
“Hold fast, brothers!” one yelled so that even the dead could hear. “They can’t stop our free speech!”
“We aren’t the government, you fucking dickhead! It's a private ceremony, and you’re intruding! Go be a waste of oxygen somewhere else, you ignorant, servile scum!” Leia shouted back.
“It’s you who are the scum! Not giving this great man a proper burial as he outlined in his 1986 manifesto!”
“Tell that to executor of his fucking estate with a will from circa 2014! Leave us to mourn in peace, and let the past die before I kill it myself!” Leia’s throat was hoarse, but she would gladly out-shout a symphony to keep skinheads away from Skywalker’s burial. Not for the sanctity of Skywalker’s grave or anything like that, instead for the sake of peace for those she loved.
“You hear that, she’s threatening me!”
By now the enforcer had caught up to them, and most of the group had fled. But the person conversing with her across the cemetery had to be restrained and escorted out. Leia sat down and with a nod, the speaker continued as if not missing a beat. No one seemed too surprised something like this would happen. All Leia could think was it figured that Skywalker could even ruin his own burial.
They lowered the casket and began burying it. As they did this, Leia made her way over to a different plot, placing the bouquet she had brought with her on the tombstone: “Here lies ORGANA Bail and Breha, loving wife, husband, parents, and friends. May the force be with us all.”
“Hi,” Leia whispered. “It’s been a minute.”
The wind whispered over the peaceful place.
“Wish you were both here, I think about you every day.”
She laid on her back, head on the flat stone as though it were a pillow, and imagined herself there, forever.
“Practicing?” A voice said and she cracked her eye open to see her brother, his tie untied, and dirt on his pants.
She nodded and closed her eyes. She heard the grass rustling as he lay next to her.
“Do you wanna be buried here?” Luke asked.
“Yeah, it’s so peaceful. You’ll be next to me, right?”
“Of course. I’ll even do you one better and split a coffin with you. Save us a lot of money.” With the private ceremony and unlisted grave, there was hardly any money left for the two of them. Leia had felt bad for Luke what with the wedding three weeks away, and had refused what small amount was left for her, insisting he take it.
Leia laughed. “Go out of this life the way we came in?”
Luke also laughed. “I didn’t even think of it that way.”
“Hey, at least we’ll be together. I never wanna not be together, in one way or another.”
Luke sighed in agreement, and took her hand. They stared at the sky together, watching the clouds.
“You two should move to Coruscant, there’s a ton of writing jobs there. And it's not too far from Ahch-To, which I know you love.”
“We’ve talked about it.”
“You should do it.”
“We’ll see.” Luke was silent for another moment. “We should be getting back.”
Leia sighed and got up. “Any more appearances until the wedding?”
Luke looked pensive for a moment as he got up. “Well there’s Cassian and Jyn’s party tomorrow, and our party that we’re throwing and-“
“Ok, ok, I guess I’ll have to always be on my best behavior.” They started walking towards the cars.
“Thanks for getting after those guys,” Luke said after a moment of walking.
“It was my pleasure, I assure you.”
“Never thought you’d defend dad’s right to have some peace.”
“I was thinking mostly about how much I didn’t want to see you try to have a calm discussion with the skin-head before he reset your clock.”
“I could’ve taken them.”
“Sure.”
They reached the cars where most everyone had left, Mara was waiting by the car.
“There you two are, I was beginning to wonder if you’d fallen into an open grave or something,” she said.
“At least then we’d leave this life the way we came in,” Luke joked.
“Gross, you know, there is such a thing as too close, you two.”
“It was Leia’s joke!” Luke said as he claimed the front seat.
They started driving back Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru’s, stopping to get a late lunch.
“You met Jyn, right?” Mara asked from the backseat. Leia nodded.
“Yeah, she and Cassian seem cute together.”
“He’s great. She’s my maid of honor.”
Leia nodded. “She seems really nice, kinda quiet. But nice.”
“Well, we’ve been through a lot, the two of us. I’d like if you two got along. I know there’s some history between you and Cassian, but-”
Leia shook her head emphatically. “There won’t be a problem, I swear.”
“You’ll have to meet my best man,” Luke piped up.
“Speaking of someone she might have a problem with,” Mara muttered.
Luke looked over his shoulder at her, but Leia didn’t catch it. He ignored Mara’s comment otherwise. “He’ll be at the party tomorrow.” Leia hummed in agreement. “Try not to kill him, will you? Or at least wait to kill him until after the wedding.”
“I make no such guarantees,” Leia quipped, getting a small laugh. “But I promise to at least try to leave him in one piece for the pictures.” She racked her brain and trying to remember if Luke had said something previously about this guy. Did Luke even mention him at all? He kept up with such a strange crowd since dating Mara, who knew a lot of people in the racing scene. Leia groaned internally, praying to god he wasn’t one of those stuck-up racing types.
#han x leia#star wars#Han Solo#leia#han#leia organa#leia skywalker#luke skywalker#mara jade#mara#mara jade skywalker#luke#star wars: original triology#modern AU#star wars au#star wars modern au#original trio#original triology#rogue one#rogue one: a star wars story#star wars wedding#star wars funeral#funeral#wedding#sw#star wars expanded universe#expanded universe
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