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#IS JUNES NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU??? EVERYTHINGS GREAT AT YOUR JUNES??????
elmflowers · 3 months
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two episodes into a p4g playthrough. what the fuck is up with the citizens of inaba. why do these people want to see a dead body so bad.
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dreamescapeswriting · 11 months
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Stray Kids Reaction || You Want Something Trivial For Your Birthday
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GN!Reader
⤜Copyright: © DreamEscapesWriting - Junee 2023
⤜MASTERLIST
A/N: I hope this is okay for you my love! I tried to get them as different as possible from one another @whyyougottadothatbro
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CHAN:
It was safe to say that Chan was struggling with what to get you for your birthday. It wasn't like he didn't know you well enough but it was a matter of getting you something you really wanted and were going to use.
"What do you want for your birthday?" He suddenly asked when you were out to the mall together, you slowly looked up from the milkshake you had been nursing and smiled at him. The two of you had decided to do a little shopping this morning and Chan thought it would be the perfect time to scout out something you were eyeing up a lot...but much to his dismay you hadn't been eyeing up anything forcing him to ask you what it was you wanted for your birthday.
"I could use a new suitcase." You shrugged it off as though it was nothing but Chan's mind had stalled on that for a second. A suitcase? You could have anything in the world and you were asking for a suitcase? 
"A suitcase?" He questioned, still a little confused as to if you were sure that was something you wanted for your birthday?
"Yeah, I mean...I need a new one for when we go on holiday, and the wheels on mine are falling off so I could use a new one?" You stared at him as he blinked at you,
"You don't want something like a necklace? anklet? A new watch?" He suggested while frowning at you, in all his years of life he'd never had someone ask him for something practical like this. 
"Nah," You smirked and began to drink from your cup again leaving a very confused-looking Chan staring at you,
"That's it? Just a suitcase?" He narrowed his eyes at you as if he was trying to see if it was some kind of joke but the look on your face let him know just how serious you were about this all.
"Yeah, I don't need anything else when I have the best gift right in front of me." You winked laying your hand on his before a blush began to creep up onto his cheeks.
MINHO:
When you first told Minho what you wanted he'd laughed thinking that you weren't being serious about it but as you continued to look at him he realised you were 100% about it.
"Metal straws?" He questioned, you were already bringing your phone toward him and showing him the set of metal straws you'd seen last week. They were a set of rainbow straws and you'd wanted to get them when you were in the mall but you didn't have your card at the time.
"But just metal straws? You don't want anything else?" Concern dripped from his tone as he stared at you. Did you think he would only get you something so small? Minho wanted to spoil you with everything you could possibly dream of,
"Yeah, I don't need anything else. Plus, they're great for the environment, I'll be saving so many turtles." You smiled looking down at your phone and not noticing the look on Minhos face which was a mixture of sadness and concern,
"And they have a cute carry case so I can keep them in my bag for when we're out together," You giggled before turning to look at Minho,
"Minnie?" You frowned noticing how sad he looked about everything and you instantly put your phone down.
"You don't want anything else? L-Like...A bracelet? Earrings? Anything? A ring?" You could hear the overthinking dripping from him now and you whimpered,
"I don't want you to spend too much on me, it's just a birthday." You informed him as you carefully sat down on his lap and looked him in the eyes, his body physically relaxing as you held onto his face. 
"I would give you the world if you wanted it." He told you as you smiled running your fingers over his cheeks, 
"I have you, it's all I need." You promised before gently kissing him.
CHANGBIN:
"Are you sure they said pens?" Felix asked as he walked around the fifth stationary store that Changbin had dragged him into, his eyes scanning over the walls that lined the shop. All of them had been the same so far and he didn't understand why Changbin was having such a hard time finding some pens for you.
"That's what YN said they wanted. Pens. But they never said what kind...O-Or were from," He looked at the pack of pens in his hands before putting them back, deciding that they weren't good enough for you for your birthday.
"But pens? For a birthday?" Felix didn't sound so convinced by it, why would someone want pens for their birthday anything? Your birthday was the one day you could ask for something you truly wanted and Changbin would more than likely get you it. You want a cow? He'd go out and find one for you. A car? He'd take you shopping.
"I asked Yn seven times if they were sure they wanted pens and they were," Changbin was sweating by this point, "pens" wasn't a good start for him. If you'd told him a brand or maybe a colour he would have done this in seconds but now he was overthinking everything, trying to figure out if it was a certain brand or maybe even a certain colour you were wanting. Don't even get him started on whether or not it was colouring pens or just for writing at home.
"They said black ink pens, they've run out at their office and they need new ones," Felix said suddenly from behind Changbin who slowly turned to face the younger member/
"I text them," Felix turned his screen to face Changbin and he let out a small breath, gathering about twenty packs of black pens of all different kinds and taking them to the counter.
HYUNJIN:
Hyunjin stared at you from the space beside you, maybe he'd heard you incorrectly but he was still processing what you'd told him that you wanted for your birthday. It wasn't as though it was something major, in fact, it was the complete opposite. Something so small Hyunjin could barely believe you'd even asked him for it,
"Say again..." He said slowly as he watched you, you slowly turned to look at him and smiled.
"Glasses wipes, I keep running out of them so easily I need them," You pouted at the thought of it. Last night you'd been lying in bed when you ran out of your favourite brand of glasses wipes and you were desperate to get them back,
"But just wipes? Nothing else?" He stared at you, he would have expected anyone else to give him a huge list of everything they could possibly ask for and he was truly stunned that you seemed to want something so trivial and small.
"They're the best, they don't leave streaks on my glasses." You shrugged before looking at your glasses and back to Hyunjin who was blushing a little. He found it cute that it was the only thing you wanted and he planned on getting you something extra even though you hadn't asked for it.
JISUNG:
"Are you sure that's all you want though? I could get you a new hard drive," Jisung offered as you stared back at him a little shocked at the offer. It was your birthday soon and he'd been wondering what to get you for a while now and instead of getting you something he didn't think you'd enjoy, he figured he'd ask you want you wanted instead.
"I don't need a new hard drive," You laughed a little and shook your head at him, the last thing you wanted was for him to spend a stupid amount of money on you when he didn't need to.
"But JUST a keyboard cover? You don't want a new mouse? Maybe a new keyboard for a new set-up?" Panic was bubbling inside of him as he thought about it. Why didn't you want something more from him? Surely it was his job to spoil you on your birthday.
"Yeah. I don't need anything else Sungie, a keyboard cover is all I need. I keep getting crumbs in my keys whenever I eat at my desk," You pouted at the thought of it, just last week Felix had come over to clean your PC and keyboard out for you since you didn't know where to start with it.
"Fine, but I'm getting you something else as well." He pouted at you before you cuddled into his side.
FELIX:
Every year it was the same routine, you'd ask for something trivial or small for your birthday and Felix would routinely ask you if you were sure that was what you wanted and nothing else.
"It feels silly," He told you as you stood inside the beauty store together, looking at a wall full of bath scrunches which was the thing you'd asked him to get you this year.
"Why? You asked me what I wanted." You laughed a little turning to look at an unimpressed-looking Felix who had one hand on his hip as he stared at you.
"You want me to buy you a new bath scrunchy and some bath products? You don't want me to get you some clothes or anything?"
"We do this every year," You reminded him as he let out a small whine at you. Felix wanted to get you everything your heart desired but you'd never let him and he knew that, 
"Because every year I want to spoil my partner but they'll never let me," He pouted at you as you let out a small whine this time and shook your head at him,
"I don't need to be spoiled. I don't want anything...Getting me things I need is better. Besides, we'll both use the bath scrunchy so it's a gift for you as well," You smiled sheepishly at him and he shook his head at you, quickly kissing your cheek before getting you a different selection of bath scrunchies before he went looking for some body wash and other products he knew you liked.
SEUNGMIN:
"Every year you fail in the gift department," Changbin chuckled as Seungmin told the boys what he'd gotten for you this year and you looked over at them.
"He does not." You whined out in his defence. Every year Seungmin got you exactly what you asked for and you wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world. The boys didn't know that it was all things you'd asked for though and just assumed that Seungmin had gone out of his way to buy said things for you.
"Last year he bought you a shampoo and conditioner set," Minho stated as you looked at the boys and then over at Seungmin who was looking a little defeated by the accusation.
"I asked him for it...Like I asked him for the new pillow set." You nodded at the presents you'd just opened and Seungmin began to blush a little. When he'd asked you last week what it was you wanted, you'd asked him for some new memory foam pillows and he'd agreed.
"But why? You could get whatever you want?" Felix seemed just as confused by the idea of you getting pillows, along with some new sheets and cases to go along with them.
"I wanted memory foam pillows and new sheets." You shrugged, kissing Seungmin deeply.
"Thank you for the perfect birthday present, baby." You whispered making the boys wolf whistle at the small display.
JEONGIN:
Jeongin couldn't figure out why you were asking for something so small and it still boggled his mind as you showed him what kind of brands you wanted for your birthday.
"You just want some skincare? Nothing else?" You thought about it for a minute before shaking your head. There was nothing else you really needed and you'd been wanting some new skin care products for a while now.
"I ran out of my vitamin C Oil last week, so it'll be a big help." You smiled at him and he shook his head at you a little. This was something you did every year when it came to your birthday, instead of asking for something you wanted you asked for something you needed instead and he was trying to get it through to you that it was okay to ask for something you wanted instead. But every year he failed and he'd get you something you needed instead.
"But, your birthday is supposed to be about getting ANYTHING you want. Not just something you need." You whined at him as he gave you the same speech he always did and you looked at him,
"I just don't like when people waste money on me...I'd rather get something I know I'll use and need in my life," Letting out a small sigh Jeongin nodded at you and added everything into his online basket before checking it out and purchasing everything for you.
Tagline: @chiisaiblog @hanasonmi @sw33tnight @acciocriativity @scarletemeterio​ @halesandy​ @aerastus​ @laylasbunbunny​ @critssq​ @lenfilms​ @btsiguess-kpop​ @meowmeowisdaname​ @imafivestarkpopstan​ @lost-leopard-beanie​ @illicee​ @djeniryuu​
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mockerycrow · 11 months
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“don’t you dare lie. i can see it hurts, so show me.” with gaz or soap
if it's not too much trouble I would like to sob please
also congrats on 400 followers!!!!! :)
400 Follower Celebration
(ENDED JUNE 15TH)
—“Don’t you dare lie. I can see it hurts, so show me.”— With Kyle “Gaz” Garrick
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Summary: After falling from a great height through an unstable floor, you end up with bruised ribs and a deep gash in your side that needs proper medical attention—but you’re almost at your destination with your team, so you say you’re fine.
A/N: I’m almost at 900 now?? thank you everyone 😭 also, your callsign is “Cinder”.
[WARNINGS: Medical inaccuracies, military inaccuracies, descriptions of wounds, physical hurt/comfort.]
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You groaned as your ears rung, your body feeling unnaturally heavy. You blinked slowly and everything felt like it was far away and moving in slow motion, and your body felt unnaturally wet.. and hot. You let out a dry cough as you accidentally inhaled the misty debris, no doubt not doing your lungs any good. You looked around as your mind remained blank, whatever happened shocked you enough into a dazed state for a moment. You lay your head back down and you close your eyes tight for just a moment to try to regain feeling in your face, and pain bloomed from your neck and shoulders. Luckily, your helmet saved you from a major concussion and possibly a head injury. The ringing slowly faded until it became background noise, and you hear a voice talking into a radio and distant gunshots, as well as little parts of the destroyed floor above you falling to your level. “Cinder? Cinder do you copy??” Price. It’s Price’s voice, you vaguely catalogue that, but you don’t understand that you should probably respond. Your try to take a deep breath, but you find your chest being restricted, so you look down.
Oh.
There’s several large pieces of debris on top of you, a big piece of structural wood laying across your chest while pieces of concrete re-enforcement pin the wood down onto you. You should probably move that.
You lift your arms and you distantly feel that your side and your back is wet, your hands getting a good grip on the wood and grunting, you push the debris off yourself, moving your head to the side as some of the concrete rolls off the wood near your head. You let out another dry wheeze, feeling an ache in your ribs. For some reason, every sensation just feels.. so far away right now. You blink slowly as you sit up, glancing around the rubble that you’re sitting in the middle of. You touch your side and your body instinctively flinches, and your mind yells at you for touching your side, even if you don’t feel anything yet. You pull your hand back and your hand is wet with your blood, coating your palm like you just swiped your hand across a puddle on the street.
That isn’t good, now is it?
Oh, you should probably say something on comms. You use your clean hand to reach up and press a button, and your words are slightly slurred. “M’here, all good. Just.. got the wind knocked outta me.”
“We’ll have you checked out when we reach the safehouse. RV with us at the yellow house.”
“..Copy.”
You bend down and pick up your rifle that had been forced out of your hands, wincing as the pain in your muscles and your side is beginning to catch up to your brain. Despite wearing a vest, it seems like something managed to cut through to your side. You can’t help but look around and you press your lips together when you see rebar sticking out of different places; partially above you on the remaining slabs that haven’t fallen down to your level, as well as rebar stuck in large chunks of the concrete. It smelled like pure concrete too, if that makes sense. You hum when you know that your wound must be bad enough to soak through the vest, but you don’t want to stop and wait around just so they can slap an oversized bandaid on your side. You can do that later at the safehouse yourself.
You take a deep breath which leads to a cough, your hand coming up to brush some of the white dust from the infrastructure off of you. You get yourself out of the collapsed building and grip your rifle correctly, pointing it in front of you with your finger near the trigger, scanning your environment. All you see is ruined civilian buildings with dead enemy soldiers lining the streets, and unfortunately a few normal civilians, too. You take another look and you see the yellow house in question, but it’s a ways away. “Eyes on the yellow house, five, maybe six klicks out.”
“Copy, the perimeter is secured. You know the drill. Over and out.”
It admittedly takes you longer than it should’ve to get there. As you made your way to the rendezvous point, part of the adrenaline in your system began to stop pumping, which made you intensely aware of the gash in your side, the bruises forming deep within your muscles, and how heavy your body feels overall. It was not looking good.
After dragging yourself through the eerily quiet and bloody streets—you did have to stop a couple of times—you finally managed to get to the yellow house. ‘You know the drill.’ Find an alternate entrance other the main door, knock in a specific pattern, then wait for the door to open. You get yourself to the entrance of the house and you lift your arm, trying to ignore the way it feels like gravity is pulling on it more than usual, and then you knock the pattern you and the team agreed upon a while ago. It takes a moment before Soap opens the door with his rifle pointed at you, and you raise my hands. Soap lets out a sigh of relief and lowers his rifle, stepping to the side. “Steamin’ Jesus, looks like you’ve been through hell, aye?” He comments as you trudge your way inside. You grumble and wave him off. “Something like that.” You reapond, your voice hoarse. You make your way into the biggest room of the downstairs, which ends up being the living room. You scan the room and see Price, Ghost, and Gaz. “Saw you were in the building that collapsed. You broken?” Price grips his rifle harsher as he walks over to you, and you shake your head. “Nothin’ I can’t handle, Cap’.”
Gaz walks over to you next, his finger pointing at your bloodied side. “You sure ‘bout that? That doesn’t look too good, Cinder.” You avoid looking anyone in the eyes in fear that they will see past your already shaky facade, and you shake your head yes. “I’m.. I’m sure, just a bit tender.” This isn’t good, because the pain is managing to hit you harder and harder now. It’s like your gash is a spot where someone branded you and the burning hot sensation won’t leave for a long time, and when it finally does?—only pure pain will remain. Gaz scoffs and grabs your rifle from you, causing you to furrow your brows. “Hey, what gives?—“
Gaz then leads you over to a chair nearby and forces you to sit down, and he then puts your rifle and his rifle on the dusty table. “Let me see,” He scans your face with hardened puppy eyes, his fingers going for your vest. You shake your head and try to push his hands away. “Kyle, I am fine—“
“Don’t you dare lie. I can see it hurts, so show me.” His voice is firm, leaving no room for you to argue, so you put your arms down. You bite your lip and mutter, “I would’ve survived to the safehouse.”
Gaz wordlessly undoes the straps and clips of your bloody tactical vest, and pulls the weight off of your body. You hiss and close your eyes for a moment, hearing shuffling, probably Gaz putting the vest down. You feel his fingers pull your shirt from being stuffed into your waistband, and you hiss from the shirt dragging against the gash. You open your eyes and beside you is Gaz and Ghost—Ghost, who is setting down a medical kit, and he eyes you before speaking. “You wouldn’t have, Sergeant.”
Everyone goes silent from that, and you’re aware of the heaviness in the air due to Ghost’s observation. You opt to look at Gaz who has worried and troubled eyes as he cleans the gash, and you try to ignore the way you’re bleeding onto him. “Shit, Soap, come over here and help me.” His voice is slightly trembling and you feel guilt bubble in your gut. Gaz should never sound like that, especially not because of you..
Soap jogs over and grabs gauze, helping Gaz to soak up the blood and clean your gash. “It’s going to need stitches..” Gaz mutters, making eye contact with you. You take a deep breath and nod. “Quickly.. please?”
Gaz looks back at your wound, breaking the slight tension, and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding.
“Of course.”
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lets-try-some-writing · 2 months
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Considering family for Cybertronians is important stuff like child support, daddy/mommy issues and whatnot would be confusing to them
Cons: We have your husband
June: You can keep him.
Bots: June??
June: And if you could would you please scare him into paying child support?
Bots,cons: ???
Oh yeah it would be confusing. Cybertronians have convoluted and complicated relationships, but let it not be said that they fail to be organized. A family on Cybertron can be anything from the Conjunxed couple and their wards to a collection of mecha related purely through paperwork, or perhaps not even through offical means. Whatever the case, Cybertronians make it a point to know their relatives when possible and to support one another if able. Regardless of the situation, if you are family, you are obliged to follow certain standards.
Any Cybertronian involved in the forging, raising, or mentoring of a newspark must be there in some capacity. Unlike humans, simple caste sharing and funding is more than enough in most circumstances. Strictly speaking, a Cybertronian doesn't even need parents, just a familial unit of some sort and a sponsor to ensure that newsparks are taken care of. Family units are loose, but the rules are not. Even Whirl would be morally obliged to at least turn up once and a while with either payment or wisdom to share with any newspark he helped create or got himself involved with as a mentor. It is not even a question on Cybertron. The scummiest mechs still know the rules, and generally speaking, it is in the best interest of all parties to follow the rules of sponsorship.
The larger the family, the more resources one theoretically has to call upon. Hence the interest in taking care of one's line. Humans though? Considering they are not functionally immortal and are not given the great equalizer that is in built weaponry, the rules are all but nonexistent. Children do not always have the power to get back at parents, and parents generally do not have as great an investment in their offspring since any offspring are not likely to bring back investment in a reasonable time frame, at least by Cybertronian standards.
The Cybertronians on Earth simply do not understand the plethora of broken homes amongst humanity. Even Megatron, while largely uncaring of the fleshies, is a tad confused when it comes to the lack of fathers or mothers in homes. Children murdering parents isn't anything new. Cybertron wasn't much better once one got into the higher castes. But parents abandoning their young? That's new. It was a code of honor on Cybertron for a mentor or caretaker to do everything their power to at least make an attempt to provide.
Jack's situation in particular gained the collective confusion of Bots and Cons alike. How could a Sire abandon his creation? Entirely too. It was strange. So strange in fact that Shockwave was momentarily interested in possibly testing the resiliance of the human family structure since, according to his assessment, some family units matched Cybertronian ones in strength where others were all but nonexistent.
It was nigh on culturally impossible to fully comprehend. The Cybertronian family is a messy thing, but even for the functionally immortal, there are rules.
Optimus: Your Sire left you? Without a word?
Jack: Yeah. Dad left when I was young and hasn't come home since.
Arcee: No financial aid? No instructional holovids? Nothing?
Jack: Nope. Haven't heard from him since I was little.
Ratchet: That's ridiculous! Your Sire should not have been given a warrant to engage in any mentorship, much less creation!
June: You can say that again.
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wreckedandpolemic · 1 month
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6,98,99. Sorry for the multiple numbers, they just work so well together.
Also love your work!💜
my kink is karma - matty healy
(mdni) in which your ex wants to give you a birthday treat. too bad for your boyfriend. 2099 words.
warnings: cheating, semi-public sex, daddy kink
Firstly, you’d like to say that you’re not a spiteful person, thank you very much. But fuck if it doesn’t feel good to run into your ex drinking alone while celebrating your birthday with your friends and your shiny, new boyfriend. Matty salutes you with his glass when you spot him, and you ignore him pointedly. He won’t fucking leave it alone, though — that’s always been his problem.
“Of all the gin joints in all the world, she walks into mine,” says Matty, low in your ear as you go to order yourself another drink at the bar. You hope he doesn’t notice the shudder that runs through you at the sound of his voice. “Whatever she’s having on my tab, yeah?” he adds smoothly, and you roll your eyes. 
“Oh, well, in that case, I’ll have a bottle of the most expensive champagne you’ve got,” you grin. What? He’s got the money for it, and you aren’t going to turn down a free drink on your birthday, of all days. Matty shrugs when the bartender looks at him to confirm, and she hands you the bottle in a cooler.
You turn to leave, go back to your friends, but Matty takes hold of your wrist, gentle enough that you could break out of it. Something stops you, though. “Happy birthday,” he mutters. “Thought about callin’, but…” he blows out a breath. “The way we left things, I didn’t know if you’d wanna hear from me.”
Feigning casualness, you shrug, pretending like the reminder of your heart-wrenching breakup doesn’t tear at you all over again. “Yeah… Well, you’re here now,” you say matter-of-factly. “How’ve you been?” you ask, despite knowing the answer. Over the last six months, you’ve taken some kind of twisted pleasure in keeping tabs on him, in watching his life fall apart.
The two of you split in April, leaving you forced to move out of the apartment you loved that was in his name, nine days after you’d paid your half of the rent. June, he got arrested in a drunken bar fight; July crashed his car, the car he loved more than almost anything, leaving it completely written off; August, the girl he’d been seeing since suspiciously soon after your breakup left him with no warning. Meanwhile, you’ve had a promotion, gotten into the perfect relationship and everything is falling neatly into place.
Your reaction to him being around is involuntary, you tell yourself, fucking Pavlovian. You were together for three fucking years, of course your body still responds to him. It’s still learning what it’s like to live without him. Matty sighs, and you jolt out of your reverie as you remember you asked him a question. “Not great,” he admits. “Drinkin’ alone on a Friday night not tip you off?” he says, bitterness tracing his tone. “And yourself?”
“Oh, I’ve been great,” you say blithely. “I’m making great money, I’m in love, properly this time,” you can’t resist adding. “And you just bought me a bottle of champagne and told me everything sucks for you! What more could a girl want on her birthday?”
Matty scoffs. “You’re still the same,” he says coolly. “Bratty when you’re not getting fucked right, huh?” he adds, your stomach swooping at his words.
You don’t know what makes you admit it, some heady combination of mixed drinks and Matty’s presence for the first time in months overcoming all sense, but you murmur, “M’not. He’s not as good as you. S’the only thing I miss.” You try to weaken the admission.
Matty’s eyes light up, and you groan internally. “Is that so?” His grip tightens on your wrist and you stumble towards him when he tugs on it, a sickening pulse of arousal dripping down your spine. “Got everything you want, huh? Even down to your perfect little boyfriend. But you think about me when he’s fucking you, don’t you?” he breathes, something hard and dangerous in his tone, your heart thudding traitorously as he leans closer. 
“I… That’s not true.” you say, but the wavering of your voice betrays you, and he smirks wickedly.
“You can’t lie to me, baby. I know you too well.” The statement lodges in your throat like you’ve dry-swallowed a pill, the truth ringing disgustingly clear. “What do you say? You want one last good fuck, for old times’ sake?”
You should pull away. You need to pull away. You have to pull away. But you can’t. “Once a cheater, always a cheater,” you say. Matty’s eyes darken, but you know he took note of the most crucial element first: it wasn’t a refusal.
“I never cheated on you,” Matty says seriously. “I did a lot of other shit, I know I did, but not that. Never that.”
You swallow hard. “Okay.”
“Okay, what?”
“One more time. One more fuck. I need you out of my system,” you breathe, and you could almost cum from the filthy look on his face. Guiltily, you slink to the bathroom, casting furtive glances around and praying nobody spots you trailing after Matty and slipping behind a locked door.
Matty slams you against the door the second it shuts, devouring you in a harsh kiss, teeth and tongue sliding together almost violently. Having his hands on you again feels horrifyingly good, nauseatingly familiar. He’s hard, you can feel as he presses his body against yours, and you whimper pathetically into his mouth. “God, you’re so fuckin’ pretty,” Matty groans, like he can’t help himself. “Makes me sick. Been fuckin’ dying for you, baby.”
“So hurry up,” you snap. “I know you’re here alone, but I have people who care, and not much time before one of them notices I’m missing.”
“Such a brat,” Matty teases. “Need a good fuck to shut you up, yeah? S’alright, baby. Daddy’s here now. Gonna give you what you need.” The bottom falls out of your stomach and his words, a helpless, strangled moan escaping you. “Oh, missed your Daddy, have you, darling? Not given your little boyfriend my name, right?”
“N-no,” you stammer. “He… he wouldn’t understand. You’re my Daddy, couldn’t replace you.” Your skin feels like it’s on fire, your mind dizzy with desire, the words spilling from your lips without permission.
You’d forgotten how it feels with him, how Matty gets you sick with lust, thick and palpable in the air of the small room. “Good girl,” he croons. “Bend over for Daddy, yeah? I’ll take care of you, don’t worry.”
You obey, the sight of your reflection sickening. You look fucked-out already, flushed red and panting. Matty’s hands come to rest on your hips, stroking appreciatively over the curve of your ass and pushing your too-short dress up around your hips. Torturously slow, he pulls your panties off, motioning for you to step out of them when they hit the floor. “I’m keeping these,” he says, slipping the scrap of lace into his pocket. “Something to remember you by, yeah?”
Wrapped up in his touch as you were, the reminder that this is a one-time thing shocks you like you’ve been doused with ice water. Right now, you don’t have a fucking clue why you even broke up, not when his fingers are so achingly close to your dripping core. “God, Matty, please!” you choke out, widening your legs desperately. 
