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ilovewriting06 · 1 year

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I Said a Basement Not Our Basement

This is a request from @natashamea18, I hope you like it. Also I made Catherine a grade A bitch in this, sorry 😂

Catherine’s POV

When we discovered that are target was in Oahu and it would be an all hands on deck situation I got clearance to bring Steve and his task force on board.

I smile when I see Steve sitting in his office having a heated conversation with someone on the phone. I knock on the door before slipping in and smirk at the surprise on Steve’s face. He wraps up the phone call before gesturing for me to take a seat and clears his throat, “Catherine, what are you doing here?”

I lean forward with a smile, “I need the teams help.” He bites the inside of his cheek and he clasps his hand, “Okay, I’ll call everyone and you can debrief.”

While we’re waiting on the rest of the team I look at Steve and notice he’s keeping his distance yet he’s also close, he close enough for friends but far enough away that it’s obvious our relationship is nothing more than friendship. I frown, well, I have a lot to do to rekindle our spark.

When the team gets here and surround the computer I start the debrief, “I’m here on official CIA business, we’ve been chasing a wanna be terrorist. He’s working his way up the ranks and has killed hundreds of thousands of people. We were closing in and found out he relocated here. As of right now we have no reason to believe he’s here to wreak havoc we believe he’s trying to hide out.” I throw his picture up on the screen, “His name Amir Cleaden.”

Two hours later and Steve and I are navigating through the forest tracking Amir as Junior and Tani come in from the south and Danny and Grover come in from the west to hopefully cut him off.

Now is as good a time as any to talk to Steve about us trying things out again, “So Steve, how are you doing? It’s been a few years.” He glances at me and nods, “Yeah it has been. I’m good, really good.” He pauses and stops walking to face me, “Look, Cath there’s something I need to tell yo-,” he’s cut off by gunshots echoing from up ahead.

We run to where the gunshots came from to see Amir and four other guys in a shoot out with Tani, Junior, Danny, and Grover. We need Amir alive so we focus on taking out the other men and leaving Amir alive. After the whole shoot out is over with, Amir is in custody with a graze on his shoulder and everyone else is unharmed, except for the four guys that we killed.

*Back at HQ*

Once Amir is in the hands of the CIA I look at the team with a wide smile, “How about we grab a couple drinks, I’ll buy the first round.” Junior and Tani agree and Danny and Grover glance at Steve. I wonder what that’s about. Once everyone agrees we decide to go to Rumfire and that we’ll meet up there around 7 so everyone has time for a shower.

I smile as I walk into my hotel room, I’ll talk to Steve tonight, tell him that I still love him and I want to get back together, for good this time.

Steve’s POV

I groan when I get in my truck and throw my head back against the headrest and mutter, “Why did I say yes? Fuck! What do I tell Y/N?” I run my hand down my face before starting the truck and heading home.

When I get home I close the door and yell for Y/N, “Babe! I’m home!” I don’t hear an answer and furrow my eyebrows as I walk further into the house. I chuckle when I see her outside playing fetch with Eddie. I step outside and wrap my arms around her waist causing her to tense up. I kiss her cheek and she automatically relaxes into my hold, “How was work?”

I frown and she spins around when I don’t answer. She cups my jaw with worry swimming in her eyes, “Steve, what’s wrong? Is everyone okay?” I nod before leading her to the patio chairs, “Yeah, but I need to talk to you.”

She sits beside me and faces me before laying a hand on my knee, “Steve, what is it?” I sigh and grab her hand running my thumb across her knuckles, “She’s back Y/N/N.” She cocks her head to the side and furrows her brows, “Who’s back?” I glance at her and within seconds I know she knows who. Her eyes harden and her gaze turns to a glare, “Catherine.”

I nod and slide forward, “Y/N, I swear I didn’t know she was coming, I didn’t even know she was around here. If I knew I would have told you but she just showed up today and asked for help for the CIA.” She licked her teeth before slotting her knee in between mine, “Steve, it’s okay, I’m not mad or upset with you. I would have liked a phone call or something but I understand why you didn’t. Knowing you you got a mission, locked in on said mission and blocked everything out until you succeed at your mission. Kind of like how you were when deciding to ask me out.”

I playfully glared at her and let a small smile slip onto my face, “That is not what happened when I asked you out.” She burst out laughing and kisses my cheek, “Steven, you literally interrupted me trying to answer you to tell me that you hadn’t executed your plan yet! You treated our first date like a tactical mission!” I smiled and nod, “Yeah okay maybe a little bit, but I do have to say, it was the most important mission of my life, still is.”

She pulls back with a smile and kisses me and I remember I haven’t told her about tonight. I pull back a little and sigh, “Hold on, I’m not done.” She leans back and her face resumes the ticked off face she had before, “Is she staying? Because if she is I’ll rip her fucking eyes out.” My eyes widen and I grab her shoulders, “Woah there tiger, that was a long time ago, I’m over it.” She glares before shaking her head, “I don’t give a rats ass, she broke your heart, left you behind holding an engagement ring and a broken heart.”

I’m not surprised by her reaction, ever since she found out how the whole thing went down she doted over me for like a month and swore to kill Catherine of she ever came back. I smile remembering how she cried in my arms after I told her everything because she felt horrible that someone broke my heart, probably wasn’t best to tell her on her period but can’t change it now.

I grab her hips and pull her onto my lap before running my thumb across her cheekbone. Her eyes soften and she leans into my hand, “Y/N, I’m okay, I have you now.” I grab her left hand and hold it up between us, “See, the one I really love already said yes, she just has to say I do and then no turning back.” She tilts her head with a mischievous smile, “There’s always divorce.” I pulled her closer and shook my head, “Nope, I’ll lock you in a basement.”

“We don’t even have a basement Steve.”

“I said a basement not our basement.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled me in for a kiss that was on its way to being something much less innocent but I still haven’t told her about tonight. I huff and pull away causing her to pout, “Oh come on, I’m ovulating I’m horny as fuck and you won’t fuck me. What am I supposed to do? Ask Junior?”

I grit my jaw and lock eyes with her mischievous eyes, “Absolutely not. I’ll fuck you in like five minutes, give me a second would ya.” She smiles and nods before sighing when she realizes it’s a Catherine problem, “Rip the bandaid off already, I tried to distract you from telling me whatever it is you know will upset me but obviously I failed.”

I peck her nose before ripping the bandaid off like she asked, “We’re meeting her for drinks at Rumfire at 7.” I threw in an innocent smile to soften the blow but her body goes rigid, “We’re what!?”

I sigh as she crawls off my lap and sits back in the chair she started off in, “Does she even know about you, ya know, having a fiancé?” Her words drip with venom and I scratch my jaw in nervousness and she scoffs, “Really? You didn’t tell her?” I frown and shake my head, “No, but I tried. I almost said it and then we got in a shootout right before I said it and it slipped my mind.”

Y/N’s POV

I hate Catherine with a passion, Steve declares that it never bothered him she left him before he proposed but I know it still hurts him. I’m not mad at him whatsoever but I’m royally pissed at her. I glance at Steve and see the guilt in his eyes and sigh knowing he didn’t do anything wrong and I shouldn’t take my anger for Catherine out on him, he doesn’t deserve it.

I crawl back into his lap and cuddle into his neck, “I’m sorry, I’m not mad at you, I promise.” I place a kiss on his neck and he lets out a content sigh, “We don’t have to go, the rest of the team is going and I know you haven’t hung out with Tani lately and you’ve been dying too.” I melt at the fact he’s genuinely ready to stand up his team for me and I shake my head, “No, we’re going, on one condition.”

I pull back and glance in his eyes as he urges me to continue, “Let me mark you.” His eyebrows shoot up and he stutters, “W-what?” I chuckle at his surprise and rub his shoulders, “I mark you, you mark me, she backs off and realizes you’re happily taken.” He quirks an eyebrow and points to my engagement ring, “Isn’t that what that’s for?”

I frown and realize he knows my ulterior motive, “Fine, you caught me, I just want to have sex.” He runs a hind under the hem of my shirt and grazes my back, “I know, besides, I need a shower anyways.” I shudder at his touch and his words before pulling him into a kiss.

Catherine’s POV

I was sitting at a table with the team waiting on Steve who was uncharacteristically two minutes late. No one else at the table seemed surprised and it made me wonder if he’s been like this since I left. I glance up at Danny as he comes back to the table with drinks, “Where’s Steve?” I see him blow air our of his cheeks before taking a seat, “He’ll be here, he text me and told me he would be here.” He pauses for a minute before sighing, “He’ll be here soon.”

Danny takes a sip of his drink and looks like he’s hiding something, “Danny? What aren’t you telling me?” His eyes widen and he looks at the others for help but they all shrug and leave him on his own. “That’s not my place to say Catherine.” I sigh at the hidden venom behind his words knowing that for Steve and I to work out I would have to work things out with Danny.

I glance up when Junior waves and Tani jumps up and runs to a woman before pulling her into a tight hug. I furrow my brows wondering who she is but my eyes widen when I see her companion. She’s on the arm of Steve, my Steve. I narrow my eyes and silently groan, great now I have to get him to break up with his girlfriend. Knowing Steve he’s only been in the relationship for a few months if not less so it shouldn’t be too hard.

Y/N’s POV

I chuckle as Tani all but jumps into my arms, “Girl, it’s been ages!” I hug her back and laugh, “Sorry, I’ve been a little busy with work, you know teachers always getting breaks.” She laughs before pulling away and her excitement is quickly replaced with worry as she glances between me and Steve, “You okay with being here?” I know what she means and nod with a small smile as Steve squeezes my hand, “Yeah, she doesn’t bother me anymore, he’s made it clear she’s dead to him.” Steve chokes back a laugh but Tani lets hers out, “Oh my God I don’t think those were his words.” I shrug, “It’s what he meant.”

Steve smiles and kisses my cheek, “Yeah babe, that’s what I meant.” I hug him and lean into him before Tani gasps, “Holy shit y’all are bruised!” I blush and see the smallest of blushes on Steve’s face as I nod, “We got a little carried away.” She nods, “As long as I’m the godmother.”

Steve and I laugh before heading to the table and I don’t miss the way Steve tightens his hold on me as if the sight of Catherine will send me out the door and out of his life. I run my thumb along his thumb as I sidle up against his side so that he knows I’m not going anywhere.

When we get to the table I slap on a welcoming smile even though on the inside I’m itching to tackle her to the floor. Danny moves to sit beside Catherine and I smile at him silently letting him know how thankful I am that he made it so neither Steve or I had to sit beside Catherine.

I sit in the chair Steve pulls out for me but not before I place a quick kiss on his cheek as a thank you, something that I do every time he pulls out my chair. I glance at Catherine to see her cold glare burning into me and I bite back a smirk as I realize she’s locked in on the marks decorating my neck and the three on Steve’s neck.

I grab the drink Danny hands to me before making eye contact with Catherine. I maintain a smile and don’t let my inner hatred and anger seep through as she locks her eyes onto Steve. Steve clears his throat before grabbing the beer Danny offers him and taking a big gulp.

Catherine’s POV

I couldn't help the jealousy that bubbles over when Steve pulls mystery woman’s chair out for her. I feel anger flow through my veins as I notice the rather fresh hickeys decorating Steve’s throat along with his girlfriends neck which is absolutely littered with them.

When we make eye contact I scowl before plastering on a fake smile, “Hi, I’m Catherine, I’m Steve’s ex girlfriend.” I make sure to slap on the ex girlfriend part just to show her he’s still mine. She seems to get the hint and I’m taken aback a little as she sips her drink and nods with that never fading smile, “I know, it’s lovely to meet you Catherine. I haven’t heard much about you but you’ve been mentioned a few times. Im Y/N.” I glance at Steve hurt that he didn’t talk about me. I watch as he runs a hand down his face before I turn my attention back to Y/N, god I hate that name it just sounds bitter on my tongue. She wants to play sweet girlfriend who can’t be swayed I’ll make it obvious that Steve is mine, always has been and always will be.

Danny’s POV

My eyes widen as Catherine and Y/N lock eyes and I know this isn’t going to end well. Sure Catherine was in the Navy and dated Steve first but Y/N, she’s different than any relationship I’ve witnessed Steve in, including Catherine. Y/N may be a middle school teacher but she is not someone to get on the bad side of, especially if it’s about Steve, she will rip you to shreds.

I glance at Steve to see him as pale as a ghost and looking like he wants to be anywhere but here as the girls continue their wordless pissing contest. I throw him a sympathetic look and he responds with a small smile before drinking half his beer in one go and then Catherine speaks and Steve automatically goes into protective boyfriends mode.

Catherine’s POV

I grit my jaw before smirking, “So, what exactly are you? One night stand? Summer fling? Friends with benefits?” I notice Steve go rigid as his eyes harden into a glare, a glare directed at me. There’s no way he’s actually serious about this chick, she’s pathetic.

Y/N’s eye twitches as she smiles a sinister smile, “No, I’m a girlfriend of two years and a fiancé of ten months. What are you? A stuck up bitch who can’t get over a relationship that obviously didn’t go anywhere and can’t process that he never really needed you?” I feel my stomach drop and my heart shatter at the word fiancé, he’s engaged? I glance at her left hand and she’s enough there’s a shimmering diamond ring sitting on her ring finger.

I open my mouth in disbelief as I glance at Steve and everyone else around the table to see them either fighting back a smirk or hiding their smile behind their drinks. I sit up deciding I’m not going down without a fight, “I’m sorry, I’m the stuck up bitch? At least I gave him what he wanted. What did you give him, chlamydia?” She balls her hand into a fist before making an angry noise, “You didn’t give him anything! You think he wanted a broken heart? No, I didn’t think so, you had your chances and you fucked them up. He moved on get over it. Let me slow it down so your lone brain cell can understand, he. is. not. in. love. with. you.”

I scoff and stand angrily and she follows suit, “You think you’re so much better than me don’t you?” She raises her eyebrows and laughs, “No, I know I am. Why don’t you just tell everyone the real reason you’re here? They know I’m sure but why don’t you say it?”

I glance at the table and see everyone watching us like we’re the next big thing before glaring at Y/N, “Fuck. You.”

Y/N’s POV

“Fuck. You.”

I smirk before crossing my arms, “Sorry, I fuck him.” I throw my thumb back to point at Steve and Catherine’s jaw drops and she takes a step forward expecting me to back down. I straighten up and don’t move a muscle as she comes face to face with me to the point our noses at touching, “He is mine. He loves me you’re just a body to fill the space.”

I tilt my head with a small smile, “Why don’t you ask Steve? So you can hear it from him and know where you stand.” She backs up a little and I look at Steve and a frown comes across my face as he looks heartbroken, he’s not still in love with her is he?

He stands up and I glance at Danny when Steve steps toward Catherine and not me. I suck in a breath as he leans towards Catherine but sigh in relief at his words. “Leave Catherine. I love her, more than I ever loved you and if you can’t respect her then leave, and don’t bother coming back this time because when you do there’ll be nothing left here for you.”

I watch as Catherine growls and stomps towards me and goes to hit me but I intercept her hit. I grab her wrist and twist her arm behind her back, “Did I forget to mention I’m trained in martial arts? Oops.” I release her arm and cross my arms, “Door’s that way, I would invite you to the wedding but I’m trying to keep the trash out, for the ocean and all.”

She looks around for help from the team but when no one moves to help her she rushes out of the building. I turn to Steve but he walks out the door in the back that leads to the patio. I sigh and run a hand through my hair before glancing at Danny, “I’ll be back.” He nods with a small smile as I rush after Steve.

My heart breaks a little when I see him on the patio leaning on the railing with his shoulders sagged, a tell that means he’s upset. I bite my cheek before walking up to him. I follow his eyes out to watch the sunset and without sparing a glance at him I grab his hand, “I’m sorry, for everything.”

I see him shake his head out of my peripheral before squeezing my hand, “It hurts more than I thought it would. I don’t love her not anymore but it still hurts. I don’t know how to explain it where it doesn’t make you feel bad.” I smile a little as I turn to him, “I know baby.” I pull him into a hug and fight back tears as I whisper, “I know,” one last time before we fall into a comforting silence.

He buries his face in my hair before whispering, “I love you, you’ll never understand how much. Everything she said was a lie, I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone and I don’t want to lose you.” I frown as I realize he’s worried I’m going to leave because of what she said. I lean back and cup his face with my hands remembering our conversation from earlier, “Don’t make me lock you in a basement Steve.”

He quirks a small smile, “We don’t even have a basement Y/N.”

I pull him in until our lips are brushing and whisper with a chuckle, “I said a basement not our basement.”

Tag List:

@djs8891 @kati-1997

#steve mcgarrett x reader #steve mcgarrett #hawaii five oh #hawaii #hawaii five 0 #5 0 #angst with a happy ending #danny williams #tani rey #junior reigns #lou grover #catherine rollins

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karatekels · 7 months

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A request with KK3 Terry please and make it as dark/non-con as possible! But OFC always make changes if you have to cause I’d enjoy it no matter what.

I thought of Daniel who warns reader to not go see Terry again cause he actually caught on that she likes him. (I thought this happens right after the events where Miyagi fought Terry & Kreese). She’s shocked to hear about it since she did come to trust Terry and even look up to him. But she listens to her friend (at first). I thought that later she’d get into a dangerous situation at night close by the dojo where a group of men follow her and her first instinct is to go to the dojo in hope of Terry, even after Daniel’s warning. She’s obviously scared and is already imagining the worst things in her head. Thankfully Terry’s there to save her in the last moment and even offers to take care of her since she seems so shaken by it. What she didn’t expect is that it’ll get only worse with him and he expects some kind of “reward” from her for always treating her so nicely, even “going out of his way” to save her, and simply bc he’s had enough of waiting 👀 Make sure to make him cruel enough when he forces himself on her and that he even says smth like “Maybe you should’ve listened to Danny-boy.” (implying that he was there, hiding & watching when Daniel informed her about it). She gives in partway. She knows she doesn’t stand a chance anyway. Also make him throw some comments at her maybe about how pathetic she is, but that he still wants her and only her and she’ll always be his (or whatever else comes to ur mind). And that even when she enjoyed it by the end, she still feels dirty and used. Somewhat empty even and heartbroken. Your goal: Make me cry a bit for her okay

We are starting out the month living up to the title of Dark Desires October with this one! Today also marks the 1 year anniversary of this blog, so HOORAY!

This will be in two parts, and the actual non-con will happen in the next part (though there is attempted sexual assault in this chapter as well). If that’s not something you want to read, I would recommend sitting this one out!

For the rest of you degenerates who are still here… I hope you enjoy.

TW: attempted assault; assault; attempted sexual assault; attempted rape; violence; will lead to non-con in part 2

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Unjust Reward: Chapter 1

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At 10:02 in the morning, an insistent knocking starts at your front door. You giggle quietly, calmly finishing putting your shoes on. Your neighbour and friend (it was weird, calling a 17 year-old a friend when you were in your early twenties, but it was true), Daniel LaRusso, had called late last night, leaving a message on your answering machine. He had sounded panicked, saying that he needed to talk to you as soon as possible and would be coming over in the morning. Calling and leaving your own message, you had amended that to 10AM today.

It wasn’t that you weren’t taking whatever Danny was worried about seriously, but the kid had a tendency to be overdramatic and blow things out of proportion. You weren’t sure if it was a guy thing, a kid thing, or a karate thing, but Daniel always seemed to be on edge about some situation or another.

Grabbing your bag and your sunglasses, you head for the front door, opening it suddenly and catching Daniel’s fist half-raised in the air. You see the cuts and bruising on his knuckles, and hope that they weren’t from pounding on the door. He had been training very intensely with Terry Silver, a new sensei that had come to the Valley a couple of weeks ago, so it was probably from that.

Sensei Terry Silver…

You were kind of crazy about him.

He was the definition of tall, dark and handsome; nearly six and a half feet tall and strong, with long black hair and bright blue eyes. He had a wicked smile and positively oozed charm, to the point that you were frequently tongue-tied in his presence. Terry was very hands-on with his training, based on what you’d seen when you’d come by the dojo to meet Daniel after a training session. You’d found yourself jealous of the boy on more than one occasion, watching Terry’s hands adjust his hips and help him stretch.

“Calm down, Danny! Where’s the fire?” you joke, looking at him with a smile that he doesn’t return. Instead, he grabs your wrist, urgently tugging you towards him.

“Come on, Y/N – we need to talk, it’s important!” he hisses, looking like he’s seen a ghost.

“Should we go inside?” you ask, holding your front door ajar, but he shakes his head.

“No, we gotta find somewhere he doesn’t know about; he’s got eyes and ears everywhere.”

“Who does?” He just shakes his head, refusing to answer you, and you’re starting to get really worried about whatever it is that’s bothering him. You close and lock the door, letting him drag you down the street by the arm. You don’t see how anywhere outside could be more private than your own home, especially seeing as he was likely drawing attention by tugging at your wrist like this, but you knew how difficult it was to talk Daniel out of something when he had set his mind to it.

After a few blocks, you head into a local park, finding an unoccupied bench in a clearing. He gestures for you to sit but doesn’t join you on the bench, instead pacing back and forth in front of you and looking around intently.

“Okay, we should be safe to talk here; we can see if anyone tries to listen in.”

“Daniel, what is going on?” you demand, mildly frustrated by all of the theatrics but mostly concerned about what the source of his panic was.

“It’s Mr. Silver.”

“Is something wrong with Terry? Is he hurt?” you ask, your heart racing at the thought. Terry was big, and strong, and a professional martial artist; if something had hurt him, then it was definitely something to be feared. But Daniel shakes his head.

“No, he’s not hurt; he’s the problem. He’s dangerous!”

“Danny, he’s helping you train for the tournament. Was he just being hard on you?” you ask soothingly, feeling relieved. This was closer to what you had anticipated: Daniel blowing something out of proportion.

“No, listen!” he cries, though he’s trying to keep his voice down. He sounds like that dangerous mix of angry and scared that caused men to be unpredictable, and it has you nervous. “Y/N, I… I can tell that you like Mr. Silver a lot,” he says knowingly, and you blush, feeling like you were being told about ‘the birds and the bees’ by a kid. Had you been that obvious about your feelings for Terry?

“Please don’t go see him again. He’s not good for you; he’s not good for anyone. Listen…”

Daniel’s eyes are wide and scared, and you feel yourself shiver as he describes what had happened at the Cobra Kai dojo last night. Terry had made up everything; Kreese dying, being a down-on-his-luck sensei, wanting to train Danny so he could protect himself… The whole thing had been a nest of lies, part of a plan to get revenge on a teenager for winning a karate tournament.

It was ridiculous; it was insane. It was unbelievable… wasn’t it?

You think back to your own experiences with Terry. You’d been completely speechless the first time he’d come over and spoken to you while Daniel had been changing into his regular clothes. He had looked at you with such intensity, even if he had given you a charming smile the whole time. You’d tried to make small talk with him, and despite how awkward you felt around him, something about him kept drawing you in day after day. It was like you were addicted to the discomfort, the nervousness that you felt around him. He was like one of those Venus flytraps; he looked dangerous, but was still so alluring that prey found itself coming closer anyway, until the trap snapped shut.

As much as you didn’t want to believe it, you could see Terry as someone dangerous, hiding beneath a façade. And, if Mr. Miyagi had fought him, then this wasn’t just Daniel being overdramatic. This was serious.

Your heart clenches once, painfully; you didn’t really know Terry that well, sure. But you had really wanted to. It was like saying goodbye to a relationship that had never really begun, and as this had been the first time you had really felt strongly for someone as an adult, it hurt all the more.

But you had no reason to not believe Daniel’s words, and you would not be a fly caught in a trap.

“Danny, I… I’m so sorry. I’m sorry he hurt you, and I’m sorry I didn’t see him for what he was. I’m so glad that you’re alright,” you say, letting out a sigh of relief. Daniel was such a small kid, and Terry was a big guy – if he had wanted to, he could’ve really hurt the boy, or worse.

“Please tell me you won’t go see him again,” he begs, and you can hear the fear in his voice. Poor kid; this had really done a number on him.

“I won’t, Danny. I promise. But there’s still something I don’t understand: why couldn’t you have told me this in my apartment?”

“Oh. That.” Daniel says morosely, pulling out a few pages of a magazine out of his jeans pocket and handing them to you.

Smoothing them out, you see that the man being written about in the article is… Terry. But, instead of the humble, down-to-earth man you’d come to (sort-of) know, he was photographed in expensive-looking suits and (in your opinion) gaudy jewelry.

“He’s not some broke guy; he’s a billionaire. And Mike Barnes? Snake, and Dennis? He’s working with them; actually, they’re working for him.”

“He hired a bunch of teenaged goons to attack you?! You and Jessica?!” you shriek, glad that the girl had gone home to Ohio. What kind of monster paid people to harass children?!

“He’s got people everywhere, and he’s a good liar, and he’s a war vet, like Kreese was… is.” Clearly, that man’s death being a hoax was taking some time for the boy to adjust to in his head. “My uncle told me that guys that fought in Vietnam, a lot of them are… messed up.”

You nod sharply, pressing your mouth into a thin line. Terry was dangerous in many ways: a martial artist, a large man, a billionaire with infinite resources… mix in PTSD from the War and he had the potential to be a real monster. You shudder again.

“You’re right, Daniel. We should both stay away from him.”

Daniel’s head snaps up as the sound of a branch snapping comes from the treeline. Before you can reach out to stop him, he sprints towards the source of the noise with a yell, tearing through trees as if he expects Terry or one of his goons to be hiding among the leaves.

“Daniel, stop!” you cry out, quickly moving over to him and dragging him away from the trees. Putting your hands on his shoulders, you lock eyes with him. “There’s no one there, okay? And this is a park, in the middle of the day; no one is going to hurt us here.”

His chest is heaving as he tries to take deep, calming breaths, but he’s still very much on edge. Eventually, his shoulders slump, and you feel like you can let him go without him charging off to fight something.

“Listen to me, Daniel. Terry is probably very dangerous; you’re right about that. He isn’t someone that you can fight against and win. And I’m not saying that because you’re not a great fighter,” you say when he opens his mouth to protest, “I’m saying it because he isn’t going to play by the rules. You could get hurt, or worse. You have to promise me you’ll stay away from him, and keep yourself safe.”

“B-But, what if he –” he stutters, and you interrupt him, knowing just how to nip his desire to play hero in the bud.

“He might not stop at you, Daniel,” you point out, clenching your hands into fists to keep your body from trembling at the thought. “He could go after Mr. Miyagi, or me, or anyone. Best to not let him get to you; he’s like a ticking time bomb, and we don’t know what could set him off. Promise me you’ll stay out of trouble; stay with Mr. Miyagi as often as you can. I’m sure he’ll ease up after the tournament.”

Daniel’s forehead creases, and there’s a stubborn look in his eye, but he relents after a moment.

“Okay, fine. And you’ll stay safe too, right?”

“Yes, Danny – I promise. I won’t go near him or that dojo again.”

Daniel lets out a sigh of relief, and insists on accompanying you to the grocery store on your walk home.

“Daniel, you may be taking this a bit too far,” you tease as he helps you carry your things.

“Gotta keep you safe,” he huffs, having insisted on taking the heavier items.

“If anything, this is making me less safe, Daniel. After all, I’m not the karate champion; he’s not after me! You're just putting a target on my back,” you joke, but the boy seems insistent on taking this very seriously. You suppose that that’s better than the alternative.

He walks you to your door, ignoring your protests.

“Thank you, Daniel.” You’re grateful for the help, and the concern, but you had never been someone who liked relying on the support of others. “Now, please don’t do anything silly like risk yourself trying to stand guard, alright? I’m going to be fine.” You’re not sure if you’re trying to convince him or yourself.

“Fine, fine. I’ll give you a call tonight though, alright?” Daniel insists, and you agree, parting ways for the day as you seal yourself in your apartment.

---

You spend the afternoon cleaning the apartment and watching TV, trying not to dwell on what Daniel had told you. You make sure to double-check that every window is locked as you move from room to room, cleaning thoroughly; it was a good way to work off all of this nervous energy.

The fact that Daniel didn’t think you were safe to talk in your own apartment has you on edge. Terry didn’t know where you lived – even if Daniel had told him you used to be neighbours in the now-demolished apartment building, he shouldn’t know where you lived now. And even if he did, it’s not like he could get inside… right?

By the time you’ve eaten dinner and done the dishes, you’re feeling more comfortable in your home again, and decide to relax further by running yourself a nice bath. You sink into the hot water and bubbles, letting the tension from the day escape you, closing your eyes…

The phone rings from the other room, startling you. You glare through the doorway at the offending noise. Daniel had said he was going to call you, but surely you could just call him back when you were out of the bath.

You decide to let the phone ring out, and hear your voice on the answering machine, telling the caller to leave a message after the ‘beep.’ The machine beeps, and there’s silence for a long moment.

“Hello, Y/N.”

The bath water suddenly feels ice cold. That wasn’t Danny.

“It’s Terry Silver.”

He didn’t need to introduce himself; you’d recognize that voice anywhere.

“You haven’t come by the dojo in a few days; I’ve missed seeing that pretty face. You know that we have a lot to talk about, and we should. You know where to find me.”

The message ends there, and you curl into a ball in the tub, resting your forehead on your knees as you force yourself to take deep, steady breaths. Your body is covered in goosebumps, though the water is still steaming.

Why was Terry calling you? Why was he acting like everything was fine? If you two had a lot to talk about, then he had assumed that Daniel had told you what he’d done, and should know that you wouldn’t want to talk to him about it. So was he just calling to scare you?

Taking a deep breath, you force your body to move, pulling the stopper out of the drain and standing up; there was no way you’d be able to enjoy the bath now. You dry off and head to your bedroom, rooting around your dresser for your winter pyjamas – you were freezing, despite the hot bath and it being the middle of the summer. Maybe some tea would help…

You walk into the kitchen and set the kettle to boil. Selecting a sleepy time teabag from your collection, you open the cupboard and grab a mug, moving back to the stove.

The phone rings again and you yelp, dropping your cup on the floor where it shatters. Ignoring the mess for the moment, you reach over and move the kettle off the element before gingerly hopping onto the counter, not wanting to get glass on your bare feet. Sitting next to the phone now, you find that you can’t move away from it as it continues to ring. Would it be him again?

The machine plays your voice again, the beep sounding ominous. You hold your breath, your gaze locked on the answering machine.

“Y/N?! Are you –”

You scramble to pick up the phone, feeling overwhelmed with relief.

“Hey Danny! Yes, I’m fine,” you say, trying to keep your voice from shaking.

“Y/N! Why didn’t you pick up?” he demands, clearly worried that you’re not taking this seriously enough.

“I wanted to make sure it was you first, and not Terry calling.” Well, that was true, at least…

“Oh. That’s… that’s a really smart idea,” Daniel says, sounding appeased. “So, everything was normal today?”

“Yeah, I guess, all things considered…” You would not be telling him about Terry calling; it was exactly the type of thing that would have him camping out outside your front door, determined to protect you.

“And everything is alright with you and Mr. Miyagi? No goons ruining the shop or stealing the bonsais?”

“Yeah, nothing happened today. But we can’t let our guard down!”

You hum in agreement; you don’t think you’ll be letting your guard down any time soon.

You agree to check in with Daniel regularly over the next few days; there was only a week or so before the tournament, and hopefully all of this would blow over after that.

You sleep fitfully with the bedroom light on, though you’re not sure how exactly this makes you feel safer.

***

You’re on your way home from work a few days later, hopping off the bus at the stop closest to your house. It was late, and the streets were pretty much deserted in Reseda at this time of night. Your car was in the shop, and you forgot how much longer it took to get home by bus. But it was only a twenty minute walk or so to your apartment, so you aren’t worried.

That is, you weren’t worried until five minutes or so into your trek home.

