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leilakisakabiri · 11 months

Note

I have a request for Pedri, maybe a childhood friends to lovers ? 😩 like they are both in love with each other but are oblivious so Gavi makes a plan to get them together by pretending to be interested in the reader (idk if that made sense)

The Promises We Keep (Pedri)

Summary: You and Pedri grew up together until he got selected to play for Barcelona. He left when you were sixteen and you hadn’t seen him since, till a fateful day in summer brought you a bright-eyed midfielder.

Warning(s): Angst. Sensitive topics such as death, addiction, and feelings of hopelessness.

A/N: Guys this is a long one. Thank you so much for the request, I made it slightly different but hopefully you still like it! This one took on a life of its own and was so fun to write. Feel free to send requests!

Word Count: 9.4k+

August 11th.

That was the first time you had met Pedri. On the brink of ten, eyes alight with wonder and eagerness, as you stood on your tippy toes, leaning over the counter to point out the cake specials.

It was your first day working at the bakery that your family owned. After much badgering and pleading, your grandmother had promised you that you could help out at the bakery. You had been ecstatic, rolling up your sleeves, getting ready to frost the cakes like you had seen your abuela and mother do countless times before. Your excitement, however, was short-lived when your mother placed her hands on your shoulders, redirecting you away from the shiny kitchen filled with sugary delights and to the long counter facing the dining area.

“Mamà, No! I want to bake cakes with you!” You pleaded, attempting to free yourself from her grasp.

She smiled, “Not yet princessa. First, you have to learn to take the orders.”

“Ok after?”

She nodded her head, helping you on the stool that made you tall enough to finally look over the counter, “Yes, but first let’s learn how to do this.”

She explained all the functions of the cash register to you, and you nodded, taking it all in.

You knew the menu by heart, having grown up in the bakery and heard your grandmother and mother repeat the spiel countless times to customers.

Your excitement came back in full swing when she stepped away and walked back into the kitchen.

You were in charge out here.

You felt giddy as you waited for your first customer.

Would they want a cake? Or maybe a pastry? Ooh or maybe some tea? You had never started the tea kettle by yourself before.

You smiled when you heard the door jiggle, a customer entering, “Hi Sir! How can I help you?”

“Would you like to order a cake? Or if you don’t like cakes we also have-”

The man cut you off, pulling a map from his pocket, “I’m lost can you help me? I want to go here.” He said, pointing to the other side of the map from where you were.

You sighed, “Yes, you have to take the train, line 2. That will take you here,” You said pointing to a station on the map, “And then it’s just a 5-minute walk.”

“Oh sir would you like-“ You began to ask him as he thanked you, but cut yourself off when the door shut behind him.

You huffed.

So much for your first customer.

You leaned on the counter waiting for someone else to come in.

It was a Tuesday afternoon in summer, and most people only came to the bakery early in the morning on the way to work, or after work to collect their cakes or drink their daily tea. The weekdays were slow for in-store business, but it was always packed to the brim on weekends with tourists hoping to discover local culture and families who spent the day at the nearby beach.

You were so lost in thought that you completely missed the boy standing in front of you.

“Umm excuse me?”

You looked down at the sudden noise, making eye contact with a brown-haired boy with a frown on his face. He couldn’t have been that much older than you.

“Hi sorry! How can I help you?” You asked, your voice taking on the cheery note that your mothers always did when speaking with customers.

“I said I want to buy a cake.”

You squinted your eyes at the boy, he looked familiar, but you couldn’t put your finger on it.

“Okay, what kind of cake?”

“A birthday cake.” The boy huffed out, fidgeting with the cash in his hand.

You quickly grew annoyed at his attitude; it wasn’t your fault you hadn’t seen him. He was barely taller than the counter.

“Ok here’s the cake options.” You said, showing him a pamphlet with all the options listed.

“That one.” He said pointing to the green cake decorated with cars.

You nodded, ringing him up, “Ok it’s $35.”

The boy handed you the cash and you took your time double-counting the money to make sure everything was there.

You wanted to make sure you did your job perfectly.

“Aren’t you a little young to make a cake? Do you even know how to count?” He asked.

You stopped counting and looked at him, annoyance plastered across your face, you knew your mother would not condone you acting like this to a customer, but you couldn’t help it, “Aren’t you a little young to order a cake?”

“It’s for my brother!” The boy exclaimed.

“Ok… Pedro.” You spoke seeing his name on the order, “You can pick it up tomorrow at 5 pm.”

He gawked at you, “to-tommorow?” But I need it by tonight!”

You paid him no mind, “Well that’s how it works. You should have ordered sooner.”

He dug around in his pocket before pulling out some change, “What if I gave you this, would that change your mind?”

You looked at him unimpressed, “That’s $5.”

“It’s all I have! Please it’s my brother’s birthday today and I accidentally ruined the cake!” He was beginning to plead, and you couldn’t help but feel pleased now that the tables had turned.

“How did you ruin the cake?” You asked, not being able to contain your curiosity.

“I was playing football in the house, even though my mom always says I can’t play it inside, but it was too hot outside so I-“ You stopped listening to his rambling too focused on what he said.

He played football.

“Are you good?” You cut him off.

He grinned at your question, “Of course! I’m the best in my school!”

You smiled at him, a plan forming in your head, “Okay I’ll move the cake up the queue, so it’s done faster, but you have to teach me to play football.”

He raised an eyebrow at you, “Why do you want to learn?”

“I want to be on the girl’s team. I always wanted to learn but my mom never let me play with the neighborhood kids because I was the only girl.”

He thought about your proposition, and you could practically see the gears turning in his head as he thought it over, “Won’t she care now?”

You rolled your eyes, “It’ll be a secret. Duh!”

He stared at you for a second longer before shrugging his shoulders, “Okay. But I get to set when we meet.”

You nodded, “Okay, come back to the bakery at 5 pm today and I’ll give you the cake and then you can tell me when we can play.”

He gave you a nod before exiting the store, leaving you nervous about how you were going to pull this off and excited about finally being able to play the game you had wanted to learn for years.

He came back to collect his cake later that day, and the next day marked your first official ‘training session’ as he liked to call them. You would meet him every other day at 6 pm on the empty football fields near the edge of your neighborhood, after school and your shift at the bakery.

You had told your family that you had made a friend, Marcy, and that the two of you would go biking every other day to explore all the different parts of the city.

Those training sessions soon turned into staying past ‘practice time’ to eat ice cream from the stand next to his house. Those then turned into day trips to the beach and exploring the random shops littered across the boardwalk.

Eventually, the angry boy that had turned up at your family’s bakery became your best friend, and when the two of you ended up at the same secondary school your bond only deepened, and soon you were spending every lunch period with him.

Now at 16, you and Pedro had long been football practice partners and best friends. Your family knew him well enough now, and you knew his like the back of your hand.

You had been lying on your floor, feet up, staring at the ceiling when Pedro had walked in.

“What are you doing?” He questioned, staring at you with narrowed eyes.

You rolled your eyes, “Jeez Pedro you’re so judgy. I’m bored, come lay.”

He huffed, but came to lie next to you anyways, feet knocking into yours as he tried to get them up, “You were supposed to meet me 10 minutes ago.”

You laughed, “Oh shit sorry. I just finished at the bakery.”

He nodded, turning to face you, voice taking on a softer tone, “How’s your abuela?”

You took in a breath, still not used to talking about it, “She’s better, still not talking though.”

Your grandmother had suffered a stroke two weeks ago when she was working late one night preparing a cake for one of her most beloved customers.

No one had found her for nearly 15 minutes after she had hidden herself in the back kitchen, away from your mother and tia getting ready for bed upstairs.

Since then, the bakery had flipped on its head, your whole family reeling in the loss of your grandmother, the woman who was always talking, the one who loved sharing stories and was patient enough to explain things as many times as you needed without fail, now being silenced to a life without the ability to share her ideas. Business had been booming right before your grandmother’s accident, but since then the demand had been too high to meet the supply, and slowly the customers were dwindling down. Your grandmother was the glue holding the bakery together, without her everything was falling apart, and your family was left picking up the pieces.

“I’m sorry.” Pedro spoke.

You shrugged it off, pretending it wasn’t ripping you apart from the inside out, “It’s fine. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Ok, well I heard back from the football scout.” He said changing the subject.

You shot up, eyes widening with excitement, “Oh my god! What did he say?”

You made eye contact with him, seeing the hesitation in his eyes, “What? Did something happen?”

He shook his head slowly, “No nothing like that.”

“Okay then…” You pressed, anxious to hear what happened.

“I got in.”

You screamed, tackling Pedro into a hug, sending you back to the ground. You kept your arms wrapped around him as you slid off his body, legs splayed across his, “That’s incredible! I knew you could do it, you’re amazing!”

He laughed at your affection, hand around your waist tugging you closer to him, “Thanks linda.”

“Why aren’t you as excited as me?” You asked, surprised at the fact he wasn’t screaming and jumping around with you.

“Uh- well the uhm- uh- joder I don’t- It’s in Barcelona.” He finally admitted.

Your hand slid off his shoulders and you looked at him in disbelief.

You were torn, on one hand, you were ecstatic for him, you knew he had been dreaming about this since he was practically born, long before he even met you. You also knew he was immensely talented, and that he deserved to be able to share his love for football with the world. However, you would be lying if you said you were only happy for him because there was a small part of you that couldn’t grasp the concept of him leaving, of not being able to graduate together like you always promised you would, or having no more summers filled with football, sugary delights, and pretending to be tourists.

He was your best friend, you told him everything, you had spent numerous nights spilling your souls to each other, saying any and everything on your mind. You knew that he still slept with a nightlight on at thirteen because he had seen Paranormal Activity and it has apparently “changed the trajectory of his life”. For every little insignificant moment of your life, he was there, like when you tripped and chipped your tooth in Mrs. Fernandez’s 8th grade history class, he was there helping you up after laughing so hard he had tears streaming down the sides of his face. But now, for bigger life events, like graduation, or university, he was going to be gone, hundreds of miles away.

“Are you going to say something?” He was nervous, chewing on his lip anxiously as he waited for your response.

You didn’t know what to say.

This was his dream; it would be too selfish to say anything to jeopardize that. So even though you felt a tiny skip in your heart every time he looked at you with those shining brown eyes and lopsided grin, you pulled back, “You should go.”

He took a deep breath staring at you so intently you were beginning to wonder if your face was giving you away, the words please don’t go I need you plastered across your forehead in red ink.

“You sure?” He asked again.

You avoided his eyes, not being able to handle the thought of your life changing so drastically in a matter of days, “Pedro this is your dream. You’ve wanted to play for Barcelona since you were little, you have to take it. This could be your one chance, you can’t miss out.”

“But what about what I’ll miss out on here?”

You sighed, “What lil ole’ me?” Don’t worry, I’ll still be here when you come visit. Besides I have other friends y’know?” You joked, finally looking at him.

His eyes shined so intensely with emotion that you had to quickly look away so you wouldn’t cry in front of him, a lump already beginning to form in your throat.

“So, when do you leave?”

“Next week.”

You let out a short laugh, “Oh, wow. That’s so soon.”

You heard him begin to talk but cut him off, feeling bad about how negative you sounded, “You’ll be playing for the A team in no time then. Can’t believe I’m friends with a celebrity.”

He smiled, bringing you up with him as he sat up, tilting your chin to make you look at him, “I’ll miss you.”

You gave him a soft smile, leaning up to brush his hair away from his face before pinching his cheek playfully, “I’ll miss you too linda. But Barcelona’s only a plane ride away.”

He groaned hearing the nickname, “Ugh Y/n how many times have I told you to stop calling me that.”

You giggled, enjoying making him mad, “Oh c’mon you know you love it.”

You glanced at the time, seeing it was a quarter past nine, “Oh shit, I forgot to close the bakery.” You said rushing to stand up.

He walked with you downstairs into the shop, “Isn’t your mom closing tonight?”

You shook your head, “She said she was going to see abuela early tonight since it’s her birthday. She told me to close it when she left, but I forgot.”

“Ok well, I should probably go then. See you tomorrow?”

You agreed, saying goodbye, watching him leave as you locked up.

He was halfway down the dimly lit street when he suddenly spun around,

“I’ll come visit you, I promise!” He shouted, walking backwards as he pointed at you with an annoyingly perfect grin.

“Yah, yah, whatever you say.” You teased, watching as his figure disappeared around the bend onto the main road.

You already had tears in your eyes when you shut the door. You cursed yourself for being so emotional lately, the news of your abuela, and now this was taking its toll on you.

You wanted to feel happy for him, you really did, but you felt like he was going at the worst possible time. Everything in your life was falling apart, while his was falling into place. You didn’t want to be the anchor weighing him down.

You were lost in your thoughts as you closed the store in a daze, watching as the open light flickered off encompassing you in darkness.

The next few days went by in a blur, days spent studying at school and nights spent locked away in the bakery, picking up extra shifts to accommodate the ever-growing task list. Pedro would sneak into the kitchen every evening, sneakily taking bites of the frosting when your back was turned with his fingers as he told you about his day and everything he planned to do when he got to Barcelona.

Eventually, the day you had almost forgotten about came. It was a Saturday morning, the weather was chilly for spring, clouds of rolling gray covering the sun, matching your mood perfectly.

You were standing at the train station with Pedro’s entire family saying goodbye.

“I know you’re shit at texting, so you have to promise to at least write me a letter every month, so I know what you’re up to.” Pedro said, hands going around you as he wrapped you in a hug.

“Letter? What is this eighteen century London?” You weakly joked, head resting on his shoulder.

“Ok fine not letter’s maybe emails? I know the cell service is bad in your neighborhood.”

You shoved him playfully, “Oi. Sorry not all of us are world class athletes and can afford to live in nice areas.”

He laughed, pulling you back into his arms, “I’m kidding, obviously. I love your little shack.”

You gasped, offended, swatting his shoulder, “I live in a house Pedro. A 2 floor house, not a shack.”

He chuckled above you, resting his chin on your head as he rocked your bodies back and forth, giving you one last squeeze, “Oh how I’m going to miss making fun of you.”

You glared at him, slipping him the finger when his mother wasn’t looking.

He boarded the train, looking back one more time as he waved.

You gave him a watery smile, not being able to hold back your emotions, holding hands with his mother as you watched him start the journey in front of him.

Then he was gone.

A few months had passed since then, and still not a single visit from Pedro, or Pedri as he went by now. He had planned to come for graduation but had a last-minute event that he couldn’t cancel. Then he was supposed to come for your birthday but missed it because he was finally offered playing time.

Each time he missed something, you felt a piece of your childhood chip away, like you were slowly losing the younger version of yourself that was all starry-eyed, putting all her trust in pinky promises and boys with twinkling brown eyes and dimples.

The immense sadness you had first felt when Pedri left had slowly turned into happiness once you learned just how much he was enjoying his time in Barcelona, and how good it felt to be able to play professionally and with other people who were just as passionate as him.

You still talked to him occasionally on Facetime, whenever both of your busy schedules allowed time, but your monthly letters were still going strong.

While you had once shitted on the prospect of making handwritten letters for each other, it has soon provided a sense of comfort for you. Reading his words, about his life, in his handwriting, written specifically for you, made you feel closer to him than you had in months. If you really stared at the words, you could almost make out his voice whispering them to you as he sat with you downstairs in the kitchen annoying you as you prepared the pastries.

You still saw his family quite a bit, bringing them sweets when you heard that Pedri’s older brother had graduated from university.

His mother had tried to convince you to go to Barcelona with them, but you had refused, not able to leave the bakery by itself, or your mother.

Since your grandmother’s stroke, your mother had become the shell of the woman she once was. No longer was she overly optimistic, or especially cheery in the morning when she opened the shop, stopping to ask every customer how they were, thanking them for their business. Now, she sat on a stool at the counter, routinized to a shift of taking orders, handing out receipts, and making the same four teas. The love that she had for baking was gone.

She went through her days in rehearsed speeches and solitude, her only outing being to visit your abuela every night.

Since her attack, your abuela’s health had severely diminished. While in the first weeks following the accident, she had made some process, being able to pronounce syllables and say names, she regressed significantly as Winter approached, blanketing the skies with bleak gray’s, turning the ground bitter and snowcapped.

It was the second Friday of the New Year when you received the call. You were in the middle of your online university class when you heard a shattering noise, followed by a wail.

You shot out of your seat, shaky hands slamming the computer shut as you raced towards the front of the store.

You found your mother slumped on the floor, sobbing into her hands, fragments of broken glass surrounding her small frame.

Onlookers watched as you slowly approached, reaching out a comforting hand before helping her up and guiding her to the back, where she could at least mourn in peace.

She didn’t say anything, but you already knew.

You led her into the back office, sliding the never-ending stack of bills off the chair, sitting her down, “Mamà, lo siento, eres muy valiente.” Mama, I’m sorry, you are so brave.

Her shaking hands grasped yours tightly as she tried to collect herself, looking up at you with hauntingly vacant red-rimmed eyes.

Your heart broke at the sight, your mother was the strongest person you had ever met, she was fiercely loving, and always held her head high, even when your father abandoned the both of you, even when she would get made fun of for her heavy Spanish accent, she never said anything, remaining perfectly poised.