“Give me a minute, baby. Missed this pretty cunt so much. Gotta make sure I don’t forget a thing, if this is the last time m’gonna get to have you.” He brushes his fingers through your folds, your body jolting at the barest touch over your swollen clit. Meeting your gaze in the dingy mirror, Matty wraps his lips around his wet fingers, moaning exaggeratedly as he sucks them clean. “God, missed the way you taste, darling. Sweetest fucking girl I’ve ever had,” he promises, unbuckling his belt and unzipping his jeans.
You squirm, cold porcelain biting into your thighs. You hear the sound of a foil wrapper tearing open, and before you can process, Matty slides into you, your knees buckling at the sudden fullness. “F-fuck,” you whimper, the feeling of being wholly surrounded by him familiar as he thrusts deep into you, pleasure cascading over your bones.
“God, you feel so fucking good, baby. It’s okay, it’s okay, I’ve got you. Daddy’s gonna fuck you until the only word you remember is my name,” Matty promises, shushing you soothingly as you whimper. His hips slam against yours, ecstasy flooding your veins as your thighs bash against the sink. He fists a hand in your hair, dragging you up to meet your own gaze in the mirror. “Look at yourself, baby. Look how gorgeous you are, falling apart on my dick. Right where you should be, hm?” he murmurs, heat flooding your belly as you watch yourself take his cock over and over. “He could never fuck you like this, huh? Whose girl are you, really?”
“M’yours, Daddy. Yours, still yours, all yours,” you babble, cunt clenching wantonly around him as his smirk grows and his pace speeds. You moan horrifyingly loud when he hits that spot inside of you, too dizzy with desire to control your noises.
“Shh, baby, shh. Try not to be so noisy, yeah? Can’t let anyone know what we’re doin’ in here, that this lying fucking bastard has you split open and begging on his cock.” He throws your words from your final fight back in your face, pinching your clit meanly and fucking you deep. You can’t hold back another whimpering scream, and he scoffs. “Needy little whore can’t keep quiet, huh?” he murmurs, sliding two of his fingers into your mouth. Eagerly, you suck on them, your moans muffled as saliva pools under your tongue.
Heat scorches through you, every thrust of Matty’s hips and grunt that falls from his lips sending an illicit spark of pure pleasure racing up your spine. You can’t think, can barely breathe, choked in desperate lust that drips out of you and soaks him. He’s right, you can’t remember anything but him, his name circling your head, denting your brain out of shape. Nothing but Matty, Matty, Matty. “This fuckin’ pussy drives me insane, baby. Always so wet for me, so wet for your Daddy. Could have this all the time, if you wanted.”
His words cut through the fog in your mind as Matty slides his fingers free from your mouth to let you answer. “What do you mean?” you stammer, your disloyal heart skipping a beat.
“We had issues, yeah. But we were good together,” Matty murmurs, rubbing distracting circles into your clit, training you into giving the right response. “I’ve had a lot of time to think over the last six months. About us.” He slams his hips against yours on the final word, pleasure roiling in your stomach, every muscle in your body stringing taut. “I want another try. I know it would be better this time. I’d be better,” he promises, nails digging possessively into your hips.
“Matty, I–” You’re at a loss for words. His face crumples almost imperceptibly; if you weren’t so attuned to him, you wouldn’t have known.
“S’okay, baby. Fucked you too dumb to answer, I get it. You wanna be a good girl and cum for Daddy?” You nod wildly, his circles over your clit getting tighter and faster and you whimper helplessly, but you don’t miss how he’s stopped meeting your eyes.
Ecstasy winds around your veins, sticky, hot desire pinning you still as Matty fucks into you. “Fuck, Daddy, m’gonna–” you gasp out, the tension in your body finally breaking, stars going supernova behind your eyelids. Your legs tremble, your entire body going limp as waves of pleasure swirl in your stomach and buffet your organs.
“I’ve got you, baby,” Matty murmurs soothingly. “Daddy’s got you. Whenever you want, I’ll be here,” he promises, and a split-second later you feel his cock pulsing inside of you, the feeling of his cum spilling in your cunt sorely missing.
It takes a few moments before your legs have stopped shaking enough for you to stand, Matty supporting your waist as you clutch your abused muscles. “We should… I should get back out there,” you say, raking your fingers through your hair in an effort to tame it. You both look well-fucked, the question of how you’re going to explain your absence rattling around your mind. Matty meets your eyes one last time, looking over his shoulder as he unlocks the door.
“When you get bored of him, call me. I’ll be waiting.”
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starry-eyes-love · 3 months
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Nursing
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Masterlist
Pairings | Husband Joel Miller x Wife F!Reader, No Outbreak, AU, One-shot
Summary | Your six week old daughter, Isabell, is fussy and won’t settle down enough to nurse from you.  Joel, being your soft and understanding husband (and an experienced father) soothes you and shows you how to relax. Who knew seeing Joel sing to Isabell, and whispering soft praises into your ear would help calm your fears at being a mom. 
Word Count: 2.7 K
A/N:  This is a super cute, soft, and fluffy story.  This one has been living in my head for a long time because well, being a mom sometimes is super hard. And no one talks about the difficulties with feeding your little one.  I just wanted a cute fluffy story with Joel being the best husband in the world. Enjoy :)  
Warnings | soft!Joel, fluffy!Joel, fluffy story, descriptions of struggles with feeding (nursing), Joel reassures you and tells you how great of a mom you are, age gap (but no specific age stated), slight body description but nothing too specific (reader just had a baby 6 weeks prior), Joel sings a lullaby, original character reference (Isabell, your daughter), this is just super fluffy so enjoy!
“Oh, I know baby, I know.” Joel said, slowly soothing his daughter while sitting down in the rocking chair.  “I know, the world’s so big and scary, and you’re just so little. It’s okay, daddy’s here honey, daddy’s here.” You watched Joel slowly quiet Isabell as he gently rocked her. He slowly hummed to her the same lullaby that he hummed to Sarah when she was a baby. 
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You sat in the room that was washed with soft pastel colors, the warmth of the June sunrise gently creeping in through the half shaded window. It was early, the world not fully awake to start the day yet. You wished for a few more hours of sleep, something that you haven’t seen much of these past 6 weeks. You sat gently rocking back and forth in an old sewing rocker, one that was handed down through the generations of your family. The gentle creaks that it provided soothed you. It reminded you of the days when you were little, when you were the one that was fussy and needed to be gently rocked back and forth. Now, many years later and an adult woman, it was your turn to try to soothe the fussy child in your arms, Isabell, your daughter.
The tiny bundle of joy that you held in your arms was the reason for the lack of sleep that you and Joel had received these past six weeks. And right now, she was struggling to calm and soothe herself yet again.  She was exceptionally fussy at the moment, struggling to nurse, and she was letting the entire world know how frustrated she was. 
Sighing at your daughter you softly said, “You know little one, for someone so small you sure do fuss a lot. You’re just like your daddy, always fussing, aren't you?” With that statement your daughter opened her eyes and looked up at you, tears streaming down her little chubby cheeks.  You gently touched her head, full of hair that was dark and curly, just like her father. She was a blessing, a hard blessing at that. 
Joel and you had been married for eight years, trying to have a baby for the last six. You two didn’t think that it would happen, especially after all the tests were done. They couldn’t figure out what was causing your infertility issues.  Then somehow by some miracle, Joel convinced you to go on vacation with just him for two weeks.  It was everything that you two needed, a nice and calm relaxing vacation; one where you had conceived your daughter by the end. 
Joel and you had gone back and forth over names for months after you found out you were pregnant.  The two of you couldn’t decide on a girl's name. Every name that the two of you came up with just didn’t feel right.  You didn’t want to know the sex of the baby ahead of time, you wanted it to be a surprise.  
Joel was hell bent on wanting a boy, swearing up and down that you were pregnant with a boy.  Then when your baby came out, after 18 hours of hard labor, you watched your husband absolutely melt at the news that he gave you a little girl. You’ve never seen your husband cry so much in his life, tears of joy as he held his little girl for the first time.  When she was all dried off, he handed her to you while he kissed you gently on your head, saying that God fulfilled his promise to him.  At the time you raised your eyebrows at your husband, as Joel wasn’t a religious man.  But it was within that moment that the name Isabell came into existence.  Isabell, name meaning God’s promise. Both of you felt like her name fit the entire situation perfectly.  She was your miracle from above, one that you thought you two would never be able to have.
You were so lost in thought, remembering your daughter's birth as you continued to gently rock back and forth, not noticing Joel standing in the doorway. After a moment you heard him say, “I don't fuss darlin’. If anyone fusses, it's you baby.”  He was leaning up against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest and letting out yet another yawn. His curly hair was unruly and messy, looking like he just woke up. He had on black sweatpants with a gray T-shirt, with faded words of ‘Miller Construction’ on the front of it. It was the same shirt he had on when you first met, when he proposed to you, and when you conceived your daughter. Now instead of being new, it was worn but had a ton of memories associated with it. And it was your favorite shirt to steal to sleep in. It was then that you realized you weren't the only one not getting enough sleep recently, especially at the worn out look on your husband's face.
Your husband, the amazing and caring man that he was, helped you out as much as possible with tending to your daughter. He was an experienced father, two girls that he still cared for. Sarah, his oldest, was biologically his and now was 16. Ellie, who was his adopted daughter, was now 14. 
In Joel's eyes, Ellie was just as much his daughter as Sarah was. Ellie's parents, his best friends, had died in a car accident when Ellie was 10. Joel had immediately taken her in, looking after her, and had requested to be her legal guardian. He was originally Ellie’s godfather, was present when she was born, and loved her like she was his own. A year after her parents had died, after all the adoption red tape was finally finished, Ellie Williams officially became Ellie Williams Miller, his daughter. It was Ellie's decision to take his last name on adoption day, still keeping her original last name with it.
“No Joel. I don't fuss, but you do, a lot.” You said, teasing your husband gently.  
Being a new mother was hard, it wasn’t like the storybooks that you remember reading as a child.  No story talked about the lack of sleep, the emotional ups and downs, the worry of not knowing what to do, and the anxiety of being home alone with a brand new baby that you didn’t know personally as your husband worked long hours. Intimacy wasn’t present at all for either of you, exhaustion being the biggest culprit.  
‘No sex for six weeks’ the doctor had told you on discharge day from the hospital. At first you were upset at that order, but now, six weeks later, you have no idea how you would have had sex anyways.  
Your body was a complete mess, bleeding for the majority of the past six weeks, something that was normal after delivery. Your hormones were chaotic, and you still looked pregnant as your womb slowly shrank back down to normal size.  Sex was the furthest thing from your mind, and your husband’s too. But now by the end of the six weeks, you finally were settling into a routine. Life was 100% different, that was for sure, but you were finally finding comfort in it.
You were shook from your thoughts once again by the baby in your arms starting to cry, upset at the world about something.  “Shhh, it’s okay honey” you said, picking her up and patting her gently on her back. After a few pats she immediately started screaming and crying loudly.  Tears started to gather at your waterline, frustration at not being able to soothe her.
“Gimme her,” Joel said gently, stepping forward after seeing you get upset.  You got up from the rocker willingly and handed him your daughter, tears streaming down your face.  
“Aw now come on baby girl, what’s the matter?” he said, gently bouncing Isabell in his arms.  It was in that moment that she let out a wail, telling her father, and the world, that she was upset.
Joel looked over at you and said, “Breathe mama, it’s okay” as he tended to his fussy daughter.
“I don’t get it Joel, I’ve tried everything. I keep thinking that she is hungry, but she won't nurse.”  You said, crying right along with your daughter.
“Do ya have a fresh bottle for her darlin’?” he asked, rubbing gentle circles on his daughter's back, trying to soothe her as she continued to cry.  You went to warm up a bottle of breast milk.  
The first two weeks of feeding Isabell was hard, she wouldn’t always stay latched as you tried to nurse her.  The doctor had told you to get a bottle that mirrored a human nipple, to try to get her to eat as she struggled eating in the first few weeks of life. You took her struggle personally, feeling like you were failing as her mother.  But your doctor, and Joel, had both reassured you that this struggle was very common for babies in the first few weeks of life. 
That’s why everyone said nursing was so difficult. Not only did it physically hurt to have her feed from you every three hours for the first six weeks of her life.  But the hardest struggle was whether she would be able to stay latched on. For you, nursing was something that you wanted to do but this constant struggle was making it hard, and making you very upset.  You just wanted to feed your baby, and not feel like a big fat failure as her mother.  That was something the storybooks never seemed to mention. Oh the joys of motherhood. 
As you handed Joel a bottle of warmed up breast milk, you watched him try to soothe his daughter. Joel was an experienced father, and always knew just what to say or do.
“Oh I know baby, I know.” Joel said, slowly soothing his daughter while sitting down in the rocking chair.  “I know, the world’s so big and scary, and you’re just so little. It’s okay, daddy’s here honey, daddy’s here.” You watched Joel slowly quiet Isabell as he gently rocked her. He slowly hummed to her the same lullaby that he hummed to Sarah when she was a baby. 
When he got Isabell to quiet down enough to feed her, he gently placed the bottle by her mouth, encouraging her to latch. She slowly accepted the nipple, quieting once she got some milk in her tummy. All you could hear now was the gentle creaks of the chair, and her gentle suckling noises as she was fed.
“There you go baby, just like that.” Joel said, rocking his daughter as he fed her from the bottle of your breast milk, gently singing the lullaby now outloud.
“Bye-o-baby, bye-o-baby, bye-o-baby, bye-o-baby bye.  Daddy still loves you, daddy still loves you, daddy still loves you, my bye-o-baby bye.”
As you sat there and watched your husband feed his daughter, you started to cry, but this time it was tears of joy.  Joel was the most tender and loving man you had ever seen. So patient and understanding, and so soothing, not only to your baby girl but also to you.  “Ya wanna try to nurse her again baby?” Joel said quietly, looking up at you sitting in the corner, arms hugging yourself.
“No you got her to eat and-”
“C’mon darlin’, let's see if she'll nurse again” he said, standing and gently walking down the hall to your shared bedroom.  You quietly followed, not wanting to disturb the sleeping teenagers in the room down the hall.  You had no idea how those two girls could sleep through all of the wailing your daughter just did, but teenagers could sleep anywhere. 
Once you got into your shared bedroom, Joel motioned towards your side of the bed and said, “Take off your top darlin’, and sit down.  Don’t sit against the headboard though, I’ll give her to ya once you’re situated.”  
You raised an eyebrow at Joel, wondering what he had planned for you, but you followed his instructions without question.  You learned quickly with Joel that when he gave you parenting advice, especially with a newborn, that you should listen to him.  He raised Sarah by himself, since she was a newborn as her mother had died a week after giving birth to his daughter.  You didn’t know much of that story, something that Joel never wanted to talk about, so you didn’t press him. You couldn’t imagine being a young single dad, alone with his first daughter, trying to raise her by himself after he just lost his wife.
“Ok, I’m all set” you said, while looking over at Joel who was swaying side-to-side gently, holding Isabell.  
“Ok little one,” he said, speaking to his daughter. “You need to eat from your mama, cause your mama is only trying to help you. I love feeding you baby girl, but mama needs to nurse you right now, ok? Daddy will stay right here though, so no fussin’.”
Joel slowly handed Isabell to you after taking the bottle out of her mouth.  She immediately started to fuss. You tried to silence her by getting her to latch onto you right away, but once again, she wouldn’t latch on, so you couldn't nurse her. You were just about ready to give up when you felt your husband grab you by the waist and pull you backwards, situating you hard against his chest.
Joel had removed his shirt before he sat down behind you, his back was now against the headboard. He wrapped one of his arms around your side gently, holding Isabell’s head as he whispered in your ear.  “Baby, ya gotta relax, you’re so tense. C’mon mama, breathe.”  Joel was slowly kissing you on your neck and bare shoulder, attempting to get you to relax.  
“You’re an amazing mom,” Joel said, whispering in your ear.  “It’s okay to be scared, honey. Hell, I'm still scared, even with raising Sarah. But that’s normal with being a parent. But this honey, ya gotta relax and trust in your instincts. Isabell knows what she needs, baby. She knows how to nurse, she wants to nurse. But ya gotta relax so she can. She’s hungry mama, and she needs your milk. So give her what she needs.”
Joel was gently holding Isabell’s head at your nipple, trying to encourage her to latch. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath. When you exhaled you tried forcing yourself to relax, to trust the guidance from your husband. As soon as you relaxed, you felt your daughter latch on where she finally started to nurse.  When you opened your eyes, you looked down at her and saw her feeding from you. She had the most beautiful big eyes that you’ve ever seen. You sighed a content sigh, especially when you heard her make the cutest little suckling noises that she did. 
“She looks just like you with those big eyes,” Joel said, holding you close to his chest and kissing you tenderly on the cheek. You were silently crying, emotions taking over you once again. You felt Joel wrap his arms around your waist and slowly massaged your belly, while gently brushing away the tears from your cheek. 
“You carried her right here for nine months,” Joel said, laying his large palm over the lower part of your belly.  “You gave me the best present in the world, another beautiful baby to love. So stop your fussin’, thinking that you’re not a good mom. Baby, your body has already done miracles. And I'm damn proud to be your husband, and the man that gave you her, our little miracle.” 
You looked back at your husband, at the tenderness that he was giving you, lip quivering slightly.  Joel leaned forward, gently kissing you on the mouth. You parted your lips and allowed his tongue to have access to your mouth. He gently massaged his tongue with yours; slow, delicate, and in no rush to advance it into something else. His kiss said everything to you, that he was proud of you as a mother, wife, and person. But most of all, this kiss told you that you were his true soulmate, and that he loved you unconditionally. When he pulled back, he gently wiped the tears from your eyes once again. He pecked your forehead before leaning back against the headboard and taking you with him.
You sat there, your bare back to his bare chest, breathing together in unison, as your daughter quietly nursed from you.  You couldn’t believe that 12 years ago, a simple ‘hello, what can I get you’ in a coffee shop would lead to having a family with the man behind you.  It’s been a long and hard road, but one that was worth it in the end.
End story
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Taglist: @punkshort @shotgun-shelby @strawbunnyx @orcasoul @pedritoferg @chiogarza @jesfreedark @untamedheart81 @rainbow12346 @nandan11 @swiftpascal @eliza-8 @joeldjarin @vickie5446 @nastiasnow @staywildflowahchild @ratoonstown @l3laze @its-always-420-on-the-moon @kirsteng42
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strangersmunsons · 3 months
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💖 Eddie Munson x Reader Fic Recs 💖
I just wanna show some appreciation for a few of my all-time favorite Eddie fics! Here’s a handful of the series & oneshots that have really stuck out to me in all the time I've been reading - there's A TON of great writers on here who have posted really stellar work :^)
List under the cut!
june baby by @luveline - luveline jade u are a celebrity to me. this was the first Eddie story I ever read and it is so beautiful. it's tender. it's melancholy. it's realistic. it's gorgeous. it honestly makes me feel something I've never felt reading any other fanfiction.
oh, baby by @inknopewetrust - another one of my first Eddie fics! the feeling that this series invoked in me is what I aspire to invoke in others for my own writing someday. it's just so sweet and funny and made me nostalgic, in the same way that watching '80s teen films do, except it's even better because Eddie is in this one. I wanted so badly to just dive into the story and really experience it for myself.
hoping I'll find [a glimpse of us] by @inknopewetrust - this smashed my heart into 1000 pieces, and then promptly glued it very sloppily back together and I've reread it like six times just to reinflict the pain. I love rockstar!Eddie stories that maintain some realism about what that type of relationship would look like, and this fic does that SO perfectly. masterclass in angst right here.
dancing with myself by @ambrossart - this one hits close to home! and even though it hurts along the way, there's a happy ending that it builds so nicely towards! it's beautifully paced & the reader is very funny. you can just tell that the her backstory & relationship w/ Eddie was so carefully thought out, it really feels like this was written with so much love! and I LOVE that it doesn't paint Chrissy as a villain.
10 things I hate about you by @spideyanakin - so glad that we all collectively agree that Patrick is Eddie-coded. and in this fic the parallels are there, without Eddie sacrificing his own unique character - that part is handled really beautifully! and the ST characters are worked into the original movie's narrative so well. it's the perfect mix of fluff and drama!
freaky friday by @jo-harrington - I adore this series! I love this version of Eddie so much I could cry, he is so sweet and selfless, I want to give him the entire world. and an Eddie & Steve body swap? 10/10. lindsay and jamie lee, eat your hearts out.
to know you're mine by @blueywrites - oooohboy. I almost didn’t read this one (just because I would normally avoid swinging/cheating in a fic) but I'm so glad I did, because it was like being on the homer's odyssey of 18+ ST fanfiction. it’s wild. bluey girl u were insane for this. and i mean that as an extremely high compliment. i was so damn invested!
i will wait by @abibliophobiaa, @blueywrites, @breddiemunson, @myosotisa, @fracturedarkness - there's three chapters, it's on hiatus, I don't care, I will literally keep reading these three chapters over and over again and just fill in the blanks myself if I must. it's that good. you guys are amazing. I am totally enthralled.
rumor by @msgexymunson - this is what turned me on to older!Eddie. I love him, and I desire him carnally, and specifically this version of him. when I daydream about Eddie sweeping me off my feet, I think about Eddie in this series. he's everything to me. I even wrote my own older neighbor Eddie fic because of this!
trapped under ice by @munson-blurbs - the iron grip this fic had me in...I'm still going back and re-reading my favorite parts. it's beautifully developed. this version of Eddie is so real and believable. Harris is my favorite kid he's ever been given. an all-time, truly, I can't sing its praises enough.
siren!eddie by @parkermunson - a monster-ish Eddie fic! I'm a sucker for anything that incorporates mermaids and sirens and the like, so I really love this concept. it's a great story, I love our protective, doting fishboy, and hope to see more of him!
use me by @reysorigins - simultaneously the nastiest and sweetest fic ever. smut, but it's interspersed with these moments of such deep-seated love and yearning between Eddie and the reader that it made me want to cry! incredible piece.
mine and yours by @muertawrites - ahhhh this one is so so sweet! dating is so fucking hard, I think we could all use a comforting, reassuring moment with a sweetheart like Eddie, who is especially kind to us in this fic. I love the way he’s written here.
our patron saint of the arts by @storiesbyrhi - I love an artsy, crafty reader! I feel like Eddie would be sooo into someone who’s creatively-minded like him. this is the dream relationship, basically, these two are adorable together! (and Eddie in a dress! 😗)
And this is just a sample of what’s out there! Some of these are fics that I read very early on, even before I started this blog. I was more shy then, too, so I feel like I never showed them the appreciation I should have! You guys are all so talented, these works are very inspiring to me.
To readers: I encourage you to let the writers know how much you enjoy their work! Reblog! Leave a comment, even if it’s just in the tags! Write a reply, or send them a message, even if it’s on anon! I’m trying to get better at doing these things myself, too 💖
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imagine-that-100 · 1 year
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Will We Talk? | Part 1 |
Description: Alex Turner x Reader | Being Katie Cook’s best friend means you see a lot of a certain band, so it’s too bad that the lead singer can’t seem to stand being in your presence. You’re all too aware that you get chatty when you’re anxious, and despite being around each other for a decade, Alex still makes your heart race (and not in a good way). But then he asks a question you never expected to hear, and it changes everything: “Do I make you nervous?”
Word Count: 13.2k
A/N: Well hello there besties! Alex stannies your time has come again because I’m back and this short series is going to be soooo much fun! This was inspired by a harry fic I read many moons ago and I just knew I needed to do a grumpy Alex fic. I started writing this fic on the 15th of December 2021 so it’s been a long time coming. That being said part 2 isn’t yet finished (blame @nriacc​ lol) but I felt we all needed a new Alex ficccc! Big thank you to the author of the harry fic for the inspiration, and to @red---moon​ and @alovesreading​ for helping me/ keeping me inspired for this one. I would loveeee to know what you all think so please give me your reactions! Just keep an eye out for the time jumps, it goes back and forth quite a bit but I hope it makes sense. Thanks a million for reading, hope you enjoy x
| My Masterlist |  
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~*~*~*~ 29th June 2018 ~*~*~*~
Just do it Y/N. Be polite, stop being a child.
Internally, you’re debating pretending that you don’t need another drink and to go back to Katie and Kelly without a new one so you don’t have to suffer what’s bound to be another awful encounter. Alex is standing at the busy bar with his drink in his hand, and you’d think that after 8 years of knowing someone you’d feel comfortable enough to have a chat with them at their best mates birthday party. But no. Not with Alex.
He might just be the grumpiest person you’ve ever met. He’d never once started a conversation with you, it’s always been you making the effort with him since the day you met him.
Truthfully, your tendency to talk a lot more than you should when you’re nervous probably hasn’t helped that. You’d seen interviews of him over the years and it’s clear that he really didn’t like talking to anyone who he wasn’t close to. And you’re not stupid, just because Katie is your best friend doesn’t mean that you’re someone he has to converse with.
Of course over the years you’d seen each other a lot but you’d only had a handful of conversations with him. Frighteningly few of those conversations were just between the two of you, and you were happy with things staying like that.
But this time you’re going to have to brave it. You’d promised Katie you’d grab her another drink along with getting yourself a new one.
The bar is fairly busy with a few people standing around chatting as they wait for their drinks. A few people have been standing there for the majority of the evening in this decently sized function room.
Of course for Jamie’s birthday, and with the band being back off tour for a short break, Katie had thrown her husband an early birthday party because she’s the best wife possibly ever. You’d helped her plan it and sort everything out so she didn’t get too stressed like any best friend would do and you’re so glad everything has gone to plan and Jamie seems to be having a great night.
Equally, you’ve been having a great night too. Getting to see everyone again is fun. You’d not seen Miles for a while nor had you really seen any of the band because they’d been on tour but each time you saw them it was like no time had passed. Miles has always been your favourite to chat to, you think because the both of you are just as chatty as the other so you always feel at ease around him.
You’ve always had a tendency to talk someone's ear off and even more when you’re drinking or nervous. So tonight with you being both tipsy and nervous about seeing Alex standing at the bar, inconveniently for you the only free space being one beside him, you don’t want to go over.
But you need another drink.