A low whistle comes from behind you, and you jump, turning to look back even though you know you shouldn’t. A group of four men are following you, maybe fifty feet away. They’d been very quiet up to this point, but now that you’ve spotted them they are getting more rowdy, laughing and shoving each other.

“Look at that; she stopped when you whistled! What a well-trained, pretty little thing,” one of them comments, pitching his voice to carry over to you.

You turn back around, picking up your pace as quickly as you can without breaking into a run, scanning the area for a sign of someone else nearby who might be able to help. You hear the men laugh behind you, and they sound a lot closer.

“Where are you going, beautiful?”

“Why don’t you come have a drink with us; we’ll show you a good time!”

You come up to an intersection, and still, no one else is around. You have a decision to make. It was eight blocks to Daniel and Mr. Miyagi, six blocks to your apartment or… three blocks to the Cobra Kai dojo.

You veer right, sprinting down the street towards the dojo, tears blurring your vision, your heart racing as your feet pound the pavement; you hear one of them shout and can hear them coming after you. Even if Terry hated Daniel, even if he hated you, there was no way he was enough of a monster to stand by and let these men attack you. Please, let him still be there…

You’ve made it two blocks, but you can hear them getting closer, and even with the adrenaline pumping through you, you’re quickly starting to get tired, your breath burning in your throat. You try to push yourself further, you’re almost there… and you roll your ankle, making you stumble to the ground with a yelp.

You make to scramble to your feet, the skin on your palms and your knees burning as the night air hits the fresh scrapes, but quickly find yourself surrounded by the men.

“Poor thing, did you hurt yourself?” one asks mockingly, smirking down at you.

“Come with me, baby. I’ll take real good care of you,” leers another, making to grab your arm.

“Stay away from me,” you say weakly, your voice coming out as a hoarse whisper. It feels like your throat is closing up; you can’t scream, you can barely breathe.

One comes behind you, forcing his hands underneath your arms to pull you to your feet, and something about him touching you sets you off. You kick back with your leg, hitting him in the knee, making him let go of you; you send an elbow into his stomach and he lets out a pained grunt.

You move to run again – you were only a few doors away from the dojo – but a hand fists in your hair and shoves you over to a slab of raised concrete that housed a few plants. The hand at the back of your head pushes you down, bending you over the concrete, and you hit your head hard on the rough concrete, right on your browbone above one of your eyes and making you cry out with pain.

You’re pulled up by your hair again with a whimper, the man holding you pressing himself against your back.

“I’m sorry, gorgeous – did I hurt you?” he asks, his tone patronizing. “Here, let’s give that pretty little head of yours a softer spot to rest.”

He bends you over the concrete again, this time pushing you face first in the dirt. The men howl and jeer at your position, goading the other man as he holds both your wrists behind your back in his free hand. He grinds his hips against your butt, and you realize with a sickening feeling that he’s hard.

“Please, please don’t!” you beg, trying to make yourself heard as your voice is muffled by the dirt.

“Let me at her first,” growls a man from the side. “The little bitch deserves what’s coming to her for attacking me.”

Your pleas are completely drowned out as the men start to argue, closing in on you as you’re pinned down, their hands grabbing at your clothes. You can’t see, you can’t move, and your heart is thudding so loudly in your ears that you can barely hear.

And then one of them screams.

You’re paralyzed with fear, even as the man holding you down releases you, and you hear the sounds of fighting all around you as you slowly manage to push yourself off the dirt, curling into a ball on the ground. You know you should run away, but you just can’t.

After what seems like forever, you hear footsteps approaching you in the now silent night. Burying your face further in your knees, your whole body trembles.

“Y/N?”

The sound of your name startles you enough to look up, and your eyes meet the familiar blue of Terry’s. Even crouched down on the ground next to you, you still have to crane your neck to look up at him. You breathe a sigh of relief; your intuition had been right. Terry had saved you.

“T-Terry?” you stammer, quickly moving from feeling numb to feeling very overwhelmed. “Oh G-God, Terry! They… they…” Your face crumples as you let out an anguished sob, curling up into a ball again and hiding your face.

You feel his large, warm hand touch your upper arm, trying to offer you comfort without startling you.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay!” he murmurs soothingly. “Why don’t you come inside? I’ve got a first-aid kit, I’ll help patch you up. That’s quite a gash on your forehead.”

You whimper, but force yourself to nod, and he gently helps you to your feet. Looking around, you see two of the men collapsed on the sidewalk, the other two nowhere to be found. Still, the sight of them has you trembling so hard you’re worried you’ll fall over.

“Ssshh, it’s alright. They can’t hurt you anymore. Can you walk?”

You bob your head jerkily and move to walk the short distance to the dojo, but you stumble almost immediately. Before you even come close to hitting the ground, Terry has caught you, sweeping you up into his arms and carrying you bridal style over to Cobra Kai. He doesn’t put you down once you reach the front door, merely shifting you so that he has a free hand to open the door and taking you inside.

Walking past the large training area, Terry takes you to a back office, somewhere you’ve never been before. He sets you down on a cot – you knew that he had stayed somewhat regularly in the dojo, or at least, that’s what he’d told you – and orders you to stay put, leaving you alone in the room.

You sit up, leaning against the wall, trying not to cry. This has put you in a very awkward and potentially dangerous situation; just because Terry had saved you from a terrible fate didn’t mean that everything you now knew about him stopped being true. He was still unpredictable, unstable, violent… and possibly very upset with you.

You had to get out of there.

Before you even manage to climb off the bed, Terry is back, looming in the doorway with an armful of things. You freeze, and he comes around to the side of the cot, kneeling in front of you.

“I locked the doors, just to be safe. No one can get in here, I promise,” he reassures you in a soothing voice as he looks through the first-aid kit. You feel yourself start to relax despite your better judgement. Looking at the ground, you see that in addition to the first-aid kit he’s brought over the top of a karate gi, an empty bowl, a bottle of water, and a small towel.

“What’s all that for?” you ask quietly, your voice cracking as you speak. Terry looks up at your face before following your gaze to the objects on the floor.

“You have dirt all over your face; I want to make sure to clean you up so that your cut doesn’t get infected,” he replies calmly, filling the bowl with the water and dipping the towel to get it damp. “And the gi is for you; I thought you might be cold, especially if you go into shock.”

He picks it up, tossing it around your shoulders and loosely tying it at your waist. You slip your arms into the sleeves; it’s far too large for you, and as you take in a deep breath you notice that it smells like Terry. This must be one of his. Despite your better judgement, the scent has you relaxing slightly.

“It looks good on you,” he comments with a comforting smile, and you feel yourself blush. You force yourself to remember what Daniel had told you; you can’t let your guard down around him.

He lifts the damp towel to your face, and your eyes flutter closed as he wipes the dirt and blood away. The cloth presses against your cut and you let out a whimper that makes Terry murmur an apology. He was being so gentle with you.

Once he’s finished with the towel, you open your eyes, and his face is much closer to yours than you had anticipated it being. He takes your chin in his hand, staring at your face intently, and your whole body is rigid with tension.

“I don’t think you need stitches,” he informs you quietly after a moment. “A bandage will be fine. I’ll need to disinfect it, and that will probably hurt a bit, okay?”

You hesitate, again finding it difficult to speak, but eventually give him a nod.

“Lay down.”

“What? Why?” you ask, leaning away from him as you start to panic. He shushes you again, but it’s less comforting than the last time he did it.

“I don’t want the disinfectant getting in your eye is all,” he coos, his hands gentle but firm as he guides your body to the side and lays you on your back on the bed. You force yourself to take deep breaths.

“Oh. Sorry,” you mutter the apology, hoping you haven’t offended him for some reason.

“It’s a perfectly reasonable reaction,” he murmurs, rifling through the first-aid kit. “You just had a traumatic experience, after all,” he adds after a moment. “Okay, this is gonna sting. Do you want to squeeze my hand?” he asks, offering it to you.

You set your mouth in a firm line, your body tense in anticipation of the pain, and grab fistfuls of the blanket beneath you in both hands. Terry doesn’t seem at all bothered by your rejection, leaning over you and applying the cold gel to your wound. It stings terribly, and you bite your lip, clenching your eyes shut and trying not to make a noise.

You force your eyes open after a long moment of silence, and see that Terry’s eyes are still on your face, watching your reaction with an intense expression. Something in your belly clenches.

He looks away, choosing a bandage and applying it over your eye, though you think he presses down on it more firmly than necessary.

“There,” he says softly, surveying his work; he’s still holding your head in his hands. “All better.”

He’s doing it again – using that weird, magnetic pull he has to draw you in, make you feel… well, definitely not safe, but like you want to stay on this dangerous precipice with him.

“Thank you,” you say, speaking more loudly than necessary as you move to climb off the bed, intentionally disrupting the intimate atmosphere. You had to get away from him before he sunk his claws into you; in some ways, he felt more dangerous than the men he had saved you from.

“Y/N, wait,” he says, putting a hand on your shoulder and keeping you in place.

“I have to get home, I–”

“I’ve missed you.”

You freeze at his words, staring straight ahead at his chest.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

You force yourself to breathe again – when did it get so difficult?

“You know why,” you whisper after a long moment, still refusing to look at him. Suddenly, the gi top that had just felt so warm and comforting feels like a straightjacket, and your fingers move to untie it and take it off. You feel his gaze track the motion, but he doesn’t stop you.

“I haven’t done anything to you, Y/N.”

“You’ve been lying to me ever since I met you, Terry!” you snap, your wariness disappearing for a moment.

“I have not,” he growls, setting off alarm bells in your head. “I’ve never lied to you. I’ve never hurt you. I just saved your ass, for fuck’s sake!”

“What about Danny? What about Mike and Snake and–”

Terry’s hand covers your mouth suddenly. You fall silent as a jolt of desire like electricity courses through you. You hate the feeling with every fibre of your being.

“I never lied to him either, and I certainly never hurt him. He just didn’t bother asking the right questions.”

“You’re trying to get out of this on a technicality?” you say once you’ve pried his hand off of your face. He shrugs, an amused smile twisting his lips.

“I’m very good at what I do, Y/N. I have my reasons to make sure LaRusso loses the tournament, and I feel very justified in the training methods I’ve used. I don’t see what any of that has to do with you, though.”

“You’re messing with a kid!”

“Please. He’s practically an adult, and he’s certainly old enough to face the consequences of his actions. But be honest – that’s not why you’re scared of me, sweetheart. What’s the real problem you have with me?”

You’re quiet, biting your lip as you contemplate how to begin to answer his question.

“I know what it is,” he croons, his voice almost musical as he stands over you, moving to brace himself with his hands on either side of you. You lean back as his face gets dangerously close to yours. “You’re scared of what you feel when you look at me, isn’t that right? Scared of what you know you want, thinking about me as you lay awake at night?”

Your heart is beating in your throat, your face heating up.

“I… No, I…”

“Ssshhh,” Terry whispers, closing the distance between your faces once more. You can’t move, you can’t think, you can’t breathe. “It’s okay that you’re scared, babygirl. Let me show you what you really want…”

Cradling your head in his hands gently, he pulls you close, kissing you with a passion and a bruising force that is anything but gentle. You brain seems to short-circuit from the intensity of the kiss, and for a brief moment you’re kissing him back; the desire overwhelming you as he stokes it into a burning flame with his lips and tongue. You force yourself to fight through the dizziness, your head spinning.

“Mmhn… Terry… NO!” you say firmly, shoving him in the chest. He moves back a couple of steps, his head cocked as he looks down at you. The moonlight streams in from the window behind him, his eyes glinting brightly at you. He doesn’t seem upset with you.

He also doesn’t seem deterred.

“Don’t fight this, doll. I’ve seen the way you look at me; I know you want it,” he purrs in a husky voice, smirking at you as he slowly approaches the bed once more.

He couldn’t do this… He wouldn’t do this… He had just saved you from those men trying to do this exact thing!

“No, Terry,” you insist, climbing off the side of the bed, your eyes fixed on him. “I don’t want this. Please stay away from me,” you beg, backing through the doorway. The last thing you see is his mouth twisting into a predatory grin that makes you turn and run.

Scrambling, you make your way to the front of the dojo and go to tug the door open.

It doesn’t budge.

“Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?” you hear Terry sing menacingly from the office; the sound of it sends shivers down your spine. He laughs maniacally, like a hyena, before appearing in the doorway, calm as can be. “Double-sided locking system; I thought we might be needing it.”

A sense of dread roots you to the spot, and you feel your teeth chattering.

“You… you planned this?” you say, your voice barely more than a high-pitched whisper, but the sound carries through the silence of the dojo.

“I have far more than just Barnes, Dennis and Snake at my disposal,” he says, giving you a cruel smile. “Those guys were more than happy to go after you for free; I mostly paid them to let me kick their asses without them bitching about it or giving me away.”

“Why?!” you ask frustratedly. As much as you didn’t want to admit it, you knew that if Terry had wanted to get you here, he could have done so himself, without needing to stage an attack. This was madness.

“I wanted to see if you’d come to me for help, even knowing what Danny-Boy told you. And you did!” he says, sounding delighted, like he’s praising a child for picking up their toys. He slowly approaches you, and you try to maintain the distance between you, but it’s no use. He’s bigger, he knows what he’s doing, and you’re terrified.

“Guess you shoulda listened to Danny-Boy, huh?”

---

Part 2

#terry silver #thomas ian griffith #terry silver x reader #karate kid #kk3 #the karate kid 3 #smut #thanks for the ask!#keep the requests coming #dark desires october

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p96822 · 4 months

Text

They made it to Fenton Work, and Marinette was amazed about the strange object on the roof of their home.

"What's that?" Marinette asks.

"Something we hope you're not gonna need to find out." Jazz answered quickly.

They walked into the building, and Jack and Maddie showed her to the guest bedroom on the second floor.

The Fenton couple left Marinette to get comfy with her new living space. Marinette starts to take her thing out of her suitcase, including a picture of Adrien. As she sighs at the picture of her crush Danny knocked on the door. Panicking, Marinette hid the photo back in her suitcase.

"Y-Yes?"

"Dinner is almost ready, Marinette. Whenever you're ready." Danny said.

"Thanks, Danny. I'll be there." Marinette said to him.

A few minutes later, Marinette ate with the Fenton family, and Danny decided to ask their house guest questions.

"So, Marinette? What do you like to do during her spare time?" He asked.

"Oh, hang out with friends, draw, design outfits..." She started.

"You could make new jumpsuits for Danny and Jazz," Jack said.

Danny and Jazz sighed heavily about their father asking this to their guest.

The Next Day

Danny decided to get up early and help Marinette get to school on time. For once, Danny was on time as no ghost detour occurred. Upon arrival, he then took Marinette to class.

"For once, you're on time, Mr. Fenton." Mr. Lancer said to Danny.

"Yeah..." Danny said to his teacher.

"Introduce yourself, miss," Lancer said to the French exchange student.

"I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It's nice to meet you." She said to the other students.

"Why wasn't Adrien Agreste the one to come?" She heard some of the girls complain.

"Why wasn't it that hot French girl who's that Queen Bee?" Some of the guys complained.

"Because she's awful. Adrien Agreste is at least nicer!" A girl went.

Marinette sighed over the classmates wanting her crush or her bully. Danny patted her on the back to comfort her because of classmates' expectations of the exchange student.

"Don't mind them, and they're just typical American teens. Probably worse than the French variety." Danny assured, earning a small smile.

Marinette sat next to Danny, where Tucker waited as he used his breath spray on him.

"Hi, I'm Tucker, Tucker Foley. Any chance you're open to teaching some French? Otherwise, any friends who'd love to give personal lessons?" He asks with a grin.

Danny elbowed his best friend in the ribs for asking that.

"Not the time." He says.

Marinette answered most of Mr. Lancer's questions as the class was happening.

"Now, who can tell me what year Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juli-"

"1597," Marinette says with a smile.

Lancer smiled in relief.

"Finally... someone who pays attention!" He says.

Danny was impressed by how smart Marinette really was.

Wow... she's not just pretty. She's smart.

Lunchtime

Since she did not pack her own food, Marinette depended on Danny to get her something to eat.

Marinette couldn't help but stare at the odd-looking meatloaf.

"This is American school food?" She asks.

"Yeah, it ain't French toast or French fries, but it's filling." Tucker went.

"Actually, those aren't as common as you think where I'm from." Marinette poked the food with a spork, not sure what would happen.

"You'll learn to get used to it... at least, I'm sure someone will," Danny says.

"Hey there, French babe." Dash went, getting her attention. "Want a little tour of Amity Park with the king of Casper High?" He went with his arms flexing.

Marinette blinked before her eyes darted to Danny, who shook his head.

"No, thank you." She went.

Dash frowned while his buddies chuckled.

"Well, got any hotties back home interested in an American stud?" He asks.

"Sure, just let me know when I see one." Marinette snarked.

Dash snarled in anger before grabbing Danny by the collar, hoisting him up.

"Fenton! Your new girlfriend isn't getting it that I'm hitting on her or offering to make her friends' lives better!"

"She's/I'm not my/his girlfriend!" The two shouted.

Before Dash could do anything else, Paulina pushed him aside to talk to Marinette herself.

"Even though you don't seem that popular, since you go to the same school as Adrien Agreste, I think you can make it on the A-List," Paolina said.

Marinette felt that Paulina was like the American version of Chloe, however maybe even worse.

"No, thank you." Marinette rejected Paulina's offer.

"What, why?" Paulina asked.

"You remind me of a certain someone back home... someone as intolerable as you," Marinette said.

Paulina scowled.

"Hmph! Fine then. I wish that girl who used to be Queen Bee were here, and I bet I could be a better superhero than her. So that I can finally get my ghost boy to notice me."

Danny had the shivers thinking about what Paulina would do if she had those superpowers.

I don't even want to know what she'd have in mind. He thought.

Paulina imagined using Queen Bee's spinning top to wrap around her ghost boy to have her first kiss with him.

"If I were a cool superhero too, we'd be the most popular couple ever!" She gushed.

"You are aware a superhero has to, you know, save people, right?" Marinette pointed out.

"Pfft... why bother? I'll be too busy having my ghost boy to myself." Paulina states.

Danny frowned, but Marinette, not liking another Chloe, spoke up.

"Then I guess he wouldn't want to go out with you if you're too lazy actually to be a superhero. Even Queen Bee actually used her powers."

Paulina frowned hard.

The bell rang as lunch was over. Danny took Marinette to her next class that they had together. Meanwhile, Paulina watched as the two headed to class.

"She knows nothing about my ghost boy, nothing at all." She muttered.

As the day continued, the rest of her next class went well, and Marinette enjoyed the rest without any problems with Paulina and Dash.

After class was over, Danny and Marinette headed home.

"School here is not that different from the one in Paris, food being of less edible quality notwithstanding," Marinette said.

"I'm glad to hear that, Marinette," Danny said.

"Me too. I was worried I wouldn't fit in." She said, smiling that pretty smile at Danny.

"Beside Dash and Paulina, everything seems to go well for you, Marinette," Danny said.

"It did... didn't it?" Marinette asked.

And no reason for Ladybug to make an appearance... She thought.

#danny phantom #dannette #danny fenton x marinette #ladybug x danny phantom #miraculous tales of ladybug and cat noir #dannyxmarinette #Dash Baxter #Paulina Sanchez

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fairybouquet · 1 year

Text

Find My Way

Pairing: Simon 'Ghost' Riley x Reader

Summary: Simon comes back after a long deployment, will you let him back in?

Word Count: 1,157

Warnings: Some swearing, potential grammar mistakes, Simon is dumb and handles things immaturely, possibly ooc? Let me know if there's anything I should put.

A/N: listened to Begin by Danny Padilla, had a breakdown, bon appetite

Read it on AO3

Simon's hand was balled into a fist, hovering over your door. His heart thumped in his chest as he worked up the courage to knock. Maybe he should've called first...

"Here goes nothing." He mutters to himself.

He knocks. Each tap against the wood almost echoes in the hallway of your apartment building.

Moments pass, he hears nothing.

Should he knock again?

Or are you not answering?

Your neighbor still has a wreath hanging on their door, covered in a red ribbon and fake snow, a gleam from the glittery bow kept shining in his eyes. The shine reminding him that it's been a while since his last visit.

The last visit where he admitted he loved you, then he left for half a year.

Tensions were usually high when it was almost time for Simon to leave. He wasn't ignorant of your concern; it was in every glance, every touch, and every kiss.

He tried telling you that he'll be alright. But he knows it's not enough to quell your worries. His years of tactical training, and years of experience in highly intense combat with ruthless killers pale in comparison when you stare at him with those pleading eyes.

You've been seeing each other for a little over a year, and you didn't mind how cautious Simon was to let you in. In fact, you were relieved about it. You had trouble letting your guard down just like he did, perhaps that's what kept him around.

It just didn't stop you from caring about him.

This would be the second time he's been called back to work. Though the first time he left, he was only gone for 2 months.

This time he's not sure when he'll be back, or if he'll be back.

So he distances himself from you. He went from spending every spare moment at your apartment, to going home alone because he needs to pack, to barely answering the texts you send him. It would make him leaving you easier, right?

Surprise, it doesn't.

He's due to leave in a few hours, he's fully packed and expected to be on the base before dawn. But he can only think of you, you didn't call him when you got off work yesterday, he's mad at himself for being disappointed.

He tells himself that he doesn't really need you, he doesn't need anyone. He can't get attached to people because of his job, it's too dangerous.

So why does his heart ache when he thinks of you?

At that moment, his phone buzzes and lights up, taking him out of his thoughts. It's a text from you.

Is there any way I can see you before you leave?

He stares at the notification, he wants to. He really wants to see you. He unlocks his phone to respond but stops when he sees his background. It's a photo of you when you fell asleep on his couch. It was a couple months into your relationship and the first time you spent the weekend at his place.

He came back with dinner and saw you asleep bundled up with his blankets, you looked so peaceful in his home. Fitting into the corner of his couch like you always belonged there, next thing he knew he had his phone out to take the picture. He didn't want to admit it then, but that was the moment he fell in love with you.

Fuck, he loves you. He loves you and he's been an idiot.

He opens the text and responds, I'm on my way.

He puts his bags in his car and drives to your apartment. He has to see you, just one more time before he's thrown in the rage of war.

On the way there, he's caught by every red light, driving behind the slowest drivers. Fucking hell, he thinks. By the time he parks at your building, its thirty minutes later and he's agitated with the less amount of time he has with you, he just wants to go inside.

Simon unlocks your door with the key you gave him. You shot up from the couch when you heard the door, smoothing your shirt down in a vain attempt to look more presentable.

Simon meets your eyes and pauses, "Sorry it took me so long."

"It's okay," You slowly walk up to him, caution in every step, "You're here now."

"That's not what I mean."

You're inches in front him now, looking up at him with furrowed eyebrows and a slight tilt to your head. "What do you mean?"

In a quick motion, Simon shuts the door and places his hands on your cheeks; his fingers pressing lightly on the base of your neck.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you that I love you."

He rubs his thumb over your cheekbone, leaning in to press his lips against yours. It's soft, patient. You're always so patient with him, you deserve the same treatment.

"Simon—" You place your hands on his forearms, "Where is this coming from? You love me?"

He rests his forehead against yours, "I do, is that alright?"

You let out a giggle, "Of course."

You only have a few hours with him, and you know it's going to break your heart to watch him leave. But you just can't help yourself.

"Of course, it's alright, because I love you too."

Simon gives you the biggest smile you've ever seen from him, and he's going to spend the next few hours showing you just how much he loves you.

Simon bows his head and sighs, it's been five minutes and you haven't answered.

He begins walking down the hallway with his eyes cast down. He presses the button to call the elevator.

It takes a few moments, but the doors open and he hears a gasp. He looks up and his eyes widen when sees you standing there with bags of groceries in your arms.

You hurriedly step off the elevator, "You're back."

Hearing your voice again releases the tension he's felt in his chest for the last seven months, you place the groceries on the ground and wrap your arms around his shoulders. The scent of your perfume fills his nose and he almost breaks down then and there. He missed that smell, he missed you.

He holds you tight against him, fearing that if he let you go you would fade away.

"You should've called." You whisper in his ear, and he chuckles.

"I know." He kisses your temple, "I know, I'm sorry it took me so long."

You unwrap yourself from him, "Come on home, Simon." Your voice is as soft as ever, and you're beaming at him. "I was just about to make dinner."

He picks up the groceries and lets you lead the way. When he finally enters your apartment, he's never been so sure he's exactly where he's supposed to be.

Find my way.

In the skyline tonight,

You're the better view.

Do you mind if I stay?

When the highlight of life

Might begin with you.

#simon riley x reader #simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley #halfway through writing this i realized my last fic also had the word find in the title #this was meant to be a warm up #but i got stuck on one part so this ended up taking like a week and a half :)

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urmindisastreamofcolors · 3 years

Text

Greta Van Fleet One Shots: How You Meet

T/W: Mentions of a car wreck

Josh:

It was an unexpected turn of events, but Josh liked to refer to it as universal intervention. Every morning you walked ten minutes down the street to your favorite coffee shop to get something heavily caffeinated before holing yourself up in your art studio for the rest of the day. This morning activity had gone past routine a long time ago and had quickly become ritual. You had found out that walk was a great way for you to start your day for sculpting with clay.

One rainy fall morning right before Halloween, you were surprised to see four young guys milling around the coffee shop seeming to enjoy the atmosphere while they discussed various pieces of art from local artists lining the walls. A few of the pieces of photography were yours from when you visited the Grand Canyon a couple summers ago, but since then, your attention had been focused on pottery.

After a steaming latte was firmly secured in your hand and a hefty tip left for the baristas, you began to make your way back to the door as you planned out your day mentally. Before you could grab the door handle, one of the shorter guys from the group with curly hair quickly held the door for you with a breathtaking smile. You hadn’t been into photography in years, but you would’ve died on the spot to have captured that grin on camera.

You offered your thanks quickly as you your face was suddenly on fire. He had to of known you were staring, but what you didn’t know was the he had been staring since you entered the coffee shop.

“Hey! Wait! What’s your name,” the young man called after you as you stepped outside onto the sidewalk. The morning light made him squint his deep brown eyes as he stared at you, waiting on an answer.

“I’m y/n,” you answered shyly as you pushed a stray piece of hair out of your face and nearly slapped yourself when you realized you totally forgot to ask his. Before you could open your mouth, he had already beat you the punch and leaned back against the building with his arms crossed and a confident grin on his face.

“So, y/n....do you come here often?”

Danny:

The music was so loud that you were sure your head would burst. You could feel the beat of the music in your the center of your chest as you sipped on your drink. Your friend, y/f/n, was friends with a drummer for a pretty famous band and they extended an invitation to their house party to kick off their new album release. While you though Greta Van Fleet was a weird name for a rock n’ roll band, you did like their music.

Bob Seger blared through the house as you continued the search for your friend. The body heat from the crowd was coming off in waves and making you feel dizzy. You were just ready to leave, but you couldn’t leave your friend behind. A tap on your shoulder had you turning quickly coming face to face with a tall guy with long black hair who offered you a friendly smile.

“Hey! I’m Danny. I’m friend’s with y/f/n too! She’s been looking all over for you,” he yelled over the music as he pointed in the direction of your friend who was jumping up and down trying to get your attention. You and Danny laughed as some random guy with long hair and a pink shirt started doing the same thing to make fun of her.

“That’s Sam. He’s my best friend. It’s getting to be a bit much in here, so we’re all going to step out for a few minutes if you would like to join. Unfortunately, I don’t know everyone here tonight and I don’t want to leave you by yourself,” Danny yelled over the music with a kind look on his face.

“Yeah! That would be great! I was actually getting a bit overwhelmed, so I’m glad you’re here dude,” you shouted back as you placed your hand in the crook of his offered elbow. As you two made your way to the edge of the room where your friends were waiting, people stumbled over each other to get your way and were yelling and patting Danny on the back. A sudden realization ran through body as you felt your eyes widen at the idea that this was the Danny from Greta Van Fleet.

Sam:

You and Ronnie had been best friends for as long as you two could remember which meant her brothers annoyed you as much as they did her. Throughout your high school years, you honestly didn’t have a crush on any of them but found their friendship to be as irreplaceable as Ronnie’s.

Once they made their big debut, you didn’t see them often and you and Ronnie both attended different colleges. In fact, you had a once in a lifetime opportunity to study abroad and couldn’t pass it up.The miles between you and Ronnie didn’t matter and you talked every single day and normally face-timed too. Any updates on the boys came from her or Karen. You did miss hanging out in the garage on the weekends and playing pranks, but as the days turned into years, you didn’t think much more of it.

Finally, you were able to go home for a much needed visit after your year abroad and apparently, Ronnie and the boys would be home at the same time too. Quickly, you all made plans to hang out at the first possible moment and you were jittery with excitement on your flight back to US.

After taking a couple days to catch up on some much needed rest, you were finally able to go hang out at the Kiszka house. When you got there, you didn’t even knock on the door and waltzed straight into the living room like you had always done. Ronnie and the boys were sprawled all over the furniture with the exception of Danny who always preferred the floor. Hearing your entrance, Ronnie let out a scream as she lept over the back of the couch and literally sent you sprawling to the ground with her on top of you.

“Okay-Ronnie-Ronnie! Let go of my neck! I can’t breathe,” you croaked out as the only Kiszka girl finally loosened her death grip and helped you up. All the boys got up next to give you a quick hug, but you noticed one missing.

“Where’s Sammy,” you asked as your heard his feet hitting the steps on his way down. With a huge grin, he made his way over to get a hug, but you felt yourself swallow quickly as you willed yourself not to blush. Little Sammy had apparently grown up on tour and Sam was the one approaching you with his arms outstretched. Giving you a tight squeeze, you could smell his shampoo from his long hair and willed your heart to slow down.

You had never had a crush on any of Ronnie’s brothers, but that had quickly changed in less than a minute.

Jake:

The radio was still playing as you hung upside down in your car. Your seat belt was the only thing holding you in place. You could taste the blood in your mouth and salty tears and blood ran into your hairline. Adrenaline was pumping through your veins as you scanned your surroundings and tried to remember how you ended up in the current situation, but nothing immediately came to mind which made you cry harder. You were sobbing when you could hear voices drifting through the shattered windshield.

Despite the pain in your ribs and the tightness of the seat belt, you let out a blood curdling screech that ended in hiccups and sobs. A few moments later, you heard hurried footsteps and gravel crunching..

“Josh! Call 911!”

“Damn! How are we going to get her out? Should we move her?”

“I don’t know! Did anyone get that license plate? She was ran off the road!”

The voices blurred together and your eyes felt heavy. They began to flutter shut when a guy with long hair and a worried expression stuck his head in your car from the busted passenger side window.

“Hey! Stay awake! I know you’re tired, but you have to stay awake. What’s your name,” he asked gently as he wiggled into the car and grabbed on of your hands. The calluses were a drastic difference to your soft palms and he absentmindedly ran his thumb over the back of your hand.

“Y/n. It’s y/n,” you stuttered out.

“It’s nice to meet you. Help’s on the way, okay? I’m Jacob, but I go by Jake. I wish we had met in better circumstances, but you have super pretty eyes,” he said with a soft smile.

“I’m scared, Jake,” you said as a new flood of tears ran into your hairline.

“I know. I’m going to stay right here. You’re not alone. I promise,” Jake said with sincerity as he continued to comfort you.

On the verge of bleeding out, you honestly were wondering if he wasn’t your guardian angel.

#greta van fleet #greta van fleet oneshots #jake kiszka #josh kiszka #sam kiszka #danny wagner #howyoumeetoneshot #gvf #josh gvf #jake gvf #sammy kiszka #sammy gvf #danny gvf

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princessfanonanona · 3 years

Text

College Shenanigans Part 3:

Part one, part two

Gonna Make You Popular

(please note some of the oc’s are borrowed from people simply because I am a tired bean and there’s literally so many of them, ill tag them on the reblog)

"Hey Danny!" Someone calls from across the quad.