Now that charade had been lifted, and you were beginning to realize that all those years spent thinking she was super women you had been wrong, she wasn’t, she was human, just like everyone else, she too cried, and wondered if she could have done things differently, but this was the first time she had ever been vulnerable enough to show you that side of herself.

“Lo siento princessa, te merces algo major. No he sido justo contigo.” She said, her voice frail and exhausted. I’m sorry princess, you deserve better. I haven’t been fair to you.

You shook your head, kneeling and hugging her around the waist like you did when you were nine, “No hat problema mamà. Estoy aqui para ti.” No problem, Mama. I’m here for you.

She smiled at you through her tears, fingers stroking your hair lovingly, “Mi niña.”

You hugged her harder, wishing you could take her pain away. You would give anything to see the color return to her face or watch her dull eyes fill with warmth once more.

Your life changed bit by bit after that. Each day it twisted into something more unrecognizable, until the joys of childhood seemed so far behind you, and the thought of your best friend no longer crossed your mind every day.

After the death of your grandmother, you and your mother had been thrown headfirst into the upkeep of the bakery. While you once had your tia to help when things got extra busy, she too moved, following her husband to the States. That left just you, your still grieving mother, and a growing stack of unpaid bills.

Every day felt like a repetition of the previous. Each morning you would wake up at 5 am, prepare the dishes for the next day, wake your mother up at 7 am when your classes officially began, half listening to lectures while working the cash register, and then at 5 pm you would take over baking when Meera, the sweet girl who lived across the street would have her shift, managing the front of the store. Finally, when your mother had left to visit your grandmother’s grave you would close the shop, making sure to leave a light on for when she came home in the early hours of the morning.

While she tried to be better for you, she still suffered adjusting to a new normal with your grandmother. Your grandmother had been a rock to her when she was going through the issues with your father and was always there to support her no matter what. Your mother threw herself into the business and not much else, these days she was just a shadow of her former self, quietly gliding past, doing everything with half the effort.

Between balancing your personal life, school, and the bakery, the thought of writing back to Pedri had completely slipped your mind.

It had been so long since the two of you had last seen each other, and you didn’t feel like the same girl who waved goodbye to him that Saturday morning at the station.

Since now and then your childhood had abruptly ended, joining your grandmother in the grave, and you had been thrown headfirst into adulthood, which consisted of stressing, overworking, and pleading with the electric company to keep the lights on another day.

All you had around you was things dragging you down, and you hated the thought of adding Pedri to the mix. Linda Pedri who always made you laugh with the weirdest jokes, and always encouraged you to follow your dreams. If only he could see you now you thought.

The letters that had been sent between the two of you had dwindled over time, with a new letter every month, going to 3 months, and now over 6 months. You were to blame for that, Pedri had written to you every month, just as he promised, but the worse things got for you, the better they seemed to be for him, and you didn’t want to say anything to mess that up for him.

He didn’t even know about your grandmother passing away.

His brother had moved to the States following his graduation and his parents spent so much time traveling between Barcelona and the US that they were rarely around anymore.

One of the last times he sent you a letter was 3 months ago, letting you know that he had been selected to be part of the Men’s World Cup team representing your country. You had been over the moon for him, jumping up and down, celebrating in your bedroom after you had received the news. You had been desperate to write back, letting him know how proud you were when your mother had walked past your room, the stench of alcohol radiating off her body.

You froze mid-sentence, twisting in your chair to watch her stumble into the bedroom.

You sighed; it was 3 pm.

All the things you wanted to say to him suddenly seemed too insignificant, what good news did you have to share with him? That you got accepted to your dream college but couldn’t go because your mother was unstable? Or that every day you woke up wishing you were ten again, free of stress, and playing football with him on the uneven field next to the supermarket?

There was no easy way to say it, and frankly, you were ashamed of the life you had been living. You wanted him to remember you as the funny girl who loved all that life had to offer and went to bed dreaming of the future.

So instead of replying you crumbled up the paper and tossed it in the trash.

You could love him, but maybe from afar was best.

He sent you one more letter after that asking why you hadn’t responded but you didn’t have the heart to tell him. So, you ignored it.

The next month a letter never came. You told yourself the sinking feeling you felt in your chest was just reality setting in.

You carried on with life but made sure to keep an eye on him whenever you could. You watched him win the golden boy award, fingers itching to send him a congratulations text, or a I knew you could do it, but your hands always hovered over the send button for a second too long.

The change you had been looking for came in the form of an seventeen-year-old, wide-eyed, brown-haired midfielder.

It was nearing the beginning of the summer season when the influx of tourists and long days would hit, you were in the back, as usual, preparing in advance. You had learned the hard way last summer what would happen if you made orders on a day-to-day basis.

You heard the bell above the door jingle and made your way to the front, a smile adorning your face, “Hi welcome. What can I get started for you today?”

There was a teenage boy standing across from you, mouth open but no words coming out.

You stared at him with a confused look, “Hello?”

He closed his mouth abruptly before words started spilling out, “Oh my god I can’t believe it’s actually you. You look so different in the photos.”

Now you were really confused.

“I’m sorry do I know you?” You asked, trying to remember if he was one of your classmates from secondary school.

He shook his head, “No sorry. I’m Gavi, I’m a friend of-“

“Pedro’s.” You finished his sentence, saying his name for the first time in what felt like years.

The boy looked at you stunned, “Yeah how did you know?”

You sighed, playing with your sleeve, “He always talked about you in his letters. Pablo right?”

The boy nodded excitedly, coming closer, “That’s actually why I’m here. I saw the letters. Happy Birthday by the way.”

You looked back at him stunned, “How did you-“

“Pedri has today marked on his calendar, and when I saw the open letters on his desk, I put two and two together.”

You couldn’t help the blush that took over your face, it had been so long since you had thought of Pedri and how he made you feel, but it seemed just a visit from his friend was bringing them all back to the surface.

Gavi noticed your red cheeks, “Awh where you guys in love?”

You choked on your spit, “What? No way! We were just friends!” You sputtered out, the blush only deepening.

Gavi laughed, “Funny Pedri said the same thing.”

You laughed nervously, unsure what he was implying.

“Anyways I’m here to bring you back to Barcelona to surprise Pedri.”

Your eyes widened at the thought, and you shrunk back, “What? I can’t go with you.”

“Well, why not?” He questioned.

“I uh- I have to take care of the bakery, I can’t just leave.” You relented, not wanting to tell him everything.

You had just met him 5 minutes ago for Gods’ sake.

“Well, don’t you have family that can run it while you’re gone? Pedri said it was family run.”

“No. I don’t.” You said defensively.

“Plus, I haven’t talked to him in months. I don’t even think he remembers me.” You continued.

Gavi let out a laugh, “That’s bullshit! I could never get him to shut up about you. Every morning it was Y/n this, Y/n that, ooh do you think Y/n would like this? It was like his favorite activity was talking about you. But then a while ago I just stopped hearing your name and I started to wonder why. So, I did some digging, and I found the notes.” He explained, hands gesturing wildly as he retold the events.

You raised your eyebrow at him, and he was quick to defend himself.

“Ok well not digging, I found the letters this morning on the desk, they were basically asking to be opened, and when I noticed that they stopped coming right around when Pedri started to act more closed off I knew you had something to do with it. So, I booked the first flight here, and now here I am.”

You didn’t know how to respond to his story. He waited for you to say something but you were too in your head. Pedri had been acting differently? Had you indirectly been affecting him negatively? Even when you went out of your way to avoid bringing him down you couldn’t help it. It felt like every higher power was working against you. Reminding you that you were no good for him, he was a gifted player who deserved all that life had to offer, and you were just an overworked, barely passing-by baker.

“He’s been acting different?” You spoke, voice soft as you tried to keep your thoughts locked away.

“Why’d you stop writing Y/n?”

You glanced up at Gavi seeing him already staring at you with sincere eyes, “Why do you even care?” You huffed moving away from the counter, putting space in between the two of you.

He only moved closer, leaning over the counter, staring directly at you, “I know the Y/n I heard about in stories and saw in pictures and she’s much different than the person standing in front of me. I just want to know why you pushed him away. I just want to know what happened.”

Your bottom lip quivered as you looked at him, every word he spoke felt like a sledgehammer to your heart, because you knew it was true, in trying to hold your family together, you were letting go of yourself.

You felt your eyes fill with water in spite of yourself, and you quickly glanced around the bakery, only seeing an old couple hidden away behind an alcove.

You took a deep breath, closing your eyes, saying the words you had never uttered out loud before, “My grandmother died, and my mother’s an alcoholic. I’m all she has.”

You opened your eyes to see Gavi looking at you with a sad expression, probably feeling pity for what a shitty hand life had dealt you.

“I know this doesn’t change anything but I’m sorry.”

You accepted his apology, “Thanks.”

It was quiet after that, the hum of the tea kettle in the background and the chatter of the couple in the corner being the only noise.

Finally, Gavi spoke, “Does Pedri know?”

You shook your head softly, “No, and I don’t want him to. I don’t want to burden him with my problems.”

“He’s your best friend. Why won't you tell him?” He exclaimed.

“Because I know the second he hears he’ll drop everything and come, and I can’t be responsible for what will happen if he does. He’s dreamed of the life he’s living for years, I won’t take that away from him, no matter what.” You argued, voice stern.

Gavi was silent, taking in your words, “You’re a good friend.”

You let out a small grin, “I’m the best.”

He smiled, “At least come see him. Even if it’s just for a little bit.”

You groaned, “Gavi did you not just hear a word I said? I can’t leave the bakery. I’m like a prisoner stuck in a world filled with raspberry pastries and buttercream frosting.”

Gavi laughed, “Pedri told me you were funny. I kinda see it now.”

You gave him a playful glare.

“No but seriously, what do I need to do to convince you to come? You’re telling me you don’t miss him at all?”

You stared at him, “Gavi no offense but I don’t want to get all mushy gushy with you.”

“I won’t tell. Pinky promise.” He held out his finger, wagging it around till you took it.

You laughed at the silly notion remembering the times when pinky promises were the end all be all, “Ok you better not be crossing your fingers behind your back!” You pointed out.

He held out his other hand, shoving it in your face as you hit it away, “I’m not see!”

“Fine. I believe you.”

“Ok sooo…”

“So?” You asked.

“Oh my god Y/n spill your soul to me. I have to know.”

You giggled at his over-dramatization, “Ok, well uhm of course I miss Pedri. He was my best friend, and I wish he was still around, but I’d much rather him be happy without me than sad with me.”

“But he would be even more happy if you were with him.”

“I don’t know about that. If he saw me right now I don’t even think he would recognize me. I’ve changed a lot since we were last together.”

“But everyone changes. Plus, I’m sure he’ll love the new you even more.”

“Love? Who said anything about love?” You asked intrigued.

Gavi slapped a hand over his mouth, “I’ve said too much.”

Now you were curious, “No Gavi c’mon you can tell me. We’re friends.” You coaxed, trying to get him to cave.

He looked like he was really thinking about it before he gave in, “Don’t tell anyone, but I think Pedri was in love with you.”

You felt like the ground had just been pulled away from underneath you, earth’s gravitational axis shifting, sending you toppling over the edge of a cliff,

“What? Did he tell you that?” You asked breathlessly.

Gavi chewed on his lip, “Well not in so many words, just more in his actions. Like I said when he first met him all he did was talk about you, we all thought you were his secret girlfriend that he was hiding away somewhere in the islands. We obviously didn’t know the extent of it then. But then he started pulling away, and the wins didn’t seem as important to him anymore and I started to think people don’t really get that affected unless they really care about someone.”

You mulled over his words, “You know you’re pretty wise.”

“Thanks. I’ve been told so before.”

“Really?”

“No. Not once.”

You let out a snort, “Well here’s to firsts I guess.”

“What’s your first?” He questioned.

You smiled, “I guess going to Barcelona.”

He cheered at your answer, fists pumping the air. You quickly pulled his hands down with a disapproving look, “There’s customers!”

“There’s two people!” He exclaimed.

You shushed him beginning to come up with a plan to visit. You knew you couldn’t leave right away, you still had to assign people to cover your shifts at the bakery and see if your mother was stable enough to be left on her own for a few days. You also had to finish your university finals scheduled for next week.

You planned with Gavi for him to come back next week and help you tidy up any loose ends. Then you would hopefully be heading off to see Pedri for the first time in over a year.

You gave him your number and thanked him for coming to find you.

“Wait how did you find me?” You asked Gavi as he was leaving.

He smirked, “Pedri said you had the best bakery in town. So, I googled best bakery and followed the directions, and then voila there you were.”

You chuckled, happy that at least the bakery’s quality hadn’t diminished.

After Gavi left you busied yourself by preparing the store for when you were gone, adding extra shifts to the schedule that you could just barely afford, and diving headfirst into studying for your finals.

Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Gavi was being ruthlessly bullied by his teammates at Monday morning practice.

“Get this, Gavi flew all the way to the Canary Islands for one day. Because of a girl.” Torres commented, earning laughs from the other players.

Only Pedri looked up in surprise, “You went to the Canary Islands?”

Gavi passed the ball, debating telling the truth before deciding against it, “Yeah, was only there a couple hours though.”

“Who’d you see?” Pedri questioned.

Before Gavi could respond, Ansu cut in, “Mystery girl. She’s been texting him all morning. It’s a 928 number so you know it’s a Canarian girl.”

Gavi cursed him under his breath, “Ansu stop checking my phone you dick. I’m just talking to a friend.”

Ferran nodded, “Right. A ‘friend’ you’re going to go see again this weekend.”

Gavi groaned, silently begging for the questioning to end.

“Who are you texting, maybe I know them.” Pedri joked.

Gavi laughed uncomfortably, “I don’t think you know this one.”

The conversation died at that when Coach ordered them to split up and begin a practice game.

Gavi let out a sigh of relief, glad he hadn’t blown your cover.

The next weekend came, and you found yourself growing more and more nervous as the minutes ticked by. Gavi was supposed to be here in five minutes, and you felt like you were going to projectile vomit everywhere.

You walked into your mother’s room trying to distract yourself from the nervous flips of your stomach or the erratic beating of your heart.

“Are you sure you’ll be fine Mamà?”

She nodded from the bed, motioning for you to come closer, “I’ll be fine I promise. It will be good to get back to work.”

You bit the inside of your cheek anxiously. While the days of day drinking and passing out at noon were behind your mother, she still couldn’t help but crave a bottle every night. She was slowly recovering, and you hoped you being away wouldn’t cause her to relapse.

“You call if you need anything okay? I’ll come right away.”

She patted your cheek affectionately, “Go, you worry too much Y/n.”

You smiled kissing her cheek before heading downstairs just in time to see Gavi walk in.

“Oh look it’s my favorite non-patron customer.” You sarcastically said.

The boy grinned at you, giving you a hug, “Y/n how have you been? All ready?”

You nodded, “Yes sir. But feeling like I might throw up at any second so warning.”

He scrunched up his nose in disgust, “Please do not throw up in the plane or I will be so mad at you.”

You glared at him, “Please I’m much classier than that. I’m more of a throw up on the side of the road kind-of gal.”

He gave you a wary look, “Aren’t you just a gem?”

You smiled sweetly at him.

The plane ride went smoothly and by that you meant you didn’t throw up but instead just complained about it in between badgering Gavi about your nerves on meeting Pedri.

Finally, the boy had enough of your ranting, “Y/n. You're great but if I have to hear another word about how Pedri makes you feel I’m throwing myself off this plane, football career be damned.”

It was pretty silent after that. It was your first time on a flight since you were little and even though the flight time was extremely short you made the most of it.

You thanked the flight crew as you got off, earning a, “Enjoy your stay in Barcelona,” in response.

You couldn’t believe you were here, in Barcelona, away from your small little town for the first time in over a decade.

You and Gavi breezed through baggage claim and before you knew it you were getting into a car, greeting his father, and being ushered into his house.

“Thank you so much for letting me stay here.” You told his father once you walked inside.

He gave you a warm smile, “No problem at all chica.”

“This is my house so you should be thanking me if anything.” Gavi cut in, earning a wack on the head from his father.

You rolled your eyes, “Alright well thanks Gavi.”

He gave you a bright smile, “You’re so welcome.”

After that you made your way up to the guestroom, exhaustion taking over your body as you fell asleep, for the first time in a long time dreaming of the possibilities of the future.

You woke up to Gavi’s yelling, “Y/n are you up?”

You groaned, looking at the clock, before pulling a pillow over your head.

It seemed that not only bakers woke up at 5 am, but also athletes.

“What do you want?” You murmured.

“Do you want to come to practice?” He asked, entering your room.

Your eyes widened, you weren’t prepared at all, you hadn’t even showered or mentally prepared yourself.

“No way.”

Gavi groaned, kicking your leg that was dangling off the edge of the bed, “Fine, but I’ll be back at 2 pm, and then we have to figure out a plan.”

You glared at him, hiding your legs between the sheets, “Ok. Have fun.”

He waved goodbye, closing the door behind him, leaving you with only one thing running through your mind.

Pedri.

You wondered what it would be like once you saw him again. Did he still look the same? Was he still the same carefree, level headed guy you said goodbye to last year?

You hoped he wouldn’t be too mad about your unplanned visit.

You kept thinking over what you were going to say as you got ready, how you would explain why you stopped responding to him, telling him everything in your life you had been hiding for the past year.