Just fucking do it Y/N.
Taking a deep breath you bite the bullet and head over to the empty space at the bar. You’re hoping that you’ll get served immediately but by the looks of the bar staff looking around like headless chickens, you don’t think your prayers have been answered.
Reaching the bar, you put your empty glass back down on the sturdy wooden surface and wait patiently for the bartenders to serve you.
“Hey.” You greet Alex as you turn to face him.
You smile once his eyes meet yours and you see the flicker of recognition in them. You expect a smile or something along those lines from someone you’ve known for almost a decade but no.
All you get from Alex though is a quick, “Hi.” before he glances back towards the rest of the party.
After a second of silence, you have to ask, “How are you?”
“Yeah, good thanks.” Alex smiles before taking a sip of his drink and looking away from you as if he’s searching for someone else to talk to.
Wow, great chat. Why do you actually still bother Y/N?
You make eye contact again and you can feel the tightness in your chest building as if storing up all the shitty conversations you want to blurt out to get rid of the silence. But you also don’t want to annoy him. So you don’t mention anything about the goatee that he’s grown since the last time you saw him. You want to be nice and complement him but you seriously don’t think you can survive the awkwardness of you doing that.
Thankfully you don’t have to think about it for much longer because someone else caught his attention.
Alex’s eyes flicked from yours to someone coming up behind you and you hear a male voice excitedly saying, “Alex, hey!”
A grin comes to the singer's lips then and you watch him as he enthusiastically asks, “Hey man, you alright?”
You've never seen the guy who’s taken Alex's attention before but it seems like they are friends. From Alex’s smile and the way they just shook hands you assume they must be, “Yeah good thanks, where’ve you all come back from?”
“Middle of the month we were in the States, then we went Germany, and we flew back from Denmark yesterday.” Alex explains enthusiastically and you can only imagine him ever being that engaged in a conversation you had with him.
“Christ, and you’re here now.” The guy shakes his head in disbelief, “I don’t know how you do it.”
You tune out of their conversation then and glance back at the bar. You really want your drinks so you can leave before the guy leaves and it gets awkward again.
It’s not that you want to be his best mate or anything close to that, you’d just love not to feel nervous around him all the time. In the beginning the nerves were probably due to you being a fan of the music and you’d never met him before.
Jamie was the most normal person so you didn’t quite believe Katie when she first told you that her boyfriend at the time was in Arctic Monkeys. But then you met him and clearly found she was telling the truth.
You’d met all the band by the end of the year and you got on well with them at various after parties that Katie had dragged you along to in your mid twenties. But Alex has always been quiet and marginally grumpy with you since day one.
Probably your nervous chatter that did it the first time considering he said ‘hi’ to you and nothing else. He just listened to you rambling on until he was pulled away by someone much more important than yourself.
But over the years you got to know him, even if it wasn’t directly through him.
Katie fed you all of her gossip as she thinks of you as her most trusted confidant so when someone in the band annoys her and she can’t show how annoyed she is to Jamie, she’ll have you over for a wine night. So you’re aware of everything that’s just happened between him and Taylor and a certain french bitch.
If he hadn’t have left the French bitch as what she was, a stupid fucking fling, you think Katie may have killed him. She was really close with Taylor and after finding out about the cheating she was round at your house for days trying to yell all her anger away. Obviously she didn’t want to make things more awkward by airing her current murderous feelings towards Alex to Jamie so you’re the one who heard it all.
Of course you disapprove of what he did too. But it’s not your place to have an opinion. You’re just there for Katie. But you have to admit, for Alex’s sake, you’re glad he just left the French girl. Katie would have murdered him if he started seeing her as something more.
You’re brought out of your thoughts by the guy who was talking to Alex accidently bumping your shoulder as he was turning round to head back to whoever he was with. After he apologised and you promised him it was fine, back comes the uncomfortable silence that hangs between you and Alex.
He makes eye contact with you again as he sips on his drink, the smile previous on his lips now gone, and you can feel that you’re about to start nervously chatting to him. So you’re eternally grateful for the voice from behind the bar.
“Hi,” The bartender grabs your attention, “What can I get you?”
Thank you, God.
“Can I get two Amarettos on ice please?” You ask for two of your own drink because you don’t want to come back over if the grumpy fucker beside you is still over here.
The bartender preps the glasses and adds ice before he grabs the bottle of Disaronno and the double ended measure before asking, “Singles or doubles?”
“Doubles please.” You smile and watch as he pours them.
You’re glad he isn’t stingy with his measures because you don’t want to come back for a while, and after pushing the drinks towards you, the bartender asks, “Anything else?”
Smiling, you politely ask, “Can I get a large glass of Montepulciano please?”
“Yeah sure…” You watch as the guy looks around for a second and you know from his irritated expression what’s coming before he even says it. “I’m just going to grab another bottle from the cellar, I’ll be just a minute.”
You smile, “Okay, thank you.” as you can’t even change which wine you’re after because he’s already gone. You feel bad as the guy disappears off but you can feel the nerves bubbling back up inside you.
The silence falls once again, and despite the room being busy and there being a lot of people-watching you could do, you feel like because you’ve known Alex for so long you should be trying to converse with him. You really wish you didn’t care about uncomfortable atmospheres but you can’t really help but avoid it with Alex, you wish you could get over it.
Both of you are awkwardly standing beside each other once more with nothing to say and you can’t stand the stiff air between the both of you. So you end up doing what you do best when tipsy and nervous: You talk.
“I know you don’t like me very much, but I really rate your music and I don’t think I’ve ever told you that.” You begin to nervously digress looking Alex straight in the eye, needing to get rid of the silence between you. You hesitate before oversharing, “I say that, but it took me a long while to get into your new album but I like it now. Think it’s the one I listen to most actually.”
“Right, thanks.” Alex nods, before adding in a little confusion, “At least, I think that was a compliment.”
“Yeah it was.” You nod, your mouth unable to stop from rambling now. “I know my opinion means fuck all in the grand scheme of things but I just thought ‘give credit where it’s due’, right?”
Stop talking Y/N/N, you’re embarrassing yourself.
“Right.” Alex smiles at you, but you can’t help but feel a little stupid under his gaze.
You’ve told Jamie time and time again how you felt about his music, but never once have you felt this awkward about it. It really is just a reaction to Alex at this point because you could tell he just doesn't want to know.
However, just as he looks like he’s about to say something else, probably him finally telling you to leave him alone, you’re saved from whatever it was. Whilst your blundering conversation took place the bartender had returned and had poured Katie’s glass of red and it’s ready and waiting just in front of you.
“That comes to twenty-two all together, please.” The bar man asks and you happily give him your undivided attention as you take a £20 and a £5 note from your purse and hand it over.
“Keep the change.” You smile at the bartender who looks pleased with the tip you’d just given and as you pick up your alcohol carefully you glance back to Alex who’s clearly only watching you because there’s no one else around taking up his time.
He probably wants you to get a move on so he can chat to someone who actually peaks his interest. You half smile at him as you politely say, “Can’t keep the birthday boy’s wife waiting for her drink any longer. See you later.”
“See ya Y/N.” He nods, sounding just as disinterested as when you started the conversation.
Christ. Get me out of here.  
Thankfully for the rest of the night Alex is easily avoidable. Most people want his attention all the time so even if he joins a conversation that you’re involved in, he gets ripped away from it.
Miles keeps you entertained for a good portion of the evening, both of you chatting more as you drink more and more. Closer to the end of the night, Jamie gets up and does a speech thanking everyone for coming and that’s when Alex comes up beside you and Miles.
You just about hear him say to Miles that he’s just paid for a drink for him at the bar and for him to go and choose what he wants and then once again, Alex is left standing beside you with a full beer in his hand as you both listen to Jamie’s short and sweet speech.
Obviously, the guitarist brings up his lovely wife and thanks her for everything. Jamie gives Katie a stunning bunch of flowers which you can instantly tell that she loves, but as he hands the microphone over to her, Alex grabs your attention.
“Why do you think I don’t like you?” You're shocked as you hear that question fall from his lips, but you don’t hesitate to be honest with him.
You’re a little taken aback if you’re honest. He may as well have just shouted it at you because you’re genuinely that shocked by the question despite his voice being just above a whisper.
“Erm,” You swirl your drink around the glass before looking up into his brown eyes, “You never say more than a few words to me whenever I see you.”
Jesus, this is fucking awkward.
You see him frown a little then though, and after a second's thought, he asks, “That makes you think I don’t like you?”
“Well, it doesn’t make me think that you’re overly fond of having a conversation with me.” You say with a little chuckle of disbelief as to why you had to say it outloud. “And you’ve never tried to get to know me like the rest of your friends have and whenever I try with you, I don’t get much of a response.”
“Never intended for it to come across like that.” Alex tells you, and he does look like he feels bad, but it’s not like you’re holding it against him. So you don’t need his, “Sorry.”
All your brain is telling you right now is ‘Avoid confrontation at all costs’. You’re really not equipped to have that conversation with him drunk but you did tell him the truth.
“Don’t be.” You shake your head before looking back at Katie, “It is what it is.”
You can still feel his eyes on you and you’re half sure you hear him say the start of your name but your attention is clearly ripped away from him when Katie say’s your name down the microphone.
“Y/N,” She grins at you gesturing for you to come to her, and you see Jamie now holding a bunch of flowers that turns out to be for you, “Couldn’t have done this without you Hun. I had to get you these.”
You shake your head and go over to thank and hug her, leaving Alex watching after you. He just stays in his head and drinks his drink, silently processing your previous words.
~*~*~*~ January 26th 2018 ~*~*~*~
“Hey!” Jamie shouts as he runs through the front door and quickly starts routing around for whatever it is he’s looking for.
Katie says a surprised, “Hi?” and you can see and hear the distaste that he’s back so early.
Tonight Katie had invited you round once Forrest had gone to bed because Jamie was meant to be out for the evening with the lads. She needed a wind down after a long week of work and looking after her toddler whilst Jamie was away doing PR for the new album.
You’re both half way through your first bottle of red wine as Jamie now comes scurrying into the lounge, almost frantically searching around for something. You find it quite funny too because he definitely hadn’t noticed you sitting in his lounge.
That changes a second later when comes towards you and pulls out the messy drawer on the side table just near you. He smiles quickly, “Hey Y/N, good to see you.”
“And you Jamie” You grin, seeing his wife still waiting for him to announce why he’s intruded on your night in.
After scurrying around the lounge, clearly trying to find whatever it is he’s lost, she asks, “What are you doing back here?”
“I forgot my wallet.”
You’re desperately trying not to laugh at Katie’s silent sigh, or when she lets out an annoyed, “You left the door open J.”
You look towards their door and you can see it’s half open, letting all the precious heat inside their cosy house out. The winter air is absolutely freezing and it’s causing a draft that both you and Katie can feel without coats on.
“Al, you tosser!” Jamie shouts as he continues looking around for his wallet, “Don't wait outside come and help me find it, you prick!”
You can almost hear Alex’s sigh as he steps into the house, “Not my fault you left it here.”
“Alex, please come in and shut the door.” Katie waves him in from her seat, “It’s fucking freezing.”
He sighs a little as he says, “Yes, Miss Cook.” before closing the door and walking into the house with his coat wrapped tightly around him.
He looks like he doesn’t want to be out of his own space, let alone be here. He’s not smiling like he usually is when he sees Katie and he’s practically rolling his eyes watching Jamie run around like a headless chicken.
“Ignore him. He didn’t want to come out at all.” Jamie shakes his head as he walks around the lounge and back around the corner to the hall where he came in and heads past Alex and up the stairs.
Katie continues talking to you about your previous conversation and Alex just stands under the open arch between the hall and the lounge. Or that is until you all hear a loud bang come from upstairs.
A few seconds later all of you hear Jamie make another loud bang and Katie inhales sharply through her nose. Annoyance is bubbling through her system when you all hear him say “Shit.” from upstairs, clearly very loudly.
“He better shut the fuck up or he’s going to wake Forrest up.” Katie looks at you with a death glare that’s definitely meant for her husband.
Katie gets herself up from her seat opposite you and walks past Alex to half mute her voice as she yells, “Jamie!”
“Don’t mind me,” She looks from Alex back to you as she half smiles, “I'm just gonna go kill my husband.”
Alex chuckles at that and you let out a little giggle before taking another sip of your wine as you hear your best friend walk up the stairs. That leaves a silence between you and Alex and one that you’re itching to fill. You hate that it’s always awkward between you both.
After taking another sip of your wine, you politely ask, “How are you?”
“Good, thank you.” Alex nods, walking towards the wood burning fireplace that Katie was lighting when you arrived.
You debate mentioning that his hair is a lot longer since the last time you saw him, but you decide not to. The last thing you want is to make anything more awkward, so you go for something that he’s used to talking a bit more about.
“You enjoying the build up to the album release?” You ask, praying the conversation will being to flow a little easier.
But all you get is a half hearted, “Yeah. It’s been alright so far.” as he crouches by the fire and puts another piece of wood onto it.
“Good good.” You smile despite him not even looking your way.
… And nothing. No follow up question about you, not even a smile.
You’re sure he hates you. There’s absolutely no other possible explanation for why he would make things this uncomfortable for you both if he didn’t. You can’t stand uncomfortable silences which makes you more nervous and the need to chat takes over again.
You’d think that someone who does interviews for a living would know how to make people feel comfortable and you know for a fact that he does. You’ve seen a fair few in your time being their friend, and you’d seen Alex interact with his friends and his fans. You have no idea why he makes life so awkward for you.
You try again, hoping to ease your awkwardness by asking him about something he enjoys.
“How did you find writing this one?” Is the only thing you can come up with that you’re genuinely curious about, “I think Jamie mentioned that you got writer's block or something for a while, is that true or was he bullshitting me? Because you’ve always seemed to write and record really quickly from an outsider's perspective.”
“Yeah,” Alex nods with a sigh, still not even glancing at you, making you wish you never asked, “Was difficult at the beginning, got there in the end.”
Wow.
Amazing.
Enthralling story.
Taking another sip of your drink, the uncomfortable tension feels like it's suffocating you and you’ll do literally anything to ease it. Blabbing on about where they are going seems to be the direction you take.
“Where are you being dragged out tonight? Just to the George and Dragon,” which is about a 2 minute walk from here, “Or are you going into town?”
“Heading into town I think.” Alex stands himself back up and tucks his hands back into his pockets, glancing at you as he walks back to the centre of the lounge.
After taking a sip of your wine, you politely ask, “Anywhere nice?”
“No idea.” He shakes his head.
Smiling, you try to make light of the situation. “You really don’t wanna go, do you?”
“No,” Alex shakes his head, and says under his breath probably not meaning for you to hear, but you do, “I don’t even want to be here.”
To you that’s another way of saying shut the fuck up. Biting your tongue after that is difficult, but it's easier than letting him make you feel like shit again.
After drinking your last mouthful of wine, you get yourself up and out of this uncomfortable situation. You don’t bother telling him where you’re going as you doubt he cares but you’re just thankful that you don’t have to deal with him anymore.
Disappearing to the Cook’s downstairs toilet, you’re glad when you hear Jamie race down the stairs a minute or two later, shouting, “Right Al, come on. Let’s go.”
As you open the door and make your way back round to the hall, you hear Jamie say bye to Katie, followed by Alex politely saying goodbye to Katie. He gives her a hug and his eyes make contact with yours as he slips out, not even nodding a ‘bye’ as he leaves, closing the front door behind him.
“Hiding again?” Katie turns to grin at you, knowing just how uncomfortable you find interactions with Alex after years of the same behaviour.
“He’s so awkward.” You nod laughing, but you’ve got better things to be thinking about tonight. “Come on babes, I need another glass of wine.”
Thank fuck for that.
~*~*~*~ 21st September 2018 ~*~*~*~
“Y/N, Hey!”
“Jamieee.” You grin, walking towards his open arms so you can give him a hug.
You walk into his arms and you appreciate the tight hold he traps you in. As you give him a squeeze, the guitarist says, “Missed seeing you in my house.”
You can’t help but chuckle a little at that. After greeting Nick and Kelly as you walked in with Katie, you couldn’t wait to see Jamie backstage tonight. Matt unfortunately doesn’t seem to be around this communal area just yet but you're grateful for the lead singer's absence.
“Ahh well, I've been there more than you.” You tease him, his tour has been so long it feels like forever since you last saw him, “I’ll be sleeping in your bed next.”
“Surprised you don’t some nights,” Jamie laughs as he releases you from the embrace, “You’re both piss heads.”
You can’t help but laugh and nod. You just end up shrugging, “Well, red wine calls us both.”
Both you and Katie can’t help it. You’re just living your best lives and the wine nights you share are the highlight of your week.
“Thanks for inviting me tonight.” You grin at Jamie.
You’re actually thrilled you’ve been invited to their gig tonight. Them being back home in Sheffield must be awesome for them and the fact that they have four shows back to back at the FlyDSA arena makes you happy too. It’s a proper homecoming. And after a stressful week this is definitely what you needed to let loose a bit.
“Oh, I’m not the one that you need to thank.” Jamie smiles and you think nothing of it, assuming Katie’s told him you have to come.
She usually does that when she’s invited somewhere anyway. She really likes taking you out with her and sometimes out of your comfort zone.
Katie calls you over to the fridge in the communal area where she asks you what you want to start the night off with. You’re shocked as to how much alcohol is in the fridge, there’s got to be at least 30 cans of beer and there’s also wine in there. Bottles of red are left on the side beside it too.
“Fucking hell, I can’t believe they get this much stuff every night.” Your eyes go a little wide seeing the fridge.
Katie laughs at that, “I know they are greedy, I’ll have a route to see what there is.”
You watch her astounded at just how much alcohol is in there. But your attention moves to the scouser who’s just walked through the door.
“Y/N.” Miles calls your name from across the room and you grin when you turn to see him.
“Course they had you come for their home shows.” You laugh, throwing your arms around him.
You adore Miles. He’s been a good friend for a long time and you feel really comfortable around him. Unlike his best friend, Miles seems to listen to what you have to say and he’s interested in it.
It meant that you’d been close for a long while and he always makes an effort to check in with you every month which you love him for. He’s honestly such a good person and you think the world of him.
“I’ve been here the past two days and I’ve been asking for you.” Miles informs you, “I was going to text you but Katie said you were busy?”
“Yeah sorry, I’ve had some planning to do for work and had to see family the last few days.” You shake your head, not wanting to think about all that right now. You grin at Miles, clearing your head, “So glad to be here now.”
“Ooo Y/N/N,” Katie gets your attention and she has a big grin on her face as she tells you, “There's a full bottle of Amaretto in here. Not seen this before.”
“Oooo amazing.” You grin, selfishly loving the fact you won’t have to pay for your own drinks until the after party later.
Miles traps you in another conversation whilst Katie makes you your drink. Before she pours your drink though, she can’t help but wonder why the bottle is there in the first place.
“J?” Katie calls her husband over and when he’s standing beside her, she asks him, “When did you add this to your rider?”
“I didn’t know we did.” Jamie frowns in confusion looking at the bottle of Disaronno. He knows no one in the band drinks it so he asks his wife, “Why? Who drinks it?”
“Y/N does.” Katie tells him, ”It's her favourite.”
“Well, happy days then.” Jamie smiles and shrugs it off, thinking nothing of it.  
Drinks flow for a while after that. Now you’ve had two glasses of your favourite, you really feel like it’s a Friday night and you can finally have a bit of fun.
That thought slowly dies though when Alex comes into the room with Matt in tow. You’d seen him a few times since the night you couldn’t get an Uber home from the Cook’s house and he walked you home but he still wasn’t all that chatty with you.
It was a little easier but you were still the one making all the effort and actively trying to make conversation with him. You can’t imagine anything different happening tonight, christ, you’ve still not mentioned to him that you like his new buzzcut.  
In fact, you imagine he’ll be a little worse because he’s got everyone who he wants around him and you’re just Katie’s plus one. Thankfully you’re distracted for a minute by the bubbly man that is Matt Helders.
He’s a gooden too. You do love him but you can’t lie, he made a questionable decision with his love life. Why anyone would leave Breana you have no idea.
Like Katie’s rants about Alex doing the dirty on Taylor, you heard the same rants for her about Matt cheating on Breana. Once again, it wasn’t really your place to have an opinion so you just let her rant at you.
But Matt had always been lovely to you, so obviously you wouldn’t bring the things you heard about him into your dynamic. You chat to the drummer for a few minutes and he makes you laugh countless times at how tipsy he is.
You genuinely don’t know how he can perform for two hours when he’s like this before. But you can’t blame him, and he seems to be having fun and you know he’ll put on a good show.
Matt wonders off to grab himself another drink leaving you alone at the side of the now busy room. But you don’t mind people watching, it’s quite a good pass time for someone like you who doesn’t like awkward encounters. Anything to keep you from rambling on like you always do when you’re drunk and nervous.
Your eyes mostly roam over the people you don’t know, you find them more interesting to try and figure out. Guess which members of the band they know and how they’re friends.
But your people watching hobby fucks you over royally. As you eyes glance over at who Alex is chatting too, the singer's eyes connect with yours and you avert your gaze immediately.
You honestly just can’t deal with the awkwardness today. You need more alcohol to deal with that. Being drunk was the only reason you survived that walk home with him.
But turns out you’re not so lucky, because when you glance back, Alex is on his way over to you which almost makes you spit your drink out. What the fuck?
Miles, your absolute saviour, runs into his best friend though and wraps him into a hug which you can’t help but laugh at. He kisses his cheek which makes Alex laugh and the smile lingers on his face after Miles tells him whatever it is he needs to tell him.
They chat for a minute and you just find yourself watching them. They chat so easily. It really makes you wonder what you’ve done to piss Alex off so much that it seems like he couldn’t care less if you were in the room with him or not.
If you had to bet, it would be your nervous rambling. But that’s not your fault. That’s your shyness taking over and your hatred of awkward silences.
Your jaw almost falls open though when Alex smiles at you from over Miles shoulder, and even more so when he moves around his best mate as greets you, “Hey Y/N.”
“Hey,” You say, a little surprised that he’s stopped his conversation with Miles to come over.
“How’ve you been?” He asks, which makes you want to pinch yourself.
Did he really just ask me how I was before I asked him?
You just about manage to smile as you say, “Yeah I’m great, how are you?”
“Good thanks, excited for the gig.” The singer smiles, and you can’t help but find it unnerving that he’s giving you his undivided attention. Alex follows up like he’s curious, “I didn’t think you were coming to any shows?”
“Oh no.” You shake your head, thinking Katie must have forgotten to tell the lads she invited you. “What's better than a gig, right?”
“Right.” Alex smiles, and it shocks you because it actually seems genuine, “Glad you could make it.”
Is he drunk? Why is he talking to me? He’s glad I could make it????? What now?
You smile at each other then. But your brain is all too aware that after two seconds there’s nothing more to say. So as you try to stop yourself from getting skittish, or making it more awkward.
“You been enjoying the tour?” You ask him, but you don’t give him any time to reply because you start your nervous talking, “I’ve seen a few videos and they’ve been good. Four Out Of Five seems to really pop off. I like that one, might be my favourite off the new album actually. But I really like One Point Perspective too.”
“Good choices.” Alex chuckles and you can’t help but silently scorn yourself for being awkward.
God, you wish you could have one normal interaction with him.
“Oh,” Alex’s eyes seem to light up for a second before he tells you, “Follow me a second, got something for you.”
You frown at him, not believing what he said in the slightest. You ask in confusion, “Me?”
“Yeah.” Alex nods and turns with a gesture for you to follow him.
The shock of it is what actually makes you move. You can’t help but whisper a small, “Oh.” though.
He surely has to be drunk?
But what’s mind-boggling is that he really isn’t. On the way out Miles asked him if he wanted another drink and Alex responded yes and added ‘this is only my first, definitely need one more before I go on’.
He leads you out of the room everyone was in and around the corner to where a group of the crew guys are. There’s a quiet word exchanged with who you assume to be the main crew guy and you watch from behind Alex as the guy nods at him and a second later he hands the lead singer something.
You shake your head as soon as you see Alex turn back to you and hold up the AAA pass that’s hanging from the lanyard he’s trying to give you.
“Oh Alex, I don't need that.” You shake your head, “I like watching from the arena.”
Half of them in that room watch from a box which is where you expected to be watching from. It’s no issue to you where you are in the arena, it’s nice enough you were invited by Katie to come tonight for free. Christ knows you wouldn’t have been able to get a ticket on Ticketmaster.
“Come on,” Alex presses on, “I’ve never seen you back here.”
Because you really like watching from the arena. You’ve never been at the side of the stage and you’re not sure if you want to be. You’ll just feel like you’re in the way.
You try to argue your point, “But-”
“No buts,” Alex smiles as he puts the lanyard over your head so it falls around your neck like a necklace. The singer continues, “You can’t be leaving Katie on her own. She’s been missing you for the last two weeks. I’m sure Jamie will like you being at the side of the stage too.”
He gives your shoulders an encouraging squeeze and the smile on his face makes you believe that you’ve swapped bodies with Katie for a hot second. He’s never talked to you like this before.
“Thanks Alex.” You smile sheepishly, not really knowing what else to do other than accept in this situation, “You really didn’t have to do that.”
The singer shakes his head like he doesn’t need your thanks. He just smiles at you and says, “It's nice seeing you here.”
It goes silent for a second then between you and your mind scrambles for something to talk about so this surprisingly good interaction doesn’t take a turn for the worst. You’re thankful it’s not your rambling that ends the conversation though.
Someone from the crew a bit further down the hall shouts Alex’s name then which makes the both of you turn to look at where the voice came from. You both see someone wave and then they tap their ear at the same time they almost do the Asda Price bum tap thing.
Whatever it is goes straight over your head. But Alex seems to understand because he nods and holds up a finger telling him one minute.
“Sorry to be a pain,” Alex says as he turns back to you, “They are shouting me for something about my mic pack.”
“It’s okay.” You smile.
Alex smiles back at you, and he says, “See ya in a bit Y/N, hope you enjoy the show.”
“Always do.” You smile and as you turn back around, you say, “Break a leg.”
The singer just smiles at you and you head your separate ways.
Great. Now you just sound like a fucking suck up. Go and get another drink Y/N/N. For fucks sake.