Danny pauses in his walk to the food hall to look over and spots Krystie jogging over across the grass. It's an honestly impressive feat considering the four inch sunflower-yellow stilettos she's sporting.

"Hey, what's going on," Danny asks once she's closer.

"Did you start on that anthro project for Ms. Seawagon yet?" She asks, flipping her long box braids out of her face.

Danny groans, shoulders dropping. "I completely forgot."

Krystie giggles. "I swear you'd forget your head if it wasn't attached."

"Nah, it's actually harder than you think to forget your head somewhere." Danny says.

Krystie arches a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "I can't tell if you're serious."

"Oh, I'm-"

"Fenton! Look out!"

Danny spins and catches the football that nearly decks him in the back of the head. He looks up to see McKenzie and a couple of other guys from the marine biology department.

"Nice catch!" The guy in blue says. Danny thinks his name is Steve or Stan or something. Maybe.

"Sorry man," McKenzie calls. "Wasn't trying to kill you there."

"It's fine, not like I can die again." Danny says throwing the ball back.

"Dude what," the guy in gray says.

"Honestly? Big mood." Steve/Stan says.

"Are you sure you're not a philosophy major," Krystie asks.

Danny laughs, "You know I'm trying to get into NASA, why would I be in philosophy?"

Krystie studies him for a moment. "Nevermind, you're too much an ironic puppy to understand."

Danny gapes. "What did you just call me?"

"C'mon puppy, I would like to have lunch before I pick your brain for the case study." Krystie grabs him by the elbow to drag him along.

Danny follows willingly with a brief wave to McKenzie and his friends.

"So that's Fenton," the guy in gray says.

"Yep," McKenzie says, tossing the ball.

A few days later finds Danny helping a professor carrying several boxes into the humanities building. His eyes glint green in the fluorescent lights as he let's a touch of gravity fall off the boxes.

"You're such a life saver, dear," Professor Birchshoo says, hobbling a little ahead of Danny. The right wheel of her walker squeaks.

"Oh, it's not a problem at all," Danny smiles, shifting the tower of boxes to the side to check if she turned. He’s not super familiar with the building layout yet.

"Don't be so modest, young man." Professor Birchshoo chides. "I would've been in such a state if you didn't happen a long."

"It's really fine." Danny repeats.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Angela," a young professor says from down a different hall.

"Oh, good afternoon to you too, Clark." Professor Birchshoo greets, false pleasant.

"What poor sap did you wrangle into helping this time?" Clark asks, glancing at Danny.

"I volunteered, actually," Danny cuts in with.

"Oh, did you now," Clark says, tone shifting flat.

"Professor Birchshoo?" Danny turns to the older professor. "Will you also be needing help going through these boxes?"

"Oh, not at all," Birchshoo says. “They're being put right into that new bookshelf I just had put up."

"The bookshelf that even I can't reach without a step stool?" Danny asks.

"That's the one."

"Well, I see I’m unwanted here," Clark says and walks past. His shoulder clips the boxes and nearly knocks them out of Danny’s hands. A boost of flight powers is the only thing keeping the boxes from tumbling.

Professor Birchshoo harrumphs and makes a show of shaking herself once he's out of sight. Danny is immensely reminded of a disgruntled ruffled bird.

"Uh…" Danny blinks down at the little old lady.

"No good young'un," she mutters, walking down the hall again.

"Do you not like…?" Danny starts.

"Clark Bishop," Birchshoo says. "It's his first year here, if you can believe it with all the peacocking he does."

She stops in front of a door and unlocks it.

"Now then, dear, you can just leave those boxes here," she says gesturing to a spot as she moves to place her purse on her desk.

Danny eases the boxes to the floor when someone knocks on the frame.

"Professor Birchshoo?" Another professor pokes her head in, "Oh, I'm so glad to have caught you. Do you have a minute?"

"Coming, Ms. Pattingly." Birchshoo says, before turning to Danny. "You can leave those there, thank you."

"Oh, it wouldn't be a problem to help you unpack," Danny says. "I have plenty of time right now."

"Well, if you insist," Birchshoo sighs. "Alphabetical order by author."

"You got it," Danny smiles and begins to break the tape on the top box. Birchshoo pats him on the shoulder as she steps out the door.

Leaning over to check to see if anyone is looking, Danny sees the coast is clear. He grabs an armful of books and floats up to the shelf to start placing them.

The three boxes of books are empty, flat packed and all the books arranged correctly (he double checked) by the time Professor Birchshoo returns.

"Oh dear me!" Birchshoo's voice is colored in shock. Danny looks up from where he's trying to get the packing tape off his fingers.

"I'm sorry about that, I must have stepped out longer than I thought," Birchshoo says.

"Nah you're fine," Danny smiles and finally gets the strips of tape off and into a ball. "Well if that's all done, I'm gonna head to the library."

"Ah, before you go," Birchshoo pulls a Tupperware container from her purse. "A little sweet treat for helping me."

"Oh, thank you," Danny says.

Birchshoo leans in and says almost conspiratorially, "My wife baked them for whoever helped me. Now don't you let anyone take them from you."

Danny's eyes go wide and he gapes. Professor Birchshoo's wife's baking is actually legendary on campus.

"Thank you," Danny repeats.

"Now, go on then, shoo," Birchshoo says smiling, shooing him out the door.

By the end of the week, the entire staff officed in the humanities building know Danny by sight as Professor Birchshoo's favored student of the year. Danny for his part is immensely confused when the literature, writing and English professors all greet him despite not being in any of their classes.

Professor Bishop is not one of them. Professor Bishop likes to sneer and say petty things to the female staff and generally being a condescending man-ho. The few times Danny bumps into him, Danny is either blatantly ignored or receives the most patronizing greeting.

It really should not be as surprising as it is to hear that Professor Bishop gets pranked as frequently as he does. No one ever sees who does it. They’re harmless pranks, really. The worst happens on a Thursday in April, when Bishop gets slimed. On Friday, all of Birchshoo's classes have freshly baked cookies. (Danny is the only one to know Professor Birchshoo full-body cackles if she finds something funny enough. Something like the video of Bishop getting slimed.)

After the Great Sliming, as the school begins to call it, it is not uncommon to find Danny frequenting Birchshoo's office. She starts to keep cookies in her desk for him because “how can a skinny boy like you be healthy? Need to put on weight is what you need.”

Danny has negative problems with this because 1, free cookies and 2, who says no to Madame Birchshoo’s baked goods? No one who doesn’t want to be a social pariah. They really are that good. He could live with less comments about his size but how do you tell an 82 year old whose actually half your height to stop? You don’t because she means well and she’s as much of a prankster as Danny aspires to be.

Professor Birchshoo does worry sincerely though. Danny is far too skinny in her opinion and the poor boy needs more sleep. It doesn't help that she overheard a pair of her students talking about very concerning things about Danny.

"I swear," Josephina-but-please-call-me-Josie says in one of the breakout lounges of the humanities building. Her thick black hair swishes around her face as she shakes her head. "I never see him eating."

"Just cause you don't see him eating, doesn't mean he doesn't eat," Annita reasons. "Besides I'm more concerned with his sleeping habits."

"Oh no," Josie says.

Anita nods sadly, "I can't even tell you how many shifts I have at the library that we find him working. And not just me, I've talked to the midnight shift and he's there then too."

"How is he even functioning?" Josie asks. "We should talk to his dorm mates and see what they say."

"Let's test the food theory in the meantime," Anita says. "Not that I think he's starving himself, but maybe he's not eating the best."

(Out of sight, Birchshoo has a small heart attack from worry and makes plans to start bringing in sandwiches for Danny’s visits.)

"I'll text him and see if he wants to meet up for dinner then," Josie pulls out her phone. "I do need to go over the notes from CORE Lit. It's kind of crazy how well he can rhyme in iambic pentameter."

"He can what now?" Anita grabs Josie's arm. "Forget sleeping, please tell me he writes poetry, we need a new voice for Slam."

The girls don't have dinner that night but they meet Danny for lunch the following day. Where he is simultaneously hounded by both.

"You can't seriously think that one cup of yogurt is a full lunch," Josie looks about seven levels of scandalized.

"Honestly, Fenton, get a burger or something!" Anita is just as upset.

"I'll get something more later, it's fine." Danny tries to placate.

"You can't just survive off of coffee and yogurt. You need real food!" Josie just about shouts.

"This isn't really food?" Danny holds out the yogurt. He takes on a look of fear as he looks at Josie. "Are we in Neverland?"

"What?" Josie is suddenly very confused about this turn.

"Is this just a figment of my imagination?" Danny sounds even more upset. "Is this even real?"

The yogurt lifts out of his hand and floats as he starts gesticulating.

"Uh," Josie and Anita stare at the yogurt.

"Is everything I know a lie?" Danny continues sounding aggrieved. "If this-"

Anita lunging across the table to grab the floating yogurt cuts Danny's monologue of existential crises off.

"Uh excuse you, I was having a moment." Danny says.

Anita examines the cup, even going so far as to spoon some the yogurt up and then squish it around. She let's go of the cup and it starts to float again.

Josie grabs it this time to examine it.

"What is even happening right now?" Danny asks.

"It's real," Josie whispers.

"You just said that it's not real," Danny says, crossing his arms.

"It was floating!"

"You're imagining it."

Josie let's go of the yogurt. It lands with a wet splat, making a mess of the table.

Danny raises an eyebrow and gets up. "I'm gonna get some paper towels and some real food, whatever that is."

He turns away and proceeds to contort backwards to prevent an accidental clotheslining by a tray of food. He hits a kid passing behind him which jostles her tray and knocks an apple off. Which, through some very impressive agility and acrobatics, Danny catches.

Once upright, he puts the apple on the tray with a soft apology. He doesn't make it three steps before he trips over his own feet going up the step to the higher level and proceeds to faceplate into a wall.

"New theory," Josie says after watching the entire thing.

"Hmm?"

"Danny isn't a real boy."

"What? You think he's some sort of supernatural cryptid," Anita asks. She has to clarify because she knows the sort of 4 am reading binges Josie can get wrapped up in.

"I mean, initially no," Josie says. "But now that you've said it…"

"Girl no, I will break out the spray bottle."

Josie pouts but keeps her mouth shut. Danny returns with a fistful of paper towels and a burger already crammed into his mouth and a tray of fries. Overloaded with fries actually.

"Is this real enough for you?" Danny asks once settled and can remove the burger from his mouth. He then stuffs his face with fries the only way boys seem to know how.

Josie starts mopping up the yogurt.

"As long as it's not going to start floating? Yes," Anita says.

"Rude," Danny says after he swallows.

"So a little birdie told me that you're really good at rhyming." Anita tries to change tactics.

Danny squints at her. "Is this about the slam poetry thing?"

"Yes."

"No."

"I didn't even get to ask!"

"I don't do poetry!"

An only somewhat serious stare off starts between the two of them.

"Fenton!" A shout is heard over the din of the cafeteria.

"No," Danny says to Anita before looking away. He spots Miles coming up to him. "What's up?"

"We're about to play 4-v-4 ultimate frisbee and we need another player. You in?" Miles gives a small wave to the girls.

"I've never played before," Danny admits.

Miles turns back to the cafeteria and shouts back at a gaggle of guys near the soda machine, "He's in!"

The guys' arms go up in a loud cheer.

"I didn't say yes yet!" Danny protests.

"Yet, as in you were going to," Miles says. He turns to the girls. "Sorry, I'm going to kidnap him now."

"For a price," Anita says, a lock of hair curling around a finger.

"For a stunning strawberry blonde such as yourself? Name your price," Miles winks.

"How about a seven digit price?" She holds up her phone.

Miles brightens considerably.

They exchange numbers.

"Great, let's go," Miles says, grabbing Danny to pull him away.

Danny makes a strange guttural noise of protest as he's physically dragged out of his seat. "At least let me finish my fries!"

Miles does pause to grab the tray of fries to take with him as they move to the group by the sodas.

"Smooth," Josie compliments.

"Actually, they're in the astronomy club together," Anita says, typing out a text. "I'm hoping we can get more info on Danny's sleep schedule."

Josie's teasing smirk turns into surprised awe. "You know you can be terrifying sometimes?"

Anita flips her hair. "C'mon let's go, we have work to do. And I'm not done getting Danny into Slam."

“Oh no!” Josie exclaims suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” Annita asks, concerned.

“I never asked about the CORE Lit notes!” Josie says.

Later, there's a video being shared around campus of Danny pulling an insane jump, flip, twist thing to catch the frisbee, throw it, score and still stick the landing. What no one, except those that are actually there, knows is that immediately following, he slips on a mudpatch and lands on his ass.

Danny receives a formal invitation to the Ultimate Frisbee team the following week. He turns it down though but offers to join them if they need an extra player for any fun matches on campus. They take him up on it and now every third and fourth Tuesday, Danny joins them for a friendly game on the soccer pitch.

Which leads to more videos of ridiculous stunts. Half of these include the immediate faceplanting, stumbling, falling, etc that Danny usually follows these impossible acts of acrobatics with.

Danny knows he's being recorded, usually, but doesn't say anything. To be fair, it's his friends usually doing the recording and there's nothing incriminating about the videos. Sure, the falling and face planting is embarrassing, but it's not getting shoved in a locker or hung off the flagpole levels of embarrassment. And besides, he's been doing as much the same in junior and senior years at Casper.

Oddly enough, they’re not the only videos that he stars in. Nor are the frisbee videos his most popular.

No, that honor goes to the videos of the “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event.

The morning of the march happens to be a bright, somewhat cloudy and surprisingly warm Saturday. It’s an hour before the event actually starts so Danny is sitting on the stone wall by the baseball pitch and surrounded by the girls plus Anjie of the astronomy club. At least he’s not the only one sitting waiting. Miles, Jason, Connor, Josef and Craig are all sitting waiting in their heels and outfits. Jay, Devon, Peter, Keander, and Carson are getting changed. The rest of the guys of the club are getting their makeup done.

Miles is absolutely rocking the prom dress. Jason and Connor are wearing cute floral summer dresses with denim jackets. Josef is rocking booty shorts and fishnets with knee high boots. Craig, another freshman, is wearing a denim mini skirt and sweater. Danny is the last to be dressed.

“He needs something pink,” Sophie says holding up a pair of bright pink pumps.

“Correction,” Kat, hair black with a red hourglass perfectly centered, says holding up a pair of over the knee platform boots that boast a terrifying eight inch heel. “He needs to rock these.”

“I’d rather we not,” Danny glares at the boots. He also looks somewhat terrified of them.

“Can we pick a pair that we can’t actually kill him with,” Suzy asks. She’s holding a pair of very cute marykate kitten heels. They have flowers on it.

“I mean that’s not actually a concern, but breaking my ankle certainly is,” Danny says.

The girls and Anjie continue to ignore him.

“I think he should wear something with more, pzazz,” Anjie says. They have an actual grocery store basket filled with different glittery, rhinestoned, holographic monstrosities. They also have a bag of prom dresses behind them.

“How about we just put them on him and see what he can actually walk in?” Jessica says.

The girls and Anjie as one turn to him.

“Do I get a choice in this?” Danny asks, raising his hands.

“Nope,” Anjis says, a feral grin on their face.

He does, actually, have some choice.

40 minutes later Danny is wearing a holographic neon green crop top, black high waisted skinny jeans and white sandal pumps. Someone, Danny suspects Anjie because they are an actual troll and love to mess with him, has rubbed white and green chalk into his hair. All in all it's actually a pretty comfortable outfit and not the weirdest thing he's had to wear.

Dora has that honor from the Samhain ball she threw last year. She had made a recent discovery of the existence of glitter not a month prior. Danny still shudders to think about the amount of glitter that was in his hair. It was the only thing he put his foot down on when the girls were giving him outfits to put on.

“I’m pretty sure the point of this is to just walk a mile in heels.” Danny says.

“Stop talking and close your eyes, I have to do your mascara still.” Kat says.

Danny swears colorfully in one of the ghost languages, Bactrian probably, but obliges.

"Ooh, that's looking really good, gurl," Anjie compliments. "Don't cover up his nose too much tho, let his freckles show through."

"How is it that you have so much stuff for us guys? I can't imagine you keep this all in your closet," Danny mutters trying to stay as still as possible.

"Shush!" Kat says.

"Miles actually." Anjie laughs. It sounds a bit more evil than usual which means they find the whole thing hilarious. "Back in his sophomore year of high school, he ended up at a gay bar which introduced him to the drag queens in the area. He's been practically adopted at this point."

"Oh?" Suzy asks. "I thought he didn't have his moment of realization till after he graduated; how'd he end up there?"

"He says he was tracking down a rogue lizardman that was killing people." Anjie says in a tone that says they don't believe it. Danny has a feeling they actually do. And isn’t that interesting?

"And I thought my high school years were insane." Danny says instead.

“10 minutess until we start marching! Please start lining up!” One of the organizers calls through a megaphone.

“10 minutes, babe,” Jessica says.

“Shush! Almost done!” Kat snaps without heat. She presses something to the corner of Danny’s eye which makes his skin itch.

“Don’t move for a sec,” Kat says and presses another cold itchy something along his cheek.

Danny swears again in a different language, just because he can.

“Stop speaking gibberish,” Sophie chastises.

“Not my fault you don’t speak-”

“Shush you,” Kat squeezes his nose.

“Five minutes,” Jessica reminds Kat.

“Jesus Fu-” Kat cuts the swear off. “Okay, don't touch your face or scratch. Now, last thing, just don’t sneeze.”

Something soft and smelling light and floral but not like actual flowers is dusted on Danny’s face.

Danny sneezes.

“I just told you not to sneeze!” Kat exclaims.

“It’s fine, he looks amazing,” Sophie says, pushing Kat away. “Okay you need to get moving.”

Danny stands up but is stopped from walking away by a hand on his elbow.

“Wait a second,” Anjie says, moving to stand on the stone wall. They pull Danny close and leans down to whisper into his ear. “There’s supposedly going to be a new rocket launch this summer for a new space mission. They just set the date.”

Danny’s eyes light up at the information. Jason grabs Danny by his other arm and tugs him into position with the rest of the guys from the astronomy club.

“Do you think he actually is speaking in another language,” Jessica asks as she helps Kat put her makeup kit away.

“What?” Kat looks up confused.

“Danny, the gibberish he speaks sometimes,” Jessica elaborates. “I mean it doesn’t sound like actual gibberish. It sounds like an actual language.”

“Probably, only the universe knows how many languages he actually knows.” Anjie says as they jump off the wall.

“What did you tell him? His freckles are glowing,” Suzy asks.

Anjie gives her a manic grin, “I told him about the new space launch that was scheduled.”

“Wait, is that why you told us not to tell him?” Sophie asks.

Anjie’s smile turns practically feral.

“Hold up,” Kat straightens to look at her smaller friend. “You figured out how to make his freckles glow?”

“Yeah,” Anjie blinks. “Not like it’s hard. They’re legit a tiny star map of late august on his face and they always glow when we talk anything space.”

The girls stare at Anjie for a moment.

“Damn, it's so obvious when you put it like that.” Kat says.

Anjie puts their hands on their hips. “Obviously.”

Danny, for his part, no longer cares about being in heels or a ridiculous outfit, he’s just gotten, like, the best news of the week, he’s with friends, and he's doing this for a wonderful cause that's actually helping people. The rest of the guys notice his sudden shift in attitude as Jason leads Danny to the gathering of astronomy guys.”

“You're glowing,” Miles says, crossing his arms. “Why is your face glowing?”

“Anjie just told me about the space launch,” Danny says and the boys nod because yeah that makes sense.

Danny blinks, smile growing wider, “Do you think they’re gonna livestream it?”

One of the organizers is making a speech at the front of the mass of students.

“Probably,” Craig says, pushing his glasses up his nose. “I mean they streamed the last one and with the exponential jump in stream quality, wireless data sharing, and technologically safer design patterns, it would be more surprising if they didn’t stream the launch."

Danny’s freckles brighten enough to be noticeable at a distance, fighting for attention against the green and white rhinestones Kat stuck to his face. Jason and Connor share a look, they’ve never seen Danny so happy. They’ve also never seen such a blatant display of ectoplasm exposure (as Danny calls it) excluding that one all-nighter watch party like a month ago.

The group starts to walk along the planned march route.

Danny is talking to Craig about the launch, entirely preoccupied, so he doesn't catch Connor sending a text to all of the upperclassmen of the club.

Message sent, Connor looks up to see that Danny has attracted a crowd as he talks about different star formations and their gravitational effects on other celestial bodies. He's also managing to walk backwards in his heels without issue. It helps that he's only sort of ignoring gravity.

Miles is recording the entire thing on his phone (he's also streaming live to Instagram of all things.) Josef has already texted a friend to drop off a charging brick for Miles. If they play their cards right, Danny will talk about space the entire walk which might mean he'll be happy the entire time and keep the glow.

"...which leads to the different shapes of galaxies and," Danny looks over and catches Miles and his phone. His freckles dim slightly. "Are you recording me?"

"Yeah, cause this space lecture is super interesting," Miles says. "How does the different planets and their moons' gravitational pulls affect a solar system in reverse? And does that affect the rotation of the galaxy that the solar system exists within?”

Danny blinks, visually processing the questions. His freckles brighten entirely as his face lights up.

"As I said previously, gravitational pulls are only somewhat more understood than magnetic fields," Danny starts. "So it's really interesting that you brought that up, cause the way gravity works is totally a two-way street…”

Around the first quarter mile marker, his hair starts to drift against the small breeze. Danny gets a few side eyes about it but his space science is fascinating. It doesn't help that Danny's smile is absolutely infectious.

By the time they hit the half mile, his hair is defying all physics and wind and just floating and billowing as if submerged. Almost the entire crowd whose gathered around Danny to listen have noticed. No one asks about it. Jay, periodically, will reach up to ghost his hand through to set it rippling just because he can. Danny is too absorbed into explaining livable space zones and how understanding the speed of orbit has found some of the coolest looking habitable planets.

"Seriously, guys, you don't understand how cool this stuff is!" Danny is saying. "There's this one planet that has an orange sky because of the different gaseous makeups building the atmospheric layers so the light gets diffused differently. And because of the orange sky, plants perform photosynthesis based off of the different light frequency and are actually yellow not green! It's like all of the natural color has shifted along the rainbow which-"

"How can you possibly know that," Josef asks, "There's no telescope powerful enough to see that far to those planets."

"Oh, I have a friend who took me over winter break," Danny says before making a face similar to a golden retriever puppy seeing their favorite toy. "I have pictures!"

"How?!?" Miles screeches from behind the camera.

"Well, there's this ghost I know in the ghost zone-"

"You've been to the ghost zone?" Josef crosses his arms.

Miles moves to get both boys in frame.

"Uh yeah, kinda regularly?" Danny says, rubbing the back of his neck. His freckles start to dim and his hair begins to settle. "I mean, what else are you supposed to do with a hole in reality leading to a different dimension in your basement?"

"Can we get back to the fact you have actual Receipts for space travel to a planet literal light years away?" Miles asks, sounding only slightly hysterical.

"It's not like it's the first time I've been to space," Danny rolls his eyes.

Miles makes a choked off pterodactyl screech.

Danny makes eye contact with the camera before turning to Peter who's walking at his side to ensure that Danny doesn't walk into anyone.

"How do I keep breaking him?" Danny asks.

Peter shrugs, metal shoulder pad glinting in the sun.

Danny turns back to Miles who has somewhat recovered. "Are you okay?"

"No!" Miles wheezes.

Danny looks back to Peter, “Who did you bribe for the plate armor pieces?”

“Belonged to my sister who’s into larping.” Peter says.

“Cheater,” Jay says even as he twirls to make the coral skirt of his prom dress flare.

"To be fair," Carson says from Danny's other side. "Your life reads like a complete impossibility."

Danny drops his shoulders as he slumps in exasperation. "You don't even know the 'half of it."

Danny snaps to attention, "Oh, speaking of half-lives, did you know radioactive materials experience a different set of rules in deep space?"

The rest of the guys did not in fact know which led into a different conversation.

By the time they cross the mile marker, Danny has gone over every topic from plasma to gravity, to black holes (they're natural portals to the infinite realms and that's its own conversation which was derailed since Danny's freckles were dimming so hard on the topic), to stars, to constellations and their history, to planetary compositions, to the necessities for a planet to sustain life, and to the concept that, theoretically (which is somewhat actually proven by Danny’s own adventures into space), time moves differently in space.

Miles has used up four entire charging blocks and has absolutely demolished his phone's memory. The video is edited and shared around campus in different segments as a series on YouTube of all things. (The shorter clips that do make it to TikTok go viral so fast.)

Danny's explanations and understanding of space are actually so good that teachers not a part of UIC start using it as supplements in their classrooms. Younger students are convinced he is actually an extraterrestrial because 'He looks like he's underwater?' 'How is his hair doing that?' 'How is he glowing?!

Also? They checked because they're tech savvy that way and found the videos legitimately not cgi'd. It becomes a whole thing on reddit to try and prove the videos false which just further proves the realness of the videos. Not that Danny is aware of any of this.

The entire Astronomy club reconvenes at the end of the march for a huge photo op as well as passing the information of the club. Danny has somehow nearly doubled the member list from 23 members to 42 from his impromptu Ted talk. Connor is absolutely thrilled since his graduating class was going to pull 13 members.

Miles makes a show of parading Danny around because “Yeah my adopted freshman child is smarter and cooler than yours!”

Danny has accepted his fate with only a superficial protest. He had fun today and, even better, is feeling good about himself. So he let’s Miles showboat a bit and he laughs and laughs and he lets himself enjoy the moment.

So he doesn't bother about the videos. Doesn't ask what his friends do with them. Doesn't even watch them himself unless one is shoved in his face. (Honestly? He's too busy with other things to think about following up.)

Which leads to him not knowing the videos are basically a meme on campus or shared like wildfire. He somehow also misses the videos when he does go on to post on Twitter (@coffeeghost has something like 15k in followers - which how? - and that fact alone is so funny to Danny. Sam and Tucker are cackling about the whole thing).

He is entirely stumped as to how most of almost the entire campus now knows him by name.

Danny is somewhat used to everyone knowing who is because all of Amity knows him because of his parents and their ghost obsession. But that doesn't explain why in the middle of his spring semester people suddenly know him. If it was because of his parents, that would have started when he first got to campus back in August. Not now. This feels too random.

Which leads to his complete befuddlement.

Absolute bafflement.

It does not compute for Danny so he doesn't spend all that much time (if any) dwelling on the matter. It also doesn't help that he has like nine essays, two group projects, a test to study for, a research binge for that one thing for that one class that needed to have been done for one of the essays last week, and build a mockup for his robotics class. He's only taking six classes and it's not even finals week yet. He has other things to worry about than people apparently knowing his name.

Including the apparent attempted coups happening in the ghost zone which he's dealing with. Not well, he can only spend so much time beating up the morons and shipping them off to Walker, but he's dealing with it.

“It's fine, Sam, they're not a threat to anything except my sleep schedule...yes, really, I promise it's fine.”

It helps that Clockwork is so willing to let him take naps in different parts of the timeline. That was a fun conversation. It mostly involved Danny going to ask about something ghost related and falling asleep on the doorstep. Danny is immensely grateful about the whole situation. He has no idea how he would be surviving if he had to lose precious hours of the day just to sleep.

Not that he needs a lot of it, being part ghost and visiting the ghost zone often practically negates the need for sleep. But naps are nice. And they help keep his thoughts from becoming too scattered and his temper rising. He is still perpetually exhausted though from everything.

Naps don’t help with stress exhaustion.

Unfortunately, the student body and various faculty are growing very Concerned.

All of this accumulates into two incidents.

The first incident is about two weeks before finals really kicks in. Danny had just returned from the ghost zone from another attempted coup and unfortunately needs to be human to attend class.

Looking a little worse for wear, Danny arrives at the lecture hall barely moments before the professor and promptly passes out in his seat. The students on either side and behind him share a look of concern.

“Hey,” Hannah pokes Danny on the arm. Danny doesn’t respond past a quiet grumble. Hannah tucks her hair behind her ear as she leans closer. “You okay, hun?”

Danny shifts to blink blearily up at the older girl. “‘M fine,” he says before yawning large. “Just, late night dealing with paperwork.”

“You look like you had a fight with a bear and lost hun,” Hannah says, shifting into her mother hen mode. (Not that that’s hard, with her being a mother of four.)

Danny snorts. “The paperwork fought back.”

The ghost paper that the Observants use do indeed fight back if you try and use the wrong ghost ink on it. Danny did not flip the table when he found that out. Dani did though, when she had to fill out some of the documents after helping deal with the rebels that one time.

“Uh-huh,” Hannah says, arching an eyebrow. “And when was the last time you slept?”

Danny opens his mouth to answer, gets distracted by the professor and has to open his notebook to jot down something.

A few moments pass before Hannah nudges Danny.

“Seriously, when was the last time you’ve gone to bed?”

“I’ve napped here and there,” Danny says eventually.

Hannah gives him the side eye and leaves it for a moment to take notes of the lecture.

“You don’t have class after this right?” Hannah asks.

Danny nods and then slumps, putting his head down. His hand continues to take notes, even if it looks like an unintelligible scrawl. Not that Danny ever used actual English in any of his notes.

Hannah sighs and makes a point to stopping him from bolting from the class.

She sort of succeeds.

It helps that Tony has over heard the entire conversation and completely on board with the look Hannah sends him.

When class ends, Hannah and Tony stand immediately to block Danny from leaving the aisle. Danny gathers his things slowly and it takes a minute to see his paths blocked.

Danny looks back and forth between Hannah and Tony. Several students have gathered at the ends of the aisle in silent support.

“What’s going on?” Danny asks from his seat.

“I’m holding an intervention to have you reacquainted with your pillow,” Hannah says.

“That would require me having met my pillow to begin with,” Danny says, mock serious.

Hannah puts her hands on her hips but Tony beats her to the punch.

“C’mon man, you need to go to bed.”

“I have too many essays due for that to be a good idea,” Danny gets to his feet.

“Danny Fenton,” Hannah says in a no-nonsense tone that only mothers know how to pull off. “Now you listen to me, and you listen good. I expect you to march yourself to your dorm with witnesses and go to sleep or so help me God, I will admit you to the hospital myself for self harm.”

Danny blinks owlishly down at her. “I think you’re taking this too far.”

“Try me,” Hannah says, pulling out her phone.

Danny squints at her before glancing around the lecture hall at the rest of the students looking just as serious.

“Look, man,” Tony says, putting a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “We’re just really worried for you.”

“I’m fine,” Danny says as he turns to look at Tony. “I swear, I’m sleeping as much as the rest of you.”

“When,” a girl across the room asks. Her name might be Cara or Clara. “I work the midnight shift in the library and I see you there all the time.”

“I nap all the time!” Danny protests. “You see me na-” he stutters to a halt.

They only ever see him napping as Phantom not Fenton, Danny realizes with mild horror. His face splits into a manic grin as an idea forms in his head.

“We see you pulling crazy stunts and running around constantly,” Josie argues. “We barely see you eat too!”

Danny swears in one of the oldest ghost languages, laughing, and jumps over the table he was just sitting at to land on the table ahead. The students scramble to race Danny to the doors of the lecture hall.

Unfortunately for them, Danny is heading for the windows.

The second story windows.

Hannah realizes first and screams, “The windows!”

The students are too late and watch in shock as Danny sails through the open window.

The class rush as one to the windows to look down. They don’t see Danny.

They do see a strange flash of light and a soft green glow through the window across the pathway.

“Do you think Coffee Ghost caught him?” Tony asks quietly.

“How would Danny know Coffee Ghost was out there?” Josie snaps back.

“Okay, everyone needs to take breath,” Hannah says, trying to regain the situation. Danny leans out of the window waving. Coffee Ghost phases through the wall next to Danny with a little salute and then disappears.