Soon enough you heard keys jingling, unlocking the door, and Gavi’s sweaty face greeted you.

“Today’s practice was brutal.” He said, kicking off his shoes, and making his way to the kitchen.

“What happened?” You asked.

“Got grilled about you, as usual, everyone thinks I’m hopelessly in love with you. They know you’re here by the way.”

You nearly choked on your sandwich, sputtering, “Oh my god. How do they know? Do they know it’s me?”

He shook his head, “There were some photos taken by fans at the airport, guess we didn’t see them. Don’t worry though it was when we were hugging so your face is covered.”

You let out a sigh of relief, falling back into your chair, “Thank God. I can’t believe we almost blew it!”

Gavi laughed, “I know, we’re so bad at this. Pedri was so quiet today, I think he’s suspicious.”

“Really?”

“He said like two sentences all of practice, and the only time he spoke to me was to ask about the mystery girl.” Gavi pointed out.

You shrugged, “Maybe he was just out of it today.”

Gavi gave you a look, “We both know that’s not true.”

You sighed, looking everywhere but at him, “I think this was a bad idea.”

You felt Gavi walk up beside you, tilting your chin so you were forced to look at him, “Y/n shut up, you’re awesome. Yes, you’re annoying every now and then, and won’t stop talking even at the worst times,” you glared at him, “but I get why Pedri loves you so much.” You smiled at his words, the nerves dissipating.

In the distance, you could hear a door opening.

You went to open your mouth to thank him when suddenly he was ripped away from you and shoved to the ground, hard.

“Qué demonios?” Gavi asked confused before his lips turned into a straight line and a somber expression took over his face. What the hell?

“Pedri.” The boy spoke as he warily stood up, “I swear-“

“You fucking asshole.” Pedri was seething.

Your eyes widened at the situation, but you stood frozen in place.

Gavi went to speak again, hands outstretched trying to reason with Pedri but he was cut off,

“Ansu said her name and I swear my world tilted and my stomach dropped because there’s no way my friend would do that to me right? There’s no way the random girl he’s gone to see every weekend is my best friend who can’t even be bothered to send me a text back.”

Pedri shoved the younger boy in the chest again, pushing him against the rattling cupboards, “So then I come to your house paranoid, thinking I’ve gone crazy because I keep getting the feeling that your mystery girl isn’t a mystery to me, and then I come here and see this. You? With her? With my-“

“Pedro it’s not like that I swear.” You finally spoke up, trying to diffuse the tension.

He didn’t even spare you a glance, too focused on his anger and the throbbing pain he was feeling in his chest, it felt like the air was squeezing out his lungs every time he thought about you and Gavi.

He glared at the boy in front of him, teeth clenched, he never knew he could loathe anyone as much as he did Gavi, “You were supposed to be my friend.”

The midfielder shook his head rapidly, “I am I swear. If you could just let me-“

Pedri disregarded him, finally turning to look at you, “Y/n.” He said your name so bitterly that you shrunk back.

You reached out to touch him, but he quickly pulled away, a dry, humorless laugh spilling out, “You left me. And for what? For him?”

“Pedro if you just let-“

“It’s Pedri. Only my friends get to call me Pedro.”

His words stung. It felt like he was plucking every single strand of hope you had left and then stomping on them while you could do nothing but watch them whither away.

Your voice shook as you spoke, “Ok Pedri, please let me explain. I came here for you.”

He scoffed, “Right you came here for me. I haven’t heard from you in months, in months, and you just expect me to believe one day you were like oh I wonder how Pedri’s doing, and decided to hop on a flight here? If you really cared, you would have never stopped writing.”

You felt your eyes fill with unushered tears as you fought, but you refused to let them fall, “I care! In fact, I care too much!”

He gave you a sarcastic smile, “Well you sure have an odd way of showing it. Is making other people feel worthless how you show your love?”

You bit back a sob at his words, not expecting him to be so cruel, “I- I never meant to make you feel like that. I ju- just-“

“What Y/n, you just what?”

“I just thought you’d be better off without me!” You finally revealed your true feelings.

“That’s not your decision to make!” You were screaming at each other now, and you could see Gavi slip out of the kitchen from the corner of your eye.

“You don’t know what it was like-“ You started, but he cut you off.

“You’re right I don’t know. Only because you never let me in. Did you really think I wouldn’t be there for you? You are my number one priority!”

You squeezed your eyes shut, “I know you would have, but I didn’t want that for you. I knew the second I told you something was wrong you would have dropped everything and booked the first flight out. Things were just starting off for you, and I didn’t want to be one that got in the way.”

Silence followed your admission as you opened your eyes to see Pedri looking back at you with glassy eyes, chest heaving,

“I would have been there for you.” He emphasized, voice breaking.

You sighed, all the anger leaving your body as you slouched against the table, “I know.” You admitted.

You both looked around, unsure of how to move forward. You decided telling the truth was probably the best course of action.

“I stopped writing after my abuela died. Mamà went into a bad mental state, she just wasn’t herself anymore y’know? And I kept reading about all the amazing things you were doing, all the good that was coming your way, and I just felt like burdening you with my problems was only going to take away from that. All my accomplishments seemed insignificant at the time; how could I celebrate when my grandmother had just been buried? When my mother was grieving, barely able to stay sober long enough to remember she had a daughter let alone a bakery to run?” You shrugged your shoulders helplessly, “I don’t know, after that, life seemed so insignificant, like my sole purpose was to keep my grandmother’s legacy alive by putting everything I had into the bakery. I guess along the way I lost what mattered the most to me.” You confessed, looking up at him.

Pedri didn’t say a word, instead pulling you into his arms, rocking your bodies back and forth just like had done all those months ago at the train station. You squeezed him, burying your face into his chest and inhaling. He still smelled the same.

That fact alone gave you more comfort than you had in months.

You felt one hand rub soothing circles on your back, while the other went to play with the strands of your hair, just like he used to do when you were kids.

You couldn’t help the smile that took over your face.

Standing here, in his arms, you felt like there was suddenly hope again.

You pulled away to look up at him, but kept yourself in his embrace, “I’ve missed you so much Pedri.”

He looked at you for a moment, eyes sparkling like they always did, he had a strange expression on his face, like he couldn’t decide what to say. Finally, his expression shifted into one of sincerity as he spoke,

“I love you.”

Your world slowed down as your heartbeat picked up, did he mean it in the way you hoped he did?

The confusion must have shown on your face because he continued, “I’m in love with you. Honestly, I’ve been in love with you since we were sixteen playing football behind my house, probably since even before then. You’re the kindest person I know, and every time I score a goal or achieve something you’re the first person I want to tell. I want to make you proud, and I know that these last few months without you have been absolute hell – I know I made promises I couldn’t keep, but I swear to you if you give me another chance, I'll never take you for granted. I just want to be able to share things with you again."

You were awestruck at his confession. You had dotted around the lines of friends and something more for so long, and all the praying you had done in your room at sixteen seemed to have finally paid off.

His arms slid down to wrap around your waist as he brought you flush against his chest, "C'mon Y/n say something."

You looked up into his eyes confirming your thoughts, yep, he still had the same warm brown eyes and annoyingly perfect smile. Your hands went up to his cheeks as you squeezed them playfully, "Of course I love you linda, I'm sorry it took me so long to admit it. And I'm the one who took you for gra-"

You were mid-sentence when Pedri bent down, unable to resist any longer, capturing your lips in a sweet kiss.

You kissed him back immediately, hands running up the length of his arms before settling around his neck, bringing him as close as possible.

You tugged on his bottom lip playfully and heard him let out a groan, the sound shooting straight to your tummy sending a storm of butterflies fluttering around.

You both finally pulled away, gasping for air, chests heaving, foreheads touching.

"I've always wanted to do that." He said, nuzzling his nose with yours softly.

You felt your heart thud against your chest, synchronizing to the beat of his after a moment, "Me too."

"How about you spend the night at mine tonight?" He asked.

Your eyebrows rose in shock, not expecting him to be so forward.

He quickly realized how it sounded, "Not like that Y/n. I just missed spending time with you."

And there was the fluttery feeling in your stomach again. It seemed every time he said anything from now on all you could do was blush.

You bit your lip, nodding, "I'd like that."

He grinned at you before his eyes focused on your lips again, "Don't do that, it's distracting."

"Huh?" You asked, but he was already leaning down, kissing you senseless once more.

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thezombieprostitute · 4 months

Text

Dream Come True - Part 1

Summary: The “Garbage Men” are the guys in the mob who get the dirt on others and clean up after the higher ups. They have many different ways of gathering intel by running legitimate businesses. One such business is Jefferson/Jensen’s cyber cafe where you regularly go to work. You’ve actually become good friends with Jefferson’s daughter and Jensen’s niece. You even volunteered as their after-school tutor. One day, there’s a robbery attempt where you get hurt protecting the girls. This is how you are introduced to Curtis Everett, the guy in charge of the “Garbage Men”.

A/N: Reader is plus sized, femme. No other descriptors used.

Warnings: Shooting mentioned, not written. American healthcare system. Bullying with an emphasis on fat shaming. Please let me know if I miss any!

Part 2

Series Masterlist

Curtis stormed into the manor. Normally he didn’t care for visiting the higher ups, surrounded by their opulence but this wasn’t normal circumstances. He headed straight for Steve and Bucky’s office, the folder Jake compiled for him under his arm. As much as Curtis wanted to act on this he knew he had to get permission first, as Mace kept reminding him.

As soon as he entered the office, the Bosses greeted him.

“The nieces are okay?”

“Yes,” Curtis replied. “We did a priority background search on the would-be thief. Found no connections to other families so he was likely just an idiot trying to get some quick cash.”

“And the guy who took the bullet,” Bucky asked.

“She is currently in the hospital,” Curtis felt his fists tighten, thinking about her situation. “It wasn’t life threatening, just a quick surgery but she’s not gonna be allowed to walk for a few weeks.”

The bosses nodded their heads, “you made sure Beck is her doctor?”

“Yup. But there’s a hitch that I need permission to fix,” Curtis took the folder out from under his arm. “She got fired for missing some big meeting. First person she called was her boss, to explain what happened, and the asshole fired her over the phone. Now she’s trying to leave the hospital way too early because she’s scared of not being able to afford the care.”

Steve and Bucky looked astonished at this information. “Who the hell fires someone for that? Especially when she has the proof to back her story,” Bucky huffed. “You got that information, right?”

“We got it months ago when she first started tutoring the nieces,” Curtis affirmed. “Had to make sure she wasn’t someone playing the long game.” He handed the folder to Bucky who opened it. The men took a few seconds to find her boss’s name. Curtis was pleased to see Steve’s eyes go steely with anger.

Steve looked at Curtis, “I’ll make sure he gets handled.”

Bucky cut in, “for now, work with Huffman to get the paperwork settled. Officially, she’s been employed by us, as a tutor, for months. We’ll make sure the backpay gets added to her account. Beck and Jensen can work to make sure her insurance goes back as well.”

Curtis nodded his thanks and left to go back to the hospital. Hopefully she hadn’t succeeded in leaving.

“Please,” you plead through tears, “please just let me go home.”

Dr. Beck shook his head, “that would be wildly irresponsible of me. You have no emergency contacts, which tells me you have no one to help you out at home. You need to stay off of your leg for at least a week and you need help to do that. If that means keeping you here for that week, so be it.”

“I can’t af-”

Dr. Beck interrupts, “I’ve been in touch with some people, namely the family of those two girls you rescued. You’re not paying for anything and they insist you get your full rest here.”

“I…” you’re flabbergasted at the news. Jake and Jefferson had always been kind but you never got the impression they were so well off they could cover someone else’s medical bills. You can’t stop crying. It’s been a tumultuous day.

There was a knock outside the privacy curtain and a deep voice asking, “is it okay to come in?”

“Yeah, come on in,” Dr. Beck replied. “Been expecting you.” He turns to the source of the voice. Walking to your bed is a tall, muscular man with a buzz cut, beard and the most piercing blue eyes you’ve ever seen. You blink back tears and try to compose yourself. Crying around medical staff is one thing. Crying around strangers who might not be used to tears is something else.

“I’m Curtis,” he holds out his hand to you.

“Hi,” you shake his hand, confusion written all over your face.

“I’m here to inform you that you do, in fact, have medical insurance. You also have backpay.” Curtis starts putting paperwork on the patient table in front of you. “You’ve been tutoring my nieces for several months. The least we could do is make sure you’re being paid for your time, complete with benefits. Just need you to sign a few things.”

“What?” Far from answering your questions, you find yourself even more in the dark. “I…I don’t understand…”

“You helped my family,” Curtis replied. “Not only did you offer your time and patience, you’ve given your health and well-being. The least me and mine can do is take care of you.”

“I, uh,” you hesitate, trying not to insult, “are you sure you can afford this?”

“Yes.” There was no room for argument in Curtis’s tone. His face was stern and you discerned no cracks indicating he was lying in any way.

“I don’t know what to say,” you whisper.

“Don’t say anything,” Curtis tells you. “Just sign here, here and here.”

With a look to Dr. Beck, who gives you a reassuring smile and nod, you take the proffered pen and shakily sign where Curtis tells you to.

“And, with that,” Curtis gently smiles, “you were officially hired by us three months ago as a private tutor for two of our nieces. When you’ve recovered, you will return to your work and we may have more for you to do.”

Ransom was having a great day. His ugly assistant missed a big meeting and he finally had grounds to fire her. She'd been hired by his grandfather so he couldn't just get rid of her without a reason. He even encouraged her remote work so he wouldn't have to look at her. Now he could hire an assistant on his own and actually pick someone easy on the eyes.

It's not like the job was difficult. He needed someone who could research stuff he needed to know for his writing. Anyone could do that. He could, too, but he didn't want to and could afford to hire someone else to do it for him.

He was in the middle of writing up the job ad when the door to his office slammed open, making him jump. Steve Rogers was glaring at him as he strode into the room.

“Rogers,” Ransom smiled. “To what do I owe the honor?”

“Did you hear what happened to the nieces today?”

“Jake and Jefferson's girls? No.” Ransom was genuinely concerned. Those girls were spoiled by everyone in the families but they still managed to be the sweetest people he knew.

“There was an attempted robbery at the shop,” Steve continued, walking closer and closer to Ransom. “They were nearly shot by the idiot. Thankfully, they were rescued and someone else took the bullet.”

As Steve sat down on the desk Ransom started putting some pieces together. He wasn't an idiot. The nieces almost being shot and his assistant actually being shot? It would also explain the rage emanating from Rogers.

“The woman who took the bullet requires a lot of medical care. But, of course, she can't afford it since her asshole of a boss fired her.”

Ransom gulped, “I can hire her back. Say it was a moment of anger, a mistake that never should've happened.”

Steve stood and pulled up Ransom by the front of his sweater, forcing him to stand on his toes. “Do you remember,” Steve growled, “why we had to send Lloyd into exile?”

“Too many casualties?”

“Close. He viewed people as expendable. This family got started by helping others. Helping the Unions. Supporting the communities. So when you treat someone like that, you disrespect all of us.”

Steve let go of Ransom’s sweater, setting him on his feet. Without warning, he punched Ransom in the stomach so hard he doubled over.

“You are on notice,” Steve told him. “You've been straddling the line for some time now. But one more slip, and you're gone. Understood?”

Ransom coughed, “yeah, I get it.”

“And you don't have to hire her back. We got her a much better boss.”

Part 2

Tagging @alicedopey because I promised I would.

@dontbescaredtosingalong

@icefrozendeadlyqueen

@texmexdarling

@veltana

@winter-soldier-101

Let me know if you'd like to be tagged.

#curtis everett x reader #mafia!curtis everett #mafia au #curtis everett x plus sized!reader #plus size!reader #mob!curtis everett

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definitelynotafurinasimp · 1 year

Note

Request honkai star :

Kafka, Natasha and himeko with a malewife reader (Oh mah Gah 🤭🫠)

Them with a reader that’s spouse material

characters: Kafka / Natasha / Himeko x gn!reader (separate)

warnings: none, just fluff

a/n: Since I wanted to make this more suitable for everyone I decided to slightly alter it to something more akin to a post I wrote for Ei, Yae and Kujou Sara with a similar premise. I hope you don’t mind

Hopefully this still matches what you envisioned, I tried my best, although "malewife" didn't give me *that* much to work with.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Kafka

Telling Kafka what she was allowed to do and what she wasn’t was an easy way to lose her attention. Even Elio was careful enough with their words when telling her the “script”, knowing that giving her information about the future was of no use when she wasn’t listening.

And while this certain aspect of her personality didn’t just magically vanish when receiving an earful from you about her carelessness, it at the very least felt somewhat more tolerable.

It felt fair enough to say that seeing Kafka return with one or two new bruises added to the increasingly growing list of injuries she endured over the years, didn’t exactly fill you with euphoria. Quite the opposite. As you hurried over to her side to inspect the wounds from up close however, you were greeted with the sound of one of her chuckles, causing you to send a quick glare in her direction.

“Anything you have to say for yourself, Miss Kafka?”, you questioned her, your voice not sharing the same contentment as her face did.

“It’s nothing serious. I just got a little too into it”, she responded before making her way over to the nearest chair and exposing her wounded shoulder, the things that were about to follow having become something of a routine by now.