~*~*~*~
Surprisingly, that isn’t your only interaction with Alex tonight. During the short interval between the encore, when they came off stage both Alex and Matt came over and talked to you whilst Nick and Jamie spoke to their wives.
You were tipsy at that point so you started chatting their ear off like you usually did and Matt of course entertained you, but what surprised you most is that Alex was actually smiling. He actually seemed interested in what you had to say - even if it was just nervous bullshit - and he didn’t try to look for someone else to talk to which was very surprising to you. But that was probably just because Matt was there though.
Expecting that to be it, you didn’t give the singer much thought other than that. Knowing that you’re all going into town after this with quite a lot of people settles your nervous energy. You’ll probably have Katie and Kelly to yourself for most of the night because of their men interacting with everyone who wants to speak to them.
And for the most part you’re right about that. Katie gets you drunk, to the point where you’ve had to stop drinking for about an hour so you don’t throw up in the toilets. But the party is still in full swing and you - along with everyone else - have had a nice night.
You’ve just come back from the toilet and you’re looking around for Katie who has now disappeared from the table you were previously at. Kelly had gone home a little earlier, leaving Nick here to have his fun, so you and Katie had been chatting the night away and you’ll be getting a taxi with her back home because you live a 10 minute walk away from her house.
You just take your seat back at the table you were previously sitting on and pull your phone out. The last thing you wanted to do was interrupt anyone else's conversation so you were happy waiting for Katie to find her way back to you.
Sitting there, your still tipsy mind is paying no real attention to what you’re seeing on Instagram. You do find yourself singing along to the Tame Impala song that's playing in the room which you can just about hear over the noise of the busy chattering.
“Hey,” Alex's voice startles you out of your thoughts as he comes and sits himself down next to you with a smile on his face as he asks, “You enjoy the show?”
“Hey, yeah,” You nod, taking a deep breath to stop your shocked heart from giving out. Smiling, you tell him, “Well done.”
“Thanks, Y/N.” Alex grins back at you, and he places a glass down in front of you, “Got you a drink.”
“Oh,” Your eyes go a little wide looking at the whisky glass he’s put down in front of you, “Thank you.”
You pick it up and swirl the liquid around the two ice cubes and initially you thought it was whisky like he’s currently drinking, but you notice the liquid is lighter and a little thicker. Is this your favourite liqueur?
And the singer confirms that it is your favourite drink when he must notice you glancing at your drink. He brings you out of your thoughts and you look back at him as he speaks.
“You drink Amaretto on the rocks when you’re out, right?” Alex nods down to your drink like he’s worried he got it wrong.
“Yeah, yeah.” You nod, completely baffled that he knew that about you, but you smile nonetheless, “Thank you, you didn’t have to get me that.”
Christ, what a good guess on his part.
Alex smiles, “Least I can do.”
You take a sip of the drink and you can’t help but love the taste of it. And after not drinking for an hour or so, the taste is lovely and refreshing on your tongue.
“Did you enjoy your show?” You ask to fill the silence between you.
Granted the noise in the busy room makes his absence of conversation not as bad, but you hate the awkward feeling in your chest. Talking always makes it feel better and your tipsy self can’t control what you say anyway.
“I bet you don’t hear that a lot, or I guess you might.” You ramble, “But I imagine, with performing like that, you just get a lot of people telling you that they enjoyed themselves despite you maybe not feeling it was your best or whatever.”
You notice his lip twitch up at that and you feel like you’ve just shot yourself in the foot. “Sorry, that made it sound like I’m saying you were shit. I’m not. You weren’t. I’m just saying, bet you don’t really get asked a lot. So yeah, um, sorry.”
After the singer takes another sip of his drink, he smiles, “You don’t need to apologise… Yeah, I enjoyed myself. It was probably the best night this week.”
You nod at that, taking another sip of your Amaretto before you open your mouth again, “That’s good. I guess it makes the home shows more special. Has anywhere ever beaten home shows? I imagine all the UK ones are pretty special with you all literally travelling around the world.”
“God, big question.” Alex chuckles a little, before looking at the ceiling as if the answer was written up there. He comes back with, “I think home shows are the rowdiest and loudest which is fun. I think the best ever was Glastonbury though.”
You grin, “Which one? First or second time?”
“Full of good questions.” Alex smiles before he swirls his glass around as he thinks which reminds you of something else entirely.
“Oh,” You practically giggle, which brings his attention back to you, “You make me laugh when you do that ‘losing your train of thought’ thing on stage. Wasn’t aware that an Arctic Monkeys show is actually shitty stand up comedy these days.”
“Offended you think it's shit.” Alex scoffs which makes you drunkenly giggle.
As you finish laughing you shrug and tell him, “Was better in the days that you did the kung fu fighting thing still.”
“Damn,” Alex shakes his head, “Need to step my game back up. Any other suggestions?”
You think about it for a second and you’re just about to give him a long spiel of awkward suggestions that probably should never leave your mouth. But they thankfully don’t because the most gorgeous wife in the world comes back over and grabs your attention.
“Hey Y/N,” Katie grins at you with her coat folded over her arm and she asks, “You ready to go?”
“Yeah,” You nod, grabbing your coat from just beside you, “Yeah.”
As you slip your coat on and finish your drink in a quick mouthful, Alex keeps Katie entertained.
“Mrs Cook.” Alex grins, taking a sip of his beer after calling her out, “You lightweight.”
You have an amused grin on your face as she frowns at him, “Some of us have kids to look after in the morning, Turner.”
“I’m so glad I'm not you right now.” You laugh honestly.
The last thing you’d want was to be hungover and then have to get up early to deal with kids in the morning. Definitely not happening any time in your near future.
“You and me both.” Alex chuckles before he glances back at Katie. “Did you have a good night Mrs Cook.”
“Stop calling me Mrs Cook, you make me feel old.” She playfully scorns him.
“You are old.” Alex fires back just as cocky as she was, pointing out some fair points, “You’ve been married for half a decade and you have a child.”
Katie scowls at the singer then, and she fires back, “Well at least I don’t have a fucking ugly orange settee where I choose to live.”
You have to laugh at that. You’ve heard about how weird and wonderful this sofa is. You know she’s hated it ever since she’d seen it when he moved in, but Alex apparently likes how his furnished flat came. So he’s not changing it.
Alex argues back, with a look of determination, “It matches the blue walls.”
“Your flat looks like a pop art painting.” Katie fires back, narrowing her eyes at him.
“You’re just jealous because you can’t have pretty things like that because your kid will draw on it.” Alex defends himself with a grin, before adding his final joking remarks, “And you’re boring because you have your Mum brain on all the time.”
“At least she’s a milf.” You grin at her, “It’s very lucky Jamie is away so much. Get her all to myself.”
Katie burst out laughing at that and you hear Alex chuckle at you too. Not that you’ll remember any of this tomorrow, you can practically feel the memories already leaving your mind.
Christ, that one extra drink has really done you over. You feel just as drunk again. God you already don’t want the hangover tomorrow.
Katie tells you that she’s going to go and find a few people to say goodbye to and that she’ll meet you over by the door in a few minutes. So you politely ask Alex to let you up from the booth you’re in and he does so without any argument.
As you stand in front of him, the singer wonders aloud, “You’re coming tomorrow, right?”
“Oh I, um,” You don’t really know what to say other than, “I didn’t know I was invited?”
The last thing you wanted to do was be in the way again. Because god knows at some points tonight when the crew was running around you, Katie, and Kelly you felt like you were in the way. And you never want to outstay your welcome anyway.
“Course you are,” Alex tells you, and he says as if it’s obvious, “You’ve been on the guestlist all week, Y/N.”
“Oh.” You say, a little dumbfounded because you really didn’t know and his gaze still makes you feel a little uneasy.
Well if Katie had told you she’d done that for you you might have been able to come a few dates earlier. Or maybe not considering it’s still been a little awkward tonight with Alex, you’re grateful for the conversations you’ve had though.
But you won’t remember your discussions with him because you’ve had so much to drink. And tomorrow you’ll blame your hangover on Katie for more than likely asking Jamie to put the Disaronno in his rider.  
“You don’t have to,” Alex backtracks a little, but it’s nonchalant and you think nothing of it anyway. He follows it up with, “Just thought that you usually spend your saturday nights with Katie and she's here anyway. You’re welcome to come again.”
How kind of him. He must have been abducted by aliens and this is a nicer clone. There's absolutely no other explanation to your tipsy mind.
“Thanks, yeah,” You nod and the singer smiles at you when you confirm, “I’ll be there.”
Because you won’t be turning down free live music or alcohol any time soon.
You glance at the door and notice Katie giving Jamie a kiss so you figure it’s time to get going yourself. You look back at Alex and he smiles knowing what you must already be thinking.
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow Y/N/N.” Alex grins and you give him a smile and a small ‘bye’ as you turn to leave.
But the singer shouts your name after you take a few steps away, so when you turn back to him, he answers your earlier question, “First time. First Glastonbury blew my mind.”
All you seem to be able to do in response to that is grin. You nod a little before saying, “See you tomorrow Alex.”
~*~*~*~ 20th August 2018 ~*~*~*~
“I want to cry, the Uber cancelled again.” Katie whines, pouting slightly as she looks out of the window at the rain.
“Just our luck for not booking a proper taxi in advance.” Jamie sighs, scorning himself for not thinking better of it earlier.
Tonight you, Katie, Jamie, and Alex had been out separately but you’d all convened back together at the Cook household so Jamie’s parents could be relieved of babysitting duties. You and Katie shared another bottle of wine and gossiped for another 2 hours whilst the boys drank their beer and chipped into the conversation now and again.
“It’s not the end of the world,” Alex tells them, “We don’t live that far away.”
“Yeah, I’ll just brave the cold.” You assure Katie, and add in a little jest using air quotes, “At least it’s ‘summer’ and not snowing.”
“But the rain.” Katie points to the window.
Yeah walking home at the end of the night in the rain can be a little shit. But it was nothing you’d not done before. Granted you were like 21 the last time you’d done that but it’s really not the end of the world.
“It’s not heavy, I'll be okay.” You promise her to try and ease her worries, “At least I’ll go home looking like a drowned rat and not the other way around.”
You grab your coat from near the door and Katie follows you saying, “You can’t walk home on your own at three am, Y/N.”
“I’ll be fine.” You tell her as you slip your shoes back on.
Alex shocks both you and Katie to your cores when he says, “I’ll walk her home.”
Katie mustn’t be able to believe her ears because she asks, “What?”
You almost laugh, because she sounds like she’s as shocked as she was when Alex walked in on your wine night with Jamie and Nick the other month and she first saw his buzzed hair cut.
“We live the same way with about five minutes between us.” Alex points out, and he looks at you and nods, “I’ll walk you home.”
So that is how you’re currently walking from the Cook’s house to your own with Alex by your side.
Since Jamie’s party when he came up to you and asked why you didn’t think he liked you, the singer had surprisingly been a little better with you. He said hello to you and he seemed to engage a little more.
He’s still quiet around you, but you’ve noticed now that he goes like that around most people he doesn’t really know that well. You guess you can’t really change that though considering whenever you start asking him questions he doesn’t really give you much of an answer.
You’ve come to terms with that thought which is why you’re biting your tongue as you walk beside him. The urge to start asking him a bunch of questions is really strong but you’d rather not have the sinking feeling in your chest when you just receive one word answers back.
To occupy yourself as you’ve been walking the past few minutes, you’ve been running over the lyrics of your favourite song in your head. Alex seems to be in his head as it is so you don’t feel too bad as you walk despite the strong urge to rid yourself of the awful silence between you.
All you really focus on is making sure the umbrella that Katie lent you keeps you dry. Alex had a coat with a hood and even when you offered to share the umbrella with him he told you it was fine and that was the last thing you said to each other.
Or that was until Alex speaks up and asks you, “Am I right in thinking you were married?”
“Yeah for four years.” You nod, glancing over at him, and chuckling a little, “If you can believe it.”
Thank fuck he spoke up. The silence was eating away at you.
Alex’s eyes go a little wide, “Really?”
The poor man probably shouldn’t have asked, because the floodgates you were holding shut have just burst open and your nervous chatter just comes out. And considering you’re drunk, there is no chance you can stop it.
“Yeah, together since we were sixteen. Married at twenty one and stayed together for four years. But we just didn’t love each other anymore. Well, not in the way that qualifies you still be married to someone.” You ramble on before continuing, “Don’t get me wrong I would be devastated if something happened to him. Touch wood nothing does. But we just lived separate lives, went to work, came back home, and went to bed. Half the time he did shifts so I never saw him.”
You carry on to explain, “My life was just boring and I thought to myself I shouldn’t be feeling bored aged twenty-five. I wanted to travel and see the world but I just got a mortgage straight away so the only travelling we ever did was when we went to Vegas and got married.”
“So I got divorced, and how sad is it that I've got to tell people I'm a thirty one year old divorcee.” You finish off with.
But then you realise who you’ve said all of that to. And that he doesn’t like chatting to you at the best of times. So he probably didn’t care about anything you just told him, or appreciated the amount of rambling you just did.
You feel the need to say, “Sorry.” and you glance at Alex as you sheepishly say, “You didn’t really ask that, did you?”
For fucks sake Y/N. A ‘yes’ would have done!
“It’s okay.” Alex assures you with a small smile.
“No, it's just me rambling when I'm drunk and nervous.” You scorn yourself, hating the uneasy feeling in your chest. Unable to understand why you do it, you still end up saying, “I’m sorry. I’m a chatty person in general and getting alcohol into my system just makes me worse. Not to mention if I'm nervous too… Can never stop me going then.”
You guess getting it off your chest and him knowing that about you may make you easier to understand. Maybe he won’t find you as annoying because the last thing you want is to annoy him. You’re close with Katie and Jamie so you’re bound to run into each other more now he’s going to be living in Sheffield.
The singer frowns a little then before looking back to you to curiously ask, “Why are you nervous?”
Because you’re the most awkward man to talk to possibly ever?!!??!??!?
Course you can’t say that though. So you give the other true reason.
“I don’t like walking home in the dark usually.” You tell him sincerely, because it does freak you out. “I don’t know, bit of an irrational fear at this point but someone followed me home when I was younger and it really freaked me out. So um yeah… Thank you for doing this.”
“It’s really not a problem Y/N/N,” He smiles at you in what seems like a genuine way then, “I wasn’t going to let you walk home alone.”
You can’t help but think that’s really kind of him considering he really doesn’t know you very well. You tell him, “You’re a gooden, Alex.”
The singer just smiles a little at that, but you can see he’s being completely genuine when he says, “Sorry that happened to you.”
You give him a small smile then, appreciating how sincerely he said it. But you don’t really want to dwell on that whilst you’re walking in the dark so you change the subject.
“Do you prefer being back in Sheffield after all your time away?”
Alex wonders in what context you’re on about, so he questions, “You mean like over tour?”
“No, I mean like from living in different places because you were in New York when I first met you. Then you were in LA and you’ve got a place over there, right?” You double check, looking to him for assurance.
Alex nods and you continue, “Then you were to and from LA and London, right? And now you decided to come and stay back home? Or do you not plan on staying now?”
And you’re pleasantly surprised at the lengthy answer he gives you.
“Oh I'm definitely staying in Sheffield now… At least for a little while after the tour is finished.” He explains, “I think I just need time back where everything is normal and familiar again. Like Miles goes and stays back home quite often and I’ve not been back here for more than two months maybe since I was twenty two… It’s a long time away and it's quite nice to just come back and feel normal.”
You understand what he’s saying completely, but you can’t help but jokingly add, “Well… As normal as you can, being the front man of Sheffield's pride and joy.”
Alex laughs a little at that which shocks you because you never expected to make him laugh. But he does remind you, “You’re forgetting about Pulp.”
“You’re forgetting Pulp haven’t released anything since 2012.” You raise your eyebrows at him as your defence.
“Fair dos,” Alex laughs a little and you take what joy you can out of the fact that you made that happen. “But yeah, I like being myself back here and I like that I’m with most of my good friends and I get to be a proper uncle to the kids over here now.”
“They talk about you all the time. It's funny.” You can’t help but grin at the thought of your little god children, “Katie blames Jamie for being gone on you so when Katie has Kelly and Nick’s kids round too they complain like ‘Why has Uncle Alex taken Dad away again?’” You mimic in a whiney voice that again makes Alex laugh.
Alex chuckles, “I need to have a word with that Mrs Cook. She’ll get me into trouble with them.”
You promise him, “It’s nothing a chocolate bar wouldn’t solve.”
“I must owe them so much chocolate.” Alex grins.
You nod and begin to slow your walking down because you’re about to reach your house, “Oh yeah, you definitely do.”
“I’ll get Katie to invoice me.” The singer says as he notices you glance to the houses just beside you both and you slow down.
Matching your speed, you both come to a stop just in front of your house and you smile at the singer, “Thank you for walking me home.”
“Not a problem, Y/N.” Alex smiles back and you’re really glad that
You start slowly moving closer to your house as you say, “I hope the next leg of your tour goes well.”
“Thank you.” He says as he watches you get closer to your house.
“See you soon Alex.” You say with a smile as you unlock your door and push it open. “Thanks again.”
Alex smiles, “Bye Y/N.”
~*~*~*~ 24th November 2018 ~*~*~*~
Chaos. That is the only word to describe the current situation that you’re in.
The Cook household is manic, Forrest is running round like a mad man as any toddler who’s just been given sweets by his uncle would be doing.
Toys are everywhere and Jamie is running around too as he’s been tasked with tidying them before the grandparents get here to babysit. Katie scolded Alex for giving Forrest sweets before they were due to go out before she went upstairs to get ready.
Katie’s Mum wasn’t here yet to babysit Forrest for the night whilst you were all going out and that added to the stress because the taxi was due in about 25 minutes. So you’re trying your best to be the good Auntie that you are and calm your godchild down before you all go out, but your good nature results in a causality.
Alex catches your arm as you almost fall over a mountain of toys Forrest decided to pull you through, but as you tried to salvage your footing you must have caught the leg of the table your shin smacked into as well. It didn’t hurt too much, the initial shock of it got you and the fact you almost fell over, but then you hear the awful sound of fabric ripping, it makes you wince. You know what's happened before you even look down to check.
“You’ve got to be fucking joking.” You mutter under your breath before you quickly glance at Alex and say a small, “Thanks.” as he stopped you from going arse over tit.
Alex asks slightly concerned, “Are you okay?” and that’s the first interaction with him since you walked in the door ten minutes ago.
You could blame that on the fact the Cook’s household was fucking mental, but it’s more than likely just normal that he doesn’t want to talk to you. You’re just glad he caught you if nothing else, the last thing you need is to fall and bruise yourself.
“Yeah, thanks,” You nod, letting go of his arm you were still grasping to perch on the back of the settee so you can get a look at the damage done to your tights, “Can’t say the same about them, for fucks sake.”
They are beyond salvageable. There’s a massive hole in the calf which is that big it almost fully reaches round to your shin. Theres now a massive fucking ladder up the side of them which makes them more transparent and you can feel it’s gone right up to your arse too.
“I can’t go out like this.” You sigh, wondering what you can do but it also pisses you off because you literally arrived a matter of minutes ago in your taxi feeling really good about yourself for a hot second, but now that’s all fucking disipated.
Jamie shrugs, suggesting, “Take them off.” as he watches Forrest play with some toys across the room.
“Oh yeah,” You roll your eyes, and your sarcasm rings clear telling him that you’re not in the mood for such a simple comment like that. You wore them for a reason, and that reason is because it’s fucking freezing outside, “And get fucking hypothermia because I’m shivering all night? I don’t think so Jamie.”
You’re only wearing a skirt tonight because Katie asked you to anyway. She wanted you to wear the skirt version of the dress that she had which you were fine with doing.
Katie was wearing a really cute red tartan dress with a long sleeve black top underneath whereas you opted to buy the dark green high waisted tartan skirt and you paired that with a white long sleeve top and you had your tights and ankle boots on.
You’re bloody freezing as it is, the last thing you want or need is to be taking your tights off. It’s a strong no from you.
“I mean you wanted a quick fix.” Jamie holds his hands up in innocence and you just ignore him for a second before walking out of the lounge and to the bottom of the stairs after hearing your best friend begin to walk down them.
“Katie, do you have tights I could borrow?” You ask her as she gets to the bottom of the stairs.
“I binned all mine the other day and ordered more but they haven't arrived yet.” She tells you and your once jolly mood plummets further, “They all had holes in them… How come?”
You show her your right leg and you turn slightly to pull your skirt up a little, making sure the lads don’t see but Katie can see just how high the ladder runs up.
“Oh.” Katie winces at that, feeling bad she can’t help you.
“I’ve got stockings you could wear?” She offers as the both of you walk back into the lounge, “They’d come up to your thigh?”
You almost want to slap her. You know exactly where those items of her clothing have been, which is why you give her a disgusted look as you say, “I’m not wearing stockings that you’ve been wearing whilst Jamie’s railed you.”
“They’ve been washed.” She scoffs.
“Thanks, but no. I can’t wear these though.” You sigh as you both walk into the lounge. You stick by the arched frame though and after a second of deliberation, you say, “Whilst you're sorting yourself out, I’ll walk home and change.”
Katie looks at you with concern filled eyes, “But the taxi is due in twenty minutes.”
“Exactly, and you don't have the time to be messing about.” You say as she’s clearly still got things to sort out. She’s only just now plugging her straighteners in and she doesn’t have her shoes on yet either. You continue with, “And your Mum isn’t here yet to look after Forrest. If you can pick me up on the way out, that’d be grand.”
Katie nods at you through the mirror as she starts parting her hair so she can style it, “Yeah that’s fine.”
“Right, I’ll go now then.” You tell the room before turning to grab your coat from the bannister.
But you almost stop dead when you hear Alex say, “I’ll walk with you.”
Did those words really just leave Alex Turner’s mouth?
They clearly did because he’s pulling his jacket back on and taking a step towards you. Not wanting to be a burden, you shake your head, “You don’t have to, it’s not that late.”
“It’s okay, I’ll walk with you.” Alex insists, giving you a look that’s assuring but he makes it lighthearted by saying, “Gives them more incentive to come and pick the both of us up from yours then, right?”
You assume he must remember from your walk home a few months ago that you didn’t like walking home in the dark. You see no other reason for him as to be so kind to offer. So you don’t argue with him further, even though you already feel nervous to have to spend time with him alone.
“Right.” You nod and avert your gaze from his. You look back to Katie and Jamie and say, “See you in a bit.”
~*~*~*~
The walk home was uncomfortable to say the least. Despite your speed walking, it really did seem to take forever to get back to your house with silence between you and the singer.
You’ve got past the point of trying to start a full conversation with him at this point, so you just opted to repeat the lyrics to your favourite song, Not fair by Lily Allen, to yourself three times knowing that by the time you finish the song in full for the third time you should be home. And when you’re correct, you’re very thankful.
Unlocking and getting into your house leaves a new sense of anxiety in your stomach though. You’ve left the place a fucking mess and you hate that when someone new walks in. Especially someone like Alex who hasn’t always been the nicest to you in the past, so you start rambling again as you let the both of you in.
“My house is a tip so sorry about this.” You tell him as you quickly slip your boots off so you can change your tights when you get a second. “Please ignore everything you see. I’ve really not had any time to clean up today. I was out this morning and then by the time I got back katie was mithering me to get ready for tonight which is fucking comical because she wasn’t ready even before we left.”
Alex closes the door behind and walks into your home and you don’t need to look at him to know he’s already looking around at your possessions. Most people do when they walk in anyway considering the back wall of your lounge displays your ever growing record collection.
You’re unsurprised when you hear him say, “Christ, that’s a lot of records.”
“I know right,” You smile and walk the both of you further into your home.  
And because you can’t handle silence as you start searching your shopping bags for a new pair of tights, you give him another anecdote, “My Dad gave me all of his from back in the day. Couldn’t believe it when he said I could have them all. I’d only just started my collection at the time and I probably had about twenty of my own and then he gave me all of his because he said it was old technology and he’ll never have any use for them anymore. And then my grandparents followed suit and they gave me all theirs too. Couldn’t believe my luck.”
“Three generations worth of collectors then?” Alex smiles and you nod.
“Yeah, I guess so.” You nod, not bothering with the bag you were currently routing through anymore because you’re a little bit taken aback by the fact he’s pulled your favourite Gorillaz album out.
Abandoning your search for replacement tights for the moment, you carry on your story as you watch him, “Been fun adding to the big collection though. I love just putting on a record to pass the time. It’s why my Spotify unwrapped is always so shit because I always listen to my LPs and not on my phone so at the end of the year it’s like ‘you listened to two thousand minutes of music this year’ and it’s bullshit because I just listen to so much more but it’s all on my turntable unless I'm walking to work.”
Alex hums with a smile on his face as he continues searching for more records. He’s pleased to see all of his own up there, including his EP, the TLSP albums, and the Submarine soundtrack. And when he pulls out Miles’ latest album Coup De Grace, he can’t help but chuckle seeing that Miles had signed it and written a message to you saying, ‘Y/N/N, my biggest fan in the world. Love you loads and I hope you enjoy the new tunes. All my love, Miles x’.
When you notice the singer looking at that, you laugh and tell him how Miles had given you a lovely message on the front of all his LPs.
“Bless Miles, he always writes me a nice message on each album I get sent.” You start to ramble as you search for new tights. “I don’t really remember when he started doing it… Oh yeah I do, I think it may have been when I mentioned when I first met him how much I liked Age of the Understatement and we were talking about it for ages. And then like a month later I get the record in the post and he’s signed it and it had the sweetest message on the front to go with it and he’s never stopped. He’s a gem.”
You stop talking about Miles when you get baffled for a moment how your tights weren’t in the shopping bag from the shop you thought you bought them from. So your search persists as you carry on routing in other bags you’ve yet to take upstairs.
As you do though, your nervous chatter persists. You really hate that you can’t stop it, and you’re sure you’re annoying your guest but he doesn’t stop you, and thankfully he doesn’t look annoyed by them today. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t take you by surprise today by actively starting a conversation with you.
Just as you’re about to run upstairs to your room, you hear Alex ask, “Can I ask you a question?”
If Katie would have asked you that, you’d have said ‘You just did’ but because it’s Alex and you’re certain he doesn’t get your humour, nor would he tolerate it, you just say, “Yeah, of course you can.”