“Danny Fenton!” Hannah shouts out the window, “When I catch you, I’m gonna make you wish you went to bed!”

“Then good luck trying to catch me!” Danny calls back before vanishing himself.

Danny’s class all have their cell phones out and are sending text messages en masse. Within the hour, the entire campus is on the lookout for Danny to force him to go to bed. Danny spends the time as Phantom in the library to work on his essays from atop the book shelves.

He does also nap for a little bit.

The campus is horrified to find that they can’t find Danny outside of class for the next two days. He’s not in his room, according to his suitemates, he’s not with Professor Birchshoo between classes like he usually is, nor is he in the library. If he didn’t show up for class still, the school would have put out a missing person’s report.

(He does show up to the astronomy club meetings and spends it fending off Anjie who keeps trying to get his freckles to glow to compare star maps.)

The UIC students become split between being impressed on how they never realized Danny was an actual ninja, being able to just vanish and appear so well, and being horrified that he can vanish so easily. Team pro-ninja-skills also argue that they need to stop hounding the poor kid, how can he be expected to get any of the work that's keeping him from sleeping done if he's constantly hiding? While team Danny-needs-to-go-to-sleep are convinced he’d do better if he just went to bed and accepted help.

Sam and Tucker found the whole situation hilarious. They, knowing very well that Danny was in fact getting enough sleep just fine, pushed for Danny to live up the 'ninja' idea.

Danny plots.

On the morning of the third day, Danny Fenton is spotted walking across the quad towards the Marine Science building. Several students try to catch him as he enters the building.

Danny Fenton is not found in the Marine Science building.

By lunch, Danny Fenton is spotted walking across campus, in the halls of various buildings, sitting on path walls, wandering the library, and kicking a soccer ball with a smaller dark haired girl. However, by the time anyone got close to Danny, he would vanish around a corner, disappear on the stairwells, just gone one second to the next. The girl playing soccer also vanishes under the bleachers when the two students get close.

The students are abuzz with gossip. Especially when several students realize Danny is apparently showing up in multiple locations at once.

But that's impossible.

Right?

It has to be something else, the students say. Something logical.

Team Sleep decides to camp out between classes to try and beat Danny en route. Danny's first class after lunch is in the Business building on the fourth floor. They watch the windows (he's evidently not afraid to use them no matter the height) and they set up guards at doors and stairwells.

Team Ninja have arrived to record the event because that's what it's turning into. They set up with Team Sleep, cameras out and ready to record.

Danny is halfway up the path when he spots the crowd milling about. He pauses in his stroll as the crowd notices his presence.

Danny turns and bolts around the building. Several members of Team Sleep take chase.

Danny leaps the bushes along the edge of the building. There's a section of the building that boxes along the facade and Danny takes a running leap at one side. He bounces off it to twist onto the opposite protruding side. And bounces again. And again. And again. Until he's on the roof of the building.

Danny wanders the edge of the roof till he stands directly over an open window.There's a brief moment of hesitation as the crowd below holds their breath.

Sitting on the ledge, Danny drops and twists catching the window sill with his hands. He drops another foot before getting a good grip on the brick with his sneaker and shoves up and into the room. Tumbling through, he lands on his ass in his classroom in front of his startled professor.

Danny's pops his head out the window after reorienting himself. The crowd let's out a cheer.

Danny turns back to the class and trips over his own feet causing him to fall into one of the desks. Which knocks the books of the student off and the student himself into falling out of his seat.

"Sorry, Cody," Danny says, grabbing a couple of loose papers. He moves to stand up and knocks his head onto the bottom of the desk.

The tension pops and the students turn into giggling messes. The professor is still upset.

Professor Jenkins taps his foot a bit before calling sternly, "Daniel, what is the meaning of this?"

Danny, rubbing his head, looks up from the floor. "The front door was blocked."

"We are on the fourth floor, how in tarnation did you get up here?" Jenkins demands.

"Oh there's a video already posted." Melika chirps from the back of the room. The class scrambles for the alleged video. "Posted 10 seconds ago on the Is Fenton Actually A Cryptid page."

"Am I actually a what now?" Danny asks before his eyes bug out and he squawks, "I have a page dedicated to me?!"

"Uh, yeah," Cody says getting to his feet and helping Danny up. "You're a walking enigma, plus Josie has the best theories."

Danny opens his mouth to respond when the door to the classroom is thrown open and a frazzled Hannah stands panting in the doorway. She raises a hand to point at Danny.

"You son of a troll," she pants angrily. "I've finally caught you now."

"Technically, you haven't caught me," Danny says, putting his hands up placating.

Professor Jenkins slams his book on his desk, quieting the room instantly.

"Someone is going to explain what is going on right now."

"Danny hasn't slept in like a month at least and he's avoiding the issue of taking care of himself by being a menace to the school population." Hannah states.

"I'm the menace?" Danny asks incredulously. "I can't even go to the cafeteria for lunch without being bombarded by you guys demanding I go to bed."

"If you went to bed like a normal person, we wouldn't be bombarding you!" Hannah argues.

"I don't know what to tell you, I'm fine, I nap all the time." Danny dismisses with a wave of his hand.

"Says the kid who just fucking wall jumped onto the roof like some Assassins Creed bull-"

"Oh shit, I made you break your no swear promise," Danny says.

Hannah freezes where she stands. Her gaze turns murderous as she takes a step forward.

Professor Jenkins steps easily between the two students.

"That's enough." He says, running the bridge of his nose. "Does someone want to share this supposed video with me?"

Melika steps forward offering her cell phone with a video playing on loop. Tension builds as Hannah continues to glare at Danny as he tries and fails to look innocent.

Professor Jenkins eventually looks up with a carefully blank face, "Is this real?"

Danny shrugs, rubbing the back of his neck suddenly bashful. "Yeah, probably not the smartest of moves but I've pulled crazier stunts."

"Crazier?" Melika asks as she takes back her phone. "Crazier how?"

"Uh, I've once jumped out of a plane without a parachute," Danny says tapping his chin as he actually thinks. "I've run across the top of a moving train before jumping off, that was fun, felt a bit like a Bond character. Oh! There was that one time I had to jump across buildings from one window to the next and I scared Coffee Ghost."

"You what?!" Hannah screeches.

"Oh yeah, he was teaching a class to-" Danny starts.

"You jumped a 12 foot gap from window to window without issue!" Hannah is horrified.

Danny blinks. "Pretty sure it was closer to 14."

Hannah tugs at her hair.

"At least it was only the second floor?" Danny offers.

Hannah screams into her hands. "I can't with you anymore. I'm going home for the day to my beautiful children who don't try to kill themselves on the daily."

Danny snorts, "It's not like I can actually die again."

The class stares at Danny. Hannah gives a single noise of anguish before turning on her heel to storm out.

Melika smacks Danny on the back of his head.

"What?"

"You are going to apologize to her." Melika says.

Danny puts his hands up. "Alright I might have taken this a bit far but you let this get out of hand too."

The class looks relatively chastised as Danny apologizes to the professor before ducking out the door.

As Danny catches up to Hannah to soothe ruffled feathers, the rest of the class start messaging their own friends to leave Danny alone.

However, Professor Jenkins is still stupefied by the last few minutes and makes plans with the rest of the faculty later that day.

Which starts the second incident.

Professor Birchshoo takes charge of all of the faculty by sending out a mass email, excluding Clark Bishop who is apparently looking at a job transfer, and asks if any professors who have one Daniel James Fenton in their class to message her directly.

She starts a group chat with said faculty and they begin to plan measures to help alleviate some of the stress load on their students. They start by having mandatory check-ins with their students to see their progress for any outstanding essays or projects and to help them to finish on time with less stress.

Danny is surprisingly ahead in almost every class. The one outlier being his robotics course which he's solidly marking the average point for the completion range of the class. His test scores are also impressively high, not perfect hundreds but high enough for it to not be a worry.

The only mark of concern is his attendance rate is all over the place and just barely holding above the mandatory failure threshold.

On the following Wednesday, professor Birchshoo approaches the subject when she has Danny hanging out in her office again.

Danny is sprawled out on the floor, covering a good chunk with blue prints of what looks to be floor plans. Birchshoo honestly can't make heads or tails of the paper as none of the writing is in English. There seems to be a strange glow from the pen Danny is using.

Must be a special ink, she muses despite being confused as to why Danny would use such a strange ink on what appears to be official documents. The documents do have that proper official feel to them, despite not having any logical sense.

Professor Birchshoo pulls out a tupperware container filled with little sandwich triangles from her drawer.

"Danny," Birchshoo calls to get his attention. "Have a sandwich, won't you?"

"Oh, no thank you," Danny says without looking up.

"Danny," Birchshoo says, tone dropping.

Danny looks up over the desk to see he's being glared at. Ducking his head, he scribbles a note before standing.

"Thank you," he says as he takes the container. He takes a seat across from her to eat, he can get away with a lot with Birchshoo except eating on the floor.

"Now then," Birchshoo leans back in her chair. Despite being dwarfed by the big recliner, she still pulls off the grand matriarch vibe that has Danny gulping with wide eyes. "What's all this paper you've buried my floor in this time?"

Danny glances down at the floorplans. He debates how much to tell the professor.

"They're floorplans," Danny says after swallowing his bite of sandwich. "For a game me and my friends play back home."

Birchshoo's fingers knit together atop her knee.

"You expect me to believe that you are not sleeping and eating properly due to a game," Birchshoo says with an even tone. "Sonny, I've been teaching kids since before you were even a thought in your parents mind. You wanna try that again?"

Danny looks down at his sandwich and picks at some of the lettuce sticking out.

Birchshoo let's him sit for a moment before sighing. She retrieves a packet from a different drawer and places it on her desk.

Danny glances at it and pales upon reading the headline. It's one of the scientific research papers his parents had published his junior year.

The one filled with terrible commentary on Phantom and how terrible ghosts are.

"It always struck me odd how the supposedly unbiased science seemed to twist the facts more than a newscaster during an election year." Birchshoo states, idly flipping through the papers. "So I have done my own research when a particular spector decided to grace our institution with his presence. You must understand, as part of the faculty, we had to assess whether or not our 'Coffee Ghost' posed a threat to the students.

"Imagine my surprise then that Danny Phantom, terror and hero of Amity Park has such a colorful history but evidently followed a Daniel Fenton from the same hometown." Birchshoo looks up to meet Danny's gaze, "What are the odds of that?"

Danny opens his mouth but no sound comes out.

Birchshoo looks down to the papers again as she spins in her chair. The paper shredder feels deafening in the office as it eats the documents.

"It was by my word that the top brass did not reach out to that useless GIW nor to your parents for what would have turned into an absolute, ridiculous witch hunt." She says, watching the document be slowly demolished.

"After all, I do want the best for my favorite student, you understand don't you Danny?" She turns back to meet his gaze again.

Danny nods in shocked silence.

"Good, now let's try this again," Birchshoo leans back into her chair. "What's all these floor plans for?"

Danny opens his mouth and closes it a few times without saying anything.

One immaculate eyebrow arches on Professor Birchshoo's gave as she waits patiently.

Danny huffs a laugh, before making a sound like rain gurgling in a drain with radio static. "I can't believe you figured me out, how long have you known?"

"Since the Great Sliming," she smiles. "That was inspired, really."

"Thanks," Danny says, putting the half empty tupperware on the desk to draw his knee to his chest. "They really are floor plans, I have to approve the remodeling of the keep for bureaucratic reasons in the Ghost Zone. Apparently, I should have had this started after my coronation."

"Excuse me?" Birchshoo blinks.

Danny smiles sheepishly back as a flaming green crown flickers to life above his head. The temperature of the room drops. "I'm sort of King of all Ghosts."

"I see," she says slowly. She doesn't look scared or upset. Her face blitzes through several emotions before her gaze hardens slightly. "Is that why you haven't taken care of yourself? All the missed classes and disappearing acts? You've had to juggle your duties to your kingdom along with your schoolwork?"

Danny barks a humorless laugh, the crown flickering out of existence. "Basically yeah, normally it's not so busy but there's this rebel group that keeps trying to release the old king and the paperwork for that is brutal. It's not nearly as bad as when I first started high-school, promise!"

Birchshoo shakes her head, "I've looked into your report transcripts and compared it to the reports of battles."

Waving her hand, she addresses Danny with a heavy gaze. "I won't begin to say I have an understanding of your biological needs, I'm assuming with your evidently ghostly habits, that they differ significantly from the average human. As such, what is it that you need to be a successful student without the overwhelming stress?"

Danny's eyes widen in awe, "That's, um thank you."

"I am here to help my students succeed in any ways I can," Birchshoo says. "I may not have you in any of my classes however that does not negate you from being my student."

Danny smiles large and grateful. He takes a steadying breath, "How much would you say you know about ghosts?"

"Nothing," she says without hesitation. Danny's eyebrows shoot into his hairline at that. "I would not trust the words of unbiased scientists who can't even tell the difference between honest malice, mind control, untrained misdirection. I know nothing in this regard."

Danny blinks at that before smiling wickedly. "How do you feel about traveling with me to the Ghost Zone to meet a yeti?"

"I'm free from 6 to 11 tonight," Birchshoo says. "Why a yeti?"

"The yetis of the Far Frozen are basically my GCP and like to remind me regularly that I don't take care of myself the best," Danny admits with a sheepish grin. "In all honesty, they would be better suited to tell you what I tend to forget."

Birchshoo nods. "Well, then that's settled, how can I help with these floor plans of yours?"

Danny laughs, tension breaking finally.

Later, Danny arrives at professor Birchshoo's office with a heavy coat and hand warmers. He has a poster tube strapped to his back filled with all the floorplans.

"What's with the coat, dear?" Birchshoo asks as she locks up her office.

"We're going to the Far Frozen," Danny says, leading the Professor out of the building. "Besides, I hear most humans find the zone to be a bit chilly. We'll have to make a small detour so I can drop these off but it won't be any time."

"How does a human enter the ghost zone?" She asks.

"Well, they either fall through a natural, transient portal, use an artificial portal like the ones my parents built," Danny says as they move to a quiet spot out of the way. He turns to the professor with a wicked smile. "Or you make friends with a ghost who can make them for you."

A crackling swirling green vortex opens up behind Danny. He holds out his hand, "Ready?"

"I may be 82," Birchshoo says, pushing her walker out of the way to take Danny's hand. "But I was born ready."

Danny laughs, pulling her through the portal.

"Oh sweet lord have mercy," Birchshoo whispers as she gazes upon the green and purple swirling clouds. She grabs onto Danny with a crush grip when she realizes she's floating.

"Hold on a moment," Danny says, before a bright flash startles her to almost letting go. She blinks the spots out of her vision to finder herself holding onto the arm of the infamous Coffee Ghost.

“Jumpin’ Jahosafat!" She cries out. "Give an old hoot a warning!"

Danny laughs, "This is probably the least surprising thing yet."

"Watching a child turn into a dead thing is shocking, Daniel Fenton, you should know better, than that." She chides.

Danny tugs the coat over her shoulders with an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again," he says. "Keep a hold on my arm and you'll be fine."

Professor Birchshoo obliges and is immediately distracted by the sensation of flying through the mists.

She swears again when they approach the darkened keep with several hundred ghosts milling about working on the construction. The earful she gives to the Observants upon seeing the load of paperwork that they've thrust upon Danny is unfortunately not recorded. While traveling to the Far Frozen, the odd pair is interrupted no less than seven times.

Thankfully, none of the ghosts attempt to delay them, just inquire about the 'honored guest' and to follow up with the relevant project Danny is working on with them.

Queen Dorothea sends word that Danny needs to return to finish his etiquette lessons.

The Great Library of Alexandria sends an intern to remind him of his slack in ghost history.

There's the deadline of the summer solstice ball that needs to have the guest list looked over.

The Observants send not one, not two, but four separate pairs to remind His Majesty of the paperwork piling on his desk.

Professor Birchshoo punches the left one when he floats to close. Horrified, the last pair fled and they must spread the word because they don't send another reminder.

"Holy crap," Danny breathes as he watches the tails of the Observants disappear into the mists. "That was the coolest thing I have ever seen."

Birchshoo harrumphs, wiping her hand on her skirt. "Shouldn't have come so close while blathering on."

"Where did you learn to punch like that?" Danny asks.

"I worked with the Red Cross undercover for MI6 to eradicate the kidnapping and enslavement of children on the Eurasian border in my youth. I met Marcella on a stakeout and stayed in touch." Birchshoo says as they start traveling again.

"Can you be my grandma? Please?" Danny asks. "Seriously, can I adopt you to be my grandma?"

She gives a light flick to the back of his head. She's laughing though even as she gives a hard no.

"Then...will you adopt me?" Danny asks.

Birchshoo laughs harder, "Still no."

When they approach the Far Frozen, she swears again. However, upon meeting Frostbite and the rest of the yetis, she holds her tongue.

To Danny's growing horror, Frostbite and Angela, ("Please, Angela is fine, Frostbite, we should skip all those formal niceties as we don't have that much time",) get on like a house on fire. Danny spends the three hours in growing mortification as Angela takes notes and starts giving tips to Frostbite. They stay for dinner which leads the conversation into ghost food and plants.

When they do eventually head out, the yetis have packed a bag of different seeds for her and Marcella to try to grow to add to the food Angela already keeps on hand for Danny. As well as several first aid supplies the halfa would need for common issues, several books on ghost biology and culture, a small printed packet of what Danny's normal vitals would be, and a device to contact the Far Frozen should an emergency occur.

It really should be no surprise that Danny forgets half of the things he needs to do to be 'healthy,' honestly. Especially when there's so many responsibilities on his slim shoulders. Angela makes a promise to herself to help the young king as best as she can.

When they finally cross the portal to the human realm, it's a little before 11 and the campus is flooded with red and blue flashing lights.

Danny, as Phantom, floats out of the portal carrying his professor to try and negate the sudden return of gravity on her knees. Several flashlights turn to them, blinding the pair.

"Angela!" A voice cries as an elderly woman rushes across the grass.

"Marcie!?" Angela shouts back in shock moments before she's engulfed in a bear hug.

"Oh, you don't know how worried I was," Marcella cries. Danny very slowly sets the professor on her feet and phases out of the hug, taking the coat with him.

"Why ever would you be worried," Angela admonishes. "I told you where I was going and for how long."

A police officer approaches the group and clears his throat. "Your walker was found abandoned, Mrs. Birchshoo, after it was seen that you walked off with a student of questionable merit."

"Questionable merit?" Angela repeats.

The officer glances at Danny with barely constrained malice, "Where is the student?"

"Oh! Dealing with some paperwork. You would not believe the politics involved with bringing ghost literature to the human realm," Danny laughs awkwardly, opening a new portal.

"Danny has been helping me gather direct sources for a new paper I've been working on," Professor Birchshoo says as the portal snaps shut behind Danny. "You see, since we had our local spector start visiting our campus, I've learned that there's an entire new dimension of literature and arts that has developed completely separate from ours."

A new portal opens two feet over and both Danny Fenton and Phantom appear. Fenton is carrying an armful of books and a backpack filled with paper and scrolls. Phantom floats up and a little back from the group.

"Danny here has been such a dear in helping me obtain the necessary literature for study, why without him I wouldn't have even known about the culture." The professor continues.

"Oh gosh, Professor Birchshoo, it's really not a big deal," Danny says, cheeks darkening. "I'm just glad I can help you with your academic papers."

The officer glances between the group before settling on Phantom. "What about you?"

"Who me?" Phantom points to himself. He drifts a little closer. "I'm just the local Coffee Ghost who plays chauffeur for these two."

The officer's face shuts down. He pulls his radio up to his face and says, "Attention all units, both individuals have been found unharmed and mentally sound behind the Literature building. Will proceed to the lobby for statements."

"Copy that," is heard repeated over the radio as the red and blue lights one by one flicker off.

"Officer Rosebud, I can't thank you enough for all the help you and your team has been," Marcella gushes rather obnoxiously.

Officer Rosebud gives a brief nod while tipping his hat. "All in a day's work, ma'am."

"Do we need to supply statements?" Danny asks, shifting the books in his arms. "I mean this is all just a huge misunderstanding."

"We have to follow procedure," Officer Rosebud states. "Please follow me to the lobby."

"What happened to my walker," Angela asks.

"It was brought in for forensic analysis." Rosebud states.

"Well, I do need it back," Angela returns.

"Unfortunately, you will have to wait," Rosebud states.

"Why, we're not missing, what would forensics need with my walker now?" Angela asks.

"We're following procedure, ma'am," Rosebud states.

Angela frowns up at the man before turning to both Dannys. "Would either of you be a dear and help this little old lady inside?"

Fenton and Phantom exchange a look. Phantom rolls his eyes before he takes the books from Fenton and blinks out of sight.

"You can lean on my arm," Danny offers.

"Thank you, dear." Angela smiles and begins to putter slowly off the grass.

It takes almost 30 minutes just to get back to the path in front of the school by which time a large crowd of students and staff have gathered. Officer Rosebud is quietly fuming under his hat. Marcella had wandered off ahead of the group and is now spotted in the crowd holding a picnic basket.

It takes another 20 minutes for the pair to make it to the doors of the building and several students have wandered off. There's a good number who've stuck around to goof around the police officer. #RosebudWalks is trending and just causing the poor officer more reason to be enraged.

By the time Danny and Professor Birchshoo make it to the lobby, Officer Rosebud is stage-shouting into his cell phone across the way about skipping procedure.

"Are you having fun, Ange," Marcella whispers into her wife's ear.

"Absolutely," Angela whispers back before stopping. She lets out a loud groan and leans into Danny, rubbing her hip.

"Are you okay, Professor?" Danny asks, horrified.

"Oh don't worry about me dear," Angela pants, wincing. "I'll be just fine."

"We're almost there, Ange, you can rest in just a moment." Marcella encourages.

"Could someone just carry her?" Officer Rosebud snaps.

"How undignified! My word, who raised an unpleasant man like you," Angela gasps in horror.

Officer Rosebud glowers at the trio.

Marcella trips over nothing and sends her picnic basket flying. Two of the students who were hanging around record the interaction run over to help Marcella back to her feet.

"Oh goodness gracious, I must be more tired than I thought," Marcella says. "Thank you, dears."

"Are you alright, Madame Birchshoo?" Ask the girls who start fussing over the elder without trying to appear that they're fussing. Another student gathers the picnic basket, accidentally emptying the contents all over the floor.

White powdered donuts bounce everywhere.

There's a moment of still silence. Marcella puts a hand to her mouth upset.

"Oh fiddlesticks, those were for the kind officers who were so helpful in the search for my wife." Marcella says upset.

"No one wants your crummy donuts," Officer Rosebud snaps. The crowd of students gasp.

Clark Bishop walks into the lobby from the wing leading to the offices.

"What is going on here?" He bellows into the room.

"Officer Rosebutt is harassing the elderly," one of the guys in the group of students answers.

"Yeah! He stole Professor Birchshoo's walker and won't give it back!" Someone else shouts.

"He insulted her dignity and Madame Birchshoo’s baking!" Shouts a third student.

It devolves into a shouting mess as the students start insulting Officer Rosebud and his quality as an officer of the law.

It eventually shifts to a chant of "Leave our school!" More students start showing up until the whole lobby of the building is filled.

"Did you intend to start a riot," Danny half shouts to be heard over the crowd.

"If you must know," Madame Birchshoo gives Danny what he can only compare to as a Disney princess smile. "One does not simply plan a riot, they let the riot plan themselves."

Angela tugs Danny forward until they finally can sit down on the couches of the lobby. Danny slumps in the cushions with a bit more exhaustion than usual.

"What's wrong," the professor asks.

Danny lifts up two fingers pressed together and then turns it into the peace sign. "Holding that too long on top of all the portals. Plus a bunch of other stuff."

"Well I know how to fix that then." She says, digging into the bag from Frostbite. She pulls out what looks like a gogurt if gogurt ever made a mint green colored yogurt.

"Thanks," Danny takes it.

"What is that?" Marcella asks from Angela's other side.

"Later," Angela pats Marcella's hand.

The crowd has, at this point pressed in to surround the bubble of space between the couches effectively enclosing Officer Rosebud, Professor Bishop, and the trio on the couch. The two men stand almost back to back as they glare ineffectively at the students.

Bishop snaps his glare at professor Birchshoo with a finger jabbed in her face. "This is all your fault." He shouts.

It's enough to break the chant a little, enough for the students to quiet down for the cameras recording the front.

"Heaven's me," Angela puts a hand to her chest. "What did I do?"

"You instigated the crowd to insult an officer of the law! You purposefully agitated the officer and refused to be cooperative for a simple procedure." Bishop lists off.

"He took my walker and refused to give it back despite it no longer being an open case." Angela responds primly.

"Also, he, as well as fellow officers of the local precinct, ignored multiple statements that my wife and her student were accounted for and not missing." Marcella states. "There was absolutely no need to set up a search and rescue. Which was a waste of time and resources."

"Despite all this, even if it was an open case," Angela continues, "How would you know of the details of such that have only just happened?"

"I saw it posted on-" Bishop starts.

Danny's bark of laughter cuts him off, "Sorry, I know I'm slow on the social media front, but I am very well informed to know you've been blocked by almost the entire student body cause of your creepy comments about the female students."

"So how do you know about what's been going on?" Angela asks again. She turns to the crowd. "If any of you dears have, what's the term, Receipts? If, any of you have saved the messages in question, please forward them to me in an email."

"What are you doing?" Bishop demands.

"I would like to confirm the safety of my students," Angela states. "I feel it is warranted when my own safety has been compromised by falsehood and insinuating evidence shows that a certain member of our faculty is a threat."

"Circumstantial at best," Bishop comments.

"Wow, he's being super sus right now," Danny giggles. He finishes his gogurt.

"Sus?" Marcella repeats.

"Suspicious, like super suspicious," one of the students behind the couch answers.

"I vote Bishop and Rosebutt off the ship," Danny says.

"Me too, very sus I vote them off," someone calls out. A new chant, ‘off the ship,’ starts up. The crowd parts, opening a path to the doors.

"I do believe that's your cue to exit." Angela remarks.

"I still have to take your statements." Officer Rosebud states.

"You apparently ignored my wife's statement that I was fine, this supposed case should not have happened. Unless you are detaining us, I ask that you leave." Angela states. "I will be pressing charges for my stolen property."

The two men storm out of the building and a great cheer rings out.

There's a moment of blessed euphoria before the students settle. Most of the students leave to follow the two off campus. A good chunk return to their dorms, it is still a school night. A few stick around though, thankfully the cameras are put away.

"So what actually happened," Anita asks. "And what's wrong with Danny?"

Danny had, at some point, flopped over on the couch and curled into a ball.

"Sugar crash, he'll be fine," Angela dismisses. "We were actually discussing my new research paper that he's been helping me with all semester."

"You're writing a research paper?" Josie asks. "What's it on?"

"The cultural impacts of having the greatest minds of history existing in the same space and how it affects developing literature and art." Angela states

"Impressive," Danny mumbles from his spot on the couch. "You really enjoyed talking to Frostbite, huh?"

"Whose Frostbite?" Marcella asks.

"A ghost yeti," Danny answers.

"A what?" Marcella squeaks.

"Where did you meet a ghost yeti?" Anita asks.

"In the ghost zone, duh." Danny says sitting up.

"I thought you were making that up?" One of the guys asks.

Danny squints at him and decides he doesn't know his name. "Why would I lie about an alternate dimension?"

"Because it doesn't seem like a real thing?" The guy says, throwing his hands out.

Danny rolls his eyes dramatically.

"You know what, I am actually exhausted from the last three days." Danny says. "All cause none of you can keep your nose out of my business."

"We're just worried about you," Josie defends.

"Uh huh, sure, I'm gonna go to bed." Danny says. He turns to the Birchshoos. "Will you be okay, do you need anything before I go?"

"You're fine, dear," Angela pats him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about us old folk, we can manage just fine without you."

"Kay, cool, awesome," Danny says. "Night all."

He stands up and promptly falls into a swirling green vortex at his feet.

Everyone in the room freezes.

"Holy fuck," Anita says softly.

"Don't be so surprised, dearie," Angela laughs, getting to her feet as well. "Why would anyone choose to sleep in a college dorm when they can sleep in a castle?"

“A what?”

“Castle?!”

“Where the fuck did Fenton go?!”

“You’re shitting me.”

The professor laughs, raising a hand to settle the crowd. “Now, now dearies, it is quite late for these old folk, and I particularly would like to sleep tonight.”

“Is Danny going to be okay,” Josie asks.

“Oh, he’s quite fine, my dear,” Angela responds. “I’m sorry we’ve worried you youngsters on my behalf.”

“Has Danny really been going to the ghost zone to sleep?” Anita asks. “Is it safe?”

“Quite safe,” Angela states. “Why, I’m making plans to spend the summer there for research.”

“How did Danny just disappear like that though,” the male student asks.

“You don’t think the Coffee Ghost is the only ghost who came to visit from Amity, did you?” Angela laughs. The few students share a look as their faces pale. “Now, that’s enough of that, good night students.”

“Good night, Professor Birchshoo,” the students chorus. “Good night Madame Birchshoo.”

“Good night dears, get some rest, won’t you?” Marcella comments as she links her arm with her wife’s. They walk briskly out the door to their cars.

“Didn’t Birchshoo need her walker to…” a different male student asks.

“The walker is for balance mostly and to help take pressure off her knee.” Anita says.

“She was making a show about her hip?” The confusion is clear in Josie’s face. She blinks into dawning realization. Josie and Anita start giggling. One by one the rest of the students still milling in the lobby join in.

By breakfast of the following morning, the entire campus knows of three substantial facts.

The first, Professor Birchshoo is a total bamf and is suing the police precinct for stolen property, unnecessary emotional distress for herself, her wife and a student, and harassment.

The second, on a similar note, Professor Birchshoo is also suing professor Bishop for defamation of character, harassing the female student body and faculty, and falsifying evidence to harm a student and herself.

The third, Coffee Ghost is probably not the only ghost frequenting the school. Professor Birchshoo has just about confirmed it to several students, and she would never lie to the students.

When Danny walks into the cafeteria later that morning, the ambient din drops into silence. Danny freezes mid step to look around the room.

“What?” He asks.

“Is it true?” Miles shouts from across the room.

Danny tilts his head in open confusion. “Is what true?”

“You sleep in a palace in the Ghost Zone.”

“It’s really more of a keep than a palace,” Danny rubs the back of his neck. “And not usually, it’s under construction right now.”

“Then where do you sleep?” Miles moves to stand closer so not having to shout.

“I have a couple of friends in the Zone who are helping me with a couple of things.” Danny answers.

“Like the Coffee Ghost?” Miles asks.

Danny shrugs. “Not really, he enjoys coffee too much to leave our side for long.”

Danny stops to look around the cafeteria. “Why is that you all care so much?”

“Uh, dude,” McKenzie says, coming up from the other side of the cafeteria. “You’re, like, famous on campus.”

“I’m what?” Danny doesn't squawk but it's a near thing.

“You do realize you’re the most well known student here, right?” Miles asks.

“No, I did not realize. What did I do for - what are you - this has to be a prank, right?” Danny asks, looking between his two friends.

“Danny Fenton,” Anjie sing-songs from behind him. Danny whirls around to face them. “Are you upset to know that people like you? That you’re actually popular?”

“I’m not upset,” Danny argues. “I am confused. How am I popular?”

“Same difference,” Miles throws his arm over Danny’s shoulders and tugs the taller boy down the two inches to be eye level. “You, my little adopted freshman, are popular, need to embrace it so that I, you’re great and awesome senior-”

“You’re a junior.”

“-can bask in your glowing fabulousness.” Miles continues unperturbed as he drags Danny to the breakfast bar. He shifts into a more conspiratory tone, “Besides, no one is going to believe that you disappear into the ghost zone on the reg without proof.”

“Wanna bet?” Danny asks, standing up straight and pulling out from Miles’ arm.