While a part of you wanted to chide her far more for how willingly she threw herself at enemies, you knew well enough by this point that it wasn’t going to make any difference, quickly grabbing whatever medical supplies you could get your hands on before making your way over to her and beginning to treat her injuries.

“That’s it? I expected more to come from you”, she asked with a small smirk on her face, causing you to let out a small sigh.

“We both know that lambasting you is nothing but a waste of breath”, you explained while applying a bit of alcohol on a piece of cloth before putting it on her wound, not even receiving the slightest flinch from her.

“Can you at least promise me that you’ll try to be more careful?”

“I’ll try.” Seeing Kafka’s lips curl into a smile made it difficult to stay angry or frustrated with her and before you knew it, yours had done the same.

You gave her 2 weeks tops until she’d get wounded again.

Natasha

There weren’t many things Natasha loved more than the children of the underground, and while the clinic was always open for them to visit and play around in whenever their parents had to work in the mines, there were times even she felt overwhelmed by them, especially considering how much changed in such a short time.

You may not have been as good as Natasha when it came to dealing with children, often not exactly knowing how to handle their boundless energy, but in times like these, when she not only had to handle the rest of the wounded from the recent clashes in the mines, but also had to coordinate everything to reintegrate the underground with the world above the surface, the least you could do is keep the children entertained enough not to bombard her with *too* many questions.

When Natasha came back from her “little” wildfire meeting, she half expected to get swarmed by Hook and her moles almost instantly, only for the clinic to be suspiciously quiet. For a moment, she started to prepare herself for the little girl jumping out from somewhere in an attempt to scare her, the words she was about to say ready to leave her mouth the moment she opened it… but still. Nothing.

It was only then, that she heard Hook’s voice ring out from outside, prompting her to quickly go and investigate.

“What happened then?!”, Julian asked loud enough for any bystanders to clearly hear him, staring with wonder in his eyes as you tried your hardest to remember how the story continued, only for Hook to chime in.

“Yeah, what happened then? Did they manage to defeat him?”, she practically demanded an answer, the three childrens fixed gazes being enough for you to almost buckle underneath them.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your little story time, but you’ll have to be patient to find out how it continues. I’ll need s/o to help me with a few patients, but I’m sure they’ll be happy to tell you later”, Natasha’s voice rang out just in time to save you from Hook’s stare to change into a glare. But instead of causing you to let out a sigh of relief, your head immediately shot up at her mentioning of patients, having been sure that you took care of them already..

But before you could say anything, she signalled you to come along, causing you to walk past the children with an apologetic smile, hearing them complain about Natasha ruining the show, but not doing anything else.

“Didn’t we already take care of-”, you opened your mouth to ask the moment the door closed behind the two of you, only to get cut short almost as quickly as you quickly got pulled into a hug.

“Thanks for entertaining Hook and her friends. I know you aren’t the best with children, so I appreciate it. I know I’m busy right now, but once all of this is done I’ll make sure to repay you for all of your work”, she whispered just loud enough for you to hear her, causing your face to light up somewhat as you began fidgeting with your fingers.

“It’s nothing. I’m sure anyone would have done that”, you tried to play it down, never having been too good with praise, before quickly changing the subject.

“So anyway. There are no new patients, right?”, you asked before looking around, only for Natasha to let out a small chuckle.

Himeko

Himeko’s coffee was an acquired taste. While some would call it too bitter and “difficult to swallow”, real coffee lovers knew to appreciate its taste. Unfortunately for you however, you didn’t count yourself among those connoisseurs, normally having to add a truck's worth of ingredients to make it possible for you to even think about downing one. The thought of drinking one without any milk like you had heard Himeko suggest to others countless of times filling you with internal dread, even if you were excellent at hiding it.

It wasn’t every day that you decided to bake something for the rest of the crew, the clean-up the kitchen required to keep Pom-Pom from having a mental breakdown not exactly being something you enjoyed. But since today was a special occasion, being Dan Heng, March and your newest member returning from their first mission, you decided to bite the bullet for once.

The moment you entered the Parlor with the cake in one hand and plates and forks in the other, you became a person of interest. March grabbing the first few plates from you before you even had the chance to register her, all too eager to get the first piece of the cake.

“Seeing as today is a day of celebration, you may eat in here. But if you get anything dirty you’ll wish you weren't born”, Pom-Pom warned you all, although their glaring at March made it somewhat obvious that they had someone specific in mind, causing a nervous giggle from her.

“I’ll go make myself some hot chocolate, do you also want some?”, she offered after jumping back up from her seat, making her way to the door only to stop shortly afterwards.

“Isn’t hot chocolate for children?”, the trailblazer asked, immediately causing an argument to break out between the two of them, one that Himeko was all too happy to just watch before turning her face towards you.

“Do you want something to drink? I can make you a cup of coffee.” If March hadn’t been too busy arguing, she might have tried to help you out of your situation, but left on your own, you nodded before being able to think it over, not wanting to disappoint her, considering how proud she always seemed about her coffee.

It didn’t take long before Himeko returned with the promised drink, placing a cup on the table in front of you before pouring some of it in, quickly repeating the process with her own cup before sitting down opposite of you.

Trying your hardest to ignore how dark the coffee was while still keeping up with your conversation, you eventually decided to take a sip. The word “bitter” alone came nowhere near to describe its taste, and while your composure managed to hang on by a thread, the fight to get it to go down your throat was harder than any monster that ever challenged you.

“Bitter?” Himeko asked with a smile, not needing your answer in any way to decipher what you had to say, but finding your reaction to be a nice source of amusement.

“That’s how-”, you began to respond, only to stop yourself when the bitter taste still didn’t leave your mouth, a shiver running down your spine, “ -coffee’s supposed to be after all.”

“It’s great to hear that you share the sentiment. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to the aftertaste”, she stated with another smile, although you weren’t too sure if it was a genuine one or used in order to hide just how amusing she found the whole scene.

Before long, you saw Himeko refill the cup you had so struggled to empty, all the while enthusiastically telling you about different brewing methods, causing you to wonder if accepting her offer was the right decision.

Whether you really liked her coffee or just drank it to please her, by the time she was done with you, you’d be a black coffee lover like her… or at least accustomed enough to the bitterness to pretend to.

#hsr kafka #hsr kafka x reader #kafka x y/n #kafka x you #kafka x reader #natasha x reader #hsr natasha #hsr natasha x reader #himeko #hsr himeko #hsr himeko x reader #himeko x reader #himeko x y/n #himeko x you

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batrogers · 3 months

Text

Civilized Or Not

So there’s some common Zelda fanon I wanna talk about, relating to civilization tropes I think some of y’all haven’t really thought about in detail before, and that’s Hyrule (Zelda 1 &2 Link), Wild (BOTW mostly), and Ravio (LbW).

I’m using the Linked Universe names, because that’s where most of it comes up, because these things happen most often where you can contrast the boys with each other. This is often done, quick and dirty, by people assigning “roles” to each without much thought. Ravio’s unfortunately tends to be extremely pervasive outside LU spaces, too.

But, in brief, there is a trend for people to craft these characters in a framework of innocent vs savagery vs trickery that can have some really unfortunate implications I’m not sure many are even aware of. Hopefully I can explain better where these ideas come from, why they’re so easy and appealing, and why we should try to avoid repeating them for more than just the sake of “easy” but also to stop repeating some really nasty historical tropes.

I would start from what’s probably the simplest one to address: the tendency towards a “feral” personification of Wild. This tends to come from two places: Wild’s amnesia, and the collapse of society around him and his lost place in it.

Now, brain damage is complicated. You can lose a range of things to any given injury because of the way information is encoded differently and in different places. You can lose memory and/or skills and/or coordination and/or balance, etc, because it all depends on what got damaged. But in-game a lot of stuff suggests that Link retains things like speech, reading/writing, coordination, and martial skills. None of the people who knew Link prior to his injury suggest he seems changed in any way not attributed to stress and anxiety...

And, more importantly, real people suffer memory loss just like that in the real world. Treating him like he’s become “feral” due to memory loss is cruel to actual people living with brain damage today, and if you go there you should have a good reason for it.

Social collapse is a wide-spread theme in basically every Zelda game. The threat that the Big Bad poses is almost always the destruction of society as it exists: Malladus literally vanishes the infrastructure of New Hyrule in Spirit Tracks; the Twilight turns people into spirits living lives they don’t realize are questionably real in Twilight Princess; Veran freezes the passage of time to force people to work forever in Oracle of Ages. King Daphnes and Ganondorf under the sea vie over the fate of the world above in Wind Waker: keep what’s been made, or start all over again?

In modern culture, people tell a lot of stories about the fragility of civilization and what happens in its absence. You get the range from Lord of the Flies, in which children wrecked on an island attempt (and fail) to recreate civilization on their own, Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” in which Mowgli is treated as reckless and innocent, and a much more obscure piece from the 18th century “Paul et Virginie” (and likely many more I don’t know offhand.) Essentially all of them play with the question of how do people become civilized, and what happens when they do? In Lord of the Flies, the children were civilized and failed to maintain it; in the Jungle Book, the boy wasn’t civilized and innocently interacts with it. In Paul et Virginie, the children were (relatively) uncivilized on the (French colonized) Mauritius, raised by their mothers but when the girl was sent away, she becomes civilized and dies tragically to preserve it.

The two Links most removed from civilization are Hyrule and Wild. Wild “lost” civilization, losing both his memories of it and the structure of it. Making him feral, without manners, and without a place to belong is that kind of Lord of the Flies savagery mixed with Mowgli’s innocent playfulness: there isn’t a structure to adhere to, so he’s a savage. Whereas Hyrule is more like the Paul eg Virginie side: innocent of civilization, he remains pure and sweet and kind, unable to conceive of big concepts like evil or money or so on. Neither position permits them to interact with the civilization that is right there in front of them! Wild can buy a house; he has people who know and care for him. He has social connections and social rights. The world exists, but the fandom does not seem to want him to interact with it in favour of remaining “wild.” In Zelda 2 – a game explicitly set within a decade of Zelda 1 – there are whole towns with trade and a castle and massive structures with on-going life in them... but very few fans seem to ever reach into that story or relate it back to the first. Hyrule, the character, does not exist within Hyrule, the country.

Strangely, Wind Waker does not fall prey to this, I think because the structures are presented as fait accompli: Link wakes up with his grandmother and his sister, he has a defined home, and a society in which you spend the entire game forced to engage with. Zelda 1 & 2 were not sophisticated enough to waste resources on going as in depth in social terms (although such interactions absolutely exist in Zelda 2!) and BOTW leaves such interactions as optional: you can survive the game with minimal social contact... but it’s a choice to play with it that way, not the default. The ways in which this edges onto the noble savage trope, in which “uncivilized” tribes are either innocent or brutish (rather than complex social systems in their own right) is fairly obvious.

There is one other character in Zelda who gets treated to the question of whether he is an innocent, free of civilization and all its rigour... or something else. Ravio, coming from the devastated world of Lorule, can often wind up slotted into the scared, innocent child trope and unfortunately that’s the better position people frequently take. The worse one evokes the Merchant of Venice: the deceitful, Jewish merchant who values money over people’s lives.

Lorule (and Nintedo’s approach towards their humanoid Zelda villains in general) is near-eastern-coded in many ways, down to the fact that Yuga’s outfit is the spitting image of Ottoman dress. Yuga being a depraved bisexual (a common historical trope about Muslim men towards Christian men and boys), and Hilda being deceitful and conspiring against everyone she was once allied to are a backdrop to the ways in which Ravio is a greedy coward. He’s not an evil character in the game; the mechanic of penalizing death without being too severe is interesting and works well! But that doesn’t take away the stereotype, just like it’s not okay Nabooru is pretty explicitly predatory towards child Link in Ocarina of Time, too.

Arab and Jewish stereotypes often converge, because both people's originate from the same region, and both are hostile "Others" to Christian Europe and Nintendo doesn’t have a great track record of their near-Eastern coding in Zelda. It crosses the whole gamut from harem and amazon tropes with the Gerudo to breath-takingly anti-semitic or anti-black (Ganondorf being green, eg. non-human, in various incarnations), all packaged neatly in the ideal of medieval fantasy Europe. The scale would be impressive if it wasn’t so damn awful, but we can at least stop repeating it in our fanworks.

Wild doesn’t have to be feral to be a playful little shit; Hyrule doesn’t have to be pure and innocent to be kind. Ravio doesn’t need to be innocent or scheming, and he shouldn’t place money over Link’s well-being (If you chose to respawn at home, he is consistently only ever concerned for Link! Once you buy the items outright, he promises he'll still be there to take care of you.)

Do better. It’s more interesting that way, and I want to see that variety grow!

[If any of y'all would like me to dig up better sources on any point, I can do so but I didn't want to bog this post down further. I have largely left the anti-arab stuff alone because it's not the biggest issue with Ravio's fanon presence, which is the focus here.]

#Zelda Meta #Linked Universe #Ravio #LU Wild #LU Hyrule #antisemitism in media #noble savage tropes #bad tropes #Unfortunate implications #LOZ meta #LU meta #Long post #like 1200 words #I'm having a week okay #brain damage #mental illness

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cal-flakes · 9 months

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hii would you be interested in writing a fic where rafe is reader’s dealer and they party together a lot but he notices her addiction getting worse and worse and starts feeling bad for being the one supplying her? i knows it’s kinda a big ask but i’ve just been thinking about it lol

╰┈➤ “you’re cut off”

warnings: sensitive topics, drug abuse, sexualising of self, mentions of bad home life.

summary: y/n’s dealer starts to connect the dots.

he swept a clammy palm over his face, sighing as he watched her stumble down the stairs for the fifth time that night, making her way over to him.

her hair was messily tucked behind her ears and her dress was in need of a readjusting. her eyes flitted around the room, pupils blown while her jaw repeatedly clenched.

he’d kept an eye on her all night, attempting to indirectly protect her from any harm. his chest tightened as he took in all these little details about her, the feeling of guilt washing over him.

y/n y/l/n, the girl once so shy, she’d failed one of her classes because she was too nervous to ask anyone for help. but now, now she was somebody else, something completely different. and he felt awful, awful because he was the one that did this to her, fronting her a bag whenever she’d had a bad day.

“hey rafe!” she beamed, fidgeting with the hem of her dress, almost embarrassed to speak the words he knew to well. “nah, you’re cut off” he stated, turning back to the half rolled blunt between his fingers.

“what do you mean i’m cut off?” she snapped, drumming her fingertips against the edge of the table. “i mean, you’re not getting anymore coke tonight y/n. not from me, not from anyone. you’ve had too much”

“what? no! i-i’m fine! see?” she almost cried, sliding into the chair next to him, leaning in to show him her ‘perfectly fine’ eyes.

she huffed when he wouldn’t budge, staring at him expectantly as she placed a trembling hand on his thigh. “rafe, please..” she whispered, pulling her lip between her teeth anxiously. “stop that, seriously, you’re not getting anything from me, don’t embarrass yourself” he spat, feigning annoyance to hopefully snap her out of this dark spiral.

tears brimmed in her eyes as she pulled away from him, leaving the table and hurrying back up the stairs almost immediately.

he sighed once more, throwing his head back against the cushioned chair. he knew she’d just try and score more upstairs, and he had to get there before she did.

hot on her tail, he jumped up the steps behind her, his eyes darting around the landing to see where she had gone. just in time, a door slamming in the corner of his eye caught his attention over the numerous drunken teens congregating around him.

pushing past the swaying bodies, he quickly turned the handle, causing her to jump slightly as he burst into the room. “get the fuck out” he snapped, gesturing towards the trio of boys huddled on the edge of the bed, counting money.

“for fucks sake rafe!” she yelled, motioning to the people now leaving the room, the only other people who could possible give her more coke.

sighing heavily, he pulled a lighter from his pocket, hastily sparking the blunt that was now in between his lips. he stared her down as he inhaled deeply, intimidating her into lowering her voice.

“that was fucked up rafe..” she whimpered, shrinking into the assortment of pillows against the headboard. “no, what’s fucked up, is your problem with drugs. that’s what’s fucked up” he exclaimed, flicking the dead ash onto the floor of the spare bedroom, perching on the opposite side of the bed.

“why do you even care?” she croaked, still jittering. “i care- i care because this isn’t you, this isn’t the y/n that used to be too scared to even look at me, and now you’re all over me, because i’ve got what you want..” not giving her a chance to explain herself, he continued. “you’re throwing your life away for a temporary fi-” she cut him off quickly. “and you’re not?” she snapped, sitting up in anger.

“that’s different”

“how!”

“because i don’t have a life outside of what i already am, i’ve always been this y/n! you-you haven’t! you could make something of yourself, yet you’re choosing not to!” he stated in exasperation, now leaning against the window.

“you wouldn’t understand rafe, how could you..” she muttered, running her fingers against the expensive material. “you don’t understand that they won’t let me!”

“who won’t let you?” he questioned, cocking an eyebrow. “my parents! sure, you probably think i could run off to some fancy college with my good grades and my good girl attitude! but that’s not true. my parents want to drag me down with them..”

“did you know they belittle me everytime i make an achievement? or that everytime i came to school with a black eye because i’d fallen off my bike, wasn’t actually because i’d fallen off my bike?”