And you walk back into your lounge so you’re not being rude as you wait for his question. Alex looks as relaxed as possible as you feel like your heart is going to start beating out of your chest despite him still plucking records from your shelves.
His brown eyes linger on you as he asks, “Do I make you nervous?”
You certainly weren't expecting that question.
“What do you mean?” You find yourself asking, not understanding where that’s come from and you feel like you’re frozen in your spot.
Alex seems to think about his words before they leave his mouth next. And your heart that's thudding ten to the dozen in your chest doesn’t feel like it’s able to cope for much longer so you’re very thankful when he says what's on his mind.
“Well when I walked you home in the summer, you said that you ramble when you're drunk or nervous. And yes, on a few occasions we've seen each other lately we’ve been drunk, but you’re not now and you’re exactly the same.” Alex points out as he looks between you and the track listing on the back of your Brian Eno LP.
“You’re really chatty and jumpy when I come near you and it's like you’re flustered and jittery... Like the way a fan usually is but you’ve known me for too long for it to be that, so that’s why I'm asking,” Alex repeats himself, “Do I make you nervous?”
“Erm, yeah.” You nod, unable to say much else, “I guess you do.”
“In what way?” The singer asks you as he puts the record back where he found it before giving you his full attention and starts making his way over to you.
“I’m not scared of you or anything… You just really stress me out. I can never read you, never read what mood you’re in or even whether you like me as a person or you just think I’m Katie’s annoying friend that never shuts up.” You struggle for your words because you truly don’t know how to tell him without offending him. The last thing you’d want is for him to dislike you anymore.
But Alex’s gaze and increasing proximity makes you say more, “I don’t really know why you make me nervous after all this time. But you definitely unsettle me.”
You want to curl up into a ball and hide. You feel fidgety with the closer he gets and you want to avoid his gaze. But because he’s pointed it out, you don’t allow yourself. You stay strong and keep his eye contact despite his teasing.
“When you’re around me you talk like you- I don’t know how to describe it… You almost act like someone who's addicted to the E-numbers in sweets.” Alex grins, almost like it’s a little inside joke with himself. You try to keep yourself calm when he reaches his point, as he stops a few feet in front of you. “So that's why I’m curious if I made you nervous or not.”
“Well I guess the simple answer is yes.” You nod, but now with him so close, you try to look anywhere but at him.
This is far too awkward for your liking. Alex hums in response to that and he plucks another record that you recognise to be Histoire de Melody Nelson from your shelf that’s just beside you.
You think you’ve escaped the conversation now and you pray you can just go back to being awkwardly silent with each other and never relive that again. But apparently that’s not the plan.
Just as you were turning yourself around again to head upstairs, Alex leaves you shell shocked when he asks, “Do you want to fuck me?”
Instantly your eyes are the widest they could possibly get and you’re sure your jaw falls open. Looking at him intently to try and make sure you’re not dreaming this, you deadpan, “Excuse me?”
“Do you want to fuck me?” Alex asks, putting the record back like it's the most casual thing to ask someone he barely speaks to, “Is that why I make you nervous?”
This should be the easiest response you’ve ever given him.
“I-”
But your words fail you. Your heart feels like it’s about to beat out of your chest.
Wait… Do I want to fuck him?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: So... What did you think??? What do you think is going to happen next??? Did you enjoy it? I really hope you did! 
Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist x
Taglist: @alovesreading​ @kennedy-brooke​ @ohladymoon​ @hazskillerqueen​ @more-multifandom-of-maddness @thereisaplaceintheheart​ 
810 notes · View notes
wososcripts · 5 months
Text
I've Been Getting Lost in Translation (Part Two)
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(these kits are god awful but you didn't hear that from me)
stina blackstenius x reader; part one can be found here
Summary: You finally get to meet your girlfriend’s parents, but you aren’t sure they’re aware the two of you are more than just friends.
A/N: Here's part two finally! I hope it's worth the wait for you all lol, make sure you read the first part as well as that author's note for clarity! As usual, nothing I write is intended to speculate or infringe upon player's personal lives, it's all 100% fiction and done in good fun.
Word Count: 4.5k
Warnings⚠️: very very slight mentions of anxiety and self-harm behaviors, but it really isn't featured here more than a passing mention
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You could feel Stina's eyes on you as you came down the stairs and joined the group in getting ready to go, you felt them on you in the car, and once you got to the skating rink. She never seemed to not be looking at you, sending worried little glances your way that you just couldn't interact with right now if you wanted to keep it together. 
"Here are Linnéa's extra skates." Stina's mom held out a pair of ice skates for you to grab. "I'm not sure they'll fit, but Stina said you were around the same size as her sister… otherwise you can rent a pair here." 
She gave you a warm smile and left you to try them on, already lacing up her own and taking off on the ice. 
It was a beautiful day, sunny and cold with a thick layer of snow on the ground from a couple of days ago. And the rink was amazing. It was well maintained, but still had the feeling of a pond you'd have skated on as a child. 
Stina's sister came to sit down next to you, explaining some of the quirks with the skates. You had to pull the laces hard to get them to fit in the clasps at the top before you could tie them, she showed you, yanking on your ankle a little roughly for your liking.
"Linnéa, be careful with her foot!" You heard Stina call from the ice. 
Linnéa waved her off, turning to you.
"Does it hurt?" 
You shook your head.
"That ankle is just a bit sensitive. I broke it in June." 
"Well the laces being tight will make sure that doesn't happen again," she laughed, then glanced to make sure Stina wasn't looking at you two and said something lowly to you. "How is she doing in London? I mean she says everything is going well, but it's hard to know when we're not there to see her."
You smiled, genuinely for the first time in hours.
"She's doing great. Everyone loves her, she's been playing fantastic this season, she gets along well with the coach and the players. I really don't think there's anything for you to worry about." 
"It's good that she has you and Amanda there. She seems reserved but without a few good people around her I know she gets lonely."
"What are you two slow pokes waiting for?" Stina's father skated by, gesturing for you to come on. 
Linnéa followed him, starting a conversation with him in Swedish you could hardly grasp onto. How this family managed to speak so quickly, you were lost on.
You joined the rest of them on the ice, trying to ignore your poor mood from earlier. Moping around was no way to make a first impression. So you tried to suck it up and let the joy of the moment overtake you. You hadn't skated in years, having played in Italy for a bit before moving to London. There never seemed to be enough time, or good rinks close by. And when you were back in Germany you mostly wanted to see your family and Laura. 
You ended up skating with Stina’s nephew, a boy around seven. He was already impressively steady on his skates, something you would not have been able to say at his age. But still, he held your hand and talked your ear off in Swedish you only partially understood. 
"Did you come with aunt Stina?" He asked, to which you nodded. 
"We play for the same football team in England." You explained in your slow Swedish.
"Did you come here on a plane?" You nodded again, smiling. 
"We flew here yesterday, from London."
The boy considered you for a moment.
"You speak funny," he proclaimed, letting go of your hand, "watch what I can do!" 
And with that he skated in front of you, circling around you playfully as you stood still. You grinned at him, giving a round of applause when he was done.  
“Hey,” you heard Stina come up behind you, placing a hand on your shoulder as to not startle you. 
You gave her a smile which she softly returned. 
“What are you two up to?” 
“He’s showing me his incredible skating skills,” You replied.
Stina’s nephew nodded and twirled around again, clearly looking for more praise. 
Stina cheered him on, catching one of his hands and spinning him once more. 
“Very impressive,” she praised, “Unfortunately we’ve got to go eat some lunch. It’s getting dark out.” 
You looked up at the sky, having not realized that she was right, the sun was setting already. You checked your phone and saw it was barely one pm. 
Stina’s nephew nodded and shot forward ahead of you two, rushing back to where his parents were. 
“How are you doing?” Stina asked. 
You could tell she was still unsettled by what had happened earlier in the bathroom by how careful she was with you, how she treated each interaction tentatively. You felt badly for making her worry, for turning this visit with her family into yet another stressful situation rather than the relaxing break you both needed.
“I’m doing all right.” You gave the hand on your shoulder a squeeze and started to skate in the direction of the exit, a little further away from her than you would normally. 
You felt the distance seemingly in every stride you took, agonizing over your choice to move further from her. You were upset by the lack of any physical affection, and yet here you were removing even the chance that she might initiate it. It was self sabotage, you knew. Yet it was still difficult not to indulge in it. Whether she felt the distance as much as you did, you couldn’t know. 
“Why does Aunt Stina’s friend speak so funny?” You heard Stina’s nephew ask his mother, to which you couldn’t help but chuckle as she scolded him lightly. 
“She’s still learning Swedish, baby, she’s from Germany.”
“You’re from Germany?” The boy asked you once you were in front of him, skates in hand. He said it as if it were some far away land, not in the same continent. 
You nodded and ruffled his hair a bit, giving him a smile. You sat down on the bench, unlacing your skates and indulging the boy as he asked you several questions about Germany and what it was like there. You noticed Stina had a firm watch on you as you started to take your left skate off—the one that Linnéa had tugged on. It was aching a bit, that was true. But you simply massaged it for a moment and stood up like you couldn't feel a thing.
“Thanks again for lending me the skates,” You said to Stina’s mother, giving them back carefully. 
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The eight of you decided to eat at a small restaurant not far from the rink. Sunset was already in full force, vibrant orange and pink staining the sky around you.
Stina had borrowed her sister's car that morning, preferring not to be squished in the back seat all day. The drive over gave you a bit of privacy, which you spent in relative quiet, Stina's playlist playing softly through the car speakers. Her hand was on your thigh innocently, and every once in a while she glanced over. Maybe she expected you to say something. But you knew if you started now, you wouldn't be able to stop.
You were thankful for your sturdy sneakers as you stepped out of the car, a twinge in your ankle rippling up your leg. It was more sore than you would've expected, but nothing you were overly worried about. The doctor had warned you that some days might give you more trouble than others, and that was normal. You would just have to take care to ice it this evening before you went to bed. 
And by the looks of it, Stina would be making sure you did anyway. 
She was robbed of her chance to ask if it was bothering you by her nephew, who seemed to have taken a real liking to you. He came barreling at you, arms open for you to lift him up. You weren't all that tall, and he certainly had inherited his family's height, so lifting him was a bit complicated. Eventually the two of you decided on a piggy back after some awkward maneuvering. 
"He likes you," Stina's brother commented, tickling his son lightly. "He's normally quite reserved around new adults."
You smiled at him, feeling your heart soar. This, this was what you wanted from the trip. You wanted Stina's family to love you, for her not to have to worry about you fitting in or being accepted. 
"She's going to sit next to me!" The boy announced once the waiter had shown you to your booth.
"Do I need to be worried?" Stina joked, to which her nephew stuck out his tongue. 
She returned the favor playfully.
"No need to fight, there's plenty of me to go around."
The booth wasn't all that big, which was how you explained Stina's closeness. Most of your right side was pressed right up against hers, something you initially tried to rectify, only to receive a strange look from her. You cursed yourself for how unsure you were being. You'd spent months like this before the two of you had started dating and it nearly drove you (and your teammates) crazy. 
You let Stina order for you since she had been here before and she knew what you liked. The tiredness was beginning to hit you. It was dark outside now, and between skating for a few hours, entertaining a seven year old, and worrying over your relationship, you'd had quite the day. Thankfully you had ibuprofen in your bag in case of one of your headaches. 
Whatever Stina had ordered you looked delicious when it came out. You dug in, realizing then how hungry you were. Usually you had a snack in between breakfast and lunch particularly on training days.  
You were surprised to feel a hand on your knee a little while later. You were listening to a story her nephew was intently explaining to you as he colored in one of the books his mother brought for him, and suddenly it was there. It was something so completely normal you couldn't believe how much it shocked you. If anything, that was proof of how much you had gotten in your own head. Back home it would be impossible to imagine sitting next to Stina without her hand resting lightly on you somewhere. It helped ground her, she said. 
But now, your thoughts were racing with every move she made. Stina's fingers drummed absentmindedly on your thigh, the rhythm of them distracting you slightly from her nephew. She didn't usually tap unless she was feeling fidgety, which meant she was anxious. Was Stina feeling something similar to what you were? Was it out of anxiety that she was keeping things secret? The idea of your relationship inspiring such emotions in your girlfriend made the lump in your throat that much bigger. Maybe she was picking up on your mood. Stina had always been very perceptive (because she spent so much time quietly watching, you often teased) and seemed to pick up on your moods without issue. But you’d been trying to hide this. 
You caught her eye and sent her a quick smile. A piece of hair had fallen into her eyes and you wanted desperately to push it behind her ear as you normally would. But the gesture seemed too intimate now. It was as if you were in a glass cage, every move observed with the chance of exposing your feelings. But what was the problem in that, you asked yourself. You loved Stina, openly. Why were you letting this affect you so much? 
Stina's sister declared that she wanted to do a bit of shopping after lunch, which the rest of the group was perfectly amicable to. It wasn’t all that late, and you’d get a chance to see the Christmas market all lit up. Stina's nephew certainly hadn't taken much convincing once Linnéa mentioned stopping at the toy store to look at something.
"Am I your favorite now?" Linnéa asked him, looking at you with a sly grin on her face.
"Yes!" The boy cried, smiling wide.
"You can't buy true connection, Linnéa," you teased, still helping to color.
"Can't buy connection." The boy repeated wisely. "I still like Stina's friend too."
You smiled and ruffled the boy's hair, suggesting quietly in his ear that you move to another page and make a drawing for Stina. 
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Linnéa joined you and Stina in the car on the way back to their parent’s house, adding to the tension that had been building since the eight of you had gone shopping. Stina had stuck close to your side, and you’d done your best to act normally while keeping some distance. You needed to sort your head out, and being close to her wasn’t helping. Thankfully her nephew provided a good excuse to be tugged in all sorts of directions—he had decided you were his favorite once more, leaving Linnéa to hang behind with her siblings. 
Once you had reached the Christmas market, after a short detour in the toy store where you had agreed to get matching dragon plushies for you and the young boy, each of you wandered off on your own. You, Stina’s brother, and her nephew headed first for the big tree that had been decorated in the square while the rest went to get something hot to drink. You had managed to sneak off under the guise of having to find the toilet, Stina’s brother covering for you if you needed. You wanted to get a small gift for Stina, something in addition to what you’d already purchased. Most of it was back in London since bringing it all on the plane was a hassle. 
You’d found a perfect gift at a small stall tucked away near the edge of the market where an older woman was selling vintage jewelry. You picked through it slowly at first, not sure you would find anything. Most of it was too gaudy for Stina, and too impractical. But then you found a simple pendant with two stones in the middle—an amethyst and an opal, each of your birth stones, set in a complex circular pattern that reminded you a bit of some of the celtic designs Katie had shown you. You had purchased it immediately, no matter that it was overpriced. 
Now you were sat listening to Linnéa’s music quietly as the three of you drove, trying not to nod off. You were unsuccessful, because the next thing you remembered was being jolted awake by Linnéa’s door falling shut. You heard Stina chuckle next to you and put a hand on your shoulder, likely amused by how suddenly you had shot up. You chuckled along with her and patted her hand, putting your coat back on to brave the cold once more. 
“Is your ankle bothering you?” Stina asked you quietly as you all began to walk back to the house for dinner preparations. 
You thought that you had been hiding the slight limp in your walk well, certainly nobody else had noticed, but nothing escaped your girlfriend apparently. 
“Only a bit. I’ll ice it later and it’ll be fine tomorrow.”
“You should’ve said something if it was hurting, I told Linnea to be careful—” she was beginning to ramble, but you cut her off. 
“Stina, it’s fine. I said I’m fine. I know what I can and cannot handle.” 
It was a lie, and the both of you knew it. You were a stubborn bastard. Stina had been with you through your recovery, through every incident where you pushed yourself too hard only to have to face the consequences. She’d found you on the kitchen floor, comforted you after a physio session, seen you train with the team for the first time again. It was insulting to allege she didn’t know when too much was too much.
“Sorry,” You mumbled, already feeling bad for snapping at her. It wasn’t fair, she didn’t even know what was wrong and you were what? Punishing her? 
“I just don’t want to see you hurt again. Do you know how horrible that was? To see you in that much pain?” Stina’s eyes were glossy with just the memory. 
You weren’t sure what to say to that. You and Stina didn’t talk much about your injury and recovery. It was still too fresh, barely more than a couple months old. The crack of your ankle, the blood, her tears, her gentle shaking hands, it was all still at the front of your mind. 
You were saved from having to formulate a response by Stina’s mother calling her to the kitchen. She left you, only looking back once to give you a slight smile, showing that the two of you were okay. But you knew the time to confront what was going on needed to come quickly. 
You sat with Stina’s brother on the sofa and watched some Swedish Christmas program mindlessly. Mostly you were thinking about how to go about talking to Stina later. “Directness is key”, Laura's voice reminded you. You just had to say it, without blaming anyone. Just focus on yourself, your feelings.
It wasn't clear how long you sat there quietly before dozing off again, but Stina’s nephew was the one to wake you for dinner, doing so by climbing into your lap. 
"It's dinner time." He said, poking at your shoulder. 
You forced your eyes open, giving him a drowsy smile. 
“Okay, Prinzi” you replied, picking him up off your lap so you could stand. He managed to hang on to your side though, and you ended up lifting him onto your hip anyway. 
Fuck, you cursed silently as you noticed your ankle was even more tender than when you had fallen asleep. You’d have to check for bruising later and keep off it for the rest of the night. But still, you carried Stina’s nephew to the table with ease, setting him in his seat next to his mother who shot you a sheepish smile. 
“Tired, aren’t you?” You heard a voice behind you, and then a gentle hand at your back. 
It was Stina, who smelled of something sweet in the kitchen. You wanted to lean back into her and not move for the rest of the night. Instead you just nodded. 
“Sorry, I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”
“You’ve been playing babysitter all day, that might be part of it.” She smiled. 
You nodded in agreement, a smile on your face as well.
"You're so good with him," she whispered into your ear, "it's adorable."
You had caught her taking pictures of you with her nephew a couple times throughout the day, and now, as you briefly as her phone light up with notification, it seemed she had set one of them as her lockscreen.
"I try my best. He's a good kid."
"Well, he's in good hands."
Dinner was delicious, but relatively uneventful. After an entire day together everyone was happy to sit quietly and enjoy the food. Stina’s nephew joked with you a couple times, still wanting all of your attention, but even he seemed to be winding down for the night.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the table was cleared and the dishes had been washed (a task delegated to Stina’s brother this time), the group splintered off. Linnéa was going out to meet with a few friends, Stina’s brother and his family had to go home before it got too late, and Stina’s parents had settled in the living room. The two of you were welcome to join, they offered, for a nightcap. But it was clear that maybe you and Stina needed some alone time. 
So you bid everyone good night, thanking them for a wonderful day, and giving Stina’s nephew a big hug goodbye (even though you would be seeing him the next day). You tried to prepare for what you knew was a difficult discussion coming your way. In and out, you tried to remind yourself.
“Go ahead, I’ll be in in a minute,” Stina told you when you reached the bedroom door.
You nodded, thankful for the extra minute to think. The room was quiet around you. You felt the quilt beneath your hands, taking another deep breath. You didn’t need to overthink this. It was simple. And Stina loved you, you reminded yourself. 
There was a knock at the door, after which Stina slowly opened it and slipped inside. She had a bag of ice in her hands, presumably for your ankle. Already you felt tears spring to your eyes.
“Here, for your foot.” 
She lifted your leg, grabbing a chair for you to prop it up on, and pressed the ice to it.  
“So,” Stina paused, still standing before you, “What’s wrong?” You opened your mouth, but were cut off before you could say anything. “And don’t say it’s nothing, I can tell it isn’t. And I want to know, I want you to tell me, whatever it is.” 
You chuckled internally at the similarity to Laura’s demand earlier. Stina knew you too well for you to hide from her either. That made your heart ache a little bit. 
Your lack of response seemed to signal to Stina that you needed more convincing because she knelt down in front of you, taking your hands in hers. 
“What were you doing in the bathroom earlier? Why did you look so upset? All day, I can see you trying to hide it, but I know you’re hiding something. It hurts me too, to see you like that. It’s like a thorn in my ribs.” 
Your lip trembled, and you bit down hard on your cheek until you could feel blood in your mouth. It rushed onto your tongue, the metallic taste distracting you from the urge to cry. Stina had caught your gaze, and you couldn’t bring yourself to look away.
“Do your parents know we’re together?” Your voice held steady as you asked. 
Whatever she had been expecting, it certainly wasn’t that. Stina let out an airy chuckle, looking relieved. You brought your gaze to the floor, eyes wetting rapidly, which Stina quickly noticed.
“Hey, hey, hey,” She brought a hand up to your face, brushing the hair away from it. She sat next to you, moving up from where she was kneeling, and pulled you into her. “Look at me.” She put a finger under your chin, drawing your gaze to hers. The sight of your eyes nearly broke her heart. She hadn’t seen your face crumple in on itself like this since you were injured. The idea that something she had done could have caused you pain like that made her feel indescribably awful. 
“Of course they know, of course they do.”
You let out a sigh of relief, putting your head in your hands. You felt a hand on the back of your neck, rubbing the skin there tenderly.
“Then why have you been so…distant all day? And yesterday? This morning at breakfast, I couldn’t even hold your hand. It seemed like you didn’t want your family to see us together. I thought maybe you… I don’t know, that you were unsure of us, or afraid, or—” 
“That’s not it, I promise,” she said, wiping a tear away that had fallen from your eye. Fuck, you hated crying this much. “It’s just odd for me to be affectionate in front of my parents. They never were very touchy with each other in front of us, so it just feels like some unspoken rule. And then when my brother married his wife, they were the same way. But I promise, tomorrow I’ll try—”
You shook your head. You could tell Stina was upset too now, and you didn't want that. That wasn't the point of this. Tears continued to stream from your eyes, and you continued to swipe harshly at them.
“No, no. It’s all right. I don’t need you to be affectionate in front of them, I understand. It just seemed strange when I didn’t know the reason. I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable.”
Stina seemed at a loss for a moment, truly shocked. She pulled you into a kiss, pressing her lips firmly against yours once, twice, three times before pulling back.
“You’re in this house too. And we’re a team: you don’t just have to do things the way we do. I’m supposed to meet you in the middle, okay? We’re in a relationship—if something hurts you, or is important to you, I want to know.” 
You nodded, squeezing her hand as a small thanks. The taste of blood trickled through your mouth, reminding you of the wound. You did your best to swallow it down. 
“Come on, let’s get you into something more comfortable,” Stina said, helping you up. 
She opened the dresser, looking for some of the pants you had brought. When she turned around, in her hands were a pair of grey sweats and one of her long sleeve Swedish national team shirts. 
“Sit,” she requested, pointing at the bed. 
You followed, sitting and allowing her to help you undress. It was totally non-sexual, Stina was wholly concerned in caring for you. Once you were dressed in the casual clothes she had picked out, Stina returned to your side, your ankle in her lap as she massaged the skin gently. 
“Was that what made you think I hadn’t told them?”
“It seems silly… but I also overheard them talking to your aunt in the kitchen last night.” You took a breath, trying to banish the tears for good. “I know my Swedish isn’t that good, but I was doing my best to keep up, and they kept referring to me as your friend, your friend, Stina’s friend.” 
Stina looked at you, confused. 
“They did? What did they say?” 
You did your best to repeat the word, cringing at your own pronunciation. 
“Väninna?” She repeated, and you nodded. “Who told you that means friend?”
“Amanda.” you replied, “She said it was like a female friend.” 
Stina shook her head, laughing. 
“What?” You asked, a bit indignant. 
“It does mean that. But it also means girlfriend. I don’t think Amanda thought you’d ever run into the word. It’s a bit old fashioned.” Stina explained. 
“Oh…” you said, feeling very stupid, and very relieved. 
“Come here,” Stina said, leaning back against the headrest and gesturing for you to settle against her. She grabbed the bag of ice on your foot and shifted it to lie comfortably again. “I’m sorry you had to go through the day thinking I’d invited you here under friendly pretenses.” 
You could tell she was making fun of you, just a little, but that there was sincerity in her voice too. One of her hands crept under your shirt, resting comfortingly on your stomach. 
“I hope you don’t treat all your friends like you did yesterday morning.” You replied, snuggling closer to her. For the first time in days your head wasn’t full of doubts, and you could relax wholly. You just wanted to enjoy her warmth around you. You had faith that tomorrow would be great, that you could finally enjoy your time here the way you were meant to.
She chuckled, hugging you closer to her and pressing a kiss to your upward-turned lips. 
“No, definitely not. I usually have better decision making skills around most people.” 
“I guess I’m just special then, huh?”
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romanarose · 8 months
Note
Congrats on reaching 1k followers 🎉
Can I request number 7 from the smut prompt "that was the prettiest sound i’ve ever heard" with Steven Grant? ❤
HI!!! Sorry this took forever I got caught up in writing 3 different series lol and my anxiety has been horrific since June lol bad time for a follower celebration but im TRYING
"Prettiest Sounds"
Steven Grant x Reader
Join my taglist! : Masterlist
Summary: You are self-conscious that don't sound sexy when cum, Steven assure you that you do.
Warnings: PIV sex, references to a past shitty ex.
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You burry your face in Steven's neck as he fucks into you with care; your attempt to muffle the moans that couldn't help escape, yet another attempt in a long string of them. Steven just made you feel so good... it was hard to hide, but you tried.
When Steven moved enough to kiss and lick and nibble at your neck, you bit down on your bottom lip, a light whimper escaping you.
"Let me hear you, love." Steven begged as his hips thrust inside you, your fingers clawing into his sweaty back in an attempt to stay grounded. "Please?"
"You don't want that." It slips from your lips before you can stop it, your intrusive thoughts taking on a life of their own. You pinch your eyes closed, hoping he didn't hear you.
He did, of course. Steven had great hearing and slowed down to a stop. "Why would you say that, darling?" When you didn't answer, Steven carefully pulling out of you and making you whimper when he did. With a stroke of your hair out of your face, Steven laid on his side next to you. "Love? Please talk to me?
You hesitate, but with your eyes still closed in a cringe, you relent. "It doesn't sound good."