“I do!” Anjie exclaims as they jump onto Danny’s back. Danny catches their legs and hoists them up higher onto his back. “I bet they will believe without proof.”

Danny arches an eyebrow at Miles.

“20 bucks, more than half the students think he faked the whole thing,” McKenzie states.

Anjie whispers into Danny’s ear. Danny’s smile turns mischievous.

“I’ll take that bet.” Danny says, holding out his hand. McKenzie takes it to shake.

Danny turns around and props Anjie higher so they can tower over the entire cafeteria.

“Attention fellow students, gals, pals, and imaginary unicorns,” Anjie calls over the growing noise levels. “May I have your attention please!”

The cafeteria quiets slowly as the attention turns to the blonde.

“We are in the middle of a bet right now,” Anjie proclaims. “And we need your help to vote. Does Danny Fenton sleep in the Ghost Zone?”

A clamor of noise goes up. Anjie raises her hand for quiet. They get it.

“Those who say no, Danny Fenton, does not sleep in an alternate dimension, raise your hand.”

Less than a third of the students present raise their hands.

“And those who say yes,” the rest of the students' hands go up with vigor, “Danny Fenton, well I guess we have our answer there.”

“This is ridiculous.” McKenzie mutters as he pulls out his wallet.

“Thank you for your participation,” Anjie shouts. They turn to look at McKenzie, “Cough up.”

“Wait, are you not going to tell us if it’s true?” Someone in the crowd shouts.

Danny opens his mouth, exhaling a blue mist when a swirling green vortex opens up to the astronomy club’s right. A green man in the traditional scholar's robes of The Great Library of Alexandria steps forward with a thick scroll and a heavy book in his hands.

Danny bends a knee to drop Anjie to the floor before greeting the ghost in English. “Sinilis, what brings you here?”

“Ah,” the ghost glances around the room of humans. “Is this a bad time… sir?”

Danny shrugs. “Depends on why you’re here.”

“Ah, Frostbite had sent word of a scholar here who wishes to study at The Library,” Sinilis states. “He wished for us to forward these to them to confirm their awareness of our local customs.”

Danny takes the offered documents. “I’ll pass these on to my professor, thank you, and give Frostbite my thanks for thinking of it when you see him.”

“Certainly, sir,” Sinilis bows low before turning into the portal and vanishing with it.

“What the fuck was that?” Miles cries out.

“A delivery for Professor Birchshoo, apparently.” Danny says, looking over the book.

“Why,” Miles asks, voice strained. “Does Professor Birchshoo need Ghost books?”

“She’s writing a research paper comparing ghost literature and its cultural effects to ours.” Danny answers.

“Bullshit,” McKenzie crosses his arms.

Danny sighs, dramatically. “C’mon then, she should be in her office by now.” He leads his four clubmates out of the cafeteria which erupts into noise.

By lunch time the school was abuzz with two new facts.

The first new fact, Professor Birchshoo had safely visited and returned to the ghost zone and was doing a research paper on ghost literature.

The second, Danny Fenton is most definitely actually a cryptid who apparently sleeps in a castle in an alternate dimension. Yeah, he’s definitely a cryptid. A very chill one. But still a cryptid. Not that anyone is going to say that to his face. Who knows what other sort of friends he has from the other side.

#danny phantom #phic #college shenanigans #phan phic #long post #ramblings of a fanona #nona writes

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q-gorgeous · 3 years

Text

Strange

fanfiction

this fic is based off of @jerichomere‘s dead kyle au comic

hidey hey u guys im back for another dannymay fic jhgvf

Kyle walked through the main entrance of Casper High, a yawn falling out of his mouth while his eyes scrunched closed. When he opened his eyes, he had walked down the hallway a bit where the rest of the students were gathered. He smiled at some and waved at others as he walked down the hall, but it was starting to dawn on him that everyone was staring at him weirdly.

No one was waving back to him as he greeted his classmates. Everyone either backed away from him or avoided looking at him altogether. His friend, Nost, nearly jumped out of his skin when Kyle clapped him on the shoulder in their usual greeting.

Huh, that’s strange.

Pulling back, he looked at Nost with wide eyes, saying something about catching him later. Nost must’ve pulled an all nighter, it wouldn’t have been the first time. He shrugged off the feeling churning in his gut and changed direction when he saw Wes standing at his locker.

“Hey, bro.” Kyle said as he walked up behind Wes. “Everyone looks like they’ve seen a ghost. Do you know why they’re acting so weird?

Wes paused in his digging in his locker, his hand clenched around his locker door. He slowly turned around, eyes wide, to stare at his brother who was standing nonchalantly in the middle of the hallway.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Wes said.

“What?” Kyle looked at Wes’ wide eyes and the way he shrunk in on himself. “Oh, not you too. I don’t know what crawled up everyone’s butts but you can come find me when you’re not being weird. I’m going to class.”

Kyle walked away from Wes, adjusting his backpack straps, and made his way down the hallway. The people he passed were white as a sheet and were looking at him with wide eyes. He didn’t know why they were acting so strange, but he would just go about his business as usual.

“Hey, Dale! High five!”

Dale instinctively lifted his arm and turned toward Kyle at the invitation for a high five, but the moment he realized it was Kyle’s hand smacking into his, it looked as if his soul left his body.

Kyle continued walking down the hallway, whistling as he turned into his english classroom.

“Lord of the Flies! Mr. Weston?!”

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

“So how come you don’t eat then?”

Wes kicked a rock as he walked beside Kyle, hands shoved into his pockets while he sported a grumpy expression on his face.

“What do you mean? Of course I eat! I’m just not that hungry very often.”

Wes shot Kyle a look. “I haven’t seen you eat since… For a couple weeks now. When do you eat that no one ever sees you?”

Kyle shrugged. “Probably when I’m baked as fuck.”

Wes sighed. “Well you’re not high right now, and you’re not eating, are you going to be hungry enough to join us for dinner?”

“Eh, I think I had a big lunch today. I’ll let you know if I’m hungry later.”

“You think you had a big lunch?”

Kyle looked away from Wes. “I mean, I assume I had a big lunch since I’m not hungry.”

“You don’t even know?” Wes stared wide eyed at him. “Look, Kyle, I know you don’t believe in ghosts but-”

“Ghosts aren’t real.”

“But-”

Kyle sighed. “Look, I don’t want to talk about this right now. I just want to go home and do my homework.”

Wes followed after Kyle quietly, hands tucked into his jacket while Kyle was clad only in his hoodie even in the fall weather.

Later at home, Kyle was interrupted from his homework when Wes knocked on his door and opened it.

“Hey, dinner’s ready. If you wanna, uh, come eat.”

Kyle softly shook his head and gestured at his homework. “Nah. I’m, uh, not hungry. Besides, I wanna get this essay done for Mr. Lancer.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll see you later.”

Wes quietly shut the door behind him and Kyle leaned back in his chair and sighed. The churning feeling in his gut was reignited when the invitation to dinner sounded more like… A formality rather than an actual invitation this time. Like Wes knew Kyle wouldn’t be joining them.

Turning the thought away, Kyle leaned forward to his desk again and turned his attention to the homework assignment Lancer had handed him with a barely there tremor in his hands. He stared at the assignment for a moment before getting up and crawling into bed, pulling the blankets over his body and curling into himself.

He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

As Kyle walked through the hallways of Casper High, he began to realize that he now had to look up at many of the kids who were in a younger year than him. Even Wes was slowly beginning to surpass him in height. He’d always been taller than Wes, why was he catching up to him now?

Suddenly, a large body bumped into him on the left, nearly toppling him over to the floor.

“Hey, shorty, watch it!”

Turning towards the voice, Kyle looked up at Keith who wilted upon meeting Kyle’s gaze.

“Oh, uh, hey Kyle! I didn’t know that was you there! I thought you were Mikey or something.”

Kyle looked around the hallway and pointed to where Mikey was standing in the middle of the hallway with his friends. The boy who had once been a foot and a half shorter than Kyle now stood at the same height as him.

“He’s over there.”

Keith followed where Kyle’s finger was pointing and nodded vigorously. “That he is, I’ll go- go pummel him for making me think you were him!” Keith walked away towards the scrawny boy. “Hey, Mikey!”

Kyle’s brows furrowed and he uneasily made his way over to where Wes was at his locker. “Hey, when did you all get so tall?”

Wes looked over his shoulder for a moment before turning his attention back to his locker. “About a year ago. Why? Did you finally notice?”

“Notice what?”

“That you stopped growing.”

Kyle shook his head. “No, of course I’m still growing. I just haven’t had a growth spurt in awhile. I’ll catch back up to you guys.”

When Kyle woke up the next morning and came downstairs yawning, Wes looked up at Kyle and the inch he used to have on him.

“Of course.” Wes said as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “Who could have seen that coming.”

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

“One of these days I’ll make you admit it.”

“Admit what?” Kyle asked as he tossed a football towards Wes as they stood in the middle of the park.

“That ghosts are real.” Wes caught the football and threw it back towards Kyle who jumped to catch it.

Kyle tsked and tucked the football against his side. “You can’t admit what isn’t true. Ghosts aren’t real.”

Wes sighed and bent over to pick up his stuff. “Whatever.”

I will never admit that ghosts are real.

I won’t. I can’t-

-Kyle watched as Danny flew around, putting on a show with his parents special effect technology. The man he was pretending to fight put on a pretty impressive act. Suddenly, one of the special effect machines exploded, shooting into the building Kyle was standing in the second story of. The building rumbled and groaned and he could hear Danny shouting his name.

“Kyle!”

Then it fell. The building collapsed around him, puffs of dust going everywhere, the road littered with debris. Kyle’s head popped out of it like it hadn’t even touched him even though he could still feel the floor falling apart under his feet-

“Come on, let’s go home. Dad wants us there for some dinner with Vlad.”

Kyle watched Wes walk away for a moment, his heart in his stomach before following behind him, gripping his backpack straps tightly.

Because if I do…

That’s not all I’ll have to admit.

#gorgi writes #danny phantom #dannymay #dannymay2020 #dannymay 2020 #strange #kyle weston #wes weston #dead kyle au #phic #phicc #fanfic #fic #fanfiction

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shhh-no-ones-home · 3 years

Text

death march matt Murdock x reader

+++++++++

this one has been in the drafts for a bit and i finally finished it so i hope you guys enjoy. writing has been slow recently as i havent had much free time and am still trying to rewatch all the netflix marvel series. but i am still working on requests and stories that ive had started for about a month so hopefully the rest will be out soon, along with some frank castle stories now that ive reached the first season of the punisher

prompts: "You need sleep." "I get sleep" "getting knocked unconscious does not count as sleep"

song: saints of the blood by black veil brides

tag list: @cynic-spirit @juniebugg

+++++++++

i sat back on my knees and groaned. matt and i were both covered in blood and he was still writhing around on the ground. but the men around us that were out made me a little proud of all that we'd done. it had been weeks of tracking them down, taking out one ninja at a time until we found were they were all hiding.

"i need a vacation."

he noted as he got to his knees and i laughed.

"you and me both D."

he laughed back as he stood, almost doubling over as he clutched his side. i was quick to stand then, helping him, steadying him.

"whoa, hold up there daredevil, i saw that last punch. broken ribs isn't gonna get you anywhere."

he inhaled sharply.

"and what do you suggest i do?"

i snorted.

"you know the answer to that already."

he shook his head as we limped towards the door together.

"yeah, i shouldn't have asked."

°°°°°°°°°

when we got back to the apartment i was quick to get him to the couch. every move earned a hiss from deep in his chest as i tried to get his jacket off. i figured his ribs were broke but i was more worried about the cuts and stab wounds.

"alright human x-ray, what's the damage?"

he sat quietly for a moment and listened. then he closed his eyes and sighed.

"what do you think?"

i touched his side lightly.

"oh yeah, they're definitely broken. but there's something else. what is it?"

he blinked slowly before wincing as he tried to resituate himself on the couch.

"the cut below my rib is almost deep enough for it to come out."

i made a gross face.

"so maybe this time we really should get you to a hospital."

"no."

he said quickly and i sent him a look.

"matt, if i don't there's a good chance you'll die."

"no hospital."

i bit my tongue as he laid back.

"fine, ill do the best i can but if you if you start fading on me im doing it. this job is bigger than me, and Claire for that matter."

his jaw tightened.

"what would we even tell them? you're not in any better shape."

his breathing was shaky and staggered. i looked to my knuckles on my right hand as i held the cloth to his open wound. at this point i couldn't tell what was my blood, what was his blood, or what was the blood from the men we'd fought in the back of that abandoned warehouse. and then i looked to my left hand, god it was so much worse. my first two fingers were for sure broken, my wrist not in any better shape, and i had a gash almost the length of the back my arm.

"ill think of something, but right now we need to focus on getting you out of this outfit and keeping you from bleeding out. i don't need the paramedics figuring out what we both do in our free time."

°°°°°°°°°

as i sat in the chair beside matt i tried my hardest not to fall asleep. the beep of his heart monitor was very lulling and the morphine they had given me didn't help. it was a little amusing though to look at the two of us; we practically looked like mummies with how wrapped we were. my left hand was broken in eight places, my wrist in two. the cut on my arm was deep enough to need stitches near my elbow but nowhere else, thank god.

"y/n."

i heard him say quietly and i sat up abruptly, no longer tired.

"im here matt, its okay."

i said softly, taking his hand in mine.

"where are we?"

he asked and i let out a laugh.

"metro general."

he deadpanned.

"i thought i told you-"

"i know i know, but i was losing you. i kept checking your heartbeat but you were losing too much blood. and i couldn't live with myself if id let you die. not after all that hard work."

i said the last bit with a hint of amusement and luckily he smiled back.

"what did you tell them?"

i let out a nervous laugh.

"i told them we were walking home through a bad part of town and got jumped, pushed into a back alley by a couple guys, large and in masks. i told them that they all looked the same, same height, same clothes, and only one of them spoke; that he demanded we give him all that we had on us. i told them that you tried to be brave and push me out of the way and that they didn't like that; that they beat you up, attacked you, then attacked me and once they got me on the ground stomped on my hand and ran."

he nodded solemnly; rubbing his thumb over the back of my right hand. the bruises were prominent still, cuts deep to the bone that i hadn't let anyone see since we'd been here the last ten hours.

"that's one hell of a story."

"as far as they know it was one hell of a fight. but you're still my hero; stupid and stubborn, but still a hero."

he smiled, almost laughing but groaning in pain and rolling his head back against the pillows.

"hey, take it easy, you need to heal, You need sleep."

"I get sleep."

he said matter-of-factly and i sent him a look.

"matt, getting knocked unconscious does not count as sleep."

he looked to the ceiling and swallowed hard.

"look, ill call foggy and Karen and tell them you were awake and they can visit later but for now you need all the rest you can get. you lost a lot of blood, and i know you, you'll want to get back out there as soon as possible. but for right now i think its okay to let the others handle the city for a bit. ill talk to Trish, see what she can do with Jessica's help. you know Danny would be willing to do something."

he shook his head.

"no, don't, its fine, I'm fine."

"Matthew, you have three broken ribs, a punctured lung, and you almost got sliced all the way through. I'm calling at least one of your super friends to take the mantle for a couple weeks. hells kitchen survived over a year without the mask, I'm sure it can survive a little longer. just until you're healed."

he sighed, closing his eyes again.

"i hate when you're right."

i smiled, squeezing his hand lightly.

"if that were true, you wouldn't have married me."

i stood up and kissed his forehead.

"Mrs. Murdock, the voice of reason."

he said softly and i leaned down and kissed him properly.

"keeping the love of my life alive one day at a time."

"thank you."

i studied him for a moment as i stood back up.

"get some sleep, ill be right here when you wake up."

#wattpad #x reader #matt murdock #daredevil #imagines #one shots #marvel #the defenders #338

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mysticalnightenthusiast · 3 years

Text

S.N.A.F.U- A Daniel Ricciardo FanFic CH15 'Arriving on Track'

Despite the frantic hubbub that consumed Monaco during Grand Prix week Daniel and Eadaoin arrived on course within half an hour of leaving the apartment. Predictably there was a bunch of photographers and TV cameras stationed outside the driver’s access entrance and they followed the couple as they showed their access passes and were granted passage past the gates.

“So how d'you feel about that?” Daniel asked as they got out of the car.

“It was less unpleasant than I thought it was going to be,” Eadaoin confessed slipping her hand into his “where to now?”

“Where all the driver’s trailers are parked,” Daniel replied flashing her a smile as he squeezed her hand “it’s between the media centre and pit lane “so....what d'you think?”

“I’m trying so hard not to fan girl I really am,” Eadaoin confessed “my parents and brother would figuratively sell their soul to bet the sort of tour you’re giving me, especially Cahir. His favourite race by far is Monaco.”

Daniel chuckled.

“Well when this COVID shit is over and done with I’ll fix it so your family can have a backstage pass like you have today,” he said as they made their way through the bustling back side.

“You’d do that?”

“Yeah of course, I’d load them up with merch too.”

Daniel was greeted by several people on his and Eadaoin’s walk through the back side the latter attracting several curious stares and whispers.

“I just heard a guy an Alpha Tauri polo hiss ‘who the hell’s that on Danny Ric’s arm?” Eadaoin said as they reached the drivers trailer park.

“Mmm I heard that too,” Daniel said cockily “one tends to attract a lot of attention when you have a smoking hot bird on your arm. Wish we had more time and I would literally parade you around. D'you have any idea how good you make me look? My street cred would be going through the roof.”

Eadaoin rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be an arse,” she scolded giving him a shove.

Daniel laughed heartily.

“You’re a beautiful woman and exude confidence, people find that attractive,” he reasoned “I can totally get that, and I’m the lucky bastard that get to hang off your arm too.”

Daniel led Eadaoin to his trailer and briefly let go of her hand to retrieve a key from his pocket, he poked it into the lock and with a click unlocked it.

“Ladies first,” he said swinging the door open.

Eadaoin entered the trailer first and her reaction was much like the one she had when she arrived at Daniel’s apartment.

“Holy shit you could live in this!” she exclaimed as he followed her in.

“Last year with the shrunk season I kinda did,” Daniel replied dumping his bag on a cream coloured seat near the corner “all the drivers were in the one bubble and we all lived in our trailers on track when we could. It wasn’t ideal but we got by.”

“So you have a bedroom and bathroom?”

“Yeah through there,” Daniel responded pointing to a door on the other side of the trailer “that’s where Pippa would have put my helmet and race day kit bag. I change in there and after free practice, quallies and the race itself I came back here and chill unless the garage team need me. Played several games of poker on that table last year with Max, Lewis and Valtteri. Don’t ever play Texas Hold ‘em with Bottas he’ll fleece you, sonofabitch took a thousand euro off me in Portugal a couple of weeks ago.”

“Are you that bad at it?” Eadaoin asked in amusement.

“That day I was,” Daniel said dryly “take a seat, help yourself to anything in the fridge I need to go get changed, I’ll let Pippa know we’re here then I’ll put you in her capable hands.”

Daniel disappeared in his room and emerged fifteen minutes later clad in his race suit. Eadaoin immediately wolf whistled.

“Oh very funny,” he said blushing deeply and he adjusted the top half of the suit that was hanging around his waist “Pippa hasn’t arrived yet?”

As soon as he finished speaking a knock came at the trailer door.

“Danny you all set luv?” A familiar voice called “got a lot to do today can I come in?”

“Yeah I’m decent”

The trailer door swung open and Pippa skipped in, lighting up when she saw her charge and Eadaoin. Danny immediately introduced the two women.

“Darling this is my P.A Pippa Andrews, she’s the best in the biz,” he said “she can make anything happen and makes my life during the season infinitely easier, Pip this is Eadaoin the woman who’s made my life infinitely better off track.”

“Good to finally meet you honey,” Pippa said brightly grasping Eadaoin’s hands “Danny’s kept you to himself for entirely too long. Everyone’s been dying to meet the person that’s put our boy on planet happy”

“Oh look you made him blush,” Eadaoin teased watching Daniel blush scarlet “he’ll match one of the Ferrari cars in a minute.”

“Oh shut up,” Daniel muttered as he took his helmet out of its protective bag “what’s up first Pip?”

“First you’ve got to meet Charlotte at the garage to go over your media schedule for today. Then you’ve got a pre-practice briefing with Andreas, then you meet with Tom to talk tactics for practice then you’ve got an hour for lunch before straight into P3. Sky F1 and ESPN have got their claws into you first up after P3 and before qualifying but Charlotte will be able to go into more detail with you.”

“Okie dokie, that’ll keep me occupied for the next couple of hours”

“What d’you want to do for lunch?” Pippa asked ‘have lunch in comms with Lando like usual or in your trailer?”

“Can we make it in here this time?” Daniel asked “otherwise I’m not going to have any time to spend with Eadaoin til after quallies.”

“I can organise that,” Pippa said cheerfully “what d’you want to eat?”

“If Syd’s making those wanky little chicken things I’ll have those,” Daniel said at once.

“And you Eadaoin?” Pippa asked a pen poised over a notepad.

“I’m not fussed as long as it doesn’t have olives in it,” Eadaoin replied amiably “what the hell are ‘those wanky little chicken things? haha!”

Pippa rolled her eyes.

“They’re what this comedian calls spicy chicken col-au-vents,” she replied dryly “Syd, McLaren’s travelling head chef started making them last year after Turkey and Danny and Lando literally cleaned out the catering department out of all of them. I don’t know anyone outside of our CEO that managed to eat any aside from those two garbage gutses”

“Hey I’m a growing boy!” Daniel declared with a great snort of laughter “I can’t help that our chef makes a ham toastie taste good.”

“OH puh-leeeeze you stopped growing twenty five years ago,” Pippa informed him dryly “now go on and scoot or Charlotte and Andreas will get pissy about you being late again. I’ll look after Eadaoin; see you back here for lunch.”

Daniel picked up his helmet and quickly embraced Pippa before leaning in and kissing Eadaoin on the lips.

“Apart from lunch I won’t get to see you much today so have fun,” he said flashing her a wink and his trademark smile “if you need or want anything ask Pip, she’s literally a lifesaver. Makes my life easier every day.”

“Okay that’s enough arse kissing from you pal get going!” Pippa instructed giving Daniel a little shove toward the door.

“See ya ladies!”

And with helmet in hand Daniel disappeared.

“He’s a cheeky shit that one,” Pippa told Eadaoin “but you probably already know that.”

“Yup from the first day we met,” Eadaoin replied following the older woman out of the trailer “so what happens now?”

“I’m under strict instructions to take you to merchandise and ‘fit you out’” Pippa replied cheerfully “Danny’s reasoning is if you’re clad in his or McLaren’s merch you’re more likely to blend in with the crowd.”

“I keep telling him, he doesn’t need to spend so much money on me,” Eadaoin declared.

“I know and he told me you’d say that but he wants to spoil you,” Pippa informed the redhead “and he spoils those he cares about, though I suspect his soft spot for you does a bit deeper than for the rest of us.”

Eadaoin blushed.

“Has he told you much about me?” she asked.

“He’s not gone into a lot of detail,” Pippa admitted “you see he was so devastated with what happened with Jem his ex I think he was reluctant to tell anyone anything. I think Danny wanted to make sure what you two have was solid before he started bringing you to the track and introducing you to his family in Australia and his F1 family in Europe. He keeps those sorts of emotions close to his chest and his private life private even from his close friends most of the time so the fact you’re here means he’s legitimately serious about you.”

“Yeah well we are serious about each other,” Eadaoin informed Pippa “we’re introducing each other to our respective parents tonight.”

“Yeah Danny mentioned that to me this morning,” Pippa replied as they passed the enormous McLaren communications hub “I get the distinct impression he’s more nervous than he’s letting on.”

“Yeah I get that impression too,” Eadaoin admitted “I think we’ll just wing it.”

“Sometime that’s just the best way to go in life hon.” Pippa said cheerfully as they arrived at McLaren’s onsite headquarters “alright let’s get you looking like a local!”

********************************************************************

Three hours later Pippa took Eadaoin back to Danny’s trailer laden with McLaren and D3 merchandise.

“How am I supposed to get all this back to London?” Eadaoin asked the older woman in amused exasperation as a bag of t-shirts fell onto the floor “I only brought one suitcase with me and this could legitimately take up most of the jet’s luggage hold.”

“Leave it with me,” Pippa said helping Eadaoin place all the items in the far corner of the trailer “I’ll organise to have it all shipped to your place in London.”

“You really do-” Eadaoin began.

“I know I don’t but you’re going to need some help getting this back home and it may as well be me,” Pippa said as another knock came at the trailer door “and I really don’t mind.”

“Well if you’re sure...”

An enormous tray of food was delivered to the trailer and a few minutes after that Daniel arrived back.

“Okay time to make myself scarce,” Pippa said cheerfully “if either of you need anything send me a text!”

And with that she disappeared.

“That was subtle,” Daniel said dryly locking the door behind his P.A an striding over to embrace Eadaoin “I see you got a bit of merch then”

Eadaoin rolled her eyes.

“A bit?” she exclaimed “a bit? I literally have one of everything in the McLaren and D3 range. You are a crazy man.”

Daniel grinned and kissed her on the lips.

“Crazy about you,” he growled against her neck “wait til later in the year, more stuff is coming out.”

“Can you bring out a dress range or maybe lingerie?” Eadaoin asked shivering as he kissed along the line of her left collarbone.

“Mmmm lingerie,” he murmured “I like the idea of that.”

“Wearing it yourself?” Eadaoin asked with a snort of laughter “because you don’t strike me as the wearing lingerie type, you’re a jeans and shirt type all day.

“Oh ha ha” Daniel said dryly, patting her on the backside “way to go ruining a romantic moment.”

“We can be romantic later Driver Man, you need to keep your head in the game,” Eadaoin informed him as they sat on the sofa together “how did your morning go?”

“Busy as usual,” Daniel replied cheerfully “I’ve done all the morning media and strategy planning with Tom for P3 so now all the focus is on actual driving and formulating a plan for the race tomorrow based on how practice and qualifying goes.”

“Are you confident?” Eadaoin asked biting into a mini quiche.

“Cautiously so,” Daniel replied “I learned a long time ago not to get a big head until I have something to get a big head about. Monaco is always a technical race and requires a bit more detail in the planning department. Apart from my first two years I’ve always done well here, I’ve always finished in the points and been on the podium four times. I’m confident of not doing shit at least.”

“That’s a growth mindset,” Eadaoin said “I’ve got a bit of news.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mmm I’ve been offered a job,” Eadaoin revealed.

“A good one?”

“Yeah actually my old one at the same firm I worked for when I first came to London,” Eadaoin went on holding out a quiche to him “one of my former colleagues made partner and is looking for a solicitor that specializes in Contract, Criminal and Tort law. It’s a ten percent pay rise on what I was getting last time.”

“That’s a huge increase,” Daniel exclaimed biting into the quiche and tickling her knee “I mean I assume it is, I’ve never met a lawyer who lives on peanuts. Are you going to take the job?”

“I don’t know,” Eadaoin asked “honestly I don’t. I kinda like being unemployed right now. I can spend more time with you, take off and go wherever I like, not have to leave my home at six am every morning to get through the London bullshit. But I’ll admit I miss law work and going balls deep into a case....I see the look on your face Daniel Joseph Ricciardo that was not a sexual euphemism!”

Daniel threw his head back and roared with laughter.

“What look?” he said innocently

Eadaoin playfully punched him in the chest.

“Don’t be an arse,” she said “you know I know what you’re up to.”

“And that is what exactly?” he asked snaking a hand around her waist and pulling her forward to their lips were only millimeters apart.

“Jonesing for a snog.”

“Rats, you got me,” Daniel said with a grin rubbing his nose against hers “so can I have one? A good luck charm for p3 and qualifying?”

“I thought you weren’t into all that superstitious bullshit?” Eadaoin asked running her fingers through his messy curls.

“I’m not I just want a snog from my girl,” Daniel confessed “c’mon darling I’m running out of excuses.”

Eadaoin laughed and leaned in.

“Its-cute-hearing-you-beg” she murmured between kisses shifting her position and allowing him to hike up the skirt of her dress and run his thick fingers up and down her thigh “one day I’m going to make you do it properly.”

“Oh yeah? How?”

Eadaoin winked

“Saying would ruin the surprise,” she said “but it’s not going to be in a trailer in public in one of the busiest places on earth when you’re literally working. Daniel Joseph Ricciardo if you’re going to give me a hickey you better have something for me to cover it up with!”

“Mhmm in my kit bag,” Daniel murmured in her ear “you wriggle too much.”

“I’m ticklish there you bugger!” Eadaoin exclaimed with a shill giggle “you’re lucky you’re wearing a neck to foot race suit or I’d make the hickey I left on you before Italy look like a pinhead!”

“Hmm how payback sucks huh?” Daniel countered.

“Remember I’m supposed to be introducing you to Mum, Dad and Cahir tonight, what the hell d'you think they’re going to say when I log on and I look like I have leprosy because you can’t keep your mouth to yourself?”

“You can use the concealer Kelly Max’s girlfriend gave me,” Daniel murmured “there’s enough to cover up the leprosy look.”

“Oh brother.”

*****************************************************************************************

As usual when they were together Danny and Eadaoin lost track of time and it wasn’t until an alarm on Danny’s phone went off did they part.

“Ugh that means I’ve got ten minutes to be back in the garage,” he groused.

“Good that means I have ten minutes to cover up all the hickeys on my neck and you have time to straighten up,” Eadaoin informed him as she dropped a kiss on the bridge of his nose “you look like you haven’t brushed your hair in a week.”

“And whose fault is that?” Daniel said with a snort of laughter “thought you liked my hair?”

“I love your hair but don’t you want to make it less obvious we’ve been ravishing each other for the last forty five minutes?” Eadaoin reasoned as she got up and straightened her dress “if you go into the garage looking like that Lando will straight up tease you for the rest of the year.”

“You’re far too sensible for me Darling.”

#F1 #DanielRiccardoFanfiction #daniel ricciardo #JesusIHopeHeNeverEVERReadsThis

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singingaboutwishingx · 3 years

Text

the sam/josh/donna we DESERVED

so, as we all know, canon neither confirms nor denies the existence of a josh/sam relationship

this, of course, means it happened.

and so when sam and donna find themselves in bed together at the beginning of year four, as attractive people tend to do, this becomes a problem for both of them

because the two of them had always been pretty close

(they were both individually closer to josh but had formed a friendship in their own right. donna had been sleeping in sam’s guest room at least once a month for a year before it happened)

but anyway, this closeness was partially born out of the fact that they both had feelings for josh

sam, as josh’s ex, would have taken him back in a second, and what began as a seed of a crush for donna soon blossomed into love

it’s nice to feel things with a friend, and they didn’t do it a whole lot, but it was definitely a bonding point for them

anyway they both knew that about the other and went “oh shit” when they woke up the morning after

because like,,, their feelings for josh absolutely had not gone away, but sam’s pretty goddamn, well, pretty, and donna more or less rocked his world

so they keep it up because, hey, josh is doing... whatever he’s doing with amy gardner right now, and it’s pretty obvious that he’s not interested in either one of them for the foreseeable future

(they’re both absolutely oblivious, but they are kind of right—neither of them will get involved with josh anytime soon)

they throw a few real, outside-of-sam’s-apartment dates into the mix

it’s clear pretty quickly that this isn’t a fluke. they’d enjoyed each other’s company before, but donna very much likes sitting on sam’s lap instead of next to him at a respectable distance, and sam certainly isn’t complaining about it, either

it’s a few months before anyone significant finds out

(at this point, the only people who know are donna’s roommate and sam’s doorman)

there’s a knock on sam’s door one saturday morning as he and donna lay in bed

sam reluctantly goes to answer the door (“couldn’t i just pretend i’m not home?” he pulls her closer. “sam, what if it’s important?”)

when josh calls sam’s cell phone, sam doesn’t get a word out before josh starts “sam, come open your door. i’m outside.”

donna and sam are Very Stressed about this

it’s fine, though. as long as donna stays in the bedroom, quietly, josh doesn’t need to find out

and so sam goes to open the door, but decidedly does not invite josh in

“sam, what’s goin’ on? you got someone here or something?”