“some people need an escape rafe! some people need to feel free from the chains of their family, or others expectations of them, and this is my only escape. the only thing that makes the condescending voices in my head shut the fuck up for a bit!” he listened intently as she rambled frantically, her hands flailing as she spoke.

his eyes widened the more she spoke, surprised at the ugly truth, or more so, that he felt like he was looking in a mirror.

y/n and rafe had created a friendship based on escaping from the harsh realities of their day to day lives, yet never bothered to look further into each others reasons why, and as it turns out, they weren’t all that different.

he moved quickly to slide into the space next to her, reaching to cradle her head as hot tears cascaded down her cheeks. “i am so sorry y/n..” he mumbled, burning a hole into the wall as he stared ahead, completely dumbfounded.

“why would you be sorry rafe?” she asked, taken aback by his sudden affection. “i’m sorry for not realising earlier, for not caring enough to find out..”

“you don’t have to be sorry for that..it’s not your problem” she whimpered, relaxing into his touch slightly.

“i’m going to take care of you, m’kay? i don’t care what it is, you need someone? you call me, alright?”

#rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron x fem!reader #outer banks #outerbanks rafe #rafe cameron #obx #rafecameron #rafe obx #dom!rafe #dealer!rafe #soft!rafe cameron #soft!dom #soft!rafe #dealer!rafe Cameron #rafe fanfiction #rafe x y/n #rafe outer banks #rafe x reader

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fanficimagery · 2 years

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Be Somebody to Someone 4/4

You've lived your entire life in Forks, Washington without anyone paying too close attention to you. Then you befriend the new girl and suddenly you find yourself friends with the unexpected. And maybe even something more if a certain shapeshifter stops denying the Fates.

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR

Words: 6.6K Author's Note: AU where the pack doesn't split and Sam is the only alpha. We're about to talk some sense into these giant doggos. Hopefully lol.

If the pack didn't know something was up when finding Paul fast asleep at the edge of the bed you were sleeping in, then they definitely knew the first time they all shifted and they saw the conversation Emily had with Sam, and then Sam with Paul. The boys all tiptoed around you, speaking quietly when you were in the room, but it was Leah who attempted to treat you the same as to not annoy you.

And for that you were grateful because you and Paul felt guilty enough over the incident, so it was a breath of fresh air for Leah to be her usual bitchy self.

It was a pain to explain to your parents how you got the bruise on your face, and an even bigger pain to explain why you didn't press charges, but eventually everyone got over it. Paul, however, seemed to wanna stick close.

With Paul no longer fighting the bond, it seemed like you can breathe a little easier. That odd little ache in your chest disappeared and he no longer snapped at his pack brothers. And just when you and Paul find peace with one another, Jacob decides to go off the rails.

With the apparent love of his life marrying a bloodsucker, Jacob can't handle it. He tries to rile up the pack, mentioning that Bella was going to be turned as soon as she married the leech and that it was their duty to attack the leeches before it came to that. So, when the pack became uneasy with the possibility of the Cullens breaking the treaty, you put your nose into their business.

"I just don't understand why you can't leave that family be. They're not harming anyone."

All around you, the pack goes quiet. Jacob breaks that silence by scoffing. "You're joking, right? They're going to kill Bella!"

You shrug. "Not against her will."

"Are you serious right now? You're supposed to be on our side!"

"I am! But you need to see if from their side as well," you tell him. You soften your voice as you deliver your next words. "She's his mate, Jacob. Whether you want to believe it or not, she is. And just like the shifters, the vampires have rules they must follow. As a human mate, Bella only has so many years before Edward has to turn her or the Volturi will swoop in and kill her. Permanently."

"That's why she shouldn't have gotten involved with him in the first place."

Sighing, you shake your head at him. "Keeping them apart is like keeping Sam and Emily apart. Or me and Paul. It's not fair to the Cullen family to condemn them all to death just because you're in love with a woman who doesn't love you back."

Jacob stands, pushing his chair with such force that it topples over. Sam shouts after him as he disappears out the back door and you sit back in your seat, crossing your arms over your chest.

"That was a little harsh," Quil says.

"Oh whatever. It's the truth," Leah says. The pack looks at her in surprise and she rolls her eyes. "Don't get me wrong, I hate the bloodsuckers as much as anyone else, but the Cullens? They're different. And if Bella really is the leech's mate, then who are we to tell them he can't turn her? It's cruel to keep mated pairs apart, and I figured at least Sam and Paul would understand that."

Leah takes her leave from the table then, a lot calmer than Jacob previously had, and everyone stares at Sam.

The alpha sighs, rubbing a hand down the length of his face. "I need to speak with the Elders. We need to make a few amendments to the treaty if we want to keep peace with the Cullens."

Sam takes his leave as well, but not before pressing a kiss to Emily's forehead, and then all eyes turn to you.

"What?" You feign innocence.

Seth is the only one smiling at you and Paul caves a moment later. He huffs a laugh, resting his arm along the back of your chair. "Jacob's never gonna forgive you if you get the Elders to okay the Cullens turning your friend."

"He'll understand one day when he imprints."

When Sam returns hours later, he doesn't tell anyone how the talk with the Elders went. You only have an inkling of their decision when Jacob runs away yet again, making his pack brothers track him down. You apologize to Sam for speaking up and causing tension within his pack, and he accepts your apology. He's not a fan of the leeches turning a human either, but he realized you raised a valid point and doesn't mind the outcome as much as he thought he would.

The day of Bella's wedding catches you off guard and you find yourself in a rush to get ready for it. You had showered and then dressed in a robe so you could eat some lunch beforehand, only to be surprised with a visitor as you're heading back up the stairs.

Your dad answers the door and Paul's voice makes you freeze. Whirling around, you find Paul introducing himself to your dad and your dad doing the same. Just as Paul's gaze darts up and lands on you, he smirks as your dad turns around. "Oh sweetheart, your date is here."

"He's not my date," you immediately reply.

"No?" Your dad glances back at Paul. "And why not? Is my daughter not beautiful enough for you?"

"Dad!" Paul's eyes widen and you bite back a smirk. "Paul, ignore him."

"N-No, sir. I'm just not a fan of the Cullens and vice versa."

"Oh good. Another individual who doesn't like that weird family. Get on in here, son. Make yourself at home."

Huffing, you roll your eyes and step down a few stairs. "Dad, when are you going to stop hating that family?"

"When your mother stops swooning when she sees Doctor Cullen out in public."

"You're being overdramatic." Then looking at Paul, you gesture for him to follow. "Come on. You can hang out up here while I finish getting ready."

"Oh I see how it is," your dad says as you and Paul make your way upstairs. "It wasn't them pale Cullens I had to worry about with you, it was them reservation boys."

"Dad! Can you not?"

Paul snorts as your dad shouts after you, "You never brought any boys home while you were in high school. Let me have this!"

"No!"

You show Paul to your bedroom, shutting the door behind the two of you. "I like your dad."

"Don't even start."

Paul chuckles and takes the time to glance around your room as you sit at your vanity to get started on your makeup. "So what brings you here? I thought you couldn't come to Forks?"

"We couldn't before," he says. "But after Sam talked to the Elders and apparently met with the Cullens, some changes were made. We don't attack them for changing their mate and they let me visit my imprint. As well as anyone else who might imprint on someone off the reservation."

"Cool. So what's up? You change your mind about going to the wedding?"

"Hell no." In the mirror's reflection, you watch him make himself comfortable on your bed. "Just wanted to see you."

"Aww." You coo. "Don't I feel special."

You fall silent, but it's comfortable. You can see Paul watching as you contour and highlight, and he continues to watch when you braid your hair before wrapping it around the back of your head to make a crown. Then pulling on a few tendrils of hair to frame your face, you stand up to grab your dress from inside of your closet.

"Alright, step out or turn around. I need to drop the robe."

"Then drop it."

It takes a second for you to comprehend his words and your head snaps in his direction. You catch him smirking and looking you up and down. Instantly, a blush blossoms. Never has he been so bold with you, especially since the two of you were strictly friends. At least that's what the two of you were trying out for now.

"Creep," you end up saying, laughing him off. "Just turn around."

Paul jokingly grumbles while pulling a pillow over his face and you grin while hiding behind your closet door. You quickly drop the robe and then step into your dress. You grab a pair of heels before making your way back to the vanity, telling Paul he can look now.

You manage to put on your heels and some jewelry without Paul making a peep, and when you stand to smooth down the skirt of your dress, you glance up at him to find him already staring at you.

"You look beautiful."

You can feel the blush come back yet again and you smile at him. "Thanks." You fiddle with the rings on your fingers as you nervously chuckle. "So are you second guessing not going with me now?"

"Actually, I kind of am."

You roll your eyes before grabbing your clutch purse and gesturing to the door. "Come on. I really have to get going and I doubt you want to stay here with my dad."

"I don't know. He seems kind of amusing."

As Paul follows you back downstairs, you introduce him to your mom who is all too happy to meet him. Your mom isn't nearly as embarrassing as your dad is, but still pretty embarrassing nonetheless, and you can see that Paul genuinely likes them. And before he can get too comfortable, you usher him towards the front door while telling your parents you'll be home late.

Outside, Sam's truck is parked by the curb and you shake your head at Paul. It seemed everyone used either Sam or Emily's vehicle when they needed to go somewhere.

"Are you coming to Em's tonight?" He asks.

"Maybe. If it's not too late by the time I leave," you tell him.

"Well in case I don't see you later.." Paul steps closer and surprises you by pulling you into a hug.

You melt into his embrace, letting him hold on for as long as he needs. Then when it seems like it's been a little too long, you start to pull back. "Okay, okay. I really need to go now. I'll see you later."

Paul steps back and you don't pay any attention to the expression left on his face. Had you been looking, you would've seen the dawning realization that he actually liked you. And not in a platonic way either.

You take off after Paul climbs into Sam's truck, driving to the Cullen household since that's where the wedding is to take place. You hadn't seen Alice's final vision yet and were anxious to see what she came up with.

And when you step foot into their backyard, you're absolutely floored. The backyard and surrounding wooded area have been absolutely transformed into the most beautiful wedding venue you've ever seen, and you're in absolute awe.

Angela finds you first, followed by Jessica and Mike. You stand around with the three of them before everyone's seated, snorting with laughter when Mike and Jessica spoke in hushed tones about the gorgeous Cullen cousins who were visiting from Alaska.

Then all too soon everyone is seated and the wedding begins with Edward taking his place under the arch at the top of the altar. Carlisle walks Esme down the aisle until they get to their seats, as does Phil and Renee. Emmett and Rosalie take their turn down the aisle, and then Alice and Jasper. Then when it's time for Charlie to escort Bella, everyone stands.

The wedding ceremony is short and sweet, and then the reception is absolutely awkward. If Emmett and Charlie's speech wasn't awkward enough, then Renee's singing definitely was. The food and music is absolutely amazing, and you even share a dance with Seth when he approaches you after accompanying Billy Black.

Everything is fine and dandy until Jacob shows, causing tension with the bride and groom all over again. Seth had urged you to do something, but the most you could do was urge Jacob to go back to La Push if he wasn't there to give the happy couple well wishes.

And of course, Bella makes everything worse when she lets it slip that she was to be turned on her honeymoon. Jacob left after throwing a tantrum and you excused yourself from the wedding reception to go deal with the fallout.

What had started off as a wonderful day ended with a screaming match between you and Jacob, and reminding him that one day he would have his own imprint and that Bella would be a thing of the past. That apparently wasn't such a good thing to say and Jacob took off. Again.

Over the next couple of days, you stay clear of Emily's. She understands your reasoning- you and Jacob still not seeing eye to eye, and you didn't want to cause any more tension with the pack. But Paul wasn't having any of that and took to visiting you down in Forks.

Your parents absolutely adore Paul and it greatly amuses you that he's quite taken with them too. You didn't think he was the type to get along with parents, but he proved you wrong. Especially when your parents fed him and didn't bother to beat around the bush when inviting him to stay the night. You had to keep reminding them that Paul was just a friend, but apparently they didn't believe you. And Paul never corrected them.

The friendship line between you and Paul starts to blur more than ever, but you figured that would have eventually happened. It's just weird because there are moments where it seems like Paul wants to kiss you, but both of you refuse to make the first move.

Fortunately, well unfortunately really, things between you and Paul are put on the backburner when Alice calls you and asks for you to get to their house as soon as possible. You drive to the Cullen household, surprised to see the newly wedded couple back from their honeymoon so soon.

But what's even more surprising is the tension and how the family seems divided.

"Whoa. What'd I miss?" You ask.

Rosalie, who's never been a fan of Bella, is standing protectively over her shoulder while Edward is standing by the back wall of windows, staring out into the forest. Esme is seated on a stool off to one side of the room with Carlisle standing at her side, Alice and Jasper are seated on a second couch with Jasper's arm wrapped around her shoulders, and Emmett is on the same couch as them looking pretty peeved about something.

"Show her." It's Edward who speaks and Bella turns to frown over her shoulder.

"Show me what?" You hesitantly ask.

Bella, who you now notice looks a little paler than usual and has really dark circles under her eyes, glances back at you. "I need you to keep an open mind. Can you do that for me?"

"Uh yeah. I'm kind of standing in a room full of vampires, so.." you trail off, chuckling. Carlisle's the one to crack a grin and then Rosalie's helping Bella to her feet. The blankets fall away from Bella and your gaze is immediately drawn to her abdomen. Her very swollen abdomen. "Are you-"

"Yeah."

Your eyes widen as your eyes dart to her face. "How?!"

"We don't know," she tells you, self consciously covering back up.

Now the tension makes sense. A majority of the room is clearly against whatever is growing inside Bella, but Bella and Rosalie are already protective over it.

"It's killing her," Edward says.

As you meet his gaze, you gulp. "Not that I don't appreciate being in the know, but why tell me?"

"We were hoping you could talk to the pack," Carlisle says. You glance over at the coven leader. "You were such a big help with getting them to amend the treaty so we could turn Bella, but we have a feeling Jacob will try to rile up the pack yet again when Bella tells him about the pregnancy later today."

"I don't know." You frown. "I stirred up some trouble the night of the wedding. I'm trying to-"

"YN, please," Bella pleads. "He's one of my best friends and I need to tell him, but I need the pack to understand before Jacob runs to them."

You don't like that you're being dragged into the middle and Edward offers you an apologetic expression from behind Bella, but eventually you sigh. "Yeah. Whatever. I'll head over right now and send over Jacob before breaking the news."

"Thank you."

You move to embrace your friend, staring down at her belly afterwards. "Jesus. You really are pregnant."

"Yeah." She smiles and you know she's already wrapped around this baby's little finger.

You continue to stare at her belly in awe before you ask the uncomfortable question on your mind. "I don't mean to start any drama, but are you guys sure this.. is actually a baby?"

Rosalie hisses and Carlisle quickly admonishes her. "Stop it. It's a valid question."

"We're not sure what it is," Alice says.

"Baby. It's just a little baby," Rosalie urges.

"And if it's not?" You wince. "After all, Edward is a vampire."

"If worse comes to worse, we are prepared to handle the situation." Carlisle smiles apologetically at Bella when she lightly gasps. "I'm sorry, but we can't afford the Volturi making another visit and condemning us all to death."

"Well alright. I'll go talk to Sam, but I can't promise a good outcome."

"As long as you try." Carlisle smiles reassuringly.

You take your leave then, driving straight to La Push. Emily is the only one home and immediately she knows something is up. You assure her you're fine, but that you have something to tell the pack. Jacob can't know, not yet, and it's her turn to become a little uneasy.

You pass the time with Emily, mixing batter for some of her infamous muffins. Then when the pack arrives, you take a deep breath and try to center yourself as much as you can.

You distractedly press a kiss to Paul's cheek in greeting and smile at the rest of the pack. "Hey, uh, Bella's back," you tell Jacob. He freezes mid-sit. "I was visiting with her earlier and she said to tell you she was back."

Leah scoffs and Jacob glares at her before looking back at you. "Is she-"

"She's still human," you tell him. That's all he needs to hear before he's rushing out of the house.

Most of the pack groans, but it's Leah who asks, "Why would you tell him that?"

"Because I needed him out of the house." The pack quiets down and you gulp, glancing at Sam. "They needed me to talk to you before Bella spoke with Jacob."

"Why?"

"Because something quite impossible happened on their honeymoon and I'm pretty sure Jacob's going to throw an epic tantrum upon his return."

Jared huffs a laugh. "What? Did the undead leech knock up the bride?" The pack all snicker with the exception of Emily who is watching you very carefully.

You seem to pale at his words and the pack's amusement slowly fades.

"Please tell me you're joking," Sam says.

"I wish I could." You cross your arms over your chest and sigh. "Look, being in the middle is the last place I want to be, but they're desperate. They know how this looks, but it seems Bella is willing to go through with this pregnancy. The whole family is divided on what they want to do."

"Is it- is it even human?" Emily shakily asks.

You shrug. "No one knows. It hasn't even been two weeks, but she looks as if she's seven months pregnant already."

"Jesus," Sam swears.

"Bella's made her choice," you tell them, "and Rosalie's protecting her. The rest of the family is just worried about the Volturi."

"Why?"

"Because if this baby or whatever it is comes out with an uncontrollable thirst for blood and the Cullens don't do anything about it, the Volturi will swoop in and eliminate the entire coven."