His eyebrows furrow in confusion. "What doesn't?"
Finally, you give into his gentle touches. Steven and you had only started dating recently, and only begun having sex this week, both wanting to take it slow. "I don't sound... sexy. during sex."
Steven had to take a moment to process what was said. "Well of course you do darling, I've heard you, you sound beautiful!"
"No," You shake your head. "That's not... real..."
His eyes widen comically large. "You mean... you're faking... uh- you're faking... orgasms?" He nearly whispers the last words, still a little awkward around sex.
"NO!" You are quick to reassure your sweet Steven. "I'm not faking the orgasms, I'm just faking... the sounds..." Embarrassment causes you to look away from him, but Steven coaxes you back to looking at him.
"Love... did he make you feel that way?" Steven knew you had a bad experience with your last boyfriend; he always nitpicked you in everything from the way you dress, the way you did your hair, how you walked... nothing was free from subtle critiques and little jabs.
You nod, confirming his suspicions with glistening eyes. "He said... I don't sound feminine enough."
The small rise and fall of his chest was a telltale that Steven was mentally envisioning kicking his ass. "That's not true, I know it's not. Whatever you sound like in genuine pleasure is sexy. I want to know how I make you feel, how I actually make you feel. I don't want a performance."
It took a little more reassurance, Steven encouraging you to open up during sexy and communicate, but as you made love that night, you threw away the fake, porny moans and let Steven hear you. When you came, you thought it was the least sexy thing you could've imagined, but it caused Steven to spill into you with a pathetic, loud whine.
"That was the prettiest sound I've ever heard."
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this was inspired by a convo between me and Dolli about Will Miller actually XD
@fandxmslxt69 @k-ra @ivystoryweaver @whatthefishh @campingwiththecharmings @littlenosoul @missdictatorme @steven-grants-world @ahookedheroespureheart @runa-falls @mikaelak @stevenandmarcslove @pikapuff-316 @@myfandomlikesandstories @milkymoon2483
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wardenparker · 3 months
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Hummingbird Has Landed, ch 4
Marcus Pike x female reader Co-written with @absurdthirst
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After the debacle of his failed engagement and relocating to Washington to take charge of his task force, newly minted Special Agent Marcus Pike is ready to get back out into the dating pool once more. A slew of bad dates has him feeling a little down, and he takes an old friend up on an invitation to get away and get his head on straight. Imagine his surprise when he finds not only fresh air, but his soulmate as well - hiding in plain sight but in the unlikeliest of places.
Rating: Mature, but this blog is always 18+ Word Count: 10.5k Warnings: *Blanket warnings for this series: occasional mention of American politics, pregnant character, food/alcohol consumption, mentions of clothing/regulated dressing for occasions, mentions of therapy because we believe in self care here, reader is in a previous relationship, love triangle, reader is mentioned as turning 30 during the course of the story* Family dynamics that contain debating as a method of communication, heavy familial expectations, changing relationships, talk of pregnancy and childbirth. Summary: A family dinner at the White House, a meddling best friend, and the mysterious case of the missing Congressman. Notes: Shout out to Keri for making me unexpectedly bawl about three-quarters of the way into this chapter. Thanks for that, babe. As usual, sorry for an errors I might have missed and thanks for reading!
Ch1 ~ Ch 2 ~ Ch 3
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It isn’t unusual for a family to sit down to dinner together during the week. If you’re a busy family, living scattered about in different places, even a once-a-week dinner is worth scheduling. But when you’re the First Family, it gets a little complicated. The food is always amazing. That isn’t up for debate. And it is nice to actually see your mother when she isn’t surrounded by a swarm of staff or on a television screen. Alex and June are great too, when they aren’t being absolute pains in the asses. The only thing you’re hoping is that no one asks you about Sam at dinner tonight.
Family dinners always occur in the residence, around the long wooden table that is a substitute for the one you had grown up sitting around. No press, no phones at the table and the only interruptions that are allowed during this time is a matter of national crisis. Everything else can wait. It's why your mother is a successful politician while balancing her family, she gives everything its proper time. "So a little birdy told me that your inn is booked solid for the next few weeks." She looks over at you with a proud smile, aware that you work incredibly hard to make your vision, your dream, a success.
“Through April.” You nod, finishing a bite of food. The White House chef takes his chicken Marsala very seriously and it’s so good that you can’t get enough of it. “It never fails. People are always excited to see the cherry blossoms.”
“Will you still be able to attend the State dinner?” Although it was more a mandatory invitation, she would understand if you couldn’t break away. After all, she has a very demanding job as well.
“Of course.” Not aware that you had had any choice in the matter, you get smirked half-glances from your siblings that tell you they would try to get out too, if they could. “Although…I do have a question about that.”
She looks up from cutting her chicken, your father looking up from his glass of wine curiously. “What is that?”
“I know that it’s only a week away, so I am not asking for anything besides clarification.” Something about your parents’ reaction makes you feel like you need to say that out loud. Otherwise you might be up for one of your family’s famously endless debates. “Has the seating arrangement already been done so that all of us,” you motion to yourself and your two younger siblings. “Have a plus one?”
“Of course.” Your father has been the one handling the details of the State dinner and has meticulously planned the family seating arrangement. “Why?”
“Just double-checking. It’s the first State dinner, after all. I just want to make sure it goes smoothly.” It doesn’t matter that you were desperately hoping he would say no, or instantly offer to rearrange the seating chart if needed, or literally anything else that would get you out of having to have an uncomfortable conversation with Sam after barely talking to him at all the last few days. Maybe you could ask Juan to…Nope. There’s a rehearsal dinner at the inn that night. Shit.
“Good.” He smiles and gives you a knowing look. “I did not place Sam and you near too many political adversaries.” He snorts. “He won’t spend the entire night in a debate.”
“That’s thoughtful of you, Dad. Thanks.” There is a solid chance Sam would prefer that over the stony silence between the two of you, but you can’t say that. Not with your mother at the table. It will turn into a full-blown debate over what has gone wrong in your relationship and how to fix it, and you don’t need your meddling siblings to have that kind of ammunition on you. “So,” you turn to them instead. “Alex? Junie? You guys have dates?”
Alex rolls his eyes. “I’m bringing Dave, since he wants to go into law school.” He huffs. “He wants to intern with one of the senators.” Junie just shrugs. “Not yet.” She murmurs, bored by the idea of the dinner at all.
“Dave gets to come to a State dinner?” Your brother and his boyfriend generally keep things under wraps, and it works well since they’ve been best friends since they were kids. Like the gay male version of you and Sydney except they became a couple. “That’s sweet, Al. Maybe he’ll actually get you to behave yourself.”
“Never.” He flashes you a grin, making your mother huff in exasperation and amusement.
“No potential guest on the horizon for you, Junebug?” Your father asks, looking to his youngest child on the other end of the table.
“I’m either going to have someone want to go so they can rub elbows with politicians and brag they went to the State dinner, or be completely bored out of their minds.” She shrugs. “So I don’t know if I want to ask anyone.”
“Is that even an option?” You’re really trying not to make it sounds like you’re hoping for a yes, but you are. To be told you can go solo would solve every single one of your problems at the moment.
“We cannot have empty chairs.” Your father shakes his head. “Junie, if you don’t pick someone, we will have to find a filler.”
“Do you want me to ask Dave to bring his brother?” Alex offers, always only helpful to the baby of the family. “Noah can dance, doesn’t care about politics, and you can bitch about college the whole time of you want.”
“Please?” Her eyes turn hopeful and she knows that will be better than some filler guest.
“You got it.” Alex grins and flashes that thousand watt smile at your parents. “See? Problem solved.”
“Thank you.” Your father looks relieved and your mother gives him a smile before cutting into her chicken again. “Happy to have that settled.” She hums.
Settled. Ugh. If you weren’t about to turn thirty, you would be pouting at the table. Instead you let discussion float by, as your father double checks that all three of you have your White House approved outfits for the night and you’ve managed to memorize all the facts and statistics on the Spanish royal family that were handed out by your mother’s staff.
The dinner moves on to dinner dessert and the dinner plates are changed for wonderful pots of chocolate lava cake, a back up dessert for the State dinner for anyone with a gluten intolerance or nut allergy.
“This is amaaazing.” June groans, ever the chocolate fanatic.
“It is delicious.” Your mother agrees. “Rich.” She looks over at your father. “You said this was gluten free?”
“Hard to believe isn’t it?” He laughed like he’s got some trick up his sleeve but he’s really just pleased. “Apparently this is one of the easier cakes to do with alternative flours.”
“Perfect.” She might be President of the United States, but she and your father were a team. “You did wonderful finding an alternative, honey.”
“You like the orange sauce with it?” Everyone’s anxieties are high for this first occasion and your father wants everything to be perfect.
“Perhaps offer a raspberry or strawberry?” She suggests, looking around the table for everyone’s opinions. “What do you all think? In addition?”
“It’s a little sweet,” you admit, hating to ever disappoint your father. But there is a reason you all have so many round table discussions in your family. “Maybe blood orange would offset the sweetness a little? And be a little more luxurious?”
“Ohhhh blood orange would be amazing.” Alex chimes in, nodding in agreement. “Balance the sweetness of the chocolate.”
“Oh my god yes,” June groans, already having mostly inhaled her lava cake and furtively peaking to see if either you or Alex is going to be willing to give yours up.
Alex snorts when he sees that beseeching look on his younger sister’s face and slides his lava cake towards her.
“This is what you should have for your birthday.” Junie tells you emphatically, digging in to what’s left of your brother’s dessert. “No question.”
“Why? So you can eat all of it?” Your brother snorts. “But-“ he looks back over at you. “What are you having at your party?”
"I honestly haven't thought about it." There's still a month left until your birthday so it hadn't even crossed your mind yet. "Maybe I'll just go to a Nationals game if I can get away from work. Who knows?"
“Oh honey, you shouldn’t do that.” Your mother huffs slightly and shakes her head. “Go to a Nationals game, sure. But you need to have a party.”
"Why?" It sort of feels like whining this time, but you have to wonder what her logic is. "Because I'm one of the First Kids? Because I'm turning 30?"
“Because you deserve a party where others cater to your wants and is about you? Celebrating my oldest baby’s birthday.” She implores, expression soft and loving.
If there is one thing your mother is annoyingly good at it, it's showering love on her children despite being busy. No birthday ever went by without acknowledgement. No success uncelebrated. No set back unconquered. "So does that mean you and Dad are going to throw it and all I have to do is show up?" It's highly unlikely considering how busy they are, but you have to try, right?
“Absolutely.” Her grin is positively smug, like you have fallen into her trap, which - you have. “Of course, we are not going to have it at the White House.” She rolls her eyes slightly. “But you just pretend it will be a surprise. I’ll let Sam know where to bring you.”
"I can't know where to go myself?" Since there's a chance Sam won't even be in the picture in a few weeks, you would rather just have her tell you. "And please don't make it some big, formal thing? If I get told to wear an evening gown to my birthday, I'm not showing up."
“Nothing formal.” She promises. “No ballgown, but a nice dress.” She compromises, tilting her head. “For pictures? Not official ones, of course.”
Regular negotiations with the President should make you eligible for some kind of ambassador position even as her daughter, and you tilt your head at your mother before making a full agreement. "Cocktail attire maximum, the music cannot be described as orchestral anything, and the fancier the venue is, the lower class the food has to be. Those are my conditions."
“Finger foods inside of an upscale tavern?” She poses, smirking slightly at the way you negotiate with her. Out of all the children, you are the closest to her personality, even if you don’t see it. “With specially crafted cocktails to celebrate your birthday? And a playlist composed of your favorites songs from each year?”
"I'll build a core list for the music. Because I don't trust Alex not to sneak Cotton Eye Joe or something into the mix." Like any good wheeling-and-dealing adult child, you have to get just one more compromise in there before sealing the deal. "And I will provide you with a list of friends I'd like invited outside of the normal group. Obviously I know you'll give the information to Sydney, Anna Leigh, and Issy."
“Deal.” She nods and looks very pleased with the situation. “Honey, I will plan this.” She promises, reaching out and patting the back of your father’s hand. “I want to plan it.”
"Along with running the free world, she's also a party planner." Your brother snorts, always ready to tease. "You know you can just hire Juan to do it, Mom."
“No.” She snorts and blows a raspberry at your brother. “It’s my baby’s birthday. I want to plan the perfect party to ring in thirty.”
"And somehow Birdie still doesn't get that she's the favorite." June laughs, throwing you a smirk before she rolls her eyes playfully at Alex.
“Now you know that is not true.” Your mother protests, rolling her eyes. “I love all of you equally.”
"Yes, Mother." Alex and June chime in unison, making all of you break into laughter at the same time around the table.
“Managing you kids is almost harder than running the country.” She grumbles, even though she’s grinning.
"We just wanted you to have a lot of practice before you got to the White House." You assure her, still laughing with your siblings. "Because being Governor of Pennsylvania was definitely not enough. Your children are the real test."
“Yes they are.” She agrees, laughing with all of you and your father. The truth was, she has incredible children that she’s proud of beyond measure. Often she tells the world that her best accomplishment has been raising the three of you and it’s not line to appeal to her core voters, she truly believes that.
"So, I have a logistical question." Satisfied temporarily with the amount of chocolate consumed in one dinner, June sits back in her chair with her glass of iced tea and proves once more than kids take more corralling than countries. "If the State dinner is next Saturday, does that count as family dinner?
Your father rolls his eyes and sighs while your mom narrows her eyes in thought and looks towards her husband for his thoughts. “What do you think, honey?”
"The purpose of Friday night dinners is to have a chance to sit down together as a family and catch up. Enjoy each other's company. Celebrate the week's small wins." It's what they had agreed on years ago when this tradition had been born. "So by that logic, I would say no. Since we won't be sitting around enjoying each other's company while the king and queen of Spain are visiting." He narrows his eyes though, in a way that definitely speaks to how long your parents have been together. They have identical expressions right now. "Why, Junebug? Did you make other plans?"
“I—” she falters for a moment and then shrugs. “There’s a party I wanted to go to, but I don’t have to go if my presence is required.”
Your parents exchange a glance, that decades-long nonverbal communication at work for not the first time today. "Why don't we have dinner a little earlier?" You father offers. Compromise is always the name of the game in the First Family. "If we have dinner at six instead of seven that night, will that give you enough time, kiddo?"
A partial victory counts, so she nods. "That would work. It would give me plenty of time to be annoyed at my security detail."
"Sounds like a plan." Your mother smirks, relieved to see that none of her children have tried to give their agents the slip yet. She had expected it from June, if she's honest. She's definitely the most independent and the most rebellious.
"Wish we didn't have to have them." She pout slightly, even though she had known this was part of the deal. She hadn't expected it to chafe so much though, if she was honest. She have been very innocent in believing they would just a vague shadow.
"I'd rather have you annoyed by their presence and be safe, than let you go without them and have something happen to any of you." It's non-negotiable, you all know that, and your mother is frankly very glad that it comes with the office. Trying to make sure all three of you are safe without the Secret Service? No way.
"I know." She doesn't have to be happy about it though. "I just— wish the world didn't suck so badly sometimes." She murmurs quietly.
"Here here." Alex nods, knowing that all the different ways the world sucks have affected him in ways the rest of the family hasn't experienced on their own. Everyone may tout their belief in soulmates loudly, but he can't even go out and hold his soulmate's hand without risk. If anything, he's grateful for the Secret Service agents that have been assigned to make sure he stays safe.
"I know that you are disappointed that I haven't been able to push through the soulmate resolution yet." Your mother is addressing Alex, but she shoots him a reassuring look. "But I know that it is close." She looks towards you. "Sam has been a strong voice in the fight to approving the resolution." She praises. "You should be very proud of him."
Mom, you’ve only been in office a month. No one at this table expects you to work miracles.” You steadily ignore the remark about Sam, feeling like your blood pressure is rising a little every time he gets mentioned tonight. “The Resolution is a really good piece of legislation and it’s only a matter of time before it gets passed.” Looking to your brother, though, you offer him the proudest smile you can manage. “And then this pain in the ass can have the White House’s first ever gay wedding. One for the history books.”
Alex snorts and shakes his head. “Hell no.” He huffs. “I don’t want a stuffy White House wedding where I have to invite every dignitary I know. I’ll leave that to you.” He hums with a smirk.
“I’m not getting married anytime soon so what does it matter?” An awful lot of people have been very invested in your future lately and it’s grinding on you to the point where you shoot back a reply without even thinking of it.
Your father’s brow shoots up, surprised at the tone you had used and he glances at your mother, a silent look passing between them.
The silence at the table is ringing, and you put down your wine glass as delicately as you can manage. “What?” You ask, looking around the table but not willing to apologize for being cranky. “I’m not engaged, am I? It could be years before I settle down.”
"Nothing." Your mother shakes her head and smiles at you. "Things will happen in their own time." She councils softly. "You don't have to adhere to anyone's timeline but your own."
“Right.” The best you can do is sit back and have the decency to look a little sheepish, but you can feel the question marks in the eyes of your family members all watching you. It is massively uncomfortable at best.
"Okay." Alex senses something is wrong with you, that you want the subject to change so he claps his hands. "So, I have a question." He recaptures his parents attention. "Do we have to dance at the State dinner?" He asks seriously. "Because you know Dave has two left feet and I can't be embarrassed like that."
“You can dance with your sisters,” your father offers, sensing the same thing as his son. “Or with your mother, or the queen? Or any of the young men there, if you want to end up above the fold of the Washington Post.” It’s purely teasing, of course, since anyone who knows Alex knows he is only in the closet publicly.
He rolls his eyes and scoffs. "Nahhhhhh." He waves away the idea. "I don't want to have to hire a PR manager this early in my life." He jokes. "It would drain my savings."
"I guess we'll all behave ourselves." June observes with a wry smile.
"That would be extremely appreciated." Your mother hums, smiling at all of you. "I know you all have busy schedules, but I am so glad we can still get together."
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It's Sunday before the dress arrives at the inn for the State dinner, and you and Sydney were enjoying a rare afternoon off together when Malachi lead the worried-looking White House staffer around to the back porch of the inn to let them hand it over to you in person. Sending them off again with your thanks, you push out a sigh. "I haven't heard from Sam in almost a week," you admit when your best friend fixes you with an inquisitive expression.
"Have you reached out to him?" Sydney asks, frowning as she holds the passion fruit tea she has been obsessed with over the last few days. "He might be embarrassed and unsure of how he will be received?"
"I sent him a text yesterday asking if we were still on for our plans tonight, but...nothing so far." Making plans ahead of time had been a definite strength for the two of you before now. But since Valentine's Day? Communication has been non-existent.
"Have you tried his office?" It's not like Sam to just blow you off, so she wonders if he's been caught up in meetings.
"I—" You blow out another breath. One that feels like defeat. "I'm afraid of calling and having Vanessa pick up," you admit. It feels stupid but you can't help it. "The idea that she could be feeling chatty and say something about Marcus just...I know that's stupid."
"Have you tried to text Marcus?" That's the next question is the most obvious one to take the conversation. If you aren't in contact with Marcus or he hasn't responded to you, that could be why you are feeling like a duck out of water.
"No." That idea makes you shake your head sternly and reach for your drink. The covered porch and little space heater is nice for sitting in the sunniest hours of the day, but you still made yourself a cup of hot coffee to sip while you sat with Sydney. "No...I mean...he probably hates me by now."
"I don't think he would hate you." She's already making an note to have Juan reach out to Pike himself. Maybe take him out for a beer and feel him out on the situation. "You cancelled a causal invite to dinner, you didn't cancel taking him to the State dinner."
"I can't even think about the dinner." Your fingers drum on the box beside you, knowing the dress inside is beautiful but not wanting to face the reality of how uncomfortable the night will be. "If I don't have a date I have to tell my father as soon as possible and I'll get stuck with a million questions and a seat filler."
"Then you need to call Sam." She huffs. "Even if he's fuming at you, I doubt he would miss the State dinner."
"I know, I know, I know you're right." But you don't really want to call him. If it's been almost a week and he's effectively ghosted you? That seems like a pretty clear signal to you.
"Babe....you need closure." The bags under your eyes aren't doing you any good, despite the sleepy time tea that she had been sending to you. "If you are ending things with him, you need to be an adult about it."
"Ugh." You groan, letting your head tip back so the sound drags out dramatically. "Stop making sense and giving good advice, it's interfering with my denial and the reconstruction of my emotional walls."
She laughs, although it's not really funny. She knows where you and it's a shitty place to be. Sighing softly, she picks up your phone and holds it out to you.
"I hate you." Even muttered good naturedly, you still snag your phone from her hand and clutch your coffee mug like a security blanket. Sam's office number is programed into your phone and you squeak with combined fear and frustration as the call connects and begins to ring.
"Congressman Chase's office." Vanessa's voice comes over the line cheerfully and professionally. "How may I be of assistance today?"
Don't be a coward, you remind yourself sternly, as soon as you hear her voice. "Hi Vanessa." Saying your name clearly eliminates any assumption that his staff might recognize your voice, even though you know a few people absolutely do. Some of his staffers like to chat to you while you wait for Sam to come to the phone when you call his office. "Is Sam available?"
Her use of your last name is merely one of respect, choosing to keep things professional with the Congressman's girlfriend. Slightly confused because you are calling for him at the office. "Did he not tell you?" She asks, her voice lower than the usual chipper tone.
"Apparently not." There is no way you're going to fess up that Sam hasn't spoken to you in days, or returned even so much as a text message. Now you're concerned something might be going on.
"The Congressman has been sick all week." She only knows how bad it is because he had spend the first few days trying to work through it. "He has pneumonia." She huffs quietly. "He's been barely reachable but I had though the would have at least let you know."
He's sick. You barely manage to swallow a sigh of relief at that news, and only because you know how inappropriate that would sound to his aide. "I hadn't heard the official diagnosis." It's as smooth a lie as you can muster at the moment, and you cling to your warm mug all the harder. He's sick. That's why he hasn't called. "Thank you, Vanessa."
"Of course." She's confused, but she also knows that the medication the doctor had prescribed him was to help him rest since he had been trying to push himself. "Anytime."
The groan of relief comes only after you disconnect the call, and you deflate into yourself in your chair. "He's sick," you tell Sydney with a groan. The heel of one hand digs into your closed eye like you're trying to banish a headache but it's really just that you feel the pressure releasing from your mind. "He has pneumonia. He's been out since the beginning of the week."
"Okaaaaay." Surprising, but honestly, it's not? Considering it's Sam and he's pretty direct about things. It's one of those traits that Sydney admires about him. "That's a very valid reason for not texting or calling." She admits. "That's a good thing, right?"
"I'm not thrilled that he's sick, but I'm very relieved that he didn't just ghost me. He sleeps like a rock around the clock when he's sick, so he's probably just passed out at home." The one other time you had seen him with a cold was several months ago, and it seemed like he had slept for three days straight before springing back up on his feet like nothing had happened.
"He didn't just ghost you." She grins at you, even though you are still conflicted about Sam, the fact that you are relieved by this means there's something there. "Do you want me to whip him up some chicken noodle soup to drop at his doorstep?"
"Do you want to go upstairs?" When the two of you actually get the chance to cook together it's always fun, and this sounds like the perfect opportunity. You didn't have a dinner plan anyway. Chicken noodle soup for two is easy enough. "I did my grocery shopping this morning so I know I have everything. And..." you pat the dress box beside you. "I should hang this up. I don't think velvet wrinkles but I still don't want to take a chance."
"Absolutely." She sends you a smile, happy that you look relieved and like a weight has been lifted off your chest. "We will have Congressman Chase cured with our famous chicken noodle soup in no time."
Juan had taken the afternoon to go for a ride around the Virginia backroads so it's just you girls right now and that sounds pretty perfect. You gather up your things and nab Agent Bailey, heading upstairs to get to work and try to ease your mind a little. "I do still have a problem," you point out, when the elevator hits the top floor.
"What's that?" Sydney frowns, looking at the screen that shows the floor you are on. She really hates elevators, but this helps her mitigate that fear that the damn thing would plunge into the basement like all those action movies she had watched as a kid.
The doors slide open and you let her out first, stepping up behind her to unlock the door and let the three of you inside. "Now I definitely need to find a new date for the State dinner."
"Oh shit." Sam can't attend the State dinner with pneumonia, it would be too great of a risk. "Well, I can have Juan escort you." She had plans to have dinner with her parents and reveal the name they had chosen, but this was important and she could reschedule.
"Honey, no." She's been excited about the dinner with her parents for a week already and it wouldn't be fair to take Juan away from that. "You guys have family plans and I'm not going to ruin that. I'll just...think of someone else."
"Malachi?" She offers. "He would look good in a tuxedo."
For a split second you get excited about the idea, but you sink again as you readjust the dress box on your hip. "I need him here that night." You tell her, groaning about it. "We have that six-person reservation that needs a translator. Malachi is the only one on staff who speaks Hindi fluently."
"Fuck." The fact is there aren't a lot of men that can just be called up last minute to look good in a suit and be cleared to be in a roomful of the world's top dignitaries. Unless... "I have an idea and you're going to hate it." She promises as you open the door to your apartment. "Give me your phone."
"I trust you with my life but I do not like that tone in your voice." Still, you hand over your phone with confusion on your face and start to unpack the burgundy velvet evening gown that was altered to fit you perfectly. "Please don't call any of my exes."
"I am not calling any of your exes." She promises you, opening the phone with a code and opening your phone book. It's easy to find the number that she is looking for, because you are a stickler for putting numbers in properly and hits call, changing the phone to speaker so you can hear it ring.
The call rings three times before it connects, and even if Sydney hadn't been angling the phone away from you so that you couldn't see the name, you're pulling the dress out of the box when you hear the unmistakable "Hello?" on the other end.
Suddenly you're standing straight up and glaring at your best friend – your former best friend – for this ultimate betrayal. "Marcus." Your voice cracks when you say his name and you just want the floor to open and swallow you up. "Hi. How— how are you?"
"Oh, hi." It's obvious that he's confused as to why you are calling him on a Sunday, but he doesn't hang up the phone. "I'm good, how are you?" He asks politely, actually sounding like he is interested in the answer.