“um, yeah.”

“oh. you could have just said so.” josh’s eyes wander past sam to the coffee table. “is—is that... donna’s purse?”

sam’s eyes widen. shit.

needless to say, josh did not take it very well.

sam calls donna out of the bedroom, and the way the too-big sweatshirt she’s wearing—unmistakably sam’s—drapes over her goes straight to josh’s heart.

sam and donna sit on the couch while josh paces in front of them

“so, let me get this straight. my—my best friend, and my... other best friend are sleeping together and they didn’t tell me for months?”

josh has been rubbing his temples for so long that donna’s afraid he’ll rub his skin off

he’s not not happy for them, but donna and sam aren’t the only ones with feelings for their coworker and their ex

and that’s just kind of how it is for a while.

donna and sam don’t exactly hide, but they try their best to keep it on the down low for both press reasons and josh reasons

mostly they just order takeout and eat it on sam’s couch because neither of them really has the energy to do anything else

josh never, ever asks either one of them about it. he can’t. the less information he knows, the better.

he genuinely can’t stand it because it just doesn’t feel right to him. sam and donna? really? (no of course he doesn’t have feelings for either one of them he doesn’t he doesn’t he doesn’t)

unfortunately for sam and donna, the little routine they’ve settled into comes to a screeching halt in november, when sam pulls donna into his office and tells her he might have to move across the country because he’s running for the california 47th? why the hell didn’t you tell anyone?

and listen, cj and leo have simultaneous aneurysms, but that’s nothing compared to the way donna’s and josh’s hearts just shatter

josh doesn’t really talk to sam about it. he’s afraid he’ll just break down, and he really, really doesn’t have time to cry, especially in front of sam. he just... he can’t do it

donna doesn’t really know what to do. she and sam talk about it, of course, and decide to maybe stop seeing each other, but what does she say? “i broke up with my boyfriend”? they were hitting the stops of dating, she supposes, and they would occasionally refer to each other as their boyfriend/girlfriend in public, but really only for the benefit of others

(donna preferred the way ginger would put it, which was “donna, how’s your man?” she liked that better. “boyfriend” felt too formal, too established. she and sam were a little more casual than that, she thinks)

(and she loved him, she did, but there was something (josh) keeping her from really feeling like sam was her boyfriend)

but anyway, they leave it kind of open-ended (which is how sam ends up in donna’s hotel room when the senior staff goes to california)

smash cut to march 2007: josh and donna are a pretty established couple, and sam is two and a half months off another broken engagement

sam’s thrilled for them because, seriously, they danced around that thing for years. they deserve to be together in broad daylight.

his feelings for the both of them never really went away, but he knows they’ve both moved on

(they had not, in fact)

unsurprisingly, it’s donna who brings it up to josh

“so, we both dated sam.”

“...yeah?”

“i don’t know about you, but... now that he’s back in dc, i wouldn’t be opposed to seeing him again.”

“i... donna, are you trying to break up with me?”

“no—no, of course not. what i’m trying to ask is if you would be opposed to... seeing him with me. together.”

“oh.”

josh stares into the distance for so long that donna starts to worry

“josh?”

“sorry, yeah?”

“what do you think?”

“i don’t think... sam’s fresh off an engagement. i’m not sure he would be in the headspace for a one-time thing with two of his exes. quite frankly, i’m not sure i am, either.”

“oh, i didn’t mean a one-time thing. i was thinking more... long term. if that’s something both you and he would be into.”

josh looks back at donna, the smile on his face growing

“oh. well, yeah, i... i think i’d be into that.”

and so they set up a dinner. they ask sam to come over to their place, telling him that the three of them need to talk. it’s nothing urgent, they tell him, just a long-overdue catch-up.

(and really, it is—the transition and first two months had been too busy for the three of them to sit down, regardless)

so they have dinner, and afterward, they send sam to sit on the couch in the living room while they bring down the dishes

when they finish, donna perches on the arm of couch above sam, and josh sits next to him

she starts stroking his hair, and sam, too touch-starved to think about it, just leans into her. they’d always been platonically affectionate (and donna’s kind of like that with everyone, anyway), so he’s not particularly worried.

“sammy,” josh starts, and now sam does start to worry.

josh only ever called him “sammy” when they were dating—why bring it back now?

josh keeps going. “donna and i have been talking for a while now about making a change.”

“we both love you, you know that?” donna picks up, continuing to run her fingers through sam’s hair. “and we know you love us.”

sam still can’t figure out what’s happening for the life of him

“yeah, i know,” he says quietly. “and i do.”

josh smiles at him. “we were talking, and donna reminded me that we’ve both dated you at one point or another. and the funny thing is that neither of us really ever stopped having feelings for you.”

oh, sam thinks.

“and we were wondering,” donna says, “if you might still have feelings for us.”

sam stiffens up a little bit—he’s spent so long trying to find anyone that held a candle to either of them, and now...

donna notices. “sam, honey,” she says gently (and, god, donna calling him “honey” just does something to him), “we don’t ever want to make you feel uncomfortable. you’re our friend first. if this isn’t something you’re interested in, short-term or long term, we’ll drop it and we don’t ever have to speak about this again.”

“no,” he says, maybe a little too quickly. “i would definitely be interested. short-term, or long-term, or whatever you guys want.”

josh and donna share a grin that seems to say we got him.

donna stops stroking his hair. “i think we’re both very glad to hear that.”

sam almost can’t breathe when donna tips his head up and kisses him, and when she pulls away, he just stares at her until josh puts a hand on his cheek

when josh then leans in to kiss him, sam is pretty sure he’s died and gone to heaven.

and when they go to bed that night, donna’s head lays on sam’s chest, her arm stretched out over his body so she can hold josh’s hand, who’s curled up on his side, his face buried in sam’s shoulder.

the collective love in the room could power the entire city of washington, d.c.

needless to say, this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

bonus:

their first call is cj because, even though she’s no longer responsible for presenting their lives to the press, they know that nobody else but her would really know what to do

when they tell her, she’s silent for a second before she says “josh, i didn’t think you were the type.”

(danny passes by and sees the shit-eating grin on her face and she just mouths “later”)

josh, of course, is very offended

“i—cj—what do you mean, not the type?”

“well, sam and donna, maybe. i can see that for them, but you seem too possessive to share.”

sam and donna look at each other and burst out laughing

“cj,” donna says, “just imagine josh but with two partners to worry about.”

they all have a nice, long laugh at that (well, not josh)

“i’m breaking up with both of you. and i’m revoking your friend card, cj.”

“oh, josh,” sam says, kissing his cheek, “you love us too much for that.”

“i was only teasing, mi amor. i’m very happy for the three of you, and i really can’t say i’m surprised,” cj’s slightly staticky voice comes through the phone.

while she does advise them to keep it discreet, she tells them to just own it if it comes out.

when they hang up, the three of them feel lighter. they told someone and it went fine.

they’re going to be okay, they think.

bonus bonus:

they take turns sleeping in the middle of the bed because equality of affection is very important to them

donna absolutely loves to call them “my men” and josh and sam call her “our girl”

they love each other. they really just love each other so much.

#listen i love josh/donna #i love sam/josh #and i love donna/sam #but i LOVE sam/josh/donna #the polyamory we deserved #also consistent punctuation? never heard of her lol #ariel i hope u like this #i kind of took your sam/donna + jealous josh and just... ran with it #like grabbed and sprinted away #bianca spills the tea #the west wing #tww #josh lyman x sam seaborn x donna moss #josh lyman x sam seaborn #josh lyman x donna moss #sam seaborn x donna moss

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aenxiome · 3 years

Text

Chapter 1: Our Hero the Zero

"You have to tell them," Oh not this again, "I'm sure they will understand" swallowing a sigh, I look up from my food to my best friends and brace for impact, "It's not like you're actually dead."

"If I went up to them and said that I have ghost powers, what do you think they will do? You've met my parents; they shoot first and ask questions later." Sam didn't look impressed, "Once they realize that it's you, they won't. They love you, Danny; your parents wouldn't hurt you." I look over to Tucker, looking for support, but he was too engrossed with his new PDA, 'Simone,' to catch my look.

"Just forget it," I tell them as we leave the cafeteria, "If it's that important to you guys, I'll think about it." Under my breath, I couldn't help muttering to myself, 'maybe in a thousand years.'

From there, we split ways, with each of us having a different elective. Being our resident techno-geek, Tucker has computer programing for this block, while Sam takes a botany course. As I go down the hall, I can't help but wonder why they don't understand the issue.

My parents, the town crazies, are ghost hunters.

What do they think they will do when they find out? Hug me and tell me that everything is going to be all right? If anything, that would bring about the end of my life.

Or is it my afterlife?

Anyway, they're more likely to put me in a cage and study me than anything else. Who knows what type of experiments they would come up with. If anything, it's best to stay quiet and stay out of their way.

My thoughts leave me as I get thrown shoulder-first into the side of a locker. "Well, look what we have here, little Fentina walking all alone. Where did your friends go? Did they finally realize that you're a loser and leave you?"

"Wow, Dash, so original how long did it take you to come up with that one?" He didn't answer, not even acknowledging my question, and continued to insult me. "I'm in a bad mood Fenton. You wanna know why? One of you nerds didn't make my notes. So, I got a 'D'" He jabs the failing assignment into my face, "and I'm going to take it out on you" He pushes me back into the lockers. He gives me a couple of sucker punches to the stomach when the warning bell rings. He looks to the clock and then back at me. "I'll get you later, Fenton," He yells at me while he sprints down the hallway to his next class.

I pull myself away from the lockers and head to my next class. I make it down to the next hall when the final bell rings. I continue on my way to the science hall while dodging the teachers handing out detention slips for running late. When I got to class, the teacher Ms. Tally was waiting for me at the door. "Your late again, Daniel," looking to her watch then back at me, "three minutes late, to be precise."

The thing about Ms. Tally is that you can never figure out if she is angry or not. She has a neutral deposition that makes determining her emotions impossible. There is no way to tell what she is going to do. For the moment, my fate is in her hands. She stares at me for a second, "Get to your seat Mr. Fenton" she says as she walks away, dismissing me. That was close. I was sure that I was going to get detention.

"Mr. Fenton," or second thought maybe I will, "Come back after school we need to talk."

Great, just great there goes my plans with Sam and Tucker.

"Pass up your star charts, and let us continue where we left off yesterday." Ms. Tally called out to everyone. Ms. Tally teaches my favorite subject, Astronomy. This is one of the few classes I have with none of the A-List crowd and the only class where I'm the only one from my year.

It is perfect.

It's a fresh start.

While in other classes, I'm a 'C' average student, in this one, I get to be myself and show what I know. I hope that by the end of the year, it will still be like that. This is my only chance to show that I'm not an idiot. Okay, well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration. I do pretty well in math and other sciences in general, but those classes usually come with help from my friends and others.

No one can say that I'm cheating or getting my results unfairly. In this class, everything that I know is all me.

Once the class has finished passing up the star charts, Ms. Tally talks about sunspots. It's fascinating, really. But all too soon, the hour ends, and the stress of school comes back full force when trying to stay out of Dash or the football team's sight and finish up the day. Finally, I make it to class right before the warning bell and the hour of torture begins.

After Astronomy, anything after feels like it is going on forever. Soon enough, I start to daydream, and the real world falls into the background as I think about exploring the stars. Every once in a while, I would come back down to earth and pay attention to something, but for the most part, my head was up in the clouds.

Eventually, the last bell of the day rings, signaling the end of the day. I gather my things and meet up with Sam and Tucker by my locker. "Danny, you ready?" Well, no time like the present, "Yeah, about that," I say apprehensive when Tucker talks over me in an accusing monotone voice, "you have detention again, don't you?" I couldn't help the hand going to my neck as I said meekly, "Sorry." Sam rolls her eyes, "Can't you just stay out of trouble for once?"

"Well, it's not like I'm trying to get in trouble," I tell her haughty "Yeah, Yeah, we know," They say together. "So, see you tomorrow then?" I ask "tomorrow," she said, agreeing. "Bye, Danny," they call as they walk out of the building.

I dredge down the halls back to the Astronomy classroom, wanting to get this conversation over with. But, once I got there, I knocked on the door, and Ms. Tally walks out with a stack of papers. "Follow me, Mr. Fenton," she orders as we go back to the same halls I had just gone through and then to the front of the building. We stopped once we got to the Office. Only about half of the staff was still there. The rest of them have already gone home for the day.

She has me sit in one of the chairs for a couple of minutes when she goes to the back of the office. When she comes back later, she beckons me forward. She has me trail behind her until we reach Mr. Lancer's office, My homeroom English teacher and Vice-principal.

She knocks twice before I hear the dreaded words, "Come in."

Mr. Lancers' office is a small but clean space and outdated. The carpet has seen better years as it has become discolored and has a bit of a smell. The back of the room is filled with filing cabinets looking ready to combust. In the center of the room is his desk with stacks of paper and an old box computer.

If His office is this bad, I have to wonder what that says about the rest of the school. "Have a seat, Daniel; we have much to discuss." I nod and sit in one of the chairs in front of the desk while Ms. Tally sits in the other. "Um, Mr. Lancer, what is it exactly that we are here to talk about?" He gives Ms. Tally a look, "You didn't tell him?" She shifts a little while Mr. Lancer lets out a loud sigh, "We are here to talk to you about your grades and attendance." This won't be good, "you have been tarty to class fifteen times in the past two weeks, and your grades in some classes completely contradict the rest. So what is going on, Daniel?"

I stare at my hands, trying to find something to say for myself, but all I could come up with was excuses. Finally, Ms. Tally startles me out of my thoughts when she suddenly asks, "What happened today? Being three minutes late to my class is abnormal for you." Mr. Lancer gives her a questioning glance, "Only by three minutes?"

"Yes, Daniel has never been more than a minute late to my class others have but never him; he is almost always punctual." Mr. Lancer silently passes her my class attendant's log. I didn't even have to read it to know what it says, fifteen minutes late here, thirty there, leaving class and never coming back, and other infractions filled that page. "Besides being late, Mr. Fenton also has a habit of falling asleep in class," he informs her.

They both look at me and ask again, "what's going on?" I didn't know what else to do, so I told them the only thing that I can the truth. I told them about the bullying, pushing me into lockers, taking my homework, the punching and jabs in the hallway, and the constant distracting conversations and lollygagging when the teachers' backs are turned.

Ms. Tally didn't say anything while Mr. Lancer looked sympathetic. Finally, after a moment of silence, Ms. Tally broke the quiet, "While that explains why you are always late to class, and we will be doing something about that don't you worry, it doesn't give any reason for the rest of the attendance issues, grades, or the sleeping in class. Is there anything else you want to let us in on?"

"It's complicated," I started before I found myself pausing. I can't tell them about the ghost fighting; that would never end well. So, I ended up telling an altered version of the truth. Sighing, I managed to say to them, "I'm just not getting enough sleep." Mr. Lancer cut me off before I was able to say anything else, "Why is that? What is keeping you up?" Giving him an annoyed look for him cutting me off and his impatiens. "Look, this is hard to talk about. No interruptions, please?"

I ask them, irritated once I get assurance from them both, I start up again.

"There is never a quiet moment at home my parents are either inventing all through the night or going in and out trying to catch ghosts." I sigh, then look at them wearily, Oh, Jazz is going to hate me for this, "being the son of a ghost hunter isn't fun; all of these ghosts that keep coming through keep bothering me. They are either trying to get to and from the Ghost portal or trying to get to Jazz and me to get back at our parents. We never get a break. Not even at school. That's why I keep disappearing all of the time. Jazz doesn't have it as bad since she is older, but as the youngest, it puts a target on me." I make eye contact with Mr. Lancer, trying to figure out if he believes me or not. By the end of my story, his face had paled, looking close to white, while Ms. Tally looks between us with disbelief etched into her face. She looks like she is trying to figure out where the end of the joke is. Once it became apparent that I am telling the truth, her jaw became slack, and she looked at me, her eyes blown wide.

I think I may have broken her.

"Oh, Huckleberry Finn," I hear him mutter, "That definitely explains some things." But then, he looks at me with a tired look in his eye, "and your grades?"

"That's actually pretty easy to understand," I say with a nervous chuckle, "In all honesty, I'm just really not good at liberal art subjects. Give me Science or Math anytime, but I would rather run a mile around the school than do English or history. But, don't me wrong, I do try; I just never really get them." Ms.Tally, who had finally gotten back her composure, looked at me with a single eyebrow raised. " I don't really get it myself, but ill try to explain, um," I run my fingers through my hair as I tink up an analogy, "It's like im doing a puzzle, but some pieces are missing. No matter how hard I try, the pieces that I have left just don't fit into place." I blush a little at my own confession," Does that make any sense?"

"It does actually," he says, "It's like that for many of us. Though it is usually math that causes the most trouble." He sends me a small smile as he turns around towards the filing cabinet. "Just keep trying, and in time the pieces will come together." then pulls out a couple of forms from a drawer, " if you are having so many issues with those classes, why didn't you ask to transfer out?"

"Those are the only classes I have with my friends, and if my schedule changed, there is no guarantee I'll get lunch break with them," I tell truthfully, starting to get worried about the papers he brought out. "Now that you know, can't you just make it so that I sit away from them, the A-list? I would do better, I promise, please don't take me out of class with my friends," I beg him.

Mr. Lancer looked to be thinking it over when Ms. Tally interrupted, "Is that why you don't have trouble in my class, is there no one of that," she pauses, trying to find the right word, "clique; during your period?"

I nod, agreeing with her statement, "The class is filled with people from the older years too, and nobody in there has to agree with my classmates A-list." Ms. Tally looked satisfied with my answer and let it go while Mr. Lancer looked ready to deliver his verdict.

"We will give it a try," he started holding his hand up in a stopping motion when I started thanking him, "I said we would give it a try, but if things continue as they are or get any worse, you will have to transfer to another class. Do you understand?"

I was nodding, readily agreeing.

"If that's all we have to talk about, may I go?" The teachers agreed when suddenly Mr. Lancer stopped me, "One more thing. Your sleeping problem, what do you plan to do about that?"

"Invest in some really good earplugs," I say, shrugging. Mr. Lancer starts humming a bit in thought while putting the forms back into his desk, "If that doesn't work, then we will be forced to pull you out of an elective and give you a study hall. We can't have you falling asleep throughout the day."

"I'll try harder, sir."

"Have a good day, Danny."

As soon as the words 'Good Day' were out of his mouth, I reached for the door and left. I spotted a clock on my way out of the school, and to my surprise, our talk didn't take any more than forty-five minutes. Once I was out, I walked for a good ten minutes or so, hoping to make it to the Nasty Burger before Sam and Tucker decided to leave.

Once I got to the old dinner, I looked around for my friends, but I couldn't find them in our usual booth. So I looked around some more, hoping to see them sitting somewhere else, but the only familiar faces in there weren't friendly ones. I was just about to leave when I felt a chill going through my body and saw the mist spilling out of my mouth into my face.

I rushed into the bathroom and checked to make sure it was empty before entering a stall and whispered to myself, "guess it's time to die," and let my transformation take over.

My body became inverted, with my black hair becoming a startling white and my eyes going from a light blue to a toxic glowing green. My clothes left my body, and in their place was the hazmat suit from the portal accident.

I rushed out of the nasty Burger and looked around for any sign of danger when I heard off in the distance, "BEWARE, FOR I AM THE MASTER OF ALL THINGS CUBEICAL AND SQUARE!" Oh, for everything good in the world, why of all ghosts did it have to be him. I flew to the back of the restaurant and found him messing with a delivery driver.

I was sneaking up on him when the driver yelped and pointed in my direction, giving away my position. "Really," I say to the driver, "you just had to give me away" I threw my hands up in exasperation. It's going to be so much harder to catch him now. "Come on, Boxxy, do we have to do this again? I sent you back to the zone this morning." That's the thing about Boxxy, the Box Ghost. Despite not being much more than a nuisance, he is one of the most nerve-racking ghosts to catch. If I didn't know any better, I would think he has his own personal portal with how often he slips between dimensions.

Boxxy glowered at me while rushing up into my face, " I AM NOT BOXXY, I AM THE BOX GHOST" I cross my arms trying to make a point, "Isn't that what I just said, Boxxy?"

"BOX GHOST"

"Boxxy"

"BOX GHOST"

"Well, I say your Boxxy."

"BOX GHOST, B-O-X GHOST!"

I wave him off. "Well, come on, Boxxy, I don't have all day" He started chucking boxes at the driver and me while floating away while grumbling about name-calling. It took me half an hour to catch the nuisance, " Any last words, Boxxy" I ask him while pulling out the Fenton Thermos.

"I AM NOT BOXX-" he said while being pulled into the device.

Once he is secured, I retrace my steps, collect the boxes, and return them to the Nasty Burger. When I got there, the driver tried to explain what had happened earlier when I called out to one of the servers.

" Excuse me, but I believe these belong to you." I land in front of the server and gently put the boxes onto the ground. "Oh my gosh, I know you! Your inviso-bill!" I cringed a bit at the name, "The name is Phantom, Danny Phantom," being annoyed that after all these months that people were still messing up my name.

Their aww quickly changed to apologetic, "I'm sorry, Mr.Phantom, sir." I started laughing a little; it was not a giggle, no matter what anyone else claims. It was a laugh, a manly laugh. I couldn't help its escape. No one has ever called me sir before, "It's okay, just happy to help," I reassured. After they had all of their boxes, I flew away.

I started a patrol around the city looking for any malevolent ghost that had managed to get out while occasionally helping little old ladies across the street and saving the occasional cat out of a tree. It's nice to be able to help out even when ghosts aren't attacking. Also, it gives me more time to relax in my ghost form, which I don't get to do very often. Before I knew it, the sun was starting to set, and it was time to make my way home.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #jazz fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #mr lancer #oc character #fanfic #fanfiction #chapter 1

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mrvdocks · 3 years

Text

Plus One Finale

Summary: You and Steve make up. Steve plans for the future ahead.

A/N: We finally made it to the end, thanks to everyone who read it and liked it and reblogged it. :))

@mochminnie, @80strashbag, @artsymaddie, @har-rison-s, @theblueslytherin, @prettysbliss, @deliberatequeen, @fl0ating, @crystalyn-aurelia, @itsbabybat, @bellasymph, @hawishima, @hvtelcalifornia, @stevexharringtonx, @fisherbrookphotos, @revangeline

He paced back and forth in the hallway of the animal clinic, somehow both muttering to himself and racking his head for some way to reply other than the incredulous reaction he just gave you.

You squeezed your eyes shut and shook your head. You knew it, you knew it was too soon to say.

You cross your legs in an attempt to stop the distracting bouncing of your leg and ease your nerves.

Sure he just confessed he loved you and apologized, but now that you could possibly be pregnant? What if that was the dealbreaker?

“Steve.” You call, attempting to break him from his trance.

He mutters more, going much too fast for you to understand.

“Steve!” You exclaim, unable to take the suspense.

He stops and turns to face you, visibly shaken. You exhale shakily, trying to keep yourself steady emotionally.

“Listen, if what you said earlier is true, then this is nothing.”

“This is nothing? (Y/N) we’re bringing someone else into our messed up lives. What if we’re terrible parents?”

You stand and take his worrisome hand in yours, “So we don’t have the best model. That’s fine! They’re not the ones raising this kid, it’s us. It’s you and me.”

He bites his lip in thought, eyes falling to his feet. You felt your heart race as you tried to decipher his emotions. You loved Steve, kid or no kid. But this was something you two needed to face.

“I don’t know. I - ” he shrugs.

You try not to remember the last time he shrugged and what followed.

“You and I don’t need to make a decision so quickly. We can sleep on it. Alright?” You try to be comforting, smoothing out the lines on his disheveled shirt.

He seems to relax at this and nods. You nod in conclusion.

“I’ll be back.” He says, letting go of your hands and walking down the dimly lit corridor.

“Where are you going?”

He won’t leave you, right?

“I have to do something. I’ll see you back home.”

He leaves in a rush. It hit you then. Home. You were dreading returning to the apartment all this time because you were afraid of the confrontation.

You had planned on coming back sure, maybe yell at him or take Mickey as you’d promised, but the thought of having to confront his issues and your own made your stomach do somersaults. And not in the good way.

But it seemed to turn out fine. You sighed.

You and Steve barely got by as it is. Robin’s leave put more strain on both of you to come up with rent money. Neither you nor Steve were too content in your career choices, and God knows the place would get cramped with a kid.

It was hard to be an optimist in these trying times but you tried to hold out hope. Maybe things would get better. After all, you had new friends, you’d made new connections. Who knows where that would take you.

You wondered what your sister would say. For once, you valued her input in this.

Honestly, the thought of the future from this point on made your heart race.

Steve was capable of growth…..right?

Once Mickey was cleared to go home, you let out a breath of relief you didn’t realize you were holding. Things felt a lot lighter, it was a weight off of your shoulders. Though a tiny pebble by the name of Steve remained.

You carried your dozed pet out in your arms in the early hours of the morning, choosing to walk it home and avoid another Danny encounter.

It was a chilly week in November. The crunch of the leaves under your feet wasn’t enough to rouse Mickey awake but you kept count of how many you stepped on.

You don’t recall how long it took you to get home. It was most likely the autopilot in you flipping on, your head just too worried about other things at the moment.

You just know you’d made it home without a scratch. You kick away the pile of mail at the foot of your doorstep and take the extra key under the mat. Once you’re inside, the warmth of the radiator kicks in, letting your body relax after the tensing up of your muscles to keep warm outside.

You lay Mickey down in his makeshift bed, the foot tub with a mix of yours and Steve’s old shirts. He grumbles in his sleep, his tiny tongue peaking out in lazy and unconscious movement.

You shake off Jonathan’s coat and drape it over your body like a blanket and collapse onto the couch, too lazy to curl up into your own bed.

You shiver as you run your hands over your arms and cup your hands together to blow air into them. The tiredness from walking and overall excitement of the day weighed over you from the way you felt your eyelids start to fall.

You blink once, twice, and then fall asleep just in time to see Mickey kick and stretch his paws in his sleep.

Steve pants as he reaches the door of the room at the hotel his father’s staying at. He’d been too hasty to berate his future stepbrothers once he saw what they’d done to Mickey.

He knocks rapidly on the door, seeming like a madman to the couple who’s just leaving their own room and staring at him. He composes himself, zips his jacket up, and gives a faint nod as they pass him.

His dad opens the door a second later. “Hey kiddo, what’s with the commotion?”

“She’s pregnant.” Steve regurgitates your confession to his father. Don’s mouth falls open slightly.

He closes it and stammers. He turns to check on the kids in the room, seeing them preoccupied with the tv. When the coast is clear, he closes the door behind him and stays with Steve outside in the hallway.

“I - that was fast.” Don chuckles, feeling flustered for his son. “What did you tell her?”

“I ran here to tell you!”

Don’s hand comes up to pinch the bridge of his nose in disappointment.

“So you’re telling me, the girl of your dreams, the one you’ve been miserable over breaking her heart, just told you she’s pregnant and the first thing you do is leave her and run to me??”

Steve understands the gravity of the situation but he is stuck on the thought that he needed all the advice he could squeeze out of his father.

“Basically.” He says simply.

Don sighs. “What’s the problem, then?”

Steve’s shoulders slump. “I don’t know how to be a dad. In case you haven’t noticed I didn’t have the best model.”

Don nearly rolls his eyes.

“Is that really the reason, or is there another?”

Steve stays silent, contemplating while his eyes scan every inch of the hallway from the detail on the carpeting to the colors.

“I guess….I’m not happy with where I am right now. I’m pushing thirty in two years, I’m a bartender, everyone I know got married and I just feel like I’m out of time. But Dad, this girl. She - she’s everything I’m not. She’s spontaneous and funny and sarcastic and - I don’t know, sometimes I just feel like she could be doing so much better than me.”

Don places a hand on Steve’s shoulder and gently shakes him. “Hey, don’t say that. You’re a Harrington, you’re a catch!”

Steve half smiles at the encouragement.

“Steve, everyone progresses through milestones differently. No one knows what they’re doing. And if we’re being honest, I think you just have to find what you like and hold onto it. Something that makes you want to get out of bed every day and just take all of the bull that life throws at you because, at the end of the day, that something is always going to be there. Have you found something to do that for you?”

Steve nearly dissociates altogether as he falls deep in thought as his father speaks. His mind reeling the montage of memories his brain concocts like film.

He sees you the day you walked into the apartment and into his life, covered in dirty water from being sprayed by a taxi on the curb and taking it in stride and making jokes about it. He sees you dancing in the kitchen to god awful music he’d grown to love in a big shirt and long socks. He sees the way your eyes crinkle when you laugh hysterically at the prospect of trying to help him find dates. The image of you sitting near the radiator with a book in hand and your thinking face.

He thinks these past few months might’ve just been the best ones he’s ever had. Before he went and ruined it.

He didn’t think he would experience something like this after Nancy. He thought he could just run away from Hawkins and leave the bad memories there, but they crept up on him when he least expected it. His fear was not your fault.

He was done running and he was ready to grow.

“Yeah,” he nods. “I think I do.”

The phone ringing off the hook startled you awake. You sit upright, finding Jonathan’s coat at your feet and Mickey pawing at the phone cord. He wriggles his head side to side when he finally gets the cord in between his teeth.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” You mutter to yourself. You pick Mickey up with swift ease and pull the cord out of his mouth to pick up the phone.

“I’m up.” You announce somewhat sleepily into the phone.

“Good! I have news!” Nancy’s rapid-fire voice comes through and alerts you awake.

“Wait! I did it, Nance! I told him!”

“Oh, what did he say?”

“He….kind of took off.”

“He what?!”

“Okay to be fair, a lot has happened in the past,” you glance at your wrist to see you’ve been asleep for a while. “Five hours? Geez.”

“Okay, okay. Well, we don’t have to worry about this anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“The tests! They’re faulty! They’re recalling them for false positives or something. I don’t know but Kali just called to tell me.”

“Oh….” You trail off.

In a way, you're very relieved. And yet also a little disappointed. But very relieved.

“What’s wrong?” Nancy senses something’s off. “I figured you’d breathe a little better if you knew the truth.”

“No I am,” you say, cradling Mickey in your arm like a mom with a baby on her hip. “I don’t know, I guess I kind of made my peace with it.”

“Oh, well hey, maybe it’s a good conversation starter for both of you.”

You lean against the wall where the phone hangs, letting your furry son sit on the counter. “Yeah maybe. I mean, it was all too fast anyways.”

“Yeah! You have lots of time. Just take baby steps. I think slow and steady would put yours and his mind at ease.”

You had to agree. Time had to heal all wounds. You two had to start again, without interruptions.

You finish talking to Nancy, reassuring her that you’d need to get over the first wave of shock and tell him when he turned up. She offered to go over but you’d declined. When everything’s over, you collapse onto the couch again, slumping as far as your back would let you. Your stomach protruding a little from under your tee. You roll up the lower half of your shirt and let it sit above your belly button.

You prod your fingers at nothing, feeling odd and a little bit silly at the thought that there would be a little person in there.

Mickey whimpers.

“Looks like you’re the baby still.” You chuckle, scratching behind his ears.

The peace and silence are broken by the door swinging open to reveal an out of breath Steve. You straighten up immediately and pull your shirt down.

“Are you okay?” You ask, making a pass to reach for him but he sticks a hand out for you to wait as he regains his composure.

“I’m….fine…..just have to….talk...holdonaminute.”

He’s visibly sweating, beads of sweat on his forehead. He looks like he just ran track. His pants come to a slow until he’s back to normal. He puts his hands on his knees and it takes everything in you to not make an old joke for the sake of the seriousness of the situation.