"And if it doesn't? If it comes out normal?"

"Then they raise a hybrid baby. I'm not too sure about vampire politics, but I'm assuming they still won't be happy with this baby and there will be consequences."

"I don't want you going over there anymore." You glance at Paul, heart thumping at his stern expression.

"That's fine. It's not a fun place to be right now anyway," you tell him. Then glancing back at Sam, you say, "Carlisle is prepared to eliminate the threat if that's what it is, but only after Bella's given birth. They just wanted me to let you know so Jacob doesn't rile you guys up and recruit you into attacking the family for something even they didn't think was possible."

"By the sounds of things, it won't be long until she gives birth," Sam says.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure-"

A long, sorrowful howl pierces the air and the kitchen falls quiet. Sam sighs and stands, and the pack follows suit.

As the kitchen empties, Emily steps up to your side and slings an arm around your shoulders. "Well, at least there's never a dull day around here."

You snort and lightly elbow her. "This is so messed up."

As expected, Jacob spills the beans to the pack. He's scared and angry, something which the pack all feel, but Sam is on the fence about what to do. On one hand, Bella could be birthing a threat, but on the other the baby could be completely innocent.

The pack and coven then come to a compromise, Carlisle and Edward giving the pack permission to sit outside the house when the baby comes into the world. Should things go haywire, the pack can be there to eliminate the threat.

For the next couple of weeks, everyone is tense. Paul wants you nowhere near the vampires, especially since it seems they're going to have to turn Bella as soon as the baby is out of her. And surprisingly, you don't fight him on it. He even takes the time to visit you at your house, dozing on your bed in between his patrols.

Jacob is with Bella when she goes into labor. You were with Emily when he alerted the pack and it's no surprise it's a traumatizing delivery that ends with Bella taking her last breath. What is a surprise is that the baby comes out looking completely normal, even drinking regular baby formula when she shouldn't be able to.

But the biggest surprise of all is that Jacob imprints on the baby.

He stays with Cullen family and his imprint while Bella completes her vampire transition.

One day you're sitting in Emily's kitchen when you suddenly snort. "So you guys know how Jacob was obsessed with Bella and how he's now claiming he was only obsessed with her because it was Fate preparing him for Renesmee?"

"Yeah?" Embry frowns.

"Do you think he was secretly obsessed with Edward too?" As you glance around the table, the pack frowns at you. "Think about it." Your lips twitch in amusement. "He's basically saying he was obsessed with Bella because of an egg in her fallopian tube. Can't the same be said for the shockingly alive sperm in Edward nutsack?"

Leah immediately splutters on her orange juice, laughing, and the rest of the pack groans in disgust. Your giggling sets off Emily's giggling, then Leah's, and soon enough the entire room is laughing.

Paul tucks you under his arm, kissing your temple while also telling you that you have a sick sense of humor.

Renesmee ends up growing too fast, leaving Jacob uneasy. And with Jacob uneasy, the whole pack is uneasy at the thought that he might lose his imprint months after her being born.

For a while, Jacob makes the most of his time with her, acting as a big brother to her. But then one day another vampire sees Renesmee out and about, and Alice has a vision about the Volturi coming. And a possible fight.

"Are we ever going to have a relaxing month?" You ask Paul, leaning into his side on Emily's sofa.

"Doubtful."

"Figures that when you and I find ourselves in a good place, the vampires had to go and mess it up."

Paul chuckles and squeezes you to him a little tighter. "This is what you get for befriending them."

"Shut up. It's all Jacob's fault for imprinting on one."

Sam enters the room then, and you and Paul sit up straight. "We need to prepare," he says. "The Cullens won't ask us to fight, but they have asked us to witness."

"Witness?" You frown.

"They want us to stand with them and let the Volturi know of what we've seen. That Bella gave birth as a human, that Renesmee's diet consists of human food and animal blood, and that she's growing. They've all gone to find some friends of theirs, telling them the story of Renesmee in hopes that they'll stand as witnesses as well."

"Great," Paul groans. "So Forks is going to be crawling with leeches then?"

"Yes, which is why we need to prepare. With that many leeches close by, more of us are going to shift."

You quietly sigh and nudge Paul. "I should get going. You boys are going to be busy."

But before you can get far, Paul's speaking up. "I don't feel comfortable with you being in Forks with so many leeches coming in."

"Forks is my home. And even if I stayed here in La Push, my parents are in Forks. I don't want to leave them unprotected."

"Carlisle's warning off all the red-eyed leeches from feeding in Forks or La Push. Your parents should be fine."

"Then fine." You sigh. "I'll pack a bag and stay here if Em will have me."

"Uh, actually," Paul rubs the back of his neck. "I was hoping you'd stay with me."

"Oh." You're surprised at the offer, and you narrow your eyes at Sam who can't be bothered to hide his amusement as he glances between you and Paul. "Y-Yeah. That's fine."

Your parents didn't bat an eye when they caught you packing and found out you were going to be staying at Paul's for about a week. They did tease you, however, and made it a point to tease Paul as well when he visited on Christmas Eve since you were celebrating Christmas day with the pack.

Christmas came and went, and when Sam got the call with the precise day of when the Volturi would arrive, the entire pack- with its new additions- congregated at Emily's. The only one who wasn't present was Jacob who couldn't find it in him to leave Renesmee's side.

The night before the pack is to leave, Sam holds a bonfire right in Emily's backyard. Someone had wanted to have the fire on the beach, but it was too cold for the regular humans so they used the yard.

All the imprinted pairs paired off, huddling for warmth as the others sat around as if the cold didn't bother them. Seth even had a guitar in his lap, strumming a few chords and just playing around.

"Do you know an actual song or are you learning?" You ask him. You're sitting between Paul's thighs on the ground, his arms wrapped along your collar bones to keep you warm.

"Uh, still learning," Seth nervously chuckles. "Do you know how to play?"

"It's been a while."

Seth's eyes light up as he immediately gets up to hand you the guitar. "Play something! We need some good entertainment."

Tapping Paul's knee so he'll let you up, you stand and take the guitar. Pulling the strap over your head, the pack quiets down until only the crackling of the firewood can be heard. "Uh, I don't know what to play." You put your hands into position, playing a few chords to make sure it was tuned just right. It is.

"Anything. And if you can sing, that'll be a bonus," Jared muses.

You step aside so you're not standing directly in front of Paul and take a moment to think. And just as Embry opens his mouth to no doubt tease you, you start.

"It's a little fast paced," you tell them over the music. "Don't judge me. And remember, you asked for this."

The pack all chuckle and settle in, waiting to see whether you'll sink or swim.

"I don't wanna die or fade away. I just wanna be someone. I just wanna be someone."

"Oh my god," you hear Seth utter. "You can sing!"

"Dive and disappear without a trace. I just wanna be someone. Well, doesn't everyone?"

You can feel the excitement of the pack, but you keep your eyes on your fingers moving over the strings.

"And if you feel the great dividing, I wanna be the one you're guiding 'cause I believe that you could lead the way. I just wanna be somebody to someone, oh. I wanna be somebody to someone, oh. I never had nobody and no road home. I wanna be somebody to someone."

You continue the rest of the song, laughing when Emily immediately applauds. The pack all whoop and holler, and you pass the guitar back to Seth.

"Aw. That's it?"

"I don't know what else to sing." You laugh. "And besides, I'm really cold."

You reclaim your seat with Paul, pressing your back as close as you can to his chest and pull his arms around you. Your head tilts to the side as he nudges you with his chin, mouth hovering near your ear. "I didn't know you played."

"You don't know a lot of things, Lahote. I think it's time you play catch up."

"Oh I will. As soon as the leeches vacate Forks, you and I are gonna take a much needed vacation."

You chuckle but don't deny the idea. Some alone time with Paul sounds nice, especially if it'll clear up things between the two of you.

For the rest of the night, the pack reminisce about simpler times and talk about their plans for the future. Then when it's time to go to bed, Emily offers you and Paul her spare bedroom since you'll be staying with her when the pack leaves.

Sharing a bed with Paul is something you just recently started doing, but he never did anything more than pull you to his chest so he could cuddle you. And for now, that was more than fine.

"Are you nervous? About tomorrow?" You ask in the quiet of the dark room.

Paul lets the silence linger for a moment before pulling you closer, lifting his head so his chin is on your shoulder. "A little."

"Well I'm scared and I'm not even the one going to be out there."

"It's going to be fine. According to the veggie bloodsuckers, they're going to do everything to prevent a fight from breaking out."

"Yeah well the vampire royalty sound like a bunch of dicks." Paul snorts. "I wouldn't put it past them to find some fault with the Cullens to start a fight."

"Don't even worry about it." His lips press to the back of your shoulder and you momentarily tense before squirming in Paul's hold. "We're going to come back unscathed, and then you and I are gonna hole up in my house and forget about the outside world for a little while."

"That sounds nice, duckie," you murmur. "I'll be super mad if something happens to you."

"Duckie?"

"Mhm," you hum, sleep starting to overcome you. "Because you imprinted like a goddamn duck."

Paul chuckles at your back. "Whatever you say, YN. Now get some sleep."

"Okay."

The following morning when you wake up, you're alone in bed. You reluctantly get up and wash up, and head out towards the front of the house.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Emily muses.

"Hi." You take a seat at the table, fighting the urge to cross your arms and lay your head back down. "How long have they been gone?"

"About an hour or so. They wanted to speak with the vampires and have a plan set into place in case it did evolve into a fight."

You grimace. "I hate this."

"I know, sweetie. Me too." Emily mixes something up on the stove, cooking away until she brings a plate of pancakes and scrambled eggs over to the table. "We need to eat. Come on."

Sighing, you pull together a plate for yourself and eat what you can.

"So how are you and Paul?" The words make you freeze and when you glance up, Emily's smiling knowingly at you.

"Weird," you tell her. "Good weird though."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." You slowly smile, but quickly scowl when she chuckles. "It's no secret that Paul is a good looking dude, so it was only a matter of time before I developed a crush on him."

"Well with the way he's been looking at you lately, I would hope you returned some of his feelings. Sam and I are so relieved he stopped fighting the bond."

"Me too." Slowly, you let yourself smile again. "He wants to hole up in his house when this is all over," you then admit. "We're still only categorizing ourselves as friends right now, so it'll be interesting to see what happens after today."

"I'll be sure to tell Sam to give him a bit of time off so the two of you can figure things out."

"Thanks, but if you think that might cause issues, then don't worry about it. We'll figure something out."

You help Emily practically clean her house from top to bottom, even quickly driving over to Paul's house to pick up your laundry so you can wash a load at Emily's. You go to the grocery store on the reservation, picking up a few things, and then head back to wait for any word about what's going on.

You and Emily eat a late lunch, the both of you starting to feel anxious as the time slowly ticks by. Eventually you settle down in front of the tv, laying out on her sofa while Emily flips through the channels.

You don't know when you nodded off, but the next time you're being woken it's because someone is shaking your shoulder. Paul looming over you makes you instantly alert and you sit up, making yourself dizzy.

"Easy," he chuckles. "Everything's okay."

"Is it over? Is everyone fine?"

"Everyone's fine," Paul assures you, squatting down in front of you. "There was no fight, though it did come pretty close. That leech that can see the future came through in the end. Found another hybrid hiding in some jungle to prove that Jacob's imprint won't cause any issues."

"Yeah?" You exhale with relief. "So Renesmee is going to be okay?"

"Should be. The other one was over a hundred years old."

"Thank god." You grasp Paul's face in your hands, leaning forward to rest your forehead against his. You give yourself a moment to just breathe him in, before releasing his face to hug him. "Where is everyone?" You mumble.

"Sam sent them home. We patrolled for a little bit over an hour to make sure the leeches truly left Forks before coming back to the res. We can go back to mine if you want."

"Yeah. That's fine."

Paul stands and pulls you to your feet, and you glance around at the too quiet house. "Sam took Emily to bed already. That's why it's so quiet."

"Oh. Okay." You follow Paul towards the door before breaking off and heading towards the laundry room. You collect your bag of clean laundry and then head back towards Paul, slipping into your shoes. "You drive," you say around a yawn, plucking your Jeep keeps from their place hanging on the wall. "I'm still sleepy."

Paul drives back to his house- a place you were surprised he lived in by himself. Apparently, after he became a legal adult and graduated high school, his father had packed up and left. Fortunately, Sam ran a small construction business so the adult members of the pack could make some cash to maintain their living situations, and Paul was doing pretty good for himself.

Arriving at his house, Paul grabs your bag of clothes before you can. You follow him to his front door, kicking off your shoes and readily making your way towards the bedroom.

"I'm gonna shower."

"Okay."

You crawl into bed while Paul collects some clothes for himself, chuckling at you as you burrow under his covers. His shower isn't as long as you expected, but still long enough for you to doze off.

Your eyes flutter open when you feel the bed dip and Paul lays his arm out so you can cuddle up to him. You scoot over, your cheek pressed over his heart as his arm wraps around your back. "It's finally over," he says.

"Don't jinx it."

"I'm not. In a few years, we'll be leech free. Your friends can't stick around too long given how fast Jacob's imprint is growing."

"How is that going to work? Jacob can't exactly leave, can he?"

"He can if he splits off from Sam's pack and forms his own. Jacob was always meant to be alpha, but Sam shifted first so the role automatically went to him."

"Do you think anyone will leave with him?"

Paul lightly sighs. "Leah's the only one I see switching packs. She'll do anything to break the mind link with Sam."

"And if Leah goes, Seth goes."

"Maybe. Maybe not," Paul tells you. "But that's not our issue. You and me? We're good here. It's about time we focus on ourselves."

"Speaking of, what exactly are we doing here?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean," you say, lifting your head so you can look him in the eye, "is that we agreed to be friends, but lately things between us don't feel like they fall in the friends category."

"Finally picked up on that, did you?"

You scoff and pinch the skin near his ribs. "Be serious."

"I am." He chuckles. "I didn't think I had to spell it out for you, but if you want me to clear things up.." He nudges you a little so you lean up and then leans up himself to press his lips to yours. You gasp, but he does nothing to deepen the kiss. He just keeps it chaste so as to not spook you off. "I'm tired of fighting the bond. It clearly wasn't meant to be platonic and I was just waiting until you figured out what you wanted."

"You." You murmur, hoping he can't hear how hard your heart is pounding. "I just want you."

"I just want you too," he smiles. "So now that that's settled, let's grab some sleep. I had to wake up super early this morning and the patrols beforehand took a lot out of us."

"Sure thing, duckie."

Paul groans at the nickname. "You remembered that nickname? I thought you would have forgotten it."

"Not a chance." You lay your head back down, letting your body relax against his. "I can't wait until the pack hears it."

"You're a brat."

"Whatever. I'm your brat now. Get used to it."

As Paul lets his body relax, he can't believe how lucky he is. He also can't believe he almost ruined his only chance at happiness, but he's very grateful you gave him a second chance.

Even if it came with a stupid and embarrassing nickname.

#paul x reader #paul lahote x reader #paul lahote imagine #twilight imagine #paul lahote #bella swan #jacob black #twilight #new moon #eclipse #breaking dawn

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ghostofskywalker · 1 year

Text

If Things Can Go Wrong, They Will

Tech/Reader

Words: 2,019

Summary: When Tech is injured in the escape attempt, you finally realize why you can't stand the idea of losing him, and it takes an unlikely source to realize that maybe he feels the same way about you.

Warnings: spoilers for the first and second episode of tbb s2!!

Clone Troopers Masterlist

“We are descending at a rate of speed that is most concerning!”

“Don’t worry! The re-entry thrusters should engage soon!”

“If they don’t, we’re all dead!”

Before you could add to the conversation, the four of you were slammed to the floor of the container, signaling that you were not, in fact, all dead and the re-entry thrusters had indeed engaged.

When you got up, you immediately looked over to Omega to make sure she was okay, and it seemed that Echo and Tech had the same idea. “Told ya,” were her next words, clearly a little annoyed that her brothers had doubted her.

“Other than not being able to steer, or control where we land, I would say this is going well!” Tech said, looking around.

But even with the thrusters, the jolt you felt when the container hit first ground was intense. You could see Omega go flying, but Echo grabbed hold of her as all of you went flying backward. Instinctively, you grabbed Tech’s gloved hand and moved closer to him, too worried about what may happen to you to care about what he might say.

When the cargo container finally stopped, you let out a sigh and immediately turned to check on Omega. Tech and Echo radioed in to Hunter, but it seemed that excitement was not over just yet, because as you all started to walk towards the exit, the container let out a groan and started to shift. “What’s happening?” Omega asked worriedly, right as the contents of the box started to slide across the floor.

“We haven’t fully landed yet!”

You managed to get out of the way as treasures and boxes came flying towards you, but Tech was not so lucky. By the time the cargo hold stopped moving for a second time and you managed to get out and up the cliff, he was growing weaker. Echo and Omega helped you pull him up to safety (because there was no way he would be able to climb by himself), and he simply collapsed onto the ground.

While Echo and Omega took a look around to see where you were, you knelt down next to Tech. “We’re going to have to get out of sight as soon as possible,” you said. “Can you move your leg or do you need our help?”

“I do not think I will be able to walk more than a few steps,” he responded, and you leaned over to help him sit up.