"I..." You sink down on your bed, letting Sydney continue to hold your phone, and hug the dress to your chest. "I'm calling for a couple of reasons," you decide. Now that you've been confronted with this phone call, it all sort of comes tumbling out. "I wanted to apologize, first. For being vague on rescheduling our Indian dinner last weekend, and then taking off like the Wicked Witch was after me when I saw you the other morning. I've...it's been a weird week. And that was rude of me. So I apologize."
“I understand.” Marcus gives a rueful chuckle. “I’ve had a bit of a weird one myself. My phone has been broken three different times in the past week alone.” He snorts. “And half my contacts and messages have been unrecoverable according to the techs at the store.” He sighs. “So if you send me a message or something and I didn’t answer, I promise I wasn’t ignoring you.”
The I told you so look on Syd's face causes you to throw a pillow at her and you shake your head as though he was in the room with you instead of over the phone. "I texted you once about rescheduling dinner,' you admit. "But...I have a slightly different suggestion, if...if you want to hear it? And I would consider it an enormous favor."
It’s on the tip of his tongue to decline, but he is curious to hear what this favor is. “Hit me.” He tells you with a slight chuckle. “But not too hard. I have to work tomorrow.”
"I promise I'm not capable of punching through a cell phone." It's easy to talk to him. So easy. And it lulls you into a momentary false sense of security as you sit back on your bed. "But...I have a plus one to a State dinner for the Spanish royal family on Saturday night and I was wondering if you wanted to come to a party at the White House?" It's such an insane thing to ask a person that you almost feel like it's an out of body experience, but there it is. It's out in the open. There's no taking it back now.
“I-“ Of all the questions he tries to anticipate, that was not it. He frowns slightly, wondering about the congressman, until he remember that Vanessa had said he was sick with pneumonia. It’s likely him being sick has put you into a frenzy to find someone to go. Not the reason he would like to have dinner with you, but he wants to view you as a friend and this will be a friendly, public event. “Sounds like I need to get my tuxedo to the cleaners.”
"Oh my god, you're a lifesaver." The air whooshes out of you all at once and you fall back onto your bed with a gigantic sigh. "I will come and pick you up myself, the food is going to be amazing, and you can rag on me with my pain-in-the-ass siblings all night. I can't say how grateful I am, Marcus. Really. Thank you so much."
“It’s a honor that you even considered me to escort you” Marcus tells you truthfully. “I’ll be exited to go and I promise to keep the ragging to a minimum.”
"You've earned the right, I promise." You blow out another breath and manage to sit up but solidly ignore the smug look on your best friend's face. "I'll text you the details, if that's okay? Is your phone situation all worked out?"
He laughs quietly. “Hopefully so. All I know is that it is never a good idea to set your phone on the roof of the car when the rookie is driving.” Marcus snorts. “If I don’t get a message by tomorrow, I’ll call you. Sound good?”
"Sounds perfect." Quiet for a second, you take your phone out of Sydney's hand and smile, the smallest twitch of the thing in the corners of your mouth. "Thank you, Marcus. I owe you, but I promise we'll have fun."
“Don’t even worry about it.” He promises. “Well, I hope you have a great rest of your weekend, okay?” He asks. “And tell Sam to feel better.”
"I will." Passing that message along might be slightly strained, but it's the thought that counts. Thanking him again, you press the red button on your phone screen to end the call and groan so loudly that Agent Bailey sticks her head into the room just to make sure you didn't hurt yourself. "I can't believe you did that!" You squawk, throwing a second pillow at Sydney. This one hits her square in the shoulder where the first one missed.
“But tell me it wasn’t worth it?” She challenges, throwing the pillow back at you. “You have a date for the State dinner and you learned that he wasn’t ignoring you either.” She folds her arms over her chest and looks at you with a smug smile. “Come on, what other problems do we need to solve? World hunger?”
"Go to Friday night dinner in my place if you want to work on global issues." You snark playfully. The fact is, you know she's right. Annoyingly so, actually, and right now you're still processing.
“Maybe now you will get some sleep.” She huffs, still smug that everything was working out. “You’ve got a dress, a date and I’ll even have one of the wedding stylists that owes me a favor come do your hair and makeup.” She hums. “I made a special dinner for her and her boyfriend for Valentine’s.” She explains.
"What are you, the Romance Fairy?" Dragging yourself off the bed, you carry the dress over to your closet and carefully hang it up where nothing bad could ever touch it. The garment bag that it's in will help make sure of that. "Come on, we have soup to make."
She doesn’t mention that the State dinner isn’t supposed to be romantic. She just grins and follows you. “Yes ma’am, Hummingbird, ma’am.”
"Oh god, don't call me that around him." This, in particular, is an incredibly stern warning. At this point you're just grateful that the Secret Service use your callsign quietly enough that they're not overheard when they say it. "I'll die of embarrassment."
“I won’t.” She promises, aware that you aren’t quite ready to address that particular issue.
“I just don’t even want to think about that.” You don’t want to, but you have been. Rather constantly, which is a growing issue.
“Let’s just get you through the State dinner and your birthday.” Syd suggests. “Then you can let that big brain of yours work overtime on non-issues.”
Throwing Sydney a look of dismay over the last of your coffee, you pout animatedly. “I debated terms of my birthday with my mother at the last dinner.”
“And?” Sydney almost laughs at your look and turns away to start rummaging through your fridge for the ingredients for the soup. “What was negotiated?”
“Cocktail. High end pub, finger foods and a DJ.” You shake your head and huff a sigh. “I said I should just go to a ball game, but that was unacceptable.”
“It’s hard to run security for the president at a stadium.” She reminds you. “And your mom would want to be there.”
“I just…” Looking back at Sydney, you cross your arms and shrug. “I don’t think I have all that much to celebrate this year, I guess.”
“You have a lot to celebrate.” Your friend will always hype you up and she does so now. “You have your health, a successful business with your best friend.” She cheeses playfully at you. “Your mother is the president of the United States and….” She shrugs. “You’ve hit your dirty thirties. We have to celebrate.”
“I can’t exactly have dirty thirties when my mother is the president.” You throw your arms around her again and squeeze her shoulders, grateful for every second you have Sydney by your side. You’ve been each other’s ride or die since first grade and that will never change. “And you’re pregnant, so you already got dirty.”
“I did.” She snorts with a wicked grin. “And I enjoyed every second of it, too.”
“Perv.” You really can’t help but tease her, but it’s purely out of affection. “It’s just because you’ve got your super sexy soulmate. The Triple S is undeniable.”
“He is sexy.” She can’t deny that, grinning wickedly as she rubs her stomach. “And getting sexier. Did I tell you he’s starting to get sympathy cravings? Dad bod mode is close.”
“Your wildest dreams are all about to come true.” The two of you giggle together as you start to pull ingredients out of the fridge, getting started on cooking that batch of soup.
“So, do you feel better now?” Sydney asks, organizing the vegetables and opening the drawer for the carrot peeler. She had helped you set up the kitchen to her specifications so she could easily find what she wanted when she cooked here.
“A little.” It’s relief more than anything, as you start to peel fresh ginger. It’s the secret ingredient to your best ever chicken noodle soup. “And then I feel guilty for it, which is fucked up. Like I think Marcus might actually enjoy himself on Saturday just for the bragging rights and then I immediately feel bad for thinking that.”
“Why do you feel bad?” She cocks her head as she peels the outer layer off the crisp, orange carrots. “I think most people will enjoy themselves just for bragging rights, it’s brag worthy.”
“Promise you won’t judge me and promise you won’t tell anyone. Not even Juan.” Holding your pinky finger out to her is the most solemn promise you can possibly as of your friend, and neither one of you has ever refused it.
“Of course.” Juan knows everything you are comfortable with, but she would never betray your trust like that. She hooks her finger around yours and looks at you for an explanation.
“I…” Glancing around, you see that Agent Bailey has dutifully slipped out of earshot and is sitting on your couch with a crossword book firmly in hand. “I feel guilty because now that it’s set…I can’t help wishing it was a date,” you admit quietly, hanging your head turn.
“It kind of is a date.” Syd admits, looking at you with a sense of regret for teasing you. “A platonic on, but a date nonetheless.” She hums. “Just like you and I have dates. Friend dates.”
“That…regrettably…is not what I mean.” The best you can really do is shrug your shoulders in defeat. “Friend dates are awesome and I will take you on dates for the rest of our lives. But I—I wish this was different than that. And it sucks.”
“You can’t help attraction.” She argues softly, knowing that you will still feel guilty. You are very stern about cheating, and this is veering into emotional territory for you. “He might not- it should just be about the dinner.”
“I know.” Peel ginger. Grate ginger. Try not to think too hard about what Marcus will look like in a tux. “I know. You’re right.”
“I’m sorry.” She murmurs softly. “I shouldn’t have pushed.” She feels guilty, especially now that she knows how you are feeling about this.
“How could you have known? I’ve kept this as firmly to myself as I possibly could.” And keeping things from Sydney is the most impossible task in the world for you. “Besides. He was the right choice.”
“Still doesn’t make me any less sorry.” She huffs, washing the carrots and bringing them over to the chopping board. “I don’t want you to be stressed, I want you to be happy.”
“I’m going to be stressed until I make a decision about what to do.” Once the ginger is done you move on to washing and slicing celery. “And I don’t know how to make that decision.”
Sydney sighs heavily. “I hate that for you.” She admits softly. “If you need to talk, you let me know.”
“What does Juanito think I should do?” You know her well enough to know that she’s talked to her husband — her own soulmate — about this at least a little.
“Juan thinks that you should be happy.” She hums softly. “Whatever that entails. As long as you are fair to everyone.”
"No groundbreaking advice?" If you're honest with yourself, you were kind of hoping for it. Instead, you're definitely floundering.
Sydney stops chopping and points the tip of the knife at you. “You know what he would say, Birdie.”
Ugh. That's true. You do. Juan is unfalteringly trustworthy like that. "That I have to talk to both of them..."
“Even if Marcus isn’t your soulmate, you are attracted to him, and it’s worth seeing if he might be the one you want to be with.” She shrugs, knowing that it’s easy to give advice when she’s found her soulmate and is blissfully happy. “Or it might just say that Sam isn’t the one.”
"Have you noticed a pattern?" Even as you're making the soup, going through effort and putting care into a dish to comfort and heal, a pattern is becoming as obvious as daybreak.
“I have.” She nods and looks back up at you. “Have you noticed that pattern? Or have you just been ignoring it?”
"I think..." A heavy sigh escapes you as you deposit the clean, diced celery in a bowl. "I might have been ignoring it."
“It’s okay to admit that a relationship has run its course.” She reminds you. “Sometimes, things just aren’t meant to be.”
"It's just...no version of this conversation we've had in the last few weeks has ended with the conclusion that I should stay with Sam. And that...that is not how I ever expected things to go. He's such a sweet guy and we've had such a good time." Just as unexpected as this conclusion is the tear that rolls down your cheek, and you brush it away immediately. "It's shitty to break up with someone while they're sick, right?"
“I think you owe him a face to face explanation.” She doesn’t tell you that it’s wrong, if that’s what you want to do. She’ll support whatever you want.
"Shit," you groan, reaching next for an onion. Sydney has trained you to be a dutiful sous chef for so long that now you just do her prep work without thinking. "This is going to suck, isn't it?"
“It doesn’t have to.” She counters. “You said Sam’s reaction was….surprisingly hostile. Maybe he’s had some doubts about the relationship too.”
"If he was hostile about the fact that I was standing my ground, he's either going to be hostile about being broken up with, or just completely silent." Sam doesn't take rejection well, you've seen it in a more professional setting but it will certainly apply here.
“Was he hostile?” She asks seriously. “Or were you both in unknown territory and stubbornly waiting for the other to give in?”
Groaning animatedly, you bump Sydney with your hip at the counter and shake your head. "Sometimes I truly dislike how well you know me. I'm just saying that out loud for the record."
“You know you love me.” She snorted and blows a raspberry at you playfully.
"I do love you." But it garners another groan from you all the same. "This was so much easier when we were kids and our life plan was to live in a castle until we were old enough for a nursing home, and then to be the super weird old ladies on the front porch of the home cursing at people as they walked by."
“We are still on for that.” She jokes, motioning to the apartment. “We are in our castle right now.”
"Technically we can go to an American castle any time we want," you point out. "It comes with the price of visiting my family, but the White House does count as a castle."
“Yes it does.” She agrees, proud to know the first family so well. “But I like our castle better.”
"I love this place." From the first day you set foot inside the inn, you have absolutely adored both working here and even running the place. Living in the caretaker's apartment has been comforting. Like a warm hug on a cold day. "And I love that we get to share it."
“There is no one I would rather do this with.” She tells you honestly, so excited to be able to live out the vague dreams of college now as adults.
"You're gonna make me teary again," you complain, fully teasing her but definitely feeling a little emotional about the whole situation.
“I thought it was my job to be the emotional mess.” Sydney sniffles and moves to wrap her arms around you and squeeze tight.
“Sympathy mood swings.” That makes both of you laugh, there at the counter. “Is that a thing?”
“Why not?” She asks, laughing herself at her husband and best friend having sympathy symptoms of her pregnancy.
“It is now, I guess.” You keep working through the soup prep side by side, getting everything ready in unison. “The thing is…” you hum after you’ve both stopped laughing. “I do care about Sam. And I want him to be happy. I just…don’t think I’m going to be the one to give him the future he wants. Which sucks to realize.”
“It’s better that you realize it now.” She rationalizes. “Less heartache and it’s not like you’re married with kids.”
“And we haven’t started moving in.” That’s an unexpected relief, and the realization that it was moving in together that kicked at your doubt is something you’ll have to grapple with later. “I probably only have a couple of things at his place and the only thing I’ve got of his here is a book I borrowed.”
“And….” She sighs. “Let’s face it, Sam wasn’t happy with you spending all your time at the inn.” She voices. “He rarely wanted to come here, even though he’s the one that can more easily travel.”
“Have you been holding back on me, Badillo?” You raise an eyebrow at her as she works on the chicken. “Hiding the things about Sam that have been bothering you?”
“No.” You don’t seem very surprised. “Just observations that I have made, but I wasn’t sure how you would take them.” She explains. “You were very proud of your relationship with Sam and I didn’t want to influence you unduly.”
"I was." And you can acknowledge that firmly, knowing that the relationship you forged with Sam was based on respect and mutual affection. It does feel like failure to see it ending, but at least you tried. Failure is just a means for new growth, as your mother has always told you.
“I know you look at this as a failure.” She’s known you way too long to think otherwise. “But this was a year long relationship that at the end of the day- you weren’t on the same page.”
“I think it would feel very different if I wasn’t sure it was going to end up talked about in every gossip column from sea to shining sea.” You can’t help but roll your eyes, knowing — and hating — how true it is. Junie isn’t dating and Alex isn’t dating publicly, so all eyes are on you. Especially if you break up with a Congressman.
“Don’t let it bother you.” She urges you. “It’s not like they can say anything bad.”
“Tell that to Princess Diana.” You huff, shaking your head and rolling your shoulders to try to straighten out your head a little. “Okay. New topic. Baby name? I’m dying to know what you guys picked.”
She smiles, rubbing her stomach in that universally happy way all expectant mothers do. “Constance Maria Badillo.” She lights up as she tells you the name they had finally decided on last night.
“Oh, honey.” There’s a measure of delight in your giggle when you light up, finding out those two essential pieces of information all at once. Sydney and Juan had been keeping both under wraps. “It’s a girl? Really?”
“We just found out.” She admits, grinning like a maniac. “Of course, baby Badillo could have just been shy but they are pretty positive she’s a girl.”
"You must be thrilled." Of course Sydney would be happy no matter what the gender as long as the baby is healthy, but you know she's always dreamed about having her little girl.
“Over the moon.” Agreeing happily, she turns back to the chicken. “And Juan and I have talked about it.” It’s a casual beginning. “We want you to be her Godmother, as well as Auntie Birdie.”
"Syd." Your knife gets put down immediately and you turn to her with a look of complete awe on your face. "Are you sure? You don't want to ask your sister? I mean I am honored and one thousand percent here for it."
“No.” She shakes her head and her own tools are set down so she can address this properly. “There is no one that we want more than you.” She explains. “You will always be my choice for godparent.”
"I know I've said it before in our lives, but I am here for anything you need." It's not just for Syd, and you lean down and hum a happy hello to your goddaughter that's growing like crazy. "That goes for you too, kiddo. Hear me? Auntie Birdie's got your back. And your front. And all the other bits of you forever."
“You are going to be her favorite.” Sydney sniffles, her hormones making her cry happy tears. “The one she confides in when she can’t bear to tell me or Juan and I love you for that.”
“I hope so.” Wrapping your best friend up in a hug is exactly what this moment needs, and the sound of two women sniffling takes over your kitchen for just long enough to make both of you break out into giggles. “She’s going to get the best of me and I’m going to tell her about all the stupid bullshit we got into as teenagers.”
“Oh god, you better not.” Sydney groans, rolling her eyes. “Nothing she can throw back in my face when she’s angsty and argumentative.”
“Nothing that will put you in Mom Jail,” you tease with a wink. “Promise.”
“Thank goodness.” She snorts. “This one is already gonna have her daddy wrapped around her finger, so I’m gonna have to be the bad cop.”
“It will go back and forth. One day she’ll do something that makes Juan crazy and you’ll be the arms that she runs to.” It happened in your own house more than once, there’s no reason it won’t happen in hers, too. “It will all turn out. She’s going to have the best parents in the world.”
“I hope so.” She shrugs slightly, aware that they will make mistakes, but hopefully it won’t be too bad to make their daughter hate them.
“You have love,” you remind her with a gentle smile. “Have a little faith, too. If nothing else, we all believe in you. All your friends and your family know you’re going to be great.”
“We will have our little village for Constance.” She agrees. “So when we mess up, we can learn.”
“For Baby Badillo number two,” you tease, beaming at her.
“Juan is already asking how many more I want.” Sydney snort, huffing slightly even if she’s grinning. “Told him that he needed to let me birth this one first before we decided that.”
“One at a time is probably best. For your body and your sanity.” Although, you do raise an eyebrow at her. “Twins don’t run in your family, right?”
“Not that I know of, but Juan thinks some cousins might have twins.” She winces and shakes her head with a laugh. “I’ll kill him.”
"Fingers crossed that you only have to grow one baby at a time." With everything prepped, you move to the sink to wash your knives and fetch your best stock pot from the cabinets. "But I will spoil the hell out of all of them, no matter what."
“I know you will.” She knows what despite your already busy schedule, you will always make time for those that matter most to you. Which is why it’s so telling her that you and Sam have been spending less and less time together over the last few months.
“So…” Flashing Sydney a grin as she starts to cook, you move back to the refrigerator to put things away and to get fresh drinks for both of you. “Two questions, then. First: Have you picked a godfather? And two, if I’m her go mother does that mean I get to throw your baby shower?”
"I'm letting Juan pick out the godfather." She admits, shrugging slightly. "I don't- he's got some ideas, but he hasn't made a final decision yet."
“Most of his friends are fathers already, aren’t they?” The Guy friends that Juan had made in the DC area since moving east after meeting Sydney are all responsible men around his age and most of them have families of their own. It’s a small group, it they’re tight knit.
"Yeah....except that, now, Juan has started thinking that he wants someone that is...." She rolls her eyes, "trained." She huffs and moves over to wash her hands again. "You know how involved he was with beefing up security here, he wants a protector for our little girl in case something happens to us."
“Well…that’s not unreasonable, right?” Spying a can of croissant dough — a cheat you’re very fond of — in your fridge, you grab it and decide to fill them with Nutella and berries for a little dessert pastry. “I mean he’s got friends who are trained. Be able to pick someone.”
"I know." She sighs and turns back to you. "I just hate that he's so practical about it." She admits, biting her lip again. "I don't want to think about us not being here to protect her."
“Then try to think of it like he’s choosing someone who can help her learn to protect herself,” you offer instead. As she grows up and faces new things — whatever those things are — her godfather will have been there to teach her self-confidence and safety in equal measure.”
There's a moment where Sydney thinks about what you said and how it applies to the situation before she huffs out a slightly annoyed, mostly amused laugh. "How do you do that?" She grumbles. "I was ready to be in a tearful pout about that you have to go make it perfectly acceptable." There's no heat to her words and she flashes you a grateful smile. "Thanks."
“We’ve been friends for twenty-five years, Sydney Rose.” The grin you flash back at her in unapologetic. “If I don’t know how to talk you out of a panic by now, I’m more clueless than I thought.”
Pursing her lips at you, she doesn't try to deny it. Instead, she turns to rummage in your spice cabinet. "Do you have that turmeric I left up here last time?"
“It’s behind the huge mason jar of chili seasoning.” You tell her without looking up from your dough-chocolate-and-berry project. “Indian spices are in the back because I fucked up the last time I tried to make curry from scratch and they were taunting me.”
“Poor thing.” Sydney sympathizes and shrugs. “We just need to realize they put something extra in their recipes they won’t tell us.” She hums, talking about your favorite curry from your favorite restaurant that you had cancelled on Marcus going to.
"Some kind of magic that I can't wrap my brain around." There were strawberries in your fridge that you're now set on cleaning and trimming. A crescent roll filled with a dollop of Nutella and a whole strawberry is a thing of beauty. "I should just eat their take out every week for the rest of my life instead of trying to make it."
She smirks at you but doesn’t remind you that you would have had some the other day. It would be too cruel. “How about we order some Sunday?” She suggests. “Decompress from the State dinner?”
“That sounds amazing.” The gratitude you have and have always had for her friendship truly is never ending. “You can tell me all about dinner with your folks and we can get chaotic with each other over curry and Scrabble?”
“Sounds like we are party-ing.”She teases, although she loves it. Low key nights are her favorite.
“And all the sparkling apple cider we can stand.” If she’s going to tease you, you’re going to tease her right back. “By the way, I asked Mom to make sure my birthday has a mocktail so you don’t miss out on the fun.”
“You’re the best, you know that?” She beams at being included and tilts her head. “So how was the family dinner, besides the avoidance of Sam talk?”
“Alex is bringing David to the State dinner. Under wraps, of course.” Syd has known your family so long that she knows every inch of your siblings’ lives as well, just like you know hers. “Junie is learning to negotiate to be able to go to parties, so I know I’ve done my job as her big sister right.
“Your brother should be able to take any fucking body he wants to the State dinner.” She rolls her eyes and huffs, offended on behalf of your younger brother. “If foreign dignitaries don’t like it, fuck ‘em.”
"He can. It's not like the Spanish royals have a 'no gays' policy or something, and gay marriage obviously isn't the issue. It's that he doesn't want to become the center of an unnecessary debate. He is who he is, and I'm so proud of him for making his choices." Glancing over at her, you shrug slightly. "That being said? I get not wanting to be thrown into the spotlight for who you love."
“Of course you do.” It’s kind of a double-edged sword in her opinion, the political spotlight. You could be a darling of the media one day and the scapegoat the next, just depending on how the mercurial whim of the people shifted.
"It's one thing that Sam didn't seem to mind, and I was grateful for that." In no way are you going to start bad mouthing the man just because you've reached the finish line of your relationship. That's not the kind of person you are.
“I know, but I also know that dating a presidential candidate’s daughter during an election isn’t exactly bad press for a politician.” She holds up a hand. “I’m not saying that’s why he dated you, I’m not speaking ill, I’m just stating facts.”
"If he actually wants to be President, he needs to get used to having the Secret Service being around real fast." You snort, shaking your head and knowing that it really has been one thing bothering him pretty constantly. "He hates feeling like his privacy is being invaded."
“It might be because he’s not in control of the detail.” She guesses. “You have the final say on the detail and where they are.”
"Either way, I don't think he'll miss having an agent in his living room." There are plenty of strawberries, so you offer one to Syd and pop a small one in your mouth to savor. "Maybe I just won’t date during my mom’s administration. Maybe that’s the solution.”
“You like having a partner though.” She argues. “And you shouldn’t give up dating because of who your mother is.”
"It might just be less complicated." It's not what you want but it would certainly save you some heartache. "What's the worst that happens? I'm single for the next eight years?"
“Already counting on that re-election?” She teases, bumping your hip playfully.
You huff, swallowing a half-laugh, and bump her back. "More like pondering my worst case scenario."
“Whatever happens, we will be with you.” She promises with a grin.
______
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memento-rory · 17 days
Text
➞ 𝑭𝑨𝑻𝑬.
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✭ 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: a brief timeline of mythical!reader and spencer’s relationship. (requested by anon.)
✭ 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: literally none. just a cute lil fic <3
✭ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: ~1.2k
✭ 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: this is a very simple fic as it is technically my first one, but if you’d like a deeper look into this timeline, i’d be happy to oblige! <3 i love this little weirdo fr. no beta, we die like men here. (that being said if anyone ever wants to beta read for me, i would appreciate it <3 i always miss the dumbest shit fr.)
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February, 2019.
It’s been a few hours since Mythical Entertainment announced they’ve acquired Smosh, and you can’t possibly be more excited. Rhett & Link throw a party to celebrate Smosh’s next chapter, and you gather in merriment with all of your coworkers, new and old.
You’ve only met a handful of Smosh members — Ian, Courtney, Shayne — all of whom have been featured on the GMM channel once or twice before. The rest are sort-of new (at least in person) faces, but they’re all nice enough, and before the night is over, you’ve introduced yourself to almost everyone, save for a man standing off to the side with a red Solo cup in his hand, just taking it all in.
“Great party, huh?” You ask him as you sidle up next to him, smiling.
He looks as though he’s a little surprised you’re talking to him, but he nods, swallowing a sip of his drink. “Yeah, awesome party.” He smiles softly, extending his hand out to you to shake. “I’m Spencer.”
“Hi, Spencer,” You shake his hand, grinning over at him, “I’m (Y/N), and I’m super excited to be working with you now.”
Spencer’s smile grows and his cheeks take on just a hint of pink. “Yeah, it’s gonna be great for sure. We’re all really excited too.”
His grip doesn’t loosen as your short conversation winds down, and his gaze lingers for a second too long before he realizes he’s still holding your hand.
April, 2019.
It’s been two months since the merger with Smosh, and you see Spencer everywhere. It’s to be expected, obviously — you work in the same office — but you’d be lying if you said you weren’t actively seeking him out most days.