He stands up straight, keeping his eyes trained on you, and with a softness in them, you feel at ease.

“I quit my job.” He says finally.

Your eyes widen. “You what?”

The confession hung in the air, settling in like the warmth of the radiator. He rushes to you and kneels before you can leap up off the couch and takes your hands in his.

“Hear me out. Before you get mad, just hear me out.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve done a lot and I mean a lot of reassessment about you, me, everything. If we’re going to do this, I want them to be proud of me. I want to be there for them as much as I can be. I’m starting over. At 28.”

You stifle a laugh but release it when Steve takes the initiative to laugh at himself.

“So….what are you going to be doing now?” You give his hands a squeeze, utterly terrified at the plunge he’s taking.

He looks as if he hasn’t planned that far ahead besides quitting. “I….don't know. But it’s, um, kind of cool. I get to see a bunch of different jobs. Find out what I really like.”

“And, what’s that?”

“You.” He smiles, the sight of it sending butterflies free in your stomach. “I like you. So, so much. You’re not hard to get at all, you’re hard to earn. I’d take that over any messy, drunk bridesmaid.”

You tilt your head, feeling the corners of your lips lifting and before you know it, you’re grinning like an idiot.

“And that’s why,” he says, his right hand leaving yours and digging into his pocket to bring out a plastic ring from the bubble gum machines in the laundromat downstairs, “I’m jumping in, all the way.”

“Steve…” You’re nearly speechless. “Oh my god, what are you doing?”

“I know it’s not perfect or big or shiny. But this is just a placeholder for now. I’m all in if you are.” He holds the ring with the pink gem in his fingers, waiting for you.

Maybe it’s the fact that ever since you started to see him in a different light since the start of the year, you’d determined that you’d follow him anywhere. Whether he’d have you or not. Even with his moods and awkwardness and clumsiness. He’d been scored on your heart. You’d marry him with paper rings.

“I’m not pregnant.” You reveal.

His face softens. “What?”

“Nancy called earlier before you came. The tests were faulty. I just wanted you to know that so that wasn’t the only reason you decided to do this.”

It was and wasn’t the reason. But in all honesty, he didn’t think he could bear to stomach the idea of not being with you or the image of you with someone else. He also doesn’t think starting over with someone else was the best idea, you two had been through so much in two years. You shared a particular connection. One that he now realizes he had been looking through seas of beige and silvers and golds.

“It’s not,” he titters, “I don’t care that we don’t have the meet-cutes or the chance run-ins. That’s not what love really is. I thought it was more complex but it’s so - simple. It’s about being comfortable with someone and wanting to hang out with them as long as it’s humanly possible….and just not trying to mess it up the way I did.”

Your heart swells. This is love for him. This is him planting his foot in the sand and not running away when the sea rushes for him. Anyone else would’ve ditched him the moment things got ugly. But you were nothing if devoted.

“Yes, Dingus. I’m in too.” You nod, overjoyed as you feel your eyes get watery.

Don & Mary’s Wedding

December 25, 1994

Hawkins, Indiana

“Okay, okay, how does this look?” Steve asks, fixing his tux for the fifth time that day.

You roll your eyes. “You look fine babe, honestly. We’ve ironed the jacket out twice. Any more and I think you’re going to set it on fire and then you’ll upstage the bride.”

Steve snorts, fixing the knot on his tie. “I’m sorry. I’m just so nervous. I can’t mess up the speech.”

You fix the starchy collar of his shirt. “I’ve heard it many times and I think you’ll do great. Just don’t think too much about it.”

“You don’t think it’s too late to back out?”

“I think,” You pull him by his tie close to your face to tease him. “If you can get through this, you can either have the best after-party experience or you can get the new fridge.”

Steve purses his lips, conflicted. “We do need a new fridge.”

You playfully smack his arm as you feign offense.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” He repeats, enveloping you in a hug.

“Whoa, whoa, easy on the goods.” You say, smoothing out the easily crinkled fabric of your dress.

“I’m always easy on them.” He jests, slipping in innuendo that you still find yourself blushing to.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go before they start guessing why we’re late.”

You climb onto his back and ride him piggyback all the way to the elevator. He goes over his speech one more time as you descend and tries to tell a joke at the end that doesn’t stick the landing.

You arrive just in time, settling at the table next to the newlyweds. You pat Steve on the shoulder, give him a glass, and wish him good luck. “Go get ‘em.”

He kisses you tenderly before he goes up on stage, feeling like a teen again the way his senses go crazy when he kisses you. He fumbles his way up the stairs to the microphone making you hold back a laugh. He composes himself a second later.

“Hey everyone! Thanks for coming. I’m Steve. Most of you know me as Don’s son. And if you’re wondering why I’m up here giving his best man speech, so am I.”

The crowd of family and friends laugh in unison.

Steve fixes his footing and his grip on the champagne glass tightens.

“The truth is, I put up a pretty big stink about all of this. I didn’t want to do it. To me, a second marriage was ill-advised. I mean, my parents’ divorce was pretty hard to swallow. But also, I just didn’t get it. I believed in things like fate and love at first sight, that once you found the one, that was the ballgame.”

He scans the crowd, passing familiar faces like Jonathan and Nancy, Dustin and Suzie, Robin and Kali, each one helping take the pressure off just a bit. He stops when he lands on you, your warm smile and thumbs up making him feel better.

“But the truth is, if you spend your whole life looking for something perfect, you wind up with nothing. See, there are many innings in this ball game and I don’t think it's about good timing or fate. It’s about trying not to mess up.”

He locks eyes with you for the last part.

“But you will mess up. No matter how hard you try, you’ll get in your own head. But if you can learn from your mistakes, you might just end up with something...even better.”

“I’d like to raise a glass,” He says, raising his cup along with everyone else. “Dad, Mary, congratulations.”

The guests applaud as Don is overcome with emotion and wipes at his happy tears and takes his son in a bear hug. Steve is taken aback by the sudden strength of his father and nearly drops his glass.

The party goes off without a hitch. Steve actually partakes in the festivities with pride and even makes an attempt to get to know his stepbrothers. He laughs at their awful attempts at jokes and bestows some girl advice when they ask him about you. Jonathan, Nancy, Robin, Kali, Dustin and Suzie all congratulate Steve when they find out what the pink stone on your finger means. You meet Steve’s mom for the first time, a charming and lovely woman who is eager to show you loose baby pictures in her clutch and embarrassing stories.

You wait on the sidelines watching as the new Harrington family take their family photos. Mary and Steve talk in what seems to be a sincere and sweet conversation. Don is trying to bribe the rambunctious kids with sweets if they can sit still for the photo. Jonathan glances from them to you.

“Hey,” He asks from behind the camera. “Why aren’t you in there?”

You open your mouth to justify it until Don speaks up.

“He’s right. What are you doing there? Come in! Come in!” He waves you over with encouragement until the entire Harrington gang begins to beg for you to jump in.

“Come in sweetie!” Mary cheers.

You’re about to make your way until Steve leaves the group and carries you over his shoulder. Jonathan smirks as he takes multiple photos, taking advantage of the candid moment. Steve’s stepbrothers singsong about you two kissing in a tree. The Harrington party make a mixture of sounds and cheers as Steve puts you down and wraps his arms around you in a prom pose. You go with it, feeling like you belonged in this crazy puzzle with other people. The little kids make a disgusted sound when you peck Steve on the cheek.

He kisses the top of your head in return and gives you a squeeze.

For the first time in his life, Steve’s not afraid of the future.

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #stranger things imagine #joe keery x reader #joe keery imagine #aaaaannndd fin

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sellyoursoulforagoodfic · 3 years

Text

Shelbys at Somme: Chapter 2

Thomas X Reader

4584

Summary: Reunions aren’t easy with dead people. Old feelings begin to stir in the privacy of The Garrison Pub but it’s hard to rebuild what time broke.

By: @adventuresintooblivion

Thomas groaned to himself. He’d been nursing a headache for the past three days since he’d asked Grace out to dance. He was pretty sure it was stress related, and the fact that he was witnessing Arthur get up in arms again only solidified the notion.

He was going on about retaliating against the police and being tired of all the harassment. Normally Thomas would agree, but something about this copper set him on edge and quite frankly this needed to be dealt with carefully. As he was leaning forward to voice his opinions, a loud banging startled the entirety of the Shlebys onto their feet.

“What in the blood blazes is that?” Arthur growled, his hand resting on a small pistol.

Danny’s muffled shouts filtered through the door, “Thomas she’s real this time! Get out here and see for yourself. She’s not a ghost.”

Aunt Pol’s eyes narrowed, “Isn’t that?”

Thomas waved her question aside , “I’ll handle this. John, brass knuckles on.”

A small flurry of activity happened over his shoulder as Thomas reached for the doorknob. Not much got Danny this worked up these days and even his affinity for chaos couldn’t handle everything Danny threw at him.

He swung the door open just as Danny’s hand was coming down to deliver another thunderous knock. It paused in the air mere inches from Thomas’ nose.

“Alright, what is it this time Danny.” Thomas’ voice was a bit gruffer than normal. While he hardly slept, it only seemed to be getting worse lately. Which probably also contributed to his throbbing headache. However even Thomas couldn’t deny that relief flooded him once he saw Danny’s ear splitting grin.

Danny practically shouted, “She’s back Thomas. Y/N was never dead, I...I found her on the street.”

Thomas felt his face fall, “Danny…”

That when he saw it. A mop of curls swiveling back and forth as the girl tucked under Danny’s arm tried to absorb her surroundings. Bullocks!

“Danny put her down for God’s sake.” Thomas reached out, prying the girl From Danny’s grip. “I’m so sorry miss. He was in the war, and he’s having a rough time of it.”

He had said the words a hundred times and a small part of him suspected he would say them a thousand more before his day came. But the thought went silent, along with a dozen others, as the girl righted herself and shoved her mass of curls out of her face. There before him stared back the wide eyes that haunted his dreams.

Thomas, no matter what happens, I want you to live. To go home to your Aunt Pol you’re always talking about. And raise those horses you love so much.

Only if you marry me.

“I… I know Thomas I was there.”

He barely heard the words. The whole world seemed to expand infinitely and then collapse all at once. Question after question assaulted him in a vain attempt to make some sense out of the impossibility before him.

Y/N was there, alive. She stood before him, not drained of color like it was in his dreams, with cheeks wind burned [is that what it’s called?] bright red. Small hands clutched an uncased violin. Eyes that sparkled even in the dimmest of light, searching for something in him he wasn’t sure he’d be able to give.

Thomas reached out, his fingertips barely brushing Y/N’s cheek. He didn’t know what he expected, but she didn’t pull away. When he came in contact with warm skin something inside him shattered. His world began to tilt and a small voice in the back of his head warned him he might faint. But he was Thomas Shelby, and Shelbys didn’t faint.

It wasn’t until Danny spoke that he realized he was shaking, “She’s real right? I...I didn’t grab some random girl off the street did I?”

“No, Danny.” Thomas’ voice was barely a whisper. “I see her too.”

A hand on his shoulder managed to drag Thomas back to earth, even if just a little.

Aunt Pol stood beside him, her eyes picking apart an untold story even as she spoke, “Thomas, I think you owe us an introduction to your friend here.”

Y/N glanced between the two. She had heard stories of Aunt Pol several times throughout her deployment and knew two things for certain. Aunt Pol respected a strong personality with conviction. However, there would be no disrespect shown towards her or her family and quite frankly Y/N had no idea what counted as disrespect here.

So she simply saluted, “Corporal Y/L/N. Reporting for duty.”

Aunt Pol raised her eyebrow, “You? A Corporal?”

“She served in the same company with Danny, Freddie, and I.” The words didn’t sound like they belonged to himself but Thomas didn’t see anyone else speak.

“How on earth did you convince anyone to let you join?” Aunt Pol stood a little straighter.

Y/N chuckled, “Oh, I absolutely fucked the physician.”

Arthur barking laughter suddenly filled the room, “Well I’ll be damned. Most people didn’t want to be there. I sure as hell know I didn’t. Why would you go and sneak in like that?”

“Well, we’ve all got idiot brothers to look after, so there’s that.” Y/N shrugged. Danny snickered over he should as Arthur’s face fell. Aunt Pol on the other hand was smiling.

Thomas glanced around, the situation having gotten quite out of control at this point, “Alright, either you two get in here or we need to go out there and quite frankly I’d rather have this conversation in here.”

Over the next several minutes Y/N told her story, or at least an abridged version of it. Of how she joined. Her job amongst Thomas’ company and her subsequent court martial when she was shot.

“And how is it you stand before us now instead of rotting away in some prison?” Aunt Pol had taken over the conversation. Or more accurately, interrogation.

Thomas was silently grateful that he wasn’t in charge for once. He was too shell-shocked to gather a single coherent thought let alone a line of questions that actually meant anything. Though there were those questions Aunt Pol didn’t ask. The more personal ones that burned his tongue even as he held it. But he would have for this what he forced himself to have in all things, patients.

“It was the price for my silence. It’s hard to convince the public they should support a war that irrevocably changes their lives on a good day. But how are you going to convince them you’re routing out German spies when they can’t even spot a woman right under their nose? It’d be a blow to their reputation they couldn’t afford to take.”

Aunt Pol’s eyes suddenly narrowed as she finally asked a question that had been eating at Thomas’ soul this whole time, “And you didn’t send a correspondence of any kind to inform your company that you were alive?”

Y/N looked down, “I sent several. Though after I didn’t hear back from anyone I suspected they weren’t getting through. I had to wait until everyone was out of an army camp at the very least, which meant the war had to end. And finding everyone afterwards? I’ve been traveling for almost a year now, and Danny is the first person I’ve bumped into.”

Thomas couldn’t look at her. All he could focus on were the grains on wood on the table. A part of him couldn’t quite wrap his head around that this was real.

A knock on the door suddenly broke the spell of hushed voices. Everyone glanced around before Danny reached behind him and cracked open the door. Grace stood there, two bottles on a tray full of glasses.

“H..Hello, I figured everyone could use some refreshments?”

Thomas’ eyes locked with hers. Something in his expression made Grace’s fragile smile fall. She knew something was wrong, but she had no idea just how sideways things had gone.

〜

Later that night, the Shelby family left the Garrison Pub, their new guest wrestling her luggage from Danny’s grasp.

Thomas glanced at Y/N. He’d barely said a word to her. He didn’t know what to say. But her easy smiles that she cast towards himself and Danny lifted a weight in his heart.

Finally he asked, “What are you doing tonight?”

She spun around, “Oh, well. I’ve got a job in a couple days at this fancy place. I was probably gonna go swindle a dress out of some high society idiot.”

A deep rumbling laughter escaped Thomas, “Grab a fancy cigar for me?”

“Always.” She waved as she disappeared into the night.

After she was gone Thomas glanced towards Aunt Pol, “So, what do you think?”

“I like her.”

〜

Later that night Grace slunk down the streets. She wore one of her better outfits but she still felt underdressed compared to the other patrons. This opera house meetup was Inspector Cambell’s idea. Grace wasn’t much of a fan. It was too open and while Thomas wasn’t inherently wealthy they didn’t know enough about him to guarantee he wouldn’t be here.

She let the concierge lead her to the booth. The whole conversation passed in a blur of nerves and paranoia.

Grace was so stressed had almost forgotten the entire reason she’d agreed to this, “I almost forgot. A new face has made an appearance. Danny Owen burst through the door carrying her under his arm and interrupted a family meeting. They were in there for a couple hours talking. I’m not sure what her name is but I’ll get that to you as soon as I can. Here's a sketch”

As she handed Inspector Campbell the small note the hairs stood up on the back of Grace’s neck as she spoke. She couldn’t stop herself from glancing around searching for a Peaky Blinder amongst the crowd. She didn’t see anyone. But that didn’t mean no one saw her.

Y/N leaned forward, her brow furrowed. Wasn’t that the barmaid from Thomas’s bar? And who was she talking to?

“Is everything ok?” the young man beside Y/N asked. His hand slid to her lower back, his fingertips brushing over the line her underwear created under the cloth.

Instead of slapping him Y/N flashed him her most charming smile, “It's nothing. You might want to keep your hands to yourself. The anticipation is part of the experience.”

He flashed her a wicked smile. Y/N silently debated on whether or not she should take all his money or simply steal his clothes while he was tied to a pole.

Y/N strolled home in the darkness of night. For such an industrious city, Birmingham was proving to be quite peaceful in the early hours of the morning. Nothing dared break the spell that had blanketed the region some time after midnight. Only the stars and mist were witness to her every step.

She silently congratulated herself on her new dress even as Y/N pulled her threadbare shawl closer around herself. She was in desperate need of several pieces of clothing. And housing. And food. As if on cue her stomach growled loud enough to nearly echo down the nearby alleyway.

Y/N glared down in the general direction, "Hush you."

Her words meant nothing in the face of hunger. It only gained power after she acknowledged its existence gnawing at her insistently. When Aunt Pol had been asking her questions earlier she'd answered them easily but they definitely danced around one of the most important ones. How long had she been in town?

The all too real answer was not long enough. Not long enough to find a job nor a place to stay. Currently her small pack of things were stashed in a hidey hole she'd carved out for herself the first night. Now all she had to do was make it all the way down there without ruining her dress.

Easy right?

She picked her way back carefully through the muddy streets. The air itself became cooler as she approached the river. The Cut, Thomas had called it back in the trenches. As the squat building that housed the Garrison Pub came into view she gave a soft sigh of relief.

While it was inconvenient to make it all the way back here from across town, she'd chosen to leave her stuff here because she was fairly certain she'd get it back even if it was stolen. Thomas just had that kind of way with people.

Unbidden, Y/N's mind slowly wandered back to their reunion this morning. She didn't know what she'd expected but that wasn't exactly it. She scowled at her own girlish inclinations.

She "died" in a man's arms and expected him to be completely fine with her showing up out of this air? Y/N's heart began to ache as she recalled the look Thomas had given her when he finally realized who it was. The pain that had etched itself deep into his features. The quiet resignation that came after dealing with heavy burdens day after day. Had her death done that to him? Or the war?

Again she kicked herself, the hubris she'd gained in the last three years sometimes even astounded her. Bending down to uncover her few possessions from behind a small mound of bricks.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the footsteps coming up behind her.

"Out a bit late, aren't you?"

She yelped, spinning around to confront her attacker. The light cast a shadow over the slim figure of a man, the only illumination coming from his lit cigarette. Despite the years she could still recognize that silhouette anywhere.

"Thomas? What the hell are you doing up this time of night? Scaring the shit out of me no less?" She huffed indignantly.

He stepped forward in the pale moonlight raising an eyebrow as he closed the distance between them. His eyes lingered on her, moving up and down slowly.

While Y/N didn't like the scrutiny, she knew he needed this so she waited. After a few moments he held out his hand.

"Come on Y/L/N. You haven't eaten all day and Harry usually leaves a little something in the back for us. Just in case."

Y/N smiled, "Been following me Shelby?"

He nodded unashamed as he gripped her luggage, "Saw that pretty boy you snagged. Good mark. Good dress."

Y/N prayed to whatever god still existed that he couldn't see her cheeks flush. She took a deep breath to steady her voice, "Think I can catch a few more in it?"

Thomas chuckled as he unlocked the Garrison Pub, "Aunt Pol always assumed that it was the war that honed my conman skills. Should I tell her it was you instead?"

"Only if it gets me on her good side. Though I don't think that I've done anything that's so bad." Y/N let out a sigh of relief as they entered the shelter of the pub.

Her nose and cheeks had long ago turned numb in the chill of the night. Her shawl barely held enough body heat to keep her from shivering but stepping inside was like returning to a warm bed with a sleepy lover. A welcome distraction from the future.

Thomas continued, “Not so bad? You convinced a whole regiment that if they drank vinegar with their food it would turn them blond.”

Y/N leaned against the wall, “Commander Hopper said he needed to get rid of it.”

Thomas turned towards her with the smallest smile on his face. Something about him had changed between this afternoon and now. His posture was less rigid, his features less guarded. Then the light hit his eyes. His pupils were blown out so far there was almost no color left between them and the bloodshot whites of his eyes.

“You smuggled in a whole crate of wine, right under Hopper’s nose.”

Y/N stiffened as he approached, “It was Christmas.”

“You stole the Acquisition Officer’s boots, wore them around yourself until he replaced Jerimiah’s.”

“Now, he was just being a prick.” Y/N’s voice was barely a whisper as Thomas stopped barely an inch away.

His eyes were glazed over as they wandered over her features. Over and over they passed across the same area, an addled mind trying to remember every significant detail. The spell only came undone when he leaned forward to press his forehead against hers.

When he spoke again his voice was gravely, “If I kiss you will you taste like blood and dirt?”

“Thomas?”

“If I open my eyes again will your face be burned by the funeral pyre?” his voice cracked as he shuddered.

His hands were on either side of Y/N’s head, trapping her against his body. The heat that passed between them almost seemed to burn compared to the early autumn air outside. His body was a wall against hers, a bit softer than she remembered but that was probably due to the fact that he wasn’t being malnourished anymore.

Y/N knew she shouldn’t move right now. That she should let him overcome this on his own. It didn’t stop her from reaching up, letting her arms circle around him. “Thomas, it’s me. I’m here.”

His eyes slowly opened, traveling up her face, his jaw set in determination. Thomas shifted his weight, detaching one hand from the wall to cradle the back of her neck. Y/N froze at the gentle touch. Her skin was still cold beneath his fingers. His hot breath mingled with hers as the whole world came down to a single point.

“Say my name.”

“Wha… Tommy?"

His lips brushed against hers. So gentle it was as if Eurus himself had come down for a taste. Y/N gasped softly as she leaned just ever so slightly closer. That was all the hinting Thomas needed, his lips were suddenly crushed against hers. His hand tilting her head up just enough so he could taste her. His tongue brushed against her lips, asking for entry. Y/N answered by pressing her body against his, parting her lips.

Seconds later Thomas had her lifted into the air, his hands digging into her thighs as he pinned her against the wall. While he held her aloft, he wasn’t the one in control of the kiss. At some point Y/N returned the kiss. It was something wild born out of the fear and pain that had built up over the years.

It was a kiss that rent open the walls they’d built around themselves letting the shattered pieces of their souls lie bare for each other to see. It was need. It was desperation. It was a blossoming love stomped out by the heel of war.

After a long moment Y/N pulled away, gasping softly as he pressed his head into the curve of her shoulder. They stood there in the barest of light, catching their breath. Letting what had just happened sink in.

It was Thomas who broke the silence, “I...I guess you are real. FUCK.”

Fuck indeed.

Y/N squeezed her eyes shut fighting back the tears. The want for Thomas was still there demanding attention. Close proximity made it all the harder to stop. However, a familiar taste lingered on her lips now. Opium. She could not in good conscience keep on going.

She almost didn’t recognize her own voice as she spoke, “Thomas, can you put me down please?” She hated herself for sounding weak, but the day had been a long one and quite frankly she wasn’t sure how much more she could give it.

He nodded, setting her down gently and taking a step back. Allowing her the space she needed to collect her thoughts. Y/N pressed her lips together in an attempt to figure out what to say, but caught herself wincing. Somewhere in their heated exchange they’d become bruised and sensitive. Thomas instinctively reached out to brush his thumb across her lower lip. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her the entire time. “I..I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath before yanking back his hand like it was on fire, “I’m so sorry.” He spun on his heel suddenly stalking toward the bar, “I promised you food.”

“That’s really not-”

“If you tell me not to again I’ll just have to go buy you enough groceries for a whole month. Now go sit down; I’ll have it out in a moment.” He disappeared into a back room Y/N hadn’t noticed earlier.

Y/N didn’t trust herself to stand especially after all the physical activity for the day. She stretched slightly, testing out her muscles while keeping most of her weight against the wall. After a distinct lack of pain, she stood and slowly made her way to a nearby table. After sitting down she arranged herself in the way she knew created the least amount of stress on her limbs. She’d be damned if she kissed Thomas and collapsed on him in the same five minutes.

A soft hum wafted towards her accompanied by the smell of food heating in an oven. The tune was one she recognized from her time in the trenches. It was one she’d made up for her company to bolster their spirits on a particularly gruesome day. She was surprised that Thomas still sang it at all.

A few minutes later Thomas returned with a bowl of soup and a fresh chunk of bread. Y/N could practically feel her jaw drop.

She grasped the hot bowl that was thrusted at her hoping to warm her hands, “What the hell is all this?”

Thomas shrugged sitting opposite of her, “I can’t feed my friends?”

“Fresh loaves of bread that feel like they came out of the oven five minutes ago? You know how much I love bread; this isn’t just feeding your friends. It’s handing me tasty gold.”

A chuckle rumbled from deep within his chest. “It’s a secret from my mum’s side of the family. Besides Aunt Pol would have a fit if I handed you anything less.”

Y/N was about to dig in when she registered the fact that there was only one bowl. “Aren’t you having any?”

He shook his head. “I ate. Plus your stomach has been growling non stop since I brought that in here. I’m starting to get concerned that you haven’t eaten in days.”

Rather than confirm his suspicions Y/N shrugged and dug in. Though she still split the bread in half and handed it to him.

He gave her a reluctant smile and ate with her, occasionally dipping the bread in the soup.

When Y/N was done eating Thomas whisked away her bowl before she could even think to stand and take care of it herself. Upon returning he found her grabbing her luggage.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Y/N shrugged, “Dunno, but this is a pub not a hotel. I can’t stay here”

“Don’t you have a place to stay?”

Y/N paused. She didn’t know the area well enough to make something up so she just opted for the truth, “I haven’t been in town long enough to find anything. I had enough time to get my first job set up but Danny dragged me away from getting enough money for a hotel tonight.”

Thomas’s brow furrowed. “You don’t have money for a place yet.”

Y/N shook her head despite the fact that it wasn’t a question.

“Well I’m not letting you go out there in the cold if that’s what you’re thinking.” He crossed the space between them in a fraction of a second, pilfering Y/N luggage directly from her grasp.

Y/N lunged for her case, “Hey! What exactly do you plan on doing then? Taking me back to your room? Because I can tell you right now that’s not a good idea.”

He hefted the case into the air with little effort. “You’ll be staying here. There’s rooms upstairs.”

“I won’t be some charity case, Thomas Shelby.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it, Y/F/N.” He walked back towards the door he’d disappeared in earlier, but instead of going in he began jogging up a flight of stairs.

Y/N stared after him in mild horror. She really didn’t think she could handle stairs tonight, but what choice did she have? If she didn’t follow him he’d be back wondering what on earth was keeping her so long. So she walked over to the stairs, her back stiff but not protesting. She thanked the gods for small miracles and began to climb.

After a minute or two she crested the last flight, letting out a slow breath to ease the tension that had gathered along her spine on the way up. Thomas was down a skinny hallway fumbling with a set of keys.

He spoke at the door refusing to look at her more than he had to, “This whole floor is typically meant for employees, but Harry’s got a family and Grace has her own place. So you’ll more often than not have the whole floor to yourself. I do sleep here sometimes, but that’s few and far between.”

Y/N thought back to earlier that night, “Does Grace live with her parents?”

Thomas shrugged, not really paying attention, “I don’t think she has parents anymore.”

Y/N slowly closed the distance between them, Thomas’s antics becoming down right jittery as she got closer. Finally the door opened.

Inside was a small room with a full bed taking up most of the space. There were no blankets or sheets to be seen but the layer of dust on everything signaled that no one had lived here in a long while. Two small doors were the only things that interrupted the dull wooden walls.

“It’s perfect.” Y/N grinned.

He looked at her like she was crazy but instead of answering he set her luggage beside the bed along with her violin. He disappeared as she wandered in. The air was musty and everything needed cleaning but it was more than she’d hoped for when she had gotten onto the train headed for Birmingham.

Thomas reappeared a couple minutes later and threw a pillow and sheets onto the bed. With a flourish he wrapped the duvet around Y/N’s shoulders, getting a startled yell in return. He smiled fondly as she struggled with the mass of cloth, his features returning to normal as she emerged.

“This is all too much, Thomas. I..How much is the rent?”

He answered.

Her cheeks flushed, “That’s way too low, even for living on this side of town.”

Thomas shrugged, “I expect you to play on Saturdays. Grace requested we allow singing and I think using your violin to draw in the customers will more than make up for the discount.”

Y/N raised her eyebrow, “You didn’t allow singing? In a pub?”

He shrugged before handing her the key and turning to leave. He was almost to the top of the stairs when he stopped.

“Again, I’m sorry about tonight.”

Y/N barely heard him and honestly she wasn’t sure she was supposed to. She didn’t reply and instead went about making her new bed.

#thomas shelby x reader #tommy shelby x reader #tommy shelby imagine #peaky blinder imagine #shelbys at somme #adventuresintooblivion #tommy

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beauvibaby · 4 years

Text

all along - m.tkachuk

a/n: so like, if you look through my page you can legit see me say like two weeks ago how much I disliked Matthew, but clearly, that has changed for the better

warnings: toxic relationship, trust issues (if that's a warning?)

word count: 1.7k

You hesitated, finger hovering over the contact, “fuck it.” You muttered, pressing down on the screen, a picture of you and Matthew covering it as it dialed his number. You flinched at the sudden noise from the hallway, “hey, Y/N, I was just going-are you okay?” Matthew cut himself short as he heard you sniffle into the phone, “no.” You squeaked out, “Danny and I got into a fight, and he won't leave.” You whispered out, feeling stupid, calling your best friend because your boyfriend was being a drunk idiot. “I’m coming.” Is all Matthew said before you heard him moving around, coincidentally, you lived in the same apartment building as him, it’s how you meant a couple of years ago. “Y/N, come on, babe, open the door.” Danny muttered, knocking softly, you didn't respond, only stepped away from the door when he slammed his hand against it. When you felt the fear rushing through you, you knew everyone had been right, why were you dating him? He should be the one person who never scares you, but now you were paralyzed in fear when he jiggled the knob. “It’s your fault, you’re the one who started this fucking fight, if you could just stop flirting with every guy that gives you attention.” You shook your head at his words, even if he couldn't see you. “I think you need to leave, Danny.” Matthew’s voice echoed through the wall and you felt relief coming over you. “Of course she called you, fucking bitch.” Danny muttered, you heard a thud followed by a groan, “get out, now.” Matthew barked out, I heard rushed movements before the doorknob started moving again. “Y/N, it’s alright.” Matthew spoke softly through the door and you rushed to unlock it, he nearly fell into you from the sudden movements. “Thank you.” He was taken back by your words as you wrapped your arms around him. “don't thank me, you shouldn’t have to deal with that prick.” Matthew assured you, hugging you back as you stayed silent. “What if he comes back?” You finally whimpered, thinking about how many times he had done exactly that, go and get drunk, come crawling back apologizing and how you’d always let him back in. “You can come stay at my place tonight, I’ve got a spare room.” He offered, you pulled away, not realizing you had started crying until you saw the wet patch on his shirt. “I’m sorry.” You whispered, awkwardly looking away as he stood there looking you over.

“Don’t apologize, you didn't do anything wrong.” He shushed you, reaching up to wipe a tear from your cheek, but freezing when you flinched back. If you had kept your eyes open, you would have seen his heart break covering his face. The thought of anyone ever doing something to make you flinch away from him, it was killing him, but he pushed it aside and put his hand down. “It’s okay, just get whatever you need for the night. I’ll be out here.” He whispered to you, backing out of the room, your eyes shot open, “Matty?” You both froze, you never really used that nickname with him, when you first met you had used it as a joke and quickly found out he hated it. His gaze softened, watching as you fiddled with your fingers. “Can-uh-can you just stay in here with me, it’ll only take a minute.” You whispered shamefully, he could see the nerves on your face. “Of course.”