“We’ll need to get you medical care as soon as possible,” you said. “Hopefully Hunter and Wrecker will be here soon.”

Tech just nodded, and you could tell that he was growing tired from the pain. He was probably trying to hide how much it hurt, for both the sake of the mission and Omega, but you still knew.

When Echo and Omega returned with a plan, you helped Tech up and walked with him into the forested area. You received a communication from Hunter, and suddenly Omega glanced into the woods. “We’re being followed,” she whispered, before taking off running in that direction.

And she was right, but you probably would have done things a little differently. After Echo and Omega practically interrogated him, Romar led the four of you through the woods, and even though you were still a little wary of him, getting Tech somewhere safe was the top priority right now.

You couldn’t ignore the way your brain worked, and you knew that your worry wasn’t just coming from a place of friendship, but right now there was no indication that he felt the same way about you, so you had to keep your feelings to yourself. You considered Tech your closest friend on the Marauder and you trusted him with your life, so you also didn’t want to shake that relationship, even if it did mean that kissing him was something you only experienced in your dreams.

You helped support Tech while Echo and Omega explained your plight to Romar, and by the time you reached his dwelling he seemed to understand that you were not working for the Empire. You were still a little wary of him, but you hoped that was simply just paranoia and anxiety and that everything would work out just fine.

“So what you’re telling me is that you’re rogue clones running from the Empire’s clones, that used to be the Republic’s clones?”

Tech groaned as he sat down at the table. “Correct. You finally got it right.” You shot him a look at that, and his expression softened as he took off his helmet.

“We apologize for the intrusion,” you said to the man, hoping he didn’t kick you out because of Tech’s rudeness and the fact that Omega had been ready to shoot him with her energy bow. “It’s been a long day for all of us.”

***

You spent some time with Romar and Tech, and watched with intrigue as Tech started to repair the data core. The old man had since disappeared back to do some other things around his house (with Omega following him), and you just sat there at the table with Tech.

“Do you think Echo is right about all this?” he suddenly asked. “That we have an obligation to recover the chest and use its riches fight the Empire?”

You paused, thinking through his words before responding. “I think that there’s merit to both sides of the conversation,” you said. “To hide away in the shadows seems like a cowardly thing, but at the same time we must also take our own safety into account.”

Tech nodded. “And now Omega needs to be part of our consideration as well.”

“As much as I think Hunter wants us to settle somewhere without ever facing any kind of danger again, I don’t know if she would be happy like that,” you said pensively.

“She does appear to enjoy the fast-paced lifestyle we live.”

“Well, except when she has to study the make and features of every single imperial ship.”

A small smile crossed Tech’s face at your joke. “I think that what Cid told us before this mission may be right,” he said. “That the Empire will soon grow to the point where there is nowhere for us to hide.”

“I think the galaxy is still changing, and that we won’t ever know what to expect for a very long time.”

“I think I would like to settle down one day,” he said, looking in your direction.

“Maybe you should talk to Cid’s pirate friend,” you said jokingly. “She seemed interested in you.”

“What?”

The expression of absolute confusion on his face almost made you burst out laughing. “She thought you were cute,” you said. “Did you really not pick up on it?”

“I certainly did not. But I have no interest in a pirate’s lifestyle, so I don’t believe I would be suitable match for her.”

“Do you know what kind of life you’d like to live?”

It seemed that you had stumped the batch’s resident genius, because it took him a few moments to answer your question. “Maybe one of a mechanic?” he asked. “I would still like to work with my tools, but still have somewhere to come home every night.”

“The ship’s smell finally starting to get to you?” you asked, a smile on your face.

He nodded. “My brothers can be a bit overbearing.”

Before you could respond, Romar popped his head up and asked to speak to you, beckoning that you follow him down the hatch. “I’m sorry I don’t have anything that can help your boyfriend’s leg,” he said when you had climbed down to see what he wanted.

“He’s not, we’re-”you started to sputter out, having not expected this to be the topic of conversation.

“You’re really not together?” Thankfully after your shock at his question, the old man’s voice quieted (so you really hoped that Tech couldn’t hear you).

“No?”

“Well, does he know how you feel about him?” You went silent at that remark, not even knowing what to say. “I know it’s not my place to really say anything, but I think you’re both oblivious.”

“I don’t know,” you said. “I doubt he feels like that towards me.”

“Look, I may not know you all, but Ace up there certainly acts very differently with you than that other fellow.”

You took his words into consideration: Did Tech really act differently around you compared to the rest of the batch? Still not sure of yourself, you just nodded, and Tech called your name before you could respond.

You looked up toward the upper part of the house, and Romar just smiled. “Go see what he wants,” he said. “And just think about my advice, okay?”

***

By the time you finally got back onto the Marauder, you had almost forgotten about the old man’s words of advice. You helped Tech onto the ship and over to his bunk before heading to the cockpit to see if Hunter needed anything. “Tech needs more medical care than we can provide,” you said as you stepped inside, Hunter and Wrecker turning to look at you. “Do you know anywhere we can take him?”

“I’ve reached out to Rex already,” Hunter said. “He’s sending us the coordinates of a medical facility that apparently aides various rebellion movements. He’ll be safe there while they take care of him.” You nodded, and Hunter clearly noticed that your mind was elsewhere, so he gently told you to go back to your bunk and lay down for a little.

Right as you set foot into the barracks area of the ship, you heard Tech’s voice. “Thank you for all your help today,” he said.

You looked over to see him sitting up in his bunk, back against the wall as he tapped on his datapad. “You’re welcome,” you said quietly as you walked over and stood next to the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“The pain is still there, but I am holding on to the hope that we will be able to find a medical facility soon.”

“Hunter told me that Captain Rex sent the coordinates to one, we’re en route now.”

Tech nodded, a small smile appearing on his face. “That is good.”

The two of you looked at each other in silence for a few moments, and you eventually turned to face your bunk, but stopped when you heard Tech say your name. “Yes?”

“I figured out the answer to your earlier question,” he said. “About what type of life I’d like to live. What I said earlier is true, I think being a mechanic of some kind would be good, but I really don’t care as long as you’re there with me.”

You stopped in your tracks, not sure what to say or do. “Do you mean that?” you asked quietly, trying not to let yourself look too hopeful in case he wasn’t admitting what you thought he was.

“Of course, I wouldn’t have said so if I didn’t. And I may have also heard what Romar said to you before. And I do act differently around you, because I care about you differently than I do the rest of my brothers. And I’d like to be your boyfriend, if you’d let me.”

For Tech, that might as well have been him shouting how much he loved you from the rooftop of a Coruscant apartment building. “I would love that,” you said, reaching out to take his hand.

“Excellent. Though I would like to have our first date at some point when I do not have a broken femur.”

You laughed quietly, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. After you pulled away, Tech scooted over on the bed, making room for you to sit with him. “I think I can agree to those terms.”

You knew that it was highly unlikely that you’d ever see Romar again, but you sent him a silent thank you as you climbed into the bunk, allowing Tech to lay his head on your shoulder.

- the end -

i no longer have a taglist! if you're interested in being notified when i post, you can follow my library blog @ghostofskywalker-library and turn on notifications!

#tbb tech #tbb tech x reader #tbb tech x you #tech bad batch x reader #tech x reader #tech x you #the bad batch #the bad batch x reader #the bad batch fanfiction #tbb spoilers #bad batch season 2 #bad batch spoilers #star wars #star wars x reader #star wars fanfiction #tbb tech x gender neutral reader

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i-starcreamed · 1 year

Note

Drift helping human reader dye their hair so they can show it off to the rest of the crew?? (Oneshot please with a female reader please, she/her)

sorry this is a little short! I've never dyed my hair so its not too detailed...also I can't write for Drift that well but enjoy :D

MTMTE Drift x human!Reader

“So how does this stuff work?”

“Uh, its basically some chemicals and coloring that go in your hair to color it however you want. Did you know some people even do some designs with it? On their hair??" You grin as you explain to Drift. The mech meanwhile held the small dye containers in his much bigger servos, careful to not squish them. He still looked pretty confused, but he was determined to help you do something that excited you. You talked about doing this for days before they somehow managed to find imported dye that was safe for you.

You had mentioned you wanted to dye your hair to Drift, which got him curious about what you meant. You invited him over to your hab suite to show him, and here you were now. To be fair, you didn't quite think this through much. All the supplies you needed were a bit too small for Drift to help like you imagined, but you had an idea in mind that just might work.

"Hey Drift, why don't you pick the color?" You asked him with a grin, while your hands were working at your hair, attempting to separate it into parts. Drift's optics flashed brightly for a second as his mouth moved in an "o" shape.

"Me? I'm delighted, but shouldn't this be your choice?" He slightly tilted his helm as he glanced from the three dyes you managed to get. You laughed and shook your head.

"I want you to pick it out, Drift. Something to show off to the rest of the crew, yeah?"

You heard him mutter a "well alright.." as he made his decision.

It took a few seconds before he pointed to a color, it was a bright f/c. You grinned and took the bottle of dye and started to follow the directions. You tried to answer pretty much any question Drift had, he was rather curious about this artistic form of human expression, as he put it. You also explained what was going on as you applied the dye mix to your hair in sections. He was absolutely shocked that the process of dying your hair was producing a decent amount of heat.

"Why is your hair generating heat all of a sudden?" He retracted his digit from the top of your head with a concerned expression crossed on his face. That's when you had to explain it was the chemicals working their magic.

After some time it was time to rinse off the dye and see the results, well, after your hair dries. Drift obviously waited outside while you washed your hair. Honestly, a part of him was excited to see how it would turn out. Hopefully, he made the right color choice, what if you didn't like it? What if it didn't turn out how you wanted? No, he shook his helm. You knew exactly what you were doing, even if he didn't.

You rinsed out your hair now, even if it was still wet, the color turned out pretty good. You grin to yourself in the mirror and rush outside to show Drift.

"Drift! Drift! How does it look?" Your damp hair swung around your head as you turned to show him different angles. Drift shot up from his original spot and leaned down to get a better look, he gently swept you up on his servo to hold you directly in front of his face.

"It worked? Wo- Y/N, you look great. F/c looks fantastic on you!" He softly smiled, admiring the new color of your hair. You felt your face heat up from the compliments and his gaze and dismissed it with a laugh.

"Well, you did pick it out, huh?" You'll admit, you liked the color more than you expected. Was it specifically because Drift specifically picked it out? Obviously not.

"Ah, well..hey! Let's go show the rest of the crew."

"Wait, it's not dry yet-" But it was too late, Drift was already carrying you on his servo as he left your room, probably looking for just about any bot to brag to.

The entire day you received compliment after compliment after Drift would exclaim, "hey everyone! Look what y/n did, doesn't she look stunning?" Hell, you even got a couple color recommendations from a couple bots. Quite a few actually, you had to ask Drift to remember the list of colors. The next time you decide to dye your hair, you will be sure to invite Drift over to help again.

#transformers x reader #transformers #mtmte x reader #mtmte #maccadam #mtmte drift #mtmte drift x reader #drift x reader #transformer oneshot #lost light #lost light x reader

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dreamweaversfavsandthoughs · 7 months

Text

Rick and Morty Season 7 Episode 1 Favs and Thoughts

(and maybe a small rant)

Rick and Morty season 7 has officially begun and this is the first time on this blog I plan on sharing some of my favs (and maybe some not favs) and my thoughts about each episode.

This will NOT be spoiler-free so turn back now if you haven’t watched the episode yet. If you have watched the episode or don’t care if you run across spoilers then please proceed.

My Favs:

The new voice actors!

Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden as Rick and Morty, respectively. I thought the actors did an amazing job at capturing the characters, even though we didn’t hear much from Belden this episode. I was looking them up on IMDB and some of their previous work included being an announcer for Wrestlemania, acting in a really crappy looking Disney Channel Christmas movie, and one of the better gigs, playing a bit part on Joe Pera Talks With You. And now they’re the stars of Rick and Morty. Talk about a big break.

Morty’ s snarky coffee comment and Rick’s sarcasm.

Morty is becoming more like his grandfather every season because that comment feels like something Rick would say. Also, I feel that in such a small scene the banter between Rick and Morty seems a bit richer with two different actors playing off each other as opposed to just having Roiland do the two voices. Hopefully we get some bigger scenes to really get a chance to hear them together.

BirdDaughter!

Ok. To be honest, I’m a little bummed that she was rescued off screen but I’m not going to let that ruin my enjoyment of the season. So she is home and she is an absolute teenage terror! BP took a dive into the deep end of the parenting pool with that one. Others have made this comment as well but I love her punk rock aesthetic that she’s got going on, ahold over from her days at Femme Fatale Training Camp. I hope Morty never meets her because I think he would be SMITTEN for approximately 10 seconds until she kicked his ass to another dimension (or she might be just as smitten by him and in that case I don’t think the multiverse could handle that relationship).

Ghost Robot

I thought it was really clever joke overall especially when Rick interrupts the download for “Business” so it’s unfinished. Get it huh huh get it. Hope he shows up later in the season.

The gangs all back!

I enjoyed the absolute silliness of Rick’s pitiful attempt at an intervention that turns into a drug and alcohol fueled bender that turns into an attempt to woo Amy back, a fight with Mr. PBH’s ex-wife’s new paramour ( who is a Predator hired to spy on her) and then coming to the realization that Amy has moved on and her and Poopy Jr. are in a much happier place, and because of that, Mr. PBH (or Wayne) can find closure in that and move on too.

The fade out pills and the Best Friend Burrito Box

I was giggling throughout the episode but I did love the fade out pill gag and Rick fading back in to explain the pill and give one to Mr. PBH then fading back out again. Also, I was so sad for Gene to get his Best Friend Burrito Box taken away! He wasn’t lying! He did have friends they just faded out without him.

My Not Favs:

Hugh Jackman.

I love the actor and this by no means pulled me out of the episode or ruined my enjoyment but I think the episode would have been stronger without him. Or, at least, have him actually secretly been a real wolverine. Not the superhero, Wolverine, but a wolverine that disguised himself as a human.

My Thoughts

(and my rant):

I think online discourse around film, television, and media has destroyed the ability to enjoy something that is just meant to be simple and silly and fun. If an episode of a season is not “mind-blowing” or “moves the narrative forward” it is immediately the worse thing ever. Was this the best episode of Rick and Morty? No. Was it the worse? No. Was it mind-blowing? No, but most Rick and Morty episodes aren’t and I realize I just said something sacrilegious. Was it deeply philosophical? Again no, but most Rick and Morty episodes aren’t. Again I’m being blasphemous in some circles of the fandom. Was it funny? I thought so but your mileage may vary.

Overall, I found it on the same level of episodes like the one were Morty impregnates a sex bot, 2nd interdimensional cable, Tiny Rick, or the dinosaur episode from last season. So I was really surprised at such a strong negative reaction to an episode that I thought was perfectly fine. I feel that the reaction was completely unwarranted and out of proportion with the episode we got. I’ll caveat it with most of the negative reaction being on Reddit ( which I realize is Reddit and Reddit will do what it will do). A vast majority of critic reviews I read were pretty positive and so has the discourse on Tumblr for the most part. I’m sure some of it is coming from Justin dickriders pissed he face actually consequences for his actions, but not all of it.

I felt the new episode would have fit very comfortably in with season 6 ( which I felt was a great season). Maybe it wasn’t to the level as other premiers but I had fun watching it. I love me a deep lore episode or a mind-bending sci-fi, but I also appreciate an episode that suppose to just be fun and silly and relaxed with a little bit of heart. I enjoy seeing Rick try to help his friend out of a rut and I’m glad there is some closure on Mr. PBH’s arc. And it was good to see the friends reunite. Squanchy’s alive, Birdperson is navigating fatherhood and we got to see a side of Rick we don’t see a lot. And if it’s any consolation to those who absolutely hated the episode, next week’s episode is supposedly a lot stronger.

I think it’s okay to criticize an episode but I did see one Redditor complain that he thought (and I feel comfortable assuming this person was a he) that Rick and Morty was now turning into…a sitcom. I swear I felt my soul leave my body. I wanted to say :

Honey, Dear, Sweetheart

WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’VE BEEN WATCHING FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS!

I’m not actually mad I just thought that was hilarious and wanted to share that.

#rick and morty #rick and morty season 7 #rick and morty spoilers #rick sanchez #morty smith #summer smith #jerry smith #beth smith #mr. poopybutthole #birdperson #gearhead

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ladykailitha · 1 year

Text

Oh For a Muse of Fire! Part 2

LOL! I love how much you guys are loving this. I took the idea for the names at the bar from a fantasy novel called The Lark and the Wren (I’m pretty sure) by Mercedes Lackey (only in that case it was a brothel).

Also guys: If I have you on my list but you didn’t get the notification for the tag it means one of two things: it’s a side or secondary blog and tumblr doesn’t tag those. Or and this far more likely you have it set that you’re undiscoverable through tumblr. Under settings go to your blog then scroll all the way down to visibility and make sure both are grey. (Or secret third thing that your blog is set to 18+ because tumblr hates porn.)

Part 1

Steve was trembling when he got to the apartment he shared with Robin. So badly that he was struggling to put the key in the lock. After the third failed attempt, he let out a sharp cry and sunk to the floor, his back pressed against the door.