He’s funny, he’s friendly, he’s charming. He knows everything there is to know about any game you’re ever interested in. He’s a great conversationalist too — every talk you have with him flows smoothly, there’s no awkwardness. You really enjoy him as a person, and he seems to feel the same.
He’s also very quietly thoughtful — if he makes a run to the kitchen for another Kickstart, he always grabs you something and swings by the Mythical side of the office to drop it off. He never draws any attention to it, he just starts up a conversation with you, like he just so happened to be in the Mythical area and coincidentally had your favorite snack or drink on hand.
He spends more time with you after this, inviting you to group hangouts on the weekends or to game with him late at night on Discord.
A month later he finally gets the courage to ask you on a date, and you give him a very enthusiastic “Yes.”
June, 2019.
It’s been a month since you agreed to a date with Spencer, and it’s been an absolute dream.
He takes you out on nice dates, but you spend most date nights at either of your places, watching movies or playing games in dim lighting and splitting takeout.
He asks you to be his girlfriend a month after your first date.
You haven’t told anyone, except for a few of each of your closest friends/coworkers. You’re able to keep it a secret until you accidentally show up to work wearing one of Spencer’s favorite crewnecks.
You decide to tell everyone at the company that day, and Ian claps Spencer heartily on the back. “I knew you had it in you.” He jokes, and everyone laughs.
You request that it be kept a secret, and several people make a motion of zipping their lips closed.
December, 2019.
It’s been six months since you and Spencer started dating, and he pops the question.
“Do you want to move in with me?”
The question doesn’t surprise you at all, really. You spent most of your time at Spencer’s place anyway. You tell him, “Absolutely, I do.”
People are quick to speculate after. There are so many photos of you and Spencer in the same rooms despite being apart. You show up in short bursts in Mythical videos wearing his clothes. You have pictures with his cat.
Most of the shared fanbase give you respect, reiterating to their peers that you’re just good pals, and talk mostly dies down.
You wouldn’t ever encourage them, but you have to hand it to your fanbases — they are good detectives.
June, 2020.
It’s been a year since you agreed to be Spencer’s girlfriend, six months since you moved into his place, and three months since quarantine started.
With a lot of the Mythical production being limited, you have a lot more free time, and Smosh fans have latched onto you. You do a couple gaming videos over Zoom with the Smosh Games crew, and comments flood about how Spencer can be heard in the background of some of your clips. Spencer streams on Twitch, and people in his chat swear they hear you singing in the other room.
Someone in chat asks him how he’s doing, and he instinctively starts his sentence with “We’re–” before stopping and correcting himself with “I’m–” but it’s too late. People demand to know who “we” includes, but he brushes over it, saying he was simply talking about him and his (and your) cat.
You let them speculate. God knows people could use some sort of hope.
June, 2023.
It’s been four years since you and Spencer made it official. Your relationship is as good as ever, the two of you obviously comfortable and happy with four years under your belt.
Ian and Anthony buy Smosh back from Mythical Entertainment. Obviously they throw a party, inviting all of the Mythical crew for one last hurrah together before (financially) parting ways.
The party is held in the same place as the one where everyone celebrated Mythical’s purchasing of Smosh so many years ago, and you have a moment of deja vu.
At your table, Spencer places his hand on your thigh, rubbing circles over the fabric of your dress. “We met here.” He says, with a goofy grin on his face.
“We did.” You beam back at him, “We’ve come full circle.”
Spencer proposes that night before bed. He can’t help himself.
(You’d discussed marriage before, both agreeing that five years together was the sweet spot for a proposal, but after ending up in the same celebration hall where you’d met, he knows this is fate.)
Of course you say yes, kissing him through happy tears, and later that night, you decide you want the entire world to know that Spencer Agnew belongs to you and only you, for the rest of time.
You snap a photo of the two of you, with your ring on full display by your face, before opening up Instagram to post it.
By the way. the caption reads.
You turn off your notifications and leave your phone on the nightstand for the rest of the night, losing yourself in the man who will soon be your husband.
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phoward89 · 1 month
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Based on this ask
Written special for my amazing moot @swiftieblyth
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Everything seemed to be looking up for you. The last couple of months have been great. Your old friends, the ones that had backstabbed you, were no longer in your vicinity and you made new friends out of Clemensia Dovecote and Persephone Price, the girlfriend of Festus Creed. Coryo was leery of Persephone tho; even called her a cannibal because her father, Nero, had cut a dead maid's leg off to feed his family during the war.
Yea, that disturbed you a bit, but you didn't hold it against Persephone. She was a kid; most likely didn't know what she was eating. You always swatted your boyfriend's chest when he started his cannibal talk.
And talk about Coryo, oh he was just the best boyfriend to you. Truly, he was amazing. Despite his cold, stoic, callous nature he was very loving, genuine, and thoughtful with you.
Everything was going great, until it wasn't…
It was mid-June, University’s spring semester was over, Coryo graduated with a double major degree in Political Science and Military Strategy, and he was now deep in his work as the youngest assistant gamemaker in the history of Panem. And that happens to be whenever the bullshit drama with your ‘friends’ started up again. It started with little things, really.
Like they'd walk past you when you're at the mall with Clemmie and Persephone- making snide remarks under their breath. Remarks that'd have Clemmie serving them cunt with loud clap backs that made your ‘friends’ recoil with embarrassment. Clemmie and Persephone wanted you to tell Coryo about your old friends stalking you on shopping trips; saying nasty things about you under their breath while passing by, but you told them that it wasn't bad enough for Coryo to know. That they're blowing it up into something bigger then it is. You even made Persephone promise not to tell Festus, for fear that he'd tell Coryo since they're like best friends.
Of course your girls agreed to keep the low key mall drama about your ‘friends’ to themselves. But they did make you promise to tell Coryo about it if it got too bad.
And you didn't intend to keep that promise, until one day you had to.
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Things were escalating with your old friends to the point where they were trash talking you on social media- again. This time tho, well, they're dragging your boyfriend into it. Saying that he has to fight your battles, that he fights dirty by fucking up people's lives just cause you can't deal with being called out with shit, that he has to ruin everyone that looks at you the wrong way, etc, etc, etc. You knew that Coryo wasn't big on social media (he had a Pangram account, but he rarely posts or goes on it) and hoped that he wouldn't find out about the ‘friends’ drama 2.0, but unfortunately for you his other friends did have social media.
And of fucking course Festus Creed had told Coryo all about the drama. Even showed him the slew of nasty posts that the salty bitches were posting about you and him. And to say those posts pissed your boyfriend off was an understatement. He was absolutely livid.
So livid that he wants to kill all of these ‘friends’ of yours that’re talking shit. Between trash talking you and dragging the Snow name thru the mud, well, those girls better run far far away from the Capitol and fast.
But now that Coriolanus knows what's wrong he understands why you've been sulking lately. It's been frustrating for him seeing you stay in bed, buried underneath the blankets all day for days on end; not wanting to do anything. But now he understands why.
And he's determined to make you feel better.
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“I bought you a new book from that author you like.” Coryo told you, walking into the bedroom you share only to see you in bed, reading a book that he swears you reread about 5-or-6 times already.
“Thank you, Coryo.” You weakly smile, feeling blah even tho you're reading one of your emotional support books.
“Festus showed me the posts that those girls are posting about us, my darling.” Your blonde boyfriend confronted you while walking over to the bed and sitting next to you. Placing a supportive hand on your knee, he asks, “Why didn't you tell me they started their bullshit again?”
Closing your book, you looked down in embarrassment and sighed, “I don't want you thinking that you have to come to my rescue over this. It's my problem with these girls, not yours.”
Placing the new book he got you on the bedside table, he gently cupped your cheeks in his large, calloused hands and tilted your head back slightly so your eyes met his baby blues. “Y/N, baby, it's my job to take care of you and protect you because I'm your boyfriend; I love you.”
Your eyes began to well up with tears. “I don't know why, I'm such a loser. You could do better, find somebody that doesn't need you to defend them all the time.” You sniffled.
Hearing you talk like that because of those ‘friends’ of yours broke his heart. Coriolanus thinks that you're amazing. You're a beautiful person with a beautiful soul who made his dark withered up heart bloom and beat with love again. How could you think he deserves better when all he wants, needs, and loves is you?
Rationally, Coryo knows that it's depression and anxiety due to the situation talking and not really you, but that doesn't mean he truly understands your words. They hurt him because he just wants you to be happy; to be happy with him.
Your platinum blonde boyfriend pressed a soft feather light kiss to your forehead only to wrap his arms around you and pull you down onto the bed to cuddle with him. “You're not a loser, darling. You're perfect for me.” He assures you, kissing the tip of your cute nose. “You know that I'm here for you, baby. You can talk to me or not, but I'm here.”
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And Coryo was there for you. He did everything in his power to pull you out of your depression and to help you settle down your anxiety. He ordered your favorite pastries, coffee, and refreshers from the high end coffee shop down the street from your penthouse, only to surprise you with brunch in Grandma’am's rooftop rose garden. It was a very romantic and thoughtful gesture. One that brought a smile to your face.
Coryo also played all of your favorite board games with you in another attempt to cheer you up. The two of you sat on the bedroom floor, rolling dice, dealing fake paper money, and trying to line up little letter blocks to make words while playing game after game over glasses of wine.
Coriolanus never played board games before he got with you because, honestly, his family was too poor to afford them. But when you moved in with him and brought your game collection, well, he'd play them with you once in a while. But now that you're in a funk, well, he's busting out the games more often than not to put a smile on your face.
Even when he comes home dead tired from preparations for the upcoming 14th Hunger Games, he's still finding the time to cheer you up. To support you.
And then when he's too tired to do anything and sees that you're having a hard time with your depression; that you haven't left the bed since he left in the morning, he orders pizza for the two of you and binge watches your favorite movie series with you. He cuddles you in bed, letting you curl up in his side, while watching TV in bed and reminding you how much you mean to him.
Coryo's also devising some plans to permanently get rid of the girls that are so mean to you, but you didn't need to know that. All you needed to know was that he's your loving and devoted boyfriend who will always be by your side no matter what.
And one day when he's President Coriolanus Snow and you're his First Lady Y/N Snow everyone will be too scared to say anything mean and hateful about either one of you. And if they do, well…they won't be breathing too long afterwards once he has a special afternoon tea with them.
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Tags: @kuroosbby001 @purriteen @poppyflower-22 @meetmeatyourworst @whipwhoops @bxtchopolis @readingthingsonhere @savagenctzen @ryswritingrecord @erikasurfer @tulips2715 @universal-s1ut @thesmutconnoisseur @squidscottjeans @sudek4l @wearemadeofstardust0 @mashiromochi @gracieroxzy @belcalis9503 @shari-berri @aoi-targaryen @whiteoakoak @spear-bearing-bi-witch @gisellesprettylies @loverandqueenofdragons @qoopeeya @mfnqueen1 @permanentlyexhaustedpigeon88 @v-love @joyfulyouthlover @harvey-malfoy @tian-monique @chxrrybomb22 @marvel-hiddles-stark @xjinnix @devils-blackrose @zombicupcake3 @jacesvelaryons
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cosmictulips · 1 year
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I'm Wishing... For the One I Love... to find me...today (PAC)
So this fun pac is all about Your Future Spouse & When You'll be meeting them.
Close your eyes and pick a disney princess ;) --- as always if you want more pacs feel free to follow me. I'm trying to be more active this year. and uhm, yea. this is part one of a series that I'm doing.
I am also open to doing exchanges and paid tarot readings. for more info feel free to look on my blog or reach out.
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Coincidently, they are also in order of which they came out.
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My pile 1's !
Who This Person Is ::
The Magician, the Hierophant, King of Swords, 10 of Pentacles, 09 of Swords, 05 of Pentacles
Yea so, this person is having it rough right now. they could come a rather difficult life, but regardless of whether or not it's a rough life or just a period, the thing to know about them is that they don't quit. they will work themselves to death if it means they can achieve their goals. they are very hard on themselves and will keep pushing and beating on a dead horse. they simply have a hard time letting go.
they are very intelligent people and because of that, they've been able to work smarter not harder ;) they have a strong foundation but -and I really can't emphasize this enough-, they really had to work at it. the money that they have, the friendships, connections, etc. came from a long line of suffering. dare I suggest this person has heavy saturn or pluto influence. just fixed energy comes from this person.
they are stubborn, they are witty, and blunt. but they are also soft and very wise. they aren't a boulder, they will move mountains. despite this anxiety that I'm picking up on, they are a marshmellow. they believe in the best and they believe that they deserve nothing but the best. and they believe that to be the case with everyone. this person is hard on others because they see the potential and want to push you to be better.
they are a giver. they will give you everything if it meant that you will fly. they've had to learn the hard way that you can't just give everything away. so don't be surprised if they come off as closed off to you. they lack alot in this life time but they know they can achieve greatness.
I think the fear of abandonment and never having enough to survive, drives them forward. they get in their head a lot. they are probably their own worst enemey to be honest. Taurus energy is coming through strongly but that's because I'm picking up on homebody vibes. this person likes to cook. likes to be surrounded by like minded individuals and things that make them happy.
there's a tendency to relax only when their body is ready to give out. they are stubborrrnnnnn. I can't stress that enough. they'll tell you to go shower and sleep but they'll never sleep and never shower because they're just too focused on what is ahead of them haha. definitely the type to be like "do as I say not as I do".
wouldn't be surprised if this person has some sort of management job or is doing their own thing. they're destined to have it all in this life time and they know it. I'm seeing someone with an intense stare, so definitely, don't.... be too shy around them. they will see your nervousness and feel anxious about it. they'll want to spoil you and protect you. definitely a lot of masculine, just strong energy here. even if it is a female.
they're also intuitive as heck but I think they let the worries get to them. they think that ... by branching out and thinking "illogically" will just hurt them so they try to stick to what they know. so you might have to change that way. they want to believe in stuff like Tarot, but their rationality will talk them out all the time. so get them into it lol.
if you can get them out of their head, and you will cause they're your person, you'll see a very loving, and spontaneous side to them. someone good with their words and loves to laugh. they have a smile that just lights up the sky bruh. it's so cute.
When You Two Will Meet ::
sooo I'm getting May -June, September- October. these can be birthdays, these can be literal months that you two meet. I'm also hearing gemini season which I think further throws May into the mix haha.
You two are going to be in a situation where you will talk... a lot. maybe someone introduces you two, maybe you both are late for the train and miss it and have to wait for another one. regardless, I see one of you making idle chat and then you both just go off . this person is extremely easy to talk to despite their kind of nonchalant gaze. and I feel like it's one of those things where you two will just keep running into each other.
I did pick up on other people being around so I have a funny feeling it's a public place. a party, a museum, idk. just someplace where you both might be thinking you're talking to your friends but it turns out it's each other. or you both just... it's perfect timing to be honest.
ALSO you could be meeting via a dating app. something about texting. I see a lot of texting and talking online.
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My Pile 2's !
Who They Are ::
The High Priestess, The Magician, The Lovers, King of Wands, Queen of Swords, Page of Wands, 07 of Cups, 03 of Pentacles
so. this persons energy really wanted me to stress just how different they are to other people. strong neptune energy. they are like "I'm adaptable, I can do whatever you ask me to do and I'll still be me". so really, just strong mutable placements.
this person is kind of lucky. when I was getting the cards out for this, I kind of kept laughing. this person really has a great sense of humor and just enjoys being around things and people and places. travelers. probably the type to know a lot of weird things. like a lot, but of niche things haha. great conversationalists.
Very romantic people. might be a bit of a flirt. really good at getting what they want. they tend to bring good luck wherever they go. not the type to really be argumentive or defensive, but they sure as hell can be. they know how harsh the world is and they try not to let it get to them. they try not to use their words as a weapon. but they are sharp. don't let that happy go lucky attitude fool you.
they may be a bit indecisive. they like to do a lot of things... at once. maybe they have ADHD. they just like to see people smile. type to just go on spontanious roadtrips haha. they are very intutiive and I have a funny feeling that they might be into the mysical and the paranormal. I mean, with their wandering mind, they probably are.
definitely daredevils. I hear... that some of them might be good at baking. gardening. they take care of things. they're gentle souls. I feel like they're a gemini lol. maybe they have strong gemini placements or something. mercurial for sure.
people love to be around them. I think they're just good at getting others to work together. could be popular but to be honest with you, I think they're just talkative haha. people could just want to hang out with them. like, I see them knowing people, but very few actually get close to them. talkative, but ...secretive. ya know what I mean?
definitely some leo vibes going on. but, not arrogant. they just know how to have a good time and not take things too seriously. unless they need to.
I think... as for jobs, they might be inclined to help people. teaching, medical type stuff, theater even. music. they just... LIKE TO DO THINGS IDK. some of them might even do more mystical things haha.
When You Two Will Meet ::
some of you will meet around five months from now. the thing about the meeting is, I'm seeing you two meet during a time of... not necessarily failure but just saddness. maybe something doesn't really work out, maybe you're in the middle of a healing journey or they are. but they are just... sad. grieving.
maybe there's just some extesential dread. did I spell that right? dread lol. I think honestly, this has to do with the fact that while they are surrounded by people and are liked, they don't feel connected. and so when they meet you, they're going to be so inclined to be with you instantly. you two are like souls who are meant to meet. and they'll know it right away.
anyway, I see a rainy season. so maybe summer is important here. spring too but I really think it's summer.
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My Sweet 3's!
Who They Are ::
The World, Strength, The Lovers, 09 of Pentacles, 02 of Wands, 02 of Cups
The first thing that came to my mind was just how much of a romantic this person is. they just have a zest for life. this person is also very independent and they enjoy just doing things that make them happy. I keep hearing nature, so I think this person might like to go hiking and being around animals. I'm seeing lots of trees in particular. I think they just like to be introvert haha.
they have a vivid imagination. they like to plan, and daydream and are very artisitic in their expression. very forgiving people. they have a very soft but calm vibe. I think this person tries not to let things get to them. they ... kind of struggle with self confidence. I'm getting this message that some of them really struggled a bit growing up and now they just... glow. they're used to handling things on their own.
It's kind of like number one and two. this person is very balanced. they have big ideas and they want to puruse them but I think things just keep falling out of place. they get stuck in their own minds about it but it hasn't stopped them just yet. they keep trying.
they have this strong gut instinct that something big is out there waiting for them. they're serious but also like... they tend to goof around. they know what they're looking for and won't settle for anything less. but the execution in their ideas, might need a little help.
they're very striaghtforward in their speech. people are very interested in what they have to say and I think it's because they don't say much. it's funny cause I feel like this person is just coasting by right now. like doing a "low end" job. but it's because they are aiming for the larger stuff. they're waiting for their time to shine. they're patient. it's honestly fascinating. they know something is going to happen. and they're not slowing down, but they know enough to wait.
very strong minded, wise and mature. capricorn energy is what I'm getting here but also aquarius and virgo. detail oriented.
When You Two Will Meet ::
August and September is kind of the time frame I'm getting here. I think also capricorn and virgo season is important here. this relationship is going to take time to develop. this person is very secure in who they are and they want to romance you. winter is also coming to mind but that kind of hits home with the capricorn season haha.
Idk, there's not much to say about this person and timing. they're quiet. but it's not a bad thing.
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lets-try-some-writing · 4 months
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Question. How do you think the TFP bots each find the squishies that are humans look. Like aesthetically. Which ones find them cute or gross or funny looking? Cause in the Scraplet episode, Ratchet said “Typically I find your fleshiness your least engaging qualities.” Meaning that Ratchet find the humans gross to some extent, meaning that the Autobots does have aesthetic opinions about the humans. And it seems like everyone got different opinions. So what’s your head canon for each of their opinions?
Ooooooh now this is a question I will happily answer!
Ratchet: His views on humans and squishies in general is summed up to GROSS. He sees humans as essentially a bunch of organs in a poorly made plastic bag walking around on stilts. They are worse than hairless cats in his optics. They may be nice enough, but he would prefer to poke them with sticks or handle them with a hazmat suit if given a choice. He's warmed up to them, but will never find them particularly appealing. Interesting? Yes. Appealing? Primus no.
Bumblebee: Bumblebee thinks humans are a little unsettling, but he appreciates them in the way one would a pet tarantula. He can find something to see as appealing in them, although as a general rule he is not particularly enthralled with them. He is fond of human eyes, largely because their pupils dilate a great deal like how his optics cycle. He also finds it fascinating how many colors humans can have their eyes up being.
Arcee: She sits in the same boat as Ratchet for the most part. However she has one aspect of humanity that she is surprisingly fond of. She thinks human hair is quite "cute" in a sense. It reminds her somewhat of stories of Solus and she has always found it fun how humans can style their hair in so many unique ways. She has even gone so far as to ask June to teach her how to braid hair simply because Arcee also finds the texture of hair to be facinating.
Bulkhead: His thoughts on humanity can be summed up simply with: Smol Beans. He thinks they are adorable in the way one would look at a mouse and think it cute. Sure humans can do gross things like execrate and create strange internal liquids and sounds, but they are just so small. He can't help but find that fact appealing.
Wheeljack: He is neither grossed out or really invested in humans. He could care less what they look like. He's been everywhere and seen everything, so very little bothers him anymore when meeting new races. He does think that human teeth are interesting though. Cybertronians have their own version of the mouth bones, but humans growing the mouth bones and then having a few sets of them is something he just thinks is rather inspiring.
Smokescreen: He... doesn't like humans. He's in Ratchet's boat, but he's a lot less tactful in his outward reactions. His first few weeks on Earth involved a lot of gagging at humans as a whole. Squishies are not his cup of tea, but he's learned to handle it for the most part. So long as the squishes are clothed reasonably, he can pretend they are armored and ignore the fact that they are walking bags of bits and bone.
Optimus: He doesn't mind humanity. He doesn't think they are physically appealing in any real regard, but he admires their minds. Such small creatures holding hope and intellect on par with the more technological races is something he finds impressive. He also holds an appreciation for their voices simply because they are clear and without complication. It is new, and for that reason he finds it beautiful in a sense.
Ultra Magnus: He doesn't like humans. Period. He tolerates them for the sake of the team and negotiations, and he may be appreciative of human comrades and friends. But the species as a whole? He is not fond of them. He is largely more confused than anything else. He has no idea how such a fleshy and delicate species lasted so long. But he has largely shrugged it off and moved on with life.
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laguezze · 1 year
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PAC: Summer Predictions
it's almost June and I feel like summer tends to be an exciting time for a lot of people! In case you are wondering what are some things summer will bring to you here's a Mamma Mia! Themed PAC for ya.
Minors DNI as one of the piles is a little PG. Please don't. Listen to me. Don't interact!
Here are the piles!
Pile I
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Pile II
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Pile III
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Pile IV
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Ready? Let's go!
Pile I
Song channeled: Waterloo
"I was defeated you won the war." "Finally facing my Waterloo."
There's an energy of waiting and release. I'll explain. You've been waiting for something to happen, you've been making moves in the past and nothing came out of it. So now I'm sensing you're just defeated and decided to let go of it. You have learned you can live without this thing happening. And it's when you let go that it happens. Or for some of you, something better comes out of it.
Letting go is a powerful thing, it can bring new things, it gives you peace of mind. And although it's painful sometimes, the sense of release is better than anything else.
So basically, this summer I see you becoming more chill with others and with yourself. You're done waiting and expecting things from people and opportunities, you're done. So you're letting go, learning how to breathe and that will be rewarded.
Things I'm seeing could happen: meeting a promising connection, learning a new skill, getting a job offer, learning how to love yourself.
Hope it resonates! 💕
Pile II
Song channeled: Dancing Queen
"you are the dancing queen, young and sweet"
"you're a teaser you turn em on"
I'm seeing you wanna have fun this summer. I mean, you chose this dancing pile, so it makes sense.
And I'm not here to blow your fun away. But i am.
So you want to go out and meet new people, get into that hot girl summer mindset. Maybe you've had a boring year or your experiences with summer have always been dull and not special.
I'm seeing someone scrolling on social media, looking at all the fun things people are doing on vacation, wishing that was them.
Well, I'm here to tell you that may not be you. And that's ok.
You're not at that point yet and that's fine. You can't expect to go out and meet people in a place where you know everyone. And if you can't afford to leave that place then it's going to be very difficult doing that.
It's alright to have a chill moment at home, you don't need to be out and about everyday in order for your summer to be exciting. You can meet people other ways, and you can get to know the people you already know better. Deepen some existing connections. Your deep desire of getting everything new is putting you back. You need to appreciate the things in your life before you get new ones. Including people.
Things I'm seeing could happen: finding a good friend, shadow work, journaling, exploring and finding new places in your city, picnic dates, taking care of animals.
Hope it resonates! 💕
Pile III
Song I channeled: I've been waiting for you.
"You're something I'd been pleading for"
"And finally it seems to me, my lonely days are through"
Great energy here, pile 3. A lot of you have done the work and been introspective and learned how to love yourselves. I'm so proud of that. Some of you spent hours wondering why your FS wasn't here yet and used that to solve some issues within you. Some of you wondered why you didn't seem good enough for this new position, and you did the work and got where you needed to be.
Whatever this thing you wanted was, you've done the work in order to get it. So you will get it. This summer it seems like the universe is giving you a break and granting you a wish. I'm so happy for you guys!
Things I see could happen: meeting a soulmate, getting a new job, getting a pet, buying a new house, leaving home, traveling somewhere you were dreaming of.
Hope it resonates! 💕
Pile IV
Song I channeled: Our last summer
"Walk around the Seine, laughing in the rain"
"Memories that remain"
You guys will probably travel somewhere small, like a town no one has ever heard of. This might be home for some of you and you'll be going back after a while. I'm seeing this summer will be quite transformative. I'm seeing it will be peaceful and quiet, but that's exactly what you need. Although not uneventful. I'm seeing some drama might happen with old friends. But nothing major. Maybe you'll get a crush on someone or see your old crush again and remember.
This summer is full of nostalgia and old memories. You'll rethink a lot of your goals and values and discover yourself a little more.
Things I'm seeing could happen: meeting a new crush, making a song, fighting with friends, rekindling a romance, losing the v (iykyk), lots of firsts... (Iykyk), flower picking, reading, writing a novel.
If you're a minor reading this why would you do this to me, i told you to leave at the beginning like get off the internet and live your life.
Hope it resonates! 💕
The End
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