***

It had been well over a month since that fight with Danny, and Matthew was there with you when he came back to collect his things, it was silent no one said anything, in reality it was ten minutes but it felt like ten years as you stuck close to Matthews side, keeping as much distance between you and Danny as possible.

And that led to where you are now, laughing as Matthew struggled to put together the set of nightstands you insisted he get for his guest room. His parents were coming to visit, and as you had stayed in his guest room for a couple of nights, you could attest to how badly he needed more storage in there. “It’s not funny.” He groaned dramatically, dropping the screw driver down on the ground in a defeated sigh. “Help?” He questioned, looking up at you with a pout that you didn't know he had in him. You gave in and joined him on the floor, “what would you do without me?” You teased, thinking of all the mundane things you had taught him to do properly over this past month, wether it be as simple as how to change his air conditioning filter, or how to properly defrost chicken to cook it. “I really don't know.” He whispered under his breath, watching you easily figure out how to assemble the furniture. You tried to hide the blush rising up your skin at his response, “it’s rude to stare.” You reminded him, he let out a breathy laugh as he held the wooden shelf up for you while you got the screw properly lined up. “Thanks.” You sighed out of instinct, making his eyebrows shoot up. “You’re literally putting furniture together for me, stop being so polite.” He groaned, rolling his eyes, nudging you softly when you didn't respond with your usual snarky comment. “It was a joke, don't be mad.” He added, you nodded, focusing on what you were doing before the door being knocked on made you both jump up, “who is that?” You asked instantly, he suddenly got a little flushed. “My parents?” It was a statement but it came out more as. question as you went wide eyed. “Matthew,” you whacked the back of his arm, “you said they were coming in tomorrow! I can’t be here, I’m just your weird downstairs neighbor!” You panicked, looking down at the clothes you were in, an oversized t-shirt and spandex shorts. “Oh my god, I’m going to look like a hookup leaving here.” You panicked more and he started laughing to the point of having tears in his eyes as his parents knocked again.

“First of all, it’s fine, they’ll be happy to know that I have a friend who isn't forced to talk to me.” He paused getting your attention, you gave him an unamused look as he shot you a smile, grabbing your hand and dragging you along with him. “Matthew.” You warned, as he had a devious smile on his face, “you look cute,” he shrugged, pausing at the door, “and you’re not my weird downstairs neighbor, you’re my amazing downstairs friend.” And with that he opened the door as you hid behind him face turning bright pink. “Delivery for Matthew Tkachuk?” You heard a deep voice ask and you gasped, stepping out from behind him and shooting him a glare as he signed for the package. “You jerk!” You snapped the second he shut the door, “you made me go into a full panic for no reason!” You crossed your arms dramatically, not missing the giant smile that covered his face when you pouted walking away. “Y/N, just having a little fun.” He called, and you could hear him ripping into the package as he followed behind you. You had already settled back down on the ground in front of the nightstand, putting the last couple of pieces on it, you glanced up when you heard him fumbling with fabric. Your eyebrows shot up, “are those the curtains I pointed out three weeks ago?” You teased, watching as he sheepishly nodded. “Well, you have the best taste of anyone I know, so I figured you had to be right about these curtains being right for this room.” He mumbled, approaching the window, the previous renter had left the curtain rod, but no curtains on it. You began laughing the second you saw him holding the fabric up. “Matty, did you measure the window?” You asked, teasingly, he looked at the single panel he had purchased and how much shorter than the tall window it was. “Sure didn't.” He admitted with a genuine laugh as he watched the way you giggled.

“How about I’ll buy the curtains and you can pay me back?” You offered, your fit of giggles breaking as he sighed a little frustrated with not knowing how to do something as simple as buying curtains. “Next time, you have to measure how long the window is, and how wide it is, and you’ll need to buy the according amount of panels.” You explained sweetly, taking the fabric from him and folding it back up to be returned to the store. “How do you know all this?” He asked with a groan, flopping back on the bed, “I don't know, I guess I kind of just learned it?” You answered uncertainty in your tone, you weren't quite sure, its almost as if you just knew. “So, could paying you back be dinner?” He asked suddenly, your face went pale, looking over to him. “What?” You squeaked out, the butterflies dancing around your stomach. He had that smirk on his face, “I’ve been wanting to ask you out for a while, and now just seemed like the right time.”

“As long as you pick me up.”

“That is a done deal, Y/N.”

***

“Wow, you, wow.” Matthew gasped out when you opened the door to your apartment, it was later in the week, his parents having just left from visiting, you become self conscious, looking down at your dress. “Is it too much? I can change.” You rushed your words, stepping aside to allow him to come in. You took in his appearance, slacks, dress shirt and nice shoes. his curls somewhat styled. He looked even more amazing than he normally did, and that shocked you. “No, no, you look amazing, beautiful.” He assured you, watching the sparkle come back to your eyes at his words. “Clean up pretty well yourself.” You teased in response, not being able to keep yourself from smoothing the wrinkle out of his shirt, your hand resting on his shoulder just a moment longer than it had too. He cleared his throat, bringing you both back to your senses, “we have a reservation, we don't want to be late.” He whispered, but still, neither of you moved. “Reservations are over rated.” You muttered, a small smirk gracing your lips when he glanced between them and your eyes. “I couldn't agree more.” And with that, he kicked the door shut behind him as he finally, finally, kissed you, instantly you knew, you should have been with him all along.

Taglist: @thathockeygirl @literarycharleton

#Matthew tkachuk #matthew tkachuk imagine #Matthew tkachuk blurb #Matthew tkachuk fluff #tkachuk #nhl #nhl wiriting #Calgary flames #Calgary Flames imagine

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twoidiotwriters1 · 3 years

Text

Written In The Stars CXLIII (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

A/N: I knew ppl were going to drop my fic in this book bc I made things complicated but I don’t regret the plot— did it still made me sad? yes it sure did -Danny

Words: 5,256

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘No Control’ -by Dylan Reynolds

Chapter Five: The New Routine.

Dumbledore knocked on the door three times and Mrs Weasley's voice was quick to answer.

"Who's there? Declare yourself!"

"It is I, Dumbledore, bringing Harry. Mel and Erick are with us."

"Harry, dear!" Mrs Weasley opened the door at once, letting them in. "Mel! Erick! Gracious, Albus, you gave me a fright, you said not to expect you before morning!"

"We were lucky, Slughorn proved much more persuadable than I had expected. The children's doing, of course. Ah, hello, Nymphadora!"

"Hello, Professor... Wotcher, kids."

"Hi, Tonks."

Tonks was looking remarkably grim, Mel looked around the kitchen.

"Where's my mum?"

"I told her to go to bed," Mrs Weasley said sweetly, "it's almost midnight, the baby kept her up last night and she needed to sleep."

"I'd better be off," Tonks stood up. "Thanks for the tea and sympathy, Molly."

"Please don't leave on my account," said Dumbledore, "I cannot stay, I have urgent matters to discuss with Rufus Scrimgeour."

"No, no, I need to get going," She replied. "'Night —"

"Dear, why not come to dinner at the weekend, Remus and Mad-Eye are coming — ?"

"My uncle's coming?" Mel asked with excitement.

"No, really, Molly... thanks anyway..." Tonks said tensely. "Good night, everyone."

"Well, I shall see you at Hogwarts," Dumbledore told them. "Take care of yourself. Molly, your servant."

He and Tonks disapparated, Erick spoke up.

"You have a lovely house, Mrs Weasley."

"Oh dear, well, we do make an effort on making it cosy," Mrs Weasley smiled. "You're like Ron, all of you, you look as though you've had Stretching Jinxes put on you. I swear Ron's grown four inches since I last bought him school robes. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I am," said Harry.

"A bit," Erick agreed.

Mel sat down between them, she was quite pleased about Mrs Weasley's comment on her growth, even though hers was less noticeable than the boys' who now were five and seven inches taller than her.

Crookshanks and Grey quickly made their way to them. Grey didn't like Erick very much, though Mel didn't know why. Crookshanks, on the other hand, was a huge fan.

"So Hermione's here?" Harry asked as he watched the ginger cat ruin the impeccable set of clothes Erick was wearing.

"Oh yes, she arrived the day before yesterday. Everyone's in bed, of course, we didn't expect you for hours. Here you are — Bread, dears?"

"Thanks, Mrs Weasley."

"So you persuaded Horace Slughorn to take the job?"

"It wasn't hard," Mel smiled. "Professor Slughorn was eager to get to know us better."

"He taught Arthur and me. He was at Hogwarts for ages, started around the same time as Dumbledore, I think. Did you like him?"

Harry and Erick shrugged, Mel kept her attention on her plate.

"I know what you mean... Of course he can be charming when he wants to be, but Arthur's never liked him much. The Ministry's littered with Slughorn's old favorites, he was always good at giving leg ups, but he never had much time for Arthur — didn't seem to think he was enough of a highflier. Well, that just shows you, even Slughorn makes mistakes. I don't know whether Ron's told you in any of his letters — it's only just happened — but Arthur's been promoted!"

Harry made a funny noise, taken by surprise. Erick did a sort of delighted hum and Mel stopped eating, staring at her attentively.

"That's great!" Harry said.

"You are sweet... Yes, Rufus Scrimgeour has set up several new offices in response to the present situation, and Arthur's heading the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. It's a big job, he's got ten people reporting to him now!"

"Sounds important," Erick smiled.

"What exactly — ?"

"Well, you see, in all the panic about You-Know-Who, odd things have been cropping up for sale everywhere, things that are supposed to guard against You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters. You can imagine the kind of thing — so-called protective potions that are really gravy with a bit of bubotuber pus added, or instructions for defensive jinxes that actually make your ears fall off..."

Mrs Weasley looked beyond proud as she told them all about her husband's new job. Mel was happy for him, she couldn't think of a man who deserved a promotion more than Mr Weasley.

"...So you see, it's a very important job, and I tell him it's just silly to miss dealing with spark plugs and toasters and all the rest of that Muggle rubbish."

"Well, the heart wants what it wants," Mel chuckled, she was unaware of the way both boys looked at her.

"Is Mr Weasley still at work?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, he is. As a matter of fact, he's a tiny bit late... He said he'd be back around midnight..."

Mel felt something awful crawling up her chest when she noticed all the tiny hands on the clock were now pointing at 'Mortal peril'.

"It's been like that for a while now," Mrs Weasley commented, "ever since You-Know-Who came back into the open. I suppose everybody's in mortal danger now... I don't think it can be just our family... but I don't know anyone else who's got a clock like this, so I can't check. Oh!"

Mr Weasley's was now currently pointing at 'travelling.'

"He's coming!" She got up, a second later there was a knock on the door. "Arthur, is that you?"

"Yes. But I would say that even if I were a Death Eater, dear. Ask the question!"

"Oh, honestly..."

"Molly!"

"All right, all right... What is your dearest ambition?"

"To find out how airplanes stay up."

Mel and Harry shared a look of amusement, she heard Erick mumbling 'How do they stay up?' Mrs Weasley tried to open the door but her husband kept it shut.

"Molly! I've got to ask you your question first!"

"Arthur, really, this is just silly..."

"What do you like me to call you when we're alone together?"

The group of teenagers froze.

"Mollywobbles," Mrs Weasley whispered to the tiny crack in the door.

Mel choked on the soup, Harry had to hide his face entirely to control his laughing fit after watching her almost die, Erick quickly patted her back.

"Correct," Mr Weasley said brightly. "Now you can let me in."

"I still don't see why we have to go through that every time you come home!" Mrs Weasley complained as the man walked in. "I mean, a Death Eater might have forced the answer out of you before impersonating you!"

"I know, dear, but it's Ministry procedure, and I have to set an example. Something smells good — onion soup? Kids! We didn't expect you until morning!"

They all greeted Mr Weasley, Mel finally able to breathe and Harry able to speak without cracking up.

"Thanks, Molly," He said when the woman set a plate for him. "It's been a tough night. Some idiot's started selling Metamorph-Medals. Just sling them around your neck and you'll be able to change your appearance at will. A hundred thousand disguises, all for ten Galleons!"

"And what really happens when you put them on?"

"Mostly you just turn a fairly unpleasant orange color, but a couple of people have also sprouted tentaclelike warts all over their bodies. As if St. Mungo's didn't have enough to do already!"

"It sounds like the sort of thing Fred and George would find funny," said Mrs Weasley with doubt. "Are you sure — ?"

"Of course I am! The boys wouldn't do anything like that now, not when people are desperate for protection!"

"So is that why you're late, Metamorph-Medals?"

"No, we got wind of a nasty backfiring jinx down in Elephant and Castle, but luckily the Magical Law Enforcement Squad had sorted it out by the time we got there..."

Harry yawned beside her, Mel was starting to feel weary herself after days of sleeping in the backseat of a car.

"Bed," said Mrs Weasley. "I've got Fred and George's room all ready for you, boys. Mel, you're sharing Ginny's bedroom but I don't want you to wake the girls up. Is it okay if you sleep with Erick and Harry tonight?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Mel yawned, too sleepy to care.

"Where are the twins?" Harry asked.

"Oh, they're in Diagon Alley, sleeping in the little flat over their joke shop as they're so busy," said Mrs Weasley, and Mel could tell there was a hint of pride in her voice. "I must say, I didn't approve at first, but they do seem to have a bit of a flair for business! Come on, dears, your trunks are already up there."

"'Night, Mr Weasley," said Harry.

"Thank you for letting us stay," Erick added.

"Have a goodnight!" Mel ended.

"G'night," said Mr Weasley.

Mel had been in the twins' room a couple of times through the years, it was startling when she walked in and couldn't recognize it. The smell of fireworks was still hanging in the air and there was a few boxes of their personal items laying around, but almost nothing left from their essence in the room, it made her feel homesick.

There were only two beds since they weren't expected until the next morning. Mrs Weasley quickly made a third bed appear with a flick of her wand, it was smaller than the other two, mostly blankets and cushions piled together. She apologized profusely, but Mel didn't mind, she would've slept on the floor considering how exhausted she was.

The boys insisted that she took one of their beds but Mel refused, when she came back from changing Erick was already tucked in her pile of blankets. Harry was grinning at the way his feet were hanging over the edge.

The following morning she was awoken by the door slamming open and a pair of feet stomping into the room. She hid her face between the pillows, Harry's mattress squeaked as he sat up, and fabric rustled as Erick pushed down his blankets.

"Wuzzgoinon?" Harry asked sleepily.

"We didn't know you were here already!" There was a soft thud coming from Harry's bed after Ron sat down on it.

"Ron, don't hit him!" Hermione sat on Mel's bed.

"Dear Merlin," She groaned, hiding under the covers. "I'm going to murder you two..."

"All right?" Ron asked.

"Never been better," said Harry, sounding a bit more awake. "You?"

"Not bad."

"I knew there was no way I'd have a quiet morning here," Erick grumbled. "Hi, 'Mione..."

"Hi!" She said brightly, then shook one of Mel's legs. "Wake up! I want to hear all you did during your mission!"

"When did you get here? Mum's only just told us!" Ron said.

"About one o'clock this morning," Harry replied, Mel turned around and squinted, trying to get used to the sunlight.

"Were the Muggles all right? Did they treat you okay?"

"Same as usual... they didn't talk to me much, but I like it better that way. How're you, Hermione?"

"Oh, I'm fine."

"What's the time? Have we missed breakfast?" Harry said.

"Don't worry about that, Mum's bringing you up a tray; she reckons you look underfed," said Ron.

"Well, he is," Mel replied, finally sitting up. "You should've seen my mum — almost forced the food down his throat once..."

Harry threw a pillow at her, but he missed by a considerable distance.

"So, what's been going on?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Nothing much, I've just been stuck at my aunt and uncle's, haven't I?"

"And we just had a road trip around some towns," Erick said, getting out of his covers only to sit down on Harry's bed.

"Come off it!" said Ron. "You've been off with Dumbledore!"

"It wasn't that exciting. He just wanted us to help him persuade this old teacher to come out of retirement. His name's Horace Slughorn."

"Oh... We thought —" Hermione hushed him, Ron was quick to correct his mistake. "— we thought it'd be something like that."

"You did?" Harry grinned.

"Yeah... yeah, now Umbridge has left, obviously we need a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, don't we? So, er, what's he like?"

"He looks a bit like a walrus, and he used to be Head of Slytherin," Harry shrugged, then he glanced back at their friend and raised a brow. "Something wrong, Hermione?"

The girl gave a start, straightening in her place.

"No, of course not! So, um, did Slughorn seem like he'll be a good teacher?"

"Well, he's got a sharp mind no doubt," Erick yawned, laying on the mattress.

"He can't be worse than Umbridge, can he?" added Harry, softly kicking Erick to move him away from his legs.

"I know someone who's worse than Umbridge," Ginny walked in sulking. "Hi, guys."

"What's up with you?" Ron questioned.

"It's her, she's driving me mad."

"What's she done now?" asked Hermione.

"It's the way she talks to me — you'd think I was about three!"

"I know, she's so full of herself..."

"You better not be talking about my mum," Mel joked.

"Can't you two lay off her for five seconds?" Ron scoffed.

"Oh, that's right, defend her! We all know you can't get enough of her," Ginny rolled her eyes.

Harry and Mel shared a confused look, and just when he was about to ask the door opened again. The boy pulled up his covers so fast that Erick fell to the floor.

"Oh," Mel said quietly, staring up at Fleur Delacour.

"Children," she said brightly. "Eet 'as been too long!"

Mrs Weasley walked in right after her, looking upset.

"There was no need to bring up the tray, I was just about to do it myself!"

"Eet was no trouble," Fleur left the tray floating between their beds and kissed her and Harry on both cheeks. Erick got up with a scowl, he shook Fleur's hand, not letting her touch him any further. "I 'ave been longing to see you. You remember my seester, Gabrielle? She never stops talking about 'Arry Potter. She will be delighted to see you again."

"Oh... is she here too?" Harry asked.

"No, no, silly boy," Fleur laughed, "I mean next summer, when we — but do you not know?"

"We hadn't got around to telling him yet," Mrs Weasley said grumpily.

"Bill and I are going to be married!"

"Oh," said Harry, looking back at Mel begging her to help him. "Wow. Er — congratulations!"

"That's brilliant," Mel was unsure of how to react, none of the other women in the room looked happy.

"Bill is very busy at ze moment, working very 'ard, and I only work part-time at Gringotts for my Eenglish, so he brought me 'ere for a few days to get to know 'is family properly. I was so pleased to 'ear you would be coming — zere isn't much to do 'ere, unless you like cooking and chickens! Well — enjoy your breakfast!"

She turned around and left the room with a joyous air, then Emily walked in, holding her son.

"Hi kids," She smiled.

Mel jumped out of bed and gave her mother a big hug. She took her baby brother and kissed him all over his small face. Mrs Weasley muttered something Mel could not hear, Ginny inched closer and started to play with Reggie's little fingers.

"Mum hates her," the girl told her, clearly talking about Fleur.

"I do not hate her! I just think they've hurried into this engagement, that's all!"

"Well, it's not like we all have time to spare, do we?" Emily asked carefully, brushing the hair away from Mel's forehead.

"They've known each other a year," said Ron crossly.

"Well, that's not very long! I know why it's happened, of course. It's all this uncertainty with You-Know-Who coming back, people think they might be dead tomorrow, so they're rushing all sorts of decisions they'd normally take time over. It was the same last time he was powerful, people eloping left, right, and center—"

"Including you and Dad," Ginny smirked.

"Yes, well, your father and I were made for each other, what was the point in waiting? Whereas Bill and Fleur... well... what have they really got in common? He's a hard-working, down-to-earth sort of person, whereas she's —"

"A cow," Ginny replied. "But Bill's not that down-to-earth. He's a Curse-Breaker, isn't he, he likes a bit of adventure, a bit of glamour... I expect that's why he's gone for Phlegm."

"That's exactly what people used to say about me and Matthew," Emily raised a brow. "Now they tell me we were the perfect couple! You see, time's all it takes to change one's opinion, I think we shouldn't talk about relationships that aren't ours."

"I think she's lovely," Mel shrugged, softly kissing her brother's cheek. "You guys are being too harsh on her. I mean, Ginny, you're beautiful —"

"I'm sorry, Mel, I have a boyfriend," She joked.

"— But that doesn't mean you're silly, does it?" Mel sat down on her bed. "Have you forgotten how nice she was to Ron after he helped her sister?"

Mrs Weasley left looking rather tired, Emily kissed Mel, Harry and Erick on the cheek before leaving, leaving Leon Regulus in the room.

"Don't you get used to her if she's staying in the same house?" Harry chuckled, staring at the way Ron was struggling to breathe.

"Well, you do... but if she jumps out at you unexpectedly, like then..."

"It's pathetic," said Hermione, without even asking she took Regulus out of Mel's hold, ignoring the girl's protests.

"I feel your pain, Ronnie, don't listen to them," Mel sighed, leaning back on the bed frame.

"You don't really want her around forever?" Ginny insisted. "Well, Mum's going to put a stop to it if she can, I bet you anything."

"She shouldn't!" Mel replied. "What would you feel if you were deeply in love with someone and everyone tried to keep you away from them? You're own family!"

"How's she going to manage that, anyway?" asked Harry.

"She keeps trying to get Tonks round for dinner. I think she's hoping Bill will fall for Tonks instead. I hope he does, I'd much rather have her in the family."

"Yeah, that'll work," Ron snorted. "Listen, no bloke in his right mind's going to fancy Tonks when Fleur's around. I mean, Tonks is okay-looking when she isn't doing stupid things to her hair and her nose, but —"

"She's a damn sight nicer than Phlegm,'' Ginny made a face of disgust.

"And she's more intelligent, she's an Auror!" said Hermione, Reggie cried a bit and Ginny took it away from Hermione.

"Fleur's not stupid, she was good enough to enter the Triwizard Tournament," Harry argued.

"Not you as well!" Hermione scowled.

"I suppose you like the way Phlegm says ' 'Arry,' do you?" Ginny huffed.

"No," said Harry, blushing a bit, "I was just saying, Phlegm — I mean, Fleur —"

"Oh, please," Mel snorted. "You're just upset because Bill is your favourite brother, Ginny — you're scared he'll stop hanging out here once he marries Fleur. Hermione, I know you're lying, you're not angry because she isn't smart enough for your standards."

Hermione blushed a deep shade of red.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Sure you don't," She grinned. "But you know she's not any of those things, I know you do. I mean, so what if she's confident, as long as she loves Bill like he deserves, right? Don't you want him to be happy?"

Ginny looked at Reggie for a long time, then she sighed heavily.

"I would like her to respect our way of handling the house, that's all..."

"That's understandable," Mel nodded. "But she's the one having to get used to the Weasleys, and if I may give my opinion, you guys are as peculiar as any French girl."

Ginny's face showed a small grin.

"In my opinion," Erick spoke casually, grabbing a toast from the tray. "Fleur's too ostentatious — but she knows how to use her charm, which means she's got a brain. Joseph told me she was a great conversationalist—"

"Can't you talk like a normal bloke?" Ron frowned. "Do you like her, yes or no?"

"I'm saying she's nice."

"Nice?" The redheaded boy asked in bewilderment.

"She's not my type," The older boy rolled his eyes.

"What's your type, then?" Ron demanded.

Erick threw a quick glance at Mel before replying.

"Friendly."

"Okay, maybe Mel's right," Ginny continued, Reggie started to get restless and she swayed him a bit from side to side. "But I still get along with Tonks better, at least she's a laugh..."

"Well, she can still come and hang out, but you can't force love."

"She hasn't been much of a laugh lately though," Ron pointed out. "Every time I've seen her she's looked more like Moaning Myrtle."

"That's not fair," Hermione frowned. "She still hasn't got over what happened... you know... I mean, he was her cousin!"

Harry quickly looked down and busied himself with a spoonful of eggs, Mel grabbed a cup of tea and drank half of it in one large sip.

"Tonks and Sirius barely knew each other! Sirius was in Azkaban half her life and before that their families never met —"

"That's not the point — She thinks it was her fault he died!"

"How does she work that one out?" Harry asked, his mouth half-full.

"Well, she was fighting Bellatrix Lestrange, wasn't she? I think she feels that if only she had finished her off, Bellatrix couldn't have killed Sirius."

Mel tried to remember, there was a huge part of that night she couldn't recall.

"That's stupid," said Ron.

"It's survivor's guilt. I know Lupin's tried to talk her round, but she's still really down. She's actually having trouble with her Metamorphosing!"

"With her — ?"

"She can't change her appearance like she used to. I think her powers must have been affected by shock, or something."

"I didn't know that could happen," said Harry.

"Nor did I, but I suppose if you're really depressed..."

Mel suddenly looked down at her hands and gulped. She hadn't tried to do any kind of magic ever since she'd come back from the Ministry, now a new fear was rising above everything else, the possibility of not being able to be as good as before because of her anguish.

"Ginny," Mrs Weasley walked in again, "come downstairs and help me with the lunch."

"I'm talking to this lot!" Ginny exclaimed, her attention quickly leaving Mel's brother.

"Now!"

"She only wants me there so she doesn't have to be alone with Fleur! Emily's too tired all the time, mum doesn't let her do anything..." The girl got up to leave the room, but Mel stopped her.

"Hey, give that baby back!" She demanded. "I was holding him first!"

Ron stood up and took the baby, claiming no one ever allowed him to play with him. Ginny turned around swiftly, mocking the way Fleur would usually move, once she got to the door she looked over her shoulder one last time before leaving.

"You lot had better come down quickly too!"

Harry, Mel and Erick ate silently while Hermione examined some boxes, Ron was now playing with Reg.

"What's this?" Hermione held up a small telescope.

"Dunno, but if Fred and George've left it here, it's probably not ready for the joke shop yet, so be careful."

"Your mum said the shop's going well," Harry mentioned. "Said Fred and George have got a real flair for business."

"That's an understatement. They're raking in the Galleons! I can't wait to see the place, we haven't been to Diagon Alley yet, because Mum says Dad's got to be there for extra security and he's been really busy at work, but it sounds excellent."

"And what about Percy? Is he talking to your mum and dad again?"

"Nope."

"What a git," Erick muttered, drinking his tea while watching Hermione examine the telescope.

"But he knows your dad was right all along now about Voldemort being back —"

"Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right," said Hermione. "I heard him telling your mum, Ron."

"Sounds like the sort of mental thing Dumbledore would say," said Ron.

Mel didn't try to contradict him this time.

"He's going to be giving me private lessons this year," Harry said casually. "Mel already finished hers and he'll have time to teach me."

Hermione gasped, Erick merely looked up from his food.

"You kept that quiet!" Ron exclaimed, Mel's brother slipping from his hold without him noticing.

"I only just remembered. He told me last night in your broom shed."

"Blimey... private lessons with Dumbledore! And he said you're ready to go, Mel? I wonder why he's—?"

"Careful with Lee before you drop him flat on the floor!" Mel scowled. "I see why no one lets you hold him..."

"I don't know exactly why he's going to be giving me lessons, but I think it must be because of the prophecy," Harry continued to speak, eyes fixed on his food. "You know, the one they were trying to steal at the Ministry..."

Erick pulled out his wand and with a quick movement, his plate started to follow him around the room. He took Leon Regulus and mumbled something about the baby needing a nap and Ginny needing help back in the kitchen. Mel wished she could've left with him.

"Nobody knows what it said, though," said Hermione once the Slytherin was gone. "Mel broke it."

"Although the Prophet says —" Ron started.

"Shh!" Hermione interrupted.

"The Prophet's got it right," Harry forced himself to look up. "That glass ball Mel destroyed wasn't the only record of the prophecy. I heard the whole thing in Dumbledore's office, he was the one the prophecy was made to, so he could tell me. From what it said... it looks like I'm the one who's got to finish off Voldemort... At least, it said neither of us could live while the other survives."

She wished she could've spent at least one day without thinking about the prophecy, but Harry had to live knowing that he'd have to face Voldemort, so she couldn't complain.

BANG!

Hermione vanished behind a cloud of dark smoke.

"Hermione!" shouted the three of them.

The girl stood up, coughing.

"I squeezed it and it — it punched me!"

"Don't worry," said Ron biting his lip so he wouldn't laugh, "Mum'll fix that, she's good at healing minor injuries —"

"Oh well, never mind that now!" said Hermione, pushing it aside. "Harry, oh, Harry... We wondered, after we got back from the Ministry... Obviously, we didn't want to say anything to you, but from what Lucius Malfoy said about the prophecy, how it was about you and Voldemort, well, we thought it might be something like this... Oh, Harry... Are you scared?"

"Not as much as I was," Harry shrugged. "When I first heard it, I was... but now, it seems as though I always knew I'd have to face him in the end..."

"When we heard Dumbledore was collecting you in person, we thought he might be telling you something or showing you something to do with the prophecy. And we were kind of right, weren't we? He wouldn't be giving you lessons if he thought you were a goner, wouldn't waste his time — he must think you've got a chance!"

"Of course he does!" Mel got up, starting to pick up the pieces of the tray that had smashed when the boys ran to help Hermione. "Harry's a great wizard, we just need to teach him how to fight..."

Her friends looked at her with pity, they must've been thinking of her lifeline connection with Harry and how it could affect her, but Mel couldn't look afraid or else they wouldn't believe her words.

"Guys, we'll get through this..." Mel looked down a the tiny scars on her palm, rubbing them gently.

"That's true," said Hermione. "I wonder what he'll teach you, Harry? Really advanced defensive magic, probably... powerful countercurses... anti-jinxes... probably the same things he taught to Mel. And evasive enchantments generally— Well, at least you know one lesson you'll be having this year, that's one more than Ron and me. I wonder when our O.W.L. results will come?"

"Can't be long now, it's been a month," said Ron.

"Hang on, I think Dumbledore said our O.W.L. results would be arriving today!"

"Yeah, that's true!" Mel admitted, leaving the broken plates on the desk.

"Today? Today? But why didn't you — oh my God — you should have said —" Hermione squeaked. "I'm going to see whether any owls have come..."

Ron and Hermione left the room quickly, Harry and her were left alone, but this felt a thousand times less awkward than a year before.

"Thank you," Harry said, helping her fold the blankets.

"I didn't do anything. You know they're scared, even if they don't show it..."

"I'm thanking you because it must be hard for you as well, not to show it," He tilted his head. "Usually, you're an open book..."

"I used to be," She corrected. "My feelings are just mine, Harry, and no one else needs to know about them."

He frowned.

"Still, you know it's better not to hold things in, right?"

Mel stared at him.

"Look at you, teaching me about how to handle my emotions!"

The boy let out a chuckle and reached to hold her hand.

"It's going to be okay, Mellow."

She melted at the name, it'd been a long time since he'd called her that. She looked down again at her scarred hand, and that stirred her into talking. An idea started to take form in her mind.

"What if there's a chance you don't have to be the only chosen one?"

Harry blinked.

"What?"

"What if I am your backup?"

"H-How would that even..?"

"Think about it," Mel started. "I was there when he tried to kill you, and that's when our connection was created — it grows stronger when you inch closer to death... What if the reason we can feel each other's pain, is because it warns us about the incoming danger? What if the reason we're connected it's because I'm destined to take your place if you die?"

"But — but the prophecy said it was a boy —"

"Prophecies can change, you're not obliged to copy them exactly as they're told! Even Dumbledore thought I could be the child of the prophecy! What if, in a way, we both are?"

"It doesn't mean anything, Mel. I chose to be —"

"Who says I can't choose to help you?" She lifted her right hand. "I marked myself with the prophecy, see? If we do this together we'll have a real advantage. We even promised it back in the ministry, didn't we? If you die I take your place, if I die —"

"I make sure is not in vain," Harry had finally made up his mind. "D'you think Dumbledore knows? Do you think that's why he wants us to decide for ourselves what we'll do with our lifeline?"

"I have no idea," Mel responded sincerely. "But if we're doing this, we need to set the rules now."

Harry thought about it, then he grabbed her hands and squeezed them lightly.

"Let's talk."

Next Chapter —>

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