He knew that he wasn’t the best person in high school. He did. But he had changed his senior year. Stopped hanging out with Tommy and Carol. Started focusing on his art. Meeting Robin.

Hell, as far as Steve could remember they hadn’t even gone after Eddie and his friends. He would like to say that it was because he had a crush on the guy. But no, it was just they ran in different circles and were just outside their purview.

He held his hands up and while they still shook, they weren’t as bad. He got up and tried again. With some effort he managed to get the key in the lock. He sighed in relief as the tumbler slid and allowed him to open the door.

As badly as Steve wanted to grab the six pack out of the fridge and down the whole thing, wallowing in self-pity. He couldn’t because he actually had work.

He had to train his replacement. He worked at an upscale bar close to campus, bar-tending. It was good money and he was able to work nights and go to school during the day. But if everything went according to plan, at the end of summer Steve would be starting his student teaching position. So the bar needed a new bartender.

He pulled on the black slacks and white button up that his uniform and his white sneakers. He rolled up his sleeves and checked his hair really quick in the mirror.

It would have to do.

He splashed water on his face to wash away the tears and clear his mind of cobwebs. He didn’t have the liberty of fucking up.

Steve grabbed his car keys and jumped into his BMW. The last remnant of his father’s hospitality. He had gotten the car when he was sixteen and the car was nearing its first decade. He kept his fingers crossed that it would last until he got his first full time teaching job.

When he pulled up the bar, he could see her waiting for him by the door. She was pretty blonde with bright eyes and a cheerful expression. She was wearing a short black skirt and high heeled shoes.

Steve shook his head. She was in for a rough time tonight if that’s what she was going to be wearing.

He trotted up to her. “Hey, you must be the new girl.”

“Yeah I’m C–”

Steve held up his hand. “If you’re going to tell me your real name, don’t. The boss doesn’t like us knowing each other’s real names, says it distracts from the ambient feel. I’m Garnet.”

She blushed. “Right, right. He said. I’m Opal.”

Steve nodded. “Or at least at first hopefully by the time I leave you’ll be upgraded to a nicer gem.”

Opal fell instep with him as he led the way through the bar. “Have you always been Garnet, then?”

Steve licked his lips. “Yeah. It’s something of a running joke now. I’m the best bartender this bar has ever had and I’ve never been upgraded to Ruby or whatever.”

She nodded.

“Truth is Diamond respects me, but he sure the hell doesn’t like me,” he explained.

“You think Diamond is his real name?” Opal asked eagerly.

Steve shrugged. “Could be.” He grabbed two aprons from their hooks and tossed one at her. “This will help prevent you going home smelling like the bar.”

She nodded, tying it deftly around her waist.

“Diamond said you’ve done this before?” Steve asked, pulling out two white towels and tossing her one.

Opal nodded. “At my last job. It closed up because the owners retired.”

Steve nodded. “So then this won’t be too difficult. This will just be me showing you were everything is and showing you how to make the house specials.”

“Pretty much,” she said cheerfully.

Steve looked down at her shoes. “Your last place make you wear heels to tend in?”

She looked down at her feet. “Yeah, said I was too short to see over the bar otherwise.”

He cocked his head to side. “But you aren’t that short...”

Opal laughed, clear as a bell. “Oh I know. He was just a misogynist pig. I do have flats with me since I take the bus.”

“Put them on,” Steve instructed. “We move way too fast for you to be in heels. I don’t want you breaking your ankle or have blisters by the end of the night.”

She nodded and pulled out a pair of black flats and slipped them on, shoving the heels back in the purse.

“You’ll want tennis shoes or any other comfortable shoe from now on,” Steve explained. “You’re also allowed to wear slacks if you want. The patrons aren’t going to see below your waist and the apron covers your chest. Your tips will come from you being fast and good.”

Opal saluted. “Aye, aye Captain!”

Steve laughed. “Yeah, I think you’ll fit in just fine.”

“Garnet!” a uncoordinated blur shouted and jumped into his arms. Steve caught her deftly and shook his head.

“Hey, Pearl,” he said with a grin. He set her down. “Say hi to the new girl.”

Pearl turned slowly to see that yes, someone was with Steve.

“Uh, hi,” she said, shyly. “Garnet’s my best friend.”

Steve gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Yes, you are. Pearl, this is Opal. She’s my replacement come August. Opal, this gangly giraffe is one of the best waitresses the Queen’s Crown has to offer.”

Pearl smacked Steve’s arm. “Pay no attention to him.”

Opal laughed. “Kinda hafta because he’s training me.”

“Well besides that,” Pearl said. “He’s just a big dingus with a bigger heart.”

Steve blushed.

“Aww...” Opal said, “you two are cute together.”

Pearl made a fake vomiting noise. “We’re just best friends. Platonic with a capital P.”

Steve shook his head. “Ignore her.”

Opal laughed. “Five minutes in and I’m already ignoring everyone. This must be quite the friendly place.”

Just then a large man came out of the back and threw his arms wide open.

“Opal, my pet!” he boomed. “You made it. These two haven’t been giving you a hard time, have they?”

Opal shook her head. “They’ve been sweet.”

“Good, good,” Diamond said with a grin. “The bar opens in an hour. Garnet will show you everything you need to do to get stared.”

He gave them a wink and lumbered back into office.

Steve cleared his throat. “Right. So everyone pitches into to step and take down everything. Take down will include wiping everything down and sweeping and mopping the floors. Even Diamond comes out and helps wash glasses.”

Opal’s eyes went wide. “Seriously?”

Pearl nodded. “He’s kinda a if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself kind of guy. Not always, he does trust us to do our jobs, but he’s very hands on.”

“But he doesn’t help set up?” Opal asked,

Steve looked back behind him and then back at her. “He gets the drawers ready for the day. He counts it all before hand and then we count our drawers with him after. He also counts the tip jar in front of everyone and gives everyone their percentages.”

Opal’s jaw dropped and she stared at them in shock. A man came out of the back dressed similarly to Pearl in a black button up and black slacks. While Pearl had black boots, this guy had white sneakers.

“This is Topaz, one of the other waiters,” Pearl said as the guy came up to shake her hand. “This is Opal, Garnet’s replacement.”

The guy lifted an eyebrow. “That’s some pretty big shoes to fill.”

Opal blushed. “I’m just surprised you guys are hiring six months out for that.”

Topaz shook his head. “That’s Diamond being a worry-wart again. If you don’t work out, he wants time to hire someone else.”

“You know,” Opal said, putting her hands on her hips, “for someone who insists everyone go by gem nicknames Diamond is sounding more and more like the perfect boss.”

The other three laughed.

“Pretty much,” Pearl said, “He may be an annoying hipster, but he’s good boss and he’ll take care of you.”

Topaz hip checked Steve. “Unless you’re Garnet, here.”

Steve pushed him playfully. “Shut it, man.”

Topaz laughed. “This idiot accidentally hit on Diamond’s daughter.”

Pearl grinned. “In front of her fiance no less.”

Steve threw his arms in the air. “No one told me who they were. I had been here for like a week. And every signal she was sending me was that she was interested.”

Topaz patted him on the back. “You keep telling yourself that, man.”

Steve shook his head. “Let’s get to work before Diamond comes out and starts yelling at us.”

Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Epilogue

Tag List: @artiststarme @allbymyselfexceptformycactus @spectrum-spectre estrellami-1 @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @itsall-taken @m-owo-n @zerokrox-blog @runyousillydetective @grimmfitzz @wonderland-girl143-blog @sapphirecobalt-1@scheodingers-muppet @victor-thee-corvid @apricottree @bookbinderbitch @sleepyboosstuff @biatcgh @pixiefallingupthestairs @grtwdsmwhr @thepainisspicy @carlyv @eboyawstenn @bisexualdisastersworld @bidisastersworld @abstractnaturaldisaster

#ladykailtiha writes

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shadowscrybe · 2 months

Text

Rayven's Revenge- Chapter 6

Summary: Rayven is the younger sister of Rhysand in the Night Court. She was banished 64 years ago for the murder of her sister. This is the story of Rayven earning her place in Prythian and finding out what it means to be family. We all know how her story ends...but how did she get there? I don't want to forget the demon princess with bat wings. Do you?

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: none-typical canon content

A/N: As promised. Six in one go. I'm sorry for a spam, but hopefully this forces me to post the rest. Lmk if I should stop while I'm ahead.

The Highlord and her mother were mated.

Mates.

What every fae craved and yearned for. The ultimate love match. Mated they may have been, but love was another question. The Highlord would boast stories of their great love. A great love indeed. So great her mother stayed up in the mountains most of the time barely attempting to play court with him.

Rayven couldn't blame her after what happened. Maybe they did love each other. Until Rava.

She was supposed to be Rayven’s twin.

Twins, Madja eagerly told their mother. Rhys remembered when she announced her pregnancy with them. Rava and Maevan were to be their names. Fae offspring were rare, Illyrian offspring even more, so twin Illyrians were unheard of. When they got the news, as Rhys explained, they couldn't have been happier. Their mother was ecstatic every visit with Madja for progress details until one appointment when she had lost the heartbeat of one of the babes. Rava had been absorbed by Rayven and her power. Her first and most egregious crime that cascaded through her entire life. She would never live down having killed her sister.

Madja said it happens sometimes. Her power grew, like Rhys’, inside their mother, but Rhys was alone in the womb, with no other fetus to compete with. As Rayven’s power swelled, Rava had not progressed at the same rate, so Madja said the stronger fetus absorbed the other. Only she was born, they didn't even have a corpse to bury. Rayven had taken that from them too.

She was given the name Rayven by her father upon birth to serve as a reminder of the life she took, and the shame she would always carry because of it. They didn't think her mother was going to be able to deliver her through her grief and when Rayven came out they say she didn't touch her for several days.

She couldn't blame her. Her body became a gravesite and it's Rayven’s fault. No one is more aware of the tragedy than her.

Soon after her birth a single shadow appeared. Madja had cursed and spit seeing her next to her in her crib. Madja didn't take a liking to the shadows.

Rahne was the first word she had said that Rayven could understand. Some speculated she was the soul of her dead sister, trapped by Rayven in silent servitude.

Rahne had never been silent a day in her little life. She never spoke in more than a few syllables, but she loved to parrot.

Rayven had put effort into separating Rahne from Rava, pleading her case that Rava had never appeared to her, but they were set on their truth. Rayven was the scary, violent Illyrian half-breed bitch so jealous of her sister she killed her in the veil before life.

So scary she became. Having a kill under her belt before her first breath. No Illyrian male could say the same.

Her parents had never been the same after that, Rhys told her. She blamed him, he blamed her, and Rayven blamed the cauldron. It was the real cruel one, giving and taking away a mother’s child.

The night they would’ve turned ten, they gathered at the House of Wind for Rava’s vigil. Not Rayven’s birthday. He never allowed a celebration for her birth on Rava’s commemoration, though Rhys had found ways to make it more than a day of grief after the Highlord took his leave for the night.

On that particular death day, he had been disturbed from first light. This anniversary was different to him, and bothered him more than she’d ever seen. He walked into the living room of the Town House, took one look at the modest decorations the boys had attempted, and snapped.

She wasn't Rava, and she wasn’t Maevan. He didn't make Rava’s death about her or even Rayven, it was about him, and the heirs he lost that day. He was not consoling to her mother who had lived it more than any of them. He took their effort as a serious offense to his ‘loss.’ It was never about Rava.

He pinned the boys in their place with his power. He wasn't daemati, or Illyrian, but he wasn't the Highlord for nothing. He was skilled in charms and spells. Incantations of another language they never learned. Rhys was powerful, more powerful than the Highlord, but he hadn't been as clever yet. The Highlord had binded the boys with his greeting when they entered the house. His twisted incantations kept them in place. They could only move upon being released by his word.

Her father yoked her up from the couch next to Rhys, frozen. Their mother’s tears streamed down her face, pleading with her mate to let her daughter stay. By the hair, he dragged her out of the house and tossed her down the steps to the icy stone.

“Go.”

“Dad, please,” she begged on her knees. “I don't-”

“You may seek out Lord Devlon of Windhaven.” The only hint he’d given her.

Windhaven. Leagues across the Night Court. A length the boys could traverse easily, but she could barely fly in the daylight and couldn't winnow yet. There was no way Rayven would’ve made it if Eris hadn't found her.

“Rhys!” She cried over and over. Even before she called for her mother, she knew Rhys wasn't going to be held for long. Once he and the bastards were free they would come after her.

“Silence.” His voice had that prenatural volume it took when he was speaking a spell.

“Daddy, please,” She barely choked out.

“You are no longer welcome in my court.”

His word was law when he spoke like that.

It was the last time Rayven would ever be on her knees.

And the last time she would call him dad.

The Highlord ordered Cassian and Azriel to not go after her, or he’d take their wings. Rhys had to be bound with some threat he never revealed.

It was the first time Rhys had manipulated the Highlord’s mind. Rhys wasn't as skilled at it as he is now. He couldn't rewrite everything without melting his brain, but he was slowly able to plant more and more ideas inside. After the first year of her banishment he had made progress. He was closer to convincing the Highlord he needed Rayven to keep up appearances in court. People would begin to question her sudden disappearance. He spun stories of her great power down the gossip of the court. She was away to train, he lied.

The Highlord had come up with the idea to allow her at big events and important court councils. She was never allowed to speak and only ever seen long enough to count her attendance. Then, she was to return to Illyria until he called upon her again.

Rhys had worked for over a year to get the Highlord to think it was his idea. It was what Rhys could manage to save her with his two brothers still trapped with the Highlord. He truly honed his daemati skills over that first year, gently persuading their father to lessen her banishment.

The Highlord told them if she could find her way to the Illyrian camps and earn rank among the males in the frigid mountains then he would consider her coming back officially. It had been over six decades and she never touched a ring in her time up there.

She rarely appreciated her cottage, but then she would remember where the boys were and wondered who really suffered that night. Her house wasn't enchanted with perfect temperature, or warded with magic locks, but it was entirely hers.

It was nothing more than four walls when she found it. Not even a complete roof remained.

Over the years, she had learned to make it her own. She eventually added more rooms and a second story that took her almost a decade to perfect. Rhys could only stay for short periods of time when the Highlord sent him. Every time he showed up and she collapsed another wall in anger he would give her shit for it. He said her real power was her affinity for demolitions. She swore at him and he helped her fix it.

Rayven’s favorite spot had to be her crows nest. She fashioned a single, thin rail with one prong protruding from the tip for her to sit or stand. It was uncomfortable, but she was the only one who could balance on it. If someone wanted her they’d have to be able to fly and maintain a small hover area. Most males couldn't manage suspended flight for long.

It was her perch she missed most sitting at the dining table in the Town House.

The Highlord sat at the head of the table with her mother to his left and Rhys to his right. A few other highly placed council members sat between them. Cassian, Azriel, and Rayven sat at the opposite end. Today, she was no more than a bastard in his eyes.

It could be excused, their separation. They had wings that needed extra room and Rhys usually kept his hidden.

Cassian sat to her left shielding her from some reeking older fae. She was on the very end of the table, across from Azriel.

He was the picture of disciplined boredom in this company while his shadows moved fluidly around his shoulders. Azriel wasn't going to participate here, but he never stopped watching.

She shared a glance with Rhys as the Highlord stood to retell the catastrophic events of Rava’s death.

Here he goes, he said.

Rayven’s lips twisted to the side to keep from smiling. She decided to keep her sights on the shadowsinger across her. He was equally uninterested in hearing the Highlord drone on about his broken heart.

For forcing all of them to mourn his loss with him, he rarely ever mentioned Rava. It was the same old speech about how his possession was taken from him and blah, blah, blah.

It was sixty-four years to the day of her initial banishment. She was numb to his stale venom at this point. She just had to make it through the toasting and then she was free to disappear back to her mountains.

Rahne wasn't paying attention either. She and one of Azriel’s shadows played by their feet under the table. Rayven ducked her chin to check on her shadow but she was shooting around her ankles.

Shit.

She looked up to the Highlord with a glass raised and went to hold hers when the bastards froze. Going completely still on their own this time.

The Highlord’s full voice lured her back in. “But this year we celebrate my daughter.”

The eyes of every fae in the room cut to Rayven. She didn't dare try to look at Rhys.

The Highlord’s cup was raised in the air. “Who has secured an alliance with the Spring Court,” he went on. “Strengthening the Night Court’s authority in the seasonal courts.”

She realized he was waiting for her response. She had one heartbeat to decide, she wasted the rest with stunned blinking.

“Your will is mine,” She clipped out. Her voice rose slightly at the end, like a question.

His eyes burned holes through her.

I’m dead. It was a good seven decades.

“To Rayven.” He spoke her name to me for the first time in years.

Everyone tensely sipped their glasses. Rhys put his to his mouth, but didn't tip it back. Cassian raised his for the toast then put it back down without drinking. Azriel never touched his.

Rayven drank hers for something to do. Her hands set the glass down too hard and it drew eyes back to her.

Thankfully, she excused herself without having to argue.

The Highlord wasn't daemati, but when his cold eyes seized hers, he didn't need to be. They were as loud as him speaking the words.

Later, they said.

#acotar #a court of thorns and roses #rhys!sister #azriel x rhys!sister #azriel x reader #azriel

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